A/N Phyllis, you're right, since Kendra's death happened 'offscreen' so to speak, we don't know for sure that she's actually dead. After all, I've killed two Xander's so far in this story and neither one stayed dead. 😉
Shroudson1, guess I was more obvious than I thought, but you're right, the Council's gearing up to be a thorn in the Scoobies side. First shot has weakened the Council, but not destroyed them, they'll be back. 😟
Sphygmus, yeah the Cruciamentum may just have been an excuse to get rid of Giles because, in terms of his job as Watcher, he failed miserably to do the actual job.
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Sam Zabuto glanced over at his sleeping companion, Kendra Young, a girl he'd raised since she was three years old. He'd vowed to her parents that he'd do everything he could to keep her alive when he told them she was a Potential, they believed in the Calling, that Kendra could do a great deal of good in the world if Called as a Slayer and like him, had been both terrified and proud at the possibility. When word had reached them of a boy who worked with the Slayer before Kendra being transformed into a sorcerer with Chaos Magic and casting a spell that destroyed both the vampires and the Hellmouth he'd helped guard, they'd both been shocked and excited at the possibilities. A future so much brighter now, even when they'd been sent to guard the much smaller Hellmouth in Cleveland they'd still been excited and they'd only had a couple of supernatural threats to deal with. The hope had blossomed in him that his Slayer would live, as in actually have a life, grow up, fall in love, get married, raise children of her own.
And then Quentin Travers had landed on his doorstep with that foul request and Sam Zabuto had refused, he would not subject the daughter of his heart to that sick test. He'd underestimated how determined they'd been, they'd not only fired him, they'd kept him prisoner in his own home to keep him from interfering. But that was where they'd underestimated him, because he might be a man in his fifties, but he'd trained and sparred against a Slayer on a daily basis and a hunter before that. Overcoming his guards hadn't been difficult, nor had managing a locator spell to find Kendra.
Unfortunately, he'd arrived as they where leaving and found they'd simply abandoned her body to the creature that had killed her. He'd dispatched it before it could begin to consume her and begun rescue efforts, magical as well as medical. He'd used Magic to hold her soul to her body long enough to get her breathing again and the bloody wounds bound. The mad race to the hospital in the ambulance had seen her amazing heart falter twice and paramedics get it back as he prayed to every celestial god he could think of to hold her to life. Once there the efforts of the doctors had seen blood poured back into her body and the wounds closed, after which her mystical healing factor had engaged and just days later he checked her out of the hospital and begun the journey to Sunnydale, in the hopes that Rupert Giles, a Watcher with a rebellious past, would feel the same way and help him protect Kendra. It hadn't been easy getting her out of England, where the Cleveland Hellmouth was and into the United States or across the country, especially since those first few days she'd still been recovering, but now they were finally there and he began searching the city for Rupert Giles address.
Once he'd located it, he instructed Kendra to wait in the car, in case he was wrong and Rupert Giles was a Council man and went to knock on the door. It was answered by a man about a decade younger then him. "Rupert Giles? I'm Dr. Sam Zabuto."
"Dr. Zabuto? I'm sorry for your loss, my contacts told me you'd been fired and that thrice damned idiot Quentin forced the Cruciamentum on your Slayer and the Calling of another."
"I hadn't heard another had been Called, but I have not been in contact with anyone from the Council since they fired me and did that travesty of a test. Did you go through with it yourself?"
"Good gods, man. No! My Slayer is part of a group of extraordinary young people and we did not have to face them alone. Together we routed them, the demon they brought with them was destroyed and they, included Quentin, were arrested. I quit, spit my resignation into his face."
"They'll be back, Quentin is beyond stubborn. I need your help."
"How may I assist you?"
Sam turned and waved Kendra out of the car and she complied as he turned back to Rupert Giles, who was staring at the teenager walking towards him. "She's -."
"She died, they killed her, but I managed to hold her soul to her body and revive her and get her to a hospital. Physically she's fully recovered, emotionally -. I don't know if they'll try again, for whatever agenda they have, please help me protect my Slayer, my child."
"Gladly." Rupert Giles motioned the two of them in. "I have no spare bedrooms, as one is my study and the other has been taken over by my girlfriend as a lab, but we will find you an available home and we will do our utmost to protect you and Miss Young."
"Thank you."