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Chapter 11

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“So lass, what’s a vampire Slayer?” Doyle asked after taking a deep sip of his pint. Elizabeth had decided that they would get to know one another, while the others were dealing with the pigs, so recalling her fondness for Ireland; he’d taken her to O’Malley’s. It was an authentic Irish pub complete with traditional dishes like Colcannon, Boxty Cakes and his personal favorite Crubeens.


He’d gotten a laugh when the waitress pegged her as a yank and took great delight in telling the little blonde girl that she’d ordered fried pig trotters, only to have Elizabeth reply in perfect Gaelic, that one couldn’t live on boiled potatoes and soda bread alone. After that, the waitress had bought her a pint of the Porter and she was welcomed by the crowd with a rousing chorus of ‘Wild Rover.’ They joined in during the chorus and just like that, she was welcomed as one of them, just like how she was going out of her way to welcome him into her odd little group at Phoenix investigations. Her blood may be of this country; she had its independent pride in her veins but her heart and soul were as giving and lyrical as the spring rains of his homeland.


Which was why he was anxious to know more about her. It was true she reminded him of his sister but during the two days he’d gotten to know her, she was as clearly her own person. She’d told him about her magicks and how she’d been trained by Romanian gypsies and he assumed that was her role in the agency. Wesley, with his keen assessing eyes, was the brains, William the vampire, the braun and the delicate Elizabeth they both protected fiercely, was the magick wielder. It worked out to a perfect trinity geared to fight the forces of darkness but when she’d explained the last pig, he’d seen a shadow in her eyes that had him thinking that there was more to her than meets the eye.


She looked like a warrior, one who had seen to many battles and paid a great price but just as quickly as it had filled her eyes it was gone. He’d begun to doubt it was there to begin with, a trick of light nothing more but then he’d asked what a Slayer was and it had returned. There was definitely a story there and since she hadn‘t answered yet, it couldn't be a pleasant one. “You know Elizabeth, me mum used to always say that the Irish tell stories not just to remember the past but to see how far they’d come.”


Buffy nodded, knowing that if he was going to work with them he had a right to know what he was getting into.“Contrary to popular mythology, the world did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth, they made it their home, their... their Hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for man. All that remains of the old ones are vestiges, certain magicks, certain creatures, creatures like vampires. The books tell of the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the Earth, feeding; killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind.They're waiting for the animals to die out and for the old ones to return.” Buffy said, recalling how many times in her life she’d been told this story or told it to someone else. “For as long as there have been vampires, there's been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. The one girl in all the world given the strength and skill needed to fight the vampires and stop the spread of their evil. The one girl dies and then another is called, and another, but one Slayer didn’t just die she came back.”

Knowing she wasn’t finished yet, Doyle gave her all the time in the world to gather herself for the next part, doing his best to keep his face completely neutral. He had a pretty good idea where this was going and who that one Slayer was.

“At sixteen she was prophesized to die but this Slayer had a problem with playing by the rules a bunch of stuffy old pricks in England laid down for them. See the Slayer was suppose to live her life in secret, no friends, no family but this Slayer was intent on having a life outside of her calling. She died at sixteen, drowned in a puddle by a vamp known as the Master, only to be revived by her friend with CPR. But everything changed, she was made immortal by the Powers for defying fate and saving the world, only they didn’t tell her that until they needed her to kill her vampire lover and save the world again.”

“They wanted you to kill William?” Doyle asked, his heart breaking for her.

“No, they wanted me to kill Angelus.”

Doyle listened intently as the rest of the story poured out of her, like a river breaking through the dam holding it back and he could see he’d made the right choice by staying here to help her and the others. Just like him they were looking for a fresh start and trying to escape the ghosts of their pasts. So once her tale was finished he began his own. “I hated what I was, you see. Me mum was human but Da was half-Bracken and it wasn’t until the first time I changed, that any of us knew the truth. By then he’d been gone and me Mum had remarried, giving me a sister. Now Becky loved me unconditionally and while my mum tried to understand, she just couldn’t accept that I wasn’t like other children. So when I turned eighteen I moved out, fully intent on keeping to myself and just living out the rest of my life alone. I went out for a bottle of whiskey and saw the Scourge coming off a boat in the harbor. Now they are a bunch of pure blood demons whose sole mission is to cleanse the demon world of half-breeds, like myself and instead of warning people, I just went back to my apartment and hid. A few days later, I had my first vision and it was of my sweet Becky showing my picture around to a bunch of Bracken’s, seconds before the doors were kicked open and the Scourge marched in. I recognized the place in my vision and I ran there as fast as my feet would carry me but I was too late. Every single person in the building, the demons and a few humans like my sister, were killed and I knew it was all my fault.”

“What did you do?” Buffy asked gently, reaching out across the table to take his hand in her own.

“I fell to my knees and sobbed like a baby, all the while cursing myself for being such a coward. I knew that if I had said something, those people could have hid themselves until the Scourge left but my silence killed them all.” Doyle broke off for a moment and took a deep pull of his porter, no longer able to meet her eyes. “That’s when I met Whistler, he told me that I could atone by willingly submitting myself to getting visions of others in trouble or I could go back to living my life inside a bottle. I chose to accept the visions but I know that nothing I will ever do, will make up from the one thing I didn’t do.”

“We’ve all done things we’re ashamed of Doyle, things we’d give anything to take back but life doesn’t come with a reset button.” Buffy said firmly, wanting him to understand that while he had made a mistake, it didn’t make him a horrible or undeserving person. “You could have walked away but you chose to take the harder path. Just like me, I could have stayed, living a life I wasn’t happy with or I could go out on my own and risk everything to find myself and what I wanted. Sooner or later I know my past is going to intrude on what I have now and I’d like to think that when that happens I’ll make the right choice. But there’s always a chance I could fail, let Spike and Wesley down and go back to what was familiar and easy. See the big moments are going to come and you can’t stop them from happening but you never know what you’re truly capable of until you’re tested. The key is not to give up, to believe in yourself and because of the things I’ve experienced, I do again.”




“Maybe someday Elizabeth, I’ll tell you the same thing.” Doyle said giving her a somewhat shaky smile. Just telling her about his life had taken some of the weight he carried off his shoulders but he knew he still had a long way to go until he got to where she was. But knowing that she had survived all she had been through, made it easier to believe he could as well.


“I’m sure you will Doyle but you can call me Buffy.” She said with a grin. “That’s who I am, Elizabeth is my legal name but I’ll always just be Buffy.”


“Well Buffy, we best be getting back to the others.” Doyle said reaching into his wallet to cover their bill. “I don’t know about you lass but I’m in the mood for a bit of laughter.”


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The second she and Doyle walked into the doors of the Hyperion she found herself staring at the sight before her. Spike, William the Bloody, Slayer of Slayers and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Rogue demon slayer and tarnished Watcher were both standing on the sofa in the center of the lobby, begging the vampire Slayer piggy to save them. It just sat there, whistling a happy tune, while the cursed pigs were snarling at the foot of the sofa, their stubby legs to short to climb with eyes of yellow and fangs at the ready.

“I take it you two have learned your lesson?” Buffy asked, doing her best not to laugh at their situation. She could see that from the knee down both men’s jeans had been ripped and shredded and while she had insured that the piggies couldn’t draw blood, their fangs pinched liked hell.

“Luv, please call them off.” Spike said throwing what remained of his pride to the wind as he stared at his golden salvation. They’d tried everything, stakes, holy water and even fire but each time the little bastards dusted, they came back only moments later. The third pig, was absolutely no help at all, when it wasn’t laughing or mocking them, it lounged about like a bloody Queen. Needless to say they got the point loud and clear; don’t piss off the Slayer, especially when she could be the only thing to save you. “We were asses pet, complete and utter asses and we aren’t deserving of your mercy but please my sweet, my beautiful love, forgive me.”

Buffy waved her hand towards Spike’s pig and it instant became still, once again nothing but a harmless child’s toy. “You’re forgiven Spike, was it really that terrible for you?”

Abandoning Wes without a single glance, Spike leaped off the sofa and crossed the room to pull his woman into his arms. Burying his face in her hair, he mumbled. “My boots will never be the same luv, they’re desecrated beyond repair.”

“Umm, Elizabeth I too want to offer you my most sincere and humble apologies.” Wes said, hoping to be forgiven as well. “It was rude of me to tease you so, in front of our newest team member and I can image how embarrassed you must have felt. I never meant to offend you, so could you possibly find it in your heart to forgive me?”

“Alright, you’re forgiven.” Buffy said, closing the incantation of his own pig. “But maybe next time you all will think before you make me feel bad. You may have the numbers on your side because I’m the only girl around here but I’m no push over.”

“No worries luv, we know whose running things.” Spike said seconds before nipping her earlobe lightly. Despite the situation, he loved this side of her. That slightly dark and dangerous side of her nature, that seemed to call to his demon.

“I’m not running things, sometimes I might take the lead but there will be other times when I fall back and let you guys do your thing.” Buffy pressed a soft kiss against his cheek. “But the pigs are staying…just in case.”

Doyle snickered, only to find a flinty pair of emerald eyes fall on him. “Don’t worry Doyle, you’ll get your very own piggy just as soon as I figure out how to make one go all spikey.” Buffy warned him before pulling away from Spike and heading up the stairs.

“I love that woman.” Spike muttered his voice filled with pure admiration. His girl had grown up and she was simply amazing.





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