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Author's Chapter Notes:
Please keep in mind that this is an alternate universe/fantasy fic, so anything can happen. :)

thanks so much to all the reviewers, you guys have been awesome in inspiring me. I really hope I havent frustrated you too badly...
William walked into his room, and slammed the door behind him. He began pacing, fisting his hands and shaking his head. When he heard a noise in the room beside him, he spun around.
"It isn't working, damn it. She will never fall for it" He said, continuing his nervous motion of stalking back and forth.

The small old man sitting in the corner stood, walking from the shadows into the light. He placed a reassuring hand on William's shoulder, and then spoke.

"I told you that in order for her to ever make a sacrifice for you, she had to love you. Seduction, though superficial, is one route to gaining her affection. Forcing her will not get you anywhere, my son." His voice was weak, but reassuring. William continued pacing for a moment and then stopped short, hanging his head in defeat.

"What else am I supposed to do? Invite her to tea? Ask permission to court her? What the bloody hell can I say? She hates me, she hated me the moment we met." He said, frustration and sadness lacing his voice. "She can't be the one, there is no way she could ever care for me in that way. Face it, I buggered things up for the both of us with this one. Her friends will be back any day now for her."

"Her friend's arent coming back" the older man stated flatly. William looked up at him, confusion marring his chisled face. "Yours aren't the only one whose powers have increased since she has been here. Her friends have forgotten she existed, I have made sure of that. Before you completely relax though, let me warn you that if she contacts them, speaks to them in any way, they could remember everything. In three weeks, when they return home, someone is bound to come looking for her. You don't have much time."

"You didnt make things easy for me- why did you have to hurt the redhead?" William said accusingly. The old man didnt flinch though.

"I had to give them a reason to leave here." He said simply.

"And you couldn't have come up with a way that didnt involve someone getting hurt?" Despite the 22 years he had spent alive, and the hundred stuck in this place, he sounded young. The old man knew that William did not share his bloodlust, didn't crave to see the suffering of another the way that he did. Frankly, he couldn't help but do what he did to her. If the younger man knew of his real purpose, he would not go along with it. Despite the century that the man had spent trying to train William, trying to cultivate him as a protege, he had not been able to destroy the boy's compassion for others, a grave weakness.

"What if I told her that it wasnt me? You were the one who did that after all, then at least I wouldnt appear so bad in her eyes..." William trailed off as the older man grabbed his arm.

"No! You cannot tell her I am here. Let her think it is only you, that you two are alone here. I would only complicate things." He released William, and took a step back. "My child, I am only trying to help you. Buffy is young, and naive, surely you can seduce her."

"It didnt work last time, she hates me for it!" The curls on his dark blond head shook as he tossed his hands up in frustration.

"That is because she sees it as you forcing her. Let her come to you." William cocked an eyebrow, so the old man continued. "You have given her a taste of something she has never felt before. You said yourself, she gave into her response, embraced it even. Now you must let her make the next step. Go see her, but remain distanced, cool, haughty almost. Make her desire you."

"It almost sounds so easy." He sighed, his shoulders drooping.

"It is and it isnt. Now, you must go to her, we havent much time. She cannot leave this place. She is the one, have faith my boy." With that, the elderly man dissapated into the darkening shadows. William thought for a moment, lifted his head, squared his shoulders and strode towards Buffy's room.

The old man entered his private conservatory, determined to sit down and plan this out. With a wave of his hand, candles throughout the room lit, casting an eerie glow in the dark room.

He almost laughed at how well things were working out. William stupidly believed that he was merely a fellow spirit, trapped by uncertain circumstances. How angry he would be if he knew my true identity, the man thought. His years in the priesthood had given him the ability to adopt the warm, caring facade to which the fatherless boy had been drawn. Energy practically crackled around him as he remembered what had happened when they had found him out.

He was dragged from the very altar of his own chapel, the angry mob tearing off his robes and the cross he wore around his neck. They hung him that night, just after he had discovered the true source of an incomparable power. His dark magic had been strong enough to keep him alive within the confines of this building, as a sort of ghost-like being. He could take physical form, heartbeat and all, but only for brief spurts of time. That was why he needed William.

He had been there the night they dragged the young man to that same altar. His own mother had stood to the side, condemning him along with the others. The pain he saw in William's blue eyes at the betrayal was almost bewitching, and he realized that the boy could serve a very useful purpose. A simple incantation, and William shared the priest's fate.

Black magic had served him well, but the old priest had to access a source much more ancient, more primitive, in order to completely resurrect himself as a powerful warlock. That power could only be tapped in to through sacrifice. A life had to be willingly forfeited, given as a gift so pure, so true that it harkened back to the source of all power. At that moment, the prist believed that he could harness even a small amount of that energy, and he would become a true immortal. From the moment he saw Buffy, he knew that she could be that martyr. She radiated both strength and compassion, her spirit shone with an inner beauty that was nearly intoxicating. If she could only see what he had seen on the night of William's murder, the look in his eyes, he knew she would do anything. William, due to the fact that he blindly believed that a pledge of love was all that was required to set him free, would play the perfect pawn. Buffy was the moth, William a willing flame, and both completely in the dark as to what they were walking into, the priest almost had to laugh at the tragic beauty of it.

Where the hell is the innkeeper, where the hell are my friends?! Buffy fumed, as she stormed back into her room and threw herself on her bed. She needed to get out of here, now. She simply couldn't believe the outlandish story William had told her, it would mean that there existed this whole other realm that she had never known about. This place was getting to her head. If William was lying, then she was trapped at the mercy of a delusional sexual predator. If he was telling the truth though, then she was caught in the middle of a war between good and evil. Either way, she didnt like her options. She couldn't live like this, like a prisoner caught in some sort of wierd alternate dimension. She felt the walls practically closing in on her, so she bolted back out of the room. The need for space overwhelmed her, so she raced back to the courtyard she had found earlier that morning. As she stepped out into the chilly air, she barely felt the rain. She approached the fountain, and sat down on its edge. Pausing for a moment, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a single penny. If this wish thing is ever gonna work, she thought, let it work now. She dropped the penny into the water of the decrepit fountain, and slid down to the ground, leaning her back against the fountain's rim.

"I just want to go home, please let me go home" she wished out loud, hoping against hope that someone somewhere would hear her. She tilted her head up to the sky, and closed her eyes, realizing that she had never in her life felt so alone.





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