By the time they got to the gym the girls were already doing warm up exercises. They learned the hard way what kind of injuries occurred when you pushed cold muscles too hard too fast.
Giles interrupted them to find out how long they were warming up and re-introduced Spike to the gathering. He was in and out of all their classes and activities all day and they knew him….Oh, they knew him alright. He was downright wigged by the attention. Flattering an’ all, but it was a bit much.
The girls paired themselves and Spike nodded his head for them to begin their sparring.
He studied them for a few minutes, watched as they telegraphed punches and when he had enough Spike hollered, “Oi! You lot lookin’ to get yourselves killed?”
The girls were stunned. Giles bristled. He was insulted. He oversaw the lesson plans for their training himself. He did well with Buffy afterall. What on earth was Spike going on about?
It turns out that Spike is a natural born teacher. Oxford trained, very well read and informed plus he has several life times experience that he brings to his charges. Another of his gifts is his capacity to stay young. Now that may seem an overly obvious point, but deserves some consideration. True, he is forever young, thanks to his condition in life, but more to the point, he is young at heart, almost childlike sometimes. He is very sensitive to young people. He never speaks down to them. They trust him, (now there’s a scary thought) in a way they never trust adults. The ultimate irony, of course, is that everyone walking this earth are children and children’s children to him.
Spike asked the girls to sit for a moment. After grabbing a chair and turning it back to front, he took the seat and glanced into each girl’s face. For a moment it was looking like he was using thrall. He insisted that it wasn’t in his repertoire, but one never knows.
He began by telling them that just observing their moves for a short time, he was impressed with their strength and skills. He saw some things that needed some work, but his concern tonight was that the girls make no attempt to use the other gifts they were given, some along with the recent changes they experienced, but also those that were part of their human existence.
He asked them to be still. Very still. He glanced around to Giles and Xander and asked them to be still as well. They did as they were bid. The room was silent.
After a few moments there was movement and shuffling as the girls adjusted themselves in place. Again, Spike asked them to be still. The room returned to silence, this time a few more minutes went by before the rustling began.
Finally, Spike once more asked for stillness.
This time, the room went absolutely still.
Spike spoke just above a whisper, “Tell me what you hear.”
A voice came from the back of the room. “I don’t know…. Nuthin.’” Followed by tittering laughter.
Spike did not laugh, only said, in that velvet patient voice, “Tell me what you hear.”
Voices came one by one using the same hushed tone as Spike.
“The clock ticking.”
“I hear my heart.”
“The breeze blowing outside, and leaves rustling.”
“Peepers?”
“I hear everyone breathing…someone’s a little congested.” One of the girls said in sing-song. More giggling.
“I heard the bell ring in town…God, that’s three miles away.” Ooohs and aaahs.
“I hear Mrs. Clifton’s dog barking.” Their voices began to speak over one another and he heard their excitement growing.
“Right then, now you’re getting it.” Spike purred.
Giles was smiling. Xander, as usual, looked confused.
“What else then? I think you can tell me more.” Once again the room fell silent.
After a bit came the first tentative, “I smell things….but that’s no big deal is it?”
“Oh, it’s a big deal all right. What do you smell?”
The small girl, she looked to be one of the younger ones, said, “Perfume. I smell the perfume the other girls use.”
“Good,” He stood and walked to her and squatted in front of her and spoke directly in her face, “Tell me more.”
She concentrated, feeling a little embarrassed at having been singled out. Then she sat up straight at looked right at Spike and smiled, “I smell…lavender. Rita wears that. …And I smell Windsong; that’s Sherry’s perfume. And I smell Obsession…she lowered her eyes…you’re wearing Obsession.” The girls laughed.
Spike stood. “So, what’d you learn so far?” Hands shot up. He was overwhelmed. This kind of classroom exercise was lost somewhere in his Victorian history. It was easier when they just called out answers. “OK.” He pointed to one girl with bright red curly hair pulled back so it was a big red puffy ball at the back of her neck.
“I learned that there’s a lot going on around me that I don’t pay attention to.”
“Give the little lady a cookie! That’s exactly the right answer. You lot have been concentratin’ real hard on learnin’ how to fight. Looks to me like you’ve got that bit figured out, but fightin’ and winnin’ takes a bit more than punching and martial arts.”
He walked around the room. “It’s knowin’ your enemy. Mr. Giles probably already talked to you about research. Ya gotta know what you’re fightin’, what it’s wants. What’s it fightin’ for?….A newly risen fledge is the dumbest rock on the planet. It knows nothin’ but it wants to feed. Preferably on you.” He paused, as the girls tittered nervously at his last remark, “But a ratnarthk demon may be a mother protectin’ its eggs. These two would fight different now, wouldn’t they?…Now I’m not sayin’ you shouldn’t kill the ratnarthk because it’s a mother…or a father…both sexes can reproduce in their species….I’m sayin’ that a fledge is just dumb and will go at you all fists and fangs, no thinkin.
“That ratnarkh, on the other hand is fightin’ for a reason, it’s protecting it’s progeny. It’ll go careful like and watch you and study to consider the best way to keep you from killin’ the babies or itself…. it knows the babies need Mom or Dad when they hatch.
“That demon knows you’re warm blooded and young. It can smell you. It sees your pretty pink fingernails and knows you’re no warrior. It sees your skin all fresh and soft and vulnerable with no horns or scales, wings or armor. It probably heard you talking on patrol and knows your voice is a little squeak with no roar or growl It watched you move barely displacing the leaves on the ground….and it tastes your fear on the wind.”
The lesson continued, “What do you know, given the scene I just laid out to you?”
Around the room heads lowered and silence prevailed.
“Yes,….um…well, Spike. Well done”. Giles said. “You’ve given the girls a lot to think about.”
In his best stage whisper, Xander offered, “Ya scared the livin’ shit out of ‘em.”
To which Giles quickly said sotto voce, “That’ll be enough Xander.” Then he continued, “So then, ladies, pair up again and begin your sparring while letting your senses tell you all they can about your opponent. Let’s see how it goes.”
Remarkably, there was a noticeable difference in how the girls went about their task. They were considering one another’s faces and expressions, their stance, their breathing. They noted whether or not they were sweating, whether they were silent or chatty.
All those things taken into account each combatant approached the exercise with greater attention. They found they were less able to land blows. Just one lesson and they were fine-tuning themselves to all around them. All they needed now was to take that lesson with them whenever and wherever they went. Their lives will be richer and maybe longer for it.
There you go little Slayers, Spike thought, a life lesson from a vampire.
They continued for one half hour more when Giles blew his whistle to end the class. The exhilarated girls gathered their towels wiping sweaty faces calling goodnight, asking if Spike was going to be their trainer all the time and offering particular thanks to Spike. Spike feigned humility, muttering, “No problem, S’my pleasure, and Think nothin’ of it.” All the while secretly reveling in the moment….while Xander wallowed in self pity and Giles dreamed of possibilities.
~~~
They waited outside while the guard secured the building. Spike lit up even before the door closed behind them. The night breeze was cool and fresh and carried the threat of longer, darker, colder nights to come as autumn turned to winter.
To all but a vampire’s ears it was quiet as a church at midnight.
“All locked up sir,” said the guard. Giles didn’t know his name. Just one of a half dozen hired for each shift. The property was very large and the girls were housed in several buildings.
They were in and out of their quarters throughout the day as they maintained several different schedules. This was their home now and Giles felt it very important to insure their safety until they could take care of themselves. The rest of their lives would be spent in protecting others. This small respite before they took on their life duty was a small gift he was happy to give.
Giles offered thanks and signaled to Spike and Xander to load up into the car when the officer called out in a thick North country accent, “Oh, sir, one more thing. MacGregor said you should have a word with him before you went home this evenin’.”
“Thank you.” Then after a pause, “I’m sorry, who is MacGregor?”
The guard went to speak and Xander cut him off, “He’s the guy who’s filling in for Binny.”
“Binny’s away then, is he?” Giles asked.
“Guess so!” said Xander. “I ran into this MacGregor fellow earlier. Said he was a temp. Didn’t even know you English used that term. It sounded funny. Come to think of it, he wasn’t English. He was Scotch…at least he had that kind of accent.”
“Really, isn’t that unusual? I’d remember a Scot. While I don’t recall all their names or shifts, I have made a point of meeting all of the guards and substitutes. I would not like the nature of our school becoming public knowledge and I need to make sure these men are the sort who would be duty bound to secrecy…and I like to be up front about the possibility of some element of danger. I can’t imagine Mrs. Reed would approve him on her own…..This is a puzzle. I don’t like it.”
“Smell a rat, Rupes?” said a delighted Spike sniffing for an adventure.
“I’m afraid that may be so. Of course your visit has broken up the routine around here. There may be a perfectly logical explanation. If you don’t mind, we’ll just stop by Masterson and see this MacGregor.” They loaded themselves into the small car for the short drive.
Spike asked, “Where’s this Masterson we’re headed to?”
Giles answered as he shifted gears, “Masterson Hall. Oh…sorry, I guess I didn’t tell you the names. It’s the main building, the administration building where my office is. Buffy named it. Insisted, in fact, said it sounded important. If it weren’t for Buffy…and you I suppose….none of this would have ever come about so I deferred to her wish. Why not? Lots of important Mastersons in our history. I expect she read the name in a book, or saw it in a movie. Guess I should be happy she didn’t want to name it Hornblower.”
Xander laughed. “Hornblower Hall. Oh yeah, lots of credibility there.”
Giles continued, “You jest. Pardon me, but he is a favorite literary hero. We could do worse. Of course, we went the easy route with the rest of the buildings.”
“Right,” Spike noted, “named ‘em after soddin’ royalty. I got it, Rupes.” He glanced at Xander and grinned, “Looks like the game’s afoot, Watson?”
“I was going to suggest we stop by the local pub for a pint anyway, who’s Watson?”
Spike and Giles rolled their eyes, “Never mind. The pub, eh? They got a pool table?” Spike was almost cheerful. He saw an opportunity for a little evil sans carnage. It made his demon happy.
“No pool table, but they have a dart board.” Xander smiled. “I’ll take you on. I’ve gotten pretty good since I’ve been here.”
“Spend a lot of time at the pub, now, do you? Watcher know? He might not approve, y’now.”
“He approves. We go together.”
“Ah!” said Spike. “You think you’re settin’ me up, then?”
“Could be,” grinned Xander.
“So, wot?….. You been practicin’ for 6 months, maybe a year? How d’ya think that’ll hold up against a century? Don’t wanna scare ya or nothin’….just make sure you have pen and pad to write out your I.O.U.s.
~~~
As they pulled up in front of Masterson Hall, Giles said, “If you two will wait here please, I’ll only be a moment.” He felt uneasy about this new guard and wasn’t able to concentrate on the conversation between Spike and Xander. Spike’s visit was leading to one conundrum after another. Once the hiring was done and all departments were in place and functioning, apart from quarterly reviews he paid no attention to how things went, unless, of course, there were problems. Now he was feeling as though he had been remiss in his duties. Damn vampire, he thought. Is he destined to forever be a thorn in my side? I don’t like being reminded of my shortcomings by my sworn enemy. As he made his way to the lobby he reconsidered the plans for protecting the school.
In creating the Academy, Giles and the Council spent endless hours coming up with a plan that would ensure secrecy regarding the true nature of the school and providing protection to all the staff and students. All the teachers hired, even those teaching only academic courses were connected to the former Council in some fashion…former field watchers, family members of watchers and family members of the Council’s ancillary staff…all of whom had been sworn by blood oath to secrecy under pain of mystical retaliation since the origin of the Council itself. The tales of the very few who had violated the oath were legendary, but those are stories for another time.
The teaching staff and students were responsible for the cleanliness of each classroom since the only time they would be unlocked would be when they were in use therefore eliminating any casual exposure via the housekeeping staff. The classrooms appeared completely innocuous. In the event that a lay person were to enter a classroom during class there was nothing visible to the naked eye that might indicate they were used for anything other than reading, writing and ‘rithmatic. Intricate and overlaying glamours were created by wicca from many different covens to conceal the sacred circles set into the patterns on the floor and the pull-downs of important symbols as well as the posters of significant demons so that even if someone were able to see past one, they would never be able to penetrate the woven layers. According to Willow, if one layer should fail another was there. These shifts could conceivably cause some momentary disorientation or perhaps some fleeting dizziness. Nothing serious. The person might think it was a trick of the eye or something. No worries.
The guards did not have keys to the classrooms. Their duties demanded that they walk every floor of every building and check the locks on each door. If they were to find one unlocked there was a keypad to the right of the door and a code particular to that door only to be entered to set the lock. They were instructed that if they entered the code incorrectly (implying that they might try to gain entry) they would encounter an electrical charge that would stun them and leave them unconscious. They were advised that they could contact Mr. Giles or his second (a list was posted) any time if they found a door unlocked and they didn’t want to risk electrocution. So far none of the teachers left a door unlocked so the system’s only test had been during installation.
The building was quiet…church quiet. Giles footsteps as he climbed up the few steps to the lobby echoed around him. They had taken so many precautions, worked and reworked the plans for the protection of the girls and the Council, there should be nothing to worry about. So why was he so worried?
~~~
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