An hour later: 6:30 pm Tuesday at the School
Willow and Jenny sat at her desk. Willow was eagerly listening while Jenny explained what she was doing. Willow was willing to learn anything and everything she could about magic and Jenny was describing the steps it would take to reinstall Angelus’s soul. Willow picked up the orb, which glowed in her hand without her even trying, and Jenny smiled, “You’re a natural. That is an Orb of Thesulah. It is used in the ritual of the undead. It can conjure up deceased individuals or other things from the ether world. The ether world is the afterlife.”
Willow nodded listening carefully and taking notes in her head as Jenny continued, “We believe that once dead, your spirit wanders the ether world. Vampires lose their spirit and soul when they are raised so therefore their spirit and soul is in the ether world as if they had died. They are no longer affected by what they do allowing them to eat and kill humans without a problem. But that little orb that is glowing in your hand, is the answer to how to get a vampire’s soul.”
Willow smiled as Jenny leaned over on her computer to type in a few words as Willow leaned over to see what she was doing. Jenny smiled at her, “I made a program. See? It will use random texts to hopefully allow me to translate the text to perform the spell in English since I don’t speak the language. My mother did but I never bothered to learn.”
Willow nodded again watching the computer screen beep and scan. Jenny watched the screen as well tapping a pencil lightly across her desk while tapping her foot to the music in her head. Willow spoke up breaking the silence, “I’ve gotten better at elevating a pencil.”
Jenny looked surprised as Willow lifted the pencil from her hand to allow it to float midair and then Willow moved her finger in a circle making the pencil twirl and flip itself according to Willow’s direction. Then Willow gently lowered the pencil back into Jenny’s hand and Jenny clapped. She was so proud of Willow, “You are doing great. Just be careful you don’t get in over your head. You want to practice good magic not evil.”
Willow grinned, “I’m so excited about you teaching me. Will you let me help with the soul spell?”
Jenny put her hand on Willow’s shoulder, “Yes. You can watch and be there but you are the one to wave the incense around and observe. I can’t have you a part of it until you are stronger.”
Willow agreed secretly hoping someday she could perform something as powerful. She knew deep down she was ready. She knew she could make it work. She could feel the power flowing through her when she was performing simple spells and she knew the bigger ones would work even better. Willow glanced at the time noticing it was already 7 and questioned, “Will it take much longer?”
Jenny frowned as she tapped the pencil on the desk again and then frowned, “Yes, it doesn’t seem to be doing it as quickly as I would have hoped. We can meet up in the morning to perform the spell. Bright and early before school ok with you?”
Willow stood up giving Jenny a big hug, “I’m so excited! I can even get here at 5 if you want. I can sneak out tonight if you want around midnight. My parents are sleeping by then.”
Jenny patted her on the back pulling back from the awkward hug, “No in the morning will be fine. 5 is ok. I’ll have it all saved up by then on this yellow disk. See you then Willow?”
Willow grinned with a repeated nod, heading out of the school to grab some food before heading to Buffy’s.
3 hours later: 8:30 pm Tuesday at the School
Giles walked into Jenny’s office thinking they were finally getting somewhere. She smiled at him as she said, “Can we meet up later?”
Jenny smiled big as she nodded wondering what they would be up to tonight, “I have to finish up this here and I’ll swing by later. At your house?”
Giles nodded with a smile, “Good.”
He kept turning back until he finally walked out of her office and Jenny felt better than she had in a while. She was actually having a good relationship with someone that she really cared for. Things were good. She hoped to finish up the translation and finish before even going to Giles and she wanted to surprise him with the news she had completed it rather than just thought about it.
She worked for hours at it wishing it were done already. Finally at around 10:30 she got a hit. She hit the button and waited tapping her pencil to see what would happen and what kind of results she would get. She whispered to the computer inpatient to meet Rupert, “Come on, come on.”
A second screen flashed onto her screen with the translation into English. She whispered in shock that it had actually worked stating, “That’s it. It’s going to work!”
She put her pencil down to save it to a disk. She could barely retain herself from excitement as she hit the save button throwing in a disk as well. As the disk finished, she placed it in the top drawer and proceeded to begin printing it off. She glanced up and noticed Angelus standing in the corner of her office. She gasped in shock as she stood up trying to get out of the room without him jumping her, “Angel. How did you get in here?”
He was calmly sitting in the corner of the room resting his feet on a chair as he stated, “I was invited.”
Jenny looked confused as he explained, “The sign in front of the school.”
He spoke in Latin and Jenny spoke in English, “Enter all ye who seek knowledge.”
He chuckled standing up as he held out his arms, “What can I say? I’m a knowledge seeker.”
Jenny tried to be optimist hoping it would spare her life, “Angel I’ve got good news!”
Angelus pretended to be excited as well, “I’ve heard! You went shopping at the local boogidy boogidy store.”
He walked closer and closer to Jenny but instead of advancing on her, he stopped at her desk lifting up the orb that she had bought earlier. He picked it up holding it in his hand, “The orb of Thesulah. If memory serves, this is supposed to summon a person’s soul from the ether and store it until it can be transferred.”
The orb glowed in his hand as Jenny watched in horror trying to blend in with the wall hoping he didn’t come near her. Angelus held the glowing ball in his hand as he shook his hand a little bit, “You know what I hate the most about these things?”
He looked at Jenny and grinned as he threw it against the wall near her head shattering it into many pieces. Jenny gasped in horror as she flinched covering her face from the broken pieces of glass. He chuckled, “They are so damn fragile. Must be that shoddy gypsy craftsmanship.”
Now at this point Jenny knew she was in trouble. He didn’t want his soul back and would come after her. She tried to inch her way towards the door to run before Angelus could kill her. She reached the door as he said, “I never cease to be amazed at how much the world has changed in just two and half centuries. It’s a miracle to me. You put the secrets to restoring my soul here.”
He knocked the computer off the desk and onto the floor making the place spark with fire. Jenny was afraid and tried to open the door throwing herself against the doorway for protection after finding the door was locked. Angelus wasn’t finished yet as he ripped out the paper out of the printer, “And it comes out here.”
He pretended to take great care with it as he folded it up carefully and read, ‘”The Ritual of Restoration. Wow this brings back memories.”
He chuckled as he began to rip the pages apart. Jenny was really freaking out now. He kept staring at her so she couldn’t get away without him realizing it and part of her was still hoping he’d leave her alone. She spoke up trying to distract him, “Wait that’s your….”
He pretended to groan, “That’s my cure.”
He pretended to cringe, as he replied, “No thanks. Been there, done that. Déjà vu just isn’t what it used to be.”
He glanced down at the fire the computer had caused stating, “My isn’t this my lucky day.”
He put the pages onto the burning computer and held his hand over it as though seeking the warmth he couldn’t feel. He stated, “Looks like I get to kill two birds with one stone.”
He leaned down closer to the fire as Jenny crept closer planning to take him out while he was distracted. He vamped out suddenly glancing up towards Jenny, “The teacher makes three.”
He licked his lips as Jenny tried to run past him. He threw her through a doorway as he caught her by the waist and he growled in excitement. She ran into the hallway to the exit doors but found them locked. She ran through the school as fast as she could with Angelus tailing close behind her. She paused as she found another doorway and tried it but it too as locked. She yanked on it as hard as she could hear him growling as he was closer to catching up with her. She closed the door right in his face as she took off running again through this time the lighted hallway. She threw a janitor cart at him making him fall and she raced up the stairs not seeing him. She thought she had escaped until he stopped her in her tracks laughing at her. He whispered as he put his finger against her lips, “Sorry Jenny, this is where you get off.”
He then twisted her neck…
3 hours later: 11:30 pm Tuesday Giles’s Apartment
Giles heard music playing and saw a rose on his doorknob. He leaned down smelling the rose with a smile across his face. He opened his door whispering, “Hello…Jenny?”
He glanced around the room noticing a bottle of champagne cooling in owl of ice as he stated, “It’s me!” as he hung up his jacket on the coat rack. Music filled his ears as he picked up the paper on the bowl that stated, “Upstairs.”
A smile filled his face as he imagined their romantic night. They had gone to the movies, out to dinner, for coffee but never had such a romantic evening been planned. He lifted the bottle of champagne from the bowl and smiled lifting two glasses as well that had been carefully placed out on the table. He followed the candle trail that had been carefully lighted up the stairs as he admired the rose petals and the careful detail Jenny had spent planning this evening. When he reached the top of the stairs, he entered his bedroom and was shocked by what he saw. He dropped the bottle and glasses to the floor as his face fell as he found Jenny carefully lay out on his bed dead.