Chapter 4
** Previously:
Penny considered the clearly confused girl for a moment before making her offer. “If you really want to know the answer to the question of Angel, Buffy, I can tell you. But, I can guarantee you aren't going to like the answers.”
**
Looking at Buffy, Penny could see the play of warring emotions flit across the torn girl’s features and wondered if she would be able to deal with even a small part of the information Whistler had imparted.
Buffy knew that her perceptions of her first love were romanticized, she just didn’t know if she was ready to grow up and finally let go of her vision of him to see the real Angel. Considering Penny’s words, she was terrified that her already shaky world was about to come crashing down around her. The Slayer part of her was screaming to know the truth, but the part of her that was all girl wanted to run and hide. The Slayer side won. Nodding her assent, Buffy encouraged Penny to talk.
“To understand Angel, you first have to understand what makes up normal vampires,” Penny stated clearly. She had lectured before and thoroughly enjoyed a captivated audience.
“Vampires are considered half-breeds in the demon community because they are in actuality half-demon, half-human. The demon half is in fact the essence of a demon, a soul without a body, if you will.
“When a human agrees to be turned, they are actually agreeing to share their body with the demon. They accept that they will be considered dead by human standards, but it is an acceptable price to pay for immortality, strength, and power.
“The development of the vampire, or if you’d prefer, the type of vampire they will become, relies on a number of factors. If they are not under any outside influence at all, the human part of the vampire can either be so high on the sense of power or freedom that they now have, that they allow the natural instincts of the demon to completely overtake them. Or, they can retain some control. That control allows the human side to influence the demon side. The strength of the human personality is very much a discerning factor on what type of vampire they become. An example of that would be Harmony. She’s still the same vapid, self-centred personality that she was when you went to school with her. She totally accepts her demon side, which allows it to step into the background. As long as the demon is fed, the demon is happy. Harmony’s demon doesn’t need violence the way some demons do,so Harmony is basically the same as a vampire as she was as a human.”
Giles was so enthralled by the information being shared that he almost forgot to take notes.
“The type of human you are has a huge influence over the type of vampire you become. If things like honesty, loyalty, the importance of family, and love are a big part of the person you are, then they are going to be a big part of the vampire you are. A vampire who was selfish, egocentric, a liar, or a thief as a human will influence their demon in much the same way.
“Not all vampires are inherently violent. Not all vampires are inherently evil. Just like every human, every vampire is different. But every vampire needs to feed and understandably most humans have a problem with that.
“Many vampires are sired into existing vampire families, and just as with human children, vampire childe can be moulded by their families. In this situation it is not unusual to find a vampire that was a sweet, wonderful, and caring human transformed into a rabid monster by means of torture, rape, and all manner of physical and emotional abuses. It is their inner strength of character that can allow these vampires to not lose the softer side of themselves. They put on a mask, or hide behind an image, but ultimately a good man can completely control his demon until he becomes more man than demon. It’s rare, but it’s possible, and that’s what happened to Spike. It amazes me that the only person to treat Spike with any decency at all is Mrs Summers, when all the rest of you need to do is treat him as an equal and you too will see him shed his image and show you who his really is.
“I’ll offer you one more point on the subject of Spike before I move on to Angel. Physically, Spike has never directed an attack aimed at Agent Finn, Anya, or Mr. Giles. In the case of Mr. Giles, he actually saved him from further torture at the hands of Angelus. Yes, he hit Tara in the nose, but that was to prove she wasn’t a demon, and it caused him more pain than it did her. He didn’t even hit her hard enough to draw blood. Willow, he kidnapped you, threatened you with a broken bottle, and he tried to bite you, but he didn’t actually physically hurt you. You, on the other hand, actually hit him over the head with a lamp, and this was while he was trying to make you feel better when Oz left you. Xander, he knocked you out and kidnapped you and you would be well within your rights to want an apology, but you need to ask yourself if you would even be alive if the vampire responsible for that situation were Angelus. Buffy, you've tried to kill him as often as he's tried to kill you. Blame him for his own actions, but stop taking your hatred, anger, and frustration over Angelus out on Spike.”
The vampire had his head down, apparently overwhelmed by the psychologist’s words. He didn’t see the speculating looks that many in the group directed towards him.
“Angel is totally different from Spike, but not in the way that you would think. First, you have to understand why Angelus and Spike are so different from each other. It has nothing to do with the demon. Remember the demon is influenced by the man. The truth is, William was a good man who went through a devastating experience and, in a highly emotional state, chose to rebel. That mistake has cost him dearly. Liam, on the other hand, was a self-centred, egotistical, drunken rapist who, when thrown out of his home, stole his family’s household pin money and used it to get drunk. He welcomed the turning and then killed every single person in his hometown. Liam became Angelus and revelled in the power, debauchery, and blood. William spent twenty years under the tortuous tutelage of Darla, Angelus, and Drusilla until he was forced to create a new persona; one that had more demon in it.
“The curse was created to punish Angelus. The gypsies felt that when Angelus murdered the clan’s revered daughter, his pain should be as eternal as theirs. They knew that his human soul had adapted to its new vampiric cultural beliefs, so he felt no guilt over taking the life of what he considered food, so they needed to find a way around that obstacle,” Penny informed her now fascinated audience.
“What is the significance of cultural beliefs?” Giles asked, completely enthralled.
“Humans aren’t born with an innate knowledge of right and wrong, it has to be taught to us,” Penny responded. “The culture which we are born into plays a large part in what we are taught. For example; some Asian cultures find it perfectly acceptable to eat dogs. Some cultures believe that a woman 'allows' herself to be raped, and so it is well within her family’s rights to stone her to death for bringing the family shame. Some cultures believe cutting a person’s hand off is a fair punishment for theft. There are even human cultures that believe that a male child’s first sexual experience should be given to them by an adult, so the child’s first sexual experience is to be sodomised.
“Religious groups have wiped out entire races of indigenous people, simply because they wouldn’t follow the new religion. Some humans eat pork while others find the thought of that disgusting. Vampires need blood to survive, why would they feel guilt for killing their food? Humans don’t feel guilty for killing cows. You think it’s disgusting that they drink blood, and yet many human cultures enjoy eating black pudding or blood sausages and these are foods made from blood. The Brits have been enjoying Black pudding for years.” Penny raised an eyebrow at Giles and smirked.
“Now, getting back to the curse.” Penny waited for Giles’ nod. “The gypsies decided that in order for the curse to work the way they wanted it to, Angelus needed to be cursed with a soul that would ignore the cultural beliefs of vampires and focus on the cultural beliefs of humans, specifically that hurting or killing humans is bad and you should feel guilty. So the curse was worded explicitly, demanding guilt to be the primary emotion felt. Angelus, or I should say Liam, because it was the human part of him, couldn’t cope. Liam had never felt guilt before, so he created the persona of Angel so he could separate himself from his deeds. It was easier to cope with blaming Angelus for everything than acknowledging his own culpability. The cursed soul didn’t make him do good; it just made him feel guilt. He spent a hundred years wallowing in self-pity before he was approached by Whistler as a representative of the Powers-That-Be and offered a chance at redemption. But it wasn’t redemption that got him interested in helping…it was Liam’s attraction to a fifteen year old child.”