Buffy looked deep into the eyes of her former mortal enemy. What she saw there made her lose focus of anyone else in the room and just concentrate on the one that had laid his heart out on a platter for her. “Spike. You once gave a speech about love,” she smiled wistfully at the memory and continued, “and I didn’t want to hear it at the time. Now you spring this on me. I haven’t even been broken up with Riley for a day now and…”
She took a deep breath and sighed heavily trying to put things she wasn’t sure of herself into words. “Look, you’re hot; we’ve kissed before and it was, well, great; and I’ve seen you love. She was a complete ho-bag, but you were so devoted. And Harm better be history or I’ll be very pissed. And you don’t want a pissed-off Slayer on your ass, mister!” She had a determined look to her, eyes flashing murder at the thought of the previous women in her vampire’s life. ‘My vampire. Sounds right!’
“What are you saying, luv?” Spike was weary of hoping, but if he understood her ramblings correctly… Could it be?
“I’m saying that it’s too early for me to… We’ll talk about this later,” she said, startled when she seemed to notice for the first time where they were and who was watching, “and in private!” She gave a pointed look to her sister who was beaming a megawatt smile, the bubbly happiness so evident on her face that it was hard to keep a stern face. The others were either subdued or benevolent in their countenance so she relaxed as if after great exertion.
Spike was stunned, halfway between believing he was still asleep and wanting to jump up and down howling with glee. He settled for leering at her, tucking his tongue between his teeth and winking. “Whenever and wherever you want, luv!”
“This reminds me,” Anya cut in the somewhat awkward moment the rest of the people present were experiencing, “if there are no demons, just expats, where does the soul-less part of the vampire descriptions fall in? There is a clear difference between Angelus and Angel and the original Liam. So what happened to them? And would this make the rest stop looking down at Spike for not having a soul?” Her earnest question caught many of those present off-guard.
Buffy, more than anyone wanted the answer to those questions, especially since she had a feeling that the answers from these gods would bear great importance on her future with Spike.
“Funny you should ask, Anya,” Zamolxis was pleased at the way things were going and so his voice was smooth and charming, “I was just about to start talking about that before that whole nasty business with the meat-for-brains.” Chuckles were heard from everyone save Buffy at the description. “The story is a rather convoluted one, so if everyone will take their seats and promise to let me finish I shall proceed.”
Despite the blatant show of ignorance at the fact that they had been forced to sit still and listen to the gods’ accusations towards Willow, the humans and the vampire nodded in acceptance. At this Bendis sent them all a reassuring smile as Zamolxis seemed to take a second to compose himself.
“The story begins at the end of the last one, really.” He winked at them and tapped the Draco imprinted on the collar of his leather jacket. “After the werewolf debacle, things were no better off for the humans of this world. Guardians were still needed to keep expats in line, or so the Powers argued.” At Bendis’ scowl, he chuckled low in his throat and continued the tale with a flourish.
“You see, they claimed the disaster was entirely because of the wolf-spirit’s baser instincts taking over the human intellect, small as it was back then, and making the empowered ones mindless animals.” He waved a hand dismissively at this. “Leave it to the Prosecution to get their facts wrong and blame the poor expats.”
Sending a cheeky grin towards an ever-increasingly thunderous Bendis, he continued his story. “So they changed tactics, you see. They took the essence of an extinct race of expats and merged it with what they deemed to be the best and brightest.” He snorted as if to underline his low opinion of the plan. “So they took some of the greatest warriors and chieftains that humanity had to offer and imbued them with mystical powers to make them better warriors. How did they do that, you might ask. Why, very simple. It involved an initial ritual, involving 15 very powerful champions. They were basically transformed into half-expats.”
He took a deep breath and modulated his voice to resemble a narrator on one of the Discovery Channel documentaries as he went on. “They were built for stealth and hunting. Most of the systems that could have given them away were repressed. Even their heart was stopped to prevent them from being betrayed by the sound of its beating. Enhanced night-vision and the ability to grow fangs and claws at will completed the package.” He smirked as his words made the desired connections inside the heads of the people gathered there. Spike was slack-jawed and the others were looking at him with a hint of wonder in their eyes.
Before anyone could get out of their stupor and interrupt him with questions that would just lengthen his story, Zamolxis started speaking again. “The initial fifteen were called Maestri Vampiri and their offspring, or Childer as you would call them today, were called Vampiri.” Holding up a hand to stall the questions threatening to spill from everyone’s lips, he added more information in a calm tone. “They were deemed perfect for the job and, taking in consideration everything, for a while they were.”
“Until they started snacking on the populace, right?” Xander snarked.
“Your opinion was not asked for and you were told to stay your questions. As usual, you’re not that good at taking orders from the ones superior to yourself, are you?” Zamolxis shot the still sulking young man down again. “Regardless, the blood was a tribute freely given by the tribes to their champions. You see, the demon essence did not replace the person it inhabited, the consciousness and memories of the turned ones were still present. Their ties with their human families were exceptionally strong back then. Also, they were dependant on the tribe’s well being to survive, by having to drink the donated blood – also a method of uniting with their tribe in an almost sacred ritual.” Zamolxis was looking at each participant in turn as he spoke, searching deep within their eyes for any sign that his words had the desired impact.
“The details are unimportant; however you must know that it all worked quite well for centuries. Nevertheless, as you might have guessed something went wrong. At one point, some of the group became disgruntled. They were swayed by the words of some of the expats they were watching and hunting. They had problems at home, loved ones dying and such. Anyway, the reasons are both somewhat unclear and irrelevant. What is relevant is the result.”
He looked straight into the eyes of Spike as he continued his story. “There was a civil war amongst the Vampiri clans. The renegades were allied with the expats while the ones faithful to the old ways had precious little help from the human populace and some of the ‘tamer’ expat races. As you can imagine, the faithful were decimated. In fact, the rout was so complete that only one was left by the end of the last battle. She was one of the original fifteen and, as such, of considerable power and knowledge.”
He turned his penetrating gaze towards Buffy, whose eyes had grown large, betraying the rapid-fire thoughts warring inside her reeling mind. “She had been one of those responsible for the spell to make the sunlight harmful to vampires. So as Amara lay dying,” the name drew a collective gasp from the Scoobies, who were very familiar with it, “she transferred her essence, expat and human alike, to her favorite human, the one she was grooming to become a Childe. Aided by her personal servants, she made Sineya the First Slayer, giving her everything.”
“NO!” Buffy shouted, rising from her chair and backing up while shaking her head.
“I knew it! You’re just here to twist Buffy’s mind, you’re just…” Xander didn’t get to finish as Willow attempted once again to regain her control.
“I command thee…” the rest of her words died out in a gurgle as Bendis and Tara both threw her scalding looks and the goddess silenced her with a thought.
Anya stated commenting about the human / non-human ratio and the benefits of having an expat background to fall back upon, while Giles tried to get more answers from Zamolxis.
As the pandemonium created by the god’s words raged on, Spike, Joyce and Dawn approached the skittish Slayer, who had entered a state of shock. She was repeating “No” over and over, while Joyce and Dawn hugged her tight and Spike tried to reassure her about her goodness.
“You’re the best bloody white hat there is. Who cares what some chit did eons ago, you’re your mum’s daughter and that doesn’t change by being Called. The whole lot of them are lucky to have you as the Slayer. And whatever they say, the Slayer’s a bloody Champion!”
Inside, Spike was torn. He’d never known about this story. Nobody he knew had, in fact. So inside him something was initially a servant of Good. And he and the Slayer were closer than either had ever imagined. He took a second to snicker about him being called a traitor by the other expats. In fact, he was apparently just reverting to his original intended purpose. Bloody Hell! Seeing the Slayer in such a state of shock though took prevalence in his mind, so he focused solely on comforting her.
Bendis approached Tara and started speaking to her in a hushed voice. “The red witch is powerful, we know that. She has done wondrous things and her future would have had her do a lot more. However not all powerful things are good, as you well know.” At Tara’s flinch, she put her hands on the young wicca’s shoulders and gazed deep into her eyes. “There are many things that will happen and you can help tremendously, despite some mishaps that you have had in the past. We need you, all of you. And what I need you to do is very important.”
“What’s that?” Tara was surprised at her lack of stutter but considered it to be another one of the god’s ways of influencing people.
“I will take you to a place that has been hidden for millennia. It holds one of the last ones to remember the faces of both Sineya and Amara.” Bendis smiled encouragingly at Tara’s gasp. “She has much to teach you. And together you will help your lover overcome her lust for a power that does not belong to her. She has the potential for much grander things, if she can just let go of her selfishness.”
“I’ll learn. I’ll do whatever I have to.” The usually reserved woman squared her shoulders, ready to take on any responsibility that meant helping the ones she cared about.
“We shall go there tomorrow, when the sun is highest. Be prepared and tell no-one, as the things you are to learn are for your ears only until the time is right for the others to know.” With those words, the goddess left Tara to contemplate on what was to change and made her way to the Summers’ women.
Meanwhile Zamolxis was left to deal with the combined forces of the Scoobies as they tried to dispute the things being said or gather more information. However entertaining he found chaos, some of their whining, as well as the level of obtuseness shown by the young male especially, was starting to grate on his nerves.
“You can deny all you want, but the facts remain the same.” He stated for what seemed like the tenth time in the last couple of minutes.
“The Watchers’ Council has never revealed anything that would corroborate your statements, nor has anything we have found even remotely hinted at anything of the like being true. Even Anya with her centuries of experience hasn’t heard anything of this.” Giles was torn between being outraged and inappropriately delighted at the revelations. If all of this was true, he was the first Watcher to learn the truth since the beginnings of the Slayers and the rogue inside of him was pleased by the overturn of the situation.
“You’re casting spells on us, you’re restraining us and we should believe you?” Xander fumed again.
“If we had wanted any of you dead you would already have ceased to exist. We don’t want to harm you; on the contrary, we want to rectify some wrongdoings that could mean something akin to an apocalypse in not only this dimension, but many others as well. Just think about it, you and hundreds of other Xanders throughout the Universe all dead because you choose to ignore our warning. Moreover, not just you. Everyone you care about, everyone you have ever cared about and everyone else in countless worlds dead because you found some truths too hard to swallow.”
Zamolxis pinned him with a cold stare that promised fire and brimstone. “What we have told you since the beginning has all been meant to help you, not destroy your unity or anything of the sort. Do you remember when Spike almost broke your group up at the end of Adam’s reign of terror? He did it by playing with your insecurities, your deepest desires and your half-truths. Had he been truly gunning for your destruction, you would all be dead now. Keeping things hidden will do nothing but allow the next expat to actually pull it off.”
He got a sardonic look on his face as he explained things another way. “Imagine if Dracula, for example, had learned of your attempted rape. He already knew you were filled with lustful thoughts towards the Slayer, that being the reason why you succumbed to his thrall so easily. Had he known everything, Buffy would have already been turned and the world would be a very different place.”
“Well if what you say is correct, the Slayer being turned would mostly be her reverting to a previous state, would it not?” Giles wanted this issue clarified.
Bendis made her way over to Joyce’s side and started talking to the three members of the Summers’ clan. “I am sorry that the news we have imparted has had such an effect on you, child.” She said as she ran her fingers down the Slayer’s cheek.
“Is it true? What you said, is it true? Is my daughter possessed by some mystical thing from centuries ago?” Joyce asked.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. However, Buffy, can you hear me?” She looked deep into the unresponsive Slayer’s eyes. “There is nothing wrong with you. You are not a demon. You are surrounded by the supernatural every day; your normal is so much different than the rest of humanity’s normal. You have friends that number witches, vampires, former demons and the people that hunt them. Is the fact that you are different than you envisioned that difficult to accept?”
Seeing a flicker of understanding in the girl’s eyes, she continued her coaxing, “You are the Chosen One, you protect all the world from becoming an expat playground, so why do you care where your powers derive from so much? In addition, Amara was goodness personified. She was kind; she was wise beyond comparison in those times; she had power the likes of which have seldom been seen on this planet, but never let it corrupt her; she was revered by her tribe and considered the greatest champion for humankind before her fall and the Council’s decision to expunge all records of her.”
Seeing that Buffy was slowly pulling herself out of her dark place, she decided to throw caution to the wind and explain more, “She was a teacher, a leader and she even had a daughter before she was Called. Sineya was her direct descendant, in fact. Why would your connection to such a great warrior for the side of what you call ‘good’ make you any lesser than you are? Snap out of it and accept your heritage. The same heritage that her former servants, the ancestors of the current Council tried to keep hidden from what they saw as ‘their slayers’ in order to make them more malleable.”
As the Slayer came back from her catatonic state, the next words Bendis spoke woke her up completely. “The Council tried to kill you in order to keep you from this secret, as they have done to Slayers throughout the years. Why would you allow their teachings to pollute your mind?”
“So if I’m related to vam…” She was cut off when she heard Giles’ question to Zamolxis, so she pinned the male god with her still teary but determined gaze and asked as well, “So if I were to be turned, what exactly would happen?”
[Reviews - 69]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 1747 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
I would like to thank Dusty for her wonderful beta work, Sotia for being my test-reader and girlfriend and for making this banner for me.
And on with the show!
And on with the show!
Chapter End Notes:
Good question, huh?