What A Year!
Month 7
Month 7, One Morning : Surprise, Surprise...
Grinning, Angel turned from the car to look at his wife as she waddled out the front door. ”Need some help honey?”
As Buffy stuck her tongue out at him in response, Angel laughed. Life was slowly getting better and, finally back to normal. Well, as normal as life could be on the Hellmouth. Buffy’s vivid nightmares over Whistler’s visit were coming less frequently. Willow and Oz were getting married in three days, Cordelia’s and Xander’s engagement party was the week after Willow and Oz came back from their all expense paid honeymoon in Greece, again, courtesy of Buffy’s secret Sotiera.
Demons and vampires were getting scarce on account of Whistler and his wife taking up temporary residence in Sunnydale. And, again, thanks to Buffy’s mysterious Soteria around shooting his/her flaming arrows whenever any of the Scooby gang was in smallest of dangers, Buffy’s fears were calming down quite nicely. Life was good. Now, if only Giles would stop arguing with Joyce long enough to tell her that he loved her and if Joyce would stop being so blind and dating other men, life would be great.
“Angel? Let’s drop off the Tupperware to Mom before we get to the doctor’s. She wants to fill them up again,” Buffy said as he helped her into the car. ”And she said that she got some more catalogs for the nursery. Though I have no idea why she would want to get more stuff. Anymore and the twins won’t fit in there.”
Angel coughed back a laugh. ”I asked for more catalogs. I wanted to see the new stuff they had...And these catalogs are basically for twins...”
“Angel,” Buffy said in a warning voice. ”Anymore stuff-”
Angel gave her a quick kiss before he moved to the driver’s seat. ”I know, I know. Anymore and the twins won’t even be able to fit into that nursery. But leave it to me, honey. We could always use an extra play room for us and the kids.”
“Angel,” Buffy groaned as he started the car.
*****
As they parked in the driveway of Joyce Summer’s house, Angel was still good naturedly arguing with Buffy on the need for more baby catalogs. ”Honey, you know that with the twins, it’ll be good to have double of everything.”
Climbing out of the car with Angel’s help, Buffy sighed. ”Considering that we have no clue on what gender the twins are, I think that we should wait before we order. Am I really saying this? Me, stopping shopping? God, I think I’m an adult!”
Angel laughed as he led the way towards the front door and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, Angel looked at the door in puzzlement. ”That’s funny, I wonder where’s your mother?”
Worry starting to build, Buffy bit her lip. ”She should have answered by now. You don’t think that something’s happened to her, do you?”
Angel shook his head. ”Of course not, honey. I’m sure that she’s fine. Ring the door bell again, and I’ll go around back to see if they’re in. She might have taken a walk around the block or something.”
“If my bedroom window’s open, you can go in through there,” Buffy called out as she rang the doorbell again. Angel nodded as he made his way to the backyard.
*****
Angel cautiously tested the backdoor knob. And was mildly surprised when the door opened. Then he became alarmed.[Why is the back door unlocked?]
As he entered the kitchen, Angel fingered the stake he carried with him at all times. Hearing strange noises to his left, he took a step towards that direction and felt something on the bottom if his foot. Puzzled, he looked down and picked up...a man’s shoe? He went down again, then picked up another article of clothing. This time it was a red satin blouse. What was going on? “Angel?”
Giving a small yelp, Angel spun as he looked at his wife. ”Buffy! What are you doing in here? I thought I told you-”
Buffy scowled at him. ”You were taking too long. What’s that in you hands? Why do you have my mom’s skirt in your hands? And why are we whispering?”
Angel looked at her, his head bent down. ”We’re whispering because I still haven’t found your mom, Buffy. But I did find these.”
Buffy looked at the skirt, then at the shoe, then at the floor. ”And there’s more. Look.”
Angel looked down and saw several pieces of clothing. Walking slowly, he followed the trail of clothes, all leading towards the library that the Scooby gang finished designing. Buffy clutched on to his arm as she followed behind him. A pair of black pumps. The matching half of the man’s shoe. A black silk skirt. A striped blue tie. A man’s gray vest. A pair of pants.
His brown eyes widened as he stared at the pants. The *tweed* gray pants. Angel froze when he heard the voices getting louder. ”Ohhh boy. Buffy, honey we have to get out of here. Now.”
Buffy froze as her large hazel eyes latched on to the pair of tweed pants. ”Angel, that’s-”
Suddenly, a disheveled Joyce Summers tripped out of the study, laughing and wearing only a tweed jacket that she clutched at the lapels. ”No, no! I have to-oh! Angel! Buffy!”
“Joyce!” a familiarly accented voice called out from the library. Then a rumpled looking, dressed only in his cotton navy boxers, Rupert Giles tumbled out of the library, and caught a stunned Joyce and pulled her back to him as he kissed her nape. ”I’ve got you now, you little minx! Now, get back here and-”
“GILES?” Buffy cried out, stunned. ”MOM?!?”
“Angel. Hi, honey, you’re both early,” Joyce greeted, her voice slightly higher than normal. She gave the two an embarrassed smile as she tugged the lapels of Rupert’s jacket around her tighter. “Why are you here so early?”
Giles’s jaw dropped, and then he promptly hid behind Joyce. With as much dignity he could muster, he greeted the open-mouthed couple. ”Buffy. Angel.”
Angel smiled at them weakly. ”Hi, Joyce. Giles. We brought the Tupperware back. Got those catalogs?”
*****
On Angel’s lap, Buffy sat, still dazed. ”I’m scarred...I am so scarred...I’m gonna need therapy for the next ten thousand years...”
Grinning widely at her dramatics, Angel patted his wife’s head as she buried her head at the crook of his head. [Thank heavens Buffy isn’t looking at me! She’d murder me!]
Someone cleared their throat, and Angel looked up to see a red-faced, fully dressed, tweed-clad Giles enter the kitchen. He looked like he always did. Staid. Serious. Who would have thought he was, as Buffy said, ‘The type to be playing naked Bingo with her mother’? Angel grinned at him. ”Hallo. Erm-”
Buffy’s head shot up, and her hazel eyes narrowed at her Watcher. ”You! Go away! I’m forever scarred!”
Pain shot through him as Giles stared at his Slayer. The daughter he never had. ”Buffy-”
“Buffy!” Angel chided her as he held her closely to him. He was startled by her overreaction. ”Leave Giles alone.”
Turning, Buffy scowled at him. ”Why? Did you know about this? You knew that my mother and Giles were-were-were-”
“Intimate? No. But I do know that he loves your mother. I knew since the night of my bachelor party,” Angel said as he lifted his index finger and put it over her lips. Buffy slapped his hand away from her mouth and glared at him.
“I don’t care about that! Any dodo can see that he had a case for Mom! Even blind as a bat me! But did you know he was playing naked Bingo with Mom?” Buffy demanded, her voice rising and finger pointing at Giles. “In my library? When we’re supposed to be thinking that he’s researching? Do something!”
“Do what?” Angel asked confused as he stared at her. He glanced at Giles, and he had a look of relief and some degree of mortification. He looked at his wife again. ”Ow!”
Buffy smacked her always sweet, but annoyingly and oblivious male husband, again. “You know what! Don’t make me hurt you, Angel! Ask him about when this started, wait, I don’t want to know about that! Ask him-”
“Okay.” Angel looked at Giles, trying to look stern, but failing. He tried to put a serious frown on his face.”Uh-hm. So when did this... all happen, Giles?”
His face red, Giles cleared his throat loudly. ”Early last night. And, it was unintentional.”
Angel cocked his eyebrow while Buffy scowled at Giles. ”Whaddya mean it was all quite unintentional? You mean that you didn’t intend to love my mother or that you didn’t intend to-to-to...Oh God, I can’t say it...To play naked Bingo in my library.”
His face still red, Giles looked at Buffy squarely. ”It was unintentional to, ah, play naked Bingo in your library. And to fall in love with her.”
“Why?” Buffy scowled at him. “What’s wrong with falling in love with my mother?”
“Nothing, she’s wonderful to fall in love with. It’s like something-” Giles said earnestly. And very happy that Buffy wasn’t trying to take him apart with her bare hands. He was about to wax poetic when he heard Buffy growl along with her glower. “That I shouldn’t get into right now.”
“As to how it happened, that’s a bit of a story,” coughed Giles. [Maybe I should get the events out of my mouth before Buffy lost all patience, just in case Angel couldn’t hold her back.] He eyed Buffy, then spoke fast. “I actually managed to get a free night from everything and had planned to, ah, ask your mother to have a-a-a nice dinner with some chilled wine, a little dancing and a small declaration of my-my love for her.”
“So what happened?” Angel demanded with a large grin on his face. He lost it when he saw Buffy scowl at him. “What changed your mind?”
Giles scowled at the memory, and ground his teeth. ”Franklin the Perfect Pillock was on the phone with Joyce when I got here.”
Angel and Giles shared a look of masculine understanding. Buffy looked at him, confused. ”So? Franklin always calls mom. What’s so different about his call last night?”
Giles gritted his teeth. “He wanted to know if Joyce would to go art buying with him. In Mexico. For three days. In a shared suite.”
“And then, Rupert went ballistic,” Joyce said as she entered the kitchen wearing a silk blue and white floral sundress. Buffy’s eyes widened as she stared at her mother. She was sporting red marks on her neck. Then Buffy grimaced when her mother bent to kiss Giles lingeringly before she sat closely next to him, tying a scarf around her neck.
“Ew, Mom! No sucking face at the kitchen table,” Buffy squealed as she recovered from her shock. She covered her eyes and shuddered. Angel smothered another chuckle. ”I’m scarred enough already seeing you wear nothing but his jacket…and Giles almost naked. And knowing that you have hickeys. Not to mention knowing that you two were-were-were having sex! Ew! Giving me the wiggins! I’m scarred! The twins are scarred!”
Joyce let out a small giggle as Giles looked at Buffy, his face still red. ”Oh…Sorry.”
Buffy looked at Giles warily. ”S’okay. Just don’t do that again. Mom, how could you with Giles! It’s-it’s-Mom, I mean, Ew! You’re not-Ew!”
Affronted, Giles looked at Buffy with a glare as Joyce cracked up with laughter. Then he glared at Joyce. ”Nice to know that having sex with me is in the ‘Ew’ category and that it makes you laugh, Joyce!”
After her laughter died down, Joyce grabbed his tie and pulled his face closer to hers, kissing him until he responded. Angel laughed as Buffy made another ‘Ew!’ sound and buried her face into his shoulder. He cradled her closer into his lap. ”I’ll tell you when it’s over, honey.”
When Joyce broke off the kiss, she reseated herself on to a dazed Giles’s lap, and nipped his ear. ”Sex with you wasn’t even close to the ‘Ew’ category, Rupert. It’s in a different category all together.”
“Mom! Are you done? It’s Ew!” Buffy shouted from the haven of Angel’s shoulder. Angel winced at his wife’s indignant bellow. ”Therapy! You aren’t supposed to upset pregnant women!”
Joyce, choking back a laugh, she shifted to look at her daughter, then at her lover. Her face was pink, from laughter, embarrassment or arousal, Giles wasn’t sure. But it was wonderful to see that he was the cause of it. He held her tightly as she explained, ”Sorry, couldn’t help it. See, Rupert. It’s ‘Ew’ for Buffy because a: I’m her mom, and b: I was nearly caught having sex and c: she caught us near naked. Plus, she caught you as being the one to have sex with me. Her father figure. Need me to paint it more clearly?”
Though his face still red there was a smile twitching on his lips as Giles placed a finger on Joyce’s lips. ”I think I’m beginning to see the picture. Moms and father figures don’t have sex. They’re not supposed to let their children know that they are-”
“Don’t say it!” Buffy shouted out. “Therapy! Mom! Giles!”
“Playing naked Bingo in the library,” Giles amended quickly. His eyes twinkled merrily as looked from Buffy to Angel then back again. Then his eyes shot at Joyce when he felt her shift in his lap. He lowered his voice. “Wonderfully fun naked Bingo that never made it to the bed.”
Her face becoming an even deeper shade of pink, Joyce coughed to hold back another burst of laughter as she buried her face in Giles’s shoulder. ”You got it...”
Buffy lifted her head from Angel’s chest and glared at her mother. “Mom...I am totally shocked at your behavior! And Giles! What were you thinking of?”
Lifting her head from Giles’s shoulder, Joyce looked at her daughter’s outraged face to Angel’s amused one and said with a straight face, ”Mind blowing sex?”
“Mom!” Buffy shouted, mortified. Giles groaned in embarrassment as he leaned his head against Joyce’s. While her mother and Angel cracked up, Buffy turned to scowl darkly at her husband. ”Angel! This isn’t funny! My mom was having sex! With Giles! My mom!”
“What were you expecting them to do, honey?” Angel choked out as he held his traumatized wife in his arms. “Spend their whole time researching? At least they’re handing mind-blowing naked Bingo!”
“Angel! How could you!” Buffy shrieked as she slapped him on the shoulder. “I so didn’t want to hear that!”
With tears in her eyes, Joyce laughed. ”Yes, I definitely was. And it was wonderful. And I’m perfectly willing to do it again.”
“Mom!” Buffy started to wail. Still laughing, Angel grabbed on to his wife and held her closer to him. Even Giles started to chuckle as the humor of the situation got to him, then groaned again when he felt Joyce’s bottom shift on his lap.
Taking pity on her daughter, Joyce chuckled. ”Give it up, honey. We’re two consenting adults having a full-blown relationship that includes sex. Just like you and Angel. Only difference is that I’m your mom and Rupert’s your Watcher.”
“I know that! But do you have to talk about it in front of me?” Buffy wailed again. ”I mean, it’s you, Giles AND sex that we’re talking about! And the two of you being CAUGHT! Wiggins! Therapy! Badness!”
“Actually, it was quite good. A good mind-blowing, really,” Joyce corrected impishly. When Buffy wailed again, she broke out into gales of laughter.
Relieved to know that Buffy was more upset at catching Joyce and him about to have sex and talking about it than she was at a relationship between Joyce and him, Giles looked at the red-faced dramatically wailing Slayer. ”Buffy, I promise you that we shall not discuss sex in front of you again. Nor will we be, Erm, about to have mind-blowing sex while you’re around. Now, if the two of you will leave...”
With a steadying hand from Angel, Buffy stood and glared at Giles. ”Not so fast! This discussion is not over yet! I want to know your intentions towards my mom! And I want to know now!”
Giles looked at Buffy, at a total loss for words. He looked at Joyce and Joyce looked at her daughter and drawled, ”Well, honey. I don’t know about Rupert, but I fully intend to do to Rupert what you don’t want to hear. So if you don’t want to catch us again-”
Buffy yelped and grabbed Angel’s hand, yanking him towards the front door. Waddling as fast as she could. ”We’re going to the Doctor Felipe! We’ll be back at five! Sharp!”
“We won’t be doing anything if you get here on time!” Joyce called out as she walked towards the door with Giles right behind her. ”Bye, honey! Have fun! I know I will!”
“Good day, Buffy!” Giles called out as he wrapped his arms around Joyce’s waist. ”We’ll see you later!”
Turning quickly around, Buffy let out another ‘Ew!’ when she saw Giles kiss her mother’s bare neck as her mom shut the door. Angel started laughing again as he started to help Buffy into the car.
*****
Month 7, One Night: History Lesson…
[And it all started out with a great morning] Angel thought as he sighed as he looked at the faces around the Summers living room. It had been a week after the check-up visit to Dr. Felipe’s office and finding out that Giles and Joyce were having sex. Buffy was finally happy that she purged most of the memory of seeing her mother and Giles frolicking out of the library nearly naked. And she was absolutely ecstatic that her mother and Giles had actually found someone, even if it was each other. That was all well and good. But getting the double stroller this morning and then putting it together with Buffy in the afternoon made life just wonderful.
And then this meeting had to take place. At night. So that Lilith and Whistler could make it. Angel sighed again, wanting the meeting to be over as soon as possible. Before Buffy would get upset all over again. ”So what do we know about Lith and Drucilla?”
“Not much,” Giles admitted as he leaned back on his chair. Joyce was quietly sitting on his armrest, keeping a wary eye on Lilith and Whistler. He took off his glasses and looked at Angel. ”All that we know so far from Whistler and Lilith is that Lith and Drucilla are determined to get at Buffy and you at any cost. They have told us about the ceremony that killed Haweh-”
“Am I the only that thinks that name is still strange?” Cordelia interjected before Giles could continue. When Xander looked at her and raised his hand, Cordelia beamed at him.
Xander looked at everyone. ”It’s better to nip her tangent thoughts in the bud before they grow into a forest.”
“If I may continue,” Giles said quickly before Cordelia could retort. ”The ceremony that the performed on Haweh ten thousand years ago will not give the two women destruction that they crave. But-”
“But it would give both of them the satisfaction know that they have killed a children of the Slayer and her mate,” Lilith said as she turned from the window. She looked at Giles. ”Do not underestimate Lith’s hatred for me. She would do much to destroy the Slayer. With the insane one at her side, there is no telling what they can do.”
“My wife is right about that,” Whistler said as he looked at Angel, then at Giles, than at Buffy. His eyes were apologetic as he looked at her. ”Lith, when we resided in Atlantis, was insanely jealous of Lilith, though we were not aware of it. But even if we were aware, we could do nothing about her because of the politics that were involved.”
Xander looked at Whistler. “What politics?”
“Lith is or was the legitimate grandchild of the Grand Emperor of Atlantis. Her father was his fifth son and her mother was the daughter of the High King of the Ice Mountains. It was that blood connection united the continent,” Lilith said as she looked back at the window. She grew silent, but her long black hair, writhed angrily about her, snapping at the air. Whistler touched a strand gently, and it calmed. “She was well protected and valued for a time…until…”
From her rigid posture and the look on her face, Angel was afraid that Lilith was about to lose her lunch right on the carpet. He grimaced as he thought, [Lord, I’m starting to think like Xander] “Until what?”
Taking a deep breath, Lilith continued with a look of distaste. ”She was a...valued heir until I was born...of the-of my mother’s temporary alliance with my father.”
“Does what happened between your parents and your birth is part of the ‘Need to Know’ column,” Buffy asked quickly. Lilith turned to look at her reincarnated child and shook her head. ”Fine. Then we don’t need to know. What’s this about Adan, your Watcher?”
“He was my friend, and he was a good man,” Whistler said quickly, before the memories could overtake him again. ”And he married Lith for what we thought, was love. We didn’t know that she had cast a spell on him. We would have helped him, if we knew.”
“Adan was my Watcher and I trusted him above all others,” Lilith said quietly as she remembered. Her eyes closed. “He aided me in the final battle against the Old Ones-“
“The Old Ones?” Giles looked at her sharply. “The Old Ones still existed when you were a Slayer?”
“They existed. There was a battle and the forces of good won it,” Lilith said curtly. “But the cost of the battle was great.”
“How long were you a Slayer?” Willow asked curiously. Then she blanched as she realized what she said, and stammered, “I mean, when you were-before you were- well-“
“Before Lith killed my child, I had been a Slayer for thirty years,” Lilith said softly and with a little pride. Her eyes glowed as she looked at her husband. “And I was married to my husband for twenty five of those years.”
“Thirty years?” Xander yelped as he stared at her. From all appearances, Lilith looked like a woman in her early twenties. “Wow, you look great for a-ow!”
Xander glared up at Cordelia as she said to him blithely, ”You notice any woman other than me, and there won’t be an engagement party, only a funeral service. And I look great in black.”
“Getting back to the subject, I was under the impression that the Old Ones were all but gone by the time humans were about,” Giles said quickly before Xander and Cordelia would start arguing off topic.
“The most powerful of them were gone, with the help of the Slayer, Watchers and Mana-kai. Banished into Hell,” Whistler said as he looked at his wife. Then looked at Giles and Angel. “The lesser Old Ones, they were still running about the earth, making all sorts of evil demon trouble. Causing battles, massacres and general blood and chaos. It’s a long story, one that I sort of remember. And really entangled with the creation of the Slayer, Mana-kai and Watcher. Makes a plate of spaghetti look organized.”
“Out of curiosity, do you know what the history of the Mana-kai is?” Joyce interrupted. Everyone looked at her, and she shrugged. “I mean, why can’t we-Buffy, see them? Know who they are? I mean, do they all die like Hlin did after they help her? Why work in secret?”
Whistler shrugged as Lilith looked at the Slayer’s mother thoughtfully. “While I was a Slayer, we had all fought together. Side by side. I do not understand why they now cloak themselves in the darkness. Never helping the Slayer directly, dying when face to face with her. I do know that it had started well after the destruction of Atlantis.”
Joyce was about to say something else, when Angel interrupted. “What can you tell us, Whistler? I mean, anything. About the Old Ones, Mana-kai, Slayers, Lith. A short rundown of what you know.”
“I don’t know about the creation of the Mana-kai, Slayer and Watchers,” Whistler admitted as he looked at everyone apologetically. “Only the Mana-kai, the main clans, it seems, knows what the whole story is. And they’re really tight as a clam when it comes to that. And as for the creation of the Slayer, it never used to be so… haphazard when she was picked. That changed gradually after Atlantis’s destruction. I think that the Mana-kai might know more about it.”
“Wait. Isn’t Lilith a Mana-kai?” Willow exclaimed as she looked at her. “I mean, I don’t mean to pry, but-“
“Anything you know would be helpful,” Oz said as he looked at her. Lilith looked at the young werewolf who had been silent. “I know that you people don’t like people into your business, at least that’s what I got from Hlin, but this is on a need to know business. Could save the lives of Buffy and her babies.”
Lilith turned away as Whistler sighed as he rubbed his face. “Short history lesson. The Old Ones were still around, just less powerful. There had been a war that was going on for about-“
“About three millennia and a half,” Lilith supplied quietly. Everyone stared at her as her quiet voice filled the room. “It had been a long and hard battle between the humans and the demons. The war drained most of the resources of Atlantis. And the people had been spread out from the island, to other parts of the world. The minor demons followed, hunting the humans. But among the humans, there was always a guardian. A warrior who would fight the demons and their evil.”
Whistler looked at Lilith, then at the small group that gathered around him. “Back then, the Slayer didn’t fight alone. The Chosen One was the head of an army. Sort of the head honcho of the Green Berets for fighting demons. People were specially picked from all castes, all walks of life, from prince to pauper. But the Mana-kai and her Watchers were originally of a special caste.”
“The Mana-kai were created to be the guardians of the Slayer and the Watcher, her counsel. How they were all created, I cannot remember, it is like a distant fog in my mind,” Lilith said slowly as she looked at Buffy apologetically. She then looked at Giles and smiled wryly. “The history of the three are intertwined, and have always been. Then the Mana-kai went into hiding, and the lives of the Slayers grew shorter and shorter with each passing millennia.”
“You knew that the Slayers were dying younger and younger and you didn’t do anything to help them?” Buffy demanded incredulously. “You were a Slayer yourself! You know the dangers! The risks! How could you-“
“Because I was changed, and I didn’t care,” said Lilith simply turned her gaze away from Buffy. Strands of her hair started to snap in the air as her face was serene when she looked at her husband then at Buffy. “The ritual that Lith performed that night…it changed me. Both inside and out. I was no longer a beloved wife or mother, no longer the Chosen One…no longer human.”
Buffy stared at her as Lilith continued quietly, her voice as soft as a summer breeze, but as cold as the Arctic wind. “I became a woman who lost her child and husband to the darkness. I became a Slayer who was betrayed by her Watcher. A human turned into a demon that thrived on the energy of the living. Why should I care? No homeland, family, or purpose to live for, in the end, I survived, but what did I have left?”
Chilled inside, Buffy stared at her, at a loss for words. She looked at Whistler, then up at Angel, then closed her eyes and remembered…[’In the end, you’re all you’ve got… you’re all you’ve got’…’So this is it? No friends, no family, no hope…what’s left?’ ‘Me.’] “Me…”
When she opened her eyes, Angel reached out, pulled her up then sat down, pulling her onto his lap. Both of them silent as they remembered the time when Angel wasn’t her greatest love, but her greatest enemy. And when she was alone without anyone to rely on but herself.
“But…back then, how? I mean, you said that you were a Slayer for thirty years, I mean how old were you when you became one?” Willow asked after a moment.
Lilith smiled faintly. “I was quite young, only a hundred and thirty or so when my grandfather performed the ritual.”
“A hundred and thirty?” Xander yelped. He stared at her. “That’s young?”
Cordelia stared at her. “You must have used some heavy duty moisturizer! But your hair still has the frizz! Maybe you should have used a different mousse or conditioner?”
“Or a new hairstylist,” Oz commented quietly. Willow stared at her husband who pointed to his own re-dyed bright orange locks. “It’s hair. You how I feel about hair.”
“The average life span of an Atlanian back then was about nine hundred or a thousand years,” Whistler chuckled. He looked at his wife affectionately. “Longer if you could survive the demons. I met her when she was fifty, and she wore down my resistance for the next seventy years, between the Slaying and everything else.”
“A society of Methuselahs, “Giles looked at her in wonder. “It must have been-“
Xander looked at the older man, confused. “A society of Mentos? What the hell do they have to do with this?”
“Not Mentos, Xander. Methuselah. He was the oldest man in the Book of Genesis,” Willow explained. “About nine hundred and some years old when he died. Wow.”
Joyce looked at Lilith. “You said there was a ritual that your grandfather did? To make you into the Slayer?”
“It was called the Ritual of the Choosing. And there were three parts to it, and the ritual could only be performed by the High Emperor of Atlantis, and only him,” Whistler said as he rubbed his eyes. “The first was performed yearly with all the new born female children of Atlantis gathered, twenty-four girls are picked to train as warriors. The second was performed one the night of the New Harvest Year, and it sealed who on was supposed to be the next three Slayers. The third ritual was to choose who was to be the Chosen One. It was never a Mana-kai that was picked to become a Chosen, but for some reason Lilith was.”
“Lilith was not supposed to be the Chosen One, she was supposed to be the bride of the Lucef, the Crowned Prince of the Beezel Fire Mountains,” Whistler said as he looked at his silent wife. He looked at Buffy and smiled faintly. “She was not even picked in the first part of the ritual. But when the Slayer Serapha was slain by an Old One, the light that chooses the Slayer left the chambers, flew out to the gardens to choose her, and not Lith who passed the first two rituals and had prepared all her life to become the Slayer. Sounds like a ‘like mother, like daughter’ story to me, ten thousand years delayed. ”
Joyce stared at him then looked at Lilith, astonished. She looked down at Giles, grabbing his hand. “Rupert… Lucef…Lucifer. Beezel is another name for Beezelbub. Serapha… the angel Seraphim. My God, some of the words in our language, the names in the Old Testament is all based on the Atlanian dialect. It’s the lost Indo-European language.”
Xander looked at her confused as Giles agreed. “Yes, it seems like it, doesn’t it? The origin of all languages… this is all fascinating. How-“
“How about we get back to what Lith plans to do to Buffy and our children,” Angel said forcefully. He gave an apologetic look at Giles and Joyce. “We know what happened between Lith and Lilith-“
“And now we know that we’re dealing with a chick that has serious sanity issues in Drucilla and another loony that has serious Iago-like jealousy problems,” Buffy continued as she looked at Angel. “But what does they plan to do?”
“That’s the easy part, Slayer,” said a voice from the doorway. They all looked to see Spike, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, looking older and more battered from last they saw him. “They plan to make Angel into a soul-less vampire again, sacrifice your children in a ritual to bring back the Old Ones. And that’s just for the appetizer. I’m not even going to say what they have planned for the annoying little panser and his Medusa here.”
Spike smirked at Whistler and Lilith, then looked over at Joyce, his hard blue eyes softening. “Hello, Mum. I’m back.”
Then he promptly collapsed. As Joyce ran over to him, Xander looked at Giles. “If that’s the appetizer, I don’t want to know what the entrée is.”
