Armageddon SagaBuffy awoke hungry, to find Angel sleeping curled up against her, spoon fashion. He was
Chapter Seven: Reunions 2
By the Lady Sirona ladysirona@LadySirona.com
deep in a vampire's day sleep. A faint light showed through the dark curtains telling her it
was morning. She smiled as she stretched, careful not to disturb her sleeping Angel. They
had made love off and on all night. She was sore, tired and happier than she had ever
been in her entire life. She hurt gleefully everywhere! Hunger drove her from the bed. A
quick glance at her watch told her it was still breakfast time. Quietly, she dressed and
went in search of sustenance.Giles, Willow and Xander were eating breakfast when she arrived in the dining hall. "Hi
guys!" She greeted them cheerfully. Too cheerfully for the usual anti-morning Slayer
they all knew all too well. They all looked up and into her blinding smile, noting the
bounce in her step and the obvious vampire bite on her neck. She bubbled and bounced as
she sat down with a heavily laden tray."So, how's Angel?" Xander asked nonchalantly as he spread butter on his toast.
"How do you know I saw Angel?" Buffy asked innocently, playing at being confused.
Willow snickered as Xander snorted. Buffy stared at them and then to the blushing
Watcher next to her."Well," Xander continued dryly. "It was pretty obvious. You and him were screaming
each others names off and on all night long." Xander glared at Buffy as Willow choked on
her laughter. "A man would have had to be deaf to have missed it. Your vampire hickey
adds more to the evidence to the fact. Angel is the only vampire you would let get *that*
close!" Xander began to eat his buttered toast, ignoring Willow and Giles' sputtering
embarrassment."He's fine. I left him sleeping.” Buffy dug into the food, her hunger driving her to eat
despite Xander."I bet he's tired. If he wasn't already dead, you probably would have killed him last
night!" Xander quipped as Willow choked on her toast and kicked him under the table.Buffy stared at Xander. He always hated Angel. It wasn't like him to be so joking about
his undead rival. Was Xander finally growing up?"Giles, are you OK?" Buffy asked her lobster red faced Watcher. She didn't care for
the color he was turning."I am, and I am glad you and Angel, are back together, yes.” Giles got up and walked
away from the breakfast table leaving his meal unfinished. Buffy stared after him,
sorrow in her eyes for his loss of Jenny and the pain Angel being back must be causing
him.His mind disobeyed his commands and replayed the night he had come home and found a
Giles walked into the library, sat at the table, and hid his face in his hands. He missed
Jenny so much it hurt.
flower on his door with a note to come inside. He had entered his apartment to find
flowers, wine and other signs of a romantic evening planned. A note sent him upstairs in
hope of finding a willing lover in Jenny Calendar. What he found in his bed wasn't a
willing lover, but a lifeless corpse, left in his bed by Angelus, the demon.Now Angel was back. The vampire who loved his slayer! He had sex with her and then
fed off his slayer! The same body as the one who killed Jenny. Different soul… Buffy
and Angel were meant to be together... but with Jenny gone, and now he was alone.
Never had his aloneness been so hard. Early in his Watcher career, Giles had resigned
himself to being alone all his life. It wasn't until the possibility of not being so, because of
Jenny, did he ever even entertain the thoughts of sharing his life with another. Now
those possibilities were gone, forever, as dead as Jenny."Usurper.” Tirla’s voice called him out of his mourning. He saw her enter the library. He
was pleased by her attention, but her timing sucked."Why do you call me that?" He asked her fearing that she knew the truth.
"You are the Watcher Randall should have been, had he not died." Giles winced. She did
know the horrible truth. "You avoided your calling to be a watcher, and therefore were
not 'formally' trained. You were an unknown quantity so they sent you to the Hellmouth
to watch the renegade Slayer of Merrick's. She was unwilling, untrained, disrespectful
and disobedient and had been the cause of the death of her first Watcher. You were
chosen by your expandability." Giles winced. The Lady Tirla didn't mince words, and
confirmed what he had always known."However, your unorthodox training, and her spirit, created one of the greatest Slayers
in history." Tirla walked over to him. "That is your greatest strength and weakness. A
lesser Watcher, properly trained, would have gotten your Slayer killed.""What can I do for you?" He asked. He became the Watcher.
"Define Ghoul." was Tirla's quick response to Giles surprise. "Actual reality and *not*
the myths."'I only know, the, ah, myths” Giles slowly responded, calling forth his knowledge. "A
Ghoul has been raised from the dead, I believe through sorcery. A Ghoul, Ah, eats fresh
human flesh - sometimes reportedly still alive, I believe they are immortal like a vampire.
I believe they are killed by beheading.""Are they inherently evil, as a demon controlled vampire for instance?" Tirla asked him
quietly. Giles wondered at her question. She probably already knew the answer, so this
was a test for him of some sort."I do not believe so, no.” Giles thought carefully. "If the need was for fresh killed flesh,
and not human, they would be even better off than an ensouled vampire.""I have a ghoul I created awhile ago. She had skills and knowledge I desperately need for
the battle with the Demon Lord. She was killed by accident. The only way I could have
the skills and knowledge she possesses was to raise her as a ghoul. After her death, I
resurrected her. She is of my Romani tribe, but she is dead to them." Tirla walked
around the table and came closer to Giles. "She works faithfully for my goal of
destroying the Demon Lord but she is now dying of a broken heart for the man she loved
while she was alive and lost when she died. Can you help me?""I know little of matters of the heart..." Giles began slowly.
"Tell me, would you personally find such a ghoul repulsive?" Tirla asked with dark and
fathomless eyes. Giles was at a loss as to her intentions or motives. Giles thought hard.
A few years ago the answer would have been yes... now he wasn't so sure since seeing so
much."No, not necessarily." Giles answered, surprised at himself, for that position.
"Will you help me then?" Tirla's looked at him with hope in her eyes.
"What do you need for me to do? What type of help?" Giles started to get nervous. The
Lady Tirla didn't intend to play matchmaker between him and a Ghoul? He was not going
to hear the end of it about Buffy and Angel... he had allowed his Slayer to love a vampire.
Would The Lady Tirla now want him to court a Ghoul?"Go to her. Talk to her. Just be with her, don't be repulsed by what she is. Help me build
her self worth and self esteem." Tirla looked at him with sorrowful eyes. "I resurrected
her in my need to save the world because of he knowledge and skills for the Demon Lord
Battle. It was not her wish and it is not her desire. I have done her a great disservice, and
I am afraid she’ll suicide once her tasks for me are done. Obvously, I don't want that."
Tirla looked down and away. Giles could see that there were many emotional and
spiritual prices she was paying for this battle."I see what you need, I think." Giles couldn't believe he was agreeing to this. "I am not
sure I am qualified for this, but I will at least talk to her and show her some acceptance.
What is her name?""Jenna Caldendish. But I believe you know her by her American name; Jenny
Calendar."
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