Chapter 34 - Epilogue

Deep in the furthest recesses of a Hell dimension, an inquiry was taking place.

The sound of a voice, male, English, sounded in the courtroom.  ' I was left with a strange feeling. A feeling that it should all turn out differently, but I had no idea where that had come from.'

The silence that followed these words was at last broken by a demon, one of the senior tormentors from the Bespoke Suffering dimension of Hell.

"That is the record of thought taken from William the Bloody, and the human who was responsible for sending him to us. As you heard, we provided our usual, excellent service. What happened was not within our control."

The judge, almost invisible behind clouds of red smoke, turned to one of the other demons present.

"D'Hoffryn, it seems to me that neither of your two vengeance demons comes out of this whole sorry mess well. What has happened to the Vengeance Demon responsible for the granting of the dubious wish?"

"She has been allowed a second chance. Her ... disappearance would be difficult to explain to Anyanka, and, of all those involved, she is the one most likely to remember the alternative history. It was decided best that she have no reason to ask questions."

"I see, but how is she to be punished?"

"I can see some of the consequences of the granting or otherwise of vengeance wishes. It is most likely that she will die soon and under difficult circumstances, for reasons that will have nothing to do with the situation under discussion. Once that happens, she will, of course, be at your mercy."

He grunted at that, as if barely satisfied by the response.

"And Anyanka? Will she live happily ever after? She had some knowledge of the result of rescinding the spell. Has she gained as a result?"

"There is one aspect of seeing the consequences of a spell that is peculiar to this situation. While it is possible to see the effects on others, it is never possible to see its effect on one's self. It's not considered appropriate that any Vengeance Demon, even myself, should know beforehand the personal consequences of a wish."

"So, she didn't know what the other future held for her?"

"She had some knowledge of the consequences for some of those involved, but, because of her own situation, being part of their circle, her knowledge would have been sketchy at best. Her only real motivation, I believe, was the fact that she was going mad because of Spike's incessant calls for vengeance."

"Yes, now tell me. What caused that? The damned aren't supposed to be heard back in the world of the living. Why could she hear him?"

"In truth, we're still investigating that. We believe it was partly because she knew him personally. The situation is unusual. My demons are often human before I give them the opportunity to work for me. But Anyanka lost the power centre that enabled her to grant wishes, and as a result she became human again. In all the time I've been in charge of Vengeance, I've never before given someone a second chance, so the situation is unique. And, then there's the fact of her responsibility to make sure that the justice is ultimately served a wish. That's the reason she had the gift of seeing some of the consequences. I believe that the combination of the special link she forged with Spike while she was human, coupled with her responsibility to ensure the justice of wishes, was responsible. Of course, unless the circumstances arise again, we may never know."

The sound from the judge indicated that he was far from happy with this explanation.

"But, will she be happy?"

"I'm afraid to say, she will not. There is great unhappiness in store for her, although I will do my best to alleviate it. I also see an early death for her."

"Good," the judge replied. "I assume she's hardly likely to behave in the meantime in such a way as to avoid coming here. From what I've heard, she's not the martyr type. It seems that those responsible will shortly be taken in hand. I want you to make sure that a circumstance like this does not arise again."

The judge then turned to the third of the demons called to give evidence to the inquiry.

"So, what has the actuarial department to tell me? What is the future for William the Bloody? I'd like to think that he'd be returning to us in the not too distant future."

"William the Bloody is one of the hardest creatures on whom we've ever been asked to predict. Looking at his history, he's broken almost every rule, and behaved other than as predicted so often, that we simply stopped trying to foresee what he would do. Despite that, I've subjected his history to the most advanced prediction tools, and we've come up with the most likely possibilities."

"What rules has he broken?" The judge sounded curious.

"Well, he was instrumental in stopping a planned apocalypse a few years ago, and then he fell in love with the Slayer. Since then, he's been working for the other side."

"Why? Is he this vampire with a soul I keep hearing about?"

"No, he hasn't got a soul."

"Then what's his problem?"

"That's part of why he's so difficult to predict, you see, we don't know why he behaves as he does. However, according to our best information, it's most likely that he will succumb to evil again soon. The First Evil is due to rise again, and her aim will be to destroy the Slayer line. Involved as he is with the Slayer and her friends, he will become a prime target for the First. The probability that he will be able to refuse her is infinitesimally small, requiring, I believe, the Slayer to express her confidence in him, something that's considered all but impossible. If you follow the chain of conditions required, each of them vanishingly unlikely...."

"Like what?" the judge demanded.

"Well, firstly, he'd have to endure the trials to get a soul ...."

"A vampire seeking out a soul? Never going to happen."

"Exactly Sir, and when you couple that with the other conditions, I can safely say, that William the Bloody will be back on track with our side very soon."

"Good, good. And, if he does just manage to avoid what the First has in store for him, what then?"

"Well, normally, with a probability like this, we wouldn't have looked further. However, since this is William the Bloody, we did investigate. And .."

"Yes?"

"If he does, there's a possibility that he'll save the world."

"What!"

"But, the probability is minute ...."

"So, you're telling me that we should get our claws into him again."

"That is by far the most probable outcome."

"Did I ever tell you what I think of statistics?"

"Yes, sir, you did."

"Hmph."

The judge was quiet for a moment, while the other three demons stood quietly, nervously waiting for his decision.

"Yes, quite," the judge replied. "Well, much as it pains me to say this, it seems that all that could be done has been done. I'm not happy with this situation, and I'm counting on you to ensure there are no repeats."

With that warning, the cloud of red smoke completely enveloped the judge, and when it died away, he was gone.

D'Hoffryn wiped his brow. "Whew, thank God that's over!"

"Language like that doesn't improve your credibility here, you know," the tormentor replied, smiling.

"I know, it's just, dealing with so many humans ..."

"I know, I know. It sticks. I've found a few things rubbing off on me too. I mean, bloody hell, what's a demon to do?"

The End.

For those of you who'd like to know the background to this fic, it's here.