SJORNJOST
MEDIEVAL VILLAGE 880
As
D’Hoffryn led his newest recruit away from the scene of her crime, he
heard the transformed lover scream out, “This is your entire fault,
Aud. I wish for you to learn the agonies of love. I wish
for you to
find your soul mate. May you live until that time occurs.” D’Hoffryn
looked to the future. His Anyanka had over 1150 years to wait for
her
soul mate to be born. It was a good thing that he was going to
elevate
her to vengeance demon status. Being reborn over and over really
sucked, but he felt that he needed to honor the wish. D’Hoffryn
sighed to himself. He really needed to find a person just right
to
cover reincarnation. He really had better things to do with his
time
than that particular line of vengeance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* D’Hoffryn
knew that it was time to fulfill a very old wish. Anyanka’s soul
mate
was born, and he was old enough for them to meet. He called for
Ceridwyn to join him. He waved her to a chair before he started
to
speak. “Anyanka is going to be leaving us soon, my dear.” “Is
something wrong?” Ceridwyn would miss her old friend.
Anyanka was the
one who had shown her the ropes of being a vengeance demon when she
ascended. “Nothing
is wrong besides the fulfillment of a very old wish.” D’Hoffryn
shook
his head. “Your daughter’s young friend Xander Harris is
Anyanka’s
mate.” “That
boy is Anyanka’s mate?” Ceridwyn questioned. “Are you sure?” “I’ve
been sure since the day I elevated her, my dear.” There was a
great
resolve in the demon’s words. “I shall miss her too, but the man
she
wronged had great vengeance in his heart. I couldn’t deny him.” “Please
tell me you have a suitable replacement.” “I
know you don’t care for Halfrek.” D’Hoffryn patted Ceridwyn’s
hand. “You will see your vengeance even against her one day.” “So
you say.” Ceridwyn avoided the elevated Cicely Underwood.
She held no
respect or love for the role the woman had taken in the last life that
her daughter had lived. She only acknowledged the other demon if
her
boss required it of her. “I
have the perfect person in mind to replace Anyanka.” D’Hoffryn
gave a
toothy grin. “Our dear patron of scorned women will soon be
visiting a
lovely young woman by the name of Lilah Morgan. She will be the
perfect replacement. I shall call her Lilith for she shall bring
disease, illness, and death to all those that she breezes by. She
is
as ruthless and ambitious as she is beautiful, much like the original
Lilith.” “As
always, I bow to your wishes.” Ceridwyn tilted her head to her
master. She vowed to go take a look at this Lilah Morgan as soon
as
time allowed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Joyce
stared down into the depths of her drink as if the answer to her
dilemma would appear by magic. If everything her daughter had
told her
was true, it could very well happen. Buffy’s words were confirmed
and
reconfirmed by Buffy’s friend Willow and the vampire Spike. “Have
we met before?” Joyce looked at the vampire again. He
looked vaguely familiar to her. Spike
looked a bit sheepish, but a quick glance at Buffy seemed to reassure
him. “You laid an axe upside my head, and you told me not to
touch
your daughter.” Joyce
glanced at Spike and Buffy’s joined hands. “You don’t take
direction very well, do you?” Willow
let out an inelegant snort. “Doesn’t stick to a plan very well
either.” She started to giggle. “Oi,
I can stick to a plan just as good as the next vamp!” Spike
glared at the sniggering teenager. “I’m just impatient.” “Yeah,
that’s why you showed up at Parent-Teacher night instead of waiting
till Saturday to kill me,” Buffy teased. “I
don’t understand.” Joyce glanced between her daughter and the
vampire. “Buffy, if he tried to kill you, why did you invite him
into
our house? Shouldn’t you be worried or something?” “Oh,
that’s a different story entirely,” Buffy sighed. “During
Halloween,
one of Giles’ college buddies did a spell on our costumes. I
remembered a past life. Since then I’ve remembered more during a
hypnosis session with my therapist.” “Reincarnation
is real?” Joyce asked in surprise. “It’s
a curse actually,” Willow said. She went on to explain the
research
that Giles found out during his study on the phenomenon. She took
great joy in being about to recite the knowledge she had gleaned with
the older man. “Souls can only be reincarnated as an act of
vengeance. The soul will be reborn over and over until the terms
of
the curse are met.” “Who
hated you in this past life to do something like that to you?”
Joyce
looked at Buffy in shock and horror. It was hard enough coming to
terms with the whole Slayer thing, but to find out Buffy was the victim
of a curse was more than the older Summers woman could handle. “The
vengeance wasn’t against Spike or me. It was against those who
separated us from each other, and those two spent centuries keeping us
apart.” Then Buffy went on to tell her mother about the
information
they had learned from the regression session, Ceridwyn’s visit, and the
soul binding ceremony. “This
is a lot to take in, Buffy,” Joyce said at long last. “I’m going
to need time to process all of this information.” “I
understand.” Buffy nodded. “I’ve had a while to adjust to
it all.
I’m just really curious who the heck has Cilla’s soul this time around.” “You’re
not the only one, luv.” Spike chuckled. “I just hope it’s
someone that can bring the broodin’ poofter to heel.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Angel
stumbled out of the demon bar with his perfectly coifed do barely
intact. He glared at Cordelia who was sitting in the car brushing
her
hair. “You could have gone in there and backed me up you know.” “You’re
the big bad vampire,” Cordelia said with a roll of her eyes. “I
might
break a nail if I went in there. I just got a manicure.” “Whatever.”
Angel shook his head. How did he end up with such a vapid
tagalong?
Who had he insulted in some former life? “We’re going to a
karaoke bar
called the Caritas. The Host will help us with our problem.” “I
certainly hope so,” Cordelia muttered. Why did she decide to come
along with this idiot? What on earth had Buffy seen in him before
she
latched onto Spike instead? Who had she insulted in some former
life?
She stared off into the darkness of the Los Angeles streets while Angel
maneuvered the car towards their destination. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Phillip
peered out the window of Giles’ old gray Citron. “I know this
town of
yours isn’t that big, Ripper, but how on earth are we going to find
Rayne?” “We’ll
start at the costume shop.” Giles turned down the street where
the
shop was located. “Maybe he left some kind of clue behind.” Phillip
made a noncommittal sound in his throat. “Want to tell me why
you’re
hanging out with a vampire? Thought you were in the vamp dusting
business now.” “These
are strange times we live in.” Giles gave a half-shrug. He
parked in
front of the store. He and Phillip emerged from the car.
“Let’s see
if those lock picking talents of yours are still good, Oggy.”
Giles
gestured towards the door. “Won’t
someone call the police if they see us breaking and entering?”
Phillip gave his old friend a look of astonishment. “This
is Sunnydale, old man,” Giles chuckled. “Breaking and entering
doesn’t even merit a raised eyebrow here.” “Okay,
if you say so.” Phillip knelt in front of the door. He
concentrated
on the lock and all of its mechanisms. In a few moments the lock
clicked open. Phillip turned the door handle, and the door swung
open
to reveal a chaotic mess inside the store. “You
can’t come in…” Ethan Rayne came from the rear room. He
broke off
when he saw his old pals, and he backed up before trying to make a
break for it through the curtains that led to the back of the store. Giles
and Phillip leapt towards Rayne. They each grabbed an arm, and
they
easily subdued the other man. The three of them tumbled to the
floor
in a pile of limbs and grunts. “Get
off me,” Ethan grunted. “I’ve been a good boy, Ripper. Been
minding my own damned business.” “Yeah,
but he’s back, and we need some bait.” Giles stood up, and he
dragged
Ethan to his feet. “You’re the lucky winner today. You just
volunteered.” “Yeah,
right,” Ethan scoffed. “You and Oggy here elected me to be
bait. Now, which he are you talking about?” “Egyhon,
of course. Did you really think we would be able to run forever?”
Phillip answered.