Prompt 559 - Slugabed - Giles as the Big Bad - Dragon's Phoenix - BtVS

[dragonyphoenix]

Author: Dragon's Phoenix
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 559 - Slugabed
Word Count: 1491

 

Buffy, for once, was in the library only a few minutes after the final day's bell had run. “So, this spell to check for Angel's soul. You're all ready to go with that, right? No last minute problems or anything? I mean, not that there should be because Angel totally has his soul but …”

“Calm, Buffy. I'm certain everything will be fine.” Obviously Giles needed to give her something to do. “If you could move these table and chairs off to one side … No, I meant out of the way. We'll need this space for the ritual.”

The work of clearing the space above the octagon set out in tiles took only a few minutes. For sorcerous purposes a hexagon's associations of distance and clear vision would have provided a more felicitous geometric figure, but one worked with what one had.

“I don't suppose Angel's still awake yet,” Buffy said as she glanced up at a window. “I mean daylight and all, he's probably still asleep, not in a slugabed kind of a way 'cause, you know, vampire … and do vampires sleep during the day? I mean I guess they'd have to what with being creatures of the night and all.”

Gods, if he had her underfoot all afternoon, he'd never finish preparing his rituals. “Ah, Buffy, I have an address for you, a nest. Why don't you take care of them and then swing around to retrieve Angel.”

“I don't have to pick-up Angel. He said he'd meet me here. Nest? What nest? I thought we were gonna spar. And, anyway, don't you think it'd be a bit unfair for me to Slay them before sunset?”

“We can't spar this afternoon. I'll need to prepare for the ritual. And as to the Slaying, not unfair so much as providing a tactical advantage to take them on when they can't flee.” Not that a suck-house would provide any difficultly for a Slayer, but it would get her out of the library.

“Oh, uh, where is it?”

“203 Richardson. There may be humans there as well so be careful, and vampires that feed on willing victims tend to be more cowardly than the ones you normally run across. They might even hide so search the house, thoroughly.”

“Willing victims? What, they go there to be killed?”

“Ah, vampires don't necessarily have to kill to feed. We can discuss it later.”

“Right. Later.” She didn't turn to go but stood there, staring at him.

“The ritual will be fine, Buffy. There's nothing to worry about.”

“Sure, of course, not worrying. I'll, uh, see you later then.”

Within his office, where it couldn't be seen from the library, Giles laid out an octagon in salt and sat a scrying bowl in its center. Within that bowl he set one of a pair of magically attuned ametrine crystals. Combining amethyst, which would allow him to pull out part of Angelus' essence, and citrine, which would allow him to transmit that essence between the charged crystals, ametrine's association with the astrological sign of Gemini would allow Giles to twin Angelus' essence, to clone it in a sense. Part of the vampire's essence would be captured in the ametrine in the library and part in the ametrine in Giles' office. If all went well, Angelus would never suspect that Giles had a piece of his essence trapped within a crystal.

Buffy returned with Angelus so close upon the heels of nightfall that Giles knew she couldn't have spent much time searching through the suck-house for any stray vampires. No matter. That had been nothing more than a distraction, a means to keep her out of his way while he set his trap for the larger prey.

“Giles, Angel. Angel, Giles.”

Angelus' demeanor lived up to every description that Giles had read. None of the vampire's menace came through. His almost sincere facade confirmed what those few who'd survived the creature had documented, that Angelus had the patience to play a long game.

When Giles asked him to sit in the center of the octagon, Angelus had the nerve to protest. “Why wouldn't you just perform the Revelation of Anubis?”

Damn. Giles hadn't realized Angelus knew that much about magic. He should have known better. Any vampire with Angelus' reputation could only have survived with a deep understanding of the occult arts. “You can't expect me to trust a spell that is clearly little more than a folk-charm, not with something so serious as whether one of the most vicious vampires in history has a soul. Obviously I must resort to the higher magics.”

The vampire played at guilt quite convincingly. His performance as a souled penitent was certainly outstanding. With a hurt glance toward Buffy, Angelus moved into the ritual space.

“Where do you want me?” Buffy asked.

“Outside of the sacred circle or, in this case, sacred octagon.” Giles gestured toward the figure laid out in darker tiles on the floor. “Never cross into or out of the circle during a magical ritual or you risk unleashing dangerous forces.”

“Okay.” Buffy didn't sound convinced but Giles wasn't concerned. In this case the sacred circle was more supplementary than essential. It would help focus Angelus' essence but wasn't necessary to contain it.

Knowing Angelus had an awareness of magical rituals and spells, Giles added in three spells meant mainly to distract the vampire from the true purpose of his ritual. Because Angelus had expressed an awareness of the Revelation of Anubis ritual, Giles used an older and more obscure charm, not Egyptian but Sumerian, something only a scholar would recognize.

“Peta mudutu shi.” The ametrine glowed, a spark shining against the darker wood of the floor. Interesting. The vampire hadn't been lying bout the soul.

With a part of Angelus' soul trapped in the one crystal, Giles called out the spell to double it and transfer part to the crystal in his office. “Maharu abanyaruahhu abnu melammu libbu qamu ina etuti absu zeru babu.” Giles could only trust that the final spell had worked. He made a big show of dispersing energies, hoping that it would keep Angelus from focusing on the pertinent part of the ritual.

Buffy, surprisingly, waited until he'd finished before speaking. “Did it work? The stone's glowing. Does that mean he has a soul?”

“It does.” Angel's stare suggested the crystal, or more likely the soul, bothered him. “That glow, that's part of my soul. If I didn't have one …”

Giles finished the thought. “If he had no soul, the crystal wouldn't be glowing.”

“Told ya.” The girl, bouncing on her feet, appeared unexpectedly ecstatic. She obviously felt far more for the vampire than he'd imagined. Ah, well, the vampire's death would resolve that little issue.

Angelus, rising, grabbed the crystal. His face a mask that Giles couldn't read, the vampire brought the crystal close to his face, stared for a moment, and smashed it down to the floor. Yellow-gold shards, darker now without the spark, scattered out from the dent where the crystal had struck.

“Angel? What the hell?”

Giles spoke before the vampire could. “The crystal held part of his soul. If it hadn't been destroyed, it could have been used against him.”

“Sorry about the floor.” The vampire did look contrite. Whom did the beast think he was fooling?

“Once Buffy's moved the table back, the damage won't be visible.”

“So, you trust him now, right?”

Over my dead body. “Yes, the evidence of his soul is convincing.” Which makes him as trustworthy as I am. Giles plastered on a false smile. “Perhaps you could leave me to clean up the remnants of the ritual? Um, Buffy, since you didn't get a chance to patrol earlier …”

“Yeah, yeah, go kill some monsters. On it.”

As Buffy and Angelus walked down the hall, Giles kept watch from the library doors until they'd left the high-school. Anxious, worried the spell hadn't worked, he ducked back to his office and breathed a sigh of relief. The second crystal was glowing with Angelus' essence.

Giles spoke the words of the final spell. “Ati me peta babka. Talamu gug sibum ina ahisa masku manzazu abanyarahhu zeru sa akhkharu.” The scrying bowl darkened, as if the lights had suddenly been turned off. Chanted directions drew his viewpoint up, through layers, through air, until he was looking down at the California coastline. He changed the chant, moving downward again, until he faced a wall. He saw a tree, or an image of a tree to be precise, laid out in tiles against pale green marble. Giles started chanting again, to move out, to learn where this image of a tree might be located, when he felt Eyghon's power rising within him. “No! Don't!” The crystal cracked int three chunks, losing its spark. Giles swore against he fell against his office door. Eyghon's power had destroyed the spell, had lost him Angelus' essence.