Prophecy's Curse 7a

[keeper444@xxxxxxxxx]

I had to divide this one up, it was getting too long for one post. The
next part will follow some time this evening...promise.
Hope you are enjoying the ride, and I'm not boring y'all too much.
Take care.

Later
Alex

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Title: Prophecy's Curse (7a/?)
Author: Alex P.
Feedback: Please any comments or suggestions to: keeper444@xxxxxxxxx
Archive: Whatever or whoever Just tell me
Summary: A year after "If Destiny Wills It" and a whole new threat has
come to town, that will test the Slayer and Great Sorceress's new found
powers. Part of a small series "The Return of Legends"
Spoilers: This is my own twisted little universe and, while there are
characters and Sunnydale from the show, their skills and places in these
stories are purely of my own demented imagination. Sorry if it offends
(not).  
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy, Willow, Giles, and any others from 
BTVS are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy etc. No
infringement of any kind intended and no money made. 
Warning: Contains scenes of a loving relationship between two consenting
women. If you have a problem with that (why are you here?) or it is
illegal where you live (I suggest you move to my end of the
gutter...quickly) then PLEASE DELETE THIS NOW !!!!!
Rating: Possible PG-13 to R in some places.
Pairing: B/W

Thanks to my beta Shyfox she's done the best she could with what I gave
her. Great work!!!

   [[thoughts]]
   ***flashbacks***
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Title: Prophecy's Curse (7a/?)
Author: Alex P. 
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The older man held up a hand to stop the Slayer, and looked deep into
her intense, determined hazel eyes. He saw her dedication to her destiny
and her need to once again be able to trust the man she had just called
"dad". 

Giles also caught a glimpse of a tired old soul residing in a young
woman whose life had seen far too much for one so young. 

[[ I'm so sorry,]] Giles thought, hoping his remorse would show through.
[[ I just for once wish she and Willow would be free of this accursed
town and could, at least for a short time, make believe nothing existed,
but them. The Gods know they deserve it.]] 

Giles shook his head clear of those more pleasant thoughts and returned
to the reality of life of the Slayer on the Hellmouth. 

"I know Buffy," Giles began letting his shoulders slump in defeat, once
again this place had forced him to break another personal vow. "I know
you heard us, the growth of your powers is amazing and more than a
little frightening." 

"That's true Giles, but sometimes having these abilities comes in handy,
not only did they allow me to get the truth about Wesley, but I also
knew that you had stood up to that twerp, and was coming out here
determined to tell us the truth." Buffy said almost whispering "Wills
and I knew we could trust you, but we wanted to trap that bastard before
he could hurt any of us anymore." 

Buffy stopped for a moment to take a deep breath and relax into her
wife's arms then sat back up ready to begin telling her story. She felt
it was important that the other Scoobs knew and understood why she and
Wills had done that to Wesley at all, and know she had waited until she
had proof. 

"It took us a while but we finally figured out that Wesley was a
traitor, he was responsible for the Faith incident." Buffy hissed
between tightly clenched teeth "It was really Wesley that turned Faith
against us, not the Mayor. 
We really had to be sneaky to learn what the little jerk, and his
buddies on the council were up to. 
They had planed on Faith taking me out, and possibly Giles, then once
she was alone and vulnerable, Wesley was to take out Faith, so they
could put a new Slayer on the Hellmouth that they could control." 

"How did you find all that out?" Cordelia asked wondering how the man
had managed to fool her. "And, how long have you known?" 

"Research!" Willow spoke up brightly, relieved that the question of a
betrayer in their midst was finally answered and dealt with, "well that
and a little state of the art technology, enhanced with a little magic. 
We figured out about the council last fall, but Wesley's part in it
didn't turn up until this Romanian prophecy showed up. Wesley was so
adamant that it wasn't important, telling us all to just forget about
it, that it aroused our suspicion, and when he became so insistent that
nothing was going to happen well...once we had read it and figured out
what was said in it, we knew that Wesley was up to something. It wasn't
until we came up against the power of the curse and felt it's connection
to our dear friend, well then we knew something was up and judging by
the way everyone was acting we thought we'd keep quiet until we were
sure." 

"Yeah," Buffy added "We had to be extra sure that Wesley was the
council's spy before we did anything. Everybody knows how little I think
of the little sleaze. I'm sorry we had to keep you guys in the dark, but
well you see, Wills and I know how to block anyone from our thoughts,
but you don't, if Wesley had been smart enough to have brought in a
telepath, he would have known what we were up to and then he could cover
his tracks." 

"That's amazing," Giles said his eyes reflecting his pride. "Both of you
showed maturity and intelligence in your pursuit of this matter, and
followed it through by the book. No one can question your methods or
your conclusions. The way you handled the entire investigation makes me
proud of you, and honored to call you my friends and students." 

"Oh Goddess Giles," Willow scolded the ex-watcher "your gonna make me
cry again." 

"Oh geeeeez, Will not the water works again." Xander quipped "you keep
this up and there's gonna be a flood." 

"Back off Xander, or I show everybody those special baby pictures I
found when we moved." Cordilia threatened her fiancee. "It's Willow's
prerogative to cry whenever she feels like it!" 

"Hey!" the young man exclaimed "That's not fair those are private
pictures and not everyone is allowed to see them." 

They all laughed at Xander's ego problem, some harder than others, until
Buffy spoke up. 

"Alright guys" Buffy announced "All this family bonding is great but
it's not helping us get our research done. Besides I believe our dear
old "dad" was going to fill us in on the information he has." 

"It's fine Buffy," Giles sighed resigned to telling his young charges a
story even they would have a hard time believing. "All I ask is that you
hear me out before passing final judgment can you do that for me?" 

"Well sure Giles," Willow agreed for the group "Why would we scoff at
any thing after all these years on a Hellmouth?" 

"Just wait okay?" their mentor emphasized 

"Fine," Buffy agreed impatiently "Come on will ya'? It's got to be good
if the all knowing council wants it hidden." 

"To begin with, one of the reasons the council was hiding it is that it
includes one of the greatest failures in council history." Giles began
"But I'm getting ahead of myself. 
The first thing you have to understand is that I'm not speaking of your
everyday run of the mill vampires, this is not a corpse being animated
by a demon without a soul." 

"You have got to be kidding me." Xander spoke up sarcasm dripping from
his words "Another dead boy with a soul. That's just what we need." 

Buffy turned to Xander and glared daggers at her friend at the mention
of her one time lover. 

"Hey sorry," He said seeing her anger "you already know how I feel and
the possibility of another Angelus I don't think any of us want that do
we Slayer. I mean according to what I heard this one is even actively
seeking his happiness." 

It was the dark haired boy's turn to glare at the petite blonde.
Chocolate brown eyes locked with angry Hazel in a battle of wills. Each
feeling the guilt they carried over what they felt were their personal
failures that occurred when Angelus had terrorized the Hellmouth. 

The two continued to stare at each other neither one willing to concede
to the other. The tension in the room was becoming so thick you could
cut it with a knife. 

"If you don't mind," Giles said interrupting the stare down, "I really
would like to get back to my tale of the 'Prince of Darkness' and what I
have recently learned about him. Believe me when I tell you that you
will never believe what I have found out about the man the council
refers to as the 'Kaziglu Bey'." 

With his timely interruption, Giles had managed to break the
confrontational mood pervading the friends attitude. Once he was sure he
had everyone's attention he returned to the lecture. 

"You were correct about his involvement in Egyptian and European
history, he has been connected with Julius Ceaser, Alexander the Great
the Emperor Caligula and many of the more infamous despots. Always as an
important part of not only of their bloody and violent rise to power but
in the cultivation of their darker sides. He was known to be at the side
of whomever he was with through all manor of debauchery and excesses
only to disappear just before their downfall and/or death. 
Then he mysteriously disappeared for several hundred years only to
reappear as the adopted son of a Wallachian prince called Vlad Dracul or
Vlad the Dragon when he came to power around the 1430's." 

"Wait a minute, I know that name," Xander spoke out surprised at his own
excitement "Are you trying to tell us the guy that's coming here to find
his true love is Dracula! You can't be serious." 

"No...you can't mean that." Willow echoed grabbing Buffy's hand and
staring dumfounded at the revelation "Everybody knows that Dracula isn't
real, he's a-a myth, isn't he?" 

Buffy patted her wife's hand and looked at her mentor in the hope that
he wold have the answer that would reassure them all. 

"I'm sorry Willow," Giles answered wishing he had never had to tell any
of them what he'd learned "Both Vlad Dracul and his successor Vlad
Dracula or Tepes as some called him were very real and far worse than
any creature created in literature or movies." 

"My dear God," Jeffrey said just above a whisper, "if this is truly him
in all these histories he's the oldest recorded vampire ever." 

"Not exactly Jeffrey," Giles explained patiently "He is not the regular
vampire. 
He is Wampyre the undying, long before our recorded history, this being
sought out the Darkness and through rituals and intensely dangerous
majiks he was made immortal. 
Like a vampire he needs a certain amount of blood to survive but unlike
his more primitive cousins, not just any blood will do. His sustenance
must be human blood. He isn't a corpse animated by a demon and he
doesn't become disfigured when he feeds. From all accounts he is tall
with a very aristocratic appearance, and like the Darkness he
represents, he is very seductive." 

"Okay so he's not a nice guy." Xander said trying to lighten the mood
"What makes him any worse than any of the others." 

"What you don't seem to be getting my young friend," Giles answered
becoming exasperated by the groups failure to grasp the importance of
what he was telling them. "For one thing he is not a vampire, he is far
older and wiser than any of them, his abilities don't come from some
minor demon, his power comes from the very source of the Darkness
itself. 
For another thing when he took over power from Vlad Dracul and assumed
the throne for a short but bloody reign he proved himself to be one of
the greatest military minds ever, and he has only gotten better." 

"So what stopped him?" Buffy asked simply "We find out what stopped him
before and we use it now. So...what was it? Do you know?" 

"Yes I know." Giles said quietly "the same thing has stopped him twice
but I pray we won't have to use it again." 

"So" Cordelia asked impatiently. "What's so horrible that you'd rather
not use it now?" 

"Love and grief." Giles said so softly they almost didn't hear him. 

"What aren't you telling us Giles?" Willow asked fearing his answer "I
know you don't want to finish the story but you're going to have to." 

"I know Willow, please just give me a minute." Giles answered his voice
raspy from emotion. "When Vlad Dracula came to power the Wallachia was a
part of the Hungarian Empire that was ruled by the Hunyadi royal family.
While Vlad was on a state visit he met and by some bizarre twist of fate
fell in love with a distant and mentally unstable cousin of the Hunyadi
family named Elisabeta. 
He asked for her hand and seeing a way to get rid of a potential family
scandal and to help bind the tempestuous Vivode to the throne the couple
was given permission to wed. Shortly after the young couple were called
home because of border problems with the Turks." 

Giles stopped and took a long drink of his tea. He got up and fixed
himself a tall glass of scotch to fortify his frayed nerves. This
particular part of the story always got to him. 

"When Vlad returned to Wallachia the newly wed didn't go to war as was
expected, instead he tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement," Giles
continued as he went back to his chair and sat down heavily "It was said
that his new wife had requested he try, He apparently doted on her every
whim, and for the first time that anyone can find, he was truly in love. 
His catering to her was almost as legendary as his punishments for law
breakers. 
As your history will tell you the Turks were not known for being a
peaceful people and eventually war broke out. Even though Vlad didn't
wish to leave his fragile wife his duty insisted that he did and so
promising to return he rode off to face overwhelming odds. 
The ensuing battle was historic for it's ferocity and the tactics of
Vlad. Finally against all odds Vlad won the battle and was returning
home. 
Unfortunately some Turkish infiltrators murdered Elisabeta to revenge
the defeat of their army and the subsequent execution of all prisoners.
So when the triumphant Vivode returned home he found his beloved wife
dead. He went berserk and before his grief and rage had subsided he had
destroyed his home and soaked the earth of Wallachia with the blood of
anyone he found. 
Then he disappeared. No one could locate him. 
By this time the Watcher's council had been formed and the legendary
Vlad The Impaler was high on their list to either find and destroy or
prove a myth. Every bit of power they had was put into the search for
the "Prince of Darkness" or "Kaziglu Bey" which was the name the Turks
gave him. Nothing was heard of the entity and eventually he was
considered a myth." 

Giles took another long drink and looked around at his audience to make
sure he still had their attention. He didn't want to have to repeat this
story ever again. 

"Nothing was heard save a few rumors of someone matching his description
visiting some of the temples in Tibet and the far East but never
anything conclusive." Giles finally began again "No serious sightings
until the summer of 1888. Then Vlad Tepes returned to the annals of the
Watcher's council with a vengeance." 

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END 7a
TBC 
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