[Legend's Return] Book One: Prophecy's Curse 8 by Alex P.

[keeper444@xxxxxxxxx]

Hi Guys
As you may have seen I was gone for a while and tat delayed this
chapter. Now that I'm back I hope to be able to get back to writing real
soon.
Tanks for your patience.
Later
Alex
+++++++++++++++++++
Title: Prophecy's Curse (8/8)
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, but nothing graphic.
Pairing: B/W

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

   <>thoughts<>
   ***flashbacks***
++++++++++++++++
Prophecy's Curse (8/8) 
By: Alex P. 
++++++++++++++++ 
"Giles you mean to tell me that a Watcher murdered a Slayer in cold
blood," Willow asked her voice strained "Just to get at some enemy and
for no other reason?" 

"Oh Willow, you haven't been listening." Giles answered his hate for the
Watcher's council clear in his voice "Mina Murray's murder had nothing
to do with Dracula, neither did the death of Lucy Westenra, or the
paralyzing of Jonathan Harker. 
It was done in the name of control. Dracula was just a convenient excuse
so that a Slayer with initiative and an independent spirit could be
removed from the Hellmouth and one the Council could control could be
put in her place. 
Van Helsing now holds a place of honor in the Council's records and
those two brave young girls are barely a footnote in the archives. In
the end, Dracula not only got away but he got a small measure of
revenge, he used a very ancient ritual to close the Hellmouth and the
council was forced to go in search of the new active Hellmouth." 

"Wait a minute you mean to tell me this guy can close a Hellmouth?"
Buffy asked suddenly excited "Why can't we do that, I mean if we can
close this last active Hellmouth then we could rest and be like everyone
else, couldn't we?" 

Giles felt sorry for the girl. She thought she had found a ray of hope,
and he had to crush it. He always hated this part of 
his calling. 

"No Buffy, we can't do that." Giles told his Slayer "Do you think for a
minute I would not close the damnable thing if I had a way to do it, a
humane way?" 

"What do you mean humane?" Willow asked now curious 

Giles got into a file marked Ripper, Jack T. and pulled out two sheets
of paper. 

One was a description of the last crime scene of the final Whitechaple
murder, the second was a series of photographs of the scene and the
victim before she was moved. 

As Willow read she became very pale and when she looked at the pictures
the sensitive young woman dropped the papers and ran to the bathroom,
where everyone heard her loose the contents of her stomach. 

Buffy picked up the papers and looked them over to see why her partner
was so affected by them. Even the Slayer paled as she looked at the
papers. 

"My god Giles, this is just sick." the petite blonde who had killed
vampires and demons without a second thought said. "What the hell is
this?" 

Giles held up his hand stalling the outraged Slayer until they were
joined once again by a very pale Willow. 

"That is the official report and crime scene photographs of the final so
called, Ripper murder, a Ms. Mary Jane Kelly." he said trying to keep
the revulsion from his voice. "Those are the files the council has, not
the cleaned up version the police have. That, Willow, is why I can't use
the same spell Dracula used to close the Hellmouth. No matter how bad it
gets I could never do that to a person. 
Oh did I mention that the sacrifice is kept alive and conscious through
the entire ordeal." 

"Dear sweet Goddess," Willow whispered her voice quavering in shock "how
can anything do that to any being just to perform a ritual." 

"Hey don't forget babe we're dealing with something way more evil then
we're used to." Buffy said sitting down next to her wife "I guess that
kind of thing is what makes it evil." 

"Precisely" Giles answered for Willow "no human with a spark of decency
in them and in their right mind, could do something like that to another
human. Only someone so completely immersed in the Darkness that their
humanity ceases to exist would ever consider doing something like this." 

"So what do we do to stop this thing," Willow asked "and which one of us
is the reincarnation of Elisabeta Hunyadi?" 

All eyes were once again focused on Giles as he tried to find a way to
tell them his news or rather lack of it. 

"Well you see that's where this gets difficult." the ex-watcher began
"Going through the old records it would seem that Mina Murray and
Dracula's Elisabeta were mirror images of each other and using that as
our criteria then to be honest neither. Neither of you even come close
to the descriptions of either one of them. Of course it would be easier
if we had a picture of either of them to work with, but as far as I can
tell there are no images of either left in existence" 

"So what do you know?"Willow asked her analytical mind working overtime
on the puzzle. "If we have any way to dig up any accounts of Dracula's
time in London, then maybe we can figure out what's going on here." 

Giles watched as the focus of the room shifted from him to the young
witch, it caused a fatherly grin of pride to spread across his face. His
feelings for the two young women were well known to everyone in the
group and a few on the outside as well. Joyce had even gone so far as to
put Giles down as well as herself as emergency contact on all Buffy and
Willow's paper work. 

Xander and Cordelia had slowly just become part of the family as time
went by, Xander's parents had emotionally abandoned him early in his
childhood and he had kind of drifted along without a caring guiding
influence. 

Then Buffy and Giles came along and soon after Xander and Willow had
joined them in the fight, after their first year as a team the
father/daughter relationship between Giles and Buffy had begun to show. 

It wasn't long after that when Xander started going to Giles with
personal problems that were completely unrelated to Slaying. 

After that without much fuss or notice Giles was fulfilling the paternal
part of the young man's life. When Xander's alcoholic parents finally
went too far and beat the boy so badly he ended up in the hospital,
Giles quietly took over and using his connections became Xander's legal
guardian moving the boy into his home until he found his own place. 

Although Giles put up his stoic Englishman front all the Scoobies knew
they always had someone they could rely on when the chips were down. 

Cordelia had become family at first by her dating Xander in High school,
then after the two had broken up the ex-watcher had made it perfectly
clear that she was considered part of the group if she wished. 

It was left like that even after she moved to L.A., Giles had kept tabs
on her making sure she was alright and after she moved back they had
accepted her with open arms. Now she was living with Xander and they
were talking marriage. 

He surveyed his eclectic little "family" and felt a warm feeling in his
heart for them. 
He was also glad that Joyce had taken up the reigns as the "mother" of
this brood. He and the mother of his Slayer had been dating quite
sometime now and unknown to the "kids" the couple were also considering
matrimony. 

Dr. Jeffrey said something to Willow and the laughter drew Giles
attention to the newest family member. Jeffrey Fallon was older than the
others by a few years, but when it came to any kind of life outside of
books the man was a complete babe in the woods. 

So while he was older in years and education than the other kids, they
were light years ahead of him in experience with real life both normal
and supernatural. However when it came to research or some obscure
demonic ailment there was no one better. 
Giles was going through these thoughts when he suddenly realised someone
was calling his name. 

"Giles, Giles," Buffy called growing impatient with the man's
inattention to what was being discussed "Giles---HEY DAD!!!" 

Giles jumped in his chair startled from his thoughts when Buffy called
him by his new name. An embarrassed grin formed on his face when he
realized how out of it he was. 

"Ah yes quite," he said looking guilty "sorry I was...ah...thinking
about the logistics of our situation." 

"Ah, yeah...okay." Buffy answered her disbelief clearly showing "Anyway,
it's pretty clear that we're working in the dark with this." 

"So it would seem that what is necessary here is some serious research."
Giles said belaboring the obvious. "and as I'm sure the person best
suited to assigning that task is Willow. Are there any questions or
comments." 

"Y-yes I have one." Dr Jeffrey said timidly still uncertain of his
position in the group "I think it is very important that none of us, not
even the Slayer should go anywhere alone, day or night. If I am not
mistaken according to the Stolker novel, that Willow assures me, is a
dramatization of real events, Dracula can go out in the daylight, it's
just that his powers are drastically curtailed until sunset, at which
time he is at full strength." 

"That's right and a very good point Jeffrey" Willow agreed especially
pleased that someone besides her brought up the point. She just knew she
was going to like this new guy, even if he did smell of Rome "This guy
is a real wild card in the deck, and since we know so little about him
it makes sense to take a few extra precautions. Please honey, just until
we know what we're dealing with." 

"Okay, Wills, if that will make you happy," Buffy acquiesced gracefully
knowing this was a fight she couldn't win, "I'll even ease up on the
patrols. How's that?" 

"Thank you," the relieved red head sighed and wrapped her arms around
her blonde lover's neck pulling her into a deep kiss successfully
embarrassing their friends 

"I'm just afraid this guy might have something up his sleeve that we
don't know about and I don't want to loose you from lack of research,
K?" 

"Alright I already agreed," Buffy commented with a smile "so save all
this persuasion for later when..." 

The mischievous blonde leaned over and whispered into her other half's
quickly reddening ear causing Willow's green eyes to grow wide and her
skin to become scarlet from the neck up. 

"BUFFY!" Willow squealed suddenly "How could you...there's no way I'm
letting you...ah...well there's no way. Besides even you can't bend like
that." 

Buffy laughed then grabbed the last slice of pizza and stood up. Then
she leaned down and whispered something else into her wife's ear. When
she finished whispering she quickly kissed the now bright red witch and
looked her in the eyes and waggled her eye brows. 

"Oh my Goddess what you do to me." Willow sighed and began fanning
herself with a folder from the coffee table. 

"Well you can tell me later, after" Buffy laughed "but for now I need
something else to drink, any one else, speak now or get it yourself." 

The small blonde powerhouse spun on her heel and headed toward her
watcher's kitchen her mind on a YooHoo she'd seen earlier. 
<>If that Xander got my last YooHoo again I swear<> Buffy threatened
mentally<>[I'll tear his tongue out and then...<> 

Buffy didn't get to finish the thought as a familiar voice roared in her
head. 

<>BEWARE SLAYER<> the voice warned <>THE SORCERESS IS TO BE ATTACKED<> 

Buffy turned, her errand to the kitchen a thing of the past and moved as
quickly as she could to her Willow's side vaulting over a stunned Giles
to get there. 

"Really Buffy," her watcher began to scold her for her antics "if you
wish to practice your acrobatics I wish you would..." 

He was cut off when Willow suddenly stood and swayed on her feet as if
she was going to fall, which she would have if Buffy hadn't been there. 

"Giles something isn't right." Willow hissed as Buffy slowly lowered the
seemingly entranced witch to sit on the couch with Buffy knealing next
to her. 

Her bright green eyes seemed to be staring off some where in the
distance, and her voice took on a far away quality as she spoke again. 

"I can feel it...it's him...he's searching for a weakness...he's wanting
to find something." she said her body flinched as if she was being
struck. "I can't tell..if...it's....here....and........he's....wait
something isn't right I can't keep this up. No wait Giles we need
to...Aaaaarrrghhhhhh!!!" 

Willow grabbed her head and screamed in agony as a horrible pain lanced
through her skull threatening to blow it apart. 

Buffy pulled her wife to her chest and began rocking her gently and
stroking her soft red hair as her lover cried out in pain. 
"Wills, baby what's wrong?" Buffy asked the anguish clear in her voice,
she looked up at Giles trust shining in her hazel eyes as tears of fear
and desperation flowed from them. "Giles help her." 

Giles wasn't sure what to do or if he could do anything but his love for
the two young women wouldn't allow him to just stand there. He did the
same thing helpless fathers have done since the dawn of time when their
children were afraid and in pain, he leapt to their side and wrapped his
arms around both of them and held them close sheltering them as best he
could. 

Jeffrey was right behind him and he immediately began examining Willow
while her lover held on to her and Giles held onto them both. 

After a few moments Jeffrey went to his bag and returned carrying a
large rose colored quartz carved into the shape of a she wolf curled up
around her pups guarding them. 

Willow's cries had calmed to a low constant keening wail as the two most
important people in her life held her, surrounding her with
unconditional and protective love. Their presence seemed to ease the
unendurable agony exploding in her head. 

She felt more than heard Jeffrey kneeling in front of her as he gently
but firmly pulled her hands away from her head placing them on a cool
comforting sculpture. 

The sculpture's peace and cool tranquillity seemed to flow into her body
letting her relax. 

"Hold this Sorceress." Jeffrey said, in his soft yet firm doctor's voice
as Willow called it. "Clear your mind and follow where the crystal leads
you. It will take you to a quiet tranquil place where the pain can't
reach you." 

As he spoke Willow's cries eased until they were gone entirely. The
quartz in her hands glowed brightly with a soft rose tinted aura that
reached and engulfed both young women. 

Giles felt his two "daughters" relax and released his hold on them. He
straightened up and went over next to Jeffrey who was writing the
experience down in the journal he was keeping for Willow. 

Everyone's attention was on the couple wrapped around each other on the
couch surrounded by a glowing rose colored aura. 

"Any idea on what attacked her?" Giles asked the doctor "As many wards
that she and I have placed around our houses I don't understand how
anything could have gotten past them." 

"I have no idea what was after her." Jeffrey said, shaking his head and
holding up a strange looking implement that was glowing steadily. "Your
wards were attacked alright and I believe that is why the Sorceress
still lives, but they still stand and with a few things I've learned
over the years I think I can reinforce them so this won't reoccur." 

"Thank you Jeffrey." Giles uttered gratefully "I don't know what I'd do
if anything happen to my girls." 

"That's what I'm here for my friend" the young former monk told the
distraught man placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder "I'm just glad
I could help." 

Everyone was still focused on the couple on the couch when a soft
feminine voice came from behind them startling all four of the
observers. 

"You've done well doctor." the voice said. "But they require more
assistance than you are capable of giving them in order to face this
challenge, my friends. This means you must do without them for a time." 

They all turned to see a regal looking blonde woman, wearing a beautiful
forest green gown and matching cloak with silver trim. Her blonde hair
was loosely braided and allowed to hang to her waist with a small tight
braid at her left temple. 

She smiled brightly at the four other people in the room and a feeling
of warm, powerful, yet comforting, energy warmed the room, radiating
from the woman whose light blue eyes glowed softly reminding them of a
summer sky. She was a vision of peace and serenity. 

"Welcome Lady Brigit," Jeffrey said reverently as he bowed respectfully
to the woman, "We are honored by your presence." 

"Yeah well we're not here for you little man." a huskey yet intensly
feminine voice, with a haunting Irish lilt, said from the shimmering
space behind Brigit. "We're here to care for our little sisters and I'll
not be tolerating any interference." 

The owner of the second voice stepped out from behind Brigit and her
presence grabbed everyone's attention. 

She was nearly six feet of graceful preditor, with wild fiery red hair,
beautifully chiselled features and cold green eyes that seemed to pierce
anyone she looked at to the soul revealing their darkest secrets. 

She was dressed all in black leather with two long wicked looking knives
hanging on either side of her heavy leather belt. 

This was the Morrigan in all her fierce deadly glory and when she saw
the Slayer and her Sorceress and the distress they were in, Morrigan
went into full protective mode. Both Giles and Jeffrey were driven back
with a single glare from her angrily flashing green eyes. 

"What my other means," Brigit said quietly as she stepped up next to
Morrigan and placed a calming hand on the bristling red headed warrior's
shoulder. "is that if we don't prepare the Slayer and her Sorceress, a
great evil might be loosed on the world." 

Calmed by her other's touch, Morrigan focused her attention on Buffy and
Willow. She took one of Buffy's hands and gently stroked Willow's hair
trying to sooth the still sobbing youngster and her obviously worried
and frightened partner. 

"Ye'll be comin' wit us little ones." Morrigan whispered softly, her
concern caused her accent to be more pronounced "It'll be lovely sparin'
wit ya' again Slayer darlin'." 

"Can you help her Morrigan?" Buffy asked sounding like a small trusting
child, tears falling in streams down her face "S-she's hurting so bad
a-and I c-couldn't m-make it go away, s-she w-w-wouldn't l-let me in." 

Morrigan looked up into the light blue eyes of her other half asking
silently. Brigit gave the red head a knowing smile and knelt down to
take both younger women in her arms. 

"Hush now little ones," the serene and comforting blonde said "it is
time to come with us. There is much to learn and very little time." 

Buffy stood up still cradling her beloved wife in her arms. She looked
deep into the flashing green eyes of her friend and legendary teacher
and saw the spark of hope in them. 

"We are going with our sisters Giles." Buffy informed her watcher her
eyes never leaving Morrigan's, "we will return when it is time." 

"What of you wizard?" Morrigan asked loudly her eyes never leaving
Buffy's "will you be going to support our sisters. Or are ya' leavin'
them to fight alone as your kind always does?" 

Before anybody could speak the resonant voice of Lugh filled the room. 

"Speak not my brother." the voice instructed "Your time is not now.
Morrigan, bring your little sisters *they* require your strength now." 

With Willow still cradled in Buffy's powerful arms and Morrigan and
Brigit's arms around Buffy's shoulders the four women walked toward the
hallway. The air around them seemed to ripple and with a swarm of
twinkling lights that looked like a thousand fireflies the quartet
disappeared leaving behind four friends that had absolutely no idea what
was going on...all but one that is. 

+++++++++++++ 
END BOOK ONE
TBC IN BOOK 2
+++++++++++++ 

There you go, I promise I'll be back soon with the start of book 2.
Until then bye.
~A~