The Immortal Slayer - Chapter 5
"Okay, so what's the Hellmouth spitting out now?" Buffy asked flippantly, trying to act nonchalant as she walked in the library for the Scooby Gang meeting. The rest of the gang was already seated around a table, books strewn all over the place."Well, Buffy" Giles looked over at the young girl, "do you remember the Immortal Slayer we were talking about?"
"Yeah." Buffy said slowly, surprise registering on her face as she took a seat. She didn't realize Giles was going to tell them everything at once.
"Whoa, hold it right there. An Immortal Slayer? Anybody care to clue me in?" Xander asked with his usual sarcastic grin. "I mean I know we have some new big bad around, but this sounds…well…bigger."
Giles looked over at the boy, realizing that he was the only one of them who had absolutely no idea of what was going on. Giles hoped he would not feel resentful for not having been told sooner. "Yes. The Immortal Slayer, also known as the Universal Slayer, is supposed to unite the slayers of the world to battle the Dark Goddess. I also know that she will have magical powers. Willow has also found out some things of interest."
"Hold up." Xander said. "Slayers of the world?" He added as his eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Since when was there more than one slayer?" Xander punctuated his question by throwing his index finger up in the air.
"How about when I died." Buffy put in sarcastically.
Xander gave her a look of non-amusement, and then continued. "I know that. You found the loophole with the whole slayer thing. But that still doesn't explain 'slayers of the world'. Just how many are there?"
"Twelve, actually." Giles answered the question as if he were indulging a small child. Raising his hands to his temples he tried to fight off the faint beginnings of a headache. "Now Willow, would you mind sharing the…ah…information you found with the rest of the group?"
"Uhm, well, she's immortal, has really long red hair and she has slayer abilities. That's about all I know right now, but I guess we could check the website. I haven't checked it today. There could be something new." Willow replied with a shrug, feeling almost as if Giles had handed her the reins to lead this meeting.
"The website?" Buffy asked, perplexed.
"Yeah, I made it about a week or so ago. I tried to tell you all about it, but everyone was busy." Willow shrugged, trying not to show how disappointed she had felt. "We could look at it and see if there's any new info. I asked them about The Immortal Slayer and the Dark Goddess. Some of the messages relate, but a lot of people think it's all fake." The young girl sat down in front of the computer and tucked her hair behind her ears, looking up to the gang for the go ahead.
Everyone crowded around Willow while she pulled up the website. "There are only a couple of new messages. Here's the first one."
"~ The Dark Goddess is supposed to be a Master of the Black Arts, but it is a learned ability. ~ Slaygal"
"I don't like that, but if it's not a natural ability, then we should have a better chance of defeating her." Willow reasoned.
"~ The Dark Goddess brings faith to the vampiric race. ~ VampDuster"
"Cryptic much?" Xander commented slowly shaking his head, he hated cryptic stuff, reminded him too much of Angel.
"I don't know. That one's weird. Like they didn't want to say something on the website, after all it is public knowledge. Wonder what that could mean?" Willow mused out loud. "Oh, here's one more."
"~The Universal Slayer is a wandering spirit, a timeless entity. ~ Luv2Slay"
"That one's pretty cryptic too." Buffy commented, wondering how it would all piece together. She preferred fighting the baddie, not researching it. Sitting around trying to figure it all out just made her way too ancy.
"We'll definitely have to check the books." Giles said, pinching the bridge of his nose. His headache that had been forming earlier was now a torment as he tried to concentrate.
"That's all the new information that there is on the website. Does anyone know when the lunar eclipse is? And has the council talked about anyone with long red hair that might be the slayer?" Willow asked, in full research mode.
"The lunar eclipse is this Friday night. The council hasn't said anything to me at all. Next Friday night will be when the Immortal Slayer gains her full magical abilities." He paused, thinking to himself for a moment. "Now if only we could find out when the Dark Goddess is going to show up, and where she's going to show up." Giles replied, getting into the research mode himself.
"Well, I say she'll come to good ole Sunnydale, you know with the Hellmouth and all it just seems like a good place for a Dark Goddess to hang out. I'm gonna go do the patrolling thing, you know dust a couple of baddies…that is if I can find any." Buffy shrugged, excusing herself from the meeting.
Walking out into the night air Buffy was glad to leave the library. Though the others may not have known it, Angel was at their little meeting. The blonde girl sighed heavily as she sat down on the curb. Even though it had been about a year since they split up, Buffy still couldn't stop her emotions from reacting when she was around him. Slowly she stood up, trying to banish these thoughts from her mind. She didn't need Angel anymore, not really. Over the past year Buffy had discovered more of who she really was, and had come to terms with that. She was at a point where being by herself was good for her. She was happy.
***
"The Dark Goddess" Xander mumbled. "Wonder if she looks anything like Cordelia? Cordelia could be a dark goddess. Which reminds me," Xander said, returning to his normal voice, "I gotta go. I have an important thing to do."
As he ran out the door, Willow's mouth twisted into a small frown as she bitterly muttered "Yeah, like Cordelia is so important."
Sitting in the shadows Angel caught the look that crossed Willow's face at the mention of Cordelia. It may not be the best time, but Angel decided to dispense the information he had gotten out of Willy. He actually did pay a visit to him last night, even if it wasn't the real reason he wanted to walk with Willow.
Emerging from the shadows Angel spoke, "I was able to get some information out of Willy and some of the guys at his place."
"Angel! I didn't realize you were here," Willow said, a startled look passing over her face. In embarrassment she found herself hoping he hadn't heard what she'd said about Cordelia. Wrinkling her brow in confusion Willow puzzled over the emotion. For some reason she didn't want the vampire to think anything bad of her, yet she wasn't sure if it was Angel in particular that evoked this feeling. Frowning Willow pulled her gaze away from the vampire forcing herself to focus instead on Giles as he began to question Angel's new information.
"Angel, what's this information you have?" Giles asked, hoping it would help them unravel this mystery.
"The Dark Goddess will be here Saturday."
"Sat-Saturday? That doesn't give us much time, does it? We have to find out who this Immortal Slayer is." Giles commented with a heavy sigh. "Were you able to find out anything else?"
"No."
"Don't worry Giles, we'll do it. We've handled worse stuff than this. I'll send out e-mails to the people on the website and post some more messages and pour through tons of books and we'll have it knocked out in no time." The young girl tried to reassure the librarian as she started straightening up the mess strewn about the table.
"Very well. Why don't you go home Willow, and continue your work. I'll clean up here. Angel, will you see her home? I know vampire activity has been down, but Sunnydale's still not a safe place."
Angel replied to the affirmative with a nod of his head.
"Get some sleep Giles, you're no good if you're tired." Willow admonished as she walked out the door with Angel.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Giles called after her, preparing to look through some more books before he headed home for the night.