A Very Ordinary Evil

Part 31 Many a Slip


Two days later, At Spike and Willow’s apartment


Spike looked over at his redheaded lover. “Are you gonna be okay pet? I can cover if you’re still too sore to go to the watcher’s.”

“I’ll get there. I’m just stiff after the whipping. And sore, don’t forget sore. But I’m not too sore.”

Spike sighed. “If that’s what you want pet.”

“Pet does.” Willow smiled shyly at Spike as she said it. Since the incredibly intense session two days before, their relationship had undergone another paradigm shift. She realised, during that session, she had moved from being a ‘submissive’ to being a ‘slave’. What amazed her most of all was that she didn’t feel wigged. In fact she felt calm, as if it was what she was always meant to do. Her knowledge had effected her profoundly. Things that had terrified and repelled her beforehand, she now knew she would accept, if not enjoy, if Spike needed or desired them.

She scooted over to the couch and sat at Spike’s feet. She just automatically went there now. It was part of the change she was going tgh. gh. She felt more comfortable when she voluntarily placed herself in a submissive position whenever she was with him. She lay her head on Spike’s thigh and looked up at him, smiling, as she said, “I’d just love to stay here forever. Sitting like this.”

Spike chuckled. “That’d work pet, it’d be real nice, ‘til dinner time anyway.” He grinned down at Willow, and leant forward to gently kiss the crown of her head. “Anyway pet, are y’ready to see the watcher and ‘is pals?
Th
The little redhead looked up, amused. “What’s with the East Enders accent Spike?”

“Er … listen ducks, I have to get me tricks and current slang from somewhere, now don’t I? After all, ” he continued, shifting back to his birth accent, “if I talked like this all the time, no-one would even consider me The Big Not-Very-Nice, let alone The Big Bad now would they?”

Willow looked for a moment at him, and then began to giggle. The giggling grew into a laugh and she turned in towards her lover, stretched up and kissed his lips softly, for, as much as anything, to stop herself from laughing. “I dunno about that, but that accent, your ‘proper’ one, makes me The Very Horny.”

Spike sighed once again. “Baby, we don’t have time. We have to be at Giles in an hour. And it’s a ten minute drive.” He looked at her a moment and grinned as he added a single word. “Brat.”

“I know,” chirped Willow happily, “but I’m your brat.”

* * * *

For a change, Willow noted, they were the first people to arrive. She was happy about that because she could sit slowly and gingerly, and not worry about anyone--except possibly Giles--noticing her slowness of movement. {I have to remember not to move if I can avoid it}, she thought to herself. Leaning cautiously over the side of the chair, she started to drag out her laptop from her carry bag.

Spike noticed her difficulties, and murmured “Let me get that for you pet.” As he made the offer, he acted, bending down to draw the laptop out and also running the power cable to the nearest socket. “D’ya need anything else luv?”

“No, I’ll be fine.” Willow smiled a little as she spoke. Spike nodded and went into the kitchen, and she could hear him clattering around as he began to prepare himself some blood, and, she hoped, coffee for her. Aware of her inability to turn easily she waited patiently. Spike returned with two mugs, sat on the arm of her chair and handed one of the mugs to her.

Willow smiled her thanks as she tugged at the roll of the turtleneck sweater she wore. Since becoming involved with Spike, her clothing choices had altered somewhat, and the sweater was a reversion to what she alreadoughought of as ‘fuzzy Willow’. {Still,} she thought, {until Spike and I can talk them about the bite, they’ll be better off not knowing.}

Spike grinned down as he settled comfortably on the chair arm. He looked overGileGiles returned into the lounge, books in each hand. He paused a moment, then licked his lips and asked “So Ripper, d’ya catch anything of the Test?”

Willow’s eyes rolled. She adored Spike, but could simply not understand the addiction both he and Giles had for British sports, and cricket in particular. As the two Englishmen began to talk earnestly about the current game, she recalled a rambling disionsion that Giles and Spike had one night and began to smile as she recalled how heated it became at times. She was brought from her reverie with something of a jolt as the door slammed and Xander’s voice cut through her thoughts like a laser.

“Hi peoples, we’re here!” Xander’s loud greeting shook all three. Willow was jolted from her thoughts while Spike and Giles conversation also came to a screaming halt. “What?” Xander asked defensively as he saw the looks he was receiving. Anya was beside him, as usual, and looked as confused as Xander.

Willow responded quickest. “ Nothing, Xander. You just surprised us, Spike and Giles were talking, and I was thinking. Don’t worry about it,” she smiled encouragingly at him.

“Ah, er, okay then Wills. How come you weren’t talking with them?”

“Because I don’t speak that language. I don’t think you do either, and you’re a man.”

“Men have a secret language? How come I never discovered that when I was a vengeance demon?” Anya had become confused by Willow’s comment, and suddenly began to worry. “You don’t talk to other men in a secret language do you, Xander?”

Willow and Xander both looked at Anya, utterly confused by her meandering commentary. “What hon?” Xander managed to get in first.

“Why do men have a secret language? Willow just said they did.”

Willow’s laughter pealed through the room, startling e ane and Giles from their intense discussion. “What pet?” Spike asked.

“Oh, nothing special. Just some confusion here.” She smiled back at him.

Turning back to Anya, she looked at her drew a breath and attempted to explain. “I’m sorry Anya, it was my fault. I guess I should try and remember that you don’t understand all the … attitudes of our culture. What I meant was that, in general, men seem far more interested in sports than women.” As she paused to draw breath, Anya interrupted.

“I’ve noticed that. Why is it?”

“Who can say, culture, society, genetics? All I was doing when I mentioned a ‘secret language’ was drawing an allusion. I was saying that Spike and Giles were talking about sports, and I wasn’t interested.”

“Oh. So men don’t have a real secret language?” Anya brightened up at that thought.

The door suddenly shot open and Cordelia ran in, breathless. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she gasped. “But I got caught up in a book.” She blushed at the highly unusual admission bro brought it with me, because … well because there’s something in it you should read.”

Giles looked over at the breathless brunette. “What? What book?”

“This one!” Cordelia answered brightly as she dragged a battered and dog-eared paperback with a hideously garish cover out and waved it at them.

“Cordelia, calm down. Why don’t you show me the book?” Giles voice of reason penetrated Cordelia’s excitement and she reluctantly handed over the book.

Giles glanced at the cover and flipped the book open. His eyes still locked on the book he asked, “Why are you reading this Cordelia? The Brahan Seer is quite well known. At least back in England.”

“Well,” Cordelia began, and then she looked slightly embarrassed. “Well, I really don’t know much about visions and prophecies, except that they give me migraines of course, so I went hunting for some books to get me started.”

“Very commendable of you Cordelia. I’m pleased to see that you aren’t allowing your brain to go to waste now you’ve finished school. But why didn’t you just come to me?”

Cordelia blushed. “Well, it’s that …” she hesitated, obviously re-ordering her thoughts before continuing. “I didn’t want to try and read old musty books written in really old language. I wanted something I could understand easily.”

Giles looked up, confused by her comment. “This is fascinating. I know it says ‘The Complete Prophecies of the Brahan Seer’ but I really didn’t expect to see any prophecies I hadn’t seen before.”

“Look at page seventy-four Giles.” Cordelia’s excitement began to be contagious.

Giles quickly read the page, remarking “I hadn’t heard this before. Listen to this:

There shall, in the far distant future, be a time when demons and men will war, one upon the other. And man shall war with man; demon with demon. In this, there will be many attempts to end all that is and ever shall be. I know not the outcome of these wars, and glad am I shall be safely dead ‘ere they start.
There shall be manifold signs of the onset of these wars, the first shall be that one becomes two, and of the two, the one shall be blonde and virtuous, the other dark and wanton. Next, good shall lie with evil, red with white. And the good, to avoid absolute terror, will appear to bend to that evil, but from it only good shall come. The intent of the good will turn upon itself, as will the intent of evil.

The final sign that you shall receive will be when that which is dead will die once more, and then return to join these great battles as a force of darkness like no other. As above, so is it below. That which the darkness created for evil shall work to balance the forces of both man and demon, both dark and light. And thus the world may be preserved.”

They all looked at one another for a moment, stunned. Most of the prophecy was quite clear and unambiguous. “Well,” Giles began, “it’s obvious that the first ‘sign’ is the calling of Kendra, and then Faith, I think the reference to the ‘dark and wanton’ indicates Faith. After all, Kendra was a quite charming and reticent young lady.”

Cordelia looked up, “Kendra? Reticent? Who stole your memory Giles?”

“Well, the next sentence obviously relates to Willow and Spike. Red and White … their hair. Good and Evil, their personalities. What I don’t understand however, is the reference to absolute terror. Willow?”

“Giles, you know what I’m phobic about. I can’t really see frogs threatening me that badly can you?”

“Er, , no, no, not really.” He grinned at Willow, smiling as he took his glasses off to clean them. “But is there anything else which you truly fear?”

“No, just the basic phobias. Frogs and spiders mainly, oh, and stage fright.” Willow grinned as she answered him.

“Hmmmmmm. Well, lets look at the next part. If there wasn’t all the additional … returning from the dead, then I’d say they were talking about a vampire. But a vampire only ‘dies’ twice. When the soul leaves, and when thmon mon is dusted. Any ideas Spike?” Giles was in full research mode by now.

“Er … No. Although …” Spike drifted off in thought.

Giles was about to ask Spike what he meant when Willow interrupted. “No Giles, he’s trying to remember something. Let him try to get there.”

Giles nodded in response to Willow’s advice. “The tenor of the whole text,” he continued, “is fascinating. It seems to imply …” Giles also lapsed into silence as he thought.

“Implies what G-man?” Xander spoke with a frustration that almost everyone felt.

Giles looked up, his eyes still slightly unfocused. “Pardon?”

“The prophecy. What does it mean?” Xander pursued the question.

“Oh. It seems to suggest that there will be both people and demons on both sides of any final conflict. I wonder why the Watcher’s Council have never examined this prophecy?”

“How about because the Council is a collection of living fossils who never believe anything they don’t want to believe?” Cordelia asked acerbically.

“May I look, Giles?” Willow asked politely.

The watcher smiled and passed her the book. “Feel free.”

Willow concentrated, reading slowly. Surprisingly, her lips moved as she went through the passage. She then looked up. “Giles, I think you may have … mistaken how complex this is. I think there are at least three groups in this war.”

Giles looked at her, confused. “Three?”

Willow nodded. “If you think about it, you’ll see that man wars upon man, demon upon demon and upon each other. One thing I’ve learned while we’ve been reading prophecies is that not only the words, but the structure have meaning. To me it suggests a group of humans, a group of demons and a mixed group. Sorta like we are. Look at us, a Vampire, a Witch, a Seer, and ex-demon and two ‘normal’ humans. You don’t get much more mixed than that.”

Giles chuckled. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. The Council would never under …” He trailed off, as he realised something. “Anya, get the phone, quick! Xander, have you spoken to Buffy at all?” His voice took on the tones of command, Anya immediately got him the cordless phone, as Xander shook his head blankly.

“No G-man. I sort of assumed she’d ring when she was ready.”

Giles took the phone, with a curt nod. The unnatural lack of courtesy, combined with his lack of comment to Xander about the G-man reference scared Willow. She could see that Giles was very worried indeed. As he dialled, she began to ask him why he was so worried. “Giles, what’s …” Willow stopped as he held a hand up.

“Hello, Quentin Travers please. It’s urgent … Pardon? … I don’t understand. He’s retired? When did this happen? Who’s the new co-adjutor of the Council? … Dr Peter Maugham! Never mind. No, it was urgent but personal. Good-bye.”

“Bloody Hell!” Giles curse matched the looks of horror on the faces of all the others.

“Mam! Tm! That psycho? How did that happen Giles?” Willow’s questions fired off in quick succession.

“I don’t know, Willow. I can only guess that there has been some kind of internal power play. I’m quite aware that you all considered the Council to be callous in the past, but without Quentin in the chair, as it were, the Council will really become ruthless. For example, once his people are firmly established as the power in the council, I strongly suspect that a team will be sent to … deal with Spike and possibly the rest of us too. I also wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Faith is either broken out of prison or quietly killed.”

Anya looked shocked. “But … but that would unbalance everything. The Demon realms would respond in kind. Oh My God! That’s what part of the prophecy means, and it’s too late, it’s happened! All of it has!”

Giles looked over at Anya. “You’re right,” he said, and the sadness carried on his voice. “I wonder if Maugham’s group or its predecessors suppressed that prophecy?”

“I don’t mean to upset anyone, but shouldn’t we be looking at checking our plans for Holly?” Willow asked. “We’re going to have to catch her in the next few days. If we don’t the Order may make the new council’s job even easier,”

“Well,” interrupted Spike, “I used the time we had during the flap over the Mutant to approach some human contacts. They’re bad boys but don’t know about my, errrr … you know.”

“Very tiny penis?” Anya put in, sounding helpful but with a huge grin on her face as she said it. “Ch “Charming.” Spike’s dry tone spoke volumes as it cut through the laughter rocking the others. “I meant,” he drew breath to continue, “that I have a supply of Sodium Pentothal on hand.” Somehow, Spike managed a sense of dignity, as if he was rising above the innuendo.

“Oh!” Willow brightened. “Spike and I have the perfect place to keep her while the drug does its job, a windowless cellar. We’ll need two or three days to clear it up, but other than that, it’s available.”

Spike looked over at her, and relaxed at her minute nod. “So, Friday then?” He asked.

“Let me see,” Cordelia said, “I’ll need to check my social calendar. Oh! Sorry, I don’t have one any more, it’s so full of holes it’s a social colander. Friday’s good for me!” She finished brightly.

Spike grinned as howls of protest at the pun echoed around the room. “It’s the price you pay for being a fearless demon killer, Huntress. Trust the fearless demon here.”

Cordelia smiled, openly and happily. She felt, for the first time, a truly integral part of the group. Joining in fully with the wordplay and the little games they all played.

“Spike,” Willow’s hand reached out to touch his thigh as she spoke, “I think we’re going to need to know dosages and such for the Pentothal.” As she spoke, her hand wrapped possessively around his leg, not expressing jealousy, but rather her own innate insecurities.

“You’re right pet. You want your laptop?”

Spike took her laptop from her bag, and laid it on her lap, then connected it to Giles’ phone line without missing a beat. “See, pet, that one lesson you gave me did help!”

Willow smiled as she began her search. “I’m going to try and find the data on open pages if I possibly can. It’ll leave a lot less in terms of an electronic trail if I can. Now, the rest of you go make drinks or get munchies, I want to concentrate.” Willow was quite unaware of the assertiveness that her voice took on. She was already thinking about and hunting the data.

As the rest of the Scoobyless gang went into Giles’ rather small galley kitchen, squeezing past one another as they sought their own refreshments, Willow squealed. “Got it! Got it!”

As one, they rushed out to see. “Look,” Willow almost shouted. “Everything we need, dosage by weight, duration, everything!”

“Excellent. So, Friday it is,” Giles said calmly.