Transitory Evils

Part 7 Evil Counsel


Approximately simultaneously with part 6


Buffy looked around, still unused to the moorlands of southwestern England. Even though she had been here for over four months, the landscape still looked alien to her. And the weather … she’d never get used to what she thought of as constant drizzle.

She was on yet another training exercise. Her time was divided fairly evenly between Peter Maugham working with her to overcome her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Marcus Adair who was to all intents and purposes her Watcher. Because she was no longer actively slaying, they used the term ‘Observer’ but it meant the same thing.

What she really enjoyed, however, were her bi-weekly study sessions with Dr Geraldson. She found that Rochelle Geraldson was able to make the demons and their history come alive for her in a way that Giles had never been able to. Buffy had acknowledged however, that part of that was because Rochelle was closer to her own age and had the same sort of irreverence that Buffy did herself. Plus, she had excellent taste in clothing, even if it was a touch formal for Buffy’s preferences.

As Buffy read the waterproofed map she carried, she was able to re-orient herself. ‘Why does being left in the middle of nowhere with only a map help me be a better slayer?’ She asked herself. Sighing, she began the long walk back to the Council’s training centre. As she walked, she thought about what had happened to her over the past six months. Her illness, the seizure, her re-location to England, Dawn suddenly becoming a straight A student in the English education system, as well as the most popular girl in school due to her exotic accent and good looks, and the trainingso much more intense here than with Giles.

She began to think again about some of the things Rochelle had said about the motivations of demons and why they tried to take human mates.

* * * *

“The hybrid demons, especially vampires, have a yearning, Buffy,” Rochelle said. “It’s a desire to recapture their humanity. To reclaim the essence of what they remember before they became predators.” Rochelle sighed and then continued. “It’s sad really, because often they believe they are genuinely in love with their human mate. At the end of the day, however, they aren’t. They’ll kill that human as easily as any other. It’s a dangerous delusion, to which both humans and demons are equally vulnerable. Have you ever wondered why it always seems to be young and inexperienced humans that the demons are attracted to?”

“They are?”

“Certainly. You were a virgin when Angel made love to you, were you not? And your friend, Willow has only had two other lovers. Neither of you could be considered … experienced. And then look at all the fairy tales. Who is it who’s ‘sacrificed’? It’s always a virgin. Again the inexperience issue.”

Buffy recalled the shock that went through her as Rochelle had explained it to her. Even Drusilla had made a pass at Xander, admittedly under the effects of that spell, but still, he was also a virgin then. She had to admit to herself that it made a horrifying amount of sense.

“And let’s be honest here, woman to woman,” Rochelle continued. “Most vampires are very very sexy. One reason for that is that physical attractiveness is often a reason for turning someone. So it’s not unreasonable for younger and inexperienced humans to fall for the vampires.”

Buffy nodded. “Yeah, Angel, well he’s just drop-dead gorgeous!” She giggled. “Er, that came out really bad.”

Rochelle’s lips quirked as she asked, “Drop deader gorgeous?”

Buffy burst into laughter, tears beginning to roll down her face. As she composed herself she said, simply, “Thank you. That’s the first real laugh I’ve had in forever.”

Rochelle just smiled. “Buffy, laughing is okay. In fact, it means you’re getting better.”

Buffy brightened. “Yeah, I guess it’s a small breakthrough.”

“So,” Rochelle said, changing the subject, “we should get back to the topic at hand. Demons. Now, I know Mr Giles would have made it clear that they don’t have souls. But did he also make it clear that because of their … soullessness that they have no conscience either?”

“Yeah, he did. But I didn’t really believe him. And, y’know, even when Angel went all bad … it was still like he loved me. Just in a really evil-sick-stalkery-I wanna kill you way. Doesn’t that mean there was like still a conscience there?”

Rochelle nodded. “Yes, but that’s really obsession, not conscience or faithfulness, Buffy. I can understand why you believed that. It’s completely logical. The trouble is, in a sense, you didn’t see Angelus for long enough. If you had, you would’ve seen how his obsessions could shift in the twinkling of an eye. If he had seen someone else he desired, or someone else annoyed him, he would’ve lost interest.”

Reacting to the hurt look on Buffy’s face, Rochelle explained further. “I’m saying this not to hurt you or take away from what you and Angel had, but to try and explain why a demon does what it does. I know it must sound … trite to say this to you, but with Angel, you were far too emotionally involved to become objective.”

Buffy nodded. “Oh, I know that.” She gave a small, rueful smile. “The amount of trouble I got into when he came back from hell …”

Rochelle nodded. “I read Mr Giles reports. He was not … best pleased at the situation, shall we say.” The two women shared a small, conspiratorial smile.

Rochelle looked up at the clock. “The session’s just about over, so do you feel like doing something tonight?”

Buffy flashed the older woman a bright smile. “Sure. Movie?”

“Okay, you pick and and I’ll reserve a viewing booth for us in the recreation facility.”

“Sounds good, Ro. Now I better get over to Dr Maugham or he’ll have a tantrum about me being unpunctual.”

They giggled.

* * * *

Buffy was sitting in the large wingback chair that she always used for her sessions with Dr Maugham. She was thinking back, at his urging, to her time involved with ‘The Initiative.’

“Well, Buffy,” Maugham’s voice was soft and soothing as he gently questioned her, “why don’t you tell me about Maggie Walsh now.”

Buffy nodded. She was very relaxed and felt amazingly calm with Dr Maugham. She began to talk about Maggie Walsh and her projects to him, explaining at length about Riley, and the events that led up to the summoning of the combined entity that was her, Giles, Xander and Willow. It was so easy to talk to Dr Maugham, she thought in the remote recesses of her mind. He was so trustworthy, so gentle. As she continued to talk, Maugham made encouraging sounds and gently directed her memories into particular areas. He seemed to be very interested in Willow’s abilities. Buffy realised that it made sense. The Council had to understand as much as they could about magic, and Willow was a very powerful Wiccan. She may well have done things magically that the Council hadn’t considered.

As Buffy lapsed into a natural sleep, Maugham got up from his chair and walked to the door on the far side of the room. He opened it and looked at the two other Councillors there. “Remember to blur her memories about this session, and you recorded everything?” At their nods he said a single word. “Good.”

* * * *

Buffy was drenched by the unremitting drizzle as she trudged back to the Council Headquarters. She wiped her hands and opened the map again. ‘Only a mile or so to go ... I think. Why did they have to put it in a valley? I can’t see the damn place until I’m on top of it!’

As she crested a last low hill, she saw the centre spread out below her. It was an old manor house. Very stereotypical, she knew. What couldn’t be seen, however, was the large underground complex that spread right through the small valley. A lot of the underground area was taken up by records storage, of course. ‘If these guys didn’t have records,’ Buffy thought, ‘their heads would explode. A lot.’

She began the downhill trek, the final leg to the manor house, dryness and warmth. She was also hyper-alert, all her senses extended to maximum. If the Council trainers planned a mock ambush, this was the most likely place. She moved cautiously down, keeping well away from the small copses of trees that dotted the sides of the valley. Once she got to within a hundred yards or so of the house, she knew there would be no ambush. Smiling, she jogged the last short distance to the main doors and entered.

She walked inside to see Rochelle standing there. “Buffy, that was amazing. You covered ten miles across country in only two hours!”

“I did? I mean I did!” Buffy was surprised. “I was thinking for most of the way.”

“For God’s sake don’t tell Maugham that! He’ll tear strips off you! You know what the man’s like ‘focus, focus, always focus!’ We’ll just keep it a secret,” Rochelle smiled again and Buffy responded.

“Sounds like a deal to me,” she said brightly.

“So, you’ve got an hour’s rest now, right?” Rochelle asked.

“About that, then another session with Dr Maugham.”

“Well, why don’t we go and have some tea? Catch up a bit.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Buffy smiled back.

They walked to the cafeteria and took a small table near one wall. “You’ve got a day off tomorrow, don’t you?” Rochelle asked.

“I do. Yay for me! And nothing to do either. No pressures, no slayage. A real day off!”

“I’m rostered off tomorrow as well. Do you want to go up to town?”

“Town? You mean Plymouth?”

“No, London.”

“Definitely of the yes! I want to go to Harrods!”

“All right then. We’ll need an early start to get to the train station though. I’ll have you woken at five.”

“Five! Well, okay. If we get a lot of time at Harrods.”

“That train will get us there just in time for them opening at ten.”

“Oh. In that case, we’re good.”

“I’d also like to show you Saville Row. There are tailors for women there nowadays as well.”

“Rochelle, let’s … shop!”

“You have a deal, Miss Summers. We’ll power-shop London to a standstill tomorrow. And don’t think I won’t make use of that slayer stamina!” Rochelle grinned at the blonde slayer. “I have to go now, though. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Rochelle smiled as she stood and walked briskly away. ‘It’s so nice to have a girlfriend again,’ Buffy thought.

Rochelle Geraldson entered Peter Maugham’s office and sat down. Maugham looked up at her. “Well?” He asked interrogatively.

“Buffy’s beginning to trust me, as a friend. We’re shopping tomorrow. Harrods and Saville Row. I’ll need to use a Council credit card.”

Maugham shook his head. “That girl is going to run us bankrupt if we aren’t careful. But we need her. Badly. How is the ritual to remove the rogue’s powers shaping up?”

“Slowly. There are multiple problems. Her incarceration is one, but we are also very short on material links and ways to bind the spell to her. It’ll be a slow process, but I expect that we’ll be ready in six months or so.”

Maugham nodded. “I always knew it would take a substantial amount of time. But with Miss Summers here, it could well be for the best. I estimate that it will take another three to four months to realign her loyalties completely. Have you informed her about Angelus as yet?”

“No, I’m saving that for later. I want to loosen her ties to the witch, Rosenberg, first. I’m working on explaining properly what demons are. Not the wishy-washy drivel Rupert Giles fed her. How’s the work with young Dawn coming along?”

Maugham pursed his lips before answering. “Well. She’s developed good friendships at school here, her foreign-ness has helped a lot with that. We’ve been able to intercept all the phone calls and letters so far, in both directions. Some of the most recent ones that Dawn has written have been quite … heated. She feels abandoned. She is moving away from that group in the United States quite effectively.”

“That’ll help,” Rochelle said, smiling, “with Dawn being opposed to the Sunnydale group, it may weaken Buffy’s connections. We’ll get there, Peter.”

Maugham sighed. “I know Rochelle. I’m just impatient. Under that fool Travers, the Council drifted and lost all of its power as a result. We have to resolve this as soon as possible.”

“If we rush it though, we’ll fail completely. We have to regain the Council’s prestige. At all costs.”