Gold, Silver and the Bronze

Title: Gold, Silver and the Bronze.

Series: Postcards From the Edge of the Hellmouth Part Two.

Author: Ligeia.

Feedback welcome on ligeia@telstra.com.

Summary: Giles is concerned about Buffy’s reluctance to take on the duties of the Chosen One. Julia meets Angel at the Bronze.

Episode tie-in: BtVS Season One: Welcome to the Hellmouth. The timeframe has been expanded a little to fit in the extra action.

Featured Characters: Giles, Buffy and Angel.

Rating: No violence, just the occasional naughty word, and a little dark brooding from Angel!

Distribution: Anywhere. I like to share! Just email me the address.

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, Sandollar, David Greenwalt Productions, 20th Century Fox and whoever else may have a hold upon them. I do not mean to infringe upon any copyrights. Julia Devereaux is my own creation.

Postcards From the Edge of the Hellmouth Part Two: Gold, Silver and the Bronze by Ligeia.

Part One: Gold.

Rupert Giles was worried – worried and angry. He had been in Sunnydale for over a month now and the Slayer had not yet turned up. Three more young men had disappeared in the last week. The Council of Watchers seemed unconcerned and he had been told not to attempt any contact with the Summers family until they arrived in town. Julia Devereaux, his assistant Watcher, sat behind the front desk cataloguing the last dozen or so of the occult volumes they had brought with them from England. She looked up from the computer keyboard from time to time to watch Giles as he continued to pace back and forth across the wooden floor of the small library.

Julia’s run-in with two vampires in a deserted playground a couple of weeks before had unsettled them both more than either wanted to admit. Never one to baulk at a good ‘I told you so’, Giles had been so upset by the incident that Julia was afraid he would insist she return to London and had decided not to mentioned the figure she had glimpsed that night watching from the shadows.

‘Will you look at this news report,’ Giles grumbled, slapping a folded copy of the local newspaper on the counter top in front of Julia. The headline, which he had outlined, read ‘Local Boys Still Missing’.

‘I have seen it, Rupert,’ she said mildly. ‘Why don’t you try to calm down. There’s nothing we can do right now.’ Julia paused, ‘Unless …‘

Giles spun around. ‘There is *no* possibility, absolutely *none*, that you are going out there again on your own.’ Taking a deep breath, he continued more quietly. ‘I should never have allowed you to put yourself in danger in the first place. Vampire hunting is definitely not your function here.’

‘Well, why don’t you help me put these books away then?’ Julia stood up and stepped around the counter to hand Giles a stack of dusty volumes. Picking up another armful from the pile, she led the way up the steps to the bookcases at the rear of the library behind which stood a glass cabinet containing all of the occult reference books. As they placed the books in their correct order in the new cabinet, Giles looked silently at Julia.

‘What?’ she asked, noticing his puzzled stare.

‘I notice you’re not wearing your glasses any more,’ he replied. ‘I was just remembering how cute you looked the first time I saw you.’ Giles smiled for the first time in days. ‘You were in the Reading Room at the Old Bodleian Library at Oxford, looking through a 12th century grimoire from their Rare Books Collection, as I recall. The reading table was so high and the book so large that you had to stand up and lean over to read it! You wore those rimless half-lenses and they kept slipping down to the end of your nose!’

‘Yes, I remember,’ Julia laughed softly. ‘We were the only two people in the Reading Room but you still found an excuse to sit beside me at my table.’

‘It was not an excuse,’ Giles grinned. ‘I really did need to refer to that grimoire! So, do you wear contact lenses now?’

‘Ah, no,’ Julia said, turning back to the bookshelves. ‘I … ah … I don’t need them any more. I’ve … um … had the condition corrected.’

‘Laser surgery, then?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Have you had corrective surgery?’ Giles persisted.

‘Something like that,’ she replied, curtly. *Actually, it’s nothing at all like that*, Julia thought. Thankfully, she was saved from further explanations by the sound of the library’s double doors opening.

‘Hello?’ came a voice. ‘Is anybody here?’

‘I think you have a customer, Rupert.’

Giles hurried off to attend to the female student who was looking at the newspaper that had been left on the front desk. Tapping the girl on the shoulder he said, ‘Can I help you?’ As the blonde teenager turned around Julia recognised her from the photographs in the file; it was Buffy Summers. At last!

‘I was looking for some … well … books,’ she said brightly. ‘I’m new!’

‘Miss Summers?’ Giles asked.

‘Good call,’ Buffy replied, looking a little confused. ‘Guess I’m the only new kid, huh?’

‘I’m Mr Giles, the librarian,’ Giles continued. ‘I was told you were coming.’

‘Great!’ she said, even more confused. ‘So, I’m going to need ‘Perspectives on Twentieth Century …’

‘I know what you’re after!’ Giles interrupted. Moving behind the counter, he selected a huge 18th century brass-bound leather volume boldly displaying the title ‘Vampyr’ on the cover. He thumped it down on the counter-top in front of the girl.

‘That’s not what I’m looking for … ‘ Buffy’s smile disappeared as she took a step back from the counter.

*Oh, Rupert*! thought Julia, *just take it easy! Don’t come on so strong. You’ll scare her off!*

‘Are you sure?’ Now Giles was confused.

‘I’y suy sure!’ Buffy, looking slightly horrified, continued to back away.

‘My mistake.’ Giles was puzzled. *Isn’t this what she’s here for?* he thought. Putting the book back down behind the counter, he continued, ‘So, what was it you said …’ But it was too late; Buffy had already left.

Julia stepped down from the shelving area. Walking across to Giles, she slipped her arm through his. He was completely baffled.

‘What just happened here?’ he asked. ‘I have a Slayer who’s not interested in vampires! What am I supposed to do now?’

‘Relax, Rupert, she’ll be back. Don’t forget, Buffy’s had very little preparation for the circumstances she now finds herself in. With Merrick gone, she’s had several weeks on her own to think it over. A life of vampire slaying isn’t exactly an attivetive proposition for a sixteen year old girl, you know.’ Julia patted Giles’s arm comfortingly. ‘She’s probably hoping that if she ignores it, it’ll all go away. Just give her time.’

Giles removed his glasses. Taking out his handkerchief, he gave the lenses a good polish. ‘Unfortunately,’ he remarked, ‘time is a luxury we don’t have.’

* * * * *

The events of that afternoon proved Giles’s observation to be all too accurate. Another teenage boy had been found dead, this time in the girls’ locker room.

Julia returned home retrieve a couple of volumes on the Hellmouth phenomenon that she had requested be forwarded to her from the Council of Watchers’ Central Library in London. Her personal weapons collection and several crates full of rare books, which she had yet to unpack, had been imported under the Council’s diplomatic status. While she sat on the floor sorting through the books the telephone rang. It was Giles calling to say that Buffy had returned to the library after the discovery of the boy’s corpse to confirm that she definitely did not intend to get involved.

‘Julia,’ Giles said, ‘I need you to come back now and talk to Buffy. She must be convinced that she plays a pivotal role in this situation!’

‘Rupert, you really will have to handle this yourself,’ Julia said. ‘If Buffy is to trust you as her Watcher, to depend on your judgement, you need to develop that relationship from the outset.’ There was silence on the other end of the line. ‘Why don’t you talk to her after school?’ Julia suggested. ‘Most of the kids seem to hang around that nightclub in town, the Bronze. If she’s looking to fit in and make new friends, she’ll probably go there.’

* * * * *

After dropping the books off at the school library, Julia returned home again to the small stone-fronted bungalow she had purchased on her arrival in Sunnydale. It had come up for sale only a few days before, the previous owner, an elderly lady, having recently passed away. Sunnydale’s real estate market was not exactly booming, so the interstate vendors, the old lady’s son and daughter-in-law, were very keen to make a quick sale.

It had the potential to be a lovely little residence, a two-storey place with a charming stone feature wall in the living room, fireplaces there and in the main bedroom and a stone porch on three sides. Not that Julia expected to have many guests. Less attractive was the present décor; the walls were a different pastel shade in every room, the kitchen and bathroom were hopelessly outdated and the garden had not been maintained in years. The clincher, as far as Julia was concerned, was that the house was situated on almost three acres of land near the edge of town. Privacy was an important factor. With the kind of work she did, Julia couldn’t have the neighbours observing her activities too closely.

Heading upstairs, Julia grabbed a bottle of aspirin from the bathroom. She had moved in only two days ago and the place was not yet furnished. Lying down on a mattress on the bedroom floor, Julia took two capsules and covered her eyes with a forearm. Giles was right to be worried. Things weren’t going well at all. She had felt an increasing sense of unease since coming to Sunnydale just three weeks ago. *Maybe it’s the proximity to the Hellmouth*, she thought. Driving across the city limits in the green MGB vintage soft-top she had picked up in L.A., seeing the decades-old sign which read ‘Welcome to Sunnydale - Enjoy your stay,’ Julia had the weirdest sensation that she had just entered the twilight zone. She had almost expected the sign to read ‘Welcome to Sunnydale – Home of the Hellmouth.’

Beside the makeshift bed among the clutter of discarded clothes and half-emptied cardboard boxes was a small leather-covered jewel case. Julia rolled onto her side and opened up the box, taking out a small 18th century gold, ruby and pearl cross that had been handed down to her by her adored Irish grandmother. It was one of the few personal things she always kept with her on her travels. Switching on the bedside lamp that stood on the floor by the mattress, she held the precious heirloom by its chain, the light throwing a huge swaying image of the cross against the far wall. Julia sighed. *I hope Giles has better luck tonight in persuading Buffy to accept her duties as the Slayer,* she thought. *Otherwise, we’re all going to be in very deep shit.*

* * * * *