In a Corner of My Soul: Angel: Phone Call

[dragonyphoenix]

Summary: Rewrite of season 1 with Giles as the Big Bad.
Master List for In a Corner of My Soul (previous chapters / scenes)

The hyena's spirit had ravaged Kyle's body as fiercely as any purely physical beast could have. The skin around the boy's joints, inflamed and red, practically pulsed. His muscles, twisted and clenched, could no longer hold him upright. His throat, too sore to support screams, gave forth little more than faint whimpers. Giles calculated that if this decline continued unchecked, Kyle would be dead in two, possibly three, days.

The other lad, Tor, Giles had carried in that evening. He'd dumped the boy on a drop cloth in the center of the basement, far from the cage. Unlike Kyle, Tor was heavily drugged. Valium, Giles had learned, sedated the body without restricting its energy flow. On the drop cloth, Giles had painted an ancient symbol, one which would direct free-flowing energy into the cage.

The chant, ancient Greek, flowed easily from Giles' tongue. Even heavily drugged, Tor reacted to the pain as his energy flowed, quickly and visibly, into Kyle. In less than a minute, Tor was dead. Kyle's skin, while still ruddy, was no longer inflamed, and his body, no longer clenched in agony, lay sprawled across the concrete.

The ritual had worked. The influx of Tor's life energy had stabilized the possessed body although the benefit wouldn't last. The hyena's spirit would soon start overwhelming Kyle's body again, but the ritual was a step in the right direction. Periodic infusions of life could slow and even reverse the deterioration of a possessed body. The next step would be to stop the transfer of energy before it killed the donor. If that proved possible then a magic user, if powerful enough, might be used to keep a body from deteriorating for months, possibly even for years. Once he understood the process, he'd have to try with that Madison girl.

An image of Willow flashed through Giles' mind. “No,” he said. “She's mine.”

Giles fell, screaming. Whose? the demon asked.

“Yours. She's yours.”

The demon kept him there, gasping in pain for what seemed an eternity, although the hour wasn't terribly late when Giles rose from the floor to stumble out of the mansion. As he parked below his apartment, his head was still throbbing, but that wasn't unusual after one of Eyghon's punishments. His answerphone, blinking unmercifully, didn't help ease his headache.

“Giles? It's Buffy.” She gave her name as if he couldn't recognize her by voice alone. After a pause, she continued. “I guess you're not there? Um, we were attacked outside the Bronze by three vamps. Well, no, I mean I was attacked. Angel stepped in to help. So by we I mean me and also that Angel stepped in to save me.”

Save her? The Slayer shouldn't need help with three vampires. Perhaps he should rethink her training regime.

“Giles? These vamps? They were hairy strong.” Her voice became muffled as if she'd stepped away from the phone to speak with someone else. Three guesses as to whom she'd be discussing a vampire attack with. “I mean the vamps were strong,” she continued. “Stronger than usual. They had me pinned. If Angel hadn't stepped in, I don't know what would have happened.” After another pause, she added, “Um, I guess I'll see you tomorrow.”

Three vampires strong enough to defeat the Slayer. Giles thought of bed and sighed. Apparently he was spending another long night at the library. And Buffy'd had another visitation from the mysterious Angel. Damn!