In a Corner of My Soul: Angel: Curse

[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 journals of past Watchers could not be kept in the high-school library where anyone might get their hands on them. Unfortunately that left Giles' research into the Master at a temporary standstill. He'd considered returning home, abandoning the library for the remainder of the day. It wasn't as if the students actually borrowed books. But he'd scheduled a sparring session with Buffy after school. Perhaps one of the texts to hand might have something on that tattoo she'd described.

He found nothing on the tattoo. By the end of the school day, his research had devolved into skimming through Fallen Angels and Spirits of the Dark, a text so inaccurate that it only missed being incomprehensible because absolutely no one could have organized it into a coherent whole.

And so Buffy's arrival actually came as a relief. “One Slayer reporting for fighting practice,” she said with a miltaryish snap before adding a muttered “as if I really need it” just loud enough that he could hear.

Giles took a deep breath, releasing only some of his anger, as he rose to his feet. “Buffy.”

“But Giles, I don't need extra training. Those three vamps …”

“The Three nearly defeated you, and yet you expect me to believe you're prepared for battle?”

“I, uh, fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Start with punching: jabs, cross punches, and uppercuts. A thousand of each.”

For a moment he thought she might object but she dropped her books onto the table and started in on her training exercises. Her speed and technique would barely have been called adequate in a Watcher much less in a Slayer. Giles found himself wishing that Lothos had managed to kill this Slayer. Unfortunately the past couldn't be changed. To make up for her inadequacies, he added even more training time to her schedule. It was his duty to keep the Slayer alive and by the Gods, he would do so.

Unfortunately the additional training meant that Giles returned to his research later than he'd expected. By the time he'd set himself up in the mansion's library, the clock had struck seven. It was close to striking two before he found a relevant entry, a reference to one Aaron Main, a dark sorcerer who had used a tattoo to create the seed of a curse. The text didn't clearly describe what that might mean but it did lead Giles to a journal written by Main himself. It took nearly ninety minutes to find the relevant passage, dated 13 November 1803.

The convent of Blessed Saint Bridget had conjoined both prosperity and piety in perfect harmony before the arrival of the damned beast, the vampire Angelus, son of the ancient and dread Aurelian line. Wreaking his evil on all who dwelt there, the demon spared none, killing all from the Abbess on high down to the lowliest urchin living in the village nearby, not deigning to spare my daughter, my darling girl who, having rejected the dark magics I had devoted my study to, had given her life to God. The demon took her from God and took her from me. I vowed to have my revenge.

The location of this boastful and dissolute creature was not difficult to ascertain. After only five nights, he separated himself, temporarily, from his companions, other vampires I had no quarrel with. The trap took patience in its preparation but once sprung, the vampire was under my control. Using arcane arts I called down the vengeance of God himself and sealed it with a great marking: Aleph, the beginning, under a creature of myth, the Gryphon, that mighty beast which combines of Our Lord's strength in the body of a lion and His all-seeing vigilance in an the eye of an eagle. God's will shall never lose sight of Angelus until he stands in the very path of God's wrath and then the curse which I have laid upon him shall come to its full fruition. The fool laughed when I explained my great purpose. Let him laugh. The humanity that he'd discarded, as one sloughs off a worn strumpet in the street, that humanity shall devour him in the end.

But I cannot lay the blame for the destruction of the convent solely at the demon's feet. I cannot lose the dread fear that it was a punishment for my sins meted out on innocent flesh and so, now that I know my daughter will be avenged through God's grace, I have renounced my evil ways and will spend the remainder of my life praying for this wicked and dissolute world under a vow of silence.

Giles grabbed the phone. He had to warn Buffy. He wasn't certain what this curse might be, but he was certain that Angelus, one of the most dreaded vampires ever documented, was Buffy's Angel. She picked up on the first ring. “Buffy, this Angel …”

“ … is a vampire.”

“You knew?” No, she couldn't have. “How long have you known?”

She spoke in a monotone. “After patrolling. He was still here.”

“Did he hurt you?” Did he kill you? Are you still my Slayer? No, she couldn't be both speaking and dead. Vampires didn't rise immediately.

“Uh, no. He left.”

“Pack a bag. I'll be right over.”

“What?” Her monotone gave way to a shriek. “I can't just leave.”

“Buffy, your home isn't safe. You've invited a vampire in. You'll have to stay here until you've slain him.”

“My mother lives here. I'm not leaving her alone.”

“Buffy, listen to me …”

“No. I'm not even sure he's evil. He could have killed me. He didn't.”

“Of course, because vampires never toy with their prey.”

“No, Giles. Something's going on here. I need to know more.”

“Know more? Fine! In 1803 he destroyed an Irish convent. He killed every single person in the local village, down to infants in their cribs. Is that enough or shall I describe how he raped the nuns before murdering them?”

“No.” He had to strain to hear her. “You don't have to describe the … anything. But there's something off. He didn't even hurt me Giles, and he could have. I need to know why before I can even think about killing him.”

She hung up. Giles found himself staring at the phone. She wanted information? Fine. He'd give her information. He turned to his books. “What do we know about Angelus?”