Chapter TwoEight hours, ten pots of tea, 23 magical history books, and several ‘Good Lord’s’ later…
“Oh my.” Giles said, “I think I may have found something here…”
The rest of the Scoobies’ ears perked up…feeling suddenly revitalized.
“Whatcha got there…?” Xander began.
“Yeah! Whatcha got there, Giles?” Buffy said.
All eyes turned toward the staircase to see the Slayer. They had been so into their research that no one had heard her stirrings upstairs.
“Buffy!” Willow said – running to her best friend’s side. “…you’re okay! I mean, you were okay before…but you were pretty banged up and all…and doing the all-unconscious thing…scary…”
Buffy smiled – she always had loved Willow-babble.
“Buffy, I’m glad to see you’re up and around, but I think it best if you would just take the opportunity to rest a while yet. We’ve got quite a task ahead of us, and we’re going to need you in top form.” Added Giles.
“I’ll be fine, you guys…now what did you find, Giles?” Buffy said, easing herself down the stairs one by one.
“Well…I believe that we’re not dealing with one of our ‘run-o’-the-mill’ demon-types here. It appears that the creature that we encountered was some sort of demi-god…by the name of…let me see here…Kaliphicus? Yes, that’s it…”
“Did you say Kaliphicus? Because I think I saw something about that in one of the druidic history books here somewhere…”
Willow started going through the piles of books on the table once more…tossing this one and that one aside, until…
“Got it! Ok…let me see…it says…here it is…it says here that back in the early 1800’s, a woman, Siobbhan McCleary, was banished from a coven in Glouchester when it was suspected that she had been trying to summon one of the demi-gods of the underworld, Kaliphicus, to grant her the power to command the spirits of the dead…”
“Spirits of the dead? You mean like ghosties and all?”
“More like their … their life-forces, Xander.” Giles interjected.
Xander stood there with a blank look on his face – clearly not quite grasping what they were saying.
“Umm…like spiritual mojo.” Willow added, knowing that Xander clearly understood mojo.
“Ahhhh!” he said, shaking his head knowingly “ I knew that!”
“Honey, it’s alright, no one expects you to have a well defined grasp of the English language…” Anya piped in.
“Just what exactly do you mean by that?!”
“Well, you never have before…why would we expect you to now?” added Buffy.
“What is this, pick on Xander night?”
Giles had enough…
“Good Lord…” he said – for the umpteeth time that night. “Can we please just continue? Willow…please – continue.”
“Ok…so anyhow…she managed to summon Kaliphicus – and he told her that he would grant her the power that she so craved – but it would cost her the lives of those dearest to her…her children….so she had second thoughts.”
“You mean, basically…she chickened out at the last minute.”
“Yeah, Buff. Basically. Well…seems that Kaliphicus didn’t take that real well…guess he had a real craving for sacrificial children….he kinda went on a rampage, killing Siobbhan, her family, and much of the village before he was stopped.”
“Oh, my.”
“So how did they stop him?”
“Well, it doesn’t really say much about how…all it says that two of the witches in the coven were finally able to force Kaliphicus to return to the underworld…”
“Well, it’s a start – why don’t we all get some sleep and we’ll start again on this in the morning bright and early.” Giles suggested.
“Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard all night!”
“Come on Xander…let’s go home and have wild, kinky sex now…all of this talk about the dark ages has got me thinking about you and me and those sets of furry handcuffs that you got last week…”
“Umm….yeah…” Xander was blushing “Anya, honey…let’s go….we’ll talk about this in the car…” he said, taking her by the arm and basically running out the doorway.
“Hey…you guys go on…I’m just gonna finish reading a little more…I’ll catch up with you later…”
“You sure, Will?”
“Yeah, think I’ll just crash in the training room tonight. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“Very well. Do get some sleep – you’ve had a rough night, dear.”
Willow smiled “I will, Giles.”
“Night Will.” Buffy said, as she walked out the door with Giles.
“Night, Buff.”
It wasn’t long before Willow, too succumbed to her exhaustion, laying her head down on the very book she was reading…
To Be Continued….