FIC: High Noon, Part 3/5, Anya/Giles
Title: High Noon
Author: houses
Universe: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Anita Blake
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Characters: Anya, Giles and a few old favorites
Pairing: Anya/Giles
Rating: R, hints of smut and graphic violence
Timeline: Slightly before Incubus Dreams in AB, after Yesterday’s Sunrise in an AU BtVS.
Notes: This is the second in a series of fics that begin with Dawn’s wish to Halfrek in Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the first fic, Yesterday’s Sunrise, Dawn’s wish created the Anita Blake universe with some devastating consequences. I suggest you read that fic before continuing here, though this features Anya rather than Dawn. The next fic of the series will be Tomorrow’s Sunset, which focuses on Dawn again, thought back in St. Louis.
Word Count: ~13,000
Part 1 Part 2
They were happy, after a fashion. Anya’s business was doing well, which came as a surprise to no one, and she took up a small flat not far from Giles’ shop. Her business dealings took up most of her daylight hours, both corporate and the occasional vengeance calls, and evenings were spent trying to pry Giles away from Angelus’ attentions.
It wasn’t particularly hard, for the most part, since Angelus and Giles didn’t appear to care for each other much at all. As long as Giles performed any necessary human servant duties, Angelus was content to let him see his new lover. Giles professed a growing concern over the fact that Angleus had not demanded anything from Anya, not even to see her after that first night. Anya just shrugged and told Giles it was good business from the vampire’s perspective. Giles remained unconvinced.
They settled into a routine of dinner out at some of Giles’ favorite restaurants plus a few public outings to shows and museums. This was all very well, but Anya’s favorite time of the day was when they curled around each other in Giles’ large bed and just were.
It was one such occasion, when Giles was feeling particularly relaxed and open, that Anya decided to ask a few questions.
“Angelus is about, what, 250 years old then?”
“Hmm?” Giles nuzzled her neck. “Yes, about that. He was born in Ireland in his human life.”
“Who turned him then?” Anya asked.
“He was turned by a vampire named Darla, or Dear One, who died about a hundred or so years ago. She had a rotten temper and crossed The Master of Beasts. The Sourde de Sang for Angelus’ line is the Dragon.”
“Is she the one with the violence fetish?”
Giles turned to her, surprised. “You know of the Dragon?”
Anya looked uncomfortable. Hallie had cursed a vampire named Primo about five years ago for reasons she wouldn’t elaborate on. As far as Anya knew, the poor sod was still ripping his skin off in shreds whenever anyone said the word ‘lambykins’. She thought he was locked away somewhere by the Vampire Council.
To Giles, she said, “I’ve read up on what literature I could find. If I’m going to be dating a human servant, I should know the all about the vampires, right?”
“Wise woman, you are,” he murmured, kissing her earlobe. Anya giggled.
“So what’s Angelus’ deal? He’s happy to play second fiddle to the current master?”
Giles fell back with a sigh. “No. And it’s really not worth getting into. Angelus is big on ambition, small on patience. He’s going to get us both killed.”
Grimly, Anya said, “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
Giles smiled at her sadly and shook his head. They left the matter at that and talk turned to brighter things, like what new merchandise Giles obtained for the shop and the best way to make money off of it. As far as Anya was concerned, nothing was better than sex and money-all at the same time.
One afternoon, she took off of work and showed up at Giles’ shop. The smile he gave her when he saw her standing in the doorway made her knees weak.
“Anya! I didn’t expect you for a few hours. I’m expecting a few customers so if you wouldn’t mind waiting upstairs I’ll be up there as soon as I can.”
Giving him a kiss on her way by, Anya resisted the urge to run her fingers through his cash drawer. The shop did fine without her, and she knew Dawn would throw a hissy fit if she did something to upset Giles; she was willing to bet that messing with his financials would do just that.
She went upstairs and curled up into an armchair with a magazine, but she couldn’t concentrate enough to read. It was raining again, a light drizzle streaked down the windowpane, blurring the view outside. Anya toyed with the ends of her hair as she thought of Giles.
This Giles wasn’t like her memory at all. He was a man who loved the finer things in life but always looked over his shoulder as if someone was coming to snatch it all away. His relationship with Angelus was bizarre at best, and someday she’d have to worm the story of that binding out of him.
But not yet.
For all that she knew him, she didn’t know him him. Sure, the sex was great, and every once in a while, she’d catch glimpses of the old Giles in the way he cared for his ancient texts and priceless artifacts. When some of his old co-workers from the museum would come by for tea, his eyes would light up when they would discuss the obscure origins of the Nafata dolls. She knew the booky-watchery Giles was still in there.
But it was the vampire servant Giles who threw her down on soft sheets and ravaged her like there was no tomorrow. It was that Giles who made her blood boil in a way that was not at all literal and entirely pleasant. She wondered if this was what things should have been like with Xander all those years ago, not fighting tooth and nail about how she needed to behave differently.
This Giles didn’t care one whit that she was too blunt and sometimes made inappropriate observations about things. He thought it was funny, not like the old Giles who would sigh and roll his eyes. That warmed her to the bottoms of her money-loving toes.
She flipped the magazine closed and dropped it on the end table. She stood to go check out his magical book collection when a popping noise behind her made her jump.
D’Hoffryn stood there, smoothing his robes and smiling widely. “Anya, my dear, how are you doing?”
Anya gave him a hug as he patted her shoulder. “I’m fine, D’Hoffryn. How’s the vengeance business?”
“Oh, good, good. You probably head that Millicent made some poor schmuck compulsively eat road-kill.”
Anya laughed and indicated her boss should sit down. He looked around Giles’ study before settling on the chair Anya recently vacated.
“She does good work.”
“Indeed. Now, no one had the creative potential that you did, but what with you only working free-lance these days…” he trailed off.
Anya narrowed her eyes. “Don’t go there, buddy, unless you want your quarterly profits to be spent on food for the demon fish that Hallie insists on keeping in Arash’Mahar.”
The blue-skinned demon shuddered. “No, you misunderstand me! I was merely commenting on how…exciting your wishes were. These days, no one has any creativity.”
Anya waited for the real point to his visit to come out. D’Hoffryn rarely made visits to the earthly realm without very good reasons. He regarded her carefully before tapping his claw on his cheek.
“This is the one you’ve been obsessing about all these years?”
“What do you mean?”
“This human fellow, Rupert Giles, he’s the one you’ve wanted since Dawn remade the world, isn’t he?”
“So what if he is?” She retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Don’t be so defensive, little one.” D’Hoffryn leaned forward. “I just don’t want him to reject you and then I’ll be left picking up the pieces again.”
Anya glared, “Oh, and I’m so much trouble. The last time with Xander didn’t even really happen!”
“But it did for me, Anyanka. I live all the possibilities and I know how badly his rejection of what you are hurt you.” D’Hoffryn stood and walked over to draw him close to his chest. “You’re one of mine, and I take care of my own.”
“Until we’re of no use to you, you mean,” she grumbled.
“Well, naturally that,” he said, baring teeth. “I am who I am, after all.”
Slumping into his embrace, Anya couldn’t help but wonder if what he said was true. If Giles found out what she really was, what would happen to them? “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Right? He has to be.”
D’Hoffryn stiffened before saying, “Yes, well, about that, I think you’re about to find out.”
Anya turned to find Giles standing in the doorway, white as a sheet. He carried a bottle of wine in one hand and when D’Hoffryn turned to smile in his direction, it thudded to the floor.
“Anya, what…” Giles’ mouth opened but no sound came out.
“I can explain, really,” Anya said, but Giles shook his head in denial. She glared at D’Hoffryn and ground out, “You did this on purpose didn’t you, you flea infested toe-rag of Mothra.”
D’Hoffryn glanced between the two of them before stating, “Well, it looks like I’m just in the way. When he breaks your heart and you have to eviscerate him, you know who to call to clean up the body.”
With that, the demon disappeared.
“What was that thing?” Giles asked, feeling his way along the wall until he came to his weapons cupboard.
“It’s complicated, really.”
“He was a demon, wasn’t he? You’re consorting with demons! Do you know what happens when you do that?” Giles’ voice got higher and higher and Anya though if he were a girl he’d be shrieking by now.
“I’m not consorting with demons,” she said, slowly, watching Giles casually unlatch the catch to the cupboard. She didn’t forget for a moment how quick the old Giles was with the violence when he thought it necessary.
There was a thundering sound on the stairs and the door burst open. An irate Angelus burst into the room, eyes flaming.
“What in seven hells is going on here?” He barked out, looking between a rather tense Anya and an increasingly distressed Giles.
“Nothing’s going on, Angelus. Giles is just overreacting. Why are you even here?”
“My human servant was screaming in my head loud enough to wake the dead, which is exactly what happened.” Angelus snapped.
“I was not overreacting! There was a demon in my parlor!” Giles pointed to the charred circle in his carpet. “Demon! What if someone found out! I’d be hung tomorrow just like that old biddy in the Cotswolds who thought it would be fun to raise a demon for her grandson’s birthday because it was cheaper than a clown! Now the public is all in an uproar about demons eating children.”
“You eat children, girl?” Angelus asked, stalking forward. He didn’t look particularly frightened now that he was assured that no one was murdering his human servant.
She rolled her eyes. “No. Why would I do that?”
“Because they’re so tasty,” Angelus retorted. “Are you consorting with demons then?”
Anya threw her hands up. “No! I was not consorting with demons.”
The men watched her warily and she cringed when she saw Giles slide a small dagger into his palm, obviously unconvinced. She bit her lip and said, “I am one.”
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
In the few moments after Anya morphed into her demon countenance, several things happened, all of which would probably have been predicted by D’Hoffryn with great glee.
Giles actually did shriek, albeit in a manly way.
Angel plucked the dagger from Giles’ hand and threw it at Anya.
The dagger imbedded itself in Anya’s chest.
Anya got rather annoyed.
She didn’t go through this whole rigmarole to get Giles for herself only to be thwarted by a little demon-fear. Okay, so she hadn’t really wanted to bring it up, but now that it was out in the open she certainly didn’t want to get skewered by her boyfriend’s vampire. With a glare, she yanked the dagger out of her chest.
“You ruined my shirt! Do you know how much this cost? That’s the problem with you vampire types, all violence, no thinking.” Anya stalked forward as Angelus lunged at her. She caught shoulder as he banged into her and threw him against the wall. Angelus was so startled he paused, giving Anya time to grab his throat and hoist him up the wall.
“All I wanted to was to be with Giles, and there you two go, overreacting.” Anya shook her head as Angelus yanked at her hands. “If I let you down, are you going to stab me again?”
“No,” he ground out, “But Rupert might.”
Anya looked over to see Giles approaching her with a long sword in hand. She rolled her eyes. “Look, have I ever hurt either one of you?”
“No,” Giles said slowly, holding the sword in front of them. “But you’re a demon.”
“And you used to raise them!” Anya spat out. “Now that you’re dating one you’re all prim and proper about it?”
Both Giles and Angelus turned white as sheets. Angelus stopped struggling and Anya cautiously let him down. He rubbed his throat with a glare. Giles dropped the sword point to the ground and leaned on it.
“How did you know about me raising demons? If anyone found out I could be killed.”
“Which I most definitely don’t want. I promise. I just wanted to be with you,” Anya said, her voice trailing off. “We have the most marvelous orgasms. You tickle my toes and bring me tea in bed.”
Giles smiled at that. “I do, don’t I?”
“This is insane; you both realize that, don’t you?” Angelus said, “And how did you know about Eyghon?”
Anya just looked at the two men. She wasn’t about to say how this world came into being.
“Right. You’re a demon. You just know things,” Giles said. He paused and wrinkled his brow. “How are you here? Demons can’t manifest unless you’re summoned. No one here summoned you, I can promise you that. Last time I summoned anything, I ended up on the business end of the Lord of Darkness’s fangs.”
Angelus smirked. “I make a very handsome Lord of Darkness, you know.”
“Well, most demons can’t manifest without sorcerers allowing them into this realm, but I and my fellow balance demons can. We’re tied more closely to the humans in this world and I think that’s what allows us to exit without problems.”
What Anya didn’t say was that when Hallie worked with Dawn’s wish, she made it such that D’Hoffryn and the rest of his clan were the only demons allowed on the human plane. It was the reason that D’Hoffryn was so desperate for Dawn to keep the wish she’d made-if she left things the way they were now, D’Hoffryn would have exclusive access to the human population.
“What do you mean, balance demon?” Angleus asked, moving closer to sniff at her again. She shivered as he breathed on her neck.
“Some of us demons provide useful services.” She cleared her throat. “I’m the patron saint of scorned women. You may have heard of me, Anyanka? I avenge wronged women. It’s my thing. I can taste their need for revenge and come to answer their wishes.”
“I always thought Anyanka was a myth. Fascinating. What kind of wishes? Like, I wi-“
Anya held up her hand to silence Giles. “Never, ever say the ‘W’ word. You never know who might be listening.”
Angelus arched an eyebrow and considered her more carefully. “But you take what the women want in their wish and make it real?”
The demon shrugged. “Sure. Let’s say a woman said ‘I wish my husband would know what it’s like to be treated like dirt.’ I’d grant the wish by burying him alive in a compost heap-only he never really dies, just get mulched around for eternity. It’s all about the creative interpretations. Over the years I’ve granted lots of wishes, but these days I mostly just work with money.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?” Giles asked, finally letting go of the sword. He apparently decided that if she wasn’t going to eat him then maybe he could relax a bit.
“A lady never tells,” Anya said primly, fingering the hole in her shirt, “But about eleven hundred years or so.”
Angelus guffawed. “And you want him.” He pointed to Giles.
“What, like that’s a surprise? You wanted him too, didn’t you? He is your human servant,” Anya said.
“She has you there, Angelus. You made me your servant because I could raise demons and now you’re bent out of shape because I’m dating one?” Giles said, leaning down to pick up the wine bottle from the floor. He flinched slightly as Anya came to put her hand on his arm but he did pat her wrist gently.
“Are we going to be okay, Giles?”
“You’ll have to forgive me for being a bit unnerved by the situation,” he answered. “But if you’re okay with dating a human servant with a psychotic fuckwit as his vampire then I guess I’ll learn to live with you not being human.”
Anya’s smile was brilliant. She leaned up to kiss him lightly on the cheek. “I knew you’d get over it.”
Giles’ smile was shaky, but definitely there.
“You know, this actually works out well for you, Rupert,” Angelus said. “You’ve found yourself a hot little number you won’t have to watch wither and die. She gets you with the same deal. And me? Well, I get the answer to my evil little prayers.”
Anya and Giles both raised their eyebrows at that. Angelus rubbed his hands together with glee. “Oh, yes, I think this’ll work out nicely. You get sex, I get revenge. What could be better? Now, about that wishing business, I want you to tell me everything.”
Author: houses
Universe: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Anita Blake
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Characters: Anya, Giles and a few old favorites
Pairing: Anya/Giles
Rating: R, hints of smut and graphic violence
Timeline: Slightly before Incubus Dreams in AB, after Yesterday’s Sunrise in an AU BtVS.
Notes: This is the second in a series of fics that begin with Dawn’s wish to Halfrek in Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the first fic, Yesterday’s Sunrise, Dawn’s wish created the Anita Blake universe with some devastating consequences. I suggest you read that fic before continuing here, though this features Anya rather than Dawn. The next fic of the series will be Tomorrow’s Sunset, which focuses on Dawn again, thought back in St. Louis.
Word Count: ~13,000
Part 1 Part 2
They were happy, after a fashion. Anya’s business was doing well, which came as a surprise to no one, and she took up a small flat not far from Giles’ shop. Her business dealings took up most of her daylight hours, both corporate and the occasional vengeance calls, and evenings were spent trying to pry Giles away from Angelus’ attentions.
It wasn’t particularly hard, for the most part, since Angelus and Giles didn’t appear to care for each other much at all. As long as Giles performed any necessary human servant duties, Angelus was content to let him see his new lover. Giles professed a growing concern over the fact that Angleus had not demanded anything from Anya, not even to see her after that first night. Anya just shrugged and told Giles it was good business from the vampire’s perspective. Giles remained unconvinced.
They settled into a routine of dinner out at some of Giles’ favorite restaurants plus a few public outings to shows and museums. This was all very well, but Anya’s favorite time of the day was when they curled around each other in Giles’ large bed and just were.
It was one such occasion, when Giles was feeling particularly relaxed and open, that Anya decided to ask a few questions.
“Angelus is about, what, 250 years old then?”
“Hmm?” Giles nuzzled her neck. “Yes, about that. He was born in Ireland in his human life.”
“Who turned him then?” Anya asked.
“He was turned by a vampire named Darla, or Dear One, who died about a hundred or so years ago. She had a rotten temper and crossed The Master of Beasts. The Sourde de Sang for Angelus’ line is the Dragon.”
“Is she the one with the violence fetish?”
Giles turned to her, surprised. “You know of the Dragon?”
Anya looked uncomfortable. Hallie had cursed a vampire named Primo about five years ago for reasons she wouldn’t elaborate on. As far as Anya knew, the poor sod was still ripping his skin off in shreds whenever anyone said the word ‘lambykins’. She thought he was locked away somewhere by the Vampire Council.
To Giles, she said, “I’ve read up on what literature I could find. If I’m going to be dating a human servant, I should know the all about the vampires, right?”
“Wise woman, you are,” he murmured, kissing her earlobe. Anya giggled.
“So what’s Angelus’ deal? He’s happy to play second fiddle to the current master?”
Giles fell back with a sigh. “No. And it’s really not worth getting into. Angelus is big on ambition, small on patience. He’s going to get us both killed.”
Grimly, Anya said, “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
Giles smiled at her sadly and shook his head. They left the matter at that and talk turned to brighter things, like what new merchandise Giles obtained for the shop and the best way to make money off of it. As far as Anya was concerned, nothing was better than sex and money-all at the same time.
One afternoon, she took off of work and showed up at Giles’ shop. The smile he gave her when he saw her standing in the doorway made her knees weak.
“Anya! I didn’t expect you for a few hours. I’m expecting a few customers so if you wouldn’t mind waiting upstairs I’ll be up there as soon as I can.”
Giving him a kiss on her way by, Anya resisted the urge to run her fingers through his cash drawer. The shop did fine without her, and she knew Dawn would throw a hissy fit if she did something to upset Giles; she was willing to bet that messing with his financials would do just that.
She went upstairs and curled up into an armchair with a magazine, but she couldn’t concentrate enough to read. It was raining again, a light drizzle streaked down the windowpane, blurring the view outside. Anya toyed with the ends of her hair as she thought of Giles.
This Giles wasn’t like her memory at all. He was a man who loved the finer things in life but always looked over his shoulder as if someone was coming to snatch it all away. His relationship with Angelus was bizarre at best, and someday she’d have to worm the story of that binding out of him.
But not yet.
For all that she knew him, she didn’t know him him. Sure, the sex was great, and every once in a while, she’d catch glimpses of the old Giles in the way he cared for his ancient texts and priceless artifacts. When some of his old co-workers from the museum would come by for tea, his eyes would light up when they would discuss the obscure origins of the Nafata dolls. She knew the booky-watchery Giles was still in there.
But it was the vampire servant Giles who threw her down on soft sheets and ravaged her like there was no tomorrow. It was that Giles who made her blood boil in a way that was not at all literal and entirely pleasant. She wondered if this was what things should have been like with Xander all those years ago, not fighting tooth and nail about how she needed to behave differently.
This Giles didn’t care one whit that she was too blunt and sometimes made inappropriate observations about things. He thought it was funny, not like the old Giles who would sigh and roll his eyes. That warmed her to the bottoms of her money-loving toes.
She flipped the magazine closed and dropped it on the end table. She stood to go check out his magical book collection when a popping noise behind her made her jump.
D’Hoffryn stood there, smoothing his robes and smiling widely. “Anya, my dear, how are you doing?”
Anya gave him a hug as he patted her shoulder. “I’m fine, D’Hoffryn. How’s the vengeance business?”
“Oh, good, good. You probably head that Millicent made some poor schmuck compulsively eat road-kill.”
Anya laughed and indicated her boss should sit down. He looked around Giles’ study before settling on the chair Anya recently vacated.
“She does good work.”
“Indeed. Now, no one had the creative potential that you did, but what with you only working free-lance these days…” he trailed off.
Anya narrowed her eyes. “Don’t go there, buddy, unless you want your quarterly profits to be spent on food for the demon fish that Hallie insists on keeping in Arash’Mahar.”
The blue-skinned demon shuddered. “No, you misunderstand me! I was merely commenting on how…exciting your wishes were. These days, no one has any creativity.”
Anya waited for the real point to his visit to come out. D’Hoffryn rarely made visits to the earthly realm without very good reasons. He regarded her carefully before tapping his claw on his cheek.
“This is the one you’ve been obsessing about all these years?”
“What do you mean?”
“This human fellow, Rupert Giles, he’s the one you’ve wanted since Dawn remade the world, isn’t he?”
“So what if he is?” She retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Don’t be so defensive, little one.” D’Hoffryn leaned forward. “I just don’t want him to reject you and then I’ll be left picking up the pieces again.”
Anya glared, “Oh, and I’m so much trouble. The last time with Xander didn’t even really happen!”
“But it did for me, Anyanka. I live all the possibilities and I know how badly his rejection of what you are hurt you.” D’Hoffryn stood and walked over to draw him close to his chest. “You’re one of mine, and I take care of my own.”
“Until we’re of no use to you, you mean,” she grumbled.
“Well, naturally that,” he said, baring teeth. “I am who I am, after all.”
Slumping into his embrace, Anya couldn’t help but wonder if what he said was true. If Giles found out what she really was, what would happen to them? “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Right? He has to be.”
D’Hoffryn stiffened before saying, “Yes, well, about that, I think you’re about to find out.”
Anya turned to find Giles standing in the doorway, white as a sheet. He carried a bottle of wine in one hand and when D’Hoffryn turned to smile in his direction, it thudded to the floor.
“Anya, what…” Giles’ mouth opened but no sound came out.
“I can explain, really,” Anya said, but Giles shook his head in denial. She glared at D’Hoffryn and ground out, “You did this on purpose didn’t you, you flea infested toe-rag of Mothra.”
D’Hoffryn glanced between the two of them before stating, “Well, it looks like I’m just in the way. When he breaks your heart and you have to eviscerate him, you know who to call to clean up the body.”
With that, the demon disappeared.
“What was that thing?” Giles asked, feeling his way along the wall until he came to his weapons cupboard.
“It’s complicated, really.”
“He was a demon, wasn’t he? You’re consorting with demons! Do you know what happens when you do that?” Giles’ voice got higher and higher and Anya though if he were a girl he’d be shrieking by now.
“I’m not consorting with demons,” she said, slowly, watching Giles casually unlatch the catch to the cupboard. She didn’t forget for a moment how quick the old Giles was with the violence when he thought it necessary.
There was a thundering sound on the stairs and the door burst open. An irate Angelus burst into the room, eyes flaming.
“What in seven hells is going on here?” He barked out, looking between a rather tense Anya and an increasingly distressed Giles.
“Nothing’s going on, Angelus. Giles is just overreacting. Why are you even here?”
“My human servant was screaming in my head loud enough to wake the dead, which is exactly what happened.” Angelus snapped.
“I was not overreacting! There was a demon in my parlor!” Giles pointed to the charred circle in his carpet. “Demon! What if someone found out! I’d be hung tomorrow just like that old biddy in the Cotswolds who thought it would be fun to raise a demon for her grandson’s birthday because it was cheaper than a clown! Now the public is all in an uproar about demons eating children.”
“You eat children, girl?” Angelus asked, stalking forward. He didn’t look particularly frightened now that he was assured that no one was murdering his human servant.
She rolled her eyes. “No. Why would I do that?”
“Because they’re so tasty,” Angelus retorted. “Are you consorting with demons then?”
Anya threw her hands up. “No! I was not consorting with demons.”
The men watched her warily and she cringed when she saw Giles slide a small dagger into his palm, obviously unconvinced. She bit her lip and said, “I am one.”
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
In the few moments after Anya morphed into her demon countenance, several things happened, all of which would probably have been predicted by D’Hoffryn with great glee.
Giles actually did shriek, albeit in a manly way.
Angel plucked the dagger from Giles’ hand and threw it at Anya.
The dagger imbedded itself in Anya’s chest.
Anya got rather annoyed.
She didn’t go through this whole rigmarole to get Giles for herself only to be thwarted by a little demon-fear. Okay, so she hadn’t really wanted to bring it up, but now that it was out in the open she certainly didn’t want to get skewered by her boyfriend’s vampire. With a glare, she yanked the dagger out of her chest.
“You ruined my shirt! Do you know how much this cost? That’s the problem with you vampire types, all violence, no thinking.” Anya stalked forward as Angelus lunged at her. She caught shoulder as he banged into her and threw him against the wall. Angelus was so startled he paused, giving Anya time to grab his throat and hoist him up the wall.
“All I wanted to was to be with Giles, and there you two go, overreacting.” Anya shook her head as Angelus yanked at her hands. “If I let you down, are you going to stab me again?”
“No,” he ground out, “But Rupert might.”
Anya looked over to see Giles approaching her with a long sword in hand. She rolled her eyes. “Look, have I ever hurt either one of you?”
“No,” Giles said slowly, holding the sword in front of them. “But you’re a demon.”
“And you used to raise them!” Anya spat out. “Now that you’re dating one you’re all prim and proper about it?”
Both Giles and Angelus turned white as sheets. Angelus stopped struggling and Anya cautiously let him down. He rubbed his throat with a glare. Giles dropped the sword point to the ground and leaned on it.
“How did you know about me raising demons? If anyone found out I could be killed.”
“Which I most definitely don’t want. I promise. I just wanted to be with you,” Anya said, her voice trailing off. “We have the most marvelous orgasms. You tickle my toes and bring me tea in bed.”
Giles smiled at that. “I do, don’t I?”
“This is insane; you both realize that, don’t you?” Angelus said, “And how did you know about Eyghon?”
Anya just looked at the two men. She wasn’t about to say how this world came into being.
“Right. You’re a demon. You just know things,” Giles said. He paused and wrinkled his brow. “How are you here? Demons can’t manifest unless you’re summoned. No one here summoned you, I can promise you that. Last time I summoned anything, I ended up on the business end of the Lord of Darkness’s fangs.”
Angelus smirked. “I make a very handsome Lord of Darkness, you know.”
“Well, most demons can’t manifest without sorcerers allowing them into this realm, but I and my fellow balance demons can. We’re tied more closely to the humans in this world and I think that’s what allows us to exit without problems.”
What Anya didn’t say was that when Hallie worked with Dawn’s wish, she made it such that D’Hoffryn and the rest of his clan were the only demons allowed on the human plane. It was the reason that D’Hoffryn was so desperate for Dawn to keep the wish she’d made-if she left things the way they were now, D’Hoffryn would have exclusive access to the human population.
“What do you mean, balance demon?” Angleus asked, moving closer to sniff at her again. She shivered as he breathed on her neck.
“Some of us demons provide useful services.” She cleared her throat. “I’m the patron saint of scorned women. You may have heard of me, Anyanka? I avenge wronged women. It’s my thing. I can taste their need for revenge and come to answer their wishes.”
“I always thought Anyanka was a myth. Fascinating. What kind of wishes? Like, I wi-“
Anya held up her hand to silence Giles. “Never, ever say the ‘W’ word. You never know who might be listening.”
Angelus arched an eyebrow and considered her more carefully. “But you take what the women want in their wish and make it real?”
The demon shrugged. “Sure. Let’s say a woman said ‘I wish my husband would know what it’s like to be treated like dirt.’ I’d grant the wish by burying him alive in a compost heap-only he never really dies, just get mulched around for eternity. It’s all about the creative interpretations. Over the years I’ve granted lots of wishes, but these days I mostly just work with money.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?” Giles asked, finally letting go of the sword. He apparently decided that if she wasn’t going to eat him then maybe he could relax a bit.
“A lady never tells,” Anya said primly, fingering the hole in her shirt, “But about eleven hundred years or so.”
Angelus guffawed. “And you want him.” He pointed to Giles.
“What, like that’s a surprise? You wanted him too, didn’t you? He is your human servant,” Anya said.
“She has you there, Angelus. You made me your servant because I could raise demons and now you’re bent out of shape because I’m dating one?” Giles said, leaning down to pick up the wine bottle from the floor. He flinched slightly as Anya came to put her hand on his arm but he did pat her wrist gently.
“Are we going to be okay, Giles?”
“You’ll have to forgive me for being a bit unnerved by the situation,” he answered. “But if you’re okay with dating a human servant with a psychotic fuckwit as his vampire then I guess I’ll learn to live with you not being human.”
Anya’s smile was brilliant. She leaned up to kiss him lightly on the cheek. “I knew you’d get over it.”
Giles’ smile was shaky, but definitely there.
“You know, this actually works out well for you, Rupert,” Angelus said. “You’ve found yourself a hot little number you won’t have to watch wither and die. She gets you with the same deal. And me? Well, I get the answer to my evil little prayers.”
Anya and Giles both raised their eyebrows at that. Angelus rubbed his hands together with glee. “Oh, yes, I think this’ll work out nicely. You get sex, I get revenge. What could be better? Now, about that wishing business, I want you to tell me everything.”