"Yes. I am a demon hunter. It is a long story," Raksha answered. Buffy tried to sit up, then Raksha went to her and pushed her
back down.
"How are you feeling Buffy?" Willow asked. She was obviously very worried about her friend.
"Fine," Buffy answered. She looks at Raksha, sizing her up. "Will you let me up?"
"No. You need to rest. You almost died," Raksha responded.
"I what?" Buffy exclaimed.
"You had a fight with Angelus," Willow answered.
"But!! I almost died?" Buffy asked.
"You were pretty out of it by that point," Raksha answered.
"I don't understand it Giles. I just beat him a few days ago... He was stronger somehow," Buffy defended herself. "He had better
fighting techniques. It was really weird."
"It is explainable," Raksha began. "He has been draining some of his minions, to get their strength. He has been preparing to fight
you, Buffy, and me."
"And you know this how?" Xander asked.
"I have my ways," Raksha stated, mysteriously.
"I don't know 'bout the rest of them, but you are being too damn cryptic for your own good," Cordelia warned Raksha. "I like
things to be straight forward."
"Why? Because that's the only way you can understand them?" Raksha asked.
"Hey! I'm the only one who can pick on Cordy's intelligence," Xander yelled.
"And what do you call her a nerd?" Raksha retorted, very amused at something.
"Hey! Cut it out! There are more important things going on right now!" Willow yelled, stopping them. They all looked a little
startled at her outburst. But they were becoming a more common occurrence.
"Yes. What is Angelus trying to do? Who are you?" Giles asked Raksha. He was very confused and desperately wanted answers.
"Do you want me to start at the beginning? It's a very long story and I'm not so sure I want to tell it. It is rather sad," Raksha
answered him, in a voice filled with the sadness and pain of her life. The sound of wisdom.
"Yes, please, tell us?" Buffy asked her.
"Okay, but once I start telling it do not interrupt me. I will not tell you the rest, if you do. If you have any questions..." Raksha
paused her response to look at Giles, "You can ask them when I'm finished. Can everyone live with that?"
The group mumbled positive responses.
Raksha started her story, "A long time ago... Actually, five thousand years ago, I was a normal Egyptian girl. I did chores,
helped my mother, and prepared to enter womanhood. In my time, a young girl's life was centered around learning to be a
woman, as if she wasn't already born one." Raksha snorted.
"I fell in love with a man. He was perfect, or so I thought. He had status, money, land, and was from a good family. Those things
mattered then and they still matter now as much as people deny it. 'It's not about money. It's about love.' Please. No woman that
I've ever known would have married a poor man, no matter how much she loved him.
"One day my love started to get very sick. We took him to all of the healers, shamans, doctors - you name it, that we could find.
But no matter what potion, tonic or healing ritual they prescribed, he kept getting worst.
"His mother and I started going every morning to pray to Isis. To have her make him better, but he did not improve. So, we
started going to every temple to pray and make offerings to this god or goddess. But there was one we did not go to: Set's, the
god of evil. Sure he would have cured my love, we knew that, but it would have come at too high of a price. No matter how
much we loved that man, neither his mother nor I would go to Set.
"My love was becoming very weak. He was dying. I had to do something. I could not just let him die without doing all I could.
One day I went to Set's temple. I prayed and prayed. I offered him everything in exchange for my love's life. That was what he
was waiting for. He came to me. I then asked him to do what I wanted. He then asked me if I was willing to become his servant,
in exchange for my love's life. I was so desperate to save my love, that I agreed.
"When Set said I would then become his servant, I thought he meant I would become a priestess of one of his temples. But Set had
other plans for me. He decided to use me for his evil purposes. He made me into a demon. He damaged my soul and used me to
destroy good people. After I was changed, of course, *nobody* wanted to be around me. My love, my family and everyone else
turned away from me.
"I became very angry. I started wrecking the temples of the gods and goddesses that I had prayed to in the first place. I killed the
priests and priestesses that worshiped them and took care of their temples. I also killed others who made offerings to the gods.
"All of my gods got very angry at me, except Set, of course. They decided to give me the perfect punishment. First they made my
soul stronger, so it could rule my body, instead of the demon. You see, when the demon entered my body it did not force my soul
out of me. It simply took it over; it overpowered it. It used my soul's power. They gave me back my conscious. Then they made
me hunt demons like myself. Finally they cursed me to live as long as there are demons on the earth. Since, I am a demon, they
essentially cursed me to live forever. Nothing can kill me. I can't even be dismembered like the Judge. You recently faced him...
yes?
"What's next? Oh, yes. How did I meet Angelus? It is quite ironic actually. I had been hunting vampires and other demons in
London. At that time London was like the Hellmouth. Anyway, I was staying at a boarding house. It was owned by a widow, that
had two sons. One of them was named William, AKA William the Bloody or, in recent years, Spike. I felt a very strong
connection to him. I've always wondered if he was the reincarnate of my first love. In my own way, I was in love with him.
"Angelus, along with his little 'family', was ruling London. I had been depleting his forces, very quickly. Needless to say,
Angelus wasn't very happy with me. One night he followed me home. He must have saw me with William. When I came home the
next night from hunting, I found out that William had not come home from a pub that he had gone to. I knew instinctively that
Angelus had him.
"I started searching everywhere for him. I never found him, but I got a message from Angelus telling me how he had killed
William. I left London. I could not stand being there. Besides people were beginning to accuse me of witchcraft and other things.
They blamed me for William's disappearance. If they only knew.
"I worked my way through Europe, hoping that I would find Angelus. I wanted revenge. I had no one to blame but myself for
losing my first love. But this time I had someone on which to lay the blame. I wasn't about to let him get away with it. I killed
any vampire I met. I tortured quite a few, trying to get information out of them. But most were too scared of Angelus to betray
him, or they didn't know anything.
"Finally, two years later, I found him. He thought he was one step ahead of me, but I caught him by surprise. I kept hidden for
days learning all I could. Finally, I attacked. Little did I know that he had a surprise for me. The one vampire I couldn't kill:
William. Angelus used William to distract me and then ran away, like the coward he is. I couldn't kill William. I tried, but it was
too hard. I wasn't prepared. I let him be.
"But I wasn't through with Angelus. If I couldn't kill the creature William had become, I sure as hell wanted to kill the one who
had made him that way. I didn't look for him as I had before. I knew that I would be the death of him one day.
"Anyway a few years later, I found Angel - not Angelus. I learned how his soul had been restored. I pitied him because I knew
how it felt. I knew what it was like to go from guilt - free to being so guilty that all you could think about is killing yourself. I
tried to help him. But he just wanted me to kill him. I couldn't because he was not evil. I do not kill things that are not evil. But I
made a promise to him and to myself, that if he ever reverted, I would kill him," Raksha sighed. "I intend to keep my promise.
Angelus shall be no more."
To Be Continued