For the first time in weeks, Giles relaxed. He was back at Oxford again, and at last he felt like he was truly at home.

When he was at Council Headquarters, Giles worked hard to suppress the urge to lash out against the Watchers’ scrutiny and veiled derision, to question their methods and practices. That could only lead to more scrutiny and derision, and a greater urge lash out, and he had no right to feel that way, not after what he’d done. Whatever else they were, the Council was on the side of good, and Giles had to make himself a part of that. It was simply going to take a lot of effort. As for his family home, that was the same as ever, only… colder.

The university was where Giles felt he belonged. It was old, and solid, constant. He could lose himself in the world of academia, in the lecture halls and libraries. At first he had been afraid that he had forgotten too much to be able to complete his degree. After all, so much had happened in the intervening years. But soon after he stepped onto campus, Giles felt it all coming back to him. 1688, the Glorious Revolution make William of Orange Britain's constitutional monarch; 1713-1714, the Peace of Utrcht-Rastadt ends the Nine Years War. The more he remembered, the better able he was to immerse himself in his studies, so that he was almost able to forget the other life he had at the Council, forget the other world he belonged to, with its demons and slayers and darkness. Almost.

1455-1485, Wars of the Roses (In the Balkans, several towns are wiped out by an order of vampires, which concurrently increases the numbers of the order and its reach. Twenty-three Slayers are Called in rapid succession before the order is defeated)

1588, British defeat the Spanish Armada (A demonic cult in Ankara nearly succeeds in raining hellfire down on earth. The Slayer who stopped them is found by the cult’s survivors. She is tortured, and killed, and her body is desecrated)

1648, the Treaty of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years War (After four years and seven months in action, the longest lived Slayer to date is killed)