"Yo, Willy! Hit me with some more of those chicken fingers." I looked at the short-haired human behind the counter as the tip of my tail curled.
"Sure thing, Aud." He nodded with a smile and went to the fryer. Licking some ketchup from my lip, I grabbed my drink to take a swig. Buffy was out doing a bit of patrolling, Willow was at the library for school, and Dawn was at home probably dining on pizza and binging movies right now. I, on the other hand, was stuffing my face with processed chicken in a demon bar to relax after a hard day at the high school.
"Aud Giles?" My ears perked as I turned to see who had spoken. It was a tall demon, broad and covered in snake-like scales with two curled horns like a ram on top of his head. He wore jeans and a hoodie that was tight over his muscled body, and I was wondering if he was picking a fight.
"Who's askin'?" Setting my glass down, I kept my eye on him.
"I've got a delivery." He pulled a rectangular package from the front pocket of his hoodie as his deep, green eyes glanced at it.
"Do I gotta sign for it? Who's it from?"
"No signing, and I can't tell ya." He set it on the bar next to me, and I wiped my hands off onto my jeans to tear the package open. My tail swayed as I was curiously ripping off the brown paper covering whatever it was. There was no stamp or return address, only my name and nothing more.
"How'd you even know who I am? Or where I would be?" I questioned as he took a seat next to me.
"There are few that don't know about the demon friends with the Slayer." He lowly growled.
"Half-demon." I corrected. "And my location?"
"I've been looking for you for a while now. It'd only be inevitable I'd run into you eventually."
"....A book?" My brows furrowed. "....Who is this from?" I was more firm this time I asked, seeing that it was some old, leather-bound journal.
"Call it a secret admirer. I honestly can't tell you more."
"Why?"
"Reasons."
"Aren't you a ball of clarity.?" I popped off as Willy set the fresh chicken fingers in front of me. "Smells like faint magic, an old book, leather, is that tea I also smell?" Narrowing my eyes at him, I tilted my head. "Did you spill tea on my anonymous gift?"
"Just a little bit." He shrugged while I undid the buckle on the front of the journal. The leather creaked as I opened the front cover, and my tail froze at what I saw scrawled in ink on the very first page.
Clan of the Ustrina Augendae
Ohith Amenazz
"....Who are you?" I slowly looked up at the demon now drinking what smelled like whiskey.
"Definitely not who sent that or who wrote it."
"So they're two different people?" He didn't answer me and only silently drank. I debated whether or not to turn the next page, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I flipped the page. There was a sketchy drawing of some islands, an archipelago. The landmasses were covered in plant life, and there were even a few volcanoes. I studied the drawing for about a minute before I continued on.
Page after page was filled with drawings or writings, all pertaining to Ustrina Augendae and life on the islands. It was written like a science expedition journal with pressed leaves as flora samples and patches of fur or feathers or scales or skin for the fauna.
"Even if you torture me, I can't tell you who it's from, so don't even ask again." The demon next to me stated, but I wasn't going to as I got up from my seat. My food had gone cold, and I got up from the barstool.
My first instinct was to go home to read it all of the way through, but I got a call and saw that it was Buffy.
"Yeah?" My voice sounded distant.
"I thought you should know that Spike might be feeding again. On people." Buffy was straight to the point, and I tensed.
"What? How?"
"If it's true, I think the chip is malfunctioning or something. Get home as soon as possible so we can talk, okay?"
"Okay." And I didn't even eat my chicken fingers before I rushed out of Willy's bar.
YOU ARE READING
Unknown Factors (Book One)
Fanfic[18+; Use an age indicator in YOUR BIO to confirm you're 18+ if you want to follow/comment or you'll be blocked for safety purposes] Despite Giles's efforts to let his adoptive daughter have a happy life, he couldn't quite stop the Watchers Council...
