It was Saturday and Giles wasn’t sure why he had ended up at Sunnydale High.  It was the weekend and he was supposed to be enjoying himself.  But he had nothing to do at home and the lack of demonic activity had him concerned.  Not that there was much he could do about it in a stuffy old library, he realized.  Maybe it was a ceremony or something, so he could consult a book listing some important ceremonies and festivals in the vampire calendar.
    Abruptly there was a knock at the door and Giles turned with a start to see a man with shoulder-length purple hair and closed eyes standing behind it.  Giles rushed to get a stake and a crucifix from his supplies and then turned towards the library door, opening it very carefully.
    “Yes, yes, hello to you to.”  The purple man entered, grinning madly.  “Are you Mr. Giles?”
    “Yes.”
    “I have your Slayer.  I’ll kill her if you don’t meet with my demands.”
    Giles looked stricken.  How could this be?  His vision blurred and he felt sick to his stomach.
    The purple man waved his index finger to and fro.  “My, my, Rupert-kun, can’t you take a joke?”
    “A joke?  Rupert?”
    “Yes a joke.  And your name is Rupert, is it not?”
    “I suppose.”
    “Oh, you suppose your name is Rupert?  Truth be told, you strike me as more of a Ted.  Or a Bartholomew.  Yes, definitely a Bartholomew.”
    “Might I ask who you are?”  Giles inquired, his voice riddled with indignation.
    “Yes, you certainly might.”
    After a long silence, Giles decided to rephrase this.  “Who are you?”
    “Oh!”  The purple man looked up at Giles as though recognizing the question for the first time.  “My name is Xellos Matallium.” And he bowed politely.
    “And why are you here, Mr. Matallium?”
    “Xellos, if you please.  No need to be formal.”
    “I see.  You certainly aren’t.”  Giles had had enough mind games.  Would the man just spit it out?
    “What did you say, Rupert-kun?”
    “Nothing to bother about.  Now, why are you here?”
    “Because I was sent here, of course!  Xellos seemed very preoccupied with whatever was in his pockets.
    “And why were you sent here?”  Giles was rapidly loosing patience.  “Who sent you here?”
    Xellos seemed to discover what he had been poking around for in his pockets for and took out a brown leather wallet.  He shuffled through numerous credit cards and debit cards and a few pictures of his Saint Bernard, Burney, before locating an ID.  He showed Giles the photo of himself, as well as the Watchers Guild emblem.
    “You’re a Watcher?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, why are you here then?  Is something the matter?  I shouldn’t think so.  I have everything under control.”
    “That statement in is incorrect.”  Xellos had firmly decided that this man was very ignorant, but was at least going to prove amusing.  “You are under the misconception that all is well, when in fact, all is not.”
    “Well have out with it, man!  What’s the matter?  I’m Buffy’s Watcher and it’s my duty to inform her so to aid her in any way I can.”
    “I’m aware of who you are and what you do.  You seem to also be under the misconception that you are the only member of the Watchers Guild that serves any purpose, and the rest of us are just there to sit pretty.”  Xellos cleared his throat and took a deep breath.  “I am also a Watcher.  And I have a Slayer.”
    “How can that be?”  Giles scoffed.  “There can be only one!”
    “Do you think there would be more than one Watcher if there wasn’t more than one Slayer?”
    Giles had never thought of it that way.  He had thought the other members of the Watchers Guild were his elders, there to train him and nothing more.  But that made no sense, because many members were younger than he was.
    “Until your Slayer dies, there can be no other vampire Slayers.”  Xellos went on.  “She is the only one capable of slaying vampires the way she does.  But there are hundreds of other Slayers, and all of them have a purpose.  My Slayer does not know of her purpose yet.  She has a great deal of magical potential though, not just summoning or witch craft.”
    “You say your Slayers has not be awakened yet.  Does she attend this school, or did she travel with you?”
    “I believe she resides in Sunnydale, but that is all.  I know nothing anything else about her, because the Watchers Guild has been very secretly observing her for many years.  She has already demonstrated part of her skill to her advantage, although she doesn’t know it yet.”
    Giles furled his brow, trying to sort out this limited and fractional information.  “So you do not know who the Slayer is.  And she does not know who you are.  So how do you plan on getting anything accomplished?  How will you recognize her?  How will she recognize you?  How can be begin her training when you don’t even know her name?”
    Xellos turned to face Giles and looked him directly in the eye.  “Sore wa himitsu desu.”
    “What?”
    “That is a secret.”
 

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