TITLE Laura Giles Part 5
AUTHOR Laura Curtis
PAIRING None (so far)
RATING PG
SUMMARY Laura’s working in the council libraries and comes across the true meaning of THE CHOSEN ONE
DISCLAIMER Don’t own them, just the ones I make up. Don’t know them. Only going to have fun with them. I promise to return them unharmed.
Author Note: Italic indicates thought. Bold Italic indicates prophecy or a spell.
I don’t know magic or spells. The rhyme was just short and sweet.
Please send feedback
February 20, 1990
God could this day get any more boring? File this, catalog that, index this, shelve something else. If this day doesn’t end soon I’m going to scream. I’ll be glad when I can get back to my library. Travers is such an idiot. How in the world he got elected to Head of The Council I’ll never know. How in the world they could loose someone important as a Potential is beyond me.
“Laura? Can you come down here? I need your help.”
“Be down in a minute Uncle Merrick.”
Laura was helping her ‘Uncle’ Merrick today, having no children of his own, he had ‘adopted’ her as a niece and Rupert had started calling him Uncle as well. She had been temporarily moved to the Watcher Head Quarters library to help him find a lost Potential. They knew she was out there but where was she? They had to find her, for her and her family’s safety. Her strength would increase more the older she got and without the proper training she could do herself and others harm. And what if the current slayer died and she was the one activated? Without a watcher to help her train she wouldn’t last long enough to help in the war against evil.
Laura understood this. As she had gotten older her strength increase and if it hadn’t been for her father she could have hurt herself or someone. So while doing the normal everyday library duties she also had to help research for this lost girl.
Once she got finished she headed down to help him.
“What can I do to help? Where are we searching today?” she asked.
“Actually I think I may have found her. She is living in Los Angeles. But that is not what I called you down here for. I want you to look at this book and tell me what you think of the prophecy I found in it.”
Her eyes widened. “Is it a lost prophecy?”
“No. It is one we all know well, only I think this is the original writing of it. And if it is we have, in a way, been led to the wrong conclusion to an idea. The only thing is, when did it get changed? And more important, who did the changing?”
“What are you talking about? What prophecy has been changed and why would anyone want to change something so important?”
“It’s the prophecy about the Chosen One. Here, you read it and tell me if it doesn’t say what I think it says.”
Laura took the very old book from her Uncle and started reading.
The Prophecy of the Slayers
Into each generation is born a girl
One with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires
To stop the spread of their evil
She is a slayer
The Prophecy of the Chosen One
One day a slayer will be born, a lost one
The one girl of them all
She will be the strongest of all
And it will be she and her bonded watcher
Her second watcher, her soul mate
Who will stand between this world and the First
She is the Chosen One
With her temporary death another will be called
But it is the one after her that, after doing evil
Will redeem herself against the First
And her watcher will be the son of a slayer
Then the Chosen One will call all the others
But it is the Chosen’s Champion who will save the day
When she was done she looked back at him with questions in her eyes. “If this is right, there is only ONE Chosen One. The rest are, in a way, just active slayers. Nothing especially special about them. Where did you find this book Uncle Merrick?”
“It’s from the restricted section. Even there it was hidden. If it hadn’t been that I was cleaning as I was looking for clues to the lost one, I don’t think I would have found it. It’s been in its compartment a long, long time. I just happen to hit the door to it just right and it opened.”
“Uncle Merrick, this says that she is a lost one. Could it be the one we’re looking for?”
“I think you’re correct. There has only been the one. I’ve been assigned as her watcher so I had better get going to California and find her.”
After a moment more of reading Laura looked up with a terrified look on her face. “Uncle Merrick? It says here that she will have two watchers and the second one will be her bonded one, her soul mate. If that’s true and you’re her assigned watcher now?”
Merrick walked up to Laura and held her. “I know my dear. I will die watching over this one. But we all go into our destiny knowing that we could be killed doing our duty. I only hope that I can prepare her for her next watcher. Match her to her soul mate.”
“You could do the soul mate spell I over heard Father and Uncle James talking about once, find her soul mate that way. What if he is a newly recruited watcher? The council won’t assign him to her otherwise.”
“You have a point there. I’ll talk to James and see if he can teach me the spell.”
Laura started reading the book more and after another moment she looked at Merrick again. “Uncle Merrick look here. What does this mean,
With her temporary death another will be called,
But it is the one after her that, after doing evil
Will redeem herself against the First.
And her watcher will be the son of a slayer.
Then the Chosen One will call all the others.
But it is the Chosen’s Champion who will save the day.
“Well it could mean that she will die and be dead long enough for another slayer to be called. Then she will be revived. As for the rest I’m not sure. As far as I know, no slayer has ever given birth to a child. But then again slayers are living longer than they use to.”
“I wish Rupert was here to help us. He could explain this so easy.”
“What is he up to right now?” asked Merrick.
“He’s working at the British Museum in the acquisitions department. He just got a shipment from Egypt. He checking to see if anything of ancient prophecy is in the shipment. I can’t ask him, you have to do the asking.”
“Haven’t you forgiven him yet? Its been what, 11 years? When are you going to?”
“It’s not me, its him. He has to be the one to ask for forgiveness. In my heart I already have but he’s not ready yet.
“I know. You were so hurt by Rupert’s sort of abandonment and then by Rayne’s attack. But then you broke the bond between you two. Your Father and I thought seriously that we were going to lose you for a while. Then when he came back we thought you two would reconcile. I guess he is still hurting from it and then delving into demon rising: he may take a long time to forgive himself.”
“I know. I have a feeling the demon thing isn’t over yet. You just don’t raise a demon, kill the host because he lost control, and expect it to be over. No, that one may come back to bite them all.”
“I hope you’re wrong. Now back to this, I’ll call him and invite him to dinner. Can you be there as well, or is he not comfortable around you?”
“That’s fine. He is fine around me. He’s just not ready to ask me yet. When do you want to have dinner and at which house?”
“Let me go call him and see when he is available.” Then Merrick left to make the phone call.
Laura took another look at the two prophecies. Why would anyone want to change something so important? To do that would mean that we could be defeated before the battle has even begun.
Then Laura turned the page and got another surprise, a prophecy about the Chosen’s Champion.
The Champion’s Prophecy
The Chosen’s Champion will come to her very old
He at first will be evil, a vampire
But her gift of love will turn him
He will give his heart to her
Retrieve his soul for her
But her heart belongs to another
Her watcher is her true love
But he will hide it from her at first
For only with her second death will he know it
Misguided he will abandon her
And remove her from her station
But in the end she will be the One
The Champion in the final battle will be by her side
But through his sacrifice
Shall all the slayers be saved
Do not despair Hidden One for he will return
His slayer, his soul mate, is the Hidden One
He will see her many times
But it is not until she sees him that they bond
And true love will finally make them whole
I wonder who this Champion could be. A vampire, working with a slayer, whom he loves, yet is not his soul mate? I hope Rupert can make sense of this. I just wish he would forgive himself and then ask me for mine. I miss the nearness of the bond to him. Uncle
Merrick was right, it about killed me when I broke it. Only Father and the training kept me going.
Right then Merrick returned and told her, “He said that he is free all weekend and anywhere is fine with him, as long as you fix his favorite dish.”
“Oh Lord! He knows I can’t cook his favorite dish. I’ll get him for this one.” she said with a smile.
Smiling Merrick walks up to her and puts his arm around her and says, “Don’t worry about it. He told me what his favorite dish is and I know how to cook it.”
“Uncle Merrick look at this. There was another prophecy after the first two. It’s the prophecy of the champion. It talks about that he will love the Chosen One, but she will love her watcher. Apparently she will die again, and then the watcher will know of his love for her. The Champion will die saving the slayers but will return. Then the hidden one will see him and then they will bond and be whole. What does this mean, the hidden one, who could be hidden and why?”
“Well hidden one is often referred to one who has been hidden for one reason or another. You know you are one, a hidden one.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were taken into the Council and for your safety you were hidden, to protect you. When you lost your parents and watcher within a two month period the Council became concerned and decided to hide you. That is the reason Robert ‘adopted’ you. To the outside world it just looked like he went to America to pick up his daughter from the guardian who watched over her after her mother and step-father died. The moment you left that house Aislynn stopped existing and Laura began. You were hidden from the outside world.”
“I know all about that.” After a moment of thought Laura looked at her uncle. “I’m the hidden one aren’t I? I’m the one the prophecy speaks of, unless there is another one.”
“No, as far as I know you are the only one, in a long time, to be hidden that way. The others were just given to watchers to raise, their identities weren’t changed. There hasn‘t been a hidden one in about a hundred years.”
“So this is speaking of me then. I never thought I be a slayer.”
“Read this line here. ‘His slayer, his soul mate, is the hidden one’ If this is true you will be a slayer.”
“Uncle Merrick not once in the history of the Watchers Council has anyone over the age of 18 ever been called to be a slayer. I can’t be one.”
“That’s right, not in the history of the Council. But what about before the Council? You know many things predate the Watcher’s Council, and this prophecy certainly does that.”
“Call Rupert back and invite him over for the weekend. He needs to know about this. I need him to help me. If what you are saying is true then somehow I will be a slayer.” Then in a whisper. “I just need to talk to him.”
“Alright my dear, I’ll call him and tell him to come.”
“I need to read this book some more. Lets head home and I’ll fix dinner for us then we can figure it out.”
After dinner Laura settled down in her comfy chair she had brought from home. After reading for about half an hour Laura looked up.
“Uncle Merrick, this book, beyond the prophecies, outlines the life of the Chosen One.
You will meet her in L.A.
You will be killed by Lothos.
Her second watcher will be a mage.
She will die but be brought back.
She will defeat the Master.
Her watcher will save her from a witch.
She will lose an Angel’s soul, recover it then send him to hell.
Her watcher will poison her then help save her.
It keeps going until it talks about the Champion’s sacrifice and then her riding atop a huge yellow chariot from a collapsing Mouth of Hell.”
“How about you let me read it and you take a break.”
“That sounds good.” Just as she hands him the book her doorbell rings. Going to answer it she gets a surprise.
“Rupert! What are you doing here?”
“That’s a fine welcome for your brother. Not even a hug. One would think that one wasn’t welcome.” he said smiling.
Grabbing Rupert into a big hug Laura dragged him into the house. “You know better than that. I just wasn’t expecting you until the weekend.”
“I had to get away from the museum for a little while. Even doing the thing I love can get tiring after a while. Where is Uncle Merrick?”
“He’s in the living room.” Laura hugged Rupert again and he sensed that something was wrong.
“What’s wrong Laura?”
Without pulling away from him Laura spoke. “I’m scared Rupert. I think I am mentioned in the book we found. It talks about a hidden one, and Uncle Merrick says that there hasn’t been a hidden one, other than me, in about 100 years.”
After about an hour of explaining and letting him read the book, Rupert looked up at the two and shook his head. “This is astounding. If this is right, then all we were lead to believe is, not wrong, just misguided.
“I know. And I had best be going to L.A. to find this girl. For she is the Chosen One and she is years behind on her training. According to this she is almost 13.” Merrick said.
“Uncle Merrick if you are her first watcher then you will be killed. You know that Lothos is a Master Vampire.” Spoke Rupert.
“I know, I know. But we all know our destiny when we are assigned a potential who might be a slayer. Only this one IS the Chosen One. I have been wanting to take Lothos out for centuries. I’ll train her the best I can so when I die I’ll know that she will survive. I only hope I can find her next watcher, her soul mate, in time. Have you ever heard of this spell Laura told me about?”
Still looking at the book Rupert spoke up. “Yes Father and James talked about it once. Said they were going to show the council proof that slayers and watchers were meant to be soul mates. But I don’t know where it is. And James isn’t talking about it anymore. I think the Council put a stop to it for some reason.” Then he turned to the last page and got the surprise of his life. Wide eyed he looked up at Laura and Merrick. “Did you see the last page of the book?”
Both Merrick and Laura shook their heads no.
“I think someone was really looking ahead. Here it is, on the last page.”
Laura looked at him confused. “What are you talking about? What’s on the last page?”
“The spell we are looking for. The Soul Mate Spell. It looks really easy, nothing required but a piece of hair of one of the people you want to do the spell on and your favorite incense. Lets try this. See if it really works before we try it on the Chosen One.”
Merrick nodded his head in agreement. “Not me though. I have already lived a good life and I don’t want to commit to someone only to die on them.”
“Alright Uncle Merrick. Laura how about you being my victim?”
“I will if you will. I don’t think I’ll ever have a mate, soul mate or not.”
“Alright I will. Uncle Merrick will you hold the book while I get something to burn the piece of hair in and our favorite incenses.” Rupert took off for the kitchen to get one of Laura’s metal mixing bowls, and a rose and lavender incense sticks.
When he came back he handed the bowl and Laura’s favorite incense to her. “Now light the lavender incense in the bowl and place it near you so you can smell it when you do the chant, put a piece of your hair on it to burn, then read the spell from the book.”
So Laura lit the incense stick and placed it in the bowl. She smelled the lavender right away. Then she put a piece of her hair on the incense to burn. When it started to burn she started the chant.
Night to day
Day to night.
Bring my soul mate
To my sight.
The hair flared up and smoke arose and there before them was the face of a man. A handsome man with blue eyes and white blond hair. Laura stared at the image smiling for a long time before, not thinking, she reached up to touch him. The image disappeared when her hand touched the smoke. “Oh! I shouldn’t have done that should I?”
“No you really shouldn’t have. You could have looked at it longer if you hadn’t.”
“Your turn Rupert.” So Rupert repeat the spell just as Laura had. And before him was a beautiful blond haired woman. She looked younger than Rupert, but that didn’t matter with soul mates. And just like Laura he was drawn to try and touch her with the same results. An astounded Rupert turned to them and smiled. In a hushed voice he said, “She’s beautiful.”
“Well young ones that is enough for tonight. I personally have to get up early in the morning and plan a trip to California. One good thing about it, I’ll get out of this cold weather for a while. I’m only going to look for her at first then when I’ve found her I’ll be back to let the Council know. So I shall see you two in the morning. Goodnight. Oh Laura if this book is correct then you had best keep up with your Karate training.”
“I have been. The Council wants me to help with the beginning training of watcher recruits. Goodnight Uncle Merrick. See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight Uncle Merrick.” Rupert said.
Rupert and Laura looked at each other. Both wanted the other to ask the one question that, in a way, stood between them, but neither wanted to make the first move.
After a few moments Laura spoke up. “Have you found anything interesting in the shipment from Egypt?”
“No, nothing at all: I was hoping for something from Egypt but all we got was artifacts.”
“Don’t sound so disappointed. One would think you didn’t enjoy researching an object, any object.” she smiled at him.
“Oh don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my work immensely, it’s just that you can only look at so many fertility goddesses before you get tired of them. And Egypt had quiet a few of them. I‘m tired. It has been a long day but I still love what I do.”
“Well I’m glad. It’s been a long day for me as well. I almost wanted to throw every one of those idiots out today. If I hear someone ask me to put away one more book that they took down only to find that it was the book next to it they wanted, I’ll scream. I so miss the Bath Library. Elizabeth had just started me in our restricted section when I got transferred here.”
“How is Elizabeth?”
“She’s doing fine. She caught a cold last month, I think, so I had to run the library for a week.”
“What do you mean, you think?”
“She does it about once every three months. I really think she just wants to stay home and play hooky.”
“Well after all the years she has been there I think she is entitled to. Well we had better get to bed. We should see Uncle Merrick off tomorrow.”
Laura looked down. “We’re going to lose him once he finds her and starts her training.”
“I know. But he knows this and is still going to find her. She needs him, especially if she is the Chosen One. I would take his place if I could, but you know how the Council feels about me. I’ll never be given a Potential let alone a Slayer.”
“I don’t know brother. You read the book, the Champion’s Prophecy. There will be more than one slayer. A lot from the way I read it. They will all need watchers. They can’t pass you up then.”
Nodding his head he said, “We’ll see. Well I’ll see you in the morning: Night.” Then he walked up to her and placed a kiss on her head.
“Night Rupert.” After reading the book one more time Laura headed off to bed, and dreamt of a white blond haired man with amazing blue eyes.