Ms. Rosenburg called me to her place for a reason I am not sure of. I had received a mysterious phone call a few days before requesting that I meet with her. They said that I had been chosen... Whatever that means.

I knew very little about her. As a student, I have heard of her, from my studies of Watcher history. She was a companion of Buffy Summers and was the Watcher of the Slayer that replaced Buffy. Later, after that Slayer died and she was about to be placed on a different assignment, she was kicked out of the council for *having difficulties with taking orders.* However, I have it on authority that that is not how it happened. It seems she had some opinions that differentiated her from a doormat and the entirely male board of directors couldn't handle her... Who knows?

When I first saw the house, I thought it was a fortress. The place was huge! It could rival Windsor Palace. (Being British, you have to realize that that is about as big of a compliment as I can give a place, even though I believe the monarchy has overstayed its welcome.) I must have stood for at least ten minutes gaping. Even the fact that I knew that I looked like a cow with my mouth hanging open, didn't help.

When I was allowed in the house, I was escorted by a guard that was the largest man that I'd ever seen. We climbed up a magnificent staircase, then went down the hall and stopped outside a door. The guard softly rapped on it. "Madam, your appointment is here," he said softly.

The door opened to reveal a rather large bedroom. The bedroom was very splendidly decorated, as was the rest of the house I'd seen while I was hurrying through it, trying to keep in stride with the guard. A small figure was lying on the bed.

When I first saw the body, I thought that the person was dead. It was so small and aged. But when I looked at the eyes, I knew that it was indeed alive. The eyes sparkled with so much life that it was shocking.

I sat down in a chair the guard offered me. He left us after that. The person began to talk:

"I guess you have wondered why I called you here..." Ms. Rosenburg began.

"Yes," I interrupted. "Your representative was very vague."

Ms. Rosenburg laughed. "I ordered that she was to act that way. I wasn't sure if you would come if she wasn't vague. I have heard much about you. I know about your ideas about how demons can help the Slayer..." She stopped talking when she saw the look on my face.

It was my turn to laugh. "I think everybody knows about my *radical ideas*. I don't think anyone believes me that there are actually documented cases of good demons," I snorted.

"But you see that is not true," Ms. Rosenburg told me. "I believe you. I've met a few."

"Really?" I asked. I had heard so many times that I was foolish in my beliefs, that I had begun to doubt myself.

She replied: "Let me tell you a story..."

***

"It has been many years since my days fighting demons in Sunnydale. It has been many years since Buffy, Giles, Cordelia, Oz and even my best friend Xander have died. You have to love the irony of the fact that the *frailest* one of the group lived the longest, well except Angel of course, if he is still alive." The woman laughed silently. "Perhaps, I am not as unsubstantial as everyone, even I, thought I was."

"Oz was the first of us to die. Soon after we graduated high school, his band got signed by some record label. I didn't see him much after that. He went on several promotional tours and we decided to just be friends.

"About a year later, they made it really big. Dingoes Ate My Baby were on every magazine cover, late-night talk show and teenaged girls walls in the country, and out of it too. They had everything every struggling musician dreams about.

"Oz always managed to keep in contact despite his huge successes. He never failed to send birthday cards or to call once a month. He always asked how everyone was and complained about how hard in was to contain his werewolf secret." Ms. Rosenburg's eyes had glazed over and she smiled. It was obviously a good memory, but the smile quickly faded.

"Oz always seemed so happy. That was why, when I received the news of his death, I was so shocked. Oz had committed suicide, at the age of twenty-five, by overdosing on antidepressants. More irony. The very things that were supposed to save him, took his life away. He became just another artist that burned brightly and died young."

The woman sighed. I had a feeling I was in for a very sad story; damn, they always make me cry.

"Let's move on, shall we? The next person to die was, of course, Buffy. Buffy lived to be thirty-two. She was and still is the longest-lived slayer on record. Kendra's successor, Faith, died a couple of years before Buffy and is second on the record. I believe that the reason she lived so long was because of what she learned from Buffy..."

I had to agree with that. Ever since the council had started using some of Ms. Summer's techniques, the slayer life span has gone up.

"Anyway, back to Buffy. Buffy remained a successful slayer, first in Sunnydale, then in New York City. She finally found a career that wasn't law enforcement -- she became an occult shop owner. It worked out for the best. She made lots of money from all the weird people in New York and acquired several books for Giles, which pleased him to no end.

"She was very happy during this time. She had finally found some semblance of a normal life. A job, an apartment and some peace of mind. All the things she ever wanted.

"Buffy's death wasn't a surprise. We always knew it was right around the corner. A vampire finally bested her, ut not in the way you would think. The vampire hired a human hit man, who broke into her house when she was sleeping and shot her. Not a fitting way for the best Slayer on record to die."

I knew all of this, but hearing it come from a friend of Ms. Summer's made it all seem more emotional. My eyes began to fill. I silently willed my tears to go away, unsuccessfully. I hated crying. Men always think it's a sign of weakness and in a male dominated field I didn't need to show any weakness.

"The next to die was Giles. I'm not to sure what eventually happened to him, being that we didn't get along after our argument. I tell you more about it when we talk about my life."

We? She was doing all the talking. I wasn't going to interrupt her. It seemed like it was very hard for her to talk about it.

"Anyway, I believe he died of natural causes and was seventy-five. I picked that much up from Xander and Cordelia, even though we avoided the subject as much as possible. I didn't like talking about him. Still don't, but the story needs to be told, doesn't it?"

I waited for her to continue, but after a few moments it was clear she expected an answer. "It depends on how much you want to tell it. If you don't want to we don't have to keep talking."

"That's all right. It's not as painful as it used to be. I've forgiven Giles and myself a long time ago. I need to tell you this," she told me with a look of grim determination. No matter how painful it got, she planed to go on. Goody! More crying.

"I'll do Xander and Cordelia together since much of their lives coincide. After high school they went their separate ways. They thought it was best to get away from each other and move on with their lives.

"Xander, believe it or not, managed to make it to college. He graduated with remarkably high grades. It turned out that he wasn't weak academically, but that he was just a slacker. He majored in film.

"After college, he went into comedy. He was surprisingly very successful. He was invited to perform at all the famous clubs. Not long after all his club success, he broke into movies, as you probably know."

I nodded an affirmant.

"During this time Cordelia went to college, too. Or fashion school, whatever you want to call it. After she graduated, she became a costume designer for Sony Pictures™. Her superb fashion sense soon landed her a top position.

"They met up with each other in the way you are thinking. Cordelia was assigned to pick the wardrobe for one of Xander's movies. At first, they tried their best to avoid each other. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff they did to get out of meeting." Ms. Rosenburg grinned.

"But the enviable happened. Cordelia eventually had to work with Xander. When, they saw each other it was like time had never passed. The spark was ignited, once again, between them. They couldn't seem to get enough of each other.

"A year later, they got married. It was a very lovely ceremony. It wasn't packed with the hottest celebrities dressed to the nines, as you would expect. Only close family members and Buffy, Giles and I were in attendance." Ms. Rosenburg looked at me. "Of course, that was probably because Cordelia didn't want anyone to see her pregnancy. Don't get me wrong... Xander and Cordy had a very loving relationship, but they probably would not have gotten married at that time, if not for the baby.

"They ended up being married happily for fifty-three years. They had two children; a boy, Alexander Lavell Harris Jr., and a girl, Willow Buffy Harris. They were very wealthy in love and money. Xander died a month after their anniversary and Cordelia followed two weeks later. May they rest eternally in peace." It was obvious from Ms. Rosenburg's tears, that their deaths were a more recent and still festering wound.

"Have I left anyone out?" she asked me, after she composed herself.

"Angelus," I answered. The story of the cursed vampire had always fascinated me and I wished to hear what Ms. Rosenburg had to say about him.

"Ah, yes Angel. I have no idea what happened to him after he came back from Hell. Hell messed him up pretty badly and he felt really guilty about what the demon did. He left and nobody to my knowledge has ever heard from him since. I suspect he walked into the sun a long time ago."

I was a little disappointed that Ms. Rosenburg didn't know more about him. But that feeling was soon replaced with curiosity. "What about your life?"

***

"My life?" Ms. Rosenburg repeated.

"Yes, your life," I responded. "Unless I'm mistaken, and I apologize if I am, I believe that ultimately that's what you asked me here for."

"How perceptive of you," Ms. Rosenburg commented. "I requested that you came here so I could tell you about me and the events that led up to my ideas about demons. But it is ultimately what you do with the information I give you. That will make the difference."

"How so? What difference?" I asked. I was just a lowly Watcher in training, at the time. How on Earth could *I* make a difference?

"You can make the Watcher's Council change it's policy," Ms. Rosenburg told me.

"Me?" I squeaked. Like I said before I could not imagine myself making difference... A change such as that and believe me when I say I'm not modest.

"Yes, you," Ms. Rosenburg confirmed. "You have a much better chance than I ever did. You are going to be a watcher for a much more open minded council. You are descended for one of the most prestigious line of watchers. You are at the top of your watcher classes. Do I have to go on? Make friends, over rule enemies. You will be the reformer."

Ms. Rosenburg waited a few moments while I digested what she had told me. "Now I will tell you of my life...

"I was recruited right after high school by Giles to be a Watcher. I was a natural candidate to be one, despite the fact that I wasn't born into it like most. Arrangements were made and I soon was on my way to London -- to the Council.

"I studied hard, like I always had, and became a full-fledged Watcher in no time. The youngest ever, in fact. I worked a few years, just doing this and that for the Council. Locating books, researching the occult, using my natural skill with the black arts.

"Then the day I had been waiting for came. I was to be assigned to a Slayer. I wasn't assigned to an inactivated Slayer like most Watchers. My slayer had slipped through the cracks - kind of like Buffy. Actually that's why they chose me. Because of my experience with Buffy.

"It was my experience with Faith that actually helped me with my slayer, Ana. Ana was like Faith. She had nothing in her life to do, except slaying. It gave her something to make her feel important. I know that she probably would have taken her own life, if she was not a slayer." Ms. Rosenburg looked quite saddened.

"Ana's home life was terrible. Her father was a man of an awful disposition and her stepmother was mentally disturbed. Her siblings were all grown and had gotten as far away from home as they possibly could. It wasn't long after I met her that she had moved in with me.

"Ana was a quite effective Slayer. She was quite good. But being good at killing external demons does not matter, if you cannot conquer the internal kind.

"Ana was killed three years after I met her. Her emotional problems were making her sloppy. A group of vampires jumped her while she was on a normal patrol. I know that where ever she is in the afterlife, it is a much more peaceful place than she ever knew in life." Ms. Rosenburg paused, as if in remembrance of her Slayer's death.

"After Ana's death, the Council decided to give me some time off. So there I was. Thirty-one, had already gone through one Slayer and had nothing to do. One night, while, I was walking through London and passed a travel agency. As I passed, I was drawn to a poster advertising trips to Egypt. Fate has called to me very few times, but I knew then I was being ordered to do something. I followed the order and booked a trip to Egypt the very next day."

Ms. Rosenburg's body was suddenly racked with harsh coughing. I quickly picked up a glass of water that was on her bedside table and handed it to her. She took a few dainty sips of the water and her coughing subsided.

"Thank you," Ms. Rosenburg told me. "Where was I?"

***

"You were just talking about your trip to Egypt," I reminded her. I was totally enraptured with her life by this point. Hell, to be honest, I was captivated as soon as she said her first word.

"Yes, I was. It's hard for me to remember everything, being as old as am," Ms. Rosenburg told me, with a sigh.

I felt compelled to make her feel okay. "You're as only as old as you feel," I chirped, or at least tried to. I am not a very cheerful, positive person. In fact, I often refer to myself as Daria. You know, the very negative and cynical cartoon character in one of those really old animated pieces.

Ms. Rosenburg smiled. "You're right. I'm not the oldest creature on Earth. By any means."

We both chuckled at that. Ms. Rosenburg was not even close to the oldest creature walking the Earth.

"Back to the task at hand. I was having the time of my life in Cairo, the city I decided to stay in. I did all of the touristy things; the Great Pyramids, the Valley of Kings, the Colossus of Ramesses. It was wonderful to be away from the demons and other nasties, just being a normal person for once. It was so wonderful, I decided to extend my stay to an indefinite length.

"One night, they were having a festival. I decided to go since there was very little vampire activity in Cairo and, after all, I was a Watcher. I could take care of myself. I took a stake and a cross and left my hotel room.

"The festival was wonderful. Vendors lined the streets, performers performed and the tourists came. Of course, I knew it was a big tourist trap. That's why I went. It's safer to stay among people, especially in a foreign place. Vampires and demons aren't the only things a lady has to worry about," Ms. Rosenburg warned.

I nodded in agreement. Human monsters can be crueler than the ones that make up children's nightmares.

"I decided to grab something to eat, so I wandered to where they food vendors had set up. It was like one giant food court with tables set up in the middle. After I ordered, I was spotted by a couple from the states I had met earlier at my hotel, and they invited me to eat with them. I didn't really feel like company, but I couldn't think of a way to refuse gracefully.

"I sat down and chatted about what they were planning on doing and other mundane things. I often have trouble conversing with people who are not aware that the things that go bump in the night, really do exist. I am afraid of saying something that might get me committed to a rubber room."

Ms. Rosenburg sighed. I knew what she meant. It is hard to keep normal friends after most people have been enlightened. It is human nature to slip up and tell people things you know that you shouldn't tell them.

"It wasn't long before I had grown bored of the conversation with the couple. I managed to keep giving them responses, but my mind had begun to wander. My eyes started to scan the crowd... Typical behavior of someone who is bored.

"Suddenly, my eyes found a sight I never thought I would look upon again. A vampire I never thought I would see again... Spike."

***

"Spike? Spike as in William the Bloody? I'm so bad I'll torture you with railroad spikes, Spike?" I asked. Spike is well known by most watchers. He has killed two of our slayers... You probably know this, though. Only a student of history, like myself, will probably read this account.

"Yes," Ms. Rosenburg answered. "That Spike. I hadn't seen him since he tried to kill Angel and restore Drusilla to health. It was a big shock to see him, to say the least.

"It looked like he was trying to seduce some woman away from the safety of the crowd to feed on her and, if you ever see him, you'll know he was doing a good job of it. There was no way to stake him without making a whole bunch of trouble, so I decided to do the only thing I could do. I caused a scene.

"I made like I had caught him with another and that I was his wife. Needless to say, I definitely caught the crowds attention with my faked outrage and tears. I managed to drag him away from the festival.

"He was furious. He attacked me as soon as we were out of anyone's sight. Fortunately, I was prepared for this. I may be only a watcher but I managed to parry his attacks, using my cross and the magical tricks I had learned. I was quite adept with magic at this point.

"'I thought you were the meek one, luv,' he told me, pausing his attack. 'Listen Willow, let's call a truce. I'm in no mood to fight tonight and regardless of what you might think, I wasn't looking to feed off the girl. I've already fed,'" Ms. Rosenburg said, with a look a fondness on her face. Fondness for a vampire! Spike, of all vampires. No, I thought, it must be the fondness for the thought of what she does to him next.

"'Meek?!' I demanded. I *hate* being called meek," Ms. Rosenburg confided.

"'That's what Angelus told me,' he told me, holding out his hands. He rolled his eyes. 'Angelus used to like to ramble on and on about the Slayer and her little friends. That's how I knew your name. I was only relaying what told, pet,' he said defensively.

"I was suspicious of his attitude. I knew him better than to believe that he didn't want to kill me. He also seemed a bit... I don't know, scared of me... Of my magic and that was just not the Spike I knew. 'And you don't want to kill me?' I asked, snickering. 'Play a new game, Spike, 'cause that one's not going to work.'

"'I didn't say I didn't want to kill you,' he told me, with his eyes narrowed. He reached into his pocket and drew out a fancy silver cigarette case. He took out a cigarette and lit it. 'I've heard about how strong your magic is. Any smart vampire keeps tabs on the slayer and her watcher. Personally, luv, I don't like to go anywhere near that magic shit or mess with anyone who's mastered it. It can get your ass in a lot of trouble.'" Ms. Rosenburg smiled.

"'Don't I know it,' I muttered. 'Look, Spike, I'm on vacation, so it's not really my duty to kill you.' I hesitated. I don't know why, but I couldn't kill him. 'Look. Why don't I just take you home and put some wards up to insure that you don't leave until tomorrow night?' I offered.

"Spike's was shocked to say the least. He expected me to kill him and I think, looking back on it, at that time maybe he wanted me to. 'I guess so, luv.'

"He started walking very quickly. I had to run to catch up with him then jog to keep in pace with him. Thank god I was used to long, hellish training runs with Ana. 'So where's Drusilla?' I asked conversationally. I was trying to break the crucifying silence that had grown between us."

I was completely floored by Ms. Rosenburg's account of her behavior. I mean, I believe that *some* demons are all right, but *Spike* was not one of them. I kept expecting her to say 'I staked the hell out of the bastard, then used my magic to reanimate him, just so I could do it again.' But I had a feeling that was not going to happen.

"Spike's eyes flashed with sadness but he quickly masked it. His face returned to its expression of untainted apathy. 'Don't you know? Dru fucked around with that magic shit and now is a small pile of dust.' He laughed mantically.

"'I'm sorry,' I blurted out. I looked away as I realized what I had said.

"'Really?' he challenged. 'I thought you hated all of us.'

"'I do. It's just that Drusilla was what Angelus made her. Most people have a choice whether they want to be a vampire or not. Drusilla was so touched by that point, I doubt she was even aware that she had a choice.'

"We relapsed into silence for the rest of the walk. 'This is it,' Spike said outside a rather nice house.

"'Go inside. I put the wards up and then leave. They'll only last the night.' He started to go inside then stopped.

"'Willow?' he asked me, while walking over to me. He stopped very close.

"'Yes,' I answered. I was suddenly very aware of his body close to mine.

"Spike looked into my eyes. 'This isn't over.' He put his hand underneath my chin and quickly tilted my head up. He mouth swooped down on mine with lightning speed. He plundered my mouth for a few seconds, letting me get a taste, then quickly pulled away.

"He turned around and walked into the house. I quickly placed the wards and left. Needless to say, I walked back to my hotel room with shaking legs."