"Xander, have you found the passage on--" Giles started as he returned
from his office. He stopped in mid-sentence, obviously flustered by what he
saw. Someone, who faintly reminded him of a 70's flower girl, held the entire
room's attention. "Uhhh...I'm sorry I didn't mean to...err...intrude on whatever
you were...discussing."

"If you wanna call gaping at me a discussion, I'd hate to see a debate." The
girl remarked dryly. She settled herself on one of the library's chairs and
stared intently at Buffy, who seemed to be frozen in her fighting stance.
Talia muttered something unintelligible under her breath and snapped her
fingers in front of the slayer's eyes. A split second later, Buffy gasped for
breath and flopped down on a nearby chair.

"What the hell did you just do?" Buffy demanded furiously. "One minute you
were holding Xander 20 ft in the air and the next thing I knew, I couldn't
move!"

Talia tried to force an apologetic look on her face. Failing miserably, she
gave up and sighed impatiently. "I come with sort of a...defense mechanism.
If there's anyone in range who can pose a threat to me, they freeze up until I
can get away, or decide that they're harmless."

"Yeah well you made a mistake 'cuz I am NOT that harmless," Buffy retorted,
too tired to put any force in her words. "Especially when you threaten my
friends..."

Talia let out a slightly amused snort.

"Well that's a little wussy, don'tcha think? I mean you're a genie, right? The
most powerful being in the universe," Xander said disbelievingly. Not
noticing Talia's wince at his words he continued, "Or so say the Disney
movies."

Talia rolled her eyes. "We're not indestructible, you know. Once, in the
1600's, when I was temporarily...drained...I woke up on board a ship full of
pirates..." she began. "No, they couldn't kill me but they sure as hell could
hurt me!" she snapped at him. When she saw the startled apologetic look on
his face, she immediately regretted her words. She softened her tone with a
wry smile and a quick laugh. "Besides I prefer to be called a Wish Giver.
Genie is an old term for slave, and I find that a tad bit offensive. We
changed the term one of the last times I was here...during the 1920s, I
believe it was..."

Giles absently dropped the volume he was carrying. As he jumped to pick it
up, Talia gave him a bemused smile. "D-did you say genie...err...Wish
Giver," he queried. When Talia nodded, the stunned man turned to Xander.
"However did you know that?"

Cordelia looked up from her nails and rolled her eyes. "Helloooo? The girl
jumped out of a lamp! What did you think she was, the Easter Bunny?"

"But...there's no such thing..." Giles was silenced by Xander's audible snort.

"This is the Hellmouth, G-man. Y'know--center of mystical convergence and
all that good stuff..."

"Quite right," Giles said, too deep in thought to reprimand Xander about
calling him that silly name. "What did you say your...err...name was?"

"Kitalia. Talia for short. Would anyone mind telling me what year this is?"

"1998," Willow responded helpfully. The librarian glanced at Willow, then her
computer. She nodded slightly, comprehending his silent suggestion. She
casually sank back into the chair beside the computer and began her
Internet search.

"First things first, how many wishes do we get?" Xander asked eagerly.

Talia looked at the boy and smiled. This mortal was not only cute, he had a
special something about him that she couldn't quite place.

Without answering, Talia looked at Willow and Buffy, who had remained for
the most part relatively quiet. She could tell that Willow, unless aggravated,
was a quiet person by nature. She could also sense Buffy's apprehension.
"She's studying me," Talia realized with a start. "Trying to see whether or not
I'm dangerous?" Something strange was going on here. Overall, these
people were taking this too calmly...as if they were used to so-called
mystical beings popping up from time to time. And hadn't the
boy...Xander...mentioned something about the center of mystical
convergence, Talia mused. She glanced around the room. Giles seemed to
be flipping through three books at a time and Willow was tapping her fingers
on some strange bumpy object hooked up to a box. Xander had apparently
decided that the wish thing wasn't going to happen and was now studying
her lamp. Cordelia was once again inspecting her nails while leaning against
the library counter. Buffy was the only one even looking at her. "Well since
all three of you rubbed the lamp, and it takes three rubs to get me out...You,
Willow, and Buffy each get one wish." Xander and Willow snapped their
heads up.

"We get wishes?" They said in unison. Talia tried to suppress a giggle.

"No I said wish, you each get one wish," she corrected.

"Ohh, yeah...Playboy mansion here I come!" Xander hooted. He turned back
to her with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "And may I be the first to
welcome to our nice, quiet, vampiric town."

"Xander!" Buffy moaned a note of exasperation and annoyance creeping
into her voice.

"Did you say vampires?" Talia asked casually.

"And that's just one of the perks of living in Sunnydale," Xander informed
her, ignoring the groans and exasperated looks of his friends. "I won't even
mention the giant insects, snakes, demons, witches--" Xander stopped short
and grinned as he made a realization. "Well what d'ya know; I just did."

Vampires, witches, giant snakes? I sure do know how to pick the spots,
Talia thought ruefully. Well it can't be that bad. After all, they do have a
slayer. She glanced at Buffy. The girl didn't look that tough, but considering
that she was still alive, Buffy must be able to kick some butt. She wondered
if Buffy planned on telling her about her obvious secret. "And all this
happens only in Sunnydale?"

"Yup, courtesy of the Hellmouth...And, yes, we have tried writing to our
congressmen."

"Del Boca Infierno," Talia whispered with a dazed expression.

"Buckled what?" Cordelia asked and then shook her head irritably. "Ya know
what, I am soooo not gonna get dragged into another of your weird little
I-have-to-save-the-world-now-and-ditch-cheerleading-practice things." And
with that she breezed out of the library leaving only the faint smell of Tommy
Girl and a more than a few annoyed faces.

"Del Boca Infierno...I've heard that before..." Buffy muttered. She looked at
Willow and asked, "Where have I heard that before?"

"It's what the Mexican settlers first called Sunnydale," Giles reminded her,
closing his book with a bang. "It's Spanish for Hellmouth." He went to look
over Willows shoulder and she shook her head silently.

Talia caught this look and frowned.

"If you're trying to look stuff up about me in your books and whatever...that
is," she said gesturing towards the computer, "it ain't gonna work. No one
knows about me except..." Talia faltered and looked down.

"Except who?" Giles pushed.

"A couple of old friends...and an enemy. The rest...forget," Talia said
vaguely.

"Well I think you can safely rule out running into anyone you used to know.
You mentioned the 20's...It's been 70 years, so your enemy is probably in
the same cemetery as your friends..." Xander trailed off, as Buffy and Willow
sent him a disgusted look. He flushed, realizing what he had just said.

"Can you say tact????" Buffy retorted sarcastically.

"Did you meet them in Sunnydale?" Willow asked, turning off the computer
guiltily.

"Well one I had known and the other...? Yes, I met him here." Talia smiled at
Xander reassuringly. "Don't worry about the tact thing 'cuz I highly doubt
they're buried anywhere."

"And why is that?" Buffy asked suspiciously. Talia turned to look at Buffy,
her expression carefully guarded.

"Why so many questions?" she returned icily.

"So what was it like back in 20's?" Willow asked quickly, trying to ease the
tension in the room.

"Those were some wild times..." Talia said sadly. She trailed off and turned
to look out one of the high library windows, then quickly glanced at Buffy.
"My...friends, are hopefully long gone."
 
 

 Talia breathed in the night air appreciatively. As she ignored Xander's
mindless babble, she savored the breeze playing with her hair and tugging
at her shirt. She looked down and pulled at her clothes. Buffy had been
adamant about making her change into a tight blue tank top. Fortunately,
she was able to keep her bellbottoms and clogs--some styles never die.
Talia laughed at the thought.

"What's so funny?" Buffy asked, walking briskly beside her.

"Just thinking something...so how far off is the B-" Talia cut off her sentence
and stiffened. She ignored Buffy's questioning look and ran down the street.

"What the...?" Buffy sighed and took off after her. Halfway down the street,
she suddenly became aware of why Talia had ran off. She picked up her
speed and headed in the direction where a scream had come from. Buffy
rounded a corner and gasped at the scene before her.

Talia had pulled an especially nasty looking vamp off of a young girl and
was...well doing something to it. Buffy dodged out of the way as the young
girl ran past and stared at Talia in amazement. From a distance of at least
thirty feet away Talia had picked up a branch and rammed it into the
vampires chest, without moving an inch. As the dust settled Talia turned to
look at Buffy, her mouth forming a smile.

"You- you can pick things up w-with your mind?" Buffy stammered,
awestruck. She had seen a lot of weird stuff in Sunnydale, but never that.

Talia shrugged." It's really easy, you just hafta learn how to use more than
ten percent of your brain...Buffy?" Talia trailed off and looked behind her,
following the slayer's gaze. She narrowed her eyes menacingly as a dark
figure emerged from the shadows. Talia sensed he was a vampire, but...but
there was something eerily familiar about him. Her mouth dropped open as a
face came into view. Talia literally flew over and engulfed the person in a
giant bear hug, which he forcefully returned.

"Ohh, I thought I'd never see you again! God I missed you so much!" Talia
gushed, laughing as she was picked up and twirled around by strong arms.
His laughter mingled with hers as he set her down.

Buffy stepped forward and gasped, getting a good look at the late arriver.
"Angel?"

 Back To The Labyrinth