Title: Witches' Ladder 1/3
Author: Jadedragon
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Buffy/Giles, of course.
Summary: Dawn discovers a box of books written by her and Buffy's great grandfather, who was a Watcher.
Disclaimer: Not mine, Buffy and company belong to Josh, Mutant Enemy, the WB and UPN. I'm just playing with them a little while and will return them. (Can't I just keep Giles?)
Spoilers: Season 5 up until but not including Checkpoint. Riley is already history, though. I never liked Captain Cardboard.
Notes: Montague Summers actually existed. He was a scholarly writer who believed in the existence of vampires. The books I have attributed to him are still available and can be ordered at Amazon.com. His appearance, strange as it may seem, was taken from a picture I found of him on the web, right down to his most unusual hairstyle.
The Malleus Malficarum was the book written in the Middle Ages that was used by the Inquisition identify, hunt down, accuse and sentence witches to death.
The properties of the herbs mentioned in the story come from Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs.
Thanks: To a wonder beta, Aleta, who kept my timeline in line and helped me iron out the kinks in my story.
* * * * *
Buffy had finally gotten to the last wall of boxes in their basement. Since 8:30 that morning, she, Dawn and her Mom had been going through all the stuff that had collected while they had lived in Sunnydale.
She couldn't believe how much junk they had accumulated. Dawn was in the middle of the floor going through boxes, finding more stuff to keep than to throw away and it was annoying the Slayer. The sooner they finished, the sooner she would be able to join the gang at the Magic Box. They had planned to go Bronzing tonight and had even managed to talk Giles into coming with them.
"Buffy, who is Montague Summers?" Dawn asked as she opened up another box.
"It must be some relative of Dad's," Buffy told her as she reached for more boxes to go through.
"Buffy, I think you need to go through this one. There are some books on vampires, demons and witchcraft. Do you think Giles would want them?" Dawn asked her sister, as she sifted through the contents of the wooden box.
Buffy had not been paying a lot of attention to Dawn and asked "What?" as she got down from the stepstool and joined Dawn on the floor.
"Here's one, The Vampire: His Kith and His Kin," Dawn told her as she handed one of the books about vampires to the Slayer.
Buffy took the book from Dawn. It had been published in 1928 and the author was Montague Summers. Buffy was looking through the volume, which appeared to be a scholarly work on vampires, when her mother came down the stairs, with fresh lemonade for them.
"Well, this is looking so much better," Joyce, told her daughters, proud of how much work they had accomplished.
"Mom, who is Montague Summers?" Buffy asked as she looked at the other books in the box that Dawn had found.
"I think he was your father's grandfather. Why?"
"I found a box with some books he wrote and they're about vampires, demons, and witchcraft," Dawn told her `mom'.
"I don't really know that much about him. From what I remember he married young and his wife died soon after their only child was born. His son, Maurice Summers, your grandfather, was raised by his wife's family, and never had a lot of contact with his father. I didn't even know this box was here. It must have gotten mixed in with my stuff after the divorce. Buffy, do you think there's anything here that could help you and Rupert?"
"I don't know, Mom. I'll take this stuff to the Magic Box and ask him. We're all meeting there and going to the Bronze tonight."
"Well, I think that you and Dawn have done enough work for one day. I'll help you take the garbage to the alley and then why don't you get cleaned up and get out of here. You need a night of fun with the gang," Joyce told her daughter. She was glad to see Buffy getting out. Riley had hurt her very badly, even though Joyce didn't think that Buffy had ever truly loved him. She was concerned and wanted Buffy to find someone she could truly share her life with. Joyce knew just how lonely life could be.
**********
As Buffy entered the Magic Box, she heard Willow ranting.
"Just who does he think he is? This is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages!" Willow raved.
"Willow, it's just a book and that was written in the 20's. Don't take it so personally. He distrusted all supernatural elements, especially witches," Giles explained, trying to calm her down.
"Just the same, I would like to give Mr. Montague Summers a piece of my mind!" the red headed witch told Giles.
"Giles, who was Montague Summers?" Buffy asked her Watcher as she placed the box on the table where Xander, Anya and Tara were sitting.
"Buffy, hello. He was a Watcher who wrote books on vampires, demons and witchcraft. He even did the introduction to the 1928 edition of the Malleus Malficarum which Willow is so upset about," Giles informed his slayer.
"Willow what did he write that upset you so much?" she asked her best friend.
"He just goes on and on about how witches were killed and how they were tortured. When I signed up the take this course in the History of Witchcraft, I had no idea just how badly they'd been persecuted. I'd read of the burnings and such, but it just never really hit home until I started reading and researching for this class," Willow told her friend.
Buffy looked at Giles and again asked, "Who was he? You said that he was a Watcher?"
"Yes," Giles answered her. "I'll have to look up the details. I have copies of his Watcher journals in my office, I'll go get them," he told the group as he left to retrieve the books.
As Giles skimmed the journals of Montague Summers, Buffy opened the wooden box she had placed on the tarot table. Willow saw Buffy looking through books and manuscripts from the wooden box she had brought with her.
"Buffy what's in the box?" Willow asked her friend, her anger forgotten when she became curious about what Buffy had brought in the box.
"Willow, you won't believe this, but this is a box of books by Montague Summers. Dawn found it while we were cleaning out the basement today. Mom told us that he was our great grandfather."
Giles, hearing the comment spoke up. "Buffy that's impossible. Montague Summers never married and had no children. His line died with him. Here it is," he continued looking at the journals in his hands. "Montague Summers was the Watcher for the Slayer Catronia in New York City in the early 20's. The vampire population there grew to frightening proportions and they served there from 1919 until her death in 1924. Montague was severely injured and returned to the Council where he began writing. His first book on vampires was published in 1928."
"If he wasn't my great grandfather, why were all of these books and manuscripts in the basement?" Buffy asked her Watcher.
"Books? Buffy what have you found?" Giles asked his interest clearly shown on his face.
Everyone started going through the box. There were copies of several printed books and manuscripts for others. While a great many were on occult subjects, there were also some on plays and playwrights from Elizabethan England, which he had also written or edited. In the bottom of the box were several journals, some which were dated October 1918 through September 1924. Giles took these and started scanning them. He discovered that these were Montague Summers personal diaries and was surprised to find entries relating the love affair between Montague and Catronia. They had married when she was 19 and Maurice, their son had been born one year later. Giles was shocked. He had heard rumors of Watchers marrying their Slayers, but had never heard of one giving birth. He understood why Montague had hidden the birth of their child from the Council. Both he and Catronia would have been severely disciplined, possibly rehabilitated and the child would have been taken away, more than likely killed as an abomination.
"Giles, look what I found," Buffy called to him, bringing him out of his reverie.
"What?"
"A marriage certificate and a birth certificate. What do you say to that Watcher?" Buffy asked him as she held up the documents she had mentioned.
"Buffy, I apologize. Here in his personal journals he recorded their marriage and the birth of their son. He never told the Council because it was unheard of for a Watcher to have a sexual relationship with his Slayer, much less marry her. There are rumors of it happening, but this is the first evidence of it actually occurring, that I know of. Montague explains in the last entries that he will hide his marriage and the birth of their son, explaining to Catronia's mother that the Council would take the child away and possibly kill it if they learn of it's existence."
"Why would the Council have killed the baby?" Willow asked with horror on her face.
"There is a prophecy that the child of a Slayer and her Watcher will bring about the destruction of the Council. Rarely has a Slayer become pregnant and when one has, the Council has taken steps to have her eliminated. Montague did what he had to do to save the life of his son. Buffy, do you know what this means?"
"That I was destined to be a Slayer?" she asked.
"More than that, you are the great granddaughter of a Slayer and her Watcher. That could be why the Council didn't find you until you were called. We must care extra care of these diaries and make sure that they don't fall into the wrong hands. If the Council knew Montague Summers and his Slayer were your ancestors, they would take steps to eliminate you and the rest of your family," Giles told her with a very serious expression on his face.
"The rest of my family?" Buffy asked in a soft scared voice.
"The entire line, all the descendants of Maurice Summers," Giles told her with deadly seriousness in his expression.
"You're not kidding, are you?" she asked him in a stunned voice.
"No Buffy, this is extremely serious. We must research Montague Summers and the original prophecy. We must know more about how the Council is to be destroyed. What else is in the box?" Giles asked as he saw Willow reaching into it.
Willow reached in to take the last item out of the box, which appeared to be a ball of knotted string and black feathers. As she touched it she received a strong shock and was repelled. She looked up at Giles who then looked into the box and recognized the ball of knots and feathers.
"Willow, don't touch it. It's a Witches' Ladder and from what I feel a very powerful one," Giles told her as she backed away from the box when Giles bent over to examine the talisman.
"They were mentioned in the introduction that Montague Summers' wrote to the Malleus Malficarum. Are they really that powerful? I had never heard of them until today." Willow told Giles.
"Yes, they can be extremely powerful if cast properly by someone with sufficient power. Tying knots and feathers into a ball formed them. Curses were placed on the knots and feathers as the ladder was formed and could not be released until they were untied. The person cursed by such a malevolent talisman would suffer whatever spells had been cast as the ladder was formed until the ball of knots was found and the curse released by the disassembly of the ladder. Some were easily taken apart, while others were so complex that only a certain person could release the curse."
"Is that why the ladder repelled me?" the witch asked the Watcher.
"Yes I believe so. Buffy, try to pick up the ladder," he instructed his Slayer as a thought came to him.
"I don't want to get zapped!" she objected.
"I don't believe that you will. Please try to pick it up," Giles instructed her.
Buffy looked at her Watcher then slowly reached into the box and hesitantly touched the Witches' Ladder. As soon as she touched it she heard a voice telling her how to disassemble the curses placed in the ladder. Buffy was compelled to untie the ball of knots and black feathers, which she now knew to be raven's feathers. Slowly she undid the knots as the voice cast the spells necessary to break the curse. She laid the feathers out one by one in a line as she took them from the talisman and once it was untangled, placed the string in a circle around the raven's feathers. Once the circle was completed, a mist started forming in front of the table where they were sitting. The group watched in awe as the form of a man took shape. He was not very tall and was dressed in a black suit that looked to be from the 40's, holding a walking cane with a silver swan on the handle. However, the most unusual thing about him was his hairstyle. It was similar to the style worn by the Oompha Loopas from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, only shorter. Once the man was fully formed he went to Buffy, who was coming out of the trance she had been under while she untangled the ladder.
"Are you my granddaughter?" the stranger asked her.
"Who are you?" Buffy asked him in astonishment.
"I'm Montague Summers, your ancestor," he informed the surprised Slayer, looking around seeing that there were others in the room.
"If you are indeed, Montague Summers, how did you get here and how do you know Buffy?" Giles asked the man standing before his Slayer.
"Is there some place where we can talk privately?" he asked Buffy, realizing that he had materialized in a shop of some kind.
"Anya, close the shop for the rest of the day. Our research just became more important than customers," Giles informed her, never taking his eyes off the stranger standing before him and Buffy.
Anya quickly went and locked the door, turning the closed sign over and pulling the blinds down so no one could see what was happening inside the shop. Giles turned back to the mysterious man who had appeared when the Witches' Ladder had been disassembled.
"Who are you and what do you want with Buffy?" Giles asked the man again.
"I told you, I'm Montague Summers. I must speak with her, privately. Her life and the lives of her family depend upon it," he again told the menacing man standing behind the young girl who had released him from his self-imposed prison.
"Montague Summers died over fifty years ago. I don't know who you are, or what type of game you think you're playing. But I will not put Buffy's life in jeopardy by allowing you to speak with her alone. We are her friends and if you have anything to say to her, you can tell all of us," Giles told the man, barely keeping himself in check.
Buffy had listened to the conversation between her Watcher and the man who claimed to be her great grandfather. Could he really be Montague Summers?
"Who did you marry?" Buffy asked him, breaking her silence.
"Catronia," he quickly answered.
"And what was she?"
"Italian."
"No, that's not what I meant. What was her calling?" Buffy asked, wanting to see if this man would verify the information they had just discovered in the journals of Montague Summers.
"She was the Slayer," he told her realizing what she was doing.
"Who were you to her?"
"Her husband."
"Before you married her, what were you to her?" she reiterated.
"I was her Watcher."
"What was her son's name?"
"Our son was Maurice Summers."
"Who raised him?"
"My mother-in-law and her other daughter," he told her, disgust shading his voice. "There was no one else who could raise him and protect him from the Council."
"I'm Buffy, Giles is my Watcher. I am the Slayer," she told him satisfied that he was who he said he was.
Montague sat down heavily, "Then, I'm too late. The Council has you in its grip."
"No, they've done nothing for me except send Giles to me as my Watcher. The one time I asked them for help, they didn't send it. Is this about the prophecy?"
"You know about the prophecy?"
"Yes, we were just starting to research it when I got zapped by the ladder and unraveled it. How did that happen by the way?" she asked him.
"I researched the prophecy for years, gathering together all the information that was available until I realized that it was not Maurice who it concerned, but a granddaughter in the future, possibly a Slayer from my line. I then turned to the only person who might be able to help me, my mother-in-law." He said with the same disgust in his voice as when he had spoken of her earlier. "As much as I abhor witches and their kind, she was the only person who could aid me in trying to help my future descendants. I gathered all my notes on the prophecy and other of my books to pack in one box, which I had her curse so that it would come into the hands of the Slayer who would fulfill the prophecy. Until she came into being and then came into contact with the box, it would be ignored. I also had myself cursed and imprisoned in the Witches' Ladder so I would be able to help her in destroying the Council. My mother-in-law was a very powerful witch and she, with the help of her other daughter, cast the curses, packed all the books and the ladder so the Slayer would find them and release me to help her. After that, the box was sent to my son where it stayed until it was opened by you tonight."
Willow looked at Tara as his hatred of witches became very apparent while listening to him speak of his mother-in-law. How would they be able to work with him?
"I know that many in the Council are corrupted, but there are also many good people in it and associated with it," Giles told him.
"As it was in my time," Montague agreed with the Watcher. "But as I researched the prophecy, I realized that it didn't mean it's total destruction, but rather its reorganization. It was meant to take the Council back to what it was originally commissioned to be, a repository for knowledge to help the Slayer and her Watcher and a school to train them. But I realized, even in my time, that there were those in the Ruling Council, who were more concerned with their power and maintaining it than helping any Slayer or Watcher. They didn't care that the Slayers were living shorter and shorter lives, passing on less and less knowledge to the next generation. It didn't matter that the bond between Watcher and Slayer was becoming non- existent, which, added to the Slayers living much shorter lives."
"What do you mean shorter lives and what is this about a bond?" Buffy asked the man who was her great grandfather.
"In studying the prophecy, I also studied the life spans of Slayers and the bonds with their Watchers. Three hundred years ago, most Slayers lived a rather normal life span, thirty, forty, sometimes 50 years, a normal span for those times. The bond between a Watcher and his Slayer accounted for this. But what the Council does not let the present Watchers know is the reason for this; it is the presence of a psychic bond between the two and the acknowledgement of that bond that led to the normal life span. The bond can express itself as anything from friendship to a deep love, which led to many marriages between Watchers and Slayers. This all changed in 1756, when the ancient prophecy was found by Lord Maxwell Travers who took it upon himself to change the history of the Slayer. He did his best to obliterate any references of the bond and any marriage between Watchers and Slayers. He also took precautions to have all offspring that he knew about killed, the lines destroyed. I found this information quite by accident, when I was at the country estate of one of his descendents one weekend and went researching in the library. When I realized what I had found I stole the volumes and took them with me when I left. It was soon after that, I made the arrangements to have myself imprisoned in the Witches' Ladder to help the future Slayer."
The group looked at the strange little man, amazed at his story. All were in shock at his revelations.
"Where is the research?" Giles asked, aware of what this information could mean to Buffy.
Montague looked over the books, which had been taken from the cursed box and pulled three manuscripts and several journals from the pile that had been pushed to one side. These he handed to his granddaughter's Watcher. Giles took the books and immediately started reading.