I turned at the new voice. "Hi," I said quietly.
I saw Dad step forward with a small half-smile on his face. "Hi." He turned to look at Giles. "Hello, Giles."
"Angel," Giles said, surprised. "This is... quite a shock." He stopped and looked out the window. I scrunched my forehead, wondering what was out there. "It's daylight," Giles commented.
I shrugged. "So?"
Giles turned to look at me and then at Dad. "She doesn't know?"
I slammed my hand down on the table. "I am so sick of hearing that phrase! Know what?!"
Dad turned to face me and sighed. "I, uh, I wanted to talk to you," he said, dodging my question. "When you left this morning I got the feeling we were on bad terms and I wanted to explain everything to you."
"You mean like, who you are, what you were to my mother, how old you are, why you show up all of the sudden, why did you leave my mom when she was pregnant...?"
I didn't get a chance to finish all of my questions. Dad held up his arms in a sign of surrender. "Whoa!" he cried. "Calm down. I'll get to all of that, but you have to listen to the whole story."
I plopped down on a chair, crossed my legs, and looked to him with an expectant expression on my face. "I'm listening."
With a sigh, Dad sat down in the chair across from me... just as the bell rang. He glanced at me and I told him I had a free period now.
"Hey, guys, you know what?" Jade's voice reminded me that she was still in the room. "I think this is a family thing. I should just go... somewhere that's not here."
"No," I told her before she could leave. "I'm gonna tell you anyway, so it'll save me the trouble. Stay."
Before she could answer, a new voice was heard. "Hey guys..."
It was Daniel.
"You're just in time to hear the story of how and why I was born," I informed him.
The poor kid looked confused, especially after what I had done this morning, but he sat down anyway.
Dad glanced at both of them for a second and then at Giles. He sighed and nodded. "I guess I should start by saying that my full name is Angelus McKellan. And that I was born in Ireland 257 years ago."
I was standing up immediately. "What are you?" I asked with a menacing tone.
"A human being," he answered. "Sit down and listen. Don't interrupt."
I set my face to a hard expression and sat down carefully again. At a glance at Giles, I realized that he must've already known this, for he didn't seem at all surprised.
"I was turned into a vampire at age 27 and for decades I brought terror upon Europe," my father continued. "That was until early twentieth century. I made the mistake of feeding on a young girl of a Romani gypsy clan. Beautiful girl, dumb as a post, but a favorite among her clan. The elders decided to take revenge so they conjured up a punishment... they restored my soul."
I let out a sarcastic laugh. "What a punishment," I muttered.
Jade put her hands on my shoulder and gave me a warning look. I sighed and turned back to my father to listen to the rest of the story.
"A vampire lives with a demon inside of him or her," Father continued. "No soul, no conscience, no regrets. Suddenly the deaths of the hundreds I had killed, tortured, raped, drove insane..." he let out a sad chuckle, "started weighing on my mind and heart. I spent years trying to make amends but nothing I did eased the pain. So eventually I just gave up and ended up roaming the streets of New York as a homeless guy.
"Whistler, demon sent the even the scores between good and evil, was sent to help me. He picked me off the streets and told me he'd show me something. He showed me Buffy. Took me to L.A. and showed me the beautiful fifteen year old girl destined to be a Slayer. And even though I knew I shouldn't, I fell inlove with her.
"When she moved to Sunnydale, I finally revealed myself to her. She eventually fell inlove with me and even though we knew we shouldn't, we started dating and getting closer. It came to a point where we got too close."
"You had sex," I interrupted.
"Yeah," he answered. "And it's not that it made the relationship worst. In fact, it made everything better. But a bit more than a year later, I started realizing that she was eighteen and that she'd be going to college soon. And she really didn't need some old guy tying her down. So I decided to leave. Like a coward I know I was... am, maybe... I left a note and took off. That was April of 1999, she was two months pregnant and I didn't know it. I didn't even consider it a possibility since I was a vampire and vampires can't have children..."
That's when Giles interrupted. "I think I can explain that."
I turned my head to look at him. I had forgotten everyone else was there as I heard the story of my parent's life. Never in a million years would I have imagined that my father had been the very thing I had been taught to hate and kill.
"Buffy came to me with the news one month after you left. She swore that Angel had been the only one for her and that the baby had to be his," Giles said. "I think she must've spent five years researching this subject. She never found out, so she gave up. But I wouldn't rest until I had the answer to this mystery. I stayed up late nights reading and asking until I finally realized what was going on."
Everyone in the library leaned forward, waiting in anticipation what Giles was going to say.
"Vampires and Slayers have rare blood and genetics overall. Since vampires are dead, they can't produce offspring in the way humans do. You see, Slayers' blood has a component never before known that..."
Giles stopped when he noticed we were staring at him blankly.
"Alright," he said with a small smile. "The actual explanation is very complicated. But the, uh, 'cliffnotes version,' as Buffy would say, is that vampires can only have children with a Slayer... and viceversa."
"Whoa!" I exclaimed as I stood once again from my chair. "You've got to be kidding me... only children with a vampire??"
Giles nodded. "This is why your mother is the only Slayer in history to, first of all live the longest, and second, to have children."
I sat down, shocked.
"It was probably made that way so that Slayers wouldn't have to deal with children," Giles continued. "I doubt They imagined it would actually happen."
"So this means that if Buffy wants to have more children she wouldn't be able to have them with me..." I heard Dad say. I was slightly shocked that he wanted more children, but waited for Giles' affirmation anyway.
It didn't come.
"I was going to ask you, Angel," Giles said. "Do you still have any of your vampire qualities?"
Dad shrugged. "My strength, my hearing and eyesight. That's about it."
Giles smiled. "Then I'm not quite sure, but I think you might still have that... component that enables you to father the Slayer's children."
"Wait a second!" I cried suddenly. "You haven't finished the story. So, you left... then what? What'd you do? How'd you get your humanity? And why'd you come back?"
"I went back to Ireland for a year," I said. "But I couldn't handle the memories, so I went to Spain for a while, and France, and finally I went back to L.A. where I still have my things.
"I regained my humanity because I made amends. After years of selflessly helping people, I guess They decided I could use a break. I wanted to come back to Sunnydale after I got my humanity, but I didn't think I could bear seeing Buffy moved on and with her new life. I spent two years working up the courage. In a way, I guess leaving was for the best."
I couldn't help but give an unladylike snort. "Sure, I guess," I said.
Closing my eyes, I processed everything I had just learned about my parents. I'd been an accident that came along at the wrong time. I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders and opened my eyes to find Dad standing there. Everyone else had left.
"You anchored your mother to Earth, Lynn," he said quietly, walking around to crouch down in front of me. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for the first fifteen years of your life. But I am willing to be here for the next fifteen and for the rest of your life... if you'll let me. I'll make it up..."
I leaned forward and put a hand to his lips. "So you don't think it would've been better if I was never been born?"
"No, of course not!" he said as if I had just insulted him. "You are the best thing that every happened to your mother... and now to me. So you weren't planned... big deal. Like I said, you were the reason your mother kept on going. She told me that last night. She told me that if it wasn't for you, she might've lost the strength to go on. And she told me that you were all she had left of me. Her little souvenir..." He smiled.
I laughed. "I really want to get to know you... Dad."
His whole face lighted up at the sound of that word. I had never realized that Mom did the same thing whenever I called her "Mom."