Since graduating from school and university, Buffy had certainly changed her life around. She was now running her own business with the help and guidance from her former watcher, Giles. They had moved to the Isle of Sheppey, a small island just off the coast of England.
“I need to move on, a fresh start,” she had thought to herself all them years ago.
They made the move so they would be closer to the starting of the new Watcher’s Council, but far away enough to do their own thing. When the old Watcher's Council got blown up, Buffy was surprised to that there was a severance pay and as she was the Chosen One she got the lot. She used half the money to start the new Watcher's Council and some more to buy an old hotel, with 5 acres of land surrounding it. It cost a considerable amount, but it still left enough to restore it and hire staff.
It was a large old building with ivy covering most of the outside, a mile long drive, a heated outdoor swimming pool, sauna’s, jacuzzis, a games room, ballroom, tennis courts and a neglected gym. Her first restoration was to the gym she had to get it up and running if her business plan was to work, there were the usual bench presses, weights, rowing machines and exercise bikes, for the customers. Then there was the other gym in the west wing with the “extra equipment”, on the far wall was an array of different weapons for weapon training, a punching bag suspended from the ceiling, a punch dummy and a vault horse atop a set of mats. At the back of the gym adjoining it is a library with an array of magical books, mystical books, demonology books, and all things alike. This section of the hotel was for those, like her, a slayer. After her last battle, the one with the first evil, she had given a little of her strength to those who were to be a slayer in the future. They didn’t have all the power she had and this is why she had set up her business, to train future slayer’s.
Buffy and Giles had decided that because they didn’t want to locals talking about their business, that they would only use half of the hotel and the other half was open to the public in the summer months. They had hired staff to deal with the hotel itself, but only the manageress they employed knew of what went on in the other half of the building. Giles on the other hand had placed Sarah as the manageress for other reasons. When Sarah first came for the interview of manager of the hotel, Giles instantly felt at ease and attracted to her. She stepped into the office with confidence and she had great credentials from other hotels, but was leaving her old manageress job at another hotel as she felt that it wasn’t challenging enough for her. Sarah was 5ft 6 with long legs the looked like they went on forever, she had short brown hair that was stylish, yet sophisticated. After the interview both Buffy and him agreed that this was the perfect job with the challenge Sarah needed. Giles phoned her that night and asked if she could attend another meeting with them tomorrow, as they needed to go through the terms on what she would be hired for.
She was given a tour of the entire building and they had a representative of their law firm, Wolfram and Hart there for the legal side of things. When they took Sarah on the tour Giles walked behind noticing the way Sarah’s arse swayed, and that is when he started to feel attracted to her. Sarah made some valid points so Buffy knew straight away that she would be suited for the job. As Sarah had suggested they installed key panels to keep things separate, only Buffy, Giles, the slayers in training and Sarah had the keys to those sections, out of bounds to “normal” customers. The complete west wing was designated to bedrooms, boardrooms and everything else that the slayers needed.
“I love this time of year.” Buffy said stepping away from the Christmas tree. She looked up at her handy work, the tree was 20ft tall and stood in the reception hall it was adorned with flashing white light, the ornaments and tinsel were matching, gold and red and to top it off, a brightly lit star at the top. It was a few weeks away from Christmas and they had started to prepare for the annual Christmas Ball. The hotel was closed for winter, and most of the staff had left, leaving Sarah, to deal with the bookings for the next year.
“Yes it’s um… pretty. Is everything ready?” Giles asked.
“I’ve got Sarah making the arrangements of the guests, flight bookings, catering and the supervising the decoration in the ball room. Kennedy is in the training gym with the Slayer’s In Training (SIT’s) that are still here, the other’s have decided to spend Christmas with their families.”
“Buffy… there’s something that I’ve got to say…(he removed his glasses and started to clean them on a cloth, from his pocket.) As you’re former watcher and now as your business partner I’ve got to say at how grown up you’ve became. And I’m proud of the way you have dealt with things. I know it mustn’t be easy what with your friends so far away but you’ve managed. Have you spoken to the other’s yet?”