Giles walked into his office at the book store he had opened. After a year of being a "Gentleman of Leisure" he was proud of his new profession. After six months in business, "Welcome to the Hellmouth Bookstore" was firmly established as one of the best occult book stores in town, which was saying quite a lot in Sunnydale. The name had been Xander's idea, of course. He had begun calling it that shortly after Giles had revealed his plan of opening a bookstore to the gang. The others had quickly picked up on it and, by the time the Grand Opening came, the name was, unfortunately in Giles' opinion, permanent.

This particular day Giles found a package waiting n his desk. It was a large box that was postmarked London, England. Giles was leery because, even though Buffy had made peace with the Council, and he had been reinstated as her Watcher, things were still very strained. Their sending him anything without his specifically and repeatedly asking for it was almost unheard of.

Upon opening the box, Giles found a handwritten note on top of a large, leather bound book of obvious antiquity. Though the librarian in him called out to examine the volume, he prudently decided to read the note first. He was shocked to discover that it was from Wesley Wyndham Price, Buffy's ex-Watcher.

Dear Mr. Giles,
I ran across this volume while cataloging books for the Council. That is what they have me doing now, since my mishap in Sunnydale. I thought that it might be of particular interest to you and your Slayer. Knowing the Council as I do, I doubted that they would pass it along should I bring it to their attention, so I didn't. I hope that the volume will give hope to Ms. Summers in the many trials that face her. Despite how we parted, she has my deepest respect. She is quite possibly the greatest Slayer the world has ever know.
Sincerely, Wesley Wyndham Price

*Well, who knew?*, Giles thought to himself. *The little prick grew a backbone!* He laid the letter aside and bent to examine the book. On closer inspection he could see that it was even older then he had at first presumed. He was not surprised that it had been lost in storage. The Council possessed so many books, that the task of cataloging them all was never-ending, and the truly old books where often set aside, in the search for books that contained more "relevant" and "up to date" information.

Giles picked the book up carefully and read the title on the cover. It was written in Latin but he had no trouble translating. "In the Beginning". "Hmm...." he said to himself. "In the beginning of what?" He sat down at his desk and opened the volume. As he began to read, he could be heard periodically exclaiming things such as, "Oh, my!" and "This is truly fascinatng." and once even "Holy Mother of GOD!"

The store was never opened that day or the next as Giles became engrossed in the book. Anyone passing by that night would have been shocked to see a light on in the office well past midnight. The gang finaly became concerned and Buffy broke down the door to the shop. As the entire Scooby Gang came storming into his office, Giles finished reading the last page. He removed his glasses and began chewing on one ear piece.

"Giles." Nothing. "Giles!" Still no response. "GILES!" Buffy's yelling finally got through to him and he raised his head.

"What? Oh, Buffy. What are you doing here? Actually I am glad that you are here. Wesley has sent me the most amazing History. You really must...."

"Giles! We have been worried sick. No one has heard from you in 2 days. You haven't opened the shop. And now we come in here to find you've been reading!?" Buffy, who had started speaking in a quiet and reasonable voice, was yelling by the last words.

"Oh! Has it been 2 days?" Giles looks confused. "It really is a most amazing History..." he stammered by way of explanation.

"Well, anything that can keep you locked up in here for days on end I have got to hear." Buffy plopped down on the floor and the rest of the gang followed suit.

"Well," Giles began. "As long as there have been Vampires..."

"...there have been Slayers. Yadda, yadda, yadda." Buffy interrupted. "Yeah we know that. What we want to know now is, what was the book about."

Giles glared at her. "May I finish?" Buffy nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. "Thank you." Giles cleared his throat and began again. "As long as there have been Vampires, there have been SLayers. Now, we, the Watchers, have always assumed that Vampires, like other lesser demons, have been here since man took over the Earth. A, holdover, if you will, of the old reign. It appears now that this was not the case. They were summoned here by man. And ,with their arrival, the first Slayer was created........"