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When at last she found her voice, the first words Stefanie used were, "This isn't possible. I shouldn't be able to see myself." She turned towards Giles. "How can this be happening?!?" she asked, a note of panic in her tone.
Giles remained silent a moment, both from being in shock and deep in thought. "Well, perhaps we were wrong to assume that your symptoms were a sign you were getting sick... In light of this new evidence, it would appear you're becoming human again," he said in awe.
Stefanie shook her head. "But how? Why?" she asked fearfully, her eyes wide with alarm.
Jenny paused, then took a step forward. "Stefanie, calm down," she said quietly, moving to boot up her computer. "And if you give me a few minutes, I might have an answer for you. Okay?"
Stefanie took a few calming breaths, pacing the room once more. She took the time to contemplate the magnitude of this. "Human?" she whispered to herself, wondering if she was ready for such a change. It wasn't until now that she realized how used she was to being a vampire, having the amount of strength, agility, and mental powers that came with it. How can I adjust to anything else? she wondered.
At last, Jenny called her companions over to the monitor, showing them a display featuring a picture of the pendant Stefanie wore. "It's just what I thought," Jenny said. "I knew I'd seen this before, but I couldn't place it until you brought up this transformation thing... Because apparently, it's your necklace that's causing this, Steffi."
Stefanie looked doubtful. "A pendant is making me mortal?" she asked cynically.
Jenny gazed up at her in silence for a moment, then turned to look at the monitor again. "In a nutshell, yes," she answered, beginning to scroll through the accompanying article. "From what I can tell, this... talisman was created in the early seventeenth century. The daughter of an alchemist seemed to have been suffering from some sort of demonic possession, and he had this made to save her soul. As long as she wore it for the rest of her life, she'd be safe from any kind of metaphysical evil."
"So what happened?" Giles asked curiously, intrigued by this. "How did this end up in Buffy's hands here?"
Jenny paused again. "From what I can determine, this woman who had it originally was buried with it. There's mention of grave robberies some years later, but it doesn't say what was stolen... But maybe, this talisman was among those items. How it wound up in a store here in Sunnydale for Buffy to buy is anyone's guess."
Stefanie stood up straight. "So," she said, reaching for the chain. "No pendant, no becoming human."
Jenny turned just in time to see what Stefanie was doing. "No!" she yelled, standing and stopping the slayer from yanking it off.
Jenny took a deep breath, ignoring the venomous look Stefanie gave her. "Your conversion is already over halfway through from what we've seen... It can't be reversed, Steffi. If you remove the talisman now, without letting it run its course, you'll die."
Stefanie softened slightly, tears coming to her bright blue eyes. "I'll die if I do let it, Jen!" she shouted. "Becoming mortal again, especially now, is liable to be hazardous to my life!" She paused briefly. "Well, that's it! I can't go up against Lorenzo and Tessa now. I wouldn't be able to win at any rate if I did!"
Giles cut in at this point, a mixture of strong emotions showing in his eyes. "There is a way," he said, his voice trembling a little. "You can still fight them. You just have to do it sooner than expected."
Stefanie sighed. "When?" she asked. "Tonight?"
"Tomorrow night," he replied firmly. "I do think you should rush into this, but not that quickly. With any luck, we can get in some preparation time within the next twenty-four hours. After that..."
"It will be all-out war," Stefanie finished grimly...
One of the many drawbacks of being locked in a cage, Angel mused, was that you couldn't easily walk away from those annoying little voices that insisted on harassing you. As if Cordelia hadn't been bad enough, now Tessa had decided to take a turn at it.
Angel would have given anything to have a reprieve from her endless chattering, as Tessa proceeded to tell him all the details of how they planned to murder Stefanie tomorrow. But all he could do in the meantime was let his eyes wander, focusing anywhere but on her.
Finally, Angel gave up on the charade and looked at her, half amused and half angry. "When you have something besides the boring particulars on your mind, let me know. Until then, just do me a favor and keep quiet," he said sarcastically.
Tessa tilted her head to one side, looking all too eager to tackle another subject. "One more outburst like that, and maybe I will order Venus to take out your precious daughter ahead of her time as well."
That nearly got him, but Angel didn't want to risk doing anything that would jeopardize Ivory. "'Ahead of her time'?" he asked. "Mind telling me what you mean by that remark?"
Tessa gave a brief laugh. "Haven't done your reading, I see, Angelus," she said teasingly. Leaning closer, Tessa whispered, "Consider yourself the proud father to a future slayer. Ivory has a great destiny in store for her."
Angel's eyes flared with fury. "You lie!" he said simply, even though doubts were forming in his mind. Ivory can't be a slayer, he thought wildly. Please, don't let it be true. Don't let her have the same fate as countless others!
"Oh, but it is true," Tessa goaded, having read his thoughts. "And from what I read on her, she won't have a very long life. Only until the day of her eighteenth birthday."
Angel shut his eyes tightly, feeling an intense amount of pain at Tessa's words. He waited for a long while until he heard the vampiress retreat, then let out a loud howl, pacing his confines like a caged animal. Even though he knew Tessa had a reputation for lying, he knew she couldn't invent something this outlandish. At least, he felt certain that the story about Ivory being a slayer was true. He refused to believe she would die prematurely as well.
Lying down on the bunk, Angel wondered how Buffy would take this news when they were reunited. Generally, a slayer's family would be oblivious to her role, but both he and Buffy had firsthand knowledge of the risks that were involved. "Oh, Ivory," Angel murmured at last. "What I wouldn't give to prevent this..."