Chapter One - Chance and Happenstance

The building that the Cottonwood Creek Casino occupied was new and raw. The casino itself, while possessing lots of electronic bells and whistles, especially in the slot machines, was generally short on glamour. If Spike had cared about that, he would have found it unimpressive. As it was, it was just sort of boring.

Looking around, he noticed a young vampire he'd seen over at Willy's a couple of years ago, before he'd been barred. He couldn't remember the kid's name, but he wandered over and said hi.

"What's going on with the Slayer?" the boy asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why is she over here bothering us?"

"She broke up with her boyfriend," Spike said. "She has a lot of free time. Maybe she likes the commute."

"She just staked a friend of mine."

"It's what she does, mate."

"She was different from what I've heard about her: She was looking for Eric, and only for Eric. She let me and another vampire go, just so she could get at him."

"What'd he do?"

"Well, that's just it, not a damn thing. He wasn't back from Stanford long enough to do anything that would get her pissed off at him, I mean his parents hardly let him out at all."

"You ought to consider moving," Spike told him.

"Can't."

"Stay wary, then."

The young vampire wandered over to the long line of slot machines. Spike returned to the roulette wheel, passing a man who wore the fringed leather jacket that marked him as a casino security guards. Gang Long had not waited for him, but had placed a cautious bet. He won.

"I think I understand this, Spike."

"Don't tell me you have a theory? People with theories go broke."

"Let me try," the boy insisted.

"Go ahead." It wasn't Spike's money the boy was spending. The boy picked the next four numbers. Spike, watching the quick exchange of glances between the croupier and the man in the jacket, decided to pull the kid out. He had no idea how good the ID Ann supplied really was, but he didn't want Gang Long, who didn't look his real age--1579 years--and barely the stated age--22years--on his ID, to be the test case, even if it was only with the IRS. Ann would be annoyed if anything happened to Gang Long, and besides, he liked the boy.

"Time to go," he told Gang Long

"No, no. I..."

"Yes. Come on. Ann said I should decide where we go and when we leave. We leave now."

"OK, but I know the next ten numbers."

Spike froze, thinking. Two to the tenth. If he started with a fifty dollar chip and kept the bet just on the dozen or the column, he'd get....staked, he suddenly realized. Even Gang Long couldn't foretell a completely random event. The boy had tapped into a rigged wheel. "You can try your theory again sometime. Now, we go."

"All right."

Spike didn't let anything delay their exit. He refused the free drink and got Gang Long into the Viper as quickly as he could without actually running, but he didn't relax until the car was moving.

"Listen," he started. "Do you know how some dragons get about money? Hoarding gold, jewels, like that?"

"Only European dragons do that, Spike; I'm a long."

"Humans get that way, too. And if you win too much, or what they think is too much, they can get angry at you. Back there, they might have killed us, just so they wouldn't have to pay you what you won. Especially since we weren't the ones who were supposed to win."

"It was the girl, the one alone."

"How could you tell that?"

"The way the croupier and she didn't look at each other."

>>>|||<<<

"So, how was your day?" Willow asked, sitting down across from Buffy and Anya. Xander, carrying beers, and Tara, carrying only water, crossed the floor of the Bronze and joined them.

"Even with Glory around, vampires keep coming. I got two at the old cemetery, but the third ran really well for someone who was so recently dead. Straight north, too."

"Isn't that Frat Row?"

"So embarrassing. I've been to parties at some of those places."

"And I," Xander said, "never realized how al fresco-y frat boys get when the temperature rises."

"What?" Tara asked.

"There were couples coupling in the graveyard," Buffy said. "Which was also embarrassing."

"You weren't the one who tripped over that one pair," Xander complained. "I did."

"I was the one she recognized, though," Buffy said.

"Outdoors is nice," Willow said.

"I don't know about a graveyard, though," Tara said

"A flowery field."

"Buggy," Spike said, arriving suddenly with Gang Long and making himself at home.

"I don't like bugs," Tara admitted. "Hi, Spike."

"Hi. And this time of year, the sprinklers come on most nights."

"Hey, Gang Long," Willow said. "You look good. What have you been up to?"

"Roulette," the boy said. "I won, but Spike made us leave. I want a lemon coke."

"Me, too," Willow said. "Anybody else?"

"No, thanks."

"Roulette?" Anya asked. "Is that where they pay you to put chips on squares?"

"More or less. We went to the new casino out in Sylvandale."

"Does Ann know you're taking Gang Long gambling?" Buffy asked, watching Gang Long in his black linen jeans and loose gray silk band collar shirt walk with Willow over to the counter. .

"Hell, yes. I wouldn't do anything with her boy she didn't know about."

Xander choked. "Her boy?"

"Ward, fosterling, alumnus, whatever. Not son and not lover."

"You sound sure of that," Buffy said.

"I asked."

"You have no tact whatsoever, do you?"

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 2 -- Alarums and Excursions

The anonymous black car pulled up short of the front door of the Bronze. Two men got out. They located their scout and approached him.

"Identification?" the senior one asked.

"Blonde, five foot three, strong, first sighted in graveyard near Frat Row."

"It's her. What's this place?"

"The Bronze. It's for youngsters."

"You, Beck, up on the roof. Make sure she doesn't get away out the skylight."

The driver climbed up the packing crates along the side of the Bronze, grabbed the fire escape and gained the roof.

>>>|||<<<

Harmony wrestled the manhole cover open and climbed out to the street. The Bronze was only a block down and a block and a half over. She started down the street, her bracelets jingling nervously.

>>>|||<<<

The anonymous dark gray car pulled up just short of the back door of the Bronze. A man got out. He approached two men standing in the shadows in the rear alley.

"There. Hear her?"

"Even for a vampire, she's dense. High heels and charm bracelets?"

"Where'd she go?"

"In there."

"The Bronze. OK. Davison, you get up on the roof and make sure she doesn't get out the skylight. We go in and look."

>>>|||<<<

"Listen, Slayer, I was just wondering," Spike said.

"Don't," Buffy said.

"How you got here from over in Sylvandale before we did. I mean, I was driving the Viper, and nobody passed me. Have you got wheels now, or are the Witches moving you around?"

"What are you talking about?"

>>>|||<<<

Davison, arriving on the roof, moved quietly to the skylight. He looked about carefully, then started clockwise around the skylight, intending to look down in the one clear pane he could see in the other side.

>>>||<<<

Beck, gaining the roof, moved back toward the skylight. Reaching it, he checked the situation. Hearing nothing, he started counterclockwise around the skylight, heading for the one clear pane. He rose to his knees and readied his crossbow. A step in front of him made him look up.

>>>||<<<

Davison looked down. A man with a crossbow knelt by the skylight. Davison tried to step back. Beck started up, stumbled and grabbed for Davison. Davison, trying to point his own crossbow at Beck, stumbled. Beck gripped Davison, over-balanced, and pulled Davison through the skylight as they fell together down to the stage of the Bronze.

>>>|||<<<

"Spike, they're after me!"

"Go away, Harmony," Buffy said.

"Who this time?" Spike asked. "Not me, I've been busy. Not the Slayer, she's been here. Anybody else?"

"Hell, no," Xander said. "Buffy's right: Go away, Harmony."

"They've chased me from the graveyard over on Mission. I tried to lose them by cutting through the tunnels, but I think...."

Two men, struggling and fighting, fell through the skylight and landed on the stage.

The two men following Buffy, who had come in the front door, froze.

The two men following Harmony, who were dodging the pony kegs around the back door, froze.

Spike, Harmony and all the other vampires in the Bronze grew their fangs and got to their feet.

Beck's friends, just inside the beaded hanging by the front door, had a unencumbered view of at least ten vampires, all in full display--harsh-faced and fanged. They raised their crossbows.

Davison, losing his crossbow, pulled out his back-up gun and shot Beck.

One of Davison's friends kicked a pony keg, sending it bouncing and ringing down the side wall into the center floor of the Bronze.

The vampires, and everyone else, turned and looked at the new pair of men entering the Bronze.

Beck's friends, already spooked by all the vampires, shot at Davison.

Buffy bounced to her feet, grabbed the back of her chair and swung it at Beck's friends. "Harmony, you damned nuisance," she yelled, "somehow this is all your fault."

One of the anonymous vampires at the bar hit one of Beck's friends with his beer mug.

One of the pool players reversed her cue and slammed it across one of Davison's friends from behind.

"Tara--ah, can we get everyone out of here?" the young Witch asked her lover.

"No, I can't concentrate. It's too noisy."

Spike dived over the table, hit the floor, rolled over to the counter, and kicked Gang Long's feet out from under him. Gang Long landed beside Spike. Spike grabbed the boy's shoulder and pulled him around to face him. "Can you get us all out of here? Not the ones with guns, just us. Get all of us safe if you can."

"Yes," the boy said.

"If not safe, just get us all out of here."

"OK."

"Spike," Harmony said, leaping after him and grabbing his arm. "I said they were after me."

"Shut up, Harm."

Gang Long said something Spike couldn't understand, except for the phrase: "Wu Jing." The Bronze faded out and they all landed in darkness.

>>>|||<<<

Ann Grove's voice said: "Lights."

They sprawled in an untidy heap in Ann's foyer. She looked down at them all: Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, Buffy, Spike, Harmony, Gang Long and a girl she didn't know. "Welcome," she said.

"I'm going to be sick," Xander said.

Ann crossed to him, producing a small vial as she came. She held it under his nose.

"And that's the difference between a learned skill and an innate talent," Willow said.

"He's good," Tara agreed.

"He still makes Xander sick," Anya said.

"No, I think I'm OK," Xander said. "Thanks," he told Ann.

"Hi, Ann, we're back early." Spike said, getting to his feet

"So I see." Ann seemed more amused than alarmed.

Spike turned to Buffy. Buffy took his hand and rose to her feet. "Hi, Ann," she said, wondering as she often did when she saw Ann, how Ann always looked so finished, no matter what she was wearing. Ann wore dark green linen jeans with a pistachio V-necked long-sleeved silk sweater, with the sleeves pushed up. Her long black hair was tied back with a green cord. The only jewelry Buffy had ever seen her wear was the single earring she wore tonight. She was barefoot and still was taller than everyone but Spike.

Harmony saw Buffy, squeaked, darted for the door.

"Freeze, Harmony," Ann ordered.

The strange girl was staring around with wide, panicky eyes.

"Why'd you bring her?" Spike asked Gang Long.

"You said, not the ones with guns, all of us. I was talking to her and she wasn't shooting at us and I didn't want to leave friends behind."

"It sounds as if you did exactly what you ought." Ann gently touched Gang Long's shoulder, then turned to the stranger, helping her to her feet. "Hi, I'm Ann Grove. You're safe. Who are you?"

"Dee Ferguson. I want to go home."

"Where's home?"

"1505 Sunnyside Drive, San Luis Obispo."

"Just a second." A large rolled map appeared in the air in front of Ann. She murmured, "1505 Sunnyside Drive." The map scrolled; a spot glowed, then faded. Ann nodded; the map rolled up completely, then disappeared. The girl's eyes grew wider yet. "I'm sure they'll be delighted to see you. You don't need to worry about tonight anymore," Ann said, and with one pale hand she waved the girl home.

"Come in and sit down, everyone. Can I offer you refreshments?"

"A Bloody Mary'd be nice," Spike said, following Ann into the living room.

"I never did get my lemon coke," Gang Long said.

"Could I have some of your wine?" Anya said.

A selection of drinks appeared on the low table in front of two sofas. "Now," Ann said gently, sitting down in a chair facing one of the sofas. "I want to know what's going on."

Spike took a healthy swallow of his Bloody Mary. "What I saw was this," he said, and spoke for nearly six minutes. While he spoke, he tossed his coat over one of the sofas and sat down. "And I left the Viper down there. Hell," he finished and drained his glass.

"Comments?" Ann asked.

"That was pretty good, Spike," Willow said.

"But they were looking different ways," Tara said.

"The ones from the front started shooting at the ones on the stage," Xander said.

"One of the ones on the stage shot the other on the stage, then shot back at the other ones," Willow insisted.

"So is anyone after you, Buffy?" Ann asked.

"I don't know. I mean, the Initiative is gone, the Council is sort of friends with me again, and the Knights of Byzantium don't use guns. I don't know that anybody is out for me like this."

"They were aiming at you," Spike said.

"They could have been shooting at Harmony," Buffy said.

"Interesting," Ann said. She walked out to Harmony, still in the foyer, and touched her forehead. "Come in and sit down, Harmony."

"I don't want to."

Ann ignored her and returned to her chair. Harmony entered the living room and sat on one end of one of the sofas. "So tell me, Harmony, who is trying to kill you?"

"Well, Buffy."

"Tonight," Ann said patiently. "The hired assassins. The men with guns. Who could have hired them?"

"Buffy?"

"Oh, sure. With what? My allowance?"

"Well, you certainly don't spend it on clothes."

"Who wants you dead, Harmony?" Ann asked.

"Nobody. Except for Buffy, everyone likes me."

There was a brief, but profound, silence, then: "Did you take the truth spell off the house?" Tara asked.

"No," Ann said, regarding Harmony with a sort of bemused disbelief. "She's telling what she thinks is the truth."

"Come on, Harm. Somebody must hate you. You once pissed me off so much I staked you," Spike pointed out.

"That was just a lovers' spat. Besides, I was wearing that ring."

Ann had been thinking. "Tara, I want you to stay here tonight. The rest of you are welcome to stay, too, of course. The pool's heated, there are plenty of suits in the downstairs bathroom, and the pantry's full. I'll be back before too long."

"Where are you going?" Tara asked.

"The Bronze. I want to look around." Ann froze Harmony again, then walked towards the door. She paused by Spike, who looked up at her.

"I'll go with you," Buffy offered.

"You may be a target. You stay."

"No."

Ann touched Spike's shoulder. They vanished.

"Hey!" Buffy yelled. "Willow, send me after her."

"Buffy," Tara said. "Willow can't. And if she could, it still wouldn't be safe. We're not as good as Ann."

"Why'd she leave me behind? Dammit, I'm the Slayer."

"It may not be Slayer business," Willow said.

"And even though she's not responsible for you the way she is for me, she knows Giles would get really upset if you got hurt," Tara said.

"All right, that's true. But why'd she take Spike?"

"She thinks he's clever," Anya said.

"That's nothing but low animal cunning," Xander said.

"No, Anya's right," Gang Long said. "Spike's clever. Anyway, Wu Jing likes him, too."

"I think I'll go swim," Anya said.

"Why not?" Xander agreed.

"I may as well," Buffy said.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 3 - Investigations and Questions

Spike and Ann appeared on one of the catwalks above the stage. Looking down, he saw the body. The rest of the stage was empty. Some customers were sitting around the edges of the Bronze, with a couple of uniformed police standing between them and the stage.

Ann whispered softly, then moved them down to the floor. No one noticed them. Spike glanced around, but he and Ann seemed totally invisible to everyone else. Silently, Ann knelt beside the body and started to search its pockets. She stopped, opened the jacket, then the shirt. The body wore a vest. Ann started again on the pockets.

Spike saw a number of chains around the body's neck. He fished them out from under the vest, revealing several saints' medals and a variety of other religious symbols. He looked at the head. He didn't know where the hole in the forehead had come from. He moved the head, carefully. The back was a mess, as was the floor beneath it. There was a hole in the floor. He lowered the head.

Ann looked up long enough to hand him a cloth. As he wiped his hands, she showed him a glass jar, filled with a clear fluid. He nodded, but didn't touch it. Ann put the jar back in the breast pocket of the jacket. Spike saw, before Ann put the jacket to rights, that the body had an automatic pistol under its left arm. He slipped a hand under the body, going for the back pocket. No wallet, just a clove of garlic. He put it back. In loops on the belt there were three wooden stakes. He moved down the body. There was an ankle gun on the right leg, and a white knife on the left.

There was a stir near the people at the door. He touched Ann's arm. She nodded and produced a very small crystal. Taking the body's left arm, she brushed back the sleeves. She pushed the crystal into the forearm. It disappeared, leaving no trace. Ann smoothed the clothing, rose, took Spike's hand, and moved them to the Viper.

"Drive," Ann said.

"I have never seen such an amateur vampire hunter," Spike exploded. "Garlic? Garlic, for god's sake!" He started the car and drove away from the Bronze.

"What was in the jar?"

"Probably holy water. That was sensible, not like that useless pawn shop around his neck. Where am I going?"

"Alvarado Boulevard. An amateur vampire hunter, but a slightly more professional assassin. I hate thugs."

"Why slightly more professional?"

"His gear. Did you see the crossbow? Ceramic knife. No ID. That's professional. Shooting up civilians, that's not."

"He was shot where he lay. I didn't see that part. Why are we going to Alvarado Boulevard?"

Ann displayed a motel keycard. "Creekside Motel."

"This is safe?"

"Probably. If I were doing this, I wouldn't go back anywhere after I got noticed. I'm betting they're professional enough to move to a fallback."

"So why are we going?"

"They might have un-professional enough to leave something behind."

"The crystal? The one you put in the body? Why?"

"If the body's claimed, I can track it. I don't think it will be."

"Professional doesn't begin to describe you."

"Is that a compliment, Spike, or a complaint?"

"Compliment, I guess."

>>>|||<<<

"Which one is it?" Spike asked.

Ann was holding the keycard, running her eyes over the row of doors. "Third from the left."

"It's dark," Spike said. He slowed the Viper down as they drove past the motel.

"OK, drive on and park somewhere out of sight," Ann said

"Like here?"

"Fine. I'll bring you in a minute." Ann disappeared.

Spike waited, then the Viper vanished and he was standing in a motel room.

"Nobody here," Ann said.

"Anything left?"

"Start looking."

Ann was neat and quick. She inspected places he didn't know were places. He finally had to ask: "Is this something you were born with or did you take lessons?"

"Lessons," she said. "There was a charming ex-burglar, a Mr. Fitzgerald, who worked for "F" section back in the nineteen forties. Before we went to France, he showed us were he had found items that their owners had tried to hide from him or any other burglar that might have come along. He always said, given enough time and enough searchers, there was nothing that could not be found, eventually."

"I sort of thought you could just witch the place and locate what we want."

"What do we want?"

"OK. I take your point."

"It's easy for me to find anything you or Tara lost, an unknown item is something else again. I think the place is clean. Put the drawers back while I filch the registration card for this room."

>>>|||<<<

"Set," Spike said, straightening up. A white card disappeared from Ann's hand as she nodded, then moved them back to the Viper.

Spike glanced over at Ann. "What were you doing in a purely human mess like that war, anyway?"

"I was assigned to look after a student of war, so where he went, I went."

"Who assigns you ?"

"I can't say," Ann said.

"Why not?"

"I stop breathing if I try."

"Sounds a little harsh," Spike said, heading for Los Robles Road, and Ann's house.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 4 - Questions and Changes

"Xander and Anya went off to bed," Tara said. Her hair was neat, but damp.

Ann nodded. "We'll tell them about this before they go off to work in the morning."

"Where's Buffy?"

"Getting dressed; we swam a bit."

"When she comes in, I have a theory I want to put before her."

"About what?" Buffy asked from the doorway. Her hair was also damp, but curlier.

"Tonight," Ann said. She unfroze Harmony. "Now, I want you two to listen, and not interrupt."

"Why do I think I'm not going to like this?" Buffy said.

"Suppose this: You're a hired killer. You're assigned to kill someone, but there are no photographs and there may not even be a name. There's only a description," Ann said. "Twenty year old white female, graduate of Sunnydale High School, longish blonde hair, 5'3", about 107 pounds, very strong; frequently found in graveyards or in the company of vampires."

"Oh, hell," Spike said.

"Oh," Willow said.

"Now, in the absence of any photographs, if there happened to be two blondes, both very strong and so forth, in two different cemeteries tonight, some confusion could occur."

"No," Buffy declared.

"Absolutely not," Harmony stated.

"What we found at the Bronze," Ann said, "was a vampire hunter with a clove of garlic and a nine millimeter automatic. He also had a .22 strapped to one ankle and a knife he can get past metal detectors on the other."

"I don't look anything like Harmony."

"My hair is amber," Harmony said. "A rich, beautiful amber and she has no dress sense whatsoever."

"Spike called the body an amateur vampire hunter, and I rather agree. However, he was also attempting to be a professional assassin. I think what we may have is a mercenary who has been hired to kill a vampire."

"The solution's simple, then," Buffy said. "Turn Harmony loose. They kill her, they leave, we're fine."

"But I could be wrong," Ann said without any hesitation. "He may have been hired to kill the Slayer and thought he needed defenses against vampires, since you are frequently in the company of vampires. We could turn you both loose, and see which one of you they kill."

Everyone stared at Ann. Spike recovered in time to not say anything, but Willow said, "Hey!"

Buffy and Harmony both said, "What?" then glared at each other. Tara was silent, just looking at Ann with huge eyes.

"Then, they would leave, and we'd be fine," Ann finished.

"Very funny," Buffy said.

"After all, Buffy, I don't see much difference between you and Harmony."

"She's a vampire, she doesn't have a soul. I'm a human, I do."

"How do you know?"

There was a confused babble and much movement. Willow bounced up out of her seat. Buffy paced, one hand playing with her necklace. Harmony couldn't get up, since Ann had told her to sit, but she stamped her feet noisily.

>>>|||<<<

Spike picked up his glass, which had been refilled while he and Ann were gone, and sat down close to Tara. "What's she up to?" he asked the girl softly.

"I think it's something to do with the project Claire is working on. Those tests she ran on you, remember?"

"Oh, yes."

"Well, Claire has been testing other vampires. She says she's about ready to assemble a vocabulary, maybe formulate a theory, and then work on some experimental tests."

"Claire's been going after other vampires? That's not safe."

"Ann goes with her, or one of Claire's other friends. And Claire is very powerful herself."

>>>|||<<<

"It sounds to me like folk tales," Ann said. "Or maybe just plain black propaganda."

"It's not just the Council, all the vampires say so, too," Buffy retorted.

"I'm sure they all believe it. That doesn't make them any more right than you are. You and Faith are more experienced in the nature of the soul than any human or vampire in this room, Buffy. You might find it enlightening to put aside your dislike of her and consider what happened the last time you met."

As often happened when Faith was mentioned, Buffy stiffened. She wrapped her arms around her chest and turned away from Ann.

"But, ah, Angel," Willow said, covering the silence. "I brought back his soul, so at one point, he didn't have it."

Ann nodded. "I think you should talk to Claire about what you actually did, Willow. And I think you should go with her, Buffy."

"I haven't got time."

"At some point you will not be facing Glory or finals. I can bring Claire to you, remember."

"All right. I'll talk to Claire when I'm free."

"Excellent. Now, Harmony, tell us what you've been doing that might get people annoyed with you."

"Nothing," the vampire said.

"All right," Ann said. "Just tell us what you've been doing recently."

"Like what?"

"Where were you last month, Harm, for starters?"

Ann glanced over at Spike. "Thanks." He nodded.

"Oh, I've been in Palo Alto, around the campus there."

"And what did you do there?"

"Parties and stuff."

"Did you do anything else?" Ann demanded "Steal the wrong notebook? Break into the wrong laboratory? Catch the wrong teacher with the wrong student?"

"Why would I break into a lab?"

"Listen, you idiot girl! I'm trying to discover why, beyond terminal aggravation, someone may want you dead. Have you done or seen or overheard or taken anything worth killing you over? Think!"

"No, I haven't done anything like that," Harmony said.

"Notebook?" Spike asked

"From the Brookings Institute or SSRL or some proprietary research lab? Money or secrets," Ann said, "can make humans very nasty."

"No, I'm not interested in anything that dull," Harmony insisted. "I just do normal vampire stuff."

"Eating people," Willow said

"I'm a vampire, it's what I do."

"Bite anyone?" Ann asked.

"Well, yes."

"Kill anyone?" Buffy asked coldly.

"Not really."

"You turned them, didn't you?" Spike asked.

"What?" Ann asked him.

"She sired them. She changed them into vampires. She gets off on it."

"How many?" Buffy asked.

"Parties?"

"How many vampires did you create?"

"Zac, Eric, Marty, Carlo, Freddie, Andy, Jake, Max, Pedro, Ian, Jack, Tonio, Sam, and Denis."

"Stop, stop! Over a dozen? You created and released, into the screwy, precariously balanced, potentially explosive, social ecology of California, over a dozen climax predators? Are you crazy?" Ann was furious.

"She's stupid and she doesn't know what ecology means," Spike said.

"I do, too. It's about oil spills and sea gulls."

"How about lynch mob? Ethnic cleansing? Genocide? Spike, didn't you tell her anything?"

"She doesn't listen."

"That does not relieve you of all responsibility," Ann snapped. "Remember witch hunt?"

"That was before my time," Spike protested.

"The Salem ones, yes, but there were others," Ann said.

"How did you know?" Willow asked Spike.

"What?"

"How did you know she likes creating vampires? You were here, she's been doing it in Palo Alto."

"She did it in Los Angeles, too."

"How many there?" Ann asked.

"Probably three dozen in LA, maybe more."

"Harmony, I don't interfere with anyone's free will lightly, but enough is enough. You may panic the human population, with disastrous results for yourself and every other vampire, if not every other non-human, in California." Ann stood in front of the young vampire and said, in her voice of command: "You will not create any more vampires, unless an adult human specifically asks you to turn her into one. Do you understand?"

"Yes. But I like it."

"Too bad," Buffy snarled. She turned on Ann: "That's not harsh enough. She's killed over forty people and you're talking about climax predators and not letting her do it again!"

"This is all I am willing to do. After all, the people you say she killed are in fact going to and fro in the earth, Buffy. They're just alive by magic and not their original biochemistry."

"Except maybe Eric, Slayer," Spike said. "You killed him earlier this evening."

"Who?"

"Eric, out in Sylvandale, who was just back from Stanford. Gang Long and I were at the casino out there, and one of the gamblers told me."

"Harmony, remember your Eric? Was he from Sylvandale?" Ann asked.

"Yes, we laughed about that, having to go all the way to Stanford to meet each other, when we went to school down here. He's a junior..."

"Hold it," Buffy said. "I wasn't out in Sylvandale. Why would I go all the way out there?"

Ann frowned at the Slayer, then turned to Spike: "Your informant, trustworthy?"

"I would guess so. He was just talking, not trying to impress me or fool me," Spike said.

"Can you talk to him again?"

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Unusual happenings are interesting," Ann said mildly. "Especially when they happen simultaneously with other interesting events."

"What time is it?" Spike asked.

"Nearly a quarter to eleven," Ann said.

"He was settling in at a slot machine. He may still be there."

"I'll go with you," Buffy said.

"No. He's a vampire, you'll scare him speechless. Shall I bring him here?" he asked Ann.

"If you think you need to," Ann said.

"Will he be safe if I do?"

"I promise that he will be."

"Right," Spike said, and went out to his car.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 5 - Questions and the Nouveaux Riches

"Hey," Spike said. "I need to talk to you."

"You can't be more boring than these machines," the young vampire said. "OK."

Spike led the boy out to the parking lot and leaned against the Viper. "I'm Spike. Something's come up."

"Tom Rivera. Like what?"

"So tell me what happened tonight. For one, how did the Slayer get over here?"

"She drove, what you think she flies?"

"She doesn't have a car," Spike said. "What'd she look like?"

"Blonde, blue eyed, cute. I thought you knew her?"

"We're sort of friends. I don't think you saw her tonight. Get in. Someone want to talk to you."

"No. I remember about you now, Spike. You can't kill humans, so you get off on killing your own kind."

"You'll be safe," Spike said.

"Yeah," the boy said. "I will be. I'm not going with you."

Spike hit him, then hit him twice more before Tom could react to the first blow. Tom slumped down beside the car. Spike tossed him into the trunk.

"Don't argue with your elders and betters. I may not be able to touch humans, but I can still handle you."

>>>|||<<<

Spike hauled the still unconscious vampire out of the trunk. Slinging Tom over his shoulder, he

+walked around to the front door. Ann opened it.

"Come in. And bring your friend," she stepped back into the foyer.

"Oh, sod off on that, will you?" He carried the boy in and laid him on the floor.

She bent over Tom. "Just hit him?"

"Yeah. He didn't want to talk to me."

"Before or after you hit him?"

"Before."

"You need to work on your powers of persuasion."

"I haven't got a good reputation with my peers anymore."

"You should work on that, too. After all, your peers are as immortal as you are. You're going to be meeting them forever," Ann said. She produced a small aerosol can. Opening Tom's shirt, she sprayed the boy's throat and face. He opened his eyes. "Hi," she said gently. "I'm Ann and you're safe."

"He said I would be, but I didn't believe him."

"Spike was right about that. Come on in and sit down. Can I offer you a drink?"

"I'd like one. My name's Tom Rivera. Thanks."

"Why does he believe you and not me?" Spike complained

Ann smiled and walked into the living room.

>>>|||<<<

"Harmony's my prisoner," Ann said calmly.

"Eric's Harmony?" Tom stared at the frozen Harmony, then back at Ann.

"Apparently. These are some friends of mine: Willow, Gang Long, and Tara. Oh, and this is the Slayer."

"Her?"

"Buffy Summers. I'm the Slayer."

"Are you sure?" Tom asked. He looked at Ann, who nodded; at Spike, who nodded; then back at Buffy.

"Yes, I'm the Slayer," Buffy said impatiently.

"Hi. I'm Tom."

"So if she's the Slayer," Spike said, "who'd you see kill Eric tonight?"

"The one I saw, she was really pretty, nice face, sort of delicate, blue eyes and hair like silver, smooth and long, much nicer that this Slayer's. Oh, but dark brows and lashes." Buffy bridled.

"Interesting," Ann said. "Can you tell us what happened tonight, from the beginning, please."

"Well, Eric had gotten expelled from Stanford, for being a vampire. His parents haven't decided what to do about him yet, so he was just hanging out with us whenever he could. He brought two eight packs of Cambells--the canned blood? Maybe you know? Oh, you do--and some vodka and whisky."

"Who is us?" Spike asked.

"Ethan, who's a vampire and Troy, who's just a human hanger-on. We were above the clubhouse parking lot, arguing whether we should troll for girls or go to town and visit the pool hall, or both, when the Slayer, or at any rate, this girl, showed up. She was driving an open BMW, the one all the girls like."

"Oh," Willow said. "The Z-3?"

"I think so."

"What color?" Tara asked.

"Silver, like her hair."

"Ooh," Tara breathed.

"No," Ann told her.

"License number?" Spike asked.

"What do you expect?" Buffy snarled. "SLAYER 1?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Spike said.

"I didn't notice."

"What happened then?" Ann asked.

"She got out of the car, and said: `Hi, Eric, I've been looking for you.' Well, she was really cute, and he was sort of happy to see her. She was taller and a little older than the Slayer, and dressed more like you than like her. She pulled a stake out of her belt. Ethan backed away from her, and tripped over the sidewalk. She stepped over him, and staked Eric. Troy was really freaked, but she didn't even notice. Just tossed him out of her way, got back in her car and left."

"She knew Eric by sight?"

"Eric stood up and held his arms wide. He said he was really glad she found him. Poor turkey."

"How did she sound?" Ann asked.

Tom thought: "Busy," he decided. "Things to do."

"Interesting. Then what?"

"Ethan drove Eric's car home, and went in to tell his parents. Troy and I went over to the casino. I saw Spike and talked to him and that's all."

"What was she wearing?"

"Pants, jacket, out of denim, regular blue."

"Did she say she was the Slayer?"

"No, but who else could it be? Well, that's what we thought, anyway."

"I'm interested," Ann said. "If you see her again, or her car, tell Spike or call and leave a message here. This is the number."

"Sure. I mean, one vampire killer around is bad enough without new ones cropping up all over."

Ann laughed. She plucked a rolled map out of the air and spread it on the low table. It stayed flat. "Show me where all this happened, Tom."

"The casino's here. This is the crossroads--some local shops, gas, taverns, mostly human. Over here is the gated ghetto."

"Is that what you call it?" Willow asked. "I like that."

"What is it?" Ann asked.

"It's a development for richies," Willow explained. "Monster homes, big lots, narrow roads, private police. No entry for most people."

"Nouveaux riches, indeed," Ann said.

"Cordy wanted to date one of the boys from over there, but his parents didn't let him."

"Eric lived here, Ethan lives out here, I live over here, and Troy lives over at the crossroads."

"Do any more vampires live there?"

"A bunch of them. Eric grew up with most of them, which is why he didn't run from Harmony, which is why he got changed."

"None of them feed off humans?"

"Not allowed." He felt their surprise. "Most of their servants over there are humans, like my mom. They don't want to have to keep changing their maids, or have to pay off a bunch of survivors, or get sued by their neighbors, so all the humans around there are off limits."

"How'd you become a vampire, then?" Buffy asked.

"That happened before my mom went to work over there."

"Thanks, Tom. You've been a great help. Do you have any change?" Ann asked.

"Yeah?"

"Show me."

Tom pulled out of handful of quarters and chips. Ann touched them. "Use them carefully, they're lucky. Shall I send you back to the casino or do you want to go home?"

"The casino. I mean, my car's still there."

Ann waved him back to the casino with a warm smile.

"That was interesting," Spike said.

"But hardly helpful," Buffy said.

"Unless you're getting the blame for some fake Slayer's murders," Ann pointed out. "Can you ask Rupert to ask the Council how many kills you're credited with lately?"

"I suppose."

"And you might want to be a brunette tomorrow."

"If the opposition is looking for a blonde, that's not a bad idea, Buffy. We could do henna," Willow said.

"Upstairs, my bathroom," Ann said. "Everything you'll need is there. There's henna if you want it, or a selection of commercial products."

"I'll call Giles first. He's watching Mom and Dawn."

"You can use the phone up in my bedroom."

The girls went upstairs. Ann unfroze Harmony.

"Harmony, I want you to sit there and write down every name you mentioned, with as many details as you can remember."

"You think one of them is the cause of the shooting?" Spike asked.

"She insists she hasn't done anything else. Buffy's just been Buffy, preoccupied with her mother's health and other personal problems. I can see one of Harmony's victims getting revenge for being changed, or one of their parents doing the same. We'll need to catch the hired killers and ask them about who and why, but that's for tomorrow. Harmony can start helping us now."

"But I spent over six weeks in Palo Alto," Harmony wailed. "I can't remember everything."

"Try," Ann said coolly, handing her a pad and pen.

"What sort of details?"

"Last names would be nice."

"Harm, what did they look like, what did they drive, what fraternity did they belong to, that sort of thing."

"Oh. Why didn't she say so?"

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 6 - Tails and Trails

Ann left the room. Spike followed her into the library. She waved the door shut, sat down at her desk and wrote quickly. "Spike," she said, not looking up.

"Don't start."

"What were you thinking?

"Well, I wouldn't do it again, even if I could. Oh, she doesn't know about the Viper, so don't tell her."

"So why help her?"

"Fair's fair," he muttered.

"All right," Ann said.

"Why are you?"

"I can't let Tara run around loose in Sunnydale if wannabe vampire killers or semi-pro assassins are shooting up the Bronze. On the other hand, if I start following Tara around just to watch out for her, she'll get rebellious."

"She doesn't like you if you're imitating Mary's little lamb?"

"What?"

Delighted not only to change the subject, but to find something she didn't know more about than he did, he recited the whole rhyme. Ann laughed, then turned to the large crystal phone, saying: "Kearny Agency." She waited, then: "Hi, who has night duty?"

"Alice," came a voice out of the crystal. "Do you want to come in, or shall she come there?"

"If she comes, she can meet everyone."

"OK. Here she is."

And there she was.

"Hi." Not as pleasant a voice as Ann's, but mellow. She was taller than Buffy, shorter than Ann; hair also in between, sort of dark brown, but nice, though a little short; warm, glowing skin, tanned a soft gold; beautiful eyes, brown with ridiculously long dark lashes. Mid to late twenties; sturdy shoes; pant suit, not Armani, trendy, a dark inconspicuous navy, worn over a really nice body, lusher than Ann's or Buffy's; large shoulder bag. She said nothing more, but glanced quickly at Ann.

"This is William Parker, usually called Spike. This is Alice Kearny, a friend of mine."

"Hi," she said again, and offered her hand.

"A pleasure."

"So why am I here, Ann?"

"Tell her, Spike."

"Tonight went something like this," he started. He began with Eric's death, since that happened first, then he switched to straight reporting, what he saw and did, ending with leaving Harmony in the living room writing down a list of her victims.

When he was done, Alice nodded. "Who do you work for?" she asked.

"He's an amateur," Ann said.

"Indeed. So why am I here, Ann?" Alice asked again.

"I need backgrounds and current locations on various people. Here," she handed Alice the list she had just written. "I expect all these names and the license are false, but see what you can do. There's the body in the morgue here, gunshot victim, he's probably one of these, but I don't know which. The bunch of Stanford students, who may have disappeared from campus. There are three more strangers in town, but I'll tell you more about them when I know myself."

"Sure."

"Let's see how Harmony did. Spike, take Alice into the living room and interpret for her, if need be. I'm going to call Claire."

He opened the door for Alice, then followed her to the foyer and indicated the living room.

"Harm, how'd you do?"

"I may have gotten Zac and Jack confused, and I forgot about Ian until just now, but this is everybody. From Palo Alto, I mean."

"Alice, this is Harmony."

"Hi. Can I see the list?" Alice asked

"Sure. I don't know why she wanted it."

"Her name's Ann," Spike said. "And this is Alice."

"Give me a few minutes with this, please," Alice said, and went over to a chair and sat.

"I'm thirsty, Spike."

"Do you want blood or wine?"

"Wine, I guess."

Ann came in, followed by Claire. "Did you finish, Harmony?"

"Yes."

"Hi, Claire," Alice said.

"Hello, Alice, how are your parents?"

"Hello, Claire," Spike said.

"Spike, how nice to see you."

"Harmony, are you familiar with the saying quid pro quo?" Ann asked.

"No," Harmony said.

"Are you kidding?" Spike muttered.

"Dum spiro, spero," Ann told him. "Harmony, I will help Spike get your possible assassins off your back, if, and only if, you cooperate with Claire, and let her do some simple survey tests."

"I didn't like tests even when I was in school."

"Interesting," Claire said, opening her healer's bag and removing her testing equipment.

"No, not really," Ann murmured.

"Harm, take the damn ball, and answer the damn questions."

"Oh, all right." Harmony held out her hand and Claire put the hollow glass ball in it.

"Now," Claire said. "This changes shape. Don't be startled." She struck the ball with wands of different materials and colors, then took it from Harmony and stowed it and the wands away. She produced a list of questions and began: "Sex, female. Current age? Age when you became a vampire? By whom? Spike? Good, I've wanted to extend the Darla lineage. Roll up your sleeve."

"Why?"

"I'll need some blood."

"Get your own."

"Harm, it doesn't hurt."

"It does, too."

Eventually, Harmony let Claire take a sample of blood. Ann offered her a glass of warm Cambells, which Harmony sniffed at, but drank. Ann seemed to feel she'd had enough of Harmony after that, because the vampire disappeared. "Unless you want her for some more tests?" Ann asked Claire.

"No. What a tedious young woman."

Spike glanced at Claire, but she was speaking to Ann.

"She extended the Darla lineage another generation--you will have several subjects to consider, once we have dealt with the current little problem."

"I'm sure you'll handle it with your customary finesse. Thank you, Ann." Claire picked up her bag, Ann smiled at her, and Claire disappeared.

"Tedious is right," Alice said. "Harmony can't spell and she can barely write."

"I'm going to go check out the Times," Spike said, and disappeared into the library.

>>>|||<<<

Buffy came downstairs. Her hair was still damp and now was very dark brown. "We went with a temporary rinse, since it was darker than henna. Oh, I beg your pardon."

"Alice, this is Buffy Summers. Buffy, Alice Kearny. She and her sister run a detective agency in San Francisco, specializing in occult problems."

"Hi."

"Hi. I've met Rupert who's spoken of you."

"How did you meet Giles?"

"He and Olivia were staying at Ann's condo."

"After your sudden trip to Seattle, Olivia declined to return to Sunnydale. They've been meeting in San Francisco," Ann said.

"Things do seem to happen when she tries to visit Giles."

"So, tell me, Ann. Is Spike seeing anyone?" Alice asked.

"I believe he's breaking up with Harmony."

"Oh. I was tactless, wasn't I?"

"It's difficult to be tactful about her, unless you say nothing at all. Shall I invite you to dinner if he gets free?"

"I'd like that."

"He's a vampire," Buffy said.

"Yes, I know. I like older men," Alice said. "I'll get on these, and talk to you, oh, late tomorrow afternoon, Ann. Which account?"

"Mine, the personal one."

"Bye," Alice said, and disappeared.

"What is she, a vampire groupie?" Buffy was disgusted.

"She's intelligent, powerful and experienced, and she doesn't think all vampires are the same, anymore than I lump all humans together."

"You don't seem to take this seriously," Buffy said.

"What should I be taking more seriously?"

"She doesn't even know he's got a chip in his head."

"I don't think that matters. Spike," Ann called.

Spike came out of the library and asked: "What?"

"If you didn't have that chip in your head, would you attack a friend of mine?"

"Hell, no," Spike said at once. "Not if I were starving. You get all protective over your friends, all of them; humans, demons, whatever. I'd be safer criticizing your cooking, which I'm not thinking of doing, either."

"Thanks," Ann said. Spike shrugged and went back to the computer in the library.

"That doesn't prove anything."

"I think you're wrong. I'm not sure if it proves that he's developing a conscience, or he's just afraid of me, or if he's finally growing up, but he doesn't sound like the pre-chip Spike that Rupert and Willow tell me about. Even immortals do grow up, you know. I'm going to bed. Do you want to sleep here or at your home?"

"Home. Can you put me up in my room? Giles said he was taking the sofa and I don't want to disturb him."

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 7 - Relationships and Relations

Ann opened the door and let Giles, Dawn and Buffy in to the large foyer.

"We were delayed a bit. Dawn couldn't find her bathing costume," Giles said.

"Thank you for letting me bring Dawn. Mom is off to the exhibit opening and I couldn't leave Dawn home alone."

"You could, too," Dawn said. "Or I could have stayed with Malinda across the street."

"Thank Ann for letting you come and swim."

"Thanks."

"That's quite all right," Ann said. "We've had an interruption on this end, anyway."

"Oh," Giles said.

"Spike," Ann started.

"Ha!" Buffy muttered.

"Spike was listening to Alice, and made an intelligent suggestion about a computer search she was running on silver Z-3's. Apparently, there are many silver Z-3's in California, and Spike wanted to know if any had been stolen recently, as a limiting factor in the search. Then, Willow asked some detail about the search. Alice took the two of them back to her office to use the computer there."

"I didn't know Spike knew a computer from a brick," Giles said, as he followed Ann into the library, which was occupied only by Tara, who was standing at a huge dry-erase board, holding several different colored markers and a sheaf of loose paper. The board was similar to every other dry-erase board, except for the lack of frame and legs and the ability to move up and down to make access to its top and bottom easier.

"That's entirely Tara's fault," Ann said severely. Tara looked over and grinned at her. Ann smiled back at the girl, then continued: "She showed him how to access the London Times web page and locate the crossword. Spike found his own way to the letters to the editor chat room, and since then, there's been no stopping him."

"Is that what he was doing in the library last night?" Buffy asked.

"Yes. Some Royal got stopped for speeding and the e-mail has been heavy."

"The Times? The real Times? I never knew the net could be so useful," Giles said. He picked up part of Alice's report Tara had finished with and tossed on the low table and started reading it.

"Was Spike's suggestion really any good, or was he just trying to impress Alice?" Buffy asked.

"She thought it was interesting," Ann said. "Willow came up with the geographical limit--stolen from somewhere that might correlate with Eric's known movements."

"What's this?" Dawn asked, indicating the board Tara was writing on.

"Sort of a time chart," Tara said. "We know generally where Harmony was and we were concentrating on time, since she is so annoyingly vague about that."

"Humph," Dawn said. "I'm going to swim,"

"Gang Long's out there," Ann said.

"Is he wearing a suit this time?" Dawn asked.

"I believe so," Ann said, and watched Dawn head for the pool through the French doors in the north wall..

"Can Gang Long swim really well?" Buffy asked.

"All the longs are fine swimmers. They have a real affinity for water," Ann said. "She won't drown in his company."

"Good."

"What color is Zac, Tara? Month before last, last month, this month. Fill Zac in where you can, Buffy, using Alice's report. I'm doing Ian. Eventually, we'll have to get Harmony up here and dredge her memory."

"Ann, I think we can squeeze Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays into one column. Nothing seems to have happened then and we could use more space for weekends, when she was really busy."

"Certainly," Ann said, and glanced at the board. The calendar grid tucked in at the sides, then expanded again with the squares for Friday, Saturday and Sunday suddenly become rectangles. Ann picked up a pink marker and started entering Ian's data. Buffy took a turquoise one and began with Zac.

>>>|||<<<

"Who's Charles? Harmony didn't do a Charles."

"She gave them nick-names," Ann said. "She said she thought it was cute. Charles is Carlo. Jake is actually James."

"Are you sure I can't stake her?" Buffy asked.

"I'm afraid you can't," Ann said. "For one thing, we'll need her for bait tonight."

>>>|||<<<

"So Denis, Zac, and Charles haven't been located yet, and Ian didn't come to the phone. Everyone else, except Eric, is at his parents' home. That isn't what usually happens," Buffy said.

"These youngsters are from a different sub-group, with a different mental set, than the ones you usually kill," Ann said.

"You make it sound like an anthropological study," Buffy complained.

"You can analyze the situation as if it were," Ann said.

Giles glanced up, and stopped reading..

"What do you mean?" Tara asked.

"Consider the data Claire gathered from studying the vampires descended from Darla," Ann said. "Darla was alone, entirely on her own, when the Master changed her; she turned Angel, who was having trouble with his father and who then killed all his family. He turned Drusilla, and killed all her family. She took over Spike, who was out on his own. Harmony was alone, down in Los Angeles, when Spike got her. Those victims were alone, they had no support--admittedly, sometimes they were isolated because of their own actions--and neither do the vampires you usually kill around here.

"Many students from Stanford, not just most of the vampires Harmony turned, come from a sub-group that can expect help from parents, extended family and not infrequently, trust funds. In case of any difficulty, they can go home to mom and dad, who can probably smooth everything over with money or influence."

"Being a vampire isn't something you can smooth over," Buffy said indignantly.

"There are obviously problems, but the Slayer, and even the Council, may not notice these vampires at all, since many of them aren't leaving a trail of bodies, either because they aren't creating any, or because mom and dad have someone following their child around tidying up."

"Are you saying I'm killing only poor, defenseless, orphan vampires?" Buffy demanded.

"Shorn of the sarcasm," Ann said mildly, "yes."

The papers Giles had been reading had fallen to his lap. He raised them again, and appeared to be reading when Buffy glanced at him.

>>>|||<<<

"That's everybody," Tara said.

"I suppose we should ask Harmony," Buffy said, with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.

"And there is no reason to put it off," Ann agreed.

Harmony appeared in the library. "Hey," she began. "I'm bore..."

"Quiet," Ann ordered. "Look at the chart. We are filling in what you did to whom, when, and then what happened to them after. You will, without digressing, answer our questions. That--"

Harmony jumped. "--is what happens when you annoy me."

"Oh, all right."

"When did you meet Eric?"

"The 26^th of the month before last."

"What color is Eric?" Buffy asked Tara.

"Green."

"And when did you turn him?" Ann asked.

"The same day."

>>>|||<<<

The fax announced incoming mail. Tara brought the new sheets over to the group. "More stuff," she said.

"Well, that certainly catches your eye," Buffy said, adding Charles to the same date as Ian and Eric.

Spike, Alice and Willow ported into the library. "What happened then?" Spike asked, looking at the 12^th of the current month, then: "Harm, weren't you back in Sunnydale then?"

"I got back the week before that. There weren't any more parties, so I left Palo Alto and came home."

"The office faxed the new reports, Alice. Ian, Eric and Charles were expelled then. Harmony turned Charles just before she left, on that Sunday; Ian nearly four weeks before she left--he was her only weekday trick; and Eric ran a record five weeks and three days before the university expelled him," Tara said.

"What happened before that Monday?" Alice asked. Spike glanced over at her, then nodded:

"Right," he said.

"Well, I don't know," Harmony said, tensing.

"Eric was probably the most sophisticated new vampire. He grew up around other vampires, remember. He was apparently able to pass for over a month," Ann said.

"What was he eating?" Buffy asked. "Or who?"

"Yes," Ann mused. "Alice, are there any other strange happenings, after hurricane Harmony swept through campus?"

"Stanford has over 14,000 students, Ann. There's a lot going on anytime, with that many young people."

"I'll hack into the campus health service," Willow said. "See if there was a sudden upsurge in anemia." Willow and Tara went over to the computer.

"Excellent," Ann said.

"Ann," Alice murmured.

"Hilary helped me set up the computers, Alice. These are as good as yours, and as untraceable. I'll tell Willow not to try this at home," Ann grinned.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could get a look at these threes' class schedules," Alice said.

"You think they might know each other?"

"Two of them lasted the longest, they were the only ones expelled, Charles and Eric were fraternity brothers,. what else might they have in common?"

"Eric's dead," Spike said.

"Ian didn't come to the phone," Alice said.

"And Denis, Zac and Charles?"

"I haven't located them yet," Alice admitted. She ported out.

>>>|||<<<

"All of the three expelled," Alice said, speaking as she ported back to the library, "were on the soccer team, second string, even Charles, who still doesn't answer his phone. We're still after Denis and Zac. Shall we send someone to their parents?"

"Do it," Ann said.

"Ah," Willow said. "Ann, Alice, listen to this: The Friday before the 12^th, Eric's fraternity had a party, the forfeit party, they called it, after the soccer team chickened out of a match with the Berkeley soccer team. I read about that. That same night, a member of the fraternity was admitted to the University Medical Center with acute anemia."

"And Charles would have been a vampire only about five days," Spike said. "You haven't lost your appetite for solid food, but too much makes you sick. You can't go out, except at night. You ache in strange places. Your whole life is changed, and you're coming to grips with that."

"You'll never play soccer again." Giles said.

"And you drink much beer, I bet," Willow said.

"At a frat party? Probably," Alice said. "A bad mix--emotional upsets, bad press, mockery and lots of beer."

"And on Monday, the dean wants to see you," Tara said.

"Harmony," Spike asked, "who did you tell you were from Sunnydale? Besides Eric?"

"Most of them, they were all very interested in what I had to say."

"Why?" Buffy asked Spike.

"Monday, or even Friday, doesn't sound like enough time to decide to hire mercs, find them, hire them and send them here by last night. Eric, Charles and Ian probably aren't the ones trying to kill Harmony."

"Your theory is that the trio was coping, not necessarily well, but coping, until Friday or perhaps even Monday?" Giles asked

"Yeah. Something happened, they get expelled, their parents find out, and their lives are openly ruined, instead of just changed," Spike said.

"If Harmony is in fact the target," Tara said.

"Right," Spike said. "We're working on that."

"We'll find out tonight," Buffy said.

"Alice, can you get back to us on the car search? I'm still interested in who was in Sylvandale last night," Ann said.

"Oh, sure. I'll call when something comes up. Bye," Alice said, and ported out.

"That was almost rude," Giles said.

"Not as rude as making her what Nancy Polias calls an accessory before the fact," Ann said.

"Perhaps not," Giles admitted.

"What fact?" Tara asked.

"We're going to indulge in kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment," Ann said cheerfully.

"And you're going to help, Harmony," Buffy said.

"I don't want to break the law," Harmony said.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 8 - Diversion and Deception

"We're staying here tonight," Buffy told Dawn.

"It's OK," Dawn said, looking around the bedroom of the guest suite that took up the west end of the second floor. Sitting room, bedroom, bathroom. No phone, but a computer and a TV occupied a corner of the sitting room. "Why does Ann have such a big house, if usually only she and Gang Long live here?"

"Possibly because sometimes she has other people staying with her, like us, or Tara and Willow, or Xander and Anya, who will be here for dinner. Which bed do you want?"

"That one," Dawn indicated the one further away from the door. "Are we going to have dinner?"

"Before we all go out and try to catch the mercenaries, yes. Change out of your suit, and come downstairs."

"Do you think Ann is sleeping with Spike, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Besides Giles."

"How, I mean why do you think Giles is sleeping with Ann?"

"Last fall, they went from calling each other Miss Grove and Mr. Giles, to Rupert and Ann, after they were both gone for three days. Tara mentioned Ann was gone, and you were wondering if Giles would get back in time for Thanksgiving. I think they went away together for a dirty weekend."

Since that was exactly what had happened, Buffy ignored it. She went after the polite and moral high ground: "That's a rude and crude term. Don't use it. Anyway, whoever Ann is sleeping with is not your business. The same with Giles. Why do you think Ann would sleep with Spike?"

"He's cute, and she certainly likes him. Besides, he's got a room here, too."

"He and Gang Long run around together a lot, that's all. It seems to me that Ann likes older men, not a kid like Spike," Buffy halted, remembering what Alice had said about Spike the night before. "Look, do me a favor: Don't ask Giles if he thinks Ann is sleeping with Spike, will you? OK?"

"Well, it's not like he didn't still have Olivia, and what's her name, Claire's friend from Seattle, and the long haired groupie who likes his singing and is always careful to slip out just before six AM. I saw her leave twice when I was out jogging."

"Dawn!" Buffy took a deep breath. "No more discussion about Giles's sex life. No more, none, zero. Ann's either. Or mine, for that matter."

"OK. Xander's and Anya's is more interesting, anyway."

"Dawn!"

"Gotcha."

>>>|||<<<

"No, I don't want to do this," Harmony said.

"Logically," Spike began.

"No," Harmony insisted. "I don't think it's safe. If it were safe, Buffy would do it."

"Buffy can be killed from ambush. They can't kill you by shooting you, they have to get close enough to stake you or decapitate you. Once they come out of hiding, we catch them. "

"Let Buffy do it. If they're so dumb they're confused about who we really are, she'll be just as good bait as me."

"Harmony," Giles said, "This action is to your benefit."

"This is all for Buffy and I can get hurt."

"No one is denying that Buffy, and indeed all of us, will benefit from having armed marauders removed from the streets, but of course, so will you."

"And when we get right down to it, we can just drop you off in the cemetery and see if you get attacked. If you do, we stop them; if you don't, we wait until tomorrow and see if you get attacked then," Xander said.

"That's enough," Ann said. "Harmony, you are a short-sighted idiot who should be required to have a keeper. Go away." She flicked one hand at the girl vampire, who disappeared.

"You've got another plan?" Xander asked.

"No, just different bait," Ann said. "I'll be right back." She disappeared.

"Well, I'm willing," Buffy said.

"Do you still have that vest?" Spike said.

"Yes. But it does slow me down," Buffy said.

"Better than being shot or staked for real," Willow said. "Oh, we're going to have to redo your hair."

Harmony walked in. Everyone glanced at her, then back to each other, except for Spike, who looked, looked away, then back at the other vampire. He frowned, then saw her eyes. They were a clear, emerald green. Spike bounced to his feet: "Bloody hell," he said, in a sort of awed voice.

Giles glanced up at him, then followed his gaze. He looked over Harmony, back at Spike, seemed ready to speak, then jerked his head around. Harmony was wearing Ann's clothes. He looked at her face and saw her eyes. She grinned at him.

"So how do I look?"

"You're taller than Harmony is," Spike answered.

Buffy looked. The girl she thought was Harmony shrank three inches. She realized who it must really be. "Oh," she said. "That's uh, interesting."

"Better," Spike said. Buffy looked at him. Except for his first outburst, Spike didn't seem surprised at all. She glanced over at Giles. He had been startled, but appeared to accept Ann's shape-shifting as well as the vampire did, certainly with more aplomb than Xander displayed:

"Wait, wait," Xander said. "You...She...Look," he told Willow, gesturing wildly at Ann/Harmony.

"Yes, I see. It's something she does. Don't worry about it."

"Neat," Dawn said.

"No big deal," Anya said, "I used to do it all the time."

"She's done this before?" Buffy asked.

"Yes. She used to be shorter. But, Ann, Harmony doesn't dress that well."

"She uses a different palette," Tara said. "More creams and ambers. And she's fluffy." Ann's clothes rippled, changing colors and developing lace and ruffles. "Good," Tara said.

"Ann," Giles asked, "Why? We could, as Xander explained, just release Harmony."

"She's not a friend, she's not even an ally. She's an obnoxious twit and an attractive nuisance, but I've violated her free will all I intend to do."

"But we'd just be letting her go," Tara said.

Ann frowned at the girl. "She's my prisoner, Tara. There are conventions regarding prisoners. I can't use her as bait unless she agrees."

"But she's an obnoxious twit," Anya said. "She really is."

"What I do is not about her, it's about me. Staking her, if she's bothering Tara; or letting the guardian lions eat her, if she tries to return here--I have no trouble with either of those actions, but I can't make her a puppet or force her to put herself at risk." Ann spoke with a cold finality than silenced even Anya.

"You'll fool most people," Spike said. "Even those who know her well, even with those eyes."

Giles sighed quietly. "And it will be dark, too dark to tell their color."

"Then let's do this," Ann said.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 9 - Graveyards and Goons

"Why are we taking Spike?" Buffy asked

"He's a scout," Ann said. "He knows the graveyards as well as you do, he's good at getting around unnoticed, and his enhanced night vision is part of his integral magic. Put this in your ear." She handed Buffy a crystal ear plug, sort of a truncated cone, with a silver-colored curved extension at right angles to the cone, about four inches long, ending in a small crystal sphere

Ann handed an identical device to Spike. "You can report, you can hear. It works best with a little practice, so you can sort out the overrides."

Spike put the plug in his ear. The crystal sphere was just beside his mouth. He shook his head vigorously. The device stayed put. "OK."

Buffy nodded as Spike's voice sounded in her ear. "What about you?" she asked Ann.

"I can hear you both and speak to either or both of you, but I probably won't talk, since I'm out in the open."

"So how are we going to set this up?" Buffy asked.

"Spike," Ann asked, "where has Harmony been staying recently?" She produced one of her marvelously detailed maps.

"How do you get those?" Buffy asked.

"From the U.S. Geological Survey," Ann said.

"Oh."

"Did you think I conjured them?" Ann asked. "They're like the Cambells, simpler to buy than make."

"Harmony has a nice little place, over here." Spike pointed out a plot uphill from the columbarium complex. "Neo-classic vault, only a couple of chaste obelisks and one grieving draped figure, not that far from the door to the tunnels."

"I thought you were together," Buffy said.

"She comes over sometimes," Spike said. "This is where she lives, though."

"It is where she said the marauders picked her up last night," Giles said.

"Tunnels?" Tara asked.

"This last wing of the columbarium, this end is all façade. The door in the back opens to a sort of gardener's shed, but with a hot plate and a couple of chairs, in addition to storage space for hoes and rakes."

"You're kidding?"

"No. There's a ladder down, and then you're in the utility tunnel under this half of the graveyard."

"Graveyards need utilities?" Xander asked.

"Water for the weeping willows, the fake lakes and all the damn lawns, which are not natural to southern California at all; electricity for street lights and the lights in the columbarium," Spike said.

"The gates are shut at dark," Buffy said.

"Only the ones on the road, there are lots of ways in on foot. The farthest away from Harm's vault, with the best chances for ambush, starts over by the fountain on Arboleda Way."

"Where would you be, to ambush Harmony?"

"This bridge over the long lake. The path from Arboleda joins three others just before then, in this meander around the oak tree here. The path Harmony would take home goes over the footbridge, around these artistic rocks, then branches off to the west and north. If I were ambushing Harmony, I'd be there, lurking in the rocks' shadows. Now, I can watch that spot from here, halfway up these other rocks, the natural ones lodged up against the hill."

"Why do you call them artistic rocks?" Tara asked.

"They were brought in," Spike explained.

"How can you tell?" Willow asked.

"They don't match the natural ones emerging from the hill, and they fall over in the rains. They were propped up all last winter."

"Ann," Buffy asked. "Why can't you just stone the marauders? And bring them here, so we can question them?"

Ann hesitated for a moment. "I am not as free as you are, Buffy. I do not wish to have dependents who might be at a loss, if I am recalled suddenly. Tara is under my protection only until her twenty-fifth birthday, and I never forget that. I do not let her get lazy, I encourage her to learn, to deal with the current difficulties of being alive, and I will not do everything for her, even if I could, which often I cannot. I have limits, possibly somewhat arbitrary ones, but limits I stay within."

"Carefully said," Giles murmured.

Ann nodded, saying softly, "I didn't stop breathing once."

That didn't entirely satisfy Buffy, but Giles shook his head at her, and she asked no more questions of Ann.

"Too bad," Spike said. "Not about the breathing, that was good. We can cope, though."

"There are only five of them," Willow said. "Two from the front, two from the back and the survivor of the two on the stage, five."

"And I can toss the guns away," Ann said, much more cheerfully.

"Spike is there, you're walking from here, Giles, Tara and Willow are there, by the tree things along the south shore of the lake, and I want to be over here, by the statue on the north side of the footbridge."

"It's a Sphinx," Spike said.

"Hardly funereal," Giles said. "Why a Sphinx?"

"It's California," Spike said. "It's a big Sphinx."

"As a plan," Buffy said, a trifle loudly, "how does that sound?"

"Enough like a plan that we can go with it. If we aren't attacked there, we'll move over to Spike's place, and try trailing our coats again," Ann said.

"And me and Xander?" Anya asked.

"You stay with Dawn, and keep her from getting into the wrong stuff in the pantry," Buffy said.

"Hey, why me?"

"The mix of Dawn and Anya can get pretty irresponsible," Buffy said.

"We do not," Dawn declared.

"And besides, it was easy to clean up," Anya insisted.

"And Gang Long is only a little more mature than Dawn is, remember," Ann said. "Plus, Xander, I will probably make you sicker than Gang Long did. I use a slightly different technique, which has been described as worse than his."

"We'll stay here," Xander announced.

"I want to go with Spike," the boy said.

"Excellent," Ann said. "You have even better night vision than he has."

"Then let's go," Buffy said.

Gang Long and Spike disappeared, then Ann's living room faded from Buffy's sight and she found herself between the paws of the Sphinx.

>>>|||<<<

"So where were you," Spike asked the dragon curled up on the rock above him, "when Ann was off with that "F " section bunch over in Europe? Ann said, a while ago, that you don't fight humans, and the mess in the Bronze seemed to upset you."

Gang Long was watching the north. His gaze moved east to west along the base of the steep hill that was the north side of the cemetery. "It did. It does. I stayed with Nancy Polias while Wu Jing was with Berengar, about thirteen Earth years. Watching humans fight each other was too disturbing."

"You and Ann fight demons sometimes, right? That time in Los Angeles. The one in your back yard."

"All kinds of demons," Gang Long said. "Here, and other places. It's what I'll do, when I'm grown."

"All demons?" Spike looked south-west, watching where the path that curved around the west side of the lake, joined the walkway that started from the south corner of Mission.

"Wu Jing says demons and humans are just souls in different bodies, the way she is and I am. That isn't quite how my kind think. Most of us, the ones I've met, are more like Riley Finn--all demons are bad. Wu Jing didn't like Riley Finn. She didn't trust him."

"She once told me Finn had a soldier's mentality." Spike moved his attention over to the paths surrounding the huge live oak tree. "It didn't sound as if she approved."

"She told me never to shift in front of him, and not to apport any time he was around."

"You did both, when Arlack Armel got away."

"That worried her, so she did something she doesn't really like to do: She changed his memories. He doesn't remember what I did; neither do all those Watchers we had around then."

"She was right. The Initiative would have loved to have seen what makes you tick. I guess she doesn't like soldiers?"

"She likes warriors, like Buffy and Berengar, you and me. Wu Jing is pleased that you and I are friends."

"When are you going to be grown?"

"Maybe another thousand years, maybe less. The rate we grow is related to the experiences we survive. I'm growing quickly, for a long."

"That doesn't surprise me, the company you keep."

"Wu Jing says that may not be a good thing. If I mature too quickly, I may have trouble acquiring the immortal view. I'm not a short timer; I'm an immortal, like you and Wu Jing."

Spike glanced at the dragon in silence. He'd never considered himself quite in that light. Immortal had always meant that he couldn't be killed, not that he could go on living. If, he thought, the term `living' could accurately be applied to a vampire.

>>>|||<<<

"Someone's coming," the dragon whispered. "Back there."

Spike nodded. "Buffy."

"I hear you."

"One. He's stopped by the fake rocks."

"Patience," Ann's voice was only a whisper.

Gang Long and Spike waited silently. The dragon turned his head, then turned back and touched Spike's arm twice.

"Two more," Spike said softly.

"I hear you," Buffy said.

"Two down here," Ann said. "I'm walking."

>>>|||<<<

"I'm past the oak tree," Ann said.

"I see you," Buffy whispered. "Two by me."

"Their guns disappear when I'm on the bridge."

>>>|||<<<

"They see you," Buffy said. "They're moving."

Ann hurried down the path to the bridge. Half way across, she appeared to notice the two mercenaries on the north side. She turned.

The two following her from the Arbelado entrance were close on her heels. Ann stopped and clapped her hands. "Go!" she said.

Willow and Tara chanted quickly, ending with "Fiat lux!" A sourceless light illuminated the bridge and the surrounding paths.

The two sets of mercenaries felt their guns vanish. All four men yelled.

Buffy leaped off the Sphinx behind the two mercenaries on the north bank. "Hey, you." The first man turned and looked at her as she hit him and knocked him into the lake. The splash startled the second man, and Buffy hit him, knocking him into a tidy heap.

Ann glanced over the railing at the first man. He was face down in the lake. Ann waved one hand at him and he vanished from the water and reappeared, dripping, on the path by Buffy, who stepped back from the small streams of lake water flowing off him.

>>>|||<<<

Willow and Tara came out from under the shadows of the trees on to the path behind the second set of mercenaries. "Stasis, stasis, stasis," Willow intoned. One mercenary froze. The other grabbed his frozen friend's arm and tried to shake him.

"That one doesn't speak Greek," Tara said.

"Or something."

"You did this," the last free mercenary said. "Let him go." He started for the girls, reaching for his gun, which was not there. He drew his snap baton and opened it.

Giles, who had followed the girls from beneath the trees, intercepted him: "Here, you! Stop that."

The mercenary swung the baton at Giles.

"Hey!" Willow yelled, swinging her back pack at the man's knees from behind.

"Yeah," Tara said, ducking under the baton and shoving hard on the man's chest. He went down.

The mercenary twisted and started to roll to his feet. Giles ripped the baton out of the man's hand and rapped him first across his arm, and then his head.

The mercenary collapsed in a moaning heap.

"For physical, that was pretty good," Willow told Tara.

Tara nodded, and said, "but scary, and if I hadn't watched Ann and Gang Long playing last week, I wouldn't have dared try it."

"Well, they're good," Willow said.

"Why didn't we stop him, I wonder?" Tara asked. The two Witches looked down at the mercenary. "I bet it's a charm or amulet."

"We'll see back at the house."

"Spooky," Buffy said, walking over to Giles.

"What?"

"No shadows."

"Interesting."

"It's the spell," Tara explained.

>>>|||<<<

"He hasn't moved?" Spike asked,

"No, he's still there."

"Can you get us down there? On the far side of him, so he's between us and the rest. We don't want him to get away."

"Yes," the dragon said. Gang Long shifted to human, and Spike found himself with the boy on the pathway beyond the first mercenary. "He's listening," the boy told the vampire.

"To what?"

"He has a thing in his ear, too. He's moving."

"Which way?" Spike asked.

"This way. He's coming faster."

"Well, stone him!" Spike said.

"I can't--he's not a demon."

"Oh, hell. Can you hold him?"

"No."

"Bad idea, this was a very bad idea. Stop right there," Spike ordered as the mercenary emerged from the shadows and started down the path to the north gate. .

The escaping mercenary had felt his automatic vanish and had heard the noise from the fight by the bridge. He was considerably spooked already and his ceramic knife was in his hand. He slashed at the nearest of the new obstacles.

Gang Long swayed out of the way and stepped aside. The man followed him, turning his back to Spike.

"Hey, you," Spike said, grabbing the man's shoulder and hitting him. Spike clutched his head. He focused on a thought: Is the intensity of the pain generated by the chip in my head proportional to the degree of intent to do harm I display? Maybe, he decided, as he dropped to his knees.

Davison turned, raising his knife. He glanced down at Spike, decided he was the lesser immediate threat, then turned back to Gang Long.

Gang Long shifted to dragon form. He said: "Get away from him." Unfortunately, he did not use any human language and all Davison heard was a fierce roar. Davison lost his footing again, and tripped over Spike. He landed on his back, hitting his head flat on the cement pathway. Gang Long turned back into a boy, shoved Davison's legs off Spike and dropped down beside him "Spike? Are you hurt?"

"Don't yell again, please."

"Sorry," the boy whispered. "I was afraid he was going to hurt you."

"Me, too. Are you all right?"

"Yes. Is it that thing in your head?"

"Oh, yes," Spike said.

"Let me try this."

Spike felt a cool mist cover him and quickly fade away. His pain went with it. "That's a good trick," he told the boy.

"Wu Jing and I figured that should work, but we couldn't practice it. Can you stand up?"

"What about the mercenary?" Spike asked, getting to his feet.

"He's quiet."

"Good. Got a rope or something?"

"Chains?"

"Fine. I think perhaps we should have stayed put. Or run," Spike speculated. "Or called for help since he was human and armed."

"Or I could have moved him directly into the cells," Gang Long said.

"That would have worked, too."

"I'll remember that, for next time."

>>>|||<<<

"Four," Giles said.

"Should be five," Buffy said.

Spike, carrying Davison over his shoulder, and Gang Long, appeared near the group already on the path.

"Five," Willow said.

Davison muttered something.

"What's he saying?" Buffy asked.

"Something about becoming an accountant," Spike said.

"Let's get out of here," Ann said. "This is too exposed for comfort."

"Yes," Buffy said.

Ann moved everyone to her home.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 10 - Prisoners and Payment

Ann arranged the five prisoners on the two couches in the living room, their gear, except for their weapons, in neat, separate piles, on the low table in front of them. "You five, do only and exactly what Buffy tells you to do. My phone's ringing." She hurried to the library, still as Harmony.

"Don't talk," Buffy said. "Don't move."

>>>|||<<<

Shortly, Ann returned to the living room. "I must go."

"Ann?" Tara asked.

"It seems to me that you all can handle this now. Wesley says Cordelia demands that I come talk to her, something about a vision. Gang Long, if you can help Spike and Buffy, you are free to do so if you wish."

Harmony appeared in the living room. Ann shifted back to herself, including her clothes: "Harmony, do only and exactly what Spike tells you to do. Tara, you stay in this house until I get back." Ann handed Giles the keys for the restraints and blinked out.

"Cordelia has a vision for Ann?" Buffy asked.

"Usually they're for Angel, or maybe everybody else in the office down there. I don't know why Cordelia would be getting one for Ann," Willow said.

"According to Wesley, they come from the powers that be," Giles said. "Presumably, the powers are aware that Cordelia knows Ann."

>>>||<<<

"Let's adjourn to the library," Giles said. "So we can examine all this."

"OK," Xander said, picking up a pile.

"Wait," Willow said. "Let's label these: the man and the junk, so we can keep track of who has what."

"Harmony," Spike said. "Come with us, but be quiet."

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"She has a unique and direct method of dealing with mortal enemies," Spike said. "And we went to some trouble to capture them alive."

"Very true," Giles said.

"So what's this?" Buffy asked, picking up a head set from the first pile.

"Camera," Willow said. "There should be more of it--power pack, and disk or tape. Yes, here."

"They were going to tape staking Harmony?" Buffy said.

"Proving you've killed a vampire," Spike pointed out, "is difficult. You can't really cut an ear off the corpse."

"Ugh," Tara said.

"So a tape may be your only way of proving that you have murdered one of us."

"Has anyone ever done an analysis of the dust you leave?" Willow asked.

"Ask Claire, she knows all sorts of really tasteless facts."

"Willow, let me see that, would you?" Tara asked.

"Here."

"This is interesting. I want to get back to this," Tara said.

"Later," Buffy said.

"A credit card. Pre-paid," Willow said, examining a wallet from the first pile.

"How can you tell?"

"Like travelers' checks," the Witch said. "Only a signature. No embossed names, just numbers. My parents gave me one for my birthday. Not this big, of course."

Giles opened one of the money belts. "My," he said softly, removing seven $10,000 bills.

"Who's that?" Xander asked, looking at a bill.

"Chase," Spike read.

"Who?"

There was a total of 21 $10,000 bills, evenly divided among the money belts in piles two, three and five.

"It was the fourth man, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Willow said, spreading out the contents of Four's pockets and the jumble around his neck. She ran her hand over the line. "This one," she said. "This one is real. Interesting."

"Oh, yes. Strong."

"But not perfect, since Ann fooled him. I wonder where he got it." Willow put the medallion back in Four's pile and picked up his wallet. Four had a credit card..

"Shall we assume the money men are together and the credit men are a second group?" Giles said.

"It's a start," Spike agreed.

"So what did the dead guy have?" Xander asked. "A credit card or a money belt?"

"Neither, by the time Ann and I got there," Spike said.

>>>||<<<

"No, money is designed to go from person to person," Willow said. "That's what it's supposed to do, and there's no way to trace it, even if it's stolen. The credit card may be individual enough that it can adsorb some of the intent or personality of the purchaser."

"Try it," Buffy agreed.

Tara produced a circular dry-erase board. She took the list Alice had made of Harmony's victims' real names and started writing them around the outer circumference. Willow waited until she was done, then placed the credit card from the first pile in the center of the board. Tara traced a circle in the air around the board, and spoke one word. The credit card moved out along a radius to the name James Sternwood.

"Excellent," Giles said. "Actually, Willow, there is a simple non-magical way of tracing bills this large."

"Oh? How?"

"The serial numbers," Giles pointed out.

"Oh. Them," Willow said.

"So what do we do next?" Tara asked. "Ask Alice to find out about the numbers, on the money and the credit cards? Or ask the men with the credit cards if they know James Sternwood?"

"If you two check the other credit card, while someone talks to Alice," Giles said, "Buffy and I can ask the first credit card holder if he knows Sternwood. We all can talk again after those tasks are done."

"I'll talk to Alice," Spike said. "What are the numbers we want her to look into for us?"

>>>||<<<

"Alice says she'll work on the numbers. She's optimistic about tracing the money, something about that denomination of currency being recorded any time one of them passes in or out of a bank, and she'll get back to us when she has news. She says Denis was last seen three days ago. Charles may be at his parents, and she left a message for him to call her. Ian's and Zac's whereabouts continue to be unknown," Spike said.

"The second credit card," reported Willow, "also responds to James Sternwood's name."

"The first man," Buffy offered, "does not know James Sternwood or any parent or sibling of his."

"That's weird," Tara said.

"He was supposed to stake a vampire called Harmony," Giles said. "But he has no idea why."

"I'll ask him about Denis and Zac," Buffy said. "What are their last names?"

"Ah, Denis Milson and Zac Gardner," Tara read.

"We left the first man in the dining room," Giles said.

"We can still leave him there, and put number four in the little north room," Buffy said. "So they're not comparing notes between questions."

"Gang Long," Spike said, "were you serious about cells?"

"Yes," the boy said. "You can't get there, only Wu Jing and I can port ourselves or prisoners in and out, but we have access to lots of storage space."

"So when Buffy and Giles finish with One and Four, can you stash them away for us?"

"Certainly."

"We are getting a little cluttered," Giles said.

"Harmony," Spike asked, looking at the dates on the dry-erase board and obviously following a train of thought, "did Denis know James?"

"Well, yes, I mean I introduced them. Denny was there when I changed Jake."

"You were doing a three-way?"

"Well, yes. How else?"

"Gross," Tara said.

"Excellent question, Spike," Giles said. "I should have thought to ask that."

"You've turned all respectable, Rupert. It wouldn't have occurred to you, these days."

Buffy, who had been eyeing Harmony with acute distaste, glanced up at Giles, then over at Spike. She turned away from them both and left the library, saying over her shoulder: "I'll move the fourth man into the little north room." She refrained from slamming the library door.

>>>||<<<

"Who are we questioning now?" Willow asked.

"Giles is in the living room with Two. Buffy and Xander are in the dining room with Three. Spike and Tara are in the little north room with Five," Anya said. "The numbers don't seem to reflect their personalities at all. We should have arranged them more carefully."

"Like how?" Willow asked.

"Well, Five is more a Two, it seems to me, sort of calm and even. One is OK; but Four should be odd, since he isn't square in the least; and I think we should have called Three, Six."

"We'll work on it," Willow assured the ex-demon.

>>>||<<<

"I'm getting better at this `Twenty Questions' style of interrogation," Giles said, returning to the library.

"It's not that easy to maintain," Spike agreed

"You're better at it than I am, Spike," Tara said.

"I'm older," he reminded her. "And we didn't have TV when I was growing up."

"Two, the one in the living room, admitted that a mature woman, in the company of boy named James, gave them the $210,000 and told them to stake, and they were specific about the staking part, a vampire named Harmony and one named Denis. He says they got Denis three days ago."

"Five agrees with all that," Tara said.

"Except the mature part about the woman," Spike said.

"So does Three," Xander said.

"Yes," Buffy said. "Giles, you and Spike write a list of the questions that will get us the most damaging answers. Willow, Tara, where's the video camera Ann had when the demon was here? Failing that, has anyone else got one? I want to tape these confessions."

"Good idea," Xander said.

"I don't think the evidence lends itself to a court case," Giles said.

"No, that's awkward in the extreme, for a lot of people. So let's try blackmail," Buffy said.

"Blackmail's good," Willow agreed. "We can't let hired guns shoot up the Bronze, even if they are after Harmony, which is almost excusable, at least sometimes."

"But not while we're there," Anya said.

"That was wrong of them," Tara said.

"It's socially embarrassing to have a vampire in the family," Spike said.

"Not for everybody," Willow said. "I mean, some families buy the blood and like that."

Buffy was looking at Spike, but shifted her gaze to Giles as he said: "Spike has a point. Even if the family supports them, they may not want everyone else to know their son is a vampire."

"Something I was looking at on the net," Willow said. "The National Mirror."

"You read that?" Spike demanded "That's trash. Did you catch the story about the seven year old grandmother?"

"What?" Buffy asked.

"What about such a disreputable rag?" Giles asked.

"We'll send them a copy of the tape," Willow said, "or threaten to, if Mrs. Sternwood won't stop sending killers to Sunnydale."

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 11 - Powers and Persuasion

"Hi, Cordy."

"Ann, you have to find the girl. The young vampire people think is the Slayer."

"Ah," Ann said. "That explains a lot. Is this something from those chauvinist humano-centric powers that be of yours? Why are they interested in a vampire? And for that matter, why me? Why not Angel?"

"We aren't working with Angel anymore," Wesley said.

"You have to find her before she kills a human," Cordelia said. "So far, she hasn't hurt any humans, and it's important that she doesn't."

"And it has to be you. No one else can find her in time," Gunn said "Cordy says she's not in this town."

Ann's reaction was not what the three expected. She was silent and still for a moment, her face buried in her hands. "I should probably call my lawyer," they heard her mutter. Then, she lifted her head. "Tell me about the vampire."

"She's new, she's scared. You're already looking for her."

"All right. Where do I start?" After a brief silence, Ann asked: "You can help me with that, can't you? Because otherwise, I'm just as stuck as you are."

"The car," Cordelia said. "Find the car."

"I'll pick up on that again. What's going on with you three and Angel?"

"It's a long story."

"I'll want to hear it all, just as soon as we all have a moment. Not now, however," Ann said, and ported to Alice's office in San Francisco.

>>>||<<<

"Alice, I need to know about the Z-3," Ann said without preamble.

"I think I found it. Owned by Nicholas Lovel, stolen while he was in the infirmary."

"Eric's fraternity brother?"

"The anemic one," Alice confirmed.

"License number?"

"I don't know. This is where it gets interesting: It hasn't been reported stolen. I have an anecdotal report from one of the cleaning staff, that it was in the parking garage under the chapter house on Friday, and not there when Nicholas came back from the infirmary. He made a very brief fuss about it, then stopped and did not call the police."

"He knows who has it," Ann realized.

"Or thinks he does."

"Where is he?" Ann asked.

"Back at the house. The address is 750 Blackadder Lane."

"I'll go there. Find the other two."

"Ian Rawson and Charles Ash?"

"Yes."

"I've got what Spike asked for, or some of it," Alice said.

"Yes?" Ann said.

"He's good."

"He's intelligent," Ann agreed. "On the down side, he's untrained, impatient and very definitely not a team player. On the personal down side, he's committed to the rebellious teenager image and he thinks he's in love with Buffy Summers."

"Still, he's good looking and smart. Don't forget about that dinner."

>>>||<<<

"Where can I find Nicholas Lovel?"

"Third floor, turn left, second door on the left."
"Thanks."

>>>|||<<<

"Come in."

"Nicholas Lovel?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Ann. I need to talk to you about Eric, Charles and Ian, and also your car."

"No. There's no problem about the car. A friend borrowed it, as it turns out."

"I am not a reporter, I am not with the police and I do not ask this idly. I think you were attacked by three vampires last Friday. They nearly killed you. I need to know what else happened, what happened to a girl."

"How do you know about that?"

"I think she killed Eric two nights ago, not far from where I live, and she may be trying to make a clean sweep of them. I need to find her."

"She has reason to hate them," Nicholas said.

"I can imagine."

"No, you can't."

"I've seen what vampires can do. I've built a pyre for a girl who had been killed by vampires, and healed a man who had been nearly drained. I am no friend of rapists or murderers, and I won't say a girl who kills those who have injured her is wrong. I promise you, she will be safe with me."

Nicholas Lovel looked at her. "Why do you need to find her?"

"So far, she has not hurt a human. It is important to some of the powers that be than she not kill a human. I don't know why."

Nicholas nodded. "All right. I believe you. What do you need?"

"Her name, your car license number, anything about the vampires she intends to kill."

"Her name is Sarah Thompson. She was my date. I let it happen to her."

"No," Ann said at once. "You nearly died trying to stop it. Can you show me a picture of her?"

"Here."

"She has short, dark, curly hair? I thought I was looking for someone with long silver hair."

"She has a wig. We went to a costume party, before we came to the party here. She was one of the X-Men."

"And your car's license?"

"4XYA724."

"I can find that. Thank you." Ann stood up.

"Ian just doesn't think at all. Charles thinks money can solve every problem. His family always has a lot of helpers."

"One of those," Ann said. "I can deal with him."

"I believe you. The powers that be?"

"So I'm informed. My interest, my sympathy, is entirely with Sarah."

"I'd like to know..."

"If I can," Ann promised.

"Thank you."

>>>|||<<<

"Mrs. Sternwood is a very good customer at her bank, and has been for a very long time. No one there wanted to talk. I hacked in, not easily, and found some of what you wanted, Spike," Alice said "No one named Sternwood bought the credit cards. On the other hand, she withdrew the money. Here's a copy of the records. The bank noted the serial numbers, since each bill was reportable, apparently she's never done this sort of thing before. I can't offer this to a court, and I'll deny it if I'm asked, but at least you know."

"Thanks, Alice," Spike said.

"We think we can resolve this," Giles said. "With any luck, it won't come to a court at all."

"I'll be just as glad," Alice said. She smiled at Spike, said: "See you," to everyone; and was gone.

"I'll copy this and put it with the video," Spike said. He went over to the scanner.

Giles was frowning. "How are we going to approach Mrs. Sternwood?"

"A direct frontal attack with molotov cocktails and mortars is out, I suppose," Xander said.

"So is writing for an appointment," Buffy said. "A non-incendiary frontal attack sounds like a nice compromise."

"Ann or Alice could put us there," Willow said.

"We can't ask Alice for help in this, we could get her license pulled. Gang Long might do it," Spike said. He folded the copy of the bank records and placed it in the brown envelope that already held the copy of the video.

"Yes, I was thinking that would work," Buffy said.

"Hey, Gang Long," Spike said. "Would you be willing to take us some place? Some place you haven't been?"

"I can do that," the boy said. "How many of you?"

"Me, Giles, and Willow," Buffy said. "Tara can't leave here and Xander gets sick."

"And me," Spike said.

"You can't get in," Buffy pointed out.

"Gang Long says his magic is stronger than traditional vampire reflexes. He got Harmony in here, didn't he?"

"Even so, you can't help," Buffy said.

"There's a least one vampire at the Sternwoods," Spike pointed out. "I can deal with him, if we need to."

Buffy considered. "All right," she conceded

"And Harmony," Spike said.

"Why Harmony?"

"Identification. Confirmation. We're still not completely sure Harmony is the target--mostly sure, yes; completely sure, no. If our theory is wrong, we should know that as soon as possible."

"When did you become such a perfectionist?" Buffy asked.

"While I was diving for cover instead of getting a beer--which is an experience I can do without repeating. If we return from the Sternwoods thinking we're safe and we were wrong, we can go to the Bronze tonight, and get shot at again."

"An accurate, but pessimistic, summation, Spike," Giles said.

"All right," Buffy said. She paced a little. "We may as well take the prisoners, too. Ann may want her house back."

"A very nice gesture," Giles agreed.

"Gang Long," Spike said, "can you handle the five prisoners, in addition to us?"

"I think so."

"Then, if we're ready, let's do this," Buffy said.

"Willow, wait," Tara said. "Wear this." She handed the other Witch the headset camera. "I used the interface spell--the one that didn't work so well with Ann's crystals and the VCR? It works fine with the mundane cameras, after you enchant them a little, that is.

"Good idea," Willow said. "Tara can keep track of us from here," she explained to the rest. "On the big crystal in the library."

"And I can make a DVD off the crystal, and you can tell Mrs. Sternwood that you all are being watched and recorded, so you'll be safer."

"Clever girl," Spike approved.

"That seems very tech-y for you two," Buffy said.

"Some tech stuff, but mostly it's magic. The hard part was the interface spell, and we'd worked that out already. The main difference between the plain camera and the enchanted camera, is that the disk and the power pack stay here and are totally safe, and the camera is camouflaged and mostly unnoticeable."

"Sounds like wireless magic to me," Spike said.

"It sort of goes tech-magic-tech," Tara said. "The camera's tech, the interface that brings the picture here and displays it is magic, and the DVD is tech."

"Sort of symmetrical?" Willow wondered. "Is that important?"

"You can ask Ann later," Buffy said. "Gang Long, are you ready?"

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 12 - Coercion and Cars

Ann ported into her library. Tara, Anya, Xander and Dawn were playing Mahjong. "Hi."

"They went to blackmail Mrs. Sternwood," Tara said.

Ann nodded. "It was the obvious thing to do. I'm sorry to interrupt your game, but I need Tara's help."

"Oh, sure, Ann. How?"

"The locating spell. I need to locate a car and a girl I've never seen."

"Are you supposed to do this?" Tara asked, suddenly worried. "Because if you were, that wouldn't stop you, you could just go."

"You know that stupid thing they say in the military?"

"No," Tara said.

"Don't ask, don't tell?" Xander asked.

"That's the one," Ann agreed.

"Oh. OK," Tara said.

"Thank you."

>>>|||<<<

"The car is here, but it's moving."

"Yes," Ann said, then thought for a moment. "I'm going out and I'm taking the Jaguar. I'll call you once I get there," her pale, short nailed finger indicated the spot on the map, "and you can tell me where the car's moved."

"Yes," Tara said.

Ann smiled at her, at everyone else, and left, running out in a calm and unhurried way.

>>>|||<<<

In the Jaguar, Ann entered her destination in the navigation computer and approved its displayed route. She pulled out of the garage and headed for the freeway.

There was a hemisphere of crystal set in the center of the steering wheel. Ann touched it. "Kearny Agency."

"Ann, hi."

"I'm headed for San Diego. What's in San Diego?"

"Ian Rawson's guardian's home. His uncle." Alice was apparently reading as she spoke. "His mother's half brother, by their mother's second marriage."

"Address?" Ann demanded.

"Just a second. I've got two computers here, one with a split screen. OK Phone number, reaches a human secretary, who takes messages of any length," Alice said. "A post office box, downtown San Diego; Email address; city address, here, no one home; corporate address, Maryland; no home address in San Diego."

"Keep on that. Charles Ash, where is he?"

"Not at his parents home, my agent was told, and there is no male that age in that house."

"He's no longer completely human."

"Please," Alice said. "The man I sent can tell the difference."

"Sorry. I'm near a phone. Call me with whatever you find out." Ann touched the phone off.

Fifteen minutes she exited the freeway. Touching the crystal, she said, "Home."

"Ann, hi. OK, it stopped, the car. At 2964 Laurel Place, over by some golf course, sort of east of center of the map," Tara said, in her typical rush when she was excited.

"Very good, thank you," Ann touched the phone off. She turned off onto a side street, parked and ported to Laurel Place.

Walking up to the front door, she rang the bell.

The woman who answered the door was inclined to be annoyed. Looking at Ann's clothes, she made an effort to be patient. "Yes?"

"I'm looking for Ian Rawson," Ann said.

"He's supposed to be resting."

"May I see him?"

"He should be here somewhere." The woman stepped back from the door and motioned Ann in.

The first thing that caught Ann's eye was the pile of dust on the floor. "I don't think I can wait," Ann said. "Tell me, did a young woman in a blonde wig arrive just before I did?"

"I don't know," the woman said. "The bell rang, Ian said he would get it."

"It seems he did. Do you know Charles Ash?"

"The boy from Stanford? Ian was going over there later, maybe they left early."

"Over where?" Ann said. "Tell me."

"West Jamul."

"The address," Ann ordered softly.

"75 Warwick Lane."

Ann ported back to the Jaguar. The crystal phone was blinking. Ann touched it. "Hi."

"No luck on Ian, but Charles Ash's mother has remarried and has a place in Jamul."

"75 Warwick Lane?"

"That's the place. How'd you get it?"

"From a woman I assume to be the late Ian's aunt by marriage."

"Oh?"

"Unless she's just a messy housekeeper and the pile of dust isn't Ian after all."

"I see. Well, are we done?"

"Very possibly. I'll call you back if I don't find him or another little pile of dust there. Thanks, Alice."

>>>|||<<<

Spike glanced around. The Sternwood mansion was bigger than Ann's place, but not as inviting. The group had arrived in the dining room, where there were three people: A woman; a young man, who promptly shifted into full vampire display, and a gravely serious butler serving lunch. Luncheon, Spike amended.

"Mrs. Sternwood?" Giles asked politely.

"Harmony!" the young vampire said.

"Mrs. Sternwood, we have certain demands to place before you," Giles said. "We expect them to be accepted."

"Jake, how are you?"

"How am I? Didn't you come here to be with me?"

"Uh, no, not really."

"Certainly not," Mrs. Sternwood said. "You are not being a thrall to some silly outsider, James."

"Oh, come on. She's not that kind of girl," Spike declared

"I am too," Harmony insisted.

"Harmony, you couldn't enthrall a budgerigar."

"What about our destiny?" James demanded.

"Well, you know," Harmony said. "I mean, we were together a whole week."

Buffy, glancing back at Harmony, caught the two credit card mercenaries, just beyond her, exchange a quick glance. She followed their gaze to the butler.

"I don't believe this: The butler did it?!!? Willow, truth spell that butler."

"Let me try this first," Willow said. She pulled the credit card out of her belt pouch, whispered to it and opened her hand, letting the card rest on her palm. She spoke one more word, and the card flew across the room and stuck to the butler's forehead. Quickly, Willow set the truth spell, and nodded to Buffy.

"Now," Buffy said. "Did you hire these two men to kill Harmony?"

"Yes," the butler said.

"Nash," James Sternwood said. "Why?"

"I disapproved of what she has done to you, sir."

"Really, Nash," Mrs. Sternwood said.

"Thank you, Nash," the vampire said.

"It is, after all, only what Norris would have done for your grandfather."

"Nash, we will discuss your uncle later. Throw these people out."

Giles and Buffy looked at Nash, who was approaching retirement age. Buffy walked over to him, pulled out a side chair, pushed him down in it and said: "Don't try anything. I break furniture."

Nash looked over at Mrs. Sternwood, then at James Sternwood, who shrugged. Nash relaxed.

"I will not be intimidated by uncouth children," Mrs. Sternwood said.

"Hey! This is not a bluff," Spike said, entering full display in his irritation. Take us seriously. We have your bank records about the withdrawal of the money we found on them, we have their taped confessions and we just recorded your butler's confession of attempted murder. Get real here."

"Smooth," Buffy muttered.

"You do it, then," Spike growled, shifting back to human and handing her the evidence.

"Mrs. Sternwood, the original items are with a friend. We suggest a truce. You keep your hired killers out of Sunnydale and stop trying to kill--" and I can't believe I'm saying this, Buffy thought "--Harmony, and our friend just keeps them. Bother us again, and we go public. We won't stop with a criminal trial, either, we'll also go straight to The National Mirror and out your son as a closet vampire and you and your butler as mass murderers by hire." She placed the envelope on the table and stepped back.

"That's it?" James said. "Go away and don't bother you? You turned me into a vampire, Harm, then you left me. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Deal with it," Spike said. "Your family's supporting you, you haven't got it bad in the least."

"She's not even sorry we broke up!"

"You're kidding!" Spike said.

"She didn't even ask!"

"That's true," Buffy said.

"That is true," Spike admitted. "Harmony, apologize."

"Spike! What about poor Denny? What about what his mother had them do to him?"

"This is about what you did. Apologize," Spike said.

"I'm sorry I made you immortal."

"Oh, grow up, Harm. The prospect of eternity with people like you in it can be pretty damn terrifying."

"Especially when you haven't been laid in three weeks, and don't see how you're going to manage ever again!"

"Oh, bloody hell. Is that all you're actually griping about?" Spike grabbed James and pulled him aside.

Buffy, Giles, Willow, Gang Long, Harmony, the five mercenary prisoners, Mrs. Sternwood, and Nash the butler, watched as Spike, speaking steadily, but very softly, handed James a card from his wallet. Spike's gestures grew expansive, James's face went from sulky to mildly interested to avidly interested.

"Really?" the watchers heard James ask..

"Really," Spike averred, at normal volume. "And best of all, if you find yourself at a loose end in the middle of the day, they have underground parking, so all you do is drive in and take the private lift. They accept credit cards, too."

"OK, thanks," James said, examining the card more carefully.

"And the food is good."

"I can still eat? I thought all I could eat was blood and I was getting damn tired of it."

"Blood feeds you. Food tastes good, just don't eat too much. You don't need to stop tasting, although I like Cambells better than blood straight from the human. The adrenaline the humans pump into their blood imparts a harsh metallic tang."

"I don't like the AB negative at all."

"There are seven other flavors to choose from and if you get the non-flavored generic, you can always add anything you want. I like clam juice or Tabasco, but I've been told some vampires like wheat grass or even banana. De gustibus non est disputandum."

"Thanks," James's eyes shifted uneasily at the Latin, then came back to the older vampire: "Spike, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"You're sort of my grandfather, right?"

Spike looked startled for a moment, then took advantage of James's obvious need for friends and supporters: "In a way; which entitles me to kick your butt if I catch you doing something stupid. Remember, you're immortal now, you can outlive everyone here, if you're smart and you don't panic the humans. Start taking a long view. Just stay out of Sunnydale, or Buffy will stake you."

"Sunnydale," Buffy said, "is off-limits to any mercenary. Remember that, please, all of you."

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 13 - Not Waiting for the Sunrise

Ann stopped and backed the Jaguar to the turning. Yes, there it was. She had nearly missed it in the growing darkness. A silver Z-3. She turned in and parked beside it. She touched the BMW's steering wheel, the driver's seat., the head rest. A vampire had used the car last, but that was all she could tell.

The terrain wasn't that much help. The area was parklike, lawn and trees, with rows of tall shrubs interrupting the view. If you lived here, you wouldn't know you were in California at all, which was possibly the point.

The map indicated a house to the east. Ann went south-east, circling around the house. Just out of sight of the cars, she crossed a path, pine needles between bricks. She followed it. While she had reservations about a flammable track, possibly one that could bring a wild fire right up to the house door, it was pleasant and silent to walk or even run on.

She passed a teak bench under two lamp posts, and wondered if this place had utility tunnels under the grass.

Voices. She went more cautiously. Six men were coming down the path from the direction of the house. Correction: five men and one vampire. Ann faded back behind a set of shrubs. "So be careful," the vampire said. He sat down on the bench, and the five men moved into the shadows around him.

Ann ported back to the cars, and started around the house again, clockwise this time. If the vampire on the bench was Charles, he was the bait and that set up was a trap. Sarah wasn't to the south-east, where Ann had just been, she must be to the north-east; or due east, nearer the house. Since Charles had apparently just come from the house, Sarah probably wasn't there. Ann was betting on north-east.

Ann hurried and soon intersected the path again. She ran lightly down it, heading around toward the bench Charles occupied.

There she was. A tall girl, about five ten, maybe a little more, muscular in the same way Gang Long was. She carried a stake in her right hand and walked the way Tom Rivera had described her: busy, with things to do.

Ann followed, moving silently closer. Now what? Ann had told Nicholas Lovel all her sympathy was with Sarah, and that was true. The five human bodyguards complicated the situation somewhat. She realized a bodyguard was moving down the path directly at Sarah just before the girl did. The bodyguard also carried a stake. Charles had hired more than just bodyguards. Ann started running. She saw the man's arm, the one holding the stake, move. Ann sprinted up to the girl and thrust her aside. The man thrust the stake into Ann's blocking hand.

Ann ignored the stake. She knocked the hired killer back, slept him, and let him fall to the ground. She listened carefully. No more noise than before. Good.

"Sarah Thompson?" Ann asked, very softly, pulling the stake out of her palm. She stuck the stake into her waistband, and smoothed the wound in her hand closed.
"Who are you?"

"You can call me Ann. He's human. Did you mean to kill him?"

"No, I just want to kill Charles."

"An understandable desire. Shush for a moment." Ann located the four other bodyguards and slept them all. Turning back to Sarah: "Charles hired a bunch of human thugs and set this trap for you."

"Did I kill him?" the girl in the platinum wig was looking at the body on the ground.

"I put him to sleep. All the thugs are asleep." Ann moved them to the bench were Charles was sitting, surrounded by sleeping men. He came to his feet as he saw the two women. As he recognized Sarah, he shifted to full vampire display.

"Charles is right over there." Ann watched Sarah walk over to Charles.

"Sarah, look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I killed you, I'm sorry I tried to have you staked." Charles held out a document to Sarah. "If you'll just sign this release, my parents offer a substantial settlement." He showed the other vampire a pale green check.

"It's not so much that you killed me, it's what you did before," Sarah said.

Charles turned and started to run. Sarah chased him, quick as a greyhound, caught him by the arm and spun him to face her. "Sarah, please!"

"No," she said, and staked him.

>>>|||<<<

"Don't tell me," Ann said. "You're on the girls' soccer team." She reached out and removed the silver wig. "You don't need this anymore." She moved them both up to the cars.

"The woman's soccer team. I was. He ruined that, too."

"You're still in shock," Ann told her. "Drink this."

"Lemonade?"

"A sort of sport drink for vampires."

"You knew I was a vampire," Sarah said.

"I talked to Nicholas Lovel."

"Oh. How is he?"

"Healing. He's worried about you. If you can call him soon, he'd feel better."

"I should give his car back."

"I'll do that. Get in the Jag."

"Are you arresting me?"

"No. I'm taking you to a safe place, where you can rest for as long as you want."

"I don't care."

"Have you eaten recently?"

"I ran out of blood about yesterday, I think."

Ann opened the trunk, then frowned at the picnic basket. This one was set to deliver human delicacies. She summoned the basket from Spike's Viper. Opening one of the cans of Cambells, she warmed it between her hands. "Drink this." Sarah managed to drink half of it. Ann decided that was enough and disposed of the can. She put Sarah in the passenger seat and helped her strap in. "Sleep," Ann said, reclining the back.

"I was going to watch the sun come up," Sarah murmured.

"You can do that anytime," Ann told her, covering her with the lap throw.

>>>|||<<<

Chapter 14 - Hate not, Fear not.

Spike heard the guardian lions roaring to each other. It was either an invasion or Ann was back. He slipped through the kitchen and left the house through the garage. Ann, driving a BMW Z-3, came down the driveway and stopped.

"Cute car," the vampire said.

"Very," Ann agreed. "I think I'll make one for Tara when she graduates, if she still hasn't had an accident with the Saturn by then. How did your end go?"

"Well enough: Gang Long moved the mercenaries and their gear to separate locations when we were done with them; the Witches came through; and Buffy severely intimidated the two humans who had hired the killers."

"Spike," Buffy said, from the walkway to the front door, "apparently arranged an introduction to an up-scale brothel for Jake the vampire, and everyone, except possibly Harmony and Mrs. Sternwood, is happy."

"He may be vampire and a bit of a twit, but he's still a young man with real needs; one of which is to get away from his mother. There are worse things than being disowned by your family, as it turns out, and she's definitely one of them."

Buffy sniffed. "How did Cordy's vision play out?" she asked Ann.

"Unpleasantly," Ann said. "The three vampires raped and murdered a girl, one of them let her feed from him. She tracked them down and killed them all. The silver hair was just coincidental, she wasn't seriously trying to fool anyone into thinking she was you."

"So why don't you disapprove of her killing vampires?" Buffy asked.

"She wasn't killing all vampires, just the ones who had injured her. Buffy," Ann said, "if you think I disapprove of killing vampires who harm other people, you've mistaken what I've been saying. I say that species killing, ethnic cleansing, killing beings simply because they are green or male or vampires, is evil. Equally evil, at least in my opinion, is not punishing a wrong-doer because she's your cousin or is the same color you are or some other blanket reason. Vampires, like humans and other beings, are individuals and should be treated as such."

"So where is she?" Buffy asked.

"I let her go," Ann said.

Spike looked up from the Z-3. "You gave her the Jag, didn't you?"

"It's not as if I can't make another. I will have to make you a new picnic basket, though. I was in a bit of a hurry and the one in the Jaguar wasn't set up for a vampire, so I took yours."

>>>|||<<<

"Jake," Giles said. After they had made love, his mind returned to what had been bothering him. "James Sternwood, I should say. Actually, it's Spike."

"What is?" Ann asked, handing Giles a glass of her changeable wine and tossing the pillows to the foot of the bed. She lounged back on them, facing Giles, and sipping her wine.

He described what had happened at the Sternwoods. "Why would Spike do something like that? Take that much trouble over a boy he had just met?"

"This is just a guess, mind you," she said. "I think he's lonely. Angel said something once about it being nice to have people around who aren't trying to kill him. I think Spike feels the lack of friends."

"God knows he doesn't have any around here."

"Except me and Gang Long." She felt him stiffen slightly and sat up and looked at him seriously. "I am Spike's friend, Rupert."

"I think you are far too tender hearted where some people are concerned, but I hope I'm too wise to interfere."

"Your silence about Faith speaks volumes," Ann laughed, and kissed him.

***********************************************************************************

HATE NOT, FEAR NOT

Kill if you must, but never hate.
Man is but grass and hate is blight,
The sun will scorch you soon or late,
Die wholesome then, since you must fight.

Hate is a fear, and fear is rot
That cankers root and fruit alike.
Fight cleanly then, hate not, fear not,
Strike with no madness when you strike.

Fever and fear distract the world,
Be you calm though madmen shout,
Through blazing fires of battle hurled
Hate not, strike, fear not, stare Death out.

Robert Graves - Poems About War

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