Chapter 1 -- Leavetaking

"Spike, Spike," the biggest cub said,. rushing up to him. "See who's here."

He staggered but kept his feet, despite her enthusiastic welcome. He scratched her ears, then down her spine. "Yes. I see. Berengar! Is everything all right? Ann called and asked me to come up." He hadn't seen Tara's youngest uncle by adoption more than three or four times, but the Alven warlord was memorable: Berengar was a little taller than Ann, with dark hair worn in a simple club down his back to his waist. His skin was a warm brown and he wore a gold velvet tunic over loose dark brown linen pants, tucked into soft leather boots. Alves were generally handsomer than humans, and Berengar was good looking for an Alv.

"You tell me," the Alv said, rising to his full height. "Meliora has requested a leave of absence. Something about her presence apparently aggravating everyone here except Willow and young Dawn."

"Ah. That. Yeah."

"Come on inside."

"Nooo," the cubs chorused.

"I'll be here a while," Berengar told them. "I just want to talk to Spike a little, privately."

"OK."

Inside, Berengar said, "So why are you angry with her?"

"She seems to be over Buffy's death already, and we're not, that's all."

"Oh?"

"She's happy," Spike accused. "She laughs. It's just a little hard for us to be around her."

"I see."

"And taking Dawn to visit the Dalai Lama was a little..."

"Yes?"

"We think Ann took advantage of Dawn's grief to try to convert her to that fuzzy reincarnation nonsense."

"I understood Dawn took some comfort from talking to him?"

"We're afraid it's spurious form of comfort."

"Meliora took me to meet the man, not this one, the one before the wars. He struck me as very aware. He recognized what I was right away and greeted Meliora and Gang Long like old friends, which is entirely possible."

"Dawn did say he seemed to know Ann."

"In any event, she's going away for a while. Once Tara quits crying, Meliora and I are going to have a discussion with my aides about the optimal ratio of protection and freedom."

"Why is Tara crying?"

"I critiqued her actions after Meliora and I were arrested."

"You yelled at her for getting hurt?"

"I didn't yell. I spoke to her severely for forgetting to take basic precautions when she was fully aware a monster like Glory was the opposition. If she had been doing as she had been taught, she would not have been out in the open alone no matter how upset she was; furthermore, she would have been checking with Meliora on her secure link and she would have known those feckless thugs had captured Meliora.. She would have known at least that Meliora was unavailable. Gabriele would never have made that mistake."

"Not everyone has the advantage of growing up under the Gestapo."

Berengar's eyes narrowed as he glanced at the vampire, then he sighed. "You tell them and you tell them and you tell them again. She said she understood, she did well on the course, and the first time she gets upset, she forgets. At that, she was lucky."

"It may work out well: pain is a great teacher," Spike said, absently rubbing his forehead.

"Yeah. I'll be here for another day or so, but Meliora's leaving tonight. My aides will be here until she gets back."

"You said she was taking a break. Where?"

"Oklahoma, to see a friend of hers named Lindsay, then Surigao for Fernando's wedding."

"Her politician? She's invited to his wedding?"

"She's hosting the wedding feast. They're friends as well as lovers, you know."

Answering the unspoken comment, Spike said, "It's not that we're not friends with Ann, it's just that we were all very fond of Buffy, you know. She's really dead. We buried her."

"You think Meliora isn't? As for the reincarnation `nonsense', ask Gunn when he first met Meliora and Gang Long. It might be illuminating."

"Gunn who drives the Cobra? The troll?"

"The former troll. Yes. Also, did you ask Dawn what she and His Holiness discussed? I didn't think so. See you later," Berengar said.

***

"Ann leave yet?" Spike asked Gang Long.

"No, they're back in the library, talking about how much protection Tara should have, and how much freedom. Jingwu's been worried about the rules Tara's family want."

"How so?"

"Mellisande and Tara's mother want her protected from everything, including worry. Jingwu has been arguing that Tara needs to practice safeguards herself, to discover her limitations and to be involved in deciding what she can do safely."

"That doesn't sound unreasonable," Spike allowed. "I thought Tara's mother was dead?"

"Just the one."

"How many does she have?"

"A couple. Only two count though."

"That's not the way humans work."

"There's more than one way. Her father has about nine wives. It's something about his religion. Jingwu call him a polygamist. Rachel is with Mellisande, but the woman who raised Tara is dead. You humans and the Alves have complicated families. We don't."

"So who is going to be watching Tara while Ann's gone?"

"Berengar brought six: Beroule, Filis, Thierry, Siride, Lian, and Gaufré."

"Six? Berengar has a really high opinion of Ann's abilities."

"They plan on shifts. They need their sleep and they don't have Jingwu's farsight ability and they can't move around like we do, so they need more of them to start."

"Are you going with her?"

"No, I don't like Oklahoma and Jingwu's going to be busy in Surigao."

"Hosting a feast, Berengar said.."

"Cooking it."

"Shouldn't take her that long."

"Six hundred people have been invited and she can't use magic. Fernando's retired, he wants what Jingwu calls a quiet home life. A reputation for magic doesn't always permit a quiet home life. Not every neighborhood is as tolerant or sophisticated as Sunnydale."

"I never thought to use those exact words to describe the place, but I do see what you mean. Can she do it?"

"She's a very good cook."

"I know she's a good cook, I was just wondering about feeding six hundred."

"She can do it, she has some house staff to help. It's a farewell gift. After all, she and Fernando have been together for nearly forty years. She's about his oldest friend."

"I didn't know that. Listen, since you're going to be around, want to run over to the casino?"

"Sure. Tomorrow or the next night?"

"Fine."

***

"Ah, Spike, I wanted to see you before I left. I've put all the Alves on the drivers list for the Mercedes, although you have priority use in the daytime," Ann was direct.

"I noticed there was a Honda in the driveway?"

"A rental. Beroule is happy with it, but it's only a car."

"Do the Alves have licenses?"

"Beroule does; Filis, Lian and Siride can drive, at least in theory. If you want to be of help, you could drive the Mercedes if their plans involve freeway travel."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Thank you."

"Can we get in touch with you if there's need?"

"Here," Ann said. She handed him one of her crystal phones. "Gang Long, Tara, Claire and Giles already have one, and you can talk to them with this, too. Take care of yourself, Spike. I'll be back after the wedding." Ann blinked out.

***

As they approached the roulette table, one of the players turned around and looked at them. Gang Long stopped. "You," he said.

Spike followed the dragon's gaze. Gang Long was staring at a young man, maybe two or three years older than Spike's apparent age. Nearly as tall as Angel, the man was very well dressed and magazine pretty. An oval face was gently tanned under a high hairline. His thick hair was brushed straight back and was the same dark blond as his level brows. His eyes were a clear, cold blue. His hands were large and bony; he wore three rings on his left hand and four on his right. He had a smug and slick manner Spike loathed.

While he hated the man on sight, Spike had to admire his clothes. They were a little conservative in cut and style for Spike's taste and the single color--a light caramel--made them almost foppish; however, they were of an excellent quality. Spike noted the cashmere turtleneck, the silk and wool blend suit--Spike thought four button suits were for `60s teenagers, and would have recommended a double breasted model--a totally unnecessary overcoat, and Gucci ostrich skin loafers.

"Still me," the man said, smiling widely. He had perfect teeth, very white, and dimples, yet. "How's Gytha?"

"Jingwu is well."

Huh, Spike thought. Yet another of Ann's use names. He wondered what `Gytha' meant, and where and when Ann had picked it up.

"Is she sleeping alone these days?"

"How is that any of your business?" Spike said, disliking the man even more.

"Speak when you're spoken to, vampire. Why are you hanging out with a lesser being, Gang Long? Slumming?"

"We're friends." Gang Long said. He turned to Spike: "This is Barzilai. We've known him for a long time." He did not offer Spike's name. Barzilai frowned.

"Gytha and I knew each other before you were hatched, youngster."

"In any case," Spike said, "ask her what you want to know, not us." Spike took the hint and did not refer to Ann by her current use name.

"Us? Do you imply you'd know if she has a lover?" The blue eyes got even colder as Barzilai focused on Spike.

"I'm telling you she doesn't like being discussed behind her back. Whatever you want to know, ask her." Unimpressed, Spike kept his temper and a leash on his tongue. Ann knew some dangerous people, and he had no idea what Barzilai was. Besides, he might be a friend of hers, although Spike doubted that.

"How do I reach her?" Barzilai asked the long.

"Her friends know. She's occupied at the moment, but I'll tell her you're looking for her."

"Tell her soon, and tell her it's urgent," Barzilai said. "A lucky evening to you both." He vanished.

Spike looked at Gang Long as the boy hissed something under his breath. "Is he a friend of Ann's?"

"No," the long said. "Let's go home. Anything we win tonight, we'll pay for twice over, in trouble, if not in blood."

"Do we mention this to Beroule?"

"We had better, I suppose. I will to Jingwu. He's not good news, always making mischief and leaving disorder for everyone else to clean up."

***

"So exactly what is he?" Beroule asked.

"I don't know," Gang Long said. "He's some sort of immortal, but what kind I don't know."

"Like you or like me?" Spike asked.

"What?" Beroule asked.

"He's naturally immortal," Spike said, nodding at the long. "So are you. I'm a human who had immortality thrust upon me. Which is he?"

"Huh," Gang Long said, and shifted to dragon form. His red tongue flicked out, then back, then he shifted to human. "He's a changed human, like Spike, but not all like Spike."

"Has he aliases?"

"Probably; I mean we all do. None of us uses his real name, anymore than you do. Jingwu just calls him Barzilai."

"Can the lions keep him out of here?" Spike asked.

"Oh, yes. Even the cubs could," Gang Long said. "They protect Jingwu's house from demons and thieves. He may not be a demon, but we know he's a thief."

"Meliora and Berengar were firm about not overwhelming Tara with protections," Beroule said "I will do nothing beyond keeping a watch for him. If he approaches Tara...It depends on the circumstances."

"It always does," Spike agreed, and he and Gang Long left the library.

***

Out in the foyer, they met two Alves coming in from the kitchen. "Gang Long," the male said. "Greetings."

"Thierry, I see you managed to escape."

"Over many objections, most of them from my grandfather," Thierry said. "But I managed."

"Spike, this is Thierry. Jingwu and I met him when we meeting Berengar for the first time, when Thierry was just a boy. This is Spike, who's a vampire and a friend of ours."

Thierry was a finger or two taller than Spike, with an ovoid face with a broad forehead and an almost delicate chin under a full soft mouth, now smiling. His dark hair was in a trimmed bowl cut, tousled and shiny. He had very dark brown eyes and clear skin with a deep tan. "A pleasure," he said, offering his hand.

"Filis, this is Gang Long and this is Spike. Filis Green."

"Filis and I have met," Gang Long said.

"No, I'd remember," Filis said.

Spike swallowed. Ann's voice was the most beautiful he had ever heard: deep for a woman, rich, full and, when she wished it, powerful and compelling, but she had never affected him this way. Neither had Buffy and Buffy's voice, whether she had been angry, happy, calculating, triumphant or almost any emotion, he could tell from any other voice he had heard in his long life.

Filis's voice was mellow and sensual, full of sexual promise and playful. She had a longish face, framed by blonde hair. Her eyes were blue under hawk's wing brows and lashes of a darker blonde. Spike thought she could use ten more pounds on her slim body, but then he couldn't decide where to put them. He could inspect his options fully, since her clothes were tight, low and short.

Gang Long grinned at the girl and shifted to his sword form, balancing in mid-air in front of her.

"Not fair," Filis said, laughing. "That I remember. You I would have if I had seen you."

Gang Long shifted back to human. "Filis," he explained to Spike, "was with Jingwu and Angel when we fought on the mountain."

"Yes, and I decided to enlist after that."

"And since she already knew Tara and Willow, and had finished her basic training, we included her," Thierry said.

"Although, if I had realized the assignment meant wearing student, I might have hesitated. I mean, look at this:" One hand indicated her clothing, and by subtle extension, the body under them. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to change into something slightly more dignified."

"That's a cropped tank top with ultra low blue jeans," Thierry quoted. "Very appropriate for California at this season.."

"Feh," Filis said, going upstairs.

"And despite her foibles, she's a good, alert guard and gets along well with Tara. I'm going for a swim. Anyone else?" Thierry asked.

"Sure," Gang Long said.

"I have an errand," Spike said.

***

Chapter 2 - The Usual Suspects

He lowered himself down to his little boat and unshipped the oars. Cautiously, he released the sleep spell he had cast on the ship; then he rowed north, towards the upper arm of the sheltering bay. When he was far enough away, he started the small outboard motor.

The motor was not small enough to remain unnoticed. The wizard coming up the gangplank heard it. He paid no attention to it at the moment, but descended to the hold.

***

Xander entered the Magic Box carrying a copy of the Sunnydale Evening Gazette. "Gore," he announced with great relish.

"Still?" Giles asked.

"And mayhem," Xander elaborated. "Sort of like the beginning of The Usual Suspects, down at the docks this afternoon. The crew of the La Garza, all dead. Docked late yesterday, dead early today."

"'The la' is a lousy locution," Spike said.

Xander ignored Spike and handed the paper to Giles. Spike got up and, looking over Giles's shoulder, read the very short report. "Everybody," the vampire said. "Including the refugees being smuggled in shipping containers."

"Natural causes, though, Xander," Giles said.

"You believe that?" Xander asked.

"In Sunnydale? Certainly not. We're obviously dealing with that old standby, the hither-to-unknown-to-science poison."

"Or," Dawn said, "it could be one of the really bad curses, like in Harry Potter, couldn't it?"

"There aren't any witches that strong in Sunnydale," Willow said. "Except us, and Ann, and of course Filis, Siride, Beroule and the others, but they're not really witches. Ann isn't either, of course."

"But if she came in on the boat," Tara said, "she wouldn't live here. She'd just arrive, kill everyone around her, then leave, maybe."

"That bad a spell will leave echoes," Willow said. "We could scry; that's safe."

"Is there a picture of the boat?" Tara asked.

"Yes," Giles said.

"Scrying is passive?" Spike asked. "Not like radar?"

"What do you know about radar?" Xander asked.

"I watch JAG," the vampire said. "If the killer might be a witch, you two should be careful. We don't want some irate and powerful hag out for your blood because you were spying on her."

"I'll be cautious," Willow said.

The two Witches spread the paper out on the table. Willow opened her back pack and removed a large crystal ball which she placed on the picture of the ship.

"Is that one of Ann's?" Giles asked.

"No, I got it at the professional outlet in Pike Place Market in Seattle. Ann's crystals don't really work for anyone but her."

"They're too powerful," Tara said. "Ann can control them, but we can't."

"The phones?" Spike asked.

"She's told them to be phones, they're still doing what she wants them to do," Tara said. "Even Willow can't change that."

"Exhibe," Willow said. The crystal turned black. "Privacy spell. I can handle that," Willow said.

"No," Tara said, and lifted the sphere off the picture. The sphere cleared at once. "I know you can disperse it, but that's like throwing a rock through a window."

"You're right," Willow said, reluctantly. "I think we can assume a witch, a very strong witch, is involved."

"You were quick," Spike said. "Did we get noticed?"

"I don't think so. What I said about scrying is true, it's passive. The privacy spell, that's more serious. It can be an active detector, even if I don't scatter it. I don't think I impinged on it."

"I don't think anyone was there," Tara said. "I think it was like a sign on an empty house."

"You two don't do anymore about this," Giles said. "Tara, where are your guardians?"

"Outside, in the Saturn," Tara said. "They're a lot more intrusive than Ann is. I didn't know how good I had it."

"Invite them in, and we'll explain the situation," Giles said.

***

"You what?" Filis demanded.

Spike handed her the paper.

"Was it that magician Gang Long knows?" Filis asked. "The one Beroule told us to look out for?" She handed the paper to Thierry.

"I don't know. We'll have to ask him. I got the impression he was a nuisance rather than a real threat, though."

Thierry glanced at the article and said, "I read this earlier. I thought it was human gangsters."

"We're not sure," Tara said. "We scried, using the crystal, and found there was a privacy spell around the boat. We backed off."

"But," Giles said, "we wanted you to know."

"In case we were noticed," Willow said.

"Did you sense anything last night?" Spike asked.

"Yes, of course I did, it's Sunnydale," Filis said. "The place is lousy with demons and vampires, plots and counter-plots. I didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. For one thing, the docks are on the other side of town from Ann's place. Maybe Lian and Siride did, they were at the Rosenberg house."

"They didn't mention anything when we relieved them. We'll assume you were noticed," Thierry said.

Tara sighed. "All right."

"If you want to go out, we'll go to San Francisco or Seattle."

"No, we'll just go home, OK, Willow?"

"Sure. I need to water Mom's roses anyway. House-sitting for your own parents is complicated. You feel so responsible, and simultaneously so put upon."

"It works out really well--the dorm is closed, we're living at your house, and we have the extra bedrooms for the extra people we need to shelter, and I didn't have to go to the Philippines with Ann."

"The Philippines might have been interesting--"

"Considering the riots this spring, perhaps not," Giles said.

"--but my parents wouldn't have agreed at all, Anyway, we get to eat all the tomatoes we want."

"I'm just glad I'm not taking any summer classes," Tara said. "Well, except for the spell studies."

"I wish I weren't," Dawn said.

"You like the art class," Willow said.

"I made Giles a mug," Dawn said. "It gets its final firing tonight. It's blue."

"I look forward to using it," Giles said.

Tara, Willow and Tara's guards left.

"Willow left her back pack," Xander said.

"That's mine," Dawn said. "Tara bought us each one, but Anya doesn't like hers."

"Anya's just getting used to having ID and carrying a purse," Xander said. "She'll move up to back packs in a while."

"Let's go home, Dawn. Señora Rivera is doing that salad with the alligator pears," Giles said.

"Alligator what?" Xander asked.

"Avocados," Dawn said. "He gets so English sometimes."

As Dawn and Giles left, Anya arrived.

"Hey, honey," Xander said.

"We have no customers," the ex-demon said. "Why have we no customers?"

"Relax," Spike said. "We're about to get the after dinner crowd."

"Why are you hanging around?" Xander asked.

"I was thinking of going up to Ann's by way of the docks."

"You mean you're going to drive the Viper, a strongly magical artifact complete with fake ID, to a crime scene which is covered by a privacy spell cast by a very strong witch and which is probably still of interest to most of the Sunnydale police?"

"I was going to walk."

"Let's take the Xander-mobile. It's not much, but it's not magic, it's legal, and it does go faster than you can run."

"I can run pretty damn fast, Harris."

***

"Interesting," Spike said. "I don't want to go closer."

"Yeah."

"A repelling spell."

"I'm repelled."

"They're not," Spike said, indicating the crime scene technicians, still busy on the docks, the surrounding streets, and in and on the ship. "Do you and I feel it because we already know magic is involved or simply because we don't have a good reason for being here?"

"I'm getting really repelled," Xander said.

"Let's go around," the vampire said. "See if we can figure out the limits of the spell."

"OK."

***

"The spell boundary was mostly round--"

"Probably spherical," Spike said, entering the front door of the Magic Box.

"--even if we didn't get to explore out on the harbor," Xander said, following him in. "Hey, how could we tell if it were spherical or just round, just a circle?"

"Practically, it calls for levitation, I suppose."

"That doesn't sound all that practical, you know. "

"We'll get Willow to cast one in a multi-storey building, somewhere in the middle. You be on ground level and try walking up, and I'll be at the top and try walking down."

"OK, that is practical, but I'll be at the top and try walking down," Xander said. "Anya!"

Spike looked around. The shop seemed empty.

"Anya!" Xander called again. He ducked into the side office.

Spike went into the lower level. Anya was there, on the floor and starting to sit up. "Harris!" Spike called, going to the girl and making her lie back down. "Take it easy."

"Anya!"

"I hate being hit," the ex-demon said.

"Who?" Xander asked.

"Some human."

"I don't hear anyone," Spike said, standing up.

"He came in the back, I heard him, and he hit me as I went in."

"I'll check," Spike said, heading for the training room.

Giles hadn't changed anything, but then he also hadn't entered it after Buffy's death. The room didn't mean as much to Spike, who hadn't spent as much time with the Slayer here. He passed through it frequently after parking the Viper out back. The back door was open.

Spike looked around, then shut and locked the door. Coming back to the store proper, he looked behind the counter, then went upstairs to the bookcases. No one. He returned to the others.

"So were you really out, Anya? That's a bad bump."

"No one's here," Spike said. "Her eyes are the same size, which is good. Do you want to take her to the emergency room?"

"I think I will," Xander said.

"Spike, can you close up? Do you know how?"

"Anya, you've shown me how three times; I think I've got it."

"Oh, and would you pick up Filis from Willow's and take her back to Ann's? Thierry called. He's staying at Willow's tonight and wants to keep the car so he can get back in the morning."

"Sure, no problem."

"And call Giles and tell him, will you?" Xander said.

"Sure." Spike opened doors for them, and helped Anya into the car. Returning to the shop, he called Giles, who expressed concern and left for the emergency room at once. Spike performed the necessary rituals to end a commercial day, then locked the front door, turned off all the lights, then let himself out the back door and locked it.

Spike concentrated on extracting the Viper from the back parking lot without scratching the paint. He knew Ann's paint jobs were hard to mar, but he liked his car. He drove to the Rosenberg house, parked in front, and went up to the door.

Thierry opened it at his knock. "Hi, Spike. Thanks for the help. Beroule wants me to sleep down here tonight."

"I thought all you Alves ported around like Ann and Gang Long. I know Berengar does."

"With those two it's innate. We have to learn it, and I haven't yet, but then I'm only eighty-three. Also, it costs you, really wears you out, even Berengar, but that gets better as you age, too. Are you going to come in?"

"Can't. Willow never got around to inviting me. I do need to talk to her and you, though."

"Oh, Gang Long says he doesn't think Barzilai is a mass murderer."

"Well, it would have been too simple to solve the problem first try. Too bad, I really dislike the guy."

Thierry left the door open as he went upstairs, saying, "Vampires have it inconvenient at times, don't you?"

"There are drawbacks," Spike admitted.

Thierry, Beroule, Filis and Willow came down the stairs. "Sorry, Spike," Willow said. "Come in."

"Thanks. Somebody got into the back room at the shop and whacked Anya on the head. Xander took her off to the emergency room, but she looked reasonably OK I just want you to know because it's another weird thing."

"And in a place we go frequently," Willow said.

"Exactly," said the vampire.

***

"I wanted to see if the repelling spell was still working. I can ask a friend about the police reports, but I like to see what they're talking about."

"You have a friend on the police force?" Filis asked.

"It's not that direct, but yeah. Feel anything?"

"No."

"This was the boundary earlier this evening. Let's go toward the dock."

"Now I do."

"I don't," said Spike.

"It's real faint."

"Human? Demon?"

"I can't tell. I can go forward."

"We'll leave the Viper here. We'll stop any time it bothers you."

"I'm fine."

Quietly, they walked toward the ship.

"Watchman," Spike said softly.

Filis nodded. "Just a minute, let me look."

"Privacy spell," Spike said.

"Hey, it's me." Spike still looked wary and she elaborated: "I'm not violating the privacy spell. Willow wanted to go through it, I'm just looking at it, at its outside." She put her hand over her right eye. "OK. We have four spells here. Don't worry, they're all transparent, like colored bubbles moving through each other. I can look at them all, and not jiggle the privacy spell, I just can't see the ship very well. All right, actually we have two spells and the remains of two others. The repelling spell is still active, but fading quickly. Then there are the echoes of a nasty death spell. The privacy spell is still active, and fading at a different rate from the repelling spell. I can also detect the remains of a sleep spell.. That's backwards, the sleep spell was cast first and the repelling spell last. At least two casters, both human, mostly human? One's human. The other is human, but different? I can't tell definitely about that, sorry."

"Neat trick with the eye, I wish I could learn it. Can you port us on board?"

"I can do either that or sleep the watchman. Hey," Filis said as Spike glanced sidelong at her, "I'm nearly forty years younger than you are. It wasn't even legal for me to enlist. I'll get better as I get older."

"We all do," Spike said. "I can't even do that much. Can you drive the Viper?"

"I don't know if it will let me. Ann said it was your car."

"It will. Take the key, and my wallet. How long will he stay asleep?"

"Depends. At least twenty minutes."

"When I say so, sleep the watchman, then go back to the Viper and move it to where you can see the ship. If I have to go over the side, I'll swim north. You get out of here and also go north, then west along the point. Aim the headlights south, back this way. I'll come ashore up there, or I'll come down the gangway."

"That's one long swim, Spike. Will you be all right?"

"Vampires don't drown, remember."

"Right. OK. I can do all that. You sure this will work?"

"Yes. Take my coat, too," Spike said, taking the small flashlight out of the interior pocket. "Now, sleep him." When Filis nodded, Spike went up the gangway.

***

Down in the hold, Spike looked around. The light from his tiny flashlight was enough for him to see the rows of containers filling the hold. He found the container where the refugees had died--the chalk outlines of the bodies were still present, as were the bedding and the basic sanitary arrangements. There was an outline of a body across the doorway. The wide doors had been swung open when the death spell had been cast. Spike didn't know if that was interesting or not. The bedding was all folded, not open. Perhaps the refugees had been getting ready to disembark. There were baskets and suitcases on the floor, some shoved back against the sides of the container, others inside outlines. All the baskets and suitcases were neatly closed and tied. No personal effects were left loose in the container.

He read the papers glued to the outside of some of the other containers. The refugees' container seemed to be the only one intended to be unloaded at Sunnydale, or maybe it was the only one left.

Spike looked around. He wished he had Ann's inner clock. If his time limit wasn't up, it was pretty close. He climbed the cargo net and walked off the ship.

***

"So what did you learn?"

Briefly, he told her, ending, "So I'll ask Paterson what he knows."

"No robbery? Just murder?"

"That's what it looked like. Everyone just lay down and died, or maybe died and lay down. Most of the disarray seemed to be caused by the police and coroners, afterwards."

***

In the Viper, on the way back to Ann's, Filis said, "Spike, are you seeing someone?"

"In what sense?" he said repressively.

"Are you sleeping with anyone?" Filis persevered.

"Why do you ask?"

"There were roses in the refrigerator when I went upstairs to change my clothes. When I came back down to the kitchen for some food and wine, they were gone. So were you. I assumed you were calling on a woman and had taken them with you."

"Not bad. Again, why do you ask?"

"Ann said you were grieving and we--Siride and I--were not to bother you. In fact she got pretty graphic about what she'd do to me, if I bothered you right now, but if you were no longer in mourning, I wondered if you were free."

"Living with people who can reason is occasionally awkward. The roses were for a lady, but I came back to Ann's and slept there. Alone. I'm not done grieving, and most of the time, I can't see an end to it."

***

Chapter 3 - Alarms and Incursions

He called Spike.

"'Ullo," the vampire muttered.

"Wake up."

"Giles. Why?"

"So I need yell at you only once."

"Sod that. About what?"

"Not closing the back door."

"I did, and locked it, too. And no one was inside, if that was going to be your next question. I looked."

"And do you still have your key?"

"Yes. The lock's not damaged? What's gone?"

"Unlocked, somehow. I can't tell if anything is missing. Most peculiar."

"You know," Spike said. "I never thought I'd say anything good about Riley Finn, but he did suggest an upgrade to the security system there, such as getting one."

"Possibly not as unreasonable idea as I first thought," Giles said.

***

"So you need at least a five letter word, but we can also set it for six, seven or eight. The usual cautions for passwords apply of course: Not your name, not the name of the shop, not your mother's name. Other than that, pick any word that you won't forget, and that doesn't have multiple spellings, which can confuse you."

"Like what?" Dawn asked.

"Honour," Giles said at once.

"Shawn," Xander said.

"Oh," Dawn said.

"A six letter word then," Giles said.

"Never tell it to anyone, and of course, never, repeat never, write it down. Ready? Punch it in, hit enter, punch it again, and hit enter again." The installer turned away.

Giles punched in S L A Y E R. Xander and Dawn nodded. Giles completed the activation procedure.

"Now, when you open the door after you've set the alarm, you have one minute to enter the password and cancel. Otherwise, your next visitor will be the police."

"Excellent," Xander said.

"You have two minutes to get the door shut after you switch on the alarm, so don't dawdle on your way out."

"Thank you. The whole system is much more elegant that I had imagined," Giles said.

"Yes, the new technology is really good. It's a pretty decent set up. Not museum grade or bank quality, but better than anything else on the block. The new locks are a good idea, too. Nice job," the installer told Xander. "The place is much more discouraging to thieves than it was this morning. Sign here."

After the installer had packed up his tools and left, Giles said, "I still have a suspicion we would be just as secure if we only put the little sign up."

"Here are the new keys," Xander said.

"Thank you, Xander."

"So how's Anya?" Dawn asked.

"Basically OK," Xander said, "but headachy. She plans on coming back tomorrow."

A man entered the shop. He was about as tall as Spike and rather stocky. His hair was thick and white and his eyes behind bifocals were blue. He wore a light weight suit as if it were a disguise. "I thought he'd hang around till closing, Giles."

"He was quite speedy, actually, but he did get started late. How are you, Frank?"

"Pretty good, pretty good. The vampire says you're interested in the murders on the ship."

"We were wondering if they were in our line more than yours. This is my ward, Dawn Summers, and our friend Xander Harris. Frank Paterson. Frank is the sheriff over in Santa Ysabella county."

Frank eyed Dawn and glanced at Giles.

"She reads the papers, Frank. She already knows the worst."

"True enough."

"How do you do?" Dawn said politely.

"How do you know Spike?" Xander asked.

"The hiker who walked in on the black mass and was killed, Spike insisted the murderer wasn't a vampire, and it turned out he was right."

"Spike's clever," Dawn said.

"And surprisingly responsible these days. What can you tell us, Frank?"

"There's a backlog on the autopsies, there always is. No wounds, not smothered or gassed. Poison isn't ruled out yet, but that will depend on when they get reports back from the state lab. Not robbed, as far as the Sunnydale force can tell, the victims had their jewelry and money. No indication of contraband of any sort, beyond the refugees themselves."

"The police don't know why and they don't know how?"

"Which is why I'm telling you about this. Around the time the victims all died, and they all died at one time, there was a small motorboat passing to the north. They're looking for that, but so far, that's their only lead, and it's not much."

"Yeah," Xander agreed.

"They're talking to mainland China, where the refugees came from, but they haven't heard back."

"Well, we'll worry it around for a while. If we come up with any advice or insights, can you act as our cutout with the Sunnydale authorities?"

"Sure, no problem. It will add to my air of mystery."

"Thank you."

Frank nodded and left.

***

"So where's Gang Long?" Xander asked. "We thought he could port over and ask around."

"No," Spike said.

"He's Chinese," Dawn said.

"He's a Chinese dragon.," Spike said. "I have no idea what they say about longs in the twenty-first century equivalent of The Little Red Book,"--Dawn and Xander looked blank--"but I'm not asking my friend and Ann's foster son to go to a place where they may want his gall bladder for organic Viagra."

"I hadn't thought of that," Xander admitted.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.

"We have people over here poaching Grizzly bears for their innards. They export the organs to mainland China. Old men think the gall bladder of a bear keeps them potent," Spike said.

"Eeeewu."

"Exactly. Dragons are more powerful than bears, and therefore in more danger of being harvested. Other than that, it was a good idea."

"Does he have a gall bladder?" Giles asked.

"I assume so. He was hatched in dragon form, a non-placental animal if there ever was one, but when he's human he has a navel, so a gall bladder, at least when he's in human form, is not out of the question."

"Your mind is a strange and wondrous thing," Xander said.

"What else did Paterson have to say?" Spike asked.

"The police don't know why and they don't know who," Giles said.

"Or how," Dawn said.

"Oh, I know how--a death curse, but that does the police no good at all."

"How'd you find that out?" Xander asked.

"I went back to the docks late last night. Filis came with me. She could detect the traces of four curses, the death curse being the third one cast. And at least two casters, both human."

"Two!" Xander said. "A single suspect slaying by sorcery was bad enough. Now we have ah,"

"A dynamic duo of demonologists," suggested Dawn.

"Or possibly a trio of thaumaturgists," Giles offered.

"I don't care if we have a gaggle of goetics," Spike said. "Eighteen crew and twenty-six refugees were killed by one curse. We still don't know why and we still don't know who. I said knowing about the death curse doesn't help the police and it doesn't help us either. Filis is consulting with Beroule and Willow, getting some protections for us, but they have no idea if those protections will do any good. Therefore, we must all be cautious."

"Cautious?" Giles said. "Meaning we should sneak aboard a death ship with only a novice Alv for back-up without telling anyone else?"

"Well," Spike allowed. "Maybe a little more cautious than that."

"And what were you going to do if you had been noticed?"

"Gone over the side and swum north."

"In the harbor?" Dawn asked.

"Well, that is where they keep the ships."

"Swim? When were you thinking of swimming north?" Xander asked.

"Last night, some time after midnight. Why? Vampires can't drown. It would have taken me a while, but I would have reached the point eventually."

"Maybe not. High tide was between half past noon and 1:00 yesterday, so it would have turned between 10:30 and 11:00, call it about a quarter to eleven last night. It was going out," Xander said.

"Tide?" Spike said.

"Even vampires can be swept out to sea, Spike."

"Not to mention the sharks," Dawn said. "Everybody who grew up in Sunnydale knows about the currents and the sharks. Why didn't you ask me? You don't swim in the harbor!"

"Sharks?"

***

"Now I know," Giles ranted into the phone, "it's entirely too easy to fall into habits, especially bad habits, but I'm tired of coming to work and discovering someone has burgled me."

"And the door was unlocked, not broken," Spike asked, trying to wake up.

"Yes. Xander wants to set up a hidden camera."

"Why not let him? And the alarms didn't go off?"

"No. No reason why not, I suppose. Are you coming to dinner tonight? Dawn says she invited you."

"Yeah, she did. OK with you? I said she'd have to ask."

"Fine, about 8:00."

***

"But, Giles," Tara said, "that's just a simple mechano-electric system. This is a magic shop. We should use magic."

"Tara, this is not a competition," Giles said. "If you want to install a second system, one entirely magical or a variant of your clever technology and magic hybrid, or both, I'm sure there's room."

"OK, I'll get right on it."

***

"So I left them to it," Giles told Spike. "Beroule surprised me by being quite enthusiastic. I hadn't realized Berengar was using the opportunity to widen the Alves's experience as well as keeping a close eye on Tara."

"Most of them are young, for Alves away from home, Filis said. Except Beroule, they're all younger than I am. Berengar spent nearly thirteen years with Ann, on many battlefields, maybe he feels Earth is a good finishing school for his troops."

"Carlotta says dinner is ready," Dawn announced.

As they went to the dining room, Spike asked Dawn: "And the mug?"

"Right at his place."

***

"Giles, Giles," Spike said into the phone. "GILES! I'm coming down. I'll be there shortly."

He rolled out of bed, showered, pulled on some clothes and wandered downstairs. He warmed some Cambells and had a quick breakfast.

He checked the garage: the Mercedes was in. He went looking for Beroule or any of the Alves to tell them he was taking it. He started at the basement.

Filis and Gang Long were in the playroom. Gang Long was on the parallel bars and Filis was doing what looked like Tai Chi and perhaps was.

"Hi."

"Hi," the dragon said.

"Good morning," the Alv said.

"Giles says the Magic Box was burgled again. I'm taking the Mercedes and going down there."

"I'll come with you," Filis said at once, "But why not the Viper?"

"It's a sunny day," Spike said. "I turn to dust in sunlight. Ann's put a filter spell on the windows in the Mercedes, so I can get around in daylight."

"I'll come, too, but I'll drive," Gang Long said.

"I can drive it," Filis said. "Ann put all our names on the drivers list."

"Let's match for it," the dragon suggested.

"Hold it," Spike said. "Can I win against either of you?"

The Alv and the dragon looked at each other. Filis shook her head. "No way."

"I'm afraid not, Spike."

"Right. You two figure out who's driving and meet me in the garage in fifteen minutes." As he went up the stairs, he heard Filis say:

"How about Stone, Scissors, Paper?"

"Arm wrestling," the dragon countered.

"Fifteen minutes, or I leave without either of you," he called back.

***

Spike tossed his blanket off. Behind him, Filis and Gang Long entered the Magic Box.

"Archery," Filis said.

"Fire making," Gang Long said.

"Lock picking."

"What are they doing?" Giles asked.

"Trying to decide how they will decide who drives down from Ann's," the vampire said.

"Naughts and Crosses."

"Chess," Filis said.

"Endurance juggling."

"So tell me," the vampire said, ignoring Gang Long and Filis, "What do the cameras show?"

"Ah," Giles said. "That is very interesting. I brought these in, so we can see both media." He turned on a small TV, connected to a DVD and a VCR

***

"This is from one of Xander's cameras."

Filis and Gang Long settled down beside the others and watched.

A figure opened the front door and came in. It appeared to be taller than Giles, weighed maybe less than Willow, and was bubble gum pink, with long hair and a sparse fringe beard of delicate tendrils, both vivid magenta. He went quickly to the control panel for the alarms and, taking a piece of paper from a pocket, apparently read aloud from it.

Nothing happened, and the figure began searching. He started in the middle of one shelf. He ignored all the books and looked into everything bigger than 7x7x7 centimeters.

"Not a piece of paper," Spike said.

"And not a wizard," Filis said.

"The color may be skewed," Giles.

"No, he's exactly that color," Spike said. "Did he show up in your briefing?" he asked the Alv.

"No. Why?" Filis asked.

"He's a gofer who used to hang around Willy's, when I could get in there."

"A hireling?"

"Exactly."

"What's Willy's?" Filis asked.

"Bar. Local dive, really. The girls have no business going there, so don't forbid them. How could you tell he's not a wizard?" Spike asked.

"He used somebody else's charm to silence the alarms."

"So if I grab him and shake him, he won't be able to turn me to stone?"

"Shouldn't be."

"Good."

"Not so fast," Giles said. He fast-forwarded for a moment. The burglar suddenly jerked his head up. Giles slowed the tape to normal.

The burglar turned and ran out the front door, leaving it open. From the lower section of the shop, a second figure came into view.

"Shall we call this one burglar B?" Spike asked.

B was human, shorter than Giles, taller than Spike, and gray haired and black skinned. He wore a totally forgettable navy blue suit and oxfords.

"Letters or numbers," Giles said. "I'm beyond caring."

B raised one hand, apparently spoke, and made a gesture.

"Well," Filis said. "There's no doubt that he's a wizard."

"None," Spike agreed.

"Yes," Giles agreed. "I may keep this, just for inventory purposes."

Many, but not all, of the items on the shelves had acquired a glow. B did not look pleased.

"Giles, what do those glowing things have in common?"

"Beyond being magical to some degree?"

"Yes."

"Nothing. Even if I break it down into categories, say, statuettes and idols, they came from different sources and arrived here at different times."

"Was this all? Only these two?"

"Yes, at least last night."

"Did Burglar B find what he was looking for?"

"No."

"So the first night, someone was here and hit Anya, and someone, possibly someone else, came in later, and left the door open, the back door, that time."

"The second night, again, someone left the back door open," Giles said.

"And last night, Burglar A left the front door open. Did Burglar B leave the back door open?"

"Both doors were closed but not locked."

"Burglar A has been here before," Gang Long said.

"Why?" Spike asked.

"He was very methodical. He went from one shelf to the next and then from one set of shelves to another, but he started in the middle of the third set from the end. I think he searched the first two and a half sets of shelves some time before and came back tonight and picked up where he left off."

"And he knew right where the control pad was," Giles said.

"Exactly," Spike said. "Giles, when did you last get a shipment?"

"Nearly two weeks ago, thirteen days."

"The first intrusion was right after the murders on the ship, but you didn't get anything from La Garza."

"Right."

"But that is the time when things started happening here," Filis said.

"Yes. Coincidences do happen, which is why we have a word for it," Spike pointed out.

"I'm thinking of spending the night here," Giles said.

"No," Spike said at once. "Eighteen crew and twenty-six refugees, remember."

"You said that was a coincidence," Giles said.

"Possibly it is, but you're Dawn's guardian. I'll do it."

"You can't hit humans."

"So? Not all the intruders are human," Spike said.

"Why not?" Filis asked.

"Long story," Spike said.

"I can hit humans," Filis said.

"And I certainly can shake A, the gofer," Spike said. "I'm going to go to Willy's."

"That's asking for trouble, Spike," Giles said.

"If I just talk to him, no one will try to stake me. Now, what was his name? I never hired him for anything. Doesn't matter, I'll just shake him a little harder."

"We'll all go to Willy's," Gang Long said.

"You should be about as welcome as I am," Spike said.

"They know I'm civilized," the dragon said. "Unless provoked."

"And I want to see this place," Filis said.

"I feel as if I'm organizing a field trip," Spike grumbled. "Let's go."

***

Chapter 4 - Who's driving?

"Why?" Filis was ready to argue.

"He knows the way," Spike said.

"OK," Filis got in the passenger seat. "So how did Rupert become the guardian of Dawn? She's totally human in appearance, and humans have laws."

"Ann and a lawyer friend of hers forged a will for Joyce Summers, Dawn's mother, naming Giles if Buffy couldn't be her sister's guardian. We all thought it might be even more traumatic for Dawn to go live with her father--after all, she's never really met him--so we cooperated to keep her here."

"Ann said you were all very fond of the girl."

"We are. Why do you call her Ann and not Meliora?"

"Angel said her name was Ann Grove. I didn't realize till much later that she was Berengar's and Mellisande's Meliora. So why aren't you welcome where we're going and why, come to think of it, can't you hit humans?"

"The answers are tied together. Did Ann ever mention the Initiative?"

"Yes. Berengar was eloquent on the subject."

"They put a chip in my head, so I can't prey on humans." Spike looked out the window, then back at Filis. "When you realize you're a vampire, you're starving. Your instinct tells you only human blood can save you. You hunt, you kill, you drink. The violence keeps you alive. The violence, the hunt, can become comfortable. Comforting. Reassuring. You have the illusion of being in control of your life. With the chip in my head, I was helpless. I am helpless, I can't defend myself, not against humans. On the other hand, I can hit other vampires and all demons."

"Vampires and demons?" Filis asked. "You hunt them?"

"I can hit them, and sometimes hitting anything feels good."

"You can hit Jingwu, me and Dawn, too," Gang Long said.

"Yes," Spike said.

"Probably me, too," Filis said

"Probably," Spike agreed.

"So why don't you?" Filis asked.

"Ann would kill me. I don't want to hurt you, anyway."

"Besides," Gang Long said, "the chip in your head broke the reflex. Now, when you're hungry you get a can of blood. If the chip was out today, you would probably still go get a can of blood."

"Says who?" Spike asked, his interest arrested.

"Claire. She and Jingwu were talking. She also says it's too bad she didn't run some IQ tests on you before the Initiative installed the chip, since you're probably smarter now than you were before and you depend more on reason than you do on reflex and instinct."

"Why hasn't she told me about this?" Spike demanded.

"When did you see her last?"

"Last spring."

"Go see her again," the boy said.

"Maybe I should." Spike was silent for a long moment, then said, "In any case, Filis, there may be vampires at Willy's who won't have a chip or a soul and who may think you're an ambulatory meal. Stake them."

"OK."

"Do you have a stake?"

"It's Sunnydale."

***

"Hasn't changed a bit," Spike said.

"And probably hasn't been swept since you were last here," Filis said. "Whenever that was."

"Get out," the bartender said.

"In a moment," Spike said. "Good, he's here. You."

The slender, magenta haired demon, Burglar A, looked up and froze.

"Yeah, you: What were you doing running out of the Magic Box at three in the morning?"

Burglar A bolted.

"Out!" the bartender yelled, taking a stake from under the counter.

Spike grabbed Burglar A. Burglar A didn't weigh much at all.

Gang Long shifted to dragon and hung in the air at Spike's back.

Filis drew her dagger and stood beside the long.

"He said in a moment," the dragon said.

"We just want to ask some questions," Filis said mildly.

"I can't talk," Burglar A said.

"Talk," Spike said, shaking him. The magenta hair flew about wildly.

"He put a thing on me, a geese. If I talk, my heart stops."

"A geas? I can fix that," Spike said. "Vampires' hearts don't beat at all. I'll just turn you, and you can talk all day."

"Yuck," Filis said.

"I know. Can either of you tell if that's true? The geas bit?"

"It is," Filis said, taking a quick, one-eyed look at Burglar A.

"All right, then," Spike said, entering full vampire display.

"It doesn't work that way. We don't become vampires. We don't, honest."

"How do you know?" the long asked, interested.

"We just don't."

"Sounds like hearsay," Filis said.

"I'd give it a try," Spike said, over more vocal protests from Burglar A, "if it weren't for the fact that we'd have to wait for him to resurrect to question him, and who knows how long that would take. You're blown," he said, tossing Burglar A free. "Stay away from the Magic Box or you're dead. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Let's go. Nice seeing you all again," Spike said, and left.

***

"Do you think he'll stay away?" Filis asked.

"Unless the geas includes something on the order of `get the object I want or your heart stops.' And who put it on him? Who is the imposer? Until I met Ann and Claire, I didn't know about geas at all. Now I know someone has to put one on you. Who in Sunnydale can put a geas on a demon?"

"Ann could, Beroule could," Filis said. "Willow probably could."

"You?"

"Probably not."

"It takes a strong witch, then."

"Yes."

"Could you cast the death spell?"

"I don't know it."

"Can you cast the privacy spell?"

"Not for so long, over so large an area. That takes more power than I have. The same with the repelling spell."

"Uh huh. The sleep spell?"

"Again, no. Not on so many people at once."

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action," Gang Long said.

"James Bond," Filis said.

"Ian Fleming, at least," said Spike. "Yeah. Back to the Magic Box."

Filis drove silently for a while, then: "Spike? Would you really have bitten that thing?"

"No."

"So what could you have done to it?"

"Break its neck. Why?"

"You don't carry a weapon?"

"Other than the fangs, no. I don't really know how to use a knife, other than hack and slash."

"You move well enough. Come down to the playroom sometime, I can go over the basics with you, if you'd care to learn dagger."

"You know, Spike," Gang Long said, "what you said once about stoning them, how that makes it difficult to talk to them, also applies to breaking their necks."

"I could just shoot them a little," Spike said mildly.

"Only if you carry a gun," the dragon pointed out.

***

"So what we have are two spells which can only be cast by a strong witch, the death spell on the ship and the geas on the idiot gofer, and three other spells which by their spread and depth reveal that a strong witch cast them. The spells are connected in time and locale," Spike said. "I think it's reasonable to assume they may be connected in other ways, such as being cast, if not by the same person, at least for the same purpose."

Arriving back at the Magic Box, Spike, Filis and Gang Long discovered Giles had been joined by Dawn, Beroule, Gaufré, Xander, Tara and Willow.

"Which purpose is?" Giles asked.

"To obtain something that was not on the ship when the death spell was cast, but was probably there when the sleep spell was cast."

"Why like that?" Tara asked.

"The sleep spell was cast first, Filis said. Whoever cast that, took the object, whatever it is, and got into her motor boat and went north, as Frank said."

Giles thought that over, then nodded to Spike.

"And where did she go after that?" Beroule asked.

"We'll pick her up later. Back at the ship, a powerful warlock--the gofer said `he'--looked for the object and didn't find it," Spike continued.

"And this warlock, you think he cast the privacy spell?" Filis asked.

"So he could search without interruptions, yes."

"Why'd he kill everybody?" Dawn asked.

"Security? Temper? I don't know," Spike said.

"I don't think I like him," the girl said.

"Why put the geas on Burglar A?" Filis asked.

"The first spells tired him out? He had to visit his mother? He's a celebrity and is being watched? I don't know. If we find him, and it's safe, we'll ask him."

"Spike, how did the object get into my shop?"

"Hell, Giles, I don't know, but the place has been like any Grand Central Station you can name, all week. I bet the first witch, the one who took the object, ditched it here the night after we read about the murders, after hitting Anya or after I locked up and left."

"Why?" Tara asked.

"Ann said something, when we stood waiting on the mountain, about magicians knowing magic. If the first witch was close enough to sense the death spell being cast--or even if she just read the same papers we did--she'd want to hide the object that had gotten so many people killed," Filis said.

"And it was right after that night, that the incursions became constant," Spike said.

"One damned burglar after another," Giles complained

"No, why hide it here, I mean," Tara said.

"This was someplace she could get it again, and someplace she wasn't tied to," Filis said. "She could get it back and she'd be safer that way."

"Oh, oh, and don't forget the Purloined Letter effect," Willow said.

"Exactly," Spike agreed.

"What's the Purloined Letter effect?" Dawn asked.

"The best place to hide something is often right where it should be, where it is not out of place. In the eponymous example, a letter proved to be relatively unnoticeable among other mail," Giles said.

"So the object is something magical?" Dawn asked.

"I think we can assume that," Giles said. "We've had six or eight new customers, not college age children, serious types. They were all rather knowledgeable and very interested in the stock."

"You let them in?" Filis asked.

"It's a shop," Giles pointed out. "It's very hard to tell spies with expense accounts from serious customers."

"But they were quite well behaved," Tara said.

"And bought nothing suspicious," Willow said.

"Magical, then, and three dimensional," Filis said.

"About as big as a hen's egg, judging from what the gofer, aka Burglar A, was looking into," Spike said.

They all looked around the shop, which suddenly seemed twice as tall, twice as wide and twice as deep, and full of eight times as many items that could hold a hen's egg.

"Right," Tara said.

"And we still don't know what it is?" Dawn asked.

"Alas, no," Giles agreed. "But it won't appear on any inventory."

***

At 9:00 Beroule and Gaufré went off shift after Lian and Siride drove up in Tara's Saturn to keep a discrete watch outside.

"Uh, I'd like to keep helping, Beroule," Filis said.

"Go ahead. You're on shift in the morning, remember."

It was Filis who found the coin. She was searching a nest of boxes, apparently non-magical inlay work of exquisite craftsmanship, and suddenly gasped and dropped the last box.

Spike looked over at her. "What?"

"Is that silver? We can't touch silver."

Spike picked up the lid, the box and a strange coin. "Too heavy. Platinum, at a guess. Bloody hell, it's Glory."

"The demon deity?" Filis asked.

"Yes, and her alter ego, Ben. It can't be as old as the style suggests, platinum is a modern metal. Rupert, where did you get this?"

Giles came and looked at the coin: It was slightly larger than a Charles II crown, and Spike was right, heavier than an old coin should be. It showed a bisexual Janus figure--a male and a female head back to back--female facing right, male facing left. The female was Glory and the male, Ben. "The real question is not where, but when. Ann gave me this, saying she knew I collected coins and I might like it for my collection."

"You don't, do you?" Spike asked.

"No, so I looked at it closely. It had to be important, or she would not have given it to me. I understood what Ann was trying to tell me, then I forgot and carefully put the coin away."

"She was trying to help us all along," Willow said.

"Yes," Giles said.

Spike nodded. "Within the limitations of that damn geas."

"And she must have given it to me right before she was dragged away in chains, so she didn't have time to realize I didn't remember, and could think of another way to work around her geas."

"And she would have," Spike realized. "She's a clever and determined lady, and very fond of Buffy."

"Yes," Giles sighed. "I may have to grovel."

"Get in line," Spike said.

***

"Are we going to send out for pizza?" Filis asked.

"Yeah," agreed Dawn.

"We'd better, I suppose," Giles said. "Dawn doesn't care for pâté or smoked oysters."

"Liverwurst," Dawn disapproved.

"Those who want pizza, decide what you want and order it. Can someone bring in the picnic baskets, please? From both cars, I think."

"I will," Filis said. "I'll see if the others want something while I'm at it. Mushrooms."

"Good idea," Dawn said, dialing.

***

Filis went out the front door, then walked over to the Saturn, parked some distance down the block. After speaking with Siride and Gaufré, she cut through the small walkway into the back parking lot, where the Mercedes and the BMW were.

***

Chapter 5 - Did that work?

"So what do we do with it after we find it?" Willow asked.

"Put it on a park bench somewhere and pretend we never saw it," Giles said firmly.

"I wouldn't do that." A man, somewhat foppishly dressed, materialized in the center of the shop.

"Barzilai," Gang Long said.

Spike got to his feet. He wished he had taken Filis up on knife training, or that he carried a gun. He would have risked activating the chip in his head, just to wipe that smile off Barzilai's face.

"I wouldn't do that, either," Barzilai said to him. "Whatever you're thinking. Rupert Giles? I am Barzilai."

"Who's only some sort of changed human," Gang Long said.

Barzilai gave the boy a quick assessing glance, then returned to Giles..

"Is he a wizard?" Dawn asked.

"I prefer sorcerer," Barzilai said.

"Why shouldn't I get rid of this thing, whatever it is?"

"Your customers will be very disappointed."

"Explain," Spike said.

"Are any of you familiar with the Internet? If not, get someone to tutor you. Go to www.barzilaiimm.com."

"Willow?" Spike said.

"Got it. Sort of drab," she said. "No graphics, no music. Just text, as follows: A one time sale. Property of Barzilai the Immortal. Centered," she allowed. "But as I said, drab. A passport to the most elite club of all. Blah, blah, blah. This valuable item has been consigned to Rupert Giles, proprietor of the Magic Box, Sunnydale, California. E-mail factor@www.barzilaiimm.com to reserve your place at the auction. That's it.."

"Auction?" Tara asked.

"Consigned?" Giles demanded.

"Why didn't you use E-BAY?" Willow demanded.

"This is a private auction. Your customers-to-be do not handle disappointment well," Barzilai said. "Look at what happened when Kallis couldn't find the item on the La Garza."

"Who?" Filis asked.

"Kallis. I did not intend to invite him to the auction at all. I don't know how he heard about the item, but his presence here forces my hand."

"You didn't intend to dump this on us?" Giles asked.

"I had to cache the item in the Middle Kingdom. There are some powerful people over there who still follow some really archaic customs, and there are more of them than you might think. I didn't get the item concealed fast enough to evade detection, and the next thing I know, a bunch of really sore losers is pursuing me, with wildly unfriendly intentions. I hid the item in the belongings of one of the refugees, walked around demonstrating that whoever had the item it wasn't me, and took the first plane out. Which took me to Delhi, eventually. The next plane went to Moscow, and the one after that to Berlin, where I caught a prop cargo thing that had to refuel on Ascension--I didn't know they still did that--on the way to Rio de Janeiro."

"Can you spare us the travelogue?" Giles asked. "Why here? Why Sunnydale?"

"It's where the ship was going. I wanted to grab the item when the La Garza first docked and go to Vegas, where they're used to handling the sort of money involved, but I was delayed, Kallis came here, and powerful people who watch where Kallis goes, followed him and everything got slightly out of hand. Fortunately, that's no longer my problem."

"Explain," Giles said.

"It's yours." Barzilai smiled, flashing his dimples.

"I don't have the item."

"Actually, you do: it's here, somewhere, and relatively safe. I'm not going to risk carrying it about, not with all the eager hijackers around. You will know where it is by the time the auction starts. Once that happens, once I pick up the gavel, you ought to be safe. I might consider letting you all leave then. I was careful to invite a number of really deadly enemies to attend. Humans did something like this with those bombs of theirs."

"That was mutual assured destruction, you idiot," Giles said. "Not mutual assured survival. Why did you hide it here?"

"Camouflage. When I read about the murders, I knew someone like him was around, and that I could not risk trying to get to Vegas. I'd have to hold the auction here, in what did you call this place?"

"Sunnydale."

"You and this little shop seemed perfect. Not only are some of your stock sufficiently magical to hide the object, powerful magical artifacts move in and out and around this quaint shop everyday. Kallis, and anyone else looking for what I have, will be confused. They will have to track down each artifact and examine it. By the time they rule out everything else, the auction will be over."

"You put us all in danger for money," Spike was angrier than he remembered being.

"Eggs," Barzilai. "Omelets." He waved one hand airily.

"What is this item, that you are risking our lives over?" Giles asked.

"You know, I don't think I'll tell you."

"We would really like to know."

"No, I don't think so. Your ignorance is our surest protection. Kallis or whoever Wolfram and Hart are sending can torture you all to death and you can't tell them anything. I'm perfectly safe."

Gang Long shifted to dragon.

"Behave yourself, youngster. At your age, you can't go around even threatening humans."

"I don't think you're human," the long said.

"Gytha does."

Gang Long settled back, still a dragon.

"She thinks we're human, too," Spike reminded him. "And you can eat vampires." Spike realized he could probably hit Barzilai and not activate the chip in his head. He smiled.

"Yesss," Gang Long said, looking a lot happier.

Barzilai looked uneasy.

"Enough," Giles said. "I do not accept this commission."

"You have no choice." Barzilai gradually regained his composure. "The announcement's gone out. No one will believe that you refused. If you can't produce it, they'll think you stole it. You can't even hurt me, you need me to find the item. Remember what I said about how Kallis deals with disappointment? So do all the buyers."

Giles was silent.

"The opening bid is $10,000,000. Many really nasty people want the item, and they're prepared to pay high or to kill all of you for it. Your best chance of coming through this alive is to cooperate with me. See you," Barzilai said, and disappeared.

***

"He's crazy," Willow said.

"And we're holding the bag," Spike said.

"And we don't even know if there's a cat in it," Giles said.

"He's not trustworthy," Gang Long insisted.

"That's a given," Spike told the boy. "We're not going to trust him at all."

"That much money," Tara said. "We're dead."

"Shoppers' rage," Xander agreed. "Remember Tickle Me Elmo?"

Filis came out of the back room carrying the picnic baskets from Rupert's BMW and the Mercedes. "Who just left?"

Spike looked at her. "Why do you ask?"

"I didn't recognize the man who came out the back door. Sorry if it's private."

Everyone looked at her.

"Although, if he wants to avoid being noticed, tell him not to skulk so much. What?"

"The cameras," Giles said.

***

"Ha!" Willow said.

Xander's tape showed only the back door opening and shutting, apparently by itself. Willow's and Tara's disc showed a pale and transparent Barzilai entering the training room from the shop and exiting through the back door, closing it after him.

"You two did this?" Filis asked. "That's impressive."

"We gingered up the camera a little," Tara said.

"And all that elegant pacing wasn't just to show off his graceful stride," Spike said. "It was to get in position so he could get to a door without bumping into one of us."

"After he used a spell to turn invisible," Giles said.

"So he can turn invisible, but not apport?" Tara said. "Maybe he's not so powerful."

"Does he have power?" Spike asked Filis. "Up to Willow's strength?"

"I don't think so," Filis said. "My sight of him was brief, but I didn't sense power."

"So how'd he do the sleep spell?" Xander asked.

"Which we decided was cast by a strong Witch," Giles reminded the group.

"A charm, from a powerful Witch," Willow said.

"That would work," Filis said.

"How old is he?" Tara asked.

"He said he knew Ann before Gang Long was hatched," Spike said.

"What does she say?" Giles asked Gang Long.

"She never said otherwise. I've known him since Constantinople, uh early in the eighth century, this calendar."

"So he's had a lot of time to collect charms and talismans and stuff like that," Xander said.

"Even your mayor, the big, giant snake one, the one who was only some over a hundred years old, picked up that nasty gadget that Faith had," Tara said.

"Right, just because he's not a very good magician doesn't mean he's not dangerous," Willow agreed.

"He doesn't sound like the slickest thief in the world, either," Spike said.

"If enough innocent bystanders like us are around, to act as cat's paws for him, he doesn't need to be," Giles said.

"On the other hand," Xander said, "he can run through an awful lot of innocent bystanders."

"He just went through a ship load of refugees," Spike agreed.

"All right," Giles said. "Find the object, and while we search, remember every kidnap or illicit treasure movie you've ever seen: We need a means of insuring that Barzilai does not abscond with both the money and the object, which would leave us in a very precarious position."

"And in your spare time, figure out a way to get Barzilai separated from his gizmos," Tara said.

***

"I don't think that was a movie, I think that was a Nash Bridges episode.

"No, it was the other one, Miami Vice."

"Immaterial. Did it work?" Giles asked.

"No, it didn't."

"Ann said vampires are magical beings," Filis said to Willow. "Are the many vampires in Sunnydale confusing the search for the item?"

"It might be a good thing if that were true, because I think he's right: I don't think anyone will believe us if we say it's been stolen again."

"So in addition to finding it, we have to safeguard it for that pig?" Tara was annoyed.

"I think so," Willow said. "At least for now."

"Do you know how long it would take to withdraw ten million dollars from an ATM? At two hundred dollars a day?" Spike asked Willow.

"Fifty thousand days."

"But did it work?" Giles asked.

"No, it didn't."

"Willow's back pack, or its contents, at least, and Tara's Saturn, hell all Ann's cars, are probably what Barzilai meant about magical artifacts moving around and in and out of the shop," Spike told Filis.

"Ann said the cars were safe. Did she mean from people like Kallis or just the police?"

"Definitely from the police. She said no human could track the Viper, no matter what equipment she used. Did she mean radar or spells?"

"Radar," Willow said, "or something similar. Spells are procedures and she knows the difference."

"Finn was there when she said that. She was always reticent around him," Spike said. "Or at least, very careful."

"What was wrong with Riley?" Tara asked "I mean besides you being jealous of him."

"He worked for vivisectionists," Gang Long said.

"And Riley was never comfortable with magic, remember," Willow said.

"So? Are the cars safe or not?" Filis demanded.

"We don't know," Willow said.

"Ransom."

"The World is not Enough."

"Speed."

"MI:2"

"A Simple Plan."

"Get Shorty."

"Ocean's Eleven."

"And did any of them work?"

"No."

"Modern technology does not seem to have improved this procedure which apparently reached its zenith when Eleanor of Acquitaine and the minstrel Blondel managed to ransom Richard Coeur de Lyon."

"How did they manage that?"

"She used him as a go-between," Giles said. "Not unlike the way Barzilai is using us."

"Blondie make up a lot of songs after that?" Xander asked.

"I don't know."

"Oh, that's encouraging."

"No," Willow said. "They are not going to arrive with ten million in a suitcase. Ten million dollars isn't the price, it isn't the total ransom, it's just the starting bid. They need lots of money, more money than they can carry."

"Under Siege II," Xander said.

"And did that work?"

"Well, it's a movie, so all the bad guys ended up dead; but the money part went smooth as silk."

"Describe it," Giles said.

"I saw it, too," said Willow. "EFT."

"EFT?" Giles asked.

"Electronic Fund Transfer. Modern technology has helped, Giles. You don't need to touch money to spend money," Willow fell silent, thinking. "I know how he's going to do this, and I know how we can make sure he doesn't cheat, or at least totally cheat. We need some help. Dawn, can you or Tara, please, call Nancy Polias and ask her to come here?"

"Our lawyer?" Dawn said. "Sure. In the morning?"

"No. There isn't a date on that damn web page, and I don't know how long this will take. Now."

"OK."

"If he's--Barzilai--if he's planning on cheating, he may be angry if we stop him. He may take his object and stomp out--"

"Which is fine," Giles said.

"--or he may kick us out, which is also fine," Willow said. "The terrible buyers won't get angry with us if we're not here."

"Maybe," Spike said.

"Good evening," Nancy Polias said, porting into the shop. Even at this time of night, she looked ready to step into a courtroom. Tonight, she wore a white trench coat over gray silk suit and a pleated white linen blouse. Her ash-blonde hair was worn up in chignon, and her gray eyes were bright in her pale face. She was taller than Willow, who was the one she smiled at first, before including everyone in her greeting.

"Hi," Dawn said. "We have a problem."

"And we need some help dealing with it," Willow said, and went on to explain.

Nancy listened, then asked: "And if Barzilai gets angry afterward?"

"I'll kill him. Or at least discourage him very firmly."

"Very good," Nancy said. She smiled again at Willow. "I was wondering if you would reinstall your spell checker."

"Everyone grows up sometime," Willow said.

"I continue to approve. I'll be back in the morning." Nancy ported out.

"So do we still need to find the thing?" Xander asked.

"We still need the item, but we'll look again tomorrow."

Spike said: "Let's go. It's Gang Long's turn to drive."

***

"Nancy stopped in for breakfast, her third, she said, and we signed cards and contracts. She also gave me these," Giles said, waving a small pack of business cards. "We need to hand them out to the buyers after we usurp Barzilai's position."

"We're set?" Willow asked.

"That's all ready. Nancy thinks her name will help keep the buyers relatively civil, until the item is handed over to the successful buyer, but after that, the disappointed buyers may feel free to express themselves. "

"Might, possession and all that?"

"Yes, with us receiving collateral damage in the scrum."

"Gang Long and I figured out how to handle that part. He's ready to help. Dragons are supposed to have a strange sense of humor, but I admit, I don't see the extreme humor in this. There is something really strange about a giggling dragon.

"He's only a teenager, maybe older than Dawn, but not by much."

"You do realize, Giles, it will be best if you run the auction."

"Yes. Are you ready to take Barzilai out? At least temporarily?"

"Yes. It's important to remember that we must stop him from speaking and from gesturing. Spike is sure he can help, even if Barzilai is really human, as long as he doesn't hit him. Tara will be there, with Filis and Thierry, who say they can help. They know what we want to do and what we're worried about. Filis and I are going shopping at the sports equipment store on the way home. She suggested I need a ping pong ball and a roll of adhesive tape."

"Is everyone happy with Tara's decision?"

"Certainly not Beroule. She's very protective, but even she's agreed to respect Tara's independence, if some precautions are in place."

"Then all we need do is find the object. We might be able to manage without finding it, but the less we depend on Barzilai, the safer I'll feel."

"We haven't even started on the upper shelves," Willow said.

"I thought I'd stay this evening."

"Not alone?"

"No. Spike and Gang Long are coming by."

***

Chapter 6 - Maneuver and engagement.

Giles, Spike and Gang Long looked up abruptly.

Three men with oriental features had appeared in the shop. Two of them were dressed the same: tan tunic and bloused black pants, tied tight to the leg from knee to foot. On their heads they wore metal and leather caps; on their hands, metal and leather gloves. They reminded Spike of the terra cotta warriors from the First Emperor's grave and also some of Berengar's older aides. One carried a pair of unsheathed swords and the other, a spear hung with red tassels. The one in front, who had spoken, the oldest to Spike's eyes, was dressed in layers of multi-colored robes and carried only a long rectangle of what appeared to be carved ivory. His hair was pulled up in a bun surrounded by a strange and delicate crown on the top of his head.

Gang Long looked at them all, then bowed to the man in front.

The man bowed back, and spoke briefly in what Giles assumed was Chinese, ending with: "But let us speak English. What you are searching for is in there." He gestured to the trap door, now standing open in the section of the store off to the right of the main entrance.

"Bloody hell!" Spike said. "I didn't check the basement, the night Anya was hit. Barzilai was here, with the trap shut, and I didn't go down."

"Shall we now?" the man said, leading the way.

Giles, Gang Long and Spike followed. The two guards followed them.

"That cabinet," the man indicated a cupboard on the opposite wall from the stairs.

Giles opened the cabinet. There were old paint cans, empty turpentine tins, and dried brushes. He shook the cans and the third one rattled, in a sort of muffled way. He brought it out, and using a screwdriver, opened it. He removed a package, wrapped in rice paper and tied with red silk cord. He looked up.

"Open it," the man said.

As Giles unwrapped the object, Gang Long's face changed. Spike thought if the boy had had his dragon ears, they would have slowly stood up. Inside the rice paper was quilted red silk. Inside the quilted red silk was quilted gold silk. Inside the quilted gold silk was a small, glowing peach..

"This?" Giles asked

"Tell him," the man told the dragon.

"It's a peach from the orchard of Xiwangmu."

"Ah?"

"It confers immortality."

"Ah. And I assume it is stolen?"

"Yes," the unknown man said. "But don't worry about that. I'm not here to reclaim it. Xiwangmu does not pursue thieves, they amuse her more often than not. You may proceed with the auction tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Ten o'clock tonight. Let me congratulate you on your preparations. Barzilai will attempt to cheat. The silk wrapping are magic insulators. Inside them, the peach is nearly undetectable and relatively safe."

Giles nodded, and rewrapped the peach.

"Your grandmother," the man told Gang Long, "was concerned for your safety. Now, I can reassure her and tell her you are fortunate in your friends." He and his guards disappeared.

"Your grandmother's orchard?" Spike asked.

"No," Gang Long said "Xiwangmu lets us play there, though."

"Did you know him?" Giles asked, absently.

"I know he's a zhenren, an immortal," Gang Long answered. "Probably one of the gardeners."

"You're tempted," Spike said softly.

Giles looked up from the wrapped peach: "Since coming to Sunnydale, I've become very aware of my mortality. Apocalypses, demons, freeways, children with guns; here, death is always close at hand. If you were human, now, after being immortal, would you eat it?"

"I'm glad I don't have to decide that," Spike said.

"And if I eat it," Giles said quietly, "I will almost certainly be alive to watch Dawn die, too." He smiled at the two immortals. "I am not that tempted."

***

"You humans take life and death seriously."

"Well, yeah."

"Is that why you were angry with Jingwu and me?"

"Yeah," Spike said. "You're alive, Buffy isn't, and you don't care."

"That's true, but that doesn't mean what you think."

***

"Did he even bother to tell you how many buyers are coming?" Giles said into the phone.

"No, he didn't," Anya said. She was clearly annoyed with Barzilai. "He did say, forty chairs and refreshments, so it can't be more than that. "

"No," Giles said firmly. "No refreshments. No one who knows him will eat or drink anything while he's around, certainly not any of us, and I see no reason to offer him food or drink. Chairs only. Oh, and clear away the breakable items, please, Anya."

"Like me and Xander?"

"I'm afraid we humans must take our chances." Giles rang off.

At the Magic Box, Anya started looking up rental agencies.

***

At the Summers house on Ravello, Giles was facing another annoyed female. "No," he said.

"I want to watch," Dawn said.

"The buyers, according to Barzilai, are powerful magicians or people rich enough to hire powerful magicians or powerful representatives. We assume at least two of them are evil: Kallis and whoever is coming from Wolfram and Hart. All of them are dangerous. If they notice you, you may be of interest to them. We don't want that."

"Barzilai saw me and he didn't notice anything. Glory didn't notice anything until after Ben told on me."

"Glory was an idiot," Spike said. "And that smarmy fop has all the acumen of a sponge."

"You're just jealous because he dresses better than you do."

"He does not dress better than I do, he just dresses in a different style. Our point is, not everyone is an idiot. Ann knew what you were as soon as you arrived here. Other people may be equally discerning."

"Dawn," Giles said: "You will go to Ann's and stay there. Xander and Anya will join you before the auction."

"You can't make me."

Frustrated, Giles looked around.

"I can," Willow said. "And I will."

"Spike won't let you."

"Wrong," Spike said. "I'll help her. Until you can defend yourself, you do what we think you need to do to be safe. When you're as good a Witch as Willow is, you can do what Willow does. Until then, you go to Ann's for safe keeping."

"And don't try to play one of us off against the others, Dawn," Giles said. "You know we all love you and now you know that won't work, so don't give Xander and Anya a hard time."

"Oh, all right." Dawn stomped upstairs.

"So she'll think of something else," Spike said.

"She's a normal teenager," Willow said. "Limits must be established by us and pushed at by her. That's the human way; and it's really a pain, at least on this side of the process. Actually," she said after a moment's consideration, "it wasn't that much fun when I was the teenager, either."

"I never realized how very brave parents were," Giles said.

"At least the ones who do it twice," Spike said. "The first time is usually just hormones."

Dawn came back downstairs, carrying her pack and an overnight bag. "Let's go." She, Willow and Spike, who picked up his blanket on the way, went out.

***

Spike walked in the front door of the shop. Xander and Anya were there, arranging rows of chairs in the lower level.

Glass cabinets had been moved back, the old wooden table and chairs removed, and Giles was experimenting with the lighting.

Spike needlessly checked the trap to the basement, making sure it was operable. "Looks good," he said.

"We have exactly forty chairs," Anya said. "I hope the visiting nasties realize we didn't have anything to do with the invitations."

Giles came over. "Time for you two to go."

"Yeah," Xander said.

Spike pulled out the keys to the Viper. Giving them a lingering look, he handed them to Xander.

"Hey," Xander said.

"Be careful, OK, Harris? And not just of the car."

"You too," Xander said and he and Anya left.

"The other cars?" Giles asked.

"Already out of the way at Ann's. If Barzilai tries to run with the peach, the cars won't confuse any pursuers. Tara, Filis and Thierry are using the rental Honda, which is just a car. They'll be here soon. They're swinging up and around and picking up Willow."

"Why didn't she come with you?"

"Beroule and Willow are making up these," Spike lifted an amulet, resembling a black lace mitten flattened on top of a pressed green frog, on a silk cord, from under his shirt, "which should protect us from the death curse Kallis used on the Garza, but probably not from some other form of curse. It's the best they could do."

***

Willow arrived with Tara, Filis and Thierry.

"Are we ready?" she asked, handing Giles his amulet.

"Like we have a choice?" Spike said.

"The only one I like--running away, screaming or silent, I don't care--isn't an option, so, no." Willow was nervously playing with a ping pong ball.

"Is there anything we can do right now that we have left undone?" he asked, more seriously.

"No."

"Then stop worrying."

"Oh, sure," Willow said, but she managed a smile.

Right after that, the buyers started arriving.

***

Spike was swamped by the expensive tailoring. He lost track of the Armani, the Pal Zileri, the Dolce & Gabbana. He realized he didn't know the names of the ones he liked best, and he stopped paying attention just as Giles was handling a scene:

"Your auction number," Giles said firmly, "is the cardinal of your arrival order. The fifth to arrive is number 5. The seventeenth is 17. That is all it means."

"I should outrank Riza."

"This is not the office of Unicorn Pursuivant at the Court of St. James or even the protocol section of the American State Department. We are not concerned with precedence. For this auction, you are number 23. Use it or get out."

"You're holding up the line, Cireen. You heard the man, use it or get out," number 24, a short copper skinned woman, with masses of straight black hair in an elaborate chignon, said.

"Good lord," Giles said softly to Spike. "They make Dawn appear mature."

"And if you back down at all, they'll walk all over you," Spike said.

Many of the buyers seemed to know each other and Spike caught fragments of many conversations:

"No, they're still together--conjoined at the hip, remember?"

"I thought they fixed that."

Kallis arrived. He proved to be a tall fleshy man with a high color and receding white hair. His full round face was cheerful, with a dimple in his chin; his hands and feet were small for his height. He wore a fine wool suit, pin stripped, and a checked tie. He announced his name, accepted his number and sat down, all with a quiet smile. He was number 34.

"...apparently she forgot the third term and the demon walked right out of the circle and ate her."

Number 35 and 36 kept the line waiting while they exchanged elaborate and extended verbal courtesies complete with ballet-like flourishes. At least Spike assumed they were exchanging courtesies, but since the conversation was not in English, Latin, French or German, he didn't understand a word.

"...inverted himself instead and of course he starved to death before he..."

The representative from Wolfram and Hart was Lilah Morgan. She was a very nice package, Spike thought, tall, young, with very beautiful hands, a lovely long neck, a full bust, glowing skin, and cold eyes. She wanted to bring her bodyguards in and was glaring at Giles as he insisted that they wait for her outside. No one supported her, and eventually she gave way.

"...so while he was looking for the proper dagger, the sacrifice stole the ritual candlesticks and escaped."

What did surprise Spike, good mid-Victorian male that he had been, was the number of women who attended by themselves. While he had been wrapped up in being a vampire, a substantial fraction of the world's wealth had shifted into female hands. Interesting, but not appealing, he thought, dodging a speculative and assessing gaze from a human female who looked as if she were older than Darla.

"...since they couldn't decide who got custody of the children, they're still together."

"Better him than them, I suppose."

Barzilai was the last to arrive. He wore his caramel colored ensemble again and looked more out of place than he had at the Cottonwood Creek Casino. He shut the front door and walked up to the lectern Giles had located somewhere.

"Thank you for coming. The official wire transfer destination is: 108854-38196073 @ www.banqueprivédeseyschelles.com. We will start in just a moment." Barzilai pulled up the trap door and descended into the basement. Giles, Spike, Tara and Willow, Filis and Thierry followed him. He looked up, but was reassured when the others formed a horseshoe around him and waited expectantly.

He smiled and opened the paint cabinet. Taking the third can from the right, he opened it and removed the neatly retied rice paper package. Slowly, teasingly, watching their faces, he unwrapped it, discarding the paper, the red silk and then the yellow silk, revealing the crystal phone Ann had given Spike. The watching horseshoe smiled. Barzilai frowned at them, then looked down. His face fell. "What?" he asked. He dropped the phone and started to bring his hands up.

Upstairs, the buyers sensed the sudden appearance of a magical artifact. A few soft murmurs were all the response they gave.

In the basement, Giles and the others surged over Barzilai.

Thierry wrapped his arms around Barzilai from the back, preventing any wide movements the man might have tried to make. As Spike squeezed Barzilai's right hand, Barzilai's left hand eluded Giles and scrabbled at his chest. Giles made a second grab and was successful in immobilizing Barzilai's remaining free hand. Willow stepped forward and stuck the ping pong ball in Barzilai's mouth, and Filis wrapped the adhesive tape she carried around his head, holding the ball in place.

Tara came up beside Willow and they chanted, sending Barzilai into a deep sleep.

Everyone took a breath, except Spike.

"What was he after? Around his neck?" Spike asked.

Willow felt under the turtleneck sweater. She pulled a cord over the unconscious man's head and removed a rectangular piece of silver colored metal. "Hmm." She looked at the characters engraved on both sides of it and frowned.

"What is it?"

"I think it's a charm to do sort of what I did to Glory those times, only more so. The molasses spell? I don't think anyone here could move after he activated this little thing."

"He should have a counter agent," Tara said.

"His rings," Filis said, holding one hand over her eye.

"This one," Willow said, indicating a yellow gold ring set with a ruby. "Sort of a freedom enhancer, a passport." She removed it, then all Barzilai's other rings.

Giles offered the quilted red silk, and Willow wrapped up the rings in it. The necklace and the passport ring, she wrapped in the yellow silk.

"Check his pockets, Spike," Willow said.

Spike emptied all the pockets into a wooden box that Tara opened for him.

"So he was going to sell the peach, let the money go to his account, severely slow the buyers, retake the peach, and leave? Was that his plan?" Giles asked.

"He has a very powerful supplier, or at any rate a supplier of very powerful artifacts. If he's used this one, I think he could have gotten away. Not us, of course, just him," Willow said, looking over the contents of the box before placing the red silk in it. "What a weird mix. Some are gawds, some are powerful."

Filis looked at the box. "I think they're all from different makers."

Willow closed the box, and murmured to it, sealing it.

"Good," Filis said.

"What about the money?" Giles asked.

"I don't know and I don't care," Willow said, putting the yellow silk in her pocket. "Let's get this over with, and get him out of our lives. He's relatively harmless at the moment, as long as I have all his charms."

"Chains," Tara said. "Just in case."

"Here," Thierry said, offering her the restraints.

Spike took the crystal phone and called Gang Long.

***

Chapter 7 - Money and Manners

Filis and Spike handed out the cards with the corrected account number and returned to the upper lever.

"Agnes Polias, of Polias and Coronis, is managing the escrow account and she will inform us when the winning bid has been received and only then will the buyer take possession of the item."

There were quiet murmurs from the crowd at the mention of the law firm.

Giles continued: "The item is, of course, a peach from the orchard of Xiwangmu, and the opening bid, after inspection of the offering, will be $10,000,000. The minimum increase is also $10,000,000."

Gang Long ported into the shop and, suspended in mid air in dragon form, displayed the peach.

Some of the buyers looked at the peach through glasses, others just gave it a quick glance and nodded. Some, like Filis, closed one eye to look at it. Giles waited a very brief moment--after all, these people knew what they were trying to buy--then continued:

"Who will start?"

Number 14 waved his finger.

"I have ten million."

Buyers 23, followed immediately by 39, signaled bids

"Thirty million."

Filis, Thierry, Willow and Tara stood off to one side of Giles on the upper level. They were watching the buyers.

"There," Filis said. "Second row, third from left."

"Got him," Willow said.

The man caught his breath and glared up at the Witches and the Alves.

Giles banged the large bell and glared back. "None of that." He paused a moment, then said, "We are at $110,000,000. Any advance on $110,000,000?"

"What was he doing?" Thierry asked.

"Don't really know, but it was aimed at the woman ahead and to his right."

"Two hundred million."

"Ow! I object. Your Witches are harassing me!" Buyer 11 jumped up and said.

"You asked for it," Buyer 3 said.

"Quiet," Buyer 34 said.

"Now," Buyer 24 agreed.

"The Witches are keeping order. We will proceed more smoothly if these petty attacks on each other cease," Giles frowned down at Buyer 11, who sat down and sulked. "We are at $440,000,000. Have I a bid?"

Buyer 34 wiggled one finger.

"Four hundred fifty million dollars."

***

The crystal sphere binged. Giles picked it up and Nancy Polias's voice gave the code word.

"Thank you," Giles said. He turned to Lilah: "Miss Morgan, the peach is yours."

Lilah smiled at him, walked over to Gang Long, who extended the peach to her. As she touched it, the long, the peach and the lawyer disappeared from the shop, leaving behind a draconian giggle, abruptly cut off, and then a complete silence.

Giles broke it. "Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our auction. Please use either exit and good evening to you all."

Spike opened the front door, while Thierry opened the back. They rejoined the others.

The silence grew tense, then Kallis laughed shortly and rose. He glanced over at Willow, Tara, Thierry and Filis, then surveyed Spike and Giles. He nodded once, then went out.

"What did that mean?" Spike asked Giles.

"I have no idea and I dare say this naked, defenseless feeling, as if we were suddenly and mistakenly featured on America's Most Wanted, will pass in time."

Slowly, the remaining thirty-eight buyers departed.

Giles looked over the mess of chairs, shrugged and said, "We'll deal with this in the morning."

Gang Long ported into the shop and shifted to human form. "That woman gives me the chills," he said. "And she didn't have any sense of humor."

"Well, Wolfram and Hart, I mean, evil and everything," Tara said. "Too bad they bought it."

"It could have been worse," Willow said. "We might have had to sell it to Bill Gates."

"Where did you take her?" Giles asked.

"Her office, actually just outside their building. I don't want them to know we can get in."

"Good idea," said Spike. "What about her bodyguards and car?"

"I waited until she called them back to Los Angeles to let go."

"Good, very good, in fact," Giles said. "They looked more like thugs than magicians, but I still don't want them annoyed with us."

"Right. Now," Spike said. "Let's get rid of Barzilai." He and Thierry went down to the basement, where Barzilai still slept. Thierry took the head and Spike carried the feet.

Up in the shop, they sat Barzilai more or less upright in a chair. Willow held one of Claire's smelling salt bottles under his nose. He snapped into full consciousness."

"Release me!"

"Oh, we will. But I'm sure you want to know how to get your money."

"What?"

"The auction's over," Spike said. "The peach is with its new owner, and all that's left to do is to tell you how to get your money and to throw you out of here."

Barzilai looked around at the empty shop. "Hell take all meddling mortals! Where's my money! Do you know how long it took to arrange all the accounts and choreograph the transactions! The winning bid should have hit the first account, then immediately start a cascade of transactions into ten different banks in ten different countries, and that was just the first movement.. No one could have traced that money! Now the peach is gone and all I've got is the base price!"

Tara removed the chains. Barzilai ostentatiously rubbed his wrists, then felt his chest. He glanced down, and noticed his bare hands. "You've robbed me!"

"Oh, be quiet," Willow said, waving one hand at him. "We've made you an honest thief, that's all. Now we want you to go away. You can have everything back but the slow-down charm. I don't think you can be trusted with that, you're inclined to misuse things. Tara, the box."

Tara handed him the box with his rings and other charms inside.

"This will open in three days. Be elsewhere when that happens," Willow said.

Barzilai gestured widely.

Willow relented and waved her hand at him again.

"Softy," Spike murmured.

"And my money?"

Giles smiled as he handed Barzilai Nancy's card.

Barzilai read:

"They are our lawyers," Tara said.

"Oh, hell," he said, deflating slightly.

"Ms. Polias is the stake holder. She expects you in her office tomorrow to arrange to transfer your money from the escrow account."

"So who bought it?"

"Lilah Morgan, representing Wolfram and Hart."

"How much?"

"Seven hundred eighty million dollars."

"That's all? Oh, well. Next season, I won't try using humans, I'll handle the sale myself." Without any further farewell, Barzilai left.

Gang Long frowned.

Giles locked the front door after the soi-disant sorcerer. "You were going to say something?" he asked Gang Long.

"Well, I was going to tell him that the guards at the orchard know who he is, but I decided to let him discover that for himself."

"Yes," Willow said. "No thanks, no apology, no good luck? The man's a no class slob. If you still have relatives there, Gang Long, I hope they eat him."

"They probably will. Let's go home," the dragon said. "Let's have a party. We'll swim."

"It's safe to eat and drink. We can have tea," Giles said.

"And we won't be interrupted--"

"--by slimeball thieves," Tara finished Willow's thought.

"And we can relax a little," Thierry told Filis.

"I'll move us," Gang Long said.

"Let me get the lights," Giles said.

"And the back door," Spike said, going.

"Ready?" Gang Long asked, and the dark interior of the Magic Box faded out and the torch-lit north terrace at Ann's house grew solid around them.

Spike looked around: Harris was fussing with a charcoal fire in a small grill and listening to Anya talk to Beroule. Gaufré was just coming out of the kitchen door with toasting forks, marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars. Dawn was splashing in the pool with the cubs; Gang Long shifted to dragon and joined them. Willow and Tara headed for the downstairs bathroom, where the spare suits were kept. Giles went and sat down with Beroule and Anya, apparently telling them how the evening had gone. Filis and Thierry separated and started to walk around the grounds, just checking. Either upstairs or at the Rosenberg home, Siride and Lian were probably sleeping, ready to go on early shift. People he loved, people he could work with. Not the life he'd hoped to have before he became a vampire, but far better than what he'd been able to imagine almost any time after that.

He headed off to the kitchen, to put the kettle on.

"Yes. They called me in again," Frank Paterson said.

"You have news, too? Our news is rather frustrating, I'm afraid."

"Mine is just mysterious," Frank said. "You first."

"We know how and why the people on the ship died, and probably who killed them, and we can never prove any of it," Spike said. Succinctly, he related what had occurred from Barzilai's first visit to them in the shop to the auction the night before. "And everyone left," Spike ended.

"Not the most just ending," Giles said. "But not one we were capable of altering. Why did the Sunnydale police call you back?"

"There's this statue, down by the docks where La Garza had been. It appeared last night, between midnight and one. They're patrolling more frequently down there, and it was noticed at once." Frank took photographs from a brown envelope and spread them on the table.

"Kallis," Spike said.

"Who?" Xander asked.

"Kallis, indeed," Giles said.

"According to Barzilai, who's not the most trustworthy source, Kallis cast the death curse on the ship," Spike said.

"Barzilai also said a lot of powerful people watched Kallis," Giles said.

"You think some one from last night did this?" Spike asked.

"The timing is not impossible," Giles said. "Everyone was gone by midnight."

"Is that writing?" Willow asked, looking at the plinth under the stone feet.

"It's old Chinese," Frank said. "They're trying to get it translated.

"By the will of Heaven," Gang Long read.

"The immortal wasn't just a gardener, then?" Spike asked the long.

"He did say he didn't come to reclaim the peach," Gang Long said. "But he was here, which means he was here for something else."

"And I can't see Kallis amusing anyone," Giles said.

"What are they going to do with the statue?" Willow asked. "Ann always says: someone always know the release word, I mean I let Spike loose."

"So?" Spike asked. "You did that on purpose."

"Someone may want Kallis back. The statue should be dumped in the Monterey trench, at least."

Frank looked at the Witch. "Someone may have thought of that. When they tried to pick the statue up with a fork lift, it turned to sand, and a freak wind blew it all into the sea."

"That would work," Willow said.

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