Watcher, Vampire, Slayer, Witch

Chapter 1: Somebody's Watching Over Me

"Buffy..."

"No!"

"I'm sorry, Buffy, but you should wake up."

Buffy's eyes opened. Ann Grove stood at the foot of her bed. "How did you get in here?"

"Bear in mind that I am not a vampire. I can usually get in wherever I wish, without waiting to be invited, if I consider the matter sufficiently urgent."

Buffy turned to the clock. "It's 6:15 in the morning," she said. She sat up and glared at Ann, partly for waking her up so early and partly for looking as if she had just spent three hours with a pair of stylists and had selected her clothes from a complete Armani inventory for the past fifteen years. Today Ann wore a grey pant suit and a green shirt. "Ferragamos, too, I bet," she muttered, running both hands back over her hair. "What matter?"

"Spike's back."

"Oh," Buffy said. "All right. Say, when did you and Giles get back? I didn't expect you until later today."

"Yesterday, even earlier than this, about 3:00. Rupert decided five concerts in six days was enough. Would you like a wake-up drink?"

"One of your productions? Sure."

Ann handed her a tall glass, filled with pale pink opaque fluid that fizzed gently as Buffy took it.

It tasted faintly of strawberries and orange juice, and it bubbled. Drinking it, Buffy thought, was perhaps like standing in one of those things they always had at any science museum--the thing that worked from your feet up or your arm in and frizzed your hair out like a chrysanthemum, although in this case it was from your stomach out.

"So what does Spike want?"

"I'm not sure what he wants in exchange, but he wants to tell you and Rupert that you are both in danger."

"So? We always are."

"I'd rather you heard it from him. Is Finn here?"

"No, he went home early," Buffy said.

"Do you mind if we pick him up?"

Ann was occasionally far too perceptive, Buffy thought. "No, that would be all right," she said.

"I'll go get him while you dress.

"Ann, are Giles and I in immediate danger?"

"I think we have an advantage we may lose if we delay, which is why 6:15 in the morning rather than any time later. Meet you downstairs," Ann said, and blinked out.

>>>|||<<<

Ann moved Buffy and Riley directly to her foyer, where Spike had once been a lamp. Giles was waiting for them. "I thought we might manage to listen to Spike while we have breakfast, unless there are any objections," Ann said.

"Fine," Buffy said.

"We're using the small north room, down the hall. I'll get Spike." She went up the stairs and turned left at the top.

Buffy and Riley followed Giles down the hall and into what had been a small sitting room and kitchen-office where Ann had a huge collection of cookbooks. The bookcases were still there but the desk and the sofa and arm chairs had vanished. Now, the room held a table and five side chairs. The three windows looked out at a curtain of plants in baskets hanging from a lath-house awning that had not been there last week.

Ann came in with Spike behind her. He looked different, then Buffy realized he was nervous. His gaze flitted over the newcomers, but never settled on anyone, moving from them to the door and the windows, then back to the humans. On the other hand, his clothes, although worn too long, were of a quality he had not had before. Except for being tense and jittery, Spike looked better than ever.

"Buffy, if you take the far end, with Finn beside you, Rupert can sit between him and Spike, across from me," Ann said.

Which at least, Buffy silently agreed, kept Riley and Spike apart. She moved to the head of the table and sat. As Ann sat in the center of the long side on Buffy's left, juice and blood appeared on the table and everyone else took their places.

>>>|||<<<

"Look," Spike said, putting down his empty coffee cup, "can I start? She"--obviously Ann--"says she wants you to hear it all."

"Go ahead," Giles said.

"Just don't interrupt. There's a lot to tell and I want to get it in the right order the first time.

"OK," Spike continued. "A while back I acquired this fine car."

Well, Buffy thought, that was one way of putting it. The police jargon would probably be something like grand theft auto. She saw that Ann had a wry smile, and wondered again why Ann had not reported the theft.

"I wanted a vacation from Sunnydale, so I got on the freeway and headed north. Drove as far as San Francisco that night, and found out Ann there had witched the Viper."

Oh, Buffy realized. The Viper was like Giles's BMW. If anyone had connected the changes in either car with Ann, she would have had some awkward moments, at the very least.

"She's put in some features which made my trip easier. An ever-filled picnic basket, a trunk that holds any amount of luggage, the greatest mileage I've ever heard of, and best of all, a wallet with ID and credit cards. Life's a lot less fraught when you can use the service economy up front. I rented a medium suite, went shopping at North Beach Leather, prowled around a bit, then decided to head north again.

"That was how I spent the next two months or so, heading north off and on, staying in fine hotels, shopping, whatever. Eventually, I ended up in Seattle, which is far too wet, and decided to come home.

"I got here three days ago, at dusk. Looked around, checked who was where, what was on at the Bronze, Willies, then crashed. And the same the next night.

"Last night, things got complicated. Outside your house, Summers, I found someone else watching."

"My house?" Buffy, giving way to her growing impatience. "What were you doing outside my house?"

"Trying to guess what sort of mood you were in. A grumpy Slayer is a vicious Slayer, we vampires always say. Don't interrupt. Where was I? Right, the lurker. Well, he was something new, so I followed him. I like to know what's going on where I live, after all. He joined up with a bunch of guys just like him. Older in general than the Soldier Boy's group, subtler, too, and much better dressed. They were armed with crossbows and cameras, more cameras than crossbows.

"There were six or seven of them . Unfortunately, I was a tad overeager. They caught me, grabbed me, enough of them so the fact that I couldn't hit them wasn't noticeable. I was stuck.

"One of them put a torch on me. I had instant fans, or at least star recognition. 'William the Bloody,' they all cried. Then they aimed the crossbows at me. One of them tugged another by the sleeve and whispered. The second guy started to shake his head, then frowned over my way. Pretty soon, all but one or two of them were in a scrum, whispering, shifting around and occasionally sticking a pale face up out of the huddle to look me over again.

"Eventually, one of them came over and put this story in front of me: They'd been hired by some kin of someone whom Buffy killed a few years ago. They were supposed to kill her."

"These guys were human?" Riley asked. "You said you couldn't hit them."

"Interruptions just drag this out," Spike snapped, very much up to his normal levels of unfriendliness, "and I'm tired."

"Why haven't they tried to kill me?" Buffy asked.

Spike looked down the table at her. She could see him get his temper under control. "I told you this was complicated. They have a bit of a scheduling problem. They're supposed to kill Giles first, and apparently he's been hard to find recently."

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"They didn't say," Spike said. "But it seems that's absolutely the only way they can work this."

"We've been away," Giles said.

"Which I think is very much to our advantage," Ann Grove said in her low voice. "Let Spike tell the rest, though, Rupert."

"But that story is nonsense," Giles said.

"I wasn't in a position to indulge my wit in literary criticism, however valid, you know," Spike growled. "There were usually three crossbows on me, if not more, depending on how the scrum was going. So I said yes, sure I'll kill her, if the price was right."

"So what am I worth, Spike?" Buffy asked.

"I got them up from their original bid. Fifty thousand dollars, half up front."

"Fifty thousand?"

"They would have agreed to any price, but don't get a swelled head, Slayer, they have no intention of letting me have anything. Once they caught me, I had damn all chance of getting out of there alive. If I didn't agree to kill you, twang, crossbow bolt in the heart right then. I show up with your corpse later, and I just get staked. They find out I've got this chip in my head, and can't kill anyone, I'm dead, anytime. I run, they track me down and kill me. I bargained them up because I would have done that if I could and would kill you, and I wanted them to believe they bought me."

"Did they give you half?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, also pictures and maps. Cell phone, even, when I said the crypt I had taken over didn't have phone lines."

"Show us the money," Giles said.

"Hey! It's mine."

"Spike, maps of Sunnydale and even photos of Buffy are relatively easy to obtain. Twenty-five thousand dollars is somewhat more difficult. Show us the money, because if you don't have it, you're lying," Giles said.

"Here," Spike said, tossing out a clip of hundreds and three pictures of Buffy.

Buffy picked up the money and flipped through it. "Twenty-five hundred, Spike. Where's the rest?"

"In the picnic basket, in the Viper."

Ann Grove snapped her fingers. A picnic basket, a very nice picnic basket, just what Ann might have in the trunk of her own car, with padded leather handles and a mahogany lid with shiny brass hardware, appeared in front of Buffy. She opened it and inspected the contents. She saw cans of what looked like single servings of tomato juice but which proved to be Cambells Vat Grown Bloody Mary Mixer, type A negative, two small unlabeled bottles of what seemed to be champagne--already cold; two brands of vodka she had never heard of--ditto; small cheeses, foil pouches of smoked salmon and turkey, packets of crackers, four or five different pots of pâté, two tall glasses and two champagne flutes; and in the lid, elegant horn-handled table ware, linen napkins, and graceful translucent white plates. Loose in the bottom she found and removed four packets of hundred dollar bills and another twenty-five hundred in loose hundreds.

"The money checks," Buffy said. She tossed the money back in the basket, Ann Grove snapped her fingers again and the basket disappeared Spike started to put the first fold of bills and the pictures of Buffy back in his pocket.

"Give me those," Buffy said. Spike passed her the pictures. "Week before last; I got that sweater week before last; but this one, Mom took this one, about four months ago. How'd they get it?"

"They didn't say," Spike said. "Look, there's just a little bit more, and then I'm going to bed. Listen or not, I don't care."

"Go ahead, Spike," Ann Grove said.

"You were a much more professional audience," Spike complained to her.

Buffy felt Riley stiffen at the implied insult. He stayed silent, however, and she controlled herself and prepared to pay attention to Spike.

"What was really interesting about these guys wasn't what they said, so much, as the vocabulary they used. They talked just like us, I mean exactly like us, with two exceptions, which I'll get to in a second. Now, I'm a vampire, and a lot of people know that. Summers is the Slayer, and a lot of people know that, too. A lot of people even know that Rupert, here, is a Watcher. Summers has killed a lot of people, some of whom may have left survivors, sure, but anyone who just knows her could have reasons for wanting her dead; and as for Rupert, who knows what can come up from his vivid and varied past? But I can think of only one group who might want you both dead, who knows who and what we all are, and who might call one of you a 'traitor Watcher,' and the other, a 'renegade Slayer.' Which is what they did."

Chapter 2: Somebody's Trying to Kill Us (again)

"The Council," Giles said. He looked as appalled as Buffy felt. Obviously, he didn't want to believe it, but apparently it sounded right to him, too. On the other hand, Buffy thought, Spike was telling this story and Spike lied more than a little.

"What did you do next?" she asked.

"I got back in the car. Not wanting to be followed, I headed west on the freeway as far as Northwoods. I switched to local roads, went around to Sylvandale, and came here from there."

"No human can track that car," Ann said.

"I didn't know that then," Spike said. "I got here, sometime before 4:00, used the remote on the garage door, closed it after me, then waited until Ann woke up. She invited me in, she listened--without interruptions, let me add--then she took my car keys, my credit cards, and the cell phone and told me to stay in a room upstairs, which I did, while she went to get all you, which she did. That's it."

"Why come here, to Ann?" Giles asked.

"You weren't supposed to be around, Buffy was being watched, I don't know where Willow and her girlfriend are living, and the boy toy there wouldn't listen to me, even if he didn't just stake me first."

"Why not leave town and write me a letter?" Buffy asked.

"Like your mail's safe?" Spike jeered. "And that wouldn't solve my problem, would it? The new bunch didn't mention Ann at all, maybe they don't know she exists. She's powerful, she could turn them all into statues if she wanted. She has this comfortable fortress and she's sleeping with your Watcher, so maybe she's interested in helping you stop the new complications, whoever they may be."

"Which would pull your balls out of the grinder," Riley said.

"Yes, it would save my life. Mine, the Slayer's, Rupert's, the little redhead's, maybe the little redhead's girlfriend's and maybe yours, too, Soldier Boy. Because if the rest of the Watchers are fanatical enough to want to kill Buffy, I don't think anyone around her is safe--family, friends, groupies, not-so-innocent bystanders and of course, any totally innocent vampires the Slayer hasn't gotten around to killing herself yet."

"And you wouldn't even have to give back the money," Buffy said.

"Well, that too."

There was silence at the table for some moments, while Buffy and the others thought and Spike drank another glass of blood. Finally, Giles said, "Spike, we want to talk alone for a while."

"I'm going to shower and take a nap. Hey, I need some clothes."

Ann stared at him. "You've charged clothes from David Lawrence, Andrew Mark, Barneys New York and a lot of other places. What are you, a male, vampiric Cordelia?"

"Take that back!" Spike snapped at her. "What with one thing and another, I had to leave Portland without most of my luggage. At the very least, I need some clean socks."

Ann looked him over, then said, "There's some basics and your remaining luggage in your room. Talk to me about clothes later. Go."

Spike prowled gracefully out of the room.

"More coffee, Rupert?"

"Yes, please," Giles said. "Ann, can you tell where he's been? It's your car and you generated the credit cards."

"I have credit charges from San Francisco, on the dates he says; I have others all around the West, consistent with the trip he describes." Ann poured Giles more coffee.

"Can't you just tell if he's lying?" Buffy asked.

"No," Ann said. "Nor can I craft a truth spell at the moment which would work on him."

"Can Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Possibly. There are other things I can do, but each of them has severe drawbacks. We'll discuss them later if it proves necessary."

"He may be lying about the six or seven men," Buffy said.

"I don't think they exist in the first place," Riley said. "I can't believe humans would avenge a vampire."

Ann treated him to a cold, unpleasant regard. "I have crossed your name out of the family genealogy; go, and never darken my door again? Becoming a vampire is a tragedy, not a sin; most of the vampires you and Buffy kill are victims first and villains only later. Damn few of them become vampires deliberately."

"That's been known to happen," Buffy said.

"So I understand," Ann said. "But not frequently."

"When did you become such a defender of vampires?"

"When the Council's blanket kill policy was explained to me."

"And you disagreed, I take it," Giles said.

"Emphatically," Ann said. "I disagreed with the kill-them-all mentality and I disagreed with the idea that a soul can be lost. Damned, possibly; not lost. I disapproved of the way the Council used the Slayer and I was contemptuous of the Slayers for letting themselves be used. You and Buffy," she told Giles, "were not in the least what I expected."

"Oh?" Buffy asked, wondering who had first told Ann about the Council, the Slayers and vampires, since obviously Giles hadn't.

"No."

"She does her job," Riley said.

"Yes, she does," Ann said. "And she may have killed a vampire whose parents or siblings have not abandoned him or her. Despite your belief, such people do exist. Look at this, Finn," she said, producing a can of blood and tossing it to him. "This is produced by a co-op of mothers of children who have been changed into vampires."

"I thought you made that up for Spike?" Buffy said.

No, this is one of the things it's easier for me to buy than it is to make. This is vat grown blood, available in eight different flavors."

"And who drinks it?" Buffy took the can from Riley and read the small print.

"Mostly debutantes and polo players, who suddenly settle down and go to law school at night," Ann said.

"You're kidding!" Buffy looked up at Ann.

"No. One advantage of this brand is that it passes for tomato juice at most parties. If you run into a frat boy who won't share his bloody Mary with you, he may be drinking Cambells. Especially if he pours the dregs down the sink."

"I saw that once," Riley said. "Hell, where was that?"

"There are vampires with human kin who still acknowledge them, who still love and support them. That story is not impossible, I simply don't believe it applies to this case," Ann said.

"You believe they're from the Council," Buffy said.

"Yes," Ann said. "I think the Council is capable of anything."

"Spike may be mistaken in the surmise he has formed about their identity," Giles said.

"No," Ann said. "Assuming they exist, and he may be lying about that, we don't know yet, he may also be lying about his conclusion or he may be deceived, but he is probably not simply mistaken. He's too good with words to make a mistake like that, and we've all seen him reason out a puzzle quickly and efficiently, witness when he hit Tara on the nose to demonstrate that she is human."

"All right," Riley said. "First we find out if there are six or seven men."

>>>|||<<<

"I want to catch one, drag him here, have Willow truth spell him and go from there," Buffy said, "but I suppose a more gradual attack is a better idea."

"On the off chance that they may be government officials, and we are living here, maybe we should try identifying them first," Riley said. "Giles, if they're Watchers, will you know them?"

"Not necessarily," Giles said. "I know many other Watchers, but not all of them."

"You said one advantage, Ann," Buffy said. "What is it? That they don't know where Giles is?"

"Yes. Now, of course you have another: You're warned, and they don't know that, either. If you want to keep that edge, you have to keep them ignorant."

"I wasn't scheduled to return until tonight," Giles said. "Anya is running the store, but I haven't even told her I'm back. If I don't officially return for another day or two, what will they do?"

Ann glanced up, said, "Excuse me," and left the room.

"I wouldn't push it very far, Giles," Riley said. "We have no idea how long they've already been looking for you, but it seems to me, they're starting to lose it: Hiring Spike?"

"If they're Watchers, they will know that Spike has already killed two Slayers. They will also know Buffy kicked him out of Sunnydale when she killed Angel and that he went to South America after that. I have not submitted any reports since I was fired, so they may not know the more recent history we share with Spike. After all, he did just arrive here from Seattle, and they may think he went to Seattle from Peru or where ever it was," Giles said.

"Buffy," Riley asked. "When did you wear that new sweater? And where were those photos taken?"

"You didn't notice? I bought it at Bloomies on that Wednesday. I wore it home that afternoon, and again on Friday. Dawn borrowed it Saturday night, and it's been at the cleaners since the Monday after that. Oh, I have to pick it up."

"When this is over," Riley said.

"The thing in the background," Buffy said. "The sign. This picture was taken that Wednesday, on my way home."

"I was here till Saturday afternoon, when we left, and we got back yesterday, seven days later," Giles said.

Ann came back and sat down at the table.

"You went off their radar a week ago? They may be panicking," Riley said. "OK, if they're here, they're eating and sleeping somewhere, they're getting around somehow. We can pick them up tonight, at Buffy's or your place, Giles, for sure, but let's look for them now."

"They're getting around in a black Dodge van," Ann said. "Spike got the number, and I had a friend run it. It's a rental, out of LAX."

"Not Cordelia, was it?" Buffy asked. "It's so hard thinking of her as Nancy Drew."

"You haven't met this woman," Ann said. "She runs a detective agency in San Francisco."

"I bet Willow can find the van, she and Tara together, using that locator spell they have."

"Very likely," Ann said. "I'll go ask her." Ann blinked out.

>>>|||<<<

Ann, Willow and Tara appeared in the room. Ann glanced over the table, on which two new places appeared, one at her left hand, one at Giles's right across the table. "I invited them to breakfast." Chairs appeared, already slightly pulled back.

"Hi," Tara and Willow chorused, sitting down.

"Omelets?" Ann asked. "Or cereal?"

"Omelet, mushroom, please."

"I'd like that," Willow agreed.

"Got another Danish?" Riley asked. "And some more milk?"

"So, Giles, somebody is trying to kill you again?" Willow asked. "And you want me to help?"

"Us," Tara corrected.

"Us," Willow said, smiling at Tara.

As the Witches ate, Buffy explained.

Chapter 3: Watching Back

"Sure, the number is enough to locate it," Willow said, pushing away her plate. "Ann, can we work here or in the library?"

"The library will be more convenient," Ann said, rising and leading the way down the hall and across the foyer to her library.

Usually Buffy could appreciate Ann's library. She had more books than Giles did and they were more diverse in subject matter. The room was large, carpeted with two glowing rugs, an Ardabil and an Isfahan, Giles had said. It was divided into two sections: One was by the windows in the east and south walls, for reading, and was furnished with a sofa facing two arm chairs flanking a smaller sofa against the east windows across a large low round table. The other was a sort of work area, with a narrow tall table behind the sofa holding one of Ann's large crystal phones and another tall table against the west interior wall holding a computer set-up and a mundane phone. The curtains were closed this morning, and Spike was looking over the shelves as everyone else came in. He scowled.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked.

"Looking for a book." He had obviously showered and changed his clothes. Now he wore a linen shirt, black of course, and black leather jeans. If Ann had supplied his clothes, she had an elaborate idea of basics.

"Well, go away."

"It's not your house, Slayer, you don't say what goes here."

"I do, however," Ann said. "And I say that if the two of you want to fight or even just argue, go do it in the practice room. It's soundproofed."

Buffy flushed.

Spike scowled at Buffy again, then looked up at Ann. "Sorry, Ann."

Ann nodded at him and turned to the Witches. "Do you want a tall table, or what?"

"We can use this one," Willow said, heading for the table by the sofas.

>>>|||<<<

"Well," Willow said. "The license plate is at Buffy's house. I suppose the van is too."

"I've been thinking," Ann said. "Finn, can you drive?"

"Yes."

"Good." Ann went on to explain.

"Can you get away with all that?" Tara asked anxiously.

"Yes," Ann said. "Everything I will do is innocuous. Even if it wasn't, all the opposition will see is Buffy leaving home in the Jaguar. No one else can track that car, either. They can't follow her, they can't catch her, and with any luck, they won't bother Joyce if they think Buffy's gone from her home."

"You have a Jag?" Spike asked.

"Don't try it. Not today, Spike," Ann warned him.

"What kind of Jag?" Riley asked.

"XKR., V-8, coupe, five speed auto, midnight blue. It will be a little short on headroom for you, but I think you can manage.'

"Nice car."

"But Willow will be all right, won't she? It won't be dangerous for her?" Tara asked.

"Yes," Ann said. "Her well-being is a legitimate concern of yours, therefore of mine, too. If everything goes well, she won't be noticed; if things go wrong, she'll still be safe, since I can actively protect her."

Tara looked over at Willow, who nodded. "After all, I'm not a target and I can use the cameras, Tara."

"All right."

"Let's go look at the Saturn and introduce Finn to the Jag," Ann said. "Willow, bring the other cameras."

"Wait," Buffy said. "Send me home first, so I have time to talk to Mom."

"Darkening the windows will take, maybe twenty minutes," Ann said. "Long enough?"

"Plenty," Buffy said, and the library disappeared as Ann moved her home.

>>>|||<<<

"Oh, Mom, listen." Buffy said.

"All right, honey. You have been working too hard lately. Go off with Riley for the day and we'll see you tonight."

"I'll just change clothes," Buffy said, heading upstairs. A quick glance out her bedroom window showed Ann's Saturn parked across the street. As she watched, Ann got out of the car, walked up to the front door of the neighbor's house and went in. A moment later, Ann stood beside her. Ann grinned.

"So far, so good. Two vans, though. One facing each way. Three humans in one, four in the other. I'll try tricks A and B, the coolant leak and the flat tire, or maybe trick C, something else. It depends."

"You seem to enjoy this." Buffy tried to keep disapproval from her tone, but occasionally, Ann's light-hearted attitude reminded her unpleasantly of Faith.

"I do. This is the best part. Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The better you are at maneuver, the less slaughter you need to create to win. This is maneuver. I'm good at it, and what I do saves lives. Don't encourage your mom to see you off. Stay back from the windows and if they shoot at your head, duck." Ann winked out.

Buffy looked down at her bed. Ann had left her a kevlar vest. She managed a shaky smile, striped off her sweater and put it on. It was heavy and stiff, but strangely comforting. Looking in the mirror, the first thing she noticed was that the vest flattened her breasts like pancakes and thickened her waist. No wonder they weren't a popular accessory. She selected a loose, high necked top, and put it on over the vest.

She heard a car pull into her driveway. She picked up her big purse and went downstairs to let Riley in the front door.

He didn't linger in the doorway, but pushed her back and shut the door at once. "Hi."

"Hi." She hugged him. He wore a vest, too.

He poked her in the ribs. "Good. Ready?"

"Just a second," Buffy said. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag, hit the speed dial button for her house and went out the door.

Joyce, who had been leaving the kitchen, turned back and answered the phone.

Riley got in front of Buffy as they walked to the Jag. Standing between her and the street, he opened the passenger door, helped her in, and shut it. He got in, started the engine, turned on the CD player, and backed out of the driveway.

"Shotguns?" Buffy asked, looking between the two seats, then up at Riley.

"Well," Riley said, answering her stare, "Ann pointed out that shooting back is just fine."

The van facing the same way as the Jag abruptly died as its timing chain snapped. Two men got out and opened the hood, then stood around and wiggled wires and shoved plugs. A third man exited the van and watched the second van, which started to turn around. Its left rear tire hit the curb during the Y-turn and flattened quickly.

The Jag accelerated down the street.

"Ah, Buffy, shouldn't we make absolutely sure we're not being followed?" Riley asked.

"Well, ten minutes," Buffy glanced sideways at Riley, "or even half an hour of driving around would guarantee that we wouldn't be endangering anyone back at Ann's. But after that, we should go back."

"You should tell Giles we'll be a little late," Riley said, and headed for the freeway.

Hidden in the back seat of the Saturn, concealed by the darkly filmed windows, Willow took pictures of everyone she saw. Once, she changed disks. Eventually, Ann called on her crystal phone.

"Hi. How you doing?"

"I have everyone several times over," Willow said.

"Then we'll go," Ann said.

Ann, wearing more Armani, pants in black silk, lapel-less jacket in silver grey, V-neck top in black, appeared to exit the front door of the house her car was parked in front of, got into the Saturn, and drove off. Behind them, a tow truck arrived to deal with the disabled van, while seven men stood around arguing how to change the tire on the other.

"Can I sit up now?"

"After we go around the corner," Ann cautioned.

>>>|||<<<

Meeting the Saturn in the garage, Giles told Ann, "Riley has taken Buffy for a drive."

"Yes," Ann said. "I thought he couldn't resist that car. Don't worry, Rupert, my cars can take care of their people."

"Willow!" Tara came out of the kitchen, followed by Spike.

"They never knew I was there. Piece of cake," Willow answered Tara. "Let's get started with the computer." Followed by Giles, the two girls headed off to the library.

Chapter 4: Lessons and Dragons

"Come with me," Ann said to Spike

"Where are we going?"

"The practice room. You can't go running around loose at the moment, so if you want exercise, you do it here." Ann cut through the kitchen to a small back hall and followed it to another set of stairs, these leading down.

"Actually," Spike said, "Tara showed me how to get the Times Crossword on the computer, and I was working it."

"They're going to be using the computer. Come on," Ann insisted. At the bottom she turned to him and said, "There is someone I want you to meet. Especially since it may come to fighting."

"Why does that matter?"

"Well, he's young, and he eats demons. I want him to know you, so he doesn't kill you accidentally."

"What is he?"

"At the moment," Ann said, opening a pair of doors into a high-ceilinged, wooden floored room, "he seems to be human. Gang Long, come and meet Spike, also called William."

A boy, or maybe a young man, Spike couldn't tell his age, turned and smiled at Ann. As boy toys went, Ann's was much prettier than Buffy's. The kid was slender, and his face was composed of flat planes, hollows and sharp angles. He was wearing long loose pants, in rough black silk, gathered at the waist. He was barefoot, and taller than Spike, although he was no broader. He was Oriental in features and coloring, except his eyes, which were silver, with black flecks. He wore his hair short in a Benjamin Bratt cut. Gang Long wasn't heavily muscled, but he moved smoothly and gracefully, more like a dancer than a weight lifter, Spike thought, watching the boy walk over to them

"How old is he?" Spike asked Ann.

"About fifteen hundred years," Ann answered. "In terms of life expectancies, think of him as about three years younger than you were when you became a vampire."

Spike glanced at her. Ann seemed completely serious.

"Which would make him not human."

"Of course. Show Spike your other forms, would you, please, Gang Long?"

"Certainly, Wu Jing."

Spike made a note to ask Ann what 'Wu Jing' meant, turned back to the boy and saw instead a silver, black and crystal Chinese dragon. The dragon hung in the air in front of Spike for a moment, stuck out a startling red tongue, then shifted to a heavy, double-edged sword, with an ebony hilt and a crystal in the pommel. The boy reappeared, grinned at Spike, and disappeared entirely.

"A hologram?" Spike asked.

"I should have let him bite you," Ann said, mildly. "He's as real as you are, more real in a sense, since he doesn't need magic to keep him alive and you do. Words don't seem to be working, so let's try this," and she hit him, a quick half-hard punch to his face.

Already scared and tense, he was so startled, he hit her back, then grabbed his head.

"Ow!"

Ann laughed.

"My hand! My hand?" Spike lowered his hands from his head and stared at his left, the one that had struck Ann. It had been like hitting a steel wall. His hand hurt like hell. His head felt fine. "You're not human."

"That certainly took you long enough."

"That's why you've always invited me in, isn't it? You can't keep me out, can you? You're a demon."

"No."

"Those are the choices, luv."

"Not all of them. Neither of us is a demon. Keeping you out is easy, by the way. It's just a matter of letting the guardian lions kill you."

"What are you?" Spike asked, refusing to be diverted by the possibility of lions.

"I can't say," Ann grinned at him.

"Does Giles know?"

"Of course."

"And apparently it works for him." Spike reached up and gripped Ann's neck. It didn't work out quite as he had planned. Ann remained cool, mildly interested and totally unafraid of him, even though she knew there was nothing stopping him from attacking her now. He held her head still and kissed her.

"You're really warm. You always act so cool, I wondered if Rupert could ever warm you up, but you start out hot. I can imagine being surrounded by all that heat, all that passion. You must get tired of a steady diet of Watcher. Ever have a vampire?"

"Yes," Ann said calmly.

"What?" He had not expected that. He let her go and stepped back from her.

"Yes, I've had a vampire."

"Does Giles know that, too?"

"Of course. I don't hide anything like that from my lovers. The vampire knows about the Watcher, and they both know about the politician in Manila, who knows about both of them. They all know I'm not human."

"Who? When? It would have to have been recently, since I was the first vampire you ever spoke to."

"If you recall, Spike, the first time we met, I did not speak to you, I just turned you to stone. The one who ran away--"

"Harmony."

"--was the first vampire I spoke to. You are the first vampire I was ever introduced to, however, and the first vampire to speak to me."

Spike reached inside the collar of her shirt, pushing her chin slightly up and to her right, then changing hands and checking the right side of her neck. "And he didn't even taste you. So. Who was he? Who got you? No one around here, I bet."

"Do you really think I'd take up with a piece of rough trade from Willies? The clever ones who frequent the No Mirrors Bar in San Francisco are more to my taste. They can read and they know how to use a shower."

"The SOMA one? You go there? With their cover charge? You've learned a lot about us since you and I met. All right, so you know how good we are. Let's dance."

"You're too young."

"Hey! There are a lot of girls who say otherwise."

"How many women?"

"I'm three times Rupert's age."

"Closer to four times, but Rupert has a maturity of mind that I find enjoyable. You don't. You act and dress like a teenager; you still think of yourself as a boy. I welcome adult lovers to my bed, I do not molest children."

"I'm one hundred thirty-eight years old! Make an exception for me."

"No. Besides, you're in love with someone else."

"You can tell that?"

"You glow like a Very flare," Ann said, gently.

"Do you know who?"

"Oh, Spike, that's obvious."

"To everyone?"

"To me, at least. However, it's not my business, and I don't discuss it."

"With anyone?"

"No one but you."

"Thanks."

"One thing, Spike. If you're thinking of trying to feed on me, think again. Claire says she has no idea what my blood will do to a vampire."

"I've fed on demons."

"You can't extrapolate from that. Remember, I'm not a demon."

"What does that over-educated sadist think might happen?"

"Claire said she could make guesses involving kill, cure or craze."

"How very alliterative. Kill seems self-explanatory. What about cure?"

"Buffy's blood cured Angel of a really vile poison. I might turn you human. We don't know."

"Sod that. Craze?"

"You found a Slayer's blood to be an aphrodisiac. That's minor. There are some serious kinds of drug-induced mania."

"Oh, yeah."

"On the other hand, anytime you want a glass of my blood, I'll be glad to provide one, put you in restraints, and bring Claire down to take notes."

"No thanks," Spike managed

Ann laughed. As she was leaving the room, she said over her shoulder, "Stay and talk to Gang Long, Spike. I meant it when I said he ate demons, and I don't want him confused about you. If we go fight humans, though, both of you stay home."

"Why?"

"He won't fight humans and you can't. Play nice." Ann went upstairs.

Gang Long the boy reappeared.

"Hi."

"Hi. Have you known Ann long?"

"All my life," Gang Long said. "She was there when I was hatched."

"Has she really got lions around here, too?"

"Sure. Want to meet them?"

"Maybe later."

Chapter 5: Maneuvers

Upstairs, Ann went back to the garage to open the door for the Jaguar. Riley got out of the car, a big grin on his face.

"What a great car. And it's so quiet. We stopped off at my place for some gear I need, and we didn't disturb anyone."

"That isn't me, it came that way. It is a great car, just as it comes, and it's an easy car to perfect."

Riley opened the passenger door and Buffy got out. "Did Willow manage?" she asked.

"She's printing out the pictures now."

>>>|||<<<

"No," Giles said. "I don't recognize any of them. However, it has occurred to me that there is one other Watcher I can still talk to without compromising our edge."

"Wesley," Ann agreed. "He should still be in the office. I'll go."

"Now?"

"Yes."

Ann disappeared.

>>>|||<<<

Ann and Wesley ported into the library.

"I shall never get used to that," Wesley said.

"Good to see you, Wesley," Giles said.

"Hello, Giles. Ann says you all have a story to tell me."

>>>|||<<<

"But Spike lies a lot," Buffy ended. Spike gave her a sardonic stare. She stared coolly back.

"The physical evidence we have so far is consistent with his story," Ann said mildly, ignoring the by-play.

"And I must agree with his conclusion," Wesley said. "These men are Watchers. They were all around the Center when I was receiving my final briefings, just before I arrived here. Payton-Jones, Richardson...," Wesley named all seven men.

"Why?" Buffy asked. "Why are they after me and Giles after all this time? Why not just continue to ignore us? Why are they after us at all?"

"Yeah," Riley said. "Motive is getting really confused here."

"No," Spike took pleasure in pointing out, "whatever the motive is, it's the same as it always has been. We just understand it even less well than we hoped we did." Ann gave him a grim little smile of approval.

Buffy frowned and paced around the sofa, fingering her necklace. "Why are they after us now?"

"Why Giles, then Buffy?" Tara asked.

"It's not the way I'd do it, if I were planing this," Spike said. "Killing her Watcher is almost guaranteed to piss a Slayer off, not to mention alerting her. Get rid of the Slayer first, then tidy up by offing the Watcher."

"Sounds logical to me," Riley wasn't pleased to agree with Spike, but he did.

"Switch it around," Ann said.

"Buffy, then Giles?" Tara asked.

"Oh. OK. Giles, what happens if Buffy dies? Once you're able to think about Watcher business, I mean." Willow asked.

"Nothing, now. Neither of us works for the Council any longer."

"And if we hadn't quit?" Buffy asked.

"I'd return to London and report."

"Anything else?"

"I'd be kicked upstairs, I suppose," he replied. "Just another Watcher Emeritus. No more field work, just Council meetings, training new Watchers, whatever."

"Buffy dies," Riley said, "and you get promoted? That's morbid."

"But you were going to return to England anyway, earlier this fall," Willow said. "Until you changed your mind."

"You were going to go away?" Buffy said. "You were going to bail on me? Giles! Why?"

"Well, Buffy, you did say you hadn't needed a Watcher in a long time."

"I didn't mean it like that, and anyway I said I did need a Watcher now, even if I hadn't needed one earlier."

"And I stayed."

"Who besides Willow knew about this?" Buffy asked.

"My cousin. But, he's, oh, he's not a Watcher, but his wife is. I guess it's possible that the Council knew that I was contemplating returning to my homeland, but I wouldn't have troubled them. I mean it was a profound philosophical disagreement that culminated in my firing."

"It sounds as if the opposition doesn't want you back in London, Rupert," Spike said.

"That works," Willow said. "And they're taking no chances: Buffy alive or Buffy dead; unemployed Watcher or Watcher Emeritus, they don't want you in England, which is why they kill you first, before you have a reason to return, like an election. Good. That's consistent. I like consistency."

"I use an absentee ballot," Giles said, slightly bewildered by the sudden mention of politics.

"And it works for me, too," Buffy said. "Since Spike's right, and hurting Giles really pisses me off, they're safer if I'm dead after they kill him."

"I don't know about that, Slayer. If they just shoot him in a drive by, who do you go after?" Spike asked.

"What do you mean?"

"It may not be just a matter of saving their asses," Spike said. "They may really want you dead, Buffy."

"Not everybody wants to kill me, Spike," Buffy said.

Spike shrugged, but when Buffy's attention shifted from him, he glanced over at Ann, who was, as usual, listening quietly and intently. She gave him a very slight nod.

"Something you can do in London, that they don't want you to do, that you can't do here." Riley said. "I wonder what exactly that is, but we can ask them after we catch them."

"And have we a plan for doing that?" Wesley asked.

"I think so," Riley said. "I can think of two, one using Spike, the other using Giles. Giles is more dependable, but his script is trickier, and it requires that the store phone be tapped." He elaborated on his plan. Finally he said, "So what Giles says to Anya must be believable, and precise enough to bring them where we want them. My only worry, well, one of my worries, actually, is can Anya remember to ask the right question? The one that Giles can answer in the right way?"

"No. Anya can't follow a script worth a tinker's dam," Giles said. "She improvises with great flair, but one never knows what she will say, even under normal conditions. I'm not sure she knows herself."

"I don't think that matters," Ann offered. "You never pay any attention to what Anya says, any more than she really pays attention to what you say. You called her twice from Oakland, and the one side of your conversations I heard were masterpieces of mutual incoherence. Why change now?"

"Oakland?" Spike asked. "You were in Oakland? Why Oakland?"

"Local music festival," Giles said. "Most enjoyable."

"Is the office phone tapped?" Ann directed the conversation back to a more cogent point.

"We can test that," Riley said. "I brought my gear. Who's at the store now?"

"It should be us," Willow said. "We were on for lunch duty. Anya is still there alone."

"OK. Call Anya, say something, anything. I'll get a read on the levels, and we'll see if it's tapped or not."

"Finn, let's go to Willow's house. These land lines are shielded and rather complex," Ann said.

"Something you did?"

"Some minor improvements," Ann said, vaguely.

"Willow's, then. That OK with you, Willow?"

"Sure."

"We'll be right back," Ann said. She, Willow, Riley and all his electronic gear disappeared.

>>>|||<<<

"Anya's annoyed," Willow announced. "I didn't know she knew middle High German, especially some of those words."

"But the store phone is tapped. So what we need to do now, is figure the best place for a double ambush," Riley said.

"I suggest here," Ann said. "No neighbors, no fuss."

"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver," Buffy said.

Ann grinned at her.

"Exactly," Riley said. "And if the Witches can figure out how to lock car doors, that would help a lot."

"Well," Tara said. "We do have pictures."

"We need a diagram of a lock," Willow said. "So we can see what we're doing."

"Ann probably has a book," Tara said. The Witches moved over to the shelves.

"Far end, third shelf down. Be careful on the ladder. We're running out of cars," Ann said. "Rupert and I need to arrive here in something. The opposition have seen the Jaguar and the Saturn. We can't drive the Viper, they've seen it, too. I'm out."

"The BMW is in my garage," Giles said.

"Let's assume they've seen it there," Riley said.

"You could borrow the Cobra, I suppose," Wesley said doubtfully.

"I don't want an open car. I'll just go rent a sedan or a coupe," Ann said. "I want at least two hours with it, before I trust it. I'll be back with something nice and solid." She blinked out.

"Cars," muttered Buffy softly.

"Probably a Ferrari," Spike said. "Did Ann enchant a Cobra for you, Wesley?"

"A friend of ours named Gunn has it," Wesley said.

"She does like high level cars," Giles said. "Rather surprising, in a way."

"Fun, though," Spike said. "Is this Gunn a politician?" He blandly met the quick glance Giles flashed at him.

"A former troll, I am given to understand," Wesley said. "Or more accurately, a troll in a former life."

"Buffy, let's go look at the road around the back of Ann's property," Riley said. "As private as it is down there, if we can get them there, we've got an easier job than out the front."

"Calling it a road is an exaggeration," Giles said.

"All the better."

>>>|||<<<

"Think Ann can manage a landslide?" Buffy asked.

"Probably," Riley said. "Do you have any idea what she is?"

"Giles says she's a professional protester. I think he was fooling. She says she's not a witch, but beyond that, no, I have no idea."

"Why is she in Sunnydale?"

"Looking after Tara."

"She sure seems to like Spike a lot."

"I think she's mainly interested because he's sort of helpless."

"I don't think that's it, she doesn't like me at all," Riley said.

"You're not helpless."

"If she can bring down the hill above the cut just west of her front drive, the back way is the only way up to the house. All we have to do is have Giles ask Anya if the repair crew has fixed the road at 3 Los Robles Road, because if they haven't Ann will have to use the rear entrance."

"Sounds good," Buffy said.

"And another thing about Ann: When did Spike hit Tara? I think that alone would have gotten him lightly killed."

"At the shop, when her father was here. Ann wasn't there, though, only us and Tara's family. That is strange. Maybe Tara told her."

>>>|||<<<

"Is Ann back yet?"

"She and the girls are in the garage, working on the rented car," Giles said.

"Which is?"

"A Mercedes sedan. Very suitable for long distance comfortable travel without a chauffeur."

"What are they doing?" Buffy asked.

"Something tedious about emissions. Ann's already installed bullet proofing."

Riley nodded. "Did Willow talk to you about the phone call?"

"Yes. I don't understand how she is going to route it through Oakland, but since it will involve a collect call to my own phone, I have no objections."

"You should make the call soon, when there is enough light for the opposition to come snooping around. So you call, then you and Ann disappear from here, and arrive back at the appropriate time."

"How long will it take them to set up the ambush, do you think?" Buffy asked.

"It would take you or me about 15 minutes," Riley said. "But we're going to allow them lots of time, just in case they're idiots."

>>>|||<<<

"Come in," Ann called. "We're done."

"I don't like the color," Spike said.

"One," Ann said, "I can cope with pale blue for today. Two, you leave this one alone, too. It has to go back. In fact, go away," she waved one hand at him, and he disappeared. "And stay out of the garage until I say otherwise."

"Bullet proof?" Riley asked.

"With negligible emissions and mileage that should be about 44 mpg in the city and around 56 on the freeway. I don't like the color either, but I don't want to waste energy changing it and then changing it right back, especially if I have to heal bullet holes. I have none to spare today. What did you decide?"

"Your back driveway, if you can block Los Robles Road."

"I've been meaning to deal with an incipient washout for months. I must do it before the rains come anyway, so I'll let it go now. How much time do you want to give them?" Ann's gaze rested on both Buffy and Riley.

"Riley says as much as we can," Buffy said. "In case they're slow."

"But not too much, not enough for a lot of thought, either," Riley said.

"We'll be back just before dark, then," Ann said. "Walk with me, and pick where you want some cameras. Willow and Tara can work a display spell, so if I set up a couple or three large viewers, you can keep track of what's happening."

"Which will also keep Tara inside," Buffy said.

"It's that, or send her to her aunt's," Ann replied. "I cannot take chances with her."

"Slaughter and maneuver," Buffy muttered.

"That's often the choice," Ann said, coolly.

>>>|||<<<

"Anya, I swear when I get back tonight, you're fired!" Giles slammed the phone down and glared at it.

"Powerful performance," Buffy judged.

"It overflowed with artistic verisimilitude," Spike offered.

"You chewed the scenery," Wesley said.

"And you remembered to mention the back way, so it went better than I was worried it might," Riley said. "Especially when you lapsed into Greek or whatever it was."

"Let's go, Rupert," Ann said. "Wesley, take off ahead of us. I'll bring the hill down behind us. See the rest of you later. Tara, you stay inside, with Spike and Gang Long and the guardian lions."

"Yes, Ann."

Chapter 6: Battles and Demons

Ping.

"Which camera?" Buffy asked.

"First one on the lower road," Tara said.

Willow said one last word, and one of the large crystals flickered, then steadily displayed a landscape. A black van slowly moved down the track and out of sight.

Willow brought the second camera on line.

"Not bad," Riley said. "I'd use that dip, too."

Spike raised his head and frowned. "Say, we got any chips?" he asked. No one answered, and he headed for the kitchen.

"That sharp curve will protect the second van. If they can get the Mercedes stopped in the creek bed there, they can hose the car or just use grenades."

"Are they staying?" Tara asked.

"Seem to be." Buffy peered at the second screen.

"Ann," Tara said, using Ann's crystal phone. "One of them seems to be in place."

"We're going to start back," Ann said. "I'll call you when we get to the exit."

Spike returned to the library with a bag of chips, a bowl of dip and a beer.

"This is not Wednesday night football!" Buffy said.

"It is for me," Spike said. "Ann said I should stay put and behave myself. No running around, no fighting for me tonight. Anyway, I try to hit one of those guys and one of you is sure to trip over me as I hold my head. Sorry, luv, this time you're on your own."

"We'll manage just fine," Riley said.

"Hope so, mate."

"We're off the freeway," Ann said.

"Wesley," Tara said. "Ann is in town."

"Thank you."

Ann's voice came out of the big crystal: "We've just been spotted at the stop sign. Turning south."

"One down," Wesley said.

"Come on, come on," Riley said, under his breath.

"And two. This two is different. Same kind, different number." A brief wait, then Wesley's voice came again, "Moving." A longer wait, then: "Locked."

Ping! Ping! Ping!

"Everybody's here," Willow said.

"Look here," Tara said. "The second van--it's different. It's not the one you saw this morning."

"We'll cope."

"Ann said she snapped the timing belt of one of them, which was a tedious repair when it happened to Mom's car. I suppose they rented another," Buffy said. "Let's go," she told Riley.

"Right," Riley said, pleased at the prospect of action. They left the library.

"All right," Tara said. "Let's lock the van doors; at least the first van."

Ann stopped the Mercedes and got out. She walked up to the second van, which had stopped just short of the sharp curve before the road sloped down steeply to the dry creek bed. "I'm sorry," Ann said. "I'm afraid you're trespassing. This is a private road. Can you turn around and get out?"

The driver got out and faced her. He did not shut the door, but stood with it partially hiding his side and right arm. "The main road," he gestured uphill, "is blocked."

Wesley stopped the Saturn, blocking any retreat for the second van. He got out and hurried forward, a shotgun held down by his leg.

"The main road leads only to my house. Are you coming to see me? Do I know you? Should I expect you?" Ann asked.

"Look," the second man, the man getting out of the passenger door and facing back up the track, said. "It's Wyndom-Price. We can get him, too."

The first man stepped away from the door, revealing the Uzi in his right hand. He started to point it at Ann, who took it away from him with one hand and hit him with the other. He went down. Ann moved the machine pistol away and crossed in front of the van, slamming the passenger door hard on the second man's legs and one hand.

The third man opened the back doors of the van and froze as Wesley pointed the shotgun at him.

Ann opened the passenger door and yanked the second man away from the car and forced him to the ground. Giles came up, carrying handcuffs and shackles. He chained first the unconscious driver, and then Ann's prisoner.

The two of them went to the back of the van, where Wesley waited with his prisoner.

"What did he mean, get him, too?" Ann asked the third man. "Are you after Wesley, too? Answer me."

"Yes, no; I don't know what you mean. This is illegal."

Giles chained him, and stepped back. "We don't care," he said, achieving an air of quiet menace.

"Payton-Jones, I know you," Wesley said. "Are you after me?"

"Answer him." Ann ordered.

"Yes, no; of course not." Payton-Jones was looking panicky at what was coming out of his mouth.

"Interesting." Wesley looked annoyed.

"It's going to be a long night," Giles said.

"Put them in the trunk of the Mercedes," Ann said.

"Will they all fit?" Giles looked over at Ann, then said, "Silly question, of course they will."

"Let's go," Wesley said.

Riley stopped the Jag uphill from the first van. He and Buffy got out. They could see across the small valley, and watched as first Ann, then Giles, left the Mercedes and took the second van.

In the first van, someone shattered the windshield, then kicked it free. Four men, one after the other, exited the van over the short hood, sliding down to the ground.

"Oh, bloody hell," Spike said, and left first the library and then the house.

"A-gley," Ann said.

"So it would seem," Giles agreed.

"You two stay here," Ann said and crossed the dry creek and moved toward the first van.

Buffy grabbed the first man out of the van by the collar and spun him into Riley's fist. Only one of the three men left had an Uzi. She went directly after him, breaking his gun arm with a left handed chop, and hitting him in the face with her right fist. She caught the gun before it hit the ground and tossed it back into the van. Buffy stepped back, avoiding the first man, who, hit by Riley, staggered back between her and the wounded gun man, who was sinking slowly to the ground.

Riley passed in front of Buffy, following his opponent, hitting him again. The Watcher collapsed. Riley turned back to Buffy.

One of the remaining men turned and ran back up the track. Unfortunately, he had to pass by Ann, who hit him once, then produced shackles and cuffs and chained him.

Buffy paid no attention to what was happening near the creek bed, but focused on the last man. She side-kicked him, which should have ended the fight right then.

The man just staggered. Regaining his footing, he punched her, left fist into her diaphragm, so hard it knocked her backwards.

Giles, watching Ann, saw her head jerk around as she focused on the fight around the first van.

"Demon!" she yelled, and ran after the man Buffy had been fighting.

Behind her, Wesley said to Giles, "That's Kenneth Ryder."

Buffy hit the ground. She was still for a moment, then rolled over and got to her feet.

Riley saw the man shift to demon form, growing taller and heavier, also green, with purple tracings on his skin, which was revealed as his clothes ripped and shredded. Riley used his taser.

"Has Ryder done that before?" Giles asked.

"No, he hasn't. Interesting," Wesley said.

The demon looked down at the taser, sparking against his skin.

Riley dropped the taser and hit the demon. His blow had as little effect as had the taser. The demon bared his teeth and hit Riley, a fist into his temple. Riley went down. Broken blood vessels started leaking into his brain.

Spike heard Ann's yell. He ran past the Jaguar and halted beside the van. He looked around There was no question who Ann had meant. He attacked the demon, using a fist to the demon's face. The demon didn't seem to notice.

Ann arrived. She kicked the demon's right knee from the side. Spike heard it break.

Buffy moved in and hit the demon as he was stumbling to the ground. Spike, following her, used a two handed sledge hammer blow to the side of the head.

Ann kicked the demon's head from the other side.

The demon balanced up on his good leg. He struck Ann, who was coming in to attack again. She went down. The demon turned, blocking Buffy's next kick. Ann rolled onto her back, then kicked the demon's left elbow. She bounced up. Buffy closed again and kicked his other knee.

The demon landed on his left hip. As he was trying to regain an upright posture, Spike kicked him in the right kidney.

Roaring, the demon hit Buffy as she came in again, then caught Ann's foot as she tried another kick. Buffy went down. The demon sank his teeth into Ann's thigh. Ann kicked him in the stomach with her free foot, then Spike hit him in the head again.

The demon slowly collapsed, half on top of Ann.

Spike grabbed the demon's shoulder and pulled him off Ann.

Ann managed to get to her knees. "Help me flip him over," she told Spike.

"Why?"

"I need to tie him up," Ann said. "Put him on his face."

Spike flipped the demon over, and brought his hands together. The left elbow had more lumps than a human elbow did. More than the demon's right elbow, too.

Ann drew a cord from a pocket, gathered it into a ball, then pulled it out to four times its original length. She moved around to the demon's side and bound his hands with one end of the cord and tossed the other end to Spike.

"Will that hold him?"

"Yes. It's something Gang Long and I worked up. He can't hurt you as long as you hold on," she said "Don't let him get away. Don't let Gang Long eat him." She eased down on her good side, favoring her wounded thigh.

Wesley and Giles arrived.

"Get the last two chained, Wesley" Ann said. "Rupert, help me over to Finn."

"You're hurt."

"Finn's dying."

Giles picked up Ann and carried her over to Riley Finn. Ann took Riley's head between her hands and focused on him. She and Riley started to glow with a soft golden light.

Chapter 7: May I See Your Papers, Please

"You're only a vampire," the demon said. "Let go of the cord."

"No."

"She lied," the demon said, levitating in front of Spike. He assumed the guise of a human, taller and more muscular than Spike and even blonder. He was shirtless, and also wore black leather jeans, low on his hips, settling the question of whether demons had navels. He had an air of barely leashed violence. "I can hurt you, even if you hold on."

Spike hated him. The demon did Spike's own look better than he did. "I believe her," he said. Behind the demon, Spike could see Giles tying a pad, made from a handkerchief, over the wound in Ann's thigh. He wasn't sure if the demon could hurt anyone else, bound as he was, but he backed down the slope away from Buffy and the rest.

"Why are you backing up?"

"There's better footing down here." Spike pulled the cord and the demon followed, bobbing like a balloon, or a kite in a gentle breeze.

"You're frightened."

"Well, yeah, that, too. I'm no fool."

"I can give you the woman you want."

"That never works!" Spike said.

"Let me go, and I will kill her other lover."

"I let you go, you'll kill us all."

"Not you. Not her."

"Spike," Gang Long said, levitating in the air in his dragon form. "I have him." A five taloned hand closed over the cord. The demon looked over at the dragon and deflated, standing silent at last.

"Don't eat him. Ann wants him alive."

"So she said. I'll petrify him, he'll keep perfectly well that way. If she changes her mind, he'll be handy. Don't look at me for a minute, Spike."

"OK," Spike said, looking away.

"You can look now."

The demon was stone. Spike relaxed a little. He noticed his hand had cramped. As he flexed it, Gang Long said: "Good thing you didn't let go."

"Yeah, I figured." Spike waved one hand around, indicating the bodies of friends and foes. "Let's see how everyone is."

"Get the picnic basket out of the Jaguar."

"Are you hungry?"

"The nectar is good for hurt humans."

"The wine? The changeable stuff Ann makes?"

"Yes. It's good for wounds," Gang Long said, and he and the stone demon disappeared.

"All right," Spike said, heading up slope to the Jag. He opened the trunk and then the picnic basket. This model had four large bottles of champagne and he took all of them. Walking over to Ann, he popped the cork of the first bottle.

Giles looked up, annoyed. "This is hardly the time for champagne, Spike."

"Not for me, mate, for Ann's bite. The dragon says it will help." Spike dropped to one knee and poured half the bottle on Ann's thigh.

She had a smile for him as she held her hand out for the bottle. "It also helps from the inside. And don't forget to pour some over Finn."

"Oh, all right."

"What did the demon promise you, Spike?"

He looked at her, but was silent.

"I saw him talking to you. What did he promise?" Ann asked.

"The usual, but, hey, you can't trust demons. Even I know that." Spike popped another cork and moved on to liberally douse Buffy's head and torso.

She sat up, spluttering.

"Have a swig," he said. "Like Guinness, it's good for you. Hey, Wesley, give Finn some of this." He handed Wesley the third bottle. That left one for him and he opened it and drank. "You know, Summers, I don't think you should wear that vest if you want to win any wet T-shirt contests."

>>>|||<<<

"You seemed much more formidable when we faced the opening demons," Wesley said. "Are you completely well?"

"Since Tara isn't involved, I'm operating under the severest limitations of my sentence. In any case, I'm fine."

"Then let's look at the material from the van and their pockets," Giles said. "We'll question them directly afterwards. They will certainly keep." He looked around the foyer, now cluttered with six paralyzed Watchers and a stone demon. The three of them entered the library, where Riley had spread the documents he had taken from the prisoners on the low table the Witches had used.

"This is good work," Riley said.

"Very," Ann agreed.

"The Council delivers top grade papers," Wesley said.

"They're all fake?" Spike asked.

"Oh, yes," Ann said.

"There's a lot of it going around," Spike said.

"What sort of ID did you make for Spike?" Buffy asked.

"Driver's license, draft card, an old Los Angeles library card. A lot of miscellaneous data that made him seem like a normal California boy, albeit too pretty and too rich."

"But not too young," Spike put in. "You gave me a birthday which makes me over twenty-one."

"That was one of the default settings, just because of the picnic basket," Ann said. "I didn't want the car's owner busted because of the wine and vodka."

"I meant how did you create it?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, I used magic. This stuff is human made, and very nice, as I said."

Riley gave Ann a quick glance. "Can you do money?"

"A waste of time. How many passports are there?"

"Seven," Buffy answered.

"Interesting." Ann leafed through the pile of international drivers licenses. "These are really good, too."

"Ann, why do you think about ID?" Buffy asked. "Spike never did before. No vampire I know of ever did at all."

"I worked in occupied France," Ann said. "ID was important. Haven't you ever watched Casablanca? Or for that matter, The Road to Rio? What? You don't go to archive film festivals? You should. Films are a painless way for the young to access accumulated human lore. Humans attach a great deal of importance to ceremonial pieces of paper--passports, treaties, money, birth certificates--whatever. The right piece of paper makes your path easier, if you have it."

"Well, that's true," Spike said.

"What were you doing in occupied France?" Giles asked.

"The same thing I'm doing now," Ann said. "Examining the opposition's fake ID. Some things never change."

"Is Ann Grove your real name"? Buffy suddenly wondered.

"No, and it's not the use name I picked out, either. I was going to be Martha AnGove, 'AnGove' being Cornish for 'Smith'. However, between the time I wrote down M. AnGove, and the time I was reunited with my papers, the bureaucrats had created a Miss Ann Grove, which I became."

"Martha?" Tara said, looking Ann over. "You're not a Martha."

"I was feeling shirty," Ann said.

"Pure bloody mindedness," Spike muttered.

"That, too."

"Ann Grove is fine for you," Buffy said. "So what name did you give Spike?"

"I didn't give him a name. The spell I set on the wallet that goes with the car compelled him to state a use name the first time he looked at it. I set some basic limits on his name choice, based on his somatype, the society he was in, and the language he used. Whatever he said--but it may have taken him more than one try, because of those limits--became the name on all the car's paperwork, too. What name did you say, Spike?"

"William Parker."

"A very good choice. It doesn't draw attention to itself, and it's easily forgettable."

"Thanks. I was in a roadside park when I opened the glove compartment," Spike admitted. "I couldn't think of anything else."

"Omens come to everyone, and only a fool ignores them," Ann said.

"Did you make the Viper especially for Spike?" Riley asked. "I thought Giles said something about him stealing it."

"He did steal it," Ann said. "But since he invoked the claiming spell, by opening the wallet, it was his car, and of no further use to me."

"So it's my car?" Spike asked quickly.

"Yes, but you don't get the keys back until this is over."

"I can wait."

"How good is Spike's ID?" Riley asked.

"As good as these," Ann said, indicating the passports. "Now, I was careless. I left the wallet in the car, so when he stole one, he stole the other. That's how Spike got his ID. How did the demon, the one now in the front hall, get his?"

"I would say that the Council gave it to him," Giles said.

"Did the Council give it directly to him or did he mug the real Kenneth Ryder for it?" Ann asked.

"Ah. Should that be the first question we ask him?" Giles asked.

"And do we start with the demon?" Wesley asked

"Let's start with one of the humans," Buffy said. "We know the humans are really Watchers, and I hope they can tell us if an order to kill Rupert came from the Council or if killing him was just their idea."

"And Wesley," Giles said.

"Wesley?"

"Payton-Jones says they are after me, too."

"Let's start with him," Buffy said. "Are you ready?" she asked Tara and Willow.

"Oh, yes. I don't know about the demon, but we're ready for humans," Willow said.

"Gang Long will help us with the demon," Ann said.

Chapter 8: Interrogations

"Edward Payton-Jones, you will answer all questions put to you truthfully." The Witches ended the ritual, and stepped back.

Buffy stepped up to him. "You know who I am," she said. "I want to know why you want to kill Giles. Why are you trying to kill Rupert Giles?"

"I haven't tried." Payton-Jones managed.

"Why do you intend to kill me?" Giles asked.

"I was told to," Payton-Jones said.

"By whom?"

It took careful questioning, but in the end, Payton-Jones told Buffy and Giles that he had been ordered to kill him by one of the Watchers Emeritus, a member of the Council and someone who regularly gave orders to the operations executive.

"Damn," Buffy said. "I was hoping it was just weirdoes. What is this Watcher's name?"

Buffy, Giles and Wesley followed the trail back, then forward. Neither Giles nor Wesley had had any dealings with the spokesman, McDonnell, and neither could offer any reason why he might wish them dead.

"Did McDonnell say why Giles should die?" Riley asked.

"He condoned his Slayer's corruption," Payton-Jones said.

"What did he mean by that?" Giles asked.

"You let a vampire have her."

"Angel," Giles said.

"Yes."

And what exactly had the Council expected Giles to do about it? Buffy wondered. She loved Giles dearly, but each of them had a private life. The questioning continued.

"Why did McDonnell name Wesley?" Giles asked.

"He let Faith be corrupted by Angelus."

"Actually, Wesley didn't and Faith wasn't," Buffy said. "Which, I think, really annoyed her. So why are you obsessing about an ex-boyfriend? Why all the interest in my past love life?"

Payton-Jones didn't answer.

"It's not just your love life," Ann said. "Oh, probably the ones for whom the Council is a religious vocation think you should have been content to remain a virgin priestess of death, but that may not be all that's going on here."

Giles and Wesley appeared startled and both of them stared at Ann. Spike grinned appreciatively at her, but, for once, kept his mouth shut. Riley Finn seemed embarrassed or angry, but Buffy and the Witches just listened.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked. She was annoyed that this topic had come up when Riley was present, but Ann's comment was so unexpected she couldn't take offense, she just wanted Ann to explain.

"When you quit the Council, you became a threat to all of them."

"How?" Buffy asked.

"If every Slayer quit, what would they do? You, the Slayers, give meaning to their lives, give them power. Those things are hard to give up. Without you, they can't do much at all. Not all of them are as resilient as Rupert and Wesley, not as capable of making a new life for themselves," Ann said

"I'm surprised they didn't want to kill Riley," Willow said.

"Maybe they do. Do you intend to kill Riley?" Tara asked Payton-Jones.

"Yes, we decided we had to."

"What? Why?" Riley asked.

"The Slayer should not waste herself on lovers," Payton-Jones said.

"You thought because you were human, no one would object?" Ann asked Riley. "Guess again. It wasn't Angel's vampire status the Council really objected to, it was that at that time, he had Buffy's attention. You have her attention now, so you have to go, too."

"That's disgusting," Buffy said.

Spike frowned and turned to Payton-Jones: "Did McDonnell order you to kill Buffy?"

"Yes."

"Why her?" Spike asked.

"She's corrupt."

"Did he also order you to kill Faith?" Ann asked.

"Yes, yes, yes. We were ordered to kill the two Watchers, the two Slayers and the vampire who was the cause of it all."

"Is there another team in Los Angeles?" Ann asked, rising to her feet.

"Yes."

Ann gestured at Payton-Jones, freezing him. "Wesley, use any phone in the library. Inform Angel. I have to go to San Francisco." She blinked out.

"Well," Willow said, as Wesley hurried out, "they are weirdoes, Buffy. But there seem to be more of them than we thought."

"And we haven't even mentioned the demon yet," Buffy said.

Chapter 9: We Will Rule You

"Buffy, Angel wants to know if you want his help here?" Wesley said.

She thought for a moment, then said, "No, just tell him to be careful. Wait. Does he need help there?"

"He said not."

"That's all then," Buffy said.

Wesley went out again.

"Why did Ann go to San Francisco?" Spike asked.

"I think it was to see Faith's lawyer," Tara said. "The other Slayer."

"Faith?" several people said in various tones of voice.

"Ann doesn't even know her," Giles said.

"She visited Faith, in that prison. Then she got Nancy to take Faith as a client. I think Ann feels sorry for her."

"An inappropriate emotion," Giles said.

"But, Giles, he said Faith was going to be killed, too. Ann would want to tell Nancy that, so she could protect Faith."

>>>|||<<<

Ann returned. She looked revitalized and seemed cheerful.

Buffy asked: "Will Faith be all right?"

Ann considered her. "Yes," she finally said. "I know you and Rupert have mixed emotions about her, Buffy, but I don't want her killed."

"I'm not sure I do, right now," Buffy said. "I'm not sure if I even know how I really feel about her."

"That's not important today," Ann said. "Shall we continue with the prisoners?"

>>>|||<<<

"You condoned your Slayer's corruption," Nigel Harrington said.

"That's getting tedious," Spike said.

"Very," Buffy said.

"Ann, are you recording this?" Giles asked.

"Yes."

"Can you give us playback?"

"Is audio only all right?"

"Yes."

"What part?"

"Payton-Jones's answers to those same questions."

"Yes," Ann said, and stilled briefly, a look of concentration on her face. Payton-Jones's voice sounded in the room, giving the same words as Nigel Harrington had just used.

"Do you want Henry Richardson's answers?" Ann asked.

"Yes."

Henry Richardson had answered the same questions in the same words.

"That's spooky," Willow said.

"That's scripted," Riley said.

>>>|||<<<

"We think they may be brainwashed," Buffy said to Claire Galen.

"Well, if it's by magical means, I can detect it, and I may be able to do something about it. Which one first?"

"Try Edward," Wesley said.

Ann produced Payton-Jones in the chair. Claire inspected his eyes, felt his head all over. "Interesting," Claire said. "Ann, privacy."

Ann moved Payton-Jones away.

"I want someone to ask a question that will elicit a response you think may be false." Claire put several rings on her fingers as she spoke.

"OK," Riley said.

Ann brought Payton-Jones back to the chair. Claire stood in back of him and put her hands on his head.

Riley asked, "Why did McDonnell want Giles killed?"

"He condoned his Slayer's corruption," Payton-Jones said again.

Claire watched her rings. "Ah, you are very right. I think," she said, stripping them off and opening her healers bag, "this will do it." She removed a bottle of smelling salts and waved it under Payton-Jones's nose.

"Does brainwashing happen so often you usually carry around an antidote for it?" Buffy asked.

"Fascination, subliminal advertising, indoctrination, political campaigns, there's more brainwashing around than you might think," Claire said. "How do you feel?" she asked Payton-Jones.

"All right," he said, then he looked beyond her, saw Buffy and blushed.

"Edward," Wesley said gently, "why did McDonnell want you to kill me, Giles and Buffy Summers?"

"It was nonsense," Payton-Jones said. "I started to tell him I wouldn't, then I agreed. We all agreed."

"Did Kenneth Ryder agree?" Ann asked.

"Yes, he must have, he and Henry Richardson were there when McDonnell called me in."

"Rest," Ann said, and put him to sleep.

"Richardson?" Giles asked.

"Yes." Ann moved Payton-Jones away and produced a new man in the chair.

Claire waved the smelling salts under Richardson's nose. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," Henry said.

Wesley repeated the question.

"McDonnell is slipping. I said I wouldn't murder anyone, certainly not for those stupid reasons, then I agreed to come here. I didn't want to, and I don't know why I did. I hope none of you are hurt?"

"We're all fine. Tell me, did Kenneth Ryder agree?"

"I suppose so, he and McDonnell were talking when I arrived."

"Why did you arrive?"

"Ryder called, said McDonnell want to see me."

Ann glanced around. Giles shook his head, no one else had a question. Ann put Richardson to sleep and sent him away.

"It's the demon," Buffy said.

"Probably. Claire, is there a way we can question him safely?" Ann asked. "If he is causing the brainwashing, can Rupert and the others be protected?"

"Spike may be immune, too, but yes, I know a protection spell for this."

"Do Spike anyway."

"It can't hurt," Claire agreed. She spoke briefly with Tara and Willow, then had Wesley, Giles, Buffy, Riley, who looked uncomfortable, and Spike stand in a circle. She and the other Witches formed a triangle around the circle. The spell was short, a few words chanted in unison, and that was it.

"This reminds me, Spike," Claire said.

Spike backed away from her. "What?"

"I want to update your chart. Drop by the office soon, will you?"

"Willow doesn't want me to be a birdbath any more, remember."

"Just the non-intrusive tests."

"Well, maybe."

"Cooperate," Ann said, "and I'll give you back your wallet."

"Oh, all right."

"I'll expect you then," Claire said. "Whenever you're free. Ann, let me know everyone is all right, if you would."

"Of course. See you."

Claire disappeared.

"Ann, we don't think we can do a truth spell for the demon. I mean we don't know his name or even what kind of demon he is."

"I've been thinking about that. What I can do is bespell the room, actually the whole house, so that no one here can lie."

"Hey," Tara said.

"Ann, I think..." Giles said.

"Since there may be problems with that, I will exempt all of you first," Ann said.

"You had me worried," Willow said. "I mean there are some things I just, uh..."

"Exactly," Ann said. "Stand around me, please." In the center of the circle, Ann whispered briefly, then clapped her hands. "All done. Now, this will take a little longer, but I do it alone."

>>>|||<<<

"Bring him in, Gang Long," Ann said.

Ann's living room had changed. The six extra Watchers, unfrozen and in their right minds, were seated in two arcs around an empty circle Willow and Tara hoped would confine the demon. With Riley's help, Ann had set up a video camera to record the interrogation, Giles having pointed out that the Council could not access data from one of Ann's usual crystals.

Gang Long placed the stone demon in the circle the Witches had drawn and released him. The boy went to stand with Ann, behind the camera.

Riley started the camera and approached the demon.

"What is your name?"

"Arlack Armel," the demon said, and appeared startled.

Buffy relaxed a little. Ann's truth spell seemed to be working.

"Did you incite these Watchers to kill Giles, Wesley, Buffy, Faith and Angel?" Riley asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"We wish to kill the Grandmaster."

Soft murmurs traveled around the seated Watchers.

"Why?"

"We cannot get close enough to him to replace him directly."

Ann muttered something sharp, but very low. Buffy ignored her.

"Why does that mean you must kill these people?" Riley asked.

"We cannot risk killing him while Rupert Giles and Wesley Wyndom-Price are alive."

"Why?"

"Either of them may be elected."

"Are we eligible?" Wesley asked Giles.

"Giles," Willow said. "Both of you are. Didn't you know? It's in your files. The ones I scanned last fall. Remember?"

"Yes," said Arlack Armel. "Yes, we knew. No."

There was a confused pause, while everyone worked out that Arlack Armel was answering questions not directly addressed to him.

"What do you think would happen if Giles was elected?" Buffy asked, picking up the thread of the interrogation.

Arlack Armel struggled, but answered: "We fear he could unmask us."

"Why?"

"Rupert Giles and Wesley Wyndom-Price are the most experienced candidates. Each of them has dealt with more different kinds of demons than any other Watcher."

"Why kill the Slayers, Buffy and Faith?" Wesley asked.

"To provide a plausible story that did not involve the Watchers' candidacy."

"Why kill Angel, the vampire?"

"To provide a plausible story that did not involve the Watchers' candidacy," Arlack Armel repeated.

"How many of you are there in the Council?" Giles asked.

"One hundred seventy-three."

Horrified murmurs rose briefly from the Watchers.

"Why are you in the Council?" Giles asked.

"They can help us hide."

"Do they give you papers that let you live here?"

"Yes."

"Why are you here?" Buffy asked.

"We want to live here."

"How many of you want to live here."

"All of us."

"How many is that?"

"Two billion, three hundred twenty-seven million, eight hundred forty-three thousand, six hundred ninety-five."

"Are you planning to take over Earth?"

"Yes. We will rule here." Arlack Armel seemed to ripple.

Gang Long said, "Wu Jing..."

"What's happening?" Buffy demanded.

Ann looked up at Arlack Armel.

Spike caught the uneasiness in Gang Long's voice. He glanced over at Ann, then followed her gaze to the demon.

"The taser is wearing off," Arlack Armel said.

Ann flung herself across the room at the demon, knocking over the video camera. Fully extended, she couldn't strike, but she caught him by the left wrist.

Gang Long shifted to dragon form and lunged after her. He sank his crystal fangs into Arlack Armel's unbroken knee.

The demon ported out, taking Ann and Gang Long with him. Spike, the last to attack, was too late, he crashed to the floor where the demon had been.

"Bloody hell!" he yelled.

The dragon ported into the living room and shifted to human. "He shook me off."

"Did biting him hurt you?" Spike asked.

"No, he tasted fine, but I didn't even slow him down."

Ann returned. She was clearly furious, but she was not empty handed: She still held the demon's left hand. "He got away."

"We heard. Are you all right?" Spike asked.

"Yes. Tara, have you a specimen jar, please?"

Tara produced a wide mouthed, glass stoppered jar. Ann dropped the hand into it and watched as the hand lost shape and slumped like runny jam into the bottom. Tara stoppered the jar and sealed it.

Ann nodded Tara. "Well done. You," she addressed the speechless Watchers, "do you understand what just happened here?"

"We've been lied to."

"You've been lied to, infiltrated, influenced and used," Ann said.

"You've aided an army of invading demons," Giles said. "That is something no vampire I know of can claim. Your gullibility has endangered humanity far more than all the vampires who ever existed. What do you propose to do now?"

>>>|||<<<

"In a way, it may be to our advantage to treat with the Council again."

Once again, Ann, Rupert, Buffy, Riley and Spike were around the dining table in the north room. Wesley, Tara, Willow and Gang Long had joined them.

Giles had telephoned the Watcher office in London and had spoken at length with the senior Watcher on duty, who was coping with a panic. One hundred seventy-one Watchers had disappeared in the past twelve hours. Six Watchers were under arrest in Los Angeles and could not explain what they were doing in California, or how the seventh member of their party had disappeared from a locked cell.

The extra and very embarrassed Watchers had been dispatched, by Ann, each with a video of Arlack Armel's testimony, back to the Council, as a gesture of good will, so Giles had said. Actually, he, Wesley and Buffy were tired of the constant stream of embarrassed apologies the new Watchers kept offering them. Buffy was also annoyed that Spike seemed to find the situation hilarious.

The group at Ann's didn't know if the demons had made a tactical retreat or had withdrawn permanently. The Witches were certain they could figure out how to detect Arlack Armel and others like him, with Ann and Claire's help. Buffy, Wesley and Riley had discussed what allies they might gather, if it proved necessary.

Ann was serving breakfast again, before sending Wesley home.

Ann gave Rupert a cool, amused stare. "You demonstrated that you love Buffy more than you respect the Council. Buffy rebelled against them and established her independence. Both of you have flourished since then, as has Wesley, which no doubt galls them greatly."

"Plus, mate," Spike said, "the demons targeted you and Wesley as the greatest threats to their invasion. Everybody they ignored as not a threat has had their amour propre wounded. They won't forgive any of you for that."

"And all of you detected their assassins, captured them, then detected the demons and uncovered their plot, demonstrating more competence than the rest of the Council combined. The Council may never mention any of this again, but they won't forget or forgive any of those deeds."

"Are you saying we're no better off than we were?" Wesley asked.

"Well," Ann said. "No Watcher is trying to kill you."

"Today," Spike said. 

The End (for now).

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