Leaves of Grass
Banquo


Chapter 7

Xander and Faith pull up to their house a few minutes after leaving the
alley. The garage door opens and the car pulls inside. As the garage
door closes the couple climbs out of the car and makes their way to the
door. They enter the lavishly decorated house a house that Adam had
explained would help be perfect for their cover identities. Climbing up
the spiral staircase they make their way to the room they shared. 

Upon entering the room Faith gathers up some clothes to sleep in and
makes her way into the bathroom and Xander stays in the room, as is
their custom. Once the bathroom door closes Xander proceeds to shed the
last remnants of his assumed identity. Leaning closer to the mirror
hanging above his dresser he carefully picks out the hazel colored
contact lenses. He remembers the conversation when Adam explained the
makings of the perfect disguise.

…

"Changes?" Xander asks, a little uncomfortable. Adam just smiles a
nods.

"Xander you come with me, and Faith?"

"Yes?" She answers.

"If you would go with Cassandra upstairs we’ll get this part done
quickly."

"Sure." With that Cassandra and Faith go upstairs.

Adam gestures to Xander to follow him down to the basement. They make
their way down the stairs and Adam gestures for Xander to sit in a
chair in the middle of the basement floor.

"Adam what did you mean by changes?"

"You’ll have to disguise yourself if you are going to go back to
Sunnydale. You died and coming back so soon after your death would put
you at risk at being recognized. So I’m going to change your look."

"What you going to do? Bleach my hair blond and make me wear glasses?
Wouldn’t that make it too obvious? I'm pretty sure the Clark Kent
routine won't work."

"I'm sure it wouldn't. I have actually found that the subtlest
disguises are the most efficient. You are dead, so to hide Xander
Harris I will have to change you into something that looks vaguely like
Xander Harris."

"Adam you lost me." He says warily as he eyes the cans and bottles that
Adam is pulling out of the closet.

"The human brain is a very stubborn thing. To everybody you knew in
Sunnydale you are dead right?" Xander nods as Adam puts a shower cap of
some sort on his head. "Well if people you knew saw you I want you to
look just different enough to the point where they would dismiss you as
someone who resembles Xander Harris. You follow?"

"I think so. Adam what are you doing?" Adam is now pulling a few
strands of hair through the shower cap.

"I’m going to color your hair."

"What!?!" Xander tries to stand but Adam pushes him back into the
chair.

"From a distance the first things people note are your body type and
your hair color. If I change your hair color slightly it will throw
most everyone off. Now relax, I’m not going to color it all, only the
tips."

"Do you have a cosmetology license?" He asks Adam trying to save his
hair from the butchering Adam would give it.

"Of course I have a cosmetology license. I’ve had one since the
sixties. I had lost a bet one day and I had to learn to be a hair
dresser. After getting one I figured no one would go out looking for
Methos the hairdresser so it is a skill I keep up to date." 

He hears Xander stifle a laugh. "Laugh it up all you want Xander, just
remember who is coloring your hair right now. I could be turning your
hair bright pink." The last comment quickly shuts Xander up.

An hour later Xander inspects the job Adam had done on his hair. It
wasn’t so bad he thought to himself. It had looked as if his hair
really was growing out, loosing the color. Turing around Adam tosses
him a package. 

"Have you ever used a pair of those?" He says pointing at the package.

"No, what are they?" 

"They are contact lenses, these ones are colored so your eyes will look
they are a different color. Try them on."

"I’ve never put contacts on before!"

"You’d better learn then, otherwise you’ll be picking at your eyeballs
all night." He said. "I’ll also have to do something about your
clothes."

"What’s wrong with my clothes?"

"Absolutely nothing if you are Xander Harris."

"That’s who I am."

Sighing Adam turns to look at him, "Xander part of being Immortal is
the ability to change, to be a chameleon of sorts. The best way to hide
is in plain sight. Things like your height you can’t change. But you
can change your mannerisms, your voice, your clothes and you hair and
eye color. Just enough to convince people you are something you are
not."

"How can you be so sure that someone won’t recognize me?"

"Experience, a lot of trial and error went into this Xander, just trust
me. Besides you’ll have to look the part that I’ve setup for you
anyway."

"What part is that?"

"You will be my son, Harrison Pierce. Of Pierce Industries Inc."

"You own that company?"

"Yup, started it up back in the fifties and use it to hide money and
some of my assets."

"I’ll have clothes delivered to your house along with some clothes for
Faith."

"We’re staying in separate houses?"

"Of course my son and his wife can’t very well stay with me can they?
You two will be living together in a house not far from Cassandra and
myself."

Xander’s mind catches up to what was just said, "WIFE? You mean we’re
married?"

"Yes I have some info both of you will have to learn. But as far as the
Man and Wife thing I don’t think you’ll have a problem pretending will
you?"

"I guess not," He says then stammers, "I mean I wouldn’t mind, we
haven’t done anything Adam."

"I believe you, but I do think that you have feelings for Faith, don’t
you?"

Xander just stands there and Adam says, "Hmm, just what I thought. Now
about your clothes."

…

Xander had changed into his clothes and was ready for bed. The door to
the bathroom opens and Faith steps out also ready for bed. Faith climbs
into bed and Xander goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Upon
returning his finds that Faith is asleep already, climbing into bed
next to her she automatically moves to curl up to him. They had shared
a bed twice in their lives first when they had sex together and then
once again when he had stayed with her to comfort her. 

He remembers the night they slept together. She had told him what a
fight does to her and the needs that arise from those fights. She
hasn’t mentioned it, but he remembers it nonetheless. With them playing
the roles of husband and wife Xander found that they would have to
share the same bed every night. At first he was a bit frightened by the
idea but as he puts his arm around her and moves closer to her he finds
that maybe it isn’t such a bad thing after all. He can feel the warmth
of her body against his. Looking down at her now blonde streaked hair
and takes a deep breath.

Faith looks up at Xander and says, "Come on, let’s go to sleep."

"Sure." He says and reaches over to the lamp and turns off the light.
"Let’s go to sleep."

…

The Magic Box

Tara arrives at the shop shortly after making the call to Giles’ house.
Seeing that she is the first one there is forced to wait for Giles to
make it to the shop. She reaches over to her passenger seat and grabs
the stake that is sitting there. By the looks of it is a normal piece
of wood with a sharp end, but inspecting it closer one can see that the
edges have been smoothed down and slight almost imperceptible grooves
can be felt toward the base of the stake. It was as if it was designed
to be a weapon, designed with comfort and ease of use in mind. She
didn’t know what to make of it. What she needed was Giles and the
others to help her make sense of what she saw. So she waits until
Giles’ car pulls up to the shop. Putting the stake in her pocket she
gets out of her car to meet Giles.

"Tara are you ok?" He asks her again.

"Yes Giles I’m fine. Let’s go inside and wait for the others so I’ll
only have to go through it once."

Unlocking the door they walk into the shop and make their way to the
counter. Reaching into her pocket he hands Giles the stake. "You’re the
weapons expert, tell me what you think."

Giles catches the stake and examines it closely. He goes through
several movements that she recognizes from watching Buffy. He runs his
thumb runs over the base of the stake more than likely feeling the
slight grooves there. He tosses the stake up in the air and catches it
as it falls point down.

"It’s a stake."

"I can see that Giles."

He gives her an annoyed look and then continues. "As I was saying it is
a stake, but one of excellent quality. It is made from some very sturdy
wood, cedar from the looks of it." He says banging the stake lightly on
the counter. "And here…" He begins to point out the base of the stake
but is cut off by the entrance of Buffy, Willow and Riley.

Willow is the first to speak, "Tara are you ok?"

"Why is it every time we all meet up together everyone assumes someone
is hurt or something horrible happened?" Tara asks exasperated. Seeing
their questioning looks she quickly adds, "Never mind. I’m fine."
Seeing that they aren’t completely convinced she adds, "Really, I’m
fine."

"Then what’s the emergency about?" Buffy asks.

"This." Giles says tossing the stake to Buffy. She catches the stakes
deftly.

"All this over a stake? I mean it is a great stake and all but was it
really necessary calling all of us to meet here?" 

Giles picks up on her line of reasoning and cuts her off before she can
finish. "Yes, I’m sorry if I had interrupted your…sleep," he says
raising his eyebrow at Buffy and Riley, "but this meeting isn’t about
the stake. It’s about how it came into Tara’s possession."

Buffy tosses the stake back to Giles and turns to Tara. "Ok, so what
happened?"

"Well I was walking to my car from my new job at Tableux when I hear
something from the alley. I heard someone say ‘I hate fighting for our
dinner.’ Thinking that someone would need some help I made my way to
the mouth of the alley. There was a man and a woman, about our age. The
man had stepped in front of the woman as if to protect her but from my
vantage point I saw something that the vampires didn’t see."

"What was that?" Giles asks

"The man wasn’t actually protecting the woman."

"But you just said that he stepped in front of her. That would have
cutoff the vampires from the woman." Riley says.

"Yes but I think it was to distract them for the woman to reach down to
the hem of her dress and pull that," she says pointing to the stake.
"out. I thought that was surprising but what happened next was
surprising."

"What was that?" Giles asks now curious at the fact that the woman had
pulled a stake out.

"The vampires had begun to circle around the couple, you know? Then
they attacked like a pack of jackals. I was about to cast a spell of
protection to help them out but the woman staked one vampire turning it
to dust while kicking another one stunning him."

"Giles do you think that another slayer has been called?" Willow asks
Giles. "That would mean…" Her sentence trails off the words implying
all that needed to be said.

"I’m not sure, I can try to check with my contacts within the Council
to be find out though. Tara please continue did the woman stake the
last three vampires as well?"

"No that is what was strange. I heard a sound, you the sound you have
when you rub your fork and knife together?" Seeing that they all are
following her she continues. "Well this was the same, only a lot louder
and a lot longer. The man had actually pulled out a sword and chopped
off the head on one vampire. Then he sliced the arm off of one vampire
and proceeded to chop off the head of that vampire."

"A sword?" Buffy asks incredulously. She had used one once and it had
taken considerable strength and stamina to wield it for more than ten
minutes. 

"Yes a sword and a big one too. I couldn’t even tell he had it on him.
I think he might have been using magic to hide it."

"Well many watchers are trained in different arms. Swords are one of
those types. I was actually academy fencing champion." Giles says with
a bit of pride. "Tara will you follow me please?"

She nods and follows him to the back of the store and the others
follow. Giles goes to the back of the store and opens up a cabinet.
Inside are various weapons; clubs, maces, stakes, short staffs, and in
the back are a few swords.

"Which one of these swords is the closest match to the one the man was
using?"

Tara looks at the swords and points at one, "That one it’s about the
same length I think."

"Interesting, a long sword. Very interesting indeed." Giles says a look
of concentration on his face.

"Why would that be interesting?" Riley asks.

"The long sword is a very difficult sword to use. It has long reach and
is much heavier than the Calvary-style swords that I have trained Buffy
to use. To use it in close quarter combat with the accuracy Tara had
explained would imply great strength and hours upon hours of practice.
Here." Giles tosses the sword to Riley who catches it easily. Grabbing
a lighter sword he motions Riley to follow him.

"Now for our mystery man to have done the things Tara had said he would
have had to do the following movements. First a lateral swing like this
taking the head of the first vampire," Giles demonstrates, "then a
downward swing with enough force to severe part of an arm." Giles then
takes the sword and shifts his weight to his left and slowly brings the
blade up and across his body at head level. "He then would have had to
bring the blade up slightly then across his body like so to behead the
vampire. The whole process would have taken no more than a few seconds
to complete. Riley you try with that sword."

Riley tries to mirror the movements that Giles had demonstrated only
moments ago. His movements are jerky and uncontrolled. He is unable to
stop the downswing before hitting the ground and he is not able to stop
the upswing at his head level. The sword is now raised above his head
as he tries to bring the sword across his body but it is a wild swing.
He realizes that the swing will put the blade into range of Willow and
tries to stop the movement mid-swing but the weight of the blade
carries enough momentum that he cannot stop the sword. "Watch out!" He
screams at her.

Willow wide eyed is frozen in place. She closes her eyes unwilling to
watch as the blade approaches her. She waits for the sword to hit her
but instead she hears a loud clang. Opening her eyes she sees the Giles
has deflected the incoming blade and diverted its path so Riley’s
follow through would end naturally away from the others.

"I think I have made my point. Picture this, this man was able to do
this with such force and accuracy with someone at his back." Giles
pauses before adding, " I will try to see if another slayer has been
called. But in the mean time we’ll try to keep an eye out for these new
residents. Buffy if you see them while out on patrol I want you to be
VERY careful. They can fight and we don’t know why they are in town so
be careful."

"No problem. We’ll keep a low profile if we see them." Giles nods and
Tara, Willow, Buffy and Riley leave the shop. 

Giles walks over to the counter and picks up the phone. He dials a
number he memorized a long time ago. He listens to the quick double
ring as the call is connected to its international destination.

[Royal Academy, Julian speaking.]

"Julian, its Rupert. How are you doing old boy?"

[Rupert! I haven’t heard from you in ages! I’m doing fine! How are
you?]

"I’m doing fine Julian. What have you been up to?"

[The same old routine. Research this, catalogue that, lecture on this
and so on. To what do I owe the honor of this international call?]

"There has been a sighting here in Sunnydale of a woman fighting
vampires with a stake. I was wondering if a new Slayer has been called
and if so who has been assigned to her?"

[I am sure one has not been called.]

"Are you sure?"

[Of course I’m sure Rupert! No slayer has been called forth and if one
has I am most likely one of the first ones who would be notified of
such information. You know that Rupert!]

"Yes, well sorry, it just that Faith had disappeared a few months ago
and from the reports I heard I thought that perhaps a new Slayer had
been called."

[Sorry old chum, the only active Slayers are yours and the other,
Faith.]

"I see, thank you for the information. I’ll be sure to keep in touch."

[I shall try to as well. Cheers.]

"Cheers." Giles says as he puts down the phone. He mulls over the
information in his head and tries to make sense out of it. 

…

The morning finds Xander and Faith sitting off to the side of a large
workout area. They are in the house Adam and Cassandra have used to
house their current identities of Benjamin and Elizabeth Pierce. Xander
and Faith are sitting back and watching Adam and Cassandra practice
against each other. Fluidity and grace all but oozed from the pair as
they move across the work out area.

When Faith was invited to train with the trio she was hesitant at
first, remembering the training with Giles. She didn’t want to hurt
anyone especially those who have accepted her and welcomed her into
their lives. After some gentle coercing from all three of them she
consented to join their training sessions. It was much to her chagrin
that she learned that of all those in the room she was the least
skilled in armed combat. 

In hand to hand she is able to go head to head with Xander and come up
with a win half of the time. Against Adam or Cassandra however, their
skills far surpassed any that she had learned and they far surpassed
any skills that she would have been able to learn from any Watcher.
What she had learned was uniquely suited to fight vampires. Great
portions of Vampires are not fighters. They rely on brute strength to
win battles. True fighters however are like Generals. Generals that
command the army that is their body. Using the multitude of weapons
made available to them at the time. 

Adam and Cassandra are true fighters, warriors. Unlike vampires when
they fight these two constantly think when fighting. Even now she sees
their eyes shifting, following, searching for openings but with only
the barest of glances. A missed step could possibly mean death or in
this case a loss. These are not the things that have earned her respect
however. Their poise, confident manner and the fact they have accepted
who she was and the fact that she wanted to change is what had earned
her respect.

As Adam disarms Cassandra she stands up and applauds the pair. Adam
breathing hard says, "That’s three out of five. You almost had me there
for a second."

"Almost doesn’t really count though does it?" Cassandra adds after
taking a swig of water from a nearby bottle.

"Not this time." He says to her then looks over at the younger couple
standing to the side and bows to them. "Thanks to you two for your
support. You both would make excellent cheerleaders." He says with a
smile.

"Mmmmm, Faith in a cheerleader uniform. Now that is something that I
would like to see." Xander says with a grin.

Adam grins and says, "Hey Xander!"

Xander is about to say something when Faith slaps him on the side of
his head. Xander exclaims, "Ow!"

Adam smiles and finishes his train of thought, "Watch out."

"Thanks for the warning." He says rubbing his head. Faith smiles
sweetly at him.

"That’s what you get." Faith says to him and then turns to face the
approaching Cassandra.

"I couldn’t have said it any better myself." Cassandra says.

"Thank you." Faith says looking defiantly at Xander.

"What is this gang up on Xander day?"

Adam replies cheerfully, "No you dug your own hole that time."

"You both better get ready you have a full day ahead of you two." She
says to Adam and Xander.

"We do?" Xander says.

"Oh yes, the new office opens today Harry. We need to be there to make
sure it all goes by smoothly." Adam says.

"New office? I thought that was a just a cover. I don’t know the first
thing about running a business!" Xander protests.

"You don’t have to. All you have to do is sign whatever the people
under you hand to you. Don’t worry, I’ve hand picked them myself, they
won’t give you anything that doesn’t need to be signed. You will look
like you are pouring over numbers, quotas, and pie charts but in
reality you, like I will be looking over research. Hopefully we’ll be
able to find some information on how to stop Armageddon. "

"But…" Xander stutters out.

"Don’t worry you’ll do fine. Let’s go."

"What about them?" He says gestures over to Cassandra and Faith. "What
will they do?"

"We’ll do what most rich socialites are expected to do Xander."
Cassandra says.

"That being?"

"Shop and be seen where all the socialites can be seen." Cassandra
answers with a smile. She then proceeds to gently lead Faith out of the
room. Faith looks over her shoulder a little apprehensive and then
concedes to Cassandra and follows her out of the room. 

As the pair walks out of the work out area Xander begins to think that
he has gotten the short end of the deal.

…

Buffy, Tara and Willow are all having breakfast in the dorm commons.
The food at the commons isn’t the greatest, but if you have to choose a
single meal to have in the commons breakfast would be the one to
choose. There wasn’t too many ways to mess up milk and cereal, at least
that was what most freshmen think. However it seems that breakfast is
the one meal that is more than likely to go without a hitch. 

"I need to find some kind of story I can take into my polisci
discussion." Buffy says going through a newspaper she picked up on the
way to the commons. "I need to find something about socio-economical
resource…stuff. Could you guys help me?" She asks the other two girls.

"Sure." They both say.

"Hand me a part of the paper." Willow says reaching out to grab a
section of the newspaper.

"Here take this part." Buffy says handing over half of the paper. They
search through the paper while Tara goes and gets more cereal. The
paper is strewn about the entire table as Tara makes her way back with
a full bowl.

"Buffy! Here this one is perfect! Here it talks about the effects of an
embargo in Africa." Willow points out to Buffy.

"That’s awesome! I gotta get to class." She grabs the portion of the
paper that has the article and puts it into one of her books. "Thanks
Wills!" She calls over her shoulder.

Tara sitting in her chair asks Willow, "Don’t you have a class this
morning too?"

"Yeah, I was about to leave for chem right now. I see you after your
eleven o’clock class?" She asks her.

"Yes, I might get out of Art History a little bit early today, we have
a quiz. I’ll meet up with you here ok?"

"Sounds good." Willow says as she packs her stuff away in her bag. "See
ya later!"

Tara waves goodbye as she continues to eat her breakfast. Her first
class is at nine that morning so she is able to take her time in the
mornings. She begins to look through the paper trying to find something
interesting to occupy her while she eats. She is in the middle of her
search when she suddenly stops. Tara leans closer to the paper to peer
at a particular section. Putting her bowl down she reaches for the page
and holds it up for her to examine it more closely. Putting the bowl
and the paper down she gathers her stuff together and picks up the
paper in question and makes her way back to her dorm room.

When she gets to her room she takes the paper out and places it on her
dresser. She calls information and asks, "Pierce Industries please.
Thanks." She jots down the number and hangs up the phone. Looking at
the number and then back at the paper she thinks of the best way to
approach the situation. She decides to read over the portion of
interest hoping that an idea will come to her.

The top of the column reads Society. The blurb says, vice-president and
heir to the multinational company Pierce Industries Inc. Harrison
Pierce and his wife Amanda have been spotted at one of Sunnydale’s most
exclusive restaurants last night. Harrison and his father, President
Benjamin Pierce, have relocated to Sunnydale to open a new office for
their billion-dollar company.

The blurb goes on to talk about their clothing and the restaurant but
that was not what captured her attention. The picture above the blurb
shows the couple sitting at a table dinning together. When she saw that
picture she knew she had seen them from somewhere. She had seen them in
the alley the night before. They were the mystery couple that dusted
five vampires in less than five minutes. She had to be sure though and
there was only one way to find out. There was no time to tell Giles or
the others, she had to do this now or the opportunity would pass her
up.

Picking up the phone she dials the number she had written down. "Yes,
human resources please. Thank you." She waits while she is transferred.
"Hello, my name is Tara Maclay I was doing research on your company and
found that you have a new office in the area. I was wondering if you
have any part-time clerical positions open? You do? Can I email a
resume to you? Sure let me write that down." She says as she jots down
the email address, "Today? Sure, ten o’clock would be fine. Thank you.
I’ll see you then. Bye."

Putting the phone down Tara resolves herself to the plan of action she
has put into motion. She boots up her computer and while waiting she
goes to her closet to find some appropriate clothing for an interview.
Seeing that her computer is done booting she quickly finds her resume
and makes a few adjustments. Opening her word processor program she
writes a quick formal letter describing her and the skills that would
make her applicable to the clerical position. Attaching that and her
resume to the email she sends it out. She sits there for a moment
thinking of the possible danger her plan entails. But she has no time
for that as her clock on her dresser shows eight-thirty. She needs to
prepare for her interview and if she is going to find out what Harrison
and Amanda Pierce are really about she needs to get hired first.

…

A building that has been vacant for years is seen standing surrounded
by a chain-linked fence and warning signs can be found all over the
premises. The words that had once prominently displayed Sunnydale high
School in bronze is now tarnished with letters missing.

Inside the once lively halls of the school stand empty and dirty.
Lockers are hanging open, posters pined to the wall are now ripped and
hanging from only corners. Listening to the sounds the school one can
hear the creaking of boards, sound of wind blowing through the halls
and the rustling of papers. Sometimes the mind will play tricks on
whoever is listening; hearing sounds of student’s voices echoing
through the hall. But however if one listens closely they can hear a
light tapping noise. Tap, tap, tap, tap. A pause and then tap, tap,
tap, tap. The sound echoes through the halls. From the main entrance,
in the halls, past the music room, past what was once the library and
right inside to what was once the main science lab. 

On one of the counters one can see a group of jars filled with a green
murky fluid. In one jar a pair of eyes float peering unseeing at the
world from behind the glass. In the jar next to it floats a tongue
forever tasting the fluid inside of the jar. In the corner of the room
stand two men speaking softly not wanting to disturb their leader the
man sitting at one of the counters.

His hand is spread out on the counter. Between his fingers are several
worn out holes, in his other hand is a knife. Tap, tap, tap, tap. One
can hear as he stabs the knife in between his fingers. Tap, tap, tap,
tap. As he does it over and over again. Looking down at his hand the
blood that has collected around his fingers from the times he misses
his target the man smiles. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Soon, very soon he
thinks to himself. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Yes he would send his men out to
retrieve another sacrifice tonight. Yes soon, tap, tap, tap, tap.
Tonight, tap, tap, tap, tap. With that he begins a low chuckle. Yes,
very soon. He doesn’t even flinch as more blood pools on the counter
top.

…

Tara is dressed ready to go to her interview. She couldn’t believe that
she was able to get an interview for today. She grabs a purse and a
professional-looking notebook to take with her to the interview as well
as a hard copy of her resume. Leaving her dorm room she decides to stop
by Willow and Buffy’s room to leave Willow a message. On the small
whiteboard hanging from their door she writes, "Something has come up,
can make it for lunch. I’ll tell you about it later. Tara." 

She walks out of her dorm room and to her car. Sitting behind the wheel
she takes a deep breath to calm herself. "There is no turning back
now." She says as she starts her car and slowly pulls away towards the
commercialized area of Sunnydale. "No turning back now."

…

"An interview!" Xander exclaims over the phone to Adam.

[Yes, an interview. You’ll have to do a few until you fill the open
positions. The faster you hire you’ll have fewer interviews. Live with
it.]

"But what do I ask? I don’t even know what the position is for!"

[Look at what was forwarded to you. The subject says part-time clerical
position-admin assistant. I had asked HR to try to get a student.
Students tend to be quiet and will do the tasks you need them to do.
Just hire the first one that has some decent typing skills and would
sound like someone who can answer the phone. It’ll be a student so
they’ll be able to learn the system quickly.]

"Adam, I don’t know the system."

[And you don’t need to. Just interview the applicant and hire one you
think is qualified.] After that last statement Adam hangs up on the
other side of the line.

Xander rubs his head in frustration. Not even three hours into the
first day and he already is feeling the stress of his assumed role.
Sighing he opens up the email attachment that was forwarded to him.
"Well Tara Maclay. Let’s see what you can do."

…

At five minutes to ten Tara is opens the main doors of a small two
story office building. She walks up to the receptionist and introduces
herself. "Hi, I’m Tara Maclay. I have an appointment at ten o’clock for
an interview."

"Sure thing, let me check what I have here…Okay, here you are ten
o’clock. Let me call Mr. Pierce." At that statement Tara paled
slightly. She was going to interview with Mr. Pierce? It took all of
her own will power to force herself from not hyperventilating. She was
going to interview with a potentially dangerous individual that could
possibly lead to her death.

"Yes, Mr. Pierce a Ms. Maclay is here to see you. Yes, your ten o’clock
appointment. Shall I send her in?" She pauses. "Yes, right away." The
receptionist smiles at her and says, "Mr. Pierce is expecting you. His
office is through that door and at the end of the hallway to your
left."

"Thank you." She says as she walks through the door. The hall is
stacked with boxes and passing by each door she sees that many of the
offices are still empty, the only ones that show any signs of
occupation are stacks of boxes that lie next to the desks.

At the end of the hall there she reaches a door that has a name next to
the doorframe. Harrison Pierce. Now or never she thinks and knocks on
the door.

"Come in!" Says the voice from behind the door. Tara reaches out to
open the door and lets herself into the office. Walking inside she sees
a spacious office. To the sides are bookshelves full of books and
pictures. He is sitting behind a desk with a credenza to his back on it
sits a wedding picture of him and his wife as well as one other couple.
From the eye colors of the two men she guesses that they are his mother
and father. His monitor sits on top of a docking station where his
laptop is plugged in. Around him he has papers and notebooks open. He
is talking on the phone when she walks in. He gestures to a chair for
her to sit down.

"Yeah, I’ll give you a call later, my ten o’clock is here right now.
Ok, thanks." He hangs up the phone. He looks young but in his business
attire he looks professional and deserving of his position. He stands
up and extends his hand, "Hi, Tara. I’m Harrison Pierce, but please
call me Harry."

"Hello, Harry." She returns.

"So I see you are looking for a position here in the company. Do you
know what position you are interviewing for?"

"Well to tell you the truth, I had asked if there were any clerical
jobs open and they had asked me to come in today. I honestly don’t know
what jobs were available at the time." She replies truthfully not
adding the fact that she had seen him kill two vampires from the night
before. 

"Really? Well you are the first applicant to be my administrative
assistant." Seeing her eyes widening he quickly adds, "Don’t worry, all
you really have to do is some light clerical work and from the looks of
your resume you should be more than qualified." He pauses, "and I don’t
have anyone else to interview for the position and I was looking to
fill it today."

"Really?" Tara says a bit confused.

"Yes really. If you could go back to HR down the hall and get all the
forms you need to fill out I’ll give them a call giving them my ok."

"Sure, when do I start?" Tara says.

"Tomorrow, bring in a schedule for your availability and we’ll get you
accounted with out system." 

"Sure thing. Thank you Mr. Pierce."

"Harry, please call me Harry."

"Thank you Harry, I’ll see you tomorrow then." With that Tara walks to
HR as directed and tries to go over what had just happened. Either he
really wanted to fill the position today or he had remembered her from
the alley and wanted to keep an eye on her and what better way to do
that than to work under him? She was either extremely lucky or unlucky.
She would have to find out tomorrow.

Back in his office Xander was smiling smugly to himself. One position
filled and with only two others left he decided to give HR a call to
tell them that the last two positions were to be interviewed by the
senior Pierce. He also told them of his decision to hire Tara. There
really wasn’t anything much to running a business. He smiles and gets
back to work on his research on The Awakening.

…

Willow waited for Tara in the commons for about ten minutes but when
she didn’t show up she decided to make her way to her room and give her
a call. When she reached her room she sees that Tara had left her a
message. Reading it over she wonders what she should do for lunch.

At that point Buffy walks into the room. "Hey Wills!" She says to her,
"I thought you were going to hang with Tara for lunch?"

"Yeah I was but something came up and Tara had to bail on me."

"I’m sorry you want to have lunch with me? We can go downtown and look
at the new shops and grab a bite to eat. I’m done for today what about
you?"

"I have a CS lab at three but I don’t need to go, I finished my project
already."

"Cool! Lets go." Buffy says and both women leave the dorm room.

The two make it to downtown with relative ease mainly because downtown
is walking distance from campus. Buffy and Willow decide on eating at
one of the small cafés in the area having chicken salads and people
watching most of the time. When they finish they decide to spend some
time walking around looking at the various stores.

"Buffy look at that store over there!" Willow points out to her
companion.

"What about it?" She says.

"It’s having a sale, thirty to forty percent off!" Willow responds.

"Oh wow! Let’s go and see." Buffy says as they walk into the store.
Moments later they walk out.

"That wasn’t such a good idea was it?" Buffy says.

"No, forty percent off of four hundred dollars is still way more than I
would like to spend."

"Seriously! I mean…" Buffy’s sentence is cut short when she stops
abruptly causing Willow to almost run into her.

"Buffy? What’s wrong?" Willow asks warily looking around them to see if
anything out of the ordinary was happening. "Buffy?"

"Will, look at those two across the street, the ones about to walk into
that store over there." She gestures at the couple in question without
pointing at them hoping not to get their attention.

"What about them?" Willow asks.

"The younger one, I could swear that she looked just like…Willow come
on lets go."

"What? Go where?"

"I need to look at her more closely." Buffy says over her shoulder.

"Why?" Willow says catching up with Buffy.

"Because I could have sworn that girl was Faith."

Eyes wide Willow keeps up with Buffy as they enter the store. "Are you
sure?" She says whispering to Buffy.

"No, but she looks a lot like her, that’s why I need to get a closer
look." She whispers back.

The two women that they were following were over by a rack looking at
skirts. The young woman in question had a black one in one hand and a
gray one in the other. They hear her ask her companion, "Elizabeth,
which one do you think is better?"

Elizabeth replies, "I like that black one." She pauses as she looks at
an adjacent rack and pulls out a red top. "If you try it with this top
I’m sure it’ll look wonderful on you."

Buffy quickly runs through a few of her options. Seeing that her
options are limited she decides for the direct approach. "Oh my God!"
Buffy says loudly, "I haven’t seen you in such a long time!" she says
as she grabs the girl’s arm and turns her to face her. Startled by the
sudden contact and movement the girl drops her things.

What Buffy sees is not what she expects. The night she had fought Faith
the one thing that she remembered clearly were Faith’s eyes. The moment
she had fallen off that ledge she saw Faiths eyes look at her not with
malice but understanding. It was that look that haunted her every time
she went to visit Faith in the hospital. The eyes looking back at her
now were an unfamiliar green opposed to Faith’s dark brown.

"I’m sorry, but do I know you?" The girl says to her.

Buffy shaken out of her reverie replies, "Ah, you just reminded me of
someone…I must have been mistaken." She adds quietly.

"Don’t worry about it! I do it all the time too! You think you see
someone but then after you see them in a little better light they’re
not who you think they are." She pauses and extends her hand, "I’m
Amanda."

"Buffy, and this," She says gesturing to Willow who also extends her
hand. "is Willow."

"Nice to meet you Willow. This is my mother-in-law Elizabeth." She says
introducing her companion.

"Amanda you know I hate it when you call me that, it makes me feel so
old!" She says and then takes the hands of the two girls, "Pleasure to
meet you both."

"Same here," Buffy says.

"I’d love to talk some more but we have to get going." Amanda says
gesturing to her watch.

"Sure, no problem, sorry about earlier. You must think that we’re
psychos."

"Not at all. Maybe we’ll bump into each other later. If we do lets get
a cup of coffee."

"That would be nice."

"Great! Well we have to go." Amanda says picking up her stuff and
making her way towards the door with Elizabeth.

"We do too, it was nice meeting you." Willow says to both Amanda and
Elizabeth.

"You too," Amanda says with a smile. She looks over to Elizabeth and
they both walk back down the sidewalk in the direction Buffy had seen
them approach the store.

Willow turns to Buffy who is still watching them leave, "Ok Buffy , you
better stop staring or else they’ll have to call the cops on you for
stalking."

"I know Will, but I could have sworn that she was Faith." Buffy says.

"Well I guess they kinda looked the same but I wouldn't say that she
looked exactly like Faith." Willow argued.

"Yeah, I guess you’re right Willow. Lets head back to the dorms, I have
some studying to do before I go on patrol."

"Sure let’s go." Willow says as they head back to campus.

Inside a car Faith and Cassandra are making their way back to the
house. "Would you mind telling me what happened back there?" Cassandra
asks her young companion.

"Those were some people from Xander’s and my past. They’re the ones
that think he’s dead."

"And you? What do they think of you?"

"If it’s any help the blonde, Buffy, was the one who put me into a
coma."

They sit in silence the rest of the way to the house.

…

When Buffy and Willow return they see Tara is leaving another message
on their door. Willow speaks up and says, "Hey Tara!"

Turning around Tara sees the couple approaching and says, "Hey."

"What happened? Where were you this morning?" Willow asks her.

"I’d rather explain inside," she gestures to their room. Nodding Buffy
unlocks the door and they all walk inside.

"What’s up with the clothes Tara? You look like you had an interview or
something."

"As a matter of fact I did." Tara answers.

"You did? What kind of job?" Willow ask excitedly

"Admin Assistant at Pierce Industries newest office in Sunnydale." Tara
says.

Willow looks at her with arched eyebrows. "Pierce Industries? Wow. That
company has been on the S&P 500 for over twenty years!"

"And that is a good thing?" Buffy asks.

"Very." Willow answers

"What I don’t get Tara is why the sudden urge to change jobs? I mean I
thought you were happy with your job at the restaurant." Buffy asks.

"Well that’s what I wanted to explain to you guys in here. After you
left this morning I was looking through the paper for something
interesting. When I stumbled onto this." She pulls out a part of the
paper and shows them the picture.

"Hey that’s the girl form the shop!" Buffy exclaims.

"What do you mean?" Tara asks.

"Buffy thought she saw someone she knew from a long time ago. But when
we got close enough she saw that she was mistaken." Willow answers.

"Yeah her name is Amanda. That’s her husband?" Buffy asks reading over
the blurb. "Wow, no wonder I thought I had seen her from some where
before. I must have seen this picture this morning."

Willow takes a close look at the picture as well. "He kinda looks like
Xander."

"Will now you are seeing things." Buffy says, "Looking at the picture I
can see how you can think that, hell looking at the picture you can see
how I thought that woman was Faith, but you know as well as I do.
Xander died a long time ago."

"Oh the person you visit every month," Tara asks Willow understanding
now. "If it’s any consolation he doesn’t look like any of the pictures
you have of him. I even saw his wedding picture, he couldn’t be who you
think he is."

"You saw his wedding picture?" Willow asks.

"Yeah, that was what I was getting to. When I saw this picture I knew I
had seen them before it took me a second but I remembered where I had
seen them."

"Where?" Buffy asks listening to her intently.

"Last night in the alley. They were the ones I told you about." Tara
answers

"Are you sure?" Buffy asks her.

"Yes, when he interviewed me I was convinced that he was the guy from
last night. I don’t know what his story is but he seems like a normal
guy. But I start as his administrative assistant so I should be able to
get some more info this week."

"Way to go Tara!" Buffy says. "We have our very own double agent on our
side Will!"

"Yup! Double-O aganet Maclay, Tara Maclay." Willow says.

"We should tell Giles so he knows that we have a lead on our urban
assault couple. Hopefully he wont freak too much when we tell him about
what you did though."

"You think he’ll take it well?" Tara asks her.

Buffy answers, "Well it is Giles."

…

Later that night Buffy and Riley are patrolling around the city. With
the University coming to Sunnydale she found that more and more
vampires had come out of the woodwork to try and prey on unsuspecting
students as they walked home or to the dorms from late-night classes.
When patrolling by herself it was tough to keep up with al of the
action. After finding out about Riley and his skills she was glad to
have someone to patrol with. Riley really helped her with the vampires
around town as well as provider her with some distraction from her day.


"Tara found her mystery couple today." Buffy tells him as they walk. 

"How did she manage to do that?" Riley asks.

"Apparently they are some really important socialites or something like
that. She found their pictures in the paper’s society column."

"So they are kind of like Batman and Robin aren’t they?" Riley says.
"Multi-millionaire by day, demon fighting vigilantes by night."

"Yeah I guess so. We aren’t sure what their motives are yet though so
we have a spy working for us inside the company run by the dynamic
duo."

"Really?" Riley says incredulously.

"Yes. What you think you are the only one with covert operations?"

"Yes. At least I’ve had training for it, who is your person on the
inside?"

"Tara." Buffy enjoys the look of shock on Riley’s face. "That’s right,
Tara. After seeing their picture in the paper she called up the office
here in Sunnydale and asked for an interview. She got one and was
hired."

"How did Giles take it?" Was all Riley could say.

"Not very well, he had called Tara irresponsible and all that good
stuff but he finally came around when he realized there was nothing he
could do about it now. He just told her to be careful."

"Well what about…" Riley was interrupted by a scream coming from a
nearby alley. Looking at each other for a moment they break into a run
hoping to reach the source of the scream before it was too late.
Reaching the alley they see a single man with a knife holding a girl by
the hair. He was bringing the knife closer to the girl’s neck and was
about to cut when something hit him from behind, forcing him to drop
the girl. Turning around he sees two figures and man and a woman at the
mouth of the alley. 

The girl is holding half a brick when she calls out, "You want to play
or do I have to hit you again?"

"This is none of your concern kids, leave now or I’ll be forced to hurt
you." The man says.

"Could you be a little more original? I’ve heard that one so many times
now that it isn’t even funny. What do you guys do? Go to a class and
have a bad guy’s handbook for stupid sayings?"

The man just shrugs and grins as he pulls out another knife and slowly
beings to walk towards Buffy and Riley. "I’m on a tight schedule here
so I’ll just have to kill you quickly." He says as he breaks into a
run. As he closes in on the pair he does something that neither expect.
He throws the knives at them. 

Riley screams, "Incoming!" and shoves Buffy out of the way of the
flying knives both narrowly missing them. They do not even have time to
hit the ground as the man hits them with a flying tackle. Buffy, Riley
and the man all fall heavily on the ground. The man rolls with his fall
and is quickly up on his feet pulling out more knives. Buffy and Riley
struggle to their feet and see the man charging once again.

One of the knives that were thrown previously was lodged into a crate
next to Buffy. Pulling the knife out she readies the knife to defend
herself. Riley had picked up a two by four and was ready for the fight.
The man seeing that the playing field was a little more even now slowed
his approach and began to slowly circle the two keeping them both in
front him so that they wouldn’t surround him. 

Riley is the first to take a swing at the man. Using his knife to block
the swing he uses his other knife to try and lunge at Riley. Riley
jumps out of the way of the strike as Buffy comes in with a swipe of
her own which the man avoids. Throwing a kick to put Buffy off balance
he continues to concentrate on Riley thinking him the bigger of his
problems because of his longer reach. But Buffy is up sooner than he
expects and the two young fighters surround him. 

The man is frantically blocking the attacks from both sides that come
at a faster and faster pace. Low, high, low, lunge duck parry. The
fight looks as if was finely choreographed, a dance of life and death.
Making his decision the man throws another kick out at Riley catching
him behind the knees. Groaning in pain Riley falls. Turning to take
down the girl the man feels a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down
he sees the handle of one of his knives contrasting against his black
clothing. Looking up she sees the horror on the girl’s face as she
realizes what she had done. 

Oh my god. Was all Buffy could think, not again. She had stabbed
another human being and even now as she thought about it she could feel
his blood flowing onto her hand. Looking the man in his face she sees a
look of hatred. His cold hard eyes do not change as he grins and coughs
his blood onto her face. Stepping back he pulls the blade out and
begins to run away into the darkness of the street.


Going to Riley she sees if he is ok. "I’m fine Buffy." He says through
gritted teeth. "Don’t let him get away."

Buffy runs off in the direction of the man and she too disappears into
the darkness. Riley gets to his feet and hobbles off to follow her. He
slows down as he sees Buffy standing on the sidewalk. "Where did he
go?" He asks her.

"I don’t know." She says walking over to him.

"What do you mean you don’t know?" He asks hobbling towards her.

"I was following the trail of blood" she points to his feet. "But then
I lost him."

"How?" Looking at his feet there was quite an amount of blood.

She points to her feet and then farther down the street, "The trail
stops."

Looking around he finds that she is right. The trail of blood
disappears as if the man had never existed or was never hurt. Hobbling
farther up he can find no other trace of the man or his blood. Buffy
walks up to him and says, "Come on, let’s get you looked at." As she
helps him to their parked car they both wonder what had happened to the
man.

…

Sunnydale High School

The man has made his back to his lair back to where his master awaits.
Yet he is afraid to go back inside. He has failed his master. He has
returned to the lair empty handed, without the needed sacrifice. He has
served his master as well as he could. He will walk inside to his
master and face the punishment that awaits him. 

"Keith, you have returned." A cold voice calls from the darkness of the
room. Looking to the source of the voice he almost swears that his
master’s eyes glow a deep red. 

"Yes master I have returned."

"Empty handed I see."

Going to his knees Keith says. "Yes master, empty handed. I await your
punishment. I am ready for my death if that is your wish."

Chuckling the man in the corner stands and gestures for Keith to stand.
"Keith, I was able to foresee your failure tonight so do not fret. I am
not frivolous with the lives of those who serve me. That is why I had
sent Aaron out as well. One of you, I knew, would fail me tonight. One
of you would draw out our adversaries while the other…" The sound of
the doors opening causes both men to turn around. "while the other
succeeds in finding me the proper sacrifice."

Aaron pulls out two jars and puts them next to the others on the
counter. 

Their master smiles as he looks at the jars sitting on the table. 

"Beautiful." He says, "Beautiful. Soon my friends, soon we’ll be ready.
Yes very soon! YES!" he screams and the laugh of a madman fills the
room, louder and louder as it can be heard in the halls and the empty
rooms. The laugh is heard outside of the building and startles birds to
take flight from a nearby tree. The laugh goes on into the darkness of
the night.



Chapter 8

And whence and why came you?

We know not whence, (was the answer,)

We only know that we drift here with the rest,

That we linger'd and lagg'd-but were wafted at last, and are now

       here,

To make the passing shower's concluding drops.

                                                               W.W
1891-2

 

 

"Damn!" Adam says as he reads the latest police reports and sees that
there was another murder last night. He had Faith and Xander staking
out the places where he thought people would be in abundance but they
had come up empty handed. Knowing the preciseness off the prophecy he
knew that they had missed their opportunity that night. The report only
confirmed his suspicions. 

"Damn!" They had failed in saving the life of the girl that had died
last night but they still had one more chance. So far their search for
information on the awakening was turning up unfruitful. Instead of
finding new information they kept finding the same information over and
over again. The process was starting to get tedious and was starting to
weigh heavily on all of them. The more they researched the more they
came up with dead ends. Every dead end meant that one person was that
much closer to finding death. Now someone was dead. Adam growled with
frustration. What was it that they were missing?

Throwing the papers away from him in disgust he leans back into his
seat. Cassandra walks into the room and puts a comforting arm around
him. He sighs and leans into her. "What am I doing wrong? How could we
miss this chance!"

Cassandra leans into Methos. "Don’t beat yourself up over this. You’ve
already spent most of your life doing that. This is no different than
the other times. There was simply nothing you. Even though you are five
thousand years old it still doesn’t mean that you can be in two places
at once."

"Yes I suppose you’re right. I really can’t be…" Adam sits up suddenly
causing Cassandra to fall into the chair behind him. Standing up he
turns around and helps her stand up. "Two places at once! You my dear
are a genius!" He says and proceeds to give her a deep kiss. He
suddenly pulls away and makes a run towards the den where the computer
sits.

Cassandra sits back into the chair and sighs. No matter how much she
thought she knew Methos there were always going to be parts of him that
she would never understand. Shaking her head she chuckles to herself.
Getting up she walks after Methos to see what epiphany hit him this
time.

Adam was busily typing away at the keyboard when Cassandra enters the
room. Pulling a chair up beside him she asks, "So what did you figure
out?"

Adam doesn’t even look away from the keyboard as he explains to her,
"Well from reading the autopsy reports from both murders I saw that
both girls died at about twelve-thirty in the morning give or take a
few minutes. Now I had Xander and Faith hang out around the areas with
heavy concentrations of people at the at that time, easy to find
targets that way you see." He continues to type away at the keyboard
until he apparently finds what he is looking for. "Ha! There!" He taps
on the screen pointing at a single line in particular. "Look right
there! When you said I couldn’t be at two places at once I realized
that neither could the murderer. But we were assuming that that there
was only one murderer."

"But there isn’t. If he has accomplices they would be able to…"

"Be in two places at the same time!" Adam finishes her sentence for
her. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"Not recently or nearly enough, but to the point what have you found
here?"

"When I realized that there might be more than one of them out there I
decided to see if there were any reported incidents last night that
coincided with the time of the murder. After searching around for a bit
I found that there were quite a few reports that spanned between the
times of twelve-ten and twelve-forty-five."

"How does that help you though?" Cassandra asks waiting for the wheels
in Methos’ brain to get to their destination.

"One of them is a mugging reported here by a woman who matches the
description of the two dead girls, reported twelve-thirty-five! The
interesting part is the woman claims to have lost consciousness but
reports that nothing had been taken. "

"So you have a possible connection."

"Right. Let me pull up a map. Here is where the first murder victim was
found," he says pointing at the screen. "Here is where the latest
victim was found," he says pointing to another portion of the screen.
"And here is where the mugging took place, across town from where the
murder took place."

"How can you be sure that it wasn’t a botched mugging?"

"Call it a hunch. A woman is mugged, she passes out but nothing is
taken and aside from a few bruises she is fine. Strange? I think so.
Also the police went over the area she claims to have been mugged and
found that there was a large amount of blood spilled and a knife was
found on the premise."

"So either the man accidentally stabbed himself or…"

"Or he was stopped. But by who?"

"I’m guessing by some of Xander’s old friends."

"Think we should give him a call?" Cassandra asks.

"No, let them rest. I had them stay up pretty late last night looking
for our murderer. We don’t have to start work until ten today anyway so
we should be ok."

…

A few miles away Xander and Faith are not asleep. They are in the
basement of their house stretching and going through their warm-ups,
much like Xander’s house this house had a basement converted into a rec
room. Xander and Faith had gotten into the habit of working out and
training in the mornings when they were not training with Adam or
Cassandra. After properly stretching both Faith and Xander walk to the
center of the room. Turning to each other they bow slightly. They stand
next to each other both taking a relaxed stance. Feet shoulder length
apart and head slightly bowed chest rising and falling in controlled
precise breaths. They begin their movements slowly as if they are
submerged in water. Hands slowly and gently rising outstretched to
shoulder level and then falling back down slowly through the invisible
fluid slowing their movements.

When Xander recommended that Faith learn T’ai Chi she was skeptical at
first. She had learned many forms of fighting while training as a
slayer but they were all combative. T’ai Chi was as non-combative as
martial arts could get. But as always Xander was able to convince her
otherwise. He had told her, "Life isn’t always about fighting Faith.
You don’t always have to be at war with the world around you. T’ai Chi
will help you harmonize with it instead."

He was right. It had taken her a few days of watching and mirroring for
her to learn all of the movements but now in the midst of the slow
gentle and graceful movements she truly felt at peace with herself. She
felt at peace with the world around her. She felt peace at peace with
the person beside her. She knew even now without looking that their
breathing were matched just as their movements’ mirror each other. She
was acutely aware of him. It was almost as if she could feel him, feel
his presence. Never before had she ever experienced such clarity.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Slow breaths. Slow controlled movements.
Weight shifting from foot to foot never completely distributed between
the two. Hands, arms and legs moving in unison. Focus. Focus on the
self, focus on all that surrounds her. Faith had never really ever felt
this kind of peace or clarity before doing anything. She always had a
purpose but she never felt at peace. But when she was with Xander she
felt at peace. He didn’t compare her to Buffy and he never forced any
issues about her past. He accepted her for who she was and he didn’t
set a bar for her but allowed her to set one for herself. He accepted
her no questions asked, and that’s what she loved about him.

That thought nearly broke her concentration mid-stride. She knew that
Xander was as aware of her as she was aware of him. If she stopped or
faltered at all he would notice. If he noticed he would stop to ask
what was wrong and that was something she didn’t need to answer right
now. 

Love? She thinks as she continues to mirror Xander’s movements. Love is
a word so alien to her that she can scarcely believe that it exists at
all. She has never truly loved anyone before. Was she in love with
Xander? She glances at the man standing next to her. His eyes are
closed and his face is peaceful. Love? He is the best friend she ever
had. She cared for him yes. She would be at his side if he asked her to
be there. She would give her life to save his in a heartbeat.

All that she could feel was her breathing and the light thumping of her
heart. And it was in that microcosm that she realized something and she
realized it with startling clarity. Thump, thump. She. Thump, thump.
Loved. Thump, thump. Xander. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Her heart beat at an even pace as the thought flit across her mind. A
slight chill filled her body as she recognized the thought and a
feeling of elation and happiness quickly warmed her. She loved Xander.
There was no question about it, she was in love with the man. 

Opening her eyes she looks at his form once more, wondering. She loved
Xander but did Xander return her feelings? Could it be possible that
Xander loved her as well? How could she tell? What could she do? The
old Faith would have grabbed him by the neck thrown him on the ground
and screw him into the ground. The old Faith would have taken him and
built their relationship entirely on sex and physical contact. The old
Faith doesn’t exist anymore she told herself. The Faith that remains
wants a relationship that actually means something. She wants a
relationship based on feeling and emotion not sex. The person that she
is now is willing to wait and let things run their natural course. She
and Xander were spending a lot of time together and if there is
something there it would grow naturally. She would have to wait.

Those final thoughts brought their exercise to an end. Opening her eyes
she sees Xander handing her a water bottle. Taking it and opening it
she takes a few long sips of water. 

"You want to spar?" Xander asks her.

"You feel up to it?" She replies.

"What an miss getting hot and sweaty with a beautiful woman?" He says
with a grin. "And then roll around on the mats here while I place my
hands on her anatomy? How could I possibly say no to that?"

"I guess you couldn’t could you?" Faith says.

"I could never say no to you." Xander answers looking right at her. He
quickly adds, "So are you ready or what?"

"I’m ready Xander." She says walking right up to him and leaning into
his face with hers. "And one more thing." She says in a low voice.

Leaning in closer to hear what she has to say he says, "What’s that?"

Faith grabs the front of his shirt and puts her leg into his instep.
Twisting slightly and pivoting over her hip she takes Xander and slams
him forcefully to the ground knocking the air out of his lungs
temporarily. 

"I think that you need help getting off of the floor."

"No thanks I can manage." He says bringing his arms between hers and
between the two of them. Pushing out so that her arms slide off of him
her chest presses into his when she falls on him and they are face to
face once more. "Besides I think I can really get used to this."

Rolling off of him Faith gets to her feet. Xander does the same. Faith
comes up in a horse stance. Xander comes up with a tiger stance. They
look at each other and grin. As they begin to spar Faith returns to the
thoughts that came to her earlier. She would wait for him and she would
wait to see what time would reveal. Blocking a punch and jumping over a
sweep she smiles. She had fallen in love. It was so fast and so quiet
she didn’t even realize it.

…

After showering Faith and Xander are back in the kitchen eating
breakfast. For Faith it is some tea, a bowl of fruit and toast. For
Xander it is a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin.

"When do you have to get into the office?" Faith asks him.

"Ten o’clock." He replies. "It’s what eight right now?"

"Eight-fifteen." She replies. "I was wondering if we could go somewhere
before you go to work."

"Where do you want to go?"

"I want to visit the past." Seeing his questioning look she adds,
"You’ll see."


… 

The smell of damp grass fills the air. The morning sun casts shadow
upon shadow onto their path. Faith is leading him along a path in one
of Sunnydale’s many cemeteries. Looking around he feels a kind of
familiarity. Walking through the cemetery brings back memories of
patrol, talking to Willow and Buffy. It reminds him when the group had
to function without a slayer for a summer and he would frequent the
cemeteries by his house every night.

His house. Looking around he was able to find a few landmarks that
remind him which cemetery they are walking through. They weren’t that
far from his parent’s old house. The house he left behind that fateful
day. But there was something else, something that clawed at his mind
trying to get to the surface but he couldn’t place the feeling. He was
about to ask Faith why she had brought him here when they stop
suddenly.

"Faith? You said you wanted to visit the past, why are we here?" He
asks her.

"I wanted to tell you that they haven’t forgotten about you." Faith
says quietly.

"Who?"

"Them." She says as she points to a particular grave stone. Confused he
looks at the stone and realizes that it is his.

Alexander L. Harris

Friend, Protector,

Hero

His stone is clean. The letters on the stone are still clear. There is
no date. He figures that it was Giles idea. The thing that surprises
him the most is that there are flowers at the foot of the stone.

"They all visit at least once a week. Willow even talks to you." She
says.

"How do you know?" He asks her.

"I came here two days ago. As I was leaving I saw Buffy her mom and
Giles come over the path. They stopped at your grave for a little while
and placed those flowers on your grave." She explains.

"And Willow?"

"When I first woke up from my coma I was trying to find someone that I
could turn to. I took a shortcut through this cemetery to get to your
house when I saw her sitting next to your grave. I hid behind that
mausoleum." She says pointing to the building not far from his grave.
"I heard her talking to you about her day and stuff like that."

"Why did you want me to see this?"

"You seemed distracted ever since we got here. I figured you were
wondering about your friends. I knew you wanted to go out and talk to
them but…" Her sentence hangs in the air for a second. "I just thought
you would like to know that they still think about you Xander."

Xander stands there for a second and looks at his grave. His friends
after all this time and even through his apparent death still thought
of him, still loved him. Walking over to Faith he wraps his arms around
her and holds her body close to his. With his mouth close to her ear he
whispers to her, "Thank you."

Faith answers her head under his chin. "You’re welcome."

"I’m glad we found each other in that alley Faith. You know what I
mean?"

Looking into his eyes and smiling she says to him, "Yes, I think I do."
She leans in closer and kisses him lightly on the cheek. The kiss
speaks of tenderness, affection and friendship. The meaning in the kiss
is not lost on the recipient. 

"Faith, I…" his sentence is cut short by Faith who gestures behind him.
Coming over the hill are Giles, Buffy and her mother Joyce. Their car
was just around the corner but between them and the car was the trio
approaching them. "Damn." He mutters under his breath.

"What should we do?" Faith asks worriedly. "I was able to fool Buffy
and Willow yesterday but I’m not sure about Giles or her mom."

"We’ll have to wing it." He says casually.

"Wing it!" She whispers sharply to him. "What do you mean wing it!"

"Just wing it! If they don’t talk to us we’re cool but if they do just
make some story up ok?" He whispers back. Offering his arm to her they
both start to walk up the path towards the car. As they walk they draw
nearer and nearer to Buffy and the two adults. The masks of Harry and
Amanda now replace Xander and Faith and they hope that none of the
three would recognize them. They were only a few yards apart from each
other and still no sign of recognition. As they draw nearer they are
able to hear Buffy explain to the other two adults how unreasonable it
was for her to take Calculus in college. Had it been another couple
walking by they would have assumed that they were a normal family but
Xander and Faith know better.

"So you see there is no real reason for me to take Calc. Don’t you
think it’s unfair to ask non-engineering majors to take this kind of
math?" Buffy says to the two.

"Well I can see your point but the fact of the matter is that you need
the course for a well rounded education."

"I agree with Mr. Giles Buffy. You still need to take the class."

"All I am saying is that Calc is evil. I will never ever have to
triangulate the trajectory of a stake as it flies through the air will
I?" Seeing a blank look from her watcher she adds, "I thought so."

Turning to face the path she sees two other figures walking in the
opposite direction, one of which she recognizes immediately.

After seeing the look on Buffy’s face Xander thinks that their cover is
blown and that he would have to tell them the truth about his
immortality. He is about to say something when he hears the words
coming out of Buffy’s mouth. "Amanda!"

Looking down at Faith she is smiling widely with acknowledgement at
Buffy. Then it hits him, he isn’t supposed to know Buffy. Buffy hasn’t
even met Harrison Pierce. 

"Buffy right?" Amanda says walking up to greet the other woman.

"Yes I’m glad you remembered."

"Of course how could I forget? Not many people go around this town
accusing me of being someone else." Xander’s heart nearly jumps out of
his throat when he hears Faith say those words. But Faith is smiling
the whole time. 

Buffy blushes slightly at the comment. She really didn’t recognize
them. "I’m sorry about that. How are you?"

"I’m doing fine. Oh where are my manners? Buffy this is Harry my
husband." She introduces Xander.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Buffy says.

"Likewise." He replies. "So you are the young woman that accosted my
wife the other day?"

The red hue in Buffy’s cheeks go up a few notches. Faith cuts in,
"Harry!"

"Just kidding Buffy. I hope you’re not offended?"

"I’m ok. Just a little embarrassed is all."

Faith quickly changes the subject. "Are these your parents?" she says
looking past the young woman.

Xander almost laughs out loud when he sees the slight blush Giles and
Mrs. Summers share when Faith mentions them as Buffy’s parents. It
seems to Xander that Giles and Mrs. Summers have been sharing more than
the responsibility of raising a slayer. That was interesting in its
self. Looking at Buffy he sees that she either doesn’t know or is in
some serious denial.

"No this is my mom Joyce and a very close friend of the family Ruppert
Giles. But everybody calls him Giles."

"Nice to meet you." Joyce says shaking both of their hands. Xander can
see the uncertainty in both of their faces. As he shakes Giles’ hand he
thinks that he might have recognized them. Deciding quickly to change
the subject he asks Giles, "You’re British?"

"Yes quite." Giles answers back easily.

"You sound like you attended Eaton. Have you ever been?"

"Actually yes but I continued my studies at Oxford. Why do you ask?"

"My father is Welsh and he attended Eaton and Oxford as well. You both
have the same vocal inflections."

"Really in that case I may have met him then."

"You may have, his name is Benjamin Pierce. Does the name ring a bell?"

"Pierce? As in Pierce industries?" Seeing the young man nod he
continues, "Yes I think your Father was a year or two ahead of me at
Oxford. He had the reputation of being able to imbibe the most liquor
out of any upper classmen."

"Really? I’m going to have to ask him about that one." He says with a
smile. 

"Small world." Buffy says. "What were you guys doing walking around a
cemetery anyway?"

"We were driving around town and saw that there were so many cemeteries
in this town. We decided to stop by one just to see if we could find
out why there were so many."

"Sunnydale has had more than its fair share of disasters. Many people
have been laid to rest over the years but the town just continues to
move forward." Giles explains hoping that they will accept his
explanation.

"I see." Xander says. Looking at his watch he says, "Oh wow, is it
nine-thirty already? I need to get to the office. Sweetie could you
drop me off?" He says to Faith trying to end their conversation before
one of the three recognizes who they are.

"Sure thing." Faith says. Turning to the group she says "It was nice
seeing you again Buffy and it was nice meeting you as well Mr. Giles,
Joyce. We really should get together sometime Buffy. I really haven’t
met anyone yet and other than Harry’s mother I don’t have anyone to
hang out with."

"Sure thing. You have a pen?" Xander pulls one out and hands it to
Buffy who has pulled out a small piece of paper and quickly jots down
her phone number at her dorm. "That’s my dorm number call me there
first, if I’m not there just leave a message."

"Thanks I’ll call you sometime this week and we can have lunch."

"That’ll be great. See you later."

"Bye." Faith says waving as Xander nods to each of them in turn and
they both walk to their car.

Getting into their car Xander is the first to speak. "What were you
thinking back there?"

"What? You told me to wing it!"

"Yes wing it! Not plan to have tea with Buffy! We are trying to keep a
low profile here remember?"

"Sorry if that wasn’t what you expected but I didn’t see you come up
with any better ideas AND we were able to leave fairly quickly weren’t
we?"

Xander opens his mouth to say something but searching his mind for
something to say he found that she was right. Where he went into a
mental relapse Faith was able to come up with a valid story quickly all
while in character. Xander sitting back into his chair just chuckles to
himself.

"What’s so funny?" Faith asks.

"I can’t believe you came up with all that stuff off the top of your
head."

"What the driving around and stopping by bit? That was easy. What about
you picking up on the Eaton accent?"

"I remember Giles saying something about it before. Adam had told me he
actually spent some time as Benjamin Pierce when he attended Oxford.
The two matched up perfectly. But that was luck. What you came up with
was amazing."

"We’ll I’ve had a lot of practice with deception." She says quietly her
mood suddenly somber.

"Hey, none of that. What we are doing now has nothing to do with what
has happened in the past. You aren’t that person now. You know it and I
know it." Changing the subject quickly he says, "Besides you’re the
amazing one remember?"

A smile tugs on the corners of her lips as she says, "Alright, alright,
no more broody Faith. I promise." Looking at him from the corner of her
eye she says, "But I’m still going to have lunch with Buffy and
Willow."

Xander noticed that Faith didn’t use the nicknames she used for Buffy
and Willow while she lived in Sunnydale. Probably it was another
conscious step away from her old persona. He respected Faith a great
deal for the effort she is making to change. It takes both courage and
will to change yourself Adam had told him once. He was able to change
himself and if there was anyone on the planet that had enough courage
and will to change it was Faith. 

"Go ahead and do that, see if I come to your rescue if they find out
who you are."

"I know you’ll come and save me anyway. You’re my knight in shining
armor and plus you can't say no to me remember? I’m irresistible!" She
says with a dazzling smile.

"Yes you are. Yes you are." He says as they pull up to the office
building.

…

As they see the car pull away Giles says to Buffy, "Do you think that
was wise?"

"Was what was wise?" Buffy said innocently.

"Ruppert what are you talking about?" Joyce asks.

"Willow’s friend Tara says she witnessed those two slay a group of
vampires last week. They haven’t come out and declared their loyalties
nor have we seen them out and about actively fighting and patrolling.
So they are some what of a questionable presence here in Sunnydale."

"And Buffy just accepted an invitation from a potentially dangerous
person to go and have lunch?"

"Yes."

"I’m standing right here you know! Don’t talk like I’m not here." They
turn to look at Buffy. "What? I am the chosen one, one who is gifted
and all that right? Don’t you two think that after a few years of doing
this gig that I can’t handle myself? How many people here have defeated
master vampires, closed the Hellmouth and stopped the mayor from
unleashing hell on earth?" Buffy raises her hand. Looking at the other
two she says, "Uh huh. I see. I’ll be fine mom, Giles I’ll be okay.
Let’s go and visit Xander ok?" Buffy turns around and starts to make
her way down the path.

Giles sighs and Joyce asks him, "I keep forgetting that she has done so
much already."

"Yes I know especially for one so young. I’ve found that she is one of
the most stubborn, headstrong"

"Don’t forget incorrigible."

"Yes thank you. Incorrigible people I know. However she is also the
most selfless, caring.."

"And special."

"special young ladies I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am
glad that I was able to help at least a little with her growing up."

"I’m glad that you were there as well Ruppert." She drapes her arm
around his shoulders and says to him, "Thank you for being there for my
little girl." Her arm stays around him as they walk down the path to
Xander’s grave.

…

Sunnydale High School

Aaron and Keith watch as their master escorts a young man into the
room. He is about six feet tall and very pale. Without preamble their
master speaks, "This is Jonathan." He points to the man. "I have
enlisted his help to create some distractions for the…protectors of
this city. Jonathan here claims to be a master vampire of sorts. I
really don’t care what he is as long as he helps further our cause."
Seeing the look of disdain on the vampire’s face he continues. "Spare
me your looks vampire" he spits out. "I have seen and done more evil in
two thousand years than you could possibly imagine and remember this
vampire, I have a soul."

Jonathan under the intense scrutiny the man who refers to himself as
the master flinches. He had never in his life ever met a mortal with
such power. His mere glare was unsettling to him. 

"Now Jonathan I have a plan." The Master tells the vampire. "It is a
plan that I have put into place and have waited for nearly fifteen
hundred years." Seeing that the vampire’s attention wasn’t focused
completely on him his hand strikes out faster than possible catching
Jonathan by the throat. The strength of the man surprises him. The fact
that he is being lifted off of the floor by his throat isn’t what is
worrying him.

The Master voices the thoughts going through his head. "Yes vampire,"
He spits the word out as if the mere taste of it is repulsive. "I
understand that you do not need to breathe but," His hand begins to
squeeze tighter and his nails start to dig into the vampire’s cold
skin, "if I tear your throat out you will feel pain and if I tear your
head off you will die." Looking down into the master’s eyes cold evil
stares back at him. This man has given himself totally to his cause and
has both the strength and the will to carry out his plans. Nodding
quickly the Master releases him.

"Jonathan my good friends here," he gestures to Keith and Aaron, "are
more than capable to carry out what I need them to carry out. However
they have come under the…scrutiny of certain parties in this fair
haven. What I need you to do is to provide some noise to cover the
tracks my good friends here will undoubtedly leave behind. Do you
understand?" Seeing that the vampire understood he continues saying,
"Good. As long as you do your job correctly you will paid very
handsomely."

"As long as you pay me handsomely the job will done correctly." The
vampire replies.

A cold smile plays across the Master’s face. "You’re answer is what I
expected from your kind vampire. You will be paid. Now go, I expect to
hear a lot of noise tonight."

"Of course…Master." Jonathan says with a slight bow.

"Come now Jonathan. No need to be facetious." He says turning back to
the vampire. "You pride yourself on the power you have over the
mortals. The way you feed off of their blood. Makes you feel God-like
no?" He says leaning closer towards the vampire. "Well, I have absorbed
the souls of men better than you! Generals, leaders, warriors, priests,
I have taken them all! So if you wish to be facetious do so around
those who find you intimidating, do so around those who find you
important but here you will defer to me! I am your master and you will
never forget that!"

Jonathan had heard stories of older vampires that have gone mad with
bloodlust. Their minds are lost and the only thing that exists for them
is the hunger and the need to satisfy it. They are all but unstoppable,
willing to preserve great pain in order to fulfill their needs. If it
wasn’t for the sound of the Master’s heart beating in his chest he
would have sworn that the Master was a vampire gone mad.

"Now go vampire and do not disappoint me."

… 

Xander makes it into the office a little after ten-fifteen. Upon
walking into the office he sees that Tara is already at her desk in the
office across from his going through some papers.

"Good morning Tara."

"Good morning Mr. Pierce."

"Please call me Harry."

"Sure thing Mr…"

"Harry."

"Harry."

"There that wasn’t so bad was it?" he says.

"No it wasn’t."

"Now Tara do I have any messages?"

"You have one but it is from your father. He says that you two have to
go over some numbers. He says that he has the papers ready he just
wants to get your opinion on a few things."

"Did he say when he wanted to go over the numbers?"

"No he said it was important so I’m thinking probably as soon as
possible."

"I’ll see to it then. Thanks Tara. How you holding up?"

"You’re welcome. I’m doing ok so far nothing too big has come up yet
but if something does come up I think I could handle it."

"Good. Keep up the good work." He says as he walks down the hall
towards Adam’s office. 

Xander knocks on the door. "Come in." He hears Adam’s voice call out.
Closing the door behind him Xander takes a seat in front of Adam’s
desk.

"What’s up?"

"Another girl was found murdered last night." He says handing him the
dossier that he created to hold all the information he had found. "Same
as the last girl. Eyes and tongue missing and again she had a blood
eagle performed on her." 

"Damn. How could we miss him?" Xander asks.

"Well Cassandra and I have a theory that there is more than one person
at work here. At the end of the file you’ll see there was a failed
mugging around the same time of the last mugging. Only nothing was
taken the woman was found unconscious."

"So you think that there are at least two of them working at the same
time trying to get the parts? That way no matter what they do they will
have all the parts harvested at the same time."

"Exactly. In the folder there are a few more things I want you to look
over. I already have the window of opportunity that is needed for the
sacrifice, but we have to find out where they will be next."

"I’ll go over these files and see what I can come up with."

"Great. Do you have any other ideas?"

"As far as trying to figure out what is going on in the city?" Adam
nods the affirmative. "You can try this bar it’s owned by a guy named
Willie. He has a lot of information on what is going on in the city,
especially with the undead crowds. If anyone in the city knows what is
going down it’s Willie. The only other resource I can think of is
Giles. He has a lot of books on the occult and things like that."

"Your friend Giles?" Xander nods. "No he is out of the question if we
approach him he may recognize you." Seeing that Xander has become
uneasy he asks, "What is it?"

"Well Faith and I kinda had a run in with him already."

"What!"

"Yeah there is more too. He was with Buffy and her Mother."

Adam just stares at him for a moment. "Did they recognize you?"

"They might have thought that there was a resemblance but since Buffy
didn’t recognize us I think that the other two just disregarded the
thought altogether."

"You were lucky this time. I’ll visit this Willie today with
Cassandra."

"You sure you don’t want me or Faith to go?"

"Yes, this guy doesn’t know me so I should be safe. Besides you’re
going to be busy tonight."

"Why is that?" Xander asks him.

"You are going to attend the opening of a new club here in town. A club
that you have put some considerable investments into."

"So Faith and me will keep up the appearances of the young
multimillionaire couple?"

"Exactly. Take the file and look over it. Send me what you find."

"Okay."

Xander exits the room and makes his way back to his office. Stopping by
Tara’s desk first he asks her, "Tara could you hold all my calls this
morning? I’m going to be busy with this stuff," He says holding up the
file. "Just tell them I’m in a meeting or something."

"Sure, no problem." Tara says.

"Great. Thanks!"

Tara watches her employer’s retreating form as he closes the door to
his office. She needed to get some information on Harrison Pierce. The
best place for such information is inside his office. If there were
information to be found it would be there. But she had to go through
his office when he wasn’t there. Going back to her work she glances at
the door from time to time. She would have to wait for her opportunity.


…

Giles and Buffy were on their way back to campus after dropping off
Buffy’s mother. "Buffy there was another murder last night exactly the
same as the one last week. Eyes and tongue missing with a blood eagle
performed on the body."

"Do you have any info on why this is happening?"

"No I’ve be searching through my books for rituals that requires the
Blood Eagle and the removal of the eyes and tongue. So far I have come
up with nothing. I was hoping you could see if you could find out
anything from Willie."

"I’ll go see him with Riley this afternoon. But first you need to get
me to class. I have a quiz today and my GPA cannot afford another
missed quiz."

…

Xander comes out of his office around four o’clock and sees that Tara
is eating a salad at her desk. "You worked through your lunch?" he asks
her.

"Yeah, I had a few things I want to get finished before I leave today
and I thought that this would be best."

"Fair enough but I want you to know that I don’t expect you to work
through your lunch. Okay?" She nods. "Good. I’ll see you tomorrow."

"See you later."

Xander makes his way to Adam’s office and lets himself in. Adam looks
up from his desk and asks him, "Did you find anything useful?"

"No just more of the same stuff we found last week."

"I was afraid of that. I was about to see this Willie person you told
me about. I was going to pick up Cassandra and go to his bar right now.
I was going to ask you for some directions."

"Sure." He says taking a pen from his pocket. "You have some paper?"
Xander takes the paper and jots down the direction and a small map of
the area as well as a few ways of exiting the place if needed. "there
you go."

"Thanks. Have you told Faith about the club opening tonight?"

"Yeah, she wished that you would tell us about these things a little
earlier though."

"Why is that?"

"Because she said if she knew that they were going out she would have
bought something yesterday with Cassandra. But I think she is going to
manage."

"I’m sure she will." Adam says with a smile.

… 

The door to Willie’s bar opens and two figures walk in, a man and a
woman. At first the patrons are worried that the Slayer and her
boyfriend have returned asking for some information. As they step out
of the shadows they see that the couple are not who they think. The man
tall and lanky is wearing a long coat. The woman is beautiful and also
wearing a long coat. Both have a feeling of royalty about them. Their
eyes show no fear or apprehension. Just wariness. The older patrons of
the bar decide quickly that messing with the pair will only lead to
trouble. The younger ones however do not have the wisdom to leave them
alone.

The woman walks right up to the bar and asks, "Are you Willie?"

"Why do you want to know?" the bartender asks.

"I heard that he could tell me some information about this." She pulls
out a few pictures of the girls who were murdered. "I want to know who
did this and why."

"I don’t know anything about that." He says nervously as he notices
some of the younger vampires in the room slowly make their way towards
the man standing behind her.

The man turns around quickly and looks at the three vampires that tried
to ambush him when his back was turned. The man smiles at them. "Now
that wasn’t nice." He says and continues to stare at the three. Willie
thinks the guy is crazy three vampires are staring at him like he is
their next meal and he just smiles at them. But suddenly something
changes. The vampires in front of him suddenly grab their heads and
scream in pain. The other vampires begin to cry out as well. The demons
in the bar have terrified looks on their faces as they try to scramble
out of the bar. The man picks up one the vampires and throws him
against the wall. He calmly walks to the pool table and picks up one of
the pool cues and throws it across the room, spearing the young vampire
through the heart. As he crumbles to dust the cue stays suspended
embedded in the wall. Looking around the bar the man dares any of those
left to try to attack him. Seeing that there are no takers he walks
back to the bar. Horrified Willie backs away breaking a glass on the
bar behind him. He curses as he feels the broken glass cut his hand. 

The man gestures at his hand the woman sees he is bleeding. "You are
mortal? Well in that case you will tell me what I want to know."

Her voice echoes in his head. He feels compelled to answer her
questions. Willie tries to resist but the woman speaks to him again.
"You cannot resist. Tell me what I want to know."

"I don’t know who is killing the girls." Willie says slowly. "I’ve
heard rumors that someone has come into town. Someone powerful enough
to have one of the most powerful vampires in the area work for them."

"Do you know anything else?" The man asks

Willie shakes his head. "No."

The man asks the woman, "Is he telling the truth?"

"Yes, I’m using the voice, he cannot lie while under its effects."

"Very well then lets go." Turning to Willie he says, "If I find out
that you know more I will be back."

The pair leaves the bar. The moment they are outside Willie sags to the
ground mentally and physically exhausted. "Jesus." He mutters under his
breath. He stands up and uses the bar to support him while he is
upright. Looking around he sees that the patrons that were sitting at
tables had left hastily and those that remained were gathering their
things to leave. Within minutes the bar is empty leaving Willie to
shiver at the bar with fear.

…

Back in the office Tara is inside of Harrison Pierce’s office. There
are papers on the desk, pie charts, marketing forecasts and a note
showing an opening of a club downtown but nothing really helpful. To
the left of the desk there is a legal pad but flipping through it there
is nothing written down. Looking at it however she sees that a few
pages have been torn out already. Tara traces the paper with her
fingers and feels the indentations on the pad. 

Looking around on the table she finds a pencil. Rubbing its edge on the
paper she starts to see words come out from behind the graphite
rubbings. From her preliminary work she sees the words ’awakening’ and
‘blood eagle’ on the page. Rubbing on another part of the paper she
sees the words ‘need more information’ come out.

Tearing the paper off of the pad she gently takes it with her to her
desk. Picking of the phone she dials the number to Giles’ shop. "Come
on Giles please be there."

[Magic shop.]

"Giles? This is Tara."

[Yes Tara, what’s wrong?]

"Nothing is wrong. I think I just found out why the Pierces are here in
town."

[Well come out with it, why are they here?]

"I think they are here because of something called the ‘Awakening"

[Awakening? I’ll have to research it to be sure anything else?]

"Yes, I think they are trying to stop it. It looks like they are
researching it trying to find more information. There is also some
mention of a ‘Blood Eagle"

[Are you sure?]

"Yes."

[Then this ‘Awakening’ has something to do with the murders this week
and last. Buffy is going to talk to Willie soon. I’ll have her ask him
about it. Good job Tara. Make sure no one suspects anything your safety
is paramount to any information you can get understand?]

"Yes Giles. I’ll be leaving here soon."

…

Buffy and Riley are walking towards Willie’s bar. Turning her head to
Riley she says, "A lot of the demon and vampire population in the city
come here. So expect to see a lot of unfriendly faces here. Keep sharp
and let me do the talking. Me and Willie have a nice working
relationship going."

"And that would be?"

"I won’t beat him up if he tells me what I want to know." She says with
a smile.

"Can’t argue with that. I’ll watch your back while you talk to Willie."

They were at the door to the bar now. "Ok you ready?"

"Yeah let’s do this." Riley says.

Pushing the door open they prepare to walk into the bar when they hear
Willie’s voice call from inside. "I told you I don’t know anything
else! I swear!"

Buffy says coming out of the shadows with Riley behind her says,
"Willie are you saying your lines a little bit out of order? You
usually don’t say that one until I threaten to beat you up."

Willie now getting a closer look at the newest patrons of his
establishment sighs with relief. "Slayer, its only you." He turns away
and starts to put stools back on the bar as if he was getting ready to
close it. She notes that his hand is bandaged. Looking around the bar
she sees that it is uncharacteristically empty. Across the room a pool
cue is sticking out of the wall and below it is the telltale pile of
dust.

"Willie I have some questions to ask you about these pictures." She
says pulling out pictures of the crime scenes from the murders.

"Get in line toots. I don’t anything about those pictures and all I can
tell you is what I told the other two."

"Other two?" Riley says curiously.

"What are you talking about Willie? What happened here?" Buffy asks
him. Willie was acting more nervous and jumpy than usual. The fact that
the bar was empty and his hand was bandaged shows that something
happened tonight something bad.

"Yeah another couple came in here asking about those pictures. A broad
and some guy and by looking at them you wouldn’t have guessed that they
were any trouble at all."

"But they were?" Riley questions the bartender.

"Yeah, three vamps were about to jump the guy and take him down you
know. But just before they were going to do that he turns around and
smiles at them."

"Did he pull out a sword?" Buffy asks.

"A sword? No, no, he turns around and looks at them you know and
something changes. All the vampires in the room start screaming out in
pain. Some of the demons were almost climbing up the walls," He
gestures to the walls showing them the scratch marks. "Then the guy
picks up one of the vampires and throws him against the wall walks over
to the pool table and spears the vampire right there in front of
everyone."

"He walked back to the vampire and stabbed him?"

"No he threw it across the room and spears him through the heart."

Buffy reaches into her pocket and pulls out another picture out of her
pocket and shows it to Willie. "Did they look like this." She asks
showing the picture of Harry and Amanda Pierce from the society column.

"No, they were a little older I think. But definitely not the same
couple."

"Well what did you tell them?"

"I told them that someone had come into town, someone powerful enough
to have one of the more powerful vampires in the area working for him."

"Which vampire?" Riley asks.

"A guy named Jonathan. A real piece of work, if someone has come into
town and was able to get Jonathan to work for him you have to know that
whoever this person is has to be a million times worse than Jonathan.
But I know something they don’t."

"And what would that be?" Buffy asks.

"No matter how bad this new person is someone just as bad is looking
for him. When they find each other this town will feel it, trust me."

"Thanks for the head up Willie. You closing up for the night?"

"Yeah, I don’t want to be around when the shit hits the fan. I’m
getting out of Dodge at least for a little while. Rumor has it that
there’s going to be some action downtown." He says. Buffy and Riley
move to walk out of the bar when Willie says, "Watch yourselves. When
this thing goes down, it’ll go down hard."

Turning to face him both nod and walk out of the bar. They need to get
a hold of Giles and tell him what they had found out. Looks like they
were going to patrol downtown tonight and if Willie was right tonight
is going to be a busy night.

…

"You ready yet?" Xander calls up to Faith.

"Almost! Give me a second!" He hears her voice call from upstairs.

He would never be able to figure out why it took women so long to get
ready. He was more surprised at the fact that Faith was taking so long.
Usually it took Faith a few minutes to get ready and they were out the
door. Albeit that they were going to be dressed very nicely but it had
only taken him about twenty minutes to get ready. He decided on wearing
a charcoal suit. His shirt and tie were a deep burgundy. Smiling at his
reflection in a mirror he thought that his Regis look was pretty much
complete. True it hadn’t taken long for him to get ready for the
opening in retrospect he really didn’t take that much time to get ready
for any function. He was ready for prom in about fifteen minutes. 

He fiddling with his tie as he hears Faith’s voice call from the
stairs. "I’m ready." 

Turning around he sees her come down the stairs. The figure that
descends the stairs is the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Grace
Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman or any actress past or present in
terms of beauty, style and grace could hold a candle to the woman who
stood before him. In short she left him breathless. Her hair is worn up
piled on top of her head and falling down in soft curls. Her lips are
outlined in a shade of red making them seem sweet giving out the gentle
urging to taste them. Her now green eyes are now accented by the
emerald teardrops hanging from her ears and around her neck as a
pendant. The chocolate brown dress she is wearing hugs her is just the
right places. The curve of her hips, the swell of her chest and the
slow gentle curves of her legs are both accentuated and hidden by the
dress. The sheer intensity of her beauty radiated off of her and he
could feel wave after wave of the energy hit him, warming him pulling
him towards her.

He hears her voice calling to him, "Xander, are you okay?" He is now
standing right in front of him.

"You are beautiful." He whispers to her looking into her eyes.

Faith uncomfortable under the scrutiny says, "Thanks, but this isn’t
all that special."

"Yes it is."

"You better close your mouth because you’re going to have to mop up all
that drool you’re leaving on the floor." She jokes trying to focus his
attention elsewhere.

Xander wasn’t going to have any of it. Making up his mind he decides to
show her what it is he feels. "I’ll do better than that." Reaching out
with his hand he caresses her cheek softly with his thumb. She closes
her eyes at the touch leaning into his hand. Tilting her head up
slightly Xander leans down and presses his lips against hers. The
simple movement sends electricity through his entire body. The
electricity coursing through his body only fuels the intensity of the
kiss. The embrace becomes more passionate and more pure as time goes
until finally after the last crescendo fades Xander pulls away. The
sudden lack of warmth on their lips surprises and dismays them both.
Faith’s hands reach up behind him and pull him closer urging him to
continue and they kiss again. This time only softer, this time all the
pent-up emotion is channeled through the kiss. Through the first kiss
they acknowledged the connection. Through the second they truly
understood their feelings and by the end of the second kiss they
accepted it completely. They were now hugging each other her head
tucked under his chin as it usually was while they slept. Their hearts
beating fast both taking long deep breaths there they stood in the
entryway of their home it was there that they silently professed their
love for each other. 

Faith is the first to speak. "Xander, I…I"

He brings up a finger to her lips to silence her. "Shhh. I know Faith.
I know."

Nodding mutely she just stands there in his arms.

Pulling her away from him he looks at her. "Let’s go. The sooner we get
there the sooner we can leave."

"And after we leave?"

"I think we’ll be able to find more than enough to keep us occupied."

Faith smiles as she feels Xander take her hand and leads her out to the
car.

… 

Tara and Willow are waiting outside of the newest club in Sunnydale.
Outside the line was getting longer as people waited to get inside to
see what the newest club in downtown Sunnydale was as hot and exciting
as it was advertised. 

Willow dressed in what she termed as her ‘clubbing’ outfit was standing
next to Tara close to the front of the line. "Tara why are we here
again?"

"Because Harry and Amanda are going to be here. I want to see them
together maybe we can see them slip up and we can find out more about
them."

"But isn’t that why you are working for him?"

"Yes but I know next to nothing about Amanda. I mean you talked to her
once? What else do we know?"

"Good point."

A car pulls up to the sidewalk and out of the driver seat Harrison
Pierce gets out. Walking over to the passenger side he tosses the valet
a key for him to move his car. He talks to the valet and shows him
where he wants his car to be parked. Continuing over to the passenger
side he opens the door to let out his wife Amanda Pierce. As they make
their way up the steps to the club Tara and Willow note that the two
make a stunning couple. Holding hands the entire way up towards the
doors smiling as they lean into each other to whisper words. As they
reach the door Harrison shakes hands with the other owners of the club
and introduces them to his wife.

Tara sees this as her opportunity and yells out "Harry! Harry!" Harry
looks around and sees who is calling him walking over to the line he
and his wife pull up next to Tara and Willow. 

"Tara! What are you doing here?"

"I heard about a new club opening up so me and my girlfriend decided to
come by and check it out."

"Willow! What a surprise!" Amanda says.

"Tell me about it! We were here to check out the new club and we run
into the both of you. What are you doing here?"

"Harry here is a part owner of this club" Amanda explains to the two
girls. "He needed to be here when it opened and I love to dance so I
forced him to take me along."

"You didn’t need to force anything I was going to take you with me if
you wanted to or not!" Harry jokes.

"Harry don’t make them stand in line take them in with us!" Amanda
says.

"No really we don’t want to impose." Tara says.

"Yeah, we’re already in the front of the line we’ll be fine." Willow
adds

"Oh no you don’t. Frank!" He calls to one of the bouncers at the door
to come to him.

"Yes Mr. Pierce?"

"Frank I told you to call me Harry."

"Yes Mr. Pierce."

"Never mind, Frank these two are coming in with me and my wife. Make
sure that they have access to the owner’s VIP section ok?" Turning to
the two girls as Frank removes the velvet rope holding them in line.
"Come on inside and I’ll show you around before it becomes to full to
walk."

Leading them into the club he shows them the multi-storied dance
floors. The platforms and cages that litter the main dance floor. TV
screens hang from the ceiling now blank but as Harry explains that they
will have images and scenes on them to add to the overall flavor of the
club. He points out the lights and the DJ booth and the bar. After
taking them through the club once he and Amanda led them to the bar
where the bar tender was getting everything ready for the potential
crowd.

Turning to the other two girls he asks them, "You two are old enough to
drink right?" They both nod and he turns to the bar tender. "Jim? These
two girls are special guests of my wife and mine. See to it that they
do not pay for anything while they are inside here ok?"

"Yes Sir Mr. Pierce."

"Why doesn’t anyone want to call me Harry?"

"If it makes you fell any better honey I still call you Harry." Amanda
says

"And I’ll still call you Harry at work." Tara adds.

"And I’ll call you Harry whenever I’m around you." Willow says.

Harry chuckles. "Okay, I guess that is good enough for me." The music
starts to play as the club starts up, hard bass bumping. The lights and
the TV screens come to life truly bringing the club into an atmosphere
made for dancing. "Looks like they’re starting to let people in. We’ll
be in the booth from time to time tonight. You are more than welcome
there as well. Have fun you two."

The DJ in the booth says into his microphone as people from outside
filter in taking positions all over the dance floor, "Welcome to the
hottest new club in Sunnydale! Club Transit! Here we will take you to
places you’ve never been to before and have you dancing to hours that
you didn’t even know existed!"

Tara and Willow watch as Harry and Amanda move to the dance floor
writhing is time with the music. They look at each other, shrug and
decide to join the droves of people already dancing.

Outside a large group of people is waiting outside to get in. The
largest group sends one person to talk to the bouncer and asks him,
"Hey I am welcome to come inside?"

Looking over him the bouncer says, "As long as you are within dress
code, you’re old enough and if you pay the cover charge you and all of
your friends are welcome inside."

"That’s just what I wanted to hear." The man says with a smile and
gestures for the rest of his group to follow him inside. The bouncer
doesn’t think much as the twenty people walk into the club. What he
doesn’t know is that he just allowed twenty vampires into a very full
and crowded room. He had no idea what kind of havoc he was letting into
the club. He also had no idea that the last vampire to walk past him
was going to grab him from behind. He also didn’t know until it was too
late that he was going to die.

From the second floor VIP section of the club Willow and Tara could see
the entire main dance floor. The atmosphere of the club was as
intoxicating as the drinks that were being served from the main bar.
The music goads everyone here to move in some sort of the tribal dance
moving in sync with the beat. They had just stepped off of the dance
floor to take a rest and thought that the VIP lounge would be the best
place to keep an eye on the Pierces. 

They were in the middle of it all close together moving with the music.
Their movements complement each other as they let the music take
control of their bodies. They looked happy together smiling and talking
to each other on the dance floor. If they didn’t know any better they
would have thought that they were a normal couple who went out and had
fun together. But Tara had seen them fight vampires. She had seen them
in action and she knew that they held the key to what was happening to
the murders. They weren’t the ones committing them but they knew
something, something that could help them end the monstrous deed being
done in Sunnydale.

Tara and Willow were watching them when, for some unknown reason Amanda
stopped dancing suddenly. A look of concern crosses Harry’s face as she
gestures to the doors of the club. Tara grabs Willow’s attention and
points her into a direction of the doors. A group of twenty people walk
in. One of them is holding the bouncer Frank but unceremoniously drops
him to the floor. The way the body falls the way the body lies on the
floor they can tell that he is dead. Tara looks back to the crowd to
search for Harry and Amanda. She does not see them until she scans over
to the stairs leading to the VIP lounge. They are half way up the
stairs and the looks on their faces reminds her of the look Buffy
sometimes gets before she goes into battle.

"Harry? Amanda? What’s wrong?" Willow asks them.

"Both of you need to get out of here now." Harry says.

"Why?" Tara asks.

"Because a large group of people just got in here and they do not want
to dance." Amanda says

"What’s so bad with that?" Willow asks.

"I think they want to kill everyone here." Harry says pulling on his
long coat. Looking to Amanda he throws her a silent question to which
she nods.

"What?" Willow says. "You can’t be serious!"

"Look Red. Just get out of here before you get hurt." Amanda says
before she rushes down the stairs with Harry following quickly behind
him.

Willow’s face goes pale and Tara asks her, "Willow? What’s Wrong?"

"She…she called me…" Willow doesn’t finish her sentence because the
screams and yells of people below begin to filter up to the balcony.
They both rush to the balcony to see that the twenty people who had
just walked in were all vampires and were now making their way through
the crowd killing and feeding at will.

"Oh no!" Tara says seeing the carnage below looking at the opposite end
of the room she can see Amanda and Harry pushing through the fleeing
crowd. "Willow! We need to help them!"

"Protection spells?"

"Yeah and whatever else we can think of!"

They quickly chant the spells that would give them insight and
protection in battle. Hopefully it would be enough. From where they
were any other types of spells would be dangerous to those trying to
run away. Looking down they see Amanda and Harry reach the first
vampires.

Harry pulls out his sword and comes to bear on the closest vampire. The
vampire thinking an easy prey has stumbled upon him does realize how
dangerous the individual in front of him is. Harry’s sword flashes once
and the vampire is cut open from the hip to the shoulder and then once
again and his head falls from its shoulders turning him to dust. The
next vampire sees this and prepares for battle by picking up a barstool
that had been thrown into the dance floor by the fleeing patrons. The
vampire is able to hit Harry across the back breaking the stool. To
Willow’s and Tara’s horror Harry sags to the ground apparently out of
the fight. But Harry’s hand flashes out and a broken piece of the stool
embeds itself into the chest of the vampire turning him to dust.

Amanda on the other hand was taking on three vampires at once. To their
surprise she was doing fairly well. A quick jab to the face of one
vampire and a side-kick to another and the fight quickly turned into a
one on one battle. Amanda’s leg swings out with an inside crescent-kick
knocking the vampire off balance allowing her to stake it from behind.
The other two vampires have now recovered and were charging at the
young woman. Had Amanda been Buffy she would have taken them both on at
the same time. Amanda however was not Buffy. Amanda sidesteps the two
vampires causing them to run into each other and falling to the ground
leaving them open for Amanda to stake them both in turn. They are able
to see Amanda look over her shoulder and cry out to Harry.

On the floor Xander was having the damnedest time trying to keep up
with who was friend and who was foe. There were only three people he is
absolutely sure of in the building that he could trust; Tara, Willow
and Faith. Tara and Willow were both safe upstairs and out of the way
and Faith was somewhere down here in the fray. He was able to take out
two vampires quickly but that would soon change because now he didn’t
have surprise on his side. The upside however was that he was fighting
much better than he would have even suspected he was capable of. At
this point he might have been able to take on Adam and win. He was only
barely able to hear Faith call out his assumed name and see what she is
pointing at. Another vampire seeing a threat to his brood is charging.
Xander side steps the vampire and cuts off its leg. A vampire that
can’t walk can’t fight. The music in the room was still blaring, the
beat machine in the DJ booth was looping a sampled drum line making it
hard for him to concentrate. The beat drowns out most sounds and the
bass thumping through his body is incredibly distracting but he
continues to fight towards Faith until they are back to back.

Faith suddenly feels someone push up against her back and she does not
have to second guess that it is Xander. Just like T’ai Chi they were
now next to each other complementing each other helping each other gain
focus. Now they were back to back trying to keep the vampires at bay.
To her dismay the vampires tended to attack her side of the flank
because her stakes gave her very limited reach whereas Xander’s sword
gave his a wide berth of attack albeit limited to the one hundred
eighty degrees in front of him. Still despite the numbers they are able
to hold their own against the remaining vampires. However she fears
that once the other vampires realize that she and Xander are the only
real threats in the room they will overwhelm them easily. Despite her
training she has gone through the pace that she is fighting at is
beginning to tire her out and it is only a matter of time until she
makes a mistake that would cost her or Xander very dearly. Fighting
three vampires is one thing fifteen was a whole different story. She
could feel Xander despite his immortal healing begin to weaken as well.
They needed help and they needed it soon. If only they could contact
Adam or Cassandra.

To Tara and Willow the ferocity of the fight is astounding. Both Harry
and Amanda fight with speed and agility unfathomable to them. But they
see that each punch has less power behind it, each swing of the sword
is becoming slower and slower and with each movement they become easier
and easier prey. So Willow does the only thing she can think of she
casts a spell of rejuvenation on Amanda. Seeing what she is doing Tara
does the same for Harry. Looking at the pair with their renewed
strength and endurance they see that they are fairing better now but it
will last only so long against the horde of vampires they face.

What the hell! Are the thoughts that cross through Xander and Faith’s
minds as they feel like they were somehow filled with energy. Not
wanting to take the second wind for granted they continue to fight
against the vampires that come at them. However many of the vampires
are now carrying weapons, clubs made from broken pieces of furniture
now evened out the edge that they had when they were armed and the
vampires were not.

A vampire charges at Faith with what looks like a leg to one of the
tables by the bar. She lets the Vampire get close enough to start to
swing. She has only one second to stop it otherwise the club will crack
her head open like an egg. The vampire’s arms begin to extend adding
more momentum and strength to the swing, Faith’s hands come up and
catch the club at the point where it’s energy is the weakest; just
above the vampire’s hands. Using the momentum of the swing she is able
to yank the club away and while spinning in the same direction of the
swing she stakes the vampire in the back turning it to dust. Before the
dust falls another vampire takes its place charging through the dust of
it’s former companion tackling Faith to the ground. While grappling
with the vampire on the ground another vampire jumps on her and then
another. She can feel their cold hands trying to choke her, hold her
down trying to get her into a position where they can kill her easily.

Xander sees Faith go down and then sees the other two vampires jump on
her as well. Fear and rage course through his body as he screams out a
guttural almost animalistic, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" and he tries
desperately to get to her before they are able to hurt or even kill her
but there are too many adversaries between him and Faith. Cut, slash,
punch, stab but still he is too far away to help her as they hold Faith
down and the one on top of her holds her head to the side preparing to
feed off of her. He is vaguely aware of the doors to the club opening
once more. He faintly hears Willow’s voice cry out something but his
entire essence is focused on saving Faith, on saving the woman he
loves. He fears that he has failed again as the vampire lowers its
head. He fears that without Faith he has no real reason to go on. All
of his fears course through his body as he fights towards her, fearing
failure until he sees the end of a stake some through the vampire’s
chest and it explodes to dust.

Willow and Tara look to the doors again as they swing open. They
suspect the worst, if reinforcements for the vampires have arrived then
the courageous couple below despite their efforts to win, despite the
fact that they were protected and enhanced magically by Willow and Tara
would finally succumb to the larger more powerful numbers of the
vampires. What they see gives them a glimmer of hope Buffy and Riley
move into the room quickly assessing the situation. 

Seeing that Amanda is in trouble Willow cries out "BUFFY!!!!!! HELP
AMANDA!!! OVER THERE!!!!" she points to the fallen girl being held down
by three vampires. Seeing where she is Buffy nods and quickly moves to
help her. Riley also moves into the battle helping to alleviate some of
the pressure on Harry.

Buffy sees that she isn’t going to make it in time and does the only
thing she can think of, she takes the stake in her hand and launches it
at the vampire attempting to feed off of Amanda. When the vampire
explodes into dust she knows she had hit her mark. Continuing to charge
she tackles the vampire holding down one of Amanda’s arms. The action
frees Amanda’s arm and uses it to punch the other vampire off of her.
Buffy sees that she picks up the stake she threw and dusts the vampire
quickly. Amanda looking back seeing Buffy is weaponless throws the
stake at her. Buffy catches the stake mid-air and slams it into the
chest of the vampire turning it to dust. Buffy looks over the Amanda
who smiles and mouths thanks to her. Buffy sees Amanda pick up a broken
piece of wood and breaks it over her knee giving her two weapons to
fight with.

Xander is overjoyed when he sees that Faith is okay and since there
wasn’t that much pressure on him any more thanks to Buffy and the man
with her he is finally able to make it to Faith. "Are you ok?" he says
to her as they continue to fight the vampires whose numbers were
starting to dwindle the odds now two to one in favor of the vampires.

"I’m fine." She says as she kicks another vampire in gut and then
pushing him into another vampire trying to jump into the fight. "You
might want to help out that guy over there though." She says pointing
over to the direction of the man who had entered with Buffy. Xander
nods and moves to assist the young man.

Riley is holding his own but he feels the tide of battle starting to
turn against him as another vampire tries to attack him. Then he hears
the word "Incoming!" over the sound of the fight. The universal word
for any soldier to get down and protect yourself from what is about to
hit. As he drops he hears a whooshing sound just above his head. He
hits the ground at the same time as two heads do right next to his face
just before they turn into dust. Looking up the Harrison Pierce, the
man form the picture that Buffy showed him is looking down at him. 

Harrison asks him "You ok soldier?" 

Riley nods as he gets up to his feet. Looking over Harrison’s shoulder
he grabs a stake from his belt and says "Hostile on your six!"
Harrison’s face shows recognition as he drops quickly to the ground
allowing Riley to stake the vampire trying to blind side Harrison.
Riley helps Harrison up and says to him, "Thanks for the save, the
name’s Riley."

"Right back at you, Harry." Harry responds to Riley.

Jonathan had been holding back watching and reveling in the havoc his
minions were creating. He was slightly perturbed that there were a
couple of humans fighting back and now he is seething with rage as he
is forced to call a retreat before he looses all of the vampires he
arrived with. He needs to distract the enemies in order to have the
remaining vampires retreat safely. Pulling out his silver-plated gun
from his shoulder holster he picks out the dark haired girl as his
target.

Xander catches the glint of metal and sees the gun and starts to run
toward Faith, the vampire's intended target.

Riley sees Harry take off in the direction of Amanda. He sees the
vampire pull a gun out and yells, "BUFFY! GET DOWN!"

Buffy hears Riley screaming for her to get down and she does so. She
looks over to Amanda who is being tackled by Harry. She is curious as
to what is happening until she hears three loud sounds like a
thunderclap going off inside a building.

Willow and Tara see the vampire pull out his gun. Harry is running to
Amanda and he performs a flying tackle on her pushing her out of the
way. Riley screams for Buffy to get down and Buffy hits the deck. The
sound of three shots being fired coincides with the flashes of light
that emanate from the gun as the vampire pulls the trigger.

Faith can only feel her body being pushed out of the way by Xander’s
body. She sees as blood sprays and erupts from where the bullets enter
his body. As Xander falls on top of her she can feel his warm blood
spilling on her as she cries out, "OH MY GOD NO!"

Xander can feel his bones rattle from the impact of the bullets
entering him. He knows his blood is spilling onto Faith. He can barely
feel Faith turn him over and cradle his head.

Jonathan seeing that his adversaries now completely occupied calls for
the retreat. The last of his vampire force quickly exit the building
and taking one last look into the room. He sees that the slayer and her
companion as well and the dark haired girl were all at the side of the
fallen warrior two other girls were making their way to the group from
the stairs as well. Mentally taking tally of how many adversaries he
was truly up against he exits the building.

"Omigod!" Buffy exclaims.

Tara and Willow finally make it to the group and Buffy asks them, "Can
you guys do anything for him?"

Willow shakes her head, "No there is just to much for us to fix."

Riley kneels down and takes a look at the wounds. Amanda sits there
rocking Harrison gently saying gently over and over again "Shh. It’s
going to be okay. Shh. It’s going to be okay."

"We need to get him to a hospital," Riley says. "The bullets probably
did some major damage to his internal organs."

Coughing up blood Xander says to the group. "No! No hospitals."

"Let’s take him to Giles’ shop its not that far from here. He might be
able to help." Buffy suggests.

Amanda reaches into Harry’s pockets and pulls out a set of keys. She
tosses it to Willow and says you can drive our car and you two," she
says to Buffy and Riley, "can follow."

Riley moves to help pick up Harry but is waived off by Amanda who
proceeds to pick up Harry by herself surprising the rest of the group.
She moves to where their car is parked across the street where she
remembers seeing Xander telling the valet where he wanted his car.
Willow opens the back door and Amanda gently puts Harry inside. She
quickly goes inside and rests his head in her lap. Willow gets into the
driver’s seat and Tara gets into the passenger seat. They can hear
Amanda talking to Harry.

"You’re going to be alright my love." Faith tells Xander.

He weakly replies, "I made a promise to you remember? I’d never leave
you alone." He coughs and more blood tickles out of the corner of his
mouth. Faith wipes it away.

"Yes I remember." She says smiling at him.

His hand reaches out and touches her cheek. She holds his hand to her
face as he says, "I love you."

"I love you too." His hand goes limp and falls to his side. Faith
continues to rock his body back and forth slowly and says, "Don’t be
long, don’t leave me alone for long.

Tara looks at Willow and shakes her head. The sight she sees is a woman
who has under the greatest of pressures finally succumbs to the shock
of watching her husband die in her arms. Tara can see the now glassy
eyes of her employer and the comforting rocking motion that his wife is
applying to his now dead body.

"Don’t leave me alone for long my love." She whispers to the dead body.
Tara and Willow can hardly keep their tears from falling as they see
what was once a potential ally become almost nothing in moments. Amanda
continues to rock the body all the way to Giles’ shop.


Chapter 9

The Past-the dark unfathom'd retrospect!

The teeming gulf - the sleepers and the shadows!

The past - the infinite greatness of the past!

For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?

 

                                                                       
W.W 1871

 

As both cars pull up to the store Buffy is the first to get out quickly
making her way to the other car. She pulls up short as she sees Tara
and Willow exit the car slowly. Buffy looks at Tara and then at Willow
who shakes her head slowly. Buffy’s hand comes up to her mouth her eye
wide with recognition. Moving to the back seat door Buffy opens it
slowly. What she sees is heartbreaking. Amanda is sitting there with
Harry’s head in her lap rocking slowly back and forth talking to him.
Buffy can see Harry’s eyes are wide open. Where there was once life and
humor, now there was nothing. Amanda was covered in his blood that
showed better on her dress than Harry’s burgundy shirt but if one
looked carefully they would see that the shirt was drenched.

Riley who had gone into the shop to get Giles was now returning with
Giles in tow. Motioning for Buffy to move Giles peers into the car and
mutters, "Dear God." He had seen pictures of men wounded during war
time, he had seen pictures of Watchers injured by demons and vampires
but he had never seen so much blood in real life. The sight of Harry’s
body drenched in what was undoubtedly his own blood shook him to his
core.

Giles glances at Buffy and asks the question that he know the answer to
already, "Is he?"

Buffy only nods. Looking back into the car he calls to her softly,
"Amanda?" She doesn’t hear him as she continues to rock back and forth.
He tries again, "Amanda?" This time she looks up and sees Giles looking
into the car. 

"Hello Giles." She says and then turns back to her husband’s form.
"Could you please help me get him inside?"

Nodding Giles motions to Riley to help him with the body. Riley taking
the legs and Giles taking the upper body carry the body into the shop.
Amanda follows them closely and stays with the body as they set it down
on a table Willow cleared away in the back.

"Amanda?" Giles says softly again trying to make sure not to startle
the young woman. "Is there anyone you want us to call?"

Nodding mutely she reaches into her husband’s jacket and pulls out a
wallet. After fingering through the wallet she pulls out a piece of
paper. Handing it to Giles she says, "That’s the number for his
parents." Accepting the paper he walks to the front of the store and
motions for the others to follow him.

"What happened tonight?" Giles asks without preamble.

"I’m not sure but me and Riley came in at the tail end of it." Buffy
says. "Willow and Tara were there for the whole thing."

"Willow? Tara? What happened tonight?"

Willow speaks up first. "Tara and me decided to go to this club
downtown, Club Transit."

"Why?"

"Because Tara had found out that Harry and Amanda were going to be
there. She thought that is we were there we might see them slip up and
we could find out more about them."

"Is this correct Tara?" Giles asks her.

"Yes, I know that there was more to them so I went to see what I could
find out."

"Well that is all well and good but how did this lead to that young man
being shot? Who killed him."

"One of the vampires." Riley says answering his question.

"Vampires?"

"Yeah," Willow says, "The club was pretty much into the swing of
things, bumping and grinding and more bumping and Harry and Amanda were
both in the middle of it dancing the night away you know?"

"But I take it something happened, some thing vampire-like?" Giles
assumes. 

"Actually a lot of vampire-like things." Tara says. "Amanda and Harry
were in the middle of the room dancing away you know? When Amanda stops
suddenly, making Harry stop as well. They look over to the doors and
when I turn to look the bouncer is on the floor dead and twenty people
walk in eyeing the crowd."

Willow picks up the story next, "That was when we saw Harry and Amanda
come up the stairs. Harry told us to leave. He put on his coat and then
both he and Amanda went back down the stairs."

"Willow that’s when the screams came right?" Tara asked.

"Yeah, we rushed to the balcony and there were vampires everywhere
killing and feeding. Harry and Amanda rushed in, he took out two
vampires quickly and Amanda took three. But the other vampires started
concentrating on them and they were having trouble fighting them off."
Willow said.

"We even tried to cast protection spells, rejuvenation spells anything
we could do to help them, but the vampires eventually got the upper
hand and had tackled Amanda to the ground. Harry tried to save her but
he was too far away."

"That’s probably when Riley and me came into the picture." Buffy says.

"Yeah, I screamed at you to help Amanda." Willow says.

"When I saw what was happening I ran to her but I had to throw my stake
at the vamp so it wouldn’t feed off of her. After that I tackled one of
the other vampires and helped her out. After she staked hers she threw
the stake at me and I staked mine."

"What happened next?"

"Harry went to her to see if she was ok and then he went to help
Riley." Willow says.

"Riley? What happened next?"

"He saved my ass. Then I saved his. The guy was really good Giles. He
took two vampires with one swing. I think he saw the flash of the
vampire’s gun and guessed that it was aiming at Amanda and took off
running. He was able to get her out of the line of fire but he was
hit."

"How many shots?" Giles asked

"Three at mid range. All three hit him too." Riley responds.

Taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes Giles sighs. Returning the
glasses to his face he walks behind the counter and picks up the phone.

"Giles what are you going to do?" Buffy questions him.

"I’m going to call the young man’s parents. They deserve to see him and
know that he died a hero. Then we find out what it was that he was
working against and finish what he started." Giles says and dials the
number on the paper.

"Hello? Yes my name is Rupert Giles I’m afraid I have some horrible
news. You’re son has been killed. What? No, no he’s here at my shop. No
I haven’t called the police. If that is your wish. No, no from what I
understand by gunshot. We’ll be expecting you." At that Giles rattles
off the address and directions before he hangs up the phone.

"What did he say?" Tara asks

"He’s on his way here with Harry’s mother. They both want to see him."

"What can we do?" Buffy asks.

"We wait. We wait and let Amanda and Harry’s parents have time to deal
with this tragedy. Amanda is already in shock and I don’t want to
aggravate her even more."

Seeing that all of them are in agreement they find seats in the shop
and wait for the arrival of the elder Pierces. They quietly begin
talking amongst themselves trying to workout all of the details of what
really happened. Giles smiles grimly as he hears the young group
discuss what they could have done or should have done to stop all of
this from happening. In retrospect one could have done a multitude of
things to prevent tragedy but at the time those options are never
there. One day they would understand that but today he sees them lament
the loss of yet another friend.

…

Adam hangs up the phone and calls Cassandra from the living room.
Entering the room Cassandra asks, "What’s wrong?"

"Xander just died." He says simply.

"Publicly?"

"Very. It seems that his body is being cared for by Faith and his old
friends."

Cassandra sighs, "So much for our plans to do this quietly and
unnoticed. Do you know how to get there?"

Adam holds up a piece of paper. "Yes, lets get going. I don’t want him
to wake up before we get there."

Nodding Cassandra grabs her coat and sword and meets Adam in the
garage. As the car pulls away from the house they wonder how they were
going to explain this to those who witnessed Xander’s death. Maybe it
was time to reveal who they really were.

…

There is a quiet murmur in the Magic Shop as the group inside awaits
the arrival of Benjamin and Elizabeth Pierce. Giles decided to make
himself busy by cleaning the shop up a little bit. If he was going to
have guests he would at least make the shop presentable.

Willow was explaining to Buffy one of the moves that she saw Amanda
perform to stake a vampire, "The vampire was swinging the club like a
baseball bat you know? Amanda grabbed the bat and twisted with the
swing pulling the club away. Then she grabbed her stake and staked the
vamp from behind. It was so cool!"

"I wish I could have seen that, maybe if she feels up to it she can
train with me." Buffy says looking remorsefully towards the back of the
shop. "Anything else happen?"

Before Willow could answer the door to the shop opens. Giles not seeing
who came in says, "I’m sorry we’re closed."

"Where is he?" An accented voice asks.

"He is the back with Amanda. Mr. Pierce?" The man nods as a woman walks
into to the room behind him. "He is back there but it isn’t pretty. He
was hit pretty hard and there was a lot of blood spilled."

The woman replies, "That is the least of my worries sir, I want to see
my son."

Giles gestures for the pair to follow him reaching their destination he
tells them, "He in there. I think Amanda is in shock, she was talking
to the body while we brought him back here. I’ve tried to get her out
but she has barricaded herself inside."

"Thank you. We’ll handle it from here." The man says. 

The woman walks up to the door and knocks and calls out softly,
"Amanda?"

Giles hears Amanda’s reply from behind the door. "Elizabeth? Is Ben
with you too?"

"Yes child, let us in."

The door opens and Amanda lets the two in. Giles can hear her say "He’s
been hurt really bad but he’ll be ok won’t he?"

The rest of the conversation is muffled as the door closes behind them
his heart aches when he hears the words that the young woman says.
Giles lingers a while longer at the door straining to hear the
conversation but to no avail all he can hear are muffles and even the
louder sounds form behind the door reaches him muffled. Gile stays
there for another ten minutes before leaving the family to grieve walks
back to the front of the store only to be met by questioning looks.
Giles looks at them and says, "Well out with it."

"Well what happened?" Buffy asks

Riley adds, "We didn’t hear any kind of reaction from back there. I
mean it is not everyday that your only son dies you know?"

"Well, yes. But I had told them of Amanda’s condition, I think that
perhaps that they are putting up a strong front for Amanda."

"Seeing her in action I’m not sure if anyone really needs to put up a
strong front for her." Tara says.

Willow, Buffy, Tara and Riley nod remembering the fight at the club. 

"She was awesome wasn’t she?" Buffy says. Giles is surprised of the
high level of praise that Buffy gives Amanda. Being awesome in the eyes
of a slayer is no small accomplishment. 

"She was doing pretty well with against the ten to one odds." Riley
said.

"Yeah," Willow says, "Seeing her handle a stake you’d swear she is a
slayer."

…

Faith is sitting in the room by herself. Looking at the door seeing
that a few boxes and a chair were holding the door closed. Giles had
come in to try to talk to her but she made him leave. After that she
barricaded herself in the room. It would look good if Xander just woke
up after being shot to death in front of all of them. Moments later she
heard knocking at the door and it was Giles again telling her that he
had called Adam and Cassandra. Faith smiles at that one. Giles actually
said Harry’s parents, and that they would be at the shop shortly.

She hoped that they would get here soon. Looking at Xander’s wounds it
looks as if they were beginning to close up. It was taking a lot longer
for him to heal compared to when he stabbed himself with the knife. But
then again that was one clean stab wound. These were three very bad
gunshot wounds. Looking down at his prone body she begins to wonder if
the internal injuries would heal first or did all the damage heal at
once?

Shaking herself out of that macabre thought she looked around to find
something to busy herself while waiting for Adam and Cassandra. In the
corner there is a water cooler and in a nearby box there were some rags
so she decides to clean up Xander and herself as much as possible. She
has finished cleaning Xander’s face when she hears a soft tapping at
the door. She hoped that it wasn’t Giles again. The voice that calls
through is Cassandra’s.

"Amanda?" She hears Cassandra’s voice through the door.

"Elizabeth?" She calls out. She pauses a second as she tries to
remember Adam’s alias. "Is Ben with you too?"

"Yes child, let us in." She hears the response.

Faith goes over to the door and removes the boxes and the chair holding
the door shut and opens the door just a fraction. She sees the two
immortals and lets them in. While she is closing the door she says to
them, "He’s been hurt really bad but he’ll be ok won’t he?"

After the door closes Adam says, "Yes he’ll be alright. Let me take a
look at the wounds." He says to Faith. Removing Xander’s shirt
carefully Adam looks over the entry wounds. Turning Xander’s body he
able to locate all three exit wounds.

"These are pretty bad." Adam says to no one in particular. "But he
seems to be healing normally. From the rates that the wounds are
closing I’d say he’ll wake up in about five minutes."

"What do we do then?" Faith asks. "As you can see here we are in a
closed room with one exit out. If we leave and they see Xander alive
what then?"

Adam looks at Cassandra who just shrugs and says, "It’s your idea you
tell her."

"Well what is your idea?" Faith says beginning to loose patience. 

"I thought that it would be in our best interests to tell them who we
really are."

Faith looks at Adam dumbfounded. She turns to Cassandra to see what she
thinks of the idea. "Tell me he is joking."

Cassandra nods no and Faith turns back to Adam and says quietly, "I can
believe that is your plan! You’ve lived for how long? And the best you
can come up with is ‘lets tell them who we are!"

"Faith I think you are overreacting here just a bit."

"Overreacting!" She exclaims while trying to keep her voice down.
"Overreacting! Don’t you remember what I told you about these people?
They hate me! If they knew that I was in town they would have organized
a search party to hunt me down!"

"You’ve met with them before though, albeit by accident, but they’ve
shown that they trust you." Cassandra adds in.

"But you don’t know what I’ve done to their lives! What I did to them
no one can forgive."

At this Adam walks next to her and places a reassuring arm around her.
To his surprise Faith just leans into the arm. The words he forms in
his head are the words he would say to his daughter if he had one.
Methos quickly amends that thought, the words he forms in his head are
what he is going to tell his daughter Faith.

"Faith, forgiveness is a funny thing. It can come from the most hated
of enemies and be denied by the closest of friends. Time has a lot to
do with forgiveness. It takes time for wounds to heal."

"Nice thing to hear from someone who is five thousand years old." She
says sullenly.

"That’s my point. As mortals your time here is infinitely shorter than
ours. It is that very fact that your friends out there have already
forgiven you, when your time is short grudges become less and less
important."

"But they were never my friends." She says quietly.

"Let’s ask Xander about that." Faith looks up at Adam, "He’s about to
wake up."

If on cue Xander’s body convulses and sits up taking in a deep breath.
After filling his lungs for the first time after his death he falls
back onto the table. Xander weakly calls out, "Faith."

Faith hurries to his side and takes his hand into hers. "I’m here
Xander, I’m here."

"Are you ok?"

"I’m fine."

"And the others?"

"All of them are okay."

Looking around the room and seeing that Adam and Cassandra are present
as well he states what has become obvious to him. "I died didn’t I?"

"I’m afraid so." Adam says. "And in front of your friends no less."

Xander rests his head back on the table. "That was definitely not part
of the plan." He says with his eyes closed. Cassandra and Adam both
note that he is still holding Faith’s hand.

"At least not the plan I cam up with." Adam chides. "Well the question
now is what do we do next?"

Xander sits up and looks down at his torn and bloodied clothes. "I
suppose you have a plan already worked out for this situation? Do you
have any clothes I can change into?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Adam and Cassandra both find the clothes
they had brought for the couple and hand the clothes to them. Changing
into the clothes Faith notices something. 

"Adam?" Faith asks.

"Yes?"

"These clothes don’t exactly match up with the identities you setup for
us." She say gesturing at Xander and herself. Xander was wearing dark
blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt tight enough to hint at his
musculature. She was wearing a pair of tight pants and a form fitting
tank top and a cardigan sweater the Cassandra brought for her. Though
not as revealing as clothes she wore in the past they did hint to her
true identity. "These clothes are things that Faith and Xander would
wear. Not Harry and Amanda Pierce."

"Very astute of you Faith. You already know my intentions but for the
sake of Xander here I’ll repeat myself. Xander I think it is time to
tell your friends who you are."

Leaning back on the table Xander looks back at Faith and sees fear in
her eyes. "Are you okay with this?" He asks Faith.

"They were your friends Xander, never mine. They all hate me and I know
once they find out who I really am they are going to want to kill me."

"First off I won’t let that happen, secondly I don’t think Adam or
Cassandra will let that happen either." Faith looks to the two older
immortals and sees their reassuring looks. "I’m going to be there for
you through the whole thing okay?"

Faith nods quietly. Cassandra cuts explains why they need to reveal
themselves now. "Adam told me that your friends came just in time to
help you guys out correct?"

Faith and Xander nod. "Well we figured that they were able to find out
some things that we obviously missed. Had we been working with them we
could have prevented this from happening in the first place."

"I think you’re right Cassandra." He looks at Faith and asks her. "You
ready to do this?"

Taking a deep breath Faith nods. "Yes, but I think I should be the one
they see first. You did just die in front of them you know." She says
trying to make light of the situation. Xander squeezes her hand gently.
She is surprised that she didn’t even notice that they were holding
hands. 

Taking a deep breath she says, "I’m as ready as I’ll ever be." Faith
reluctantly releases Xander’s hand and walks to the door and opens it.
Adam, Cassandra and then Xander quietly follow her.

She can hear the group’s conversation. 

"She was awesome wasn’t she?" Buffy says. 

Buffy thought she was awesome? Faith thinks to herself.

"She was doing pretty well with against the ten to one odds." Riley
said.

Ten to one wasn’t all that bad, I had Xander with me Faith silently
adds.

"Yeah," Willow says, "Seeing her handle a stake you’d swear she is a
slayer."

At this point Faith decides cut into the conversation. "You’re not that
far off Red." She says stepping out from behind one of the shelves.

Her voice draws the attention of everybody in the room. Giles, Buffy
and Tara look at her intently. She can see the all the elements are
there but the reaction hasn’t happened yet.

Riley asks, "Are you ok Amanda?" Faith doesn’t answer as she continues
to look at the three members of the group that could recognize her.

Buffy is the first to break away from her reverie. "W-What did you call
her?" Buffy says not trusting her voice.

Faith decides to push the envelope even more trying to make them
remember, "Come on B. You’re usually quicker than this."

She sees that they have finally seen through her disguise. Calling her
by the nickname she had given her the catalyst for an explosion of
understanding. Giles takes off his glasses and looks at her intently
and then replaces them on his face.

Giles mutters, "My word."

Willow sits back holding Tara’s hand speechless.

Buffy untangles herself from Riley and slowly walks over to Faith.
Buffy is nose to nose with her and is looking at her closely. She stops
and stares at her eyes although a different color she can see something
else, something familiar. Buffy pulls back and looks at Amanda face to
face. She smiles at her with a lopsided grin and Buffy steps back.

Faith readies herself for the punch she expects Buffy to launch at her.
She had caused them all so much pain and suffering while she was here.
She deserves whatever retribution they have for her. She closes her
eyes thinking that if she doesn’t see the punch coming she won’t be
tempted to block the punch. What happens next is not what she expects.
The punch never comes and she can feel Buffy’s arms around her pulling
her into a hug.

"Faith is it really you?" Buffy says to her.

Unsure of herself Faith replies, "Yeah B, it’s me." 

"When you disappeared from the hospital that day we thought you were
kidnapped for some kind of ritual or something. When a new slayer
wasn’t called I knew that you weren’t in danger, you just left."

"I couldn’t stay B. No one would have given me a chance. You all hated
me!"

"That’s not true Faith." Willow tries to interject.

"Not true? Are you listening to yourself? Can you honestly say that you
would have welcomed me with open arms back then?"

"But it seems that you have made a conscious effort to change Faith."
Giles says.

Faith answers, "Yes I have Giles." She glances at Adam and Cassandra.
Adam throws her a questioning look but Faith shakes her head no. If she
was going to do this she was going to do it her way. "Once I left town
I was trying to make things right. I would help with what I could. I
stopped muggings, kept going on patrol and stopped what I could. But I
never really belonged until I met a man who helped me get through the
rough times."

"Harry?" Buffy asks. Faith nods. "I’m so sorry Faith." She says to her.

"For what B? Not being able to save him in time? For not being able to
stop the vampire that shot him? You couldn’t have done anything."

"But he’s dead!" Willow says.

"That’s why I’m out here right now." Faith pauses and gestures to her
companions, "These people," She gestures at the older couple, "are Adam
and Cassandra. "

"So you are not really Benjamin Pierce? But the resemblance between you
and him is remarkable." Giles says.

"Well it should be. We’re the same person." Adam replies casually.

"I don’t think I’m following you." Giles says.

Faith cuts in, "Giles I’m going to show you something that will clear
up some of your questions but it’s going to open a whole new can of
worms. I know I’m ready for this now but I’m not sure about the rest of
you."

Buffy speaks up acting as the spokes person for the group, "Faith the
people in this room have been through a lot. You should know you were
here for some of it, if there’s something you need to show us we can
handle it. We’ve seen some pretty surprising things."

Faith looks around the room and sees that all are in agreement. "I’m
not so sure you can handle this." Faith mutters under her breath.

"What was that?" Buffy asks becoming impatient. 

"Oh nothing." Faith covers. Looking at Cassandra and Adam who both nod
Faith calls out. "It’s okay, you can come out now."

The look of astonishment that falls on all the faces of those present
is almost amusing. Xander walks out from behind the shelves in a clean
set of clothes. He is standing tall and without any hint of pain or
discomfort. Most surprising to the group is that he is up and walking
around at all.

"But-but you were dead!" Tara exclaims.

"You had no pulse when we brought you in." Giles says.

"I saw the bullet wounds at the club, there is no way you could have
survived that, you were coughing up blood!" Riley adds.

"What are you?" Buffy says warily unconsciously moving in between him
and the rest of the group. Willow just sits and stares at him.

He looks over to Faith and says, "You’re right they really aren’t as
fast as they were then."

Looking at the group he says, "Come on guys, Buffster and G-Man I can
understand, but you too Wills?"

Willow stands up slowly and walks past Buffy and right up to him. Her
eyes go wide with excitement and screams out loud and throws her arms
around him and hugs him tightly. The action nearly causes them to fall
to the ground. The strength of the embrace is enough to squeeze the air
out of his lungs. 

Well at least that is what Willow planned to do just before she faints.

The room erupts into pandemonium as Tara rushes to Willow’s side and
Giles and Buffy approach Xander with questions coming at him at such a
furious pace that he can barely keep up with them. Riley moves to
Buffy’s side. Xander reaches out and finds Faith’s hand.

Adam and Cassandra stay back allowing the scene before them unfold
naturally. Cassandra looks at the group and the looks on Xander and
Faith’s faces and says to Adam, "Well that wasn’t so bad now was it?"

"No, not at all. They’re both conscious and standing upright still."
Adam replies looking at Faith and Xander but quickly adds, "For now."
Chuckling as he sees them try to wake Willow up and question Xander at
the same time. "Just like chewing gum and walking isn’t it?" He says to
Cassandra.

"A lot more difficult than it seems?" Adam nods. She continues, "Yes, I
would say so. Let's go help our young ones, it looks like we have a
long night ahead of us."

…

Jonathan is fuming as he enters the makeshift lair of the Master.
Bursting into the room he finds him and walks right up the Master and
yells at him, "I lost eleven of my most capable fighters tonight! You
didn’t tell me that I was up against such resistance!"

Seemingly unfazed by the proximity and loudness of the vampire the
Master waves off Aaron and Keith who have moved to pull the vampire
away. "Jonathan, I did mention that you were going to distract the
protectors of this city did I not?"

"Yes, but you said nothing…"

"And you told me that as long as I paid you well that you would get the
job done, correct?"

"Yes but eleven! Eleven vampires!"

"I care not of your logistics vampire." The Master tosses him a small
case. "That should be enough to console you for the loss of your
brethren."

Opening the case Jonathan sees that it is full of money. Stacks of
hundred dollar bills to be exact. The rage that had filled him only
moments ago is now replaced by the cool feeling of greed.

"I’m taking your sudden change of demeanor means that you find your
loss acceptable?"

"You generosity is duly noted Master." He says his eyes never leaving
the case. "This will go far in alleviating the stress that has incurred
due to the loss of my brood."

"I thought as much. You may leave now vampire." Nodding Jonathan backs
away clutching the case closely to him. "And Jonathan?"

"Yes Master?"

"I expect you to do a good job tomorrow night as well."

"Yes Master." The vampire says and walks away into the shadows.

"Keith, Aaron." The Master calls to his two minions. They approach him.
"Do not worry you both will also be rewarded when the time comes. What
I have given the vampire is nothing compared to what awaits you once my
plan finally bears fruit."

"Thank you Master." They both say bowing out of reverence.

"Have you procured the site for the ritual Keith?"

"Yes Master. It is an old abandoned church. Most of it had burned down
a while ago so no one will suspect anything." 

"We are so close my friends, so very close." He says as he caresses the
jars holding the eyes and tongues of the two murdered girls. "So
close." 

…

Willow can hear their voices as she wakes up from her nap. As her mind
swims up from the darkness and is able to see that Buffy is sitting
next to her as well as Tara. 

"She coming out of it." She hears Tara say.

"Will? Are you okay?" Buffy says to her.

"Yeah Buff, I’m fine. I had the strangest dream though."

Buffy smiles and says, "Was Xander in it?"

"Yeah he was, but he looked different. Cooler I think."

"Are you saying that I wasn’t cool back then Wills?" Xander’s voice
calls to her.

Thinking that she imagined it she says, "I’m hearing things now."

"You’re not hearing things Willow." Giles says from behind her. Willow
turns around and sees Giles standing there next to Harry. Looking at
him closely she realizes that he looks like Xander from her dream.

Then Willow suddenly remembers what happened. Getting up quickly she
runs to Xander and hugs him as tightly as she can. Pulling away her
knees buckle slightly as her head spins.

"Whoa! Settle down there Wills. You’ve been out of it for about ten
minutes. You should be running around like that."

"But how? Where have you? What is going?" Willow babbles. Her mind is
having trouble comprehending what she sees and would have continued on
babbling if Xander didn’t place his hand over her mouth to quiet her
down.

"She still does the babbling thing huh?" He asks Buffy.

"Only when she is under stress." Buffy replies.

Looking at Willow he says, "Now Wills, I’m going to take my hand away.
I want you to take a deep breath before you say anything and remember
that you have to think before you speak."

He does so and Willow takes a deep breath and releases it. "Xander is
that really you?" she asks quietly.

"The one and only." He says with a grin.

Willow can’t hold back her tears any longer and holds Xander tightly
crying into his shoulder. She feels his hand reach up and stroke her
hair comforting her. Xander just holds her as she cries. Buffy makes
her way to the pair and places a hand on Willow’s shoulder. Willow
looking up sees Buffy and quickly brings her into the embrace. The two
girls were now crying together happy now that their friend has returned
to them.

Looking up and smiling he pulls the two girls away from him. "You two
better stop that or else I’ll have to change my shirt again!" He looks
at Faith and says, "Do I have that kind of effect on women? Do I just
make women want to break into tears and cry all over me?"

"Well it happened to me so I don’t think that I would be impartial in
the matter." Faith says with a smile.

"How did you survive the shooting? I mean you were dead before but I
mean you should really be dead now, right?" Willow says.

"Well that’s a long and complicated story." Xander says as he stands
up. He walks over to Faith and leans against the counter with her. Adam
and Cassandra are both standing nearby. "A story that I wanted to tell
after you came around, that way I wouldn’t have to do it twice."

"Well I’m awake now Xander. Tell us your story." Willow says.

"Would you like to explain to them what going on or should I?" Xander
asks Adam.

"By all means you go ahead a tell them. It is your life story after
all." Adam replies.

Sighing Xander lets his hands fall to his sides. His right hand brushes
against Faith’s and they automatically intertwine their fingers. The
movement does not escape Buffy or Willow.

"Where do I start?" Xander says to himself.

"How about the part where we thought you died in a car accident." Buffy
says.

"Well I guess that’s as good as a place as any. You got it wrong though
Buffy."

"What?"

"I didn’t fake my death that night, I died that night." Xander
suppresses the shiver that comes every time he remembers his first
death. "My car went over the cliff and into the river I was driving
beside. When my car hit the water my head hit the steering wheel and I
was knocked out. When I came to the car was filling up with water and I
couldn’t get out until it was full. At that time the car was falling
fast. I tried to make to the surface but I couldn’t. I drowned. The
next thing I know is I’m sitting in Adam and Cassandra’s cabin."

"So they saved you died but they revived you right? Like you did for me
the night I fought the master, right?" Buffy asks.

"Not quite Buffy." He says to her, his voice serious. "When they had
found me I had been floating around in the lake for two days. Two days.
There was no way that I could have been revived from that. I was
definitely dead." Xander tells them.

"Well obviously were revived otherwise you wouldn’t be here telling us
this story." Giles adds.

"Yes I was revived but not by Cassandra or Adam." Xander says while
holding a hand out to Adam who reaches into his coat and pulls out an
ivory handled dagger. Xander takes the knife handle first and tosses it
to Buffy who adroitly catches the knife. "Is that a real knife Buffy?"

"Real enough." She says and tosses the blade back to him.

Catching the blade Xander holds up his palm. "I’m going to show you
something that will seem incredible."

"More incredible than you returning from the dead?" Giles asks.

"Almost. Just look." Xander takes the dagger and rakes his palm with
it, opening the flesh all the way to bone. His blood dripping on the
floor. Xander’s jaw clenches suppressing a yell of pain. The response
he gets is the one he expects. Willow and Buffy are upon him
immediately. Buffy quickly grabs the knife away from him while Willow
is holding his other wrist trying to stop the bleeding. Giles follows
quickly behind them towel in hand intent on wrapping the hand before he
looses too much blood.

He is about to tell them to stop and watch but Faith beats him to it.
"No, you have to watch the wound." She says to the trio trying to help
him. "Watch and then you will understand."

"Are you crazy we can’t just let him bleed…" Willow’s response is cut
off by Giles who is motioning for her to look at Xander’s hand. She
looks as little bolts of electricity begin to play around and inside
the wound. Tendons, muscle and sinew begin to realign themselves and
heal. Dumbfounded they look on as Xander’s skin begins to cover the
wound once again. As the little discharges of electricity begin to fade
so does the light scar that remains until it is only a red mark on his
skin that is also beginning to fade.

Riley who was now looking over their shoulder is able to sum it up best
when he says, "Whoa."

"What the hell was that Xander!" Buffy exclaims looking up at him.

At least their not afraid of me Xander thinks looking at the group
standing their ground in front of him looking at him for an
explanation. "That is the reason I revived that day. That is the reason
why I am standing in front of you right now."

"What exactly is that?" Giles asks looking at Xander’s hand closely.
"The rate of which the damage was repaired is remarkable. Faster than
even a Slayer’s healing powers. Fascinating."

"Fascinating for you Giles," Buffy says, "but it still doesn’t explain
anything. What did we just see here Xander."

"You just witnessed the power of the quickening."

Willow interjects, "If that made sense to any one please raise your
hand." Faith, Adam and Cassandra all raise their hands. "Okay since it
made sense to you people would one of you care to elaborate exactly
what it was we just saw."

Cassandra steps forward. "The quickening is what allows us to heal. It
is the physical manifestation of our life force, our soul."

"Us?" Buffy asks. "As in you, Adam, Xander and Faith?"

"I’m not part of the club B." Faith says. "Just an honorary member."

Cassandra continues saying, "Yes Adam, Xander and myself are all
Immortals. The quickening that you saw is very powerful. It is so
powerful that it is able to stop the effects of time on the body."

Giles ever the researcher asks, "Stops the effects? Or just slows them
down?"

"I’m not sure. If it slows it down it is slowed to a level that is
imperceptible over the passage of time."

"Amazing, simply amazing." Buffy and Willow look at Giles curiously
Giles found very little amazing, remarkable? Yes. Curious? Yes.
Amazing? No.

"You are all Immortal then?" Riley asks, seeing them nod he continues
his train of thought. "Are you demons? Gods? How old are you?"

"Demons or Gods? No we are neither. Though through the ages some of our
kind have been worshiped as gods and feared as demons. Other times we
are thanked as healers, generals, and politicians. We are just like
you. We live and breathe just like you. Some of us are good while
others are bad and many of us fall in-between." Cassandra explains.

Willow adds, "But you live forever! How can you say that? The sheer
amount of time that you must endure is impossible! How can you not go
crazy after the first thousand or so years watching those around you
dying?"

A haunted look falls over Adam and Cassandra. Willow adds seeing that
she has touched a delicate subject quickly apologizes, "I’m sorry, it’s
just that, I mean after seeing what…"

"It’s okay Willow." Adam says. "First of all very few of us make it
past a thousand years. Those that do are more than likely to survive
another thousand. For those who do survive many do succumb to the
madness of time. It is in that descent into madness that we loose many
of our greatest individuals. If given enough time we are able to pull
ourselves out of that pit of darkness, but not without the help of our
friends."

The group sits there contemplating the words that Adam just said. Giles
asks, "Cassandra? Are you the same Cassandra of Troy?"

Smiling she answers. "No. I was a dear friend of her Grandmother. She
was named for me."

"That would make you nearly three thousand years old." Giles says in
awe.

"Three thousand?" Buffy says not believing the number given to them by
her watcher.

"I’m a little older than that I’m sure of it, but at the time of my
first death calendars weren’t really used by my people."

"First death?" Tara asks.

"Yes before we become immortal we age and live just like you do. We get
sick, we can be injured just like you and the time it takes to heal is
the same as any normal person. Much like the way Faith and Buffy were
before they became Slayers." Cassandra says.

Glancing at Xander and Faith before returning her focus to Cassandra
Buffy says, "You know about Slayers?"

"Yes, we’ve met a few through the years." She says motioning to Adam as
she says the last statement. "Adam was able to sense that Faith was a
Slayer when he first met her."

"You can sense Slayers?" She asks Adam.

"Yes actually. You and Faith give off the most peculiar signature for
mortals." Adam answers easily. "It is why most vampires with half a
brain will know to run in the other direction when they feel you come
near."

"You mean that Vampires can sense me too?" Buffy asks. She looks at
Giles who is just as dumbfounded as she.

"Oh most definitely. You didn’t think it was a one way street did you?"
He asks them. "The Watchers must be lacking in the research department
or that particular piece of information has been lost to them."

"I’m not sure why I wasn’t informed of that but I’ll try calling the
council to see if they know anything of it." Giles says.

"Well the short explanation is that like any type of energy the
metaphysical variation also reacts with each other." Gesturing to Faith
and Buffy he continues. "It will sometimes manifest itself as a cramp
or a tingle telling you that something is near. After exposure to
certain levels of energy you can learn to ignore the physical
manifestation of the feeling and you can begin to focus on finding its
source. Faith mentioned that you and her have those abilities."

"Yeah, we used to be able to find out where a vampire was within about
twenty feet. If we were close enough we could figure out how many there
were."

"I assume that by living here you’ve been exposed to many a vampire
correct?"

"Yes."

"Now you find that certain demons and older vampires are able to bring
out the physical feeling again?"

"How did you know?"

"Like I said your system has probably been able to adjust to the lower
levels of energy given off by the younger vampires. But the stronger
the demon or vampire the more you’ll feel it. Here brace yourself."
Adam says to her.

"What?" Buffy starts to say right before she doubles over. It feels
like she was thrown into a frozen river. Her muscles tense unable to
move and her head swims and she can barely stand straight. She wills
her stomach to obey the laws of physics making sure her dinner stays
where it is. As soon as the feeling started it is gone.

Riley is at her side trying to help Buffy sit up. He asks Adam, "What
the hell did you do?"

"I let her feel the power of my quickening."

Buffy takes a deep breath. "I have never, ever felt anything like that.
Not Lothos, not the Master not even the Mayor had that kind of power."
She looks over to Faith who is grinning. "And can you tell me why you
aren’t feeling like you need to throw up?"

"I’ve been hanging around them for a long time. I’m sorta immune now."
Faith answers.

"That’s nice to know."

"If it helps any the first time they did it to me I nearly passed out."

Tara had been to the side when Adam demonstrated the power of his
quickening. Willow looks over to her and sees that she had paled and
her head was down shaking. "Tara are you okay?"

"I’m fine Willow. I just need to shake some cobwebs loose is all." Tara
says. "When Cassandra was talking about the quickening I wanted to see
what their auras looked like. I was looking at Adam’s right before he
did what ever he did. At first it was like he had a blue sheen it was
small but you could tell that there was something there. Then he did
something and his aura flared. It was so intense I had to pull away or
else I would have been blinded."

Cassandra moves quickly to the young woman and looks at her intently.
"Look at me child." Cassandra looks into her eyes and sees something.
Closing her eyes she reaches out and feels with her quickening. Letting
go of Tara and moving over to Willow she does the same. "You are both
Wiccan?"

They both nod and Cassandra says, "This is getting more and more
interesting. Tomorrow I want you two to come to our house when we
train. You both have tremendous potential and I think that I might be
able to help you harness much of that.

Willow steps forward and says, "Thank you we would be honored."

Riley steps into the conversation at this point. "Not to break up
anything here but I wanted to get back to something you said before."

"Go ahead." Adam says.

"You were talking about your ‘first death’ or whatever you called it."

"Right. Well before we become immortal we must suffer our first death.
Our first deaths are usually violent ones. It is the extensive trauma
of the first death that awakens our latent immortality. We are born
mortal but our immortality sleeps while we age and live a normal life.
By dying the immortality wakes up and we revive for the first time.
From that point on we don’t age and we can’t get sick."

"Right, but you said that very few of your kind survive past one
thousand. For me immortal means forever." Riley says.

Xander speaks up. "That’s right. Immortal is a misnomer of sorts. We
can die. We are able to survive most anything that would kill a normal
person. Stab wounds, gun shots car accidents, anything."

"Except?"

"Decapitation."

"Ouch." Willow says.

"Exactly what I said." Faith adds.

"So why would you want to kill each other?" Buffy asks.

"For the same reason that we are able to heal so fast. The quickening.
The older or strong you are the stronger your quickening becomes. We
are part of something called ‘the game.’ The rules of the game are
simple. Fights are always one on one. No fighting on holy ground,
doesn’t matter whose you can’t fight on it and in the end there can
only be one." Adam explains.

"One what?" Tara asks.

"Immortal. The last one standing has the collected knowledge of all
those who had come before them. Enough power, or so the stories go, to
rule the world." Cassandra says.

"But you three are standing here together." Giles points out.

Adam answers, "When one has the potential to live forever you tend to
want to have friends that you can share your vast memories with. Some
of our kind live lives as hermits others hide on holy ground their
entire existence living as monks or nuns. Others live for the game,
those who do usually have short life spans though. Then there are those
like us. One who only play the game when forced to, choosing rather to
make friends with others of our kind rather than fighting them."

"Amazing." Giles says.

"Now that’s out of the way are there anymore questions?" Xander asks.

Willow and Buffy look at each other knowing that the questions they
want to ask are ones best asked quietly and privately. Faith catches
the look and sees that she will have to answer a lot of questions
outside of this conversation.

"I have a question." Tara asks.

"What is it?" Xander says.

"What is the ‘awakening?"

"Where did you hear that term from?" Xander asks.

"I was able to get it from one of your legal pads by rubbing the edge
of a pencil across it." Tara says handing him the paper.

"Now that is just plain impressive. Did Giles have you apply for a job
to get more information on me?" Xander asks.

"Actually no. I saw you two take out some vampires a week ago. When I
saw your picture in the paper I knew something was up and I had to get
more info on you. The easiest way was to apply for a job at your
company. I just got lucky and you hired me on as your assistant."

"So you were the other girl in the alley?" Faith asks

Tara nods. "Yes."

"Well as far as we have been able to tell the awakening is a ritual
that is used to siphon power off of an energy source. It has something
to do with a prophecy we found that coincides with the murders here."

"The ones that had the blood eagle performed on them?" Giles asks.

"Yes." Adam says. "We have more information back at our house. There is
a reason why we have decided to reveal ourselves to you tonight."

"You mean other than the fact that Xander died in front of us all and
came back to life in the storage room of my shop?" Giles says.

"Yes that was unfortunate but we were going to reveal ourselves anyway.
We have been researching this prophecy for weeks now with no real
headway. We have tried to stop the prophecy by trying to save the next
victim but we failed. We need more people to help us stop this and we
would like your help." Adam says.

"Fair enough. I see no reason why we can’t help each other. Anyone
disagree?"

"No." Willow answers.

"I’m with Willow on this one." Tara says.

"I’ll throw my hat in with them." Riley says.

Buffy walks up to Faith and Xander and says to them both. "Welcome
back."

…

A police car pulls up to the ruins of Sunnydale High School. The
officer steps out of his car and closes his door. Pulling out his
flashlight he switches it on and begins to walk around the perimeter of
the building examining the chain link fence for any openings. Finding
one he steps through the fence and onto the campus.

A few people had reported hearing sounds and voices coming from the old
school. The officer thought that it was probably some kids using the
buildings as a hideout or a clubhouse. Looking around he could see why
it would be understandable for kids to think that the place was good
for such things it was still dangerous. The city didn’t need to have
children found dead in an abandoned building there was already enough
going on in the city that had the department under pressure. So he was
sent to check on the old High School nonetheless. 

The hallways were empty and there were some open lockers. A glass case
that at one time probably held trophies and banners was now shattered
and empty. The walls still had posters advertising the senior
activities for graduation. Walking down the hallway he remembers when
he graduated from these very halls ten years ago.

The officer’s boots clack on the hard floors of the hallways echoing
throughout the building. Noticing that the campus hadn’t really changed
from when he had attended he decided to take a look around and see the
class he had once frequented as a youth.

Passing through the music room he remembers where he sat as second
trombone for the school’s band. Walking out of the room he sees the
class where he had trigonometry and the class where he had Spanish.
Walking around the corner he sees the main lab. Walking into the room
he sees that there still are specimens in jars on the walls. The funny
thing was that he didn’t remember formaldehyde being a dark red before.


Curious he walks up to one of the jars and shakes it a little while
shining his flash light at it trying to make out what was floating the
murky substance. What floats to the side of the jar surprises him. A
pair of eyes stares at him from behind the glass. Looking at the other
jars he sees another pair of eyes as well as two tongues. Looking
closer he sees that the liquid in the jars is actually blood. Shining
the flashlight around he sees that there is more blood in the room. On
one of the tables there are scratch marks and bloodstains. Looking at
the marks the officer is able to determine that a knife made the
scratches. Looking elsewhere he sees containers for food as well as
other signs that people had been living in the classroom recently.

He hears a sound off to his side and quickly shines his flashlight in
that direction. He hears the sound again right in front of him. It is
so close that it startles him into dropping his flashlight. Suddenly he
feels a burning pain and a dull ache from his right hand. He tries to
flex his fingers but they seem unresponsive. The officer feels light
headed and dizzy as he drops to his knees. His head falls close to
where his flashlight fell and he reaches out with his left hand to pick
up the fallen light. When his hand reaches the light his mouth lets out
a scream of horror. On the flashlight still gripping the cool metal
handle is his right hand completely severed from his arm.

The officer tries to scream more but he can feel his energy slowly
waning away. A pair of dark shoes comes into his vision. He is vaguely
aware of his body turning over and seeing a man standing over him.

"I’m sorry you had to see that officer." The figure says from above.
The light from the flashlight glints off of something as it descends
towards the officer’s head. From behind the counter a hat rolls away
and comes to rest a short distance away. As the hat comes to rest the
shield prominently displayed on the front is illuminated by what little
light is in the room. The light is also able to illuminate the small
river of blood flowing from behind the counter.

…

The morning finds Willow, Tara, Buffy, Riley and Giles pulling up to a
large house located in one of the richer areas of Sunnydale.

Willow looks at the house the surrounding property in awe. "I guess
being the founder and CEO of a multinational company has its perks
huh?"

"Yes it would seem so." Giles says.

The group walks down the path leading to the large double doors of the
house. While on the path Riley says, "Is just me or are the rest of you
nervous too?"

A round of affirmatives is heard as they stop at the door Buffy like
Riley are dressed for a workout. Buffy reaches up and pushes the button
to ring the doorbell. They wait a few moments until the door opens and
Cassandra greets them.

"Good morning!" She says cheerily. "I see you are ready for a work
out."

"Yeah. I’ve been training with Giles and Riley but I think a change up
would good for me." Buffy replies.

Cassandra smiles enigmatically. "Well we’ll start off slow then. You
and Faith will match up first while I help the girls with their powers.
The boys will have to figure something to do in the mean time. Please
come in and make yourself welcome."

The group walks in and sees that the inside of the home is just as
impressive and the outside. The house is fashionably furnished and is
the perfect blending of contemporary and classical tastes. Giles is
seen looking at one cabinet housing a few trinkets with interest. 

"Are these pieces originals?" He ask Cassandra.

"Oh yes. Go ahead and open it up you can see that Faberge signed them
as well. But I think you would be most interested in the shelf below
that one. Those scrolls are from the great library of Alexandria."

Giles nearly drops the delicate egg he is holding upon hearing
Cassandra’s last statement. "D-Did you say the library of Alexandria?"

"Oh yes, he has quite a few more if I recall. But those are his
favorites. Alexander the Great wrote one of them himself."

"Oh my." Is all the Giles can say.

Willow looks at the way Giles reacts and has to stifle a giggle. For
all his grown up stuffiness Giles becomes a kid in a candy shop when
antiques, scrolls and books are involved. Turning to Cassandra she
asks, "When do we start training?"

"Well I was waiting for Xander and Faith to get here but I suppose I
can take you downstairs to the workout area. Follow me." She says as
she makes her way to another part of the house.

"Where are they anyway?" Buffy asks.

"They are running a little late. It seems they slept in this morning.
They should be on their way soon." Cassandra answers.

"They sleep together?" Willow asks.

"Well their cover was man and wife. But if you want to know anything
more than that you’ll have to ask them." Cassandra says.

They come up to a door that has a staircase heading down to a lower
level of the house. When they reach the bottom of the stairs they see
that basement of the house had been converted into a workout area. To
the sides there were some weights and benches. Off to one side there is
a practice dummy and on the walls are different kinds of weapons. Adam
is already in the middle of the floor with arm length sticks in each
hand. He is fighting an unknown number of imaginary opponents. His
movements are quick and furious as the sticks blur with the motion.

Cassandra says to them, "Make yourself comfortable. Feel free to
stretch and warm up when Faith and Xander get here we’ll get started."
Cassandra walks to the nearest wall and takes down two sticks similar
to the ones Adam is using. She hefts them and testing their balance.
Nodding with approval she walks to the spot where Adam is practicing.
She waits just outside of his range looking for an opening. When she
sees it she darts in blocking one of his strikes. Adam’s eyes open and
he grins and the two begin to spar in earnest. 

They all watched in fascination as the two moved across the floor
striking at each other. The movements were all so fast that it was hard
to keep up were and when the next strike would come. The sounds of the
sticks clacking against each other fill the room as well as a few loud
thuds as a stick was able to get past someone’s defense. 

The battle is becoming faster now and only those with training are able
to keep up with the fight. Adam reaches out with a quick jab trying to
catch his opponent off guard. Cassandra is up to the task as she
parries the blow and tries for a quick head strike. Seeing her
intention blocks the incoming strike with his other hand but is not
able to block the kick that sends him reeling backwards. Pouncing on
her prey before he can recover she tries to strike Adam while he is
down. Adam barely rolls out of the way as they hear the loud clack of
the stick connecting with the floor.

Buffy looks over to Giles who is studying the fight and asks him, "What
style is that Giles?"

Giles isn’t paying attention and Buffy calls out, "Giles?"

"Hmmm." Giles looks at the blonde slayer and realizes that she was
talking to him. "I’m sorry, come again?"

"I asked you what style they are using?" She says.

"Yes, well it looks to be Eskrima. A martial art originating from the
Philippine islands. It relies on speed and practical techniques for
using makeshift weapons to overcome the superior strength and weapons
of an opponent. That is why perhaps Cassandra is able to fight on par
with Adam despite his longer reach."

"And the sticks?"

"They are actually called eskrima olisis or fighting sticks. The wood
has been fire-hardened allowing them to be incredibly strong and
sturdy. Being hit by one of those is akin to being hit by a lead pipe."
Giles answers as another thud is heard along with an accompanying grunt
of pain.

Buffy turns back to watch the two continue their fight when she sees
them stop and look towards their direction. They suddenly break off
their contact and walk over to one of the benches where they see some
towels are draped.

"Nice of you to finally join us." Adam says.

A voice from behind them answers, "Sorry Adam but we sorta slept in
this morning. Dying takes a lot out of you." 

Turning around they see that Xander and Faith had arrived and were both
ready for a work out.

Adam looks at Faith and says, "What’s your excuse?"

"He’s my alarm clock." She says with a grin pointing at Xander.

Adam mumbles something about kids not respecting their elders and Faith
says, "Hey you ask a stupid question…" She lets the comment trail off
as both her and Xander meet the others at the foot of the stairs.

Xander sees that Adam and Cassandra are breathing hard and have the
sheen of sweat on their bodies and says, "You couldn’t wait to start
could you?"

"Well if you were on time we wouldn’t have to have occupied ourselves
now would we." Adam shoots back.

"Sorry, so what’s the plan Adam?" Xander asks.

"Well I think that the men are going out for a good jog while the women
are going to stay here and train." Adam says.

"Yes I’ll take Tara and Willow with me upstairs while Buffy and Faith
can train here." Cassandra adds.

"Then afterwards we’ll sit down and share the information we have. Is
everybody ok with that?"

Everybody agrees to the arrangement and the groups prepare to go off
and train. Willow who is following Cassandra and Tara up the stairs
shoots a look over to Buffy that says ‘you better tell me everything
you find out or I will do very bad things to you.’ Buffy nods that she
will as she follows Faith to one side of the gym. The boys had left
before Cassandra and the other witches so it was just the two of them
downstairs.

They go over their warm up routines in silence each one not wanting to,
or not willing to break the ice first. Finished with their warm ups
they look at each other expectantly.

"So." Faith says.

"So." Replies Buffy.

"You want to spar?" Faith asks hopefully.

"Sure, I’m up for it." Buffy answers neutrally.

"Armed or hand-to hand?" She asks.

"Considering the way our last dance went I think hand to hand would be
best." Buffy says.

Faith pales a little and somberly says, "Yeah, I think so too."

Buffy realizes that her joke was ill timed and apologizes to her.
"Faith I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it that way! I mean…" Faith cuts her
off.

"Don’t worry about Buffy, I understand. I deserved that." She pauses.
"I’m five by five." She sees the grin on Buffy’s face and asks her,
"What’s so funny?"

"It just that was the first time you said that since I’ve seen you."
Buffy explains.

"Some old habits die hard I guess," She says. "I think that was the
first time I said those words since the first time I hooked up with
Xander." Faith assumes a ready position and Buffy does the same.

"Ready?" Buffy asks.

"Ready." Faith answers back. The foot that flies to her head is almost
too fast for her to avoid. Almost. She leans back and slaps the foot
causing Buffy to turn more than she expects. Faith tries to move in for
a closer strike but Buffy is able to twist her body with the motion of
her missed kick and keeps Faith at bay with a back handed punch.

The punch is blocked the both Faith and Buffy back away from each other
quickly.

"You’ve been practicing." Faith says to Buffy.

"So have you." She answers back.

They smile at each other as they prepare for another round. Faith is
the first to strike this time as she performs a front snap kick forcing
Buffy to shift her weight in order to block the punch. She quickly
follows up with a flurry of punches backing Buffy farther into the
workout area. Buffy sees an opening and tries to start an offensive and
returns with a punch of her own. 

Faith sees the punch coming and envelops the punch and using Buffy’s
momentum pulls her hand down and around and flips Buffy by releasing
her hand. Buffy not to be out done reaches out with her free hand and
turns her fall into a forward handspring and immediately drops down to
her knees to sweep Faith off of her feet.

Swinging her foot back around trying to catch Faith off guard Buffy is
surprised to see Faith roll out of the way and push herself back up to
her feet. Charging at her Buffy tries to catch her as she gets up. Her
punch is about to connect when Faith does something she would never
expect. She ducks and rolls away from the fight giving her enough time
to get up and prepare herself for another attack. 

Faith was truly enjoying herself fighting against Buffy. It had been
awhile since she had fought anyone other than Adam, Cassandra and
Xander. She found that she could hold her own against Xander but it
wasn’t the same as fighting against someone who was about equal in
size, stature and reach. Xander outweighed her, had a longer reach and
was much taller than her. It made for interesting sparing sessions but
she wanted someone that matched her and Buffy was giving her the match
she wanted. Faith sees Buffy begin to circle her and she does the same.


They circle each other as if there was a force that kept them away from
each other. If one advances the other retreats. They shadow each other
long enough for them to test each other’s reactions. Faith satisfied
with what she sees takes two quick steps towards her opponent and
decides to attack using the techniques that Xander had taught her. By
closing the distance between her and Buffy, Faith is able to negate the
power of Buffy’s legs and her kicks. Focusing on all that Xander, Adam
and Cassandra had taught her hands begin to take on a life of their
own. Block moves into parry, parry moves into strike.

Buffy recognizes that Faith is trying to setup a rhythm and that she
needed to break out of it quickly or else one small mistake would give
Faith an opening to capitalize on. Buffy furiously looks to find a way
to break the rhythm that Faith has setup and can see only one way. She
lets one of the body shots get past her defense and lets it connect.
Faith smiles thinking that she has beaten Buffy but realizes too late
that Buffy was leaning into the punch negating much of the strength
behind it. She feels Buffy’s hands on her shoulders and can feel the
pull of gravity change as Buffy lifts her and tries to throw her to the
ground.

Faith opening her fist grabs hold of Buffy’s waist and brings her free
hand up and around Buffy’s forearm. Twisting her body she is able to
transfer some of her downward momentum to Buffy’s body as well and both
of them come crashing to the ground. Changing their techniques to be
more suitable for the close combat quarters and grappling they start to
roll around on the floor.

Buffy is able to come out on top but Faith brings her knee up between
the two of them and is able to launch Buffy up and over her head. Both
slayers get up again breathing hard and now tired from their fight
eyeing each other warily. They both knew that this would be the last
exchange. Buffy is the first to attack and starts out with a series of
kicks that forces Faith back dodging and ducking most of them. Seeing
that she has only one chance she decides to use a move Xander had used
to take her down once. Just as Buffy begins to perform a crossing kick
aimed for her head Faith surges forward with her left elbow extended
out and her right hand up. With her right hand she catches Buffy’s
ankle and yanks hard to her right changing the direction of Buffy’s
momentum. She changes the direction is such a way that her elbow
connects with Buffy’s stomach. Upon contact she can hear Buffy’s lungs
expel the air contained in them. With her momentum suddenly gone Buffy
falls to the ground gasping for air. Leaving Faith in her striking
position, weight forward and her elbow up.

Faith is breathing hard and falls to her knees as the adrenaline in her
system begins to fade. The fight had taken a lot out of her. She had
never pushed herself so hard when she fought the others but in this
fight with Buffy she had to prove something to herself. She needed to
know that she really did let Buffy win that night that it wasn’t just a
fluke and that she really wasn’t in control of her actions. She needed
to know that forgiveness was an option for her because if she had
voluntarily done all those horrible things she wouldn’t know how to
live with herself.

Groaning Buffy props herself up. "Man!" she says after taking a few
deep breaths. "I have never fought so hard in my life." Buffy says to
her.

"Yeah I know, me too." She says. "I was lucky that I was able to get
that last shot in."

"No you weren’t Faith. You were better the better fighter." Buffy says
seriously. "I had a lot of time to think about what happened at your
place that night Faith. I was able to put a few things together in my
head. Looking back you were always the better fighter. Not because you
were more skilled but because you had nothing to loose, you would fight
with your all, not caring about your well being, just the kill. When I
beat you that night I thought you had slipped up but now I know better.
I know Faith."

…

Faith’s apartment the night before graduation.

Faith’s mind is screaming at her to kill Buffy. Buffy is coming at her
with her knife in hand. Faith dodges easily and continues the fight
with Buffy. Kill! Kill! KILL!!! KILL!!!!! Her mind pounds over and over
again. The Mayor wanted Buffy dead and she would be the instrument to
do it. Faith fights with Buffy almost effortlessly. The steady screams
in her mind pushing her to frenzy.

Across the town the Mayor eats one of the Gavrok bugs. He can feel the
changes made to his body as the ritual begins to take its course. But
something unexpected happens to him. The link he had worked so hard to
establish with Faith is gone. He can no longer feel her anger in his
mind. The weak cries of her conscience are no longer pleading against
his will. The ritual had somehow severed her connection.

Back at her apartment Faith feels as if she had been released into
daylight after a year being trapped underground. With such a dazzling
clarity she can see where she is and what she had done. She is still
fighting with Buffy but now her mind is her own and she sees that now
is the only time where she can take responsibility for her actions
before the Mayor can recover her hold on her.

Pushing Buffy to the edge of the terrace she says, "Man, I’m going to
miss this." Seeing the look of confusion on Buffy’s face she leaves an
opening that she can only hope Buffy can see.

Not disappointing Faith, Buffy is able to break her now loosened grip
on her and plunges her knife into her stomach. Faith puts on a face of
shock and silently thanks her sister in arms for releasing her finally.
She smiles at Buffy and says weakly, "You did it." 

Faith shoves Buffy away. She can feel her healing powers already
healing the wound. It is not enough to kill her. In the peripheral
senses of her mind she can feel the Mayor trying to call to her to
control her. His question to her is ‘What happened?’ to which she says
out loud, "You killed me."

Faith moves to the edge of the terrace and looks down. Far enough she
thinks the fall will definitely kill her. The Mayor’s voice calls to
her telling her that she still needs her to help him. He sends her a
mental image of his transformed state and the power that it brings. She
knows that it is just a distraction as she can feel the anger pounding
against her walls rattling her trying to assume control again

She climbs on the lowest portion of the wall and says to the Mayor’s
voice in her head. "Still won’t help your boy though." Looking straight
at Buffy she says to her, "Shoulda been there B, quite a ride." 

With those last words she falls backward, gravity takes hold of her as
she accelerates to the ground. In mid air she can feel the anger
finally break through her defenses attempting to take control of her
again but she silently tells the Mayor ‘too late.’ Those are her last
thoughts as she hits the back of a passing truck.

…

"I couldn’t tell at the time, I was too focused on trying to save
Angel, but looking back I was able to see the subtle changes in your
actions Faith." Buffy says to her. "You let me stab you that night."

Faith sits there across from the blonde slayer, quiet tears rolling
down her face. Nodding Faith says, "I needed you to stop me." Chuckling
she tells her, "I had always dreamed about my death you know? Every
time I would either see my death come at my own hands or me forcing
another to kill me. I never really thought that it would really come to
that."

"I know that you let me take you down Faith but the question is why?
Why the jump?"

"I’m not completely sure how he did it but Mayor Wilkens was able to
take control of me by manipulating my anger and believe me I had a lot
of that. The longer I worked for him the easier it was to follow my
compulsions. Pretty soon I was trapped in a jar inside my own head you
know? I was able to look out but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I
saw it all happen B. The poison, the dart shooting angel, everything
and I couldn’t do anything to stop it." Faith says as she wipes another
tear that falls down her cheek.

"But something freed you?"

Faith nods slowly. "I’m not sure what it was but the Mayor’s hold on me
was gone, I was myself again, but I could feel him pounding and calling
trying to coax me back. I had to do something B! I wasn’t going to let
myself be lost again! I was weak before but I was strong enough to stop
myself that time."

"So you left yourself open for me to stab you."

"Yes."

"I can’t imagine the courage it took to allow yourself to die. But why
the jump?"

"Our damn Slayer healing was already stitching up what you had done. I
could feel my mind’s defenses weakening the Mayor’s assault gaining
strength. If I didn’t do something fast you would be facing a very
pissed off Slayer and I needed you to live B."

"Why?" Buffy asks curiously.

"To make right all I had done wrong." She answers quietly.

"But you could have done that yourself." Buffy says to her.

"Come one B. You know better than that. It would take trust for that to
happen, that is something that you wouldn’t have offered me freely. Not
after what I did to you."

"But you found that with Xander?"

Faith smiles as she says, "Yes, with Xander I feel safe. He trusts me
B. He really does, and he loves me for who I am and I love him for
that."

"Willow and I were able to see that you two had gotten close." Buffy
smiles. "I promised that I would tell Willow everything I found out so
spill, what is up with you and Xander?"

"After I woke up from the coma I left Sunnydale because I thought there
wasn’t anyone here that would forgive me. Well I thought there would be
one person but I found out he was dead." Faith explains.

"The Mayor?" Buffy asks.

Sighing Faith answers, "No. Xander." Seeing the questioning look on her
face Faith continues. "Do you remember the night we stopped the
Hellmouth from opening? The time with all the she-demons running
around?"

Buffy shivers thinking about that night. "Yeah well Xander had saved me
from a bunch of them that night. He took me to my room at the motel and
you know how it is after a fight."

Buffy’s eyes go wide with surprise, "Are you trying to say, that you
and Xander?"

"Yes."

"Oh my God!"

"That was what I was thinking right after I kicked him out of my room."

"Whoa! Hold on there. You kicked him out? I thought you were…"

"Yeah well while we were doing it something changed. At first it was
lust and the feeling of the fight you know. I needed relief."

"But you said something changed?"

"Yes somewhere in the middle of it I wanted him. I wanted to be with
him and I wanted him to want me. Not just for sex but a part of his
life. He had saved me he stuck up for me he reached out to me when no
one else would B. I wanted him to love me."

"That must have been weird." Buffy says.

"Weird isn’t the word I would use B. More like scary. At that point of
my life I never wanted anything like that before. I had to get him away
from me you know? So I kicked him out of my room. After he left I cried
B, boy did I cry and I didn’t even know why."

"Xander never said anything about it at all." Buffy says.

"And he never pushed the issue with me. I think he respected me too
much to try anything else. I think I hurt him when I kicked him out."
Faith says. "When I woke up in that hospital bed I knew thing must have
changed. I needed to find some one to help me and the only person that
I could think of was Xander. I was able to get out of my room at the
hospital and I tried to make my way to Xander’s. When I saw that his
parent’s house was empty I panicked and went looking for a phone book
to see if Xander was listed. I was cutting through a graveyard when I
saw Willow sitting by one grave. After she left I saw that it was
Xander’s grave and I knew then that I had to leave."

"But you found him again." Buffy says.

"Well he actually found me." She says with a smile. "He came to my
rescue when a group of vampires surprised me. He came charging in like
my own personal knight. I’ve been with him ever since."

"How are you guys now? I mean are you guys intimate?"

"We share everything B. Secrets, meals, even the same bed. But we
haven’t shared our bodies with each other since that first time."

"But you love him?" Buffy asks

"More than anything B."

"Good. He need a good strong woman to support him." Buffy says standing
up.

"What are you saying that you approve?" Faith asks her also standing
up.

"Well in the absence of a big sister I will have to step in and fulfill
those duties for him. You already have Cassandra and Adam’s support so
I’m throwing in with them. Come on lets go see what the other girls are
doing."

Faith follows Buffy up the stairs and smiles. It felt good to have
someone to talk to about her love life. She finally had a circle of
friends she could turn to.

continued.....