Watcher, Vampire, Slayer, Witch
Disclaimer: See part 1
Chapter 2: Somebody's Trying to Kill Us (again)
"The Council," Giles said. He looked as appalled as Buffy felt. Obviously, he didn't want to believe it, but apparently it sounded right to him, too. On the other hand,
Buffy thought, Spike was telling this story and Spike lied more than a little.
"What did you do next?" she asked.
"I got back in the car. Not wanting to be followed, I headed west on the freeway as far as Northwoods. I switched to local roads, went around to Sylvandale, and
came here from there."
"No human can track that car," Ann said.
"I didn't know that then," Spike said. "I got here, sometime before 4:00, used the remote on the garage door, closed it after me, then waited until Ann woke up. She
invited me in, she listened--without interruptions, let me add--then she took my car keys, my credit cards, and the cell phone and told me to stay in a room upstairs,
which I did, while she went to get all you, which she did. That's it."
"Why come here, to Ann?" Giles asked.
"You weren't supposed to be around, Buffy was being watched, I don't know where Willow and her girlfriend are living, and the boy toy there wouldn't listen to me,
even if he didn't just stake me first."
"Why not leave town and write me a letter?" Buffy asked.
"Like your mail's safe?" Spike jeered. "And that wouldn't solve my problem, would it? The new bunch didn't mention Ann at all, maybe they don't know she exists.
She's powerful, she could turn them all into statues if she wanted. She has this comfortable fortress and she's sleeping with your Watcher, so maybe she's interested
in helping you stop the new complications, whoever they may be."
"Which would pull your balls out of the grinder," Riley said.
"Yes, it would save my life. Mine, the Slayer's, Rupert's, the little redhead's, maybe the little redhead's girlfriend's and maybe yours, too, Soldier Boy. Because if the
rest of the Watchers are fanatical enough to want to kill Buffy, I don't think anyone around her is safe--family, friends, groupies, not-so-innocent bystanders and of
course, any totally innocent vampires the Slayer hasn't gotten around to killing herself yet."
"And you wouldn't even have to give back the money," Buffy said.
"Well, that too."
There was silence at the table for some moments, while Buffy and the others thought and Spike drank another glass of blood. Finally, Giles said, "Spike, we want to
talk alone for a while."
"I'm going to shower and take a nap. Hey, I need some clothes."
Ann stared at him. "You've charged clothes from David Lawrence, Andrew Mark, Barneys New York and a lot of other places. What are you, a male, vampiric
Cordelia?"
"Take that back!" Spike snapped at her. "What with one thing and another, I had to leave Portland without most of my luggage. At the very least, I need some clean
socks."
Ann looked him over, then said, "There's some basics and your remaining luggage in your room. Talk to me about clothes later. Go."
Spike prowled gracefully out of the room.
"More coffee, Rupert?"
"Yes, please," Giles said. "Ann, can you tell where he's been? It's your car and you generated the credit cards."
"I have credit charges from San Francisco, on the dates he says; I have others all around the West, consistent with the trip he describes." Ann poured Giles more
coffee.
"Can't you just tell if he's lying?" Buffy asked.
"No," Ann said. "Nor can I craft a truth spell at the moment which would work on him."
"Can Willow?" Buffy asked.
"Possibly. There are other things I can do, but each of them has severe drawbacks. We'll discuss them later if it proves necessary."
"He may be lying about the six or seven men," Buffy said.
"I don't think they exist in the first place," Riley said. "I can't believe humans would avenge a vampire."
Ann treated him to a cold, unpleasant regard. "I have crossed your name out of the family genealogy; go, and never darken my door again? Becoming a vampire is a
tragedy, not a sin; most of the vampires you and Buffy kill are victims first and villains only later. Damn few of them become vampires deliberately."
"That's been known to happen," Buffy said.
"So I understand," Ann said. "But not frequently."
"When did you become such a defender of vampires?"
"When the Council's blanket kill policy was explained to me."
"And you disagreed, I take it," Giles said.
"Emphatically," Ann said. "I disagreed with the kill-them-all mentality and I disagreed with the idea that a soul can be lost. Damned, possibly; not lost. I disapproved
of the way the Council used the Slayer and I was contemptuous of the Slayers for letting themselves be used. You and Buffy," she told Giles, "were not in the least
what I expected."
"Oh?" Buffy asked, wondering who had first told Ann about the Council, the Slayers and vampires, since obviously Giles hadn't.
"No."
"She does her job," Riley said.
"Yes, she does," Ann said. "And she may have killed a vampire whose parents or siblings have not abandoned him or her. Despite your belief, such people do exist.
Look at this, Finn," she said, producing a can of blood and tossing it to him. "This is produced by a co-op of mothers of children who have been changed into
vampires."
"I thought you made that up for Spike?" Buffy said.
"No, this is one of the things it's easier for me to buy than it is to make. This is vat grown blood, available in eight different flavors."
"And who drinks it?" Buffy took the can from Riley and read the small print.
"Mostly debutantes and polo players, who suddenly settle down and go to law school at night," Ann said.
"You're kidding!" Buffy looked up at Ann.
"No. One advantage of this brand is that it passes for tomato juice at most parties. If you run into a frat boy who won't share his bloody Mary with you, he may be
drinking Cambells. Especially if he pours the dregs down the sink."
"I saw that once," Riley said. "Hell, where was that?"
"There are vampires with human kin who still acknowledge them, who still love and support them. That story is not impossible, I simply don't believe it applies to this
case," Ann said.
"You believe they're from the Council," Buffy said.
"Yes," Ann said. "I think the Council is capable of anything."
"Spike may be mistaken in the surmise he has formed about their identity," Giles said.
"No," Ann said. "Assuming they exist, and he may be lying about that, we don't know yet, he may also be lying about his conclusion or he may be deceived, but he is
probably not simply mistaken. He's too good with words to make a mistake like that, and we've all seen him reason out a puzzle quickly and efficiently, witness when
he hit Tara on the nose to demonstrate that she is human."
"All right," Riley said. "First we find out if there are six or seven men."
>>>|||<<<
"I want to catch one, drag him here, have Willow truth spell him and go from there," Buffy said, "but I suppose a more gradual attack is a better idea."
"On the off chance that they may be government officials, and we are living here, maybe we should try identifying them first," Riley said. "Giles, if they're Watchers,
will you know them?"
"Not necessarily," Giles said. "I know many other Watchers, but not all of them."
"You said one advantage, Ann," Buffy said. "What is it? That they don't know where Giles is?"
"Yes. Now, of course you have another: You're warned, and they don't know that, either. If you want to keep that edge, you have to keep them ignorant."
"I wasn't scheduled to return until tonight," Giles said. "Anya is running the store, but I haven't even told her I'm back. If I don't officially return for another day or
two, what will they do?"
Ann glanced up, said, "Excuse me," and left the room.
"I wouldn't push it very far, Giles," Riley said. "We have no idea how long they've already been looking for you, but it seems to me, they're starting to lose it: Hiring
Spike?"
"If they're Watchers, they will know that Spike has already killed two Slayers. They will also know Buffy kicked him out of Sunnydale when she killed Angel and
that he went to South America after that. I have not submitted any reports since I was fired, so they may not know the more recent history we share with Spike.
After all, he did just arrive here from Seattle, and they may think he went to Seattle from Peru or where ever it was," Giles said.
"Buffy," Riley asked. "When did you wear that new sweater? And where were those photos taken?"
"You didn't notice? I bought it at Bloomies on that Wednesday. I wore it home that afternoon, and again on Friday. Dawn borrowed it Saturday night, and it's been
at the cleaners since the Monday after that. Oh, I have to pick it up."
"When this is over," Riley said.
"The thing in the background," Buffy said. "The sign. This picture was taken that Wednesday, on my way home."
"I was here till Saturday afternoon, when we left, and we got back yesterday, seven days later," Giles said.
Ann came back and sat down at the table.
"You went off their radar a week ago? They may be panicking," Riley said. "OK, if they're here, they're eating and sleeping somewhere, they're getting around
somehow. We can pick them up tonight, at Buffy's or your place, Giles, for sure, but let's look for them now."
"They're getting around in a black Dodge van," Ann said. "Spike got the number, and I had a friend run it. It's a rental, out of LAX."
"Not Cordelia, was it?" Buffy asked. "It's so hard thinking of her as Nancy Drew."
"You haven't met this woman," Ann said. "She runs a detective agency in San Francisco."
"I bet Willow can find the van, she and Tara together, using that locator spell they have."
"Very likely," Ann said. "I'll go ask her." Ann blinked out.
>>>|||<<<
Ann, Willow and Tara appeared in the room. Ann glanced over the table, on which two new places appeared, one at her left hand, one at Giles's right across the
table. "I invited them to breakfast." Chairs appeared, already slightly pulled back.
"Hi," Tara and Willow chorused, sitting down.
"Omelets?" Ann asked. "Or cereal?"
"Omelet, mushroom, please."
"I'd like that," Willow agreed.
"Got another Danish?" Riley asked. "And some more milk?"
"So, Giles, somebody is trying to kill you again?" Willow asked. "And you want me to help?"
"Us," Tara corrected.
"Us," Willow said, smiling at Tara.
As the Witches ate, Buffy explained.
On to Chapter3
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