Watcher, Slayer, Vampire, Witch
Chapter 8: Interrogations
"Edward Payton-Jones, you will answer all questions put to you truthfully." The Witches ended the ritual, and stepped back.
Buffy stepped up to him. "You know who I am," she said. "I want to know why you want to kill Giles. Why are you trying to kill Rupert Giles?"
"I haven't tried." Payton-Jones managed.
"Why do you intend to kill me?" Giles asked.
"I was told to," Payton-Jones said.
"By whom?"
It took careful questioning, but in the end, Payton-Jones told Buffy and Giles that he had been ordered to kill him by one of the Watchers Emeritus, a member of the Council and someone who regularly gave orders to the operations executive.
"Damn," Buffy said. "I was hoping it was just weirdoes. What is this Watcher's name?"
Buffy, Giles and Wesley followed the trail back, then forward. Neither Giles nor Wesley had had any dealings with the spokesman, McDonnell, and neither could offer any reason why he might wish them dead.
"Did McDonnell say why Giles should die?" Riley asked.
"He condoned his Slayer's corruption," Payton-Jones said.
"What did he mean by that?" Giles asked.
"You let a vampire have her."
"Angel," Giles said.
"Yes."
And what exactly had the Council expected Giles to do about it? Buffy wondered. She loved Giles dearly, but each of them had a private life. The questioning continued.
"Why did McDonnell name Wesley?" Giles asked.
"He let Faith be corrupted by Angelus."
"Actually, Wesley didn't and Faith wasn't," Buffy said. "Which, I think, really annoyed her. So why are you obsessing about an ex-boyfriend? Why all the interest in my past love life?"
Payton-Jones didn't answer.
"It's not just your love life," Ann said. "Oh, probably the ones for whom the Council is a religious vocation think you should have been content to remain a virgin priestess of death, but that may not be all that's going on here."
Giles and Wesley appeared startled and both of them stared at Ann. Spike grinned appreciatively at her, but, for once, kept his mouth shut. Riley Finn seemed embarrassed or angry, but Buffy and the Witches just listened.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked. She was annoyed that this topic had come up when Riley was present, but Ann's comment was so unexpected she couldn't take offense, she just wanted Ann to explain.
"When you quit the Council, you became a threat to all of them."
"How?" Buffy asked.
"If every Slayer quit, what would they do? You, the Slayers, give meaning to their lives, give them power. Those things are hard to give up. Without you, they can't do much at all. Not all of them are as resilient as Rupert and Wesley, not as capable of making a new life for themselves," Ann said
"I'm surprised they didn't want to kill Riley," Willow said.
"Maybe they do. Do you intend to kill Riley?" Tara asked Payton-Jones.
"Yes, we decided we had to."
"What? Why?" Riley asked.
"The Slayer should not waste herself on lovers," Payton-Jones said.
"You thought because you were human, no one would object?" Ann asked Riley. "Guess again. It wasn't Angel's vampire status the Council really objected to, it was that at that time, he had Buffy's attention. You have her attention now, so you have to go, too."
"That's disgusting," Buffy said.
Spike frowned and turned to Payton-Jones: "Did McDonnell order you to kill Buffy?"
"Yes."
"Why her?" Spike asked.
"She's corrupt."
"Did he also order you to kill Faith?" Ann asked.
"Yes, yes, yes. We were ordered to kill the two Watchers, the two Slayers and the vampire who was the cause of it all."
"Is there another team in Los Angeles?" Ann asked, rising to her feet.
"Yes."
Ann gestured at Payton-Jones, freezing him. "Wesley, use any phone in the library. Inform Angel. I have to go to San Francisco." She blinked out.
"Well," Willow said, as Wesley hurried out, "they are weirdoes, Buffy. But there seem to be more of them than we thought."
"And we haven't even mentioned the demon yet," Buffy said.
Go on to Part 9
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