“I still don’t understand.  What are we waiting for, Giles?”

He sipped his tea and joined her at the window.  “Word from Richard or Quentin.  James has shown me the records they’ve kept in the past three or four years.”  He looked down at her and smiled.  “I assure you, they can be trusted.  You should look at the journals, though.  They explain quite a lot.”

She shifted and leaned her head against his arm.  “I’ll get to it.  Right now we have a brooding slayer on our hands.”

He nodded his head.  “How is she, uh, dealing with these changes?”

I don’t think she is.”  She turned to him.  “I don’t know what to do, Giles.  Day after day she goes out there, sits on that bench and doesn’t move until dark.  She comes in, eats, and retreats to her room . . .just to start the whole process over again the next day.”  She ran her hands through her hair.  “It’s been a week . . .she can’t go on like this.”

”Do you want me to try and talk to her?”

”We both know she won’t listen to you, Giles.  Vampire or not . . .she’s still Buffy.”  She waited a moment then left the room.

“Hey.”  She walked around and sat on the bench.

Nothing.

She inhaled deeply.  “Nice night.  You can still smell the warmth.”  She turned and brought her feet up on the bench.  “I have a few things to say to you, and I’d like it of you’d give me some indication that you’re listening.”

Her head dropped a bit and she exhaled needlessly.

“Good.  Buffy, I . . .I am so sorry that this has been done to you. . .if I had any control over it you know I would have stopped it, but I didn’t so that’s kind of a moot point.  I don’t know what your thinking, or feeling, or what you want to do. . .even now it looks like you’re ready to bolt, and I know I have no control over that.  I can’t make you stay.  After everything I’ve involved you in, I wouldn’t blame you if you took off and never came back. . . but I don’t want you to.  I want you here with me, so we can fight this thing together.”

She got up and walked a few feet away.

Willow got up and continued to talk to her back.  “First and foremost you’re the slayer.  You’re a slayer with slayer powers and with a two hundred forty-six year old vampire’s blood coursing through your veins.  Do you know what that means?  Even without the ring, you can’t die that easily.  Not only did Angel give you his blood, he gave you your own back . . .from when you cured him from Faith’s poison arrow.  You are now one of the most powerful vampires if not THE most powerful walking this earth.”  She stepped closer so they were inches away.  “Do you know what that means to me?”  She reached up and turned the slayer to face her.  “NOTHING.  It means absolutely nothing to me. . .because to me, you’re Buffy.  You’re still just Buffy.  My best friend, my roommate from college, my best bud. . . things may seem all upside down and ruiny now, but if you can find it in yourself to trust me, to trust us . . we’ll be okay.”

It was a low whisper.  “I’m a demon.”  She looked her in the eyes.  “Buffy’s dead.  I’m just an demon animating her dead body.”  Her eyes filled up with tears threatening to spill over.

She grabbed her by the shoulders.  Buffy looked at her with menacing eyes, but she pressed on.  “Don’t even try to give me the slayer-eyes now.  You are Buffy.  You’re my best friend.  Whether there’s a demon inside you or not, that’s who you are and not even death can change it. . . not even death can change the way I feel, the way I love you.”  She pulled her closer and pressed her lips violently against the blonde’s.

She resisted at first. . .she knew she could kill her in an instant if she wanted to, but she didn’t.  Something welled inside of her, something familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.  She returned the kiss with equal passion, equal yearning.  She backed the redhead up against the house and continued the assault on her mouth.  Her lips parted and without invitation she invaded her mouth with a hunger she’d never known before.

The slam against the house was a surprise, but her reaction was even more so.  Everything in her life, in her world, narrowed down to the woman in front of her.  When her tongue first invaded her mouth, she let out a little sob but continued to match her stroke for stroke.  She reached up and grabbed a handful of hair, trying to pull her even closer, if that was at all possible.

They broke away at the same time and Willow pulled her into a fierce hug.  She struggled to catch her breath, and Buffy struggled to regain some composure. . .breath was a non-issue.

The slayer pulled away a little so they were nose to nose.  “It takes my un-dead status for you to tell me you love me?”  She dead-panned.

Willow chuckled a bit and lowered her eyes.  “I’ve told you hundred’s of times that I love you . . .I guess it took your un-dead status for it to sink in just how much.”

Buffy took a step back and Willow groaned a bit from the loss of contact.  “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

They walked into the house hand in hand.

They worked well into the night and the silence was broken by the phone ringing.  They all sat still for a moment until Giles rose to answer it.

“Hello? . . yes, yes, I see. . .when? . . .are you sure?. . .yes, we’ll leave at first light. . .yes, it’s been done.  She has the ring, there’s no danger. . . Dear, God. . . .how much blood did he . . .he’s resting then.  Good. . . just keep him strapped down, he’s our best shot.  Yes, see you in the morning.”  He hung up the phone and turned to them.

“Giles?”  Willow was the first to speak.

“Richard and Quentin have cleared the mansion.  They found Ethan almost drained on the front steps, he was carved up pretty badly, but he’s still alive.  They have him in the basement but they don’t know how long he’ll last. We must leave in the morning.”

James stepped up next to him.  “How did it happen, Rupert?  Ethan was our greatest barrier in this entire fight, with him incapacitated, then. . .”

Giles looked up at him and answered dryly.  “Angelus has taken his place.  Ethan is no longer a threat.”

“Are you sure?”  It was Cordelia.

Giles turned to her.  “I’m afraid so.  He had small crosses carved into both his cheeks.”

Cordelia looked over to Buffy and Willow.  “Angelus’ calling card.  Great.”  She got up and moved to the window.  “I say we pack and leave now.  If we drive fast enough we can get there before first light.”  She didn’t wait for an answer.  She walked out of the room.

Giles spoke.  “Well, I guess that settles it.  Let’s go.”

“Cordelia?”

She turned around and wiped her eyes with a tissue.  “Hey, you ready?”

Willow crossed the room and stood in front of her.  “Yeah.  Are you okay?”

She chuckled. “Fine, fine . . I mean just because my boyfriend’s turned back into the murdering nightmare of a vampire that almost killed us all a few years ago. . .why wouldn’t I be?”

Willow looked at her with sympathy in her eyes.  She remembered all too well how he tortured all of them.  She took her hand and placed something in it.  “Here.  I think you need this now more than I do.  He won’t get to you, he won’t be able to send you over the edge with this.  If you wear it, and we all make it through. . .there’s still hope left that you can get him back.”

Cordelia opened her hand and saw it was Willow’s ring.  “I wish I could say I don’t want it, but I do.  I’d do anything to get him back, Red.  Anything.”  She reached over and pulled her into a hug.

Buffy walked in and the hug was cut short by a low growl emitted from her throat.

Willow looked up.  “Buffy.”  She crossed the room and put herself between the growling slayer and Cordelia.  “I gave Cordelia my ring.  She was thanking me.”  She looked into her eyes hoping that she got through.

Her gaze never left the brunette’s.  “I see.  And we wouldn’t be trying to cop a cheap feel here, would we?”  She passed by Willow and approached her.  “After all, you’ve tried to put yourself in my shoes before. . .”

”Buffy,”  Willow cut her off.  “Cordelia and I are friends.  She loves Angel.”

She turned to face Willow.  “I don’t trust her.”  She turned back to Cordelia and began to approach.  “I can smell the arousal on you.  Just being in the same room with her gets you hot.  Doesn’t it?”

Willow walked over and reached out to grab her shoulder.  “Buffy. . .we don’t have time for this.”

She stopped at the touch and smiled.  “No.  I guess we don’t . . .RED.”  She turned on her heel and walked out.

Cordelia let out her breath.  “God . . what is her deal?”

“She’s dead, Cordelia.  She’s having a hard time adjusting.”  Willow shrugged.

“Yeah, no kidding.  Just keep your psycho girlfriend-slayer-vampire-whatever she is, away from me.  Can’t you put her on a leash or something?”

“Cordy. . .that wasn’t very nice.”

”Neither was her little territorial display.  She’s got some serious issues to work out.” She closed her suitcase and placed it on the floor in front of her.  “I just hope she can work them out before someone gets hurt. . .namely you.”

“It’ll be alright.  I promise.”  She said it more for herself than for Cordelia.

They arrived at the mansion a little before dawn.  As soon as they walked in, Richard appeared from a corridor and led them to the basement.  There in the corner of the room, strapped to the bed, was Ethan Rayne.  Or what was left of him, anyway.

Giles crossed the room and sat down in a chair. He leaned in and whispered.  “You bastard.”

He stirred and was barely able to open his eyes.  “Such drama, Ripper.  Don’t waste my time.”  He managed to turn his face away from him.

He stood and grabbed Ethan by the collar.  “You don’t have much TIME left.”

Richard rushed over and pulled Giles off of him.  “Rupert, you’re not helping.”

“I’m not helping?  I’m not helping!?  Don’t you think it would have helped, Richard, if you had told us about the prophesy three years ago!?”  He walked away from them both and noted that Buffy and Willow were watching.  “Look at them, Richard.  Look at them closely.  My slayer is a bloody vampire and Willow is the Immortal Watcher!  I have a girl upstairs who is ready to fall apart at the seams because the man she loves is now the demon who will be the death of us all!”  He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.  “You’re priceless, really.  Bloody well priceless.”

Ethan gave a little chuckle and whispered.  “So she’s ascended then.  Isn’t that wonderful?”

Giles looked at him with venom in his eyes.  “Fag off you limey bastard!  That’s no concern of yours anymore.  If I were you I’d be wondering when my last breath was coming, not the end of the world.”

Willow walked past all of them and approached Ethan.  “Tell me what’s going to happen.”  She leaned down closer to him.  “Then you’ll tell me how we stop it.”

Giles walked up behind her.  “Willow, be careful . . .”

”I know what I’m doing, Giles.”

Ethan smiled.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m afraid not.”  She reached down and put her hand on his chest.  “I can heal you . . .”

A blue-green glow emitted from her hand.  Within ten seconds, all of his wounds disappeared and he looked at her with wide-eyed wonder.

“How did you do that?  It doesn’t hurt anymore, it doesn’t . . .”

”Or I can kill you.”  She placed her other hand on his chest and a red-orange light emitted from it.  His featured contorted and all the scars re-appeared.

He screamed in agony.  “Ahh!  No . . NOOOOOOOO!”  He panted, unable to catch his breath.  He glared at her with a mixture of blind terror and respect.

Richard huffed from behind her.  “Someone’s been practicing.”

Giles looked down at her.  “You’re not kidding.”  He shook his head, still unable to grasp what he’d seen.

She stood and smiled, quite pleased with herself.  She turned to say something but was stopped by the confused, hurt look on the slayer’s face.

Willow knew what she was thinking.  Quickly she walked up to Buffy and whispered in her ear.  “Only because I’m the Immortal Watcher. . .I couldn’t do it before. . .I can now because you.”

”Will, I get it.  I almost didn’t get it, but I got it.”

A look of relief washed across her face and she brushed the slayer’s face with her hand.  “Good.”  She turned back and spoke to Ethan.  “Tell them everything or you’ll deal with me.”  She grabbed Buffy’s hand and walked out the door.

They were ascending the stairs when a thought crossed Buffy’s mind.  “That was pretty cool, Will, but how did you do it when you knew you couldn’t do it until you were the big IW?”

Willow stopped and had to dissect the sentence before responding.  “The big?. . .Oh, I get it.  Quentin and I used a controlled study.  He conjured the effects of each of the spells I was studying and when I did them right, I knew because I saw the objects I used change, but I wasn’t really doing the spells.”

Buffy gave her a confused look.  “In English, oh Great One?”

Willow thought for a second.  “Kinda like with Star Trek.  You know . . the Holo-deck.  The places they go aren’t real, but they think they are. . .and the actions they take in the not-real world have specific reactions.  Like if you build a fire. . you feel the warmth, but it’s only the computer program making you think it’s warm.  When I did a spell right, Quentin make me think I was giving the right, or wrong, effect.  I guess you can call me the first Holo-pagan.”  She smiled.  Suddenly, she felt dizzy and took a step backwards.

Buffy grabbed her and held her steady.  “Whoa there. . .you’re brain hurt from that big ol’ explanation?”

“It’s the spells.  It takes a lot out of me.”  She righted herself and tried to shake it off.  “I’ll be okay.  I just need to re-charge.”

”So where do I plug you in?”  Buffy stepped closer and kissed her earlobe.  “Here?”

She giggled.  “Buffy!  I mean rest.  I’ll feel better after I rest.”  Suddenly, Willow found herself about four feet off the ground and face to face with a very amused slayer.

“By all means, then.  Let’s get you upstairs.”

”Buffy, put me down!”

“Sorry, little one, time to put this slayer-vampiric strength to some use.”  She started to walk up the stairs.

“I was rather bitter after I was refused admittance to the Watcher’s Council.  It’s what I’d worked for all my life.  After Rupert and I parted ways, after that whole Ehgon mess, I became entangled in the underworld.  I had the costume shop, we know how that turned out, then there was the deal with Trick.  That was a mess if I’d ever been in one.  I know you probably won’t believe me, but I didn’t know that the sacrifice was to be infants.  I swear.”

“I came back to England after the slayer stopped the ascension.  I was in a bar on the outskirts of town, quite hammered I must say.  I was on my way home when I was attacked by a fire-demon half-breed.  He and his little troupe beat me to within an inch of my life.  I was on the ground, in an alley, when suddenly it all stopped.  I thought I had died quite honestly.”

“I looked up and standing in front of me was a Mohra demon.  He said he knew things about me, knew my potential, and wanted to strike a deal.  The apocalypse was to occur in six years time and there was a way I could both help and repay his saving my life.”

“Of course I agreed. . .I’d be a fool not to.  The details aren’t that important, but suffice it to say that I’ve met some very interesting creatures in the past six years.  You wouldn’t believe the stamina of a vengeance demon after she’s given an aphrodisiac. . .but I digress.”

“My basic mission was to muster all the force I could.  Every race of demon, every age of vampire, succubus, incubus, burrowers, creatures of hell. . .you name it, I met it.  The basic principle is this:  to create a creature unlike any other.  To join all the strengths of each creature into one.  Once perfected, the male and female creature would mate, creating more creatures.  I don’t even know what to call it.”

“It’s amazing Rupert, you should see it!  The strength of a thousand year old vampire, the blood of a Mohra demon, the breath of a fire-demon, the ability to shape-shift, it can’t be harmed by the sun, yet it can feed like a vampire, resistant to heat that would melt steel, yet it can breath underwater.  Truly amazing.  It has the gestation period of a fly . . .just 24 hours and it can give birth to a litter of six at a time.  It takes one month for it to grow to maturity, then it goes on to breed and the process is started all over again.”

“The shape shifting ability is it’s greatest asset. . .but from the way you cleared out this mansion, you must have had some idea, Richard.  Didn’t you?  Yes, it lives among you, among us.  It could be the banker working from 9 to 5 or the grocer on the corner. . .right down to the little boy playing cricket in the park with his friends.  That’s the beauty and the horror of it.  You don’t know where they are.  You don’t know . . .you don’t know. . . .the horror. . .”

Richard reached over and checked his pulse.  “He’s still there.  Must have passed out.”

Giles was standing behind him.  “Hmm, too bad.”

“Do you think that’s everything?”  He reached over and pressed stop on the tape recorder.

“For his sake, I hope so.”

They walked out of the room and locked the door behind them.  They began to walk upstairs, but Richard stopped and turned to Giles.  “You know why I had to do it.  Don’t you, Rupert?”

Giles nodded his head.  “I know your position, Richard.  Being the head of the Council can’t be easy and I must say, I’ve never wished for your job, ever.  James explained everything.”  He smiled at the older man.  “You knew I’d leave.  Am I really that predictable?”

Richard placed a hand on his shoulder.  “Thankfully so, Rupert.  Like a lion protecting his young.”

“Demon?”

“Check.”

Vampire?”

“Check.”

“Succubus?”

“Check.”

“Incubus?”

“Check.”

“Burrowers?”

“Check.”

“Creatures of hell?”

No answer.

“I said, creatures of hell.”

Buffy looked over at Giles from the whiteboard she was writing on.  “Creatures of hell?  That’s a bit non-committal, don’t cha think?  Care to vague it up for me a little more?”

“I’m afraid that’s all I got out of him. . .before he passed out.  That’s all we’re going to get, at least for now.  And before you suggest it, it’s much to taxing on Willow to heal him.  We have him at a disadvantage if we keep him in the state he’s in now.”  He looked at her from over the top of his glasses.  That usually meant ‘end of discussion’.

“Something’s not right here.”  Willow got up and paced back and forth for a moment.  “When he said breeding. . . did he mean the offspring grow up and breed or the two original creatures continue to breed?”

“Either way it’s a big screw-fest down there in the sewers.  Demonstock ’06.”

“Buffy!”  Willow almost looked embarrassed.  “That was a very un-Buffy like comment.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not really feeling like myself these days.  Hmm, could it be because I’m dead?”  She was dripping with sarcasm.

Giles saw the discussion going nowhere.  “Girls, if we could just focus on the problem at hand, please.”

“I for one have had it with talk.”  Buffy moved from the whiteboard and stood in front of the watcher.  “Too much talk, too little action.  Why can’t I just go down there and kill it?”

“Charging in much like John Wayne isn’t going to get you very far I’m afraid.”  Ethan was leaning against the doorway.

Giles stood at the sound of his voice.  “Ethan . . .what the hell?”

Richard came up behind him.  “It’s alright, Rupert.  I had Quentin heal him.  He’s willing to help.”

“Are you out of your mind, man?!”

”Giles.”  Willow came up next to him.  “It’s the only way we can do this.”

Ethan limped into the room.  “Ah, yes. . .words of wisdom from the Immortal one.  How does it feel, luv?  To know you have to power to kill with a thought, to set a city block ablaze the movement of your finger?”  He move up so that they were face to face.  “Intoxicating, isn’t it?”

She turned her head to him and blew into his face.

He reeled back and fell to his knees, grabbing his heart in pain.  As quickly as the attack came, it left. . .and he was kneeling on the floor in front of her.  “Tell me you don’t get off on that.”

She raised her eyebrows.  “Hardly.”  She raised her arms and at the same time he was raised off the ground.  Swinging her arms to the left she placed him in the closest chair with a thud.  She raised her arms in front of her and made a quick beckoning motion.  His chair slid forward and pushed him into the table.  He tried to move, but was unable to.  She gave him a look of amusement.  “Now, that, I enjoyed.”

They all remained still as she leaned over the table to leer at him.  She reached out and pressed her palms against his temples.  She looked into his eyes and used her thumbs to force him to look into hers.  He began to squirm and choked sobs began to come from his throat.  After about two minutes she pulled away and slumped over on the table.  “He’s telling the truth. . .(pants). . .he’ll help.”

“I don’t care if you’re the bloody Queen of England. . .don’t ever do that again!”  He leered at her.

She placed her head in her hands.  “Believe me, it wasn’t a trip to Disneyland for me either.”

Giles reached out and touched her shoulder. “Willow?  Are you alright?”

There was no answer.  He turned her over and saw that she was passed out.

Richard spoke up.  “It’s exhaustion, Rupert.  She’ll be fine.”  He turned to the slayer who was observing everything from the corner of the room.  “Uh, Buffy, would you?”

She nodded and walked over to pick her up.  Giles held the door open for her and she disappeared through it.

“How can they be destroyed?  Where are they?  Are they always together or is it possible to destroy them one at a time?”

He laughed.  “So inquisitive, Rupert. . .you never stop in your thirst for knowledge, do you?”

“Just answer the bloody questions, would you?”

He exhaled.  “Not without a deal.”

Richard approached from behind.  “I should have known.  What do you want, Rayne?”

He smiled.  “My freedom when. . .if you win.  If you don’t I won’t have to worry about it, because you’ll all be dead.”

Giles shook his head.  “No way, Ethan.  I’ve let you go twice already.  The third time will not be the charm in this case.”

“Ah, yes . . .I was prepared for that response.”  He closed his eyes in thought for a moment.  “Then all I ask of you is this:  Place me with a new identity in one of the remote holdings of the Council’s.  I enjoy what I do, you can’t argue that I’m not good at it.  Why not put it to some use?”

“Absolutely n. . .”

”It’s a deal.”  Richard cut him off.

“Richard, you must be mad?  We can’t have him working for the Council.”

”I see it as the only way, Rupert.  At least this way we can keep tabs on him.  No one is incorrigible. . .I believe you were the case study in point. . .or do I need to remind you, Ripper?”

Giles stammered a bit. “N-no, I suppose not.”  He shook his head.  “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.  Fine.  I’m sure you’ll do quiet well in Siberia or Belgium or some other third world country, God help them.”  He pushed play on the tape recorder.  “Now talk.”

“It’s like a mother animal and her young.  If you take the offspring away from the mother too soon, the offspring will die from starvation…It’s the same principle, only after you destroy the father AND mother, the offspring cease to exist.  The mother and father are the direct lifeline to all they’ve produced.  If you pull the plug, so to speak, it’s over. . .death is inevitable and instant.”

“How do they cease to exist?”

”I don’t know.  The mother and father haven’t been killed, yet, now have they?  They are mostly a mixed race of demon, so it would be safe to assume they won’t explode into dust.  The second most prominent characteristic is the ability to shape shift.  I killed one once for trying to pilfer my lair. . .it simply melted down to this oozing, smelly mass of Jell-O and slithered off back to the parents.  I’ll assume it was absorbed and used again.  I saw it burrow into the mother’s stomach.”

“How did you kill it?”

“Now that’s interesting.  They wear helmets.  This one had it’s helmet off and was placing my things in it.  I put a dagger through it’s skull.  You see, even though it was at full adult size, it still retains the soft spot found on most infants.  As with most infants, it doesn’t entirely close up until reaching the age of three or four.  As I said, it turned to slime and slinked away.  Quite disgusting actually.”

“Then how do you kill the adults?”

“In much the same way your mythical modern fairytales tell you how to kill a vampire.  Their hearts must be ripped from their chests.  It’s quite difficult considering they wear breastplates, but I assure you it can be done.”

“Is there any particular way to kill the mother and father?”

“The female is the strongest link.  Many mythical legends and fantasies point to the fact that behind a great man, you’ll find and even greater woman.  It can ‘t be described as anything other than a feeding tube.  There is a tube, about three feet wide, attached to the back of the female.  The female has burrowed into the ground with the tube and is feeding off of something.  Before you ask, I don’t know what.  Nor do I know how deep it goes.  It’s my belief that if you destroy the tube the female will begin to die.  Adults don’t ooze, they shrivel.  You must wait for the right moment when the female has shriveled just enough . . .then you remove the breastplate and rip the heart out from the chest.  After the female has died, the male will begin to shrivel.  Do the same and I believe all the offspring will follow suite.  Without the female to return to, the slithering masses will be looking for anything to borrow through.  My only suggestion would be to torch the place.  Burn it further into the ground than it already is.”

Buffy walked into Cordelia’s room and found it empty.  There were signs of a struggle.  Tacked with a dagger to the wall was a drawing.  Definitely Angel’s doing.  It was of Cordelia tied to a bed, knocked out, in a small cell.  She removed it and noted the blood on the blade . . .uncharacteristic to Buffy, but second nature to her vampire self, she licked the blade and tried to discern the taste.  <Definitely female.>  An image flashed in her mind.  Cold. . musty smell. . .dark corridor. . .leather straps. . .a door. . . torches lighting a room.  She took a few steps backwards from the reality she felt as the images past.  <Now that was interesting. . . totally frickin creepy, but interesting.>

“What did you see?”

She turned around and saw Willow standing in the doorway.  “What?  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Angel took her. . .I felt it.”  She walked up to her and took the dagger and drawing from her hand.  “This is her blood.  What did you see?”

“You felt him take her?  What, are you two connected or something?”  Buffy walked away a few steps trying to wrap her mind around this new development.  Willow, her Willow, had a connection with Cordelia that not even she had.  She turned around and looked at her accusingly.  “What the hell happened in LA anyway?”

“Buffy, we don’t have time for these jealous games!  We have to help her. . .if this drawing is true. . .Angel doesn’t have her, Angelus does.  Please, tell me what you saw. . .”

She ignored her pleas. “The entrance is under the mansion.  Isn’t it?”

“Buffy. . .”

”Just answer me Will!”

“Yes.”  She whispered.  <I hate it when we fight, I hate it.>

Before she knew what was happening, Willow was thrown against the wall as a blur that was distinctly not human ran past her.  She took a moment to right herself and ran to get Giles.

She rushed through the door and noted that Ethan, Giles and Richard were huddled up at the table.

“Giles.”

He looked up.  “Ah, yes. . .Willow.  Ethan was just mapping out the lair. . .it’s located in the sewer.”

“In the sewer system, I know.  Giles, Cordelia’s gone.  Angelus took her.”  She placed the drawing and dagger on the table.

“Oh, as always, dear.”

“That’s not all.  Buffy. . .I think she had a vision of where Cordelia’s been taken.  I tried to talk to her, but she took off.  I think she went after them.”

Richard looked at her quizzically.  “A vision.  I don’t understand.”

Willow was impatient.  “It’s a long story, Richard.  Doyle, a half-breed demon, worked with Angel and Cordelia.  He was Angel’s direct connection to the Oracles.  Doyle died fighting The Scourge, but not before he kissed Cordelia and passed his gift on to her.  She’s not half-demon, but she does have the gift.  It’s connected to her fluids.  Buffy licked the blade and. . .” She shuddered at the imagery the last comment presented.

“Not such a long story then.  Very well, we don’t have any time to waste.  We’ll muster our weapons at once.  Willow and I will be one team. . .Giles, Ethan and Quentin the other.”

”No way, Richard.  He’s not going, we can’t trust him.”

”We don’t have time to argue about this.  Quentin will be with them. . .he can keep a leash on Ethan if need be.”

She looked torn but finally agreed.  “Fine.  Lets just go.  Let’s kill these things and get them out of there.”

That settled, they all filed out of the room to prepare for the battle ahead.