A/N: First off, thank you very much to all who reviewed. To those who didn't, well, what the hell was stopping you? And special thanks to Gandhara, hope this clears up some stuff and whatever it doesn't it'll either be explained or I'll let you know. Also, I forgot to mention that to those of you who have read the Nightside series, this take place right after Sharper Then A Serpents Tooth. I thought it was obvious but just in case. So, again, any comments or questions please send them on by. It makes the boredom easier to deal with.

John stood outside the shop, Ethan's, after the short but tense walk. Willow had stayed quiet the whole time, lost in thought and probably too scared to speak up. He hadn't meant to frighten the girl so badly but he was getting seriously short on patience. Still, she tended to stick close to him rather then drift to near to Spike. She didn't seem to catch onto the fact that he couldn't hurt her since he couldn't touch her. Then again, she wasn't thinking like a ghost at all. On the way over she had moved out of the way of every object in her path. Dead Boy had once told him that it was a common occurrence with the recently dead, of which she technically was.

Spike had spent the time giggling madly, enjoying every moment of the general bedlam. It had grated on his nerves and it was a near thing that he didn't grab some piece of wood and end the vampire's unlife right then and there but he might need his help still. They hadn't met any resistance coming over here, not for Spikes lack of trying. The blond vampire had tried getting into a fight with two different Zorro's, something that looked like a zombie Elvis and a robot. None of

them seemed to want any part in it, each of them content on keeping their distance from the trio.

John had at least been able to take out a small amount of frustration on a pirate that had leered at Willow. When he had lunged and went through her, John was there with a fist to the face that laid the man out cold. He felt just a tiny bit better with himself and that tiny voice was ecstatic from what he could tell. Spike was upset, of course, that he hadn't been the one to do it and even more so when John told him that he couldn't eat him. Willow at least looked slightly relieved at that fact.

But, now they stood across the street of the shop, seeing what they could. None of the lights where on and so far, no movement had been seen inside. Spike had wanted to just charge in and trash the place till they found something useful. John almost let him but didn't want to lose him to a stupid mistake like that. He still may prove useful to him later on. Particular if he needed a human shield. So, instead he prepared himself to do what he hadn't wanted to do. Focusing, he started to open up his gift, his third eye but instantly slammed it closed. Someone had just come into view, walking up to the window of the shop, trying to see inside.

What was more disturbing though, was that there was definitely the feeling of some...thing taking notice of him. Almost as if some great big presence woke up and turned its giant eyes onto him. It was the very reason he didn't want to use his gift here. Too many damn things lived on the Hellmouth that would see him when he used his gift and despite most of them where wet kittens in comparison to the things he normally dealt, it didn't mean that some of them weren't powerful enough to squash him like a bug. Luckily, they just found a new lead.

The man by the window was in his forties, give or take. Wearing a tweed suit, he looked more like some kind of librarian rather then the man he was looking for. But, there was a way that he carried himself. It spoke of confidence and power, of someone who knew how to take care of themselves in bad situations in years gone past. Still, it wasn't the kind of power that could pull this stunt off. Though he was definitely looking around as if he knew something about what was going on, which meant that he was going to tell them what he knew, one way or another.

Preparing to go over and press hard on the man, he was surprised when Willow ran past him calling out to the man.

"Giles!" Willow exclaimed, running past John in a rush to get to the tweed clad man.

The man Willow had called Giles turned and looked a bit shocked at what he saw. It would have been amusing to watch as he tried to make sense of the three of them, but John wasn't in the mood to be amused. Even if the man looked something like a fish while staring at them. Giles quickly shook himself out of it.

"Dear lord! Xander, watch out!" Giles called out to him. As willow moved to get closer, Giles tried to grab her and pull her behind him for safety. Of course, her being less then tangible, his arms went right through her and the rest of his body followed as he lost his balance. He quickly righted himself and looked wild eyed at Willow. Turning to face John, he almost called out another warning until John fixed him with a hard look. The whole thing must have been too much for him because Giles walked slowly to the curb and sat down, his head resting in his hands.

The man obviously knew both Willow and the body he was inhabiting, Xander. It was easy to see why he was so put out. Willow was now a ghost, and probably some kind of street walker one at that. Xander, was nothing like John and people were quickly learning that. Yet, here was Xander's body wearing an expression that clearly said 'Don't play with me' while Spike hung around in the back looking even more manic then before.

"It's happened to you too," Giles said, his voice oddly monotone. "That bastard got to you as well and now Spike's here to...wait. What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"Giles, it's OK. He isn't going to hurt us," Willow tried assuring him. Glancing at John, she bent down and whispered, "I think he's more afraid of Xander then anything else right now."

"Xander?" Giles asked, confusion evident on his face.

"Hey! I am not afraid of that whelp. You even hint at that again and I'll tear his throat out," Spike yelled pointing at Giles, "Tear it out and let you watch as he bleeds to death, right in front of you."

Letting out a growl, Spike started toward Giles and Willow. His face contorted back to that of the demon within, and his growl became deeper. Whether his intent was to actually cause Giles harm or merely scare the two of them, John couldn't tell and he wasn't about to wait to find out. Before Spike got to close, John reached out and put a firm grip on his shoulder, stopping him.

"No, you wont," he told him.

Spike turned his head, yellow animal eyes fixed on John's, "Get your hand off me, Taylor. Not even you're good enough to stop me if I really want to. This isn't the Nightside and you're not in your own body. You think I haven't noticed how your moving? All night you've been off. You're not used to that body and your nowhere near fast enough to take me on right now."

"You sure about that? You want to go head to head, right here and now and find out who's better? Or better yet, why don't I use my gift to find your dear old mum? I'm sure I could arrange for you two to have a nice little sit down. There's probably a whole mess of things you two could talk about," John said. His grip never tightened but he met Spike's face with a cold, vicious grin.

"My mum, is dead. I know that. Not even you can change that." Spike said firmly. But John was good at reading people and Spike's eye's gave him away in a second.

John didn't say anything. He just kept staring at Spike smiling his cold, hard smile. In the end, Spike blinked first, just as they both knew he would. Inwardly though, John breathed a sigh of relief. He had been bluffing him, about the whole thing in fact. He had only been going on half guesses and a few bits of information about Spike's past to pull the mother card on him, but it had paid off. Apparently, there really had been some kind of nastiness between the two of them and it was bad enough to make him not want to risk her coming back. Even if he had known it to be true though, John still couldn't have brought her back but Spike didn't seem so sure about it.

Spike wandered off just far enough to get away from the small group but close enough to be within sight. Giles and Willow, who had watched the exchange, stared openly at John. It was starting to get on his nerves how often it was happening. He was too used to people being to scared to stare openly at him or catch his attention. Willow at least didn't have her mouth hanging open this time. Maybe she was getting used to things after all.

"Giles, is it? My name's John Taylor and I need to know a few things. Such as what brought you too this shop and where the owner is," John asked, hoping that he had sounded a little bit reasonable.

"John Taylor?" Giles asked, looking between John and Willow.

"Hey, don't ask me. I've been trying to figure that out ever since I found him after I woke up dead," Willow told him, putting her hands up to show her exasperation.

"Wait...you know who you are? But...you're dead?" Giles asked slowly, clearly lost and more then a bit confused.

"Yea, of course I do. I still know who I am and everything else. I only dressed up as a ghost."

"Uh, right. Clearly," Giles said, exchanging a look with John.

Willow blushed again, covering her exposed midriff with her arms. John tried to give her his best reassuring smile but it didn't come out so well. The stress must be getting to him. So instead he focused his attention on Giles.

"But you're not Xander. You're...John Taylor? Why does that name sound familiar?" Giles asked out loud.

"Yes, I am. And I need you to tell me everything you know, right now, if I'm going to be able to fix any of this," John told him.

"Just how do you propose you do that?" the disbelief was more then evident in Giles voice.

"The sooner you tell me, the sooner I can tell you. We both think that this guy, Ethan, is the one behind this but that's all I have to go on at the moment. What made you show up here? What made you think that he was the man to see?"

John joined Giles on the curb, knowing that it was important to maintain a certain level of comfort for the other man and standing over him wasn't going to do that. Besides, if it was going to take him a while to talk, he would prefer to listen while sitting down. He may not have another chance to sit down if the night went on. He knew that they would be exposed but had to trust that Spike would keep any flies off, so to speak. The vampire was probably looking for an excuse to hurt someone.

Giles let out a breath, "It was Angel who helped me figure it out. About an hour ago, he and Buffy came running into the library, well, rather Angel was carrying her inside. He had explained to me that she didn't know who she was or where she was. Not amnesia, but rather she thought that she was a woman from the eighteenth century.

"Angel had gone out to look for Buffy when he had heard about what was going on. When he finally did find her, she was being used as some sort of...toy between two creatures didn't recognize."

He quickly looked at Willow, "Don't worry, she's perfectly fine. It seems that the creatures where content to bat her around like a cat. She suffered some superficial wounds and she'll heal just fine. It seems she fainted, however, on the way to the library with Angel. He didn't seem that upset by that fact, for some reason.

"Afterwards, we discussed everything we knew and he told me about the shop and the name of it. I came as fast as I could but it wasn't fast enough it seems. Damn it all! When I find Ethan, I'm going to kill him for this."

"You said once you heard the name of the shop it set you off. How come? Why is the name so important?" John asked.

Giles shook his head, "It doesn't matter. He could be anywhere by now."

Standing up, John looked down at the older man. "I think it does matter. There's a reason why you came running here when you heard the name Ethan and it might be important. Besides, there's still time to catch him. If he's the one who pulled this off, no matter what kind of power he has, he's going to be tired and weak which means he's going to need to rest, and soon.

"So, I'm going to ask again, politely even. Who's Ethan?"

Jumping to his feet, Giles faced John. He no longer looked defeated and was now filled with anger. "Now see here. I don't give a damn about who you might be or what you can do. Right now you are inhabiting the body of a boy who is under my care and you are not about to go throwing yourself in harms way simply because you can. You are not you. I suggest that you leave now and get somewhere safe, preferably with Willow and away from Spike because when I find Ethan and reverse all of this mess you will be gone and that boy who you are using at the moment will be left here and unable to deal with whatever it is you've already done."

John couldn't disagree with the man. Whatever he did was going to have an effect on the kid's life from now on. For better or worse, his life would change, assuming that he wasn't somehow dead and John himself wasn't stuck inside of his body. But it wasn't like he could just sit, huddled in a corner hoping that someone else would fix this. He couldn't even do that when it was the most sensible thing to do and he wasn't about to do it now. He couldn't risk it no matters whose life was at stake. Never mind his own problems right now, what about everyone else who had inadvertently been turned into whatever they were wearing? They could seriously hurt themselves and everyone else in this town.

No, he had to see this through till the end. Maybe it was pure idiocy on his part not to trust it to anyone else, but it wouldn't be the first time someone would call his actions idiotic. Most of the time it was himself. So, being that arguing was going to get him now where and he doubted he would get anything more from the man, John did the most sensible thing he could think of and hit Giles square in the face, knocking him out.

Despite being angry and his adrenaline pumping, Giles never expected the attack and went down hard. Willow looked horrified as John shook his fist. Cold clocking a person was never pain free but this body had very little practice with it and his hand was throbbing with pain.

"Oh, come on! You could have at least let me do that. You're the only one who's been getting to have any fun tonight," Spike cried out, stamping over to John in outrage.

"You would have killed him and you know it," John replied calmly, still nursing his hand.

Considering the idea, Spike shrugged, "That's true. But not the bloody point. So far you've got to hit that pirate and the Watcher and, uh, that pirate guy. When the hell are we going to start tearing things up, Taylor? I'm only along on this ride cause I thought there'd be some quality violence since you're here, even if you are in the whelps body."

"You'll get your action tonight, don't worry. Things are going only getting started. I have a feeling there's more involved here then just one man. Someone or something must have had a hand in all of it. Someone with a bit more pull, a bit more power then average here," John thought out loud.

"Take your pick, mate," Spike snorted. "There's any number of warlocks, monster's and other assorted nasties that would be able to help do this."

"But it would have to be someone who would want to. Someone with something to gain."

"Yea, cause no one ever does anything just for fun," Spike shot.

"No, not with this. This has a more deliberate feeling to it. It's a bit too wide spread for this town for it to just be for fun."

The two stood there trying to think about who would want something like this to happen and why. However, being that neither of them really knew any of the major players in town they didn't think about it long. John had never paid much attention to the Hellmouth and so he didn't know much more then the basics. Spike, despite having been there for a few months, had killed the only major player, the Anointed One, in a fit of anger.

Willow who had been kneeling next to Giles and freaking out over John punching the man, suddenly snapped to life. Jumping to her feet, she turned to John and started shouting, "You...you idiot! How could you? You punched Giles!"

"Don't look now, Taylor, but I think Casper there is mad at you," Spike laughed.

"Shut up, Spike," Willow snapped.

John liked the moxy the kid had. But she didn't understand. "Willow, I did what I had to. Your friend, Giles, was only going to get in the way of things and probably get himself hurt in the process. Whatever information he had he wasn't going to give up to me without a lot of pain and I don't have the time for that and it isn't something I care to do."

"No! It doesn't matter. Giles was right, you don't care what happens to Xander as long as you get what you want. God, what's wrong with you? Don't you care about anyone but yourself?" Willow was practically in tears at this point. Had she not been dead and had tear ducts, she probably would have been crying. Instead she sniffed loudly and turned back to Giles prone form. She knelt back down and reached to take his hand in hers, probably for her own comfort more then

his but her hand went right through his and she knelt there, not moving.

The scene, as well as her accusations, struck him as hard a physical blow. His motives and his actions had been called into question from just about everybody he ever met, and likely even those who hadn't ever met him. It seemed like everyone had considered him a cold, heartless monster who was willing to sacrifice anyone and anything for his own selfish motives. 'After all,' they would tell him, 'he was his mother's son.' Of course, at that time none of them knew exactly who his mother really was and if they had known they wouldn't have said anything in opt of killing him on the spot. Still, even though it wasn't a new experience, it still got to him.

But, John knew better then any of them. He knew what drove him, what made him do what he did. Out of all the people he knew, he was the one who could always make the hard choices, the ones no one else could or would. When working a case he tried his hardest to never let a client down and it was the same with this. The voice in the back of his head, the one that was screaming at him to protect Willow and Buffy, that same voice that cried out in protest and anger over his teaming up with Spike and knocking Giles out. That voice, the voice of the body he was in, was his client and he was going to get him back and straighten this mess out. He knew it wouldn't make much sense to anybody else but that didn't matter.

Bending down, John hauled Giles body into a fireman's carry and for the shop door. Even though the body was bigger then his own, it hadn't quite developed yet into having hard muscles that came from working long tiring hours and as such, the older man's weight was a bit much. Instead of trying to trying to open the door himself, John nodded to Spike who swaggered up to it and kicked it right off its hinges. It was overkill, but Spike enjoyed the bit of destruction and John didn't have to make a fool of himself trying to juggle the man.

Inside, the store was dark and the streetlight streaming in from the now open doorway did little to illuminate the place. John ran his free hand across the inside wall and finally came across a light switch. When he turned it on, the light revealed that the place had been throughly ransacked. Nearly empty costume racks where overturned and thrown about the floor. A display case by the register had been shattered, leaving glass strewn about it. A curtain which had previously been used to separate the back room from the store proper had been torn down revealing what had once been a shrine to some deity. Only a few candles remained on the make shift altar, everything else had been removed.

"Looks like someone already beat us to the punch, mate," Spike said as he toed a bit of broken glass with his boot. "Whoever was here though hasn't been gon for that long. We missed them by about a half hour. Maybe less."

Willow came into the store, her face only slightly less puffy then it had been. "How can you know that?"

"Scent, Red. I can smell it," Spike told her, smiling at the look of disgust Willow gave him.

Noticing an overturned chair that had been thrown against the wall, John managed to right it and place Giles still unconscious body in it. He didn't bother asking Spike to help as that would only earn him more grief.

After he was sure that the man was safely slumped against the wall so he wouldn't fall, he turned to address Willow. "He'll be safe here till he wakes up. Whoever's been here isn't likely to come back. They either found what they where after or it wasn't here."

"But what about everything else? I-I mean what about the other vampires in town or a demon or something like that?" Willow asked, her eyes filled with fear.

"Not likely, pet. Whoever is a real monster knows well enough to stay indoors tonight and whoever's only playing dress up isn't going to bother with this place. Me and mine only came out because Dru had one of her visions. Said someone had changed the rules or something like that," Spike finished with a slight chuckle.

"He'll be fine, Willow. When he wakes up, he'll have a bad headache but he'll be safe," John reassured her. "But we have to keep moving. The longer we stay here the faster Ethan's trail will run cold."

"But I thought you could find anything? Couldn't you just find Ethan?" Willow asked him.

Damn it. The girl had asked the one thing he was hoping that no one would. Someone was bound to at some point, of course. It was what he was known for, one of the things that he defined himself by. Whatever had gotten a peek of him before when he had started to raise his gift had been big and powerful. It wasn't exactly what he would call malevolent, at least not by his standards. But the strangest thing was how familiar the thing had felt to him. Still, he didn't like the idea of being looked at by it again. Like he said, the thing was big and powerful and those two things tended to be things he couldn't bluff.

But if he didn't try then Spike would start having doubts about him and he'd be forced to watch his back even more so then he already was. Though that wasn't the only reason, he knew he was going to attempt to raise his gift again. He was John Taylor, damn it. Nothing and no one ever intimidated him into not using his gift. His ability had saved his and other peoples lives more times then he could count. No great big presence would ever intimidate him into being too frighted into doing it or doing anything else for that matter.

John looked at Willow. While he knew that his own eyes were filled with determination, hers were filled with a mixture he had seen on Kathy the first time he had seen after the house had been destroyed. There was weariness in them and fear. But more then anything there was fire in her eyes. Stubbornness and loyalty that he knew all too well. After seeing her set face he knew that he didn't have a choice in the matter one way or another. Suzie would have something to say right about now about his habit of going in to rescue the damsel thing. Luckily, or unluckily, she wasn't here though.

Nodding to her, he slowly began to open his third eye, what he liked to call his private eye. When he was sure that nothing was watching him, he opened it up more and a whole other world came into view around him. Ghosts, ones much less substantial then Willow, flitted around, permanently stuck in their routines and ignorant of the world around them. Ley lines also popped up in front of him, crisscrossing and at times becoming so condensed they resembled walkways more then thin lines. Whoever had chosen this spot had done so on purpose. Then again, for all he knew the whole town was like this. It was a major point of convergence for all things of the mystical variety.

Putting a bit more power into it and focusing more on who he was looking for, John got his first look of Ethan. His image was stamped across time like everyone else's and he shimmered into existence under John's sight. He was a tall fellow, about as old as Giles though he looked like he laughed a bit more. John watched as Ethan went about the shop, throwing things into a large bag in a hurry and just as expected, the man looked as if it was taking everything in him to keep on his feet.

The door suddenly opened and Ethan jumped in surprise. Clearly he hadn't been expecting anyone. The surprise quickly turned to fear and he tried to get away but was caught by two vampires as they came in the door. There was a brief struggle but in the end, Ethan was dragged outside the door and out of Johns sight. A second later, a different pair of vampires came in. These two where presumably the ones who had given the place a remodeling.

John grabbed onto Spikes arm, allowing him to see what he just saw. After watching it replay again, John let go and was just about to power down his gift when he felt something slam into his mind. It wasn't the same as when the Angels had done the same to him and it wasn't nearly as elegant as Lilith's touch but it was damn strong and nearly threw him to the ground. With a force of will power, John shut down his gift and made sure all of his mental shields where in place. He was slightly happy to see that Spike, not used to even the normal images that he saw minus the mental assault, was leaning against the wall catching a breath he didn't actually need.

"You recognize anybody in that? Any of the vampires a familiar face to you?" John asked once his own headache had dropped to merely excruciating.

"Bloody hell, mate! Give a bloke a moment, will you?" Spike shook his head, apparently to get his thoughts together. "Right, OK then. The last of the two who came in here, he looks like a guy I might have seen once or twice. Goes by the name of Vincenzo or some other nancy boy name like that. This fellow ain't too bright, but he's got a taste for leg work. As in working on people's legs when they owe money. Last I heard he was doing work for a guy named Rack."

"Rack?" John asked.

"Yea, some big time warlock. Powerful and definitely in the major leagues. He mostly keeps to himself, working with magic addicts and getting them hooked more then they already are. Drains them and the like, draws a lot of power that way. Now that I think about it, he would definitely have the power to pull this off. Don't know why, though," Spike told him.

"You know where his place is?"

"It moves around but I could find the place easily enough. You thinking of paying him a visit?"

John flashed him a viscous smile, "I'm thinking of asking a few distressing questions. I might even say please."

"This guy is dangerous though, right? I mean Spike, you said he was dangerous and all. Don't you think we should go and get some backup? Maybe Angel or someone like that," Willow said. Her concern for her friends well being was keeping her with them, not wanting to let them out of her sight but she was also trying to find anyway to either get them to stop or get them to not rush into anything.

"Now I know you've lost it, Red. There is no way in this or the next that I'll ever work with Angel. Ever. I'd die first, well, again, before I do any such thing," Spike told her.

"I know your only trying to help, but there's no time. It's already after midnight and from the sound of it things outside aren't getting any better," John told her.

It was true. They all heard the various yells, shouts and screams from outside in town. Other less human sounds could be heard as well but no one tended to listen to them too intently. As if on cue, the wail of a siren went past on it's way to one of the many emergencies and out of all the noises, it was the one that almost made John jump.

It had been a long time since he had heard a siren. There was no law really in the Nightside and as such, no police. Sure their where emergency services that had made their way in there. Hell, the ambulances ran on distilled suffering and that was only part of what they charged you. But none of them ever bothered with sirens being that no one would listen. The sound of them brought to light again how real this was. Yes, this was the Hellmouth and bad things happened here but general chaos of this kind in the real world, the sane world, was not something that was supposed to happen. It only made him more determined to do what had to be done, no matter what.

"You don't have to come, Willow. We can take care of this on our own," John told her, trying to give her an out.

She didn't take it. John knew she wouldn't and admired her a little for the strength of her loyalty. "No. No way. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Not with Spike around."

They both knew that she couldn't help in her current state. She could maybe act as a distraction or shout out a warning but that was about it. That wasn't the point though. John gave her a short nod then turned to Spike, "Alright then, let's get going."

Leaving the unconscious Giles and the shop behind them, they headed out into the streets of the Hellmouth again. Willow was the only one who looked back and John hoped that he would be alright like he told the girl. Nothing was ever really safe. He hoped that he wouldn't have to explain to Willow why her friend was dead because he told her he would be safe. Or worse, that he left this body and the kid would then be forever associated with Giles death merely because John had been wearing his body. There wasn't anything he could really do though but it left him with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Now that he also had something out there that was able to get past his mental shields and attack him he had to be even more careful of using his gift. It was something he had gotten used to back when he was younger but he had thought that he would be past having to constantly watch himself with it now that Lilith was finally gone. But this wasn't the Nightside and he was on unfamiliar ground. Maybe all of those saying about the Hellmouth being the suburb of the Nightside were true. Sure, it looked prim and proper but the dangers here where more subtle and stayed hidden till they had you by the throat. At least in the Nightside the dangers didn't hide so much as shout their presence and people lined up to get them. Most of them paying an arm and leg to do so as well as their souls.

With too many thoughts then where good for him, John dug his hands deeper into his pockets and followed Spike further into the night.

BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

"Yea, boss. They just left Ethan's now. You want me to pick them up? Yea, whatever you say. We'll keep tailing them. You really think that they'll make it out of their alive? Right. No problem, boss."

"Told you we should just keep following them. If you want to last long with him, you'll learn not to bother him for every little thing."

"Shut up and drive."

Without turning on the headlights, a nondescript back van pulled out of an alleyway near Ethan's Costume Shop and from a respectable distance, followed the trio. With the anti-detection spells that where cast over the van, neither the driver or passenger where too worried about being found out about by there mark but it paid to be cautious. Besides, they knew that they were heading for Rack's place. So, all they had to do now was sit, and wait.