"So he's been hiding out in your cellar for God knows how long?" Buffy repeated in disbelief after Pat and Xander had told the group everything about their discovery, "but that doesn't make any sense. Why wait so long to strike if he's been there all along?"
"Well, he doesn't seem exactly stable now, does he", Willow threw in, thanks to the strong pain killers she had been given not all too long ago able to talk without feeling any pain, "or maybe he's better at what he's doing than we think right now and was trying to learn your patterns. Or the patterns of all of us."
"That doesn't make sense", Buffy pointed out, frowning, Giles nodding his agreement next to her, "if he took all this time to learn patterns, mine or those of all of us, why would he just run at us at the airport and try to shoot me there? Why not snipe me through the window of my house or something?"
"Well, there was no sniper rifle under his mattress", Xander pointed out, "just regular handguns, various calibres, and a shotgun. So maybe he doesn't own one."
When he realized that everyone was looking at him oddly, he raised an eyebrow in confusion, but before he could ask what the reason for the stare fest was, Pat spoke up, frowning slightly as she asked him how he could know about the calibres of the guns if he only had looked at them for a few moments.
"Army guy knowledge", he shrugged, "Halloween, remember? Oh, wait, you don't, you weren't around. Well, we all got turned into our costumes, so I got turned into this uber-soldier-type-guy, you know, G.I. Joe-like, and some of the stuff just stuck."
"Oh", the demon replied, "interesting. Willow, what did you go as that year?"
"A ghost", Willow replied, "with rather… skanky clothing."
"Hey, you were hot", Buffy defended which had been her costume idea all those years ago, "but, anyway, back to topic? We got a scary guy out there who's been living in the cellar of Pat and Willow's building for quite some time now, probably watching all of us."
"You didn't take time to search for any clues about him, did you", Giles wanted to know before anyone could say anything else, looking first at Pat, then at Xander, not surprised when they both shook their head.
"Our first thought was to get out of there, because it was kind of creepy", Xander then let him know, "not to mention we nearly had our heads cut off by that booby trap. You think we should go back and look for clues?"
"It might be useful", Giles nodded in reply, "and we should start taking a more pro-active stance about this, instead of just waiting for him to attack again. I suggest that you, Buffy, go there with Pat, in case he happens to be there when you arrive, so you can take him out easily."
"Easily if he doesn't get one of his guns first", the demon reminded him of the not exactly small stash of weapons they had found, "but yeah, going there with Buffy sounds like a plan. You in, Buff?"
"Of course I am", Buffy gave back at once, smiling, "I'm itching to beat up this guy as much as you are."
"Please, in case you happen to run into him now, remember he's human", Giles sighed, in an exasperated tone that made it obvious to the demon it wasn't the first time he was saying this, the way he rolled his eyes when Buffy just shrugged telling her that the Slayer's reaction wasn't a first, either.
"He might be human", Pat said before the blonde had a chance to, "but after what he tried to do to Buffy, and after what he actually did to Xander, Anya and Willow, you'll surely understand that sending him to prison barely is an option."
"I do understand", the Watcher gave back, eying her as he chose his next carefully, "and I'm well aware of how… strong your emotions tend to get whenever someone harms Willow, but you do know that the Slayer is not permitted to kill humans, are you?"
"Of course", Pat replied, smirking, after all, Giles had basically just given her the perfect way to respond, "but, lucky for us, I'm a demon, and I have no such problems."
"I walked right into that one, didn't I", the Brit sighed, rolling his eyes when the demon just gave him a smug smile in reply; he let out another sigh and took off his glasses, not making any more comments though, merely nodding when Buffy let him know they'd be going, then.
"Take care", Willow threw in, making it the turn of the both the Slayer and the demon to nod; Pat still took the time to bend over her bed and quickly, but tenderly kiss her partner, then she left the room with Buffy, the blonde giggling the moment the door had closed behind them.
"Ever since I told Giles that our culprit is human, he keeps reminding me I can't kill him", she then told the demon what already had been suspected by her, anyway, "and he keeps forgetting – or, maybe, repressing is a better word – that you, as a demon, have no such troubles."
"Repressing is the better word, I guess", Pat smirked, making Buffy nod with another giggle; then, she grew serious again, asking how they should take that guy down in case he'd be there and get to his guns before they could stop him.
"I'd suggest bullet-proof vests, but it might be hard to get those", the demon sighed in reply, "so we'll just have to be quick in case he's there, maybe you should let me take the front, if he shoots me, I can heal it."
"Yeah, unless he shoots you in the spine so you can't get up anymore, or something similarly dreadful", Buffy pointed out a possibly fatal flaw in that plan, making the taller woman grimace slightly.
"Let's worry about that once we know if he's even there", she decided after a moment, "maybe we're getting all plan-y and nervous for nothing."
"I hope so", the blonde sighed, then stopped a cab and got into it with the black haired woman, giving the driver the address of the couple before she made herself comfortable in the seat.
Since their current topic wasn't proper conversation for the taxi driver to hear, they both remained quiet during the ride; once the taxi stopped in front of the apartment building, Pat paid the driver, giving him a quiet generous tip, then both of them got out of the car and headed inside, the demon leading the way to the cellar.
"We better be as quiet as we can", she whispered as she slowly pushed the door open, glad she hadn't locked it again after leaving with Xander – and briefly wondering how the guy had gotten a key, then shrugging it off, figuring that someone who was out to kill Buffy wouldn't have trouble stealing from someone uninvolved – "just in case he's around."
Nodding, Buffy made sure to stay close behind her; they both moved as quietly as they could, the demon to her happiness remembering where the booby trap had been located and noticing that it hadn't been reset, hoping that it wasn't just the lack of the axe which had prevented that, but that the reason for this was that the man hadn't returned to his lair since it had been discovered.
"Ew", Buffy mumbled as she saw the mattress and the empty food boxes all around it, "has he never heard of cleaning up?"
"Apparently not", Pat commented, "let's hope that any clues he might have are not hidden beneath all that trash, I don't wanna stick my fingers into anything gooey and gross and mouldy."
"Since when are you grossed out so easily?" Buffy teased, then gave the mattress a thoughtful look – before she started to smile, moving closer to it and kneeling down next to it.
"What are you doing?" Pat wanted to know, watching her curiously; briefly, the blonde looked up at her, a mischief sparkle in her eyes now as she replied. "Well, it's been a while since you were sixteen, so maybe you forgot, but… Best place to hide stuff in that age? Your own mattress. Just let me check…"
With those words, she started running her hands over the seams of the mattress, the black haired woman watching with interest; and suddenly, the Slayer perked up, smiling from ear to ear as she reached through the cut in the mattress' side and inside it, pulling out a bundle of papers and documents moments later.
"Ha!" she let out, giving Pat a proud look, "see? Told you. Now let's see what we have here…"
Curious as well, the demon lowered herself into a crouch next to her; the first paper of the bundle turned out to be a birth certificate, telling them that the name of the assailant was Geoffrey Piretti, Buffy shaking her head when the taller woman asked her if this name meant anything to her.
"Never heard of it", she gave back, quickly thumbing through the rest of the documents, all of them clearly belonging to the same name; then, she reached the last paper in the stack, and her throat went dry as her eyes widened.
"But maybe it should mean something to you", she added, looking at the surprised Pat, the way Buffy was holding the papers keeping her from seeing what was on the last one and making her wonder why it clearly had upset the Slayer; moments later, the blonde answered this by holding said paper out to her, her good eye widening when she saw that it was a photo of her – and that the words "Die", "Death" and "Kill" had been scribbled all over it.
"Because he's not after me", Buffy went on, giving her a concerned look, "he's after you."