Restless

Alec was trained not to make decisions based on emotion, but here lately emotions were simply his undoing. In a span of less than a week, he had saw his first love alive and well and in the process of forgetting everything that had changed over the years, pissed off his mate.

Buffy, she was the epitome of someone who made choices based on emotion. Another reason she refused to speak to him for the last few days. Immediately after watching Pike and making sure, he didn't overstep his bounds where his mate was concerned. He charmed his sister (half sister, in all fairness) to hang out at her place for a couple days, it was sheer genius that he had gotten her a place adjacent to his mate's apartment.

He had tried unsuccessfully since he learned of his impending fatherhood, for Buffy just to live with him, but she avoided that conversation whenever he brought it up, of course he was letting her think she was winning, what he hadn't told her was he had been slowly moving her things to his place. A lot of her things had already made their way over, so if she started looking for them, she would think she lost them then later, he would nonchalantly show the item he had found. Being a genius with a penchant for problem solving had its advantages.

Although he would've preferred she come on her own terms, he was nothing if not an opportunist and his training allowed mind maneuvers that could stump even the most astute person. He was using a new perspective to work with the parameters this situation had given him. He could usually talk his way into getting what he wanted with his natural charisma but for some unknown reason, it didn't work on Buffy, and man did he try, but she wouldn't bend on some things, of course, he could use his charm on her, but to him it felt wrong to maneuver his mate, to do what he wanted, however if he bent the rules to make things more advantageous than to him that was a lesser crime.

As he walked into Jam Pony fresh from a run along with a few others, who casually walked in beside him, he noticed the silence.

The place rang eerily quiet as all of the workers usually buzzing about were transfixed as news reports. They were talking about the brutality of the massacre on the back alley of Seattle. Alec zeroed in on the ghastly masks the others were wearing and tuned himself in to the report as Carolyn Vasser relayed the basic information about the horrific crime.

A cold shiver ran down the center of his back like an ice cube on his spinal cord. As he and Sketchy watched the news about the massacre and were shocked beyond belief. While Sketchy was only a casual observer, he reflected on this particular crime noting that the massacre sounded like something a former Manticore soldier with a penchant for violence and a possible newbie in the demonic community, most likely a vampire. Only one name came to mind. Dante. He should've never left him to die; he should've snapped his neck, so this wouldn't be coming to back to bite him in the ass. Then there was the sudden concern, that his mate needed more protection. He still hadn't informed her of Dante's resurrection. She didn't need the worry or aggravation and they has just made up from his post Rachel kiss.

Biggs had brought him quite a bit of information on her ex- undead bastard, another person to add the list of terminations he planned to carry out. The assassination part of his training was definitely going to be stretching its legs very soon.

He stood outside watching the horizon with a dark, steady gaze and the fading sun. He needed to get to Buffy and keep an eye on her. He was more determined then ever, he needed under his roof.

After bearing witness to the carnage in the Morgue, Max was sure they had already cleaned up the most horrific parts, there wasn't much left to see but the necks definitely had the marks of a vampire. She wanted to consult Logan before she made any vast assumptions about the situation.

After she had visited Logan, she knew she needed to give the residents of Terminal City, a heads up. Things were going to get a lot more complicated soon. They needed to be prepared for the fallout of the massacre, and the part they were going to be blamed for. It seemed as if it was one thing or another, since she had broken them out.

She could rule out Dante, since Alec had killed him, when he had tried to assault Buffy. Taking a mate in their world was a serious commitment and another X5 intentionally or not trying to encroach on that, was asking for an automatic death sentence. That being the case she thought maybe Dante's twin, X5-502, but how could that possibly be, usually the twins while identical, weren't exactly identical, and she knew 501 was bad news, but she hadn't heard any horror stories about 502. And as far as she knew, he had been deployed to another base. But there was always that chance, a chance she couldn't leave to fate.

She didn't even knock as she made her way back to Logan's office, he was expecting her as usual, and had even left the office door open. Their eyes met within a moment and they both looked away, sensing the love but the inability to show it because of the virus. Logan picked up a small stack of papers from his desk and handed them to her. Logan sighed. "Matt's still seeing about getting me some more information on the witness statement but what I've seen so far, pretty much narrows it down to Buffy's expertise."

Max shook her head thoughtfully, "Logan, she's pregnant-we can't – if we can prevent her from th-"

Logan interrupted, "I know, she's in no condition to be dealing with a bunch of homicidal monsters like this…Does Alec?' He dropped off the question, he knew there was nothing going on between them, but there would always be that subtle inferiority complex that left him, unable to voice his jealousy. "I do know it has to be something demonic in nature, most likely vampire-or what I gathered from the pictures, but what I have been able to learn is in there. I've got Matt still looking into it. Maybe he can come up with more information."

She hesitated while she glanced at the documents, mostly pictures, the grotesque scenery almost gagging her, these pictures were before the cleanup, and it was touching a nerve in her. These were her brothers and sisters and some thing had butchered them. This was personal.