Everyone except for Buffy went down into the basement. Buffy left the house and immediately met the confused Cosgrove and Amy on the front stoop.
Buffy crossed her arms while uttering, "Amy Madison! Did I get a whiff of your handiwork last night?"
Amy nervously grinned before saying, "My job was to scare you from the house."
"Amy, don't answer her," Cosgrove said.
"What do you want, Cosgrove?" Buffy said.
"It's Mr. Cosgrove or even Sorcerer Cosgrove to you," he began. Buffy just took a bored deep breath. "And you are?"
"Buffy Summers," she said.
"'The master slayer' herself," Cosgrove commented. Buffy just smirked. "First off, Ms. Summers, I would like to say that I'm impressed by your alarm system."
"It's better than First Alert," Buffy retorted. "Now, what do you want?"
"Well, I didn't come here to fight," Cosgrove said. "I figured since you, Willow, Cain, Cain's buddies and your Native American friend… she is Native American isn't she? The one who came into the firm with you?"
"She is," Buffy simply answered.
"I'm good at picking out nationalities," Cosgrove bragged. "Sometimes I'm wrong, but it's rare and…"
"You were telling me why you are here," Buffy interrupted with.
"Focused minded; that's good to have," Cosgrove said. Buffy again took a bored deep breath. "Anyway, since you and your friends visited me, I thought that the polite response would be to pay you a visit. I figured that we could get to know each other better."
"Sorry, I'm seeing someone," Buffy said. Cosgrove just smirked. "And I already know everything I need to know about you."
"And that's the thing," Cosgrove said as Buffy noticed a P-Express delivery van driving up. "I think you have the wrong impression of me."
"So you're not a high profile lawyer who represents the big league criminals…" Buffy was only able to get out.
"Some of my clients are allege criminals," Cosgrove interrupted with. "And the others are business men."
"Now we both know what's what," Buffy said as she saw Valerie through the window as she parked the van. "You're a high profile lawyer who defends the very people who the FBI would like to put away, and I don't know how heavy that you're into it, but you have your hands in the demonic frivolities of this city as well."
"My demonic involvements are more than frivolities, Ms. Summers," Cosgrove said. "You hit three of my facilities during the past…" Cosgrove stopped talking when he saw that he grabbed Buffy's full and undivided attention. "Oh, you didn't know that those places were mine."
Buffy grinned before saying, "No I didn't, —" Valerie, while dressed in the company's uniform, got out of the van and shut the door. Cosgrove turned to look when he heard a car door shut. "—but thinks for the info."
Cosgrove faced Buffy again before gesturing towards Valerie and asking, "And the reason for hers and your visit?"
"I heard a rumor that your law firm might be operating with demonic help," Buffy said. Valerie was able to sporadically hear Amy's thoughts as she was approaching the stoop. "I checked it out and now here we are."
"You expect me to believe that there's nothing more to it when Cain and his friends are involved?" Cosgrove questioned. "In fact, how do you even know him?"
Buffy grinned before saying, "Six years ago, a friend of mine saw a Kansas girl leaping into a tornado. Seconds later, a few men wearing long coats leaped in behind her in pursuit. That sight obviously didn't look right to my friend so he called me. Well, in an attempted to make a long story short, my group and I ended up in the O.Z dimension while looking for that girl. The tornado turned out to be a travel storm. The Kansas girl was Princess DG who was actually from the O.Z. dimension. Princess DG had a quest to fulfill in order to stop the wicked witch from taking over the O.Z. completely before the double eclipse and to put her on the right path, she grew up hearing the phrase, 'all of life's answers can be found along the old road.'"
Cosgrove grinned before saying, "The phrase I told one of my clients the day of your visit."
Buffy slightly smirk before saying, "One of the people who Princess DG had befriended during her quest was Cain. And now I believe that you're all caught up. Now leave!"
Cosgrove grinned before saying, "Our business hasn't been concluded, Ms. Summers. We still have the matter of you interfering with my business to discuss."
"Save your threats, Sorcerer Cosgrove," Buffy said. "I've heard them all."
"Yes; I'm sure you have," Cosgrove said. "And Amy had filled me in on some of your victories… oh and speaking of victory, I can't help to think that it was you and your group who got rid of Lowkey."
Buffy crossed her arms while asking, "Was he a client of yours?"
"Hardly," Cosgrove said. "Because of his control over a part of the demon population you had actually did me a favor by getting rid of him."
"Yeah, well, that's the downside of getting rid of a Big Bad," Buffy said. Cosgrove gave her a curious look. "There's always another to take its place. And I assure you that I'll take him down as well."
Cosgrove grinned before saying, "Now-now, Ms. Summers. There's no reason why we can come to agreement to co-exist with each other."
"Okay, here's my non-negotiable terms," Buffy said. "Close down your demonic enterprises and become a legitimate lawyer. Now leave!"
"You are a feisty one," Cosgrove said. "And you may be good at what you do, Ms. Summers, but make no mistakes; I'm good at what I do."
"Never doubted it," Buffy said.
Cosgrove nodded before saying, "Well, I believe we covered everything that I wanted to and again, I like your alarm system."
"It works on vampires as well, so don't bother sending your recruits," Buffy said.
"Recruits?" Cosgrove questioned.
"Your newly sired vampires," Buffy pointed out. Buffy saw the confused look that Cosgrove was giving her. "And you don't know anything about it; which means that there's another player in the city who's recruiting."
"You know this how?" Cosgrove asked with a genuine concern.
Buffy thought about not supplying him the information for only a moment before deciding that it wouldn't do any harm for him to know. Buffy then took a deep breath before saying, "Over twenty people under the age of thirty went missing within the past week. My experience leads me to believe it to be a vampire recruitment and I assumed that you were doing the recruiting."
"No, but thanks for the information," Cosgrove said. Buffy just slightly smirk. "Amy, let's go. We're done here."
"Sure," Amy half-heartedly said.
Before Cosgrove and Amy had a chance to walk away, Buffy said, "Amy, I don't care why you came here, but you shouldn't have came."
Amy just gave Buffy a polite gin before she walked away without verbally responding; however, Valerie heard her thoughts. Cosgrove turned right after Amy did and walked beside her.
Valerie stepped up to Buffy and whispered, "I able to intermittently hear Amy's thoughts and she wants to be here less than you want her here."
"If that's true, why doesn't she leave?" Buffy whispered back.
"From what I got, Cosgrove brought her here somehow and she's stuck," Valerie whispered. "In fact, she's terrified that you'll win. She's thinking that if you win then she dies without her doses."
"Doses?" Buffy questioned as she watched Cosgrove and Amy getting into a car.
Valerie shrugged before saying, "Perhaps Cosgrove got her hooked on drugs."
Buffy thought for a second before saying, "For it to be drugs, it has to be a type of drug that only Cosgrove can provide."
"Have they ever identified that third substance that was found in the vamp-bordello?" Valerie asked.
Buffy grinned before saying, "I don't believe so, but that's a good possible link." She then gestured towards the house. "Anyway, please reset this alarm."
"I'll try," Valerie said.
"Try?" Buffy quickly uttered.
"Willow never went over the spell that will reset it, but I know which book it's from," Valerie said.
"Well, can you at least silence it?" Buffy asked. "We'll worry about resetting it later."
"Again, I'm going to have to refer to the book," Valerie said.
"Hurry," Buffy said. "And Giles might have the book, and he's in the basement."
Valerie nodded before entering the house. Buffy stayed on the stoop and moments later she watched Cosgrove and Amy's vehicle as Cosgrove drove away before following Valerie into the house.
Valerie joined the others in the basement. Giles had a book opened to a particular page and when he saw Valerie, he said, "Good, Valerie, you're here. I can't seem to shut off this blasted alarm."
"Let me see if I can," Valerie said as she stepped up. She then viewed the page. "What book is that?" Giles showed the book's cover without loosing the page. "That's not the book Willow and I was using."
"The book you were using is Willow's personal spell book that she wrote herself and she took it with her when she left last night," Giles said before gesturing towards the page. "However, this incantation is the rudimentary… the unmodified version of the spell that you and her performed."
Valerie took a breath before taking the time to read the page. Once she was done she closed her eyes and concentrated. She was quiet for several seconds. Giles was about to say something, but before he was able to, Valerie opened her eyes and rattled off an incantation. However, the sound was changed into a steady and very high-pitched sound. Everyone in the house covered his or her ears and groaned.
"Yes, that's better," Giles sarcastically uttered while covering his ears.
"I think I know what went wrong," Valerie said at a normal volume.
"What?" Giles asked. Buffy was descending the basement steps with her hands covering her ears. Valerie gestured for Giles to wait and then recited another incantation that did silence the alarm. When Giles could no longer hear it with his hands over his ears, he dropped his hands and listened. "Yes! Very good."
"Valerie, I think you liquefied the wax in my ears," Buffy said as she reached the bottom of the steps. "Both ears feel as though they're draining."
"Sorry guys," Valerie said before noticing that Becca was there.
"Don't be sorry," Alexis said as she was being attentive to her ears. "I think my hearing has improved some. I don't recommend that again though."
Valerie grinned before saying, "Anyway, since I was out all night last night I just came by to check in. And I guess it was a good thing I did."
"When are you supposed to be at work?" Buffy asked.
"I'm working now," Valerie said. "I dropped off a package two blocks over just before coming here." Valerie looked at her watch. "So I can't hang around too long."
"Excuse me," Christopher said as he stepped closer. "Is the threat over?"
"It is," Buffy said. "I can imagine that you're ready to get as far from here as fast as possible."
"On the contrary," Christopher said. "You help me to make sense of my grandma's diaries and I would like to restore my family's legacy."
Buffy gave Christopher a confused look before uttering, "Huh?"
"My grandma's name was Serena Lipton and…" Christopher was only able to get out.
"Serena Lipton," Giles interrupted with as he searched his memory. "I've heard of a Serena Lipton. I wonder if she was your grandmother."
"I believe so," Christopher said.
"If that's true, then your grandmother and my father were good friends; they grew up together in fact," Giles said. "Your grandmother was a watcher like my father and she watched over two slayers consecutively. She and her last slayer were both killed in New Orleans in the year 1964… or that's the belief anyway."
"It was," Christopher confirmed. "My mom was twelve then."
"I thought all watchers knew about all past watchers," Danni commented.
"As a rule, we do, but the night that Serena and her slayer were thought to have been killed, Serena's husband and daughter vanished without a trace along with their clothes and Serena's watcher diaries," Giles said. "The consensus was that Serena's family had run for safety and didn't want to be found."
"Well, I don't know about my grandpa and mom running for safety, but my grandpa hid my grandma's diaries from the world," Christopher began. "Tens years ago; a week after my grandpa's death my brother and I found those diaries when we were cleaning out my grandpa's things in order to sell his house. He had them stashed in an old trunk in the attic. I read them and my first reaction was, 'Great! Insanity runs in my family.'" Everyone grinned. "Now I know the truth and according to those journals my relatives were part of the fight against the forces of darkness before Christ was even born. And from what I got from those diaries my grandmother believed in the fight. It was important to her and if you have me, I would like to pick up where my grandma had left off."
"Before you volunteer, you should know that a watcher can find him or herself in constant danger… especially the ones who train slayers," Giles said.
"I read my grandma's diaries," Christopher said. "So I have a good understanding as to what kind of danger a watcher can find him or herself in. And I do want to join in the fight."
Giles stuck out his hands to shake hands while saying, "Welcome aboard." Christopher grinned before shaking hands. "And actually the main focus right now, is to keep the potentials caught up on their studies… in both their everyday world studies and their slayer studies."
"What are slayer studies?" Christopher asked.
"Slayer studies consist of Martial Arts training, studying the old watchers' diaries and learning the basics about certain demons," Giles said. "And if it's at all possible, I would like to add Serena Lipton's diaries to the list of diaries."
"Of course, but I would like to make copies of them first and keep the originals," Christopher said.
"Not a problem," Giles said.
"Since I'm sticking around, should I continue with Hallie?" Christopher asked.
"Yeah, we should resume what we were doing before," Buffy said.
"Buffy, I should get back to work," Valerie said.
Buffy nodded before saying, "Cosgrove knows where you work and given that you work for a courier company, he can easily lure you into an ambush under false pretense. Be careful."
"I will," Valerie said.
Before Valerie could walk away, Vanessa asked, "So. Val? Did you lose your innocents last night?"
Buffy gave Vanessa a confused look as Valerie answered, "I went with the rule of not having sex on the first date."
"You were out all night and nothing happened?" Vanessa asked.
"Well, I wouldn't say having a great time was nothing," Valerie said.
"You have a low threshold of what a great time is," Vanessa said.
"You should try being with a guy not base on sex, Vanessa," Valerie said. "You might like it."
Vanessa gave Valerie a smirk as Christopher pointed out, "You're seventeen."
"Yeah," Vanessa said. "So?"
"You shouldn't be basing any relationship on sex at your age," Christopher said.
"Not all, but a good percentage of slayers and potentials do tend to be more… lascivious than most people," Giles said as he looked at Vanessa. "Watchers overcome it by assigning diverting… and more productive activities to those slayers and potentials." Vanessa just gave Giles a smirk.
"Well, I need to get back to work before my boss realizes that I took a diversion from work," Valerie said.
"Bye," everyone said. Valerie waved before walking towards the stairs and ascending them.
At the TEC facility, Avery and Taggert stepped in and looked around while standing near the entrance. Taggert's unhuman features were covered up.
When Avery noticed that the security officers were watching his and Taggert's every move, he tapped Taggert on his arm while saying, "Let's talk to the receptionist."
Taggert just nodded before following Avery. The receptionist was talking to someone on the phone when the two stepped up, so they just stood nearby while waiting for the receptionist to get done.
The receptionist noticed the two and when she was done with the phone call, she asked, "May I help you two?"
"We would like to speak with the person in charge," Avery said as Taggert concentrated to read her mind.
"Capt. Matuzek is who we here to see," Taggert added.
"And your names are?" the receptionist asked.
"I'm Avery Cook." He then continued with a slight stammer, "He's Taggert… John… Jonathan Taggert."
The receptionist gave Avery a suspicious look before asking, "What is this in regards to?"
"It's a private matter," Avery said.
The receptionist continued to give Avery and Taggert suspicious looks before gesturing towards the guest chairs while saying, "Please have a seat."
"Thanks," Avery said before he and Taggert walked to the seats and sat down.
As soon as Taggert took his seat he began reading the minds of the people who were in the area; however, the people he probed were either visitors or worked in the non-secured areas of the building.
Dawn was the one who came downstairs to greet the two. When the receptionist was gesturing towards Avery and Taggert as being the visitors for Dawn to see, Taggert attempted to probe Dawn's memories. When Dawn was given the telepathic suggestion to let her thoughts of her past run freely she thought of the day in 1996 when Buffy was acting all secretive for the first time after meeting Merrick. However, Dawn was just a ball of energy in 1996 and all Taggert could sense was an intense energy that only a sun could produce. Taggert quickly pulled out of Dawn's mind with a terrified expression across his face.
"I'm Dawn Carter; Capt. Matuzek's administrator assistant," She told Avery and Taggert just before she noticed the terrified expression on Taggert's face. Dawn then gave Taggert a concerned look. "And are you okay?"
Taggert forced a grin before saying, "I'm good."
Dawn gave Taggert a skeptical look before saying, "Okay. First off, who's who?"
"I'm Avery and he's Tag… he's John," Avery answered.
"Okay, well, Capt. Matuzek is engaged with other matters," Dawn said. "How can I help?"
"Okay… well first off, what do the letters T-E-C stand for?" Avery asked.
"If you don't know then it's not meant for you to know," Dawn answered. Avery gave her a curious look. "Anyway, how can I assist you other than that?"
"What exactly goes on in this facility?" Avery asked. "Business wise?"
"We are a quieter… or a less active branch of homeland security," Dawn said.
"So that's why Capt. Matuzek carries rank?" Avery questioned. Dawn just gave him a slight confirming smirk. "John and I are here representing a security firm, but I now believe that we're wasting your time. So we'll just let ourselves out."
"Have a good day," Dawn said as Avery and Taggert stood up.
Avery nodded with a slight grinned before he walked away followed by Taggert. Dawn watched as the two walked to the exit; opened the door and walked out before she walked towards the elevators. Dawn wasn't even midway to the elevators when one of the elevator doors opened and Jack Logan stepped off.
Once Avery and Taggert stepped onto the sidewalk, Avery asked, "So what did you find out from Dawn Carter?"
"Nothing," Taggert said.
"Nothing?" Avery quickly questioned.
Taggert faced the building and looked through the closest window before saying, "I don't know what that woman is in there… somewhere, but she's not human."
"What do you mean, she's not human," Avery asked as he continued to face Taggert.
"I probed her mind when she stepped into the reception area and what I felt… well, I'm not sure what I felt, but there's no way am I probing that woman's… or demon's mind again."
"Great," Avery sarcastically said. "We have nothing to show for our efforts." Avery thought for a moment before gesturing towards their vehicle. "Okay, well, we might as well…" Avery stopped talking when he saw that Taggert was looking passed him and was focusing on the entrance. When Avery turned to look he saw Jack exiting the building.
Jack glanced at the two before turning away from them and walking down the sidewalk.
After a moment of Taggert probing Jack's mind, Taggert smiled before saying, "Oh, the secrets in that building are better than we can imagine."
"You got what we were after from him?" Avery asked.
Taggert told Avery barely above a whisper, "He's a TimeCop and the TEC stands for Time Enforcement Commission. Their job inside is to track down and apprehend time fugitives who would what to disrupt and corrupt the timeline or become a profiteer from the existing timeline."
"And what's the slayers involvement in this?" Avery asked.
Jack was still in range for Taggert to probe his thoughts and after Taggert got the information, he said, "Dr. Julius Briers, the co-inventor of their time-machine was sired as a vampire… there are more than one time-machine and the vampire Dr. Briers had stolen one. The slayers were hired to get it back… and they did. This all happened within the last two weeks."
"Okay, well, let's get back to the law firm," Avery said before he led the way to the vehicle.
In the kitchen at the Summer's home, Buffy was telling Willow, Xander, Kennedy, Dean, Sam, Cain, Trevor and Jade about Amy's involvement. Giles, Teresa and Nick were also in the room.
The potentials were either studying in the basement or practicing their karate in the backyard. Becca was in the backyard as well while trying to learn some of the karate moves. Christopher was still there and was helping the potentials with their studies.
Once Jade heard that Amy might be dependent on a drug that only Cosgrove can provide, he said, "Not too many people know this, but one hundred some odd years ago, the wicked witch fed poison to her soldiers…"
"That would be self defeating, wouldn't it?" Xander questioned.
Jade grinned before saying, "A person would think that, but this particular poison would only kill if the person or people affected by it don't get a daily dose of the antidote. She used it to keep her soldiers from rising against her and before Cosgrove had disappeared from the Outer Zone it has been believed that he had used that poison as well for a similar reason. He might've brought that poison here and is using it on people in order to get them to follow him."
"What do you call this poison?" Xander asked.
"As far as I know, it has no name," Jade said. "But an actual antidote was created about five years after Queen Azkadellia had gotten possessed by the wicked witch's spirit… of course Queen Azkadellia was only a princess then."
"I'm dubbing this poison 'the loyalty drug'," Buffy began. "And if the loyalty drug has an actual antidote then I want it."
"Buff, shouldn't we find out if Amy has consumed that poison before we worry about getting the antidote?" Xander questioned.
"I'll find out if Amy's been poison," Willow said.
"You can't exactly go to her and ask, so…" Nick was only able to get out. .
"I can actually," Willow said.
"How?" Nick questioned.
"I'll astral project to Amy," Willow said.
"You know how to do that?" Giles asked.
"Willow learned how to astral project in Brazil about nine… ten years ago," Kennedy quickly answered for her.
Giles gave Kennedy a confused look for a moment. Once the answer dawned on him, he said, "Oh, right. You and the other Willow merged twelve… or so days ago and you were given greater knowledge of magic."
"Help someone out who had been plucked from the late 1800's by a deranged demon," Nick said. "What is astral project?"
"I'll go somewhere quiet and meditate undisturbed, and once I reach a desire state within my meditation, my spirit or conscious will leave my physical body and my spirit will travel to Amy," Willow said while piquing Teresa's curiosity.
"That sounds a lot like someone dying and becoming a ghost," Nick said.
"Except, I won't be dead," Willow said. "My body will be perfectly safe and my spirit will be free to go where ever I desire to go."
"Can someone astral project while sleeping?" Teresa said.
"It's believed by many that everyone has astral project in their sleep at some point or another," Giles said. "Why do you ask?"
"When I was just a child, my sister Becky would see a ghost that looked like our mother walking around our home," Teresa said. "And Becky would only see the ghost when our mom was asleep."
"But you didn't see the ghost or your mother's astral projection?" Sam asked.
"No, and I was even in the room when Becky let out the most terrifying scream," Teresa said. "Dad and I didn't know what was going. Mom woke and ran into the room to find out what was happening."
"So not everyone will see Willow as she astral project?" Nick asked.
"If I just astral project normally only the ghost whisperers like Becca would be the only ones who could see me, but being that I'm a witch I can cast a spell to where only the ones I choose could see me," Willow said.
"Do it, Willow," Buffy said as the doorbell rang. "And I'll answer the door."
"Buff, I'm going to use your bedroom to meditate in," Willow said.
Buffy nodded before turning and walking away. Willow followed Buffy into the anteroom.
Toni was answering the door. When Buffy and Willow was stepping up behind her, they heard the man asked, "Is this where Valerie Blackstone lives."
"Who's asking," Toni asked as Buffy and Willow stepped into the man's view.
The man was wearing a suit and he answered with, "I'm Nash, her brother. I'm in town on business and I was given this address for her."
"She doesn't live here," Toni said.
"She just recently moved into an apartment, Nash," Buffy quickly said. "Hi, I'm Buffy. She's Toni and beside me is Willow. And we are friends of your sister."
"Hi," Nash began. "So, do any of you know where I can find her?"
"She's at work," Buffy said. "I can call her if you'd like. And tell her that you're here."
Nash hesitated before saying, "No, don't bother her at work. But I will be here in D.C. until Friday. I'm staying at the Park Green Hotel…" Buffy gave Nash an 'Oh boy' grin. "Is there anything wrong with that hotel?"
Buffy shook her head before saying, "Not at all." Nash gave Buffy a skeptical look. "Well, there was an article in the paper about that hotel more than a week ago and I was just thinking about that when you said the name of the hotel."
"What was the article about?" Nash asked.
"Nothing to be concern about," Buffy said.
"Tell me anyway," Nash said.
Buffy nodded before saying, "Okay. On April 12th during the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 three people… one per year, had committed suicide in the room 412 of that hotel. However, there were no suicides this year. Anyway, when I speak with Val again, I tell her where you are staying."
Nash gave Buffy a slightly concerned look before saying, "I'll be changing hotels." Buffy just politely grinned as he pulled out a gift-shop-airport-receipt from his pocket along with a pen. "I'll give you my cell phone number to give to Val and she can call me."
"I'll make sure she gets it," Buffy said as Nash wrote out the number on the clean side of the receipt.
After Nash was done writing the number, he hand it to Buffy while saying, "Thanks."
Buffy nodded before saying, "Bye."
"Bye," Nash said before he turned and walked away.
Willow continued upstairs. Buffy went back into the kitchen and Toni went back to what she was doing.
When Buffy entered the kitchen, Xander said, "Buff. Cain, Jade and Trevor are certain that the third type of drug that was found in that Vamp-Bordello was Vapors."
"Vapors?" Buffy questioned.
"It's a magical mist that contains a spell of bliss," Trevor said.
"The raw form comes in a brownish white powder and you dump it into a pot of water," Cain added. "A mist and sometimes air-floating bubbles are created as soon as the powder touches the water and the people then just breathe it in."
"There where bongs there," Buffy said.
"Queen Azkadellia had spread the vapors throughout the O.Z. once she found that the loyalty drug had an actual antidote," Cain said.
"And that helped controlled the population?" Xander asked.
"Being on vapors doesn't make you submissive, but it does falsely take away your cares and woes," Cain said. "It had gotten so widespread that the vapors became known as Azkadellia's vapors."
"Lovely," Buffy sarcastically said. "Imagine me on vapors during an apocalypse."
Xander nervously laughed before saying in a serious tone, "Let's not." Buffy just grinned.
TBC
