Warnings and disclaimer in Chapter 1. Enjoy!
"Alpha leader this is Alpha two."
"Go ahead Alpha two," Riley said.
"Subjects have just entered The Bronze," he reported. "Spotters on both entrances. If they leave, we'll know. We are go for undercover ops."
"Copy that," Riley acknowledged. "Heading in." He signaled to the other guys in the car. They all climbed out. "Bates, you take the back door. Faraday, you take the front. Sullivan, stay by the bar so you can cover all three of us. I'll mingle."
"Roger," they all said as they walked the block to the entrance. Riley looked for any sign of the team watching the front entrance, but he couldn't see anyone. That didn't mean that their targets didn't, though. They scattered as they entered the club, each slowly going to their assigned spots. Riley stopped at the bar for a drink before surveying the club interior, wondering where they could have gone. He didn't have to wonder for long though. The crowd by the stage parted, showing the couple dancing very erotically. He tried to blend in to the rest of the crowd watching the show, but not very well apparently. Willow looked him right in the eye and whispered something to Buffy before pulling her head to her neck. Willow stiffened for a second and Riley knew Buffy had bit her, though it was probably nothing more than a love nip by the way Willow continued to gyrate into Buffy's hips. When the song was over, the lust had faded into a content look on her face.
"I'll find us a table," she said, grabbing Buffy's arm and wrapping it around her chest possessively as she led them off the dance floor. She didn't let go until Buffy was standing right in front of Riley.
"Dance with me," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him onto the dance floor. She draped herself over him seductively, though she wasn't actively humping him like she did Willow.
"It's been a long time," he said.
"Years and years," she agreed, looking him in the eyes. "You look good."
"So do you," he told her. She smiled and pulled him closer. They danced silently until the song ended.
"Are you here to kill me?" she asked, using the sounds of everyone leaving the dance floor to cover their conversation.
"Yes," he said simply. She purred.
"Honest to a fault," she said, grabbing his wrist and bringing it up to her mouth. She traced the veins in his wrist with her tongue before biting them with her human teeth. Not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to leave a mark.
"Stop," he said, trying to pull his wrist away, but her grip was too strong.
"You used to like letting vampires feed off you," she said, trailing kisses and nips up his arm. "Or is it just me you don't want to feed?"
"It was never you," he told her honestly. "It was me. I was lost. But not anymore. Those days, those mistakes, are behind me." She finally let him pull away. "I'm happy, and I'm doing good in the world."
"That's nice," Buffy said, rolling her eyes and stepping away from him. "Doing good is its own reward. Or, at least, that's what my mom always used to say. But that doesn't mean I'll let you kill me."
"I have to try," Riley said. "I can't sit back and let you kill people."
"And the battle lines have been drawn," Buffy said, eyeing the young girl Willow found to dance with hungrily. "But the war doesn't have to start today, does it?"
"Where's Willow?" he asked instead of answering. "Our Willow."
"Safe," Buffy said simply, "where she will stay until we can figure out a way to steal her soul." She looped her arms around Riley again. "Now, in memory of some good, if not almost too wholesome times I shared with you, I'll give you tonight. But tomorrow if you and those silly little teams are still following us I'm going to start getting a little upset. And you won't like me if I'm upset."
"If you try to hurt anyone, my teams and I will stop you," Riley countered. "Until then, have a good night." He managed to extract himself from her grasp and headed back to the bar, snagging the young girl by the arm and pulling her with him. He ignored her protests and turned just in time to see Buffy frowning before joining Willow. He left the girl at the bar and circled the room a few more times until the girls vanished. He pushed onto the dance floor, all thoughts of stealth gone. "Does anyone see them?"
"Negative." One by one his team reported the same thing. Except the team watching the front entrance.
"Alpha one do you copy?" Riley said as he rushed toward the doors, the rest of his team falling in behind him. "Report!" he yelled as he got held up by a group of college students coming in. A few minutes later they cleared the doors and looked around. "Alpha two?"
"Nothing out back," they immediately reported. "Jacobs is already en route to alpha one's watchtower."
"Copy. We're en route also." He motioned to his team and they followed him down the street to a nearby building. They saw movement by the doors and quickly followed. "Jacobs?" Riley called out as they entered, but only silence greeted them. He pulled a stun baton from his boot and approached cautiously. "Michaels? Field? Green? Anyone here?"
"Help," someone called out weakly. The team made their way cautiously until they found the place their spotter team chose. It was an abandoned office with a good view of both the front of The Bronze as well as the alleyways that lead into it. The normally pristine walls were splattered with blood.
"Clear!" Riley shouted out as the team cleared the room. Once they were sure it was secure he motioned to the floor where the bodies of his team were located. Bates and Sullivan headed toward them while Riley stared at the wall. "Alpha two. Fall back immediately. Leave the gear."
"Copy," the agents said. A few minutes later they joined him in the unused office. "Oh shit," they said when they saw the carnage. "Are they…"
"No," Bates said tersely. "They're fine. They're gonna be fine. You hear me Mike? You're gonna be fine." The other lookouts quickly started helping the injured soldiers. They were all cut up badly but they were still alive and probably would stay that way if they got medical treatment quickly.
"Choppers on its way," Faraday reported. He scanned the agents quickly before joining Riley at the far wall. "It can land on the roof so we only have to go up one more level." He frowned. "It doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't?" Riley asked as his team was getting the injured soldiers ready to move.
"Why didn't they just kill them?" his second in command asked. "And what the hell does that mean?" He pointed to the wall Riley was staring at. They had written the numbers 00:01 in blood.
"It means the war just started," Riley said. He didn't take his eyes off the numbers until he heard the chopper.
Xander glared as their food was delivered again. The man was impervious as he threw a plastic bag with their pre-made sandwiches and waters into the cell. Once done with his task, he left the room like he always did. "Can't we get something besides gas station sandwiches?" Xander asked as he pulled the bag towards him.
"No," Kestrel answered from the desk. Xander glared at him but he was so focused on his work that he didn't even notice. "The smallest detail is what trips up most criminals. So no, you can't get anything else."
"Like you're going to let us leave," Xander grumbled as he grabbed the bag. He ignored the sandwich and went straight for the water. "Buff," he encouraged quietly. She tiredly opened her eyes and smiled at him. He scooted behind her, letting her rest upright on his chest, and helped her sip the water.
"As I've said," Kestrel said again, "I don't want to hurt you."
"Then let us go!" Xander demanded. "She needs her medicine or she's going to get even sicker than she is now." Kestrel stopped and looked at her. There was a glint in his eyes that Xander didn't like at all.
"The Slayer will heal her," he said, turning his attention from Buffy to the screen on his desk. Since Kestrel had first started it, the computer continuously played her different encounters. He turned the sound all the way up and angled the screen so that Xander and Buffy had a perfect view. Xander tried to shield Buffy, but it was obvious she realized what was going on quickly. Her eyes had dulled and she had become almost catatonic, only showing any emotion for Xander. He guessed she was trying to shield herself for what she thought was to come.
"The Slayer won't," Xander said confidently. "If she would, Buffy wouldn't be getting sicker." Kestrel frowned then gasped in euphoria as the Buffy on the screen climaxed. Xander closed his eyes, wanting the tape to finally be over, but it never was. The sad part was he knew this was just a fraction of her sexual encounters. "How do you even have these?"
"Almost all of their sessions were taped," Kestrel said, returning to the other side of the desk and working again. "I don't know if they sold their interactions as a souvenir or memento, or just used them for blackmail, but there were thousands of discs to go through. It's not uncommon for cops to take files home, especially on a case this big. I wasn't looking for her, but once I saw her I knew she was the one for me. I copied all her shows to my hard drive and used a hacker friend I know to gain entry to her private collection before they shut the sight down. I've seen her do things that turn me on the way nothing else has. I was just lucky I was able to download everything before my partner found it."
"You're a saint," Xander dissed. He helped Buffy lay back down once she was done drinking the water. She was able to finish a third of the bottle. He glanced at the screen. It was the time between the post orgasmic bask and the foreplay for the next client. This was the time when Kestrel was most open to answering questions. "What do you want from her?"
"I want to help her overcome what they did to her," he answered honestly, working on the computer again.
"So you're trying to influence the prophecy too?" he asked.
"Not in the way you're thinking," he answered, before cocking his head. "Actually, I guess I am, but I'm working in your favor." He stopped working and came around to the front of the desk to talk to Xander directly. "You see, my boss doesn't want the prophecy to happen."
"Your boss?" Xander asked. "Who exactly is he? The Pillsbury Doughboy? Santa Claus? The Easter bunny?"
"Nice try, but he wants to stay anonymous for the time being," Kestrel told him.
"Not even a hint?" Xander prodded. Kestrel thought hard before shrugging.
"You know the former mayor of this town? Wilkins?"
"A bit more than I'd like," Xander confirmed, thinking back to the hell of graduation day.
"He made all sorts of promises to a lot of demons higher on the food chain than he was," Kestrel explained. "True demons. My boss was one of them. Now his ascension failed so he wasn't able to keep his campaign promises, but he opened the doors for a lot of these demons to return. My boss is so close to getting back here, closer than he's been for an eternity."
"Then why do you want to awaken the Slayer?" Xander asked. "Surely it would be easier if you just let us go. If Buffy can't rejoin the fight there's a much greater chance of your boss winning."
"True," Kestrel agreed, "but if the Voulard get their way, the third age will be demons in charge. My boss hates demons as much as humans, but it's in his best interest to have the humans in charge."
"Why?" Xander asked curiously.
"Because it's easier to predict what a good person will do. And if you have to pick one to fight, you want every advantage you can get." The respite was over. The moaning got louder and the talk dirtier as another client used her. Xander closed his eyes in disgust until Buffy reached out and tentatively touched his back. He jumped.
"Buff?" he asked. She looked at him in concern before opening her arms. He hesitated only a moment before throwing himself into her arms. She rocked him gently, just like he had been doing for her, and he felt himself breaking. It was just too much for too long. She held him as he cried. Neither noticed the calculating look in Kestrel's eyes as he left the room.
"The bounty has been placed," Anya informed everyone as they gathered in the living room. "Demons are starting to arrive."
"Can we trust them?" Veronica asked. Anya shook her head.
"No," she said bluntly, "but they did sign my contract when they accepted the bounty. And some of them have already figured out breaking it is not in their best interests, thanks to some suggestions from Ethan." Ethan grinned while Giles groaned.
"I'm going to regret you two ever meeting," he mumbled under his breath. Joyce rubbed his back comfortingly. "I can feel it."
"If there are enough demons to distract and weaken her, I should be able to finish it," Faith said. Daniel nodded encouragingly.
"So that will take care of the vampire," Joyce said, struggling to get that sentence out of her mouth. She knew intellectually that the vampire was not her daughter, knew her living daughter was out there somewhere, but her heart was having a hard time accepting the fact that they were trying to kill some version of Buffy. "What about The Crimson Witch?" The same internal battle raged in regards to Willow's doppelganger.
"What if we use shadows?" Andrew suggested again as he joined them in the living room after making sure all the kids were safely tucked in bed for the night. Anya huffed.
"For the last time Andrew," Anya rolled her eyes in annoyance, "they are called Shades."
"I know they are after they make a pact with a witch," Andrew insisted, not backing down this time, "but before that they are shadows. Mostly harmless, very mischievous trouble makers that are everywhere. And right now they're furious with Willow. I bet if we ask them nicely they'll help us take her down without making the devil's pact."
"How do you know this?" Giles asked, regarding him intently.
"I summon demons," he said simply. "I've seen them all my life. They generally don't want anything to do with boys so they pretty much ignored me but I still saw them. They did mess with me a lot though."
"Mess with you?" Joyce asked. Andrew nodded.
"You know how when you're running really late your keys are never where you left them? Or if you have a big report due for school and you wait till the last minute to finish it then the printer just magically stops working? Nothing that really hurts people. Just causes mischief."
"Could they stop Willow?" Veronica asked, looking at Giles.
"Not by themselves, but they might be able to help. A distraction at a key moment could very well save our lives." He turned to Andrew. "Why are they so upset? Accepting the pact then the power struggle that comes afterward are what these creatures do. Why is this time so different?"
"Because The Crimson Witch didn't just get one," Andrew said. "She enslaved a whole hive." Giles looked hopeful.
"Can you contact them?" Giles asked. "See if they will help?" Andrew grinned.
"Summoning demons is what I do," he smirked then he looked to Anya. "Hey, since you're a demon again I could probably summon you." She glared.
"Try it and you'll lose an eye." He grinned bigger then left the room.
"You realize he's going up to his room to summon demons," Dawn said, watching him as he left. Joyce frowned.
"I thought the wards protected us against demons."
"Mainly against vampires," Giles told her. "Besides, at much as I loathe to admit it, he is a member of this household. He can invite them in."
"Wait," Faith spoke up. "Is he a danger to anyone here?" She was trying to make amends with everyone here but didn't know him at all other than the glorified babysitter.
"No," Joyce said firmly. "He's not a danger. He's family." Giles looked like he wanted to argue but stopped at a glare from Joyce.
"The little brother I never knew I wanted," Dawn said.
"Maybe we should think about getting him his own place," Joyce said thoughtfully. "Young men need their space."
"You realize that the twins are more mature than he is," Dawn argued. "And I'm talking about the babies." Giles cleared his throat.
"Yes," he agreed. "But maybe we should continue this very intriguing conversation after we deal with the current threat." This sobered them up completely. He turned to Anya. "Will you be able to use your new found powers?"
"Yes," she nodded. "As long as someone makes a wish. And it doesn't even need to be that specific. I can interpret the wish any way I want, which is why I was such a good Vengeance Demon."
"So there's one source of magic to fight Willow," Giles said. Anya looked solemn but nodded.
"I'll help," Ethan volunteered. He had been quietly sitting in a chair up until this point. Giles shook his head.
"Why not?" Faith asked. "Anya is good, but she's still just one person. We have a whole army coming for vampire B. We need all the help we can get for The Crimson Bitch."
"Chaos magic is very unpredictable," Ethan answered. "We got a taste of that unpredictability when we summoned Eyegon. A few chaps out for a laugh which turned into a nightmare." He turned quiet for a moment. "The unpredictability is very much like ripples in a pond. Eventually it will settle down but who knows what will come out of it until it does. It's one of the reasons I never settled down in one place."
"Do your damage and run away before it hurts you," Giles spat. "Still the same old Ethan."
"I won't run," Ethan said, more seriously than they had ever heard him. "I'll stay and take whatever backlash is coming for me. And I'll stay and help with whatever comes down the road."
"Why?" Giles asked, piercing him with a glare. "You've never done anything unless it benefits yourself. Why the sudden, generous change?"
"There comes a time in every man's life when he has to look back on his life and see what he's done. And let's just say, while I don't regret anything I've done, I want to do better." Giles looked at him suspiciously while Faith sighed.
"All the help we can get, right?" Giles stared at him before reluctantly nodding. "So, can your magic take Willow's?"
"No," he admitted. "Dark magic and chaos magic are too complimentary. Like using a controlled burn to fight a forest fire. I'll be able to distract and weaken, but a direct confrontation will eventually strengthen her magic."
"I'll do it." They all looked around. Nobody had even seen Tara come in. "I'm light. She's dark. Who better to fight her?"
"Tara, honey," Joyce said, putting her arm around the young woman, "are you sure you're up for this? She's essentially Willow. Can you stop you're girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Tara said confidently. "My girlfriend is out there, being held captive by her. Who knows what she's doing to my girlfriend."
"How much time do you need to prepare?" Faith asked seriously.
"I'm ready," Tara said. "I've been preparing for this day, and hoping this day would never come, since I first met her. I'm ready."
"Good," Riley said, barging in on the group. "Because we're out of time."
"Riley," Joyce gasped, looking at him. He was covered in blood. "What happened?" He waved away her concern.
"Last night we followed them to The Bronze," he explained. "Buffy danced with me and we talked."
"Talked?" Anya asked, eyeing his bloody clothes apprehensively.
"Traded ultimatums might be more accurate. She said she was tired of playing this game. I told her I would stop her." He motioned to his clothes. "This was her answer. She hit my team. She promised me the rest of the night so she didn't kill them, but if we were any later they would have bled out. That was all before midnight."
"We're out of time," Giles repeated. "And we have no idea what they are planning."
"They've been one step ahead of us this whole time," Faith spoke up. "That's because they're thinking like us. It's time we start thinking like them."
"You have an idea?" Daniel asked. Faith smirked.
"I know what I would do if I was trying to attack this group." Daniel thought about it for a few minutes before smiling. Faith turned to explain but they were interrupted when Lorne rushed into the room.
"Hey sweet thing," he rushed over to Joyce. "We've got a situation in the basement."