Giles was wearing an open trenchoat and a dress shirt and tie instead of his usual tweed. There was a disapproving scowl on his face as he studied Buffy. The silence was broken only by the song emanating from what appeared to be a boombox that Giles was carrying. In his other hand he held a leather briefcase.
Lyrics: He said "Now that I have your attention, I've somethin' I wanna say; you may not wanna hear it, I'm gonna tell it to ya anyway.
"Well, fancy meeting you here," said Giles, in his best annoyed-with-the-Chosen-One voice.
Buffy couldn't even speak. Her mind was racing with thoughts of how Giles had managed to get here. Had he known about this place all along?
Lyrics: You know, I've always liked you boy, 'cause you were not afraid of me; but things're gonna get mighty rough, here in Gomorrah by the sea."
He stopped the music. "Hard to imagine that such a harmless-looking, pretty little thing as yourself could be the focus of such an absolute bollocks." he said, his gaze frank and his tone oddly admiring.
Buffy felt herself blushing a little at Giles' words. He'd never spoken to her like this before, and his manner was so...different. "G-Giles? How did you get here? What's going on?!"
Something dark and haunted seemed to flash through Giles' eyes at the mention of his name. "My name, girl, is Martin Deveraux. It is my sad task to deal with the problems that your arrival has precipitated. Quick question, though. How did you know my birth name? I've seen no trace of you before this night. And given your...method of operation, it should have proved simple to track your whereabouts by simply following the screams and explosions."
"You're not Giles," said Buffy. "At least you're not my Giles. You're from this world. Oh man, does that mean there's another me or Angel or Spike running around?"
"Don't know about the last two. But I should think that you are unique and not represented here," Deveraux stated. "God help us if there's two of you roaming the cosmos."
"Hey! Giles or no Giles, I don't need this!" said Buffy, her eyes flashing.
"You know, you're rather cute when you're angry." Buffy pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Oh, don't mind me," said Deveraux. "I always get a little testy when my world is about to become even more of a Hell than it already is."
"Deveraux. Wait a second, you're their boss. You sent us on the mission. Look, I think it's okay. Melissa and this Nosfer-something kid are going to get the Dagger, so the danger's off. We've still gotta find that wolf-cub though. And I've got a few questions for Melissa when I see her."
He sighed. "Just what I was afraid of. Can you remember what she said, if anything, when you parted?"
"She was kind of mad. She really wanted me to come with her. But I remembered a little of what she said about the police being under the vampires' control. I decided to draw them off and give her a chance to get away. If they got her in jail, she'd probably get exposed to sunlight, or she might kill her way out of jail."
"Very noble. That's probably why she likes you," said Deveraux.
"Okay, look. In short, simple words, what's going on?!"
"Melissa and Andru are traitors to the organization. After several hundred years of research and searching, Melissa has found a gateway to the demon plane as well as a ritual of control of demons. She presented herself as a minor vampire and infilitrated our organization. She eventually corrupted Andru to her cause, most likely by promising to cure him and his sister. She then utilized her ties to the Sabbat to contact Pentex and convince them of the desirability of having a stable base of operations on a second world, yours. Again using her influence, she insinuated the ritual parameters into the construction plans, using Pentex as dupes to prepare the ground.
"The Dagger is the key. By smearing it with blood from a potent denizen of your world and taking the life of someone of potence here, she will open the gate and bring the demons here. Once here, she'll use them as an unstoppable army to seize control of the world. Your world, alas, will be reduced to so much cosmic dust by the forces unleashed in the opening. I should expect that Andru, if he's unlucky enough to find her after his escape, will probably be the sacrifice.
"Of course, she's not acting alone. She'll effectively control the Sabbat of this town, since you helped her eliminate her competition, such as it was, within the Sabbat here. Come now, Buffy. Didn't it seem just a bit coincidental that you got attacked as soon as you arrived? In any case, your wound provided her with the blood she needed."
"If all this is true, then why did she save me?" asked Buffy, not wanting to believe. It was horrible enough to have been betrayed once by a vampire she'd let herself trust. Twice would be too much to bear.
"Given that you're wearing one of those godawful shirts she enjoys so much, I'd say she probably likes you after a fashion. She wanted you with her so that you'd be protected when the demons arrived. When they do come, anything within several hundred miles that isn't mystically protected will be annihilated.
"As for why you, I don't really know. She's shown an odd tendency to 'adopt' the occasional human, at least until she gets bored with them. You're her most recent best friend/lover/slave/pet and eventual midnight snack. Hell, she's a Malkavian, who knows why she does what she does?
"Speaking of which, that's how she was so successful in infiltrating us. Her clan weakness, which she explained to you, I saw from the tapes, is her greatest strength. She can actually create a surface personality that's so strong that it defies most of the methods of examining the personality. She actually believes for a time that she's Melissa Wu, sixteen year-old ex-prostitute vampire. Of course the real Melissa is always there, guiding the other personality's actions and gathering information to strike.
"I'd had suspicions that something was going wrong in the Rat Pack. There were a couple too many blown operations and convenient deaths. It finally came out for me a week ago, when I was contacted by a Tremere who'd seen her and remembered her from a couple centuries back when she infiltrated their clan. Andru found out about it and they kicked into overdrive before I was ready. I'd still thought I had time. I assume that Melissa dominated Scratches into going and getting you. She'd probably been watching you for some time. You say there's another me on your world? Not surprising. From what I heard you say about the Slayer's task, you probably need somebody to help you kick arse and take names."
Buffy sat at the table, her eyes open in shock. She could feel the truth in his words. Finally she said. "Um, my Giles isn't like that. He's a librarian."
He shrugged. "Still, I'll bet there aren't many overdue books there. Most librarians don't have ten years in Her Majesty's SAS."
"What's that?" asked Buffy.
"SAS, Special Air Services. Sort of like your Navy Seals or Special Forces, except we use intelligence and planning instead of just firepower and electronic toys. I changed my name after I left there and entered the organization. Didn't want to be traced by my military record." Deveraux shook his head. "Your question just shows another problem with you Yanks. You don't know bollocks about things outside your own immediate environment. If you'd watch a bit of the History channel instead of 'Jerry Springer' you'd be a hell of a lot better off. Oh well, at least you're willing to learn."
"Whatever you need, I'll help you. I've already let a lot of people get hurt because I trusted one vampire. I'm not about to let it happen again," said Buffy, her voice grim with determination.
"Good girl," said Deveraux, a tiny note of approval creeping into his tone. "Here's what we're going to do."
