"Well, you were right. I hope it doesn't swell your head." Buffy crouched, trying to get a better look at the cadaver.

"This is not the sort of affirmation one desires." Giles looked around, his rifle at port arms.

"Whoever these guys are, they enjoy their work." Faith looked over Buffy's shoulder and shook her head.

Buffy stood up and brushed her hands against her jeans. "So we know where they were. What now?" Giles pointed with the barrel of his rifle. Buffy followed the gesture. Lindsay and Gerard were bent low, studying the ground as they moved in slow concentric circles. The blonde Slayer looked at her Watcher. "Tell me this has a purpose. I don't want to live if they're just doing that for fun."

Before Giles could reply, Lindsay stopped and waved. "Got it. Headed this way."

"Let me guess," Buffy said. "Watcher school?"

"We are well trained," Giles said as he walked toward Lindsay.

***

The Rosenberg's doorbell sounded with a tasteful understated peal. Willow flung open the door and gasped. She took an involuntary step back as a hand flew to her throat.

"I need your help." Angel glanced over his shoulder then turned back to Willow. She simply stood and stared at him, goggle-eyed. He stepped forward and was brought up short at the door. "Willow, I need your help. Buffy's in danger."

Willow blinked and shuddered. "I'm sorry," she said. "What did you say about needing help?"

Angel licked his lips. "Willow, I know this is a shock, but--"

"A shock?" Willow's voice was tinged with hysteria. "No, no. Finding my dad with a ham sandwich, that would be a shock. This... this is..." She shuddered and looked at him. "What are you even doing here?"

"I told you. Buffy's in danger and I need--"

"No, no." Willow shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense, it--"

Angel lunged forward and slammed into the invisible barrier. "Willow!" She gulped and stared at him. "I know this is bizarre. But this isn't about me. Someone I believe told me that the Slayers were in danger. I need your help." He looked at her, trying to lock her eyes with his.

Willow ran her hands through her hair. "Listen, this is weirdness." She shook her head again. "I want to help if Buffy's in danger, but how can I trust you? I mean, we don't even know why you're back, or how... and you show up here?" Her pleading eyes looked into Angel's. "How can I trust you?"

He nodded. "You want proof. Okay." He began to unbutton his black silk shirt.

***

The waxing moon had risen in the night sky. Stars glittered in hard little points of light. Buffy found herself wishing that she'd brought a heavier jacket.

"Hey B." Faith walked easily beside her. "Thanks for the Thanksgiving invite."

"No big," Buffy said.

"Yeah it is." Faith turned her face toward the sky. "Almost makes me feel like a real girl."

"What?" Buffy turned her head to look at the dark-haired girl.

"You know, like a normal human being." The brunette took a deep breath. "Do you think this is how Superman feels? I mean, having powers and being able to do shit, it kinda makes things like family dinner seem really cool. Like being a spy in the house of the wholesome."

Buffy thought for a moment, lips pursed. "I don't know if I'm down with the Superman simile but yeah, I know what you mean."

Faith's lips curved in a small, secret smile. "As much as anyone can."

"What's that mean?" Buffy frowned.

Faith shrugged. "Don't wig over it. It's just that you've got your mom and your friends. You've got this whole life that you can fall back into."

They walked a ways in silence as the Watchers continued to scour the terrain for their quarry's spoor. Buffy looked straight ahead when she finally spoke. "As far as I'm concerned, you're part of it too."

There was another space of easy silence, then Faith said, "Thanks."

***

Xander finished punching in Cordelia's number as he went to answer the knock at the door. The receiver buzzed in his ear as he reached for the knob. As he opened the door Cordelia's voice uttered a slightly tinny "Hello."

"Ngaaaahhhh!" Xander exclaimed, stumbling backward. He caught himself before he fell. "Will, what are you doing? Get in here."

Willow shook her head. "Xander, don't--" Her voice spiraled into a squeak as he reached across the threshold and yanked her into the house.

"Xander, we don't have time for this." Willow tried to pull away but Xander held on tight.

"Listen to her," Angel said from the porch.

"Why? Did you put some vampire mojo on her, dead boy?" Xander looked over the struggling Willow's shoulder.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris!" Willow twisted free. She stamped her foot. "He says that Buffy needs us. She's walking into a trap and she doesn't know it."

"Well if she knew about it, it wouldn't exactly be a trap, would it?" Xander waggled his eyebrows.

"This is not the time for jokes." Willow stuck out her chin.

"See, I think it is, because I think this is all a joke." Xander pointed toward the porch. "I think he waited until we were all used to him being back, and now that we've let down our guard and Buffy's on patrol, he's coming after us."

"Xander..." Angel's voice held a world of menace.

"See? You hear that?" Xander pointed again. "If that's not crazy blood-lust in his voice, I don't know what it is."

"It's annoyance at your stupidity," Angel offered.

"He says Buffy needs us," Willow said.

"And we believe him why?" Xander asked. "How does he know she's in danger?"

"Someone told me. Someone I believe." Angel tried to look reasonable and trustworthy. Xander looked at Willow.

"You believe him?" he said in a weak voice. Willow nodded. A burst of raspy noise broke the silence.

"Is that your phone?" Willow asked.

Xander scooped up the receiver, trying to ignore Angel glaring at him from outside. "Sorry," he said. "What? No, everything's okay. Yes, that is a lie. Willow's here with Angel trying to convince me that Buffy's in danger and we should go with Angel to rescue her. What?" He turned to Willow and held out the phone, a sheepish look on his face. "Cordelia wants to talk to you."

"What?" Willow grabbed the phone. "Cordelia, I don't have time for-- What? Yeah. Let me ask." She covered the mouthpiece and turned to Angel. "Would these be the same evil spawn responsible for this week's death fest?"

Angel hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. Probably."

"Angel says he's almost positive," Willow said. "Yeah. Okay." She handed the phone to Xander.

"Cor, I--" Xander stopped, listening. "What? No, I don't. I don't think--" He fumed for a minute. "Okay." He pressed the disconnect button and turned to the others. "She'll be here in ten minutes."

"Great," Willow said, taking the phone from him. "That's just enough time to call Oz."

***

"The Name of the Game" was in the middle of its twenty-third play when Oz heard the phone ring.

***

Finding the trail had grown exponentially easier. Buffy could feel the adrenaline rising, sense the edge creeping into her system. Faith looked calm, but Buffy could sense her racing pulse and hear her rapid breathing.

"What do you think it'll be?" Faith asked.

Buffy shrugged. "Couldn't even guess. One thing I've learned from fighting demons, it's to keep an open mind."

"Hey Lindsay, what if these tranquilizers don't work on what we find?" Faith's voice sounded too loud in the cooling night air.

Lindsay grinned. "How fast can you run?"

***

The significance of their spacing was not lost on Angel. Willow was closest to him, but she was well out of arm's reach. Oz stood just behind her. Cordelia was three or four steps behind him, and Xander was behind her, his arm around her waist.

"He can ride in the back of the van." Oz was answering Xander's question regarding transportation. Dingoes had recently gotten a strong steel mesh barrier welded into the van about a third of the way back. It kept equipment from sliding forward but it would also restrain a vampire. Oz looked at Angel.

"Good," Xander said. "He's not getting close to me."

Angel swallowed the first reply that his brain produced. "You don't have to come."

Xander's eyes narrowed. "That'd be great, wouldn't it? No. I'm going. But I'm walking behind you."

"Fine," Angel said. "As long as you don't get in the way. Now can we go?" He headed toward the back of Oz's van.

"How are we gonna find her?"

Xander's question froze Angel. His mind was completely, utterly blank. He turned back, his mouth open, and a huge question in his eyes. A smug 'told-you-so' look flitted across Xander's face. It morphed into dismay when Willow spoke.

"I could maybe do a locator spell," she said.

***

Giles used his elbows to pull his prone body the last few feet to the top of the knoll. Executing this maneuver in a tweed jacket made him look like something out of a Monty Python sketch gone seriously awry. None of the four people with him commented on this; they were too busy performing their own version of it.

"There they are," Lindsay whispered.

In spite of the danger and the adrenaline, Giles felt a sense of disappointment. Anything can become commonplace if faced often enough and the five creatures below them were only werewolves. Five of the biggest, cruelest looking werewolves he'd ever seen, but werewolves nevertheless. He took off his glasses and placed them in his pocket, then raised the index finger of his right hand. Count initiated, he lowered the hand to the stock of the rifle. He settled his cheek against the smooth curve of walnut and sighted through the scope. The crosshairs-and-post intersected on the chest of one of the wolves. He took a breath, let half of it out and held it. The silent count reached ten. He squeezed the trigger. The rifle's report sounded like a bad cough and the slight recoil caused the target to vanish from his scope. He pulled out his glasses, fumbled with them for a moment, then got them on his face. He peered over the top of his gun. Three of the beasts were slumping to the ground as the powerful narcotics entered their systems. Giles opened the rifle's bolt and reached into his pocket for another dart. His peripheral vision registered Lindsay performing the same maneuver. He brought the rifle up just as the two remaining brutes turned and raced away.

Buffy started to rise but Giles grabbed her wrist. "Wait," he said. "See if they come back." Five agonizing minutes crept past. "Let's go," Giles said. They rose to their feet and proceeded down the hill with great caution. When they reached the bottom, the three Watchers began to examine the werewolves.

Gerard cocked his head, looking at a shoulder joint. "Rupert," he said, "look here. This is not normal. These creatures have been altered." Giles stared at the monster.

"Lindsay?" he said.

"Something's spooky here too," she said.

"I don't want to sound snotty, but we could have told you that." The Watchers turned to look at Buffy. She raised her eyebrows and jerked a thumb toward the night sky. They looked up. A three-quarter moon hung in the sky. Sudden motion brought their gaze back to earth. Shadowy figures were approaching on all sides. Light glinted off yellow eyes and bared fangs.

Buffy went into combat stance. "Does anyone else think this is not a coincidence? Or am I just being paranoid?"

"Hey," Faith said, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

***

The van screeched to a halt, rocking on its blown shocks. The red Sebring stopped more smoothly. Xander got out of the passenger side, a baseball bat in his hands. He, Willow and Cordelia gathered on the grass while Oz opened the back door of the van. Angel sprawled on the floor. He pulled himself up to a crouch and got out of the van. "Nice stop," he said.

"Where are we?" Cordelia said, tucking her hands inside the sleeves of her cable-knit sweater.

"I think this is part of the U's farm," Oz said.

"UCS has a farm?" Xander asked.

Oz shrugged. "They have an agriculture department. They gotta practice somewhere."

Willow pointed. "They should be over there, past those trees." Angel was already heading toward the timber. The others followed. Xander was last.

***

The Slayers and Watchers were outnumbered, but not overwhelmed. These were obviously Hampton's vamps and while they were tough they were also unimaginative. They showed no patience or strategy, simply boring in and hoping to overwhelm the five by numbers. Buffy and Faith reaped a terrible harvest among them, crisscrossing the ad-lib defensive circle to help the Watchers repel each sortie. The number of attackers began to dwindle, which was fortunate. Buffy's shoulders and thighs burned with fatigue from the sheer number of punches and kicks she'd thrown. The fight could not last much longer. Then she heard a sound that chilled her blood. Two long, ululating howls floated through the air. The two werewolves were returning.

Angel came over the top of the rise and looked down into the depression beneath him. Five figures formed a rough defensive perimeter against the assaults of a vampire mob. As he watched two silvery-black shapes raced across the turf toward the melee.

"What are those?" Willow asked.

"Werewolves," Angel replied. He sprinted down the hill. Willow turned to Oz.

"I don't-" she said.

"I don't either," he replied. "Let's go." They followed Angel down the hill.

"Damn," Xander said. "He wasn't lying, and he's still probably going to get me killed."

The five of them crashed into the rear of the milling phalanx of vampires. The element of surprise carried them the first few feet, then the vamps regrouped and closed around them.

***

A tall, hard-looking vampire named Booker arrived at Mr. Trick's side. "Her friends have arrived."

Trick shrugged, thrusting his hands deeper into the pockets of his black trench coat. "Means nothing. Leave me and wait for the signal." Booker withdrew.

***

Buffy kicked a vampire squarely in the chest. It hurtled backwards, wiping out three comrades. Something grabbed her by the shoulder. She whirled, fist already flying. Angel barely ducked the punch. She stared at him. "What are you doing here?" she screamed over the din of combat.

"Came to help," he replied, punching a vampire in the face.

"I won't turn it down." She drove an elbow into a vampire's nose and turned back to the battle. The werewolves circled the fray and howled, but the close quarters prevented them from coming fully into play. They darted into gaps to snap and slash, but the crush of bodies forced them back. Buffy's arms felt like lead. She gasped for breath. Then there was no one in front of her. She glanced around. The vampire rabble was thinned. The wolves advanced. Giles and Lindsay raised their rifles. Sweat poured down Buffy's face and arms; her quivering legs could barely support her. Faith stumbled into her. Both of them staggered, then the brunette Slayer righted herself. Blood, sweat and fluids of some noxious origin covered her. The Scooby Gang was all engaged. Angel pounded a vamp with both fists. Buffy raised her aching hands.

***

Mr. Trick looked at Booker and raised a hand. The tall vamp spoke into a walkie-talkie and a cadre of vamps dressed in black fatigues materialized out of the trees. They paused for a heartbeat and then rushed the fighting.

***

Buffy drove a stake through a ragged vampire's heart. The force of the blow carried her forward onto one knee. She placed one hand on the ground to push herself upright and felt a strange, thrumming vibration.

"What now?" she yelled at Faith.

Faith looked up and emitted a sound that might have been a masochistic laugh, but when she spoke her voice was level and composed. "Now," she said, "we are screwed."

***

Trick watched his forces hit the exhausted band. The Scoobies absorbed the blow and began to fight back. Trick shook his head and began to walk down the incline.

***

Trick's forces struck hard. Buffy screamed as she broke an arm across her thigh, but the scream was as much exhaustion and pain as adrenaline. She staked the squealing demon and looked for her next victim. She was in a target-rich environment. In fact, she was surrounded, cut off from the other Scoobies. None of the vamps attacked; they simply circled, looking for an opening. Buffy held up the stake.

"Come on," she said in a dry, raspy voice. "Don't be shy. Plenty to go around. Who's first?"

"How about me?"

She turned, thrusting. A black-clad forearm blocked the blow, then darted snake-like around her arm and pinned it. A hand grabbed her ponytail. Her head filled with a diffuse, burning pain as it was jerked upright. She looked into a chiseled, handsome face and watched the virile features slide into ridges and the eyes turn a glowing yellow.

"Say good night," Mr. Trick said.

Buffy felt her neck pop as he twisted her head to the side. A giddy swirl of star-splashed night sky filled her vision and then she felt again that singular, piercing pain of the vampire's bite. The acid heat radiated through her and one by one the stars dimmed and went out, until all was blackness.

***

Angel looked up and saw Trick release Buffy and wipe his mouth on a white handkerchief. Buffy slid to the ground with a peculiar boneless ease. The others saw it too. The fighting froze for a nanosecond. Then Trick raised a hand, snapped his fingers and turned away. The demons roared and attacked.

***

Willow turned in a complete circle. Some of the vampires were gone, but the battle raged on all sides and the Scoobie Gang was outnumbered. Cordelia was on the ground, face covered in blood; Xander stood over her, swinging his baseball bat. Giles had reversed his grip on the tranquilizer rifle and brandished it like a club. Faith was a fury, kicks and punches coming in a blur. It was inspiring, but it would not be enough. A gap opened in front of Willow and she saw one of the werewolves slip into the opening. The beast saw her. Its eyes glowed. Willow raised her stick as the hellish brute crouched. As it sprang, her last thought raced through her head: This is how I will die.

The werewolf soared through the air. At the peak of its leap, Willow felt something buzz past her ear. From far away there was a sharp crack and the wolf's head exploded in a cloud of red mist, white bone, and gray matter. Drops of the gelatinous goo splattered the stunned girl. She stood there, rooted to the spot. A vampire pulled back its fist to strike Angel. The arm disappeared, or at least a large section of the limb between the shoulder and elbow evaporated. The same flat crack sounded in Willow's ears. The vampire screamed. It would not die, but it could be maimed. Three more reports echoed in the night air, so close together they overlapped. Willow saw a werewolf spin around, a long red arc unfurling from between its shoulder blades to etch a lazy spiral through space. The battle faltered. Another sharp slap split the air and a vampire's head disintegrated in a haze of dust, followed closely by its body. The vampires broke off and ran. None of the Scoobies gave chase. Willow turned on wobbly legs. The three tranquilized werewolves lay sprawled on the grass.

"Giles," Willow called, raising her voice, "what about--"

Willow jumped as the night air was torn. She was looking at the closest werewolf. Its right eye popped like a jelly doughnut. A nanosecond later the back of the creature's head blew out, a wide crescent-shaped smear of gore saturating the ground. Willow's screams almost drowned out the shots that ruptured the heads of the other two changelings.

***

"Nice shooting."

"Thanks. You owe me ten bucks."

"Like hell."

"I hit both of mine right through the eye. You got the inside corner."

"Hey, I'm the one that hit a moving target. Don't forget that."

"Don't try and claim that was skill. I know luck when I see it."

"You wish. Come on, let's go."