Candy Bar Factory
10 pm

They got back into the jeep, where (luckily) Joyce and Giles were asleep in the back
seat, clothed again. Willow and Oz woke them up, shoved them over and got in
the back seat with them, Willow on Oz' lap. Xander got in the passenger seat
and looked at Buffy sympathetically.

She shook her head and sighed;' but resolved to avoid thinking about what had
obviously just happened between Giles and her mother. She started the jeep,
just wanting to get to the Factory and stop whatever was causing this.

They arrived at the factory and walked inside, finding it empty. Buffy heard a
male voice though and homed in on it, walking down one of the hallways. The
others followed close behind. Then they saw him.

"Ethan Rayne!" Buffy shouted. Giles heard her, and walked up behind
her.

"Ethan," he greeted the man.

"Ripper," Ethan nodded back. He flashed both of them a grin, then turned and
ran.

Giles and Buffy ran after him, leaving the others to wonder what to do next. "I
think she would've said, 'Help', if she wanted it," Willow offered. The others
nodded.

"Wow, look at all that chocolate," Xander said. The entire factory was filled
with ceiling-high stacks of boxes, presumably all filled with the chocolate bars.

"Yeah, that's quite a supply of cursed chocolate," Willow said. "That's pretty
cool," she added. At Xander and Oz's confused looks, she said, "Hey, I didn't
say _I_ wanted to help them. I'm a _good_ witch."

They looked up as Buffy and Giles dragged a dazed and beaten Ethan Raynes back
over to the group. "He needs to be tied up 'til we can figure out what to do with
him," Buffy said.

Joyce pulled a set of handcuffs out of her back jeans pocket, and winked at
Buffy. "Um..."

Buffy gave her mother a horrified look, "_Never_ tell me!" She insisted. She took
the handcuffs and secured Ethan to a nearby table leg. She explained what Ethan had
confessed. "The candy was a distraction to get rid of the adults for a while. A
vampire guy named Trick is behind it. He's on his way to the hospital to steal
babies for an offering to some Lurconis demon. I'm going to stop him."

"I'm with," Xander said.

"Fine, but where do you think we should go?" Buffy asked. "Ethan wasn't
much help on that one."

Giles said in a far-off voice, "'Lurconis dwells beneath the city, filth to
filth.'"

Buffy looked at him in surprise, "What?"

"Oooh!" Giles looked at her eagerly. "I know this. Uh... I knew this." He
frowned again in concentration. "Lurconis means... 'glutton'. And we'll find
him.. um...in the sewers."

"The sewers?" Joyce gave Giles a 'my hero' look before hugging him.

"Okay, Giles," Buffy replied, "We're going to the sewers."

Joyce kissed Giles and Buffy groaned, "And don't do that!" She stomped
out of the room, with Giles and Xander close at her heels.

*********
Sewer System
10:30 pm

Buffy, Giles and Xander arrived at the sewer tunnel in question. Buffy was the
first in, and saw several vampires standing around four babies. Then she noticed the
Mayor..."The Mayor?" Buffy shook her head. "I'll figure you out later," she threw at him.

She saw the vampire Trick standing near a shallow pool at the end of one tunnel, having recognized him from Ethan's description. "I'm going to have to kill you now," she warned.
Just then a large demon-snake emerged from the tunnel where the pool was, grabbed the
nearest thing, in this case a vampire, and retreated again.

"What the hell was that?" Giles asked, his expression one of shock.

"Lurconis, I'm thinking," Buffy shrugged.

"Ordinarily, I like other people to do my fighting for me, but I just gotta see
what you got," Trick said, approaching her.

Buffy smiled and replied, "Just tell me when it hurts." Before she could move,
though, Giles rushed past her and pushed her back.

"Giles! No!" Buffy yelled in protest.

He threw a punch at Trick's face, but Trick then grabbed him by the shirt and
threw him into the pool. The vampire then made a run for it, but Xander tripped him.
When he jumped to his feet, Xander staked him. He threw a smile at Buffy and she
smiled back. She heard a rumbling coming from the tunnel, though, and ran to help Giles
out of the pool.

She looked around for a weapon to use against the demon. She saw a gas pipe
above her, and pulled it loose from the ceiling. She pointed the free end at one of
the torches on the wall, and flames spewed out from it. Perfect timing, she realized,
as the demon emerged from the tunnel to become engulfed in flames. It shrieked and retreated.

"Well, that was fun," Buffy said, as she, Xander and Giles retrieved the babies
from where the other vamps had abandoned them.

***********
11 pm

The entire group sat around Giles' living room. Buffy couldn't stop glaring
alternately at Giles and her mom.

"What?" Joyce asked self-consciously. "I don't remember much. What did I do?"

"'What did I do?????'" Buffy looked at her in amazement. "Oh, forget it," she
muttered, leaning back against Xander's side. "That insanity is _not_ something I
want to think about anymore. In fact, come here," she said to Xander, dragging
him outside.

"Okay," Xander chuckled. "That was--" he was prevented from finishing his thought
when Buffy threw herself at him, capturing his lips in a kiss.
"Mmph," was next, as his back hit the wall. Not that he wasn't enjoying himself.
He wrapped his arms around Buffy's waist, and kissed her back passionately.

The others inside looked at each other and gave a collective shrug at Buffy
and Xander's quick departure. "Gotta tell you, Giles," Oz remarked, "You must've
been pretty wild in your day. Ripper?"

"Yes, well, um..." Giles fumbled for words. Finally, having none to offer, he
shrugged and wandered down the hall.

"Now that was more like the Giles we know and love," Oz said. Everyone jumped
as they heard the loud thud from outside on the wall, and looked at each other
again. Willow giggled, guessing what it was, but recovered quickly. "Uh, a bird
flew into the side of the house?" she suggested.

They all looked at her in amazement. "Willow, I think that chocolate did something
to you, too," Oz finally said.

"What, I'm not allowed to have a weird sense of humor, occasionally?" she asked.

*********
Outside

"What was that for?" Xander asked breathlessly, after Buffy finally pulled away
and leaned her head on his chest. He pulled her closer, however, quite content with
staying where they were.

"Driving away bad mental images," Buffy replied, looking up at him with her eyes
twinkling.

"Oh. Okay," he smiled back. "Glad I could be of assistance." He then leaned
in again, intent on helping her to further remove those bad mental images.


***************
End Three