The two men walked side by side in argument. Their differences in character

were obvious by their appearance. One, the typical American teenager, his

personality only just emerging in his look, the way he wore his clothes. The

other, sure of who he was, his peroxide hair as much of a statement as his

black leather jeans and black tee-shirt. If a stranger were to pass them, he

would wonder how they came to be together, for they could not have anything

in common to be friends.

"I still don't know why you're tagging along."

"Tagging along?" Spike's derision was evident. "Listen mate, if I'd let you

come on your own you'd be some vamp's snack by now."

Xander turned on the English vampire, his lips curled in an oft-practised

sneer. "Well you tried for years, and I managed to outlive your grrr-ness."

"Only cause the slayer protected your sorry butt!" The two stood toe to toe,

itching to start a fight. Spike couldn't because of the chip in his head,

only his pride kept him from backing down.

Xander admitted he couldn't hit the vampire when there was no chance of an

even fight, no matter how much he hated him. 'Sides, what if he could hit

back and was only pretending? Xander didn't want to be the one to test that

particular theory. He finally stepped back. "You saying you came to protect

me?"

"No." Spike turned back toward the path. "Giles has my mug. And he said he

might actually get some Guinness in this week."

"And you think he'd share it with you? Even his bestest bud wouldn't get a

sip of that stuff, never mind one of the enemy." The two continued their

walk, both eager to reach their destination.

Spike snorted. "He's a pushover. I just lay on the sad puppy dog eyes and.,"

he paused as he noticed the front door. "Giles expecting company?"

Xander noticed what Spike was indicating. The door was leaning precariously

against the frame, almost as if somebody had knocked it down, then put it

back up. Somebody or something. He swallowed, only his concern for Giles

making his feet move forward. He looked nervously at Spike as he made his

way to the lit apartment. The vampire moved silently ahead of him. Grabbing

the door on either side, he lifted it to the side.

Xander crept over the threshold, suddenly very glad Spike had joined him on

this visit. Not seeing any rampaging demons or vampires running around, he

called out his friend's name. "Giles?" Rounding the corner, he froze at the

sight before him. "Oh man."

Spike walked around the boy, curious what shook him. Not that he was really

concerned about Giles, he just wanted some of the Englishman's secret stash

of the good booze. What he saw caused him to pause too.

The demon that Buffy and the Initiative were searching for stood in Giles'

living room, one of the Englishman's precious books open. It took the two a

moment to realise that it was also wearing his spare pair of glasses, and

that it appeared to be trying to read the words on the pages. It looked up

at the two of them, the three of them staring at each other in a frozen

tableau of shock.

Suddenly, Xander screamed, startling the two demons. Dropping the book on

the couch, the blue demon ran toward the back door. "Hey!" Spike ran to

intercept him, only to be pushed away with a growl. Before he could recover

the demon had escaped into the night. Confused, he turned back to Xander.

"H-he." Xander gulped. "It looked just like Giles! Only more demony."

....

"What are you saying?" Buffy handed Xander a mug of tea as she moved closer

to him. She looked to her left at the sound of something breaking. "Hey,

careful with that lot guys. It's really, really old." She looked at Xander

and Willow sitting on the couch. "Alright, most of the stuff here is old.

Don't break anything!"

The team of young men paused in their investigations, turning toward their

leader for a command. Riley looked over at Buffy, then shrugged his

shoulders. They want back to looking for clues, moving things around

carefully.

Xander cringed as he saw one of Riley's friends lift up a small porcelain

figurine. If Giles was there, he'd have read that guy the same riot act that

Xander'd gotten when he did the same thing. "I don't know. This guy seemed

to know what he was looking at. And, he was wearing Giles' glasses."

"This is the book?" At his nod, Willow started leafing through the pages.

"What did.." Buffy hesitated, then lowered her voice. "What did you friend

say, from out of town?"

Spike had left just before Buffy and the Initiative had turned up, slipping

through the back to return to his crypt. "My - friend - said that this kind

of demon just kept to themselves. Never mingled with any of the others.

Weren't that many around now. They'd appear in a town, wander around a bit,

then move on."

"And there was no sign of Giles?"

Xander nodded. "No sign of Giles. No sign of a struggle, except for the

door. The only thing out was the dust."

"Dust?" Riley paused as he heard Xander's comment. "As in possible vampire

dust?"

"As in household dust. The place is dusty." Xander turned back to Buffy and

Willow.

"So? Every house gets dusty."

"Not Giles'," Buffy explained, "he keeps the place spotless cause of all the

OLD," this as Forrest picked up another object. He put it down sheepishly,

"stuff here."

Willow elaborated. "He said that there's that much magic and powders and

stuff round here, we have to keep the place as clean as possible. If there's

dust, it means he hasn't been around for a few days." She glanced around

with a worried look.

Noticing Willow's concern mirrored in Buffy's eyes, he placed his hand

against her arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, we'll find him."

"I know. And he'll be alive, and human," she glared at Xander at that, "and

he'll have a very good answer for why that demon thing was here." Nodding at

her, Riley rejoined his men in their search.

"Buffy," Willow spoke her friend's name quietly. The other two looked over,

knowing she'd found something. "This book is about shape-shifting spells.

This demon was looking for."

"No!" Buffy didn't realise she'd raised her voice. "No. That - that thing is

not Giles!"

"But.."

"Drop it guys. It's not Giles! He's off sulking somewhere because I wouldn't

involve him." She walked away, fury in every step.