She concluded her story with, "Xander, Willow, Oz, and I all went back to the vamp lair this morning with weapons to try to catch the gang off guard but no one was there. They might have just holed up somewhere else for the day, but who knows where or why."
"Buffy, may I examine the ring?" Giles asked.
"Sure." She pulled it off her finger and passed it across the table to him.
"Well?" Xander prompted. "What is it?"
"I can't tell from just a glance," Giles informed him. "Gemology is hardly my area of expertise. I shall have to do some research."
"The stone looks like a ruby," Willow guessed.
"Possibly," Giles agreed. "Which in and of itself means nothing. Whatever the stone, this ring could be any of a number of things: cursed or enchanted, for instance. Or it might simply be an ordinary ring. However, we'd rather be safe than sorry."
"What about the other gift?" Xander asked. "The knife?"
"Dagger." Buffy gave Giles the box that contained the small weapon.
He lifted it out and studied it. "Very intricate workmanship. The hilt is quite fine. I'll research this item, as well. Now, Buffy, have you any idea who has been sending these gifts to you?"
"My first guess was Angel, until I got the dagger. That just doesn't seem like something he would send me, especially anonymously. Now I don't know who could be doing it. I suppose my only other guess is Riley Finn. He's the teaching assistant in my psychology class and I think he likes me. But why would he send me a dagger, either? Anyway, other than those two, I have no clue."
Giles tapped his fingers on the table for a moment. "Well, if it is indeed Angel, that will be a great load off of all our minds. Best to contact him immediately and find out. You can use my phone."
"Right." Buffy stood and slowly moved toward the telephone.
While she placed the call, the others continued to debate various possibilities. Xander thought Angel was responsible and was annoyed that the vampire was jerking Buffy around again. Willow suspected Riley and thought it was sweet that Buffy had a chance at a normal boyfriend, even if he did have questionable taste in gifts. Giles simply hoped they figured out the individual's identity soon. They hadn't come any closer to agreeing by the time Buffy returned from her call.
She dropped down onto her chair. "It wasn't Angel."
"Are you *sure*?" Willow pressed.
"Yes. It definitely wasn't him. I talked to him directly and he's still in Los Angeles. He hasn't sent me a thing and he had no idea what I was talking about when I asked him."
Willow smiled. "You really do have a secret admirer, then."
Buffy frowned. "Yeah, one who sends me weapons as gifts. Must be a Hellmouth thing."
"Or maybe it's an admirer with a split personality," Xander suggested. "Which is of comfort to no one, including myself."
Giles cleared his throat. "I'm afraid it is quite possible these presents are not coming from an 'admirer' at all. Look at the evidence: a dagger, a strange ring. These are very disturbing signs. Buffy, you could be in grave danger. I fear these gifts might be coming from an enemy who wants to challenge you. "
*****
While Buffy and the others were drawing the wrong conclusions about the anonymous gift-giver, an oblivious Spike was trying to be patient. However, he was fighting a losing battle. He was a vampire of action, and he was anxious to learn if the Slayer had liked his first two offerings. He also had no idea if she had located her belongings yet. The least he could do was go over to her room and leave a helpful note on her door. And if he happened to notice her about, he'd could just check out her hands to see if she was wearing the ring. He had to know if he'd made any progress yet.
He impatiently waited until it was dark and therefore safe for him to emerge from his den. His little sunlight allergy was seriously cramping his style. He had to be able to approach Buffy during the day as well as at night or his plans would never work out, but Spike figured he had that problem in hand. He had minions slaving away on the solution even as he thought about it.
He cautiously entered Stevenson Hall and crept up to the Slayer's floor. He had detected no sign of her thus far, which meant chances were, she was in her room. If so, he could lurk outside and wait for her to emerge. He knew from his contacts that she still patrolled almost every night and she was bound to come out sooner or later.
Moving carefully to avoid attracting any particular attention, Spike approached Buffy's door and hovered outside. He strained his senses and realized she wasn't home. There was no telling when she would show up now. Should he leave a note informing her about the vampire lair? As he considered, Spike noticed something strange. He smelled...well, it wasn't quite a demon, but it wasn't quite human, either. The most likely explanation was it was the scent of a demon trying to pass itself off as human. Whatever it was, the smell was coming from the Slayer's room. Spike wasn't going to let anything happen to Buffy on his watch. If a demon had invaded her home, he would do his best to "take care" of the problem. He raised his hand and firmly tapped on the door.
"Come in!" called a female voice from inside the room.
An invitation; how convenient. Spike slipped inside, then shut and secretly locked the door behind himself to ensure privacy. The sole occupant of the room was a perky-looking, dark-haired girl who outwardly appeared to be quite human. "You must be Buffy's roommate."
"Yeah, I'm Kathy. So, you're a friend of hers?"
"You could say that." He edged closer and finally placed the masked scent. The "girl" was actually a Mok'tagar demon. From the little he could recall about them, they were extremely dangerous, disagreeable types. "So, you know when Buffy'll be back?" Spike made idle conversation as he pondered what to do. He could blow his cover and warn the Slayer about the situation. He could force the demon to tell him her plans and move on from there. He could allow events to play out as they would, culminating in whatever the demon had in mind. Or, he could simply kill the creature, thus eradicating the problem. It took him about a half second to settle on the last option.
Spike racked his brain for the most effective method of doing in a Mok'tagar demon. Decapitation, staking, direct sunlight, drawing and quartering, cremating...Oh, screw it. He couldn't remember and decided to go with the tried and true, time-honored neck snap. There was a reason it was a classic.
"Nice poster," he interrupted the demon's ramble about Buffy's potential whereabouts. He nodded at the ugly picture of Celine Dion on the wall behind Kathy.
She smiled brightly. "Yeah, isn't it pretty?"
Just as he had expected, she turned her head to look at the poster. Spike promptly struck, taking out the "girl" with one powerful blow. He dropped the dead body at his feet and waited for it to revert to demon form, but it stubbornly continued to look unrelentingly human. That wouldn't do at all. How would Buffy know he had saved her from possible torture and death if she didn't know her roommate was a demon? Spike poked the body with his foot. "Go on, change. Melt into a pile of goo. Do *something*." No luck.
What now? As he weighed his options, Spike heard a key scrape at the locked door. In a sterling example of horrible timing, the Slayer was back! He couldn't let her catch him in her room. He could predict the scenario already: Buffy would walk in, spy the vampire she thought was her mortal enemy standing over the dead body of her supposedly human roommate, and immediately attempt to send Spike to the dustbuster.
While he was fairly confident he could hold his own against her, Spike didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. He scanned the room for an escape route and settled on the windows. He dashed over to the nearest one, pushed the blinds aside, and shoved the window open. As the door began to swing wide, Spike dived out headfirst and twisted in the air so he would at least land on his side instead of his head. Good thing the Slayer lived on only the second story. He bounced hard on the ground, gathered himself, and took off at a dead run. He wasn't going to stick around to hear Buffy's reaction to her "friend's" death.