"Aside from having a dead roommate, I'm officially homeless," Buffy noted. "My dorm room is now a crime scene. Oh, well, at least it's a Saturday so I have all weekend to look for another place to live."
"You can move in with me," Willow offered. "My roommate decided to drop out of school. Side effect of murder on campus."
"I'm benefitting already from Kathy's death. Somehow that doesn't seem right."
"That's for sure," Xander agreed. "Suddenly things aren't so innocent anymore. I mean, rings and daggers as gifts are one thing, but dead bodies? Gruesome isn't a harsh enough word for it."
Buffy winced. "So you're saying the only reason Kathy is dead is because she was my roommate and someone wanted to get to me through her? Gee, I feel special. I mean, I didn't like her much, but I sure never wished anything like that on her." She looked at each of her companions. "I don't want any of you alone until we find and slay the killer. Whoever it is could come after anyone next."
Willow nodded. "What about your mother?"
"She's out of town on business for a while so she should be safe. By the time she comes back, we'll have things under control--I hope."
"What do the police think?" Xander asked. "What did you tell them?"
Buffy shrugged. "What *could* I tell them? Suspected vampire attack? Evil demon? All I could say was that I found the body and I didn't see who did it. Of course I have my suspicions. No one on campus noticed anything out of the ordinary--no strangers, or noises, or anything really obvious. So we can assume the killer was some sort of demon that can pass itself off as being human. I vote vampire."
"Yeah, but wouldn't a vamp have drained Kathy instead of breaking her neck?" Oz pointed out.
Xander nodded. "Right, why would a creature that lives off that stuff let all that blood go to waste? It doesn't make any sense."
Giles removed his glasses. "On the other hand, Buffy had a recent run-in with a vampire gang that later gained an invitation inside her room. However, complicating matters is the fact that an unknown party stopped those same vampires from killing Buffy just a few nights ago, and we still don't know the identity of the party who has been sending Buffy the packages."
"We have a starting point, though: Sunday and company." Buffy stood up. "I vote that we go back to their home base and see if they've turned up yet."
Giles held up a hand. "Wait one moment, Buffy. We have a lot of ground to cover quickly and we should get organized first. Xander, Oz, you two go to the morgue and try to get a close look at Kathy's body to see if you can spot any clues that may have been overlooked. Willow, you can help me with research. Buffy, check out the vampire lair, but be careful."
Everyone else murmured words of agreement, and the group split up for the time being.
*****
Meanwhile, Spike was not a happy vampire. Being wanted for murder didn't bother him a bit, but having Buffy out for his blood did. Matters were not proceeding as he had planned--not at all.
He was sick and tired of running away from the Slayer. Just once, he wanted *her* to run away from *him*. Well, no, that wasn't quite right. He actually wanted her to treat him with a little respect. After all, he'd made quite a worthy opponent for her. Could have killed her more than once, except for certain unforeseeable circumstances. Every time they'd fought, it seemed that at the critical moment Buffy always got help from her mother, her Watcher, her friends... if he'd known that was the way things were going to be, he would have looked into getting a better support system for himself.
Bored and disgusted, Spike stalked out of his den and toward the makeshift living room, fangs showing. The few minions and fledglings that stood in his path wisely scuttled away to avoid their master's wrath. Spike didn't spare the lazy things so much as a glare as he threw himself onto the leather sofa and flicked on the television set. Unfortunately, cable hadn't been installed yet and all he got was fuzzy reception on three channels. Damn, now he'd have to kill the minion he'd assigned to take care of entertainment.
Spike threw aside the useless control and flopped back on the couch, eyes closed. One of the few times he went to the trouble of coming up with an elaborate plan, and look where it got him: absolutely nowhere. If he went to the Slayer and tried to tell her the truth about her demonic roommate, she'd stake him. If he went to her and lied, she'd stake him. And if he never went to her at all she wouldn't even know he was around, which defeated his entire purpose for being in Sunnydale in the first place. He still had to alert her to his presence, convince her of the sincerity of her intentions, and win her over. He wasn't doing too well on any of those counts, and he'd just dug an even deeper hole for himself. Approaching the Slayer as her "human" roommate's murderer was not the way to go about fixing the situation.
Halting footsteps nearby alerted Spike to the fact that he hadn't even been allowed to sulk in peace. He cracked open one eyelid and saw a fledgling inching toward him.
"Master Spike?" she whispered.
"Yeah, what is it?" Spike didn't bother to even try to remember the girl's name.
She continued in a slightly louder tone. "The minions were digging in the south tunnel as instructed and have made a very important discovery. They said you should come right away."
A discovery, huh? Was it the item he had hoped for but had never counted on finding? Spike jumped up and hurried out of the room. If he was right in his guess about what his servants had dug up, this moment could mark the turning point in his pursuit of the Slayer.
*****
Being pretty experienced at sneaking in and out of various odd places, Xander and Oz encountered little trouble getting inside the morgue. Xander stood guard at the door while Oz located Kathy's body and peeled back the sheet covering her face.
"Xander," he called softly. "Come look at this."
Xander checked the hallway one last time, then crossed the room to Oz's side. Together they stood gazing down at a decomposing, brownish corpse that was clearly not human.
"Kathy was a demon?" Xander said. "Well, that changes things. But how, exactly?"
Oz shrugged. "Guess we'd better ask Giles."