"Harm," Spike overcame his initial shock, rose out of his chair and slowly walked towards the door where the blonde vampire stood. One thing Spike could never deny about Harmony, she was nothing if not attractive. She looked prettier now, wearing a white designer blouse and tight black pants, than the last time he had seen her. He also noted she carried two large, black suitcases, one in each hand. When he got within a few feet of her, he began to slowly circle, admiring her figure. "Not that it isn't a pleasure to see you again but you might have forgotten that we didn't exactly part on pleasant terms."
Harmony sat her luggage down on the stone floor and perkily turned to face Spike who was standing behind her, eyes looking slightly lower than her head. "Of course I remember that Spikey," she patted his face condescendingly with one hand. "I just figured that, after a couple of years, you've had enough time to work through all of your Buffy issues." She threw her arms around the vampire who gave a stunned expression in response. "So now I'm back."
Issues, Spike considered that that was a pretty good way to describe his feelings for the Slayer. He wished he could say he had worked through them though. As much as he tried to be angry with her, he knew what his feelings were inside. After a few moments of awkward silence, Harmony pulled away from him slightly. "Just for the record, you have worked through all of your Buffy issues haven't you?"
There wasn't really a good way to respond to that question. "Harm," Spike gently moved her arms away from him, deciding instead to slightly sidestep the issue. "What are you doing back in Sunnydale? Last I heard you had bolted for somewhere down in Mexico." He turned around and began walking back to his chair, knowing Harmony would follow him like a lost puppy which is exactly what she did.
"Yeah, Mexico was a good break for me, got to see the sights, taste the food. By the way, if you've never been down there, think twice before eating someone who just ate a lot of peppers, way too spicy for my tastes." Harmony hovered over Spike as he sat down in his chair and resumed channel surfing. "But I decided I had to come back and see my Spikey!" She pinched his cheek causing him to rethink not staking her as soon as she showed up.
Spike cocked his head in Harmony's direction, raising his eyebrows, suspicious that she hadn't entirely revealed her true motives in returning to Sunnydale. "Harm, maybe you didn't get the memo but I'm not really much for the whole evil bit anymore. Got the soul things happening now."
Harmony was shocked but her expression also seemed compassionate. "Oh Spikey," she softly brushed her hand against his face. "That's so terrible, someone cursing you with a soul like that," even though he got it on his own, Spike admitted that in many ways it was a curse. "Poor Spike, first the chip and now a soul." She sat on her knees, compassionately nuzzling against Spike's neck. "Well don't worry; I'll take good care of you."
Spike was starting to remember why he didn't like her; sometimes she just didn't get it. Disregarding her sympathy, Spike shot out of his chair and walked to the television set, manually changing the channel and turning the volume up as an excuse to get away from her. "Yeah well, soul Spike equals not evil Spike and not interested in evil Spike, so maybe you should find someone else to nuzzle up to. Plenty of picking in a town like this for a girl like you." That was Spike's way of calling Harmony cheap.
"Well actually," Harmony got back on her feet, a pleading look now appearing on her face. "There's another reason I came back to Sunnydale, besides seeing you of course."
"Oh really?" Spike turned around and looked at her again, playing dumb and thankful that she was finally getting to the point.
Harmony could barely contain her perky excitement. "I'm finally going to exact my revenge on Buffy!" Spike gave her a disappointed expression. He was surprised there was actually a vampire around who didn't know Buffy had left Sunnydale and was now traveling the world, looking to extinguish their kind once and for all. "What?" Harmony felt the pressure of Spike's gaze. "My plan is fool proof this time!"
"Buffy's gone love," Spike delivered the blow. "Yep, skipped town a few months ago with her little witch friend," Spike wandered back to his chair, again plopping down in it. Harmony sat down on the arm of it, pouting.
"But, but, how am I supposed to exact my revenge if she's not here? Her being here is an integral part to me exacting my revenge!" Harmony was left flustered by the revelation from Spike. "And this time my plan is really, really good!"
"Sorry babe," Spike acted as casual and uncaring as possible, hoping Harmony would get the hint and leave. "Guess you're going to have to track her down wherever she is and do your whole revenge thing somewhere else."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Harmony jumped off the arm of the chair, waving her own arms madly. "You trying to tell me that Sunnydale is Slayerless? But how am I supposed to prove my new found power if there isn't a Slayer for me to kill?"
Spike shook his head, his level of amusement growing as more of Harmony's insane and ultimately doomed to fail plan was revealed. "I didn't say it was Slayerless dear." He didn't see any harm in tipping her off to the fact that Faith was in town, knowing Harmony wouldn't be a match for the Slayer, no matter what type of evil scheme she had concocted this time.
"You mean the other one?" Harmony leaned down, not quite whispering in Spike's ear. "The psycho Slayer? She's in Sunnydale?" She bounced back up to a fully standing position, excitedly clapping her hands together.
Spike continued scrolling through channels on the television with his remote control, paying little attention the long-haired blonde. "Yeah, Faith, this is her town now and I'd be careful if I were you," he decided since treating Harmony like an idiot wasn't getting rid of her, perhaps scaring her would. "She doesn't quite have the patience Buffy did if you know what I mean."
"This is so great!" Harmony was lightly bouncing up and down, barely able to contain her excitement. "I'll enact my evil plan and then I'll kill Faith to prove that I'm the new supreme evil!" She gave Spike a quick kiss on the cheek, the other vampire fighting the urge to recoil in response. "Thanks for the idea Spikey!"
"Harm," as much as he didn't like her, for an odd reason, he also didn't want to see the Slayer dusting her. "As evil and fool proof as I'm sure your plan is," Spike turned his head away from the television and towards her. "I'd be careful trying to take on a Slayer if I were you. As I recall, your last few attempts didn't work out to well." Didn't work out at all for that matter.
"That's why it won't just be me fighting the Slayer silly," Harmony seemed all too confident in herself and her ability to defeat Faith, causing a peak in Spike's curiosity about her plan.
"Planning to raise a little gang again are you?" Spike tried to pretend that he was as uninterested in her activities as possible. "Hope you aren't banking on your charming personality and remarkable public speaking skills to get the job done for you."
"Of course not Spikey," Harmony didn't seem to catch the insult Spike had just thrown at her, being too wrapped up in what she saw as her genius plan. "That's why I have my evil plan you see. Once it's completed, everyone in Sunnydale, humans, demons, everything, will do what I tell them and I'll have an army to fight the Slayer with."
Although he admitted it could just be Harmony's incessant rambling and over self indulgence, Spike was truly curious about whatever type of plan the blonde demon had devised that would make everyone follow her without question, especially if they had to listen to her at all. "Oh really?" Spike still pretended to lack a great deal of interest, deciding it would be his best option to get her to reveal more. "That's some serious mojo you'd be messing with, trying to bring everyone under your control. You sure you're up to try something like that?" He had never pegged Harmony for the dark magic type.
"Nope," Harmony was still slightly bouncing on her toes from excitement as she talked. "Really easy," she added confidently.
Spike gave a single laugh, popping out of his chair, turning his back to her and taking a few steps away. "Mind control is never a real easy thing babe, no matter how much time or practice you've got at it. Believe me, I've seen a lot more powerful than you fail to mind control one person, let alone a whole town full of them and demons."
Harmony took several timid steps in his direction as Spike knew she would. "But, but, I have something that is going to make it easy, something I found in Mexico. Cost me a whole lot to get it too, they promised me it would work."
Spike began loudly laughing, spinning around and looking Harmony square in the face. She took his laughter seriously. It hurt and the expression on her face, perky and optimistic only seconds before, visibly showed the pain she felt at having Spike insult her in such a way. "Let me guess Harmony, found it in some little obscure Mexican village, in some little obscure shop with some little obscure man who promised it would do everything you want it to do?"
"Yeah," her voice was shaky and trailed off. Her eyes did not meet his, too hurt from his insulting laugh to look at him without causing herself additional pain.
From her low hanging head and the expression he could barely see on her face, Spike knew he had struck a nerve. "Harmony," he slowly walked towards her and placed his hands comfortingly on her shoulders, causing her to look up slightly, giving him the puppy dog look he always found hard to resist. "Before you go waving around whatever it is they sold you, trying to control everybody and probably getting yourself staked in the process, why don't you let me see it?" He had seen dozens of trinkets from various rip-off dealers over the years, this one probably wouldn't be any different.
Hesitantly, she reached into her pants pocket, producing a circular, silver medallion with a blue stone in the center and various runes etched in black and gold around the sides, the whole thing dangling from a silver chain. Spike reached his hand out, slipping two fingers into the chain, letting it dangle from them as he took the medallion away from Harmony. While he hadn't seen anything like it before, it was quite clearly some sort of cheap knockoff, made to attract tourists or less than intelligent evil fiends as was this case. "This is it?" He asked with a raised brow. For some reason he couldn't understand, he had expected more from even Harmony.
"Yeah," her voice was still shaky and her head dropped even further. She had come here planning on instantly gaining Spike's approval and now felt as though her world was collapsing around her since he did not see the brilliance of her evil plan and was not committed to finding holes in it.
Spike handed the piece of junk back to her. "Sorry babe," he took his hands off her shoulders and dropped back into his chair, taking the remote back into his hand, resuming his aimless channel surfing. "But I think you got ripped off."
"But, but," Harmony pouted. "The man told me, he promised it would work!"
"I promised I only thought about you during sex," Spike harshly rebutted, drawing another scorned look from his former fling. "Point is sweetie, sometimes people lie." Harmony quickly circled around to the front of his chair, blocking his view of the television, carelessly letting the medallion dangle in front of Spike's face.
"But, he told me all I had to was have someone look right at it, tell them what I wanted them to do and they would do it. He promised!" Harmony stomped her foot in anger. She had paid too much and done too much for the money to buy this thing just for it to turn out to be a worthless piece of junk.
"Would you mind getting that thing out of my face dear?" After learning her whole plan banked on a worthless Mexican tourist trap, Spike again lost all interest in listening to her talk about her plans to enslave the town and kill the Slayer. "Kind of blocking my view and I don't want to miss another second of quirky fun with a typical suburban family."
"Ooooo," Harmony again pouted while stomping her feet on the ground with annoyance at Spike's attitude. "You can be so frustrating!" Spike didn't respond, simply tried to look around her and the dangling piece of junk, believing her rant would end soon when she saw it wasn't bothering him. "You make me so mad!" She bent over and yelled in Spike's face. "Sometimes I just want you to kill yourself." The blue stone in the center of the amulet flashed brightly and then glowed blue.
Without thinking of anything else, Spike stood up and bent down, reaching for the stake he had discarded on the floor near his chair earlier when Harmony first arrived. She watched him with a clueless expression about her until he tried to drive the stake through his chest, at which point she grabbed his arms, preventing him from doing so. "What are you doing?"
His eyes glanced down at the stake and her arms preventing his from delivering the blow, then glanced back at her and back at the stake several times before he spoke. "Trying to kill myself, you told me you wanted me to kill myself, so I'm trying to kill myself," Spike said with a shrug as though it wasn't a big deal and he didn't care about what he was doing.
"Spikey, I, I didn't mean it," it clicked to Harmony that her medallion might not be as big of a piece of junk as Spike dismissed it to be. "I was angry but I didn't mean it."
"Well bollocks woman, don't say things you don't mean!" Spike tossed the stake down on the ground, seemingly not bothered by the fact that he came close to driving in through his own heart.
A large, mischievous grin appeared on Harmony's face when she realized that her item did in fact work. "Spikey," she held the medallion up to his face, the other vampire slightly recoiling in response. Spike was tired of looking at that things.
"Harm, put that bloody thing away, you know it doesn't –" Harmony didn't allow him to finish.
"Kiss me," the stone again flashed and glowed. With barely a second delay, Spike grabbed her, forcing his lips on her own in a passionate, long lasting kiss. Harmony hadn't felt such a kiss from Spike since the early days of their relationship, before he had become distracted, or rather obsessed by the Slayer. Harmony finally pulled herself away from Spike who instantly began to slowly kiss her neck. "I think I'm going to enjoy this," she let herself enjoy the attention.
***
"Whoa, whoa, wait a second," Faith instantly protested. She slightly backed away from Mathers, realizing he wasn't a threat, at least not one she could kill. "I talked to Giles barely two weeks ago, he didn't say anything about any new watcher then." It seemed as though something like that would have been worth Giles mentioning.
Preston slowly stepped towards her, displaying that stuff English upper brow she had come to recognize from Giles and earlier incantations of Wesley as he looked her over. "Mr. Giles is an incredibly busy man," Faith immediately picked up on the slight bit of hesitation that crept into his voice. "Attempting to reconstitute a worldwide organization with virtually no survivors from an apocalyptic attack launched against it would not be an easy task for any man. Besides," he stopped his approach a few feet short of standing toe to toe with the Slayer. "Mr. Giles did not feel the need to inform you, preferring instead that I make the initial contact."
"I don't need a watcher," Faith felt as though she was doing just find without some stuffy British guy looking over her shoulder and pointing out her flaws at every turn. "I've lasted this long without one; I can manage on my own."
"Every Slayer must have a watcher Faith, it is the order of things."
"Yeah well screw the order of things," while she wouldn't normally be this resistance to the idea, this man simply bothered her. Not to mention that his arrival coincided far too well with her dusting of the group of vampires. At least she saw that as an excuse to be distrustful of him. "Besides, not like B is going around the globe chained down to a watcher."
He sighed deeply. This was becoming more difficult than he had thought it would be. "Buffy Summers is a special circumstance Faith. She has lived longer and has more experience than almost any other Slayer in recorded history. The council, Mr. Giles in particular," Faith again picked up on the subtle hesitation in his voice. It was something she learned in prison, people often said more than they really were. "Feels that Ms. Summers would better further the efforts of the council by operating on her own."
"With Willow's help of course?" Faith quickly shot back, hoping Mathers would make some critical mistake that would prove her distrust in him was warranted.
"Although she is not part of the council and we do not entirely agree with her methods, we can acknowledge the advantage of Ms. Rosenberg accompanying the Slayer on her sacred duties around the world." That was almost too good of an explanation but it was sufficient for Faith, for the time.
"Yeah well if B qualifies as a special circumstance, then special circumstance number two is standing right here in front of you," Faith gestured to herself with one hand, remaining defensive and resistance. "I don't need you."
Her persistence did not deter Mathers who took another series of steps closer to her, the crisp, green, fall grass of the graveyard crunching softly beneath his feet. "Not according to the council." He would win this Slayer over, failure was not an option here. "We believe you are in need of strong and suitable guidance. Ms. Summers is able to act on her own thanks to the years of guidance and training she received from her watcher." He took another step, standing close enough to Faith where he could feel the breath coming from her nose. "You shouldn't be so resistant to this idea Faith, I can help you become a better Slayer."
"Really?" Faith's voice dripped with sarcasm as she cocked an eyebrow at that comment. She already knew she dusted vampires with the best of them and didn't feel like she needed some stuck up British man telling her how to do her job or suggesting ways she might do it better. "You think you can teach me something about slaying?"
"Many things," he replied without hesitation.
"Give it a shot," Faith scoffed. The Slayer turned away and walked away from him, doubting he would be brave enough to either accept her challenge or try to stop her from leaving. Without another word, Preston ran up behind her, leaping into a flying kick. It was a move that was almost too predictable for Faith. Acting on instinct alone, she spun around and grabbed his ankle while he was in the air. She twisted it, not enough to cause any serious damage but just enough to send him spinning to the ground.
Faith stood over Preston, who was now panting, bent down slightly and gave him a wry grin. "Yeah, like I didn't see that one coming. For the record, if you're going to try catching the Slayer off her guard, might want to try a trick aside from one that every vampire out there has already come up with." Faster than Faith could react to, Preston pulled a concealed dagger from his suit jacket and pressed it lightly against her neck.
Now the watcher had her attention. "Hey now," the Slayer tried to act casually and calm as her eyes tentatively glanced at the blade pressing against her skin. "Be careful with that thing, don't want anybody to get hurt."
"You must be prepared at all times," Faith tried to determine which would be the less painful of the alternatives, having her throat cut or receiving a lecture on her combat techniques. "You never know what alternatives a vampire or any other creature might employ when it is in a desperate situation. You thought you had me beaten and underestimated me, you can never do such a thing, not if you hope to live."
"Got news for you," Faith quickly grabbed his wrist, applying a great deal of force to the pressure point on the underside of his arm, stunning him briefly. "You're not the only one with a few tricks up their sleeve." She bent his hand backwards, causing his grip to weaken and the knife to fall from his hand. Faith dropped her own hand down, grasped the weapon and put it against his own throat. "Still think I need training?" She asked as they locked eyes.
"A vampire wouldn't have delayed for as long as I did, if you were facing a true enemy you would be dead." The watcher remained resolute in trying to bring Faith over to the idea of him being around and being in charge.
"A vampire wouldn't have lived as long as you did either." Faith released the knife, letting it fall harmlessly to the side of Preston's head. She stood up and began to walk away, hoping that this conversation was finished and the annoying little man would disappear.
"You can never be sure," Preston slowly made his way to his feet and pursued Faith. "A vampire will take advantage of your every weakness, your every hesitation. Even a second, half of a second, could cost you your life." He caught up to Faith whose pace had increased when he began following.
"Yeah, heard all of it before," Faith quipped. "Never turn your back, never give your enemy a second, never think the fight is finished before it really is. I get it."
"Then why do you have your back turned towards me?" Faith reacted instantly to the meaning of the question from Preston. She pivoted on the heel of her right foot, coming around and knocking another dagger from his hand with a open-handed strike before sweeping his legs out from under him with her left leg.
"Are we still playing these games?" Faith barely paid any further heed to him before turning around and continuing to walk away. The Slayer believed he surely would have gotten the point by now. It seemed though that he was more hard-headed than she had given him credit for. He was quickly back on his feet, grabbing the weapon and again advancing on her from behind.
"This is no game!" He exclaimed, lunging for her lower back with the dagger. Faith side-stepped the attack and kicked the back of Preston's left knee, sending him again to the ground. He rolled over, attempting to quickly recover but Faith's foot pinned his hand to the ground before he could regain control of the dagger.
"You're right," Faith relinquished her hold on his hand. This time however, she didn't walk off but instead extended a hand and helped Preston back to his feet. "A game would be a whole hell of a lot harder then you're making this. Why don't you get out of here before something serious happens?" Faith couldn't see Preston being able to hold his own if any sort of a demon attacked and she didn't want to be having to watch his back while watching her own. Now she began walking off but Preston still followed.
"I assure you Faith, I am quite capable of holding my own in combat," he caught up to her and walked by her side. She looked at him, growing increasingly annoyed but also gaining a slight respect that he was continuing to persevere despite her continued rejection. "But that is not the issue here. I have been given a duty. It is a duty I take very seriously," Faith glanced at his eyes as he spoke, seeing in them, for the first time, a deep conviction and dedication. "And it is a duty that I intend to carry out. If you will give me the chance Faith, I can help you be a better Slayer and perhaps you can help me be a better watcher."
Faith softened under his appeal. It made her consider that perhaps she did need someone. Spike had put himself out of the picture, Robert was virtually ignoring her and Dawn and Kennedy, while great help, were only humans, regular humans and they had their own lives as well. "Hey whatever," Faith didn't want to seem to anxious to accept the new watcher. "If you're going to stay anyways, you might as well be useful right?"
"Excellent," Preston congratulated himself in his own mind for breaking through Faith's barriers. That was one obstacle out of the way. The two continued walking silently through the cemetery, finally reaching the street. "I am going back to my hotel room for the evening." That didn't hurt Faith's feelings. "I would like to meet everyone who is involved in your duties, shall we schedule a meeting for tomorrow afternoon at your house?"
Faith shrugged. "Again, whatever."
Not wanting to create a further rift between him and the Slayer by trying to get closer, Preston decided it would simply be better for them to go their separate ways for the evening. "Four o'clock then?" Faith nodded a silent acceptance of his proposal. "I will see you then Faith."
Preston and the Slayer began walking in separate directions. Every several steps, Preston would look over his shoulder. Once he was sure Faith was a safe distance away, he reached into his inner jacket pocket, removing a small silver cellular phone. He scrolled through the list of speed dial numbers before finally settling on one and pressing the send button. A short minute later, the recipient of the call answered. "Everything is going as planned."
***
A thick evening fog had settled into the streets of downtown London. He had walked these streets dozens if not hundreds of times at all hours of the day and night, through rain, fog and every other weather imaginable but something about a heavy fog always left him disconcerted. Perhaps because fog was considered synonymous with everything he had pledged his life to fight.
With the fog growing worse, he could barely see more than a hand's length in front of himself. The tall building around him became black shadows in the fog. People became blank, expressionless silhouettes, passing him in the evening. He grew increasingly tense with each step until finally realizing he was less than two blocks from the new headquarters of the Watcher's Council. At this point he relaxed. This part of London was not known for having the greatest concentration of demons.
He didn't know what it was that caused him to trip, most likely an irregularity in the sidewalk. His briefcase fell out of his hand, books and papers fluttering across the pavement. He quickly scrambled to his feet, not taking the team to dust off his dark brown suit before grabbing the books and papers, hurriedly stuffing them back into their place. Those materials were ones that did not need to find their way into the wrong hands, which was defined as any hands but those of the council.
As he finished gathering his belongings, he took notice that all of the other people who had been on the street with him had disappeared. He looked around momentarily, shaken by the strange occurrence. At this time of day, it was almost unheard of for a street such as this near a busy intersection to be completely empty.
Then, he saw a figure emerging from the fog. Though his features were still obscured by the gray mist, he could tell, by the way his stature, by the way he walked, by the way he shirt fluttered in the light breeze and by the way he walked without making a sound, exactly who it was. "You," he whispered his realization.
He emerged from the fog and nodded. "Long time no see Geoffrey." Geoffrey's suspicions were confirmed when he looked at the young man. His appearance was virtually unchanged from the last time he had seen him, short, tight brown hair, piercing green eyes and light colored skin. He was not the type who looked exceptionally strong but his eyes and all too cool expression, as he circled the almost trembling watcher, betrayed the fact that he was far stronger than he appeared. His black t-shirt and light blue jeans hung loosely from his body. He also wore a short-sleeve button-up shirt, a silver-grey color on the top that faded to black on the bottom, unbuttoned, on top of his other clothing.
"We thought you were dead," Geoffrey was almost paralyzed. Of all the encounters he could have had this evening, vampire, demon, this was the one he had both least expected and least looked forward to. "We though the First's operatives had gotten to you."
"Funny," his voice was chilling, he continued to circle Geoffrey. "The Taiwanese police didn't seem to think that when they kicked down the door to my apartment brandishing sub-machineguns. Took me a little time but I figured out that they got information that a wanted person was hiding there, information from England no less." He stopped in front of the watcher and looked into his eyes. "Now where do you think they got that information from Geoff?"
"Please try to understand," Geoffrey was now only interested in buying enough time to save his own life or prevent whatever he had planned. People would be back on the street soon enough, surely he wouldn't try anything in front of witnesses. "We didn't know your status. No response to phone calls, e-mails and two operatives that were sent to contact you disappeared. We wanted to try to bring you in unharmed."
"Uh-huh," Geoffrey must have though him a fool. "So that's why they fired over one-hundred rounds when they first kicked the door in, before they even identified themselves? Seems to me like you guys thought you had a problem and wanted to quietly get rid of it. After all, who is going to think twice about police shooting a wanted felon when he tries to resist arrest? Especially when that wanted felon has no families, no ties to anything, no one would miss him."
"Listen to me my friend," Geoffrey prayed a silent prayer that is pleas would reach the man who seemed entirely too far gone for anything to help him. "There is still a place for you and your services in the council. You can still do some good. You can still help us to win the fight. I don't think you want to turn your back on that. Giles will welcome you back."
"You're right," his brief moment where he thought he had reached him was short-lived. "But the council is weak. Giles is weak, even the Slayers are weak. None of you realize what has to be done. We have to be just as ruthless as they are if we hope to stand a chance at winning this war. None of you can do that. Not Giles, not the council and not the Slayers." He resumed circling the watcher, placing his hands behind his back.
"But that is how it is done. The council is the guide, the Slayers are the implement." Geoffrey tried to by more time, his former associate's ramblings bordering more and more upon insanity. "There can be no other way. Those are the rules of the game."
"Yeah well," he again stopped circling and stood in front of Geoffrey, his arms still behind his back. "I'm tired of playing by the rules." The pain was sharp and quick, Geoffrey not even realizing what had happened until he looked down to see a long dagger stabbed into his lower stomach and the man's hand holding it tightly in place.
The watcher choked, his own blood filling his throat. His body went limp as the pain became too great for him to bare. He fell to the ground at the same time the man pulled the dagger from him, wiping it off with a black cloth. The last thing Geoffrey saw was the man bending down over him, not even phased by what he had just done. The pain caused him to pass out before he had to feel what the man did next.
When the London police arrived only minutes later, a large crowd had gathered around the body. One of the first things they noticed, aside from the gaping wound in his lower body was that both of his eyes and been, neatly and delicately cut from their sockets.
To be continued …