Chapter Five: Explanations

In Giles' kitchen, there was stunned silence and then sudden babbling, drowning out the sound from the scrying spell, though it continued to work despite the lack of attention.

"That's Giles!"

"That can't be Giles!"

"What is he?"

"What're they going to do?"

"He looks bloody edible!"

They all shut up and looked at Spike, who shrugged. "What? I can't have an appreciation for beauty?" Ethan looked at Spike admiringly, as if sharing a secret, while Buffy rolled her eyes. "Okay, thinking about my Watcher like that is totally eww. I mean, he's way old and he'she's Giles!"

Xander nodded but Willow looked slightly thoughtful. Then she looked at Tara, her face melted into a sappy smile and she turned back to the group with other things than Giles' attractiveness on her mind. "Mr. Rayne? Do you know what Giles is? What species? I mean, it doesn't make sense if he's a demon. Why would he be a Watcher, help Buffy and everything?"

All eyes turned to the Chaos Magician, who sighed a ran a hand through his hair. "No, Ripper isn't a demon. In fact, he has just as much reason to fight them as all of you do. Humans aren't the only ones demons go after." He stopped, went to Giles' fridge and grabbed a bottle of imported beer, the kind he knew Ripper would have on hand. "Right then. You know earth isn't the only plane of existence. You live on a Hellmouth, you must know the concept of other worlds. You mostly encounter the denizens of what we call Hell dimensions. But there are other realities too, all interconnected. And the inhabitants often cross into our world, the Mortal plane. Ripper's from one of those."

Xander shrugged, "So why would he come here?"

"To learn. Ripper loves knowledge, surely you've seen this. And his people have problems with demons. So he came to earth to study, to learn about demons, how to fight them. Since this is the Mortal realm and is one of the closest planes to the Hell dimensions, most demons come here instead of other realities, which are harder for them to reach. Consequently, the best place to learn about demons, besides going to Hell of course, is this world. Becoming a Watcher was the best way to learn the most I suppose. I have to admit, for a bunch of stuffy old bastards, they know their business."

Spike blew out a puff of smoke, looking bored. He waved his hand in a keep going gesture. "Fine, fine, all well and good. The Watcher bloke came to learn. You said his people have problems with demons, but you still haven't mentioned what his "people" are. Get on with it, mate."

Ethan nodded, "Yes, you're right of course. And we have to get to Ripper as soon as possible. Now that he's revealed, they'll make sure they don't lose him. You see, Ripper is"

"A Faerie!" The Nathlar sounded delighted and sinister at the same time. He was practically leering at the transformed Giles. "Gregory, I had told you I would name my price for assisting you with my skills. I want him."

Gregory shrugged, "Of course. He's yours. I've heard things about Faeries. If only a third of them are true, you will enjoy him for a long time indeed. I only ask that you still help us get the information I need from him. He must know something about the prophecy. He even knows the language it's in."

The blue skinned demon nodded, an anticipatory smile on its face. "Oh, he will provide me with much satisfaction, my friend." He stroked the Faerie's cheek, causing Giles to flinch away. "And don't worry, we will find out what he knows, if we have to pull it from him piece by bloody piece."

He ran his fingers crudely down Giles' chest, twisting the nipples painfully. The Watcher had a look of wild fear on his face, now that he'd been revealed. He closed his eyes and concentrated, his lips moving silently. Then suddenly, the Nathlar stumbled and fell forwards into the chair where Giles had been bound. Where he was bound no longer. The chair was empty, the ropes fallen slackly to the ground. There was now a large, light brown falcon flying in the room. It veered quickly to the still-open door and flew into the corridor, trying to find a way out.

There were gasps of shock from around the water bowl as the Scoobies watched their mentor turn into a bird. Since the spell was fixed on Giles, they could still see him, or rather the falcon, wheeling around a maze of hallways, avoiding any demon or vampire that tried to catch it. Ethan watched the water carefully, trying to see something that would tell him where the lair was located. They had to get Ripper out of there.

The teenagers however, were getting over their shock and bombarding Ethan with questions. Most were variations of "How'd he do that?" and "Why didn't he do that sooner?" Surprisingly, Ethan didn't have to turn his attention from the scrying bowl as Spike was the one who answered.

"He's a Faerie, isn't he. All the Fae can turn into an animal. It's part of their magic. But only Faeries can do it. If he'd turned into the bird before, he would've given himself away, wouldn't he? Doesn't sound like a smart plan to me. But now they know what he is. Believe me, mates, it's better for him to get out of there however he can."

Buffy's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean? What do you know?"

Spike rolled his eyes but continued with the explanation. "Never saw a Faerie myself but I've heard all about them. Most vamps have. They're sort of a demon legend. It's rare to find one. There aren't too many of them around and they're quite good at magic, not to mention that little turning into an animal trick. But if a demon does find one of the Fae, it'll do its best to capture them. See, the stories say that they make incredible slaves. Real sensual like. Plus they're immortal, heal real quick, so you can hurt them quite a lot without killing them. Angelus said he'd met a demon once who had a Faerie slave and that he'd gotten to play with her for a while." Spike smiled lazily. "Told great stories about that he did, sounded right wonderful."

Willow and Tara stared at Spike wide-eyed, Buffy's mouth was hanging open, and Xander kept opening his and then closing it as if he couldn't quite figure out what to say. Ethan shook his head in annoyance, "Yes, yes, now that you all understand why we have to get Ripper out of there as soon as we can, could you possibly try and help me figure out where they are? I can't rescue Ripper if I don't know where he is and you lot know this town better than I do. If there's something that'll help us, you'll be more likely to spot it."

The group nodded a bit shamefully and turned their attention back to the water bowl. The falcon was still flying through featureless corridors but now the vampires that were after it were armed. Most had nets of different sorts, some had spears, and a few had crossbows. Another turn and suddenly the group could see windows as the falcon darted past them. They were closed so the Giles-bird ignored them in favor of staying out of the way of the guards.

Wincing as one, the group watched a vampire let loose with a crossbow bolt that found its mark in Giles' left wing. The falcon faltered, screeched out in agony, and fell to the ground, in front of one of the windows. The vampires immediately surrounded the bird and three of them threw their nets over him, preventing a second escape. While everyone waited for Gregory and the Nathlar to arrive, Ethan was looking intently at the window, his eyes narrowed.

"Isn't that a shopping center near a few apartment buildings?"

His words grabbed the teenagers' attention and they started studying the view provided by the window . Xander was the first to speak up. "Yeah, I recognize it. My mom shops there sometimes." Buffy nodded in agreement.

Spike smirked, rolling his almost gone cigarette between his fingers. "Then we just gotta figure out what building'll give a view like that, don't we? Oi, but that can wait, right? This here's getting interesting." His eyes were fixed on the water bowl and everyone again turned their attention to the images provided by the spell.

Gregory and his demon friend had arrived. The Nathlar was carrying manacles. With a gesture, Gregory commanded the nets be taken off the falcon, but the weapons remained trained on it. Giles remained still, except for a slight fluttering from his injured wing. Gregory smirked, which was extremely out of place on the face that looked like a balding bank teller's. "You're caught, Watcher-Faerie, you might as well change back now and save all of us some time and trouble."

The bird hesitated and then lowered its head. Then, in its place stood Giles, his right hand holding his left upper arm from which an arrow protruded. Blood flowed down his arm and dripped off his finger to the floor. His face looked pale and fearful and yet, slightly resigned as well. The Nathlar stepped forward and held up the manacles. Giles eyed them warily and moved a half-step away from the demon. The weapons aimed at him never wavered. He sighed and then held both his hands out.

The Nathlar grinned, a sinister expression, and chained Giles' wrists. The manacles were each about an inch and a half wide and were connected by a foot long chain. Giles bowed his head in defeat, but the Nathlar took hold of his chin and held it up, looking into his eyes.

"Cold iron to hold you and keep you from working your magics. I've always heard wonderful things about Faerie slaves and you're beautiful enough to make me think the rumors underrated things." He tugged the chain, pulling Giles behind him as he walked swiftly back down the hallways. "Come, my lovely, there is still the little matter of a prophecy and what you might know of it."