Chapter Fourteen: Knowing the Enemy

The next day the gang was gathered once again at the Watcher's home. Spike had ambled in directly before dawn and dropped onto the couch for some rest, not even bothering with the two men upstairs. The rest of the group had all trickled in about an hour before noon. Spike had been awakened by the noise the teenagers created and had joined in, loudly demanding blood. As the others were hungry as well, and nobody wanted to think on an empty stomach, Xander headed out for blood and pizza, though only after remarking how that particular combination was totally eww.

Sleep had finished all the physical healing that Giles needed and Ethan was there to help him with the emotional. He ignored as much as he could and if something became too overpowering, the Faerie would lean into his friend for comfort and then continue. Both men had come downstairs from the bedroom at the first sign of life invading the house. Notably, Buffy's rather flamboyant entrance, which had consisted of yelling at Spike for taking up space. Giles had chuckled, relieved that his Slayer was apparently feeling herself again, and he and Ethan had dressed and joined everyone in the living room.

While Xander was fetching lunch, Giles went rooting through his books to find some journals the Watchers used to identify different vampires. He'd used them before to find out about Angelus, the Gorch brothers, and even William the Bloody. Now they were trying to find the vampire that had kidnapped him, hoping to learn something about him that would aid in their fight against him.

Since they didn't know the vampire's name as Giles had never heard it spoken during his captivity, they began by leafing through the books to find pictures of well-known vampires. They'd all seen him, Giles in person and the others through the scrying spell. Giles had one book, Buffy another, Willow and Tara shared a third while Spike idly flipped through the last. Ethan was in the kitchen brewing tea. He came back with two cups, sat on the arm of the couch next to Giles and handed him one of the cups, looking over his shoulder at the book as he did so.

Of all people, the shout of triumph came from Spike. "Oi! There's the bugger now. Not much to look at, is he?"

It was true, as they all crowded around to get a look. The hand-drawn picture showed a familiar short, thin, and balding vampire. They all recognized him but just as they started reading about him, Xander came in with the food. Lunch being infinitely more important to a group of teenagers and one vampire, everyone headed directly for the pizza (and the blood). Giles and Ethan simply looked at each other in amusement and went to join the rest of the group. After all, their stomachs were starting to growl as well.

When everyone was full, they once again gathered together in the living room. Giles sat on the couch, the book in his lap, and everyone crowded around him. The Watcher scanned the page in silence and then began speaking,

"His name is Gregory and he's very old."

"Older than Angel?"

Reining in a chuckle, Giles nodded. "Yes, Buffy, older than Angel. More than twice his age actually as Gregory is roughly five hundred and thirty years old compared to Angel's two hundred and forty."

Spike gave a low whistle. "I've heard of vampires that old, but I've never met one, never even came close. The oldest vamp I ever knew was the poof's sire, Darla, right bitch that she was, and I think she was something like three hundred maybe."

"We don't actually know much about him as he's extremely smart and knows how to hide the evidence of his activities. That's most likely why he's lasted so long. Most vampires end up bringing a bit too much attention to themselves and are hunted down, either by Watchers, the Slayer, or one of the few vampire hunters that wander the world."

Spike cut in again. "There used to be more of em, the bloody wankers. Before everyone just decided that vampires were myth, you had to be careful about how many you killed in a single place. Whole towns would go on vampire hunts if they felt threatened enough."

Xander frowned, "What about the Great Scourge of Europe? Angelus and Darla? You and Drusilla?"

"Well that was different, wasn't it? That was four vampires working in concert, one of them a seer. We got away with a lot more than a vampire on his own, or even one with just minions, would have been able to." He smirked, "And anyway, I'm the Big Bad, ain't I?"

"If we could get back to the point please?" Giles waited until everyone was paying attention again and then continued.

"Apparently Gregory is something of a scholar as well as a collector. What little information we have suggests that he is constantly searching for mystical artifacts and knowledge about different kinds of demons and magics. He's very meticulous and careful, two traits that apparently have served him well. I've never heard of a vampire with such a well thought-out lair before."

Spike nodded, "Usually, we just come to town, grab a decent warehouse or crypt, and set up shop. Buying a building is a bit out there."

"He's even got that music store in the first floor for camouflage. I mean, I've shopped there! That's just creepy." Xander gave a dramatic shiver to emphasize the creepiness.

Standing up and stretching a bit, Ethan broke in, "So we know he smart and he's tenacious. Lovely. How much does he know about you and the armband, Ripper?"

Giles gave it a bit of thought. "Well, he knows I'm a Faerie, obviously, though I'm not sure how much he knows about Faeries in general. He does know about cold iron being my weakness though, so we'll have to watch that."

Buffy paid strict attention to that tidbit. After all, she didn't want her watcher hurt again. "What does it do to you anyway, Giles?"

"Well, first of all, it binds us, prevents us from using any of our magics. But it also hurts, burns. Not physically burns but that's what the pain feels like. It's hard enough having it rest against my skin, I certainly wouldn't want to have an iron weapon anywhere near me."

"All right, so that's one thing. I'll make sure no one gets near you with anything iron."

Ri'par smiled at his Slayer, touched, and didn't bother to voice any sort of complaint or reassurance. He knew she needed this and to be truthful with himself, he needed it to. He'd certainly feel safe with Buffy protecting him.

"All, right, so he knows about iron. We have to assume that even though you killed the Nathlar, Ethan, that Gregory still knows everything I told that demon. That means he knows I'm the key to the armband. If he wants it, he'll be coming after me. He'll know it's magical properties as well, which I don't think he had the details of when he first started his search. However, and this is important, he does not know that Ethan is currently wearing the armband, and I do not know if he is aware that his weakness to sunlight will still be in play even if he does manage to gain it. If all else fails and we cannot keep it from him, we can use that fact against him."

Buffy took over the meeting. "Okay, we know the vamp'll be coming here. He needs Giles and he knows this is where you live since he's come here before."

Tara gasped and then turned pink and ducked her head as everyone looked at her. It took her a few moments to speak. "Um, the vampires, th-they got in because of that d-demon, right? I mean, we all h-heard Gregory explain about the N-Nathlar's aura powers. Th-that's how they got invited in. B-but can they still come? Even though it w-wasn't Mr. Giles who invited them?"

The room was filled with identical shocked expressions. Giles' voice was the first to break the silence. "II never even considered that. You're right, of course, Tara. Thank you for pointing that out. We don't know which of Gregory's minions were killed, but if even one of those who captured me is still alive, then we lose one of our largest advantages, sovereign territory. I'll perform the spell to uninvite them immediately."

"Will that affect me, mate?"

"What? Oh, no, Spike, if you are inside when I perform the spell, your invitation stands. Though why I'm allowing that, I have no idea."

Smirking, the bleached blond vampire replied, "Cause you can't get enough of me Ripper. You know that."

Giles rolled his eyes and moved off to begin the spell. Ethan glared at Spike and then followed his former lover. Everyone else went their separate ways to begin gathering weapons for the battle they were sure would happen that night. They didn't know the exact numbers of Gregory's minions or his demon allies so they wanted to be prepared for anything. That meant squirt guns with holy water, lots of stakes, and edged weapons for anyone who could handle them. The magic users planned to have a few surprises waiting the attackers as well.