***

"And her grades are first rate. She could stand with some focus but that would be the point of the Elmer's school."

"I don't want to go to some stuck up…" Dawn's petulant tone cut the air drawing the attention of the high class patrons of the fancy Italian restaurant

"The Elmer's school is one of the finest institutions of learning in the world Dawn," Giles said

"Then you go." She snapped

Giles smiled indulgently "I don't need to, you do "

"What I need is to be with you and Buffy and the rest of the guys." Dawn insisted

Preston was on the board of admissions for the Elmer's school and as he looked at the exchange before him, he marveled at the twists of fate. He had been placed at the school to inform The Council about persons likely to be sympathetic to their cause, persons who were heading for positions of respect in the outside world. As such, he was at the school when the armies of The First had obliterated the council. When it was all over he made contact with Rupert Giles. Giles had told him to lay low. Ironically, this lunch meeting was the first time that Preston had laid eye on Giles since his return to Europe.

"Maybe if the girl is unsure." He said trying to calm the situation

"This has to happen Preston, I'll talk her around " Giles snapped

"No you wont." said the petulant child who picked up a glass and drank. She was putting the glass back on the table when it seemed to slip from her grasp and fell to the floor. She paled visibly.

Giles smiled. "She's still at the stage Preston, all thumbs and everything. Trust me we will make this work you should go and see what's taking that waitress so long with the bill."

Preston could see that they need a moment so he nodded and rose from the table.

When he left Giles turned to Dawn. "Was it like last time?"

Dawn nodded. "One second I'm here and the next it was like being pulled out of myself."

Buffy looked at Giles. "You said we had time. You said if we did this thing she would be fine."

Giles nodded "I said that and I stand by it but we have to get her in to the school."

"What's so special about this place anyway." Buffy said looking around the classy restaurant

"The major contributor was extremely phobic about supernatural threats. When she died, she ceded a yearly gift to the school that is massive. However, the rider clause is that in order to get it the school has to demonstrate that on a yearly basis they have shored up their defenses against any supernatural occurrences. "

"And the school agreed to this." Buffy saked doubtfully.

"The donation is extremely massive. " Giles replied meaningfully. Even in Sunnydale, the right amount of money could make any problem vanish. Even the breathing kind.

"How secure is this place. "

"The school grounds are consecrated. The water supply has been blessed. There are wards around the buildings and grounds so well constructed that if the school had been in Sunnydale there is a chance that it would have survived when the rest of the town was destroyed. "

"And nobody knows about this." Dawn asked, in spite of her dislike of the plan she was intrigued.

"Except for a few people at the top and they were sworn to secrecy. It wouldn't do for the heads of Europe to know their children were being educated in a place that is the mystical version of Fort Knox."

"So why should I want to go there it sounds like the last place I'm likely to run into trouble."

"No magical energies can get out or in save that they be benevolent ones. That means you would be safe there. It is possibly the only place on earth you will be safe now."

Dawn breathed a frightened sigh and hugged herself while shivering visibly.

Her Sister reached over and grabbed her hand. Her move was as much to reassure herself of Dawn's continued reality as to reassure the teenager. "I hate it too Dawnie but given the choice between having you in private school and not having you hat all…"

"I know, I know, stop it, your breaking my heart." Dawn slumped in her chair and looked at the glass lying on the floor. A silent reminder that her time was limited.

Shortly after the destruction of Sunnydale, Dawn had begun to notice that she was having difficulty holding on to things, losing her balance occasionally and other odd occurrences. She had begun to suspect there was reason for all of this and soon Willow and Giles had confirmed Buffy's worst fears.

She was beginning to fade away. The monks had used energies from the Hellmouth to aid in constructing Dawn. Now that those energies where dispersed Giles and Willow theorized that she was beginning to disperse as well. The process was Gradual at first but inevitably Dawn would vanish like a ghost. They had thought moving to Cleveland and the Hellmouth there but the process continued. That was when Giles proposed the idea of the Elmer's school. The hope was that its unique defenses would contain for a time, the energy that made up Dawn Summers.

"But according to you guys there is major voodoo doing back home" Dawn argued weakly

"You told me you didn't read that E-mail." Buffy pretended to be surprised at her sisters snooping ways.

"I tell you lets of things. When are we going back home to help Xander?"

"Xander has made it abundantly clear he can take care of himself

Giles caught her tone and chose to respond to what was behind it "The boy had just lost Anya after they had patched things up. You were…are still caught up with the work of finding and contacting all the new slayers. Words were said but it doesn't have to end there. "

"If Xander needs to be some bad ass independent to prove something to himself, I won't stop him. I just wish he would accept himself for who he really is."

"And, who is that exactly do you know because I don't and I have watched you all grow up. I barely know who you are and it's my job, was my job. "

"That will be your job forever and always.'

"All of you have changed since the beginning You Willow, even Xander. Maybe the problem is he thinks he has found himself and he believes you can't or won't accept that. "

"I slay, You take care of us, Willow does computers and magic stuff and Xander holds us together."

"…By reminding you why you do this work and by being willing to fight even though he is least gifted in that regard; yes, you have mentioned. "

"I trust him more then I would anyone else, why would he think he has to change "

"It is a New World, with new rules. You change and adapt or you risk being dangerously unprepared for that. That's why we are trying to get to these girls. Because if we don't, someone else will and they might not have the girls best interests at heart. "

"So if you and Willow get that, why not Xander."

"I think he gets it Buffy, he just wants to find a place in the new scheme of things. Something removed from being the class clown or the person who gets the pizza or whatever nonsense he conjured in his head to justify leaving. He has to work this through and as asinine as it seems we have to let him. "

"And what idiot set that precedent "

"You did, and much as I disagreed with it you were a better stronger person after you came back.

. She paused for a moment remembering her own moment of uncertainty. Then she submitted a silent prayer to the fates that had let her survive that experience that they watch over Xander now.

"Of course in typical fashion the boy can't walk five feet without stumbling into some trouble." Giles muttered "It's been decades since a Slayer and a Death Dealer did battle but Xander apparently blundered into the biggest mess in history of either side."

Buffy snickered. Both she and Willow had joked on occasion that far from being powerless Xander was the mortal equivalent of a Hellmouth. If there was a demonic threat or force anywhere in the world chances were it would home in on Xander especially if it was female. "How come you didn't mention this Death Dealer stuff before."

"Death Dealers are a sect of vampires almost unique to the Old World if there are warriors of their caliber in America; they don't call themselves Death Dealers."

"How old a sect are we talking here." Buffy asked

"Very old, and honored, from my preliminary research this vampire Xander encountered was one of the toughest of the breed. "

"Are they a threat to us?"

She and her kind are in disarray; the rise in the slayer population has had quite an effect. She might be on the run. Or trying to find a new master."

"I wonder which of the new slayers took down her precious master."

"The story I have been getting is that This Selene killed Victor, Apparently she was his childer but rumours hint that the kill might was totally justified. The war with the werewolves also cost them a lot. Truth is the Death Dealers were slowly becoming extinct. Only certain older established clans even kept a compliment around.

"Why have I never faced one before "

"As I said, unique to the Old World. That being said, Angel is considered something of a legend among the Death Dealers, Spike as well. "

"Angel was a Death Dealer."

"Not exactly. But many of the vampires who passed on the stories and legends of the Scourge Of Europe eventually became Death Dealers and held Angel And Spike up as examples of the level of ferocity expected."

"Great so I'm up against a bunch of vamps that hero worshipped Angelus and Spike

"Well that is only in the last two centuries or so. The Death Dealers were a respected warrior class for longer then that."

"Have any slayers ever faced them "

"Yes, but not frequently, Dealers view mortals as noncombatants. It is considered …bad manners to involve mortals in the kind of battles that Death Dealers fight.

"Are you telling me they don't kill mortals."

"Oh make no mistake about that, they are vampires after all. But, unlike the more thuggish variety that we fight, Death Dealers considered themselves warriors. They think wholesale slaughter of innocents is…tasteless."

"Kinder, gentle killers huh, well you'll forgive me but this Death Dealer is going down if she and the werewolf are up to no good."

"Be careful Buffy, vampires and werewolves have been feuding for almost a thousand years. If she is linked herself to one, it could mean that the war is over. The ongoing hostilities between the camps were the primary reason for why one Slayer was usually enough to winnow out the more vicious of the vampires. If there is no war all those that were fighting it will have nothing to do and I don't have to tell you, nothing is more dangerous then a soldier with no war to fight."

"If they think they are going to be snacking on mortals I'll give them a war they won't ever forget."

Preston returned to the table and they paid their bill and left. Giles already arranging for them to catch a plane for home, he wanted to do more research. Buffy was all for the blunter approach of track and slay,

As they left one of the dinners at the table near them pulled a cell phone from the depths of a French-cut jacket and pressed the auto dialer. "I have news."

"What is it "

"How much would it be worth to know of the activities of the world's strongest Slayer, Her watcher and how they might be involved with the renegade Dealer and the mutate "

"WE are listening." `

***

Selene was strapped to a table now, in bond stronger then she could break in her blood deprived state. Her vampire senses attuned for the anything that would give her an advantage of any kind. Kravan had rendered her unconscious after the arrival of Xander's friends had forced a hasty departure. After almost being free, she was again in Kravan's hands. She tested the links occasionally to see if they would budge and give allowing her release.

Her senses picked up moving bodies and she settled down. Going limp, Any advantage she thought to herself. Perhaps Kravan would again speak to his mysterious master in earshot of her allowing her more information that could be useful.

She closed her eyes as the sounds came closer. It was Kravan and a human by the smell of him.

"Well " Kravan said impatiently

"She is awake and listening to us "

"Does she need to be sedated."

"For this part of it I would prefer that she be awake. I will gain more from watching her reactions to the images."

Selene gave up feigning unconsciousness it wasn't working anyway "who is this another of your masters lackeys come to torture me "

"No Selene; this is Lao-Sin. He is here to help you remember something for me "

"I won't do anything to help you "

"I know, that is why Lao-Sin is here "

"Do your worst "

"Quite the opposite Milady I aid my client in retrieving lost images that you might have repressed for whatever reason. I think you will find there is a therapeutic benefit to the procedure."

"And what is it you think I have forgotten that you need this one to find it "

"I need you to remember the location of the Tomb of The Antediluvian. We want to access an ancient weapon hidden there. "

"That was a myth "

"A myth to you and I, a reality to those who witnessed the awesome power that could be wielded by the deserving "

"And you think you are deserving "

"In the field of vampires, I am way out in front. After if Victor could handle the power then surely I can "

"What does Victor have to do with this?"

"Everything my dear, Victor was one of a half dozen vampires to personally witness The Antediluvian during his last rampage. He aided in the sealing of the tomb where the old bloodsucker now rests. Cast in to a deep torpor by the schemes of Amelia. Marcus and of course victor. Would have used one of them but Amelia and Victor are dead, and Marcus is too well protected. But, you my dear are naked and vulnerable, just the way I've always wanted."

"You are sick".

"Lao-sin she is yours, " Kravan walked away but stopped. "If you can erase the annoying independence streak she has that would be nice. "

"I will try not to damage her during the procedure. "

Lao-sin stepped closer to her. "Now Milady we will see if you retain any of the memories passed through the blood to you from your father in darkness. We will examine you r mental memories of Victor."

***