Sunnydale

The door to the Magic Box opened slowly, revealing Buffy and Willow trotting in.

"I mean, it's not fair, Buffy, I think I have just as much of a shot at solving it than anyone!" The witch pouted.

Buffy gave her friend a look of pity. "Well, I'm not saying that you don't, I'm just saying that . . . well, you don't have much of a shot . . . but, you do have a small shot . . . "

Anya Emerson looked up from the store check out counter with a look of interest. "What's wrong, are you feeling left out of the scooby gang again?" She asked Willow, with a tone of bluntness.

Willow shook her head as she removed her purse from her shoulder. "No, just evil editors and their evildoing . . . " She sighed. "Just a bunch of evil chaos."

The witch looked over at the woman who watched the two girls enter. Anya's bleach blonde hair fell across her shoulders as her hazel eyes sparked with keen interest. Suddenly, she came to the thought that a story of evil chaotic madness might prove entertaining for the woman. A few thousand years ago, the woman used to be a vengeance demon. She would punish men for their wrong doings and do that as an occupation. However, a few years into the future, she met Xander in the Sunnydale Highschool. She was supposed to punish him, but, a year later, she fell in love with him. After that, she lost her job as a vengeance demon, but soon regained it after Xander didn't follow through with his last-minute marriage proposal.

Anya shrugged as she walked out from behind the counter. "I had to avenge a wife of an editor once . . . " She smiled gleefully as she recalled the memory. "He was boning his assistant and then she wanted me to make it where he was on the *front page* of the newspaper, so I—"

"Actually, I don't think I want to hear the rest of that story." Buffy commented as she made a face at the possible ending.

Anya sighed. "No one wants to hear stories of blood and chaos, but, people will go off to pay for a movie that has blood and gore and then come back out, saying how cool it was . . . "

"Well, I already have to see that stuff and I would just like to go at least one minute without hearing someone being brutally stabbed or someone's blood being viciously splattered all over the front page of the newspaper . . . " Buffy shot back as she walked over to a round table that had three piles of books and a morning newspaper.

Anya scoffed. "Um, for you information, I decapitated him . . . his murder story was on the front page of the paper . . . " She rolled her eyes as she walked back over to the counter.

Willow shook her head as she exchanged a comical look with the Slayer.

A short minute after, Rupert Giles entered the room with a book in his hand. "I'm sorry, did I miss something about evil editors?" He asked with a slightly keen bit of interest.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she smiled. "No, just Anya's vengeful tales and Willow's inability to solve a simple crossword . . . " She teased as she glanced over to her friend.

"Hey, let's see you try and solve a four-letter word for 'medication' and then we'll see who's all hefty on the big talk . . . " The redhead smirked.

Buffy smiled as she glanced over to her Watcher, who was looking at the two bickering women.

"Excuse me, but, I did have a reason for calling . . . " The man informed.

The two looked over at him and became silent.

"Yes, w-well . . . it would seem as if the murder from last night was nothing more than a mere vampire . . . " He spoke with a soft British accent as his glasses set at the bridge of his nose.

Buffy watched him closely as he spoke. The man had been there for almost every major event in her life. From when she was preventing apocalypses to when her mother died, he was always there. She had come to view him not only as her guardian, but as a father figure.

"So, the question is, why did this particular murder get so much more publicity?" Willow questioned, also eying the man.

Giles let out a sigh as he removed his glasses and set them on the table. "Well, that, I suppose, and we have to figure out who this belongs to . . . " He opened the book he was carrying and revealed a picture of a talisman that had a crescent moon surrounded by silver and gold. "This was something that was left at the crime scene, but the police have filed it as evidence by now."

Buffy examined the picture and tilted her head. "Hmm . . . it looks kind of out of date . . . "

"Well, I should say so . . . it's more than six centuries old." The man informed as he set the book down beside his glasses.

Willow peered at the picture and then turned her attention back to Giles. "So, do we have any leads as to where this crescent necklace guy might be?"

Giles shook his head as he answered, "No, I already checked out Willy's place . . . nothing useful."

Buffy raised her eyebrows as a look of disbelief crossed her features. "*You* went to Willy's?"

The man nodded. "Yes, why?"

The Slayer let out a small giggle as Willow joined in. "Oh, no reason . . . so, how did you get information out of him?"

"W-well, I offered him some cash and I told him if he didn't tell me what I wanted to know, I would–"

"Threaten him unrealistically?" The blonde asked as she smirked.

"Now, I'll have you know that I can be quite intimidating when you're not looking . . . " He shot back defensively.

Willow shrugged. "I'm sure you can, Giles, you just have to show 'em how it's done old school . . . "

A look of shock crossed his features. "What . . . *old school*?"

Buffy smiled as she looked from him over to Willow. "I'm going to check out the crime scene, see if there is anything the officials missed."

Willow nodded as her friend walked to the door. "Okay, see you later . . . " She then focused her attention back to Giles, who was still arguing about her earlier comment.

"I can do just about anything that has to do with karate techniques a-and . . . "

Anya snorted as she listened to the man speak. "...And Buffy can pretty much kick Willy's ass better than you ever could–or ever threaten to . . . or both . . . "

Giles rolled his eyes as he let out a deep sigh of irritation.