Chapter Five
At that point Dawn came back with the food and water. I wasn't in the habit of making meals out of just cookies, but I've had far worse. Between bites I asked, "What's a vampire slayer?"
"Here's the spiel," Buffy said. "Out of every generation one girl is chosen to fight the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness yadda yadda. What it boils down to is a young girl gets super strengh and fights the bad guys until she dies and the next slayer is called. We have Watchers who train and guide us and also occasionally do nasty things like leave us without our slayer powers in a house with a pyscho vampire on our 18th birthday."
"Sounds tough," I said. "How long have you been doing it?"
"Seven years."
"She's been the slayer longer than anyone else in recorded history," Willow chirped. "We're all really proud of her."
"We know why you wanted Spike, now tell us how you tried to do it and what your involvement with the First is," Buffy said.
"Like I've said I got hired to help a family exact blood vengeance on Spike. I put together an eight man team, all experienced, and put them through a couple of weeks of training while we tried to locate the vampire. Fortunately my principal...."
"Hey I've got a principal too," Buffy interrupted and then sheepishly said, "Go on."
"Fortunately my principal had good relations with a law firm that located the target in Sunnydale."
"Let me take a wild guess and say the law firm was Wolfram and Hart?" Buffy said.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"My ex-boyfriend has had some run-ins with them in LA."
"So we set up shop in Sunnydale and put cameras around the high school since that was where he was last seen. We didn't get a hit on the cameras, so we rode around the city in two man teams at night for three weeks until we spotted him carrying a body into the killhouse. We moved in and subdued the subject with two non-fatal casualties to our team. We were preparing for extraction when the black robes hit us. Spike regained consciousness and occupied one of my men for a critical few seconds. Otherwise it might have been a different story."
"What were you going to do with him after you left Sunnydale?" Buffy asked.
"Deliver him to my employer and get the bulk of my pay. I assume my principal wanted to play with his toy awhile before he broke it. I would have preferred to stake Spike on-site and film it for the folks at home, but the boss didn't want it that way."
"You knew Spike was a vampire and it didn't bother you?" Willow asked.
"I'd heard tales of vampires and demons and even encountered a few of them before. I thought with enough manpower and the right precautions it wouldn't be a problem. Didn't count on the black robes though. Who are they and what's their beef with you?"
"They're minions of some evil power I've encountered before," Buffy said. Don't know exactly why they are after us, but it probably boils down to the basic good vs evil thingy."
"If you're a vampire slayer, then why are you protecting a vampire?" I asked.
"Spike is a special case, "Buffy answered. "He had a chip put in his head a few years ago that causes him extreme pain every time he tries to harm a human. Over the summer he went to a powerful demon, endured some trials and got his soul back"
"If he has that chip, then why was he able to attack my team?"
"We're not sure," Buffy said. "We think the first had him under some kind of thrall. Xander thinks it must use a song as a trigger to put him under that spell. Xander got the idea from the movies, but it sounds plausible."
"I don't know about songs as triggers," I said, "but I saw the Man in the Mountain brainwash his assassins with opium and the promise of paradise and I believe the Chinese used brainwashing on captured US troops during the Korean War."
"Oh I know that movie-The Manchurian Candidate," said Willow.
"I've got two questions, Slayer," I said. "Number one what are you going to do about the black robes and Spike?"
"Well we'll kill every black robe we come across. Spike we'll try and rescue and lift his trigger."
"I not so sure about the Spike plan, but I approve of killing all the black robes. I didn't let myself get close to my team, but they were still MY team. Now what are you gonna do about me?"
"I'm not sure," said Buffy as the brunette came down the stairs. "A lot of that depends on you."
Anya said, "Andrew is coming around and is ready to talk. What's the story with your guy?"
"Turns out he killed Christ and got cursed to wander the earth as an immortal mercenary," said Willow.
"That sounds familiar," Anya said. "Vengeance demons knew of him and the magnificent blood vendettas he would carry out every century or so, but we couldn't touch him because he was on the mystic do not call list."
"Vengeance demons?" I asked.
"It's a long story," said Buffy. "Let's go up stairs and see what Andrew has to say, "Casca, you sit tight and we'll deal with you later," she told me as she walked up the stairs.
Normally that would be my cue to sit back and plan how I would break free of the manacles and slit the throats of every one in the house while they slept, but this time I didn't have it in me. I still didn't know what I was going to do, but I sincerely hoped it didn't involve hurting any of these people.