Part 8

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose and for the hundredth time wished he didn't have to impart the news he was about to impart. God, when had things gone so wrong?

When Spike had come back to Sunnydale rambling about Red Death they had all just thought it was Spike's ramblings. Angel had called him a couple of weeks ago with his suspicions of Willow but Giles had thought it couldn't be possible and he wouldn't believe it until he had hard proof.

Well that hard proof had come last night when an associate of Angel named Gunn had sent pictures of his Willow obviously enjoying the pain and fright of the demon cowering in front of her. It was a grainy photo like from a security camera but there had been no doubt that it had been Willow.

Giles had gotten blind drunk that night clutching that picture of Willow, a man and the demon. The man standing by Willow's side looked familiar but he couldn't place him. Angel said that Willow was a partner with a mercenary called The Hunter and that they had known each other in Sunnydale. Maybe Xander or Buffy will recognize him.

Xander had kept hoping to get word from Willow ever since she left. He had doggedly refused to believe that she would have broken all ties with him. Giles sighed heavily at having to tell Xander that they had finally gotten word about Willow.

Giles decided he had sat in the car long enough and grabbed the manila folder containing the picture and other damning evidence and made his way to the front of Buffy's house.

~~~~

"The subject is entering the house." A soft voice spoke into the agent's ear. The special inhabitants of Sunnydale had been under surveillance ever since Willow went undercover. There had always been stakeouts of some kind in Sunnydale but it was kicked up a notch when Willow's mission began. This mission was too important to the Agency to have any screw ups.

Last night it had been discovered that Giles had received information regarding Rosenberg. Which was nothing new, what was new this time was that Giles believed the news. The agents knew that he would tell the others so it had been decided that they were to gather in the house across the street from the Slayer's once again. The next course of action for the agents depended on the outcome of this meeting. They wouldn't pull Rosenberg or Miller but they might have to send something to distract the Sunnydale inhabitants. If they were busy fighting their own foe they might not give Willow two thoughts until it was too late.

Anyone walking by the Agent wearing the wire would think it was just a neighbor sitting on their front porch enjoying the cool California evening breeze and reading the latest best seller.

"Opening communication for everyone." The agent inside the house clicked a few buttons on the keyboard and the satellite beamed the signal to several agents at once.

~~~~

Buffy took one look at Giles' face and knew that something bad had happened or was about to happen. He had called and said he had something important to tell her and Xander but to have Dawn out of the house. Buffy's heart clinched at the thought of Glory or someone like Glory coming back to try for Dawn. She just knew it had something to do with Dawn otherwise why get her out of the house?

She and Dawn had been growing further and further apart. It had begun with the death of Joyce and come to a head with the magick intervention of Willow. Dawn hadn't wanted Willow to leave and felt the others drove her to it. Dawn had been kind of relieved that they had finally talked to Willow about her magick use because Dawn had been concerned but she didn't think that doing an intervention had been a good idea. Dawn hadn't talked to Buffy for two days after Willow left and like Xander she had never given up hoping to hear from her.

Giles didn't bother smiling at either Xander or Buffy. This wasn't news that could be softened with a sad smile.

Xander took one look at Giles and closed his eyes. Damn the dream he had last night about Willow must have been true. "It's Willow isn't it?"

Giles turned shocked eyes to Xander, "H-how did you know?"

Xander smiled sadly at Giles, "Well, it seems that Buffy's not the only one to get prophetic dreams. I dreamt about her last night and not in a good I finally found her way."

Hoping to stall Giles asked, "What did you dream?"

"Nope, you first."

Giles took out the contents of the folder and put them on the table. "Angel first called me a few weeks ago with rumors about Willow. I dismissed them because I knew they couldn't possibly be true." Giles watched as Buffy and Xander read through the report that Angel had stolen from Wolfram and Hart.

He knew Xander's dream must have been bad if he wasn't protesting what he was reading.

A muscle ticked in Buffy's jaw as she read the report. God, Wills what could have turned you? She knew what power did to a person. She had been tempted with Faith in high school but her family and friends kept her grounded. Had Willow been tempted and then when there were no family and friends around to help she took the temptation. Buffy felt like putting her hand through a wall or maybe killing about a dozen vamps. DAMN, she and Giles both had thought they were doing what was best for Willow when they forbid her to do her magick and to get help.

Giles saved the picture for last. "Spike had been rambling about the Red Death and we all thought that he was just rambling. I'm afraid he wasn't." Giles slid the picture to the table.

Buffy jumped and began to pace, "NO! Damn it NO! Willow would not take the life of someone. Yeah okay in self-defense or to protect someone but not cold bloodedly. I don't care what this report says." God had they driven her to become a killer? Buffy couldn't live with herself if she had inadvertently turned her best friend into a monster like what they fought against. "Xander you can't believe this? Why aren't you protesting?"

Xander was quietly studying the picture. These were the faces in his dream. What could it mean? His eyes narrowed as looked at the man standing next to Willow. Who was he? He looked familiar but Xander couldn't tell if it was from the dream or someone that he recognized.

Xander finally tore his eyes away from the picture and held it out to Buffy, "Just look. As much as it pains me to admit it it's Willow. If she did go bad there has to be a reason. She wouldn't do it. I don't care what the report says or what the picture says. I know Willow and she wouldn't do this without a reason."

Giles looked from Buffy to Xander, "Addiction to magick can be very powerful and like any other addiction it can cause you to do things you wouldn't normally do."

Buffy turned tortured eyes to Giles, "Are you saying that Willow is addicted to dark magick and because of that she is doing things out of her control?"

"Not out of her control, no. She probably knows exactly what she's doing but the pull is so great to the power of the magick that she doesn't care that she's doing it."

Xander stood and began to pace, "Then she needs help and we need to help her."

"Xander, if she doesn't want to be helped we can't make her."

Xander turned on Buffy with narrowed eyes and high temper but she stopped him with her next statement.

"My god, that's Graham. Graham Miller, Riley's friend."

Xander's eyes bugged out, "Graham Miller? From the Initiative? There is no WAY Willow would have gotten together with anything remotely connected with the Initiative."

"You're right. No matter what the evidence says Willow wouldn't trust anyone from the Initiative except Riley. RILEY! God, I forgot. He and Sam gave me their number when they were here before. We can call them and they'll probably know what's happening."

Buffy dug around in the desk drawer and finally pulled out the piece of paper she was hunting for. She reached for the phone, "Yes, may I speak to Agent Finn, Riley. Tell him we're having a problem. No his last name is Finn. Well, did he used to work there?  Oh, is this actually a flower shop, or is this one of those things where I'm supposed to play along to show that I know it's really secret ops? Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh, OK, right. Well, if some guy named Finn shows up to buy flowers— Yeah. Thanks." Buffy hung up and turned to Xander and Giles. "Wrong number. Or a giant government conspiracy, one or the other."

"Xander, what was your dream about Willow?"

"It was just flashes really, Willow with that Graham guy, Willow with a demon, Willow stripping the life away from a demon, the demon from the picture, other scenes of similar things."

~~~

One of the agents in the house had quickly picked up a secure phone when Alexander Harris had described his dream. Agent Williamson had been afraid something like this would happen when Willow went undercover.

They had a contingency plan if this scenario had become a reality.

"Williamson."

"Yes sir, it's Donovan. The projection has occurred."

"Damn." Williamson softly mumbled. He had been afraid that Willow's repression of her emotions would have an outlet in her subconscious. Because she was the closest to Xander Harris her memories were being projected to him albeit unknowingly by either party. "Have Finn call the Summers' house and use the story that we've been circulating."

Williamson disconnected from the field agent and then redialed. "Send D'Hoffryn to Sunnydale. Tell him we need to keep them occupied for awhile."