"So these demon had Giles' family crest carved into their faces?"

Willow's eager, inquisitive grin was waiting for Buffy when she looked up. Inwardly, she sighed. She was tired, cranky, and she was sure she'd be picking demon goop out of her hair for the next month. She really didn't want to go through the third degree with her best friends. But that was the thing about being best friends. What she wanted rarely had much to do with what she actually did.

Come to think of it, most of her life was like that. And boy did it suck.

"You don't suppose good ole boy Ripper knocked on some demonic doors and asked nicely if the Creature from the Black Lagoon and his girlfriend could come out to play?" Xander chimed in with his usual grin.

"I don't know," Buffy said, and ran a hand through her hair. She grimaced and picked the flakes of green-blue from her fingers. She'd be obsessive-compulsive by the end of the week at this rate. "Went to Giles, told him about demon-things, gave him the sketches, and found out that demons are wearing his colors. He went all Silent Boy after that. Said he had to make a few calls and that he'd tell me today. So far? Nada."

Xander reached into his backpack and brought out an apple. He bit into it, and around the mouthful said, "I don't know about you, but I'm betting on Ripper making a comeback." Buffy and Willow just gave him the i look /i . "What? We know Ripper was a badass, and that he was deep into the black arts, angry at the world, summoning higher powers. All that good stuff. All I'm sayin' is that it's a possibility, okay?"

"I dunno." Buffy scrubbed at her eyes and leaned back in the chair. "He seemed just as surprised as we were."

"Where do you think they came from?" Willow asked, her voice dropping. She was still grinning like a schoolgirl, like there was a big conspiracy she was thrilled to the bone to be a part of.

"I don't know!" Buffy snapped, then took a deep calming breath. "I'm sorry," she said. "I had a long night, and the day isn't looking any better."

Willow reached out and laid a hand on Buffy's shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "Well, why don't we go to the library?" she suggested. "Maybe Giles is there now. And if not, we-we can do some research of our own." She nodded, and the smile widened to a grin.

"As long as Ripper hasn't removed the books we need in an attempt to cover his own tracks," Xander contributed. He took a basket shot at the garbage can with the core of his apple. It went in with a thunk against the side of the can. "Yes! Three-pointer for Harris, and the game is over."

Buffy scowled at Xander. "You could be a little more positive, you know," she mumbled as she stood and slung her satchel over her shoulder.

"Could," Xander replied, also standing. "But what's the fun in that? I'd have to go around seeing all the glasses as half-full. And that sounds like an awful lot of work."

"You-you could be a pragmatist, Xand," Willow said, falling into step behind them both. "They say the glass is at 50% capacity."

Xander grinned and slung his arm over her shoulders in half a hug. "Thanks Will. But I think I'll stick to my pessimism."

Buffy let them both chatter behind her, their conversation fading into the general din of the crowded halls. She pushed her way through the students milling outside their classrooms, heading towards the library. A low headache was starting to throb behind her eyes and in her temples. "Great," she muttered. "Just what I needed."

Thankfully, the last few twists and turns in the hallways to the library were blessedly clear of students. Giles had purported -- using that exact turn of phrase, "I purport" no less -- that very few students actually came to the library because of the mystical energies of the Hellmouth. It explained away that nagging feeling of coincidence always working for them that Buffy had. Slayers led short, violent, suspicious lives, and the library always being free and clear exactly when they needed it made her twitchy and paranoid. At least, it had until Giles had given a plausible explanation for why it always seemed to be that way.

The thought of Giles turned her mind to the demons the previous night. She didn't know where they came from, but they gave Giles a good wiggins. And things did not happen by random chance in Sunnydale.

"There is no such thing as coincidence in this town," she said to herself.

"What was that, Buff?" Willow asked.

Right, she'd almost forgotten Xander and Willow were behind her. She forced a smile and slowed for them to catch up. "Nothin'," she said. "Just... talking to myself. Reflecting on how few and far between coincidences really are here."

Xander opened the door to the library for them all, and just shrugged. "Take it one day at a time, Buff."

"More like one crisis at a time. And that's if the Hell---" She broke off abruptly as she saw the person behind the main desk wasn't the person she had been expecting.

Assistant Principal Ann Lyonnes was sitting behind the main desk, engrossed in a thick, dusty tome. Which one, Buffy didn't know. There were many, many thick dusty tomes in this library. The assistant principal was dressed as she always was in a grey-blue skirt suit that hugged her curves. Her black hair was held back in a tight bun, and her green eyes were half-hidden behind rimless glasses. She glanced up, and her green eyes were piercing but warm.

"May I help you?" she inquired.

"Err... We were just looking for Mr. Giles," Willow said, with a hesitant glance to Buffy. "He'd promised to help us with our biology research. Got a paper due."

"Yeah," Xander nodded. "With the... biology stuff."

Lyonnes closed the book, and dust flew from the pages. She stood and readjusted her glasses on her nose. "I'm afraid Mr. Giles won't be here today. He called in ill. As we couldn't locate a suitable substitute in time, I'm filling in for him."

Buffy frowned slightly. Curioser and curiouser. "Oh, um... Do you know when he'll be back?"

"No, I'm sorry. He didn't say. Is...there anything else I can help you with?"

"Thank you, but no." Without another word, Buffy turned around and headed back out of the library. She sensed rather than saw Xander and Willow following her.

"That woman gives me the creeps," Xander said.

"Who, Ms. Lyonnes?" Willow shook her head with a wry smile. "She's nice. I like her."

"I'm with Will on this one, Xand. Giles being MIA or no. She's a nice person."

Xander shrugged, and looked between them both. "She always ... i looks /i at me."

Buffy couldn't help but grin. "People do that, Xander. It's a typically human trait."

"No! You... the way she looks at me... it's like she's seeing someone else. Kinda wistful and sad." He ran a hand through his short hair. "It really creeps me out." He paused. "When did she get here anyway?"

"Same day as Snyder did," Willow replied promptly. "Day after Bob Flutie was eaten by hyena-people."

"God, Will... must you bring that up? I told you, I can't remember anything about it!"

Buffy blinked, then grinned. "Defensive much, Xander?"

He scratched at the back of his neck. "I'm just saying..."

"I know...Look. I'm going to cut and head to Giles' house. He called in, so that's a good sign that he didn't just disappear last night. But we need answers about this. I can't deal with this and the mayor and whatever else the Hellmouth wants to throw at me this week. I just can't."

Willow's smile melted into a serious expression. "Alright Buff. What do you need us to do?"

"Research demons and find our slimy friends. Focus on why they're here and what they are. Giles might have the answers but we can't wait. I ... gotta go." Buffy leaned in to hug them both, then hurried away towards the exit while the coast was clear.

"Sure thing!" Willow called out after her. She blew out a breath, and muttered, "If I can convince Ms. Lyonnes to loan me the book she was reading."

Xander blinked. "Huh?"

"You didn't notice?"

"I try to avoid looking at that woman. As previously stated, she gives me the severe wiggins."

"Ms. Lyonnes had Aurium's Compendium of Demonology open. She tried to cover it up with another book when we came in. I don't think Buffy noticed, but I've read that book so many times I know it at a glance.

Xander turned to stare at the doors to the library. From this angle, he could see Lyonnes inside at the desk. She was chewing on a thumbnail and reading. From what he could see, she did not look happy. In fact, she was looking downright worried.

"Interesting," is all he said, though his eyes never left the small round window through which the assistant principal was visible. Beside him, Willow craned her neck to peer into the library, following his gaze.

Inside, Lyonnes closed the book, tossed it aside and buried her head in her hands.

======

b Somewhere Else /b

Andraia let the remains of her dinner drop to a limp pile of dead boy to the floor and lounged back on her chair, idly playing with the flaps of leather barely holding together over her chest. Her meal had almost completely shredded her bodice in his terror, but she was in too good a mood to particularly care. His blood had been sweetened by his fear, and it had gone down her throat like ambrosia.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist and studied the patterns of the blood on the maroon material. She kicked her feet over the armrest and slid sideways until she was sprawled in the chair, lounging like a queen. She tapped her foot in the air and hummed with a blissful smile on her face, eyes closed, to the music pounding through the Bronze's speakers.

There was slight movement behind her, and then there was a mouth at her ear, licking along her lobe. Cool breath whispered along the nape of her neck, and she shivered deliciously. "Looks like we're going to have to get you some new leathers, kitten," Xander's voice purred into her ear. "I love it when they struggle, but it's hell on the tailoring bill."

Andraia slid one arm up to curl her hand around the back of his neck, digging her nails in until he hissed in enjoyed pain. She grinned and tilted her head to look back at him, and licked his lips. Her grin grew more catlike, smug and lazily predatory. "You should know I like it rough."

"Is that an invite kitten?" His fangs shone suddenly in a dark grin and he went for her throat. She grinned, but something ghosted across her senses, her mystical senses. Xander kept coming, but she pushed him out of the way, sitting up and swinging her feet to the floor.

"Where's Willow?" She looked around the Bronze, at the orgy of blood and death. Vampires everywhere feasting and screwing, playing pool with human limbs and heads. Blood fountained from the pile of fresh human bodies in the corner. It was a glorious sight, one that made her inner beast growl in hunger and lust. But there was no beloved slim redhead in skintight black leather.

Xander looked over his shoulder towards the door that led to the dungeons the Master had installed in the basement. "She's downstairs waiting for her Puppy to wake up." His voice thickened and he brushed one hand over her cheek. "I've never seen her so thrilled. Like a kid in a candy store." His hand tightened on her cheek until her bones creaked. Andraia leaned into his palm and purred through the pain. His eyes were dark and intense. "I owe you for that."

She growled playfully at him and snapped her teeth. "Later, when we're all together." She rose fluidly, and the pull on her thoughts grew stronger. "Something just changed," she said quietly and felt a slow grin of pleasure start on

"Good change or bad, kitten?"

She moved languidly to the center of the room, passing through the writhing bodies and the wriggling cattle. The bass pounded through her, resonating through the mystical tugging. She tilted her head to one side, closed her eyes and listened. She felt Xander come up beside her.

"Kitten?"

She blocked it all out, focussing on the beat of the music and the magical tug. She followed it down, through time immemorial, spiralling galaxies and exploding universes. And there...

Her eyes snapped open and she spun to face Xander. He was watching her curiously, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. She slipped both arms around his neck, brought her body flush to his and moved against him suggestively. Into his ear she whispered, "Go get Willow, love. Tell her to put the leash on the dog and bring him too. It's time."

He nipped at her neck. "Time for what?"

She grinned and moved away. Her hands traced over the ripped bodice, playing with the shreds of leather. "It's time to get me a new corset. And after that..." She spread her arms and giggled happily. "Then it's our time to fly."

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