"Ok, I'm here. What's the sitch?" Buffy announced, walking into Giles living room. The whole gang was there, except Riley.
"Reine demon. It appears to be human and is extremely powerful." Giles said walking out of the kitchen. He handed a book over to Buffy, pointing to a picture of a gruesome looking thing. "That is its' appearance when he's in demon form. The problem is, they don't turn into their demon form in-less they are dying or extremely week."
"So basically, this demon can be anyone, anywhere in Sunnydale." Xander said.
"How do you know it's in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked
Willow handed over a newspaper with headlines reading,
'Two Gang members attacked by the Unidentified.'
"These kids were attacked last night near the ice cream shop. One is in critical condition and the other is in a coma. The doctors say that it's very unlikely that he'll ever wake up. The kid in critical says that they're not sure what attacked them. It looked human but was really strong."
"So," Xander said, picking up where Willow stopped. "They filled this thing full of lead and when it turned into a gooey mess... well, it's safe to say that they're lucky, very lucky."
"And we're sure that this is a Reine demon?"
"Positive." Giles said. "Tara and Willow went to the site this morning and found traces of Reine slime."
"We also did a spell tha-that proved it was a R-Reine demon." Tara managed.
Buffy sighed, flopping down on a chair. Just what she needed right now. There was already the problem with Angel suddenly showing back up and now this demon. Not to mention her changing feelings towards Riley and their relationship. "Why is it here?"
"That, we're no sure of." Giles said, he took of his glasses to clean them. A sure sign that this was very bad.
"I think it wants something." Anya piped up. "Reine demons are always after something, and they always get it."
"But what they want, we don't know." Buffy concluded. "This should be fun. So it looks like its research from here on out?"
"I'm afraid so." Giles said, handing her another book to start looking through.
It was around five o-clock when Buffy finally reached home. She made it a point that she had to be home before sunset, giving Giles the excuse that her mother needed her help with some things around the house. Truth was, she didn't want Angel to come over to Giles when the sun set looking for her. That would definitely raise some questions between her friends.
Opening the door she realized her mom was still at the art gallery. Knowing that she had a big show coming up, she wouldn't be home for awhile. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the answer machine flashing. Walking over she hit the button to hear the message, and Riley's voice filled the room.
"Hey honey. Call me when you get home. I wanted to know what time would be good to come over tonight. Love you."
Oh, god. She had forgotten that Riley was supposed to come over tonight and tell her mother that they were engaged. Praying slightly to herself, she hoped that Angel hadn't overheard that play today, while she pressed speed dial.
"Hello."
"It's me." Buffy said to the sound of Riley's voice.
"Hey, where have you been all day?"
"Umm," she said mentally kicking herself "shopping."
"Shopping huh? Did you get anything good?"
"No."
"You went shopping but you didn't buy anything?" He questioned
"Yes... I mean no... I mean... I was um, window shopping." She cringed
"Oh, sounds like fun."
"It was!" She breathed a sigh of relief that he bought her story
"So, what time should I come over tonight?"
"I meant to call you about that. You can't tonight. I'm... Mom is working late at the gallery. They're having a big opening soon."
"Oh, well, I could just come over and spend time with you."
"No! I mean, I don't think that's wise. Mom is cranky when she gets home so I was going to clean things up a bit for her and umm... maybe have kinda a mother daughter night with her."
"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you a little later then?"
"Yeah."
"I love you."
"Same here." She said quickly. "Bye." And she hung up the phone. This was getting ridiculous. Why was she acting this way to Riley?
She turned and started heading upstairs. Why did Riley have to be so perfect? Everybody liked him, everybody told her how he was 'such a great guy' and he was definitely 'boyfriend material'. What if she didn't want a great guy though? What if she didn't want the white picket fence and the 2.5 kids running in the back? Everyone seemed to think that Riley was her ticket to a normal life, that he was the best that was going to come along. So if he was so great, why was she having so many doubts about committing to him?
Opening her door the answer to all her questioned appeared. There Angel lay on her bed, his head resting on his arm, asleep. Buffy silently approached him taking away the book that lay before him. She sat down at the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through his hair. Really looking at him for the first time she saw how tired he looked. There were circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, and she could just make out a hint of a fading bruise around his left eye. Leaning down, Buffy kissed his brow, causing him to wake.
"Hi," she said softly
"Mmm, I must have fallen asleep."
"Looks like it." She smiled "You must have been tired."
"I didn't get a whole lot of sleep while I was gone. Always making sure that the box wasn't stolen didn't give me a lot of time to catch up on my z's. What time is it?" he yawned, getting up he started to stretch.
"About five."
He looked at her. "Five? What's going on?" He asked seriously. If Buffy had been at Giles for ten hours, it was definitely serious.
She sat down on the bed. "The demon I was telling you about this morning is a Reine demon. Apparently it attacked two kids last night. Anya says it wants something but we don't know what yet."
"It wants something alright. A Reine demon doesn't attack unless it benefits them." He said sitting down by her side. "I'm guessing you've been researching all day?"
"Yes, and my head is killing me." She complained
Moving around so he sat directly behind her, he pulled her to his chest. "Here, let me help." He said. Taking his hands, his fingers gently started to massage her temple. Almost instantly Buffy felt her headache beginning to fade.
"Mmmm," she groaned. "You need to always be around after research." He smiled at that.
"I'll take you up on that offer."