A/N: *feels abandoned by reviewers*

Chapter 7

Damon watched as Willow wandered aimlessly through the library about a week later, a faint smile on his face. She certainly was an extraordinary young woman, her witchcraft aside. He had just spoken with Hunter about her today and had been told some interesting facts about his charge, including soul restorations, which shocked him. She certainly did not look the part of a powerful witch.

He watched her take down a book and flip through it, trying to catch the title. When he did, he smothered a chuckle. Well, perhaps in the right environment she did. He walked up.

"Prophecies and Demons of the 20th century?"

Willow jumped and glared. "Don't do that! How many times do I have to tell you—sneaking up is not good! Buffy nearly tore Xander's arm off when he tried it with her. I'm a little more subtle, but I do get the job done."

Damon grinned. "Sorry. Why are you reading that?"

Willow cast him a withering look. "Researching."

"What?"

"Possible origins of this vamp we're apparently facing."

"And you think he came from your time?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "He's probably pretty old—I have no idea when he would be from. I mean, the Master was some 600 years old, Dracula was—Dracula, the Anointed One was a kid, it just depends."

"Hmm." Damon pulled out a book, peered at the cover, and handed it to Willow. "Perhaps you should work on developing your magic to help fight."

Willow gave him a strange look before taking the book. "My time can be put to better use."

Damon shook his head. "Your magic is your strongest weapon."

Willow glanced at him, then at the book, and shook her head. "Magic stuff I really don't need much help with. Besides, I know most of what's in this book."

"Word for word?" Damon queried.

Willow glanced at him. "I can cast combat spells."

Damon shrugged slightly. "Learn it anyways."

Willow continued to look at him then glanced at a nearby table. The table burst into flame.

Damon jumped with a shout, then watched in shock as the flame vanished, leaving the table unscarred. He stared at Willow, who said quietly, "Using the magic isn't what I have a problem with."

She slipped out, leaving Damon with another puzzle about his charge. Maybe he needed to go have a chat with Spike—from what he heard, Spike had been around her more than Angel in the years leading up to her death. Yes, perhaps that would be best.

*********

"Hey, Will!"

Willow, on her way  back from the library, looked up and smiled at Keladree. "Hey. What's up?"

"The sky?" Keladree suggested. "But seriously, we're going out for our first night of patrolling tonight. Wanna join?"

Willow smiled. "I'm not sure they'd let me go, since I'm not a Slayer. I'd love to, but…"

Keladree sighed theatrically. "You helped your Slayer, you obviously can fight, why wouldn't they let you go?"

Willow shrugged. "Maybe we should ask."

They headed for the dining hall and sat down to eat. At the end of dinner, Ashton rose and looked at the six Slayers and Willow. "As I am sure you have all been told, you five will begin patrolling tonight after dinner. You will go in pairs. Suri, you and Micaela will go together. Nora and Sarah, you two will pair up. Jordan, you will go with Keladree. Yes, Keladree?"

Keladree put her hand down. "Can Willow come with us?"

Ashton glanced at Damon, who shrugged, then looked at Willow. "For tonight, I suppose. It will not be a usual occurrence, but tonight will be all right."

Keladree grinned at Willow, who smiled back as Nora protested, "But she is not a Slayer."

Ashton nodded. "True, but her combat skills are at a level where she can hold her own if she is with a Slayer, and she is a witch."

At this, he shot Willow a glance that said clearly that she should have told him. Willow looked back calmly. She really wasn't worried about him getting irritated with her.

"If you all are finished, please collect your weapons and set out."

Willow joined Keladree and Jordan as they headed for the armory ahead of the others, their Watchers trailing. Keladree and Jordan found a handful of stakes each and, while Keladree tested out a set of daggers, Jordan chose a sword. Willow found a couple stakes and left it at that.

Jordan's Watcher, Nathan something or other raised his eyebrows at Willow's choice of weapon. "We do run into demons around here."

Willow shrugged and took a dagger.

Keladree's Watcher, Elaine Hunt, glanced at Damon. "Is it just me, or does she seem to be remarkably unconcerned about hunting demons?"

Willow heard that and joined them while the two Slayers continued to choose weapons. "I helped Buffy for seven years. I'm kinda used to the whole patrolling thing."

"Then you should know how dangerous it is for a non-Slayer," Elaine pointed out.

Willow shrugged. "Patrolling was easy compared to the end-of-the-year apocalypses. We walked, we killed some vampires, any demons that were stupid enough to attack, we went home. It wasn't a big thing."

"Even Watchers aren't that careless," Elaine informed her.

Willow looked at her seriously. "Watchers generally aren't witches. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

Jordan and Keladree appeared before either could comment. "Ready."

********

It was dark and fairly quiet. Jordan, Keladree, and Willow had walked for about a half an hour without seeing any signs of activity, demonic or otherwise. Their Watchers were trailing behind a few yards—Meters! Willow scolded herself—and talking softly among themselves.

The girls talked, not too loudly, discussing possible ways to find out about the head vampire that was making life a problem for humans.

"You sure you can't just do a locator spell?" Keladree asked Willow.

Willow sighed. "I don't have anything in particular to fix on. I can say vampire—but there are a lot of those. There's really nothing else to pin him down as."

"Big, bad, master vampire?" Jordan suggested.

Willow smiled. "I don't think the spell would recognize that."

"Damn."

Keladree rolled her eyes. "Hey Will—maybe you could go online and see if he's put up a website. Hack into his files or something."

Jordan gave Willow a look. "You're a hacker?"

"Kind of," Willow said. "It's been a while but…why?"

Jordan shook her head. "Hacking's a really bad idea now."

"Why?" Willow asked curiously. "Damon said the same thing. What's up?"

"The vampires like to hack into important places' computers," Jordan told her. "Generally when they do, they crash the entire system, so any sign of hacking is really, really bad."

"Oh." Willow considered that and nodded. "Check. No hacking then."

"What happens if a human gets caught hacking?" Keladree asked curiously.

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Vampires can always use a meal."

"Ah. Ouch."

Willow frowned. "Isn't that kinda, like, counter-productive?"

Jordan shrugged. "They figure that if a person wants to do what a vampire would do, they can go live with the vampires. Watcher's Council doesn't agree, but they don't really care."

"So everyone knows about vampires now," Willow said.

"Duh." Jordan rolled her eyes. "Kinda hard not to. People don't go out at night, and the Watcher's Council is kind of considered elite or something. They let us do our own thing."

"Council's always done that," Willow muttered.

A crash distracted the three girls and they froze, staring into the direction the crash had come from.

"The building," Keladree murmured in her ear. Willow nodded and started moving silently towards the large, empty looking building. It was probably a cat—or at least a newbie. An older vampire would be too smart to make a noise like that.

Unless, of course, they wanted to draw the attention of two Vampire Slayers and a witch.

The three girls made their way to the building and peered into an open window. It was dark and looked like a parking garage or a warehouse or something.

Keladree tried the door. It was locked. Willow glared at the door handle, whispered a spell, and the door popped open softly.

Jordan went in first, crossbow in hand, sword in a sheath across her back. Keladree had her daggers out and in either hand. Willow gripped a stake tightly in one hand but busily ran through all spells she knew that could help them out.

There was another crash, this time near a set of stairs. Willow, Keladree, and Jordan exchanged glances then, with soft sighs, followed the sound. This was definitely a trap of some kind.

"Jordan!"

The hissed voice made the three whirl and glare at the three Watchers standing in the doorway. Nathan ordered softly, "Get back here."

Jordan shook her head, motioning to the ceiling.

"We'll come back later with reinforcements," Nathan hissed. "This is obviously a nest."

Willow and Keladree exchanged exasperated glances. They were sure that their Watchers felt the same way but just weren't saying anything.

Willow looked at Damon, trying to figure out to explain that they needed to see what was going on now without saying to much and possibly alerting the vampires to the presence of three Watchers if they did not already know and remembered.

*Jordan, can you hear me?*

Jordan jumped and spun, staring at Willow.

*That's a yes. Good—hang on. Damon?*

Damon jerked, staring at Willow as well. Willow took a brief instant to feel happy that she could still speak telepathically before saying, *Look, it's probably a trap, but we need to see what's going on. This may be our only chance to—they'll probably leave if we don't follow.*

Damon's voice was hesitant. *This is most definitely a trap Willow. Incidentally, how can you do this?*

*I'm a witch, remember? And we know this is probably a trap—we're not amateurs you know. Look, why are they so busy trying to get our attention? There's three of us—or six, if they know you're here. Even if they don't know that two are Slayers, why bother to fight with three people? So there's some reason, right?*

*We will discuss this later, for instance when it's safe.*

Willow glared. *You sound like Wesley when he first showed up. He was a pompous wimp. We're going. It's their job to kill vampires, it's my job to fight the good fight, we're going.*

Damon, apparently not liking being called a pompous wimp, nodded and Willow turned back to the two Slayers. *Jordan, Keladree, let's go.*

Keladree stared at her along with Jordan. *How—how is this happening?*

*Magic.* Willow grinned. *Sorry if I scared you—it's just a lot quieter than talking. Anyways, let's go.*

They did not argue, Jordan taking the lead as they silently made their way to the stairs. Willow cautioned Jordan and Keladree about the danger of old stairs—mainly the collapsing part—and they started up.

The second floor was just as deserted as the first, but a sound by the set of stairs across the room proved that this was indeed planned. Willow frowned. If she remembered right from her glance at the building, it had five floors. Were the vampires on the top floor?

They made their cautious way across the second floor and up the second flight of stairs. It was the third floor that signs of habitation showed up, mostly in the form of dead bodies.

Jordan's face tightened as she surveyed the room. Keladree scowled.

Willow, after a pained look around, led the way to the third flight of stairs and stepped onto the first step.

The stair cracked. Willow leapt back, just before the first three stairs tumbled down onto the second floor.

Jordan steadied the red head as Keladree muttered, "Well that was exciting."

Willow checked her ankle to make sure that, on landing, she hadn't twisted it. It was okay and she turned her attention to how to get up the stairs.

Keladree came up with the solution, grabbing boards that were lying on the floor and using them as a bridge to the next step. Willow steadied them with magic and they continued on.

The fourth floor had yet more bodies, and a few dead demons. Willow thought about it halfway across the floor and looked at Keladree and Jordan. "What if they're all vampires that haven't risen yet?"

Keladree and Jordan exchanged glances. Keladree shook her head. "We can't go back now."

Willow nodded and they continued up the fourth set of stairs.

The fifth floor looked the same as the last two. The girls stopped, looking around in confusion. They had been sure their "guide" would be here.

A door banged shut.

Willow, looking around, whispered, "Roof."

Keladree and Jordan nodded, and they made their way across the floor to the stairs leading up to the roof access.

They halted at the door, a little wary of stepping out into the unknown. What if there was a hoard of vampires waiting for them to step through?  That would be bad.

Willow finally opened the door a crack and peered out, counting on the darkness and lack of bright light inside to make the slight move invisible.

She relaxed when she saw that there were no vampires right outside the door, but not by much. *Well?*

Jordan answered by taking the door and pulling it open and stepping out, crossbow ready. Keladree followed swiftly, her daggers out, and Willow still had her stake.

A breeze ruffled their hair but nothing else moved. Willow had a really bad feeling as they slowly made their way around the corner, and had her bad feeling confirmed.

At least twenty vampires stood in front of them, waiting. Willow eeped softly. Keladree gulped. Jordan snapped, "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you, Slayer," the vampire in front snarled, a grin on his face. "And she brought friends. How nice."

There was a snarl from behind the crowd, and the group of vampires visibly tensed.

"Not friends, Marcus. Slayers. One other Slayer."

The vampire called Marcus turned. "But Master, there is only one Slayer."

"Apparently something has changed then, hasn't it?"

The voice was British, cultured, almost gentle but with a vicious edge. Willow frowned at the vampires. That was apparently their master. Now why didn't he come into view so they could dust him and all could go home happy?

Almost in answer to her inner question, the vampires parted to allow their master to the front.

He stepped up, wearing slacks and a sweater, his hands in his pockets. His brown hair was graying slightly at the temples. His brown eyes were calm.

Willow saw him and froze.

"Giles?"

A/N: Duh duh duh!