Chapter 4

Tara wasn't there. I sit in my little apartment running my fingers through my long brown hair and figuring out how I could possibly not notice the absence my cousin. I shake off the idea of possibly missing her and decide that she must've been in the back room. You see, the redhead was there; Tara's girlfriend, Willow. Willow sat next to the Slayer and was one of the few who chuckled when I joked about their past adventures.

Well, all of my ingredients are packed away and ready to use when the time was necessary.

The phone rings.

"Hello?"

"I want double for this," says a gruff voice.

Riley Finn, I remember him from when he dated the Slayer. I was one of his best and only friends. He had worked for a secret underground facility that harvested all sorts of demons and placed government chips into portions of their brains so they do not hurt people anymore. After a couple mishaps and problems that I do not wish to get into, the place was deserted and all of the workers vanished.

"You have a lot of nerve to be calling me at this point in the game. I take it that William has not called you yet to update you on the situation. He too asked for more than he bargained for and almost lost his head in the process. Dear brother," I tell Riley after the update, "do you have everything set up?"

"I do, and do not call me your brother. We are not related in any fashion and I do not wish to be. You are a monster and I am only in this for the money," he says.

"Ah, a brave mercenary," I say, "but don't forget, dear brother, we are related. Blood bound and honor stricken, we are related. Anyway, the money is on the way. I sent a messenger just this afternoon."

There is a silence on the other line for a few seconds. Riley is thinking of a new deal. He is a bargaining sort of man and is trying to come up with a new deal before his time quota is up. You see, where he is, there is a time limit on everything. Yet it just so happens that he is so extremely smart and has so many contacts that he can do anything that is asked of him in such a short amount of time.

"As soon as I receive the money, I will send you the remainder of what you need. It should become extremely clear why Spike and I have asked so much," he says. A few minutes later and brief good-byes, both lines go dead, but not before I hear another click after Riley hangs up.

He's been captured. He's been captured and the line's been tapped, I think.

To be continued…