CHAPTER 5

Buffy, Willow and Xander walked among the fiery wreckage of what had been their home for the past 2 months. The smoldering rubble reminded Xander of a childhood memory: a burning building he had been trapped in until he was rescued by a fireman. He had gone around saying for days afterwards that he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up. He wondered what ever happened to those innocent days.

"What exactly are we looking for, Buffy?" He asked, coming out of his reverie of the good old days.

Buffy, who was scanning the area with her keen slayer sense, replied "Anything that…." She stopped as her eyes caught something. "…what's this?"

Buffy bent over and picked up a strange piece of metal. She realized it must have been part of the Buffy-bot at one time. On it was a pentagram, drawn out of what appeared to be blood, with crudely drawn flames surrounding it. Under the pentagram was written a foreign phrase. She handed it to Willow.

"I recognize the words. It's an ancient language used by dark sorcerers hundreds of years ago." Said Willow, a concerned look crossing her face.

"Well what does it say?" Asked Xander, somewhat impatiently.

Willow looked at it carefully, and then slowly pronounced the words. "Bach na Hell Gortha."

"And?" asked Xander again.

"Well, the rest of it is unreadable, but this part here translates to 'The mouth of hell will…." something."

Buffy looked startled. "The mouth of hell? As in the Hell Mouth?"

Willow nodded. "There is one here you know. But, I think we can assume it is not referring to the Sunnydale Hell Mouth, because this is in future tense….plus we….blew that up last summer."

Xander answered her with sarcasm, like he always did when he was nervous. "Good call there, Will."

Dawn, Giles and Helena had gone to a motel, and booked several rooms. At this moment, Dawn was out looking at places for them to think about buying. Helena was on the phone talking to Andrew.

"Yeah, it totally had me fooled! I thought it was Buffy and so did everyone else….even that Spike guy was fooled by it." She listened intently as Andrew spoke on the other end. "Yes, I will definitely tell everyone. This is really turning out to be quite the mystery! Bye, Andrew."

As she hung up on Andrew, Spike and Giles walked in.

"Any news on the "home" front?" She asked chipperly.

"Well now, doll, that depends." Spike replied. "If you like crypts, I found a cozy little place in the cemetery for next to….well for nothing, actually."

"No thanks." Responded Helena.

Then Giles interrupted. "Helena, did you find anything out from Andrew?"

"Yes. But it's something I think the whole group needs to hear."

Just then, Dawn came running in, an excited look on her face.

"Giles! You need to come. I found us a place to stay. It's a cute house on a corner, with plenty of room for all of us, and then some! It's fully furnished, and the bottom floor is completely empty!"

As the others digested this good news, nearby, they were being observed by a strange man hiding in shadows. He smiled a dark and hideous smile, thinking that he would finally have his revenge. On Buffy. On Xander. And on that whore of a witch, Willow Rosenberg.