This was one confrontation Giles would have given a great deal to have avoided. "Buffy's
Cruciamentum was not something I'm proud of, John." He said quietly, while looking at
his hands. He was slumped into his chair in the Magic Box's office. "Just thinking about
it makes me want to drink myself senseless, to be honest. I can't believe I went as far as I
did.
"You need to understand that this test has been used for over twelve centuries. I am most
definitely NOT promoting its use. No, I protested when I was first ordered to give it to
Buffy, but I did start the procedure. Just doing that about killed me. I knew it would
destroy any chance of trust between us after, but I convinced myself that we needed the
information from the council too much to lose their resources." He snorted at his own
folly. "I was a bloody fool. We've done very well here without them. Then Travers told
me that the vampire escaped. He wanted me to help recapture him so the test could
continue. I simply couldn't continue to give Buffy the potion. She was far too scared,
and in honesty I was too horrified at my own actions. Instead I told her what was going
on. She hated me for it and I deserved that. When I told Travers what I had done, he told
me that the test was going forward anyway as Buffy had already entered the house where
the vampire was staying. I rushed to help her, but by the time I got there she had killed
the vampire. I was fired by Travers in front of Buffy right after he complimented her on
surviving the test. She told him that he had better get out of town before she recovered
her powers. I'm not sure that the man realizes just how much we all loathe him."
John slumped in the other chair. This was not what he had expected to hear. He throttled
down his own rage at Buffy's being poisoned by Giles. That he was still here, and Buffy
still trusted him, was something he already knew. If he let himself get angry over
something that had happened over two years ago, that hadn't involved him, and had
already been put to rest by the ones it did involve, it would only hurt Buffy. He may not
have been the sharpest tack in the box, but he knew Buffy had already made her stand on
the situation clear. She trusted Giles. And he needed to concentrate on the Watchers who
were coming after Faith.
"How do we deal with the Watchers who are coming for Faith? The kids were talking
about painting them up as American Flags and sending them back to the council."
Giles smiled. "Amusing, but I doubt it would be effective. No, Travers won't be using
the Watchers Council's retrieval team for this. They've already failed to capture Faith
once. He'll be hiring mercenaries. There are soldiers of fortune out there that know about
our war, and like most mercenaries, they don't care which side hires them. They only care
about being paid."
John ran his thumb over his lip. "Then our best chance is to separate them and deal with
them one at a time. Travers though, he'll need to get the fact that we are all backing Wes
and Faith." Travers was the man Buffy blamed for the torture. He couldn't call it a test.
all right then. Travers was the one who would get the full force of whatever they could
come up with. The mercs, well, running in the circles he did, he knew quite a few of
them. Giles was right about their loyalty to their employer. They would stay loyal only
as long as they were being paid. In their eyes that wasn't dishonorable, it was just
business. After all, they had no idea who their next client would be. It wasn't uncommon
for them to be fighting on one side for one war or job and then the next be working with
or for someone they had worked against on a previous job.
Tara slipped into the office. "Mr. Giles! They're here. Xander spotted them driving past
the construction site."
Giles straightened up. "Did he see how many men there are?"
Tara shook her head. "But Willow is already hacking into the motel and hotel's
computers. Sam is hacking the Realtor's. We should know where they are staying in
about half an hour or so."
Giles nodded. "Call the others. Let them know we will be setting up surveillance shortly.
Once we know how many of them we are dealing with, we'll put together a plan. For
now, Wesley and Faith are to stay out of sight."
A large mansion the Jekfoontar clan had purchased years ago served the clan as their
headquarters, and the ballroom of the mansion served as the throne room. Meg stood
before her father in a private audience. This would not be good news. But she had to tell
him. "Father, the seer has had another vision. The hunter's children have all been born
and the foreseen warrior is among them. He has three, and they have all grown to be of
an age to threaten us. They are united at last."
"How did this HAPPEN!" The demon roared. "I killed the hunter's wife. I killed the
bitch who was carrying the third child of that line! How could there be another child!"
"The child is female, and was hidden from us by magic." Meg kneeled before the her
father's throne and hoped that he would not take out his anger on her. "The hunter sired
her himself. Not one of the boys."
"That's impossible! The clan has tracked him for years. He has never had the time to
create a child!"
Meg didn't bother to tell her father that humans only needed about ten minutes to achieve
the conception of a child. It would do no good. The fact that the humans created children
so easily was one of the reasons they had managed to cover the world so fast.
"Where are they!" He screamed.
"The Hellmouth, Father. The hunters have allied with the slayer."
"Gather the clan. We will go to the Hellmouth."
The men were adamant and Sampsom had agreed with them. They would rather take
rooms at the dingy motel than stay another night in Travers company. They didn't know
they were being watched. Once they had settled into their rooms, they went to find a
local bar. That was where they picked up their tail. A scruffy drunk who stumbled after
them, made so much noise and was so obvious, that they completely dismissed him from
their minds once he went into another room at the motel. They shouldn't have been so
sure. The drunk was John. He had not only counted how many men had left the rooms,
he had also spotted someone he knew.
Travers had gotten himself a large room at the only hotel in Sunnydale. As he wanted to
be in and out of the town as quickly as possible, he decided to stay away from renting
anything larger. He too, was quickly under surveillance, although he didn't know it. Tara
had told the hotel's owner, another native of Sunnydale, that the man was someone they
wanted to keep an eye on, and would he please let Tara take care of his room while he
was here? The hotel owner didn't think of himself as a fool. He knew who Tara was, she
was dating the redhead who was part of the neighborhood watch. Those girls were
simply too sweet to be involved with anything dangerous. Anyone that they wanted to
keep an eye on, however, usually was. He was very proud that his town had produced
such good girls as these, that they wanted to help the police protect their little town from
outsiders such as this fellow. He also had no problem with getting a little free help with a
difficult guest.
Tara was surprised to see that Travers had not put up any wards in his room. It was like
the man was completely blind to the fact that he was vulnerable. She bit her lip, thinking.
It would be so easy to transform him into something more matching his internal spirit.
But that wouldn't be wise. The others wanted to do something to the man as well. He
was the one who had put Buffy and Joyce into danger with that awful test. Still, that
didn't mean his stay had to be comfortable. A whispered spell and the bed was rendered
useless to Travers. No matter what he changed, as long as the bed itself remained, he
would experience the exact opposite of whatever he wanted from the bed. If he wanted
his pillows soft and fluffy, for him they would be hard and flat. If he wanted his sheets
smooth, they would be scratchy, and so on. She was sure she could come up with other
little things to do. She wouldn't go so far as to actually curse him, but making him
uncomfortable enough to leave on his own was acceptable by her mother's rules.
Willow was busy hacking Traver's accounts with Sam's help now that they knew where
the men were staying. If they could track down the payment Travers had given the men,
or found out where he was getting the money and blocked it, they could break the tie
between Travers and the men he had hired. Giles and John had both assured them that
the men would not do anything for Travers if he couldn't pay them.