1Spike finally had Devlin right where he wanted him. Dev was in his sights, with no means of escape. He tried to fire his gun at Spike's car, but couldn't do much damage.

"Turn off here," Elektra calmly tells her brother.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, buttmunch." He slams on the brakes and leaves the highway. Spike does the same, nearly, running another car onto the shoulder and nearly into the wall.

"That did a lot of good."

"Relax. It's coming."

"An ambush?"

"Stop guessing and keep driving. I've done the thinking for both of us."

"That's a first," Devlin says with little confidence.

"You're mine now, Devy boy," Spike says to himself with a smile, turning off his lights as Dev turns off his. He can still follow the car by its sound. "Nowhere to run, sonny. Nowhere to hide."

"Wrong," he hears from a familiar voice. He looks into the back seat, and Dru, who's been hiding on the floor, grabs him and pulls him away from the wheel as Spike tries to go around a curve above an embankment. The car rolls forty feet down the embankment, tossing both vampires through the window. Both are cut and bruised from the fall and burnt by the explosion that soon occurs. Back in the front car, Leks laughs and claps. At first, Dev can't believe his ears.

"No. It's a trick."

"Did you hear the explosion, dumbass? It's over."

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Mummy did it."

"What? Mom's here? I have to see her."

"She says you're not ready."

"Not ready! What do I have to do? Kill a third Slayer? A third Watcher? Kill Buffy?"

"When you're ready, she'll see you."

"Oh, I'm ready." Dev screeches to a halt in the middle of the road.

"Don't be stupid."

"She needs our help. We can't leave her alone with dad."

"She made him. She can handle him."

Spike and Dru rise to their feet, and stand ten yards apart. "You! I should've bloody known!"

"Our boy has great days ahead of him. He'll make us proud, he will."

"One problem with his plan - "

"Wut makes you think it wus his?"

"You're alone. I can kill you."

"You and wut army?" She giggles under her breath. "The little girls' army?" Spike charges Dru, but she tosses him aside. He's exhausted after a night of chasing and fighting and nearly getting blown up.

"Oi'm not grandmummy. And you're no Angel," she says of his feeble attempt to kill his sire. Spike growls and charges again, tackling Dru and going bumpy. After a few seconds, she puts her right foot to his chest and pushes him away. "You're weak. Oi'm strong. Loik when I first laid oies on you, my William." Spike and Dru slowly circle round each other five yards apart, illuminated by the burning wreck. Finally, Spike stops.

"Why am I fighting you? Why do I care? You just sent your boy and your girl off to their deaths! Chances are, you'll never even see them again. So this is a sad night. But not for me. For you! But you probably already know that."

"You can't protect her. It's killing you insoide."

"From Dev," Spike asks with a chuckle. "I know you've always thought a lot of this boy, but cum on! Him, and Buffy? Are you insane?" Dru looks cross. "Sorry. Low blow. Like making a bloke drive off a cliff."

"Why can't you be happy for him. He does wut you want done. The headmaster? Your son wus just defending you." Spike charges. Dru effortlessly hops twenty feet back. Spike continues to charge. Dru steps to the side and pushes Spike to the ground.

"Our family will live on after him." With that, Drusilla runs away. A dispirited Spike chooses not to chase. He takes off his coat and hurls it into the dirt and gravel.

"Bollocks!"

Two cop cars in front of the house. That meant four officers. And maybe a Slayer or two. Against three vampires, with four automatic weapons. Plus two firebombs. Kat knows she must finally step up and lead.

"Ray, you come from the East."

"Which way is East?"

"Left. No, their left. Your right. Right. That way. That street. Come down it turn left, open fire. Viv, you come from the West."

"Where?"

"This street. Just go down this street and turn right."

"And what do you do?"

"I come from the north. From behind the house."

"How do we know when to go? I mean, what if you don't make it and we shoot too early?"

"You walk. I run."

"How fast," Ray asks.

"As fast as I can."

"I mean us."

"Just a normal walk. That way, I'm in place before the shooting starts. Once you guys pull the trigger I go for it."

"That's actually a pretty sweet plan," Viv confesses.

"And complicated," Ray adds.

"Just do what Dev says. Point and click."

"I wish he were here," Viv says with a nervous sigh. "I hope he's all right."

"Don't worry about Dev. He can take care of himself. Plus, he's got Leks. Why are you two distracting me? We have to go and do this before the Slayers get back."

"Which way am I going? East or west," Ray wonders.

"That way," she screams. They had been whispering to avoid attracting attention. Kat runs off. Ray and Viv shrug, pull out their Uzis, which makes them feel more secure, and head in opposite directions. Kat races around the block and through the property behind Wood's house. She hides between the back of a garage and chain link fence between the properties for what feels like an eternity, holding a lit lighter in her right hand and the Molotov cocktail in her left, with another one standing upright on the ground.

Ray catches the eye of one officer, who thinks he sees a young man openly brandishing guns without firing them, something a gang member would never be stupid enough to do. "Police! Freeze," he yells, pulling out his own weapon. The other three officers instinctively follow suit. Ray races behind a parked car.

"Fuck," Kat spits out under her breath. "It's Ray. I know it's Ray."

"Remember, aim for the head," the commanding officer reminds the others.

"Good advice," Viv says, carefully hiding behind a large tree at the end of the block. She opens fire with both guns, causing the officers to hit the deck. The shots sail over their cars, over their heads, and through the front windows. Ray stands up, turns around and fires as well, peppering the two cop cars and shattering their windows. Viv wisely stops her fire and crosses the street, trying the roll up the officers' right flank. After five seconds, Ray's magazine is depleted. The officers fire in his direction and at where Viv had fired on them.

Behind the house, Kat throws a firebomb over the fence and into the kitchen. She can't see the flames. "Fuck," she says, shaking her head. The gunfire stops. She frantically flicks the lighter, gets it going, and lights the second bomb.

Having scurried across the street, Viv pops out from behind another three onto the sidewalk and fires at the two closest officers, hitting them both in the legs and chest. The other two officers turn right and quickly return fire. A bullet hits her in the chest and she goes down, crawling back behind the tree. "Ow!" She leans towards the sidewalk, points both guns and fires. But one jams and the other one's magazine falls out after its final few bullets are expelled.

Kat leaps onto the fence between the properties, flies off of it towards the back and side of Wood's house, and hurls the firebomb in her left hand through a second story window into a Slayers' bedroom. Looking over her shoulder, she can see the flames go up before her feet hit the ground. "Sic Semper Slayers," she yells as she runs past the officers, leaping over them and bounding off the roof of one of their cars. She turns right, towards Viv, who grabs her.

"They shot me!"

"You'll live. Now run."

"We're killing them. They shot me."

"Not tonight, honey." An alert officer spots them as his partner radios for backup and an ambulance and fires, hitting Kat in the right arm. They both run. As they turn left at the end of the block, they hear an explosion as the fire Kat set in the kitchen reaches the gas line. She quickly spins around the see the flames.

"Burn baby burn," she yells, raising her arms, which she finds is now painful. Meanwhile, the cops also call the fire department and help their wounded comrades across the street and away from the conflagration.

"What took you so long," Ray demands to know when they finally meet up where they started.

"I've been shot," Kat exclaims, pointing at her bloody arm.

"You were winged. I was shot," Viv complains. But as the out-of-towner, she gets no sympathy. Ray looks over Kat's arm.

"Can you move it? Maybe you should sit down."

"I think it got my heart," Viv counters.

"It's okay," Kat tells Viv. "Dev's been shot tons of times. He says it heals in like a day."

"What happens to the bullet?"

"I don't know." Neither likes the idea of a chunk of lead permanently inside them. "But it can't be bad. Look at Dev."

"Yeah." Viv smiles and her eyes light up. Ray shakes his head and sighs, annoyed at their idolization of a guy he hardly finds hot.

"And he says the pain reminds you that you're really alive inside." Kat grimaces as she moves her injured right arm and puts her right index finger inside Viv's entry wound.

"Ow!" Kat pulls her arm back and licks the blood off her finger, smiling. Viv also smiles nervously as the pain dissipates, giving her a small thrill. She slowly takes Kat's right hand in her left, and squeezes. She puts her right hand to the wound on Kat's bicep. She shivers with pain and excitement. Ray rolls his eyes.

"That was such a rush," Kat says as they hear the fire trucks arrive.

"Getting shot? No, it sucked."

"Burning down the house."

"I know. I mean, I don't. Cause I didn't. But what I did was - "

"Yeah yeah yeah, you're high on life. Can we get a move on," Ray asks, nervous about pissed off cops and Slayers. "Let's have our bonding moments where we can't get a stake in the back, okay girlfriends?"

"So why didn't she attack him sooner? Before my car got wrecked," Dev asks Leks.

"It's not wrecked. You're driving, aren't you?"

"But my back end's trashed. I mean, Spike could tell whomever to put out an APB for a red Mustang with a bashed rear."

"And the cops would pull us over, and we'd kill them."

"I'm a murderer. I killed an important member of the community. They'd get a helicopter on us and put it on TV and wait until I ran out of gas. Then we'd be surrounded and it's the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

"So we switch cars."

"This is my Mustang!"

"This is why I don't get attached to possessions."

"My mint condition- well, one-time mint condition - 1965 Mustang convertible."

"Give it a rest. By the way, where are we going?"

"D.C."

"Washington? Why? That town's boring"

"We need to make contacts. So I can attack Buffy on other fronts."

"Can't we do that ourselves?"

"We will. The big night's coming."

"Cool. Can't wait for the ultimate throw-down. Can you pull over at the next rest stop? I'm hungry."

"Just what we need - the enemy knowing what road we're on."

"I'm so very sorry," Giles tells Gretchen over the phone while Buffy sits and stares at the wall.

"No time for that," Gretchen replies, standing outside the smoldering ruins that had been the Slayers' home.

"But the girls."

"They all came back safe. Kelly's crushed. She blames herself."

"I know this must be incredibly hard for you."

"Seeing what used to be my brother kill Robin?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound insensitive."

"No. No, I didn't mean to either. Look, what's happened has happened. We have to find them and put a stop to this. I'm having the police fax you a picture of him, so you can put out an all-points or whatever. He's going to attack again. It's only a matter of time. We need to be prepared, Rupert."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"Did you get the picture?"

"Yes, er, I-I did." Giles takes a long, horrible pause. "Can you excuse me one moment?" He runs into the library where Dawn is. Buffy runs after him. "Is that him?"

"Yeah. That's him. Why?"

"That's him."

"Yeah," she responds, confused. "That's Jason."

"That's the vampire who killed Robin." Dawn sits down in stunned silence. "And Vi. And Hilda. And Gretchen's family."

"No. No. That's Jason."

"No!"

"Bullshit."

"You didn't."

"Did too," Harmony insists to the other secretaries. "And I knew Paul and Luiz and Sidney. We hung out. And . . . did stuff together."

"So you hung out with a Slayer," one of them says deflatingly. "That's lame."

"No. I hung out with them. We went out to clubs and got into fights and stuff."

"So what's he like," a more credulous one inquires.

"He's cool. And tough. He likes guns."

"Guns. That's lame. What kinda vamp needs guns?"

"It works for him, okay? He's always got ideas about stuff. And he never stops poking Buffy. Well, not the way Spikey poked her. The bad way. I mean, the good way. The cool way."

"Were you there when he knee-capped those Slayers?"

"Guns are lame."

"Not when you use them against Slayers."

"I don't know why he didn't just kill them."

"He's killed some. All by himself. And with his whiny little sister. Who I stole Spikey from. She's still jealous of me."

"Did you sleep with him?"

"Well, yeah. We were dating for, like, months."

"I mean Devlin."

"Oh. No. Not yet," she says with a smile. "But he loved flirting with me. I think he really respects me because I stood up to Buffy."

"Killing Slayers is so sexy."

"He uses guns. He fucks a Slayer. That's all so lame."

"Is there a nest around here," Elektra asks as they stand in desolate Anacostia on the north bank of the Potomac River.

"There's a subway stop a few blocks from here at RFK. You can go there if you want. I need a moment alone."

"With your car?"

"We have a lot of memories. Remember when we drove from Alaska to Tierro del Fuego?"

"And you can get it fixed. You don't have to push it in the river."

"Push it in the river? How disrespectful do you think I am?" Devlin pulls out his gun and shoots the fuel line. Then he shoots into the trail of gasoline, causing the car to explode. The force sends Elektra falling to the ground. She quickly gets up and dusts herself off. Dev watches the car be immolated and cries.

"You are such a drama queen."

"She thought he was gay," Xander says to Giles and Buffy as they sit at the conference table that morning and try to make sense of the multiple layers of bad news that morning. "But he was a vampire. I can see that. Look, I'm just trying to lighten up the mood. Not that it should be lightened. Robin's dead. He was killed by Spike's spawn - "

"Stop calling him that," an annoyed Buffy interjects.

"In Dawn's defense, I could not tell either," Giles offers. "And it was during the day."

"Indoors," Buffy replies.

"She met him outdoors as well."

"When it was cloudy." She's not ready to forgive her sister for befriending her new Big Bad.

"Was she supposed to be on the lookout for vampires vacationing in the middle of Slayer Central," Xander adds. "And it's not like they did anything. I mean, like you said, she thought he was gay."

"He told her he was," Giles notes. "In fact, I believe I recall him briefly flirting with me," he adds with a shudder.

"Enough," Buffy yells. "Nothing more about the past." This included Spike's role in producing her new enemy. "We can't change it. People are dead. We can't change that. What we can do is kill Jason."

"Hermann," Giles corrects her, mistakenly giving the name of Gretchen's brother.

"Devlin," Buffy replies. "And the other one. You know, the teenage whore. Until they're slayed, we don't care about anything else."

"Maybe Cordy was right," Xander proposes. "Maybe we need to reunite the Scoobies."

"Perhaps I should recall some of the more experienced girls," Giles offers.

"No. We hold the line."

"What about focusing all resources on killing these two vampires?"

"If we start abandoning cities, it will make the vampires think they're winning. They'll be even more dangerous. Bad guys'll be coming out of the woodwork. The Slayers have to stay put because the vampires have to say scared."

Spike steps out the elevator. His hair is singed. Part of his face is covered in ash, his t-shirt's torn and his hands show burn marks. "Rough night," Harmony asks with a smile. "I'm just glad to see you survived that fall off the cliff after letting the guy whose mother you killed die."

"How the bloody hell - ?"

"It's online. See? Oh, and Devlin called me." Harmony glows. "When we met, I thought he was just a dweeb. But now I know he's a dweeb who gives Buffy big headaches, and I like it when she hurts. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

"Tell Angel I need to talk," he orders between gritted teeth. She presses a button on her phone.

"Spikey's here. His mission when all kablooey." Fred, concerned, rushes out of the meeting. Wesley, concerned that she is concerned, follows.

"Are you okay?"

"Just a little cartoon violence, luv. Nothing I can't handle."

"You can handle that this Watcher woman knows you killed her family and turned her brother into a Slayer-killing vampire," Harmony asks.

"What was all that," Fred wonders, confused.

"Spike wanted to kill them all, and he was right," Harmony reports, eager to be the center of attention. "But Devlin's like a softy so he let his sister live and now she's grown up and turned into a vampire hunter. Isn't that ironic?"

"No," Gunn replies. "Irony is when something you don't expect to happen happens. This is entirely what I would expect, given my own experience."

"I thought all Watchers were English," Fred says.

"Not all," Wesley replies. "But I don't know of any American female Watchers. And all the American male Watchers were killed by the First."

"Her name's Gretchen Oden," Harmony reports. Wesley looks started. "Does that help?"

"The Valkyrie," he intones.

"The wut," Spike asks.

"That's what our Rome office calls her. She's Rupert's closest confidant. There are rumors that they are romantically-linked."

"Oh bloody hell," Spike sighs.

"I bet you really wish you killed her now," Harmony jokes.

"You're spying on Buffy," Angel asks Wesley.

"No, you're spying on Buffy. I'm spying on the Council."

"You're spying on Buffy," Spike exclaims to Angel.

"Eww, you want details, you Slayer-loving freak," Harmony cringes. "Devlin says she's sleeping with some Italian prince. At least it's not another vampire. Which is surprising, knowing her."

"So this American Watcher woman wants Spike dead, and she's got the means to do it. Is that what you're trying to say," Gunn asks, getting to the point.

"Kill Spike," Fred exclaims. "But he's good. And this Buffy girl wouldn't allow it."

"My sources tell me the Slayers are more loyal to the Valyrie," Wesley explains.

"Stop calling her that," Spike yells. He finds it ominous.

"Why do they call her that," Angel wonders.

"The word is that she is quite intimidating. Even without at least thirty Slayers at her beck and call."

"I can protect you if you stay in the city," Angel offers.

"I don't need your bloody protection."

"Yeah," Harmony replies. "He probably wants to go hide inside Buffy's skirt again."

"This is a nice place," Devlin says to the lead vampire and his four minions.

"I shared it with two guys when I went to college. Then I killed them and told the landlord if he made me pay any rent, I'd do the same to him."

"Very industrious. Much like something I'd do," Devlin replies. He feels he has a lot in common with Derrick. They both were turned in college. They both prefer to live like humans. "The crypt and warehouse scene never appealed to me."

"It's so dirty and damp."

"I know." They both smile at each other. Elektra notices some minions making eyes at her.

"Tell your boys if they so much as make eye contact with me, I'll chop off their heads before they can blink."

"Can you leave us alone," he asks, and they comply. "They're very good. Very disciplined."

"Hope you're not too attached," Devlin says darkly.

"So what's this about," Derrick asks. "You setting up shop?" Elektra laughs.

"In this dump of a town?" She laughs some more. "Sorry."

"We actually want you to leave," Devlin explains

"Run away?"

"We must concentrate our forces. In the northeast corridor, that means putting them in New York and Philadelphia."

"I could do New York. For a few months."

"You will be going to Philadelphia."

"Like hell I'm goin' to Philly! And like hell I'm taking orders from you."

"Think of it as a suggestion, not an order. It will be quite the scene. Vampires from here, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Virginia, North Carolina. - "

"I don't like any of those places. I like it here. Now either help me to kill the Slayers, or get out of my town." Devlin's shocked at how quickly things turned hostile. He chuckles and lights a cigarette.

"For a man sharing a town with a pair of Slayers, you don't seem very concerned with your safety."

"Gotta fight 'em somewhere. I'd rather fight them here."

"I respect that. But it's precisely that sort of territoriality which has already gotten so many vampires killed. The city will still be here when the Slayers are gone."

"And so will I. You leave ash on my floor and your head ain't getting out of here on top of your neck." Dev laughs and blows smoke. The larger man walks over and looks down at him. Leks steps between them.

"Okay boys. Enough of 'Who's Got the Bigger Dick.' I think we both know who'd win that contest." She looks at Derrick and smiles. "Can you leave us alone," she asks Devlin. He walks out sullenly. One minute later, he is joined by his sister.

"Not as good as you thought you were?"

"He doesn't like white chicks."

"But what about his minion?"

"He doesn't anything with her. None of them do anything with each other."

"How dreadfully boring. Don't feel bad. It's his loss."

"I don't believe this," Ray says to Kat in her motel room in Elyria while Viv's in the shower. "The boys are all dead."

"All of them?"

"Yeah. But four girls made it. Isn't that suspicious?"

"Girls just have better survival instincts."

"No, your hero Devlin set it up so all the guys would die." On this point he is dead on.

"Except for you. And so what? They were all straight."

"So were you," he quips, glancing towards the shower.

"Nothing happened. We just fooled around a little. I mean, we were all so high after last night. What options did I have? Better her than you."

"That's for sure. So you're still afraid of vagina. That makes two of us. Oh great. Listen to me. Not even one night after your big awakening and I'm already the funny gay eunuch."

"You're not a eunuch."

"I might as well be, with these man-hating Slayers staking everything with a penis."

"What did you mean by awakening?"

"Oh please."

"I mean, it was an awakening. Just not in that way. I learned I could be a leader. I learned I could do more than just run away. I could fight back."

"Yes, it's all very empowering. Go tell Oprah. I hear she likes that inspirational bullshit."

"Didn't you feel it too?"

"We're still running from Slayers."

"But now we're also making them hurt. They take our home, we take their home."

"And they get the point and sign a truce. No they don't. They come at us even more pissed off than before."

"Whose side are you on?"

"We had two Slayers. Your heroes kill them. Now we have six. Let's say we kill all them. Do what Vivy did in NYC. Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. You think this Buffy bitch won't send more?"

"She'll try. But what if they refuse? What if they don't wanna end up like all the rest? They can quit and go home, and we'll leave them alone. But it doesn't work the other way. We can't surrender, but they can. That's their weakness."

So these Slayers will just let us go on killing?"

"They'll be so few of us left they won't notice."

"That's comforting," he says sarcastically.

"What's comforting," Viv asks, coming out of the bathroom with a towel around her body.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt pillow-fight time."

"What's his problem," Viv asks Kat.

"Hey I got no problem with this little arrangement you two have. If we're gonna die any day now, might as well enjoy each other while we still can.

"He doesn't believe in Dev," Kat explains.

"Doesn't believe in Dev? How dare you?" She slaps him without thinking. "I-I'm sorry."

"No. I am. For not being brainwashed. Things would be so much easier if I could believe in the Savior and his nubile boy-crazy sidekick. But I like my messiahs a little hotter."

Jeta had assumed Gibraltar would be a respite from the Slayers. Ironically, Faith thought the enclave would afford her a break from vampires as well as the meddling authorities. At least the latter was still the case. So far.

Jeta dodges a right kick and blocks a right punch. Faith lands a left elbow to her right eye. Jeta tries a left cross, but Faith backs away. Jeta realized a little while back that she couldn't kill this Slayer. But that didn't mean she could not hurt her. Jeta glimpse Faith's immediate future (which was another reason she knew that a killing wasn't in the offing).

"You're wearing ashes and sackcloth."

"Not my style." Jeta blocks a right hook kick but Faith lands a left roundhouse kick.

"Someone you love is dead."

"Doubt it." She throws a right punch. Jeta grabs her arm. Faith turns around and grabs Jeta's head with her left arm, throwing her to the ground. Jeta gets up and backs away. Faith pulls out her stake. "The people I love can take care of themself."

"A phone call, and you're crying."

"See – clearly you don't know me." Faith attacks. Jeta backs up, blocking right and left kicks, then left and right punches. They lock arms, Jeta goes bumpy, Faith tries to head-butt her, but Jeta arches her neck back and pushes Faith away.

"I knew you would do that." Jeta wipes the blood from under her nose and, having been battered enough by this Slayer, turns into a raven and flies south across the Straits. Faith can't believe her eyes.

"Oh no you don'," she yells, chasing the bird to the edge of the cliff. "No one pulls this Dracula bullshit on me and gets away with it!"

Devlin sits at his computer in a Langley, Virginia Starbucks, typing in a new entry for his fans to read. A man sits down at his table.

"You've gained weight."

"A desk job doesn't agree with me."

"They turned you into an analyst?"

"They don't have much use for me anymore. Defense runs the show. They have for the last decade."

"Even after their spectacular cyborg failure?"

"There was a thaw. Then Rumsfeld came in."

"He's interested in your line of work?"

"No. But he likes power for power's sake."

"And you know what's powerful? Slayers. Dozens of them. At your beck and call. Then Defense will pay attention to you."

"Sweet dream. But I hear they work for some people who don't have a high opinion of the United States government."

"I know. Isn't it suspicious that Buffy Summers left America the first chance she got? It shows a certain disloyalty, headquartering her organization on foreign shores. Especially in these times."

"You came here to try to get the government to turn on the Slayer Queen? I don't work for vampires."

"They work for you."

"You did."

"I came in very handy, if I recall correctly."

"Your country's grateful for your service."

"Doesn't the government protect its agents?"

"You were never an agent. According to us, you don't officially exist. Can't do favors for someone who doesn't exist."

"What if I could do you a favor? Would you reciprocate?"

"Is this your pipe dream about going back to Afghanistan? Vampires are bad for hearts and minds campaigns, with all that killing and bloodsucking they do."

"I've given up on that. What I want is what's in both of our interests. No private citizen should be allowed to accumulate the kind of power that Buffy Summers has. You know that. And when the time is right, I want you to do something about it."

"We can protect you," he finally offers.

"I can protect myself."

"Then why come to me?"

"To tell you to keep your eyes on this Slayer. You'll know when to pounce, if the day comes. In the meantime, do her a favor. There are five vampires living in a third floor apartment at 18th and U Street. Here's the address."

"Whose side are you on," the agent jokes.

"Whose side are YOU on," Dev responds with a wink.

"Hey brat. Is Giles there?" A seething Dawn leaves the room and goes down to the training area.

"It's for you."

"Who?"

"Faith," she says with a scowl.

"Oh dear." It's only a few seconds after Rupert leaves that Dawn realizes why his expression changed when he heard the na

"I'm so sorry," Giles tells her.

"Sorry for what?"

"They haven't told you."

"Told me what?"

"Faith. Faith, I don't know how to says this," he begins as her heart races. She can tell what's coming. It's just what the bird-vamp said. "Robin died last night."

And still, it came as a shock. "What the fuck?" She thought it was Wesley. Sure, she loved Angel more, but he had a far lower chance of perishing. The name of Robin Wood had never occurred to her as a loved one.

"It was a vampire. The same one who killed Vi."

"Wait – Vi? She's dead too?"

"Oh my. I suppose you haven't been kept in the loop." Which was understandable, since she was on the lamb. "Things have gotten a little out of control in Cleveland. But Gretchen and Kelly will contain matters. It's not the end of the world. Though it may feel like it to you right now."

"Who's Gretchen?"

"Never mind. I'm rambling. I'm terribly sorry about Robin. We all are. I know how you must be feeling right now. I know exactly."

"You know the vamp who did this," she says with uncontained rage, her eyes welling up.

"His name's Devlin. Wait. You're not going to - "

"He's in Cleveland?"

"No. He was last seen fleeing east," Giles shakes his head. "I don't know why I'm telling you these things."

"Why wouldn't you," she says between angry sobs. "I'm a vampire Slayer. He's a vampire."

"You can't face him alone. He has a partner. She killed Rona."

"Rona? Giles, what the fuck is going on? Does B have her head up her - ?"

"These things happen. Slayers die. Watchers die. It's a dangerous business."

"So why protect me? You didn't give a damn about sending Rona and Vi and Robin after this monster. I faced Keikistos - " she imagines the vampire who could do all this most be especially large, fearsome and ancient.

"Yes, well, er, this vampire is nothing like Keikistos. Quite the opposite, in fact. He's . . . crafty. With a penchant for gunplay and using the authorities." The significance of this suddenly dawns on Giles. "Which is precisely why you shouldn't get anywhere near him."

"You afraid he's gonna shoot me or, or call the cops?" That sounded cowardly and unfearsome.

"Yes. Actually, I am. He very nearly had Andrew put away." Faith shakes her head and wipes away tears.

"Why hasn't Buffy killed this motherfucker?" She wasn't one to take such acts of blatant disrespect by the bad guys so lightly.

"She will. If someone else doesn't slay him first. Faith, as someone who cares about your well-being, please don't return to the states. I know how much you must desperately want to hurt him, but if you try, he'll either avoid you or get you incarcerated."

"I can take that risk. I do every day."

"It's two vampires you'll be taking on. Not just him."

"Wait. You're right." Giles breathes a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

"I need B. See you in Rome." Rupert wasn't expecting that. Neither, of course, is Devlin.

Devlin and Elektra stand in Rock Creek Park in the northwest corner of Washington, watching six vampires head up to Philadelphia in the stretch limo Dev had procured for them. Unlike Derrick, these vampires were impressed by his videotaped exploits and were eager to enlist. Brother and sister walk to their own limo.

"It's nice when they listen," Dev tells her.

"How long do you think they'll last?"

"A week. But they'll produce offspring, who'll produce offspring, who'll produce offspring . . . get enough in one place, the community becomes self-perpetuating. Like the situation in Sunnydale, only on a grander scale."

"Don't mention that place."

"You mean Sunnyvale," he jokes. "In Silicon Valley? Actually, they don't have too many vampires. The real estate's too expensive."

"I'm serious. Just hearing that name makes we weak" They get in the limo.

"It's just a word."

"Words have power. Some words are magic."

"I don't believe in magic." She laughs.

"You can't be serious."

He points his gun at her. "Magic can't stop a bullet."

"Sure it can."

"I'll believe when I see."

"Speaking of seeing." She opens the sun roof, stands up, sticks her head out and starts cheering, then sits back down, having had her fun.

"I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"And you haven't eaten in days."

"I like the hunger."

"You're a strange, strange vampire. You like NOT eating blood. And actually pay for things like limo service."

"And planes. No hiding in the cargo hold for you anymore. When you charter the jet, you can close all the windows."

"And eat the other passengers."

"That would draw suspicion."

"We're vampires. We're supposed to do more than draw suspicion. We're supposed to have mobs chase us through the streets."

"Look how well that turned out for mother and father."

"I'm better than mummy at running. You're better than daddy at hiding. Together, I think we can succeed where they failed."

"Rio will be ours."

"Rio? We're not going to Brazil."

"That's where the witch is."

"The one who skins people?"

"You're scared."

"I believe in magic. And Europe. We're going to Europe."

"Avoid the witch so we can face the Slayer: out of the fire and into the frying pan. That's smart."

"There's four Slayers in Rio. And Sao Paolo. That's what the newslist says. We can't do that many."

"We'll have help."

"Not the right kind."

"We're not ready for Rome."

"We're not ready for Rio."

"Then we stay here."

"I've already fought like every American Slayer." Actually, she'd only encountered about half of them, which was still very impressive. "I need variety."

"I'm in charge."

"We're a team. And we need to keep moving. Before we find ourselves on the wrong end of a mob. Of Slayers."

Devlin smiles. "Has anyone ever pissed off so many people with superpowers as the two of us?"

"Brother, we're just getting started."