Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, anything from Marvel Comics, and any other possible crossovers that will show up later in the story. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" trademark and copyright 20th Century Fox Television, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc. At the point of writing this, I think Disney own... just about everything. I for one welcome our new mouse overlord. At the least, I think they own Marvel and a good portion of Fox, including 20th/21st Century Fox Entertainment, along with everything they own.

Pronunciation: Siobhan is pronounced 'Show-Vahn' (and still portrayed by Allison Scagliotti).

Chapter 03 – The Problem with Books

The Hellmouth, being what it was, caused many issues in the town of Sunnydale and at the high school specifically. The latest event the group, or Scooby Gang as the collection of young demon-fighters nicknamed themselves, had to deal with was the return of Ethan Rayne and a demon called Eyghon. It seemed that Giles had rather a darker past then any of the others had suspected, which came back to haunt them while they were together in the library, leaving Xander feeling like he was unable to use his Halloween granted abilities without his secret being exposed. Still, he was able to help by making suggestions, such as "are you sure it's Egyptian? It looks more like some of that Etruscan stuff I saw in Giles' books". In the end, he could not deny that he felt a bit torn. He knew how short and generally meaningless human lives are, but he still felt a bit bad for letting Jenny Calendar get possessed.

After she was freed and the demon banished, the young computer teacher seemed to hold the events of Giles' past against him and had started to distance herself from him, something that Xander thought was a bit hypocritical given that she had secrets of her own. He didn't know exactly what her role in Sunnydale was, but given that she was a descendant of the Romanian Gypsy clan that originally cursed Angelus with a soul, he could make an educated guess.

He pulled his mind back to the present as he watched Buffy approach a mausoleum that was illuminated from within by the beams of flashlights, the sounds of fighting starting moments later. He moved closer, reaching the door just in time to intercept a vampire as it fled with a burlap-wrapped bundle in its arms. Given the sense of dire urgency the creature exuded, the immortal chose not to play with his target, instead dispatching it with a quick stab of a hardwood stake that slid into his hand from where it was stored within his forearm. Picking up the parcel, he entered the mausoleum to find the Slayer standing over a layer of dust that was once a pair of undead creatures.

"Boros," the girl questioned in surprise, "what are you doing here?"

"Stopping a vampire from stealing this thing, apparently." He raised the item in question and carefully unwrapped it, finding a gilded cross that gleamed in the dim light. "I don't know what this is, but if the vamps want it, then it can't be good. Where did it come from?"

The girl pointed to an area where the wall had been broken open, "Over here."

The immortal looked at the name engraved above the now ruined memorial before passing the cross over to the girl, "you should take this to your watcher. Tell him that it came from the crypt of Josephus Du Lac."

Buffy nodded, cradling the cross in her arms and moving fast out of the mausoleum. Boros stepped out as well, watching as she ran towards the main gate and out of the cemetery. Once she was gone, he strolled away, deciding to continue her patrol for her now that it had been interrupted. Not far away, another vampire was crouched behind a tall hedge watching with a pit of dread in his stomach. His boss needed to know what had happened and he wouldn't be pleased about it.

-oOo-

"What do you mean 'the slayer has it'?" Spike demanded angrily, "She just walked away with my cross and you let her?"

"She... she wasn't alone." The whimpering vampire declared, "There was someone else with her."

"The watcher?"

"I... I don't think so. It was the guy with the slayer at that club where that kid wanted you to turn him."

Spike snarled, "The Immortal. It's a lost cause then. The Immortal can't be swayed, he can't be bought."

"But boss, the Slayer has the cross. He gave it to her."

"Did he?" The Cockney blonde asked, his mind racing. "Now, her we can handle, we just gotta figure out the right buttons to push. We need something the Slayer values."

At a large table in the center of the room, Drusilla sat shuffling a deck of Tarot cards. She hummed in the airy way she tended to and flipped over a single card, which she looked down at knowingly, the image of an ethereal woman with gleaming white wings staring up at her.

-oOo-

The next day, Xander strolled casually through the Sunnydale High school corridor, heading to where the faculty had posted the results of the career test that they had taken the day before. Upon reaching them, he found Cordelia checking to see what jobs she been assigned. He shook his head in amused exasperation when she happily commented that she could be a motivational speaker. She looked up his name on the list and laughed before walking away.

"What?" he asked, wondering what caused her to react that way. He rifled through the papers looking for the H-K section, so he could find his own results and rolled his eyes at the stupidity of it.

"Massage therapist?" he muttered, "Really? You can't make this stuff up... or apparently, you can."

He looked over his friend's results before moving to go find them. He turned a corner on his way to the central courtyard when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled into the currently empty computer science classroom. Expecting he was about to be attacked, he was surprised to instead see Jenny Calendar looking at him expectantly. She moved to the desk at the front of the room, leaning on it before speaking.

"Why did you lie?"

"Sorry?" Xander asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"When they asked if you kept anything from Halloween you lied."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Did I?"

"Yes!" the woman nearly cried, "you said I wouldn't remember, but I do. You somehow messed with my mind. Damn it, Xander! I don't know who you dressed as to do what you did, but I know it was you!"

"Okay... I have no idea what you are talking about." He stated with a chuckle.

"I know what I saw! I don't know why you lied to them, but you can tell me. I understand the need to keep secrets better than most."

Xander's lips formed into his signature goofy grin, "Sorry Mrs. C, but there's nothing to tell."

"Fine, if there's nothing to tell, then you won't mind if I share my thoughts with Rupert and Buffy." She pushed off the desk where she had been leaning, intending to move toward the door only to freeze before she could take a step. Her body would no longer respond to her will, her limbs stiff and unmoving. Her eyes, the only thing she still controlled, widened in fear as he stalked into her line of sight.

"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? You just had to keep pushing."

She attempted to speak, her voice coming out as nothing more than a strangled groan.

"What did I do to you?" Xander said, giving voice to the question she was unable to ask, "You were right about me still having the abilities of the person I dressed as for Halloween. I reached into your mind and stopped most of the signals sent by your brain from reaching your body."

He watched as her eyes flicked around in search of a way to escape or a rescue.

"Don't bother. Given who you dressed as for Halloween, I'm sure you are familiar with the capabilities of a telepath. No one will interrupt us."

The teacher's fear levels spiked as she realized that no one was coming to help her.

"In truth, it makes the whole 'mysterious stranger' thing so much easier. A little mental prodding is all it takes when I'm talking to Buffy to make her no longer able to see me and presto! She thinks I've vanished into the shadows." The man with a teenager's face standing before her seem to take an innate pleasure in being able to tell her this. "It was the same with Giles. I simply made him not notice when I walked right into the library and dropped Ford's medical records on the table."

Xander chuckled, "He was staring right at me and I was a ghost." He sighed in pleasure at the situation before his demeanor became more serious. "Now... what to do about you? I could just erase your memory of all this and send you on your way... but then, there's no guarantee that you won't start poking at things you shouldn't again. You shouldn't have been able to remember anything at all about Halloween... but then, as I said at the time, that costume really did a number on you. Another option is that I wipe your mind completely and leave you as a vegetable. In a town like Sunnydale, no one other than Giles and Buffy would even question it." The nonchalant way he said that, as if destroying her mind was just ticking off something on his to-do-list, scared Jenny more than she could put to words, "of course, that girl is even worse than you are at poking at things she shouldn't. Still, it's the best idea."

Xander sighed heavily, "Luckily for you, there are people that would never forgive me if I did something so... cruel, so it seems that I have no other choice then to trust you with this. Betray me... well... I don't think I need to remind you what I am capable of."

"N- No. No, I... I won't tell anyone."

Xander stared at her for a moment, as if reading her innermost thoughts, before nodding, "Good, I'm glad. It's very important that Buffy and the others not find out about this yet. They are... important to me and I believe that they would not understand if they knew who I am, everything I have had to do. I plan to let them in slowly, carefully, so as to not drive them away. Until they are ready, I expect you to keep this to yourself. Now, I have to go, the others are waiting for me in the courtyard. We'll talk more later."

He turned and strode out of the classroom, the teacher's control of her own body suddenly returning, allowing her to slump bonelessly against the desk. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she realized just how close she had come to having her mind destroyed... she promised herself in that moment that she would keep her promise to... whoever that was. After all, he wasn't Xander. At least not the goofy, frequently irreverent Xander that she knew before Halloween. While there was no telling what he was capable of if she spilled his secrets, she couldn't deny that some part of her was curious about him. He was so different... commanding, assured, and just a little bit scary.

-oOo-

Stepping out into the sun, Xander found the two girls sitting on a bench, the blonde slayer talking animatedly. She was waving her hands as she told Willow about the events of the night before, ending with her delivery of the gilded cross to Giles.

Jesse joined them moments later, plopping down on to the bench. He was quite vocal in complaining about his assigned career of postal mail carrier, changing the subject of their conversation to the test results. Buffy was rather surprised and dismayed to find out that her future contained polyester uniforms and doughnuts. Xander thought about pointing out to Buffy that, outside of Sunnydale, most cops weren't bad people. Unfortunately, he couldn't without punching a hole in his secret identity. As far as they knew, Xander Harris had never left Sunnydale.

Willow began to panic when they informed her that her name was not posted with the others. The red head stormed off to check the results for herself, the other three sharing a look before standing to trail after her. Xander chuckled to himself knowing that he'd arranged for a technology company he was heavily invested in to offer Willow a position with them, the recruiter having had her name removed from the list so he could meet with her personally. As important as their role was protecting the Hellmouth, the girl still deserved the opportunity to get away from Sunnydale. She was genius-level intelligent and had the potential to do amazing things. They caught up with her as she was grumbling angrily to herself in front of the posted test results. Not finding any answers and having no idea what else to do, she headed for the library with the others in tow.

"Hey G-man," Xander called as they entered, not surprised to find him seated at the study table, reading a musty old book and sipping tea from a well-worn mug. "What are you researching?"

"Oh, well um..." he looked at the teens, before focusing on Buffy, "I am looking up information on that interesting relic that you retrieved last night with help from your... 'friend'. Speaking of, I have not been able to find any information on anyone calling themselves 'Boros', nor anything about 'House Elves', but there are mentions of magical creatures that vanished from the world hundreds of years ago, any number of which could be the same creature under a different name. For example, the Yumbo from African mythology, were said to be spiteful creatures that steal food from humans as revenge for crossing them. According to the stories, they were magically powerful and able to vanish at will. Their description is like what you saw."

"The vanishing part sounds right, though the little guy, his name was 'Balo', didn't seem spiteful at all. Really loyal, actually. But you didn't find anything on Boros? I thought you'd have lots of information on an immortal."

"Immortal?" Giles questioned.

"Yeah, didn't I mention that? It's what Spike called him. 'The Immortal'".

The watcher actually jerked in surprise, now looking very intensely at Buffy, "The Immortal? That is what Spike called him, 'The Immortal'? Those exact words?"

"Yeah. Does that mean something?"

"Indeed, it does." Giles moved quickly to the steel book cage in search of one of his private volumes, returning moments later with a stack of tomes in hand which he set on the table and began flipping pages. "There are numerous beings who claim to be eternal, but they are exaggerations at best. There is nothing in this world that cannot be killed... except perhaps, the man who has come to be known simply as 'The Immortal.' There are tales of his exploits spanning a dozen centuries. If the man you met really is who he claims, then I fear that you are in grave danger. The Immortal is most definitely not on the side of the light."

"So, he's a bad guy?" Buffy asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Not strictly speaking, no. If anything, he's neutral, caring only for his own goals, his own desires. However, he is extremely dangerous. A part of that lies in the fact that he is very charismatic, even manipulative. He can inspire others to fight for him, to take up his causes, usually to their detriment. He tends to keep company with powerful beings and almost always appears in the aftermath of events of destruction and violence. The fact that he is now visibly acting on the Hellmouth is extremely worrying. We have no idea as to his intentions here, so we need to be prepared for anything."

"Why's he called that?" Jesse asked, leaning forward against the study table, "I mean, I get the immortal part, but why is he going by 'Boros'?"

The Watcher chuckled mirthlessly, the answer obvious to him now, "Of course, I should have put it together sooner. Boros, as in Ouroboros. It's an ancient Alchemical symbol, an image of a snake in a circle eating its own tail that represents infinity or immortality."

Xander snorted, ever the consummate actor. "Cute. So, what are we supposed to do about this guy? I mean… if he really is immortal, then we can't kill him, can we?"

"No, I fear not. The stories I have heard of The Immortal range from him surviving grievous wounds to nearly invincibility. As to why he is here... so far, he has only spoken with Buffy, and we have no knowledge as to his goals in Sunnydale. Historically, he has shown no interest in opening the hellmouth, going so far as to actively prevent others from doing so. Until he makes a move, all we can do is watch and wait. In the unlikely event that he does contact one of you, approach the situation with extreme caution."

Nodding, Xander redirected the conversation, "so, uh... back on point, that relic thing you mentioned earlier. What is it?"

"It uh... it is a Du Lac cross. It was, according to Buffy, found in the man's reliquary. His uh... his final resting place."

"What's the cross for?" Xander asked. "What does it do? Is it magic?"

"No, no. It's used to translate certain encoded languages and written works created by Josephus Du Lac himself. He belonged to a religious sect that was excommunicated by the Vatican at the turn of the century."

"Excommunicated and sent to Sunnydale. There's a guy big with the sinning," Buffy quipped. Giles explained how a book that was stolen from the library during the situation with Ford was written by Du Lac, causing Buffy to swallow nervously. "I'm guessing it wasn't a 'Taste of the Vatican' cookbook."

Giles simply sighed, "No, the book was said to contain rituals and spells that reap unspeakable evil. However, it was written in an archaic Latin so that only the sect members could understand it."

"Unless you have the cross."

"Indeed, which is why it is secured in my office until the watcher's council can send a courier to transport it to a secure facility in London. He should be here midday tomorrow."

"So that's it then? We're done here?"

"Um... I- I guess so."

"Great! Angel is taking me ice skating."

-oOo-

Having arrived early, Buffy spent some time on the ice waiting for Angel to arrive. It had been years since she was last on skates, but as she spent time gliding around the rink, some of her old skills were returning. Still, she couldn't focus. Angel hadn't yet arrived. He wasn't one to be late and as the minutes ticked by, she was starting to worry. The sound of the door from the lobby opening cheered her up, only for her happiness to be replaced by shock when she turned to see not Angel standing in the doorway, but Spike.

-oOo-

After sundown, Xander was looking down at Sunnydale from the tallest point in the city, the top of the clock tower. He had altered his eyes to work like an owl's, giving him telescopic sight as well as night vision, and was idly watching for any vampire activity. It had been a quiet night and he was thinking about calling it a quits when, in the distance, he spotted Buffy exiting the back door of the high school library carrying a large bag. It was odd as, to Xander's knowledge, Giles had gone home hours earlier. After a moments debate, he decided not to alert her to his presence, instead following her at a distance, watching to see what she was up to. She moved at hurried pace, heading toward one of the oldest cemeteries in town. She slowed as she approached a large mausoleum, her stance becoming more cautious than the reckless charge she'd had moments before. Suddenly, the door to the small building screeched as it swung open on rusted hinges and a familiar blonde-haired vampire stepped out of the darkness.

"Ello, Slayer. Lovely night we're having."

"Skip the small talk, Spike. Where is he?"

"Down to business, then? Fine. You have it?"

Buffy gritted her teeth before holding out the bag she had been carrying. Spike stepped closer to take it from her, unzipping it to check the contents. From his location high above, Xander could make out the Du Lac cross inside.

"There, are you happy? You got what you wanted, now where is Angel?"

"You clearly don't get how this works, Slayer. You don't make demands. You just do what I tell you."

"You said he would go free if I gave you the cross!"

"What can I say, love? I lied." The vampire smirked before moving aside, a large man with long greasy hair, a black leather vest and matching pants stepped out of the darkness within. He had a memorable appearance; part of his face almost 'melted' over one eye. With a grunt, the man charged forward, fists flying at Buffy. He struck like a freight train, knocking the blonde girl off her feet. Xander dropped from the sky, landing a distance away so he could take on his Boros appearance. He stepped out of the shadows and moved to cut off Spike, who was running with the cross, only to stop in his tracks when the leather-clad cyclops wrapped an arm around Buffy's throat in a powerful chokehold. The attacker's height gave him easy leverage to pull the girl off her feet and despite her enhanced strength, she was unable to free herself.

After a moment's indecision, Boros sighed in frustration and turned away from the fleeing vampire to save the slayer's life. He lunged forward, his fist connecting with the biker's head and propelling him backward away from Buffy, who sprawled out on the dew-covered grass. Boros strode forward, only to be pushed back by a kick to the chest from the leather-clad man as he twisted in a surprisingly nimble move that left him standing once more. Boros' fists snapped forward, striking the man's cheek with a meaty impact and the crack of breaking bones. A second and third strike followed, his target stumbling back, which left him open to a grapple. Lunging forward, the immortal's arm wrapped around the attacker's neck, the leather-clad assassin momentarily struggling before a sharp twist dropped his dead body to the ground.

Taking a moment to focus and clear his mind, he used telekinesis to feel the world around him, before growling in frustration. There was no sign of the vampire with the cross. Giving it up as a lost cause, he turned to the slayer, who currently was sat upon the ground rubbing her severely bruised neck while staring blankly at her attacker that lay dead before her.

"Are you alright?"

The blonde looked up at him, blinking owlishly before nodding, "I'm okay. You saved me."

Boros shrugged, "It's what I do."

"Thank you."

Boros nodded, crouching down next to the corpse that was cooling in the grass before them. He grabbed the now-dead biker's arm and began to pry a ring from its finger. Buffy jumped up, an appalled look on her face, "Are you robbing him?"

"This isn't just your average killer," He held up the ring, "this is the insignia of an ancient society of assassins. If Spike contracted them, then you are in far more danger then we thought."

"What's the big deal?" the blonde asked, "Sure he was tough, but he's dead. If they send more, they'll get dead too."

"This isn't like what you usually deal with. The members of this order are as likely to put a bullet through your head from a half-a-mile away or plant a bomb in your mom's car as they are to attack you head on. Depending on what Spike paid for, they could pull anything." He held out the ring to Buffy, "Take this to your watcher. He'll know what to do. In the meantime, I have a few contacts that may be able to tell me what to expect."

He flipped up the hood on his coat and turned to walk away, only to be stopped by Buffy's next words. "Giles says you are a bad guy."

The Immortal stood with his back to Buffy for a moment before turning around. He reached up and lowered the hood once more. "And what do you think?"

She shrugged, "I don't know what to think. You have only been a help so far, but what he said about you..."

"Let me guess. Death, destruction, etcetera. Where I go, havoc follows. Isn't that the usual line?" She didn't have to nod because he could see the confirmation in her eyes, "Maybe from the outside it looks like that, but that's not the way it really is. Yes, I appear at scenes of violence and bloodshed, but I'm not the cause. I've fought in dozens of wars and I've seen countless good men die for nothing, and do you know what it's taught me? None of it matters. Everyone keeps repeating the same mistakes. So, don't blame me for the deaths, the pain, the loss. It has happened and will keep happening because people never learn!" He was practically snarling at that point. He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "The human race can create such beauty, yet they are equally good at creating horrors. So yes, I am almost always seen around violence and destruction because it is everywhere. It never ends."

"Giles said that you inspire people to do stuff that gets them killed."

Boros shrugged noncommittally, "There are times that I have led the charge, as it were, and it inspired others to follow. They were willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means sacrificing their own lives. How is that any different than what you do as The Vampire Slayer?"

"What? I don't…"

"You have a group that willingly follows you into danger because they know it is the right thing to do. If it came down to it, if it were truly the end of the world, I bet any one of them would be willing to give their lives to stop it. If you led your people into battle and one of them died to save everyone else, people on the outside might look at you the same as they do me. Does that mean you aren't going to fight the good fight anymore?"

"Me? No, but it doesn't mean I have to let them fight with me."

Boros snorted, "Right, good luck telling them that. I'm sure that if you stopped your little friends from following you, they'd just go home and sit on their hands while you are busy fighting for your life and the fate of the world. I'm sure that's what they would do."

The thought of any of her friends dying caused a pain deep within her chest. When she spoke, her voice came out tiny. "And people hate you for it. Why do you do it?"

"Because I can give them a reason." Boros sighed, "I'm going to let you in on a little secret that most people only realize after they've lived far longer than you have so far. People are going to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it. It's a horrible fact, but it is a fact. If you live long enough, you too will realize just how short and pointless most human lives are. If they can go out doing some good, giving their lives for a cause, maybe save a few others in the process... it's a good death. One I envy." After a moment, he shook his head, pulling himself from his darker thoughts. "Enough of the moping, there is much to do. You need to help clean up this mess and I need to have a word with the Assassin's guild."

-oOo-

The next morning, the group gathered in the library before classes started, only to be confronted by a distraught Giles. "It's gone!"

"What's gone?"

"The cross! I came in this morning and it was gone. Someone broke in last night and stole it!"

Xander's eyes flicked across the table at Buffy, who was looking down at the floor refusing to meet anyone else's gaze. She sighed heavily before speaking, "Spike has it. He took Angel and demanded the cross for his freedom."

"And you gave it to him?" Giles demanded, raising his voice to be heard over the surprised exclamations coming for the other people in the room. "We don't know what is contained within that book, but whatever it is, it can't be good, and now Spike has the means to translate it. What were you thinking?"

"He was threatening to kill Angel! What was I supposed to do?

"Kill him." Xander stated as if it were obvious. "What makes you think that he will actually let your boyfriend go now that he has what he wants? We no longer have a bargaining chip."

"Of course, you would say that! You never liked Angel!"

"Enough!" Giles cried, "this is no time for infighting! We do not yet know exactly what Spike is planning, but if we have any hope of stopping it, we need to figure out what is in that book." He turned to Buffy, his voice taking on a note of displeasure, "You and I will be talking about this later."

The girl nodded, hating that she'd disappointed him, "I'm sorry."

The Watcher glared at her for a moment longer before sighing, "For the moment, we have other concerns. With the Order of Taraka after you, we need to be extremely cautious with your wellbeing."

"Boros said something similar. He was really worried about them."

"He would know. The Immortal has had dealings with them in the past."

Buffy nodded, "He's not a bad guy, Giles. He's just… misunderstood."

"Mis- Misunderstood?" The man was flabbergasted, before sighing heavily. "Let's just focus on determining what Spike has planned."

-oOo-

Paranoia haunted the slayer the rest of the day, her eyes inspecting every person she passed for signs of impending attack. She was so on edge that at one point, the sound of a locker door slamming spooked her enough that she threw an innocent student against a wall before realizing her mistake. She was extremely focused on her surroundings, which is why she was surprised to find herself in an empty corridor after school, far from her intended destination of the library. Looking around in equal parts confusion and fear, she was surprised when she was alone one moment, only to see an unfamiliar girl standing a dozen feet away from her a second later. She had copper colored hair in a messy cut that hung to her chin, wore skinny-cut black jeans over combat boots, and a blue tank top under a black denim jacket.

"Buffy Summers?" The Slayer tensed, expecting a fight. "Boros has asked me to come here and speak to you."

"Who are you? How do I know you are telling the truth?"

"My name is Siobhan. Boros is currently in Italy, meeting with the Order of Taraka. He is working to get the contract cancelled, but that's not a fast process, old laws being what they are. Still, he was able to determine who they sent." She pulled a piece of folded up paper from a pocket and opened it, "I wrote all this down. He said that the order assassins work in three-person cells, each member going by individual monikers. I guess you've already met The Cyclops. Apparently, he was rather well known in certain circles for his brutality. The other two are The Insect, and The Jaguar. The Insect is a sort of… shapeshifter, a demon with no physical form. It possesses maggots so it can interact with the world and can take on human appearance through use of a natural glamour when it has enough mass. The demon is a master of subterfuge, something that is aided by its human appearance, which Boros said is rather plain and non-descript. The creature is only vulnerable while in it's... natural state? Killing the individual bugs while they are being controlled will sever the demon's ability to influence the world. If you face this guy, you must be extremely careful. When separated into the swarm, it is shockingly fast. According to Boros, being eaten from the inside out by maggots is… unpleasant."

Buffy grimaced at the image that statement put in her head.

"As to the third," her eyes continued skim the paper, "he wasn't able to give me much, just that 'The Jaguar', is a human female. A master of infiltration and hand-to-hand combat. She has no problems using any kind of weapons, even guns, to complete her assignment. She is equally the least and most dangerous of the three. She can go places the other two can't and is willing to use tools the others won't."

The slayer swallowed heavily, her fear ratcheting up another few notches, before nodding. "Thank you. Now at least I know what to expect."

"You are welcome, now I have to go. I have a lot to do, and you need to get somewhere safe. Goodbye Slayer."

She turned and strode away, leaving Buffy to head to the library.

Dipping into an empty classroom, Siobhan pulled the same shrunken trunk from her pocket that Boros had kept within his chest. She set it down and spoke the word to make it expand to full size. When she opened it, the interior was different then it was previously. Now it contained a small wardrobe, one side holding drawers, fewer in number but deeper than the ones that held potions vials. The other side held a thick fabric stretched across a wooden frame that, when swung out on the hinges that attached it to the outer edge of the interior, acted as the third part of a changing screen, giving her a bit of privacy.

Scooping up a pile of fabric and a pair of shoes that she had hurriedly dumped into the trunk when the gun shots started, she changed back into the articles she had been wearing while disguised as Xander that morning. He had left for Italy the night before after asking her to take his place at the school, providing her with multiple doses of Polyjuice Potion and Neutralizer. He wasn't sure how long this would take. It could be days.

Grimacing slightly at the taste, she swallowed the measured dose and transformed into a teenage boy before shrinking the trunk and slipping it into a pocket. She exited back out into the school-proper and went to meet up with Xander's friends in the library, settling into an empty seat at the study table. Jesse and Willow were already sitting with books in front of them while Buffy was in Giles' office, passing on the information she had gotten from Siobhan. The man had no idea who she was but was quite intrigued to hear that The Immortal was working with someone.

Eventually, she exited the office and dropped bonelessly into a chair at the table. She looked exhausted, the stress she was under nearly coming off her in waves. None of them asked what was wrong, already knowing the answer. Instead, they turned their attention to the research that needed to be done.

-oOo-

The next morning, the hour after sunrise found the girl wearing the appearance of Xander Harris still flipping through books while Buffy and Willow were both asleep, having given up on remaining awake hours before. Jesse, the only teenager with family that was in town at the moment, could not stay all night. His father had died the year before, only a few months after the teenager had been pulled into the tunnels beneath Sunnydale by the vampire Darla and come back out alive. His passing left Jesse the responsibility of helping his mother care for his younger sister.

After spending the last few hours slowly sinking deeper into her chair, the gilt that was pretending to be Xander jerked upright as her eyes skimmed over a passage containing the very information, they had spent all night searching for. She spoke up softly enough that her voice wouldn't wake the two girls currently sleeping across from her, "Giles! Take a look at this!"

The man stood from his seat, moving over to pick up the book. He read over the page, seeing the same thing that had drawn her attention, "Yes, very good Xander. I think this is exactly what we need."

He moved around the table gently waking Willow and Buffy, the former of who jerked awake with a cry of "Don't warn the tadpoles!"

"The... the tadpoles?"

"I have frog fear." the girl admitted with a deep blush on her face, causing the one disguised as Xander to snort.

"Ah, well..." The man cleared his throat, before changing the subject, "It seems Xander has located the information we have been looking for. This is a description of the missing Du Lac manuscript. It's

a ritual. Now, I uh... I haven't managed to decipher the exact details, but I... I believe the purpose is to restore a weak and sick vampire back to full health."

"A vampire like Drusilla?"

The man nodded grimly, "Exactly."

"So, what's the plan?" Buffy asked.

"Now that we know what the ritual is for, we can begin figuring out how it is done and what is required. I will need to work on translating this."

"Alright well, I have a prior engagement. Snyder expects me to take part in the job fair. Let me know when you figure that out."

-oOo-

Representatives of different careers had set up booths or meeting spaces in the student lounge area so they could explain to gathered students what is involved in their individual fields. When the time came, Buffy slouched her way to a seat in the area that had been cordoned off for the law enforcement presentation. She dropped heavily into a chair as her own form of silent protest just before a uniformed woman with red hair stepped to the front and began to speak.

"Alright, listen up and answer when I call your name. Buffy Summers."

The girl, having been eyeing the woman while thinking about what she had been told the day before, raised her hand while expecting trouble. The officer nodded calmly and set down the clip board she had been referencing before pulling a gun from the holster at her waist and raising it to aim at Buffy. The woman was very fast but having suspected the officer was actually the assassin called 'The Jaguar', the Slayer reacted faster. She lunged from her seat and grabbed the officer's hand. She forcing it upward causing the shot to go into the ceiling. They fought over the weapon for a moment before shoving each other away, the pistol flying out of reach while they both ended up sprawled on the ground. The older woman kicked Buffy in the head, dazing her for the few precious seconds she needed to leap to her feet. The assassin drew a second pistol from an ankle holster, raised it, and opened fire, only for Buffy to lash out with a kick that sent the gun spinning away across the room. The fake cop drew another weapon, this one a collapsible baton, which she wielded expertly. A low spin kick knocked Buffy off her feet, the assassin raising her arm to bring the baton down on the prone teenager. Buffy watched as the hardened metal weapon descended toward her face, only to be knocked off course when the fake cop was attacked from behind.

Looking up, Buffy saw Siobhan dueling with The Jaguar. She was wielding two short strong-looking wooden rods that had rings of softly glowing symbols engraved along the upper third of the weapons. She jumped to her feet, ready to get back into the fight, and was surprised at just how skilled the other girl was. She could hear the sound of electrical discharges every time Siobhan's weapons struck her opponent, causing the assassin to twitch sharply. The girl seemed to know just how to strike to throw off attacks that were coming her way.

Buffy lunged forward, the assassin quickly losing ground now that she was outnumbered. Her eyes flicked around the hall, seeking a means of escape, when the perfect opportunity revealed itself. Entering the hall with all the air and pomposity of a tiny dictator, Principal Snyder took one look at the woman in the police uniform facing off against Buffy and immediately jumped to the incorrect conclusion.

"Attacking an officer of the law, Summers? I'll have you kicked out for- Ach!" He was cut off mid-sentence as he passed the assassin, only for her to wrap one hand around his chin, with the other on the back of his head.

"Stay back or I pop his head off like a cork!"

"Go ahead." The red-haired girl said, "As I understand, he's not exactly well liked around here. I don't think he'll be missed."

"What?! You can't let her kill me!"

The fake cop looked between the teenage Slayer, the girl with the electrified Escrima sticks, and the principal, before shoving him at the others and taking off in the opposite direction. She made it through the exit while the two women were trying to untangle themselves from the flailing principal.

-oOo-

Arranging medical care for a boy named Danial 'Oz' Ozborn, who was hit with a stray bullet took long enough that by the time the ambulance had arrived, Buffy was unsurprised to find the mystery girl had vanished. She sighed heavily before turning and heading to the library, where she updated her watcher on recent events. Moments later, the door opened, and they were joined by the girl in question, once more Polyjuiced to appear as Xander.

"Pretty wild out there. They're saying someone had a gun?"

Buffy nodded, "The second assassin, dressed as a cop."

"But you kicked her butt, right?"

"With help. That girl, Siobhan showed up with these cool tazer stick things."

"Cool." Willow said.

"There's still one out there. The bug guy, right?" Jesse asked.

Giles nodded from his spot at the head of the table, "Indeed. It's quite apparent that we're under serious attack. And, uh, I fear the worst is still to come. I- I've discovered the remaining keys to Drusilla's cure. The uh, the ritual must take place in a church on the night of the new moon, and it requires the presence of her sire."

-oOo-

In an abandoned factory on the other side of town, the vampire with a soul grunted in pain as he was tortured by his childe, Drusilla. He had many things in his life that he felt guilty for, but Drusilla was the worst. The acts that he had visited on her while he was Angelus haunted his every waking nightmare. Little did he know that the vampire wanted revenge for the things that had been done to her while human. He had been attacked by nearly a dozen fledglings in Spike's service and while managing to dust nearly half of them, he had been overwhelmed in the end. He'd been beaten unconscious and woke up tied to a gaudy four-poster bed, definitely the kind of thing Drusilla enjoyed. According to Spike, they were holding him as leverage against Buffy, but Angel knew the truth. There was no way they would let him go. It was up to Buffy to rescue him.

The door opening pulled Angel from his internal monologue, Spike entering the room. "It's your lucky day, Angel. Looks like you're not going to die after all… at least, not yet."

He moved forward and gently took hold of Drusilla, who was sitting next to Angel and had been slowly dripping holy water on his bare chest. She moaned pitifully as the Blonde pulled her away from her new toy. "Sorry love, but Dalton finished translating the ritual. Turns out, Angel is the key to your cure."

-oOo-

The demon fighting group spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the exact location that Drusilla's ritual was going to take place. In the end, all they knew was that it was going to be in a church. Unfortunately, there were forty-three churches in Sunnydale, a side effect of living long-term on a Hellmouth. The evil that permeated the town caused people to overcompensate in looking to the holy.

Having no other idea how to find the information they needed, they came up with a plan. Buffy would go to the local demon gathering place, a watering hole named "Willy's Bar", and get the bartender to show her to the church while the others would follow in Giles' car.

"It's payday, pal. I got your Slayer." Willie called when he entered the church with Buffy, only to stop dead at the scene before them. Multiple groaning injured vampires, along with a few piles of dust, littered the floor. The fake cop that had attacked Buffy at the school was standing to the side next to an extremely plain looking man in a simple gray suit, both watching Spike fight with a dark-skinned girl that none of them had ever seen before. The way she was holding her own, she was one heck of a fighter. Up on the pulpit, Angel was chained with his back against Drusilla's', one arm raised above their heads and their hands pinned together by a dagger through both their palms.

"Angel!" Buffy cried, taking a step toward him before her path was blocked by the two assassins who moved to confront her. At that moment, the church's doors opened and in came her friends, armed and ready to fight. Giles was wielding a crossbow while Jesse was loaded up with stakes and bottles of holy water. Siobhan, still disguised as Xander, also had a stake and was wearing a special pair of gloves that had been both physically and magically modified. When they entered, the blonde slayer stepped back again, only to get knocked to the ground by the girl that had been fighting Spike. She had been rendered unconscious and her now prone body propelled through the air as a weapon.

"Buffy!" Willow cried from her position at the door, even as Jesse and the girl disguised as Xander moved to protect The Slayer. As they approached, the assassins stepped forward to fulfil their contract. Siobhan squared off against The Jaguar, her transformed muscles coiled and ready for action as she slid into a martial arts combat pose.

Jesse quirked an eyebrow at Xander's surprising skill before setting his confusion aside for the moment. He instead focused on taunting The Insect to attack him. His eyes went wide as the rather plain-looking man fell apart into a pile of squirming maggots that seemed to surge forward at unnatural speed. He spun and ran back out into the building's lobby where Willow was now waiting with a large bottle of contact cement that they had planted there when they first arrived. As soon as Jesse shut the door behind himself, the red-haired girl began pouring the glue out. It didn't take long for the maggots to begin squirming under the door only to get ensnared by the sticky surface. They took great pleasure in stomping the demon-possessed insects into so much paste.

In the main part of the church, Giles was attending to the unconscious girl while Buffy fought Spike and the girl that looked like Xander brawled with The Jaguar. They rotated around each other, kicks and punches thrown with violent ferocity. The disguised girl was holding her own, due in no small part to the gloves that had metal plates across the knuckles and had been enchanted to enhance the force of each hit, but it was clear that The Jaguar was still more experienced. It was only a matter of time before the younger of the two was overwhelmed. Luckily, the balance of the fight changed when a ringing sound interrupted them. Buffy and Spike both stopped to watch when the assassin held up a hand as a signal to her opponent before stepping back and pulling out a mobile phone. She hit the button to answer it and held it up to her ear. After listening to the speaker for a moment, she nodded to herself, agreeing with whatever she was being told before hanging up and pocketing the phone once more.

The disguised girl quirked an eyebrow questioningly, to which The Jaguar shook her head in the negative and turned to Buffy. "You're in luck, the contract has been canceled."

"What?!" Spike cried, equally surprised.

"It seems you have some powerful friends." Without any further explication, Patrice turned and strolled away as if she didn't have a care in the world. With a shake of her head, Siobhan put the oddity of that behind her and moved to free Angel who was still slouched on the pulpit tied to Drusilla. Spike moved to intercept her, only to be knocked back by the slayer. So far, Spike had been having fun, he loved a good scrap and Buffy Summers was one of the better fighters he had ever faced off against but seeing one of The Slayer's friends moving on Drusilla drove him into a rage. A backhanded strike tossed the blonde girl backward over a pew. Instead of moving to continue his attack, he ran to the stage and shoved Siobhan aside, scooping Drusilla up into his arms before fleeing the building.

Buffy picked up a metal censer used for burning incense, intending to use it as a projectile to stop Spike from getting away, only to become distracted by a pained grunt coming from the stage. Looking over, she saw that Angel was trying to stand, ignoring Xander offer of help. The girl knew that Spike was mere moments from vanishing out into the night, but a muffled cry of pain from Angel was enough to make her drop the censer and rush to the stage. The vampire with a soul looked terrible, his skin far paler than normal, his face gaunt, his hands shaking. Buffy pulled one of his arms over her shoulder and, using it for leverage, got him standing. It took a bit of shuffling to find their rhythm, but they were soon moving towards the exit. The girl disguised as Xander crouched by Giles' who was monitoring the unconscious stranger.

"How is she?"

"Oh, she- she will be alright."

"Any idea who she is?"

"None, I'm afraid, although she was quite the skilled fighter."

"Seemed to have a serious grudge with Spike. She was out for blood."

Giles nodded, "Indeed. Perhaps after she wakes, she will fill in the blanks. In the meantime, let's get her to my car. We can take her to the library."

The trip was a bit more cramped with two more people crammed into Giles' tiny Citroen. Buffy ended up in the front, sitting in Angel's lap, while the girl's unconscious form was laid across the laps of Jesse, Willow, and the polymorphed teenager, who all shared the back seat.

When the sleeping girl awoke, she found herself lying on a wooden table in a small library. Her eyes flicked around quickly before sitting up. She seemed wary, as if expecting to be attacked again.

"It's alright," Giles said softly, "you're safe. Can you tell me your name?"

The girl looked between the gathered teens and the older man before nodding. She spoke with a thick Jamaican accent when answering, "My name is Kendra, sir."

"Not a name I recognize." The older man stated to the gathered teens, before returning his attention to the girl, "My name is Rupert Giles."

He introduced the others in the room, but the girl seemed to focus on the older man, "You are Rupert Giles, the watcher?"

"Uh, y- yes. How did you know that?"

"I am da vampire slayer, sir. I was sent here by my watcher, Mister Zabuto."

Siobhan looked at Giles, confused on her disguised face, "Did she just say she's the slayer? There can't be two, can there?"

"Two?" Kendra questioned.

"Yes. Buffy here is a vampire slayer."

"Is that even possible?" Willow asked, "I mean, two Slayers at the same time?"

"Not to my knowledge. Um, th- the new Slayer is only called after the previous Slayer has died. Uh... Oh, good Lord! You were dead, Buffy."

"I was only gone for a minute."

"Clearly it doesn't matter how long you were gone. You were physically dead! Thus, causing the activation of the, the next Slayer."

"She died?" Kendra asked, disbelievingly.

Buffy crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable, "Just a little."

"She drowned, but she was revived." The watcher explained.

"So there really are two of them!"

Giles removed his glasses to polish vigorously, "It would seem so. This is completely unprecedented! I'm quite flummoxed."

"What's the flum? It's a mistake, she isn't supposed to be here, she goes home!" Buffy turned to Kendra, "Look, no offense, I really don't mean this personally, but I'm not dead and frankly having you around creeps me out just a little bit."

"Why are you in Sunnydale, Kendra?" The polyjuiced girl asked, "I mean, you must be here for a reason, right?"

"Mr. Zabuto said all de signs indicate dat a very dark power was about to rise in Sunnydale. I was able to follow de blonde vampire to the church."

"That was Spike," Giles told her, "Also known as William the bloody. He was using Angel to heal his lover Drusilla from the physical weakness that resulted from an attack in Prague."

"Angel? You mean Angelus? I've read about him. He is a monster."

Giles shook his head, "No, no, no, he's, he's good now."

"Really!" WIllow added.

"He had a gypsy curse." The blonde slayer commented from her spot fawning over the pale and shaking vampire.

"He has a what?" Kendra asked.

"He was cursed by an ancient Romani tribe. They returned his soul." Siobhan rolled Xander's eyes, "Supposedly, he's trying to make amends for the things he did when he didn't have a soul. Mostly, he just follows Buffy around like a lost puppy."

"Xander!" The blonde slayer cried out.

-oOo-

When classes ended the next day, Jenny Calendar looked around at the mess left behind by her students. Her classroom looked like a pack of animals had torn though the school. She sighed and began moving around shutting off the computers and putting the peripherals back where they belonged.

"Teenagers, however do you stand them?"

The woman nearly jumped out of her skin, the clatter of a mouse and keyboard flying out of her hands sounding as she spun around. Xander Harris was sitting in her chair, his feet up on the desktop and a relaxed grin on his face.

"Xan- Xander. What are you doing here?"

"I said we would talk. I imagine you have a lot of questions."

The woman took a moment to work up her nerve before speaking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Xander Harris." He said with a sense of 'duh'.

"No, you're not. Xander couldn't… and wouldn't do the things you can."

"He would… I would, after living as long as I have." Seeing the confused look on her face, he sighed and dropped his feet to the floor, leaning forward in the chair. "Halloween night, when the spell ended, I blacked out. When I woke up, I found I had someone been thrown back in time. The only way home was the long way, to live. Luckily, I retained the abilities of the character I dressed as. He was... among other things, a shapeshifter. I am able to change my body, renew my cells to keep them young, even change my appearance so as to not be noticed as unageing."

Jenny's eyes went wide, "You're Boros, aren't you. The immortal."

Xander nodded, "One of my identities. It has it's uses."

"Why don't you want them to know?"

"As I said last time we spoke, they wouldn't understand. I've had to make some terrible choices; I've done terrible deeds. It will come out eventually, secrets always do, but I intend to make sure that when it does, they are ready for it." Xander smiled and stood from the desk, moving to leave the room.

"How old are you?"

The teenager turned and smiled before opening the door and stepping out into the hall, closing it behind himself.