Chapter 17: Vengeance
They stood well back from the crowd of welcoming friends and relatives, and watched the passengers disembark. Jimmy Koenig was easy to spot. Koenig wasn't traveling alone. He got off the plane with a guy who looked like his FBI escort. When they got to the bottom of the Jetway, they stopped. The two exchanged a brief flurry of words. FBI guy looked pissed, but Koenig wasn't backing down. After a few minutes, FBI guy stalked off toward the baggage claim area. Koenig headed for the waiting room and plopped into the nearest chair.
"Nick, Clay, Dawn, take Koenig," Jeremy said. "Tonio, Buffy and I'll go after his friend."
Jeremy, Buffy and Antonio started for the baggage area while. After Clay and Dawn discussed tactics. Clay and Nick headed off into the crowd as Dawn waited until they were out of sight. Then Dawn walked up behind Koenig and waited. It took a couple of minutes before his head jerked up. He sniffed the air, then slowly turned.
"Boo," Dawn said.
Koenig glanced at Dawn and started looking for Clay. "Where is he?" he asked.
"It's only me," Dawn said.
"Yeah, right."
Dawn circled around the row of chairs and sat down beside Koenig. "Clay's gone to take care of your buddy with the shades."
"Budd—" Koenig stopped and grunted.
Dawn nodded. "He figured I could handle you on my own," she said. She then spotted Nick approaching from the other side. She watched him and swore under her breath.
Koenig jerked his head around to look. When he saw Nick, his first reaction was relief. He started to relax, and then tensed again.
"Son-of-a-bitch," Dawn muttered. "He wasn't supposed to interfere. Nicholas …"
Koenig fell for it. Thinking Dawn was preoccupied getting ready to confront Nick, he bolted. Nick flashed a victory grin at Dawn and they took off in pursuit. Nick and Dawn kept on opposite sides of Koenig. It was the same technique they'd used with the deer. Keep him running and steer him toward the finish line. And guess who was waiting at the finish line? Dawn was almost surprised that Koenig fell for it.
Dawn followed Clay's scent and they herded Koenig out of the crowded lobby, down a deserted hall, and behind a narrow stairwell. Clay jumped out from the stairwell, grabbed Koenig by the throat, and broke his neck. Before Koenig's body even went limp, Clay was stuffing him into the shadows under the stairwell.
"Are we leaving him here?" Dawn asked.
Clay shook his head. "Nah. There's an exit door over there. I saw dumpsters outside. If you guys stand guard, I'll move him."
"Do you need both of us?" Dawn asked. "Buffy, Tonio and Jeremy might need help."
"Good idea," Clay said. "Go on then. Nick can handle guard duty."
Dawn raced toward the baggage claim area. By the time she got to there, most of the people from Koenig's flight had come and gone. All that was left were the inevitable stragglers standing by the conveyer belt, staring at it, transfixed. FBI guy was not amongst them; nor was Buffy, Jeremy and Antonio. Dawn took one last look around, then headed back the way she'd come.
By the washrooms, Dawn caught sight of FBI guy. She tried to pick up the werewolf scent, but it was lost amidst the stink of strangers. She couldn't even pick up her sister's, Jeremy or Antonio's scent.
Dawn followed the new werewolf's trail. She expected the mutt to walk back into the terminal where Koenig had been waiting. He didn't. Instead, he went out a side exit. She followed him onto some kind of laneway that looked like a loading zone. From there, he headed toward the parking lot.
Instead of going into the parking lot, he turned down another lane. She raced to the end of the alley, but the mutt had vanished. She searched for his scent. It was still lost, now hidden by the smells of machinery and exhaust. She was about to turn back when she rounded a corner and saw the mutt less than twenty feet away. She quickly stepped back out of sight, stopped, listened, and considered her options.
They walked another fifteen or twenty feet. Then he stopped and looked around, as if getting his bearings. Dawn flattened herself against the wall and waited. When he resumed walking, she stayed in her hiding place, letting him get farther ahead. She was so busy concentrating on her prey that she didn't hear footsteps behind her. Too late, she turned. An arm grabbed her by the throat and shoved me against the wall.
"Dawn," LeBlanc said. "Fancy meeting you here."
Dawn jerked her head to look down the alley, expecting FBI guy to be circling back. He was gone.
"Friend of yours?" LeBlanc asked.
"Yours, not mine," Dawn said.
LeBlanc laughed. "Ah, I see. You were tracking him because you saw him talking to Koenig, so you figured he was one of us. Faulty deduction, girlie. Very faulty. Koenig's protégé didn't make it. Couldn't handle the Change. Died yesterday. Too bad, so sad. Daniel sent me to pick the old coot up. I saw your bunch lurking around, so I stood back and took in the show. Then I saw you take off and thought, huh, maybe this errand could be fun after all."
Dawn tensed for attack, but before she could strike, he pulled something from his pocket. A gun. LeBlanc lifted the pistol and rested it against the middle of her forehead. "Werewolves don't use guns," she said. "Weapons are for wimps. You guys realize that, right?"
"Shut up," LeBlanc said.
"Guess you were right about us not being too bright," Dawn said. "If I was smart, I'd have broken your right wrist while Buffy broke your left. How is it anyway? Giving you any trouble?"
"Shut up," he repeated.
Dawn smiled. "Just making small talk."
"If you want to talk," LeBlanc said, "I'd suggest you start with an apology."
"For what?" Dawn asked. "Is it the wrist? You're the one who wanted to prove you could knife my sister. She was only proving she could defend herself."
"Bullshit. She and you thought it was funny. Humiliate the new guy. We got back to the house, what do you think Marsten does? Tells Daniel and Olson. Gave them a good laugh." He cocked the gun. "I want an apology. And since she's not here you will have to do."
Dawn thought about this. Apologizing wasn't a big deal. Of course, she wasn't sorry Buffy had done it, but he didn't need to know that. "I'm sorry," she said. "We didn't mean to embarrass you."
"On your knees," LeBlanc ordered.
"What?" Dawn asked.
LeBlanc smiled. "Apologize on your knees."
"The hell I—" Dawn started.
LeBlanc rammed the gun into Dawn's mouth. She clamped down involuntarily. Needles of pain ran though her jaw as her teeth hit metal. She tried to jerk away, but he had her backed against the wall. LeBlanc shoved the gun in until Dawn gagged.
Dawn lifted one leg, making a motion to show that she was ready to kneel. LeBlanc's lips twisted in an ugly smile and he pulled the gun from her mouth.
"Good girl," LeBlanc said. "Werewolf or not, I see you're still a woman. When push comes to shove, you know your place."
Dawn gritted her teeth and kept her eyes down, which he seemed to take as proof that she'd been properly cowed. Mistake on his part. She had learned a very long time ago how to deal with men, especially pirates who typically honored their threats.
"Well?" he said.
Dawn tilted her head forward, letting her hair fall in a curtain around her face. Then she started to sniffle.
LeBlanc laughed. "Not nearly so cocky now, are you?"
After a couple seconds of crying, his arm dropped, letting the gun fall to his side. Dawn lifted both hands to her face, covering it. Then, she pulled her hands down again, wrapped her left hand over her right fist and brought both hands slamming upward into LeBlanc's crotch. As he stumbled back, she lunged. Dawn knocked him down and started running. Halfway down the alley, she heard the first shot. Instinctively, Dawn tried to teleport but found her magic had abandoned her. She realized fear cut her off from her magic. As Dawn ran around a corner she heard two more shots being fired in quick succession.
Behind her, Dawn could hear his running footfalls. She took the first corner, then the next and the next, keeping her straight-out runs short so he wouldn't have a chance at another shot. It worked for about five minutes, and then she ended up in a long alley with no exit except at the end. Dawn leaned forward and sprinted like hell. It wasn't fast enough. LeBlanc rounded the corner before she got to the end of the alley. Another shot. Another dive. She veered left and made a headlong dash forward. A car was directly in front of her, and another one beside it, and another and another. Parking lot.
Dawn raced around the corner, getting out of shooting range. As she ran, she tried to find the largest concentration of human activity, there was none. LeBlanc's scent floated over on the breeze. She dropped to her hands and knees and looked under the ground. LeBlanc was about fifty feet away. As she watched, a car went by the end of the row. Then another. Some kind of road. Maybe only a service route, but where there were moving cars there had to be people. Dawn ran forward, staying doubled over behind the cars.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," LeBlanc chanted. "I don't like games, Dawn. You make me look for you and you'll regret it. I can make you regret it. You took my scrapbook. You know what I can do."
Dawn moved along the rear of a sedan and peered around the other side, checking before she dashed across an empty parking spot. Each time she came to an empty space, she checked before crossing it. More than once there wasn't room to pass between the cars, the driver having pulled up within inches of the car in the opposite row. This was trickier than dashing across the empty spaces.
Dawn had gone past fifteen cars and estimated another ten to go when she heard footsteps to her left. She dropped down, stopped moving, and listened. She knew LeBlanc was to her left, but at last check, he was left and rear. These footsteps came from left and front. She fell to her stomach and looked out under the row of cars. Brown pumps were moving fast down the row immediately to her left. A woman hurrying to her car.
"Aha," LeBlanc sang out.
Dawn's head jolted up and hit the undercarriage of the car with a thunderous bang. LeBlanc cursed and started running. Dawn looked about wildly, trying to see his feet to figure out which way to escape.
"Fuck!" LeBlanc shouted. "I don't fucking believe it. Dawn!"
Dawn stopped moving. Why was he calling her? LeBlanc was still cursing. She followed the sound and saw LeBlanc's sneakers about twenty feet away. And beside his shoes, the body of a woman, lying on the pavement. She realized the bang she'd heard hadn't been her head hitting the car. He'd seen the woman believing her to be Dawn and fired. She stared at the dead woman she started to shake. Dawn told herself that her horror was for her, an innocent, gunned down in a parking lot. It wasn't true. The tightness in her throat and the pounding in her chest weren't for her. It was for Dawn. Despite all that she had seen and done in two hundred years. It was that one thing that scared her.
Dawn felt the sensation of a fear induced Change come over her. She glanced down and saw her fingers retracting into her hands, hair sprouting from the backs as her clothes began to rip. She realized she was jammed under a new VW Beetle with barely inches to spare. She knew what she had to do. She had to get out. A fresh spark of fear made her torso jerk up, crashing her back into the underside of the car. This time she knew the resulting bang was real. Dimly she heard LeBlanc's shoes squeak against the pavement. Heard him say something. Heard him laugh …
Dawn vaulted from under the Beetle. Her nails scraped against the pavement. Halfway out her legs seized up and she fell face first to the ground. A howl of agony broke from her throat. Dawn's eyes bugged out with the pain. She focused her energy on finishing, feeding it with fear. At last, the final phase hit with a shuddering wave of agony so blinding that she passed out. She came to as soon as her muzzle hit the pavement, then lay on her stomach, panting and gulping air. She could hear his footsteps getting closer. Then she heaved herself to her feet and started to run.
Dawn tore out from between the cars, got onto the laneway and ran full-out. She poured everything she had into running. A shout rang out behind her. Then a shot. It whizzed over her head. Dawn blocked out everything and kept going. Finally the row of cars came to an end. She was on a through road. A horn blared. A gust of air from a passing truck sliced through her fur. Still, Dawn didn't slow down. On the other side of the road were two buildings. She ran toward them, no longer knowing where she was going, just that she had to get away.
Dawn emerged from between the buildings as she heard a shout. Someone calling her name. The sound came from beside her. She hunkered down and ran faster. A brick wall suddenly popped up in her path. She tried to stop, but it was too late. Her legs slid out from under her and she skidded into the wall with a bone-jarring thud. Behind her, LeBlanc was still running, shouting her name. She got to her feet and twisted around to see the shape of her pursuer at her back. Even as she was still turning, she launched herself at him. As she flew through the air, his arm went up, blocking his throat. Dawn hit him full in the chest and they toppled over backward. She curled her lips. As she slashed down, the red fog of panic that blinded her cleared and she saw who lay beneath me. Not LeBlanc. Not even male, but female. Her sister, Buffy.
Dawn yanked her head back just in time. The momentum of the sudden change in direction sent her tumbling sideways. When she tried scrambling up, Buffy grabbed her and held her still. She whispered something, but Dawn couldn't make it out. Not seeing any comprehension in her sister's eyes, Buffy waited a second, and then spoke again, enunciating slowly.
"He's gone," Buffy said. "Don't worry. He's gone."
Dawn hesitated and looked back between the two buildings; certain LeBlanc would appear at any moment, gun in hand. Buffy shook her head.
"He's gone, Dawnie," Buffy said. "When you crossed the road, he backed off. Too public."
Dawn still waited, shaking. Buffy buried her hands in her sister's fur and tried to pull Dawn against her, but Dawn resisted. Buffy started saying something when footsteps echoed from somewhere nearby. Dawn leapt to her feet, putting herself between her sister and their attacker as Buffy tried to restrain her. Jeremy, Clay, Antonio, and Nick emerged from around the building. Dawn stood there a moment, legs trembling; sniffing the air to make sure her eyes weren't betraying her. It was them. Dawn paused for a second, and then sank to the ground next to her sister finally letting Buffy hold her.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and Clay sat on either side of Dawn on the way back to Stonehaven, holding her hands, glancing at Dawn from time to time. They were almost home when Clay broke the silence, leaning forward to catch Jeremy's attention in the front passenger seat. "You didn't tell us what Daniel demanded," he said. "It was Dawn and Buffy, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Jeremy said softly.
"Marsten was correct wasn't he," Buffy said. "He wants me and Dawn because we are the only females in the Pack. And we were right weren't we? He orchestrated my change from just a Slayer to a Slayer and werewolf."
"You are correct," Jeremy said. "And Daniel recognizes how valuable you both are to us. He knows that if you two were to mate with another werewolf you would produce full-blooded werewolves, not hybrids like us."
"But you know we can't," Dawn said. "That the fountain robbed us of that potential."
"I know," Jeremy said. "But Daniel doesn't. You have to remember your immortality has been a closely guarded secret from everyone except those in this car."
Antonio turned off the highway. "It's like an airplane hijacker asking for ten billion dollars. He knows we wouldn't consider it, so it's another way of saying he's not dealing."
"It's not just that," Clay said. "He's giving us a warning. He knows we would never give Dawn and Buffy up. He's telling us his next move. He's going to take them."
Jeremy nodded. "I should have realized that. We could have saved ourselves a very close call. I thought as Tonio did—that by asking for Dawn and Buffy, Daniel was saying he wouldn't bargain."
Nick asked, "So that mutt at the airport was trying to kidnap Dawn?"
"No," Dawn said. "He was trying to kill me."
"A mutt wouldn't do that, Dawn," Jeremy began. "You're too valuable to them alive. It may have seemed—"
"You weren't there. A woman was hurrying through the parking lot. LeBlanc mistook her for me and blew a hole through her head. That's not an incapacitating shot. That's an execution," Dawn said.
Buffy and Clay's hands tightened around Dawn's. No one spoke for at least five minutes.
"Why would he do that?" Nick asked. "If Daniel wants you both, he'd want you both alive."
"LeBlanc doesn't give a damn what Daniel wants," Buffy said. "Maybe it's because he's new or because he's been killing on his own for so long, but he doesn't seem to have the instinct to obey a stronger werewolf."
"But why kill Dawn at all?" Nick said. "Like Jeremy says, these new mutts have no stake in this fight, other than some promise to Daniel. If Daniel doesn't want you dead, why go through all that trouble trying to kill you?"
"Thomas LeBlanc preys on women," Buffy said remembering the scrapbook that Jeremy and Dawn had shown to her. "He tortures them and rapes them and kills them. Men like that hate women and they're easily threatened by them. I forgot that. After all our talk about not treating these men like other mutts, I did exactly that. I humiliated him at the police station, taunted him, insulted him, and broke his wrist in front of Marsten. Now he wants to overpower me. He needs to."
"That doesn't explain why," Nick said as he motioned at Dawn.
"He wanted me to apologize for Buffy," said Dawn. "I figure he was going after me only because he couldn't get to her."
Clay's thumb rubbed against Dawn's wrist, but he said nothing. Neither did anyone else.
When they got to Stonehaven, Dawn went up to hers and Buffy's room. As she climbed the stairs, she could hear Clay behind her. She walked into her room as Clay walked in behind her and closed it himself. Dawn got partway to the bed and stopped while Clay stood silent behind her.
When Dawn looked at Clay, she saw her emotions mirrored in his face, the anger, the outrage and fear. Clay reached out and pulled Dawn to him. She turned her face to his, found his lips and kissed him. His lips parted against her. They began to move backwards toward the bed."
Downstairs Buffy entered Jeremy's study to find him waiting for her, alone. She closed the door behind her. "I want to go after LeBlanc. As a werewolf I know I have to ask your permission to kill him."
Jeremy looked at Buffy and understood why she made the request. It was a matter of revenge. But he also knew she didn't need his permission, as the Slayer she could go regardless if he gave his permission. "I'm not sure that is a good idea, Buffy."
"I'm asking as a simple courtesy," Buffy said. "But I don't need your permission. And you know it. I can go after him as the Slayer; it is my duty to protect humans from supernatural threats. And LeBlanc is a supernatural threat now that he is a werewolf."
Jeremy sighed as he moved to the window and looked out. "I will consider it."
Buffy nodded and left the study.
The next morning upstairs in Buffy and Dawn's room; Clay and Dawn lay under the covers as Jeremy rapped on the door. Clay opened his eyes, but made no move to get up or even respond.
"I need you two downstairs," Jeremy said through the closed door.
Dawn glanced at Clay. She waited for him to answer. He didn't.
"Now," Jeremy said.
Clay was quiet for another thirty seconds, then grunted "Why?" in a tone neither Dawn had ever heard him use with Jeremy.
"Downstairs, now." Jeremy said before he headed down the hall.
"I'm sick of it," Clay said. "We're not getting anywhere. All we've done so far is chase our tails. Chase, run away, chase, run away. And where has it gotten us? It's killed Logan, killed Peter, turned Buffy into a werewolf, it almost killed Jeremy, and almost killed you, Dawn. Now you and Buffy are in danger and he'd better be planning to do something about it."
"He apparently is," came Buffy's voice through the door. "He hasn't said what it is to me, but wants all three of us downstairs. Get dressed."
Moments later Buffy, Antonio and Nick were already in the study as Dawn and Clay walked in the door.
"I know you're worried about Buffy and Dawn, Clayton," Jeremy said. "We all are. That's why I'm sending them both away. Today."
"What?" Buffy sat up sharply. "You're officially denying my request?"
"Yes, Buffy, I am," Jeremy said. "They are after you and Dawn. They are not going to care if you are the Slayer or not. If LeBlanc is willing to use a gun, like he was at the airport with Dawn, he would kill you before you even got close."
"Wait a minute," Dawn said. "Just because last night gave me a bit of a scare, it doesn't mean—"
"You weren't the only one given a scare last night, Dawn," Jeremy said.
"I figured that," Dawn said as she motioned toward her sister.
"Buffy wasn't the only other one either," Jeremy said. "Daniel has targeted you both and now it seems this LeBlanc has done the same. One wants to capture you both. The other wants to kill you both. Do you honestly think I'm going to sit back and wait to see which one succeeds? I've lost Logan and I've lost Peter. Add on top of that, Buffy was bitten. I won't take the remotest chance of losing anyone else. I made a mistake yesterday in letting you both go with us after I knew Daniel wanted you both. I'm not making another mistake by letting you both stay one day longer."
"Great," Dawn said. "One panic attack and Buffy and I are liabilities to be stashed away for safekeeping. Do we get to know where you're going to hide us? Or can't we be trusted with the information?"
Jeremy continued. "You both are going to the last place the mutts would expect to find you. Back to Toronto."
"And what the hell are we supposed to do there?" Buffy asked. "Hole up someplace while the men fight the battle?"
Jeremy shook his head. "You won't be by yourselves. Clay's going with you."
"Whoa!" Dawn leapt to her feet. "You're kidding, right?" She turned to Clay. "Didn't you hear that? Say something, damn it."
Clay said nothing.
"What are we supposed to do in Toronto?" Buffy asked. "Hide in a hotel room?"
"No, you'll do exactly what you two normally do," Jeremy said. "You'll go back to your apartment, resume your jobs if you like, pick up the old routines. That's what will keep you safe. Familiarity. You two know your apartment building, the routes you walk, the restaurants and stores you frequent. You'll be better able to spot potential danger than you would in an unfamiliar setting. And you'll be comfortable."
Dawn and Buffy stood in the study and fumed. As much as they both loved Clay, maybe it was time for them to change their identities and disappear. They would be safer that way anyways.
The sisters walked into the empty hall, Dawn grabbed a set of car keys and her wallet from the hall table, as she and Buffy headed out to the garage door. They would call Jeremy and let him know where he could pick up the car.
As the sisters walked around the car, they heard the squeak of shoe rubber on concrete and looked up to see Jeremy standing at the passenger door, holding the handle.
"Where are we going?" he asked calmly.
"Buffy and I are leaving," Dawn said.
Jeremy nodded. "So I see. As I asked, where are we going?"
"We're not—" Buffy said as she stopped and glanced around the garage.
"Clay's car is right there," Jeremy said. "You have the keys, Dawn, but not the alarm remote. The Explorer's outside. No alarm, but it's about fifty feet away. The Mercedes is closer, but you don't have the keys. Shall we race to the Explorer? Or would you two rather bolt down the drive and see if you two can outrun me?"
Dawn laughed as she disappeared in a flash of green and reappeared five feet away. "Did you forget? We don't really need a car, do we?"
"You just prefer one," Jeremy said with a sigh. "Regardless I could sedate you, Dawn. Then you would be unable to teleport." He then looked at Buffy. "And since you would not want to leave Dawn behind you wouldn't risk bending the bars and trying to escape when I put you both in the cage."
"This isn't—" Dawn said.
"Yes, it's terribly unfair," Jeremy said. "I know. No one would do this to either of you in the human world, would they? They'd understand that you two have a right to kill yourselves."
"We're not—" Buffy said.
"If you two leave here alone, you're committing suicide," Jeremy said. "It won't take long for Daniel to find out you two are immortal and that the only way to kill you is to take yours heads. And don't think for a second that changing your identities will keep you off Daniel's radar. It would only be a matter of time before he'd find you. I won't let you two do that. Either you both go to Toronto with Clay or I'll lock you both up here and sedate Dawn till you both agree."
Dawn whipped the keys to the cement floor as she and Buffy turned their backs on Jeremy. After a minute of silence, Dawn said, "Don't make us take him. You know how hard Buffy and I've tried to maintain our identities there. Send us someplace else, maybe Sunnydale, or send someone else with us. Don't make us take Clay. He'll destroy everything."
"No, I won't," Clay said from behind the sisters. "Protecting you both is the most important thing to me right now. No matter how angry I am, that doesn't change. I am capable of fitting in out there. Just because I don't do it, doesn't mean I can't. I've studied and practiced fitting in since I was eight years old. For fifteen years, I did nothing but study human behavior. Once I figured it out and knew I could fit in, I stopped trying. Why? Because it's not necessary. So long as I can modify my behavior in public enough that I don't have to worry about being attacked by mobs with silver bullets, that's good enough for Jeremy and the rest of the Pack. If I did more, I'd be betraying myself. I won't do that without reason. But protecting you two is reason enough. I won't destroy anything."
"We don't want you there," Buffy said.
"And I don't want to be there," Clay said. "But none of us has much say in the matter, do we?"
He then turned and left closing the door behind him.
Jeremy held the door for the sisters as they glared him. Then Dawn turned and walked through.
Buffy nodded toward the door indicating she wanted to talk to him in private.
"Jeremy," Buffy said as Jeremy closed the door. "I get you wanting to protect us. I do. I remember when I first found out Dawn was the Key. I did everything I could to protect her, to the point I almost chased her away. Not physically mind you because she was fourteen at the time. But emotionally and mentally, for a while we argued. And then she found out she was the Key, it was bad. She was mad at me for hiding that from her. It took some convincing on my part before she even believed that I did indeed love her and that she was my sister in every way that mattered."
Buffy paused as she took a breath. "So I understand you wanting to protect us. But when we first told you we were immortal we also explained that we could not stay in one place for too long a period of time. Our aging isn't slowed down like yours, we don't age at all. I've been 26 for over 200 years. Dawn has been 20 for over 200 years. Our appearances don't change, as a result. People would eventually become suspicious when we noticeably didn't age."
"I know that—" Jeremy said.
"Add on top of that eventually Dawn and I will return to our original time period," Buffy interrupted. "Which is about 16 years away. We will have to return to our lives and our home in Port Royal. I'm not saying we won't come if you need us. But we can't remain here forever. In fact we intend to return to Sunnydale to make sure anyone after me doesn't go after my past self instead. Between now and then we're going to have to change our identities at some point and cut all ties with people we know. Dawn doesn't want to do that anymore, she's in love with Clay. But we can't put you and him at risk either. You worry about being found that you are a werewolf. We worry about being found out that we are immortal."
"I understand, Buffy," Jeremy said. "I really do. What if I promised once this is over. You and Dawn can go and disappear. You don't even have to tell us where you are or what identities you are using unless you need our help. Let's just get through this first."
Buffy thought about it and then nodded. "Fine," she said. "There is one thing I need to know though. Why you lied to us when Dawn was bitten."
"Lie?" Jeremy asked.
"We know Clay bit her. The memory resurfaced a few nights ago. The night Dawn, Clay, Nick and I found Brandon's apartment," Buffy said. "She remembers Clay biting her."
Jeremy sighed. "I was afraid, Buffy. Of what you would do if you found out that Clay had done it. You have to remember this was before I ever even met you. All I knew of the Slayer was from stories told by passing demons. That you were the human's protector and went after the supernatural that posed a threat to them. I was afraid you would come after Clay seeing him as a threat for biting Dawn. And of course the Pack would have stood with Clay and I feared we would be wiped out."
"Why didn't you tell me after you got to know me and Dawn?" Buffy asked. "After we had a chance to bond with each and every member of the Pack."
"While I no longer feared that you would retaliate, Buffy," Jeremy said. "I did fear you would take Dawn and leave the Pack. And I'm sorry to say I was a bit selfish that I didn't want that to happen. You both have come to be like daughters to me. And I didn't want to lose my daughters."
A smile played on Buffy's lips and nodded as she stepped up to Jeremy and pulled the man into an embrace, which he slowly returned. "Thank you for telling me," she said.
"You're welcome, Buffy," Jeremy said. "I ask that you don't tell the rest of the Pack that I have a soft spot for you and Dawn. It's why I want you two, too return to Toronto. So that you are both, safe."
Buffy nodded and that afternoon she, Dawn and Clay were on a plane heading for Toronto.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Where do you two live?" Clay said as the sisters looked at him. "Where do you two live?"
"Uh—near the lake," Dawn said. "South of Front Street."
"And work?" Clay asked.
"Bay-Bloor district," Dawn said.
"I work at this Indian takeout place down the block from the apartment," Buffy said.
"Security?" he asked.
"Pretty good," Buffy said. "I checked every place that could be secured against demonic and vampiric intruders. The apartment building has a secured entrance. Nothing fancy. Just keys and a buzz-in system. Dead bolt and chain on the door. Tried to get something better but the landlord for the building won't let us. And yes Clay I know a mutt if he could get past the secured door could get into the apartment. But I had never had to worry about mutts in Toronto before now so it wasn't a high priority."
"At my work there's a first-floor security guard," Dawn said. "You need an ID card to get into my office. Plus it's a busy place. If I stick to regular working hours, no one's going to target me there. I don't even have to go back to work, really …"
"Stick to regular routines, like Jeremy said." Clay looked out the window.
"There is no security at my work," Buffy said. "It's a public restaurant. I usually work daylight hours. Once in a while I have evenings but I try and get out of them so I could patrol."
"So who am I supposed to be?" he asked.
"Our second cousin. In town looking for work," Buffy said.
"Is that necessary?" Clay asked.
"It sounded good. If you're our cousin, then we'd be obligated to put you up—" Buffy said.
"I meant the looking for work part. I'm not going to be looking for work, Buffy, and I don't want some elaborate script to follow," Clay said. "Say I'm in town doing work at the university—my normal work. I'll contact a few people there, stop by the department, and maybe do a bit of research. Keep it real."
"Sure, but it would seem easier just to say—" Dawn said.
"I'm not playing a role. Not any more than I have to," Clay said as he faced the window. He didn't say anything else for the rest of the flight.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
When they got to the apartment building, Dawn and Buffy led Clay up to their apartment.
He walked in behind them and threw their luggage by the coat rack.
"You can take my room," Buffy said. "I'll bunk with Dawn. Clay, now that we are here, you follow my orders."
Clay glared at Buffy. "And if I don't?"
"Dawn," Buffy said.
Dawn smiled and with a flash of green she was gone, reminding him they could disappear in an instant and he couldn't track them.
"Where did she go?" Clay asked.
"Remember, I'm the oldest witch alive." Dawn said from the hallway as Clay turned to look at her.
"Why didn't you do that to get away from LeBlanc?" Clay wondered.
"For the same reason she Changed," Buffy said.
"Fear," Dawn said. "Just as there is a fear reflex for the Change. Fear also can cut me off from my magic."