Chapter Two

'I Put a Spell on You'

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AN: Probably one of my longest chapters to date. I've split chapters half this long into two. That's what I get for combining two separate stories into one. It was the only way to go though. Apart I would have one decent chapter and one half, together they complemented each other I like to think. Oh, and don't forget, comments are always nice! I can't twirl my moustache otherwise.

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In a run down street of Los Angeles a man opened his car and took out a bag of groceries. The man, middle aged but still in fairly good physical condition, was wearing a uniform of a private security firm. After having closed his car he carried the bag to one of the run down apartments and stepped inside. Taking the stairs, as the elevator was broken, he went up to the fourth floor, where he found a black cat sitting in the hallway.

"Meow," it said in that melancholic tone only cats can do as it looked at him.

"Come here," the man said and reached out with his free hand. The cat let itself be picked up and the man lifted it up close to his face.

"Did you run away again?" the man said, as if chiding a small child.

"Meow?" the cat answered.

"Dear o dear," the man sighed and walked to one of the apartment doors. Managing to combine holding a bag of groceries and a cat he somehow managed to fish a set of keys from his pockets and open the door. Stepping inside he put down the cat and closed the door behind them. He then went into the kitchen and put down the grocery bag. Next he started to unpack his groceries.

"You'll have to wait a moment, Max," he said as he unpacked, "you know I must put these in the fridge first."

The man put away the groceries before grabbing a can opener and a tin of cat food, the content of which he put on a plate.

"Come and get it, Max!"

To his surprise Max the cat was nowhere to be seen in the kitchen. Usually the cat mobbed him around dinner time. Taking the plate of cat food he walked into the living room looking for the elusive feline

"Max?"

As the man walked into the living room he found the cat purring on the lap of a stranger sitting on his sofa.

Years of instincts kicked in and the man reached for his gun. Which, as the plate with cat food fell to the ground, he quickly realized he didn't have. As a rent-a-cop for a small security firm he was required to turn in his gun when the work was over.

"Are you Chris Dutton?" the man asked looking at him, gently stroking the cat's back to its amusement.

"How did you get in here?" Chris Dutton asked the man bewildered, "Who are you?"

The man, dressed in a suit and tie that looked somewhat out of place on him, smiled.

"You really should get a better door lock," the man smiled and pointed towards the front door, "especially in this neighborhood."

"You're evading the question," Chris said, "who are you and what do you want?"

"Ah, the great eternal questions that determine a man's life," the man smiled, "I guess you do deserve an answer. My name is Bell, Moses Bell. Although my friends usually call me Moe."

The cat looked up at the stranger and mewed again.

"You wish to go, little friend?" the strange man asked. The cat mewed again and left the man's lap and went to the plate with spilled cat food lying on the ground.

"I'm amazed she even came to you," Chris said looking at the cat.

"I have a good rapport with felines," the man smiled at the cat, "my late wife used to have dozens of them.

"Still, normally she's very people shy."

"He is a she?" the man asked slightly surprised, "They why did you name her Max? Is that not a male name?"

"Max for Maxine," Chris said. The man leaned back and smiled.

"You named her after your ex-wife," he said, "the one who divorced and left you after you were fired in disgrace from the Sunnydale police department."

Chris' eyes flared in anger.

"Get out," he hissed and pointed to the door.

"Why?" Moses Bell asked surprised, "It is on permanent record is it not?"

"No thanks to the likes of you," Chris yelled and walked to his front door to open it, "get out! Get out! Get out!"

"Why do you think I have anything to do with your downfall?" Mozes Bell asked as he walked up to Chris.

"You journalists are all alike," Chris said angry and gestured towards the hallway, "out!"

Moses Bell pointed one hand towards the open door and without touching it slammed shut.

"Whoever said I was a news gatherer?" he said blandly. Chris' eyes now grew big in sudden terror. Only a few kinds of people could move objects without touching them and they always spelt trouble. Not to mention dangerous employers.

"L-l-look," he started to say nervously, "I-I didn't t-talk! I k-kept a low profile. I-I'd never…."

"Now you again confuse me with someone else," Moses Bell said and returned to the living room. Chris walked after him.

"Then who are you?" he asked again.

"Someone who wants to know, Mr. Dutton," Moses said as he seated himself on the sofa again, "someone who wishes to know what is going on in that strange place to the northwest of here."

Chris sat down as well.

"That would be kinda hard to explain," he said sullen. The man smiled and seemingly out of nowhere he brought forth a piece of paper.

"Chris M. Dutton. Born of Harry D. Dutton and Margaret White in Sacramento in 1967. Moved to Inglewood in 1986. Joined the LAPD in 1990 and was considered a rising star by his fellows. In 1992 you married your high school sweetheart Maxine deBruins. You made detective first grade in 1993. After becoming a detective you were credited with the bust up of at least three drug gangs, the successful elimination of the Patterson Heights gang and being a key member of the team that arrested the notorious serial killer Matheson. You were slated to become a lieutenant by 1995. Instead you resigned from the LAPD and you and your wife moved to Sunnydale. Care to shed any light on that?"

"My wife," Chris said deflated, "she couldn't take the stress of being a policeman's wife in LA any longer. She asked me to move to a quieter town instead. And I loved her enough to…."

Chris found it suddenly hard to talk and looked away. Moses nodded, like he had understood, then he continued.

"Upon arrival in Sunnydale you applied for employment in the Sunnydale police force. You had to start at the lower rank of detective second grade. You were partnered to detective second grade Stein. Who you may be interested to know has made lieutenant by now."

"Why am I not surprised?" Chris snorted in disgust, "The Judas!"

"On September 4 1995 you made your way home from the station when you saw a woman being attacked. You intervened and fought off her attackers. You later claimed that they exhibited superior strength and that despite you discharging your gun at them at point blank range several times they never showed any signs that your gunfire had any impact. You also described them as having 'monstrous' faces. Despite your objections the case was closed as a gang on PCP attack and you were awarded a department medal. Which you only accepted after some protest oddly enough."

"Over the next three months you were reported with ever increasing strange behavior, to the point of becoming a recluse from your colleagues, seemingly making secret investigations on your own. This went on until your partner discovered you in a hotel having sex with a minor. In the resulting scandal you escaped a conviction by pleading guilty. As a result you were drummed out of the SDPD. The local press had a field day nailing you to the cross. In the resulting process your wife divorced you and took every cent you had. You left Sunnydale in disgrace and returned to LA. You drifted from dead end job to dead end job until last year you managed to land a job with Landall Securities."

"You seemed to be well enough informed," Chris said sullen, "what do you need me for?"

"Meow?"

The cat had jumped back into Moses Bell's lap and started to make herself comfortable again.

"Hi there, little friend," Moses smiled, "had enough?"

"Meow."

"I can see it," Moses said, "be careful though, Max, at least with me."

"Meow," the cat said unrepentant as it dug her nails into Moses' knees.

"It's almost like you can talk to her," Chris said as he looked at the purring cat.

"Oh, you would be surprised as to which languages one can pick up over time," Moses smiled as he looked up and faced Chris again, "so, what really happened?"

"Nothing happened," the former SDPD detective said, "it all happened exactly as you said it."

Moses shook his head.

"Can you tell me with a straight face that what I just read was the exact truth?"

"Yes," Chris said.

"Mr. Dutton, as my late father used to say, you have made a fine pile of shit, it just does not stink right. Even your cat thinks you are bullshitting, don't you, Max?"

"Meow!" the cat said forcefully.

"Now that is uncanny," Chris said. Moses looked down at the cat and then at Chris.

"Actually, she only asked me to sit still so she can take a nap. They're selfish creatures, cats, but at least they're honest about it. Unlike you, Mr. Dutton."

Out of seemingly nowhere again Moses pulled another paper.

"During your time with the LAPD you earned yourself two departmental honors and at least four citations. One of these involved the arrest of a serious child molester, for which you went above and beyond the call of duty to catch him. You do not strike me as a child molester yourself, Mr. Dutton."

Chris leaned back very uncomfortable. This Moses character seemed to know an awful lot.

"And yet that is what happened. I was lonely and she was willing. I though she was 18."

"And yet official records from that very hotel don't even have you listed as a registered guest, " Moses continued, "in fact, the very room Stein listed in his report as the one he found you in was rented to a black couple. In her initial statement the girl actually claimed she was rescued from an attacker by you. It was only later that she changed her statement to the official one. She and her family also left Sunnydale very sudden after you were evicted from the force."

"You seem to know your stuff," Chris said impressed, "I wish the other the reporters had been so thorough."

"Who said I'm a reporter?" Moses smirked.

"Then who are you?" Chris asked. Moses leaned over, causing the cat to look up in protest of being disturbed.

"I am a seeker of truth, Mr. Dutton," Moses said straightfaced, "It is a rare commodity, especially in this day and age, but I need to know what goes on in Sunnydale. And maybe to an extent even here in Los Angeles."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bell," Chris said, "I can't help you. Nor would you really like to know. It might change the way you view the world for good."

"You get me wrong," Moses said, "I fully know why in your final three months at the SDPD you made at least seven calls to the University of California department of paranormal research, occultism and mysticism. Calls that can be traced to you from the phone records. I know that things go bump in the night, I know that Los Angeles is also nicknamed the City of Demons and Sunnydale is called the Boca del Inferno."

"Than what the hell do you need me for?" Chris asked the strange man.

"I wish to know how far the conspiracy goes to keep this all a secret. Who were the ones that found it necessary to drum you out of the SDPD for doing your job? Why does nobody in the SDPD lift a finger to serve and protect?"

"I can't help you," Chris said, getting more and more uneasy.

"It is your wife, is it not?" Moses said, his eyes narrowing in on the former detective like a heat seaking missile, "You are protecting your wife, are you not?"

"That's ridiculous," Chris said, "she left me to hang out to dry and took every cent I had. She refuses to see me nor tell me where she lives. It's like I never existed."

"And yet you still wear your wedding ring," Moses said, pointing at the ring on Chris's finger, "you keep a photo of your wife on your bedside table, the wedding pictures are still in the closet and the wedding video is in your VCR."

"How dare you!" Chris said as he jumped up angry, "You had no right…."

"And they have?" Moses asked calmly, "They threatened to kill your wife didn't they? They were going to do something to her unless you did what they asked. Didn't they?"

The fight suddenly went out of Chris and he let himself fall in his chair again.

"I love my wife," he finally said, "she was my world, the reason I wanted to make this world safe. I would have done anything for her. I can't help you."

Moses reached out, causing Max to protest, and put a hand on Chris' knee.

"I know how you feel," he said empathetically, "which makes what I am about to say all the more difficult. There is no easy way to say it, Chris, so here goes. Your former wife, your mate, she moved to Phoenix after the divorce and re-married. Last year she got pregnant. In her seventh month however she was killed in a traffic accident. A drunk driver. There is no evidence of malice and I thoroughly checked for it. Just one of those things that can happen in life."

"No," Chris gasped as his world suddenly collapsed.

"I am sorry," Moses said and out of nowhere he put a police report on the table.

"Leave," Chris said, his voice choked with grief as he started to sway to and fro. Moses picked up the cat from his lap who protested.

"Meow!"

"I am sorry to have been the harbinger of ill news," Moses said as he stood up, still holding the cat in his arms, "I do not enjoy telling anybody such things. But in the end the truth will set you free. Your enemies no longer have a hold on you. Had they not acted against you, you would have still been together and she would not have met her ill fate. Do not let these bastards grind you down!"

"Leave," Chris said as he stared ahead blankly.

"If you wish," Moses said and went to the front door. Before he left he put the cat on the counter in the kitchen.

"Look after your owner, Max, he needs you now."

"Meow!"

"Are you going to throw a hissy fit over the word owner?" Moses said shaking his head.

"Meow!"

"Cats!"

Moses was about to open the door when he heard Chris call out.

"Mr. Bell," The broken shell of a man called out after him.

"Yes, Mr. Dutton?"

"Come by tomorrow and you will know the truth. Just not now. I can't…."

"I understand. Thank you for your time, Mr. Dutton," Moses said as he opened the door and left the apartment.

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In the 'Dale it is said by the 'underworld' that all roads lead to Willy's. Not because Willy's is such a trustworthy character. He'll probably rat out his own mother if it made him a few extra dollars. It's not because it's such a trendy bar. In many ways the place is dilapidated. It's not because the place is so safe. It's above ground and anybody can just walk in. A busload of Japanese tourists once walked in by accident. The pictures of them posing with various demons still hang on the wall.

Willy does however stock every known spirit and beverage known to demon kind and it is the largest of all demon hangouts. There are a few more secluded places, but they tend to have limits on their clientèle. Willy's is open to everybody. Willy's bar is considered neutral grounds by unwritten law. Any demon infringing on that will eventually be taught a harsh object lesson. Even Willy, as the little traitorous barman once discovered. Only the alien Mr. B, the Slayers (or Blondie and Junior as they were sometimes called behind their backs) and their Scooby team mates got away with breaking that rule. Which they often did. It wasn't even a week ago that they roughed up the place and even killed a few demons after the now infamous chocolate incident.

So when both Buffy and Xander stepped through the door, suddenly dozens of heads turned to watch them nervously. Ignoring the demon unrest the twosome made their way to the end of the bar where a lone figure sat, nursing a bottle of liquor. As they approach the figure looked their way and then hit the counter of the bar with his forehead.

"Of all the places in the world she had to walk in," the figure sighed.

"Hi there Spiky," Xander smiled as he hopped on the barstool next to Spike, "a little birdie told us you were back in town. What brings you back to the 'Dale and certain death?"

"Sod off, whelp," Spike said as he refilled his glass, "last time I checked drinking wasn't forbidden by your precious Edict."

"We had an agreement," Buffy said as she placed herself on Spike's other side, "you helped me out and left town for good, in return I let you and your girlfriend live."

"Well maybe that was the sodding problem then," Spike said as he slammed his emptied glass back on the counter, "she left me."

Somehow Spike managed to look so pathetic that Buffy and Xander both looked at

each other and had difficulty barely containing their laughter.

"It's a hard job but I think I can manage bearing your misfortune," Buffy said eventually.

"Well, it's your fault to start with, pet," Spike bit angrily at her.

"Why is everything always my fault," Buffy said towards Xander.

"I don't know," Xander smiled, "maybe you just have that kind of a face?"

"She said I had your stink all over me," Spike said softly, "that I wasn't the demon she fell in love with anymore."

"Ew, vampire lovin'," Buffy said as she winced, "I could have done so much more without that mental image."

"It's almost just as bad as imagining your parents ha…." Xander said, only to make a face, "yikes, better not go there either."

Spike didn't bother to say anything anymore, he just refilled his glass. Xander gave him a good look over, then he stepped aside and signaled Buffy to follow.

"I think he wants to die," he whispered.

"Then why not oblige?" she said.

"Come on," Xander said as he nodded towards Spike, "isn't this perfect punishment?"

Buffy looked at Spike. Just seeing her former archenemy sitting there as the broken shell of a demon was indeed perfect punishment.

"You're evil," she grinned towards Xander before turning to Spike again and patting him on the shoulder, "My dear Spike. Since you're obviously but a lovesick shadow of your old self I've decided to let you live."

"Have a nice day," Xander grinned as the twosome left the bar.

No sooner had they left as Spike grabbed the bottle and threw it against the door.

"Stupid cunt!" he yelled, "I thought you were the Slayer!"

There came no reply, except for the occasional whispering of 'stupid vampire' from some of the demons. Eventually Spike turned towards the bar again.

"Bring me another one," he said towards Willy.

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The next day the group was assembled in the Library. Buffy, Willow and Oz sat on one side of the table, Xander and Cordelia on the other, with Faith hanging out near the book counter.

"So, who here thinks something bad is going to happen?" Cordelia finally said. The group turned to look at her.

"Hey, I was only saying what everyone's thinking."

"She's right," Xander said, "Giles wouldn't just call us all together for a chat about our grades."

"And that's an awful big stack of books on the table," Oz said and nodded towards the large stack of books at the end of the table.

"I thought you hungered for a true challenge," Buffy asked Xander impishly.

Xander shook his head.

"The evil chocolate cured me of that," he said, "if something as good and pure as chocolate can be evil, I don't want to know what else."

"So I guess I can't make you happy with another chocolate bar?" Oz smiled as he threw a Best Milkbar Factory candy bar towards Xander. Who jerked his hands out of the way as if somebody had thrown a black widow spider towards him.

"Ew, throw it away!" he cringed. Cordelia looked at him shaking her head, then picked up the candy bar and threw it into a dumpster.

"Xander the magnificent," she said mocking, "afraid of some candy."

"It's what it represents," Xander said still shuddering, "I love candy. It's been my best friend since forever, always picking me up when I was down. And now it's cursed. How would you feel if it suddenly turned out that fashion clothes were evil?"

"Hey," Willow said," I thought I was your best friend since forever?"

"Busted," Oz smiled.

"I thought all the cursed candy was destroyed," Buffy whispered leaning over towards Oz.

"Me and Faith stashed a box somewhere just for moments as these," Oz whispered back with a huge grin. Causing Buffy to almost fall from the table in laughter.

At that moment the door to Giles' office opened and the Librarian came out. Followed by a woman who looked like she was the epitome of strict teacherness.

"Ah, you're all here," Giles said as he stood at the helm of the table. The woman took up station next to him. Giles glanced briefly at her and seemed to look uneasy.

"So Giles," Xander asked," are you going to introduce us to your sister?"

"I..., uh..., um...," Giles muttered, not sure what to say.

"Which of you is Faith," the woman asked. All heads turned towards Faith, who until then had kept a low profile and was thus not expecting to be the sudden focus of attention..

"Uh, me?" Faith stammered, then she recovered, "Who the hell are you?"

"Gwendolyn Post, Mrs," the woman said formally, "your new Watcher."

All heads now turned towards Giles. Who now sat down and reached for his glasses.

"It's true," he said feverishly polishing, "she has come straight from London. I thought it prudent you all got to meet her."

At that moment pandemonium broke out as everybody started talking. It lasts for a few moments. Then the woman raised an arm and shouted.

"Silence!"

That got everybody quiet. Until Faith spoke up.

"I'm telling you, I don't need a new Watcher. No offence, lady. I just have this problem with authority figures. They end up kind of dead."

"Duly noted," Gwendolyn said unimpressed, "and fortunately, it's not up to you."

For once Faith seemed lost for words to say anything. Taking advantage of the situation Gwendolyn turned to Giles and pointed at the books on the table.

"Mr. Giles, where do you keep the rest of your books?"

Giles, who until then had relapsed into the Giles maneuver, looked up towards his fellow Watcher.

"I-I'm sorry," he said as he put his glasses back on, "the rest?

"Yes, the actual library," Gwendolyn said in a tone that implied she was getting impatient.

Giles gave her a confused look.

"Oh, I see," she suddenly smiled in such a way that made Buffy want to jump her and start slapping her around.

"I can assure you, Mrs. Post, this is the finest occult reference collection," Giles said, his prize book collection and his pride insulted.

"...this side of the Atlantic, I'm sure" she said unimpressed, "do you have Hume's Paranormal Encyclopaedia?"

Since he lacked that particular work Giles looked away.

"The Labyrinth Maps of Malta," Gwendolyn asked next.

"I-I-It's on order," Giles said weakly. She's still not impressed.

"Well, I suppose that you have Sir Robert Kane's Twilight Compendium?"

"Oh! Uh... Yes, I... " Yes," Giles said triumphantly as he fished it out of the stack on the table, "yes, I do"

"Of course you do," she said no longer interested, "I have been sent by the council for a very important reason. Faith needs a Watcher. I am to act in that capacity and report back."

"Excuse me, Mary Poppins, you don't seem to be listening," Faith interjected. Everybody expeced Gwendolyn to rebut her. Instead it was Giles.

"Faith, if the council feels that you need closer observation, then..., we will all, of course, cooperate."

Not happy with the situation Faith turned away and waved her hand at the group in disgust. Meanwhile Gwendolyn faced Giles again.

"The council also wishes me to report on the 'entire' situation here, including you."

That took Giles by surprise.

"Mm! Academic probation's not so funny today, huh, Giles?" Buffy said with a big grin. Giles gave her a stern look which she happily ignored.

"The fact is," Gwendolyn continued, "there is talk in the council that you have become a bit too..., American."

"Me?" Giles exclaimed loudly.

"Him?" the Scoobies exclaimed just as loud.

Ignoring the group Gwendolyn took the word again as she faces the group.

"A demon named Lagos is coming here to the Hellmouth," she said, then she spoke to Giles on a very condescending tone, "Mr. Giles, an illustration of Lagos, if you please."

"Oh, uh...," Giles said unsure as he tried to remember which book might contain an illustration, "yes. Uh..."

"Perhaps later," Gwendolyn said, shaking her head. If looks could kill Giles would have killed her right there on the spot.

"Lagos seeks the Glove of Myhnegon," Gwendolyn continued, "no record of this glove's full power exists, but we do know it is highly dangerous and must not fall into the hands of a demon. Lagos must be stopped."

"What do you propose?" Giles asked, hands folded across his books, She looked upwards, as if she actually had to think about her answer.

"Well, if it's not too radical a suggestion, I thought we might kill him," she said, "I suggest two Slayers at full strength for a coordinated hunt."

"I don't work with little miss Priss," Faith said, nodding towards Buffy.

"And I don't work with the centerfold of Sluthouse," Buffy said.

"Then who on Earth do you actually work with?" Gwendolyn asked, for the first time taken aback.

"Xander's my partner," Buffy said looking at Xander .

"Finally she said it," Xander said, pretending to wipe away a mock tear, "I can die happy now."

"I'm with Short Stuff over there," Faith said, nodding towards Oz.

Gwendolyn looked at Giles.

"What's the meaning of this?" She asked, "I knew from your reports that you stated that the Slayer had friends who helped out. But why would you allow normal humans to go into danger with the Slayers?"

"I… uh… um," Giles stammered, not certain where to start.

"Who made up this stupid arrangement?" she asked again.

"I did," a voice behind her said.

As they turned around, from behind the bookshelves Belmovekk appeared.

"And who might you be?" Gwendolyn asked surprised.

"Just Belmovekk," the Saiyan said as he walked down the stairs.

"You're the martial arts teacher," she said, her face lighting up, for the first time actually sounding impressed, "I've read about you."

"You did?" Belmovekk said somewhat surprised as he seated himself next to Giles, "From what my good friend master Giles told me I got the impression your organization was not that interested in my teachings."

The way he emphasized good friend conveyed that the Saiyan stood behind Giles, and Giles gave him a quick glance of gratitude. Gwendolyn Post however seemed to have missed it as she continued.

"Most aren't," she said, "you must understand, our organization has survived only through strict adherence to traditions. Traditions also tend to take time to change. Rest assured, there are others like me interested in changing things for the better. Are you teaching Faith as well?"

"She has received my teachings," the Saiyan said, who then gestured to Xander and Oz, "as have these youngsters. You will find them up to the task."

"If you say so, Belmovekk," she said, then she actually smiled for the first time, "will you help us in the search for Lagos?"

"Unfortunately no," Belmovekk said, "I am only here in a strict advisory position. I teach the youngsters, give council when asked for and pass on information if I have any. That is my role. Nothing more."

"I see," Gwendolyn said, sounding somewhat disappointed, "would you do me the honor at least of having dinner this evening?"

Belmovekk held up his arms in an apologetic gesture.

"I must decline, Ms. Post, "for I have business to attend elsewhere. But if you like maybe you can have dinner with me and my fiancé at a later date."

"Maybe," Gwendolyn said, hiding her disappointment, "you will stay for the remainder of this briefing?"

"I will see of what use I can be," the Saiyan smiled cordially, "What can you tell us about this glove?"

"It is an artifact of great power," Gwendolyn said, "rumored to greatly enhance a user's power when worn. It is also rumored to be buried in a tomb somewhere, so

Lagos will be headed for the cemetery."

"There is more than one in Sunnydale," Giles snorted blandly

"I see," Gwendolyn said, glancing annoyed at Giles, "how many?"

Giles started to count quickly on his fingers.

"Uh, twelve, within the city limits. A few more just outside."

"Well, we'll just have to take them one at a time," she said after a deep sigh, then she looked at both Slayers, and Xander and Oz, "or maybe two at a time. Now, anything in your books that might pinpoint the exact location of the tomb would be useful, but then, we cannot ask for miracles."

Giles rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Now, if there isn't anything more to add, we will begin at sunset," Gwendolyn said as she concluded the meeting, then she turned towards Faith, "Faith..., with me, please."

"What about Short Stuff?" Faith asked.

"He can come later," the new Watcher said, "for now we must talk as Watcher and Slayer. Come."

Without looking back or saying goodbye Gwendolyn left the Library, Faith shrugged then she hopped off the counter and followed her new Watcher. When they had gone pandemonium broke out again.

"G-Man" Xander said, "what the Hell is going on?"

"Does this mean Oz now falls under that bitch?" Willow asked.

As the Scoobies assaulted Giles with their questions Belmovekk noticed a gold armored presence on the edge of his vision.

"It might be wise for everybody not to exhibit their full powers before this woman," Belmovekk's own voice, laid over with Goa'uld overtones said in his ear.

"You mean until we can know she can be trusted," Belmovekk whispered back.

"No," Amūn replied, "until she reveals her true colors. She's hiding something."

"You say that about everybody," the Saiyan whispered, "you even said it about Buffy!"

"I'm Goa'uld," Amūn said stepping into Belmovekk's vision, "scheming and plotting is in my blood. If I cannot recognize its signs I wouldn't last long. Do you trust her then?"

"No," Belmovekk replied.

"Precisely!" Amūn smiled.

x

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In his hidden lair underneath Sunnydale Angel again tried his hands on the Saiyan third form. For the first time he felt like he was getting a grip on the beast. Normally the steps are mastering the mechanics of the form, being able to physically do the form and then unlock the hidden mysteries that are contained in them.

Contrary what most people think, in martial arts being able to attain a black belt, or several of them for that matter, means nothing. It only means you can go through the mechanics of a set of forms very well. It does not make you an accomplished fighter. What separates the students from the masters is that the students go through the motions and that the masters understand what they are doing.

So now, for the first time, Angel is starting to do all three aspects of this Saiyan third form and he's loving it. It would be a good moment, if it weren't for Buffy sitting and talking non-stop on the sofa.

"…..and then this woman had the gall to bitch about Giles and humiliate him constantly," Buffy chattered. Angel shook his head and decided to give it a rest. The form would still be there later, Buffy, however…..

"So Faith got herself a new Watcher?" he said as he went through some cooling down movements.

"Oh, I don't mind Faith having somebody else to baby-sit her," Buffy said, "and they're welcome to each other. Match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. I just can't understand why that bitch had to rag Giles."

Taking a moment to grab a towel Angel started to wipe himself with it.

"In all fairness, Buffy, from her point of view he probably is but a shadow of what a good Watcher should be. Remember how stuck up he used to be?"

"But you should have seen her," Buffy said vehemently, "she even ragged his book collection."

"That's a bit hard, isn't it?" Angel agreed and went to the stove, "you can insult the man, but not his books. Some more tea?"

"I'm set," Buffy said, her cup still full in her hands. Angel poured him self a cup and sat down next to her.

"Maybe you shouldn't see this as an affront but as a new beginning," he said before taking a sip.

"Perhaps," Buffy said, putting her tea cup on the table beside the sofa, "that woman just set my teeth on edge. And then that Saiyan chose that moment to make a rare visit."

"Must have given her quite the startle?" Angel chuckled.

"On the contrary," Buffy said shaking her head, "she started to practically fawn all over him like some pornstar over Ron Jeremy. I'm surprised she didn't go down on him and gave him a blowjob."

Angel, who was drinking some tea, sprayed it all over the sofa as he had to laugh hard.

"Poor Saiyan," he laughed as he had to wipe tea all over the sofa.

"Serves him right," Buffy snorted, "still, he did well by declining her offer of doing the horizontal mamba."

"Of course," Angel agreed, "it's not in his character to cheat."

"Just to lie," Buffy snorted again.

"He did what he had to do," Angel shrugged. Buffy gave him an angry look.

"Why are you always defending him? You should be livid for what he did to you!"

"What can I say?" Angel shrugged again, "Several centuries in Hell give you a unique perspective. Above all it gives you plenty of time to think about what you did wrong."

"You've changed," Buffy said, shaking her head, "the Angel I knew would be the first to agree with me."

"Like I said," Angel replied as he finished his tea, "plenty of time to think about things. Things have changed. Our relationship, but you also."

"Me?" Buffy said surprised.

"Yeah," Angel nodded, "you seem colder, harder. The way you treat Faith for instance. Or maybe I should say, mistreat."

"I don't mistreat Faith, I….," Buffy tried to say but Angel cut her off.

"Yes you do," he said, "you only talk about her negative sides, like how she's still weaker then you, or even Xander. Or how she's such a slut for sleeping with everybody. You know, Buffy, you told me how you and Vegeta had this chat back in LA when I was still gone. Sometimes I think you traded in one Saiyan for the other as a role model. Now like him you only seem to value strength and despise weakness."

"Look," she said," he and I only had this one chat about how I should embrace my purpose. When I didn't everybody ragged on me on how it would get me killed, and now that I do I get flak for being emotionally cold. What is it, you can't have it both ways!"

"But the point is, you and him had more then one chat," Angel said, taking Buffy aback.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Angel tipped his nose.

"In the past seven weeks three times I could smell his scent on you."

"Are you accusing me of sleeping with Vegeta?" Buffy exploded, "Now that is rich!"

"I've smelled him on you a few times," he said leaning back, " Every time after you arrived here all sweaty and claimed you came here straight from training."

Buffy got up angry and wanted to walk away. Then she halted herself at the last moment and turned to face Angel again.

"First of all," she said, "we've had the occasional spar, I admit that. From time to time he comes by for a spar. To quote his Obnoxiousness: unlike that loser Yamcha you at least have been trained in a proper Saiyan way and have access to a gravity gym."

"Exactly the attitude I was talking about," Angel said, pointing his finger at her, "you and I've met Yamcha. He's no loser, just a nice guy with the misfortune of having a very bad roommate."

Buffy ignored his comments.

"Secondly, who I choose to sleep with is none of your concern. As you clearly made it out several times, we can't be together."

Angel looked down and stared into his empty cup.

"That is true," he admitted, "I just wish…."

Next thing Angel knew was Buffy kissing him on the mouth. It took Angel a moment to react before he broke off the kiss.

"Why did you do that for?" he asked at her grinning face.

"Because I wanted too," she smiled.

"You know you can't do that," he said as he got of from the sofa to create some distance.

"I know," she said, "I also knew it always was the quickest way to shut you up."

"Oh," Angel said, not knowing what else to say.

"Relax," Buffy said and got off the sofa again to collect her stuff, "it doesn't mean we're getting back together again. It's just an old habit. Bad, bad habit to be broken.""

"It's hard," Angel nodded in agreement.

"It's not hard, " Buffy shrugged, "cold turkey. That's the key to quitting. That and lots of cold showers before and after grueling training."

Both look at each other and knew it was a lie. They still had strong feelings for each other, too hard to ignore.

"Let's not fight anymore," she said making herself ready to leave.

Angel nodded, then he gripped her hand.

"Will you tell the others I've returned?" Angel asked.

Buffy bit her lip and turned away.

"I gotta go," she said and pulled her hand free.

"Of course," Angel said as he let go, understanding that it was a matter for their next row, "so what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna try and vent a little hormonal angst by going out there and killing a Lagos," she said as she strapped her bag on her back, "whatever that is."

Upon hearing that particular name, Angel became all business again.

"Lagos?

"Some demon looking for some all-powerful thingamabob," Buffy said disinterested, not noticing how Angel sat down on the sofa, staring ahead blankly, "and I gotta stop him before he unleashes unholy havoc. And it's another Tuesday night in Sunnydale."

"Be careful," Angel called after her as she made for the exit. As soon as she was gone Angel got up from the sofa and moved into one of the ante spaces. There he opened a secret compartment and took out some books. Then he returned to his sofa and started reading.

x

x

In Willy's bar Spike sat again before the bar, with a half empty bottle of his favorite poison in front of him. It was his third evening in a row that he sat there and by now the other demons were ignoring him. He may have once been the successor to the Master, William the Bloody and arch enemy of the Slayer, now he was just another sad pathetic drunk. Not even important enough for the Slayer to deem worthy of killing.

Damn bitch! It was all her fault! No, it wasn't just her fault. It was the fault of all bitches! Damn women! They were the source of all life's problems. From now on he was going to be gay!

Downing another glass of the horrible liquor Spike shuddered as the stuff went down. It tasted like crap but it did the job of dulling the senses. He poured himself another drink and was about to drink it when he overheard part of a conversation.

"...you remember that red haired friend of the Slayer, right," one demon with a red crest on his head said.

"Refresh my memory?" a particularly nasty looking but generally benign demon replied.

"A bit short, red hair, tends to be a bit timid, her boyfriend the partner of Junior."

"Ah, the useless one," Nasty Looking But Benign smiled.

"Yeah, that one," Red Crest said, "anyway, I was at the magic shop the other day and I saw her shop for various magical herbs and items."

"What, you're saying she's decided to do something useful to the group and branch into witchcraft?" Nasty Looking But Benign asked interested. Which wasn't that strange here on the Hellmouth. Personal survival tended to depend on knowing who was what, especially in the entourage of the Slayers and the Alien. If one of them was branching out into new fields of expertise that was considered vital need to know information.

"I swear so on the eggs of my kids," Red Crest said, hand on what passed for its heart. Nasty Looking But Benign mulled it over for a moment.

"Hang on a sec," he said, "how do you know she wasn't shopping for the Watcher? I thought he was the resident magicks expert of the group!"

"Puhlease," Red Crest snorted, "I'm not stupid you know. I know my magicks. She bought stuff an advanced novice needs to practice on. You know, elementary spells and curses. Love potions, protective wards and stuff. Do you really see the Watcher messing around with such trifles?"

"I guess not," Nasty Looking But Benign agreed, "damn, this is bad news."

Spike, who had overheard that conversation, put down his glass and thought it over for a moment. So Red was branching out into the arcane.

Interesting!

Next he downed his glass in one gulp, left behind some money for Willy and made for the exit.

x

x

Unlike last time Moses Bell had every intention of returning to former SDPD detective Chris Dutton the normal way. As he reached the hallway via the stairs he made for Chris' apartment. Arriving at the place he then knocked on the door. To his surprise he found that the door opened as soon as he knocked on it. Carefully he swung upon the door and entered the apartment. Inside it was dark. For a moment he fumbled around as he tried to find the light switch. As usual it was at some illogical place one had to know in order to find it.

As soon as the lights went on he saw signs of a struggle. There was blood in the kitchen, and from there leading into the living room, together with debris of things being knocked over. Carefully making his way Moses stepped into the living room.

There he found Chris Dutton lying on his sofa in a pool of blood. Sighing deeply he walked over to the dead man to examine him. Besides his clothes being ripped and torn, with various large scratch marks on his body, Chris' throat had been mauled to pieces as if some large predator had ripped it out. Careful not to thread in the pool of blood on the floor Moses knelt beside Chris's body and felt his body. It was cold. Whatever happened, it happened at least several hours ago.

"Meow?" suddenly came very plaintively from underneath a heavy cupboard. Moses looked up and moved over to the cupboard.

"Hi there, little friend," he said as he saw Max the cat huddled underneath the wardrobe, "what happened?"

"Meow," Max said sadly, but stayed put where she was.

Moses wanted to say something, but then he turned around lightning fast and grabbed something invisible out of mid air. Next he stood up and slammed his fist against the wall. It looked as if he was pinning something invisible against the wall as tears appeared on his jacket. Whatever he was holding was putting up a violent struggle. But in the end Moses seemed stronger.

"Show yourself!" he said in a tone that beckoned no countenance. At first nothing happened, then a creature emerged, claws and teeth the stuff of nightmares. Moses held it by the neck as It started to scream madly and struggle again in vain. Moses looked at the creature intently, then he sighed and closed his fist, crushing the creature's neck. The creature went limp and Moses let go of it.

"Disintegrate," Moses said and the creature disintegrated before his eyes until nothing was left. Once that was done the cat finally emerged cautiously from underneath the cupboard.

"Meow!"

"Thanks for the warning, Max," Moses said. Next Moses started to shimmer and his face and clothes changed from Moses Bell, investigative reporter, to Belmovekk's more casual garb.

"It would seem I arrived too late," Belmovekk said out loud as he returned to Chris' dead body again, "I wonder how they knew."

"Meow," Max said as she jumped on the sofa, careful to avoid the blood and positioned herself above Chris' head. Belmovekk held a hand above the dead man's head and suddenly a set of words started to glow on his forehead.

"He has been marked with a ward," Belmovekk said in amazement, then he looked at the cat, "and you could see this? Why did you not warn me about this?"

"Meow," the cat said sounding very apologetic.

"We both fucked up," Belmovekk agreed, "he really is a very crafty opponent."

"Meow."

"I think it is best if I should leave," Belmovekk said and opened a window.

"Meow?"

"You sure you want to come?" Belmovekk asked as he looked back at the cat.

"Meow!"

"It is a dangerous place, Max, whoever did this most likely lives there as well."

"Meow!"

"Alright," Belmovekk sighed and picked up the cat, "but you cannot stay at the house of my betrothed. Which means you have to stay at my place. And I do not spend as much time there as I used to."

"Meow!"

"Perfect she says," Belmovekk snorted as he cradled the cat against his chest, "cats!"

x

x

"I don't understand it," Xander sighed impatiently, "where the hell is Buffy?"

Pacing impatiently in the Library he had been waiting for a long while for her to show up. Faith and Oz had already left, and Buffy's absentness had led to much derision of Giles by the now also long gone Gwendolyn. That left only Xander, Willow and Giles in the Library. With Giles having secluded himself in his office to hit the books.

"I don't know," Willow said, she herself sitting on the stairs.

"Sometimes I don't get her at all these days," Xander said pacing, "now don't get me wrong, Will, I think it's a good thing she quit fussing about her being the Slayer and all. And that she became more business like. But lately she seems to be getting absent again. Always finding excuses to cut training short, or not show up at all. Sometimes I think Angel's back and they're off necking again in some secret place."

"Would that be so bad?" Willow asked, "At least she was happy then."

Xander stopped in his tracks and made a time out signal.

"Uh, Will, reality check time out! You do realize what happens when your favorite vampire gets his dose of happy again, right? Do you want the world to end again? Last time not fun enough for ya?"

"No need to get snippy," Willow pouted, "maybe if Angel were to return this time it wouldn't be so bad."

"With those two?" Xander said shaking his head, "No, it can only end in pain. Our pain! Better if that bastard stays in hell. So, what's your opinion of the new queen-bitch-slash-Watcher?"

Now that at least was a topic the both of them could agree on and Willow jumped on it with full eagerness.

"She seems terribly stuck up," she said, "and the way she keeps on ragging Giles, it's just not fair."

"Something's afoot about her," Xander agreed, "and I'm not just saying that because the B-man asked us to keep a low profile with her."

"I worry what happens if she decides to keep Faith from us separately," Willow said worried, "or god forbid if they leave Sunnydale. What would happen with Oz, being Faiths team mate and stuff."

Sensing that she was really worried Xander sat down next to Willow and took her in her arms.

"Oz is Faith's team mate, not her soul mate," he said soothingly, "she has no jurisdiction over him. If this Gwendolyn character decides to leave Sunnydale it will be hard for Faith but she will have to make do without him."

"I suppose," Willow said as she put her head o his shoulder.

"No, I think Oz will be fine," Xander said, "if anything I worry about what this Gwendolyn will do once she learns of the full truth. We can play dumb and weak for a while, but not all the time."

Before Willow could answer the door to Giles' office swung open.

"I've got what I need," Giles said triumphantly as he emerged carrying a book, then he looked around and saw Xander and Willow, but no Buffy, "Xander, where's Buffy?"

"She hasn't showed up yet," Xander shrugged, "don't ask me why. So, what have you got, G-man?"

"Uh, the probable location of the Glove of Myhnegon," Giles said as he put his book on the table and Xander and Willow joined him to look at it, "It's, uh, housed in the Von Hauptman family crypt."

"Yeah, that's that big one over at the Restfield Cemetery," Xander nodded. By now he knew every cemetery in this town by heart.

"Yeah, well, that's great, Giles," Willow said excited, "um, how'd you find it?"

"I looked," Giles said without looking up.

"Well, I for one am fed up with waiting for the Buffster," Xander said as he went into the cage to get a scouter, "I'll go check out this, uh, crypt. Tell her heads-up if she stops by."

"Yes, by all means, go," Giles agreed, "And if you come across Faith and Oz take them along as well. From what I gather Lagos isn't your ordinary run of the mill demon. He may be a bit stronger then what you're used too."

"Finally, a true challenge," Xander grinned.

x

x

On a different cemetery Faith and Oz were walking through the tombstones.

"Demons, any demons around here?" Faith sing-songed. For hours now they had been walking the various cemeteries looking for Lagos. Of which they had no description. Since B. hadn't showed up yet they had left the Library without her and Xander. Naturally the first thing they had done was hit Willy's, looking for some information. Of course nobody knew anything, as usual. Normally this meant Faith would start using some old fashioned Bostonian information gathering techniques. Like busting up some demons. Of course, that only worked only if you had a description. A demon in pain will tell you lots of things, but if you don't know what you're after it tended to be hard to ascertain truth from fiction.

"So, how are you and Watcher lady?" Oz asked after a while.

"Oh, think Jeeves only times ten," Faith shrugged, "I wonder if all Brits are like that?"

"Stuck up?" Oz asked smiling.

"Real big flagpole with a union jack up their butt?"

"In all fairness, I think Giles only started to remove his last year," Oz said, "he used to be totally repressed. I hear he even drinks a cup of coffee nowadays in the morning."

"Damn, that's progress," Faith smiled. She liked having Oz around. He was fun to be around, wicked cool, an awesome teacher, a good fighter and above all a good friend. To bad he and Red were an item.

"Well, with this new Watcher lady, if you need someone to talk too…," he said. She stopped and looked at him.

"Thanks, Oz," she said, "I really appre…."

THUD!

Suddenly the sound was heard of a heavy stone slab being thrown off a coffin. Next thing Faith jumped on top of a grave, soon followed by Oz. A few rows away they could see a demon, dressed in warrior garb, rummaging around inside a grave.

"Lagos I presume?" Oz said.

"Son of a bitch," Faith exclaimed, "it's our lucky day."

"You're not thinking off...," Oz tried to ask but Faith had already jumped off the grave and ran towards Lagos.

Launching herself she slammed into Lagos with a flying kick to his back. Instead of him going down it felt like she'd hit a concrete wall head on and she fell to the ground with pain in her leg. Lagos looked over his shoulder contemptuously. Faith was up in no time and spuns him around and punched him a few times in the face, followed by a roundhouse kick laid with so much chi it shattered a tombstone behind Lagos. Lagos however seemed unfazed and threw her aside, slamming her into a mausoleum wall with so much force he pushed her right through the damn thing.

Having dropped her inside on top of the corpse he was about to turn his back to her contemptuously when suddenly he found himself under attack from Oz. The young guitar player had timed his attack a little more careful. He came in with a flying kick that had Lagos shaking his head for a moment. Landing on Lagos's other side he rolled over to disperse his momentum and landed on one knee. Holding two hands above his head he gathers in chi and then pushed the chi attack towards the demon.

"Masenko," Oz shouted and targeted Lagos with a yellow beam that hit him with more force then the demon thought was possible. Staggering under the assault Lagos crossed his arms before his chest and then started to push back the assault. Oz increased the output of his beam and Lagos got pushed back slowly but steadily. Just as he dared to think he may win Lagos roared defiantly and swatted away the beam. Causing it to vanish into the air.

Panting heavily Oz let himself fall on one knee. The attack caused him quite the drain of energy. But at least it diverted Lagos's attention from Faith. The demon stomped towards him, ready to cause a world of hurt. Until something bound in tight leather came crashing into him from the side, causing Lagos to crash into another grave.

"Stay away from him, you bastard," Faith hissed as she assumed a fighting stance. Lagos didn't look very pleased, nor impressed, as he got up.

"This looks bad," Oz said as he got up.

"You'd think?" Faith bit back. Next thing she knew Lagos moved lightning fast and slammed a fist as hard as a pile driver into her stomach As Faith staggered backwards Oz leapt to her rescue again and delivered a vicious series of kicks and punches to the demon

All to no avail as Lagos easily took in everything he could dish out. One simple swat was that was needed to send Oz crashing next to Faith still gasping for air.

"Damn, Short Stuff," Faith coughed, "we're getting murdered here."

"You'd think so?" Oz replied sarcastically. Next thing he knew Lagos picked the two of them up and dragged them away, to God knows where.

It was then that he heard a familiar voice.

"Photon torpedoes!"

Next thing Lagos was being bombarded by small explosive packets of chi. Annoyed with yet another interruption Lagos dropped Oz and Faith and tried to ascertain from where the attack came. That was the signal for the attacks to increase in number. Dust started to surround Lagos, obscuring his view. Roaring defiantly the demon challenged his attacker to show himself. But when the attacks stopped and the dust settled he found himself suddenly all alone. Both Faith and Oz were gone. As was the mystery attacker. Roaring once more to bemoan the general indifference and hostility of the universe Lagos returned to the grave he had been vandalizing to resume his search.

Meanwhile, a hundred meters up, Xander floated in the air, carrying both Oz and Faith.

"He's good," Xander said softly as he observed Lagos, "but he only thinks two dimensionally."

"Thank god for small favors," Oz said, still panting from exhaustion.

"We have to stop him," Faith said, "you're with us now, that makes three. Is B. around?"

"No she's not," Xander replied, "and no, we're not going back in there."

"Are you mad," Faith said, "what if he finds the Glove?"

"The Glove's not here," Xander said resolutely.

"You sure," Oz asked.

"G-Man found the exact location, it's on Restfield," Xander replied.

"That's the other side of town," Oz said.

"Besides, what were you thinking?" Xander said as he nodded towards Lagos, "Don't you guys check your scouters? That guy's over 800. Only Buffy or the B-Man could defeat him."

Beneath them Lagos gave up in disgust and abandoned his fruitless search of the tomb.

"And now?" Faith asked.

"We go to Restfield and nab the Glove before he can," Xander said, "if he can't get to it then that is as good a success as killing him."

x

x

"You know, I can get used to this flying," Faith said as they neared Restfield. She and Oz still clung to Xander as he flew them over, "When do we get to do this?"

"When it's time," Xander replied offhand.

"When was it time for B.?"

"She only had to wait a year," Xander said casually.

"A year," Faith exclaimed, "no way! Wait a sec! I heard you flew long before she did. Didn't the two of you start together?"

"Halloween accident," Oz said, clinging on for dear life.

"Damn," Faith said, "I wish I..…"

"Don't!" Xander said offhand, "Don't go there, remember!"

"Jeez! What's the bother," Faith replied rolling her eyes, "I thought you said Big B. had struck a deal with those guys?"

"He also said not to trust them," Xander replied as he began descending, "better safe then sorry."

Suddenly Xander halted.

"What's wrong," Oz asked.

"I sense a disturbance in the Force," Xander replied, his concentration elsewhere.

"You've gotta stop watching those movies," Oz said disapproving

"Shh," Xander whispered.

Beep beep beep…, the scouter on Faith's ear suddenly started to sound, only to stop again. And come on and off again.

"Something is here," Oz spoke softly, "and it's trying to suppress itself."

"Lagos?" Faith asked as she started to look around.

"He steamrollered you guys," Xander said, "he don't do subtle. Certainly not like this."

"Then who is it?" Faith asked, "B.? Big B.?"

Suddenly Xander went rigid and started to swear.

"It can't be," he finally said horrified.

"Not good," Oz agreed.

"What?" Faith asked.

"Lower yourself," was all Xander said as he made a slow and careful descent, until the three landed on top of a mausoleum. Signaling the others to lay down the three of them hid on the roof.

"What?" a by now very annoyed Faith asked softly. Xander pointed to a crypt that was open. And from which came a handsome looking man, dressed in black clothes came carrying an object wrapped in a blanket.

"Fi, fi fo fum, I smell the blood on an undead Irishmen," Xander whispered, "Dead Boy!"

Even though he said it softly, the vitriol could be heard in what he said.

"Definitely not good," Oz said, his legendary cool straining as he recognized Angel rummaging in a crypt.

"So that's B.'s dead lover?" Faith said, "Doesn't look very dead to me. Even for a vamp."

"Kendra we couldn't bring back, but that piece of shit….," Xander said angry.

"Easy," Oz said, putting one hand on Xander's shoulder. Meanwhile Angel pulled out a cell phone and started to make a call. Checking around nervously he finished his call then waited. Within a few minutes Buffy flew in, slow and with chi suppressed. As soon as she landed she started to hug Angel and gave him a kiss. For a moment Angel seemed to respond, then he took her arms and made her back off.

"We can't, remember?"

Buffy's eyes flashed with anger for a moment, then she remembered.

"I, uh, um,…old habits," she stammered, then she hit him on the shoulder, not that hard, well, maybe for Angel, "you had me worried! When I came to the crypt you were gone. I was searching all over Sunnydale. You do realize the others are out there looking for Lagos. They could have found you!"

"I had to act," Angel said and picked up the blanketed glove and unveiled it, "I knew Lagos, he's not to be trifled with. If he gets his hand on this only Belmovekk will be able to stop him."

"That's it?" she said as she looked the glove over, "Must be the world's ugliest fashion accessory. Looks painful to wear, hardly the latest accessory in powered armor fashion."

The glove did indeed look cruel, with various hooks that gave the impression that they would tear into flesh once you put it on.

"Once you put it on it can never be removed," Angel said as he wrapped the blanket around the glove again, "a small price to pay for the power it can give you though."

"So what do we do now," Buffy asked.

"I will take this back so Lagos can't find it," Angel said, "and you will finally tell the others that I returned so we can destroy this thing."

"But I…"

"No buts, Buffy," Angel said sternly, "this has gone on way to long! What's so funny?"

"You just said no buts Buffy," Buffy couldn't help but laugh.

"Can you hear what they're saying," Faith asked back on the mausoleum.

"Unless Angel's in cahoots it's safe to say Lagos isn't getting any anytime soon," Oz shrugged, "other then that…"

"Oh, I don't think Lagos is a problem anymore," Xander said, "we now have bigger problems to worry about!"

x

x

Buffy knew something was up the moment she stepped in the library the next day. For one no one seemed to be happy when she said the glove was found.

"You can all rest now! Lagos is out of luck. I got the magic mitten thingy."

It was like in the Blues Brothers movie, where they entered the stage, expecting applause from the audience, and instead got dead silence instead. Everyone was there. Giles not looking very happy. Willow looking worried and somewhat betrayed with Oz by her side, Xander looking way too serious, Cordelia having that queen bitch look again, and Belmovekk like he really, really, could use a drink.

"What's with all the tragedy masks?" she asked amazed.

"Better take a seat, Buffy," Giles said as he gestured towards the empty seat at the head of the table, her friends all on the other side.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked wearily as she sat down.

"We know Angel is alive," Giles said taking his glasses off to polish them, all the while not looking at her, "Xander, Oz and Faith saw you with him. It would appear that you've been hiding him and that you lied to us."

Buffy looked away, not sure how to deal with this sudden revelation. This was not the way she had planned it.

"Nobody's here to blame you, Buffy," Willow quickly said, "but this is serious. You

need help."

"It's not what you think," Buffy said to Willow.

"I hope not," Cordelia huffed indignant, "because I think you're harboring a vicious killer."

Before Buffy could react Willow intervened again.

"This isn't about attacking Buffy," she said to the others, "remember, 'I' statements only. 'I feel angry.' 'I feel worried.'"

Cordelia looked at Willow and snorted in disgust.

"Fine. Here's one: I feel worried... about me! Last time around, Angel barely laid a hand on Buffy. He and his buddies came after us instead. You ended up in the hospital, Xander broke his hand, Giles got tortured and both his girlfriend and Kendra snuffed it!"

"But Ms. Calendar's alive again," Willow said slightly intimidated by Cordelia's outburst.

'Yeah, and crazy like a loon," Cordelia spoke, "I don't know about you but I don't fancy spending the rest of my days in Belleview!"

"But he's better now," Buffy finaly said.

"Better for how long, Buffy?" Cordelia said angry, "I mean, did you even think about

that?"

"What is this?" Buffy said as she stood up, "Demons Anonymous? I don't need an intervention, here."

She tried to leave but then Giles spoke up.

"Oh, don't you dare!" he said as she turned around to face him, "You must've known it was wrong seeing Angel or you wouldn't have hidden it from all of us."

"I was going to tell you," she said, sounding a bit desperate, "I was. I was going to tell it right now. I-it was just that I... I didn't know why he came back. I just wanted to

wait."

"For what?" Cordelia said indignant, "For Angel to go psycho again the next time you give him a happy?"

Not knowing what to say she threw her hands in the air.

"I'm not going to... We're not together like that!"

"But you were kissing him."

Oz's casual remark hit Buffy like a sniper's bullet.

Willow gave Oz a quick look, then looked worried at Buffy. Buffy tried to come up with answer to Oz's accusation when it hit her. She looked furiously at Xander, who until then had kept quiet.

"You were spying on me? What gives you the right?"

"Don't look at me," Xander said in a very cool tone of voice, "Me and the others were just looking for either Lagos or the Glove. You just happened to be in the way."

"Don't pester my boyfriend," Cordelia said angry, "what gives you the right to suck face with your demon lover again?"

"It was an accident," Buffy said defensively.

"What, you just tripped and fell on his lips?" Cordelia said.

"I was worried, one thing let another," Buffy said turning around, arms folded across her chest, "it was wrong, okay? I know that, and I know that it can't happen again. But you guys have to believe me. I would never put you in any danger. If I thought for a second that Angel was going to hurt anyone..."

"...you would stop him?" Oz said, "Like you did the last time, when you pleaded for Belmovekk not to kill him?"

Giving her boyfriend a quick disapproving look Willow intervened again.

"Buffy, I feel that when it comes to Angel, you can't see straight. And that's why we're, we're all gonna help you face this."

Buffy turned around again to face the group.

"But he's better now. I swear. Look, you guys, he's the one that found the Glove of Myhnegon. H-he's keeping it safe for us in his place."

"Right! Great plan," Cordelia snorted, "leave tons of firepower with the Scary Guy, and leave us to clean up the mess."

"Be quiet," Giles said and then turned to Buffy, "I won't remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you've jeopardized the lives of all that you hold dear by harboring a known murderer. But sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me..., for hours..., for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn't. You have no respect for me, or the job I perform."

Unable to look him in the eyes Buffy looked away. Instead she looked at Xander and Belmovekk, who until then hardly had said a word.

"So what now?" Oz asked.

"Simple," Cordelia said, "we send in the big scary Saiyan and he sends Angel right back from where he came."

"No," Buffy gasped, "you can't he's changed! He….."

"…he tortured me mercilessly," Giles said, "and he tortured and killed Jenny. He crucified her body to the wall. He deserves to die."

"No," a voice said who until then had kept silent.

Everybody looked at Belmovekk.

"We will not kill the vampire," the Saiyan said

"You cannot be serious," Oz said, sounding way more emotional then usual.

"I am serious," Belmovekk said and took out a piece of paper.

"What's that," Oz asked.

"It's the curse," the Saiyan said, "the one Ms. Calendar came up with. When I learned of Angel's return I looked it over again. As long as Angel does not experience a moment of true happiness he will not lose his soul and Angelus should be locked away safely. And after all, did it not work flawlessly for more then a century?"

Of all the people whose reaction she feared most Belmovekk's came as a complete shock for Buffy.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Do not mistake understanding for softness, young lady," Belmovekk said without showing any emotion, "you lied to us for selfish reasons. Angel lives at your sufferance. If he turns again it will not just be his fault. And you know what has to happen then."

"It won't happen," Buffy said sullen.

"That remains to be seen," the Saiyan said, "and I must say, young lady, I am disappointed in you. Your mother is disappointed in you. I believed in you, even though a part of me was telling me you were hiding something, I still believed in you. My faith has been shaken."

Well, now you know how it feels, Buffy was sorely tempted to say, but she decided not too at the last moment. Despite his misgivings he had decided to back her. His word would sway Giles. Which left only Xander, and he could sway the others.

"Don't you have to say anything, Mr. 'I-hate-Angel'?" Cordelia asked her boyfriend. At this stage Xander was the only one left who could sway the argument and it worried Cordelia that so far he had kept silent.

"What's there to say?" Xander shrugged reluctantly.

"Hello," Cordelia exclaimed, "he's back! Are you going to let him kill me as well?"

Xander sighed deeply knowing that he was going to hurt someone either way.

"Don't get me wrong," Xander finally said, "I still hate Angel with every fiber of my being. But when he wasn't manhandling Buffy he was of some use to us from time to time. He was part of our group. Of a sort. That entitled him to a little more loyalty then we did last time. Maybe we decided to abandon him all a bit too early last time. He deserves the benefit of the doubt this time."

"That's not what you said last night," Oz said pointing his finger at Xander, "and you do realize they were necking last night, right?"

"I had some time to think about it," Xander nodded, "sometimes you have to step back and look at things impassionately. Last night I thought about it for hours, constantly replaying the scene. And just when I was about to look for him and dust the bastard I did suddenly remember that it was Angel who broke off their kiss. So clearly Dead Boy does have some self restraint."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Cordelia said and got up to leave the Library, "Xander the Slayer Lover comes to the rescue of his favorite Slayer once again!"

"Cordelia, don't be like that," Xander said as he got up to go after her.

"No,' she said angry, "don't follow me! I don't want to see you right now!"

Slamming the doors shut behind her Cordelia made her exit.

"She will come round," Belmovekk said as he put his hand on Xander's shoulder, "Just give her some space for now."

"Thank you, Xan," Buffy said, her voice almost choking.

"Don't thank me," Xander said, waving his hand dismissively at her, "I didn't say I trusted you. My decision may cost me Cordelia. Don't make me regret my decision any more then I already do!"

Xander turned his back to her and went to stand by the window.

"So what now?," Oz asked.

"After class the young lady and Xander will go to Angel and bring both him and the Glove back here," Belmovekk said, "upon their return we will destroy the glove and we will see if Angel is indeed changed for the better. It should not take too long to check if he has a soul or not. If not he dies. If so he gets to live and can earn our trust again. What happens thereafter is up to him and the young lady."

"And you?" Oz asked.

"Master Giles received word of Lagos' hiding place. I will seek him out and kill him."

"I see," Oz said, and got up, "if you excuse me, I will go and tell Faith what happened."

"Why wasn't she here?" Buffy asked Oz.

"Would it have mattered," Oz replied bitterly, "you hardly listen to the people you like, why would you have listened to her?"

"All in all I think it went rather well," Willow said after Oz had left.

x

x

Inside Faith's cheap motel room Faith sat on her bed watching the cheap TV when somebody (or something) knocked on the door.

"Come in, it's open," she said. The door opened and it was Gwendolyn Post.

"A word of advice," Gwendolyn said as she closed the door behind her, "maybe in daylight a vampire won't attack you, but you never know what else might come in."

"In this town," Faith snorted disinterested, "if only I were so lucky."

"Such casualness is ill-befitting of a warrior," Gwendolyn replied as she examined Faith's room, "what's this?"

She was talking about a solid steel dartboard with some darts stuck into it and both a picture of Buffy and a piece of paper taped over it.

"That's the reason I don't get to slay anything anymore these days," Faith said disinterested.

Gwendolyn Post read the paper taped on the dart board.

"What is this nonsense," she said, "this 'Edict'?"

"No arguments from me," Faith said, "it's unnatural. Demons even quote it when you slap them around as if they have rights. In all fairness, it does keep the number of fatalities down. From what I heard this place did used to be a slaughterhouse."

"This nonsense will just have to go," the Watcher said, "I don't know what other nonsense Mr. Giles has been filling your head with but I won't stand for it. I'm going to be very hard on you, Faith. I will not brook insolence or laziness. And I will not allow blunders like last night's attack. You will probably hate me a great deal of the time."

"You think?" Faith snorted.

"But I will make you a better Slayer," Gwendolyn said as she sat down next to Faith, "and that will keep you alive. You have to trust that I am right. Like I said, God only knows what Mr. Giles has been filling your head with."

"Giles is okay," Faith said.

"His methods are unfathomable to me." Gwendolyn said shaking her head, "I find him entirely confounding. But that is not important. Let him have his games and secret meetings."

"What secret meetings," Faith asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Gwendolyn said, "something with Buffy and her friends."

"Oh, that one," Faith shrugged, "they're outing B. We discovered that her ex-boyfriend, slash vampire, was not only alive but also has the Glove."

The Watcher nearly jumped of the bed when she heard that.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked agitated.

"They wanted to keep it a secret so they could out her," Faith said offhand, "I guess by now they told her so no harm in telling you.

"Then why weren't you at this meeting?" Gwendolyn asked, "was your precious 'partner' there?"

"They're her friends, I'm not," Faith shrugged. Truth be told she was pissed that Xander had asked her not to attend claiming that her presence could inflame the situation with B. since the two of them didn't get along. She would have loved to have seen B.'s face though, just for laughs.

"It seems to me they're treating you as a 2nd rate Slayer," Gwendolyn said, "you're a Slayer. You have every right to be there in matters that concern the Slayer. I saw how Buffy treated you. Clearly you aren't part of this group if even your precious partner is there and you're not."

Faith thought that over for a moment. The lady had a point.

"And who is this vampire that even now controls the Glove of Myhnegon," the Watcher asked.

"Angel or something, " Faith said.

"Angel as in Angelus, the Scourge of Europe?" Gwendolyn exclaimed, "That's even worse then if Lagos would have gotten hold of it! We must…"

At that moment the door swung open and Oz entered.

"They're not going to kill him," he said as he entered with a face that suggested he still couldn't believe it, "Xander and Belmovekk swayed the others not to kill Angel. Instead Buffy and Xander are going to go and bring Angel and the Glove back to the Library."

"I thought Xander was all Slay-Ho where this Angel was concerned," Faith asked Oz surprised.

"Apparently he had a change of heart," Oz replied shaking his head

"We cannot allow this to happen! Angelus was one of the worst vampires in living history," Gwendolyn said, then she leaned over towards Faith, "He makes Kakistos look like an innocent lamb."

"I agree," Oz said. Gwendolyn looked at the kid in surprise.

"You do?" she asked surprised.

"Angelus' plans nearly cost Willow her life last time around," Oz said calmly but resolutely, "I was not around to protect her. I will not let that happen again a second time."

"You are indeed a worthy partner for Faith," Gwendolyn said impressed, "When will Buffy and Xander go and fetch this Angel?"

"After their classes are over," Oz said, "which means…."

"…if we act quickly...," Faith grinned.

"You know where he is?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Xander followed him to his lair last night," Oz said and brought forth a map, "it's where he was defeated the last time. We went there afterwards with Giles."

"Then let's go," Gwendolyn said as she smiled, "oh, and Faith, bring along some of those darts."

x

x

Instead of having gone to class, for once Willow did the unthinkable and skipped class. The meeting had torn the group apart, and no more then Xander and Cordelia. For having sided with Buffy Xander may have sacrificed his relationship with Cordelia. Oz had also spoken out against Buffy but she knew their relationship could take it. There would be words, things would be said, but in the end it would be one of those things where they would agree to disagree. But Xander and Cordelia's relation was far more fragile, Willow felt. If anything it needed more help saving. And since Xander was her oldest friend she more or less felt it was her job to step in.

She found Cordelia sitting on a bench near the edge of the school campus, a place favorite amongst students as it was out of sight from Snyder's usual patrol routes.

"Go away," Cordelia huffed angry, "I have no need for Buffy's lap dog to play matchmaker."

"Cordelia," Willow said as she sat down on the same bench, "look I only came to.…"

"I know what you came to do, Willow Rosenberg," Cordelia said as she folded her arms across her chest, "you had your little victory and now you feel you can be gracious, helping poor Xander and Cordelia kiss up and be better. But guess what, Rosenberg, it's not going to happen. Fuck Xander and fuck the Slayer horse he rode into town with! Angel will be the undoing of us all. And I won't even have the satisfaction of having said I told you so because I will be dead by then!"

"But Buffy said he's changed," Willow countered, "he's no longer Angelus!"

"Miss Not-Over-Herself-Yet was also caught locking lips," Cordelia said, "she's hardly the most credible character witness."

Willow didn't know how to respond to that. Then Cordelia started to become less tense and stared towards the ground.

"You know what hurt most," she said, "I thought that when you are in a relationship you back each other up 100%. At least Buffy stands by her man. But Xander didn't back me up."

"Yeah, but Oz also didn't back me up," Willow replied.

"But Oz never used to have the hots for Buffy either," Cordelia said sullen, "can you say the same for Xander? Buffy, Buffy, Buffy, it always boils down to her. She leaves town, we all worry about her, she returns, and we all worry about her. Where do we fit in this picture, Willow? Is that all we are nowadays? Just an emotional cushion for the guys to unwind with, before they go back running to their Slayers?"

Cordelia had a point there, Willow thought. Where did they fit in these days?

"I don't think we're jus….." Willow tried to say but then it happened, "….Oh my God it's Spike!"

"Don't be silly," Cordelia said unconvinced, yet somehow, seeing Willow's shocked face she looked around. Last thing she saw was Spike's fist a fraction of a second before it knocked her out. As Cordelia fell to the ground unconscious Spike stepped up to Willow. He had emerged from the bushes carrying a blanket over him with one arm and now he came towards Willow.

"Hi there Red," he grinned, "you don't mind doing some mojo for uncle Spike now, do ya?"

Not sure what to say Willow stepped backwards. As her eyes darted around looking for a way to escape she noticed a large split wooden branch lying in the grass.

"Float!" she said and the branch lifted off the ground and then lunged towards Spike at breakneck speed. Aimed at his chest it would have killed him if it pierced his heart. But Spike managed to catch it just before it hit him. Looking at the branch Spike was impressed. Then he looked at her.

"Bugger, Red?" he said with a look of shock and betrayal, "Why did you do that for?"

Then he swung the branch and it was lights out for Willow.

x

x

In a manhole cover in the old Sunnydale industrial zone Oz flinched. Next he looked toward where the high school was.

"Are you coming or not?" the voice of Gwendolyn asked from the sewer below him, rudely interrupting him from his musings, "If you're having second thoughts, this is not the time."

"Yeah, come on, Short Stuff," Faith's voice called, "you know what we have to do!"

"I'm coming," Oz said as he lowered himself and closed the manhole cover above him.

x

x

In a crypt the demon Lagos planned his next move. Last night's search hadn't gone well. Not only had his search still come up empty, he also had his very entertaining fight broken off prematurely. The initial strength of his opponents had surprised him. He was one of the strongest demons known on Earth. No human, not even a Slayer should be able to even touch him. Yet these humans gave a good account of themselves. Before he'd arrived in Sunnydale he had been told that here the Slayer and her gang had superior strength. He had dismissed those rumors, but now it seemed there was truth to it.

This made it all the more imperative that he'd find the Glove of Myhnegon. If the good guys here packed that kind of firepower, then what kind of force would that arrogant bastard of a Wilkins bring to bear? As the last of his clan he had sworn a blood oath that he would bring down that soulless human, even if it meant sacrificing his own live.

Soon it would be dark and Lagos prepared his cleansing rituals. The Glove of Myhnegon was not to be born lightly, lest it overpower you. Only the strict adherence to rituals could properly prepare you for that artifact. Kneeling down between rows of candles Lagos started to chant.

Halfway through the ritual he was rudely interrupted as the door to his ad hoc hideout was kicked in. Standing in the sunlight that came into the crypt stood the silhouette of a large man, strange hair and a tail that swayed gently back and fro behind him.

"You Lagos?" the man asked.

The demon roared defiantly in answer.

"I will take that as a yes."

x

x

In what looked like a medium sized underground cavern Willow woke up to a splitting headache. As she came to she could see a table with on it an oil lamp and several bottles of liquor, most of them empty.

"You're awake," she heard behind her. As she turned around she could see Spike come towards her with a box, which he dumped in front of her. To her surprise it was full of magical paraphernalia. Various herbs, candles and other supplies.

"A spell," Spike said, "for me. You're gonna do a spell for me."

"Uh, what kind of spell?" Willow asked surprised.

"A love spell! Are you brain dead?" Spike said as he went to the table to fetch a bottle, "I'm gonna get what's mine. What's mine! Teach her to walk out on me!"

After taking several large swallows of liquor so strong she could smell it from the distance Spike looks at Willow again.

"What are you staring at?" he asked angry.

"Nothing," Willow said quickly as she averted her eyes. The place looked like it once had been lived in by a small army. There were signs of people having left in a hurry.

"What's this place?" she asked.

"One of the places me, Dru and the boys used to hide in the bad old days, deep underground," Spike answered, who now had switched from sounding angry to sounding concerned, "you can do it, right? You can make Dru love me again? Make her crawl!"

"I-I can try," Willow said uncertain.

Her answer was not to Spike's liking as he reached out and grabbed her by her hair, the stench of alcohol coming from his breath hitting her in the face as he pulled her head backwards.

"What are you talking about, trying? You'll do it!"

"Yes, I'll do it," Willow said cringing. Spike let go and stepped back to lean against he table.

"Unholy God," he sighed before taking another swig from the bottle, "no wonder they call you the useless one. What's wrong with you? Don't you have any confidence in you? I'll make it simple for you. You give me the spell, I let you go. You don't give me spell, fuck the Edict, you'll just die. Horribly and slow. Fair 'nuff?"

As Willow started to rummage through the box to see what was present Spike's anger left him again and depression set in.

"She wouldn't even kill me," he said deflated. Then he started to tell her his sorry tale of how Drusilla had left him over his truce with Buffy.

x

x

In the large cavern that's now Angel's hideout Angel was busy creating a fire from an urn. Using various powders and herbs from several bowls he feeds them a pinch at a time to the fire while chanting in Latin.

"Exorere, Flamma Vitae. Prodi ex loco tuo elementorum, in hunc mundum vivorum."

Taking a pinch of some green powder Angel feeds it to the fire and it turns green.

"Exorere, Flamma Vitae. Prodi ex loco tuo elementorum, in hunc mundum vivorum."

He took a pinch of some red powder and fed it to the flame, now it turned red. Seeing that it now burned satisfactory Angel was satisfied. In a way Angel had lied to Buffy. He wasn't going to keep the Glove safe, for her to hand over to the Watchers. He was going to destroy it. Some things are just too dangerous and the Glove was such a thing. In his years as a master vampire he had picked up certain lore, and certain obsessions. Finding the Glove of Myhnegon used to be an obsession of Angelus. Especially when the curse had been broken last year. Angelus had searched long and hard for the Glove in vain. Instead he had to use the Judge instead.

But Angelus had come close, allowing Angel to find the damn thing at last. And Angel wasn't going to let the damn thing exist for one extra minute. If he ever turned again he knew Angelus would move Heaven and Earth to get it. And since his power had greatly increased over the last year the Watchers wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of stopping him. No, better to destroy it. For which Angelus research also proved helpful. A fire, transformed into a living flame, could immolate the Glove. And that was what he was going to do.

He was about to get the Glove when somebody swept aside the canvas coverings he used for a door and three people stepped inside his cavern. He recognized one of them, a boy, as Willow's boyfriend. The girl dressed in skin-tight leather he knew from Buffy's descriptions as Faith. The older woman however he didn't recognize.

"What do you want?" he asked

"Gwen Post," the woman said as she identified herself. The new Watcher that Buffy had mentioned.

"Mr. Giles sent me."

"What for?" Angel asked weary. Surely if Buffy had told Giles about him having the Glove he would come himself. Not send this new Watcher to him.

"To help you destroy the glove," Gwendolyn Post said as she walked over the table where the urn burned bright, "is that the Living Flame?

"Yes," Angel replied.

"Look, I'm sorry to be so abrupt," the Watcher said as she looked the flame over, "but Lagos is on his way here now. If you're performing the ritual incorrectly, it will only make the glove more powerful.

So Lagos was on the way? No wonder the reinforcements had arrived.

"Alright," Angel said stepping up to the table.

"Good," Gwendolyn nodded, "where is the glove?"

"It's in the trunk," Angel said and turned around to get it. Instead he found Faith in his way with a big grin. Before he could react she stabbed him with what looked like a dart from a dart game.

"What the…," Angel muttered, then his legs gave way underneath him and he fell to the floor. Within moments he could no longer move anything other then his eyes. Next thing he saw were the faces of Faith and Oz as they stood over him.

"Is he dead?" Oz asked as he nudged Angel's limp body with his foot.

"He's already dead to begin with," Gwendolyn Post said, still studying the Living Flame.

"I'll grant B. that he's hot," Faith said, looking intently at Angel, "but to fuck something that's dead, that's just gross."

"Let's get the Glove," Gwendolyn said pointing to the chest, "let's put this Living Flame Angelus has created to some good use."

"Was he really going to destroy it?" Oz asked looking at Gwen.

"Of course not," the Watcher replied, "like I said, if you perform the ritual wrongly you can increase its strength, not destroy it. He was obviously going to make it stronger. We on the other hand are going to destroy it."

"Shouldn't we kill him first?" Faith asked as she walked towards the chest.

"First I need the Glove so I can destroy it. Then you can kill the vampire at your leisure."

"I have to say, that's some nifty poison," Faith said as she ripped open the chest effortlessly.

"A little curare enhanced by magic," Gwen said, "something new we came up with in London. We're not all 13th century arch-conservatives."

Faith lifted the Glove from the chest and examined it. Its clawed fingers looked like a world of hurt, but what really made her shudder were the ten smaller claws where you had to insert your hand.

"Cruel," Oz said as he stood next to her.

"I like my kinks, but not like this," Faith agreed. Then she delivered the Glove to Gwendolyn who held up the Glove with two hands.

"Absolutely amazing," she said as she examined the artifact.

"Can we now, please, kill Angel," Faith asked.

"Do whatever you like to the vampire," Gwendolyn said without taking her eyes of the Glove."

Faith turned to Oz.

"So how should we kill Pretty Boy," she asked. Oz looked at Angel, then around the large cavern.

"Why not be traditional?" he said and walked to a wooden chair which he ripped apart until he had a large impromptu stake.

"Catch," he said as he tossed it towards Faith. Faith caught the stake and turned to Angel with a big smile.

"I can't believe how much I'm gonna kill you," she said.

All Angel could do in response was move his eyes. But that didn't impress her. She swung the stake upwards to kill Angel.

As she brought it downwards a chi blast hit the stake and disintegrated it.

"What," Faith exclaimed and both she and Oz turned around.

By the canvas covering, functioning as a door, stood Buffy and Xander. She had her arm outstretched, clearly the source of the blast, Xander stood at attention, arms folded across his chest. And they both carried scouters.

"I can't let you do it, Faith," Buffy spoke calmly.

"You're confused, Twinkie," Faith said and pointed towards Angel, "let me clear you

up. Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire."

"There's a lot that you don't understand," Buffy said stepping closer, with Xander following suit.

"Faith," Gwendolyn spoke, as she was busy performing with the Glove and the Living Flame, "she doesn't know. She's blinded by love."

"Faith, no," Buffy spoke out..

"Trust me," Gwendolyn said as she smiled at Faith, "cover me until at least I finish this ritual."

Faith looked back and forth between them.

"Faith, we can figure this out," Buffy said as she lowered her guard and came up to Faith. Faith used the opening to attack and delivered an impossibly fast roundhouse kick. Buffy however was by this time far stronger then Faith, so the attack didn't quite have the effect Faith had intended.

"So be it," Buffy hissed and the two Slayers started to fight in earnest. As the fight ensued Xander and Oz faced each other.

"Are we going to fight as well," Xander asked, as he and Oz started eyeing each other, with Oz making sure he was between Xander and Angel and Gwen.

"We can't allow Angel to live and have access to the Glove," Oz replied and pointed towards Angel, "he caused Willow to almost die!"

"You can't beat me," Xander replied, "I'm way ahead of you."

"It's not always about being the strongest," Oz countered, "you hate Angel even more then I do. Your heart will not be in it."

"Don't do this, Oz," Xander pleaded desperately, "step aside!"

Oz just smiled.

"For Willow," he smiled and then yelled. He increased his chi to maximum and a white chi flame came to life around him. Xander sighed and then followed suit. Soon followed by both Slayers as everybody dropped their pretext of playing weaker then they were for Gwendolyn Post.

Then the fights began in earnest.

x

x

In the Library Giles sat in front of his desk, mixing and grinding various powders together in a bowl when the Library doors swung open and Belmovekk walked in. His clothes were ripped, he was bleeding from several wounds and scratches from his body. None of them were serious though and in his left hand he carried the head of the demon Lagos.

"W-w-what happened to you?" Giles asked worried as he stopped working on his powders as the Saiyan walked up to him and put the demon's head on the table.

"Me and Lagos had a little…., understanding," Belmovekk said, a satisfied smile on his lips as he sat down next to the head, "he came up short though. I would say he could not keep his head together."

"B-b-but y-you're like," Giles stuttered, "good God! If he could hurt you then Lagos must have been…."

"Relax, master Giles," the Saiyan interrupted, "our late friend was barely a thousand. He might, and I stress the word might, have beaten Buffy, but to me he was just a good work out."

"But the wounds," Giles said as he examined some of Belmovekk's wounds.

"One cannot have a good work out if one is too strong," the Saiyan said as he stretched an arm, "I lowered myself to just above his level. I must say, for someone who did not know chi attacks he proved quite entertaining."

Giles closed his eyes and bit down on a string of obscenities.

"Saiyans," was all he said in disgust as he returned to his bowl and powders.

"So, what are you doing, Master Giles?" Belmovekk asked.

"I'm creating a Living Flame," Giles said as he resumed his mixing, "now that you have allowed Angel to live it is imperative we destroy the Glove."

"You still have misgivings," Belmovekk asked, "I explained my reasons."

"He killed Jenny," Giles said angry. Then he sighed and looked away for a moment before speaking again.

"Look, even if he did change, that doesn't mean we can't just forgive and forget like nothing happened. Buffy obviously can't see reason where it comes to Angel. It falls to us to make sure it never happens again. If Angel were to turn again the Glove would be the first thing he'd be after. At least by destroying it we remove that danger."

"And how would you do that?" the Saiyan asked, "I thought the thing was impervious to destruction?"

Giles pointed towards a book next to his beaker.

"I came across a book that not only gave me information regarding the Glove, it also told me how to destroy the damn thing. That is, if Angel ever gives up the damn thing, of which I'm not so sure."

"A bit harsh of you to think he won't, master Giles?"

"There was a time you assumed the same," Giles replied bitter, "the consequences of your thinking still causing problems to this day."

"A decision I now regret every day, master Giles," Belmovekk said as he stood next to Giles, "how does it work?"

Giles then proceeded to explain that the Living Flame was the only thing that could destroy the Glove.

"Fascinating," Belmovekk said, "it reminds me of an obscure ritual practiced by the demon wizards of Karanda. Maybe if we cou…."

Belmovekk was rudely interrupted as Cordelia, sporting a large black eye, stormed into the Library.

"Thank God you're here," she said agitated, "he has taken her!"

"Who has taken her," Giles asked, "who has taken who?"

"Willow, "he has taken her," Cordelia said, then she noticed her reflection in a mirror, "Ohmigod! I look terrible. That eye! No way! Where's my mascara!"

"Cordelia," Giles said as he took her by the shoulders, "who has taken Willow? It was Angel, right? That lying bastard!"

"Angel," Cordelia said confused, "no, I, uh, it was Spike.

"Spike," both Giles and Belmovekk exclaimed.

x

x

In Angel's cavern Oz wasn't doing so well. One of his eyes had swollen shut, the result of an underhanded punch by Xander. His side also hurt badly, another present by the hands of Xander. Oz knew he was badly outclassed, but he didn't mind. Stealing a page from Xander's book of tricks he was just trying to stall him. And while Xander was stronger, his heart wasn't really in the fight. So overall he still stood a good chance to drag the fight on. Faith on the other hand….

His partner wasn't doing so well. She was being hammered by Buffy. Normally Buffy outclassed Faith by a factor of 5 so she should have made mincemeat from Faith. And unlike Xander her heart did seem to be in the fight. Only difference was she seemed to be more in it to hurt Faith, instead of finishing it quickly.

So while Oz blocked another flurry of punches from Xander, Faith slammed into the wall, causing the solid rock to crack, followed up by a purple energy ball that hit her exact spot.

DOOM!

The strike looked massive, but it wasn't as powerful as it looked. Had it been yellow it would have been four times as strong. Purple on the other hand was just four times as painful.

"Had enough, Faith?" Buffy called.

As the dust settled Faith lay crumpled against the wall. Then she spat out some blood and hauled her self up. She wasn't going to give Buffy the satisfaction by giving up. She'd die first. She launched herself at Buffy and the two started another dance of advanced martial arts.

Both Oz and Xander took a moment to pause. Xander glanced at the two Slayers.

"Poetry in motion," he said, "you can't get them to train properly, but in a fight…."

Oz wanted to agree, but then he glanced at Gwendolyn Post, who was still busy working the Glove over the Living Flame. Something didn't add up. In the time that she was around they had more or less kept the more flamboyant parts of their powers hidden. She claimed to have read the reports Giles had sent to the council. Oz had read those reports as part of him devising Faith's original training regime. Giles had made two sets of reports. The unedited version was a 100% summary of the Saiyan's teachings. It was the one he kept in his own personal archive.

Then there was version he had sent to the council, and still sent occasionally. Oh, it included information, drawings, positions on how to perform the various katas. But it omitted the advanced chi stuff. The chi attacks, the flying, that he kept out. He had shared the unedited version with Kendra's Watcher, but it would seem that both Watchers had come to the same conclusion very quickly. The Council was very disinterested in the Slayers it supposedly existed to support. But it was however very interested in reports regarding abnormal behavior of those Slayers. It would seem both Watchers feared that reporting too much of their Slayer's rapid advancement might cause the Council to become a little less 'disinterested'.

So even if Gwendolyn Post had read Giles' reports at the very least she should have been somewhat surprised as everybody started going all out around her. Yet from what Oz had seen she hardly batted an eyelid.

Suddenly Xander put a hand on his scouter.

"What," he exclaimed, eyes big as saucers, then he looked at Oz.

"What," Oz asked, "Saiyan cavalry on the way?"

"Spike kidnapped Willow," Xander said instead.

That was the moment Oz's world caved in. Here he was, trying to make sure no harm would come towards Willow. And now another vamp had kidnapped Willow. It was like there was some cosmic conspiracy to keep Oz from being there when she needed him

"I have to save her," he said and sped past Xander. Xander reached out and grabbed Oz's hand.

"And Dead Boy?" he asked. Oz yanked his hand free.

"Fuck him," he said resolutely, "Spike's got Willow!"

A big grin crept on Xander's face.

"I'll go with you," Xander said, "this fight sucked anyway!"

The two teens darted for the exit and were gone.

"What's going on," Faith asked as she saw how her partner suddenly left the fight.

"Spike kidnapped his girlfriend," Buffy replied as she had heard the same thing Xander did over her scouter.

"What?" Faith exclaimed, then she looked Buffy in the eyes, "Shouldn't you go to help her? Or is that vampire more important to you then your best friend?"

"Xander is with him, they can both do the job," Buffy replied offhand, followed up by a punch to Faith's face and their fight resumed.

Meanwhile as the two Slayers continued pummeling each other, Gwendolyn Post took the Glove from the Living Flame. Holding the Glove in her left hand she slides her right hand into the Glove. Once inside she balled the clawed fingers and the ten smaller claws surrounding the opening started to retract and puncture her flesh until they were all permanently embedded in her flesh. As she held up her now permanently gloved right hand Gwendolyn drank in the sight and started laughing. Then she spoke the Gaelic spell that would invoke the power of the Glove.

"Taou huogan maqachte milegaing!

Above the skies of Sunnydale clouds started to gather and the boom of thunder could be heard. Then a discharge strikes the ground near Western Rodeo Drive street. A split second later the same lightning bolt erupted inside Angels' underground lair and struck the Glove.

"What's going on," Faith asked as both Buffy and her stopped their fight and stared at the Watcher. Upon hearing Faith Gwendolyn turned to the two Slayers with a malicious grin.

"Something tells me this fight is over," Buffy said towards Faith.

"Faith! A word of advice," the Watcher spoke, "you're an idiot!"

"I could have told her that," Buffy snorted. Then Gwen looked at Buffy.

"Don't pat yourself on the shoulder," she said, "you're just as dumb, if not more so!"

"Ha!" Faith said triumphantly.

"And now," Gwen said and looked at her gloved hand, "tauo freim!

Another bolt of lightning erupted inside the cavern and struck the Glove. Then Gwendolyn pointed the Glove at the two Slayers.

"Tauo freim," she said gleefully. Then a beam of red energy shot towards the Slayers.

"Get out," Buffy yelled and shoved Faith hard aside. As Faith crashed against a wall she saw how the beam struck Buffy head on. But Buffy roared defiantly and her chi grew to even greater height. She was hurt from the impact but not wounded.

"Bugger," Gwendolyn said annoyed, "you're stronger then you appeared."

"A word of the wise," Buffy said smirking, "always keep something in reserve."

"Sound rule," Gwen agreed. Then to Buffy's amazement she assumed an all to familiar fighting stance. One taken straight from the third Saiyan basic form.

"Don't look so surprised," Gwendolyn grinned, "like I said before, I read every report Giles had sent regarding the teachings of your martial arts trainer. Unlike the other idiots I just put them into practice."

Then she spoke softly.

"I also realized Giles was holding out. But I unlocked its hidden secrets regardless."

Next Gwen launched herself at the blond Slayer and the two began combat in earnest.

x

x

In an underground corridor Oz and Xander moved with haste. After their fight no words were wasted on why either of them had fought on the opposing side. What was done was done. Each could understand the other's reasons. So why bother wasting breath about it when Willow was in danger. After having heard every detail regarding Willow's abduction they went back to Sunnydale High

About halfway the exit of this particular tunnel system Oz had suddenly halted. Holding up his hand he looked around, then he pointed to a sideway passage.

"That way," he said and went inside. Slightly wondering what just happened Xander followed suit.

"Oz, buddy," he said, "you do know the exit is the other way?"

Oz started to sniff the air..

"It's Willow," he said, "she's nearby."

That caught Xander by surprise.

"What? You can smell her? She doesn't even wear perfume."

"She's afraid," Oz said.

"Is this some sort of residual werewolf thing?" Xander asked as Oz moved into yet another passageway, "while on the one hand it's kinda cool that you can do this, on the other hand it's kinda disturbing as well..

"I totally agree," Oz replied before sniffing the air again, "you have no idea how much more foul things I can now smell that I wish I didn't!"

"So is this a new thing or have you been holding out on us?" Xander asked curious.

"What if it was that?" Oz asked in return. He stopped for a moment on a crossroads and Xander came beside him, intently watching as Oz sniffed the air again.

"What," Xander said, "new or holding out."

"Holding out," Oz said, then pointed down one corridor, "it's that way."

As he followed the guitarist slash tracker Xander thought about it.

"I guess you wouldn't be the first one to hold out," he finally shrugged, "we seem to be having way too many secrets these days."

x

x

In Angel's cavern Faith had a ringside view of Buffy and Ms. Post battling it out. So far the two of them seemed evenly matched with Buffy the better fighter and Ms. Post having more power. God help them if she ever managed to fully unlock the power of that Glove. Or Buffy running out of her bag of tricks.

The crazy thing at the moment wasn't that Faith feared either of these things from happening. What really irked Faith, no, really pissed her off, was that both B. and Ms. Post had lied to her. Gwendolyn Post had lied to her. Told her falsehoods that she would take care of her, no more being the junior Slayer. Told her things that had caused Faith to turn against B. and the others.

B. on the other had lied to her as well. And it wasn't about that stupid vampire, which even now lay not that far from her against the wall. Still unable to move, only able to follow the fight with his eyes. No, B. had lied, no, had really insulted her by toying with her. As she saw B. and Ms. Post duke it out Faith had realized that B. had not gone all out in their fight. She instead had held back, obviously to drag the fight on, taking the time to hurt Faith. Giving Faith the idea she wasn't being outclassed by that much. That she wasn't pathetic and useless. Damn B.!

As if in answer to her sentiment Ms. Post planted her armored fist into B.'s stomach, causing B. to fold. Ms. Post grabbed B. with her other hand and smashed B.'s face against her knee. Somehow B. found the energy to wring her head lose and make a low turn. In doing so she extended a leg and swept the ground from underneath Ms. Post.

As she fell Ms. Post started to shower the place around her with electrical blasts. B. however had already somersaulted out of harms way. Landing on one hand and her feet, her free arm extended behind her she took advantage of the situation to take a quick breather. Then she launched herself at Ms. Post as she got up. Slamming into the Watcher with her shoulder she sent Ms. Post crashing into a wall, crushing her between herself and the wall.

Any normal vampire or demon would have long perished under B.'s ferocious assault, but not the evil Watcher.

A blast of lightning sent B. flying backwards, soon followed by a barrage of the nasty stuff following her in her track. Ms. Post seemed to have no problems tapping into the Glove's power. It not only gave her access to increased power, it also seemed to have raised the damn woman's overall chi. If it was just a matter of increased firepower the woman should not have survived B.'s last attack. Since she did, and had survived similar attacks it could only mean her overall life force had also gone up. A lot!

B. lay crumpled against the opposite wall as Ms. Post walked slowly towards the middle. With one hand she waved towards the still burning Living Flame, it's urn laying somewhere else in the room on the ground. With a wave of her hand the Living Flame died out.

"And now for you," Ms. Post said towards B. She held up her right hand and a red orb, arcing with electrical discharges, formed in her hand. B. meanwhile jumped up and cupped two hands beside her right side, a light blue orb of energy springing to life between her hands. Both gathered in their energies before unleashing it. Ms. Post fired first.

"DODONPA," she yelled and fired the blast at B.

"KAMEHAMEHA," B. yelled and fired her blast towards Ms. Post. In the center between the two a red/blue orb formed of pure deadly chi as the two held their pissing contest.

x

x

In a different cave Willow sat with the ingredients of the love spell Spike had her working on. Luckily for her she recently had a chat with Amy about magic and spells in general and amongst the things they had discussed was the love spell Xander had used last year. Unlucky for Willow she didn't think for one second that Spike would let her go. By now he must have had more alcohol then blood in his veins. His mood could swing in an instant from anger to depression. Also by now Willow wasn't sure which she preferred more. At least angry Spike didn't bore her to tears with his endless retelling of his pathetic story.

"So, we got to Brazil, and she was... she was just different. I gave her everything: beautiful jewels, beautiful dresses with beautiful girls in them, but nothing made her happy. And she would fliiirt! I caught her on a park bench, making out with a 'chaos' demon! Have you ever seen a chaos demon? They're all slime and antlers. They're disgusting," Spike said, sitting on a chair, holding a bottle of liquor. Of which he seemed to have a limitless supply.

Then he took a big swig and emptied the remainder of the bottle in one go, throwing the empty bottle against a wall.

"I've had enough of waiting, Red," he said as he got up, his anger having returned, "it's time to either put up, or shut up forever!"

"But it's not finished," Willow protested, "I need more time!"

"Put up or you'll have all the time you'll ever need and then some," Spike yelled, "do something!"

"But…"

"NOW," Spike roared and grabbed Willow by her shirt and threw her next to the ingredients. Sobbing quietly Willow gathered what she needed. Using some red paint she drew the symbol for womanhood on the ground and then started a small brew in a pot.

"You must sit in there," she said to Spike pointing to the symbol.

"Finally," Spike muttered as he sat inside the female symbol.

"Take off your coat and shirt," Willow said and Spike did as he was told, "then take this candle."

Willow gave him a burning candle. She then painted three vertical stripes across his chest and started to put more and more ingredients into the witches' brew.

"Diana... goddess of love and the hunt... I pray to thee. Let my cries bind the heart of Spike's beloved," Willow said as she lowered one of Drusilla's old dolls into the brew, "may she neither rest nor sleep until she submits to his will only."

The witches brew ignited and the power of the spell came forth from the brew until it glowed between Willow's hands.

"Diana, bring about this love and bless it," Willow said and was about to pass it when they were rudely interrupted.

"WILLOW!"

Next thing Spike was knocked aside as Xander slammed into him with his shoulder. As a result of the impact Spike was thrown across the cavern.

"Hi Will," Xander smiled at her, getting ready to take on Spike, "cavalry's here."

Normally Willow would be thrilled to see Xander at this moment, but now she was holding a very powerful spell between her hands and her friends normally very welcome intervention seemed ill timed.

"Xander, I can't…." Willow tried to say but then the spell detonated between her hands and struck the both of them. Instantly both of them fell to the ground unconscious.

This left Oz in a bit of a predicament. Originally he and Xander had come up with the plan that Xander would take on Spike and he would take Willow to safety. Now that the both of them were out cold it all fell to him. Against a vampire who was most likely as strong as Xander and 10 times as vicious.

But let no man, demon or whatever say that Oz would ever back down from a fight that involved the woman he loved. Without having to think he stepped up to Willow and Xander and raised his chi to full power, a white halo of chi surrounding him.

"What the…," Spike said as he got up to face his mystery attacker. Next to Willow, on the symbol lay that accursed boy wonder that always tagged along with the Slayer. Both of them were unconscious. It seemed he was the one who had blindsided him. But from the shadows came another kid he hadn't seen before. And he already had that accursed white halo around him. God, whatever happened to normal helpless humans in this town?

"And who might you be?" he asked.

"Oz," the kid said. That name rang a bell.

"And what are they to you?" Spike asked, stopping 10 meters from the kid, "Are you another of the Slayer's lapdogs?"

"They're my friends," the kid said. But Spike noticed the kid seemed to hover closer to Willow then Xander.

"Is she your honey, mate?" Spike grinned as he finally understood. The kid flinched so he must have guessed right.

"She is, isn't she?"

"You will not harm her," the kid just said, assuming a fighting stance. So it would probably turn into a fight. Which suited Spike just fine, it had been some time since he got to thrash somebody around.

"You know it will not last," Spike said, as he started to stretch his arms and legs, "in the end, be it tomorrow, a year from now, or even a century from now, they will all leave you. It's in the nature of the bitches."

"Willow is no demon infested vampire," the kid said resolutely.

"Perhaps," Spike replied as he finished his stretching, "but women are all the same, no matter what they are. Mark my words, she will leave you at some point and then you will remember my words. That is, if you live to live that day."

Spike roared and his chi flame also sprang into life. Only more brightly then Oz.

x

x

In Angels' cavern Faith watched in rapture at the titanic struggle going on before her. So far the two of them seemed evenly matched in their territorial pissing contest, but she thought that Ms. Post would eventually get the upper hand. She seemed less exerted then B. who looked like she had to pour all of herself into it. It was then that she suddenly heard a voice calling her name.

"Faith!"

She turned around and saw Angel looking towards her.

"Faith," Angel said, his eyes pleading. Clearly he had managed to regain control of his facial muscles so he could talk again.

"Faith….. do… something!"

"You must be kidding, right," Faith said, "they've got me outclassed by so much it's not even funny!"

"Do….something," Angel said again with difficulty.

"What the Hell can I do," Faith said," I'm next to useless here."

"Glove….., source…., of…., power! Kienzan!

The kienzan attack was a flattened disc of energy whose edge had become so razor-sharp it could cut through the strongest steel, or even superior chi. They were amongst the most dangerous and deadly forms of chi attack. When a cocky vamp had hit town a few weeks ago Xander, again proving he was a comic geek, had used a kienzan disc, adorned in red and blue colors with a white star center, to decapitate the obnoxious bloodsucker. He had been so smug afterwards.

Faith nodded at Angel. He made a good case in just five words. She created a sphere , then flattened it into a disc, then she pushed and molded even more of its chi into its edges. Then she took aim at the evil Watcher bitch and whistled.

"Yo bitch," she yelled defiantly, "get away from her, you bitch!"

Ms. Post glanced at Faith, who until then she had ignored. The girl held a pink energy disc above her hand as if it were a pizza.

"A gift to you from the idiot," Faith yelled and threw the disc, "KIENZAN!"

The kienzan disc flew towards Ms. Post right arm and would severed it if it had hit. If being the operative word. Instead Ms. Post ducked at the last moment and the disc just sliced into the wall. It disappeared into the wall without any other visible effect. Then that section of wall blew up and erupted rubble and dust into the cavern.

Meanwhile Ms. Post almost lost control of her own attack as Buffy pushed back the sphere towards her. The evil Watcher had to pour everything in not only halting it, but to reverse the sphere towards Buffy. But she did.

"Not only an idiot, but also an incompetent idiot,' Gwendolyn said through gritted teeth, "better run Faith! For once I finished with Buffy I'm coming after you."

Cackling madly with power Gwen kicked up the output of her beam a notch and sent the sphere of death slowly but surely towards Buffy."

"Can't….keep…up," Buffy gritted between her teeth, the sphere inching closer.

"Buffy," Angel said weakly.

"This is going to hurt," Faith said as she made herself as small as possible and raised her chi in defense of a bigger bang.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion resounded through a significant section of the underground system. It caused a small earthquake to measure on various seismographs throughout Southern California. It attracted enough attention for a certain general underneath a certain Colorado mountain to make a phone call to Sunnydale later on to learn what in blazes name was going down there.

I'm alive, Faith thought as she opened her eyes. She couldn't see anything though, because even if the fights hadn't extinguished every torch and oil light, then surely the explosion had. That and the massive amounts of smoke and dust that now obscured the view. What the Hell just happened? Her ears hurt like hell, it wouldn't surprise her in the least if she had blood coming from them. Thank God for Slayer healing. That is, if she made it out of here in one peace to survive another day. Then, despite hearing that one big whistling tone she now constantly heard, she heard something else.

"I'm coming for you Faith!"

x

x

"Now, that was fun," Spike said as he stepped back to get his coat. Once he found it he pulled out a packet of cigarettes, took out a cigarette and lit it. Inhaling deeply he next exhaled intently and with great savour.

"Wasn't it fun?" he said as he sat down next to Oz, lying on the ground in great pain after having received a pounding by Spike's hands.

"Fun must be..., relative," Oz said through gritted teeth. Spike patted him on the shoulder.

"Sometimes you have fun and sometimes the fun has you," Spike shrugged, taking another puff..

"I think Xander said that once before," Oz coughed, spraying blood all over his clothes.

"He did?" Spike said surprised as he glanced at the still unconscious Xander, "I guess he's smarter then he looks then. Oh, God! It's been so long since I had a decent spot of violence."

Oz said nothing, as Spoke took another deep breath of cigarette smoke.

"Yep, really puts things in perspective."

"And now?" Oz asked.

"I'm really glad I came here, you know," Spike said as he patted Oz again, "I've been all wrong headed about this. Weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru back, I've just gotta be the man I was, the man she loved. I'm gonna do what I shoulda done in the first place: I'll find her, wherever she is, tie her up, torture her until she likes me again. Love's a funny thing."

"And us?" Oz coughed in pain.

Spike looked at Oz and the others.

"I guess all there is left to do is kill you guys," he said as he extinguished his cigarette, "Don't worry, I'll do it quickly. Least I can do."

Spike got up to gather his things and put on his coat.

Meanwhile Oz thought it over. Despite giving it the best he had it wasn't enough. Xander was going to die. Willow was going to die. His Willow! His only hope, letting himself get beaten up long enough in the hope Xander would get up soon had failed. Again it all depended on him. He knew he was better then 'full frontal assault' Spike. He just lacked the power. If only he had that power.

You can have that power, a voice in his mind said.

Who are you, Oz asked that voice.

The very thing you always seek to repress, the voice said. An image formed of a large werewolf howling into a full moon's night.

No, Oz thought to himself disapprovingly.

It's not like you have much choice now, do you, the werewolf's voice said, he is going to kill you, your good friend and your mate. Embrace what you are and the power will be yours! You knew this was going to happen the moment you accepted the Saiyan's offer to train you in the ways of Ozar'itsu.

Oz didn't reply and thought it over.

So what's it going to be, guitar boy, time is ticking! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Grrr, aargh!

Alright, Oz thought, what must I do?

You know the theory, the werewolf's voice said, all you have to do is allow it happen.

As Spike finally gathered his things he turned to finish of the kid. To his surprise the kid sat up straight, eyes closed as if he was meditating.

"Hey, kid," he said, "you're not going Buddhist on me, right? Cause I don't distinguish between pacifists and others. I just kill them all!"

The kid didn't answer. Instead he just opened his eyes. Instead of normal human eyes they were the eyes of an animal predator.

"What the," Spike said, as the kid rapidly started to change. Hair began to grow all over his body, a large animal snout replaced his mouth with way too many nasty teeth, the fingers of the hands lengthened and grew sharp nasty nails and he ripped out of his clothes.

"You're a bloody werewolf," Spike said surprised, "but how? It isn't even full moon yet!"

"I am more," the creature growled in a barely human voice as it arose on it's haunches. On the one hand the kid had turned into the most human looking werewolf Spike had ever seen. It even stood on its hind legs. And it could speak. On the other hand he looked even more inhuman by standing there like a human. Then it crossed it's forepaws in front of him and roared, making more sound then a bloody mist horn at point blank range. And then the chi winds started to blow as the white halo erupted massively.

"Bugger!" Spike said in amazement.

The werewolf then belched up a large fireball and hit Spike squarely on the chest.

"Bugger," Spike said as the blast sent him crashing against the wall and then detonated. Next thing he knew the thing jumped right against him and started to use those nasty claws to good effect.

"BUGGER!" Spike yelled as the damn thing started to rip his chest apart.

x

x

The bitch was still alive, Faith thought.

Despite everything that damn bitch was still alive. Next thing Faith knew strong chi winds started to blow and in the flickering from Ms. Post chi flames Faith could now make out the outline of Ms. Post, surrounded by her white halo of chi flames, with electrical discharges flaring around her. So this was going to be it! The end of the road for Faith. Not the kind of ending she would have chosen for herself. Like she once told Xander and Oz, I'd rather leave behind a crater then end up laying in one. But if it had to be….

"Do your worst, bitch," Faith roared defiantly as she raised her chi and her chi flames came into life, "I will not go down quietly!"

"If only," Ms. Post snorted, then she laughed, "I wonder if today two new Slayers will be reborn or just one. Shall we find out dear?"

"ENOUGH," a new voice thundered through the room, as a new set of chi winds started to blow away more smoke and dust from the cavern.

Where Buffy used to be now stood Belmovekk, flames of white chi blazing around him. Behind him the blast of Buffy's and Ms. Post's duel had created a whole new cavern even larger then the original. To the left of him Buffy lay on the ground unconscious, with Giles leaning over her.

"Ah, the master himself," Gwen said smug, "you should have taken me up on my offer. I really do have the utmost respect for your teachings. You are even better then the man I previously had. I could have learned so much more from you."

"I have nothing to teach you," Belmovekk hissed angry, "nothing but how to die!"

"Pff," Gwen snorted and held up her gloved hand, "the power is now mine! Magnified many times! There is nothing not even you can do. If a Slayer can't even stop me, then what chance does a mere human have? Even one as talented as you?"

Belmovekk started to smirk evilly.

"Who said I was human?" he smirked. As if to illustrate his point his tail uncoiled from around his waist. After he had returned from his adventure in deep space Belmovekk had placed an ignore compunction on his tail so he could go out without having to worry about people noticing his tail. People saw the thing coiled around his waist, they just didn't notice it. Only now that it had uncoiled from his waist did Gwendolyn Post took notice of it.

"What the," she said surprised. Then Belmovekk went Super Saiyan, and whatever remained of the dust clouds were really blown away in by bright yellow chi winds. It also now brightly illuminated the cavern.

Suddenly Ms. Post began to hurl lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the Saiyan, but these all bounced off harmlessly against his chi. She kept that up for a while, then she switched to her most powerful attack.

"DODONPA!"

The ruby read beam, with arced lightning twisting around it sped to the Super Saiyan. Belmovekk held out a hand and just grabbed the beam and held it's spear point in his hand.

"An interesting attack," he said tapping the scouter with his other hand, "a magnification factor of 2.2."

Then he closed his hand and the attack died a quiet death. Next he moved almost instantaneously in front of Ms. Post, who looked like she had seen a ghost. A creature from the oldest myths. She balled her right gloved hand and lunged for the Saiyan's face. He just grabbed her lower right arm near her elbow and smirked into her face.

"No," she cried desperately, "this can't be! You died 10.000 years ago…"

Then Belmovekk used his other hand to put his right hand on her face, thus preventing her from talking. Next he ripped off the Glove from her arm, including her arm up to her elbow. Miss Post's eyes grew big and a huge mumble of pain could he heard.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

"AAAAAHH," Belmovekk yelled and fired a chi blast from his right hand on her face at point blank range. It evaporated her head completely and her headless body dropped to the floor.

"Thus endeth the lesson," Belmovekk said as he powered down from Super Saiyan. Next he created a small ball of chi and sent it hanging on the air, causing the room to remain lighted as he went to Giles and Buffy, who was still unconscious.

"Is she alright, master Giles?" he asked worried.

"She's just tired," Giles said as he gently held Buffy in his lap, "other then that you intervened just at the right moment."

"The last moment is more likely,' the Saiyan nodded, "but the right moment past long before that."

Then the Saiyan turned moved over towards Angel.

"What…took….you…so…long," Angel said, still finding it difficult to talk.

"There were some problems, vampire," Belmovekk said looking down at Angel," not the least of which was you hiding here all this time."

"Wasn't…, my…, idea," Angel replied, "I…, .wanted…, too…, but…."

"I believe you, vampire," Belmovekk said as he knelt down next to Angel, "and I will not strike against you, or hold it against her. But you do realize that what the two of you had, you can never have again? Lest I be forced to hunt you down and kill you."

"I…., know," Angel said softly.

"I believe you," Belmovekk smiled at Angel, "and for what it is worth, I am truly sorry that I waited so long to re-soul you. You were…., part of the group. I…., no we should not have been so at the ready to have abandoned you. We will not make the same mistake again."

Patting Angel on his shoulder Belmovekk moved on and went to Faith who eyed him wearily. She had heard that the Saiyan could transform into a stronger form, but this was the first time she had seen it. The contemptuous ease with which he had dispatched uber-Gwendolyn gave her deep down a sick feeling in her stomach. Somehow it felt wrong. No person, no matter how evil, should be disposed of so offhand. So casual.

The Saiyan smiled at her.

"Are you alright, young lady?" he asked.

"Don't call me that," she said without thinking, then she put her hand on her mouth, "oh, shit, l'm sorry. I…"

"You have nothing to apologize for," the Saiyan said still smiling at her, "you have great heart, Faith, I shall look forward to getting to know you better."

His praise and warm smile almost made Faith forget what just happened. Almost. Then Belmovekk walked up to Ms. Post lifeless body and picked up the Glove of Myhnegon. As he did the remainder of the right hand and arm fell out of it. Holding up the Glove Belmovekk studied the device.

"Must….., destroy….., it," Angel's voice said.

"He is right," Giles added, "Lagos and Ms. Post aren't the only ones who would love to have that thing. As long as it exists it will draw them in. What if a really powerful demon got its hand on it? It has to be destroyed!"

"Destroyed, yes," the Saiyan said looking at the thing as a plan began to form, "wasted however, not."

x

x

Spike wasn't in a good mood as the damn werewolf had been wiping the floor with him and tearing him to shreds. It now held him by his right leg and was slinging him around like some Olympian athlete. Then it let go and Spike crashed against the wall.

"Damn it," Spike yelled, "only to have the werewolf jump on him and sink his teeth in his shoulder. An open handed strike managed to dislodge the beast and Spike rolled aside. He tried to kick the beast but the werewolf evaded the kick and instead spat out another fireball which Spike just barely managed to evade. He then charged the werewolf. It held out its claws for a deadly embrace, instead Spike jumped at the last minute and somersaulted over the beast. Landing behind the thing he managed to lock his arms around it's neck in a choke hold.

"Let's see you get out of that, wanker," he yelled triumphantly.

The werewolf started to claw at Spike's arms but he ignored the pain and kept holding on for dear life. Next the beast tried to slam itself backways into the wall, trying to crush Spike into letting go. And even though Spike felt like he'd really needed a first class chiropractor afterwards he still held on for everything he had. When that failed the werewolf tried to roll over the ground, clawing ever more at Spike's arms as it got ever more desperate. Then, as it grew weaker and weaker, it fell on its knees.

"Be a good little pooch and go to sleep for uncle Spike," Spike gritted.

Then the beast started to pound the floor, making the room shake. It's halo of chi came back into life, growing bigger with every strike.

"Won't you ever roll over and play dead, you mutt!" Spike yelled as he felt it getting harder to hold on.

From deep inside the beast came a guttural roar. Then it's chi grew to even greater heights and it actually blew Spike off.

"Fuck," Spike yelled as he was blasted to the other side of the room. Only to be jumped again by the werewolf, its claws ready to swipe.

"I hate sodding Sunnydale!" Spike said as another swipe by the damn beast made another deep gash on his already badly mauled chest, "If it's not the sodding Slayer it's her sodding enchanted paladin, and if it's not him it's the sodding Big Scary!"

Spike head butted the werewolf and send it staggering a few feet back. Enough time to form an energy attack between his hands where a large yellow sphere appeared.

"And now its sodding werewolves," Spike yelled and pressed the energy attack at point blank range against the beast's chest, "hope you like this, you damn mutt! Fetch this!"

The blast was big, not the biggest Spike could do at such short notice, but it sufficed to send the werewolf back against the wall. Spike raced for the exit and as he saw the werewolf getting up already and about to jump him he lobbed another energy attack behind him. Straight for Willow.

The werewolf snarled at Spike, wanted to go after Spike to rip him to shreds, but knew almost instinctively that it had to protect its mate foremost. So it jumped towards Willow and let itself be hit by the blast. It was not a big blast but big enough to incinerate Willow if it had hit her. As the dust settled it roared in defiance at Spike, but the vampire had already buggered off. It still wanted to pursue the vampire, but the tug of the mate was strong. It couldn't just abandon her.

So it sat down next to Willow in a very human way, its hind legs cross-legged underneath it. Then it began its vigil.

x

x

"What do you mean?" Giles asked as the Saiyan studied the Glove, "not wasted away?"

"On the world I lived on there resided a people of demon worshippers," Belmovekk said, "the Karands. Granted, they do not get to do much demon worshipping lately because their neighbors, the Angaraks, put a stop to it."

"Sounds like a good thing," Faith said as she came up to the two men.

Belmovekk let out a quick snort.

"Only if you exclude how usually it is customary in Angarak temples to sacrifice a human heart to their God at least once a day. Even more on festivals. Overall I do not think they traded up."

"Bummer!" Faith said.

"Anyway," Belmovekk continued, "back in the good old days I studied Karand demon lore and learned of a ritual that can siphon power from a dying demon and pass it onto others. I intend to siphon off the power of this glove and pass it on to the youngsters. I can make them stronger."

"Cool," Faith exclaimed. She clearly didn't need any more of a sales pitch.

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?" Giles said aghast, clearly needing more, "I mean the power we are talking about is enormous."

"Precisely," the Saiyan said, still examining the Glove, "it would be pointless to let it go to waste. Ms. Post, although above average for a human, was able to defeat Buffy in combat. Buffy rates at almost 900 these days. Which meant she got a massive increase from the Glove."

"But you are talking about a diabolical weapon of evil power," Giles countered, unleashing such energy could be dangerous, not to mention harmful!"

The Saiyan turned his head towards Giles.

"According to your copy of Sir Robert Kane's Twilight Compendium the Glove of Myhnegon was originally crafted by Myhnegon to defeat demons in ancient Ireland," Belmovekk said, "this thing is not evil. Its only evil lies in that it attracts evil doers who crave its possession. That was why it was hidden. In a way my solution is not only elegant, it is also poetic justice, as finally its power can be used for good again."

"But Myhnegon used dark magic to create this thing," Giles said, still objecting strongly to the idea, "we have no idea how this may work out!"

"We use dark magicks all the time," the Saiyan said pointing to the urn Angel had been using for the Living Flame, "dark magic is not inherently evil and white magic is not inherently good. You know that, Master Giles. It is what you choose to do with it that determines its moral outcome. I say we use it to do some good."

"Do…., it!" Angel's voice said, "For…., her! ... Need…., every …., chance!"

"That reminds me," Faith suddenly said worried, "Short Stuff! Wasn't Red kidnapped? Shouldn't we go and help them?"

Belmovekk tapped his scouter with a sly smile.

"It would seem that that particular emergency has been taken care of."

x

x

It took Willow a long time to awaken, but when she did she found Oz sitting almost naked beside her.

"Are you alright?" she asked. He looked anything but alright, and that was without taking the nakedness into account.

"I am now," Oz smiled weakly, "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm so happy to see you," Willow said and embraced Oz, "I thought I was going to die."

Then Willow looked around.

"Where's Spike?" she asked as she couldn't see the vampire..

"Gone," Oz said, "he had an elsewhere to be."

"Then why the grim?" Willow asked, "Or the nakedness? You haven't been naked sin…, oh dear!"

Suddenly Willow understood what happened. And clasped her mouth in shock.

"You didn't?" she asked concerned and Oz nodded ashamed.

"It was the only way," Oz said dejected

"So it worked then?" Willow asked.

"I got the extra strength, but it wasn't pleasant. I can remember it. And there might still be…., control issues."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Willow said, then she face lit up in a smile, "it must have given Spike a nasty shock though. Seeing you go all werewolf on him."

"That it did," Oz chuckled weakly.

"Where's Xander," Willow asked as she looked around. Then she saw Xander lay behind Oz.

"Is he….?" she asked worried. Oz looked over his shoulder towards Xander, who lay there breathing regularly

"Nah, he's just sleeping. He even snored a minute ago."

Then he poked Xander.

"Wake up, sleepy head," he said as Xander awoke disoriented.

"Step aside you….." he muttered before realizing where he was, "what happened? And what's with the nakedness?"

Oz filled them in on what had happened.

"Damn! I missed it all," Xander muttered disappointed.

"You seem to miss all the interesting action lately," Oz said.

"So it would seem," Xander agreed, "you know what, if you dare to pull them on I'll go commando and you can borrow my boxer shorts and my t-shirt."

"It's not like I have much choice," Oz said looking around. In the light of the only lamp left there was little clothing to be found, other then his own shredded clothes.

"Good," Xander said and pointed to the tunnel from where they originally had come from, "I'll go change over in that tunnel."

Xander did as promised and in no time a pair of boxer briefs and a t-shirt was thrown into the cavern.

"I'll give you some privacy," Willow said and pointed towards the tunnel where Xander was.

"That would be nice, sweetie," Oz said and started gathering Xander's clothes. As soon as Willow had disappeared from view Oz started to put them on.

"I think Spike hit me too hard on the nose," he called out, "which is a blessing in disguise. Now I don't have to smell your skidmarks, Xander. Don't you ever wipe your ass?"

"Forever the optimist," Xander said as he stood in the tunnel holding a smiling Willow in his arms, then they leaned over and started kissing each other madly.

x

x

"Wow," Faith said as the group filtered into the Library the next day, "I feel great!

They had just returned from the gravity gym where they had undergone the power-up ritual that came with the destruction of the Glove of Myhnegon. With Buffy, Xander, Faith and Oz being the recipients of the power-up. Angel had been left out because Belmovekk claimed he could only do the ritual for four persons and, let's face it, because few trusted him enough yet to be recipient of yet another power-up.

"Well, don't let it get to your head," Oz said as he and Buffy lowered the exhausted Saiyan in a chair.

"Who, me?" Faith smiled looking over her shoulders. She then did some quick movements to see how it felt doing them. She punched some air in a routine move and to her surprise a bookstand fell over ten meters away.

"Shit," Faith gasped, "how…I…"

"Bloody hell, lower yourselves," Giles exclaimed angry as he ran towards the bookstand, "for God sakes, keep yourself under control until you're used to it. A five times increase in power takes some getting used to."

Giles then proceeded to pick up his precious books.

"Told them nothing good would come of it," he muttered agrieved while he picked up his precious books.

As Oz and Faith went over to help Giles pick up books Buffy looked at Belmovekk, who looked terribly exhausted.

"So, does this mean you're back?" she asked, "You did take charge again."

"A one time affair, young lady," the Saiyan said as he shook his head, "I promised I would stop running your life and I intend to keep that promise."

"You know, helping out does not equal running my life," she said, then she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Why did you do that, young lady," Belmovekk asked surprised.

"For not speaking out against Angel," she smiled, "for giving him the benefit of the doubt even though I lied to you all, and I guess for not killing him."

"He deserves another chance," Belmovekk smiled back at her, "even if he is a dirty vampire."

Buffy rolled her eyes and gave him a tap on the head.

"You sure know how to kill a mood," she said angrily. But her anger was insincere and they both knew it.

"Do you know where Angel is going to reside?" Belmovekk asked, "I hear the building next to mine is empty."

"You sure you stopped running my life?" she asked looking suspiciously at him but the Saiyan managed to keep a straight face.

"I only asked because if Angel desires to train in the Gym it would be helpful if he didn't live so far from it. As I do not have underground access."

"He will manage," Buffy said, "I hear he's thinking of buying a place on Crawford Street."

"Crawford Street is not that far from my place," Belmovekk agreed.

"Speaking of your place," Buffy said looking oddly at Belmovekk, "since when do you have a cat?"

"Nobody owns a cat," Belmovekk smiled, "cats merely tolerate their owners."

Buffy gave him a suspicious look, as if she suspected he was holding back something. Then she looked around.

"Where are Willow and Xander?" she asked.

x

x

In an empty classroom not that far away Xander and Willow kissed each other frantically until Willow pushed away Xander.

"We can't keep on doing this," she said, her voice trembling.

"I know," Xander wailed, his voice equally under duress, "it's not normal. I must have taken six cold showers since it happened."

Willow folded her arms across her chest and turned away to face the window.

"I contacted Amy this morning and consulted her spellbook," she said, "I don't understand what went wrong. I really did what it said."

"Apparently not," Xander said as he paced nervously as a junkie that had gone to long without a fix, "for which I'm profoundly grateful. Thank God at least for small favors! I couldn't bear the thought of having half of Sunnydale chasing me again!"

"Or the other half chasing me," Willow added. Both said nothing for a while until Willow felt Xander's breath in her neck.

"God, you smell great," he said as he put his arms around her waist.

"I didn't even shower," Willow said as she desperately fought her desire to turn around and kiss Xander.

"Then maybe you shouldn't" Xander sniffed, "showers are so much overrated anyway."

"Showering together is fun though," Willow said as she leaned her head back so Xander could kiss her neck. Which he then did.

"I hear the science lab has a shower to wash off acid spills," he said.

"That would be nice," Willow sighed, then she turned around and pushed Xander away, "be strong remember!"

"I can't," Xander sighed as he sat down on a bench, "maybe it comes naturally for you girls as you always say no to us boys. But we boys aren't trained to say no on demand! If the hot chicks come up to us and says fuck my brains out we can only say yes."

"So you think I'm hot then?" Willow smiled, only to then look away in disgust with her self, "bad Willow, bad!"

Some more silence followed as Xander stared blankly to the ground and Willow thought some more.

"We have no choice," Willow finally said, "we must tell the others what happened."

"Uh, you do realize Oz has just undergone a five times increase in power?" Xander said, pointing to the Library, "He'll rip us to shreds!"

"5.3 actually," Willow corrected, "and don't you want to come clean before Cordelia?"

"In her case I take the Fifth," Xander said, "at least she won't rip me to shred with some uber-werewolf transformation."

"Hell hath no greater fury then a woman scorned," Willow smiled.

"I don't plan to go to Hell in a long time, but on this Earth I think it bodes well to stay on the good side of a part-time werewolf who can bring out his inner werewolf," Xander countered, then he looked up at Willow, "I mean, he wouldn't really rip us to shreds, right? We do get bonus points for not having slept together yet, despite suffering from a love spell?"

"We did kiss a lot," Willow said.

"I'm doomed," Xander moaned.

Willow started to pace the room.

"Okay, so maybe telling everybody's a bad idea. But how about telling only Giles? He fixed things the last time, right? And it is the same spell, right?"

"Giles is good," Xander said enthusiastically, "he'll know what to do. Although he will go all disappointing on you for having meddled with magic again, and me for getting in the way as usual."

"But it's not like it was my fault," Willow pouted, "I mean, I didn't plan to do this, right? It was Spike who forced me to do it! If it wasn't for him I'd be nice at home with Oz and you'd be going all smoochies with Cordelia…."

"It's okay, Will," Xander said as he hugged his friend, "no matter what they say it's not your fault."

"I just wish this was over," she said, burying her face on his shoulder, "I feel like I'm in a never ending nightmare from which I can't awake!"

"Shhh," Xander said. Then the two looked each other in the face.

"It's not good if we're this close," she said weakly.

"Yeah," Xander shrugged, "you know, maybe we shouldn't fight it."

"What!"

"Think about it," Xander continued, "maybe the more we fight it, the stronger it becomes. Maybe if we have a good locker-door affair we can make it through the rest of the day without ripping each other's clothes off."

Willow thought about it for a moment.

"You may have a point."

Next thing they knew they started kissing each other wildly and passionately, with heavy emphasis on the oral interaction. After a full minute snog they finally disengaged.

"I think that hit the spot, Willow Rosenberg," Xander smiled at her.

"I think so too, Xander Harris," Willow smiled back, "now let's get back to the oth…"

As they turned around they noticed that a whole group of students had entered the classroom and stood there gazing at them with mouths open. Including amongst them one Cordelia Chase together with Harmony.

"This is not what it looks like," Xander said sheepishly, still holding Willow.