Imperium - Part One

Imperium – Part One

The next morning, Buffy awoke to a tangle of long limbs and a face full of messy, brown hair. "Oh God," she groaned, as the thumping in her head began to make its presence known. She tried to sit up, but her progress was hampered by the large arm slung casually across her upper body. "Sam," she called, maneuvering herself so that she could poke him in the shoulder. "Sam, wake up."

He shifted a little and moaned loudly, bringing one of his hands up to cover his face. "Tolyouishundrinsomch," he mumbled.

"Huh now?"

"Told you I shouldn't drink so much. Think I'm dying." He removed his hand from his face and placed it onto his stomach before turning over and burying his head in a pillow. "No, I know I'm dying."

"Ugh. Me too. I can't decide what feels worse, my head or my stomach."

"Good."

"Gee, thanks Sammy. Are you such a charmer with all the girls or am I just special?"

Sam, lifting up to look at Buffy, blushed and shook his head, bringing on another round of painful groaning. When the banging between his ears had been reduced to a quiet thumping once more, he explained, "No, I just meant that I'm glad I don't have to suffer alone."

Buffy, deciding that that wasn't much more gentlemanly, huffed and squeezed her eyes shut, desperate for the churning in her stomach to stop. "Uh, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Your leg is kinda...in-between mine."

"Oh!" His blush intensified, spreading right down to his neck and to the tips of his ears. He swiftly removed the offending leg and the arm that he had discovered draped across her stomach. "God. Sorry, Buffy. Uh...sorry. I didn't mean to...you know..."

She giggled, and reached a hand over to pat his shoulder comfortingly. "Sam, chill out. We were dunk, we fell asleep, we got tangled. No need to be embarrassed."

His mind eased with the knowledge that she didn't think him some sort of pervert, and Sam leaned his head back and chuckled. "Man, we were pretty out of it last night. I can't believe we got kicked out of two bars."

"Three."

"Nah. Last one didn't count. The doorman wouldn't even let us in. Said we were too drunk and then when we tried to get in anyway he carried you out over his shoulder and dragged me by the collar of my shirt."

"God, how humiliating. At least we didn't fight back. Could've done some real damage." She thought for a moment about her clumsy, drunken state. "Or not."

They laid in comfortable silence for another few minutes, before Buffy began opening and closing her mouth experimentally. "Dry mouth," she claimed, when she caught Sam looking at her oddly out of the corner of his eye.

Discovering his own dry mouth, Sam thought longingly about the kitchen and the nice, cold glass of water that was awaiting him there. If only he could remove the jellied feeling from his legs. "We should probably get up."

Buffy rolled over. "Blah. Getting up is for losers."

"Don't you have to teach a class today?"

Buffy's eyes widened and she scrambled into a half way sitting position, ignoring how nauseous it made her feel. "Crap! What time is it?"

He lifted his watch arm to his face and squinted. With his hangover induced headache, he was finding it difficult to make out the blurred numbers. "Just past nine."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Buffy flopped back down on the bed and flicked Sam's ear playfully. "My class isn't 'till twelve, silly. Don't scare me like that." She massaged her closed eyes with the tips of her fingers, grumbling when she felt the remainders of the makeup she had forgotten to take off the night before. "Ew. I need to take a shower. Badly."

"Me too," he agreed. "You go first and I'll make us some coffee." He squeezed his eyes closed as his head gave a particularly hard thud. "And some painkillers."

"Thanks," she returned gratefully. "There should be some under the sink in the kitchen. I leave them there for Faith for when she gets...you know...like this."

"Okay. Right. Getting up," he said, after a long minute of silent preparing. He braced himself for a moment, and then took a deep breath and rolled over towards the edge of the bed, desperately hoping he wasn't about to throw up all over Buffy's floor. Happy to have achieved his first task, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and lifted himself into a seated position using his arms as support. Finally, he managed to push himself up so that he was stood on his wobbly two legs. "Whoa, dizzy," he mumbled, reaching one arm out for the wall as he swayed.

Buffy, having gone through all the exact same motions on the opposite side of the bed, took a moment to right herself before stumbling around her room, searching for her shower things. Gathering them, she followed Sam out of the door and watched him head down into the kitchen before she turned into the bathroom, thanking God that she hadn't bumped into Faith or Dean so far this morning. She definitely needed to clear herself up before facing the teasing that she was sure to come if they had any idea about their drunken exploits the night before.

Sam had been nursing his rapidly cooling cup of coffee for ten minutes before his brother entered the kitchen. "Morning," he greeted weakly.

After Dean didn't reply, he turned to look at the silent man, who was staring at him right back, his expression sullen and accusing.

"What?" a perplexed Sam inquired.

Dean pulled a face Sam hadn't witnessed since they were both grumpy teenagers and shrugged his shoulders defiantly, turning away and stomping over towards the cupboards. He opened one with a bang, before slamming it shut and repeating the action with two others. Sam wondered what it was he was looking for, or if he was even looking for anything at all.

"Dude, are you pissed or something?"

Dean slammed another cupboard shut and span around to face Sam. "No," he answered hotly. "Why would I be pissed?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking."

"Well I'm not!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Well you're clearly not fine!"

"Jesus, Sammy! Drop it."

"Maybe I would if you'd stop slamming around the place!"

"Whoa, guys! Time out." The two brothers stopped their bickering and turned towards the kitchen doorway, where a puzzled Faith was entering, followed by an ill looking Buffy. "What's with all the noise? One of you kids drop your ice pop?"

"No real reason," Sam explained. "Dean's just being a jerk."

Buffy snorted and rolled her eyes. "Color me surprised," she muttered.

Dean mumbled something unintelligible under his breath and went back to searching through the cupboards. Buffy moved over towards Sam, who handed her a couple of aspirin pills and a glass of water.

"Thanks." Buffy popped them in her mouth and gulped at the water, swallowing it and letting out a relieved sigh. "Boy, I can't wait for those to kick in."

"So," Faith started, sitting herself down on one of the kitchen stools and giving Buffy and Sam a knowing smirk. "You guys have fun last night?"

Buffy and Sam looked at each other, remembering the the alcohol – the bad badness of the alcohol – and groaned simultaneously.

Dean stopped pretending to be looking for something and hoisted himself up onto the kitchen counter – ignoring the disgruntled glare that Buffy shot him – as he became very interested in what the pair had to say. He crossed his arms and looked at Sam with a raised brow. "Yeah, you got in late last night, Sammy. Upset little Andy with all your dirty talk." He waggled his eyebrows. His tone was playful, but there was also a hint of venom in there too.

Buffy's forehead creased together as she tried to figure out what he meant. "Where is Andrew, anyway? He's usually up by now. And what dirty talk?"

"Oh Sam! It's just so big and hard!" Dean mimicked in a high pitched voice. "Wherever shall I put that thing?"

"What? What are you talking about? When did I say that? I never said that! And my voice does not sound like that."

Dean grinned and continued, lowering his voice just a touch. "Ooh Buffy! That's right! Just like that."

"Damn, that was some hot stuff last night," Faith added. "Almost couldn't get back to sleep."

Sam and Buffy glanced at each other again, bewildered looks adorning their faces. What the hell were Faith and Dean talking about? Buffy stretched her mind back to the night before, wondering when they could have possibly come to this conclusion. She knew that Sam had joked about stopping off at a motel, but it wasn't like they had actually gone through with it.

She shook her head, trying to remember. They had stumbled in, fallen on and off of her bed, played with Sam's gun. She could barely remember their conversation but she was pretty sure there hadn't been any dirty talk...

...wait.

They had played with Sam's gun.

Well that alone sounded dirty enough.

She stifled the sudden urge to laugh. No, she couldn't remember what had been said between she and Sam the night before but clearly there had been some kind of a misunderstanding.

Not willing to let Faith and Dean get one up on them, she sidled over to Sam and slipped onto his lap, sliding her arms around his neck and kissing his his ear. "Play along, Sammy," she whispered. Louder, she let out a defeated sigh. "Well, they caught us, Sam. How very embarrassing."

"Ha!" Dean taunted smugly, pointing at the two of them with an accusing finger. "I knew it! Damn, you two were loud enough to force poor Andy out of the apartment. That's just naughty."

Sam slipped an arm around Buffy's waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Wow guys, we're really sorry. Did we wake you with all the noise we were making? How incredibly inconsiderate of us, huh Buffy?"

Neither Faith nor Dean seemed to catch the sarcasm in Sam's voice, and neither did they notice the irony.

"Whatever, just keep it down from now on," a completely oblivious Faith answered kindly. "I'm all for you guys getting your happies with each other but I need to catch my z's, you know?"

"I hear ya," Dean muttered.

Sam and Buffy could only watch the pair of them in disbelief, each wondering how two people could be so smart and yet so...dumb.

Buffy sighed and slid herself off of Sam's lap, grumbling to herself under her breath as she left the kitchen to get ready for work.

Later that afternoon after she had completed her lessons, Buffy was sat at her office desk in the school when there was a sharp rapping on her door. Without looking away from her lesson notes, she called at whoever it was to enter.

"Good morning, Buffy," Giles greeted as he pushed open the door, before sitting himself down opposite her on the other side of the desk.

"It's afternoon, Giles," she replied distractedly. She sighed and put down her notes and looked up at her old watcher. "Hey. Did Andrew stay at your place last night?"

Giles let out a disgruntled huff and nodded. "Yes. Turned up at half two in the bloody morning, inconsiderate fool. Mentioned something about not being able to sleep over all the noise." He blushed while giving her a pointed look. "He also said something about you and the younger Winchester boy, Sam?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. Great. With the way Andrew blabbed, the rest of the school should be hearing about what had not happened last night right about now. Keeping secrets in this place was like trying to keep a wasp trapped inside a bubble.

She was about to set him straight when she noticed him shift awkwardly in his chair. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, clearly trying to say something, though obviously having difficulties on quite how to do it.

"Spit it out, Giles," Buffy demanded eventually, leaning back in her chair and narrowing her eyes.

He sighed. "Do you...do you think it wise getting involved with a Winchester? I only ask because I worry about you and I know that he'll be leaving once we have found and destroyed the demon that caused you and Faith to share one of your slayer dreams. And I know that Faith is..." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "...involved with his brother, but Faith is...uhm...happier with casual...oh, I'm really not saying this right. What I mean to say is that...is that..."

"Giles, I didn't sleep with Sam." She decided to put him out of his misery before he really said something they'd both regret.

Giles blushed and seemed to lose his voice for a moment. "I never said...oh dear...I..."

"Now we've established that fact, can we change this very uncomfortable subject?"

He slumped down his chair in relief. "Oh yes, please do."

"Right. Did you come by my office for a reason? Or just to ask me about my love life? Or lack of."

"Oh! Yes, actually. There was a reason. I wanted to know whether your contact could spread any further light on the pendant?"

Buffy frowned. "What contact?"

"The one you said you were taking the pendant to last night. You said you were going to show it to him and he was going to see if he knew anything about it because he was an expert on mystical gemstones."

Buffy's heart began to beat rather uncomfortably in her chest as she realized that something was seriously wrong here. "Giles, what are you talking about? I never said that. I never took the pendant anywhere."

"You did! Last night! You called me up at six in the evening – I remember because I was just about to sit down for my evening meal – and asked me to meet you in town with the pendant. And then we met up and I gave you the pendant and I left because your contact wanted to meet you and only you. Remember?"

"No! Giles, I was with Sam last night. All night. As soon as I left the school I went home, I got ready, and then Sam and I went out. I didn't speak to you at all!"

Giles' eyes widened and his face drained of color as the repercussions of the situation dawned on him. "Oh, bloody hell."

An hour later, everyone had gathered together for an emergency meeting in the school library, and Giles and Buffy were explaining about the Buffy lookalike and the stolen pendant.

"Is it the First?" Xander asked shakily. "Is the First back? Because if it is then let me be the first to say a big Oh God!"

"No, Xander, it's not the first," Giles was quick reassure him, because he was certain it was on a few people's minds. "Though a valid question, I am – without a doubt – certain that it is not the First. I distinctly remember touching Buffy's hand whilst handing over the pendant, and when somebody jostled me on the street she grasped my shoulder to keep me from falling."

"And what's with that, anyway?" Xander continued. "Handing the pendant over to some unknown?"

Giles looked affronted. "I thought it was Buffy! She was exactly the same. Talked the same, acted the same, looked the same. Everything."

"Maybe it was another Buffybot?" Willow suggested.

"No." Giles looked strained as he continued. "After spending so much time with the Buffybot...that summer...I am more than capable of distinguishing between a robotic version of Buffy and a human version. The Buffybot had a certain...forced way of being. This Buffy seemed human enough to me. I just can't imagine who or what it was."

"What's a Buffybot?" Dean asked.

Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow glanced at each other and grimaced.

"Uh...I'll explain later," Buffy promised.

Truth be told, the Buffybot brought back bad memories for all of them. It reminded them of Sunnydale at it's worst. Warren, and Tara's death, followed by Willow and her evil, grief ridden rampage. Badness all around. And lots of it. And there was just no way they any of them wanted to bring it up again in a big group discussion. But Buffy would tell Dean. He'd earned it. He and Sam had been completely honest about their past, and willing to jump in and help the moment they were asked. And so Buffy would tell him. Just...later. When they were in private. Oddly enough, when they were alone together seemed to be the only time the two were able to talk with any civility anyway.

"Maybe Buffy's got an identical twin sister she didn't know about?" Andrew suggested. Everybody simultaneously turned to look at him, stupefied expressions on their faces. "What?" he asked with a shrug of his shoulders. "It happens. Maybe you were unwittingly swapped at birth and your identical twin sister has been living with the real Buffy Summers all these years, thinking that they were nonidentical twins, and now she's finally found out the truth and she's getting revenge on you by stealing your stuff."

There was a long silence at the table as everybody tried to make sense of what he had just said, before Faith dismissed Andrew's ridiculous idea by saying, "Or not."

Andrew sat back in his chair and crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip.

A couple more ideas were thrown about the table, though none that seemed to make any particular sense. The occupants, Buffy especially, were becoming more and more agitated as no answer seemed to come forth.

And then a switch flicked in Sam's brain, and he could have kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. "Shape-shifter!" he voiced excitedly.

The rest of the table glanced at him, regarding his outburst a little doubtfully. Dean was the only one who nodded his head in agreement, comprehension dawning on his face.

"A shape-shifter?" Kennedy was the first one to speak up. "What the hell is that?"

"It would explain how it knew all of Buffy's traits," Dean mused. "Although from what I remember Dad telling me, shifters are known to just cause needless destruction."

"So why would it take Buffy's form?" Sam wondered, thoughtfully.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Buffy broke in impatiently. "Back up here a second. Explainy for the people who have no idea what you guys are talking about, please?"

Before Sam and Dean had a chance to indulge her, Giles pushed out his chair and stood up. "Of course," he muttered to himself. He moved over to one of the bookshelves and skimmed through them before murmuring, "Aha!" in satisfaction and sliding one out.

At the same time, Dean twisted around to get the jacket he had flung carelessly over the back of his chair and reached into one of the pockets to pull out his father's journal. He slapped it down on the table in front of him and flipped through it until he found the page on shape-shifters "Our dad faced one of these when we were kids," he informed the other occupants of the table. "They not only take on your appearance, but your identity, your personality, down to all your annoying habits. They somehow know your past, the way you think, even your past thoughts."

"Yes," Giles chimed in, leafing through the book as he returned to the table. "And although it is easier for them if they keep the person they are impersonating alive, it isn't necessarily vital." He placed the open book down on a table and they all leaned forward to take a look.

A collective 'Ew!" came from all who were close enough to see it. On the page that Giles had pointed to was a drawing of a man on his knees. His face wore the expression of agony as he literally ripped the skin off of his body in great, seeping chunks.

"So that's the shape-shifter?" Buffy queried, after she had sat back and collected herself. It was things like that that did not help towards her still recovering stomach.

"That's an example of a shape-shifter, yes. There is no the shape-shifter. Like many demons, there are more than one," Giles corrected..

"Right. So back to Sam's question. Why did this shape-shifter uh...shift into me? And why did she...it...trick you into giving her the pendant?"

"Maybe she's the big bad our dream was warning us about," Faith suggested.

Giles shook his head. "Unlikely. A Shape-shifter alone wouldn't pose much of a threat, especially to a slayer. They're only about as strong as your average vampire, I'd say. And all it takes to kill them is a silver bullet or knife through the heart."

"She could be working with someone," Andrew offered. "Or what if someone hired her. Do people hire shape-shifters? I bet they could make a lot of money. They'd be like, the coolest secret spy ever!"

Sam frowned. "I've never heard of a shifter working with or for anyone before. As far as I know they're supposed to be quite solitary. They work alone. And they're not exactly the evil minion type."

"Evil minion," Giles repeated absentmindedly, before his eyes widened comically. "Evil minion! Of course!" Once again, he leaped up out of his chair, ignoring the way the others winced as its legs scraped against the floor with a loud screech. Muttering quietly to himself, he headed back over to the bookcases, scanning the shelves quickly until he found what he was looking for. He slipped the book out and hurriedly skimmed through it as he resat himself back down in his seat.

Willow, the only one still paying him any attention, watched him with a worried expression, silently wondering whether he was getting quite enough sleep.

"Oh my," he blurted finally.

But everyone else, too taken up with their own separate conversations which had formed whilst he had been busy browsing the shelves, barely even noticed him as they speculated amongst each other about this recent turn of events.

"Oh my!" he repeated, louder this time.

Yet again, no one but Willow paid him any attention.

He picked up the heavy book and slammed it down hard on the table. "I said oh my!" he shouted.

The room became silent as heads all swiveled to look at the older man with raised eyebrows and entertained expressions at his small hissy fit.

"I think we broke him," Xander whispered to Buffy.

Buffy snorted, trying to hide her amusement at his joke, before calming herself and becoming serious before she turned back to Giles. "Are you okay?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Without saying anything, Giles turned his book around and pushed it forward so that both Buffy and Faith could see the page that had caused him so much distress.

"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Holy crap! Those are the weird little white faced guys we saw in our dream!" Faith added excitedly as she studied the picture.

Giles rubbed his forehead with both of his hands in distress. "I feel like such an idiot," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "How can I have not thought to look in there before. All this time I've been concentrating on these demons as our main villains when really..."

"They're just the lackeys," Buffy finished, as she read the inscription next to the picture of the demon. "The evil minions."

"So the demons that Buffy and Faith saw in their prophetic dream are just hired hands?" Rana concluded. "Which means that although formidable, they are not our real problem. Whoever it is that hired them in the first place is the one we need to keep on guard for." She shook her head in thoughtfully. "But however do we learn who that is?"

"We don't need to," Giles announced grimly, pulling the book back towards him. "Buffy and Faith's white faced demons are a man made breed called the Tababton. They were created over half a century ago."

"Man made?" Vi looked horrified at the though.

"They were once men, until their bodies and minds were corrupted. Ordinary men, stolen away from their families in the dead of night and locked away in dank caverns and caves deep underground. At least, that's how the tales go. Once taken, they were put through trials, and promised freedom once they were completed, which was a complete falsehood of course. The trials were so horrific that the men slowly became insane, and the things their bodies endured corrupted them somehow. And at the end of the trials – if they were still alive – they, now barely even human, were force fed some kind of magic potion, which bound them to their captor and prolonged their lives."

"God!" Kennedy sounded disgusted, which mirrored the rest of the groups feelings accurately. "Who the hell did this to them? 'Cause whoever it was, seriously needs to die a painful and gruesome death."

Giles expression darkened and his voice lowered considerably. "Hatoss."

The dark skinned girl grinned in delight as she held the pendant up to her eyes to take a closer look. It was so pretty. So shiny. And filled with such...darkness. It made her skin positively tingle. He would be very pleased with her for getting it back. Maybe he would reward her? Probably not.

She heard a low, delighted chuckle from behind her and span around. And there he stood. The room had been empty not a second before, and the door was still locked. She shuddered, not wanting to think of what kind of magic he possessed. He frightened her. All demons frightened her. And yet humans frightened her even more. It was why she hunted them. Killed them. Wished she could be one of them.

"You got it back!" he crowed, striding over towards her and unhooking it from where it dangled from her fingers. "Well isn't that just nice? Guess I don't need to torture you after all. And just in time, too."

"Hatoss is here?"

"Almost. He's arriving in town tomorrow."

"He's early. By almost a week."

"Yes, he is. I don't know, thinks he's all that just because he's been around a mere half a century. But who am I to complain? The sooner the better, huh?"

The girl nodded and stepped over towards the large window. She almost flinched as the bright sun glowed upon her. It didn't affect her, like she knew it did some demons, but she so rarely went out during the daytime that it always surprised her how bright the sun could actually shine.

"So how'd you get it, anyhow?" he asked, unaware of her inner thoughts.

She turned to face him, a little confused and dazed by the effects of the sun. He held the pendant up and dangled it, the expression on his face betraying how much of an idiot he really thought she was. How little he thought of her. But still she gravitated towards him, desperate to please him, to make him think more of her.

"It was easy," she bragged, flicking her hair casually. "Too easy, in fact. I was almost disappointed in the lack of challenge."

"You changed into her, didn't you?" His eyes danced with excitement.

She nodded. "Into Buffy Summers. The Chosen One. Or, one of the chosen ones, should I say."

He waved her last comment aside. "Those other little girls don't count. She gave them their powers. She is the only real chosen one."

The dark skinned girl shook her head. "There is the other one, don't forget. The reformer."

"No, she doesn't matter to me. She's a glitch. She's always been a glitch. Continue with your tale, my dear." She hated how he was only ever gracious to her when he wanted something, and yet she loved it at the same time.

"I changed into her and simply called up her watcher. He was more than happy to meet me and hand the pendant right over. Boneheaded human."

He shook his head disbelievingly. "And yet he is the one chosen to lead their army of watchers. The men who keep the slayers on track. Seems awful foolish to me. And he didn't suspect a thing?"

"Not at all. Although I imagine when he talks to Buffy Summers today he will learn of my deceit and it may perturb him sightly." She grinned evilly.

"It's a good thing she wasn't with him when you called to arrange the meeting, huh?"

"I checked first!" She looked offended at the thought that he would accuse her of not checking from all angles before carrying out her plan. "She was with the Winchester boy."

His face morphed into a mask of delight. It was almost twisted, in a way. "Little Sammy?"

"Yes."

"Oh! Oh, well now that just warms my heart, it really does." He looked down at the body he was wearing. "Or it warms his, anyway. I was wondering when the Winchester boys would show up. They do seem to have a knack for it. And Buffy and Sammy are friendly, are they? I could just skip and dance in all my joy."

"But I thought you said that it wasn't time for the Winchester boy yet? You said he's not ready."

"It's not and he isn't. But if all goes according to plan – which it will – the two of them will be working very closely together in the future. Doesn't hurt for them to acquaint themselves with each other in the meantime." He smiled for a moment, before clapping his hands together delightedly and spinning on his heel. "Well, time's a wastin'! We need to get ready for the big arrival. I need to go prepare his working area. And you need to prepare yourself."

"I'll meet him?" she asked, her eyes widening in both fear and anticipation.

"Don't look so scared, kiddo. If you're a good little shape-shifter he wont kill you on sight. Hey, do me a favor before I go?"

"Anything."

"Be her. Just for a minute. Go on. Make my day."

"Be who?" she asked sullenly, pretending not to know.

"Don't try my patience. Be her. The slayer."

The girl gestured towards herself and crossed her arms and didn't change.

He rolled his eyes. "Not this...you know who I mean."

The girl heaved a sigh and turned away, breathing deeply through her nose. She hated the change. It was degrading. Painful. But not nearly as painful as it would be if she disobeyed him. At least she usually had the option of changing in private. Doing it in front of him was just...uncomfortable.

The man watched in avid fascination as she pulled off her clothes and dropped to her knees. She braced her fists on the floor, and with a tortured scream, her bones began to shift. Her teeth dropped out, one by one at first, until finally they all came out in one large clump as a new set of gums pushed its way through. Clawing at herself, she began to literally rip the skin off of her body while writhing in pain. It was disgusting. He loved it.

Finally she finished, and with a deep breath, stood up and turned to face him, not even bothering to put back on her clothes.

The man grinned, his eyes flashing yellow in delight. "We meet at last, Buffy Summers," he whispered.

She said nothing, but smiled coquettishly at him, perfectly willing to play along with his game.

He reached forward and traced her cheek with the tip of his finger. And then, quick as a snakebite, he withdrew his hand. "That's enough for one day," he declared happily. She blinked, and by the time her eyes had reopened he had disappeared, only the lingering sounds of his dark chuckles remaining in the dimly lit room.

"Hatoss is a warlock," Giles was explaining to the group. "A very powerful warlock, actually. More powerful, even, than you, Willow."

"And a pretty old one, I'm guessing, if he made those Tabatha thingies half a century ago," Buffy commented.

"Tababton," Giles corrected. "And yes indeed, he is very old. Though I believe he was still mortal when he created them. He most likely uses the same magic on them as he does himself to prolong his life."

"So that's all he's doing to be all immortal? Taking some magic potion? Are you sure he isn't cursed too?" Dean asked, glancing at Rana out of the corner of his eye.

"No, he isn't cursed, and I imagine it's more than just a magic potion. But couple it with the fact that he has simply abused the magics for far too long, and you will soon begin to understand why he is no longer human. Though I should point out that he is not immortal, merely ageless. I do believe he can be killed. He is much like a vampire in that way."

"Ah," David Chan said, beaming. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard. It's not like any of us have never faced down a vampire before."

"But we must remember that the power he controls is very strong, and while I say he could be compared to a vampire because of his agelessness, I don't mean that he will be as easy to kill," Giles countered.

"So how do we kill him?" Buffy inquired.

Giles rubbed the sides of his temples with the tips of his fingers. "I do fear I'm not explaining myself properly. Hatoss can be killed just like any other man. A gun shot, a stab wound, death by burning, drowning, so on and so forth. But getting close enough to him to actually do any of these things is another matter entirely. He possesses a lot of dark power, and that makes him strong."

Stronger, even, than dark Willow. He didn't say the words, but the tiny glance he cast her way gave all those in the know a hint on just what it was he was thinking.

"But what's he doing here in Cleveland?" Faith asked. "Seems to me a warlock with this much power could go anywhere he wants. Why here?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with the Hellmouth," Giles mused. "Though compared to the one we shut down in Sunnydale it is positively inactive, so I don't understand why. But we must assume that he has some sort of plan. You and Buffy wouldn't have had matching prophetic dreams if that weren't the case."

"So what can we do?" Sam asked. "Do we hunt this guy down or wait for him to come to us?"

"To hell with that!" Dean exclaimed. "I'm not sitting around waiting for this punk to hunt us down and set his creepy white assed minions on us. I say we go find the bitch and put a bullet through his heart. That seems to get the job done with almost anything."

Buffy sighed. "As much as I hate to agree with Mr Caveman over here he does have a point. I don't particularly feel like waiting around to see what this Hatoss guy has in store for us. We need to find out where he is and what his plans are. Fast."

"But is he even in town yet?" Faith interjected.

"Good point." Buffy turned to Willow. "Wills, you think you could do a locator spell or something?"

Willow pulled an apologetic face. "You kinda need something belonging to the person you wanna locate for a locator spell to actually...locate. I seriously doubt we're gonna find a sweater or a used hanky of his lying around."

"Well is there anything else we can do?"

"I could do a general demon locator spell, I've gotten pretty accomplished with that over the years, although I'd have to get another witch to pair up with me to do it."

"I'll do it!" Andrew offered.

Willow nodded in acceptance and continued. "It'll highlight the demon populated areas in town, let us know if there's any new or overly large gathering of demons around. And it highlights in different colors according to demon, which will be useful. I've been teaching the spell to some of the more magically inclined slayers – because hey, nifty spell to know – so I'll be able to tell if anything's changed since the last time I did it."

"Thanks, Will, that's great. And the rest of us need to split into teams. Research and patrolling."

"We could take the girls out in groups?" Kennedy suggested. "It'd be good training for them."

Buffy shook her head. "No, it might be too dangerous. I don't want the younger girls out there who aren't ready. I'm guessing that Maggie's disappearance has something to do with Hatoss, and she wasn't exactly inexperienced. Kennedy, Vi, I want you to call up Rona and any of the other senior slayers and get them back here as soon as they can. You girls are more than ready for this kind of thing and we could do with the extra fire power. After you've contacted them, you girls get some rest and then patrol the cemeteries. But go in groups of at least two's or three's. Faith, Dean, Sam and I will hit the town, parks and forests. The rest of you guys should hit the books. See what you can learn about Hatoss and any possible plans he may have."

"We're on it," Xander told her reassuringly. He reached his hand out tentatively and placed it over hers, giving it a little squeeze. Buffy looked up with a start. It had been a long time since he had done anything like that. He looked bashful for a moment, and seemed about to say something else, but then everyone began moving away from the table and the moment was lost.