Author Notes - This and the next chapter will be on the shorter side since I ended up having to break up the chapter in two again. In order to compensate, I decided to release this chapter a few days sooner.

Thanks for all the reviews, you all managed to hit the 100 mark last chapter. Very nice!

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Chapter Six

Just in case, he also set up a simple physical barrier around himself. Nothing would be able to easily get in, and the first time someone tried, the ward would alert him enough to wake him. The two Watchers watched him work but didn't bother to ask what he was doing.

He put his head on the table and closed his eyes.

A loud thump startled Harry awake. He jumped up quickly from the table and felt his chair rock back due to the sudden shifting of his weight. He relaxed once he concluded that the sound had simply been the result of a large book being shut. The light shining through the windows told him that he had slept until morning, longer than the quick nap that he had planned for. He glanced around the table and saw that both Giles and Wesley were still there. The pile of books lying discarded around the both of them had grown a lot since Harry had settled down for a nap and the frowns decorating their faces had deepened.

"Have you two been here all night?" Harry asked, surprised, yet impressed with their dedication. They nodded, but neither looked terribly happy about it. He knew then that he didn't need to ask them whether or not they had found anything.

Harry went back to working on his wand, and it wasn't long after that when Buffy returned. She no longer appeared to be in a very good mood.

"Has Xander returned yet?" she asked with a grouchy mumble. If Giles or Wesley noticed her change in mood, then they didn't say anything. Perhaps it was just a common occurrence with Buffy.

"No, and I don't think we should leave something this important up to a teenage boy. You should find Faith and try to track this demon down yourselves," Wesley suggested.

"I can do it alone," Buffy grumbled.

"Buffy," Wesley scolded, "this is far too important for a petty rivalry between Slayers."

Wesley was saved from what would have probably been a sharp rebuke from Buffy by the entrance of Xander. "I found your demon," he shouted with success. Wesley's face soured as Buffy shot him a smug look. Xander took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Buffy. "Found the address. I beat it out of Willy The Snitch personally," he said with a grin.

"You beat up Willy?" Buffy asked with an amused smile.

"Sure. Well, actually let's just say I applied some pressure. Or more accurately, I asked politely and then . . . okay, I bribed him," Xander confessed.

"How much?"

"Twenty-Eight bucks," Xander answered. "Does The Council reimburse for that kind of stuff?" Xander asked Giles.

"Did you get a receipt?" Giles mocked.

"Damn," Xander swore in faux anger.

"Willy?" Harry asked once their banter had finished.

"He runs an all night bar. Seems to know more than he should," Buffy explained as she took a look at the note Xander had passed her. She got up from the table, most likely with the plan of ignoring Wesley's previous order to bring Faith along with her. Unfortunately for Buffy, Faith entered the library almost as soon as Buffy left her chair. She noticed Buffy's planned departure immediately.

"Where we going, girlfriend?" Faith asked with a spring in her step.

"Actually I can handle this one solo," Buffy said awkwardly. Harry could feel the tension in the air. Was it possible that Buffy, like Harry, suspected that Faith was the one going behind their backs to the Mayor?

Either Faith didn't sense the tension or didn't particularly care. "Why do you get to have all the fun? Share, share, that's fair, right?" she teased.

Buffy clearly wasn't amused but let up anyway and handed Faith the address, "Found our demon."

"Oh," Faith said in disappointment. She seemed to have expected something far more entertaining. "Well, let's go look him up."

"Before you leave," Giles interrupted as he pushed a brown paper bag over to the side of the table. Buffy gave him a questioning look before taking the bag and looking inside. Her mouth dropped open as she took out a wad of cash. Faith whistled in appreciation at the sight.

"Harry will be joining you," Wesley told them. Harry thanked him with a nod before getting up from the table.

Faith sent him a withering look. "What for?" She questioned.

"I'm funding this adventure," Harry answered, pointing to the bag. "Besides, we can't really trust a bag of cash to two teenage girls, now can we?" Harry joked. The joke earned him two death glares from the insulted Slayers.

"Why bother with the cash? Why not just take the books by force?" Faith asked skeptically.

"Hopefully you can," Wesley answered before admitting, "having the cash there in case he has hidden the books somewhere would be ideal,"

"Lead the way," Harry said as he took out his wand and held it loosely in his hand.

Buffy raised an eyebrow at him and gave his wand a pointed look. "Is that necessary?" she whispered as Faith took the lead in front of them.

Harry gave a meaningful glance in Faith's direction, "Kind of. Yeah." They started following behind Faith.

Faith glanced over her shoulder, "you two plan on staring at my ass the whole way there?" she teased crudely as she wiggled her butt teasingly. Buffy and Harry rolled their eyes at each other before catching up to the dark haired Slayer.

They walked in silence the whole way there with Buffy and Faith both seeming to be somewhere else entirely. Buffy went back to brooding about something while Faith was clearly lost in her own thoughts as well. Harry decided that he wouldn't go out of his way to force a conversation with either of them and instead just enjoyed the silence. They finally arrived at a beaten up apartment building and soon after found the room number that Willy had given Xander.

"Wait out here," Buffy ordered him. Harry thought about arguing, but decided that having three people trying to fight in a small apartment wasn't a very good idea. As she handed him the bag of cash for sake keeping, Faith barged into the room. Buffy sighed in exasperation before going in after her. Harry listened for any sounds of fighting as he focused on the bag of cash in his hand.

Life there would be much easier if he just gave in to the temptation of simply manufacturing all the money he could ever need. Duplicating a bill wouldn't pass more than a glancing inspection because of the identical serial codes, but he could conjure bills while making sure that each had their own unique markers. They wouldn't last as long, but they would be more usable. Even with how easy it could be done, his conscience just wouldn't allow it. Never mind the backlash that would occur once people figured out where all the disappearing cash was coming from.

It wasn't as if Harry was in a huge rush to find a job or a way to earn a living. He hadn't lied when he said magic could supply anything he could ever need just to survive on. It was simple enough to find food to duplicate. Along with that, his conjuration was good enough to create a resting place for himself every night.

That didn't, however, mean that it was the quality of life he was interested in living for a long period of time.

After only being inside for perhaps a minute, Buffy and Faith exited the apartment together, neither looked to be in a good mood. Harry gave Buffy a questioning look and she frowned in response. "He's dead." She muttered, answering his unspoken question.

"The books?" Harry asked. She sighed and shook her head.

"He must have pissed off the wrong demon," Faith reasoned.

"Or the Mayor found out about the books he was shopping around," Buffy said thoughtfully. Harry nodded in agreement as he found Buffy's theory far more likely.

The trip wasn't a waste for Harry however because it only gave him more evidence. Only a few people could have possibly told the Mayor anything about the demon, and that made it even more likely that Faith was the one playing a double agent. Along with the fact that she had disappeared for the night made it seem even more obvious to him.

"Well, this was a waste of time," Harry said, directly contradicting his own thoughts. He glanced down at the bag in his hands and decided that it would probably be best to just get rid of it. He proceeded to counter the magic on the stacks of cash before vanishing the bag. He was left with a single twenty dollar bill. He stuffed it in his pocket in order to give it back to Giles later.

Buffy didn't so much as blink in reaction to the disappearance of the thousands of dollars, but Faith looked like she was ready to demand that he make it all reappear.

"You going to leave the body of a demon lying around?" Harry asked curiously. It seemed strange to Harry that the existence of demons could somehow not become common knowledge when their bodies just hung around after death. The existence of vampire's, he could understand. Once staked, the evidence of their very existence was gone; turned into dust.

But dead demons remaining unnoticed by a majority of the human population? How does that even happen?

"Well, we're not going to carry a dead body around," Faith bit out sarcastically.

Harry walked into the apartment. "Do demons have a religion or anything, how do they prefer to be disposed of? Buried? Burned?" he called out in question, more out of curiosity than anything else.

He heard Faith mutter, "Is he serious?"

Buffy walked in after him. "They don't have souls," Buffy reminded him, "I don't think they really care."

Harry frowned down at the dead demon. The body had multiple stab wounds. The demon had not gone down easily.

The two horns, bald head, horned nose and wrinkled skin made it quite a gruesome creature and would be particularly menacing if he was still alive. However, from the way Buffy had described their earlier encounter with him, he seemed far too meek to be running around killing the innocent. It was strange to Harry how sentient intelligent beings with needs of their own could simply be classified as a soulless creature not worthy of life. How did one even classify a being as soulless?

A being without a soul in his world was nearly dead to the world. A mere husk of a person; an empty shell. Even a Dementor had a soul of its own.

Harry sighed and waved his wand over the body. It vanished into nothing.

"You mind if I give you a ring the next time I need to bury a body?" Buffy joked.

Harry let out a laugh, "Don't tell anyone, but I was actually only brought to this world in order to be an on-call body disposal service for The Vampire Slayers."

"The Powers That Be are very wise," Buffy said, somehow keeping a straight face. The two smiled at each other in amusement before leaving the apartment to rejoin Faith. Soon after that, Faith left them to do her own thing.

"You want a ride back to school?" Harry asked Buffy. It took her a moment to understand what he was implying and her eyes widened.

"You can do that?" she asked incredulously.

"Yup."

"It's safe?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?" she asked again, obviously skeptical. Harry just raised an eyebrow in response. "Fine," she relented, "How do we do this?"

Harry gave her a smirk before gently grabbing her shoulder. He ignored the shift in her weight as she prepared to defend herself. "Try to remain standing," he advised. He waited until he could confirm that she heard him before he Apparated away, taking her along with him. They both appeared in the corner of the library. While Harry remained perfectly posed through years of practice, Buffy stumbled into a shelf and leaned on it heavily. It was the only thing that had kept her on her feet. She appeared slightly green but managed not to throw up.

"It's like that every time?" she asked.

Harry shrugged, "You get used to it."

"I'm sure," she said dryly.

Buffy left the explaining of what had happened on their trip up to him as she immediately departed the library in order to rush to class.

Giles was the only person that still remained in the library; Wesley had gone back home to get some sleep. Harry gave Giles back his twenty dollar bill while telling him what had occurred when trying to get The Books Of Ascension. He seemed disappointed yet at the same time, not all that surprised.

"Nothing's ever easy around here," Giles said with resignation. Harry smiled, amused at the man's unique viewpoint.

The phone rang a moment later and Giles got up to answer it. "Sunnydale High Library, Rupert Giles speaking," he answered. Harry could see his face morph into shock a moment later.

"I see," Giles said slowly before pausing in thought.

"Yes, please pretend to go through with it."

"Okay."

"Thank you."

Giles hung up the phone and sat back at the table. Harry could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"What was that about?" Harry asked. Giles flinched in his seat as if he had forgotten Harry was even there.

"Nothing. Nothing," he said quickly.

Harry didn't have to be a Legilimens to notice the lie. "Alright . . ." Harry said, not even trying to hide the fact that he didn't believe him. He got up to leave.

"Wait," Giles said suddenly. He seemed to be having an eternal debate with himself.

Harry raised an eyebrow in response. "Yes?" Harry asked, giving him another chance to tell the truth.

"We had said full disclosure," Giles said suddenly as if he needed to remind himself of that fact.

"We did," Harry answered. He hadn't planned on pushing for Giles to tell him the truth. He had simply assumed that the trust pact they had made earlier had been broken and now he would move on.

"You have to understand, this may be very dangerous information. I have to ask that you let me take the lead on this," Giles pleaded. Harry could tell that if the pact hadn't been made just the night before, then he wouldn't be hearing any of this. Giles appeared to be a man of his word.

"I understand," Harry relented. Giles gave him a sharp look as if trying to judge the honesty of Harry's promise.

Giles caved and began to explain what had happened. The phone call had been an old acquaintance of Giles's that owed him a debt. Apparently, he called to tell Giles that the Mayor had summoned him while using a magical ritual. The Mayor was requesting for Giles's acquaintance to perform a ritual of his own. More specifically, to perform a specific ritual, a ritual that would take a vampire's soul away. As Giles only knew of one vampire in all of history with a soul, it wasn't a hard guess as to who the Mayor wanted to take care of.

"He had no choice but to answer the summon and he feared that a direct refusal to the Mayor would result in harsh retribution. He let me know that he was only going to pretend to perform that ritual," Giles finished.

"What stops the Mayor from calling him up again when he finds out that he was lied to?" Harry questioned, worried for whoever had given him such useful information.

"Apparently he will be taking preventative measures to stop that from happening in the near future," Giles said with a shrug. He didn't seem to be very well versed in summoning rituals.

"The Mayor is making moves," Harry said thoughtfully, "before yesterday you knew almost nothing about the man, yet today we can assume that he's in the middle of some sort of deadly ritual, that he has tried to kill me, and that he is now going for Angel."

"The thought has occurred to me," Giles muttered. They were in agreement then, whatever ritual the Mayor was planning seemed to be closing in on them. The Mayor would have no other reason for making such obvious moves.

"And this gives you a chance to get someone into the Mayor's circle to find out more," Harry observed.

"My thoughts exactly."

"The secret is safe with me," Harry promised after he thought it through. He would let Giles's plan run its course before making his next move. If their betrayer didn't come into the light soon, then he would have to be more direct in finding out who it was. He already had the likely culprit in his sights, he would just need to prove it.

Giles nodded his head in relief as he ran his hand down his face, showing a hint of the stress he must be feeling.

"I need someone to tell Angel. With your abilities, you're probably the best bet to get to him quickly," Giles said. Harry raised an eyebrow in question. "He doesn't own a phone," Giles explained.

"I don't know where he lives . . ." Harry said before thinking of a simple solution. "If you let me peek into your mind, I can use a memory of it to Apparate," Harry suggested. Giles stared at him blankly for a moment before recovering.

"Mind reading?" Giles asked in shock, "really?"

Harry nodded.

"How will it work?" Giles asked as he debated whether or not to allow such an intrusion.

"Just think of a memory of when you were there. I'll cast a spell in order to view the memory from within your mind and use that to Apparate," Harry answered. He thought of what he had just said and let out a bark of laughter. Such a simple matter to him must have seemed like a whole lot of impossible to Giles.

"The link won't remain open? You can't get into my mind anytime you want?" Giles asked. His reluctance visible on his face.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'll have to cancel the spell before I can Apparate. And in order to get back in, I would have to cast the spell again," Harry answered. He wasn't a strong enough Legilimens to perform the spell through simple eye contact. "You may be able to recognize any further intrusions after the first one. The sensation is pretty unique," Harry continued in explanation, hoping that appealing to his inquisitive side would make him relent to the request.

Giles nodded with trepidation. "Very well. Do it," he said as he closed his eyes, "I'm thinking of it now."

Harry waved his wand. "Legilimens," he said clearly. Harry was immediately bombarded with what appeared to be random flashes of memories. "Focus on Angel's place," Harry reminded Giles. He didn't want to have to probe directly into the man's mind and hoped that Giles could remain focused long enough to bring the memory to Harry on his own. The memories slowed down until finally, only one remained at the forefront, easy to grasp. Harry viewed it for a second before deciding that it was the one he had been looking for. He studied the place for a moment before canceling the connection. He thanked Giles, and a moment later, Apparated away.

The Apparition ended with a loud crack as Harry stumbled. He fell to a knee in order to steady himself. Apparating from someone else's memory was neither fun nor easy. It was especially hard to focus on a place that you had only seen for a moment through someone else's eyes. Dumbledore had once made it look simple, but through experiences of his own, Harry could say that it was one of the hardest things to do while Apparating. He was just glad that he hadn't Splinched himself while attempting it. Rising up to his feet, he looked around the place. The house was big; far larger than Harry would have guessed. It had large open spaces, with light shining through. Thick white walls made the area look even brighter.

Harry couldn't help but be surprised that a vampire was living there, in the quite large mansion. It seemed as if Angel was doing pretty well for himself. Though perhaps, like Harry, Angel was also squatting on another's property.

Speaking of Angel, the vampire came rushing out of an adjacent room with a sword in his hand. He stopped short as he saw Harry standing there.

"Harry?" he said groggily, "what the hell was that noise?"

Harry realized then that he must have woken the vampire up with his loud Apparition. Angel remained standing in the doorway, making sure not to come any closer. One glance around the brightly lit room explained why.

He wasn't sure when Giles's acquaintance was arriving to put on the theater show but wanted to make sure Angel was alone when it happened. Harry quickly apologized before rushing to explain why he was there.

"I see," Angel whispered as Harry finished, "and how far does Giles want me to go with it?"

"No killing of course, but he needs to know what the Mayor is planning," Harry paused for a moment before adding, "Buffy will know what's happening."

Angel looked relieved, "And the others?"

Harry shook his head, "We think there is a traitor. We can't be sure who can be trusted."

"And they trust you?" Angel asked with skepticism.

"I know, right?" Harry said with a shrug. There was no use in going into detail about the trust pact that had been made. "I need to go before anything happens. Do you need to know anything else?"

Angel shook his head before realizing something. "Wait," he said suddenly. Harry watched as his face forced itself to remain stoic. "If this is a trick, and Angelus 'does' turn up. I need you to do everything you can to stop me."

"Buffy won't like that," Harry pointed out.

"Buffy already had to stop me once. I fear what will happen if she has to do it again," Angel reasoned. "Promise me," he pleaded.

"Alright. I will," Harry relented, trying to get the conversation over with so he could leave before it was too late. He didn't think it would come to that anyway. Giles seemed to trust the word of this acquaintance of his. Angel nodded sharply in thanks.

"I need to prepare," Angel muttered as he went back into his room. Harry wasted no time in popping back out.

Back at the library, Giles and Buffy sat alone at the table in an intense discussion. Harry remained behind the bookcase and out of sight; he didn't want to interrupt the private conversation. The voices got slightly heated for a moment before they cut off. Harry heard Buffy walk away and out the library doors. Harry appeared from out of his hiding spot.

"Buffy knows?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes. She knows," Giles said with a weary sigh.

"She's on board?"

Giles let out a tired chuckle, "Yes, but she made sure to remind me that I hadn't given her a choice."

Harry watched as Giles remained dispirited. Harry could see right away that Buffy meant a lot to Giles. If it wasn't obvious by him choosing a mediocre career as a high school librarian just so he could keep an eye on his Slayer, then his current reaction at Buffy's displeasure with him made it quite clear.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Harry asked after a moment.

Giles thought for a moment before shaking his head, "We just need to let this play out now."

Harry nodded in understanding, "I'll check back later then."

"Will you be safe?" Giles asked as he remembered that Harry had only recently been attacked while staying at the factory.

"Safe enough," Harry replied with a shrug.

Giles appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I have a pretty comfortable sofa," he hinted.

Harry looked at the older man in shock but grew hesitant, "Yeah?"

"It'll be safer for you. Especially if only you and I know about you staying there," Giles said convincingly. Harry couldn't help but fidget uncomfortably. The man was offering a lot with the simple gesture. Or at least it seemed that way. A part of his mind that remained distrustful of just about everyone was telling him that it could all be a trap. If Giles knew where Harry was sleeping, it would be a simple matter for him to try to take Harry out. Harry shook his head in order to get rid of the voice. Giles had given him no reason not to trust him.

At the moment it was simply paranoia that kept himself at arm's reach. He figured that he could live the rest of his time there distrustful of everyone's actions, or he could take the risk and just accept that there were now a few new people that he could rely on. Thinking back to Giles's offer, Harry made up his mind.

"Thank you," Harry said with a smile, "I'd like that."

"You looked like you could use some restful sleep without worrying about being attacked," Giles said, explaining what had brought on his offer. He was right, Harry felt dead on his feet after the last two Apparitions. The nap he had taken that morning hadn't been nearly long enough. He decided not to confess that even while crashing on the other man's sofa, he would still remain worried about being attacked.

"Ditto for you," Harry replied, noticing that Giles had dark bags under his eyes. It was easy to see that Giles felt just about the same way as he did, yet without the added benefit of getting a nap that morning.

Giles laughed and nodded in agreement."I'll only sleep soundly when this is all over. You should get some rest now, we may need you later," Giles suggested. "I'll ring the flat if something comes up," he promised. Harry thought for a moment before agreeing to the suggestion. It hadn't been a hard decision, just the idea of lying down and getting some sleep had made him yawn.

Giles suggested that Harry use Legilimency once again to get the apartment's location out of his mind, but Harry quickly declined. "I'm too tired, It's dangerous for me to try doing that again in this state," Harry explained, deciding not to risk it. Normal Apparition was fine and nearly risk-free even when exhausted, but trying to use someone else's memory was far riskier when you had trouble even thinking straight due to exhaustion.

He pictured all of The Powers That Be looking down in disappointment as the wizard they had sent to save the world instead Splinched himself in a faulty Apparition and slowly bled to death.

Giles pointed to a spot on a map, showing Harry where his apartment was located and gave a brief description on what it looked like. Harry said goodbye, thanking him again for his hospitality. He then Apparated out of the library and appeared in the middle of an alley way. He had found this spot while walking towards the Magic Box, and it was far closer to Giles's place than the library had been. Pausing for a second to get his bearings, he made his way to the apartment.

He arrived after only a brisk walk. It was a quaint place. There were two flights of stairs built into the side of a hill, all leading up to a small white building.

The numbers appeared to match with what Giles had given him. He hurriedly created a perimeter ward outside of the apartment, just in case, and then made his way inside. The apartment opened to a small living room space with a kitchen off to the side. Harry took one glance at the couch and collapsed into it. He was asleep a moment later.