Chapter 3

(Sunnydale)

The Mayor entered the chamber and looked around before his eyes came to rest on Buffy Summers. She was broken and subjugated by his magic's and she bowed before him causing a small smile to break out on his face. He recalled ensuring that she lived after the battle alongside her watcher, before he started the long process of making them slaves. Oh they had resisted greatly, but bit by bit they had weakened until their previous personalities were caged and new ones installed.

He looked to the side of Buffy to find Rupert Giles also bowing before him. He had questioned the watcher about the prophecy many times and he knew how dangerous it was to him. He wondered whether he should send them after Alexander as well. They would have the element of surprise as he doubted the young man would suspect them of harming him. No he decided he would give Faith some time to do him one last service, he had already called the assassins and managed to hammer out a deal.

Once Faith had dealt with Alexander she would herself be taken out by one of the best assassins they had. It was a shame Faith had to die, as she had served him well but she was a Slayer and had to die. She was the active Slayer and thus he could not break her like he had Buffy, who was a shadow of the Slayer spirit, due to her first death. Shaking his head he sat down and began to question both of his slaves, he needed a better understanding of Alexander, so that he knew what the boy might do, should he find what the Prophecy stated could kill him.

(Demon Bar)

Xander entered the bar to find it had already been cleaned up, not too much of a surprise he thought. He glanced to his left where Lara was and noted she was keeping an eye on the rear, clearly anticipating another attack, not that he could blame her. On his other side Sara was already moving off to talk to the barman, he moved to follow, wanting to back her up. Now after three long years he had finally found the two people spoken of in the prophecy and he would be damned if he let either of them come to harm. This was the first major step to destroying the Mayor and finally avenging Buffy and the others. He had to be smart about this and not rush into anything or it would all be for nothing.

That was not something he could even stomach thinking about, that he might fail in this and let Giles and the others down. He cursed Faith for ever coming to town and for ever being chosen as the Slayer. A part of him knew they were also at fault in her fall, but at the moment he did not care about that. She had betrayed them all and doomed Sunnydale, worse still the Mayor could open the Hellmouth at anytime and destroy the world and it would all be due to Faith's actions. Again part of him objected to this and reminded him of the failures of the gang, not only in keeping Faith's trust, but also in dealing with the Mayor. They had gotten a little to used to winning and had gone into that last fight so sure they would win. They should have planned for a fighting retreat, just in case things went badly. Maybe if they had, then more of the gang may have survived. Finally he shook those thoughts off and concentrated on what was going on now.

Lara watched as Sara questioned the barman and Xander kept a close eye on her. She was somewhat unsettled to be the centre of a prophecy and one that a year or so ago she would have dismissed as nonsense. She had learned from Sara that they were very real and not something to take lightly. The young man who they had met clearly believed in them, if she believed what he had said so far. She had taken note of Sara's reaction to what had been told to them. She clearly had some idea what was actually going on and what they were now involved in. She would have to sit down with her at some point and get her to explain things. She quickly looked around and took a quick look outside, but noted it was still clear.

Sara thanked the barman, turned around again and headed back to Xander, who she noted had been watching her back, whilst Lara kept an eye on the door. She still could not believe what he had told them. The idea of a Slayer going rogue was bad enough, but then there was the fact that the Hellmouth was now in the hands of a demon of great power and could be opened at any time. Boy if that wasn't a chilling thought. The blade showed her exactly what could come if they did not remove the threat. The prophecy was the key and the artifact they were after was now even more important.

Before she had met Xander and being informed of the prophecy by him, she would have stated it a mere coincidence that they were all after the same artifact. Now it seemed so much more than that, maybe destiny was playing a hand in this. She knew however that no matter what was truly involved in this, that it would not be an easy fight and could cost them their lives.

"Did you found out where he is?" he asked Sara as she passed him.

"Yes I did," Sara responded. "It seems your source lives in an abandoned building a block from here," she added as she headed for Lara.

"Let's hope he has some more information we can use," Xander said mostly to himself, but Sara heard him anyway. "I get the feeling time is running out," he stated.

"Easy Xander, I understand you have a lot at stake in this, but we must proceed carefully or we may end up dead or worse," Sara told him, frowning slightly at the look in the man's eyes.

She was worried on just how badly the young man had been affected by the events that had happened to him. He had spent three long years looking for her and Lara, whilst trying to cope with the loss of everyone he had ever cared about. She was certain he was also fighting off some guilt about losing the battle to hold the Hellmouth. Something she did not believe was his fault, considering what they were up against.

"Did you find out where he is?" Lara asked, as they reached her and then exited the bar.

"Yes we did Lara, thankfully," Sara replied with a small smile. "Hopefully he has the information we need to get our hands on the artifact," she added, not noticing they were watched from above.

(Hideout)

He looked out as his followers prepared to attack the cult who held the artifact which would grant him powers beyond comprehension. It would also allow him to remove the Mayor of Sunnydale as a threat if he so desired and so he could finally take his place as ruler of the Hellmouth. He smiled just thinking about it, the Mayor had achieved a great victory by taking Sunnydale, but he was no ally of his.

"My Lord, we are almost ready," Vincent reported from behind him, bowing in respect.

"Good good," he said with a smile and a nod. "Make sure they all understand there are to be no prisoners and no mercy. The entire cult is to be wiped out to a man, is that understood?" he ordered.

"Yes my Lord," Vincent responded and moved to carry out his orders.

He pulled his phone out and quickly dialed a number from memory and listened as the report from the spy he had placed at the demon bar was given. It seemed that the champions were on the move again. But it would do them no good, by the time they had the information they needed, he would have the artifact.

"Follow them and keep an eye on them," he ordered. "Report anything important," he added before he hung up and then turned and headed to join his followers.

(Oxnard)

Faith awoke and felt cold and sweaty from the nightmare she just had. She quickly got up and headed to the bathroom, she ran the water and splashed it on her face and took a good look at herself in the mirror. What stared back at her disturbed her, there were cracks in her armor and she looked vulnerable. Turning away in disgust that a nightmare had invoked such a response in her, she tried to forget what she had seen, but that was not so easy.

Even as a rogue Slayer she still suffered the visions that came with them and something told her that her nightmare had not only been that. That realization chilled her to the bone, she did not want to believe any of it, but she knew better than to dismiss a vision so easily. This mission she was on had seemed so easy before, but not anymore. Xander truly was a dangerous person now and when they met up again she knew he would do everything in his power to kill her and avenge his fallen friends.

A part of her, a very small part, hated to think that she had turned the young man, who had tried to help her, into a killer, that she had warped him into something he was never meant to be. She recalled the scar she had left him over his left eye, but she had cut him deeper than that by taking out his friends one by one. Would the rage and hatred he felt be enough to aide him in a fight with her? And what of the two others the Mayor had warned her about? She had a bad feeling that she was going straight to her death by obeying the Mayor this time, but she had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go.

Finally shaking off the pessimistic thoughts and emotions she stuffed her things back into her backpack angrily and then stormed out to her car and jumped in and took off. The Mayor had called to tell her that Xander had been sighted in New York. She had been told to head to a warlocks hideout near Oxnard, who was an ally of the Mayor, who would use a transportation spell to send her there quickly. She hated magic, but she knew better than to disobey the Mayor. Once in New York she would have to be careful how she approached Xander and the other two if they were there and because she drove hard she failed to see the car that was following her.

The assassin smiled as it watched the dark haired Slayer leave. Soon, very soon, once she had completed her mission she would die by his hand and his hand alone. The alliance the Order had made with the Mayor was a good one he thought, it would aid them in their long war with the Templars or what remained of them. The honor he would gain from killing a Slayer would be great, even if the Slayer in question was a traitor and turncoat.

(New York, abandoned building complex)

Xander looked up at the place, noting it was the perfect place for his source to hide in. Abandoned buildings were often used by certain demons, especially the more peaceful types such as Bracken demons. Still it was a big building and it would take time to search, and time was one thing he was certain was against them. Lara did not like the look of the building. She was expecting quite a few traps and probably magical defenses. This would slow them down and she wanted the information they needed so they could finally track down the artifact they were looking for. Sara could tell, thanks to the blade, that the building was not full, and she already had a lock on three Bracken demons inside, this hopefully would not take long.

"I have three signatures that match a Bracken demon," she finally said to the others. "One is in the basement, one is on the second floor and the last is all the way up on the top floor," she told them.

"That should at least knock some time off our search for my source," Xander responded. "I would suggest that we do not split up, even given the fact that only peaceful demons should be inside I don't want to take any risks," he suggested glancing at the two women.

"We can take care of ourselves Xander," Lara shot back, her hands going to rest on her trusty pistols.

"I'm not saying you can't Lara," Xander assured her. "But there are bigger concerns here and we all need to be alive to achieve our mission, remember we are not the only ones after the artifact," he reminded her. "I know there are a couple of groups including the cult who covet it," he stated darkly.

"I agree Lara, we need to be careful here," Sara put in turning to her friend. "If one of us gets killed due to being over confident or not taking this seriously, then the Hellmouth will in time be opened and mankind will be wiped out and it will be our fault," she warned. "I am unsure why this Mayor of Sunnydale has waited so long to open it, but I doubt he will wait forever, we have to move fast, but carefully," she told her.

Lara almost shivered at the tone of her friend's voice and then glanced at Xander and noted the cold almost dead look in her eyes. The scar that ran down his left eye looked vivid and stood out. She could see the hatred and rage locked up inside their new friend, she knew how deadly that could be, but she doubted there was anything she could say to him to help him.

She had once been like him after a deadly mission had cost her two friends lives, she had gone after the killer, intending to avenge them and it had almost cost her not only her own life, but her soul as well. Thankfully Sara and another of their friends, Aspen Matthews, had intervened and saved her, she would have to keep a close eye on Xander and ensure he did not do anything risky.

"Ok I get the point," she finally said. "We will stick together and let us hope your source is actually in there," she added before pulling one of her pistols and entering the building, followed by Xander who pulled his own weapon and then Sara.

(Sunnydale)

The Mayor sat at his desk still going over everything Buffy and Giles had told him about Alexander. The main thing he had learned was that the young man would not give up until he had either completed his mission or has been killed. Three years would clearly bring a lot of changes to the young man as well, however what concerned him was the two others mentioned in the prophecy. He knew nothing about them at all, as it could point to quite a few people. He hated prophecies as they were never straight forward and easy to understand.

Letting go of the illusion of being human he returned to his full demon form and tried to relax, maybe it was growing close to the time where he should open the Hellmouth. He had held off for a few reasons, the main one being that once he opened the Hellmouth he would lose his power and just be one of many powerful demons to stalk the Earth. The humans would be wiped out almost entirely, and for now he wanted to stay where he was, in charge and the most powerful demon in the world.

(Oxnard)

Faith waited as the warlock prepared the transportation spell that would send her to New York. This would be the furthest she had been from Sunnydale in four years. As much as she hated the place it had become her home, which was a sad thing in and of itself. Finally the warlock was ready and began to chant the spell, causing the wind to pick up and magical energies began to surround her. She really did not like magic, but she stayed put. Suddenly there was an explosion of energy as the warlock finished and she vanished.

The warlock looked sideways as the assassin entered the ritual room having already been told by the Mayor to help both, and he knew better than to ignore the Mayor's orders. He quickly began to prepare the same spell again, the only problem he had with this was it was going to leave him drained for a few days.

(New York, abandoned building complex)

Xander tried to ignore the state the demons were in, it was almost like looking at a bunch of refugee's and that troubled him for reasons that were beyond him. It seemed his source was on the top floor, exactly where he himself would hide if he had too. Finally reaching the top floor he watched as Sara and Lara quickly entered the corridor ahead of him, they were clearly used to working as a team, he realized.

"This way," Sara said and led them down the corridor, straight to the last room on the right.

Xander looked at the door before kicking it in and walking into the room to find his source jumping to his feet in fear. He looked the same as he had at the bar, except that he was in his human disguise.

"Easy, it's just me," he said, hoping to calm him down.

"I thought you'd be dead by now," the Bracken demon replied, as he realized he was in no danger.

"We are hard to kill," Lara responded as she entered behind Xander, directly followed by Sara. "Now we need some information and we need it quickly," she continued.

"The cult has moved to the Kyle Mansion on Main Street, one of its members owns it," the Bracken demon told them after a few minutes. "They are expecting some kind of attack, that is all I know," he added.

"Do they still have the artifact, Max?" Xander inquired.

"Yes, they have it in their vault last I heard," Max answered. "I suggest you move quickly if you want to get it before whoever is going to attack the cult beats you to it," he added.

"Thanks man," Xander replied before handing over the money they had agreed on for the information before they had been interrupted back at the bar. "Let's go," he said to the two women.

"Can we trust him?" Sara asked, as they headed back to the stairs.

"Max is a good guy and has helped me quite a few times since I came here, he is trust worthy Sara," Xander answered. "Plus he is a Bracken demon and they don't go looking for trouble," he added.

Sara nodded and wondered what force was going to attack the cult. Clearly one of the groups Xander had told them about was also after the artifact. Getting their hands on it was not going to be easy. Maybe what they needed here was a little help.

(New York)

Faith reappeared in the middle of a deserted ally. She collapsed holding her stomach, which rolled in pain and discomfort and she really wanted to throw up, but she held it in barely. It took her a few moments to get back to her feet and stumble out of the alley. At least she had arrived where she needed to be. Now the question was how did she locate Xander? She needed to find a phone so she could call the Mayor and see about finding some help to quickly locate her prey.

As she took off the assassin appeared on top of a nearby building, unlike Faith he showed no side effects of the spell, but then he was used to using such spells and had developed a resistance to them. He quickly began to follow the dark haired slayer. He had to keep her in sight or this mission would take much longer than it needed to be.