The smell of paint hit Xander, Buffy, Giles, Dawn and Spike as the entered the Victorian style house. The living room reeked of the stuff, and Spike could tell the entire house had gotten a fresh coat that day. "Doesn't she sleep?"
"I was wondering quite the same thing," Giles said as he hobbled past Spike to the couch.
"There's no way Willow did all this by herself," Xander said as he looked through the downstairs rooms. "Criminy, she even painted the baseboards and trim. I should hire her at the site for the finishing touches."
"I thought she had two jobs." Buffy sat on the couch next to Giles. "How did she have time to do anything?"
"I enlisted help," Willow said as she came into the room. "Software Waves expects both the first person shooter puzzle game, and the updated word processor by the end of the month, and Program Box wants to make sure their tax software is bug free by the end of the week. So while I worked on that, I got some help from the demons that owed us for keeping the town from being overrun by worse demons. A few neighbors helped as well with the promise of extra protection."
"Okay, will someone please give me a more detailed explanation of what happened around here? I was in a coma for four months how does the town go from picturesque to slum in that time?"
Xander rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The attacks were slow at first. Some demon gangs came through, set a few fires and broke some windows but were easy to get rid of, still we couldn't kill them all. We didn't have the manpower. And word got out that the Hellmouth was unprotected. Before you showed up, Wilkins kept the town running smoothly on the demon end of things, but with him barbequed, and you… not around, we were easy pickings."
Dawn took a breath and looked at Buffy with sympathy. "And the attacks got bigger, and people stopped wanting to rebuild. I mean why would they when the next attack might be worse?"
"After a while, the only people left in town were the ones that couldn't afford to move away. The locals don't have blinders on anymore, and the only business that still thrived here was the Magic Box. We were selling a great deal of protection spells. Though my understanding is that it didn't survive the latest attack." Giles cleaned his glasses. "We don't even have a proper market. Groceries are bought at those overpriced corner stores."
"We've been attacked by at least twelve different demonic species en masse. The Hellions, while the latest and cost us Scoobies the most personally, wasn't the worst attack we've had as a town." Willow pushed her sunglasses up her nose.
"No the worst were the those bone eaters that cut a swath," Spike said as he left to get some blood. Red would have stocked up for him and he was right.
"Let's not talk about the bone eaters, k?" Dawn said sounding small and childish. "I still have nightmares and that was over two months ago."
"And no one came to help? No government spooky platoon, not Faith, not the Council?" Buffy asked still not comprehending how this much damage happened unchecked.
"Riley's group came, but they got killed off taking out the demons we're not talking about." Dawn looked at Willow for support.
"If it weren't for them, we'd have all died." Willow sat on the arm of the chair Dawn was slouched in and stroked her hair in comfort. "They took out so many that the rest weren't much of an issue."
"The Council neglected to get involved since they heard about how powerful Willow had gotten. They're not overly fond of witches they can't control." Giles cleared his throat. "And Faith wasn't ready to leave prison."
"We've done the best we could, Buffy," Xander said as he realized that leaning against the wall meant getting periwinkle paint on his shirt. He gave up trying to pick it off after less than five seconds and just took off the shirt and sat on the ottoman, his uncovered arms getting goosebumps and his t-shirt not doing much to insulate his torso.
"So Edith was right then?" Buffy asked her anger heating her flesh. "That without a town the Hellmouth is more susceptible to anyone wanting to pop the cap off it?"
"Who's Edith?" Giles furrowed his brow as Buffy stammered.
"I figured, I assumed, I thought you guys already knew. But you don't, do you? Okay we'll be getting down with the big research here in a minute. She was this creepy thing I couldn't touch, but she could touch me, so not the First. She wanted me to work with her to restore the town, saying that without the town, the Hellmouth would be easier to get to and open. I don't know if she's evil or not."
Spike said, "Not a common name these days. But once upon a time Ediths were a dime a dozen. Might make finding information on the bird a bit difficult. Did any of the books even survive?"
"All the books from the loft survived. I shelved them in the library. That's what we have instead of a dining room." Willow got up to show them. "The table's big enough for all of us to use at once, and we can still eat in here if we want. The pantry's got what was left of the magic supplies from the shop."
"So, Willow?" Buffy said as she picked a tome off the shelf. "What's with the Corey Hart look?"
"Oh you know, gotta keep track of the visions in my eyes." Willow laughed it off as she grabbed Spike and dragged him out of the library.
"Can't wait to get your hands on my hot tight body, can you Red?"
"Stuff if Spike. I need you to cover for me while I grab a bite. I feel like crap and keeping the glamour up isn't helping either."
He noticed she didn't call him Yellow this time and his brow creased. "You need a full meal then. Try suckering in some of the more wretched demons that hang out at Willy's. Few have come up against a succubus, and wouldn't even know what you are."
Willow shook her head. "I've already done that. I don't want to keep going to Willy's, or else eventually someone will catch on."
"There's the Fish Tank. You'll find some demons passing as human there usually. Just have to know what to look for."
Another shake of her head. "Burned down in the Hellion attack."
"Then they've all probably migrated to the Bronze. Especially with the strip closed down." There was an unusual pull towards the witch, and Spike made a mental note to not stand this close to her anymore. Her demon could pull him in and suck him to ash, and he wouldn't stand a chance. "So go get your suction on before the two of you die."
With a nod, Willow left the house, not knowing where she would stay tonight. Giles made it clear she couldn't live with them. So where would she go?
After returning from the alley where she syphoned her third vampire, Willow was almost sated. One more would do the trick. While she hunted for her next victim, she caught sight of Xander sitting at the bar drinking, and flirting with a girl. She marched up to him, as she put her sunglasses on, and tapped him on the shoulder none too gently. "Xander Lavelle Harris!"
He turned to her, "Oh shit. Hey! Willow! What are you doing here?"
"Patrolling. Something I can see you aren't doing given the whiskey in your hand." Her hands on her hips and her foot tapping screamed that he was in past the 'oh shucks' routine.
He slammed the glass on the bar. "I needed a drink. Not a huge surprise after I find out you duped me into ripping our best friend out of heaven. Heaven! What gives you the right to make that decision? How could you do that to her? To all of us?"
The girl he'd been flirting with backed away. And Willow took her place next to Xander. "And you're flirting with some girl while your fiance is out there risking her life? Xander, this isn't who you are. You aren't your dad, so get your head out of your ass and act like a human being."
"You know Anya left me, I owe her nothing. And well at least I'm human. Something you aren't anymore." At her stunned expression, he continued, "I've known you since kindergarten. Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Contrary to popular belief, I'm not drunk every second of the day. Now excuse me, but I don't think I want to be around something wearing my best friend's face."
Willow watched him storm off, and the bartender touched her hand. "Someone has to pay your friend's bill."
"He's not my friend." She pulled away, anger and hurt roiling under the surface, and began her hunt anew.
"How long are we going to be here?" Tara asked as she looked around the Sharijah International Airport. She felt out of place by not wearing a hijab.
Anya handed her a large opulent silk scarf. "We'll be here for about six hours, but we need to conserve funds. Xander's drained my primary bank account. I had to switch to my backup account, and that's a bit slimmer than I'd like already."
"And we've already used up everything I had. So what do we do in the meantime?" Tara wrapped the scarf around her head in the best simulacrum of what she'd seen on other women there.
"We people watch." Anya put on her scarf without effort. They sat down on a bench. "We watch the people and try to discern what their lives are like from what we see of them."
"Oh, um, okay." Tara scanned the few people there at this off hour. She saw a woman and small child hurrying by. "What about them?"
"She's stealing her child away from her abusive husband." Anya pointed to the man trying to sell some kind of herb. "Him?"
"Selling pot?" Tara asked.
"Unlikely. You don't know much about the region do you?"
"I was supposed to take Intro to Middle Eastern Studies next semester. My family wasn't exactly gracious about anyone different than them, so… I know little." Tara watched the people come and go, finding herself more curious than ever about how they lived. She'd always found culture, all cultures, fascinating. She'd decided just before Glory took over her life that she'd be an anthropologist. She had no idea if she'd get to do that now, given she'd drained all her school savings between keeping the house going and now this trip.
"Well, I used to get a lot of business here when I was a demon back in the day. For a while things looked up, but then the Taliban took over and they fell socially back into the dark ages and business boomed here again. But, you might be surprised about how much science know-how comes from around here." Anya talked about the area for the entire six hours, answering all Tara's questions, and going into not only the human history but the demon one. This rejuvenated Tara's motivation to get into anthropology. There were ways to go to school even if you didn't have the savings. Tara vowed to look into them when they got back.
"And you know how Frishiak demons can be. They're all oozing pus as a way to communicate. Like the desert isn't dirty enough, but no they have to make it more dirty. But their war with the Krishiak demons who are all oozing slime adding to the mess, exterminated both their kind from the planet. I think there might be a few left on Mars, but I'm not sure. And who knows about farther out." It was a good thing Anya loved to talk while Tara absorbed things like a sponge. It made the trip a lot easier on both of them.