6: Disappearing act As soon as the first class of the day was finished, Buffy headed straight for the library. No way was she going to have Darkside walk her home again. She and Giles were going to figure out what was wrong with her powers and then they were going to fix it. She found Giles sitting at the library's main table, pinching the bridge of his nose, seemingly deep in thought.

"Hey Giles." she greeted.

Giles looked up, seemingly startled by her. "Buffy. Sorry I'm just. The, um, head of the watchers council, my boss, Quentin Travers. He was, erm, murdered last night."

"Wow. That's. How could someone just kill the head of the council? Does the rest of the council know who did it, or do they have any, you know, leads?"

"No, I've only just told them." replied Giles. Noting the look of confusion on Buffy's face, he began to explain further. "Quentin wasn't in England when he was killed, he was here in Sunnydale. I'm the one who found the body, along with one of the two guards he had with him. I don't know where the other one is, I assume the worst." Giles paused for a moment as he gathered some paperwork that was strewn on the desk in front of him . "There's something else. I've just been comparing the police notes on Harmony's wound to the one that killed Travers. I may not be much of a pathologist but they seem...almost identical."

Buffy sat down, looking at the notes on the table. "So your saying that whoever killed Harmony..."

"Also assassinated Travers, yes." said Giles, finishing her sentence for her.

"Great, so we've got some kind of sword wielding daemon assassin to worry about. Can this town get any normal visitors?" Buffy was about to get up and leave, then she remembered why she had gone to see Giles in the first place. "Listen Giles. I've been...Last night, on patrol, Darkside showed up again and...my powers didn't work."

"I'm sorry, what?" "My powers didn't work, Giles. I hit Darkside with everything I had and it was like...I was normal, just Buffy again."

"And what happened with Darkside?" asked Giles, sounding concerned.

"He offered to walk me home. And I said yes. I never thought I'd sink that low, but...Giles, what's wrong with me?"

Giles was quiet for a long time. Eventually he got up and went into his office, after a few seconds of rummaging around he emerged holding a brief case. He placed it on the table in front of Buffy and opened it. Inside was a small case which Giles took out and laid in front of Buffy. Inside was a syringe filled with a strange looking green liquid.

"It's an organic compound... of muscle relaxants and adrenal suppressers." Giles voice sounded shaky as he spoke. " The effect is temporary. You'll be yourself again in a few days."

Buffy just stared at the case, unable to believe what she was being told. "It's a test, Buffy." Giles continued his explanation " It's given to the Slayer once she... uh, well, if she reaches her eighteenth birthday. The Slayer is disabled and then entrapped with a vampire foe whom she must defeat in order to pass the test. The vampire, Kralik, is dead now and with Quentin's death the test is null and void. Buffy?"

Buffy hadn't said a word since Giles had opened the case.

"Buffy?"

"You...you knew. You were giving me this...and you didn't say a word."

"Buffy, I...I wanted to but... in matters of tradition and protocol, I must answer to the Council."

Buffy gave a sarcastic laugh. "It's funny. I beat the crap out of Darkside every night and he's still more trust worthy than you."

"Buffy, I'm sorry."

Buffy got up and left without another word, leaving Giles alone. He looked down at the syringe, still resting in its case. He picked it up and threw it against the wall, then he headed off after Buffy, hoping that maybe he could still beg her forgiveness.

The library left empty, until a black hole appeared in the centre of the room. Darkside walked over to where the broken syringe lay and picked it up. There was still some of its contents left inside.

"You are going to be very useful to me."

In the weeks that past Buffy did forgive Giles, eventually. Darkside continued fighting Faith and Buffy and he lost every bout. Unbeknownst to the slayers, Darkside was keeping a very close eye on them, waiting for an opportunity. He felt it was time to make his presence know to the wider world.

He'd noticed that Buffy and Faith were on something of a role lately so he'd been quietly following them for days. The sun had gone down a while ago and the two slayers had gone out for another patrol. They were currently fighting a group of vampires in an ally. The fight wasn't going well for the vampires.

"And another one bites the dust." said Darkside, continuing his rolling commentary of events. He was sitting on the roof just above the ally, giving him a perfect view of the scene below. He watched as someone reached out from the shadows to grab Buffy's arm, as she spun him round and smashed him into a dumpster. There was a cry of "Faith. NO!" then Faith staked Alan Finch in the heart.

"Hahaha. Brilliant!"

Buffy seemed to be trying to stop the blood loss while Faith just stood behind her, staring at her own handiwork. Then Faith seemed to panic. She grabbed Buffy and pulled her up, saying something that Darkside couldn't quite make out. Then the two ran off.

Darkside waited for what could have been minutes or hours. He had done nothing but wait since he arrived in Sunnydale but now he felt as though he was getting somewhere. Eventually Faith returned. As she kneeled down by Allen's body, Darkside quietly dropped to the ground behind her.

'Show time' he thought.

"Faith?"

Faith jumped up and spun round. She looked absolutely terrified. "Dark...this isn't...I didn't..." she wasn't making any sense. Darkside remembered the first time he killed as being easy, but then he'd intended it.

He looked from Faith to the blood stained stake still in her hand. Then he turned and ran, Faith right behind him. 'So far, so good'. He started climbing one of the metal fire escapes that was latched to the side of one of the buildings. When he reached the top the paused for a moment to see of Faith was still following him. Sure enough, she was still there. He ran forward until he was standing at the opposing ledge. He looked down and saw another ally stretching out beneath.

He made a show of being trapped as Faith caught up with him.

"Ok Darkside...listen good. You are going to keep quiet about what happened down there ok. If I find out that you've told anyone I'll-"

"You'll what!? Kill me to? No way...I'm not going to die. You won't kill me!"

Darkside made a run for Faith's left. Faith tried to grab him to keep him from fleeing. She wasn't sure what happened next. Darkside seemed to stop struggling all of a sudden.

"Now...you're going to..." Faith went quiet. As Darkside staggered back she saw the stake, her stake embedded in his ribs. He looked up from his wound for a moment, then he stumbled and fell over the ledge.

Faith ran over to try and catch him but it was too late. She watched as he fell and hit the ground below. She stared down at him for a moment then she ran, looking for a way down.

If she'd have stayed she would have seen a man in a brown cloak appeared next to Darkside's body.

"Is she gone?" asked Darkside.

"Yes" replied Ansem.

"Fantastic." he leapt to his feet, feeling a-buzz with energy. "That was perfect andOWWW! Dam this stake hurts! Oh, wait, she's coming back. Time for the big finish."

Darkside returned to his previous position on the ground while Ansem disappeared. Faith walked down the alley to where Darkside lay. 'What was he even doing here? Why did he try to run?' thought Faith as she looked down at his body. She was about to reach down and tough it when a black pool appeared below him. As the body began to sink in faith had an urge to try and pull him out, save him. But then she thought of something. 'I'm the only one who knows he was even here. And now the evidence is taking care of itself.' So she stayed where she was and watched as Darkside's body fell away. Soon there was nothing left, even the black hole had disappeared.

Now all she had to do was dispose of the other body and she was in the clear.

The black hole didn't take Darkside very far. He reappeared back on top of the building that he'd just jumped off of. From the roof top he had a perfect view of Faith hauling off the deputy mayor's body. He smiled to himself, imagining the look of Faith face when he would return. But that was for later. A group of Heartless had been watching events from the shadows and were now assembled behind him like a pack of wolves.

"Start spreading the news...I'm leaving today...I want to be a part of it...New York, New York!"