"It appears to be a polgara demon," Giles said after several hours of silence.
Willow had arrived immediately after school to lend a hand. "Polgara?" she asked.
"How do we kill it?" Buffy asked.
"It appears really anything will do. Stabbing, beheading. But, I'm not sure if this is a polgara."
"Back to books then?" Willow asked.
"Well, the wound is exactly like the mark left by a polgara, but they're insentient. They rampage and kill everything in sight. There's no way a polgara could be hiding so well. There's only been two attacks in two days and there haven't been any sightings."
"Maybe someone is controlling it," Buffy offered.
"It's possible," Giles agreed.
"Just another reason to look into the Initiative."
"I agree."
The front door swung open and Xander walked in. "Heard there was trouble. What do you need?"
"I'm glad you're here," Buffy said. "I need your help."
"Me?" Xander asked surprised. "I mean, yeah, sure. I'm your guy." He smiled.
"I need your military expertise. We've got to get inside the Initiative."
"How are gonna do that?" Willow asked. "Won't they have some pretty high tech security?"
"I'm hoping Spike can get us to an entrance," Buffy said. She turned to Xander. "Any idea what kind of security we might have to break through?"
"Well there's basic stuff. Key codes, print scans, voice recognition," Xander told her.
"Nothing we could get through," Buffy said disappointed.
Xander nodded. "That's just the basic stuff. I might be able to disable and key pads with the right tools, but and scans will sound the alarm."
"Any chance we could disable their security? Ya know, just shut it all down." Willow asked.
"Shutting it down might lock down the whole building. Then there'd be no way inside and they would be expecting a break in," Xander said.
Buffy thought a moment and then exclaimed, "Oh! Willow you could do a spell. We could find some Initiative guys and you could make us look like them. That would get us through any scans right?"
Xander nodded. "I think so."
"Do I look like Hermione to you?" Willow asked.
"Come on, Will. I heard you're getting good," Xander told her.
"Heard from who?" she asked skeptical.
"From, uh- From Giles!"
Giles looked like he was about to protest when he caught Buffy's look. "Yes, I did say that. You're doing quite well, Willow."
"Really?" she asked.
"Really!" Buffy said. "If anyone can get us in there, it'll be you."
"Okay, but I'll have to find the right spell. It might take some time."
"That's okay. We need to find an entrance. Scope the place out. See if we can find some one to grab," Buffy said.
"Does this mean we have to go talk to Spike?" Xander asked distastefully.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'll go. You can wait here."
"Good," Xander said looking as if this were genuinely good news for him.
Buffy left the house to find Spike.
"I think I know where to find the spell we need. I'll call when I have it," Willow said before leaving as well.
"Well, just you and me G-man," Xander said.
Giles rolled his eyes. "Wonderful. I'm going to go through a few books to see if I can't help as well. Perhaps you'd like to lend a hand."
"I'm about to walk into a top secret government facility to steal information on a bloody thirsty monster. I think I'll spend the last few hours of life watching television and eating all your snacks." Xander went into the kitchen to find himself something munchy.
"Glad we're all taking this so seriously," Giles mumbled picking a few books off a shelf.
Buffy found her way to Angelus's old crypt. Someone had taken the time to repair the door. It was hurriedly done, but not without care. She doubted it was the family of whoever's body belonged there. She stepped inside and was greeted by the smell of cigarettes and alcohol.
"Spike?" she called, looking around the room. He'd gotten himself some furniture and a TV. There was a refrigerator at the back and the sarcophagus had been moved out of the way. It was currently holding what looked like an entire liquor store as well as Spike's infamous blazer.
"Just couldn't stay away could you?" said Spike from where he leaned against a pillar just out of sight. "Couldn't leave me in peace."
"I need your help."
"You always want something from me don't you? I- I thought I told you not to come asking me for help. You said you didn't need me. Well here you are. Needin' my help."
"Are you drunk?"
Spike snorted. "What's it matter? What does any of it matter? Didn't matter how I helped you. How I saved your life! None of that matters. No! Why should it? Why should it matter when I help you? When I do something good. Just doin' what I'm told right? Slayer's pet."
"You're not anyone's pet, Spike."
"No? So you're not keeping me on a leash?" He stepped out of the shadows to face her. Rage shown in his eyes but was diluted by a considerable amount of alcohol. "So I'm free to do as I please? Allowed to say I'm done helping you and your scoobies? Seems more like you'd cut my head off before you let me off the bloody leash!" He tossed the empty liquor bottle from his hand and it shattered against the cement wall. Buffy stepped back.
"I don't mean anything to you! I'm just a thing right? Just a vampire. So that's the deal. I behave or you do me in! That's all I get after everything I did."
"Is this about Angelus?" Buffy asked. "You made it quiet clear how you felt about him."
"Did I? Did I tell you how he tore down that wall, made that tunnel to the sewers with his bare hands, so I wouldn't die when your watcher tore me to pieces? Or how he kept all the locals from tearing out my throat when they found out I was helping you?" He stared ahead, his eyes unfocused. "No. I turned on him. Keep tellin' myself I did it to get ahead... Because I didn't want live under his shadow for the rest of eternity."
He walked to back of the room and grabbed another bottle. He swallowed down half of it before he started talking.
"Once that was true," he shook his head. "Not any more. I know why I did it." He stared at the floor. Buffy thought he looked guilty, but she pushed away the idea reminding herself it wasn't possible.
"Why?"
"Why do you care?" Spike snapped back.
"Because the sooner you work through whatever the hell this is, the sooner I can get back to my job," she said firmly, holding back her irritation to the best of her ability.
"Right, because everything is about you. I have problems of my own you know!"
Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Drusilla! She tried to warn me," he gave a humorless laugh. "She knew. Always so smart, that girl. Completely daft, but smart... When you can figure out what the hell she's saying anyway." He sat down on the end of the coffin.
He held up two shot glasses in offer and Buffy nodded. She stood next to the coffin while he poured them each a drink.
Buffy still had no idea what he was talking about, but he'd stayed beside her when she needed someone. She felt like she owed it to him to do the same.
Spike held up his shot glass, "Cheers."
Buffy followed suit. "Egh." She stuck her tongue out at the repulsive flavor. Spike almost laughed. By the time the sun set, there was a single bottle left and neither one of them remained conscious.
Willow left Giles's place and went straight to the Sunnydale U campus. She knocked on the familiar door and it swung open to reveal a familiar smiling face.
"Willow!" Tara said happily.
"Hey, Tara," Willow said smiling. "Not busy are you?"
Tara shook her head a small bush in her cheeks.
"Good," Willow said stepping inside. "I need your help with something a bit, uh, odd. If I can find the right spell that is. I grabbed a few books I think will help, but you have a few books I haven't even flipped through yet. So between us, I think we can find it."
She sat down on Tara's bed and pulled her books from her bag. Tara closed the door and sat down beside her.
"So, what's the spell?"
"It's for Buffy. Remember those Initiative guys I told you about?"
"The commandos?"
"Yep." Willow looked nervously over her shoulder and lowered her voice. "Buffy's gonna try to sneak in and get some information on this demon that's been killing people."
"The one that got that little boy a-and the teacher?"
"The very same. We think they might be involved. Buffy thinks that maybe they're even controlling it somehow."
"Wow. That's bad."
Willow nodded in agreement and started flipping pages in one of her books. "We need a transformation spell. Something that can somebody into someone else."
"Like someone as in not you or someone else as in a specific person?" Tara asked.
"Some specific. Specific being someone from the Initiative."
Tara nodded and went to her bookshelf to look through a book of her own. They sat on the bed next to each other, flipping pages. Tara's free hand seemed to gradually slide it's way closer to Willow of its own accord.
After several hours of turning pages, Willow found what she was looking for. "Bingo!" she exclaimed.
"You found it?" Tara asked somewhat disappointed as she felt she'd been getting close. She looked down and noticed her hand practically sitting on Willow's thigh and she pulled it back with a slight blush to her cheeks.
"This one right here does what we need. We just need DNA from the person we're turning them into. Guess this is gonna get a bit Harry Potter."
"You should call your friends," Tara suggested.
Willow looked toward the phone but decided against it with a shrug. "It can probably wait until morning."
"Oh, wow." Tara looked outside. "How late is it?"
They both checked the clock on Tara's table to find it was just past one in the morning.
"So... sleepover?" Willow asked.
Tara smiled. "Yes," she replied.