Xander came racing in.
"Red alert! Big time trouble!." He yelled.
"What's wrong?" Charles asked.
"The Mayor had Faith shoot Angel with a poison arrow. Willow did tests and identified the poison as killer of the dead. It's a slow acting poison that painfully kills a vampire. But the really bad part is, Willow and Oz's research also discovered there's a cure. The blood of a Slayer. Buffy's decided to feed Faith to Angel. Neither Willow nor Oz seem to be having a problem with it. Buffy's on her way to the apartment the Mayor got Faith."
"Coral, I'll need your help." Jessica said. "We can build a glamour ball. It'll put Buffy in a believable scenario. One where she thinks she and Faith fought, but Faith escapes. Then we can put another golem in the hospital and let them think she was injured. It'll let us see just how far Buffy's willing to take this, but keep Faith safe. Hopefully, I shudder to think what might happen if Buffy persists if she thinks Faith's in the hospital."
"Good idea." Charles said. "How long until it's ready?"
"We only need to build in the ending, Faith escaping, the rest will come from Buffy's own imagination." Coral told him.
"She's right. Five-ten minutes tops and it'll be ready." Jessica said.
Once they were done, she handed the small, glass ball to Xander. "Get this to Faith. Tell her to smash it after Buffy comes in. The initial flash will erase the memory of Faith smashing it, making a seamless transition into the glamour. Hurry, it won't take Buffy long to get there."
Xander arrived first and handed the glamour ball to Faith and explained what she needed to do to activate it. Then he hid and waited for Buffy to come in. Faith was pretending to be casual and listening to music while looking at a magazine. Buffy came in and turned off the music. Faith stood up.
"So how's the vamp doing? Mayor said the poison was wicked painful."
"He's going to be just fine. Turns out there's a cure."
"Oh? And what is it?"
"Your blood."
Faith smashed the globe and ducked out of the way. Xander watched as Buffy battled an imaginary opponent across the apartment and out onto the balcony. Then he saw her make a stabbing motion with the wicked looking knife she had with her. And then saw her look over the wall of the balcony and realized the glamour was at the part where Faith escaped. Dejected, Buffy left the apartment.
"She really, seriously wanted to feed me to the vamp."
"She's as obsessed with him as he is with her. Come on, they probably have the golem finished by now. They'll plant it at the hospital. Charles is on the board. No one's going to question him bringing in a patient."
Xander later reported to the stunned group what he'd seen at the hospital.
"The Mayor seems to have come to really care about Faith. He was grieving. Buffy ended up feeding herself to Angel. Angel brought her in and the Mayor tried to kill her. Angel pulled the Mayor off of her. "
"She went that far?!" Charles exclaimed. Xander nodded. "I don't think anyone has told Giles that Buffy tried to feed Faith to Angel. He's pissed at Angel for feeding on Buffy. I've got to go. I still have to finalize the battle plans for tomorrow. Thanks for getting the ingredients for the bomb."
"My son is planning a battle." Tony said. "A battle against a giant demon."
"Getting the whole class in on it, is a good idea." Charles said. "They're going to be there anyway, this way, they're prepared and armed."
"We have everything we need to do the ritual to close the Hellmouth." Jessica said. "All of us will have to participate, but once it's done, we can finally reveal ourselves and maybe start figuring out what is going on with those people. Because seriously, there has to be something. Their decisions, actions and reactions aren't normal."
"True. Be patient." Charles advised. "In little less then twenty hours, hopefully it will be over and the Mayor will be dead. We managed to destroy nearly eighty percent of his protections and supports. That makes him alot less powerful then the Olvican that needed a volcano to take it out."
"You think maybe we can take a vacation?" Madelyn asked. "We haven't been on a vacation since before we started on this plan. I'm tired, a break would be a really good idea."
"It would. I think we've earned it. I think we've more then earned it."