Alexander, Corda and Buffy, as well as Giles and Jenny would establish a habit of visiting Willow in the nursing home her parents placed in. She was essentially a baby at this point. She'd have to relearn how to feed herself, dress herself and even brush her teeth before she could renew her education. Which might go a little faster the second time around because Jenny speculated that there might be faint echos of knowledge still in her mind. Only time would tell.
"Why was the spell so bad?" Buffy asked.
"Rule of three." Jenny told her. "It's a basic belief of Magic, that what you put out comes back, worse then what it went out, when you use Magic negatively. Not every practicioner believes it. But belief plays a big part in Magic. She wanted to erase Alexander, but erased herself, instead."
In the meantime, Alexander and Corda finished the scanner they'd been working on and found something very interesting.
"There is a lot of Magic around City Hall." Alexander reported to Giles, Jenny and Buffy. "I know we've speculated that there had to be a reason the officials around here don't actually seem to do anything and that there had to be a reason people buy flimsy excuses for odd occurrences, but to find that it might be because someone in City Hall is orchestrating it, is very unexpected."
"Indeed, but who actually is it? It would have to be someone high up. Maybe even as high as the Mayor. But why? What could he hope to gain from it?" Giles asked.
"Crooked politicians happen everywhere, but you're right there has to be more to it then that. Someone created this dimensional tear on purpose. Which means they figured out or found out, how to create it. But there'd have to be a reason for them to create it, in the first place." Alexander said.
"We know vampires and demons are drawn to the energy that leaks from it." Corda said. "Maybe someone wants a lot of vampires and demons in this town. But why would they want them here?"
"Sacrifices." Jenny said. "If what they wanted involved sacrifices, a lot of sacrifices, more then they could accomplish on their own, then they could offer the people as sacrifices and just sit back and allow the vampires and demons to feed on them. But it would have to be something really big to make it worthwhile."
"This is where we could use Willow's help. We need to investigate the officials in City Hall. Someone needs to see what information there is on the computer, maybe hack City Hall." Alexander said.
"I'm not as good as Willow, but I can still do some checking." Jenny said. "And being a technopagan, I can also use Magic to hide myself online I while do."
"Our scanner isn't sophisticated enough to give real detailed information, for that I still need the smaller one." Alexander said. "So now that I know something is going on over at City Hall, I'm going to scan up close and see what I can find. We'll meet later and fill each other in."
"Buffy, you and I can go to the Sunnydale archives, I am much more comfortable with dusty old records then I am with technology and see if there is anything of interest there."
"You may be more comfortable with dusty old records, but I'm not. But I'll keep you company. There isn't anything else I can do to help right now anyway."
Alexander found something with his scan of City Hall and returned to discuss it with the group. "You know the tunnels under Sunnydale? The ones the vampires use as their travel system around town? Several of them go right up into City Hall. They can enter there very easily. The idea that someone arranged for them to be here and is allowing them to kill, gains momentum. They may even be doing so not just with tacit permission, but under orders. But who's orders?"
"Mayor Wilkins has no online presence at all." Jenny reported. "Deputy Mayor Finch has almost nothing as well. Everyone else is very visible online. The Wilkins family owns quite abit around here, but I can't find anything out about them. I have no idea how many members of the family there are."
"One. The was two, but now there's only one. Richard Wilkins the First was born in 1860. He married Edna May in 1903, she died in 1963. Both of their births are recorded in the archives, the marriage certificate is recorded, her death is recorded. But his death isn't." Giles reported. "Nor is a birth or death for Richard Wilkins the Second or the Third, nor is a marriage for either one. And we found these." He laid three pictures on the table.
"They're all the same person." Alexander said. "An Alteran wouldn't age over that span of time, but Earth humans haven't developed that long a life span yet. So he altered himself somehow, so he doesn't age. And is using Magic to keep people from noticing, which is affecting other things they might see, like demons. He doesn't want them seen either."
"Wouldn't it affect us too?" Buffy asked.
"Not when you're aware of it." Jenny said. "Humans can convince themselves of quite alot. If you don't want to see it, you won't. If you acknowledge something exists, then you see it."
"So people don't know vampires exist anyway, which makes it even easier for Mayor Wilkins to convince them they're not seeing something odd." Corda said.
"We need to find a way to collapse his magical protections." Giles said. "The feedback back from that might even kill him. But he's been responsible for alot of death."
"Mostly of children and teenagers, like Jesse." Alexander said.