"Hunting vampires and demons and woging in front of them doesn't violate Wesen law." Xander explained. "In fact hunting them is encouraged, Wesen are part animal, that doesn't change and many animals hunt. It's a natural part of their behavior and since neither the Wesen Council nor Grimms want Wesen hunting humans, hunting vampires and demons became an acceptable alternative."
"And here in Sunnydale there's enough to keep us all busy." Faith grinned. "Hey, Mrs. S, you ready for your first hunt?"
"I think my first hunt is going to involve a pompous Englishman." Joyce's bear self couldn't really smile, but the back of the lips could curl up a bit. It was the teeth that were exposed by her doing that reminded them all that bears were very capable of eating meat. "Don't worry, I just intend to scare him a little."
"Xander explained about the demonic power Amy identified in you, Buffy, and that it was finding it that led to all of this." Rory told them. "The Cruciementum makes sense now. It was never a training exercise that got twisted, it was a control measure they put in place that became a tradition. They may not even remember how it got started, but I'm willing to bet at least some of those Watchers are aware that the Slayer is created using demon power."
"How is it a control measure?" Joyce asked.
"Slayers get stronger the longer they're alive and active and consequently harder to control, which also explains why they try to get to Potentials when they're still children, to instill obedience as an additional control measure. But the Cruciementum is a straight up murder attempt and that plays into them knowing what happens to a Slayer that is revived. Magic can revive a person, the method Amy used has been known to Hexenbiests for centuries. There are other methods in Magic that work too. So they knew what having two Slayers results in, the revived Slayer losing a piece of her soul and gradually being corrupted by it."
"So the Cruciementum was originally a means of killing a revived Slayer." Xander speculated. "The trust between a Watcher and Slayer would allow the Watcher to do what Giles did, put the Slayer in a trance, introduce something that weakens them and send them out to hunt in that condition. Eventually they developed a ritual of sorts around it. Containing the Slayer in an arena type of area with a vampire virtually guarentees death."
"And Mr. Windy Price Tag probably knows something." Buffy said. "Enough to at least suspect what would happen to me eventually as a result of being revived. He might have suspected the Magic was responsible though, since he wanted Amy to check me."
"We could give him the benefit of the doubt and hope he was trying to warn us." Joyce said. "But I want to ask him. He knows something."
"Then let's go pay him a visit." Jesse suggested. "Didn't he say he was staying in a hotel?"
"Yes, that first night when he visited our house." Buffy said. "But which one?"
"Given his attitude and the way he dresses." Cordelia said. "Not an airport hotel."
"Or the Sunnydale Motor Lodge." Xander added. "Which leaves just one place, the Sunnydale Arms, expensive and nice."
Both Joyce and Buffy carefully reclaimed their human faces and the group set out to find Wesley Wyndham-Price, who did indeed have a room at the Sunnydale Arms. Joyce knocked on his door and he answered a few moments later. He was probably as casually dressed as he could ever expect to be, suit coat off, shirt sleeves rolled nearly to the elbow.
"Mrs. Summers, is there something I can do for you?"
"You can invite us in, you rude English jackass. Or does that work on hotel rooms?" Joyce asked the others behind her.
"No threshold in a hotel or motel, Mom." Buffy told her. "Vamps can get in anyway."
"Which is why I have an amulet on the back of the door." Wesley stepped aside and motioned them in. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit? Are these the Wesen friends you mentioned, Miss Summers?" He said disapprovingly.
"Some of them are Wesen, some of them are Grimm. You told me that being alive after dying might result in me being corrupted from within. Amy checked me out and we found the demonic power in me."
"Demonic power? What are you talking about?"
"What makes a Slayer, what makes it possible to sense demons is power from a demon. That's how Slayers are created. When I died my soul was damaged. Did you know?"
"I didn't know anything about demon power. I do however, know that having two Slayers causes one of them to become dangerous and have to be put down."
"Put down. Like a sick dog." Faith said flatly.
"It is necessary." He frowned at her. "She could become dangerous, even kill people. We're warned about it."
"You know why, you pompous ass?" Joyce glared at him. "Because when she dies and another activates a piece of her soul is torn out, so it can be used to reinforce the next Slayer's soul to keep them from being corrupted by the demon power. You knew! You Watchers claim the Slayer is mystically created, you pretend it's the will of the gods! But you know they were created by Magic and you knew they used demon power of some sort to do it! You knew!"
"It had to be done. Don't you understand? Vampires are out there killing people every day! A weapon was needed! It was necessary!"
Xander stepped close to him and lifted him up, one handed and held him there. "Nature had already made a way to fight them. Not to mention Wesen, which can fight them, Magic users that can fight them and normal people that can fight them. Using demon power to turn a child into a weapon just so you don't have to face the monsters while pretending you're the one doing the fighting, that's evil."
"Then pretending it's the will of the gods." Buffy said. "Would you like to meet a god? Or at least something people once thought was a god?"
"What are you talking about?!"
"She's talking about me." Joyce informed him. "I'm a Jambavati and we were once worshipped as gods." She jerked her head and let the woge take her. The terror on Wesley Wyndham-Price's face was definitely something to savor. Right before a bright flash of light took Xander away from them.