"Every year on October tenth for who knows how long, these people take virgin girls and sacrifice them to Machida." Charles Chase soberly reported a few days after Kami and Callie had been found and Machida killed. The Wolfbloods having disposed of Machida's body themselves. Kami and Margo, along with Callie and her parents had been reunited when the girls were taken to the hospital to be checked out. Callie having since decided she'd hallucinated the whole thing because of the drugs she'd been given.

"It seems everything they have, all their money, the businesses, are the result of a deal with Machida." Charles continued. "Once a year they give Machida three virgin females and he ensures they're wealthy and successful. But he only empowers men, which is why my father and I were never invited to join them it seems. My mother being the one who ran Chase Holdings before me and me having a daughter instead of a son. Not that I'd trade my daughter for the chance to be in their crazy cult anyway. And Chases have never needed demons to help us make money, just our brains and determination."

"So what's happening with the crazy cult people now?" Johnathan asked from where he was sitting with Ana, who also looked curious.

"Without Machida everything they have is falling apart. Their stock prices are dropping, clients are bailing on them and several of them committed suicide within an hour of Machida's death. It seems those symbols they carved on each other connected them to Machida, which is how Machida was able to influence things on their behalf. They can't face loosing everything."

"Well, duh!" Cordelia retorted. "They didn't earn anything, it was all handed to them on a silver platter. So of course they have no idea how to live without it and are too scared to even try. If we lost everything I'd hate it, but I wouldn't let it stop me either."

"Nope, you'd just go out and make your own fortune." Alex grinned her. "Like Uncle Rory did after the Calax plant shut down and he bought the junkyard and started fixing up cars instead. We both come from tenacious people. Of course you'd bitch about it, but that's loads better than drinking about it." Knowing she'd understand his reference to his father's habit of drinking his disappointments away. "And hey, I like bitchy, snarky Cordy. She's fun."

"Except when she trips over into bullying." They heard Willow mutter. Aside from a glare though, they let it go. Willow hadn't made catty remarks in quite awhile.

"The rest have been arrested." Charles again continued. "Bones of the previous victims have been found in another cavern at the end of the tunnel that connects to ones the fraternity brothers were doing their sacrificing in. They've spent their lives preparing for the day it was their turn to offer sacrifices and make their own agreement with Machida. As for how Machida was even able to live in that cavern, Richard Wilkins had it specially built for them."

"Which means they were aware of what he was doing himself with Sunnydale." Alex suggested. "They'd have to be, to support and turn a blind eye to each other's activities at the same time."

"More humans being the problem, instead of the solution." Buffy grumbled. "But hey, I got to beat on a giant demon snake and now I understand why Kami and her mother scare the crap out of vampires. Things happened so fast when we were trying to deal with them last spring that I didn't really get a chance to see them in action. Her arms were like two swords and she was a master swordsman or woman. She could easily take a vamp's head off."

"It's understandable actually that they'd support Wilkins." Charles added. "Since he intended to turn himself into the embodiment of a reptile demon named Olivican. According to what Wilkins admitted to me anyway, which is when I actually pulled the trigger. I had intended to question him further, but when he informed me of his ultimate plans I reacted much like Margo Norton was afraid she would and killed him, maybe even experienced some insanity of my own."

"Why?" Willow asked curiously. "I mean, those crazy cult people were obviously crazy and gave people to Machida to kill, but what is it about Mayor Wilkins turning himself into a demon that made you crazy and want to kill him?"

"Because he told me Olivican is a sixty foot demon snake that could swallow people whole and that the date of his transformation would also have been the day you kids graduate from High School. He intended to eat the graduating class to sustain the change, before going on to try to rule the world as a god."

This statement was met with silence as the teenagers considered just how close they'd come to dying.

"And I bet you Giles would have expected me to fight it!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Aside from that the only other thing is now several businesses are on the verge of collapse and that's going to effect Sunnydale's economy, so I have to go be a Mayor and try to figure out how to stabilize the situation." Charles finished. "But I'm not giving up on Sunnydale, we'll figure it out. You kids did good. I'm proud of you."

"Why can't you ever say that, Giles?"

A/N Rory Harris, Xander's Uncle, having worked at the Calax plant, a robotics plant that Moloch built his robot body at is referenced in the episode with Moloch. It's also stated that his hobbies include taxidermy and wild parties. ;)