"I don't know if it's wise to have you work in the shop."
"Come on Giles! Please! It would be great work experience and would help towards me learning how to run a business!"
Eris had joined Giles in helping to restore the Magic Shop that had the murdered shop owner. Surprisingly, it didn't take much for the ex-watcher to receive legal ownership, the Sunnydale Council dealt with its change in ownership so many times that they would just give it out freely to the next person who asked for it. That didn't sound the greatest as that meant many owners had been killed in the past but Giles was always the optimist when it came to something he set his mind on.
It wasn't too hard to fix the damage within the shop either, most of what was destroyed was where Mr Bogarty was murdered. A Broken shelving, some shattered glass, and various items strewn about the place, a good sign for the reopening. And with the help of Xander and his surprisingly adept skills in carpentry, they were able to replace the furniture with the cost being planks of wood and some nails.
Whilst he fixed up the shelving, Anya, Tara and Eris were employed to help stock the items and reorganise whilst Giles dealt with the front counter. Anya was excellent in her reorganisation due to her extensive knowledge of magic and demonology whilst Eris was skilled in placing things in areas that made the place look nice and would help in catching the eye of costumer and luring in passersby who glance in. Tara loved making up a Tarot reading area that could provide customers with an experience along with their purchases.
"Will you actually work? And I mean working the register and helping out costumers?" Giles was looking over the various books on the front counter whilst speaking to Eris. He was hesitant to employ her, not because he didn't trust her but because he knew how distracted and uncommitted she can behave, which would hinder the store.
"I have worked before, and you know I would have amazing skills in customer service. I'm likable, charming, and I know how to talk someones socks off, I mean look how I helped arrange the store."
"Yes well I admit you have helped Anya make the store layout pleasing to look at," as he closed the book and placed it on a small pile he decided on giving her a chance, "you can work here but don't destroy the trust I'm placing in you, I want you to be completely dedicated."
Eris let a big grin stretch across her face, and with her back straightened and hand coming up for a salute she replied, "done! Dedicated Eris Vanzetti is here for duty!"
"Oh I'm so going to regret this…" he muttered just as there was a knock at the front door, "go back to helping Anya with the shelves, you can start there."
"Please do! Whoever stocked these shelves before was a complete idiot!" Anya leaned back from one of the shelves so she could look at Eris, an irritated look on her face, "they put the monkey head next to styx water. Did they want to pick exploded monkey out of their hair?"
"Oh god the smell would be awful!" Eris ran up the steps and grabbed the monkey and water out of the ex-demon's hands, being careful to not have them touching, "where do you want them?"
"Put the Monkey head in the shelving behind this one with the feathers and the water can be put with the oils and elixirs," she nodded to Anya and moved off to place them as Willow and Buffy walked inside.
"Oh wow, this place looks great!" they heard Willow say with an awed voice, she scanned all the items around the room before giving a loving smile to Tara who eagerly returned it, "I feel like a witch in a magic shop oh! Are those real newt eyes?"
"No. Too rich for my blood, I'm afraid, no these are salamander eyes. It's the cataracts which give them their newt-like appearance. They're really equally effective, though, its just a matter of overcoming snobbery."
"I'm tellin you, Giles. You gotta set up a blind taste test and prove once and for all that generic amphibian eyeballs are just as good."
"Eaten many eyeballs, have you Xander?"
"I will not take the bait this time, Eris," Xander gave Eris a mocking glare as she poked her tongue out at him in response.
Willow huffed as she placed the bottle of Salamander eyes back down on the display table, "I don't know. If you ask me, the newt name still means something."
"I always thought newts were salamanders," Eris commented as she moved over to the front counter to grab an unopened box.
"They're under the same family as salamanders but not the same species," Giles answered before looking to Buffy, "you ready to train?"
"You betcha?" the Slayer responded eagerly.
"Shall we then?"
"Then we shall!"
"Excellent, Eris, keep unpacking those boxes, you can come into the back if you are confused on where things should go."
"Ignore him, come to me and I'll direct you, Giles will have you place things stupidly."
"Fine, ask Anya then…Dear lord," Giles shook his head one last time before leading Buffy and Xander into the back.
Spike, as usual, was sitting on his couch daydreaming about all the things he wished he could do that the chip put a stop to. All the murder and torture, oh how he missed it, the way fresh blood felt on his tongue, the screams of a victim dying echoing in his ear. That was his nighttime fun for eons, now it was watching Passions and beating up his fellow demons, not particularly his favourite things to do. And it was all thanks to the bloody Slayer, if she didn't defeat him so many times he wouldn't have been distracted enough to get caught by the Initiative.
He could be living the highlife, killing everyone who crossed his path, maybe even the Slayer herself. He could have even managed to drain Eris of all her blood, which would have saved him from growing to care for her, much has he loathed to admit it. In what world would any demon become friends with a human, it's ridiculous and thanks to his chip he had done just that. Now he was in too deep and the thought of killing her didn't sit well with him, a part of him even detested the idea. Another thing he could blame the Slayer for.
As he was plotting his revenge, an erratic knocking on his door caused him to jump out of his chair in surprise. Thinking it was the Slayer or even Eris, he turned around to see that it was Harmony rushing inside in terror. He really did not want to see her, especially since the last time she did she kicked him out and left him for dead, "well, well, well. Lookee here."
"Is it safe? Has Buffy gotten to you yet?" she asked in a frantic tone, her chest heaving from her taking in unneeded breathes, "I saw her patrolling just now, with a stake. She won't give up until she's killed me to death."
He raised his brows at her words, killed her to death, what perfect English, "Buffy's looking for you?" he asked, not fully believing her.
"Of course! That's why I'm on the lam. Didn't you hear? I'm totally her Archnemesis."
The woman standing before him was definitely not the Slayer's Archnemesis, not even in their high school days. She could barely execute a plan, which was evident by how the Slayer was able to save her younger sister in under 2 hours. He found this all so amusing, but decided to play along and see where she was going, "is that right? I must've missed the memo."
"There was a mem….Spike, oh my god! This is, like, a real emergency! I need a hideout so bad. You're my only hope. We're just gonna have to rise above our petty differences…Listen, Spike, I'm desperate."
A thought crossed his mind and he listened to Harmony's pleading, a plan was formulating that could end his struggles once and for all, "Desperate, are you?"
"Come on, Spike. Pretty please? I'll do anything."
Perfect, just what he wanted to hear, "anything, will you?"
"Yeah! I said I'll do anything," he stayed silent, letting her come to her own conclusions, which didn't take long, "oh! You mean, will I have sex with you? Well yea," that was not what he had in mind. He already got his satisfaction from Eris, though he supposed that would end if he killed the Slayer, so Harmony would be a decent replacement.
With that in mind he watched her intently as she sat on his chair and lit one of his cigarettes, "taking up smoking, are you?"
"I am a villain, Spike, Hello?" she tried to sound proud as she stated her truth, but her loud coughing fit as the smoke irritated her throat put a stop to that.
"I guess you are at that…What with the Slayer on your tail and all," Harmony didn't seem to notice his taunting, which reminded him how simple the woman could be, "she's not the type to give up, either. She'll hunt you down, day and night, till you're too tired and too hungry to run anymore. And then…that is you," he grabbed a pile of dirt and rubbed it between his hands, letting the small grains fall between his fingers and back onto the ground, imitating what happens when a vampire dies. The fear in the blonde vampire's eyes grew, and he knew he had her right where he wanted, "I guess you're gonna have to kill her."
"I tried! It was all hard and stuff! You do it."
"I'd love to, but I can't, remember? I've got this cute little government chip in my head."
"Alright. Guess it'll have to be me after all. Can you help with the thinking?"
"Yeah, I suppose I could do that," he could make this work out perfectly. Harmony could be the weapon, and if he's lucky he could have the Slayer killed without anyone knowing he had a hand in it.