Part Six

Giles sat cross-legged on the floor in one of the chambers of his suite at the Hightower. The rooms he had chosen for himself had been converted and his private quarters included, among many other things, a library that was four times the size of the library at Sunnydale High and a sensory deprivation chamber that had been cleansed by the coven back in England. They kept a constant magic barrier around the chamber so that it was always, always, safe for Giles to meditate.

He took a deep breath and then another. The world was dark around him and silent. He was angry and sad and pulled in a thousand directions and before he could do anything he needed to focus his energy. First and foremost, he was going to use this session to cleanse himself so that he would be worthy enough of committing Willow's body to the earth. But more importantly, and also a fact that he didn't share with the others, he was going to search the ether for Willow's soul. He would feel her if she was still out there. The others need not know that there was a possibility that Willow never crossed over. Giles knew that she had died a violent death and he was sure that there was a chance that her transition might have been interrupted.

He felt himself falling into a trance. His heartbeat and breathing slowed, his eyes rolled back into a comfortable position behind his eyelids, each muscle in his body relaxed as he began to chant. But as soon as he felt himself about to lose touch with his own reality, a blinding light tore him out of the dream he had almost slipped into. Someone had opened the chamber door.

Giles knew that nobody would interrupt him. Every person in that house knew how dangerous it was to tear someone out of meditation like that. He felt the safety blanket of the magic barrier tear open, pulled apart by one, only one being that was stronger than the entire coven combined. When he opened his eyes and jumped to his feet he couldn't believe who stood before him – Ethan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Drop it, Chursky, I'm fine.” Serena unbuckled her seatbelt and tore open the passenger door. She couldn't get out of his car quick enough.

“Listen, I'm just looking out for you. It was a rough night…weirdness all around.” Mike had refused to let her drive after all she had been through. He had tried, in fact, to get her to the hospital to get checked out after the fall she had taken. But she refused. Go figure.

“I'm a big girl, I can take it.” She slammed the door shut and ran quickly through the rain to her front door.

Chursky waited until she got in before he drove away, shaking his head at her arrogance the entire time. ‘ She's gonna get herself hurt one of these days,' he thought to himself.

Serena dropped her bag by the front door and peeled her jacket and shirt off. Her clothes were plastered to her. She was covered with filth and muck and all she could think about was a warm shower and a stiff drink. Truthfully, the strongest thing she ever drank was caffeinated tea. Too many alchys in her life.

After she took her shower she wrapped herself up in an oversized robe and sat down at her computer with a cup of hot tea and a file on the case she'd been working on. The things she had seen Rupert Giles do continued to haunt her. She kept hearing his voice say that one word over and over. Magic . It forced her to take a step back from reality and analyze what had happened. She tried to come up with a logical explanation but as hard as she tried she just couldn't find one. So she searched where everyone in world searched for information – the internet. Yahoo.com. “Now,” she said, “What do I search for?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Not a vampire,” Illyria said, “This body was empty. The soul was ripped from its host a moment before a fatal blow stopped this heart from beating.” She held her hand over the body and her fingers cracked with energy. Dr. Frankenstein could have taken a few tips from the demon smurfette.

“Then she might still be out there,” Buffy said, “Willow could still be alive.”

“If she is she's lost. She might be trapped in someone else's body or she might be drifting around the ether. Certainly not corporeal,” Wesley said. “She would be…essentially...a ghost.”

“If she's out there we need to find her,” Buffy said.

“Right, I'll get the others.” Wesley turned quickly and left the room. For some reason he refused to use the hologram projector. He liked some things the old fashioned way.

“Are you positive that Willow was not in the body when it was beaten?” Buffy asked.

Illyria turned quickly and looked directly into the Slayer's eyes. “Do not question me, mortal.”

Buffy knew better, it was just a reflex question. “I'm sorry, you're right.” She backed off pretty quickly.

“Do not coddle me, either. I can taste your arrogance.” Illyria's eyes narrowed on Buffy.

Buffy just raised her eyebrows and backed slowly away.

Xander came running into the room. There had been a miscommunication and he expected to see Willow alive. “Wes said…” But he stopped when he saw the body still asleep. “What's going on? Wesley said she was alive.”

“She might be alive,” Buffy said. “Illyria said that Willow's soul was not in her body when the heart stopped beating. It could mean a million things.”

“But it's a possibility, right?” Dawn said. She had been walking in when she heard the explanation.

“Yes. And if she's still out there, I want to get her back,” Buffy said.

“Willow might be alive?” Amy asked as she walked into the room. “What's going on?”

Buffy explained what Illyria had told her to everyone who came down. And everyone meant the entire clan except for Giles. Buffy hoped, for Giles sake, that Wesley had explained it better to him. The last thing Buffy wanted was for Giles to think Willow was alive and then walk into the room and see her body right where he left it. Breathless, soulless, but most of all - lifeless.


Part Seven

Giles felt the power emanating from Ethan but he didn't care. He lunged forward and reached for Ethan's throat. “You son of a bitch, you killed her.”

“No, wait…Ripper…it's not what you think,” Ethan said, struggling for his breath. “Giles…stop…it's me…”

“I know it's you, you bastard.” Giles tried to snap Ethan's neck but they were struggling too hard to get good enough leverage for him to complete the task.

“Stop…just listen,” Ethan said. “Ripper, listen to her…. pu…pu…please ….” He gasped and tried get the words out as Giles continued to choke him.

But Giles wasn't listening. He kicked his foot hard and swept Ethan's legs out from underneath of him, sending them both to the ground. Giles was on top, straddling the other man's body and pinning him to the floor.

“Don't make me hurt you, please listen,” Ethan said.

“You're…too…late…for…that,” Giles said, knowing he was already as dead inside as a living person could be. He punctuated and paused between each word as he repeatedly slammed Ethan's head to the floor as memories of Willow played in his mind.

Ethan's eyes began glowing a bright yellow and Giles could tell he was summoning the strength to fight back. He knew that Ethan was stronger than him, he felt the man's power break down the coven's magic barrier. But still the Watcher fought. He had nothing to lose at this point.

“I don't want to…” Ethan said and threw Giles off of him before he finished his sentence, “…hurt you.” When Ethan got to his feet, Giles was laying on the floor against the wall, barely able to breathe. He closed the gap between their bodies and bent down on one knee in front of the wounded Watcher. "I don't want to hurt you, but I always do." Ethan reached for Giles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena woke with a start and looked around the room. She had fallen asleep at her keyboard, her head resting uncomfortably on her arm. Her left hand must have been cut off from its blood supply because as soon as she moved it the whole thing began to burn and tingle at the same time, like a million little razor-hot pokers were being plunged into her skin over and over again.

The computer screen was showing a vampire standing over a willing victim. The picture was captioned with the words The Bloodletting Begins At Midnight. It was an ad for a local club. Ok, so it wasn't an actual vampire, but it was the best she could find. As the hours wore on and her searches led her to more and more inertia, she began believing her own lies – that the body was struck by lightening and had burned up. It made sense. Kind of. Not really, but more than the truth.

Her search had produced zero results. In fact she was surprised to find out that, second to New Orleans, New York had the largest vampire sub-culture in the United States. It actually gave her loads of possibilities. Which meant way too many suspects and an infinite number of places to start. And infinite possibilities always led to cold cases.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Just tell me how to help, point me in the direction of something I can kill,” Gunn said after hearing a thousand possibilities about Willow's death or rather not-death. “You guys are the brains, I'm just the brawn. Wolfram and Hart deprogrammed me years ago."

Charles Gunn and the L.A. crew had joined Buffy after the apocalypse. Well, not the apocalypse, but an apocalypse - the one that destroyed Wolfram and Hart and turned Angel into a machine that could kill anything the evil lawyers concocted.

"We don't even know if she's alive. Where's Wesley and Giles?" Dawn said.

"Oh, let me," Faith said, jumping up and running over the mirror. Faith never got to use the hologram machine. Whenever there was a Slayer emergency, Buffy was the one who ran to the mirror to send out the bat signal that gathered the troops.

"Buffy, this is..." Xander thought for a minute before he finished, "...if Willow's alive, how do we know she's... good? I mean - she's married to Ethan Rayne."

"One thing at a time," Buffy said, knowing that evil Willow was also a possibility. One she hadn't bothered mentioning to the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wesley was calling to Giles but the doors were locked. He knocked for a few minutes but Giles just wasn't answering. Wesley knew that he had gone to his quarters to meditate and if Giles was in the sensory deprivation chamber, there was a good chance he wouldn't hear him at all. Wes pressed his ear to the door, but there was nothing but silence coming from the room. He had been waiting for about ten minutes but he knew the other Watcher would be engrossed in his meditation for quite some time. He decided to head back downstairs to join the rest of the gang. But when he turned around, Faith's image was floating in the hallway in front of him.

"Wes, any luck?" Faith didn't say anything more. She knew better. If Giles saw her hologram and she volunteered too much information it would make matters worse.

Wesley pressed a button on the wall just above the projector so that he could respond to Faith. "On my way down," Wesley said. "Giles is still in mediation, I don't want to disturb him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bind his powers," Ethan said. "No, it's not right," Ethan said. "It's the only way, it won't hurt him." Ethan walked over to a mirror and looked into it. "I don't want to do that to him, he'll never trust me again."

Giles was groggy but he was waking up. The blow from Ethan had knocked him unconscious. Giles had no idea how long he'd been asleep. As he felt more and more of his strength returning he focused on Ethan who was standing in front of a mirror... and talking to himself. Odd.

"Just do it! Bind his magic and do it now." Ethan said. "Fine!"

Giles heard this and staggered to his feet, chanted a spell and lunged for Ethan. He missed his target and crashed into the mirror.

When Ethan saw this he grabbed Giles and shouted, "Subsisto!" Giles froze before he could fall to the ground and all the glass shards from the mirror froze in midair. He was as still as a statue, but safe.

"Giles?" There was a knocking at the door and a muffled voice calling to the Watcher.

"Dammit!" Ethan said. "I told you we should not have come here. Too many complications." Ethan hooked his arms underneath of Giles' at his shoulders and pulled him away from the glass.

"Giles I'm coming in." And with that, Wesley broke through the door and rushed in to help.

 

Part Eight

“You must be Ethan Rayne,” Wesley said rather calmly.

Ethan was holding Giles by the arms, dragging him to the bed. He reached the bed and let the body fall onto the mattress. “Wesley…just listen,” Ethan said.

“Unfreeze him or I'll kill you,” Wesley said, despite the fact that he didn't have a weapon in his hand. Truth be told, he was going to kill Ethan regardless. He just figured it would save him the time of having to do a spell to return Giles to his normal state.

Ethan stepped away from Giles. “I can't, not yet. Wes, Just listen to me,” Ethan said.

“Why are you speaking to me as if you know me?” Wesley was very calm. He felt the power coursing through his body but he kept it concealed. After he had been brought back to life something inside of him had changed. He was strong. Super-human strong. It was something he had drawn from Illyria but something he had kept hidden when he could.

“Because I do,” Ethan said.

“It's the witch,” Illyria said from behind Wesley. She followed him around like a puppy-dog sometimes.

Wesley didn't take his eyes off of Ethan. Illyria moved closer and stood by his side.

“She's trapped inside the body with another soul.” The demon moved closer to Ethan's body while she spoke. “There are two of them in this shell.”

“It's true, it's me, Wes. And Ethan. We're in here together. I can't unfreeze Giles because he won't listen long enough for me to explain,” Ethan said and then added, “For US to explain, little one.”

Wesley was getting a headache. He couldn't tell who was talking. He believed Illyria, of course, but something still unsettled him – was Willow a good witch… or a bad witch?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena had fallen asleep again, this time in her bed. The thunder and lightening had subsided and the night was quiet around her.

Dreams kept her restless, though, and she tossed and turned throughout the night. The victims haunted her, like they usually do, but this time they were different. Stronger. They were no longer just visions. They had a heft and a presence. They had a hold on her that they never had before. The only victim from this case that wasn't haunting her was the one she had just seen disappear – Willow Rayne.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You don't seem too happy to see me, Wesley,” Ethan said. Actually, it was Willow, but Wesley still couldn't get it straight. It was hard to differentiate between two steams of thought coming out of the same person's mouth. “I know that I left you guys in Cleveland but now is not the time to discuss that. First…I need my body back,” Willow said. “And I'd like to make love to my beautiful wife before the next millennium so if you could just help unmerge us before her body decomposes any further we'll be on our merry way," Ethan said and then added, "Sorry, darling, for the morbidity." Willow replied, "It's ok, I'd like my body back before that happens, too." Two streams of thought but still the same voice. As much as Willow enjoyed the British accent, she couldn't wait to have her own voice back.

“Why did you come here? To us for help? To Giles? Do you think it's been easy for him?” Wesley asked pointedly.

“Wesley, please. I can't do this…” Willow said. “Not with Giles like that.” Ethan walked over to Giles and waved his hand over the man's ears. “Ripper…” Ethan reached up and pinched himself hard on the arm, “Ouch!” Then Ethan shook his head, “Stop calling him Ripper,” Willow said. “It isn't helping.”

Wesley and Illyria just watched.

Ethan stood over Giles' body and said, “Giles. It's me, Willow. I'm stuck in Ethan's body with him. I know you brought my body back here from the woods. I will unfreeze you but I need to know that you understand and believe me first. I'm going to unfreeze your eyes,” Willow said. Ethan ran his hands over Giles' eyes. “Ok, just like in the movies – blink once for yes, twice for no.” Ethan looked up at Wesley who still hadn't warmed up to him at all. He then looked back down at Giles lying on the bed. “Did you hear what I said? That it's me, Willow?”

Giles blinked once.

"If I unfreeze you are you going to hurt me? Or Ethan?" Ethan's frame loomed over Giles' body.

Giles opened his eyes wide as if forcing himself not to blink at all. It was that last part that got him. Or Ethan. Since his eyes were his only moveable body-part, he had to emphasize however he could.

Ethan bent down closer, "Giles? Promise not to hurt Ethan?" Willow asked. "Yes, Ripper, I'm not here to harm you, merely to get my lovely wife back into her own body so I can use the loo with a bit of privacy," Ethan said.

Giles' eyes were about to burst since he had held them open for so long. Finally he gave in and blinked once for 'yes' though he hated himself for it.

Willow weaved a spell and ran Ethan's hands over Giles to unfreeze him. In an instant, the Watcher was free and he lunged for Ethan's throat.

 

Part Nine

It was morning. Serena had slept on and off throughout the night but it was anything but restful. She rolled out of bed and moved slowly to the bathroom where a pile of dirty clothes reminded her of the events of the night before. Though she had already taken a shower the night before, Serena could not start her day without a warm spray of water to wake her up. She turned up the steam and stepped inside.

She dressed casually, a pair of jeans with a plain black shirt and some boots. The case files were sprawled out around her living room, across the desk and the even the dining room table. All the victims, all their stories, all those pictures of their bloodless bodies. How was she going to solve this case? It was more macabre than most cases she'd ever worked on, mostly because the blood that was drained from the victims had to be used for something. And, unfortunately, Serena had an active imagination. One that came up with plenty of scenarios that could include that much human blood. Sometimes she even scared herself.

She packed up everything and headed for the front door where she noticed a package on the floor just beneath the mail slot. It was from Chursky. When she opened it up she found out it was her car keys. She had completely forgotten that he'd driven her home and she didn't have her car. But when she opened the door the car was in the driveway. It was an old two-seater Benz from the 80's - canary yellow. Serena dropped her things in the passenger side seat and then opened the roof of her convertible before she headed out for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How much longer," Dawn asked. Wesley had explained everything before Willow/Ethan had emerged from Giles' quarters and met with the gang late in the evening the night before. Though everyone was happy to see Willow, something about her being in Ethan's body was unsettling. Imagine that.

"Not sure," Buffy said, "Still waiting for Giles. He has to be the one who performs the ritual - he's the link between the coven and Willow. But I'm sure the sooner he gets Willow out of Ethan Rayne's body, the happier he'll be."

"The happier we'll all be," Xander added, "I, for one, have had all the wiggins I can stand for one lifetime."

“Ditto,” Dawn said.

"It's gotta suck for him...seeing Willow and Ethan together," Faith said.

The whole room shot her a dirty look.

"I didn't mean 'together' like 'one human being' but, like...you know - together as in betrothed...man and wife...lovers....geez...." Faith flopped down onto a sofa next to Spike.

Speak of the devil and he walks in the room. "Has Ripper come down yet?" Ethan said and then slapped himself across the face, "Ouch!" Obviously Willow had taken over. She said, "Stop calling him Ripper."

"Oh, this is fun," Spike said as he leaned over to Faith. "Somebody call the Marx Brothers so they can make a movie out of this." Now it was Spike's turn to get the dirty looks from the room. "Sorry...that was last century. I'm a bit older 'n all of you don't forget."

Amy and Illyria had gone to rest. They were both going to be key factors in performing the spell. Their combined power would take some of the pressure off of Giles and help keep him anchored to this plane.

Xander walked over to Ethan and said, "Will, any chance you and I could talk privately? Can you block him out or something?"

"Sure I can," Ethan said and then pinched himself. "No, I can't, he was lying. We'll talk when I'm MYSELF again." There was so much she wanted to say to Xander, but now was not the time, not while she was sharing a body with her husband.

Truthfully, she loved Ethan in her own way. She did. He was a changed man, though Giles and the others would not be easily convinced of that. Once this was over she would tell Giles why she left and explain how she and Ethan had been fighting the dark forces on the east coast for years. She would also tell Giles that she still loved him, even after all these years...but that she wasn't sure what that meant for either of them...or for Ethan. But being around the gang again had felt good. It felt real, unlike her life with Ethan that felt like...a fairytale. Every kiss was magical and whimsical, every time he took her in his arms it was a grand waltz or a sensual slow dance, every present was a surprise with a flourish thrown in for good measure. He was the most charming man she'd ever met and he treated her like a princess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena turned onto White Cliff Drive and stopped the car. She sat for a few moments looking down the road. It had changed so much since the summers she'd spent there as a child. The foliage had all filled in and grown up, turning what used to be a beautiful tree-lined scenic route into a dark, gloomy path. But she knew at the end of the road stood the Hightower Retreat's main building, a place that surely had the answers to the questions she had formed in her mind.

She was lost for a moment in her thoughts. Her parents were there and her sister, their voices distant on the breeze that passed her by. She had lost all three of them in a car accident. She was truly alone in the world. People tried to get close to her but she built walls. Good ones. Strong ones. And those walls kept out everyone, even those who had the best intentions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles was back in the sensory deprivation chamber. This time he was decompressing from the shock of seeing Ethan and the pain of having been turned into a statue. He had throttled Ethan a little, spewed all sorts of epithets at him and then apologized to Willow who had to endure his blows since she was stuck in Ethan's body. He would do anything for Willow, though, even after she had left him and broke his heart. He would always love her. As much as he loved her he didn't know how to face her. He would perform the ritual to separate her from Ethan and put her back in her own body, but that was it for Giles. He knew that he was going to drop out of sight until Ethan and Willow left the premises.

He took a deep breath and felt his energy growing inside. Soon he would be ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The car seemed to lurch forward of it's own accord. Before Serena knew it she was driving through the darkness of the cover of the trees. It was eerie. She hadn't been to the crime scene, she wasn't even on the force at the time, but she'd seen pictures of the owner's bodies lying on the front lawn. The pictures flashed in her mind like a slide show as she made her way to the end of the road.

The estate was beautiful, amazingly. Rupert Giles must have put a lot of money and work into it. Though it looked like something from the vacation resort she'd seen in "Dirty Dancing" Serena knew that there were no happy families inside, no charades, no sexy dance guy out in the staff's quarters, no water polo, no horseback riding, and nothing else that was good and pure. Inside, she knew it was more like "The Shining" only without the snowstorm. She stopped the car just outside the front door and turned off the engine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles made his way downstairs. He had called down to Buffy to tell her he was on his way and she headed right for the hologram mirror.

She stood in front of the mirror and when it was done scanning her she began to speak. "Illyria, Amy, everyone else...it's show time. Giles is on his way down. We need everyone for the ritual. We'll be in the dining hall."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena was halfway up the front steps when an image appeared in front of her out of thin air. She drew her gun and pointed it but when she looked up there was something floating in front of her...a blond girl...a ghost?

She heard the girl talking about a ritual and Rupert Giles. Serena stepped around the image and walked up to the porch. She pressed her back against the house just to the side of the door. She waited to see if the blond had seen her or would acknowledge her, but the image said what it needed to say and then faded. When it faded, it closed and condensed to a thin sliver and Serena saw a white light shooting out of a little black box built into the brick work. The light faded when the image disappeared. "Hologram..." she said. She knew they were becoming more and more popular as technology forged ahead at the speed of light, but she had never actually seen one. It more than freaked her out.

As the shock wore off the words of what the girl had said resonated. Serena quickly made her way around to the side of the house on the porch that wrapped the entire building's exterior. From her time spent there as a child, Serena remembered where the dining hall was and headed to one of the windows.

She pressed her nose to the glass and tried to peer inside through a tiny slit in the draperies. Her eyes scanned the room for something out of the ordinary, something 'occult-like' that would be used in a ritual or spell of some sort. When she saw the table in the center of the room, she squinted harder to get a better view of what was lying on the table. When she succeeded it took her breath away. It was the body of Willow Rayne.

 

Part Ten

"Shit." Serena backed away and pressed her body up against the side of the house again. She still had her gun drawn and it was a good thing - she might actually need it.

There was no way she could bust in and break up the little freak party that was going on inside the building without first calling for back-up. And if she did that she'd have them pull up to the house, guns drawn, sirens blazing. At least the woman was dead already. Anything they did to her body would be grotesque, but the woman wouldn't suffer.

She peered through the tiny slit again and saw the blond from the hologram and several others all filling in around Willow's body. Willow was on the altar and the group formed a circle around her and held hands. Rupert Giles was standing inside of the circle with another man, both of them holding hands like a bridge across the body.

There was a girl in a black robe reading from a large book and another girl with long blue hair dressed in leather with her back to Serena. These two seemed to be the anchors for the rest of the group. They began chanting. Serena could not make out the words but she could feel the vibrations under her feet coming from the chorus of voices inside. She didn't know what to do so she just watched in horror as they grew more intense.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles felt the heat from Ethan's body start rushing through him. It was Willow. She needed to pass through Giles to get back to her own body. The coven had instructed him that it was the only way the spell would work. Ethan was not too happy about it. Giles wasn't, either. But Willow understood. It was the coven's way of getting her and Giles back together, sort of leaving Ethan behind and starting over with Giles again. Being reborn in a sense. She hadn't asked them to do this, but she was a part of them. She knew how they felt and things they thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena continued watching, feeling awful for the girl on the altar. It seemed that the words "rest in peace" meant nothing anymore. Rupert Giles was starting to shake violently and the man who was holding his hands was weakening. Eventually the stranger fell to the floor and Giles seemed to get a jolt of energy. He threw his head back and looked up at the ceiling. A bright light shot out of his eyes and split the darkness that towered above them. When Serena looked at his hands they were glowing a blinding blue. She couldn't believe what she was watching. Her mind raced to form a logical explanation but failed miserably. She blinked her eyes and squinted to make sure of what she was seeing. Giles laid his glowing hands on the body in front of him and the group chanted louder. With a flash of light the body levitated and sprang to life. Giles collapsed on the floor and the body fell to the altar. Willow Rayne was alive.

Unable to control herself at that moment, Serena let out a gasp and dropped her gun. She quickly picked it up, backed away from the window and started running for her car. But by the time she made it all the way around the porch to the front steps it was too late.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What was that?" Xander said as soon as the spell was over.

"I heard it, too," Dawn said, "Something outside."

"Yeah, so did I," Buffy said and took off running. Wesley followed close behind.

They reached the front door and tore it open in time to see a dark haired woman rounding the corner of the porch. There was a car parked in front that they assumed was hers. They hadn't had any visitors the entire time they'd been at the Hightower. Though this woman didn't look like a witch or a demon she was intruding and she did have a gun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena's heart was pounding in her ears. The girl from the hologram was standing in front of her. She had just seen the blond and the stranger behind her perform that ritual. But no matter what she had seen Serena refused to believe it was magical. She hoisted her gun up and gripped it with both hands and pointed it at the blond girl. "I'm a police officer, stop right there." She strengthened her stance and held her ground.

"Whatever you think is going on here you're mistaken," Buffy said calmly. "Put down the gun."

"Sorry, can't do that," Serena said, trying to be tough. Her eyes widened when she saw Rupert Giles emerge from the house.

He moved slowly as if he'd been injured and stood next to the blond. "Ms. Michaels please put down the gun."

"You know her," Buffy asked.

"She is the investigator from last night. I imagine she's here to inquire about Willow." Giles was calm. He felt he had foreshadowed enough for Serena the night before and that showing her how things work in his world would be less of a surprise now that she had taken the first step and had come to him. He had wanted to keep her from learning about such things but it just hadn't worked out that way.

"Mr. Giles...care to explain how that girl's body ended up in your house?" Serena never wavered and never lowered her gun.

"Please lower your gun," he said softly. He would not put the others in danger.

"You must not have heard me earlier when I told your friends that I couldn't do that." Serena cocked the gun and locked her arms. Her eyes widened again as the girl in leather joined the group in front of her. "Hold it right there," she said to the blue haired girl.

But the blue girl kept walking towards her.

"Illyria, no," Wesley cautioned.

Serena aimed and pulled the trigger.

 

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