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Chapter 33

**
.
Previously:

Buffy nodded in agreement. “That’s the plan then. Willow, Tara, Giles and Anya start on the spell research. Xander and Mom go back to work, and Spike and I will take the sewers to Willy’s. We’ll meet back here. Until Riley is found, everyone needs to make sure that Dawn doesn’t go out after dark without one of us with her.”

The Slayer had spoken.

**

“Can’t we just use this one and sorta tweak it to our needs?” Willow asked innocently.

“No!” Giles almost shouted, horrified. His heart started racing. He removed his glasses to clean them as he mentally tried to calm himself. It was working until he had a terrifying thought. “Willow, please tell me that you have never, er, tweaked a spell?”

“Um...define tweaking?” she responded nervously. She didn’t think he would get mad at her about one or two- okay so there might have been more but they were really small spells. Well, except for the ‘thy will be done’ spell. The rest shouldn’t be a problem because they were all just little, insignificant, nothing-to-worry-about type spells that were so not worth even thinking about.

Giles was sorely tempted to pound his head against the research table. Repeatedly.

“You do, of course, realise that we live on the Hellmouth?” he asked tiredly. These children would surely be the death of him.

“Yeah?” Willow was totally clueless as to where the watcher was heading with this comment.

“And that the Hellmouth itself is perpetually releasing its essence in to surrounding area? An essence that by its very nature is evil?” Giles continued his cryptic questions.

“I know that, Giles. You’ve told us all often enough,” Willow stated a little belligerently.

“Did I fail to mention that the evil essence of the Hellmouth can corrupt the mystical?” he gave the witch a hard look. She was being entirely too flippant about this for his peace of mind.

“Yes, Giles. I know that.” Willow was getting a little bored with the conversation. She was finally beginning to realize why Buffy tended to drift off whenever Giles was beating a subject to death. Like he was now. When was he actually going to get to the point?

“Really, Willow? Are you also aware that any mistakes that you might make during spell-casting could consequently open the Hellmouth?” Ripper snarled at the uncaring redhead. “Are you aware that ‘tweaking’ spells could cause a major apocalyptic event? Have you ever once considered the consequences of your actions as a spell caster, or the fact that every time you use magic, your reasons for doing so are judged and, if found wanting, that you will be paid back tenfold?”

Willow’s eep of horror was the first thing that Buffy and Spike heard when they returned to the Magic Box.

“What’s going on?” the Slayer asked.

“It appears that I have been remiss in teaching Willow the basic fundamental truths of magic,” the watcher snapped in reply. Turning his hard gaze to the quaking redhead, Giles directed his final words on the subject to her. “A situation I shall remedy as soon as possible.”

Buffy looked blankly at her watcher for all of three seconds before deciding to let him handle it. “So, what have we found?”

“We’re still looking, Buffy,” Giles informed the petite blond.

“Actually, no. I found the right spell, but I wanted to hear you tell Willow off,” Anya corrected the watcher honestly.

~*~*~

Penny watched Graham as he spied on the occupants of the Magic Box. The fact that the commando was talking on a cell phone with his car window open made it easy for her to listen to his side of the conversation.

“Yeah, I know…Well, I tried the homing beacon but he’s not registering…That would be my guess, too…The usual time between the body dying and the hostile raising is between one and three days, so it’ll be today, tomorrow or the next day, but if it’s today I need the extraction team here stat…I don’t know what she’s planning, but I’ve been keeping an eye on her…No, I need to find where Finn stashed his equipment…She went to the shop…As soon as I know anything, sir.”

Penny crossed the street and rounded the block, entering the Magic Box from the rear entrance. “You’ve got an audience,” she calmly announced as she entered the shop through the training room. She spent the next five minutes telling them what she had seen and heard.

“He doesn’t know about the sewer access, so he’s not gonna know when we leave. Let’s do the spell to find Riley, and then Spike and I can finish this. Spike’s got a new house and my Buffy senses tell me there is shopping goodness to be had.” Buffy felt fairly sure that she’d prioritized things in a way that her watcher would approve, even if she would definitely have put the chance to shop with Spike’s money as slightly more important than searching for a fledgling that hadn’t even risen yet. A slayer’s life was full of sacrifices.

~*~*~

“So, Angelcakes, you want me to read you?” Lorne asked the brooding vampire. It was rare that he was asked to do a closed reading during the day, but one look at the serious faces of the three that accompanied the cursed vampire and it didn’t take an empath demon to know that this reading was incredibly important.

Pointing to the equipment on stage, Lorne urged the sulking brute to choose his song. As Angel walked towards the stage like an inmate on death row walks towards retribution, Lorne leaned in to whisper to the others. “I removed the Manilow from the selection.”

~*~*~

After the spell had been performed and Buffy and Spike had headed off once again through the sewers, Penny pulled Giles aside. “We need to talk,” she quietly informed him.

Giles studied the serious countenance of the woman in front of him and made a snap decision. Turning to those remaining, the watcher announced that he and Penny were going out for a while.

“It’s okay, Giles. We’ll get back to researching the demon that grants wishes,” Willow quickly assured him. While she was in no hurry to incur his wrath for a second time in one day, she’d also just had a thought. ‘Maybe Anya will know something about the things in the journal.’

Willow knew that the ex-demon had loads of demon-y type knowledge. It was possible that she had heard something on the subject. Penny had pointed out that Anya had over a thousand years of experience, maybe it was time to find out how much of that knowledge she was willing to share.

~*~*~

“What happened with Willow?” Penny wasted no time. She had noticed the subdued body language the redhead and Giles’ rigid expression and had made an educated guess.

“Oh,” Giles was surprised at her question. He had not known what they would be discussing, but Willow would certainly not have been the subject he would have chosen if he had been asked to guess. “It’s nothing. Willow just needs a few lessons on the proper use of magic.”

“It’s not ‘nothing’, Giles.” Penny firmly informed the watcher. “Willow uses magic as a quick fix when she doesn’t want to deal with her emotions or when a situation spins out of her control. If you allow this to continue, she will lose control and people will die.”

Giles looked at the woman in dawning horror. She knew what could happen because in her world, it already had. “What do you suggest?”

“Call Althanea. She’ll be able to help Willow,” Penny suggested decisively. It was time for the little witch that could to learn that just because she could, didn’t mean she should.

~*~*~

Spike stopped suddenly, causing the Slayer to bump into him from behind.

“Thanks for the warning there, blood breath,” Buffy snarked good-naturedly.

“Pet, I think I know where this bloody thing is taking us,” Spike hold the Slayer as he looked down at the crystal in his hand.

“What? You think you know who turned him?” Buffy clarified.

Spike just nodded and quickly resumed his pace.

“Well, tell me,” Buffy demanded as she followed him through another tunnel and into a good-sized chamber.

Spike said nothing. He just pointed at the makeshift tomb in front of him.

Riley was laid out on a hastily put together alter, his body draped in flowers. On his chest lay a folded piece of paper that reeked of perfume and was covered with bubble-gum pink lipstick kisses.

Picking up the note, Buffy opened it and read the contents.

Dear Minion,

Welcome to the exciting world of the undead! I left you a welcoming present. It’s got the pink bow around it.

I couldn’t wait for you to wake up, but you’re really cute, so I don’t mind if you come to L.A. to find me.

If you want to make me really happy, you could kill the Slayer and Spike before you come to see me.

Sincerely,

Your Sire.


Buffy looked over at the gift with the pink bow.

“Bloody unicorns!”

“Harmony,” the Slayer growled.





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