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“I'll take it from here, Pryce. Best they hear it from an expert.” Andrew declared.

Wesley stared at him incredulously. He shook his head and sat back down. “Please, enlighten us,” he said through his teeth.

Andrew took a deep breath and then as an afterthought, looked at me. “Oh, Buffy… will you be taking over this mission?” he asked.

I smiled at the eager watcher and shook my head. “I sent you two here to do this. If I took over now, wouldn’t it seem like I didn’t trust you to do the job? That fact that I’m here is a coincidence. Just act like I’m not here.”

Andrew drew himself up to his full height and began his oration. “Gather around and attend to a most unusual tale... a tale I like to call... The Slayer of the Vampyrs.” I caught Dawn’s eye and she shrugged. This would be interesting. He started a slow walk around the conference table. Drama Queen. “Eons ago, on the dark continent, three wise elders decided to fight evil with a taste of its own sinistro.” He leaned over Fred and touched her shoulders. “They took a young girl, and they imbued her with the power of a demon. Thusly, the first Slayer of the Vampyrs was born. But alas, the existence of a slayer is often brutal and short-lived. And the "primitive," as she was called, boasted no exception. But... the elders had foreseen this inevitability and...and devised a way for her power to live on.”

Fred looked thoughtful. “In every generation, one is chosen.”

“Yes, attractive, slender woman.” Andrew continued as Fred rolled her eyes at him. “There are many potentials, as we experts call them.”

Wesley chimed in, ”Hundreds...maybe thousands per generation.”

“Each of them experiencing vivid dreams... some say nightmares... of the heroics of past slayers. But only one can be chosen,” Andrew finished. He had so obviously practiced this speech.

“That's, um...really great, but we...actually know all that.” Angel said tersely.

Lorne spoke up. “Uh, wait. So if there's only one slayer, what is little miss whack-your-head-off doing scampering around?”

Spike smirked and added, “Little Sunnydale surprise.”

“Six months ago, Buffy, Vampyr Slayer extraordinaire, had her lesbian witch make with the beaucoup de magie,” Andrew began when Dawn interrupted.

“Maybe you should let Buffy explain this part. It was pretty intense.”

I stood and addressed the group. “The thing you have to understand is we had a house full of little girls, the potential slayers, against the first evil and an army of ubervamps. The turuc-han. We were a tad shy of warriors.” I counted them off on my fingers. “Faith, Robin, Spike, and myself to protect dozens of girls and fight thousands of…primal evil things. Odd fell towards the bad guys. So we decided that instead of waiting for me or Faith to die, we would give those girls their power. Willow did a spell drawing on the essence of a slayer and distributed it to all the potentials. From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. And so we became…”

“An army of slayers,” Wesley said reverently. “Brilliant stratagem. But with the watchers council destroyed, how will these new slayers receive their necessary…”

“We’re rebuilding the council.” Dawn said proudly.

“Mr. Giles and a few key Sunnydale alum have been tracking down the recently chosen, guiding them, training them, giving them the full X-Men, minus the crappy third act. But this Dana girl; she's an anomaly that no one could have foreseen…tortured, traumatized... driven insane by Yoda knows who,” Andrew simpered.

Angel looked thoughtful. “Then the dreams of demons and superpowers she's always had suddenly become real.”

Wesley leaned forward and looked at Angel. “The dreams of slayers are usually just that—dreams. But Dana's mental instability may be making them seem more real.”

Dawn beamed at him. “Exactly. With these dreams and her being a few hotties short of a boy band, you have a killing machine powered by insanity. And not in the quirky endearing Faith kind of way.”

“Explains why that skirt was yappin' at me in Chinese. Must've thought she was the slayer I took out back in the Boxer Rebellion,” Spike revealed.

Angel turned to him and glared. “You
mean the slayer you murdered.”

Spike looked at Angel and inclined his chin. “Well, I didn't have a soul back then, did I?”

“Right, 'cause having one now is making such a difference.”

Spike shook his head and rose from his seat. “You corporates go ahead with your talky-talk. Anybody needs me, I'll be out doin' his job.” Spike cocked his thumb at Andrew and stalked from the room.

Angel, Dawn, and I followed him to the lobby. “Spike!” Dawn cried out and ran to him. He turned and was accosted by the girl as she threw himself into his arms. “Be careful, ok?” she said pleadingly.

“I will, little bit,” he assured her. I walked over to then and put my hand on Dawn’s shoulder. She understood immediately and pulled away from his embrace so I could take her place.

“Please, luv, don’t tell me not to go,” he breathed into my hair.

I looked up at him. His amazing cerulean eyes burned into mine. I knew if I asked him to stay, he would, but I also believed that he could do this. I mean, he had killed two Slayers. Who was better qualified to stop this one? Spike needed to be where the action was, and who was I to deny him? “Don’t kill her. This is strictly a retrieval type mission. And no dying.”

He grinned at me. “I’m already dead, kitten.”

Cockiness, thy name is Spike. “You know exactly what I mean.”

He cupped my cheek with his hand, his thumb lightly stroking my skin. “I’ll never leave you again, Buffy. Believe me.” He leaned down and brushed a light kiss on my cheek and then stepped back. “I’ll be back soon.”

I smiled warmly at him, and then returned to stand by Dawn in the doorway of the office. He nodded to us and turned to head for the elevator. It was then that Angel made his presence known.

“Spike? You think this is a joke?”

“Only if you're the punch line,” Spike quipped without turning back.

Angel darted around to stand in front of him. “Look, we're the last two people that should be confronting her. She's a slayer. She has every reason to hate us, and she's unstable. In her mind, there probably aren't any good vampires. She exists for one reason—to destroy creatures like us.”

“Dance of death. Eternal struggle. Right. Got it.” Spike stepped around Angel and continued toward the elevator.

“You will...when she's staking you in the heart.”

The blonde vampire stopped and turned. “What do you want me to do? Go all boo-hoo 'cause she got tortured and driven out of her gourd? Not like we haven't done worse back in the day.”

“Yeah, and it's something I'm still payin' for.” Angel said, crossing his arms over his chest.

I rolled my eyes. I was about to tell him to stop being such a drama vamp, when I heard Spike’s cheeky response.

“And you should let it go, mate. It's starting to make you look old.” He got into the elevator.

I turned to Andrew. He had been watching the scene from behind me and Dawn with a great deal of interest. “Follow him.” I said quietly. “Try not to let him know, but stay close and don’t lose him. Remember the orders.”

He nodded and left the room.





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