Part Twelve A

"Uh... a casino? You're in a casino? Jeeze Giles, we've been worried about you and you're off gambling?"

Giles pushed his finger into his right ear a little harder and pressed the payphone receiver harder against his left. "Mmmm.. Willow, speak up. It's very noisy here."

"I SAID, WE'VE BEEN LIKE REALLY WORRIED AND YOU'RE..."

Willow's shout ricocheted through his head. "Not so loud Willow!" He sputtered taking an involuntary step back and bumping into Kim who stood at the adjoining phone.

"Uff! Crap! Careful Hon!" She groused as her coffee went splattering down her jeans.

"Sorry Luv!" He apologized digging his handkerchief out of his jeans pocket. "Here wipe off with this." Rupert held the phone back to his ear. "Willow? Are you still there?"

"Who were you talking to?"

Rupert resumed his ear blocking position. "A uh... lady friend... Kimberly.. we're, uh... you could say... mmmm... traveling together. Now, Willow I need you to go to my flat and find a certain book called 'Souls Entwined' and..."

Back in Sunnydale Willow covered her phone receiver and shouted to the others. "He's a week late because he's... you know... with some woman in Las Vegas!"

Both of Xander's eyebrows hit his hairline. "G-man? With a woman? In Vegas? For a week?"

Buffy's lip twisted up. "Tell him that he should let us know the next time he just wants to go party. That way we won't worry that he's been eaten by a demon or vamped or something."

In Vegas Rupert cocked his head to one side over the suddenly muted voices that comprised half of his phone conversation. He gave Kim a sidelong glance as her long distance conversation seemed to be heating up again.

"Dearie! Come on! Quit that shit!" Kimberly groused as Christy came back on the line after answering her second call waiting page. "Jim canceled my calling card and I'm running out of quarters!"

"Sorry.. sorry. But I've got problems too you know!" Christy snapped. "Spent three days looking up that Slayer's Cross thing for you and now my appointments are backed up and I have to be in..."

"Just write them some script for happy pills." Kimberly interrupted. "Like I said we need help 'cause Tam's getting worse instead of better and we can't figure out what the hell is going on. Please Chris.. please! We need a research woman and you've got the smarts and the resolve and that 'never say die' streak and..."

"Kimmie!" Christy butted in a bit wildly. "I can't cut myself loose! I've got to be in Chicago tomorrow morning at 10:00 for a conference on the root causes of schizophrenic paranoia." She paused and lobbed one in. "And I think I'll bring this whole thing up as a case study! And I'm not even going to use aliases!"

Kimberly placed a hand on her hip and in a saccharine tone cooed. "Love you too. Now Dearie, may I ask you one tiny question?"

Back East in Cincinnati Christy assumed the same pose and sugared back. "What is it Darlin'?"

"Oh.. just wondering if you ever told your hubby about the time we had to hide out in Pam's barn for two days because..."

"Kimmie! You wouldn't dare!"

"Why not?" Kim asked with a maniacal chuckle. "The statute of limitations expired back in '83."

Rupert's conversation was also going off on unwelcome tangents. "Never mind Willow, it's a very long story. Let's just say that I've gotten sidetracked and get back to the purpose of this call before the others get back." Giles winced as he rested his forehead on the top of the phone and listened to her new barrage of questions. "Tamara, Laura and... oh please Willow, never mind just go find that reference for me. It's very important."

Willow clamped her hand over the phone for a second time and squealed. "Three women! He's got 'three' women with him!"

"Wow!" Was all that Xander could say.

"Anybody else want to do the 'eeeewwww' dance?" Buffy asked.

"Nope... I'm gonna do the 'jealous jig' and then go buy him a first place trophy for his mantel." Xander said in an awestruck voice.

"WILLOW!"

All three heard Rupert's voice crackle through the phone. Willow smiled and waved the receiver around as if cooling it off then put it back to her ear. "Okay Giles, I'll go get the book. Then what?"

"Finally!" Rupert snorted. "I need you to research instances of bonding between a vampire and his victim. Specifically we need information in cases where the victim has escaped after being bitten but still feels a connection to her attacker." He shifted a bit on his feet and scanned the casino for the rest of the group. "Dreams, also look for reference to this happening through dreams. Another book that might have something in it is 'Possession, Bindings and Subjugation'."

"Which edition?"

"Hummmm.. either one." Rupert answered.

Willow sat down on the edge of her bed. "Uh Giles... I know you seem to be a little touchy about this, but are you in trouble?"

Giles shook his head and sighed. "No, but a dear friend is. Just find out all you can and I'll call back in twenty-four hours."

"She can Hotmail me too." Kimberly interrupted, holding out the phone. "Let's trade, Christy wants to talk to you about what we need and I can talk to this Willow."

"Wait a minute Willow." Rupert said into the phone then he arched an eyebrow at Kim and asked. "What good will it do for her to Hotmail..."

"Just in case we're tied up a day from now. We can access it via a library or a cafe or break into someone's house if we have to. I just think we gotta cover all the bases because - 'surprise' - things seem to be going to hell in a handcart here lately!" Kimberly said holding out her phone.

"All right. What does she want to know?" Rupert asked.

"Look, I softened her up with some blackmail, now all you have to do is 'talk'." Kimberly grinned, winked and squeezed her hand over the receiver. "She's got a thing for British accents. I remember back in college there was this guy from Oxford who was over here for a semester. It only took him about ten minutes to figure out that all he had to do was walk up to her and... uh, never mind."

Rupert blinked.

Kim took the phone from Rupert's hand. "Just talk to her.. she'll be putty in your hands. Believe me you could read the Cincinnati Reds box scores to her and she would consider it phone sex."

Rupert traded phones. "Hello, this is Rupert Giles. How may I help you?"

Christy blinked twice, her snaky attitude melting at the smooth sound of Rupert's voice. "How may 'I' help 'you'?" She purred back.

"Well Dear. We need someone with perseverance to search the world wide web for information concerning human, vampire bonding."

Kim jabbed a fist in the air and mouthed the words "got her!" before addressing Willow in Ohioese. "Hey-ya... this is Kim and I'm gonna lay my Hotmail on you, k?"

Willow blinked twice and nodded faintly. "Uh-huh... k. Are you the one who just told Giles to talk dirty to someone?"

"Yeah, and he could do it.. don'cha think?" Kim said matter of factly. "So you got a pen and paper?"

"Uh-huh."

Kim rattled off her address and added. "Now Rup will probably be calling you, but it would be a good idea to have this where we can get hold of the info twenty-four, seven - just in case."

Willow frowned. "Just in case, 'what'?"

"Well kiddo, just in case we end up (ahem) leaving Las Vegas in the same way we left Daytona and Detroit and Marshall, Texas - that is, on a dead run, or an undead run - take your pick." Kim paused to sigh. "Add Whitefish Point to the 'not a good time' list because that's where we had the fight with Marvin and Oklahoma really sucked with Tam getting bit but she called up a twister and it worked out. Memphis was bad, that's where the kidnapping happened but really the worst was Roswell that's where Rup nearly died when that new vamp chick staked him."

"What?!" Willow shouted. "Giles got what? Staked? Nearly died!"

"Calm down." Kimberly said. "Pete used his alien technology to save him. Believe me, he's good as new."

"Alien?! Like E.T. alien?"

"Who you guys talking to?" Tamara asked.

"Wellll.. I gotta go. Catch you on the flip. Bye." Kim hung up on a sputtering Willow and batted her eyes at Tamara. "Pizza, I was calling for a pizza."

Rupert turned around and saw Tamara and Mike standing there with their arms crossed. "Well, I must go. Duty calls." He paused and looked a bit confused at Christy's inquiry. "Black jeans and a western style shirt. Why do you ask?"

Tamara looked as if she was going to spit nails. "What's going on? And where the hell is Earl and Laura?"

"Relax Tam, they went to grab some supplies to restock the cooler and van munchies while you guys were getting the packet." Kim said reassuringly. "And we were just calling in some help to try and find out what's wrong with you."

"I really have to go." Rupert mumbled. "Yes, yes.. be a dear and send anything you can find to Kimberly's address." He fiddled with his glasses and blinked at Christy's comment. "Well, if you would rather I called you, I suppose I could do that. I see. Bye."

Giles slowly hung up and bit his lip as all hell broke loose... again. Tamara was on the edge, he could see it in her bloodshot eyes. Her sleep patterns were disrupted, her body was clammy cold even in the desert heat, she wasn't eating and God help you if you crossed her.

"There's nothing wrong with me that a twenty hour nap in my own bed couldn't fix!"

"Oh for Christ's sake Tam! Yeah, we called in the cavalry... so what!?" Kim barked waving a finger toward Tamara.

Tamara took a swipe at the finger. "We don't need any outside help!"

Michael added his two cents worth of gas to the fire. "You mean 'you' don't want any help!"

Giles rubbed his face and considered what to say, or if he should even try. Tam had changed, her personality becoming a roller coaster ride that went from sullen to pleasant to hostile to fearful. Granted she was exhausted and yes the dreams were taking their toll, but Rupert was seeing something much darker. He was seeing the connection between her and Marvin getting stronger.

"Uh... Tamara." He interrupted.

"WHAT?!"

"Don't snap at him!" Kimberly spit.

"Oh I get it." Tamara came back. "You guys can make my life living hell but I can't..."

"We care about you." Rupert said softly.

Tamara stopped mid-rant, half moved by Rupert's words and half furious from Kim's as she yelled. "Time for a group hug!"

"I don't want a hug!" Tam said clenching her fists. "Just leave me the hell alone!" She stepped away and ran her hands back though her hair. "Sorry."

"It's all right." Rupert murmured. "Please accept our help. Please don't push us away."

Tamara pressed her lips together and swallowed the spiteful response that bloomed in her mind. She was losing it, call the men with the nets, as Kim said it was 'basket weaving time'. With a sad sigh she turned back around to face everybody. "How can you guys stand having me around?"

Kim winked. "We gotta keep you, the van is in your name."

"And the truth comes out." Tamara laughed.

Giles shifted on his feet as once again Tam's mood did a 180. He smiled thinly and nodded toward the packet in Michael's hand. "So, what fun and games do we have in store for us here?"

"You're not going to believe me." Michael said as he pulled a paper from the envelope. "We have to find our very own gold plated statue of Wayne Newton."

"Who?" Kim asked as her brow furrowed.

"I think he's a singer." Rupert said as the same look plastered on his face. "I've heard the name."

"Wayne Newton... Mr. Las Vegas... America's entertainment king." Tamara informed them.

Michael nodded his head. "Come on, the guy's been around forever. My mom loves him and you two are just as old as she is."

Kim crossed her arms.

Rupert peered over his glasses.

Both made a very unpleasant sound.

"Okay.. maybe you're not quite as old as she is." Michael hedged. "But you guys should know him because he sings these oldie moldies."

"Just out of curiosity, how deep of a grave are you planning on digging for yourself?" Giles inquired with a half curled lip.

"He's in way over his head now." Kimberly pointed out as Tamara went into giggle snorts. "And so is she." Kim added with a toss of her head toward Tam. "I'm gonna whack both of them with my cane."

Giles put a hand to his ear. "Speak up.. I don't have my hearing aid turned on at the moment."

"All right.. all right." Tam giggled. "So Mike.. where is this thing?"

Michael rattled the papers and held up a picture of the statue and a list of places. "This is what it looks like and at 7:00 tomorrow morning we have to report back to the treasure hunt geek and then take off looking through all three of these casinos. Now we will have until noon to find the statue..."

Michael froze, mouth agape staring at the doorway to the lounge.

Rupert's gaze followed Mike's and he too went into a catatonic state.

Tam and Kim exchanged glances and turned to see what was going on. As one they rolled their eyes.

"Amazing what you can do with four feathers and dental floss." Tamara snotted.

"And a little spray adhesive." Kim added. "But I think you're being generous with the dental floss. Looks more like three pound test line to me."

A strikingly beautiful blonde wearing only the above mentioned four feathers and gold spike heels came toward them. "Hello. Would you like some tickets to see 'The Marvelous Merda and his Amazing Poodle Review'? He's performing tonight at The Off-Strip Casino, Dance Club and Theater Of The Mind."

Rupert and Michael nodded in agreement. But let's be honest.. at this point she could have said: "Would you like me to take you out back and run over you with a turnip truck" and they would have still nodded in agreement.

Kim reached over and snapped her fingers twice beside Rupert's ear. "Heeeellloooo? Anybody in there?"

He didn't even blink.

Tamara made a brush off motion with her hand. "Beat it bimbo... we're busy."

The woman turned and batted her eyes. Then she flipped her long mane of curls back and smiled sweetly at Tam. "Bimbo? Oh.. I forgot, I'm blonde. So, I take it this is where I should say 'ah-hee' and giggle like a imbecile? Sorry sister, but I've forgotten more than you will ever know and you may now politely stuff that condescending attitude of yours where the sun will never shine."

"That's good - I'm impressed. We don't need any tickets, get lost." Tamara said in a frosty tone.

Michael came out of his altered state and snatched the tickets out of the blonde's hand. "Come on Tam.. we can't be in Vegas without seeing a show."

"Hey! We got the cooler filled and.." Earl stopped, his jaw dropped and his mouth began to move without making a sound.

"Well Tam... here we go again." Kim stage whispered at the sight of Earl's total shock over this woman's costume.

"NORA! GET SOME CLOTHES ON!" The little demon screamed as he raced forward. He grabbed Michael. "Give me your shirt so she can cover up! No! Forget it!" He whirled back toward Nora "WHERE'S YOUR PURSE?!"

"It doesn't go with my costume!"

Still in a tizzy Earl began to yank his own shirt off over his head. "HERE! TAKE MINE!"

Nora let out an exasperated hiss. "Earl, what are you doing here? You have been banned from every casino in both this world and the underworld."

Rupert finally blinked. "I take it you two know each other?"

Laura crossed her arms and glared at her new rival.

The shirt came off over Earl's head. "Yeah... this is my sister Norvtilchia and quit looking at her like that you dirty old man!" He tossed Nora his shirt. "Put that on! Mom is probably rolling over in her graves!"

Laura uncrossed her arms and began to laugh until her mind caught the plural. "Graves?"

Nora threw the shirt back at Earl. "Yeah, the peasants quartered her and buried her at the four cardinal points." She pointed her finger at her sputtering brother. "You're one to talk about what mom would think! Are you working for humans? You 'are' working for humans! What the hell's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with 'me'?" Earl shot back. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm working for Corbornaki."

Earl slapped his palm against his head. "Oh that's good! What's his scam this time?"

"No worse than whatever you're into to!" Nora curled her lip and scanned the amused group. "Oh yeah.. they look like winners. Thought you were vamp driving and gofer'ing for incorporeal element sprites."

Tamara loudly cleared her throat. "Ahem! Hey.. ah, this little family reunion is drawing a lot of attention." She pointed toward the elevators. "Why don't we go on up to our room and talk there?"

"Yeah! Right!" Earl said with a sharp nod that set his earring jingling. "'Cause she ain't going to parade around like that any more." He waved his hands toward the lifts. "You come with us Sis and you can have some of their clothes."

As one, all three women disagreed with an eloquent. "Hey!"

"Wow!" Michael whispered under his breath as he watched her walk away.

******

Wabbit season! Duck season!..... and next on Jerry Spri..... lows in the upper 70's.... Gilligan!... high fly ball to the... order now during this.... President Clinton denied his invol....

Lisa opened one eye and focused it on the blaring TV as the channels whipped by.

I'll take South America for 500... makes grease disappear... so what do you think captain... add two tablespoons of... the Dow Industrial Average... I love you, you love me... about ten feet from the green... Cow. Another cow. I think it's the same cow...

"Ah-hee!"

Lisa's other eye opened and focused on Tiffany with an unblinking reptilian stare. "Is there a reason for this?"

"Look! Twister!" Tiffany giggled as she slipped her shoes on. "I just love this movie. Brad took me to see it before I got dead. I really love the cow parts. I wonder how they got that cow to fly?"

"Strings. Wire. Big fan." Lisa muttered. She removed Marvin's hand from her breast and dropped it onto the mattress. Then with a show of teeth she growled. "Turn that damned thing down."

"Okay." Tiff chirped as she hit the remote button and accidentally cranked up the volume.

"I said 'down'!" Lisa snapped as she jumped out of bed and turned the television off.

Marvin lurched upward in bed. "What!? Where!?"

Lisa snatched the remote control from Tiffany's hand. "Now look what you did! Along with me, you woke him up too!"

"I was just watching TV!"

"Both of you - shut up!" Marvin groused as he rubbed his head trying to reclaim the remnants of his dream. "Blackness like velvet." He whispered to himself. "And she was there, alone and scared and..." The vampire laid back down and stared at the ceiling trying to remember more.

"Where's Patrick?" Lisa hissed out.

Tiffany stood up and pointed toward the door. "Oh! He went across the hall to where the guys are to see if any of those human ones would go get me a file because I broke a nail while Patty-pat and me were having sex."

"Poor thing." Marvin sniped.

"And it was my favorite one too. So I hope one of those guys will go get me one because... " Tiffany squeaked as she went over toward the window and grabbed the drapes. "..you know the sun's still out. See?" She stood to one side of the window and pulled the drapes back sending a shaft of sunlight directly onto Lisa's bare leg.

"Whoops! Ah-Hee! Sorry!" Tiff giggled as Lisa screeched and leaped out of the ray, landing face first on the carpet with her tootsies still in the sunlight. Her foot sizzled and so did her language as Marvin came to her aid by landing on top of her and slamming a pillow down upon the flames to both snuff it out and block the sun from her skin.

"I'm going to freakin' kill her! Friggin' stake her! Claw out her fockin' eyes and shove them up her..."

Marvin began to hold on for dear unlife as his lover bucked and fought beneath him. "LISA HOLD STILL! TIFFANY CLOSE THE DAMNED DRAPES!"

"Oh!. Silly me!"

"Get off me Marvin! I'm going to rip her focking hair out one strand at a time until she's a cue ball!"

The key rattled in the lock. Thomas, Joey and Patrick burst through the door and came to a screeching stop. "What happened..." Thomas began then just shook his head and laughed at the view before him of Marvin on top of Lisa both buck naked in the middle of the floor. "..oh, it's just you two getting kinky. You want to keep it down as you're keeping it up?"

"Patrick.." Marvin began in a measured tone as he pulled the pillow off of Lisa's foot and revealed the crispy toes. "...I'm going to let Lisa up and I think it would be a good idea if you took your 'friend' back to the other room."

Beneath him Lisa launched into an even more descriptive commentary of how slowly Tiffany was going to die for a second time.

"Tiff, pet... did you open the drapes?" Patrick asked in a semi-concerned tone as he handed Tiffany her dress.

"Just a little bit Patty-pat. Ah-hee! I wanted to show them that the sun was still out."

Patrick waved a finger in the air. "Now Luv - you have to be careful about that."

"She doesn't 'have' to get dressed, does she?" Joey inquired sadly to Thomas. "You told me that we ain't got anymore modesty and that's why we only needed two rooms."

"Yes Joey. But we can be 'distracted'." Thomas sighed back. "You go with them and don't let her fry anybody else." He glanced around, saw she was mostly dressed and ushered the three out the door. "Okay Marvin, let her up."

Marvin rolled off Lisa, gave her a hand up from the floor and helped her toward the bed.

"Ow! Shit! Ow-ow-owowow!" Lisa sputtered as she limped along beside him.

"'Ouch' is right." Thomas observed. He plopped down on the end of the second bed and shook his head. "We would be better off without those three."

Lisa's tone was so icy that you could freeze a tray of ice cubes with it. "Oh re-e-e-alllly? I can't imagine why you would think such a thing."

"We need all the help we can get." Marvin growled, picking his jeans up from the floor.

"Define 'help'." Thomas shot back. "So far the only advantage to having any of them around has been Joey having a wallet full of gas cards, Patrick having cash on him, and Tiffany.. well she has to be good for something besides keeping Pat horizontal." He sat back and picked at a fingernail. "I say we take the credit cards and the money and stake the males. Tiffany? Well Lisa can play with her until all her teeth are lined up on the dresser and..."

"No!" Marvin disagreed. "At the very least they can be cannon fodder for when we take that red-headed witch."

"Here... we... go... again!" Lisa snapped as she morphed into full game face. "Back to the friggin' witch. You know you were calling her name in your sleep? You've never moaned 'my' name out like that, so what gives? You all hot-to-trot to jump on her bones or something?"

"You could say that." Marvin documented out. "I want to grind her bones into little tiny shards... but not until we find the cross."

"Find the cross.. find the cross... is that all you think about?" Lisa mocked. "How about you ask me how my foot is, would that be too much to ask.?"

"How's your foot?"

"Starting to heal."

"Good." Marvin said with only a faint glimmer of sincerity. "Now, did Nigel or Philip go out on reconnaissance this morning like I told them?"

"Yeah, they left at about 11:00 - quarter after, on foot."

Marvin felt for the sun. "That was only about an hour ago. I assume they have not reported back yet"

Thomas shook his head. "Not yet. It's going to take awhile. Las Vegas is a big place and I reminded them to be inconspicuous."

******

"Is the cross at the next stop and where is team seventeen staying?"

Philip bent down and nudged the prone man with the barrel of his gun. "You should answer my friend's questions before something else bad happens to you. He's been quite testy here lately."

Roy tried to crawl away. "Why are you doing this?! You're disqualified! You can't win!"

Nigel picked up a heavy floor lamp and made a show of adjusting his gloves, removing the shade and ripping the cord out. "Let's go back over the facts, shall we? One: You are the official treasure hunt contact, correct?"

"Un-huh."

"And not a very smart one but I do thank you for having them place that 'welcome hunters' message on the front of this hotel. It made our search so much easier."

Roy moaned.

"And now you're finished for the moment because all the 'official' teams have signed in and received their 'official' packets, correct?" Nigel said with a tightlipped smile as the man faintly nodded out the affirmative. "But those of us who have not followed the rules cannot have our 'official' packets because we are 'officially' disqualified and therefore our instructions were never packaged up."

"Uh-huh." Roy mumbled as he put his back in the corner.

"And tomorrow morning those obedient teams will have to trot all over this fine city trying to find a gold statue of Wayne Newton."

Roy clamped his palm on his bleeding forehead and again nodded.

"Now we get to the unanswered questions." Nigel said brightly as he took a practice swing with the lamp. "Where is this statue? Where is team seventeen holed up?" Another swing went through the air. "Where are they off to next and..." A third swing whizzed right over Roy's head. "...what is the prize there? Is it the Slayer's Cross or some other frivolous bit of fluff?"

"I was only told about what my jobs are and the teams can stay anywhere they want. Please believe me!" The cornered man pleaded. "Listen, take the statue! It's in that black carry-on over there in the closet." He drew in a painful breath. "And there shouldn't be anymore items."

Philip nonchalantly moseyed over to the satchel and pulled out the statue. He turned it around in his hands and read the small tag attached to the underside. "Fisherman's Wharf is all very fine, but you can call it the finish line."

"Yeah man.. it's the end of the contest. The finish, the end of the line. The team with the most stuff and the best time gets the money and it's all over." Roy informed them. "You see, whoever finds that gets a head start on the others. At noon I was suppose to hand out copies of that tag to the rest of them."

"Where is this place?" Philip asked.

Roy answered even before the last syllable of the question made it out of Philip's mouth. "San Francisco."

Nigel pressed the end of the floor lamp into Roy's throat. "Could the Cross be part of the grand prize?"

"Don't think so." Roy choked out. "Giovanni is a real stickler for following the plan. The official rules says money, so it will be money."

"So if the contest is over, where is the Cross? I'm losing my patience!" Nigel's snarled.

"I don't know anything about a cross!"

Nigel considered this the wrong answer and launched into beating the hapless coordinator to within an inch of his life. The merc allowed himself one more vicious kick at the unconscious form before turning back to his apathetic companion. "Now what are we suppose to do?!"

Philip brought the statue over and handed it off to Nigel with a shrug. "I would say that it's beginning to look like the Cross is a red herring just to keep us all on the road."

"This just gets better and better." Nigel rumbled. He turned the statue over and over, examining it with a frown. "It seems solid, no sign of a hollowed out hiding place. Was there anything else in that pack?"

"Just some papers." Philip answered with a snort. "Let me take a look at them while you go through this bugger's luggage." He pursed his lips and whistled a somewhat happy tune as he dug around in the satchel. "Here we go... 'Las Vegas procedure' neatly typed out on Salvador Giovanni's letterhead." The whistled melody resumed as Philip ran his fingers down the sheets. "Nothing that he did not tell us already."

"Splendid."

"Keep your hair on." Philip mumbled as he came across a second set of papers. "Here's a bit more detail about the grand finale though. Says here that first all contestants will have to turn in their tracking device. If the seals are still intact they will receive $500. Then they all will have the option to sell back to Giovanni all the items they have collected." He tossed his head toward Roy. "This wanker was going to be in charge of that too. Pay them two hundred Yank dollars per item so they can recoup some of their losses."

Nigel sat down on the edge of the bed. "Why would he do that? That doesn't make a damn bit of sense."

"He's a strange old sod." Philip pointed out. "Perhaps he just wants to get it all back so he doesn't have to think of something else for next year."

"But it's all trinkets." Nigel countered as he rubbed his chin. "In Texas they collected a set of certificates. Up in the woodlands it was just any item out of the souvenir shop. I just can't think of anything that is worth that much money."

"Well you're the one that chatted up that woman in Roswell while we were getting fuel."

Nigel stood up and began to pace. "Yes and that was more luck than covert ability, she just wanted to tell someone about their adventures." He stopped and thought. "Now let's go over this. Firstly, Marvin is positive that Tamara is connected to the Cross. Secondly, up until Oklahoma everybody acquired the same thing except for that souvenir..."

"What about that stop in Memphis?" Philip butted in.

"They didn't get that. Remember how that turncoat demon kept bemoaning the fact that "chickie' didn't win?" Nigel began to slowly nod his head. "The tracking device and the souvenir shop are the two differences between them and the others." Slowly an expression of understanding appeared on his face. "They have it and don't realize it. It's either in whatever they bought at Whitefish Point or in their tracking device."

Philip nodded in understanding. "So all we have to do is find them and go through their things."

Nigel held up the statue. "No mate.. they will find 'us'." He stuck the figure back into the pack and headed for the door. "You stay here and make sure that our friend does not do anything stupid. Standard procedure, take his identification card and the pictures of his loved ones and suggest that silence will be golden for all involved."

Philip mockingly saluted and then yawned. "Got it. So where you gong?"

"Back to our hotel to have a little conference with Marvin."

******

As the hour long 'condensed' version of the adventures of teams seventeen and fourteen concluded, Nora leaned forward and made a noise of disbelief. "Earl... you know how to pick 'em."

"But we're having a good time." Earl said enthusiastically.

Kimberly sat back on the bed. "Oh yeah.. a laugh a minute."

The little demon snorted. "I am having a good time. And you know what? I just might start working for humans."

"See?" Michael laughed. "We're not so bad."

Nora adjusted her 'borrowed' clothing and gave him a sly look. "Well, you're not too bad. You seem to be the only one who realizes what's coming down." She tossed her hair back and threw out a question. "You guys do realize that Marvin is a bad one?"

"They're all bad." Giles pointed out as he stood and stretched.

"So true." Nora agreed. "That's why I will not work for a vampire."

Michael patted his shirt pocket and pulled out the tickets to "The Marvelous Merda and his Amazing Poodle Review". He rubbed them between his fingers and asked. "So this Merda guy is not a vamp?"

"Just out of curiosity... did he pick that name out?" Rupert asked with a half smile.

"No... and no." Nora answered with a nod toward Mike and then with the same motion toward Giles. "I suggested it to him and he does not have a clue as to what it means."

"It fits." Earl laughed. "It's Italian for shit and Corbornaki is just that."

"I love poodle shows." Michael lied. "So we'll come and see the show tonight and maybe you can introduce us to your boss and then.. uh, we can have a drink or something."

"Are you hitting on me?" Nora asked right up front.

Mike squirmed in his chair and gave Tamara a sidelong glance. "Uh.. no. It's just that Laura has been saying that we should get to know demons better."

"Yeah! I think Earl is cool." Laura bubbled as Earl beamed.

Giles laughed inwardly and went across the room to join Tam at the honor bar. "Is the water hot enough for a $5.00 cup of tea?"

"So why aren't you over there drooling all over her like Mike is?" Tamara asked under her breath as she gave Giles a bump with her elbow. "He's either gonna trip over his tongue or his eyeballs are going to fall out if he doesn't quit with that mating dance."

"Please." Rupert answered just as dryly as he made himself a cup of hotel room tea. "I am able to control myself." He glanced over at Nora. "Yes she is.. uh, beautiful.. extremely... mmmm... beautiful and seems very intelligent... and, mmmmm... definitely has a sense of humor... and uh, well she..."

"Right." Tamara butted in. "You can stop right now before you get to the part where she finds the cure for AIDS, banishes world hunger and causes all wars to end."

"Now.. now..." Giles smiled and offered her his cup of tea. "...let's just say that Nora is unique and well, leave it at that."

"Right." Tamara thought to herself as she raised the cup to her lips but decided that it was too hot to drink at the moment. She lowered it and stared into the tan liquid as a scene began to unfold on the surface - Marvin standing beside a slot machine!

The styrofoam cup split as her fingers clenched around it sending hot tea spilling over her hand. Across town Marvin swore and shook his hand as he also felt the heat.

"They are here!" Tamara shouted as she gave the cup a fling. "I saw him! I saw Marvin!"

"What?!" Michael yelled as he came over to her. "What do you mean you saw.."

Tamara began to babble. "In the cup! He was... the cup! The cup! With a slot machine! Some dive! He was playing the slots in my cup!"

Michael grabbed her by the shoulders. "What are you talking about? He's in your cup?"

"I SAW HIM!"

"That's crazy!" Michael said without thinking.

"CRAZY?!"

Laura slid between the two. "Whoa! Settle down..."

"I am settled." Michael barked. "But this is just too weird. Now she thinks she sees him in her cup."

"I believe her." Kimberly piped in.

"You would!" Michael shot back.

"Lay off!" Earl growled.

And all hell broke loose... again.

Thirty minutes later found Rupert and Michael in the bar. Giles swirled his drink and motioned for the younger man to follow him to an empty booth. "Michael, you have to stop this." He said in a firm tone as they slipped into their respective seats.

"Man.. it's just too crazy." Michael grumbled. "I mean, hell man.. there is no way that they followed us here. Those Feds scared them off and we never saw that U-Haul again." He took a healthy slug of his drink and halfway glared at Giles. "The road behind us was flat as piss, we would have seen them on our tail."

"Obviously, that theory is incorrect. They must have taken another highway and pulled ahead of us during our downtime." Rupert said as he leaned back and removed his glasses to wipe a speck off the lens. "Also erroneous is my speculation that we would lose them since they would assume that I was dying and consequently would try to set up an ambush at the hospital."

Michael leaned over the table and gave his head a hard shake. "Between those two 'theories' one of them had to be true. They are 'not' here... Tam is losing it and I can't handle these crackpot things she is saying and doing." He sat back and snorted. "It just can't be."

Replacing his glasses, Giles looked at his watch and did a fast calculation. "Today is Thursday, 22nd of July, 1999. We registered on the eleventh and started this journey eleven short days ago.."

"So... what?" Mike spit out each word.

"Eleven days ago would you have said vampires 'just can't be'?"

Michael looked the other way.

"Eleven days ago you would not have treated Tamara so poorly."

"Don't go there man." Mike warned.

"Eleven days ago you would not have allowed yourself to sniff around a female demon like a mongrel cur."

"That's it!" Michael snapped as he slid out of the booth. "Stand up and take your ass-whipping."

Giles merely took a sip of his drink. "Eleven days ago you knew what you wanted and the world was packed up in a nice little box with a bow." He motioned for the angry man to sit back down. "So the big question is.. what do you want now?"

Michael clenched his fists in frustration. "I want Tam to be okay. I want her back the way she was. I want this voodoo to stop."

"Sit down." Rupert said a little sharply. "Because we are in complete agreement."

"I hear a 'but' coming." Mike sniped as he finally sat.

"Yes you do." Giles confirmed. " But... I have a bad feeling that even when Marvin has been destroyed her connection to the underworld will remain."

"Fix it." Mike hissed out. "You're hocus-pocus man."

"That I might be." Rupert agreed through a frown. "But I do not have all the answers at the tip of my tongue. Kimberly called her friend to search the web and I called Willow in Sunnydale to research my library. Between them we 'will' find something." It was now Rupert's turn to look away. "It might not be what we want to hear, but we will find it."

A look of true pain shot across Michael's face. "She has to get better. I can't deal with it. Selfish as that sounds it just... I can't handle her going off the deep end every time some 'bump in the night' thing gets within a mile of her." He gulped down the rest of his drink. "How can I save her from this stuff? How can I be sure that she's not gonna get hauled off again by undead things?"

"You can't." Came the simple answer.

Mike's voice cracked. "No. I won't live that way. Look at Laura, she's getting tight with Earl and I hate to say it but demons seem less spooky than Tamara. I can't watch her change anymore and I'm gonna go up there and tell her flat out that if she doesn't get better... I'm history."

"Don't do anything rash. You must just deal with it a day at a time and hope for the best." Giles softly answered.

"Is that what you and Kim are going to do when you get home? Bye honey... keep your stake in your pocket and try not to get dead when you go out to get the groceries." Michael said in a sarcastic tome.

Giles bowed his head and his collar began to feel tight. "She has.. has taken to this quite well, but she still views it as an adventure. Kimberly has no idea what it is like to live with this threat day in and day out." He felt the sudden urge to drain his whiskey and did just that before continuing. "I'm sure... positively sure that after a short period of time she will tire of this lifestyle and leave me." Rupert raised his head and locked eyes with Michael. "It's happened before and it will happen again. I accept this as my cross to bear."

Michael's lip curled up into a half sneer. "So you're just going to use her until she leaves?"

Rupert bristled. "I beg you pardon!"

"At least I got the balls to end it quick and clean when I can see that it's not going to work out!" Mike snapped. "Let's look at your plan - you're gonna let her hang around until she's tired of being vamp bait." He sat back in the booth and wrinkled his nose. "Then let her bail which gets you off the hook."

"You guys okay?"

Giles shot Nora a foul look. "We are fine."

"How's things going upstairs?" Mike asked.

"Tamara's asleep and the others are watching TV." The demon answered. "It all settled down after you left." Nora held up her basket and made a hissing noise. "Well, I have to go and hand out the rest of these tickets so maybe we'll have an audience tonight."

A thought crossed Mike's mind. "Hey.. is this guy a real magician or does he just do card tricks?"

"Oh he's a real sorcerer. Not very good at it, but he can do some conjuring." Nora shrugged. "That's how he got his poodles."

Despite his frame of mind Giles began to chuckle. "Oh don't tell me... he called up Hellhounds?"

"Hellpoodles from the third pit." Nora said wickedly. "They are easy to train and all you have to do is keep them well fed."

Michael pulled the conversation back to where he wanted it. "So he might be able to break this spell on Tamara?"

Nora tapped her chin. "Maybe." She hummed for a second and nodded. "All of you come on over tonight and I'll get you backstage after the show."

"And he can fix this?" Michael pressed.

"It's a big maybe, but I'm sure for a price Corbornaki will give it his best shot." She said as she handed them four more tickets. "I'll see you at 8:00."

This agreed on, Nora walked out of the bar and began to pass out tickets to all passerby's. "Hello. Would you like some tickets to see 'The Marvelous Merda and his Amazing Poodle Review'? He's performing tonight at The Off-Strip Casino, Dance Club and Theater Of The Mind."

Nigel stopped and openly leered at the woman. "Thank you, I'll take some... if 'you' are part of the show."

"Yes I am." She confirmed with a toss of her hair.

The merc held out his hand. "I need eight."

Nigel allowed himself the pleasure of watching her sash-shay away. He pursed his lips and let out a hiss of approval before turning on his heel and walking out into the late afternoon heat.

The walk was only eight blocks back to their hotel but by the time Nigel arrived he felt as if the desert furnace had sucked every bit of moisture from his being. He hugged the satchel a bit tighter and made his way upstairs to their rooms and knocked on Marvin's door.

"It's open." Lisa called out.

Nigel stepped in and scanned the room his eyes coming to rest on Lisa who lay on the bed wearing only a towel. "Where's Marvin?"

"He went down to the casino." Lisa sneered while giving her blood red nails a flick. "I told him to get the hell out and go do something besides mope around here." An odor caught her attention and she focused on the merc. "What's in the bag?"

"The treasure hunt prize." Nigel gloated.

Lisa slid off the bed like a big cat and came up to Nigel, pressing her face against first his chest and then drawing his hands up to her nose. "You have blood on your hands and shirt."

"Well our Treasure Hunt contact did not give this up willingly."

She licked her lips and ground up against Nigel, pushing him up against the wall. "That's a turn on, you know?"

Dropping the pack to the floor, Nigel blatantly peered down her cleavage and pursed his lips into a soundless whistle.

"I like 'take charge' guys." She cooed as her hands began to run up his sides. "You wanna?"

"I think that's obvious." He groaned as he arched his groin into her body. "But I value my neck."

Lisa ran her nails across his throat. "I won't bite."

"My concern is not that you will bite my neck but instead that Marvin will break it." Nigel clarified as they continued to tease each other. "First rule of the trade - never screw the boss's woman." His lips curled into a smirk. "But when this job is over I'll be more than happy to take you and..."

The door flew open with a "bang" and Marvin stomped in with the others in tow. "Of course the odds are slanted toward the house you..." He came to a sliding stop and took in the scene which did nothing to improve his humor.

Neither Lisa or Nigel made a motion to move out of each other's space.

"For your own sake Mr. Chambers, please tell me I just prevented you from being drained of blood." Marvin snarled.

"You prevented me from being drained." Nigel said with a twisted smile.

"But not of blood." Thomas chuckled.

Marvin morphed and bared his fangs. "I'm not amused."

"You will be." Nigel countered as he slipped along the wall away from Lisa. He picked up the bag and tossed it toward his boss. "Look what I found."

"What the hell is this?" Marvin asked with a curl of his lip as he held the gold plated Wayne Newton up for all to see.

"It's cute!" Tiffany piped in. "Can I have it?"

Nigel's face twisted up into a perverted grin. "That is tomorrow's prize and the tag on the bottom tells them to go to the finish line in San Francisco." He busted out into a laugh. "But what would happen if our marks found this and were sent someplace quiet and secluded?"

"We could put them in a dumpster!" Joey said with delight.

"Wait a minute.. wait a minute!" Lisa butted in. "You mean they 'are' here? That Marv really did feel them on the road?" She flung her hands upward. "And I thought 'we' were cold hearted pricks! I kill their Watcher and they just leave him there to rot?"

"It seems that way." Nigel confirmed. "The records show that they checked in at 11:39 this morning, the last team to arrive from Roswell."

Marvin waved his hand. "All the better that they are without his guidance. But still, this is not the cross!"

"Not a problem G'vner." Nigel said smugly. "I've given it some thought and decided that they have the cross either in the souvenir they acquired in Michigan or in their tracking device."

Thomas shot the merc a bewildered look causing Nigel to puff up a bit and tell of the 'meeting' with the coordinator and to lay his theory out for all to consider.

"You might be onto something." Marvin grudgingly agreed. He thought for a second and pulled the tag off the statue, went over to the desk drawer and wrote out a replacement tag.

"Mt. St. Helens is now fine, But you can call it the finish line."

Joey cocked his head to one side. "Where's that?"

"Up in Washington state." Marvin answered. "It's an isolated wilderness area, just what we need."

"By this time tomorrow afternoon we will have the Cross and they will be dead." Patrick crowed.

"This time, day after tomorrow... plus a few hours." Marvin corrected. "It's over 1,000 miles so if they leave at noon tomorrow plus that down time rule..." The vampire thought for a second and then nodded at his speculation. "They should be there just in time for sunset."

Patrick looked annoyed. "This country is just too damn big."

Tiffany blinked and jiggled her head. "Oh yeah! Last year I mailed myself to Key West for spring break and it took me five weeks so I kinda missed it. Ah-hee! Pesky postage due."

"Spare up the details." Marvin snotted as he repacked the statue into the bag and handed it to Thomas. "You'll be staying here in Vegas to make sure they find this thing. At dusk we will drop you off at the MGM to take Philip's place and we will get a head start on them."

"Damn." Nigel dryly swore. "And I had plans for tonight."

All arched an eyebrow as Nigel pulled the tickets for the Marvelous Merda and his Amazing Poodle Review and waved them around.

Marvin made an animal noise and snatched the slips of paper from Nigel's hand. He hissed and growled as her ran them through his fingers feeling what only he could sense. "Change of plan! 'She' is going to be there!"

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Oh fuck... here we go again!"