Part Two

Inside an Abandoned Factory:

His clan watched as they patiently waited for a signal from their elder. The faint smell of incense filled the air as his clan chanted softly, with their heads touching the ground as they knelt before him.

The old man sat cross-legged in the middle of a circle made of black and red candles. He sat absolutely still. His deep lavender eyes glowed as he looked, not at his clan, but into the flames of the candle before him. Suddenly, he jerked and the chanting immediately stopped. The elder rose gracefully, his lavender eyes never leaving the bowed heads of his clan.

His voice, as soothing as the gentle breeze, never rose as he spoke to his clan. "Haimi has failed in her duty to kill the young Watcher. She has returned to the loving Dhara. We will say a prayer for this brave Achala that has failed in her duty."

As his clan sang a song of mourning for the young hunter that failed, the elder lifted a red candle from the circle and held it before him. Silence once again filled the room. "Twenty seasons has passed since the humans killed our beloved Sharna. The one that Dhara had chosen to protect all life from the night creatures. She was the protection, our guardian and they murdered her. She shall soon be avenged and her spirit will soon be embraced by Dhara. Lift up your heads, my children."

The clan lifted up their heads as they gazed upon the elder. Their lavender eyes glowing in the dark. The elder looked at his people as he lifted the candle high. "Sharna was chosen to be their Slayer, but they refused her. Killed her because she belonged to our clan and not theirs. Killed her as she slept in their beds, denying her the right to do what all Bhavika yearn to do...die protecting the life Dhara allowed us to have. For this insult, we gather the Achala to hunt those that judged her unworthy. And Sharna will be avenged."

"Gather all Achala to me, we will begin hunting anew, "the elder man ordered as he blew out the candle.

Buffy stared at Wesley's red face as he looked at her. She cleared her throat. "You've got to be kidding. Ethan Rayne?"

"Oh, bloody hell," Giles muttered as he glared at Wesley. Willow's jaw simply dropped as strangled noises came out of her throat. ”We don’t want him back in our lives after the last time.”

Startled, Wesley stared at the faces around him. Of all reactions he had expected this was not one that he was expecting. "Do-do you know Ethan?"

Ignoring that question, Buffy glared at Wesley. "You've got to be kidding, right? Why do we need that egotistical, warped, manipulative, sadistic and malicious son of a bitch to help us defeat these assassins?"

"Well, I can see that you're familiar with him," Wesley said dryly. "And yes, we do need his help. Unfortunately."

"Why?" Buffy demanded as she glared at Wesley. "And how the hell do you know Ethan Rayne?"

"It's none of your business how I know the man," Wesley glared as he crossed his arms. "There is no need for you to know-"

"I think that we must," Giles interrupted as he glared at the younger man. "How did you come to associate yourself with Ethan?"

"Yeah. Did you use drugs, raise demons and do other stuff with him like Giles did?" Willow demanded. Giles looked down at the young hacker and glared. Willow turned red and gave her mentor an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, Giles."

Aghast, Wesley gaped at Giles. "You were Ethan's lover, too?"

Giles let out a strangled sound as Buffy and Willow stared at Giles, to Wesley and back at Giles again. Buffy finally yelped out. "GILES? YOU'RE GAY?!?"

"Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Giles! You! Ethan!" Willow squeaked as she stared at Giles. "We never knew-I mean we knew you hated the man but we never thought that-I mean-"

Her jaw still on the floor, Buffy stared at Giles's red face. "Does-does Mom know anything about this?"

"Does Mom know anything about what?" a voice said. Everyone's head swung towards the door. A very chic Joyce Summers smiled as she entered the small office. She closed the door, knowing that the three in the room preferred to keep the door closed whenever they were together. "Oh my. Any more people in this office and you'll all be doing something sinful."

Willow made a strangled noise as Buffy squeaked out a greeting. Joyce looked at her daughter curiously. "Buffy, is there anything wrong? Why are you out of classes today? Is there some demon assassin after you?"

"Now there is," Willow blurted out. Joyce stared at the girl. Buffy smacked her friend in the arm. Willow winced. "Ow! Just kidding!"

Joyce shook her head. "I don't think so. What happened? What's going on?"

"Willow was just kidding, Mom. Really," Buffy smiled widely as she deflected her mother's hard gaze to Wesley. "There actually after Wesley there, 'cause he's a Watcher."

Joyce turned to look at the tall, grubby man dressed in black who was standing behind the door. She stared at him for a few seconds. "I never would have recognized you, Wesley. You're looking a bit...tired."

"Yes, yes I am," Wesley said as he rubbed his neck. "It has been a horrible time since I left Sunnydale late July."

"Yeah, must be really hard to sleep and eat, knowing that there demon assassins are after you and all the other Watchers," Willow said sympathetically as she patted his arm.

"What?" Joyce yelped as she stared at the girl. Buffy glared at Willow as she said 'oops!'. Joyce swung her head to look at Giles for confirmation. "Rupert! There are demon assassins after Wesley? And all the other Watchers? Are they after you and Buffy?"

"Well, ah," Giles coughed as he crossed his fingers behind his back. "Not exactly. Right now they're after Wesley."

Joyce took a step forward and glared at him. "But will they come after you and Buffy? And don't you dare cross your fingers while you lie to me, Rupert Giles!"

"They'll only come after me if I try and stop them from killing Wesley, Mom," Buffy said as she told the half-truth. "So what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the gallery today."

Joyce looked at her daughter. "I am. And I'm supposed to meet Rupert here for a lunch date at his place. I needed him to show me his sketches. And don’t try and change the subject."

"You're meeting him for lunch to have sex with him?" Buffy yelped as she looked at her mother in horror. Ever since her Mom and Giles started seeing each other, she was constantly filled with mixed feelings. She was glad that her mom was dating and that Giles found someone, but did it have to be with each other? And now, they were up to the sex part of their relationship? That was…”Ew! Mom! You can’t be having sex with Giles! It’s too-ick!”

“Why can’t I have sex with Rupert?” asked Joyce as she rolled her eyes at her daughter. ”Honey, sex with Rupert is not ‘ick’. It’s actually quite-“

“I don’t want to hear it!” Buffy yelped as she covered her ears. “It’s too ew!”

"Because he's a gay!" Willow yelped at the same time. Giles groaned as he buried his face into his hands. Joyce stared at the two girls as if they had two heads.

"No, Rupert is not gay," Joyce said slowly to the girls. "He’s bisexual. And as much as I’d like to have sex with him as soon as possible, I really am going over to his place to have lunch and to see the sketches he made for the new display he had in mind for the gallery and museum joint art venture."

Willow goggled at the first two sentences. ”You knew that he wasn’t gay and was a bisexual?”

“In this day and age don’t you think it would be stupid if I didn’t?” Joyce countered. When Giles made a strangled sound, Joyce went over to his side and patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh," Buffy said in a small voice. She looked at Giles warily. His face was red and he looked like he wanted the Hellmouth to open up and swallow him whole. ”Sorry about that Giles, but you and Mom and sex in the same sentence is still-ick.”

"But if we're going to have sex on the menu, I wouldn't say no to that either," Joyce continued impishly. Willow let out a squeak as Wesley stared at her, then at Giles.

"Again, Mom. Way too much info, Mom. Way too much info," Buffy glared at her mother as she covered her ears. Joyce smiled sweetly at her daughter, then gave Giles a come-hither smile. ”And stop looking at Giles like that. You’re scrambling his brains.”

Heat shooting through him, Giles forced himself to look away from her and cleared his throat. Ignoring Joyce’s muffled giggle, Giles cleared his throat again. ”Yes, well. Perhaps later. Now about these assassins Wesley, why are they after the Watchers? And why do we need Ethan?”

“I don’t know why they are after the Watchers,” Wesley said as he ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. “I tried to research them, but wasn’t able to. They are not like any of the demons that we studied in the Academy, and to be quite frank, I don't know where to start looking.”

“So then how did you know how to kill them?” Willow demanded. ”You were the one that told us that their skulls were soft and that you could kill them that way.”

Wesley nodded as he looked at the young Wiccan. ”Yes, but only because I managed to kill one by accident.”

“But why do we need Ethan Rayne?” Buffy demanded in frustration. ”Granted, I really don’t want him back in town after all the trouble he did the last time he was here, and the fact that he was Giles and Wesley’s lover is really giving me the wiggins, I really don’t see why we should have him back.”

Everyone stared at Wesley as he let out a frustrated noise. “We need him because Ethan was once trained to be a Watcher before he was kicked out of the Network.. And because he might have an idea on who these assassins are.”