For a moment Willow stared at the figure standing in the doorway in shock before she managed to squeak, "Spike!"
"In the flesh," the blonde vampire agreed with a smirk.
Spike suddenly found himself facing, not a small redheaded witch, but a tall, angry Watcher with a loaded crossbow. "Where's Buffy?"
"How the bloody hell should I know? She's your wife, mate."
Giles eyes went even colder. "You are going to tell me what you've done with her or I'll make sure you have a very long, unpleasant death. Do you understand me?"
Spike took a step back and raised his hands. "Now hold on a minute. Why do you think I have her?"
"'Cos you're a blood-thirsty vampire who's tried to kill her several times already?" Willow asked.
Spike winced slightly. "Well, apart from that."
Giles' crossbow stayed steadily pointing at the vampire's chest. "Let me see . . . Buffy goes missing and you turn up knowing more about her than you should. I'd say I have reasons for my suspicion."
"Just because I know something doesn't mean I have her. Rumours have been going around about you two for months. The biggest rumour is that she's pregnant."
"That's none of your business," Giles said flatly.
"Now there's where you're wrong. If she's knocked up it's the business of everyone in this world."
"Really."
"Yes, really." Spike paused and looked at the crossbow. "Do you mind putting that thing away for a moment? It's very unnerving."
The crossbow stayed pointing at his chest.
Spike sighed. "Look, I want to make a deal so I'm not going to rip your bloody throats out, no matter how much fun it would be."
"Go on."
"You need my information and I need your protection. I think that's a perfect base for a deal."
"Why should I believe you?" asked the Watcher. "You haven't shown yourself to be trustworthy in the past."
"I want to save the world," the vampire said, grinning slightly. "Not the most original plan, but it's true."
Willow looked at him in disbelief. "You want to save the world? Aren't you a vampire?"
"I'll admit, I've been in on my fair share of 'end the world' kicks." Spike paused. "And they were a lot of fun." Giles' finger tightened on the trigger a little. "I'm a vampire, not a liar. Most of the time. Believe me, this is one attempt I don't want to be in on. Now, are you going to put that bloody thing away or am I going to find a nice hillside to see the sunrise on?"
"A hillside sounds nice," Willow said immediately. "Oops, who said that?"
"If I top myself my information goes too and you'll never get your Slayer back. And then you might as well all top yourselves, because the new world ain't going to be pretty," Spike informed them.
Giles considered a minute. "If you so much as look at anyone with a less than pure look I'll personally stake you."
"Done. Now can I come in? I'm feeling pretty exposed here."
Willow stood back as Giles lowered the bow and gestured Spike in.
"Mate, you have to bloody invite me or I can't get in."
The Watcher smirked wickedly. "Dear me, how careless of me to forget. Keep one thing in mind though - I still have a disinvitation spell. Come in."
Spike grinned, adjusted his leather duster on his shoulders and stepped through the doorway. "Thanks, mate. Do you have any blood around here? I'm feeling a little peckish and you wouldn't want me to start snacking, now would you?"
"We have tea," Willow offered.
The vampire sighed melodramatically. "I could go hunting but . . ."
"Xander has Anya's phone," Willow said. "I'll ask him to pick some up from Willy's."
"Aah, Red, still with a soft spot for a poor, hungry vampire," Spike said, leering at her. "God I've . . . not missed this place at all."
***
The doorbell rang again a couple of minutes later, and again Willow answered it. This time she had barely a moment to think before she was picked up, hugged, and put down again so quickly it was almost a blur.
"Hi Cordelia," she said weakly, a little surprised by the taller girl's unusual display of affection. "And Wesley," she added as she saw the former Watcher standing on the porch.
"Ah, yes, hello Willow. You're well I trust?" the English man said uncertainly.
"I'm fine. Come in. Everyone's in the basement. Do you want something to eat?"
"I am starved," Cordelia said with a glare at Wesley. "Someone didn't want to stop long enough to eat on the way over. Was it too much to ask for a sandwich?"
"It was imperative that we get here as quickly as possible. It's vital that you all understand the gravity of the situation we're dealing with."
"Uh, right," Willow said uncertainly. "You go on down to the basement and I'll bring the food. Xander should be back from Willy's soon so we can't start yet."
Cordelia showed Wesley down to the basement where they found Giles and Anya hard at work researching, or at least try to. It was hard to research when you had no idea what you were looking for.
Wesley cleared his throat. "Mr Giles . . . uh, may I say congratulations on your marriage . . . and I'm sorry we couldn't be meeting under better circumstances."
Giles stood and walked towards the other former Watcher, his quick eyes taking in the black jeans, casual white shirt and lack of gel in the younger man's hair. "Thank you Wesley. It seems that leaving the Council has also been a change for the better for you. But please, don't call me Mr Giles. My friends," he gestured around the room to Anya, Cordelia and the freshly arrived Willow, "call me Giles."
Wesley flushed and there was a suspicious brightness in his eyes that he would never admit to being a tear. "Thank you."
There was silence as Willow set the platter of sandwiches on the table and Cordelia and Anya dived in. Wesley was following them until he spotted Spike sitting in a corner.
"I don't believe I've had the pleasure," he said, walking over the vampire and offering him a hand. "Wesley Wyndham-Price."
Spike eyed the hand with a hungry leer. "Spike. You may know me better as William the Bloody."
Wesley immediately took back his hand and backed up a few paces. "Er, Mr . . . uh, Giles, are you aware that you have a vampire in your house?"
The older man briefly looked up from his sandwich and smiled. "Yes."
Wesley nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Good, good, just checking. You never can be too careful."
Spike grinned and stood, watching with glee as Wesley moved back another pace. "This is just . . . fun. Are you sure I can't eat this one? He seems like a bit of a wimp. The world won't miss one little wimp."
He received a glare from four pairs of eyes and sighed dramatically before flopping down into his chair again.
"So what is bleach-brain over there doing here?" Cordelia asked Willow.
"He says he has information and Giles needs all the information he can get. He's promised not to eat us," Willow said.
"Oh. I guess Giles is totally freaked about Buffy disappearing."
Willow looked around but Giles was eating a sandwich and reading another book. "I've never seen him like this. He's terrified and he's trying to make sure no one knows."
"He really loves her, doesn't he?"
The redheaded witch nodded.
***
Xander arrived a few minutes later, bursting into the room filled with uncomfortably silent people. "Willy said that - oh my God, Spike! Vampire!"
He looked around at the blankly staring faces.
"You already knew that, didn't you? Could someone let me in on the secret? Why is Spike - the vicious killing vampire - sitting here?"
"I've got information that you need, mate," Spike said, standing. "So keep your stakes, and your bloody holy water, away from me. I'm one of the white hats."
Xander paused, shook his head and looked around. "Am I hearing right? I could have sworn Spike just said that he's on our side."
"You heard right," Giles said with a sigh. "Apparently he has information and I, for one, want Buffy back even if we have to rely on Spike for a while."
Xander dutifully shut up, although Willow noted that he palmed a bottle of holy water as he made his way to the table.
As the group sat down around the large table Giles looked around, regarding their concerned expressions (and ignoring Spike's look of barely contained laughter), and marvelled again at how much his tiny blonde wife had touched all their lives. He felt the emotions that he had so ruthlessly suppressed rise to the surface and took a deep, shuddering breath to control himself again.
"I haven't been able to find a bloody thing anywhere," he said when they were all seated. "Beyond knowing that something took her from the Watchers and killed the lot of them, I have nothing. But whatever it was must have been strong and deadly. That was the special ops unit that was slaughtered in the warehouse."
"The special ops unit was slaughtered? All of them?" Wesley paled as Giles nodded. "This is more serious than I thought."
"What's your great secret then?" Cordelia asked him.
Wesley looked around the table to make sure everyone was listening and then he cleared his throat purposefully. "There is a secret that the Council has kept from almost all Watchers, apart from those at the highest levels. Even they do not know more than a few scraps of the legend-"
"Legend? You dragged me out of LA in Angel's car, without even stopping for food, because of a legend?" Cordelia was outraged.
"Well, yes," Wesley said, not in the least bit put out by the former cheerleader's outburst. "Most legends have a basis in truth."
"Ah, shades of Hansel and Gretel," Xander said knowingly.
"Hansel and Gretel?" Wesley asked uncertainly.
"Big 'fairytales are real' thing last year," Willow supplied.
"Ah. Yes. Well." Wesley fiddled with the open collar of his shirt and began again. "There is a legend that even some of the most influential Watchers don't know about. The Council only knows the barest outline and that is enough make them determined to stop it getting out."
"If this is so secret, why do you know it?" Xander asked. "I mean, pardon me, but haven't you been expelled as well?"
"It's amazing what a person can find when they're wandering around in the archives late at night," Wesley mused. "Old documents that were supposed to be destroyed, records of Council meetings centuries old . . ."
"So basically, you snooped," Cordelia said admiringly. "Go Wes. I never thought you had it in you."
"Yes . . . well, I, uh . . ." Wesley trailed off into stuttering embarrassment.
"So what did you find?" Xander asked impatiently. "Buffy isn't getting any less kidnapped here."
"The legend concerns a sect of demons calling themselves the 'Comedores Do Mondo'. It's a Portuguese phrase meaning . . ."
"The World Eaters," Giles finished for him.
*finis*