Thanks to Niamh and Sue for the beta.


Chapter 8: Surveillance.


Music reverberated down the street at least half a block away from the frat house, signaling the party was well under away. The closer toward the noise the group traveled, the more people they came across. Girls dressed in skirts too short to be called mini walked around in packs, trails of lecherous guys keeping close by. Spike did not like this one bit.

The urge to growl every time someone looked in Buffy’s direction grew with each passing minute; at this rate Spike doubted he’d last the night without flashing his fangs.

Oblivious to the tension in her boyfriend’s shoulders, Buffy grasped hold of Spike’s hand and eagerly began dragging him toward the open door of the fraternity house. The inside was pretty standard—furniture scattered around the main living areas with a space having been cleared off for a dance floor. There were several recognizable faces, and dozens more unknown, small and large groups of college students spread all over the house claiming territory as their own for the evening.

Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander followed the blondes inside, the group of friends stopping in the middle of the foyer as they surveyed the crowd. Willow spotted someone from class, the redhead steering Tara through the crowd to say hello.

“Wanna dance?” Buffy questioned loudly, fighting to be heard over the loud music as she jabbed her thumb towards the floor where a few people were game enough to bust their moves.

“How ‘bout a drink, love? I’ll need a --”

“WOO HOO, PAR-TAY!”

A protective Spike tugged Buffy out of the path of a staggering, drunken partygoer, the vampire’s hackles rising even further. “Pet, you sure this is how you want to spend your evenin’? Dodgin’ drunks and shoutin’ over the music?”

Spike could think of plenty of things he’d rather be doing right now. And they all involved getting Buffy out of the frat house and away from the leering gazes she was attracting, so it was a win-win situation in the vampire’s mind.

“Come on,” Buffy frowned, her bottom lip jutting out into a pout. “You don’t want to leave yet, do you?”

She had to stick out the lip…

“No, we’ll stay,” Spike agreed reluctantly, his eyes scanning for the kitchen. “I need a beer.”

“Be right back,” Buffy perkily replied, disappearing into the throngs of people before Spike could object.

“That girl is going to be the death of me,” Spike fumed.

“Buck up, Bleach Boy,” Xander chuckled. “I’m pretty sure Buffy can handle herself around a couple of frat boys. Although, there was this one time in high school when --”

Spike’s demon made its presence known, his eyes flashing a vibrant yellow for a fraction of a second as a growl rumbled in his chest. Xander just laughed, grabbing Anya’s hand and directing her through the crowd, leaving the aggravated vampire alone to wait for his girlfriend’s return.

The vampire’s patience was shorter than his attention span, mere seconds passing before he pushed his way through the crowd in search of the kitchen.

~~~

Giles sipped from his teacup, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips when the warm liquid slid down his throat. To say work at the shop had been busy today was a lie, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t productive. With nearly all of the backlogging of Slayer battles complete, the watcher had spent a good portion of his afternoon reacquainting himself with some of the rarer texts in his collection.

A shrill ringing broke the comfortable silence, Giles huffing with displeasure as he lifted himself from his comfortable position on the sofa. Reaching for the telephone and pressing it to his ear, Giles tried refrain from expressing his annoyance at the interruption.

“Rupert Giles speaking.”

“Rupert,” a familiar British voice greeted. “It’s Wesley. I trust I didn’t wake you?” The younger man’s tone was apologetic.

“No, no. I’d just settled down for some light reading with a cup of tea.”

“Oh, good,” Wesley expressed relief. “Unfortunately my call is not of a social nature.”

There was a pause at the other end of the line and Giles waited patiently for Wesley to continue.

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. A contact of mine has just this evening delivered information regarding Drusilla. It would appear she has her sights set on returning to Sunnydale.”

Giles frowned with displeasure at the mention of the crazed vampiress, his own personal hatred springing forth. If not for her strong talents with vampiric thrall, Angelus would never have learned the key to wakening Acathla, thus risking the fate of the world and forcing Buffy to kill her lover. The watched should have known that it would’ve taken something stronger than death to keep Angel away from Buffy. Giles was by no means stupid, he could differentiate that Angel and Angelus were, in a way, two completely separate beings or entities existing in the one flesh.

The watcher and Angel had somewhat mended the bridges Angelus had burned during the bloody reign of terror he’d caused when the demon was released a few years ago. Bit by bit, Giles had once more come to see Angel as the ally he had been; though spending inordinate amounts of time with the face of Jenny’s murderer was never easy.

How funny the world was. These days the vampire with a soul was not the trusted integral part of Sunnydale life he had been, yet a chipped vampire—a demon whose baser instincts were merely restrained, not suppressed—had become a central figure in day-to-day life.

Buffy cared for Spike and, as with her past relationship with Angel, Giles knew no amount of lecturing was going to discourage her feelings. And the funny thing was that Giles didn’t know if he even wanted to try. Buffy was happy and Spike being around meant extra muscle for patrolling. While Buffy was most certainly capable in her own right, having Spike out in the field on a nightly basis and knowing someone was there to protect his slayer, if needed, gave the watcher a little added comfort.

It would seem the backup would become necessary if Wesley’s intelligence were correct.

Drusilla was as vicious as she was mad, and if she set her sights on Buffy then no good would come of it.

“What was her last known whereabouts?” Giles inquired.

“She was last seen in LA a few days ago,” Wesley answered. “We’ve tracked her movements up the South West Coast over the last week. Every couple of days a woman matching her description has shown up. It would appear she’s been rounding up vampires, and information suggests she should be reaching Sunnydale in the next forty eight hours.”

That didn’t bode well at all. “Thank you for the call, Wesley.”

“No problem at all. If I hear anything else I’ll inform you immediately.”

“Thank you, that would be much appreciated.” With a friendly goodbye Giles hung up the telephone.

The watcher remained still for a moment, pondering his next move, before standing and reaching for his keys and coat. It would seem a watcher’s work was never done. The specific text he needed—one dedicated to the killing patterns and history of the deranged demon—was on a bookshelf in his office at the Magic Box.

Determined to get the jump on research before trouble arrived, Giles left his apartment and made his way towards the center of town.

~~~

“See, isn’t this fun?” Buffy commented as she sipped her punch, her bright smile directed at Spike.

“Just dandy,” Spike muttered. Before he could suggest once more that they leave he saw Willow approach with Tara.

“Hey, Buffy!” the Wiccan chirped happily. “Having fun?” Willow sipped on her own fruity concoction from the plastic cup in her hand. To say she was having fun was an understatement. It had been a long time since the Scooby gang had all hung out like this together when it didn’t involve an apocalypse or some demon threat. It was nice.

“Uh huh,” Buffy replied with a nod.

All thoughts of trying to make Buffy leave left Spike’s mind when he saw how happy she was. She needed this. No, she deserved this. And he wasn’t going to deny her of it just because he wanted to keep her to himself. “How ‘bout that dance, love?”

Buffy beamed at him, placing her empty cup on a coffee table and holding her hand out for Spike to lead her onto the ‘dance floor’. “I’d love to.”

Disposing of the empty beer bottle, Spike linked his fingers with Buffy’s and pulled her flush against his chest, walking her backwards toward a clear space.

What Buffy saw as Spike being affectionate, Willow saw as possessiveness. A giggle escaped her lips at the display. She’d watched for the better part of the night as Spike had scared off any guys that so much as looked in Buffy’s direction, let alone dared to come near her. In a way it was kind of cute how protective Spike was of Buffy. Willow just hoped when Buffy eventually cottoned on to his behaviour, she didn’t take it the wrong way.

~~~

Sammy kept to the shadows, making sure he kept close enough to observe the Slayer and her pals, but staying far enough away so as not to alert them to his presence. Finding himself on the pointy end of stake was not on the agenda for the evening.

So far, his duty had been relatively easy. It had been expected the Slayer would be patrolling this evening, not hanging out with her friends at a fraternity house. The fact that she was stationary gave a little extra security for the evening’s plans, with the group not having to worry about an accidental interruption while certain items were… acquired.

A guy with the attributes of a jock bumped into Sammy, reminding the young vampire just how much he despised parties such as this. As a human he’d always felt unwelcome and out of place. Being a vampire didn’t seem to change that much. However, entry this evening had gone much more smoothly than it had in his boyhood days. When a member of the fraternity had tried to refuse him entrance, all Sammy had to do was signal for Toby to accompany him and the matter was dropped.

Toby had been extensively prepared for the evening’s agenda, and had been expressly instructed that he was not to speak, unless directed to by Sammy. While his height, build and the long pink scar that ran down his cheek all gave him an element of danger, the moment he opened his mouth and said something the ruse would be blown. When the frat brother had sneered at Sammy to “take a hike,” Toby had lumbered over and leaned threateningly over the guy. That granted the two vampires entrance, problem solved.

At this moment Toby was busying himself in another room, watching a football match with an almost frightening intensity.

Spotting the Slayer moving onto the dance floor with her male companion, and confident that she wouldn’t be leaving the party any time soon, Sammy removed the cell phone from his pocket and hit the call button.

A moment later the other end picked up. “Status?”

“Good to go, she’s not going anywhere,” Sammy replied self-assuredly.

“Excellent.”

With a click the call was ended and Sammy returned the cell phone to his pocket.

~~~

Giles parked his car at the front of the shop, killing the engine and removing his keys as he exited the vehicle. He was going to retrieve the necessary text and return to his comfy sofa, determined that his night would end with a fresh pot of tea.

The reasons why Drusilla would be returning to Sunnydale could be as numerous as they were varied. It could be some part of a master plan, directed by the stars or even something as illogical as the weather. What motivated a vampire like Drusilla to do what she did in the past was answered simply; because she was instructed to, either by Angelus or Spike. Drusilla’s involvement in any master scheme by Angelus was usually always secondary, with her going what her ‘Daddy’ wanted her to. Dru’s persuasive abilities gave her more control where Spike was regarded, her former lover completely devoted to his dark princess. While Spike was always at the forefront of any evil plot when the pair were together, it was Drusilla who guided them with her visions.

The fact neither vampire was involved with her current plans was troubling. Giles didn’t think Drusilla had the focus to formulate and execute a plan on her own, and history backed up that assumption. For the first time in Drusilla’s un-life she didn’t have an alpha male companion to steer her in the right direction.

Maybe all this time apart from ‘her’ boys had forced Drusilla to stand on her own two feet. Motivation was the key, and who knew what her addled mind could come up with if the reward were tempting enough?

Deciding it would be best to form his theories once he’d refreshed his memory on Drusilla’s habits, Giles slid a key into the lock and quickly unlocked his shop, the bell on the door tinkling as he stepped inside. Two feet inside the door he felt a thump on the back of his head before everything went black.

The watcher slumped into a heap on the floor right at the entrance, out cold before he even hit the floor.




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A/N: Hope you liked, please let me know what you think!