Buffy let out a deep breath. “So … didja break Faith out of jail? Is the Council hiding Julie the Vampire Slayer at the Sunnydale Motor Lodge?”

Lydia drew herself up and with an indignant sniff replied, “Julia Gregory is performing her duties in Swindon at the moment.”

“Swindon?” Giles asked.

“There’s been an infestation of Sluggoth demons.”

“Oh, Sluggoth demons. That’s certainly on par with the raising of Proserpexa.”

Xander’s head ping-ponged between the two Watchers, waiting for a break in the quibbling. “Hey, does this Julia know that she’s, like, third runner up in the Miss Slayer pageant?”

Lydia glared at Xander, but as all eyes turned to her, she grudgingly shook her head yes. “Miss Gregory is aware of the situation.”

“Lucky her. Okay, Tweedle-Dee, thanks for sharing, but let’s do the Cliff’s Notes version.”

“Well, you have enough Slayers to form a rock band,” Xander offered.

Willow scanned her notes. “According to our friend Gertrude, that’s about it. You don’t all have to be here, just all exist. It upsets the balance. Cosmically, I guess. Any one Slayer can take it from there and breach the innermost sanctum of the temple. Or, at least, that’s what I’m getting at a glance.”

“And our esteemed colleagues at the Council?”

Lydia reluctantly nodded. “That is our interpretation. There are several competing theories, of course. This is somewhat outside of our usual operating procedures.”

“Fancy that,” Giles remarked.

Buffy blinked. “Who else knows about the prophecy?”

All eyes turned to Lydia. “I understand the Faction is in town. Passel of traitors.”

Giles cleared his throat.

“You know very well that they have a history of sympathizing with demons, Rupert.”

Behind the counter, Anya blanched. “Buffy, I think maybe you ought to get going. Out there, into the night and fight the bad demons. Before they can interfere with us nice, normal, law-abiding humans.”

“That would stop it, right?” Buffy looked at Willow.

“It should. I mean, if you kill Britta, there are only three Slayers, so no prophecy. No imbalance. No temple.” Willow frowned.

“Or, if Britta kills you. And you stay dead this time,” Anya added. Xander jabbed her. “What? It’s true. Betcha all those stuffy Englishmen thought of that already.”

Lydia suddenly looked very interested in the bookshelves.

Buffy glanced out the windows into the waning afternoon light. “Anya’s right. Time to make with the vampire vampire slayer slaying.”

***

“I don’t like this, Britta.”

“You agreed.”

“Not I.”

“Fine. Your superiors at the pseudo-Council agreed.”

They stood in the shade of the trees, waiting for the sun’s last rays to fade. At Britta’s feet, an unconscious lump of a girl huddled, her breath shallow but steady.

In the clearing, the Trio set up for the ritual, drawing lines and drizzling blood.

“Do they know that they’re likely to die?”

Britta made a scornful noise. “They’ve come into this looking for power. If we succeed, they may have more of it than they ever imagined.”

“Or they may be eviscerated by one of Proserpexa’s guardian demons before the temple door is opened.”

“We have a deal, Jay. You get the scythe and I get my freedom. That’s all that matters.”

At her feet, their captive stirred. Britta dipped a finger to the girl’s open wound and stood again, sucking off the rich red blood.

“Is she powerful enough?”

Britta dipped another finger and offered it to Jay. He pulled back, and she smiled.

“Her blood is thick with power. Her mother was a witch, and her grandmother and great-grandmother before her.”

“But she’s not the most powerful practitioner in Sunnydale.”

“No. But the legacy is what matters. The blood. Not whether she’s been a good witch or a bad witch.”

He stepped into the clearing to check the position of the setting sun. “Not much longer.”

***

Buffy had set out on foot, promising to make a quick sweep of town, then check back in at the Magic Box before heading for the clearing. Their only concrete piece of information was that the temple couldn’t be raised until the dark of night, giving them a few more hours to research and plan.

But if she could kill Britta first, it wouldn’t matter.

***

Back at the Magic Box, everyone was buried in a book when Giles returned, even Lydia.

“I’ve dropped Dawn off at home with Tara and a rather large sum of money for pizza. Any word from Buffy?”

“Not yet,” Willow replied.

“Have we found anything useful?”

“There’s something here about a ritual bloodletting. But it says they need a really powerful witch,” Willow explained. “And, not to brag, but that’s me. So I’m guessing they’re missing at least one key ingredient.”

Anya opened her mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again. “Ego much?”

“Ahn!” Xander called as all heads swiveled towards Anya.

“Fine. Sorry I said you had a big ego. But you’re just wrong, and clueless!”

“That’s not much better,” Xander replied.

“Wait – she’s right,” Lydia interrupted, looking at her notes. “This ritual is about blood, and that means that the most powerful witch, for our purposes, is one with a history of the craft in her female antecedents.”

“Exactly!” Anya exclaimed. “And since Willow’s mom isn’t a witch, at least not in the technical sense of the word-”

“Omigod. They’ll go after Tara!”

***

“You’re going to charge me $1500 for landing on Park Place?”

Dawn smiled. “Pay up, Spike!”

The vampire fumbled with his funny money. “Can’t cover it. Any chance of a loan?”

Tara placed a protective hand over the plastic tray of faux bills. “If you’re willing to mortgage some properties, we can talk.”

“But all I own is soddin’ Marvin Gardens. Won’t begin to cover what I’m about to owe Miss Ivanka Trump.”

“That means you’re out, Spike!” Dawn chirruped.

“Nice. Way to treat an old pal, Mini-Mogul. If I’d been able to put a hotel on Baltic, I’d ‘ve let you stay rent-free.”

“That fleabag?” she snorted, as Tara started to put away the game pieces. “This is why vampires don’t play board games.”

“I’m a master at Risk!” Spike insisted.

Tara and Dawn exchanged a glance.

“Wot? I am!” He glanced out the window. “Ought to be heading out anyway. No more word on this Britta’s master plan?”

Dawn shrugged. “After all the stuff about the temple and the prophecy, I pretty much tuned out. Well, that and the fourth Slayer.”

“Fourth Slayer?” Spike looked up, just as the front door crashed open.

***

Buffy’s head was swimming. Ever since she’d come back from her showdown with the Master, she’d filed prophecy under things to ignore, if possible. But this time it felt like fate was determined to take her for a ride.

It could be over. All of it. Or some of it. She’d died twice, screwed up every part of her life that wasn’t demon-centric, and now it could be over. Except that over wasn’t exactly well-defined. Would she be dead? Or worse, weak? No one had bothered to figure out that little detail.

They wanted it, wanted her power. She felt a tiny bit like Frodo with a decent pedicure.

As she zigged and zagged her way back through a very quiet town, Buffy wondered about Jay.

The Council wanted to control her, sure. But now that they had Julia, little wonder they’d left her alone. But what about the Faction?

She stopped in front of the back entrance to the Fitness Factory.

Buffy fidgeted. She had a code for the back door. The gym should still be open. She could question Jay without the others knowing. And maybe she wouldn’t have to reveal how much was going down, either, not unless it seemed like he could help.

Without another thought, she keyed in her code and called out, “Hello?”

“Buffy?” Another one of the desk clerks looked up from the time clock.

“Oh, hey Carl.”

“Hey. I was just heading out for the night.”

“Oh. Um, I was just gonna talk to Jay about something.”

“Good luck. He left earlier. Said he’d be back, but no one’s seen him. If you have some time, they could use some help out front. I’d stay but my kid-”

“Jay’s gone?”

“Yeah.”

The wheels turned in Buffy’s brain. “Oh. I’m, just, uh, gonna go look for a hat I left in Jay’s office. Earlier. Today. When I was working.”

Without looking back, Buffy headed down the corridor. Jay’s office was locked, but she easily broke the mechanism and shouldered her way in.

There it was. In plain view. A map of the clearing, tucked under his desk calendar, complete with a notation to meet BK. If BK showed up in Xander’s day planner, Buffy would’ve guessed he’d been hankering for onion rings. But a guy like Jay? Not likely.

Nope. Buffy was getting the feeling that she’d been played.

Again. Another handsome guy, saying all the right things about Slayers, but turning out to be part of the problem.”

“Fabulous. So I’ve got Riley Redux waiting up with my doppelganger. Now what?”

She shifted another file on his desk and found a copy of an ancient sketch.

“What’s a scythe?” she wondered.

***

“They’re after you, Tara!”

“Wi-Willow? Mr. Giles? What’s going on?”

Tara was too busy being bear-hugged by Willow to ask any more questions.

“Who’s they? And what’s this about four Slayers?”

“They need to bleed a witch. To raise the temple,” Willow explained. “The Trio, and – and Britta. They’re going to raise Proserpexa’s Temple and try to grab control of the Slayer line. Or end the world, I don’t know for sure. But if I’m here, and you’re here …”

“’Snot like the witch population of Sunnydale is two,” Spike said. “Got a lot of candidates that the Slayer might not miss so quick.”

Tara pulled away as Willow’s body went rigid. “Oh my God. Amy!”


Author's Note: Thanks to the amazing pfeifferpack for the line "vampire vampire slayer slaying" - hugs! And the title is from that Cake song Going the Distance. Blame iTunes PartyShuffle for that one. Funny what's hiding in the back of my playlist. ;)