Thanks to two wonderful betas who worked on this chapter, Immortal_Beloved and Tamakin :)



“Okay. Wake up! Come on, girls, up and at ‘em! Wake up!”

Buffy’s loud order was met with muffled groans of protest as the young Slayers at her command mostly just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Melinda yawned, but sat up in her sleeping bag, her dark eyes at once alert as they focused on the senior Slayer, immediately aware that something important had happened since she had fallen asleep.

“What is it, Buffy?” she asked in a hoarse, sleepy voice as she rose from the ground and immediately began rolling up her sleeping bag. “What’s happened?”

“Get up,” Buffy commanded, yanking the woolen blanket off one of the girls, not answering Melinda's question. “Don’t make me make a trip down to the lake to wake you up.”

“Okay, okay,” Kari grumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“What’s going on? Did they find us?” Sarah, the youngest of them all, stared up at Buffy through wide, fearful eyes.

“No,” Buffy replied, her voice hard, her jaw set with determination. “But we’re going to find them.”

“Now?” Larissa asked incredulously, just the slightest hint of a teenaged whine to her voice. “But it’s the middle of the night…”

“We strike when they least expect it,” Buffy declared, cutting off the girl’s weak protest without a glance. “We strike before they have a chance to prepare for it. We take Ethan Rayne’s operation down *tonight*.”

“But…”

“Do *not* argue with me,” Buffy snapped, whirling around to face a fourth young Slayer whose name she could not remember, her eyes narrowed in her best menacing General Buffy expression. “Who’s in charge here?”

It took a moment as the girl glared defiantly back at her, attempting to muster up the nerve to talk back…but eventually…it worked as well as it always had. The girl stepped backward, averting her gaze with a sigh as they all waited for further explanation from Buffy…if she felt inclined to give any, that was.

“You are.”

“Right. And I say that we are not wasting any more time lying around while Ethan Rayne is in there doing God knows what to…” Buffy bit off her angry words just an instant short of losing control of her emotions, taking a moment to steady herself before she went on, her voice lower and barely controlled, “We are not wasting any more time. Is that clear?”

No one dared offer a word of contradiction.

Buffy’s voice was quiet but firm when she continued, “Good. Everybody, get your packs rolled up, get your weapons out and ready, and be right back here in five minutes.” As she spoke, she pointed down at the ground at her feet before turning away from the other girls and moving toward her own abandoned pack a few feet away from where she had sat up, keeping watch over the others while they slept.

Her eyes welled with tears as she thought again of Spike and how utterly lost and broken he had seemed when she had seen him. Anger rose up within her as she thought of what torment, what psychological and physical abuse he must have endured to bring him to such a place. Something dark and primal within her cried out in protest, struggling to break free and wreak bloody, agonizing vengeance against those who had harmed her vampire.

*Soon,* she soothed her outraged warrior’s heart, her lips pressed together in a tight line as she tucked a vicious battle dagger into the waistband of her jeans and reached back into her pack. *Soon…I’ll have you out of here, Spike...I promise…*

She returned to the group of girls, carrying three shimmering silver orbs in her hands. The attention of everyone was riveted on her and the strange items she held as she stopped in front of them, looking at each of them in turn, studying their expressions and trying to gauge their readiness for the task at hand as well as their commitment.

“We’re going to make two teams,” she declared without preamble. “Melinda, you’ll lead the second one. The first thing we’re going to do is to take down Rayne’s support system…his guards, anyone who might in any way connect him with the outside world. Not that I think he’s going to have much of that; this place is pretty isolated. But we have to be sure.”

She bounced one of the balls idly in her hand, her voice calm and even as she went on, “There’s not going to be anyone out here that doesn’t know about Rayne’s business or isn’t in some way connected with him. While we’re scouting, these are *my* rules of engagement. If it’s a demon…kill it. If it’s human…or vampire…bring it back to camp *alive* and unharmed if possible…”

Larissa frowned, clearly bothered by those words, opening her mouth in protest. “But, if it’s a vampire…”

“I said no arguments!” Buffy snapped, her voice instantly hardening. “I have my reasons, all right? If it looks human, you take it alive. Until this mission is completed, anyone who stakes a vamp without checking with me first is going to find out firsthand what it felt like for hundreds of demons, a hellgod, and the First Evil itself when I wiped the floor with their asses. Is that clear?”

Melinda was quiet, staring at the ground, as she nodded slowly. “Clear,” she replied, her tone making it obvious that she intended to set the example for the others.

Though Larissa was stubbornly the last to do so, they all echoed Melinda’s response, subdued and respectful to the one among them who was the first of them all, whose power and skill was renowned throughout the world at this point.

“Good. Melinda, you and your group will take one side of the compound. My group will take the other. Have your weapons ready in case you're attacked. And be careful; Rayne is a very dangerous man. He may not look like much when and if you actually see him, but he’s extremely powerful. He uses magic…and that makes him a very unpredictable threat.”

Buffy looked around with solemn eyes at the sobered, wide-eyed faces of the girls around her and felt herself softening a bit toward them.

She reminded herself that it was not their fault that Spike was here.

*Whose fault *is* it?* she wondered. *Who did this?*

“I know you’re scared,” she continued to address the girls, her tone more gentle and understanding now. “Of course you are. If you weren’t, you’d be stupid. And you’re not. But you can do this. You’re Slayers, every one of you. Some of you have been tested before and know the heat of battle. For some of you…*this* is your first test. But if you’ll listen to me and follow my orders, you’ll do just fine.”

The irony of her words had just occurred to her when she caught the eye of Kari, who was giving her a raised eyebrow, her dark eyes sparkling with mirth in the moonlight. Her mind went back to their conversation on the plane.

“I’ve heard the stories about you,” Kari had said.

Buffy had to admit, she had a point. She was a rather surprising choice to tell anyone about the benefits of obedience to orders and authority.

Before the girl could say a word, Buffy pointed a finger at her and muttered good-naturedly, “Shut up.”

Though they had not dared to show it, most of the girls had been thinking exactly what Kari had, and Buffy’s petulant tone broke the tension in the air as they all let out a soft laugh. Buffy breathed out a sigh, her shoulders relaxing as she shook her head at her own overly commanding manner. As her own silent laughter faded, her eyes focused on the orbs in her hand, and her expression became serious again, her thoughts returning to the mission at hand and the vital part in it that these magical tools would play.

*Thanks, Will…*

“There’s one other reason I know you’ll all be just fine,” she continued, her no-nonsense tone returning, though her eyes were dancing with satisfaction as she tossed one of the glowing globes to Melinda, who caught it easily, giving it a single brief glance before refocusing her attention on Buffy.

“These are a gift from a friend of mine. They’ll hide us from any form of magical detection Rayne might have in place. We’ll leave one here at the camp site at all times to keep our stuff from being found. One will go with each group to keep him from knowing anyone is here.”

She smiled at the renewed courage she saw on the faces of the girls at this added advantage before nodding decisively and declaring, “All right. That’s it. Let’s get a move on. I want us to be on our way home before morning.”

*With Spike,* she added to herself. *I'm going to save you, Spike. And once you're safe...the person responsible for this is going to pay.*

****************************************

*Why doesn’t that blasted telephone bloody well ring?*

The elder Watcher paced frenetically back and forth across his office floor, intermittently glaring daggers at the frustratingly silent device on his desk. It had been over a day since he had spoken with Xander and instructed him to tell Buffy the “mission” in Ireland was all a hoax. Xander had assured him that he would pass the message along and have Buffy return to Scotland at once.

Over twenty-four hours later…Giles had still heard nothing.

“I told Xander to have her call me the minute she got back,” he muttered irritably under his breath as he paced the floor. “Of course, it *is* Buffy I’m talking about…and she’s not known for her punctuality or reliability. Perhaps she simply forgot to call…”

*Or perhaps…she found *him*…*

That was a thought that sent a shudder down Giles’ spine, at this point for more than one reason. He knew that he was doing the best thing for his Slayer in keeping her away from the love-struck vampire who would only continue to muck up her life as long as he was allowed to do so. He had simply done the most logical thing and ensured that he would *not* be allowed to do so.

And if the results for Spike were slightly less pleasant than one would think befitted a hero who had saved the world once and helped to save it several other times, well…that was a simple enough answer.

Spike was *not* a hero. He was a vampire…and nothing he could do would ever change that. In the long run…Spike was expendable.

Buffy’s future was not.

With an impatient sigh, Giles decided that he could not wait any longer. He picked up the phone and hurriedly dialed Buffy’s personal line in Scotland. He felt a momentary relief when it was picked up after only two rings…which died as soon as he heard the familiar male voice on the other line.

“Buffy’s phone, what’s up?”

“Xander?”

“G-Man! How’s it going?”

“Is Buffy there, Xander?” the Watcher asked impatiently, too anxious to even bother to correct Xander’s insistence on calling him that despicably annoying nickname.

“Not yet,” the young man replied, and Giles felt his heart sink. “She sounded really distracted when I talked to her. I told her what you said, but she just said she’d have to call me back and hung up really quick. When I tried to call her back, she didn’t pick up. She hasn’t picked up since.” Xander was quiet for a moment, and when Giles did not say anything either, he continued, alarm in his voice, “You don’t think she’s hurt, do you? Like, maybe something’s wrong and that’s why she’s not...?"

“I’m really not sure, Xander, but I would have thought that she would have returned by now…or at least called. It *is* rather disconcerting…”

******************************

Outside Giles’ office, Andrew stood near the door, listening anxiously to the side of the conversation that he could hear, which was more than enough to tell him that Buffy had not yet returned to Scotland.

He did not know whether to be relieved…or terrified.

If Buffy had not yet returned, then that meant that she had probably found Spike before Xander had called her; and if she had found Spike, then surely she knew the truth by now, about how Giles had betrayed him into Ethan Rayne’s hands and lied to everyone about the whole sordid arrangement.

In which case, Andrew himself was as good as dead.

Or perhaps, Buffy was simply delayed in her return or had forgotten to call as Giles had suggested. It was not exactly unusual for Buffy to forget to make a call, after all. Perhaps she had never come into contact with Spike at all and was already on a plane headed back to her own personal headquarters.

In which case, Spike was better off dead.

Andrew leaned in closer to the door, biting his lower lip anxiously as he listened closely to hear the rest of the Watcher’s conversation with Xander, hoping against hope that things would turn out all right…because at this point, that was all that he knew to hope for.

*************************************

“Well, what should we do? Should we send somebody after her? And, I mean…well…if it’s trouble that *Buffy* can’t handle…who should we send?” Xander reluctantly asked, his tone worried and doubtful.

“Try not to worry, Xander,” the Watcher advised in a soothing voice of calm authority, though his heart was pounding with apprehension and his mind was racing in an attempt to come up with a solution, though he wasn’t quite sure how far the problem had gone yet. “I’m going to try to reach Buffy myself. Perhaps she’ll respond to my call where she did not to yours.”

“Gee, thanks…”

“I have to go, Xander. I’ll speak with you later, as soon as I can.”

“Why does everybody keep...?"

Giles never heard the rest of whatever it was that Xander was about to say because he hung up the phone before the boy could finish. His fingers trembled as he fumbled for the number of Buffy’s cell phone in his phonebook and finally found the correct entry.

He dialed the number and drew in a deep, shaky breath, mentally preparing his story as he waited for his Slayer to answer her phone.