Tannis approached Buffy cautiously, hoping she was not mad at him enough to hurt him. “My Lady, can you inform us why you saw fit to stab The Cursed One?”

Angel smirked, thinking that the bitch was going to be in trouble for harming him.

Buffy turned to Tannis and, in a cold tone, told him “My granddaughter was in her bedroom, preparing for bed, when I heard her scream. I arrived to find this,” she gestured to Angel, “spying on her through her bedroom window. Turns out it was not the first time he had done this, nor the first young girl he had done it to.”

Several of the Powers gasped as the full import of what Buffy had said sunk in, but it was Tannis who spoke. “You mean you caught him spying on her whilst she was undressing? And he apparently makes a habit of it?”

“That would be exactly what I mean, Tannis.” Buffy stated, and smirk on her face as she took note of the disgusted looks being thrown Angel’s way by everyone in the chamber.

An older lady queried, “Your granddaughter would be young Joyce’s daughter, yes? And she’s 13?”

Buffy nodded in response to the lady’s inquiry. “She’s almost 14, and yes she is Joyce’s daughter.”

“Should have just sliced him in half, solved the entire problem…,” the lady muttered as she threw a dark look towards Angel.

Angel glowered as he loudly protested, “I was just doing what I had been told to do!”

Tannis whirled on Angel, “And who told you to spy on children? You were sent to keep an eye on the Watcher, NOT to indulge in any sexual deviancies.”

Buffy snorted, “It was brought to my attention that he has had this tendency for quite some time. Did none of you actually look at his past actions to determine if he was suitable for the task you had asked of him?” She looked around the room, one eyebrow cocked. “It is my understanding that the current slayer is a young woman of 16 years. If he had actually done as you had planned, and met up with her, what is to say he would not have practiced his ‘deviancies’ on her?”

This question was met with a flurry of whispered comments and thoughtful looks as they considered Buffy’s words.

His temper having reached the breaking point, both at being ignored and the questioning of his champion status, Angel flew at Buffy, fully intending bodily harm.

With a gasp of outrage at Angel’s behavior, Tannis gestured to the ceatric to apprehend the enraged vampire and hold him. “I think it would be better for all concerned if you were restrained.”

Whistler started to shake as the import of what he had done began to sink into his brain. He wondered if he would be able to get out of this with all parts intact.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spike glared at the squirming, squeaking man he was holding. “Shut up and keep still you pillock.” He watched and listened as Methos talked to Joyce on the phone.

“Joyce, take a deep breath, its okay. But as soon as I hang up the phone I want you and Dawn to get over to the watcher’s place.” He paused. “Yes, I’m positive it’s safe, we just don’t want to take any chances.” Methos nodded slowly, forgetting that she could not see him. “Just go Joyce, and be careful.” He snapped the phone shut and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Damn, I forgot how argumentative she can be.”

“Joyce giving you a hard time?” Spike asked with a smirk on his face.

“As always.” Methos replied with a sigh. “To top it all off, Dawn is put out at missing her new favorite show, some silly British thing about torches…” Methos trailed off, shaking his head. “The things kids watch these days.”

Their un-wanted companion started squirming and struggling again, thinking that their attention was elsewhere. He was wrong.

“I think we need to dispose of this complication, and return to the watcher’s apartment.” Methos commented in a casual way. “Any suggestions as to the fastest method?”

“Well,” Spike said, scratching the back of his neck, “as I see it, there are two routes we could take. One would be using your sword to remove the blighters head; the other would be draining him and walking away from the corpse.”

Methos thought about it for a moment and asked, “Which is likely to garner the least suspicion from the local police?”

“Draining him, and dumping the body.” Spike responded without hesitation. “But,” and here he paused, “How would Buffy take it if I did that?”

Methos looked at Spike with some surprise. “You are worried about what Mother would think of you killing this waste of space?”

“Well, yeah. It would not do to piss her off. She’s more than a little handy with that sword of hers.” Spike said with a smirk.

“Not to mention, she’d not indulge in any more sexual escapades with you if she gets upset with you.” Methos said with a laugh.

“Damned straight!” Spike stated, and then grinned sheepishly. “She’s addictive…”

Methos laughed at the expression on Spike’s face. “Somehow I don’t think she’d mind if you drained this bugger. After all, he did try to kill someone important to her daughter, not to mention put a hole in me. So I think it’s safe to say that you may indulge your appetite for the sanguine.”

Spike turned towards the man dangling from his left hand and shifted into his demon guise. “I am a little peckish, although my taste for British cuisine has declined over the years.” He yanked the man up against him and with a snarl, sank his fangs into the unfortunate soul’s jugular, taking deep pulls of his blood.

Methos stood a short distance away, watching with fascination as Spike drained the man who had tried to kill Rupert Giles. “Yeah, Mother would indeed be pissed if this joker was allowed to live…” he muttered to himself.

Spike ripped his fangs out of the drained body he was holding and with a casual twist of his hands, ripped the man’s head off. “There we go…,” he said with a grin. “Wanna play a little footie?” He tossed the head towards Methos who stepped out of its path.

“You are one sick individual. No wonder Mother put a blood bond on you.” Methos said and headed off towards the watcher’s flat, leaving a stunned Spike to follow him.