She had to admit Parker was intelligent and efficient for a human. It was going to be an inconvenience to lose her. The details of a human life and job were annoyances she had to deal with to maintain her cover. It was gratifying when she found someone who could do so much of it for her. Still, Parker was no longer useful. Her true work on Earth was about to begin.

"I like it. I'm ahead of schedule thanks to you." Gathering up her briefcase and an armful of folders she nodded toward the door. "Let's go." It was already dark out, and what needed to be done would go a lot smoother without having to worry about witnesses.

They got into the car and Whitaker started the engine, or tried to. The engine sputtered and died. "What? It was working fine this morning." She turned the key again. This time nothing happened. Whitaker resisted the urge to grind her teeth. Could anything else go wrong today? It would be easy enough to fix, but she couldn't do it in front of Parker. It was Parker herself who provided the solution.

"The CrashDown's just a short walk from here. I bet I can borrow Maria's car." Whitaker nodded reluctantly. They got out of the car and started toward the diner. The quickest route there was through a narrow side street that lacked streetlights. Liz fell behind a bit, and several seconds passed before Whitaker realized that Liz was no longer with her.

"Parker?" She turned to see that two strangers had emerged from an alley they had just passed. One of them had Parker pulled against him his teeth buried in her throat. She struggled weakly before going limp. The other one, ridged demon face clearly visible, rushed her. "Damn," she muttered, raising a hand and concentrating. The vampire stopped as if it had hit a brick wall. It staggered back and let out a choked scream before turning to dust. She turned to the one holding Parker's body.

"Oh crap," the vampire said, its eyes as big as saucers. He started to backpedal while throwing Parker over his shoulder. "Sorry sweets, you just became takeout." He turned and sprinted back into the alley. Whitaker started to follow, but decided there was no point. Parker was dead, but Max didn't know that. The plan could still work. She returned to her car and quickly found and fixed the problem, a failed starter motor, before driving to the warehouse where Max would show up in only 45 minutes.

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

"Takeout?" Liz looked up at her teacher as she used a napkin to wipe the ketchup off her neck. He was curled on the rear seat of Maria's Jetta while Liz sat on the floor. It was really too small a car for hiding in and Liz was wedged between the front seat and the back with barely room to breathe. They were, however, out of sight of anyone who might notice the Jetta. Maria appeared to be alone and in no great hurry to get anywhere.

"Sounded good at the time," Spike said shrugging as best he could.

"Where'd the vamp come from?"

"Found 'im last night. He just got into town so I did the neighborly thing and helped him find a place an' even got him a bottle of blood. I thought he might come in handy."

"Planning a new lesson?" He shrugged.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. The important thing is we learned something about Whitaker's powers. I think we can assume she can do anything the other little green people can do."

"You know they don't like it when you call them that," Maria said from the driver's seat. She was looking up at the rearview mirror and scowling. Spike grinned at her even though he knew she couldn't see him in the mirror. He liked Maria, he really did. The word for her was spunky, but he suspected that he really didn't want to hear the sound she'd make if he said it to her face. "And why can't you have a reflection like a normal person? I mean it doesn't make any sense. Does it have to do with the no soul thing? No it can't be that cause that creepy Angel guy has one but he doesn't show up in mirrors either." She continued to babble, but Spike tuned her out for a moment and glanced down at Liz. Liz was smiling herself, taking a familiar comfort in her friend's hyperactive monologue.

"And does one of you know how to get where we're going? I'm not sure where Copper Summit is." That got their attention.

"Tess will know," Liz assured her. "We're meeting her behind the CrashDown." Maria scanned the street and then… "There she is," she pointed at something Liz couldn't see. A moment later the door opened and Tess got in.

"Lets get going," she snapped and began giving Maria directions. "Copper Summit is two hours away and they'll know Max isn't coming before then." Maria got on the highway and floored the accelerator.

"I obviously missed something," Liz said pushing her way up onto the seat to sit beside Spike. "Why are we going to Copper Summit?"

"That's where the enemy has their HQ," Tess answered. "Max picked up some interesting details about the harvest you heard them talking about. It seems they need some sort of space suit here. It looks like human skin, but what we see is just a covering of some sort."

"I remember," Liz said thoughtfully. "Whitaker said something about their husks wearing out. They won't last out the year, she said."

"That's right," Tess nodded. "Apparently they're growing new ones. If we can smash those husks before they finish growing we could be rid of them."

"So the boy king decided to take the initiative huh? How unlike him," Spike observed. Liz elbowed him in the side.

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

Max drove while Isabel used a flashlight to read the information Alex had gathered for them over the Internet. "Copper Summit is also the headquarters of something called the Universal Friendship League. Creepy. It's a small, isolated community, perfect for a group of aliens who want to go unnoticed." She sounded pensive and Max glanced at her curiously.

"Something wrong?"

"Guess I'm just surprised," his sister admitted. This plan isn't like you."

"It needs to be done," he said, but he didn't sound happy about it. He sounded, she thought,.. resigned was the right word. "This world has enough worries with demons. These people are planning an invasion."

"They'd be biting off more than they can chew. This Nicholas guy you mentioned knows about demons and magic and I still have trouble believing in those, but-"

"The guy who took over may not believe in it, and his plan might fail, but it would cause a lot of trouble. There's a chance though, that Nicholas could succeed. I don't know what he's planning, but between alien technology and some of the things we know magic is capable of…"

"Let's not think about that right now," Isabel interrupted. "Let's just get there and do it so we don't have to worry about it." That worked for everyone.

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

"He wants to use magic? What magic?"

"We don't know," Maria admitted. "Max didn't hear any details. But Spike's told me some stories."

"A few that wouldn't give her nightmares," Spike elaborated. "No tellin' what this Nicholas bloke has gotten hold of, but it could get ugly."

"Aliens want to take over the planet. I think it already is ugly," Maria said. Tess shot her a look.

"Hey don't lump us all together." Maria didn't bother to respond, and after a moment Tess gave up on waiting for one. "Spike packed you some weapons Liz, a few stakes, a sword, and an ax. I doubt they'll do much good though. Why don't Slayers use guns?" Liz and Spike looked at each other as if the idea had never occurred to them.

"Well," Spike answered after a moment. "Guns'll just piss off a vampire. Metal weapons don't bother us much unless you can cut off the head. I'm hoping that ripping those space suits will stop them. If nothing else cutting their heads off should do the trick."

"Let's hope so. I'm certain we can do enough damage to kill them, even if decapitation doesn't work."

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

The lock was easy to defeat, as was the alarm. Michael had wanted to go with Max and the others when he learned what they were going to do about the 'Skins' as Spike had started calling them, but Max had told him that the information in Whitaker's office was still very important to them. Alex followed him in and took a post by the window to keep a look out. His van was on the next street, easily accessible from the back door.

"Any idea what you're looking for?" Alex asked softly.

"Nope." Michael considered a moment before remembering the time he and Maria had searched the FBI agent's room. He looked through the garbage and found something immediately. "What the hell is this?" He was holding up a translucent piece of something that looked and felt like snakeskin. It looked like a glove.

Alex came over to look at it curiously. A few seconds later it crumbled to dust. "I have no idea," Alex said as Michael dusted his hands off carefully.

"I think it might be part of her skin, that space suit she wears." He wiped his hands on his jeans for good measure. "Creepy." He began going through drawers, starting with Whitaker's desk and moving to the locked file cabinets in her office. He didn't find anything at first, not until he listened to some of the unlabeled CDs in the file drawer behind her desk.

"She's taping Liz's calls?" Alex seemed surprised for some reason. "Well, we suspected that Whitaker wanted Liz here as a way of getting to Max. Anything else?"

"Hmm. Pictures. There are pictures of... whoa!" He focused the small flashlight he carried on the photos. "I don't follow the news, but even I recognize some of these people."

"So what is it?" Alex called softly from near the window.

"Blackmail material." He flipped through a few of the pictures. "There are some very twisted people in our nation's capitol." He handed Alex a picture, but after a glance at the image Alex declined to touch it.

"That looks painful. I don't suppose there's anything alien related in there?" he asked, trying to get the investigation back on track. Michael put the pictures back where he found them and opened a sealed envelope from the same drawer.

"Jackpot. Correspondence from the Universal Friendship League hidden in an envelope marked '98 income tax." He skimmed some of the letters. "Oh boy." He slipped the letters back into the envelope, resealed it and quickly erased any sign that he'd been there. "Come on. We've got to go."

"Go where?" Alex asked as he followed Michael out the back door and watched as he locked it and enabled the alarm system from outside.

"Copper Summit. The Harvest is tomorrow which means that pretty much every Skin on the planet is likely to be there."

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

"Where is she?"

"Sir, there was a-"

"Where is Liz Parker, the bait for your trap?"

"She's dead sir. We were attacked by two vampires near the office. One of them killed Parker."

"Vampires?" Nicholas sounded incredulous as he stepped forward, to stand next to their commander. "Since when are there vampires in Roswell?"

"Killings have been up across the region over the past month. I didn't pay any attention to it."

"This is incredibly bad timing." Nicholas thought quickly. "It shouldn't matter though. Max doesn't know she's dead. He'll still be here at 8:00."

"What," their leader demanded, "are vampires?" Both looked at him as if surprised he was there. "And how precisely did you fail at such a simple task? You were to bring one human girl to this warehouse."

"Vampires are parasites. They feed on humans, draining the blood from them," Nicholas supplied.

"They're animals," Whitaker continued. "Running into two tonight was just bad luck. I didn't even know they were there until they were on top of us."

"You seem to have had nothing but bad luck since you came to this planet," K'var said quietly. "Fortunately for you this bit of bad luck probably won't interfere with our plans." He glanced at Nicholas. "You are correct. As long as the heir doesn't know she's dead, he will still come here to meet her." They would just have to wait.

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

Max saw the Jetta coming up behind them and nodded, relieved. "They're here. There was a ways to go before they reached Copper Summit, and they didn't know exactly what they would find when they got there, but if Maria was here with the others then it meant that the plan was on schedule. He drew out the cell phone he had borrowed from Tess and called Maria.

"Hello? Oh, hi Max," Liz brightened at the sound of his voice. Maria had passed her the phone, not wanting to take her attention off the road at the speed they were traveling. "Yeah. Everything went as planned. Spike really came through." She glanced at her teacher who smiled, pleased at the compliment. "At this rate we should be in Copper Summit in less than an hour… I know. You're due at the ambush in ten minutes. Hopefully they'll be patient."

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

"Her phone is busy." Michael clicked off.

"She's probably talking to Max. You know they're going separately." Alex didn't glance away from the road. He was breaking the speed limit by twenty miles an hour and didn't want to slow down or risk an accident. "Wait a few minutes and try again."

"Right." Michael dialed again immediately.

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

"Where is he?" K'var demanded. It was 8:05 and the newly arrived commander was getting impatient. Nicholas and Whitaker exchanged nervous glances.

"Anything could have delayed him," Nicholas reasoned. "He could arrive at any time."

"For your sake he had better be here soon."

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

E'tahr double-checked the readings on the nutrient flow. Everything seemed to be going well, at least on a technical level. The equipment was the only thing that had worked correctly. She silently fumed over the mess they had discovered when they arrived. It had taken them time to even locate the community. They had hidden themselves away, apparently accomplishing nothing over the last 50 years. Some of them, like the one who now called herself Vanessa Whitaker, had gotten into positions of power, but they had done nothing with that power, at least nothing constructive.

The royal four had been located only recently, and that had been more through accident than anything else. Their agents on Earth had mostly concerned themselves with concealing their presence. It had been a human who had found them and gathered the proof they needed. Even when they had the proof, they did nothing.

She and K'var had both questioned them repeatedly. There seemed to be no reason for their actions. They spoke of complications and delays, but they were vague as to what those complications and delays were. The Humans were a primitive species, yet their agents hid from them. It made no sense. Just as well that she and K'var had arrived to oversee their final preparations. Time was short, but if they could find the granalith, it was still possible to meet their schedule. Nicholas and the rest would answer for their incompetence when the time came. For now though, they were needed.

Satisfied that the husks were developing properly and that the harvest could begin the next day as planned, she left the storage area and returned to the community center that the Universal Friendship League used as a headquarters.

She found Nicholas' second, an old woman using the name Betty Whitaker, having a quiet conference with some of her officers. The conversation ended when she entered the room. E'tahr was naturally wary of treachery. Paranoia had become a way of life in the royal court since the coup. Under other circumstances, the behavior of the others might have made her suspicious, but the possibility of treachery was discounted immediately. They would no doubt bungle any such attempt as they had everything else.

"The husks are in excellent condition, but they are at a critical stage and will have to be monitored closely."

"We got everything under control," Betty assured her. "Don't you worry about it."

"I am concerned for the future of this mission, of the occupation, not for your health. You would do well to take this more seriously." Betty shrugged dismissively, turned her back, and left the room. E'tahr watched the others file out after her and silently fumed. What was wrong with these people? Had they simply been living among primitives too long? It was frankly incomprehensible. It didn't matter to her though, as long as they followed orders.

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

Max watched the town from a small hill just beyond the farthest building. They would have to move in carefully. Tess' abilities would be of limited value. They could hide from an individual sentry or a small group of people, but she couldn't hide them from the entire population of the town, and there was a huge chance of being surprised by someone she didn't see, especially since they would have to search the town. None of them knew quite what they were looking for.

There was suddenly a person on either side of him. Wha..? Where had they come from? Max relaxed when he saw it was Liz and Spike, but it unnerved him that he had heard nothing.

"Max?" Liz looked at him curiously.

"Just startled. Learn to make a noise huh?" he joked, trying to cover how much the ease with which Liz, his Liz, took to these skills, disturbed him. "Better not," Spike groused. "After all the time I spent teaching you not to." Liz rolled her eyes, amused by her teacher's grumbling. He moved on quickly. "That building's occupied and isolated enough." Liz nodded.

"It'll do. Let's go."

"Hold on," Max stopped them. "What do you have in mind. I doubt the husks are in there."

"Maybe not, but there's someone in there. We can get the answers from them." Max looked doubtful. "Its that or search the town," Spike said in a tone that showed how ridiculous he thought the idea was. Max managed not to wince.

"All right. Be careful though."

"Not to worry," he assured. "Liz an' me'll be in and out before they know we're there." They moved away silently and were soon lost in the shadows. Max turned and made his way back to the spot where the others waited. He did his best to hide how disturbed he was.

"Well Max?" Isabel demanded. "How do we do this?"

"Liz and Spike are doing it. They'll get the information." Tess watched his face carefully, and saw the unease there.

"You know how they'll get it." Her tone made it a statement, not a question. Max nodded unhappily. Tess did her best to look sympathetic. She knew Max hated violence, especially the type of casual violence that the Slayer and her teacher seemed to indulge in more and more. Violence was sometimes necessary, but she knew he was wondering where the line was. It would be so easy to go too far. Max was afraid for Liz. He was afraid that her duties as Slayer would change her beyond recognition.

It had begun already. Liz had become more confident and forceful than before, almost domineering on occasion. She gave orders as if it were second nature and expected to be obeyed. She was still Liz though, and he loved her dearly. The changes couldn't affect how he felt about her, but they were coming between them.

There had been very little time for them to be together as a couple over the last month or so, and when they were together he couldn't help but see the changes in her behavior. She never seemed to relax anymore. It would be difficult for anyone who didn't know her as well as he did to see, but Liz now demonstrated an awareness and wariness of her surroundings that she never had before. He had seen her scan the rooms she walked into. Even in her own home she would glance around the room, noting casually the position of every friend and potential foe. Noting the position of every potential weapon and escape route.

It made Max uncomfortable seeing her do this, and what disturbed him most was that it had become second nature to her. She hardly thought about it anymore. He had wanted to talk to her about it, to share his concerns for her, but he honestly didn't know how to begin. There were some things it seemed, that he just couldn't talk to her about, and that disturbed him most of all.

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

"Still no answer," Michael growled. "What did they do? Turn it off?"

"Maybe," Alex reasoned. "Would you want your phone ringing and giving you away while trying to sneak around a town full of hostile aliens?" Michael bit off a sarcastic response, and reluctantly nodded. That was probably what had happened, not that it helped to know that. "Anyway, relax. We'll catch up with them in less than half-an-hour."

"Yeah, but the people at that warehouse already know Max isn't coming, or if they don't they're deeply stupid." Alex made no reply. He knew the chances of the aliens realizing what they were up to was slim, but telling himself that didn't help. He just drove faster.

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

Spike circled the house twice while Liz waited under a window at the side of the house. She could vaguely hear voices inside, but couldn't make out what they were saying through the closed window. Spike returned after a moment and held up two fingers, indicating that there were just the two inside. Liz nodded and they moved to the front of the house. The covered front porch was dark and the house didn't face any other buildings. Liz quickly unscrewed the bare bulb that served as a porch light and, putting on her best innocent look, she knocked on the door. Spike stood beside the door, out of sight of the peephole.

After a moment the door opened and a portly, middle-aged man looked out at her. He didn't seem pleased to find an attractive young woman on his doorstep. "Hi," Liz said brightly. "Sorry to bother you, but my car broke down, just down the road. Could I possibly use your phone?" The man apparently decided she was harmless and stepped aside. He didn't invite her in though. Liz stepped inside and sent another smile toward the gray-haired woman who came into the room from the kitchen. The woman looked no more pleased than the man had been, but she nodded toward the phone on a table next to her.

Liz had almost reached her when she saw the woman's eyes narrow as she looked past Liz. There was a surprised grunt at the door and she turned to see that Spike had entered the room. He looked as surprised as she for a moment. He had entered without an invitation, and Liz didn't like the implications of that. She nodded to him and he delivered an uppercut to the man's chin that lifted him off the ground. Liz spun back to the old woman with a kick to the side of the head.

It barely fazed her. The woman raised a hand in a gesture she had seen from Michael and Max on many occasions. She didn't get a chance to use her powers though. Liz broke the wrist the hand was attached to while twisting it behind her and shoved the woman face first into the wall. For good measure she drove a knee into the alien's back. Something broke.

Liz jumped back in surprise when her opponent collapsed into a pile of dust and what looked like bits of dead skin. Yuck. A glance at Spike showed that he had the man subdued and was looking at the alien's remains, clearly as surprised as Liz. She shrugged, bewildered. "Who knew?"

Getting over her surprise she moved to examine Spike's captive. "Unconscious. Can you keep him that way?"

"Sure, but how can he talk like this?" Liz smiled.

"I think Is can get us the answers we need. Be right back." She slipped out the back door and headed for the place where the others waited. They moved carefully, but as quickly as they could until they were all gathered around their unconscious enemy.

"Can you do it Is?" Max looked down at the man Spike was keeping a careful eye on. He had knocked the man out twice since Liz had gone to fetch the others. In the process he discovered their tendency to shed. The 'Skins' he decided, were entirely too resilient for his tastes.

"I can try," she said sounding doubtful. But I'm not sure it will work. We don't even know what species he is."

"You dream walked Max in the white room," Tess reminded her. "And you've done it with humans, so why shouldn't it work with… whatever he is." Is shrugged and settled down to concentrate. The others backed off to give her peace and quiet. Liz took a position by the window and watched the street through a space between the drapes and the wall. The others took similar positions around the small house. Spike stayed nearby, in case he had to kick the man in the head. After Whitaker's display earlier in the evening he had decided that he preferred this type of demon… alien… whatever either unconscious or dead.

Isabel focused on the alien before her, doing her best to tune out the watchful vampire. It wasn't easy till she asked to stop humming 'Under My Skin.' She closed her eyes and drifted for a moment, finding a calm center within herself. When she was ready she pictured the man's face and entered his mind.

Disjointed images. Some of them were mundane. Some were fantastically alien. She drifted for a moment, watching the bizarre parade of his past move by her in fits and starts. None of it made much sense to her, but she suspected she was missing the context for most of it. That was one of the problems with dream walking. Dreams weren't rational. She focused on his recent past, trying to zero in on thoughts of the husks. More images played before her eyes. It was slow work, hit and miss. Eventually, she pieced together a picture of the town by nudging him toward certain memories. This wasn't easy. Normally she just watched, but that wouldn't do it this time. So she concentrated, and found, much to her surprise, that she could influence which images wandered through his slumbering mind.

Finally, she found it. The place where the husks were being grown was near the center of town in what had been a museum when the town had boasted several tourist attractions. Those attractions had been shut down years ago. Time to go.

"I found it." The others came back in and gathered around as she told them what she had learned. "There's a whole bunch of 'em in town for the harvest. It won't be easy to get in there. Till now secrecy has been this place's main defense. There's nothing interesting to see or do here so no one comes here."

"With the harvest so close that's bound to change," Max observed ironically. He had a feeling things were about to get far too interesting for his tastes. "We'll have to be careful. Sneak in." He turned to Liz. "You and Spike do that best. The rest of us need to hide nearby in case we need to create a diversion. When you get in, we'll join you."

"Sounds like a plan," Spike said briskly. "So are we done with this guy?" They looked at him curiously, but no one objected. "Good. Now watch closely children." He turned the man on his front with one foot and stomped on the spot Liz had discovered. The body literally went to pieces. "Remember that spot. It seems to be their only vulnerability." Even Liz looked uncomfortable with this. "Oh come on. These people are your enemies. You can't play nice with them. Kill or be killed, take your bloody pick."