"Have you ever seen this before?" she asked suddenly. He blinked, surprised.

"Huh?" he asked wittily.

"This." She pointed at something on the bush. He glanced at it, curious despite his hunger. Caught on a protruding branch of one of the bushes that lined the park fence was what looked like snakeskin, but it had the vague shape of a Human face. Probably left behind by some demon or other he realized. "You know what left this behind or where it is?"

"Nope." He didn't know or care. The girl still hadn't turned to look at him. He let his true face show and prepared to feed. A sudden pain in his chest brought him up short, and he looked down, staring in disbelief. The girl had just staked him.

Liz heard the distant sound of running feet. They slowed when the vampire crumbled to dust. Liz turned from examining the piece of husk and looked at the man approaching her. His expression was almost comical as his eyes moved back and forth from her face to the stake in her hand, to the pile of dust at her feet. Liz would have been amused if she hadn't been so annoyed.

"Well, he was useless."

"Uh, hi," the man said, clearly confused. Liz searched her borrowed memories and identified him. "I'm-"

"Riley Finn. Yeah. I'm Liz."

"Have we met?" Growing more confused. < It feels familiar for some reason. >

"No, but its past time we did." Liz took pity on him as his expression grew increasingly baffled. "I promise I'll explain everything. Let's find Buffy and her friends. I'm going to need help with this." She glanced back at the piece of skin on the bush and reached into her pocket to retrieve a plastic bag. She opened the zipper lock and handed it to him. "Hold this open." Riley did as he was asked while Liz carefully picked up the skin and held it over the bag while it crumbled. "Yuck." Wiping her hands on her jeans she became all business. "I need to collect a couple of people before we head for Buffy's. It shouldn't take long."

"You know Buffy?" That could explain it, Riley realized, if Buffy had told her about him.

"The same way I know you," Liz answered as she led the way across the park. < So much for that theory. Who is this girl? >

***

Dawn Summers looked about herself nervously and glanced at her companion. "He's getting closer Willow."

"Keep walking. We're almost there. Maybe he'll back off when he sees whose house we're going to." Willow clutched the stake nervously. She knew it was a bad idea to come out at this time of night, but there hadn't been much choice. She was the only one available to get Dawn home. Fortunately, the vampire following them seemed to be more in the mood to tease than grab a fast meal. Buffy's house was less than a block away, but the vamp was gaining.

Suddenly, someone was in front of them. "'Scuse me. I'm looking for Buffy Summers. Does she live around here?" He glanced down at a scrap of paper with an irritable look on his face. Willow and Dawn exchanged troubled glances. They didn't have time for this. It didn't seem likely he was another vampire. A vampire wouldn't have bothered with questions about Buffy but would have simply attacked. So, not a vampire, just inconvenient. The stranger seemed to notice the person following them, and his eyes narrowed in concentration. Willow turned and saw that the vampire was gone. < Gone looking for easier prey, I guess. > Apparently meeting the stranger was a good thing after all.

"Um, Buffy lives in that house." Willow pointed. "Come on." He followed her to the house and the two girls went inside. Will turned to look at the man, teenager really she realized seeing him in better light. He had stopped on the porch, and she opened her mouth to speak when Dawn touched her arm.

"No invitation," Dawn murmured. Ever since that unfortunate incident with Harmony, Dawn had been much more careful. They both looked at the man who looked back at them oddly, still waiting.

"Oh!" Suddenly he realized what the problem was. "You want to see if I can enter without an invitation." He stepped uninvited across the threshold. "I'm not a vampire," he assured them. The two looked at each other and shrugged.

"That's always good to know," Willow said, still not sure who or what he was. "Um, so Buffy should be back soon, any minute actually…"

"Michael, Michael Guerrin." He held out a hand and Willow shook it. "And you would be?"

"I'm Willow Rosenburg and this is Dawn, Buffy's sister. Um, what exactly do you want with Buffy?"

"We need her help. Why don't you call your Watcher friend and ask him about a demon called Devarri while we're waiting." The girls exchanged startled looks and withdrew to the next room.

"Who is this guy? How does he know about Giles and Buffy?" Willow shrugged and shook her head.

"We need to keep an eye on him until Buffy gets here. Then we'll get some answers." Dawn poked her head into the next room. Michael had taken a seat on the couch. "Um, you want a soda or something?" Michael looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, thanks, got a coke?" Dawn nodded and went to the refrigerator. Willow was already dialing.

"Keep him talking." Willow whispered as she made the call to Giles. Dawn returned to the living room. She handed him the coke and sat down in the chair. "So how do you know Buffy?"

"I don't, but I've heard about her." He kept his answers short and was fairly uncommunicative. She learned that he was from Roswell; he gave her a dirty look when she asked if he'd ever seen an alien. He didn't know much about Devarri and pointed out rather acidly that that was the whole reason he was there.

Michael was growing impatient and increasingly worried about Liz. Max had told him to take care of her, to protect her, but Liz wouldn't have it. They had arrived in Sunnydale shortly after sundown and had immediately split up to cover more ground. Not even Spike was with her. He was looking up some old demon contacts. They had agreed to meet later, and Michael had reluctantly gone off to find Buffy. Faith's memories had provided the approximate location of Buffy's house, but the other Slayer had never bothered to memorize the address. It hadn't been too hard to find her home though. Rescuing the two girls from a vampire had been a bonus. Pity he couldn't let them know. It would have been a nice way of introducing himself.

At least his idea had worked. He had been practicing breaking rocks as Tess had taught him. He hadn't known if it would work on vampires until he tried. Burning them was easy, but it tended to draw attention. Causing them to explode into clouds of dust was a little trickier, but people were less likely to notice. Still, it had worked and the vampire had never known what hit him.

He was looking forward to meeting Buffy, despite his initial resistance to the idea of bringing in outsiders. This was her territory and she could prove invaluable in finding the Skins and stopping them.

In the meantime, Sunnydale. What he had seen of it surprised him. It wasn't at all what he had expected of a demon-infested town built over a transdimensional portal to hell, < and I can't believe I'm even thinking that. > It had taken some convincing to get Liz' parents to let her go during school, but they had agreed to an opportunity to visit U.C. Sunnydale as part of a scholarship competition. Max had wanted to come, but his parents had vetoed it, knowing full well what the visit to Sunnydale actually entailed. Sending Michael was the best he could do. Max and Isabel had promised to cover for him in school while he was gone.

They had spent a couple of days doing research, learning everything they could about Devarri and the various legends surrounding him. Devarri was a variation on Dev and Persian demon whose name was the root of the word devil. There were a lot of variations on the name, and a lot of trails to follow through seemingly endless tomes, most of which weren't available to them. They had some idea of where to look though, and that was a beginning. Or it would be when everyone arrived.

***

Buffy finished her sweep of the cemetery and decided to call it a night. Two vamps and something that had a mouth like a lamprey and claws instead of hands. Yuck didn't go far enough for the last, but it was the best she could do without using words that her mother would disapprove of. She had agreed to be home in time to watch Dawn while her mother attended some civic organization meeting, but she had gotten Willow to watch her when Giles had turned up a lead on Glory for Buffy to chase down. It had turned up nothing unfortunately.

Glory was really becoming a pain. When the monks guarding the key had needed a place to hide it they picked what they believed was the safest place in the world. All of a sudden Buffy had the little sister she never wanted. It had to be the strangest thing that had ever happened to her, and that was saying a lot. In spite of all of the problems and extra worry it brought her though, it was hard to complain. The false memories the Order had created blended seamlessly with her real ones. She no longer knew how to be an only child and found the idea almost incomprehensible. Dawn was her little sister. That was all there was to it.

Buffy shook off the thoughts. She had been over the same territory endlessly, both in her head and with Giles. It all came down to the same thing. There were no new angles or perspectives to view the Dawn situation from. Buffy was tired of thinking about it. The only thing that irritated her was that the decision had been taken out of her hands. She would have protected the key anyway.

Buffy was moving before the threat had even registered on a conscious level, spinning and lashing out with a speed that most Humans couldn't have followed and few demons could match. Some could though. Spike leaned to the side almost casually avoiding the blow aimed at his face.

"My, my, aren't we jumpy."

"Spike?" Buffy asked incredulously. "I thought you'd left for good. What are you doing back in Sunnydale?"

"Sort of a long story Slayer, and it'd be easier to just tell it once. I've asked my friends to meet at your place. Best to call your little Scooby gang together. This could get ugly."

"Its already ugly Spike," she answered irritably. "And what 'friends'. Since when do you have friends?" Something occurred to her. "If any of them have fangs I'll-"

"Take it easy Slayer, they're human, well, mostly. And 'aven't you heard? I'm one of the good guys now. Here to squash a big bad demon. We could use your help though. Like I said, could get ugly. Well, come on." Without bothering to see if she was following, Spike turned toward her home and set off, seeming almost cheerful to be back.

For lack of any better idea of what to do, Buffy followed him.

Riley, Liz, and Xander arrived at the house just as Buffy and Spike did. Giles' new convertible was already in the driveway. Buffy entered to find Willow, Dawn, Tara and Anya already present.

"Hail, hail, the gangs all here," Spike mocked as he looked over the group.

"Y-yes. So it seems," Giles paused to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a nervous gesture that the Sunnydale group was long accustomed to seeing. "The question is… why?"

"Maybe things are getting dull in Roswell so they decided to come see how the other half lives," Xander quipped. It was a weak joke, and he didn't make any effort to follow up. He was finding it difficult to look at the strangers. Buffy noticed this and noticed that Anya was having the same problem.

"So…" she started, deciding to get the ball rolling, "lets start with the basics. Who are you?"

"Allow me to make the introductions," Spike said with obvious relish. "Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer, meet Liz Parker, Vampire Slayer." Buffy looked at the girl incredulously for a second and then at Xander and then back again. < A Slayer? Faith's replacement? Why didn't Xander…? >

"You're Faith's replacement?" Spike took her wrist, pressing two fingers against her pulse point and then snatched it back as Buffy took a swing at him.

"Well she's obviously not yours, seein' as you've still got a pulse." Buffy opened her mouth to deliver a withering retort, but sighed instead, giving it up as pointless. She turned to Xander instead.

"You knew who they were?" Xander nodded, looking uncomfortable. "You never did talk much about what happened."

"Not that surprising," Liz interjected. "We don't talk much about it either. The fight with Cole was…" She searched for an appropriate word for a moment before settling on "ugly." Buffy heard her dissatisfaction with the word and sensed the wealth of meaning it was meant to convey. She glanced at Xander.

"Think of Graduation Day and multiply it by about 10," her friend suggested. The rest of the group exchanged unreadable looks, not sure what something worse than Graduation Day would entail. "Anyway, that's behind us and from what Liz has said Devarri is in front of us. So, let's talk about him." Giles had stiffened at the name, a look of alarm on his face, although only Buffy, Willow, and Xander recognized it as such.

"Devarri? Are you sure?"

"Looks that way Rupes," Spike said, growing serious. He reached inside his leather coat and brought out some folded papers. From a backpack he carried, Michael removed the head of one of the creatures they had fought. Giles examined both before turning toward the nearest book shelf with his almost trademark 'Good Lord!' He stopped in consternation when he remembered that he wasn't in his own home with his trusty occult reference books close at hand. Spike smirked, strangely reassured by this bit of the familiar. Despite the changes in the group, some things remained constant.

"Yes, well…" He concentrated a moment, calling up what details he could from memory. "Devarri is a variation on Dev, Devi, and several others," he lectured. "It's has the same root as the English word Devil." He squinted, thinking hard, as he searched his encyclopedic memory for the information he wanted. "One of my books makes reference to Devarri. An aspect of Dev was worshipped in ancient Persia as a god of war. There is an old story about that aspect of him being 'invested' in an image of the deity." He broke off for a moment. "There aren't many details in that tome. I'll have to check a few other references, but I'm sure I have the full story somewhere."

"Knew you would Rupes. That's one of the reasons we're here."

"What are the other reasons?" Xander asked for the group.

"Story time." Spike grinned happily as he grabbed a kitchen chair and turned it around to straddle it as he and the others began to tell their story. Buffy glared at her old nemesis. The neutered vampire was having entirely too much fun. She glanced at the other Slayer. Liz seemed to be taking Spike's antics in stride, but her friend was looking progressively angrier.

"And you are?" Buffy asked.

"Michael Guerin."

"He's here to protect me," Liz volunteered. Her tone made it clear she thought it was a sweet, but unnecessary gesture. Michael shot her an irritated look and spoke up before he could think better of it.

"Something you're not making easy. You know what it will do to Max if anything happens to you?" Liz looked down, suddenly embarrassed. She mumbled an apology. "You could at least make sure there's someone to watch your back instead of going off on your own. Even Spike would do."

"Hey," the vampire protested. Michael ignored him growing angry with Liz.

"During the weeks you two were apart, he was like a one man funeral procession. I don't want to see what you-" he broke off, suddenly realizing what he was about to say, and that he had become the center of attention. After a moment's silence he started again. "Yeah, well anyway, let's get this over with so we can go home."

"Here, here," Spike said, irritably. "Now where was I? Oh yes. Devarri and the end of the world." With Michael and Liz interjecting at points to clarify or cut Spike off before he could say anything about aliens, they got through an edited version of the story. Buffy watched their interaction closely, and quickly realized they weren't telling the whole truth, but it seemed unlikely they were leaving out any relevant details. At first she thought that the personal friction between them might be something to watch, but as the story progressed she decided it wasn't a valid concern. If anything the three seemed to compliment each other. That set her back considering that Spike was one of them.

She remembered Xander commenting on it after he had returned from Roswell, but had discounted it, mostly because it was just too strange. Now she was seeing that interaction for herself and it was still strange, but she couldn't ignore it now. What on Earth was Spike up to? And what did it mean that this new Slayer was working with him? Giles interrupted her train of thought as the story came to an end.

"So these… 'Skins' you called them?" Liz nodded in response to Giles question. "They need these husks to live in our world. When you destroyed the new ones they were growing you set a time limit for their operation. They need to raise Devarri before their time runs out so he can make it possible for them to stay here."

"That's right. We don't know how close they are to doing it, but they must be close if they're pushing ahead with their plan. If they still had months of work ahead of them they wouldn't have time."

"Yes Liz, I suppose that's reasonable. Do you know that they are here in Sunnydale?" Liz reached into her pocket and drew out a bag of skin flakes. Giles took it gingerly, an expression of distaste on his face.

"I found that in the park. One of them was there less than an hour ago. After a while they crumble to dust on their own. They fall apart almost immediately if they're touched. That used to look like one of those latex rubber masks, only thinner. While they wear them, the Skins are indistinguishable from humans."

"Yeah," Spike agreed. "It even masks their scent some. Need to get up close before I can smell the difference. Even up close though, they look human, but I can kill 'em so I know they're not." A sudden thought occurred to him. "I wonder if they're edible?" Everyone stopped and stared at him, some looking incredulous, others simply nauseous. "What?"

"So, um," Liz looked around at the Sunnydale group. "I'm thinking research. We get the full story on Devarri and hopefully some clue as to how to stop his raising." The others nodded, happy to move past Spike's gastronomic speculations.

"So tomorrow morning, magic shop, 8:00 A.M.?" Everyone quickly agreed and split up to go their separate ways for the night. Reluctantly, Buffy asked if Liz and Michael had a place to stay. Liz noted her tone.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." She hustled Spike and Michael out the door.

"So, where are we staying?" Michael asked as they walked down the street away from Buffy's house. "She might have offered to let us stay."

"You aren't a very perceptive little green man are you?" Spike commented. Michael glanced at him. Spike's alien jokes still annoyed him, but as his objections only amused Spike he was learning to ignore them.

"Meaning?"

"I make her uncomfortable," Liz said. "She was the same way around Faith."

"Liz reminds Buffy of the time she died," Spike clarified. "There wouldn't be any other Slayers if not for that little incident." They were silent for a moment, considering.

"I guess I understand that," Liz allowed. "Think it'll keep her from helping us?"

"Buffy'll come through," Spike assured them. "She always does."

"You sound like you admire her," Liz said, looking at her teacher curiously. Spike snorted in derision, but it was half-hearted.

"I know what she's capable of. Let's leave it at that." The last bit carried a note of warning. Liz, though curious, let it lie. Michael shrugged, not curious in the least. "Well, the crypt I used to stay in is free. Room if you want it." He knew they wouldn't, but it was the 'polite' thing to do.