There was some confusion over the sleeping arrangements, but Liz, practical as always, insisted they share the bed. They were there on business and both involved with someone else. "I won't tell if you won't," she assured him. Both slept in their clothes.

***

The Magic Box wasn't that hard to find. Such a place would have stood out in Roswell like a sore thumb, but somehow it seemed to fit right in in Sunnydale. Or at least no one seemed to find it strange. There were stranger things, Liz supposed, than magic shops which sold actual magical talismans, books, and ingredients for spells, but she couldn't think of one at the moment. Aliens like the one walking next to her seemed quite commonplace.

Michael pushed open the door and walked in. "Hello?"

"Back here," they heard Rupert Giles call to them. They made their way to a table piled high with books, some open, some merely marked with slips of paper containing the Watcher's scribbled notes. "Ah good, you're both here." He moved about the table reading from various volumes and scribbling new notes on a pad he carried. "I have good news and bad news." He didn't glance up at them as he continued to circle.

"Where are the others?" Liz asked, not taking the bait. To be fair, she realized it probably wasn't 'bait' as it would have been if Spike had greeted them with those words.

"Buffy called a short while ago. She's bringing Dawn with her, as their mother has to work. It takes a little more time to get organized with Dawn along." He sighed as something occurred to him. "She'll probably be staying here while Buffy tends to this matter." He set that evidently distressing thought aside and focused on something in one of his books. "Um, Xander is usually tardy to research sessions, the, ah, 'book thing' not being his forte. He is fetching donuts, however. The other's are gathering additional research material."

"Good," Michael said, deadpan, "cause you sure don't have enough here." Giles ignored him. "Spike should be along soon." He looked toward the door. "He doesn't need an invitation does he?"

"Sadly no. The shop is a public place, not someone's home." He straightened and looked at them keenly. "Do you mind a question?" Liz nodded for him to continue. "Why Spike?"

"He volunteered, and it was a choice between him or someone from the Watcher's Council." Liz shuddered as Faith's memories of her dealings with the Council came unbidden to her mind's eye. "Knowing what I do of the Council I thought Spike was the better choice."

"For as long as he hangs around anyway," Michael amended. "That Angel guy predicted he'd get bored pretty quick."

"Yes," Giles pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a delaying tactic Liz realized while he organized his thoughts. "Spike's attention span is notoriously short. I'm curious though, precisely what do you know of the Council? You've never had any direct dealings with anyone of the Council except Wesley," he said the name with some distaste, and Liz wondered at the cause of the conflict there. "What precisely did he tell you that has so set you against them?" Liz and Michael exchanged inscrutable looks. Finally, Liz asked hesitantly,

"How much did he tell you about me? Or about what happened that night?"

"Only that a new Slayer had been called when Faith died. Rather unusual that you would be right there, unprecedented in fact." His visitors exchanged another unreadable look. "I take it I'm missing part of the story."

***

"Faith is alive!?" Buffy didn't know whether to be angry or relieved. The surge of relief puzzled her greatly considering her history with the rogue Slayer. "Why weren't we told about this?" She shot a look at Xander who shrugged helplessly.

"He didn't know," Liz assured them. "It didn't come up, and I assumed you knew." She glanced around the group. "Wesley didn't tell you?"

"No," Buffy said shortly. "He didn't."

"Maybe he decided the fewer people who knew, the better," Michael offered. "The Council might still want Faith dead if they knew." Buffy nodded reluctantly but still didn't look happy.

"Y-yes," Giles agreed. "That does make sense, but setting that aside for the moment, how did you learn so much about the Council?"

"Or about us?" Riley put in, taking the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. "You recognized me last night. How?"

"I was just getting to that," Liz assured them. She continued the interrupted story, winning puzzled and incredulous looks from all but Buffy who nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, the same thing happened between me and Faith once, after I stabbed her."

"I remember," Liz nodded. "Well, sort of."

"Faith gave you all of her memories?"

"She thought she was dying, yeah. I'm not sure how she did it, but she did. She couldn't believe it when Max revived her." She had stuck with Wesley's CPR explanation that had gone over so well with Max' parents. There was no need for the Sunnydale group to know everything. "By then though she'd been dead just long enough for… you know."

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, almost sympathetically. "I know. So, where is Faith now?"

"Prison. She surrendered to Sheriff Valenti as soon as she got the idea. Tell the Council she's dead and she could safely go to prison. The sheriff was able to work out the details with a detective Lockley in Los Angeles and things were handled quietly." Liz picked up her story again and told them how Wesley had promised to conceal her from the Council and how Spike had become her Watcher.

"I can understand you not wanting to have anything to do with the Council, what with Faith's memories," Buffy allowed.

"Yeah," Xander agreed. "She didn't have a whole lot of positive experiences with them." Liz told them the rest, including her encounter with Angel, and a brief recounting of their fight with the vampire Cole and his army.

"Wow, that was… bad." Tara finished lamely. Even latecomer Spike looked grim as that part of their story was recounted; though Liz knew that the vampire had actually enjoyed the battle immensely.

"It's something I'd rather not have to do again," she agreed. "But we do have a new crisis to deal with. Not to be to obvious about changing the subject, but perhaps we can get on with that?"

"Quite, let's begin." All eyes turned to Giles. "Dev, Devi, Devarri, he seems to go by several names. Or at least he was worshipped under several names. I believe I've discovered the method by which these 'Skins' intend to bring him forth. According to an old legend it was tried once before. It involved crafting the image of what was desired. In this case that meant an image of the demon passing through a gateway into our world. When complete, the image would 'be realized' according to the texts, and Devarri would be able to pass through into our plane of existence. Apparently, before the ritual could be completed, the temple of the cult attempting to bring him forth was attacked and the image shattered. The pieces of the image were deliberately scattered across the world."

"Sort of like what happened to the Judge?" Willow asked.

"Exactly. As you remember, when the pieces of the Judge were reassembled the demon came to life. If what I have learned is accurate, when the image of Devarri passing through the gate is completed, and the ritual is performed, Devarri will be free to walk the Earth. I've researched other legends associated with this demon and determined that that is something we should like to avoid."

"So where do we begin?" Liz asked. "The Skins blend in pretty well. All we know is that they're gonna need pieces of this demon to bring him here. Do we have any idea where some of those pieces are?"

"Well no," Giles admitted. "This happened almost two thousand years ago, so our sources are somewhat limited. Records from that period tend to be fragmentary at best." He adjusted his glasses. "Which brings us to another problem, the ah, bad news I mentioned earlier. I've been unable to find anything on these 'Skins'. There is no type of demon that matches your description of their abilities and weaknesses." Liz and Michael exchanged nervous looks.

"Well, no you wouldn't," Spike spoke up. "They're not local." He didn't elaborate even when Giles gestured for him to continue. Finally he asked.

"What does that mean?"

"They're aliens," Dawn said matter-of-factly from her chair in the corner, where she was leafing though one of the books of 'mug shots'.

"Dawn, please," Buffy said without glancing at her, but Liz looked at her curiously and spoke up.

"She's right." Dawn shrugged as the others traded stunned looks. "How'd you know?"

"Giles couldn't find anything on them. That's new. Besides… Roswell. 2+2."

"You mean the Skins really are aliens?" Tara asked skeptically. Liz and Michael nodded reluctantly.

"Oh, perfect," Giles tone grew sarcastic. "I'm so glad you didn't mention that before I spent half the night searching my books for information about them."

Buffy looked at Xander and Anya. "Did you know about this?" Both nodded reluctantly.

"It was something they didn't like talking about." He glanced at the two from Roswell. "I kinda got the impression that the fewer people who know the better." Michael nodded.

"Definitely," Liz confirmed. "It's a long, complicated story, and the fewer people who know the details the better. No offense."

"Bad things tend to happen when the wrong people find out," Michael elaborated. "Better not to talk about it." Giles polished his glasses, looking uncomfortable. The young man's tone spoke volumes about how much he didn't want to talk about it. Giles' irritation evaporated.

"Well, ah, lets move on then. The Skins will be bringing the pieces here. If we find them we find the pieces. That's what we need to focus on. We do know that they need the energy put out by the Hellmouth to accomplish it though. So they will be here." He looked up at Liz, a thought occurring to him. "You've already seen that, having found part of that, ah, husk."

Liz nodded, frowning. "True. So we start by looking for newcomers in town?"

"Good start," Buffy nodded. "Willie will know about anything new and different in the demon community."

"They look human," Liz reminded her. "They can blend a lot more easily than your average slime demon."

"True, but for something like this, I'm betting they'll need contacts in low places. We'll go check out Willie's Place."

"I'll get to some of my old mates," Spike spoke up. "Assuming Buffy hasn't killed them all." He sounded petulant at the prospect. Buffy just smiled at him sweetly.

"Why don't you check with Harmony. Your old girlfriend has been keeping a low profile." Spike winced. Harmony could be pleasant company under the right circumstances, but talking to her was his least favorite activity.

"You left her alive just to annoy me didn't you?" Buffy rolled her eyes at what she obviously considered a ludicrous notion and turned to leave. Liz and Michael followed. Spike stared after them for a moment, with a look of profound irritation on his face; then he slipped out the back and into the sewers.

"I suppose that leaves the rest of us to do research," Giles looked at the remaining members of the group. "Willow, perhaps a check of local motels, new arrivals of large groups and such."

"Will can do the computer work, while I do the leg work," Xander volunteered.

"Anything I can do?" Dawn asked.

"You can help me with the inventory," Anya suggested. "Counting packets of mugwort and conjuring dust. Its hard keeping up with Willow helping herself to stuff for her spells without paying." Willow shot the ex-demon a dirty look and Giles gave a much-put-upon sigh, not wanting to get caught between the two. Xander saw it coming as well and spoke up.

"I'll check some of the motels. I'll give you a call from the Motor Inn." He beat a hasty retreat, while Giles stared enviously after him.

***

"You and Spike seem to be getting along," Buffy observed as they walked. It was a little before noon and they were on their way to Willie's. "I was… I don't think surprised is strong enough a word, when I heard about what he was doing."

"Spike's okay," Liz shrugged.

"Okay?" Buffy sounded incredulous, remembering Spike and how much trouble he'd caused her even after he got the chip.

"Well, you have to make allowances for him being a vampire. He usually has to guess at what the 'right thing to do' is, but he's been a big help."

"He's weird," Michael opined. "He's always irritating but…"

"But," Liz picked up, "he tends to waver between extremes you know? I've seen him go from clueless to insightful in seconds." Buffy's mind flashed back to an incident more than a year before when Spike had kidnapped Willow to do a love spell for him. 'You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll fight, you'll shag, you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends.' Those words had proved to be prophetic as it turned out. Buffy nodded in reluctant agreement.

"I've seen that too. Kind of creepy." Liz smiled, and all three laughed.

"What was that about his girl friend?" Liz asked.

Buffy snickered. "Harmony was a girl I went to high school with. She was very pretty, very popular, and a complete ditz. When I found out she'd been made a vampire I couldn't believe it. Whoever did it must not have spent any time talking to her. How Spike hooked up with her, how he tolerated her so long without staking her himself, I'll never know." She glanced at Liz, who was looking at her strangely. "What?" An image flashed through Liz' mind of Spike looking at the people around him cluelessly and asking, 'what?' It almost made her smile. Almost.

"Nothing," she demurred.

"Sounds like something." After a moment Liz answered.

"You knew this girl. Even if you didn't like her…" she broke off, unsure of how to continue without offending her. An argument was not what they needed.

"I guess," Buffy looked down, suddenly feeling ashamed and slightly annoyed because of it. "I guess I sound kind of cold. You've never had to stake someone you know have you?" Liz shook her head. "Well I have, too many times. You have to develop a thick skin or you don't last long as a Slayer. Yeah, I knew Harmony, but she's dead now and a demon has taken her place. That's something Spike probably didn't emphasize with you. When a person becomes a vampire they die, and a demon takes up residence. I don't know much about the person Spike was before he was turned, but I know he wasn't an amoral killer."

"So you have to separate the two in your mind?"

"Yeah. It's not easy, but you have to learn to do it." The subject was making Liz uncomfortable, Buffy could see, so she looked at Michael instead. "What's your story?" Michael shrugged.

"Just along for the ride." That was typical of him, Buffy was coming to understand. He kept his answers, when he had to give them, short an uninformative. It was annoying, but she supposed his reticence was understandable, if even half of what she suspected about him were true.

"Max asked him to watch out for me," Liz reminded her.

"And Max is?"

"My boyfriend."

"And is he…?" She didn't finish the statement. She wasn't sure what had been said or rather implied about aliens, but didn't want to push them. To the surprise of both women it was Michael who answered.

"Just your average green-blooded American alien." When he saw Buffy's expression he snorted. "Oh come off it, like Xander and Anya didn't tell you."

"Actually, they didn't, but I suspected as much. Got the impression there was something strange there. I didn't want to press in front of the group, especially not Dawn. I like to shield her from the weird stuff as much as I can." She grimaced. "Usually doesn't work. Are you…?"

"Yeah. Me too." Buffy considered this and then sighed a tired, world-weary sigh and shook her head in the way of an adult observing a child's mistakes. This was bringing back bad memories and associations for her.

"Dating outside your species is rarely a good idea Liz. Trust me on this." Her suddenly patronizing tone annoyed the other Slayer who spoke up before she could think better of it.

"Max doesn't have Angel's limitations." Buffy's head came around sharply, looking at Liz as if the other girl had slapped her. An awkward silence ensued. Buffy regretted her condescending manner toward the 'rookie', and Liz regretted reminding Buffy that she knew more about her personal life than Buffy was comfortable with. The genial rapport that had begun to develop between them cooled quickly. A word at that point from either of them might have helped, but although both regretted their words, neither could bring herself to take them back, or make any gesture of reconciliation. Michael distanced himself from the two slightly, not wanting to get involved. The silence held until they reached Willie's Place.

"Follow my lead," Buffy said, her tone all business, before pushing the door open. Willie looked up from the bar when he heard the door opened, and a look of resignation crossed his face. The three of them took seats at the bar.

"Are you tryin' to drive me out of business?" he whined.

"Good to see you too Willie. What's new?"

"Is this just a fishing trip?" Now he was sounding petulant. He looked at Michael curiously. The alien had his back to the bar and was surveying the room with a pensive look. It wasn't yet noon, and there were only a few people in the bar, but those who were there…

"Buffy?" He spotted three vampires and two creatures he couldn't identify.

"I know. Lots of demons hang out here. Just keep an eye on them." She turned her attention back to Willie who was running her eyes over Liz with a lascivious gleam.

"So Slayer, who's your friend?" Liz grabbed his hair and brought his head into sudden contact with the bar. "Oh. So Faith finally kicked off huh? Sorry!" He hastened as Liz reached for him again. "No disrespect intended."

"I'm sure," Buffy said dryly. "We're looking for some people." She decided to get straight to business. "A new group in town. They look human, but they would be wanting to make some connections in the underground."

"What do they want?" When Buffy hesitated, Liz spoke up.

"They're looking to release an ancient war god." Liz ignored the admonishing glance Buffy gave her. No doubt, Liz decided, Buffy was worried about the bartender selling them out. She could fix that. "You know," she continued, ignoring Buffy. "The type that smashes people and buildings just cause they're in front of him. Wrecks the place, never pays his tab. Not good for business at all." Willie went from looking crafty to concerned in under a second.

"I seen that type," he shuddered obviously remembering some of the more destructive demons and monsters who had come through town. "Um, let me think." He concentrated for a moment. "Maybe I heard something about some new group in town, but nothing definite. There's a guy comin' in in a bit who can tell you more." He looked up as the door opened again. "Oh, there he is now. Wait here." He admonished and moved slightly away.

"Be ready to stop this guy if he runs," Buffy muttered. Then she glanced at Liz. "Nicely done by the way." The admission was a bit grudging, and Liz just nodded. They watched Willie remove a brown paper bag from the refrigerator and set it on the bar. The potential informant proved to be a skinny, nondescript man in his twenties. Unkempt brown hair and two days worth of beard framed a very forgettable face. He leaned forward and sniffed at the bag. Liz listened in.

"I got what you need right here my friend. Wasn't easy either. You got the money?" The man nodded and reached a pale shaking hand into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. "I know how hungry you've been. Hope this does the trick for ya." The man looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean? What do you know?"

"I just heard that your hunger got the better of you the other night. Didn't go quite as planned though did it?"

"That's none of your business," the man snapped. "Not like she was human anyway." He made a disgusted face that quickly collapsed. "I just got so hungry," he mumbled, looking shamefaced. "I ain't had a human in over a year."

"Hey kid this ain't people-eaters anonymous." Willie held up a hand to forestall any further conversation. "Actually I am interested in whether that one was alone. Whether there were others like her.

"Others?"

"Others, same type of demon, maybe they're traveling in a group?" The stranger looked thoughtful for a moment. He hadn't yet given Willie the money.

"What's it worth to you?" He drew the cash back. Willie looked stricken.

"Oh, don't do that to me kid. You know how hard this was to get?" He gestured at the bag. "It costs too. I'm not makin' a dime off of this deal." Buffy rather doubted that, but the conversation was starting to bore her, and she decided it was time to step in.

"Actually, the information is for me." She approached the stranger confidently, with Liz and Michael close behind.

"Who are you?" he asked, taking an involuntary step back.

"I'm Buffy."

"Oh," he actually seemed to relax. "The Slayer. What's that to me?"

"I don't limit myself to killing vampires you know." She got to within two feet of him, trying to intimidate him. Liz suspected that with her reputation in the demon community it normally worked, but he had stopped retreating.

"Uh-huh," now he was starting to sound annoyed. Turning his head slightly, and looking at the bag, he opened his mouth. Snake quick something emerged from his mouth, passing within inches of Buffy's face. The long thin tube of a tongue, tipped with a razor sharp point, punched through the bag and, judging by the sound, Liz realized, through something much tougher inside it. There was a slurping sound and the tongue was retracted a second later. "What's that to me?" he asked again after swallowing his meal. He tossed the wad of bills to Willie who made them disappear with a speed and skill Houdini would have envied.

"Do I want to know what's in that bag?" Michael asked, looking a trifle green. Willie shook his head. Buffy had barely flinched. Liz wasn't sure whether that indicated excellent control or a complete lack of it. She did know that it was time to change tactics before something pointlessly violent happened.

Buffy quickly recovered her mental balance, but before she could decide how to react Liz stepped forward. "Let's not get off on the wrong foot. I'm Liz." She held out a hand while not so subtly coming between the two. He looked at her suspiciously for a second, then shook hesitantly. Whoever she was, she obviously annoyed the Slayer. That alone got her points in his book.

"I'm Jack."

"Look Jack. It seems like you don't want to hurt anyone. I mean you said it'd been over a year since you attacked a Human." Jack nodded.

"I don't want to hurt people, but…" He stopped himself, eyeing Buffy warily.

"You get hungry for Human? I think I can understand cravings. Who can't?" She could barely believe she was saying this. This creature was a killer. She was supposed to fight such things, but she couldn't get past the tortured look on his face and his apparent desire for understanding, perhaps even sympathy. < Well, I need to know what he knows, so it can't hurt. > Jack was nodding hesitantly.

"I can eat other things, things people don't object to."

"The other night you had a problem though, didn't you?" she asked sympathetically. He suddenly looked horribly guilty. His quicksilver mood changes were confusing to follow, but Liz kept the friendly, sympathetic look on her face.

"I didn't mean to, really. I wanted to walk away, but… well she wasn't Human anyway, and I didn't spot any difference before I tried to feed. She wasn't Human so…"

"No harm done," Liz assured him. "Did this woman… did she… explode?"

"Yeah," Jack looked surprised. "She just went poof. At first I thought I'd got a vampire by mistake, but…" He broke off, searching for a way to describe the experience.

"Skin flakes?" Liz ventured. He nodded.

"How'd you know?"

"I've met them before. They're up to something that could hurt a lot of people Jack. They need to be stopped. Anything you could tell us would help." Jack considered.

"She was staying at the Holiday Inn. I remember 'cause I saw a sign there about a convention of some kind, the Universal Friendship League, kind of creepy sounding." Liz blinked in surprise.

"Wow, I didn't think it would be that easy." She smiled at him with honest gratitude. "Thanks Jack." She gestured to the others. "Come on guys. Lets go."

Once out on the street Buffy looked at Liz incredulously. "What was that about?"

"Threatening him just made him angry," Liz pointed out. "He could have easily killed you just now. I decided to try a different approach."

"He's a demon," Buffy said angrily.

"So's Spike. I noticed you didn't kill him."

"Spike's helpless."

"And Jack's harmless. Or at least he's trying to be. You saw the money he laid out for a meal that wasn't Human. Anyway we have the information. Let's check it out."

Buffy had to agree with that. The momentary irritation passed as they made their way to the hotel. Sure enough there was a sign there welcoming the members of the Universal Friendship League. Liz walked past it, looking away from the hotel. "I might be recognized. We should set up surveillance and watch for the people from Copper Summit."