"Do you think you can do it?" he asked.

"Maybe," he hedged, "but it'll depend on how much whoever was in that van saw. If I'm recognized it's all over. Not sure why I should risk it." The others stared at him. Spike remained a puzzle, and most of them were certain he would always be a puzzle. What motivated the vampire seemed to vary from day to day. Occasionally he acted because it was 'the right thing to do'. Although the fact that Spike was usually guessing about what was the 'right thing' was almost always obvious. Sometimes it was pride. He wanted to win his bet with Angel.

Liz knew that neither approach would work this time, so she played the last card she had. "It'll be incredibly dangerous and a lot more fun than sitting around the factory." Spike considered this for a moment, then nodded decisively.

"Right then. When do we get started?" It was Saturday, 10:00.

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

He frowned at the vampire that knelt before him. Four should have returned from the excursion. The reason there weren't four was what made him unhappy. "A Slayer? Are you sure?" Richie, one of his oldest and most trusted minions nodded.

"I saw her kill Sal and the newborn myself."

"And Jeraz?" Cole asked in a quiet, almost conversational tone that sent chills down the minion's back. "Where is the Mora demon?" The room was quiet for once. Not a single vampire gathered there wanted to interrupt this. Most had seen Cole's temper before, and the few who hadn't wisely took their cues from the rest. "We thought to eliminate the Slayer and keep her from interfering in the coming battle. Jeraz attacked her, should have taken her by surprise, but…"

"But?"

"She reacted so quickly. He never landed a single blow. It was over almost before it began," Richie finished quietly. Cole considered this quietly before he finally sighed.

"It was a good thought," Cole allowed, "but you forgot something didn't you?"

"Yes lord."

"I have told you to always study your opponent before engaging. The battles with Seth Gecko and his miscreants have given us the key to defeating them. Not only have you failed to learn that lesson, but you've cost us valuable followers. Your attack on her might have succeeded if you had observed her more closely before engaging her." He raised his eyes from Richie to look at the rest of his followers. "I trust I make myself clear." There were nods around the room.

"I understand lord. It is a lesson I will not forget again."

"The lesson is not for you," Cole replied coldly and nodded to the minion standing behind him. The stake he held plunged home and Richie fell to dust without a sound. "It is for those who have not failed me." He looked around the room, meeting each one's eyes briefly. "I hope this lesson will not have to be repeated."

It was an irritating loss but necessary. He couldn't afford to be perceived as weak in anything. The news of a Slayer in Roswell was more irritating still. It couldn't be coincidence that a Slayer turned up just as they were preparing for their showdown with the hunters. He needed information.

"Mary, dear, I need information about this Slayer, perhaps she can lead us to Seth's hiding place." The female demon nodded.

"Yes lord." She stepped forward bowing her head in respect. "Does this mean we will be delaying the attack?"

"By one night if necessary, but no longer. We have the weight of numbers, and that will make up for whatever talents she has." Mary nodded.

"I will go at once then." At Cole's nod she turned and left the gallery of the old mine they now used as a hideout.

It had served them well, she reflected. It wasn't a particularly comfortable place, but it was secure and minimized the chance of discovery. Hardly anyone knew it was there anymore. The van provided her sufficient protection from the sunlight that she was able to drive out in the late afternoon sun. It would be dark in a couple of hours and she had been given only one night to find the answers. She hoped it would be enough. It was Saturday, 5:00 P.M.

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

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure Kate. I couldn't get too close without drawing attention from the cops, but it was definitely a vampire and some other kind of demon. I'm not sure what kind."

"Why would they risk exposing themselves so publicly?" Seth shrugged, irritated by a question he couldn't answer.

"All I know is that it wasn't some guy in a mask trying to rob the place like the waitress claimed. I also know that the guy who ran in a moment later didn't have a reflection in the diner's window."

"Well, we'd heard rumors that Cole was recruiting things besides vamps. The circumstances seem a bit weird though."

"Well there is one way to find out. I saw that vamp leave later in the evening, headed back to what looked like an abandoned factory on the edge of town. If we want answers I suppose we could-"

"Catch him, tie him up and apply crosses and holy water to his delicate parts till he talks?" Seth, who normally hated being interrupted, grinned.

"Great minds think alike."

"What if this vamp has nothing to do with Cole?" Both looked over at Jack Bartlet where he had been sitting quietly, following the exchange. He was normally quiet, and unassuming, rarely speaking to either of them if he could avoid it. Kate intimidated him a bit, mostly she suspected because he was an eighteen-year-old computer geek with a crush on her. Seth just plain scared him.

"Possible," Kate spoke up first, "but unlikely."

"If he's got nothin' to do with it, it's just an entertaining way to kill a few hours." Seth smiled happily. "We know where he is during the day, and Roswell doesn't have the tunnels Sunnydale does. Let's go pay him a visit." It was Saturday 12:00 p.m. *** Most of the group had left. Alex, Maria, Anya, and Isabel had left for the CrashDown, two for their shifts, two for lunch. The sheriff had returned to his office to look for signs of any unusual visitors in town. Max stayed because Liz was there. Michael had stayed because he didn't trust Xander or Spike. Consequently, they were the only ones present when the hunters arrived.

The first they knew of it was when Spike's sharp hearing picked up a sound on a catwalk above the main room where they were gathered around a table examining maps of Roswell and the surrounding country. "Company," he muttered. Before any sort of plan of action could be devised though one of the main doors swung open and Kate walked in as if she owned the place.

"Wow. I just love what you've done with the place. Deep pile garbage," she kicked an old shipping carton out of her way. "Covered windows to keep out that annoying sun, and of course a vermin problem." She leveled her crossbow at Spike. "Gotta love these old fixer-uppers." Belatedly, Max and Michael responded to the threat by trying to spread out to either side. "Ah, ah." Kate gestured to the catwalk above. Three men with rifles covered the teens and the vampire. "Behave," she suggested, "and you'll get out of this alive or whatever it is you are." Liz rolled her eyes. She, Xander, and Spike seemed unconcerned with the development and had kept their places at the table.

"Hello Kate. Good to see you again." A brief look of confusion crossed her face, then she smiled.

"Xander Harris. What are you doin' here?"

"Same as you. I'm after Cole." It was partially true anyway. "We've been waiting for you." This was a lie. Xander had hoped to find them, but he hadn't thought it would be this easy. "Got a plan to find Cole's hideaway if you're interested. Oh and don't shoot Spike." He nodded at the blonde vampire. "He's kinda the key to the whole thing." Kate's eyes and aim had barely flickered from the vampire. She now glanced at Xander with a raised eyebrow.

"That so?" Spike had been watching her with more annoyance than worry. Now he cast a glance up at the catwalk.

"Hey. What's up with them anyway? Wooden bullets?"

"We actually tried that," Kate said conversationally, "but they always break up before they hit the target. Those are lead. They may not kill you but they'll sure as hell tear you up." Spike nodded thoughtfully.

"Makes sense. You might want to hold off though. Like Xander said, I'm sort of the key to this plan." Kate glanced at the others who nodded.

"It's okay Kate. Spike here can't hurt humans. He's got a chip in his head that just about knocks him out if he even tries." She regarded him curiously even as Seth came in behind her. He had a gun in one hand and a miniature crossbow in the other, and he covered everyone in the room.

"What's the hold up Kate?" He looked over the group, noting the presence of Xander Harris with a vague curiosity. Also present was the vampire from the previous night, two teenage boys, and a girl. One of the boys was dark-haired and intense looking, probably the girl's boyfriend by the way he was hovering. He was unarmed, and looked wary. Seth didn't think he'd try anything stupid though. He didn't show much expression, but his concern for the girl was obvious. The other looked angry and skittish. Seth could tell that one was at the greatest risk of doing something heroic and stupid. At a gesture from the first though, he settled down and simply glared at Seth.

"Xander says he's here to help us." She nodded at the others. "Don't know who these guys are yet."

"Help us?" He snorted. "That'd be a first."

"Let's not start huh Seth? We couldn't let you tear up the town."

"Yeah, fine, old business. On to new business. What the hell are you doing here? With a vampire no less."

"This is Spike. He-"

"This is a good one Seth," Kate interrupted. "You remember those army guys we heard about? The Initiative? Seems Spike was their guest. Xander says he's got a behavior modification chip in his head." Xander stared at them in surprise.

"Grief! Is there anyone who did not know about that 'covert operation'?" Seth actually laughed and shook his head.

"I think there are couple of yak herders in Mongolia who didn't hear about it." He walked up to Spike with a show of bravado that only Kate knew wasn't at all reckless. If Spike made a move Seth didn't like the vampire would never know what hit him.

He stopped directly in front of the vampire and with a quick gesture he reversed the gun and cracked Spike across the jaw. Spike retaliated instinctively, staggering Seth.

"Aaaargh!" Spike clutched his head and very nearly fell over.

"Well, how about that?" Seth grinned broadly despite his split lip.

"Not really fair to attack him when he can't defend himself," Xander noted testily. Seth looked over and saw that the unnamed girl was glaring at him and being restrained by her boyfriend.

"Is that why you haven't killed him?"

"He can still kill demons so he's occasionally useful, and it's fun to watch him suffer," Xander added with a slight smile. He knew it was a motive Seth could appreciate. Spike glared at him for a moment, but then saw Seth's understanding nod and his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He may not have liked Xander saying it, but he suddenly understood the reason.

Liz turned her glare on Xander. "It doesn't matter what you think of him. He's been helpful here, to me. You're not killing him." The last was directed at Seth. "He can get us the information we need about Cole."

Seth perked up at this. "Really? How?" Spike picked up the explanation at this point.

"Simple really. Cole's recruiting. I'm gonna get myself recruited. Come sunset he'll probably have people in town to find out what happened to his pet Mora demon. I'll offer to provide that information. All you have to do is follow us back to their hide-out."

"We have a tracking device we can use to make sure we aren't spotted. We can follow from a safe distance." Seth glanced at the girl who had so vehemently protested Spike's mistreatment.

"What do you mean 'we'? Who are you anyway?" She approached him without hesitation, seemingly ignoring the weapons he held. Her boyfriend raised a hand as if to stop her, then seemed to think better of it. She stopped less than a foot from him.

"I'm Liz, the vampire Slayer. I want you to understand now, that this is the only chance you'll get at Cole. I am not going to let you tear up my town the way you tried to tear up Sunnydale. We take the fight to him, out of town. Is that clear?"

"Clear," he assured her, surprised and amused by her manner. He knew what a Slayer was of course. He had seen both Buffy and Faith in action during his time in Sunnydale, and it was a measure of his own confidence, or his recklessness that he wasn't intimidated by the prospect of a physical confrontation with one. Kate stepped in before such a confrontation could begin.

"It'll be better to corner him. We'd much rather have him isolated where there are no distractions. A running battle in the streets of Roswell wouldn't do us any good. Too many potential problems, places to hide and plan and ambush, civilians running around screaming that sort of thing. We'd lose a lot of people if we did that." Seth nodded.

"That works both ways," Seth pointed out. "If we limit them, we also limit ourselves." He sighed. "However, this isn't like Sunnydale where the town was infested. Cole'd do a lot more damage here than he would out in the desert somewhere. Blind as people were in your home town," he shot a look at Xander, "they still took basic precautions even if they didn't realize it. We'd be happy to pick a spot outside of town," he directed this at Kate, "assuming of course that we get to choose."

"Well then," Max stepped forward. He had immediately realized what Kate was doing and decided to help move things along quickly in order to stave off a confrontation. "We have some planning to do." It was Saturday, 1:00 P.M.

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

Mary rolled into town shortly after sunset and left the van as soon as full dark crept over the town. She had only a vague idea of where to begin, but began by looking at the local paper for any hint of the violence that had occurred the previous night.

It was there. An article on the front page about attempted armed robbery at a place called the CrashDown Café. A café? What were those idiots thinking? It was a place to start anyway. After reading the article she got up and headed to the CrashDown. She was almost there when a familiar voice hailed her.

"Bloody Mary?" She stopped and turned. There was only one person who called her that. It was a nickname she'd gotten when she was newly made. He had overseen her first kill. The victim, a burly young man, had gotten away after the initial bite and she had had to catch him again. Her victim had bled all over himself and all over her when she had finally caught him. Spike had laughed himself hoarse and teased her about being a messy eater. Since then he had called her Bloody Mary.

"You're never going to let me live that down are you Billy?" Spike didn't flinch at the nickname she had given him in retaliation. His grin was as cocky as ever.

"Not likely pet. What are you doin' here?"

"I might ask you the same. This town is so dull." She glanced up and down the street. There were only a few people visible. It seemed that Roswell was the type of place that 'rolled up the side-walks' as the old song went when the sun went down.

"Don't be so sure. This town's got a Slayer, and it was anything but dull last night," he replied. "You shoulda seen what happened at the café." That got Mary's attention.

"You saw that?" He gave her a puzzled look and nodded. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Sure," Spike shrugged. "Let's get a couple of beers, catch up on old times, and I'll tell ya all about it." *** "I still have trouble believing it. Those morons attacked the Slayer at the diner? In front of witnesses?" Spike nodded.

"I could hardly believe it meself when that Mora demon just strolled in and attacked her." He shrugged. "At least his death was instructive." Mary was eyeing him curiously.

"What were you doing in there anyway?"

"Waiting for the Slayer to bring my order, a green slime smoothie." Mary almost choked on her beer.

"What!?" she started laughing. Spike gave her a smug grin.

"I've learned the hard way you need to study a Slayer's style 'fore you can try to kill her. Learn her routine, her weaknesses, that sort of thing."

"She didn't know you were a vampire?"

"She's new at the Slayer thing. Strong, but not very well educated in her duties. I think she knew there was somethin' off about me, but for the life of her couldn't figure out what it was." This time they both laughed. Mary shook her head in amazement.

"Same old Spike. You haven't changed a bit." She gave him a speculative look, sizing him up before proceeding. "Come back with me," she said suddenly. "Meet Cole. We're having trouble with this group of vampire hunters, and we've got a chance now to destroy them." Spike looked curious, but not terribly interested. It was a look he'd perfected over the years. "Come on. You're worth ten like that idiot Richie. We could use your help not to mention the information you've gathered on the Slayer."

Spike was pleased with how quickly the plan was proceeding, but he didn't was to look too eager. He made a show of considering the offer. "I dunno Mary. I've gotten used to bein' my own boss you know? Don' know that I fancy taking orders from someone else."

"It won't be for long, just till this Seth guy and his hunters are out of the way. We'll leave the Slayer for you if you like. The hunters are here in Roswell. Cole knows where they're hiding. With the numbers we've gathered we can take 'em easy." She grinned, knowing just how to sweeten the pot. "We're having a victory dinner afterwards. Cole has promised that whatever is left of Roswell, is fair game. We can take the entire town." After a moment of thoughtful silence Spike nodded.

"Okay. You got a deal. When's it going down?"

"Talk to Cole. If he likes what you've got to say about the Slayer, we'll move tonight." Spike nodded decisively.

"Lets go then." It was Saturday, 9:00 p.m.

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

"The homing device is working perfectly," Xander assured Seth for the third time, trying to ignore the other man's profanities. "That's fairly flat, open country though. We need to be far enough away that they won't realize they're being followed." Seth was, as usual, impatient to get on with the business at hand, and expressed impatience with a colorful selection of unprintable words. He'd never had much use for sneaking about. What really irritated him though, was that he knew Xander was right.

"How big a start do we give 'em?"

"We'll go in a couple of minutes. They'll still be well within range." He looked at the direction the tracer was indicating and then at the map, spread on the table. "Okay, what's out there?" "Silver mine," Michael answered promptly. "Well outside of town, but close enough for it to be an easy trip. It's been abandoned for years. Perfect hiding place."

"And the perfect trap," Seth grinned. He glanced at the tracer. "Let's go."

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

Spike left the tracer in the van parked outside the mine office. There was no sense risking Cole or one of his minions finding it on him. Meeting and lying to the 800 year-old vampire was going to be dangerous enough.

The mine was in fairly good condition, just tapped out. With no interest in maintaining the place though, the offices and out buildings had deteriorated for the most part, but the mine itself was in good condition. It consisted of three main galleries and numerous side tunnels. There were three exits, but all but one had been permanently sealed off to keep curious people out of the mine. The last entrance had been boarded up and was well marked with warnings about trespassing. It wasn't sealed as well on the chance that someone might actually buy and reopen the mine. At the moment it was in use, but not in a way that the mining engineers had ever anticipated.

Cole was waiting in the main gallery, surrounded by his court. Toadies, Spike thought contemptuously. He approached Cole confidently with Mary by his side. The master vampire eyed them curiously. "I did not expect you to return so soon Mary. Who is this?"

"An old friend lord. His name is Spike. He's been in Roswell for almost a week, observing the Slayer. He's looking to make her his third." Cole turned a curious look toward Spike.

"You've killed Slayers before?" Spike nodded.

"A couple. This one'll be a challenge. She's fast and strong. Killed your pet Mora demon without breaking a sweat."

"Tell me how it went Spike, and then tell me what you know of this Slayer."

Spike went into a carefully rehearsed routine, telling what had happened at the CrashDown and about his 'observations' of the Slayer. Finally, as if it was of supreme importance to him, he told Cole of the promise Mary had made and asked if Cole would honor it.

"You want to kill the Slayer yourself? I don't see a problem with that. When she and the hunters are destroyed the town will be wide open." He grinned. "I have promised my people the town when the battle is over. You are welcome to participate in the feast of course." Spike made a show of licking his lips.