"Well," Liz said after a moment, "at least there's no question as to who the bad guys are."

"So what do we do now?" Maria asked. "Do we just watch and wait for this guy Tay to show up?" Liz shook her head.

"I think we should approach them. Spike and I will go see them tonight. Tomorrow morning I'll give this to Valenti," she held up the pictures, "and ask him to keep an eye out for them." She folded them and tucked them into her pocket. "In the meantime it won't hurt to do some watching of our own. Check the motels and the trailer park for new arrivals."

"Good idea," Max nodded. "I'll check the motel near the warehouse. Michael, why don't you see if there's anyone new at the trailer park?" Michael nodded. He had been uncharacteristically quiet, barely speaking during the meeting. Now as everyone prepared to go there ways he put a hand on Max's shoulder.

"Max."

"Yeah?" Michael's shoulder's slumped.

"Nothing." He turned and vanished into the night. Max frowned after him. What was that about? He then gave a mental shrug and his usual answer. It's Michael.

"We should get in a little training on our way there," Spike commented on their way out.

"How?" Liz wanted to know. "We might attract attention brawling up and down the street." Spike chuckled.

"Not what I had in mind." He grinned. "This is a test of endurance. Let's have a race." They went out to the street, got set and started to run. Max stared after them as they vanished into the darkness.

"It looks," he said to his sister, "like we're not the only ones with a destiny." He didn't know precisely what he meant, but the fear of losing Liz, something he hated to feel, was suddenly there, clamoring for his attention. He ignored it, telling himself that this wouldn't make a difference between them personally. He wasn't sure he believed it though.

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

Dodd sat in his patrol car, eating his midnight snack a couple of hours early. It had been a quiet night. Nothing since that murder, and it was starting to look like that one might not be solved. The victim seemed to have literally appeared out of nowhere. There was no trace of him at the local motels and no trace of a vehicle he might have used. All of their normal means of investigation had been exhausted.

Dodd turned his thoughts away from the case, frustrated. Just as he was thinking that a distraction would be nice, one happened along. He heard the sound of running feet approaching from behind. Looking out the open window of his cruiser, he saw Liz Parker and the man the Valenti had called 'Spike' running at top speed along the road. Dodd relaxed a little. They were laughing. It wasn't a purse snatching, they weren't being chased, they were moving very fast though. Curiously, he fished out a radar gun from the floor of the passenger's side and aimed it at them

"Huh?" He stared at the readout. 25 MPH? "Time to get this thing serviced." He started his car and followed them as discretely as possible.

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

"It's Dodd."

"So that's his name. I saw him with Valenti." Spike glanced at Liz where she was concealed in the bushes. He had pressed himself against a tree and was glancing curiously down the street as the patrol car slowly passed by. The driver, looking confused, was scanning the street for any sign of them. "Why's he followin' us?" Liz shrugged.

"No matter. Next lesson, evading pursuit." Spike was really starting to enjoy himself.

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

Sedar armed himself before going to the door. It was late for visitors, but she doubted Tay would knock. She looked through the spyhole and saw a young woman, a human woman standing on the porch.

Confused she opened the door. Liz had come prepared for the meeting with a memorized phrase of the Vigaries own language. She greeted Sedar in the name of the princess of Oden-Tahl. Sedar stared for a moment, then responded in the same language. Liz shook her head.

"Sorry. That's all I know. I'm a friend of Angel, whom your princess trusts."

"I remember Angel, but I don't know you."

"I'm a new friend of his and his employee Wesley Wyndham-Price. More importantly I have a solution to your problem. You know, the dead slaver." Sear hesitated a moment, stunned by the girl's directness. Friend or foe, she needed to know what this stranger knew. She stepped back and held the door open.

"Let us talk then. I am Sedar."

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

Jim Valenti came in to get his thermos filled on schedule, and Liz smiled and nodded as she fetched the coffeepot. "Deputy Dodd had an interesting shift last night," the sheriff said without preamble. Liz tried to look innocent, but couldn't help snickering. "It's not that funny."

"Depends on your point of view. We were having a race when he spotted Dodd following us and decided to turn it into another lesson."

"A lesson for who?" the sheriff asked irritably. Liz looked down, and when he decided she looked suitably apologetic he relented. "You're lucky Dodd assumed his radar gun was malfunctioning. Were you racing to anywhere in particular?" Liz nodded.

"I asked Max to come by your office before he goes to work. I'll meet you there during my morning break. If everything works out, we should be ready when and if that guy's employer arrives." She handed him copies of the pictures Wes had sent. "We can fill you in then."

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

Tinted windows were a wonderful thing a wonderful thing, Angel thought, especially to a vampire who needed to travel during the day. He had made good time and by his estimates, should be in Roswell shortly after sunset.

He still couldn't grasp it. Spike training the new Slayer? What sort of sick game was his childe playing now?

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

Two teens sat across from Valenti and laid out the basic idea for him. "I don't like it. It means breaking the law."

"Think about the tradeoff," Liz urged. "I talked to the women. They're tired of running." That was true enough. "If Tay finds them they're ready to fight, and they will. That could get messy." That was misleading, but mostly true. "If we can find Tay before he starts looking for them here and convince him that they are not here, he'll leave and there'll be no trouble. If he finds them, well think of that corpse in the warehouse as a sign of things to come."

"That kind of trouble," Max put in, "might attract the special unit." Valenti raised his hands in defeat.

"Okay. I'm convinced. I'll have my deputies look for him." He sighed, "as soon as I figure out what to tell them." Max smiled confidently.

"That might not be necessary." Valenti didn't answer but motioned for him to continue. "You see the Vigaries have some very specific dietary needs."

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

Roswell only had one plant nursery. The greenhouses of which provided for all of the flower shops in town as well as the selling grass, seed, and implements for local farmers and people obsessed with their lawns. Business was good, as it was the only one in town.

Valenti watched from an unmarked car, hoping that Max and Liz were right about the Vigaries. It had been two days since the death of the one who had found the alien girls in the warehouse. Presumably the man was now overdue for check in with his superiors.

A failure to check in would constitute a lead for someone like Tay. That was the theory anyway. Tay would come; Valenti would be there to meet him while the slavers' quarry stayed safely hidden. They arrived shortly before sunset.

Valenti watched them gather near the back gate of the lot and decided to intervene before any laws were broken. He didn't like the secretive manner in which they were operating. Getting out of the car, he approached them. One of the strangers noticed him and turned, speaking in a language that Valenti didn't recognize, not that that should be a surprise, he reflected, if they came from another dimension. He noted the odd formation of ridges on their foreheads and knew he had the right bunch.

Stopping ten feet from the group he repeated a carefully memorized phrase. A ripple went through the group. He saw shocked expressions on some of the faces. Then the group parted and a man he took to be Tay came forward.

"Thought that would get your attention. You in charge?"

"I am," the man came to within a few feet of Valenti and stopped. "I am Tay. Who are you and how do you know our language?"

"I'm Sheriff James Valenti, and I don't know it. I just memorized a few phrases while I was researching your people. Thought it might make a nice little ice breaker." Tay scowled. "All right then, down to business. You came here because you're looking for a friend of yours am I right?"

"How do you know this? Where is he?" Tay was suddenly tensed, wary of a trap.

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it. Your friend is dead. I was called to a warehouse over across town two days ago. It didn't take long to discover he wasn't human. A little research though and I managed to pin down his species. That's why I've been here waiting for you. Don't worry. I'm alone. Most of my people don't have a clue about this."

"How did he die?"

This was going to be the hard part. Valenti wished he'd rehearsed a little more, but there was nothing to do but sell the story they'd concocted as hard as he could. "He was tampering with the fuse box in the warehouse, trying to shut down the freezer for some reason. Trouble was he didn't really understand the equipment. He managed to start an electrical fire that did quite a bit of damage to the warehouse, but luckily only claimed one life. His." Tay was immediately suspicious.

"He was burned?"

"Over sixty percent of his body. We had a time identifying him, but you guys are kind of distinctive." Max had given the body the extra burns; making the damage more generalized. Tay was not buying it though.

"And there were no others of our kind? No females?"

"Females? As in escaped slaves?" Tay's eyes narrowed at his tone. Clearly understanding that Valenti disapproved. "Not that I've found. We reconstructed his trail as best we could and found he'd been poking around a freezer truck that had come in that day."

"Was there anything unusual about the truck?" Valenti shook his head.

"Only thing in there were some crates of frozen chickens and a few dozen bags of ice."

"Ice? No sign of anyone in the truck?" Valenti shook his head.

"No. I keep an eye on newcomers in town, especially non-human newcomers as they tend to cause trouble." Tay opened his mouth to protest, but Valenti forged ahead. "I like things quiet. I won't have people tearing up my town, attacking and killing people. Your man got into the warehouse wearing a uniform he'd stolen from a guard. That guard is currently in the hospital with a concussion. I want to know what your intentions are here. If you're here to turn the town upside down looking for escaped slaves you can turn around and leave now. I won't have it."

"They are escaped criminals from my own world. If they are in your town sheriff they pose a greater risk to you than we do."

"If that's so, and if they're here, and they break our laws, then I'll deal with them. You have no authority here, and I won't tolerate your goon squad causing trouble. Do we understand each other?"

"Perfectly. If they do not break your laws?"

"Then I'll tell them what I tell everyone. Stay out of trouble. Obey the law, and we won't have any problems." It was not what Tay wanted to hear.

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

Angel watched the sheriff confront Tay and his men. Uh-oh. This could get ugly. The meeting seemed peaceful enough, but he knew what Tay was capable of if he didn't get his way. Angel moved from the recessed doorway where he had been hiding and started down the street, intent on making his presence known and giving Tay another warning if necessary. He had only gone a short distance when he was seized from behind and pulled into an alley.

"Shhh!" Angel found himself pushed against a wall and when he looked down, a small dark-haired girl was looking up at him with her finger to her lips. "You want to ruin everything?" She whispered fiercely. His confusion lasted only a second or two.

"Slayer?"

"Got it in one. You're Angel right?" He nodded. "Nice to meet you. Now stay out of this."

"You don't know how dangerous they are."

"Wesley's notes were very thorough. You can thank him for me when you get back. If the sheriff can convince Tay or whoever's in charge, that the people he's looking for aren't here then they'll leave without the need for fighting or any kind of violence." Angel nodded thoughtfully. That made sense.

"I see. If they don't believe it?"

"Then we'll think of something else. They know you though don't they?"

"Yeah, which is why-"

"-they won't believe the sheriff if they see you here, and things will get violent. So stay out of it or I'll stake you." If he hadn't known she was a Slayer, the threat would have sounded absurd. She barely came up to mid-chest on him. If anything, the young woman before him was less imposing than Buffy.

"All right, but you should be prepared to fight." The Slayer nodded, not looking happy at the prospect, something that struck Angel as very unusual. There would be time for that later though. At the moment Valenti was heading back toward his car and Tay was following with two of his men.

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

"So they bought it?" Angel wasn't sure he believed what he was hearing.

"Yep." Valenti nodded. They had all gathered at the soap factory, where Spike had established a temporary home and training area for Liz. Max had decided that having the gathering at his house might strain his parents' good will too much.

"He was suspicious at first, but I was able to convince him that they weren't here."

"How?" Angel wanted to know.

"By convincing him that I didn't care if they were." He looked over the group meaningfully. "And as long as they obey the law and stay out of trouble, I'll continue to not care." He focused on Liz. "I trust you'll make that clear to them?" She nodded.

"Don't worry Sheriff. They don't wasn't to attract attention to themselves."

"I handed the body over to Tay. You did a pretty good job with the burns Max. It looked like the guy died in a perfectly normal fire. It was enough to fool Tay anyway. He left thinking that his man had come here on a wild goose chase and had some bad luck."

Max nodded, not really pleased that Valenti was drawing attention to him in front of the stranger. He looked over the newcomer, Angel. He checked the man's reflection on a hunch and discovered that, like Spike, the guy was a vampire. Not wanting to waste time or risk Liz in any way he had gotten Michael and Isabel to help separate them during the Sheriff's story. They then demanded answers.

Angel had been evasive at first, but Liz had cut in and given them the back-story she had received along with Faith's memories. Angel had stared at her, shocked that she would know so much about him, and Liz, rather annoyed with his interference, wasn't inclined to enlighten him.

"So he's harmless?" Michael asked. Liz shrugged.

"Not the way Spike is if that's what you mean." She shot her teacher an apologetic look, but the blonde vampire shrugged indifferently. "He doesn't have any imposed restrictions on who he 'can' hurt. He just chooses not to kill humans."

"Interesting distinction," Valenti gave the vampire a wary look.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone," he gave Spike a warning glare, "unless I have to." He walked toward his childe eyeing him curiously. "What's the game Spike? Why are you here?"

"To train the new Slayer," Spike answered honestly. "Someone needed to, and better me than some Council wanker."

"Spike's done well by me so far. He's the one who spotted the Vigary in the first place. Things might have gotten messy if Tay had turned up without any warning." Angel considered that and nodded reluctantly.

"What's in it for you Spike?"

"I'm enjoying myself. Maybe I'll find out what you find so appealing about being a white hat." Spike managed to say it with a straight face, but Angel wasn't buying it. His sire scowled and looked back at Liz.

"Don't get used to him being around. He bores easily. When he does, he'll be on his way."

"Maybe." Liz shrugged. "Until then, he's a pretty good teacher." Spike grinned and preened a little, knowing it would annoy his sire. Then he brightened and Liz could practically see the light bulb over his head.

"Long as you're here Angel, why don't you make yourself useful? Liz and I can't have a proper sparring session cause o' this damn chip. Why don't you try out her skills? I'd love to see how she does."

"We've mainly been working on control," Liz hedged as she came around to face Angel. Max started to intercept her, but stopped, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it. "Precision and reflexes, that sort of thing." Angel didn't acknowledge Spike, addressing Liz directly as he squared off with her. If this was what it took to have a conversation with her he'd do it.

"Spike can't be trusted, chip or no," he told her. "It's only a leash. He hasn't even been paper trained." His head rocked and he staggered back, a shocked look on his face.

"That was rude." Spike's first impulse was to laugh, but he decided another approach would have better results.

"Nice shot Liz. Tell me, was that planned or reflex?"

"Uh," Liz looked uncertain. "I'm not sure. Maybe fifty-fifty?"

"Well, you're still new at this. Give it time." He hadn't even glanced at Angel, let alone laughed at him. His sire was looking back and forth between them. "What about it Angel? Give her a try?"

"This is a bad idea Liz."

"Talk while we spar," she suggested. They began to circle, and the others backed off to give them room.

"I've known Spike for over a hundred years. He only cares about his own pleasures. When he gets bored. He'll leave."

"You said that already," she replied. Liz ducked a swing moved in for a quick jab at his ribs. Angel countered easily. "He's done well by me so far though."

"It won't last. He's just amusing himself, and sooner or later that amusement might come at the cost of your life." They traded a series of blows and backed off.

"Good thing she's not alone then," Max said from the sidelines. Angel glanced at him and got a shot to the jaw. "I'll protect her."

"Yeah," Spike scoffed, "when you're not hiding from alien hunters." This earned him some dark looks from the teens. "Look Angel, I'll take care of her. In fact, I'll make you a bet." Both Angel and Liz stopped and stared at him. "With me watching after her, Liz will live at least twice as long as a Slayer as your precious Buffy, and she's still going strong after four years." Liz could barely believe what she was hearing.

"Spike! You're making a bet over how long I'll live?!"

"Sadly," Angel said, "that isn't a new low for him, not even close." Spike shrugged, honestly baffled.

"Hey, you're benefiting from it Liz, what's there to complain about?" That stumped her. It was logical in a bizarre, twisted kind of way.

"Is that typical Spike logic?" She asked his sire. He nodded.

"You going to accept the wager?" Everyone turned to look at Michael. He shrugged and said. "Hey, like Spike said, Liz benefits from it, and he wants to win the bet. That's probably the best we can expect." Maria rolled her eyes.

"It sounds like Spike logic isn't that different from Michael logic." Her boyfriend looked at her, hurt.

"Just trying to make the best of it. Maybe you'd rather call in that Council bunch. The one Wesley made sound like a dirty word?" Angel frowned at the idea.

"I'd advise against it, but Spike…" He glared at his childe. Liz stepped between them, glaring at the older vampire.

"It's not really your decision Angel. I know you mean well, but you don't have a say in this." He let out a frustrated sigh. That was true, but he couldn't walk away without doing something. The options were very limited. He couldn't stay. He couldn't spare Wesley from the battle in Los Angeles. He didn't trust the Council. What other options were there? Spike had spoken the absolute truth in one thing. A Slayer attracted trouble, whether she wanted it or not, and he got the impression that Liz' friends had their own problems, although Spike's crack about alien hunters made no sense to him. It left only one option, not a perfect one, but perhaps he could help the new Slayer in a small way. After all, he knew Spike very well.

"All right Spike. I'll take your bet. You can keep her alive for four years at least? I think you'll get bored and leave long before that."

"You'll lose." Spike extended his hand and they shook. Liz turned away, making a disgusted noise.

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

"You probably don't want to hear this," Max said as he followed Liz. She had left the building and was walking off the anger. "I think that Angel was just trying to make the best of a bad situation."

"I know that. I'm just remembering…"

"What happened the last time we made 'the best of a bad situation'?" He finished. Liz nodded, thinking of Nasedo and what he had done with the chance Max had given him. Max said nothing more, but he paced her, lending support by his mere presence. She was grateful for that. She stopped and he turned and took her in his arms. "At least this turned out well. Your idea worked like a charm."

"This time," she answered glumly.

"You did it without slaying anything," he offered, determined to brighten her mood. It seemed to work. She chuckled.

"Please, don't say that in front of Spike. He'd probably try to cheer me up." She cleared her throat and did her best to imitate his cockney accent. "'Cheer up pet, you'll get lots o' chances to kill the things that go bump in the night.'" Max chuckled, but the gloom had all ready settled back over her.

"There's no good answer is there Max?" He was silent for a moment.

"I don't see one," he sighed finally. "Whatever comes though, I'll be here to face it with you."

"Thanks Max. I love you."

"Love you too." He kissed her forehead and they stood silently for a few moments, just enjoying the closeness. Finally, Max sighed and released her, all too soon he thought. "What are we going to do?"

"You're options are sort of limited." They turned to see Angel emerging from the shadows. "There must be a better way."

"If you know what it is say so now," Max challenged. "Otherwise, get out." Angel blinked. "You heard me. You haven't improved the situation here, you've only made it more awkward. We don't need that." Angel nodded in resignation. The boy was right. Angel had rushed out to Roswell with no clear idea of what he would do when he got there. He still didn't know what to do.

"I can put you in contact with the Slayer and some friends of hers in Sunnydale. They're good people, and you can always use friends. Other than that… Good luck." Angel turned and left without another word.