Previous Chapter Summary: Everyone arrived at the meeting. Faith pulled Buffy to the side to give her a note from Athena, in England. It stated that Buffy's soul was intact, and Athena's magical signature authenticated the contents. After Wesley was shown the note, it was the final straw to get him to agree to join the Scoobies. An unwanted visitor to the meeting took a shot at the group. It seemed they were aiming for Wesley, but Spike tried to save him.

Current Chapter Summary: Who was injured? Who shot at the Scoobies? What other trouble is on the horizon? Also, our little "Mouse" and her Sire are on their way to Sunnydale. Are they trouble, or does trouble only follow them?

Buffy and Faith dropped to the ground next to Spike and Wesley. "Spike!" Buffy pulled Spike off of Wesley.

"Oh God, Wes!" Faith covered her mouth with one hand. There was a large pool of blood on Wesley's shoulder in the back. She frantically turned the Watcher around so that he lay in her lap. She looked down at him perplexed. There wasn't any blood on the front of his shirt. "Wes?" She slapped his cheeks gently to rouse him. Was it his or Spike's?

Buffy's hands roamed up and down Spike's chest. Her mind kept telling her that he wasn't dust. So, he would be all right, but tears formed in her eyes. "Spike, come on sweetie. Come back to me."

Spike groaned. "Bloody Hell." He opened his eyes slowly. "I don't care if it kills me or not. That bloody well hurts to get shot."

Buffy choked back her sob. She ran her fingers through Spike's hair. "You love to scare the Hell out of me, don't you? I hate it when you do that."

"Oy. It wasn't my idea to get shot." Spike half laughed. The movement caused a searing pain to go through his chest. He clutched over the bullet wound area.

Giles, Joyce, Willow and Xander formed a protective circle around the 4 on the ground. Joyce faced inward. "We need to get out of the open. Can we move them?" The local police were fairly blind to Sunnydale's night life, but she didn't want any of Sunnydale's finest asking them questions about daylight shootings.

Spike, with Buffy's help, propped himself up on his elbows. "The bullet is going to have to come out. I can feel it wriggling around in there, but it doesn't burn. So, at least it wasn't coated with Holy water."

"Which means the intended target was most assuredly supposed to be human." Giles spoke only loud enough for their group to hear him.

Wesley groaned and came to. Spike had saved him from taking a bullet, but the blow to the head when he hit the ground knocked him unconscious. He brought a hand up to his temple. "Dear Lord. Did anyone get the number of that truck?"

Faith let out a breath of relief. She slapped him in the arm out of reflex. "Don't you ever do that to me again. You can't get out of the whole Watcher gig that easily, Wes." She reasoned that the blood on the back of Wes' shirt had to belong to Spike.

"Ow!" Wesley rubbed his shoulder. He opened his eyes fully. His smile widened when he realized that Faith's face was the only thing in his line of vision. He felt the softness of her lap against the back of his head. He blushed when he realized where the warmth at the back of his head was coming from.

"I say he was just faking it to get into your good graces." Spike teased. "What bloke wouldn't feign pain for such a cozy place as what he got?"

Wesley groaned and closed his eyes again. He felt thoroughly embarrassed. Faith actually blushed, but she didn't push Wesley away.

"Shouldn't we get these guys back to one of our places?" Xander brought the conversation back to the danger at hand.

"Our homes are all warded against anyone who isn't a part of a blood bond. I'm sorry, but I don't think we're quite to that stage yet." Buffy nibbled on her lower lip.

"It's okay." Faith helped Wesley work his way to standing up again. She wrapped her arm underneath his and around his waist. "I need to get Watcherman here back to the hotel to lie down."

"Why don't we book a suite at their hotel, Buffy?" Willow offered as a suggestion. "We know the guy who runs the one that they are staying at. I'm sure he'd give us a deal."

"That's a good idea, Willow." Joyce smiled. "That way we have a secondary base of operations when we all need to be near."

Buffy and Spike nodded their agreement to the idea. "Did anyone bring a car? Spike, Willow, Xander and I all walked."

"Not when you are feeling all healthy, but when you're injured every step can be an eternity," Xander frowned. "Should I run to get one of your cars, Giles? Your house is the closest."

"Let's see if we can manage." Wesley's head was pounding, and he didn't want to wait any longer to lay down than necessary.

Spike stood up next to Wes. "The shirt is ruined, but I can feel the hole already closing. I can make it to the hotel."

"Well, we will have to get that bullet out once we get to the room. I'm not leaving it in there to hurt you another day." Buffy was adamant about her statement. "I wish we didn't have to reopen the wound, but I don't see what other choice we have."

"It's fine, love. We'll do what we have to do." Spike smiled warmly at his Mate.

"Let's get going then." Faith, supporting part of Wesley's weight in case he stumbled, headed off in the direction of their hotel.

Giles gathered up all of the paperwork, books, and notes of his and Wesley's. He tucked everything into their respective cases. He double checked the area around them to be sure that nothing flew off the table. Satisfied that he had everything, he escorted Joyce across the park behind Wes, Spike, Faith and Buffy.

Willow and Xander followed right behind Giles and Joyce. They kept their eyes on everything around them. They knew Dalton ran after the shooter, but they didn't want to take a chance that there was more than one out there.

Dalton darted down the left fork of one of the tunnels. His prey was slowing down, but his destination above ground was still unclear to Dalton. He had to rely on his vampiric senses. Having to use his enhanced sense of smell was very unpleasant because of the sewers, but he'd gotten close enough at one point to catch the intruder's scent more strongly. So, Dalton was using every ability at his disposal to track the enemy.

Dalton found himself face to face with a solid brick wall after a few more turns. 'Damn,' He thought. He was about to back track his path when he heard the scrambling of feet and voices above him. His amber colored eyes looked up at the ceiling for any kind of access point.

After a couple minutes Dalton located what appeared to be a steel cover with a few holes in it. He slowly pushed the metal upward. Thankfully there were no hinges to squeak. The voices were clearer, and Dalton listened carefully. There were several different sets of voices above him.

It was obvious that he wasn't going to be able to capture the shooter. There were too many beings for one vampire to deal with. So, he needed to learn everything he could about who was involved.

"Yeah, I got two for the price of one." The rather dense assassin said. "I aimed for one of the others, just like you said."

"How are you sure that you managed to get one of them, let alone both? Did you see the dust?"

"They were both hollering in pain as they went down." The would be assassin shrugged his shoulders.

"You didn't stay to see if your mark was truly dead?" The dark-skinned demon shook his head back and forth at the incompetence of the hired gun.

"I wasn't sticking around and taking a chance of being caught." The hired gun huffed indignantly. "They looked right in my direction when the two went down. I hightailed it out of there. I shot him. Now where is my money?"

"You actually think that you'll be paid for such shoddy work?" The dark-skinned demon felt his intelligence was being insulted. "I'll give you this one chance to get out of my sight with your life."

"That wasn't the bargain." The assassin got right in the dark-skinned demon's face. "I want my money."

"Don't say I didn't give you a sporting chance." The demon switched to his vampire guise. Two other vampires jumped in behind the human. The two vampires held the assassin while the head vampire drained the pitiful excuse for humanity.

The assassin's body dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. The dark-skinned vampire straightened his suit jacket and dabbed the traces of blood from the side of his lips. He licked his fingers clean. "Get rid of him." He motioned to his minions to remove the body from his sight. "The boss isn't going to be happy about this set back. I have to figure out what to tell him."

Dalton replaced the metal cover. He ducked back against the wall in the shadows. He listened to the footsteps above move farther away. He heard a door open and close. After the rest of the footsteps disappeared in the distance, Dalton started to work his way back to the park.

'He was a hired thug, Mistress,' Dalton sent the thoughts in the direction of Buffy and Spike. 'He's dead, but I didn't do it. Whoever hired him did it.'

'All right, Dalton. Get back here,' Buffy answered him. 'We're heading to the same hotel that Wesley and Faith were staying at.'

Buffy opened the door of the hotel suite with her key card. She pushed it open and extended her senses out to check for intruders, demon or human. Her and Spike did a quick sweep of the entire suite. "All clear."

The rest of the Scoobies plus Wesley and Faith walked into the suite from the outside.

Faith led Wesley over to one of the couches in the main living area. "I'm going to look for some ice." She grabbed an ice bucket off the table. "I think I saw the machine on our way up here."

"Take someone with you please, Faith." Joyce made the motherly request. "Everyone shouldn't go anywhere without at least being in pairs. It is safer that way."

"Even Buffy usually has someone with her, and she has that whole undead thing going for her." Xander chuckled. "In pairs gives at least one person a chance to go yelling for help if something happens."

"I'll go, Faith. That is if you don't mind." Willow offered. "I'm still too nervous to sit still yet." She twisted her hands over each other.

"Don't let her get any more caffeine, or we'll never get Red to sit still," Spike teased.

"Very funny, Spike." Willow took the jab good naturedly. She grabbed a second ice bucket off the dining like table.

"We'll be back soon." Everyone watched Faith and Willow head back out into the hallway.

"So, how did you get mixed up in all of this?" Faith asked Willow while they searched for the ice machine.

"I kind of found out about Buffy's slaying her first year here." Willow answered honestly. "She saved me from getting eaten by a vampire one night. Unfortunately she wasn't able to save a friend of Xander's and mine who was taken at the same time."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Faith frowned. "Is that the same way Xander found out?"

"Actually he overheard Buffy and Giles speaking in the library shortly after she arrived. He thought they were both crazy until we saw our first vampires."

"I'm surprised that Giles let you guys hang around. My first Watcher was a real bitch. She kept going on about the mission and what I should be doing. She wouldn't let me have anyone around."

"Buffy was still living with her mom when she moved here. Her first Watcher was killed in Los Angeles. She was never taken away from her family." Willow explained. She didn't think any of the information that she was telling Faith would be a problem for her to know. She was still a little wary of the new Slayer, but they needed to try to trust her. If Buffy was happy that Faith passed a test, then Willow needed to trust Buffy's judgment.

"I really didn't have much family to speak of before I was called." Faith set the bucket under the spout of the ice machine. She pushed the button down and waited for enough ice to be dispensed. She handed the full bucket to Willow and took Willow's empty one. "I pretty much kept to myself. I was kind of a street gal."

Willow nodded in understanding. "You don't have to be that anymore, you know." She smiled. "Majority vote rules in this group, and we all voted to give you guys a chance."

"B said that she didn't vote for us?" Faith recalled hearing Buffy say something like that. Although she'd felt a kinship with the vamped Slayer, she wondered if there was an underlying problem that she should be on the watch for.

"The Council has been trying to kill her, and the rest of us, ever since they found out about her being turned. She was just being protective and cautious. She doesn't trust the Council at all." Willow sighed. "They've even kidnapped some of us to try and capture Buffy. I don't even want to think about the tests they'd like to run on her."

"If they're so worried about her being a vamp, why not just stake her?" Faith pulled the second bucket out from under the spout.

"She's a different kind of Immortal Slayer of sorts. Athena called her a Daywalker." Willow walked alongside Faith back to the suite. "There's a prophecy and everything."

"Ah, I know how much the Council loves those things." Faith rolled her eyes. "My first Watcher kept trying to get me to memorize all of these prophecy things. None of them even made sense."

"Yeah, that's a prophecy for you. They hardly ever make sense until everything already happens." Willow shook her head back and forth. "The first prophecy we found about Buffy ended up killing her at the hands of the Master. Thankfully she only drowned, and Xander was able to resuscitate."

Willow laughed. "Yeah well I don't think that Spike is going to let her die again any time soon."

"I've never met a vampire that is like him. The way he looks at B is just … wow … you know?"

Buffy slowly opened the door. Even though she'd seen it was Faith and Willow on the other side through the peephole, she wasn't taking any chances. "That didn't take too long."

"Nope." Faith walked in and Willow followed. Both women put their buckets on the counter of the breakfast nook between the living room and the suite's kitchenette. Faith went to work getting a cold compress ready for Wes' throbbing head.

"Language, Spike." Joyce rolled her eyes at the vampire. She had no doubts that he was in pain, but his mouth really did run away from him at times.

"Sorry Mum. This bloody well hurts." Spike turned his head to stare at Giles. "Are you digging to China for that bullet, Rupes?"

"Sit still, Spike." Giles ground out in frustration. "You are making this ten times harder than it should be."

"Let me take a sodding knife to your back, and we'll see how calm you take it mate."

"You know you don't mean it, Deadboy." Xander continued his playful string of jibes. "You know you love me."

"Like the plague, Harris." Spike knew Xander was teasing. The banter was always like that between them. They had fun seeing who could come up with the more creative insults.

Giles was glad for Xander's distraction. It was making his job easier to get the bullet out. The clink of metal into the bowl on the table announced that the bullet was finally out. He motioned for Joyce to hand him the antiseptic covered towel. Vampires didn't usually have to worry about infections, but Giles didn't want to take any chances since Spike was exhibiting more signs of being a true Daywalker.

Buffy crossed the room to Spike. She ran her fingers through his loosened curly locks. She brushed some of the dirt from the top of his head. She lowered her wrist close to Spike's mouth. "Drink baby. It will help you heal faster."

Spike looked up reverently at his Mate. He gently kissed Buffy's wrist before his face shifted. He would have rather supped from Buffy's neck, but he figured it would freak the newcomers out less if he fed from the offered wrist. His fangs sliced neatly into Buffy's skin, and he gulped down three mouthfuls of the potent blood. He shifted back into his human guise and licked the wounds clean. "Thank you, pet." He kissed over the two puncture marks in her skin.

Wesley and Faith stared in amazement and fear at the scene they'd witnessed. Faith held a bag of ice with a towel wrapped around it to the side of Wesley's head. She nearly dropped the compress when Spike shifted to his vampiric face. The calm acceptance of everyone else in the room helped to ease her fears some.

"Childe blood is helpful in healing a Sire as well as the reverse?" Wesley stuttered out the question. He was trying to keep his heart from pounding right out of his chest.

Buffy slipped into Spike's lap. She laid her head on his non-wounded shoulder. She nestled against him and closed her eyes to seek out her Sire and Mate's comforting presence. She wasn't up to answering any more questions at the moment. She needed to rest from the trauma of seeing her Mate shot.

"According to Spike, Buffy's blood is still as powerful as Slayer blood to him. In fact it seems that it gets stronger every time they mutually share blood or reaffirm their claims." Giles pocketed the now washed bullet. He wanted to take a closer look at it for markings later. He washed out the other instruments and bowls that they'd used for the "surgery".

"Extraordinary." Wesley itched to have his notepad to write on, but his head hurt too much to bother with it at the moment.

Buffy jumped out of Spike's lap and rushed to the suite door without a word to anyone else. "Come in, Dalton." She quickly opened the door and a blanketed figure ran in from the sunlit hallway. "I swear you are far too much like your father."

Dalton tossed the blanket to the floor and stomped on it. "I wasn't expecting the room to be along the courtyard. The sun was too high in the sky for me to avoid it in the hallway."

Spike looked at Faith. 'Where do you Slayers keep those stakes, love? I swear you have them up your arse or something because no one knows you have any and then boom … stake in hand.'

"It's okay, Faith. He's with us." Buffy stepped between the couch and where Dalton stood near the doorway. "He's my son of sorts."

"You turned someone?" Wesley asked in shock. Every time he thought he was getting a better handle on what was going on another curve ball was thrown his way.

"No No … he was a minion of the Anointed One." Buffy explained. "He remained loyal to Spike even after Angelus' arrival. Spike and I started our own clan of sorts. We began with Dalton."

Spike took over some of the explanations for Buffy. "Dalton here seemed to retain a bit more of his humanity and soul than other vamps, like I did." He patted Dalton on the back. He picked up the blanket and folded it for the younger vamp. He handed it back to Dalton. "We've found a few vamps here and there that have."

Wesley stared at Buffy, Spike and Dalton with his mouth open. Faith reached over and closed his mouth by pressing her finger under his chin and moving upward. She was shocked as well, but she didn't want Buffy and Spike to be worried about them.

"What did you find out?" Spike asked Dalton. "I'm assuming you were successful?"

"Not quite." Dalton explained to everyone there what he'd overheard. The Scoobies were perplexed. No one knew the identity of the head demon or who his boss might be either. They weren't happy to find out that they had a new problem in Sunnydale to worry about coming at them.

About halfway through the evening, Giles and Joyce headed back to their house. Willow and Xander bunked in one of suite's rooms that had two full beds in it. They figured it would help Wesley and Faith to feel more comfortable if the humans outnumbered the demons for the night.

Dalton waited for sunset before he returned to the mansion to look over everything there. After Buffy and Spike made a call to Clem to let him know that they wouldn't be home that night, Buffy and Faith headed out to patrol all of Sunnydale's cemeteries. Usually Spike went with Buffy, but they both thought it would be a good idea for Faith to familiarize herself with the area. It also gave the two Slayers a chance to bond.

Clem, a wrinkly-skinned friendly demon who lived next door to Buffy and Spike, approached hotel Faith and Wesley were staying at. His neighbors hadn't come home the night before. Thankfully Buffy and Spike called him to let them know of their temporary location for the night. The Scoobies had a large multi-room suite at the Sunnydale Hotel. It was usually used for wedding parties or clan meetings to room together, but right now the extra large suite became Scooby Central for their group.

Word had already traveled through the demon grapevine about the meeting and the events following it. He was worried about his friends in more ways than one. He also didn't like being the bearer of bad news, and that was what he had for them today.

Spike and Buffy treated the demon community well if you didn't cross them on their no harming innocents rule. Word on the street was that a rising demon faction was involved in the shooting, but no one knew exactly who was responsible.

On top of the shooting, Clem now had to bring news of a Master Vampire that was on a killing spree through California. Normally that wouldn't have affected Buffy and Spike directly, but it seemed like this vampire was cutting a path towards Sunnydale. Spike and Buffy were strong, but this vampire seemed determined to wipe out any demon that would not join him or help him. The more peaceful demon inhabitants were getting scared.

Clem raised his hand to knock on the door of the suite he was told Buffy and Spike were staying in. It flung open, and a brunette woman held a dagger in her hand ready to strike. "Easy Xena, I'm here to see Spike and Buffy."

Faith's brow lifted. She didn't recognize the wrinkly demon, but he was holding his hands in the air in a surrender motion. She didn't see any visible weapon on him, but she knew some demon species had weapons built in. "B!" She called out over your shoulder. "Come tell me if this is one of yours!" He wasn't a vampire, but she kept her dagger ready in case he wasn't a friendly demon species.

Clem waited patiently for Buffy to come to the door. He hadn't met the newest Slayer yet. She seemed quite feisty, but at least she asked first and stabbed later.

"Clem!" Buffy stepped out of the doorway and into the light. She hugged her friend and neighbor. She turned to Faith. "Faith this is Clem. He and his wife are my neighbors and close friends." She smiled at Clem. "Clem, this is the Slayer, Faith."

"A pleasure to meet you, Faith." Clem smiled toothily. His smile was scarier than his overall demon appearance, but Faith waved back slowly.

"What are you doing here, Clem?" Buffy questioned the wrinkly skinned demon. Most people in Sunnydale overlooked his "skin condition", but Clem wasn't a big time traveler during the daylight hours.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news." Clem frowned at the slump of Buffy's shoulders. "It's better shared in private."

"When it rains it pours." Buffy sighed. She addressed Faith, "Do you mind if Clem comes in? He doesn't need an invite, but this is your home right now too, and I don't want to assume anything. I can talk to him out here if I need to."

"Naw, no problem, B." Faith motioned for Buffy and Clem to come in. "The more the merrier." She leaned in to whisper in Buffy's ear. "Besides I want to see the look on Wesley's face when he comes out of the shower to see your buddy here."

Buffy laughed. "You just might be evil, Faith. I like it." The pair of girls had already shared in a few laughs at the Watcher's expense over the course of the last day. They were bonding nicely, like sisters and friends.

Clem walked into the main room of the suite. It was set up like a living room in a home. Spike sat in a chair near a large television flipping through the channels. "Hi, Spike." Clem waved at his best friend.

"Clem!" Spike dropped the remote on the table in front of him. He walked over to his buddy and patted him on the back. "What has you up and about at this time of day?"

"What's another interruption to our lives?" Spike teased. He pulled his friend over to a table to have a seat. "Drink?"

"Sure, you know what I like." Clem pulled the map and notes he brought with him from his pocket. He laid them out on the table.

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