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Everyone sat around staring at one another. Willow had gotten on the computer the minute that they had gotten back to Giles' apartment but had had no luck in finding out where the phone call had come from. Spike had made sure that the two witches had gotten there safely. He had insisted that he stay by their side. Buffy eyed him a little suspiciously. Spike never did anything for himself. Granted, he had helped out with the slaying all summer. But why was he still around. What was the vampire planning. And what was up with Willow and Tara saying that she was worried about Riley. She had not been. Not until they told her what they were supposedly told by her.
"We found out who this demon is that Tara may turn into." Giles finally broke the awkward silence. Why it was so awkward was a mystery to him. But the younger people seemed to be off in their own little worlds.
"Oh!" Willow sounded excited. "We, uh, kinda forgot to tell you guys something. In all the confusion of whether Buffy called or not." She smiled sheepishly. "I kinda did a spell to let Tara sleep. She was just too upset to sleep on her own. Well, she had another dream. Only this time she dreamed that she was a good demon. A hot looking one from the way she described herself."
Tara blushed considerably at Willow's words. Everyone else seemed to move past the awkward silence and into uncomfortable silence. "That just makes things that much more confusing." Buffy looked at her best friend. "I mean, we are almost certain that Tara is going to become a demon, right?"
Spike took a couple steps forward. He had been keeping out of the way out in the kitchen while everyone else was gathered in Giles' small living room. "There is one way to test that theory."
Everyone looked at him with puzzled looks. Giles was the first to nod his head in understanding. "Of course." Everyone turned to look at the former watcher. "The chip!"
Riley was the first to react. "How do we know the chip is still functioning? I wasn't really privy to the information on the testing and implants that the hostiles received. When The Initiative disbanded, we were not let in on any of the military secrets. Are we sure that he can be trusted?"
"I could kick your ass around a little." Spike stood straighter. "If the bloody chip weren't still doing its bloody thing." He smiled big at the tall blonde. "Maybe I will anyways. I've been looking to kick some ass, have a little fun."
Riley took several steps at the vampire before Buffy stood in his way. "Listen, we need to be working together on this. Tara may very well turn into a demon. What kind? I'd like to know." She turned to Giles. "But you want to know what I would like to know even more?"
"Who it was that sent that vampire after Willow and Tara." Giles nodded vigorously in agreement. "That would seem to be as big a problem as the fact that we do not know which demon Tara is going to become."
"Or if she is a demon." Not even Buffy could react as Spike walked up quickly to Tara. He punched her in the nose. He put his hand to his head in anticipation of the pain. Instead of him howling, it was only Tara that indeed howled in pain. "She is bloody well a demon. No pain."
"Why don't you try that with me?" Riley asked. He began hovering close to the vampire. "Or are you afraid that would reveal that you are just faking this. So that you will feel like you are needed or something." Riley shook his head. "You can't trust a vampire. Especially this vampire. Chip or no chip."
Buffy eyed Riley for a moment. She had known him now for almost a year. And she thought she knew him pretty well. After all, he had been the only other person she had been intimate with besides Angel. He had to be a good guy for her to let him touch her that way. But he was sounding different than the guy that she had fallen in love with. What if there was something to the warning thing that Tara and Willow had received.
She watched as Willow comforted her hurt lover. "Would you two stop it! We have more important things to do than show your displays of testosterone." She made a threatening motion towards her boyfriend and the vampire. "Or do you want to have to deal with me? That can so be arranged."
Both men looked at each other before going to neutral corners. Neither wanted to deal with an upset slayer. Willow looked up at her friend gratefully. But she could not help but wonder about the look that she saw. If the witch did not know any better, she would have sworn that Buffy had feelings for the vampire. And that was just ridiculous, now wasn't it?
"I hate to ask, Will, but can you get back on the net?" Buffy motioned to the computer. "Can you give the phone company records another shot. We have so got to find out who wanted you and Tara so badly."
"There may be another way." Buffy looked at her friend. "It would involve a pretty powerful spell." Willow looked at her girlfriend, whose nose was getting just a little puffy looking. She wanted so bad to kiss and make it better. But serious things were happening. "We were going to when we got, uh, kinda distracted. But I think the spell will reveal what we need to know. I will have to be careful. It is very powerful."
"If you think you are up to it." Buffy sighed heavily. She hated asking her friend to do something that just might be too much for her. Willow and Xander and the others had already put their lives on the line way too many times already. And there were those that had died in the battle. And here was yet another time that Willow was going all out for her and the fight against evil. She did not know what she would do without her friends.
Tara suddenly shot Willow a look. One that meant that she needed to talk alone. Without anyone else being able to hear what the two of them were saying. The red head was not sure what was going on in the blonde's mind. But she knew that it must be really important. "Giles, can we use your bedroom for a minute?"
"This is no time for sex, Will." Xander smiled his smile.
Everyone shot him daggers. "Is there something the matter?" Giles asked, breaking the again uncomfortable silence created by Xander's outburst.
"No. We just need to go over some things before we do the spell." Willow smiled her smile.
Although still somewhat skeptical, Giles nodded. "Very well. But please do not take too long."
Everyone watched the pair climb the stairs. Buffy watched her boyfriend and Spike keep giving each other these looks. She could not understand what was going on with the two of them. Not that any of them had been friends with Spike, but this was ridiculous. It was as if the two were jealous of each other. As if they both had something to prove. That is when she realized something. They both were fighting over her! And she was liking it. Liking it more than she should.
Upstairs in Giles' bedroom, Willow was holding Tara. Tara had immediately fell into her girlfriend's arms the minute that they were alone together. Willow knew that something big was happening if Tara was this upset. Or maybe it was still the deal with Spike. After all, now they knew for sure that there was some kind of demon inside of her. Until that moment, they had not been sure. After all, dreams are just dreams, right?
"What is it, baby?" Willow held her even tighter. "Are you upset because of what Spike proved, 'cause you know that it doesn't mean a thing to me. Broken record here in saying that I'm going to love you forever. There is nothing going to make me leave you. I was hoping that you would have learned that by now."
Tara slowly pulled out of the tight embrace. Her blue eyes found Willow's green ones. She stared deep into them for several minutes. "It's not you. I now know one thing for sure in my life. And that's that the two of us are meant to be. We will always be. There is no separating two hearts that beat as one."
Willow smiled big. "Poetic and so true." She kissed the blonde on the forehead. "So if you know that I'm not going anywhere, that I'm yours and you're mine, what's going on in that pretty head of yours? Is it busy, busy like mine always is?"
Tara sighed heavily. "Something is not right with Riley. He was acting a little different, but there's something else."
"What is it, sweetie?" Willow knew that Tara could read people. She could read their auras. "Is something going on that you can tell?"
"Not exactly." Tara again sighed. It was not always easy describing what she did see to others. After all, her mother was the only other one that believed in the same things that she had. Her mother had even taught her a little. "It's like his aura is being forced where it doesn't belong. It's like grating. I'm not sure if I'm describing this right or not."
"Could it be like it's not really his aura? That someone is forcing their own where it doesn't belong?" Willow was hoping that she was understanding what her lover was saying.
"Exactly!" Tara nodded. "Or maybe someone else is borrowing another person's aura."
The two witches stared at each other for a few minutes. They were trying to let it sink in what they had just realized. It could be one of two things. Riley could still be Riley, only someone else was trying to control him. Or, it was not Riley they were dealing with. A lookalike or something that was stealing the real Riley's identity. Either way, it was not sounding good. Especially for Buffy.
"This is big. This is so beyond big. This is huge." Willow took Tara's hand. "Could Riley be our enemy? Could he be the one that is the big bad?"
Tara shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. But we better get back downstairs. I don't want to leave whoever that is alone with the others for too long. What if he's the one that sent that vampire after us?"
Willow looked at Tara. She was right. In a scarey and not so good way. If this person is not really Riley, the rest of the gang could be in such serious danger. But how could the two of them even think about protecting the others from a threat they were themselves unsure of.
Everyone looked up quickly as the pair made their way down the stairs. "That took a lot longer than a minute, Will." Xander's voice had a little bit of accusation to it.
"Xander." Anya looked at her boyfriend. "Be serious. They couldn't have had sex. Their hair is not even messed up."
Buffy quickly came up to her friend. Trying to ignore Anya's comment as best she could, she smiled at her best friend. "Are you guys ready to do the spell?"
Both Willow and Tara looked at Riley for a reaction. For whatever reason, he was busy watching Spike. It could be because he did not trust the vampire. Or, it could be because he was trying to make everyone think that Spike was behind all of this.
"It's gonna take a little more ingredients than we got." Willow sighed. "And the magic store is closed now. We'll have to wait until morning, I'm afraid." She came up to Buffy very close and began whispering in her ear. "We're gonna return to our apartment. I want you to follow us. Don't let anyone know that you are going to. Not even Riley. We've got a theory that you might just not like."
Buffy eyed her friend for a moment. The red head was right, Buffy was not liking what she had implied. That Riley had something to do with all of this was beyond ridiculous. Or was it? It would not be the first time that one of her boyfriends went all evilly on her. And she trusted her best friend more than anyone else in the world.
"We're gonna go back to the apartment." Willow looked around at the others. "Most of our supplies are there. We'll gather what we have and get what we need before we meet here in the morning."
There was a consensus among the group that that was the best course of action. It was not long before Willow and Tara were walking alone, hand in hand. The two were trying to act very normal. But it was hard. They suspected their best friend's boyfriend of doing something he either did or did not know about that was all evilly like. And that was not the greatest feeling.
Willow was a little disappointed when they got back to the apartment, safe and sound. Disappointed in the sense that no one had tried anything. It was kinda blowing their plan up. That is when she heard a noise behind her. Both of the women turned to see what they had unfortunately expected. Riley stood before them. What they had not expected was that Spike was holding him by the collar.
"I found Nancy boy here trailing you two." Spike shook Riley rather hard. "Says he was just trying to protect you two." The vampire gave him another shake. That is when a revolver clanged to the concrete sidewalk. Spike picked it up just as Buffy was emerging from the bushes.
"Spike!" Buffy rushed over to where the four stood. "What are you doing?"
Spike cocked the gun. "Proving that this bloody gint is not who he says he is." Spike aimed the gun at Riley's forehead. He slowly squeezed the trigger.