Ethan dropped to the ground again; Giles looked back the way they came. His books, his clothes, his memories were blown to smithereens. He shut his eyes in horror trying to remember if there was anyone else in his block. He shook his head, glancing at Ethan he noticed that his friend was very pale, a streak of blood stained his shirt. Giles swallowed the lump of fear that had formed in his throat. Ethan’s hand on his arm indicated he had rested enough.

"How far?" He asked, Giles had never heard his friend sound so weak.

"Not far," he said gently. "Willow? Run on ahead with the books, warn Xander that there’s trouble brewing." Willow set off for Xander’s with the books, wondering if Giles was going to be following her or making a stand.

Giles dragged Ethan up and held him tenderly. Ethan smiled wanly.

"You’ve not held me this close in years, Ripper." Ethan’s eyes gleamed. Giles tried a scowl but couldn’t quite pull it off.

"Shut up Ethan," Ethan flinched as they set off once more. They were nearly at Xander’s when he felt something tear and coughed. Rupert looked down and hoisted Ethan up carrying him the last thirty feet or so to Xander’s door. It opened on his approach and he tripped down the stairs with his heavy burden. His face was a mask.

"Lock the door Xander. Have you any medical supplies?" The boy took a chest from under the stairs and put it on the table. Giles looked through the huge array of dressings and equipment.

"Where did you get this?" Giles asked in wonder. "Why have you got this?" Xander blushed under Giles’ gaze.

"Well, you’re always prepared. I thought I better get prepared too. I help out at the hospital and they let me have that lot wholesale." He grinned a little self-consciously. Willow looked proudly at him.

"Ahem, dying man…Needing ministering Angel…" Ethan’s weakened voice piped up from Xander’s bed. Rupert tended to his friend while Willow unpacked their meagre library. Xander flopped down on his beanbag chair and started to read even before being told what to research, it was a habit picked up from “the library days.”

"Uhm, what’s the big evil this week?" He looked at Willow she was busy with her laptop. Giles answered.

"I’m being pursued by Watcher Hunters. They have super-human strength and the ability to destroy buildings with a thought…"

"Ah, the usual then." Xander’s attempt at levity crashed in flames’

Giles groaned. Ethan smiled up at him. "You deserved that, don’t make light of things!"

"You’re one to talk! Look at you, you’re a mess!" Rupert scolded, Ethan smiled contentedly, when the straight-laced Watcher image slipped, and Ripper emerged. The sensual Ripper he loved, not the one bent on his destruction.

"We need to get you to hospital, Ethan. You’re losing a lot of blood."

"No, not while you’re in danger, I can help research…" He propped himself up and found his glasses. Rupert smiled.

"All right, but rest while you read."

An excited squeal from the far side of the room attracted Rupert’s attention. Willow had found something. He looked over her shoulder at the screen and saw an image of one of the books he thought destroyed. He gazed at his love with a mixture of awe and wonder.

"Willow, how did you access this information?" She blushed it was going to be a surprise for his birthday.

"I finished scanning all of the books last week, I was going to create a virtual library for you to browse in. Just in time, huh?" He kissed her his eyes brimming with tears. All his books, his children were here!

"Thank you…" She moved her head into his palm as he stroked her hair. "Now," he cleared his throat. "What have you found?"

Xander and Ethan gathered round the screen as Willow explained the origins of the Watcher Hunters.

"The earliest sighting was in the England of the Middle Ages. There was a settlement that encouraged all members of the community in the pursuit of knowledge, arcane and modern. Unusually the elders made no distinction between men and women."

"They were equal? I thought that came much later with the bondage thing…" Xander commented. Ethan regarded him with interest. He had never equated Women’s Suffrage with Bondage before that was quite an image!

Willow carried on. "The Watcher community were attacked by two strangers, dressed in hunting garb. A man and woman. "Neither spoke, smiting in silence, all those that opposed them. "They were captured briefly…"

"Does it say how?" Rupert asked eagerly. "They were trapped in a curing shed." He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Does it mention Beelzebub’s Thorns?" Rupert looked at his friends’ chest and Ethan fingered his bandaged wound idly.

"Yes, it say’s they were used to destroy identified Watchers or their associates. I’m afraid no-one survived the removal of a Thorn."

Ethan sank down on Xander’s bed, his face blank. He had no glib remark for this situation Rupert took over the research, he read the text swiftly, the pages flicked on the screen and away with lightening speed Willow couldn’t believe anyone could read that fast. Then she realised that he was scanning the pages for a one word reference "removal." He shut his eyes after five minutes.

"It can’t be done, the Thorn, once embedded prevents any healing, so as you were injured, you’ll continue to bleed and you could die.…"

As if on cue Ethan had an explosive coughing fit. Rupert was by his side in a second. He didn’t look well, his skin was clammy and dark circles ringed his eyes. Rupert patted the sweat away with his handkerchief. "The thorn leads the hunters to their prey, they’re attuned to it somehow. It’s probably electronic nowadays." Ethan coughed some more and grimaced as gouts of blood began to flow from his mouth. Rupert grabbed at the dressings from Xander’s chest. The boy went to his fridge for some ice.

While Giles and Xander were busy with the ice, Ethan moved off the bed and headed for the stairs, gripping pieces of furniture to steady himself.

"Where the bloody hell do you think you’re going?" Ripper asked indignantly.

"As far away from you as I can get!" Ethan answered bitterly.

"No, you’re not" Rupert murmured. Ethan turned to glare at him, his eyes burning with the shadow of death.

"What’s the matter Ripper? No one else can be noble? I’d much rather be outside, than ruin the carpet when I finally expire, thank you."

"Ethan, come back here. Rest tonight, you can be noble in the morning. More people about to see you in the daylight" His tone appealing to his friend’s vanity and craving for approval. Ethan halted at the stairs.

"Ripper? I can’t make it back to the bed…"

Willow sipped the tea that Xander had made them. He seemed to like the company. As the evening wore on his quips became less and the Xander clown mask slipped to reveal his serious side.

"Giles, is the thorn beneath the surface of his skin?" Giles nodded, "Then it has to react with air. Leaving it in means he dies, taking it out he dies." Giles’ eyes glowed with pride as Xander struggled to a conclusion. "How does it kill?"

"The settlement was razed to the ground and the Watcher’s were well.… They only found pieces." Willow shuddered.

Giles looked at Xander expectantly. "Uhm, we have exploding buildings and Watcher’s. Why destroy Watchers?" Xander puzzled.

"A Slayer is weakened without her Watcher she has no guidance. No Watcher’s mean the Slayer’s are easier to slay." Giles finished his tea. "But a mistake has been made. I’m not a Watcher. Why are the Hunter’s after me? Buffy doesn’t need guidance she truly has answered her calling."

"Giles …Giles! I think I’ve found them!" Willow cried excitedly. Willow showed him the screen of a local motel. Rupert smiled, always thinking ahead was Willow.

"Good work, love!" He read the names on the motel register Catherine and Dominic Smith, not very original. The clerk had noted “no luggage” and “overnight stay” in the comments section of the electronic form.

"Y’know, you’re very clever!" Rupert’s smile warmed her heart. "Right! We know they’re settled for the night. I suggest we get some sleep too. Tomorrow we have to leave. I don’t want to endanger you further Xander. Thank you for giving us a place to crash."

End of part 6

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