Ethan had just made his bed after dismissing the nymph of the night before when he saw an image of Ripper lying there dying. He put his cup down and went toward the bed, he muttered a spell and the image cleared, and the bedclothes were smooth. As he turned away the room changed, posters clad the walls and the sounds that drifted from the street below were from another time. He looked back at the bed dreading, what he was going to see. Ripper was lying there one arm thrown out to the side; his eyes closed. He looked peaceful a syringe imbedded in his arm above the fresh tattoo. Ethan packed his bag hastily mumbling wards to himself as he raced down the stairs. He had to get to Sunnydale. Ripper needed him.

Willow paced, chewing her nails. She had found Giles staring at the computer screen in the library. She was now de-bugging the mainframe; something had happened. There had been a storm and lightning struck the library. Giles had only agreed to ’play’ on the computer because she had finally convinced him that computers were delightful friendly creatures. He had believed her and now this! Buffy was pacing in the opposite direction, picking splinters off a stake. Xander sat on Giles’ sofa staring at the blank television, thinking. They needed Giles to tell them what to do. He was upstairs sleeping as the dead.

The doorbell startled them, Buffy answered and when she saw who was standing there she promptly slammed the door shut. "Ethan" she said the name like a curse. The doorbell sounded again and this time Willow answered it.

"What do you want Ethan? Come to gloat?" Willow felt bold in the face of disaster.

"I want to come in; I received an invitation." He stepped over the threshold. Willow closed the door and sighed. Ethan looked round the room. Hostility met his gaze from every quarter. He looked up at the balcony feeling someone staring at him. Ripper looked very young.

"Hello, what’s your name? Will you read me a story please?" Giles yawned and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "I can’t get back to sleep." Ethan fixed a smile on his face.

"Hello Rupert. My name is Ethan. I’ll read to you in a moment. Would you like some milk?" Rupert nodded sleepily and tripped back to his room. Ethan’s burning gaze whipped round to each one in turn.

Willow was crying Ethan stepped toward her his expression softened as he guided her to the sofa.

"Now, tell me what happened." He asked gently

"He was working in the library. I made him work on the computer while I patrolled with Buffy. When we got back the computers were off line and he was staring at the screen. We couldn’t wake him…" She started crying fresh tears.

"Ssh, It’s all right Willow, it’s not your fault." He hugged her to quiet her tears. Then he remembered the promised story.

The room was dark except for a small night-light. Ethan fetched a pair of folding spectacles from his pocket and put them on hastily. He opened the book and began to read. Willow brought in the milk. She stood at the door and gazed at them; they were sitting close together. Giles’ chest was bare and he leant his head against Ethan’s arm to look at the pages as he turned them.

"…And off went officer Pat. Press the button Rupert." Rupert’s face lit up as his finger pressed the button on the page. The siren sounded and the red LED glowed. Rupert was entranced.

"The siren sounds officer Pat concludes her rounds." Ethan closed the book, took off his glasses and looked at his watch.

"It’s six-thirty, Rupert, time for bed. Snuggle down now." He tucked the bedclothes round him and kissed him on the forehead. Rupert closed his eyes, and then they snapped open in sudden fear.

"Leave the light!"

"Of course I will Rupert. Goodnight." He pulled the bedroom door almost closed and went downstairs.

He walked into the kitchen and made tea. He poured some of the boiled water into a shallow glass dish and sprinkled a powder that he’d brought with him, onto the surface. The air crackled with static as the water in the dish glowed then solidified.

"Re-play." He announced to the ether and the surface tightened to a moving record of the previous night. "Focus." The picture sharpened and displayed the computer screen and fingers moving over the keys.

"Rewind.… Stop." He peered closer. "Zoom-in." The picture wavered then became still. "Play slowly."

The pound of his fist on the counter top made everyone jump. "Erase. Thankyou." The water was just water again and he tipped it away. He walked into the living room with his tea and found himself the centre of attention he smiled pleasantly.

"I know how it happened, I think. There was a storm and lightning struck the library. The computer shorted through Ripper, who was touching the keys and he was infected with a computer virus. Strikes me as a trifle weird but then you are living on the Hellmouth, so I suppose it’s all par for the course. If he gets plenty of sleep he’ll be fine." He took a long swallow from his mug.

"Ethan I’m de-bugging the computers." Willow looked worried.

"Sorry, Willow you’ve lost me. What does that mean?" He looked into her luminous eyes; a man could drown in those eyes.

"I’m trying to purge the virus from the system. It’s like a brain and I’m burning all the bad sectors out." She was more confident when talking about computers.

"Burning? Bad sectors? How long does this take?" He gripped her arms painfully.

"It varies, depending on how many corrupted files there are."

Ethan stared at her, slowly comprehending what she’d just said. If Rupert and the computer were linked when the short occurred, Willow would be de-bugging Rupert’s mind as well as the computers’ mainframe. He swore slowly under his breath. God only knew what kind of demons would be given free rein tonight!

"Ethan?" He looked up at the balcony. Ripper leant there; dressed in jeans just the way Ethan liked him. He put his mug down and rushed upstairs. Ripper had ducked back into the room to finish dressing.

"We’re still going out, aren’t we? Are they yours down there? The girls are okay but the fella looks a bit vacant. Not your cup of tea at all."

Ethan held his breath, hardly believing Ripper was back after all these years. Ethan hugged him and Ripper was a little surprised. He ruffled Ethan’s hair.

"C’mon, show me the sights. You got anything with you Ethan?" Ripper asked a little anxiously. Ethan smiled and nodded.

"In the car.… We’re going out, children." He called. "Don’t wait up!" With that the two of them thundered down the stairs and out the front door. They ran down the path and jumped in Ethan’s car.

The three teens stood at the open door. Willow’s expression changed into the infamous resolve face

"I’m going to the library to get answers; I’ll bring them back here." She grabbed her coat, "Xander? Eat something, you’re making me nervous not eating!"

Ripper sat on a gravestone kicking his heels against the granite while his friend danced with the last ’meal’ of a vampire. He finished the coke Ethan had given him and leapt off the gravestone. He tapped Ethan’s shoulder and he relinquished his grip on the girl. Ripper looked at her face; she looked as though she were sleeping. A small ’flick-flack’ noise alerted Ethan to what his friend was about to do. Ethan gazed at Rupert. As the knife he had always carried, ripped down the front of her dress, cut through her bra and then punctured her heart. Ripper held her close and lapped then sucked at the blood that flowed from the fresh wound he had made. Ethan crept closer. Rupert eyes closed as he swallowed.

"Welcome home, Ripper." Ethan breathed.

"Anything else, Ethan?" Giles collapsed on the grass next to the car, breathless and beaded with sweat. "I know I shouldn’t but I feel as if I haven’t had anything in ages. I just want everything."

"Even me?" Ripper looked at him fondly and touched his face.

"Even you, lets get back. Maybe we can share the girls, you know. Boy-girl-boy- girl." He laughed as he opened the car door and they drove off in the direction of his house.

Ethan felt around under the car seat and pulled out a plastic bag. "There you go ’pick ’n’ mix’; don’t eat them all at once."

Soon they were home. Ripper got out of the car and walked unsteadily to his front door he put the key in the lock but before he had a chance to turn it. The door was yanked open by a very angry looking Buffy. Ripper giggled.

"Look, its magic! Ethan did you do that?" He staggered over his threshold.

"Could you all stop tilting for a second?" Then he saw Willow and his face softened. "Red…" He breathed as he walked toward Willow. He plucked her off the sofa and lifted her into his arms. Willow shot a distressed look to her friends as she noticed the blood stain on his shirt. Rupert walked to the stairs, kissing her. Her arms circled round his neck as she started to kiss him back. Buffy protested but Ethan silenced her. He knew hurting Willow was the furthest thing from Ripper’s mind.

Suddenly everything changed. Willow squirmed away from his grasp and screamed into his mouth. He dropped her and flattened himself to the wall laughing at the look on her face.

"He tastes of blood…" Willow wiped her mouth on her sleeve and scrambled out of the way as the Slayer pinned Rupert to the wall. He looked down at the stake poised over his heart and idly lit the joint he’d taken from his pocket. He blew smoke in her face.

"I’m not a vampire, love. I just finished its left-overs." She shifted the aim of the stake and drove it into the plaster by his arm. She turned on Ethan.

"What have you done to my Watcher?" Tears were in her eyes. Xander was comforting Willow she looked very small on the sofa.

"I haven’t done anything. This is how he used to be, I’ve always liked him this way…" His speech halted by someone coughing up half a lung by the stairs. Giles stared at the burning object he held in his fingers.

"What the Bloody Hell am I smoking this for?" He looked round and noticed Ethan and his expression changed to one of anger.

"No romp in bed for me then." Ethan muttered.

Giles held his stomach in alarm and fled to the bathroom. Ten minutes later Giles was back. Freshly showered and dressed in sweats. He sat on the sofa. Willow handed him some tea. He nodded his thanks and drank in silence. He put his mug down and rested his head on the back of the sofa he was soon fast asleep.

End of Part 1

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