"Trust me, Slayer. He's a vamp. Just not my kind of vamp. No demon."
Blake pulled herself together. "Of course he's no demon."
Jean Claude held on to her easily. "But he, ma petite, is a demon. You see his face. They do not hunt as I and mine do. They can move about during the day, but they don't have our mental strengths."
Buffy frowned. "Mental strengths."
"Don't meet his eyes," Willow said sharply. "Like Dracula."
Spike and Xander gave identical growls.
Jean Claude blinked. "Tepes survives here?"
"Only until I catch up with him," Spike growled.
"We," Xander added. "We catch up with him."
Buffy studied Jean Claude suspiciously. "How do you know this stuff about him, when he doesn't know about you?"
"I am over four hundred years old, mademoiselle. One learns things."
"The Watchers don't know this stuff."
"The whom, mademoiselle?"
Willow tugged on Buffy's sleeve. "I think we need to go chat with our baby Watcher and our big Watcher and let them go."
"Got my vote. Xander?"
Xander glared at Spike's wound, then shrugged. "Yeah, let 'em go. So long as they really do go," he added with a surprisingly serious glare.
"Yes, m'sieur, we will be going."
"No, we won't," Blake said. "Let me go, don't you dare pull the little woman routine on me."
"Anita, this is not our place, it's best we leave."
"I want my gun."
Buffy went to pick up the pistol. "This ugly thing? Xander, can you unload it for me?"
Xander popped the clip, then opened the breech to pull the round from the chamber. He studied the round as he handed the empty pistol to Buffy. "Huh. It is silver."
"Let me see," Spike said. Xander dropped the round into his hand, and both Blake and Jean Claude fought gasps. Spike gave them puzzled looks, the studied the silvery bullet in its brass casing. He touched the tip of his tongue to the metal. "Yeah, silver, no idea why."
Willow shrugged. "Most protection spells involve silver."
Spike tossed the round back to Xander, who fitted it into the clip. "Does nothing to me." He glanced at his rings. "Just as well."
Buffy turned to Blake and Jean Claude. "As fun as this exchange program is, it's probably a good idea if you go home now."
Blake stuck out her hand. "I want my gun back."
"This thing? OK." Buffy studied it, then grabbed the barrel and squeezed. The heavy steel resisted, but it didn't have to bend far. "Here you go."
Blake took it numbly and didn't say a word.
Xander handed her the clip. "There you go. Use 'em in good health."
"Oi! Maybe I wanted a souvenir?"
"You can keep the one we dig out of you."
"Oh, right. I want the good whiskey, then, if I'm going to get cut on."
"Only the best."
Buffy looked pointedly at Jean Claude, who finally took his gaze from the ruined pistol and nodded.
"Come, ma petite. It's time we went home."
Blake followed him back into the woods. Her voice was raised in argument, then cut off.
"Think he killed her?" Spike said hopefully.
Willow shook her head. "No, they probably went home." She hesitated. "Anybody want to go look?" She didn't get an answer. "OK, home, then, for some vampire surgery and a game of Stump the Watcher!"
Buffy grinned. "She sounds so happy when she gets like this."
"Yeah," Spike grumbled, "it's not her being cut on."
Xander bumped into him companionably. "That's OK, I'll hold your hand. Least I can do for a loved one."
Spike tried to protest, but the smile got away from him. Willow and Buffy watched them with smiles of their own.
Xander and Spike finally noticed. "Stop that!" Spike snapped.
"Not cute," Xander protested, "not cute!" Spike tugged on his arm and they headed off.
Willow looked at Buffy. "Cute."
"Yeah."
"Expelliarmus? Isn't that Harry Potter?"
"Hey, it worked."