Chinthliss gritted his teeth and smiled urbanely at the so-called Slayer and her group of helpers. The temptation to shift into his dragon form and eat the wench was incredible, but he was sure she'd leave a bad taste in his mouth and probably be stringy to boot.

The old dragon darted a quick glance at his adopted son only to be caught in the young mage's knowing gaze. Busted.

*****

Giles followed Buffy into the back room, already knowing what she was going to say. "Buffy, before you start making plans for taking over Underhill, please, let me say something. The Unseleighe Court is like nothing you've, or any of us, have ever faced. They aren't evil, as such, just heartless and cruel. There also happens to be literally thousands of them. If we attack one clan, the rest will come for us, and right now, we have more important things to worry about."

Buffy smiled at her Watcher, albeit sadly. "I know we can't afford to take them on right now, Giles. But isn't there something we can do for them? They said they're both mages, maybe they'd be able to help us with Glory?"

Giles sighed and rubbed his temples, hoping to alievate the headache that had been pounding behind his eyes for days on end. "I don't know, Buffy, I just don't know."

*****

Xander snuck another glance at the third man in the group, the one that looked so much like James Dean. He knew who, and more importantly what, he was, but since Fox hadn't said anything, Xander decided not to push it. After listening to both sides of the discussion, he thought he'd come up with a workable plan, now he just had to convince the others.

*****

Fox and Chinthliss helped Tannim out of the shop and into their rental car. The young mage had pushed himself much too hard given recent events. Chinthliss shook his head resignedly, there was no way Tannim would rest while Shar was still being held hostage. The young man's sheer stubborness and determination had stood him in good stead in the past, but this time, it may well kill him.

*****

Fox decided he was in shock, he'd hoped to see Xander while in Sunnydale, but he hadn't expected to see him tonight. And the fact that his young playmate worked with the Slayer? Fox could have swallowed his own tail, all four of them, over that. But there was no way to tell if the blocks he'd put on Xander's memories had held. The boy hadn't really paid any attention to him, at least not that Fox could see. The young Kitsune sighed, he didn't know if he should be happy or heartbroken.

*****

Xander managed to hold his tongue until their visitors had left the Magic Box, but it was a near thing. Now he just had to convince the others that his plan would work. 'Yay. This ought to be fun. Oh well, no time like the present.' "Uh, guys? I think I might have a solution, for both our problems."

Willow grinned at him, encouraging him to say what he had on his mind. Even Buffy and Giles managed to look interested. "Go ahead, Xander. Tell us what you've got. It has to be better than my idea, which is absolutely nothing, since I can't think of anything." Buffy said, tiredly.

Xander took a deep breath before beginnning, "Okay, this is the way I see it. They need help getting rid of the their bad guys, and we need help getting rid of ours. But the biggie right now is protecting Dawn. We need someplace to hide her where Glory won't be able to find her. So...how about this. We help them with their problem, once the bad elves are gone, we take control of that pocket place they were talking about, stash Dawn and then we can all work on getting rid of Glory."

Giles was intrigued, "That's actually not a bad idea, Xander. But there is still the problem of the Unseleighe Court. As mortals, if we interfere, we'd bring their wrath down on us. We can't afford that."

Xander grinned, "But we have a secret weapon, G-Man. We have a Spike."

Buffy's eyes grew wide, "Spike? Xander have you lost your mind?"

"Think about it, Buffy." Willow said, excitedly. "Spike gets to go all grrr, kill people, or not people, I'm not sure how elves classify exactly, anyway, he gets to play Big Bad, save the girl and be the hero. Besides, you know he'd do anything for Dawn." Willow frowned for a second, "You know, that still worries me. Do you think he's under a spell? I mean, we're talking about William the Bloody here, it's hard to believe that he's so worried about Dawn, but we all know he is."

Buffy almost smiled, "I over heard them talking once, Dawn reminds Spike of his little sister."

Giles jumped from his chair and headed for the bookcase, "Yes, I seem to remember something..." Giles grabbed a rather dusty book off the top shelf, "Here it is. The first journal about William the Bloody." Giles read for a few moments before saying, "He had a younger sister, Emilia, it appears that they were quite close. Oh my."

"What is it, Mr. Giles?" Tara asked in her soft voice.

"It says here that Emilia passed away just before her fourteenth birthday. From the description, it sounds like she died of tuberculosis. It was only a few days later that Spike was turned. The Watcher who kept this journal states that he believed that Emilia's death, followed so closely by Cecelia's rejection, made him give up. That's why he was such easy prey for Drucilla."

"That explains a lot." Xander muttered. "Anyway, I'll go talk to that Tannim guy, see if they like the plan. You guys stay here and keep researching the Glory problem."

Xander grabbed his jacket and headed out, but Buffy stopped him at the door. "Xander? Thanks."

Xander gave her a hug, "No problem, Buffster. That's me, Xan-man, the man with the plan."

*****

Xander checked the address on the back of the business card in his hand before he knocked. He could hear voices behind the door and stepped back when he heard footsteps coming closer.

The person that answered the door was one he hadn't met yet. He was tall, had long light blonde hair and the glamour he'd surrounded himself with made him sparkle. Xander grinned when he saw the slit pupil eyes and pointed ears, he'd never actually met a Seleighe Court High Lord before, but he'd lay odds that this man was exactly that.

Xander stuck out his hand and said with a grin, "Hi. I'm Xander, I work with the Slayer. I think we might have a workable solution to our problems."

Keighvin shook the boy's hand, unable to resist the friendly smile or laughing eyes. "I'm Keighvin, please, come in."

Xander stepped inside and nodded to the others in the room before turning back to Keighvin, "Uh, you can turn that off if you want. Glamours don't work on me."

Keighvin raised one elegantly arched brow and released the illusion. The boy grinned wider and bounced on his feet, "Are you a High Lord? I've never met one before, you sure look like what I think one would look like. So...are you?"

Keighvin had trouble following the boy's babble for a moment, but finally laughed. "Aye, I am. Lord Keighvin Silverhair, at your service." the elf said with a bow.

Xander's face grew deadly serious, "No, I'm at yours." Everyone fell silent and watched as Xander crossed the room and knelt down in front of FX, who was trying to curl up in a little ball. "Fox? Aren't you even going to say hi?" Xander asked quietly.

The kitsune raised miserable, tear-filled eyes, "I didn't think you remembered me, I didn't want you to have to remember."

Xander pulled FX into his lap, laughing quietly, "Hey, I'm bigger than you now. How weird is that?" FX shifted into his natural form and Xander started in surprise when he caught sight of the kitsune's tails. "Fox? You got another tail! Oooohhhh, who's the four-tail, kitsune man now, huh? You go, Rabbit."

'Rabbit?' Keighvin asked, silently.

Tannim shrugged, he had no idea what was going on here.

FX snorted back a laugh and smacked Xander on the arm, "I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, I'm a fox, not a rabbit."

Xander just shook his head and tugged on one very long ear. "Hey, I was three, you looked like a rabbit to me."

Chinthliss cleared his throat, "I'm sorry to break up such a happy reunion," the old dragon said irritably, "but could someone please explain to me what exactly is going on here?"

Fox shuddered and Xander hugged him a little tighter. "You remember when I said I'd been inside the Hellmouth before?" The kitsune asked. Everyone nodded. Fox pointed one black clawed thumb back at Xander, "Xander here went in after me and pulled me out."

Keighvin stared at the young man, new respect in his eyes.

"How? I mean..." Tannim stuttered.

Xander shrugged, "Hey, Fox was my best friend, even if I was the only one who could see him. I couldn't leave him there."

Chinthliss nodded, "Yes, yes, I can see that. But how did you manage it?"

Xander grinned, "I was three and I didn't know any better. I just walked right in, grabbed Fox's tails and pulled him out with me."

Fox giggled, "You should have seen it. A little human, who didn't really even walk that well yet, strolled right into a nest of demons and took me away from them. One of the tried to stop him and he just pouted at them. It was scary."

"Hey, why did you leave after that? I looked for you everywhere." Xander asked, the old hurt still evident in his voice.

Fox's eyes filled with tears again, "I tried to block all the memories you had of me. I didn't want you to remember what you saw there." A deep shudder passed through the kitsune's body, "No one should have to remember that. Besides, I was afraid that you'd been contaminated by being there. I was trying to protect you."

Everyone could see the light come on in Xander's head, "Well, that explains a lot. Well, not a lot, but at least why I'm such a demon magnet."

Fox turned to stare into Xander's eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never meant for that to happen."

Xander's face turned red, "All demons aren't bad." He said, quietly. Brightening suddenly he said, "And that brings me to the reason I'm here. I have a 'friend' that I think can help you. We'll have to talk to him about it, but I think he'd be willing."

"What's the catch?" Keighvin asked.

Xander scratched his head, the blush even more pronounced, "Well, Spike is, uh, well, hesavampire." he finished in a rush.

"He's a what?!" Chinthliss roared.

"A vampire." Xander said decisively. "You know, pointy teeth, likes to bite?"

Tannim held up one hand, "Let me get this straight, you know a vampire and you think he would be able to help us...how exactly?"

"It's a long story, but basically, the government got a hold of Spike and put a chip in his head, now he can't hurt humans anymore. But I don't think he'd have a problem with whupping up on the people that have your girlfriend. He likes that sort of thing. They don't call him the Big Bad for nothing."

"The Big Bad?" Fox asked, curiously.

"Yep, William the Bloody, Scourge of Europe." Xander said, sounding almost proud.

Keighvin started when he heard the name, "You know William the Bloody? And you think he'd be willing to help us?" the Seleighe Lord asked incredously.

Xander's blush returned with a vengeance. "Yeah, well...see...um...he likes me."

"And what would you ask for in return?" Tannim wanted to know.

Xander became very serious, "You know we're having some problems of our own?"

The mage nodded. "Well, it has to do with Glorificus and the Key. We have it, she wants it."

Keighvin sat down on the floor, all the strength gone from his legs. "The Key?" he asked, weakly. "You have the Key?"

"Yeah. Only it's not just the Key anymore. Some of these monk dudes took the Key and turned it into a human, Dawn. She's Buffy's little sister. We have to keep Glory from getting her hands on Dawn. We want that pocket thingee you guys were talking about. We're going to clean house and stash Dawn there until we take care of Glory."

Keighvin turned sad eyes to his friend, "I'm sorry, Tannim, but this takes precedence over Shar. If the Hell-God Glorificus can sacrifice the Key, all will be lost."

Tannim's face was pale, but he understood, completely. Keighvin turned back to Xander. "We will help protect and hide the Key. We can take her Underhill, now. She will be safe in our Grove, my own family will watch out for her. And should all else fail, we will keep the girl with us, forever if need be." Keighvin saw the concern on Xander's face and tried to reassure him, "Do not fear. She will be quite safe and very well protected. And probably spoiled beyond belief by my parents."

Xander felt the pall that had been dragging them all down for weeks start to lift, at least a little. "Can you help us fight Glory?" he asked hopefully.

"We can't confront Glorificus directly, but I can help train the Slayer to fight her, and provide the weapons needed to destroy that bitch once and for all."

Xander gaped at the elf, "Really? You'd do that? That is so cool. Come on. Let's go get Spike and then talk to Buffy."

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