1st July, 1997

I woke up in the dark and was completely unable to move. I tried jerking my bracelet around but my arm wouldn't respond. My confusion turned to unrelenting terror when I ran through the likely causes of my current paralysis. I couldn't quite twist my neck to look around but what I did manage to glimpse wasn't reassuring. The oversized demon got clearly gotten the better of me but I never imagined he'd be this strong. I was in derelict and broken down building, probably from when Maloker contemptuously threw me in it, and I was covered by a substantial amount of debris. I tried moving anything but beyond faintly twitching my neck around everything was unresponsive.

Shit.

Ok. Breathe in and out. Calm the fuck down.

While that was easier said than done I did eventually manage to settle down a little. A little bit of dust got into my nose and I erupted in the worlds saddest coughing fit. Once the greater part of the panic passed I felt like I could properly think again. I felt like repeatedly face-palming once I gave the problem some thought. I simply bit into my tongue, used the release of magic to kick start a Bank Safe, and actually felt the various disjointed bits of body glue back together.

That was at least one part of the problem fixed. I turned to the neck and tried to dig myself out from under the rocks and pieces off wall. The debris shook a little and a few of the looser bits fell off. Unfortunately that did absolutely nothing to the larger pieces that kept me immobile.

In the distance I could hear Maloker screech but all that did was remind me I was on a timer. His screams seemed to get louder over time unless…it just meant he was getting closer.

Fuck.

I jerked my bracelet a little, let off a Flash Bang, and felt it displace a few more pieces of wall. Another three Flash Bangs interspersed with Bank Safe's later and I thought I could finally see through light coming through the gaps of the debris. One of my legs got a little breathing room and I kicked around trying to topple some more stone off of me.

Maloker's outcry shook the building but the frightened scream that followed it chilled me to the core.

"No! Kar!" That must be Fred…

If Fred's here then it means that the others…

I let off a stream of expletives as I erupted in another flurry of panic. I could feel myself ripping my own body to shreds but I didn't care anymore. I was getting out of here, now! Magical grenade after grenade illuminated the building and cracked the stone keeping me stuck. Small pieces of rock embedded themselves deep into my flesh but it didn't matter. They were expelled by Bank Safe before I even really noticed them. The Flash Bang's didn't stop and I was done holding back. Less than a minute later I found I carved out enough space to pull myself out from under the debris.

I reached into my jacket and pulled out one of my shotguns but discarded it when I saw how bent out of shape it was. The other one didn't fare any better and I knew I was already out of grenades.

Well, crap. Guess I'm going to have to stick to magic.

"Retreat to the church!"

I stepped out the building, onto the street, and was met by the sight of Maloker crushing our truck between his hands. The monster had grown to a forty foot stature and was just in the process of trying to stomp out the freaky IMP. The living program darted in and around the Old One's legs and with every pass inflicted a spectacular amount of damage slicing through its legs. Maloker screamed with every pass but he seemed far too slow to do anything about it.

He's carrying the Glove.

A few upsetting realizations struck me at the same time. Jonathan and Andrew must have disobeyed my incredibly specific instruction to not leave the fucking house. I looked around for the others and silently cursed the lack of Primal assisted smell. Constantine's own freely gifted senses helped a little but I was used to a far more informative scent processor. Instead I just headed out to nearest church.

If any of them died I was going to revive them and put them in a little box so they'd never, ever, get hurt again.

Fools.

I quickly crossed the street, ran through a few back alleys, and came upon the only church in six blocks. One of the advantages of living in Sunnydale, if you could call it that, was the fact that there were three times as many churches as cemeteries. And Sunnydale had a lot of cemeteries.

I snarled out as best I could, "I told you to stay home!"

Jonathan turned first and actually smiled at me. Marcie materialized next to me, holding on to my arm, and Fred rushed across the room to do the same. Constantine beat her by miles and perched himself atop my shoulders.

"Yup, you did." "Oh my god; you're here, Kar is bleeding!" "Nick!" "Mine, Pack, Mine, Pack!"

I disentangled myself from the two women and ran over the small frame of Kar. I saw her coughing up blood and the sight of her bleeding, broken body, only increased the icy fear in my veins. I opened a slight cut, stuck my finger in her, and drained away all the suffering.

Andrew's turned towards me, briefly flashed me a grin as his eyes lit up green and said, "My Imp is beating the shit out of an Old One."

Jonathan spoke up, "I know you're mad but frankly…I'm alright with that. We talked about this, Nick. Scenario Three. You need us here!"

I took a deep breath and tried to spit out a reply when Marcie interrupted me.

"I'm sorry, Nick, but you can bitch about this some other time."

Jonathan continued once again, "Indeed. Anyways; Scenario Three calls for the Gigantism spell and I doubt the Imp is going to buy us enough time to pull off that ritual. Do you have any other plans?"

More than anything Marcie's words convinced me to let this go. If even she wasn't listening I knew I couldn't push things too far. Instead I let the breath I was holding in go and turned it into a deep sigh.

"Alright." I paused for a moment and continued, "Blood Magic wasn't enough. I'm…I'm going to need to dip into some deep Flesh Magics. I just need a large distraction."

Johnny quirked his head sideways, Andrew was noticeably taken aback, but the rest didn't seem to get the implications.

I turned to Marcie and said, "Have you kept your dagger sharp, Marcie?"

The girl wore a spectacular smirk and replied, "Of course! What do you need me to do?"

"I just need to borrow it, sweetheart. Now…for the distraction?"

Jonathan spoke up once again, "I can handle that. How does fifty feet of flaming Johnny expy sound?"

I frowned a little and looked closely at the boy. There was something off about him but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I benched my suspicions but not before telling him.

"Good, but we'll be having words later, mate."

His grin widened substantially and he actually winked when he replied, "Looking forward to it, Mister Primal Boss-man."

Shit.

That didn't spell anything good but I couldn't waste any more time on this. The boy walked off to the street and presumably headed out to the nearest open flame.

I turned to Andrew and asked him, "How long can the Imp keep Maloker on his toes?"

The techno-pagan considered the question for a brief moment before responding, "Five minutes, perhaps? The Glove is draining it…otherwise indefinitely. It likely wouldn't hurt the bastard if he didn't carry the Glove though."

Good enough.

"Ok, make way to the basement, there's little you three can do right now. Johnny will make a big splash and I'll go end the ancient freak."

Marcie tried to say something but I covered her mouth with my hand.

"Marcie, just listen, please. I just need you three to stay out of the firing zone. This…won't be pretty. Please?"

The girl eventually nodded after holding my gaze for a moment and helped Kar get on her feet. Fred and Constantine latched on them and followed the two to the back of the church. Andrew seemed to wait until they were out of hearing range.

"Which part of you are you sacrificing, Nick?"

I looked him square in the eyes and said, "Whatever's necessary, buddy. Now, please go with them."

I briefly watched my blond leather clad friend walk off, headed to the street, and ran out to the roof of the church. I squashed the annoyance I felt at not being able to simply jump twenty feet up and instead had to use my barrier constructs to set up a make-shift set of stairs.

I created small plat forms right along the wall of the building on which I raced to the roof. Once I got there I saw that Maloker was still being frustrated by the Imp but I knew it couldn't last long. Its bright glow had diminished severely and even though from this distance I could see it very well…I knew its one's and zero's on the surface were slowing down.

I raised the dagger, held it over my left wrist, and waited for Johnny's construct to appear.

July 1st, 1997

As I stood atop the roof of the church I surveyed the damage Sunnydale's warehouse district had accrued over the course of the nights battles. Fires raged all over the neighborhood, I could hear people screaming in fear and anguish, which coupled with the unnatural stillness of all the vampires, made for a terrifying panorama. More than a few buildings had collapsed unto themselves and the smoke from all the fires sent more than a few people scurrying from under their cover. Sunnydale syndrome covered a lot of weirdness but I wondered how this was going to get explained away.

'Four hundred gas leaks last night! Mayor to make announcements tomorrow!'

Maloker and the rapidly diminishing Imp were still going at it. In his fury the Old One cracked the roads, kicked over cars and trampled buildings. I had to give it to Andrew; his creation was one sturdy motherfucker. I could see the wounds all over the ancient demons legs and briefly considered how strong the beast would be and whether I could take it myself…

The fact that the wounds didn't seem be healing was utterly amazingly in its own right. The Holy Glove and its power weren't designed to battle Old Ones but I guess the ancient creature was close enough. Kleynach demons were 'Pure' demons after all and only a single step under the Old Ones. I had to remember to send Denver a little thank you letter if we all came out of this alive.

Unfortunately, the ancient demon had wised up significantly and discarded most of his mass early on in the conflict with the Imp. Now it stood barely higher than a man and was actually keeping up with the rapidly darting construct. Fortunately for us the creature never got a good clean hit in and Imp seemed more than able to absorb the glancing blows Maloker inflicted on it.

Despite asking Jonathan to set up a distraction I kept an eye out on opportunities to blast the Old One with a barrage of flesh magic. Unlike blood magic I couldn't quite rely on lobbing spell after spell at the creature. Blood can be fairly easily replaced but flesh…well let's just say I didn't want to risk running out of it.

A full minute had passed since I reached the roof but still there was no sign of any of the fires surrounding us acting up. Perhaps Johnny ran into some trouble? Did he lose control over his inner fires?

Shit.

The Imp was fading further and further away and it was upsettingly obvious the construct wouldn't last much longer. I couldn't afford waiting for Jonathan anymore. I was going to have to take the shot.

If I missed…

I couldn't even consider that.

I raised my arm in front of me, aimed the dagger straight at the elbow, and with a clean and powerful strike cut through it in a singular motion. The stray thought that it was fairly strange that I didn't so much as flinch from the strike raced through my mind at the same time as a breath-taking amount of magic was suddenly released. Faintly I processed my arm dropping onto the roof with a wet thud but the majority of my attention was caught by the utterly deafening pulse of my magic.

Dum. Da-da-Dum. Dum. Da-da-Dum. Dum.

The chaotic and wild magic hung in the air and pulsed in concert with my heartbeat. I metaphysically reached out for the power, desperately wrestled it under control, and finally managed to order it into a spectacular Flash Bang. Any other spell would have run the risk of completely missing the Old One and that was simply unacceptable. The light from the magical grenade shone as bright as a sun and only the fact that it was still connected to me stopped it from searing out my eyes. Unlike other Flash Bangs this one was a good feet in diameter and the power emanating from it was intoxicating.

I lobbed the Flash Bang towards the ancient vampire, witnessed the incredibly satisfying sight of it trying to scramble out of the way, but thankfully the spell still caught the demon. The shockwave was an order of magnitude bigger than anything I had ever felt before. Only the instinctive reflex of subduing the entirety of the rest of the ambient magic and forcing it into a Barricade kept me from being swept up in it.

The world shook all around me and a thrill of utter sadness ran through my very core.

How many people were hiding around here? How many lives have I just snuffed out?

I forcible stopped myself from thinking about it but the more I tried to bury the thought…the harder it bubbled back up. I was caught in a feedback loop that was progressively getting harder and harder to disregard. Long, excruciatingly long, moments passed before I regained a semblance of control but even that was ripped away from me when I heard a solitary scream come out from the dusty road.

"No! Anne!"

My incredible relief at the not recognizing the voice kick started the cycle again and this time I lost myself in it, fully. Guilt, which I had evaded for so long, hit me like a punch to gut and I felt the bottom of my stomach give out. I fell to my knees, hurled out the contents of my stomach, and started violently hyperventilating when I had vomited out everything in my system. Despite already being on my knees I was caught by powerful vertigo and shivers erupted all over.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

All those people…I can't…

Jesus Christ…I'm a monster.

That last thought was too much for me and gave up trying to hold everything inside together. I reached for a little more magic and came up empty.

An eternity passed.

I didn't know how long I stared at my puke covered knees. My stump had long since stopped bleeding but that didn't even register. My entire world was reduced to shame and all I knew was guilt. In my desperation to end it I withdrew inside my mind. Deeper and deeper I fell until eventually it would stop hurting.

Just stop.

Please?

I felt Constantine's presence asserting itself. Without thinking I reached out to my puppy and welcomed the source of comfort. Constantine, however, wasn't satisfied and pressed on.

A flash of understanding passed between the two of us and I knew he what he wanted. I reached further into our bond and opened the connection between us full throttle. The wicked energy of the Constantine-Primal raced across and made contact with the slumbering Me-Primal part inside of me. With a start it woke up and I felt everything else fall away.

Ah! This was much better!

Note to self; don't let it go. Ever!

I got back up on my feet, inhaled the scents of the night deeply, stood up as straight as I could and howled as loud as possible.

"My Den! My Pack! All mine!"

I surveyed the aftermath of my raw magic and couldn't help but grin. Once the dust settled I could clearly see a seventy foot crater where there had been buildings just moments before. It was almost as if all the matter was simply eradicated because I knew explosions didn't work like this. An unnatural quiet hung in the air as I searched for either Maloker or his remains.

I couldn't find either.

What I did find was the Holy Glove laying near the edge of crater without so much as a scratch on it. I jumped off the church, crossed the distance to the Glove in seemingly two steps, and put it on my still attached hand.

My telekinesis may not be as powerful as Andrew's but it had gotten strong enough for reasonable purposes. Just as I magically slid the Glove onto my arm I was assault at all sides by scent of death and the stench of raw fucking power. Red and black lines violently swung around me like out of control fire hoses and with speed borne out of desperation I darted away from them. I slapped the ones that got close away with Holy Glove but that didn't dissuade them.

I still couldn't see Maloker but the red and black lines of death and power still chased me. I jumped on top of the nearest building that still stood and briefly noted that Johnny finally got his flame on. I couldn't give it much thought that as at the moment one of the lines caught up to me.

Everything burned.

The momentary distraction of the line embedding itself in me stopped me for long enough for all the others to do the same. Ancient memories burned themselves in my mind and only a hastily cast Bank Safe kept my brain matter from being shred to pieces. More and more thoughts and memories burned and slashed their way into my mind.

A family of four quakes in fear as I ate them one by one…

A fisherman's shocked expression as I flash him my fangs…

A crying infant begging for its mother…

A little girl screaming out 'Liam- no!'…

The world went dark.

July 1st, 1997

I awoke with a start, frantically looked around, and the first thing I noticed was that I lay on the couch in my living room. The second thing I noticed was that Giles, Willow, Xander and Buffy were all tied to chairs and unconscious in the corner of the room. Confusion briefly raced through my thoughts before Jonathan put his hand on my shoulder.

"Erm, things got out of hand Bossman."

What the fuck happened?

The last thing I remembered was being struck by all the red and black anchor-lines to the blood-demon dimension. I was assaulted by the memories of hundreds of vampires and despite Bank Safe draining away the damage I passed out. The memories were less pronounced now, almost as if dulled just enough for me to keep my sanity, but I could swear I still felt the blood demons.

That would be a worry for another time though. Now I needed to focus on the current situation. How the fuck did this happen?

"I can see that, Johnny. Please explain."

My sorcerer friend bore a wicked grin and said, "Buffy and Giles didn't appreciate the measures taken by us tonight. They were about to do something…irrevocable and I thought it best they had a time out."

Ok…

I decided to trust his judgment and looked around for the others. Jonathan must have noticed my confusion because he immediately continued.

"Andrew is in the study doing research, Marcie is invisibly keeping watch over the 'Scoobies', and the rest are packing up everything here. The first floor of our new base is reasonably ready and I suggested we should get ready to move out there. I just sent a message to Uncle Bob…he should be here soon."

I nodded and replied, "Good. I think…I did something with the vampires."

Jonathan's grin got exponentially bigger when he responded, "Heh, Andrew is checking it out, but we have our suspicions. When you passed out all the vampires woke up. Immediately afterwards they started silently playing search and rescue."

What?

What…

Johnny continued, "I assume, buddy, that you've overridden their…erm…programming? You were knocked out cold so I thought that they were running off your subconscious. Can you…feel them?"

This was too much. I knew the ritual was risky, I knew it would come with a cost, but I never thought it would do anything beyond paralyzing them. This, however, was both exhilarating and extremely worrying.

I softly replied, "I can sense something…beyond myself. I don't think I can control them though."

Jonathan nodded as if he expected that and said, "We'll figure it out when Uncle Bob shows up." He fell silent for a moment before smiling again, "God damn, dude. You killed an Old One…solo! We're in the big leagues now!"

I snorted a little but shook my head, "No, Johnny. We were already in the big leagues but now…everyone else knows."

My sorcerer friend erupted in a laughing fit and I pulled the boy closer to me. I locked gazes with him and spoke up after a moment of silence, "Tonight was, in hindsight, rather ill-advised. I'm sorry…I think I caused most of this. No…I'm sure I did."

Jonathan looked vaguely confused but I didn't let him interrupt me, "If I was never here…never came to Sunnydale. I…none of you would be involved in this mess. Not for a long time at least."

This time Jonathan looked downright insulted, "I just love how you think that's relevant. We faced fucked up odds tonight but we won! Look…I get that you feel a bit put out tonight but we'll talk about this when we've got everyone together. Shit, I…I'm not as good at this as Andrew. I should just call him."

The sorcerer slithered out of my grasp and headed towards the stairs. I didn't call him back and instead, for perhaps the first time tonight, just sat and thought about the implications. I needed to examine what I knew, what I suspected, and how I could have handled things…better. We had come out of this intact, for a given value of that, and I was grateful for that. We certainly couldn't rely on this though.

I couldn't afford holding back anymore. There were avenues of power that I had disregarded for too long. If I had reached for those avenues before tonight…the entire fight would have been fucking trivial.

I momentarily put all of that out of my mind and thought back to today's events. This had to have been the longest day of my entire fucking life. An extremely painful crash-course in blood magic in the morning, getting blackmailed by the Powers in the afternoon, playing politics with the Mayor in the evening and lastly tangling with an honest to god physical representation of the Original Vampire…

Andrew and Jonathan came down but I waved both of them off.

"Can we not do this tonight? I'm still feeling a little out of it."

Jonathan looked like he didn't agree but a slap on the back of his head from Andrew later and he changed his tune. I twigged a little at Marcie's glamour and the girl knew to appear in front of us. I didn't really want to talk about anything so I just motioned for all of them to sit on the couch with me with.

The most pleasant part of evening passed in blissful quiet as we just sat together for a while…entirely content.

July 1st, 1997

I could hear someone approaching the door and got up to check it out. Once I reached the door however I could smell the magic in the air. Robert had showed up. I opened the door to greet my mentor.

"Hello Robert."

Robert didn't respond and instead just reached out and grabbed me up in a bear hug. Initially I thought the man was crying because of the way his body shook but a few moments passed when I heard him wheezing with laughter.

Robert withdrew once he stopped laughing and said, "Oh, my precious boy, you have given me finest gift I could have ever asked for."

I quirked and eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

He let a grin form and said, "You haven't merely met my expectations. You, by far, exceeded them. I have never been so pleased, Nicolas, to have decided to continue my wretched existence."

No matter what anyone threatened me with…I would never admit to my eyes briefly welling up. I tried to sneakily dry them but inadvertently punched myself in the face with my stump.

Oh.

"This is rather…inconvenient."

Robert snorted and replied, "I can imagine, boy. We'll figure something out for that though. Now, let's move on to even more pleasant subjects." This time Robert bore a terrifying expression, "Jonathan assured me that I could have my way with Ripper now. Do you object?"

Did he just call Jonathan by his name? Holy shit...what happened between them?

"By all means, Robert, go ahead. I'm not inclined to care anymore."

Fred, Kar, Mica and Lib had finished packing up most of the essentials and sat down next to the rest of us. Johnny had earlier explained what happened to Lando and despite the rocky start of my relationship with demon I still grieved for him. No matter what he was…he was mine.

Robert walked over to still unconscious group in the corner of the roof and I felt him casually snap Jonathan's sleeping spell off of Giles. The man woke up with a panicked look on his face. A look that only got worse when Robert leaned in to whisper something to the man.

"Good evening, Ripper. Now the most dire part of the recent struggles is over we can get to business. You meddled with the mind of my apprentice. Now…I shall meddle with yours."

Giles swallowed loudly and replied, "Robert…I can assure you that I-."

Robert snapped his fingers and Giles immediately fell silent even though I could still see his lips moving.

"Your opinions are utterly irrelevant. Unlike the violation you inflicted on my boy I will do you the courtesy of specifically explaining what I will do to you. The spell you used on him wasn't actively malicious…and I have never been accused of being unfair. So I won't be."

Robert smiled his dangerous smile and continued, "In a few moments I will cast one of my most prized spells on you. This spell will make you quite unable to lie for…oh…about a day or so. I will lock you and your children into a spare room here and inform them of what I had done. Enjoy explaining the Council's practices to your Slayer."

Robert turned towards me and said, "Nicolas, do you anything to do add?"

I smiled and said, "Have I ever told you how glad I am you're not my enemy?"

July 3rd, 1997

We were all seated around the massive desk in Uncle Bob's basement, enjoying our delicious breakfast. I had spent the past day in a semi-coma as the twin mental trauma of the Powers and Maloker's blood-demons rooting around in my mind finally caught up. I did, however, feel great when I woke up.

"Liam's still acting like an automaton, Nick."

I softly sighed and replied, "Yeah, a soul isn't what animates him…it just gives him a set of morals. We're going to have to turn him human."

Dead silence around the table.

Robert recovered first, "What?"

I briefly frowned at him before replying, "Erm, I didn't share that did I? A little Mohra blood injected into Liam's blood stream and voila…he's fully human again. That being said…we shouldn't do that for any of the others. I really, really, don't want to end up with soulless humans."

Jonathan erupted in mad giggles while Robert absentmindedly snapped his metal spoon.

"Boy, are you telling me you knew this and you didn't tell me?"

The warlock was rather obviously displeased but before I could attempt to sooth him he continued.

"Never mind. Of course you didn't…that would imply you think things through. How about instead you tell us what you were thinking last night and more importantly…we're you came up with that ritual. I ask, boy, because I'm fairly certain Richard butchered the last person who tried it."

Well didn't that sound ominous…

I took a deep breath and started explaining, "Alright. I got a vision from the Powers yesterday. In this vision they…focused on the myriad ways in which you all could die that night."

Jonathan nodded and said, "We're with you so far and we will talk about your reaction to that."

I firmly ignored that and continued, "That pissed me off so I…kind of reached for the Powers themselves through the connection between us."

Andrew and Robert briefly looked over at each other and seemed to come to a silent conclusion. I was certain that didn't spell much good for me…

"Boy…just…just continue."

"Anyways. It worked and I, for lack of a better word, slipped across the realms and screamed at them. I might be wrong about this but I'm pretty sure every Seer that's connected to them saw me do that."

Jonathan firmly nodded and said, "Of course."

"That's when things got a little out of hand and I was able to shift through the various potential futures. In one of them I saw that none of us died and that all the vampires were paralyzed after I carved a few symbols into the ground…and bled on them."

Andrew muttered under his breath "Holy shit…"

"Look, I know now, it was a tad ill-conceived."

Jonathan snorted and whispered to Robert, "A tad. A tad…"

"It was the only acceptable future I could settle on…which rather leads me to believe I was being set up."

Andrew jerked his head up and glared daggers at me, "Really?"

"It worked, alright? Sure there are a bunch of side effects but we're all alive."

Marcie reached out and palmed my hand with both of hers, "I'm alright with what you did, Bossman, we are all alive!"

Robert finally decided to speak up again, "Have you considered the implica…no. The Powers seem to be tacitly supporting your incipient bid for conquest. This is both bad and exceptionally terrifying."

I frowned at the man before asking him, "What, I don't want to conquer anything! The whole point of this mess is just keeping everyone alive and reasonably happy."

The Warlock slammed his hands on the desk and bit out, "Yesterday I thought you planned for this and now I find out you bumbled your way through this? Fine, I'll spell it out for you, boy. Either the Powers are supporting you because you have a chance at winning which means the cold war between them and their counterparts is coming to an end. Or…they support you because you'll go out in a big fucking blow-out and they can capitalize on it. Either way isn't a happy fucking ending boy!"

Robert seemed to catch himself, took a deep breath, and said "I'll go to my office before I do something ill-advised. I suggest you don't interrupt me, boy."

We all watched the warlock thunder out of the room and certainly knew better than to disturb him.

After a long moment passed Jonathan spoke up, "Hmm, I think I have a handle on what's happening to you Nicolas."

Jonathan dramatically paused, plastered a smirk on his face, and finally continued.

"You're a new hub for the vampires. Likely…just the Aurelian blood-line if the bundle of memories you spoke off doesn't contradict it."

I looked at the sorcerer and said, "And what does that mean…exactly?"

"It means that a few hundred vampires now draw their power from you and not Maloker." Excitement was plainly written across his face when he continued, "Do you have any idea what this might mean? If you can wrestle your unconscious under control…you can direct them with your mind! We have an instant army!"

Marcie interjected with, "Does this mean Nick needs therapy?"

Andrew spoke up before Jonathan could reply, "We all need therapy and Nick more than most. We'll need to look around for someone who's trained properly and can keep a secret."

Marcie nodded and said, "Ok."

Jonathan, however, wasn't quite so agree-able , "Calm your tits, both of you. There's magic that can do that. Worst case scenario…we hook Nick up to the Imp's now powerless network and he can offload the vamps on it."

"No! No he can't! God damn it Johnny, repeat after me! 'Nick's head is filled to the brim! We will not add more'."

"Jeez, fine alright, it was just an idea."

Jonathan had been acting slightly off all day. Perhaps it was a simply as his new source of power but I had to wonder what he precisely gave up. Well…best bite the bullet.

I caught my friends gaze and said, "We'll figure things out on the vampire front later. First though, Johnny, which ritual have you done?"

The boy casually leaned back into his chair and said, "The Celtic rebirth ritual and before you ask…I only burned out a little fear."

Bullshit.

Even if I couldn't tell from his body language and the minor waves of panic he was giving off…just being fearless wouldn't do this.

"And?"

This time the boy fell quiet even after I pinned him with a glare. Jonathan fidgeted about a little but seemed to make no move to further explain himself. A full minute passed before I lost my cool.

I stood up, gripped the edges of the table, and snarled out, "Johnny…talk!"

Jonathan looked angrily at me before an uncertain expression crossed his face and he sighed. "And everything before I met you! Alright? I was tired of being that guy so I just removed him. The extra power was...obviously worth it."

Andrew hissed in outrage and I wasn't doing much better. Despite my own dealings with surgically grafting thing on to my soul, or perhaps because of that, I was horrified at Jonathan cutting pieces of himself away. Didn't he know I would have given him all the power he wanted?

Why the fuck didn't he come to me?

The edges of the table I was holding on to broke and snapped under my absentminded grip. I could faintly feel pieces of wood perforating my hands and the sticky warm blood that erupted from them but I didn't care.

My voice broke a little when I whispered, "Johnny…god damn it, Johnny."

Jonathan flinched but recovered and bitterly bit out, "How the Primal working out for you, Nick?"

And there it was. I couldn't ask him to give his rather overwhelming power away. Visions danced in front of my eyes of Jonathan simply ignoring me and continuing his descent into nothingness. I knew that demons didn't grant this level of power without taking something of equivalent value away.

I looked up, locked gazes with my friend, and quietly said, "I…I would have just given you whatever power you wanted, buddy." I gulped down my bitter disappointment and continued, "Do you want super strength or invulnerability? I would have battered down the Nezzla's portals and taken it for you. If you wanted more magic I would have hurt Rack until he shared his secrets…"

I fell quiet, slowly dropped back into my seat, and whispered "Do you think so little of me, Johnny?"

Marcie pulled out a handkerchief and started quietly removing the broken pieces of wood from my hands but I didn't pay her much mind. Andrew seemed to grasp we had reached a breaking point and waves of dreadful panic emanated from the boy.

A tense moment passed before Jonathan gave his stammering reply, "No! I… didn't mean to…shit." He paused for a moment and I looked up just in time to see him blink back tears, "I just wanted to help you Nick! Don't you think I see you dreading the future?! I know bad times are coming and I also know that I need to be better. I didn't want to burden you…I just wanted to help…"

I got up, walked over to the sorcerer, and put my arm around him.

I whispered near his ear, "Johnny. You help me by just being you. I can't…I won't see you carve off pieces of yourself until you're empty!"

I put my other hand over him mouth to cut off his reply and loudly said, "No, It's my fault; I should have done this before even if only for my own peace of mind. I'm going home to pick up Constantine. When we get back we're going to include all of you in the power structure of the Primal. Afterwards…all of you are telling exactly what you want and I'll get it for you…no more deals with demons pretending to be fucking Gods!"

I momentarily waited a heart beat before continuing, "Alright?"

Once I got all their affirmations I turned to Andrew and said, "Drew, find out everything you can about Ēostre. Try to find out if Jonathan gets to keep her power if we kill her. If not…we'll be killing her regardless and you know…beat Rack's magic stealing trick out of him."

Jonathan's eyes widened in panic before he spoke up, "We can't! She's…she's the goddess of rebirth. You literally can't kill her permanently and when she comes back…"

Marcie twirled her dagger and said with faux sincerity, "What if we just…hurt her until her mind snaps?"

Silence fell over the basement until Marcie's amused voice continued, "The way I see it…if the freak is a threat after rebirth it must mean she keeps her memories right? So if we break her mind…what is she going to remember?"

Andrew squeaked in delight and after a moment actually started an honest to goodness cackle. In between his cackling he managed to spit out, "Endless circles in circles, Nick!"

I took a while before I understood his words but when I did…I couldn't help but join in.

Jonathan seemed to get it a moment later and explained it to Marcie while Andrew and I were still lost in our deranged laughter. Perhaps it was just the release of the tense atmosphere but it felt good laughing with him.

Of course, because we were on the fucking Hell Mouth, things wouldn't last. The door to the basement swung open with a loud bang and a hard faced Buffy appeared in the frame.

"We need to talk, Vision Boy. Too much of what happened doesn't add up. I want some fucking answers and I want them now."

I nodded at Buffy and gestured for her to take a seat. While she calmly and confidently strode across the room I whispered that Marcie and Johnny should go pick up Constantine while Drew started researching. By unspoken agreement Buffy waited until all three of them left before she addressed me again.

The Slayer bit out in crisp tones, "I have questions for you, Nick. I'm so unbelievable tired of being constantly jerked around by this city, all its fucking demons and mostly…you!"

All I could do was weakly smile and say, "By all means, ask away Buffy."

The girl reached into her jacket, pulled out a notebook, and said, "Why am I so special to you? You see, I get the sense that if I was any other Slayer you wouldn't be screwing with me so badly."

How have I messed with her? My verbal poking couldn't have upset her that badly could it? In any case…I couldn't tell her I knew she was bad ass because I'd seen most of her trials and tribulations. She struck me as far too agitated to simply accept that.

Perhaps I should have just been honest with her from the beginning?

I took a deep breath and calmly replied, "You're right. You're better than most other Slayers. In my visions I see you surviving things you really shouldn't have…you're a fighter that doesn't give in. That means I expect things from you Buffy."

"Like what? I'm not going to settle for these vague descriptions, Nick. I'm not Angel."

Her voice hitched a little when she said that last part and I knew she wouldn't let that go. What could I tell her that was genuine enough to placate her and more importantly kept her as my ally? What would be enough to keep the usually cheerfully naïve but powerful Slayer happy?

A handful of errant thoughts connected and I knew just what to say.

This time my smile was entirely sincere when I replied, "Ok. I'll be one hundred percent direct, Buffy. Things are coming which I will not name for fear of speeding their return up. I expect you to deal with them while I am caught up in the power-games of the Powers That Be."

I held a hand to forestall her likely angry reply and continued, "Humanity is free only on this world. The Powers…seem to be backing my bid to free all the Human's that aren't lucky enough to be born on this planet. That means I can't always be around to keep people from destroying the world. It will, almost entirely, fall on you."

The Slayer's eyes narrowed but I could tell I scored a substantial hit. Now…I just needed to get through the rest of her questions.

July 3rd, 1997

We stared at each other across the long desk as if two kings of old meeting to air past grievances. From an outside perfective our standoff it must have looked utterly ridiculous. Two young teenagers squared off, measuring each other, each trying to convince the other of their reasoning. Whether that was possible was unclear.

The only clear thing was that this conversation was backed by the weight of the future.

Buffy's scoffing reply came swiftly, "I see, are you claiming to be a modern day Spartacus?"

Despite the severity of the situation I couldn't help but be amused. She may be pretending she doesn't quite buy it but she has no proof either way. That, of course, suits me just fine. It wasn't as if she would actually stand in the way of my plans…or that she'd possessed the cruelty necessary to threaten to stop patrolling.

I theatrically scratched my chin and said, "Spartacus lost. Beyond that though…sure."

The Slayer's eyes narrowed some more when she replied, "That doesn't give you license to be such a dick."

Well, it finally happened. My idle amusement of poking the Slayer has come to bite me in the ass. There was just this piece inside me though that wouldn't accept doing anything else. I wasn't entirely sure why I felt like I had to keep her unbalanced but it was present.

"You're right. It doesn't. What else did you want to know?"

I said those supposedly conciliatory words with the thickest layer of smug I could possibly muster. This obviously wasn't entirely conductive to keeping a stable alliance with the girl but I couldn't quite help it.

Buffy lazily stretched out and swung her neck around before she continued, "I don't like you. I told Giles from day one you were hiding things. I think you're dangerous and more trouble than you're worth. I'm also painfully aware there's much worse than you around."

The Slayer delivered her statement with the calm of someone completely at ease. Her eyes never strayed from mine and I had to admit that Buffy pulled off 'vaguely menacing' rather well. It was just too bad for her that she didn't this before I killed an Old One.

I raised a single eyebrow and said, "Uhuh. I'm sure you're going somewhere with this."

Buffy's facial expression tightened into a scowl, "Ever since your 'mentor' cast the truth spell over Giles I had a lot of time to think things through. Especially after he let slip what exactly the Council does to Slayer's that don't toe the party line. What do you know about that?"

Huh.

The girl actually did think things through. I would have honestly thought her main objective would be getting Liam fixed but she's tackling actual pragmatic concerns first. I was more than a little bit impressed.

I summoned a modicum of respect in my tone when I replied, "The Council exists to control Slayers. Without a Slayer they have no reason for being. If the Council's records are as extensive as they claim…they should have access to the largest collection of magic and magical artifacts in the world. If they wanted to…they could have churned out high class Sorcerers and Warlocks to fight all the demons, everywhere. They don't."

Buffy's expression didn't change in the slightest when I continued, "They have enough money to hire armies of mercenaries to fight demons with alongside their Slayer. They don't. Whatever ideology infused them with the will to mess with the dark magics needed to make a Slayer…they lost. I don't know why they are the way they are. I do know that you cannot rely on them nor can you directly defy them."

This however did get a reaction, an exceptionally curt, "Why?"

"Rely on them and they'll expect unflinching loyalty…which will be repaid by killing you on your 18th birthday. Defy them directly and a wet-work team comes to dispatch you. I doubt that when you're hesitant to kill the closest thing to a soul less demon, our dearest Mayor, that you would effectively fight back again them. That means you'll have to be careful to please the Council but not to the point where you invite more oversight."

The blond cheerleader swallowed the bitter news as if it was something she had already considered. Perhaps she had?

If it weren't for my heightened senses I would have missed her whispered reply, "I'm alone in this, again."

I tried my best to not show any reaction to that and simply waited the girl's distraction out. As far as she was concerned…she was right. The Slayer is alone and obviously can't count on the Council. Giles had recently proven to her that she couldn't count on him, Xander and Willow aren't enough to keep her safe, and I certainly wasn't someone that made her comfortable. I had even managed to strip Liam away from her…

The Slayer looked up and caught my eye again when she said, "Are you trying to evade a terrible future?"

That question kind of came out of left field. I didn't expect the girl to be considering this but from her perspective I had to acknowledge this was a feasible interpretation. Of course, I couldn't let such a wonderful opening go to waste.

"No. I'm trying to recreate one. Don't ask; it only risks that it doesn't come to be."

Buffy obviously didn't like that response but she seemed to be able to let it go. For once her odd instance on being the Chosen One touched by Destiny itself seemed to be working for me. The girl truly believed in Prophesy.

"I think, Buffy, that we clash so badly because we value different things. I'm an 'end justifies the means' type of guy while you decidedly aren't." I paused a heartbeat and continued, "The fact that both of us want to be on top doesn't help either."

Buffy's lips quirked ever so slightly but she visibly steeled herself. Her next question was one I had been dreading from the start.

"Those people you killed two days ago. Do they haunt you?"

I slowly raised my elbow stump and tried to affect a broken whisper when I replied, "I have a daily reminder."

I was becoming more and more impressed with the girl when despite her flushing she refused to accept my ploy. Instead she almost snarled when she replied that wasn't what she asked.

"Am I upset they're dead?" I waited a moment before continuing, "Of course I am. I killed dozens of people because I wasn't good enough. I wasn't strong or smart enough to see another way. I was however just smart and strong enough to stop the – at the time rather unavoidable – massacre that I knew what coming."

She tried to respond again but I forestalled her by waving my stump around again. I had been as honest with her as I could. I certainly wasn't going to share that I was the one who summoned Maloker. Nor was I going to pretend anything I said would sway her on this subject. Instead…I'd have to force her to acknowledge I had very little alternatives.

"You know the situation was chaotic and messy. You saw me fight hordes of vampires and even though they are suicidally stupid…they would have eventually broken and ran. Once they did…they would have butchered hundreds more that night."

I looked down, faking a modicum of shame, and looked back up at the Slayer. I inserted a little menace into my words when I continued, "I wish I was better and I could have prevented their deaths but I wasn't. Unless you had a plan to deal with hundreds of vampires and a fucking Old One…"

As has been happening more and more lately…traces of Primal essence bubbled up unbidden, "I suggest you drop this."

Buffy lost her languid body language and seemed to shift into a more defensive posture. I could tell she was ready to charge me if I made as much as a twitch but I doubted she'd kill me. She simply wasn't wired that way.

"I can't, Nick, and you know this. We're supposed to be the good guys. We protect the helpless from the demons. We fight the good fight and you're not pulling your weight! If you can just disregard this what else will you just let slip by? For all I know you're ignoring hundreds of things that Mayor does just so he doesn't squash us."

I had already somewhat decided on the next card I was going to play but she wouldn't ever give me

I cleared my throat and prepared my litany, "Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in the entire world, a Chosen One."

Buffy looked utterly confused but I simply spoke over her, "She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer."

I waited a moment for Buffy to respond and thankfully she was being accommodating.

"What? What's your point?"

I smiled the widest smile I could muster and replied, "Did I miss some piece of it? You must have heard it a thousand times. If I have…do let me know."

The blond girl's face scrunched up in confusion when she was forced to admit that was the entirety of the Slayer mantra.

The Slayer wore a wary expression, as if expecting something horrific, but still answered, "No, that's it. What does this have to do with anything?"

My smile never slipped when I continued, "Where in that mantra does it say you're supposed to be protecting people?"

Contrary to my expectation she erupted in mad laughter. I carefully schooled my facial expression to not show any of my dismay and waited until she got herself under control. Obviously the ploy wasn't received quite as I had hoped but…perhaps I could still salvage things.

"That! Hah!" she seemed utterly lost in her laughter, "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Just because of a wording issue I'm supposed to compromise my entire outlook?"

I kept a wry smile on my face when she continued, "Why don't you try again, Nick? Maybe you'll even outdo yourself?"

I nodded, leaned back into my chair, and said, "Ok, Buffy the Protector of Mankind. Or was it Buffy, Humanities Aegis? You see…I think its Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think, and you might want to attach some weight to my next words considering I actually spoke with the First Slayer, that you're a fucking Slayer. You, Buffy, are what goes Bump in the Night for demon kind."

I saw the telltale signs of self doubt creeping into her expression and mercilessly continued, "Keep deluding yourself you're supposed to be an arbitrary level of 'Good'. You're a killer with an instinct to match it. Laugh at me, dismiss my words, but someday soon you'll figure out why everything seems ever so slightly off for you."

She was either the best actor in the world or my words were actually getting to her, "Oh, and w-why is that?"

"There's this entirely uncivilized part of you. It's that place where your power resides, Buffy, that little piece of you that screams for you to go out and murder demons. The other side of that coin is that equally small piece of you that rages against the idea of killing people."

I leaned in forward and snarled out, "I wonder whether the First Watchers would make such a dangerous weapon as a Slayer if there was any chance at all it would turn against them. I wonder, Buffy, whether it's you who recoils from thinking about killing bad people…or of it's the Shadow Men's failsafe against betrayal."

It was clear she the thought never crossed her mind but anything that put her off balance could only help me. Now…now I just needed to end this on a high note.

I let the Primal bits of myself fall away and whispered, "The difference between us, Buffy, is that I know I'm no Superman. I can't save everyone so I settle for those I care about. I guess I'm not as brave and foolhardy as you are."

Andrew Wells

Johnny just came back from his trip to pick up Constantine and it seemed like he returned with everyone. Mica and Lib flanked him and on their heels followed Fred and Kar. I guess he thought our Pylean contingent should benefit from the Primal Essence as well but I wasn't exactly sold. While Nick may have a firmer handle on them and their personalities…I'd only known them for about two weeks.

"Hey Drew!"

I flashed Fred a little smile and closed up the book I was reading. As much as I liked the girl….I didn't think she was ready to get mixed up with torturing an elder being into insanity.

"What's up, Fred?"

"Not sure really; Jonathan said we needed to be here."

I looked over to Johnny but all I got from him was a smug little smile. Up until this morning I was vaguely aware something was different with him but I had simply chalked it up the general weirdness that seemed to follow us. Unfortunately my rationalizations fell apart when Nick forced him to open up.

I didn't quite know what to make of him. I sympathized with his decision to actively seek out more strength but I didn't like the way he went about it. Especially not considering making deals with Demons was the very first fucking thing Nick warned us not to do. That being said… Johnny wasn't a complete moron.

The Demon he chose was fairly predictable and from what I gathered over the past few hours…essentially harmless if the correct procedures are followed. Ēostre was only able to 'accept' as much of yourself as you were willing to give. The power she gave out wasn't conditional on future interactions nor was there an ongoing price attached. It looked like she drew her victims solely from the pool of those who couldn't resist asking for more and more power…

Jonathan was a dead man…and I totally get why we have to destroy the bitch.

"Oh?"

Jonathan kept up his smirk and replied, "I'm sure we should all benefit from this, Drew."

Fred immediately turned to me and asked, "Benefit from what…exactly?"

And there it is. Another exceptionally delicate situation and Johnny shamelessly leaves it to me to disentangle. Sometimes I hate him a little bit for his callousness. He knows I'm going to be stressing myself silly about this but still he just pushes me into the limelight.

How am I supposed to do this?

If I just blurt out that Nick wants to share the Primal Spirit; and everything that entails, with all of us…they might freak out. I can't even keep things vague because Fred will immediately want to know more. I can't let her handle the pace the conversation without completely lose control of the situation.

Fred poked me in the side and continued, "Well?"

How would Nick handle this conversation?

Ah.

When in doubt…delay by offering meaningless information.

I took a deep breath and said, "Ok, listen up. You all are aware of the fact that Nick is pretty ludicrously fast right?"

I looked around and waited for everyone to mutter out their acknowledgements while my mind kept working on the problem.

I continued, "We're trying to figure out a way to share the speed and strength between all of us."

There.

That should keep the questions going into a predictable direction. Hopefully they'll just focus on specifics and I could keep them bogged down in the details while I figured something out.

Lib questioningly replied, "Oh, so we could have those powers as well?"

Fred interjected with, "How? I mean…will Nick lose some of his own strength in the process?"

Jonathan winked at me. Oh god…the bastard.

Fuck it. Just distract them with the adorable puppy.

I cleared my throat and said, "Yes, to your question Lib. Fred; magic and nope. We're not actually touching Nick's reservoir of power. We'll be using Constantine's. Think of him as a cosmically charged battery of super speed."

Constantine, like pretty much always, preened under the full attention of the group. The lab jumped around from shoulder to shoulder showing off his supernatural strength. I could swear I heard Kar mutter about the demon dog and I briefly wondered about that before I slapped the errant thought down.

I needed to figure out a way to make the Primal sound like a good idea to the 'goody-two-shoes' while not outright lying to them.

Fred wasn't so easily distracted and proved it when she turned back to me and asked, "That's not an answer, Andrew."

Ouch, she only uses my full name when she knows I'm dancing around something.

"Nick shared a bit of his power with Constantine a while back. The piece seems to have grown on its own from there on…so all we need to do is splice off more pieces. Constantine can grow it back and we'll all be as Nick says 'marginally more difficult to kill'."

She frowned and continued, "And yet I feel as though this isn't the entire story, Andrew."

I sighed theatrically and counter-frowned at the crazy smart brunette. It was time to turns things back around.

"Why do you say that?"

She clenched her fists together for a moment before grabbing me by the arm and pulling me closer to her. Perhaps I..erm…misjudged the situation.

Fred pinned me with a glare and used her superpower of making me feel guilty. I futilely squirmed around but she wouldn't have any of it.

"I know you're not sharing all there is, Andrew, so how about you just talk to me and pretend I'm not an idiot."

What was the least amount I could share with her?

"Fine. Nick stole his super speed from a demon he killed. Now we found a way to share it but there are…side-effects."

The brunette nodded as if she expected it and motioned for me to continue.

"The demon was…" I briefly paused to affect a little sad smile and continued, "It was a pack predator. Parts of its instincts come with it. You know…cravings of meat and the urge to go out and murder anything that threatens his 'Pack'."

She still looked a little unconvinced so I tried to offer up a little more information.

"I explicitly used the word murder, Fred. Buffy patrols Sunnydale for demons…Nick goes out stalking for demons to kill. Which incidentally is pretty much the difference between those two..."

Perhaps she'll turn her mind to where the Slayer Powers come from…

Instead she just kept staring at me.

Fuck.

Why couldn't things just be straight forward? I still had another ploy pup my sleeve. It was a Nick favorite as well. It involved simply sighing deeply and trying to sound just a touch ashamed as if you're admitting to something terrible but conveying you don't actually give a shit.

It sounds more complicated than it is.

I sighed and said, "The worst of it is that those instincts change your…priorities. The way Nick explained it…it's as if the rest of the world falls away. Your immediate friends and family jumped over everything else you value which might be construed as bad." I looked up and stood as straight as I could, "I don't believe that though."

She still didn't look she bought it completely but it just had to do as Nick and Buffy walked out of the basement right then. Buffy looked nowhere near as upset as I imagined and the slight smile playing on Nick's lips was downright interesting.

I wondered whether it meant that he got everything out of the conversation that he could…or if he's simply pleased the blond murder-machine doesn't try to kill all of us.

"Let me know when you find a Mohra Demon, Buffy"

The murder-machine actually smiled at him and said, "I will and…thanks."

Nick bowed his head and smiled back at her, "You're quite welcome. Good hunting, Buffy."

"You too. I guess I'll see you at the negotiations tomorrow?"

Nick nodded and replied, "Yeah, we'll all be there."

So he told her about how to make Liam human again…interesting. I wonder what negotiations he's talking about though…perhaps the new 'recruits' from Pylea? Or the demon ladies that want shelter with us?

We were all quiet until the Slayer walked out but Fred broke silence immediately after that.

"Nick! Tell me; what are the downsides to sharing the speed-demon's…speed?"

Nick turned towards me, smiled widely, and said, "Well, Freddikins, it changes you. It changes your priorities, makes you intensely aware of everything around you, and in your case…probably switches out your taco cravings for bacon ones."

I caught his quick wink and almost sighed in relief when I realized he heard me talking with Fred. This could have ended badly.

"That sounds awfully vague, Nick…"

Our warlock walked over to Fred, swung his arms around her and said, "Ok. Specifically…it makes all my friends a lot safer. The downsides are not insignificant but it is up to you whether you want in, sweetheart. No one would ever force you."

That should put her at ease, at least a little bit, and I could tell it was working. She was clearly less worked up and unlike the way she dealt with me…she seemed to be more open to Nick.

She was still frowning when she replied, "What exactly are the…lets call them 'new priorities'?

Nick's smile never left his face when he said, "The health and safety of family and friends comes first. It comes before everything." He stared at her for a moment before continuing, "I mean that Fred. It even comes before pretending to be good. It implies a willingness to let the world burn just to keep your friends safe."

Oh.

That was a pretty big gamble of his. I wasn't exactly sure I would have played it the same way but lets see how he works this angle. She's clearly going to bristle when you present her with naked carelessness.

Fred's eyes widedend comically when replied, "No! That just not right! You're supposed to at least try to be good. This feels like you're just skipping that as if it's simply unpractical to be good!"

Hmm, it's a less automatic response than I expected. That being said; all Nick has to do now is present her with a terrifying example of that line of thinking failing in the past and more palatable view of the future.

Nick just smiled some more and continued, "That's because it is, Freddikins. The major force for good in this world, the fucking Powers, blackmailed me explicitly with first…your sanity and afterwards all of your lives to make me do battle with an Old One."

Ok, that's the scary bits. Where is the safe and cuddly option for the future?

Nick sighed a little and said, "You can help us try to be more moral in the way we go about our business and I promise I won't just disregard your opinion Fred…but you have to promise to try to keep the knee-jerk responses down, alright?"

And there it is.

Words really don't cost a thing.

AN: Please leave some feedback! I always enjoy reading reviews and who knows...the next chapter might come quicker ;)