Title: High School Blues

Author: Mac Xavier

Disclaimer: Joss is a crack whore, but he's a crack whore who owns Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and all related characters.

Summary: A small coven seeks normal employment after graduating college. First one who scores a paying job gets to decide where they live, and an high school in Sunnydale, California, needs a new English teacher.

Rating: This isn't going to get nearly as bad as it did in the actual show.

PG/PG-13.

High School Blues
By Mac Xavier

"We're moving *where*?" screached the youngest member of the coven.

"Think of it this way, kiddo, at least we should be able to use our powers without risking a back lash while we're in the city limits," advised the leader, if not the oldest she was at least the one most prone to taking charge.

"California here we come," muttered one of the others sarcastically.

"It won't be that bad," offered their British born witch. "Sunnydale sounds like a lovely town and they've even found us a house so no one has to double up." She grinned. "Well, other than me and Mac that is."

"You just had to be a teacher didn't you?" complained the youngest again.

"Shut up, Robin."

******

Xander Harris was, unusually for him, in a hurry to get to his English class. They had a new teacher at Sunnyhell High and the rumor milll had word that she was seriously high up on the babe-meter. Although he did hope that this one didn't turn out to be a giant bug like Miss French had been.

The teacher's back was toward the door when Xander slipped through and took his usual desk so he could study her. She certainly wasn't dressed like the other teachers in her second-skin black jeans and a blue silk shirt. She was wearing high heels but they were attatched to a pair of boots that Xander guessed were velvet. Her hair was mostly a dark red-ish color and cut short in a shaggy bob, the ends just brushing the collar of her shirt.

Not that Xander could keep such details in mind as his eyes kept getting dragged back to the flex of her ass under those skin tight jeans when she reached up to write on the chalkboard.

In fairly sloppy cursive she'd written her name. Ms. Hunter.

As the last students wandered in with the tardy bell Ms. Hunter turned around and tossed the chalk she'd been using on the desk. "Hi, and welcome to the New World Order according to me," she announced with a grin as she moved to lean against the front edge of her desk. "Like it says on the board, I'm Ms. Hunter and I'm your new English teacher. As I'm a mid-semester replacement I had a look at my predecessor's lesson plan. The man was an idiot, so scrap whatever crap that the substiute assigned you as homework for today."

Ms. Hunter started to pace as she spoke to them. "Now, I'd *like* to scrap your grades up to this point too, but they've already been recorded. The good news is that the first assignment I give you isn't going to be graded." She held up her hands when the students started murmuring. "Don't get too excited, people. You *will* be turning it in. I need to see where you really are so I can get an idea of what you still need to learn." She paused to grin at them again. "I'm operating under the idea that all of you are capable of making A's and getting into college. So if I have to metaphorically take a sledge hammer and pound the basics into your heads, I will."

There were moans, but she ignored them and continued. "This is the part where you'll want to pull out your notebooks and get out your pencils. Your assignment is to pick your favorite mythological being, then write a poem of at least ten lines, an eight page short story, and a fifteen page research essay about it." She paused when Willow raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Isn't that a lot of work for an assignment we're not getting graded on?" Willow asked carefully.

"Only if Mr. Peters was right and you all really are working at a level that makes the average six year old look like a Stanford Graduate," Ms. Hunter answered in the same careful tone. "The good news is that the poem is due at the end of this class period, the short story is due next Friday, and the essay is due in three weeks." She looked at her watch then looked back up at the class. "What are you guys just sitting there for? Start thinking. You have thirty-five minutes left. Put your papers on my desk as you finish."

Xander blinked and turned to a blank page in his notebook. He started to write Slayer at the top of the page but stopped. Yeah, Slayers were great but they were real. He knew one and he didn't want the poem to turn into a sop fest about Buffy. But ... During Slayerette research he'd come across a book of legends about witches and magic users from France. One of those legends had really gotten his attention, if only because of the etching that went with it of three beautiful and barely dress women. Les Chasseurs De Nuit. The Night Hunters.

Xander started to write.

******

Mac Hunter wandered into the teachers' lounge with her diskman blasting No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom, into her ears and a tootsie roll pop hanging out of her mouth as she read through the poems her last class had handed in. There was the expected assortment of unicorns and pegusii from the cheerleaders, and a few of the Greek Gods and Heroes thanks to the popularity of Hercules and Xena as television shows. One poem praising Isis earned a set of raised eyebrows.

The last poem handed in left Mac startled and a little uneasy.

Les Chasseurs De Nuit.

It only added to the disquiet she'd felt since she and her family had moved to Sunnydale. In spite of the warm Southern Californian weather and the outwardly cheerful appearence of the town, all five of them had sensed something evil tainting the air.

The question was, did Xander Harris know what she and her sisters were? And if he did ... How did a kid from Sunnydale, California, find out about the Nighthunters? Much less how he'd figured out she was one of them. If he knew she was one of them.

Mac crunched down on her sucker as her mind started to race. The only mention that specific about them was in Sorcières et Les Arts Noirs, and that book had been destroyed nearly two hundred years ago. Or at least it had been according to family history. Which come to think of it, wasn't always as reliable as it could be.

She huffed an annoyed breath through her nose as she continued to crunch the sucker into bits of melting sugary goodness. Then she read the poem.

It was actually good. Which as she suspected, didn't at all reflect the grade he had in the class to date. Then again, like she'd said, Mr. Peters had been an idiot. Sure the structure and rhyme could use a little work, or maybe he could rewrite it as a free verse poem.

A smirk tugged at her lips as she imagined the reactions of the students when they found out they'd have to rewrite everything for a grade.

******

Robin Hunter munched calmly on her apple as she listened in on the latest gossip being spewed forth with mindless vigor by the resident popular crowd. It really wasn't all that different from her last school so after a few minutes she tuned them out and started in on her turkey sandwich.

Mmmm, EC must have packed the lunch that morning because she was the only one that remembered the extra slice of tomato Robin always asked for. Had to really dig Mac's taste in Significant Others.

Irrelevant food thoughts all left the young redhead's mind when a hunk of salty goodness walked into the lunch room. Tall, dark haired, lightly tanned, with eyes the color of chocolate and an eye searingly bright Hawiian shirt.

In short Robin figured him to be the perfect guy. If only he knew about the things that go bump in the night. Then he'd be "introduce to the family" perfect instead of "lust after from a distance" perfect.

Come to think of it Robin was pretty sure her dad had that shirt. She checked her watch, then hurried to finish her sandwich. If she rushed it she'd still have time to get her German III text book from the library and maybe find something she actually wanted to read before she had to find her
class room.

Being the new girl in the middle of her freshman year sucked rotten goose eggs. How her older sisters put up with it until they started college was beyond her. In any case, California was turning out to be more interesting that she'd thought.

******

When Robin got to the library Mr. Giles helped her find the text book she hadn't had time to get before. But then the phone in his office rang, leaving the fifteen year old freshman on her own with time to kill before she had to run to her next class.

Anyone who truly knew Robin, as in knowing her full name, would have known that leaving her alone in a large room was a bad idea. Even if it didn't have weapons and books about magic in it.

Robin, being Robin, noticed both of those thing.

She frowned and tilted her head as she studied an interesting looking book. "Now what the purple dinosaur is a Slayer and what does it Slay? I wonder if this will tell me how to make one?"

With that thought in mind Robin strolled out of the library with her German III text book and the Slayer's Handbook.

Oh, yeah. California was going to be *much* more interesting than she'd thought.

******

It was dark, there was a run in her hose, her watch battery had given up the ghost, and she was running late with the groceries. And there was a vampire between her and the station wagon.

All in all, Ephiney Hunter was having a rotten night.

Of course it was about to get a lot worse for the vampire.

A small ball of fire rushed away from her as the blood sucker charged her. The tiny ball of flames, no larger than small marble, slammed into the vampire's chest.

He stopped suddenly, gawking at the seemingly helpless woman, then burst into flames before falling into a pile of ash and dust.

Eph tilted her head to one side with a smirk. "I'm suddenly feeling much better about my whole day. Thanks."

******

Oz blinked when he realized that the woman's hair was too long for her to be the new English teacher, even though otherwise they looked exactly alike.

It was too bad that he was alone when the woman some how managed to burn the vampire up while her arms were filled with grocery bags. All his friends missed the momentary expression of surprise on his face.

Oz blinked again. "Cool."

******

Buffy banged her head on the library table. At Giles' questioning look she slid the poem she'd written in English the day before toward him.

It was covered in red ink.

"Are you being given a chance to rewrite this? There isn't a grade on it," Giles observed.

"It wasn't for a grade," Buffy muttered. Then she banged her head on the table again. "We don't get to the grades other than reading and in-class for another three weeks."

Giles raised both eyebrows. "Then why are you so upset?"

"I still have to write the short story and an essay."

"And?" Giles propted his Slayer after an extended silence.

"On the same subject," Buffy finished. She lifted her head. "Why did I have to pick pixies?"

******

Robin and Mac were heading out the door when Eph stopped them. She handed them both crosses and ordered her sisters to wear the holy symbols.

"Not to question you, oh bossy one, but what's with the crosses?" Robin asked, running her fingers over the black stones that formed the cross on her pendant.

"I ran into a vampire last night," Eph said with a shrug. "Jag's gone looking for their nests and other places they hide out but ... Every little bit helps."

Mac shrugged as she slipped her chain around her neck. "So long as they don't show up and try to burn me at the stake. Again."

"It's not like we still live three blocks from the bible college, Mac," Eph snapped.

"Moving there wasn't my idea, sis," Mac retorted. "Come on, squirt, let's get going."

******

"So are you another Rosenburg or what?" demanded a snide blonde when Robin walked past the clique of popular girls.

Robin paused and looked over her shoulder, swinging her braid out of her way. "Was that supposed to be an insult? Because as far as insults go, that wasn't. Besides, aren't you and your little Clone Squad too important to talk to a Freshman at all?"

"Freshman?" shrieked one of the girls. "But you're in my biology class!"

The redhead smirked. "That either means I'm very, very smart, or you're very, very stupid. Take your pick."

With that Robin Hunter stalked off, ignoring the rest of the students.

Xander leaned back against the locker next to Willow with a wide grin on his face. "Willow, I have a new hero. Do you know who she is?"

"The mouthy redhead who just told off Cordelia and Harmony with little to no effort?" Willow asked teasingly. "That's Robin. Robin Hunter."

"The new English teacher's daughter?"

"Worse, her little sister." The hacker witch grinned widely. "It's going to be a huge challenge to keep up with her G.P.A. even if she is a Freshman. Most of her classes are upper level and I hear she's taking her English courses at UCSunnydale."

"Beautiful and brainy, what a combination," Xander announced.

Willow rolled her eyes. What was wrong with her? Was it the shy thing? "She's also only fifteen, Xander."

"Damn," Xander sighed. "I wonder if they have any sisters I could actually date without getting someone arrested."

"I'd say no," Willow said cheerfully.

******

Robin took to lurking in the stacks of the High School library after she finished reading the Slayer Handbook. She hadn't liked most sof what she'd read in the Handbook and had said as much to her sisters and EC when she'd shown it to them.

Although it didn't look like this particular Slayer fought alone. The bashful redhead on the computer had a touch of magic to her aura. The shorter boy was a were, probably a wolf from the way he moved. The adult male was obviously the Watcher, and he had a hint of magic around him as well, as if the ghost of long faded power.

But it was the dark haired boy, the one she'd noticed in the lunch room that still held her attention. Xander Harris' aura was lit up like a bonfire.

The girls were going to flip.

Robin started to slip away when something 'pinged' against her shields. She froze for a heartbeat before trying to run for it.

Hands gripped her arms. Cold hands. Hands that were strong than any mortal's would be.

Robin's eyes turned from bright green to a maelstrom of colors.

******

In Resthaven Cemetary, Jag stopped, her eyes turning toward the high school and two of her sisters. She hissed a curse in German that would have given the Master pause.

******

At the library of UCSunnydale Eph looked up from her notes with small flames lit behind her eyes. Her gaze shot toward her youngest sister even from the distance between the college and the high school.

******

EC paused with the rolling pin over the lump of dough that would eventually become a pie crust as her eyes went black. She set aside the rolling pin and turned toward the high school.

******

In the Teachers' Lounge Mac's head snapped around toward the library. A muscle in her jaw jumped as she ground her teeth together. She set aside the tests she was grading in favor of finding Robin.

******

The library doors blasted in, barely staying on their hinges, as the book shelves in the stacks started to crash to the floor.

The Scoobys looked from the doors to the upper level of the library. Mac Hunter stood in the doorway, hair whipping around her face and eyes that had gone hard and cold. At the epicenter of the fallen book shelves stood Robin Hunter. Robin's eyes were a chaotic swirl of colors, behind her Angel lay moaning on top of the first fallen book shelf.

"Robin! Clamp down!" Mac shouted as she strode into the room. "You're drawing too much power!"

Robin panted as the building began to tremble. "Can't! I don't know where it's coming from!"

"Shit," hissed the older Hunter. A cold blue light started pulsing in her eyes.

"Is this a good time to freak out?" Xander asked his friends.

"I'd say yes," Oz observed.

Willow only managed to nod as an 'eep' escaped her.

Giles frowned. "I don't ..."

"What did that kid do to Angel?" Buffy demanded.

"Shut up, Miss Summers," snapped Mac. She gestured sharply at her sister.

Robin was thrown through the air to slam into the back wall. She slid down slowly as her eyes rolled backward in her head.

Buffy jumped in front of the English teacher.

"You have got to be joking," Mac said flatly. "Miss Summers, you did just see me throw Robin into the wall from across the room without touching her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and you're not going another step until I get an explaination," snapped the Slayer.

"I don't have time for this." Mac walked around the small blonde.

Buffy tried to turn and grab Ms. Hunter's arm, and to her shock found she couldn't move. "Hey!"

"The rest of you stay where you are or I'll make you stay there," Mac said calmly.

"Miss Hunter, this is going entirely too far," Giles said sharply.

"That's Ms. Hunter, if only because it's illegal for me to marry my girlfriend in most states." Mac glanced down at Angel as she moved to her sister's side. "A vampire? No wonder Robin was pulling in extra power."

"Wha ..." Angel managed to moan.

"If I were you, Nosferatu, I'd stay right where I was," Mac snarled at him as she crouched beside the fragile seeming redhead.

Angel shook his head and stayed where he'd landed on the pile of bookcases. "What hit me?"

"I believe that was Robin Hunter," Giles offered. "The young lady currently knocked unconscious."

Angel started to sit up but dropped again when he met Mac's glowing blue eyes. "Okay, how did she hit me?"

"Psychokenisis," Mac said flatly. "That's her power."

"She's a Witch?" Angel asked after a moment.

Mac rolled her eyes. "No-fucking-duh, you two legged leach."

Angel flinched.

"Stop calling Angel names," Buffy demanded.

"Shut up, Miss Summers, before I -make- you shut up," Mac ordered icily.

Xander raised his hand slowly. "Ms. Hunter?"

"Yes, Xander?"

"Are you a Witch too?" he asked carefully.

Mac smiled slightly. "Yes, Xander. I am."

The Scooby Gang's Normal-Guy took a deep breath then asked another question. "Are you one of Les Chasseurs De Nuit?"

Giles started muttering. Angel swallowed hard. Willow paled. Oz raised an eyebrow a millimeter.

And Buffy looked confused.

"Is that a guess, Xander, or do you have some theory or proof to back up your hypothesis?" Mac asked, arching her eyebrows as if she were quizing him in class.

Xander gave her is best 'I'm Harmless' grin. "Well, we have how the doors blasted open when you came in, you holding Buffy still without a word, and ... Ah, the glowing eyes is kind of a huge hint."

"The Night Hunters are a myth, Xander," Giles said firmly. "A fairy tale at the least."

"Hansel and Grettle," Willow muttered.

Giles frowned at the redhaired hacker. "That story had far more evidence to back it up, Willow."

"The evidence you want is on the way," Mac snapped as she lifted Robin into her arms. "My sisters and EC are on their way."

"The woman who burned the vampire outside the grocery store last night," Oz thought out loud.

"That would be my sister, Ephiney," agreed Mac, carrying Robin to the main floor as she spoke. "Now, Xander, where did you hear about Les Chasseurs De Nuit?"

"It was in Sorcières et Les Arts Noirs," Xander answered.

"Damn, thought the family got all the copies of that," drawled a voice from the door. A woman who looked almost exactly like Mac stood there. Her long canvans duster swinging around her ankles as she started forward. "What happened to our little bird, Mac?"

"I sucker punched her," Mac said cheerfully. "The mini-mischief maker pulled in more power than she could control and couldn't stop pulling it in."

The other woman nodded. A long braid swung behind her as she walked around the still immobile Slayer. "That would make sense, she was practically on top of a Hellmouth when she started reaching for power." She tilted her head slightly. "The question is, why was she pulling power?"

"Juvenile vampire up in the stacks," Mac replied. "He can't even be three hundred yet."

The long haired Mac look-a-like snorted. "Barely out of diapers then." She looked around the room with a scowl as Mac laid Robin on the table.

"Can I move now?" Angel called from where he was still laying on the book case.

"No!" Mac snapped back.

Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning them. "If I might ask, who are you?"

"I'm Jaguarita Hunter," was the blunt reply. She slid out of her duster and covered Robin with it.

Her outfit left Giles blushing and stammering, Xander practically melted, and Oz actually had an expression. Jag glanced down at the cropped pink tee-shirt with 'Kitten' scrawled across, stretched tight across her chest above a pair of tight well-worn jeans and hiking boots. She glanced back up and raised her eyebrows. "See something interresting, boys?"

"Stop teasing them," Mac said.

Buffy and Willow glared at the twins.

"We're not twins," Jag said, although no one had said a word.

"How did you ..."

"I'm a telepath, Miss Rosenburg, learn to live with it," Jag explained.

Xander nodded. "The Night Hunters are always triplets, although not always identical."

"He's read up on us," Jag observed.

Mac shrugged. "I was going to mention that."

The eyebrows went up again. "When?"

"Eventually," Mac assured her sister.

Jag snorted.

"Would you two stop that?" demanded a voice with a familiar accent, albeit a softer more feminine one. "It gets old fast."

"Miss Price?" Giles blurted.

The woman was small, shorter than Buffy even, although the air around her seemed to crackle with power. "Really, Ripper, you act as if we're total strangers."

"Bloody hell," muttered the Librarian. "You'll forgive me, Miss Price, but Black Witch of Britian is a bit of a mouthful."

"Evil Cordelia isn't," she retorted with a toss of her head, sending glossy black curls bouncing over her shoulders. "Although I -do- answer to EC, you know."

"Yes, and you turned Ethan into a salamander when he slurred that into 'easy'," Giles pointed out with a small smirk.

EC grinned. "Ripper, I never said I wasn't easy, I turned Ethan into a salamander because he's a smeghead." Her grin widened. "I take it you managed to change him back?"

"Eventually," he grumbled. "And much to my regret."

"Wild guess, but you know each other?" Mac asked dryly.

EC smiled softly at her lover. "Ripper and I go way back, luvie. Haven't seen him in years though."

"But you're way younger than Giles," Buffy blurted. That earned her a glare from her Watcher.

Jag raised her eyebrows as she looked over at Mac. "That girl ever not say what she thinks?"

"Usually," Mac drawled.

"Let me guess, she's the Slayer," the British witch laughed. "Well, Slayer, I'll tell you this much. One of use is using a glamour to hide our real age." EC turned back to Mac. "Now is there a reason Ripper's Slayer is still doing a performance piece called Statue?'

"Because she has all the self control of a rabid pitbull?" Mac offered.

"Ms. Hunter," Giles started as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The woman was exactly the type EC always went after, and it was bloody infuriating for everyone else. "Would you kindly release Buffy?"

"Mmmmm. No," Mac said, clasping her hands behind her back as she started to pace. "See, I don't trust a Vampire Slayer who tells me to stop calling vampire names. The way I understand it, she's supposed to slay vampires. Not be on a first name basis with them."

"Angel has his soul," Buffy snapped. Although to the Night Hunters and EC it sounded more like a whine.

"So what?" Mac sneered. "He's still a Vampire. An undead blood drinking fiend of hell. And he's going to revert to type sooner or later."

Jag ignored them all and placed her hands on either side of Robin's head. A faint white light came from her hands and leaked from behind her closed eyes as the telepathic Night Hunter sank into a mid-level trance.

"How are you holding Buffy in place anyway?" Willow asked.

Mac smiled at her faintly. "The same way I threw Robin. My power is telekenesis."

"I see you guys started the party without me, again," the last Night Hunter observed quietly as she walked into the library. "Mac, let the Slayer go. EC, bring the vampire down here. Jag, status on Robin?"

Mac huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. But Buffy could move again. She lunged at the witch that had held her immobile and was tossed back. "Stop that," Mac snapped.

EC walked up the stairs and glared at Angel until he stood up. She jerked her head toward the stairs. Angel swallowed hard after a moment of staring into eyes that had gone an endless empty black, then started down the stairs with her following.

Jag's voice seemed to come from thin air. "She's a bit bruised, a lot battered, and her shields are damaged. We're working on fixing that, so screw off, Eph."

Eph Hunter laughed softly. Her eyes moved over Willow, Oz, Xander and Giles before shifting to lock on Angel. "I take it you're the reason Robin lashed out?"

"I didn't intend to scare her," Angel said calmly enough considering that three pairs of eyes were doing their best to burn holes in him. Well, EC's eyes seemed intent on sending him into a cold induced torpor.

Eph nodded slowly. "Fine. Now give me a reason not to dust you."

Jaws dropped around the room. Buffy actually snarled and readied herself to charge the latest arrival. What stopped her was a look from Angel. Eph's eyebrows arched slowly as her head tilted, waiting for the souled vampire's answer to her calmly stated demand.

"As Buffy told your sister, Lady Hunter, I have a soul," Angel said formally. He even bowed slightly toward her, recognising the power that made the very air around this woman pulse with it's echo. "It was forced on the demn with in me by a Gypsy curse, and as the demon suffers the constraints of the soul, the soul suffers the guilt belonging to the demon."

Eph actually snorted. "That is the dumbest curse I've ever heard of. I'd bet there's a clause in it, too. If the Rom have one major flaw in their magic it's that they never manage to do anything full on, all the way."

"Eph, *we're* of a Rom bloodline," Mac pointed out in amusement.

The eldest triplet waved a hand dismissively, her face impassive except for the twin points of flame burning in her eyes. "But we haven't been Rom in six centuries. Our magics have changed and adapted. This ... curse ... proves theirs has done neither."

"There's something cooking away in that over heated brain of yours, boss," EC observed. She frowned slightly. "Spill it."

Eph's smile was unnerving, even to those she called her family. "I think I've figured out what Rob's final test is going to be."

"Uh ... not to be rude and interupt-y girl, but what final test?" Willow asked after Mac and EC just stared at Eph for several long moments.

"The final test that will prove that Robin is in full control of her powers," Eph said as her smile widened into a razor edged grin.

Robin and Jag came out of telepathic raport just in time to hear their sister's announcement.

"Are you *nuts*?" Jag snapped. She waved around the library at the toppled bookshelves. "This alone proves that Robin isn't ready for the final test!"

"Not really," EC said thoughtfully. "Robin did react properly to what she perceived as a threat. That she was unaware that she was drawing energy in from directly above a Hellmouth was an honest mistake than any of us could have made. Especially as we were unaware of the Hellmouth's exact location until now."

Robin sat up, shaking her head. "No. Jag's right, Ephie's gone round the bend in the river Wacko. I'm not *ready* for it."

"Honey," Mac started gently, "none of us were ever ready for it."

Giles suddenly looked ill. "You intend to have Robin test her control and skill on Angel?"

"Yes, he's only a vampire after all," Eph said flatly. "No harm done if she fails."

"That's my boyfriend you're talking about!" Buffy yelled.

Giles looked pained. Xander looked annoyed. Willow looked star-struck by the thought of the star-crossed romance. The Hunter sisters and EC collectively rolled their eyes.

"Some Slayer," Jag muttered under her breath.

"And can I just add a great big ick to that?" Robin muttered in a tone meant to carry. "I mean, seriously, he's *dead*, undead, whatever." She shook her head. "That whole ambiant temperature thing can't be a turn on."

Jag managed to muffled her snickers into a single forceful snort of amusement.

"You little brat," Buffy hissed as she started toward the redhaired Hunter.

Robin grinned at Buffy as she slid off the table. "Oh, bring it on, Slayer. I've been wanting to see if my training can stand up against magically enhanced strength and speed."

"May I ask what training you've had, Robin?" Giles asked while Angel intercepted Buffy.

"Akido, Jujitsu, Kung Fu, Kendo, and street brawling," Robin rattled off cheerfully as she bounced on her heels. "Come on, let her go. This'll be fun."

Eph sent a quelling look at her sister. Although the glance was clearly laced with a large amount of amusement. "This isn't the time, Robin."

"Spoil sport," the youngest chirped.

"I must protest, Miss Hunter," Giles said firmly. "Both your sister's desire to fight with Buffy and your intention of having her test her magical prowess on Angel."

"At least without asking Angel," EC muttered with a smirk.

"Or telling him what you intend for Robin to do," offered Mac. She arched her eyebrows as she regarded Eph. "What do you have in mind anyway?"

Angel looked toward the ceiling in a mute plea for divine intervention.

"It is in keeping with Robin's nature and the level of power she's gained," Eph informed them calmly. "I want Robin to divide that into it's component parts."

"You want me to *what*?" Robin yelped.

END PART 2