Order of Business

"You made the right call, Buffy," Giles said from the President's chair in the SDW boardroom. He looked around at the others, Kennedy sat for her first time in one of these meetings and still looked bored. Xander was reviewing video on his laptop of the therapist's interviews with Ms. Hawser. Dawn, Buffy, and Willow were the only other attendees, and like usual, they were the only ones really paying attention. Buffy liked to act the airhead but he had been through too much with her to believe it anymore. "Having recovered our slayers, possibly having Faith under a type of thrall, and not knowing the level of threat, it would have been rash to press the matter.

"Especially with the FBI guys as witnesses," Xander said. "Rescuing teenagers is one thing, going up against what Jenn's describing would have been warfare, medieval style. They wouldn't have liked us going in there to get vengeance." Xander caught his pregnant wife's eye and asked with a look if she okay, if she needed anything.

"We know they have Faith," Dawn replied, flipping her husband off while smiling at him and then blowing a kiss to soften the moment. He would not leave her alone for a moment's peace since she was rescued herself in Miami. "Neither of the girls can give us a lot of info but we know some of the players involved. Mr. Buffy knew a few more names and thinks we should talk to that vampire master Jean-Claude that Giles met with after the Dracula deal. He said that out of all of the vamps that would know about the council, JC would be the only one who might have the balls to tell us about them." She ignored her sister's look for the Mr. Buffy thing. They were really cute together but god, how terrible would their kids be?

"I don't believe that any vampire could have the juice to Obi-Wan Faith, and what if they're all moving right now?" Kennedy asked, thinking she should at least make some contribution to her first meeting. "How are we gonna find 'em again?" She looked at Willow, but her on-hold girlfriend was trying to ignore her.

"They might hide deeper into their hole, but if they run the vamp world from there, they can't just up and relocate without everyone knowing where to send the blood tax or whatever," Buffy replied. "I don't know if Faith knew she was being controlled and that's why she was naked or she was so under control that she didn't have a choice." She scrunched up her nose at the thought of her fellow-slayer being someone's Xander styled buttmonkey.

Dawn looked at her husband who was now intensely studying his video screen. "Nobody told me she was naked? Why was she naked? Don't you think that was odd, she's not exactly demure, but naked?"

"She kinda seemed normal when we talked, but just enough off ya know, some of the words made me think that someone else was talking..maybe," Buffy replied with a big impatient feeling that she should be doing something.

"They assaulted our girls, how do we know that they're not doing the same to Faith?" Willow asked with dread.

"We don't," Giles responded to the silent room, even Kennedy, who was no fan of the senior slayer, looked ill at the thought. "We need more information. We can't let the rest of the board know about any of this if we can manage that. It would be difficult to launch what would in effect be a military action on another world without involving the entire government."

"No FBI guys to get slaughtered by magic either," Xander added.

"We need more info, I agree," Buffy said as she stood. "Someone should go talk to Jean-Luc, but make sure his servant thingy is there with him when you do it. Honeybunny says that he'll be more honest that way. I'm going back. I will check on Faith and learn what there is to learn. Be ready to go on short notice. Xan, build a real attack plan. As more info comes in, you should get a good idea what we'll need to obliterate these things. Will, plan for spells that uncover underground tunnels in case we have to dig them out." She stared down any of them, mostly Dawn, who were going to object to her plan. "Even if they weren't slayers, no one comes to my world and takes kids and...does that to them, no one."

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"This friggin moron just lets them walk out," she snapped. "What're you thinkin?" the Dragon stopped speaking when she noticed the rest of the Council were all looking at her. "What?" she challenged.

"Why are you speaking like...an American?" the Traveler asked the modern goddess of combat. He looked at her makeup and the leather coat she was wearing and wondered just how powerful the slayer as a beast was.

"And why do you look like a whore?" Padma spat out with a sarcastic sneer. The Dragon was weak if marking a slayer made this much of a change in her. Maybe weak enough to be used for my advantage, he thought with visions of the blond calling him master.

"There will be.." The praetor tried to stall the inevitable, but when the Dragon launched herself at Padma and the two of them rolled around, fighting on the ground, he could do nothing but break his gavel as banged on the desk. He had no current captain. At least he had a replacement gavel. "ORDER..ORDER," he yelled at the unseemly behavior.

The Master of Beasts was larger and used to struggling females but the Dragon was no ordinary victim of his. He tried to control her hands and failed to stop the knee that hurt dramatically. She was biting at his face and he started to think that somehow this woman was stronger than him. Finally the remnants of the Forum Guard came and pulled her off kicking and screaming. He surged to his feet and waited for the big Mexican Pablo to grab him before trying to lunge at her. "I demand restitution for this unprovoked attack!" he said as Pablo managed to restrain him somehow. "You're lucky that I don't choose to continue this fight."

"Unhand me...I am under control," the Dragon said as Clarissa, Jonathan, Basil, and Meyer all let up on her. She slowly returned to her chair. "I appear to have gained some from my servant.."

"You think?" Morte D'Amour said as he moved his chair as far from her as politeness would allow.

"Yes, well, know that I know, I will not be surprised by it again. I apologize to the Council and I will behave from this point on." She looked for her slave Jessica, but the girl was missing so she had one of the servers cut herself and fill a glass for her.

"The question," the Seductress Belle whispered, "if we may get to business, is will that group of theirs that we had reports on attempt to attack the forum? Should we move? Belle Morte runs from no one but if it were in the best interest of the rest of the council, I would go." Knowing that her staff were already packing for a vacation at her winter lodgings. A pre-planned vacation she told herself.

"The Destroyer convinced them to give her time to enact revenge on the other slayer's rapists," the Dragon stated. "I do not believe that they will return until such time that they heard from her again." She checked in on her servant with their mind-link, and smiled at the sight.

"Who is the Destroyer, I do not remember voting on that name?" Padma grumbled about the break in protocol.

"She is my Human Servant, I may name her whatever I wish," Enys replied as she calmed her urge to slap the Indian.

Arturo sat at the table and was trying to make himself appear as small as possible. Which wasn't easy when you're as large as he is. The hearing went from everyone but his mistress yelling at him to everyone forgetting that he was on trial here. Belle had been happy when he told her what he had done. She doubted that she would have ended up with one of the girls so she was pleased that no one else would either. He might just make it out of this alive yet, he thought, knowing that Clovis his dear wife would kill him if he didn't.

"I suggest that we seal the eastern entrance, permanently seal the hospital path, and increase guards at all other entrances, both at the surface and underground...with no objections?...so it shall be. Meeting adjourned." The Praetor Cicero banged the gavel as he wondered how much control the woman could have over her servant if she had less over herself. The manipulation would have to be handled with a deft touch to be successful. A deft touch like mine, he thought as he wondered how he could get to feed on more of that magnificent slayer blood.

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Meyer raped Rami. How will I rip his head off without Mom finding out? Faith thought as she finished the happy face that she had made on Jessica's back. Faith sneered at the girl who was crying more than usual. "They don't hurt that much. Try taking a stake in the gut and then you could cry like that about it." She admired the mass of purple and yellow bruises that her pinches had created. She jumped up and ran for her hug when mother came in. She loved the hugs, the kisses, the touches. Just to know that someone loved her unconditionally was...amazing.

"Destroyer, what have you done to Jessica?" the Dragon asked mock-severely.

Faith looked at the girl and was about to answer when...a feeling of horrible wrongness washed over her. She looked at the Dragon and was enra.....ptured, as her mom put one of her beautiful long hands on her shoulder. "I...made it for you, do you like it?" she asked with large dark eyes all lit up with anticipation.

"Yes, child, it is wonderful," she replied as she stroked the slayer's shoulder and worried about how the amazing girl could keep shrugging off her influence. "You are the best daughter a mother could have." A human servant gained resistance to their master but that was mostly a myth told to prospective candidates for the position. In truth a fully marked servant should have no free will if the master enforced their own within the person. It would be horribly dangerous to be at the mercy of a servant that was simply depressed or trying to find a way out of the relationship. "I have done more investigating for you but I'm afraid that Meyer is the only one responsible for the terrible things that our friends had to endure. He is property of Morte D'Amour so we cannot just give him the justice that he deserves, allow me to negotiate for him. We will have our rightful vengeance, but you must swear that you will not act without my knowledge."

"Alright, Mommy," she replied a little sad, but still anticipating that her mom would win those negotiations. She hugged her mom and stuck out her tongue at Jessica, who didn't have a mom or if she did, it wasn't as good of a one as hers.

And that is the problem here, the Dragon thought to herself. If I use enough power to securely hold her mind, she reverts to a child's persona. If I use less, then she has the ability to break free. I must...I will find a way to bend her will permanently...I will.

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The Hawsers and Mama Carlyle had set up a communal home in the medical ward of the SDW building. The guest suites were too far away from their girls so they just commandeered an adjoining set of rooms. One of the attendants thought about telling them that they couldn't do that but a stern look from Mama had that girl running for the hills. Jim, Pamela, and Terry were in visiting with their recovering child while Mama sat in the waiting room with Blake as Rami was in for another round of MRI's.

"I want to thank you, Baby, I know all of what you did to find Rami, but before I do that I'm gonna kick you in the fanny," Mama said to her young charge.

"Huh..What?" Blake's big eyes widened even further.

"Miss Buffy told me that you went off on your own and endangered yourself and I'm not at all happy about that. But I don't have any right to discipline you for it so..." She took a deep breath and prayed that the girl would be happy about this. "I went to Mr.Giles and he said that the company would help me adopt you if...you wanted me to that is. We'd have to find your mom and get her to agree but he said that they could be very persuasive." She finished and held her breath, Snowflake was already her daughter but if the girl was going to get herself in danger because of their relationship, well the relationship should be legal and everything.

Blake thought that she must not have heard that right and replayed it in her mind. On a third run through, it still sounded the same. She couldn't talk, she only had the ability to cry and nod her head with rabid enthusiasm at that moment, and when Mama pulled her into one of her crushing hugs, she thanked God and the King of the North and Buffy and Willow and Giles and Faith and Dawn and Rami and everyone else that she couldn't remember right at that moment that had any part in her meeting Mama. Today was Christmas for her, it was the best Christmas ever, no matter what month it really was.