Order of Business

Author's Note: MAJOR WARNING for what is likely to be horrible French. I blame that country as a whole for not having a decent language...

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"Bonjour de nouveau, Comment pouvons-nous vous servir?" Jean-Claude said formally as the trio of guests entered his living room behind Claudia and Requiem. He directed them to chairs as he glanced casually at his Anita. The executioner had not been in St.Louis during their previous visits and this was her first time seeing people from a different world.

"Merci. Nous voudrions poser quelques questions si vous seriez si gentils," Giles responded after sitting in the comfortable black velvet chair.

"Uh..would it be possible for those of us that have enough trouble with one language to talk in..let's say English?" Xander asked with a slight smile as he checked out the two warriors standing behind the small black haired woman. They both had swords and forearms that made you think that they'd been using them for a very long time. He didn't like the fact that it was only him and Giles to protect Dawn if something went pear shaped.

"My apologies, Monsieur Harris," Jean-Claude replied,"I have only been asked if I would answer a few questions. Lady Harris, est belle et être une mère, des félicitations."

"Thankyou, We have a son already, this will be our second," Dawn answered as she put her hand on her husband to tell him to shutup. "We appreciate your agreeing to see us and will return the favor one day if necessary," she replied almost word for word of what Giles had coached her to say.

He studied them and listened to Ma Petite's questions in his mind. Somehow Belle and the council had managed to run afoul of these out-worlders and they expected him to be willing to tell their secrets to them. "When I originally gave Buf-fee permission to reside in my city, it was vowed that there would be no interaction with my... superiors." He watched as his words slid over the pregnant woman and he felt her body's reaction to them. She softly shut her eyes and gave the slightest arch to her back, her full bosom... He ended the effect at Ma Petite's mental image of stakes and sunlight. "I do not appreciate being put in the position that I now find myself in," he added in a hurry to change his course of thoughts.

Xander looked with concern at his wife, he heard her breath catch and thought she might be pained by something.

She ignored Xander as he tried to catch her eyes and when he finally put his hand on her shoulder, she waved him off and said,"Our apologies for your trouble but this is hardly our fault." Buf-fee...Buffy had warned her about Cassanova's washing machine voice and now that she had felt it, she absolutely agreed with her sister's nickname. "Your Superiors came to our world and kidnapped two teenage girls."

"What?!" Anita sharply interrupted. She broke her mind-link to Jean-Claude and stood. Wicked and Truth came to her sides before she waved them back to stand where they were by the wall. "How long ago were they they taken and why do you believe the council did it?"

"We have recovered them," Giles announced, causing the dark haired woman to relax and take a deep breath. The infamous executioner was an enigma to him. If even half of the stories in this world were to be believed, the petite woman should have been setting off more than one of his Warning Enchantments, he thought as he glanced at the row of small charms hanging on the inside of his coat. Only one of the twenty pendants was illuminated, that one being for a shapeshifter or lycanthrope as these people called them. "One of our rescuers is being held there against her will, we have reason to believe. It is our opinion that she is under a mental thrall that restricts her freedom of choice." He watched as it appeared that the vampire and his human servant, whatever that meant, had a lengthy conversation in their heads.

"Does the lost rescuer have the same type of beast that Buf-fee possesses?" Jean-Claude asked, keeping the power to a minimum within his voice.

"Yes, nearly the same," Dawn replied. "Probably less powerful, but not by much." She hoped that this meeting ended on good terms and with a lot of information and soon, as she had the most powerful urge to celebrate. Xander is going to get his world rocked, she thought as she waved off another inquiry from him about her comfort.

"What condition are the teenagers in?" Anita asked, knowing the level of depraved behavior the Council could attain from her experience with a few of them.

"They were assaulted, one of them was tortured," Giles responded. "The one who wasn't tortured is the most damaged though, her free will was taken and she's devastated by that. They will both be in therapy for as long as necessary." The small black haired woman dressed all in black seemed to be concerned, but her only reaction to his answer was to glance at the Master of the City.

"When a victim's mind has been taken en somme...that completely, there is a likelihood that her mind was damaged by the vampire," Jean-Claude said with softness, causing all of his guests to be startled by the news. "I will of course offer to free her mind of any back-doors as Ma Petite would say. Only another vampire of a powerful enough level can undue any permanent weaknesses purposely left within the mind."

"Are you saying she could be programmed?" Xander asked, his hand firmly squeezing his wife's knee. "Like some kind of time bomb?"

"Exactement...It is possible, yes," Jean-Claude answered them as he was in his own mental debate with Ma Petite. "A vampire would certainly leave a way for him or her to regain control and could leave a set of...predetermined responses that might guide the victim's reactions."

"We will help both of the victims if we can, no strings attached," Anita said out loud but for both of the conversations that she was having. "As for the other person of yours still there, you have to assume that the bad guys, the vampires, know everything the your person knows and that person might actively help them accomplish whatever their goals are."

"Her name is Faith," Xander said, ashamed that they had left her there at the mercy of the vampires even though the only option that he could see was all-out warfare that would have left a lot dead at the time.

"If Faith is as powerful as Buf-fee, then it will be no easy task to control her or to keep her under control. Ma Petite has decided that we will help you and I am a smart enough vampire to know when to listen. The council was formed a long time ago by the most powerful and some believe, the first vampire. She is known as..."

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"Get off of me," Faith said to the sweating great bear. She had the most wicked headache. Mommy...the Dragon was asleep with all of the vamps for the day and she was grumpy, bored and totally in a bad mood. Her boy Rollo was well equipped for the task, but lacked the imagination to really keep her occupied, she thought as she watched the big hairy brute towel himself off before throwing his pants over his shoulder and walking out of the room, just swingin' in the wind.
"Does anybody have Tylenol or Advil down here?" she asked out loud, but the other people in the cafeteria ignored her. As she was slipping back into her boots and armored pants, she felt a hand pat her naked ass. She stood, pants still around her thighs and turned slowly to see the freakin' moron. He was a tall, very good looking man if it wasn't for the massive bruise around both of his eyes. It really was a shame that she was going to rip his head off and stick it down his neck.

"Do all of you slayers have such fine firmaments?" Marc Antony asked. He knew that these slayers were dangerous to trifle with, especially one that annihilated the Forum Guard, but the blow to his reputation and to his very ego that he had taken from the Valkyrie because of that traitorous Maruk had to be dispelled before the other denizens of this subterranean Hell thought that they too could take liberties with him. Some of the rumors that were going around the complex enraged him. Some had it that he was castrated, some that his virginity if there was any, was taken with force by the girl, some even said that it was him that had allowed the children to escape. He would push this fearsome slayer to the limits of the Dragon's control to show everyone his fearlessness and regain his rightful position of superiority over these slaves and their rabble of children.

"Who are you, Numbnuts?" she asked as she pulled her pants up and buttoned them, watching as he followed the process with his eyes.

"I am Marcus Antonius Creticus, I am sure that you would know me as Marc Antony." His announcement was a nod to the former grandness that his name had once commanded in all of the known world. This slayer was beautiful. She did not have the size of breasts that his Valkyrie had but he had an instinct that this dark creature would truly be an enjoyment, an amusement park ride. He allowed her to see that he was appreciating her body so that she would be flattered. If he could mount her here, but as a master, not as a slave like the worthless bear had done, the news would spread quickly from the witnesses and his reputation would be restored.

Faith looked at him for a moment before smashing his nose with her palm. The jerk-off flew backwards and flailed his arms as he tripped over a bench, his food flying all over everyone at the table behind him. As she walked out of the cafeteria, she could hear the sounds of fists and boots pummeling the jackass as a group of food-splattered werewolves showed him their displeasure.

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Buffy stalked in the shadows, senses at their most alert. She had been watching the area for some time now and was getting restless. She could feel all manner of beasties in the dark Parisian night, but every time she trailed one of the shady characters, they only led her away from where she knew that the underground cave system had to be. She had followed at least a dozen of these false leads and her temper was wearing thin.

Of course the bastards had obliterated any clue of the hospital tunnel and Faith had never said how she had found them. Just as she was about to go try to find one of the people she had followed earlier for a round of Buffy smack until Buffy get answers she heard a car door and an outraged voice curse the Lords of the City for something she couldn't quite hear. She slipped through the darkness like a whisper of a shadow and found a man...a vampire shaking the water from his foot as he whined about Italian shoes. He cursed a pothole that his limo had parked next to before walking towards a night-club that she had already checked out. The slayer was about to let her frustration out when the vamp, instead of going to the front door, went to the side wall and opened a small utility hatch. She watched as he climbed down a set of steep stairs and she stayed still while the hatch softly clicked shut.

"Here I come to save the day..dada..da..dum..Whatever," she sang to herself as she silently approached the hatch.