"Good afternoon, Willow, Tara," he smiled as he unlocked the door. Ushering them inside he closed the door and locked it once more. Turning to face them, the smile slipped from his face to be replaced by a hard glare.

"You have some explaining to do," he said, his voice low and dangerous. Willow and Tara backed away, fear plainly showing on their faces. "You told me she would be easy … she resisted!"

"I don’t understand," said Willow softly.

"I pushed as far as I dared in a public place … she refused!" Willow and Tara glanced briefly at one another and Hutchings narrowed his eyes. "Look at me!"

The both looked up, instantly trapped by the deep blue eyes that gazed back at them. The eyes grew brighter, boring into them and suddenly their faces went slack, losing all animation.

"Now," he said softly, "listen to me. You will ignore any feelings of loyalty, friendship or trust that you have for anyone except me. I am the only friend you have, the only one who can see your true potential. You will listen to me, you will do whatever I tell you to do. Do you understand?"

Willow and Tara both nodded and Hutchings smiled. "That’s better," he said. "Now, what is so special about Anya? What did you not tell me?"

"She used to be a demon," said Willow in a soft dreamlike voice. "She lost her power."

"What was her name?"

"Anyanka."

"She’ll be suspicious … where would she go?"

"Xander … her boyfriend … or she would go to Giles."

"No!" Hutchings yelled. "I need him to feel alone … I need him depressed … I need him to feel abandoned." Hutchings paused, running a hand through his hair. "On the other hand, if he’s already suspicious then the opposite would work just as well … a little magical distraction and he won’t even think about interfering tonight. Go and bring Xander here … and fetch the Slayer as well."

"Come on, Giles," pleaded Buffy, leaning across the table. "I know there’s something wrong here and so does Anya."

Giles sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Alright," he said. "We need to find out more about this character."

"Richard Hutchings," said Anya with a shiver. Giles frowned at her.

"Anya, can you tell me exactly what you felt, what your instinct was, when he was talking to you?"

"Is that important?" Asked Buffy and Giles shrugged.

"It may be," he said softly. "After all, Anya was a demon … it may be that a residual of her demon nature was what made her uneasy."

"Like I sensed something?" Asked Anya, puzzled.

"Yes … now tell me what you felt."

"Well," she replied, frowning, "it was like … like … there were insects crawling over me and … like I couldn’t hear anything else … just his voice. I really wanted to hear his voice but then it was like another voice inside me was telling me that something was wrong. It was like I couldn’t breathe and I had to get out of there."

Buffy’s eyes had widened during Anya’s explanation and she turned to Giles.

"We have to warn Willow," she said urgently. "She was going over there."

"It may be too late," replied Giles. "It sounds like some form of hypnosis … thrall of some kind."

"Like with Dracula?"

"It could be something similar, yes."

"So, Willow’s already in thrall to this guy and that’s why she’s buying her stuff over there?"

"I think there’s more to it than that," replied Giles with a frown. "Why go to all that trouble just to generate sales? There’s something else going on here. We’ll need to research this."

Buffy couldn’t help smiling. It was good to see Giles back in research mode.

"Where do we start?" She said seriously and Giles smiled at her.

"You’re excused the books," he replied and Buffy grinned at him.

"Yay me. So, what do you want me to do?"

"We can’t trust Willow …"

"We don’t know that yet," interrupted Buffy. "Look, just let me talk to her … I won’t tell her anything but I just want to sound her out."

Giles looked doubtful and Buffy sighed.

"Giles, Willow and I had an argument this morning," she continued. "What would be more natural than me going over there to apologise? I’ll tell her that I was worried about you and see where the conversation goes."

"You argued about me?" Asked Giles in surprise, not seeing the smile that crossed Anya’s face as she glanced between Giles and Buffy.

"Well, yes," replied Buffy sheepishly. "I was sort of angry with them for not coming here and then Willow said that I …"

Buffy broke off, suddenly realising what Willow had been implying. God, she thought, how come she knew before I did? You knew a long time ago, the inner voice piped up, you just refused to face it.

"Buffy?" Giles’ soft tones broke into her thoughts.

"Hmmm?" She asked, looking up and Giles’ eyes widened slightly at the dreamy smile on her face. Where did she drift off to then, he wondered.

"M..m..maybe you … um … should see Willow," he stuttered, mentally cursing the fact that his brain and his mouth refused to co-operate whenever Buffy looked at him like that … or when she pouted … or … yes, that’s quite enough of that, he thought. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"If you find that you can’t trust Willow," continued Giles, not looking at her, "then I need you to find someone to help us with the computer side of things. Try and track down Richard Hutchings on the … um … internet."

"No problem," replied Buffy, standing up. "I’ll see you guys later."

"Buffy?" called Giles as she reached the door. Buffy turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Be careful," he said quietly and Buffy smiled, nodding quickly before leaving the shop.

Giles sighed and turned to Anya.

"When does Xander leave work?"

Anya glanced up at the clock. "In 30 minutes … why?"

"Good," replied Giles, walking across to the counter. "Go and meet Xander. Tell him what’s happened. On the way back here, I want you to stop at my place and pick up these books."

Giles quickly jotted down the names of seven books he was convinced he simply couldn’t do without and then handed the piece of paper to Anya. She glanced at it casually and stuffed it into her pocket.

"Don’t forget," admonished Giles. "I really need those volumes."

Xander struggled through the fog and confusion in his mind. He felt as though he was struggling with nothing; drowning in a sea of nothing. Memories were there … he could feel them at the edge of his mind … but whenever he reached out, tried to focus, they danced away, bobbing tantalisingly just out of his reach. Okay, he thought, what’s the last thing you remember? Red hair .. red hair and those eyes … staring into my soul. I fell into them, wanted to lose myself in them, drown in them. Xander moaned slightly and Willow and Tara increased their grip upon him, entering "Hocus Pocus" through the back entrance, supporting Xander between them. Hutchings smiled as he saw them.

"Very good," he said soothingly. "You’ve done well. Now take him to the storeroom … chain him up… and then go and fetch the Slayer." Hutchings smiled as Willow and Tara dragged Xander from the room. "However," he said softly, "I can’t overlook your earlier mistake … you will have to be punished … but not yet. I want the Slayer first."

He rubbed his hands together. Everything was falling into place … I have Willow, Tara, Xander and soon I’ll have the Slayer. Hutchings grinned. All you have, Watcher, is an ex-demon … and you’re no longer strong enough to stop me … I’ve seen to that.

******to be continued*********