Willow murmured, "I've been thinking."

"Colour me surprised." Faith said with a smirk.

Glaring at her Willow said, "This Skater is connected to these Swords right?"

Faith nodded, "Yeah. The Swords are some kind of army. We don't know who their boss is."

Willow said as calmly as possible, "We need someone who knows a lot about the fighting forces of demons and stuff. We need to talk to the Shadow Squad."

"I'm not entirely sure that would be the wisest course of action." Giles said seriously looking at the two girls.

"I've found them." Oz said calmly as he placed a book on the table.

"Who are they?" Faith said eagerly.

Oz sighed, "A demon army for someone called The Hand."

"The Hand of what?" Giles said half to himself as he tried to place the name.

"No idea." Oz said with a shrug.

Faith interjected "We should ask Angel, he's been around a lot longer than we have."

"You may be right. I'm sure they won't mind us going to see them." Giles said seriously as he picked up the normal stakes, crosses and holy water one carried when going outside at night in Sunnydale.

*******

"You think we should help them out," Rob asked his lower as he waved a hand over the bowl of water making the image of Giles and the girls disappear.

Jocelyn smirked, "Of course. We are here to help Xander. This army after him is one of the problems he's facing, you know his powers will be unpredictable until the child is born."

Thomas said seriously, "Do you know who they're talking about?

"I think its Theron." Jocelyn said angrily knowing just how much danger his nephew would be in now.

Siobhan, gasped in shock, "The Hunter?"

"Yeah but I don't know what he wants with Xander."

Jocelyn said seriously, "We will find out in due time until then we should focus on Buffy. I don't trust that Slayer."

"No one trusts her. Its rather sad." Siobhan said softly.

*******

Dru gripped her head tightly as images assaulted her mind, visions of blood and loss. She screamed in the night as she watched all the possibilities play out knowing that before the week was though one of the people in her visions would die but she didn't know who. There and then she vowed to keep an eye on Alex for all he was a powerful creature; he was pregnant which made him vulnerable to Swords.

"Don't worry, Miss Edith. I'll make sure they're okay. You think we should call Her?" Dru said tilting her head at her doll.

With a decisive nod she said, "You are right. She will come when she is needed."

Closing her eyes Dru let her mind flow into the netherworld. She loved it there, the stars and moon cradled her in their embrace while the shining ones spoke words of love to her.

*******

Xander groaned as the dreamscape changed and a cold empty world replaced the image of a beautiful sunlight garden. He was startled when a wolf walked over to him, shimmering slightly as it changed so it was half man and half wolf.

"We have been searching for you, my liege." The wolf said bowing respectfully.

"Who are you and why do you seek me?"

The wolf said seriously, "My name does not matter. I am one of many who has been seeking you for many years. Our mission is to see you return to your mate. He is looking forward to seeing you again."

"I have a mate. I don't need or want another." Xander said angrily unwilling to contemplate being separated from Angel.

"Respectfully sire, that cannot be. Your mate has always been and always will be Theron."

"Not this time," Xander said with a shrug,

The wolf begged, "My Lord, please reconsider! Master Theron has been waiting for your return ever since you died over a thousand years ago."

Xander shook his head, "NO! I am staying with my bonded. Tell this to your master."

"So be it. My Liege we must come after you now. Know this, the Swords will return you to your true mate and the world will rejoice."

"I'm not coming with you. I am quite happy here. Return to your Master and tell him that if he comes after me, he will be destroyed." Xander said with a shrug as he forced himself to wake.

*******

"Xander, we need to speak with you." Jocelyn said seriously as he and his lover walked into his nephew's room.

Seeing the look of concern on his uncle's face Xander asked, "What's wrong, Joce?"

"We know who is coming after you. It's a man called Theron."

Xander nodded, "I already know about him. He sent a shape-shifter after me, the wolf came to me while I was asleep asking me to return to Theron."

"WHAT?" Angel exclaimed in shock.

Xander informed them coolly, "I told him that I'm not going with him. His lackey said that he would come after me and return me to Theron."

Rob said reassuringly, "Oh. We're going to make sure you're okay. Hopefully Theron will back off when he realises the support you've got."

"I don't think that will happen. Apparently he's determined that I'm his mate and he's going to have me."

"You're my mate, not his!" Angel protested angrily.

Xander agreed, "I know. I'm not leaving you. I told the wolf that I've already got a mate."

Rob said gently, "That wasn't very wise. Now they'll just come after you and Angel."

"I'm sure between the Shadow Squad, mom, the Scoobies, Angel and I we can deal with Theron and his men."

"I hope you're right." Angel said seriously tightening his hold on his mate.

Gently cupping his love's face Xander said intensely, "We have to beat him, otherwise our baby may not survive."

"We'll make sure he leaves you alone. He has no idea who he's dealing with." Jocelyn said quickly knowing he and his team would die before letting any harm come to Xander.

"Thanks Unc. Now about the magic lessons, we should get started just in case I have to use my powers. Dru's going to teach me but I could do with all the help I can get."

"Well then let's start." Rob said clearing a space in the middle of the room gesturing for Xander to sit down before doing so himself.

Rob said softly, "Now we are going to try some meditation first. To achieve control over your powers you need to achieve a sense of calm within yourself. Close your eyes right now please Xander. Clear your mind, the only thing that matters right now is the sound of my voice."

"Now I want you to think about somewhere safe, somewhere you can let go of all your fears, doubts and worries." Rob instructed keeping one eye on Xander grinning when the man smiled.

He quickly said, "That's very good. Now that you have found your centre I want you to visualise all the energy running through you into a small ball of fire. This fire cannot burn you, think about how it feels smooth and powerful. It moves almost like a living being the way it consumes the oxygen. Concentrate on the feeling and image of the fire, now feel it sitting in your palm. It doesn't hurt you it feels slightly warm but it doesn't burn you."

The room watched shocked as Xander created a fireball the size of his first in the shape of a heart. He opened his eyes and looked at it in shock before looking up at his lover who simply smiled approvingly.

"You did very well, Xander. Now I want you to try something else. Think about the fire again and about how it dies, the water smothering it. Let the fireball die, let the power be absorbed into you. The power stays safe with you, you don't need to see its physical manifestation."

When the fireball was completely absorbed into Xander's skin Rob nodded, "Now I want you to close your eyes and feel the energy coming from the ground. I need to explain something about Earth Magic. The Earth is one being, which includes all the life on the planet. This means there is a massive amount of energy. An Earth Mage can access and focus this energy allowing them to effect material things and beings. You will probably be able to communicate with animals, another reason why Earth Magic is sometimes called Animal Magic."

"Heavy, but I can handle it. Does this mean I've turned into Doctor Dolittle now?"

Amused at the young man's statement Rob shook his head, "No but you will find some animals will help you if you ask them nicely. They will give you advice, warnings and in some cases protection."

"Okay. I hate to ask this but can we continue this later? I'm feeling a little tired, sorry."

Hearing the worry in his nephew's face Jocelyn reassured Xander quickly, "That's okay. You should be taking it easy since we don't know how having the baby, the hormone changes and everything will affect you."

"I'll see you all later, guys. I'm going back to bed, that dream interrupted my sleep." Xander said with a yawn leaving the room with Angel just a couple of seconds behind.

*****
tbc