An unexpected visitor

"Oh my Goddess!" cried Laurel. "That poor woman!"

"Oh, Mistress Post wasn't poor," said Sir Reilly. "In fact, she was well-off. Indeed, she owned --"

"That will be enough of that, Sir Reilly," said Magdalena. "No need to inform them of all our private business. Speaking of which, any progress in regard to that second item I requested?"

"If you're referring to the Holy Grail," said Sir Reilly, "well, we still have had no luck. As for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, we've had a heck of a time tracking that down, given that its last known location is currently controlled by the Teutonic Knights. We did manage to obtain a few clues in Cairo but then all hell broke loose. Apparently some mercenary lost her girlfriend in the marketplace and was harassing all the local basket merchants about it. Then of course, he had to go and shoot an Arab swordsman with his crossbow, and boy, did that cause no end of trouble. And in addition --"

"Okay, Sir Reilly," said Magdalena. "We get the point. Think you have time to slay a dragon for us?"

"Yes, Mistress Walsh," said Sir Reilly with a click of his heels.

"Oh, good," said Magdalena. "The sooner we get this dragon-slaying over with, the better."

Just then there was a knock on the front door.

Again the innkeeper answered it.

This time there was a young woman at the door. She had dark brown hair and appeared to be eighteen -- just about two years younger than Buffy.

"Top of the evening to you," she said. "I'm here on behalf of my mistress Guadalupe Post. I believe you people have something that belongs to her."

"Who the hell are you?" asked Sir Reilly as the blonde woman leaning on him suppressed a smirk.

"Me?" asked the woman. "Why, I'm nobody. Just a faithful friend and servant of Mistress Post, here to collect a bit of lost property. But if you have to call me something, please feel free to call me Fae Lahane."

"Well, Fae," said Sir Riley with a scowl, "your mistress's 'lost property' is now the official property of his Majesty and his loyal servants. So you can just get lost."

"Are you sure you don't want to change your mind?" asked Fae. "You really don't want me as an enemy."

Sir Reilly laughed. "I give up his Majesty's property to no man."

Fae smiled. "It's funny that you put it that way because as you can see, I am clearly not a man."

At that point, she dropped her dress and revealed a naked body that had been concealed from the sun for so long that its whiteness was almost blinding to look at. But that bit was not half as noticeable as the large transparent wings that were spreading out behind Fae's back.

"Heck," Fae continued, "I'm not even human."