"Which is clearly why I need vampire consultants. Books can only take me so far."

He narrows his one exposed eye at her.

”You want the world to be better for everyone,” he says.  “But the point of vampires is to make the world worse for everyone but vampires.  Sooner or later you’re going to decide you can’t countenance our continued existence.”

" - That'd take a hell of a long time since I'm stubborn, and by then I expect to have at least more options in my grasp. That don't involve genocide, even of assholes. Assuming, of course, it's even true that all vampires are irredeemably bad, which I don't believe. I also don't believe it's impossible to set up incentives such that even bad people will be pro-social - you can get humans to be pretty damn evil with the right circumstances, and humans are basically good, and honestly vampires seem pretty human-ish in, like, emotional processing. Just. Flipped around."

He pinches the bridge of his nose.  “Again, saying that sort of thing right to my face is not making me more enthusiastic.  Inasmuch as you’re looking for my enthusiasm.”

" - Look, I'd rather people not get hurt. Any people. But I'm not going to stand for killing humans. But... I'd be willing to look the other way on - robbing blood banks, or something. At least until the system gets fixed properly."

He sighs.  "I guess, in that case, I'd be willing to look the other way on your tempting-vampires-to-the-light-side project until someone figures out how to open the Hellmouth," he says.  "So long as we understand how we sound to each other."

"May the best plotter win!" says a very amused Nausicaa. They're gonna be friends, she just knows it.

He rolls his eyes, but his mouth twitches like the beginning of a smirk.  An affectionate smirk, even, maybe.

But then he turns serious again.  "I want you standing between me and your sand demon while we talk business," he says.  "Neither of us gains anything by betraying the other at this stage, but that way if one of us does the other can make them regret it before your friend inevitably wins the fight."

"Sensible!" She's not gonna mention that she actually totally did well against Gaara, long enough to wear the other down into friendship. She moves to position herself, though.

He nods.  "Second - what are your names?  You never introduced yourselves."

"Call me Izzy!" Which sounds enough like Uzun that she'll respond to it. She's not dumb enough to give a vampire her real name. "This is Suna." Hopefully he won't spot 'literally Japanese for sand.' 

He does not seem to.  "I'm guessing that, having tracked me down and stalked me to my home, you already know my name?"

"Pretty much, yeah. At least the Galbraith part."

"Yeah," he says.  "So.  I'll tell you where Vanessa's hideout is, I'll fill you in on who else she's got working for her and who's likely to be there, I'll help you plan the break-in and assassination, but I want to stay out of the fighting.  I point you and your friend at her and run the other way, you contact me when the dust settles and we figure out how we move forward.  Deal?"

"Deal!" This is probably the most peppily sealed backroom deal ever.

He nods decisively.  "Have you heard of the Sterling-Blanc Mausoleum?  Vanessa's headquartered there."

The Sterling-Blanc Mausoleum is one of the larger and more ostentatious crypts in Sunnydale; anyone who's lived there a while will probably recognize the name.  (No one knows who the Sterling-Blancs actually were, though, only that one way or another they're not around any more.)

"Big fancy deal, looks like it was built by someone who wanted everyone to know they have more money than taste? Yeah, I know it."

"It's even bigger and fancier underground," Galbraith says.  "She pretty much stopped leaving altogether once she started gunning for you.  Vanessa has four regulars, three of whom live on site and one of whom is me.  She had five until the op where we found your house - she figured you staked him.  - did you, by the way?"

"Nah. Gave him a talking to - figure he probably skipped town."

He shrugs.  "He's out of the picture, either way.  Vanessa's got a handful of semi-regular contractors she pays for wetwork and enforcement now and then, but they're not likely to be at Sterling-Blanc when you make your move unless she figures out you're coming.  All vampires.  She had a ragdoll demon in her back pocket, who I think you've met.  You scared him off."

"We'll do our best on op-sec, then."

He nods.  "Now, given that Vanessa herself never leaves, your best bet is attacking at night, I think.  There'll only be one or two of us on-site other than Vanessa, if you show up after sunset; everyone else will be on recruitment drives.  She keeps her best fighters near at hand, and she's no slouch herself.  I think you two can take them, but - stake fast."

"Thanks for the tip!" Sadly Nausicaa hasn't managed to recruit any other demons...

"What I'm here for.  Do you have paper?  I can sketch out a rough outline of the floor plan, I mostly know it.  Can't guarantee there aren't any secret passages between rooms, and it won't really be to scale either, but I can give you an idea."

"Yeah, here - " She pulls a notepad out of her pack.