[ gray turns his head to look at buffy for a long measured moment. ] The promise would be Rafael's. In return for guaranteeing the best possible outcome of this trial, he would swear to some day repay this favor, should we require his assistance. He would be asked to do nothing that ran counter to his morals, and the situation would be beneficial for many people - himself likely included.

You might say that it is through these bargains that we can lessen the amount of potential influence that the... others, those such as Des' personal shadow, can exert in the future. Should events transpire that would require our interference, we can avoid directly doing so by the use of agents such as Mr. Giovanni. The balance is maintained - we do something for him, he counters it by doing something for us, and in so doing, rectifies some evil in this world without tipping the scales towards our adversaries.