SquidgeWorld Archive

Prolog

Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Oz had gathered in the Bronze on Friday evening, to 'celebrate the weekend.' Xander had asked Cordy to join them that day at summer school, but the only response he had gotten from her was a half-restrained scream and a good look at her backside as she stormed off in a huff, so it seemed it was only the four of them.

To console him for the fact that his significant whatever was not around, Xander was flirting with Buffy, who had finally loosened up from after the disastrous encounter with the incubus last week and was dressed to party in a sheer and short ivory dress.

"So, how's the training been going with Mister Tojo, Buffy?" Xander asked.

"Okay I guess," Buffy said, taking a sip of her soda. "Very different from working with Giles." She allowed a sigh to escape for the soul of her partly-departed watcher. "Mister Tojo has been training me by the book, so help us all!" she finished, snorting.

"The book?" Oz asked.

"The slayer handbook?" Xander asked. "The one that Kendra told you about?"

"The REVISED slayer handbook," Buffy answered coldly.

"Revised? By whom?" Xander pressed.

"Tojo and Giles... Giles got the idea to update it for modern western cultures after I met Kendra, and wrote it with Mister Tojo by correspondence. He never even mentioned it to me!!"

"But still, being trained by a book that you were the inspiration for, how cool is that?" Willow tried.

"Try not cool at all. It's just a big list of things that I should know by now and rules I should follow 'in times of crisis.' I IMPROVISE in times of crisis - I always have." Buffy pouted.

"(Sigh.) Does anyone here want anything?"

Everyone turned to look at the new speaker. Buffy's eyebrows shot up. Willow gasped. Oz's jaw dropped. Xander's reaction is best spelled as "Wo-yabba-abso-yowza!"

Cordelia was standing close to their table, wearing a close-fitting long-sleeved black sweater that was short enough to show her navel and some of her flat stomach, and tight enough to flatter her curvaceous figure, tight black leggings that accented her shapely thighs, and two-inch platform heels. She was carrying a circular tray in one hand and a pad and pen in the other.

Buffy got her wits together enough to ask the question first. "What -- exactly, are you doing, Cordy?"

Cordelia sighed a voluminous sigh. "What does it look like, stupid? I'm working." That answer, though the one that they had all realized was the only one that fit what they were seeing, was so far away from anything anyone had ever expected from Cordelia that all four were struck speechless.

Groaning, Cordelia launched into a monolog. "Ever since I landed in remedials, my Dad has decided that I 'lacked motivation' to make something of my life. He cut my allowance by 90% and set up a 'matching funds' program. If I got, and kept, a part-time job, he would match each paycheck by giving me the before-taxes wage. My wardrobe's so out of date that I finally had to take him up on it."

Xander recovered his voice again. "Speaking of wardrobe, that's a nice uniform you've got on, honey." He stretched an arm around Cordelia's waist and tried to pull her onto his lap, but she twisted away.

"I'm working now Xander," Cordelia protested, but her eyes were dancing with mischief and aimed right at the excited young teenager. "Maybe we'll take a walk once my shift's done," she added, walking away.

* * * *

A few hours later, the Bronze was going strong, but Buffy was lagging. So were Willow and Oz, although Will was still holding her own in the gossip-fest between herself and Buffy that had slowly slipped from enthusiastic to half-hearted. Suddenly, Buffy yawned.

"You okay, Buffy?" Willow asked unneccesarily.

"I'm fine, but I think I'm gonna head off now."

"Okay. I think I'd like to hang a bit longer, okay?" Oz said, glancing at Willow. "Have another dance or two?"

"Sure!" Willow said brightly. "Xander, would you escort Buffy home?" She giggled.

"Huh?" Xander said absently, not in the least bit distracted from his occupation of the evening; scanning the nightclub for his auburn-haired inamorata.

"Yeah, that'll happen," Buffy said, laughing. "Xander, if you don't want to wait until her shift ends, why don't you just drag her into a broom closet?" Buffy and Willow dissolved into laughter; Xander and Cordy's sessions in the broom closet has become just as much a part of their 'Slayerette mythology' as Demon Moloch or Eyghon.

"Oh, fine. Mock me. Just don't expect sympathy the next time you," he pointed a finger at Buffy, "have a vampire lover turn evil or find out you're dating a demon, or you," he turned to Willow, "wake up with dog hair in your mouth and a bite on your shoulder." Catching himself, he turned to Oz and nodded politely. "No offense meant to you, man."

"One to talk." Buffy shot back. "Over the past year and a half, your big flings have been with a preying mantis, an Incan Mummy girl, and *Cordelia*. I don't know which is scarier!" Buffy stood up and strode toward the door, effectively ending the contest.

Meanwhile, in her richly furnished room at the hideout, Kaliya arranged an armchair in front of a mirror that was showing Buffy as she left the Bronze. Concentrating deeply, she hung a thin sheet of transparant netting over the mirror, murmuring "Hypnos, god of sleep, hear my call. Let the veil of darkness fall upon her." Stretching her left hand across the left half of her head, she glared at Buffy's image and muttered: "My mind to your mind. My thoughts to your eyes. My soul to your spirit. My wishes over your destiny!"

With a slight gasp, Buffy fell to the street just outside the Bronze.

Act One

After several seconds, Buffy dragged herself up off the pavement and looked worriedly around. Seeing no-one, she warily headed back off to her home. As she entered the apartment, she said 'hi' to her father, and quickly headed off to bed.

About half an hour later, she was startled by the telephone ringing. It was Willow, talking too quickly and excitedly for Buffy to be able to understand much, but she was talking about Giles. After ascertaining that she was at the school library, Buffy headed over.

"I got here a few minutes ago," Xander said, taking her aside as she entered the library. "Mister Tojo's gone out of town for the weekend, and it seems that Willow decided it was time to try the curse on Giles... to give him a soul and turn him back to good. She sent a message to Giles to lure him here so that he wouldn't be in danger from Kaliya's vamps when the deal goes down."

"Um, okay," Buffy said uncertainly. "Well, if things are already in motion, let's give this a try."

A little bit later the vamp once known as Giles strode up the school corridor and into the library. "What's going on?" he asked authoratatively.

"Well, it's like this Giles," Xander said from across the main floor of the library. "You've died and become a vampire; you're casting black magic and working for the forces of evil, but we don't think you REALIZE how much that's hurting everyone who cares for you." Xander tilted his head wryly. "So call this a vampirism intervention." By this point Giles had moved several paces closer to the teenaged boy, and Buffy went to the swinging library doors and bolted them together.

"I know that you can't see this thing clearly Giles," Buffy continued on Xander's patter line. "You don't realize that your vampirism is a problem. But we aren't going to leave this room until you have a soul again!" She moved over to stand within a few paces of Giles' route to either the door or Willow, who was preparing herself with the Orb of Thessulah. Xander and Oz approach to assist her.

Giles looked questioninly at Oz, who shrugged as he waved some burning incense. "Don't look at me," Oz muttered. "I'm just here to give Willow support."

"Quod perditum est, inveneitur," Xander declared grandly, approaching Willow from the other side.

"Not dead, nor not of the living," Willow chanted. "Spirits of the interregnum I call."

"You're cursing me?" Giles expostulated, irritated. "Planning to turn me back into the Watcher?"

"Gods, bind him," Willow continued.

"Well, I don't THINK..." Giles snorted.

"Cast his heart..." Willow was chanting at the same time.

At just that moment, a THWUCKing sound rang out, and all of a sudden a crossbow bolt; no, an arrow plunged into Giles' chest. "... so!" he weakly finished, and then collapsed into dust.

"No!" Buffy called. She turned, to see from where the attack had come. On the raised area that held the stacks, a young girl was putting a short bow away. Not just any young girl, Buffy realized. This was the vampire she had encountered the time she had braved Queen Kaliya's stronghold to discover Giles' fate; the one that Kaliya had hinted was her champion... and a slayer turned vamp. Michelle, her name had been.

Suddenly Buffy realized that Willow was continuing with her chanting. "Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte. Nici mort, nici... nici... " Now Willow broke off in distress. There were swirls of red light flying angrily (angrily?) around the orb.

The vampire, Michelle, had finished putting her bow away, and turned towards the stacks exit. Buffy rushed towards Willow, and Oz turned to help her. Seeing this, Xander rushed up the stairs to intercept Michelle.

In an instant the swirls of red light spread to encompass Willow. Oz reached out to her, but something seemed to push him away. Suddenly, in a burst of orange radiance, Willow was nowhere to be seen. Buffy, still running towards Willow, ran right through the space she had been standing, but there was nothing but the Orb of Thessulah, which landed in her hands, now glowing.

Xander outraced Michelle to the door, but the young vampire didn't hesitate a moment; Michelle assaulted Xander with punches, scratches, and karate chops. Xander rallied and tried to fight back, but Michelle was drawing a weapon out of her jacket; a long thin steel spike, almost stake-like. A stab at Xander's chest - he blocked it with his arm. The spike drove in several inches, leaking blood, before Michelle withdrew it. With a quick backhand to that arm from her free hand and a scratch on the other using the spike, Michelle put Xander's arms out of the action, and then thrust.

It was perfect technique; the same sort of move that Buffy had used on vampires so many times. There was no doubt in her mind any more that Michelle had been a Vampire Slayer. But Xander was human, and instead of disintegrating when Michelle withdrew the spike, he just collapsed onto the floor, bleeding. Michelle dodged out the door.

"XANDER!" Buffy cried. "NOOOO!!" She dashed up toward him. "You can't die on me! I love you! I know I never said it, but I do," she babbled. "You've got to COME BACK TO ME!"

Suddenly the Orb, still in her hands, began to glow stronger, peaking in a few seconds at double its earlier brightness, which was so radiant that it hurt Buffy's eyes to look at it. Then it faded back to the level it had assumed when Willow disappeared. Xander's body suddenly jerked and sat up.

In a voice that was not at all natural, Xander croaked, "What the hell was that??"

Act Two

"Xander!" Buffy cried, rushing over to him. "You're alive! Are you all right?"

"I am far from alright," Xander groans. He cocked his head, and then pressed a his right thumb against his left wrist. "In fact, I think it's pushing it to say that I'm alive." He raised his wrist close to Buffy. "No pulse."

"WHAT?" Buffy grabbed his wrist, but he was quite right; there was no heartbeat that she could find.

"I'm undead," Xander concluded simply. "Because of that thing." He nodded to the orb, still in Buffy's hand. "It couldn't make me live, but it brought me back." He snorted distastefully.

"Where's Willow?" Oz called over to them.

"She's in the orb," Xander answered him matter-of-factly. "I felt her presence as it brought me through."

"In the orb?" Buffy asked blankly. "I could see how her soul might be in there, but her body has gone absent-without-leave too."

"I don't KNOW how," Xander snapped angrily. "All I know is that Willow's in the orb."

"Come on, guys," Oz interjected stepping between Buffy and Xander. "We *SO* don't need an argument here; what we need are some answers." He looked at the other two severely. "We've got the library at our disposal - let's get to work!"

Buffy glared defiantly at Oz for several seconds, who took a step back and spread his hands apologetically, realizing that he had stepped on her 'Slayer perogatives.' "Okay," Buffy declared, "we research."

It was several hours before they found anything, and as it seemed to often happen, two discoveries were made close to the same time: "After Eva's body were discovered in the river, drownded," Oz read, "the Wizard didst use a crystalline orb to bespeak the firmament on her behalf, asking the gods to restore her life. At that very moment, her body didst rise, but there was no life in it, and so did Eva become a revenant of night and shadow. Although her heart was still of good intentions, her judgement swiftly deteriorated, and she did wreak mischief about that country for many years, commanding undead of any kind to fufill her ill-conceived aims." Oz scanned down a bit further. "That's all that seems to relate. Sorry," he added to Buffy and Xander.

"Ech," Buffy ecched, and then opened another book. "Tanavier did use the Orb of Thessulah several times, calling the demon spirit of a vampire into the orb and casting it adrift into the ether, thus killing the fiends by the use of magic. In this wise did he seek to attack the infamous vampire Thelamy, unknowing that Thelamy had been slain in the nights previous. Not finding its target, the orb did absorb Tanavier in body and spirit, and though his students did strive to restore him, he did fade from the orb in a week's time, never seen or heard from again."

"WILLOW!" Oz cried, agonized.

"It'll be okay Oz," Buffy said, looking up at him. In surprise, she realized that Xander wasn't in the library. Where had he gone? Well, he had a lot to adjust to, Buffy realized. "Come on Oz," she continued, "we can't give up now. You said it yourself; all we've got so far is problems, and what we need is answers."

* * * *

They didn't find any answers that night; material on the Thessulan orbs was scant, even with the bulk of Giles' collection, Mister Tojo's references, and Ms. Calendar's electronic spellbooks to draw on. Buffy tried calling Akira Tojo at his conference several times without luck. As twilight began to poke its way through the windows, Oz erupted in answer.

"It's hopeless Buffy!! We're not gonna find some magic 'out' in these books that'll make everything all right. Willow's gone and we're not going to be able to get her back. And Xander's become a monster. End of story."

Buffy stared at him. "How can you say that? We've gotta keep trying."

"What if we fail, Buffy? What are you gonna do if you can't make this better? Are you just gonna try and forget about them and carry on? Keep being the Slayer?" Buffy recoiled from his outburst, perplexed. "Well, not me."

"Huh?"

Oz had been digging around at Giles' old desk, producing and loading an old style revolver. "It's the night before the full moon tomorrow; and I don't plan to chain myself up to get through this time."

Now Buffy was REALLY confused. "What do you mean Oz? If you're not chained up when you go werewolf..."

"Then I rampage, and you have to stop me. Use this, okay?" Oz handed the revolver to her. Feeling a knot form in her stomach, Buffy opened the gun; the bullets were silver.

"Oz? You don't..." she began, but the older teenager had taken his turn to disappear from the library on her. Groaning, Buffy sat down at the 'war council table' of the library and forcefully rested her forehead on the tabletop.

* * * *

As Saturday came to an end with twilight fading into the evening, Buffy began a patrol, armed with the revolver Oz had given her and a tranquilizer dart gun from Giles' collection. She wasn't sure which she would use if, or when, she encountered Were-Oz; she didn't want to kill him, but if he was determined to force her to, the dart gun would only postpone the reckoning.

She checked at the Bronze, since that was one of the places Were-Oz had rampaged before; all seemed to be nornal, and Buffy was about to head back out the door, when she heard faint cries of distress coming from the rear of the club. Buffy raced towards the sound, pushing dancers aside almost violently, and charged down a corridor prominently marked "Employees only." Soon, she burst through a door to the alley behind the Bronze. Cordelia, in her tantalizing waitress' costume, was being held with her hands behind her by Xander! (She was screeching up a good storm too, which was what Buffy was hearing.) Xander was starting to look a little dead around the edges; although the fatal wound in his chest wasn't too noticeable, the other wounds that he had gotten in the fight with Michelle were obviously old by now, but not healed, which was spooky. His skin was starting to look slightly rough and gray as well.

Opposite Cordelia was a vampire in a dark blue shirt and blue jeans. Not noticing Buffy yet, Xander ordered the vampire, "Make her. Make Cordy here into one of your kind."

Act Three

Buffy cried out in horror and charged towards the vampire, but Xander noticed her and yelled out, "Grab her, boys!"

Two solid hands gripped each of her arms, and her legs were kicked out from under her, leaving her dangling, knees just above the pavement. She twisted her hand each way, enough to see the much brawnier vampires, twin-like in their pugnacious readiness, keeping her restrained. "Idiot!" Buffy criticized herself. "Secure the area; watch your back. Sheesh."

"Got her, boys?" Xander asked. The 'twins' took a tighter grip on her arms and nodded in unison. Buffy tried to struggle free, but between their strength and the low-leverage position she had been put in, she was helpless. Her only hope was that Xander was in control of the situation, and that he didn't mean HER any harm.

"What are you gonna do now, Xander?" Buffy asked him.

"What I came here to do," the dead body that had once been Xander Harris answered her. "Don't worry; I'll let you go once it's done. Shayne, carry on," he ordered the vampire standing in front of Cordy.

"NO!" Buffy screamed. "You can't do this! You couldn't kill her!"

"Why not?" Xander smirked at her. "You never liked Cordy anyways; why the concern for her now?" Buffy just stared at him, speechless. "Oh, right... you're the Slayer, and you oppose any rise in the vampire population on principle. Well, I'll take care of that one too -- just wait and see."

"NOO!" Buffy cried out again, not quite understanding what Xander was talking about. "You can't do this; you can't BE this, some monster going around killing and vampirizing people. I LOVE YOU!" Buffy blurted out.

"Yeah, I know," Xander shot back witheringly. "It was your luvv," he pronounced the word with utter sarcasm, "that MADE me into a monster. Remember that? 'You can't die on me-- I love you-- Come back to me.'" He repeated her words in a mocking falsetto. "Well, sorry hon -- I'm back, but I'm pissed. Any other objections to my little project here, or should we just get on with it?"

Buffy shook her head wordlessly, overcome with horror. Shayne approached Cordelia, who had long since gone into traumatic shock. She was hanging loosely in Xander's grip, her attractive body swaying back and forth, her eyes closed. She was apparently dead to the struggle centering around her. Isn't that just like her, Buffy thought to herself.

Shayne carefully pushed Cordy's head to one side, and then with great gusto sunk his teeth into her exposed neck, sucking blood for several seconds. Then he released, and slapped Cordelia gently on her delicate cheek, waking her up. Cordelia slowly seemed to become more aware of her surroundings, but didn't scream again, just looking out in pure terror. Carefully, Shayne bit into his own index finger. Once blackish-red blood was visibly flowing from the fingertip, he carefully pushed it into Cordelia's beautiful mouth, carressing her tongue tenderly for a few seconds. Cordy swallowed reflexively, and then her exquisite figure suddenly collapsed. Xander let her go, and she fell softly to the floor.

"Stand still where you are, Shayne," Xander commanded. He stepped over Cordelia's lifeless body to stand only a few feet away from the fiend. Suddenly, with blinding speed, he plunged an extremely thin stake (where had he been carrying it?) through Shayne's chest. The vampire had hardly any time to make a sound before he collapsed and disintegrated.

Xander picked up Cordelia's body and moved a few paces down the alley, and then turned back to Buffy and the vampires that held her. "You see? Neither any more nor any less vampires in the world than there were earlier this evening."

"But one less living human being," Buffy spat back.

"Oh well," Xander shrugged that off. "Let her go and leave us," he said to the vampire twins. "If she tries to slay you, you may not kill her, but you can hurt her to whatever level is required to make your escape." He turned away and ran down the alley.

The twins jerked her up, shoved her away, almost knocking her head into the Bronze's wall. By the time she had picked herself up again, they were nowhere to be seen.

* * * *

After a short rest in the Bronze to have a soda and collect her strength, Buffy went back to her patrol route. Something seemed different about Sunnydale tonight; it was more ominous than ever. Or maybe it was just the fact that she seemed to letting down everyone she knew that was coloring her perceptions. She drew the revolver from her belt. "I can't use this thing," she muttered to herself. "No matter what, I can't let another of my friends die tonight." She was about to throw it into a trash can by the curb, when something shocked her. She RECOGNIZED that trashcan! With a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, she looked up at the house; the Summers house. HER old house.

Struck by the fact that she had walked up to her mother's house without even realizing it, she put the gun back into its holster without even realizing what she was doing. One light was still on in the house... her mother's bedroom. Joyce Summers was probably getting in some light reading before she went to sleep... not likely parental psychology books any more... more likely mid-century romance books.

Buffy turned away from the house, and then stopped herself. "Come on, what are you so scared of?" she muttered soliloquously. "Go in there; talk to her. Try to get things on better terms with her. You owe it to the both of you." So she turned back, walked up the stairs, and unlocked the front door with her old key. Then she quickly jogged up the stairs two at a time and made her way down to her mother's room without turning on any of the lights.

Her mom was lying down when Buffy entered the bedroom, on her side, facing away from the door. She looked like she could well be asleep, but Buffy had come too far to let that stop her. "Hey, Mom, you awake?" she called out loud, walking towards the bed. "Come on, it's only nine thirty. Not even grandmothers get to sack out so early." No response. She grabbed her mother's shoulder and shook it. She didn't respond, but Buffy noticed something odd touching her fingers; fluid, and slightly sticky. She brought the hand back close to her face. A thin film of red blood was visible on two of her fingers, already starting to dry.

Buffy screamed and roughly hauled her mother's body around so that she lay on her back. Her throat had been sliced up and mangled, and quantities of blood stained the sheets, pillows, and the front of Joyce's nightgown.

* * * *

Buffy left the phone booth and moved on quickly. She hated doing this; doing little more on finding her mother's body than making an anonymous call to 911, but she knew that if there was one thing that she couldn't afford, it was being suspected in another murder investigation. She had forgotten about Oz at this point; she had only two things on her mind -- getting as far away from her mom's house as she could, and breaking the news to her father.

No lights were on in their apartment, so Buffy headed over towards the sports bar Hank Summers occasionally patronized. As she neared the bar, she saw her father come out.

"Hey, honey, what's up?" her Dad asked.

Buffy gulped and cleared her throat. "Dad, something horrible has happened."

"Oh," he said in litle more than a brief exhale. "Well, I'm ready for... What the hell is that?"

Buffy looked where he was pointing, A huge, gray, hairy shape was charging down the alley towards them. Buffy recognized it instantly as Were-Oz. "You wait here," she told her father, too late; he was already moving up the alley for a closer look. She ran after him, but tripped on a crack in the pavement and went tumbling. When she had picked herself up, Were-Oz had reached her father (or they had reached each other,) and was starting to attack him with his claws. Buffy fumbled out the tranquilizer dart rifle, got it ready, and shot, but the dart flew wide and streaked past both of them.

Buffy groaned. Oz took a swipe at Hank's stomach, and suddenly Buffy remembered the revolver. Without consideration she drew it, aimed instinctively. and fired. Were-Oz stiffened and crumpled to the pavement with the weakest little groan, and was still. Hank also fell to the pavement as Were-Oz's paws released him. Buffy didn't worry about Oz; somehow she could sense that he was dead. She ran to her father's side to try to help him, but Were-Oz had mauled him more badly that was easily apparent; he had several bad gashes, his pulse was erratic, and his breathing ragged. Buffy started to try CPR, but as his breath stilled and his pulse faded away she knew that she wasn't going to be able to help him. She continued her effort for more than a minute, though, until her hands were so bloody that she couldn't keep them from sliding off Hank's shirt.

Act Four

Buffy hung the library phone up. It was late Sunday afternoon, nobody at the conference could reach Mister Tojo for her, and she was no closer to figuring out what to do about Willow and the Orb of Thessulah.

"Am I crazy for this?" she muttered to herself. "Six people have died this weekend. Why am I so blindly focusing on the ONE person I might be able to save?" Put that way, the question answered itself. "Because it's SOMETHING. Because it's one person I might be able to help, instead of brooding over all the people I can't."

Suddenly, she noticed the sound of a car getting parked. That wasn't so unusual, even around the school on a Sunday; there were houses nearby, or people who had business inside. But something inside was warning her. She went to the window.

There was a police cruiser parked by the school on the curb. Quickly she grabbed her bag and, on impulse, a walkie-talkie that Willow and Oz had once modified to monitor, (but not transmit on,) the police band. She quickly decided to leave the Orb in the library... though something might happen to it there, there was a much greater chance that she'd break it if she took it with her.

As she maneuvered her way through the school grounds towards an exit as far from the police car as possible, she turned on the radio and listened. Sure enough, there was discussion that seemed to clearly be about her. "We're at the library doors now. No sign of anyone in there, though there's books and junk spread around the table. Should we enter?"

"Yes, but watch yourself. This girl's EXTREMELY dangerous."

"Copy that." A pause, and then the same policeman continued. "The library is secure. No-one is here."

"Damn!" the dispatcher swore. "Chief is bustin' a tic waitin' for us to get a line on this girl. Record of suspicion as long as your arm, prior arrest dropped from lack of evidence-- now her parents and one friend are dead, and three other friends gone missing!"

"What should we do?"

"Search the school, and then come on back. She's gotta be somewhere. We'll find her sooner or later."

Buffy shivered as she headed out of the school into the late afternoon air.

* * * *

As evening fell, Buffy was starting to realize that she had absolutely nowhere to go. The police monitor made it clear that the bus station and the docks were being monitored against any attempt she might make to leave town. She had gotten a quick meal at a fast food joint and gotten some snack food to stash in her weapons bag at a small grocery mart, but she had no idea where she could spend the night. Suddenly, the sensation of 'aloneness' was overwhelming.

Suddenly, as she walked down an almost deserted street near Weatherly Park, she noticed something strange. It looked like a compact pink cloud, about the size of a car perhaps, and it drifted into view from over an apartment building. A cone of rosy light speared down from it, apparently scanning a street crossing the one she was on. Buffy stared at it in astonishment and muttered "What is that?" out loud.

A twenty-something man about twenty feet away from her looked in the direction she was looking. "What is what?"

Buffy stared at the man incredulously, and then back. "That... weird pink cloud thing."

"There's no clouds there - what are you talking about?"

Stunned, Buffy shrugged and let the subject drop. What could it be? A UFO? Given that vampires existed, she supposed UFOs were possible, but she hadn't quite added that to her 'Yup, they are real' list.

Suddenly she noticed that the cone of rosy light was now focused on the street she was on, and heading her way. She tried to avoid it by running into the park, but it streaked over her, then began to center on her and narrow around her at the same time until it was a ray that only just outdistanced her reach in all directions.

"What now," Buffy muttered. "Do I get beamed up, or levitated?"

But it seemed that it was the opposite that was happening; the cloud at the top of the ray was losing mass, while a mass of pinkish haze was surrounding her. Once the original cloud was lost, the ray disappeared, and the fog began to clear away. Soon it was all gone, except for a bright pink star that danced around, always getting into her field of vision, wherever she was looking.

"You gotta be kidding me," Buffy muttered. From the studies that Mister Tojo had insisted she begin she remembered the will-o-the-wisp; a bright, beckoning light that lures any who follow it to destruction. This seemed to be a similar thing, and she was SO not interested.

"Hey Buffy!" a voice called from behind her. She turned around to see Revenant Xander loping awkwardly toward her, Vampire Cordelia following. Xander was looking only slightly more dead than the last time she had seen him; there was a little less light in his eyes, and his skin was patchier, but he looked fairly good for being dead almost two days.

Cordelia, on the other hand, was looking VERY vampy! She wasn't supressing her vampire face, but the facial ridges weren't very pronounced and actually seemed to add to her striking appearance... or at least make her even more noticeable. She was dressed in an all-black outfit; at first Buffy thought it was just her waitress outfit from the Bronze again, but the top was skimpier; just a tight black spandex halter, and she wore a very short black miniskirt.

"Hey, Buffy! What's happening?" Xander crowed as he reached her.

"Umm... nothing..." Buffy stammered, once again TOTALLY taken aback. Cordelia completed a triangle with the two of them, and hissed at Buffy, baring her teeth.

"Hey, Cordelia honey," Xander reprimanded her. "Buffy's a friend, we don't hiss at her. And put your pretty face on!"

"Okay," Cordy muttered, shifting into her familiar human face, and smiled brightly at Buffy. "So, how've you been?"

"Um..." Buffy paused, then decided to take this odd pair at face value. "Not so good. I'm wanted by the police, my mom, dad and Oz are dead, and we didn't have any luck getting Willow out of the orb."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Xander said sympathetically. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Well," Buffy hesitated again, then said tentatively, "I DO kinda need a place to crash for the night."

"Consider it done," Xander said magnanimously. "We've appropriated a little hideout on the edge of town-- the mansion that Spike and Angel were using for the Acathla incident. You can stay there whenever you like."

"Oh, no!" Cordelia interrupted.

"What?" Xander said.

"I'm not letting her stay with us. As soon as she's asleep you'll bring in someone to convert her too. When you can control her, you'll have no need for me! I'll be out in the sunlight like yesterday's garbage. No thanks!"

"You don't TALK that way to me!" Xander roared. He waved a hand at her, and suddenly Cordy's lips clamped together; she tried to talk, but she couldn't even moan much. Xander turned to Buffy. "So, how about it? Will you share the hospitality of our estate?"

But Buffy had already dashed away, following the pink star. "No MATTER where that thing takes me," she panted, "it's GOT to be better than here!" The star led her around a corner; as she turned it, she saw Xander and Cordy in hot pursuit. "Hey Buffy, let's go to the Bronze," Xander was calling. "It'll take our mind off our troubles!" Buffy charged down the new street, digging a vial of holy water out of her weapons bag as she ran. "Don't follow me!" she yelled once she had gotten it out.

The next time the star led her down a cross street, she turned and saw that Xander and Cordelia were almost on top of her. Slowing down, she whipped the holy water out in a stream across both of them. Screams of utter pain resulted. "Told you not to follow me," Buffy muttered as she headed down the cross-street.

Fairly quickly after that, the star led her to its apparent destination; a glowing door of rosy light in the middle of the sidewalk outside the Bronze. "Hmmm... so THIS is the mothership?" Buffy muttered to herself. "Somehow I'm not so sure about this," she added, walking around to survey the portal from all sides.

"You'll pay for that, Slayer!" Xander's voice shreaked in the middle distance. Buffy looked up, to see Xander charging at her, anger in his eyes.

"Okay, I'm sure." Buffy said, stepping into the portal. As she did, something clicked in her mind... this was the exact spot where she had been overcome by dizziness and fallen down... that was when everything had started going so crazy...

She opened her eyes (how had they been closed?) and looked around. She was lying down (!) on a bed; the cot Giles kept in his office in the library. She opened her mouth to say "What happened?" The words came out in a croak.

"Oh, you're back! You're back, Buffy, is what happened."

Her eyes didn't seem to focus, so Buffy couldn't see the person who was speaking. But she KNEW that voice. "Willow? You're out of the orb?"

"What orb?"

"Huh?" At this moment, her eyes finally decided that they were willing to focus, and she took in the faces of the people surrounding her bed; not only Willow, and Cordelia, but Xander and Oz, both decidedly alive! "You're all here? How can you be here? You for one are VERY dead," she accused, pointing at Oz.

"I died?" Oz repeated, sounding pleased and intrigued.

"You were hit by a nightmare spell, Buffy." Willow explained. "I guess it's been really terrifying, but it WASN'T REAL. All that really happened is that you collapsed, unconscious, outside the Bronze. We found you a few minutes later and brought you here. Mister Tojo and I cast a doorway spell to give you a way out of the nightmare world, and a sign to lead you to it. I guess that you found it, finally."

"How long was I in there?" Buffy asked. "I mean, real time?"

"About four hours," Xander said, after checking his watch.

"Four HOURS!" Buffy repeated in amazement.

* * * *

Giles knocked on the door of Queen Kaliya's study. "My lady?"

"Come in." she ordered. "She's been brought out. The Rosenberg girl and that pesky new watcher."

"I'm sorry, my lady..." Giles began.

"I'm not," Kaliya declared. "I have gotten what I sought, a better picture of the Slayer's mind; what her greatest fears are, how she acts when she is losing her mental strength. That will be most useful when the final confrontation is upon us." She smiled deviously at her assistant as she made her way out of the room.