Episode 7 – part 2

BunnyGirl pushes herself off the ground, and then has to convert the momentum to a spin so she doesn't lose control. As she lands on the floor with a crouch, she looks around the rustic setting she finds herself in. Is this some weird test they've come up with. Right, first check mission objectives.



She raises her right forearm, palm up and… nothing. Mental simulation then, that means they're keeping an eye on her void levels. BunnyGirl stops devoting her precious resources to the mental exercises they demand she keeps up. Straightening up, she looks around the room. Hmm, three exits, one view port and some civilians that are starting to come around too. Probably the mission objective.



Turning around, she heads for the view port and rustic door as they are both the most vulnerable parts of the location. Behind her the others start talking in gibberish, lending credence to the idea that it's a basic protection mission. They probably haven't been loaded with any actual sentience, just enough to get her in trouble.



As she's investigating the view port, she sees movement outside. She also finds an organic rope attached to a handle, with a lever on it. She shakes her head, they've really pulled out all the stops in this scenario. Probably some Archemedian's pet archaeology project. Flicking the lever experimentally, she nods when the handle spins quickly and a metal grating drops over the view port.



Now that's secure, she turns her attention to the door. Looking it up and down, she spots a crude locking mechanism at the top and bottom. They seem to be slide based, so she drives them home.


Tara groans as she wakes up. Pushing herself up, she stares at her hands and flexes them individually for a moment. Once she starts to remember what they are, she looks around curiously. Memories coming back slowly as she looks first at the flat object she was lying on, table her mind supplies. Then she spots a couple of people separating from what seems to have been a romantic nap. What with the line of drawl that snaps off the man's mouth as he gets far enough away.



Across the room comes a crash, and a man with white hair stands up from behind the counter, "I meant to do that."

Tara's eyes widen in surprise, "Hey, I can speak. Who are you?"

The other three people start looking around more actively as the man with white hair shakes his head, "I don't know, who are you?"

Tara shakes her head, "I have no idea."



The older man stands up and lurches to one side before leaning against a cabinet with one hand, "Don't worry, we probably just had too much to drink. Our memories should come back with time."

The blond he was leaning on shakes her head, "I don't see any bottles around."



The last woman looks around slowly before saying, "Driving licences."



Tara scrunches her eyebrows as she tries to remember what that is. When it comes to her, she starts to pat her clothes, and then pats the item of clothing hanging over the back of the chair she's sitting in. Finding a rectangular card in a pocket, she pulls it out and looks at it, "I don't have a driving licence, but apparently I'm Tara, and I go to UC."



The woman that just talked looks excited, "Same, and it looks like my name is Willow."

A moment later, the man calls out, "My name is Rupert Giles. Apparently I'm English."



The three of them stare at the other two as they finish searching their clothes.

The white-haired man finishes first, "Nope nothing." The blond woman shakes her head, "Same." However, she looks at a key that was around her neck thoughtfully.



Suddenly the blond looks at her hand and starts jumping up and down excitedly, before grabbing Rupert excitedly, "Look, look, I'm engaged. We must be engaged."

Rupert looks unsure of himself, "Well, erm."

White hair laughs, "Don't you think that's a young bit of totty for you?"

Willow enthusiastically adds, "And you were sleeping together, you even left a damp spot."

Rupert looks uncomfortable, "I'm sure we get along well with each other."



A large crash comes from the other end of the store, and they all look over to see another woman inspecting a door. The white haired man shouts over, "Hey you have a name?"



When he's ignored, he shrugs and turns back, only to be ambushed by Willow saying, "Hey, you and Rupert could be related."

White-hair explodes in indignation, "There's no bloody way I'm related to him… Wait, sod, bloody, bollocks, bugger. Sodding bloody buggering bollocks, I'm English."

Rupert muses, "My brother maybe."

"There's no way I'm that old. Son maybe."



While they're bickering, Anya lifts the counter access and walks around to look at the till. Curiously, she pushes the key in and turns it, only for the drawer to pop out. That's when she spots the stack of invoices, "Hey, I know my name! I'm Anya, it says so on these. Apparently, I own the shop with Giles."

Giles nods, "That makes much more sense, I wonder what sort of shop it is."


Dawn pushes herself up on a soft chair before yelping as she sits on something. A woman with red skin, horns, and wings, calls out, "Dawn, you're awake. No, don't move, I'll come over and help you."

Dawn looks at the woman blearily, "Dawn?"

"It's your name sweetie, and I'm Vhesthine, and your sister, Buffy, works here. Here, let me help you up, and we can get you out of your school clothes into something more comfortable."



Dawn allows herself to be pulled gently off the chair, and be led into the a room with a few tables and chairs, a fridge, and a microwave, "How did I get here?"

As she helps Dawn disrobe, Vhesthine explains, "You collapsed in school, and they called me after they couldn't get hold of your sister. We think she might be subject to the same spell you have been."

Dawn looks alarmed, "A spell?"

Vhesthine nods, "It's affected your memory. That's why you don't remember who you are."

"Oh." Dawn reaches up to touch one of Vhesthine's horns, "What are you?"

"I'm a succubus. I need you to step out of your knickers, as they don't have space for your tail."

Dawn looks down at herself, and then over her shoulder, "I have a tail, and wings."

Vhesthine nods, "You do. And they are beautiful too. Now put these on." She holds out a Miami style pair of knickers that have ties at the side, and a heart shaped cut out just below the V, "Your tail goes through the hole first. Good, now, lift your tail as you're pulling the knickers up. There you go, they've slid right down to the base, if you reach through your legs, the front section should be easy to grab. What I usually do is tie a loose bow in one side. Then I can get the other side even, so that the little bow on the front is just below your belly button. Once you've tied that off, you can redo the other side."



Dawn fumbles with the unfamiliar actions of tying the sides together. Once they're done, the ends trail down the sides of her thighs prettily. Vhesthine then hands her a halter top that goes down to just above her belly button.

Dawn looks at the garment, and starts to tie it on, "Vhesthine, why is my top so much longer than yours?"

Vhesthine smiles at Dawn, "It's because you're not mature yet. Once a Succubus' horns grow in, their mother will start to teach them how to hunt for their own food. As you can see, my horns are very much grown in. There's a mirror in the rest room behind you, once you're dressed you can have a look at yourself."

Dawn looks at her curiously, "Do I have a mother?"

Vhesthine gently turns Dawn around, and ties the second set of ties on the top, that sit just above her wings, "I'm sorry, you don't. Your sister is responsible for you. Next time you put this on, you should do the top ties first, and then turn the top around. It's much easier to do that way. Now the skirt. Do it up tightly at the front just above your hips, then lift it off your hips and turn it around so the slit is over your tail. There you go."



Dawn wanders into the restroom to use the mirror, and just freezes when she sees herself. Hesitantly, she reaches up to touch her horns in wonder. Then she runs out and hugs Vhesthine, "Thank you for looking after me."

Vhesthine caresses Dawn's cheek with the back of her hand, "You're most welcome, now grab a chair and help me at the desk."


BunnyGirl turns to look at the civilians appraisingly, while trying to decide where to investigate next. Knowing their trainers, it's most likely to be check out the door next to them. Especially since there's now two of them on that side of the barrier.



Shaking her head, she deftly weaves her way past them as the one with white hair is looking through his clothes for some reason. When one of them speaks to her, she just smiles and nods, before slipping through the door and almost falling down a set of stairs that start directly on the other side.



Feeling around, she opens the door just enough to let some light through and spots a white box on the wall with some sort of switch in it. Cautiously she touches the switch, and a light turns on at the bottom of the stairs. Softly making her way downstairs, she has a quick look around, but apart from a trapdoor there's nothing else in here. Fortunately it has a rudimentary lock on it, though there's currently no way to use the lock, as the loop that goes through the slot doesn't have anything. Having another quick look around turns up a metal box with tools inside it.



With a feral smile, she takes one of the levers and slots it through the loop. Then she carefully bends the thin metal of the lever round until it loops under the handle. Giving the slot an experimental tug, she nods and makes her way up the stairs again. As she leaves the underground room, she stifles a snort as the civilians are now huddled behind the small barrier between the viewing panel and the inside, the expected attackers have managed to smash the material that filled that panel.


Anya turns to white-hair, "Hey, maybe your name is somewhere else, like mine was."

White hair starts to go through his clothes, checking his pockets for something that could provide a clue to where his name is. As he's doing that, Tara watches as the strange woman goes past her with out a word, and then opens the door that's behind the counter. Any thoughts on the matter are disrupted when white-hair exclaims.

"Made with care for Randy…" Everyone just looks at Randy, "Did you hate me that much? Why not just call me Horny, or Want-sex-badly, or Desperate-For-A-Shag Giles?"

Rupert looks down, "It's probably a family name."

"You could have picked literally any other name, but no."

"Look sonny, you're not too old to be put across my knee for a good spanking."



Randy huffs, "Well, if you're going to be like that, I'm leaving. Might even try to find a hospital while I'm at it."

Tara perks up, "Hospital, that's a great idea, I'll come too."

Willow nods, "And me."

Anya looks at the till with a strange expression, "Go on, you guys go ahead, I'll just look after the till. And-and let that strange woman know where you've gone."

Rupert looks at Anya, "Are you sure dear?"

Anya nods, "Yes, yes. Just come back once you've got a cure, and look after the till while I'm gone."



The four of them casually walk to the front door, and Randy through the slats and out of the window before reaching for the door. The sound of something heavy landing against the metal grating, and bowing it enough to break the window, has him scurrying back behind the window display. Willow and Tara both scream, and join him there.



"We know you're in there! Come out now, or we'll have to get rough."



Willow whispers harshly, "What do you think they want?"

Randy looks back at her, "How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"They saw your face and immediately started… That."

"Look, all I was doing, was making sure that I wasn't going to walk into anyone."



Anya, a little hysterical, scrambles over from the counter, "What happened?"

Rupert gives Anya a hug, "It will be alright dear, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."



Something heavy bashes against the metal shutter, "Look, all we want is Spike!" and they all scream again.

Willow's eyes widen, "Maybe the other woman saw them, and was looking for another way out. I'm going to go and look."

Tara looks behind them, "I'll check the other door."


Dawn sits beside Vhesthine, and carefully tries to adjust her posture to match that of the older succubus. The cat she woke with, pawing at her leg until she picks it up, where it then climbs onto the desk. Dawn smiles as it curls up and faces the door.



"Good evening, Mikes Machining, how can I help you?"



Dawn, watches as Vhesthine writes down a message on a sheet of paper. When she puts the phone down, Vhesthine turns back to Dawn.

"Dawn, this is important. I want you to take this message to Razial in his office. As it's not company related, you must address him as Master."

Dawn blinks in incomprehension, "Why? Does he own us?"

Vhesthine shakes her head, "No, not at all. It's a term of respect and acknowledgement. One of the underlying rules amongst demons, is that power is authority. If you're in the presence of a demon of another species, that is more powerful than you, you call them master. It's a survival trait, as many of them will seek to prove their power over you if you don't. If they do, then you'll be lucky if you survive. "Razial's not as bad as some, but if he's around other demons he will punish you. Even if you are Buffy's sister."



Dawn looks at her wide eyed, "Is my sister powerful then?"

Vhesthine nods, "She is, though not as powerful as some. More important is her reputation. A reputation that she can back up against most of the physically powerful demons."

"What about Succubus, are we powerful?"

Vhesthine nods sadly, "In our own way. However, that power doesn't work on most demons. If we train in magic, we can also become magically stronger than average. But most Succubus don't practice magic, as it takes time and effort. However, we are physically weaker than most demons, and as I said, our power doesn't work on most demons."



Dawn nods seriously, before taking the note and walking across the office to Razial's door. Her attempts to copy Vhesthine's movements putting a sway in her hips, that once she's mastered it will see her enflaming lust in men and males everywhere she goes.



Vhesthine shakes her head, and reminds herself firmly that Dawn is a human, not a succubus.


As BunnyGirl approaches the door at the back, she spots another door to the side discreetly concealed by a shelf containing artifacts. Diverting herself, she quickly checks that door and frowns when it opens to the outside. Looking up and down, the frown turns into a scowl when she can't find any obvious locking mechanism. This is obviously where the surprise attack is supposed to come from if she hadn't been paying attention.



Quickly, and quietly, she moves back around the shelf and opens the last door. Her frown turns into a smile as it opens with some real weight to it. Once she's inside, she can't help exclaiming, "Jackpot" as she immediately spots a display of weapons on one wall. Turning back, she looks at the door and smiles even wider when she sees that it has metal reinforcement on the inside. A perfect location to put the civilians if they need to fall back.



As she's searching the room for other weapons, one of the civilians comes in and looks around curiously before picking up one of the weapons absently. BunnyGirl's eyes widen, as one of her original assumptions is shattered.

Deciding to test it, she takes a crossbow of the wall, loads it, and then calls, "Hey!"

The civilian jumps in surprise, dropping the weird organic dagger with a clatter. They then say, "Hello?"



Damn it, there goes another assumption, they're not stupid, she just can't talk to them. Carefully making sure the crossbow is pointed at the hanging target, she lifts it with an exaggerated motion, takes aim, and then pulls the trigger. As the civilian lets out a squeak, BunnyGirl lowers the crossbow to the floor, and reloads it deliberately slowly. Once she has, she holds the crossbow out, butt first, to the civilian and gestures to the target.



Tara backs up when the strange woman holds a weapon out to her. When she holds it out more emphatically, Tara gingerly takes it, and allows herself to be guided through shooting the weapon at the target. "See, easy. Now show the others."

Tara points at herself, "Tara." Before pointing at BunnyGirl.

BunnyGirl huffs, "BunnyGirl." And takes the other crossbow off the wall, along with a bundle of wooden bolts.



Tara is a little confused when BunnyGirl turns her around and pushes her out of the room. Slightly bemused, she makes her way back to the others, "Guys, I think the other woman is foreign, as she actually spoke to me."

Rupert turns around, "Really? What's her name?"

Randy interrupts, "Really father, we have those people out there, and you're asking about things like that."



A voice from outside calls, "All we want is Spike! Give 'im to us, and we'll leave you alone."

Tara looks down at the crossbows she was given, and the bundle of bolts, "BunnyGirl gave me these. Look, they launch spikes."

Randy smiles, "Now that's what I'm talking about. No need for us to endanger ourselves to give them what they want. How do they work?"

"Um, you pull the string back, and put one of the spikes in like this one. Then you point and pull this trigger here. EEEK!" She screams as she accidentally pulls the trigger, and the bolt disappears from the crossbow, and appears in a wall with a thunk.



"Come on Father, let's start giving the spikes back to them."

Before Rupert can respond, Willow comes back with a panicky expression, "There's a way out downstairs, but it's got a screwdriver bent through the lock."



While Tara is doing that, BunnyGirl finds a harness and loads up a serviceable sword, as well as filling a pouch with as many throwing stars she can find. That done, she takes a sturdy wooden staff and a couple of sharp daggers, before making her way back to the exit with no locks. Kneeling down, she uses the back of a dagger to rap on the floor and the base of the wall. As it doesn't sound like metal or stone, she lays the staff across the doorway, and then stabs the daggers in on either side of the doorway.



Grabbing an axe, she uses the back of it to hammer the daggers deeper into the floor.



The loud sound of banging from the back of the shop makes the group at the front jump. Randy exclaims, "Bloody Hell, what was that?"

Rupert looks behind them, "Maybe they're trying to get in through the back."

"Bugger that! Father, why don't you start giving them the spikes, I'll deal with whatever's making that noise."

Tara calls out to his retreating back, "It could be BunnyGirl."

Anya shudders, "I don't know why, but something about that name scares me."



Randy, storms, well tries to storm, maybe scurries menacingly? [look, it's hard to be intimidating while you're crouching] to the back door, when he sees BunnyGirl bashing some daggers with the back of an axe.

Reaching down, he grabs her shoulder, "What the hell do you think you'reeeee… Bloody buggering fuck, what was that?"

BunnyGirl whirls around when Randy touches her shoulder, and her eyes widen in horror as a spark of void energy jumps from her to the civilian. Holding her hands up in a warding gesture, she cries, "No, stay away. I'm too dangerous." Crouching back down, she lifts up the staff a couple of times to demonstrate, and then tries to open the door with the staff there.

Randy shakes his head, "You've managed to lock the door, big whoop. Why were you doing that?"



BunnyGirl shakes her head, and leans the staff against the wall, before opening the door and walking out and drawing her sword. Maybe she can rescue this void damned scenario by killing the assailants before she explodes. If only they'd started teaching her how to use void energy already.


Inside Randy looks at the door for a long moment, before dropping the staff across the daggers, and heading back to the front.

"Hey, I think BunnyGirl is going all Joan of Arc for us."

Willow looks at him, "What do you mean?"

"I grabbed her, and got hit with some lighting shit. When she saw it, she looked really scared, and left by the back door."

Tara gasps, "Do you think she did something to the trapdoor Willow found?"

Willows eyes widen in horror, "Why would she do that?"

Rupert looks out of the window as he sends another spike through the shutter, "Maybe she was stopping people getting in? She did find the spikes for us after all."



From outside comes shouts of, "Get her! Get her! Shoot her!"

All of them share a glance, and Tara voices, "Do you think we should help her?"

Randy opens his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a bright flash of white light as everything outside goes silent.


Buffy gasps as she wakes up in her coffin, grabbing at her chest where she'd just been shot with a crossbow. As her panic retreats, and she realises who she is and where, she gasps, "Dawn!"

Void jumping out of the coffin, she runs back to the house. As she does, her anger at Willow continues to build, and the void energy inside her rising with it.



As she gets to the house, Buffy growls with frustration when Dawn isn't there. Realising that she's not going to help anyone if she overloads with void energy. Buffy forces herself to spend a couple of minutes in the yard to restore the mental exercises and techniques that have become second nature. While she's meditating, her anger recedes enough for her to start thinking clearly.



Walking over to the phone, she phones the Mikes Machining, and sighs with relief when Vhesthine answers.

"Mikes Machining, we are closed to the public."

"Vhesthine, it's me Buffy."

"Buffy, we were worried when you didn't come into work today."

"Do you know where Dawn is?"

"Before I tell you, Razial left a message for you. He said that you need to keep the caster of the spell alive, as they maybe needed to break the spell."



Buffy's voice is strained as she answers, "I understand."

"Dawn is safe here, but she hasn't regained her memory."

"Look after her for me while I…"

"Buffy! Do you know what you'd be looking for?"

"I… No, not for sure."

"Come to the office and look after Dawn. Tell me what you know, and I will go and deal with the spell, maybe also the caster."

"I… I…"

"Please? For Dawn if for no other reason."

Buffy sags, "For Dawn. You're evil for playing the Dawn card. You know that don't you."

Vhesthine chuckles, "I am a succubus."


It doesn't take buffy long to arrive at the workshop, and bleed off her excess void energy by jumping a large part of the journey through the void. Once inside, she takes the stairs four at the time, and bursts into the reception looking for Dawn.



Leaning on the counter, she snarls, "Where's Dawn?"

Vhesthine gestures to the young succubus sitting next to her, "Razial did this to protect her. You know what our clientele can be like." Dawn looks up at her with a smile, "Dawn, this is your sister Buffy."

Dawns smile widens, "Hello Buffy, are you a succubus too?"

Buffy sighs, "No Dawn, I'm a Tenno."

Dawn looks confused, "What's a Tenno?"



From Razial's office door, Razial says, "Someone that is comparable power to me. Buffy, once you've given the details of who and what Vhesthine is looking for, see me in my office. It's about your Duties."

"Why?"

"Because you are the victim in this, so will you be choosing justice or revenge if you kill them?"

"They hurt Dawn and Tara."

"And you. I expect you in my office in five minutes."



As he closes the door, Vhesthine softly says, "Can you tell me where I need to look, and who you think is responsible for this?"

"I'd rather deal with her myself."

Vhesthine sighs, "Dawn, would you be able to watch the phones while Buffy helps me change?"

Dawn smiles, and shimmies over to Vhesthine's chair.



Once the two of them are in the break room, Vhesthine turns to Buffy, "Buffy, I want you to really think about this. What will it do to Dawn, to your friends, if you kill the caster of this spell?"

Buffy's voice hardens, "She will be devastated, and so will Tara. Giles is leaving tomorrow, and the others are demons. I'll probably be doing this alone. But I've done alone before, and I survived."

"What about your responsibilities to Dawn?"

Buffy slumps against a wall, "What do I do? I can't let this go, and I've got nothing else I can do as a punishment instead that will actually make any difference."

"Let Master Razial deal with it. You don't have to trust his decision, but at least hear him out."

Buffy whines out "Fine."

Vhesthine swallows hard, and takes a chance. Walking over, she pulls Buffy into a hug, "Buffy, in the human legal system. Judges are legally obliged to recuse themselves from cases where they have a conflict of interest. Do you really think that you shouldn't hold yourself to the same standard. Especially when there's someone else around that can do the job too."

Buffy starts to cry as she breaks down, "She killed me. If it stuck, Buffy would be dead now."

Vhesthine grimaces as the sour scent of grief and misery wafts over her without even the hint of lust that can turn those feelings from a disgusting mess to something that can be quite palatable in the right mood. Still, she holds the crying human until her tears start to subside.



Softly, Vhesthine takes Buffy's face in her hands, and looks her in the eyes as she leans in to kiss her. As she does, she brings up some of the energy she lives on, and pushes it from her mouth to Buffy's. A couple of seconds pass before Buffy jerks back, "What was that?"

"I gave you some of my energy, the same way I would another succubus. I thought you needed it."



Buffy reels as a light heat suffuses her body, pooling in places she's never thought about before. A sensation like having the most decadent desert while being pampered runs through her body. Not so much that it would affect her judgement, but certainly enough that she knows it's there.



Buffy slumps against the wall again, though, this time there's no defeated resignation in her posture, "Why?"

"I need the information if I'm going to help Dawn, and you weren't in any state to give it to me."

"The Magic Box in Maple Court, I left Tara, Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Spike, and Anya there. I believe that Willow cast the spell, as I saw her checking something at her side before we all lost our memories."



"Thank you." Vhesthine changes into her human guise and mutters the words to a spell that dresses her instantly.

As she's leaving, Buffy calls after her, "We need to talk about what you did, and what effect it might have on me."

"I need to do this first."

"How about dinner on Saturday. Dawn will be there."

Vhesthine turns back from the door, "Buffy, Friday night, and Saturday evening are my prime hunting hours."

"I'll feed you, it's the least I can do."

"Are you sure, you do understand how a succubus feeds."

Buffy looks away uncomfortably, "I understand, and no, I'm not sure. But I'll do it anyway because I owe you."

"I'll see you then."

"Can you eat human food?"

Vhesthine nods, "We can, but it provides little enjoyment, and no sustenance."



As Vhesthine closes the door, Buffy slides down the wall and buries her head in her hands, "Why did I do that? It's not like I'm interested in her. Void, I've never been interested in anyone like that."


Razial looks up as Buffy opens the door to his office, "Buffy, take a seat."

Buffy sits down, "What was that stuff about Tenno out there?"

"Buffy, you are an apprentice in my company, and you drove off one of the more powerful demons in the hells. I had some of my contacts look into the Lord of the Dance after you drove him off. He has not spoken of his defeat, but neither has he spoken of his defeat. The latter of which he is known to do once he's grown bored and allows mortals to believe they've bested him. You've certainly gained my interest more than just the deterrent effect that having the Slayer working here brings.

"Now, I have three proposals for punishing the caster of this spell if they happen to be close to you."



Buffy looks at Razial consideringly, "Will they provide a punishment that prevents them from attacking me like that again?"

Razial passes a sheet of velum over to Buffy, "See for yourself, I am just finishing the wording on the first option."



Buffy skims the neat calligraphy and looks up sharply, "How is this not the same as what was done to me?"

Razial puts his pen down neatly, and crosses his hands on the desk, "Buffy, that solution is exile. The caster will have all memory of the dark world removed from their minds. But only the dark world. That means magic, demonic encounters, and any other encounters with knowledge or creatures from outside the mortal experience."

"But she spent a long time patrolling with Buffy Summers, and has killed vampires."

Razial nods, "And she will forget those encounters. She will forget the patrols that were eventful. And she will forget the conversations where she discussed the dark world during those patrols. She won't forget anything else. I am also going to give her the choice of all three options, I am not going to force one on her."



"What are the other choices?"

"Death is the last choice. The first choice is signing a blood contract that will make her my apprentice. Part of that contract will be restricting the magic she can use to only that which is used for personal grooming and house-keeping, unless she is under my direct supervision. I am currently considering allowing her to also use magic in her own defence, or the defence of civilians."

Buffy frowns in thought, eventually she asks, "How is this a punishment?"

Razial sits back in his chair, "Magic isn't sentient, but it's better to treat it as though it is. This is because there is always balance in what you do." He waves his hand, "The balance isn't anything so trite as good and evil, even though Evil really does exist. Instead, it comes in the form of costs vs benefit. This is especially true with contracts, as a contract with no benefits will be far weaker than a contract with some benefits."

"So, how does an apprenticeship work in this context?"

"I would be obliged to teach her magic until I feel she's learnt enough to go her own way in the world. In return, she would be obliged to work for me using what I taught her. Additionally, she would have quite a lot of prestige in certain circles, just for being my apprentice."

Buffy nods, "Give her some renumeration, and limit the hours that she works for you. But also prevent her from letting others know that she is your apprentice, even after the end of her apprenticeship. How do you plan on teaching her?"

"She casts magic through the lens of witchcraft, so I will continue to use that. Even if it is rather unrefined and fuzzy, it makes up for that in its ability for spontaneity and cooperation. More importantly, I will be teaching her how to analyse the probable effects of her spells and how to limit them to their desired effects. Equally importantly, will be lessons on when not to use magic."

Buffy sighs, "I guess it need not be said that you will be getting far more out of that particular option than she or I could imagine."

Razial nods, "Of course. Though your requirement to prevent her from letting others know she's my apprentice will blunt many of those benefits. But I am a Business Demon first and foremost, I don't particularly care for direct or shadow power. I prefer soft power, the sort of power that comes from being head and shoulders above anyone else in quality, while still producing enough quantity that it doesn't counterbalance the quality. Do not ascribe mortal morality to me, as I still deserve my place beside my peers in Wolfram and Hart, I just do not see Good as being inimical to my plans and desires. As even the forces of Good need good equipment."



Buffy frowns, "Does that mean you're as powerful as the owners of the company?"

Razial barks a laugh, "Oh God no, they just employ many of my kin."

"Fine! I'll let you present her punishment. Just, is there any way to allow others to supervise her magic, if you're not available?"

"It will weaken the contract somewhat, practically, rather than magically. As it's impossible to prevent someone else adding their own name to the contract."

"How about if it required yours and Willows willing signatures to add a name?"

"That could work, but even there. There are those who could compel both of us to willingly add our signatures. Even if I added the same restrictions on communicating about the contract that I will have to devise to deal with the apprenticeship clause."

Buffy stands up, "I'm going to sit with Dawn, as I don't think she should be alone when the spell breaks. I also don't think I'll ever be happy with your contract in the time we have available. So, I'm choosing to trust you. If it's misplaced, then I've learnt something."

Razial nods.


Vhesthine walks around Maple court so that she can approach the shop door from the side without the broken window. Her sharp eyes can easily make out the Vampires hiding in the doorways around the court.

As she's walking past an alleyway, a shark demon calls out, "Hey Lady, are you… never mind mistress."

A turn of her head, and revealing her horns, quickly gets rid of the pest. Arriving at the door, she knocks on it smartly, and waits. When she hears movement through the broken window, she calls out, "Hello in there, I'm from the CDC. We're dealing with the cases of amnesia that have struck this part of Sunnydale."

As she hears some whispering from inside, she calls out again, "We found someone on the streets. Once we fixed her memory, she told us her name was Buffy, and she'd left some friends here. When we found her, she couldn't speak English."

An English voice calls out from inside, "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"She told us that she was there with a Willow Rosenburg, Tara McLay, Rupert Giles, Anya no last name, and Spike, also no last name."



The ring of steel on steel catches Vhesthine's attention, as another Englishman calls out, "Will you put that bloody book down woman!"

Still playing the role of the CDC woman, Vhesthine calls out, "Is everything alright in there?"

A young woman calls out, "Yes, we're just having trouble with a skeleton. What do you need from us?"

"I have my car with me, so I can only take two of you, as everyone else is busy elsewhere in the city. By the sounds of things, that should be the two young women, Willow and Tara."

"We can do that."

"Don't forget to bring everything that's yours, as we'll be sending you straight home after treatment."

A different woman calls out, "I can't reach my stuff because of the skeleton."

Politely, Vhesthine "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Tara."

"I have you down as living with Buffy Summers, so that should be alright."

Tara calls back, "I do?"

"That's what Buffy told us."

The English voice asks, "What about the people who were trying to get in?"

Vhesthine smiles, "I can't see any of them at the moment."



From the door, comes the sounds of bolts sliding back. Then the door opens and Willow and Tara walk out. Vhesthine looks Willow up and down, as she's never met her before, before turning on her heel and walking past the shop to her parked car, "Well, come on then. It's dangerous to be out too long."



As they're walking, Vhesthine picks Willows pouch, and palms the blackened quartz.


As Vhesthine pulls into the factory carpark, Willow looks out the window nervously, "This doesn't look like a hospital."

Vhesthine nods encouragingly, "Your right, we commandeered one of the units here before we found out it wasn't contagious. If you'll just follow me."

Obediently, the two girls follow her, lacking the knowledge to see through the obvious lie. As she pushes the door open, Vhesthine grabs both girls hands, and drags them up the stairs as they start to panic.



As they pass through the door into the reception, Vhesthine calls over to Buffy, "Can you look after Tara please?"

Buffy looks up, before walking over and gently taking Tara's hand, "Hey Tara, I'm BunnyGirl."

Tara looks at her for a few seconds before bursting into tears and hugging Buffy, "You are BunnyGirl. I thought they were kidnapping us when I heard the workshop downstairs."

Buffy smiles at her, "They are going to fix your memory problems. This is my sister Dawn."

Tara looks Dawn up and down and whispers, "What is she?"

"She's in disguise, as it's not a disease, it was a magical spell."



As if on cue, both Dawn and Tara look poleaxed, and Tara's eyes widen. Dawn doesn't do so well herself, as she freaks out at her appearance until her memories of the last couple of hours catches up. After that, she looks herself over more curiously, extending one wing, and then the other.


Vhesthine steels herself as she's dragging Willow across the room. Pushing open Razial's door, she steps in and pulls Willow in behind her, "Sorry for barging in Master. I have brought the caster, and the focus of the spell."

Razial doesn't look up from his writing for a couple of minutes. When he finishes writing, he mutters a couple of words, and the ink dries instantly. Turning the velum around he opens a drawer and extracts a hollow needle and places it on the velum. Then he places another sheet of velum beside it. Finally, he takes a silvered dagger from the same drawer, and places it in line with the two sheets of velum.



Willow's eyes go frantic as she watches this, "What are you going to do to me, you monsters. Let me go!"

Razial flicks his fingers with a muttered word, and Willow rises into the air with her mouth clamped shut.

"Vhesthine, the focus?"

Vhesthine bows her head as she places the crystal on the desk, "Yes Master."

As she turns to leave, Razial calls, "Stay, you will be the witness."

Swallowing hard, she turns back and stands by the door, "Yes Master."



Razial picks up the quartz and spins it around in his fingers as he examines it from every angle. After a moment he nods, "A masterful idea, with a flawed implementation. Bind the counter to a crystal, so that if you make a mistake you can smash the crystal to undo the spell. However, you neglected to tie off the spell, meaning that it would continue to weaken the crystal until it disappears, leaving no way to undo the spell. Such an amateurish and short-sighted mistake to make."



Holding the crystal between two fingers, Razial looks in Willow's eyes as he begins to squeeze until the crystal shatters, and a far smaller amount of quartz falls to the table than there should have been.



When Willow's eyes go from the fear of the ignorant, to the fear of the knowledgeable, Razial speaks up again, "Miss Rosenburg. At this point, you have two choices. You can flee, and die. Or you can take a seat, and be presented with three choices." He waves his hand across the three items he placed earlier, before releasing the spell.



Willow hugs herself as she starts to shiver, and her eyes glance between Razial, Vhesthine, and the dagger lying on the desk. On unsteady legs, she sits down at the desk.

Razial nods, "Good, you do have some sense of self preservation. I did wonder."

Willow's head jerks as she asks, "What's going to happen to me?"

"Why, you are going to be punished. If I left it to the Slayer, you would already be dead, despite the personal cost it would cause her."

"Buffy would never do that."

"Miss Rosenberg, you would be correct if Buffy Summers was sitting out there. However, that is not Buffy Summers, that is just Buffy. If I have my information right, Buffy Summers died over 6 months ago. Shortly before she started working here, she was resurrected. A resurrection that by rights should have failed, as her soul had moved on past the afterlife."

Willow shakes her head, "No, no, she's just suffered badly in her other life, and-and…"

"And there is your noble self-justification. Your burning desire to be seen as a 'good guy'. The very fact that you are sitting here, talking to me because of your own actions should be proof enough of that. However, now is not the time to discuss your personal failings. You are here to face punishment. In short, you have a choice of supervision, exile, or death. You may take as long as you need to read the terms of the first two items." He taps the dagger, "I'm afraid the only terms on the last one is that it will be quick and painless."

"This isn't fair, you can't do this."

"It is precisely as fair as the spell you cast on people you claim to call friends. And I believe you'll find that I am as capable of doing this as you were of casting the spell."



With a shaking hand, Willow reaches for the middle sheet of velum, and starts to read. As she does, her face looks more and more drawn, until finally she cries out, "But I love Tara."

Razial looks over at Vhesthine, "Do you really? Vhesthine, what do you think?"

Vhesthine sniffs critically, "There is love there, but it is overshadowed by obsession and lust. She would be a fine meal if Tara was a succubus."

"You see, Vhesthine here is a succubus, and they can smell your emotions like you can smell food."

Willow looks like she's just been slapped, so she reaches for the first sheet of velum, and tries to start reading. Even as she's barely able to concentrate through the fear, anger, and self-loathing that is coursing through her at the accusations.

When she reaches one clause, Willow blurts out, "But I need to do magic."

Razial looks at her as if he's reading her soul, "You need to do magic? Do you really?"



Willow's about to complain about her options again, when Razial's elbow seems to nudge the dagger accidently, causing the light to sparkle over the engraving on the hilt. She licks her lips at the reminder that death is on the cards. Then she glances at the second option again, and realises that in a real way, death is on the cards twice. She starts to cry as she pulls the apprenticeship option towards, her, "I choose this one. What do I do now?"

Razial nods, as though it was a foregone conclusion, "You prick your finger with the needle, and hold it there until it's filled up. Then you sign your name. I'd sign it as close to the bottom of the contact as you can, as you may want the space for additional supervisors to sign."



Willow pushes her chair away, "Blood magic!"

Razial nods, "Indeed, you didn't think I'd trust your word, did you?"



It takes Willow another five minutes, and she almost chooses exile. However, ultimately, her love of magic wins out, and she signs her name in blood on an apprenticeship contract. Once she has, both Vhesthine and Razial sign their true names in magical ink. As soon as it's done, Razial rolls up the contract and grabs Willow's wrist, before they disappear.


When they reappear, Willow gags from the smell as she looks around.

With an evil smile, Razial points at a pile of manure, "For your first task apprentice. You must clear the dung, and spread it over the fields there. You have a week to do it, and no magic."

Willow shudders at the size of the pile, "What if I don't finish it in a week?"

"Then the next shipment arrives, and you'll be hear until the pile is clear. And it needs to be an even layer over the fields, as it needs to dry properly."

Willow looks around, "But what will I eat?"

"Nightmares are omnivorous, and their manure is filled with everything you need."

Willow gags as Razial disappears.

An: Sorry this is only part 1, but there was so much to cover that I ended up over running my normal chapter limits, and there's still so much to cover that I've had to split this one into parts.

Also, for those that have asked. No, there will be no Warframes in this story. Not only would it be overkill, it also wouldn't fit the theme of the story.

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Episode 8 – part 1

Dawn fidgets in her seat beside Vhesthine impatiently, as she watches the other woman being taken in to see Master Razial. She blinks, Master? Oh right, demon etiquette. Then the spell was broken, and her memories came back, but she's still a succubus. Dawn shakes her head, not a succubus, disguised as a succubus. She has wings…



Once Vhesthine comes back, Dawn asks, "Vhesthine, can we fly with our wings?"

Vhesthine looks at Dawn fondly, "We can, though we use magic to make our bodies light enough for our wings to lift us. That's something you'd need to learn to do yourself. I feel that it wouldn't be good for my health if I didn't warn you about the corrupting effects of channelling magic though."

Dawn looks at Vhesthine confused, "What do you mean, as I've never heard the others talk about that."

Vhesthine sighs, and lifts her hand to look at it, "Have you learnt about the dangers of lead yet?"

Dawn nods, "We did, and why they're trying to stop leaded fuel from being sold."

Vhesthine nods, "It's a bit like that. The energies of the hells seep out of the hellmouths and into the surrounding magic. Clinging to people and releasing. If you're not using magic, then it's like handling a lead figurine, or fishing weight. But as soon as you start using magic, traces of the energy from the hells is left inside you. That energy makes you feel good while it's passing through, but the more that builds up, the more you need to use to feel the same sensation. For those demons who can use magic, we are already so saturated that we cannot hope to channel enough magic to ever feel what mortals do."



Dawn frowns, "But Willow's been using magic for everything, and she seems fine."

Vhesthine turns to face Dawn properly, "And yet she's now being punished for what she did to you and her friends. Or do you think just anyone would be taken to see Master Razial the way she was?"

"Is that really fair on her though?"

"It's as fair to her, as she was to you and her friends."



"Was it really that bad though, I got to experience what it was like to be a succubus for a few hours. And now I'm back."

Vhesthine suddenly looks very serious, and takes Dawn's hands, "Dawn, she killed you. For two hours you were dead. She did the same with Tara and Buffy, as well as the others. If Buffy didn't have whatever it is she has, she'd be dead in truth. How long do you think it would have taken before we had to turn you into a succubus in truth?"

Dawn shivers, "I died?"

Vhesthine nods gravely, "Yes. Your soul would still be there, but you are more than just your soul in a human body. Did you know that Buffy wanted to go and kill Willow for doing that to her?"

Dawn pulls her hands away, and lifts her feet onto the chair, so she can hug her knees, "Buffy wouldn't do that, she's one of the good guys."

Vhesthine brushes the back of her hand down Dawn's cheek, "Dawn. Good guys and bad guys only exist in fiction. Buffy is a good person, which is why she was going to do that. She was also angry, afraid, and upset, because it's happened to her before. I'm sure she's told you, given that I've already worked it out."

"She keeps talking about how she regained her memories a few centuries after… You mean she was like that for centuries?"

Vhesthine nods, "And Willow did that to her again. I don't know why she didn't talk to Buffy about her experiences, but that doesn't matter now."

"That's why Buffy and Tara are in the break room, isn't it."



Vhesthine just nods and turns back to her work. Dawn sits on the chair, hugging her knees, her wings caping around her to hide her from the world as she grapples with subjects that even learned philosophers struggle with.


A few hours later, a gaunt Willow is led out of the office by Razial. Almost immediately she's assaulted by Dawn, who pulls her into a hug with a cry of "Willow!"



Somehow Willow musters the energy to recoil, "Who are you?"

Dawn reels back as if struck, and then notices Razial, and steps back politely, "I'm sorry Master Razial, I didn't intend to interrupt you."

Razial waves a hand as he turns back to the office, "It is no matter Dawn, you are a human, not a demon. But it is good that you have remembered your lessons."

Dawn smiles at the praise, "Thank you Master Razial."

Willow stares at the young succubus, "Dawn? What did they do to you?"

Dawn turns her attention back to Willow, and does a twirl, "It's a disguise. What do you think, it's cool isn't it. Did you know there's so much etiquette in demon society? I learnt so much when I forgot."

Dawn suddenly stops, and stares at Willow with a touch of fear, "You killed me. Willow how could you do that? I trusted you, and you killed me. I'm glad you're alive, but…"



Willow reaches out, "But you're still alive, you're still here. Dawn…"

She trails off as Dawn runs across the room and through an unmarked door with tears falling from her eyes.



Vhesthine stands up and opens the door to the reception, "Miss Rosenberg, I believe it is time for you to leave. And believe me, I would kill you myself for making Dawn face those truths today. However, Master Razial has already claimed you. I hope you come out of your apprenticeship a better person than you are now. Otherwise, you won't survive a month without his protection."



Willow shuffles out of the reception, and listlessly walks down the stairs, and out of the factory. As Vhesthine closes the door Razial appears behind her, "She cannot claim my protection, or admit to her apprenticeship with me. The Slayer saw to that. Mind your tongue about it in future."

Vhesthine snaps into an upright position and turns around smartly, "Yes Master."

Razial wave a hand, "Relax Vhesthine, you are too valuable to punish for ignorance." Before vanishing again.


Willow slumps into her dorm room, strips off her clothes, and slumps on her bed. Only then does she notice the difference in colour between her torso and her arms. Grabbing her dressing gown and shower supplies, she slips out of the dorm room to the communal shows.



An hour later and she comes back with clean hair, and skin mostly the same colour all over. Slumping back on the bed, she looks at Amy, who's busy chewing on a toilet roll tube, "Hey Amy, how was your night? Same as normal huh? I wish I could say the same. Did you know that nightmare manure explodes if you use magic too close to it? Me neither. It also tastes really bad, like a peanut butter and grass sandwich, with a side order of cockroaches. Do you know what's worse? I couldn't use any magic, for like six weeks. Six weeks! That's how long it took me to catch up after I-I stopped throwing up or blowing myself up. You don't understand me do you. I wish I knew how to turn you back to human… Wait, I've got it. Revelate."



Willow clutches her chest, and falls over sideways as her magic seizes up inside her. Tears form in her eyes, and her legs twitch as she finds herself unable to make any sound until her magic eases. Once it does, she pushes herself unsteadily into a sitting position, "I guess it's not going to be tonight, huh."


Buffy softly opens the door to Dawns room, to see Dawn crying softly under the covers of her bed. Padding across the carpet, she sits on the edge of the bed and puts her hand on Dawn's shoulder.

"Why did she do it? Why did she kill us?"

Buffy takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, "I don't think she wanted to Dawnie. I think she made a mistake and it went too far and affected you."

Dawn turns over to look at Buffy, "Then why did she want to kill you or Tara?"

Buffy gently brushes the hair out of Dawn's face, before kissing her on the cheek and putting her hand back on her shoulder, "I don't think she did. I think she wanted to fix us, to take away our pain. To have her old Buffy back."

"But I like this Buffy, though you need to learn how to have fun properly."

Buffy smiles, "I know you do Dawn, but the old Buffy was Willow's friend for a very long time. She was also so very innocent in so many things. Many of those things were painful when they happened."

"So, wouldn't taking away that pain be a good thing?"

Buffy takes a deep breath, "As long as it's not the good sort of pain."

Dawn props herself up on their elbow, "There's a good sort of pain?"

Buffy nods, "If you talk to some people, there's more than one sort of good pain. But the pain I'm talking about is the pain that teaches you something. Like when you get something wrong in our spars and I tag you. Or when you do something that hurts someone else, and they leave, or they tell you off. That's good pain, as it teaches us life lessons."

"Is that like when Vhesthine told me that I died for two hours?"

Buffy nods, "Indeed, though I'd have probably waited until you were older and more able to handle the revelations that caused. As that's getting into the nature of existence, and other things that are easy to say, but hard to understand. If you still want to know, I can write out some scenarios for you to work through and think about."



Dawn goes silent for a little while, just as Buffy thinks she's falling asleep again, she asks, "Buffy, is it wrong that I think I liked being a succubus?"

Buffy strokes her, "Not at all Dawn. Just remember that you've only had a couple of hours in a controlled situation. You don't know any of the struggles they face, or how the fact they can't survive on human food affects them. Or would affect you. If it's something you'd like to learn more about first hand, then I'm happy for you. However, I would rather you didn't go hunting until you're at least 18, preferably older."



"Buffy," Dawn says sleepily, "do you ever wonder what it would be like to be something else?"

Buffy leans down and kisses Dawn on the temple, "Not anymore Dawn, not anymore."



Buffy sits there for a couple more minutes while Dawn falls back to sleep. Then she goes downstairs to make herself a hot milk.


Tara looks up from where she's nursing a hot chocolate, the saucepan still warm on the stove.

"Can't sleep?"

Buffy shakes her head, "Dawn woke me. She was crying."

Tara shakes her head, "I don't blame her, I was too. What about you, how are you doing?"

Buffy looks at the pan for a long moment, before getting some milk and putting the pan back on a low heat. One she has, she sits down at the table and puts her head in her hands.

"I almost killed everyone earlier."

Tara holds a hand out, "No you didn't, you did everything you could to protect us."

Buffy shakes her head, "I did, and I didn't even know I was doing it until it was too late for me."

Tara shakes her head, "I don't understand."

Buffy shudders as she thinks back, "BunnyGirl she was a name I invented a few hours after they wiped my memories the first time. I still remembered the exercises that they'd taught us before, for controlling the void inside us. But back then, they weren't second nature to me. So I had to keep concentrating on them to keep them going. When I awoke, and I couldn't use my implants, I assumed that I was in a virtual simulation, and stopped the exercises. I didn't even know any of the techniques they'd taught us for using our void abilities, as they didn't want us using them on them.

"There are devices that would help, but I don't know how to make them. I mean, I do, just not with the technology available here, in this time. And there's a couple of bits I'd need to figure out to put all the components together."



Tara mutters a couple of words, and Buffy's slightly chocolatey milk serves itself, along with some marshmallows from the cupboard, "I thought using magic like this was bad."

Tara shakes her head, "No, using too much magic is bad. This is a special moment, and you didn't need to interrupt it to rescue your milk."

Buffy smiles, "Thank you."

"Why can't you make this device?"

"Because it's made from Void conductive components and crystals. The only source I knew of, being sentient corpses. Even if I had those components, I couldn't put them together, as I don't think it's possible to make components like that. Void the only thing I've seen even remotely compact enough is the device I found while I was under a temporal effect. Deimos depths, I forgot about that." Buffy hurries out of the room, and returns with two security tags stuck together. "I might be able to do it if I can find out how this was made. But I'll need a lot of equipment for it."

"Is it metal work?"

Buffy sighs, "Loosely, very loosely."

"Then show it to your boss, he might be able to help you, or point you in the right direction."



Buffy sighs, "I'll make an appointment to speak to him later today. I want to call the school in the morning and tell them that Dawn's still recovering from collapsing. But I don't know if I should."

Tara reaches across the table, and grabs Buffy's hand reassuringly, "If you think she needs it, then it's the right thing to do. Goddess knows, I could use the break myself."


The next morning, Willow wakes up gradually and, for a moment, wonders if she's dreaming. Then Amy squeaks, and she wakes up with a gasp, the last 6 weeks coming back in a rush. Sitting in the middle of her floor is the evidence, in the form of her still soiled clothing. Getting up to get some clean clothes, she stops as she spots a letter written on papyrus, sitting on the metal tray she used last night, six weeks ago.






Willows heart starts beating faster, as something she thought was a fever dream caused by lack of food, was in fact real. She really signed a contract in her own blood. She can't even claim to be unwilling, as she willingly signed it to avoid worse fates.


Begrudgingly, Willow makes her way up the stairs of Mikes Machining, and through the reception door. There she walks past Buffy, who is booking an appointment to talk to Razial about something. Walking through the office door, she stops abruptly as Razial looks at her with an expression filled with menace.



"Apprentice. You are both tardy, and lacking manners. In future, you will exercise common courtesy before entering my office. I will also dock your pay if you are late again. Now take a seat."



Willow swallows hard, before quickly taking her seat. Razial holds out his hand, "Schedule."

Willow fumbles through her bag, before pulling out a sheet of paper, "I printed it out for you."

"Master."

"What?"

"You are my apprentice, I am your master. Use it when we are alone." Left hanging is the or else.

Willow mind flashes back to the manure, and she quickly nods, "Yes master."

Razial nods, "Better. I see you have late classes Tuesday and Thursday. You will not be required to work during those times. Instead, you will work all day Saturday instead. Every other day, I expect to see you here at 4pm. Do not be late."

Willow blurts out, "But I…" Then subsides when he raises his hand and a spark of magic goes between his thumb and finger, "Yes master. May I ask what I will be doing Master?"



Razial nods and pulls out three quartz crystals, "First of all, I will be teaching you a spell to see magic. In particular, it will allow you to see how tainted the magic is. Then, you will show me that you can infuse a crystal with magic. If there is time, you may ask me any questions about the magic you already know, or things I've taught you. At 5pm, you will start earning your pay by infusing crystals with magic until you are able to reliably produce the middle quality crystals. Until then, for every middle quality crystal you produce, you will get a $20 in your next paycheque. If you ever make a top quality crystal, I will pay you a $5,000 bonus. Any questions before we begin?"

Willow swallows hard and licks her lips, "Master, what will the crystals be used for?"

"A good question. The middle quality crystals I sell to magic users and demons around the world for use in rituals that require large amounts of magic. As they provide a their magic without the caster needing to channel tainted magic through them. The highest quality crystals are used almost exclusively in major cleansing rituals, where a large source of virtually untainted magic is needed to wash away deep levels of demonic taint from the subject."

Willow's eyes widen in fear and surprise, "Taint?" Razial stares at her until she adds, "Master?"

"Yes, taint. Who taught you magic? A demon?"

Willow shakes her head, "No Master. I taught myself with Giles help."

"Then he was an idiot. Stay here."



Razial gets up and leaves to inform Vhesthine that he is not to be disturbed for the rest of the shift.



When he returns, he touches Willows shoulder, and the two of them disappear.


When they reappear, they are inside an extravagant workshop that has been set up in an unadorned cream room with strip lights running across the ceiling to provide light. Willow looks around her with a slack jawed expression as she sees shelves of magical tomes, reagents, and supplies for casting spells.

"Apprentice, pay attention."

Willow's gaze snaps to Razial, who has walked across the room to an empty workbench. Hurrying she catches up with him.

"All magic comes from the different dimensions of the hells, and other planes. How it gets to the earth is a different subject that you may research in your own time if you wish. Magic flows through all things, and exists in all things. Though without those planes, magic would not exist on Earth, as Earth does not have its own magic. As such, all magic is tainted by its origin. When a practitioner channels magic, that taint flows through them, and some of it sticks to them. Over time, this taint will fall away on its own, as does the casters built up resistance to magical overuse."

Taking a piece of chalk from a container hanging under the workbench, he quickly draws a complex equation on the surface. This is the formula that can be used to calculate how much magic a person can use before they burnout from magical overload. This is their natural aptitude, this is their accumulated taint, and this is the amount of magic they're channelling. With the exceptions of Necromancy and Summoning, every other method of casting magic has come up with some way to purify the magic they are using, and reduce the amount of taint they accumulate." Willow raises her hand, "Yes apprentice?"

"Why those two? Master."

"Because the caster also taints magic. This is why traditions that often practice unprotected casting, like witchcraft, usually say that magic should only be used for good things, and sparingly at that."



Willow tentatively ventures, "Master, why is taint bad in magic, if it allows you to use more magic before burning out?"

Razial throws the chalk on the workbench, "Because, you stupid child, taint makes mortals feel good. But the more taint you have, the more magic you need to use in order to feel good. Before long, you find yourself in a cycle that almost always ends in death, and occasionally will result in the person fully embracing the taint in the magic, and leaving their humanity behind."

Willow swallows, "I can control it Master."

Razial angrily steps into her space, "Really? Is that why it took you six weeks to do a job that should have taken at most a day? Is that why you had to choose between being my apprentice, exile, or death?" Razial conjures a dagger, which points itself at Willow's heart, "I am a business demon. I make investments in people and things, and then reap the reward when those investments bare fruit. I put the apprenticeship down as an option for you because I saw talent that could become great if nurtured. Yet, when I tell you the facts about magic, your first response is to assume you're different from every other human on the planet. Tell me, was I wrong about your talent and intelligence? Should I just drive this dagger home and wash my hands of you?"



Willow steps back, and the dagger follows her, pricking into her breast just above her heart. Once more she is faced with the stark reality of life, and once more she chooses to live, "I'm sorry Master. I-I will try to do better."

Razial backhands her across the room, "You will learn the basics even if I have to send you to muck out the nightmares every week. I do not need another demonic spellcaster, as they cannot purify magic. If you ever allow your taint to permanently grow to that level, I will kill you and use your soul and organs as spell components. Do you understand?"

Willow nods helplessly from the floor as she holds her bruised jaw and bleeding lip.

"Now, come back here, pay attention, learn, and demonstrate these lessons. Take notes if that would help."



By the end of the lesson, Willow is exhausted mentally, physically, and magically. So much so, that she forgets to ask about Amy.


After work, Buffy is doing her rounds in the cemeteries on her way home when she hears a disturbance in an alleyway. With a sigh, she turns off the road and follows the sounds of bargaining.



As she walks up behind two burly men that have a couple of civilians cornered, she sighs, "Right, imagine that I said something witty to catch your attention. Now, give the lady back her purse, and go. I've just had a long shift at work, and we all just want to get home."



The man holding the bag just looks back at Buffy, before dismissing her. This causes Buffy to just sigh before walking forward and grabbing his arm to pull it into a lock. When he yelps in pain, she stops sharply as she doesn't feel the resistance she expected, "What the hell Lady!".



"Huh? This is just a boring mundane mugging? I didn't think those happened here. Look, are you guys new here?"

Whatever the couple say is drowned out by the mugger she's holding screaming, "My arm!"

Releasing the arm Buffy points at the alleyway she came from, "Now git!" Turning back to the couple, she again asks, "Are you new to Sunnydale?"



The woman nods nervously, while the man says, "Yes, we moved her for our retirement. Our kid works in LA."

Buffy nods, and hands the woman her purse, "Well, there are some survival rules that are pretty unique to this city. So, during the day tomorrow, you should speak to your neighbours and ask them to demonstrate the Sunnydale welcome. Also, stay away from empty areas like the street out there."



Whatever Buffy was about to say next is cut off when Spike launches himself at one of the muggers, and then screams in pain. At which point all of the civilians flee. Buffy turns to him with her hands on her hips, "Are you done now?"

Spike staggers to his feet, "Ugh, I thought they were vampires."

"Well, they weren't, for once they were human muggers. Now, why are you here?"

"What? A no sympathy for the guy with a migraine?"

Buffy shakes her head, "Come on, you didn't hit your head that hard."

"Not that. You know, the stupid bloody chip in my head."

Buffy looks at him blankly, "Nope, first I've heard of it."

"The one the government put there when the Initiative grabbed me while you were dating Riley?"

"Still no clue."

Spike ventures, "The one that stops me from attacking humans?"

Buffy shrugs, "Sucks to be you then. You could always crash a gambling den and steal all the kittens. Or you could ask me for a full contact spar."

Spike looks her up and down, "Is that an offer?"

Buffy throws her hands in the air, "Is that all you can think about? What next, sending me dick pics over the internet? If you're that pent up, go and find a succubus or something."

Spike looks confused, "What dick pics?"

Buffy waves her hand airily, "Just some random fuckers who think it's the best way to get a woman's attention."

Spike shakes his head, "That's not the point, you can't keep leading me on like this. I saw the way you looked at me yesterday."

"You mean yesterday when you were an idiotic civilian that I was trying to keep alive yesterday?"

"Hey, I wasn't idiotic."

"Look Spike. I! Am! Not! Interested! How many times to I have to say it?" Buffy turns and starts walking to the next cemetery.

Spike calls after her, "You're a bloody tease, you know that don't you. Get a guys motor running, then bam, ice queen."



Buffy just shakes her head as she walks away, and also makes a note to start carrying a knife.


The next morning, Anya wakes up abruptly to the soft sound of the front door opening. Rolling out of bed, she pads into the kitchen and is about to grab a knife when Xander's voice calls out, "Hey Honey, I'm home!"

Instead, she flies through the apartment to the front door, and tackles Xander in a hug, "Xander, I've missed you. Now, come on, you have your manly duties to perform."



Xander just stands there as Anya tries to pull him to the bedroom, "Anya, I'm not human anymore."

Anya turns back with a huff, "Of course you're not. Now come on, Magic Box can handle a day without opening. A girl has needs you know."

"But I'm hideous."

"Alexander Harris, I only care about two things in this relationship, one that it's with you. And two, that you don't abandon me to go chasing after other hussies. Now, come on, I've got a month long itch that needs to be scratched." Anya turns away to try and drag him along again.

With a growl of frustration, Xander lets go of his human transformation and stands there in his 8 foot tall guise, three protruding eyes in a triangular position set in a pebbly chitinous shell just above his beak. Arms and tentacles poke out of a body covered with fish scales, "Anya, this is me, I'm a monster."

Anya turns back, "Ohh, tentacles, and you have suckers, I've heard good things about those. Come on, lets test them out."



Several hours later, a thoroughly exhausted, and confused, Xander is lying on the bed. His three eyes pointing in different directions, the bottom eye gazing lovingly at the blond hair of the woman sleeping on his softer chest, "Xander."

"Yes?"

"What kept you?"

"My new family wouldn't let me go until I stopped trying to kill myself. That didn't happen till yesterday, last month, or something like that. Do you know what's happened to my crew?"

"Oh, Frank, Freddy, or something has been looking after it, they think you were a victim of the burnings and are in a coma."

"Oh, I should call them."

Anya grabs a tentacle, "Not today you don't, you can wait until after the weekend."

Episode 8 – part 2

When Buffy and Dawn walk back into the house from their morning sister time, Tara looks up from the coffee she's nursing, a pensive look on her face.

"Buffy, would you mind. That is, can you teach me."

Buffy sits down at the table opposite Tara, "Tara, what's wrong?"



Dawn sits down beside Tara, and just hugs her from the side as Tara starts talking, "I'm worried about what you said the night before last. About almost killing all of us because you lost your memory."

Dawn lifts her head up and stares at Buffy, "Buffy, you didn't say anything about killing people."

Buffy holds out her hand to Dawn, "Dawn, I didn't try to kill of our friends last night. I went back to being BunnyGirl, a couple of days after they wiped my memory. So, I didn't know I needed to keep my void energies managed. If Spike hadn't touched my shoulder and got shocked, I'd have exploded in the shop, killing or injuring everyone else there."

Dawn looks horrified, "Buffy!"

Tara nods sadly, "Dawn, I have the same energy in me. I've been using less magic than I have since I got together with Willow, romantically I mean. It's been harder and harder to channel magic and not use whatever energy this is. It didn't hit me until the night before last, first with you exploding in front of the shop, and then while we were talking. That could have been me, but I wouldn't have known what was happening."



Dawn squeezes Tara harder, "I'm sure that Buffy will be able to fix it, she can fix anything."

Buffy chuckles, "There's plenty of things I can't fix Dawn, and as you grow into adulthood properly, you'll start to see that."

Dawns kitten jumps up onto a chair, and then onto the table before nudging Tara's arm.

Buffy chuckles, "Dawn, you really need to come up with a name for that one."

Dawn smiles, "I already have, silly. It's Emo."

Buffy drops her head to the table with a thud as Dawn giggles.



Feeling a bit better by the break in tension, Tara scritches Emo's head while Buffy picks up Patch from where he followed the bigger kitten, "Buffy, would you be able to teach me those techniques you use to keep control of your magic."

Buffy puts Patch on her shoulder, "Tara, it's not magic, it's void energy. The scientists at my old home have studied it and understand most of the ways it interacts with our dimension. I even remember the science and equations for the basic properties of that dimension. But beyond that, I only know the blueprints of the Tenno gear they designed, as we were weapons. Apart from those basics, one of which is that void beam, everything else was designed for it's effectiveness in a fight."

Tara slumps, "I don't think I have a choice, I need to learn them. I-I've been dreaming, and I don't think they're dreams. Last night I dreamt I was freaking out about being a 9 foot tall monster running down a corridor. There's also someone called Natah who keeps talking to me. I can't take it anymore."

Buffy stands up and makes her way around the table to give Tara a hug, "Tara, I'm so sorry you have to experience that, even second hand. Of course, I'll teach you those techniques, and if they help you great. While I remember, I've invited Vhesthine over for dinner on Saturday. That's tomorrow I think."

Tara nods, "Today's Friday."



Buffy looks over at Dawn, "Dawn, parental mode here, how are you feeling today?"

Dawn looks at Buffy, "I'm doing better I think."

"Do you think you can handle school if one of us walks you?"

Dawn smiles, "I'll have Emo, my emotional support cat, with me. Is it me or has he, or she, gotten bigger already?"

Buffy nods, "They were around the same age as Patch when I got them. That's going to get awkward very quickly."



Quickly grabbing Emo by the scruff of the neck, Buffy lifts him and inspects between his legs, "It's a him."

Tara blanches, "Are we going to get him neutered?"

Buffy looks at her blankly, "Neutered?"

"You know, chop his bits off, make sure he can't leave litters lying around."

Dawning comprehension crosses Buffy's face, "Oh, no, that would reduce his aggression, and he'll need that to defend Dawn properly."

Tara shakes her head, "Buffy, Dawn doesn't need that level of protection."

Buffy just looks at her, "Tara, are you living in the same Sunnydale as we are? You've seen what we come up against."

"Buffy, the only time Dawn is in danger is after dark. By which time she's either at work with you, at home with me, or at the Magic Box."

Dawn objects, "Hey, sometimes I go out with friends too."

Tara pats Dawn on the back, "Yes you do, not as often as you should though. You need more friends your age."

Dawn huffs, "Well, Janice and I aren't talking at the moment, and the others are all stupid and immature. So's school, I learn so much more from you than I do at school."

"That's because you have my mostly undivided attention while you're doing your homework. Now, off you go, you need to shower and then do your homework over breakfast."



Once Dawn is off to school, Buffy moves the coffee table in the lounge area.

"Tara, are you ready?"

Tara shakes her head, and takes a deep breath before sitting down in the now cleared space.

Buffy kneels down opposite her with a gentle smile, "The first thing you're going to learn is how to feel the void energy inside you. This might be easy or hard, but it's the first step to controlling it." She grimaces, "It's also the hardest step, as you have to keep that awareness all the time. You can't just check in occasionally, you need to know it like you know your bladder."

Tara winces, "So this is potty training all over again?"

Buffy shrugs, "I have no idea what potty training is, but probably."

"So how do I do this?"

Buffy sighs as she thinks, suddenly she remembers what happened just after she arrived, "Before we begin, I just remembered something. When I first arrived, the void energy inside me was quiet. I could use it, but it was hard. When I tried to change the school I was focused on…"


Buffy looked around the strange room that also looks so familiar. Of the four possible doors she could have chosen to find this room, she managed to pick the wrong one twice. So much for the conquering hero of the origin system, or terrorist, or mercenary, depending on who you ask.



Lifting her hand, she looks at the scab with a shake of her head. Where ever this world it, and if it's an implant driven dream, or it's real. It's clear she doesn't have access to her implants. That means that she's now responsible for her own health and wellbeing, and a fighting style as outright offensive and aggressive as Madurai is probably going to be detrimental to her long term survival.



Looking around the room, Buffy finds a clear space, and kneels down in the centre of it. Closing her eyes, she looks inwards at the different faces of the structure she, and her brother and sister Tenno, had to construct around the wellspring of void energy inside them. A sense of nostalgia passes through her as she remembers Archimedean Naliee guiding her through creating the original, flimsy, shell.



Shaking herself out of her memories, she turns the structure to look at the different Tenno Ways. As she does, the void energy explode out of the placid sphere it was. Jumping and spiking like it was when they first recovered them from the Zariman. Pulled out of her meditation, she grimaces at the scorch marks on the walls and carpet before looking at the door in alarm.


Buffy looks up as she finishes recalling that first attempt, "That's when I went out to warn Dawn about coming into my room unexpectedly."

Tara looks down in thought, "You're worried that this will happen to me too?"

Buffy nods, "I am, you have an advantage over us though. As you're already accustomed to handling energy. If this does happen to you, then we'll head out to the woods, and I'll teach you how to expel the energy in a directed beam. I don't believe that you'll be in danger of exploding, as that didn't happen to any of us until they wiped our minds. I think it's because we got so used to holding the energy in, that our bodies no longer expelled it without our control."

Tara looks on with dawning comprehension, "And you think they accidentally removed that automatic reflex when they removed your memories?"

Buffy considers that for a moment, "That's certainly a possibility. I'd need to consult an Archimedean about it, not that there are any here, as they were the scholars and researchers of the Orokin culture."

"What do you think would happen if we waited?"

Buffy sighs, "You said that it's getting harder to not use it. I would suggest that it's still coming through, just more sluggishly like mine did. At some point, you're not going to be able to avoid using it. Then you'll be stuck trying to do all of this without killing anyone."

Tara nods sadly, "I'll do it. What do I need to do?"

Buffy sighs, "Tara, my old home, they didn't have magic, so they were making these things up on the fly. For the moment, I just want you to find it, and I'll be here to give advice if you don't have anything that helps you. If that happens, I'll talk you through the visualisations we used."



Tara closes her eyes and easily finds the sense of calm that she and Willow used to use in the park when they were first communing with nature, and learning how to even touch magic, let alone use it. Buffy watches as tears start to fall down Tara's cheeks.




Tara smiles as she builds up her favourite visualisation of herself and the magic around her. A small forest filled island to represent herself and her own experiences. Surrounding the forest is a soft sandy beach that separates the ocean of magic from herself. As she moves around the island, she finds old channels she's dug in the past to allow her to use magic. The hot milk from the other night is now just a faint runnel, and will be gone in another day or so. A deep channel that is still filling from her part in Buffy's resurrection. There are a few other channels that are almost filled from spells that she did with Willow over the last few months.



As she finishes the circuit of her island, she looks around in concern, as she can feel that new energy, so very close to the surface. Slowly, she sends vision into the forest that makes up her and her experiences. After an unknown amount of time climbing through the forest, she pauses as something niggles at the back of her mind. Looking around, she finds a rocky outcropping, this one represents her time in the cabin after her mother died. As she observes it, she notes that the sharp edges have worn away, and it's starting to look more like a natural part of her past than the jagged shard it used to be. Moving to the top of the outcropping, she looks out over the trees to the ocean of magic far below. As she does, that niggling feeling becomes stronger, and she feels like she's missing something frightfully obvious. Turning around, she tries to look up past the trees to see how far she has to go to reach the core of herself.



It's with dawning horror that Tara finds herself flying out over the ocean, her visualisation receding into the distance until she can take in the whole island. Where before it used to be mostly flat, with the occasional feature poking out above the treeline representing major traumatic events. Now, growing out of the island, is a volcano. All of her life events are now decorating the sides of the volcano.


Tara's eyes open in a panic, "I'm a volcano, I'm a god damn volcano."

Buffy leans over and touches Tara, who jumps at the unexpected context, "Hello, I'm not Tara, so you're going to have to unpack that a bit."

Tara giggles nervously, "Hello Not Tara."

Buffy smiles at Tara, "What did you find?"



Tara puts her hand on her chest, takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "A couple of years ago, when I met Willow, we used to practice magic, real magic, in the parks. We used a lot of those new age magick for beginner's type books, trying different things and even the occasional spell from the Giles' library when he let us. Most of the stuff was useless, even if we could get some of the spells to work for us. One that we did get working was visualising yourself and the magic surrounding you. It didn't really work for casting magic, so Willow gave it up after a few months. I kept it up because it allowed me to picture how my life was going."

She lowers her head shamefully, "I modelled my visualisation off of the sorts of desert islands that you read about in Treasure Island, or Robinson Crusoe, as they were usually quite pretty, but they were also isolated and alone. Like I was."



Having being doing some of her own meditation while Tara was meditating, Buffy struggles to remember what's expected in this situation. So she falls back on what works for Dawn, and shuffles round to pull Tara into a hug, and stroke her hair.

Tara sobs, "I'm so alone, still alone even when I thought Willow…"

Buffy holds her as she dissolves into incoherent sobbing, "Shh, shh, it's ok, we're all alone. We build connections with people, and invite them into our lives. Sometimes we're invited into their lives too. But all those connections are transitory, and will eventually pass, whether because you grow apart, or they die. It's like the old roads on Deimos, where they went all over the moon, connecting the different parts of it. But even thousands of years later, where there's only a few tracks from the families home worn in due to the frequent passage of the family and occasional visitor. Around the edges of their territory, you can still find remnants of those roads, showing that there was once a connection there."



The two of them sit/kneel there for a couple of hours before Tara recovers from crying herself out. Once she's recovered, she sits up firmly.

"Right. Crying isn't going to solve this. I need to. I need to accept that this is going to be part of my life one way or another. I need to make space for it, otherwise it will make its own space… Oh goddess, I can't do this."

Buffy rubs circles on her back, "Yes you can. Tara, you learnt to do magic, you can do this. You will do this, as I know that you will still be here once it's an undeniable part of your life. You will pick yourself up like our friends say you did after Glory, and you will go forward scarred, but stronger for knowing you survived it. The basis for each of the Tenno ways is a permanent use of void energy to do something for us, or around us. The Vazarin way makes it easier for my allies to learn and work together. The Zenurik way allows us to regain the energy we reserve for out abilities. The Madurai infuses our bodies, allowing us to hit harder, while Naramon allows to carry the flow of battle with us. Finally, Unariu infuses our bodies to make us impossibly surefooted.

"We also visualise a pool of energy that we hold so that we can do other things while the rest of our energy bleeds off. Though, that one didn't work so well, as we have nowhere to bleed it off to. But, you aren't us, you have the opportunity to make your own way, to find a way to deal with the energy without needing a tool to bleed off the excess."



Tara sits there being comforted by Buffy as her mind tries to process what was said. Then the strident tones of her cell phone alarm goes off, and both of them jump in surprise, leading Tara to giggle when Buffy punches a hole in the window with her void blast.



Sheepishly, Buffy hangs her head, "We can fix that."

Tara laughs out loud as she picks up the stuff she needs for university, before heading out. At the front door, she looks back at Buffy, with her binbag, newspaper, and Sellotape, "Thanks for staying with me earlier. It really helped."

Buffy calls back over her shoulder, "Your welcome. Oh void damn it!" Tara smiles as she closes the door while Buffy goes chasing after the roll of tape.


As Buffy is packing a bag for work with the notebooks she's been using for her designs and threading her dagger onto her belt. The news catches her attention with the report of a security guard at the local museum being found frozen solid this morning. As it does, she turns to look at the screen, and her mouth drops open as the Frost Warframe immediately springs to mind. Rushing to the phone she dials the Magic Box and curses when it goes to the answer phone.

"Anya, it's Buffy, we might have a problem. Please tell me that there's something supernaturally that can freeze someone into a popsicle."



That done, she makes her way to the school to pick up Dawn, before heading to work before it finishes getting dark.



When the two of them arrive, in the reception area, Willow is waiting by Razial's door.



Dawn glances at Vhesthine, before skipping to the door to Razial's office and knocking politely. There, she stands, head looking at the floor slightly.

Willow hisses, "Dawn, what are you doing?"

Dawn doesn't say anything until Razial calls, "Enter!"



Razial looks up, and his eyes widen minutely in surprise, "What can I do for you Dawn?"

Dawn smiles at the desk, "Would I be able to have the disguise again please Master Razial? So that I can help Vhesthine."

Razial cocks his head curiously, then an incomprehensible stream of words pours out of his mouth, and Dawn feels her body shift.

As the feeling ends, Dawn smiles, "Thank you Master."

Razial waves her off, "If you see my apprentice out there. Tell her to just knock when she arrives rather than waiting until 4 on the dot. It will give her more time for personal instruction before she needs to work."

Dawn nods and closes the door, before turning to Willow, "Hi Willow, I guess you heard that."

"Dawn, what are you doing? He's a demon."

Dawn nods, "He is, but he's a nice demon. Not good, just nice. This means I get to help Vhesthine without needing to worry about customers trying to make off with me. I've got to get changed, enjoy your lesson."

Dawn skips off to the breakroom to get changed, only tripping once on the way. A muffled "Ow! That hurt." Comes from the other side of the breakroom door as it catches her tail.



Once Willow has picked her jaw up off the floor, she takes the implied order and knocks on the door.






At a quarter to 8, Buffy puts down her tools and reduces the heat on the forge.

"Ir'in! I'm taking my break, I've got a meeting with the boss in 15"

Ir'in raises their appendage to acknowledge that they've heard her, before turning back to the iron fence they're making. As she walks to the stairs, she pauses for a few seconds as Roselyn works on the silver toppers for the iron spines. Each spike being a work of art on its own.



Pulling herself away from Roselyn's work, she makes her way upstairs to get cleaned up. Opening the door, she smiles at Dawn, "How are you getting on Dawn?"

Dawn smiles broadly at Buffy, "Ok, it's not as interesting as I thought it would be though. As Vhesthine's been dealing with paperwork most of the time. I did get to go downstairs to get some of the deliveries, and Roselyn showed me how she does some of her work. It's beautiful isn't it."

Buffy smiles, "Yes, Roselyn is a true artist. I don't remember seeing you down there though."

Dawn nods, "You were working on the big banging hammer."

Buffy nods in understanding, "Ah, that would be when I was learning how to make wrought iron by hand, as we only had cast stock. I'm glad you're doing well, and thank you for looking after her Vhesthine."

Vhesthine smiles, "She's a delight to have around, it's like having a fledgling at home, she's so full of questions."

Buffy nods, "Are you still on for tomorrow night?"

Vhesthine nods, "I am."

"Are there any human foods that you particularly like. I remember you said that it doesn't taste that good to you."

Vhesthine's eyes widen slightly, "Spiced food is nicer. It has lots of flavour and complexity so it doesn't feel so bleh."

Dawn looks at Vhesthine, "Is it really that bad?"

Buffy laughs, "Dawn, you've got a Hershey's bar in your bag, why don't you try it while I'm cleaning up before my meeting."

Dawn looks at Vhesthine, who waves her off, before bouncing after Buffy.



A few minutes later, they both come back. Dawn with a chocolate bar, and a can of Pepsi, and Buffy with her notebooks. Sitting back beside Vhesthine at the desk, Dawn opens the chocolate and takes a bite. A couple of chews later, she swallows hard and sticks her tongue out, "Bleurgh, that's disgusting. It's worse than eating cardboard."

Opening the Pepsi, she takes a mouthful, before running to the bathroom to spit it out. When she gets back she exclaims, "That was worse! Vhesthine, how do you cope?"

Vhesthine smiles, "If I have to eat, meat and a salad or rice. Water by preference, although I do like tea as it's fragrant. A meal has to be more than just sustenance for it to be bearable. I can't stand most Italian because it's so bland." She glances up at Buffy with a wicked smile, "Of course, the dessert is the most important part of the meal for succubus, and should be savoured slowly in bed."

Dawn scrunches her eyebrows, "What, like cherries and chocolate mousse? Or sex like Willow and Tara do sometimes?"

Buffy's face turns bright red, "I'm going to see if Razial's available a little early."



As Buffy disappears through the door, Dawn looks up at Vhesthine, "Vhesthine, um, how do young succubus feed if they can't eat food?"

Vhesthine looks at Dawn seriously, "Dawn, I'm not sure that I should tell you. I am becoming fond of you, and I fear that your disguise is less of a disguise than it should be."

Dawn looks at her with concern, "It can't be that bad, can it?"

Vhesthine nods gravely, "The way we feed our young also teaches them how to feed themselves. If, on Saturday, I see you not only eat, but enjoy your meal, I will consider telling you about it. I may even demonstrate for you if Buffy agrees."

Dawn smiles, "I know, we can get spike to punch me. If he gets a migraine, then it's a disguise. That's what he did to prove that Tara wasn't a demon last year."


Buffy walks in and pauses as she sees Willow working at a table, drawing a circle of chalk around a quartz crystal while muttering an incantation. Giving her a quick glance of wariness and distrust, Buffy takes a seat in front of Razial. Once it becomes apparent that he's busy with something, Buffy lays out her notebooks and starts to order her thoughts. Starting with the feeling of mortification she seems to have inherited from Buffy Summers.



It doesn't take too long for Razial to finish his work, and clear it away before looking up at Buffy. "Apprentice Buffy, you asked for a meeting."

Buffy nods, "I need help. The other night I almost killed my friends and myself because my memory was stolen."

Razial nods, "I see, continue."

"The reason I almost killed them, is the build-up of void energy."

Razial looks over at Willow, "Apprentice, come and take notes. This is important. Please explain what you mean by build-up and what that energy source is."

Buffy nods, "I was born around 1,000 years ago into the Orokin culture. 16 years later, the colony ship we were on was trapped in the void. The void energy drove all of the adults insane, and we had to kill them to survive. Every single child or adolescent that survived made a deal with an entity that exists in the void. This allowed us to channel the void as a weapon against the adults. When we were rescued, we discovered that while we had left the void the void had not left us."



Razial nods, "And what is this place you are talking about?"

"It is another dimension."



Razial taps on his desk, "Yes, the problem becomes clear now. However, you say you were born 1,000 years ago. How then was this not a problem for you then?"

Buffy opens the notebook that has her designs for sleeping pods, and amps, in it, "The void was discovered thousands of years before I was born, and the Orokin were very adept at using and manipulating it. We were taught a variety of mental techniques to control the void inside us, they also designed pods like this one to syphon void energy away from us while we slept. When I awoke from the Second Dream properly, I learnt that they had also finished the design of a wrist mounted device that would do the same, and also act as a reservoir of void energy for a built in weapon. I have designs for all of those in that notebook. The problem is that I no longer have access to the materials we used to make them, or the tools we used to put them together. I was hoping you may know of where to get similar tools or alternative materials that may work."



Razial spends a few minutes flicking through the notebook. At one point he mutters a spell, and his eyes narrow slightly as a nictating membrane flicks across them rapidly.

"These designs are well drawn, though the language is unfamiliar to me. However, to know if I am able to help you, I must first understand the energy that you are using. Will you be willing to demonstrate this energy for us?"

Buffy nods, "I'm always using it, so sure."

Razial mutters a few spells, before shaking his head, "I suppose it was a faint hope that I could detect it. Apprentice. Let Vhesthine know that we will be gone for at least an hour." He pauses for a second and Willow hurries to the door, "Tell her that I request she escort Dawn home if we have not returned by close of business, and stay with her until Buffy returns."

Buffy starts to gather up her notebooks, when she pauses as Willow comes back inside, "What about Dawn's disguise?"

Razial waves his hand airily, "I am teaching my apprentice tomorrow, I will remove it when I return her."



Buffy scowls, but doesn't push the issue, as she's aware that he could have left it till work on Monday. When Willow returns, Razial takes hold of both of them and they disappear, only to reappear in a stone circle, which is itself sitting on a hill in a desolate landscape dominated by obsidian, granite, and lava flows. The sky above hangs heavy with dark clouds that glow an ominous red.

As she finishes looking around, Buffy asks, "Where are we? As this could be Jupiter, or pre-terraforming Venus. But I don't think we're on a mining platform, equally, we're not suffering from breathing in the atmosphere."

Razial looks at Buffy curiously, while Willow looks at her in horror, and blurts, "How do you even know what those look like?"

Razial gives Willow a stern look, and she cowers, "Sorry Master."

Razial growls, "That is not why I am upset with you. Buffy has already told you the answer to your question not 10 minutes ago. You must start using your intelligence for analysing what you know as well as gathering information. Only then will you start asking pertinent questions."

Hoping to divert attention away from Willow's behaviour, Buffy asks, "As we're not currently in the middle of any demonstrations. What was Willow doing when I came in?"



Razial glances at Willow to make sure she's paying attention, "She was imbuing crystals with magic using a magic circle to filter out the taint in the magic."

Buffy looks surprised, "Taint? Does that affect spells?"

"For the most part, it doesn't."

Buffy looks confused, "Then why would you need to remove it?"

"Because a magic circle can only filter magic to a level as tainted as the magic used to create it."

Buffy opens her mouth, then closes it again as she thinks, "Wait, doesn't that mean that there was no point to the circles Willow was using?"



Tears start to form in Willows eyes at the question, and she starts openly crying when Razial answers, "Indeed."

"So, how does someone create a circle with less taint than they themselves have?"

"One way would be to use the magic from a crystal to create the circle."

Buffy shakes her head, "No, that doesn't track, as you then have a Kubrow and pup scenario, except genetic engineering isn't an acceptable answer. There must be some way to quickly reduce the amount of 'taint' someone has."

Razial nods, "Go on."

Buffy sinks down to her knees so that she can mediate to clear her thoughts, "It is possible to use soiled water to make something cleaner than the water, but that requires higher pressures, and the impurities act as an abrasive. Alternatively, you could use something as a filter and cycle the tainted water through the system, and then through the filter. Then each time it passes through that filter, it would be slightly cleaner than it was. But then you need to make sure that the filter is either cheap enough to be disposable, or simple enough to clean that you don't make things worse again by doing so. I seem to remember that sedimentation used to be used as well, but that takes a lot of time, and not all impurities will settle out of water. There's another possibility that works for liquids… evaporation. You can evaporate the liquid and recondense it. That would get rid of nearly all impurities." Standing up she adds, "I'm not sure how that would apply to magic, but it's where I'd start."

Razial nods, "Indeed, and there are similar methods for magic, but they are either painful or long."



Buffy hums, "Would I be able to get the details of a couple of ones that should only be uncomfortable, but take a moderate amount of time, one with a filter, and one without. Same way I did the spell for Dawn's cat?"

Razial nods, "I can acquire those for you, do you wish them deducted from your pay, or pay upfront."

"That all depends on how expensive they are."



Willow tearfully says, "Master, why didn't you tell me yesterday?"

Razial turns to Willow, "Oh, but I did. I told you that the purest crystals were used in large scale cleansing rituals. You are not a youngling, so I will not spoon feed you. You are intelligent and resourceful that is why you are my apprentice. It is up to you to hone those traits and use them to pick out the information you need, and identify where you are lacking."

Willow ducks her eyes, "Yes master."

"Remember, you are my apprentice, that means you are encouraged to ask relevant questions."

Willow sags, "Yes master."



Razial turns his attention to trying to divine the nature of Buffy's Void energy, to little to no avail. Though, this seems to leave him happier than he started, to the point that he begins instructing Willow in how to help in more than just impatient or exasperated terms.


When an exhausted Willow gets back to her dorm that night, she looks tiredly at Amy in her cage. Then she heads to the kitchen, to splash her face with cold water. Finally, she smiles slightly and starts writing out her idea for restoring Amy to human form. At some point she remembers to set her alarm, and wakes up with the imprint of her pen in her cheek.

Episode 8 – part 3

Vhesthine worriedly lets Dawn out of her car once they've parked on Buffy's driveway. Razial didn't get back before she had to close up, and now she's here. As Dawn runs into the house, she follows at a more sedate pace, and closes the door behind her.



Following the calls of "Tara!" she finds herself in a kitchen, where Dawn has just sat down next to Tara.

Dawn sits down next to Tara, "Hey Tara, what are you working on?"

Tara turns to look at Dawn and freezes for a second, "Dawn?"

Dawn nods, "Uh huh. Master Razial didn't get back in time, so I'm stuck like this till tomorrow. I like this disguise, but I am so hungry."

"Didn't you have a couple of sandwiches in case Buffy couldn't get you dinner?"

Dawn nods, "I did, but they tasted horrible."

Vhesthine coughs, "Sorry to intrude."

Tara spins round in her chair, and looks the short Chinese woman up and down, "Who are you?"

Unfortunately, Dawn sniffs once, and then hugs Tara from behind, "Hey Tara, you smell yummy."



Tara freezes, and Vhesthine snaps, "Dawn, let Tara go. I know you're hungry, but we need to wait for Buffy to get back before we address that."

"Aww, but she smells so nice, like chocolate raspberry ripple sundae."

"Dawn!"

Reluctantly, Dawn lets go of Tara, who finally relaxes and steps away from the table to face Dawn, "Who are you?"

Vhesthine sighs, "I'm Vhesthine, we've met a few times at Mikes Machining."

Tara's eyes widen, "You're Vhesthine?"

Vhesthine nods, "I am, and Dawn is acting like a young succubus." She quietly adds, "Fortunately, she's still not old enough to go hunting, otherwise she'd be out there trying to feed."

Tara looks from Dawn to Vhesthine, "Sorry, I didn't catch that last bit."

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't important. Do you mind if I sit down?"



Tara sighs, and looks at the kitchen table, "Sure, help yourself."

Vhesthine takes a seat, "Well, this isn't how I envisaged spending a Friday evening."

Tara looks at Dawn, who's currently sulking at the end of the table, while muttering to Emo, "Quite frankly, neither did I. Although I have a feeling that I should have done."



After a few minutes of awkward silence, Dawn pulls out her phone and starts to play snake. Tara looks at Vhesthine, "Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

Vhesthine, asks, "Do you have any fragrant teas?"

"Sorry, no, we're coffee drinkers here."

Vhesthine sighs, "Shame."



Tara tries to go back to her university work, but the rumble of Dawn's stomach draws her attention. Especially when Dawn grabs her favourite snack from the fridge, takes one bite and makes a face before spitting it out into the bin, "Eugh, that was disgusting."

Tara's eyes widen comically, "Dawn, that was a Maple Bar Doughnut, you're as bad about those as Xander is about Twinkies."

Morosely, Dawn sits back down at the table, "Tell me about it. The only thing that smells appetising is you."

"Ah, Vhesthine, is there anything else she can eat?"

Vhesthine leans over, and deadpan whispers, "Men."

Tara blanches, "Buffy! Hurry up and get home! So, um, what do you normally do at the weekends?"

Vhesthine smiles, and licks her lips, "Hunt."



Another uncomfortable silence is broken when Spike opens the yard door just after 11, "Hello, has anyone seen Buffy?"

Vhesthine sniffs once, "Ohh, you get delivery here. Tara will you be ok looking after Dawn for half an hour?"

Spike looks first at Dawn, and then at the short Chinese woman who is sauntering towards him with a hypnotic sway to her hips. Then he gulps and backs out of the door, followed by Vhesthine. As the door closes, Dawn gets up to follow.



Tara stands up, "Dawn, why don't we go watch a movie until Buffy gets back?"

Dawn looks at the door longingly, "Aww, but I wanted to watch."

Tara shakes her head, "No Dawn, you really didn't. Do you want to catch up on Stargate, or something by Disney?"

Dawn looks at Tara, "How about 'But I'm a cheerleader', you always seemed to like it when it was on."



Nearly 40 minutes later, Vhesthine comes back in with a satisfied smile on her face. There she finds Dawn sitting next to Tara with her nose in the corner of Tara's neck and shoulder. Seeing space on the other side, Vhesthine sits down next to Tara.

"Mmm, that was delicious. So much pent up lust and obsession. I haven't eaten that deeply in decades."

Tara squeaks, "You haven't? Is Spike ok?"

"Mmm? Oh yes, I'm not a youngling. Catch and release, and you can catch them again."



It's just gone midnight when Buffy walks through the front door and hangs her bag over the banisters. When she walks into the living room, she finds Tara sitting stock still while the closing credits of a movie are playing. Sitting on either side of her are two Succubi asleep on her shoulders. Pausing for a moment, she turns around and grabs a digital camera from the drawers in the dining area.



Tara yelps as the flash of a camera goes off, and Vhesthine moans, "Comfy"


The next morning, Buffy wakes up feeling more relaxed and rested than she can ever remember. That feeling quickly turns into panic when she tries to move, and realises that there's something holding her down.



Void jumping off the bed, she turns around… and stops as she sees a succubus starting to stir.

Vhesthine looks up from where she was sleeping, "Buffy, come back to bed, it's too early."

Buffy looks at her, "When, how?"

Vhesthine looks at her owlishly, "Last night, obviously. Because you have a good delivery service, and I needed somewhere to sleep obviously. Now, come back to bed, it was nice, like sleeping with my sisters again."



Buffy backs out of the room, and flees into the yard, where she starts to meditate until Dawn joins her. That's when she gets her second surprise of the morning, Dawn's human.



"Hey Buffy, I guess the disguise wore off during the night."

Buffy nods absently, "Um."

"Buffy, are you alright?"

Buffy shakes her head slightly, "I don't know. Have you had something to eat?"

Dawn shakes her head, "No, I'm not hungry at the moment."

Buffy nods as her feeling of things being off continue to mount.



At the end of their session, they walk in to find Vhesthine nursing a mug of coffee at the kitchen table.

Now more awake, Buffy asks, "What happened last night, as I thought we left you on the sofa?"

Vhesthine takes a long sniff of her coffee, "Mmm, you did. But Dawn's hunger woke me up. As I had a good meal, I fed her, and she settled down. Then I found you, and there was plenty of space in your bed, so I joined you."



Buffy looks between Dawn and Vhesthine, "Dawn, sit down, as I think we need to know a bit more about succubus society, starting with the obvious question, 'Can you love?'"

Vhesthine scoffs, "Of course we can, we're a social demon after all. We don't really love males, as that would be like loving the cow or pig that was slaughtered for your dinner."

Buffy sags with relief, "Thank the founders for that. What about gender, is Dawn still a girl?"

Vhesthine shakes her head, "We're just succubae. If you had to equate us to human genders, I suppose that courtesan succubae could be analogous to females. But that's because they're more likely to carry our young."

"What about incubus?"

Vhesthine scowls, "What about those raping bastards?"

Buffy looks concerned, "What, do they force themselves on you?"

Vhesthine, shakes her head, "No, they feed on us." She sighs, "You need to understand that what humans call sex is just a method of feeding for us. But between Succubus and Incubus species, feeding someone else is an expression of love and affection. However, feeding from someone else…" Vhesthine shudders.

Buffy looks down and swallows hard, "So, when I offered to f-feed you tonight, I was…"

Vhesthine nods, "You were, and I'm looking forward to it greatly."

Buffy looks around the room, suddenly lightheaded, "Um, wow, erm. No offence, but this is something of a surprise, as I've never considered anyone like that."

Dawn asks, "What about Angel?"

Buffy shudders, "Nope, too stalkerish, same with Spike. Dawn, when I say I've never considered anyone like that, I mean I've had my libido turned off since the Zariman. And I've never met anyone that even made me consider turning it back on to see. So, this is, um."

"Coming out of left field?" Vhesthine suggests. Buffy just nods, so Vhesthine continues, "I probably shouldn't have fed you like that. You just seemed so accepting of me, that… Don't worry about dinner tonight, I'll find my own food."

Buffy shakes her head, "No! Stay, I said I'd feed you. I'm still going to do it, but, um, this is all new to me."

Dawn starts to laugh, "Oh god. Buffy, you've never dated have you."

Buffy shakes her head in confusion, "No, what's that?"

"You're my older sister, but I know more than you about dating, boys and girls. Has anyone ever spoken to you about the birds and the bees?"

Buffy starts to blush, "Dawn!... I wish I had my implants."

Dawn pats her hand, "Don't worry Buffy, I'll give you The Talk later."

Buffy stands up, "Right, I'm going to look up recipies for tonight on the computer."



Dawn and Vhesthine laugh as she leaves, before Vhesthine looks at Dawn seriously, "Dawn, I know this seems fun at the moment. But I think you should avoid asking for this 'disguise' or to be a 'succubus' for a while. Razial's species hatch from eggs, and they don't have a concept of family. So, one day he may just decide that you actually want to be a succubus, and not change you back. If you express an interest in learning how to use the magic needed to make that transformation, he may consent to teach you. But you'd need to show that you are powerful enough to cast the spell in the first place. Do you understand?"



Dawn nods, but Vhesthine grabs her hand, "Dawn, I don't think you really do. We are not human, and we never have been. Are there any boys, or girls, you've fancied at school? You'll lose interest in them. Do you have any favourite foods? You'll never be able to enjoy it again. Instead, you'll be able to smell the emotions of humans, and lust will make you salivate. Especially if it's directed at you. When you're first learning to hunt, you will kill humans, and you won't care because you'll be full and they tasted delicious."

Dawn snatches her hand away, "Vhesthine, you're scaring me."

Vhesthine nods, "Good, you should be scared. Being a demon, any demon, is far more than just a change in skin. They come with their own desires and instincts. I remember the mayor, and what he changed into. Razial knew what he was becoming, indeed he sold him some of the books needed. But for us, the Mayor would have eaten a few dozen people, and then gone to sleep for a few hundred years. Yes he was a powerful demon, but he had no understanding of the instincts and mentality of that type of demon. Same as you don't about being a succubus." Softly she adds, "Same as Buffy doesn't about being a human."

Dawn looks alarmed, "What do you mean? Buffy's human, isn't she?"

Vhesthine tips her hand back and forth, "She is now. But the way she talks and reacts, she wasn't before. Human's can't just turn off their reactions, or parts of their emotions. You can smell her surprise when either of those things happen, as if she wasn't expecting it. Like just now, when you were needling her about the birds and the bees. The emotion caught her off guard."

"But Buffy's been really cool, she's…"

Vhesthine nods, "I know, and that's who she is."

Their conversation cuts off as a sleepy Tara wanders into the kitchen.




Willow fingers the sheet of paper she worked on last night as she waits for someone to open the door. In her bag, Amy is scrabbling around in a cardboard box with a couple of holes cut into it.



Eventually, the door clicks unlocked, and opens with no one there. Thinking back to a few events in her past, Willow cautiously goes through the door and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, Razial is waiting for her.

"Apprentice, we will be working in my workshop, as there are things I need to do."

Willow swallows hard, "Master, I um, I-I know how to turn my friend Amy back into a human. Would you be able to supervise me while I do? I've written out my plan."

Razial holds out his hand, and then reads Willow's notes before tearing off most of the sheet and handing back the shortest part, "This is the only part of your plan that is workable. You may do that part now."

Willow takes the paper back and blanches as only two lines are left. "Revelate!" As a sheet of papyrus appears on the reception counter, Razial picks it up and transports them both to his workshop.



Once they appear, he leads her over to a desk beside a bookcase, "Apprentice, study the spell. You may use the books on this shelf," He points at one of the shelves, "to aid your study. Once you believe you understand the spell and what it does. Write down your new plan and bring it to me."

As he turns away, Willow turns to face him, "M-Master, why are you being so nice today?"

Razial turns back, "Because you are not wasting my time with complaints about fairness or superiority of your own knowledge. Now I have work todo, as Buffy has presented the most interesting conundrum."



Willow stares after him for a few seconds, before turning to the desk to investigate what's available. In a drawer, there is a selection of dip pens, from quills, to fountain pens, and exquisitely designed glass devices. In a long drawer in the front of the desk is a tray of fine sand, behind which are sheets of parchment in different colours. Opening the drawers at the back of the desk, she finds an ink well, and a few jars of different coloured inks.

Looking through her bag, she realises that she's left all of her pens back at the Dorm. As she emptied it on the bed to ensure there was space for Amy. Picking the most recognisably pen like of the implements in the drawer, Willow first copies out the spell at the top. Then she writes out a translation of the spell, and looks at it for a while. Not seeing anything wrong with the spell, she writes down, 'cast spell on subject', before walking over to Razial.

"M-Master, I'm done."

Razial doesn't show any indication that he's heard, as he keeps on writing out some equations in a language Willow doesn't recognise. Just as she's about to try again, Razial puts his pen down and turns to her, "You need to learn more patience apprentice. When you are doing your own research you will learn the value of a train of thought. Now, let me see." Razial glances over the page, "Hmm, an adequate translation, though lacking nuance. However, you have failed to consider anything beyond casting the spell. Do not bring this to me again before you have some considerations listed out."



Half an hour later, Willow's still staring at the parchment trying to work out what the demon could be talking about. Surely it's just a matter of turning Amy back into a human. Rubbing her cheek where Razial hit her, Willow decides against taking the parchment back, instead, she falls back on what's worked for her before, and starts looking through the books on the shelf.



The growl of her stomach pulls Willow out of her perusal of the shelf, and back to her task, and she quickly looks down at her notes. None of which have to do with helping Amy. Though, she has a slightly different translation, that has a lot of uncertainty in the English version, as terms she thought were clear cut have multiple meanings that could apply with that wording. Throwing her pen on the table in frustration, she walks over to Razial.



As she gets there, she blurts out, "I don't get it, what have I missed?"

As the words leave her mouth she shrinks back, expecting to be hit. Instead Razial looks up calmly, "What circumstances did the subject change under? What state is the subject likely to be in when you undo the change?"

Willow staggers back, poleaxed, all thoughts of her hunger gone as the spectre of who she was before she started doing so much magic rears it's head and berates her for forgetting about the person. Tears spotting her eyes, she makes her way back to the desk to start writing out everything she remembers of that event. By the time she's finished, she has three pieces of parchment describing the events of the evening, and another paragraph of possible things that could be wrong afterwards.



Taking her new notes back to Razial, she respectfully waits for him to notice her, as her thoughts continue to spin around such an obvious revelation, and the fact that a soulless demon was the one to make the observation.

Eventually Razial puts his pen down to look at her, "Yes apprentice?"

Willow holds out her work, "I believe I have covered everything master."



Razial glances over the pages, "A better translation, though still missing an important subtlety. You have also focused too much on irrelevant details. The only important information there is that the subject was panicking, and potentially on fire. Because of that, you missed the most relevant consideration for the spell. The subject may still be panicking or injured when the transformation ends. To that end, the solution is to ensure they are unconscious. I presume you already know a spell to render a subject unconscious."

Numbly, Willow nods, as her revelation takes a heavy blow at the dispassionate way Razial ignored all of the human elements of Willow's considerations.

Impatiently, Razial says, "Well, what are you waiting for, get the rat and implement your plan."

"Yes Master." Willow scurries off to get Amy, and stares in dismay at the inside of her bag, before picking up the rat and placing it in the centre of the room.



A muttered 'Somnus' indicates the start of Willow's spell, and Amy slumps on the floor asleep. Then she reads the spell from her notes as magic swirls around her and Amy. As she watches, the rat turns back into a naked human, with no visible injuries.

Razial nods and muses, "Well executed, you certainly have a good level of skill with using magic. At least I don't have to teach you any of the basics on that front. We will deposit the subject in your dorm before having you perform the spell twice more."



As Razial reaches out for her arm, Willow hurriedly asks, "May I take my notes Master?"

Razial looks at her impatiently, "You have magic, use it."

Willow's eyes widen, and she holds out her hand to her notes and bag, which pack themselves before flying into her grasp. Razial nods, "Good, remember, you are preparing crystals on Monday."

Willow nods, "I found some cleansing rituals in your books Master."




While Tara, Dawn, and Vhesthine are sitting at the table, Buffy sheepishly places a large salad bowl full of rice in the centre of the table, "Sorry, the internet said that 1 cup of rice is a portion, and well, there's 4 of us. So…" Turning back to the stove, she quickly pours the last three dishes she's cooked this afternoon into dessert bowls, before putting them onto the table. Followed by another 6 bowls, that are covered by foil, from the oven. "Um, I wasn't sure what would appeal to you and Dawn, so I put together a selection."

Tara looks at the crowded table, "Buffy, there's enough here to feed an army."

Buffy sits down, still wearing her apron, "Well, Vhesthine said that food needs to be strong and aromatic, so I thought, well."

Tara laughs, "I was kidding. Goddess Buffy, you are so flustered. I haven't seen you like this since you were resurrected."

Buffy is saved from further embarrassment by the doorbell ringing. Hurriedly standing up, she says, "I've got it." Before heading to the door.



Answering the door, she's surprised to see Razial and Willow standing there. Slack jawed, she just stares at them for a second, until Razial says, "May we come in, my apprentice needs to cast a spell."

Numbly Buffy steps to one side, before babbling, "We've just sat down to dinner if you'd like to join us. There's plenty to eat, so it's no problem."

Razial walks in before stating, "We have no business that would be aided by such an endeavour, therefore I will decline. Where are Dawn and Vhesthine?"

Buffy closes the door, "In the kitchen, um this way."



As she returns to the kitchen, Buffy is mildly confused to see a Chinese woman sitting where Vhesthine was. Though she covers it by walking around the table.

When Tara sees Willow, her expression darkens, and she folds her napkin. Razial ignores this and points to both Dawn and Vhesthine, "Apprentice, cast your spell on those two."

Willow looks down at the floor, "I don't know that I can master, I am quite tired."

With a sigh, Razial summons it out of her bag before thrusting it in front of Tara, "Very well. Miss McLay, you cast it."

Tara squeaks, "Me? I don't even know what it does."

With an impatient growl, Razial stalks around the table to Buffy, "Slayer, you do it then. Just read it aloud while concentrating on the person you're casting it on."

Buffy puts her hands on her hips and looks at Razial, "First, this is my house, you will show me respect here. Second, what is this spell supposed to do. And Third, I have never cast a spell before, so how am I supposed to do it?"



Razial steps back, and eyes Buffy's left hand warily, "My apologies for being so brusque, I forgot myself. There is a better than average translation beneath the spell. To explain, a spell is a formalised magical construct that is tied to the words and meaning, as written by the original author. No matter who reads a spell, the spell will always do what it was written to do. Because of this, the user need not have any talent in spell casting, just the ability to use magic."

Tara takes courage from Buffy, and speaks up, "That's not true, you need to know how to channel magic to cast a spell."

Razial turns towards her, "That, young witch, is the difference between an incantation and a spell. A spell without magic is an incantation."

Buffy looks at the spell, "And you promise it won't do something like turn them into an infested."

Razial looks at Buffy, "I promise that if anything does go wrong, it will be as new to me as it is to you."

Buffy swallows hard, and hands the page to Vhesthine, "Vhesthine, honest question, what do you think?"



While Buffy is agonising over the decision, Dawn pulls a chocolate covered donut from the fridge. Taking a deep breath, Buffy reads out the words while looking at Dawn. Lots of pretty lights swirl around the two of them, before sinking into Dawn to no apparent effect. Smiling, Dawn picks up the donut and takes a big bite, before gagging and staggering over to the bin to spit it out.

Razial looks at Dawn in concern, "That should have worked, as you are both human."

Buffy collapses in a chair with hysterical laughter, "Oh that's funny, person must mean of the same species as me. I'm not human, and I haven't been since I was 13 years old."

Dawn just pouts and looks at Razial, "Master, please may you lift the disguise from me?"

Razial mutters, "It appears I've made some basic errors in my assumptions." Before he disappears in a flash of fire.



A moment later, the doorbell goes again, and Tara gets up, "I'll get it!"

As she hurries out, Dawn sags into her chair once more, "It's not fair. Buffy, you're not helping."



Dawn's despair trails off as both she, and Vhesthine, look at the door to the hall. Just after they do, Anya walks in, followed by Xander. Dawn stands up and drifts over to Xander, before hugging him, "Mmm, Xander, you smell so yummy."

Anya blinks for a sec before slapping Dawn's hand, "Bad Dawn, Xander's mine. Get your own hottie." She then pulls Xander behind her, "That goes for you too."

Buffy pulls herself together, "Sorry guys, um, Willow, Anya, Xander. This is Vhesthine, she's a succubus, and I invited her round for dinner."

Anya looks at Vhesthine with disgust, "Keep your grubby mitts off my Xander, you hear me?"

Buffy starts to stand up, "I just need to see how Tara's doing."

Vhesthine shakes her head, "Don't worry, I'll do it, and I'll take trouble with me."

Dawn whines as Xander gets further away from her, then she spots Willows piece of paper, "Anya, you're human. Cast this on me please?" She even clasps her hands in a pleading gesture.

Anya shakes her head, "Ex Vengeance demon remember."

As Vhesthine drags Dawn out of the room, Anya looks at Buffy, "What's going on? I didn't think she was interested in boys yet."

Buffy shakes her head, "She still isn't really. But when she collapsed at school, Vhesthine took her to work, and Razial disguised her as a succubus. Long story short, Dawn asked for it again Friday, and Razial was unavailable when the business closed."

Xander puts his hand up, "So, what, she's a succubus now?"

Willow quietly says, "In the same way Amy was a rat."

Anya whirls around and pulls Willow into a hug, "Willow! Thank you for removing our memories like that. Because of you, I've got my Xander back. I'd have said something earlier, but well, a girl has needs, ya know."


Vhesthine pulls Dawn up to Buffy's bedroom before turning around and taking her hands, "Dawn, look at me."

Dawn tears her gaze from the door and looks at Vhesthine, "Yes Vhesthine?"

"Dawn, while you're like this, I'm going to take on the role of your matriarch. Do you understand?"

Dawn shakes her head, "Not really, what's a matriarch?"

"A matriarch is the head of a succubus family. She's the one that teaches fledgelings our ways, and feeds them if their mother dies. She's also supposed to teach self-control, and that's something you need to get a handle on before you learn to feed yourself."

Dawn shakes her head, "I don't understand."

"Dawn, what would you have done to Xander if you knew how to feed?"

Dawn looks down, "Probably licked him like a popsicle."

Vhesthine sighs, "Oh god, I'm glad you're still a fledgling. Dawn, I'm about to feed you in the way of my people. I need you to promise me that even if you work out how to do it, you won't do so unless I'm there."

Dawn looks back at the door, "Uh huh, I promise."

"No Dawn, I need you to look at me and say the words, and mean them."

Dawn looks back, "I promise I won't feed unless you're there. Can I go?"

Vhesthine counts to 10, "No, I need you to open your mouth slightly for me."

"Ok?"



Vhesthine holds Dawn's head and leans down to push her mouth over Dawn's before pushing some of the essence she fed on last night out and into Dawn's mouth. Dawn sags, and moans when Vhesthine lets go.

"Mmm, that was better than Maple Chocolate Donuts, and nothing's better than those."

Vhesthine nods, "It is, and it gets better as you get older. But it is a person's essence that we consume, not their soul, their life force. If you eat too much of it, they will die, even if they seem to still be alive. It might take a few minutes, or maybe a few hours, but they will fall asleep and just never wake up."

Dawn nods along absently, "Uh huh."



Vhesthine sighs, "Fledglings, they're all the same. Come on Dawn, let's check on Tara."

Dawn smiles, and bounces out of the room and into Tara's room, before jumping on the bed beside her, "Hey Tara. Are you ok?"

Tara looks away, "Yeah, I'm ok."

Dawn leans in and sniffs her, "Are you sure, as you smell like that dark chocolate that Giles used to buy occasionally."

Vhesthine walks around the bed and sits beside Tara, before releasing her disguise and taking Tara's hand, "That's a touch of lust, a lot of love, disappointment, and heartbreak."

Tara looks up, her face puffy, "You know Giles only bought that because he knew no one else would eat it."

Dawn takes Vhesthine's lead, and changes into her succubus form, then hugs Tara from behind, with her wings too, "Hey, come back down with us. You can sit between us, and I can stare at you enviously while you eat."

Tara looks up at Dawn, "But Willow's here, and she's their friend, not me."

Dawn looks at her as if she's an idiot, "You're both our friends, besides, you live here, Willow doesn't."



It takes the two of them another 5 minutes to persuade Tara to join them for dinner. When they get downstairs, Willow has already left, and the others are sitting around the table chatting.



As the six of them eat, Dawn chews and swallows a bite. "Buffy, this smells wonderful, and I've never thought about textures before, but they're interesting too. But I think I'm glad I can't taste it."

Xander looks up from his fourth portion of one of the meat dishes, "What do you mean, this is great?"

Beside him, Anya fans her face and reaches for a glass of water, "Speak for yourself, what did you put in this Buffy?"

Buffy drains her own glass, "That recipe called for three red peppers, so I saw these lovely red ghost peppers, and figured they would add a faint background taste. You know, the ghost in the name?"

Tara coughs and drinks a glass of her own water, "Did you do the same for all the dishes?"

Buffy nods silently as she eats another bite of food, "It tastes good though."

Anya looks at Buffy in disbelief, "You can taste it over the heat?"

"Uh huh."


After dinner, Vhesthine pulls Buffy upstairs so they can have dessert, while Tara and Dawn catch up with Xander and Anya, well mainly Xander.



As Vhesthine gently pushes Buffy back onto Buffy's bed, Buffy says, "I know I said I'd feed you, but, um, you'll need to teach me how. As I think you understood it in a different way than I meant it."

Vhesthine purrs as she climbs on top of Buffy, "Oh I did, and I will. Just try to do what I do."

Vhesthine leans down and kisses Buffy on the mouth, pushing a tiny bit of essence into the kiss. Buffy's body flushes as she does, and she kisses back.

Vhesthine lifts back up, "Physical doesn't do anything, essence. I need essence." She leans in for another kiss, and Buffy grasps for the sensation, but moans as it overtakes her. By the time she get's it, she's so full of lust that Vhesthine is almost ready to throw teaching to the wind, and just take.



As Buffy pushes a tiny bit of essence back into Vhesthine, Vhesthine's eyes roll up into her head, and she moans loud into Buffy's mouth. Lifting her head up, she looks at Buffy, "More."



As Buffy becomes more proficient with feeding Vhesthine her essence, and the two of them start mutually exchanging it, Buffy's doppelganger appears crouching on the dresser, a wide, sinister, grin on its face.

Vhesthine, starts to move on, and rips Buffy's clothes off before kissing her once more, and this time Buffy screams her name, before she tries to return the favour.


Willow wakes up Sunday morning with someone saying "Willow?"

Turning over towards the wall and she blearily says, "It's Sunday, let me sleep."

The person shakes her, "Willow? Is it really you?"

Looking up with sleep caked eyes, she blinks owlishly, "Amy, go back to bed."

"Willow! It's you. You survived."

As Amy hugs her and starts crying, Willow rubs her eyes with her free hand, "Amy, it's ok. Everything will be ok."

Episode 9

Willow rings the doorbell to Buffy's house, she thinks it's Buffy's house. Her chest hurts, her head hurts, and she sort of feels good and dirty at the same time. While she's waiting, she rests her head against the doorframe as she shakes.



A couple of minutes later, the Chinese woman from the other night answers the door before recoiling.

"You stink!"

Just as she's closing the door, Willow manages to say, "I need help. I…"

The Chinese woman looks at her, "Not through the house, I won't subject Dawn to that stink. Go round to the Yard, and I'll wake Tara."



As she gets into the yard, she stumbles and collapses on the floor. The world around her blurring slightly. Before she's got back to her feet, someone's crouched beside her.

"It's ok, she's just exhausted. She's still barely got enough essence left to live."

Willow recognises Tara's voice as she says, "What happened to her?"

"An incubus. An older one by the smell of things, his scent is all over her."

Willow manages to say, "He said I taste of strawberries."

The voice calmly says, "He was lying, he doesn't know what strawberries taste like."



Tara's voice firms up, "What do you need me to do?"

"A cleansing ritual, we need to get his taint out of her before she's allowed anywhere near Dawn."

"I-I'll do it, what do you need?"

"Crushed quartz, finer the better. If not, coarse salt will do, but we may have to do the ritual multiple times. It will be physically hard enough on her doing it once."

"There's a large quartz in our bedroom, can we use that?"

"If you don't use magic on it directly."

Willow pushes herself to her hands and knees, "White bag in chest, silica sand. Is quartz sand."



A succubus turns Willow over, and she vaguely recognises her, Vhesta… Vhesti… something, "Willow, where did you find an incubus?"

Willow mumbles, "Amy, said she knew someone who could make magic last for days. I didn't know, I didn't know."

Vhesthine strokes her hair softly, "I know you didn't, mortals never do. What was his name?"

"Rack, had this apartment, it was hidden."

Vhesthine nods, "Of course it was, I'd have killed him if it wasn't."

Tara comes back, "I've got it."



Buffy comes out wearing another robe and rubbing her eyes, "You've got what? Willow?"

Vhesthine looks up, "Don't come too close Buffy, she's a victim of an Incubus. Do you know if you have any coarse salt in the house?" Buffy shakes her head, "Tara, save a cup of that for me."

Willow watches as Buffy processes that, and then the concern appearing on her face as she asks, "What's going on, and why is it a problem we're dealing with out here?"

Willow mumbles, "Amy said he was warlock. Chest hurts."

Vhesthine shakes her head, "I said she was a victim of an Incubus. They come from the same hell we do, and they're parasitic rapists. They can feed, and be fed, the same way we did last night, and Saturday, but they only ever feed by taking. This one is preying on magic users, preying on their dependency on magic, while others will prey on the lusts of mostly women. Either way, the basic method is the same, take some of the victims essence, and feed it back to them with some of their own essence and either lust or magic. The victim is then caught in a cycle where they are drained to just before the point of death. But the incubus' taint inside them won't fade for a few days, and will leave them wanting more.

"Not only does it smell foul to succubus, but they can track their own taint. If he finds Dawn… I said they were parasitic didn't I?"



Buffy kneels down next to Vhesthine, and reaches out to touch her, only to stop at the shake of her head, "What about you?"

"I'm her matriarch, and far more experienced. I'm no easy target, and if he does subdue me, it will take him long enough to recover that I should either be found or escape." Left unsaid is the real possibility that neither would happen, "Tara, I need you to pour a circle of sand around Willow. Buffy, we need to be outside the circle."



Once the circle has been lain, Vhesthine starts to talk Tara through the ritual, "Tara, this is a quick and dirty purification ritual. There's no incantation to it, just injecting magic, and then managing the flow of magic inside the circle. Before you begin, I'm going to teach you a demonic spell that will allow you to see taint, not just magic. When the ritual starts, it will be removing the easiest taint to start with, which should be a green colour. The taint from the hell my species comes from is red in colour, so you should be able to tell when it's done. You need to keep the ritual going until you can't see any red in magic. Willow will scream, as this is a physically demanding ritual."

Tara swallows hard, "How do I do the ritual?"

"You push magic into the circle until it starts trying to leave. Then you take that leaving magic and push it into the quartz. Don't worry if it takes a while to get the cycle going. But once it's started you need to see the ritual through, as the quartz can't be reused again."



Buffy nods from the side-lines, "What about you?"

Vhesthine has a grim look on her face, "I'll do my own ritual once this one is finished."



As Tara starts the ritual, she can see that the magic coming from here is a light green in colour that's slowly darkening. Even so, it's a struggle not to tap into that new energy inside her, even more so now she knows just how large a part of her life it is becoming. Because of this, she feels like it takes her far longer than it should to get the cycle started, and then the screaming starts, as the magic fountaining up from inside the circle comes out a deep, almost black green as it passes through Willow before returning to the light green that she started with. When the green start to turn orange and then brown, Tara is vaguely aware that Dawn has come out, and been caught by Buffy.



By the time the magic is flowing the same light green colour it started, Willow has stopped screaming because she's succumbed to unconsciousness. Tara cuts off the magic and collapses to the floor, crying with great renting sobs. Only vaguely aware of someone hugging her, and enfolding her in something. As that person picks her up and carries her inside, she's vaguely aware of Vhesthine grunting in pain as she starts her own ritual.


It's mid-afternoon by the time Willow wakes up long enough to be coherent. When she does, she looks around, slightly confused to find herself asleep on Buffy's couch.



From the room where the phone is, Vhesthine's voice carries clearly into the lounge, "Is Razial there?... Yes, I'll wait... Master Razial, I have news about your apprentice... She was brought into contact with an incubus... I have, I talked Tara through the process... I did it myself too... Quartz sand... Clear light green... I understand... Thank you Master Razial."



As the phone clicks, Tara hands her a mug of hot chocolate, "How are you doing?"

Willow looks up, "Weak and confused. How did I get here?"

Vhesthine walks out of the study, "That's what I'd like to know too. But first, no magic for the next two days. It will take you that long to recover from the cleansing ritual Tara did last night. We're lucky her magic is so pure, otherwise you may have still been carrying incubus taint."



Willow looks upset for a moment, before leaning back in resignation, "I can do that. I think I can anyway."



Vhesthine nods, "Razial told me to say, 'nightmare stables' to you."

Willow shrinks back, "I'll be good, no magic for two days. Where's Buffy?"

"She's getting ready to pick Dawn up from school, I'll let her know Razial has given her the evening off when she comes downstairs. Now this is important, where did you come in contact with an incubus?"



Willow takes a sip of her hot chocolate, "I don't know, is it important?"

Vhesthine leans forward, "Yes it's important. If he gets hold of Dawn, he'll feed from her for weeks, then, when she's almost used up, he'll implant his young inside her and let her go. While it's growing, she will become attached to it, and then feed it while it grows until finally it's strong enough to drain her dry."

Leaning against the banister, Buffy says in no uncertain terms, "Yeah, that's not going to happen."



Vhesthine looks up at Buffy, "Razial has given you time off until this incubus has been found, and either eliminated, or driven off."

Buffy nods, "I'll get Dawn, and meet you back here, or at the Magic Box."



As the door closed, Tara and Vhesthine look back at Willow. Tara asks, "What happened Willow?"



Willow stares into her mug, "I guess I should start with yesterday morning, Amy woke me up because she didn't believe she was human again. She seemed to be OK for a bit. Then started talking about asking Larry to the prom, so I had to tell her it has been 3 years since she turned herself into a rat."

Willow drains the last of her hot chocolate, "Throughout the rest of the day, she kept asking me about the intervening time. You know, things like her crush, who was gay, and is dead. Or the school that was destroyed by the mayor. Once it started to get dark, she suggested going out to the Bronze. So we did."




Willow winced as she took another shot with her levitated pool cue. Rubbing her chest, she frowns when the spot ball hits the edge of the pocket rather than going in.

"Are you ok?" Amy asked, as she crouched down beside the table, before firing off a blast of magic that felt, hot.



["You know why you were feeling that pain, don't you Willow?" "Yes, now do you want to hear what happened?"]

Willow leaned on her pool cue, "Yeah, I'm just not feeling it, you know?"

Amy straightened up, "Yeah, look, let's go dancing for a bit."



Willow nodded, and put the pool cue on the table for the next player, then they both moved into the crowd on the dance floor. After a while, Willow started feeling lost, and so she bought herself a drink from the bar, and started sipping it while watching the crowd. She'd barely touched the drink when Amy came out of the crowd with two burly men.

"Hey Willow, look at what I found."

Willow forced a smile, "So I see."



After a brief conversation where Willow turned down Amy's offer of enchanting a lesbian to be her 'dance partner', the two men ended up dancing in cages while Willow and Amy made their way to the balcony.

["Hey, you can't just skip that bit, were they hot, did you kiss?" "Vhesthine, Willow's telling this story, and if she wants to skip that bit, then let her."]



Once on the balcony, the two of them started to enjoy themselves by throwing magic around in creative ways. Well, Amy did, Willow just rubbed her chest and enjoyed it vicariously. That lasted for half an hour or so, until Amy looked at Willow, "Not feeling it?"

Willow shook her head, "Not really, no. I think I'd like to call it a night."

Amy looked at Willow critically, "What's the matter, is magic not hitting like it used to?" Willow shook her head, which Amy took to mean agreement, "Hey, I know a place where there's a guy who can make the feeling last for hours. Let's ditch this joint and I'll show you."

"No, I'm fine."

Amy grabbed her hand, "Look, I can see the desire in your eyes. Rack is great, he'll give you everything you want."



As Amy dragged her off, Willow cast a counter spell over the Bronze, undoing all of the magic that Amy had used.



As Amy dragged her deeper into Downtown Sunnydale, Willow asked her, "Amy, where are we going?"

Amy shrugged, "Not sure, the entrance moves around. We'll know it when we find it."

"How?"

Amy looked at Willow strangely, "Can't you feel it?"



Willow raised her hand and closed her eyes. Once she had, she felt a heat in front of her, "Hot."

Amy smiled at her while walking backwards, "I know right, come on, he's great."



Right before Willows eyes, Amy disappeared though an invisible portal. Curiously, Willow followed into a drab seating room, with a single coffee table and an ashtray half full of cigarette butts. Sitting on one of the couches were a man and a woman arguing about who would go next.



The two of them were only standing there for a couple of minutes before a tall man with wild eyes and unkempt hair, came out of the only other door in the room. Behind him came a young woman, who swayed a little as she walked out through the portal. As soon as they noticed the man, the people on the couch stood up and started claiming that they were next.



Rack, looked at me, I mean, Rack looked Willow in the eyes and said, "No, I think they're next."

Then his gaze turned to Amy, "Amy, I haven't seen you for a long while."

Amy twitched her nose and said "Rat."

Rack nodded before leading the way through the door. Once inside, he turned toward Willow and reached out a hand to touch her chest. Willow stepped back warily, but Amy put a hand on her shoulder, "You need to give a little to get, you know what I mean?"

Willow nodded, so Rack reached out and put his hand on my, on Willow's chest and then there was a warm feeling. That's when Rack said, "You taste like Strawberries."



Willow smiled at him, and then she started to feel wonderful. At one point she was lying on the ceiling, the pain in her chest a distant thing. Below her, the floor was a forest that changed and shifted. Then she saw a figure moving through a forest and the pain in her chest turned into a stab, and she fell to the floor with a scream.

When she looked up, Amy was still in the grips of whatever happened, and Rack was lying back on a leather couch.




"He then smiled at me, and said, 'Pleasure doing business with you.' After that I have vague memories of walking the streets, and ending up at Buffy's house."



Vhesthine looks at Willow sternly, "you are lucky to be alive young lady. If you had been more out of it, your heart would have exploded."

Willow nods sadly, "I didn't know, what he was going to do, not what could happen if I pushed using magic."

Vhesthine nods, "That may be all that saved you. That being said, I need you to show me the area Amy took you too."

Willow looks confused, "Why?"

"Because I know incubus, and you didn't pay him nearly enough for it to be a pleasure. If Buffy returns with Dawn, then we can look at leisure. If not, the closer we are to his lair, the less likely he will escape before we've found Dawn." Vhesthine scribbles a phone number on a piece of paper, "Tara, this is my cell phone number. Give me a call when Buffy gets home regardless."



Tara looks at the number, "I'm just going to call Dawn and see if she's ok."

Vhesthine lurches to her feet, "No! No, Tara don't. If he has her, and he thinks someone's checking in on her, then he might just leave everything and run. We need to be as close to his lair as possible before he decides to leave."



Tara sits down morosely as Vhesthine drags the still convalescing Willow off to her car.


Buffy slams open the door to her home in a panic, accidentally breaking the lock, "Dawn! Dawn!"

Tara jumps at the sudden entrance, then falls off the couch while trying to stand, "Buffy, Vhesthine's taken Willow to where the entrance was before. She wants to call her cell phone before we do anything else."

Buffy nods, "You do that, I'm getting my weapons. Anything you need from upstairs?"

Tara squeaks, "Me?"

Halfway up the stairs, Buffy leans back, "Yes you. You're the only other magic expert we have. I'm getting Spike too, as there's anything he knows, it's the crappy side of the city. As he fits right in."



With slightly shaky hands, Tara punches in the number for Vhesthine's cell. After a couple of misdials, Vhesthine answers on the first ring, "Vhesthine."

"It's Tara Buffy's home, no Dawn."

"I'm parked near 10th and Fairview, I'm not sure that Willow will be able to sense anything. But the stink of incubus is everywhere around here."

"I'll let Buffy know, apparently we're getting spike on the way."



From behind her, Buffy says, "On the way where?"

"One mo, Buffy's talking. Vhesthine says that they're near 10th and Fairview, and the place stinks of incubus."

Buffy nods, "I grabbed your coat. Can you call Magic Box on the way, just in case."

"Uh, sure. Sorry, gotta go."



Tara hurries out of the house after Buffy, "Buffy, slow down!"

Buffy slows down just enough for Tara to get her coat on, and dial Magic Box long enough to confirm that they're looking into frost demons, and there's no Dawn there either. Once she's hung up and put her phone away, Buffy leans down midstride and picks her up bridal style, "Buffy! No I'm not ready for this."



As her objection rings out across the street, Buffy disappears into a series of 7 void jumps, before she jogs for a few seconds before repeating it again. To start with, Tara's fingers start turning blue, along with her lips, and she's shivering like mad. But after the third or fourth set, something inside seems to snap, and it no longer feels like she's freezing, or something is being leeched from her.



[AN: in game, operators start with 100 energy. Void dash/sling costs 25/jump and travels around 12m. With maxed out Focus schools, that energy increases to 190, and subsequent slings cost 12.5 energy allowing for 13 jumps on one full charge of energy. For a total of 158m in a couple of seconds. Buffy is doing less jumps, but keeping half her pool available for other stuff.]



Far sooner than she thought possible, Tara finds herself being put down outside a crypt.

As Tara is getting her bearings back, Buffy opens the door to the crypt, and disappears inside. As the door starts to swing closed, Tara hurries over, and heaves it open enough for her to go inside. Once inside, she almost slips down the stairs, as her eyes haven't adjusted and she misses the first step. More cautiously, she makes her way down the stairs to hear a heated conversation. Pushing her way through the door at the bottom of the stairs, the conversation becomes clear as Buffy is tapping her foot impatiently.



"No Spike, this has nothing to do with my non-existent attraction towards you. If you need me to prove how little I'm attracted to you arrange for a spar with me after we've found Rack, and rescued Dawn."

"What do you want with Rack, he's seriously bad news."

Tara speaks up, "W-Willow visited him last night, and he might have kidnapped Dawn."

"So the little witch can speak. Given up on other witches and looking for some vampire fun?"

Tara shakes her head, while Buffy punches Spike around the jaw, "Spike, stop thinking with your bits, and start thinking with your brain. Dawn, is, missing. You know how to find Rack. So, are you helping, or do I have to drag a demon from Willy's to help, and explain that it's because the big bad Spike didn't want to get close to Rack?"



Spike growls as he grabs his coat, "One day Buffy. One day I'm going to hit you back."

Buffy laughs as she heads for the door, "Spike, I have been inviting you to spar for months. It's not like you can blame your chip, as I'm not even human. You've just never been willing to put your money where your mouth is."

Spike stomps after her, "I'll show you where your mouth should be Slayer. I bet you're nothing without your fancy abilities."

Tara rolls her eyes as she follows behind, Buffy's words floating down the stairs, "What? Like you're nothing without your vampiric abilities?"



As they leave the crypt, the sun has just dipped below the horizon, leaving the three of them keeping to the more shaded areas, as Spike has a distressing tendency to smoke lightly in the brightest of the twilight. Though, by the time they've reached 10th and Fairview, it is now dark enough for him to walk around unfettered.


Spike spins around when Willow's tired voice calls, "Buffy, Spike, Tara, you're here." As he does, the Chinese woman from the other night catches his eye and smiles broadly at Buffy.



Vhesthine saunters over to Buffy and kisses her full on the lips, feeding a small amount of energy to her, which is quickly reciprocated, "Buffy, you've brought a happy meal on legs. Can we take him home with us?"

Buffy looks Spike up and down slowly, "Only if you remember you need to clean up after yourself, before bed."

Spike shuffles uncomfortably as the two woman look at him like that. He's Spike, the god damn Slayer slayer, so instead he scoffs, "As if you could handle me."

Buffy gives him a syrupy smile that she has to have copied from Dawn, "Well, if you find Rack for us, you might just find out."



As he stalks off into downtown, Buffy whispers to Vhesthine, "What are you doing to me? I'm never that… I don't know what that was, I just know I'm never like that."

Vhesthine trails her hand down Buffy's cheek and gives her a quick kiss that's just a kiss, "I'll explain it later."



After what seems like hours walking backwards and forwards through the back alleyways, Spike suddenly spins around. "There, I can feel it."

Buffy looks at Willow and Tara, who both shake their heads, "Ok, lead on McDuff."

Spike groans, "It's lay on McDuff, if you're going to quote at me, at least get it right."



Spike walks through down the alleyway before disappearing into nothing. A moment later he reappears, flying backwards as red lightning plays over his chest.


Activating Guardian Shell, Buffy charges forward into the portal swiftly followed by Vhesthine as Tara hurries over to pick Spike up off the floor.

Willow starts to shake as she looks towards the portal as Buffy and Vhesthine disappear through it. The memory of the rush of magic warring with the feeling of violation she's felt since Vhesthine explained what happened.



When the two of the don't reappear for a nearly a minute, Tara pulls a small bag of salt from a pocket, "Willow, what's that binding spell we tried last year?"

Willow frowns, "The one that's supposed to imprison someone in a circle?"

"That's the one."

Willow frowns, "Tara, that didn't work because we weren't strong enough, and I can't help you."

Tara smiles softly at Willow, "Don't worry, I think I have the power aspect sorted, I just need the incantation."

"Don't kill yourself, you hear. I love you, even if I do stupid shit. Δέστε αυτό το ον, δυναμώστε τον κύκλο, αλυσίδες θα σας κρατήσουν μέχρι να σπάσει ο κύκλος." [an: Déste aftó to on, dynamóste ton kýklo, alysídes tha sas kratísoun méchri na spásei o kýklos. – or in English Bind this being, strengthen the circle, chains shall hold you till the circle breaks]

Tara smiles as she reaches for that power that's inside her and tugs it out while she lays out a very thin, unbroken, line of salt just in front of the portal while chanting the spell repeatedly.




Buffy runs straight into a hail of lightning, that scatters off of her still forming shield and strengthening it. Stopping a couple of paces inside, she looks past Rack to an insensate Dawn, who is floating behind him, moaning incoherently.

With only a trace of the anger she's feeling, Buffy somewhat conversationally says, "If you hand over my sister now, I will give you a 30 minute head start on getting out of Sunnydale."

Rack smiles, "You smell of power, and succubus, I have another deal. You sleep and I take you both."

While Buffy's got the incubus' attention, Vhesthine tries to slip around the room unnoticed, only for Buffy to slump to the floor as Racks spell hits her.

Rack's smile widens as he spots Vhesthine try to cast a spell, "So the Matriarch reveals herself. While you would be a magnificent prize, I think I shall keep the prize I already have. As humans say, 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Oh, and don't bother with any magic, I warded this place against your kind when I moved in." As he finishes speaking, he clicks his fingers and the inner door spills open to allow a large mass of writhing tentacles to spill out into the room, searching out Vhesthine and Buffy.



Vhesthine finds herself in a fight for her life as a tentacle latches onto first her leg, and then her arm.



Pushing Dawn through the portal, Rack looks back once, "Don't worry, those tentacles should only be around for a couple of…" He turns around to look at Dawn, who has stopped moving.


Tara watches as Dawn is pushed out of the portal first, instead of Rack stepping out first. As the spell activates around Dawn, Tara swallows hard and looks around. Spike is only just coming round, and Willow is shaking like a leaf.



When Rack cautiously steps out and around the barrier formed by the circle, Tara steps forward, "I-I'm n-not going to let you take Dawn."

Rack smirks at her, "And what is the widdle white witch going to do to stop me? Cover me with roses?"

Tara brings up her hand to deflect a dark red spell sent her way, "You've made a poor assumption." She sends a basic conjuring hex at him that creates a fall of roses, "You're assuming that I'm only a witch."

Rack contemptuously dispels the roses as they fall around him, ignoring the ones that fall to the floor, as Tara steps forward, her eyes starting to glow, "You see I am also Tenno. And you kidnapped someone I consider to be my child."



Tara's hand slashes out as Rack sends a blast of lightning at her. As it does, one of the roses at his feet turns into a towering bush with spikes as thick as her thumb. Rack steps back, only for Tara to slash her hand upward, and another rose sprouts underneath him, "The second thing you forgot, roses have thorns."

Rack dodges to the side again and again as every spell he tries is intercepted by a rose bush, and every move he makes interrupted by another bush. Once he's got nowhere else to go, Tara reaches out and touches one of the thorns, and looks at him sadly, "I'm sorry to have to do this, but now you die."

Rack desperately reaches into a pocket and grasps a talisman a supplicant gave him decades ago, and snaps it as the roses spiral inward, their thorns moving against each other like a buzz saw. Screaming in pain, Rack disappears in a flash of green fire leaving rivulets of blood flowing down the trunks of the roses.



Tara turns around to look at Willow and pushes the excess void energy into the magic around her, causing it to become a visible corona. As the last of it dissipates she smiles, "See, power, not a problem." Then collapses to the street.

Episode 10 – part 1

Buffy hangs up the phone to the school after informing them that Dawn is going to need to have a few days off, due to the stress of being taken from the school by a stranger, along with a fuller explanation to Principle Stevens. As she's about to go upstairs to check on Dawn after the cleansing ritual they needed to perform on her after they got back, the doorbell goes off.



Frowning, Buffy makes her way to the front door and opens it. Standing there is a middle aged lady that has obviously enjoyed the finer things in life, combined with a chronic lack of exercise. She's wearing a beige cardigan over a plaid red blouse, and carrying a clipboard. As Buffy is taking all of this in, the woman looks her up and down in turn, before sniffing.

Being unfamiliar with strangers just turning up, Buffy ventures, "Yes?"

The woman draws herself up, "Good morning, I'm Doris Kroeger from Social Services. Are you Miss Buffy Summers?"

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry, but what are Social Services?"

Doris looks down at Buffy, "Young lady, do not take me for an idiot. I have records here of you having spoken to Social Services representatives on more than one occasion over the last year."

Buffy frowns slightly, "I'm just going to get someone who can help me, as I'm not very good at dealing with civilians."



As Doris starts to make a note, Buffy swings the door closed and makes her way upstairs to Tara's room. Knocking on the door, she calls, "Tara, there's a civilian at the door, and she says she's from something called social services. How do I deal with her?"

A moment later, a frazzled Tara opens the door in her PJ's, "What was that Buffy?"

"There's a civilian at the door, and she says she's from social services. I don't remember what that's supposed to be. How do I help?" Buffy looks over her shoulder at the state of the room behind Tara, "Void energies playing up?"

Tara nods, "They are. Um. Invite her in, and answer her questions honestly. Also make notes of what you talk about." Tara closes the door, then opens it again, "Oh, and most people don't know about the supernatural, so try not to talk about things like vampires and succubae."



Buffy nods before making her way back downstairs. Opening the door, Buffy looks at the woman, "Sorry about that. Do you want to come through to the study? Well, it's now the study, it was my mother's sitting room."

Doris shakes her head, "No, no, this shouldn't take too long. I just need to ask a few questions."

Buffy nods, "Then if you'll come this way the desk I do my paper work at, and help Dawn with her homework every morning after our exercises and sister time."

Doris nods as she follows behind and sits at the desk, noting the paperwork that's scattered around it, "Do you live here alone?"

Buffy shakes her head, "No, Tara is using my mother's old bedroom."

"I see, and who is the woman on the couch?"

Buffy pulls a sheet of paper out and starts to make notes on the conversation, "Oh, that's Willow, a friend."

"I see, does she live here too?"

Buffy shakes her head, "Not since she made everyone forget themselves."

Doris nods, "Did everyone include Dawn?"

Buffy nods sadly, "Unfortunately yes, I almost killed her for that. Fortunately, my boss at work has taken her under his wing. She's been doing much better since then."

"Uh huh. What sort of friends is she? Your girlfriend perhaps?"

Buffy shakes her head, "No, she was Tara's girlfriend. Mine's asleep upstairs, she was up most of the night looking after Dawn."

"Are you a lesbian?"

Buffy shakes her head, "I have no idea what that is, all I know is she makes me happy."

"I see. And the bag on the table over there?"

"I think that's mushrooms, Willow and Tara were talking about a gentler cleansing ritual last night when I went to bed."

"I see, and do you use a lot of that sort of mushroom in this house?"

Buffy shakes her head, "Not so much, I sometimes use them for cooking when I can't get any at the store."



Doris nods, and flicks over a couple of pages on her clipboard, "Now, Miss Summers, we were called in today because your neighbours reported screaming coming from your yard during the night the day before yesterday. And again, last night, and an anonymous caller identified last nights screams as coming from a young girl, probably Dawn. Do you have any explanation for that?"

Buffy nods, "Willow's old friend Amy came back from her… extended stay in a cage Sunday, and they went out for the night on Sunday. Amy took her to a person that dealt with… heavy stuff, the sort of stuff my boss is helping Willow get away from. She turned up early Monday morning asking for help, so we did a cleansing ritual to help clean her out. When she came round in the afternoon, we found out the person she'd been taken to see had a thing for… girls like Dawn. By the time I got to her school to pick her up, that person had already removed her from the school. So we tracked him down, and dealt with him while getting Dawn back. Unfortunately, Dawn needed to go through the same cleansing ritual."



Doris writes for some time before looking up again, "I see, and what about her schooling?"

"I'm keeping her home today and tomorrow so that she can recover from last night, but since I've been able to give Dawn my full attention, her grades and attention have all been improving."



After making a few more notes, Doris looks up, "Thank you for being so candid with me Miss Summers. I'm sorry to say that I'm going to have to put you on probation."

Buffy tilts her head, "What does that mean?"

"It means I will be keeping a closer eye on you, and if I judge that this is an unfit environment for Dawn. She will be removed, and placed into foster care until you meet our standards."

Buffy frowns, "You can do that? And what does keeping a closer eye mean exactly?"

Doris nods, "We can, and I only have Dawns best interests in mind. Being on probation means that we will stop by randomly to check up on Dawn and her living situation."

Buffy nods, "You are aware that I work from 4pm till 10pm, and Dawn comes to work with me when there's nobody else to supervise her, or she hasn't arranged plans with friends?"

Doris makes another note, "Thank you for the information. I need to return to the office to type up the report."

As Buffy shows Doris out, she looks up at the clock before deciding it's too late to go to the supermarket now.




It's nearing lunchtime when Vhesthine comes downstairs to check on Buffy. Willow and Tara have both left for their respective college courses. Following the smell of cooking, she makes her way into the kitchen and exchanges a quick sharing through a kiss.



"How's Dawn doing?"

Buffy hums, "She was still asleep when I checked in on her 30 minutes ago, so I kissed her and fed a little into her the way you do."

Vhesthine nods, "It could take her a few days to wake up, and we can't afford to give her a large feed until she's awake. As if we give her too much, she'll need to sleep it off for a couple of days."

Buffy nods, "I know. I remember you telling me before you went to bed this morning. Oh, apparently some of our neighbours heard the cleansing rituals, and sent a civilian from something called social services."

Vhesthine nods, "How did that go?"

Buffy shrugs, "I don't know, apparently she's put us on something called probation."

Vhesthine buries her head in Buffy's shoulder and makes an exaggerated sobbing sound before looking up, "Buffy, that's a bad thing."

Defensively Buffy stirs her sauce, "How am I supposed to know that?"

Vhesthine steps back and looks at Buffy seriously, "Buffy, how much have you spoken to normal people since you were brought here?"

Buffy smiles, "Oh plenty, there's the guys at work, Principle Stevens, and I also say hi to the cashiers when I go shopping in the mornings."

Vhesthine sighs, "Ok Buffy, when was the last time you were around more than 3 humans, that you don't live or work with, for more than an hour?"

"Halloween. That's far more regularly than I did before I got here."



Vhesthine sighs, "Buffy, you need to spend time with the Human population, as you live in their world. You can't base all of your expectations on how the people and your friends react."

Buffy shakes her head, "But I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Buffy, you can't hide away from the world, and expect to be able to live in it. Even I have human friends outside work, and I spend time amongst them not hunting. It's the only way that you'll get used to the way they behave, and learn to temper your own reactions. I saw the quote for the plumber on your desk the other day, is that something that needs dealing with?"

Buffy nods, "It does, and I've got the money for it. But Xander was going to be there, and then I sent him to hell. And now, he's getting back together with Anya, and they're talking wedding plans."



Vhesthine sits at the kitchen table for a couple of minutes, her head in her hands. Eventually she looks up, "Buffy. I'm going to book you an appointment at the salon I go to. I'm also going to book you a place at the spa across the road starting an hour after your salon appointment. From there, you are going to work in a blouse and skirt, and you'll be filling in for me for the evening while I look after Dawn."



Buffy freezes as Vhesthine lists out what she's going to be doing, "Vhesthine, you can't make me do any of that."

Vhesthine shakes her head, "You're right, I can't. However, you're still going to do it because you're becoming as fond of me as I'm becoming of you."

Buffy slumps and gives the sauce a quick stir, "I hate you. Void damn it, I'll do it."

Vhesthine nods, "While you're out, I'll also give social services a call to ensure that they send someone out for a follow-up interview before confirming Dawn's probation status."

Buffy lets out a deep nervous sigh, "Thank you Vhesti, I appreciate your help."

Vhesthine stands up and gives Buffy another quick exchange, "Hey, I still remember what it was like when I was first exiled and came to live in the human world. It's barely even the middle of November, so I can't expect you to understand their customs. Hell, I still don't understand a lot of them, and I've been here for over a century."

Buffy smiles and pulls her in for another brief exchange, "Thank you again."




Buffy walks down Mane Street towards Continental Hair Design. Every parked car she passes causes her to tense, and equally staying away from the doors on the other side of the sidewalk. Eventually she arrives at the salon, and stops outside as she peers through the posters and adverts to the inside. After she's been looking for a few minutes, her breathing calms down slightly as she can only see four people inside, one of which is sitting in a chair being tended to by one of the others.



Taking a deep, deliberate breath, she walks through the door, and only jumps a little when the bells jingle above the door. One of the two women that weren't busy walks over to her with sure steps.

"Hello Miss, can I help you?"

Buffy's eyes dart around the store, "Um, yes. My girlfriend booked an appointment for me?"

The woman gives her a look that says, 'you're one of those are you?', "What name would that be under?"

Buffy flashes a brief, nervous smile, "Buffy Summers maybe? I'm not sure, I haven't been to a salon for a long time."

The woman walks over to a desk, "Oh, yes. You used to be one of our regulars. Jeanine will be looking after you." She indicates the woman in the back, who walks forward.



Jeanine has a wide, friendly smile, and she gently guides Buffy to one of the chairs in front of a large mirror. Not really noticing the way Buffy flinches when she touches her arm. As she's standing behind Buffy, Buffy's attention is riveted on the mirror, and the hairdresser behind her.



Jeanine fluffs Buffy's hair a couple of times so that it settles neatly around her head, dividing over her shoulders naturally, "So, what will we be doing for you today?"

Buffy stares at the unexpected question, before eventually answering, "I don't know. My girlfriend booked this for me. Uh, though it is getting a little long, and keeps getting caught on things, so above my shoulders?"

Jeanine smiles brightly, and puts her hands about an inch above Buffy's shoulders, "So, about this long?"

Buffy nods minutely, "Sure."



"Ok honey, I just need you to follow me to the wash basins so we can give your hair a good wash, and then a touch of conditioner."



Buffy tries to relax, but every touch, every tug, and even the unexpected feel of the warm water causes her to flinch. The entire time, Jeanine babbles about everything from boyfriends, to property values, to the theft of the diamond from the museum. When Buffy accidentally mentions Doris and social services, Jeanine suddenly has dozens of stories of other women who had been bothered by her, and it was only when they had someone else look at the case that a more reasonable solution was found. She also talks about all the children that Doris has genuinely helped too.



Eventually, back like a steel rod, and shoulder so taut you could bend steel over them, Buffy escapes the Salon. Looking around to check her surroundings, she quickly spots the spa and cautiously checks through the windows of the parked cars outside the salon. Reasonably happy that they're empty, she cautiously walks between the cars to the road she needs to cross. Looking around for hidden attackers or on coming vehicles, Buffy quickly starts to cross the road. As she's doing so, a scuffle in the alleyway beside the spa catches her eye. Stepping back to move out of sight, she double checks her surroundings before proceeding across the road, keeping an eye on the squabble.



Even so, when whatever they're squabbling about discharges, she's not able to react to the beam of charged particles that hits her and a few other things. As she belatedly pulls herself into the void, Buffy complains once more about the lack of implants, even as a black van pulls out of the alleyway and peels off down the street.

Episode 10 – part 2

It takes Buffy a couple of moments to work out that there's still something wrong after she came out of the void. She finishes making her way across the street, and stops outside the spa. As she's trying to find the courage to open the door and walk in, someone she'd dismissed as a threat walks into her. Immediately her reflexes kick in and she throws the woman over her shoulder and snaps her arm in two places. She's about to drive her fist through the woman's head when her thoughts catch up with her actions, and she steps back shakily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"



Whatever she's about to say is interrupted when a nearby cop runs into her, almost bowling her over, and her training kicks in again. Along with the loud snap of the man's knee, followed by the pop of his shoulder dislocating. This time, rather than trying to say anything, Buffy flees, desperate to get away from civilians. Once she starts to recognise her surroundings again, she slows down, and heads towards Maple Court.



As Buffy approaches the door to Magic Box, she slows down to a slow walk rather than the agile jog she was using. The last thing she wants, is to have someone walk into her.


Anya and Xander are both talking about the wedding, and who they should invite. Willow is sitting at the round table doing some work on her laptop.



Suddenly, a scream rends the air, and the door to Magic Box opens and closes with apparently no one walking in. Xander grabs one of the ever present stakes, and turns around to face the room, scanning it to try and see whatever it is that caused the scream. Suddenly, something takes the stakes away from him, and Buffy's voice says.



"Xander, I know you're stronger now, but that's no excuse for not using a proper weapon. Now I'm going to put this away before you poke someone's eye out with it."



From the table, Willow calls, "Buffy, what happened to you?"

Buffy replies near the back door, "I got hit with an invisibility ray that some idiots were fighting over."



The door to the training room opens, and then closes again, and Willow asks, "Are you ok?"

Buffy comes back and pulls a chair out, "I don't know yet, I know three possible methods to turn something invisible with only technology. Given that I'm not dead yet, that leaves two viable methods. Only one of which is safe long term."

Willow goggles at Buffy, "You do?"

While Anya calls over, "How do you know it's not magical?"

"You can't see me nodding or shrugging, can you. Anyway, it's an assumption on my part, given that they had a device around the size of a grenade launcher. And it shot something out of a barrel. Then that black van tore out of there while I was still processing what was going on."

Willow looks at where Buffy's voice was coming from, "Where were you when you got hit?"



From the by Anya's table plan, Buffy says, "I'd just got my hair styled, and I was going to the Spa for Vhesthine. What is this for? Oh, and can I use your phone to call home please?"

Anya smiles, "This is the seating plan for the wedding reception, we're trying to work out where to seat all the guests. And sure, as long as it's the land line."

"Ok, where's the quantum phase projector and the Æther transducer you'll need to make your oro's solid enough for the Archimedean to transfer?"



Willow watches in fascination as the handset to the phone lifts up without any apparent cause, "What do those two things do?"

"The quantum pha… Oh, hi Vhesthine. Um, I just need to run a problem past you… I'm invisible, and I've already broken one woman's arm in two places. The knee of a cop, and dislocated his shoulder. Broken three ribs on a delivery driver that knocked into me, and just dislocated the hip and elbow of someone outside Magic Box... Yes, I'm serious… I got my hair done, but I didn't get into the spa… I hope you like it… Do you think being invisible will be a problem for Razial tonight?... Apparently, things I pick up remain visible… Yes… Yes… Willow's here… So are Xander and Anya… If Tara's there, I'll wait while you ask her…" The handset turns around to face Willow, "Sorry about that, the quantum phase transducer is one of the methods of turning something invisible. It's also the dangerous one of the two that aren't immediately fatal for non-ship sized beings. She's back… That was quick… Oh great, I'll ask. Willow, Vhesthine wants to know if you'd be willing to walk me home so that I can get changed for work. Tara's there and she doesn't seem to mind."

Willow looks confused, "Tara should be at college, she has a class Tuesday afternoons. Just before my one."

"I don't know, but you could ask her if you walk me."

Willow thinks for a moment, "Ok, I'll do it."

"Great, she'll do it… How's Dawn?... I hope she wakes up soon… See you soon."



Buffy puts the phone down, "Thanks Willow. Where was I?"

Anya interrupts, "What's wrong with Dawn?"

Buffy sounds serious as she says, "An incubus got her."

Anya's hands fly to her mouth, "Oh my god, is she ok? Tell Tara and what's her face, that we'll be round as soon as Magic Box closes."

Choking up slightly, Buffy says, "I keep forgetting how good friends you were with Buffy. I'll let Vhesthine know before I head out to work. As for Dawn, so far as we can tell, she's ok. However, she's currently a succubus, which is why she was taken. Vhesthine and I have been taking turns to feed Dawn, but Vhesthine's going to need to hunt soon. And, well, Slayer or not, it takes me time to restore my essence. Also, I don't think I'm up for hunting like she does. Maybe I'd take one for the team if Vhesthine was dying. But, I don't know what I have with Vhesthine, apart from the fact she makes me happy. However, I've never felt that way for a non-mono-gendered species."



Xander holds up his hands, "Wait, back up. What do you mean by that?"

Buffy huffs and asks, "What, mono-gendered, or never felt this way?"

"Um, both? What about Angel."

"Oh, I thought I'd had that conversation with you already. So, when you resurrected me, you took me from another life, where I've been alive for over 1,000 years. So I don't remember much about my life in this world. To the point I call past me Buffy Summers. Honestly, I'm more BunnyGirl than Buffy, but Buffy's what my mother called me, so when I got my memories back, I took the name Buffy again. As for mono-gendered, it's exactly what it means. They only have one gender. Humans have a gender binary, and as a result, it gets blurry in the middle as nature's messy."



Anya looks up, "Did you say something about taking turns feeding Dawn? Don't you, you know, have the wrong anatomy for that?"

Buffy's expression comes through as she says, "Ewww, no. Vhesthine fed me once when I'd just regained my memory, and she talked me out of going and killing Willow."

Willow murmurs, "Remind me to thank her for that."

Buffy carries on, "So, then I offered to feed her on Saturday. Then she taught me how to do so, and it was… mmm… Anyway, Willow, we should go."



As the two of them leave, Buffy starts to explain how the Quantum Phase generator works and how the Orokin used it for everything from prototype manufacturing to surgical procedures and birth.


Once they reach Buffy's house, Willow stops and stares for a moment as she spots Tara crying on the steps to the house.

When she sees Willow, Tara blurts out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll find somewhere else to live. And I'll pay for it, honest."

As Buffy opens the door behind Tara, Willow can see a scene of utter devastation.

Surprising both of them, Buffy's voice comes from just inside, "Meh, I've seen worse. Just move anything you value out of your room. Oh, and if you can, tidy up in here too."

As the door closes, Willow sits down next to Tara, "Hey."

Tara just sits there morosely, so Willow places her hand on Tara's knee, "Hey, what's wrong?"



Wordlessly, Tara looks up and flicks her fingers to conjure a fancy swing seat large enough for two, with a cushioned chair, and a beautiful canopy to provide shade. Then she gets up and sits on it, glancing up at Willow, expecting to be judged. Instead, Willow gets up to sit next to her, "Oh, Tara, what's wrong?"

Tara sobs, "I can't stop it. It's there all the time, and I thought I understood what that would mean. But I can't stop it."

Willow comfortingly puts a hand on Tara's leg, "Shh, it's ok, I've been through the same thing. It's hard, but we'll help you get through it. Even if I have to ask my m…m… Buffy's boss to send you to muck out the nightmare stables."

Tara shakes her head in a fresh wave of tears, "It's not the same. I cannot stop it. I've tried. In art history, we were being shown paintings by lesser known artists, and a pair of 1,000 year old paintings came up. They showed a young woman feeding rabbits in front of an old cottage. The other one showed her giving a rabbit to a neighbour, and I remember thinking the rabbits were so cute. That was it, everyone in the class was turned into a rabbit. After I turned everyone back, I came home."

Willow nods reassuringly, "I never told you, but I did the same thing a few times if I hadn't used magic for a while. It's part of why it took me so long to clear the manure. I still remember what it was like, and I'm worried about what will happen when Razial lets me go."



Angrily, Tara turns to Willow, "You don't understand. You really don't." The grass and hedges all spontaneously turn into angry parodies of themselves, with razor sharp edges. As though they were drawn by an animation studio, "I'm not using magic! This is coming from inside me! And I can't stop it. I thought I'd be able to handle it. Even when I realised how big a part of my life it would be, I still thought it was something I could make space for. But it's not, it's always there, and it dominates everything."

Willow tries to comfort Tara, "Tara, it was the same way with me until Monday. I'd go through the day with twinges in my chest from every time I tried to use magic without thinking about it. To get that feeling back. When I came back from Rack I was so scared, because it felt so good. I can remember it now, and part of me wants to feel that again. But, since the cleansing ritual, that need, that all consuming need. That's gone now. It's not just under control, it's gone."



Tara jumps off the seat and storms back to the steps, leaving the path behind her a bubbling and glowing lava orange, "Do you think I want to be doing this? This isn't magic. Magic comes from the world around us. Not from inside. This is inside me, and it keeps growing and growing, and I'm afraid. I'm afraid I'm going to hurt someone before I can learn to live with it."



Barely heard behind her, the front door opens, and then closes, and Buffy's arms fold around her from behind, "Shh, shh, you can do this. Pull the void around you. It's part of you, and you are part of it. Pull it around you and step away from the world. Like we did while I was carrying you last night."

Buffy's soothing voice helps temper her anger, and she sinks down to sit on the steps, "I can't. I don't know how."

"Let me help you, and feel what I'm doing."



Willow tries to step down to help. But, when the grass scythes through her shoe like a sharp knife through paper, she pulls her foot back and huddles on the swing seat, afraid to try to counter the magic in case she only gets the swing seat. Then the two of them fade from sight, and are gone for a minute before Buffy reappears without Tara. A couple of minutes later, Tara reappears and collapses on the steps in relief.

"Thank you, thank you. It's gone, it's all gone."

Buffy's voice comes out grimly, "For the moment. I bet you can feel it coming back already."



From the seat, Willow calls, "Wait, what do you mean coming back already?"

Buffy puts her hand on Tara's shoulder, "You need to be the one to tell her. Oh, and clean up the front yard while you're at it. Some of us need to go to work later."



When the door closes, Willow asks, "Tara, what did she mean?"

Tara looks down, and mutters a word that changes the front yard back to normal. Cautiously, Willow makes her way over to sit beside Tara.

"Tara, what happened?"

"It was the night we brought Buffy back. It appeared to me when you went to call Xander…" Haltingly Tara explains her deal with Wally, and the dreams she's been having.



When she finishes, Willow pulls her into a hug, "Tara, why didn't you tell me?"

"To start with, we had other things to worry about. Then you were using so much magic I was scared of what you'd do if you found out. And then, I just kept putting it off as I've never used magic as much as you have."

Willow looks down herself, "I wish I could say I'd have been there for you. But even now I still want to cast spells just to feel the magic flowing through me, even though I know I haven't recovered from the cleansing ritual. My thoughts are clearer than they've been since Buffy died, but I still want to use it."

Tara laughs, a low hollow laugh, "We're a right pair, one witch who desperately wants to use magic. And another who is currently wishing she didn't have to use magic."

Willow gives a wan smile, "How does Buffy deal with it?"

Tara gazes out at the road, "She's always using it. Even in her sleep. Even then, it only slows down how fast she gets overloaded. Willow, our spells, they use tiny amounts of magic compared to what's inside me." She whispers a couple of words, and a shimmering forcefield springs up around them. The same one that Willow used when they were trying to run from Glory, "I've already recovered the energy that I used to create this, and I know I could cast it over and over again all day if I needed to. Willow, I'm scared, what if I go bad? Who would be able to stop me?"

Willow hugs Tara again, "Tara, you are the kindest, most noble person I've ever met. I don't believe you'll ever go bad. Now, I'm going to see if I can find whoever did this to Buffy. Do you want to come?"

Tara shakes her head, "No, I'm going to try and fix what I can inside. I think, after that, I'll try to do that thing I did with Buffy, on my own."

Willow kisses Tara on the forehead, "Ok, stay safe."

Tara smiles weakly at Willow before getting up and going into the house.

So, I have an argument going on in my head. Dawn quite likes being a succubus, especially because of the closeness she gets from being fed. Buffy wants her to be human again. Who should win?

[] stay succubus
[] become human again.