It was the middle of the night in Sunnydale, a small out of the way town in California. It was the kind of place where one could look at it and think it would be a nice, quiet place to settle down, maybe start a family. They'd be wrong, dead wrong.

This small and unassuming town was set directly on top of a Hellmouth, a supernatural gateway that attracted demons and other supernatural forces like week old garbage attracted flies. As long as anyone could remember, there had been incidents of strange accidents, gruesome murders that remained unsolved, and a large number of strange people that seemed out of time, with old fashioned clothes and ways of speaking. If you have ever meet anyone like that in Sunnydale, it's a good chance they're a demon in disguise.

Since the beginning of the Earth, it was home to demons. Instead of an Eden like most people imagined, it was a Hell, the demons who had roamed then the true owners of the planet in the beginning. But as time passed, they lost their hold and were repulsed, cast out into a different dimension. But before the last of them were gone, they mixed their blood with humans, just starting to appear, creating a human/demon hybrid that would one day become known as vampires. Other, lesser known demons would still remain, but in greatly reduced numbers, along with forgotten magic. Humanity had no natural defenses against these forces, so three men, who would later become known as the Shadow Men, decided to change that. They cast a spell, using old and powerful magic, to force a demon's full soul into the vessel of a human girl. She would lose all sense of humanity, becoming a savage and unstoppable force that would hunt and destroy demons for the forces of good, and become known as the Slayer. When she died, the spirit of the Slayer was passed on to another, but not as potent. They would still be human, but with enhanced strength, speed, and power to fight back the forces of evil until her death, when the Slayer spirit would pass on to the next, generation to generation. And when it was passed on to the newest Slayer, a girl named Buffy Summers, it was believed that she would fulfill her destiny and stand alone against the vampires until it was her time to pass on the torch.

But, things are rarely so simple in life.

Thanks to the large number of deaths in Sunnydale, there was also a large number of graveyards. Buffy Summers could often be found wandering, or patrolling, them when a newly buried body that had been attacked by a vampire before burial, would be rising from the grave as a new vampire. Soulless, savage, and thirsty for blood, it was her job to kill the demon before it could claim its first victim, sending the vampire into a dimension where it would suffer an eternity of torture. Tonight though, this particular graveyard was quite. There were no new vampires rising from the grave, no demons with nefarious plots hiding in the shadows, or old magic causing somebody to go insane. It was just a quite, demon less, ordinary night. Until...

SNAP-CRACKLE. SNAP-CRACKLE. BOOM!

There were two bright and miniature burst of electricity, clawing through the air before dying, followed by a bright flash and loud boom as a body flew out of the light and collided with a tree.

"Ow," a male voice grunted as the shape hit the ground, not sounding particularly hurt but more annoyed. "Oh, that's going to leave a bruise." The figure grunted as he picked himself up and brush off his shirt. It was a teen in his later years, wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, along with a good pair of running shoes. He was tall, around six feet, and had some clear muscle on his arms, but not enough to be bulky. His hair was jet black and had a twig and a few leaves stuck in it, his skin was tan from apparently spending time outdoors, and was fairly good looking, but the real kicker was his eyes. They were silver and seemed to glow in the moonlight, surrounding black pupils that looked like black holes.

The teen looked around. "Ok. Let's see... I'm in a graveyard. Not the best place to be, but I've been in worse places. Looks like Earth, so that's good." He looked closer and saw a lamp casting light over a trail for people to walk through the graveyard twenty yards away. "Ok, electric lighting, so I'm in what I'd guess is the twenty first century, maybe a bit later, good. Now to just find someone and ask where the hell this stupid thing sent me now." He grumbled, looking at his wrist in an accusing manner. "I thought River said she fixed this thing."

On his wrist was a odd accessory. It was a leather gauntlet around his wrist, held in place with a metal clip and had a round dial pad on it, with a screen set above it. It looked completely ordinary, if a bit unusual.

With a sigh, the teen lowered his wrist and started walking towards the path. He stopped before reaching it. He heard footsteps and glanced back to see someone walking among the tombstones. It was a blonde woman in her late teens, early twenties wearing a black jacket, turtleneck, blue jeans with a pocket chain attached.

"Excuse me!" The teen called to her, walking towards her. The woman froze and snapped her head around to look at him, but he didn't notice. "Hi, I'm sorry to bother you but I had a question."

"Oh? What can I help you with...?"

"Tobias, Tobias Song." The teen introduced himself, not noticing how the woman's hand slid into her jacket pocket. "And you are..."

"Buffy Summers," she smiled, but it seemed forced and her neck was tense.

"Buffy, um, I'm sorta new here and I was wondering if you could tell me the..."

Tobias suddenly had to dodge to the side as Buffy whipped her hand out and tried to stab him in the heart with a stake, moving a lot faster then a ordinary human should be capable of.

"Whoa, what gives?! I was just trying to ask a question!" Tobias ducked under a backhanded stab at the head, then got kicked in the ribs and sent flying. He hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop against a tombstone.

"And let me guess, that question was 'where's the nearest unassuming human I can devour?" Buffy quipped as she approached him, flipping the stake so it's sharp end was facing forward again. "Now hold still so I can stab you."

"Wouldn't that kill me?" Tobias grunted, getting up and feeling his ribs throb with every heartbeat.

"That would be the point, yes. Get it? Stake, point...no?" She asked. Tobias shook his head. "Oh well, can't please everyone." She thrust her stake towards the heart, aiming to finish this quickly. What actually happened was Tobias grabbed her hand, twisting it so she dropped the sharpened piece of wood into his other hand, and had her legs kicked out from under her. She aimed a kick at Tobias's ankles, but missed as he jumped over the tombstone and out some distance between them.

"I've seen some odd and really unusual things, but who carries a stake?" Tobias asked her before breaking it over his knee.

"Hey, you broke Mr. Pointy!" Buffy said angrily as he threw the pieces away. He gave her an odd look.

"Mr Pointy?" He said slowly. "You named your stake?"

"Yeah, so?"

Tobias whistled lowly. "Ok~, that's a new one. So, Buffy, can you please just tell me where I am? Like I said, I'm kinda new around here."

"Well, you're in the sunny state of California in a pleasant little town called Sunnydale that's set over a mystical gateway to Hell that attracts vampires, demons, the occasional apocalypse. That answer your question?"

"Um...yeah." 'What fresh hell is this?' Tobias thought to himself. "So, um, if you don't mind, I'm just, gonna go that way. Bye." He pointed in a random direction opposite of Buffy, turned, and started walking away.

"Oh no you don't!" Buffy charged with the intent of grappling Tobias with either of choke hold and breaking his neck or kicking his legs out from under him and stabbing him with her backup stake. Before she could close enough to do either, Tobias spun around and thrust out his left hand. Buffy felt like she had been hit by a car as she was sent flying back and hit the ground hard before getting up. She noted the shocked look on Tobias's face when she did. "Nice trick, but it'll take make then that to take me down." She quipped.

She charged again, dodging to the right when her instincts told her too and they were right. She felt a shock wave graze her toes that made her twist to the right a bit before she righted herself and kept running. Normally she'd try and bait the demons to follow her instead of charging them, but she sensed that this one was different then others. For one, she was getting a weird vibe through her "Slayer Senses" rather than her normal weird vibes, so she guessed this was a new demon she hadn't run into yet. Secondly, this one looked almost completely human, ignoring the silver eyes, and he didn't seem bloodthirsty or bent on her death. It was further reinforced when he tried to leave and sounding pretty human when doing it. Since she didn't have any ideas on what he could do, she'd just have to try to kill him before he got away.

Tobias was trying to figure out how Buffy had taken his shock wave head on and gotten up like it was nothing. He hadn't put that much power into it, but at the very least she should've been winded and dazed, not jumping and charging him while dodging his second attack. It looked like he'd have to step it up a notch to get away.

Tobias clenched his hand and Buffy felt like she was locked in stone, freezing in mid step and unable to move anything except her head.

"Ok, I don't know what your problem is, but it needs to stop." Tobias swung his arm to the side, Buffy flying and colliding with a tree back first before falling to the ground. She grunted at the force behind the throw, but ignored the flare of pain from her back as she pushed herself off the ground. "What does it take to keep you down?"

"Well you might want to try a high school lecture, those things knock me right out." Buffy grabbed a rock and hurled at Tobias, only for him to catch it easily.

"Ow," he muttered as his hand stung from the force behind it. "Ok, this is getting too weird even for me at the moment, and considering I've seen entire other worlds, that's saying something. So until I can figure where and when the hell I am, I bid you goodbye Buffy Summers."

Buffy felt like all the air suddenly left her lungs while two somethings hit both her temples hard. Pain combined with lack of air knocked her out cold before she could think, 'Damn it!'

"Ok, this isn't what I was expecting." Tobias said out loud as he walked down the street. After leaving Buffy in the graveyard unconscious, he had walked in a random direction until he arrived at a main street. Aside from the unusual number of graveyards he noticed on his walk, this town was pretty average. Good people, good community, and a quick look at discarded newspaper had told him that he was in the year 1999, November. So aside from being a year off on his estimate, this was a perfectly average town. Except...he kept feeling an itch under his skin, like there was a buzz in the air. And mixed in was some sort of feeling over hate, greed, and an overpowering hunger for destruction. Maybe it had something to do with that "portal to hell" that Buffy had mentioned. He'd heard of weirder things. But still, he needed someplace he could figure out his next move, and gather some information on this town since he had a feeling he'd be here for a while

Tobias's walk took him outside what looked like a small bar/club with a sign that read THE BRONZE over the doors. Figuring it was good a place as any considering how many people were inside, he was just about to walk in before he remembered his eyes. He doubted people would fail to notice silver eyes and with Buffy's reaction to them still fresh in his mind, Tobias needed to hide them. He tapped a few buttons on his gauntlet and felt a slight tingle run over his eyes before looking into the windows. His reflection showed him looking back with dark green eyes. Nodding in satisfaction, Tobias pushed the doors open and walked through them.

The place was well lit and had a upbeat atmosphere, with some music playing. A quick look around showed that there was a bar area near the back of the building serving drinks to several people as they chatted and drank. A stage closer to the front had a band playing on it and people dancing in front of it, while the edges had raised tables and chairs, with a couch scattered here and there.

"Ok, now I just need to mingle and make some friends in a bar slash club. Oh joy." Tobias muttered the last part sarcastically before sighing. He walked through the crowds and spotted an empty table near a couple couches. He took a seat and just watched people interact and have a good time. Now it was just a question on finding some to talk to...

"Hi."

Or maybe not.

Tobias looked to see who had talked and looked them over. It was a redhead girl that looked around 18, with warm brown eyes and shoulder length hair, a kind but somewhat nervous smile on her face. Her clothes were a light blue, long sleeve shirt, jeans and brown boots, with a necklace around her neck. All in all, she seemed like the girl next door type of pretty and friendly.

"Um, hi." Tobias rubbed his neck to look nervous. 'Acting skills, don't fail me now.'

"Sorry if I'm intruding, but I thought you looked kinda lonely sitting here all alone. If you're meeting someone, I can go..."

"Oh, no, no," Tobias quickly shook his head. "No, not meeting anyone. I'm um, I'm kinda new to town. Just, getting out and seeing the sights, maybe meet a few people. Who knows, I might actually make a friend."

"Oh, well then, welcome to Sunnydale." The girl said brightly, looking more confident. "I'm Willow Rosenberg."

"Tobias Song." He shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you Willow."

"Hey Willow, you coming or what?" A male voice called over the background noise.

"Sorry, don't let me keep you." Tobias said.

"Oh it's fine. Um, do you want to come with, I can introduce you to my friends."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"Uh, ok then. I guess I'll come with." Tobias got up from his seat while thinking, 'why can't all people be this friendly?' It would certainly lead to less violence in the world. And less of him getting attacked by crazy, stake wielding blondes.

Willow led the way through the crowd to the other side of the room where two people were sitting on a couch. On it was a male and female. The male was around Willow's age and had a bowl cut of black hair, broad shoulders and muscled arms, brown eyes, and a somewhat handsome face, wearing a green shirt, jeans, and sneakers that were propped on a table in front of him. His arm was around the shoulder of the female next to him. Her hair was a mix of brunette and blond, curly and dropped down past her shoulders to frame her face. Ruby red lips, hazel eyes, and white skin made her look very attractive, but Tobias wasn't interested in her looks. Just not his type. She was supermodel thin but muscular enough to not be boarding on bony. Her clothes were a yellow blouse, jeans that cut off at the knees, and running shoes.

"Hey Wil, who's the guy?" The dark hair guy asked, jerking his chin at Tobias.

"Xander, Anya, this is Tobias Song, he's new to town. Tobias, these are my friends Xander Harris and Anya Jenkins."

"Hey Tobias. Welcome to the wonderful world of Sunnydale, California." Xander greeted, spreading his arms to indicate the town. "Great views, nice people, and in the middle of absolutely nowhere."

"Oh stop exaggerating, we live a two hour drive from LA." Willow sat down on the opposite couch and patted the seat next to her, promoting Tobias to sit as well.

"So, Tobias, what brings you Sunnydale?" Anya asked while looking him over.

"Uh, nothing really. I mean I'm kinda out here by accident," that was true enough. "I was on a bus trip to LA actually, but I accidently missed my bus. And of course, I lost my bag with my clothes, money and ID in it because what fun would it be if I had those? It'd be too easy."

"Oh, that's terrible," Willow said sympathetically. "What were you going to LA for?"

"Sort of on a trip across the country. Started in Wisconsin and worked my way across until I ended up here. Always wanted to travel and my parents gave me enough money to do that. Gave them a call and told them, but it's going to be a while until they get here so, here I am." He gestured around.

"Your parents let you go on a trip across the country? What about school?" Willow asked.

"Well, mom was never big on education in the first place and my step dad believes in going out and learning things for yourself instead of sitting in a classroom taking notes and tests and quizzes, all of which is boring according to him."

"Nice parents." Xander whistled, impressed. "I tried doing that during the summer... Didn't work out that well." He coughed, suddenly red and embarrassed. Willow flushed slightly while Anya just smirked.

"Don't even want to know." Tobias said firmly, extremely familiar with the look on Anya's face. "So what about you guys? What do you do?"

"Well I'm currently attending college at Sunnydale University with one of my friends and Anya, Xander delivers pizza at the moment. Nothing else really of note." Willow shrugged.

"Really? What about hobbies, ways of killing time?"

Tobias noticed them all shift slightly and turn faintly nervous. They were keeping a secret.

"Um, not much. I'm a Wicca in training when I'm not studying, and Xander and Anya are going out." Willow offered.

"Wicca, wicca...witches?" Tobias asked and she nodded. "Hhmm. Well, I've heard of stranger ways to pass the time. Personally I prefer reading, some running, maybe work on my fighting technique. I'm a black belt in karate."

"That's pretty cool." Anya noted. "Xander and I pass the time dating, kissing, having intercouse occasionally."

Well one thing for sure, Anya didn't beat around the bush. Willow and Xander blushed bright red and Xander protested, "Anya!"

"Well, you certainly aren't shy." Tobias chuckled while the blonde/brunette pouted slightly.

"Aw, I love seeing people blush when I say that."

"Sorry, but I'm not most people. Plus I have a girlfriend back home, so...think what you will." He looked at Willow. "So this friend of yours, does he or she have a name?"

"Yeah, her name is..." Willow looked over her shoulder at the door and her expression brightened. "Oh, here she is now, I can introduce you. Hey Buffy!" She called, standing up and waved her arm. Tobias snapped his head around to see the same blonde as earlier standing at the doors, scanning the room until Willow called. She looked and smiled until her eyes met Tobias's. Then they went from warm and happy to cold and hunting in a split instant.

'Oh come on!' Tobias shouted in his head before digging the toes of his sneakers into the ground and shot off like a stone from a slingshot, jumping over the couch Xander and Anya were sitting, ignoring their shouts of surprise and shoved his way through the crowds to the back. He spotted a door and ran through it, ending up in the alley in back of the club. He fired down the right and started running as fast as he could.

"Hey!"

A quick glance over his shoulder showed Buffy in hot pursuit of him and closing the distance bit by bit. He got to the street and took a left, running down the sidewalk while dodging pedestrians.

'Just when I start making some good friends, I find out they're also friends with Ms. Likes-to-stab-a-lot!' Tobias shouted angrily in his head as he spotted yet another graveyard, one out of many, a good block or two away. He needed to get this fight away from regular people, and fast. He bent his knee with his next step and push off, jumping into the air and over the heads over the people to land on the rooftops next to him. He jumped from one to the next before flipping off the next one to land next to the graveyard's boundaries. Another look showed Buffy still had him in her sights and a good distance behind her was Willow and her friends. 'Just freaking perfect.'

He ran past the tree line and down the paths before getting off them and running through the tombstones. 'Ok, looks like there's a clear enough spot up ahead, so I'll just get there and...'

Tobias's thought process was cut off when he was running past a tree when, suddenly, an arm came out of nowhere and clotheslined him, knocking him flat on his back while his neck felt like it had almost left his torso. He coughed violently and tried to breath.

"Well, well, well, look what the demon dragged in." A British voice said happily. Once Tobias stopped seeing double vision from his head colliding with the ground at high speed, he looked at whoever had pulled that dick move.

It was an extraordinarily pale man, so pale his skin seemed to glow in the moonlight as it reflected off greased back bleach blonde hair. His entire outfit, a red collared shirt under a black leather jacket, black pants and black combat boots, screamed 'don't mess with me'. He also had a silver chain around his neck.

"You know, I often have to go hunting to find a decent meal, but sometimes one just runs right into me," the man grabbed Tobias's collar and lifted him off the ground easily. "And I get a break."

Tobias tried to twist out of the grip but this guy had more strength than his frame suggested. "Great, people just keep wanting to kill me today. Who are you?"

"Names Spike. And you, my unlucky boy," Tobias was forced to get a close up of the mans face as it suddenly changed. The brow ridge jutted out and thickened, his face turned more angular and threatening, and his canines grew longer into fangs. "Are dinner."

"Not a chance." Tobias reared his head back and smashed his forehead into Spike's nose, forcing him to let go and drop him, staggering back. Tobias rubbed his forehead. "Ow. What the hell are you made of?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Spike groaned as he touched his nose. "I may not have a pulse mate, but I can still feel pain, and smashing your head into a nose hurts the other guy."

"May not have a...pulse? What are talking about?" Tobias asked. "Wait, hold on a minute, you're dead, and you have fangs..." Tobias groaned and smacked his head. "Oh, you're kidding me, I'm in a universe where there are stereotypical vampires!?" He yelled the last five words at the sky, ignoring Spike. "What else can go wrong?!"

"Hey!" Tobias looked to see Buffy arriving and looking barely winded from her run. A quick look showed Spike had vanished without a trace. "I didn't say you could run."

"Ok, can you please just give me a minute?" Tobias paced back and forth. "Oh, I'm going to kill River, I was supposed to be going on vacation to Florida with my girlfriends, but noooo, River had to not fix my transportation so I'm in a town set over a portal to hell with a crazy blonde trying to stake me in the heart, making friends with some good people before finding out they're friends with said blonde!" Tobias shouted at the sky before taking a deep breath and turning his attention to Buffy. "Ok, I'm good now. Now, can you please simply leave me alone so I can try to go home?"

"Hhmm," Buffy pretended to think about it. "I'm gonna say, no." She charged and covered the distance between them, throwing a right cross at his face. Tobias leaned back and dodged, dealing a punch to her stomach. Buffy grunted, but kicked at his legs to knock them out from under him. He rolled to the side to dodge a stake towards the head. Tobias grunted as he kicked at her head, only to be grabbed by her other hand.

"Nice try." She lifted him up and flipped him over, smashing him into the ground. "Now hold still so I can kill you." She said getting up and raising her stake to plunge in his heart from behind.

Tobias snapped around and Buffy paused when she saw the previously green eyes turn silver, then oddly, white. His face was also twisted in a snarl. "Just leave me alone!"

Buffy was blasted away by a shock wave and hit a gravestone, almost breaking it in half. Before she could slide down it, Tobias was pressing her against it with his arm against her throat and fist pulled back.

"Now listen. I don't know where exactly I am, what the rules are, or how to get back home. So leave me alone." Tobias growled in his throat. "Or I'll show you how outclassed you..." Suddenly he heard what sounded like Latin and looked to the right to see Xander, Anya, and Willow in front of the other two, the source of the words. He was suddenly feeling tired and when she finished, he blacked out.

Buffy coughed as Willow finished her spell and her target collapsed to the ground, letting her breath properly again. "Thanks Will." She rubbed her throat. "He had some tricks up his sleeves. He didn't hurt you guys right?"

"No, no, he was actually pretty friendly at the Bronze." Xander said as they walked closer. "I can't believe he's a demon though."

Buffy knelt next to him. "Yeah, got some weird vibes from him when I ran into him earlier. Took me by surprise, but hey, finally got him." She lifted an eye lid and looked at the silver eyes. "Never seen one with those kinda tricks though. Oh well." She lifted her stake again, only to be grabbed by Anya.

"Don't kill him."

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"I don't think he is a demon." She knelt down and looked at the eyes too. "For one thing, I've never seen or heard of a demon that looks this human but has eyes like this. Plus back at the bar I didn't get the feeling he was going to hurt us, or any other demonish feelings. I mean, look at him."

"So what, you want to let him just walk around free to do whatever?" Buffy asked.

"No...but maybe we can keep him bound and ask him some questions when he wakes up, maybe do some research in the meantime. I might be able to find a binding spell to hold him." Willow offered. She wasn't big on killing in general, unless it was vampires and demons, but after speaking with the guy she had just knocked out with a sleep spell...well until she got the full story, it couldn't hurt to keep him alive. "Maybe Giles knows what kind of demon he is, we can take him to his house." She suggested.

Buffy sighed. Personally she'd prefer to just kill him and be done with it. "Ok, fine. Let's go talk to Giles." She picked up the knocked out teen and slung him over her shoulder, the group walking through the graveyard.

Tobias groaned as he woke up feeling extremely stiff for some reason. Last thing he remembers was... let's see, arriving in graveyard, getting attacked by blonde named Buffy, knocking blonde out, walking around town, finding the Bronze and apparently Buffy's other friends, chased by by Buffy, warning her to back off, then... Willow chanting Latin for some reason and him waking up now. He tried to lift his arms so he could run his eyes, but couldn't. Actually, he couldn't move his arms or legs.

"What the...?" He snapped his eyes open and took in his surroundings. He was in a living room, decorated in mostly dark tones. A dark, hardwood floor, a dark couch right in front of him behind which was a desk and chair, door and then staircase. A small kitchen was to the left behind a counter, and the walls were a bright green. A quick glance behind showed a fireplace. He then looked down at himself. His arms and legs were tied with thick rope to a chair, and his torso also had rope around it so he couldn't move anything except his feet, hands, and head. There was also a magic circle around him.

He grunted as he tried to pull out of his bindings and failing that, tried to access his power to cut them. But something was...blocking them. 'Ok, magic circle is blocking my powers...oh, this is bad.' He sighed and then cocked his head, hearing people talking upstairs. "Hello?"

"Hhmm?" Buffy's head ducked down into sight. "Oh, good, hey Giles, he's awake." She told whoever was upstairs as she walked down. "So, nice nap?"

"Yeah fine, what did you do to me?" Tobias demanded.

"Oh, you mean those nifty little tricks you used earlier? Yeah, fraid those had to go for the time being. You guys coming?" She called up.

"Yes, yes, we're coming. You'd think after all these years you would've learned some patience Buffy." A British accent said back.

"Eeh, never been good with patience."

"Hhmm, what a surprise." The first one to come down was not someone Tobias had seen or talked to since arriving in Sunnydale. He was an older man, looking past the prime of his life but only just a bit past it. Brown hair that was streaked with grey, glasses that resembled the ones worn by Harry Potter, and a strong face that was lightly lined with age. He looked like a father figure/librarian. His clothes consisted of a grey short sleeve shirt and worn blue jeans. He took of his glasses as Willow, Xander, and Anya followed him down. "Sorry for the...uncomfortable accommodations but we had to make sure you were restrained for the time being." Giles apologized.

"Yeah, well, I think you succeeded." Tobias looked pointedly at himself. "Also, how did you block my powers?"

"Me." Willow raised her hand guilty. "I, uh, kinda found a spell that restraints powers and renders them unusable. Sorry."

"Oh this can not be happening to me." Tobias addressed the ceiling. He sighed and closed his eyes, making a moment to calm down. "Ok." He looked at Giles as he sat down directly across from him on the couch, Buffy and Xander on his right, Willow and Anya on the left. "Since I'm clearly, not going anywhere, let's talk."

"All right then. May I inquire what kind of demon you are?" Giles asked politely.

Tobias gave him a deadpan stare. "I beg your pardon?"

"Uh, that is to say what species of demon origin are you?"

"What is with you people? I am not a demon, I am... 50, 60 percent human." He finished.

"So you're demon half breed?" Giles inquired.

Tobias sighed. "Not...precisely. I'm..." He paused and frowned, feeling a flicker of something inside. "Hang on a moment." He dug a bit deeper and followed the feeling as it grew stronger. He felt his power start flowing back as his eyes slowly started changing. He instantly stopped, not wanting to give away his advantage. "Sorry, thought I felt something. Um, what was the question again?"

"Demon half breed?" Buffy said helpfully.

"Thanks, no I'm not a demon half breed, but I admit I'm not fully human."

"So what's the other half?" Xander asked.

"Unique."

"Good or bad unique?" Buffy asked.

"Depends on who's asking. My friends, family, good. People who piss me off by trying to kill them or innocent people, bad, very bad."

"Neat, we have something in common then!" Buffy said cheerfully.

"Oh joy, I have something in common with the girl who tried to stab me through the heart because she thought I was a demon." You could taste the sarcasm in the sentence.

"Hey! It's not my fault, you looked like one!"

Tobias gestured at his body. Or tried to, as best he could without moving his arm. "I look human! The only thing different is my eyes and even those change color to look normal! Maybe if you had given me five minutes to explain instead of trying to kill me, I wouldn't have needed to knock you out!"

"Children!" Giles cut off the argument before it could escalate. "I think we can both agree there were some unacceptable actions done by both parties, what is important is that we move on to other matters." Buffy leaned back with her arms crossed and a slight pout on her face like a child. "Now then, what brought you to Sunnydale?"

"Honestly? Freak accident. I was trying to get...somewhere else and something went wrong, next thing I know I'm in a graveyard with no idea where I was so I, tried to ask Buffy for directions. Afterwards, I needed to find someplace to find someone to talk to, so I went into the Bronze and ran into Willow. And the rest is ancient history."

"Ok, so what do we do with him?" Buffy asked Giles. He pushed his glasses up and sighed.

"Well, I don't see any harm in letting him out of his chair, so Willow, if you could..."

"No, don't bother I got it." Tobias's sentence drew confused looks from everyone until he grunted, eyes flashing white as the ropes all snapped simultaneously. Everyone jumped to their feet as he got up, rubbing his wrists. "Oh relax, I think I just proceed if I wanted to kill you I could've."

"Aw, I must've messed up the magic circle." Willow whined.

"No, no, that part actually worked. I think it's just because I've got too much power that it didn't restrain everything."

"Um, how much power do you have exactly? And what is your power anyways?" Xander asked.

"Air. All the wind around is mine to manipulate as I please, that's how I knocked Buffy out actually, sucked the air out of her lungs while dealing a hit to both her temples." He clicked his tongue. "Gets them every time."

Everyone blinked. "Um, wow. That's pretty cool." Anya commented, speaking for the first time.

"Eeh, it gets the job done. But yeah, it's pretty cool. For instance..." The ropes on the ground twisted before rising up like snakes, severed ends pointing at them all, which made them all tense. "Calm down, I'm just showing as a demonstration, I'm not attacking anyone." He said as the ropes dropped back to the floor.

"Um, right, yes." Giles took off his glasses and polished them on his handkerchief. "So, what are your plans now that we're all on the same foot."

"Uh, not sure." Tobias lifted his arms and dropped them to show his cluelessness. "I should try to get home, but my transportation is obviously on the fritz so I have no clue what'll happen if I try using it. With my luck I'd accidently be sent into a hell dimension that are apparently here, so, I guess I'm stuck here."

"Well, if you're stuck you're going to need a place to stay. If you want you can hang out at my place," Xander offered.

"Yeah, if you like hearing Xander and Anya go at it non-stop." Buffy snorted.

"I certainly don't regret it." Anya smirked as she ran a finger across her boyfriends shoulders.

"Ok then, thank you for the offer, but I can easily do without hearing your sex life. Literally." Tobias said. "Um, anyone else?"

Buffy shrugged. "My house is free. I mean, my mom is still there, but I think she'd be ok taking you in if I asked." She also wanted to keep an eye on him. Too many times she had trusted someone or something and they ended up biting them in the ass. Or stabbing them through the heart, to use a more appropriate metaphor. At least with him at her moms she knew where he was.

"Sure, if she'll have me. Does she know about the...Slayer slash Hellmouth, slash demons trying to end the world?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. You'll be fine. And if you need any help dealing with demons, just call me or ask Giles. He's my Watcher, knows all about old, musty, evil demons." She clapped said Watcher on the arm.

"Yes, quite." He didn't look amused but he didn't say anything about it. "In the meantime, you should all be getting home and Buffy, you should get back to patrolling. Also, Tobias, can you stop by tomorrow, I can help make you an identity for while you're here."

"Sure, thanks. Oh, before we go our separate ways, I ran into someone else here. Someone named Spike?"

The atmosphere in the room went from average to downright awkward in less then a second. Buffy in particular looked angry at the mention of the name.

"I should avoid him at all costs shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, that would be best." Xander nodded.

"Right, duly noted. Um, thanks for everything I guess, and I'll see you guys around."

A/N: This is something I came up with in a fit of boredom and inspiration striking me out of nowhere. Now, if people like it I'll continue writing it while keeping up with my Mark of Athena book. Also, so there is no confusion on the order, it will be Mark of Athena first, and this second. Read, favorite, and Review!