The basement glowed red with a light that filled every corner, crack and crevice. Candles burned all around but it was not these that filled the room with light. The walls had a pulsing luminescence of their own, the power held within kept secret and contained until it was time; a time that grew ever closer. The room temperature was at an uncomfortably high level too but no source of the heat could be seen. In the centre of the room was a small circular pool with only a raised lip to keep the water from spilling across the floor. The surface was unnaturally smooth and still, almost like a mirror. However, this was no mirror, a mirror would have reflected the ceiling above when you gazed into it. The reflection here was of a face contorted in a great effort to get free, to escape its long incarceration.
The two men, their eyes fixed on the pool, watched the face grow ever larger as if it was rising to the surface. Then the noise began, an unearthly noise, quietly at first but growing in volume like some kind of large animal was getting closer and closer to a doorway, growling a warning to anybody who may be thinking of interfering with its progress; a doorway it knew would lead to its freedom and nothing, and nobody, was going to get in its way.
The surface of the pool began to ripple and vibrate, the two men covered their faces before the surface exploded sending water directly upwards. The water turned into sharp crystals as it flew; the crystals embedding themselves into the ceiling above creating a sort of crystal canopy which glowed white above the pool that had now turned solid. The power demon Argus, dressed in a black robe with a hood hiding the upper half of his face, his head lowered, stood on the dais before them. The two men dropped to their knees in a show of respect, or it may have been fear because this demon made the very walls of the room pulse.
"My Lord Argus," said the first man, "You grace us with your presence. We are at your service."
Argus raised his head slowly and looked around the room, displeasure showing on his deformed face; the walls of the chamber glowed a darker red as his displeasure grew. The two men bowed even lower, cowering close to the ground, each hoping that is was not he on whom Argus vented his fury.
"You promised me the Slayer. Explain yourself." The demon's voice was low and menacing with a gritty texture as if the shards of crystal had raked his throat and vocal chords as they were blown upwards to make the canopy. "Where is she so that I may feast upon her power?"
"The Slayer is very powerful my Lord," the man dared to raise his head a little as he spoke. "We aren't strong enough to defeat her on our own."
Argus let out a huge roar of anger, the vibration of which the two men could feel burying deep inside their chests. Dirt and dust fell from the ceiling as if the very building was trying to move away from the demon's fury.
"Please my Lord" his voice was almost begging and he once more lowered his head to the ground in a show of submission. "Spare us from your anger. We have a plan to make her come here of her own free will but," he gulped, "we need your help to carry it out."
The roar echoed around the chamber and died. Argus looked at the two humans kneeling on the floor at his feet.
"Stand and tell me."
Although his voice was now calm it had lost none of its authority. The two men rose up slowly under his gaze but kept their eyes lowered.
"We have brought you a captive my Lord." Marcus Trent pointed to the far right of the room near the wall where a wooden post stood reaching from floor to ceiling. "He will tell her to come."
Tied to the post was a tall thin man wearing a tweed jacket and well pressed trousers. Argus gazed at him, his eyes slowly focusing on the captive then stepped from the dais. Walking around the post he inspected what the two mean had provided instead of the slayer. He stopped and faced their captive, lowered his hood and sniffed the air.
"He smells like a library." said Argus, pulling a face and making his grotesque features even more ugly. "What good is a librarian to me? I don't want a book I want the Slayer."
"He is The Slayer's watcher my Lord." Marcus walked closer to Giles and stopped. A wicked grin appearing on his face as he spoke, "She will come here without question if he tells her to."
"Ahh, so you want me to torture him until he agrees to the deceit." Argus laughed, "Could you not torture him yourself? Are you that weak?"
"No my Lord, I have a different plan."
"Speak quickly!" The fury in the demon's voice returned with his impatience.
Luca Trent then stepped forward and stood next to Giles. Clearing his throat, he turned to face Argus and took a deep breath.
"I want you to make me look and sound the same as him my lord," he said with a tremble quite evident in his voice. "I'll go and tell the slayer to come here to put you back in your, err…, confinement." Looking at Giles once more he continued, "He would never betray his precious little slayer because he already knows that once she is within this chamber the walls will absorb all her power and channel it into you. Her strength, speed and skill will be gone and then we can take care of her easily once and for all."
Argus laughed; a low, growling, evil laugh that would make most people tremble deep inside from fear by merely hearing it. Stepping forward he placed his calloused hands on each of them; one hand on the head of Giles and one on the head of Luca and closed his eyes. The walls pulsed with a strange vibrating hum and glowed brighter, Argus lifted his head and stared intently at them both. Giles closed his eyes and grimaced, not knowing what to expect, but expecting it to hurt. Luca kept his eyes open with a wicked smile on his face that made him look like a mad man. He was about to take part in one of the most notorious events in the history of the paranormal world and he didn't want to miss a second of it. He was about to become famous.
Argus spoke a quiet incantation in a language none of them understood and Giles started to glow as if he was about to burst into flames. At first nothing else happened, but after a few seconds there was a rumble from within the walls around them and the glow spread, slowly from Giles and across to Luca, disappearing into his body and fading. When Argus stepped back Giles stood in front of him still tied to the pole but gazing, mesmerized to his left at the person standing next to him. A second Giles stood there, looking down at his new appearance.
"It worked!" gasped Marcus.
"Go!" commanded Argus. "Bring me the Slayer."
The two men bowed and left quickly, happy to be out of the presence of the demon. Giles struggled against his bonds but it was no use, he was tied fast. He was trapped and about to witness, firsthand, as the chamber of The Power Demon took Buffy's strength, speed and fighting skill from her. With a Slayer's power as well as his own this demon would become unstoppable and, without knowing, Buffy would be powerless against him and there was nobody to warn her that it was a trap.
"Don't worry" said Argus, "The Slayer will still have her watcher. It just won't be you." He laughed, loud and confidently, turned and stepped back onto his dais. Holding out his arms the walls pulsed and glowed bright. "My trap is set. The Slayer will come looking for me and she will find me. I will absorb her power." He turned to face Giles, "Then, she will die."
