The Staff of Time: Overboard Version

by x-lady-lestat-x

A witch comes to town looking for...wait, what could it be? Why is she reeking such havoc? Angel comes to help them solve this mystery, but his presence does more harm than good when minor magical mishaps snowball into Xander being turned into a vampire.

2. Domino Effect

-1The Staff of Time

(Overboard Version)

The Park, Monday 10:42 PM

"Do you really think she'll show up here?" Willow asked as she climbed out of the back seat of Angel's convertible.

"Well," Angel began as the three walked down the path through the park. "In the evening paper I read that there have been an unusually high number of infants, children, and even very old people found abandoned in this park over the past three days. As of 2 AM this morning, there have been thirteen."

"I read that, too. All of the infants were found in a pile of adult clothing, and the few kids that were old enough to talk were claiming to be adults," Buffy added. "No ID or message was left with any of the abandoned."

"There was this thing in psychology a while back about parents abandoning children and the circumstances," Willow continued. "The professor had said something about how almost all of us will eventually abandon elderly parents and grandparents in retirement homes..."

There suddenly came a man's voice from farther ahead of them down the footpath. "Get the hell away from me ya dumb witch!" he yelled.

They quickly ran ahead.

They saw a man and a woman sitting on a bench. The man was yelling at the woman.

"Get away!" the man ordered again, pulling his arm away from her hands.

"You should come home, you've had too much to drink," the woman urged kindly. "I'm sorry that we're fighting."

"I'll come home when I want to!" the man yelled.

Seeing that it wasn't really a Witch, they wanted to give the bickering couple a right to privacy. The three of them turned around and began walking down another pathway.

"Cute couple," Buffy commented sarcastically.

From back in the direction of the couple there suddenly came a woman's terrified shriek. They immediately turned around and ran back. Even if it was just a lover's quarrel, violence was inexcusable.

There was a bright blue flash of light from behind the border of trees and bushes as they rounded the bend in the path. They stopped next to a tall bush to watch what was happening without being seen.

A woman with long black hair, pale skin, a long white dress, and a gem-topped staff was standing over a sleeping baby who was tangled in a pile of woman's cloths. The boyfriend was on his side on the ground, unconscious with an eerie blue light radiating from him.

The Witch was still not noticing Buffy, Angel, or Willow. The man had stopped glowing, so she turned him over onto his side. The man's hair had turned pure white and his face was wrinkled; he'd been turned into an old man. She rummaged through the man's pocket, grabbing a pile of change. She let the coins sift through her hands, and fall to the grass. She then dug through the pile of cloths where the quiet baby lay, and took a handful of coins from the pant's pocket, allowing it to fall to the ground again. "Another worthless mortal," the Witch cursed with a tired sigh. "Is no one in this town worthy of..." The Witch stopped talking.

"Stay here," Buffy whispered very quietly to Willow.

The Witch heard the people near, and froze, focusing her concentration for the coming assault.

Angel and Buffy split up for the attack: Angel circled around behind the Witch as Buffy got her attention so Angel wouldn't be noticed.

"Hey! Witchy-Woman! Nice dress. It's so 'Dark Ages'. You should really try to keep up on your fashions. Maybe even stop by a hairdresser's every now-and-then to try a new hairstyle…" Buffy chattered.

The Witch didn't seem to notice Angel as she watched Buffy. She stood up straight, giving Buffy a glare and a sly smile.

"Or are you attempting to raise money right now to buy a subscription to People Weekly? You'd be in a salon chair for hours, so I guess it would save you a little time if you cleaned up before going there," Buffy commented.

Angel ran at the Witch from behind, attempting to restrain her. Immediately, she swung her staff around, like a baseball player swinging a bat, and magically knocked him ten feet away. He hit the ground roughly.

Buffy ran at her with a kick, but it was blocked. Buffy gave a series of quick punches, but the Witch blocked each with supernatural speed. She tried to hit Buffy with the Staff, but Buffy ducked. With the failed hit, Buffy tried a low kick, but the Witch quickly brought her Staff down for a block.

Angel got back up and ran at the Witch again. She was blocking more of Buffy's attacks, and casually did a low spin, hitting him in the rib cage even harder with the Staff than she had before. He was flipped off to the side, onto the ground again. Continuing her spin, she slammed Buffy with the bottom end of her Staff, knocking her several feet directly back.

The Witch took a few steps closer to Buffy as the tip of the Staff began to glow.

Angel and Buffy slowly got to their feet again.

Willow walked a little closer to the battle and stopped by a tree, watching. She knew that there was nothing she could do to help them in this fight; the last time she'd used her magic she'd done more harm than good.

The Witch stood still as the blue light at the tip of the Staff continued to become brighter and brighter until there was a perfect sphere at the tip of the powerful Staff. The Witch pointed her Staff directly at Buffy. Closing her eyes, she whispered something very softly in another language.

Willow couldn't tell what she was saying; her voice was so soft that it sounded like she was just mumbling something.

Angel ran in front of Buffy as the blue ball of fire shot from the Staff. He, instead of Buffy, was hit by the light. As it enveloped him, he crashed into the ground.

"Damn," the Witch cursed loudly with a stomp of her foot. She sifted her fingers through the coins again, making sure that she hadn't missed it. Still nothing. Closing her eyes, she recited something else very quietly in another language, and disappeared in a swirl of blinding yellow light.

Willow and Buffy rushed to Angel's side. He was unconscious and still encased by the light.

Buffy reached for him, but Willow stopped her before she could touch him.

"Don't touch," Willow ordered almost frantically. Calming herself, she went on, "I can feel its power. That Staff the Witch was using must have focused it. Whatever it's doing to him now, we have no way of stopping it."

Just as she said that, the light weakened slightly. Angel's form was fluctuating... shrinking him in size.

"What is it doing to him?" Buffy asked, barely able to hold back her emotions.

"Since that Staff ages people... the Witch was probably trying to make you either into a baby or an old person to stop you from messing up her plans. She may have even been trying to kill you."

"How many years?" Buffy asked, still on the verge of tears.

"I don't know how many. The Witch said something. I was too far away to even tell what language it was in. Angel probably understood it all. Don't worry, no matter how many years it was, it probably won't do much, if anything, to him because of that eternally-ageless-vampire thing he has going," Willow answered, trying to stay optimistic.

The light suddenly disappeared. Angel's face was covered by part of his coat, and he wasn't moving. Buffy put her hand on his shoulder, and gently tried to wake him.

Angel let out a faint moan.

"Angel," she whispered as he stirred. He has been turned into a child.

Angel slowly sat up and began to rub his eyes. When he brought his hand away. He realized that they had become very small, and his clothing was now much too large for him. His hair was the length it had been all of his mortal child hood: a little past his shoulders. Angel looked up at Buffy.

"Did you understand what the Witch said before that light hit you? I was too far away to hear it," Willow explained nervously, not really sure what to expect as an answer from such a small child.

"It was Latin," Angel answered. He cleared his throat, startled by the change in his voice. "To roughly translate, she said: 'Shrink this form to ten years old.' "

"Ten years old?" Buffy asked in shock.

"But I feel fine," Angel reassured.

"Are you still a... ?" Willow began, still uncomfortable. "Did she change the... Grr?"

"I am human; just a child... It feels like there is still something inside of me, but I am alive," Angel said quietly. He turned to Buffy. "I knew that you were putting up a better fight against the Witch than I was; I couldn't let you be changed... The Witch must be looking for something on the people," Angel concluded. He slid off his coat, and began to roll up his sleeves. "The people who have whatever she's looking for probably don't know they have it." Angel pulled his tiny feet out of the still laced boots so he could walk.

Buffy helped him to his feet.

His pants were so oversized that the had to use both hands to hold them far enough up to walk. Willow picked up his boots and coat since Angel was having such a hard time with his oversized cloths. He pulled his belt as tightly as it would go, and rolled up the bottom of his pants. They began down the path towards Angel's convertible.

"It looked like she sifted through their pockets but didn't even take a cent of their money," Willow commented. "We should really go back to Giles's house and figure out what happened."

"And find a way to reverse this aging spell," Angel added. "Do either of you have your driver's licenses yet?"

They both shook their heads no.

"The cops in this town are such idiots... Just a little over a mile, right? I'll drive, if you two don't mind."

"As long as you can reach the break," Buffy said as seriously as she could.

They got into the car. Angel tied his hair back with a piece of string and adjusted his seat. He still couldn't touch the petals.

"I guess we're walking..." Willow commented.

"Or I could drive," Buffy offered happily.

"Then we're walking, but first I'm going to change my cloths."

They all got out of the car.

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Angel tightened the ball of oversized cloths, sliding a stake below the knotted-handle.

They began down the sidewalk.

Willow and Buffy walked side by side, and Angel, even though there was room for him in the line, trailed a little behind the girls.

Angel was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of cut-off blue-jean shorts that were long enough on him to be regular pants. He was wearing a belt to keep the shorts from falling down and was easily caring the fairly large bundle of clothes he had been wearing.

Buffy tried to hold in the laughter, but it was obvious that Willow was about to crack up. Angel looked too funny in that outfit for the girls to help themselves.

"What is it?" Angel asked, hearing a few giggles from both Buffy and Willow. He realized that it was the clothing. "Look, it was the only thing that I brought with me that could still fit."

"It's just: we never imagined you'd pack a pair of cut-off jeans with you; or that you'd even own a pair of shorts that were like that," Willow explained with a smile. "But that's only because evenings don't tend to be shorts weather."

"One time I had to dress up like a tourist to fool a criminal. I didn't know what I might need to wear coming here, so I packed tourist style things, a suit, a tux, and my normal clothing," Angel explained as they walked. "That's one benefit of an old car: lots of trunk space."

They were now five blocks from Giles's flat.

"I didn't, however, pack for this, and my feet are killing me," Angel complained. He didn't have any small pairs of shoes so he was walking down the street in just a pair of socks, having wrapped his larger shoes into the center of the bundle of clothing.

"Don't worry, I can find a spell to undo this," Willow assured.

Angel was grabbed from behind. "Woah!!!" he yelled, losing hold of the clothing.

Willow and Buffy quickly turned around; Buffy was ready to fight.

Buffy was attacked from behind by two vampires, but she immediately fought back.

It was a group of four vampires attacking then.

One of Angel's arms slipped free, allowing him to easily pry the vampire's hands away from his waist. Angel dropped to the ground. The vampire lunged at him, but Angel grabbed onto both of the vamp's arms for leverage and kicked it in the stomach, knocking it to the ground.

Angel grabbed for the clothing and pulled a stake from the bundle. As it struggled to stand, Angel kicked it in the face one more time. He rushed to stake it before another recovery.

It turned to dust.

He kept the stake in his hand, ready for another opponent.

Buffy was still pummeling the two remaining vampires.

Willow held off a third vampire with a cross. She splashed holy water in its face but, smoking and screaming, it slapped the cross from her hand and moved closer to bite her.

Angel tackled the vampire to the ground before it could hurt Willow.

The vampire easily tossed Angel off of him.

Angel hit the ground very hard, but got to his feet very quickly.

The vamp tried to kick Angel but, catching its foot, he pushed it to the ground.

Angel stabbed the stake through its heart, turning another vampire to dust.

Buffy staked the last vampire, and turned to the others. "Are you both all right?"

Willow nodded.

Angel brushed off his pants and picked up his bundle, hiding the stake as he had before. "I'm good," Angel answered. "I guess this means that I haven't lost all of my strength."

"That was amazing, Angel," Willow commented, still in awe of the smallest one's performance.

"Let's keep moving. Next time we might not be so lucky," Buffy suggested, as they all sped away.

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Giles's House 11:15 PM

Buffy, Willow, and Angel walked through the courtyard of Giles's apartment complex.

"Slayer," Spike called, seated at the steps of another person's door. He stood and walked to them.

The three stopped walking, all irritated by his presence.

"Spike, I told you to stay the Hell away from us," Buffy reminded in an unkind voice.

Spike acted as though he were hurt by the thought. "I just wanna help." He remembered the tidbit of information that may score him some points with his crush. "The Witch; I saw her in the park less then thirty minutes ago. I was waiting for you; I wanted to give you the heads up."

"That would have been about the same time that we saw her," Willow pointed out as she folded her arms.

"If I'd have seen you guys there, I'd have helped you," Spike assured, being uncharacteristically honest. "I checked around the perimeter, didn't see your car, spotted the Witch, and came right over here."

"You want to help, so when you saw her, you didn't even try to stop her?" Angel asked.

"She's human, so I wanted back-up." Spike looked at the kid, a little confused. "Where's Angel?"

"You're lookin' at him," Angel told.

Spike gave a deep chuckle. "This little, living shrimp?"

"Be careful who you call a shrimp," Angel threatened, tightening his hands into fists.

Willow nodded, backing Angel's warning.

"What're you goin' to do 'bout it," Spike asked, hoping to aggravate him. He began to laugh again, "kick me in the shins?" Spike lunged at Angel, meaning to only give a simple 'Boo.'

Angel dropped the cloths, caught him by the arm as pushed his hand into Spike's stomach, and flipped the vampire over his shoulder and to the ground.

"Let's go inside," Willow suggested casually, as though nothing had.

Spike laid still on the ground. "That... wasn't fair, Mate," Spike complained, in pain and winded from the impact.

Angel picked up the cloths and they went to Giles's door. Buffy tried the knob but, for once, the door was locked.

Buffy knocked on the door.

Giles got up quickly to answer, and realized that there might be some danger. He picked up a sword form the desk, and slowly opened the door.

Buffy, Willow, and a child stood on the step.

He gave a quick sigh or relief. "Was there much activity in the area? Did you find anything?"

Angel stepped closer to the door and into the light, giving Giles a grim look.

Giles was confused, he didn't know who the child was. "What happened? Who is the... Is that Angel?" Giles asked, not seeing the grown Angel anywhere. He also noticed that the child's clothing was far too large for him and that the boy wasn't wearing any shoes.

"Yes," Angel answered.

The three of them walked in.

Xander grabbed his coffee cup and walked out of the kitchen to take a seat in the living room.

Angel walked over to the couch and took a seat at the far end, on one side of Dawn. He dropped the clothing to the floor.

Dawn was staring at him with big eyes.

Xander sat in the leather arm chair, drinking the coffee as he waited for news. "Wow... I'm going to take a stab here when I guess that something went wrong," Xander commented, also staring at Angel.

Angel, still fiery from Spike's annoying comments outside, gave Xander a glare that would have frighten any adult man.

"...Very wrong," Xander added with an uneasy expression as he sat up straighter in the armchair and set the coffee on the table in front of the chair.

"The Witch tried to use that aging Staff on me," Buffy explained. "She wanted to turn me into a ten year-old, but Angel got hit with it instead."

"Extraordinary... Is he still a vampire?" Giles asked, keeping an eye on Angel.

"Angel's just ten years old?" Dawn asked, in disbelief. She was still staring at him with shocked eyes.

"I think there's still some of the vampire in me, but I am pretty much still a little, mortal kid," Angel said with a hint of both anger and frustration in his voice.

Willow sat down on the other side of Dawn.

"So you're just a little kid?" Dawn asked him, still a little skeptical.

"There's no way that he could be a weak little kid," Xander commented. "Being an ex-kick-ass vamp, with a little vampire left, you must still have the moves."

"I'm nearly as strong as I was before, but size makes a big difference in a fight," Angel agreed, surprised that Xander had complimented him in any way. "I've never heard of this happening before to anyone, let alone a vampire."

"Did you guys find anything on how to stop her," Buffy asked, taking a seat in the other recliner.

"We'll have to keep searching. Dawn, Xander, and I have been looking through books all day for items that can effect age, but there is no mention of a Staff that was able to do so," Giles said.

"It was kinda' neat though," Dawn commented, "there was a vase for flowers that would bring dead flowers back to fresh. There was also a coin that was possessed by a demon a few thousand years ago that could freeze a person's age to make them immortal."

There was a single knock on the door and Anya walked in. "Hello," she said nervously, shy over how to greet people in a normal way. She walked over to Xander and knelt next to his chair.

"Where have you been?" she asked Xander, ignoring the others. "I went to the apartment, and it looked like you hadn't been there all day." She suddenly began to notice that there were more people in the room than usual. "What's going on? Who is this small child?"

"Angel," he answered for himself.

Anya was so shocked that, for the first time ever, she had nothing to say. She realized that it might be another person named Angel, so she became a little confused as to what was going on.

Dawn answered her question more fully, "We're up against a Witch with a big, old stick that can age people..."

"Staff," Buffy corrected patiently.

"Whatever..." Dawn continued. "We've looked through every book in this house and there's nothing about it. As we were looking through the last stash of books, Angel got zapped down to ten years old when he was saving Buffy."

"Angel? This long-haired, little dwarf?" she asked rudely, finally able to sort out things enough to say anything at all. "Ok; I'll believe you." She had encountered stranger things in her long life, and learned with the loss of her own power that with this group, anything was still possible.

"Anya, have you seen the Staff before?" Buffy asked patiently. "It's probably been around for a while. It's about five feet long and has little scratches engraved all over it. There's a red jewel at the very top and, most importantly, it has the power to age anyone by, apparently, any number of years."

"I actually have heard about something like that although I've never personally seen it," she replied. "When I was a very young mortal, a group of the children, including myself, were told a story by the Village Elder. He talked about a woman with a magical staff that could turn old people into children. She could also end the suffering of the lame by painlessly turning them to dust if they chose to die..."

"I don't think the Witch had 'painless' in mind when she fired her magic at me. I really pissed her off," Buffy said with a smirk. The pride faded when she realized that bragging was off the subject. "What happened to this woman?"

"She was killed by people from another village; they thought she was evil so they just took her from her town. When she was dead, the outsiders burned her Staff in a gigantic fire at the center of her town, claiming that its destruction would purify the people. That story was one of the most ancient the Elder had ever been taught," Anya continued to explain. "The Elder wanted us to learn, as he had learned at a very young age, that not all magic was evil."

"That was around the year 900, right?" Angel asked.

Anya nodded.

"Then that was probably a very unusual thing for a person to tell a group of children," Angel commented calmly. "Almost every English village during the Middle Ages was completely opposed to the use of witchcraft."

"Mine was, too. The Elder, who everyone knew to be a nice and honest man, was punished for encouraging us to practice, or even tolerate, witchcraft. It had been during his lifetime that the earliest intolerance had started and because he was so old, he had been raised to think of witchcraft as peaceful, despite the modern teachings of other townspeople. There was a very brief trial and he was sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of the innocent," Anya explained simply.

"Did he say how the woman with the staff was killed? They must have done something mystical or bizarre to stop her and reverse the spells," Xander pointed out.

"He told us that the spells were never reversed. Besides, we were children; The Elder didn't want to say anything that might have scared us. Witches are regular people, why can't any of you just kill her if you want her dead so badly?" Anya asked easily.

"We tried the direct approach; it didn't work," Angel said with the bothered tone back in his voice.

"She anticipated every one of Buffy and Angel's attacks. She was strong, too. With the Staff, she flipped them around like rag-dolls. It must increase the powers she already has," Willow determined. "If we can manage to get that Staff away from her somehow, we might stand a chance."

"Anyone have any idea how we could get it away from her without getting blasted by a spell?" Buffy asked, looking around the room.

"I could find a spell to bring the Staff to us. I have a few books with spells for retrieval; I left them in Buffy's room," Willow offered enthusiastically. "I'll get them... If only Tara weren't visiting her only normal relative over this vacation, she'd know what to do right away, even without a book..."

"I'll come with you," Angel volunteered. "You shouldn't have to walk alone. You'll be carrying things and since the Witch saw you with us, if she sees you walking by yourself, you won't be safe."

Everyone was a little surprised. Angel was just a little kid; why would that stop a Witch, or vampire for that matter, from wanting to attack? They all shrugged it off, having faith in Angel's decision.

"The rest of us should look through the spell books I've got here, just in case Willow was mistaken about the spell book's location," Giles suggested. "If there aren't any gere, we can move onto the Magic Box, which isn't quite as safe as a personal residence; lastly, to the University for historical references."

Angel and Willow got up and walked out the door. "We should be back in less than an hour," Angel announced as the door shut behind them.

----------------------------------------------------------

They were now only two blocks from Buffy's house and hadn't said a word to one another the entire trip.

"I promise that I will find a way to reverse the age spell," Willow said suddenly.

"And if you can't? What then?" Angel asked bitterly. "Do I just go to elementary school, grow up again, not be able to really help Buffy for the next five years, and then, finally, Graduate High School six years after Dawn at the actual age of two hundred and fifty three?"

Willow had no answer.

They walked silently for a few more paces.

"I'm sorry," Angel said quietly.

Willow was a little hesitant at giving an optimistic answer, but decided to any way. "Well, if the age spell does stay... you could wait a couple years, until you're bigger, and then you will be right back in the fight. You could pose as someone's cousin, live with Giles or another adult that knows who you really are, and then you can help by doing book-work or training Buffy." Willow smiled as cheerfully as she could manage to under the circumstances. She wanted him to be happy if he couldn't be changed back into a vampire. "You could teach her that cool Martial Arts things I've seen you do. I know you started the last year you were here... so she could probably use a few more lessons."

"How can you always do that?" Angel asked, still having a depressed sound to his voice.

"Do what?"

"Always try to find the good in a situation... even when it's miles away, or not there at all."

"Ten and still cryptic... Well, if you try to find the good, it will keep your spirits high," Willow advised as they arrived on Buffy's block. "With all the hopeless odds we've faced since we started to help Buffy, I've found that high spirits during the fight is as important as a victory. It may sound like a reeeeally cheesy philosophy, but it's true. It's much better to look than to accept something as being hopeless. Besides, you're human... It's what you've wanted for over a hundred years, so it actually can't be as bad as you imagine."

They walked up the path to the house.

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11:55 PM

Willow was about to open the door when they heard a voice from behind them call, "Hey, is Buffy in there?"

They both turned, startled by the sudden call.

Riley was in his jeep. He had just pulled up.

"Hi, Riley," Willow greeted pleasantly, relieved that it hadn't been some creature, or Spike, calling to them. "Buffy's not here and probably won't be back tonight."

Riley got out quickly and followed them into the house.

Willow shut the door behind them.

He turned to Angel, giving a pleasant smile.

Angel mimicked the cheery attitude of the average ten year-old by giving him an oversized, grin.

"Oh, Riley, meet An... thony. Yeah, his name is Anthony. Anthony's... my cousin. Anthony, this is Riley, a friend from my University," Willow explained, dropping her purse in the livingroom.

The two shook hands and exchanged greetings.

"Hey, sport, how ya doin'? Isn't it a little past your bed time?" Riley asked Angel.

When Riley turned back to Willow, Angel rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. Riley is so annoying! How can Buffy stand to be near him? Angel thought to himself.

"Don't underestimate this kid... He's really smart," Willow warned him. "He's so good at everything, it's almost as though he's been traveling around the world for a century or two living and learning." Willow smiled at Angel.

Angel gave a small smile as he folded his arms, shaking his head again as if to say 'Yeah, Willow, could you be any more obvious?'

Riley leaned in close to Willow, whispering, "He hasn't, has he?"

Willow gave a short laugh, lying very well. "Don't be silly! It was just an analogy. Not everyone who comes into Buffy's house has a supernatural lifestyle."

Riley backed away, a little embarrassed.

Angel had heard the comment and felt that it would be all right to give him an odd look.

Riley gave an embarrassed smile to the kid. "What's with the big cloths? Fashion statement?"

Willow motioned for them to make their way up the stairs.

They all went into Buffy's bedroom.

"Umm... No, he's visiting from LA... He took a train and his suitcase was lost. They say that it might have went to the next city. I just picked him up. Some clutz on the train spilled soda all over him when the train jerked. We went to my parents' house and the only cloths we could find were my father's size," Willow explained as she went over the pile of books near the window. "We came here to get him shoes and to pick up a few of my books."

"Tough night..." Riley commented sympathetically. "Well, do you know where Buffy is?"

"I don't," Angel said right away.

Willow gave him an annoyed glance and then turned back to Riley with cheer. "She's over at Giles's house; the others are, too, but they're just doing research."

"I think I'll pass on the research," Riley said, very disappointed. "But if you need some smaller cloths, I shrunk a load of shirts in the laundry... They're back in the dorm, but I could grab them, then swing by Giles's for the tale end of research..."

Angel shook his head a little. "That's all right, I should be back in my own cloths by tomorrow."

He gave a little nod and a sigh. "I'm sorry if I intruded," Riley apologized to Angel and Willow. "It was nice meeting you, Anthony. See you later, Will." He walked back to the doorway and turned again. "Will she still be there tomorrow morning?"

Willow shrugged. "I'm really not sure how long we'll be there. If fact, things might break up until tomorrow within the hour."

"Ok. Tell her I stopped by." Riley went out the door and down the stairs.

"What was with that guy?" Angel asked. "He seemed very nervous talking to us."

"I don't know, maybe something is up that we should know about, but he didn't want to mention anything in front of you," Willow offered as she began to search through a stack of several old books. Pulling out one, she opened it and flipped through it. She shook her head and sat it back down.

Angel folded his arms, looking around the room.

"I had to do the name change for the introduction, but when you're back to normal it may seem odd for my little cousin to have the same unique name as Buffy's ex. It'll be a couple more minutes for me to find the spells, so make yourself comfortable," Willow offered, picking up another book and flipping through it. "We should keep it a little quiet; no one's home, but still..."

Angel went over to the bed and took a seat, folding his hands in his lap. "Small hands... Mortal coordination... That's a new, and bad, combination for me." "Here's the one," Willow announced happily, looking up at him from the book. "It has lots of spell reverses." She handed it to Angel, then continued to shuffle the books around. "That coordination is something that you'll have to get used to some day, when you're mortal for good."

Angel sat quietly.

Willow picked up two more books and sat them on the bed next to Angel. "These three will be the most helpful."

He picked one of them up and flipped through the pages slowly.

Willow reached under her bed and pulled out a pair of slightly worn sports shoes. "Try these on."

Angel sat the book down and slipped on the shoes. "Perfect fit when they're tied tight; maybe a little big," Angel commented. It was odd to him that his feet were smaller than Buffy's.

"I'll do my most powerful reverse spell before I do the spells for the Staff. If it doesn't help you, I'll summon the Staff. Working the Staff should be pretty simple..." Willow told him. "But I think I should wait a while before using it. We're not sure what the consequences of using it might be.

Angel nodded, still having the brooding, miserable look in his eyes.

"With Giles owning the magic store, I'll have everything I need for the Reverse spell at Giles's place right now. For the Staff's retrieving spell I have most of the supplies but I still need to freshen some things like the garlic and mandrake root. We can do the Reverse at the flat, but for the other, I still need a piece of wood that's about the same size and shape as the Staff. I'll make up a little spell when we have the Staff so I can keep the Witch from taking it away from me," Willow explained enthusiastically.

Angel nodded again. "If the Reversal spell works, I'll sit through the Staff's spell, but you know vampires aren't too keen on garlic..."

"Oh, yeah, the garlic thing... I'll just use khus-khus instead. It will do the same thing and may even add a bit of good luck, too."

"We should get back to the others. What do we need to bring?" Angel asked as he stood and easily picked up all three books to wait. The books didn't feel heavy to him, though they were thick in relation to his small form.

"That's all," she said as she got to her feet. "Just the books for you. I'll gather the last few things, and then we can head out."

----------------------------------------------------------

Giles's House Tuesday, 1:26 AM

Willow and Angel come through the door.

They went directly into the dining room and over to the table where the others were looking through spell books.

"I found two spells in my books that will steal the Staff from this Witch, and I want to try the Reversal Spell as soon as possible for Angel," Willow told them happily.

"We found three that might work if your others don't, or if you can't find the ingredients," Xander offered with a yawn.

"What took you guys so long?" Dawn asked impatiently. "Angel said an hour, and it's been nearly two; we started to get worried since it's a ten minute walk.

"We ran into Riley," Angel explained softly.

Buffy looked up from the book with a yawn and a smile. Without enthusiasm, she asked, "Did he say anything?"

"He didn't have any sort of message," Willow answered.

"Did you explain everything about Angel?" Xander asked. "Or did you not explain Angel?"

"I told Riley that Angel was my cousin named Anthony who was visiting from LA for the weekend," Willow said smiling. "He bought it."

"Why with the cover up?" Buffy insisted. "He'd want to know the latest."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Riley wouldn't be too keen on Angel being in town. Remember the last visit."

"Fist fight in an alley; soldiers trying to kill me..." Angel reviewed. "We have mutual feelings towards one-another: you mess with me, and you get a fist in the face. Good philosophy to follow, in my book, anyway."

"Do you have all the materials you will need in order to perform all of the spells correctly?" Giles asked Willow, changing the subject.

"Not yet. I have everything I need to do Angel's, but I'll need to stop by your store tomorrow so I can get a few fresh supplies, and a regular staff from the training area; then I can do the spells against the Witch."

Giles reached into his pocket, and pulled out a key. He handed it to Willow. "The shop was closed today and shall be tomorrow; you can get what you need without me there. We should meet back here in the morning. It's very late and I think we could all use some rest," Giles decided.

"I'll stay right now," Willow volunteered, putting the key into her pocket. "I want to do the spell for Angel right away; really late or not."

Willow went to the kitchen table, and began to flip through one of the books. She stopped the flipping, turned the book over to mark the place, and went into the kitchen to measure out the required herbs.

"Then we'll all stay. You need the help right? What do ya think?" Xander asked, turning to the others with a higher range of enthusiasm than any had expected.

They were all obviously very tired, but gave small nods in agreement, walking over to the table to help Willow in whatever way they could.

"Oh, boy! a real spell!" Dawn squealed happily. She liked the idea of doing magical spells, especially because her sister always prevented her from ever helping with even a simple one.

----------------------------------------------------------

2:03 AM

Willow, Dawn, Giles, Buffy, Xander, and Anya were all sitting cross lagged on the outer edges of large Pentacle drawn in salt on the living room floor. Angel stood in the center of the Pentacle's star. He had changed back into his oversized, adult clothing.

In front of everyone there were two unlit candles: one white and one black. The black candles were arranged to stand in the salt and the white would be picked up and used to light the black when it was necessary. In front of Willow there was also a small metal bowl with herbs in it. More crushed herbs surrounded Angel's feet.

"Is such a complex ritual really necissary for a simple reverse? Usually people do these things alone," Anya complained.

"Willow says the spell works better with a group, and besides, friends help friends when they need the help," Xander explained patiently.

Everyone was shocked by Xander's reference of Angel as a friend. They stared at him.

"What?" Xander asked with a shrug. "Angel's all right as long as he's just visiting for a while. A long-term stay would mean the reinstatement of the longtime grudge. Can you blame that flawless philosophy?"

"Thanks," Angel said with a slight smile. "Can we call a more permanent truce?" Angel extended his hand for a shake on the peace treaty.

Xander leaned forward accepted the hand, shook it once, and sat back. "Sounds good for right now, but it depends on how your next visits go."

"Ready?" Willow asked.

They all gave nods.

Willow began to speak from memory:

I call on Gaia, Earth Mother and

Goddess of all things in nature:

Set this right.

The spell of altered form to be undone,

And make my written words come true.

Willow lit the piece of paper, and set it in the bowl. The herbs caught fire and flames shot a foot high in the bowl. Willow held her candle over the flames, letting the wick catch.

She turned to Xander. "Let it be done," she said as she lit his white candle with hers.

"Let it be done," Xander repeated as he lit Anya's white candle.

Each in the circle repeated the simple closing phrase as they lit their neighbor's candle.

"Let it be done..." Buffy said, looking up from the floor at this boy that she only knew as the man she loved. She began to wonder what he was like when he was a small boy before all of the violence and killing he did as a horrible demon... Her's was the last candle to be lit.

"Body as mind in equal pace," Willow said, giving a nod to the others. "Let it be done."

In unison, all of the participants used the white candles to light the black. The salt of the circle burst into a heatless blood red flame which instantly melted the candles. The black wax flowed across the salt, creating a solid wax circle for the star. A split second later, the flames shot into the star and engulfed Angel completely in a swirl of green and lavender flames.

The flames melted off of Angel as quickly as they had surrounded him, revealing his form as that of the man in his mid-twenties.

The sudden change in height had left him slightly disoriented.

Everyone blew out their two candles.

Buffy got up quickly and gave Angel a big hug... She released him just as quickly, remembering that they had broken up a while ago and now she was in a relationship with Riley.

The others sluggishly began to stand up.

"Everything back to normal?" Anya asked. Not waiting for his reply she continued, "I'll give everyone a ride." She began to walk slowly towards the door.

Dawn quickly ducked past Buffy and also gave Angel a quick hug. "I'm glad you're back."

"Thank you all for helping me," Angel said, giving a large smile to all of them as they headed towards the door.

Willow smiled and waited a moment until Buffy, Dawn, Xander, and Anya nodded and walked out the door giving very quick good buys to Giles and Angel as they left.

"You're welcome... That was amazing..." Willow commented. "In the morning I'll go to the Magic Shop, and walk back here. You don't have to worry, I won't talk to any strangers on the way back here. If you need Buffy, remember that she moved back into her old house with Dawn, and I'll be at my parent's house tonight." She waved quickly to Angel and Giles as she hurried out the door.

"Angel," Giles said after the others had left. "If you have nowhere else to sleep tonight, you are welcome to stay here; there's plenty of room."

"Sure, and thanks again," Angel said, gratefully with another big smile.

"I'll be upstairs... There are some blankets down the hall, in the closet and the couch is fairly comfortable," Giles said as he walked up the staircase. "The leather armchair is also quite restful but it's your decision."

----------------------------------------------------------

That Morning, 10:12 AM

Giles quietly walked down the stairs from his room and into the kitchen. The coffee had already been made. He poured a cup. From the kitchen, he saw Angel's coat was slightly crumpled and laying in the armchair.

Angel appeared in the dim corner, flipping through one of Giles's spell books.

Giles had to look again before he remembered that shadow manipulation was something Angel did regularly. "Good morning," Giles greeted, sipping his coffee.

Angel looked up. "Morning." He continued to read as he walked over to the kitchen table. He sat the book down and closed it. Looking back over to Giles. "Did you sleep well?"

"Fairly well... Have you been up for very long?" Giles asked as he took another sip of coffee.

"Only about an hour... At least Spike isn't staying here anymore; he snores," Angel explained with an annoyed sigh.

"Vampires can snore? But how is that possible when there's no actual movement of air through..."

"No clue," Angel interrupted with a shrug. He flinched at the memory of the noise. "No wonder Dru left him..." He picked up his coffee cup from the table and took a small sip. "Would you like some breakfast?" Angel asked to change the subject. "Cordelia seems to think I'm a good cook."

"If you'd like, but the others will probably be here soon. I'll call to make sure that they're awake," Giles said as he walked over to the phone. He began to dial the number to the Willow and Tara's on-campus dorm room.

"Willow spent the night at her parent's houses," Angel reminded, noticing that he was dialing an unfamiliar number.

Giles pushed down the receiver button and dialed the Rosenburg's number. It rang three times, and then there was an answer.

"Hello?"

"Hello, may I please speak with Willow, please?"

"Speaking... Giles?"

"Have you been to the Magic Shop yet?"

"Yeah, I really appreciate the copy of the key. Anya insisted on opening when I left, but before I left here my parents told me to come right back home so they could talk to me. I got back about twenty minutes ago. They wanted to talk about all sorts of school stuff since I finally stopped in for a visit. Is Buffy over yet?" Willow asked.

"No. When will you be coming?"

"I can probably get out of here in ten minutes. Have you called any of the others? I'm gonna need everyone to help with the spell; Anya, too. They should be there to simply focus their energy or just to add their strength to the circle."

"I haven't called anyone but you; in fact, I just got up a few minutes ago," Giles explained, a little embarrassed.

"You need to call everyone and tell them to get there between 12:30 and 1. I want to start the spell at 2 PM sharp." Willow said. "I'm going to need to set up for the spell, though. Do you have any lunchy foods or should we just order pizza?"

"One moment," Giles said, covering up the microphone part of the receiver and turning to Angel. "How would feel about cooking lunch?"

Angel grinned. "Pizza or burgers?"

"Angel is going to make lunch. Would you like pizza or hamburgers?"

"He can cook?" Willow asked, almost in disbelief, though still in a happy mood. "Apparently, he's a very good cook."

"Pizza would be great."

"Ok. Tell him I'm looking forward to it. I'll see you both soon. Bye," Willow said quickly, hanging up the phone.

----------------------------------------------------------

1:10 PM

Xander came through the door.

"Hey Xand," Angel greeted from the kitchen.

"Hi, Guys. Anya couldn't make it for a while. There was a rush at the store but she might be over later when she finally takes a lunch break. She wanted me to tell you that she really loved chanting and spell stuff last night, but... What smells so good?" Xander asked as he walked over to the others and then into the kitchen.

"Pizza," Willow answered from the floor in the livingroom. "Angel is making it."

"A vampire who can cook?" Xander asked with as much amazement as the others had when they had been told that Angel was cooking.

"Giles didn't have any sausage, pepperoni, bacon, ham or chicken..." Buffy explained as she helped Angel put away the crust-making ingredients.

"Do I really want to hear what's on those pizzas?" Xander asked nervously.

"There's one vegetarian with mushrooms and cheese and one that's just cheese, but both smell really good," Willow assured him. She pointed to a pouch on the table and Giles passed it to her.

"They'll be done in about five minutes," Angel informed the hungry group. "I hope I gave the dough enough time to rise..."

"Wow... A vampire who can cook vegetarian foods from scratch," Xander rephrased with a laugh, though still in unmistakable amazement.

"We were all astonished," Buffy assured.

Angel seemed a little hurt by the comment. "I was human once, too, and occasionally had to prepare a snack for myself. Even as a vampire, food snacks happen."

"But that probably wasn't Italian, with you being Irish," Xander explained, walking over to the couch. He took a seat beside Willow's supplies.

"I'm done," Willow announced happily as she tossed a last handful of herbs into the center of her fresh circle.

"Completely? You are positive that everything is exactly as it should be?" Giles asked nervously.

"Very positive. It's not like this is my first spell."

"It's a very sensitive spell," Giles warned.

"I know; I'm the one who chose it. And I was the one who got Tara's mind back from Glory. You need to have more faith on my ability as a witch," Willow told him with a pout and then a smile as she got up and roamed into the kitchen area.

"Don't worry, Will, food'll be done soon," Buffy said, drying a bowl. She opened the cupboard below the counter and slid it onto a shelf.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding..." the timer rang. Buffy stopped the timer and turned the oven off.

Angel put on the hot mitts and opened the oven. He set the pizza pans on top of the oven as Willow got out the plates. Buffy handed the pizza cutter and a metal spatula to Angel and he began to cut the pizzas. Angel dished out the pizza, and Willow helped to serve them.

Everyone but Angel took a slice. Instead, Angel poured himself another cup of coffee. They sat down at the dining table to eat the pizza.

----------------------------------------------------------

1:45 PM

"I think it's really good," Dawn complimented, dishing herself up the last slice of the cheese pizza. She sat down at the table, eating it quickly.

Angel smiled at his comment. "The secret's in the crust," he explained.

"I'd really like a copy of the recipe. Where'd you find it?" Willow asked, eating the last bit of her second piece of pizza.

Dawn dropped her slice, putting a hand to her head. "I don't feel so goo..." Dawn passed out asleep in her chair.

"What's wrong with her?" Buffy asked frantically, stuffing the last bit of crust into her mouth as she rushed to her sister.

"Is she all right?" Willow shrieked, leaning to Dawn.

Buffy felt for her pulse... Strong... "She's sleeping."

"But all right?" Xander asked for assurance. "What made her fall asleep?"

Angel laughed at their worry. "She will be fine... I hope you don't mind, Willow, but I had to borrow some of your herbs for the crust. The combination I used makes a perfect sleeping drug. A teaspoon of those herbs would make it hard to wake up a vampire for at least an hour," Angel said with a sly smile and a short laugh.

"Why... ?" Xander asked slowly as the herbs began to take effect.

"Angel...?" Willow questioned softly.

"Angelus, actually... You're a better Witch than any of us could have ever thought; thanks for breaking all of those curses. I feel much better," Angelus explained as he began to laugh. "If I'd have had to put up with you guys for much longer, I would have said 'To Hell with the ingenious plan! I want to snap some necks!'."

Willow, Xander, and Giles were terrified, but began to slowly shut their eyes. The drug made them too dizzy to keep their eyes open.

Buffy stood up straight as though prepared to fight, but collapsed onto the floor a few seconds later in a barely conscious daze.

"Sweet dreams, Lover," Angelus called to her.

Buffy was struggling to keep her eyes open, but with little success.

Angelus pulled Xander out of his chair, and dragged him onto the couch.

"Perhaps you'll be less annoying as a vampire than you are as a human... And if you aren't, you'll just become a nice, neat pile of dust; easy for Buffy to clean up," Angelus commented to the unconscious Xander as his face changed into a vampire's.

Angelus leaned over Xander and bit him in the neck, beginning to drain his blood. Angelus withdrew, leaving Xander with enough life left to be changed into a vampire. He used the edge of his thumbnail to slice open his own left wrist.

Suddenly, Anya opened the door and walked in. "You wouldn't believe how many people were buying good luck charms to..." she stopped talking, seeing Angel leaning over Xander with blood on his vampire lips. Anya remembered that there was a big cross on the top of the coat rack for use in case an unwanted vampire refused to leave the property.

Angelus ran at Anya, hoping to stop her from getting whatever weapon she may be reaching for.

She quickly grabbed the cross and held it up at Angel who quickly turned away from the symbol.

As if in defiance, Angel turned back around and went back over to Xander. He freshened the wound he'd made on his wrist so his blood would flow more quickly from the cut. He let the blood, which trickled very slowly, fall into Xander's mouth.

"Get away from him!" Anya yelled as she ran at Angel with the cross. She swung it at him, but he caught it with his right hand, despite the burning the item causes him.

Anya grabbed onto it with both hands. Managing to yank it free from his burnt and weakening hand, she held it back up at him.

Angelus jerked away so quickly that he slipped onto the floor. He slowly got up, brushed off his pants and glared at Anya.

She raised the cross towards him again and began to herd him towards the door with the tool. "Go! Get out of here!" she yelled at him as they neared the door.

Angelus grabbed the blanket, which was laying on the desk, and put it over his head.

"I will be back tonight to finish what I started... If it's not done already," Angelus threatened with clenched teeth. He ran out the open door, across the courtyard, and out the main gate of the apartment complex.

Anya hurried back to Xander, dropping the cross. She felt for his pulse: it was still there, but weak. She noticed the others slumped asleep in the chairs and Buffy spiraled out on the floor.

She picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1 very quickly.

One ring... two... three... "9-1-1, is this an emergency?" a woman's voice answered.

"Yes, I need an ambulance here right away. My boyfriend, Alexander Harris... got cut somehow," she told the woman, remembering that mentioning vampires, even in that town, would only get her cut off the line.

"What is the address?"

"I don't know the numbers! It's Xander's friend's house. You have one of those computer tracing things, don't you? Use that!"

"Yes... Is he unconscious or still bleeding?" the woman asked calmly.

She noticed a cheese string on Xander's shirt, and brought the phone into the kitchen. They had all eaten pizza... She picked up one of the crusts that had been dropped and examined the herbs, and gave a smell... She recognized the smell as an ancient form of sleeping remedy that has been used for centuries by herbalists.

"Ma'am? Are you there?" the woman asked.

"He's been drugged... He and his four friends were given some type of natural sleeping drug... He's stopped bleeding but his pulse is weak," Anya answered.

"Do your friends need medical assistance as well?"

"I don't think so... They're just asleep but is the ambulance coming?" Anya asked frantically.

"Yes, there are two ambulances on the way. One team will examine your friends, and the other will transport your boyfriend to the hospital," the woman answered. "Stay on the..."

Hearing what she needed to, she hung up the phone, and walked back over to Xander to check his pulse again. It wasn't as strong as it had been before, but he was still alive.

Buffy was on the floor, struggling to push herself to her feet.

Anya rushed to her, helping her to her feet, and balancing her with an arm around the waist. The drug was still too strong in Buffy's system for her to remain standing without assistance.

Buffy put a hand to her head, tightly closing her eyes for a moment in an attempt to halt the dizziness.

Anya helped Buffy to a chair, seating her. "What happened? Angel was here, but I don't know what's going on."

"The Spell... Last night," Buffy mumbled, trying to make her voice work.

"What did it do?" Anya asked with surprising patience.

Buffy was gaining more strength each moment, though her words remained a little slurred. "It wiped his curse; not just the age but... the Gypsy curse, too."

There was the sound of the ambulances coming down the street.

"Finally," Anya huffed as she walked out the door to meet the paramedics. They had come very quickly, but even that wasn't fast enough for her.

Three paramedics hurried into the house.

One saw Xander on the couch and began to quickly check vital signs.

The other two went into the dining room, and began to examine the others.

"I need a stretcher in here!" the medic examining Xander yelled.

Two more medics hurried in on either side of a stretcher.

Anya walked back over to Buffy. "Do you think Xander will survive? Angelus was trying to turn Xander, and he got a few drops. Will that small amount do any permanent damage?"

The paramedic was checking Buffy's pulse. "What did you say he was given?" the medic asked Anya. "If it might be dangerous for the patient..."

"Nothing... I was talking to my friend about something else," Anya interrupted the man, turning back to Buffy. "Do you know?"

Buffy shook her head.

The medic left Buffy's side and went to check on the other unconscious ones.

Buffy turned to the medics. "It's just some herbs they were given. Apparently the combination in the pizza recipe makes a sleeping drug... If you want to check us out... Fine... But we don't really need help."

The two medics who weren't checking Xander agreed.

"They do appear to simply be sleeping," one said with a nod.

"How do you feel now that you're awake?" the other asked.

"A little dizzy, but that's all... Just help Xander," Buffy pleeded.

The other medic had put Xander on a stretcher and was helped by the assisting two to carry him out.

Anya followed Xander's stretcher out through the doorway. "I'll be with Xander."

----------------------------------------------------------

Hospital 5:30 PM

Buffy, Giles, Dawn, and Willow all came into Xander's room to see how he was doing. Buffy had told the group what she knew, but Anya had found them and told them exactly what happened after they lost conciseness.

Xander was in a private room. He had been given a blood transfusion and awakened after receiving about a half pint of blood. The Doctor advised that he stay in the hospital overnight.

"How do you feel?" Dawn asked gently.

"Angelus tried to make me into a vampire and almost succeeded. He gave me some of his blood. How do you think I feel?" Xander asked weakly.

"I think she meant physically," Anya said, holding tightly onto Xander's hand.

"It's kinda' bright in here. The blood must have gotten to me some... but it probably won't turn out to be a big," he said more optimistically. "After all... I'm not in the ground and I still have a fairly strong pulse."

"I'm going to have to re-re-curse Angel as soon as I get some fresh supplies," Willow said. "I don't want to risk the old unless I have to, but in a pinch, I'm already set."

"As long as you do it before he can hurt any more people," Buffy explained.

"I say you dust him and be done with it," Xander advised. "Or find a more effective curse. If Angelus and I both survive, last night was officially my last civil act towards Dead Boy, even if he does gethis soul back."

"I... won't... kill him," Buffy confessed.

"The problem wasn't the curse, it was the power of that cleansing spell," Willow said sadly. "I should have phrased it more carefully."

"Don't blame yourself," Xander said kindly. "Blame that Witch with the Staff. If she hadn't zapped Angel to start with, you wouldn't have had to use such a strong spell on him."

Giles had a plan in the event of Buffy's inability to destroy Angelus. "We must first reverse Angel's invitation into our homes; that should keep us alive long enough to curse him... We must also call Cordelia and tell her how to do it as well. Isn't Wesley working with her, too?" "

Dawn nodded. "He can do the spell for her."

"That sounds good. We don't know where he'll go: leave Sunnydale to go back to LA, or stay here until we're all dead," Buffy said sadly.

"Or vampires..." Dawn added fearfully.

"My bet is that he'll torture me for a while, the way Angelus did last time, before he goes back to Cordi, Was, Fred, and Gunn..." Buffy concluded.

"The book should be back at my room and the curse is still on my computer with like ten backup disks and twenty printouts," Willow said. "The Orb is in my trunk of personal supplies, and he hasn't been in town since we all moved in together, so he hasn't been really invited yet; we'll be safe."

"One little thing..." Anya began timidly. "I know where he's going to be at sunset, or around that time. He said he was going to finish what he'd started, which means..."

"... He's coming back for me," Xander finished with a sigh.

"Would the Invite reverse work in a singular hospital room?" Buffy asked.

"No, the open invitation of a hospital leaves doubt," Willow answered. "But we could try it. Let's get to the spell."

Everyone but Anya left.

----------------------------------------------------------

Outside Buffy's house, 6:35 PM

"An hour until sunset... Good, that gives us time to go to the Magic Box for the Un-Inviting stuff and make it back to the hospital before Angel can get there," Buffy said.

"What more could you possibly need from that magic shop?" a deep man's voice asked from the staircase. The man continued to walk up the stairs, loudly humming some melody.

It was Angelus.

Willow put the key in the lock and hurriedly opened the door. Giles and Dawn followed in quickly.

Angelus charged at them. He almost caught Buffy as she made it through the threshold, but Angelus couldn't follow without the invitation.

"Good old sewer system. All rats end up crawling through those pipes eventually," Buffy said harshly, almost with tears in her eyes. She couldn't bare to face Angelus again, even though he wasn't released because of her this time.

"It must be very frustrating," Dawn taunted. "Willow has everything she needs for the Spell of Restoration right in here, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

Willow calmly walked over to the computer and sat down.

"You're not prepared. It takes almost an hour to set up and at least another ten minutes to do the ritual," Angel rationalized. He looked directly at Buffy "That's plenty of time for me to get to the hospital to put the finishing touches on your present."

"If you hurt him, I'll kill you," Buffy threatened. "You dumped me, remember? All I have to do is let two seconds of that pain take over and you'll be dust. I sent you to Hell once and that's when we were dating."

"That would be quite a show. Us fighting again... It's a date," Angelus agreed as he strolled down the hall, back towards the staircase. "Till then, Lover," he laughed as he disappeared down the stairway.

Willow was frantically typing.

She brought the spell up onto the screen and pressed print.

"Angelus was right," Willow said sadly. "From scratch, without the herbs measured and all of the stones properly charged, it will be at least an hour before I can start the spell."

"Change of plans: I'm going to the hospital. I'll be there in about twenty minutes... The rest of you work on getting Angel's soul back," Buffy said, hurrying out of the room.

----------------------------------------------------------

Hospital 7:05 PM

Buffy rounded the corner out of the elevator at the hospital.

Angelus was nowhere in sight.

Buffy walked into the room.

"Thank God," Buffy whispered with a sigh as she walked over to Xander's bedside.

The Doctor was checking Xander's file sheet to see if they were all right.

"He should be fine," the doctor told them as he walked out of the room.

"You haven't seen Angelus around here, have you?" Buffy asked.

Anya and Xander both shook her head 'no'.

They all sat quietly for a few minutes.

Buffy got up and went to the phone. "I can't just sit... I have to see how far along Willow is with that spell... Angelus is strong and I don't know if I could kill him if I wanted to." She dialed Willow's number.

"Hello?" a man answered.

There was no accent in the male voice, so Buffy was a bit confused. "Hi. Who is this?"

"Buffy is that you? It's Riley. I tried to find you last night, but you weren't in. I stopped by Giles's house; you weren't there. I wound up at Willow's and she briefly told me what's happening. Now she wants me to help with the herbs. My first spell... It's very interesting."

"What exactly did she tell you?" Buffy asked.

"She told me that it's a spell to calm down an ex-boyfriend who has become a little bit crazy." Riley answered innocently. "I asked if it was Angel, but Willow said no."

"Thanks, Will. Give me the hard part to fill in," Buffy said in a disappointed tone.

Riley was a bit confused. It sounded simple to him. "What's the hard part?"

"It is Angel. His curse was removed, but not in the traditional 'moment of happiness way'. There's a Witch who can change the age of people, like we told you a couple of nights ago, and she turned Angel into a child. Angel saved me from becoming a child. When Willow did a spell to remove the Witch's age spell, it removed all the spells on him, and now he's a regular vampire again who wants me and my friends dead... You have to stay there; he hasn't been invited and Willow needs that help with the spell," Buffy told him quickly.

"Why didn't you tell me. I might have been able to help... I might have been able to do something other than sit here and do nothing."

"I know," Buffy said quickly. "But the Witch was too strong. Willow was with us when she attacked. I kept Willow out of the way, but if she'd have tried anything, I knew the Witch could have hurt her... If Angel had been human, most of the hits he took would have killed him."

"What's the spell really for?" Riley asked quickly, changing the topic of his human weakness to a solution for the problem at hand.

"To restore Angel's soul again, the way the Gypsies did."

"How do you know that it will work? Why don't you just kill him?"

Buffy had asked herself that question many times before. Everyone seemed to ask that question eventually. She didn't answer him.

"You can't kill him?" Riley volunteered.

"I can't because I know it'll work," Buffy insisted. "Willow has done the spell before, and she'll be able to do it again."

Riley sighed. "You could have told me sooner about Angel's..."

"No, I couldn't," She interrupted. "You went nuts the last time you thought that Angel was evil, and now that he is, if you try to fight him, he'll kill you without a second thought."

"You said he was turned into a kid? Was that Anthony yesterday?" Riley asked, glancing over to Willow who was sitting on the floor of her room next to her spell chest.

Willow looked up at him with the question.

"Did he have long hair, a black t-shirt, and was at my house with Willow?" Buffy asked. "Then it was."

Willow nodded with a shrug. She knew that she shouldn't have ever lied.

"Put Giles on. I need to fill some stuff in," Buffy told him.

"All right, here's Giles."

Giles took the phone from Riley.

"Hello?" Giles answered.

"I beat Angelus to the hospital and Xander and Anya haven't seen him. How far along is Willow with the spell?"

Xander laid in his bed, attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Things like this take time..."

"I have to let you go... I'm a little antsy just sitting here. This whole waiting thing just isn't me. Try to finish the spell before anything can happen. Willow has the number to this room, so give me a call when it's finished. And don't let Riley leave until it's done. I have a feeling he's going to try something stupid."

"Why do you say that?" Giles asked.

"I told him about Angelus..."

"And everything concerning the Witch?"

"Only the basics. I didn't tell him anything about her being able to vanish but I pretty much covered how powerful she is... I did warn him that Angelus would kill him as fast as the Witch if they fought."

"I'll see to it that no one leaves until Willow's done... Bye."

"Bye-bye." Buffy hung up the receiver.

Xander was fully awake but hadn't said anything since she walked in.

It could be fear Buffy thought as she looked to him. "How do you feel?"

"Dizzy... If the room would just stop spinning, it'd be a lot better all around."

"Willow's doing the spell and I'm staying here to protect both of you until she's done... All we can do until then is wait and then I'll look for him so we can solve the real problem: the Witch."

----------------------------------------------------------

7:45 PM

Giles unplugged the phone and sat down across from Willow.

Willow began the spell.

"Neither dead, nor of the living, I invoke you, spirit of the

passing. Return to the body that which distinguishes Man from the

beast! Restore this one's soul..."

The spell appeared to be going well: the candles began to glow brighter and flicker. She said the last verse of the spell...

"That which was lost shall be found. I implore you Lord, do not

ignore this request. Neither dead, nor of the living! Let this orb

be the vessel that will carry his soul to him. So it shall be!"

Nothing happened: The orb didn't light up and the candle flame regressed to its normal, inch high, and steady, self.

"This is bad..." Willow commented.

"What went wrong?" Giles asked, thoroughly confused by it.

"You told me last time that there was a light in the orb when it worked," Dawn pointed out for the group. "Remember?" she asked Willow. "Buffy didn't want me with you other guys, so I asked about a million questions about what it was like."

Giles nodded, remembering Willow's slight complaining over the amount of questions she was being asked.

"I did everything the way it was written on Ms. Calendar's computer disk; the same way I did it before only..." she reached quickly opened her trunk, digging through it. She picked out a book: her old diary. Flipping through it, she stopped at one section to read aloud:

" '... It felt so strange. I think the only reason it worked was because I was weak enough to be taken over by the power of the Gypsy who did the curse in the first place. It felt like I was being controlled; like another power took me over and did the spell as it was meant to be done by that Gypsy clan one hundred years ago,' " Willow recited, getting an idea.

"You think the only way for the spell to work again is for you to be extremely weak?" Giles asked.

"We'll try it again but this time I could Channel the Gypsy so we can do the spell," Willow suggested objectively, hiding how happy she was to try some new type of magic.

"Let me get this straight: you're going to summon a spirit to possess you and it will do the spell?" Riley asked, still in minor amazement at the thought of hocus-pocus, fairy-tale magic actually happening in front of him.

"Yep," Willow answered as she began to dig around in her trunk again. She pulled out one of her spell books and flipped through it.

"Oh," Riley said in shock. "I just wanted to be clear."

She found the spell quickly, and began taking out supplies.

"What should we do?" Giles asked her.

"You two can start to setup of the Restoration Spell again while I start calling the Gypsy," Willow instructed.

----------------------------------------------------------

In the Hospital Room; 8:10 PM

"They should have called by now," Buffy said impatiently, looking up at the wall clock.

"Relax. They'll call when everything is done," Xander said softly.

"I can't relax. My ex is out there killing people! It's been twenty minutes since sunset in Sunnydale; he'll find a group of crazy vamps who decide that tonight's a good night to kill everyone on Main Street... And then it would be my fault and my mess to clean up," she said, frustrated.

They sat quietly for a few moments.

"I'm calling again," Buffy announced, walking over to the phone. She dialed the dorm's number.

Ring... Ring... A voice came on the line, "The number you have dialed is currently out of survive. If you'd like to place a call, please hang up and try again... The number you have..."

Buffy hung up the receiver. "The phone has been disconnected."

"You should check on the others. There might be something wrong... I was almost dead and he hasn't been here yet so, maybe, he thought that I was too far gone to be helped by the medics," Xander commented hopefully.

"You'll be all right?"

"Yes, yes, you go stop your psycho boyfriend... I'll be here to protect my normal one," Anya told her quickly as though it wasn't even important to discuss.

Buffy nodded. "I'll call or stop by when everything's back to normal... I'll tell one of the nurses not to release any information on you in case Angelus decides to check up on you..." She walked out the door.

----------------------------------------------------------

Buffy walked down the darkening street towards Willow's room.

Since the sun was well below the horizon, she expected, and hoped, to run into a vampire any time now.

"Here vampy-vampy-vampy... Come out and play with the angry, little Slayer," she coaxed into the empty street.

Nothing popped out to attack her; for once her stroll was uneventful.

She arrived at the campus footpaths.

From behind one tree, a vampire jumped out.

It tried to punch her, she ducked and easily dusted him.

"That was really exhilarating," she commented sarcastically as she continued down the path. "So much for comfort Slayage."

----------------------------------------------------------

8:40 PM

Buffy came through the dorm room door, worried of what she might find in case Angelus had somehow been able to enter.

Giles, Riley, Dawn, and Willow were on the floor in a circle. Riley was waving an incense wrap around in the air, while Giles and Dawn were tossing around herbs, and Willow appeared to be meditating and whispering a Spell.

Riley looked over to Buffy and put a fingers to his lips, signaling her not to interrupt.

Buffy slowly tip-toed over to the bed and sat down to watch what they were doing.

Willow stopped chanting and began to sway in her trance, eyes still shut.

Her eyes popped open with a solid, straight ahead stare. In a deeper, almost angry voice, she began to call out the Restoration Spell in another language:

"Nici mort, nici de-al fiintei, Te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Reda trupului

ce separa omul de animal! ...utrespur acestui... Quod perditum est invenietur."

The orb began to glow.

"Te implor Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte. Nici mort,

nici al fiintei! Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta

sufletul la el. Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum! Acum!"

The dim white light left the orb, but Willow continued chanting.

Giles began to get worried. If the Spell is finished, then why isn't she out of the trance? Giles asked himself.

The candles flickered and a new, brighter light came into the orb. It was white with a slight trace of gold.

Willow began chanting a new incantation.

As soon as she stopped speaking, the candles extinguished themselves, the white light vanished, and Willow fainted, falling back against her trunk.

Riley and Giles quickly leaned over to make sure she was all right.

"Is she ok?" Dawn asked the men.

Willow was still breathing but unconscious.

"Yes," Riley answered as he attempted to wake her.

Giles got to his feet with a worried expression.

"Did it work?" Buffy asked urgently, jumping to her feet.

Giles didn't answer, he merely starred at the orb, deep in thought.

"Giles!" Buffy called urgently.

"... Umm... Oh... Yes I believe the spell was a success," he answered, still sounding a bit distant.

"Then why are you in ponder mode?"

Giles snapped out of his thought and looked over at Buffy.

"What? Did something in the Spell go funky?" Dawn asked, worried by his evasion of a direct answer. "It looked the way Willow told me it had before..."

"It's just..." Giles began again, his voice fading out again without a clear answer.

"Spit it out!" Buffy ordered. "If there is something wrong; tell me!"

"Last time, the orb only lit up one time; this time it happened twice," Dawn commented, realizing what might be wrong with the Spell compared to the last.. "That's what Xander told me and Willow never said anything about a second light."

"Willow needed to do the incantation twice, even when the Gypsy was doing the spell. I hadn't expected her to be unsuccessful at capturing his soul. It could be nothing but the second chant sounded slightly different from the first," Giles answered. "As the spell goes, part of the first verse is the reason for the curse... That's what was different; only one or two words, if I understood the rhythms correctly."

"Yeah and the orb thing lit up twice..." Buffy agreed, matching Giles's far-out tone. After a moment, she asked in childish, concerned voice, "Is that bad?"

"Not necessarily," Giles answered, still thinking through the possibilities. "It could be something as simple as Willow's cleansing spell still being in place."

"Cleansing Spell? What did that do... besides cleanse?" Riley asked. He didn't know anything at all about magic.

"The curse remover..." Dawn explained. "Last night we used it to break the age-curse on Angel, so it might still be working to protect him from magic."

Willow began to wake up. "D... Did it work?" she asked softly as she sat up.

"Yes it did work," Giles answered, more confident then he had been when answering Buffy.

"I should find Angel just to make sure. I came here because the phone was disconnected. New rule: never unplug the phone when we are in an emergency situation. Even if you're doing a ritual to summon the hundred year old spirit of a Gypsy. That goes for a spell to restore the soul of my two-hundred year old vampire-of-an-ex-boyfriend, too," Buffy ordered seriously.

Riley quickly got to his feet. "I'll come, too," he volunteered. "If it didn't work, you'll need help." Riley helped Willow off the floor and over to her bed so she could be more comfortable.

"That sounds like a very good idea. If the spell didn't work, Angelus would be much stronger than he was the last time you fought," Giles told her.

"All right," Buffy agreed reluctantly. "I need to call Xander at the hospital before we start the man..."

"In a matter of speaking," Riley interrupted very quickly.

Buffy glared at him with slightly clenched teeth as she finished her sentence, "...hunt."

She walked over to the phone, plugged it in, and dialed the hospital room's number.

Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... There was no answer.

Buffy hung the phone up very slowly; she was deep in rational thought considering what the cause may be for them not answering. She realized that it must be because of Angelus.

"The hospital... Right now," Buffy ordered, rushing to the door.

Riley picked up his jacket and followed quickly behind her.

----------------------------------------------------------

Hospital 9:12 PM

Buffy and Riley rushed out of the elevator and almost ran down the hall. As they got closer to the room, they began to hear a very frightening noise ahead of them.

There was a loud, unwavering beep coming from Xander's room.

When they reached the doorway they saw that his room was filled with hurrying doctors. One of them had the crash cart with its paddles charging.

Xander's heart monitor was reading flat-line; he didn't have a pulse.

There were so many nurses in the room, she could barely see that Anya lay in the far corner near the chair, unconscious.

Buffy's eyes filled with tears as Riley held her back from going into the room.

"Let them do their job," Riley urged, almost yelling, as he dragging her into the hall. "They'll bring him back."

Buffy saw that there was blood on his lips, not only on his neck... Angelus has turned him into a vampire.

"Let go!" she yelled, throwing him off of her so violently that he fell to the hard floor. She didn't even notice. All she cared about was saving Xander.

"Clear!" his doctor ordered.

She regained control of herself.

"You have to pump his stomach!" she yelled to the medics. "That's the only chance you have of saving him!"

One of the nurses yelled, due to the tension in the room, a reply, "We've already done that. His cousin told us to try!"

"Clear!" the doctor ordered more loudly than he had the other five times.

Buffy stood in the doorway, in shock of what was happening to her friend of over five years... "Cousin...?" she whispered, confused.

Riley stood behind her and slowly put his hands on her shoulder, so as to not irritate her into flipping him back to the ground.

Buffy began to cry softly again, unable to hide her grief.

"Let's call it," the doctor suggested sadly as he put the paddles back on the crash cart. He looked over at Buffy and Riley's traumatized faces.

The nurse looked up at the wall clock. "Alexander Harris... Time of death: 21:18," she decided, also saddened by their failure.

The doctor walked over to the two of them. "We spent twenty-nine minutes trying to resuscitate him. I'm always sorry when a young person's life comes to such an abrupt end. If his cousin, Anthony, hadn't gotten a nurse, Alexander's chance of surviving would have been even less. We think someone did this to him, but apparently there were no witnesses, and whoever did this unplugged his heart monitor so the nurses didn't even realize that anything had happened to. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss." The doctor slowly walked out of the room.

The nurses began to leave the room.

Riley slowly guided Buffy out of the way of the medical staff and their crash cart.

When all of them had left, Buffy staggered back into the room. Tears flowed from her eyes without expression in her reddened face.

Three people were left in the room.

Xander's dead body; Anya propped in the far corner with a bandage above her eyebrow, still sleeping; and the last figure: a dark-clad man in the nearer corner... It was Angel. He didn't look up. He just sat with his head buried in his folded arms, knees drawn up to his chest. It was as though he were trying to make himself as small as possible in that large, brightly lit room.

The only sound in the room, other than Anya's heavy breathing, was a soft weeping coming from Angel's corner... It was Angel, crying.

"Angel?" Buffy whisper as civil-sounding as possible.

When he heard her voice his sobbing became louder for a few moments. Then he drew in one last breath, as though that would lessen the tears, and lifted his head. Angel slowly got to his feet.

"I - I was killing him. Xander started taking blood from my wrist. Then it was l-like I just woke up from some sort of nightmare; I didn't know where I was or how I'd gotten here from Giles's house and the circle. There was a light; I didn't know what was happening..." He was obviously in shock as tears continued to roll down his cheek. Angel became more alert as he looked directly at Buffy.

Buffy stared at him with a stern expression. Inside, though, her heart was breaking as she saw the suffering in his eyes.

"The light: it passed into me. When he fell onto the pillow there was a light inside of him, too. Gold and white... beautiful... and I could see it... I didn't remember anything yet, but I got the nurse... I'm so sorry." Angel covered his face with his hands as he continued to have his breakdown.

Buffy couldn't maintain her hurtful expression.

Angel had stopped the actual sobbing, though tears continued to roll down his cheeks. He wiped the tears away from his face with both hands.

Riley stood, amazed that such a brutal killer could shed tears of guilt.

Buffy slowly walked over to Angel and they wrapped their arms around each other.

Riley was shocked at Buffy's sudden sympathy towards Xander's killer. He had never seen a vampire cry. Frankly, he didn't think they still could. He realized quickly that even though Angel was the cause of a friend's death, it didn't effect how much she loved him.

----------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, 12:10 AM

Xander's eyes opened. A sheet was over his face but he pulled it back down to his waist, a little startled by it's position. The room seemed much brighter now than it had when he'd fallen asleep and he felt achy all over.

"God, Anya, I had the weirdest dream..." Xander announced quietly as he rubbed his eyes, and stretched his arms. He didn't bother looking around the room; she hadn't left his side for more than five minutes since he had been put into that hospital room that afternoon.

He pressed the button next to him which raised up the back on the bed, letting him sit up comfortably. He felt much stronger than he had before his nap, and felt that he was ready to be released from the hospital that very second. His lips were dry; he was thirsty.

Xander suddenly realized that Anya wasn't in the room.

He heard two women crying in the hall, and someone who sounded like Buffy trying to calm them down.

"Buffy? Is that you out there? Who's crying?" Xander called into the hall.

The hall became silent.

"Is anyone out there?" he called, worried.

Buffy slowly stepped into the doorway, glaring at him with crossed arms.

"What's wrong?" Xander asked, genuinely clueless as to what had happened.

She continued to stare at him silently.

"Did I do something wrong? I have a great alibi for whatever it is you think I did: I've been soundly sleeping for at least the past," Xander looked over at the clock, "Wow... three hours. If you don't believe me, I'll give a horrifyingly detailed account of my nightmare."

Buffy still didn't answer.

"Say something already!" Xander yelled. "The suspense is killing me!"

A red-faced, teary-eyed Willow popped her head around the corner to look in on him. She burst into tears seeing him and pulled her head back into the hall.

"Willow?" Xander called. "What happened? Did Angelus kill someone…? Well, someone we know anyway? He's probably killed more than a few people by now."

Angel stepped into the doorway next to Buffy, his usual composure regained. "Six; that's not counting you."

"What?" Xander asked Buffy, confused by the comment as well as why she was letting Angelus stand so closely to her.

Willow sobbed loudly in the hall.

Xander turned to Angel, giving him an icy glare. He didn't trust Angel, so, keeping his eyes on the enemy, spoke only to Buffy. "Since you don't appear to be kicking Dead Boy's ass, I assume Willow's spell worked," Xander deducted with clenched teeth, still receiving no reply. He looked back to Buffy, his face softening for his friend. "Would all those who are still alive please raise their hands?" Xander's arm shot up into the air giving the others a little wave.

It suddenly occurred to Buffy what might have happened. "What's the last thing you remember?" Buffy asked, hoping that her theory was right.

Xander thought hard for a moment before answering. "After you left, I fell asleep and had a really weird nightmare. It's like I'm still dreaming 'cuse now I'm awake and all of my friends are acting like people who don't know me."

"Why do you think you were dreaming?" Angel asked, questioning him the way Buffy had begun to do. He figured he would follow along with whatever Buffy was trying to get at. The least he could do now is pay attention to one of her sudden ideas after what he'd done to one of her two closest friends.

"Because, Dead Boy, I had a nightmare. They seem to happen a little more easily when someone is asleep and, considering I just woke up, that seems to bring us back to the whole idea that I was dreaming. Besides, in the dream, you turned me into a vampire," Xander explained. "That didn't..." Xander suddenly realized what they were all acting strange about. "It didn't... It couldn't..."

"It did," Buffy told him softly.

"I-I'm dead and-and a vampire?" Xander asked with a terrified stutter.

Buffy nodded. "You are." It hurt her to accept it but it was a truth she'd have to face within the next few minutes... when she would be forced to kill him.

Xander's jaw dropped. He didn't know what to say so he began to ramble. "I can't be dead! I don't... I mean... Dying would be on my list of things that would be kinda' hard to forget; at the top in fact!"

"Calm down," Buffy advised, relaxing her stance a bit. I'm trying to comfort a regular, evil vampire...I'm the one who needs to get a grip she thought to herself.

Xander tried to find his pulse. Neck: none. Frantically tried his wrist: nothing. "S-So I'm a permanent member of Dead Boy's Fake-n-Bake Fan Club?!"

"Yes," Angel answered calmly, not really sure why it needed to be explained. When a new vampire wakes up, they know exactly what's going on. "What else would that make you?"

"A person with a pulse who had a nightmare," Xander clarified, still in shock.

Buffy took a few steps back, into the hall. From that place, she could keep an eye on Xander, and include the others in her explanation for the questionnaire. "Giles, you went all wiggy about the orb lighting up two times and the second set of words being a little messy. I think the second light in the orb was Xander's soul. Why else would he act so like his... alive self?"

Angel turned his head, keeping his eyes glued on Xander for a moment before looking to the others. "There was a light after Xander let go of my wrist. Is that what it was? I've never seen a light show like that when I've… before..." Angel stopped talking, embarrassed.

"Bastard!" Xander yelled at Angel as he collapsed the safety rail and got out of bed. He was clad in bright red, moose print, snap-button pajamas. He buttoned up the pajama shirt, which the nurses had pulled open, as he got to his feet.

Angel made no comment as Xander walked right up to face him.

Buffy didn't move, either, when Xander came close to her. She had confidence in her old friend's self control. She knew that as a vampire he would be different, but with a soul, the change wouldn't be as great

Xander had anger in his eyes as he stared at Angel. Xander's face transformed into a vampire as he quickly delivered a right hook into Angel's jaw, sending Angel sailing across the hospital hall and into the wall.

Buffy ran over to help Angel, who was already getting to his feet.

Xander stood where he was, still inside the room, shaking his sore hand. His hand wasn't used to punching a person, let alone a strong vampire with an iron jaw. He was shocked by his new strength, but also pleased that he was finally able to punch Angel so effectively.

"I'm ok," Angel reassured Buffy as he straightened his back and looked over to Xander. "I deserved that."

"And a Hell of a lot more!" Xander added, taking a small step into the hallway. He noticed the others were there but he ignored them. The shock of his own strength began to fade, until all that was left in his face was the anger. The fire from this anger almost felt good to him in a way he'd never experienced before. "You took my life away, and if I get the chance, and a nice sharp sword, I'll hack you to pieces limb by limb just to give you a taste of what I'm feeling right now!" He felt light-headed suddenly, and all of his muscles felt weak.

Dawn had streaks of tears running down her cheeks. Seeing him, she stopped crying, though she quickly hid behind Riley for protection. Xander was being violent and she was scared of what a vampire might do.

Willow watched, terrified, as she backed away from Xander to hide between Riley and Giles. She couldn't believe that Xander was good after he'd threatened to do something like that.

Xander's rage faded as he suddenly realized that all of his friends were staring at him. He looked over at them. They all seemed almost as scared of him as Willow was. He then realized that he looked like a vampire and he knew what they must be thinking about him. Xander transformed back into his human face. A wave of dizziness hit and he caught his balance with hand to the door frame.

Everyone was nervous about Xander's behavior.

"Hey, guys, I'm sorry about that but how do you think you'd you feel? The least I could do is send him sailing into a wall and make an empty threat on his life," Xander explained calmly, returning to his slightly goofy, Xander-like manner.

Anya wasn't there.

"Or maybe not so empty; where's Anya?" Xander asked quickly, letting both the question and the comment flow together seamlessly.

"She's in Radiology. The doctor wants to make sure that she doesn't have a broken jaw," Riley answered, giving an angry glare at Angel. "The nurses told us to wait here, and that it would be only a couple of minutes until she was done."

"You hit her?" Xander asked Angel calmly, remembering the details of the nightmare that was really happening.

Angel nodded.

"Does she know; know that I'm still me anyway?" Xander asked slowly. He began to feel what was inside him: the hunger. Every muscle in his body hurt and felt stiff. Now he felt even weaker as the hopelessness of the situation finally hit him.

"No," Willow answered nervously. "Are you really still you? I've never heard you threaten anyone like that before." She moved a little closer to Riley. Riley could protect her if Xander really was just pretending to be good.

"You're scaring all of us," Dawn told him, looking at his cautiously from behind Riley's right arm.

"Willow did the spell, so it must have worked," Xander complimented.

"How do you feel?" Willow asked, doing her own form of the Buffy's vampire quiz. "Would you really do that to Angel; dismember him with a sword?"

"You know what being a vampire means and Angel's the one who killed me. I can't imagine killing someone slowly with a sword; even Angel. If I wanted to kill that vamp, I'd just try to stake him." Xander sighed. "I don't feel... much... different. Stronger than before, maybe, and definitely more scared now than I was waiting for Mr. Phantom Menace over there to attack me. The only way to describe everything else is: weird... From my ramblings in this uncomfortable situation, I trust that you caught the simple translation of: yes, I'm still very much me," Xander answered. "All me and probably in severe shock; if I had a pulse, it'd be faster than a hummingbird and I'd be passed out on the floor right now."

Willow gave a tiny smile, seeing Xander's humor coming back. She took a couple of small steps closer to him, still a little scared despite his reassurances. Then she ran into his arms, crying again.

Xander wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her tears.

"You're so cold," Willow whimpered.

"It comes with the territory," Xander explained somberly.

Willow released him, giving a relieved smile through her tears.

Xander matched her smile and wiped away a tear with his thumb. "I'll be all right." As he touched her warm skin, he felt the demon inside of him again; this time it wanted to take control. He took a step away from her and had a suddenly concerned expression on his face.

"What is it?" Willow asked, worried for her best friend.

Xander considered how to phrase the answer. The feeling was hard to describe. "I feel... kind of strange; a little... light-headed."

Willow was still worried. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah, probably," Xander assured. "Again with the shock... That's probably the cause."

Dawn came out from her hiding place, seeing that Willow wasn't scared. She was finally able to get a good look at Xander, and he didn't look much different, other than the slightly pale skin. She was curious of how his skin felt since she'd never had a reason to touch any vampire's skin, not even Angel's. Her quick hug to Angelus that afternoon had been the first time she'd ever done that. Know the old saying she thought to herself curiosity killed the cat... She slowly walked up to Xander and gave him a hug.

Xander accepted it, gently wrapping his arms around her. He felt the sensation again. He quickly let her go, taking another step away for his friends. "I've been in a terrified shock before and traumatized shock before, but this feeling isn't..." he stopped, putting a hand to his head, feeling the dizziness again.

"Are you all right?" Dawn asked quickly. "Feeling weird again?"

Angel knew what was going on but wasn't sure if it would be right for him to comment. One of them would understand soon enough.

It popped into Willow's head what the problem might be. "Are you..." She couldn't finish the sentence; her voice wouldn't let her accept that Xander was a demon. She swallowed hard, regaining her voice. "Are you hungry?"

Xander couldn't answer. He suddenly realized that he was hungry; very hungry. Then he couldn't allow himself to believe that he was a killer; not now, or ever... Xander shook his head no. He decided to change the subject. "Being dead, and all, why didn't they take me to the morgue?"

"They mentioned that the morgue is completely full-up, so when we asked that you remain in here the nurses seemed almost relieved," Giles told.

Buffy and Angel made their way back into the group's conversation.

"That just shows the survival rate of people who check into at Sunnydale General," Xander commented with a serious expression, "like a Roach Motel."

"We were planning to take you away from here, or kill you right here if we had to," Giles explained, still not sure weather or not to trust Xander.

"But the hospital does think I'm dead," Xander pointed out. "Won't they see me walking out?"

"Good point," Buffy said quickly, motioning for him to get back into the room. "They called your mom, too... You'd better get dressed so we can get you out of here through the ambulance entrance."

"God... Mom. What can I say to her? She has to know that I'm not dead, or in this case, the fact that I'm in no need of a reservation at the cemetery."

"Have you talked to her lately? Made any plans?" Giles asked him, thinking of a possible solution.

Xander nodded a little. "Dinner; at home; this Sunday. They're crazy but my Mom wants to see me once every few months, if not a little less frequently."

Buffy thought for a moment, and then had a plan. Escorting him back into the room, she explained, "We'll go back to Giles house... You call her from there and pretend that nothing is wrong. Be like 'Hi, Mom, I have to cancel for Sunday; I have to work.' If she starts rambling about the hospital call, calm her down, and say you're clueless but totally not dead…'" She paused a moment and tried to correct herself, "I mean '...Totally all right.'"

"Good game plan" Xander complimented with a worried smile. "I'll be out in a minute."

Buffy went back out the door, shutting it behind her.

----------------------------------------------------------

12:35 AM

Xander opened the door, dressed in what he had worn that afternoon when he'd been drugged and attacked.

Anya was there, sitting next to Riley, waiting for him to come out. Her jaw was badly bruised and the small Band-Aid remained just above her eyebrow. She jumped up and ran into his arms without any hesitation.

"Are you all right?" Xander asked.

"The jaw's not broken. Your friends told me what happened... They said we couldn't spend much time together but what I really think they meant is that we can't have sex," Anya whined.

The others had been interested in the couple's reunion conversation but turned away from it quickly, uncomfortable, as usual, because of Anya's completely tactless remarks concerning private matters.

Xander pried her away from him and back away, just as he had his other happy friends. He turned to the others, ready to ask a question

Anya turned him back around to face her.

"Are we going to stand here all night talking? We need to go so we can find a way to get my Xander back to normal." Anya motioned for them to start heading to the exit.

"There isn't anything we can do about that. Right now, anyway," Buffy explained sadly.

"When we get to the house, we must concentrate on the Witch before we let personal matters get in the way," Giles decided. Even though he really wanted to help Xander, he knew that more people would die if they didn't stop that Witch. He also knew that it would take much longer to find a cure for Xander, if there even was one.

Anya grabbed Xander's hand, dragging him down the hall towards the exit. The others followed.

The hall turned left and on the upper corner there was a curved mirror. It allowed people who were walking to see not only themselves but around the corner to the automatic sliding doors of the ambulance's emergency entrance.

They all walked quickly so no one would notice them.

Looking in the mirror, he was momentarily startled to see only six of the eight people reflected in the mirror--Anya's hand was stretched behind her but in the mirror she wasn't holding onto anything.

They walked out the doors.

----------------------------------------------------------

1:05 AM

They pulled up in front of Giles's house and all unloaded from Riley's truck. (Which wasn't exactly graceful with eight people crammed into a truck that was built to carry no more than six.)

Riley was last in line with Xander ahead of him.

The others quickly entered the house.

Xander, upon attempting to pass through the doorway, reacted so badly to running into the wall that he jumped back from the house's invisible barrier and stumbled backwards into Riley.

"Xander doesn't have an invitation," Angel pointed out seriously.

"Oh, Xander, I'm sorry," Giles apologized, not at all amused by the collision.

Riley had rolled off the steps, winded from the fall.

Xander got to his feet and helped Riley up. "Sorry about that," Xander apologized somberly.

"You can come in," Giles told him.

Xander motioned for Riley to go ahead of him, in case of another mishap, and they both walked in as they brushed off their clothing.

"You have to call your Mom," Buffy told him. "We'll find a way to get you back to normal, but until then, it won't seem too strange to your mom if you avoided going back to visit."

Xander walked over to the phone, hesitated a moment, then picked up the receiver and finally dial the number.

"Just remember what I said," Buffy coached as he put the phone to his ear, "Play like you're clueless about the hospital."

Ring... Ring... Ring... "Hello?" answered a woman quietly.

"Hi, Mom, I have..."

"Xander!" Jessica screeched, cutting off his sentence.

Xander answered her calmly, "Yeah, Mom, it's me."

"You're all right?!" She had screamed so loudly into the phone that he had to pull the receiver a couple of inches away from his ear.

"I'm fine, Mom," Xander reassured calmly.

"The hospital called and said that you had died! I couldn't bare to come down, but they said you were dead!"

"I'm not dead; I'm very much still here," Xander said, raising his eyebrows. "I haven't even been near the hospital in a week. I've been over at Mr. Giles's house since this afternoon. I just called to tell you that I have to cancel for this Sunday afternoon. I might be coming down with something, so I want my free day open to sleep off the bug."

"You're welcome here to sleep it off," his mom sobbed, shedding tears of joy. "I'm just so glad that you're all right, and want to see you soon."

"Mom, you can relax now. I'll see you later. You don't have to worry about me; my friends would never let anything happen," Xander reassured.

"All right... Bye."

"Bye." Xander hung up the phone. He had a sad look on his face as he walked to the couch and sat down. "So, Dead Boy, when'ssunrise?"

Buffy answered before Angel could. "Around 5:50, I think."

"You'll be able to feel it when it's close," Angel added. "You won't need a clock."

"Willow, do you have still have the Spells against the Witch marked in the book?" Buffy asked.

Willow walked over to the table to check. "Yeah, and everything is on the floor, ready to go."

"Xander, up for doing the Spells?" Buffy asked him.

"Yeah, sure, whatever we need to do." He sounded distant and even more depressed.

Buffy walked over and took a seat next to Xander.

"What, besides the obvious cursed vampire thing, is wrong?" Buffy asked kindly.

"That's the big cause for all the little things... It's just my Mom. It was hard to talk to her, especially to lie to her, now. I guess I ignored the fact that she cared about me so much and now I'll never really be her son again."

Buffy sighed, placing her hand on his. "Xander, you'll always be her son. I think that within a month, if everything's not back to normal, you'll have to tell the truth. Choking on over-garlic-ed, Italian food the first night you decide to come home for a visit would freak her out if you didn't tell her that you're suddenly allergic to garlic, holy water, crosses, and sunlight, although virtually undamaged by implements," Buffy tried to make him laugh or at least feel better, but it wasn't working.

"I can't... I just can't deal with this... It's been two hours, and it's already hard not to go crazy. I'm going to live for soooo long like this, and I don't know if I can survive another five minutes."

Willow spoke up uncomfortably at his claim of going crazy, "What kind of crazy: nuts crazy or Grr crazy."

"Both!" he yelled suddenly. "I have to keep focused almost every second so I don't start jumping up and down screaming or growling like a lunatic. I'm just afraid I might do something; that I may hurt one of you! I can't even think straight right now!" Xander jumped up and headed for the door, then stopped suddenly, as though confused. He didn't really know where he should go with so much happening.

Angel moved towards Xander.

"Get away from me," he yelled at Angel, stepping away from him.

He turned to the others with a chuckle. Again the dizziness hit him and he went quickly back to sadness. "I'm sorry... I just..." Xander couldn't excuse the outburst. "I guess I'm just having a mild breakdown."

"It's understandable," Giles said sympathetically.

"You just have to calm down," Angel suggested. "If you're calm, it's easier to restrain yourself. The more anger and hatred you have, the more the demon can decide how you act."

"I don't want your advice... I barely want your help, but since I need it so I'll shut up now." Xander folded his arms, waiting for the others to get the ball rolling on the whole spell thing.

Anya walked over to Xander. "You'll be fine, eventually. Besides, look how long Angel lasted without happiness."

"And then he became a murderer who got his jollies from seeing his girlfriend suffer through the death of one friend and the continuous misery, terror, and torture of her other friends," Xander pointed out bitterly, glaring at Angel again.

"Spell Time!" Willow announced so Anya would stop trying to make Xander feel better. She motioned for everyone to surround the circle.

They did as they were instructed; everyone sat around the edge of the powder-defined circle. The fake staff was in the very center.

Willow sat down last. "Join hands and shut you eyes. All you have to do is concentrate, or at least pay attention to, the words of the Spell. It's very, very short, so don't worry."

She began:

Spirits of the darkness speed,

The Staff of Ages for us you retrieve.

Switch the...

There was a knock at the door which distracted from the Spell. Willow stopped speaking and everyone opened their eyes.

Giles got to his feet to open the door.

"We can start the Spell again in a few minutes," Willow told everyone, nervous of who they might find at the door.

Giles opened the door.

It was Tara.

"Hello, Tara. Come in, Willow is in the other room," he said with a relieved tone.

Tara gave a small, shy nod. "Thanks."

Willow stood up and greeted her with a hug. "You're back early! Did you have a nice vacation?"

"Yeah, I had to come back early... Actually, I wasn't having a very good time. The normal aunt turned out to be cookie-cutter normal; hence the boredom," Tara confessed, looking around at the condition of the house. "You're doing a Spell? For what?"

"There's been a lot of horrible things happening in the last few nights," Willow told her.

"What things?"

Willow explained things very quickly. "There's a bad Witch who has a Staff that can change the age of anyone. Adults into babies, or children, or old people; all just to take their money. Angel was turned into a child, and..."

Tara looked at the people in the circle. There was one face she didn't recognize. "Who's Angel?" Tara interrupted.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I totally forgot about everyone else..." Willow apologized.

Anya and Buffy gave a little wave and smile.

"Hey, Tara," Riley greeted.

Xander gave a weak wave with a sad expression.

Angel gave a nod of acknowledgment, not really knowing who Tara was.

"What's wrong with Xand..." Tara began, splitting the sentence as she figured things out. She was shocked by what she was picking up on. "Oh..."

"That pretty much explains it," Xander agreed, knowing Tara could sense something was strange.

"With a soul?" Tara asked for clarification.

Angel perked up at the short, cryptic conversation.

"Yep," Xander replied simply.

"Am I missing something?" Angel asked, confused.

"Angel, this is Tara; Tara, Angel. He is Buffy's ex boyfriend and..." Willow didn't really want to break that to her, hoping that she'd know.

"... A vampire... Also with a soul," Tara finished.

"Yeah, Gypsies returned his soul as a curse. The only way it could be broken is if that soul brings him one moment of true happiness. The happiness would remove his soul, turning him back into a bad vamp again," Willow explained. "It's the same spell being used on Xander."

"How did you know?" Angel asked, shocked and confused by Tara's knowledge.

"Oh, I'm a Witch," Tara explained shyly. "I can tell when there's something different about a person's energy... or in your cases: soul. I c-can kinda see what's in them."

Willow smiled at her modesty. "She was the only one who realized that Buffy wasn't herself when Faith switched their bodies. She's really powerful and will be able to help a lot against the Witch."

"What happened after Angel was turned into a child?" Tara asked, remembering the last point to Willow's story.

"When I did the Spell to reverse the age spell, it reversed all the curses on him... We have to do this spell soon, so I'll skip major details: Bad Angelus turned Xander into a vampire... It seems as though it was at the exact moment it was happening that I was doing the Gypsy spell to return Angel's soul so, somehow, it worked on Xander, too."

"Willow, you should have called me, I'd have come back sooner. In fact, you'd have really been doing me a favor," Tara laughed.

"Most of this has happened in the last 24 hours," Buffy explained. "The Angel being bad, Xander vampire thing, but the Witch has been around here for about three days."

"What does the Witch want; why'd she come to town?" Tara asked.

Xander shrugged. "We think she's looking for something."

"She's picked the pockets of every victim, so it seems," Giles added.

"So what Spell are you doing?" Tara asked. "Something to find what the Witch is looking for, or something else?"

"Her Staff; we're going to bring it here," Riley answered, still a little unsure of how the whole magic thing worked.

Willow grabbed the book from the table and opened it to her spell. "I have it memorized... I did adjust it a little to fit the cause, but I pretty much got it out of the book. It's short and seemed like a good choice."

Tara took the book and reviewed the Spell with a nod. "This should work. I-I've heard of it being used, but seems so simple that sometimes it gets messed up if they don't have a clear image of what they're looking for."

"Messed up how?" Anya asked.

Tara shrugged. "Nothing detailed; just something wrong. Logically, the things being moved might go to a different place than it should. The Staff might end up on the front steps or down the street... I've never heard a first hand account."

"What do you suggest we do in order to correct that possible defect?" Giles asked her.

Tara walked over to the circle and sat next to Xander.

Xander was a bit surprised that Tara had sat down so comfortably near him. Even his life-long friend, Willow, had been freaked-out by what happened. Even Dawn seemed uncomfortable around him and she'd had an incurable crush on him at one point, presumably meaning she'd be head-over-heals no matter the situation.

"Other than Giles, Willow, and myself, who hasn't yet had a clear look at the Staff?" Tara asked.

"I haven't," Anya confessed.

Dawn shook her head. "Neither have I."

"Neither have I," Riley said. He'd managed to miss seeing the Witch every time he'd been to the park.

"I didn't get a very good look. I was the one who spotted her the first night, and told Buffy," Xander explained. "I don't know it symbol for symbol, but..."

"All right. Dawn, Riley and Anya, I would l-like you to go over to the couch and sit. A clear image in the minds of all participants would be best," Tara announced.

Anya, Riley, and Dawn did as they were told, getting up and going to the couch.

Willow and Giles sat back down in the circle.

"Although I haven't seen it, as a practicing Witch it may help to add some power," Tara went on. She gave a nod to Willow.

Willow began the Spell as she had before:

Spirits of the darkness speed,

The Staff of Ages for us you retrieve.

Switch the places: here to there,

Use our power with great care.

As I say it shall be done,

Trade their places one for one.

Each of their connected hands began to surge with white, electric energy. The power shot onto the Staff.

The fake Staff floated into the air and there was a flash of light. The fake Staff disappeared and the real one materialized in its place. The electricity disappeared and the Staff fell with a clatter.

They opened their eyes when they heard the Staff hit the floor.

Willow reached forward and picked up the Staff to examine it. She closed her eyes again recited another spell from memory:

None shall take this Staff from me,

As I say,

So mote it be...

She opened her eyes and another electric star-burst flashed around her fingertips and disappeared.

"I've seen that spell before: now no one can take the Staff from her unless she gives it to the person of her own free will," Tara explained, having a greater knowledge of Spells than even Giles. "They can't even steal it if she sets it down some place. She has to request that the person bring it to her before they can even lift it... I-I created it about nine years ago when my dolls were being stolen by the neighbor boy... She's a quick study; I just taught it to her before I left."

"Wait, a minute, Tara," Xander said, popping out of his stupor. "Can you write a Spell that will change me back?"

"Personally written Spells can be very powerful and every Witch has the ability to write one... For something like that, it would have to be worded perfectly and the Witch to perform it would have to be very, very strong with the favor of Gods and Goddesses looking upon her..."

"So that's a NO, right?" Xander asked, back to his moping.

Tara gave him a friendly pat on the knee. "We'll figure something out for you. We have the Staff, after all."

"The Staff!" Xander said hopefully. "Angel was turned into a human kid with it, so can you change me? You just need to shave a few months off me and 'BAM!' I'm normal again!"

Willow shook her head a little. "I'll look into it, but I don't know how to work it, let alone what the consequences might be of operating it."

"And then there's the long term effects it might have on you," Tara continued. "What might happen a month from now when you reach this age again? Manipulating time can be a tricky type of magic."

Xander nodded sadly.

Everyone got up and found a place to sit in the main livingroom couch and chairs.

"Xander can join us in the fight... He is stronger now than he ever was," Angel suggested slowly, coming up with a plan as he spoke. "Dawn, Tara, and Anya should all stay here while we go looking for the Witch. Willow might be able to do some magic from here to slow the Witch down…"

"I-I have to look up a spell or two before trying to take her on. It's been a while since I snapped and did the whole Glory attack," Willow objected.

"It's up to you; I didn't mean to push," Angel apologized sincerely.

Willow nodded, relieved that she wouldn't be put on the spot at that moment with whatever Angel was planning.

"Giles, do you want to stay or fight?" Angel asked, continuing to build a plan. "I suggest stay; it would be much safer."

"Wow, you've really turned into 'plan guy,'" Buffy commented, grabbing onto Riley's hand.

"In LA, all of us come up with suggestions. I'm working for the others now; I'm not the boss," Angel clarified.

Buffy gave a huffy laugh. "You're sure acting like a boss here."

"Do you have any plan? Or any suggestions?" Angel asked, tired of her argument. "At this point, I'm just trying to think logically as to who will fight and who will stay safe. If you have any suggestions I'd be more than happy to..."

Buffy interrupted him, yelling, "And I wouldn't be logical?! You come here and try to control everything, but..."

Riley cut her off. "Buffy, so far, he's right: Xander is stronger as a vampire so he can fight and Dawn, Tara, Willow, and Anya aren't strong enough at the moment to attempt any sort of fight against the Witch."

"You're siding with him? I thought you didn't even like him and..." Buffy began to complain.

Riley cut her off again. "He's survived LA and every trip back to this small town, so I may not like him, but I'd like to hear his plan."

"Fine!" Buffy huffed, pushing Riley's hand away from hers. "What do you want us to do?!"

"I shall stay," Giles answered a little reluctantly.

"Willow should cast a Spell here to prevent intruders from entering, just in case the Witch ends up here, looking for her Staff," Angel added. "The Book of Azure has a very effective one."

"I know the one you're talking about," Willow said, standing to get her book from the small coffee table. She sat back down, flipping through the book.

Tara looked over Willow's shoulder as she flipped through.

"Here it is... It has the same principals of the Uninviting Spell for vampires, only it requires every person who will enter the house to be invited each time they wish to pass over the threshold of the entrance..." Willow explained. "Certain people can be specified as the ones being protected, so they do the inviting of the other people who wish to enter."

"Everyone who's going needs weapons... Whichever weapon you're the best with, you bring it," Angel instructed.

Willow and Tara began to discuss the latest Spells they've tried.

"Is that all you have so far?" Buff asked Angel rudely.

"There's not much else to it; we go looking for the Witch, and then we kill her," Angel answered.

"That's a little 'Gung Ho' wouldn't you all agree?" Buffy asked everyone else, hoping that she could slightly humiliate Angel. "Considering what happened last time I'd have figured you'd have thought of something a little more safe."

Tara, Giles, and Willow were now talking about the Spell Angel was suggesting, so they weren't paying any attention; Anya didn't care because she'd be staying at Giles' anyway; Xander shrugged; Dawn was trying to eavesdrop on the witchcraft-talk but Riley knew it and shook his head 'no.' Buffy's plan for Angel's humiliation was failing.

"Do you have any idea about what we could do?" Riley asked Buffy.

"No," Buffy said. " We shouldn't just kill her, but we can't exactly throw a rope around her waist and expect her to come along quietly... Willow?" Buffy called.

Willow, Tara, and Giles were still talking of the Spell at the kitchen table.

"Hey! Will!"

Willow looked up. "Yeah?"

"Can you do a binding Spell on the Witch or enchant something so we can just capture her?"

"I know one," Tara offered quickly. "I've got it memorized... I'll need a rope. When you use the rope, it will bind the Witch so she can't break the ropes or use any weapon or type of magic to get free..."

"Why do you have that one memorized?" Anya asked nervously. "Expecting to catch some magical cow-girls?"

"I-I thought it might help everyone to capture a demon some time... It could be used if they were too strong to face, or if they had some type of magical power... Which is the case," Tara pointed out in defiance.

Tara and Willow began chattering about the needed supplies.

"It won't take long; just about five minutes," Tara told everyone before chattering with Willow again.

"Good," Giles praised, then he went down the hall into his back room and brought back some rope.

"As much as the thought may bother me, Spike might be able to hold off the Witch while..." Angel began to suggest but then the thought left him. "I can't believe I even recommended it."

"Spike can't hurt anyone because of that chip in his head," Xander explained.

"Chip in his head?" Angel asked. He had really been out of the loop since he left Sunnydale.

"Computer chip; you didn't know? Spike can't bite or even fight against living people. He can beat up demons and vampires, but not humans," Anya continued. "And lately he's been trying to help a lot."

"Yep, that's right..." Dawn agreed. "It was Riley's commandos a little while back. If Spike wants to fight, it's for us, and against demons."

"Can you believe he had a crush on Buffy?" Anya asked Angel, bring up a sensitive subject. "That's actually the reason for his devotion to fighting for good."

Riley wanted to change the subject very quickly. "I guess this time charging in as a group with one rope and a couple of weapons to capture her is the only way, and... strangely familiar."

Buffy looked over to the Spell-casting table. "Hey, can you guys do more than one rope? We should all split up; it will make it quicker to find the Witch."

----------------------------------------------------------

2:50 AM

They pulled up to the park in Angel's car; Riley and Xander in the back seat with Buffy in front and Angel driving.

They all got out holding their weapon of choice and a rope.

"I'll take that way," Buffy volunteered, pointing to the left.

The guys pointed a direction, signifying their choice.

"Lets meet in the center, by the benches, at 5:15 or after three sweeps and we still don't find her," Buffy suggested. "That gives enough time to get back to some type of cover before sunrise; any later might cut it close."

The guys nodded.

"Wait a minute," Xander called to them all. "What are the chances of actually bringing the Witch back alive? I mean, we've got enchanted ropes, but she might be too strong to just get a rope around... She's the only chance to change me back."

"Tara said that it would be a slim chance, but it might be your best hope. We won't kill her; no matter what," Buffy agreed. "We'll have to catch her first. See you in a bit!"

They split up.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:20 AM

They all met in the center of the park.

"Well, this has been a night well spent," Xander commented sarcastically as the last friend, Buffy, showed up.

"I killed a couple of vamps; that's why I'm a few minutes late..." Buffy turned to Xander, "How do you feel? You're probably going to need to eat something soon." Buffy sat next to Riley on the benches.

"Yuck!" Xander commented instinctively. "I think I'll wait until I'm human again before I have my next meal."

Riley gave a small laugh, but then stopped himself from further embarrassment. "Sorry, but I'm still not used to the whole 'Vampire Good-Guy' thing... I never thought that I'd hear a vampire say 'yuck' to their primary source of food; even though it's you, Xander."

The only reaction Riley got from the others were blank stares.

"We'd better start heading back," Angel suggested finally. "Sunrise is in the next thirty minutes and I need to talk to Xander alone for a while..."

"What do we have to talk about?" Xander asked, rudely. He would never forgive Angel for he had done, even if he were turned back into a human before his next meal. He'd be scarred for life.

"I'll drive Xander home... Are you two going to be all right walking back?" Angel asked.

Xander was angry, and surprised, that Angel had made the choice for him.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Riley answered.

"We'll be at Giles's house... Meet you there?" Buffy asked.

"Sounds good," Angel answered.

"Bye," Buffy said giving a wave and then taking Riley's hand.

Riley gave a slight wave as the two of them walked away.

Xander and Angel began to walk down the path towards Angel's car.

"What did you want to say? ...Besides 'sorry'?" Xander asked.

"I am sorry, though that's not what I was about to say. I meant to talk to you about your 'breakfast,'" Angel explained. "You'll be in an apartment for at least fourteen hours with plenty of other tenants walking around. You won't last that long unless you feed. You can't tell me that you're not hungry."

Xander was a little uncomfortable about the subject they were discussing. "Sure, I'll admit I'm hungry, but I'm not going to..." Xander finished the sentence by giving a disgusted shudder.

"If you allow yourself to become too hungry, there may not be a choice in the matter. You might not be able to control what you're doing. Believe me, having a soul and attacking someone is a horrible feeling," Angel said, turning his face away from Xander. He was thoroughly ashamed.

They arrived at Angel's car.

Xander got in while Angel opened the trunk and picked up a paper bag from inside a coller.

Angel shut the trunk and got into the car. He handed the bag to Xander.

"I figured this would be a quick trip and that I wouldn't have time to stop by the butcher," Angel explained as he started the engine.

Xander opened the bag. There was a plastic carton of blood. Xander closed the bag with an irritated sigh. Angel had ignored his request of No Vampire Food. Xander couldn't even bare to think of himself and the b- word in the same sentence.

"Just take it..." Angel instructed, noticing Xander's mood. "You haven't had anything since you were changed, so it'll be even harder for you to control yourself. At noon, when you feel the strongest craving you've ever had, you'll be glad that you had that with you."

They pulled away from the curb.

----------------------------------------------------------

5: 30 AM

They pulled up to Xander's apartment.

"Block up whatever windows you have," Angel suggested. "You might start to pace; daytime can seem like an eternity and you wouldn't want to wander into the light."

"It's nighttime that's gonna bethe eternity." Xander got out, taking the bag with him.

"One more thing," Angel said before Xander could shut the door. "It's not very likely that you will become human again. I've tried to find a cure for over a hundred years until finally..."

Xander slammed the door, cutting off his sentence.

"... I found a nearly extinct demon whose blood could do it in a heartbeat," Angel finished in a whisper.

Xander didn't want to hear Angel's story. He didn't care to hear anything about Angel's history. All he'd needed from Angel was the ride.

Angel drove away as Xander went through the front doors of the complex.

----------------------------------------------------------

Xander opened his door quietly and went in.

He went to the kitchen and put the blood in the kitchen refrigerator.

The sun would be up in about ten minutes, he realized. He went into the livingroom and shut the blinds to all of the windows. He went to the phone and shut the receiver off. If he was going to sleep, which he was, there was no way he'd allow it to be interrupted.

Xander went to his room next, closing the blinds to the last window of the apartment. If he left it open, the light would flood in onto the bed by early afternoon and until sunset.

He was too tired and worried to stay awake. Xander crawled onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment as the reality of what had happened was finally settling in him.

Xander turned onto his side slowly. He closed his eyes and one tear slid down his face. Despite his worries and painful memories of happiness, he almost instantly fell into a deep asleep.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:50 AM

Angel parked the car and opened the trunk. He pulled out another paper bag from inside the cooler and hurried up the steps and to Giles's flat. Angel tried to open the door, but it was locked. He knocked a few times on the door.

Quickly, he sat the bag down, and pulled the coat over his head.

The sun came over the horizon.

He got as far into the shade of the building as he could, which wasn't very far.

No one was answering.

Angel, not wanting to alert the neighbors of an intruder, quietly broke the lock to the door and pushed it open. He tried to enter, but he couldn't pass over the threshold. They had done the Invitation Spell and it was working.

There was no one in the house, as far as he could see, thought he could smell them and hear their tranquil heartbeats. They were so calm; it was like they were sleeping.

"Hey!" Angel yelled. "Someone has to invite me in!" He was beginning to smoke in the light.

"Oh..." Willow cried as though she'd forgotten something. She was taking from somewhere in the main room, but was nowhere to be seen.

"Come in!" Giles shouted from near the desk.

Angel ran in towards the desk.

Everyone materialized in the living room. Dawn, Anya, Willow, Buffy and Riley were all on the couch or in chairs next to it with Tara was in the armchair reading yet another book of spells and magic.

"Woah!" Angel cried, stopping just short of slamming into Giles, who was standing behind his desk. "What was that?!"

"We did another spell," Tara explained with a yawn. "It's not the one you suggested and we'd have let you in sooner, but we all fell asleep."

Angel threw his smoking coat off of his head. "Where did you find it?" Angel asked.

"Tara made it," Willow answered proudly.

Tara smiled, a little embarrassed. "It's another one of my older ones. When I was little, my first spell book was a collection of Azure's spells and I t-tweaked a version of the spell you mentioned because I wanted to hide from my family and p-people who my family didn't want me to be around... All of the properties were right for it to work, but I was never strong enough to cast it before... You can thank Willow for its success."

Angel turned to Giles. "Would you mind grabbing that paper sack for me?" Angel asked politely, giving a shy smile.

"Certainly." Giles, reaching on to the sunlit porch, picked up the sack, and handed it to Angel.

"Thanks." Angel took the bag; he went into the kitchen, and put the bag on an empty shelf of the refrigerator.

"How's Xander?" Anya asked Angel as he walked back over to the group. "Can I go see him?"

"Actually, Anya, I think it would be best if you two weren't alone in the same room together," Buffy explained as politely as she could.

"You're worried that we'll have sex?" Anya asked. "Xander and I won't make the same mistake that You and Angel made."

Buffy glared at Anya a little. She was tired of dodging the subject that Anya was so comfortable with. "Yes, sex is the main reason why it wouldn't be good for you to be alone, but..."

"But what?" Anya asked defensively, interrupting her.

"I don't know if Xander will be able to control himself," Angel finished.

Buffy nodded. "He'll go beyond nuts if he doesn't... You know?" Buffy didn't want to finish the sentence, hoping that everyone caught that she was referring to the unspeakable beverage of a vampire's choice.

"Eat?" Angel offered. "That's what I wanted to talk to him about on the way to his house."

Willow cringed. "What did he say after you talked to him about it?"

"He didn't say anything, but I gave him a package from the butcher and he took it with him into the room," Angel explained.

"Do you think he'll drink it?" Tara asked, a little disgusted by the topic. She was, however, completely willing to address and discuss the problems of her friends.

"Yes," Angel answered directly.

"You're positive?" Riley asked, skeptical of Angel's knowledge of Xander's personality.

"Yes... But I am worried about his mother. She might notice that something's wrong with him," Angel commented.

"He doesn't visit her very often, and she never leaves the house to visit him," Anya explained.

"When she does see him, she may notice that there is something different about him, but she won't know exactly what it was," Giles explained. "Even when adults have proof of the supernatural, they seldom take it as truth. All of their lives they've been taught to ignore paranormal occurrences or dismiss them as a trick of light. There seem to be no believers these days."

"It took Mom a long time to accept the Slayer thing, and then Buffy had to run away for Mom to take that night seriously," Dawn added with a somber tone. Ever since her mother had died, bringing up the topic of her has been very depressing.

"I'm going back to the dorm," Tara announced, getting to her feet. The mentioning of Joyce was a depressing topic for everyone. If anyone was going to change it, she figured it could always be her. "U-Unless you need more spells..."

"Speaking of the Spells... Who has the power to grant the invitation?" Angel asked, knowing that he and Xander would not be one of them.

"Willow, Dawn, Giles, Me, Buffy, Riley, and Anya," Tara listed as she walked to the door. "It wouldn't work for vampires... W-Will we meet back here t-tonight?"

"Yes," Giles answered. "At sunset."

Willow got up and gave Tara a hug, and a kiss on the cheek good bye. "See you later today..."

"Bye," Tara said to the others, giving a shy wave.

There came a chorus of "Bye," "See-Ya," "See-ya Tonight," and "Good Bye..."

Tara left.

"I think I'm going to my parents' house again," Willow mentioned with a yawn. "All nighters. Who needs them..." Her expression changed to deep thought as she considered the truth. "Well, no one besides vampires, Slayers, evil Witches and, I guess, the rest of us, too. Ignore my words, I'm too tired to bother making anything that even resembles sense."

"I'm leaving, too. See you at sunset," Anya called, getting up and quickly leaving.

"Everyone should get some sleep... We need our strength against the Witch... I'm going to bed, myself... Sleep well..." Giles began to walk up the staircase to his room.

Riley, Dawn, Buffy, and Willow headed for the door.

Giles stopped walking and turned around. "One, moment, Willow," Giles called, taking a few steps back down the staircase to speak to her. "The Spells we did on this house were meant to keep you hidden from the Witch... It would be safer if you stayed here for the day."

Willow nodded, a little disappointed. "Yeah, I'll stay... It would be safer," Willow decided reluctantly, walking over to the couch.

"See ya, guys," Buffy said as she opened the door. "We'll be at Riley's."

"Bye," Riley called, shutting the door behind them.

"Good night," Giles said, continuing up the stairs.

"Blankets?" Willow asked in a small voice, but Giles hadn't heard. She turned to Angel.

"I'll get you one," Angel offered as he walked down the hall to the closet. Coming back, he flipped the main light switch in the hallway door-frame to off and handed the blanket to Willow.

"Thanks." Willow took the blanket. She was a little uncomfortable sleeping the same room as Angel: the vampire who had drugged her less than twenty-four hours ago. Willow stood next to the couch, holding the blanket.

Angel took off his coat and sat down in the leather armchair he'd slept in the night before. "Willow, you can relax," Angel told her sadly. Willow had always seemed to trust him... until now. "I had no way to control what was happening yesterday although it was completely my fault."

"I know you didn't have a say," Willow said, rolling her eyes as she sat down on the couch. "It's not you that gives me the wiggens... It's just what you are."

"I don't trust what's inside me but I do trust myself," Angel explained, draping his coat over himself as though it were a blanket. "I can control what's inside of me."

Willow gave a small smile as she laid her head down on the cushion, using it as a pillow. "I trust the you in you, too. Sweet dreams. " Willow closed her eyes. She realized that to say good-night would imply that it was still fairly dark outside...

"Sleep well," Angel replied softly.

They both fell fast asleep quickly, exhausted by their strange day and night.

----------------------------------------------------------

Xander's Apartment 10:20 AM

"Knock, knock, knock," came a quiet rap on his door.

Xander's mom, Jessica, slowly put her spare key into the lock of the door and opened it.

"Xander?" she whispered, looking either way as she took a few small steps inside.

Xander was not in the main room.

Jessica quietly walked over to the bedroom door, gave a single knock as quietly as she had to the front door, and took a peek in...

Xander was sprawled out on top of his sheets and fast asleep.

Jessica walked in, stopping at the foot of his bed to think. She didn't want to wake her son but she really wanted to talk to him. Last night, when she thought he had died, she realized that she had always taken him for granted... And when he hadn't answered the phone in the last hour, she'd become worried and decided to wait for him at his place until he returned home.

She decided that giving a rude awakening, like shaking him frantically, wouldn't be right. Jessica walked over to the blinds. The light will let him wake up slowly she thought to herself. That's how she had waken him up a number of times when he was a small child.

Jessica pulled open the blinds quietly.

The light streamed in onto his face. It immediately began to smoke.

Xander growled and cried out in pain as he scrambled out of bed, his face transformed by the pain of the sunlight as well as the startling wake-up call. His cheek had been burned a dark shade of brown with slight blistering, but it hadn't caught fire as Xander had seen happen to so many other vampires who had touched the sunlight.

Xander was in the darkest corner of the room, huffing from the fast movement, as well as the lingering pain and shock.

"Xander!" shrieked his mom, jumping back. "What's the matter?!"

The hunger began to gnaw at him. His entire body hurt and he felt like he was going to go insane. The demon inside of him was crying for food; right now, it was crying for his mother's blood.

Jessica took a few steps towards him, worried by his silence.

"No!" Xander yelled, his hand raised as if to say 'stop'. "Stay away!" Xander turned away from her. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes when he wore such a grotesque face... He was too embarrassed, not to mention homicidal.

Jessica stopped. "What is wrong with your face? Did I do something wrong? I just came to make sure you were all right... Are you all right? What happened to your face?" she asked frantically.

"Shut the blinds... please," he managed to ask calmly.

Jessica walked over to the blinds and closed them.

He wanted to charge at her right then to satisfy his feelings; at that moment he realized that he was capable of murder. "You stay right there. I'll be back in a minute." His teeth were clenched tight.

Jessica was shocked but she nodded. "All right."

Xander ran, with supernatural speed, out of the room, door shutting behind him, and to the kitchen refrigerator. He opened the door quickly and unwrapped the bag. Opening the carton, he drank all the blood down in big gulps.

He was personally disgusted by having to do it, but was too hungry to even think about doing anything else. The taste and smell itself urged him into consuming the entire carton. Xander took a moment to relax before going to his mother, then got up and went back to the room. He opened the door a crack and looked through.

Jessica was sitting on the bed, waiting for him.

Xander opened the door a little further. "Come into the living room."

She got up and walked past him, into the livingroom and sat on the couch.

His cheek had healed quickly. It was now just a shade of red. It still hurt, but he was able to maintain non-vampiric composure. He followed behind her and to the couch, sitting next to her.

"Can I turn on a few light?" Jessica asked.

Xander nodded, still not looking directly at her, and reached behind him to flip a switch.

The two smallest lights of the room came on.

"What was the matter with your face? Was I imagining it?"

Xander's head was lowered. "I - I'm not..." He couldn't manage to finish the sentence, and still couldn't look her in the eyes.

Jessica reached out with her hand and gently guided her son's chin to face her. Their eyes met. "I know we haven't been close in the past, but last night I thought I lost you... You can tell me. No matter what it is, you know that you can tell me."

Xander took his mother's hand in both of his.

"You're so cold and pale. Are you sick?" She put her free hand on top of his. "Is that why you were in the hospital."

Xander shook his head.

"Then tell me," Jessica urged kindly.

He blurted out the answer. "I'm not human, and I'm..." he cut off the sentence before he said too much. From what he had said, he looked deeply into her eyes for the reaction.

She didn't believe him.

He placed one of her hands flat against his chest.

"And, I'm not alive," Xander added, hopping that she'd be able to understand.

"If you're dead, then how are you walking and talking?" Jessica asked with a laugh.

"I'm... a-a kind of monster; a vampire," Xander answered slowly with a very serious tone to his voice. "But I won't hurt you," he assured quickly.

Jessica laughed again, shaking her head. "What's the problem, really? Is it so bad that you have to make a joke like that before the truth?"

Xander had an idea that she couldn't dismiss. "Come with me into the bathroom." He stood up and they walked hand-in-hand to the bathroom.

The bathroom had a wall-sized mirror.

Xander entered first and Jessica turned on the light switch, her eyes glued on Xander, not even noticing the reflections in the mirror.

He was staring into the mirror. Xander hadn't allowed himself to stare into a mirror since he had been changed. The small mirror in the hospital had scared him last night; not seeing his reflection was a terrifying sight. "Look," he told her, nodding to the mirror.

Jessica looked into the mirror. Her jaw dropped. He wasn't there. She could see her hand... holding onto nothing.

Xander could hear her heart racing.

"Calm down, Mom," Xander insisted, turning to her with a sad expression on his face. "I swear I won't hurt you. I'm not human, but I'm not a killer. I did die last night and technically, I'm still dead."

Jessica pulled her hand away from him quickly. She looked into Xander's face with terror and shock in her eyes.

"Mom," Xander called softly, reaching out for her hand again.

She drew away. Then turned and fled down the hall.

Xander quickly followed.

Jessica ran into the kitchen and grabbed a big, chef's knife from one of the drawers, and dropped it to the floor out of panic. She dove down to get it.

Xander rounded the corner to enter the kitchen just as Jessica was bounding up from the floor with knife pointed straight ahead.

It went right into Xander's stomach. He doubled over in pain, his head bowing down towards the floor.

Jessica let go of the knife, gaining her balance, though in shock of what's she'd just done to her son. She backed away from him, into the livingroom. She stopped by the large, front window.

Xander pulled out the knife with a growl of pain, letting it clatter to the linoleum floor. He held his left hand over the wound. When he looked up from the floor to his mother, his face had transformed into that of vampire's once again.

Jessica threw open the main blinds.

Xander growled again, and slammed is back flat against the wall, avoiding the light once more... He was caught between the wall and the direct rays of sunlight.

"What are you?!" she yelled.

"I told you once, but how's about I give you another couple of clues: exnay on the garlic and no thanks when it comes to holy water, crosses and a piece of wood in the chest..." Xander explained, hoping to lighten the mood with his trademark of inappropriately timed humor.

"They aren't real..." Jessica whispered, realizing that he really did mean vampire.

"Mom, could you shut the blinds... Please?" Xander begged, still flat against the wall. Being that close to the rays of sun, he felt weakened, and so warm that his skin was being singed. It felt like he was standing too close to the flames of a campfire... One step closer and he'd be on fire.

Jessica shook her head 'no.' "If you're a vampire, that means you're a monster... If I blocked the window, what would stop from killing me?"

Xander was hurt by the question, though he had expected a similar one. "I'm not evil, but other vampires are. It's hard to explain... Actually, it's very easy to explain the difference: I still have my soul... the other ones don't."

"Why?" Jessica asked.

"Why do I have my soul, or why don't the others?" Xander asked.

"Both."

"My soul was given back to me though a magical spell and when the others became vampires, a demon kicked their human souls out. I have the demon and me inside. If I stay calm and concentrate, I stay exactly like the me I've always been. Am I making any sense to you?"

"Why is your face like that now?"

Xander answered easily with a nervous laugh, "I'm bleeding and my mother wants to incinerate me..."

"That sounds like a pretty good reason for you not be calm and focused..." Jessica agreed.

They had been talking long enough for the sun to move a small distance across the sky, becoming dreadfully close to Xander's chest. Within minutes, the sun would be touching him, but if he wanted his mother to trust him, he'd have to stay where he was until she said that he could move.

"Uhh... Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be toast if I don't move... I don't want to scare you, any more that I already have, so I'm going to ask again: would you please shut the blinds?"

Jessica closed the one set of the blinds, but she still stood in the direct light.

Xander maneuvered himself into the kitchen, a safe distance form the light.

"Did you have a choice…? Choice to become this?"

"No," Xander answered right away, relaxing more now that he wasn't in direct danger of spontaneously combusting. He was trying to go back to looking human, but the knife wound had gone very deep and was still causing him too much pain. His white t-shirt was badly stained with his blood. "The thing that did this... it attacked me at Giles' and then came back for me then I was in the hospital. The spell that's on me was also done on that creature."

"What made your face change in the room?"

Xander had been hopping that she wouldn't ask that question. If he didn't tell the entire truth, her trust would never be gained. He decided to leave out the part about his momentarily strong urge to kill her: "The sunlight surprised me... and it hurt... I was scared... All vampires' faces change. It's the monster in them... I mean us. It gives more strength to fight against enemies or..."

"Or what?" Jessica asked, calling him on the hesitation.

"Or when they're just injured." That wasn't a lie, it was just skipping some of the details he thought to himself.

"Am I your enemy?" she asked harshly. Jessica just stared at him, considering what she had just been told.

"No..." Xander closed his eyes, and turned his head away. Concentrating hard, he transformed back to his human face. "What can I do to make you trust me?" Xander asked sadly, turning back to her. He was still in pain from the knife wound, but he had begun to heal.

Jessica thought a moment. "Is there any way to change you back?"

"Change me back into a regular human? It's a definite 'no' on bring me back to life... It's a kind of 'life' everlasting brand of curse; no refunds."

"Who else knows about this?"

Xander's heart sank. Telling the truth would lead to a day-long explanation about Buffy, Slayer stuff, witchcraft, Willow, and then Angel, Spike, and eventually it would slip out about Riley's status as ex-demon-hunting government soldier and Anya an ex-demon. "I can't tell you... I promised a friend I'd never tell their secret: no matter what."

"The only one you'd keep a promise like that to is Willow," Jessica deducted casually.

"No, she's not the one I promised," Xander answered truthfully. "Please don't guess... It would come down to gaining your trust by losing a friend's."

"Then I trust you," Jessica said suddenly. "I'm thinking that if you were wanting to kill me, you'd have ratted out your closest friend, whoever it may be, to get me to trust you. Besides, I really don't want to know." Jessica closed the blinds all the way. She calmed herself a little more completely. "Before you were changed, did you know about vampires?"

Xander nodded. "And demons, ghosts, zombies, and a wide range of other things."

"For how long?"

Xander thought a moment. "Since sophomore year at Sunnydale High School."

Jessica was surprised and gave a small nod.

Xander slowly walked over to her, still worried that she'd go coo-coo if he got too near her. He really need to sit down, or fall over, whichever happened first in the next few steps.

"Stop," Jessica told Xander.

Xander obeyed. He froze exactly where he was: in mid-step with his hand still covering the wound.

"I still need time to sort out the details. Just don't touch me again until I do. I need a drink." Jessica staggered past Xander, into the kitchen, and she began to search for the booze cupboard.

Xander blinked once, as though in disbelief of his mother's final reaction, and then he pivoted, following her into the kitchen. "Mom, you don't need to get drunk to believe what I just told you. Besides, I don't keep alcohol in the house."

Jessica wasn't listening. "I do need a drink to sort it out." She half looked away from the cupboard. "Are you going to be all right? From the knife wound, I mean?"

"Yeah, fine. Only sunlight, fire, decapitation, and a wooden stake through the heart can kill me now. I'm almost healed..."

Jessica went to the door. "You should change your shirt."

"Where are you going? Home I hope."

Jessica nodded. "Stop by sometime in the next week. You need to give me a better explanation about all of these things."

Xander gave a small, reluctant nod. "A few more details... maybe."

She went out the door.

----------------------------------------------------------

2:32 PM

"Ring... Ring..." the phone sounded.

Xander turned over to see what time it was... He'd turned the phone's ringer back on less than an hour ago after waking from a nightmare.

"Ring... Ring..." the phone sounded again.

He reached over and answered the phone. "Hello?" Xander said in a slightly frustrated voice. He wanted rest with no more interruptions.

"Harris?" a man asked as though he were an accusation.

It was his boss from the construction company where he worked. "Mr. Russell... Yes, this is Xander..." he said, trying to wake himself more completely. "How can I help you?"

"You were due at the site this morning at 7 AM. Where were you?"

Xander slapped his hand to his forehead. With all that had been happening, he forgot about the job he was supposed to do, or at least calling in to say he wouldn't be able to do the job. "I'm sick," he blurted out quickly, faking a couch. "I-I was in the hospital last night and just forgot about today..." he continued, telling as much of the truth as he dared.

"Not calling in is the part I wanted to yell at you for, but I guess it's pretty understandable... Just get better... We could really use you out there tomorrow, if you're up to it."

Xander faked another couch and continued his talking in a slightly raspy voice. "It might be a little while before I'm back in." He cleared his falsely clogged throat and resumed the lies in his normal voice. "They think I have..." he thought a moment on what might send him to the hospital... "walking pneumonia... So it might be over a week before I'm in again..."

"Too bad..." Mr. Russell said sympathetically.

Xander thought of another good lie to make up for the 'I can't go outside during the day' part of the excuse... "There's this new drug they have be on. It's not out on the market yet, but it's working pretty good. They said the only side-affect so far is I can't go out into the sun; it makes skin super-sensitive to the sunlight so even a few minutes on the outside could do some real damage."

"Well," Mr. Russell began, thinking, "I'm actually considering setting up a night shift since we've gotten a little behind over the past week. How much longer are you gonna be on that medicine?"

"Uhh," Xander stuttered, "a few more days... maybe a week... Hopefully not too much longer... But they tell me the sun might still be a problem for a few weeks after I get off it because of... of having it built up in my system." I hope that sounded convincing he thought to himself.

"If I could get a crew and equipment set up for the night shift sometime in the next two days, would you be up for it?"

"Sure!" he answered excitedly. Before now he hadn't really thought about what might happen if he didn't have his job, but quickly remembered that he had bills to pay. "Just give me a call before sunset of the night you need me and I'll be at the site as soon as the sun goes down."

"You've got yourself a job," Mr. Russell said happily. "In the meantime, get some rest and careful not to get a burn... Were those Docs crazy or something? Giving a person who lives in Sunnydale, California a medicine that can't handle the sun."

"They must have been," Xander said simply. "Good bye..."

"Bye."

Xander hung up the phone and fell back into bed against the pillow. "At least I still have a job..." He turned over and sank back to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------

7:51 PM, Sunset, Xander's Apartment

"Ring... Ring... Ring..." The phone sounded for the second time today.

Xander dragged himself out of bed and to the phone. "Hello?' he asked quietly, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"It's Willow."

"Will... What's up?" he asked, his voice still quiet.

"I-I just wanted to asked about your day," Willow explained with a little hesitation. "Was it all right?"

"Bad," he said simply with a little more feeling in his voice.

"How bad is bad?"

"My mom decided to use the spare..."

"Oh, no. Did you tell her?" Willow asked, worried.

"I didn't have a choice. I was sleeping and Mom wanted to wake me up, so..."

"... She woke you by opening the blinds?" Willow asked, finishing the sentence. Having known him since they were both five, she'd heard of how his mom used to do that when she wanted to talk to him if he was still asleep or if she thought it was too late in the afternoon for him to still be sleeping.

"You got that right."

"Ar-Are you all right? Did you get a bad burn?"

"Not bad and it's all right now. The knife wound took a little longer to heal than the burn, but..."

" 'Knife wound?' " Willow asked, even more scared for him.

Xander sighed. "I tried to use words to explain everything, but she didn't buy the story, so I took her into the bathroom. When she didn't see me in the mirror, she ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I followed. She jumped out from behind the cupboards, trying to stand and run at the same time, and she kinda plowed into me, gutting me with a stainless steel chief's knife."

"How did you explain everything?"

"She asked questions and I answered. When I refused to tell her who else knew because I'd be betraying a friend, she decided not to incinerate me," Xander explained.

"Incinerate you? Did you have a busy day?" She asked rhetorically.

"Busy morning. She almost fried me in the living room while we talked. She had the blinds open all the way."

"Harsh..." Willow commented. "So, in order for her to hear the truth, and to trust you, she stabbed you, fried you once where you were trying to sleep and singed you while you had a heart-to-heart talk?"

"Yep and she is probably still freaked out. She wouldn't let me near her and went home... Why'd you call? Are we meeting at Giles's now?"

Willow snapped out of shock after a moment of lingering amazement. "Giles told the rest of us sunset but I spent the day here at Giles's. We figure that since the Staff is mine now, it would be safer to stay here," Willow explained. "By the way: you're invited."

"I was invited yesterday... You spent the day at Giles? That means Angel was there." He was becoming angry. "You slept in the same room as..."

"Forget about Angel," Willow interrupted. "Remember that Invitation Spell he mentioned last night? Tara had a Spell just like it to keep people who don't have an invitation from detecting us inside and I did it... There's still detection by smell and sound but no one can actually use magic, their eyes, or technology to get any sort of reading to indicate that any living or undead thing was in the house."

"So, unless someone has been invited, everyone in the house is physically not there, but still there?" Xander asked, in order to clarify.

"Yeah, something like that," Willow agreed. Buffy and Riley came through the door at Giles's. "Come when you can. Buffy and Riley just got here. Tara and Anya should be here soon."

"Ok, I'll see you in about fifteen minutes. I'm gonna call my mom first. It might be a few minutes if my mom's drunk enough to finally talk to me. Bye."

"Bye."

Xander pressed the phone's off button, then pushed it back on, dialing the other number.

Ring... Ring...

"Hello?" a woman answered unenthusiastically.

"Mom?" Xander called quietly, hoping that she'd let him talk to her.

"What is it?" she asked in a barely civil tone.

Xander sighed. "I-I just wanted to make sure you were all right and dealing. Had enough to drink?"

Jessica had no reply. There was silence.

Xander sat down on the couch, relaxing as he thought of what to say next. "What's the matter? Do you think I'll hurt you; are you scared of me? What is it?"

"I've had enough alcohol to clear my mind. Now I'm just worried for you; not the things you could do. It has only been since the hospital called that you were changed, right?" Jessica asked softly.

"Yes."

"You've already been burnt, stabbed, and threatened; all of this was done by your own mother in the span of twelve hours. How will the rest of the world treat you during your life?"

His mom was making more sense to him now than she ever had while completely sober. "I don't have a clue; I haven't given it much thought. Actually, all I've done is think about that and compare it to all the cases of vampires in the past. The vamp who did this to me, for instance. He's been around for two and a half centuries," he explained calmly. "More than half of that time he was a killer; the other half he's been like me except for an unfortunate span of twenty-four hours yesterday. I'll have to live like he did... when he was good I mean," he clarified quickly.

"You figured that now I'd be drunk enough to share and accept the details I was begging for this morning?" Jessica asked with a very slight slur to her voice. "Well, I'm talking right now but I don't care if it's because I'm drunk, or if it's because I'm suddenly re-embracing my maternal instincts. I'll believe the story because I think you don't want to lie to me."

"I don't and won't," Xander assured. "The group I've helped over the years to destroy evil needs my help tonight, but I'd really like it if you stopped by to talk face to face or if I could come over some night..."

"Every night that you were out when you lived here, were you fighting evil?"

"Most every and doing whatever I could... About five of the years at least... They're going to try to find a cure for me," Xander answered a little more enthusiastically. "But it's slim," he admitted, loosing some of his momentum.

"If those friends of yours have kept you alive after all of what's happened, thank them for me. If keeping people alive and saving them from things like vampires is what they do, I'd, if I were you, still have faith in them finding a cure of some sort," Jessica suggested with the slur still evident in her voice.

Xander gave a little smile. "I have to go. They're good people and will probably save me... I'll be home by 5:30 every morning if you want to talk or visit." He could finally contribute more than humor to his friendship with the Slayer and not just pun while getting in the way. Now that he was strong, he could fight, and now that he had confidence, he didn't care weather or not he spoke like a fool.

"What exactly do you save them from? The people I mean. Just evil vampires?" Jessica asked, getting a little more into the idea of monsters and magic.

"Those and other monsters; witches, poltergeists once, zombies a few times, mainly from the apocalypse, demons, and vampires. This is sort of a not-over-the-phone-line kind of conversation so I should probably just stop now and wait for the face-to-face when you're ready... I love you, Mom." Xander said, hanging up the phone slowly.

"I love you, too," Jessica said quickly, just before the disconnection. She hung up her end, a little worried that he hadn't heard her as he'd been cutting off his side.

He had heard and was relieved that she still cared. Xander got up and left.

----------------------------------------------------------

8:15 PM

Xander walked down the sidewalk. He was a block from Giles's. His head was hung, thinking about what his mother had said about how the world might treat him for the rest of eternity.

There were four vampires walking down the street towards him.

Xander looked straight ahead, hoping that they wouldn't bug him.

One of the vamps charged at him.

Xander was surprised but he deflected it, his face changing for the fight.

The second charged at him, knocking him to the ground.

Xander kicked the second and threw it off of him. He reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a stake with his left hand. Xander got to his feet, ready to continue the fight if the others choose to provoke him. "I've had a really rough day. If you want to keep bothering me, go right ahead. I could use something like this to get my blood pumping, so to speak."

"Why do you make war with us?" the largest vampire asked. "You fight with the Slayer, though you are now one of us now."

"Hey, pal, you're the ones who just attacked me, so don't even go there," Xander warned. Xander had seen Buffy and Angel kick asses for long enough to know the basic pattern: duck, kick, punch, block, stake.

The first vampire was now behind him, and the second, directly in front of him, and the leader and a smaller follower hadn't attacked him yet.

The first vampire charged.

Xander ducked, backing away and to the right, driving the stake into its chest with his left hand. It dissolved it to dust. The second charged at the same time, Xander continued the spin, switching the stake to his right hand. As the vampire missed his charge, Xander slammed the stake into the second one's back while it was darting past.

It fell into dust.

Xander regained his balance. "Well, that was fun," Xander commented, catching his breath. He was terrified but regaining the hope that his sudden fighting ability wasn't just luck. He was suddenly reminded of the fighting he'd done the Halloween he'd been changed into a soldier. He'd known exactly what he was doing and it was the same right then.

"Mind yourself. Others the Community may not let you walk away," the leader threatened as he began down the sidewalk again, intending to simply past Xander.

Xander moved as fast as he could to stake the leader.

The leader blocked the hit, making no offensive move. "You have been warned. Think of it as generosity. Do not be ungrateful." The leader and his companion turned again and walked away without any sign of further aggression.

Xander did anything but follow the strong vamp. He used his speed to run down the street as fast as he could. Xander didn't want to run into any other members of the 'community.'

----------------------------------------------------------

8:30 PM

Xander didn't slow down until he reached Giles's house.

He opened the door, and passed quickly into the house, shutting the door behind him.

Everyone was there but Anya. They were all starring at Xander.

Xander morphed back into human face.

There were extra chairs arranged in the living room so their entire group would have their own seat.

"What happened?" Buffy asked, worried about him.

"Ran into vamps who wanted a fight. There were four," Xander huffed. For not having any breath, he was breathing very hard. "I can't believe I got away."

"You got away from four vampires?" Riley asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yes. I told them that I didn't want to fight, but two attacked me. I fought and staked them. The biggest one was faster than me and the other didn't try to fight. The big leader warned me about helping the Slayer as a vampire, but he didn't kill me; that's a plus," Xander explained quickly, staggering over to the couch.

"You must have moved very fast," Riley deducted. "No offense, but I've seen you fight before."

Xander folded his arms. His body was so weak that he felt like he was going to collapse. "One tackled me. I threw it off like he didn't weigh anything. I didn't go that fast, but it was like they didn't react at all when I was staking then."

"I don't understand why Xander is so strong and fast. It takes hundreds of years to get that type of speed," Angel commented with a hint of jealously in his voice.

Everyone in the room was trying to think of a logical reason.

"Wait, I know!" Willow cried out, overly excited. "You went from mortal child to two and a half century old vampire with no set-backs on the way. Your vamp body was evil, so that means that your form is that of an energy-filled old vamp. It's hard to explain what I mean!"

"That's a mouthful," Dawn commented right away.

Everyone but Tara seemed to be completely confused.

"I get it," Tara backed. "Think of it this way: every fight Angel has ever gotten into has drained a little of his energy; the same with ever vampire he's ever made; everything t-taking a bit of energy. Everything would have weakened him just a little. When the age Spell was reversed, he was given all those years back at once. Angel never used any of his strength in that two hundred and some years."

Tara and Willow had directed their theory to everyone, leaving Angel in the third person.

Willow turned to Angel to elaborate further. "Your vamp strength had built up all that time without using up any of it."

Everyone nodded a little.

"Of course," Giles commented, finally realizing what Tara and Willow were talking about. He turned to Buffy. "It's as though Xander is the first vampire Angel has made in the two and a half centuries of his life; all the power that he's ever had to give out in order to create another is all in Xander. That train of thought wouldn't be an impossible explanation. Mind you, there haven't been many cases where a genuinely evil vampire has refrained from siring a follower for more than twenty years. In these cases, it has been reported that the vampires are initially a bit more vicious than others."

They all nodded again, this time they truly understood. Despite their continuous use of the teen-based jargon, no one had fully understood either version of the younger one's explanations. Giles, for once, made sense to all of them.

"Vicious?" Xander asked finally. He didn't like the sound of that.

Giles nodded a little. "Stronger, faster, and generally more demonically active. No one is entirely sure why they take more action, but it has been theorized that the concentration of demonic power causes a greater need for blood."

This bit of news wasn't very reassuring.

Xander plopped down on the couch between Dawn and Willow. "I'm exhausted. I barely slept, my mom woke me up around eleven with the burn and the sprinting five minutes ago didn't exactly give me a boost of energy." His demon's wish for control hadn't surfaced sense he had eaten lunch; even when he was fighting the vamps, he didn't feel the urge to kill anything but the vampires. He had been strong enough to control it. Now, being so drained of power, he could feel the hunger surface again. He wasn't desperate, the way he had been when he woke up that morning, but he did need dinner soon.

Anya walked in.

Xander sighed. "This qualifies as the worst twenty-four hours of my existence, up to this point."

"No matter how bad your day was, you have plenty of time to have a worse one. Some day you'll say this day seemed pretty good," Anya comforted, walking over to the group.

"Gee, thanks, Anya," Xander said sarcastically.

Anya walked over to him, and sat down on his lap.

Everyone stared at her, worried that she might make Xander too happy.

Xander looked around at everyone, realizing why they looked so concerned. "You guys don't have to worry. I'm going to be depressed for a very, very long time."

Anya gave Xander a sympathetic look. None of Xander's friends had ever seen her look that way. They were used to seeing happiness, anger, jealously, disappointment, and worry in her eyes, but never sympathy; not towards anyone.

Xander stood and slip Anya off his lap, moving to the empty chair a few feet away. Anya made a move to join him again, but he stopped her. "Anya, would you mind staying over there? I need a little space right now."

Anya moped with a pout of her lip but got up and went to the empty chair.

"Are you feeling all right?" Buffy asked, concerned about her friend's state of mental health.

Xander gave a small nod. "Suffering from exhaustion, but otherwise fine."

"Did you eat before you left?" Angel asked straightforwardly.

Xander shook his head. "I'm fine. What's the game plan for tonight?"

"I was thinking that we should all patrol separately in the park, like we did last night, but with really strong vamps doing more stuff in this area... it looks like not such a good thought," Buffy explained.

"The Witch will be looking for us, too," Angel reminded. "If we all patrolled together, you and Riley could draw attention to yourselves, so the Witch will see you, with Xander and I having to be a little more covert for a surprise attack. We could stick to the shadows and follow you in case the Witch shows. How's that?"

"Sounds fine to me but what do you need the rest of us for?" Anya asked somberly.

"The rest of us should all stay here," Giles told them. "The number one reason is safety. The Witch has only attacked people at night. If she is looking for any or all of us, she wouldn't be able to find us here."

"What will we be doing?" Tara asked.

"Just waiting?" Dawn asked hopefully, a little worried that it may turn out to be something a little too dangerous for even her to accept.

Giles answered very simply, "Yes, we'll wait."

"All right, let's move," Riley ordered, as though he were commanding a team of his soldiers again.

The four of them got up and left.

----------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, 12:45 AM

They had been searching the park for over two hours, and nothing was happening.

"So where to now? Right, left, straight ahead?" Xander asked. He could suddenly hear two people: they were at the far end of the park one was screaming. "Do you hear that?" Xander asked Angel, suddenly becoming very serious.

Angel listened hard for some type of noise. He heard a woman scream. "That way," Angel said pointing down the path straight ahead of them.

The four of them ran as fast as they could; Xander and Angel were taking a distant lead.

They got to the other end of the park very quickly.

A group of six vampires was attacking two women.

Xander and Angel charged at the vampires, their faces changing for the fight.

Xander pulled the stake from his coat again and began to battle one of the vampires. He used his extreme speed to block the vampire's first hit and easily staked it. After it had turned to dust, Xander was tackled from behind.

The two women were on the ground. One looked about twenty and the other no older than fifteen. The older one was bleeding badly from the leg, and standing against the tree. The younger had a long slice across her face and was sitting on the ground next to her friend.

Angel continued his lengthy fight with his second vampire as Buffy and Riley finally arrived.

Xander was now pinned on the ground. The vampire was trying to get the stake from Xander's hand. Being unable to gain full possession of the stake's aim, the vamp guided the stake to Xander's heart, but Xander pushed it away from him, settling for the stomach. The vampire slammed the stake through Xander's flesh.

Buffy tore the vampire off of Xander and began fighting it. "Xander, you help the girls! Stay with them till this is over. I'll take care of this one!"

Xander pulled the stake from his stomach. "I really have to stop getting stabbed," he commented with a pain filled, sarcastic laugh. Xander tossed the stake to Buffy, who caught it easily. He waited a moment on the ground, his face changing back to human to keep from scarring the girls.

The last vamp charged at Riley, who had begin casually fighting back.

Xander got off the ground, holding his stomach, and went over to the girls. The scent of their blood made his hunger flare.

The girls still drew away in fear. They both could have sworn that a moment ago he'd looked like those things, but now that he looked human, they still didn't know if they could trust him.

"It's all right," Xander reassured. "I want to help you get out of here."

The girls nodded, still worried.

Xander bent down and lifted the younger, sitting one to her feet. He helped her balance against him for a moment. "Can you both walk?" Xander asked.

"I think," the younger girl answered, limping as she tried to take a step. She adjusted her shoulder bag and nodded.

The older one shook her head. "It hurts too much."

Xander picked up the older girl with the bloody leg. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned close to him.

The girl with the head injury steadied herself on Xander's shoulder as they slowly got away from the fight.

Buffy was still fighting the first vampire when a second one charged at her, tackling her to the grass.

Xander led the girls to the middle of the park and over to the benches were their group had met that morning after patrol. They could no longer see the fighting, though Xander could still hear some signs out the struggle. He nearly lost his balance as he sat the girl down on one of the benched.

The younger girl limped onto the seat next to her friend.

Xander stumbled onto the next bench, holding his stomach again.

"Are you hurt?" the limping girl asked him urgently.

"Yes, but it won't last very long," Xander answered with a pant. "I'm going to need my friends to get me home and I can't help them fight... What are your names?"

The one with the bloody leg answered very quickly. She was obviously badly shaken by the attack "My name is Lisa and this is my little sister, Renee. What's your name? Is there anything we can do? You saved us from all of those... things."

"I'm Xander. You can help me, and yourself, by staying right there." If they came closer, both of them bleeding, he didn't know that he'd be able to stop himself from hurting one of them. Giles's explanation about stronger vampires being more vicious was coming back to him.

"Why do you want us to stay away?" Renee asked innocently. She was wondering if he knew much about what had attacked them.

"Do I frighten you?" Xander asked in stead of answering. He took off his coat and tossed it to the shivering girls. "Lisa, you should tie that around your leg to help stop the bleeding."

They both found him extremely handsome and shook their heads no to answer his question.

Lisa tied the sleeves together above the injury.

"Why would you think you frightened us?" Renee asked him.

"I'm not human. That should frighten you enough to answer your question of why both of you really need to stay away from me. You saw me back there so when a monster warns to stay away, that should really be enough. Now are you scared?" He's not sure why he actually said that all to them, especially after what they'd just been through. All he wanted was for things to be back to normal again.

Both girls were frightened by the confession but shook their heads again.

Lisa answered nervously, "You seem to have a kind heart, even if you're like the things that hurt us."

Renee dug into her bag. She pulled out a hand full of mangled Band-Aids and a bandage. She held them up. "Xander, what about now? Can I help you?"

"I don't need any. Help your sister. She'll be going into shock very soon," Xander told her, pressing his hand tighter to his wound. It was beginning to heal slowly. "Besides, a Band-Aid won't exactly cover an implement."

"But..." Lisa began to argue.

"No," Xander interrupted. Xander cringed in pain. He hadn't eaten since his mom had burnt him that morning with the blinds. Angel had only given him one carton of blood, which he'd consumed very quickly. Since then, he'd been stabbed twice, singed once, deprived of sleep, attacked by several vampires, chased down the street, just made the choice to sprint through the park and then vigorously fight, and now he was almost too hungry to even move.

"That wound is so large that I..." Renee continued.

"This won't kill me," he interrupted again. "Because of what I am, I should be completely healed within an hour," he guessed, doing his best to reassure them. "It doesn't even seem to hurt like real pain... I'm sort of numb all the time anyway." He lied about the numbness to encourage their treatment of one another before him; he felt every twinge of pain that any movement brought to the injury. In a way, though, the pain made him forget the severity of all of the problems he was having.

Renee nodded. She began to cover Lisa's wound.

Back at the fight, Angel had finally dusted his second opponent with a stake Riley had dropped.

It seemed as though more and more vampires were being drawn into the battle. Riley was attacked by another vampire as soon as he'd killed the first one.

Buffy had killed both of her opponents,. but there was yet another vampire walking in their direction. She charged at it and began to fight. "How many more are coming?!" Buffy asked her two friends.

Neither answered. They were too involved in their fights to pay attention to any questions.

At the benches, Renee had covered Lisa's wound.

He began to think of where he would go when he finally moved. Going back to Giles house might end up hurting Giles or the others who were there. If he were to go back to his own apartment there was nothing for him there, either.

Lisa turned around and began to clean the blood away from her sister's face with a Kleenex. She placed a wide Band-Aid across Renee's cheek and they both turned back to Xander.

Xander was slouched on the bench. Every part of his body still ached, if not hurt. He knew that he would have to leave soon to keep from hurting either of the girls, but at that point he could barely move. "When my friends come back, we'll take you both to the hospital. A Band-Aid won't do much for that cut, Renee, I think it will need a stitch or two and by the way you were limping to the benches, you might have a sprained ankle. And then Lisa, you'll need some serious wrapping to stop the bleeding..."

"Can I help you now?" Renee asked impatiently. "We're fine, thanks to you." She didn't wait for his answer. Renee got to her feet, caring the bandages, and limped over to Xander's bench.

Xander scrambled away from her quickly, falling onto the grass with a heavy hit. A painful vibration went though every muscle on impact. "No!" he yelled at her.

Renee hobbled to him, despite his wishes and her wound. "Don't be silly." She pulled on his arm and dragged him back to the bench. He sat down and she took a seat beside him.

"You never told us what you are?" Lisa explained.

Xander straightened his back against the bench. "V-Vampire. I don't want to hurt you but it's hard for me to control myself." Xander licked is lips. He felt dizzy. "You should stay away from me... I'm just like what attacked you."

Renee reached out and ran her hand along his cold cheek. "You saved us, why would you hurt us now?" she asked softly. "You're nothing like those other things."

There was silence in the park. The fight with the vampires had ended.

"Xander!" Buffy called as she looked around, unable to see where her friend had taken the two girls.

"I'm over here," he yelled back, turning his head upwards so his voice would carry in the right direction. He turned back to Renee, looking into her eyes.

Her hand remained on his cheek.

Xander slapped her hand away and tried to stand.

Renee grabbed onto his arm and he lost balance, falling back to the seat.

"Ugh," he grunted in pain, finally unable to back what he was feeling... Xander lunged at Renee, his face as a vampire again for the assault, and he clamped onto her neck, drinking her blood. He pressed her tightly against him.

Lisa let out a shrill scream from the adjacent bench.

Xander continued to drink. He realized that Renee was dying and that he had to stop. Xander stumbled away from her, falling back onto the ground where he'd landed before when he was in retreat. His face changed back into a human, shocked by what he'd just done.

Renee fell, slumped over, onto the bench.

"Oh, my God," Xander mumbled, wiping violently at his moth. He had almost killed her. He sat back up, forgetting his own injury, and lifted her into an upright position.

Lisa sat on the other bench, still screaming.

Buffy, Angel, and Riley came up behind him.

He scrambled to his feet very quickly. "I-I'm sorry," Xander he told the group, backing away from the group. "I..." he stopped the explanation and ran away from his friends; he couldn't explain and he hated that Angel was probably going to be his only advocate.

Buffy rushed to the nearly unconscious girl on the bench. The girl was barely awake but luckily she was still breathing.

Angel went to calm the screaming girl on the bench.

"He was helping us, but he's killed her!" Lisa screamed in tears.

"Shhh, she's still alive," Angel reassured. He turned back to Buffy and Riley. "We need to get them to the hospital."

Lisa stopped screaming, but continued to cry.

Angel picked her up just as Xander had.

Riley went over to Renee and picked her up.

"We'll give them a ride," Angel suggested.

"I'm going after Xander. He needs to tell me what just happened," Buffy said, beginning to follow Xander's direction.

"Stop," Angel called, a little irritated with Buffy.

Buffy stopped and turned back. "What?"

Angel sighed. "You should just leave him alone. What he's going through... you can't begin to imagine."

"What do you expect me to do?" Buffy asked, frustrated with Angel's easy-going attitude over the matter. "He almost killed that girl and you expect me to shrug it off when he's hurting over it and..."

"Yes," Angel interrupted plainly. "You accept it. That's what he is now; he needs time to get a grip on it. Let him come to you. When he's ready, he will."

"All right," Buffy said, understanding the point he was making. "Then let's get to the hospital."

The three of them hurried down the path, back toward their ride.

----------------------------------------------------------

Friday 7:05 PM; Xander's Apartment

Xander sat on his couch watching television but unable to think about anything but the welfare of the girls he'd met on Wednesday night and especially the condition of the poor girl he'd nearly killed. When he left the park, he went straight to the butcher and stocked his fridge with enough blood to last for the next three days.

Since leaving the park he hadn't had any communication with his friends. Willow had left a message on his machine early Thursday afternoon saying that she'd be there for him if he wanted to talk. He hadn't built enough courage to confront any of his friends.

The phone began to ring, but Xander didn't bother answering it.

The machine came on with the recording of Xander's voice, followed by the beep:

"Xander, it's Buffy... I know you're probably still in no mood to talk, but go easy on yourself... Call or stop by sometime. Bye..."

As soon as the machine clicked off, the phone rang again and the machine came on to record the message.

"Hey, Harris, it's Bill. You awake and ready to work? I got the crew scheduled and the lights are..."

Xander jumped up quickly and answered the phone. "I'm here... and I'm ready to take a shift."

"Good... I checked the newspaper the morning and saw when the sun comes up and goes down so your shift will start at 8 PM and go until 5 AM. On Tuesday you won't start until 11 PM but you'll still go to 5 AM. I worked it so the crew'll still get one break long enough for a meal and a few small ones, too, for coffee. Late nights can lead to quite a few coffee breaks," he said with a laugh.

"Sure," Xander answered quickly. He wanted to get his mind off of the girls as quickly as possible.

"I'll be there to clock the crew in but I'll be out of there pretty fast so you're in charge," Bill continued.

"Thank you, sir," Xander said proudly.

"Feelin' any better?"

"Still not myself... I need to fix up my dinner so I'll see you at the site."

"Right; see ya."

Xander hung up his phone, went into the kitchen for a drink and prepared to go to work.

----------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, 8:15 AM; Xander's Building

Xander had only gotten home from the construction site about an hour and a half ago. Despite how tired he was, he still couldn't stop thinking of the girls. Even while he was at work he spent the time wondering what had happened to the girls.

Eventually he remembered that he had given his name to the girls and they'd obviously paid attention to what he looked like, so he wondered weather they had spoken to the police about the attack in the park. That question was about to be answered...

Xander was in the elevator on the way back up to his room. He held a basket of freshly laundered bed sheets. Since the wash room was in the basement, he figured he may as well spend his sleepless morning doing something productive: two weeks worth of back, blood-stained and torn laundry as well as the sheets to his bed.

The elevator stopped and Xander casually stepped out, beginning down the hall to his room.

There were two uniformed officers and one detective in a suit positioning themselves near the door of Xander's room, about to order him to open it.

Xander quickly turned around and went back into the elevator, allowing its door to remain open in order for him to hear what the police wanted.

Knock, knock, the officer knocked.

"Mr. Harris? Open the door. It's the police," the detective called.

Xander pressed the button on the elevator to go down to the main floor. He was terrified of what they might try to charge him with if he allowed himself to be captured.

The elevator opened to the main floor and Xander stepped out, laundry basket still in hand. The keys to his car were in his bedroom... He thought for a moment on what he should do: hide in the basement; hide somewhere else in the building; or should he simply brave the sunlight and run like Hell to the closest friend's house with a bed sheet over his head...

Xander chose the last of his ideas.

He picked out the large comforter and pulled it over his head. The blanket was so large that it dragged on the ground; the perfect size to completely avoid the light. Xander made his way to the front doors.

Two unmanned police cars were parked in front of the building.

For a brief moment he thought of stealing a car to avoid the severely painful sprint through the morning light, but immediately he dismissed it. If he stole a car, there was no way for him to talk his way out of the accusations: 'You turned into a monster, bit a girl, and obviously have something to hide because then you stole a police vehicle... What are you hiding since you pointed out that monsters couldn't possible exist?'

Xander rushed out the doors, past the cars, and towards Buffy's house. Buffy's was the closest and he knew that if Buffy wasn't there, Dawn would be, considering the earliness of the time on a Saturday.

----------------------------------------------------------

8:45 AM; In Front of Buffy's House

Xander rushed up the front path, to the porch. Xander pounded on the door several times as loudly as he could. He truly hoped that someone would be home.

"It's me!" he called at the door. "Invite me in!"

Inside, Dawn rushed down the stairs in her pajamas. Buffy had left Dawn alone at the house for the night, having given her strict instructions to not open the door for anyone until she'd gotten home that morning. Dawn had heard the desperate call and decided to ignore Buffy's orders.

Xander pounded again, careful to keep his hand under the blanket. "Please be home," he whispered.

Dawn opened the door, gasping to see the slightly smoking figure in front of her. "Xander?" she asked, not completely sure that the comforter-covered person was really her friend.

"Yes... Invite me in!" he ordered irrationally.

"Come in!" she called quickly, stepping out of the way.

Xander gladly hurried into the house, panting and coughing as he pull the sheet from his head. A puff of smoke rose from his sheets.

Dawn shut the door behind him. "Are you all right? What happened? Why are you here?" she rambled quickly.

He began to stagger towards the livingroom.

The livingroom curtains were open.

Dawn rushed past him, stopping him with her hand before he mindlessly stepped into the rays of light.

Xander stopped abruptly, startled by the realization that he'd almost stepped into the sunlight after having run so fast to stay away from it. "Thanks."

"No problem," Dawn told as she pulled the curtains closed. She sat and motioned for him to sit.

He went to the couch and plopped down, grateful for the soft seat.

"So, why are you here?"

Xander's head was pounding as he tried to concentrate on the circumstances of his visit. He put a hand to his head, rubbing his tired eyes. "Did Buffy tell you what happened the other night to that girl?" His hands fell into his lap, too tired to continue comforting his eyes.

Dawn thought a moment on how to politely ask if she knew the right incident. "The girl you attacked?" she asked softly.

Xander nodded. He began to explained in a ramble why it had happened, "She wouldn't stay away from me and the whole being stabbed after being chased and stabbed and burnt earlier and..."

"Calm down," Dawn interrupted, for once being the most level-minded one in the building.

Xander stopped his rambling with a nod.

"What about it?"

"I haven't slept for more than an hour since it happened but when I lay down, I'm too awake to stay asleep..." He cleared his head and answered as calmly as he could despite the severity of the situation, "The girls had my name and description and gave it to the cops. They were at my place."

Dawn was shocked that Xander had run from the police, but completely understood how it was a justified action. "So why are you here right now?"

"This was the closest place to get away... My car was blocked in but I didn't have keys anyway... and... " Xander sighed, looking away from Dawn and around the room a little. "I was scared and didn't know what I could tell the cops to keep them from hauling me into the sunlight and to the police station. If I refused to go, there would have been a struggle and I don't know what else might have happened. Every time I fight, even if I try not to be, I'm too strong to control myself... I kinda worry that the next human hand I shake will break like an egg shell."

She nodded, looking down to think of a solution as much as because she was shocked by the description of Xander's latest fears.

Xander's skin was tingling as the minor burns began to heal themselves. With that tingle his hunger, which had dispelled during the run, began to return. He wondered how such a short time between meals could seem so long. He was also worried for Dawn's safety. Coming there might have not been such a good idea...

"What do you think you'll do if they do catch up with you?"

"If they try to take me in tonight, I guess I'll just have to point out how ridiculous it is for a couple of girls to claim a person was stabbed then tried to eat them. I'll prove that I don't have a mark on me and I'll be out," Xander explained somberly. "But it's not like I don't deserve to be punished for hurting that girl..."

Dawn felt so sorry for Xander. Less than a week ago the biggest worry he had was trying to keep a job, now it was trying keep from killing anyone.

"Renee was trying to be so nice to me, and her sister... They both must hate me so much..." Xander rambled, still not looking directly at Dawn. "It wouldn't really be such a bad thing if they locked me up. The only part I'm scared about is what might happen to a cell mate if I loose it... Then I'm thinkin' 'Ewe! Cell mate!'"

Dawn recognized the name. "Renee?"

Xander nodded, answering bluntly, "The one I bit."

"Did you get a last name? Was her sister named Lisa?" she asked quickly.

Xander nodded. "No last name, but you guessed her sister's..." He looked back to her quickly. "Are they your friends?"

"Renee is," she said with a nod sadly. "We're lab partners in fifth period science. I wasn't sure where she was the last couple of days."

He looked away from her again, ashamed. "I'm sorry."

She became excited suddenly. "I could talk to her and see if I could get her to change her story."

Xander rubbed his eyes again, tired, then gave a rather large yawn.

"Do you want to lay down or something while I give Renee a call?"

Xander nodded. "Do you have a cot or sleeping bag in the basement?"

She nodded. "There's a cot near the water-heater." She stood. "You can get settled in down there while I call. I'll come down and tell you how it went."

He stood, giving a nod as he went through the house and down the stairs into the dark basement.

Dawn went to the phone and dialed Renee's number.

Ring... Ring... "Hello?" a woman said.

"Hi, it's Dawn Summers... Is Renee there?"

"Yes, just one moment; I think she's awake."

A few seconds later another voice came very softly. "Hello?"

"Renee? It's Dawn."

"Hi... Did you call to give me an update on the classes I missed?'

"No, it's not about classes. I wanted to know if you're ok after what happened in the park the other night."

"Not great but a little... I'm recovering." Renee was a little surprised all of a sudden by Dawn's question. "How do you know what happened?"

Dawn thought how not to say 'The vampire just told me that it was you...' so she thought of another, not quite so unbearable answer. "You saw my sister there, didn't you?"

Renee thought for a moment. She hadn't remembered anything about anyone but Xander, the one who attacked her, until Dawn had just mentioned it. "Yes... I guess I did..."

"But I didn't just call about you I called to ask what you told the cops about Xander."

"Xander?" Renee asked right away, surprised by Dawn's mentioning of him. "How do you know Xander?"

"Again, with the sisterly association," she explained calmly before getting to the point of her call. "The cops came for him a little while ago, but he avoided them. They will eventually catch up with him... You know what he is?" she asked softly.

"Yes... He's a monster like the other things that attacked Lisa and me."

"A vampire, but not like the other ones," Dawn insisted. "He was hurt and tried to get you to stay away. I wish you'd have listened."

Renee was a little irritated. Dawn wasn't there so how can she judge me now she thought to herself.

"Try to understand: he's only not been a human for about four and a half days. You've seen the movies where a vampire kills things to satisfy their so-called 'hunger' and it's the same in reality... Please," Dawn continued more gently, "change the story to get him off the hook."

Renee wasn't answering.

"You're all right now so if they try to get him to a station during the day, it'll kill him. If they cage him up for more them a day, without his own type of food, another person might get hurt whether Xander wants it or not."

"He should be punished for what he did to me; I almost died."

Dawn sighed, thinking of an even gentler way to explain Xander's side. "The others would have gladly killed you, so do you know why Xander didn't? Do you know why he tried to help you first? Then why he tried to warn you and keep you away from him?"

"No, I don't," she confessed sadly.

"The others lost their souls along with it their ability to feel guilt. They could have easily lived with the knowledge that they'd killed both of you. They've probably killed dozens of girls just like you and Lisa. Xander is very different from that; he has his soul and hasn't ever killed anyone. He told me not ten minutes ago that he hasn't slept for more than an hour in the last two days because he can't stop thinking of what damage he must have done to the two of you... If you want payment for what he did, he'll never stop feeling sorry over what happened or forget about it," Dawn told very bluntly. "He'll do whatever it takes to be forgiven."

Renee was shocked by Xander's confession of guilt. "I-I'll have to think about it."

"Should I tell you that Xander wishes he'd be punished? That's the last thing that he told me. He didn't even seem to care, once he thought about it, if they did catch and lock him up. The only worry he had about being caught was for the cops or a cell mate if he lost his concentration and allowed himself to get out of hand."

Renee continued to consider what could happen to more people if she pushed for revenge... "I'll change the story and… explain to Lisa the new reasons," she said in a slightly irritated tone.

"Great," Dawn said excitedly. "You better call the police and tell them that you messed up with the name or remind them that the person who attacked you would have had a deadly stab wound or something... Xander needs to be able to get back to his place by sunset so he can have his dinner before..."

"I get it," Renee interrupted. It occurred to her what Dawn had just implied. "He's not there, with you, right now is he? He's dangerous."

"I know he could be dangerous but I trust him."

"I trusted him a little too much and he nearly killed me."

"I get what happened and what could happen..."

"It's pretty early," Renee interrupted, not wanting to turn friends against each other or to get into a fight with Dawn, "so I'll let you go."

"All right," she said with a sight.

"Bye."

"Bye," Dawn said softly. "And thank you."

They both hung up.

Dawn hurried to the stairs.

----------------------------------------------------------

Downstairs

Xander had blocked the only window with a blanket he'd found in a box and was now laying on the cot under his comforter. When the window had been blocked, he didn't bother turning a light on; in total darkness he could see as clearly as he could as a human during the minutes just after sunset.

Through the floor, he had managed to lay so quietly that he used his improved hearing to catch Dawn's side of the phone conversation with a whisper of Renee's.

Dawn shut the door behind her and trotted down the dark stairs, careful to keep hold of the railing. The room was pitch black. She knew that Xander was down there and that he needed the dark to survive, so she stopped at the bottom step which was as far as the railing could lead her. "Xander?" she called. "Where are you?"

"I set the cot up under the window. The light you have in here is a little too bright for me. There's a straight shot to your old rocking-chair... That is, if you'd still like to sit and talk even though it's with a monster and too dark for you to see."

"You're not a monster," Dawn insisted. "You can actually see when it's this dark in here?" She took a few cautious steps through the darkness, holding her hands out in front of her to keep from running into the chair.

"Almost perfectly... Three more steps and you're to the chair," he directed.

Dawn took another step and tripped on her own foot, about to take a header into the chair.

Xander shot out of bed and caught her around the waist and by one arm, helping to right her quickly.

Dawn was startled by the sudden movement she'd seen as well as the fact that he been able to catch her. Her heart was pounding quickly. "Nice catch; thanks."

"No problem," he told softly. Xander led her to the chair, not letting go until she was safely seated. He made his way back to the bed and simply sat down.

Dawn settled into the chair with a little shiver.

Xander could see that she'd felt a chill, so he reached over to the boxes next to Dawn and pulled out an afghan, handing it to her.

She gave a little jump when she felt the blanket touch her but realized that it was simply a blanket. Through the dark, she'd seen a movement but could not see what it was that had moved. Luckily her eyes were beginning to adjust. She spread the blanket over her lap and pulled it just over her folded arms and stomach.

"Can you see any better?" Xander asked her, seeing how frightened she'd been by a sudden blanket to her lap. He began to lay back down, wrapping up in his blanket.

Dawn nodded. "Outlines of boxes against the wall... When you move... But it's still pretty much blobs in the black... What about you? How would you describe what you can see?"

"Well," Xander began, knowing that the shrug he was about to do would not have been seen, "if I ever had any desire to do so, I could read a book down here."

"Wow," Dawn commented quietly. She decided to change the creepy topic to one a little more productive. "Renee is gonna change the police report. You should be able to go home tonight."

Xander lay quietly, beginning to think again on the horrible thing he'd done to the girl. He remembered everything that he'd felt as clearly now as if he were experiencing them all again. Some parts he was experiencing again. The closeness of Dawn, three feet away, made him feel exactly as he had that night... The hunger he had was still growing, even though he hadn't suffered injuries nearly as severe as he had that night...

"What're ya thinkin' about?" Dawn asked, not having received any reply after delivering the good news.

"I wish I could just turn it off... I wish I could turn this world off and have it feel normal again... The demon is..." He paused. "It's so strong in me that it makes me think nothing could be real but the same thing makes it more real than anything..."

Dawn was a little disturbed by his confusing rant, though she remembered the feeling. "I know that thought. When I found out that I was the Key, I went through the same thing: the idea that reality isn't real but is too weird to be fake."

"It's not really reality it's just me..."

"Dawn!" came a call from upstairs.

It was Buffy.

"Dawn!" she called again. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the basement!" Dawn called from the chair. She stood and easily walked across the room to the staircase. "Just when my eyes finally adjusted," she complained.

Buffy opened the door as Dawn got to the top. "What were you doing down there?"

Dawn stopped at the top step, squinting a little at the brightness. "Xander's here... It's a long story. The cops came to his apartment to arrest him but he avoided them and wrapped in a blanket to get here..." Dawn remembered the phone conversation. "Why didn't you tell me that it was my friends Renee a few nights ago?"

"I was just about to tell you." Buffy sighed, a little apprehensive. "I don't know... I just didn't..." she trailed off, not sure how to confess. "With Xander... I didn't want you to see him as..." she trailed off again.

"As a vampire?" Dawn offered with raised eyebrows as she folded her arms.

Buffy nodded, a little embarrassed by the reasoning considering they were talking about Xander, not a real monster. "We both know he's still himself but if you imagine him hurting a person so much..." She stopped again. "You pretty much summed up my sentence with 'as a vampire.'"

Dawn nodded, easing up on her sister. "I get it..." She relaxed and looked down the dark stairs again, then back to Buffy. "Can I stay with him a little longer?"

Buffy gave a small nod. "He'll probably want to sleep, so if he asks to be left alone..."

"I'll do what he says," Dawn interrupted, trotting back down the staircase.

"Just be careful not to trip," Buffy warned as her sister disappeared again into the dark. She shut the door, going back up to her own room for a few more hours of sleep. She had a small amount of worry over Dawn spending time downstairs with Xander. As a vampire he was nowhere near as in control of himself as Angel had always been, or even handling it as well as Spike was. If anything started to get too weird, she knew Dawn would come back up stairs.

----------------------------------------------------------

Dawn came back to the rocker a little more easily than she had before. Being more familiar with the layout of the floor, she wasn't afraid of tripping on any of the junk. She cuddled back into the quilt.

"Nice chat?" Xander asked, having been so tired and preoccupied with holding his hunger in check to have noticed anything about their chat other than the scent of Buffy's perfume.

"Fine... She told me that if you wanted to sleep, I should do what you say and go back to my room; but I was planning on it anyway."

Xander realized that when he shut his eyes, the room began spinning and the scent of Dawn's blood was even harder to ignore. He tried to keep his eyes open, avoiding the severe temptation... "So what's new in the world of Dawn?"

"Boring stuff... What about your world?" Dawn asked. "Any good daytime TV shows or do you try to sleep and avoid it at all costs?"

"Avoid them at all costs," he told quickly. "Speaking of costs, my bosses gave me a night job at the construction site,. It's just a shift every few nights, but it'll still pay the bills..." Xander yawned. He was getting too weak for a person to be around him, and he realized that he should tell Dawn to go before he got any worse... Surviving the day would be hard. He hadn't eaten in a while; he'd been too against a meal to bother remembering when he'd last had one...

"There's always gonna be something out there that you'll be good at so..."

"I think you should go back upstairs," Xander interrupted quickly.

Dawn was a little surprised be the sudden request, but she knew that he really meant it. "Ok," she said easily, standing.

"It's not that I don't want to talk but I don't think you're safe right now being around me."

"It's really OK." She began to walk to the stairs. "I'll see you later today. You can come up later, if you feel like it, and... I don't know... Something... We rented some movies a few days ago and haven't gotten around to watching them, so if you want to..."

Xander sighed. "Maybe later..."

Dawn hurried up the stairs and to her room. She was still tired, too.

Xander turned over, with another relaxing sigh and slowly fell asleep.

----------------------------------------------------------

4:55 PM; Buffy's Basement

Xander trashed a little and woke suddenly. He'd been having a nightmare. Asleep, he didn't feel the hunger, but now that he was awake, he felt so hungry that he could barely move. Xander could feel that his face had changed, so he managed to sit up and stand.

There was one person in the room.

He looked to the staircase.

Dawn was sitting on the steps. Her head was in her arms, on the step above where she sat and she was asleep.

He waited a moment, forcing his face to return to looking like a human.. "Dawn," he called to her.

She woke quickly, a little startled, but stood, ready to take whatever order was about to come.

"Get Buffy," he told urgently. "I need to talk to her." The thing he wanted most was for her to leave. Just her presence in the room was making him more then a little unstable, and even more dangerous for her to be around.

She could see the glint of his golden eyes. "D-Do you need to eat?" Dawn asked shyly, not moving yet.

"Yes," he confessed softly. "That's why I need Buffy."

Dawn gave a little nod, and ran up the stairs.

Feeling a little dizzy, Xander sat back on the cot to keep from falling over.

Buffy appeared at the top of the stairs, holding a plastic container. "Xander? Can I turn on a light?"

"Go ahead," he called weakly.

She flipped on the light switch.

Xander recoiled from the light, then bowed his head as he rubbed his eyes with both hands.

"Dawn said you needed to have something to eat," she said, going down the stairs. "I had a feeling you'd need to eat when you woke up, so I went to the butcher's this afternoon."

He looked up, surprised, and still squinting a little.

Buffy came over to him, handing the container.

Xander took it gladly and turned his back to her as he opened the lid, drinking most of it down without even thinking.

Buffy sat down in the rocking chair, purposely not even looking at his back.

He laid the empty carton on the floor next to the cot.

"So... What'd you wanna chat about?" she asked, looking up.

Xander looked to her with his yellow eyes, this time showing no sign of pain from the light. "Do you know why it's like this for me?"

She was a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"I haven't exactly been Mr. Diligent when it comes to having regular meals," Xander began, "but even when I do drink something I still feel like I need more."

Buffy wasn't sure how to translate what Angel had said to her the other day when answering the same question she'd asked.

"Right now, after all of that stuff I just had, it's still in me."

"I actually asked Angel, that night after we dropped the girls at the hospital, if he could think of anything to add to what Giles said."

"And?"

"He basically said that Giles was probably right. He said that the more energy you use, the more you need to consume, and young ones need more than the older ones to begin with... Kinda like a fast metabolism. So for you, it's really fast because you have both against you: newness and strength."

Xander nodded. "Right now the demon in me is stronger than the me in me ever could have been even when I was alive... Did he mention when he thought things would even out? Giles didn't have much on it before. "

She shook her head with a small shrug. "It took him a few minutes to come up anything Giles hadn't already said. He didn't have a clue over how to change it. On the topic of you, you've never been weak; and the you in you seems stronger right now than I've ever seen." She paused to clarify. "I mean the you in you is stronger than ever since we've already established super physical strength. If you weren't, that girl would be dead."

Xander lowered his head again and wasn't saying anything. So many new things had happened that every time he had a chance to think, his mind was too mixed up to come up with anything clear.

"There's still over an hour until you can get home, so do you want to come up stairs?" Buffy asked, standing. She offered her hand to him.

He looked up, still sad.

Buffy smiled. She wiggled her fingers, again inviting him to take her hand. "I've already closed up all the blinds and the curtains."

Xander stood, seriously, avoiding her hand. "I'll come up but I don't think I should touch you. You shouldn't touch me. You should probably just jump on the band wagon with most of the group, and be frightened of me. Renee thought that she could touch me and she wound up in the hospital... I don't want you to get hurt."

Buffy laughed suddenly. She stopped herself, and gave an excuse, "Sorry, Xand, but I'm the Slayer. You don't even have to worry about hurting me."

Xander gave a faint sign of amusement, but became somber again just as easily. "I mean it. I'm not dealing with this very well and I know I'm seriously unstable. Plus, as you pointed out, I'm too strong for my own good... Even with Slayer strength, that doesn't mean that nothing could hurt you."

Buffy thought a moment before continuing. "Do you feel anything right now that makes you want to hurt me?"

Xander didn't answer, looking to the floor shyly. It was a definite 'yes', but to confess it would inevitably turn out badly.

"Wow," Buffy commented in genuine shock. "Then I might have the same worry about hurting you if..."

Xander looked up to her, worried over the condition.

"... You were a regular vampire and not one of my two best friends in the whole world," she finished with a big smile.

Xander gave a relieved sigh.

"You and Willow are the best friends I've ever had and no matter what happens, I promise not to kick your ass too badly," she assured with a small laugh. "I can't imagine that you would try anything..."

"I didn't imagine it till it happened..."

"Quit beating yourself up," she ordered, loosing the humorous tone. "Just listen: You'll always be my friend; no matter what." She offered her hand again with a cheery smile. "We have plenty of movies to choose from up stairs."

He took her hand as gently as he could manage. The touch of her skin was very distracting.

Buffy smiled again and pulled him along. "We have that cute movie The Little Vampire,but we rented those Anne Rice movies, Blade One through Three, andthere's always The Craft, those Highlander films, and a couple X-M­en..."

Xander stopped, letting go of her hand, too shocked by the movie choices to go on without comment.

Buffy stopped rambling off titles, surprised by their stopping.

"What? You've got to be kidding," he accused, seriously worried that those titles were the real movie selections upstairs.

"I am kidding," she explained quickly with a smile, taking his hand again. "We have one horror, but a few comedies, too."

He allowed himself to be pulled along again. "What's the horror movie?" he asked, a little worried by what the title may actually be.

"It's called Valentine and from the previews the lead actor looks kinda cute, but the story's pretty good, too..." She looked back to see how Xander was reacting to the summery, and he didn't seem impressed.

Xander hadn't seen the movie, so he shrugged.

Buffy lost her cheer suddenly, too. "I know you can make it. We'll find the Witch and something good will come of it," she assured.

"Optimism and humor used to be my trademark... I guess things change."

"But sometimes they can change back," she encouraged as they got to the top of the stairs.

Xander flipped off the light and let the door shut behind him.

----------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 10:55 PM at a Graveyard

It was Xander's turn to patrol with Buffy. They walked slowly across the old graveyard. They had already looked through the park, but the Witch hadn't been seen in the last week by any one in the their group or by Spike.

"Darn Witch, it's like she disappeared off the face of the Earth," Xander commented bitterly. "Almost a week and not a sign of her... She must have found what she's looking for and left town."

"Don't loose hope, Xand," Buffy encouraged. "She's probably just coming up with a plan to get her Staff back."

"If it's taking her this long to make a plan, why do I still think she'll be smart ebough to change me back into a human?" Xander asked, rhetorically.

" 'Loose hope and you've lost yourself'... I can't remember where I heard that saying, but it does apply to you," Buffy continued.

"I've already started to loose my mind..."

Ahead of them, a vampire was walking by one of the gravestones.

"Duty calls," Buffy said to him with a pat on the shoulder. She quickly ran away to kill it.

Xander kept walking slowly down the path. He knew that Buffy could take care of one vampire alone.

Buffy attacked it with a kick. She had her stake in hand, ready to kill it after a small fight.

Suddenly, Xander was shoved from behind. The attack caught him off-guard but the hit barely phased him. He turned around quickly.

A vampire had shoved him. It threw a hard punch to Xander's jaw.

Xander's head was thrown to the side. He turned back in full vamp-face. Xander dropped his bag and punched the vamp back harder than the one he had been given, and now that he'd been attacked at least once a night for a week, his hand didn't get sore after delivering a hardy strike.

The vamp staggered back, almost falling.

Xander pulled a stake from his coat pocket. He ran at the still stumbling vamp and staked him.

The vampire turned to dust.

Xander brushed the ashes from his pants as if it weren't any new event for him to have staked a vampire all by himself. Grabbing his backpack, he looked over to see how Buffy was fairing.

Twenty feet away from him, Buffy was beating the crap out of one vampire. A second vamp charged at her from behind.

Xander ran to her aid.

Buffy blocked the first vampire's hit, not noticing the vamp behind her about to pounce. It jumped off a tombstone, into the air.

Xander dropped his bag again and jumped, tackling the second vampire in mid-air as it was inches from slamming into Buffy.

Buffy kicked her opponent away and turned around to see what was happening behind her.

Xander had the vamp pinned.

The vamp used his legs to flip Xander over him and the vampire got to his feet quickly.

Xander was to his feet in a blur and had the vamp staked before it could even react.

Buffy hadn't seen him move. Stake still in hand, she whirled back to her charging enemy. It turned to dust.

Xander turned to Buffy, having returned to human face.

"Wow," Buffy commented, walking over to Xander's side.

Xander picked up his back pack casually and they continued to walk through the graveyard.

"We should patrol together more often. That move you did; you were on the ground one second, and the next you already had that vamp staked!" Buffy described in amazement.

For the past four nights, Riley, Angel, Xander, and Willow had been alternating as Buffy's patrolling partner. This was Xander's first night with her since he had attacked that girl early Thursday morning.

"Yeah, it's great, but still too creepy for every night use." Xander unzipped his backpack, and pulled out a two thermoses: one red and one blue. He handed the blue one to Buffy.

Buffy took it. "Goody; iced mocha!" She unscrewed the lid and took a gulp.

Xander zipped his bag up again and pulled the straps over his shoulders. He unscrewed the lid to his red thermos and took a few big gulps; his drink was not an iced mocha.

The Witch materialized behind them; they didn't notice. Her hair was streaked with gray and there were wrinkles around her eyes and on her hands.

"I wish I'd have put more whipped cream in here," Buffy commented, taking another sip of her coffee.

Xander didn't say anything but he could hear a second heartbeat close by. They continued walking.

The Witch extended her arms.

Xander and Buffy stopped walking. Xander's backpack slid off his shoulders, to the ground. They dropped their thermoses and turned around to face the Witch. They were in a trance. There was a magical lavender mist surrounding them.

The Witch began a spell:

From this time, until first light,

The two of you shall both fight.

At that time your fight will end,

And Alexander will drink from his young friend...

Let nothing stand in your way,

Both of you will obey!

She slowly lowered her arms and the mist around Buffy and Xander soaked into them... The color of their eyes stained into a solid, purplish shade of black.

Buffy threw the first punch but Xander blocked it and returned the assault with a hard kick to the stomach.

She went sailing across the graveyard.

Xander ran at her to continue the fight.

The Witch smiled proudly. She whispered a few words and vanished.

----------------------------------------------------------

Monday, 5:50 AM, the Graveyard.

Xander and Buffy were both still fighting.

Buffy's cheek was bruised and she had a bleeding bite on her hand.

Xander's shirt was covered in his own blood. During their fight, Buffy had sliced him deeply in the stomach with a dagger she had pulled out of his boot. She had also impaled him twice: once in his lower right rib-cage with a stake and again, completely through the stomach. She'd managed to throw him at a damaged portion of the metal fence and into the thick, spear-like fence post.

They had moved the fight over the length of the graveyard and back several times. Right now they were on the south side, near the funeral home's large mausoleum.

The two of them suddenly stopped fighting, relaxed and walked over to each other.

Xander wrapped his arms around Buffy, his face as a vampire, and bit into her neck, drinking her blood as quickly as he could.

The first rays of sunlight broke over the horizon.

Buffy and Xander snapped out of the trance...

Xander continued to drink for a moment before he realized what was really happening and that he was holding Buffy. He pulled away from her, transforming back to his human face.

She fell to the ground unconscious.

His skin was smoking. Xander looked frantically for shelter. He ran into the shade of the building and pressed his back against the brick wall. Xander grabbed onto his punctured stomach. There was a large tear in his jacket.

His skin felt a little better but he didn't remember anything that had happened that night. Why did I do that to her? Had I lost my soul and suddenly gotten it back? Now he was too worried about Buffy to think anymore of himself and the reasoning. Staying in the shadow, he took a few steps away from the wall to look around the corner to find where Buffy was laying.

Buffy was unconscious, face up on the ground, about four or five feet into the sunlight and a few steps back from the edge of the building. To get her, he'd have to round the corner, head on to the light, and drag her into the shade before he had a chance to catch on fire. Her head was facing him and her left arm was the closest part of her to him, sprawled slightly above her head.

Xander was glad that he could still hear her heart beating. It was very weak, but she was still alive. With medical attention, she would be all right, but she needed the help now.

He looked around; he didn't see his backpack anywhere. It had a blanket in it. Without the blanket, it would be hard to get Buffy to the hospital.

If Buffy died, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Xander held up the edge of his coat, shading his head. He charged into the light and grabbed Buffy's upper left arm with his right hand, and roughly dragged most of her into the shade and falling to the ground himself.

His left hand was badly charred from holding the coat and he had only been in the light for two seconds.

"Buffy, wake up," Xander said, gently shaking her shoulders.

She didn't wake up. Now she was barely breathing.

Xander zipped up his jacket. He pulled her further into the shade and slid her coat off carefully, tying it around his head as though he were a little kid pretending to be a mummy or a ghost. He left room for his eyes so he could see. The sleeves to his coat were long enough to rap around his hands, so he grabbed the ends, making tight fists to cover his hands from the light.

Xander picked Buffy up, and ran as fast as he could out of the cemetery and towards the hospital.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:59 AM

As Xander reached the shade of the large hospital building, he shook her coat off of his head and continued to run through the Emergency entrance, then down the hall.

There were some doctors walking around.

"She needs help!" Xander yelled, slowing to a fast, human pace. "She's lost a lot of blood. Her name is Buffy Summers!"

A doctor rushed over to them, and pointed to an empty bed. "What happened?"

Xander laid her on the bed and came up with a lie. "We were attacked by something in the park."

Some nurses rushed over to Buffy to take her vital signs.

"Type and cross-match. She needs a transfusion," the doctor ordered the nurses. He turned back to Xander.

"Help her!" Xander yelled.

"That's what we're trying to do, but you need to tell me exactly what happened. Where were you and did you get a good look at what attacked her?" the doctor asked calmly.

"It was a few seconds before sunrise and we were walking through the park. We were on the way to a friend's house. This man came out of nowhere and attacked us. He wanted her purse, I think, maybe my bag, too..."

The nurses had a pint of blood for the transfusion, and they hooked it up to her right arm.

Xander continued, frantically, to lie his way through the story. "It got my bag... I didn't get a good look at it, but it punched me and I was out for a minute... After that, he must have stabbed her and knocked her out, too, so he could get away. I woke up and my bag was gone... Will she be all right?"

A nurse was filling out Buffy's chart and the doctor took it from her.

"Vital signs are almost stable. You have to wait outside. She won't be awake for a little while. If you need the phone, ask the nurse just down the hall by the..."

Xander hurried out of the room to the phone, his right arm wrapped around the wound through his stomach.

----------------------------------------------------------

6:15 AM

Angel, Giles, Anya, Dawn, Willow, and Riley ran around the corner. They had only been told that Buffy was in the Emergency room, not specifically what had happened.

Xander sat, worried, on the bench outside the room. How can I explain to them what happened? I never forgave Angel for biting her at Graduation to save his own life, and now...

"What happened?" Giles asked Xander urgently.

"Is she all right?!" Riley demanded of him.

"The doctors don't want anyone with her," Xander explained softly, standing up. He was so numb that he just stared blankly at his friends.

"Xander," Giles called again. "What happened?"

"Was it the Witch?" Willow asked.

"If it was..." Angel threatened with clenched teeth.

"No, it wasn't," Xander interrupted. "I don't remember what was happening. I think Buffy and I were fighting..."

"Is she all right? Where is she?" Dawn asked quickly.

Xander turned to her. "The Doc's in there with her and doesn't want anyone in yet."

"Fighting who?" Willow cried, not wanting to be kept in suspense.

He turned back to the others in the group. "Each other." Xander was hoping they weren't thinking he no longer had his soul.

Riley's eyes became big with anger. "You did something to her?!!" Not waiting for an answer, he punched Xander as hard as he could in the stomach.

Xander cried out loudly in pain. He had just been punched in the same place as the gapping hole left after the fight with Buffy. It made his stomach feel like he'd just been stabbed again. Xander slid down the wall to the bench and left a dark red streak of blood on the wall. He put his right hand over his wound and raised the other hand in a 'back off' manner. Buffy's blood was strong enough to begin the repairs of his wound, but the injury was so large that it would take time, and more blood, for it to be completely healed.

Giles roughly pulled Riley away from Xander before Riley had a chance to give another assault.

Xander needed room. Concentration was the only thing keeping his face from changing while he was in that excruciating pain. The wound was a different kind of pain than sunlight but just as intense.

Giles grabbed Riley by the arm when he tried to get close to Xander again. "We can't jump to conclusions. We are all her friends, and whatever happened, I'm sure it can be explained," Giles ordered rationally.

Xander decided to explain the last things he remembered. His ability to speak was impaired by his breath-taking pain. For a moment the thought again passed through his mind If no breath, then why with the breathlessness? "It was sometime around eleven last night and we were in the graveyard. Three vampires showed up; we took care of them. We were just walking; I heard someone near us and I don't know why I didn't turn around... Then the next thing I know I'm biting Buffy, and the sun's come up. I got her here as fast as I could run."

Dawn's eyes were big with terror. She never though that Xander would ever hurt Buffy; not in a million years.

Riley raised his other arm, about to punch Xander in the face, but Angel caught him, and gave an angry look.

Willow looked at Xander with a terrified expression on her face. It was the same way she had looked at him a week ago when he punched Angel and then threatened him so brutally.

"Xander, could it have been the Witch behind you?" Anya asked calmly, fully confident that her boyfriend didn't have enough skill to hurt Buffy. She knew he had strength and speed but Buffy was better at fighting.

"I don't have any idea... It could have been," Xander said weakly.

Anya rushed over to Xander's side. "You're bleeding!" she cried.

Xander looked down. There was a big splotch of moisture soaking through his fresh, black t-shirt. He pulled his hand away from his stomach and it was covered with his bright red blood. "I don't care." He put his hand over the wound again.

"It looks like she fought back," Riley said with clenched teeth. He found himself suddenly wishing that Buffy had just staked Xander in the hospital last week. Riley pushed that thought out of his mind, realizing that Xander really didn't seem to remember. He also knew that Xander would never willingly harm Buffy. Riley calmed himself.

"Hopefully Buffy remembers something," Giles said.

The doctor came out of Buffy's room. "She's awake. You can go in now. Miss Summers is recovering quickly and can be released when she feels ready."

The doctor walked away.

Xander got back to his feet slowly as Angel and Giles released Riley's arms.

Everyone walked into Buffy's room.

Riley hurried to the far side of the bed, grabbing onto her hand.

Dawn came to Buffy's other side. "How do you feel?" she asked softly.

"Weak..." Buffy answered. "Do any of you know what happened? After Xander and I were attacked by the three vamps, everything is just a little blurry."

"I don't," Xander answered quietly, still holding his stomach. His voice couldn't stretch to full volume. He felt dizzy, too, like he could collapse at any moment. "But what it looked like is we were fight. Really fighting."

She starred blankly at the ceiling for a few moments. "I do remember that. It was like we were at it for hours... Then you bit me?" Buffy asked, remembering the few moments before sunrise. She looked to him for the answer.

Xander nodded.

"It may have been the Witch that made you two fight," Anya said, defending her boyfriend again. "I mean, Xander isn't as good of a fighter than you, but he can sure run. If you were fighting of your own free will, you'd have never been able to catch him to do this sort of damage." Anya reached over and pulled up Xander's t-shirt to show some of the bloody hole.

Dawn gasped, turning away from the gore, and then back to Buffy.

Xander pulled his shirt back down and glared at Anya.

"Oh, and in order to be nice to you, Buffy: you'd have never missed the heart," Anya added.

"What exactly do you remember, Buffy?" Giles asked. "It is very important. Xander admits to biting you althought we don't yet know the reason. If the Witch can use her magic to control people so easily, then we have a bigger problem than was originally anticipated."

"Ok; we fought the vamps and I complimented Xander on his fighting, then we got out our thermoses for a break. We were walking… but after that it's a little foggy. Literal fog. There was a purplish blur around everything. I started to attack Xander. I knew that I wasn't allowed to kill him. In fact, I knew that he was supposed to bite me just before sunrise. He did but then he tried to help me... Now I'm here," Buffy explained.

"I was worried that it could be the soul thing," Willow said in a small voice.

"So was I," Xander said sadly.

Angel turned to Xander. "When your soul is lost, and it returns, you remember everything that you have done within just a few minutes. That's why it's such a curse: you keep every memory of who you've hurt and how much you liked doing it at the time."

"Let's move away from that really depressing stuff and back to the Witch," Buffy suggested, her strength returning more and more every minute. "What can we do now against the Witch; now that we know she can control us, I mean?"

"We could cast yet another Spell," Giles suggested with a tired sigh. They had done so many spells already that it seemed redundant to rely on another one for their protection.

"Any more spells, and I swear we'll start glowing," Buffy commented sarcastically.

The others stared at her for a moment with questioning expressions.

"Just kidding. That can't really... Can it?" Buffy asked nervously.

"No, it can not," Giles assured patiently.

"It's our best bet... Not that it's our best bet to glow, or our best chance of capturing the Witch is by glowing, but by doing some type of protection spell, it might be beneficial" Angel rambled, briefly confusing himself as well as the others.

"A protection spell? As long as it doesn't turn out like the last anti-magic Spell we used to undo the Witch's other spell," Anya commented.

Willow spoke up, "Tara and I could put together sachets. There are lots of different receipts to keep minds from being deceived and controlled. We could make them after classes today."

"Oh, God, your classes!" Buffy cried to her school-going friends, worried that they might have missed one because of her. She looked up at the clock quickly, and then relaxed. It was only 6:37 AM. "Good, your first classes aren't for at least an hour."

"You should just lie there and rest," Giles advised.

"All right..." Buffy said reluctantly. She hated hospitals. "Someone should go back to the graveyard to find clues. We dropped our stuff in one spot near the really big Cunningham podium; it's the thing with the stone bible on top."

Willow nodded. "I'll do it on my lunch hour."

"I do have a class in about an hour," Riley told. "but I could stay here with you if you'd like." Riley really wanted to stay with her until she walked out of the hospital. He knew that she's had a fear of hospitals since she was a very little girl and her cousin Celia had died. He'd been told that the fear was refreshed in her junior year of high school when a demon had nearly killed her while staying in a hospital.

"No, I think I want so sleep a little. I'm exhausted from the fight last night," Buffy explained with a yawn.

Xander's head was bowed. He was guilty about what had happened. Even if it wasn't really his fault, he knew he should have paid attention to the presence of another person behind them. On top of that, he kept thinking that she wouldn't be in such a bad condition if he'd been able to stop himself from taking more of her blood when the spell was broken.

"I need more sleep, too. I'm leaving," Anya said bluntly. She kissed Xander and walked away.

"I'll be in the hall," Xander said. "I don't know the sewer system as well as Dead Boy, so I'll be here for a while. See ya, Buff." Xander staggered out of the room, into the hall.

"I'll see you at sunset," Giles said as he walked out.

"Bye, Buffy," Angel said. He couldn't say what he was really wanting to: I love you and will never let anything bad ever happen to you again, but he couldn't with Riley there. He could never tell her anything like that again, even if Riley wasn't back in her life. "I'll be with Giles again. If we don't find her by Wednesday, I'll need to head back to LA... unless you really need me to stay longer."

"I will need your help for as long as you can possibly stay, especially with the new discovery of her mind control powers," Buffy said. "See you tonight."

"Bye," Dawn said quietly.

Angel nodded, smiled shyly as he walked out.

"I love you," Riley told Buffy as he left her side. "I just realized that I have to give everyone a ride. I'll be in the cafeteria after my first class if you want to meet me there... Bye..."

"Riley, wait!" Buffy called. "Send Xander in, I need to talk to him."

Riley nodded and went into the hall.

Xander was slouched on the waiting bench with his eyes closed. He was exhausted, too, and still in need of blood for healing. The only thing he feared was that the need would overpower him sometime during the hours when he couldn't leave the hospital.

Riley walked over to him. "Hey, Xander."

He opened his eyes and looked up at Riley. Xander was still holding his stomach, though it appeared to have stopped bleeding. The Slayer's blood was stronger than anyone else's, so he hoped it meant that within a few hours, he'd be at full strength again.

"Buffy wants you to come in and talk... I'm sorry about punching you so hard," Riley confessed easily. "I mean, she's Buffy; she's so strong and I couldn't imagine what type of injury could put her in the hospital. I don't blame you, at all, for what happened; I know that it wasn't your fault."

"I felt the hit, that's for sure... For the past week I've barely felt anything but fear and craziness," Xander commented flatly, starring blankly a little past Riley. "The only good feeling I've felt since this happened is when I was holding her and drinking. I didn't have a real choice but I did enjoy it. She was in pain and that I can't live with. Now I don't care how I feel. I'd rather have the pain I'm feeling now in my stomach than to ever cause anyone else pain... What I'm trying to say is: the next time I hurt someone, just kill me. It's such a long shot at ever getting me changed back that you'd be doing me, and the world, a big favor."

"Xander, I don't know what I can tell you. You're my friend and I'll respect your wishes, but I refuse to follow them," Riley said more sensitively. "I won't kill you. I know that you weren't trying to hurt Buffy back there. I can drive you home; there's extra blankets in the back. I'll be back in a minute with one so you can get to the truck," Riley said walking down the hall.

"Thanks, Man," Xander said gratefully as he slowly got up, and walked into Buffy's room. He stopped at the foot of her bed. His head was still lowered. He couldn't face her after what he'd done.

"Xander come closer; over here," Buffy said, motioning for him to come to the left side of the bed.

He limped over to her.

Buffy reached out and grabbed his free left hand tightly with her left.

Even in the state he was in now, he knew he was too strong to avoid harming if he applied any pressure to his grip. He felt he'd done enough harm for that day, so Xander's hand remained limp and passionless in hers.

"Listen: it wasn't your fault! The Witch had a Spell on us. She made us fight and she made you bite me. I'm sorry about the stabbing," she insisted.

"Stabbings." Xander corrected, nodding, his head still low. "It's not the fact that I bit you..." he began to explain. Telling her the truth would be hard. Her, the Vampire Slayer. Her, the one who kills the creatures who enjoy bringing pain. "The... It's... I didn't like making you hurt, but..."

Buffy finished the hanging sentence with a little bit of shock in her voice, "...You liked drinking from me. Fresh blood; straight from a human?"

Xander had guilty tears in his eyes. He was in a daze. As he nodded his head, they slowly rolled down his cheeks.

"That's not your fault either," Buffy said with full confidence. "It's the thing that's inside of you. It effects the way you feel and the way you act. Besides, there's the Witch's spell with it."

Xander shook his head. "But it was me," he explained, looking into her eyes for the first time. "How can you stand to be near me? I all ready told Riley to kill me if I hurt anyone else. Now that I know how good it feels to..." Xander couldn't finish that sentence, but continued right on talking, "I'm not sure what will happen next. Next time I might kill someone and that could happen when I'm not being controlled by some Witch; the way I did last week to that other girl... You realize that it's true, don't you?"

Xander's loosing it, Buffy thought to herself. She began to get an urgent tone to her voice, "Yes, but anything is possible. I mean, look at Angel: he has been tempted every night on his life since he got his soul back. I have always seen that pain and hunger in his eyes. I can still see it. Since he changed you, the guilty part has been even more obvious; every time he's near you I see that guilt. You'll make it."

"For the last few days, by just knowing my friends are by me, I thought I could make it. If I kept the hunger satisfied with stuff from the butcher, I'd never taste human blood again. Here's something you won't like: when the Spell wore off, I kept drinking. I liked it, it felt good and warm. It was the only time I've felt a comfortable warmth; the unconvertible being sunlight," Xander added quickly. "Let's forget about Riley; I'd rather have you kill me. I know that my soul won't stay with me forever so..."

"Quit talking that way!" she ordered, interrupting his rant. "If you stay good, I won't ever kill you. You're one of the best people I've ever met and I won't let you die!" Buffy was yelling with tears coming into her eyes. "Even if you lost your soul I'd find a way to get you back!" She pulled Xander close to her, giving him a big hug. She didn't care if he thought touching him was dangerous for her... She needed to do it. "You will survive."

"I know you forgive me, but what about the others? And myself?" Xander asked in her ear. Then he drew away, feeling the hunger take hold again with the touch of her soft, warm skin.

Buffy wiped her tears away with her right hand and stopped crying. "Willow loves you like a brother; she'll forgive you. Anya loves you, too; Tara will forgive you because she knows exactly what's going on when soul and/or mind control stuff happens. Giles sometimes thinks that you're a pain but he really does care. Angel has forgiven you; if he hadn't all ready forgiven you, your head would have been rammed into the wall at least once by now. Riley knows, and if he doesn't I'll make him understand, that you weren't wanting to hurt me."

Xander nodded. "Riley knows."

Riley came back into the room with a wool Army issue blanket in his hands. "Ready to go?"

Buffy assured Xander again, "Everything will work out..."

Xander nodded. "See ya, Buff." He gently let go of Buffy's hand and walked over to Riley, his right hand still over the holed in his stomach.

Riley handed Xander the blanket.

"Hey, Xand," Buffy called before he could leave the room.

Xander turned back around.

"You should get your wounds patched up. If you don't take care of yourself, you'll be sorry," Buffy threatened with a weak smile.

Xander gave a small, faked smile back and walked into the hall.

Riley turned back to Buffy before he left. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Buffy said with a tiny wave good bye.

Riley walked out with a smile.

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In Front of the Hospital; 7:05 AM

Riley pulled the truck up in front of the doors. Giles was in the front seat next to him, and Dawn was little enough to sit on the floor in the very back. Angel and Xander had blankets around their backs, waiting by the pharmacy's back door for the truck to get closer.

When the truck stopped, Willow opened the back door, stepped out, and motioned for them to get in.

Angel covered his head and ran out through the automatic doors, quickly jumping into the truck, then scooting all the way to the window.

Xander's only outdoor experience with avoiding sunlight had been sprinting from the graveyard to this hospital. He'd never had to travel by car during the day. Xander covered his head just as Angel had, and followed.

Willow jumped in next to Xander, shutting the door as Angel and Xander adjusted the thick blankets to hide themselves from the sunlight. Willow buckled her seatbelt. "Ready."

Riley pulled out, into the light.

The light was streaming in onto Willow, barely touching Angel or Xander.

"How are you doing back there?" Riley asked, not far into the trip.

"I'm peachy," Xander said sarcastically as they pulled up to a stop sign.

"Fine," Angel called from under his coat.

Riley turned the corner. It still seemed alien to him to be willingly transporting vampires for the benefit of the vampire.

Xander jumped a little when the light touched pant leg. He could feel the burning through the material.

"Are you all right?" Willow asked Xander, worried that he was in a great deal of pain touching the light.

Xander's leg was smoking a little.

Not waiting for his answer, Dawn picked up Willow's coat and passed it to Willow who quickly covered Xander's legs. "Any better?" Dawn asked.

His leg had stopped burning, though the pain remained. "Much better."

"You know what you two look like..." Willow asked, hopping to cheer everyone up a little. "You look like a couple of kids going to a costume party as ghosts. Only you're the type of kids who couldn't find white sheets, so they settled for green." Willow laughed.

Xander gave a small laugh. "But you know what I feel like?" Xander asked. "A marshmallow being dangled too closely to the flames of a campfire."

Angel gave a deep chuckle. "That is the way it feels."

"Just four blocks to go," Riley announced.

"Good," Xander commented quietly.

"Xander?" Willow asked shyly. "Can I come with you? Into the apartment, I mean? It seems like it's been forever since we talked."

"Sure," he replied quickly. He wanted to talk to her, too. "But don't you have to get ready for your classes?"

"I can't stay for more than two hours. After that, I have to get back to the campus," Willow explained happily. "Do you have a good first aid kit in there? We could talk while I patch you up. It's not like there's a risk of infection but it will make it feel better."

"I don't know if I do have one," Xander answered.

"Willow," Riley called. "There's a kit under your seat. You can take some bandages and a roll of tape. I want to keep the rest of the supplies here in case there's another accident."

Willow reached under her seat and pulled out the first aid kit. She picked out a plastic baggy of gauss coverings and one of the three rolls of surgical tape.

"Thanks, Riley," Xander said gratefully.

"No problem," Riley replied.

"We're here," Giles announced.

Willow slid the kit under her seat again as Riley pulled the truck up in front of the entrance doors. She opened the door, and got out.

Xander slid out of the truck. His skin started to singe a little and his blanket to smoke. Xander ran through the doors.

Willow grabbed her jacket, slammed the door, and gave a back-glance wave as she ran to catch up with Xander.

Dawn crawled into the seat next to Angel. She picked up her jacket and spread it over Angel's lap to cover his legs, and buckled her belt. She figured that since she didn't need to wear it, it may as well be used in some way.

The group drove away.

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Xander ran through the doors, all the way to the elevator.

Willow followed closely behind, shutting the doors when she came in.

He threw the smoking blanket off of his head with both hands. With a wince, Xander grabbed onto his injured side; over the place he had been staked in the ribs. "Wow, that hurts." Stretching to pull the blanket off was the thing that hurt the worst at the moment, more than the burns or the other bruises and stab wound.

Willow gave him a very sympathetic look as they walked into the elevator.

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The had gotten off the elevator and were now outside his apartment door.

Xander put the key in and opened the door.

All of the windows were uncovered.

He pulled back quickly, unable to step in without a burn. Every evening he would open the blinds at sunset to see the last of the day as it faded, he'd make it home in time to shut the blinds before the sun came up again.

"I'll get them," Willow offered, hurrying past him. She shut all of the blinds. "You can come in, now."

Xander walked in, going straight into the bedroom, tossing the blanket onto the floor near the bed.

"Sit in there and take off your shirt," Willow instructed, following him into the room. She sat down on his bed.

Xander sat facing Willow. He pulled his black shirt off, exposing the nasty wounds. He laid the shirt next to him on the floor, not wanting to stain his sheets.

Seeing the two deep gashes in his torso, Willow cringed as she dropped the supplies onto the bed.

"If you're too grossed out, I can do it myself," Xander offered, looking into her eyes.

"No, I'll do it. It just looks really painful." Willow opened the bandage bag and folded a large section. She began to treat his wounds.

"It's actually not that bad. I'm just sort'a numb right now," Xander explained. "Until I move; then it's a big pain."

Willow gave a sympathetic smile at his horrible little attempt at humor. "So, how's your life?" She knew that conversation of any sort would help to take her mind off of the extensive wounds she was treating.

"Everything sucks; and yours?" Xander replied quickly.

"Sucks literally or figuratively?" Willow asked with a nervous grin, hoping to lighten the mood with that comment.

"Pick one... Both... The literal being all of my meals and the figurative being my life, or technically death, in general."

"There must be something tolerable happening in your un-life," Willow pointed out optimistically.

Xander shook his head. "Mom doesn't want me to tell Dad about what happened; she wants to break it to him. I think she's worried that the direct approach would give him a heart attack."

"Has she told him yet?"

He shook his head again. "She said she would three nights ago when I talked to her on the phone, but, as far as I know, she hasn't yet. And she hasn't wanted to see me since the first morning." Xander perked up suddenly. "Before now, Mom and I always saw each other but never talked about anything. Now we talk about almost everything on the phone, but she doesn't want to get near me."

"Almost everything?" Willow asked. "Still some stuff she can't handle?"

"We tend to avoid the fact that I don't have a life," Xander ended sadly. "Actually, on my part, most of what I say is just small talk. We both effectively avoid the truth that I can't ever have a life."

Willow frowned as she put the last piece of tape on his stomach bandage and began to tape the rib wound. "Come on, Xander, you have a life right now and will always have one whether your heart is beating or not," Willow said strictly, giving him a stern look.

"Now that we've covered my last depressing week of me and Mom dealing with me being dead: how's life been treating you?" Xander asked. He hadn't cheered up at all. If anything he felt more hopelessness and depression.

"So-so... Nothing's new. There's not even anything new in my classes," Willow lied. She knew that mentioning the picnic she'd had Friday afternoon with Tara and a group of friends from her history class would make him even more depressed about not having his normal, though minimal, social life anymore.

"Too bad." Xander flinched in pain as he smoothed the tape around the edges of the first bandage.

Willow placed the second piece of tape on the bandage covering his ribs. "Do you think pain killers would help? Aspirin or ibuprofen, maybe?" Willow asked.

"It's worth a try," Xander said.

Willow got up and went to the bathroom.

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7:25 AM

Willow came back out of the bathroom holding a bottle of Aspirin, reading the back label one more time to check the potency..

Xander was sitting on the bed, where he had been before, with his back to the bathroom door as he drank from a plastic cup. He had heard her come back into the room but continued to drink from the cup.

She noticed that the stab through the stomach had actually penetrated all the way through his body and out through his back. He needed another bandage, although enough time had passed for the wound to appear to be much smaller then the others. Willow walked over to him and dropped the bottle on the bed, sitting back down. "Stay turned around," she ordered. "I need to put a bandage on your back."

Xander sat where he was.

Willow began to put the bandage on to his back.

He reached back to the bottle and opened the lid, taking out three pills. Putting them in his mouth, he rinsed them down with the rest of what was in his cup.

She placed the last piece of tape on to the bandage, and Xander turned around. "Thanks," Xander said as he placed the empty cup on the floor and grabbed a fresh shirt from the stack he had near the pillow. "Sorry if..."

"I know," Willow interrupted. "You needed your breakfast."

Xander put his shirt on and nodded sadly. "There's still some real food in the frige if you're hungry."

"I'm not hungry," Willow told him quickly. Despite her reassurances to him, the whole idea of her best friend having to drink blood disgusted her as much as she expected it would him. She understood that it was necessary but it still was causing her to loose her appetite.

They sat quietly. During their entire friendship there had been very few times that they couldn't find something to chat about.

"Xander?" Willow asked.

"Yeah."

"I wanted to talk to you but it's awkward."

Xander nodded in agreement. "I know that it's awkward but we are still the same friends we've always been. You're still you and I'm still me... in most ways since not completely. What would we do on the standard 'friend-to-friend' chat session?" Xander asked with a hopeful smile. "We wouldn't be in a dark room like this, that's for sure. We'd probably end up in a place as boring as this but we'd still be talking. So let's talk; what is it you wanted it say? Feel free to ramble as I am doing."

Willow was silent for a moment before she spoke in a very nervous tone. "If we can't catch the Witch or if she gets killed, I won't give up on finding a way to change you back. I am scared of what you can do but you're my best friend. For a long time, I wanted you to be more for me... "

He looked up at her. "That didn't work too well," Xander recalled. "Maybe we weren't meant to be more than life-long best friends who are still willing to stay friends even after one is a member of the un-dead."

"...I trust you and will do anything to help you get through this," Willow assured, getting a little teary-eyed.

"Everyone has said that to me but it just doesn't click into my head how any of you guys can trust me. I know that tonight it was the Witch who made me hurt Buffy but last week... What will happen tomorrow night, or a thousand nights from now? Will the demon be able to control me? Will there be another Witch or other excuse? Or do you think it will it just be me who decides cartons from the butcher shop don't cut it anymore? Or..."

Willow held up her hand to stop him from going any further with his speculations. "I trust you because I've known you for as long as I can remember but I don't know what will happen... Maybe you should get some pointers from Angel," Willow suggested sadly. "I know that you don't like him but he'll go back to LA in a few days."

"I know you want to ask me more than 'How are you dealing?'" Xander said bluntly. He could tell she wanted real information.

Willow nodded; she really did want to know more.

"You can ask me anything and I'll answer. Why should I bother hiding something? I don't really care anymore about who knows what." He knew that if he let out some of his feelings, it would help him from going completely mad.

Willow nodded again, considering what question should come first. "What does it feel like?"

Xander gave a slightly shocked expression with a nervous laugh. The question was so broad. "Which part? Not having a pulse, drinking blood, the way it felt to hurt Renee and then Buffy? There are so many parts that it would take the next seven years to explain just how it all feels, and it's been seven days of experience."

"Any of it; all of it... or whatever you're willing to tell me. I just want to get an idea of what you're going through so I can help," Willow explained. "Ever time I think about what you might be going through I want to cry and with an imagination like mine I can see horrible things..."

Xander thought a moment. He didn't want to ramble out nonsense the way he usually did or to tell her everything too descriptively and disgust her completely, though he as didn't want to deliver a load of fluffed-up garbage. "There's nothing I can compare this to."

Willow had a thought: He can show me through magic since he can't describe it in words. She remember that when Buffy had psychic powers, she couldn't read a vampire's mind. During the stand-off with Glory, she'd managed to speak to Spike in his head, and tare Buffy from her catatonic coma... There was a type of meditation she'd read about in one of Tara's books. It was supposed to be able to link a normally un-readable mind to that of another person.

"There's only one part of what's happened that is easy to explain but hard to word. When I'm hungry, it's like an adrenaline rush that makes me want to do something homicidal..." Xander tried to speak intelligently so Willow could specifically compare it to something but what he described was an understatement. Xander shrugged and shook his head. There was no way to use words to describe even that feeling.

"I know how you could tell me without words, without toning it down, and it will only take about thirty minutes. It's a type of meditation that will allow me to see your memories as you remember them," Willow explained to him. Suddenly she got very excited, realizing something very important. "We can find out exactly what happened with the Witch last night!"

"But I don't remember last night. You said you'd just be seeing my memories?"

"Memories of your soul, not just the mind. I don't think it would work if a vampire didn't have a soul. Both parts make up the memory when it comes to mind-scanning or whatever you want to call it."

Xander was curious but also apprehensive. Seeing and feeling the things that have happened to him might hurt her. "What happens?"

"You open your mind and soul to me. It's the equivalent of a Vulcan mind meld, if you will... As you think of your memories and feelings, I'll be able to feel them with you. I know I can handle whatever it may be, so you don't have to warn me or worry. You all ready said you had nothing to hide."

"What exactly happens?"

"All we do is hold onto each other's hands and go into a trance. This is when I can see and feel your memories," Willow explained simply. "I've done it with Tara to learn some Spells so it'll be easy for me to get something."

"Will you be safe? Some of the things that have happened to me in the last week have been so painful that I'd have never survived as a human," Xander warned. The very last thing he wanted was for her to be hurt in any way because of him.

"It wouldn't actually be happening to my body so I'll be fine. There's no risk at all," Willow assured again, becoming her cheerful self again. "All I need are some herbs from the kitchen for incense and some white candles."

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8:05 AM

Xander and Willow sat cross-legged on the livingroom floor, facing each other. They were surrounded by several white candles arranged in a circle; all of them were lit.

Willow lit the incense, swirling it around a little. She sat it down, still smoking, between them.

They reached out and joined hands.

"Just relax. Clear your mind of all thoughts of before your transformation. Think only of the past week as a vampire... Remember your feelings... Remember the hospital room when you woke up... Remember talking to your mother... Remember last night..." Willow instructed as she relaxed with a sigh.

Willow saw darkness. She concentrated on Xander. There was a short flash of a hand dropping a bloody knife to the floor and she felt a sharp pain in her stomach... Blackness... Another, longer flash: a vampire turning to dust in front of her... Blackness, again... "One thought at a time," her mind called out to Xander. She heard the call echo in her ears.

Xander herd the command and concentrated on the first morning when his mother came in and opened the blinds.

Willow saw blackness again... Then there was pain; her skin burning... She was suddenly standing in the corner, looking at Jessica... Willow felt the intense urge to attack her but instead she instructed Jessica to wait... The image changed again: holding Jessica's hand as they stared into the mirror... It flashed to walking quickly down the hall of Xander's apartment. Jessica got up from the floor so quickly while Willow rounded the corner that Jessica collided with her and the knife cut deeply into her stomach. Willow gasped in pain as she saw Xander's hand, as her own, pulling the knife from her stomach... The sunlight hit her a moment later and she slammed into the wall... Willow felt dizzy as she saw Jessica calm with the blinds fully closed...

Another image: standing on a dark sidewalk with four vampires ahead of her. She was being attached by two. Then she was spinning around, artfully staking the two that were attacking... "Last night," Willow requested in her mind.

Xander relaxed even more, and thought of last night when the three vampires attacked them in the cemetery.

Another flash of a vampire pinned to the ground under her. It turned to dust... It suddenly flashed to drinking from the red thermos as she walked with Buffy. Willow could feel the liquid in her mouth as Xander drank. The thermos fell to the ground and Willow turned around, all emotion and awareness vanished. The Witch was standing there with outstretched arms. She chanted a Spell:

From this time, until first light,

The two of you shall both fight.

At that time your fight will end,

And Alexander will drink from his young friend...

Let nothing stand in your way,

Both of you will obey!

The picture Willow was seeing was now blurry. She and Buffy turned, facing each other. Buffy's eyes were purple. Buffy threw a punch but Willow felt nothing as she moved quickly to block it... The image changed to Buffy pushing her in the stomach so she fell, back-first, into a broken section of the graveyard fence. Willow felt nothing as she looked down at the blurry image of a fence post sticking out of her stomach. She was quickly pulled off of it by Buffy and kicked in the face... She and Buffy walked to each other and she bit Buffy. Willow felt nothing; she tasted nothing. A moment later, she felt everything: the taste of the blood and the wish for more, the pain in her stomach, the burning of her skin, and the realization that Buffy was in her arms. She let go and ran for the shade... Willow felt fear, sadness, guilt, and the remaining hunger... The image changed once again: running down the street caring Buffy, the pain in her stomach became excruciating as her skin began to burn... Blackness again. The link suddenly broke off.

Xander dropped Willow's hands, too disturbed by his own memories to put Willow through any more of it.

Willow fell back, almost toppling over onto some melting candles. She was holding her stomach, and gasping from the memory of the pain.

Xander quickly leaned over, helping her to her feet. He led her slowly over to the couch and they both sat. "Are you ok?" Xander asked urgently, worried that the last thought of his burning skin and the hole in his stomach may have been too much for her to take.

"That was intense," Willow commented in awe of what they'd been able to do. No one had ever linked a human mind to that of a vampire's in that way. She was too amazed to think of anything else.

"But do you feel all right?" he asked again.

"Yeah, fine... There's kind of a tingly feeling on my skin, but it's just like waking up after a dream where something painful has happened: your mind still believes what it saw was really happening."

Xander was relieved that nothing had happened to her.

"My question is: how do you feel?"

"Stomach's a lot better," he answered with a shrug.

Willow leaned into Xander and hugged him tightly. "I can't believe that you've been able to stay sane through all that's happened." She released him. "I had no idea and if I had before, I'd have never..."

"It's ok," Xander interrupted trying to calm her down. "Everything is different from what I knew and no one could ever imagine exactly how it feels. You had the right to be afraid and act the way you did and now you should know that you were right to be afraid. You're probably the first person to ever feel what it's like to fight for this control and still be human in the end..."

"Then you'll be the second," she assured with a smile. Willow looked up at the clock. She expected that only fifteen minutes had passed, but the clock read 10:33 AM.

"So many people in this building are awake," Xander announced, suddenly hearing a whisper of voices coming from the other rooms. "It's weird to be able to hear it."

"It's been over two hours! I have to go," Willow yelled, getting to her feet. She was a little wobbly but Xander supported her arm to help steady her as she picked up her coat. "I have class in less than thirty minutes."

Xander followed her to the door. "But it was only a few minutes."

She stopped by the back door. "I guess it was more of a dream-state than I thought it would be. We were probably only fully linked for fifteen minutes and the rest of the time... I don't know but the time want fast. See you tonight at Giles's we can talk more there, bye," she said very quickly.

"Bye," Xander said sadly as Willow opened the door.

She waved and walked out.

Xander closed the door. He began to go to the kitchen when there was a knock on his door

"Come in," Xander called as he walked back to the door. Being a vampire, he had no worry over the possibility of inviting a vampire into his house. If the creature wanted in, they required no permission whatsoever and as far as Xander was concerned, could let themselves in if they chose to come in at all.

The door opened and Jessica walked in.

"Wow... You're here," Xander commented. He hadn't expected to see her face to face for a while.

"Have you told Dad yet?" Xander asked right away. He was tired of waiting for her to tell him; it was the third day, and that was too long.

Jessica shook her head. "He's waiting in the car but..."

"You should go get him," Xander interrupted her. "Send him up and I'll explain things right now."

Jessica nodded reluctantly and went back out the door.

Xander waited impatiently in the livingroom, pacing.

His dad came through the door.

"You wanted to talk to me about something? You've been out of sight for quite a while. I heard from your mom that you transferred to some sort of nightshift... Sick of it yet?" his dad asked, walking in and shutting the door behind him.

"Rough change," Xander commented with a nervous chuckle. He was thinking about what proof it would take for his dad to believe him. "I think you should sit down..." Xander pointed to the couch and backed towards it before turning to walk.

They walked over to the living room couch and sat.

"What is it?" his dad asked. "Having problems with your relationship or do you need to borrow money?"

"No, it's not a social thing. I don't work the nightshift, in fact, I haven't been working much for the past week."

His father was suddenly very upset. "Did you get fired? So you do need money and you just expect..."

"No," Xander interrupted before he could get too agitated. "Last week when the hospital called and said that I was dead... they didn't lie. Try to find a pulse." Xander stuck his right arm out towards his dad.

His dad became calm again and chuckled. "Don't be silly."

Xander nodded. "Try."

His dad grabbed onto his wrist and tried to find a pulse. He couldn't. Letting go of Xander's wrist, he gave Xander a confused look.

"I'm a vampire."

Xander's dad was silent for a moment, surprised by the words. Then he began to laugh.

Xander smiled. He wasn't surprised at that reaction but it was still strange to him that people of that town didn't believe him when he said that. Xander's face became somber, "I'm serious. I don't have a reflection; crosses, holy water, and sunlight burn me; and the only thing that will really kill me is something wooden being shoved through my chest, in which case, I turn to dust. I don't eat food; I-I... drink blood."

Xander's dad continued to laugh very loudly, looking around the room as if expecting to see a video camera propped up the corner. "Prove it then Mr. Vampire..." His father's smile faded after a few seconds. "If you really believe that, you need to head over to the nut house. You said you drink blood? Are you part of some cult? Was it that girlfriend of yours who got you to join? I told you that - that girl was a no good, dirty..."

"Look at me," Xander ordered, interrupting his father's insults again.

His dad turned to him, looking into his eyes.

Xander's face changed to a vampire, proving the truth to his father.

"Holy...!" Xander's dad jumped away and tried to run past him.

Xander got to his feet and caught him by the arm, this time holding back none of his strength to keep him in that spot and prove his point of the supernatural for a second time.

"Let go of me!" his dad ordered, trying to jerk his arm free from his son's iron grip. His son was so strong that he could barely move it an inch.

"Calm down," Xander advised in a relaxed manner as he turned back to his father with his human appearance restored. He let go of the arm.

His father ran for the door.

In a blink Xander was between his dad and the door, leaning against it to block the only exit from being opened.

His dad gasped, stunned by his son's unnatural speed. He backed away and almost lost his balance when he collided with the couch, stopping him from backing further.

Xander could hear his father's heart beating at a fast and very unhealthy rate. "I told Mom the morning it happened."

His heart was beating so quickly that he thought he would pass out. She's known for a week and hasn't told me!? "She... H-How did..." He took a breath to relax and regain his bravery. "Let me leave."

Xander shook his head. "You need to hear this; the truth. She stopped by and tried to wake me with the open curtain thing..."

"Yeah, she still pulls that on me n-nearly every Saturday," his dad related nervously, trying to charm his son into letting him leave.

"She burnt me and stabbed me and nearly burnt me again, so I had to explain. She kept putting off telling you so when she said you were in the car waiting, I volunteered to tell you right this minute."

"And you've told me, so now you can let me go," his dad rambled quickly.

"Dad, I won't hurt you and I don't hurt people," he explained in a somber tone. "There's a lot more to explain before I let you out of this room..."

----------------------------------------------------------

8:35 PM

Xander opened the door to Giles's house but slammed into the invisible barrier which had been reset by the Spells. Every night that he came over, he forgot. "Guys!" Xander called as he rubbed his forehead.

"Come in," Willow called back.

Xander walked in.

Willow was sitting on the couch reading an old book. The others weren't there.

He walked over to the couch and took a seat next to Willow.

"How's your stomach feeling?" Willow asked, closing her book.

"I took the bandage off before I came over and there isn't much of it left; it's just a little red with no actual mark. It still feels like a horse kicked me off a cliff but I'm much better," Xander said with a smile. "Where did everyone go?"

Willow leaned forward and sat the book on the table in front of the couch. "They're all at the park. Buffy, Riley, and Giles left a little while before sunset to set a trap that Tara and I found in a book today while we were blessing the sachets." Willow leaned over to the table and picked up a small pouch with a leather cord connected to it. "Angel left as soon as the sun went down and he wanted me to stay here to give you an update."

"Is that the sachet?" Xander asked, looking at the little pouch with a string that she was holding.

Willow put it around his neck. "Yep. It prevents all forms of mental deception. Everything from manifestations and hallucinations to mind control and hypnosis," Willow announced as though she were advertising it of a television infomercial. She went back to her normal voice as she continued to explain everything. "It can even keep the Witch from moving you with telekinesis. That doesn't mean she can't throw stuff at you, it just means that you can't be moved."

"Do the others want us to meet them there; at the park?"

She nodded. "Let's talk some more while we're walking," Willow suggested, getting up from the couch.

----------------------------------------------------------

They were a block away from Giles's house, walking on the sidewalk, before they continued talking.

"So, what's the trap?" Xander asked.

"Since we don't know where the Witch may be, I can't really talk about it, but when we get there, I'll explain," Willow assured. She suddenly got a nervous expression on her face. "I told the others about what we did this morning."

Xander became nervous, too. "Oh... What did you tell them?"

"They wanted me to describe what I saw and felt, but, like you said, words couldn't cut it... I basically explained that the meditation worked with you and that it was the Witch last night controlling you. The only thing I could describe clearly was what happened with the Witch because all of that was just sight with no emotions or strange sensations to mess up the explanation. Angel tried to help me describe to the others what the feelings were like when things came clear again but he knew that he wouldn't really be able to help much."

"What did they say?"

"Giles was mad that I tried it but also amazed that it had worked. Even though it was you, he said that 'the mind of a vampire is no place for a human to venture if they're not prepared to face the possibility of there being at least a few unforeseen repercussions.'" she quoted with a slightly British accent. "Buffy and I had lunch together and she pried for details but I still couldn't explain. After everyone left tonight and Angel and I were here waiting for sunset, he wanted to make sure that I didn't feel any different. He was worried that seeing and feeling everything the way a vampire did would be hard on me," Willow explained.

"Do you feel any different?" Xander asked, still worried about his best friend.

"No... I've been kind of cold lately and it seemed really bright this afternoon but it's just my mind playing tricks on my nervous system," Willow explained logically. "I did tell everyone one other thing..."

"What?"

"I told them not to be so hard on you and to not be shy around you, either. I explained that everything was very different from what we've ever felt but that you're still the same person as you've always been who is trying to cope with this strangeness. And all this was coming from the person who was so freaked out about it.." She sighed. "Trying to explain what we already know can't be explained is giving me a headache. .."

----------------------------------------------------------

The Park, 9:20 PM

Willow and Xander were walking down one of the paths through the park, still talking quietly with each other.

They reached the center of the park where Buffy and Riley were sitting on the bench and Angel and Giles were standing in front of them. They were talking.

"Hey, guys," Xander greeted sadly as they approached from behind. He couldn't be his usual perky, funny self; he was too depressed and worried. Besides, if he became happy, as he almost always was when he was human, he'd turn into an evil, nearly unstoppable, killer.

"God, Xander, you scared me!" Buffy said, turning around to face Xander and Willow. "Both of you have to make noise when you're going to surprise someone like that."

"Sorry," they apologized in unison, as they came around to the front of the group.

"Kidding!" Buffy said with a big smile and laugh. "I know that this week has been Hell, but tonight we're going to catch that Witch and get things back to normal!"

"Speaking of that crafty one, can you tell me what this trap is?" Xander requested. "I am the only one who doesn't know."

Willow nodded. "Again: I can't tell you in case the Witch is around but now that you're here I can show you."

Buffy and Riley got up and led the way. Giles picked up the supply bag and followed at the rear.

There was a border of rocks connecting four trees together. They walked inside the border.

"This is it," Giles said as they walked deeper into the sectioned-off area.

"What is it? The rocks?" Xander asked. He was confused as to how rocks could make a trap.

Willow decided to explain at a whisper. "She can't use her invisibility or enhanced hearing to know what I'm saying. The rocks are the boundaries. No new magic will work in here. She'll come in here, and she'll be a normal human. We'll be able to catch her with the rope and when we drag her out of the circle. The magic of the rope will return and keep her from using her magic there, too."

"Cool," Xander commented. "But how do we get the lady in here? Do you think she'll just walk up to us and be like 'Take this!'" Xander gestured as though her were shooting something from his palms. "'Oh no! That doesn't work anymore!'" Xander shook his hands as though he were trying to make them work again. " 'I give up' and then we grab her?"

"That's actually the part we were working on when you showed up," Buffy explained with a nervous smile.

Xander's jaw dropped. "What?! That's just great! We're here in the middle of every creature's hunting grounds, live and undead bait, and we don't have a plan when we face the crazy Witch?!" Xander yelled loudly.

"This right here has the makings to a pretty good plan," Angel pointed out nervously. Xander looked like he was about to kill someone for not making the plan. "The Witch will probably hear..."

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" The Witch yelled from the edge of the rocks. Her voice had a thick British accent which was similar to that of Giles. "I could feel the power of this trap a mile away and knew that I'd find you here."

Everyone turned to face her, ready to fight.

The Witch looked older. Her hair had turned mostly gray and her clothing was tattered. "I know you need me."

"What were you looking for that was worth changing the lives of so many people?" Willow asked the Witch. "And why do you look different?"

"The only thing that kept me young was the power of my Staff. It could have lasted forever. With the Staff, I could have been Immortal; I could have found my..." The Witch smiled. "Maybe I shouldn't give away my little secrets just yet... You might hog it for yourself."

"Trust me: immortal for a week and I'd give anything to be a normal human again," Xander commented.

The Witch sighed, looking to Angel then back to Xander, "I'd be an eternal human; not a vampire like either of you... At any rate, all of my power is fading along with my youth."

"And if you had gained immortality, what would have stopped you from killing even more people?" Xander asked.

"Immortality was that important to you?" Angel asked. "It's really not a cup of tea."

The Witch stared hard at Xander for a moment with a very serious expression. "Alexander, I can not change you back, but..." the Witch stopped as an evil smile appeared on her face, scoffing at the thought of having to explain everything. "If none of you can figure it out for yourselves, you're not worth any of my time. I want my Staff back so I can find what I'm looking for. Only then will I leave this demon-infested, little town." The Witch whispered an incantation and disappeared just as she had after all of her other encounters with the group.

"Great, now we've gone and scared her off," Willow commented with a pout.

Buffy was starring at the spot where the Witch had been standing, thinking of a solution. "I'm sick of that high-and-mighty 'I'm so great that you can just watch me disappear' attitude of this woman."

"Personally, I never liked that attitude," Xander reported.

"The Witch must disappear to someplace," Buffy concluded. She turned to Angel and Xander. "Did either of you hear what she said to disappear? If not this time, maybe the last time? She might have said where she was going."

Angel shook his head. "I've been inside the trap for barely five minutes and my senses are all ready pretty mixed up. It might impair all supernatural abilities: hearing, sight, strength, etc. after a certain amount of time."

Xander nodded. "I heard some of it but I figured that since the only language I understand is American, Dead Boy, would have been paying more attention to her non-English speak."

"Would you stop calling me that?" Angel asked.

"No," Xander answered simply.

"Technically, you're the dead 'Boy.' I was old enough when I was changed to at least be called 'Dead Man.' It doesn't have the ring that you gave to 'Dead Boy', so being called 'Angel' will do very well," Angel deducted, becoming openly irritated with Xander for the first time since Xander's transformation.

"You made me into 'Dead Boy,' so I have the right to call you whatever I..." Xander yelled, getting closer to Angel.

"Stop!" Buffy interrupted, roughly pushing the two vampires apart. "Both of you! We have to work together to catch the Witch."

Xander sighed, his head hanging towards the ground. "Why bother trying anymore. She said that we had to figure something out and, basically, that the answer was right in front of us." Xander was moping. There was no expression in his voice.

"What were the words? What did they sound like?" Buffy asked softly and as patiently as she could. She didn't want to loose her cheery Xander, and she knew that she was loosing him as they spoke.

Xander starred blankly for a moment, thinking about the order of the words, and how the Witch had pronounced them. " 'Pã ãrãr as-t tchesert Hekau, utch metu Useru'. There was a few more words to a third part but that was all I really heard." Xander looked up at Giles to hear the translation.

Giles thought a moment. "'Pã ãrãr as-t tchesert Hekau, utch metu Useru'" he repeated softly. "I don't seem to recognize..."

"It's Egyptian," Angel interrupted.

"You know Egyptian?" Buffy asked. He had never mentioned Egyptian as one of his many languages.

"It sounds more like something she'd have translated from hieroglyphics; a tablet; some sort of ancient spell," Angel clarified.

"So you speak Hieroglyphics?" Buffy asked him.

Angel gave a small laugh at the question, considering she'd just asked if he spoke a written language... "I know some of the basics of translation and the language that the symbols represent. I spent over a week in Thebes..."

"What were you doing in Thebes?" Riley asked. "Didn't you stay in Europe?"

Angel gave a questioning look to Giles, thinking Giles may have allowed his Watcher file to be read by Riley.

"I stole a look at your file," Riley admitted shyly. "I did it a little before I left. I figured it might help me fight you if you turned evil."

Angel sighed. "It was 1943 and I was looking for the only real cure I've ever heard of for a vampire..."

"The Tablets of Khepri?" Giles asked, intrigued by the conversation.

Angel nodded. "Before I came to Egypt, I learned some of the language; ancient and modern. Mainly words that were used for simple requests. While I was there, I learned a few more phrases and words. The ones I learned were mainly words used around me: blood, darkness, evil, death, disappearance, and so on with the unique native words relating to the supernatural. When I didn't find the tablets, I went back to The 'States"

"So, what does 'Pã ãrãr as-t tchesert whatever mean?" Xander asked snobbishly.

Angel could tell how jealous Xander was, so Angel figured he'd rub it in a little. "The first phrase means 'In flames, take me to the holy place, Hekau.' Hekau is one of many gods used in magical ritual. The second: 'utch metu Useru' translates to 'I order the Mighty Ones to,'" Angel answered simply. "Whatever came next was probably the exact location."

"So, she wanted to be taken to a holy place?" Buffy asked, making sure she'd correctly summarized the passage.

"She went to some type of holy place; a church or temple in the area," Angel continued. "Maybe even something as common as a graveyard."

"That doesn't help," Riley commented, stating the obvious. "There are forty-two churches in this town and twelve cemeteries."

"Forty-two is counting the church we accidentally burnt down to stop one of Spike and Dru's spells a few years ago," Buffy added.

"It's still consecrated ground, meaning still on the list," Angel agreed.

"At any rate, it will be a while before we can track her down," Riley finished.

"She said that we should be able to figure out her plans... And that she wouldn't be able to change Xander back," Willow mentioned again. She turned to Buffy. "If we catch her, and even threatened to kill her, what could she do for us? She'd rattle off some lies, maybe. We need to look in front of us."

"Good point," Xander said sadly. "She won't tell anything."

Angel scratched the back of his head. "I'm not feelin' that great. I'm going back to the house. I think I'll look through some books; find some sort of tracking spell to locate the Witch." Angel began to walk away.

Buffy ran after him and walked by his side, escorting him to the boundary. "Are you sure you're all right? You shouldn't be able to feel 'not great'."

"It's probably just this trap. Don't let Xander stay in here too long," Angel advised as he walked out of the rock border. Angel took a deep breath and sighed. "That's better."

They both stopped walking.

Angel turned around to explain further.

Buffy remained inside the border of the trap.

"This trap blocks magic. It's only supposed to keep spells from being cast inside, but I think it's too strong for just that. If he's in here too long, the Gypsy Spell might be lifted. If that happened, the spell should return when he leaves the border but it's probably best not to risk it. He's strong and fast, so if he were evil, it would be hard to keep him from hurting someone."

"All right. We'll probably be back soon. So... see ya." Buffy turned around, walking back to the others.

Angel turned and began to walk away.

She whirled around to Angel. "You're invited!"

Angel turned as he walked and gave a wave, then turned back, continuing down the path.

Buffy shrugged and went back to the others.

"Was that odd?" Riley asked nervously, referring to Angel's behavior.

"He said he probably felt funky because of... Uh oh..." Buffy pointed to a group of vampires walking in their direction.

Everyone turned around to see five vamps.

"Do you think this trap can really be felt a mile away?" Willow asked in a small voice.

"I didn't feel anything," Xander answered. "Hey, that's the vamp I ran into a week ago." Xander pointed to the burley, ugly one.

"Then I'll take him," Buffy volunteered.

"He's faster than me," he warned Buffy.

Buffy and Riley took a fighting stance. "Put on the game face Xand, it's time to slay some vamps," Buffy said with a smile.

Four of the five charged at the group: one at Buffy, one at Riley, one at Xander, and one at Giles and Willow. The leader did not advance; he only wanted to watch the fight.

"I don't think I like this park any more," Xander commented as he ducked his opponent's punch. He tackled the vamp to the ground. Xander punched the vamp in the face and pinned him to the ground with a free hand to its throat. "I need a stake!" The vamp kicked Xander off of him and into a tree.

Riley close-lined the vamp charging at him. It fell to the ground. Riley pulled out a stake and slammed it into his chest, turning the creature to dust.

Giles was tackled by a vampire. Willow quickly unzipped the supply bag and pulled out a stake and some holy water. Giles struggled to throw the vampire off of him, but it leaned down to bite him. Willow ran at the vamp, and splashed holy water on its head and jabbed the stake into its back as it began to squirm.

Buffy blocked her opponent's first kick and pulled a stake from inside her coat. It tried to punch her, but she blocked the hit and staked the vampire.

Xander appeared to be knocked out, but as soon as the vampire tried to kick him in the face, he moved quickly out of the way, snapping a small branch off of the tree as he scrambled to his feet, stabbing the vamp in the chest. It turned to dust in front of him. Xander steadied himself on one knee, worried that there would be more vamps ready to attack them.

The leader began to clap his hands slowly. "Very good show," he complimented. "They have trained for months to face you."

"You should have gotten them a different trainer," Buffy suggested, still in a defensive stance. She glanced over to Willow.

Willow was kneeling by the supply bag and had her hands on a crossbow, waiting for Buffy to give some type of signal.

Buffy nodded.

Willow tossed the crossbow.

Buffy caught it as she began a jump roll. When she was back in an upright position, she fired the crossbow, and hit the leader directly in the heart.

The vampire frowned as it turned to dust.

Buffy got back to her feet, brushing off her pants. She turned, looking at the others. "Vamps in this town: all talk. Is everyone all right?"

"Yep," Xander and Willow answered almost at the same time, standing. Xander's face had changed back to human. The others nodded.

Xander grabbed his chest, wincing as he lost balance and fell back to his knees. He'd felt a wave of pain through his chest. "Maybe I spoke too soon," Xander whispered.

Willow rushed to his side. "What's wrong?!"

Xander was gasping for air as another pain hit him. "I don't know," he whispered.

Buffy rushed to his side, pulling him to his feet, dragging him. "It's the trap," Buffy said quickly. "Angel warned me not to let Xander stay too long inside. It's blocking the Gypsy spell."

Riley helped on the other side and they moved him quickly.

Willow followed closely behind.

Giles hurried along caring the weapon's bag in one hand and a large-sized open bottle of holy water, left over from the vamp fight, in the other. "Perhaps you should have mentioned this a little earlier," he complained.

"Why does all this junk always have to happen to..." Xander's sentence was cut off by another wincing groan of pain and a gasp for air. Xander suddenly planted his feet, shook his arms free and regained his balance. He stood up straight, turning around to look at them.

Buffy and Riley stopped walking and took a few steps away from Xander, worried that his soul was gone. The border was only five feet away.

"What's the matter? I'm suddenly not feelin' the love," Xander commented with a laugh. He smiled.

"We have to get him out of the trap," Buffy explained, taking a defensive stance. "Then the Spell will work again; he'll get his soul back."

Xander ran at Willow. He was behind her in a blur holding her by the throat, face turned to vamp. "Love ya, Will, but I'll snap your neck if you move," Xander warned, whispering in her ear.

Willow froze, scared to death that Xander would kill her.

At full volume, Xander continued talking to the others. "I know that all of you could probably dust me in two seconds and I also know that I have nowhere to go. You said that if I leave this little rock border, I'll get my soul back, and that means I won't ever have any fun... I'm going to put up a fight; see how far I get. What do ya think?"

"I think," Buffy began slowly, "that you should let go of Willow right now before you begin to regret it."

Giles still had the bottle of holy water in his hand, and stood ready to throw it at Xander. He knew that the moment he twitched, Xander would snap Willow's neck.

"I wonder what Willow would be like as a vampire," Xander rambled. "Would she turn out like that one we all met from the other dimension: leather wearing, tough girl with some sort of mental problem?"

"Why not try?" Giles asked. If Xander were distracted by biting her, he could throw the holy water.

"The next time I loose my soul, you can bet that I will," Xander said with a fangy smile.

Willow's heart was racing. If I passed out, would that distract him or make him think I moved? Willow though quickly. There's no other way to catch him off guard unless a vamp came up from behind him; he'd hear someone else and Angel isn't here... Willow let herself collapse, pretending that she'd fainted.

Xander eased her to the ground, losing concentration in the stand-off. He didn't want to kill Willow right now, he really wanted to make her into a vampire or force the others to make him kill her.

Giles threw the open bottle of holy water at Xander.

It splashed all over his chest, and face. Xander stumbled away, thrashing from the acidic water he'd just been soaked with. His chest and throat were smoking and sizzling. He tried tearing at his shirt, in too much pain to get mush of a grip.

Buffy and Riley charged at Xander, grabbing on to either thrashing arm, and ran him to the other side of the rocks. They threw him hard on the ground and watched as Xander's eyes flashed over gold.

Xander continued to thrash and tear at his soaked shirt. He threw the shirt off. His chin had red burns on it, and his chest was red and blistered. "What the Hell just happened!?" His memory was completely whipped.

Buffy and Riley were speechless but ready to fight if it hadn't really worked.

Willow stopped pretending to be unconscious, but still sat on the ground with Giles next to her, making sure that she was really all right.

Xander's vampiric memories came fast: what happened with Angel and the Witch a week ago, what had happened to him because of Angel, and then what he had just done to Willow. "Willow, I... I'm sorry," Xander apologized quietly, getting to his feet. "I really, really don't like this park anymore."

"Neither do I," Willow agreed, being helped to her feet by Giles. The strength of Xander's grip had created a darkening bruise on Willow's delicate neck and jaw.

The others remained within the rock border. Buffy and Riley had relaxed their stances, accepting that evil Xander was gone, and the normal one was standing in front of them.

Xander walked to the rock's edge, and kicked one of the stone's out of its formation.

A light green wall materialized above the stones, fluctuated, and then disintegrated. The magic of the trap was broken; all that was left were the dull, gray rocks.

Xander stood still, facing what had been the trap, as his friends quietly walked past him towards the main path.

Willow stopped beside him and turned him around by the arm to let him know that it was all right for him to stay with the group. They walked slowly, falling behind the others who were walking at a quicker pace. Willow stopped, picked up Xander's shirt, which was still too wet with holy water for him to touch, and they continued quietly walking beside Xander.

Xander's arms were folded. He didn't have another shirt and was still a bit shy about showing bare skin in the middle of a public area. Even if he had a fresh shirt, he wasn't sure he'd want anything rubbing against the painful burn.

Riley, Buffy and Giles were a fair distance ahead of them when Willow spoke. "I'm sorry." Willow figured that she should have realized that with two cursed vampires, going into a magic-suppressing area would be unhealthy for the living members of the crew.

"You're sorry? I'm the one who was about to kill you!" Xander said, not understanding how she could twist the blame on herself.

"You really were?" Willow asked in a scared voice, losing her train of thought for that moment.

Xander gave a quick nod, still shocked. "But it's my fault."

"I didn't realize that the curse would be lifted," Willow explained. "I need to work on my Witch-skills. The most direct solutions and consequences just aren't coming to me. And with all the things that happened... I really should have known better."

Xander was still confused as to why she was to blame for what he had just done. "You can't blame yourself. It was me who attacked you and it was you who forgot that little result of this weird magical circle."

"The Witch that keeps disappearing wouldn't have let this happen. She knows how to make herself vanish, how to control people's minds and she has other powers that I can't even imagine," Willow explained, angry at herself for not knowing these things. "Sure, Tara and I came up with the spell, but messing this up is unforgivable."

"You know tons of stuff and this circle was more successful than you wanted it to be with the removing of magic." Xander complimented. "It wasn't that you were too weak for the spell, the spell was too weak for you."

"She knew how to use the Staff to increase her power. The only stuff I could figure out is how to use it to age people the way she did with..." The most obvious cure for Xander just slammed her in the face like a brick. Willow suddenly stopped walking, thinking about what she'd have to do.

Xander stopped a few steps ahead of her. "What?" he asked, turning back to face Willow.

----------------------------------------------------------

11:45 PM Giles House.

Everyone walked in.

Angel was sitting on the couch, reading an old spell book.

They quietly walked into the living room, and sat. Willow sat between Angel and Xander on couch. Giles sat on a wooden chair and Buffy and Riley sat together on the leather armchair.

"Your shirt's dry," Willow announced, handing the shirt back to Xander.

Xander put it back on.

"What happened?" Angel asked, noticing the remaining burns on Xander's chest as well as the darkening bruises on Willow's neck and jaw.

Buffy gave a guilty look towards Angel. "Xander was in the trap a little too long but now everything's back to the way it was."

Willow wanted to change the subject. "I have some really great ideas!" Willow yelled, too excited to keep her voice quiet. She calmed herself a little before she continued, "There are a few ways to get everything back to normal with Xander. The main idea is what we brought up before: I could use the Staff to take away the last week of his life, changing his age as Angel's age had been changed. I'm willing to risk the consequences to myself if it means Xander gets brought back."

"But…" Xander began to argue.

"No," Willow interrupted. "It looked like the Witch isn't any worse off from using the magic. She only looks older because she was using the Staff on herself to increase her own powers. We still haven't found any record of this Staff, but now that we know the witch is using magic from Egypt, that leaves a whole new bunch of books to look through."

"But… Xander tried again."

"Or," Willow interrupted again, "we could look for a way to reverse all the age Spells the Witch did with the Staff."

"That's great," Buffy said happily.

"The draw back to the second one is that there's the whole cause and effect thing we have to think about. It would reverse every age Spell the Witch has done to the way it might help Xander is: Angel wouldn't have been a kid so we wouldn't have done the age reverse spell, then Angel wouldn't have been evil to change Xander into a vampire."

"That sounds good," Xander said. "But what's the actual drawback? It seems pretty cut-and-dry."

"I already reversed his spell."

"So?" Riley asked.

"The reverse I did may have taken the Staff's Spell out of the timeline. Willow sighed. "He might not be effected by another reverse and I think the only way to reverses the Spells is by destroying its magic. That brings us to the first option: using the Staff to take away a week. If I destroyed the magic, there would be no way to use the Staff ever again. That brings us right back to the drawback of the spell being reversed, but with the whole 'what's done is done' thing."

Everyone gave sad nods. They understood that option number two would be the most help to everyone but Xander.

"Any drawbacks to the first option?" Xander asked sadly. There had to be a choice made, and he wanted to know the options.

"Everyone who was changed by the Witch stays young, old or a kid until they have a chance to age some more but the ones who are old loose their lives. Still... The second one... It might only reverse the present changes, not what happened to the actual timeline of reality, which could change a lot considering what the original owner did in the past. It's the same for the lives lost because of this Witch; I don't know if it will bring anyone back to life." Willow explained sadly. "It's up to you which we do: the one that will help you and only a few of the others if we can get to them in the hospitals, or the one that will help all of the others and has a chance of not working on you."

Xander lowered his head only a moment, to think. "The one that would help the others," Xander decided with a sigh, looking back up to everyone. "If I'm like this forever, I'll never stop helping people; I know that much." Xander had tears in his eyes. "If this doesn't work, there will be no way to change me back? I mean dead is dead, right?"

"A Mohra demon's blood could change you back into a mortal; if it mixes with yours, it will happen... They are very strong and hard to find, but that is another option," Angel explained. "Buffy, remember that demon I killed in my office when you came to LA to tell me to stay out of Sunnydale?"

Buffy looked confused and a little angry but she gave a small nod. If he knew the cure, why didn't he use it? Buffy asked herself. "How could I forget the light show when you just hit it in the head with a book. You think it would change a vampire into a human?"

"That was the Morha and I've seen the change happen. They're changed back to one hundred percent mortal and human with no side effects. The only thing is that when a Mohra is actually killed, the body disappears along with the cure," Angel explained, dodging the truth about what had happened between Buffy and himself over the span of a short 24 hours. "They're too strong to just fight; they have to be killed or they get even stronger. After they've been injured once, it's almost impossible to kill. They're warriors and don't show up very often."

"Ok, now we have a plan and an alternative," Buffy concluded. "Now, how do we carry out the plans? What will destroy the Staff's magic?"

"Big shock here," Willow began with a goofy voice. Turning serious again, she answered. "A Purifying Spell."

"Would that actually work? A simple Purifying Spell?" Angel asked, not sure whether to believe that the solution could be that easy.

"A not-so-simple one should. I could try a couple different Spells on it to make it work or in this case, to make the thing not work," Willow continued.

"Do you have one?" Buffy asked.

"Yes but Tara and I will tweak it into a more conventional one... The one right now it calls for a blood sacrifice... You know, with the number of spells we've all done, or at least gone through to find the goods ones, we could publish a pretty good spell book. That would be neat," Willow commented with a smile.

"Modern spell books are pathetic; you may do the industry justice," Giles complimented.

Willow smiled proudly. "I'll go back to the room. Tara's there. It would work with just us two doing it. I'll bring the Staff and by morning, we should have the Magical Staff reduced to the status of Tall Walking Stick." Willow went over to the Staff and picked it up.

"Will you be all right?" Xander asked. If she planned to walk, he'd want come with her in case the Witch showed up.

"I'll give you a ride," Angel volunteered, ready to get up.

Willow waved the offers away. "No, I'd rather walk. It's a nice night and if I run into vampires, demons, or some other regular thing, I'll use the Staff." Willow went to the door. She looked to Xander. "I'll call you at dawn to tell you how the Spell is going or to see if it worked. We can't be disturbed when we're working on the Spell and if the Spell is stopped, before we're done, it could cause it to gain even greater power."

"Ok," Xander said reluctantly. He still wasn't keen on the idea of her walking by herself. "Talk to you later but I'd feel better if I walked, or drove, you."

Willow waved. "I'm good. " She went out the door.

"We should start looking for the Witch," Angel suggested. "As long as she's alive, there's the risk that she might hurt another person."

Giles nodded. "And we still don't know what she's looking for... You should search in teams of two, going to every church in the area. With her power, she may have gone further than this city's limits; however, we should start with the most easily accessible locations."

"Agreed," Buffy said, standing. She looked to Riley. "Me and Angel and you and Xander."

"But..." Riley began to argue. He didn't want Angel working with Buffy.

Buffy held up her hand to stop him. She looked over to Xander. "You're in no mood to work with Angel, are you?"

Xander glanced at Angel and shook his head no.

Buffy turned back to Riley. "You and Angel aren't exactly Cheech and Chong when to comes to working together, so I'm with him."

Riley nodded reluctantly. He didn't want to be stuck with Angel, but he wasn't sure how he felt about working with Xander after the hostage situation in the park.

Everyone began to drift towards the door.

Buffy was the first to the door. "Angel and I will take the East side and you two the West. If we find the Witch: anything goes." Buffy quickly turned back to Giles with a worried expression. "I totally forgot about the group in LA. You should give them the update. It's been five days since we talked; they still think Angel is evil, and you have to explain what's new. We'll meet back here at 5 AM."

Giles nodded. "After the call, I'll find the books Dawn had looked through to find the vase and coin; one may lead to information about the Staff. If she is in fact wanting immortality, the only reference sited as of yet is Dawn's lead. Also, Dawn offered to be called or picked up if there was any need at all for her assistance at any time during the night... Buffy, should I call her into this, or leave her to a night's sleep?"

"Call her if or when you need her. She'll get what she asked for," Buffy agreed.

Everyone nodded, and left; Giles went to the phone.

Outside, Riley and Xander got into the truck while Angel and Buffy got into the convertible. They drove down the streets in opposite directions.

----------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 12:15 AM - Riley and Xander at the first church

Riley and Xander began to walk towards the church from the deserted parking lot.

Xander looked up at the cross-topped steeple. He turned away quickly, looking back to the entrance.

"Are you all right?" Riley asked as they approached the entrance.

"Yeah... fine. It's been a while since I've been to church, if you get what I mean." Xander opened the door and they walked into the dark church.

The only life they saw was the in the flickering candles.

They quickly walked down the isle.

"Is anyone here?" Riley called at normal volume, as they stopped in front of the large podium.

Xander looked around the church but staring directly at a cross, he looked to the floor.

"Is there anyone in here?" Riley called again, at a little louder volume.

Xander didn't hear anyone in the building. "It's empty; there's no one here." Xander glanced around some more but with so many crosses hanging, he looked back to the floor.

"Ok," Riley said reluctantly. He jumped up onto the stage and looked around behind the podium and the supplies before he was satisfied.

Xander stood very still, listening for any approaching signs of life. There was absolutely no one around.

"I'm done." Riley stepped off the stage.

They walked out the doors and towards the truck.

"That was weird," Xander commented as he opened the truck door.

Riley hopped in, and put the keys in the ignition. "What was?"

"Seeing the crosses."

"I've always been curious of this and never had a peaceful vampire to ask: when you look at a cross, do you just feel fear or does the symbol actually hurt your eyes to look at it?"

"Both," Xander answered quickly. "It hurts me to look at it and that scares me. Before now, the only things that caused me pain were: physical injury, prolonged exposure to the sun, fire, hunger, and sickness. Now there's those things minus sickness and plus: crosses; any exposure to sunlight; holy water; not eating every seven - twelve hours; garlic, which I haven't tried yet, and am in no mood to experiment with; and just about any other light brighter than a candle."

"Interesting," Riley commented, starting the engine.

"Not interesting," Xander corrected in his constantly depressing mood. "Beyond horrible is more like it. After a week, I can safely say that there's more pain in this type of immortality than it's worth."

They drove away.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:30 AM - Giles's House

Buffy, Giles, Dawn, and Angel sat waiting in the livingroom. They hadn't made an exact plan for locating each other if they ran into the Witch, so they were all slightly worried about Riley and Xander's tardiness.

Riley opened the door and Xander was following behind.

"Come in!" Buffy and Giles yelled at the same time to Xander as he was about to run into the barrier for the umpteenth time.

Riley and Xander both jumped back, startled by the loud call from the seemingly empty room.

Xander hadn't been paying attention to what was around him as he walked towards the house; he had been thinking about how being in the churches made him feel. By the last church, he was able to look around, easily avoiding visual connection with the crosses.

"God, you scared me!" Riley yelled at them as they both walked into the house.

"Sorry," Buffy apologized.

Riley sat next to Buffy on the couch.

"Find anything?" Giles asked.

"No," Xander answered, sitting in the armchair. "Most of the churches were empty but we talked to a total of two priests and three nuns."

"One nun said that he saw a woman matching the description of the Witch two nights ago walking through the church. She walked through a wall, like she was a spirit, and hasn't been seen there since," Riley explained.

Angel nodded. "A priest told us the same thing: at sunset about three nights ago, he saw a woman in tattered clothing walking through the church. When he called to her, she looked at him, and disappeared. He swore that it was a ghost."

"Did you look through every church?" Giles asked all of them.

"Two were locked," Xander explained. "That's why we're a little late; at the first one, we climbed in through a window, and the second, we broke the lock on the door and a priest yelled at us." Xander laughed suddenly. "We told him that we both needed emergency confessions."

Buffy, Giles, and Angel all gave a little smile. Riley smiled, too, remembering the expression on the priest's face. But then they all got uneasy expressions. Two men, in the middle of the night, were showing up to make some sort of confession to God about sins they'd just committed…

"So that's what the priest was thinking," Xander said with a dazed look.

After a moment, Buffy continued.

"We covered all of ours," Buffy said. She grabbed onto Riley's left hand, turning it so she could see the watch. 5:34 AM. She dropped his hand, turning to Xander. "You should head home, unless you want to spend the day here. Sunrise is in less than fifteen minutes."

Xander nodded, and got up. "I'll see ya later." Xander walked over to the door. "Hopefully, Will's spell will work, in which case, I may see some of you this afternoon while I'm catching a non- bite for lunch."

"Bye," Buffy called.

Xander left.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:37 AM, Willow and Tara's Dorm Room...

Willow and Tara were sitting on the floor, drawing the last part of a rectangle with a bluish-purple powder.

"Are you sure that we don't need to have plastic over the carpet?" Willow asked, connecting the last corners. "There might be wax from the candles, too."

"No, it'll be fine. We'll just use the vacuum cleaner when we're done." Tara sat a white candle at either end of the rectangle.

Willow spread a circle of herbs around each candle and laid the Staff in the center.

Tara lit the candles and a wrap of incense. She sat the incense in front of her.

"So are we set?" Willow asked, pushing the extra materials out of their way.

"Yep."

Each moved to the wide end of the rectangle, crossing their legs. They laid their hands in their laps, relaxing for the meditative spell.

Closing their eyes, they began to chant in unison:

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by the Staff!

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

The tip of the Staff began to glow blue as their chant continued.

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by the Staff!

They continued to chant and blue flames began to rise and grow brighter until engulfing the length of the staff...

----------------------------------------------------------

Back at Giles's House...

Angel was refilling a cup of coffee as the others prepared breakfast. Even though he had his soul again, Angel knew that it would be an unconvertible situation if he offered to make breakfast.

Giles was on the couch reading a book as Riley cooked some eggs in the kitchen.

"Would you like some more coffee?" Angel asked Giles, holding up the pot of coffee.

"No thank you," Giles replied.

Angel sat the pot back into the machine and walked out of the kitchen. As he passed through the hallway door frame, on the way back to the livingroom, Angel dropped the cup to the floor and fell onto his knees, gasping for air.

"Angel?" Giles asked, getting up and hurrying to his aid. "Are you all right?" He helped Angel over to the couch.

There was a weakness sweeping through his body. He felt like he was going to pass out.

Buffy and Riley rushed out of the kitchen, over to Angel to see exactly what was wrong with him.

----------------------------------------------------------

On the Street, Four Blocks from Xander's Apartment...

Xander collapsed to the ground, resting on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath. His legs felt so weak, he couldn't imagine standing but the sun would be up in only a few minutes.

He pushed himself to his feet and staggered down the deserted sidewalk. His legs were so heavy, he couldn't move very quickly.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:48 AM, Tara's Room...

The entire Staff was glowing with a blue flame and raised a few inches from the ground. There was a wind swirling around them, lifting papers and small items into the air; some trinkets were flying into the walls, shattering loudly as the girls chanted more quickly:

Goddess,

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

"Knock, knock, knock!" There was someone at the door.

We beg you,

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this Staff!

"Beat, beat, beat!" The person was becoming even more impatient.

The girls eyes opened at the same time and the light vanished... The person had interrupted the Spell. They had been so close to finishing the Spell but hadn't been able to finish it; the Staff's power would have increased significantly.

----------------------------------------------------------

Back at Giles's House

Angel sat up. The suppressive feeling was gone but he felt extremely weak from the experience. "W-Was that Willow's Spell?"

"I don't know," Giles replied. "Possibly."

There was smoke coming from the kitchen.

"Good Lord!" Giles yelled, seeing foot-high flames.

Riley ran into the kitchen. Grabbing the hot-mitt, he slid the flaming eggs off the burner and into the sink. He turned on the fossit full blast to put out the fire.

"So much for breakfast," Buffy commented, turning to Riley. She turned back to Angel. "Are you all right?"

Angel nodded. "I don't feel any different; I don't think they finished the Spell." He got up and staggered quickly back into the kitchen, over to the refrigerator. Angel was so hungry all of a sudden, he had to get a drink. "My breakfast is fine; which is very good for all of you."

----------------------------------------------------------

At Willow and Tara's Dorm

"Beat, beat, beat, beat!!!"

Tara slowly got up and went to the door.

"Beat, beat, beat!"

Tara opened the door.

A fellow dorm resident stood outside the door, in pajamas, with an angry look on his face.

"C-Can we help you?" Tara asked timidly.

"Yeah, keep it down!" the man yelled loudly. "I'm right on the other side of the wall and all of that chanting and throwing things against the wall makes it kinda' hard to sleep."

Tara was embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry but..."

"I don't care!" the man interrupted. "From now on, would you only do whatever it is you're doing right now between 8 AM and 11PM on a school-day, please?!" The man turned around and tramped down the hall to the next door. The man opened the door and slammed it behind him, rattling the entire wall with the angry vibration.

Tara shut her door quietly, turning back to Willow.

Willow had a concerned look on her face.

----------------------------------------------------------

5:49 AM At Xander's Apartment

Xander's coat was over his head. He ran, stumbling, into his apartment room, slamming the door very loudly behind him. He threw the smoking coat off of his head and onto the couch.

The sun had come up as soon as his legs were willing to move: when he reached his block. Any more time out there being immobilized and he'd have caught on fire.

Xander realized that what had happened was Willow's Spell, but he felt as weak right now as he had after being impaled, only there was no pain, just exhaustion and a quickly growing hunger. His skin felt a little different: numb and tingly but he knew that was from the short exposure to sunlight as he ran into the building.

The living room blinds were wide open and light was streaming in.

Xander, avoiding the light, walked towards the window string. His body felt so heavy, he walked slowly. He knew that as soon as he closed the blinds, he had to have breakfast. Xander tugged the string on the blinds and they closed fully.

Suddenly his mother opened her bedroom door and stepped out, dressed in her every-day clothing. "Xander? Is that you?"

"Mom?" Xander questioned, shocked that she was here. "What are you…? How long have you been waiting?"

Jessica shrugged. "I couldn't sleep last night and wanted to talk with you some more... I hope it's all right that I'm here... I..."

Xander held up his hand, stopping her from rambling. "Yeah; fine." He made his way to the kitchen slowly.

"Are you all right?" she asked, following him into the kitchen. "You don't look..."

"Tired, hungry, dizzy, a little crisp from the late arrival... Then even more with the tired..." he explained, opening up the refrigerator. He kept his back to his mother as he picked up a carton and found a coffee cup, pouring some of the carton into a cup.

Jessica winced a little as she watched her son drink some of the red liquid out of the cup.

Xander turned back to her, still holding the cup. "Let's talk on the couch," he suggested with a yawn.

"Maybe I should come back another morning or we could make plans for another night," Jessica suggested instead. "You're tired, so you should sleep." She went quickly for the door.

Xander sat his cup down and went to her quickly, stopping her with a hand to the shoulder.

She turned back to him, a little worried.

"You're here now and days are longer than nights; I'll have plenty of time to sleep." He didn't really want to talk; he needed a lot more blood and some sleep. Willow's Spell hadn't worked, so now his only chance was the blood of a rare, strong demon.

Jessica took a step towards him and suddenly gave a hug.

This was the first time she'd been willing to touch him since it happened and she'd never been much for the touchy-feely in the past... He wrapped his arms around her gently, not wanting to frighten her with his strength.

"I'm sorry I've been acting the way I have over the last week..." Jessica apologized in his ear, nearly ready to break into tears. "This isn't exactly something a Mom has to accept every day."

"But now it is," Xander answered. He suddenly found himself wishing that she'd would let go soon; he was wrestling with himself to keep from attacking her but it was a sensitive moment..

"I guess it is... You're cutting it a little close wouldn't you say?" Jessica let him go.

Xander shrugged, relieved that she was at a safer distance from him. "I guess I do need to get some sleep. It's kinda been a part of the day combined with an all-nighter in the last 24 hours... That and some other stuff."

"Ring..." the phone sounded. "Ring..."

Xander dragged himself to the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Xander? It's Willow. The Spell was interrupted and I think it was working."

"You didn't finish? Your magic was definitely doing something to me. I was walking down the street and I just collapsed; my legs just gave out. I could barely walk but made it into the building a few seconds after sunrise," Xander explained, careful to not use any names with his Mom in the room. "Any more time out there and I'd have been an extra crispy chicken. I'm still feeling drained."

"All you can do for that is rest, and have some breakfast. The Staff is stronger now. It got whatever power it took from you and I'm going to call over at Giles's to see if the same thing happened to Angel. Since you're only connected to the Staff because of Angel, it's a good sign that you felt something."

"That's great," Xander said with a yawn.

"I'll let you go; rest and get back to full strength. Tara and I are pretty worn out from it too so it might not be until tonight that we do the Spell again. It will last longer and be even more of a drain."

"Ok, see ya at sunset."

"Bye." Willow hung up.

Xander hung up the receiver.

"Who was that?" Jessica asked, hoping that he'd finally reveal the identity of their monster-fighting squad. "It was Willow... wasn't it?" she asked, figuring that she'd hit it on the head.

Xander thought for a few seconds on whether or not to explain the whole witchcraft and Slayer jazz. "Yes."

"What was it that she did; what made you weak?" Jessica wanted more to the answer.

Xander thought again. If she knew the truth... "Willow did a Spell."

"Magic? That nice girl?"

He was a little irritated at his mother the way she implied that all Witches were not nice. "Stereotyping gets my explanations nowhere," Xander commented. "Everything in this world is deeper than what the average person sees from the outside. And when I say deeper, I'm talkn' the middle of the Pacific, undiscovered tunnel to the center of the Earth kinda' deep."

"Sorry... I just... Do her parents know?"

"No and I trust that you won't tell them."

"Last week, you told me that you still... had your soul because of a Spell. Did..." Jessica wasn't sure if she could believe the answer.

Xander nodded, "It was thanks to her that I'm not a killer."

"Then I guess I should thank her," Jessica said in a soft voice. She wanted to take another step out on a limb to guess the other associates. "So... is that girl, Buffy, involved, too...? Or your girlfriend?"

He walked towards the kitchen again. He refilled his cup, not answering, and took it with him towards the bedroom. "I really need some sleep."

"I understand... I think I'll go home and get some sleep, too." She went to the door and opened it.

"Sweet dreams," Xander called, opening the door to his room. "Lock the door?"

Jessica nodded, and left as Xander went into his dark bedroom to finish his breakfast and then sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------

4:48 PM Xander's Apartment

Anya came through the apartment door and to Xander's room.

Xander was still asleep.

Anya didn't hold it against Xander for not being able to have some fun in bed but they could still lay or sit together. She walked over to Xander and crawled into bed next to him.

He woke with a start. Xander hadn't expected someone to crawl into his bed.

"Relax," Anya ordered, leaning closer to him. "I know that this is as far as we can go..."

Xander put his arm around her. "What's up?"

She sighed. "Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to see you. Your friends have made sure that I was too busy to visit you. Giles kept putting me in charge of the whole store while he does more Witch researching at the flat or in the back room. They don't trust us."

"Have you talked to them today?" Xander wanted to know if they had told Anya about what happened in the park last night.

"No; why?"

"You heard about Willow's trap? The one in the park that blocks magic?"

"Yes but not the result. Did you see the Witch?"

"Yeah but she knew that it was a trap. She said that there's no way for her to get me back and then she disappeared. After she left..." Xander trailed off, nervous about telling her that he had almost killed Willow.

"What?"

Xander sighed and answered quickly. "I'm good now but the trap undid my curse."

Anya sat up quickly, resting on her elbow. "What?!" she demanded.

Xander explained quickly so Anya wouldn't run away, "I lost my soul while I was inside the trap and almost killed Willow. When I left the trap, I got my soul back."

"So you're good now?"

"Yes; I already told you that."

Anya laid back down, snuggling close. "Good."

"What time is it?"

"Almost 5 PM. You still have time to sleep."

Xander wouldn't be able to sleep with Anya there. She, as well as her beating heart, were far too distracting for him to relax. "I think I'll stay awake. I've been sleeping since about 7 AM."

"Can we just lay here?" Anya begged.

"I'd like to get dressed; less temptation." Xander sat up, swung his legs over the bed, grabbed his jeans and slid them on. He picked up a black t-shirt and slipped it over his head. Xander crawled back over to Anya, putting his arm back around her.

Anya snuggled as close to him as she could.

"Willow might have a cure. She tried it a little before sunrise but couldn't finish it," Xander explained.

"Was it working?" Anya asked excitedly.

"We think it was. It totally drained my strength; I almost didn't make it home at sunrise."

"Are you all right now?" Anya asked, very concerned about his well-being.

"I'm still not one hundred percent; probably not even sixty-percent because I'm very... hungry," he admitted bashfully, licking his lips a little. "I need... something... so if you want to fix you some food while I..."

Anya interrupted him and began to scold, "No, I don't want anything. You're my boyfriend, no matter what your meals may be, so you can do whatever you need to do when I'm around you."

"You'll be grossed out by it; even I'm grossed out by it," Xander warned, sitting up in the bed. "I don't want to gross you out."

Anya sat up too, resting her head against his shoulder again. "And what would happen if you didn't drink anything? It won't be as disgusting as the time I watched you cram that entire chili dog in your mouth."

Xander smiled a little.

"I know you don't really like me to talk about when I was a demon but I think you'd be interested in this: in that other demention, the one I created for Cordelia, where Buffy hadn't come to this town, Willow wasn't the only vampire; you were one, too," she admitted.

Xander perked up, a little shocked. "You never told me that."

"I never thought it was important. At any rate: in that reality, you had been an evil vampire for almost three years. Since I thought you were rather cute for being an unfaithful dog of a man, I watched you torture and kill a great number of people." Anya explained simply without even a hint of revulsion. "Therefore: a little animal blood in a cup is really nothing compared to the sort damage you could be doing as a vampire in this world... Or even compared to some of the things I've done in my lifetime."

Xander lost his appetite, too disgusted to think about drinking anything. Anya had been a brutal demon and on their first date, he had learned many of her greatest moments. He had already caused damage in this world: Buffy in the graveyard, Willow last night, and that girl Renee in the park a week ago. "Now I'm not hungry."

Anya got out of the bed, shaking her head. She went out of the room, to the refrigerator and picked out a carton. "Do you want a glass? Heated up maybe?" she back to the bedroom, turning around to see him.

Xander shook his head. "I'm really not hungry." He was but the thought of it after the story she's finished still sickened him.

Anya pulled off the lid and handed the carton to him, despite his present argument.

The smell made his hunger grow. "No," he argued, trying to give it back to her.

"You're being a baby; you need your strength and in thirty minutes, when you remember that you are hungry, I don't want you to start nibbeling," she argued with a smile.

Xander shook his head but he gave in reluctantly, "All right." He took a big gulp from the carton, his face changing. At moments of uncontrollable hunger, his face changed with a meal; however at times he ate to halt the development of desperation, his face would not. "Happy?" he asked sadly, looking up at her with his yellow eyes.

Anya was a little startled by the vampire-face but she nodded, sitting next to him again. "I love you; never forget that."

"I love you, too." Xander took another sip from the container. He was feeling stronger but every drop of blood he drank made him feel worse about himself; worse about what he'd done to Renee, Buffy, and most of all what he'd almost done to his best friend less than twenty-four hours ago.

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8:25 PM Giles's House

Anya and Xander came through the door, one arm wrapped around each other's body.

Angel, Buffy, Riley, and Giles were sitting in the living room. They had concerned expressions when they saw that Anya and Xander were so close to each other.

"What's the matter? We aren't planning on having sex anytime soon, so you don't have to worry," Anya snapped as they sat in the leather chair together.

"Really, is there anything up?" Xander asked urgently.

"No; it was just the basic 'Did Anya make you happy?' concern," Buffy replied cheerfully, relieved that he wasn't evil again.

"Willow called about an hour ago. They're going to try the Spell again at 8:30," Angel explained.

"That's in less than five minutes," Xander pointed out, a little worried. The last time the Spell was done, the drain of his energy was unbearable. He couldn't imagine how much weaker he could have gotten had the Spell had lasted any longer. "I never heard how the Spell effected you," he mentioned to Angel.

"Weak, short of breath, dizzy... Hungry after," Angel listed simply.

Xander nodded. "Same with me. When Willow called me this morning, she said that it would take longer, and more power, to get the Spell done this time."

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At Tara and Willow's Room

They laid down some plastic this time and the powder rectangle had been redrawn; everything was in place except for the Staff.

Willow placed the Staff in the center, taking a seat opposite of Tara.

"Ready?" Tara asked, extending her arms.

Willow nodded, joining with Tara.

They both relaxed and began to chant:

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by the Staff.

Goddess,

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Release the harmful Magick of this Staff!

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by the Staff.

The tip of the Staff began to flare.

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Back at Giles's Flat

Xander began to feel dizzy and weak. He put his hand on his head, closing his eyes.

Anya stood, giving him room as she knew he would soon ask her to do.

"Willow's started," Angel announced, also holding his head as he leaned against the couch. He began to feel the weakness sweeping over him as the room began to spin.

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At Tara and Willow's Dorm

A wind had developed, sending papers flying and small objects began to slide. The flames on the Staff were rising and becoming a darker blue.

Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by the Staff!

We call on Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this tool, this Staff.

We beg you,

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the harmful Magick done by this Staff!

The flames continued to rise and the wind had become very violent in that small room.

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Back at Giles's House

Xander leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and hands on his forehead with his head bowed to the floor. He closed his eyes as his ears began to ring and the room to spin.

Angel closed his eyes also, resting his head against the back of the couch.

"Xander?" Anya called, worried by his sudden posturing.

Buffy looked to Angel, watching him for a moment. "I hope the Spell is over soon."

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At Tara and Willow's Room

Maat, Goddess of Justice and Divine Order

Do as we ask,

Do as we command,

Reverse the Magick done by the Staff!

Maat,

It shall be done!!

With that order, the flames exploded in an upward fireball, dispersing just before it reached the ceiling.

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At Giles's

Xander and Angel woke from their stupors with a start.

"I feel different: stronger; the way I did before the age Spell," Angel commented, feeling as though nothing taxing had just happened to him.

"How could you have been stronger before the Aging Spell?" Riley asked. "Didn't it end up making you stronger?"

Angel didn't answer the question. He could tell that Xander didn't smell human, but it had only been a few seconds since the Spell had been completed. Angel looked over to him. "Xander?"

Xander shook his head sadly. "I'm still undead with a soul."

"Come on; you must feel something different. You almost passed out and everything from that Spell," Anya commented.

Xander shook his head again. Rare demon, here I come! Xander thought to himself. "I'm just drained the way I was this morning with the last Spell and that's all. It just didn't work... And speaking of work, I need to go home before going there tonight."

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At Tara and Willow's

"Did it work for the others?" Tara asked frantically.

"How can we tell?" Willow asked.

"You just have to call them."

Willow got up and went to the phone, plugged it in, picked up the receiver, and dialed.

Ring...

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At Giles's

"Ring... Ring," The phone sounded.

Giles got up and answered. "Hello?"

"It's Willow. How'd it go? Did it work; for Xander, I mean?" Willow asked very quickly.

"I'm sorry Willow, it didn't effect Xander, but Angel says that the Spell did have an effect on him," Giles explained. "Both of them lost consciousness but when they awoke, Xander said he only felt weak; just as he had this morning when the first attempt at the Spell had been interrupted."

Willow was shocked. She had been certain that it would work. "Is he feeling all right? This morning he didn't sound very good when I talked to him just after the last Spell."

Giles tilted the speaker a little downward a little to talk to Xander. "How do you feel?"

Xander motioned for Giles to come over to him and hand over the phone.

Giles handed it to him.

"Hey, Will," Xander greeted flatly.

"How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted in every way, shape, and form pretty much covers it... If they don't need me around here, I think I'll crash at home for a more few more hours," he mentioned to the others, looking for approval.

Buffy nodded, understandingly. "You should rest," she told him.

"Whatever the Age Spell did to Angel's blood, the Staff's destruction was probably trying to pull from you... Are you still as hungry as you usually are?"

"Yes," he answered easily.

"Then it must not have worked... After some rest you should still be pretty strong."

"Good, I guess."

"Tell all of them that I'm on my way over," Willow requested.

"Willow's on her way," he repeated to the others. He spoke to Willow again, "I'll see you later."

"All right. Bye... I hope you feel better."

"Thanks." Xander turned off the phone and slowly pushing himself out of the chair.

"Will you be all right getting home?" Buffy asked. She would be worried about him until they got him back to being human.

Xander began to drag his feet over to the door. "If I don't fall asleep in someone's yard, I'll be great. And if I can avoid other pedestrians, everyone's evening will turn out fine."

"I could give you a ride," Riley volunteered, standing up.

Xander could feel his hunger growing quickly but he nodded. "A ride would be great, but not from a member of the living; it might be hazardous to their health. Dead B... Angel... would you mind?"

"I don't mind." Angel got up and walked over to the door.

Xander looked over to Anya. "I'll see you later."

"Can't I come?" Anya whined, getting up, ready to follow.

Xander shook his head. "I want to have a peaceful rest and a meal before going to the site." He looked to the others. "See ya."

"Bye, Xand," Buffy said sadly.

Xander gave a slight wave as he opened the door, walking outside.

Angel turned to the all of the others. "A Mohra needs salt to survive. Like I said before: they're hard to find, and after every fight, it gets stronger. Try to find it in a book. They have better details. Better yet: call Cordelia. She knows the address to a good web site for demon reference. First, phone Willow; try to catch her before she leaves. Tell her I'll be at the campus soon to pick her up." Angel left.

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9:15 PM, Giles's House

Angel and Willow walked in.

"Angel told me about the new project: finding a Mohra Demon. I brought my lap-top." Willow went over to the desk and began setting up her computer. "I'll be on the net in just a few seconds."

Angel went over to the others who were in the living room, looking through books. "Find anything yet?"

"Wesley and Cordelia weren't at their office or the hotel, but I left messages saying that it was urgent. There was also no answer at Cordelia's apartment," Giles commented, flipping through a book.

"We did find one small section on them in the books," Buffy answered. "They aren't very social. That will make one of them even harder to find."

"Yeah," Angel agreed. "And as far as salt goes, Sunnydale isn't exactly rich in natural deposits of it."

Willow was quickly typing and suddenly stopped, using her mouse. She clicked it once. "I'm on."

Angel went back over to Willow. "I don't know the exact address, but it's called 'Demons, Demons, Demons,' " Angel told her.

Buffy laughed. "Great name."

Angel turned back to Giles. "Did you try their cell phones and Gunn's beeper? They always bug me to keep my phone turned on even though the things are never very reliable."

Giles nodded. "There was some type of problem; the line was no longer in service. Should I try it again?"

"You can't; it might be because of the spell..." Willow shook her head. "Besides, with me on the internet, the phone line's busy."

Angel reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone. He pressed one button and then another. He handed it to Giles.

Giles put the phone to his ear. The phone began to beep loudly. He took it away from his ear, and looked at the screen. "The battery's low." He handed it back to Angel.

Angel took it, and turned it off. He roughly jammed it back into his pocket. He went back over to Willow. "Can you just do a search for the site name?"

Willow nodded and began typing. She stopped typing. The computer beeped once. She cringed.

"What's the matter?" Angel asked.

"There are over five-thousand sites with that title search... I'll start to look one by one," Willow volunteered.

Angel sighed and nodded. He looked back to the others. "If none of you have plans for the rest of the night, we should keep looking through the books for more info on how to locate it."

Buffy, Riley, and Giles all nodded reluctantly.

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