In his office in the high school library the lights were dimmed as Giles prepared several bowls of dried leaves and magick dusts and set them on his desk. He burned some of the leaves in a cup and began reciting an invocation from the book on the easel before him.
"Oh, Abenaa! I beseech thee. Oh, protectress of overthrown and ill-treated rulers, scourge of unruly and rebellious subjects." He added magick dust to the fire and it flared up, brightly bathing the office for a moment in a red glow. "Come before me. Quickly. Now!"
Giles glanced to his left and right to see whether the invocation had worked, but he saw nothing. Then he suddenly felt a presence behind him. He turned and saw the figure of Abenaa approaching him from the library. She was even more terrible than her picture had suggested, her green mask hideous and her body emanating waves of wrath.
Giles realized that he had better meet her in the open rather than let her trap him in the confined space of the office. He boldly walked into the library; instantly, the whole room lit with a light that emanated solely from the demon herself.
"Do you summon me, mortal?" asked Abenaa.
"I humbly beg your assistance," said Giles.
"Assistance?" mused Abenaa. "Are there students who refuse to be silent in the library?"
"Well, yes… but that is not…" began Giles.
"No? Do you wish to make your charges—what are their names? Buffy and Faith?—do you wish me to make them obey your every command?"
"Well, Buffy isn't really in my charge anymore," Giles pondered out loud, "and while your offer with regard to Faith is tempting, I don't think it will be necessary…."
"Then you dare to summon me for some frivolous purpose?" Abenaa thundered. Her mask grew a deep, dark green—the color of some African glade where no light ever fell.
"Hardly frivolous, I think," said Giles. "You see, we believe that you have granted a wish recently to a Mr. Quillish."
"Ah, yes. Quillish: what a wonderful teacher he has become. You should all be proud of him."
"W-why, yes," said Giles. "I suppose we should, after some fashion; however, wouldn't it be better for all concerned to revoke that wish…."
"Revoke a wish?" cried Abenaa. "Do I restore rulers to their rightful place only to overthrow them myself?"
"Well," said Giles, "he is causing quite a stir, you know, with those unorthodox methods."
"Great rulers are entitled to be innovators," said the vengeance demon. "Are not his methods effective? Do not the students learn?"
"Well, I suppose…"
"There is no supposing," she stated. "His methods are sound."
"However, they were triggered through magick," Giles objected. "Not through Mr. Quillish's natural abilities."
"Nonsense!" said Abenaa. "My power had nothing to do with his methods. You are simply jealous because he is conquering other rulers' subjects."
"Subjects?" asked Giles. "Other rulers? Oh, you mean he's putting other teachers out of work. Well, isn't that a legitimate objection?"
"A ruler expands his domain. It is his prerogative," she declared.
No one but a fool would have contradicted her tone, and Giles was no fool. However, he needed to try something. Anything.
"Is there no offering that could persuade you to return Mr. Quillish to his previous condition?" asked Giles tentatively.
"No," said Abenaa, "But for your repetitious and insolent requests, I will exact from you your life." And like a wraith from hell she flew at him and clutched firmly around his neck with a single hand with long, steel-hard fingers.
"Abenaa!" called a voice that seemed to Giles to be coming from a thousand miles away as he felt consciousness ebb. "Abenaa!" The voice suddenly seemed to be in the same room. Giles swam to the surface of his awareness and found himself in the library again. Something had distracted Abenaa, and she had turned toward the door of the library. Giles sank heavily into the nearest chair.
"Another obnoxious mortal calls my name!" cried Abenaa. "Who are you?"
"I am Robin Wood," said the dark figure at the door. He stepped into the light of Abenaa's aura. "I am the vice-principal of this school—I am a prince of this kingdom."
"Ah," purred Abenaa. "So you are."
"This wish you have granted to one of my subordinates has upset the rule of my kingdom."
"How so?" asked Abenaa, showing a degree of concern.
"It is my prerogative and that of my superiors to say who shall teach whom and where, and when classes shall be convened; yet you have allowed Mr. Quillish, one of my underlings, to usurp the rightful authority of me and my superiors. For this reason, the spell must be undone."
"Oh," said Abenaa, genuinely worried now. "But D'Hofryn, my ruler, will be angry if I revoke a vengeance spell."
"Would you rather undermine the authority of legitimate rulers?" asked Wood.
"I suppose not," sighed Abenaa.
"Here are the instruments for your torment," said Cordelia, sweeping her arms over the tray of forceps, pliers and aviation snips. "Is that what you mean?" she asked Angelus.
"Well, subtlety would work. I mean, these implements kinda sell themselves, if you know what I mean. There's no need to pose and make broad gestures like some bimbo presenter at a trade show," said Angelus.
Cordelia pouted. "Angelus, dear, you're supposed to be mean to her, not to me."
Oh, sorry," he said. He sidled up to Faith and stage whispered in her ear: "You'll have all of my attention soon enough." He picked up the aviation snips and cut along the side seam of her blouse, up to the arm pit and around the shoulder.
"Hey! My favorite shirt!" complained Faith.
"I'd be more concerned about what I'm gonna do to your favorite body parts," cooed Angelus. He tore her sleeve and rolled it up toward her wrist, as he simultaneously ran his fingers lightly down the inside of her arm and down her side which had been fully expose by the snips.
Faith reacted, giggling spasmodically, and tried to jerk away from his tickling, but her bonds were too tight for her to move sideways from him; she only succeeded in arching her back, and not very much at that.
"Ooh, baby's ticklish," said Angelus. "You want some of this, lover?"
"I want to start snipping things off," said Cordelia. "Not listen to her giggle like some simpering twit."
"Hey!" said Faith.
"See! She's not even getting the idea of who's in control."
"That's because you like to think you're in control," said Faith, "but you're just the Mayor's lackey whore. You're screwing him, aren't you?"
"Actually, life with Mayor Wilkins is a no-go on that front," said Cordelia. "All he thinks about is the Ascension. I'm supposed to be his right hand when that day comes—which might be really useful to him since I'm not sure he's gonna have any hands. Anyway, you might be lucky to die today if my picture of what's gonna happen is right; he's gonna gobble down this whole town."
"Doesn't sound like this Ascension will improve his table manners," said Faith, trying her best to ignore Angelus' continued attention as he removed her blouse and began caressing her neck with the cold metal snips.
"That's good, Angelus," said Cordelia. "I'm going to give puppy such a bite there."
"Well, I always said your bark is worse than you bite," said a female voice at the doorway to the room.
Cordelia turned and found herself face to face with Buffy who was dressed in a black leather costume almost identical to Cordelia's.
"You know how I hate fashion faux paux," said Cordelia. "One of us should go home and change."
"You mean Angel hasn't given you your own drawer to keep stuff here?" said Buffy. "Tsk-tsk, Angel."
"It's Angelus," he said, moving toward Buffy with the snips in his hand.
When he reached her, he took a swipe with the point of the tool, but Buffy backed into a fighting stance and then smoothly knocked the snips from Angelus' hand with a sweeping kick. Cordelia moved in, trying to outflank Buffy.
"Hey, Buffy," called Faith. "I realize you're kinda busy, but if you get a chance to free me up, I could help you. And, by the way, you look like you need help."
Angelus delivered a jump kick that sent Buffy sprawling backward. He then advanced, but Buffy got back control by tumbling out of his way and regaining her feet.
Angelus continued to move in, but Buffy counterpunched. He stumbled back two steps before stepping aside, seizing Buffy's arm, and pulling her through the opening.
Cordelia attacked Buffy and managed to land a punch before Buffy began showering her with counterblows that Cordelia barely managed to block. Buffy then forced Cordelia to back into a corner but had to break off because Angelus was coming up behind her.
Buffy turned to face Angelus, but he wasn't there. Suddenly a net fell on Buffy and she was tangled in an instant. In the next moment, the world turned upside down and she found herself suspended five feet above the floor.
"Gotcha!" cried Angelus.
Angelus and Cordelia worked quickly to tie Buffy up while she was still tangled in the net. It was as if they had practiced the maneuver all day.
Finally, the two vampires set up both of their victims in similar positions, spread-eagle and suspended from the same rafter. However, they had to move Faith and retie her bonds in order to do this.
"Now we have a real problem," said Angelus. "I don't know which one to torture first."
"Oh, I always want to play with the new Barbie doll," said Cordelia.
"What were you saying about identical outfits?" Angelus said to Cordy as he picked up the aviation snips and swiftly cut off Buffy's leather top. Then he replaced the snips carelessly on the tray with the other implements and went to the doorway where he picked up Faith's bag. He fished around until he found what he was looking for. "Let's see," he said. "The possibilities are so endless, but how do you think a Slayer-turned-vampire would like a taste of her own medicine?" He held up a bottle of holy water.
He opened it and tossed a few drops on Buffy's now bared skin. The liquid immediately turned to steam and smoke as vampire flesh dissolved and escaped into the ether. Buffy gritted her teeth but could not hold back a groan of pain.
"Here," said Angelus, handing Cordelia the bottle. "Pour some on her, and see how she likes it."
"No fun. She might enjoy that," said Cordelia.
"Keep your fantasies to yourself," said Buffy.
"I recall you had some fantasies of your own not long ago. Now it's payback."
Faith looked at the tray where Angelus had set the snips, and she felt her wrist slipping in the rope that held it. She strained to pull her hand through the bond while she tried not groan at her exertion, suppressing every gasp until she finally felt her hand move an inch, only to feel it catch again. She began again to strain while at the same time conceal her straining.
Faith was unable to cover the final little groan as she freed her left hand, but Buffy's scream happened to cover it up. Faith saw that Angelus and Cordelia were using an atomizer to spray holy water on Buffy's bared skin.
Angelus' back was to Faith, and Cordelia was intent on the task of spraying liquid and then running her hands over Buffy's arms.
"Don't touch!" said Angelus.
"Very strange," said Cordelia wonderingly. "I would have thought that this would burn her flesh a lot more than it does, but it just feels very hot."
"In an atomizer, the damage that stuff can do really sneaks up on you, lover," explained Angelus. He took the atomizer from her hand and set it on the table behind him without taking his eyes off of Cordelia. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"Course not," said Cordelia. "I'm saving that for you to do." Then Cordelia's eyes widened.
"Where's the Slayer?"
Instinctively, Angelus first glanced toward Buffy but instantly realized that he had better follow Cordelia's gaze. He turned in time to have his face filled with an acid spray that turned his vision instantly to darkness. He put his hands to his face as he cried out in pain. A powerful force smashed into his ribs and sent him sprawling into the darkness where he crashed into something made of fabric, cotton filler, metal springs, and wood. He fell among splinters, and felt the vampire's terror that a suitably large enough splinter might penetrate his heart.
"We've practiced tying those knots for days," said Cordelia. "How did you ever escape?"
The Slayer, who held the emptied atomizer in one hand, now raised her other to show Cordelia the aviation snips. She opened and closed them twice to demonstrate how she had cut her other bonds once she had gotten one hand free.
Cordelia came at Faith with a banshee scream. Faith stabbed Cordelia in the heart with the snips, but, of course, the spiraled metal scissors merely gave the vampire pause. It was enough time for Faith to deliver a kick and then pummel Cordelia with a half-dozen punches.
Angelus crawled across the floor away from the fight. He felt the floor with one hand and waved the other in front of him to meet any obstacle he might encounter.
Faith maneuvered the fight to where Angelus had fallen into and smashed the over-stuffed chair; the Slayer snatched up a broken chair leg and moved in for the kill. Cordelia recovered enough to put space between herself and Faith, and she struck a fighting posture.
"Don't slay her yet!" called Buffy.
Cordelia turned to Buffy and smiled. "I knew you were craving my attentions; don't worry: I'll get back to you soon." Cordelia blew Buffy a kiss before she turned back toward Faith just in time to block a thrust of the stake and then to block every thrust, punch and kick Faith mustered after that.
But Faith was relentless, and Cordelia was unable to lay a finger on her without immediately needing to duck or dodge the thrust of the pointed chair leg.
"Angelus!" she cried. "I'm gonna get you out of here!"
"Faith!" called Angelus. "Don't slay Cordelia!"
"Oh, right," said Faith, puffing to catch her breath. "I'm in a generous mood after what you guys tried to do to me. I promise you this: I'll give her more of a chance than you gave me."
"No," said Buffy. "Listen to Angel."
"You mean Angelus, don't you?" said Faith. "Anyway, if you people don't shut up, I'm going over and slay Angelus before Queen C here, seeing as he's the easier target."
"Faith, Angel is not evil. He was faking it," said Buffy desperately.
"Why don't I believe you?" asked Faith.
"Because you're gullible?" suggested Buffy.
"Buffy, don't antagonize her just now," pleaded Angel, waving his hands before him, searching for something to grasp.
"Angelus is really still Angel?" said Cordelia, her large eyes staring far away.
Faith began to catch on. "You two—Angel and Buffy—have been in on this whole thing all along?"
"And to think I was almost willing to give my life to save you from the Slayer," said Cordelia to Angel.
"Almost?" asked Buffy.
"Faith! You've got to take her alive," Angel said.
"I don't think so," said Cordelia.
"That works for me," replied Faith with another thrust of the stake.
Cordelia parried and attacked Faith with renewed zeal, born of fury. But even this was soon spent as she kept turning her attention to Angel, who was now sitting in a corner. "I thought I really gave you enough pleasure to turn you into Angelus," she said.
"Had you been the real Cordelia—who knows?—you might have had a chance," said Angel. "As vampire Cordelia? Don't be deluded."
A tear formed and fell from one of Cordelia's eyes, but self-preservation kicked in just in time for her to dodge Faith's stake. The two adversaries traded blows and feints for several seconds, but Cordelia was coming closer and closer to being staked with each thrust of Faith's wood.
Cordelia jumped onto the back of the dresser where Angel kept Druscilla's collection of handkerchiefs. Executing a back-bend that she had not tried since she had been a cheerleader, Cordelia reached behind her to grab the knobs of the drawer and then back-flipped off of the dresser, putting it between herself and Faith. Almost continuing the same motion, she stepped backward and pulled out the drawer. As Faith leaped over the dresser to pounce on the vampiress, Cordelia hit her with the drawer.
Dozens and dozens of handkerchiefs filled the air like a snowstorm of linen and lace. Cordelia was surprised to realize that the drawer contained not only a number of the black-bordered handkerchiefs but others of every description and even several different colors and sizes, although white predominated.
Faith fell to the floor, tangled in cloth, but she rolled away from Cordelia and leaped to her feet. As she regained her bearings, she turned from side to side, looking to see where the next attack would come from, but Cordelia was nowhere to be seen.
"She went out the door," said Buffy. "She got away!"
Faith went to a window, tore aside the heavy curtain, and looked out onto the street. Cordelia was halfway down the block; Faith saw her just as the vampiress stepped beneath a street lamp, pausing long enough to glance over her shoulder. Faith felt as if Cordelia was looking straight at her, but she realized that it was possible that Cordelia was only looking ruefully at the house itself.
"Would you mind undoing these ropes and chains?" said Buffy.
"Sure, B," replied Faith. She crossed the room and began undoing the knots, but she found them rather difficult. "What was the plan, anyway?" Faith asked.
"We were trying to trick Cordy into telling us the Mayor's plans—before you chased her off."
"Not my fault. You guys should have told me the plan." Faith began freeing Buffy but stopped suddenly. "Wait a minute. The atomizer. What was really in that?"
"I was never a whiz at chemistry," said Buffy. "Willow said it's a solution with a little sulfuric acid mixed in. Not something a human should try, and I can tell you it does hurt, but it can't cause any permanent damage to a vampire, although Will did warn us not to get it in our eyes. She thought it might cause temporary blindness."
"Wait a minute, again," said Faith. She stopped untying Buffy, stepped back, and placed her hands on her hips. "You mean to tell me that Red was in on this, but I was out of the loop?"
"Giles and I were going to tell you," Buffy explained, "but when you fell under the influence of Mr. Q, we agreed that we couldn't be sure about you."
"I'm not under anyone's influence!" protested Faith. "But since you guys have everything under control, I do have a term paper to finish by Monday." She began to walk away.
"Ahem," said Buffy.
"What?" asked Faith.
"You were about to untie me?"
"You didn't free me; why should I free you?" pouted Faith. "Besides, Angel can do it."
"I'm temporarily blind," said Angel as he bumped his knee on a table that Cordelia had moved to an unfamiliar place.
"Aw, you could probably feel your way through Buffy's ropes and chains," suggested Faith. She picked up a stapler from the tray of instruments and shivered as she contemplated it. She glanced sidelong at Angel.
"He could untie me," admitted Buffy, "but it would be easier if you did it."
"But probably not as much fun," said Faith as she stapled the seam of her ruined blouse and then pulled it on. She looked at Angel and shook her head, then left.