At the magic shop, Buffy discussed the issue with the others.

"Does anyone else think it's strange that we haven't heard anything about these plans except what these supposed gods are telling us?"

Willow asked, "What do you mean, 'supposed'? Dee is real."

"Or maybe she's just a powerful witch trying to get her hands on the God-Killer. She tries to steal it, fails, and then makes up some story about saving the world. None of our contacts have heard anything."

"By 'contacts' do you mean Spike?" asked Tara.

"We have other contacts, don't we?"

Willow shook her head. "Not really. We kind of kill everyone who associates with vampires and demons."

"Well, he hasn't heard anything."

"That doesn't mean there isn't anything to hear. Maybe we should just give her the dagger."

"She could use it to kill Buffy! No one can heal from it!" Xander said.

"No offense, but you don't need an invincible dagger to kill Buffy," said Willow.

"It couldn't hurt," said Tara. "We can't let her have it. She's a good fighter. She could kill lots of people with it."

"Like demons?" Buffy suggested.

"Or other things. Aren't there good creatures she could hurt?"

"Okay, let's table the discussion on giving her the dagger. Can we trust her?"

Willow shrugged. "I don't see why not. If she's telling the truth, so far she's the first to know. If she's not, if we're careful, it's not like we haven't been in danger before."

"That sounded like 'trust her as far as we can throw her.' Okay. So it's settled. We keep her around but no one go anywhere alone with her and if she learns anything, we check it out together."

Later that day Buffy visited Spike at his tomb.

"Spike, I need to talk to you about Dee."

"Yeah? What about?"

"What do you think of her?"

"Let's see. I think she's a hypocritical psychotic Freudian wet dream that needs to sort herself out. Or did you mean something else?"

"Do you believe she's a real goddess?"

"Yes. Well... close enough for government work. If they're not, they're trying to look like it and they're doing an excellent job."

"They?"

"Didn't you know? I met her brother. And he doesn't fancy vampires, let me tell you. He threatened my life, can you believe that? Such prejudice."

"I can't imagine. Which brother? Mars?"

"Apollo, the one and only. He didn't like me parking with his sis."

"What were you doing- you know what? I don't want to know."

"Yes, you do. You need ideas for your little fantasies about us."

"Ew. Okay, so you believe the god part. What about the threat of destroying the world?"

"Real. Unless last night was staged. And if so, someone deserves an Oscar, because it was very convincing."

"What happened?"

"Apollo caught us-"

"Ick."

"-and tried to convince Dee that she would be better off without me. That I was a distraction and might jeopardize the world. And then she told him where to shove that and if he didn't back off that she might help Mars bring back Pan just for shits and giggles."

"That's not encouraging."

"She was bluffing, but he backed off. It was convincing. It takes a special amount of dysfunction to threaten to destroy the world to get back at your brother for interrupting a snog. Now is that all?" He jumped onto a slab and posed, stretched out and leaning on his hand. "Or do you want to act out some of those fantasies?"

"Just let me know if you find out anything more."

Spike jumped down and blocked her from leaving. "And what do I get in return for my information?"

"You get to go another night without getting staked."

"Fair enough." Spike stepped aside and watched her bum as she left. Then he lay back on his bed and tried to sort out Buffy and Dee in his mind. He was interrupted in his thoughts by footsteps outside his tomb. He jumped up and ran to his chair to look nonchalant. He saw a book nearby and opened it up in the middle. Then he thought that it looked too nerdy and threw it onto the bed. The door was opening and he chose to pick at his nails and look unconcerned about his visitor.

"What do you want?" he asked. It was cool to not look up. He spotted his cigarettes on a table and wished he'd seen them a moment earlier.

"I want to talk about Diana."

Spike tried to mask his surprise when he recognized Apollo's voice. He covered it by getting up to light a cigarette. He leaned on the slab and asked, "Are you going to tell me not to see her again or you'll break my legs?"

Apollo forced a smile. "Maybe we should start over."

"Why? Are you going to say you didn't mean all those mean little things you called me last night?"

Apollo looked at Spike as though he were speaking bird vomit. "You've managed to charm your way into being Diana's friend." His look said he didn't know how. "I'm here to give you a warning and to ask for your help."

"No, see those are called threats. You tell me to do something or else. Don't pussyfoot about it."

"The warning is: Diana needs to remain a virgin or chaos will engulf the world."

"Really? That's the best you could do? I think you aimed a little too high on that one, mate. It's a bit unbelievable."

"Diana is part of the Triple Goddess whether she likes it or not. And they are all virgins. I don't have to worry about the other two, but Diana has always been... Luckily she usually despises men but every once in a while one gets clever enough.

"The age of Greek and Roman gods is over. Few call on us anymore. We're more of a concept than a specific person anymore. Except the Triple Goddess. She survived in the pagan lands and she fuels the mortal magic. But if Diana loses her chastity, she breaks the Triple Goddess and mortals lose what little power they have to fight supernatural beings."

"Like me."

"I acknowledge that you are different from most vampires. I don't pretend to understand why, but it is well known that you help the Slayer. So I'm asking whatever part of you is good and decent to help me keep Diana safe from her... carnal needs."

"You want me to guard her virginity?" Spike laughed at the irony.

"Now that you know what is at stake... She won't listen to me, but she'll listen to you."

"I'm the biggest threat to her and you're hoping to turn me into some chastity-belt. I think she's old enough to make up her own decisions."

"They aren't her decisions!" Apollo turned away in frustration. He couldn't believe he was arguing with a demon. "If she were mortal, I wouldn't care. She could become a whore. But it doesn't just affect her."

"It should still be her choice."

Apollo sighed. "Maybe you're right." He turned back to Spike. "Can you wait until we've stopped Mars from bringing back Pan? We'll need her power. And then she can have her choice."

Apollo offered Spike his hand. Spike took a long drag on his cigarette while he thought. Then he tossed it away and took Apollo's hand. "Think of me as her chastity-belt with fangs."