Buffy stalked the hallway next to Oz. She could tell he was uncomfortable by the set of his shoulders. It didn't surprise her at all. There was something malevolent about the tasteful but generic environment. She swallowed and rested a hand on her stomach, over their children. Oz reached out, without looking at her, and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. Everyone stilled as the whisper of a distant conversation reached them.

"I would love to assist you Miss. Rosenberg. You seem like such a nice clean girl for a succubus witch. Those slayers are a problem. The fact that there are two of them is a clear violation of traditional values. I could really use you on the team when I ascend, but the kind of power you need would seriously deplete my resources. I am on a schedule. If I miss this window it will be a millennia before I can try again. Do you have any idea how long that is? Can you even imagine it? Of course you can't. You are just a spring chicken, still thinking love will fill your aching voids. Those really were the days. The stories I could tell if you were older."

"I wasn't so much asking," Willow's voice was pitched lower than usual. "I respect what you've built here. There's real evil genius in it."

"You have to build on a solid foundation. There is no reason to crawl through cramped sewers in my town. I built this town to be ideal. I am a stickler when it comes to the details."

"Does anybody recognize that voice?" Buffy whispered. She turned and looked at the others. Oz shrugged. Angel tilted his head, listening for something. Anya finally raised her hand, wiggling her fingers and grinning.

"You don't have to raise your hand, Anya." Buffy hissed.

"I kinda like it," Oz said as he stroked Buffy's arm.

"It's the mayor. He used to play kitten poker with D'Hoffryn, but they had a falling out seventy years or so ago. He always had the nicest kittens. They were perfectly groomed. It was stunning." Anya smiled at the others, oblivious to their various reactions.

"Kitten poker, that must be where I know the voice from." Angel nodded. "Spike was playing with him and some other idiots. They never catch him cheating, but I couldn't take the risk and had to roll him out of there."

"No time for disturbing walks down memory lane. What is he and how do I kill him?" Buffy put her hands on her hips and looked between her two demony companions.

"I have no idea, Buffy." Angel reached out toward her but stopped when Oz growled.

"You won't be touching my mate." Oz snarled his eyes flashing.

Anya raised her hand again, bouncing and wiggling her fingers frantically.

"Anya, just tell us." Buffy glared at Angel and reached out a hand to Oz. Her mate grabbed her hand gently and brought it to his lips, never breaking eye contact with Angel.

"You can't kill him, not now. Maybe not ever." Anya looked at Buffy. "Ascensions aren't things you hang around for, and they aren't things you can just stop. I witnessed one about eight hundred years ago. I've started wars that were less devastating, several actually."

"What is he? I mean maybe someone has come up with something in the last couple centuries that'll make this guy go poof." Buffy bit her lower lip and stared at Anya.

"Whatever he is now doesn't matter. He's on his way to becoming a demon." Anya looked at her watch. "We might still have time to get clear of this, maybe go to Europe or Australia."

"It's just a demon." Angel said as he leaned against a wall. "They're not exactly rare here in Sunnydale."

"You've never seen a demon, not a full blooded one." Anya glared at Angel.

"I've been making with the slayage since I was fifteen. I've seen my share." Buffy looked between Angel and Anya while Oz stroked her back.

"The demons like I was and he is," Anya said as she pointed at Angel. "Are hybrids. They all have diluted blood or magic. Real demons are larger and they don't settle for small evils. They like big splashy pools of blood and viscera. One or two slayers just won't do the trick."

"How did the one you saw die then?" Oz asked.

"Poor planning. December in the Urals is cold. Lohesh is designed for a warm climate. It has four wings. No amount of soul killing will keep the ice from forming. It froze to death." Anya shrugged. "It was a relief really. No one wants one of those things destroying the balance here. They just destroy to destroy. No art in it at all."

"So what is the mayor?" Buffy asked. "I get that he wants to be some super demon, but what is he right now?"

"It depends on what ascending demon he is trying to become and which rituals he has completed. He talks like a man that knows death has no dominion on him." Anya bit her lip. "Making him miss his window is your best bet. Willow seems to be working on that already."

"Yeah, but in her plan I wind up dead and you all live as her sex puppets." Buffy shook her head, grabbed Oz's hand and continued down the hall.

"That doesn't sound ideal." Anya said and shrugged, following the pair. Angel fell in behind her and she glanced back. "You need to apologize to both of them in a real way. you need to mean it, or the guilt will wind you up back in some ridiculously dangerous situation, trying to save them."

"You don't know anything about me." Angel snarled.

"I know if you hadn't been turned I would have cursed you in a matter of days. One of your pretty maids was just working herself round to a good bit of vengeance when Darla saved you from me." Anya smiled and tilted her head.

Buffy hid a smile behind her hand. She had to get the whole scoop from Anya after they saved Willow, stopped the mayor, and figured out where to live.

They rounded the corner and stepped into an office. Willow looked awful. Her hair hung in lank black chunks around a darkly veined face. The mayor smiled at them. He seemed so pleased to see them.

"Look, your friends have come to join us." he held out a basket of candy. "Lollipops, anyone?"