Buffy was a ball of nerves once everything was gathered. It was Willow doing the heavy lifting, not her, but all the same the Slayer felt that she ought to be doing something. After all, in the next twenty four hours they needed to summon and trap a demon, get it to spill what it knows, and then use that knowledge to help Faith. They'd gone over the plan so much even she had it memorized but there was no guarantee that it would work, let alone that they could accomplish anything meaningful with the information if it did.

Her friends, on the other hand, appeared much too calm by comparison.

"Is everything ready?" She asked, frowning as she surveyed the magical accoutrements on the rug.

"I think so." The redhead looked up, adjusting the position of one of the candles in conjunction with the others. "I've measured everything three times."

"Xander?"

The male held up the potion they'd made as a failsafe and the necklace to coincide. Their backup plan was to trap the demon in an amulet if it decided that it did not want to cooperate or looked like it could escape from their trap. All of it was foolish, rash. He'd have said as much if he knew but in her estimation if they didn't play the game they couldn't win. Anyway, they didn't have any other choices and from Faith's tone if they didn't try something, there was a chance that they were risking much worse than this in the grand scheme.

"I'm all set, Buff."

He moved to her side and put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. She smiled up at him for a brief second and then moved toward the witch.

"Where do you need me?"

"Close." She looked down at the small space in front of her. "Maybe with a sword?"

"Way ahead of you."

She left the room and came back with the sword she'd pulled from her Watcher's collection. It was Faith's favorite, and that wasn't lost on her as she held it in front of her. She was acting in the other Slayer's name, too. All of them. The weight of all of it rested squarely on her narrow shoulders and she was not shy to the feel of it. It pushed her to be ready, forcing the nerves down to that quiet place inside of her that didn't have time for fear or doubt. Right now, they didn't need their friend - they needed the Slayer. She'd give them one.

"Go ahead, Will. The sooner the better."

Silence fell over the room before the chanting began, candles lit in a specific order with magical artifacts used to dive backward through Giles' youth spell to the dimension the demon that possessed him came from. A dark, violent looking black glow emanated from the floor, rising up to fill the entire space blocked off by candles. It could not seem to make it past the line of light, much to everyone's relief, for now. The black glow gained hues of purple and red, interspersed in the darkness. Nothing appeared and after a moment, once the chanting stopped, the blond blinked.

"Isn't something supposed to happen?"

The glow wasn't going away but no body had appeared either. Entirely perplexed, both girls exchanged looks.

"I think it did. I just...I don't know what."

Xander reached a hand out, his eyes glowing red. Buffy noticed too late as it crossed the line and the lights inside the black, inky glow lit up like a parade. She yanked him back and the red was gone; he blinked.

"Xander, what were you doing?"

The light and darkness began shifting, pressing against all of the glow like a column of black silk.

"It spoke to me."

"What?" Her jaw dropped. "It wasn't trying to possess you?"

"No, I don't think it can. It was talking, but it wasn't. You know?"

They looked at the thing with wavering darkness, as if trying to press and push against its bounds. The redhead held her hand just outside the candlelight, saw the darkness and lights concentrate around where her hand was.

"I think he's right." She looked up at her friends. "It can't communicate without someone to operate through. To translate, I guess. I think this IS the body. I mean, as much as it has a body, this is it."

Buffy shook her head. This sounded all types of wrong to her. "What if it's a trap?"

"We have fail-safes."

"What if it tries to possess you?"

"We pull him out."

Buffy hugged her friend and then backed up a step to allow him to step up again and put his hand through the ring they created. The darkness latched onto him with the lights circling his skin. The red light came to his eyes and he surveyed the girls like he didn't have the faintest idea who they were. He stopped being Xander and became something else entirely.

"You who have summoned me here. What purpose have you to bring me, Shazzius the Dark, to your pitiful world?"

"We need answers, information. We think that one of your kind is possessing a friend of ours."

"Really?" An eyebrow raised and amusement flirted with his tone. It made her shiver.

"How do we find out who it is and how to stop him?"

"If he is in possession of your friend, as you say, he was invited."

"Not on purpose!"

He shrugged. "Intent is immaterial. If he is in possession of a host he was invited."

"How do we make him uninvited?"

A cruel, twisted laugh filled the room with haunting sound. It echoed off the walls, rebounding back to the trio with a strength that was everywhere at once, inescapable. It was certainly inhuman though it came from a human body. She wanted to run from that sound with every fiber of her being, but she forced herself to remain still.

"And why should I tell you that?"

"He's hurting people I love, torturing them."

"That is no business of mine."

"Make it your business because we're not done here until I know his name, where he came from, and how to be rid of him."

"You have half the answer you seek already."

"What?"

"To gain power over my brother you need only to speak his name."

"Like Rumplestiltskin?"

Buffy looked at Willow, who shrugged and made a face.

"Ok, one down. So what's his name?"

He shook his head slightly, his hand on his hip. The slayer gripped her sword tighter, to which the demon held up his hand. No fear showed on his face, only muted amusement.

"I'm just borrowing the body. You won't hurt him."

"No, but you're trapped inside that bubble. We don't have to let you out. We can keep you here as long as we want to."

She was bluffing, of course, but didn't take her eyes away from him for even a second. She set her jaw, clenching her teeth together with her eyes narrowed. The lights sparkled more rapidly, swirling faster around Xander's outstretched hand. His face changed, going dark as he looked back toward the vortex it was trapped in. She couldn't read his expression other than to sense fury.

"This pitiful spell cannot contain me."

"Doesn't sound like you believe that." She tilted her chin up, catching the light, looking him directly in the eyes.

She gave him his long silence and kept her power, not backing down from her threat. They'd figure out how to follow through if he tried to call her bluff but that was a problem for future Buffy.

"I could destroy you for this."

"No you can't." Willow butted in. "You can't come into this world without a host. You have to be invited."

He fell into another sullen silence and she glanced at her watch, noting that too much time had passed. The clock was running out.

"We can give you time to think about it, no problem."

She reached for Xander to pull him out before a hand snapped down to clamp her wrist.

"Wait."

"I'm listening."

"Free me from this interminable prison and I'll tell you his name."

"And the name of your home world."

A gutteral sound emitted from the throat of the human he possessed - a sound Buffy hadn't thought any human could make before she heard it.

"You drive an impossible bargain, Slayer."

"Lives are on the line. I'll send him back in one piece, if he cooperates."

"Damn you."

She set her blue eyes and the tight line of her lips. Her hands moved to her hips. "Him first."