The legendary ogre Grendel comes to Sunnydale and starts devouring men. His appearance might be connected to Anya's lack of vengeance-wreaking. Meanwhile, Connor and Dawn have their first kiss under suitably bizarre and mildly disturbing circumstances.

"I feel so bad for him. He's just in agony."

"You feel sorry for Steven? You were the one who nearly got her nose broken."

"Yes, but that's all better now. Most of the swelling was gone by the next morning. But his pain hasn't gone away."

Buffy was out on patrol, with Dawn tagging along. Connor was not there, and had not patrolled with them for nearly a week. The trauma of striking his beloved, of shedding her blood, caused him to no longer trust himself around Dawn.

"He should have gotten over the guilt by now," Buffy responded. "I mean, you're all better. Unless! Unless he thinks he hit you on purpose."

Dawn grabbed Buffy and thrust her against a tree. Dawn had never treated her sister so violently. "You take that back. Right now!" Dawn pulled Buffy away from the tree, then thrust her back against it. Her head snapped backward and the back of it slammed into the bark. It was a little bit painful. "Steven would never hurt me! He was trying to protect me! It was the vampire's fault!"

Dawn slammed the back of Buffy's head into the bark once again. Buffy never knew this side of Dawn even existed. Perhaps Connor's ultraviolent streak was rubbing off on the girl he loved. "Steven adores me. You've seen that. That's why he's not here. He likes me so much, that now that he's hurt me – even if it was an accident – it's hurting him!"

Dawn let go. She could barely believe what she had just done. Buffy was shocked as well. "Sorry Dawn. I didn't mean to impune your boyfriend. I just, I just don't understand him. He knows it was an accident. You don't hold it against him. So why can't he forgive himself? It just doesn't make sense to me."

Of course it didn't make sense. Buffy didn't know Connor's story. Connor believed his parents were evil. A lot of teenagers believe their parents were evil. But Connor's parents were soulless demons who committed mass murders on a daily basis. At least that's what Holtz told him. Connor always feared their evil was inside him. Now he believed it was. How else could he injure the girl he loved, the girl who gave his life meaning?

Clearly he was blowing things way out of proportion. But Connor was prone to severe emotional extremes. This was visible in his extreme loves (Holtz, Dawn) and his extreme hates (Angel, anyone else he considered bad). Connor's view of the world lacked any complexity. Thus his overreaction to what had been an accident in the heat of battle. Hurting Dawn was bad. Connor hurt Dawn. Therefore Connor must be bad. That was the only way he could see the event.

He went to the beach at night, to hear the ocean. On this night he was standing at the edge of a pier. He jumped, fully clothed, into the water. He sank to the bottom. Just like his father. Connor stood there, underwater, eyes open. He wanted to know what it felt like. He stayed there for a few minutes. He didn't know this was an unusually long time for a human being to hold his breath. But then again, he doubted whether he really was human at all.

Then he bent his legs and leaped, as if jumping. He floated up to the surface. It was only then that Connor realized he did not know how to swim. But soon a wave sent him into one of the wooden poles which supported the pier. He grabbed on, as if to a life preserver. Connor then climbed up the slippery log. He didn't know that was also an unusual thing for a human to do. He climbed back onto the pier, and ran back to the beach, back to the safety of dry earth under his feet.

Back on the patrol, Buffy heard several growls. She ran to the noise. Dawn followed. The growling stopped, and they could not see the creature which was making the noise. But they did see blood splattered on several rocks. They also saw parts of human arms and legs. It was grizzly, even by Sunnydale standards.

"What did this?," a shaken Dawn asked.

"I don't know what did this," Buffy answered. "But I know what didn't do this. This was no vampire."

A little after eight the next morning, Willow came down to the kitchen. Dawn had already left for school, and Buffy was at the table eating breakfast. Willow was not a morning person.

"Rise and shine Willow?," Buffy sarcastically asked.

"On Wednesday of each week, my brain has to attend a nine o'clock class, and my body has no choice but to come along. My body and my brain have come to a little understanding. At this hour, I'll rise but I refuse to shine."

"Speaking of shining, I heard you took a shining to someone in Spike's band."

"Oh. Xander must have told you about Zooey. After lunch, I'm thinking of heading over to her and saying hi, maybe hang out a bit. I'm sure Xander gave you the wrong impression. We're just friends. I'm not dating her. No no no no no no. I'm not dating anybody. Right now, I don't feel like I'll ever want to date anyone ever again. But Zooey's cool. She's smart and funny and fun to hang out with. It's nice to make a new friend. I like to do that every five or six years."

"New friends are nice. Or at least that's what I've heard," Buffy responded. "I prefer old friends, the kinds that help me fight new enemies."

"Oo-ooh! I sense a new Scooby mission coming on!," Willow excitedly declared.

"It's really nothing to get excited about," Buffy cautioned. "It's more something to get nauseated about. I think there's something out there which ate a person last night."

"Werewolf?," Willow brainstormed.

"Full moon's not for another two weeks," Buffy explained. "And I heard it growl. It definitely did not sound like a werewolf. Didn't sound like anything I've ever heard.

"I don't have to be at work until ten. So I'm gonna take a quick look at the scene of the slaughter, see if I come across any clues in the light of day."

Buffy was about to head out the door when WIllow ran and grabbed her. "Buffy, you're forgetting something."

"You're right. I should take along my hideous Doublemeat uniform. I might have to head straight to work after my little investigation."

"No Buffy. Weapons. What if you come across this thing? You know, not all monsters sleep in the daytime."

"Good point, Willow. Thanks a bunch. After all, if I see this thing, might as well kill it the first chance I get."

While arming herself, Buffy realized that if she walked through a public park in broad daylight carrying weapons she would attract attention. So she took a short ax and a knife and a wooden stake (they can kill more than vampires). Then she thought she might want to take this thing down from a distance. She grabbed the tranquilizer gun, pulled it in two pieces so it would fit in the backpack, and left.

If anyone saw Buffy, they would think she was a regular person out for a nature walk on a warm sunny day. She went to the scene of the mauling. The rocks were washed. The body parts removed. Buffy figured the police had cleaned up the scene so as not to scare people who use the park.

Buffy now thought about where the monster could have escaped to from this spot. She figured it would go off into the nearby woods. Walking amongst the trees, she noticed a few drops of blood. The drops formed a trail. Buffy followed it. Then she heard strange noises. Similar to what she heard the night before, but more muffled and subdued.

Buffy slowly crept in the direction of the noises. When she was about 100 feet away, she saw the monster. It was devouring another human. Quietly, Buffy bent down, took out her gun, and assembled and loaded it. She carefully approached the creature. It appeared to be oblivious to her presence. When she got within 30 feet of the monster, she fired. The tranquilizer dart hit the monster square in the chest.

But the monster hardly even noticed. It finished its meal. Then it stood up, looked down, and saw the dart sticking into its flesh. It looked at this foreign object with a bemused curiosity. Then it removed this foreign object and dropped the dart to the ground.

This was not a good sign. The tranquilizers had zero effect. Buffy took out her axe and her knife and slowly circled towards the beast. When she was 20 feet away she got a good look at it. Its skin was gray, with specks of light brown. It stood on two legs. It was hunched over, but still stood about six feet from head to feet. Its proportions were roughly human. But its right arm was about two feet longer than its left arm. And both of its forearms were huge, like Popeye's.

The creature spotted Buffy. She was scared. But it did not approach. It did not get angry. It just stood and stared. No growling, no menacing. Just observing. Buffy feared that if she ran it might pursue. So she also stood still, sizing up the creature which was sizing her up. Then the creature looked bored, like it had something better to do than stare at Buffy. It walked away into a cave. Buffy did not pursue.

Spike was asleep in his crypt. The previous evening his band played its forth show at the Bronze in seven nights. After the show several people representing other clubs in the area approached Spike, talked about booking him. After more than a century, He was becoming something of an overnight success. Now that the night was over, this overnight success wanted to sleep in during the day.

But it was not to be. Clem burst in. Spike woke up. "Oh, for crying out loud, mate! Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Uh Spike. It's 10:30," Clem answered.

Spike put the clock up to his face. Saw this was the case. "Bloody hell! I have to be into work in 30 minutes. Er, screw it. Like I need that sod awful job anyway."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a show last night. How's the whole showman thing going anyway?"

Spike was looking for water to splash on his face. He didn't find any. But he found some gin, put it in a glass, and splashed it against his face. "Going great guns. They love me. I mean, they really love me. Oh, that's just superb. One week and I'm already sounding like a showbiz phony."

"No you're not," Clem assured him. "I watch E! all the time, and you're nothing like them. But that's not why I'm here. There's big trouble out there."

"Oh, come on, Clem. There's always big trouble round these parts. You've lived here long enough to know that."

"This is different. The demons, the ones that usually cause the trouble, are scared of this new thing. I've been going around, talking to some folks, and something's arrived that scares even the evil ones in this place."

"Sounds good," Spike responded. "I'm for any big bad that makes the little bads quake in their boots. What is it, some super demon killer?"

"No, it hasn't killed any demons. They run away before it has a chance to kill them. But it's eating people."

"A people eater?" Spike thought this over. "Pardon my asking, but it's not a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people-eater, is it? Would be kind of funny. Except for the people-eating part."

"That's cute, Spike. But I'm not in a joking mood. And for the record, no. It doesn't fly. And it's not purple."

Spike expanded his cultural reference points beyond novelty songs. "An ogre! Sunnydale has an ogre! And it's about bloody time. We've had everything else."

Clem was confused. "An ogre? You mean like a really mean, really bad person?"

"Nonsense. I'm talking about the real McCoy. A monster that eats people. They're all over the place in stories and legends. They're kind of the original big bad. Before people wrote about vampires or werewolves, they wrote about ogres. Well, I guess they're not just in stories after all."

Clem was still nervous. "In these stories, do the people kill the ogre?"

"Of course. Actually, the people don't. Some hero does. Some person with supernatural ability." Spike thought a second, then smiled. "Poor unlucky ogre. He came to the one town which has its own superhero."

Clem was relieved, but puzzled by Spike's insouciance. "You're feeling sorry for the ogre. It's killing people!"

"Well it won't be killing people for long. Beside's Clem, I don't thinks ogres eat demons, so you should be fine." Spike by this point was ready to head on down to the Magic Shop. All this talk of ogres had put a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step.

Later on, at the store, Anya had some questions for Spike. "You were 15 minutes late today, and an hour late yesterday. Does this have anything to do with that whole crazy music thing you've begun?"

"Actually, the crazy music thing is going quite well, thank you very much. Wit-ah-little-bit-ah-luck I won't need this wretched job no more."

Anya responded with deep condescension. "Oh, now isn't that adorable. The stockboy has a dream! Now, I don't know much about music, beyond a few tenth century Russian folk songs and the score to Grease.' What can I say? I found the young John Travolta yummy. I've seen you doing that whole performance thing, and the people appear to like it. I mean, they didn't even throw things at you. I think that's a good sign.

"But I have watched enough episodes of Behind the Music' to know that even if everything goes right and you achieve your dream, you'll be back here in 18 months suffering from heroin withdrawal and begging for your old job back. So I wouldn't go burning your bridges just yet, mister superstar."

"So nice to know you wish me well, love," Spike sarcastically replied. "By the way, since you asked me about my second job, how bout I ask you about your second job. How is the vengeance treating you these days."

"Poorly," Anya began. "In more ways than one. The trouble is, everyone wants vengeance but no one wants to pay for it. It's outstandingly frustrating. I mean, if I were a scorned woman – actually, I am a scorned woman. So you see, as a scorned woman, I would gladly pay a small price to avenge the wrongs which a certain callous man with oversized upper arms has done to me. Any other scorned women should feel the same way. I mean, is $1000 to much to pay to ruin the life of the man who ruined your life?"

Spike laughed. Now he could be condescending. "Well, well, well. It would appear that little Anya has yet to learn one important lesson. See, people won't purchase a service from an entity they believe does not exist. Now, given who you have hung around, it's understandable that you overlooked something important. Wanna know what that is, little lady? I'll tell ya."

Then Spike yelled in her ear. "People don't believe in demons! Almost no one on this planet believes in demons! So you go up to some woman, say hi, I'm a Vengeance Demon, and I'll magically make your ex-husband suffer,' and they'll look at you like you're a mental case." This little speech made Spike feel very good. Finally, he was getting back at Anya for all her stockboy gibes.

Anya wasn't fazed by Spike's little harang. "Actually, I have noticed that. It does make the job difficult. But you think there would be a few people around here – out of all the places on earth – who would be aware of these things and would decide to start making the Hellmouth work for them, so to speak."

"So have you actually avenged anyone since getting your powers back?," Spike asked.

"No. Not like I couldn't have. I just won't work for free. I give people something of value, and should be properly compensated. Once I find people who will properly compensate me, I'll avenge like I've never avenged before."

"So how long has it been since you regained your powers?"

"Lemme think. It was spring. Xander ripped my heart out and danced the cha-cha on top. So that was, like, say, about six months ago."

"I take it that's a long time to go without. In the old days, what was the longest you went between vengeance spells?"

"Maybe a little over a week. I mean, I was busy then. Everyone wanted what I had, since like all the other clueless Vengeance Demons I was giving it away for free."

This struck Spike as an unusually long time. "So going without for this long, anyone else ever done it? And if you refrain from doing your job for too long, are you punished for, you know, derelicting your duty?"

"Come to think of it, it never came up. I don't know if anyone's gone without as long as I have. But then again, no one's become a Vengeance Demon, become a person again, and then become a Vengeance Demon yet again. I'm like you. The exception that proves the rule. The freak."

After her morning classes, Willow did finally muster up the courage to go to the Avalon bookstore in Vista. She would prove to herself that she had nothing to fear, that this was only a friendship, that she was certainly not trying to find a replacement for Tara.

Willow entered. She spotted Zooey near the back, reshelving books. She walked over to her. "Uh, hi Zooey. It's me, Willow."

Zooey turned and smiled. "Willow! Great to finally see you again. I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten about little old me. So how are things going? How's college?

"Well, college is college. It's fine I guess. I mean, they haven't kicked me out yet. So I suppose I'm doing well. So, uh, how are things with you? How's the band doing?"

"Band's great. I mean, people actually want to hear us. It's amazing. People want us to play in San Diego, Pasadena. It's like we can't book the shows fast enough. I mean, I've been in other bands. I have friends who've been in tons of different bands. But I've never seen anything take off like this is taking off. I mean, Spike is just unbelievable. Totally one of a kind. I can't believe I never noticed him before. How long have you known him?"

Willow thought about this. "I guess we first met about five years ago. I've only known him well for about three years."

"So did he play back then?," Zooey wondered.

"Actually, no. I didn't even know he played the guitar until I saw him onstage a couple of weeks ago. He never mentioned that. It just came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, he's a musician. Guess it goes to show people go through changes." Willow knew plenty about that.

"That's so weird," Zooey opined. "People don't get up one day and decide to become rock stars and start selling out clubs the next week. Especially not at Spike's age. He's what, 25, 30?"

Did she mean human or vampire years? Well, human of course. But Willow didn't know how old Spike was in human years. "I'm not sure. Somewhere around there. He doesn't talk much about his age."

This told Zooey something. "Doesn't talk much about his age? Whew, he must be old!

If only Zooey knew, Willow thought. But Willow was more interested in how Zooey appraised Spike as a person, especially since she knew nothing of his past. What would a person think of human Spike if they only knew his human side? "So Zooey, you get along with Spike well? I mean, is he a nice guy to you and the rest of the people in the band?"

"Oh yeah, he's real nice. Very self-deprecating. Always joking about how lousy a musician he is and how great we all are. But he's often very quiet. Doesn't talk much about himself."

Spike, self-effacing and quiet? Of course, he had a reason not to talk much about himself with these people. There was an awkward silence, which Zooey broke. "Enough about Spike. I've seen plenty of Spike, but barely any of Willow." Was this a come-on, Willow wondered? "There's a nice coffee shop across the street. We can go there and talk."

Go somewhere together to consume beverages? To Willow this sounded an awful lot like a date. "Across the street? You mean, you don't have coffee here?"

Zooey joked that "it's the strangest thing. A bookstore without coffee. In this day and age. Come on, let's go. I mean, if you want to."

To reject coffee would seem a tad Draconian. "Sure, why not?," Willow answered. Besides, she was still a bit drowsy from getting up so early. The caffeine rush would do her some good.

Spike was preoccupied with Anya's lack of vengeance. It wasn't natural. It upset the balance of forces or something. Becoming a Vengeance Demon is not like receiving a title of nobility. Vengeance Demons aren't supposed to sit around doing nothing. They are given powers so that they can use them. By now Anya should have provided vengeance for dozens of women. That's why she was given her powers back, after all.

But Anya had not fulfilled her duty. She's not meeting her quota. Vengeance has been building, with no way to release it. If it built up long enough, wouldn't it explode?

When he had the chance, Spike checked some of the old books at the store. Tried to see if anything can happen if there was a lot of unmet vengeance. Checked to see what the books said about Vengeance Demons, about their duties. About what could happen if they were not fulfilled.

And then Spike saw it. The creature Buffy spotted. The ogre. The man-eater. It was Anya who brought him here.

Willow decided once again to nip this potential relationship in the bud. While sitting and drinking coffee, she told Zooey the truth. Well, part of the truth.

"Zooey, there is something you really need to know about me. There was a woman I loved. She meant the world to me (literally, in this case). And a few months ago, she died. So I am not ready for a relationship. I'm not looking for a new girlfriend."

Zooey was naturally stunned. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. That's horrible. That's awful. I can't imagine what you're going through. But, just because I want to spend time with you doesn't mean I have to be your girlfriend. I mean, I wasn't that interested in us being lovers anyway."

Zooey agreed with Willow. But Willow felt a bit insulted. "What do you mean you didn't want to be my lover! Are you saying I'm not good enough for you?"

"No, no, it's not that," Zooey replied in defense. "It's not that I don't want to. On some level, I do. The thing is, you're Spike's friend, and I'm in Spike's band, so it would be awkward. I mean, what if we were fighting? What if we broke up? I'd still be in Spike's band. You'd still be his friend. We'd still see each other. It would just be too uncomfortable."

Willow's ego no longer felt bruised. It was nice to be desired, even if you never intend to act upon that desire. Now she sought to return the complement. "And you, Zooey. On some level, I would want to be your lover. Certainly I find you attractive. Certainly you find me attractive. Certainly we'll never act on that attraction. I mean, it's not like you'd be the first friend I was sexually attracted to." Zooey of course had no idea how true that was in the case of Willow.

"It's nice to know we understand that we have this understanding," Zooey said. "I like spending time with you. I haven't spent much time with you. But I've spent enough to know I want to spend more. I just have this crazy hunch you're the most interesting person I've ever met. I hope you prove me right."

Spike's inner William, his inner geek, was driving his precocity. And he knew Anya must know what he just learned. "Anya, ever hear about what happens when Vengeance Demons don't use their powers?"

"I can't say I have," Anya responded.

"Of course. Of course you can't. Because it's never happened before!"

"What, is this about me?," Anya innocently wondered. "Is something awful going to happen to me?"

"Nothing will happen to you," Spike reassured her. "But I can't say the same for the men of this town. You hear about any strange animal attacks happening last night?"

Anya thought about this. "I heard on the radio this morning some man was missing and the police said it was coyotes. Are you saying it was a demon? Well of course it was a demon. This is Sunnydale. But are you saying this had something to do with me?"

Spike showed her the page in the book with the illustration of the ogre. "If a Vengeance Demon fails to use her power for six months, it creates a massive imbalance among mystical forces. The balance is redressed by this nice-looking chap. He comes around, eats ten men. This makes up for all the men the Vengeance Demon has failed to punish."

"Are you saying this death is my fault?," Anya asked.

"In a word, yes," Spike bluntly concluded.

Anya saw how unfair this was to her. "Fine! I guess I can't win. Hurting men is bad. It's immoral. It's evil. But because I don't hurt men, this thing comes and kills them. I choose not to cause suffering. And because I don't cause suffering this thing causes suffering! What am I supposed to do?"

Spike hadn't looked at the problem this way. "Come to think if it, you are in a bit of a Catch-22. No matter what you do, something bad happens. But don't worry. We'll kill this thing."

Anya doubted that would be enough. "But if you kill it, won't another ogre come here in its place to exact vengeance, to kill those ten men?"

Spike doubted this. "It's an ogre. It's not a Slayer. One doesn't rise when the previous one dies. All it says is this one ogre comes to town. Kill him, we're done."

"That is if we can kill him," Anya worried.

Spike was still confident. His inner geek was positively brimming with scholarly arrogance. "This ogre, the one in the picture. It's Grendel. It takes Beowulf to kill Grendel. And we have a Beowulf."

In the early evening, Buffy came home to find Xander pacing in the living room. "You do realize you're moving but not going anywhere," Buffy said.

"That's kind of the idea," Xander responded. "I came here to talk to Willow. But I can't go up to her room because it's filled with this huge white elephant."

"An elephant?," Buffy asked. "What is there, a Jumanji demon in town?"

This was odd. Usually it was Xander with the pithy one liners. Now Xander was the serious one. "It's a metaphor. It means something everyone can see but no one has the guts to mention."

Buffy got it. "Oh. So you want to talk to her about . . . That."

Xander explained. "We need to talk to her about . . . That. We can't just keep pretending all of that stuff never happened. We're her best friends. We have to talk it over with her, help her through whatever she's feeling. I mean, right after it all ended, we were all too shocked to say much of anything. Then a week later, she goes off with her mother for the summer. She comes back, we're too nervous to bring it up. But that's just not healthy. If we don't help her through this toughest, most agonizing episode of her life, we're letting her down."

Buffy was in agreement on this. "You're right. You're exactly right. We don't bring it up because we're afraid of hurting her feelings. But the longer we don't bring it up, the more we're really hurting her. I mean she killed a man. That changes everything for a person."

Xander was no longer in agreement with Buffy. "Warren? You think the issue is Warren? I'm sorry, but I'm glad he's dead. And I think you're also glad he's dead. Granted, it would have been better if Willow wasn't the one who killed him. And it would have been better if she didn't do it in such a gleefully grizzly manner. But that's not what I'm worried about."

Buffy was perplexed. "Your best friend kills a human being and that doesn't worry you?"

Xander clarified. "It does worry me. But it's not at the top of my list. I'll just say this: I've always had a problem with our Prime Directive:' kill only demons; kill no human beings. Yeah, I know, the police can take care of evil human beings. More or less, I'm fine with that. But how can the police take care of a human being who uses magic and demonic powers and all these things they know nothing about? They can't!

"Say we let the police take care of Warren. What if they arrest him but it's really one of his robots? What if he pulls a disappearing act, or uses one of his tricks to spring himself loose? He was a killer, and he was going to kill again. Now if we all followed your Prime Directive' and let the cops catch Warren, and they only catch him after he's killed someone else, would that have made you happy?"

Buffy saw she would get nowhere on this matter. "Okay, fine. You're down with murder. So if Willow the murderer doesn't bother you, what does?"

"Tara," Xander answered. "To lose someone she was that close to, so suddenly, right in front of her eyes. Oh, and if that didn't hurt enough, they had been apart for months, and had just made up. So the worst possible thing happens to Will at the worst possible time. How can anything really matter to her after that? Sure, she goes through the motions. Hangs out with us. Goes to school. But does she see a point to it all?"

"I know a thing or two about grieving. I know something about struggling to find a reason to go on," Buffy began.

Xander quickly interrupted her. Very rude of him, if he did not have a good reason. "But Willow is not you. She hasn't always had people around telling her she lives on borrowed time, telling her prophecies of her imminent death. She hasn't carried your burdens. And no offense, but you never experienced this. This was different. Without warning. Without reason. At the time she would least expect to be in danger. She never had time to prepare. Never had the chance to imagine the worst. You've been through more than a lot, Buffy. You've been through more than anyone in this world. But you never went through this."

After all this tense discussion Xander no longer felt up to going upstairs and talking to Willow. He left.

Back at the Magic Shop, Spike and Anya were discussing Spike's theory of life imitating literature. "Beowulf, that's a good one," Anya began. "I actually remember when people were still writing and rewriting that thing. There were some truly awful alternate endings, which thankfully never survived. Good story, for Scandinavians. Not as good as a Russian story, but then again what is?"

Spike was firmly committed to his tenuous intuition. "So where would Grendel go next? Where does he find his other eight victims?" And then inspiration. "By George, Eureka, I've bloody well got it!"

"Got what?," Anya wondered. She was not used to seeing Spike so enraptured by his own thoughts.

"Grendel will go to the Mead Hall!," Spike answered.

Anya laughed at the quaint expression. "Yes, of course Grendel will go to the Mead Hall. If this were a medieval Northern European village, which, if you look around, you'll notice it's not."

"I mean the Bronze," Spike explained. "That's our Mead Hall. It's where everyone gathers for nightly entertainments. And it's a perfect place to find men to devour." Spike felt elated to be in control. He grabbed Anya's arm, looked into her eyes, and told her as if the world depended on it "go to Buffy's. Tell her what this thing is. Tell her where it will be. And tell her how to kill it. She has to remove its right arm."

"My goodness you are becoming more and more like Giles every day," Anya joked. Spike was so high on his own inspiration he didn't even notice the insult. As Anya left, Connor entered. Now everything was falling into place for Spike.

"Steven, I have a very important job for you. Get in my car, we'll go to my flat and I'll explain there. Big night ahead for us." Spike then grabbed two swords and left with Connor.

When the two of them arrived at Spike's crypt, Clem was on the couch watching television. Connor was not known for being particularly tolerant of demons. "You evil thing!" he yelled at Clem. Then he took out his dagger and ran at him. Clem was severely frightened out of his wits.

Spike grabbed Connor when Connor was within arm's reach of Clem. "Steven, calm down. This is Clem. He's good. He's friendly. He can't harm a soul. He's a good friend of mine. And a good friend of Dawn's."

Mentioning her calmed Connor down a bit. Clem said to him "oh yeah, Dawn and I go way back. I used to babysit her. She's a great kid. And if you slice me into little bits, I bet she'll be very mad at you."

That was the last thing Connor wanted. He put away the knife and relaxed. Clem said "I'm eating Reeses Pieces. You can have some if you like." He held out the bag. Connor took a few. Sweet. Chocolatey. This was definitely Connor food. And any demon who gave him it couldn't be all that bad.

"Sorry about that," Connor said. "It's just that I don't meet many demons who don't want to kill me."

"Neither do I," Clem joked. "Kind demons. We're something of a minority within a minority. Just glad we sorted this out before one of us did something we would both regret. Say Spike, you find out anything about that new monster?"

Spike was in his element. Talking to people who hung on his every word. "Matter of fact I did. That's why I brought Steven here. It's a Grendel."

"Never heard of it," Clem added.

"Well, it's not a very common demon," Spike began. "It's something of a storybook monster come to life. Grendel's an ogre. He eats men. Real mean looking fellow. But I think we can kill him, just like Beowulf."

Connor had heard of this character from Holtz. "I think my father mentioned him. He was some ancient hero or something."

Spike, like the nerd he once was, gladly filled Connor in. "He was quite the bloke. Super powers. Mysterious birth. A human being, but also more than human. Comes to this little town beset by monsters. Kills the monsters. Oh, and he can hold his breath underwater for a really, really long time."

This all sounded familiar to Connor. That was because it sounded a lot like Connor's own story.

Anya quickly went to Buffy's house. She felt a personal responsibility for killing this thing before it killed anybody else. She entered without knocking and spread the news.

"So Buffy I take it you heard about the new monster in town. The one that's eating people."

"Heard about it? I saw it."

Anya wanted to make sure it was what Spike showed her from the book. "Walks upright, real ugly, really large right arm?"

"How'd you know?," Buffy wondered.

"Oh, just a hunch," Anya coyly explained. "Anyway, I have reason to believe this monster will be heading over to the Bronze tonight. So you might want to skedaddle and keep more people from being eaten." Buffy agreed, grabbed some weapons and along with Willow and Dawn got into Anya's car.

Xander was already at the Bronze. He did not know an ogre was about to show up. All he knew was that Spike would not show up onstage tonight, which was precisely why Xander was there. He wanted a nice, relaxing evening without having to watch a man he detested play rock god.

Of course, the only way to have a hope of enjoying a nice, relaxing evening in Sunnydale is to stay home, lock the doors, and bar the windows. Xander heard commotion around the front door. Grendel was making his big entrance. He threw aside the doorman and anyone else in his path. Those in the vicinity screamed and ran.

And then Xander saw the creature. He had seen plenty of monsters, many of which were much bigger than Grendel. But Grendel had a presence about him. When people laid eyes on him, they questioned whether there was really a God. Sure, he was scary-looking. But he was also really ugly, and not in the picturesque way most monsters are ugly. The skin was such a sickly color. The eyes were blank. They lacked the ferocious glare of a killer. This made Grendel's killings all the more frightening. Sure he was evil. But he didn't even seem to enjoy the hunt.

By the time Buffy and her friends arrived the scene people were running out of the Bronze and fleeing in every direction. Buffy knew Anya's hunch was right (of course it was Spike's hunch, but Buffy didn't know that). As she was about to enter through the front door, she ran into Xander as he ran out. "Buffy there's this thing and it's eaten two people and it's really, really scary. Not killed, eaten the people. Whole. Worse than anything I've seen and oh baby I've seen a lot!"

"Don't worry Xander, I'm on it," Buffy reassured her petrified friend. "Nothing I can't handle."

As Buffy entered Anya screamed out "remember the arm! You have to rip off its right arm!"

Buffy turned and looked at Anya in a confused and contemptuous manner. "The arm? I've never heard of a demon who dies when you remove its arm. That's just ridiculous."

Buffy entered prepared to reacquaint herself with the creature see saw that morning. There were a few scattered patrons who had not been able to flee. They were against the walls, barricaded behind upturned tables. Grendel was approaching them, closing in for his final kills.

Buffy ran up from behind Grendel. She leaped in the air and hit him square in the back with a flying kick. He hit the wall, thankfully at a spot where there were no people. Buffy grabbed him from behind and threw Grendel backwards. He hit the ground in a sitting position and slid about ten feet along the floor.

"Remember me?," Buffy mockingly asked. "You know, the girl you ran away from. Well now there's no place to run to. Any last words?"

Grendel stood up and looked at Buffy. He didn't move. He didn't look angry, or scared, or even energetic. He just waited for Buffy to make her move. All he did was breath, slowly and deeply and loudly. Grendel was definitely a mouth breather.

"Not the talkative type, I see," Buffy joked. She approached Grendel and kicked him in the chest. No reaction. She attempted to kick him in the head. Grendel, who usually slouched, arched his back and neck to elude the blow. It became apparent that when he stood up straight he was about eight feet tall, two feet taller than when he stood in his usual bad posture.

After dodging Buffy's kick, Grendel swung his right arm round. The enormous limb struck Buffy in the head. The force of the blow knocked her into the air and ten feet backwards. She hit one of the steel poles which supported the balcony. The pole snapped in two.

This sight almost caused Grendel to smile. It seemed to put a twinkle in his eyes. He hit Buffy with a left hook, sending her ten feet to the side, but she managed to stay on her feet. Grendel came up and swung his mighty right paw at Buffy once again. This time she ducked, and Grendel's arm shattered another of the steel poles supporting the balcony.

Buffy quickly ran out from under the balcony to escape the inevitable. With these supports gone, the front section of the balcony fell on Grendel. He hardly seemed to notice. He shook off the debris and made his way towards Buffy once again.

Then he growled. It was the same growl Buffy heard the previous night. But this time from a few feet away. The growl echoed throughout the club. Xander, Anya, Willow and Dawn, watching from inside the club but at a safe distance from the combat, felt their bones rattle.

Buffy and Grendel stared each other down on the Bronze's dance floor. Grendel showed her his moves. He went down on all fours and leaped at her again and again, bounding across the floor and swinging at her with both arms while growling in an attempt to intimidate her. Buffy eluded his first few hops, then decided she should jump onto the elevated stage, making his attacks moot.

Grendel stood up straight once again. With the added elevation of the stage, Buffy was actually slightly above him. She jumped over him, did a backflip, and landed behind him. Grendel turned, and Buffy kicked for his head.

Grendel ducked and went down on all fours again. He plowed into Buffy, taking her to the ground. He tried to pin her down and bite her with his long, sharp teeth. His head was inches from hers. Buffy managed to wiggle free and escape from Grendel's clutches.

Spike and Connor had arrived at the Bronze. They burst in, saw Buffy engaged with Grendel, and knew they were a few minutes late. Connor eagerly approached, trying to get close to the creature. Spike followed, but a few steps behind. He was a little frightened. Not as frightened as Xander, Willow, Anya or Dawn, but not fearless like Buffy or Connor.

Grendel led with a right, as he was wont to do. Buffy ducked and kicked him in the knee. Grendel lowered his head in pain. Buffy punched it three times, pulled out a wooden stake, and plunged it through his heart. This did nothing. Grendel hit her on top of her head with a left, driving Buffy into the ground. Then he blasted her with a right uppercut, which sent her flying into a wall.

"You have to go for the right arm!," Spike yelled out. "That's the only way to kill it!"

"You too? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!" After making this comment Buffy was walloped with another right hook."

"The bloody arm! Just go for the bloody arm! I mean what else are you planning to do? Stake it again?," Spike yelled back.

By now Buffy was willing to give it a try, no matter how lame it sounded. Grendel swung another right. Buffy grabbed the arm, or more accurately absorbed it with her body while putting her arms around it, holding on for dear life. When she got a good grip, Buffy twisted the arm slightly and pulled it back. Grendel struggled to regain control of his limb. But Buffy was too strong. As Grendel struggled, he fell to the ground.

Buffy pulled and pulled, until she started hearing his bones creak. Grendel let out a scream. Not a growl, but a high-pitched scream, a cry of agony. Finally, Buffy pulled the arm away from Grendel's body. The body and the arms vanished into dust.

Xander, Anya, Willow and Dawn slowly moved towards Buffy. They were still a bit shaken by the sight of Grendel. Buffy felt invigorated. "I never knew I'd enjoy arm wrestling so much. What can I say? Find me a demon, and I'll find a way to kill it." (Actually Spike found the way to kill it. But that would have ruined Buffy's victory buzz.)

Connor and Spike left. "I'm sorry about that, Steven. I built you up for a big fight, and now it's just a big letdown." Right then the two of them heard shrieks from the West.

"What was that?," Connor asked Spike.

Spike thought for a second. What comes after Grendel? And then it hit him. "Grendel's mum!" The two of then leaped into Spike's car and followed the noises.

So Connor would get his big fight. "Did you that sound was Grendel's mother? That thing has a mother?"

"Everything has a mother, Steven. After Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel's mum comes to town looking for revenge. So Beowulf kills her as well." This did make sense in this situation. Grendel had failed to eat ten men. So not enough vengeance had occurred when he died. Now his mother's coming to avenge her son's death and to complete the vengeance he was supposed to wreak.

Spike felt he needed to warn Connor. "One thing I should tell you. In the story, Grendel's mum is a dragon. Don't ask me how a dragon gives birth to an ogre, but that's how its written. Just to prepare you for what we might find."

Connor had a completely unrelated question he had been meaning to ask Spike. "Buffy doesn't seem to like you around. And every time I mention your name to Dawn she gets upset. Why don't they like you?"

This was a complicated and torturous matter. So Spike gave the short and sweet answer. "Me and Buffy, we used to kind of go out. We had a very painful breakup. It left a lot of bitterness between us." Connor accepted the pat response.

Spike followed the noises all the way to the beach. Grendel's mom had emerged from the sea. She was calling out for the one who killed her boy. She was thirty feet long. Her tail was ten feet, her body twelve feet, and her serpentine head eight feet long.

Spike was a bit shaken by the sight. He had never seen a dragon, and now here he was only a few feet away from one. Connor was perfectly cool and calm. He saw nothing here which surprised or unnerved him.

Connor pulled out his sword. He stood just beyond the reach of the dragon's head. He moved side to side, gauging the beast lateral movement, and the speed with which it moved its head and neck. It started to step in his direction, which was what Connor wanted. He shuffled to the side, seeing how fast the beast could turn and swivel. Against this creature, he felt at home.

Spike approached the dragon from the side and rear. Its mighty tail struck him in the chest and sent Spike about sixty feet out into the waves. Spike stood up in the water. "Bugger all! That bleeding tail!," he growled. It may not have been the wisest decision, but Spike was determined to make the beast pay.

Connor raised his sword and swung it up at the dragon's head in an almost playful manner. Its head swooped down and outward trying to catch him. But he was too fast. Connor toyed with the beast as if playing tag with it. He stood just within its range. When Grendel's mom reached out to devour Connor, he did a one-handed backflip, using the hand which did not hold his sword. This forced the dragon to take a few more steps out away from the water.

Now Connor was ready to hurt this creature, to go toe-to-toe with it. The dragon reached out its jaws to bite Connor. Instead of dodging, Connor swung his sword, cutting the dragon before the dragon could cut him. He left a noticeable gash on the beast's right cheek.

Slowly but determinedly, Spike approached the dragon from behind, all the while thinking "watch the bloody tail, watch the bloody tail." He neared it. And he watched. And when the tail swung rightwards, in the direction of Spike, he ducked and hit the sand. Spike then quickly rose. The tail swung back leftwards. Spike held his sword in its path and slashed as the tail closed in upon him. He struck a blow and fell to the ground.

When Spike got up, he noticed he had severed the back three feet of Grendel's mom's tail. He was elated. "Ha! Who's laughing now dragon lady! Maybe your friends never told you, but nobody messes with Spike without paying a price!"

Buffy and friends had left the Bronze. Now they too heard the horrible braying from the West. "Something tells me that's not just a wolf," Xander reckoned. They got in their cars and followed the terrible beastly sound.

Connor was by now ready to finish the job. He ran under the vampire's neck, diving under its outstretched jaws. Then he leaped in the air and thrust his sword through the dragon's mouth and out its skull. Connor's feet were a good ten feet off the ground when he thrust his sword into the dragon. Spike saw this move, and was speechless.

Connor fell back to the sand. The dragon was now severely wounded, but extremely furious and still quite dangerous. Spike stayed about twenty feet away.

Connor looked straight up into the dragon's eyes, as if taunting the great beast. The head swooped down, mouth wide open. Connor just stood there, looking into the dragon's mouth. At the last moment, he leaped ten feet to the left, just as the dragon's jaws were closing and about the rip off his head.

Connor now stood perpendicular to the beast's head and neck. He soared high into the air. He did a forward flip, and chopped the dragon's head off in midair. He landed, smiled, and thrust his sword into the severed head which had fallen to the sand.

Spike was more than impressed. Beowulf had also killed Grendel's mom. But Beowulf didn't leap fifteen feet in the air and sever the dragon's head while performing a summersault. Spike always thought Connor was special. Now Spike knew he had been wrong. Connor was more than special. He was so much more than that. He couldn't explain why Connor could perform such feats. He didn't even try.

A few minutes later Buffy, Xander, Willow, Dawn and Anya arrived on the scene. By now Connor had reverted to full Quor Toth mode. As the one who slew the beast, he was entitled to the first tasting. Buffy and friends got out of their cars and saw Connor pulling strips of raw meat out the the dragon's neck and devouring them. They didn't know what was more shocking - a boy eating raw meat, or the fact that this raw meat came out of what looked like the corpse of a dragon.

Xander tried to break the ice. "Wow! Sorry, I mean, Wow! I know you didn't come home for dinner tonight Steven. But I had no idea you were this hungry! I guess we can eat right here. Just let me make a fire. A little barbequed giant lizard dinosaur. I'm sure it tastes just like chicken."

Connor had gone a bit sub lingual. Blood covered his lips and dripped from his chin. "My kill. You eat when I have finished. It is my right."

Xander tried to rationalize what to him and his friends was an irrational sight. "Sure. I get that! You're the hunter. This is your kill. I'm way cool with that. But, see, where I grew up we had this thing called fire. And we put the meat in the fire before we ate it."

Connor really wasn't listening to Xander's ramblings. Soon he filled his stomach and walked away from the dragon. He was drawn to the crashing waves, to the sea. He walked out to where the water was up to his waist, and stood there, looking westward into the vastness of the ocean. He splashed the water on his face, and drank some of it. Connor hadn't noticed how salty sea water was before this. It went down well with the taste of the raw dragon meat which lingered in his mouth.

Buffy saw Spike. "Oh look what we have here. If it isn't Steven's valet."

Spike was holding his sword, which was covered in dragon's blood from when Spike used it to sever the end of the dragon's tail. He held it up in the air, as if considering attacking Buffy. He glared at her. What did she know? Without him, she would never had killed Grendel. Without him, she would never have arrived in time to save the men in the Bronze. Spike just walked away, got in his car, and drove home.

Willow, Anya and Xander were checking out the great beast. "You ever see one of these?," Willow asked Anya.

"I've seen things that looked like this," Anya answered. "But I've never seen one of them dead."

"So this is a dragon?," Xander wondered. "This is a real, live, well, formerly live, dragon? In the flesh? On our beach? Killed by Steven?"

"Yes. That's really the only way to explain this scene," Anya concluded. "You've met vampire slayers. Now you're living with a dragon slayer."

"Steven the dragon slayer," Willow added. "That sounds very romantic and dashing, like a fairy tale. But he kind of ruined the fairy tale mood by eating the dragon raw. Nothing at all romantic about that."

Dawn ran out into the water to talk to Steven. He turned to face her. "Steven you are amazing! You did this, this, uh, I don't even know what to call this. Except amazing! Your the most amazing guy I ever met. I don't know what else to tell you."

Connor knew exactly what he wanted to tell Dawn. He had taken a piece of string, put it through the dragon's two largest teeth on it, and tied the string to make a necklace. He took it off his neck and showed it to Dawn.

"These are from the beast I killed. I give this to you as sign of how much I honor you. I love you Dawn. I love you more than anything in this world." Connor put the necklace over her head and onto her neck.

Dawn was touched. This was the best thing anyone had ever said to her. "You love me! Ooh! That is so sweet!" And then Dawn put her arms around Connor and planted her lips upon his.

Buffy saw this from the shore. Normally, she would have found Connor's and Dawn's first kiss to be adorable. Especially in this setting. At night, under the moon, with the waves crashing into them. But under these particular circumstances, she found it disgusting.

"Oh no Dawn!," Buffy yelled out to her sister. "Don't you know what he just put in that mouth!" Dawn heard, but didn't care. Besides, Buffy knew what it was like to kiss a guy with blood on his breath. Who was she to criticize?

To Connor, kissing Dawn for the first time felt like some out-of-body experience. Like he had died and gone to Heaven. He had waited for this moment with such burning anticipation that when it came he was lucky he did not faint.

When the kiss ended and Dawn let go of Connor, he did faint, straight back into the water. She dove into the water and grabbed the woozy boy. She pulled him back up. Connor stood back up and apologized. "Sorry. Didn't mean to do that. It's just been such an amazing night. I'm just so happy to be here with you."

Now Dawn felt a little weak in the knees. "You really know how to make a girl feel special," she told him, and kissed him again. Their teeth were chattering. She told him "Steven, th-the water's a bit cold. Whadya say we get back on dry land."

They headed out of the water together. Buffy, Willow, Xander and Anya watched them approach. They all found the long wet kiss completely and totally disgusting. But watching them walk out of the waves, they had to admit to themselves that these wide-eyed kids looked adorable together. They all managed to smile. Even Buffy. "My little sis has her first boyfriend."

"What is it about killing monsters that brings kids together?," Xander wondered. "I remember when I first kissed my first girlfriend. The basement. The maggots. It was magical."

Everyone was getting nostalgic. "It really brings back memories," Willow added. Then she thought a bit. "Well, sort of. I mean, yes, my first boyfriend was known to occasionally have a taste for raw meat. But that was never a turn-on for me."

Even Anya tried to sound warm and fuzzy. But warm and fuzzing coming from Anya's mouth doesn't exactly sound warm and fuzzy. "It's so magical. Her own knight in shining armor. I know he'll treat her good. He better. Because if he doesn't, I can really, really hurt him."

It had been quite a night. Connor and Dawn walked towards Buffy and her friends. Behind Buffy and her friends was the corpse of a thirty foot long dragon. At that moment nobody noticed the dragon. Connor would remember this night forever. But he would remember almost nothing about the dragon. To him, killing a dragon wasn't special. Locking lips with his beloved was.

Back at his crypt, Spike sat on his couch, a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. On the television was a Steve McQueen movie. Spike looked at the actor as if he was looking at what he wanted to become. The sound was turned off. The stereo was playing Frank Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning:"

"When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,

you'd be hers if only she would call.

In the wee small hours of the morning,

that's the time you miss her most of all."

Spike dropped a fleck of ash from his cigarette into his shot glass. The whiskey ignited. Spike held onto the glass and downed the flaming beverage in a single gulp. He would show Buffy soon enough.