***

Twenty minutes before, Antonio was standing in the bar devastated by the battle between The Slayer and the Blue Woman. He surveyed the damage and marveled at the raw, primitive energy wasted by these supporters of the cause of light.

He turned to the man next to him "Does Morgan think I can't deal with this mess by myself renfield?"

"Lord Morgan does not presume to tell me what his inner thoughts may be. "

"More is the pity for you, since you can never know when he has delivered you up to be sacrificed."

"If I am allowed to die in the service of our Lord--"

"Then you be replaced in twelve hours by another love-addicted renfield ready to make an even more theatrical gesture."

"Lord Morgan…"

"Drooling sycophant, I need nothing from your kind. Get the girl and bring her to me."

"Our Lord made it clear, I was to report to him following completion of the task."

"Dogs-body, I expect you will be killed in the process." He snarled. "I will deal with Morgan if the moment presents itself, now go. The very sight of your kind sickens and offends me."

Antonio dismissed him with a contemptuous movement. He chose not to notice the hand gesture the sensitive throw at him from behind. This is a shame, for he would have recognized it as an Italian hand gesture, which might have reminded him of times that were more innocent.

The renfield stepped out to the ruined hallway; a group of mixed beings, both demons and vampires, waited for him. One of them stepped forward.

"How are we supposed to get in." The vampire grunted.

"I will deal with that; all you have to do is find this girl." The renfield answered as he held up a picture, the beings studied it. Except for a large demon in the back, upon getting the picture, he ate it.

Antonio stepped out in to the hallway to join them. "I will be at the central gathering place." He turned to the dapper Renfield. "Bring the girl there; if The Slayer or The Blue Woman pursue you, use any means to prevent their finding the site."

The demons and vampires grunted and filed out the door

Antonio watched them go and then surveyed the damage to the hall including a body that had half a pool cue sticking out of it.

"Ouch" he thought "guess you won't be mating much with that sticking out of you." He wondered which of his enemies had done the honors.

***

Twenty minutes later the battle began in Giles' house. He grabbed Tara and Willow and yanked them into the kitchen. Xander pushed Anya in the direction of the kitchen then turned to stave off an onrushing demon. The teenager's heart was in the right place, but he lacked the strength to back his actions.

Spike tossed himself across the room with a curse. He tackled the demon and began to rain punches on the beast with animal-like ferocity. Xander shouted something that sounded like thanks and pushed Anya the rest of the way into the kitchen.

Buffy watched all of this with the part of her mind not occupied with staying alive and keeping her friends the same way. A vampire tried to grab for her, but she ducked and then powered her fist upwards, throwing her considerable strength behind a devastating body blow. The vampire doubled up. Buffy gripped his head and did a quick twist-jerk motion and the vampire was no more.

Sonja fought off attackers from two directions at once. She dodged the first punch and grabbed the assailant kneeing him in the body. She then rolled herself over the back of the now doubled over vampire, snapping his arm in the process. The vampire screamed in agony and fell to the floor Sonja's switchblade was in her hand and stabbing downward inside of a half a heartbeat. "Now for the other guy" she thought as she rose from the cloud of recently expired vampire thug. He came in low, Sonja obliged him by rushing him, but at the last minute, she vaulted over him. The vampire, expecting a clash, was surprised when his quarry disappeared. He turned to find her and ran right into Sonja's Doc Martin that hit him like it had been moving at the speed of sound. The vamp crashed to the floor and stayed there, his head and neck bent at an awkward angle. Sonja looked around and saw a vampire sneaking up on Buffy. She reached for the fireplace and shouted "Buffy, duck! "

Buffy had been living near the Hellmouth long enough that when she heard duck she hit the floor. A vampire trying to sneak up on her, exploded into dust. He had been impaled by the fireplace poker.

Several of the creatures were heading for the kitchen. Giles brandished a wickedly sharp knife sweeping to in front of him and keeping two creatures at bay. Willow gestured and pointed to one of them shouting "Ïncendio" the vampire exploded into a pillar of flame. His partner froze. This was the only opening needed by Giles. He shoved the knife into the demon's heart.

It was at this moment that Xander shouted. "Has anyone besides me noticed we are being attacked by vampires and we didn't invite any of them in?"

Sonja looked around the room. Her eyes switched to Pretender Vision and saw him. A Renfield, by the look of him and from his head emanated a web of light that covered the room. He was moving toward the kitchen and Spike was closest. "Spike, that guy, stop him." Spike throw a punch at the fleeing man and than doubled over in pain. His brain racked by scorching, chip-induced fire. The renfield climbed back to his feet. Buffy saw him, looking around she saw the poker sticking out of the wall. Grabbing it she reared back and threw the poker hard. It streaked across the room and lodged inside the body of the renfield. There was a shimmering in the air. Buffy kicked a vampire that had been menacing her through the door. He leapt off the ground and raced toward her. His body struck the doorframe. It bounced backward some twenty feet into a van that was idling at the end of the driveway.

Xander shouted in triumph. Suddenly, The photograph-eating demon backhanded him across the room. His body sailed up and over the dining table to land on top of Spike who was just getting back to his feet. The demon then reached out and grabbed Anya as she rushed past. He hauled the struggling girl off her feet and then broke for the door. Buffy and Sonja gave chase. The demon made for the van and tossed Anya inside then crawled inside. The van raced away.

Spike ran outside and leapt toward his car. Buffy was about to join him when he stopped, and began cursing in every language he had acquired in his centuries of life.

"What is it?" Sonja asked as she hurried up to the pair.

"The bastards slashed the tires." Spike screamed in frustration.

"What about Giles' car?" Asked Buffy as she looked down the street at the fleeing van.

"Inside the carport, until you move my car you can't get at it and by the time you do that…."

Xander ran into the street "Where did they go? Are we going after them?"

Buffy grabbed her friend. "Listen Xander there is nothing we can do now."

"What do you mean, there's nothing you can do? They have Anya. Obviously, they were trying to get us all, but they settled with Anya." Xander shook Buffy's hands loose. "If you don't want to find her then I'll do it myself."

"Danm you, Alexander Harris, I won't be made to feel guilty for keeping you out of trouble." She screamed angrily. "I love you; I love the way you are with Anya and I will give my life if I have to, to save hers. What I won't do is charge blindly into the mouth of the beast just because you have separation anxiety."

Buffy turned on her heel and stalked into the house Spike diving to get out of her way. Inside the gang started the task of reassembling Giles living room and kitchen. Xander sank himself into the task of repairing the frame for the door. Sonja looked around the room and saw a team, no a family in crisis.

"I thought you guys where used to this kind of stuff." she asked Giles quietly.

"We are" Gilles answered hesitantly. "Focus is what is need here and now."

"Why just kidnap Anya." Tara volunteered "Why not the rest of us."

"Easy prey." Xander grumbled.

"No they wanted her, specifically" Sonja pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"Thy went right for the kitchen and they didn't stop fighting when you killed the renfield. They were here for a reason and they didn't stop till they got what they wanted."

"Ok" asked Xander "why just Anya, did thy want human blood?"

"Maybe…" said Sonja now thinking aloud. "But thy have a whole town to choose from why come all they way over here and kidnap one human."

"Maybe they want an ex-vengeance demon of their own." Willow teased gently.

"Well they can't have her. I love my vengeance demon; I want her back" Xander whined.

Sonja grabbed Xander "Vengeance demon, your girlfriend is a vengeance demon!"

"Ex-vengeance demon," said Buffy. "It's a long story."

"Oh this is bad" Sonja released Xander and started pacing the room the others stopped with the cleaning and gathered to hear what would obviously be more bad news.

"What vengeance demons do is effect probability. You know …the chances that something happens get better or worse depending on what a vengeance demon does. Like any magic, altering the probability flow of the universe is a chancy thing. Push to far one way and something equal has to happen to counter it. What vengeance demons usually do is alter the luck for a spurned maiden causing something equally bad to happen to the guy."

"But she isn't a vengeance demon anymore her talisman was destroyed." Willow pointed out she had been intimately involved in the affair. "Her master abandoned her to whatever might befall her."

"Wouldn't matter," Sonja shook her head vigorously. "The talisman is a focus only; it just looks like a source of power. The raw energy to do it comes from within. I imagine that was why she was allowed to stay here. The potential for her to find a new way to focus her abilities and become a full demon again was always inside her. "

"So these guys stole Anya for what? To change the chances of pulling off some powerful magic spell?"

"If you were performing a ceremony that could either give you the world or swallow it whole wouldn't you want to bend the odds in your favour."

"Then the only thing he would need would be the knife. Spike, you told Sonja that you didn't have that knife, that an old friend had it. Who was that?"

"Drusillia, when we broke up she took off with blade. The last time I saw her, she didn't have it. "

"Willow, call Angel, see if he knows anything about this." Giles ordered. Willow picked up the telephone and dialed furiously. In moments, there was a click and then a lot of happy gabbing & talking before a look from Buffy got Willow back on track. She exchanged words and then hung up he telephone.

"They had the blade but it was lost when Wolfram & Hart blew up their old offices. Angel thinks that they have it now but he'll check the ruins again just be sure."

"Danm, this just gets worse; all right, we have to assume that if Wolfram & Hart had the knife then Antonio has it now."

"It also means we may have only a day left to stop them. I don't see them kidnapping Anya unless everything else is already in place."

"Then we attack now." Xander stated firmly

Sonja vetoed. "Look I am not part of this group. You'll do what you think is right, but if you go charging in without knowing more then we do now; not only are you risking Anya's life, but your own as well. Not to mention those that will suffer if Antonio pulls off whatever he is doing."

"What do you suggest, time is running out and the Bad Guys seem to be making all the major moves." Buffy challenged.

"Then its time to get some inside information; where is The Monastery in this town?"

"Well there's a Catholic Church on the East Side."

"No I mean a bar, kind of sleazy."

Xander nodded "I know the place, it's is kind of creepy, I had to bring Dad back from there once or twice. It's on the south side of town."

"Buffy lets go."

"I coming with you."

"Xander…"

"Buffy if I'm with you, then you know I'm not chasing after Antonio."

"Xander I wont be…"

"Buffy please…"

She looked into his pleading eyes and then relented. "Alright, The rest of you stay here and try to figure out how we stop this maniac."

Outside the three moved Spike's jalopy out of the way and retrieved Giles' car from the depths of the garage. Armed with the G-man's car Xander climbed in the driver's seat and the two girls leapt into the back.

"Where are we going." Buffy asked as Xander maneuvered into the traffic.

"To see an old friend."

"You know someone in this town."

"Not in his town, in this bar."

"What's the difference." Xander asked as he negotiated a left turn.

"Well it's hard to explain, but the door to the bar exists in real time. The bar on the other hand is somewhere else; for reasons of sanity I don't bother asking where it is."

"And your friend, he lives in this place and is going to help us stop this psycho vampire sorcerer."

"No, but he should be able to give us the skinny on who's behind Antonio and what they sent him here for."

"So who is this guy?"

"He is not a guy, he's a demon and his name's Melfis"

"What?"

***