~

"So, this Dave guy, when did you, uh, "meet" him?" Xander said, breaking the silence, which hung over the room like a wet blanket. Emily looked up from her daze and opened her mouth to speak. Her tongue felt like a roll of cotton. She shrugged clumsily and looked back down. Spike sighed and bent down next to her.

"Emily." She ripped her gaze from her feet and placed it into Spike's eyes.

"Yeah?" She croaked out.

"Do you want this Dave character gone?"

"More than anything." Spike nodded and propped himself up onto the table.

"Then you're gonna hafta tell us everything you know. I know it ain't easy, to let your demons out...no pun intended. But ya gotta do it sometimes. And this is one of those times, luv." Emily sighed heavily, the sound of her own breath breaking.

"Dave showed up for the first time when I was eight. He...he acted like he was born into my family. I think that for awhile he had me under some sort of spell, so that I would see things, as Dave wanted me to, no matter what was actually happening. Things were going normally until one day I woke up in a hospital. I was given drugs for schizophrenia, everything I knew was fake." Spike clenched his jaw at this. He remembered when Buffy had...

Focus, mate.

"Go on." Jesse prompted, laying his hand on the girl's shoulder.

"My parents started crying when I recognized them. I had dreamed about them the way they were, but I guess they weren't really dreams. They were breaks from the world that Dave created for me. He, he had manipulated me for years. I didn't know this, of course, until I got home and there he was. Boy, was he pissed. He didn't let it show, at first. He started sweet- talking me, telling me that I was his big sister and that he loved me so much. I was drawn to him. He went everywhere I went. I told him everything. He told me everything. He hated "our" parents. He said that they were trying to keep us, me and Dave, I mean, apart. That they refused to acknowledge our eternal sibling love. Only more in a more poetic way, naturally. Then, through this elaborate persuasiveness that he has, he convinced me that him killing them, my parents, was a good idea. And he did. Soon after I became friends with Abby, and I ignored him. Abby showed me what real sisterly, or sibling, whatever the case may be, love. If you think what my parents did got him angry, you should've seen how he was when I told him I never wanted to speak to him again. And I didn't. I missed him, sometimes, but I never spoke to him. Ever. I refused to, because I knew what treasures the real world had in store, as corny as that sounds. He was always around though. Screaming insults, screaming threats. He swore that he would kill Abby's family and then kill Abby, after she saw her entire family dead after torture, so she would die in more pain than any boil or knife could ever hope to provide. I never thought he'd actually do it, though." She ended her speech meekly, feeling a fresh batch of tears sting against her eyelids.

Giles looked down at his notes. A manipulative, time-altering, torturous being with the ability to inflict any sort of torture imaginable, and would, that went by the form of not only a human, but a trustworthy human and part of a family.

There was no doubt in Giles' mind as to what sort of creature they were dealing with.

~

"A Moo-Herbie demon?" Buffy asked incredulously, looking at Giles and Spike's worried faces with mounting amusement. Giles rolled his eyes indignantly.

"A M'Haruby demon. Besides, it does not matter what it is called, all that matters is what it can do." He snapped. This was no time for Buffy's antics.

"So what * does * he do?" Dawn asked, reaching for a reference book which more than likely contained the information. Next to Mmm Cookies guy...

"The M'Haruby demon came into existence only a few decades after the world became civilized, by a powerful spell. They were used to manipulate the minds of young, impressionable girls for the sole purpose of ruining their entire existence. Emily described the epitome of the M'Haruby actions. They often force their victims into falling in love, or loving them as they would a sibling or parent, and then using this distinct advantage to get their way."

"Sounds like an asshole." Buffy huffed, crossing her arms. Spike raised his eyebrows in agreement.

"Well, yes."

"So, what do we do?"

Giles looked gravely over at Buffy. There was no easy way to say this.

"You must kill Emily."

When they head this strangely familiar cliffhanger, Dawn and Spike shared an incredulous look. Dawn shook her head, trying to seem ultra-concerned, but was plagued with a nagging question inside her mind...

Do we always have to kill people to save the world?

tbc...

A/N: Alright, now we're getting somewhere with this...I promise I'll update with the end of the whole Dave fiasco either tomorrow or the next day. Adios!