Note: For those of you who don't watch Buffy, Anya is about 1120 years old, which makes her a little older than Cole's mother. And she really has this bunny phobia, even thought the writers of the show never quite explained why. I've already told you that she was a vengeance demon who lost her powers and became human: the circumstances in which that happened will be mentioned later in this story, as well as how she met her human boyfriend and a brief profile of Buffy and the rest of the gang.

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Once everyone was sitting at the dinner table, the wild boar made its grand appearance, and Ben accepted the fact that he wouldn't be allowed to hold the spoon, Cole turned to Anya and asked again:

"So, why did you come to our quarters that day?"

"That was my gift," Anya said, simply. "To feel a woman's hurt; I was drawn to your mother by her hurt."

Cole sighed. Anya had showed up on the very first day after his mother had taken him to the Underworld. Of course she was hurting: her husband had just died the night before.

"I thought vengeance demons could only grant wishes to humans," Phoebe said, giving Anya a curious look.

"That's right," Anya said. "And I was very surprised when I met Erzsebet and found out that she was a demon. I wasn't supposed to be able to sense a demon's hurt, and yet I felt hers."

Turning to Cole, she asked:

"What did your father do to her?"

"My father didn't hurt her," Cole quickly said. Anya raised a skeptical eyebrow and he insisted: "He didn't."

He hesitated, then added:

"You sensed her pain because she was hurting for him."

"Really?" Anya said, surprised. "She was hurting for a human?"

"Yes," Cole said. "Why? What did she tell you?"

"You know what she said: you were there."

"Yes, I was," he said. "And that's why I remember that the two of you spoke mainly in, what was that? Sanskrit?"

"Oh, right," Anya said, smiling. "We did. Now I remember."

"So...?" he said, giving her an inquisitive look.

"Well..." she started.

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Anya sensed the woman's pain with such intensity that for a moment she felt her head spins.

"Wow!" she thought. "If I get this one, I won't just reach my monthly goal: I'm gonna make it to employee of the month!"

She focused on the pain to teleport to its source, and found herself in a tall room with a stone floor and bleak stone walls; a dark haired woman was there, lighting the nine black candles in a white gold candelabrum, while a little boy watched her with great curiosity, standing on tiptoes and stretching his neck to see what she was doing. He noticed Anya's arrival before the woman did, and promptly gave the alarm, pointing at the intruder:

"Mommy!"

The woman spun around to face Anya, quickly putting herself between the boy and the newcomer and forming an energy ball in her right hand.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she hissed, and Anya was shocked to realize that she was the source of the howling pain that had drawn her to this room.

"You're a demon," she said, baffled.

"Yes, I am," the woman said, coldly, showing the energy ball that hovered over her open hand. "And who are you?"

"I'm Anyanka," Anya said, proudly. "I'm a vengeance demon."

"You work for D'Hoffryn," the woman said, warily. "I know him. What do you want here? Do you have a message from him?"

"I'm not a messenger!" Anya exclaimed, indignant. "I grant vengeance wishes to scorned women!"

The woman stiffened noticeably and said, giving Anya a cold look:

"Well, there's nothing for you here." Then, switching to Sanskrit, she asked sharply: "Who sent you?"

"No one sent me," Anya replied in the same idiom, while the boy watched them with a puzzled expression. "I was..." -- she frowned, confused -- "I can sense the soul of a hurt woman and go to her." -- she gave the other woman a perplexed look -- "How could I sense you? Who are you?"

Her interlocutor seemed to ponder for a while, then said, flatly:

"I'm Erzsebet."

She watched Anya's face, waiting for her reaction. When there was none, she proceeded:

"And I'm a demon, which means you can't sense me."

"But I did," Anya insisted.

Erzsebet sighed heavily; she glanced at the energy ball, clearly considering the idea of using it, but both she and Anya knew that anyone who killed a vengeance demon would have to face a very enraged D'Hoffryn afterwards. And, as Anya would learn later, right now Erzsebet's situation was very fragile: she wasn't in the position of making enemies, specially not one as powerful as the Head of Vengeance himself.

"I married a human man," she said, stone-faced. "Maybe that's why you could sense me."

"Oh," Anya said, bewildered. "Well, that's, hum... maybe that's possible."

She switched her weight from one foot to the other, unsure. Then, surprising Erzsebet as much as herself, she blurted out:

"Do you want me to avenge you, anyway?"

As Erzsebet didn't answer, too dumbfounded to speak, Anya proceeded:

"We could find someone to make the wish, someone human, and..."

"What? No!" Erzsebet exclaimed, cutting her off. Anya gave her a surprised look, and she quickly added: "He's dead; my husband's dead."

"Oh! Well, in that case..." -- Anya shrugged.

Now it was Erzsebet's time to surprise both demonesses as she asked, giving Anya a curious look:

"Why?"

Anya gave her an interrogative look and she proceeded, slightly impatient:

"D'Hoffryn wouldn't pay you for that."

"I know," Anya said. She hesitated, then added: "Still, you're hurting."

"No, I'm not." -- Erzsebet's eyes sparkled dangerously.

Before Anya could reply, a third woman shimmered in. The boy, who after some time peering at Anya from behind his mother had finally found the courage to warily walk around her to give Anya a better look, quickly drew back again when he saw the newcomer. She was tall, with dark skin and yellow eyes that resembled those of a snake.

"I don't know who has been sending invitations around," Erzsebet exclaimed, annoyed, "but I am NOT throwing a party here."

"Follow me," the demoness who had just arrived said, curtly. "You have work to do."

"What! Now?" Erzsebet said, frowning. "I can't!"

"You must."

"This must be a mistake," Erzsebet insisted. "The Source said I'd have some time to set things up before I..."

"Apparently," the other demoness said with a sneer, "the Master thinks that you've had enough time already."

She looked at the boy who was clinging nervously to his mother's legs and her smile widened, revealing her white fangs.

Erzsebet studied her interlocutor with narrowed eyes; she was a lower level demon who wouldn't come with a phony message that could be easily checked. She was telling the truth, and she'd just love to go tell the Source that Erzsebet had refused to follow his orders.

"I can watch over him," Anya suddenly said.

"What?" -- Erzsebet swirled her head towards her, dumbfounded.

"I can stay here with your son until you come back."

Erzsebet looked from her to the black demoness, and then to the boy. She pondered the situation for a while, then finally kneeled on the floor before him and said, ignoring the two other demonesses as she took one of his hands in hers:

"Belthazor, I have to leave for a while. Anyanka," -- she motioned her chin towards Anya -- "is going to keep you company until I come back. She's gonna take good care of you; when I come back," she added, still looking at him, but clearly addressing Anya, "you will tell me everything that happened while I was gone, and she knows what will happen if I don't like what I hear. Okay?"

"Okay," he answered, almost in a whisper.

"Okay," she repeated, giving the little hand she held a gentle squeeze. Standing up, she said, looking at Anya with hard eyes:

"He doesn't leave this room, and you don't leave his side. Ever. Understood?"

"He'll be fine," Anya said, nodding. "Don't worry."

Erzsebet hesitated, still holding her son's hand; clearly, she did worry. She'd worry all through her mission, and would only stop worrying when she was back at his side. But she didn't really have a choice. And, right now, Anya was their best chance.

She let go of the boy's hand and, after a brief hesitation, he walked towards Anya. Much to her surprise, he timidly reached out to hold her hand, clasping it as he cast a nervous glance towards the third demoness, who was still watching him intently.

As Erzsebet shimmered out, following the Source's messenger, the last thing she heard was her son's voice, as he pointed at the black talons on Anya's face:

"Are those real?"

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"At some point, during that morning," Anya said, smiling as she remembered, "he asked me if one of my parents was a tiger."

Cole smiled, too, but he became serious again as he said:

"Anya, you would have been in some serious trouble for avenging my mother."

"Actually, no," Anya said. "I wouldn't. A vengeance demon can grant wishes to any human, as long as they reach their monthly goal in their own area. So, as long as no one knew that I was doing that for Erzsebet, I'd be fine."

"I don't get it," Paige said, giving her a curious look. "You were a demon; you were evil. You could inflict unspeakable pain on your victims without so much as a blink of an eye, yet you went out of your way to help two people that you had never seen before in your life. I just..." -- she shook her head, confused -- "I don't get it."

"I do," Piper said, quietly.

Paige gave her an inquisitive look and she proceeded:

"It's a different kind of evil. I mean, it's the same, yet it's different." -- she saw the look on Paige's face and grimaced -- "Oh dear, I'm not good at this. Leo?" she said, turning to her husband for help.

"Go ahead," he said, giving her an encouraging smile. "I know what you're thinking, and you're right."

Piper hesitated, then took a deep breath before starting again.

"We've been through this in the past," she said. "Prue, Phoebe and I. There's more than one way to be evil: there's evil who causes pain for the kicks of it, and there's evil who causes pain because they just don't care, and there's also evil who causes pain because they think they're so righteous and incorruptible and better than everyone else, they declare themselves withholders of justice, with rights over life and death. That's the kind of evil vengeance demons are."

She thought a little and added:

"That's also the kind of evil good is more likely to turn into."

"When you start caring not so much for protecting the innocent as for punishing the evil," Phoebe said.

"That's what Giles says," Anya said, nodding mindfully. "But you say it better," she added, grinning.

"Well," Piper said with a smirk, "we have some first hand experience."

As dinner went on, they talked about witches and slayers, and demons and vampires, and they were already having coffee with pie when Anya asked, turning to Cole:

"Why do you want Liusaidh's sigil, anyway?"

"We want to summon her," Cole explained. "We figured that since we're gonna have to fight her, we should at least make sure she won't have surprise on her side."

"Summon her?" Anya said, raising her eyebrows. "Cole, Liusaidh isn't some lower level demon: you can't just go and summon her."

"Why not?" Phoebe said. She gave Ben a spoonful of pie and added, while gingerly cleaning his chin with a napkin: "We just went and summoned one last Sunday: the one who gave you Cole's message."

"My," Ben said, reaching out and grabbing the napkin with both hands.

"Right," Anya said to Cole, while Phoebe talked Ben into letting go of the napkin, "but now Liusaidh knows that they're witches, and she knows that they're going to try and stop her from getting you; she's going to fight their summoning."

"Well, I don't think Liusaidh is strong enough to fight their summoning," Cole said. "Phoebe, Piper and Paige aren't just any witches: they're the Charmed Ones."

"The Charmed Ones?" Anya said, giving the girls an amazed look. "Really?"

"In the flesh," Paige said, smirking.

"Wow!" she uttered. Then turning to Cole again: "I thought they were just a legend!"

"Nope," Cole said, smiling. "They're very real, and very powerful."

As if on cue, Ben tried once again to grab the spoon and, as Phoebe quickly pulled her hand back, she hit her cup with her elbow, pushing it over the edge of the table. Piper promptly flicked her hands and froze the cup mid fall; then, after Cole reached out and held it by the handle, she unfroze it again so that he could place it back on the table.

"No no no," Phoebe said, waving her finger at Ben.

"My," he stated, and she sighed.

"They say every toddler goes through a 'no' phase," she said. "No one told me there would be a 'my' phase, too!"

"My," Ben repeated, to no one in particular.

"Here," Cole said, picking one of the toys that hung from strings tied to the high chair and giving it to Ben. "This one is yours."

"Hi!" Ben said, greeting the rubber duck with great enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry," Phoebe said, giving Anya and Xander an apologizing smile.

Instead of answering, Xander turned to Anya and asked:

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well, I'm thinking that I want more pie," she said. "Is that what you're thinking?"

"No," he said, eyeballing Anya, while Piper smiled and cut another slice of pie for her, "I'm thinking that they may be able to help Buffy."

"Who is Buffy?" Cole asked.

"She's the Slayer," Anya said, receiving the plate from Piper's hands. "Have you told them what a Slayer is?"

"Yes," he said. "What's wrong with her?"

"Everything," Anya said.

She put a piece of pie in her mouth and Xander explained:

"Buffy has been having some really bad luck lately. And I mean really, really, really bad luck. Bad enough to make us wonder if it isn't more than just plain, human, non-magical bad luck.

"It could be a Darklighter," Piper said, and Phoebe nodded. "They can do that."

"A what?" Xander said.

"Sort of like a Whitelighter, but teams up with the bad guys," Phoebe explained.

"Is Buffy alone in Sunnydale?" Piper asked, remembering how a Darklighter had once tried to push Prue into committing suicide.

"Actually," Xander said, "she's in San Francisco, too."

"And Dawn, and Willow," Anya said. "The whole gang. Well, except for Tara, because she and Willow..."

"Wouldn't want us to discuss their private life with these nice people," Xander quickly said, placing his hand on her arm. Then, turning to Piper again: "Anyway, Buffy is in San Francisco, and I was wondering if you could try and find out what's wrong with her."

"Sure," Piper said. "Why don't you bring her here tomorrow night?"

"That'd be great," he said, smiling. Then, turning to Anya: "Do you think that you'll have the information they need by then?"

"I think so. Of course, it's in Halfrek's hands, but I'll tell her that we're in hurry."

"Tomorrow night it is, then," Piper said, smiling. "So, how many people?" -- she counted on her fingers -- "The five of us, you, Anya, Buffy, and...?"

"Dawn and Willow," Xander said.

"Fine. Ten people, then."

"On one condition," Paige said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The others turned to her, surprised, and she explained:

"I wanna hear one story of Cole's childhood."

"Forget it, Paige," Cole said, firmly.

"Oh, come on! Every time Glenn comes over he tells at least three embarrassing stories about me: that's not fair!"

"Life is not fair," Cole replied.

"Hey!" Anya exclaimed. "That line is mine."

"Well, aren't you glad that your words of wisdom weren't put to waste?" he replied, with his most innocent smile.

"So, now they're words of wisdom?"

"Do you think that maybe in another hundred years he'll finally start to listen to my words of wisdom?" Leo whispered to Piper with a smile.

"I heard that!" Cole exclaimed pointing at him, while Piper giggled and Paige laughed.

"How about I tell them about that time you destroyed that antique chest that your mother loved?" Anya asked. "That's a good story."

"I wanna hear that story!" Paige exclaimed, grinning.

"Can't you make her stop?" Cole asked Piper.

"Maybe," Piper said with a smile. "But I kind of wanna hear that story, too."

"And I suppose I won't get any help from you, either," Cole said, turning to Leo.

"Not really," Leo said, grinning.

Cole sighed and put his arm around Phoebe's shoulders as she leaned towards him. He didn't have to ask her to know that she was dying to hear the story, too.

"Go ahead," he told Anya, rolling his eyes.

All eyes turned to Anya as she smiled and asked him:

"How old were you then? Nine?"

"Eight."

"Okay," she said. "So, you were eight and Sarsour was ten." -- she sighed, shaking her head -- "God, what a pair you were!"

"Did you babysit them both?" Piper asked, grimacing at the idea of trying to reign not one, but two half demon kids.

"Well, by the time Cole trashed that chest Erzsebet only asked me to watch over him when she had to be away for more than one day. But when they were younger, yes, Sarsour was usually there while I took care of Cole."

"And was Cole a handful?" Phoebe asked, smiling.

"Well," Anya said, "Not always. When I first met him, he was this frightened little thing that clung to me until his mother was back; he did everything I told him to."

"But soon," she proceeded, giving Cole a reproachful look, "as he grew a little smarter and bolder, the 'my mother' phase began."

"My mother," Anya said, emphasizing the word 'my' like only a cheeky little boy could do, "said that I can do anything I want as long as I don't leave this room. My mother said that I can wait up until she comes back. And my mother this, and my mother that, until I told his mother that I wouldn't be watching over him anymore unless she told him that, when I was in charge, I made the rules."

"Did she agree with that?" Piper asked.

"Sure," Anya said, with a proud nod of her head. "By that time, Erzsebet knew that she could trust me with him."

"And how did Cole take it?" Leo asked, smiling.

"Oh, he was sulking and didn't talk to me for two whole days, but he got over it eventually."

All eyes turned to Cole and he groaned, pushing his plate across the table and towards Piper:

"More pie."

Piper giggled and cut him another slice of pie while Anya proceeded:

"When Cole was eight, he was a 'big bad demon'." -- she giggled -- "Puffing out his chest and swaggering around, telling me how evil he was, big bad Belthazor. He heard the grown ups talking and tried to sound like them. You asked, Belthazor, where are you going? and without looking back he would say, I'm going to wreck havoc!"

"You're cheating!" Cole protested as the others chuckled. "This has nothing to do with the chest."

"Sure it does!" Anya said.

Before she could go on, though, Ben started to bang both hands on the tray of the high chair, calling:

"Mama!"

"Oh, sweetie," Phoebe said, reaching out for him, "you're tired of this chair, aren't you?"

Ben gladly let her take him out of the high chair, but as soon as he was in her arms he started to squirm, trying to go to the floor.

"No," he protested, trying to push the arms that reigned him.

"Maybe we should finish this in the living room," Cole said. "He has been quiet for almost an hour now, and that's more than we usually get from him."

"Dada!" Ben called, as if he understood that daddy was pleading his cause, and Cole took him from Phoebe's arms and planted a sound kiss on his cheek, making him squeal.

"You know," Anya told him as they walked to the living room. "I never thought of you as the 'daddy' type."

"Neither did I," he replied lightly. "But this little guy here seems to think otherwise."

He winked at Ben and the toddler giggled.

"Da-da! Da-da!" Ben lilted gleefully all the way to the living room.