Summary: Yet another Halloween fic. With demons.

Disclaimer: I own... hmm. I own nothing. The bank owns any money I make, at the moment. The concepts building 1001Keys do not belong to me, most probably.

Feedback: Why not? It helps me write more and better...

Pre-fic Comments:

Remember, folks, you have to write the boring filler bits and the set up bits to get to the really, really cool bits.

And if anyone is still in search of a good game, having passed over Painkiller as too sadistic, I recommend 'Enclave'. Way cool.

Translations are in braces.

The dead Brit imprisoned in the bookcage had a sudden burst of strength, kicking the mesh covered door open. The door, as it travelled through it's arc of movement, rebounded off a certain curvaceous computer teacher. Miss Calendar fell to the ground, knocked unconscious.

"JENNY!," Giles yelled.

Buffy leapt forwards, kicking the dead Phillip hard in the chest. She staggered for a moment, eyes flashing golden, then her body reverted to that of the six armed, snake-tailed Marilith. Her shirt burst under the extra four arms and chest enhancement.

"BUFF!," Xander yelled. Horns, wings, and tail flashed on him for a second as well as his control lapsed for a moment. For some reason, the danger of the situation combined with her new appearance made him really, really horny.

The corpse stopped moving as Buffy held his upper torso immobile with her six arms and hands.

"What now?," Buffy asked. "I'm getting, like, this super weird buzz off him. And Giles? We are so going to talk about finding a shirt that works."

"Ahhh, continue to hold him while I... find some very strong smelling salts," Giles said firmly. "Yes. Uh, I believe that I should have something in my office. Yes."

"Don't you mean chains for freakazoid there?," Cordelia demanded.

"Giles, I'll help Miss Calendar," Willow soothed Giles. "You find something to make sure that we aren't attacked by any more dead Englishman tonight."

"That means no games of chess with us, G-man," Xander grinned, on a slight... adrenaline high.

Giles gave Xander a look while he went into his office. He emerged with a large first aid container, which he handed to Willow, two pairs of manacles, and a length of linen. He went to attach them to Phillip, doing his best not to stare at Buffy's chest, when the corpse dissolved into a puddle of slime.

Everyone stood amazed. Well, except for Buffy, who grabbed the length of linen from Giles before it could fall in the slime. She then wrapped it around her upper torso, scowling.

"Now, there's something you don't see every day," Willow commented.

"When I graduate, you are all /so/ paying for my therapy," Cordelia decided out loud.

"Where's Ethan?," Xander asked. "Jeez, dead men dissolve, I take my eyes off him, and you suddenly think he turned into jelly too."

"Hang on," Buffy said, muscles tensed. "Something is still here."

"What?," Giles asked, looking around.

Buffy sinuously swept over between the puddle and the bookcage, middle left hand grabbing at something in midair. A figure made of darkness was held in the air, a cloud of smoke in stasis.

"I'm with the 'What the hell is that?' category," Xander said faintly.

Cordelia added a 'Hell yeah' that no one noticed.

"That... is Eyghon," Giles said, in a voice which said that he didn't really want to be speaking at all.

"Got a jamjar I can stick him in?," Buffy asked, always straightforward. "Or, you know, a big knife I can kill him with?"

"The only force that has been theorised capable of killing Eyghon is a... high... level... demon," Giles said slowly, a mental light coming on.

Xander immediately connected the dots. "Buff, eat it!"

The Slayer made a scooby snack of the Sleepwalker.

1001Keys maximised an SSH session he had been working on, eyes flicking through menus with deft skill.

"Sw33t... security cameras! Now, what is there to 5{How very nice.. security cameras! Now, what can I watch at a High School...}

He opened an X-Term window, making another connection to the remote machine.

"Locker rooms... 9i21zZ locker rooms... YEAH! J00 r0[{Locker rooms... girls' locker rooms... Very cool.}

1001Keys continued to flick through the menus of available cameras.

"Computer suite... Library... P455W02]Z! W00T!"

{Computer suite... Library... passwords! Yaaaay!}

The video of Harmony Kendall got closed faster than a copy of Playboy in front of a religious fanatic, as 1001Keys opened a file showing the last 24 hours of activity at the Sunnydale High School Library.

"3v17 1u2{Evil abounds in this den of sin... I must offer help to these heroes, and also offer assistance in their fight.}

Including the girl's locker room video, of course. For... archival purposes.

He then looked at his primary monitor. "Sw33t! Th47 r3d ]2490n finally d13d!"

{Ah. Good. That dratted wyrm finally died.}

1001Keys tapped out a message on the keyboard. 'l00t4g3 4h0/! V/I11 m337 Dralos Town Hall, k?'

{Take what is yours, and we shall meet again at the Dralos Town Hall, my friends.}

And the level fifty magician, as commanded by 1001Keys, took his share of the loot then went back to the nearest town in the world that never existed.

"Guys," Willow said, voice gaining strength, "what in... earth just happened? Giles, was that a possessing demon like Moloch and why didn't you tell us, and what if--"

Xander silenced her lips with a finger. "I'm sure that G-man is gonna tell us."

Giles looked around at the youths, who all still had a look of faith. He didn't want to lose their faith in him, so he began to explain. "Well, when I was growing up, I wanted to be either a greengrocer, or a fighter pilot..."

"Uh, what does that have to do with evil possessing demons?," Xander asked.

"If you wait, you'll find out," Giles said in a sharp voice.

Joyce got up as someone knocked on the door. Buffy had just gotten back, about half an hour before dusk. She had asked her how her computer class had gone, and Buffy had been really reticent... she was taking an interest, her baby was supposed to bond with her!

She opened the door. "Angel! How nice to see you."

"Hi," Angel said nervously. "Is Buffy here? I kinda have to talk to her."

"Sure," Joyce said. She pointed at the wooden cross nailed to the outside of the door frame. "Angel, touch that for a moment?"

"Why?," Angel asked cautiously. "You haven't gone Mormon on me, have you, Mrs Summers?"

Joyce smiled. "Humour a mother? I promised someone that I'd ask people to touch it before I let them in, and it didn't seem like a problem."

Angel sighed inwardly. He could see that Joyce was going to be polite, but firm. He pressed a finger to the crucifix, ignoring the burningly painful pain as a tendril of smoke rose from where the unholy flesh met the holy icon.

"Angel... why can't you touch it?," Joyce asked faintly.

She hadn't believed in God, per se, since she was a little girl. But why would a cross burn Angel? He had seemed like a nice man, if too old for Buffy.

"I'm a vampire," Angel said. He assumed that, if Joyce knew about asking people to touch a crucifix, she knew about vampires.

"Oh," Joyce said in that faint voice, right before dropping to the ground unconscious.

Post-fic Comments:

1001Keys's world isn't directly drawn from any particular source.