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...

Crossover: Megatokyo

AlbumThisWasWrittenTo: 'Risk', by Megadeth

Pre-fic Comments:

Words in 'leet are in braces after the paragraph.

Another clank rattled it's way up the basement stairs to the open doorway, and Largo's newly furry ears twitched. "KEYS!"

A golden blur announced Largo's dash down the stairs, as a gentle breeze ruffled the living room.

Allen Finch looked down at his arm nervously.

Very nervously.

For some reason, he'd woken up with fur and a couple extra feet height. He didn't dare skip work, however. Most bosses docked pay, Mayor Wilkens tended to do worse. If you didn't have a good reason.

"This is not good," the Mayor said, staring out the office window. He, too, had been turned into a leopard were. "Not good at all. Why, I don't think my preparations are any good at all, now. Have the police found anything, yet?"

Allen shook his head, feeling lightheaded. "Some, sir. With help from the hospital, they tracked it down to a water contaminant, which was introduced at the water treatment plant. The detective said that a hacker disabled the security system first, so we've got no video footage of the perpetrator. They're dusting the area for fingerprints as we speak, but personally I don't feel they'll find anything."

"This really isn't on," the Mayor said, hands joined behind his back. Allen scratched his head nervously, then stopped as his claws came out by accident and pricked his scalp. "I've always been one to fulfil campaign promises, you know that, and now this comes up. I'm sure that the sunlight-challenged parts of my constituency will want to have words with me, now."

"They haven't been infected as well?," Finch asked.

"They're dead," the Mayor said jovially. "Dead people tend to not get sick."

"Uh, our next door neighbour put something in the water supply, I think," Buffy explained to her mother. "We got him, we just have to question him now."

"Oh," Joyce said weakly. While she was accepting of Buffy's new change of species, she was finding it a bit harder to behave as nothing had happened to herself. "Does Giles have a cure for this?"

"Welllll," Buffy drew out. "Cordelia hasn't asked for one, so it can't be all bad."

"I'm afraid there isn't one, to the best of my knowledge," Giles said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them. "This variant of... lycanthropy, for lack of a better term, is completely new and with no precendent in any form. We really know nothing at this stage about it."

"Hey, isn't that Michael?," Buffy asked, pointing at Joyce's unconscious assistant.

"Yes, yes he is," Joyce said, blinking. "What on earth is that smell, by the way?"

"Turpentine," Giles said, gesturing at the open tin with his glasses. "If it's any consolation, you'll heal extremely fast by human standards, now."

O'Neil looked up from where he was yanking at the chains restraining him -- the change was new to him, and he was weak from it still. He couldn't reach the knots in the chains from his position. A man vaguely resembling himself, but with a cheetah-ish cast to his features was approaching.

"V/> Who dost thou be-est?

A grin grew on the man's face. It appeared disturbing with the distinctly carnivorous dental set. "14290."

I am Largo, friend and protector of all those 'leet.

O'Neil grinned as well as Largo set to unknotting the chains. "Nice upgr4de."

"Very," Largo nodded, starting on O'Neil's ankle-chains. "But the people upstairs are ticked."

1001Keys grimaced. "I helped everyone in town. They can kiss my ass."

Largo nodded. "Yes... but what of the 3v1l?"

1001Keys appeared thoughtful at this, as Largo started on the last chain. "All the 3v1l I've seen is nonhuman, and those who are not human cannot 941 this l3v3lling."

3v1l evil, 941 gain, l3v3ling levelling

"Sw33t!," Largo grinned as 1001Keys started up the stairs. "With a capital 3!"

Willow staggered briefly as a form of fatigue hit her. She'd done an all nighter, finding that information leading to their discovery of 1001Keys, and that combined with her deprivation in other ways...

"Willow? Baby, are you alright?," Sheila asked, worried.

"I-I'm fine," Willow said, a faint tinge of pink colouring her starkly white cheeks.

The touch of red set off alarm bells in Xander's mind. "Willow, have you been feeding?"

"W-who me?," Willow laughed. "I'm fine, really."

Xander's wings settled on his back and he strode over to the short redhead. He drew a claw along his arm, and a brilliant strip of red liquid bloomed along the cut. "Drink. Now."

"But," Willow began.

"You need it," Xander said. "And even if you don't care about your wellbeing, I do."

Willow attempted to protest as Xander forced his bleeding arm against her lips, but a very weak vampire with a mild case of bloodlust finds it hard to resist someone shoving fresh blood in their face, no matter their morals.

"What's going on?," Cordelia demanded.

"She's trying to ignore this," Xander said, sighing as Willow started to actively drink from his veins. "Willow's acting like all this never happened. I wish it hadn't, too. But we can't deal like that, the world is how it is and not how we want it."

"Will you be okay?," Piro asked, from where he was lurking behind the Rosenberg parents.

"A meal, some sleep, I'll be right as rain," Xander joked. "I'm like the energizer bunny."

He felt lightheaded, so he pulled Willow away from his arm. "That's enough."

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay," Xander shrugged. "You needed that. I'll be fine."

"But I shouldn't like it," Willow began to sob. "It, it, it shouldn't taste so..."

Sheila brought Willow into a hug as the girl began to cry. Xander looked at the two helplessly.

"I'll help Willow," Sheila said. "You go talk to that crazy man. Shoo."

Post-fic Comments:

Addressed some issues in this.

I got another piece of paper yesterday, from the Army. Just a letter to let me know that they got my application okay, and they're processing my initial medical and security clearances. The weird part of it is that the envelope didn't have the Coat of Arms on it -- the letter did, but not the envelope.