Buffy and the others stood behind the yellow police tape staring at the smashed remains of the black BMW. They were just hauling it upright and onto a tow truck. The front was dented downward. That must be where the demon had hit it. The top of the car was almost completely flat. Buffy glanced at Angel. He looked back at her and nodded his head to the right, away from everyone else. Buffy followed him over to the other side of the street, away from Connor, Faith, Willow, and Shy.
"Do you think that….." Angel started at the same time Buffy said, "I have a feeling…."
"You first." Angel said. "You're the boss."
"I have a feeling that magick isn't going to help us here."
"I was just going to ask you that."
"Isn't it funny how our minds think so alike?" Buffy looked over at Shy. "This thing, if it really was created for him, wouldn't it be impervious to magick? He's got some serious mojo working for him if he can create the Slayer line by accident."
"How are we going to stop this thing?"
"I don't know. You saw what happened to me. I threw everything I have at it and the thing didn't even budge. Even the Beast budged."
"What's going on?" Faith asked, walking over with Connor and Willow. Shy was still standing by the police tape. "What're we talking about?"
"How this situation is looking to be on the wrong side of hopeful street." Buffy said, glancing at the wreckage. "How are we going to find this thing?"
"The old fashioned way." Faith said. She looked at Connor. "Get to sniffin', boy wonder."
"There's no scent." Connor said.
"He's right. We can't track this thing with no scent." Angel said.
"How is there no scent?" Willoe asked. "Everything has a smell."
"Not this thing." Connor argued. "If there was, do you think I'd still be standing here?" Willow shrugged.
"Well, I'll say one thing, standing around here isn't doing us any good." Buffy said.
"Maybe we should head back to the hotel and try to locate this demon through the news reports." Faith said. "This thing isn't going to just stop with destroying cars."
"Faith, take Willow, Shy, and Connor back to the hotel and do that. Angel and I'll stay out here and try to locate this demon."
"How? You can't smell it, remember?"
"We have our ways." Angel said, handing Faith the keys to the car.
"Fine." Faith turned. "Yo, Shy-guy! Let's roll."
"Where?" Shy asked, coming over to them.
"Back to the hotel. We're gonna track the demon from there."
"What about…."
"They have their own ways out here. Come on." Faith pulled Shy towards the car.
"I should be with them. I can track this thing better than they can."
"No, you can't. Come on." Willow said.
"Later." Connor said, following Faith reluctantly.
"All, right." Buffy said, turning to Angel after they were gone. "Let's go beat up some snitches."
"What is 'their way'?" Shy asked, pacing back and forth. "I don't see why I couldn't go with them. They're just wasting their time. They'll never find it."
"Calm down, Shy." Dawn said.
"Yeah. Those two pull this sort of stuff all the time. The Slayer knows what she's doin', so let her do her job." Spike said, leaning back on the settee and stretching out like a cat.
"I don't care if she thinks she knows what she's doing." Shy said. "I should be out there with them."
"If I were you, I'd lay back and let Mr. and Mrs. Incredible take care of your problem."
"See, someone else's seen it." Xander mumbled.
"You don't understand." Shy said. "They're not strong enough."
"And you are?" Connor asked.
"What?"
"If this thing was meant to kill you, wouldn't that make it stronger than you?"
"He's right." Faith said. "How could you kill it?"
"I don't want to kill it." Shy said.
"Why? If the bugger's out to kill you then…. Oh." Spike said.
"What?" Faith asked.
"I see. You buggers think you're so smart." Shy smiled at Spike. "Well, let's have then. Show em your true face."
"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked.
"There is no fail safe demon. He IS the demon." They all looked at Shy, whose eyes began to glow and his skin began to change. There was a ripping sound and at the same moment, they all realized that his clothes were ripping apart as he grew in size. "See, that's why he was so hard up to go with Buffy and Angel. He wanted to kill them and then we were next."
"But this always works." Shy growled. "Let them come home and find their friends strewn across the lobby just before they meet their end."
"But Lorne, you read him!" Dawn said, grabbing a battleaxe from behind the counter.
"I did?" Lorne asked. They glanced at Lorne to see that he was changing too.
"Shape-shifter!" Spike said, grabbing Dawn and pulling her away.
"Time to die kiddies." The shape-shifter said.
"You know," They all looked up to see Buffy standing in the doorway. "You shape-shifters really piss me off."
"And I can't stand liars either." Angel said from the doorway opposite Buffy.
The fully demon Shy threw itself at Buffy and the shape-shifter reverted back to its nasty, slimy self and threw itself at Angel. Angel batted it down, leaving it for Faith and Spike. "Don't kill it yet." He ordered.
"Why not?" Faith asked, knocking the thing on the head with the edge of her sword.
"It may have done something to Lorne." With that, Angel threw himself at Shy's back.
The demon stumbled forward slightly as Angel hit the floor. His shoulder hurt like hell, but he'd live…. So to speak. Buffy grabbed her brass knuckles and slipped them on. "Those will not stop me." Shy growled.
"Yeah, but they'll hurt like hell." She punched the demon across the face and he moved to the side. "And that's always fun." She punched him a few more times before he grabbed her wrist and hauled her up.
"The end is here Slayer."
"Not yet it isn't."
Shy tossed her over his shoulder and she went flying across the counter. Spike helped her to her feet. "Need some help luv?"
"All I can get."
"Big of you to say so."
"I think so." Spike and Buffy threw themselves back over the counter and headed for Shy. They rammed into him and the demon sprawled on the floor.
"Strike!" Spike yelled. Buffy looked at him. "What?"
"Buffy!" Angel called from behind her. He was at the weapon's cabinet holding her scythe. "Catch."
Buffy caught the scythe out of the air and turned to Shy. "You end is here, Shy."
"Not this night, Slayer." And with that, Shy turned and ran out of the hotel.
Buff blinked as they stared in shock. "Uh…."
"What was that?" Spike asked, trying not to laugh.
Buffy and Angel ran out into the street, searching everywhere for Shy, but he was no where in sight. Gone. "He'll be back." Angel said. "They always come back."
"Yeah, but this guy…. Angel, he infiltrated our circle." Buffy said, her anger growing with every passing second. "And a shape-shifter? How did we not see that?"
"Buffy….."
"No! It's not ok. This is embarrassing. We look like fools! All of us." She started to storm back to the hotel. "And now he knows how gullible we are. Hey, next time, why don't we bring in one of our dead friends? Yeah, yeah. That'd make sense. Cordelia comes back from the dead to help us fight the good fight. Whoops, it's another shape-shifter that we didn't sense."
Angel grabbed Buffy's shoulders and stopped her. "Hey! What's the matter with you?"
"He was right there."
"Yeah, he duped us all."
"And we let it happen. Now he's out there, somewhere, probably watching us and waiting for the perfect time to strike, to….. to kill us all."
"We won't let him."
"Oh my God!"
"What?"
"The wards! What happened to the wards?"
"Someone must've brought them down while we weren't paying attention.
"That shape-shifter better have a lot to say or else we're…." Buffy stopped at the top of the stairs and stared at the mess. "What the….?"
"He, uh, he exploded." Xander said.
"I see that."
"We asked him where Lorne was and he said the Alliance of the Powers will come forth and we will all die horribly." Spike said. "Poncy bugger." He kicked what was left of the head lightly with the tow of his boot. "That's what they all say, but we're still standing."
"Most of us." Dawn said, glancing over at Connor who was getting up off the floor.
"What?" He asked. "I grabbed him and he went boom."
"Are you ok?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, mom. What about Shy?"
"Gone. But I have a feeling he'll be back."
"I wish we knew if Lorne was ok." Willow said.
"I do too." Buffy looked at the gooey mess and then out the door.
Angel walked out into the garden where Buffy was sitting and staring out at the street beyond. She had been beating herself up for two days over letting Shy and the Lorne-imposter into their home. "Hey."
Buffy looked over at him. "Hey."
"Having fun?"
"Nothing like watching the lights from passing cars go by."
Angel sat next to her and took her hand. "You know, it's not your fault, we all…."
"Believed both of them. I know. We've been over it. But I'm the Slayer. I should have known."
"How would you have known any more than me? Or Spike and Faith for that matter?"
"I don't know. I just feel…."
"What?"
"Like this is all my fault."
"How's that?"
"If I had just died the first time…. None of this would be happening."
"Don't talk like that."
"Why not? It's true. I'm the reason that the Powers are after us. I brought all of us together in one form or another. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be the bright, shiny, sparkling and good force of a target that we are. Now the Powers plan on raining down their best hell on us…. And we can't trust outsiders…. We're the only ones standing between good and evil."
"Just like we've always been…. Only, I guess, we didn't know it."
"And now we do."
"Which should make us try harder than ever. And we will. We'll get through this."
"And if we don't?"
"We will. We always do." Angel kissed the side of Buffy's head and stood up, heading back into the Hyperion.