Devil in Disguise

Buffy sat across from what would have to be the millionth guy she had dated this week. None of them had the potential of a real serious boyfriend. They all had their fair share of faults that, although, she could surely live with, would most likely interfere with her slaying. She sighed and sipped the double choc mocha as she listen to Brad (or was it Brett) babble on about how his last girlfriend left him for another girl. Buffy remembered Willow leaving Oz for Tara, which seemed wrong at the time and a bit insulting on Oz's behalf, but Tara was just right for Willow and everyone is happy. At least, she thinks Oz is happy...

"Hey, Bonnie, are you listening to me?" Brett (or Brad) interrupted her train of thought, "God, Bonnie, you seem totally wigged out. Maybe I should try one of those drinks, and then we would have more in common." We do have something in common, Buffy thought; we both can't remember each other's name. She had to get out of this disaster. She checked her mobile again, just in case the end of the world was coming and she'd have an excuse to leave early. "Um, are you waiting for a call or something?" Oh, he love's the sound of his voice, doesn't he? "No. Yes. I mean...my little sister is home alone and mom's out and I worry that she into something...bad." Or something bad is into her. "You know, maybe I just go call her. Excuse me." Yes, almost free.

She slid between the other coffee goers, the place just opened two weeks ago and it was a big hit. The coffee shop was called AHELL OV'A COFFEE; the owner was some unknown guy who set up his shop in an old hardware store. Xander said, and quote "It ain't Star Bucks, but it has better coffee!" There were already two coffee shops in Sunnydale, but this one put all the coffee shops to shame. It was the king of coffee shops. Buffy couldn't help joking to herself that maybe there was an evil force at work in this cool, new, hip hang out place. Because how could one place sell great tasting coffee of all flavors (and tea for all the Giles's out there) keep it clean, with happy, smiling staff 24/7 in a flashy environment. It wasn't natural. But just then Buffy's "spider sense" kicked in and she felt something behind her. She braced herself and spun around to face the evil thing... and slammed right into one of the waitresses. Coffee went everywhere.

Buffy didn't know what was worse: The hot drinks soaking through her clothes to her skin, or the fact that the whole world froze just to stare at her. Years of slaying never prepared her for this. By the time she had regained knowledge of where she was the waitress had pulled her into the back room, apologizing for the whole incident. Buffy accepted the towel and started to dab off the brown liquid. "I am really sorry, I just didn't see you." Was she about to cry? "Oh, god, he's gonna kill me!" The poor waitress kept looking towards a door as if some big monster was going to appear and eat her. "Look," Buffy stopped her, "It was all my fault, I should have been more careful, I wasn't paying attention." Then she thought, "This is great!" The waitress raised an eyebrow. "No," Buffy said, "you have just saved me from the worse date in my life, now I have an excuse to leave!" Oh, this was perfect. The waitress still looked lost. "Excuse me, but mark me if I'm wrong, I did just spill used coffee on you, right?" Buffy just laughed. "Yes, but now I can leave and hopefully never see him again. You have no idea how terrible this date has been. Ever had any of those?" The waitress just shook her head. That's when Buffy notice that her hair. Very long and very red. Not like Willow's red but like Ginger Spice red, minus the fluoro. "Lucky you, never having a really terrible, no good, very bad date. I seem to attract them" The red haired waitress took one look at the door and bit her lip, "Actually," she said, turning back to Buffy, "I've never been on a date." Buffy look at her strangely.

This girl was pretty, no, beautiful. With that awesome red hair and bright sea blue eyes. She had to be at least Buffy's age, maybe a bit older. It seemed a bit odd that she had never had something that resembled a date. Oh, well. There's probably a reason. "I'm Buffy," Holding out her hand.

The waitress looked at it uneasily, "Gretchen." She finally said as she shock the slayer's hand. Buffy's spider sense pricked up again.

Then the door that Gretchen seemed so afraid of opened and the most gorgeous man that Buffy had ever seen walked in.

He was tall, with slightly tanned skin, dark green eyes, dark brown, almost black hair and the most beautiful face to ever grace the earth. He put Angel to shame; he really looked like an angel but his eyes sparked anger as he looked from Buffy to Gretchen back to Buffy. His voice was deadly soft. "Who are you?" He noticed Buffy's coffee soaked tee, "What happened to you?"

"I'm Buffy, we had a little accident I..."But she didn't get to finished. He had turned his attention to Gretchen. "You did this?' Pointing to Buffy. Gretchen's mouth opened but nothing came out. "Well, I'm waiting..." His voice was still calm; he was kind of talking to her as if she were a disobedient child.

"It wasn't her fault," Buffy cut in, "I wasn't watching were I was going. She's been helping me clean up. I'll pay for the broken cups if you want?"

The man just looked at her, as if trying to read her mind. He looked back at Gretchen, who hung her head as soon as their eyes met. He sighed. "Come into my office, I have a shirt you can have, Gretchen will tell your friend what has happened." And with that he walked back into the room he came out of. "How'd he know about my date?" Buffy whispered to herself. She turned to say thanks to Gretchen, but she was gone.

His office was not big, but not small either. There were no windows but he had lots of lamps to compensate, but they were all off. The only light came from the laptop he had on his desk. He closed the door as soon as she had walked in. Was he hiding behind the door waiting for her? Suddenly she felt a bit wary of the whole situation. The lights unexpectedly came on in a blinding flash, Buffy jumped. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." He said as he walked towards his desk. "I hate working on the computer with the lights on. Hurts my eyes. Please," indicating to one of the two chairs in front of the desk "take a seat, I'll just find the shirt." He proceeded towards a cupboard to the right of his desk, opened it and started to rummage through it. Buffy sat.

"I'm Damian, by the way. Sorry about out there. Just had a fight with my father, didn't mean to bring it out on you...and Gretch." He closed the cupboard and ran his fingers through his hair. If he had been Giles he would be cleaning his glasses right about now. "You know, it's probably in the storage room?" Buffy guessed he was talking to himself rather to her. "Wait here." And he walked out before Buffy could say don't bother.

She entertained herself by looking around his office. He had tons of artifacts on the walls that Giles would love, all of them weapons except one strange instrument that Buffy couldn't identify. She was betting it wasn't a weapon. His desk was antique, so was the cupboard. He had a huge vase, big enough for a small child to get in; it was full of bamboo slivers, very artistic. Behind her was a filing cabinet. It leaned against the left wall. On the right, next to the door was a big wooden chair, it had small metal spikes on the seat, armrests and back. He had very strange tastes. That chair was the worst. Buffy got up to examine it. She had seen one before, in the museum. If she was not mistaken, this was a torturing device, a "Nagging Chair," husbands would sit their nagging wives in it till they were quiet. Buffy shuddered. "Creepy." She looked closer; there was something on the spikes. "Is that blood?" She touched one of the spikes, "Ouch!" She held up her bleeding finger. "Strange, it's still sharp." The door opened and Damian re-appeared.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Damian said as he handed Buffy the shirt. Buffy held up her finger to show him, "sorry, too late." Damian sighed. God, Buffy thought, He is so gorgeous when he sighs. He walked over to his desk, pulled a band-aid from a drawer and handed it to her. "Do you always touch everything?" He asked her as he sat behind his desk. "You should see a doctor in the morning 'cos that thing ain't exactly clean."

She started to babble; "Were'd you get it? How old is it? Why do you have one? I mean, honestly, coffee shop owners do not keep a torturing device in their office." Buffy looked at Damian hopefully trying to understand him, but his face was unreadable, beautiful but unreadable.

He leaned forward, "Brought it. It's about a hundred years old. It was in the house, but my mother hated it, and I like to collect those kinds of things"

Buffy stared at him.

"The chair." He said pointing towards it.

"Oh, the chair. You like to collect things of torture? We'll I've heard of worse." Buffy looked at the shirt that he had given her. I was a black Tee with the AHELL OV'A COFFEE logo on the front it in flaming letters, same as the logo on the sign and coffee mugs. "Uh, thanks...Where can I change?"

He had let her change in his office, he said he would be back to drive her home. About twenty minutes later she was sitting in his expensive black sports car driving towards her place, he liked black apparently. A song was playing on the radio, some song she had never heard of, in a different language she couldn't identified, by some unknown singer. She fidgeted with her band-aid wondering how a small coffee business owner could afford this car. She has never heard of the place before it had opened in her home town and as far as she was concerned, if he could afford this car, he would have to own Star Buck's. "Who's the singer?" Buffy had to ask. The women singing had the most amazing voice. "My sister, she likes to make CDs for me." Wow, Buffy thought, she's good. "Cool, um… what language is it?"

"Hebrew," was all he said.

"You understand Hebrew?"

Damian nodded, "It's um…my first language." It was the first sign of nervousness. "My English isn't always that good, especially if I'm angry." Oh, English is his second language. He didn't look Arab. "Are you Jewish?" She had to ask. Willow would be interested, besides the fact she was Wiccan. Damian laughed; it was a good laugh, his voice rubbed against her skin like silk, or velvet. She couldn't tell. "No," he said, "far from it." Buffy wanted to know what he meant but her house came into view.

"This is it" Buffy said, pointing to her house. Damian parked in the drive way. "Nice place."

"Yeah, I live here with my mom and sister."

They sat in silence. This is strange, Buffy thought, I sense that this guy is not all that he seems, yet I can't help feeling a little attracted to him. Come on Buffy, do something before you loose another great catch. "Do you wanna come inside?"

Dawn was watching some old movie in the lounge when Buffy and Damian walked in. You couldn't see Dawn from where she was laying, the back of the couch blocking her from view, but a hand shot up in a wave. "Hi, Buff. How was the date?"

"Kinda ditched him."

Dawn sat up, "why'd ya...hellllow!"

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Dawn this is Damian, Damian my sister, Dawn. Do you want a drink?"

Damian shook his head. Dawn jumped in "I'll have a soda."

Buffy and Dawn glared at each other. "You know," Damian interrupted, "a soda sounds good."

Damian sat down with Dawn as Buffy headed towards the kitchen. "Whatcha watching?" He asked her.

"The Omen, Hey, you two have the same name, does that mean you're the devil?" Dawn laughed. Buffy, in the kitchen, grabbed three sodas from the fridge and returned to the lounge, hopefully in time to save her future boyfriend from her evil little sister. Here's your soda." Handing one to Damian. "Here'' shoving the other into Dawn's hands.

Damian took a sip, "actually I was named after this movie," he took another sip, "but different spelling. Dad said that D-A-M-I-E-N was a bit gay (his words not mine) so it's spelt with an A instead. My brother was named Jason after the Halloween movies."

The rest of the night went well. They watched the complete set of The Omen. Joyce came home around midnight and announced that it was time for Dawn to say goodnight. Buffy had never loved her mother so much till than. The best part of all is when after Damian said that it was late and should leave the Summers' for the night. Joyce took Buffy aside saying, "Oh, he's a doll. Where did you find this one?" Buffy smiled, "He's the owner of that new coffee shop. Oh, it was love at first sight. I never expected him to actually come in." Joyce stroked her daughter's hair, "Let's hope this one works out...without any surprises." The two walked up the stairs to their rooms. "Don't jinx it mom."

Buffy went to the coffee shop everyday for a week, but saw no sign of Damian. Or Gretchen for that matter. "Maybe he's avoiding me?'' She sulked to her best friend, Willow, over a coffee; this place had become her haunting ground. "It's been a week and no sign of him. Maybe I was too strong on him or something and frightened him away?'' Willow set down her text book, saying, "If he stayed at your place till nearly 3am, I doubt that he was scared. Have you asked another employee here if they know how to get in touch with him? Or for you to leave him a message at least. He might be just busy? Go ask!" And with that Willow shoved Buffy off her chair. During midday the place was only scattered with Uni students, Buffy felt odd being the only non-student here. "Excuse me," she asked a waiter with GREG - MANAGER on his badge. "I was wondering if Damian was in." Greg looked her up and down. "Why?"

"I need to speak with him; I'm a friend of his."

Although Greg was really rude, Buffy was able to learn that Damian was at his new place, moving in and it was on the outskirts of Sunnydale and would not be in for at least a month. But the information that they had received helped Willow and Buffy find the place. The plan was for Buffy to ring the doorbell and ask Damian out for lunch. Easy as it seemed, the whole drive there was un-nerving for her.

Willow waited in the car. Damian's place was huge; actually it was a fricking mansion. It was three storeys high with huge double wooden front doors. Buffy looked back at Will who gave her two thumbs up. Buffy took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell. The bell chimed rang through the house, than silence. She was about to ring again when she heard the faint sound of feet running. It grew louder and louder and then 'BANG' the doors shook. "Owww" moaned the person on the other side. Buffy looked worryingly at Willow who came to her. "Ah, are you ok?" Buffy asked through the doors. The doors opened in reply and there stood... "Gretchen?" Buffy was surprised. "You live with Damian?" It seemed odd since last time they met Gretchen gave of the feeling that she was terrified of him. "Yes, in a way" She replied, rubbing her nose. "You want him?"

"Yes!" Buffy nearly yelled. Gretchen gave her a funny look. "Than I'll go get him for you," She replied giving Buffy a sarcastic smile. Strange, Buffy thought, her moods are sure weird. Before she seemed like a goodie goodie, now she seems to have a small attitude problem.

She led the two girls into the foyer. Everything was big. Big doors to the left lead into a large lounge room. Ahead was a hall and next to it was an indoor fountain/pond. To the right was the master stair case. The place had a Victoriana feel to it. But it had a strange smell, almost like a tint of blood. "Wait here, please" Gretchen disappeared upstairs.

Buffy and Willow looked around in wonder, "maybe he was born rich," suggested Willow as she walked towards the pond. But Buffy's attention was on a display piece that was against the left hand wall, just as you walk in. It was a huge plank of wood with chains for what looks like it was for your arms. On the wall next to it, was a strange looking whip with nine tails, complete with small jagged metal pieces imbedded in its tips. Both looked as if the were covered in blood. "Buffy, come look at these fish, their big" cried Willow. Buffy took one more look at the rack and walked towards her friend to look at the fish. "They look like..."

"Piranhas" Damian said for the top of the stair case. "I wouldn't get that close if I were you...or is it too late?" He smiled at Buffy. Buffy felt red.

Damian invited them to sit in the lounge room; it was filled with big comfy chairs. The wall that you saw as you walked in was filled with shelving covered with ancient figures and books except in the middle where there was a fire place. To the right, through even bigger doors, was a dinning room with a table big enough for a small army. The table and its chairs were antique and at the head of the table were two elaborate chairs that resembled small thrones. To the left of the lounge room was a wall to wall, ceiling to floor window with heavy, dark maroon curtains. The only thing modern in this room was the big, wide screen TV. Buffy notice that the room (and his office at AHELL OV'A COFFEE) didn't have any family photos.

Buffy sat in one of the antique lounges. "Oh, this is Willow, my friend. I hope you don't mine us coming here. Some guy named Greg said you were here." Damian was straightening the curtains and he didn't turn to face them as he spoke "Oh did he now?" His voice had that same softness as the night she first met him. Was he mad that they came, or that Greg told them practically where he was, or both.

"I don't remember this place being here?" Willow jumped in "Did you build it? It looks too old? How much would this place cost ya?" Damian turned around and straightens his black shirt, did he always wear black?

"I had it moved here brick by brick from France and had it built to the exact replica. I don't remember the price." He sat on the arm of Buffy's chair. He took her hand in his, "I'm so glad to see you again." Buffy felt her face burn up. He stared at her with those beautiful green eyes and Buffy felt that she could offer him her soul on a silver platter if he asked. Did the snake look at Eve the same way when he offered her the apple? "Do you two want a tour, sadly, the back yard is a bit of a disaster, but take my word when I say that I have a forest that covers the whole of the property. And the kitchen isn't that great either."

Damian said that the place was not fully finished, it was a bit dull. He quickly showed them the kitchen, or half of the kitchen. It suited the rest of the house in being big. But it had everything a normal kitchen would have: Fridge, counters, microwave, sink (what? No dishwasher?) and a largish table in the middle with three stools. But no oven or stove. Damian pointed out that most of the main cooking was done in the room behind. There were three doors in the kitchen. One to the dinning room, one to the hall (adjacent to the dinning room door) and the one to the bigger kitchen, Damian didn't take them in there, but lead them through to the hall and turned right. "To the left is the servant's room, I think it would be polite that we do not go into their private domains. There is also the door to the backyard" And with that he lead them up the stairs.

Upstairs was just a hall with many double doors. The first three doors were spare rooms, Damian didn't seem too certain about it but said nothing, he continued to point at the doors and announce what they were. The next door was his own; across it was his father's. Next to his own was his office than another spare, a library, entrance to the attic and another spare. Next to his father's were his office, Damian's sister, Satine's room, a spare, and Damian's brother, Jason's. The attic, according to Damian was just dark and messy and he didn't want to intrude on his family to show them their rooms, and he said that most of the spare rooms were empty. Buffy wondered what he meant by "most." But Damian did show them his room, and Buffy wanted it. His room was bigger than her own, Dawn's and her mom's put together plus more. In the middle of the left hand wall was a king-size four poster bed complete with drapes, next to that was an En Suit with elegant bath with lion head feet, a big shower all in black and white marble with gold trimmings. A big window that covered most of the wall adjacent the bedroom entrance. To the right was another fireplace in the middle of the wall. A walk-in wardrobe to the left and more artifacts on the wall to the left. Still no photos.

"Most of the rooms are set out the same except for a few personal changes. So if you seen one bedroom you've practically seen them all."

His office was definitely a feature. The antique desk was the first thing you see. It was really big, Buffy and Willow could either lie side by side or head to foot and there still would be enough room. Smaller windows lined the wall behind the desk with one curtain that slid across to cover them all. A couple of antique style filing cabinets lined the left hand wall. Bigger than usual double doors were to the right (Damian didn't show them in there). Behind the door was another big vase filled with bamboo slivers and the "Nag Chair" that was in his other office was on the wall next to the door. The spare spaces on the walls were covered with ancient weapons and strange objects.

"So, you like my place? Any questions?" Damian asked at the end of the tour. Buffy wanted to ask about the rack in the foyer, but didn't want to seem rude. She also wanted to know about the lack of photos, or the evidence of his family. But it also seemed rude; maybe the photos were still in storage. They did just move in. And as for his family...

"Hello? Damian, you didn't tell me we had guest. Who are these delightful young women?'' An oldish woman descended down the stars like she floated. She wasn't very pretty like some older women get, she was fairly plain and she dressed like an English school teacher. She reminded Buffy of the evil step mom in the Disney Cinderella movie. Graceful, but deadly. Like a snake. She came down and glided towards then, put her arm around Damian's and patted his hand. "Well, my boy, are you not going to introduce us," She smiled sweetly at Willow and her. Maybe Buffy had misjudged her, she seemed nice. But then she added between her teeth, "or shall I have your father give you another lesson in manners?" Buffy couldn't believe it, did she threaten him? And in front of them!

"Mother, this is Buffy and her friend Willow. Ladies, this is my mother, Annette" Damian's voice went soft again. He probably didn't want them to see his family, and with a mother like that who would blame him? What was the rest of the family like?

"You know, maybe we should go," Buffy said, "It is getting late."

But Annette would not hear of it, "Oh, why don't you two stay for dinner, we would be most happy if you would. Won't we Damian?"

Damian, throughout her invitation was shaking his head mouthing "save yourselves." Annette dug her nails into Damian's hand. "Love you to stay" He said between his teeth. This was going to be an interesting dinner.

Willow was able to get out of the invitation, stating that she had made arrangements with Tara; so Buffy said she would stay. Besides she wanted to meet the rest of the family. Damian must be terrified of his father; Buffy wondered what kind of man he was like. Damian said that his father was retired, but didn't say from what. Damian and Buffy sat at the dinning table waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. He sat at the head of the table on the right hand chair, she sat to his right. Was the other head chair for his father? Annette came in with a man a little younger than Damian, but looked almost identical, except for the long braid down his spine. He was introduced by Annette as Jason. This was Damian's brother. He was also nice and funny. He sat next to his mother who was sitting across from Buffy. Damian apologized under his breath to her. Buffy smiled at him. The next to come down was a beautiful girl. She also looked like her two brothers, with dark brown hair and splendid green eyes. But there was something different about her. From her slender frame, long hair down to her waist to her porcelain doll face, she glowed. Buffy swore she wasn't wearing any make-up. She was dressed elegantly in a dress made of some flowing material, complete with matching gloves that reached above her elbows. She was Satine, the singer. And like Damian, she spoke softly, but not out of anger, her voice was also like velvet rubbing along you skin. Buffy notice that the offspring's of this family were beautiful. Even the two boys were pretty rather than handsome. But they still looked masculine. They also looked nothing like their estrange mother. Satine sat next to Buffy, but did put a little distance between them which seemed odd to Buffy, but she said nothing.

Buffy, Damian, Jason and Satine talked among each other, while Annette stared at Buffy as if she were an interesting insect. Then the father appeared. Buffy didn't hear him come. He was nothing at all what she expected, he wasn't even scary looking. He was oldish, but had aged well; with a head full of silvery grey hair, his face was that of a 35 year old, hardly wrinkled. He was a lot like his children. He was distinguished, and handsome. Buffy could see that all his kids looked like him. He looked lovable, like a father figure. He kind of reminded Buffy of Giles, only less British. He smiled at her and held out his hand, "You must be the Buffy that won my son's heart, just call me...Louis." Buffy looked at Damian, won Damian's heart, did he really like her in that way. Could this be the right man? Louis hands were covered with scars, but when Buffy shook his hand, they there were soft to the touch.

Dinner went well; Louis asked her many questions about her family, friends, goals, her future and why she left school? He listened to every word she said and stuck up for her reason for leaving, saying it was the right thing to do, to look after your family. "I'll expect nothing more from my children. The best thing that can ever happen to you is to be blessed with a great family!" Damian could not be scared of this guy. Maybe there was another father hidden somewhere, this one only came out if there were guests. But Louis did have a fault (beside his wife who's eye's were glued on Buffy) He seemed to favour Damian and Satine (Who never removed her gloves throughout dinner). Jason was a wall flower throughout the whole evening. She felt sorry for him. But what could she do?

Damian drove Buffy home that night. Besides his mother, the night was rather pleasant. They made arrangements to meet again the next day at 4 o'clock and said their goodbyes. Buffy glowed as she told her mother about her night. Even as she lay in her bed, she could not wait till the morning when she would see Damian again. She even dreamed about him.

"You would love his place, Giles, right up your ally!" Buffy and Willow were filling in the watcher about Damian and his place. "There were all these cool artifacts and the house was this old Victorian style mansion that's originally from France." Willow seemed more excited than Buffy was.

"Really?" Giles replied while shifting through the catalogue of his next shipment. "What kind of artifacts are we talking about?"

"Weapons, mostly," Buffy said, "but there were a few 'disturbing' things his walls could do without and what I think was a rack in his foyer complete with a bloody nine tail whip... he said he like to collect those kind of things."

"Cat o'nine tails" Giles turned around. Buffy gave him a blank look. "The whip you described was a cat o'nine tails, or a cat whip. It would have little pieces of metal at the ends of each tail?'' Buffy nodded. "It's an old torturing device; the jagged pieces would dig into the skin and rip out pieces of the flesh as you were flogged. Very painful I would presume." Giles looked at the two girls as they stared at him disgusted. "Well, I suppose he should have at least one problem with him.'' Sighed Buffy, '' he likes things of pain."

Buffy looked across the training room at her mock vampire dummy and aimed her stake. She missed again. Giles had suggested that Buffy train for a while since she had been putting it off for a month, or several. She always thought that she was beyond her training since she had been a slayer for over six years, but today proved her whole theory wrong. "Maybe I have to be out there, where the vamps are real and not looking like a stuffed potato sack," she sigh to Xander. "Hey, I worked hard at him. It took me a whole twenty minutes to make him." Xander said with a mouthful of Twinkies. "I thought you hated those things after that mummy incident in high school?" Buffy asked as she walked over to the "vamp" and pick up the stake behind it. Xander shrugged "eh!"

"How are things in here?" Giles walked into the room.

"Oh, peachy (!)" Buffy said sarcastically. "I suck!"

Giles just gave her his I-told-you look, "Well, keep trying. Your not dead yet, so you must be doing something right." The door bell chimed, "Excuse me, customers await."

"Well, I've died twice already!" Buffy yelled at him through a closing door. "Ah! Forget this, I wanna play with this!" Buffy picked up a bow and arrow that Giles had somehow got. Her fingers had been twitching to have a go at it for some time. "It's like the old fashioned way of a crossbow; you get to feel the arrow. It's a connection between a hunter, or slayer, with her weapon."

"You know Buff," Xander swallowed, "You really scare me sometimes."

Buffy aimed the arrow at the dummy and pulled back on the string just as the door opened, Buffy turned the arrow towards the door, thinking of scaring Giles, but it wasn't Giles. It was Damian.

Damian raised his hands to his head. "Don't shot!" he said, "Please." Buffy let the bow and arrow fall to her side. "What are you doing here?'' Than she shook her head, "I mean, hi! Um...is something wrong, I thought we were going to met at 4pm, right?" Damian was looking around the training room with awe. "Yep, that's right," he answered as he looked more closely at the "vamp". "You know this is a pretty strange set up you have going here. I mean, I never thought that a magic shop would have a... whatever you call this room." He turned to look at Buffy. "Training an army...or just yourself?"

Buffy flushed, "no, just started off as a storage room and...What ya mean strange for a magic shop? You coffee shop had torturing devices in your office. This is no different."

Buffy stopped herself; she was getting upset because her training was really bad. No need to bring it out on him. "Sorry...so couldn't wait till four, huh?"

Damian raised an eyebrow, "I can wait, and I waited till four and an hour after, so I gave up. Remember you mentioning something about a magic shop and since this place is the only one in town..." He let the sentence run off for the answer was obvious. But Buffy didn't remember telling him about The Magic Box. How was it that he knew things that she was sure she never mentioned. Oh, well. Maybe he's physic. "Ohmigod! I totally forgot the time. I was..." She didn't know what to tell him. But Damian didn't seem to really care; he just looked at Xander and asked, "Who are you?"

"Alexander Harris, but everyone just calls me Xander."

"Damian."

"Does Damian have a last name?"

He didn't look too happy about Xander's question, and that's when Buffy realized that she didn't even know his last name. Damian seemed to think about it for a while and finally said, "Black, Damian L. Black"

"Nice," Xander said, "What's the L stand for?" But Damian just smiled, "That's for you to figure out. If you get it right, I'll give you $100, Okay?"

"Deal," Damian and Xander shock on it. "Come on Buffy, I made reservations!"

Dinner was wonderful and Buffy was glad that Damian was a bit rich, because she couldn't even afford the salad. "Come on, truthfully. Where'd you get all your money?" Buffy leaned in closer to him. "Is it drugs? You rob a bank?" Damian laughed. "No. If you really must know, my dad use to be a lawyer and he owned a few law firms. I took over and here I am." Buffy stared dumbfounded at him. "Your a lawyer?" She almost didn't get it out. He just nodded. "Your father was a lawyer?" He nodded again. "You own a few law firms?" He smiled and nodded. "Than why open a coffee shop? Aren't you busy?" Damian shook his head, "We have people working for us so really there is nothing to do. I got bored and opened a coffee shop on the side. My father suggested it...to keep my mind busy." Buffy couldn't believe it, she was dating a lawyer, a normal, non-evil (in a way) lawyer. And to top it all off he was nice and still a decent guy. She had hit jackpot.

The night wore on as Buffy and Damian continued talking over dessert. Every now and again Damian's mobile would ring. He, of cause, ignored it saying that it was only his father and that Buffy was more important. After dessert and Damian had paid the bill, he said that he would walk her home. "What about your car?" Asked Buffy. "It will be fine." He assured her.

They took the long way home through the park. It was a clear night and the stars sparkled like tiny sequins. The moon was big and round. To Buffy, the night was perfect. All I need now, she thought, is a vampire attack. She wondered what Damian would do is a vamp came up and attacked. She mentally prayed that nothing would ruin this night for her. "What are you thinking?" Damian asked her. Buffy smiled, "that this is the best night that I have had in a long time." He smiled, "good, at least it's not indigestion." They both laughed. The sound of Damian's mobile made them stop. "Maybe it's important." Buffy suggested. Damian excused himself and walked a few feet away speaking rapidly in Hebrew. Buffy went to sit on the swings and slowly pushed herself with her toe. She was deep in thought when she heard a scream. She stood on the swing to try to see over the trees. The scream was fairly close, maybe on the other side of the park.

When Damian came back, he said that something's happened at home, and that he had to go. "You don't mind?" he said. It took Buffy a while to realized what he was saying. It was ok for her, Damian can go home and she can investigate the screams. They said their goodbyes. Damian promised to call, but didn't say when. As soon as he was out of sight, Buffy ran to the sound. Up in the sky she saw black figures circling around something on the ground like vultures. Every now and again, one would dive to the ground, trying to grasp whatever they were chasing. When she got closer Buffy realized that they were black hooded creature riding huge blacked winged horses. What ever they wanted was on the ground in a heap. It was covered in blood and rags. It took a while for Buffy to realized that it was human, a female human. She grabbed a big stick from the bushes and rushed to the girl's aid. When the creatures dived she swatted at them. The girl wasn't moving; Buffy feared that she may be dead. The creatures stayed out of her way, but still tried to get to the girl. Buffy managed to knock one off it horse and it fell to the ground with a thud. But before Buffy could get to it, it disappeared in a wisp of smoke. The others above her came closer, but not close enough to be hit. "Give up the girl, human, and we will not harm ye." Their voice was raspy; Buffy could not see their faces. They reminded her of the ring wraiths in the Lord of the Rings movies. "Yeah, right. Like hell I will." The girl moaned beside her. "Ye will pay for this with yer blood" and with that they vanished. Buffy span around, just in case it was a trap. When she felt that they were gone she knelt by the girl and checked her pulse. It was strong. From what she could tell, the girl was small, her height maybe. And she was blonde. She was coated in blood and wounds and welts. The rags she wore just covered the necessary parts. Buffy rolled her over and gasped. It couldn't be. "Darla...?"

Buffy ended up carrying Darla to The Magic Box; she must have passed out due to blood loss. When she entered everyone stared at her dumbfounded. Giles came to his senses and cleared the table for Buffy to place Darla on. "Oh, my?" Was all he said. Willow looked ill. "Isn't she um…"

"Dead" Xander finished her off. Buffy explained about the creatures, describing them to Giles. Tara got some towels for the training room and placed one behind Darla's head and began to dab at the wounds. Spike stood a fair distance away. His face unreadable, his eyes fixed on Darla as if she were a dangerous animal. "It's sound like they were Guardians of Hell, Hell's Guards." Giles told Buffy. "But how did she get here? She has a pulse, which makes her alive, right?" Buffy was getting a headache. Life as a slayer was getting complicated. "She's waking up." Tara interrupted her thoughts. Darla shot up and backed away nearly falling off the table, but Willow and Tara grabbed her in time. Their fast movements to catch her seemed to scare her and she tried to pull away from they're grasps. Buffy grabbed her arms and pulled Darla towards her. "Stop it!" she yelled at Darla, but she continued to struggle. Buffy slapped her hard across her face (She always wanted to that). Darla turned to look at Buffy, her eyes held pain and fear. She tried to focus as she looked around at everyone in the magic shop. She stared a bit at Tara, as if she was trying to recognize her. She turned back to Buffy. Her voice was hoarse like she hadn't drunk for a week, "Help me, please!" she cried, "I don't want to go back to him!" Buffy turned to Giles. "Whose he?" Giles asked her calmly. Darla started to speak, but her attention turned towards the door. Her eyes were wide with fear. Buffy turned towards the door also, to see what could scare one of Europe's most monstrous killers. But instead of seeing a monster worth being scared of, she saw Damian. Buffy turned back to Darla who was shaking her head and crying. Damian's voice floated through the store, calm, cool, and deadly; "Give her back to me now, Buffy!" the look on his face was evil, plain evil. "Who…what are you?" Buffy asked, Darla hugged her arm like a scared child. Damian gave an evil smile. "All those 'slayer senses' and you couldn't see a demon right under your cute nose?"

"What are you!" she screamed at him, fear engulfing her. Now that he has mention it, she could sense a demon, but it was different, stronger.

"Why, Buffy. I'm the Devil."

To be continued…