Buffy didn't go back to sleep that night, instead she stared at the shadow trying to catch what ever it was that was making it appear there. She didn't have any luck. When the sunlight began to pour through the window it faded out completely.

Buffy stumbled down the stairs to find Dawn at the computer. "What are you doing?" Buffy asked her. She sat down across the table from Dawn, and laid her head on the table. She hadn't gotten any sleep, and she was feeling it big time.

Anya opened the door to her apartment to find Buffy standing there. "What do you want?"

Buffy smiled, "Nice to see you too, Anya."

Anya rolled her eyes. "Come in, I guess. I was about to transport to Peru, but it can wait I suppose."

"You might want to not mention your vengeance work around me, Anya, it's kind of not a good thing to do."

Buffy walked into Anya's apartment and took a seat on the sofa.

Anya closed the door. "I know, you might have to kill me if I go too far, but don't worry. Nobody's been killed due to my work. I can't seem to get my mojo up and running like I used to."

Buffy smiled politely, "I'm sorry ­ I mean - that's good."

Anya looked stunned, "Well, gee. Thanks for your support. D'Hoffryn's all over my case these days…"

"Anya," Buffy began, "I know how vengeance is your thing and all, but I didn't come here to talk about your demon ways."

"Oh." Anya said taking a seat in a chair across from Buffy. "Why did you come to inconvenience me then?"

"Well, there was this shadowy thing in my room last night. Dawn thinks that, this is going to sound weird, but she thinks Shadow Men are trying to get me."

"You had a Shadow Man in your bedroom?"

"I ­ I don't know, there was a shadow…"

"That is not a good thing. Shadow Men are bound by the rune of restraint. They aren't supposed to be able to leave their world at all. Oh my God, this is a real crisis!"

"So Shadow Men are real." Buffy asked.

"Of course they're real. You live in Sunnydale for Pete's sake, and you are questioning this? They aren't always called 'Shadow Men' though. They are demons that live in the dimension of Niflheim. In Norse mythology, it is also known as one of the nine worlds. It is a Hell dimension covered in frigid ice and shadows. They found a bridge out once and because of their beauty, people mistook them as Dark Elves. After one of them surfaced in the Black Forest in Germany and became know as the Erkling, people began to panic as women and children vanished with out a trace. All kinds of stories were written about them. They were known as genies, boojums, incubi, hobgoblins, and even aliens. Shakespeare made a character named Puck based on the Shadow Men for 'A Mid Summer Night's Dream.' Odin, the high God of the Norse worlds left the dimension of Asgard to seek the help of powerful witches, and used runes, the magical alphabet used by the Shadow Men themselves, to lock them into their own world. If one of them was in your room last night, then someone has opened a portal into Niflheim. You can't protect yourself from them, they are immortal in the fact that they were not born into this world, but written, and therefore can not be killed."

Buffy's eyes were wide. "I don't know if there actually was a Shadow Man in my room, but seeing how these things seem to always happen to me, I'd say it was possible. How could someone open a portal like that?"

"There are ways to get in such as a Rune Wheel, or if you stumble upon a weak spot in the fabric between this dimension and theirs. But with those it is a one way entry, nothing can exit those except for the one who created and empowered the Rune Wheel, but it is unlikely they will come out ever agian. They would have to be a powerful Witch or Warlock to open a portal strong enough to allow a Shadow man to escape. Even Vengeance Demons are forbidden from opening a portal to Niflheim, those demons are that bad."

Buffy stared at Anya, who looked like she was going to panic. "Yikes. But who is powerful enough to… Do you think it got out when Glory used Dawn to break the barriers between all dimensions?"

Anya pondered it. "I doubt it. Dawn was The Key to open the barriers, but once the blood stopped flowing -- your blood locked them all back. The Key's energy only let all hell dimensions bleed into this one temporarily, anything let into ours was automatically sucked back into it's own dimension when you jumped through the energy barrier Dawn had created. Something else had to have let this Shadow Man free."

Buffy stiffened. "You don't think Willow could have done it... on accident or anything, do you?"

Anya shrugged. "Well, she did go all evil and tried to destroy the world. And remember when she tried to bring Oz back so she did that spell that caused you and Spike to be engaged, Xander to be attacked by all those demons, and Giles to be blind. I wouldn't put it past her, but the question is, why would they be after you and not Willow if she did it?"

Buffy stood up. "What if they are after Willow? I've got to call Giles."

Anya, twirling her shoulder length brown hair (she dyed it back), appeared to be calm again, but she still looked worried. "I'll teleport to Arashmahar. I'll ask around, maybe D'Hoffryn knows something. He is not going to be pleased. Shadow Men are bad news. They are like itty bitty Loki's that run amuck over everything, and sucking souls out of everything they find. They don't leave any fun for the rest of the demon population at all."

"All right." Buffy said. "Soul sucking?"