Buffy's eyes shot open. She was in the parlor of the dollhouse thing; just like Anya said. She shook Dawn's shoulder until she opened her eyes. "Buffy, did we make it?" Dawn said as she sat up. Anya and Xander were starting to stir.

"Oh look, hell doesn't just have apartments, but houses. And not just houses, but big, creepy houses that have parlors." Xander said.

"Don't be stupid. All the demons and Gods get the nice Hell houses, mortals just get eternal torment." Anya said standing up.

Dawn walked toward the torch on the wall. The flame is even real, how cool."

"Why couldn't Hell get electricity?" Xander asked eyeing the torches. "No, everything has to be dark and gloomy. This Shadow Guy better not try to make me eat bugs. I'm tired of all that crap."

Buffy stood up and stretched. "Alright, let's get this over with. Show yourself. What do you want?"

A voice came out of the darkest corner of the room. A voice so beautiful that it was both terrifying and dreamlike. "I'm glad you all finally decided to wake up. I hope your stay is…" The being behind the voice stepped into the light and everyone gasped. "Enjoyable."

The Shadow Man was about six feet tall, with white-blonde hair that looked like fresh snow, and eyes ­ those eyes ­ were unbelievably blue. Impossibly blue. He looked to be in his early twenties. He wore black pants that seemed to cling to his lean, but well muscled figure. He had on a black T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. A smirk teased the side of his mouth. He was gorgeous, more gorgeous than Spike or Angel ever were.

Anya was the first person to speak. "Hey! It's you! You tricked me! Why did you have to trick all of us through me? That's not fair. Hey, what happened to your tattoo?"

The boy's smirk grew wider. "I didn't trick you; I just used you to my advantage. Don't worry, I didn't lie to you, if one of you reaches the finish line to this game you can all go. And the tattoo comes and goes when I want it to. I thought it had a nice effect."

Buffy spoke up next. "You kept the Shadow Man piece out of the box because you knew Anya would figure it out and we wouldn't play."

"I knew you'd be the smart one." His eyes flashed. "But really, the game will start in a few minutes. Relax while you can, or just give up now and save yourselves some trouble. It isn't easy facing your own nightmares."

"And what makes you so sure we want to play by your rules, Jacko? Why do you think we will cooperate?" Xander asked.

"Oh you will cooperate. You haven't the choice. And by the way, you can call me Julian."

"Julian? Why Julian?" Dawn asked.

"Why not?" Julian replied.

Anya spoke up. "It is a play on words, I told you Shadow Men like riddles, jokes, games, and all that stuff. Old names for the Shadow Men are the Aljunnu and Djinn. He's just making it sound more modern."

Julian winked at her. "Maybe. Or maybe I just like the name, and felt that today I wanted to be called Julian. Better than Joan, don't you think?"

The last line had been directed at Buffy. "How did you know about that, that was before you were brought here." Buffy asked. When Willow did a spell that ended up giving them all amnesia, Buffy named herself Joan..

Julian smiled and crossed his arms in front of his chest smuggly. "That would be telling."

Buffy shrugged in annoyance. "Well, Julian. Just what terms are we playing on here? I want to get this over with, and if we don't start rolling soon ­ well, let's just say I'm itching for a good slay."

Julian laughed. "Go on, threaten me some more. In fact, try to take me. Your power may be great in your world, but here you yield to mine. Welcome to my world."

"I yield to no one." Buffy said.

He snapped his fingers and Buffy was the only one left in the room. Julian leaned against the wall. "Now, you wanted to know the terms?"

"What did you do with my friends and my sister?" Buffy demanded.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't do anything ­ yet. You will be the key player in this game. You find your friends, make it through the game. Find the passage to the turret on the third story, and walk out."

"That's all. We can just walk out? What about that thing where you told Anya any of us could win and then all of us could go free?"

"Oh, that. That wasn't exactly what I meant. You see, when I said any of you could win, I meant any one of you that I picked to be the key player could win. And since it is all about you, you have to find them and take them with you. Oh and there's a time limit."

"A time limit?" Buffy was getting annoyed with all the new rules. "What do you mean this is all about me?" Buffy asked.

"Don't you know?" Julian said smugly. "You have until sunrise to get to the turret of the house. If you don't, you and your friends are trapped here." Julian smirked and walked closer to her. He stopped inches away from her face. He reached a hand out towards her face, not actually touching her. "Or, you can give up now, and I let your friends go."

Buffy slapped his hand away and took a swing at him. Julian grabbed her hand to stop the blow, and with it he flung her across the room. Buffy hit the wall hard. "That was very stupid. You can't take me. Sunrise is at 5:57 tomorrow morning. Don't waste time." Julian was gone.

"This is just great, a big spooky house, a creepy but very hot bad guy who can block all my Slayer moves, and a time limit. Why is it always about the Slayer anyway? This is worse than what the Watcher's Council makes me go through."

Buffy walked over to the window and pulled the drapes back. There was a frigid landscape covered in swirling winds and snow, everything was dark and dreary and covered in ice. "Well, I'm defiantly not in Kansas. Guess this rules out escape by Giles with a chainsaw. I hate weird nightmare houses." Buffy dropped the drapes back over the window. "And I thought Spike was bad and moody. Apparently Shadow Men are testy people ­ uh, demons, really hot demons."

Buffy glanced at her reflection in the full length mirror on the wall. Her blonde hair was tied back into a pony tail. Her soft, white turtle neck sweater looked awkward in the light the torches threw off of her. She had worn it because she thought it would be cold with the ice and shadows, but it was actually pretty warm. Her black leather pants on the other hand looked rightfully exotic in the parlor. Combined with her stylish black boots and you had the image of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy walked out into the hallway. In both directions, the hall seemed to be endless. "Ok, so this may take a while. Maybe I shouldn't have pissed that Julian guy off."