Anya dived to the right while Buffy shoved Xander to the left. She landed on top of him and their hips collided: lips met lips, noses smushed, and foreheads clopped together hard. Anya was on the other side of a pile of rubble, no where to be seen. Buffy was about to get up to check on her when Xander grabbed her arms and kissed her. Buffy pulled away, "Xander! What the hell are you doing?"

But Xander didn't answer, he kissed her again and rolled over on top of her. For some reason, Buffy couldn't force herself to shove him off. What the hell was he doing? What the hell was she doing; she was giving in to the kiss? She felt her fingers brushing through his hair - his hair which was suddenly longer than usual and silky and soft. Buffy's eyes flew open. Julian had tricked her again.

Buffy slung him off of her, and wiped her mouth disgusted. She gave in. She thought he was Xander and kissed him. She had wanted to kiss Xander.

No. Buffy knew that it wasn't Xander. She wanted to kiss Julian. She sensed a wrongness about Xander since he helped her out of that dark room. She sensed it but dismissed it as Xander because Xander was human, he had a soul. Julian was not, and therefore couldn't have soul... Could he? Vengeance demons had souls.

Julian laughed. It was sinister, but incredably sexy. "I told you I would have you."

"Yeah, but you had to trick me to gain access, where is the fairness in that?"

Julian traced a figure in the air which looked kind of like an angler vase on it's side. "Perthro. The rune of gamesmanship. I don't cheat, but I don't play fairly. I play as fair as life plays fair. I may withhold some information and disguise myself to my advantage, but I would never cheat. In fact, I'll offer you a negotiation."

Buffy was furious at him, but she wanted a way to save Dawn. "What? Give you my heart and my friends can go? I don't think so. Where is Xander anyway?"

"Xander found the right stairway on the other end of the hall. He is currently waiting in the turret for your arrival. But no, I'm not asking for your heart right now. What I want is a kiss."

"A kiss? Didn't you already get one?"

"No, Xander got one. Imagine how he'll feel to know that he has felt such strong feelings for you since you first met and when you finally give him a moments time, it wasn't really him. He still has feelings for you that are not just for a good friend, you know."

"So what. Why do you want me to kiss you?"

"I want you to kiss me, knowing for sure it is me. I want you to feel passionate about it; mean it."

"And what would make me so passionate all of a sudden?" Buffy asked, getting bored.

"Kiss me, and Dawn is free."

"Ok, this is a little sick if you think about it. You want me to think of my sister while kissing you passionately."

Julian stared blankly. "That wasn't what I really meant, but in a sense yeah."

"And she wouldn't be able to come back after us?"

Julian was stunned. He half figured she'd change the subject. "No. Like I said earlier, she could not regain access."

Buffy walked up to Julian, put one hand on the back of Julian's neck and pulled his head towards hers. She kissed him.

Okay, so you know how in fantasy stories there are those kisses that are described as time stopping and amazing in every single way? This was one of those kisses.

Buffy could feel chills, sparks, and tingles. The room seemed to glow with a soft radiance and there was nothing else but herself and Julian in the room. At the moment, the reasons why she was there was a blank. There was so much emotion in that kiss, like something was found that has been missing for a very long time - something important. Love. That was what had been missing. It was new and exciting, but frightening and unknowing. All this Buffy felt come from this kiss. She also felt the fear of losing this love, of being rejected and even of losing. Losing. The game, she had to win the game.

Buffy broke the kiss. Julian's eyes revealed a heartbreaking amount of longing. Buffy guessed that being an all male race meant love was forbidden, or that "love thy fellow man" had a literal meaning in the Shadow World.

"Dawn's home?" Buffy asked; she was still shaking from that kiss.

"She's home, just like I said." Julian said, sounding his usual cocky self. Buffy guessed he was trying to cover up his weakness. Love is everyone's biggest weakness.

Dawn's safe; that is all that matters.