Legal disclaimer: I don't own this stuff, Joss does, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, I just used the characters, no rights, 'cept for the ones I make up, so sue me. Or don't, rather.

This takes place somewhere in Season Six.

"Essence of Qua'lath'la demon… powdered unicorn horn… poison from a Rehkar's fang, and a good ol' jolt of… what was the frequency again?" Warren asked.

"22.371 megahertz, for a sustained period of… ten seconds." Jonathan said, reading his computer screen intently. Using their technological know-how in tandem with what they were learning of mysticism could be dangerous if done wrong.

Warren tuned the generator to the exact frequency, set a stopwatch for ten seconds, and turned it on. When the process was complete, the mixture had somehow reached a temperature of one-thirty-five Celsius. He used the tongs to put it into the fridge to cool. In 36 hours, when he drank the elixir… Buffy would get what was coming to her…

Warren was deep in thought when his cousin came into the room. Dave was letting the trio stay at his apartment after the basement had self-destructed. He was the same age as Warren, and also a computer nerd, but didn't have an interest in the occult. Warren had invited him to join the trio, but he'd refused, politely, on the grounds that he had more important shit to do than try to take over Sunnydale. Like pass Trig. It was of no consequence. Warren was thinking in bigger terms than Sunnydale. He wanted the world. Someday. He would settle for Sunnydale now. But Buffy was in his way, and she needed to be dealt with.

Dave walked into the living room to see Warren and Andrew hunched over some sort of apparatus. He could only guess as to what it was. Actually, he didn't want to. He knew that Warren, Jonathan, and… that… other one… he could never remember the short, blond, whiny kid's name… were into the occult, and were generally a menace to Sunnydale at large, but he figured, as long as they help with the rent and utilities, who gives?

"Don't burn the place down while I'm gone, a'right?" he said, walking out the door. Advanced programming waits for no man.

…

Dave didn't get home until late that night. He hated getting back late. While he was fairly well-built, and was confident he could handle himself in a one-on-one fight with a mugger… there were worse things in this town than muggers that came out after dark.

He breathed a little easier when he crossed the threshold of his apartment. He came in, and could see that Warren was passed out on the couch. Jonathan and the whiny kid were probably in their room. He went to the fridge to grab the shake he had made earlier that day. Unfortunately, the fridge light was out, and what he downed in one, large, thirsty gulp was not a shake.

"Uaaallahch!" he gagged and started into a coughing fit. Hearing the commotion, Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew all rushed into the kitchen area. One of them flicked a light-switch, and illuminated a gagging, coughing, Dave, now writhing on the floor from the pain welling in his stomach. All of their eyes widened when they saw the bottle the formula had been lying on the floor near him; empty.

"Oh my god!" Jonathan said, "What do we do?"

"Call and ambulance!" Andrew yelled.

"No!" Warren yelled back at him, "They wouldn't know what to do, and do you really think that we would come out of this scott-clean? We gotta go." He looked down at his cousin, who was still convulsing on the linoleum, looked back at Andrew and Jonathan, and said, very calmly, "Get everything you can, we're leaving."

They were just about to obey when suddenly, Dave stopped convulsing. But more than that, he stopped everything. Even breathing, it seemed. He was as stiff as a board. They continued to stare at him for a moment longer when Warren barked, "Get moving!", and they practically wet themselves as they rushed back to their room and gathered their equipment and clothing.

Now alone in the kitchen, Warren looked down at what used to be his cousin, and kneeled next to him, examining him closely. He reached towards his neck, and felt for a pulse. Nothing……. nothing…… beat……. Warren jumped in shock, and put his finger back on his cousin's neck. Yes… the beats were a few seconds apart, but they were there, for sure. He wasn't imagining them.

He stood up quickly when he heard the other two coming back.

"Alright, let's go." He said, without any indication of what he had just found out. He figured the poison was just taking a bit longer to kill Dave than expected. The three exited the house, and got into their van, making their way across town to a hotel.