Giles was just filling up a nightcap to relax when the door of his apartment was opened so hard that it slammed against the wall. Xander and Willow barreled in with Xander quipping,

"Geez Giles. All kinds of creepies creepin' around Sunny D and you still don't lock up? Didn't your parents teach you any better?"

"What's wrong?" He said, noting their dirtied appearance, "Was it the Vampire?"

"Puh-lease. Be smarter Sherlock. It was something else."

"Well, what was it?"

"Demon," Willow cut in, her eyes starring at the floor, "Bad Demon. Big bad." Xander laid her gently down on the chair.

"Well you killed him I assume."

"No." She said, her eyes despondent, "He could nullify magic. Just swatted it away like...like it didn't exist."

"How?"

"I...I don't know. A gem of some kind, yellow. Looked like the ring Buffy sent off to Angel. Do you know of anything like that?"

"Thousands. I mean, there was a time in the middle ages where crafting mystical weapons was a fad. But...able to nullify magic? That kind of supernatural power is...well, unprecedented."

"Like a super super power?" -Xander.

Giles looked at him for a brief moment before returning to that which was important,
"The demon, what did he look like?"

"Like Clint Eastwood with bad skin...Huh, I guess like Clint Eastwood. Just red. He was a few spurs away from saying, 'Go ahead punk, make my day."

"Wrong movie." Willow said, "He wasn't a cowboy in that one."

"Well, way to just ruin my joke."

"We need to focus you two." Giles said, mildly scolding them, but in truth he was pleased to hear Willow share in on Xander's nonsense, "Willow you call Tara, get her and Dawn looking through what you have there. I'll go get the books, Xander, care to help?"

"No. But having the spine of a jelly fish I will. And for Buffy, we should really look into getting her a cell phone."

"Well, I sent her to the school, but she should be back by now. She must've decided to patrol. There's nothing much we can do."

"Well, we should warn her!"

"We'll only put her at a disadvantage if this thing does confront her. We won't be useful until we know more. Buffy can protect herself."

#######################################################################

######################################################################

Buffy's soft flesh scraped against the tombstone's granite surface, turning it red, from the force of the Demon's throw. She hit the ground hard and her spaghetti arms worked very slowly in picking herself up.

"What God did you kill?" The Demon asked, "If I wasn't well informed I would assume you weren't the slayer. What's wrong?"

Spike, not willing to wait through the taunting, ran towards the demon. He moved to swing a fist but his opponent caught his arm, twisted it behind his back, lifted him above his head and then tossed him away.

"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked, her shallow, heavy breaths catching the blood dripping down her face and spitting them out as she talked.

"I'm just the tool. The Deus ex machina, if you will. I'm setting things right."

"What's wrong?"

"You're not supposed to be alive."

Buffy felt a recognition in her heart that didn't allow her to argue; and she realized suddenly it was why she wasn't fighting back. She couldn't use her full strength against the will of the universe; a will that nagged at her, speaking soft whisperings of a death that should be hers. "Fine. Whatever. You want to kill me. Do it. What do I care? All my life it's been about protecting the world, doing what was right. Why should I stop now? KILL ME!"

The demon paused, caulking his head to give audience to an amusing thought, then said, "Meet me here tomorrow night, we'll do it then. Your life was an important one slayer. Find your heart so we can do this right."

Spike was about to lunge again. The Demon turned and held up a finger, "Vampire. I swear to God if you attack me again I will rip your head off." Then he waltzed, once more, out of our heroes' sight.