"Oh my God," Willow gasped, backing slowly away. "Oh my God. Buffy."

Her friend was staring at her with amber eyes, the bones of her forehead bulging forward. She bared her teeth nastily from between bloodied lips.

"Ghost," she scoffed. "Worthless. Dead things, nothing tasty, no good for a bite."

Willow reached a hand behind her and attempted to grab Xander's wrist. When that didn't work, she gestured frantically for him to back up, taking slow steps away from the vampire in front of her. Buffy climbed slowly to her feet, her hands flashing suddenly to her temples as though she were dizzy. Shaking her head hard, her vampire bumpies fell away as she emitted a pained moan. Willow watched her friend's face reappeared, filled with confusion, but she wasn't one to waste an opportunity.

"Run!" she whispered. "Now!"

Turning on her heel, she flew as fast as she could across the block towards Revello Drive. Darting between two houses, she looked back over her shoulder to find Xander on her heels, and an enraged Buffy close behind. Just as she closed the gap between them, Xander slung his gun around, firing at the ground behind him as he ran.

"Xander don't hurt her!" Willow screamed, never breaking stride. "That's our friend in there!"

"Big noise scare monster remember?" he shouted.

Sure enough, the barrage of bullets had put a few yards between them and their pursuer. It was a small safety net, but it allowed them to make the rest of the block and get to what Willow hoped would be the safety of Buffy's house. Xander leapt up the porch steps ahead of her and ripped the door open, darting inside just in time for Willow to realize that Buffy would certainly have an invitation to her own home. Whipping around she grabbed at the door, just in time to slam it in Buffy's face. Only her hands went right through.

"Xander!" she yelled frantically, "Shut the…"

WHAM!

The sound exploded in her ears, and she could practically feel the house's foundation shudder under her feet. Buffy lay piled in a heap outside the door, thrown back from the impact her body had made with the mystical barrier. Shaking her head comically, like a dog might, she leapt up and began to attack the threshold, smashing her shoulder against the invisible force field in an attempt to access the house.

"Oh thank God," Willow breathed.

"What's going on?" Xander asked in her ear, standing close behind her shoulder. "Why can't she get in?"

"I don't know," Willow murmured, watching with tilted head as Buffy snarled and raged, clawing at the barrier. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes. What had she done? Buffy had wanted to be a princess for the night, and Willow had convinced her to be this. The thing she was so afraid of really being. Willow backed slowly away from the open door, a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Oh good you guys are all right. It's total chaos out there."

Spinning around, Willow looked across the hallway into the kitchen, where Angel had come in through the back. Xander had jumped at the sound of his voice, bringing his gun up to his shoulder and taking careful aim.

"Xander it's ok. He's a friend."

Angel gave her a confused look. "Willow what's going on? Where's…"

Angel froze. The look on his face could've killed Willow. If she weren't already dead. Or… a ghost. Or…Whatever! He stared at the doorway in horror, his eyes stuck on the sight of vampire Buffy throwing herself into the wall that blocked the threshold.

"No," he whispered. "Buffy no." Whipping around, he made a grab for Willow's shoulders like he meant to shake her, but didn't seem to notice when his arms swung right through her. "Who did this?" he snarled, almost managing to look more frightening in his human face than Buffy did in her demon one. "Who turned her?"

"No one!" Willow yelped, backing away from him.

"The hell you say!" Angel barked. "Look at her!" Turning back to Buffy, who had slowed her attack on the door and was watching Angel with dark curiosity, his voice trembled. "Look at her. When… how…?"

"Angel listen to me!" Willow commanded in her strongest voice, which didn't sound nearly strong enough. "No one turned her! It's a spell! Magic!"

Angel looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Look at me," she said, thrusting her arm into his chest. He took a hasty step back, horrified at the sight of her hand disappearing into his body. "I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween," she explained. "Look at Xander." Angel eyed the boy, who was still watching the door, weapon half raised. "Gun looks pretty real huh? He was dressed as a soldier. And all those little midget monsters running around?" From the look on his face, he was finally getting it. "Can you guess what Buffy dressed up as?"

"A vampire," he deadpanned. Turning back to the door, he watched as Buffy cocked her head at him, a growl rumbling from her chest as she squinted at him in confusion. She had stopped trying to get inside entirely now, and only stood, watching them from the other side of the threshold.

"It all happened at once," Willow explained as Angel took a few slow, calculated steps closer to the door. "All of us. We all turned at the same time. It went black, like passing out, and then when I woke up, I was a real ghost."

Angel stepped towards the door as he listened, hunching a little as he tried to look Buffy in the eye. She bared her teeth at him, grumbling low in her chest. Angel's eyebrows lifted, and he looked quickly back and forth between her and Willow.

"I can hear her heartbeat!" he said incredulously.

"What?" Willow gasped. "You can?"

"Yeah?" he replied, still looking at Buffy closely. "The only way I know to become a true vampire is to be sired," he said, "To be fed another vampire's blood. If a spell did this, maybe it didn't do the full job." Angel strained forward, now only inches away from Buffy.

"Why can't she get inside?" Xander asked, finally speaking up again.

Angel stood from his stooped position, stepping away from the door a bit. "I'm not sure," he responded. "This obviously isn't your typical case of vampirism is it? Technically the house belongs to her mom, so if the magic reads Buffy as even a little vampire, she won't be able to get in."

Suddenly, the girl in question let out a whimper, dropping to her knees on the porch. Her forearms were wrapped tightly around her head as she shook it violently back and forth, sobbing all the while. She crouched there, looking crumpled and battered as the three inside the house crowded forward in the hallway, looking at their friend with varying degrees of concern. When she finally looked back at them, it was her normal, human face she showed them.

"Angel?" she quavered. tearily "Angel?"

"Oh my God," he whispered. "She still has her soul!"

"What?" Willow exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

"The spell must not work completely," Angel intoned, stepping forward. Passing through the barrier, he knelt and grabbed Buffy's upper arms, pulling her limp body to its feet. She seemed drained, leaning slumped in his grasp, allowing him to hold her up. Her eyes were glassy and confused, but they were still Buffy's. "There's a demon in there, that's for sure," he told Xander and Willow through the doorway as he stared Buffy in the eye. Leaning in, he took a deep sniff at her neck. "But her soul is in there too. She's fighting, to hold on to herself, for control."

"So what happens now?" Willow asked, edging slowly outside now that Angel had Buffy well in hand.

"How should I know?" he snapped, guiding Buffy over to the edge of the porch and propping her against the railing. "But she can't stay like this. No telling whether or not this magic could take root and really destroy her." Noticing the dismayed look on Willow's face, he quickly changed tack. "And you guys can't stay like that either. You're not cut out for haunting, and last I knew, the draft wasn't quite so…" he looked at Xander with a quirked mouth, unsure of how to even finish his sentence.

A sudden shriek sounded in the night, a small child in a princess costume sprinting across Buffy's front lawn as fast as her small legs could carry her. There didn't appear to be anything chasing her through the dark, but that situation abruptly changed. Buffy let out a nasty snarl, her demon flashing down over her face as she lurched from Angel's arms. Taking the steps in one flying leap, she landed neatly in the grass, rolling forward to her feet and giving chase.

"Buffy," Willow screamed. "No!"