Author's Notes:

All hail the brilliant Joss Whedon who owns all this (except for K) because he is a genius. Let me know that my readers exist! Thanks, and enjoy!

The Spell

Buffy had everyone gathered in room 718 as they discussed their plans for what was going to happen the next day.

"We're not going to the third nest yet," Buffy said. "We need a day to recharge. I suggest we all get some rest, though. I'd just like to talk to Willow and K outside for a moment."

K looked up in shock. Why would Buffy want to talk to her? Is she going to send her away?

"But first Willow," Buffy said. "And K, I'll call you out later."

Though still in shock, K slowly nodded.

Buffy and Willow left the room to go into the hallway. Satsu, Kennedy and Spike had already gone into the room next door, and Xander and Dawn left to go to their room.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Angel asked, lightly putting his hand on K's shoulder.

K cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"Well… did you want to tell me anything?"

K shook her head.

"Really? Because you seemed a bit troubled by what happened today."

"Troubled? I-I don't know about troubled. You almost died for me. I guess I'm just… a bit shocked. Very grateful, but… why did you do it? If I died, it wouldn't have been as much of a loss than you dying."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you're a tougher fighter. You could probably kill more vampires than me. You're a vampire with a soul. There's only two of you. There's thousands of other slayers now. I'm not that important."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Angel said. "I didn't die. If you had gotten hit, you would have died for sure."

K nodded. "Yeah. I just don't know how I would live myself knowing someone died for me. So I guess I'm just horribly grateful you saved me and didn't die."

Angel pushed K's bangs out of her eyes. "You're welcome," he said softly.

K smiled up at him.

Meanwhile, outside the room, Buffy was talking to Willow about the research that she was doing.

"Willow," Buffy said seriously.

"Buffy, is there something wrong?" Willow asked. "Why aren't we fighting vamps tomorrow? No one seems too terribly broken."

"Before I tell you anything, Willow, I have to ask you something. You trust me, right?"

"What? Buffy, of course I trust you. How could you even question that? You're my best friend, Buffy, and-and I'll believe anything you have to say. What would make you think I wouldn't believe you?"

"Willow, I have reason to believe that you're under the influence of brainwashing. Mind control. And we can only win if you trust me completely right now."

"Brainwashing? Mind control?" Willow repeated in shock. "Buffy, what is this about?"

Buffy leaned closer to Willow and dropped her voice. "I believe that K is a demon. A brainwashing demon that can control anyone she touches."

"Are you sure, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"The only reason you're skeptical is because she's touched you before," Buffy explained. "Anyone she touches ends up really liking her, if not, loving her. I know it seems a bit crazy, but that's only because you're under her influence."

"But are you positive about this, Buffy?" Willow asked. "That K is a demon and she's controlling us?"

"Don't you believe me?"

Willow frowned. "Of course I do. I can fight this mind control. What do you want me to do Buffy?"

"Do you know any spells that we can do to reveal her true demon form?" Buffy asked. "If we can get her to show her true self, it will break her hold that she has on everyone."

"B-Buffy…" Willow said softly.

"What? You don't know a spell?"

"No, I know a spell. A strong spell. A spell that might be too strong."

"What do you mean too strong?"

"Buffy, if K isn't a demon, it could kill her. B-but you said she was, and I believe you. So it shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay," Buffy nodded. "That's why I gave everyone the day off tomorrow. So we can do the spell."

"Well, for the spell to work, we need to be close to the earth."

"We'll sneak into the basement of the hotel," Buffy said.

Willow nodded. "Oh! How are we going to get K to come down with us? I mean, she's all demon-y, right? Are we going to knock her out or something?"

"If necessary," Buffy said. "But if her disguise is a Slayer, then let's treat her like one. I've got an idea. Follow my lead."

Buffy opened the hotel room door and poked her head inside. She saw Angel and K. Angel had his hand on her shoulder. "K," Buffy called.

K jumped, pushed Angel's hand off of her and shook her head, making her hair messy. "Y-yes?"

Buffy looked at Angel, and then back to K. "Can Willow and I talk to you for a second?"

Angel sighed, and K went outside with Buffy.

"So there was one thing I completely forgot about," Buffy told her, her voice still extremely low. "Usually, when new Slayers go into training, we do a spell on them once they're done. Just to sort of make it official. It's just a spell to seal your Slayer powers, make it a tad bit stronger, and… well, it's sort of an initiation process we've started doing. I completely forgot that you didn't go to training at all, and just stayed with us, so we need to do this spell on you. Willow and I were discussing it just now, and we were trying to see if we could do it here, because we need it done as soon as possible."

K smiled. "Is that why these vamps are so tough for me? Because this spell wasn't done on me yet?"

Buffy and Willow looked at each other. "Um, yeah. That's why I gave everyone a day off for tomorrow. So we can do the spell."

"Well, why didn't you just say so in front of them? They were all rather confused about why we're not slaying tomorrow."

"Um, well," Buffy started, "I, uh…"

"The spell is typically done by two people," Willow quickly jumped in. "With a witch and another Slayer. We didn't want everyone to know about it. We don't want other people there when we do the spell."

K nodded. "Makes sense. All right, then. I'm going to head up to bed now. I'll see you two for the spell tomorrow! What time and where?"

"In the basement of the hotel," Buffy said.

"Around 9 o'clock," Willow said.

"And don't tell anyone we're doing it now," Buffy said. "This is usually a secret procedure. Even though we have other Slayers, everyone keeps it to themselves."

"Got it," K said, smiling. "Thanks, guys. I'll see you tomorrow!" She waved goodbye just before she went into the staircase and up to the next floor.

"I'm not sure about this, Buffy," Willow said uneasily. "I mean, she just seems like a sweet girl. I honestly don't think she's dangerous."

Buffy put her hand to Willow's arm. "Trust me, Willow."

The next morning, Willow and Buffy were up early and in the basement of the hotel, setting up the spell. Buffy was searching up the incantation in one of Willow's books, and Willow was pouring red sand in a circle on the ground.

"Morning!" came a cheerful voice from the staircase. "Ah! Is this all magic stuff?"

"Yes, K," Willow said, finishing off the red circle. "You'll be standing in this circle. And Buffy and I will be outside it, saying the incantation and transferring energy."

K nodded. "Well, I'm ready when you guys are. How long is this going to take?"

"Um, a while," Willow answered. "But don't worry about it too much."

"Okay!"

"B-but there is something you need to do for the spell to work," Willow said nervously.

"What's that?"

"W-well, for it to work, you need to be as close to the earth as possible. That's why we're in the basement. So we need less layers between you and the earth."

"D'you want me to dig a hole or something? In that red circle?"

"N-no, I actually need you to take off your clothes."

"Take off my—?"

"Well, just as much of it off as you feel comfortable with."

K became unusually quiet. "I-I understand... It's for the spell to work." She silently went into the center of the red circle and began to strip down until she was just in her underwear.

Buffy and Willow sat down next to the circle, facing each other.

"I'm going to ask you again, are you sure about this, Buffy?" Willow whispered to her.

Buffy didn't answer, but looked down at the spell book.

Willow began to recite the incantation, her voice too low and quiet to make out actual words, although they sounded like Latin. K simply listened and held her arms across herself, trying to ignore the cool air of the basement. Before long after Willow started, a dome appeared around her. She touched it. It felt like glass, even though it looked like pure energy.

Buffy was looking at her, practically unblinking, making K feel extremely uncomfortable. K smiled awkwardly at Buffy from the other side of the transparent wall.

K began to feel a slight tingle at the bottom of her feet. She couldn't think of what it was, but it was probably just an effect from the spell. But she should have felt energy going into her, but it almost felt like it was slowly going out. The tingle became stronger before it started to burn a little.

"Um, hey, Willow? Buffy?" K said, shifting around to keep her feet off the ground as soon as possible. "I know this is kinda silly, but… this kind of hurts. Is it supposed to?"

They didn't answer, so K decided to ignore the slight burning sensation at her feet.

She didn't know how long it had been, but the burning sensation began to grow, sucking more energy out of her. It had now gone up to her knees, and was going up her thighs. Her legs gave in, and she fell over in the circle. Now that her hands have touched the ground, too, they began to burn.

"Buffy? Willow?" she called through the transparent dome. "I'm not sure I want to do this anymore. Guys?"

Willow stopped and looked over at K, who was now panting and sweating.

"Is it done?" Buffy asked.

"Well, no," Willow said. "I just think we should stop. I mean, look at her."

"Buffy? Willow? It hurts!" K screamed through the dome.

The burning was now all over her body, and every bit of energy had gone. The cool, dank basement now felt like it was completely on fire, as if the walls were crashing all around her.

"We need to finish it," Buffy said. "Is there any way we can make the walls of the force field thicker? Block out the noise?"

Willow nodded. K's screams slowly faded, but she was still shouting from inside the dome. She was hitting the walls of the field with her hands, but no sound came out.

The air was growing thinner inside the dome. K was gasping for breath as her body continued to burn. She tried screaming louder, but Willow and Buffy couldn't hear her. She panted just a few more times before her eyes could no longer stay open. She gasped, and fell over, completely limp.

Buffy watched her as she fell, but Willow was too concentrated on the incantation to notice what happened.

Spike had just woken up. He hated being awake in the morning, but he got up anyway. The room was empty. "Bloody hell," he said, rubbing his eyes. He went into the bathroom and stepped into the shower, almost drowning himself in the hot water just because he hadn't felt it in so long. I don't know why Buffy gave us the day off, Spike thought, but I am so glad she did.

He thought of K, as he stood there completely still, the hot water pouring onto his chest and flowing down his front. He wanted to spend the day with her. They'd stay in the hotel until the sunset, of course, but then he wanted to show her a night that she wouldn't soon forget.

"In a field outside of town, we could always be alone," Spike began to sing. He didn't often sing in the shower, but he felt that this song was appropriate while thinking about K. The Hush Sound was her favorite band, after all. "Carry a blanket, maybe a basket, and that's it. Innocence was the key, I was locked up never free… until you turned me. Like vines, we intertwined. Hmm-mm…"

He missed K already. She had only kissed him once, and that was even before they confessed their love for each other. They never really acted like a couple. They never kissed, never held hands, never were in each other's arms. Did she really love him? Or did she still feel like a Buffy replacement?

I shouldn't have these doubts, Spike told himself. After tonight, it'll be obvious.

He stepped out and grabbed a towel, quickly drying himself before wrapping it around his waist. He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I smell good enough." He stepped out, and put some clothes on.

Room 717 was still empty, so Spike went into the room next door to try to find K.

He looked around. There was Angel, Kennedy, Dawn, Xander, and Satsu.

"Good morning, Spike!" Dawn said cheerily.

"Morning," Spike said, continuing to look around the room. "Where's everyone else?"

Angel and Kennedy looked at each other with worried expressions.

"What? What's going on?" Spike asked.

"Well, we were kind of hoping you would know," Kennedy said. "Since it's Willow, Buffy, and K who are missing. We haven't seen them since this morning, and none of them would talk to us."

"What?" Spike exclaimed. "K is alone with Buffy and Willow? What if Buffy convinces Willow to do some sort of dark magic thing on her?"

"Spike, I don't think—" Angel started, but he wasn't able to finish.

"You don't know, Buffy's been acting weird lately," Spike spat at Angel. "We've all noticed it! It's because she hates K, it's because she's sodding jealous!"

"No, it's not, Spike," Xander said. He looked nervously at Dawn, and then back to Spike. "I think you should know the truth."

"Th-the truth?" Spike stuttered, his voice much quieter now. "What truth?"

"Xander, you're wrong," Dawn said. "It's not true, she's not—"

"Dawn," Xander said, holding her hands, "I know what happened at the building yesterday. She touched you, and now you're—"

"No! Xander, no, it wasn't at the building when it started, it was the night before. We were talking and—"

"Does someone want to tell me what the bloody hell is going on?"

All eyes turned to Spike.

Xander cleared his throat and stood up. "K is a demon."

"What the fuck?" Spike shouted at him.

"I know it's hard to believe," Xander said. "That's because you're under her mind control powers. She touches you, and you like, if not love, her."

"You are completely off your bird! K is not a bleeding demon!"

"Oh, God," Angel said. He got up, went into Willow's bag, and pulled out her laptop.

"You only think so because you're under her control!" Xander shouted. "Tell me, when did you start liking her?"

Spike didn't answer. After she kissed me. "You're wrong," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "She can't… she's not…"

"She's not," Angel said, looking at the laptop. He turned it around for everyone to see. "This is the demon that Buffy thinks K is. I've come across these several times in my unlife, and I've used their powers before. And K is most definitely not this demon."

"What if you're just saying that because you're under her mind control?" Xander asked.

"Xander, I started liking her that night she first spent in our room. She didn't touch me that night. That's when I started liking her, after we talked. She's human."

"And I've touched these demons before," Angel said. "And the feeling they give off after is completely different from after I touched K."

"So… she's not a demon?" Xander asked.

"No, she's not," Spike said firmly.

"Buffy should have come to me when she started speculating this," Angel said to himself as he closed the laptop.

"I don't believe this," Spike shouted. "So, what? Are Buffy and Willow doing some magic to kill her right now? I've got to go save her!"

"Spike, wait," Angel said, holding him to make sure he didn't run off. "I know Buffy wouldn't just kill her like that."

"Then what?" Spike exclaimed.

"I think Willow would do a spell," Kennedy said.

"There's this one spell that's supposed to show any being's true form," Dawn explained. "But I doubt Willow agreed to do it without solid proof that K was a demon."

"Why? What does the spell do?" Spike asked frantically.

"It's really powerful. It could potentially kill her."

Spike's eyes widened, and he ran with incredible speed out of the hotel room. He stopped for a few seconds, and inhaled deeply. I can smell them, he thought. All three of them. Together. He followed the scent all the way down into the lobby of the hotel.

He swore under his breath. He couldn't go outside without burning into a crisp. He took another deep breath. Wait a minute, he thought. They didn't go outside.

Without any second thoughts, he ran down into the basement of the hotel. He could hear the rest of the group following him slowly from behind.

"Spike!" Buffy gasped when she saw him.

Willow stopped and turned around to see everyone coming down.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Spike screamed, his voice echoing off the walls of the basement.

"You have to stop!" "Willow, stop the spell!" "You're wrong!" All the voices screamed at once.

"Wh-what?" Willow stuttered.

"GET THIS DOME OFF OF HER," Spike screamed as he was pounding his fists into the force field. "DO IT NOW."

Willow stuttered for a second, but then spoke the Latin that made the dome around K disappear.

Spike completely destroyed the red circle as he fell to his knees and held a limp K in his arms.

He put his ear to her chest, feeling her sweat-glistened skin on his. He didn't hear anything. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. "She needs CPR," he said. He obviously couldn't do it because he was a vampire, he had no breath in his lungs. "Someone do it now!"

Everyone stood still for a second before Satsu ran up to them and knelt down. Spike would not leave K from his arms. Satsu tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and blew air into her mouth before pushing down on her chest several times. She repeated the action.

"Come on, K" Spike said, a few tears now rolling down his cheeks. "Come on, love. Come back to me. You can't leave me like this."

"Oh, God, Buffy," Willow whispered. "What have we done?"

She didn't answer.

Satsu pushed down on K's chest one more time before K finally started coughing.

"Oh, God," Spike said. "Oh my God."

K's eyes half opened. She had felt like she had just been pulled out of a fire, and then knocked out by an extremely heavy object. Her blurry vision had started to clear just a bit, and she saw a familiar figure standing over her.

"Spike…?" she said weakly. It came out a lot softer than she had anticipated.

"Shh…" Spike said, stroking her hair. "It's okay, love. I'm here."

"I…" she said before her eyes closed again and her head fell to the side.

Spike listened to her heart again, and he felt her stomach slowly going up and down in slow breaths. "She's out cold," Spike commented. He lifted her up and held her carefully. "I'd better get her into bed."

As Spike carried her up the stairs, Satsu, Kennedy, Dawn, and Xander followed.

Angel approached Buffy and Willow.

"She's not a demon," he told them. "You almost killed her."

Buffy didn't look him in the eye.

"I-I didn't know," Willow said, tears now forming in her eyes. "Buf-Buffy convinced me that K was a demon, and I thought I was under mind control, and I trusted Buffy, and—Oh, God, I almost killed an innocent little girl."

Angel put his hand on Willow's shoulder. "This isn't your fault." He averted his eyes. "This is yours, Buffy."

Buffy uncomfortably crossed her arms. "I made a mistake," she said, her voice cracking. "And… I'm sorry."

"Two things," Angel said sternly. "First, this is not just a mistake. You let your emotions get in the way, and because of that, almost killed an innocent girl. So what if Spike fell in love with her? And all your friends like her? Just because you want to have everyone, you can't just get rid of her. And just so you know, I was already in the process of doing that."

Buffy looked up at him.

"I told Spike to leave," Angel explained. "And I told him to take K with her. I knew something like this was going to happen. They decided to stay until this mission was over, but obviously, that was too late."

Buffy looked back down, absolutely unable to look him in the eyes.

"And second," Angel continued, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." He turned didn't look at her again, went towards the staircase, and left the basement.

"Buffy, I—" Willow started, but Buffy cut her off.

"Don't," Buffy said, not looking up at her. "Just… don't."