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The Streets of Sunnydale

Morrigan Aensland's POV

"Well, that was certainly interesting," she said, licking the blood off of her hand. "I've never seen a demon like that before."

"Me neither," Hellboy said, holstering his weapon while casually looking about the area. "And I've seen a LOT."

"I bet you have," she said with a smirk as she recalled how things had gone since she'd first met the red skinned demon.

She'd never seen a species quite like his, though there were some similarities to the breeds that lived in her realm of Makai. She'd made a few offhand comments about her domain and the breeds that lived there but she'd seen no reaction of recognition on his face. That told her that wherever he hailed from wasn't Makai. However there was no mistaking the power that was within him when she had first laid eyes on him; she'd seen a fiery crown atop his head. Whether that was just a coincidence or a sign of his heritage she didn't know but it'd vanished when unexpectedly he'd reached up and grasped both of his horns before breaking them off. All that'd been left of the external display in power had been a few smouldering points of light on the jagged stumps sticking out of his forehead. When she'd asked him why he'd done that, he'd given her an odd yet intriguing reply.

'Liz likes'em better this way'

She'd tried to prod him further but he either refused, attempted to change the topic of discussion or just ignored her outright.

She'd been a bit annoyed by this but admitted to herself that the mystery of it made Hellboy all the more intriguing and that was just fine by her. Her kind, after all, used interesting things to supply them with food and she was never one to pass up an interesting meal.

They'd strolled casually through the streets for the last while, looking for the reason they were brought to this town in the mortal world, and at least in her case looking for anything interesting to do or see. It had been a short while ago that they'd happened upon two beings fighting but, since they hadn't been noticed, both she and Hellboy had decided to just stay out of it and observe. It wasn't as exciting as getting into the mix of things but it'd been interesting enough that she'd been able to savor the meal as well as become stronger.

It was a fact that she'd done what she could to keep a secret from her red-skinned acquaintance: she had not arrived in this town at full strength. She hadn't been weak and would have been able to kill him easily enough if it'd become necessary, but she would've been famished afterwards. With the fight they'd just witnessed and the fact that she hadn't been required to fight Hellboy in the beginning, she was feeling much better from an energy standpoint.

The fight had been between what at best could be called an eight foot hunchbacked creature that walked on two legs with long clawed hands capable of touching the ground. It didn't act sentient, not beyond that of a clever animal, but its hostility and brute strength made up for that since it proved capable of crushing cars or picking them up over its head. Its claws were tough as well as sharp, showing themselves to be capable of piercing both steel and concrete, making it likely that flesh would prove no problem for them.

Still, with limited intelligence and even more rudimentary tactics, it posed no threat to her.

Its opponent, on the other hand, looked like one of the young heiresses of Makai that on the surface looked human but only if you overlooked certain details. Pointy ears, golden eyes, purple slash marks on the cheeks that were naturally formed rather than artificially made, clad in clothes that were a cross of Bishamon's armour and Hsien-Ko's robes made for a rather striking appearance. All in all it'd looked so aristocratic that she'd thought from the beginning that she'd be bored out of her mind or even irritated by the young lady demonness' demeanor.

NEVER had she been so happy to be wrong.

Instead of stuffy, the heiress had been more like her treating her confrontation with the beast more like a game than some fatal punishment of an inferior attacking their superior. Using only some sort of energy whip, the young lady hopped, flipped and leaned around her foe, only occasionally retaliating with the whip. The damage done was minimal, even though she had little doubt that the technique was capable of cutting the beast in half in a single attack. Instead it looked like the demonness was choosing to draw things out with a 'death by a thousand cuts' approach while also giving advice to her foe.

Given the beast's sub-sentient intelligence this had been a wasted effort and had likely been just to further the young lady's fun.

As of a minute ago the number of wounds proved to be too much for the beast, causing it to drop to the ground followed by its breathing gradually slowing until it stopped entirely. The young lady had been a little annoyed but the termination of her fun but had shrugged before leaping to a nearby rooftop, likely going off to search for something else to play with. She was tempted to follow, if for no other reason than the possibility of getting in on the fun, but felt more strongly about staying with Hellboy. If the monsters prowling this town were anything like Makai then strong foes would be drawn to strong warriors. Therefore it'd only be a matter of time before something decided it wanted to test its strength against her temporary travelling companion and she would honourably step in to have her fun.

After all, being a spectator might be interesting but being the one fighting was EXCITING.

Her advisors in Makai had been driven to drinking increasingly potent spirits by her frequent escapes to find stimulating enough entertainment.

Turning to Hellboy she found herself curious as she saw some sort of metal-crystal artifact hanging from his hand by a chain, dangling from his right hand. She could hear him quietly chanting something, causing an inner light with the artifact to grow in strength before being concentrated to the right side of it. Satisfied with this, the red skinned demon put the item into a pouch before beginning to walk in the direction the light had been pulled towards.

"Where are you going?" she thought, feigning confusion to facilitate the prompting of information.

"To find the source of all this shit," he replied, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Whatever's going on is a lot more impressive than a parlour trick and that means whoever's behind it has some serious power at their fingertips. They brought us here and they can send us back."

"You want to leave?!" she asked, astonished that he would want to abandon this opportunity for fun.

"Eventually. Way I figure it, whoever did this isn't going to want their fun to end any more than you do. That means defences, and once we're past those we 'persuade' them to do what we want," Hellboy said with the smile of a warrior. "Why settle for small fry when we can just dig into the main course?"

"Because foreplay's half the fun!" she said, completely believing that the buildup to the main fight only made the experience that much sweeter.

"Maybe, but only if the small fry before the main meal are good enough," he said as he resumed walking. "If they're too weak then it'll all be crap and might even ruin the main meal."

True.

If the minions didn't keep her attention she often just gave up on meeting her true prey out of disgust. She considered it a sign of disrespect if the being she was after didn't send experienced minions to kill her and one could only tolerate a certain level of disrespect before leaving. If one stayed despite being disrespected, it only made you look pathetic or weak. In order to maintain your image of strength you couldn't do anything that could damage it and that included allowing yourself to look like a dumb attack dog.

"I guess you're right," she said with disappointment that she wouldn't be able to get even more mileage out of this little adventure.

"Well, if it's a good time you're lookin' for, mate, then I got just the ticket for ya," a Cockney voice said to the alley to the side.

Turning to the voice she saw what appeared to be a human but he had a pronounced brow ridge, sickly yellow eyes and fangs that almost made her think vampire. However when she compared it to Demitri it was more of a parody of a true vampire rather than something that should be feared. It was as the clown vampire walked far enough from the alley, though, that things got a little more interesting since it was revealed that the humorous pretender had followers. Some were the same as him but others were distinctly more impressive in her opinion in terms of appearance and potential power.

One was humanoid in the sense that it walked on two legs, had two arms with five fingers and a head but there were obvious signs that it wasn't human. For one thing it was covered from head to toe in scales and every digit had a black claw sticking out if it. It didn't have a single hair on its body and its eyes were primarily black, with a concentration of yellow in the centre. Garbed in a mix of metal and leather armour the former of which gave off an orange light in places, she marked it as a soldier of sorts. Not the smart kind, no, more like the cannon fodder that, while plentiful, was easily replaced with nothing of value attached to it requiring that an effort be made to save it.

Another looked like some sort of organic drone of some kind with primarily insect features consisting of four green-yellow eyes on the head, hands with two fingers and a thumb, feet with two front toes and one back toe, and to top it all off she could see bits of exposed musculature. In its hands she could see an obvious weapon that looked completely organic in nature with two jaws at the front and a rifle stock at the back. All the things she could see went against it being a melee weapon and more like some of the human military weapons she'd seen when she'd visit their world.

The last looked to be some sort of metallic golem, with blue and white metal as well as blue eyes. It was clad to look like a human for the most part, with bits of armour in all the usual places, making her believe that whatever mechanisms were keeping it alive were located there. With a hooded cape that looked quite raggedy at the bottom and various straps, some of which had holsters attached to them, it was clear this one had been made for combat. Of course the fact that there was visible battle damage on its face with sparks even now popping from both the edges as well as the centre of the damage sites were evidence enough of that. From what she could tell there were signs that the things that kept it alive were right on the edge of being stable and unstable. It made her think that its mind, assuming it had one, was probably only just capable of maintaining awareness of its surroundings and making decisions.

There were a few others but they were smaller and did not strike her as possessing the ability to pose a threat to her.

"Oh? What did ya have in mind?" Hellboy asked, committing to nothing either by action or word.

"A hunt! See, there's a little bird out there. You wouldn't think much after lookin' at her, but she's more than she seems," the fake vampire replied, thinking it'd be REAL interesting. "Can toss you about right pretty if she wants and take a punch that'd dent steel without messing up her manicure. Best of all, she's resourceful. Taking her down'll be a good old night! Ya interested?"

"So what? We each take turns going a couple of rounds with her?" Hellboy asked, sounding less than satisfied. "Not bad for the ones that go first but the leftovers won't be so great for everyone else."

"Oh, don't worry 'bout that," the platinum blonde fang boy said with a toothy grin. "This girl's got stamina and can take a hit better than most. 'Sides, I'm sure everyone here'll play nice and not use her all up before we've all had a turn. Right, lads?"

Growls and other sounds of agreement came but she didn't trust them. Enough of them were more animals than thinking beings and, if their breed had a taste for blood as well as carnage, then it was possible they'd get carried away. Better to be one of the ones that got a piece of this fun prey first than wait for this lot to have their fun first.

"Then I guess when we're done with her we'll just snap her neck. Right?" Hellboy asked casually but it was then that she noticed something that had her sauntering to the right.

Her companion for the night was, through casual action, putting his hand closer and closer to where his weapon was holstered. This told her that, unless the fake vampire answered just right, the weapon would be pulled and the chaos of combat would commence.

"Nah. Even if she can't fight anymore there're plenty of other fun things we can do with her," the vampire parody replied with a sadistic smile on his face. "I once knew a demon who liked music but he never really found an instrument he liked. Then he walked in on a torturer during the inquisition who was working over some poor bloke and had an epiphany of sorts. The instrument he'd been looking for… was the human body and HE was the conductor. I figure now's as good a time as any to give it a try myself."

BLAM!

With speed and precision that could only be born out of both training as well as experience, Hellboy pulled his weapon from its holster, took aim and shot the wannabe vampire's head off. It was only mildly interesting to see that a part of the wannabe vampire's death process was the body turning completely to ash in the space of a few seconds.

"Nah. Let's try something else," Hellboy said, not showing the least bit of remorse for taking a life, albeit a demonic one.

With that, all talking ceased and combat began as the minions that'd been following the wannabe vampire charged, with the intent of avenging their fallen leader. Seeing that some of them were planning on attacking her because of her association with Hellboy, there was only one thing she could do.

Smile.

Smile BROADLY.

This is what she'd been hoping for, what she'd been looking forward to, since the moment she'd gotten there. Transforming her wings into a multitude of spearhead tipped tails she sent them forth, exalting in the sight of the lifeblood of her prey exiting their body when her attacks landed. Her blood hummed with the excitement of battle and, much like the young demonness from earlier, she toyed with her prey.

She had to make this last, after all.

Who knew how long it'd take to find the one that'd brought her there or if he'd even be any fun to fight.

Sunnydale City Hall

Mayor Wilkins' POV

"Well, now, isn't this the big surprise?" he said, looking through his crystal scrying array.

Unfortunately surprises could be both good as well as bad and he was personally leaning towards the latter, if only because of what he'd learned of a few of those who'd been changed by Ethan Rayne's spell. When he'd initially learned of the chaos worshipper's plans he had seen no threat to his agenda and therefore had allowed it to proceed. He'd even had the possibility present itself in his mind that perhaps Slayer Summers might perish alongside her friends if certain events occurred. Unlike what some might think, while there were some benefits to keeping Miss Summers around, it was not really costly to have her replaced by another Slayer.

The main benefit to keeping Buffy Summers around was that the girl only did her duty when she had no choice but to do it. If one of his nonhuman citizens did something in front of her or did something that attracted the Watcher's attention then she would take action. However, if one utilized the right amount of stealth, the right amount of subtlety, it was possible to go about your business without the blonde being aware of it. He did what he could to impress this upon any additions to the demonic community of Sunnydale but not all of them listened.

When that happened he not only made sure nothing was around for Miss Summers to stumble across to inform them of his existence or to the existence of those who DID listen to him. Needless to say there'd already been a few times when only through his actions had the various demonic groups evaded discovery. They owed him and anytime he thought one of them might forget that, he made sure to remind ALL of them.

However, if Miss Summers wound up being replaced, then it wouldn't affect things too much. He knew who they'd send and what type of Slayer Kendra Young was and he had no problems with her coming to Sunnydale. From everything he'd been told about her she was a Council raised Slayer who'd been kept isolated from the outside world and therefore was completely dependent on her Watcher. Those old men on the Watchers Council governing board liked these kinds of Slayers because they were obedient to a fault and utterly devoted to 'The Cause'. They had no social lives whatsoever, no friends, no family and no interest in anything not directly related to their duty as the Slayer. One would think that a warrior so focused on her duty would become the ideal weapon in the fight against the forces aligned with the darkness of the world.

They were fools because of one singular weakness that all such warriors possessed: predictability.

A warrior's creativity, their resourcefulness, was key to their success. It allowed them to think up strategies and tactics in order to overcome their enemies. It also allowed them to adapt to circumstances on the fly. However all of that depended on them gaining a variety of firsthand experiences that no book or video could possibly match. As a result, the Watchers could train their Slayers from the moment they're old enough for both body as well as mind but isolation from what everyone else had was like wearing a pink wig.

Everyone noticed it and it was impossible to hide.

Combine where they lived, how they lived and the limits of what they were taught and Council raised Slayers were predictable making them easy to manipulate. The moment Miss Summers perished he could begin laying the groundwork for making his entire operation invisible to her replacement and for a MODEST fee he could extend this cloak to the other influential demons in Sunnydale. By the time Kendra Young actually arrived, it would require that she do something the Council had psychologically trained her to be incapable of doing to see the truth.

She would have to think unconventionally and outside of the box.

As such the question before him was whether to take steps to ensure Miss Summers' survival or dispatch a force of effective demons to ensure her demise.

In the end he chose the latter.

By removing Miss Summers he would lower the risk that she might accidentally trip over his plans, leading to complications he would rather do without. The breathing space he gained from however long it took the Watchers to reassign Kendra Young to Sunnydale would allow him to advance some of his plans while hiding others more efficiently. Once the second Slayer was there he would use his resources to direct her to whatever riff-raff or enemies might exist, saving him the trouble of having to take more direct action.

There was something quite satisfying in using one enemy to destroy another.

"Alan? Bring me the contact information for D&V Security services," he said after dialling up the deputy mayor's office. "I have some work for them."

The Streets of Sunnydale

Joyce Summers' POV

~This is either the greatest acid trip ever or I owe Buffy a BIG apology later,~ she thought as she rode along on her demonic-looking flaming motorcycle.

Not that she'd admit to either of her daughters that she'd ever experimented with illegal substances when she was younger but, when you're young, you sometimes do stupid things. VERY stupid things. Fortunately for her, after witnessing Vanessa do several stupid things, with one of them landing her brunette friend in the hospital, she'd gone cold turkey with the drugs and hadn't touched them since. A part of her, a LARGE PART of her, wanted to cling to the idea that all this was drug induced and that, in a short while, she'd go back to normal. However another part of her, one she SERIOUSLY hoped wasn't right, saw this as proof that her eldest daughter had been telling the truth about the vampires and the demons.

Needless to say she was finding repression and procrastination VERY comforting at the moment.

Too bad what she was feeling and seeing was making that comfort more of a balm than a cure. The discomfort was still there and the difficulty in focusing definitely made things harder, but she doubted very much that anyone could fault her for her concentration problems.

After all, generally you weren't seeing and feeling evil all around you and… and… SOMETHING was trying to pull her in multiple different directions; sometimes the pull was slight but other times it was strong enough to cause her to turn the motorcycle she 'borrowed' towards it. It was like a compulsion and, in place of actually finding someone capable of both explaining this as well as fixing things, obeying it would have to do.

When she arrived outside of city hall, however, she had to wonder what could possibly be so special about this place that she'd be drawn to it. However, when she got off of the motorcycle she felt a burning fire of determination well up within her and she knew that trouble was about to start. When she found the doors locked she thought perhaps that it'd be enough to cause the compulsion to dissipate but instead an irrational anger rose within her, making it clear that backing down wasn't an option. Directing that anger she smashed down the doors, knocking them clear off their hinges before striding inside, crushing the glass beneath her boot heels. Letting the emotion guide her she walked towards the elevator but before she could get there a man in a security uniform came out of a side office to intercept her.

"I don't know what you are but you're not getting any further," the guard said, reaching up to grab her.

The moment he made contact, though, she was overwhelmed with the certainty that the man before her wasn't a man at all. Indeed she could feel the blood of many innocents on the thing before her, like a coating of bog muck, and it both repulsed and infuriated her. With a single strike to its chest she sent it flying into the wall next to the elevator and, judging by its inability to get back up and the general conveying of pain, her strike had done some damage. In another time or place this would've been enough but the anger she felt inside of her at the sight of this creature was not satisfied at all. As long as IT existed, more innocent blood would be spilt and that could not be allowed.

Striding up to it, she grabbed it by the throat and lifted it up off the ground until its feet dangled in mid-air. Glaring into its eyes, she could tell that it had no soul just like she knew it was night outside and inside her she could feel that her choices had been reduced to just a handful. It the space of three seconds she made her choice and with it moderate clarity.

"Your hands are stained with the blood of the innocent," she said, anger lacing every word just as the fire coated her skull at the moment. "Since there is no soul within you, there is only one punishment. BURN!"

Then, in a move similar to what she'd done to transform the motorcycle, she channeled hellfire into the thing but, unlike before, she wasn't trying to empower the foul thing.

No, her intent was to burn it until barely ash remained.

In nearly the blink of an eye her fire tore through the guard and, as though it'd been made of gas soaked rags, it fell apart, leaving only smouldering ashes behind.

Satisfied that she was done, she pressed the button on the elevator to call it down to her so she could ride it up because, as far as she could tell, the source of her compulsion was on the uppermost floor. However, when she saw that the lit number above the doors was not indicating that the car was descending, she pressed the button again only for nothing to change, making her believe that someone had locked the elevator down. Growling in frustration she realized that she'd now have to climb the stairs to get where she wanted to go and that could take more than few minutes. Could she wait that long?

No, no she couldn't. She WOULDN'T!

Reaching out she gripped the metal doors before her and, with an effort of strength, wrenched them open in order to access the elevator shaft. Looking down, she could see that the elevator could go down at least two floors and gazing up she could see the elevator car at the top. She could climb up the cable in the centre but that'd only shorten her trip by a minute or two when compared to using the stairs.

~Could I… no. That just happens in the movies,~ she thought as an idea came to her. ~Still…if this is just some acid trip, then I might as well try to enjoy it.~

Pulling herself next to the cable, she reached out to the ones connected to the counterweight holding the elevator car up and, working more based on instinct than conscious knowledge, the fire that coated her skeleton body shot out. In less than five seconds the cables were burned through and, with nothing to hold it up, the elevator car above her plummeted. The cable she was holding onto to yank her upward at a speed comparable to terminal velocity but this was only the first part of her plan. She knew given the dimensions of the shaft she was seconds away from colliding with the elevator car so raising her face up to face it she opened her jaws wide.

"RAGH!"

She ejecting a stream of hellfire from her mouth that slammed into the bottom of the elevator car, tearing through it like it was made of rice paper.

It gave her a big enough hole to go through but, with the destruction of the car, its weight was no longer present to continue pulling her upward. She'd known this would happen before she'd acted and was counting on the momentum she'd already attained to carry her the rest of the way to the top. It was a close thing but, just as the last of the upward force died off, she reached the desired floor, allowing her to latch onto the frame of the doors of that floor.

Pulling herself towards it she was able to force the doors open easily enough and, once she stood in the hallway, she took a moment to orient herself before walking towards the room where she would find what she sought. No more guards came to try and stop her but she figured that that had less to do with there not being any and more to do with the fact that their boss knew it'd be pointless. Step by step she went until she reached office doors that were definitely beyond the normal. She could see and feel a power protecting the door in order to bar entry to those not permitted by the one who'd put the power in place to begin with.

It would not work on her, though.

Taking the chain wrapped around her body she wrapped it instead around her right fist before imbuing the links with hellfire until one might expect them to melt. Bringing the fist back, she remembered the tips her brother had told her for throwing a proper punch and followed them in order to slam the best punch she could into the door. The blow was stopped by an unseen barrier but only for three seconds before the obstruction shattered with the door following soon later.

"You do realize that you will be billed for the door before you leave," a voice doing a good impression of a polite host said from within the room.

She called it an impression because, without even thinking about it, she knew that it was all an act meant to deceive the ignorant and the foolish. Turning her fiery gaze towards the source, she saw a man in his late forties dressed in a quality business suit, a smile on his face that was entirely rehearsed. It took a moment before her memory recognized him as Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third but with the vision she had now she could tell that he was far from human. Perhaps he had been one once but that was a long time ago, with the years since then what little remained had decayed until all that remained was shit.

Looking at him she could also see that the former human was positively oozing the blood of the innocents he'd sacrificed by his own actions or inaction. It was sickening. It was infuriating! IT WAS UNFORGIVABLE! How many friends, family members and precious people had been sent to the depths of despair and grief because of the man standing before her? She very much doubted she would ever know the precise amount.

"Richard Wilkins. The blood of countless innocents drip from your hands," she said, feeling the flames surrounding her skull intensify. "With a number so great, it is obvious that even more will die in the future."

"It is true that I'll need to pay quite a few more tributes in the next few years but it's just responsible politics to make good on your campaign promises," Mayor Wilkins said, nodding in agreement without a shred of regret. "Besides, it's hardly my fault that the required tributes, rituals and spells call for living sacrifices. I didn't create them, after all."

"You still made the conscious choice to use them and that is enough to damn you to the very depths of hell," she said, bringing her chained fist up in preparation to deliver another blow. "Prepare yourself!"

"Oh, I am quite prepared," Mayor Wilkins said with a sinister smile. "I've been prepared ever since I founded Sunnydale all those years ago. I knew I would encounter enemies when I started my ambitions, so I made sure that I would be well prepared when they showed up."

In response to this the entire room suddenly lit up as runes, symbols and arcane circles came into existence everywhere, bathing everything in it with an eerie light. However she was more focused on the fact that she could feel the power that she had gained at her gallery beginning to diminish as though it was being suppressed by something. She could feel the flames she'd gained dimming but not going out even as she had to work to steady her stance.

"You were foolish to confront me in my place of power," Wilkins said even as he reached out to his left with his arm. "It is where I am strongest and, with my magic, it is where I can suppress your power considerably. In short, you may have come here to kill me it will be you that dies instead. Are YOU prepared?"

At the conclusion of that question arcane energy began to gather above his left hand and she could feel how potent it was. She might know next to nothing about what she'd gained at her gallery but she was not confident that she could take that kind of power head on without suffering serious injury. She did what most people would and tried to leave the room in the hopes that once she was back in the hallway the suppression of her power would vanish but the idea failed all too quickly. Somehow the barrier that she'd smashed through moments ago had reconstituted itself and, with her power failing, she did not think she would be able to shatter it with one hit again.

"Thinking of leaving?" Wilkins asked, the energy in his left hand continuing to grow in strength. "Don't bother. As soon as I realized the advantage of this set up I made sure that no one meaning to harm me would be able to escape very easily. Still, I hope that at the very least you'll put up some sort of fight. I could use a little diversion until my employees report back that they've succeeded in their task."

"What task?" she asked even as her will managed to slow the decrease in strength somewhat.

"Why, killing your eldest daughter and her friends, of course," Wilkins replied as his attack reached the desired charge. "She's been something of a thorn in my side since you moved here and if Janus wills it, she'll become an even bigger problem. So I've decided to nip that particular possibility in the bud."

BUFFY!

She had to get to Buffy!

With the incentive that the foolish man had given her she dug deep to push against the power that was trying to make her weak. Honestly she didn't care about the man anymore; even with the compulsion the moment she had sufficient strength, she would smash through the barrier keeping her there so she could rush to her daughter's side. She might not know precisely where her daughter was chaperoning the elementary school kids but she had a general idea of where Buffy most likely was. With the motorcycle she could be there in under three minutes and then all she'd need to do would be to listen for the sounds of combat and that would be where she needed to be.

She'd deal with this bastard later.

"Ah. I thought that that might give you some extra incentive," Wilkins said, sounding pleased with her reaction. "Use it to the fullest so we can both fight without regrets."

More and more she fed the anger within her since she had noticed that, as it rose, so did the fires of the power she'd gained gain new strength. She would burn and burn and BURN until the very framework of what was suppressing her was reduced to ashes. Thus it was that, when Wilkins finally threw his attack at her, she opened her mouth wide and expelled a torrent of hellfire that met the oncoming sphere head on. However, when the two destructive masses of energy came into contact, they did not detonate as one might expect but rather they fought for dominance with the willpower of their wielder's backing them up.

The willpower of a mother, angry at the loss of so many innocent people, driven to be furious at the thought that someone had ordered the murder of her eldest daughter.

The willpower of a man who'd bargained off his soul for immortality and even now was working towards a goal that would upset the supernatural status quo of the world.

Which would prove superior?

The Streets of Sunnydale

Five Blocks from the Edge of UCS Campus

Michael Corvin's POV

"Did you remember the rule, Sara?" he asked even as she checked the pulses of the monsters that'd attacked him.

"I remembered," Sara replied with no emotion, dropping her opponent to the ground.

He winced as the monster hit its head on the street but grudgingly conceded that it probably wouldn't be enough to do any permanent harm. There might be some blood and maybe a headache but nothing worse than that. Still, he hoped that they wouldn't have to worry about fighting any more before they found Mister Giles and he figured out a way of reversing everything. Even after everything he'd been through since meeting Selene that first time, magic was still a foreign topic for him, as were possession and dimensional transference. It was only as of a little while ago that he'd seen enough to convince him that everything he'd been told by Willow was the truth.

One of the opponents they'd fought had been capable of throwing bolts of electricity from its hands while another had proven almost impossible to get ahold of since it'd proven capable of teleporting. Neither of those things could be explained by a virus like the Vampire and Lycan strains birthed by William and Marcus Corvinus, so that was enough to convince him to accept magic.

It still wierded him out, though.

"We need to hurry," Willow said from where she'd webbed her two opponents to a nearby car. "If things've been this chaotic for us then Giles could be in real trouble!"

"And if something happens to him then we'll be on our own for getting back to normal," he said, completing the thought for the redhead. "Too bad the only magic tricks I know are card tricks."

"I've read a few things in Giles' books but I'm nowhere as good as he is," Willow said with pessimism in her tone. "We'd be better off waiting for the spell to run out of power on its own and hope that everything will be returned to normal without magic to hold it in place."

"And how long would that take?" Sara asked with intent that was hard to discern.

"Without knowing its source or the criteria that needs to be met in order for it to continue, I don't know," Willow replied, sounding like she couldn't lie to make things sound more appealing. "It could end at sunrise or it could go on indefinitely until one of the necessities is no longer present."

"Then we have to hurry," he said, willing his body to shift back into its human form before picking up his shirt from where he dropped it. "I can't afford to be away from home for too long, not with things heating up back there."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked, her curiosity peeking through her worry for a moment.

"It's too long of a story to tell it all but the important part is on my Earth normal humans have found out about the existence of vampires and werewolves," he replied, remembering the chaos of the first few weeks quite well. "They call it the purge. Me and Selene were planning on leaving the country when I found myself here."

He could see the shock on Willow's face so he could only presume that on this Earth the veil of secrecy that kept normal humans from realizing the truth of their world was still in place. To keep everything he'd seen and been told about a secret, there had to be quite a few powerful and influential organizations working towards that end. Ideally if they all worked together as a team then everything would run efficiently but even if only half of the cooperated with each other, it might prove enough to keep the truth from going public.

"As interesting as this is to hear, I would rather not waste time talking," Sara said, turning back to the direction they'd been walking in before being attacked.

He still didn't know what Sara was but it sure as hell wasn't human. Not entirely, at least. According to his sense of smell he could tell that there was some humanity in her but there was also quite a bit of something he couldn't identify because it didn't match any scent he'd smelled before. Whether her lack of emotion was caused by her biology or as a result of some sort of psychological issues he didn't know but thus far she hadn't shown any concern for anyone other than herself. He'd seen it in a few of his classmates in med school and hadn't liked it. Doctors were supposed to have the drive from the beginning to help those in need of their skills and to take great joy in helping others. Those few classmates, however, only had the drive to obtain the highest paying jobs they could find and only felt joy in the number of zeroes they expected on their paychecks.

In a way Sara was better than them.

She lacked empathy but also did not have any greed that he'd been able to detect. Instead she appeared to him to be extremely goal oriented and let nothing get in the way of achieving it regardless of the consequences. This being a different world from her own, he didn't think she'd have much to worry about but, the longer they were there, the more of a mess she'd make and the more enemies she'd gain. That was a good enough reason in his book to find Mister Giles soon and hope that this bizarre night could be brought to a swift end.

He almost had his shirt buttoned all the way up when a group of scents drifted past his nose, causing him to freeze in his tracks.

"More trouble," he said in order to let the other two ladies know they had trouble coming.

"Trouble ain't the word for it, little man," a deep voice said from a little over two blocks down the road.

Looking down the road, he saw a group three times the size of the one he'd worked with the other two ladies to handle and none of the members looked weak. Some almost looked like vampires but their bulging foreheads and sickly yellow eyes made it clear that they were poor impersonators at best, like something you'd see in a Hollywood movie or on TV then the real deal. With them he could see blue-skinned demons that reminded him of a boar with the way it had curved teeth extending from its lower jaw through its lips. Another few were quite large with orange skin and protruding shoulders that had curved horns on the sides of their heads, with all of them looking like they were impatient for the fighting to begin. The last ones he could make out were feral things that looked like someone had tried to cross breed a monkey with an aggressive breed of dog. He could tell right away that they weren't sentient in the least, making them more akin to attack dogs than anything else. All together the group numbered about twenty by his reckoning, making him a little worried.

"Boss wants all of you dead. Even promised a bonus if I brought your hearts to him still warm," the fake vampire that led the group said, sounding confident. "And I aim to please."

"Then I guess your boss will have to live with disappointment," he said, tossing his shirt aside even as he wondered if he should just tie it around his waist for the rest of the night.

"Michael, there's too many of them," Willow said, sounding less than confident that they would emerge victorious. "We should run."

"Numbers mean nothing," Sara said, looking as though she was scrutinizing the threatening group. "If they have no power, then they cannot harm us. If they have power but no skill, they can only harm us if we're careless. Better to find out which they are before deciding that running is best."

With that Sara charged the enemy group but then something happened that while suspected had never happened before.

When they'd encountered the last group of hostile monsters, he'd born witness to the speed, strength and skill that Sara possessed but throughout it all she'd looked completely human. However his nose told him that at best she was only partially human and it was now before his eyes that he saw the inhuman side of her come to the forefront. Flesh changed to a dark blue colour and gained a look more like an insect's carapace in nature, with only small gaps at the shoulders and elbows to allow for sufficient freedom of movement. The face looked mostly human but the blue glow that existed where her eyes had once been made the total package look otherworldly especially with the four sharp looking hair tentacles.

Altogether as the now inhuman Sara reached the group, it made for quite the deadly looking package and this was only reinforced when she began to tear into the enemy force.

"We need to stop her! Those could be more transformed people!" Willow exclaimed, her emotional state being echoed in the surface of the oil skin that covered her body.

"Maybe, but can we really afford to hold back against this many?" he asked even as he willed himself to change once more. "They've made it pretty clear that they want us dead."

"All the more reason to run," Willow replied even as she moved forward to keep things from becoming too bloody. "If we can't fight without killing innocent people then we shouldn't fight at all."

"Assuming they're people transformed by their costumes like you," he said, feeling the power and the instincts of his hybrid form rising within him. "What if they're not?"

"Giles said that Halloween is a day off for demons. Too commercial," Willow replied as she began to fire streams of webbing at the members of the hostile group.

"Just because it's usually dead doesn't mean it has to be dead tonight," he said, surging forwards on powerful legs and crossing the distance in the blink of an eye. "The fact that something happened to you and your friends proves this."

"Just… just don't do it unless you have to," Willow said before focusing on her web work more since some of her targets proved too quick for her to ensnare easily. "Some things never wash off."

A morbid truth but correct nonetheless.

As he reached out to grab one of the large horned monsters, he thought back on the oath he'd taken as a doctor.

He'd come a long way since then but he would do his best to remain true to it, even if to outsiders it looked like he'd cast it aside. He'd become a doctor because he wanted to help people and take away their pain. If using proper surgical tools weren't enough to solve a problem, he was willing to go with whatever worked.

To help those in need, he could do no less.

A Couple of Blocks Away

Hellboy's POV

"Can I show a lady a good time or what?" he yelled before delivering a right hook of doom to the face of one of the fangies taking its head clean off.

"Without a doubt you don't disappoint, darling!" Morrigan said, dancing around the dumb bald demon who kept trying to hit her and kept failing. "This is proving to be quite entertaining!"

Couldn't disagree with her there.

Some might not like fighting as much as he did but that was only 'cause they were looking it the wrong way. Fighting could be a blast, especially if you were good at it, because it showed everyone how good you were and the best ones helped you get even better. Sure, it could hurt every once in a while, but that was just to motivate you to try harder and, besides, anything that forced you to push your body harder ended up hurting. The only thing that separated fights like this from those things was that there was a chance of dying if you picked the wrong fight.

In his experience, people had a habit of doing that with him more often than not.

Seeing the bug grunt raising its weapon his way again, he sighed before diving behind a car and reaching into his coat. One more loadout of his own special blend of ammo and then he'd be fresh out. Not exactly a good thing since he didn't know how much more he'd have to look before finding a way back to Liz and Abe. He'd considered it a good thing that Morrigan had chosen to follow him because he just knew she was one of those party girls that'd make all kinds of noise in her search for fun. While he was no stranger to raising a little hell while on the job, he did know the value of keeping things from getting flashy no matter what Manning and father said. Things just… got out of hand sometimes and it was NOT his fault that they did. Some things just didn't know when to give up and had to do all kinds of crazy stuff thinking it'd turn things around for them.

He did the best he could!

~Ah! Screw it!~ He popped open the Samaritan and dumped out the spent rounds. ~Just means I'll have to get up close and personal with the rest of 'em.~

Putting the fresh rounds in he snapped his favourite gun closed before waiting for a pause in the barrage of bullets Bug Boy was sending into the car. The second the pause happened he stood back up, aimed at Bug Boy and fired off a shot that popped the thing's head like a gore balloon. While easier than he'd been expecting, it to be he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. In a fight gimmes like that were often a good thing and, as he looked to see where he should shoot next, he was a little disappointed that the fangies had taken off running after he'd floored the last one. Morrigan was pretty much finished with her play date and, oddly enough, the robot that'd been a part of the group STILL couldn't make up its might about whether or not to use the hand cannon it had in hand. Honestly he'd been expecting a good old fashioned shoot out with the tin man but whatever damage had been done to it had screwed with its brain pretty good. He didn't think it was brain dead but it definitely wasn't firing on all transistors, or whatever its mechanical mind operated on. Wherever it'd come from it must've been in one helluva fight and only survived 'cause it got brought here before his enemy could finish the job.

~Not that I'm complaining,~ he thought, holstering the Samaritan since it looked like the fight was pretty much over with. ~Saves me from having to fire off the rest of my rounds.~

"Mmmmm, that felt GOOD!" Morrigan said, floating over the remains of her foe. "For cannon fodder he stood up remarkably well to my attacks. And you, Hellboy? Did you enjoy the battle?"

"Definitely livened things up but the robot cowboy didn't do a thing the entire time," he replied, nodding to the machine he was talking about. "Guess it's got more than a few screws loose."

"True, I had been curious as to what capabilities it was capable of, but it seems barely capable of standing, never mind doing anything," Morrigan said, floating over to then around the robot cowboy. "Makes one wonder how it even managed to get here with that fake vampire."

"Whatever the case, we don't need to worry about it," he said, turning his thoughts towards finding the source of the magic that was likely dominating the night.

"What is-" Morrigan paused and sniffed the air, a slow smile tugging at her lips. "…Mmmm I smell another battle happening not far from here," Morrigan said. "Shall we go check it out?"

For a moment he thought to decline her idea but at the same time he thought that maybe someone else had found the source of the 'fun', so following Morrigan's lead might not be a bad idea. Taking out the artifact he'd been using, he spoke the incantation to activate it and, when the light concentrated, it did go in the general direction the succubus was looking in. Not as precisely as he'd prefer but close enough that he chose to nod at her inquiry, causing her face to light up with happiness before taking to the air to get to the source of the smell quickly.

Him, being stuck using his own two feet, broke into something a little above a jog and headed in the same direction as the succubus.

~Definitely be easier if I had a car, or even better a motorcycle,~ he thought, a little annoyed at having to get everywhere on foot. ~But it's not like I can just get a rental or hotwire the first ride I see.~

Even if the Bureau provided everything he asked for, it wasn't like he had a savings account of his own or a mattress with money stuffed into it. The reason? He'd have to go out in public to take money out and use it. Even though he went out of his way to save the world, to save lives, it was forbidden for him to be seen by those without the necessary security clearance. This was a rule handed down by the American government and one that both father as well as Manning supported. Father had explained to him that the world just wasn't ready yet for the supernatural to become common knowledge and, even if he worked to help society, too many would be unable to see past the surface.

Too many would not be able to see past the fact that he wasn't human.

He'd been able to tell from the very beginning that father wasn't thinking ill of him but rather was worried about what might happen to him if things got too far out of hand. As such he'd done his best to toe the line and not get into any trouble that'd cause grief for father but it wasn't easy being stuck on the outside looking in. To see so many people through the one way mirror of the garbage truck just going about their lives, with all the experiences that entailed, but knowing he'd be lucky to experience a tenth of it.

It wasn't easy at all.

Liz made it easier, though.

Abe and some of the other agents did what they could to be his friends and help him live a full life but it was Liz who made his world bearable.

ANYway, without money he couldn't rent a car and stealing one would only attract more attention than could be safely explained away.

So on foot it'd need to be.

Using his eyes to follow Morrigan and keeping his ears sharp to hear the telltale sounds of a fight, he navigated the streets, alleyways and backyards, intent on keeping a grip on at least one. Fortunately for him the fight turned out to be close by, just like Morrigan had said it was, and it looked like the two of them had arrived just in time. From what he could tell the fight was more than a little lopsided with three fighters, a guy and two girls, fighting against a force that numbered at around fifteen, with the smaller group looking a little pressured. Well, to be more precise two of them seemed to be focused on just knocking out the members of the other party while the tentacle bug girl was definitely killing whatever got in her way. While he wanted to say that the third member of the trio definitely wasn't human, he was willing to consider the possibility of a hybrid.

Contrary to what some might think, there weren't that many species on the planet Earth that closely matched the human form. In most cases the other races had attributes that helped them in whatever environment they called home, with the traits becoming more pronounced the longer they were given to be refined. As such there was such a variety of forms and abilities that the odds of even looking remotely human were small. However, if one species bred with a human and then that hybrid bred again with a human, you'd get something like what he was looking at. With bladed tentacles coming out of her fingers and comprising her 'hair', she was cutting up and, in some cases, completely through the demons she set her eyes on.

That was not to say that the hybrid was having a completely easy time of it as proven by the fact that he witnessed her getting knocked into a nearby car hard enough to leave a significant impression. This was only made worse when her large horned foe ripped a street sign out of the pavement before impaling the cross breed in the stomach. In most cases this would've been enough to kill just about anything but to the hybrid this proved to be a good way to piss it off. With an attack of the finger tentacles from both sides she just about cut the thing into four sections killing it instantly. Then, with a mix of pain, anger and effort, it pulled the street sign out of its stomach before casting it aside, allowing him to see the wound close up in seconds. There wasn't even a scar to show that the serious wound had been there in the first place.

~Nice! he thought, remembering the times when he could've used such an ability on past missions for the B.P.R.D.

He didn't have much time for further thought since one of the horned big ones spotted him and decided that he made a good target. Deciding to save the remaining rounds, he had he instead chose to see who had the meaner right hook and started things off with one of his own. Oddly enough, while his blow did succeed in turning its head, the punch only temporarily dazed it rather than knock it out entirely. Carefully he set things up so he could get a feel for one, he let the big bruiser hit him and DEFINITELY felt it but not so much that he felt that he was out of his league.

With a feel for his foe he got down to fighting the big guy properly, using his own unique style of fighting. It was one of the problems of being who he was that he couldn't find too many people who could teach him and even fewer willing to spar with him. Most of what he knew came from watching the other agents train, movies and trying things out to see if they worked as well as he thought it would.

Quite a few lectures came from father about this but, once he got the kinks out, he managed well enough.

Too bad the bruiser he was fighting didn't get the dozen or so hints he delivered to its head, stomach and legs. Every time he thought that the fight was over with, the big guy got right back up, ready to resume the fight.

~Guess I'll have to finish him with a bang after all,~ he thought, ducking under his foe's punch and grabbing it's clothes, raising it up over his head before slamming it into the street HARD.

Then, before the idiot could get back on his feet, he took aim with the Samaritan and fired a shot into its head. It made a pretty bloody hole but he didn't let his guard down just yet. If the hybrid had shown him anything it was there existed demons capable of shrugging off lethal hits without too much trouble. When nothing happened within thirty seconds he decided that was proof enough that ugly wasn't getting back up anytime soon.

Maybe in an hour or three but that didn't matter to him.

He'd be long gone, one way or another.

BAM!

A punch from out of nowhere knocked him out of his thinking in a hurry and turning to see some caveman faced fangie was responsible had him checking his mouth for blood. Taking his hand out to look at it, he could see a little but it didn't come close to the last time he'd cut himself shaving, so he wasn't worried.

"My turn," he said before swinging his stone fist right across the idiot's jaw hard enough to rip it right off.

Blood poured from the bloody wound even as the lower jaw that'd been punched off turned to ash, landing in a pile on the street. The caveman screamed in pain and sounded like it was trying to use its best insults but it was kinda impossible with the lower jaw missing, so it was pretty much gibberish. One more solid right hook to the head put an end to that demolishing the skull and causing everything to become ash before being blown away in the wind.

"You talk too much," he said even though he knew the pile of ash couldn't hear him or think about the words he spoke.

Some moments just called for something catchy to be said and he had plenty of material to share.

Looking up to see the larger group almost cut by half, he looked for someone whose dance card wasn't full and looked like they might give him a decent fight.

~You'll do!~ he thought, finding one that checked all the right boxes in his mind.

Willow's POV

"I think that's the last of them," 'Michael' said, looking around with a sort of feral air before his body began to shift and morph back into Xander's normal body.

"I do not sense anything else," Buffy 'Sara' Summers said with all the personality of a rock after morphing back into her human form.

This was good in the sense that she'd found the alternate appearance to be seriously creepy as well as somewhat intimidating.

However it was also bad since the battle had pretty much turned the she-elf costume that she'd been wearing into so much trash, leaving flesh exposed that most women would hasten to cover up instinctively.

Not 'Sara', though.

"Okay! New rule!" she said even as she used Angitia to put a sort of web bikini on Buffy. "Don't let your clothes get torn up if you can help it and if something does happen to them, find replacements IMMEDIATELY!"

Sara looked down to examine her new 'clothes but, once it was determined that it would not hinder range of motion, she gave the webbing no further consideration.

~Buffy's going to FREAK when this is all over!~ she thought before taking in the duo that'd arrived just in time to even the odds.

The first thing that caught her attention was the green haired woman in a purple and black outfit that teased as much as it showed, making her wonder if she should add some more web-clothes to the batch she'd made for Buffy.

"Try it, little ink spot, and it'll be the last thing you do," the woman warned with a slight Scottish accent. "Though if you'll wait until we get someplace more comfortable… I'm game if you are!"

For a moment she didn't know what was being said but, when a sexy wink got sent her way, a quick look in the gutter cleared things up for her in a split second. Instantly her mind went into disarray as it became a storm of emotions range from embarrassment to curiosity, but just as quickly as they came something acted to suppress them.

~^IT WOULD BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE FOR YOU TO BE LOST IN YOUR EMOTIONS AT THIS POINT.^~

With her mind clear and able to think she agreed that going nuts wouldn't do a thing to get things back to normal but she still didn't like the idea of something messing with her mind without her permission. It implied that Angitia could do a lot of damage to her, maybe even take her over completely, if the symbiote wanted to.

~^IT IS TRUE THAT IF I WISHED IT I COULD SEIZE CONTROL OF YOU BODY AND MIND. HOWEVER I WILL NOT. YOU HAVE MY WORD.^~

~Why?~ she asked even as she scrutinized the new allies for clues as to who they might be.

~^IT IS TRUE THAT WHENEVER ONE OF MY PEOPLE BOND WITH A HOST THEY ASSUME COMPLETE CONTROL. THIS IS DONE IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT THERE CAN BE NO REJECTION OF THE BOND AND TO MAXIMIZE THE ODDS OF SURVIVAL. A SYMBIOTE CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT A HOST.

~^HOWEVER… WE HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR TIME AS VENOM AND OUR PREVIOUS HOST EDDIE BROCK. THERE IS MUCH TO BE GAINED FROM A TRUE 'PARTNERSHIP' AND THE BOND THAT IS FORMED CAN DO MORE TO ELIMINATE THE POSSIBILITY OF REJECTION THAN SUPPRESSING YOU COULD.^~

Survival.

That one word allowed her to gain a measure of understanding when it came to the life form that covered her from head to toe. If survival was its primary objective over all else then all she needed to do was make sure that what she wanted done was the best option it had. It wouldn't be easy, even if she'd been a part of the school debate team for a year, but until they brought the spell to an end she needed to keep Angitia on her side.

Turning her attention back to the newcomers, she couldn't see any obvious facial features that she recognized but at the same time she couldn't help but feel as though she DID know them.

"Well, this has been fun, kids, but I got things to do," the demon with the stone right hand said before reaching into his pocket for something.

"Like what?" 'Michael' asked, deciding to put his shirt back on… much to her disappointment.

The spell had given her crush increased muscular definition that was quite pleasing to the eyes.

"Finding out how to get home, for one thing," Mister Stone said, pulling out a green crystal hanging from a chain from his pocket before letting it dangle freely in the air. "Be nice to find out why we were yanked here in the first place would be nice to find out too."

"That artifact!" she exclaimed, recognizing it in an instant from her time in the library.

Seeing it light up completely before only glowing in one specific direction, she was convinced that this was the artifact that belonged to Giles. While the Watcher did tell her that they weren't too difficult to make each one was unique, since its appearance was often influenced by the aesthetics of its creator and as a result no two were alike.

However, if it was Giles' artifact, then the simplest and most obvious conclusion was that Mister Stone was in fact Giles and, squinting a bit, she could see SOME of the facial characteristics the librarian possessed. They were mixed with facial traits of another person entirely but they were there if you looked for them hard enough. If that was the case then did that mean that Miss Calendar was the green haired woman sitting on an airborne cushion of bats?

~This night just keeps getting weirder and weirder,~ she thought even as Giles looked at her in puzzlement.

"What about it?" the maybe Giles asked as the crystal completely lit up before all but one facet went dark.

"Um, er, it looks exactly like one a friend of mine has," she replied, deciding that if the red skinned demon WAS Giles he'd be like the others and not believe a word she spoke concerning the truth.

"Huh. Didn't think anyone had the same style as father," Mister Stone said before putting the artifact back into his pocket. "Anyway I'm heading this way. Any of you want to come, you're welcome to."

"Where are you going?" 'Sara' asked, showing some interest.

"To the source of the magic that brought us here," Mister Stone replied before striding away. "As much fun as it's been, I got things that need doing back home."

"Then we should go as a group," she said, immediately pouncing on a potential lead to getting things back to their usual definition of normal. "The demons were pretty set on killing all of us and there's no way of knowing if more will come. We'll stand a better chance together."

The truth, though, was that she wanted to keep everyone she knew together so she didn't have to worry about finding out the next day that one of them had been killed while being someone or something else. While her concern about another attack was indeed valid, it was also a possibility that the demons they had faced were alone in their agenda. Personally she hoped that they were acting on their own because, even if some of them were genuine demons, she'd bet good money that some in the group had been transformed into their costumes.

If that was true then they had just committed murder several times and it would only be a matter of time before they learned the names of those that'd been killed.

She only hoped that when the body count was tallied that those who had killed would be able to live with the blood on their hands.

Sunnydale Town Hall

Mayor Wilkins the First, Second and Third's POV

"Well, I have to say I can see where your eldest daughter inherited her stubborn attitude," he said casually even as he waited to see how much longer Missus Summers could maintain her attack. "Most people looking to cause trouble for me pass out by this point."

Even as he noticed increasing signs of strain in the flaming skeleton's power, the pressure from her attack against his own did not decrease. Not that he was in any sort of trouble, of course, since, thanks to his suppression sigils, he wasn't even facing half of what Missus Summers probably could've brought to bear without them. As such he could afford to take it easy and draw out this bit of entertainment for a while longer without fear of coming to harm.

"Hmmmm.…maybe it would be worth my while to make you my familiar," he said with feigned consideration. "You certainly would be unique and, with some changes, could handle quite a few of my foes. What do you think?"

The response he received was predictably a rage-filled roar followed by a temporary increase in the strength of her attack before it settled back to its previous level. No matter what power Janus might be providing the matron of the Summers family, it was hastily gained and, from what he could tell, could only barely be controlled above instinct. There was no chance of someone like that defeating one who'd been honing his skills and gathering power for the pinnacle of prizes for those with the will to win it.

RING! RING!

"Would you pardon me a moment, my dear?" he sighed even as he used his magic to levitate the phone off of its cradle and over to his head. "Yes?"

"Is Ivan. Am sorry to say group one fail to kill target. Most apologizing," his contact in D&V Security Services replied, sounding professional yet a bit worried. "Target and allies… proved defiant. Will try again but… need more time."

Unexpected.

D&V Security services was a demonic mercenary organization that mostly operated on the west coast of America and he had used them before with satisfactory results. While it was true that some of them had hobbies that even he found distasteful, their success rate was sufficiently high that he had little reason to doubt that they could kill Slayer Summers. Even with her motley band of students and one senior librarian, he'd foreseen nothing more than a few lucky grazes before his plan proceeded as he desired it to. To hear that the first group had failed implied miscalculation, though whether it was on the part of him or on the part of the security operation was up for debate.

"Well, I must say that this is a rather unpleasant development, Ivan," he said with some chastisement in his tone. "Still, I'm understanding enough to realize that sometimes there's the occasional hiccup in carrying out a task. Make sure the next group is better prepared for any more unexpected defiance. I would hate to have to reconsider our… business relationship."

"Ivan understands. Ivan will lead group two PERSONALLY," Ivan said, rushing to apply reassurance to the situation. "This time will kill for sure."

"I feel more at ease already, Ivan," he said with fabricated praise. "Call me when you have confirmation of the target's death."

With nothing more to needing to be said he hung up the phone, returning his full attention to Missus Summers.

"It would seem that your eldest and her friends aren't as helpless as I'd expected them to be," he said, not showing any unease or concern. "Still, I wouldn't get my hopes up on lightning striking twice. Ivan's English might be less than perfect but his aptitude for killing is quite respectable. Perhaps you can take heart in the fact that your daughter fought against her fate to the very end."

KRSH! KIRSH!

No one was more surprised than him when two objects smashed through his office window, bounced twice on the floor before coming to a stop. He only had time enough to identify them oval objects constructed from a combination of brass, glass and clay before they exploded. Throwing up a light protective spell, he managed to protect himself from some damage but not all and, as misfortune would have it, he recognized the kind of pain he was feeling.

Blessed materials.

While not a new concept, it'd been a long time since someone had used an actual 'holy hand grenade' on him but, based on what he was feeling, the two that'd come through his window were a step above the older ones. Once the pain subsided enough, though, his arcane knowledge caused him to instantly look to the runes inscribed in the walls of his office. While usually requiring a more deliberate and experienced hand to affect them, the blessed shrapnel succeeded in destabilizing the magic he was using to suppress the bulk of Missus Summers' Halloween powers. Whether it was holy water or blessed silver, the materials were affecting the flow of magic from one rune to the next and it didn't take him long to feel an upswing in power coming from Missus Summers.

Still not beyond what he could handle, though he would have to reduce the level of casual banter he could perform since thinking up quality lines required focus.

That was why, when a metal bolt with a barbed arrowhead came through the shattered window with a rope tied to it, he could tell that some sanctimonious higher power was conspiring against him. This was only confirmed when a short form clad in a long coat, scarf and hat slid down the rope before dropping to the floor of his office.

It was only when the party crasher raised their head to reveal their face that he received a rather large surprise but not a worrying one.

"Well now, I must say I didn't expect the youngest Summers child to make an appearance," he said, bringing forth more power to deal with the elder Summers' partially restored power. "However I think that your mother should've worked harder to instill proper manners into you. It is only considered good manners to enter using the front door and to knock before entering a room."

"I think you're mistaken about a great many things, warlock," Dawn Summers or rather her transformed self said bringing forth a heavily customized crossbow. "I've never seen that hellfire demon before in my life and, while it is good manners to enter the right way, that only matters when it comes to people who deserve it and you're not one of them."

~Hmmmm… so not a case of a Dawn Summers who's lived a different life, but rather a completely different personality. Interesting,~ he thought. "Pardon me. Perhaps I did mistake you for someone else. Perhaps you'd care to introduce yourself before we get down to business."

"I suppose I can at least give you that much," Dawn Summers said with a partial salute with her crossbow. "I am Gabrielle Van Helsing, and I am your death, warlock!"

Not what he was expecting but at the same time it amused him that he would be fighting Janus' version of the famous adversary of Count Dracula himself. Would she prove to be no different from any other human demon hunter that stumbled upon his secret or would there be something MORE? If the youngest Summers was no better than those who'd tried to end him before then he would end it quickly enough. However, if there was something more to the girl before him, then perhaps he would gain some amusement from her before bringing both his assailants to death's door.

"Perhaps, but let's keep the odds a little more even, shall we?" he said before unlatching the 'cage' containing his 'pet'.

All at once the furthest wall of his office began to warp and change shape with licks of hellfire growing to form a crude volcanic cage. His 'pet' was something that a past foe had brought, thinking that it'd even the odds against him, and while it'd been amusing, he'd been swift to put its master down. He'd considered doing the same thing to the pet but instead had chosen to make it his own. That being said it wasn't one hundred percent obedient and occasionally needed to be 'reminded' who was in charge. It was due to this… momentary unreliability… that he only occasionally let it out of its cage and didn't hesitate to put it back in should it be necessary.

He wouldn't need it much longer, of course, so he felt it was only right to let it stretch its legs before it was reduced to nothing more than an appetizer.

Upon completion of the cage's appearance the front set of four bars melted away and out of it came what could best be described as a lizard of lava and stone. Growling with primal rage it looked like it might consider attacking him but a single raised eyebrow proved to be enough to make it abandon that idea.

"Have fun with your new chew toy," he said, nodding his head towards Missus Summers. "Don't say I never did anything nice for you."

Truthfully he didn't know how well his pet would fair against the elder Summers and her new form but he was confident that it'd last long enough for him to deal with the youngest Summers. Once the previous status quo was restored, hopefully she'd be worn down enough for him to end the fight so he could head home for the evening.

There was a baseball game being televised tonight that he could not afford to miss.

Baseball, after all, was one of the sports that made America great.