Tom Warner and his friend and fraternity brother, Richard sat in his father's study as their fathers poured them each a drink of sherry and handed the fancy crystal glasses to them.

"So you have two of the sacrifices for Machida?" Tom's father asked.

"Yep, two ripe little virgins. We're keeping them sedated. One of them, the cute little Kami, keeps fighting through it though and we keep having to redose her. This goes on too long and she could OD."

"Fortunately Friday night is the night of the sacrifice and that's just a few days away. We need one more though because Machida requires three virgins."

"We thought we had a third." Richard grumbled. "The girl I invited. Some time between when I invited her and when she showed up, she lost her virginity. So we need another."

"I have good news actually, Charles Chase, as in Mayor Chase, asked if his daughter Cordelia could attend one of your parties. I agreed. Maybe he's finally getting fed up with her dating that Harris trash. Don't understand why he put up with it for so long. Sure the kid's popular and a football player, but he has no breeding. But the girl's going to be 17 next month, time for her to start growing up and taking a look at quality."

"She's hot." Tom agreed. "It's too bad Machida requires the girl's be virgins before he eats them or I'd have some fun with her before handing her over to him."

"Well, he does, so keep your hands off her. And we might get a bonus too since she's bringing a friend. Friday boys, we honor Machida and our fortunes will again increase. Machida!"

"Machida!" The others echoed, raising their glasses in a toast to the demon they worshipped.

Friday night finally came but the fraternity brothers were both disappointed and annoyed when they met in a corner far from Cordelia Chase to mutter among themselves.

"She's not a virgin." Tom groused. "And worse, she brought Harris. I think they both might be considering attending Crestwood, they've asking about it and fraternities and sororities and classes and stuff."

"Like Harris could afford it." Richard scoffed.

"He could if Charles Chase for some insane reason actually approves of him dating Cordelia. He does kind of work for Mayor Chase, running errands and stuff from what I've heard. I don't get it, he comes from nothing, we're much better for her than he is."

"Not our problem." Tom reminded him. "We have to concentrate on getting another virgin for Machida."

"Well, I've spotted one. Look at the little bottle blond dancing over there." Richard, who personally preferred little blonds himself, pointed to a short, blond with obviously dyed hair. "I'll ask her to dance, she seems to be enjoying that and than I'll offer her a drink. Than we've got our three and we can make our offerings. Go get the others ready and chain them up in the chamber. In an hour we'll be making our offering."

The others left to do as he ordered and Richard made his way through the throng of people to the little blond and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Richard. Can I be totally honest and tell you I think you're beautiful? I saw you from the other side of the room and just had to meet you."

"Even if you're not being completely honest, I don't really care, it's still nice to hear. There's been a sad lack of anyone telling me that for several months now."

"Run of bad luck with guys?" He asked sympathetically.

"Unfortunately, yes. One even wanted to break into the morgue because he thought it would be a thrill. Not so much for me."

Richard pretended to shiver. "Same here. Well, I promise I have no interest in the morgue. But I am interested in dancing with you, if you're willing?"

"Sure, I enjoy dancing."

"Which is why you caught my eye, the way you're glowing because you're enjoying it. By the way, what's your name?"

"Buffy. And I know it's a weird name and I've never gotten a straight answer from my mother on why she named me that."

"You don't act like the kind of airhead a name like that implies." Richard assured her, smiling charmingly. Buffy grinned back somewhat ruefully as the two began to dance and continued talking as they did. Once the dance ended Richard made his move.

"You look hot, as in needing a cool down. How about we get a drink? Strictly pop, I promise, our charter forbids alcohol on the premises."

"That sounds great." Buffy agreed and followed him to the refreshment table where he poured a glass of pop and added ice from a small chest and handed it to her. Buffy gratefully sipped the cool, sweet pop and she and Richard kept talking. Right up until Buffy started feeling dizzy.

"Ooh," Buffy put a hand to her head. "is it just me or is it a little too hot in here? I'm feeling a little dizzy."

Looking concerned, Richard took the cup from her suddenly shaking hand and set it on the table. "Come on, let's step into the hall, it should be a little cooler out there. There are a lot of people in here and the AC sometimes has trouble keeping up with it." He gently led her out of the room.

Across the room Alex and Cordelia, who'd been keeping an eye on Buffy while asking questions, saw her being led out of the room and made their way to the refreshment table and Buffy's abandoned cup. They didn't even have to get close to it to smell something being wrong about it. Faces set, they made their way though the dancing partiers and into the hall. The empty hall, although it didn't take them more then a moment to catch Buffy's scent and follow it.