PART SEVEN

"This is great. Just like old times," Xander said, not sounding as
though all of them being together was "great" at all. "Gang's all
here. Question is - why are we all here? Thought we were done with
all that supernatural shit."
     Buffy watched Xander as he stared moodily into his drink - a
large scotch on the rocks. Not too many rocks though, Buffy had heard
Xander tell Giles; he didn't want the precious amber fluid to be
watered down and have its effect spoiled. He took a gulp, seemed
almost desperate to get the liquor inside of him. Looking at
Cordelia, Buffy saw an expression of concern shoot over her features.
Then the concern turned to irritation, as though Xander was partaking
of way too many scotches lately for her liking. Princess Cordelia had
no time for drunkenness, and usually she expressed this dislike
vociferously. Buffy wondered how long it would be before Cordelia's
famous sarcasm surfaced. She hoped it wouldn't surface here, because
an argument between Xander and Cordelia was not what any of them
needed.
     Although only a week or so had passed since Buffy and Willow had
last met up with Xander and Cordelia, Buffy could see that something
had happened to Xander. And it wasn't something good.
     He'd lost weight for a start. An apparently startling amount in
so short a time. His clothes hung off his tall frame, giving him a
somewhat half-starved appearance. Buffy knew that Cordelia wasn't
exactly into cooking - more often than not, Xander had to fend for
himself - but he'd always seemed to thrive. Now he seemed to be
fading away.
     Looks sick… Buffy thought, saw Willow nod as her thoughts were
heard and assimilated.
     Yeah. You think it has something to do with what Giles wants to
discuss with us?
     Willow's mental voice was slightly subdued, and Buffy thought
again how Willow was still worried about her encounter with the
Goddess; was still concerned that she had upset her divine guardian
in some way. 
     She was about to answer, when Giles began to speak.
     "I'm glad you could all make it," he began, apparently ill at
ease, somehow shifty. Unlike Giles, Buffy noted. Usually Giles, even
if he didn't know what they were dealing with, was open and
forthright. But then, they hadn't had to deal with anything too
threatening for a long time. Apart from the usual vampire slaying,
which Buffy mostly coped with alone, nothing big had occurred since
the closing of the Hellmouth. Perhaps he was just out of practise.
Well, they all were…
     "I've been looking into your dream, Buffy," Giles was saying,
glancing at Joyce, who gave him an encouraging smile, "and although
what you told me doesn't exactly fit with what I've learned, I think
the creatures in the dream were demons."
     "Yeah, well, I said they were, didn't I?" Buffy felt a kind of
relief settle over her; she knew she hadn't been mistaken. And if
they were demons, then she could do something about them. Like kill
them.
     "Thing is, Buffy, that they mean you no harm." Giles took off
his glasses, began cleaning them furiously, definitely uneasy now. A
faint flush stained his unusually pale cheeks.
     "Well, they're demons, aren't they? Of course they mean me
harm…" Buffy wondered why he was acting so cagey, almost guilty, as
though he had done something to be ashamed of. Giles' flush deepened,
and pressed the cleaning cloth so hard against his glasses, that
Buffy thought the pressure might break them. She saw her mother lay a
hand atop of Giles', and Giles sighed, stopped the action. Answered
Buffy's last query.
     "My research has led me to believe that these demons - who are
definitely female, by the way - only attack men."
     "Way cool demons," Cordelia said acidly, glaring at Xander, who
was still staring fixedly into the bottom of his glass, apparently
uncaring of what was being said. He appeared to be in a kind of
waking dream-state.
     "Cordelia, as ever, your remarks aren't helpful," Giles snapped,
and Buffy saw a small, nastily pleased smile curve Xander's mouth.
Knew that something was indeed badly wrong with her friends'
relationship. 
     "Well, excuse me, I'm sure. Maybe I'm not needed here," Cordelia
said.
     "No maybe about it," Xander muttered, causing a little thrill of
horror to pass through Buffy. 
     They're gonna have a fight, she told Willow, who nodded,
apparently resigned to the belief that everything that was going
wrong was her fault. Hey, Will, snap out of it…
     "I beg your pardon?" Cordelia said in response to Xander's jibe,
sounding shocked to the core. Xander looked over at her, eyes sunken
into dark pits in his unshaven face.
     "You heard," he said.
     "Hey, c'mon, this is hardly the time or the place…" Buffy began,
trying to defuse the situation, but neither Xander nor Cordelia
appeared to have heard her. Or didn't want to.
     "Why would I wanna be with a stuck-up, snobby bitch who…?"
Xander began, but got no further, because Cordelia stood abruptly,
leaned across and slapped his face hard. 
     "Oh, for God's sake," Giles muttered in disgust. "Stop this, you
two..."
     "Hey," Cordelia said, sounding beyond fury. "I'm stopping it
right now. I know when I'm not wanted."
     "Damn straight you're not," Xander replied. 
     "Xander!" But Giles' remonstration went unheeded, and Cordelia,
with a final furious glance at Xander, fled the room. A few seconds
later, the front door banged, indicating that Cordelia had left for
good.
     "Shouldn't you go after her?" Joyce, who had been sitting
quietly throughout all this, suggested. Xander sneered.
     "Let her go. I'm sick of her."
     "Xander, what's wrong?" Buffy asked, although she knew the whole
subject of his and Cordelia's relationship was completely off topic.
But how could she ignore her friend's pain? Especially when it had
been thrust in her face so forcefully. Xander pushed his glass in
Giles' direction, and Giles took it without a word, poured some more
scotch, although Buffy thought that Xander had had enough already.
     "She pisses me off," Xander said, sounding like a sulky child.
     "You don't say?" Giles remarked, handing Xander the glass. "But
this is hardly the time or place, Xander."
     Xander shrugged, as though he didn't care. Then he sighed, put
his head in his hands. Gently, Buffy took the glass from him, fearing
he might drop it, and then laid an arm across his shoulders. He smelt
somehow sour, not unwashed, but certainly unclean, as though all his
negative emotions had formed a kind of haze around his body.
     "Things that bad?" she asked. Heard Xander sigh deeply, and
although she couldn't see his face, she knew he was near tears.
Casting a troubled look at the others, she repeated the question.
     "Been bad for a long time," Xander admitted. 
     Buffy nodded; it was common knowledge that Xander and Cordelia
fought a lot, but no one had really thought they were hurting because
of it. Fighting was just the way Xander and Cordelia were together,
the way they'd always been. But Buffy sensed there was something else
wrong here. Something bigger than just a crumbling relationship that
had never really been right. But Xander, after a slight hesitation,
just shook his head.
     "Things've just got on top of me lately, that's all." He sat up
straighter, took the glass from Buffy's hand, drank from it. "Hey,
sorry, you guys. Shouldn't burden you with my problems, right?"
     "You're our friend," Xander," Willow said softly. "Of course you
should."
     "You gonna break up with Cordy?" Buffy said, thinking that this
would probably be best all round. Xander smiled that somehow nasty
smile again.
     "Yeah. Yeah, I reckon I just might. In fact, I reckon I just
have." He tipped the rest of the scotch down his throat. "So, Giles,
what's it all about?" 
     Giles cleared his throat, obviously wondering if he should try
to explain, or whether not to bother, so Buffy smiled encouragingly
at him.
     "Yeah, c'mon, Giles. We all obviously need to kick some demon
ass. Get rid of the tensions. So who are they?"
     "Have you heard of Lilith?" Giles said, and Buffy heard Willow
give a little gasp, at the same time remembered that name from
Willow's invocation.
     "Yeah, she's an aspect of the Mother Goddess," Buffy supplied,
because Willow had gone pale, and was looking down at her shaking
hands. She thought for the first time that maybe Willow was right to
feel afraid about what she'd done the other night. But Willow had
only been trying to help when she'd invoked the Goddess. The thought
that maybe she'd made things - whatever they were - worse, was an
unpleasant, somehow disloyal thought. But Buffy said nothing; it
wasn't her place to implicate Willow.
     "Dark aspect of the Goddess," Willow muttered. Giles frowned.
     "Yes, well, I don't know much about that," he said. "Wicca is
your speciality, Willow, not mine. But I do know that Lilith was
regarded as evil by the ancient Hebrews, and went down in legend as a
male-hating demon." He peered at Willow thoughtfully. "Of course,
Wicca was originally a primarily female thing…"
     "What are you trying to imply, Giles? That I'm a demon
worshipper?" Willow sounded upset."
     "No, don't be silly, Willow. I'm just saying that because Wicca
is a female orientated religion, it would be natural for its
followers to embrace female icons. Diana, Selene, for example, and
also Hecate and, I suppose, Lilith. Dark and light, as is all life."
     "So what are you saying?" Willow asked.
     "I'm not quite sure what I'm saying, except that I believe that
Buffy's dream is to do with Lilith, and my research has led me to
believe that she and her demon children, the Lilim, are in fact
beginning to attack males in this city at this time, for whatever
reason."
     "And what evidence do you have to back this up?" Buffy asked,
upset that Willow was upset, because how dare Giles imply that Willow
was somehow responsible for whatever was happening? Anyway, how could
Willow be responsible? Buffy had dreamed her dream before Willow had
invoked the Goddess…
     She noticed that Giles was flushed again, embarrassed. He
cleared his throat, glanced at Joyce, apparently for support, and
Buffy saw her mother nod.
     "I…er… was researching female demons in the library," he began,
and went on to tell them what had happened. 
     Buffy, listening to how Giles had apparently had an encounter
with a seductive demon, was alternatively shocked that her adopted
father had been almost attacked in a dream by an evil being, and
blackly amused that even the straight-laced Giles should be open to
such fantasies. But then, Giles was a married man now, and unless he
and her mother had a platonic relationship, then Giles would be a
regular participant in the pleasures of the flesh. Again, Buffy
decided she wasn't going to dwell on that aspect of his life. 
     "Okay," Buffy said slowly, trying to dispel the disturbing
images from her mind. "So you had a … dream… And you've found out
that Lilith doesn't like men. That she supposedly kills them in their
dreams like a female Freddie Kruger. What other evidence do you have?"
     "Well, I don't have any hard evidence…" Giles began, causing
Xander to snigger.
     "Seemed like you…"
     "Shut up, Xander," Giles said, sounding disgusted. "But when I
got home from researching, the headlines in the newspaper made me
think that maybe there was something going on. True, my dream could
have been triggered by what I'd read, but the unexplained deaths of
five male infants overnight in the maternity unit is highly
suspicious to me. I think we should certainly investigate further
into Lilith and her followers."
     Buffy nodded. Suddenly Pete Madison's death had taken on a whole
new meaning. And hadn't the Goddess said that her investigation would
help lead them to the truth? 
     "I've asked Ethan Rayne for help…"
     "That scumbag," Xander interrupted. "Why'd you ask him? You hate
the guy."
     " I asked him because he's about the only person I know who has
access to unlimited information. And because he owes me, and because
I have a lot of incriminating evidence against him that could get him
locked up for a long time." Giles smiled tightly. "He might well be a
scumbag, Xander, but he's a useful scumbag. Anyway, he should be able
to provide us with more information very soon. In the meantime, we
must carry on, and be extra vigilant."
     "Well, I'm investigating a dating agency tomorrow," Buffy said,
and went on to tell them her discoveries. She knew she really
shouldn't be disclosing what she'd learned - it was FBI classified
knowledge - but if there was something demonic happening, then
everyone had to know. "Could be just the thing female demons might
set up if they wanted to attract lonely men. Seems kinda out there,
but you never know, right?"
     "I feel bad," Willow said. And it all came tumbling out of her
mouth - how she'd invoked all aspects of the Goddess. How she
realised that she'd been offered the chance to think about what she
was doing, but hadn't. "It's like I gave Lilith permission to step up
her work, whatever that is. Like I made it all worse."
     "You can't know that, Will," Buffy said, but she thought it was
true, really.
     "If Lilith had decided to come to earth, to this city, then
these things would have happened anyway," Giles pointed out.
     "Yeah, maybe, but it would've been slower. I don't think we have
a lot of time, Giles. I think my invoking Lilith as part of the
Goddess has speeded things up. Given her more power."
     Silence as they all digested this disturbing theory. No one
seemed inclined to argue. 
     "Has anything… odd… happened to you, Xander?" Buffy asked. She
thought Xander hesitated before he answered, then he shook his head
emphatically.
     "No. Nothing."
     "You sure. No weird dreams? No…?"
     "Told you," Xander snapped. "Nothing. Why would any
self-respecting demon pick on me for their sexual pleasure? Or want
to give me any, for that matter? No-one else does." Another all-too
apparent dig at Cordelia.
     "Xander, I don't think this is about sex. I think it's about
domination. And killing males." Giles broke in, and he sounded
worried. Buffy didn't blame him. Giles had, after all, had an
encounter with one of these seductive, deadly creatures that very
afternoon. Who knew what would have happened if Giles hadn't come to
his senses in time?
     "Only one female demon in my life," Xander muttered, "and she's
just left."
     "You will let us know if anything like that happens, won't you?"
Buffy said.
     "Yeah, yeah," Xander said, and Buffy felt almost certain that he
wasn't being entirely truthful. But why would he lie if his life was
possibly in danger? Xander valued his life too much to want to risk
it. 
     "Well, that's about it," Giles said. "I've told you all I know.
But you should all be aware of what might be happening."
     "We'll be vigilant, Giles," Buffy promised.
     "Yeah," Willow added. "And I'll go home and try to contact the
Goddess again. See if she'll answer our questions. Maybe she'll take
it back. The dark aspect I mean. If that's what's happened."
      Willow stood, sounding happier now she thought she might be
able to help rather than be the partial cause of the problem. Buffy
held out her hands, and Willow took them, squeezed them.
     "Let's go then," Buffy said. "Who knows, with a bit of luck, we
might be able to end this tonight."

Of course, that was too much to hope for. Really, Buffy thought, as
Willow unsuccessfully tried to raise the Goddess a number of times,
they should have known better. Once evil had been invoked - even in
all innocence, as had happened here - it wasn't easily dismissed.
Apparently the Goddess had abandoned them, at least for now.
     Buffy stroked Willow's hair, laid an arm over her lover's
shoulders, and drew her close. Felt her crying against her; felt hot
tears soak into her T-shirt.
     "It'll be okay," she soothed, praying that she was right. "I
promise you, it'll be okay."
     "How can you promise that?" Willow whispered against Buffy's
breast. "The Goddess has deserted us, and it's all my fault."
     Buffy didn't quite know what to say to Willow's guilty words.
Part of her wanted to say that none of this was Willow's fault. The
other part - which prevented her from saying it - knew that Willow
was at least partially right. Maybe, if Willow had only invoked the
light side of the Goddess, the problem could have been solved before
demons started attacking Giles. And before five newborn males had
died, leaving devastated parents behind to mourn them. 
     But Buffy didn't say any of that. What point in upsetting
Willow, who was already so upset with herself?
     "C'mon, Will," she said, raising Willow's face to hers. "We've
been through worse than this, right?"
     Willow shrugged, looked for all the world like a deserted child
or a whipped puppy. 
     Adorable, Buffy thought, sending the thought out to Willow's
mind. You're so adorable… Saw a tiny, reluctant smile lift Willow's
mouth, causing both love and desire to flare in Buffy's heart. 
     "Look at what happened when I let Angel make love to me," Buffy
murmured, brushing Willow's mouth with hers. "He turned bad." Another
brush of the lips, more lingering. "At least you'll never turn bad on
me, Will. You're too pure. Still untouched, despite everything."
     Willow returned Buffy's kiss, deepened it.
     "I'm starting not to feel very pure," she said, winding her arms
around Buffy's neck, pulling her closer, closer still. 
     Buffy grinned in delight against Willow's open mouth. At last
she had helped Willow to emerge from her self-flagellating depression.
     "Show me how impure you're feeling, Will," Buffy murmured,
stroking Willow's hair, running her hands over her body, feeling the
flames of arousal flare higher until they burned out of control. Not
needing to make Willow feel better now. 
     Just needing…
     "Show me, Will," she repeated.
     And Willow did.

PART EIGHT

Buffy wasn't quite sure what to expect as she approached Dreams Fulfilled. Wasn't quite sure how to act either. She tried to tell herself that she was here on official FBI business, that she had every right to ask questions about the exotic sounding Eden Adams, but she felt nervous.

Part of the nervousness, she conceded, crossing the wide, tree lined road to the pale sandstone building in which Dreams Fulfilled was housed, was due to the thought that she might be entering a nest of demons. True, it seemed unlikely that demons would have set up a dating agency, but who knew? Especially after what the Goddess had told them - that her investigation would lead her to the truth. Was the truth, Buffy wondered, hidden here under the guise of help for lonely people?

One way to find out.

Dreams Fulfilled was on the first floor of the building, a very upmarket construction in the most upmarket part of Manhattan. Not a place that just anyone could afford, Buffy thought as she took the stairs. Why had Pete come here of all places? No disrespect to the dead, but Pete wasn't exactly over-classy. A perfectly nice guy, of course but…

Maybe, Buffy thought, coming to the glass doors of Dreams Fulfilled, Pete had just become tired of the kind of women he did have the opportunity to meet. Truthfully, the life he led didn't exactly bring him into contact with "nice" women. Whores, yes. Drug addicts, yes. Abused women with no respect for themselves, yes. Not many so-called "normal" women there. Thinking about it like that, Buffy could perhaps understand why Pete might have come here. Quality, after all, cost more. But the bigger part of Buffy's mind, fulfilled and happy as she was with Willow, felt a little sad that Pete had found it necessary to come to a dating agency at all, even an obviously exclusive one such as this.

Inside was a small, empty reception area with a few comfortable seats. In the corner, just across from the doors, an antique-style desk, behind which a young woman sat. She was talking animatedly into one of the two phones set upon it. Before her, a computer screen flickered.

The walls of the reception area were painted a relaxing shade of apricot, which gave a warm, welcoming feel to the place. Almost sedative, actually. Pot plants had been set around in profusion; some were in flower, giving the waiting area a semi- tropical atmosphere. The air smelled of some musky sweet perfume that was just understated enough not to be overpowering. Tasteful paintings of people in love decorated the walls - not too many, just enough to enhance the sense of warmth and, Buffy supposed, to remind people of why they came here. In the hope of finding true love. To have their dreams fulfilled, as the name of the agency suggested.

The girl behind the desk nodded at Buffy to acknowledge that she'd seen her, mouthed that she wouldn't be too long, then continued to speak into the phone. Buffy continued looking around. There were magazines neatly arranged on the obviously expensive glass and bronze coffee table. The latest editions of True Romance and Love's Promise, which were supposedly true accounts of true love stories, to name but two. Plus a few glossy society publications. Buffy wrinkled her nose. Did people really read this garbage? Apparently so, and even if they didn't, it was the kind of thing she supposed she might have expected in a dating agency waiting room. Not that she'd ever thought about it before…

"Hi, I'm Chantal. How may I help you?"

Ah, the girl was off the phone now, smiling a perfectly white smile in a perfectly made-up face. A highly presentable front for the agency, Buffy decided, wondering if the girl's perfection was perhaps surgically enhanced.

"I hope so," Buffy said, unimpressed. Chantal indeed! Most likely a glamorous name given especially to make her sound more attractive. "I'd like some information on your set-up here."

The girl's pleasant expression didn't falter at this somewhat direct approach; obviously well trained, she kept her whiter-than-white smile. Buffy half-expected to see a glint of diamond brilliance to fly out of the smile.

"Well, that might be a little difficult," Chantal's pretty little girl voice tinkled, aggravating Buffy even more.

"Oh?" Buffy queried. "Difficult, why?"

"Well, I assume you are looking for the perfect date, but I'm afraid to say you have come to the wrong place."

"This is a dating agency, isn't it? I mean, that's what it says in the Yellow Pages." Buffy decided not to pull her ID just yet. This was interesting in itself. In the wrong place?

A faint flush stained Chantal's porcelain cheeks. For the first time, Buffy felt that the girl was vaguely uneasy.

"Well, truth is, Dreams Fulfilled was first and foremost set up for lonely gentlemen. I'm afraid our advert in the Yellow Pages is rather misleading, but it was printed before it could be amended. At present, we only have women for men, not men for women." Chantal tapped her long, pale pink nails on the desk in mild irritation, expertly covering her unease. "I'm so sorry, but you've wasted your time, coming here. However, if you would like the address of a reputable agency for women, I can refer you to…"

"Sounds more like an… escort agency to me," Buffy observed. "You people running a racket here?"

Chantal looked horrified at the suggestion, and Buffy saw her composure falter for just a second before she once again arranged her features in that increasingly annoying smile.

"I can assure you that this is a perfectly legitimate operation," she protested.

Buffy decided it was time to use her official powers. Reaching inside her jacket, she pulled out her FBI identification, feeling a surge of power as she did so. Not an entirely pleasant feeling, the power she had. Different from her Slayer power, the authority the State gave her could be used almost like bullying, if she were to let it go to her head. Still the words came out of her mouth.

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm here on official business, so cut the nice crap and drop the party line, okay?"

Buffy grimaced to herself, thinking she sounded like a cliché of every cop she'd ever watched on TV. Of course, she wasn't a cop, but most people didn't really know the difference. And what was the difference, in truth? She was here to uphold the law, see if there was a crime - or worse - being committed here.

"I really don't think…" Chantal began, but Buffy interrupted.

"I guess you're not paid to think, right? Just to deliver what you've been told to say." Too aggressive? Buffy wondered. Oh, who gave a damn? "I'd like to speak to whoever's in charge here. I mean, it's not just you, a phone and a computer, right? You do have personal advisors?"

"Well, of course, but…"

"So call one for me and let me speak with them. I must warn you," Buffy continued, as Chantal seemed inclined to argue, "that obstructing a federal agent in the course of their work is a prosecutable offence."

After a second's pause, Chantal picked up a phone and punched a key. Mumbled a few words into the receiver. When she had replaced the receiver into its cradle, she turned to Buffy again. To give Chantal credit, Buffy noted that her smile was firmly back in place.

"Deanna will be out shortly."

Buffy nodded, prepared to wait. Within a few seconds, a door at the back of the reception area opened and a woman in her thirties came through it. Another flawless beauty, Buffy thought, feeling a return of the nervousness she'd felt when she'd approached the building. Then wondered why she felt nervous. She didn't get any demon vibes here, no scent of evil, just a kind of plasticised vision of beauty set up to attract lonely men who wanted a pretty package. Although Deanna wasn't really what she could call plasticised. Deanna was… She was seduction personified, if Buffy were to be scrupulously honest with herself.

"Ms Summers?" The woman - Deanna - enquired. Buffy pushed Deanna's attractiveness from her mind, held out her ID again.

"Agent Summers," she corrected, her tone harder than she'd intended. Deanna inclined her head in a gracious nod; the faintest smile tilted the full, scarlet painted lips.

"I understand you wish to speak with me about Dreams Fulfilled?"

"You got that right."

A cool, appraising look from cool blue eyes. Then another inclination of the dark, perfectly coifed head.

"If you'd like to follow me…" Deanna indicated that Buffy should follow her through the door, and Buffy did so, finding herself in a corridor, then through another door into an intimate office area. Again, the office was decorated in good taste, designed - Buffy might have said cynically designed - to put people at their ease. The heady fragrance of flowers hit her again - almost choked her this time, yet at the same time intoxicated her senses. Looking around, she saw out of season lilies and orchids in full-bloom placed in glass vases around the room.

"Nice set-up you got here," Buffy remarked, watching Deanna's face carefully. The woman smiled briefly again, allowing small white teeth to show.

"It works for us," she said smoothly. "So, Agent Summers, perhaps you would like to tell me why you are here?"

"I'm investigating a suspicious death," Buffy replied, coming straight to the point. No more fencing with words. No more haze in her head. "A federal agent has died and I found one of your agency cards in his apartment. A name was scrawled on the back. One Eden Adams. I'm here to get her address from you."

"I'm very much afraid that we can't break a client's confidentiality."

Buffy paused. She didn't get this set-up, not at all. This was supposed to be a dating agency, yet apparently no women were on their books - not looking for love anyway.

"I asked your receptionist, and now I'm asking you. Are you running a racket here?"

Deanna raised finely arched eyebrows.

"I don't know what you mean by racket..."

"Yeah, you do, but I'll say it differently. Are you running a high-class prostitute agency under the guise of a dating agency?"

"Absolutely not." Deanna spoke with such vehemence that Buffy was inclined to believe her, but was more confused.

"What then?"

Deanna gave her a long hard stare, and Buffy felt as though she'd been punched in the stomach. The woman really did have beautiful eyes… Eyes full of…

Buffy came back to herself, blinked, wondered what had just happened. Nothing just happened, she thought somewhat dreamily. Just went a little dizzy there. Again.

"Let me explain, Agent Summers," Deanna was saying. Buffy watched the woman's lips move, felt like running a finger across their shiny crimson fullness. Wondered what it would feel like to… "We do take female clients, but usually they are rich, or famous, or want their confidentiality protected. They pay us a lot of money so that they might be set up with suitable male…" A purse of the mouth as Deanna considered. "Companions," she finished, with a smile, and Buffy felt herself enveloped by the scent of exotic flowers again. Felt that almost-high roll through her, sending her mind half-soaring.

"So what about the men you accept as clients?" Buffy barely had the presence of mind to ask. A tiny frown passed across Deanna's brow as though she hadn't expected Buffy to make any more enquiries. As though she thought the inquisition - feeble though it had admittedly been - finished.

"As long as they are respectable, can afford to pay our fees, and respect the women's right to privacy, then we will accept them," Deanna said after the tiniest pause.

"And what about Eden Adams?" Buffy asked, barely hanging onto the reason she was here, although the temptation to stop asking questions and leave was almost too much. Or else, not leave but… Horrified, she understood she was almost unbearably attracted to this woman, Deanna, and it ruffled her composure terribly.

"Eden Adams is no one, Agent Summers," Deanna said silkily, and Buffy found herself caught by her eyes again, lost herself in them. "No-one and nothing. You know that, don't you?"

Buffy sighed, and for a few seconds she was back in her dreams and Deanna was saying that she could be great and…

"I know that," she repeated softly. Through hazed eyes she saw Deanna rise from her chair, saw her approach, took in a deep inhalation of lily-scented air.

"Then you can leave here and report back that your partner's death was undoubtedly suicide." A soft caress across Buffy's cheek, the trail of a red-painted, almost taloned fingernail down her face, leaving her dry-mouthed and wanting. "He took a gun, put it to his head, and, in a fit of unaccustomed depression, pulled the trigger."

Buffy was sure she hadn't mentioned the method of Pete Madison's death, or that he'd been her partner, or that the death was possibly suicide. Almost sure. Well, maybe she had. Because otherwise, Deanna wouldn't have known, would she?

"Yeah. I guess that's what happened after all," she murmured, all too aware of Deanna's mouth close to hers. Deanna drew back, leaving Buffy feeling empty and… unfulfilled.

"That is what happened, Agent Summers," Deanna whispered. "Now you may go."

Buffy stood on shaky legs, not too sure of what had just happened. Deanna had broken the eye contact, and all Buffy knew was that the answers she sought were not to be found here at Dreams Fulfilled. And that her brain felt somehow fogged, as though she was a little high on drugs.

"Thanks for your time," she muttered, and Deanna smiled brightly.

"No problem, Buffy," she said. "No problem."

Half an hour later saw Buffy sitting on a bench in Central Park, feeling shell-shocked and half-out of her mind with confusion. Not over Pete Madison's death - as far as she was concerned, that was indeed suicide, and Eden Adams was nothing to do with it. No, her confusion was over Deanna…

Deanna who? Buffy hadn't even registered a surname. Deanna who? Deanna… Deanna… Deanna…

The woman's name reverberated through her head, a song, a litany for a woman Buffy barely knew but now found herself completely obsessed by.

Although she was with Willow, another woman, in a physical, mental and spiritual relationship, Buffy had never really considered her sexuality … different. The word "lesbian" meant nothing to her as a personal label, and she'd never associated herself with the often vociferous groups of angry women she'd sometimes run across. Never associated Willow with them either. No, she and Willow loved each other; they were soul mates and Buffy knew enough to understand that souls knew no gender, race or creed. Souls loved souls, and that was what had happened with her and Willow. The physical side of it was an expression of heir bond; the only way bodies could show the love of the souls.

Before Willow, Buffy had never looked at a woman in that way. She'd had many boyfriends - notably Angel, although she guessed she couldn't truly call him a boyfriend. A lover, yes. A sworn enemy yes. But boyfriend didn't exactly describe what Angel had been to her. Too deep on all levels. Indeed, at one time, she'd thought him her soul-mate. And she'd been attracted to other guys since. Until Willow.

So no, Buffy didn't want to put a label on herself. But now she wasn't so sure. Deanna had called to her body, oh boy, had she called. A physical attraction so strong, her body had hurt with it. And Buffy still felt it now, saw Deanna's face in her mind. Could feel her call, could imagine how those lips would taste, how she could lick off that lip-gloss, how she could…

"Jesus!" Buffy exhaled loudly, causing passers-by to stare. What was going on with her? The thought that Deanna was indeed some kind of succubus crossed her mind, but again, she hadn't felt or scented demon there, just that scent of flowers. As far as her experience went, demons were never sweet scented. Perfumed with death. Excrement stenched. Sometimes the aroma of an opened grave. But never floral. Frankly, Buffy didn't know what to think, except that maybe she should start putting labels on herself. Maybe her true sexuality was only just coming out. If that was so, it was coming out in a big way.

Ha! Coming out. Very amusing. Not.

Or maybe she was bisexual. Maybe…

"Maybe nothing," she said aloud; apparently speaking to herself was the order of the day. Agitated, Buffy stood. Maybe she ought to seek out Giles. Wondered if he'd had the package from Ethan Rayne yet. Hoped so. Maybe there'd be some information about exotically perfumed demons.

But why bother, Buffy? Was that Deanna she heard? Why not accept it? Why not take what is offered to you?

"But what's offered to me?" she asked, causing more people to stare and laugh as they walked away. Laugh at the crazy blonde woman who talked to herself. There was no answer to her question, however. And the offer hadn't really been there, had it? It had just been a hangover from her dream talking to her confused mind.

She didn't fancy going back to her office. Didn't much fancy doing anything. Besides, time had flown by. Looking at her watch, Buffy realised she'd sat here nearly all afternoon, day-dreaming her time away. She supposed she should go home, because she felt fit for nothing anyway.

Back home, all was quiet. Willow wouldn't be home for a couple of hours or so. Sighing, Buffy decided to take a shower, wash the day away. That sounded like a very good idea.

Clean again, Buffy wandered through the apartment, restless and still unsettled. Haunted. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Deanna's face. Finally she acknowledged that something was happening to her, but it didn't feel like a something bad. Indeed, it felt like something good. Very good…

The scent of flowers enveloped her then, as though constantly thinking about it had finally caused it to crystallise into being.

She took a huge breath of flower-fragrant air then, closed her eyes as she inhaled. Kept them closed as she saw Deanna in her head again. Not only saw. Felt. Felt cool, yet hot, lips touch hers. Tasted the lip-gloss at last, luscious exotic fruits that Buffy had never tasted before. Felt small even white teeth sharp under her questing tongue. Took a huge gulp of air as though she were drowning. Hands like satin over her skin then, feather touch, sending her mind over the edge into the land of forbidden pleasures. Because this was not Willow, this was wrong… This was…

Buffy didn't care as ecstasy rose inside her, as she sank to the floor beneath her mind-consuming fantasy.

This was full of awe and wonder and mind-blowing rapture.

And Buffy, lost in its spell, could think of nothing else.

PART NINE

Submerged in the sleep of the terminally sated, Buffy tried to ignore the voice she heard calling to her. A voice she knew well, a voice she loved, a voice that normally would have torn through any barriers, flying straight to the heart of her soul.

But now - in her sense-drugged slumber - the voice came to her from a great distance, like someone calling across a sea of rolling fog. Easy to ignore. Easy just to drown in the dream-lake of blissful memory, which pulled her down into its depths like clutching water-weeds wrapped around her legs.

"Buffy… Buffy, wake up…"

I don't wanna wake up…

But the voice was becoming more insistent and ignoring it was becoming more difficult. Reluctantly, although she tried to resist, Buffy found herself breaking the spell and floating to the surface of her mind.

"Buffy, what's the matter with you?"

Hands on her now, shaking her, making Buffy gasp herself fully awake.

"What…?" she muttered, blinking against the urge to sleep again. Wanting only to feel that… unnatural desire that made her disinclined to be part of this world anymore.

"Are you sick, Buffy?"

Her vision swam in and out of focus, couldn't seem to settle on the pale face that hovered over her, or the red hair that brushed against her forehead. She felt as though she could still scent exotic flowers and breathed deeply, trying to recapture their heady fragrance. But the scent was gone, and along with it, the almost unbearable rapture she had experienced in her fantasy.

Was it a fantasy? Felt real…

Fully awake finally, Buffy managed to fix on Willow's anxious face, and seeing the deep, almost frightened concern there, burst into tears of confusion and… yes… shame, although she couldn't quite remember why she should feel shame. A dream shouldn't make a person feel ashamed, should it? And that's all it was, a dream of such intensity it had seemed real.

Felt real, too…

At once she felt the weight of Willow's body settle on the bed. Couldn't remember getting into bed herself. Last thing Buffy knew, she was on the floor. Now she felt gentle hands stroke over her sweat moistened hair.

"Buffy, are you sick?" Willow repeated the question, more frantically this time, as though she believed that Buffy truly had been struck down with some terrible, debilitating illness.

"No…" Buffy struggled to rise up against her pillows - which were also damp with sweat - and as she did so, the sheet covering her nude body fell away. She heard Willow moan in horror, then saw her eyes fill with a kind of disgusted disbelief.

"No wonder you couldn't wake up," Willow said; her voice was quavering. "You thought you could try and hide it from me, did you?"

Buffy shook her head, not understanding why Willow was looking at her as though she had committed a murder.

"I don't…"

"Look at yourself… It's… it's revolting…" Willow's voice broke, and Buffy looked down at herself. Realised why Willow was so shocked.

"Oh," she whimpered, looking at the host of small bruises that covered her normally flawless skin. Not bruises made by the violence of hurt, but the violence of love. Bruises caused by a kissing, sucking mouth, broken up by the small indents of teeth-marks. Love bites. On her breasts, her taut flat belly, the inside of her thighs… "Oh…"

"Yeah, oh," Willow choked out; she was standing now, her arms folded protectively across her chest, her whole posture screaming her sense of betrayal and pain.

"But I…" Buffy began, then stopped. "Not real…" Shook her head. It hadn't been real, the dream she'd had this afternoon. Only a fantasy, not even a fantasy really, because a fantasy was something you dreamed up in your waking mind to take it away from reality. Buffy loved her reality with Willow. She would never knowingly betray it. Besides, she hadn't had anyone here earlier. She'd gone to Dreams Fulfilled, discovered nothing, and come home again. "I wouldn't, Will… I love you."

Willow made a motion of negation with her head; her eyes were huge and filled with unshed tears, but Buffy knew they'd be shed soon enough.

"Will, you know me better than that," Buffy pleaded. "You know me, Will. Please, see into me, 'cause I can't remember what happened here?"

Willow shook her head again, made a strangled sound at the back of her throat.

"You've got… All over you…" she managed.

Buffy looked down at the bruises again, then wrapped the sheet tightly around her body.

"I can't blame you for thinking the worst, Will. If I were you, I guess I'd feel the same. But I haven't been unfaithful to you, I promise. Not…" Buffy hesitated, then decided that honesty was the only way to go if Willow were to even think of believing her. Of trusting her. "Not consciously, anyway. But… but I dreamed…"

"You dreamed?" Willow echoed. "You're trying to say these are dreamed-up love bites all over your body?" Sarcasm and scepticism simultaneously.

"No. No, the marks are real enough." Buffy was trying hard to hang onto her control. She wanted to get up and shake Willow, force her to see the truth - whatever that was. But the way of force was inappropriate here. She had to gentle Willow into seeing inside her. "But I don't think whatever made them was… Not physically real." An idea shone in her head and she was grateful for it. Something she should have remembered instantly, given how it had so recently happened. "Like Giles' experience in the library."

Willow's face changed then; her mouth opened; her eyes opened wider, and lost their self-righteous anger.

"A succubus?" she said, still sounding sceptical, but not so sarcastic, nor so aggrieved.

"I think so. Can't think what else could've done this."

"But… but succubi attack men. Not women."

"I think… I think I got too close, Will," Buffy said, and went on to tell Willow all that had happened that day, up until she left Dreams Fulfilled. "After that," she concluded, "it's all kind of a blur. No, not a blur, a blank. I thought… I thought Deanna coming here was a dream, but I guess… I guess it wasn't. I must've really pissed her off, getting so close. I guess she wanted to make me forget. And she did, temporarily."

Willow, Buffy was glad to see, had resumed her place on the bed, was staring at Buffy with shocked eyes.

"You think… you think that she and her other succubi were behind Pete's death? I mean, we have to assume there are more than one of them, don't we?"

"What else can I think?" Buffy replied. Willow shrugged; Buffy could see she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the explanation and who could blame her? "Will, please," Buffy said, putting a hand over Willow's. "Please see that I'd never hurt you? You're everything, Will. Please see?"

She felt Willow's hand grasp hers, interlocking the fingers, felt their eyes interlock too, felt the mind-connection that until now, Willow, in her pain, had resisted. Felt the truth flow between them; not really knowing the reality herself, but seeing it reflected at her from Willow's brain.

Coming into the apartment. Scenting jasmine, and orchids, and lilies and bougainvillaea, being overpowered by the luscious, almost sexual, odour. Then Deanna's voice in her fogged mind, whispering love-words, making her weak with wanting. The touch of lip to lip, hand to hand, skin to skin, breast to breast, thigh to thigh…

"Ooh…" Buffy whispered, feeling the sensations return again. Knew that Willow felt them too, because the sorceress's hands were in her still-moist hair, tangling there; their gaze was locked and unbreakable.

"Mmm…" Willow breathed in response. "I understand now. Not real but… Mmm… Irresistible…"

Willow's mouth on hers then, undeniably there now, not fantasy. Willow's tongue entwining with hers, awakening passion again. Willow's love, true and sincere, not a false face, false body.

"I believe you," Willow whispered. "I believe you… No one could've stopped it… I can't stop it now…"

More open-mouthed, panting kisses.

"Don't stop," Buffy breathed. "You mustn't stop…"

"It's giving into her…" Mouth to neck, suckling there, drawing the delicate of her throat between her seeking lips. Lower…

Buffy gasped louder…

Lower…

"You can do a protection later… Will. She's not here now… Just us…"

"Just us…" Willow repeated, her voice partially muffled against Buffy's skin. "Just us…"

And for now, they let their pure love purify them.

When Buffy woke from sleep this time, there was no sense of her mind being controlled or hazed. Making love with Willow had chased away the demons, at least for now. But Buffy knew they would return if they could. It was up to her and Willow to protect themselves, as they should have done in the first place. Remiss of them, that. They should have known from long experience that self-protection was the first rule of fighting evil. And, Buffy thought grimly, looking at the marks that still decorated her body, they were going to fight it.

"Hey, Will," Buffy said, shaking the still-sleeping Willow, watching as she woke. Loving that moment when Willow roused from sleep, like the dawning of the newborn sun.

"Hey, Buffy." A smile bright as the dawning sun too. Willow looked over at the bedside clock. "Wow, we slept the evening away."

"And now we've got to work the night away, Will. We've been lazy, letting evil get the upper hand. We gotta do something to head it off until we discover exactly what's going on."

Willow nodded slowly.

"Yeah, you're right, of course. But… but because the Goddess has decided to play no more part in this, it's up to me, right? To do the protections."

Buffy smiled, laid a hand over Willow's chest, above her heart.

"You've got the power, Will. Your heart, your soul, is… is pure. You may need the Goddess' help in some things, but not to protect us. Your love, concentrated, will do that."

Willow shrugged modestly, but Buffy knew she was pleased, and in turn, this pleased Buffy. The last thing she needed was Willow feeling inadequate when she had no need to.

"Okay," Willow said, giving Buffy a brief hug. "But you have to put your love into the protections too. You have your own power, Buffy. It'll come from both of us. Yeah?"

"I like that idea." Buffy grinned, feeling better now they were actually about to take positive action. "So what d'you have in mind?"

"I was thinking about maybe blessing personal items that mean a lot to us. Like… your cross, and the pentacle that I always wear. They mean something to us, and once they're imbued with power, they'll work for us. I mean, I know your cross works against vampires and all, but if I empower it, it'll work against these demons too. They won't be able to influence us." Willow sat up higher against the pillows, and Buffy was delighted to see that Willow was speaking with something like her old confidence again. "And not just us, Buffy. I mean, we should get something of Giles' too, and of Xander's. After all, Giles has already had one visitation and Xander… Don't know about Xander, but he sure doesn't look right to me."

Buffy nodded slowly.

"Yeah, he sure was acting weird before, Will. You think he's been got at?"

"He said he hadn't been. But he could've been lying. Or maybe he doesn't remember either."

"You don't suppose…" Buffy began, then shook her head. The idea was crazy. Then she said it anyway. "You don't suppose those two have been to Dreams Fulfilled, do you?"

"No way!"

"No, I know. Just crossed my mind for a second, that's all. I know Giles wouldn't do that - be unfaithful to my mother, I mean. And Xander… Well, he's just not the dating agency type, right? But…" A sigh. Buffy couldn't quite put into words what she wanted to know. But she tried. "Why would demons set up a dating agency, Will? I mean, they can infiltrate dreams, even the waking mind. Why do something like that? What do they want?"

But Willow had apparently run out of ideas.

"Don't know," she replied. "Let's just get these protections made, then we can try to find out."

Buffy made a couple of calls, first to Giles, who agreed that Willow's idea was something they should have thought of in the beginning. He promised to visit within the hour and give them a personal item to bless. Then she phoned Xander's apartment.

Perhaps surprisingly after the acrimonious parting of the previous evening, Cordelia answered the call. Frankly, Buffy hadn't expected her to still be there.

"Oh… Cordelia… Hi…"

"Buffy?" Judging from the slightly nasal, sniffling quality of Cordelia's tone, Buffy thought that she sounded as though she'd been crying.

"Uh… Yeah." Somehow, Cordelia's obvious distress had thrown her off course. "Uh… I wasn't expecting you to…"

"I know, I know. After my very public performance, right? You expected me to be gone?"

"Well, yeah. Kind of."

A deep, shuddery sigh from the end of the line.

"Buffy, I don't know what to do," Cordelia said, and Buffy noted that there was more than a little desperation in Cordelia's tone.

"About…?"

"About Xander, of course." A touch of the customary Cordelia curtness.

"Cordy, if you're unhappy with him you shouldn't be…"

"No… No, Buffy, you don't understand. Xander's real… sick, and I don't know what to do." Now Cordelia had broken down, and Buffy was glad that she'd made the call. But…

"Xander's sick?" she said. "If he's that sick, shouldn't he be in a hospital?"

"No… Not that kind of sickness… I can't… I can't talk about it over the phone, okay? Buffy, can you and Willow come over? Now? I don't know what to think, but I feel this is a soul-sickness. Not something medicine can cure." A pause, during which Buffy felt Cordelia's tension flow down the phone line. "I think it's something only magic can cure."

Buffy didn't hesitate, not for a second.

"Just have to make a quick call, then we'll be over. Stay calm, Cordy."

"I'll try."

Buffy replaced the receiver, picked it up again, called Giles' mobile phone. He had just started out on his journey, so Buffy told him to go to Xander's apartment instead. Then she explained to an ever-increasingly curious Willow what had happened to Xander.

"Knew there was something wrong," Willow remarked. "It's okay. We'll do the protections there, when we've seen Xander. Or come back and do them here after. I'll bring what we need anyway."

Fifteen minutes later, they were on their way. Neither Buffy nor Willow spoke; didn't seem much to say really, and they were both too worried about their friend to indulge in unnecessary chatter. Both women flew out of the car when they parked in the car park of Xander's apartment building, saw Giles just drawing up in his own clapped-out vehicle - he still insisted on driving something that looked as though it wasn't road worthy. Giles nodded tersely when he saw them, a sign that he was just as worried as they were. Still in silence, they took the elevator up to the twelfth floor.

Cordelia opened the door at once, as though she'd heard them coming. Or maybe felt them. Although Cordelia was cynical by nature, she did have a certain sixth sense that was remarkably accurate, when she let it be.

"Hi," she said, not even attempting a smile. Buffy saw how drawn she appeared, as though she'd not slept in the past twenty-four hours. Dark circles under her eyes marred the normally unblemished complexion. And, even worse, convincing Buffy that something truly bad had happened, she wore no make-up. Buffy couldn't recall the last time she'd seen Cordelia without make-up adorning her face.

"So where is he?" Buffy asked, coming straight to the point? Cordelia nodded in the direction of the bedroom.

"I… I… uh… wouldn't go in there, if I were you." Cordelia's pale features reddened in a blush that would have looked more at home on the face of an inexperienced, ignorant virgin.

"I think we have to go in there if we're gonna see what's wrong with him," Willow pointed out. "Cordelia, tell us what's happened? Buffy said that you told her you thought it was some kind of soul-sickness. What does that mean?"

"Okay… Last night, I had every intention of coming back here and packing up and leaving. I mean, I never wanted to see Xander again after what he said to me." Cordelia looked down at her hands. "I know I can be a bitch," she admitted. "I know I'm not easy to live with and… and I guess Xander's justified if he doesn't love me anymore. But hearing it aloud, in front of you guys, it was harsh."

Buffy could understand that. Normally a very proud person, Cordelia never could take a joke against herself, let alone tolerate an all-out insult. Xander's behaviour had been insulting, to say the least.

"Anyway, I was about to pack, then I just sat down and… and felt sorry for myself for a while. Didn't notice the time, until Xander came rolling in. When he saw me, he was abusive again. Called me all the names I guess he's got the right to call me. Then he took himself off to bed and… and that's when it started."

"What started?" Giles asked.

Cordelia's red blush became an unfetching shade of purple, and she began to peel the nail polish off her fingernails.

"Ah… the noises…" She stopped talking again; Buffy thought she sounded like she might well choke.

"Noises?" Buffy prompted.

"Like he was… I can't say it…. You know…"

"Vomiting? Having a stomach upset?"

"NO!" Cordelia wailed. "No, like he was… enjoying himself."

Buffy looked at Willow; Willow returned the look. Cordelia's meaning suddenly became crystal clear. Buffy tried not to smirk as Giles understood and took off his glasses, began to study and clean off non-existent particles from the gleaming, spotless lenses. Found it easy to keep a straight face, given what had happened to her that very afternoon.

"Well, yeah, okay. That was… insensitive of him…" Buffy began, feeling she had to say something, although her voice sounded over-loud in the embarrassed silence.

"That was what I thought," Cordelia agreed. "I mean, how could he even think about… about… pleasuring himself when we'd good as split up? Obviously, it meant nothing to him. So I… I went in the bedroom, meaning to… to have another argument, I guess, and… And there he was…"

"There he was, what?" Buffy asked, because Cordelia had faltered again.

"I… He wasn't… You know… He was… He was laying on the bed like… like he'd been crucified… Arms and legs… spread out… And… It was like… like there was another woman in there with him, because he was mumbling about how good she made him feel and… and… I… couldn't take that. He was awake but he was dreaming. That's how it seemed. And I just left him. Fled. But it's been going on ever since. I can see he's getting weaker but I can't rouse him. Nothing else exists for him. Except whatever's going on in his head."

"We know what this is," Buffy said at once.

"You do?" If it were possible to sound both relieved and sceptical at the same time, then that was how Cordelia sounded. "I mean, he's been acting weird the last couple of days but never anything like this before.

"We do," Willow affirmed, but to Buffy's relief, she didn't go into details, just the basics of what the succubi were and what they did.

"I know what it is too," Giles added. Then - bravely, Buffy decided: "I had a similar experience myself. But not so… intense…"

Cordelia stared at Giles for a long moment, then wrinkled her perfect nose.

"Eww!" she exclaimed. "Gross."

Giles smiled faintly.

"Gross," he repeated. "Quite."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Cordelia asked.

Buffy smiled.

"We're gonna go in there and kick its ass," she replied. "And then we're gonna find out what the hell's going on, and we're gonna put a stop to it."

PART TEN

"Should be me that goes in," Giles said after a few moments' consideration. His tone, Buffy noticed, was entirely lacking enthusiasm.

"Why, Giles?" she asked, saw Giles redden much as Cordelia had a few minutes before.

"Well, I… I… I'm a man…" he stammered.

"And that makes a difference because…?" Buffy asked. Giles shrugged, his discomfiture apparent.

"Buffy, if Xander is indeed… as Cordelia says, then he's likely to be… in some kind of… compromising position. I'm merely trying to save your sensitivities." He glanced at Cordelia. "He was… unclothed?"

Cordelia grimaced.

"Uh… yeah. Unclothed."

Giles turned back to Buffy.

"Buffy, Xander is your friend. Is that how you want to see him?"

Buffy thought about how a naked Xander might appear, decided that the idea held no appeal whatever. Saw a faint revulsion on Willow's face too.

"No, that's not how I want to see him," Buffy admitted. "But that thing in there with him is dangerous. It's sucking the life out of him. I don't think any of us can afford to come over all coy and swooning over this." She took a breath. "After all, it's not as though Will and me have never seen a naked man before. We can throw a blanket over him, or something, right?"

Giles made a face that appeared unconvinced.

"I suppose so."

"So it's cool then? We'll all go in." Silence for a second, then Willow spoke.

"But first it'll be a good idea to protect ourselves." A short pause. "And… How do we kill a succubus? Anyone know?"

No-one answered and Buffy sighed in irritation.

"Oh well, this is just great. No-one knows, right? Does the phrase "falling apart" spring to anyone else's mind? Because that's what we're doing here, you guys. We're falling apart. We've become complacent because we've had no real threats for the past couple years. We're not on form anymore..."

A loud moan from the bedroom stopped her sentence mid-flow.

"Oh, Hell," Cordelia muttered. "I can't take this any more." She appeared ready to bolt.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Enough talk. Will, we have to bless ourselves before we can go in there, or it might… tempt us too."

"And when we're in there, I'll do a banishing spell," Willow said. "It won't kill it, but it'll send it away. I hope."

"Giles, what've you brought us?" Buffy asked. "To bless, I mean?"

Giles took off his wedding ring, handed it to Willow.

"It's the only material thing I have that really means anything to me," he said, and for some reason, this brought tears to Buffy's eyes, that her mother's ring meant so much to him. She smiled through her tears, and spontaneously hugged Giles.

"Mom would be so happy you wanted to use that," she whispered, then let him go. Turned to Cordelia. "Cordy? What about you?"

"Me?" Cordelia said, finely arched eyebrows shooting into her forehead. "I don't need protecting."

"And why do you assume that?" Buffy asked.

Cordelia looked distinctly uncomfortable as she shuffled from foot to foot.

"Well, I… I'm not a man, right? And I'm not…" She flushed deeply as she looked from Buffy to Willow. "I'm not… like you two either," she said lamely. "So it can't tempt me, can it?"

Buffy forced herself to swallow her anger at this ignorant statement. She'd always known that Cordelia didn't entirely approve of her relationship with Willow, but Cordelia had never said outright that she thought that Buffy and Willow were anything other than normal, whatever that was. And now, it had pretty much been said, Buffy found herself feeling hurt by it. And judging by Willow's face, she knew that her soul-partner felt the same way. Upset and wounded. But, she reminded herself, it was only Cordelia, and Cordelia was well-known for her somewhat rigid, rather conservative views.

She can't help it, Buffy heard Willow say sadly. Let it go, Buffy. Let it go. We can't have animosity here, it'll hinder us.

Buffy nodded silently, then heard Giles speak in measured tones.

"Cordelia, your sex and sexual preferences don't come into it. A succubus is still a demon, and just because you may not find it attractive, that's not to say that it won't attack you in some other way. Now, do you want protection, or do you want to leave here?"

Another loud moan from the bedroom. Cordelia's red face paled.

"I'll stay," she muttered, and handed over the necklace she was wearing.

Willow took al the items and sat on the floor, motioned to the others to join her. When they were all sitting in a circle, Willow put her pentacle, Buffy's cross, Cordelia's necklace and Giles' wedding ring in the centre.

"Now, we should all join hands," Willow said. "We must all think of our personal item to be blessed in our own minds, and direct your thoughts to it that it will protect us. I will channel your thoughts and say a prayer. That way all our protective energies will be sent into the jewellery in the circle. Okay?"

The others assented, and Willow held out her hands. Buffy took one, Giles the other, and Cordelia joined hands with Buffy and Giles. The circle was complete.

"Okay, close your eyes, visualise your own… amulet and direct positive thoughts toward it," Willow said. Then she closed her own eyes. Buffy followed suit. Soon there was only the sound of slow, gentle breathing. No sound from the bedroom, a relief to all of them. Buffy tried not to think of the possibility that the succubus in there attacking Xander might have finally killed him.

"Spirit of Protection, hearken unto me," Willow began. Her voice was dreamy, and had a kind of commanding quality that Buffy had come to recognise as Willow's "power voice". "Spirit of Protection, we ask that you enter these things and bless them. This crucifix, the representation of Our Lord; this pentacle, the sigil of righteous magicks; this necklace that symbolises the love of our friend; and this ring that embodies this man's love. Spirit of Protection, cleanse, purify and empower them with your energies."

Buffy took a breath, then another, as she visualised her cross, and a kind of electrical power galvanised her, flowed through her, into Willow, who gasped as though she had been hit by some huge force. As indeed she had. Three more gasps from Willow as she took the energy produced by Cordelia and Giles, and then herself. Buffy felt her hands dropped abruptly, opened her eyes, saw that Willow had let go Giles' hand too, and was holding her hands out in the direction of the amassed objects on the floor. Within a few seconds, gold light emitted from Willow's fingertips, into each individual piece, which began to gleam in turn. Then to pulsate with the glowing radiance. After a few more words, which bound the power into the objects, Willow dropped her hands, opened her eyes.

"Done," she said, sounding triumphant. And, Buffy thought with a leap of gladness in her heart, confident once more that her abilities and her alliances hadn't entirely abandoned her.

They replaced their jewellery, and when Buffy picked up her cross, she felt ripples run through her. Knew that although the glow had faded from the metal, the power within it hadn't.

"So, we gonna do this thing?" she said. And the others nodded simultaneously. "Then let's go in."

Going through the door into the bedroom was maybe the hardest thing of all, because no-one knew what to expect. Buffy tried not to avert her eyes at the sight of a naked, sweating Xander, who was muttering almost incoherently under his breath. The words that Buffy did catch were enough to make her wish she hadn't, because they were said in a begging tone that totally degraded her friend and gave her an insight into the darker recesses of Xander's wildest fantasies, something she had no desire to know.

Giles moved first, grabbed the duvet, which had been kicked to the floor, and threw it over Xander. But instead of settling over Xander's body, it seemed to hang in the air. Cordelia gave a moan of disgust, and voiced the obvious.

"It's… uh… It's on top of him…"

"Yeah," Buffy said. Then she heard laughter that tinkled through her head like wind-chimes moved by a silent breeze. The duvet flattened itself out over Xander's body, and he lapsed into a semi-comatose condition.

"It's got off of him… Where is it?" Willow asked. The laughter seemed to come from all around them, and Buffy felt a cold wind whisk past her, making her shudder in disgust. And yet… And yet… It made her want, too. Judging by the others' faces - even Cordelia's - they felt the same way. Repulsed, yet the light of attraction was in their eyes.

Then, by the window, they watched as it - she - began to materialise. Beautiful, she was. Black as ebony, with a lean sinewy body, and long hair bound with what looked like hundreds of tiny beads. The body glistened with droplets of sweat that ran down through the hollow between full, black-nippled breasts. Down over the flat plain of her belly. Down…

The succubus licked full, plum coloured lips, then smiled enticingly.

"Would you like to play with me?" she purred; her voice held allure almost beyond temptation, and Buffy took in a huge inhalation of air as she replied.

"Go back to Hell," she managed, although the desire to touch this creature was almost unendurable.

"I haven't come from Hell, Slayer," the succubus whispered. "I come from the heaven of your own needs."

Her jet eyes surveyed the others, who were standing transfixed. Giles had broken into a sweat, Buffy noticed, and his eyes held a lust and yearning she had never, ever associated with her once-Watcher. Even the ultra-straight Cordelia wanted this creature. Buffy fervently hoped that their protections were strong enough. Because if they weren't…

"Go back." Willow repeated Buffy's command and the succubus's eyes fixed on her.

"Ah, the Great Sorceress. Not so great now, without your Goddess, who is also my Goddess. But my sisters and I could make you greater than before. You and your Slayer, Willow. Great for all eternity. Does that not appeal?" She ran her hands over her glistening body, caressing herself. "Does this not appeal? Do you not want to taste the fruit I offer you?"

"Jesus," Buffy heard Giles breathe into the following silence. His voice was ragged with longing. His whole body sagged, as though he was about to prostrate himself before this deadly being.

"Giles!" Buffy snapped. "Don't you dare crack up on us! Think of my mother!"

At once, Buffy saw Giles' wedding ring take on that glow again, and he shook his head, straightened up, thrust his left hand out toward the succubus and a stream of light poured out from his wedding ring, hitting the demon in the chest. The succubus hissed as she fell backward, then straightened up.

"A petty power," she murmured, snarling at Giles, demonic now, yet with that attraction remaining, almost undiminished. "And you will be one of the first to die, Englishman. One of the first amongst millions. As will he." She flung out an arm toward Xander, whose body jerked upward like he'd been electrocuted. "He is almost dead now, your friend. He was potent, but now he has little energy left to give me. Drained, of his seed and his life."

"NO!" Cordelia cried, and rushed forward toward the taunting demon, her necklace lustrous and pulsing with passion of her fury. Once more, a stream of light hit the succubus, once more she fell backward, harder this time. Buffy sensed that now was the time to finish this.

"Say the banishing spell," she screamed at Willow. "Giles, Cordy and I will continue to use the power of our amulets against her. She can be hurt."

Without hesitation, Willow began saying the words. As the incantation floated on the air, so Buffy concentrated her power through her cross, which gave out the now familiar light. Giles had closed his eyes against the demon, who was still being forced back by the strength of Cordelia's anger. More light filled the room, then more. Buffy heard the succubus begin to wail as the combined energy of spell and protective spirit slowly proved too much for her.

"You are banished," Willow shouted, "from entering this place again, and from ever harming the one you sought to kill. I banish you in the name of pure Love. Go. Go. Go!"

With a shriek that would raise the dead, the succubus dematerialised and vanished. Deep silence fell, and Buffy, expelling her breath in a huge sigh of relief, knew that the demon had gone back to wherever she'd come from. Gone, but not dead. It would take more than their amulets and a few words of a spell to kill her.

Crying, Cordelia ran to Xander. He was still laying as though pole-axed, and didn't respond to Cordelia's pleas that he wake up.

"Why isn't he coming round?" Cordelia sobbed. "She's gone now, that thing, so why hasn't he come back to us?"

Buffy went to Cordelia, laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Then wrinkled her nose, almost gagged at the heavy smell of sweat and sex that lingered over Xander like a fog. Looked at Xander. His breathing was uneven and rapid. Putting her hand against his wrist, she felt his heartbeat, faint and too fast by far. His face under the moisture-drenched hair was so pale it almost blended in with the white cotton pillowcase upon which his head lay.

"Cordy," Buffy said. "I think you should put in a 911 call. I think that if you don't, Xander will die."

Instant hysteria from Cordelia.

"He can't die!" she wailed. "He can't die. I love him."

From out of the corner of her eye, Buffy saw Giles go to the phone on the dresser, watched as he picked it up and dialled the number. Thanked God that at least he was thinking straight enough to take appropriate action.

"Cordy, pull yourself together," Buffy said, trying to stay calm, watching as Willow sat on the other side of the bed and took Xander's cold hand in hers, as though she were trying to inject life back to him.

Cordelia shrugged off Buffy's hand.

"I don't want to pull myself together!" she cried. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't been such a bitch to Xander all this time, he might not have been open to that… that thing's influence." A loud sob. "Oh, I'm sorry, Xander… Please don't die…"

She sank by the bedside and Buffy knew that trying to help Cordelia was pointless. And she half-supposed that maybe Cordelia had a point: she had been a bitch, always putting Xander down, always making him feel small. Not letting him know he was loved. Yeah, Buffy guessed Cordelia maybe deserved to suffer a little. But Giles apparently didn't share Buffy's opinion. Or if he did, he didn't express it now.

"Cordelia, that demon was too attractive to resist," he said, kneeling beside her, taking her free hand. "They all are. Even you felt some of it, didn't you?"

Cordelia raised tear-stained eyes to Giles's, shrugged, then nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." She gulped, wiped her face.

"Now, you've realised that you've treated Xander… badly," Giles continued. "And you're sorry for that, aren't you?"

"If I could only rouse him, I'd tell him just how sorry I am…" A loud sob. "But he might not want me anymore…"

There was a bang on the door, indicating that the paramedics had arrived. Buffy sprang up to answer, it, but she heard Giles's next words as she left the room.

"That's a risk you'll have to take. If he lives."

An hour later, Buffy and Willow were sitting drinking hot chocolate at Joyce and Giles's home. Xander had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital he'd been taken to, his condition having suddenly worsened in the ambulance due to what the doctors called a Fever of Unknown Origin. Cordelia was still with him, refused to leave him side. Buffy and Willow had gone home with Giles, and had related to Joyce what had happened. Joyce had sat rigidly, listening in horrified silence.

"Rupert," she said sharply when the story was told, "I want you to stay out of this from now on. It's too… dangerous for you to be involved."

Giles put his empty mug down on the coffee table, faced Joyce and shook his head.

"I can't do that, Joyce," he replied. "Buffy and Willow can't face these things on their own."

"But they… they… want to destroy you…" Joyce pointed out.

"Mom, the demon said that Giles would be one amongst millions who died. I know it's hard…" Buffy felt tears prick her eyes. "You… you've been like a father to me, Giles, you know that. I love you like you're my father. But," back to her mother, "he has to help us. We don't know why these demons are here. Giles can help us figure it out, and help us figure out how to stop them too."

"Buffy's right, Joyce," Giles said, taking Joyce's hands in his. "I can't risk the lives of millions just because it's dangerous to me. Besides, we're used to this sort of thing. End of the world and all that. I've faced it before and came out of it. A little scarred perhaps, but all right. You know that."

"I wasn't married to you then," Joyce pointed out. "You were just Buffy's Watcher the last time there was any big threat. And I really don't want you to do this, whatever it is. Come to that, I don't want Buffy or Willow involved in it either, but I have to accept that this is their calling."

Giles withdrew his hands from Joyce's, looked at her with a steely gaze.

"My calling too," he replied. "Never forget that, Joyce. I was born to Watch, and even if there is no official Watcher's Council now, I cannot shirk my duty to my charge. My daughter in all but blood. So I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed, because I have to be involved. Even putting aside my own destiny, I refuse to allow Buffy and Willow to go into this alone. Now, you can either support me on this, or else…"

"Or else what, Rupert?" Joyce's voice was cold and Buffy felt a kind of low horror run through her. But Giles didn't reply, merely stared at Joyce until she dropped her gaze and stood, with a sob, to run from the room.

"Giles, you gotta go after her," Buffy pleaded. "She's hurting. She's afraid."

Giles sighed, nodded. Stood.

"I'll talk to her," he reassured Buffy. "But I can't back down on this, you do know that, don't you?"

For a moment, Buffy didn't reply. Then she nodded, knowing that destiny was deciding this, and that no-one could fight destiny.

"I know that, Giles," she said. "Yeah, I know that."

PART ELEVEN

"Should we be doing this, d'you think?" Willow asked. Hidden in the shadows of the building's deep entrance porch, Buffy looked into her lover's face and nodded unsmilingly.

"What do you reckon, Will? You think we should turn around and go home again?"

Willow shifted from foot to foot, thoroughly unsettled.

"Well, nooo… I guess not. I don't know, Buffy. This is… illegal, right?"

This time when Buffy nodded, her face was wreathed in a sardonic smile.

"Yeah, breaking and entering usually is. But…" She fished in her pockets, produced her Agency ID and a permit to search. Forged, of course, by Willow magic just over an hour ago. "Anyone asks, we got these, right? But there's no night watchman here. C'mon, Will, where's your backbone? You were okay about this before."

"That was earlier. Seemed like a good idea then. I mean, we were all fired up about Xander and all. But it's like… three am now… And here we are, lurking about." Buffy heard Willow sigh again, then saw her face set, become resolved. "Oh hell, we're here now. Let's go for it. But I just hope those demons aren't around. It's a little late for a full-on fight."

Buffy let herself sigh with relief. If Willow had been determined to change her mind, she knew she couldn't have forced her to go inside. But as ever, Willow's bravery and curiosity had finally come through. As Buffy should have known it would.

"That's my girl," Buffy whispered. She leaned in toward Willow and the two shared a swift, but intense kiss. "Do your magic now, Will," she urged. "Get us inside."

Willow nodded.

"Got to override the building's security systems first. You can bet that if I try messing with the locks, the alarms'll go off and we'll have the local cops here. Don't want that, right?"

"Right," Buffy echoed.

Willow reached into her holdall, brought out her new state-of-the-art palm-top computer, logged onto the Internet, brought up the building's mainframe computer using codes that Buffy had no hope of understanding and didn't even bother trying to anymore. Earlier, just after they'd left Giles' house, Willow had tried to access the main computer for Dreams Fulfilled, but it had been inaccessible. Possibly - even probably - it had been magically protected. So instead, Willow had found the building in which the dating agency was housed in, located that system, saving the site address in her "Favourites" file.

"Okay, here we go," Buffy heard her mutter, heard the click of fingernails on the keys. Heard a few curse words that made Buffy laugh under her breath, because Willow didn't like to swear, and coming from her, the words were incongruous, somehow even more dirty. Then, after a few more moments: "Got it! Yay! Systems… OFF!"

"Clever girl," murmured Buffy, full of awe at her lover's adeptness and quick mind.

"It was nothing," Willow replied with mock-modesty. "Now, to get in." A few more clicks on the keyboard. "Ha! Child's play! Push the door, Buffy." Smugness now. "I think you'll find it'll open."

Buffy did so, marvelling as the front door slid open smoothly. Once inside, she hugged Willow again, allowing herself to relax a little for the first time since the decision to come here under the cover of night had been made.

"You're a genius, Will," she said, and Willow looked pleased.

"I know," Willow replied, and in the dimly-lit silence of the entrance hall, they both giggled like teenage girls. Tension reasserting itself, Buffy thought. Certainly on her part, the relaxation hadn't lasted long; now she felt warily alert. Because getting in had been the easy part, she guessed. If there were demons in this building, getting out would be hard.

Still, they'd come armed this time. Buffy had her FBI issue revolver, plus a short, curved sword in case bullets were no use against the succubi. Willow had charged a crystal wand, which would emit a high-charge beam of pure spirit. Enough to blow anything away, said with the correct words of power. Really, they should have taken them to Cordelia's earlier, but they'd been kind of rushed. Besides, they hadn't known that Xander was under sexual attack by irresistible but lethal beings then.

Hand in hand, they took the stairs to the floor where Dreams Fulfilled was housed. Buffy stopped outside the frosted glass doors.

"No lights on," she observed.

"Doesn't mean no-one's here though. Succubi might like dark places. All the better to seduce…"

"Assault their innocent victims, more like." Buffy sighed. "What's their agenda, though, Will? That's what I don't understand."

"What agenda do all demons have?" Willow countered. "To bring about the end of the world, right?"

"I don't know, Will. This feels different. I mean, before, they've always tried to kill us, right? But this time… This time they wanna honour us. That's what's different. So why?"

"Well, we're not gonna find out unless we go in here," Willow pointed out. "So let's go."

Once through the doors, Buffy stopped. Gaped. Swore under her breath.

"Bitches're gone." She looked around the now bare office space. There were no chairs, no desk, no computer. Even the coffee table with its tacky magazines were gone, as were the pictures that had adorned the wall, along with the potted plants. Only the brief scent of flowers lingered, as though mocking them. "Goddam it!"

"I guess they thought we were getting too close," Willow offered.

"But they want us to get close…"

"Not this kind of close, I guess. They… they must want us to go to them on their terms, not on ours. Because… Because if they'd left their computers here, whatever, and they'd contained evidence of… whatever they've been up to, then… I don't know…" Willow seemed to be groping for ideas, or at least the words with which to express them. "I guess us having their records and suchlike would've been too official or something."

"Maybe."

"Let's check out back."

Buffy looked at Willow, grimaced.

"Any point, Will? I expect they've cleared out the offices too."

"Yeah, I expect they have. But you never know, right? They might have left something behind."

"Okay. But it'll be a waste of time."

Willow tutted.

"I bet that's not what you were taught in your training, right?" she said. "In fact, I bet your instructors would scold you if they could hear you say that looking back there would be a waste of time. Overlooking evidence and the like. Not making a thorough investigation…"

"Shut up, Will," Buffy said, but she was laughing through her mild irritation because she knew that Willow was right. Not thoroughly investigating all the possibilities was a cardinal sin in the eyes of the Agency. Almost a dismissable offence.

They searched the offices - three in all - one by one. Two showed the same barrenness as the outer office. In the third, sitting on the burgundy carpet, a small, ornately engraved box. Next to it, an envelope with "The Slayer and The Sorceress" inscribed on it in black calligraphic writing.

"Score," Buffy murmured. "You were right, Will."

"Naturally," Willow said. "Aren't I always?"

Together, Buffy and Willow knelt to read the contents of the envelope, a beautifully scripted note on handmade parchment.

"For obvious reasons, Dreams Fulfilled has had to cease business," the note told them. "But our main business here has not been completed. You, Slayer, and your Sorceress, are important to us. And, we believe, we can be important to you too. The box you now see before you holds the key to our dimension. Dare you enter it?"

Buffy blew air slowly from between pursed lips.

"Sounds like a challenge to me, Will," she said. Willow, she saw, was staring fixedly at the box.

"Key to their dimension," Willow breathed. "We gonna dare, Buffy?"

"What do you think?"

"I think, yeah. But not here, Buffy. We have to prepare first, and I think we should tell Giles too. See if he has any ideas. Maybe he's seen this box before. We shouldn't open it until we know what we're getting into."

"Yeah, you're right, Will. Not here. I'll call Giles. Tell him what we've got. But I have a feeling he'll be as much in the dark as we are."

Pulling out her mobile phone, Buffy did that. On the other end, Giles sounded both excited and afraid.

"Mom's not gonna like this," Buffy reminded him. She heard Giles exhale down the phone line.

"Perhaps not," Giles said. "But she's going to have to accept it. Besides…" Now Buffy heard a definite thrill in his voice. "It's been a long time since we fought together. In a strange way, I've missed it."

"Well, I hope you're not disappointed," Buffy said. "Be at our place in thirty minutes. Bring your books on magical artefacts - especially boxes."

"Boxes? Right. See you then." Giles broke the connection, leaving Buffy with the hum of an empty line.

"Well, he sounded… pleased. I hope mom doesn't give him too much of a hard time. Don't want another divorce…"

"We'll worry about your mom later, Buffy," Willow said. "But first we have to see what these demons want."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Buffy stood. "So, let's go find out."

Three hours later, in the early morning light of Buffy and Willow's apartment, they still hadn't found out. Leafing through Giles' many volumes on ancient occult artefacts had proven pretty much useless. Once or twice, they'd seen a similar-looking box, only to discover on closer inspection that one or other detail was subtly different. The only connection between all these boxes was that they were all made by demons. But the trio had already guessed that much.

"You know, I don't think we're going to know exactly what this is until we open it," Buffy said, holding the little box in her hands, watching sunlight glint off the silver-coloured metal inlay. Metal inlay that showed weird and wonderful scenes of a land they hadn't managed to identify. No doubt the land which somehow lay within the box.

"But we don't really want to risk it until we know what it does, do we?" Giles asked; he appeared, Buffy thought, very tired. And he looked older too; funny how she hadn't noticed that before. Of course, he was older than he had been in Sunnydale. Weren't they all? But a few years on being twenty was different from a few years on being in your mid-forties. How old was Giles now? Fifty. Maybe too old to deal with this shit. Especially now he was out of practice. Maybe he was no use to them anymore? Past his sell-by date…?

Buffy frowned. That wasn't right, thinking about Giles in such a derogatory way. Giles was still vital, and even if he wasn't so fit physically, mentally he hadn't slowed down in any way. What was she doing? How insulting of her.

"I wish Ethan Rayne would hurry up with those books he promised me," Giles was saying. "I expect we'd find have information on this box then..."

"Yeah, well, he hasn't come through, has he?" Buffy snapped, causing Giles to stare in surprise at her abrupt tone. "He never was one to keep his promises. Such as they were. He'll be one of the first to…"

Buffy stopped, frowned. Once again, wondered what the hell she was thinking of. For a second there, she had been about to… Another frown… She couldn't remember exactly what she had been about to say. But she knew it was something to do with killing and death. Uneasily, she looked at Willow, then at Giles, who were watching her warily.

"I don't like this box," she said, putting it down - almost dropping it in her sudden desire to be rid of it. "I think it's capable of influencing minds."

"You do?" Giles queried. "How so?"

"Don't know," Buffy mumbled. "But when I was touching I felt kinda… hostile."

"Toward me?" Giles said. Buffy nodded, ashamed.

"Yeah. Not toward Will. Just you. Oh, and Ethan Rayne of course. But that's not really a new concept, is it? We all feel hostile toward him." Her face coloured. "But not murderous hostile…"

"Interesting," Giles said, bending toward the box, taking it in his hands, twirling it round and round. "I feel no hostility."

"Maybe it's a woman thing," Willow said, holding out her hands for Giles to put the box into. "But I didn't notice anything the last time I held it." She closed her eyes, trying to "feel" the antagonistic vibrations Buffy had felt. Shook her head. "No, I don't feel it."

Buffy scowled.

"Guess you're just too pure and innocent, Will," she muttered, not really meaning it, but feeling worried that she had been singled out in some way by the box. But how could a box pick on a person? Boxes weren't sentient beings. Were they? "I think we should just open the damned thing."

"And what if we just open the damned thing and all hell's let loose?" Willow cautioned. "I've seen "Hellraiser", you know. I know that pretty little boxes can lead to terrible danger."

"Yeah, well that's the point, Will. We know that the answer to the question lies inside. It was left for us to open, to discover. That's what the note said. And all we're doing is sitting around on our asses talking about what we should or shouldn't do. I say we should act. We've done enough talking and I'm bored of going round in circles with this."

Willow sighed. Buffy watched as she placed the box back on the floor and went to the window, where she stared out at the cityscape. Looked at Willow's slim form silhouetted against the light. Knew that Willow wanted to take action too, but was afraid. Of course, she was right to be afraid. Who knew what would happen once they took the final step of opening the box? But without the relevant information, Buffy knew they had to take the risk. And besides, wasn't the idea… intriguing? Exciting? Almost desperately fascinating?

Buffy guessed the box was still influencing her thinking in that it was making itself attractive to her. Urging her on to cross over into the as yet unknown. And she knew that the succubi wanted them to go in, for whatever reason of their own. Otherwise they wouldn't have left the box for them to find. But Buffy had the majority of her mind to herself, and she thought that the female demons really didn't understand what they were fighting either. Didn't really understand the combined awakened power of the Slayer and the Great Sorceress. She and Willow would show them their combined power and…

"Hey, Buffy, Giles, listen to this…"

Willow had gone from her place by the window, over to the television, switched it on. Was watching the programme - a news item - that was flashing over the screen. All of the young boys - thirty in number - in one of the city's detention centres had died suddenly and inexplicably overnight.

"Doctors have quarantined the area," the reporter - a woman of around thirty - was saying into her microphone, "in case of communicable disease, but the first reports are that these deaths appear to be Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, similar to cot death in infants. None of the boys were reported as ill yesterday. Strangely, perhaps, all of the female detainees are unaffected…"

Willow switched off the television quickly. She looked pale, and Buffy noticed that her hands were shaking a little. Giles had his face in his hands, was rubbing them over his eyes, as though he was finally exhausted by the whole thing.

"All those young boys," Willow whispered. Buffy nodded.

"It's a sign, right?" she said. "I mean, we've been sitting here half the night, talking, and now all those boys are dead. And I think we know what killed them, don't we? And I think we're seeing the pattern here."

"Male deaths." Willow supplied the answer. "Succubi hate men because Lilith, their Queen, considered herself insulted by Adam, by God Himself. Now that hate has finally come to a head and they're killing young men here in this city. And maybe other cities too…"

The telephone rang. To Buffy's ears, it had the sound of extreme urgency and she ran to answer it.

"Yeah?" For a moment, she heard nothing but muffled sounds. "Yeah? Who is this?" she snapped impatiently; she didn't have time for stupid prank calls.

"Buffy… It's Cordelia…" More muffled sounds. Buffy knew suddenly that Cordelia was weeping and felt a thud in her chest similar to a knife-thrust.

"Cordy…?" Dread in her heart.

"I don't know…" Cordelia seemed incapable of stringing the words together to form a proper sentence. "I… Xander…"

"Cordy, what's happened? Has he gotten worse?"

A full-fledged sob now.

"He's… I can't even say it… He… he died…"

Buffy felt the knife twist in her heart and she heard a choked cry emerge from her own throat.

"No way," she whimpered. "No way…"

From out of the corner of her eye, Buffy saw Willow sag into a chair as she gathered from the conversation what had happened to her dearest friend. The friend she had loved since childhood. Saw Giles go to Willow, put his arms around her.

"When?" Buffy managed to ask.

"About… about fifteen minutes ago. Buffy… What am I gonna do?"

But Buffy could only shake her head and replace the receiver, unable to offer even basic words of comfort to the stricken Cordelia.

For a long time, Buffy just stared and stared at the phone. Cordelia didn't call back, and Buffy could only hope that she had someone with her to take care of her. Because Buffy didn't feel capable of taking care of anyone right now. Eventually, when she had herself under some kind of control, she picked up the receiver and phoned her mother, told a shocked Joyce what happened.

"Go to the hospital, mom. Please? I don't know if Cordelia has any support there and we… we have things to do here… Things we should've done days ago…" Forgetting that they hadn't had the means until just a few hours ago. She heard Joyce protest, but hung up on her. Knew that Joyce would have no choice but to go to Cordelia, because Joyce couldn't ignore another person's pain.

Buffy went to the still-sobbing Willow, held her hands.

"You know we have to go in now, don't you?" she murmured. "You know that we have to at least try and fight these things?"

Willow shook her head.

"I can't think clearly, Buffy," she said between bouts of weeping. "Oh, God, poor Xander." She raised red-rimmed eyes to Buffy's, then Giles's. "Could we have stopped all this death?" she asked. Neither Buffy nor Giles answered that question. There was no answer that could satisfy.

"We can stop others though," Buffy said. "Will, between us we can prevent more young men from dying. But..." She swallowed her own sorrow. "But we have to be strong together, Will."

"I can't be strong… Xander just died…"

"And you know why and you don't want to make those who killed him pay? You saw what killed him, Will. Don't you want to destroy it?" Ah, vengeance, Buffy thought. Sweet, sweet vengeance. "This is really personal now, Will. And if you don't - can't - help me now, then I'm gonna open the box and take what happens alone. No matter what it is."

Emotional blackmail. Hitting Willow when she was at her lowest. But Hell, Buffy felt Xander's death too. He'd been her friend too. Seen her through bad times. Terrible times. She would miss his friendly, open face. Would miss his smile. His wisecracks, terrible though they were sometimes, had always made her laugh. She'd never laugh at him again now he'd been murdered. His death would leave a huge hole in her heart, and she knew she couldn't even begin to fill it until she had at least tried to avenge him.

"Okay," Willow said. Her voice shook, but was under control at last. "Okay, Buffy, you're right. We have to go in now."

"Yeah." Buffy picked up the box, made to twist it around so it would come open, but Willow took the box from her.

"Wait until the apartment is sealed," she said. "If there is something terrible that will spiral out of control in here, then I can't let it escape the confines of this apartment." Willow turned to look at Giles. "If you want to go, then go. Because you don't have to risk your life. We do."

"I'm staying," Giles said with a shake of his head. Buffy flung herself into his arms, almost knocking him over.

"If anything happened to you too, I couldn't bear it," she told him. But Giles just shook his head again.

"I'm staying," he repeated. "And Willow's right. We must seal up this apartment so the power doesn't escape. But Buffy, you don't know what you're fighting yet. Or at least, not how to fight it. Are you certain that this is the right thing to do? We could still wait for Ethan's books…"

"No!" Buffy snapped. "No more waiting. This is right. We'll know what to do when the time comes. This is how it's meant to be."

"I agree with Buffy," Willow said. "Fate. Destiny. That's what this is, and this is what we're meant to do. So we should do it."

For the next hour they magically sealed the apartment so that nothing could escape it. Of course, if they were swallowed into the demons' land forever, then they couldn't prevent the ultimate course of events. But that didn't stop them from taking all the precautions they could.

Finally, when Willow and Giles had said all the spells, made all the signs, placed all the protections, Buffy took up the box once more and prepare to open it.

"Here we go," she said.

And began to twist it open.

PART TWELVE

In awe they watched as the box, once it had been manipulated in the correct way, seemed to jump out of Buffy's hands to land face-up on the floor. The metal inlay on the box began to project out and pale pink light began to emit from the cracks that were forming between the inlay and the wood. Soft music made by instruments unknown to man rose up in synchronicity with the light, melodious whispering voices sang along to it, accompanying the notes in perfect harmony. Then the box simply sprang apart, to be replaced by a hole in the apartment floor. The pale pink light became crystalline, almost blinding, and the music, the voices, rose up to become a crescendo of sound.

Buffy stared down into the hole, saw that it was in fact a descending flight of steps leading steeply downward, so far that she couldn't see the bottom.

"No doubt about where we should go, then," she observed, more to herself than the others, who also stood looking down into the shaft, dumbfounded into silence.

"It's beautiful," Willow breathed when she could find her voice. "The colour, the voices, the music… So beautiful…"

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "But it's a demon realm, Will. Don't doubt it. Don't forget it. Looks beautiful to… to enthral us… Mustn't be fooled into thinking anything else or we'll be lost."

"But we still have to go in, right? Now we've opened it up, we can't avoid it." Willow frowned, blinked. "Don't wanna avoid it."

Buffy tore her eyes from the rose-pink light, which seemed to be hypnotising her even as she was warning Willow. Looked in Giles' direction, saw the same fixation on his face as she'd seen on Willow's, which was no doubt etched all over her own too.

"Giles, what d'you make of it?"

But Giles didn't answer, just stood fixed and still at the edge of the staircase, his stance indicating that he was ready to descend blindly and without thought.

"Giles!" Buffy snapped, giving him a little shove backward, away from the edge. "Jesus, don’t you lose it so soon!"

Giles snapped out of his mental fugue, opened and closed his eyes rapidly.

"They're calling," he said, his voice sounding slightly slurred. "We have to go to them."

Buffy tried to clear her mind, managed it. Knew with a kind of despair that she should have insisted that Giles should leave here, because he was more susceptible to the siren song of the succubi than she and Willow were. What was Giles after all but a mortal man like any other man, with a man's desires that were easily played upon and exploited? If anything happened to Giles, Buffy guessed it would be her fault. But too late now. Too late to do anything but go with what was happening. But somehow her earlier words about fate and destiny rang hollow in her mind. Somehow, she wasn't entirely sure that she believed in herself anymore.

"Let's go down then," she said, injecting a confidence she didn't feel into her voice. She grasped her knife - a silver bladed weapon blessed by Willow during the earlier preparations - hoped it would do some damage should she need to use it. Saw Willow tighten her fist around the crystal wand she carried. And Giles, come back himself at last, touched his wedding ring and offered up a prayer which made the ring glow gold for a few seconds, which encouraged Buffy a little. At least he would have some protection.

She stepped onto the first descending step - under her feet it felt like polished stone, but she had no sense that she was about to slip. Indeed, her feet felt cushioned by the stone, embraced, and she saw a deeper pink light spread out around and outward from her footprint. Warmth flowed up through her body, bathed her, brought every sense into almost painful awareness. Buffy knew they would all have to be very strong, because this feeling was intensely pleasant. Easy to lose your mind, your senses, to this sensation, to the singing and music that drifted upward to fill their ears and heads. Enough to capture a person, immerse them. Drown them. Drowning wasn't painful…

"False beauty," she said determinedly, and the feeling drained away a little. "Don't let it bewitch you," she called up to the others. "We have to keep our minds clear, right? Mustn't let it mess with our heads."

So saying, keeping her mind totally focussed on her own strength, she continued downward.

It seemed to go on forever, the staircase. Down and down and down, straight down here, spiralling down there, making them dizzy. Making it harder for them to concentrate. By the time they reached the bottom, they were exhausted, and sank to the ground to recover.

While she was sitting on the ground, the same pink stone as the staircase, Buffy looked out into the distance. More beauty, a land of exquisite loveliness like no place she'd ever seen before, or even imagined, making every other place she'd ever visited appear ugly in comparison.

The sky above them was like that of a rose-hued dawn just before the coming of the sun, although Buffy wondered if the sun would ever shine here, wherever here was. The air was still, languid, fragrant with the same exotic smell of tropical blooms that she had scented in the offices of Dreams Fulfilled, during her experience with Deanna. And still the sound of voices, of singing, of music. Muted now, but still audible, slyly urging the trio on to seek its source.

As Buffy watched, a ball of crimson light began to form in the air above her. It blinked at them, bobbed up and down. Buffy stood, reached up, put her hand into the light, although she knew it was probably foolish, because who knew what kind of power it held? The little ball sped away from her, down a path that had just birthed itself from the stone. Then it came back, sped away again, returned again.

"It wants us to follow it," Willow said, also hauling herself to her feet. "It's a guide, nothing more. It'll take us to them."

"I guess so," Buffy said. She cast a look at Giles, who had his eyes closed and was playing with his wedding ring which continued to gleam brightly. "C'mon Giles, you can't stay here, right? You have to fight too, or else you're dead. Like Xander. You don't wanna die the way he did, do you? Not now you got so much to live for. But you will if you let all this get to you."

Harsh words, which hurt Buffy even as she said them, and she made herself bite back the tears that formed at the continuing hurt of her other friend's death. Willow's eyes glistened too, but the witch said nothing, knowing too that Giles needed shocking out of his half-hypnotised state.

"Thank you for that, Buffy." Giles sounded hurt, even angry at her. "I needed reminding of the fact that I'm just a weak male in a powerful female environment. Yes, indeed, thank you very much."

So saying, he pushed past the two women and strode off down the path, following the guide.

"We'd better follow," Willow said.

Buffy nodded; her heart felt heavy with sadness that she'd hurt the man she loved so much. Hoped she hadn't done too much damage. Couldn't really regret it if she had. If Giles could be helped by her hurting his masculine pride, then she'd do it again. And again. Until they'd fought their way out of her. Or until…

No, she wouldn't think that way. There would be no "until". There would only be victory against the demons who had killed their victims with pleasure.

Resolutely she began to follow her companions down the constantly lengthening pathway.

Time passed. On and on and on. The road seemed to get no nearer to its destination, whatever that was, and Buffy found keeping vigilant harder with every step. The intention, she guessed. Wear the humans down with sweet music, an extraordinarily exquisite landscape and an endless trek through it.

"Well, it's not gonna work," Buffy muttered aloud as soon as the thought came to her.

"What's not gonna work, Buffy?" Willow asked, sounding drowsy. She too seemed to be flagging. As for Giles, he was still ahead of them. Hadn't spoken another word to either Buffy or Willow since he'd stormed off down the path. By the set of his shoulders, he was still fuming to himself.

"The succubi trying to exhaust us with this non-stop walking." Buffy stopped as an idea shone brightly in her mind. It might not work, what she had just thought of, but how could she not give it a try? Without another word, she flung her arms around Willow, who shrank back a little, apparently not expecting a show of affection in this strange, devastatingly stunning place.

"What…?" Willow gasped, as Buffy kissed her.

"Love you, Will," Buffy said, continuing to shower kisses all over Willow's face. "Love you…"

"I love you too, Buffy but…" Buffy didn't let Willow finish verbalising her doubts, just continued kissing her.

"We're strong together, Will, right? Strong together… Remember, Will?"

She saw Willow smile, nod, as she realised what Buffy was trying to do. Break the spell by showing the true purity of their love. Let the enemy know that together they couldn't be beaten…

"Love you too, Buffy. Really, really love you…"

Sweet Willow kisses, sweeter than the music around them, the fragrance around them. Sweet Willow love, surely sweeter than any temptation that could be thrown at them. When Buffy opened her eyes, she saw that Giles had stopped too, that their love had even reached out to envelope him. He turned, saw them, shook his head as though forcing cobwebs from his mind, smiled. Hand-in-hand, Buffy and Willow ran to him, enfolded him in their arms.

"We love you too, Giles. Don't leave us," Buffy said. "We need you. Mom needs you. Don't be angry with us anymore? Don't risk yourself any more by leaving us to be alone?"

He took a huge breath, exhaled it as he leaned into them, sharing their strength. Buffy thought - but couldn't be certain - that she saw a tiny black cloud expel itself from his mouth. The black cloud of his anger made something physical in this Land of Unearthly Delights? Who cared? It was gone. Giles was back and they were all together again as they should be. As they had to be if there was any hope of their getting out of this intact.

They stayed huddled together for a few long moments. Then the ground beneath them began to rumble until it finally split apart in a heaven-shaking roar. Holding each others' hands as tightly as they could so they wouldn't be separated, they watched as a building erupted upward into the rose-madder sky.

The building seemed to rise into the sky endlessly, so that the trio began to wonder if it would ever stop. From the churned ground around the edifice, gardens were forming, spreading out flowers of jewel-like colours in shapes completely alien to the observers. Trees with emerald leaves sprouted along with the flowers, forming a small forest between the humans and the building. Another obstacle through which to pass. The road remaining suddenly sank and filled itself with deep, clear turquoise water. There was no bridge over which the newly formed river could be crossed.

Finally the land's metamorphosis stopped and Buffy, Willow and Giles got to their feet. Amazingly no-one had severed their connection, and they didn't sever it now. Completely overwhelmed by what they saw, they needed each others' touch.

"Oh bloody Hell," Giles muttered, and it seemed like such a mild thing to say in the context of what had just occurred, that Buffy and Willow began to giggle helplessly. "What?" Giles asked, then equally helplessly, unable to resist, he joined in their laughter. The laughter of total and utter shock, Buffy guessed. But whatever kind of laughter, it felt good. Relieved their tensions a little. Made the horror of Xander's death - after which Buffy had thought she might never laugh again - recede just a little, relieving its burden.

"Guess there's no more doubt about where we should be headed," Buffy said when she'd recovered herself.

"Just look at it," Willow breathed. "If we didn't know it was evil… Oh wow…"

"Yeah. I guess "wow" just about covers it, Will. It's like something… something out of a… a fairy tale or… or…" She floundered for a suitable description.

"More like Arabian Nights," Giles told her. "You could almost imagine…"

"Giles!" Buffy snapped. "Don't you dare imagine anything, okay?" And saw a wry smile form on the ex-Watcher's face.

Still, she knew what he meant even if he hadn't said it. Found herself disregarding the very advice she'd just dished out to Giles. Began to fantasise…

The building in the centre of the newly-grown forest was exactly how she would, rightly or wrongly, have believed a structure from ancient Arabia would appear. A hundred or more minarets in the most delicate shade of flamingo pink tipped with gold sat above apparently impenetrable battlements. Blushing, Buffy thought they appeared rather like perfectly formed breasts, glanced at Willow, who flushed too, having caught the exact picture of her thoughts.

"Stop it, you two," Giles said, now the one to restore order. "I know what you're thinking, because I was probably thinking the same thing and you'd better stop thinking it. We have to get in, that's all that matters. Not how… perfect it is."

"Yeah… Okay. Drifted there." Buffy looked at the turquoise river that flowed between them and the forest. "What d'you think, you guys? We swim across?"

"I don't see any other way of getting across," Giles decided. "It's too deep to wade through and… Oh bugger…"

"What?" Buffy and Willow spoke in unison.

"Look down there… Right down." Giles pointed. Buffy peered into the water, couldn't really see what he was seeing. Unless the slight whirling deep below was…

"Oh… Yeah…"

"Whirlpools," Willow supplied. "Seemingly mild from up here, but I just bet that if we tried to swim it, they'd rise up and engulf us. They'd drag us down and while I don't think they'd drown us…"

"Not you two, anyway," Giles interrupted. "They want you and Buffy for whatever purpose. But they don't want me. The water would pull me down and kill me."

"Yeah, and the current would shake Buffy and me around so we didn't know what we were doing. Maybe it'd half-drown us so they could take us and then… while we were vulnerable, make us their… slaves. Whatever. Pretty nice scenario, huh?"

"Wonderful, Will," Buffy said wryly. "So we can't swim. So, what then?"

A short silence, then Willow smiled.

"This place is magical, right? Which means that magic is enhanced here. Which means that I can…"

She stretched out the hand that clutched onto her wand over the water, closed her eyes tight, fervently muttered a few words of enchantment. Sparkling rainbow light surged from the tip of the crystal, flew across the river, where it solidified slowly into a crystal bridge that shimmered with the whole spectrum of limpid hues.

"Hey, way to go, Will!" Buffy exclaimed. Hugged Willow again. "You are so clever!"

"Yes, well done, Willow," Giles, less effusive, but equally impressed, added. Willow beamed happily.

"Better get across. Don't know how long the magic'll last," she advised. "Come on."

So saying, Willow stepped onto the bridge. Immediately the colours began to glimmer as her weight settled onto it.

"Come on!" she urged again, keeping steady progress, not waiting to see if the others were following her. "It's not gonna last long; this place is counteracting my magic…"

Buffy didn't hesitate. Shoving Giles ahead of her, she pushed him onto the bridge, which even now was fading in some places, glaring with colour in others. With the combined weight of all three of them, the bridge's slow disintegration accelerated. Willow got safely across onto the other side, Giles was running, then jumping onto solid ground, a couple of feet behind her. Buffy believed that she would get across when the whole structure just collapsed under her. Uttering a screech of sheer fright, she groped at the riverbank, just beyond reach of her questing fingertips. She felt the water beneath her rise, felt it eddy around her feet, sucking her trainers from them. Then upward, over her calves, her knees, her thighs…

"Help me!" she screamed as the water curled around her waist, grasping eagerly at her, pulling her down…

Then a hand around her wrist just as she thought she would go under, yanking in the opposite direction. Looking up through eyes that were half-blind with terror, she saw Giles' face hanging above her. Willow's too.

"Buffy, give Willow your other hand," Giles instructed, shouting above the roar of the water. Buffy tried to pull her arm out of the whirlpool that had half engulfed it. Cried as even her strength wouldn't shift it. The water was up to her chest now. Soon it would be up over her head and Giles wouldn't be able to hold her. As it was, she felt that her shoulder might soon dislocate itself under the painful tug-of-war she was caught in. Felt that her arm might just be pulled off…

"I can't…" she protested, sobbing like a child, half choking as a particularly vicious wavelet splashed up into her mouth, her throat.

"Yeah, you can, Buffy," Willow assured her. "Just hang on…"

Willow pointed the wand into the water, and another beam of light blasted out, hitting the water, making it hiss and writhe. It also had the effect of causing it to part for just a few seconds, long enough for Buffy to force her other arm upward with the last of her failing strength. At once she felt Willow grab at her, then felt her body wrenched out of the river, which had soon recovered its sucking undercurrents. But not quickly enough to prevent Giles and Willow from rescuing Buffy from its clutching grip. Cold and shaking, Buffy found herself thrown up onto the grassy bank. Retched with sheer exhaustion and reaction of how she had almost been lost. Then, looking down at herself, she began to laugh again.

"It got something of me," she said between wild gales of almost-hysteria while the others stared at her, apparently unable to share her amusement. "Got my jeans…"

Then she collapsed again and blacked out.

PART THIRTEEN

Buffy tried very hard to forget about her ordeal in the water as she walked toward the emerald forest, but it wasn't easy. The feeling of being powerless and feeble - like any other human instead of who she was - had been distressing and she was trying to put it behind her. Not easy though. Not with a constant reminder - her bare legs - of how she had almost been dragged under the water to who knew what fate.

So it was with a feeling of fatality that she continued on her way, walking between Giles and Willow, yet harbouring the notion that she was somehow separate from them. This, she knew, was not a Good Thing and she needed to feel close to them again.

"You okay, Buffy?" Willow, as ever, sensing her every doubt, her every worry. Buffy found herself smiling, felt some of the connection come back. Nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. Or I will be."

"Gave us a scare there, Buffy. Thought maybe we'd lost you." Willow was making a brave attempt at casual, and Buffy knew it was because she was also having a hard time controlling her own fear. The fear that she would lose Buffy. Maybe even a worse fear than Buffy's own. Being lost was maybe better than losing.

"Nah," Buffy responded, gripping Willow's hand tightly. "Never doubted you'd get me out. And as for that, thanks Giles. If it wasn't for you…"

Giles smiled vaguely.

"Didn't dare let you go. Your mother would have killed me."

"And that's for sure," Buffy agreed. Now she looked around her. Despite the beauty of the forest they had entered, the atmosphere was chill - or maybe Buffy felt cold because she was still soaked - and she shivered. "This is so unnatural," she said, voicing her unease. "Although, what else would we expect from a demon realm?"

"Still beautiful though," Willow said. "In an unnatural way, of course. And you're right - what you said before - like this being a fairy tale or something. It's almost a cliché, isn't it? You know, dangerous river to cross, now we have to enter an enchanted forest to get to the castle at the centre. They're trying to bewitch us, but now they're just pissing me off."

"Will! You swore! How unladylike!" Buffy laughed, but then nodded her head. "Yeah, I know what you mean, though. I mean, what's gonna be next? The Big Bad Wolf? A Huntsman with an axe? Seven dwarves?"

"Shh, Buffy. Don't wanna give it ideas. Giles, what do you think?"

Giles shrugged.

"I think we should stop talking and keep walking," he replied somewhat brusquely, and they fell silent and did as he suggested.

Inside the forest, more efforts to enchant them. Birdsong now filled the air, along with a new scent, that of the deep forest glade in which they now stood, cedar and sandalwood and patchouli. Even more heady, in their mellow woody way, than the scents of the other landscape. Flashes of colour overhead told them that the birds they could hear singing were also flying around. At least, they thought the creatures were birds until one swooped down in front of them and hovered, fluttering, before their astounded faces.

It was, of course, in keeping with the fairytale forest, a tiny woman, totally naked, painted - or maybe her skin was naturally that vibrant - in dazzling shades of red, orange and yellow, although they were colours that none of the humans could have given a name to. The little woman gave another flutter of her iridescent wings and flew forward, uttering shrill little cries from her mouth. The birdsong they'd heard before.

Giles gave a little cry of wonder and before Buffy or Willow could do anything, put out a finger to the fairy creature. Her face lit up in an unholy smile of such malignant beauty that it blinded both young women for a few seconds. Long enough for it to glide forward and bite the finger that Giles had offered, then flew backward, where it continued to hover, trilling loudly, almost like it was laughing.

Giles gave an exclamation of pain while Buffy tried to swat the tiny woman, who frustratingly evaded her easily until she was forced to give up to help Willow tend to Giles, who was looking pale and shaky. Looking at the tiny bite mark - hardly bigger than a pinprick - Buffy saw that it was bruised, and appeared infected.

"How can that be?" she asked Willow, then sighed. "Poisonous, right?" she concluded, glaring at the little creature, seeing that a few more had joined it, all beautiful, all wearing glorious shades of rainbow colours. Giles gave a groan and sank to the ground. The wound had swollen to twice its size and it was still swelling, becoming a purplish colour. Lines of infection ran away from it, delineating the blood vessels of his finger, his hand, clearly.

"He'll lose his hand if we don't…" Willow began, then gave a squeal as three of the creatures began chittering around her, scratching at her with claw-like hands. Forced to try and fight them off, Willow fell away from Giles. Buffy was about to make some kind of attack, but was second-guessed and put under assault by several more winged women.

"They're trying to drive us off, Will!" she yelled. "They're tying to… to…"

As she watched, a large swarm of the creatures settled onto Giles' inert body, each hooking claws into pieces of clothing, or even into uncovered flesh. Every time Buffy or Willow tried to stop them, their own attackers snapped at them with tiny mouths full of minute fangs that were coated in the same kind of deadly venom that had poisoned Giles. Terrified for Giles though Buffy and Willow were, self-defence became the higher priority. Kept at bay, they watched as Giles was finally secured, and was slowly but surely lifted by the swarm.

"Giles!" Buffy screamed though she knew it was useless. "Giles, please fight them…"

But Giles was unconscious to her cries, maybe, for all Buffy knew, dead from the toxin he had been injected with. Whatever, they could only stand and watch as Giles was lifted higher and higher, through a gap in the forest canopy, until he was just a speck in the rosy sky. Apparently satisfied that Buffy and Willow were no longer a threat to their comrades' objective, the other creatures ceased their attack and flew swiftly upward, out of sight. Soon, only the birdsong remained. That, and the emptiness left by Giles' abduction. Both sobbing with a mix of anger, horror and sorrow, Buffy and Willow clung to each other in the forest glade.

After a few moments of totally abandoned weeping, they stopped crying and looked at each other.

"Xander, now Giles," Buffy said.

"You don't know that Giles is…" Willow pointed out, but Buffy shook her head vigorously.

"Doesn't matter. He's hurt. And I just bet that poor Pete Madison was made to kill himself by that so-called Eden Adams. In fact, I have no doubt about it now. We can't just keep letting this happen, Will. Because it's not jut happening to us, is it? It's happening all over the city. For all we know, all over the word. So we're gonna go straight to the castle - or whatever it is - right now. No more games, no more obstructions. I wanna go there now. I wanna get this over."

Willow said nothing, just nodded. And once again, they began to walk.

Maybe whatever was controlling the place was bored with games too, because their walk was unimpaired and straightforward, if quite lengthy. But eventually they arrived at their destination, and once again, despite their promises not to be swayed by its beauty, they stopped and stared.

"How can something that looks like this be demonic?" Willow remarked.

"I guess you wouldn't think that vampires were evil until they show their true faces," Buffy said. "I guess this is the same thing."

But she didn't, not really. This didn't feel evil, just exactly what it was, a thing of beauty. She guessed that the succubi, lovely as they were, just chose to live surrounded by a similar loveliness. Didn't mean they weren't still demons though. But then the question re-emerged from the chrysalis in which it had been developing. Why hadn't she and Willow ever been in any true danger? They were on the side of Light and Goodness, so why would evil demons come courting them?

"Guess we'd better find out," she said aloud, and approached the fortress. This time there was a bridge across the moat that surrounded the fortress, and this time it didn't collapse under them. As Buffy and Willow came to the gates that barred entrance to the fortress, so they opened and they stepped into a courtyard.

At once, from a door that was suffused with peach coloured light, a woman emerged. Both Buffy and Willow recognised her as Zuleka, the succubus who had finally drained Xander's life away. Immediately, Buffy sprang for her, silver knife in hand - the first time she'd had the presence of mind to use it - but the succubus held out a hand and Buffy found herself stopped, like she'd run up against a force-field.

"We do not want a fight, Slayer," Zuleka said in her purring voice. "And I am on my own ground here, so would defeat you easily. Lower your weapon. No harm is intended to you."

"Where's Giles?" Buffy snapped, lowering her knife a little, but not her defences. "I know you got him somewhere."

"We have him, yes," Zuleka admitted without hesitation. "And he will be well." A small, cat-like smile. "We shall be keeping him. He is special."

"If you…" Buffy warned, but again, Zuleka held up a slim hand.

"Stop your threats, Slayer, and come with me. Lilith herself has requested that you meet with her. She will explain what she wants from you, and what she can give you in return."

"Nothing we want," muttered Buffy. "Right, Will?"

"Yeah, right," Willow responded, but Buffy didn't feel as though Willow's heart was really in her agreement. But knowing when she was beaten - if only temporarily - she nodded.

"Okay. For now I'll go with you. But you have to know we'll get out of here and…"

"Well of course you'll get out of here." Zuleka smiled and the whole of her face lit up, making her ethereally beautiful. "You will be of little use here when your real work for us will be on Earth itself. But, no more. Lilith wishes to explain, and it is not my place to say more. So please, follow. You are welcome here, Slayer and Great Sorceress."

Glancing at Willow, Buffy frowned and together they followed Zuleka into the fortress. Or rather, palace, because inside this place was anything but warlike. No weapons on the walls, only magnificent paintings, tapestries, mosaics. All was decorated sumptuously in subtly gilded casts of pastel tints. Rich yet delicate. There was no obvious light source, yet the peach glow suffused everything, giving a warm, welcoming feel. Not anything like the hell that Buffy had expected. But hadn't Zuleka said they weren't from Hell, these succubi? But where else could evil live?

They came out from the corridor into a brighter area that reminded Buffy of pictures she had seen of the Alhambra in Spain. Arabic in influence, the area was an enclosed courtyard. Surrounded by white fretwork walls in which oval windows were set, the small quadrant was covered in white sand, and in the centre, a white marble fountain jetted cool clear water into the cool, light air. At once, Buffy was consumed with the need to drink from it. And she could see that Willow felt the same way, because the witch kept glancing toward it thirstily. Apart from her dunking in the river, Buffy realised she hadn't drunk anything for hours. Buffy could almost taste the water. It would be cold, crisp and sweet…

"If you were to drink from that fountain," Zuleka said with a little smile, "you would forget your whole lives in an instant and would become ours to do with as we required. But we do not wish that for you. We need your independence and clear thinking. So put away your thoughts of tasting the water."

And the visions of drinking faded away as though they'd never been there.

"We are about to enter Lilith's private chambers," Zuleka said, leading the way through another door. "I ask that you be respectful. Do not make her angry, for her anger is terrible to behold and you do not wish any further harm to come to your male friend."

Buffy thought that she wasn't afraid of Lilith's anger, but she was afraid for Giles. So she merely nodded, but made a silent vow to herself that she would do whatever she could to ensure they all got out of there, and that Lilith was prevented from doing whatever it was she had planned.

Zuleka stopped outside a pair of gilded doors, knocked respectfully once and went inside. Buffy heard a whispered conversation that sounded more like an angelic choir singing, then Zuleka returned. Bowed.

"Lilith will see you now."

Buffy wasn't sure what she expected. Probably - despite everything she'd seen of the succubi - demon ugliness. But Lilith was not ugly. Nor was she beautiful, like her handmaidens, although it was obvious that once, a long, long time ago, she had been even more beautiful than any of the succubi could hope to be. Lilith was of apparently very great age, small and slightly hunched in her chair. Looking into Lilith's face, Buffy saw that the skin was dark, although not as black as Zuleka's, more a coffee colour. It was also seamed with wrinkles. But within the wrinkles, eyes bright as black suns, lively with intelligence and - yes - humour.

"Oh…" Buffy heard Willow gasp, and smiled wryly to herself. "Oh" just about summed it up perfectly.

"You are surprised at me?" Lilith said; her voice was fragile, belying the great strength that lay within the aged form. "You expected another Zuleka, perhaps? Or," a sly smile at Buffy, "another Deanna?" Buffy felt her face turn a deep red, didn't dare look at Willow. "Ah, was that unkind, Slayer? Reminding you of the pleasures you and she shared together? Or would you perhaps enjoy a repeat performance?"

Buffy struggled to keep her temper, remembering Giles, held somewhere in this honeyed trap.

"Deanna cast a spell on me. Otherwise you gotta know that I'd never, ever betray Will."

Lilith smiled, nodded, and Buffy had the crazy impression that she was pleased with her reply. The elder's next words confirmed it.

"Loyalty. Good. Once your word is given, you do not break it unless there is no alternative."

"Yeah. Right."

The old eyes turned on Willow now, who stood silent and shaking slightly. Buffy thought it was with as much awe as fear.

"You, the Great Sorceress, do you know who I am? Other than my Lilith self?"

Willow nodded, Buffy saw her swallow hard.

"Yeah. I know," Willow said and Buffy frowned. Lilith was someone else? "You know I summoned all aspects of the Goddess, Buffy?"

"Yeah…" Buffy replied hesitantly.

"Well, Lilith is a representation of her. The Crone. The Goddess. Buffy, I can't fight her. I can't…"

"Will… I don't understand…"

"Willow summoned me, and from then on, this journey was fated," Lilith said. "Perhaps Willow might have stood fast if she had only invoked the Light aspect of the Goddess, but she did not. And that gave me the extra power to bring you both here. Oh, do not doubt that you would have come here eventually, it's just that Willow has made my work so much easier. You have had so much less time to know how to fight me, and have given me the strength to make my daughters more… influential."

Buffy glanced at Willow, but found that Willow wouldn't meet her eyes, just stood looking at the ground, her face flaming with shame. Well, okay, Buffy thought. No blame placing. They were here now, and if they could, they had to stop... whatever was happening here. Nothing else mattered. Except…

"Why?" she asked. "What's your aim? And why do you think you need us?"

Lilith the Goddess/demon smiled again.

"You two are special amongst human women. You have transcended mortal ability, command forces that no other women on earth command. You, Slayer, are the ultimate fighting machine. Your skills are second to none, and your mind is bright and incisive, well suited for war strategy. In short, you are a natural leader. And as for Willow…" Lilith turned her smile on the still-silent sorceress. "No witch has ever gained the skills that she has. She has a grasp on magic given to her by my sister Goddess, and I can make it even greater…"

"But why? What d'you want?"

"Look at your Earth, Slayer. What was once my Earth before my Mother power was revoked by Adam's greed and so-called authority. Wrenched from me by a jealous male God. Wars, destruction, desecration. The wearing down of the Mother figure, to give men patriarchal authority over women, who are reduced to being second class citizens despite the apparent change in values…"

"Hey, you got it wrong," Buffy protested.

"Have I?" Lilith countered. "Have I really? Think about it, Slayer. What are men but fighting creatures, fuelled by pride and testosterone? They have no compassion, no appreciation of the concept of peace and harmony."

"Not all men are like that."

"No. No, it is true. Not all men." Lilith's smile softened a little. "Some men are blessed with female traits. And they are the ones who will be saved…"

"Saved?" Buffy shook her head; she still didn't quite understand where this conversation was going. So some men were warlike bullies? So what? Didn't mean it was right to condemn the whole male race.

"Saved for the breeding program," Lilith said.

"Breeding program…? Will, do you understand what she's talking about?"

Willow raised her head, looked Buffy in the eye, shrugged.

"I think Willow understands perfectly," Lilith said. "She and I are close - she comprehends the Goddess very well, even what you might call the dark side, what I prefer to call the Bringer of the Death Cycle. Death of the old system, Slayer, so that the new may be born."

"Will, will you please just tell me?"

Willow sighed, nodded.

"Okay. What Lilith means is that she… she intends death to men. No… Not all men. There will be chosen men who will be saved and… enslaved for… for as she says, a breeding program." She looked Lilith in the eye. "That's what you meant, isn't it?"

"As I said, you and I, we understand each other very well."

"That's… That's crazy!" Buffy exclaimed. "You can't do that!"

"Give me a good reason why not?" Lilith asked, reasonably.

"Because… because it's wrong! It's murder!"

"Is it? And what about the million murders of newborn girl children, left out to the elements by their fathers because they were not sons? What about the Burning Times when thousands upon thousands of innocent women were killed because they were different? What about the beating of women by men who…?"

"Doesn't make it right to want revenge," Buffy said, but she had pictures in her mind now that reflected what Lilith had spoken of.

"Not revenge. Vengeance."

"And what's the difference?" Buffy snapped.

"Revenge is not always just. Vengeance always is. And you, Slayer, will be my Vengeance."

"No way!" Buffy said, looking to Willow again, begging her with her mind to back her up. But Willow appeared lost in a world of her own, and didn't respond. Lilith smiled another smile.

"We shall see," she said, unfazed. "We shall see."

More to Come...

Fiction.Index