These dreams were getting out of hand. Cordelia hadn't much like being in the room with someone else being tortured. Being in the victim's head was not anything she ever planned to do again.

"You know you deserve it," someone said.

Cordelia twisted as a drop of... of something dripped on her belly and raised a blister the size of a quarter.

"No one deserves to be tortured," she said through gritted teeth.

"Quiet, bitch!" The sorcerer slapped her, and for a moment the world swam. Then the other voice spoke again.

"What makes you think you're so different?" it said. "Because you were a cheerleader? Because you were popular? Well, look at you now."

Another drop, this time on her breast. Cordelia twisted, ignoring the flames in her wrists, trying to hit, shove, bite, do anything to force her assailant away.

"You're a vampire's whore."

"He never touched me!"

Another slap.

"He will," said the voice. "One day his fridge full of blood will be empty, and he'll drain you dry like nothing, because that's what you are, nothing."

Cordelia closed her eyes, and bit her lip, and tried very hard to wake up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Willow had the urge to go to Spike, to enfold herself in his aura and let the power of him chase the boogie man away.

However, that was not a viable strategy. The boogie man was very real, and wearing her best friend's body, and not likely to take kindly to any contact between Willow and Spike.

Instead Willow went to Giles, Giles who now wore scars similar to her own, vivid against skin almost waxen, and slipped her hand into his.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"All right? Well, yes, I suppose I am. A little light-headed, but that's only to be expected."

"I don't get the light-headed thing. I mean, it doesn't happen to me. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Sit him down and give him some water." The voice was Buffy's, but the words were Drusilla's. "How much did you take?" she asked Angel.

"Not that much!"

Willow sat Giles down on the sofa and stayed with him while he drank the water Spike brought.

"Better?" Spike asked.

"I swear, I did not take that much! I wouldn't hurt him!"

"He was ill to start with, ye berk!"

Buffy marched Cordelia's body up to Angel and laid a hand in the middle of his chest.

"If you hurt him... if either of you ever hurt either of them...."

"He told me to! How was I supposed to know he was sick?"

Warm fingers trailed across Willow's neck, across the bandage.

"Either of you?" Drusilla asked. Spike looked up at her.

"Yeah, either of us. Is that going to be a problem?"

Drusilla looked down at Willow.

"I suppose that means we're going to have to be friends," she said.

"Friends would be good," Willow squeaked. A spasm of sorts ran through Buffy's body, and her breathing went ragged. Willow looked up and saw tears in Buffy's blue eyes.

"Dru?"

"Over here," said Cordelia's voice, and the blond beside Willow started to scream.

*****
Part 19:

"These are the glyphs, aren't they?" Anya held the book out to Tara.

"Yeah, but it's supposed to be done in sea salt." She held out a tiny glass bottle. "This isn't sea salt. I'm not sure what it is."

Anya took the bottle.

"Wow. You come equipped for anything, don't you?"

"I went to the magic shop this morning before class. I was going to make some rose oil for Willow."

She popped the cork and sniffed, and wrinkled her nose.

"Not roses. Demon dust."

"As in dusted demons?"

"As in the residue that's left behind when one of us... one of them crosses from one world into another."

"So something cast that circle on the other side and used it to come here?"

Anya felt her nose wrinkle again.

"Who would bring a demon here just to dump our ice cream? I mean, even Jimmy the Clown wouldn't go that far."

"Anya, I don't think it was just one." Tara held out the notepad with her sketch of the circle and its glyphs. "See, it's broken, here and here."

"Something came here and something else came after it."

"Maybe they weren't after the ice cream. Maybe they were after Riley."

"I suppose we should find him, then. Does Giles have something to scry with?"

"Willow's never mentioned anything, but it doesn't matter." Tara went into the kitchen and came back with a dark cereal bowl full of water.

"You're going to scry in that?"

"Uh-huh. What, do demons do it differently?"

"Never mind. Go ahead."

Tara passed her hands across the water, and it fogged up as if she'd breathed on a mirror. She was good, but showmanship wasn't what this was all about. Then the mist cleared away, and on the surface of the water was the image of Riley kneeling on a staircase with his pants around his ankles and his mouth on someone's penis, and, from behind, a 'Shish demon about to... Anya leaned closer to the bowl. Then the demon howled and staggered backward with its enormous penis swinging, except it wasn't all penis: a tiny reptilian demon had sunk its fangs into the glans. Riley hit the other one in the balls and bolted up the stairs, pulling his pants up as he went. The little demon followed, spitting ichor, and climbed to Riley's shoulder. The picture faded into mist, and the mist faded into water.

"So what does that tell us?" Tara asked.

"What the Slayer sees in Riley? He's very well endowed."

"Should we go get him?"

"Probably. Come on. I think I know where that was."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You're safe now," Drusilla told Cordelia, her fingers brushing the tears from Buffy's face. The Watcher and the redhead were still on the sofa, with Spike kneeling beside them. The other one, the thin one, came and knelt with his arms in Cordelia's lap.

"Do you know me at all?" he asked.

"Wesley? Why does she have my face?"

"I'm afraid there's been a little confusion. You're actually using someone else's face at the moment."

Spike took a knife from his pocket, and the Watcher started to sit up.

"Her reflection," Spike said, and Giles relaxed. Cordelia looked at herself in the polished blade.

"Buffy," she said. "I'm Buffy."

"For the moment," Dru agreed. Her Sire had appeared beside them as if from nowhere.

"Cordelia," he said, touching her arm, "do you rem...."

"Get away from me!" She slid down to the sofa beside Willow, and Drusilla snarled at Angel... or she tried. It came out a rather ineffectual hiss.

"Works better with fangs, pet," Spike said. "Like this." He turned toward their Sire and exhibited a truly impressive set of alpha fangs, accompanied by a deep, rumbling roar. The humans cringed into the sofa and Angel stepped back, patting the air in front of him with both hands, and then shook his head.

"You know, there is not a vampire on the face of this world that would put up with Children like you! First she takes you away from me, and now this...! I should run the same stake through the both of you!"

"C..could you wait until she's out of my body, please?" Cordelia asked. There was a moment of stunned silence, and then laughter erupted, and when it was over, Xander spoke.

"I changed the bed," he said. "I thought maybe Giles would like to lie down for a while."

"We don't have time for this," the Watcher said. "We have to get the three of them in one place and undo this switch, and then get back to Sunnydale." He stood up, and immediately collapsed into Spike's arms.

*****
Part 20:

Riley pounded out of the building and across the parking lot, his pursuers thudding close behind him. Not close enough, though. He rounded a corner and hauled himself up into an overhanging tree. Sorcerer and demon flew beneath and stopped at the other end of the building.

"Which way did he go?" growled the demon.

"How was I supposed to see?"

The demon turned to its companion and growled. The sorcerer ignored him and kept looking for Riley.

"You did not see. My master will be displeased with me, because you could not be bothered to look?"

"What am I, your keeper?"

"Not any more," the demon said. It picked the man up and tore his head off, and then sucked at the blood pulsing from the stump of the neck until the flow turned to a trickle and then died completely.

Riley didn't move. He didn't even breath, until a van turned into the empty parking lot. No, it wasn't a van. It was... it was the cursed ice cream truck! What did Anya think she was doing? With Riley's luck she was coming after him for not putting away the rest of the ice cream.

The van was circling the building. Anya was going to find the demon, which meant that the demon was going to....

The demon dragged the body behind some bushes and continued to gnaw at it, casting suspicious glances at the van. It was moving slowly, now. Then it stopped, directly beside the point on the sidewalk where the demon had done his murder. Anya must have seen the bloodstains. She got out, and so did someone else... Tara. Tara nudged something in the gutter with her foot, and recoiled when it turned out to be the severed head of the sorcerer. Anya took her by the hand, and they followed the trail of blood. Idiots. Did they think they were in a gothic novel, or what?

Something moved beside Riley, and he almost jumped out of his tree. It was the tiny demon, and it held out the broken top half of a fence picket. Not all that sharp, but it would have to do. The demon was watching Anya and Tara and cracking vertebrae in its teeth. Riley slipped to the ground and moved toward it, staying out of the women's line of sight. The demon spat out some shards of bone and moved toward them. Riley couldn't cover the distance without running, and the demon would hear. Then his tiny companion shot across the grass like a black cat and up a tree in front of the larger demon. The big one reared back, reaching for its nemesis in the branches above, and Riley drove the improvised stake into its back. The demon's scream tapered into nothing as he turned to dust.

Anya was standing just beyond it with what looked like a wooden knitting needle.

"I guess you don't need any help after all," she said.

Riley grinned, and the tiny demon loped down from the tree. Anya squealed and raised her weapon.

"It's all right!" Riley said. "He's with me."

"What is he?" Tara asked.

"I think he's a book, actually."

The demon turned glowing red eyes on Riley.

"How did you know that?" he said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You called, Lord?" To the magician's eye, Millefleurs appeared somewhat the worse for wear.

"You have the Slayer and her companions?"

"I know where they are. They're not in Sunnydale interfering with your project."

"But you cannot put your hands on them?"

"That wasn't in our agreement."

"It is in our agreement now."

"Then we're going to have to renegotiate...."

"There will be no renegotiation, human. Bring them here. All of them."

"Maybe I should have that conversation with..."

"With the Slayer? Do so, and she will come here to destroy me, and when I have dealt with her, I will deal with you. Bring them here. It is by far the better option. Go now."

The magician stood openmouthed for a moment, and then he went.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Being a vampire sucked. Buffy had decided she had done a favor to each and every one of the creatures she had ever dusted. And they hadn't had to deal with a silver spike through the wrists, burning, burning.

"Killer."

"Who's there?"

"All the people you've murdered."

"I never killed anybody."

"Will you say that when Angelus crumbles into dust, or Spike, or even Drusilla?"

"Angelus is gone. He's Angel, now."

"What makes your Angel so different from the scores of others dead at your hand?"

"He has a soul."

"And Spike? Are you glad that he's afraid of you? Does it make you feel powerful?"

Buffy twisted this way and that, but she didn't see anyone else in the room.

"Come out where I can see you!" she cried.

"Killer."

"I don't want to talk about this any more."

"You don't have a choice, any more than your victims do."

"Wanna bet?" It was a nail, a really big nail. Buffy could deal with it. She could deal with a little bit of pain, if it meant she'd be free to strangle that mocking voice. She strained up against the silver head. It was only a nail. It couldn't be that firmly embedded in the floor.

"What are you doing?" the voice asked. Buffy didn't deign to answer. She pulled against the spike with every ounce of vampire strength, fighting the pain, fighting the urge to fade away to unconciousness.

And the pain was gone. She sat up, cradling her arms in her lap. The holes in her wrists were huge. They... Buffy looked behind her. The spike was still in place in the floor. She had burned the flesh against the head, all the way through. And the room was empty. The voice had fled. She tossed aside the chains around her ankles and staggered toward the door.

"Killer," the voice said again.

*****
Part 21:

Angel sat in the middle of the bed wrapped around Giles's knees. He wouldn't let any of the humans near the poor guy, and Spike had forbidden Willow and Dru to try.

"He's not himself," he told trem. "He's got the bleedin' Watcher on the brain, and there's no telling what he might get a notion to do."

"Giles isn't himself either," Wesley said. "I mean, sleeping with a vampire...."

"Don't knock it 'till you've tried it," Willow told him, and Spike grinned at her.

"Angelus tortured him," Drusilla said, "or did I imagine that?"

"That was real," Spike said. "Neither one of them has any tolerance for the other one."

"So what are they doing in bed together?" asked Wesley.

"Angel's fretting himself to death," Cordelia said. "Which is not exactly unusual for Angel, but still."

"We should get Giles to a doctor," Willow said. "If you won't let us talk to them, Spike, you do it."

"Like the pouf listens to me."

"You're his childe," Drusilla said. "He can feel you in his blood, as surely as I can feel him."

"Could have fooled me."

"If you don't do it, I will."

"Princess...."

"We'll all do it," Wesley said. "Come on. Let's get it over with."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tara frowned.

"You're like a demon who can take the form of a book?" she asked the diminutive creature.

"I wish," it said. "No, I was a Firth demon, from what you call Tayside now. A warrior mage in the second century cut me up into so many pieces I lost track."

"He killed you," Riley said.

"No such luck," said the little demon. "He turned my eyes into a scrying helm and he ground up my liver and put it into potions against poison, and he made a moneybag out of my balls."

Riley's arms crossed in his lap and he squeaked, "Your balls?"

"Yeah, you know? Always full? Demon balls? Never mind. Anyway, he covered a couple of dozen books with bits of my hide, and in each and every piece, even the potions, there's a bit of the demon I was."

"Bummer," said Anya. "But what put you on to these two?"

"It wasn't them," it told her. "Somebody stole some of my pages. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be taken apart and have bits of you put into something else? It was no fun at all, and if I didn't have friends in high places I'd have never been put back together."

Tara cocked an eyebrow. "Friends in high places?"

"Did I mention what happened to my dick?"

Riley was blushing furiously. "I don't think we need to know that. But what do you have against these guys, then? Why are you here?"

"This is Sunnydale," the demon said. "It's one of only two places those pages would be of any use to anybody, and the other is close by. I homed on the strongest emanation of the Slayer that I could find. It was you. Sorry about that."

"This book is about Buffy?" Riley asked.

"Huh? Oh, no! It... I'm the Rede of Calibeorn Minimus, the Guardian who took down the renegade Watcher Publianus. What was taken was a part of a spell to knock a powerful Watcher down to size. It's useless against the whole Council, but...."

Anya looked sick. "We have to get to Los Angeles," she said, "right now."

*****
Part 22:

Sunlight. Brilliant, blinding sunlight. Okay, Buffy couldn't leave the building. Well, Spike could run around with his coat over his head, but Spike had some experience with this vampire thing. Buffy could be a pile of dust, here, with no effort at all.

She wondered if that would count as killing a vampire. The real Drusilla wouldn't be a vampire anymore, so that would be one less. Unless she got herself turned again. Drusilla was a raving loon, after all.

"Drusilla knows who she is."

And the voice was back. Brilliant.

"Does she know who you are?"

"She knows. Don't you?"

"I don't think you're the moon."

"Well, the moon's not up. The sun looks nice, though. Don't you want...."

That was just about enough. Buffy turned back down the hall, sniffing for a place to hide. People would be in and out of the toilets. The closets were too small. There was a room, though, past the room where she'd been confined, that had a residual scent of demon and nothing else. Buffy pushed her way inside. There was a magic circle, but otherwise the place was empty. It would do to hide in. Buffy shut the door.

The circle flared to life, and Buffy whirled to find a demon lord blinking at her from the circle, a grin spreading across his warty face.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Sire?"

"Not now, Spike."

"Are you going to turn the Watcher?"

"No! I'm not going to hurt him!"

"Then maybe you should put him down, so's he can rest, like."

"I can take care of him."

"Do you not want him to see a doctor? I mean, he was ill to start with."

"He's not sick. I can smell sick. He's..."

Spike sat down on the bed and sniffed at the Watcher, then pressed closer to his face and smelled his breath. It was almost sparkling with....

"It's magic," he said, and Angel nodded.

"A doctor couldn't help him. He needs to be here, with me."

"Have you thought that you might be under the spell, as well? I mean, you fed...."

"He needs to be with me."

"All right. I'm going to bring Red in here to look at him, though. Will that be okay?"

"I won't let her hurt him."

Spike stayed within arm's length of Willow while she ran her hands over the Watcher under Angel's glare. She took a pair of nail scissors from her pocket and clipped a lock of his hair.

"Let him lie down, Angel," she said. "Lie beside him, if you want, but let him lie down."

And for a wonder, Angel did ease Giles down on the pillow and stretch out at his side. Willow reached out again with the nail scissors and clipped a strand of black hair, and led Spike out of the room.

*****
Part 23:

"Look, just don't do anything crazy," Anya babbled into the cell phone as the ice cream van roared down the Interstate. "It's just supposed to render him helpless and knock back his defenses. He won't be able to tell friend from foe, so tell Buffy... oh, shit. Is there anybody...? Oh, no. We'll be there as soon as we can. Be careful, okay?" Anya thumbed the off button on the phone. "Hey, demon! What do you know about transference of awareness?"

Riley changed lanes, then looked into the mirror at Anya. "What now?" he asked.

"Wesley says Buffy and Cordelia and Spike's old girlfriend are switching bodies, just kind of randomly popping in and out." Anya plopped into the passenger seat, lifted the startled demon from its place on the shift stick and plopped the squawking creature down on her knee. "Transference of awareness," she said again.

"Not me."

"You think that knitting needle's small enough to stake a mini-demon?" asked Tara from behind Anya. The demon sprang from Anya's lap and darted under Riley's legs.

"Hey, I'm trying to drive here!"

"And I'm trying to survive! I don't know anything about swapping bodies, and I don't want to be staked because that harpy doesn't believe me!"

"I'm not a harpy," Tara said.

"You're not a human!"

"What?" Riley reached between his legs, caught the demon and plopped it back in Anya's lap. "Not human?"

Anya turned to Tara. "You were awfully good with that cereal bowl," she told the girl. "I mean, most people are lucky if they see anything when they scary, much less anyone else who's there."

"You used to be a demon, is why," said Tara.

"I couldn't do what you did when I was a demon."

"You guys have been hanging around the Slayer for way too long. You know that?"

"So you are human?" Riley said.

"I'm what you see: no more, no less."

"Ri-ight," said Anya.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I beg your pardon," Spike told the assembled Scoobies, "but bound or unbound, I'm not the vamp who's giving you trouble right now. I'm the only one who's not."

"It has to all tie together," Wesley said. "Giles and Angel, and you and the prophecy, and the ladies and their... instability."

"Could be a distraction."

"I'd buy that about the body-swapping, but the prophecy has existed for a long time."

"What about this demon taking over the world?" Cordelia asked. "Why haven't we heard any more about that?"

"It was a ruse," said Drusilla.

Xander looked shocked.

"You mean there's not anyone trying to take over the world?" he asked.

"There are likely a number of them," Wesley grinned, "but our immediate problem doesn't stem from any of them."

"What, then? Wills? You getting anything?"

"Just trying now." The witch tossed took four braided strands of hair, one each from Giles and Angel and Buffy and Cordelia, and cast them on a tiny brazier, then gazed intently into the resulting smoke.

"Pee-yew!" Xander fanned in front of his face.

"Leave off," Wesley growled at him. "Let her work."

"It doesn't matter," Willow said. "I don't see anything."

"What about that demon?" Cordelia asked, pointing at the smoke.

"You see..." Wesley shook his head. "Of course, you're the psychic."

"It's an incubus," Drusilla said. Cordelia went to the bookcase and stretched Buffy's small body to reach down a book.

"I think I saw one like it in here," she said, shuffling the pages. "Here!" She handed the book to Wesley.

"Oh, dear," he said, and passed the book around.

"It is an incubus," Xander read.

"Yes," said Wesley, "but do you see with whom it normally associates?"

*****
Part 24:

The demon's prehensile tongue worried at the space between its fangs. Hey, maybe it had popcorn stuck in its teeth. Did demons eat popcorn? She didn't know. She hoped it was popcorn. Finally it spoke.

"You're not afraid of me?" The creature seemed offended.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"Of a schizophrenic vampire who can't tell the gifts Providence gave her from the mumblings of the moon?"

"He knows you," said the voice.

"He would, wouldn't he?" said Buffy. "He had somebody kidnap me. That pretty much necessitates knowing who I am."

"To whom are you speaking?" the demon asked.

"Somebody I used to know."

"Oh, did you know me?"

"Did you think I wouldn't know your voice? Did you think I wouldn't recognize Angelus?"

"That doesn't make you any less of a pitiful excuse for a Slayer's housemaid. They're all going to die, you know. This demon is going to eat you, and they're all going to die because you're not there to take care of them."

"I may not be there," Buffy told him, "but you are. The real you, I mean. He won't let any of them get hurt."

"Is he going to keep you from getting eaten?"

"Are you going to eat me?" Buffy asked the demon.

"I don't do dead meat. My master, now, he may eat you, but not me."

"Your master has something against vampires?"

"He has something against anyone who helps the Watchers."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"We could try wormwood," Wesley said. "It's the best for exorcisms."

"Are you sure they're possessed?" Cordelia asked. Xander blushed.

"Trust me, Cordy," he said. "Where Angel put his tongue, he's got to be possessed, or something."

"Hold off on the wormwood," said Spike. "It makes vampires that sick and all. Mind you, the pouf maybe deserves a case of the runs...."

Cordelia wrinkled Buffy's nose. "I think you and Xander both need to get your minds out of that smelly stuff down the sewer."

The outer door of the office opened, and everyone went for their weapons.

"Are you guys jumpy, or what?" said Riley. The tiny demon on his shoulder bared its fangs. "None of that," Riley told it, and handed it to Wesley.

"What's this, then?" the Watcher asked.

"A book," said Anya. "It may be able to tell us what's going on."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Giles was hot, hotter even than he'd been in the midst of his fever. On top of that, there was a large block of ice pressed against his spine. He rolled over and found himself cradled in Angel's arms.

"Better?" Angel asked.

"Not sure. What...?"

"They think it's probably a demon, or something."

"Oh. Then...."

"...then everything we did today, everything we felt, it didn't mean anything. It wasn't even us." Angel tightened his grip.

"It happened," Giles told him, "and it didn't hurt a bit. If we pretend it didn't we'll be walking away from the truth."

A smile tugged at Angel's face, but he fought it off.

"Say that to me when you're yourself again," he said.

"I will," said Giles, and kissed him. "Was it an incubus?"

"What makes you say that?"

Giles looked down at his lap.

"Oh. I guess for a human... a sick human, you are, well...."

"Horny is the way the Americans put it."

"Yeah, well, I can't cure the demon thing, but...." A cold hand snaked into Giles's shorts and wrapped itself around him.

"...but you can certainly alleviate the symptoms."

"I just want to touch you as much as I can, while you'll let me."

"I will always let you, Angel." Giles kissed him again, and urged the still hand into motion.

*****
Part 25:

"She's very pretty," Drusilla whispered to Spike as they watched Willow surf the net in search of a reports of demonic activity.

"Is she pretty?"

"Spike, I won't hurt her."

"Not now, but when you're back in your own head with the moon whispering in your ear...."

"Never. I promise. Never, Spike."

"I wish...."

"What, dear?"

"I wish I could be rid of the fucking chip."

Drusilla pulled Spike into Cordelia's lap. "It'll be all right, Spike," she said. "We'll make it all right."

"Okay," Willow announced. "Eygion was last reported in Brazil, where a coven of brujas conjured him into a fresh victim every new moon. One of them survived, and killed the witches, and went after a Slayer-in-training named Ana. She's twelve. Her Watcher exorcised Eygion, but he was killed as well."

"He hasn't had a great deal of luck with Watchers, has he?" Wesley smiled.

"Just be glad he didn't come after you," said Cordelia.

"Yeah," said Xander, "that could be you in there getting all hot and sticky."

"They better not be getting hot and sticky, not with the Watcher ill." Spike started to stand up, but Drusilla pushed him back down into his seat.

"So what happened to the victim?" asked Riley.

"He's in England," said the book demon. "He took the girl to the council."

"You know a great deal about this," said Anya.

"Hey, I did research."

"You might share some of that with us," Wesley said.

"I don't think it's Eygion himself. He's going to be recovering from your last encounter for a couple of millenia. He did, however, have a lieutenant, an incubus, who got badly burned both times, but not too badly, if you know what I mean."

"Does this incubus have a name?" asked Willow.

"Maris," the demonet told her. "He was called Maris."

"Oh, phooey."

"Anya?" Xander put an arm around her. "What is it?"

"Turanka. She's a vengeance demon now. She sent word--professional courtesy, she called it--this Maris had tried to turn her loose on the Watchers. She turned him down, though--he brought it on himself."

"When was this?" Wesley asked.

"About a week ago."

Riley frowned.

"You didn't tell us?" he said.

"Hey, I was keeping my eyes open! And with as much raw talent as there is taking care of Giles, how could anything get to him? I mean, there's Buffy, and Willow, and Spike...."

"Hey, I did not sign on for Watcher protection!"

"It didn't try for him," Wesley said. "It tried for me. It was here when he brought the book, and... oh dear." Wesley pulled off his glasses and sat down. Cordelia went and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"That fits," said Tara. "Doesn't it?" she asked Willow.

"Giles got sick as soon as he got back from LA," Willow said.

"And I was captured about a week ago," said Drusilla. "And if you don't mind I'd like my fangs back, please, and if none of you are up for that, I think I'll be off now."

"Hang about, pet," Spike said.

"We don't have time," said Cordelia. "Buffy's moving."

"Buffy," Drusilla said, "is no longer on this plane of existence."

*****