"Bloody Hell," groaned Spike as he found himself back in the stone circle. Angel and Willow were both lying on the ground, and he reached down to wake them up. Angel sat up first, then Willow slowly blinked, recognising her dreamscape as her mates helped her to her feet.

"I hope you're not still driving," she said nervously to Angel, who couldn't resist giving her a quick but forceful hug.

"Don't worry, we're safely parked" he reassured her, keeping one arm around her as he placed his free hand on Spike's shoulder.

Thus united, the three sensed a presence surround them. Willow felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, and she saw that Angel and Spike were looking around as if trying to locate an enemy.

Willow could feel the presence as though it were calling to her, singing a song that was just too soft to hear. For a moment she was scared, and she was tempted to retreat, to close her ears, but she felt the reassuring presence of her mates next to her, and she chose instead to send her mind out, to try to find the source of this strange, silent music that called to the fire flowing in her veins.

At once Willow felt the music fill her. She recalled Angel's words about drowning in a sea of love, and she realised what he had meant. But this was not love; it was power, and knowledge, and it rushed at her and swept her away.

She could feel herself start to panic at the sensation, and she feared she would be lost, overwhelmed by the flood of feelings and energies washing over her. But her nerves calmed as she felt herself anchored by the presence of Angel and Spike, both physically as the vampires stood with her and mentally, through the bond.

The strength of the bond was another surprise to Willow. She could feel it supporting her, holding her tight, and she knew that its strength came from them, the three of them, and their love for each other. She could feel the rightness, the balance, the absolute harmony that existed between her and her bond mates, and she welcomed the power that would help her to protect her mates and keep them safe.

As suddenly as it arrived the sensation stopped, but Willow could feel the silent hum of the music in her mind, moving in harmony with the fire that she still felt burning in her veins, and knew she could call the power forward if she needed to. But how to use it - that was another problem entirely.

Opening her eyes to get her bearings, she found herself still standing in the stone circle, and turning to her companions saw from their dazed expressions that they had felt the same thing that she had.

She also noticed that they had company; Ms calendar was silently observing them, obviously waiting for the trio to recover.

Willow waited for the vampires to regain their senses before asking their visitor, "Is that it then? I mean, that was the whole getting of the powers thing?"

"Yes. Your bond was strong and you have made the transition into your Servant state safely. Now you must learn to use the power within you."

"And how do I, or we, do that?" asked the redhead.

"You have the answers to all your questions within you. You must learn only to trust yourself, and your mates. You have learnt that the strength of your bond comes from the unity of the three. So too will the use of your power flow from the bond. Remember the words you have spoken - the three shall be one."

"Fuck, I hate this cryptic dream shit!"

Willow smiled in sympathy at Spike's words then blinked twice, suddenly aware of a pain in her neck and that she was lying on the back seat of Angel's car ... safely parked as promised.

Giles, Wesley and Cordelia had arrived at Sunnydale Memorial, spoken to Buffy's mother and checked the Slayer's condition, and were now waiting for Angel and company to put in an appearance.

"I do hope they're all right," Wesley muttered.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. In her opinion, Angel had probably stopped off at a motel for some quality time with his mates, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she watched Giles continue to pace.

Wesley sipped at his coffee, finding even hospital cafeteria coffee a delicacy after Cordelia's usual stomach-melting attempts. He heard someone call his name, and looked up to see Angel headed towards him, with Willow and Spike close behind. Something about Angel seemed different. Wesley puzzled over it for a moment before realising the vampire seemed more relaxed, as did the others.

Hearing Angel's voice Giles rushed over, reassured to see the trio had arrived safely. He quickly updated Angel on Buffy's condition, and suggested that they all go back to his apartment to research the demons who had injured the Slayer.

"OK," said Willow, "but before we go I want to go in and see Buffy." Angel nodded his understanding, and Giles led her to Buffy's room where Mrs Summers was seated next to her unconscious daughter.

Giles left Willow at Buffy's bedside, and he and Mrs Summers went outside to give her some privacy. Willow looked at Buffy sadly. Her face was not badly burnt, but most of her body was heavily bandaged. Tears in her eyes, the redhead remembered the many times Buffy had saved her life. She wondered how it had come to this, her best friend now her enemy and the Slayer reduced to this fragile, damaged girl.

Willow left the room slowly, indicating to Giles that she would join the others as he continued to comfort Buffy's mother. As she walked, lost in her thoughts, she suddenly realised she had gone the wrong way. She didn't recognise where she was, and she looked around for a nurse. She saw one go into a room, and after hesitating for a moment she followed.

The nurse looked up as Willow entered, and gave her directions back to the waiting room. Willow thanked her, and was about to leave when she looked down at the patient lying silently in the bed. It was Faith.

The nurse saw Willow's face blanch, and put a gentle hand on her arm. "Are you OK?"

Willow swallowed, and said huskily, "It's Faith. I mean, I knew her ... I know her," she corrected herself. "Has there been any change in her condition?"

"No," said the nurse with a sad glance at the girl on the bed. It seemed such a waste, a young girl with her whole life ahead of her, now doomed to lie in this bed as the years passed unnoticed.

Faith's face seemed so serene, Willow thought. She wondered if the Slayer were dreaming, or if she somehow knew what had happened to her. Willow reached out her hand and laid it on Faith's warm cheek, wondering at the strangeness of fate that both Slayers should once again be in this hospital, unconscious.

Slowly removing her hand, Willow thanked the nurse again and headed back to the others, her mind ticking over with ideas

As soon as the group had reached Giles' apartment Willow took charge, distracting Wesley and Giles from their excited conversation; having just learned about the arrival of Willow's powers, they had, in the redhead's opinion, lost sight of the immediate problem.

Getting herself into research girl mode, she declared "OK, Servant stuff can wait, let's try to find out some more about these demons," she declared, her words spurring Giles and Wesley into action.

While the Watchers searched through Giles' library, handing useful looking books to the vampires to examine, Willow hooked up her laptop and showed Cordelia her demon database. Less than two hours later they had a winner.

"Yep, that's the one. A Kventsu demon. Hmm," said Cordelia as she read through the meager information in the computer. "OK, able to extract electrical energy from the air and use as a weapon - that would explain the explosions and burns. Cannot be killed by use of magic. That's going to make things a bit more tricky," she said in gloomy tones as Willow nodded in agreement.

(Finally got my powers and I can't even try them out) she reflected, deciding maybe it was a good thing given that she had no idea how to actually use them.

The girls read the rest of the paragraph together, and as they finished Willow raised her eyebrows. "Well, that doesn't sound very difficult. Wear a crystal that's been magically enhanced to absorb the demon's energy beam and kill them by decapitation. I can't believe Buffy didn't at least try to contact me. I mean, she could have e-mailed. How could she risk her life like that? And even if she wouldn't want to call me, it's not like I'm the only witch she knows.

Tara could have done the spell for her."

Cordelia snorted. "You're assuming Buffy even knew what kind of demon it was."

Willow mentally slapped herself. "Of course, it was probably the first time she seen one. Poor Buffy. But how am I meant to decapitate one demon, let alone three?"

"You're forgetting something," Angel interrupted, reminding the girls that the others were closely following their conversation. "Cordelia saw someone with you. I can kill the demons for you. And Spike and the others will be there, helping. Perhaps Cordelia just didn't see them in her vision."

Willow thought that seemed like an excellent plan, until she heard her least favourite sound.

"Oh dear," muttered Giles, looking sadly at the ancient tome in front of him as five pairs of eyes focused on him. "We may have a problem."

"What?" asked Willow nervously, as Giles seemed reluctant to continue speaking.

"Ah, well, there is an immediate problem regarding these demons. The magically enhanced crystal will protect a living creature from the demon's energy beam, but it will not assist a vampire. Their lack of a life force will make them vulnerable to, ah,"

"Incineration?" Cordelia suggested helpfully.

Spike turned to Cordelia, his eyes tinged yellow, and Angel hastily interrupted before the blonde could add his own comments.

"So that definitely rules out Spike or I from being present at the attack. But I still don't see why Cordelia's vision had Willow there."

"Well, that leads me to our second problem," said Giles slowly. "Willow, do you remember the last time we had a full research meeting?"

"Sure," said the redhead, wondering where this was going. "We were researching some demons Buffy found on patrol, um, not usually from this dimension and, mmm,"

"They had entered through a portal from another dimension, yes, and I was worried that they may be the harbingers of some more serious trouble."

No-one spoke, for they could all see where this conversation was headed.

Finally Wesley sighed and said "And they were, I take it?"

"Yes," Giles nodded, "they certainly were."

And Giles explained at length the problem that they faced with the Kventsu demons. Aside from heir immediate problem of how to decapitate three demons without the assistance of the vampires, there was a reason that the Kventsu had appeared after the earlier demons.

"Those first demons were not powerful, and could not have come here themselves. Something made a temporary portal for them between dimensions, by disrupting the energy between the dimensions. This is a very difficult thing to do, and only a very powerful demon could do it. Kventsu are one type of demon, rarely seen, who have such power. They would have exhausted themselves creating the portal."

"So why did they do it?" asked Willow nervously. she had a feeling it was not going to be anything good.

"Well, I can only guess," said Giles slowly, but it seemed to the others that he did not have much doubt that what he was about to say was true. "I would say that the other demons were acting as scouts. The Kventsu are not from this dimension. It may be that some disturbance in their own reality has forced them to look for a new home. The forward scouts, met by Buffy, must have given a favourable report to their masters, and now the Kventsu are here to open a permanent portal to allow more demons to come. They are probably now gathering energy, to make that permanent portal."

There was silence as everyone digested this news.

Giles cleared his throat. "I'm afraid there's more. The Kventsu must have already amassed large amounts of energy. When they are killed, this energy will be released. Without the Kventsu to direct it, this energy will distort our reality and could well open an uncontrolled portal to some other reality."

"Like a Hellmouth?" Willow questioned nervously.

"Exactly," was Giles stark reply. "And I fear that is why Cordelia's vision saw Willow at the scene. She will be needed to control the energies released as the Kventsu are killed."

Spike moved closer to Willow, wrapping his arms around her with a low growl. Bad enough for Willow to have to be there, but with he or Angel to protect her? How the hell were any of these humans going to decapitate three demons and keep the redhead safe?

Angel looked over at Spike's angry growl, sharing his concern for their mate. Then he noticed the look in Willow's eyes. "You have a plan," he said, almost accusing her.

Everyone looked shocked.

"Willow," said Wesley giving her a strange look, "even if Buffy were not unconscious surely you don't think she would help you?"

Willow merely smiled. "Buffy is not the only unconscious Slayer we have handy."

"Faith?" said Angel, turning the idea over in his mind. "But can you wake her?"

"We can try," said Willow, her emphasis on the "we".

She looked at Giles, and he nodded slowly as he considered the possibilities. "But what makes you think that Faith will help us either? She was after all trying to kill us all before she went in to her coma."

"I saw her at the hospital, and I felt ... I don't know, something. Anyway I think it's worth a try."

"But how will you do it?" said Giles, still unclear on how well Willow understood her new powers.

"I have no idea," the redhead admitted blithely, "but I have a good idea where to start. Let's all get some sleep, and discuss it again in the morning."

Weary heads nodded their agreement, and Giles supervised the sleeping arrangements, letting the mates have the use of his room. When the trio were finally alone, Spike reached for Willow, but she batted his hands away.

"Not now, Spikey, we have work to do." And as her mates watched curiously, Willow had them sit on the floor in a circle, and indicated that they should join hands.

Each heard words sound in their mind - "and the three shall be one" - before they found themselves in the stone circle again. But they were not alone. Ms Calendar was seated cross-legged on the floor, holding in her arms a sleeping Faith.