Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Mutant Enemy, Fox, Warner Brothers Studios, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, Joss Whedon, and David Greenwalt. I make no money off of this, and no copyright infringement was intended.

Spoilers: Takes place after "Something Blue", with spoilers for that episode.

PROLOGUE

The priest bent over the harlot, an old, ancient spell book in his left hand, red paint coating the other. The only clothing he'd allowed her to keep was her bra and her skirt. Using the paint, he drew cuneiform symbols around her belly button.

The prostitute gazed up at the priest, fear in her eyes. If the priest hadn't put a spell on her to keep every muscle in her body immobile, he was sure she'd scream.

"I am sorry," the priest said. His Brittish ancient was thick. "But the only way for the spell to work is if I spill the blood of a wanton young girl that has been privy to the ways of men. But your death will not be in vain." The priest shrugged. "You'll only help me to kill the slayer. She's what you would consider one of the good guys." He smiled. "Then again, you'd consider me a bad guy, wouldn't you? Good guys fight the bad guys, I suppose. And oh, do I abhor the slayer and the watcher council."

Finished drawing the archetypes, the priest washed his hands in a basin and stood back. Lit candles were placed at key points around the warehouse's quay. The priest knew the owner, and knew that no one, supernatural or otherwise, would interfere. That was fine with the priest.

He reached down and grappled the sacrificial knife from the concrete asphalt. As he stood back up, he glanced out the building at the night sky. There had been enough omens to ensure this was the right star alignment for this spell.

He lifted the knife up high and reading from the book, cried, "Oh great Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld! Grant me what I wish! Take the sacrifice I make, cast her soul with those of the other thousands dead, and let me have my revenge. Endow me with the power to overcome the slayer and her watcher, so they may be destroyed forever and never again fight against your minions of hell."

The candles flared, lighting the entire warehouse in every nook and cranny, leaving no shadows. The priest knew this was a sign the goddess had heard, and so he raised the knife above the harlot's belly button and plunged it into her stomach.

PART ONE

Buffy and Xander, after sharing a dance at the Bronze, made their way through the throng to the table where Willow and Anya sat. They sat down just as the band's lead singer started another verse of an up-beat rock song.

Anya handed them some cups of coffee. "Hi, guys," she greeted them. She smiled at Xander. Considering that the ex-demon had been mortal for only a year, Buffy figured the eleven hundred and twenty-year-old was doing well.

"Hey, guys," Buffy accepted the cup and sat down next to Willow.

Xander, sitting down next to Anya, turned to Willow, "So, Will, you said you were thinking about joining a wicca group on campus?"

Willow didn't hear Xander. She was gazing at the empty stage, at the place where Oz usually stood when Dingoes Ate My Baby had a gig there. She sighed.

Buffy regarded the teen witch with concern. It had been fate, or destiny, that had brought her to Sunnydale. But it hadn't just affected her. Her friends had been introduced to world of the undead because of her, and they'd had to face lots of challenges and a few apocalypses in the last three years.

If it hadn't been for Buffy, Oz and Willow may not have even met, and Oz wouldn't have found about vampires. Since the teen werewolf left, Willow had been down. A recent lament made her try to drown her sorrows with beer. When that didn't work, the young witch had cast a spell that would have her will be done. She thought it hadn't worked, but it was actually hurting her friends. Xander became a demon magnet, attracting demons no matter where he went. Giles, Buffy's watcher, could no longer see, and Buffy and Spike had started planning a wedding, all because of the spell. Buffy shivered every time she envisioned her mortal enemy's lips against her own. She couldn't really blame Willow, though. Her friend had acted out of hurt, and Buffy could relate.

Since then, Willow had tried to cheer up, but it was hard. Buffy could sympathize. She could never have the relationship with Angel both of them wanted, and Parker had dumped her after they had made love. She hoped her relationship with Riley would turn out okay.

Willow sighed again and stood up. "I'm going back to our dorm. See you later."

Buffy stood up. "I'll go with you. Then I'm going to patrol." She wanted to make sure Willow actually made it home safely. It was night, and because Buffy was the slayer, she was qualified to handle whatever was out there. She worried about all her friends that way, but tonight, she was even more worried about Willow. A few weeks ago, lost in her grief, Willow had almost gotten run over by a car. Buffy didn't want anything like that happening again.

Willow shrugged. "Okay."

Xander stood up, too. "We'd better head off, too."

Anya stood up next to him. "Yeah. I want to go home, too. Perhaps we could have sexual intercourse."

Xander, shocked and embarrassed, looked at her.

The priest, after blowing out all the candles, walked back over to the dead harlot and removed the knife. The spell had gone smoothly. It wouldn't take long for it to go into effect in the watcher. As for the slayer, the effects would take longer, maybe a day or two. He would have to follow the Slayer at a distance until the girl showed signs of weakness. Then it would be a simple task to overcome her and cast the other spell. As for her watcher, or former watcher, Rupert Giles, he didn't need to cast another spell to get rid of him.

The priest smiled. At last, the council would pay for rejecting him.

PART TWO

Buffy's patrol expanded across most of Sunnydale, including all thirteen of its graveyards and the parks vampires frequent. Following a scream in Weatherly Park, she left the path and run into the woods.

Close to the brick wall lining the park, she found a group of three vampires harassing a young couple. The couples' clothes were rumpled from sitting on the grass, and Buffy guessed they'd been necking when the vampires surrounded them.

Buffy had come as soundlessly as she could, so the vampires were unaware of her approach. To save the couple, though, she'd have to lose her advantage.

"Hey!" Buffy called. "Getting desert? You should cut back, or you may have a weight problem."

The head vampire, on the far side of the couple, waved at one of his minions. "Get her."

The vampire minion advanced on Buffy. Even as the slayer pulled out a stake, the vampire did not look worried. His hubristric attitude would be his undoing.

The vampire lunged at her, Buffy sidestepped, and the vampire fell into the bush.

Before Buffy could stake him, however, the other minion grabbed her arms from behind. Buffy bent forward, thrusting one leg before the other, and pulled. She successfully flipped the vampire over her back and on top of the other vampire, which was starting to get up. She staked the second vampire, then the first one got up and faced her. Buffy punched him, sending him back into the bush.

Angry now, the vampire jumped up and rushed at her. Buffy simply brought her stake forward and let the vampire impale itself on the point. A look of shock crossed the minion of hell's face before he turned to dust.

She turned to face the other vampire. The vampire released his captives, and the couple, with one last look and her and the vampire leader, ran off.

The leader looked very afraid. "You're the slayer," he guessed.

"Yep," Buffy said.

The leader turned, ran the few remaining feet to the wall, and clambered up it.

Buffy ran after him and paused at the wall, feeling her back. It hurt a lot. The vampire she flipped had been too heavy. Wait, what was she talking about? She was the slayer, she was supposed to be strong enough to take on any vampire.

She didn't have time to contemplate this, because the vamp leader was close to the top of the wall already. She had to stop him.

She turned her back to the wall, deciding to use her slayer abilities to jump up to the top of the wall and back-flip over it. She jumped and did just that.

The vampire was already running down the sidewalk lining the street. Buffy ran after him and caught up to him at a dead-end alley.

A few feet away from the wall, the vampire turned to face her. It was a brief battle, but Buffy won in the end. The dust had yet to settle after she left the alley behind.

Her back didn't hurt as much as before, but the ache was still there. It should have been gone by now. Her slayer abilities also allowed her to heal faster.

She should tell this to Giles. It may not be anything, and Buffy hoped it wasn't. She didn't have high hopes, though. All manner of things could and have happened on the Hellmouth, and most of them hadn't been very pleasant. She hoped this time it wouldn't be as bad.

Giles sat on his couch, looking through his books.

"Hello?" Spike called from his chair across the room. The vampire was tied up again. Even if the commandos had done something to the blond vampire that kept him from harming people, Giles didn't feel like taking any chances. Spike had come to Giles' house after escaping, looking for a place to hide from the commandos. While he was a captive, the commandos had put something in his brain that, when he tried to hurt any living thing, he'd experience pain. Because their arch-nemesis was more or less neutral, Giles thought it would be wrong to kill him. So here he was, tied up in Giles' apartment, being a nescience.

"How about feeding me? Hungry vampire over here."

Fed up with the neutral vampire, Giles went to his fridge and pulled out a packet of blood.

"Feeding time! You know, I just feel so grateful…well, not really."

Giles got a mug from a cabinet. In his kitchen archway, Giles paused.

"Well, are you going to feed me or not?" Spike asked.

Giles threw the packet at Spike. It hit the vampire's head before falling to the floor.

Giles went back into the kitchen to pour some tea into the mug. "Bon Appetite."

"Hey!" Spike cried. "That's no way to treat a guest!"

Giles snorted. "You? A guest? Not bloody likely."

Xander walked through the door. "Hey, Giles." He said, heading for the couch.

"What? Not going to say anything to your bad pal Spike?" Spike asked.

Giles and Xander ignored him. "What brings you here, Xander?"

Xander shrugged. "I thought I'd stop by, see if Buffy was here. Thought it would be wise to get some protection, you know, with the commandos and everything." He also hoped, with the Slayer's help, to figure out some way to lighten Willow's mood. He decided not to mention that at the moment, especially in Spike's presence.

"Well, if you decide to sojourn here," Giles said while picking up his tea mug and heading for the archway, "I thought I'd do some reading up on the being that made Anya into a demon a millennia ago, Ta'hoffren. Perhaps you could-" In the archway, Giles doubled over in pain, spilling his coffee onto his carpet.

"Giles?" Xander went over to the ex-watcher's side. Giles fell to his knees on the ground and started breathing heavily. He cried out.

Xander helped the watcher over to the couch and touched his forehead. Giles was burning up.

The front door opened, and Buffy stepped in. Taking in the scene quickly, she ran over to Giles' side. "Giles?" Receiving no answer, she turned to Xander. "What happened?"

Xander looked down at the older man. Giles' brow was creased with sweat. "Don't know. He was fine one minute, then the next…"

Buffy went to the kitchen, got a wet cloth, and placed it on her ex-watcher's forehead. "Call 911," she told Xander. Xander walked over to the phone.

"And just what are they going to do?" Spike asked. "It's obviously supernatural. Unless the medical field has decided to switch practices, I don't think they can help you."

"Call Willow and Anya," Buffy said. "They may know something."

Xander complied, turning back to the phone.

Buffy smiled at Spike. "Thanks, Spike."

Spike's face fell when he realized he'd just helped the very people he hated. Buffy smiled and turned back to Giles. It was immediately replaced by worry at the sight of her watcher out cold, sweating and breathing heavily.

Spike didn't see it, however. He scowled at the Slayer's back.

The priest watched from the window. A broad smile was on his face. Everything was going perfectly. It was only a matter of time before his enemies were gone.

PART THREE

"Here's something," Willow said. She was sitting in a chair near Giles. Anya and Buffy stood near the ex-watcher. Anya had recognized Giles' disease and was treating him accordingly, while Willow and Xander were looking for a reversal spell.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, coming over to Willow.

"This hierophant says that, about a thousand years ago in Europe, a small village was overcome with a disease with the same symptoms as Giles'. It has a different name than the one Anya knows. The symptoms are sweating, heavy breathing, fever, sharp pains in the brain. Some of them would wake from their fever for moments at a time, speak of a prophetic dream they'd had, then fall back into a stupor."

"You think Giles is having a prophetic dream right now?" Xander asked. Giles had started to mumble. "Anya, can you make out what he's saying?"

Her ear near his mouth, the ex-demon shook her head. "No. It's just gibberish."

Buffy sighed. "Is there a way to reverse it?"

Willow nodded. "There's something about a man who was passing through the village, a sage, that worshipped the old Uruk gods. He prayed to them to reach into the firmaments and give him the power to overcome this evil, and they gave him an answer in the form of a spell. There was a violent storm, or tempest, that night, but the next morning, the villagers were fine. The sage was gone, though. I guess he must have left during the night."

"Does it give any specifics for the spell?"

Willow shook her head. "Not in this section. I'll keep looking, though."

Buffy sighed and began to pace. She hoped they could figure out who did this soon. She was a girl of action. She wanted to help her ex-watcher, but without knowing what to do, she wouldn't be a very big help.

She thought about her backache. It was gone already, and she'd dismissed it as unimportant. Giles was at stake. His safety was more important.

"Hey, people!" Spike called. They'd moved him to the bathroom and left him tied up in the bathtub. "Hungry vampire here!"

Deciding that yelling at Spike would make her feel better, Buffy headed for the bathroom.

PART FOUR

Buffy walked out of class and headed for the student lounge, frustrated. She'd sneezed during one of her classes. Normally, this would have been okay, except the teacher was writing on the blackboard. Buffy's sneeze had surprised the poor lady, and she'd almost hit her head on the desk when she lost her balance.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. But what frustrated her most was that she had no way of changing that.

They'd found nothing more about the spell last night while researching. Buffy was going to meet Willow at the student lounge and see if the young witch had come up with something since then. Buffy certainly hoped so.

She found Willow on one of the couches. She was reading the book from which she'd gotten the information about the sage the night before. Buffy was a little relieved. Willow had been so depressed over the last few weeks, Buffy didn't think it could be lifted. But after they defeated this thing, she had no doubt that Willow would sink back into that depression. Buffy hoped she wouldn't sink any farther than she had been before.

"Hey," Buffy greeted her and sat down.

"Hey, Buffy," Willow said.

"Any luck?"

Willow shook her head. She looked about as frustrated as Buffy felt. "No, it doesn’t mention anything about it in the rest of the book."

She slammed the ancient text shut, sending dust flying. Some of it headed for Buffy's nose. She fought not to sneeze.

Willow continued, "I'll go on the Internet and see if there's any sites that mention the sage and the village."

"Great," Buffy managed before she started coughing violently.

Concerned, her friend asked, "Buffy, are you okay?"

Buffy shrugged. "I've been sneezing all day. And yesterday on patrol, my back hurt a lot."

"Perhaps you should go back to our dorm. You can copy my notes."

"No, it's okay. If it gets any worse, I'll go. But I'd better go to Psyche."

Willow grimaced. "Are you sure you want to? I'd skip Professor Walsch's class any day."

"Yeah, but I'll just get on her bad side if I skip class. If I'm not on her bad side already, that is."

"You want to see Riley, huh?"

Riley was one of Professor Walsch's assistant teachers at UC-Sunnydale. Riley had seemed interested in her, and Buffy hoped a relationship with him would go smoothly without any big surprises.

She smiled. "Yeah." She saw Willow's hurt look. Buffy knew she was thinking about Oz. She decided to change the subject. "How's Giles? Any word?"

"I called Giles' place earlier. Xander and Anya said he was still in a fever. Spike's the only person, or undead person, that's getting on their nerves."

"I can understand that." She glanced at the clock. "Well, I'd better go. See you in Psych." She sneezed.

"Buffy, are you sure you don't want to go back to the dorm?"

"Positive," Buffy said, although her confidence was slipping. She didn't want Willow to know that, however. "See ya."

Willow still looked concerned. "Bye."

Part Five

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