The Scoobies were gathered at the library, preparing for a night patrol. Buffy had managed to coax Angel back to the group, but was a little miffed that he wasn't paying as much attention to her as usual. He seemed preoccupied.

They were waiting for last minute instructions or advice from Giles, but he seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts. Finally Xander patted him on the back. "G-man, why so gloomy? Aren't you going off to that librarian seminar in San Francisco this weekend? I know that would perk me right up. The San Francisco part, anyway. The seminar I could live without."

"Oh, yes--I'd almost forgotten," Giles sighed.

"How do you forget an all expense paid three day trip to San Francisco?"

"Personal issues, I suppose. Miss Mozelle has been rather frosty of late. Every time I try to talk to her, she has something urgent that she needs to do elsewhere."

"Have you tried giving her flowers?" asked Willow. "Some nice long stemmed roses, maybe."

Cordelia looked up from filing her nails. "As pissed as she's been the last couple of days, I'd say skip the candy, flowers, and stuffed animals, and go right to jewelry."

"Oo, trouble in paradise," said Xander.

Giles cleared his throat. "No time to discuss my, er, entanglements--there's slaying to be done. We seem to have a new menace." He tapped a newspaper. "Two found dead today, killed last night--and rather nastily. Bits and pieces missing, though they don't say exactly what. Shockingly enough, they are actually being discreet, which indicates that it's very nasty. The salient point is that something very odd was seen leaving the scene of the murders. The witness recounted that he had seen a creature that had more than the usually number of limbs, and was at least seven feet tall. Another interesting aspect of this instance is the fact that both of the victims were found wearing very wide, very bright smiles."

Xander blinked. "I know that I, in general, do not find the thought of being rendered into several pieces to be in the least amusing."

"We need full forces on the street tonight, to deal with whatever vampires may be about, as well as try to prevent any more deaths from this new menace. Willow and I will remain here to research, and hopefully we will come up with pertinent information. Till then, exercise caution. Try to prevent any further deaths, but don't expose yourselves unless absolutely necessary, till we know what we're dealing with."

The group armed themselves, and headed out while Giles started digging through the stacks, and Willow dived into the World Wide Web.

Buffy started, "I'll go with Angel--Xander, you and Oz..."

"Hold it, Great Blonde Warrior. We always end up with you and Deadboy, me and Oz. Now, I like Oz--he kicks ass." Oz bowed. "However, when confronting demons, especially unidentified demons, I'd prefer to have someone who can supernaturally kick ass, and Oz can only manage that during his time of the month, and then he's not so inclined... you get my drift. I think we should split it so that each pair has at least one one-step-beyond member."

"Xander..."

"I gotta agree with him on this, Buff," said Oz. "The wolf is at low ebb right now. I wouldn't mind a little extra oomph in my back-up. No offense, Xander."

"Hey, dude, I'm the one who started it."

Buffy chewed her lip, obviously reluctant. Angel said quietly, "They have a point, Buffy. Might I suggest that you take Xander?" He smiled at the mortal boy. "He still hasn't quite come to terms with certain issues."

Buffy sighed. "Fine, but I don't want too much space between us. Let's stay within shouting distance, just in case."

They split up, moving off from each other at shallow angles that would take them no more than a block or two apart. After they'd covered a little distance, Oz said, "Welcome back, man. Buffy hasn't exactly been the easiest person in the world to live with since you've been gone."

Angel grimaced, then sighed. "I've tried to talk with her, tell her that I think we ought to take a couple of steps back on this involvement, think it through a little, but..." he shrugged.

"Mm, yeah. They may miss the compulsive part, but I'm pretty sure that obsessive is a natural part of a Slayer's make up."

Angel sighed. "I like her, and I care about her, but I'm not sure I'm capable anymore of the sort of love that she envisions. I spent a long time soulless. I'm not saying it's impossible for a soulless creature to love, but it damn sure isn't a walk in the park. Speaking of which, let's turn in here. Supernatural predators seem to love the pastoral." They entered the park.

"Ya know," said Oz as they made their way down the walk, "It's sort of funny to be part of the 'established couple' in a group. Hasn't happened much in my life." A teenage couple came screaming past them, eyes bugged out, moving at a flat run toward the park exit. "Like those two there. See?" He pulled out a stake. "They're almost running in sync."

Angel pulled out a very large hunting knife as they headed in the direction from which the others had come. "They probably complete each other's sentances. Really, that shouldn't happen till at least the tenth anniversery." They both ran toward the spot that the couple had been fleeing.

There were screams coming from there, too, but they changed as the two approached. Oz felt his hair prickle as he recognized squeals of laughter. "Oh, this is so inappropriate," he muttered.

"I'd say so," Angel agreed, "because that thing damn sure doesn't seem to be tickling that guy."

There was a pair of figures on the ground, just beyond the full range of a street lamp, but there was enough light to get an impression of what was happening. The bigger figure had the smaller one pinned to the ground, was stretching one arm out rigid, and had a very impressive set of jaws just beginning to enclose the limb.

"Hey Ugly!" Oz yelled, charging. The thing's head snapped up to look at him, which was a good thing because it couldn't very well gnaw the victim's arm off when he was doing that. It was a bad thing because, *Holy fuck! I was nice when I called that ugly!* Oz plunged the stage at the thing's head, aiming for one of the large, Orphan Annie blank eyes.

It batted the stake aside with a high pitched growl. Its lipless mouth stretched half across its moon white and round face, giving it a hellishly cheerful look. It turned toward Oz, and the werewolf's animal instincts zinged him into action. He leaped aside, and something long, thick, and flexible whistled past him.

Angel had shifted around, and jumped it from the other side, knife driving down into its chest. Again it made that odd sound, louder this time, and with an almost electronic crackle woven through it. Oz thought he could almost make out words in that freakish sound, and somehow that was more frightening than anything else so far.

There was a flash, and that oddly shaped object lashed again, this time whipping around sinuously, slapping at Angel's back. The vampire howled, and jerked the knife upward. There was a grating sound, and oily red-brown liquid poured over his hands. The creature slumped heavily, its long, conical nose digging into the ground beside the giggling teenage boy it was sprawled over.

Angel fell back. Leaving the knife buried, hitting the ground heavily. Oz rushed to him. "Angel, you all right?"

"Huh?" Angel blinked up at him.

"Did it get you, or were you just doing the old battle cry bit?"

He smiled at Oz. "I'm fine. Got the fucker, didn't I? Go check on his Happy Meal."

Oz went to the young man, pushing the dead demon--or whatever the hell it was--off him. He helped the boy to sit up. The boy was giggling. "Fucker was gonna eat me, man," he said cheerfully. "Look at that--drool all down my arm." He chuckled. "I think I wet myself."

"I wouldn't blame you at all." Oz looked up as Buffy and Xander came pounding through the park gates. "Over here!"

The teenager staggered to his feet. "I have to get home," he chortled. "Someone must've slipped LSD in my soda, cause that was one freaky hallucination. Smelled bad, too."

"That's right," said Xander helpfully, "And boy, aren't your friends going to feel stupid tomorrow when they try to convince you that this really happened?"

"Dorks," the boy agreed.

Oz patted his shoulder. "You live close by?" The boy nodded. "I've got my van just over there. Why don't I give you a ride? I'll meet you guys back at the library, okay?" He led the still snickering boy away.

"You know," said Xander, "I must not be looking at things in the proper perspective. I never enjoy almost being eaten." He paused. "Well, not like that, anyway." He sighed. "And trust Ozzie to dodge cleanup detail. Well, Deadboy is helping on this one." Xander looked down. "I'll be damned if I'm going to strain my back to dispose of the demonic equivalent of the Jack-in-the-Box clown." The creature started to steam and foam. In a few seconds there was nothing but a pool of brown sludge. "Why can't all demons be so considerate?" He kicked leaves over the mess.

Buffy, frowning, was looking around. "Where is Angel?"

Xander turned, scanning the area. There was no one else in sight. "He has apparently boogied."

Buffy paced the area, agitated. "We'd better search. He might have been hurt."

"Buff, Oz would have said something, right? And if it was anything major, I'm pretty sure he'd have left us a blood trail. I mean, he's been drinking his daily quota of the beasty hemoglobin, so he would bleed if he got a serious owie. I think we need to get back to the library and inform Giles that once again we've done the courageous thing."

"You mean arrived on the scene after it was all over?"

"Well, I thought we might downplay that a bit..."

Oz was gesturing to his hip. "...something right about there. I dunno, Giles. I didn't get a really close look at it. It sort of reminded me of a tail, or an elephant's trunk, but it was in the wrong place for either one of them, and," he frowned, unconsciously baring his teeth, "it felt bad, you know? For some reason I keep thinking of a scorpion I saw once out in the Mojave."

Giles started. "Oh, dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!"

Willow looked worried. "The last time we had more than two 'oh dears', we almost lost half the senior class."

Giles had gone back to a tattered book, pulling it from the bottom of a stack without bothering to catch the others that had been stacked atop it. As they fell, Xander said, "This is serious! He's letting research books hit the floor without even straining his back trying to catch them."

Giles was flipping through the volume frantically. "Oz, would you say that the creature had a rather clownish appearance?"

"Well, if you're talking that LSD, through the wicked looking glass Killer Klowns From Outerspace kind--yeah."

"Oh, dear."

Buffy twitched. "That makes five. Now I'm worried."

"It's... it's probably nothing." Giles didn't seem too convinced himself. He tapped a page, then handed it around. "I believe it was one of these."

Willow read. "Mactabilis Iocus?"

"It means 'lethal joke'. This is a carnivorous creature that immobilizes its victims by rendering them oblivious to danger through a glandular secretion. It is delivered through a stinger that is located on that hip-appendage. While the victim is literally limp with gaity, the creature devours them alive."

Xander winced. "It gives a whole new meaning to the saying, 'Laugh? I thought I'd die.' But the sting itself isn't dangerous?"

"No, the effects are believed to wear off in a short amount of time."

"Believed?" said Buffy.

"Buffy, very few victims of the sting have survived long enough to worry about that. They're usually being digested in short order." Giles looked around anxiously. "Where is Angel?"

Xander said, "He skipped. Probably wanted to go wash that Psycho Bozo blood off."

Giles was looking very pale. "Daniel, you say that the creature struck at Angel with its tail?"

"Yeah," replied Oz. "Had me kind of worried there, the way it smacked him. But he said he wasn't hurt."

"Are you certain?"

"I think so. In fact, he was smiling." Oz shrugged. "I guess he was feeling pretty good about himself, offing the thing like that."

Giles sat down heavily, putting his head in his hands. "Oh, shit."

Everyone blinked in alarm, but Willow spoke for them all. "Giles! What could move you from 'dear' to 'shit'?"

He looked up, and his face was strained. "God, I hope I'm wrong, but I fear..." He took a deep breath. "Children, haven't you been listening? The creature's weapon was a substance that caused the victim to experience not just good humor, but overwhelming euphoria. In other words, complete and utter happines and contentment. If Angel felt that for even a split second..."

He trailed off, and there was horrified silence in the room, as everyone recalled what had happened the last time Angel had been truly and completely happy.

There was a smashing sound as something heavy crashed through the window. It rolled across the floor, fetching up against Willow's foot. Her scream rang out more shrilly than any of the others.

It was the head of the boy that Oz had dropped off in front of his home. It stared up at them, still smiling faintly above the ragged stump of its neck. Willow fell sobbing into Oz's arms, and Xander threw up in the wastepaper basket. Buffy, pale faced, was chewing her lip so hard that she drew blood. Giles forced himself to lean over the object, examining it, and Xander croaked weakly, "I don't think that CPR is gonna help, Giles."

"There's something written on his forehead," said Giles faintly. He reached down and forced himself to brush the hair up off the cool forehead. "It's written in felt tip pen, I think."

They leaned closer.

GUESS WHO'S BACK IN TOWN?

There was no need to say it, but the word fell unbidden from Giles' slack mouth. "Angelus."