When the original members of the Sect of Eskigal arrived at the old police station, they had sensed several demons only moments before they were attacked. Clackens, Brachens, and a number of others rushed them out of the bushes or dropped down from the roof.

"Jaka," the leader commanded.

Jaka lifted his short hands and chanted something in Latin.

Only inches away, their attackers slammed into an invisible barrier.

"It will hold for only a few seconds," Jaka warned.

"Be at the ready," the leader warned, already anticipating the kill.

Jaka and Han grinned. Even Gare, who was still tied, couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement.

The barrier fell and the demons came at them.

The leader brought his spike-ended tail up, piercing a blue-skinned female demon through the chest.

"Gods of old, be done with this creature," he chanted three times.

The female demon exploded into dust, much like a vampire would, and the dust fell to the ground.

A Brachen demon leaped at him to the right at the same time a Clacken jumped from the roof over head. The leader sent a fireball at the Brachen, burning him away, but for the Clacken, the leader let the other demon fall on his back. Then he bent over and flipped the Clacken over his back.

The Clacken fell on the leader's tail.

The leader glanced at his Sect. The others were doing just as well, using magic and brawn to fight. Gare's bounds had broken, but it would be a simple matter to tie him again, especially since he seemed to be lost in the moment.

Soon, all of the demons were dead. Gare was tied again, and the four proceeded into the police station.

Where the three surviving demons housed in human shells stood, waiting. In a cage towards the back was a half-clad young man with died red hair who watched them with anticipation.

The leader couldn't help but feel this was a trap.

He chanted several words in his demonic language, and then he knew. One of men was a projection. They'd cast a spell to give it the same human smell and a fake heartbeat, but it wasn't the real person. Wherever he was, they would find him.

"Where is the third?" the leader asked.

They heard weird noises, followed by three flashes of light. Two young men and a woman, a Slayer, replaced the light.

"Hi, honey," Buffy said, "I'm home."

Then she kicked Jaka in the chest, sending him flying into the wall.

The leader didn't even glance at Jaka. He'd get back up.

The three newcomers faced them.

The warlocks recognized three of them. "Hello, Slayer," Petra greeted her. He glanced at the shape-shifter. "We'd hoped it would take you longer to find a reversal spell. Oh, well. It won't matter in a few minutes."

Buffy and Oz were getting ready to fight. "Get Alex," Buffy told Xander.

Seeing the werewolf in the cage but with wizards in the way, Xander prepared to teleport to the cage.

Petra said, "Dimitrius."

One of his men held up his hands. Purple magic flowed from his hands and settled in Xander's hair before disappearing.

Xander couldn't teleport anymore. That part of his telepathic abilities was sealed off from the rest of his brain.

"Hey!" he protested.

"Xander?" Buffy asked.

"I can't," Xander replied. "They're blocking my teleports."

"That's too bad," Buffy said.

"Yep," Oz said. "Oh, well."

They heard popping noises and something resembling a chime. A brief flash of light drew their attention to the cage in the back.

Jade and Ami materialized next to Alex. They touched Alex, then they were gone.

The wizards, furious, turned back to the other three. "You'll pay for that!" Petra promised.

He flicked his wrist, sending a ball of pulsing magic at Buffy. It collided with her, sending her flying back. She collided with the back wall and slid to the floor.

"Buffy!" Oz and Xander cried. But they had no time to spar.

The demon leader yelled a command in his demonic language, then Gare charged them. Jaka surrounded Han, their sacrifice, with magically-created bars.

Oz changed into a demon that was an exact copy of Gare and met the real demon's tail with his own. Then Oz shifted his arms until they were much longer and muscled.

Then he picked up Gare and threw him into the wall.

Before Gare could stand upright, Buffy was there, and his face met her boot. His head collided with the wall again, leaving a large dent in the wood.

Idiot, the demon leader thought. But Gare was not dead. Han would still have to be sacrificed.

"Jaka!" he commanded. "Kill him!"

At the same time, the leader spread his arms out wide, sending a shock wave that made the two real wizards, the Slayer, the teleporter, and the shape-shifter fall to the floor. Barta erected a magical wall that prevented the Slayer and her friends from getting closer. The projected image of the third wizard flickered then disappeared.

Petra was one of the two that remained. He sent a bolt of lighting his way, which Barta managed to block with a shield at the last minute. Then Barta chanted something. Another cage appeared around the two wizards.

Behind him, Jaka said, "I've done it!"

Barta smiled. Then he commanded, "Yaga tool eskara, Ninas un Yalars, hee-ana kay igal." Sect of Eskigal, Demons and Wizards, grant them change.

"Wherever your other wizard is, it won't matter in a few minutes," he promised. "When we switch, you, in your original demon bodies, will burn to ashes."

Petra smiled. "Your hubris is your undoing, Barta. We have outsmarted you."

A walkie-talkie hung from his belt. Now, words came from it, chanted in Greek. It was the voice of the other wizard.

Barta understand the words, if not the spell. But as he continued to listen, he knew perfectly well what was going on.

In Greek, the voice projecting from the speaker said, "In thine reverence and honor, I worship thee. After the change, drain the human courses of what animates them, and cast their souls into the deepest depths of hell. When we change, give us their power, so that we will be invincible."

Then Barta felt it. The change was happening much sooner than he'd expected. Something was invading, and he realized it was Petra's very soul.

Then he fell on his knees. So did Petra, his man, Jaka, and Gare.

In the confusion, the transparent wall in front of Buffy, Xander, and Oz disappeared, and the magic keeping Xander from using his telepathic powers disappeared.

"Xander, get Giles over here, right now!" Buffy ordered.

Adam! Megabyte He called.

Hey, Xander, Adam replied. Jade, Ami, and Alex made it safely back to Giles' house. We just finished the locator-disarraying spell. We're about to teleport on over.

You'd better get here now, Xander said. The demons and the warlocks are already switching.

The demons and warlocks stood back up cautiously. They'd switched.

A wind picked up. Xander, Oz, and Buffy tried to stay upright in the gale.

The sound of wood splintering could be heard over the wind. Then the roof above them split in two, sending shards of wood and beams to the floor.

Buffy threw herself over Xander. She didn't bother with Oz. His shape-shifter body, unlike Xander's, couldn't bruise or break.

The floor split in two. Fortunately, Buffy, Xander, and Oz were on the left side. The crack also separated the demons and the Sect of Eskigal.

Then the warlocks cried out. They fell to the floor. Their bodies became wrinkled and began to wither. Before everyone's eyes, the warlocks aged rapidly. Their hair turned white, then gray before it fell out in clumps. Their bones became skinny, wrinkled limbs until they hung like dead weights at the warlocks' sides. The warlocks screamed, not used to the rapid aging.

Another scream came from somewhere else in the police station. We won't have to worry about the third warlock now, Buffy thought.

There were flashes of light, then Adam, Megabyte, Anya, Willow, and Giles appeared on the other side of the small canyon.

They got there just in time to see a white mist float from the two warlocks. A similar mist floated down from the crack in the roof from somewhere else in the station.

The three mists floated toward the demons and surrounded them. The mists seemed to float around the three demons before centering on their chests and plunging in.

The demons let out ferocious roars. Then their bodies slumped to the floor. White veins of power traveled along their backs, and every few seconds they'd jump slightly.

"Giles, the spell!" Buffy reminded her ex-watcher.

Giles snapped to it. He nodded at Willow, who held up a crystal and a book.

more coming soon!

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