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Family

Prologue

Willow snuggles under the covers of her bed while Tara sits on the end of it watching Miss Kitty Fantastico playing with a ball of yarn. Tara is telling Willow a bedtime story. Tara’s story is about an abandoned kitty. Willow is a little worried that this won’t be a happy story, but Tara assures her that it gets better. She picks up Miss Kitty, and tells Willow how the kitty gets picked up, and taken to the pound where there are lots of other kitties, and puppies, and ferrets, and dolphins and a half camel. She hands Miss Kitty over to Willow for her to snuggle with.

“Did the kitty get chosen by some nice people?” asks Willow.

“Well, now you’ve ruined the ending.” Tara asks if Willow minds if she leaves the light on. She wants to study a few spells. That’s all right with Willow, but she was really hoping for some snuggling.

“Vixen!” says Tara.

Willow has noticed that Tara has really been studying magic a lot recently. Tara says that’s something she has to do, just to keep up. She wants to be useful to Willow and the rest of the gang. “I just…never…feel useful.”

“You are,” says Willow. “You’re essential.”

Tara decides that she doesn’t need to study any more tonight. She gets into bed beside Willow, turns out the light, and snuggles up close to her. She asks if Willow has heard anything from Buffy about what she may have found at the factory. Willow hasn’t. She figures if Buffy had found anything important she would have called.

Buffy sits in the living room of her house with Giles, quietly telling him what happened at the factory, and what she learned from the monk about Dawn.

“She has no idea?” asks Giles.

“No,” says Buffy. “She thinks she’s my kid sister.”

Giles asks if Buffy plans to tell Dawn the truth, but Buffy has no intention of doing that. Dawn would just freak. She goes to the base of the stairs and looks up to where Dawn and her mother are sleeping. “We have to keep her safe.”

Giles thinks that may be difficult, based on Buffy’s description of what she fought. Maybe they should be thinking of sending Dawn away somewhere. Maybe to stay with her father. Buffy doesn’t think that’s an option. Hank Summers is away in Spain, with his secretary. “Living the cliché. I called him when Mom got sick. He hasn’t even…”

“I’m sorry,” says Giles.

“When he bailed on us, I remember Dawn cried for a week. Except she didn’t. She wasn’t there, but I can still feel what it was like.” Whatever Dawn is, Buffy knows that she needs protection, and the monks sent her to Buffy for that protection. That isn’t a responsibility Buffy can pass off on somebody else.

Giles asks if Buffy thinks they should tell anyone else, but she wants to keep it just between them for now. Anyone who finds out is going to start acting weird around Dawn. It will be safer for everyone if they don’t know.

“Yes,” says Giles. “We have to find out who this woman is, and what she needs Dawn for. I mean, if she comes after you—”

“She’ll come,” says Buffy. “She’ll come for us.”

The Blonde Beast throws off the rubble from the roof that collapsed on her. “Okay. Now I’m upset.”

Act I

Buffy’s friends all help her pack and move out of her dorm room. Anya is a little upset by this. It seems like it was only a couple of days ago that they were helping her move into it. Giles looks up from the book he has been leafing through to tell her that helping each other is just one of those strange customs that people have. Buffy notes that Giles seems to be helping even less than Anya.

“Well, I saw myself in more of a patriarchal sort of role. You know, lots of pointing and scowling.” Giles points and scowls at Xander and Riley, who have started wrestling with one another. “You two, stop that!”

Riley has Xander in a head lock. “He started it.”

“He called me a bad name,” says Xander. “I think it was bad. It might have been Latin.”

“Stop it or you’re going to break something,” says Giles. Xander and Riley ignore him, and keep wrestling.

“Or I’m going to break something,” says Buffy. They instantly let go of each other and straighten up.

Xander can’t really believe that Buffy is giving up her room. She managed to get one on the corner, with two doors and everything, and Anya again reminds her that they just helped her move in, but Buffy has decided to move back home officially, since she has been staying there most nights anyway since her mother got sick.

Buffy looks around and notices that Dawn has disappeared. She instantly gets worried and starts looking for her. Dawn was just carrying a box down to the car. When she returns she tells Buffy that some of Buffy’s CDs were really hers. Buffy doesn’t deny it, she just asks Dawn to help her fold sheets, so she can keep an eye on her.

While she folds, Buffy winces, and rubs at her backside. She is still feeling the pain from her fight with the Blonde Beast the night before. Everyone has heard about that, but not what the monk told her later. Dawn is sure that if there’s a rematch, her big sister will kick the woman’s ass.

“’Cause you’ll have backup, baby,” says Xander. “She’s messing with all of us.”

“Yes,” says Giles. “We’ll—we’ll find her weaknesses and then…”

“Yeah!” says Tara. “You learn her source, and we’ll introduce her to her insect reflection!” She smiles, and then notices the blank expressions on everyone’s faces. Her smile fades. “Um, that— that was funny if you, um— if you studied Taglarin mythic rites and are a complete dork.”

“Then how come Xander didn’t laugh?” asks Riley.

“I don’t know that Taglarin stuff,” says Xander.

Tara retreats from the room, carrying a box down the car. She passes Willow in the hall who is just returning from carrying out her own load. “Stupid.” Tara mutters quietly to herself.

Willow is glad to have the opportunity to talk with everyone else without Tara present. “Okay, guys, now remember, you have to be at the Bronze by eight.”

“Bronze?” asks Buffy. Everyone looks blank.

“Tomorrow night, Tara’s birthday!” says Willow.

“Right,” says Buffy, who had clearly forgotten, “Right.”

Anya asks if they have to bring presents. She has heard that birthdays are a present occasion. Xander tells her he already has something picked out. Willow asks if they’re all still coming, what with this new evil thing in town, and Buffy assures her that they’ll be there. “I could definitely use a break from all this craziness.”

Ben sees a woman lying on a gurney being wheeled into the Sunnydale hospital ER. She is incoherent. The intern with her tells Ben that her family is in the waiting room. They tell him she has no history of mental illness. She is the fifth such patient to arrive in the hospital that month.

“They told me Sunnydale was going to be interesting,” says Ben. It’s the end of his shift, so he’s on his way to the locker room.

Ben starts to remove his scrubs in the intern’s locker room. A couple of locker rows down a Lei-ach demon slowly creeps toward him. The demon extends its forked tongue in anticipation of a tasty meal.

The Blonde Beast grabs the Lei-ach from behind, and puts her hand over its mouth. “I need a favour,” she tells it quietly.

“Thank you for coming.” Anya smiles at a customer in the Magic Box as she hands her her purchase. “We value your patronage. Please come again for more purchases!”

Giles has been unpacking a shipment received by the shop while Anya dealt with the customer. He thinks she should tone down her enthusiasm a bit. He doesn’t want her frightening anyone away. Anya is just really excited by her new job, taking money from people in exchange for goods, and getting paid for it herself. She’s a working girl now! Giles suggests that maybe she do a little work organizing the shipping orders.

“Oh, no. That’s boring,” says Anya. “I just want to do the money parts.”

Xander and Buffy come into the shop. They walk past a young man with sandy hair and a scruffy beard who is looking over some of the stuff out on a display table. There are a few other customers browsing around the shop. Buffy and Xander are talking about Tara’s upcoming birthday party. With everything else that has been happening lately Buffy had forgotten all about it, but, barring monsters, she intends to go.

Xander goes over to greet Anya properly with a kiss while Buffy goes to talk with Giles to see if he has had any luck identifying the woman she fought last night. Giles tells her he has narrowed the possibilities down a bit, and points to the round table which is buried under books. Buffy doesn’t think that it looks like Giles has narrowed it down very much, but it has been the best he could do with the information Buffy has given him. “You can’t be more specific about what she’s like?” he asks.

“She was kind of like Cordelia, actually,” says Buffy. “I’m pretty sure she dyes her hair.”

“Ah, yes, that one, of course,” says Giles. “Our work is done.”

“There must be something on her,” says Buffy.

“The answer’s somewhere here.” Xander leans on the table. “It’s right in front of us, and we’re too blind to see it!” He slaps the table. Giles rolls his eyes, and Buffy just looks at him. Xander sits down and picks up a book. “I’m helping. I’m reading. I’m quiet.”

Giles leaves Buffy and Xander with the books while he carries the emptied box up the ladder into the shop’s loft. As soon as he’s gone, Buffy asks Xander what it was that he was getting for Tara. Xander admits that he had been fibbing when he said that. He really has no idea what to get her.

Buffy is in the same boat. Neither of them really knows Tara all that well. They agree that she’s very nice, but that’s about all they know about her. Neither of them understands half the things she says, but they both agree that she’s super nice.

They are also a little worried about who else will be coming. They figure that there are going to be a bunch of Willow and Tara’s wiccan friends there, and they wonder whether or not they’ll fit in. Xander can handle it with Willow. “It’s like she’s got this whole new thing in her life, but she’s still Willow, so I can always figure her out, but Tara, I just know she likes Willow, and she already has one of those.”

Buffy groans. “I have a present-buying headache. Tara’s damn birthday is just one too many things for me to worry about.”

“Relax,” says Xander. “You should take a few minutes. Train or stretch out. You should do something to work off the tension.”

Buffy punches Spike. He hits her back with equal force. They are fighting inside Spike’s crypt. Spike’s chip doesn’t seem to be active as they exchange punches and kicks.

Buffy throws Spike into his overstuffed chair, and then jumps up, and stands straddled across the arms. She punches down at him. Spike grabs her legs and pulls them out from under her. She falls and lands in his lap. She wraps her legs around his head in a scissors hold as Spike stands up. Buffy throws herself backwards, still holding onto Spike’s head with her legs. She puts her hands on the floor and does a backflip, pulling Spike along with her. Spike lands on his back on the floor with Buffy straddling him.

Spike throws Buffy off him and against the wall. “You want me, Slayer? Come and get me!”

“Oh, I’m coming.” Buffy gets back to her feet. “I’m coming right now!” She charges at Spike.

Harmony moans under Spike in their bed as he thrusts forward. The stop moving, both out of breath. “What are you thinking?” she asks him.

“All about you, baby,” says Spike, and he collapses on top of her.

Harmony wraps her arms around him. “Ohh. You’re my little lamb.”

Giles comes back down from the loft and asks Buffy and Xander if they’ve made any progress. Xander tells him that he’s thinking of candles, maybe, or bath oils. Buffy has seen a real cute sweater, but she really wants to have it for herself. Giles wants to know what they are talking about.

“Tara’s birthday,” says Buffy. “We’re at a loss.”

“You’re in a magic shop, and you can’t think what Tara would like,” says Giles. “I believe you’re both profoundly stupid.”

“Well, we don’t really know what kind of things witches like,” says Xander. “What are we going to get her, some cheesy crystal ball?”

“You bloody well better not,” says Giles. “I’ve got mine already wrapped.”

The guy who had been looking over the table of goods near the door when Buffy and Xander came in has wandered over toward their table of books. “Uh…are all these magic books?” Giles tells him that the books on the table are part of his private collection, and points him toward the shelves of books for sale. The guy ignores him. “So all these books got spells in ’em? Turn people into frogs, things like that?”

“Yeah, we’re building a race of frog-people,” says Xander. “It’s a good time.”

“Huh! So, uh, you all witches or…” The guy sees the look he is getting from them all. “Hey, don’t do a spell on me now.” He laughs and holds up his hands as if holding them off. Giles asks him if he’s looking for anything in particular.

Before the guy can answer, the bell over the door rings, and Willow and Tara come into the shop, laughing together. Tara has just told Willow her insect reflection joke.

“Well, what do you know?” says the guy when he sees Tara. She stops dead in her tracks, her laughter gone when she sees him. “What’s the matter? You don’t have a hug for your big brother?”

Tara stays standing where she is, speechless.

Act II

“Brother?” asks a very surprised Willow. She looks back and forth between Tara and the guy.

Tara introduces Willow to her brother Donny. Donny shakes Willow’s hand and tells her that it’s nice to meet her. Tara waves toward Giles, Buffy, Xander and Anya. “And, um…these are m-my friends.”

“What, all of you hang out? Wow. That’s more people than you met in high school.” Donny gives Tara a poke.

Tara starts to ask how Donny found her, but switches mid sentence to ask why he’s there.

“Well, duh, Birthday Girl,” says Donny. “We came down in the camper. Been all over the campus.”

“We?” Tara’s dismay is growing.

The bell jingles again, and a couple of more people come into the shop. A middle aged man, and a girl about 18 years old. It’s Tara’s father, and her cousin Beth. Mr. Maclay holds his arms open and Tara comes up to him for a very tentative hug. Mr. Maclay tells her that someone at her dorm told them where to find her. Tara introduces him to Giles, and her friends.

Mr. Maclay tells Tara that he doesn’t want to interrupt what she’s doing and he’s double parked outside, so he can’t stay. He asks if she’s free for dinner. He can pick her up at six, and they can catch up.

“Yes, sir,” says Tara.

Mr. Maclay, Beth and Donny all leave together, with Donny giving them a goodbye wave. “Nice to meet you all.”

“That’s so weird,” says Willow after they are gone. “Your whole family. They seem nice.”

Buffy and Xander exchange a look. “Nice” wasn’t what they were thinking.

“You know. They’re okay,” says Tara. “Families are always…”

“They make you crazy,” says Willow.

“Usually,” agrees Tara. “Want to get into research mode?” She heads for the table of books.

“Honey, I’m home!” calls Buffy as she comes in the front door of her house.

Riley is coming down the stairs. “Did you have a good day at work?”

“It’s a rat race.” Buffy gives Riley a kiss. He has been busy unpacking her stuff. Everything is put away. “Oh, you’re a god,” says Buffy. “You’re like the god of boyfriends.”

“Nyah, I just like it when you owe me favours.”

“Well, this earns you a big favour,” says Buffy. “There could be outfits.”

“Oh. Be still my heart.”

Dawn comes out of the kitchen, and heads for the door, on her way out of the house. Buffy wants to know where she’s going. Dawn says that she’s going over to her friend Melinda’s for dinner.

Buffy does not think this is a good idea. “You can’t. It’s not safe for you to walk there.”

“It’s across the street,” says Dawn. “What’s the big deal? I’m just going to go—”

Buffy tells Dawn she can’t go. It’s family night, and she thinks Melinda’s a bad influence. “I don’t like you hanging out with someone that…short.”

“I’m so glad you’re moving back into the house. This is the source of my gladness.” Dawn heads up to her room.

“She makes me crazy,” says Buffy.

That’s pretty much what Riley was thinking. “A lot of young people nowadays are experimenting with shortness. Got to nip that in the bud.” Buffy tells him that Dawn just can’t to running off whenever she wants.

Riley knows that there is more to it than that. He knows that there is something Buffy isn’t telling him. Buffy denies it. She just thinks that they have to be careful until they know what this demon chick is up to. Riley offers to contact Graham and get the government people involved, but Buffy quickly rejects that idea. The fewer people involved the safer she will feel.

“Every time I think I’m getting closer to you…” Riley shakes his head. “I got to take off. I’ll call you later.”

Buffy tries to stop him. “I want you to help. I’m not—”

“Yeah. I know you got a lot on your mind.” Riley opens the front door. “You decide you want to let me in on any of it, you let me know. I’ll come running.”

Tara comes back to her dorm room and finds her father waiting for her inside. He got there a little early, and it wasn’t locked, so he let himself in. He doesn’t really like what he has found. He had hoped that she would have outgrown her interest in witchcraft. He was not happy to learn she was hanging out in that…store.

“I didn’t— I didn’t know that you were coming,” stammers Tara.

“Of course we came. We haven’t heard from you in months. Your birthday’s getting closer and closer. You know what that means.”

“I don’t think it’s— it-it won’t mean that—”

“You’re turning twenty,” says her father. “It’s the same age your mother was when she— Do your friends even know?”

“Y-yes.”

“Are you lying to me?” asks Mr. Maclay. Tara looks down. Her father tells her he has come to take her home. It is the only way they can control what’s going to happen. She has evil inside her, and it will come out. Tara’s dabbling with magic will only make it worse.

“It— it doesn’t feel evil…sir,” says Tara.

“Evil never does. I don’t feel much like eating right now. I’ll give you some time, but we need to be gone by morning.” Mr. Maclay goes to the door, and stops. “Your family loves you, Tara, no matter what. How do you think your friends are going to feel when they see your true face?”

The Blonde Beast wakes up the Lei-ach demon by throwing a shoe at its head. She has it chained to a hanger rod in her enormous walk-in closet full of clothes. She has selected a new outfit for herself. A short leather dress.

The Beast thinks it’s about time he woke up, she is rather disappointed in him. The Lei-ach used to be proud warriors. Now he’s lurking around hospitals looking for sickly people to suck the marrow out of, but she has a problem that she thinks the Lei-ach can help her with. “Blonde. Short. Strong for a human…and massively rude. Broke my shoe, took my monk. Do you have any idea who I’m talking about?”

The Lei-ach snarls something at her in its own language.

“A Slayer? Oh, God, please don’t tell me I was fighting a Vampire Slayer. How unbelievably common. If I had friends and they heard about this…and you know she’s going around telling everybody. I mean, she probably just—”

The Lei-ach starts to look around. The Beast grabs it by the throat, and pulls its head around so that it’s looking at her. “Pay attention! I am great, and I am beautiful, and when I walk into a room all eyes turn to me because my name is a holy name, and you will listen!”

She lets go of its throat, and strokes its hair. “Get your friends. Find the girl. Kill the girl. Okay, baby?” She looks closely at its face as it nods its assent. “You have the cutest little suppurating sores. Has anyone ever told you that?”

Willow arrives at Tara’s room and asks if dinner was fun. Tara just nods and doesn’t say anything about what really happened with her father. Willow is there because Giles wants to talk with everyone.

Tara tells Willow to go without her. She isn’t needed. Willow doesn’t agree with that. She wants Tara to come along. She also wants to try out the demon locating spell again.

“That didn’t work.” says Tara.

“Yeah, but we only tried it once, and I—I think I got some ingredients wrong,” says Willow. Tara says that she’s tired. They can do it tomorrow.

“You sure you don’t want to—”

“Look, my family’s here, okay? I can’t just— Not-not everything is about your friends and stuff.”

“Sorry,” says Willow, and she starts to go.

“No. No, I mean…there’s just so much going on,” says Tara. “I just— I’m really tired.” She tells Willow she’ll see her in the morning. Willow can fill her in then on what Giles has to say.

“Great.” Willow opens the door. “We’ll be demon hunters.”

Willow leaves. Tara turns to her spell books.

Willow arrives at the Magic Box, and asks if she’s missed anything. Nearly everyone is there, even Dawn. The only ones missing are Riley and Tara.

Dawn has been checking out the bookshelves. She asks if she can buy one of the books. Buffy tells her she can’t. “With my own money?” asks Dawn.

“I let you come,” says Buffy. “Now come sit here and look studious.” Dawn joins everyone sitting around the table.

“Now, first of all,” says Giles. “I want to talk to you about safety. Um, now, this creature could be—”

“Will be,” corrects Buffy.

“Will be coming after Buffy and possibly all of us,” says Giles.

Tara appears at the back door, unnoticed by the others and starts to whisper a spell.

“Blind Cadria, desolate queen.
Work my will upon them all,
Your curse upon them, my obeisance to you.”

Tara raises a cupped hand full of dust and blows it into the room.

“Now, I may have a lead on this monk that Buffy spoke with,” says Giles as the dust wafts toward them. “There are a few orders that I’ve read up on—” The dust suddenly darts into the eyes of everyone seated around the table. Giles blinks. “I’m—I’m sorry. Where was I?”

“The monk,” says Buffy.

“Yes, um, I’d like us all to start looking at these orders. It’s possible whichever one this monk belonged to was wiped out entirely.”

Tara fades into the back room, and leaves.

Act III

The bartender in Willy’s tells Riley that he’s surprised that he keeps coming in there. Riley has a reputation with the local monsters, and some of them may decide to do something about him. Riley tells him to shut up and just pour him another drink.

A pretty girl sits down beside him at the bar. “Drinking alone? It’s not a good sign.”

“So they tell me,” says Riley. “I buy you a drink, neither one of us has that problem anymore, now do we?”

The girl tells him that she’ll have a vodka tonic, and Riley orders one for her. Her name is Sandy. “This place is such a dive,” she tells him.

“No, no, it’s great,” says Riley. “You just have to close your eyes, plug up your nostrils, it’s fine.” Sandy suggests that they could go someplace more private.

“Oh, ho ho, Sandy, Sandy.” Riley shakes his head. “It’s no good. My heart belongs to another. Besides, I don’t go out with vampires.”¹ Sandy scowls at him. Riley looks at the bartender. “They’re never interested in my intellect.”

Spike sits in his overstuffed chair, fondling his Buffy mannequin head. Harmony comes in, and he quickly drops it to the floor before she sees it. Harmony has just returned from a shopping trip, laden down with bags. She had been to April Fools, and everything was on sale.

“You paid for it?” asks Spike.

“Oh, no. I just killed the clerk,” says Harmony as she unpacks her bags. “Still, a bargain’s a bargain.” While she was out she also ran into a vampire she knows from the sewer gang. The word around town is that some big nether-wig has got the Lei-ach demon rounding up its clan to go after the Slayer. “You think they might actually do it? Kill her?”

“God, that would be…pleasant.” Spike gets out of his chair and starts to put on his coat.

Harmony thinks that if the Lei-ach succeeds they should get him a gift basket or something, then she notices that Spike is on his way out. “Where are you going?”

“To get a decent seat,” says Spike. “If the Slayer’s going to die, I’m going to watch.”

Tara runs into Beth on her way back to her room. Beth asks if Tara needs any help with packing or anything. Tara says that she isn’t going back with them.

“You selfish bitch!” says Beth. “You don’t care the slightest bitty bit about your family, do you? Your dad’s been worried sick about you every day since you’ve been gone. There’s a house that needs taking care of. Donny and your dad having to do for themselves while you’re down here living God knows what kind of lifestyle. I can’t wait till your little friends find out the truth about you. And they will, you know. It doesn’t matter how innocent you act. They’ll see.”

“No, they won’t,” says Tara.

“They will unless you do some kind of spell on them.” Beth sees Tara’s reaction to that. “You did!”

Tara tries to deny it, but Beth doesn’t believe her. She’s going to go tell Tara’s father. Tara tells her that the spell was nothing, but Beth doesn’t care. “You think you can just go around cursing people? Your dad’s going to pop.”

“It was just so they wouldn’t see,” says Tara. “So—so they wouldn’t see the demon part of me. Please don’t tell Dad. It’s harmless.”

Buffy has taken a break from studying, and is doing some stretching exercises in her training room in the back of the Magic Box. The others are still out front researching. Willow hears a knock at the door. She opens it, hoping that it’s Tara. Three Lei-ach demons are standing in the doorway.

Willow looks around, but doesn’t see them. She closes the door again, and tells the others that she thought she heard something. The Lei-ach demons smile.

Act IV

“Don’t you see how out of control you are?” Beth asks Tara. “You’ve been lying to these people for a year, and now you’ve put a spell on them. Is that right? Is that a human thing to do? Now, I’m telling your father. If he doesn’t force you to come home, and I think that he should, I know he’s going to tell your friends the truth. If I were you, I’d tell them first. And then I’d tell them good-bye.”

Dawn plays with a snow globe in the Magic Box. One of the Lei-ach demons pauses behind her and looks over her shoulder at what she’s doing, but she doesn’t notice it. It continues on its way toward the back of the shop, along with its companions. They pause to look at the others researching around the table, but none of them see the demons either. Giles notices that the door is open, and asks Dawn to close it.

Buffy takes a break from beating on a punching bag for a bit more stretching. She hears something behind her but when she looks she doesn’t see anything. She turns back toward the punching bag as two of the Lei-ach demons creep up behind her.

A floor board right behind Buffy creaks. She spins around, and lashes out at whatever is sneaking up on her. She knows there’s something there, even if she can’t see it. A Lei-ach grabs her, and pushes her to the floor.

“Giles! There’s…something in here!” Buffy shouts as she wrestles with the invisible demon on the floor.

Giles and Xander start for the back room. Xander runs into the invisible demon who stayed behind to guard the door. The others all see him fighting with something they can’t see. The Lei-ach throws Xander to the floor, gets on top of him and starts to choke him.

Willow and Anya look for some sort of weapons they can use. Anya picks up a heavy magnifying glass on a stand off the counter, and Willow picks up a chair. They both start toward Xander. Willow gets there first and hits the invisible demon with the chair, knocking it off him.

“Where did it go?” asks Anya. The demon hits Willow, and knocks her against the wall.

Giles grabs Dawn and directs her to hide under his desk. He places himself between her and whatever invisible creatures have invaded his shop.

Spike comes in the back door, and watches with a big grin as Buffy wrestles with the demon on the floor. Buffy kicks the demon she’s fighting off her and gets to her feet. The second demon grabs Buffy from behind and holds her. Spike’s grin fades as the first demon gets back to its feet, and prepares to attack Buffy. He rolls his eyes. He can’t just stand there and watch these two demons attack his Slayer. He tackles the first demon as it charges at Buffy again.

Buffy hits the demon holding her with the back of her head, and flips it to the floor. She follows the sound of its landing to where it is, picks it up, and throws it head first against the brick wall. The demon collapses to the floor with a broken neck.

Buffy looks around the training room, but she can’t see anything. She doesn’t see Spike or the demon he’s wrestling with on the floor. She can hear the fight between the third demon and her friends in the front room, so she runs out.

“You’re welcome!” says Spike as she leaves. The demon punches him in the face.

Buffy enters the front room and sees Anya swinging at the air around her with the magnifying glass, but she isn’t hitting anything. The demon knocks Giles away from his position in front of the desk, but he quickly scrambles back, feeling around for it. The demon has moved on.

Xander is still lying on the floor. “Its over there!”

“How many are there?” asks Giles.

“I’ve already been injured once this month!” shouts Anya.

“Shut up!” says Buffy. Everyone instantly stops making noise, and Buffy stands and listens, trying to locate the demon. The bell over the door jingles, and Tara comes in. She sees the Lei-ach demon sneaking up behind Buffy, and calls out a warning. Buffy spins around as the demon grabs her, and tosses her across the table.

Spike is still fighting with his demon in the training room. The demon throws him against the wall next to one of the racks of weapons. Spike grabs a nasty looking sickle like thing (not a hunga munga, some other sickle like thing) and buries it in the demon’s head.

“Tara, where is it?” asks Buffy. “Can you see it?”

“Oh, God.” Tara realizes what’s happening. The demon starts to punch at Buffy. Tara bows her head.

“Blind Cadria, lift your veil.
Give evil form and break my spell.”

The demon realizes what Tara’s doing, and charges at her, but it’s too late. Buffy sees it materialize just as it reaches Tara and strikes her. It knocks Tara to the floor.

Buffy attacks the demon, pulling its attention away from Tara. The demon grabs Buffy and throws her to the floor.

Mr. Maclay, Donny and Beth come into the shop, and he sees the demon standing over his daughter. He rushes forward. The demon hits him, knocks him to the floor, and starts toward him. Buffy sweeps the demon’s legs out from under it, and it falls to the floor, its head on the stairs. Buffy jumps to her feet, and kicks the demon in the back of its neck, crushing its larynx against the edge of a step.

Mr. Maclay sits on the floor looking at the dead demon in front of him as Giles helps Dawn get out from under his desk. “What in God’s name is that?” asks Mr. Maclay.

Spike is coming out of the back room. “Lei-ach demon. Fun little buggers. Big with the marrow sucking.”

“I don’t understand,” says Mr. Maclay.

Buffy looks at Tara sitting on the floor. “I’m not sure I do, either.”

“I’m sorry,” says Tara. “I’m s-s-so sorry. I was— I was trying to hide. I didn’t want you to see…what I am.”

Willow kneels in from of her. “Tara? What?”

“What do you mean, what you are?” asks Buffy. Tara looks up at her, but can’t say anything.

“Demon,” says Mr. Maclay. Tara hangs her head in shame. “The women in our family…have demon in them. Her mother had it. That’s where the magic comes from. We came to take her home before…well, before things like this started happening.”

“You cast a spell on us to keep us from seeing your demon side,” says Giles. “That’s why we couldn’t see our attackers.”

“Nearly got us killed.” Buffy glances back at Dawn.

“I’ll go.” Tara gets to her feet, and looks at Buffy. “I’m very sorry.” Mr. Maclay tells them he has the camper outside.

“Wait? Go?” asks Willow. “She just did a spell that went wrong. It was just a mistake.”

“It’s not the point and it’s not your concern,” says Mr. Maclay. “She belongs with us. We know how to control her…problem.”

“Tara, look at me,” says Willow. “I trusted you more than anyone in my life. Was all that just a lie?”

“No!” Tara is trying not to cry.

“Do you want to leave?” asks Willow.

“It’s not your decision, young lady,” says Mr. Maclay.

Willow looks at him. “I know that!” She looks back at Tara. “Do you want to leave?” Tara shakes her head.

Mr. Maclay doesn’t care what Tara wants. He’s planning to take her away before someone gets killed. She belongs with her family. “I hope that’s clear to the rest of you.”

“It is.” Buffy looks at Tara. “You want her, Mr. Maclay? You can go ahead and take her.” Tara can’t look Buffy in the eye. Buffy turns her attention back to Mr. Maclay. “You just got to go through me.”

“What?” asks Mr. Maclay.

“You heard me,” says Buffy. “You want to take Tara out of here against her will? You got to come through me.”

Dawn steps up beside her big sister. “And me.” Tara starts to look hopefully toward her friends.

“Is this a joke?” asks Mr. Maclay. “I’m not going to be threatened by two little girls.”

“You don’t want to mess with us,” says Dawn.

“She’s a hair puller,” says Buffy.

“And you’re not just dealing with two little girls.” Giles steps up behind Buffy and Dawn.

“You’re dealing with all of us,” says Xander.

“Except me,” says Spike. “I don’t care what happens.”

“This is insane,” says Mr. Maclay. “You people have no right to interfere with Tara’s affairs. We are her blood kin! Who the hell are you?”

“We’re family,” says Buffy.

Donny doesn’t like what is happening. He steps toward Tara. “If you don’t get in that car, I swear by God, I will beat you down!”

“And I swear by your full and manly beard you’re going to break something trying,” says Xander. Donny backs off.

“Well,” says Beth. “I hope you’ll all be happy hanging out with a disgusting demon.”

Anya puts her hand up. “Excuse me. What kind?”

Beth doesn’t know what Anya’s is talking about.

“What kind of demon is she?” asks Anya. “There’s a lot of different kinds. Some are very, very evil, and some have been considered to be useful members of society.” Anya and Xander exchange a smile.

“Well, I—I— what does it matter?” asks Beth.

“Evil is evil,” says Mr. Maclay.

“Well, let’s just narrow it down,” says Anya.

“Oh!” A lightbulb goes off in Spike’s head. “Why don’t I make this simple?” He steps up behind Tara, and taps her on the shoulder. Tara turns around and he punches her on the nose.

“Ow!” yells Tara, and grabs her nose.

“Ow!” yells Spike, and grabs his head.

“Hey!” shouts Willow at Spike, and then she notices the way he reacted. “Hey!” she says again, sounding much happier.

“He hit my nose!” says Tara.

“And it hurt—him, I mean,” says Willow.

“And that only works on humans,” says Buffy.

“There’s no demon in there. That’s just a family legend. Am I right?” Spike asks Mr. Maclay. “Just a bit of spin to keep the ladies in line? Ha. You’re a piece of work. I like you.”

Tara and Willow are both pleased by this revelation, but Tara’s nose still hurts.

“Yeah. You’re welcome,” says Spike.

Giles suggests to Mr. Maclay that it is time for him to be going.

“Tara. For eighteen years, your family has taken care of you and supported you,” says Mr. Maclay. “If you want to turn your back—”

“Dad… Just go,” says Tara.

Mr. Maclay starts to leave. He pauses to look at the dead demon on the floor, and shakes his head in disgust. “Magic!”

“Are you happy now?” an angry Beth asks Tara.

Tara smiles at her.

Epilogue

The Bronze is full of people for Tara’s birthday party. All of her friends are there. Buffy and most of her friends, and a lot of other people. Everyone is having a good time, even Dawn. Tara is very pleased with the crystal ball she got from Giles. Dawn gives her a broom, with a big red bow on it.

Later in the evening Buffy watches Tara play pool with Xander. Riley comes in, carrying a present for Tara under his arm, and apologises for being late.

“You came!” Buffy gives him a kiss.

“Of course I came,” says Riley.

After the pool game is done Tara sits at a table with Anya, trying to explain her joke. “No, see, ’cause, your insect reflection represents your insignificance in terms of the karmic cycle.”

Anya thinks about that for a bit. “But it’s still not funny.”

Dawn is sitting at a table with Buffy, Xander, Giles and Riley. She thinks that the Bronze is a really cool place, except for the stupid stamp they put on her hand.

“That’s to keep you from boozing it up,” says Xander.

“Oh, please,” says Dawn. “Only losers drink alcohol.” Everyone else at the table looks at their drinks.

Anya is still trying to figure out this reflection thing when Willow comes up to take Tara away for a dance. She leads her out onto the dance floor.

“Good birthday?” asks Willow as they dance slowly together.

“Best birthday,” says Tara.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me about your family and all that.”

“I was just afraid if you saw the kind of people I came from, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near me,” says Tara.

“See, that’s where you’re a dummy,” says Willow. “I think about what you grew up with and then I look at what you are. It makes me proud. It makes me love you more.”

“Every time I— even when I’m at my worst…you always make me feel special,” says Tara. “How do you do that?”

“Magic,” says Willow, and they hug each other close. They continue to dance. They slowly lift off the floor. In the center of the crowded Bronze dance floor, Willow and Tara float with their feet a foot off the floor, while other couples dance around them.

Death Toll

Notes

1. Sandy is the girl who got bitten by the Vampire Willow back in Doppelgängland.