Rath wasn't listening. He hadn't been listening for a while. From the second they'd stepped into the pod chamber, he'd been awash in sensations that he'd thought he'd never have again. The pods. Tangible proof of where they came from.

He'd only been in Roswell for a few days, gone from New York only a week at best, but it felt like a lifetime to him. A lifetime since he'd really and truly connected with his past, with the part of him that was alien.

He'd almost imediately moved over to stand next to one of the pods, his hand reaching out and touching the filmy, green surface gently, almost reverently. He knew instinctively that this was the pod that his double had emerged from. He didn't need to ask. He just knew.

And there, next to it, was the pod that Max must have come from. It felt like Zan and yet also not like him. Different in a way that was undefinable, but there nonetheless.

Zan. It had been almost an hour since the last time he'd felt the touch of Zan's mind against his. They'd been back at Maxy Boy's place then. It had come like a shock to his senses, familiar and both unwelcome and wanted at the same time. Like everything was with his King. A contradiction. Pleasure and pain, desire and shame, love and hatred. Nothing like what he felt with Liz, or even what he'd had with Loni, once upon a time. With them, he'd wanted to want them, wanted to need them, even if he fought against it at first. But with Zan, he hated that he wanted it, was ashamed every time he woke up in the middle of the night craving it, looked in the mirror and despised the kind of person he was, the kind of person who kept crawling back for more.

But not this time. No, this time he was going to be stronger than that. He didn't need a King to make him complete. That was just some kind of bullshit that had been programmed into him by some beings a thousand worlds away, beings who wanted their own little group of warriors to come and save their sorry, pathetic asses. He knew what his feelings for Zan were now. They were a program, brainwashing or conditionaing or a biological imperative. Whatever the fuck you wanted to call it, it was all the same. A lie. And no way in hell was he going to get sucked back down into it again.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the land of Roswell, Zan was sitting at a cafe, outside, black shades gracing his face. He had been tracking Rath for some time, at least since he left Jeffery's house. Just a few brushes against Rath's emotional base. Feeling what he was feeling for a brief second. But as Zan was sitting with his double espresso (no pussy drinks like lattes for Zan!), he brushed against Rath and decided to hold on, feeling his own name reverberate back in his own head.

One thought echoed especially. A lie. Rath thought Zan's power was a lie. Only one way to show that fucking loser who had the power once again. Changing locations changed nothing.

//It was never a fucking lie// Zan practically shouted in Rath's head, making sure the phantom words stroked exactly the right amount of pain and pleasure out of him.

Rath was almost rocked off of his own feet by the force of the mental blow. And, fuck it all, but a part of him got off on it. Feeling Zan's presence in his mind again, it was like the best kind of power trip. Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!

//Everything about da two o' us was a lie// Rath shouted back. If he was smart, he'd slam the mental doors on Zan and end this right now. But he didn't. He'd never been very smart when it came to his King.

Feeling the force of Rath's response, Zan couldn't help but laugh over his cup of coffee, causing a few guarded stares from the fellow cafe patrons. //You call this a lie?// Zan's lips curled sensuously above his espresso cup, while he forced out a throb of pleasure to his dear underling that Rath could never ignore.

Rath had to bite down on his lower lip to hold back the gasp that threatened to slip out. He tasted blood and winced. Fuck. His pants were way too tight for this shit already. Zan was *not* helping matters.

//Fuck you// he sent back, putting as much of his hatred and anger behind the words as possible, fashioning them into a mental slap across Zan's face.

Controlling his breathing with a supreme force of will, he sent //What the fuck do you want now?//

//Want?// Zan didn't continue for a second, instead changing the focus of his power massage, making sure a wave of pain crashed over Rath's soul. //I want...// Instead of specifically saying what he wanted, Zan left it as an implied impression of 'you' in Rath's head. Zan nodded to himself. That was enough to confuse the boy for a while. Zan wanted Rath? Sure. Sexual dominance was always fun. But he never needed Rath. Would never need Rath.

The abrupt change from pleasure to mind numbing pain shocked Rath more than it should have. He'd been away from Zan for too long. He'd forgotten about this.

Unable to process it all, he was dimly aware of Zan cutting off the connection between them, but it hardly registered. All he could see, all he could feel was the pleasure and the pain, mixing together and hitting him right between the eyes. He stumbled to his knees, hands going to the wall to support himself, and felt some kind of sound building up in the back of his throat. Part moan of desire, part scream of rage and part howl of pain, it was ripped from his throat on a wave of blood and sensory explosion.

Oh, god, this was just too much. It was building inside him like a hurricane and Zan, the fucker, just loved that he could do this to him and then walk away like nothing much had happened. He felt his powers flare up, unable to stop them, and just tried his best to channel it into the wall and away from the others.

He could sense them, on the edges of his mind, and knew that he'd attracted their undivided attention with his little display. "Get da *fuck* away from me" he ground out from between clenched teeth, feeling his control slipping.

And then, without further warning, it happened. All of it bursting out of him like a tidal wave, white light flooding past his fingers and enveloping the wall, the air, the ground, his entire body on fire... and then it burst, sending him flying backwards several feet and landing in a heap on the floor.

Looking up with bleary eyes, he watched in astonishment as the cave wall in front of them suddenly opened, like something from an old movie when the hero said 'Open Sesame' and the magic door moved aside.

Inside the opening, green light pulsed in slow, steady, calming waves. Looking over at Liz, Max and the others he conjured up the best smirk he could manage and said, "Well, dere's da Granalith. Happy?"

No need to tell them that his little show had nothing whatsoever to do with finding the fucking Granalith. He might not be able to handle Zan on his own, but there was no way in hell that his King's stupid, lame ass double was gonna know that, too. No way in *fucking* hell.

Written by Sonya/Angela, Nominated by Erin

---------

"Just wanted to wait until the others had a go at you." Faith smirked at him. "So, when did you get yourself all vampified, anyway?"

Aidan stepped toward her a little, his hands casually in his pockets.

"You don't know? Why, you're the one who left your poor, little, defenseless Watcher alone last night. No phone calls. No checking in. No nothing after you left with Ben to find out more on Glory."

He stepped a little closer. Was that a twinge of emotion on Faith's face? He needed to see.

"Old Aidan left to see if he could find you or Buffy, instead he found Spike and Loni. No Slayers to come to his rescue this time. None at all. Aidan tried to play the hero and save the day. Instead, his blood was sprayed all over the wall of that dirty, trashy alley! They made him dinner. Then they got bored, so they made him me!"

Written by Erin, Nominated by James

----------

The dressed in black man known as Angel looked over to the pretty girl who looked a bit dazed from running into that invisible wall pretty hard. For some reason he could tell she wasn't a reporter, at least.

"Mystical wall," he replied to her unspoken question. Angel felt so useless behind the wall. Buffy gone to help others. Willow lay... under some kind of trance. He hated this. The feeling of pointlessness and possible loss that he could prevent if he was just... behind... this... damn... wall!

Max found himself behind Isabel faster then he thought possible, just in time to her the man's response to what it was. The man seemed a bit involved in what was going on, to say the least. "You know what's going on?" He asked, cautiously. Never knew what kind of riff raff was blowing into town lately, he thought sourly. Thoughts drifting back to Rath and how he had touched Liz's check.

Angel shrugged. "Not a clue." He shook his head sadly, his tone of voice echoing how helpless he felt.

Written by Angela, Nominated by Erin

--------

"I-I... Sure." Fred nodded, aware that she was about to turn into an even *bigger* babbling mess. Had other people just seen that? His hair had turned color and his skin-- Oh God, his eyes too! Breathing heavily to keep herself from hyperventilating, Fred - geeky, scrawny Fred - slid her arms underneath Lindsey's and struggled, helping him to his feet. Not one other person stepped forward to help and even as Fred helped him hobble forward, she shot a reproving glance to the people crowded round them.

"What?" She demanded, hotly, her curls bobbing round her face as she moved her head insistently. "Have you never seen someone's hair change color before?"

The group blinked, almost collectively, startled into movement as effectively as if Fred had said 'move it along people, there's nothing here to see' - and then Fred was off, leading Lindsey across the road carefully to-- Where his gaze seemed to be concentrated.

"I'm sorry." She said after a moment, as in explanation for her little outburst back there. "Silver hair or not, I couldn't cope with that many people looking at me, y'know, so I felt as if I owed it to you to make 'em look away." Her cheeks flushed a little, but Fred wasn't nearly as embarassed as she was scared for Lindsey. What the hell was happening to him?

"And y'know," She murmured gently, turning to face him, her breath a soft tickle against his skin, "Any time you want to offer an explanation? Fine with me. I'm trying to be all Scully about this and Ms. Disbelieving but the Mulder in me is holding up a whole-hearted 'The Truth Is Out There' banner..."

Written by Christie, Nominated by Nick

-----------

"Baby needs to twy harder," she said with a pout. She deliberately used baby talk to Kyle. She was fairly sure it would annoy him. "Time for baby to go bye byes," she smirked.

"Rock a bye baby, in the tree top," she sang. "When the wind blows the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks the cradle will fall and down will come baby cradle and all."

As she sang she kicked hard at the spot just behind Kyle's knees, that should keep him down. She followed it with another kick to the point of his chin, giggling even louder as his head snapped back.

Kyle had been surprised Dru beat his attacks so easily, making him vulnerable to her kicks. The kick to the chin caused him to crash to the ground, slowly losing consciousness. "Ava..." he mumbled and passed out.

Dru leapt on to him. "Mummy kiss it aw better," she giggled. She bent towards his neck fangs ready to pierce the skin and finish off what she'd started. She took no notice of the other fights going on around her.

Written by Brit/Frank, Nominated by Erin

----------

Normally, Ava wouldn't lift a finger to help Rath unless she was under duress. However, she didn't want to be on film any more than he did. Not only was there the whole alien secret which could be blown if any of them were caught on film using powers, but there was Zan to consider. If they were caught on film and Zan happened to see it, it would lead him to them that much faster. For that, she would help in a way that Rath couldn't. And, if she helped the Slayers, etc., in the process... well, maybe that would be something that came in handy later.

Putting a sultry sway in her hips, Ava walked after Vince. She tied the letterman's jacket around her waist and pulled the neckline of Isabel's blue sweater down a little, exposing the tops of her shoulders and a bit of cleavage. For a moment, she regretted losing her leather duds, but she figured she could make this work long enough to do what she needed to do. She caught up with him as he rounded the van and opened the door.

"Hey theah," Ava said, approaching him with a come-hither gleam (perfected in NYC) in her blue eyes. "Dat was brave, what you did back theah, recuin' da tape an' all."

She reached out and touched the hand holding the tape, drawing it back toward her body.

"You must really love yoah work ta risk yoahself like dat."

While she talked, she ran her fingers sensually across his hand, ever closer to the tape. When she trailed her fingers over the tape for a brief moment, Ava used her powers to de-magnitize the tape, rendering it useless. A smile curved her lips as her fingers moved back to the man's hand. She had to keep playing her part for a moment, not to be unduly suspicious. She kept her eyes locked on his. Her lips parted, and she ran her tongue across them, keeping his gaze.

Written by Erin, Nominated by James

---------

Max stood around, eyeing the Man in Black with a suspicious eye, while doing his specialty: stand around and do nothing. So that he did. That is, until he saw Liz and Rath having another "personal" moment, and suddenly wished he was a heartless as his twin was, at least apparently, from what he saw through Rath.

But suddenly, he seemed to be concentrating on something... a girl! In trouble. Max felt his own concern well up in him, the natural healer in him. And suddenly, as he was watching the rather gorgeous girl in trouble, Rath was suddenly next to her!

Pushing on the barrier to see if it was, in fact, still there. He frowned deeply.

"Loser." Max muttered bitterly, realizing once again how far the NYC aliens were ahead of them. Maybe that shouldn't have been worried about school and lives... and everything else. His frowned deepened.

He cast his gaze over to Liz. "What?! I'm not going to be able to _do_ that, y'know?" He said suddenly, with much more furvor then he was truly feeling. God, he wished he could shoot himself, had it in him to pull the trigger. He stared blankly ahead at Rath and the girl, realizing he was being a little sh*t.

"Sorry," he muttered softly, the word meant for Liz, whether she could hear it or not. No reason to scream at her because he was a failure.

Written by Angela, Nominated by Sonya

---------

Pegging the dark haired guy and the freaky girl as the big troublemakers right off the bat, Rath sighed as he saw them advancing on some girl who had been knocked to the ground with nobody around to come to her rescue. It looked like Faith, Miss Drink Now and Slay Later from the other night with Glory. Rath smirked. Oh, yeah. He was really gonna enjoy saving her ass, because gloating about it afterwards? That was gonna be fucking tight.

Doing a short survey of the room to make sure he wasn't needed elsewhere, Rath quickly got the lay of the land. That Xander guy was getting the shit beat out of him by a blond kid, Kyle was unconscious (big surprise there, Rath scoffed), some punk chick was kicking the shit out of some vampires and... fuck, was that Loni kicking Buffy's ass? Oh, just great. Like he wanted to face her at the moment.

Leaving Loni to Buffy, at least for now, Rath focused on Faith's attackers. He extended his hands, palms out, and sent a concentrated blast of Alien Whammy in the freaky woman's direction, sending her flying backwards through the air and crashing into a wall. Not having a clue about what sort of damage these psychos could take, Rath decided to press his advantage now. He concentrated on the guy, willing himself through space and then, with only a slight *popping* noise to announce his presence, he was standing right in front of him.

Well, that worked pretty well, Rath thought with a grin. This teleporting to people thing was getting easier each time he did it.

Reaching out one hand, he used the guy's surprise at his teleporting act to connect with his chest, sending a pulse of power through him that should have been enough to stop his heart. Instant death, alien style. Only... aside from a small jerking motion, the guy most definitely did *not* die.

Belatedly noting the lack of pulse, Rath cursed under his breath. He was a vampire. You had to have a heartbeat to stop it, idiot!

Looking up at the guy, Rath gritted his teeth and went at it the old fashioned way. He let a punch fly, enhanced by his powers to be twice as strong as normal, and hoped to god he connected...

Written by Sonya, Nominated by Angela

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Isabel helplessly pressed her hands and her forehead into the barrier, tears leaking out of her eyes uncontrolablly, and watched, hoping and praying that the man she was strangely in love with would be the victor of the battle...

Written by Court, Nominated by Angela

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(( Everyone was milling about, confused by the invisible wall and unsure of what they could do. And then...

Outside the funeral home, there was a slight popping noise and then one Xander Harris appeared, standing just to the right of Angel and looking more than a little shocked.

"What the...?" ))

If Xander looked more than a little shocked, Angel was positively struck dumb. Well, not that he said all that much anyway, but there was wide eyes to accompany the silence now. "--hell?" Angel finished for Xander automatically.

(( He blinked, looking around him. Hadn't he just been in the middle of a rather intense fight with Jeffery a moment ago? He had to get back in there, before the guy decided to start attacking someone else... maybe even someone who couldn't fight back.

Taking a step forward, Xander collided with something that felt like a wall, even though it looked just like plain air. He reached out, placing his hands against it, feeling along and feeling rather foolish. He slanted a gaze over at Angel.

"Um... not to sound clueless or anything, but does anybody know what the *hell* is going on?" ))

Angel shook his head. "You were inside, you probably know more then us." For some reason the fact that Xander had just magically appeared next to him, after the inital shock, wasn't phasing Angel all that much. Must be the fact that he had seen quite a few strange things in his time and this wasn't even approaching the top ten.

(( Of course, the question was mostly redundant at this point. It was obvious what was going on. There was a huge fight going on inside and apparently Xander was not going to be any further part of it.

"God, this sucks," he muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Then he noticed something even more odd. Looking back over at Angel, the only normal thing around at the moment, which was really saying a lot about the insanity that was Xander's life, he asked, "And... why is Willow all silver?" ))

"So is this guy," Angel jerked a thumb over to Lindsey. "I'd say they have some sort of connection going." He shrugged, not even knowing if that was true, but it was the closest he could come to an explanation.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wall....

Willow reached out for Oz, asking for him in a weak voice. Oz felt something dissolve deep within his soul. He scooted closer once again, taking her hand tenderly in his. "I'm here, I'm here." Of course, he didn't know what was happening, even if she was going to live. Despite the fact that they hadn't been together in a long time... he wondered if he could live with her dying. And somehow Oz thought not.

He looked up beyond the barrier, seeing her hand pressing against some guy's who happened to look just the same. He felt something twist inside him. Jealousy? Perhaps. They seemed to be doing... something. Connecting... somehow. Something Oz couldn't help in, couldn't participate in. He frowned deeply, holding tighter onto her fragile hand.

And back again to the other side....

(( Liz looked up at Xander. After Rath's display earlier, she wasn't as disconcerted by his sudden appearance as she once might have been.

"We've been wondering the same question," Liz told him. Then she pointed to where Isabel was standing a few feet away. "I think that someone has been looking for you..." ))

Max watched Xander sudden appear over on this side of the barrier with a falling heart. Everyone could do something spiffy but him. Goddamn it.

But after Liz pointed out that Xander was now there, Max walked the few steps to nudge Iz. "Isabel..." he trailed off gesturing with a warm smile at Xander. At least he could make her happy.

Written by Angela (Sonya/Erin), Nominated by Sonya

---------

(( Rath raised one hand, a soft, white glow forming at the ends of his fingers and collescing into a small ball of energy that floated just above the palm of his hand. He raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "So, why don'tcha leave da girl alone, den? We both know Ah'm da one ya want. Mah blood tastes good, an you want da rush. So come an' get it, if ya can..."

Loni snuck up behind Rath where he was concentrating all of his alien gusto on Aidan. She glared at him from behind, not making a sound, and throwing all of her power into it, she threw a flying roundhouse at Rath, catching him at the neck. At the same time, with all of her powers into the kick, Buffy fell head first to the floor behind her.

Loni really enjoyed the sound of the slayer's head connecting with the floor. She looked at Aidan, winked and nodded and then did a backflip over Buffy so that both the slayer and Rath were in her view... ))

Rath fell forward, his mind a whirl of agony, and barely managed to reach out and catch himself on his hands and knees to prevent himself from smashing face first into the ground. He gasped, choking and spitting up blood from the kick, barely aware of his surroundings over the intense pain.

Channeling his focus inward, he tried to find the angry red circle of pain inside him, cradling it close and surrounding it with the healing light of his own powers. It took a little time and left him feeling light headed, but soon the pain had been brought down to manageable levels and he'd stopped coughing up blood.

Blinking, he looked around him, trying to get his head back into this fight. Loni had apparently moved on to Buffy, leaving him to lie in agony on the floor. She thought he was no longer a threat. And fuck it, but she was probably right, with the state he was in. But fuck, where was the vampire? And Nikki?

(( Annoyed and angry as all hell, Aidan lashed out a kick at Nikki's upper torso while Loni took care of Rath, sending Nikki back into the wall again.

"Worthless," he grunted. "Not working to plan at all. Must remember to kill her later."

Then, with a salute of thanks to Loni, Aidan moved closer to Rath, where he let out a kick of his own for the lad to deal with... ))

Rath had about two seconds to feel thankful that the vampire had apparently decided to wait to kill Nikki until later, preferring to just render her unconscious for the moment. Then a kick was flying towards his head and he didn't have time to think anymore. Rath threw his arms up to block the kick, which hurt like hell but saved his head from getting bashed in, so he figured it was the lesser of two evils.

He scrambled backwards until his back hit the wall, leaving him nowhere else to run, and the vampire just smiled and advanced on him, looking mighty certain of his victory. Rath scowled. God, he was so fucked.

Lifting a hand, he summoned the last bit of power he could manage and sent it at his attacker, but it didn't even seem to phase him. He just kept coming.

Reaching out to his side frantically, Rath grabbed the closest thing he could find, feeling his fingers clench tight around a piece of broken glass from when he'd blown down half the wall before. He held it so tightly that he felt a bite of pain and blood began to well up between his fingers, running down the surface of the glass and making it hard to grip, but Rath held on regardless.

As soon as the vampire was within reach, Rath slashed out with the glass, feeling it sink deeply into the skin of his arm. But he didn't even flinch, just smirked and picked Rath up by the collar, dragging him up to his feet.

As his head was wrenched to the side and fangs began to move toward his neck, Rath tried to push him away but his struggles were almost as week as a kitten compared to the vampire's strength. He was still seeing stars after the hit he took from Loni and he had no power to speak of. He was easy prey.

The last thing Rath thought before he felt fangs sink into his neck and darkness creep up onto his vision was that Zan would laugh his fucking ass off to see him reduced to this. Vampire bait. Not even important enough to make it into the final battle. Like always, Rath was apparently just not good enough.

***

Alien blood was nirvana. Nirvana and a battery charge simultaneously. As Aidan took in Rath's warm essance, it was almost as intense as drinking from Loni. His flagging strength was completely replenished, and then some. He drank until he felt that one more ounce would make him pop open in a vibrant sunburst, and then he stopped.

Aidan looked at the unconscious boy in his arms. He'd lost enough blood to explain the lack of consciousness, but Aidan hadn't taken it all. Not by a long shot. If the lad was still unconscious at the end of this fight, Aidan planned on coming back for more. But now, there were more important things to do, and more payback to force on others.

Dropping Rath to the floor, Aidan turned and surveyed the room. His "team" was fighting handily, keeping the Slayers and other white hats busy so that he could move about freely. His girls were occupying Faith and Buffy rather nicely, as it were, and Aidan had no interest in interfering in the beauty of that fight for the moment.

A gleam of blonde hair caught his eye. He'd heard Jeffery yell out her name before. Kate. Pretty, that one. Aidan admired her passion as she watched the blond warlock like a hawk. Jeffery and Xander were in the midst of what Aidan was sure was quite the epic confrontation in their little minds, and Kate looked like she was trying to figure out a way to help the warlock beat the werewolf. After the trouble Jeffery had caused Loni earlier, Aidan decided he owed it to the young warlock to pay his lady some special attention. In very few steps, he was by her side. Still feeling jubilant on the after-effects of zingy alien blood, Aidan was quite jaunty. Perhaps more so than the situation really warrented.

"Kate," he whispered, leaning in toward her ear. "Don't tell me you followed Jeffery here. Seems a pity for a lovely specimen such as yourself to be wasted on him."

Aidan gestured vaguely to Jeffery and Xander as they circled each other. "What do you see in him, anyway? He's just a poor, little rich boy with a whiny attitude, a weakness for the magicks, and an obsession with blondes. You could do better."

Kate had been staring incredulously as this man, this hybrid decided to strike up a conversation mid-havoc wreaking.

"Yeah, you're right." she said, trying to keep Jeffrey in her field of view. "I can do better than just stand here and listen to your crap."

In a simultaneous motion, her stake was up in a defensive position, and she sprayed holy water into his eyes, then in a slashing motion across his neck.

"Stay away from us!" she hissed at Aidan. She quickly rushed to Jeffrey's side, and keeping her back to him, almost took on a bodyguard persona--in this case, toward Amy's remains out of respect for her and Jeffrey.

On the outside, it didn't seem that Jeffery recognized Kate's arrival. He was completely focused on Xander. However, somewhere deep inside, Jeffery noticed, and was glad.

Aidan, on the other hand, was furious. In pain and furious. What was it with these bitches? They always thought they had the upper hand in any situation. First Buffy, then Willow, then Faith, now Kate...

He needed to show them that they couldn't treat him that way. His human self had been treated that way, used and abused, too often. Aidan had payback to give, and Kate was just the one to take it.

Squinting through burning eyes, he lunged for Kate. He grabbed her, and with his surge of momentum, both Kate and Aidan went tumbling into the coffin. It finally hit the floor and stayed there on its side. Poor Amy started to fall out. One of her hands reached pleadingly for help, but her eyes remained serenely closed.

Seeing stars as her head slammed into the casket, Kate gasped as she saw Amy's form spilling out into view. "Oh, you so didn't!" she exclaimed, kicking upward to get Aidan off of her.

Her arm swung back at him and she felt the stake sink into flesh, but what part of him, she wasn't certain. She was just hoping to inflict pain, and then get the hell out of there.

Aidan roared as the state bit into his shoulder. It wasn't a killing wound, but it still hurt like hell. With one goal in mind -- his fangs in Kate's neck -- Aidan grabbed the blonde and pulled her close. He winced as she struggled, but still he held on to her, trying to find an opening.

Meanwhile, the sound of the coffin had brought Jeffery to a standstill. Xander was forgotten. His whole being was focused on his sister laying half in and half out of her coffin. Bile rose in his throat.

It was at that moment that Xander sprang, knocking Jeffery to the ground.

"There is no more time for you," Jeffery said, clutching his mother's spell book like the trigger for a bomb. He knew it intimately now, and turned right to the page he needed. Xander might be keeping him on the floor, but he managed one glance at the book before Xander swatted it out of Jeffery's hand, and that was all Jeffery needed.

Power crackled around the pair as Jeffery recited the required words. And then... poof. Xander disappeared as if he had never been there.

***

Outside the funeral home, there was a slight popping noise and then one Xander Harris appeared, standing just to the right of Angel and looking more than a little shocked.

"What the...?"

He blinked, looking around him. Hadn't he just been in the middle of a rather intense fight with Jeffery a moment ago? He had to get back in there, before the guy decided to start attacking someone else... maybe even someone who couldn't fight back.

"Um... not to sound clueless or anything, but does anybody know what the *hell* is going on?"

Of course, the question was mostly redundant at this point. It was obvious what was going on. There was a huge fight going on inside and apparently Xander was not going to be any further part of it.

"God, this sucks," he muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

***

Meanwhile, back inside...

Without another thought for Xander, Jeffery ran to his sister's side. He tried to shove her back inside, but something was preventing him. Then someone knocked into him, causing Amy to fall out even farther. He whirled. Aidan! Xander had been right about one thing. Jeffery had to stop Aidan. It was for Amy! It was all for Amy!

The air around Jeffery seemed to thicken as he extended an arm toward the desecrator. He muttered a couple of lines, and the duo locked in combat rose into the air and flew back toward the wall. Jeffery gestured again, and they flew toward the other wall, then back to the first.

"I'm going to kill you," Jeffery growled, his voice unnaturally deep with the affects of his magic. "You dishonored my sister." Despite his tough words, though, Jeffery already felt the drain. It was going to take something more to get it done with this vampire. Jeffery just didn't know if he had any more levels of power to tap into...

After hitting the wall several times, Aidan sank down, but his grip on Kate was still strong. She lay limp in Aidan's arms after hitting her head during their magical flight.

"You think you're going to kill me boy?" Aidan asked. "Got a spell that will get me without harming your girl?"

That was when Jeffery saw Kate for the first time. His mouth dropped open and his eyes lost a touch of their inkiness, allowing a bit of the blue to shine through.

"Kate? What are you...? Kate!" The last word was like a howl, as he realized that he had hurt her. The one person left in this whole crazy world who still cared about him, who was willing to help him... the one person still alive that Jeffery loved. And he had hurt her!

"Let her go, Aidan!"

Aidan sneered, struggling to his feet despite dizziness that might be a concussion. "Who's going to force that battle?"

"I will."

"She'll be dead before you can get here, and if you zing me, she's dead, too. I've got a pretty ducky position here. Think I'll take advantage of it." Aidan's sneer turned into a smirk as he lowered his fangs toward the girl again.

Jeffery shook with rage, trying to figure out what he could do to save Kate. At that moment, he knew that he would do whatever it took. There was no way he could live in this world without Kate in it. And if she was turned! That horrible idea didn't even bear thinking on.

Magic began to rise in him. His eyes became even blacker, if that were possible. Sparks cracked off of his fingers, toes, even each strand of hair. He began to glow as his power swelled. His skin glowed a bright golden. His mouth opened, and golden light poured out of it. The black in his eyes swirled and was replaced by a blinding blue light that glared like a lazer. He didn't know where this power was coming from. Not the spellbook. That was long gone. That was black, this was pure.

Aidan froze, looking at the specitacle before him. Black magicks, he had expected. But what the hell was this??? Something neither version of Aidan O'Shea had ever seen before.

Jeffery began to run toward Aidan and Kate. Aidan held Kate in front of him like a limp sheild. Jeffery kept moving. His form began to blur. The hazy, Jeffery-cloud thing passed harmlessly through Kate and wrapped itself around the vampire with a loud smack that rocked the building.

"Die, Demon!"

The words roared through the room like a whirlwind.

Aidan tried to hold on to Kate, but she fell from his grasp. Somehow, though, she floated to the floor. She did not fall.

It was hard to tell them apart. The vampire who was immune to sunlight, writhed in the light that the Jeffery cloud had harnessed. The light of his soul. Between the blinding flashes of light, both figures could be seen struggling. The battle was a truly epic one. For the men in it, it seemed to take eons as they struggled back and forth on waves of pain and beams of power. In reality, the struggle took less than a single minute.

In the end, evil couldn't withstand the power of the soul and the strength of ulitmate sacrifice. And it was the ultimate sacrifice that Jeffery was willing to make. His life for Kate's. Nothing less.

The vampire's body burst into dust and vanished. The light flashed one last time, a vibrant rainbow of color. Then, the warlock's body collapsed, landing near Kate. One hand grazed her arm, and the other reached out toward his dearly departed sister.

It was over.

Written by Erin/Sonya/T, Nominated by Angela