“Oh my God, Spike!” Rushing to the vampire’s side within seconds of entering the wrecked apartment, Buffy Summers makes sure that Spike is okay, worry etched all over her face. She turns, looks around the room as Spike shakily gets to his feet.

“Right as rain. Already starting to heal.” The vampire looks at Buffy. Reassures her. Willow is still by the front door, vampire wrapped up by magical bonds.

“What happened?”

“Dracula! He went all Dark Willow! Stole the Vampyr book!” Andrew yells loudly, helping Giles to his feet.

Willow is not impressed by his statement. “‘All Dark Willow’? I’m a trope now?”

Andrew shrugs, but also smiles at her. “Embrace it. I’d kill to be a trope.”

Buffy is busy thinking, putting the events of the last hour in order. “So sending us to catch a vampire was a snipe hunt. Will, might as well turn him loose. The vamp, I mean.” Willow does so, without any thought. The vampire instantly looks down and realises it’s free.

“I figured Drac would pull something like this. Just not so soon.” She gets up, looks towards Giles, confused. “New vampires are still a threat to him and we were working on changing that. I don’t see his play.”

“Remember they’re harder to stake.” A warning from Willow, from the door.

Buffy turns, Scythe in hand, and slams it through the vampire’s chest with little effort. “I got it.”

Giles is now up on his feet, but he’s rubbing his head with his hands. “I should have seen ‘his play,’ but my attention span is not what it is. Dracula reasoned that, if new rules of magic are spontaneously written in the book, he could shape the new rules… by writing them in the book.”

Buffy looks at him. The vampire is floating as dust in the air around her. “But he’s wrong, isn’t he? Giles. Tell me he’s wrong.”

“I wish I could.”

Buffy sighs, leaning back against the nearest wall. “Beautiful. So a soulless, evil monster took the power to write the rules of the universe out from under our noses.”

Dawn, who up until now has been quiet, staring into space from the couch, finally speaks. “And Xander.”

Buffy looks at her sister in subdued shock. “What?” Dawn doesn’t look at her sister yet, stifling back her sobs. “He took Xander too. Put him back in ‘Yes, Master’ mode. Like flipping a switch and I…” She now looks at her sister, unable to keep the tears contained any longer. “I couldn’t make him stay.”

“It’s gonna be okay, Dawn. We’ll get them both back. Dracula’s got a new toy. He won’t go far before he wants to play with it. Whatever crypt or tunnel or abandoned church he’s hiding in. We’ll find him.” She puts her arm around her sister, making promises.

Buffy just hopes that she can keep them.

At a five-star hotel in San Francisco, Xander is in a valet’s clothing and currently is giving Dracula a foot massage. The vampire rests in a hot tub, content in his victory. But Xander has some concerns about the staff at the hotel.

“Maybe we should hide somewhere more low profile, Master.”

“I am Dracula. I do not do ‘low profile.’”

But the look on Xander’s face is one of caution, and Dracula trusts his manservant. “Very well. Let’s start with something small, but important. This may shock you, manservant, but I use my hypnotic abilities to make people see me as a bit more… put together than I actually am.”

He rises from the tub, Xander fetching and holding a robe open for him. He showers the vampire with snivelling compliments. “You are the handsomest creature in existence, Master. And lithe. The lithest. Like a panther, or… something else that’s really, really lithe.”

Dracula nods, but rushes him. “Yes, yes. But I can’t see myself in mirrors, so I am going to need you to be honest with me. Completely. Do you understand?”

“Your wish is my command, Master.” Dracula looks at him, and actually becomes quite nervous. “Very well. Deep breath and…”

“Well? What do you see?”

Xander looks at his Master and his mouth opens in shock. Instead of the regal, royal stature that the Count had had before, he’s now a frail old man, impossibly ancient and a relic of old times past, desperate to remain relevant despite his tattered, aged form. Xander does as his Master requested and is brutally honest.

“Wrinkles and age spots everywhere. Deep crow’s-feet. The nose of an alcoholic sea Captain. Wow, I didn’t realise full-body rosacea existed.”

That’s enough for Dracula, who clenches his robe tighter together and waves Xander away. “That’s quite enough, thank you!” He walks from the en suite and into the main bed chamber, where the Vampyr book sits on the bed, ink quill resting on its leather bound cover. “Transcribe this into the book. “Dracula’s body was restored to its bloom of youth, vigour and comeliness.””

Xander picks up the quill, dips it into Dracula’s ink and write the exact words into the book. He looks up as soon as he’s written it and Dracula turns in expectation. “Well, how do I look?”

Xander looks up and sees Dracula, as he was all along, if not more attractive than before. “Young, handsome, even lither than before.”

Dracula smiles, but then looks directly, at Xander, concerned. “You’re not just saying that?”

“No Master. You commanded me to be honest. And in that spirit, I should tell you: you’re paying way too much attention to how you look on the outside, and not enough to who Dracula is in here.”

Dracula looks at his manservant bluntly, as he points to his chest to his unbeating heart. “You may return to being obsequious lickspittle now.”

Xander simply bows and moves back towards the bed. “Thank you, Master.”

Dracula stands there, looking down at himself, youthful and powerful again. “It worked. It worked! The power of a God is mine!” He cackles louder, and then, when he stops, he turns to Xander and gestures at the quill.

“Now let’s think a bit bigger, shall we? Write this down… “All beings, alive and undead, natural and supernatural, recognised Dracula as Lord of all Vampires…”

In Xander’s apartment, Giles and Willow are sitting on the floor, researching anything they can to find their target. Giles, and not for the first time in the last hour, slams his hand on the carpet and throws the book he was reading as far away from him as he can. “Damn it all to Hell! This is complete and utter bulls…”

“Language, mister!” Willow chides him, perhaps slightly too harshly, as she feels weird shouting at him. She tries another tactic, looking at the young boy. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t give up. Divination spells take patience and focus. You taught me that, remember?”

Giles nods, but he also has a tone of rebellion in his voice. He does not like being schooled. “Yes, I suppose I did. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Willow assures him that he can do it, once he gets used to the new stuff. “It’s even trickier now, with the new rules. Take a minute, clear your mind, and we’ll try again.”

Buffy has been watching from the couch. She turns to Spike and then to Willow. “He’s got a point though. We can’t assume your magic G.P.S. is going to work.”

She turns to Spike. She feels useless just standing around and feels the need to be more active. She asks him if he wants to patrol. “Feel like hitting the pavement, shaking down some skels?”

“Right. No more Law and Order marathons for you. And I’d love to.” The vampire jokes with a smile.

Dawn interrupts the smile fest that’s occurring in front of her. “I’m coming too. I can’t just sit here,” she demands. “I can handle myself. Don’t try to talk me out of it.”

Her sister grips her Scythe and looks at her, grinning. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Spike?”

The vamp looks straight at Dawn and nods. “I do believe we’ve found our bad cop.”

Less than an hour later, at a local demon bar, Buffy, Spike and Dawn are downtown, raiding a known den for underwater demons that come to deal with criminals on land. They resemble fish people, but Dawn has angrily pushed one aside into a pillar, crossbow armed at his throat as she intimidates and threatens him, loudly.

“Lie to me again, and you’re sushi!” she screams, causing the demon to shiver. Spike reacts to her tone and shouts towards Dawn. “I’m starting to believe him, Little Bit.”

Buffy has heard her sister too and, concerned, asks Spike to take over. “Spike, you got this? Wanna have a confab with my sis.”

Spike rolls his eyes and nods. “It’s all over but the weeping, love. Go to it.”

Buffy takes Dawn to a large kitchen in another part of the club. As Dawn walks in first, she keeps her back to her sister as she speaks. “You know Dracula would never hurt Xander, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So what’s with you going all Heisenberg in Yoga pants?”

Dawn turns to her sister, a lone tear in one of her eyes. Her tone is hushed, like she doesn’t want to admit what she’s going to say, but a tender smile from her sister encourages her to speak.

“When Xander was leaving, I asked him to stay. Told him I loved him. He said… he said “No, you don’t.”” She looks down at the floor, completely avoiding Buffy’s gaze. “And he was right.”

Buffy sighs and moves towards Dawn. “Oh boy. Look, when two people move in together, it’s a big step. Proven by the fact that I’ve never done it. It’s an adjustment. I wouldn’t give up yet.”

Dawn shakes her head though, tells her sister that that isn’t the problem. “No. You don’t get it. You can’t give up something you don’t have.”

She turns away from her sister again, this time more tears flowing down her face. “You saved me from fading away, but when I came back, I think I lost something. I was created by magic. Instant body, a preset bunch of emotions. The body’s okay, but it’s like the emotions are back to default settings.”

Buffy looks confused and raises her hand as if in class. “Um… college dropout here.”

Dawn stands next to the large steel counter in the kitchen and looks at her sister. “I remember everything that’s happened. Being with Xander, falling in love with him. But I don’t feel it. I have that stupid high school crush on him I had when I was fourteen. But what he feels for me is so deep, so intense…”

“And you can’t handle it.”

“No. I can’t. Not on top of everything else I’m catching up on.”

Buffy takes in what she’s saying, and then a look of horror appears on her face. She grabs Dawn gently by her shoulders, bringing her sister around to look back at her. “Everything… Wait, are you saying it’s like the past few years are coming back to you all at once, for the first time? Dawnie…” Dawn’s tears fall more now. Buffy looks at her, tears behind her own eyes now. “Even Mom?”

With the mention of Joyce, Dawn breaks down completely, finally admitting what she’s been keeping in since the Deeper Well incident. “It’s like I just lost her. All over again.”

Buffy pulls her sister into a hug and doesn’t let go. “Come here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? When Mom died, I couldn’t get through a day without you. It kills me to think you’ve been trying to deal with this on your own!”

Dawn begins to wipe her tears away with her hand, but it doesn’t stop the mess. “I thought this might fix itself, and if it didn’t, then I could just, you know, suck it up. You’re so happy we’re all back together. We fought so hard to get here. I didn’t want to ruin it.”

Buffy has a look of upset on her face. “Dawnie, why do you think I’m happy we’re together again? Because we help each other through the hard stuff. Especially you and me. And we’ll figure this out, too. Okay?” She pulls her sister back into the hug and squeezes again.

“Okay.” And the two sisters sob together for a while. They only pull apart when Spike comes through the door, the demons dealt with. He wipes his jacket down, and smells his skin.

“Bloody deep ones. Gonna smell like low tide for a sodding week.” Buffy smiles slightly, and then jokingly stands downwind, getting a look from the vampire. “Any leads?” she asks him.

“Not a one,” Spike says. He has noticed something however: “Something strikes me as odd though. We’ve hit three places so far, haven’t seen a single vampire, old school or new. Where do you suppose they’ve all got to?”

Outside Dracula’s hotel room is an orderly queue of vampires, all lining up quite patiently. Two vampires have finally reached the door and knock, telling Xander what they want. “We’ve come to pay homage to our Master.”

Xander sighs and waves them in, issuing the same instructions for what feels like the twentieth time. “Yeah, yeah. This ain’t a flophouse. One minute grovel time per vampire. Kiss the hand and get out.”

Dracula is quick to chide Xander. He’s sitting on a chair, surrounded, being pampered. He has a face mask on, cucumbers over his eyes and has people doing both his toe and fingernails. He looks ridiculous.

“Patience, manservant. It is royalty’s burden to accept the obeisance of its inferiors, tiresome though it may be. Still, this has been useful. It proves your friends were the short-sighted cowards I always believed. What we wrote in the book has come to pass, exactly as intended…”

Suddenly, the new vampires who have walked in pull weapons from their jackets. One reaches Dracula with a stake in his hand and screeches at the Count in defiance. “Die!”

Dracula is surprised, but far too quick for his lackey. “How rude!” He uses his nails to slice the vamp’s head off, and Dracula turns to hear Xander grab the other. “I’ve got her, Master!”

As Xander tries to impale a stake into the vampire, he clearly is having difficulty. “This used to be easier. Anyone have a hammer?”

Another vampire is now being held aloft by Dracula, by his throat. The Dark Lord stares at him, questioningly. “You dare? I am your acknowledged Lord! By what right do you raise a hand to me?”

The vampire spits out at his so-called Master. “The right of conquest. He who kills the king, becomes the king.”

Dracula pulls his fingers together and the creature’s head pops off, turning him to dust. “I hadn’t thought of that.” He turns to the room and yells orders in a loud voice.

“Out! All of you! I can’t work with your incessant toadying. Manservant! Fetch the book. Clearly our previous entry was not definitive enough. We must come up with something concise, yet multifaceted. Not a word wasted. Something truly brilliant.”

Xander picks the book up, a grin on his face. He’s beaming with excitement. “I’ve got it! I’ll buff your toenails. Nothing helps the creative process like shiny toenails. Then this’ll be a cakewalk.”

In Xander’s apartment, Willow and Giles try another spell, but this one blows green sparks off the table, causing both of them to recoil. “Do I still have eyebrows?” Willow asks, too afraid to check. Giles is equally annoyed, slamming his hand on the table, again. “This is infuriating! Hellfire and damnation! Why can’t we make it work?” He starts to pace the room, and Willow follows him with her eyes.

“Because what we’re looking for doesn’t exist. Can’t you feel it? The web of magic is being unravelled and re-strung, constantly changing. Dracula’s already using the book. Which makes it all the more important we cowboy up and figure out how to find him.”

Giles looks at her, aware of his tantrum and his childish tone. “You’re right, of course. Please forgive my impatience.”

Willow places her hand on his shoulder, tenderly. “Hey, it’s okay. You were the grownup all those years. Someone else can do it for a while.”

Giles looks at her, smile on his face. “You have no idea how I longed to hear words to that effect. Now that I have, and I mean no offence to you whatsoever, I am, quite frankly, terrified.”

“Join the club,” Willow tells him with a grin.

It’s at that moment that Buffy, Dawn and Spike return home, and Willow can tell by their crestfallen faces that they’ve had no luck searching for their friend. Andrew’s eyes dart around for a moment, and then he walks around the kitchen counter, staring at Spike. “Um… Not to be Captain Obvious, but aren’t you a vampire?”

Spike looks back at him as if he’s said something in a language he doesn’t understand. “But clearly, I don’t know anything, or I’d bloody say so, wouldn’t I?”

Andrew continues to follow Spike as he gets up, anxiously heading for the fridge. “Unless you don’t know what you know.”

“Right. I need a drink.” Spike opens the fridge, removes a beer and tries to ignore Andrew, but the guy is annoyingly persistent.

“Work with me here. Vampires have a kind of special relationship with their sires, right? Well, isn’t Dracula, like, Big Daddy Master of All Vampires, in a way?”

Spike takes immediate offence to Andrew’s suggestion. “Listen up, sunshine. No one’s my master. No one. Except, of course, for the Lord of All Vampires, Dracula.”

Spike stops. He realises what he said and then looks back to Andrew and then past him to Buffy. “Oh bloody Hell! The dope has been messing about with the book, hasn’t he?”

The Slayer, much to Spike’s displeasure, seems to find the situation very amusing all of a sudden. “Look on the bright side. We’ve got a lead. You want me to have Dawn rough you up a little, or are you gonna take us to your leader?”

Back in the five-star hotel, Dracula is now becoming impatient. He prompts Xander to get on with it, but Xander has stopped writing, cautiously. “I don’t see why this must be so complicated. Simply write that all who accost me are struck dead on the spot.”

“Define ‘accost.’ You want panhandlers and Jehovah’s Witnesses dropping like flies all around you?”

Dracula shrugs, as if that was a given. “Of course.”

Xander turns now though, and looks at his Master. “What about someone who tries to, y’know, get frisky? That could technically be accosting.”

The Dark Lord has his hand on his chin, thinking Xander’s thoughts through carefully. “A valid point. Well, what do you suggest?”

Xander closes the book a moment and thinks. “I say keep it short, simple and to the point. You can’t stop people messing with you, so make sure it doesn’t matter. “Dracula became the most powerful vampire of all…” Boom!”

Dracula seems impressed. “Hmmm. I like it. Write it down.” Xander quickly reopens the book and scribbles the sentence down, just as he did the last one. “Done.”

Dracula waits a few seconds and then looks down at himself. He talks as if he should be glowing. “I don’t feel any different.”

Xander double checks the book and what he’s written. “Maybe it’s a Wizard of Oz thing. You were already the most powerful vampire. What you wished for was in you all along.”

At the exact moment Xander’s words leave his mouth, Dracula, the most powerful vampire on Earth, doubles over in pain, gripping his stomach area and begins to scream in agony! “Or maybe I’m an idiot.”

Outside the hotel, staring up towards the penthouse, Buffy takes one look at the large amounts of magical energy that’s encompassing the hotel. “I think we found them.”

Giles reacts with a surprising amount of sarcasm that he regrets instantly. “Yes. Sherlock Holmes would be proud. Something very wrong is occurring up there.”

Buffy plans to use it as a distraction. “Well, now that we’re here, nothing’s stopping us from…”

Suddenly, a swarm of the new vampires comes towards them, having paid their respects upstairs. They all crowd Buffy and her friends, rallying around them and blocking the entrance to the hotel. The lead vampire issues a general command to those around him. “Protect the Master!”

As the vampires rush the Scoobies, Dawn turns to Spike, worried about Dracula’s control. “Spike, will you be okay? We don’t need you going all Dark Willow.”

Willow sighs under her breath at the reference to her past. “Oh, Goddess. It’s never going away is it?”

Spike doesn’t think he has a problem, which he proves by kicking through one vampire and taking on another. “I’m not like these berks. I have a soul. Got no problem raising a hand to my Lord and Master Dracula…”

He shrugs off the words and kicks the vamp, this time far more violently than usual. He yells back towards Dawn. “I’ll be bloody fine!”

Willow looks about and tells the others that they need to get up to the penthouse. “We need to make a path for the stairs.”

Giles, dodging a blow with his small height, looks up at Willow. “I suggest a spell of cleavage… cleaving. I meant cleaving.”

Buffy hears him and sees him freeze in embarassment. A vampire comes up behind the young Giles, fangs bared, but Buffy stakes her just before she can strike. “Hormones are fine until they get you killed,” she tells him. “Do it!”

The teen turns to Willow and activates the spell, sending the vampires flying in a different direction and clearing the stairs. As the Scooby Gang race as fast as they can up the steps, Buffy turns to Andrew – Xander is his job.

Andrew looks back at her and nods. But then he looks worried. “Copy that. But what if Xander won’t let me have it?”

Willow turns, using magic to stop the vamps from pursuing them. “Don’t get violent and don’t lie. Just talk to him, honestly. That how he got through to me when I went all Dark Wil…” Realising her words, she snaps at herself. “Crap!”

Finally, Buffy reaches the top floor. She races to the suite door, kicking it in, not knowing what they’re going to find inside. As soon as she opens the door however, she stares in shock!

“Oh man. This is bad, isn’t it?”

Dracula is screaming, his skin and his body stretching and contorting, some sort of transformation happening. And by the sound of the vampire’s cries, it really hurts. He’s yelling at Xander, begging him, over and over. “Cross it out! Cross it out!”

Xander looks at Dracula and then at the book. He tries, once, then twice and finally, a third time. Nothing happens. Dracula continues to scream. “I’m trying! It won’t stay crossed out!”

Dracula’s nose begins to misshapen in front of them, forming into some sort of snout. “Then run, you fools!”

Xander turns to Buffy, pleading and begging with his voice. He even gets on his knees and takes her hand. “Please. You have to help my Master! He’s turning into the Hulk. Which would be awesome if it was the smart Hulk, but it’s clearly the savage Hulk!”

Andrew takes that as his cue, and moves to where his friend is kneeling on the floor. He places his hand on his arm. “That’s no Hulk. It looks more like a demon. But I know a lot about demons and I can’t identify it.

Xander shows Andrew the book, specifically what he’s written down. “This shouldn’t be happening! I distinctly did not write anything about demons! This is not what we had in mind at all!”

Then, the two friends have the same thought at the same moment. They realise instantly what’s happened. They say it at the same time. “Monkey’s Paw.”

Andrew turns and explains to the group quickly. “The classic Catch-22 of wish fulfilment. You get what you asked for, but in a horribly twisted way.” He turns back to Xander, quickly. “What did you write?”

“Just that he became the most powerful vampire of all.”

“Oh no. You didn’t?”

Xander looks at his friend’s worried face. “I thought it was simple and straight-forward!”

Giles joins them now, still trying, with Willow, to keep Dracula contained. “With enough room for interpretation to drive a truck through! Yes, brilliant. A reversal spell isn’t working. Willow?”

Willow hears him and tries the same spell, but cries out in vain. “It’s like holding back a hurricane!” The transforming Count reaches for the witch, as if trying to get her attention, but she winds up smashing against the nearest wall in his rampage.

Buffy valiantly grabs one side of Dracula, while ordering Spike to grab the other. The vampire does, but tells her that it may not help. “He’s too strong. We might have to kill my Lord and Master Dracula!” He pauses as Dracula’s limbs flail wildly. “A thought I like better every time I have to say that.”

Buffy remembers her first encounter with the vampire. “Yeah, well, considering I’ve staked him before and he comes right back, I’m not sure that’s even possible. Andrew, I hope you’ve something up your sleeve!”

Andrew has taken the quill from Xander and has begun to think of what to write. “Let’s start with the obvious. “Suddenly Dracula’s transformation was undone.””

The book squirts what looks like his ink back into his face. Xander tells him, matter of factly: “The book doesn’t like retcons.”

Andrew smiles, another idea formed. “Wait, I got it. The Newheart Gambit. “Then Dracula woke up. It had all been a dream.”” As the ink squirts again, this time more violently, Xander bluntly turns to his friend. “The book really doesn’t like cliches.”

Giles is getting annoyed from the other side of the room. “Andrew, do you plan to actually do anything?”

Andrew yells back. “I’m trying! It’s really hard to write under this kind of pressure!”

Xander quietly agrees with him. “Tell me about it. And everyone thinks they can do better. But do they? No.”

At that moment, Dawn appears by Xander’s side, eager to help. “Xander, you were right. I’m sorry.”

He looks at her, no idea what she’s talking about. “For what?”

“For not… loving you,” she manages, quietly.

But Xander shrugs and looks back at her, a smile on his face. “It’s okay. My Master loves me. That’s all I need.”

Dawn is stunned into silence. She hurriedly moves, back to where Willow is still conjuring. “He’s still under Dracula’s power. That means their minds are in touch, right? Maybe Xander can tell us what’s going on with Dracula and then we can stop it.”

Willow nods at the idea. It could be just what they need. “Great call, Dawn. Find out what he knows.”

Xander has overheard them though, and shakes his head. “I’m standing right here. But I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Dracula manages to bellow a sentence out, in between spasms of pain. “And if I knew anything that would end this agony, I’d gladly share it!”

Giles uses his magic to try and calm Dracula, turning to Xander. “Dracula is wracked with pain. One who is spiritually linked to him may see what he can’t.”

Dawn puts her hand on Xander’s shoulder, asks him to focus on her voice. “Listen Xander. Close your eyes and try it. Look deep inside. Please, for me… and your Master.”

He closes his eyes and casts his mind out, hoping to help in any way. “Okay, if it’ll help the Master. Let’s see…”

Something happens, because Xander’s eye is moving rapidly behind his eyelid. He tells them what he can see through Dracula’s eyes.

“I’m back in Transylvania. His castle. Hey! He was lying about the Tuesday night orgies!” Dawn rolls her eyes at that comment. “Push further. Dracula is turning into something. Get to that.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t rush me. Huh. That’s weird. Dracula wasn’t in the Deeper Well with us.”

He opens his eyes a moment, as if clearing a lens and then closes them again. “Now, I’m just getting blackness and… wait. Oh, oh, sweet mother of Peter Jackson…”

Dawn squeezes her hand tighter on his arm. “Xander, it’s okay. You’re seeing it, but nothing can see you. You’re safe. Where are you?”

“It’s like one of those World War II documentaries. If everyone who made it was on really messed up drugs…”

He now sees the ancient, primordial Earth, as it was when the Old Ones walked the planet. He sees them worshipped and fight and command and kill and conquer and rule. He tries to describe it to Dawn, as best he can.

“It looks prehistoric. But not like anything you see at the Museum of Natural History. There are these massive things. Monsters. Stuff out of nightmares. All fighting each other, while terrified cave people worship them.”

“Now, some of the cavemen are getting together, using magic to take them down. Lock them up in the Deeper Well. I’m one of these monsters. I’m on the run. I need an army to fight them with. So I’m going to make one.”

He sees a man fall to the ground. In Xander’s mind’s eye, he can see everything in crystal clarity, including the man’s fear as he’s pursued by a monstrous form.

“Now, I’m in the Deeper Well… and I see… us. I’m fighting us, Buffy. You look tiny! Like a feisty foul-mouthed action figure! There’s a big flash of light… then darkness.”

Willow hears his words and stops. A look of shock fills her face. “Oh, Goddess, I understand now. You wrote that Dracula became the most powerful vampire of all.”

Giles turns to her, a question on his lips. “The Old One who created vampires?”

Willow nods, but then shakes her head. “But he’s dead. I saw it happen!”

Giles looks at her, reminds her of his lessons. “The most powerful Old Ones cannot be destroyed. Their essence lives on. All they require to return is an opening like this.”

Spike is being flung around the room now, by Dracula’s arm, which is triple the size it once was. His words sound panicked as he is flung back and forth. “Someone say something that makes bloody sense!”

Buffy swings her Scythe and frees Spike. She turns to him, same look of fear on her face. “I recognise him now. You weren’t there. We barely survived. And we had the entire Magic Council on our side. Hit Dracula with everything you’ve got! Whatever it takes, we have to bring him down before he turns completely into…”

Buffy and Spike race forward, but the arm swings towards them, knocking them flying into the wall of the room. They hit the wall so hard, a crack forms. Then Dracula’s voice howls. “Too late worms.”

Buffy curses under her breath as she and Spike look up. That wasn’t Dracula’s voice. She turns and looks at Spike, worry etched completely over her rapidly paling face.

Dracula is no more. The creature in his place raises itself up to his full height and addresses the Slayer with a calculated laugh and a fierce tone.

“Maloker has returned. And I hunger.”

Xander just looks up, as the Scooby Gang fall back. “Master?” he says, staring up in shock.