In the centre of Magic Town, surrounded by an army of vampires, Archaeus eyes Angel and his team with a vague sense of curiosity. Why do they resist?

No matter. They’ll all die now. He roars at Angel in impatience. He will take great delight in ripping the ensouled vampire to pieces and scattering his remains to the four corners of the globe.

He is flanked by Drusilla, who stands at her master’s side. She steps in front of him, holding him back for a moment. “No, Lord Archaeus. Make him watch as you kill Faith first, and then…”

She’s silenced by a back‑handed slap across her form that sends her reeling, as Archaeus bluntly tells her to be quiet.

As Drusilla shakes her head in confusion and wipes her own blood from her face, Archaeus points at her with his clawed hand. He’s not interested anymore. “ALL I REQUIRE FROM YOU, DAUGHTER, IS OBEDIENCE. JUST MAKE SURE YOUR CHILDREN ATTACK WHEN I GIVE THE ORDER.”

Angel extends his hands to Drusilla on the ground. “Dru, listen to Archaeus. Is this what you want? Is this how you thought it would be with him? Just go. Be free of him.”

Drusilla stares at her sire for a moment. When Archaeus speaks, she doesn’t look at him. She doesn’t take her eyes off Angel.

“RIGHT ON CUE,” Archaeus chuckles. “ANGEL, THE GOOD VAMPIRE WITH A SOUL, WANTS TO HELP EVEN HIS ENEMIES. LET US FINALLY PUT AN END TO YOUR TEDIOUS PREDICTABILITY.”

Angel clutches his sword tighter. Faith shifts her weight subtly. Koh’s eyes narrow.

Everyone stops when a shout comes from the other end of the street, entering the town square. “Hang on a minute, ya ugly bugger!”

As the combatants turn, they see the voice belongs to Rory, who’s walking — no, marching — down the street, the inhabitants of Magic Town, including Nadira’s followers, marching at his side. “You mess with Angel and Faith — then you mess with us too,” the werewolf says.

“They had our backs when the rest of London wanted to pretend we didn’t exist.”

“And Nadira has always been there to help, never judging what we’d turned into,” Tricia adds. There are murmurings from the crowds, mentioning Fred, the Fairweathers and Koh. “People who care about us. Fight for us,” Parker smiles.

There is silence. Team Angel look at the crowd and then each other. Angel looks Archaeus in the eyes. The demon stares back.

“KILL THEM ALL!”

Roaring at the top of his voice, Archaeus watches as his vampires charge into the small area, overwhelming the townspeople. But they don’t give up.

In the chaos, citizen fights citizen, human battles vampire, and, in the throng of it all, the statue, imbued with the sentient Magic of the town itself, stands, watching. Observing all.

Rory takes out a vampire. Tricia and Parker throw themselves in.

Faith makes a straight line for Drusilla. “Back for round two, eh?” the Slayer taunts.

Drusilla moves fast, her sharp fingernails only just missing Faith’s throat. “Poor mortal child. You know my entire existence is an eternal second chance? Whereas your life is an eye‑blink. A snowflake on the wind, drifting toward a fire…”

She’s once again silenced by a blow, this time right in her jaw. “Time to put a cork in the crazy talk,” Faith tells her as she falls.

Angel, meanwhile, has cut a swathe through everyone in his way and now stands below Archaeus, looking up at the demon. He tells Angel that his end has come, but Angel dodges a blow from the creature.

“You keep saying that, but I’m still here. I’ll always be here. You kill me, someone will step up and take my place. Because I didn’t ask these people to fight for me. I didn’t have to coerce them like you do with your minions. That’s why your family is a joke. That’s why you’ll never be as strong as you think.”

Archaeus roars in contempt at Angel’s words, throwing his arms up and knocking Angel and Koh to the ground.

The citizens of Magic Town hear the roar and stop what they’re doing. One of the crowd yells that Angel is in trouble, and suddenly the group turns to Archaeus. At another’s command, they all throw ampoules of holy water in Archaeus’s direction and, as they shatter around the demon, his skin starts to sizzle and he starts to roar again.

They dog‑pile after the demon, all the demon hybrids of Magic Town, burying Archaeus with sheer numbers. He yells at them to back away, but there are too many of them and they’re relentless.

As the citizens continue, Angel’s team turns on the vampires. As Tricia and Parker help to reload, Fred and the Fairweather Sisters strive forward.

Suddenly, one of the vampires commands retreat. “We were told this would be easy pickings. Archaeus is down and the whole town is against us!” They begin to flee, tripping over each other in a mass exodus from the area.

Archaeus yells at them for their betrayal, cursing some and ordering others. He’s desperate to stop the citizens from taking him down, but they have him subdued. He yells to Drusilla for help.

Drusilla sees Faith coming for her with a stake and, for a moment, considers her master.

And then, she flees into the shadows.

Archaeus yells her name, enraged, and pushes himself free of the civilians, working himself loose with effort. “I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!” he proclaims, and turns to find Team Angel directly in his path.

“It’s over, Archaeus. They’ve all left you. You’re all alone now.”

“You wanted to surround yourself with family because you thought it would make you powerful,” Faith tells him. “But you’ve done everything wrong. Your motivations guaranteed you’d fail before you even got started. Family isn’t something you manufacture.” She looks at Angel, who smiles gently at her.

Archaeus tells her not to lecture him and, before anyone can move or react, he grabs Nadira in his claws.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT LITTLE VICTORY YOU THINK YOU’VE ACHIEVED. YOU DIDN’T THINK YOU’D COME THROUGH THIS UNSCATHED, DID YOU? THAT THERE WOULDN’T BE A PRICE?” He’s talking down to Nadira, holding her above the others, out of reach.

“I AM THE DEMON LORD ARCHAEUS AND I CAN TURN YOUR WORLD TO PAIN. I WILL START WITH THIS LITTLE ONE.”

Angel and Faith start to move, but Nadira has one final warning for the demon. “Trust me, Archaeus. You’re making a mistake.”

No one sees the statue’s eyes glow brighter. Archaeus doesn’t see anything. But he feels it. A blue glow of ethereal energy surrounds the bronze statue, the light coruscating off it in swirls. It reaches out, across the void, towards Archaeus — and begins to fold itself around him.

Archaeus doesn’t understand what’s happening and yells at Nadira. “Don’t you know?” the Seer responds. “You are a demon lord, ancient and powerful. But this is pure Magic. It’s something more than you could ever be.”

Archaeus’ voice begs for mercy but, through the smoke, his body is almost gone. Nadira’s eyes shine green as she speaks.

“I wonder if you understand now. I wonder if it’s possible for you to conceive what I’ve kept at bay this whole time. The raw power I’ve harboured and nourished and guided so it wouldn’t unleash itself on the world.”

Archaeus’s screams fade now, as the blue cloud heads straight for the statue, Archaeus’s physical form vanished from view.

“The Magic is like a child, Archaeus,” Nadira finishes. “Children are smart. Too many people talk down to children in this world. And they always learn the same lesson.”

The statue’s mouth seems to open of its own accord, and suddenly, the cloud swirls inside the bronze figure. Its eyes melt shut afterwards, any sign of life inside the inanimate object now extinguished.

“The Magic has returned Archaeus’s gift. It’s sealed.”

Angel asks if Archaeus is stuck in the statue. Nadira nods with a smile. “Somebody else’s problem in a thousand years.”

As the team all gather, the battle over, Faith guesses they can call this a win for them. But Koh tells them, sadly, that not all have survived.

Across the street, cradling a dead Parker in her arms, is Tricia, inconsolable. And for a long while, there is silence.

At Faith’s apartment building, some time later, Rory approaches Angel at the front door.

“I just wanted to say thanks,” the werewolf smiles. “Not just from me. All the boys back at the pub feel the same way. I mean, yeah, you thump them now and then, when they get too rowdy — but you’re one of us. And there’s lots of them out there, if you take my meaning. It just wouldn’t be Magic Town without you and Faith and Koh and the rest.”

Angel says he should be the one doing the thanking. But Rory smiles and shrugs. Everyone else is on the roof, he tells Angel. He brought the case of Boddingtons.

When Angel reaches the roof, he finds Koh flipping burgers. Fred has made potato salad that Sophie tells her will go straight to her hips.

Nadira and Faith stand overlooking the city. Angel asks if he can join them.

“So, what happens now?” he asks them.

“You were right, Nadira,” Faith quips. “He can’t relax.”

“Told you.”

“I can relax,” Angel tells them. “I’ll relax more than anyone here.”

Faith hands him a beer. To help him, she says, as he sprains something trying to relax. Nadira agrees with her.

Angel thinks she’s rather jovial, considering there’s a magical entity powerful enough to trap demon lords in statues just roaming around. But Nadira isn’t worried.

“I still feel the bond with the Magic, but it’s distant. An echo of what it was before. It’s almost like the Magic has found a quiet spot to think.”

Angel decides that he’s not going to dwell. It’s just lucky the Magic was on their side. Nadira smiles at him. “Luck? Do you really believe in luck, Angel? You showed the Magic what family means. You provide for a family, protect them. It’s about giving. To Archaeus, a family was just a resource to be exploited. Let that sink in, while I get another beer.”

With that she walks away, leaving Angel and Faith alone.

“So,” the vampire starts. “You left, you came back… Are you off again now?”

“I don’t think the introspective walkabout is really my scene,” Faith answers.

“What is your scene?”

“This. Now,” she says, with a smile. “With these people.”

As they watch Lavinia and Sophie bicker, Fred trying to get Koh to try potato salad and Nadira joining her friends, the pair stop and turn to each other. “Well, that’s good,” Angel tells her.

“Yes,” Faith says. “Absolutely.” They raise their beer bottles and clink them together.

Tonight is about family. The rest can wait… until tomorrow.