Giles recoiled from Buffy, his heart and brain racing to catch up with the moment. He hid his softening penis with his hands and tried to think of something to say. But what could he possibly say that would explain or excuse what he’d been doing to her. That she should wake up to find her watcher…he couldn’t bear to think about it. He prayed for her to pull out a very sharp sword and ram it through his heart.

Instead, she laughed. Loud and hard.

Giles’ mouth fell open—how could she be laughing?…Oh, dear God in Heaven.

The Buffy Demon rolled on the bed in delight, clutching her sides as she roared out her laughter.

“That was too precious,” she snorted. “You should have seen your face—you’re so much more fun to play with than the last watcher.” She continued to laugh hysterically.

Giles felt a murderous rage coming on, and he was about to do something he’d very much regret, when he heard Joyce’s voice from down the hall. All thoughts of battle vanished.

“Uh-oh…Mommy’s coming. Better get out of here.” The demon crawled under the blankets.

“I can’t. She’ll see me.”

“Out the window, stupid. Now go!”

Giles grabbed his clothes off the floor, opened the window and threw them out. He crawled out onto her little overhang, flinching as his leg scraped against the window sill. Buffy’s bedroom light went on just as he dropped to the ground. His legs crumpled uselessly under him, and he cursed quietly as Joyce’s raised voice sounded from the open window. She obviously wasn’t too happy about being wakened in the middle of the night by her laughing daughter. Giles gathered up his clothes. He couldn’t find his underwear—he must have kicked them under the bed. He could only hope Buffy wouldn’t find them in the morning, because the Devil himself couldn’t make him go back into that room to get them. He dressed as quickly as he could manage, then started on the long walk home. Thoughts of painkillers and a hot shower made the journey bearable.

He found Willow waiting for him at his front door as he was leaving.

“I didn’t want to intrude…” she said. She appeared to be in a bubbly mood, but Giles couldn’t respond in kind. He limped wordlessly to the car and eased himself into the passenger seat.

Willow was positively brimming with news, and the enormous amounts of caffeine she’d consumed over the course of the night had her practically buzzing. She took in Giles’ precarious mood and the bruise blooming on his cheekbone, and attempted to control her enthusiasm. God knew what he’d been through last night—she didn’t want him to think she was being uncaring just because she was hyper. She buckled herself in and turned her large hazel eyes on Giles.

Giles sighed and decided to put her out of her misery. “Alright, Willow. What is it?”

“I found it! I found our demon!” She bounced in her seat. Giles immediately perked up. “Or, I should say, I’ve narrowed it down to two finalists.”

“Willow, that’s wonderful news. Where did you find it?”

Willow smiled at him, amused that the first question he asked was a research question. “It was in the ‘Hagackme’…’Hamagma’…”

“The Hochmantra Dreisechs Sturm?”

“Sure. That one.” She grinned at him, and he smiled back—the first real smile she’d seen since this whole ordeal began.

“You must show it to me at once. Did it say anything about exorcising the demon?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t got that far yet. But the purple eye thing and the human appearance thing match up.” Willow pulled the car away from the curb and headed down the street. “Hey, I think I’m getting the hang of this driving thing,” she said, and promptly ground the gears. “Oops. Sorry Giles.”

Giles chuckled and smiled at her patiently. “Maybe I should give you a hand with the gears, hmm?” His large hand engulfed hers on the gear shift. “It’s not that you’re a bad driver,” he reassured her. “In fact, all things considered, I think you’ve shown a natural talent. It’s just that these old cars can be temperamental. They need to be handled with a certain amount of…delicacy.”

Willow arched an eyebrow at him; “We are talking about the car, aren’t we?” Giles very pointedly did not answer.

“I left the book up in the stacks where I found it. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Giles went the other way to his office, feeling that the tides had turned; that he finally had control of the situation. He would put the kettle on, and by noon, they would have all the answers they needed to fight this creature.

“You forgot something last night.”

Giles felt his blood run cold. The demon stood in his office, swinging his underwear on her finger. Giles shut the door.

“No. Not here—not now. You’ll get caught.”

“I’ll get caught?” she tutted. “I think if anyone interrupts us, it’ll be your head on the block, not mine. ‘Poor little Buffy Summers…I guess all those rumours were true’.”

“I will not let you destroy our lives.”

“Okay—reality check. Here are your options…shut up and screw me, or I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp, making such a racket that the police will come and your precious Buffy will rot in prison while demons everywhere rejoice.”

He snatched his underwear out of her hand and she sidled up to him, rubbing his crotch through the fabric of his pants.

“Tell you what, though,” she said. “There’s no need to get all naked—that would take too long.” She unzipped his pants, and yanked them down before pushing him back onto the chair.

“Why are you doing this? Why risk blowing your cover? Is it just to torment us?”

“Time’s running out. Now, are you going to be quiet?” she asked, forming a fist in front of his face. Giles nodded.

The demon lifted her skirt and stepped out of her panties. She looked down at Giles’ limp penis and pouted. “What’s wrong little fella? Not happy to see me?”

“Unhh!” he grunted as she roughly pried his legs open and knelt before him. She flicked her tongue across the tip of his penis then wrapped her mouth over the head, swirling her tongue around it.

Giles trained his eyes on the ceiling and gripped the chair with his hands until his knuckles were white. He saw the door open out of the corner of his eye and looked down in time to see Willow enter. Their eyes met in a moment of mutual mortification. Giles couldn’t say or do anything without alerting the demon—all he could do was plead with his eyes for her to leave.

Willow backed out of the office and silently closed the door. She was so shocked by what she’d seen that she could hardly breathe. She clutched the book to her chest and just stood there, shaking. From the office she could hear rustling and the creaking of Giles’ chair. The full impact of what was going on in the other room suddenly hit her and her legs gave out. She sat heavily, still clutching the book. She knew what was happening, and she also knew there was nothing she could do about it. She’d never felt so lost—so useless. Tears spilled down her cheeks, unnoticed. The chair creaked again and again and the demon, using Buffy’s voice, was moaning and gasping. Willow dropped the book in her lap and covered her ears with her hands and sat there rocking back and forth.

The Buffy Demon rode him hard, clearly wanting to bring him off rapidly. Giles clung to the chair, frightened by her manic behaviour, but even more afraid that the noises she was making would draw more attention.

She came with a howl and he followed soon after. She stayed on his lap, catching her breath as his erection died inside her. The demon’s eyes flared brighter, emanating an eerie purple glow.

“Thanks for that, Watcher. It’s been a great ride, I must say. In fact, I think you deserve a present.” Giles flinched, expecting another attack. Instead, she kissed him softly on the lips. “You know, I’ve read your slayer’s diary. Fluff for the most part—but she confesses something in it I think you should know.

“She’s attracted to you. And the intensity of her attraction frightens and confuses her. It was that attraction which first drew me to you—I can feel it coursing through her body every time I look at you.” She got off him and got dressed.

“I don’t believe that for a moment. What are you playing at?” He said, pulling up his pants.

“It’s the truth. Whether you choose to believe it is up to you. In any case, that was my present to you. Just to say, ‘thanks Daddy’.”

The purple glow of her eyes flared brighter for a second then dimmed and went out. Giles barely got to his feet in time to catch Buffy as she fell. He propped her in his chair, her body limp and heavy with sleep. Her eyes moved rapidly under their lids and a frown creased her forehead.

Giles watched her sleep for a minute, until he felt sure it wasn’t just a trick. He knew the demon was playing with him again, but he couldn’t figure out why she should want him to believe Buffy was in love with him. Why did she say that it was her present to him? And what the devil was she implying calling him ‘Daddy’? She was taunting him, of course—toying with his emotions. Or, (he shuddered at the thought), she was warming him up for the next round of her tortuous game.

He snuck out of the room, not wanting to wake up Buffy, and nearly tripped over Willow. She stopped rocking and looked up at him, her face wet with tears. Giles bent down as best he could and gently pulled her hands away from her ears.

“Willow…I’m so sorry you had to see that.”

“Is—is the demon…?” she gestured towards the door behind him.

“No. It’s gone for now. Buffy’s sleeping—I think we should let her rest.” He took the book from her lap and helped her to stand. When she looked into his eyes, fresh tears began to slide down her cheeks, and she leaned into Giles, hugging him and burying her face into his chest. Giles’ ribs griped bitterly at the embrace, but he let her hold onto him, and returned the hug. He was so happy she could even look at him after what she’d witnessed.

“It’s okay, Willow. We’ll figure this out today, then we’ll have our Buffy back.” He gave her a pat on the back and she drew away, wiping her face with her sleeve. “Now…why don’t you show me what you’ve found so far?”

Willow took a long, steadying breath, sat down at the table, and opened the book. Giles watched over her shoulder as she flipped to a page near the end.

“See? It’s this one. Probably.”

Giles adjusted his glasses and started reading. “It says it called the Preot Demon, ‘also known as the Phoenix Demon, for its ability to cheat death. The Preot is a parasitic demon whose closest relative is the vampire, although the two species have evolved to become hateful to each other’…purple eyes…superior strength…ah! ‘The Preot will invade the body of the man who kills it, taking up residence with only partial control of his body until a permanent host can be found. No records exist of how the transfer takes place, because the host is never aware of the demon’s actions and therefore cannot give an account. No other witnesses to the event have ever been found.’ Blah, blah, blah…oh, here we are. ‘The demon can only be killed by killing the temporary host, or by destroying the permanent host before full symbiosis can occur.’” Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Well, it certainly sounds like our friend in there.”

“Except…” said Willow, timidly.

“Except?”

“It sounds like the demon only inhabits male hosts.”

“Historically, it must always have been men who killed the demon, but she did tell me that she’d been in the body of a slayer once before…oh, God! I’ve been so stupid.” Giles hobbled over to the bookshelves on the other side of the table and started pulling out heavy, leather-bound journals. “She practically gave me the answer herself, but I didn’t listen.” He sorted through the pile and dropped one thin, black-leather journal in front of Willow.

“The Chronicle of Frederick Monk; Watcher, 1082-85.” Willow looked at him, not sure what she was supposed to make of it. Giles poked his finger at the book as if accusing it, and started pacing.

“I’d even read the bloody book, and I still didn’t make the connection until now. Frederick Monk was cast out of the Watcher’s Council for trying to kill his slayer. He claimed that Evelyn, his slayer, had become possessed by a demon with eyes of Amethyst. The council tested her, but found no signs of possession.”

“So what happened to them?”

“Monk was institutionalised, and Evelyn went on to marry and have a child before dying a few years later. There was no other mention of the demon, so I can only assume it found its permanent host and let her be.”

“So what do we do?” she asked. “I’m not hot on the ‘killing the temporary host’ method of getting rid of this thing.”

“No. Can’t say I’m much for that option, either. I guess we’ll have to wait until it transfers to its permanent host.”

“But then, aren’t we just killing another innocent victim?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We need more to go on, and I’m hoping we can find a way of killing this thing without hurting anyone in the process. We need to keep digging for information.”

“Then…it’s not over yet, is it?”

Giles’ eyes fell to the floor and he shook his head.

“Don’t worry, Giles, I’ll find out everything there is to know about this demon. Hey! We already know its name, don’t we?”

“Willow, you’ve done so much to help us, but you’ve missed too many classes as it is, and you need some sleep. Go on, now. I can manage on my own for a while.”

“Are you sure?”

“I live to research,” he said.

She gave him a visual hug and shuffled out of the library. Willow knew that her classes were a write-off today, but she couldn’t go home and sleep, either. She felt drained, and she couldn’t begin to imagine how Giles must feel.