"My God, Willow! What have you done?" Giles exclaimed.

The demoness disappeared in the blink of an eye. All Tara, Giles, Willow, and Angel could do was stare at the empty spot in horror.

"I'm going to check out Faith's grave," Angel replied to the stunned humans. He hurried out of the back of the Magic Box.

"That wasn't my fault, Giles," Willow protested. How on earth should she know there was a vengeance demon in the Magic Box?

"You know better than to say such things on the Hellmouth!" Giles crossed the room to his book collection. "Was there anything else you failed to tell me about you association with D'Hoffryn?"

"What association, Giles?" Willow's anger flared. "One little spell gone wrong was all that was!"

"Obviously there was more to it." Giles flipped open a book. "Otherwise, why would a vengeance demon grant your wish? You aren't exactly a scorned anything right now."

"There wasn't anything else!" Willow grumbled. "He took me to his dimension, made his offer, and I refused. He gave me that pendant to call him if I ever changed my mind, which you deemed perfectly safe, Giles. Then, I came back here and ended the spell."

"Should we follow Angel?" Tara asked.

Giles shook his head. "If Willow's wish truly came true than Faith will not be able to handle too much stimuli."

Tara nodded in understanding, while Willow started to protest.

"But we're Faith's friends. Angel's just a vamp hoping to boink a Slayer. Didn't you see how he was looking at Buffy?"

"Be that as it may, he is probably the only one of us that can go out alone at night," Giles replied. "As humans we're way too vulnerable."

"I'm a very powerful witch, Giles." Willow glared at the Watcher. "I think I can handle it. In fact, I think I'll go after Angel." She grabbed her coat, and she bolted out the door.

"This is all bad," Tara whispered. "All bad. Maybe we should try to get in touch with the new Slayer."

Giles found himself in complete agreement with the young Wicca.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

D'Hoffryn smiled toothily as his vengeance demon reported that she had fulfilled a wish for Willow Rosenberg. Azriel was the demon who did all of D'Hoffryn's personal business, an assistant of sorts.

At last!

"Soon she shall be mine," the master vengeance demon chuckled. "Silly little witch has already forgotten the drink I offered her and she accepted."

"You've very clever, Master," Azriel said.

"Yes, I am. Only two more wishes and she'll be ours." D'Hoffryn reached out to cup Azriel's face. "I want you and Anyanka to keep a closer eye on our newest recruit. I want any wish of hers granted as quickly as possible. The sooner they are granted, the sooner we can claim her as one of our own."

A popping sound announced Anyanka's arrival. "You said my name, oh great and mighty D'Hoffryn."

"Cut the clap trap, Anyanka," D'Hoffryn sighed. "I need you to go in undercover in Sunnydale to help Azriel with the witch."

"Oh, she finally made her first wish?" Anyanka glanced at Azriel for confirmation.

Azriel nodded. "It was a doozy. She wanted her Slayer friend to come back from the dead."

Anyanka looked impressed.

"Of course, she didn't wish for the Slayer to be unburied. Poor thing could be dead again by now." Azriel preened under Anyanka and D'Hoffryn's attention.

"You didn't?" Anyanka gasped. "You naughty girl, you."

Azriel giggled wildly. She delighted in the fact that literal translation of a wish was allowed for vengeance demons. Nothing came without a price.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel trotted all the way to the cemetery where Faith was buried. His thoughts swirled around in his head. Maybe he would have a second chance with the dark-haired Slayer. After all, even a girl like Faith had to appreciate a knight in shining armor coming to rescue her from uncertain peril.

Angel arrived at Faith's burial spot just as a dirty, bloody hand punched up through the surface. He grabbed it, and he helped Faith's journey out of her grave.

Faith blinked in confusion. She wasn't sure where she was now, but she pretty sure it wasn't heaven. No, it felt like Hell. Heaven didn't hurt like this. Faith stared at her rescuer while she searched her brain for a name.

"Faith?" Angel whispered.

"What are you doing in Hell, Angel?" Faith's voice was raspy with disuse.

"You're not in Hell. Although it might feel like it." Angel inched towards the young woman. "You're back in Sunnydale."

"How?"

"Your friend made a wish." Angel shook his head. "Willow really should know better." Even as he said it, he didn't believe it. He was thrilled that Faith was alive again.

"How long was I dead?" Faith's voice sounded better.

"About a month and a half." Angel put his arm around the Slayer. When she didn't get after him for being so forward, he gave a mental shout of joy. Maybe the resurrected Slayer would finally realized that he was the one that she belonged with.

"So, there's a new Slayer," Faith said firmly. She glanced around to see if anyone else was with Angel. "Hope? Jesse? Are they okay?"

"Everyone's fine." Angel guided Faith towards the back gate of the cemetery. He didn't want to run into any of the Scoobies if they had decided to follow him. "There's a new to us Slayer."

Faith gave the vampire a puzzled look.

"Apparently, she was called when you died at the hands of the Master, but no one knew about it." Angel got Faith out on the street and moving towards his secret mansion just as Willow entered the cemetery from the other side.

Willow muttered under her breath as she walked, "I wish everybody would chill out about Faith. God, it's not like I did it on purpose." In her conflicted state of mind, she didn't even notice that she made yet another wish.

The red-haired witch made her way to the grave site. When she saw that the ground was disturbed, she muttered, "Oh boy, this is bad. Where the heck is Angel?"

Willow glanced around as she tried to catch a glimpse of the vampire or Faith. She snapped her fingers. "I'll check out Jesse's. She wouldn't go anywhere else first. If she's not there, I'll check out Angel's apartment." Willow tried to reassure herself that Faith would do what Willow expected.

Willow set off towards Jesse's apartment, never realizing that Angel was leading Faith away to a secret lair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willy put drinks in front of the newest 'masters of Sunnydale'. The three males took whiskey and the Slayer drank a Diet Coke. The group easily dispatched anyone who disrupted their claim over Sunnydale. Now they were discussing where to live.

"We should contact a real estate agent tomorrow, Buffy," Wesley said. "We should find us a larger house in a central location."

"Sounds good." Buffy sipped on her drink. "One with a full and finished basement."

"Convenient sewer access," Spike interjected. "Get your IT-girl to pull up some blueprints of this little burg, Oxford."

"I have a feeling Dot's going to move in with a certain wolfboy in the near future," Lawson observed. He was able to watch the other Slayer's group in ways that Spike and Buffy as leaders were not. "Maybe he and Dot will move in with us instead. The red-haired witch won't be too happy."

"She's with the other witch though, isn't she?" Buffy asked. She was a little upset that she hadn't caught the possible threat against her 'sister'.

"Mm, doesn't mean she doesn't see the wolf as her personal property," Spike replied. He had noticed that the dynamics of the other group were shaky at best. "Even when someone tosses someone to the side for someone new, they don't exactly let go of the old. I learned that along time ago from Peaches."

"We'll warn Dot!" Buffy resolved firmly, "We have to keep an eye on Willow too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lydia wandered back into the main part of the magic shop where Giles and Tara were quietly talking. She hitched a thumb towards the back of the store. "Where was the vampire off to in such a hurry?"

"We had a small incident while you were on the phone," Giles sighed. "Willow made a wish."

"A wish? How does that work?" Lydia looked from Giles to Tara and back.

"There are vengeance demons who are all controlled by a Master. His name is D'Hoffryn." Giles adjusted his glasses. "Several years ago Willow had a little run in with said Master after a spell she performed went awry. Then, tonight while she had a bit of a tantrum over Oz's interest in the young lady in the new Slayer's group, she made a wish."

"What was the wish?" Lydia had a sudden feeling of unease. Travers' eager reaction to the new Slayer's independence was a little disconcerting, but this was a whole new level of tense feelings.

"Willow wished for Faith to come back from the dead. Those were her words exactly," Tara said softly. She had a bad feeling about the whole situation. Having her wishes granted could be very bad for Willow, and on top of that the rampant feelings of jealousy the redhead was feeling didn't bode well for their relationship. It would have made her feel better if she had known that both Watchers shared her unease about the wish.

"The vampire went to check on the grave, I assume." Lydia waited for conformation from the two Sunnydalians. "Well, you know him best, but I'm worried about the vampire's interest in Faith. Before the curse, Angelus tended to be quite obsessive. I did my thesis on the Scourge of Europe, you know. I wonder if Spike would consent to an interview." She hoped her initial reaction to Spike's presence hadn't upset the master vampire.

"I don't think Angel will hurt Faith," Tara said. She looked at Giles for reassurance.

"No, but if she's confused, he could influence her to do things she normally wouldn't." Giles realized what the other Watcher was trying to say about Angel.

"Oh." Tara's eyes opened wide. She had always liked the straight shooting Slayer. Faith had very easily accepted her into their group, despite Willow's dumping of Oz to date Tara. "I hope Willow finds them then."

"Travers wants us to study Miss Summers' group and compare them with Ms. Lehane's group," Lydia blurted out. "He hopes to revolutionize the Slayers."

"Really?" Giles' eyebrows rose in astonishment. "When he was here in the spring, he seemed to only have contempt for the way Faith did things."

"He didn't go into specifics, but he will send along a report on what exactly he wants." Lydia shrugged. "Isn't it odd though that two Slayers in a row ended up with a group of civilians willing to fight evil?"

"How does that explain the non-civilians? Werewolves and Vampires?" Giles adjusted his glasses. "Did you notice that both groups have a Watcher that has practiced magic, at least one vampire, and if I have guessed correctly, I'd say Oz's new love interest is also a werewolf."

"Really?" Tara gave the male Watcher an astonished look.

Giles gave the Wicca nod.

"Wow." Tara sat back in her chair. "No wonder Willow was so freaked. Well, I for one think Oz deserves some happiness." The young woman recalled the stories about the last female werewolf that had been in Sunnydale. It had been just before she had met Willow, but the Scoobies still talked about it.

"I agree. Oz is a wonderful young man who deserves to have some companionship, as we all do." Giles gave Tara a smile before he turned back to Lydia. "Guess you're staying then?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oz, Dot, and Joyce enjoyed a late night snack at an all night diner on Madison Street ran by some local, peaceable demon. Joyce and Oz talked about the best place to pick up some extra cars for everybody. Afterwards, the two werewolves escorted Joyce back to the apartment in Giles' building.

Oz and Dot found themselves standing outside the hotel where Dot was staying with her friends. Neither one wanted to say good-bye to the other. They had just spent the blocks walking from Joyce's apartment talking about anything and everything, including how they became werewolves in the first place.

"I was bitten by my cousin when I was seventeen," Oz said. "He was just a little baby."

"I was born a werewolf." Dot gave a sad smile.

"I didn't think that was possible," Oz replied. "All of my research showed that it isn't a genetic change, per se. Giles could explain it all."

"Oh, it's not, but you know that book Firestarter by Stephen King where the college students got paid to participate in some kind of random drug study?" Dot glanced at Oz. "Well, the same thing happened to my mom, only they paid all of her tuition and her back debts to experiment on her unborn child which was me."

"That's horrible," Oz whispered.

Dot shrugged. "She was from a poor family, had a one night stand with the campus playboy, and found herself pregnant. It wasn't until after I was born that she formed any attachment to me."

"Where is your mother now?" Oz felt a lot of malice towards Dot's biological mother in that moment.

"We were prisoners of this army group for about five years." Dot's eyes darkened as she thought about the things she had seen as a child. "Then, we were able to escape." The young woman sat down on the curb. "We were on the run for another five years before the Initiative caught up with us."

"The Initiative?" Oz gasped as he dropped to the curb too. He remembered when the same army group had been in Sunnydale. "They were here, but we were given the impression that they were fairly new."

Dot shook her head. "No, they were formed in the forties. After I met Spike and Lawson, I learned the initial experiments were German in nature. The Nazis to be exact." She sighed. "My mother died so I could escape. We were in Rome at the time, and I was rescued by the Immortal. I was seventeen when I met Spike and Buffy."

"That must be quite a story." Oz was quite curious about everyone's story to be truthful.

"It is, but..." Dot yawned. "I'm pooped. Come by tomorrow evening?"

"I've got band practice." Oz rose to his feet. He put a hand out to help Dot up. "You could come along if you like."

"Really? I adore musicians." Dot accepted Oz's hand, and she let him pull her to her feet. "What do you play?"

"Guitar."

"Cool." Dot leaned in to kiss Oz on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." With a quick wave she hurried off towards her hotel room.

"She's awesome," the male werewolf whispered to himself. His hand brushed his cheek where Dot had kissed him. She appeased him in a way that Veruca hadn't. Veruca tried to stir up his wolf side into a revolt. Dot seemed to complete his wolf's wants, and his wolf seemed patient enough to wait this time to see what happened.