"I'm sorry, but I think you're a bit confused," Tahani said, as gently as she could. The less fortunate deserved good treatment as much as anyone, of course, and that included the sort of person with dinosaur figures lined up on his bureau and a stack of vampire novels in the loo. "The convention for the odd people in the plastic horns is in the motel across the street. This is the Four Seasons."

"Oh, no, I'm not confused," said the man who was making Tahani think very seriously about forsaking Edinburgh, even if several million dollars in charitable contributions were at stake. "We've had a bit of a, um, situation, and now, well, you're a little too old for it, but -"

"Excuse me!"

"I'm sorry. I've never done this before." He looked up at her with wide eyes, distorted through his thick Gary Potter imitation glasses. "Tahani Al-Jamil, you're a Slayer now. The fate of the world is in your hands."

This had gone on quite long enough. "Excuse me," Tahani said, and walked over to doorman. "Call security, please," she said. "I need a small and very confused man removed."

-

Three Years Later

"You know, this is what I always thought a Hellmouth would be like." Tahani stepped carefully over the smashed remains of a bong on Phoenix's sidewalk. "Hot, full of old racists - it's like they've stumbled out of hell itself."

"Understandable, if somewhat eccentric," Chidi said. "But we're looking for the Seal of Damaranth, remember?"

"Remind me again what it looks like." Details of the occult still weren't Tahani's strength.

But fortunately, Chidi had learned how to get his point across. Instead of telling her about the seal's history for twenty minutes, he said, "It'll be large, made of iron, and welded into a vampire's shield. Probably."

"Where else might it be?"

"Well, it burns to touch," Chidi said, "but vampires are into some weird stuff, I guess, so." He pushed his glasses up his nose. "I'm sure it'll be obvious when we see it."

They didn't find it, though. They spent the night prowling downtown Phoenix in a spiral, working their way out further and further until their starting point the next night was near an old landfill. It'd been covered with dirt and planted with grass, a pretty effect that was only somewhat ruined by the fact that this was a desert, and lawn grass shouldn't be growing at all.

"What if we never find it?" Tahani said. "What if it's not here at all?"

"Oh, it is," Chidi said. "Its owner can enslave anyone they want, and it's only powered by proximity to an unstable Hellmouth. This is the only one that qualifies right now."

"I'd prefer it was Paris."

Chidi nearly smiled. "Well, yes, but here we are."

"Woo-hoo!" someone screamed into the night. "Outta my way, suckers!"

A blonde woman came barreling down the mountain of covered-up garbage, riding a rounded disc of some kind. Or, rather, a blonde vampire: she was not human, as the tingling sense at the back of Tahani's neck attested to.

"Eat grass!" she whooped as she zoomed past Tahani and Chidi.

Tahani sighed and pulled her stake out. "Let's go," she said. The hill ended soon; she'd have to slow down then.

"Tahani, wait."

She turned to see Chidi staring after the woman with a wide-eyed, terrified gaze. Tahani thought back over the last thirty seconds and came to an inevitable, quite awful, conclusion. "That was the Seal of Damaranth?"

"It would appear so," Chidi said glumly.

"And I've got to go retrieve it from that - person?"

"Vampire," Chidi said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "To be, uh, perfectly precise."

Tahani bit her tongue on an acerbic comment. "Right," she said, and pulled a stake out of her bag. "I'm sure this will go well."

She found the blonde vampire sitting on top of the Seal of Damaranth, staring at the night sky with a gormless expression on her face. When she spotted Tahani, she threw her arms wide and said, "Heyyyy sexy lady! Come drink this tequila with me!"

That explained the gormlessness, then. "No, thank you," Tahani said.

The vampire shrugged. "Suit yourself, grumpypants," she said, and took a swig of - ugh - some kind of bottom shelf swill.

But there were more important issues at hand than some undoubtedly young vampire's bad taste in liquor. "My apologies for interrupting you, but you see, I'm a Slayer." She lifted her stake as proof. "And I'm going to need that, um, sled you've got."

"Sled? Ha! This is no sled." The vampire rolled off the object in question, lifting it. Tahani just barely held back her wince. That was, indeed, the seal, facing towards Tahani herself, radiating potentially deadly power.

"I see. Well, it looks like...um." How would she talk her way out of this?

"This," the vampire said in tones of great portent, "is a toboggan." And with that, she slipped on nothing and fell to the ground, the Seal of Damaranth toppling to the ground, laughing maniacally.

Tahani edged closer, wrinkling her nose at the stink of tequila now coming off the vampire in waves. She'd just dumped the bottle all over herself. It was so sad, so profoundly pathetic, that Tahani didn't bother to stake her.

Later, much later, she'd look back on that moment of mercy with the profoundest regret.

-

After a healthy and refreshing 8 hours of sleep and a carrot-ginger juice, Tahani sat with Chidi as he mapped the magical properties of the Seal of Damaranth.

"She was just so odd," Tahani said for the third or fourth time.

"Mmm." Chidi made a note on his graph paper.

"Just so, so odd. Do vampires normally get barmy? Is it some kind of condition?"

"The old ones do, sometimes," Chidi said. "But I would guess, based on the behavior you've described, that she was just young, drunk on her own power. And, uh, literally drunk, of course."

"It doesn't seem very nice, being able to kill people."

Chidi gave her a wry look. "World history disagrees."

Tahani was about to launch her usual argument - killing for money or land was so different from the messy, animalistic killing vampires indulged in! - when the hotel knocker sounded. She realized, much too late, that the back of her neck was tingling.

At ten in the morning? What was wrong with Phoenix? She slid silently from her seat, grabbing a stake from the TV stand and making her way over to the door.

The vampire who entered moved too quickly and strongly for Tahani to stake her. She shouted a warning to Chidi and kicked out, but then it threw the blanket off its head, revealing the drunk blonde from last night.

"Hi - whoa, whoa, whoa." Her hands moved too quickly and she caught Tahani's foot mid-kick. "I thought you recognized me!"

"I intended to stake you before you got inside," Tahani snapped. "Let go of my foot. These are Jimmy Choos!"

"Whatever, man." The vampire dropped Tahani's heel. "You really shouldn't open the door to strange vamps. How long you been in this gig?"

Not long enough. "None of your business."

"Please, sit," Chidi said. "By all means. I invite vampires into my hotel room every day."

"She's a threat," Tahani said.

"I recognize her from your description."

"She moves too quickly. She was lying." Tahani tightened her grip on her stake and prepared for a deadly fight.

"Whoa." The vampire held up both hands. "First of all, I'm just fast 'cause I played lacrosse in school. You know, Title IX and all that. Second of all, I come in peace, okay? Otherwise, why would I have come during the day?"

"Too drunk at night?"

"Chidi!" Tahani snapped. "Focus, please, on the imminent death! Remove the -"

"Artifact?" the vampire said. "Yeah, no can do. That's actually what I'm here for."

"I knew it," Tahani said, and leaped forward, stake raised.

She blinked on the way over and found herself pinned to the bed, painlessly but utterly hopelessly.

"I really don't want to hurt you," the vampire said. But she betrayed herself: for one horrible moment, her eyes strayed to Tahani's neck, and Tahani thought of all the literature on what a Slayer's blood was like for vampires.

"You're not going to get a chance to try." Chidi again, closer this time. The vampire stiffened above Tahani, then lifted her hands again, stepping to the side.

Chidi followed her movements with the crossbow, even as he motioned for Tahani to get up. Of course: she still lay prone, heart pounding, breathing much too quickly. She rolled to her feet, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Now," Chidi said. "Let's sit down at the table over there and discuss what, exactly, you want with the Seal of Damaranth."

"You know," the vampire said, edging over to the table, "I feel like we got off on the wrong foot."

"You weren't on your feet at all." Tahani sat across from her, clutching her stake at her side. "You were drunk."

"You keep bringing that up. Do you nag everyone like this, or am I special?"

Chidi cleared his throat, sitting at the seat next to the vampire, so that his stake-loaded crossbow poked her neck.

The vampire just rolled her eyes. "My name's Eleanor," she told Tahani. "Call your Watcher off, or that's the last info you'll be getting out of me."

It was empty bluster - it had to be; no vampire could get away from a Slayer and highly trained Watcher, both armed and ready to strike, when the sun was beating through curtains a mere few inches away. Still, Tahani said, "We should hear her out, I think."

Chidi would never follow her lead if he didn't think it was safe to do so; Tahani was relieved when he said, "All right. You, Eleanor. Talk."

"So, I was drunk, you were right about that. My b." The vampire, Eleanor, smiled. Tahani suspected she meant it to be conciliatory, perhaps even charming. It was mostly just sleazy. "But the Seal actually does make a great toboggan. And, funny story, I was hoping you wouldn't know what it was."

"Wow," Chidi said, dry as the desert outside. "I wonder why."

"Yeah, yeah. Look, I need it. For a totally legitimate, non-evil purpose, I swear." She sat back and looked at them expectantly.

"That's it?" Tahani said in spite of herself. "That's your speech? I need it, so give it to me?"

"Um, yeah, basically. Thrall's kind of hit or miss with Slayers."

Thrall wasn't supposed to work on Slayers at all, actually. Tahani filed that little detail away for later. "Why should we give it to you? Why aren't you trying to just take it, if it's that important?"

"The Seal goes where it wants," Eleanor said, "and I can command it, but between you and me, it's kind of a softy. It likes the good guys. That'd be you."

"I'm aware," Tahani snapped.

"So, as the good guys, you should give it to me. I need it. See? Simple."

"Surely even in your short time dabbling in vampirism, you've learned that's not how negotiations with Slayers work."

"Actually," Chidi said, "technically speaking, we're not really allowed to negotiate with you at all."

"C'mon, man!" Eleanor flopped back in her seat in disgust. "I'm not a terrorist! But fine, sure, take the Seal and lock it in some Watcher's vault. Meanwhile the Spigonnis will rip open every Hellmouth in Europe with their freaky mojo, but hey: at least you kept the Seal from one little vampire."

Tahani opened her mouth to say there was nothing little about any vampire, even a vertically challenged one such as Eleanor, but Chidi beat her to it. "What did you say about the Spigonnis?"

"Italian vampire clan, dating back to the third century. I'd hope you'd've heard of them."

"I have." And there was nothing humorous in Chidi's voice now. "What exactly are they planning?"

Eleanor held out her hand. "Nuh-uh, buddy. Seal first."

"That's not happening," Tahani said. She didn't miss the way Chidi hesitated, though, his eyes flicking between them. "Chidi. It's. Not. Happening."

Before Chidi had a chance to reply, Eleanor laughed - no, that was inaccurate. Eleanor cackled. "Wow. She's really got your balls in a brace, huh?"

"Chidi doesn't prescribe to such outdated ideals of masculinity," Tahani said, as coldly as she could. "I don't know what your Midwestern mid-1950s upbringing taught you, but I'm a Slayer, which means I have a say in all this. The seal will be held by those who can wield it responsibly, or won't wield it at all. Now tell us why you think you need it."

"I told you. The Spigonnis are planning on sending the world to hell." Eleanor stabbed a finger at Chidi. "He knows it's serious, and he knows a vampire's the only creature who can bring a Seal to its full potential. Ask him."

Chidi looked like he'd rather drink bottom shelf tequila in a dumpster with Eleanor herself than admit she was right. Yet, still, he said, "It's...a complicated situation, if she's telling the truth."

"Oh-ho, if I'm telling the truth? Buddy, I have a YouTube channel about it." And Eleanor pulled a cell phone out of her pocket.

She did, it turned out. The videos about the Spigonnis were interspersed with "HOT BLONDE POPS MASSIVE ZIT" and other such disgustingly-titled clips, but she had several videos laying out what proof she had that the Spigonnis were planning something. In the videos, she called them mobsters, but winked several times.

"That's how you know they're vampires," Eleanor told Tahani.

Tahani ignored her. Well, she tried. It wasn't entirely successful.

And yet, after twenty minutes of the videos, she found herself thinking: if Eleanor was telling the truth...

"How many Hellmouths would open?"

"Twenty," Chidi said. "There's nowhere in the world with as many as Europe."

"We're pretty terrible," Eleanor said, her face empty of anything but sunny, shallow cheer.

"What happens after that?"

"More Hellmouth openings, probably," Chidi said, "between all the vampires, the demons, and human enthusiasts...maybe a year would pass before it'd be the demons' world again."

Tahani hadn't been raised with the expectation that she would be called. She'd been given an excellent education in the classics. The last three years had been an equally excellent education in martial arts and the likely historical trajectory of a world left to the demons once again.

She looked at Eleanor, who continued to sit there, short and grimy, entirely unsuitable for such a mission.

"Right, then," she said. "Here's how it's going to go."

-

Tahani wasn't proud of it, but it satisfied some very specific, clearly disturbed part of her to have Eleanor by her side like this, servile and blank-gazed, among Italy's most fearsome vampire clan.

They had hoped to avoid the subterfuge entirely, in fact, and it wasn't helping Tahani's conscience to hear Chidi bemoan the necessity of it. But still, it was satisfying. Eleanor refused to acknowledge the inherent irritation that an insubordinate vampire might present a Slayer. In the Spigonni nest, however, Eleanor was Tahani's pet: weak from Tahani feeding on her, following her everywhere with thrall-induced stars in her eyes. The Spigonnis, Eleanor had repeatedly reassured her, wouldn't be able to tell that Eleanor was the source of the stink of vampire. And even if they did, they carried the Seal of Damaranth with them, and thus had almost unlimited power at their disposal should an emergency strike.

In theory, anyway. They hadn't tested it; Chidi said there was no way to do so without alerting various vampires to its activation.

"You don't look comfortable enough," Eleanor mumbled out of the corner of her mouth.

"It's hardly a comfortable place, is it?" They stood in the center of the expansive Spigonni nest, a huge manor house east of Florence. The house's two rambling Tudor-style wings held the living - or unliving - quarters of over two hundred vampires. The ballroom, where Tahani currently reclined, had enormous plush chairs scattered everywhere, cages for unfortunate humans, big iron candlesticks, and of course, beds for thrilling misadventures. The windows obscured sunlight with enormous black velvet curtains. It was all very Anne Rice, and Tahani couldn't say she was enjoying it.

But Eleanor made a nearly silent, extremely derisive noise upon hearing her - completely rational! - opinion. "It's the lap of luxury for a set of vamps whose idea of luxury is specific and very expensive."

"It's tacky."

"Deal. With. It. You. Diva," Eleanor hissed.

A Spigonni wandered towards them. Eleanor's expression melted into servility. Tahani couldn't resist: even as the evil vampire bore down on them, she reached out to cup Eleanor's cheek in one hand and press her nails into Eleanor's skin. "Much better," she said, smiling down at Eleanor's fury.

"Eleanor of Aquitaine," the vampire said. "What a surprise."

Tahani just barely managed to keep her expression neutral. What a ridiculous identity Eleanor had chosen. "And you are?"

Feline pleasure alerted her to her mistake. "Giovanni Spigonni, head of the family. I'd advise you not to put on such airs that you can't recognize me, my dear."

And then Tahani understood. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. This man was just like her parents' friends, obsessed with status and money and desperate to pretend they didn't care about either.

She plastered a smile on her face. "Giovanni, darling, of course I recognize you. Our natural state isn't enough to render someone like yourself anonymous."

His answering smile was miserly, but still, it existed. "Of course. Do enjoy your stay." He nodded, then moved on.

"You suck so bad at this," Eleanor mumbled. "We should just use the Seal and be done with it."

"We are absolutely not, under any circumstances, going to use the Seal," Tahani said through her smile.

-

"Maybe we should use the Seal," Chidi said.

"What? No! Absolutely not! We're in Italy because we're trying to stop people from bringing about the apocalypse, not hasten it ourselves!"

"Dude, she has a point. But on the other hand..." Eleanor pressed her fingertips together. "Think about how, a, this sucks and is boring, and b, the Seal would make it all way easier."

"The temptation of never-ending power is the reason people don't use ancient and powerful artifacts all willy-nilly!" Tahani glared at Eleanor. They'd been infiltrating the Spigonnis for two weeks now; admittedly, it wasn't Tahani's favorite way to spend a fortnight in Italy, but she felt significantly closer to unmasking Giovanni and his consort Maria's plans. All of that would be destroyed if Eleanor used her wiles to convince Chidi to unleash the Seal.

Eleanor didn't seem to care. She crossed her arms and said, "Okay, fine, you got me. I hate pretending to be your human bitch. Wow, shocking, right?"

"Servant! In my thrall! Which, by the way, you told me was an honor for humans. It's not so honorable when you're the one at the end of the leash, is it?"

By the end of her question, Tahani was shouting. She'd leaned across the table so she was inches from Eleanor, and she was breathing as though she'd just chased a werewolf down. Her heart was pounding; she felt quite unhinged.

Eleanor, in contrast, only snorted and rolled her eyes, as crass and unmannerly as ever. "Whatever, man," she said. "Save your crusading speeches for someone who cares."

Tahani was about to hit her, or stake her, or - throttle her! - when Chidi said, "If I may interrupt?"

Oh, God. "I'm sorry. Yes, of course. But you can't possibly be thinking of -"

She closed her mouth with a sharp click of teeth at the look Chidi gave her. It was one of his very specific looks, a bit impatient, but also holding the kind of deep compassion that meant she wasn't going to like hearing whatever he had to say.

"They're going to end the world with or without the Seal," Chidi said.

Right on one count, then. "Of course," Tahani said dimly. "I'd guessed as much." Of course she hadn't. "Perhaps I'll call my friend, Beyoncé, she's a Slayer too. We could use reinforcements."

"I'm not sure there's time for that."

"You know, I'm more of a Jay-z fan," Eleanor said.

"How can you possibly - you know what? No one asked you," Tahani said. "What do you mean there's no time?"

"I got a call from Alaya, one of the members of the London Coven. Several of the witches there, herself included, have been plagued with visions lately. They think Italy's about to blow. The Spigonnis are moving in on something - something big. Apocalyptic, even."

"And we need the Seal to stop it? Can't I just -"

"Run a suicide mission?" Chidi smiled. Well, not really. He moved his lips into a tight, unhappy line. "I know I'm selfish, but I'd prefer to use a tool we already have, and keep my Slayer after the dust settles."

"Wow. Gay," Eleanor said.

Fire again shot through her. "Shut up, Eleanor."

"Make me, Slayer."

If she had the Seal, if she used the Seal, she could. Fright and excitement shot through her with near-equal strength.

She shouldn't. She couldn't. But -

Tahani wasn't really ready to die, either. How could she be? She hadn't even gotten any grey hairs yet.

"Right, then. Tell me what we need to do."

-

The Spigonni lair had a basement. It hadn't been dug in the normal way, but rather carved via magic. Half of it contained storerooms of food ("have they heard of refrigeration?" Tahani asked; "Sure, that's where they keep the bodies," Eleanor told her), and the other half contained a maze. The maze was booby-trapped; at its center lay the magical artifact ensuring that even staking Giovanni Spigonni wouldn't kill him.

Maria Spigonni, his consort, knew how to get through the maze. And so it was Maria they planned to enchant, or compel, with the Seal. At least, that was the plan if they ever managed to activate the seal. At the moment, Tahani had her doubts.

"Man, come on, just pull the trigger already!" Eleanor threw up her hand. "Every ancient artifact comes with like six tons of paperwork, you're the only person I've ever seen actually try to get through all of it."

"It's not paperwork," Chidi said, making a note on parchment that was probably older than the Spigonni mansion. "It's vitally important information that will keep all of us alive while we use the Seal."

Tahani cleared her throat. "We really should use it tonight, though," she said. "Given the apocalypse, and all."

"Listen to your Slayer, Chidi, they don't make 'em that tall and hot for no reason."

"The last Slayer before Buffy Summers barely topped five feet tall." Chidi rolled the scroll back up.

"She was also fourteen," Eleanor said, as casually as one might remark on the weather. "My point is - ohhh yeah. Come to mama." She made grabby hands at the Seal when Chidi pulled it from his pocket.

His eyes slid away from her as though she hadn't even spoken. "Tahani. Can we talk?"

They'd chosen a random room in the non-family wing for their adventures. It was as safe as enchantments could make it, which meant very safe indeed, but they couldn't leave the room while discussing their deadly plans. Chidi could only pull her to the far end of the - admittedly large - room before saying in a low voice, "I want to make sure you're ready to do this."

"I know it's necessary." Chidi's expression made it obvious that he didn't consider that an adequate answer. "And I'm as ready as I can be. This is hardly the first dangerous thing I've done."

"If you need to run, promise me you will. Promise me you'll stay alive."

Tahani opened her mouth, and then closed it. Any words she might have said, any possible glib dismissal, would only sound false. She didn't want to die; Chidi knew it, had been the recipient of many a breakdown to that effect. And Chidi, for all that he was devoted to the Watchers, understood. He was giving her an out.

God forgive her. She planned to take it.

"I will," she said. "I promise."

And so they began the ritual. It was, of course, an odd mix of tedious and time-consuming. Chidi handled the Latin, and Tahani provided a conduit for the power. Eleanor provided the demon blood.

The power rose in the room. What magic Tahani had was of a rather false sort: Slayer magic, which was capricious at the best of times, and came from power she hadn't sought or chosen. But as the Seal began to fill with power, Tahani felt it on the air: the tang of blood, the salty scent of the sea.

Still, somehow, she felt as though she'd been punched in the chest when she blinked and a woman appeared at the center of the ritual circle.

"Was this supposed to happen?" she said as the woman - demon - thing - cocked its head and looked at Chidi.

"It's possible," Chidi said. "But then again..."

Tahani put a hand on her stake.

"Chidi," the demon said. "My...summoner."

Chidi took a deep breath. "The Seal of Damaranth compels you to -"

The demon tilted its head back and laughed. Lightning crackled horizontally across the ceiling.

"You know," Eleanor said from behind them, "she's kinda hot, in a deadly way."

"I compel you!" Chidi said. "This ritual -"

"Opens a gate to hell, using the Seal of Damaranth, and out walks a servant." The demon bowed. "That's me. Here to do whatever you want." Her smile deepened into a smirk. "For as long as you can hold me, anyway."

Chidi looked at Tahani. She could practically see the gears turning in his head, the various ethical dilemmas inherent in summoning a demon, rather than just using a magical object, to destroy the Spigonnis. He looked close to flying to pieces and sending the demon back, so Tahani did what she did best: she acted.

"Tahani, Vampire Slayer," she said, stepping forward. "And you are...?"

The demon's eyes didn't leave Chidi. "Call me Vicki, gorgeous."

"I am, thank you," Tahani said. "We've a little problem, a vampire coven. We're currently in their nest. I'd like you to tell them to rip each other apart."

"You don't want me to kill them?" Still not looking at her, still only with eyes for Chidi. Demons loved him; it vexed Tahani to no end.

"No," she said. "They must turn on one another, so that news of their treachery spreads."

Then, finally, Vicki looked at her. "That's diabolical, for a Slayer."

Before Tahani could reply, Eleanor said, "You should see her picking out a dress for another girl. Total Caesar situation."

"They're not going to be happy to see you here," Vicki told her.

"Enough demonic interplay!" Tahani said. "Turn them against each other now."

"Ah-ah-ah, not so fast," Vicki said. "I know it's unusual for you goody-two-shoes types to summon demons to do your unearthly will, but there are rules here, and you're going to follow them. I won't just run off and brainwash a bunch of vamps without my trade."

"We gave you the blood, over the Hellmouth -"

"That's a trade with the forces of Hell that keep me captured," Vicki said. "I'm asking what's in it for me. See, normally when I get summoned, it's by some pretty nasty baddies, and my reward is not being tortured by them before I get sent back down to the big boys. But you two...well, a girl knows when she has leverage. What's. In. It. For. Me."

Rage. Pure fury. Feeling as though she could take on an army, Tahani turned to Chidi.

Who raised his chin, looked Vicki dead in the eye, and said, "Time."

"In this crappy dimension? Give me a break."

Chidi shrugged. "Guess we'll send you back, then," he said, and began paging through his book of spells.

"Fine," Vicki said. "One year."

"Two months."

"One year or I'll go back myself, hot stuff."

Chidi closed his book. It echoed, Tahani thought, with a kind of terrifying finality. "Done."

Vicki smiled, an awful, haunting expression. "Let's get to work."

-

She'd have nightmares of that day until she died.

Vicki's bloodlust was like nothing she'd seen. She'd hoped the vampires would simply stake one another, but instead Vicki had them lure each other into monstrous traps, commit horrific painful violence before dealing the killing blow, feast on each other, desecrate one another's bodies...eventually she had to close her eyes, knowing she was a coward but unable to force herself to be stronger. When she said, "Please, this wasn't what I meant," Vicki only laughed.

Eventually the Spigonnis were all dead. The prickling feeling of too-much-power slowly faded. They should've been left with very little mess - would have, if Vicki had obeyed the spirit of the order. But instead, they stood in the middle of the Spigonnis' ballroom, and blood soaked the antique tiles beneath them, dropped from the wall sconces, and left a stench in the air that Tahani knew she'd remember in her nightmares.

"One year, you said," Vicki said. "I trust you won't make me keep track."

"Don't worry, it's already in my calendar," Tahani said. "One year and then the world's rid of you again."

"Ah, truly, whoever brought me here has cursed humanity." She laughed in cruel delight and leaned in to plant one on Chidi's cheek. "Until next time, cutie."

Chidi pressed a shaking hand to his face, even as Vicki disappeared in a whirl of foul air.

"Well," Eleanor said. "That was weird."

"More than weird." Tahani felt sickened to her core. "Chidi, are we - that is, do you want to -"

He understood. Thank whatever, whoever might be listening, he understood. "Let's go."

"Hey." Eleanor darted in front of them. "What about me?"

"Do what you want," Tahani said. "I won't try to stop you. For now."

The last she saw of Eleanor, she stood in the middle of the blood-streaked Spigonni mansion, staring at Tahani with a look almost like betrayal.