A dangerous sorcerer named Felix Faust has come to Sunnydale, intent on raising an ancient demon to subjugate all of humankind. To succeed, he must perform a powerful curse to displace his enemies, transporting them from one time and place and exch...
Xander's breath came in quick gasps as he stared at the bench. On which his best friend sat. Jesse, with whom he had spent every afternoon since middle school playing video games, trading comics, creating clever insults for the snooty popular kids, and most of all, ogling the hottest girls in school.
Except Jesse was dead. He died the week Buffy came to town.
When a vampire killed him and took over his body.
"Heard you scored with Cordelia," Jesse said, clearly impressed. "Nice. Wish it was me, but nice."
"Jesse," Xander repeated, still unable to believe it. "You can't be here. You're dead."
"Am I?" Jesse asked, unconcerned. He looked around the bench, then looked down at himself, and shrugged it off. "I feel pretty okay. Maybe I got better. You know what they say. Time heals all wounds. Even wounds like you killing me."
Xander swallowed hard, remembering how he had faced Jesse in his new vampire state. He had been gripping a stake tightly in defense, but he could never have plunged it into Jesse's heart. He still wanted his friend to come back to life somehow. He wanted that nightmare to suddenly be over.
But it had ended with Jesse being pushed from behind and accidentally falling onto Xander's stake.
And just like that, his lifelong friend was gone.
Jesse waved it off, laughing. "Just messing with you, dude. No big. Man, you should see the look on your face!"
"What's going on?" Xander asked, his voice rising. "Where's Batman? Where did everybody go?"
"Oh, they're still around," Jesse said. "Just maybe not the way you remember them."
Xander watched as a few figures strode toward Jesse's bench, appearing suddenly out of the darkness. Giles approached, hands in his pockets, half-smiling and giving a friendly nod. "Xander," he greeted.
Following behind him, Principal Snyder glared with his usual bug-like eyes, frowning at him. "Harris," he acknowledged.
Then came Oz, not smiling, barely even blinking. "Hey," he said.
Cordelia came after him, flashing a toothy smile. "Hey, babe."
She was followed by Willow, his friend since childhood, even longer than Jesse. She gave a frantic wave, with that friendly smile that always put him at ease – until now. "Hi, Xander!" she said happily.
Finally, Buffy walked in to stand beside Giles. She made a half-hearted smile, the kind that always told him something bad was about to happen, or was already happening. "Hey, Xander," she said in a morose tone.
They all stared at him, flanking either side of Jesse's bench. As if waiting for something.
From the deepest patch of darkness another figure emerged, as if bringing all the darkness with him.
Buffy's former boyfriend – now the most vicious and terrifying of all vampires – Angel.
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