Despite her infuriation, the waves of Lucifer's unspoken command washed over her and, as pre-programmed, the virus forced her into complete submission. Like a pile of jell-o left too long in the sun, the young were flopped over bonelessly and luckily away from the edge.

The were sat there for a moment, panting and twitching uselessly while glaring at him murderously with her golden eyes. Finally, she subsided and simply glared. "Just spit out what you want and be done with it!" Anya snarled through clenched jaws.

"Do I need a reason to see you Anya?" He whispered his words enunciating every excruciating syllable. Lucifer then walked slowly towards her with his arms folded behind his back in a sort of inquisitive gesture. He then proceeded to tap her foot with the tip of his shoe as if to see if she was still with him.

"Perhaps I could arrange a little... something to help you with the thing you desire the most above all else," Lucifer smiled slyly once more, "you know the one"

The were shuddered as the meaning of Lucifer's words penetrated her skull. A hope so painful it seemed it would break through her ribcage convulsed her body, and she whimpered in despair. Hot tears blurred her eyes for the second time in a single night as she attempted to curl around the ten-ton weight that was her stomach. But... I couldn't do that again.

"No," Anya sighed miserably, closing her eyes helplessly, "I've learned my lesson. Go away."

His pupils suddenly narrowed and became like two vertical lines rather like that of a snake’s. A shadow of a smile passed across his newly hardened face like a passing thought as he knelt beside her and put his mouth just above one of her ears. “I know what you want,” He hissed, “I can give it to you as easily as one two three.” His words though surprisingly soft seemed to linger in the air for a moment as if they possessed a weight of their own.

“This is your last chance,” His eyes darted away from her as he ran one of his long purple fingers across her arced back, “I hope you know that there’s no hope of you ever getting what you want yourself. Once again this is your last chance. All it takes is a simple action and it can be yours…”

He stood suddenly and slowly turned around so he faced the opposite direction, “If you truly wanted me to leave you know I’d have no business to stay,” He then turned his head slightly in her direction as his eyes narrowed, “so why am I still here?”

The flesh under Lucifer's finger crawled and burned, but Anya felt her will breaking. Something was jammed in her throat, so heavy and thick she couldn't breathe. Hope or despair? The were didn't know. Anya struggled back and forth between hope and hatred without an outward sign other than the tears that painted streams in her cheeks, glistening in the moonlight.

Between the two emotions and the decisions behind them, she felt like a prisoner stretched on the rack, screaming for release. The were barely heard Lucifer's last sentence as she withdrew into herself.

Torn by her hope and hatred, her heart leapt and fell like a boulder being tossed by a giant when she heard a distant, raspy voice whisper. It sounded very much like her own and voiced the very thought that had echoed like the cackle of a loon through Anya's mind. "What do you want me to do?"

A contract made of a sepia parchment appeared within a barrage of shadows in one of Lucifer's purple hands. Slowly, in the other palm, a rather long and foreboding onyx quill materialized. He then turned around carefully and extended his arms as if to offer the items to her. "You know the drill luv'," He spoke and seemed to regain some of his previous mischievous attitude, "just sign on the dotted line. In blood of course"

The were whimpered a little, cracking open her eyelids to watch Lucifer despairingly. She said nothing as the demon held the quill and parchment out to her invitingly. Her breath caught and she steeled herself to reach for them. I'll be able to go home... Anya swallowed thickly and willed her arm to move.

Anya growled at herself. Still under the power of Lucifer's command, Anya's body refused to move more than a few inches. Her arm sort of flopped a bit before falling back to the ground, rubbery and relaxed. "I can't do anything until you let me go," Anya grumbled, irritated more than upset.

"Oh yes that," Lucifer shrugged, "It's soooo easily to forget these things" He smiled a tight twisted little smile, "I'm sure you understand." He then paused for a moment as if to consider his own words, "Well I suppose you really don't understand," He chuckled.

"In any case I've released you," Lucifer rolled one of his shoulders and sighed, "Usual deal. Sign in blood. You get what you want, and then I get your mortal soul. Same old same old"

Savvy walked through the streets of the old town he'd visited a million times. He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for, but he knew it would come to him eventually. He wasn't in the mood to start thinking about simple things and get himself into a knot again. He screamed in frustration and burned a barn down when he started to try to understand the stupidity of people the last time. No, now he just wanted to walk around and maybe God would show him just what exactly he was doing there.

Savvy simply turned the corner before he jumped back and hid from the monstrous creature out in the field. Today was simply not his lucky day what so ever. He crouched and peaked around the corner, watching the demon tempt and taint a young girl into doing whatever sick desires he had in mind. Savvy didn't have chivalry by any means, but he loathed watching people fall into temptation from the devil himself. However, he could not help but watch and assess the situation. Savvy was most intruiged.

"Now what are the odds of me finding you here, damned deomon?" he whispered to himself. He concentrated hard on masking his pressence from the demon using the magic training the elves taught him, but he feared it wasn't enough. The devil was a tricky one, and he had no trouble sensing others nearby. He patiently listened and waited for whatever possible outcomes.

"I am more than a mere demon," Lucifer's voice echoed within Savvy's mind completely unheard by Anya or anyone else who may be lingering nearby. Lucifer's patience was beginning to thin with the little were and this new comer certainly wasn't helping things.

"One last chance," He stated simply to Anya, "Sign or don't. I won't ask again." He then thrust the paper closer towards the were as if hoping the sheer smell from the parchment would entice her into signing. "Never again," He added excessively.

"You're exactly right. But to me, you're still a bloody demon." Savvy echoed back. He knew he had very little chance against the devil himself, but since he won his own sword in a fair gamble, he figured he had a small cance. He was ever so tempted to interrupt and stop the devil in his tracks.

'I advise you not to do it, Savvy,' Mashayell, Savvy's demon katana echoed in his skull. Savvy tried hard to resist listening to his eternal companion.

'And why the bloody hell should I not, Mashayell?' Savvy asked.

'I may be an unbreakable blade, but even I cannot stand up against my former master. He isn't called the devil for no reason.' Mashayell replied. Savvy debated within himself whether he should listen or not.

Who...? Anya stood up stiffly, self-conciously brushing the pine needles from her hair and clothes and peered around Lucifer's insistent hand. Curiosity, always one of her most prominent traits, pushed forward and she stared openly for a moment at the newcomer. A human? A small frown flickered across her face.

"One last chance," Lucifer stated simply to Anya, "Sign or don't; I won't ask again."

Biting her lip anxiously, longingly, hopefully, she turned her golden eyes back to the parchment hovering just below her nose. Unfortunately, with the coming of the stranger, the were's concentration was broken, the urgency Lucifer had planted there fluttering away from her mind like clouds scuttling from the sky. Still, though, the sight of the parchment pulled her back to confusion.

D---it, I know better than this. Anya steeled herself, tearing herself almost audibly from the hope of her redemption and snatched up the parchment.

"You know, Lucifer," she snarled, looking over the contract cursorily, "you tried this before." Anya immediately tore the parchment into tiny fragments, tossing it into the air like confetti and spitting at his feet.

"I'll never accept you," the were sneered, her limbs beginning to shake under Lucifer's baleful stare and her own tension. "Go away."

She turned her back to the Devil, and stared down to Restaul longingly, feeling the full weight of her decision and deciding to completely ignore any scuffles or cries of indignition behind her that might result. Nestling her hands in the small of her back, she stood ramrod straight, struggling to clear her mind and holding back the hot tears that had appeared yet again on her cheeks.