“This would be the perfect time for the slayer to portal in and kill us,” she said. She tugged a long stretch of melted cheese with her front teeth before noticing the resounding silence coming from the three men. “What? I’m not saying I want her to come kill us now. But any predator knows that its prey is at its weakest when eating. Or sleeping.” She crinkled her nose at Jonathan and Andrew. “I guess you two are pretty weak whenever.”

“Now we have to be afraid of eating too?” Jonathan asked Andrew.

“Eating is always dangerous for humans,” Anya said. “There’s the high risk of choking, poisoning, diabetic shock, adult-onset allergies resulting in anaphylaxis—”

The bell over the door chimed. Flinching in fear, Jonathan dropped his pizza cheese-side down on the floor.

Angelus and Spike stormed back into the Metaphysical Boutique with flaky red faces and hands. If Anya didn’t know better, she would have said that they both looked sunburned. And Angelus had gotten a haircut.

“Is it done? Did you kill her?” Ripper asked, his cigarette bouncing at the corner of his mouth.

“Where’s my gem?” Anya cut in. She dropped the encyclopedia onto the counter. “I swear, you vamps refuse to listen! This whole endeavor is pointless if I don’t get my magic back!”

“Except that the world won’t end?” Andrew said.

“Who wants to live in this world with zero magical ability?” Anya snapped at him.

“She got away,” Angelus said, marching down the stairs. He paused to rake his hands through his hair, lingering in the space where his ponytail wasn’t. “Spike was so busy flirting with her—”

“Hey! Don’t blame me for trying to lure her into a false sense of security,” Spike said, squashing Jonathan’s fallen slice of pizza as he jumped over the stairs. He hurled the longsword he’d been carrying on top of the nearest table, sending neatly stacked decks of tarot cards falling to the ground. “Especially since you’ve been making goo-goo eyes at the vengeance demon all day!”

Angelus flung a hand at Anya. “She’s not trying to erase our dimension!”

Caught off guard by the sudden spotlight, Anya felt a blush climb her neck. She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I don’t erase dimensions. I only make new ones. When I have my magic.” She coughed twice to catch Angelus’s attention and asked, “Are goo-goo eyes good?”

He rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Oh. Good,” she said, her flush creeping up to her cheeks. “And have I been giving them back?”

“Yes,” said Spike, Andrew, Jonathan, and Ripper.

Angelus flicked his eyebrows at her, his mouth a sly smirk.