“What if we could overwhelm the slayer?” Anya asked. Holding Dram’s Encyclopedia aloft, she said, “It says in here that the Dowsing Rod of Vem will point itself at the closest concentration of evil. Not the most evil entity. And the slayer has to trust the dowsing rod to guide her to the Black Flame flag, especially since we moved it.”

Her gaze traveled over the assembled party. Andrew was dabbing the top of his pizza with a napkin and offering Jonathan his mushrooms. Spike was trying to bum a cigarette off Ripper, who was absently patting at his pockets, pretending he couldn’t feel the lump of the pack rolled into his shirt sleeve. Angelus blinked at Anya with more confusion than goo-goo.

She threw her hands up. “Do I have to spell everything out for you?”

“Yes,” Jonathan said. “Your logic always requires spelling out, Anya.”

Heaving an exasperated breath, she held up the encyclopedia for a visual reference. She tapped on the woodcut drawing.

“The slayer doesn’t have her own magic, right? She’s just a teenage girl with superstrength and some very powerful magical artifacts,” she said, speaking slowly and bobbing her head a lot like she was trying to communicate with a group of dogs. “The Marnoxon gem makes portals and the dowsing rod tells her where to go, leading her from Black Flame flag to Black Flame flag. Because Hell’s Own Herald is concentrated evil. So, what if we could pack enough evil pawns into one place? With enough corruption and depravity concentrated in one area, it’s possible we could trick the dowsing rod. And the slayer. She’d portal right to us.”

“And we want that. . .why?” Andrew asked.

“So we could break her neck and take back the gem I have been trying to get my hands on all freaking day!” Anya cried. “And, you know, save the world.”

“How would we get all that evil into one place?” Jonathan asked.

“It’s Demondale,” Anya snorted. “You can’t throw a stone without hitting something that wants to kill or maim you back. The whole point of this place is that it’s a safe space for evil. We just have to convince evil to congregate.”

“We’d need somewhere defensible,” Andrew said uncertainly. “Somewhere we have the upper hand.”

Jonathan jumped to his feet. “That’s it! It’s not a chess game! It’s Risk! We need to find an easy-to-hold continent and fill it with as many troops as we can.”

“I usually go for Australia,” Andrew said. “It’s hard for anyone to gang up on you there.”

“Yes, Australia is perfect!” Jonathan said, snapping his greasy fingers. “In the middle of the ocean. That makes the borders easy to protect. We need the Demondale equivalent of a free-floating continent.”

“There’s only one door in here,” Spike suggested, pointing at the entrance. “And plenty of weapons lying about.”