Horrified, Anya pictured the vast hallways of Vengeance LLC, terrorized by a mythical vampire hunter. She imagined the cubicles splattered with blood, her coworkers for the last millennium hacked to pieces. If Anya hadn’t taken her sabbatical, she would have been one of them. Instead of blending smoothies, she would have been murdered by a slayer.

Had there been any survivors? Halfrek? Frex? Balash? The gods? The chatty receptionist?

Ugh. Anya wasn’t sure she wanted to live in a universe where that girl lived but Lloyd didn’t. Even with his penchant for pranks, Lloyd had been a good demon. He always brought everyone in the office topside souvenirs when he returned from a long mission. He used to leave earth coins on Anya’s desk because he knew she collected money.

“Excuse me, sorry,” Jonathan said. “What’s a slayer?”

“The bogeyman for vampires. When they’re bad, the Powers That Be send the slayer to stake them,” Anya said distractedly. She had heard rumors of slayers before, but never actually seen one. Until this moment, she’d assumed it was just what vamps called any human strong enough to kill more than one of the undead. “Why would a slayer want the Marnoxon gem?”

The gem was the most precious item in Arashmaharr, if not in all of hell’s many dimensions. Housed in the deepest bowels of Vengeance LLC, it was guarded at all times by no fewer than five armed demons. Anya herself had only glimpsed it on her very first walk-through of the office when D’Hoffryn had cut a sliver of it to make her amulet.

“What’s a Marnoxon gem?” Andrew asked.

“And does it look like a piece of Kryptonite?” Jonathan asked.

“Is that another space reference?” Anya asked, annoyed.

“Technically,” Andrew said, shoulders coming up to his ears. “Krypton is the planet Superman is from. Kryptonite is a green rock. I mean, it comes in a lot of colors, but the classic—”

D’Hoffryn cut him off. “The Marnoxon is a large green gem. A piece of Creation.” He did his best to nod toward Anya, but accidentally slid himself toward the edge of the counter. Anya nudged him back to safety as he continued, “Anyanka wears a piece of it around her neck, as do all vengeance demons. It is what allows them to create and destroy as a Wish dictates. Without it, Vengeance LLC and all in its employ are powerless.”

“Which means, without it, I can’t bring your friend back to life,” Anya told Andrew and Jonathan. Her head swam as she imagined being stuck on earth, completely powerless. No extra vengeance money. No superstrength. Would she age at an accelerated rate? Her immortality was directly tied to her contract with Vengeance LLC. Was that a wrinkle she felt forming on her forehead? No, she was being ridiculous. She could still transform into her demon self. She just didn’t have any magic. “We need to get that gem back.”

“So,” Andrew said, wringing his bloody hands. “We need to find someone who knows how to stop a slayer?”