“Halfrek,” Anya says with a chagrined half smile. “She’s crafty, that one. She got the Vengeance LLC Employee of the Quarter-Millennium twice! The higher-ups adore her.” Sobering, she considers the Slayer through narrowed eyes. “Does that mean she wasn’t in Arashmaharr when you murdered everyone there?”

“I didn’t kill anyone who wasn’t a demon!” she protests, offended by the accusation.

“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Anya says. Her lips press together into a tight line. “The girl who cursed you was human, by the way. With a demon’s job. Like me.”

Abashed, the Slayer looks back at her hand in the fountain, crunching through the thin layer of remaining ice. As the freeze ray bobs to the surface, she wipes her damp fingers on the side of her pants. “I assume Hallie is still in my home dimension. Hanging out with my friends. Replacing me.”

“Being trapped in a human teenager’s life would be torment for an all-powerful demon,” Anya says with a shudder. “Playing along for a month or two as part of a scheme might be fun. But staying there? It’d be like living at a Halloween party. Vengeance demons haven’t had access to magic since you’ve been running around with the source of our power. Halfrek is stranded, unable to portal away. As miserable as you are.”

“I doubt that.” The Slayer snorts. “I’ve been away from home for so long and seen so much evil. Demondale made me question everything I thought I knew. I mean, who blocks out the actual sun? How is anyone supposed to maintain a healthy amount of vitamin D? Much less a decent tan.” She sticks her arms out and examines her pale skin. “I’m so pasty, I can barely recognize myself.”

“Sure, but on the bright side, there’s almost no melanoma under the sunshade. I’m definitely getting a sunburn here,” Anya says. She fans herself with her free hand, squinting in the sunlight. “Just because it isn’t your perfect world doesn’t mean it isn’t somebody’s.”

The Slayer chews on the inside of her cheek, considering this. “When I found out that there were other places like Demondale, I had to stop them. I mean, I was chosen to stop them. It’s my job to stand against the forces of darkness. And knowing there were endless evil realities? It was like finding out that all of my nightmares were true.