“Gladly,” Darla huffed. She looped her arm through the Master’s, her eyes never leaving Angelus. “Lead the way, hubby.”

The Master gripped Darla’s arm tight, his wrinkled head held high as he marched back up the church aisle and the steps to the pulpit. Behind him, the group formed a reluctant processional: Willow and Drusilla with Spike close at their heels; Anya, Andrew, and Jonathan clustered together; then Angelus, who waited so long to follow that Anya worried he might just leave and go back to the Bronze.

“Are we allowed to just announce when we’re bored with people talking?” Anya asked Andrew, tipping her head to indicate Willow. “Because when I did that at work, Human-Mike threatened to write me up for bad customer service.”

“I think it’s an undead perk,” Andrew told her. “They can just kill anyone who takes offense.”

Anya sighed as a dizzying pang of yearning hit her. “If I had my magic, I could send each of you to your own pocket dimension, where your clothes tried to eat you and food turned to ashes in your mouth.” Seeing Andrew’s and Jonathan’s horror-stricken faces, she added, “Not that I would! You haven’t done anything to earn my vengeance. You shared your chocolate and promised me more money. I just miss knowing that I could. You don’t understand how hard it is to be powerless. You’ve never been anything else.”

The door hidden in the wall led to a rickety wooden staircase descending into inky blackness. In the dark, Anya’s imagination taunted her with visions of what could be lurking beyond her perception. Quicksand. A giant swinging blade that sliced and diced anyone the Master found annoying. Disgusting fluffy bunnies with their razor-sharp teeth and long flopsy ears, just waiting to spring at her with their all-too-powerful back legs. . .

Ahead, hinges creaked. Picturing the bunny cages being opened, Anya screamed. Which made Andrew scream. Which then made Jonathan scream. Drusilla joined in, possibly just for fun.

At the bottom of the stairs, Darla and the Master paused inside an open doorway leading to a well-lit room. They looked questioningly up the stairs at Anya, who struggled to swallow and said, “Sorry. I thought I heard bunnies.”

Darla shook her head in disgust, which Anya took as a sign of anti-Leporidae solidarity.

“Bunnies?” Angelus asked softly as they continued the rest of the way down the stairs. His voice made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He moved so soundlessly in the dark, it was easy to forget that he was behind her. He must have been such an effective predator. “Is that what strikes fear into the hearts of vengeance demons?”

“I don’t know about all vengeance demons,” Anya said. “But this one, yes.”

“You mean like Peter Cottontail and the Easter Bunny?” Angelus said. Even without seeing him, she could hear the mocking smile in his tone. “Cute little herbivores who couldn’t hurt a fly?”

“Obviously you’ve never seen Watership Down,” Jonathan said with an impressive amount of venom for a boy chock-full of chocolate and fear. “That cartoon gave me nightmares for years. I’m with Anya. Bunnies are gross.”