In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode ‘Get it Done’ (7.15) vampire slayer Buffy Summers discovers the origins of the slayer-line. It is revealed that the Shadowmen, pre-modern precursors to the Watchers Council who oversee the training of Slayers, infused the body of the first slayer with the spirit of a demon, deliberately constructing a human/demon hybrid as humanity's protector from monsters. Buffy is horrified by this revelation and refuses the Shadowmen's offer of additional power as the risk to her humanity is too high a price. In the same episode, however, the preference for pure humanity is called into question by former demon Anya when she complains about being human again: ‘Being human? Ugh! You're always icky on the inside, disgusting on the outside’. In the same episode recently re-ensouled vampire Spike is forced to find a balance between his soul and his inner demon in order to help Buffy. He finds his strength by embracing his dark side and rekindling his pleasure in the kill, something he had lost with the restoration of his soul. Similarly reformed witch Willow – whose power had escalated out of control after bringing Buffy back from the dead in Season 6, as discussed in the last chapter – taps into the recesses of her dark magic to re-open the portal through which Buffy had travelled to meet the Shadowmen. While both Spike and Willow are hesitant to draw upon their powers and slightly horrified by the results, the episode makes it clear that these actions put both Willow and Spike on the path towards accepting their power and the hybridity of their identities which enables them to play a major role in saving the world at the end of the series. Furthermore, after Buffy refuses the Shadowmen's offer, they give her a vision of the vampire army that she will eventually have to face, which forces her to question her decision, telling Willow, ‘I think I made a mistake’. The episode may express anxiety about this type of hybrid identity in the face of the potential loss of their humanity, but it also celebrates hybridity as a necessary component of a hero, particularly in the face of an impending apocalypse.