In "Freefall", "Season Nine"s opening story, many dead humans reported missing decades prior are found on the streets of San Francisco. Buffy first encounters Severin while patrolling for vampires and discovers that he has the ability to "drain" magic, turning vampires into ordinary humans, leaving them as corpses. He explains to her that he acquired this power after his girlfriend became an unexpectedly-mindless vampire, a side effect of Buffy banishing magic. After earning Buffy's trust, he lures her to a warehouse filled with vampires which he uses as batteries to "charge" him up for their fight, where he intends to drain Buffy's powers and life force. Buffy is aided in her battle by Spike and the demon Eldre Koh, who reveals that Severin is "the Siphon", the coming of which demons had long feared. Severin survives several stab wounds, but is incapacitated when SFPD officer Robert Dowling shoots him three times. In hospital, he is visited by evil Slayer Simone Doffler, who he is revealed to have been working alongside.