Spike was going to be pissed.
Dawn leaned forward for a second to catch her breath and plan her next move. She had temporarily lost the vampire that had been following her, but she knew hiding wasn't going to keep her safe. It seemed to her at first that she had just been a convenient target, but the way he was following her made her finally realize that she was actually being tracked.
Her plans for that evening had been to get "lost" somewhere near the movie theatre, where Spike would conveniently "find" her with Buffy's help, and then they could all watch a silly movie together. Like a pre-Halloween treat to get Buffy to feel better. Giles' gift of money was the first time Dawn had seen any sort of glow in Buffy's eyes since she had come back, and Spike seemed to share her eagerness to get her sister back to normal.
But now she really was lost, and probably nowhere near the meeting place where Spike would be expecting her, and… what was with this vamp?
.
.
Ooooh-wee! This little lady was giving Lyle Gorch a run for his money. Word made its way to him through the underground that the Slayer had one last valuable connection to this world – namely, a sister - and he figured what better way to get revenge for losing Tector and Candy than to make her one of the Gorch clan.
But his plan was being tested, because she was proving to be more of a challenge than he had anticipated. Sure, he liked when he had to break them like fillies – he had always been so good at that back at the ranch—but this one had him panting like a lizard on a hot rock now.
He sniffed the air for a moment, trying to catch her scent. She couldn't have gotten too far ahead of him. Not with those shoes she had on.
.
.
"Dawn!"
Did she take my shoes again?
Buffy stormed out of her room towards her sister's, barely burying a groan. What was so difficult about asking permission for things? Also, seriously, they weren't even the same size, so why was she always taking her stuff? Ugh. "Dawn, how many times do I…"
Dawn's room was empty.
Sounds were coming from the television downstairs, so Buffy bounded down the steps, ready to swoop in and…
Willow and Tara were snuggled up on the couch watching something couple-y. No little sister in sight. They glanced up at the sudden noise.
"You haven't seen…." Anything, have you? Buffy's shoulders slumped a bit.
"Dawn?" Willow asked. "Isn't she in her room?"
"We invited her to watch a movie with us, but she said she needed to finish some homework," Tara added.
A tired sigh escaped Buffy's mouth. "You didn't hear her leave?"
Tara shook her head gently.
Within a second, though, Willow perked up. "Oh! I know! I could do this really cool locator spell that hones in on her ex-key-ness by tapping into the nearest mystical vortex…"
Tara's body stiffened next to the excited witch, and Buffy shared the reaction in her own way. "I don't think…"
But Willow interrupted her, anticipating her worry. "It's no biggie. It's like a pencil-tip vortex, just enough to…"
"No, no, we're good. I'm feeling like patrolling anyway. Spike and I will find her." And ground her.
Willow tried to hide a look of defeat, but Tara relaxed slightly.
"She probably just snuck out to be with her friends. That's what I'd maybe do, I mean, if I had, you know, at that age…" Tara glanced between the two of them, hopefully.
.
.
"Lookie here, us bein' such good friends already," Lyle said as he cornered Dawn near a fancy crypt. He had finally caught up to her, and it looked like all the running had tired her out to the point of submission.
But Dawn, for her part, was trying hard to buy herself some time. She knew it was around when Spike had agreed to meet her, so she was trusting that he was out there somewhere looking for her right now. If she could keep herself from being an evening snack for this Wild West reject for a little while longer, maybe Spike would be able to track her, or Buffy would come barreling through the gate to save the day. Err, night.
"I… don't even know you, guy," Dawn replied, hoping he didn't notice she was feeling the space behind her.
The vampire stopped moving at that answer, and a look came over him that seemed almost genuine. "Why…my granny taught me better manners!" He tilted his hat in gesture. "Lyle Gorch, little lady. Yer sister 'n I's got some history. Family history, you could say."
There was a handle somewhere behind the ivy that Dawn's fingers were tangled in. She could feel it, started wiggling it a little as silently as possible to see if she could get it unlatched. "Oh, umm...like, genealogy?"
Lyle got a little closer, brushing some invisible dust off of his jacket. "Naw, none of that hocus-pocus genie magic stuff. We's got siblin' issues… An' since it was her fault that my brother ain't here, I thought I oughta return the favor. Believin' in fairness an' all…"
Dawn bit her lip. "Well, I'm pretty sure she's probably really sorry about that. Cuz, umm… sometimes… I mean, it's not like she wanted to be the Slayer…"
Her fingers managed then to get the handle loose. Alongside, she also felt a piece of the stone from the crypt had cracked and weathered away into a chunky bit that just held tight in place only because it hadn't been knocked off yet. Without looking, she guessed it was at least as big as the palm of her hand. Big enough to blind him. Maybe to stun him if she could do it hard enough? She had to think fast, though, because he was inching closer and closer to her, leaving little room for escape now.
Lyle caught a quick whiff of the fear coming from Dawn, and it made his stomach rumble. "So, what say you an' me…"
His words were cut off when he briefly leaned against the door, not realizing that it was no longer latched tight. Instead, he spilled through the opening, stumbling down a short stone stairwell before landing in a rustled thud on the crypt floor.
As he reached for his fallen hat and to orient himself, Dawn managed to sieze the opportunity to yank the door shut. The rusty iron of the rarely-used latch clanged inside its frame, buying her a bit more time to find a way to wedge that chunk of stone between the ornate door handle and the door jamb. He might eventually get out, but this would make it a lot more difficult since the handle needed to rotate down that way to open. If anything, it would hopefully give her enough of a chance to run in the direction of where she was supposed to be so that Spike and Buffy would find her.
.
.
"Spike? Hey, I need…"
Four sets of eyes looked up at Buffy with varying levels of irritation.
"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?" Spike replied to her, not turning. He had just been about to make a move, having decided to go out to the Alibi Room to play a game of poker until it was time to put his and Dawn's plan in action.
One of the demon players hissed. "Ssspike, if thisss isss another ssset-up of yoursss…"
"Yeah, bringing the Slayer," complained another, having been a participant of the last game where Buffy set free their winnings.
Buffy ignored them. "Come on, you can finish this later. Dawn is missing."
Spike's eyes glittered for a moment, and although she couldn't see that, his tablemates could.
"Sure, Spike. Take your date somewhere else so the rest of us can finish this game without your cheating."
Another laughed. "You owe me enough calicos as it is. Cut your losses and save face for your lady."
Buffy scoffed. "What? I'm not…"
Spike glanced around at all of his tablemates, grumbling. They made no moves, simply stared at him like a jury would the guilty.
He stood up then and tossed his cards on the table. He had been bluffing anyway.
The demons at the table all snickered, letting Spike know that they knew he was whipped. At the moment he let it slide, partially because it was true and partially because his plan was now in motion even if it hadn't started out the way he and Dawn had intended.
.
.
Ok, so this really hadn't turned out how she had planned…
Dawn sat for a minute in the moist dirt where she very unceremoniously landed. Aren't they supposed to put, like, caution tape or something up around these things?
She inspected the snapped heel on her stolen shoe and grimaced. If Spike didn't bite her head off for not following their plan, Buffy certainly would for this!
So far Lyle Gorch had not escaped from the crypt (at least, she hadn't heard the kind of noise that would tip her off that he had), but it was surely only a matter of time before he did, and being trapped in an open grave with no way out was probably not the best way to hide from him.
Spike, Buffy… hurry!
.
.
It had taken three frustrating, mentally exhausting hours to locate Dawn. Buffy had dragged Spike out of the Alibi Room purely to take advantage of his nose, but his exuberant enthusiasm for the hunt of a teenage girl-behaving far more like an excitable puppy on his first official outing than a century-old vampire-had done more to make Buffy wish she could stake herself to escape this misery. The only way she could shut his presence out was to imagine his painful death-or Dawn's well-deserved grounding for life. It was sheer dumb luck that they even discovered her sister.
Vampire and Slayer came to an abrupt halt, staring down at Dawn twirling her hair as she stood in the middle of a deep, empty-thank God-grave, in the cemetery across town.
"Hey! Buffy! Hi!"
Buffy didn't see the look Spike shot her sister, which was equal parts relief and she had, then it would have tipped her off that this was a setup, because in any other situation he'd have been way more upset and way more vocal about it.
Instead, her own anger poked through.
"So, first you lie to Willow and Tara, then you steal my shoes, then you sneak out of the house to play in cemeteries?"
Dawn started to interrupt, but Buffy continued. "…and… wait… is that the heel to my new shoe?!"
Spike lit up a cigarette, not sure what part of this he really wanted to be involved in now that it was too late to reclaim the movie night plan they originally had.
"Buffy…" Dawn tried again.
"Ugh. No. We're not having a conversation about this. When Giles hears, he's so going to ground you. Spike, help me get her out of there."
He growled, but it was mostly for show. Because it meant she was consenting in some sort of way to him touching her - needing him to - and that meant this night wasn't a complete loss.
Buffy took off her jacket and assessed the situation. The hole would require her to hang down as far as she could so that Dawn could climb up her. Or, if Spike put some effort into it, maybe he could pull back like a winch with Buffy as the rope to bring the girl out.
Either way, it required that Spike clutch her tightly, which she ought to have felt a lot worse about than she actually did.
And he definitely obliged. One arm wrapped around her waist securely while he steadied her with his other hand. Buffy's muscles tensed beneath his touch, and he could feel himself humming inside. What he wouldn't give to just run his hands along her smooth skin…
"Hey! Eww! Is that ash?" Buffy tried to look back at him, but Dawn was finally within reach.
Dawn coughed as she grabbed at Buffy's arms. "Seriously, Spike. That's gross."
Spike's cigarette was still clenched between his teeth. "Bloody hell," he murmured. "Could you just get on with it already? All your fidgeting is about to snap my back!"
The sisters held fast to each other while Spike did his best to haul them both up.
As he was doing so, Dawn's eyes widened. "Wait! No!"
Spike groaned, sending ash flying again. "For fuck's sake…"
Dawn broke away as soon as she made it out of the grave, causing Buffy's weight to shift enough that it forced the Slayer further into Spike's arms.
He squeezed her, and when she didn't negatively react he held the position for a quick moment longer until a familiar voice startled them both.
"Slayer, why's it every time I see you, you're makin' me feel like I oughta blush? First Angelus, now you're gettin' all cozy with Spike here… It ain't right. Ain't natural."
Upon his words, she shoved Spike away a bit. Just enough to break his hold on her but not really distance herself from him.
"Lyle Gorch," Spike laughed. "I haven't seen you since that time in Tucumcari…"
"You…you guys know each other?" Dawn asked. She moved to Buffy's side, just in case this became weirder than it already was.
The Texan's face lit up. "Yeah, well, it's a bit of a funny story, actually…"
Buffy waved her hands in the air, both to brush Spike's cigarette smoke away and to be dismissive. "Save it. I'm seriously not doing this tonight. And what do you even mean, making you blush? Since when can vamps do that?"
Was this girl dense? "Ain't you s'posed to be fightin' vampires, not actin' all betrothed with 'em?"
"Well, Spike is kinda hot," Dawn offered.
They all turned to look at her.
"Like, he's got that cool coat…"
Lyle eyed Spike's wardrobe, comparing.
"…And he's really strong, and his eyes are…"
"Dawn…"
"Seriously, you can't tell me you never noticed this. I mean, you're the one who told me that when you're around him…"
Buffy covered her ears then in desperation. "Oh my God, stop! Why am I not staking all of you?"
Spike puffed out his chest, feeling pretty pleased with himself while Lyle just stood there frustrated.
"Wait. Spike, over there. It's that van again."
Lyle snapped. "What about me? I came here for a fight and I'm fixin' to get me one!" He positioned himself to show his readiness.
"Look, I really don't have time for this, ok? Just…" Buffy's eyes narrowed as she tried to make out any figures in that area.
Spike flicked his spent cigarette to the ground. "I could go for some fists and fangs right about now," he replied, rubbing his hands together.
That wasn't quite the answer Lyle was expecting. His mouth twisted into bit of a frown as he considered the offer and realized he probably wasn't much of a match for the other vampire.
"Spike, stop. You guys can do this later. Right now, we need to find out who these jerks are already."
Buffy grabbed his hand and started for the truck, tugging him along.
Dawn shrugged at Lyle as she began to follow. "Umm…guess this is your lucky day!"
He stood there gaping for a second that this was actually happening to him. What to do now? Defeat slowly washed over him as he watched them head away. "Lucky? Why, I couldn't get a kick in a stampede! Dammit, Slayer!"