I own nothing as it relates to BtVS.

This story occurs between episode 3 and 4 of the seventh season. ________________________________________________________

An ailing Buffy Summers lay quietly in her bed. The horrific beating she had taken from several vampires was not something she would get over in a day or two. Willow hovered anxiously in the background, fiddling with some medicinals. Last night, Buffy and Xander had driven over to the Doublemeat Palace to pick up some food for the gang in order to celebrate Willow's return to Sunnydale from England, and when she exited the establishment, she was suddenly set upon by a group of vampires whom she perceived to be members of the Ta'wa'uth clan, newly moved into town. Their leader's name was unpronounceable, so the Scoobys just referred to him as Bob. The well- coordinated attack of these vampires might well have meant the end of Buffy, if she hadn't jumped through the passenger window of Xander's car, with him taking off out of there as fast as his vehicle would allow.

Buffy lay there, pondering Bob and his clan. They were clearly on their way to becoming the most powerful evil force in the history of Sunnydale, and all that she could do for the next several days was to rest, and try and regain her strength. "Whatever will become of us", she moaned to herself. "And Dawn, poor dear sweet Dawnie, she's so fragile", she thought to herself. Meanwhile, Willow had finished concocting her potion. "I sure hope this stuff works", she thought, as she glanced worriedly in Buffy's direction. Swiftly she downed the mix, and instantly achieved the results she had hoped for. "Now I feel better about everything", Willow said to herself, brightly. "I wonder if we still have any pizza", she thought, as she headed to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Hoodoo, the brother of the Toth demon that Buffy had slain, after he had split Xander into two persons while attempting to kill Buffy, was busily plotting his revenge. "If I split Buffy's friends, and try to kill their weaker halves, Buffy will be so pre- occupied by trying to protect them that she will make a mistake, thereby becoming my easy prey", he thought to himself. He already had his first target planned out: Dawn. He had done some surveillance on those closest to Buffy and realized that she was the ideal target. Not only was she the sister of Buffy, but she had a fairly routine pattern of when she would leave home to go to school, and when she left school to go home, or sometimes elsewhere. He could time his attack perfectly.