Safe in the car, Tara looked at Kennedy's broken arm and rested her hand gently on it to heal what she could.
"Are you both okay?" the girl asked, looking in the mirror at them her blue eyes locking with Tara's eyes.
Tara nodded and looked at the girl confused. "Yes, but who are you?"
"I'm Dawn Summers," she said, her brown hair flying behind her as she pulled the car into a school parking lot. "We have to hurry and get inside. They'll come after us if she asks them to."
Tara nodded and helped Kennedy out of the car. With Dawn's help, they got Kennedy inside the school and to the library safely. "Any idea what the Master wanted from you?" Dawn asked, looking at Tara.
A man walked out of an office and looked at the three woman before him, his dark brown hair graying and his blue eyes hidden behind a pair of thin framed glasses. "I quite doubt she would know, Dawn. It seems the new master takes things on a whim." After speaking, the British man knelt down to examine Kennedy's arm, frowning a bit. "It's broken in multiple places, the wrist, the hand, and a few knuckles seemed to be crushed."
Kennedy jerked her hand from his, wincing from the pain. "You think? The bitch broke my hand because I wouldn't apologize for not letting her take a bite out of my girlfriend."
Dawn's eyes widened a little at the word girlfriend, but she turned her head so the two girls wouldn't see.
"Well, it's apparent the Master has developed some sort of interest in her, but the exact interest is unknown at the moment," the man said in a British accent, causing the two girls to look at him confused.
"From what I saw it looked like she claimed the girl as her new pet," Dawn said, looking at the man. "She didn't seem to want to kill her, just to punish her."
The man nodded. "Then you may be right," he said, looking at Dawn.
"And you are?" Kennedy asked, still angry at him for the pain he had caused by messing with her broken arm.
"Oh, my apologies," he said, cleaning his glasses. "I'm Rubert Giles. You may call me Giles."
Tara nodded and touched Kennedy's shoulder before standing. "I'm Tara Maclay. This is Kennedy. Why would the Master want me? She only saw me once."
"That's all it takes for her," another voice said, causing Tara and Kennedy to jerk towards the voice. A small blond stood there, watching the two girls. "If she sees something she wants, she takes it."
Tara frowned watching the blond in the shadows of the room. "Who are you?"
"Buffy Summers. I'm the Slayer."
Silence fell over the room while everyone waited for the words to register. Kennedy's the one that broke the silence. "So that's great. I was out there doing your job. Great. Thanks so much for the present," she said, glaring at the girl while motioning to her broken arm.
Tara turned to Kennedy in disbelief. "They saved our lives, Kennedy."
"Yeah, after you nearly got us killed. You just had to go out for a walk and draw the master's attention to you. What the hell is wrong with you, Tara?"
Tara stood up. "Will you back off? I know I screwed up by going out, but how was I suppose to know that the master here is a cute redhead with beautiful green eyes and a bad temper."
Kennedy glared at her. "Apparently she's not the only one intrigued," Kennedy said, not happy about Tara's description of the girl.
"Don't start, Kennedy."
Before the two girls could argue further, Buffy interrupted. "If you two lovebirds are done, we have business to handle?" she said, earning a glare from both girls.
"You're quite right. Now how are we to go about killing the master? She's extremely powerful to have killed her own master and taken his place."
"A stake through the heart should do the trick," Buffy said, walking over to the counter.
"Oh, yeah that's a great idea. Here's a question for you. How do you plan on getting close enough to put one through her heart?" Kennedy asked.
"That's easy," Buffy said, looking over at Tara. "Bait."
"Hold on one second. You are not using her as bait."
Buffy looked at Kennedy. "She wants your girlfriend. If she's distracted enough with trying to get her, then I just might get close enough to stake her or catch her off guard."
Tara nodded. "I understand," she said, resting a hand over Kennedy's good hand to keep her from arguing anymore.
Giles looked at the girl, in surprise. "You do understand that if Buffy were to fail here, then you would more than likely be turned or taken as a play toy for the master?"
Tara let that process for a second and nodded. "I understand."
Giles nodded and looked at Buffy. "The floor is yours then," he muttered walking behind the counter.
Buffy nodded and looked at Tara. "I need you to do whatever you can to draw attention to yourself. Do a spell, start a fire. Whatever. Just get as much attention as possible. When a vampire shows up, tell them you want to request a meeting with the master on your terms."
"And what happens when the vampire just grab her and take her to its master instead? Then what?" Kennedy asked, watching Buffy.
"Then we fight and protect her. Hopefully she's powerful enough to protect herself against a regular vampire. If it's the master then we'll have to be very careful. Do you think you can handle this?" she asked Tara.
Tara nodded. "I can. I know I can."
"Alright then. "Let's go kill ourselves a vampire."