Chapter 4 "Midnight Strolls Through Alleyways"

Giles picked up the remaining fallen book off the tiled floor of the Library. The papers were Faith's job, throwing out the torn ones and placing the others into piles for Giles to sort out later. Darla had ripped apart the Library, obviously looking for something really important to her. Giles had gotten in the way of her vampire minions and decided to take him out of the picture, but not kill him. They sure did leave a lot of his blood on the floor for his friends to see; maybe that was her plan. To attack all friends of Buffy's until she gave into her taunting. One book struck Giles's attention, allowing himself to receive enough energy to lift his heavy body and walk over to his office. With a turn of a small, little key, a little treasure chest opened, revealing a dark, brown leather-bounded book. He limped his way out of his office and sat himself down at the gangs meeting table.

Buffy watched as he flipped through the pages of the old, dusty book. She wondered what he was looking at. Whatever Darla was planning on taking, it was probably evident in that book of his.

"Giles, mind telling us what's on your mind?" she asked, crossing her arms and sitting on the edge of the wooden desk, looking down at her old watcher. "If its about Darla, I want to know."

"Let me be clear that when I say what is about to be said, you don't over r-react." he warned, making Buffy nervous as hell.

"Hit me"

"It seems to me that Darla is trying to find this book in hopes of bringing back the Order of Aurelius. N-now I've kept this copy in a safe place and thank God that she never found it. She's looking to continue from where Drusilla and Spike left off." he explained, fixing his broken glasses. It seemed to him that he had gone through six pairs in the last three months. Not only was the money coming from his pocket, Giles's doctor told him after one more break, he wasn't giving him anymore glasses for the year. Faith swept the last piece of broken glass and threw it into the trash can.

"Lemme get this straight kids, miss use-to-be dust pile has come back from hell? How exactly did this git climb out?" she asked, sticking her hands into her pockets. Giles went to grab his glasses and clean them, but of course, they weren't there. An old habit he guessed.

"I'm not sure exactly on how she was capable of getting out. She must of had someone on this realm help her. The only way possible would be from communicating with a Wiccan orb. V-very hard to find, usually in the b-black market." he continued. "I see the puzzle falling before my eyes, Darla has planned this carefully before she was killed by Angel two years ago. Now, If you read this part here in the text, there is a lot on the Order of Aurelius.

"The Order of Aurelius is an ancient religious cult of vampires named for the 12th century prophet Aurelius. Aurelius foretold the rise of the Anointed One. Some of its most prominent members were The Master, Darla and Luke-" Buffy explained. "All who I dusted that year. I don't see why reawakening the Order would be profitable for Darla."

Faith didn't understand either, she is more of the fight and chill kind of girl. Nothing about these prophecy's scared her one bit.

"End of the world perhaps? An attempt to bring back the Master? There are many varieties of possible outcomes. I think we should gather everyone and research for the night. It is prudent that we understand exactly what Darla could be doing." Giles said.

"I doubt the Master could be awakened, I smashed his bones in front of those creeps. He's presto!" Buffy said, cheerfully. "I said I would meet Willow at the Bronze later tonight after visiting Angel, crap! She's going to be so mad at me."

"Chill, B, Xand was there with Willow, shooting up with conversations. If you leave now, you might be able to catch up with them. As for me, I'm out of here."

"Aren't you going to stay and help study?" Giles questioned.

"And listen to Cordelia snore while getting to the good stuff?, no thanks. I'm going to hit the graveyard on my way home." she said, walking out the door. Buffy walked over to the cage where they keep Oz and grabbed some weapons. Giles slowly walked over to Buffy and touched her shoulder.

"You know, whatever Angel is suffering, will probably be reversed after Darla is eliminated. I'll wait here for your guys arrival." he said. Buffy smiled and jogged out of the Library, leaving Giles behind. Meanwhile, Willow had been waiting at the Bronze for hours, by herself. Xander had left a couple of minutes ago to make sure his father didn't eat his dinner. So, lonely Willow sat at the table, waiting for Buffy to come and save her from this long, boring night. She enjoyed the first couple of hours, watching Oz play his instruments. After then, he left without saying good-bye. If he ever knew how sorry she was that she had done that to him, he would understand. Willow felt pain everyday inside of her, walking past him in the hallway during a school day. The Bronze started to clear out, leaving pour Willow alone at the table. Since the front entrance was being cleaned after someone had vomited all their dinner on the floor, she decided to take the back exit, leading straight to the Bronze alleyway. It wasn't the loveliest of all places to be, but it was better than stinky up-chucked dinners.

Broken crates and shattered beer bottles covered the pavement. Once in awhile, a subway train would pass by these rail-tracks. You would always have to watch yourself while walking down these roads, alone at night. What more of a better place was there for vampires to hang out? This was prime-time killing zone. Red alert if you asked her. Yea, she was thinking how stupid it was to take this route home, but healthy sanitation was key to a better sleep at night. She passed the tracks and walked down a set of stone steps, ignoring the dead rat on the second last. Willow walked down a long, narrow tunnel way beneath the train. Once in awhile, she could hear the train's roar above her head. Suddenly, the roof would shake, sprinkling dust over her.

Once in awhile, she would find dried blood spots on the stone ground; leftovers from a vamps dinner. After almost throwing up herself, she passed a garbage bin reeking of death. Great, more to smell! Mucky puddle casted faint reflections of the almost full moon. Just one more night and Oz will turn all hairy and scary. What a lovely combination to have in a boyfriend; hairy and scary! Will was often proud of her choice in boyfriends. After reaching another set of stone steps, she heard something from behind. As mush as it would do her good to turn around, she was too scared. Suddenly assuming it was a creature of the night, she cringed and closed her eyes.

"Please, don't bite me! Trust me when I say , I'm not tasty!" she lied. Well, she often thought that, of course, she was tasty, but she had to lie. "Hello?" she called, finally turning around. All there was to see were filled trash bins and floating pieces of paper in the air; that was exceptionally warm for the fall. Nothing struck Willow's fancy and so she turned around, shocked to see three faces in front of her. Three certain faces with a serious problem of vampire wrinkles. Willow let out a screech, while they reached out to grab her. She ducked, dodging the really big vampire's arms. Willow made a run to the nearest, steel door to exit into another sub-level of the tunnels. The vampires followed, chasing after Willow into the dark underground area. After practicing all this time, she thought that she might be able to float a piece of broken crate and pierce a vampire in the heart. It's worth a try, why not? Willow hid behind a giant generator, hoping that her hideout wasn't going to be compromised. Luckily enough, one of the vampires had fallen into her trap and she used most of her energy to lift a piece of wood. The vampire noticed where she was and charged at the little, innocent witch. She swung her right arm and the stake penetrated his heart. He fell down to his knees and met his demise, demolishing into a pile of dust.

The other two ran the other direction, looking for Willow as she hid behind the roaring machine. She waited a second and found the right time to leave her spot, making a run for the main intersection. As she sped past the overflowing waste bins, she bumped into a certain familiar vampire. She came tumbling to then ground, welcomed by Darla's, pretty human face.

"You!" she hissed. Darla smiled, looking up into the midnight sky; a dark sapphire blue. "How did you..."

"Miss Rosenberg, its time we promote you to sacrificial lamb!" Darla snarled, grabbing hold of Willow. All someone could hear, was the piercing scream of Willow, being pulled into the darkness. Just moments later, Faith and Buffy made it to the Bronze just at closing. The doors were shut and no one was in the building. Buffy examined the door and looked back at Faith.

"Glad you came along!" Buffy said.

"Huh, better than rubbing dirt of my walls."

Buffy looked in the window of the Bronze.

"Willow must be at home!" she shouted, frustrated. "Let's head to Xander's, maybe he knows where she is for sure." Buffy and Faith headed to his house, twenty minutes after the Bronze. Faith pounded on his door, awakening his, still, drunk father. All the two slayers could hear was the loud yelling of Xander's good old father and the smashing of bottles. Xander answered the door, half asleep.

"Good evening ladies, may I ask what the hell you are doing here at this time of night?" he challenged, rubbing his heavy eyes. "I was just dreaming about Sarah Michelle Gellar, you know, from Scream, naked! But you guys so rudely interrupted. Buffy and Faith were grossed out.

"Xand, do you always think about sex?" Buffy asked. "Good taste though." Faith agreed as well. "Giles needs your help immediately, something about research tonight. Also, do you know where Willow might be?"

"I don't know. I'm kind of just throwing this out there, but geee, maybe she's sleeping?" he sarcastically put. "Let me get some pants on." he said, while everyone looked down and noticed his poke-a-dot boxers. Once he was ready, they all headed off to the Library, hoping to see Willow there, safe and sound. Nothing. Giles had been researching anything on the Order of Aurelius once they returned. He greeted them with coffee and donuts, the usual snack for the scoobies. Buffy ran to the phone, ignoring Giles welcome and dialed Willow's phone. Her mother answered.

"Oh, hello Buddy, how are you?" her mother asked. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Its Buffy. Anyways, have you seen Willow lately?" she asked. Her mother gasped.

"Isn't she over at your place!?"

"Oh, that's right, she just came out of the bathroom, uh, sorry about that!" Buffy said, trying to think of something quickly.

"That's alright, good night Buddy!" she said, hanging up the phone. Buffy hung up as well and looked up at Giles and everyone else.

"I'm afraid to say that Darla could possibly have Willow!" she shouted, tearing. Giles was shocked.

"I was afraid of this! Darla's trying to awaken the Hell Mouth, by taking a sacrifice to the grounds."

I know, two chapters in one day! I'm going crazy here with many story-lines crammed in my head! Also, I thought that Willow being captured was a perfect twist! Tell me what you think! And, lol, I hope you loved the Sarah Michelle Gellar thing as much as I did lol

Also, people who reviewed, why thank you. And the clicking the Alert thingy, is really nice! Thanks for that (:

Angel1969 ~ Thanks! Yes, Darla! :)

Bangel'sthewaytogo ~ Of course! But who helped her out of hell is another story...

ba2006 ~ Thanks! (:

Now, I have a challenge for you guys! Lets see how many reviews you can leave (: lol. Naw, if you wish to leave a review, than its totally appreciated. Next chapter will be more Angel and Buffy! Also, evil Darla. duh duh duh!