When the killer had entered the room, Willow momentarily had been relieved about two facts – he hadn't had the knife with him, at least not somewhere where she'd been able to see it, and that now, she could try to use some magic on him and escape. Before she even had had the chance though to bring up her hand and do just that, he had smirked at her again, clearly aware of what she was planning; and then, his eyes had narrowed, and moments later, pain had rushed through her as she got thrown backwards and against the wall, once more seeing stars as the back of her head connected with it again.
Now, just a few minutes later, she found herself up against the wall, unable to move; it stunned and scared her how powerful the magic of this man was, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to get out of this and how they were supposed to fight him if he could make them all immobile so easily.
"Stop it", she pressed out, even finding it difficult to talk; to her endless dismay, the man just smiled, then moved up to her until he was close enough to her that she could feel his hot breath on her face. Giving her best to hide her fear from him, she held his gaze, still desperately trying to move and finding herself unable to do; whatever spell he was using on her, it kept her almost fully immobile, just allowing her to talk and to breathe, her heartbeat speeding up as she couldn't help but ask herself if he'd be capable of stopping her inner organs from working as well and thus kill her without leaving a trace.
As if he had read her thoughts, the killer's smile widened slightly; he looked down on her for a few more seconds, smiling his unsettling, creepy smile at her, then reached up and placed two fingers on her chest, right over her heart, smirking even more when he felt how fast it was beating.
"What are you doing?" the redhead tried again, ignoring the fact that so far, she hadn't heard the man speak a single word, "what do you want?"
Again, he didn't respond to her words in any way; instead, he pressed down harder on her chest, his eyes briefly darkening – before tremendous pain flashed through her, making her gasp as she suddenly found herself unable to breathe, knowing that she would have fallen if his spell hadn't kept her up against the wall.
"Stop it", she gasped, already knowing that he wouldn't, the smirk on his face showing that he was enjoying this a lot, "please…"
In response, he put even more pressure on her chest, the pain increasing even further; squeezing her eyes shut, Willow couldn't help herself, but just had to let out a breathless, pained cry, her reaction making the man's eyes light up – before he pulled his hand back and took a step back from her, the spell which had been keeping her immobile ending the moment her pain ended, the witch falling down to her knees a second later, gasping heavily.
Going down on one knee in front of her, the killer grabbed her jaw roughly and forced her head up, making her look at him; he gave her the chance to see the hate and darkness in his gaze again, and suddenly she knew why he was staring at her that way, could see the warning in his eyes that he would do this to her again, should she try to use her magic once more. Nodding, as if to confirm her realization, the killer gave her another smirk – before he suddenly lashed out and backhanded her across the face, hard enough to send her to the ground fully, his smirk widening at the cry she let out.
He looked at her for a few more moments, just long enough to make her wonder if he'd hit her again or use another one of those dreadful spells; then, he straightened up and left the room without bothering to look at her once more, the door slamming close behind him. Slowly, still feeling that awful pain in her chest, Willow sat up and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily; she could feel blood trickle down her chin from where her lip had been split by his hit, and her chest felt as if someone had somehow reached inside and had twisted her heart and lungs around just for the fun of it.
Leaning her head against the wall, she closed her eyes, flinching when she heard the key turn in the lock as the man locked her up once more; and suddenly, she found herself unable to hold back her tears as she fully realized how hopeless her situation was, a sob escaping her while she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, finally giving in to the fear and the panic she had felt ever since she had woken up here.
"I wonder if anyone else can see that", Pat commented as she walked at a brisk space with the Slayer right next to her, both of them focused on the glowing line that should lead them to the place where Willow was kept, "and, if they do, I hope they won't follow it."
"They won't bother to", Buffy reassured her, "don't forget, we are in Sunnydale, town with the people most experienced at selective perception. If someone sees it, they'll just ignore it."
"Good point", the demon had to admit, knowing that Buffy was right – after all, here she was, walking through town in bright daylight, following a glowing line, carrying a big, sharp axe in one hand while the woman next to her was armed with a smaller, but just as sharp sword, and no one was giving them as much as a second glance.
"I know", Buffy smirked, then focused on the line again, wondering how much longer they'd have to follow it until it would take them to the killer, "I've been living here long enough. Let's just hope that it really did work and that this fancy line here will take us where we want to go."
"Yeah", the demon sighed, briefly giving the axe to Buffy so she could light up a cigarette, then taking the weapon back, "and now I wish I knew more about this whole magic stuff, so I'd have an idea if it's possible to fake such a trail or something."
"We should ask Willow for some basic lessons as soon as we got her out", Buffy agreed, not even acknowledging the fact that they might come too late to get the witch out healthy and alive, "not that I hope it will be necessary, but it won't hurt…"
"Yeah", Pat nodded, taking a long drag from her cigarette before she went on. "Willow keeps scolding me anyway, about how I show so little interest in magic even though I'm, according to her, naturally inclined to it…"
"Well, your strengths lie more on the physical side", Buffy smirked, glad when the demon smiled as well – it was clear that she still was upset about the whole situation, but the fact that the spell had worked as it had been supposed to clearly had taken some of her dismay away, along with the fact that she now could take a more pro-active role again by following the magical trail and wasn't forced to just sit around and wait.
"Look", the Slayer now gained her attention, grabbing her arm, suddenly excited, "the trail ends over there, at that building… or does it go in there? I can't tell."
"Oh jeez, I hope it doesn't", Pat gave back, her good eye widening as she all at once realized a possibly fatal flaw in their plan, "or he'll be able to see it too and will know that we're coming…"
At hearing that, Buffy's eyes went wide as well; she stared at the demon in shock for a few moments, then suddenly sped up, not just walking fast anymore, but running, the taller woman doing the same after a second and quickly catching up to her again. Together, the two ran up to the quite unremarkably looking house the trail was leading them to; not bothering to even try to open the door the regular way, Buffy simply kicked it open the moment she had reached it, bringing up her sword as she stepped inside, the demon now close behind her, her axe readied for combat, as well.
To the dismay of both of them, they could still see the trail, the brightly glowing line leading through the small anteroom and then spreading all over the house, showing that the killer had been making good use of the rooms; for a moment, the two fighters were unsure of where to go, then Pat spoke up, keeping her voice low even though thanks to Buffy's way of opening the door, their presence had been made obvious to anyone who might be in the house, anyway. "Willow said that he's been keeping those girls in a small room, he also killed them there, but he didn't tie them up or gag them… I don't think such a room would be in the ground floor of the house."
"The cellar, then", Buffy showed that she had followed the demon's trail of thought, "let's split up and look for the stairs leading there…"
Nodding, Pat moved to the right while Buffy went the other way; they started opening doors, finding several to them useless rooms like the kitchen and the living room before the Slayer finally got the right one, calling out to the demon and prompting her to hurry to her side.
"We better be careful now", Buffy told her while they both peered down the dark stairway, "it seems he's not up here, but he might be down there…"
She didn't add that he might be down there and busy with torturing or even killing Willow, but both of them knew it was a possibility; thus, Pat just nodded, her grip on the axe tightening before she started to make her way down the stairs, once again glad about her abilities to see well in the dark which made it unnecessary to switch on the light and maybe alert the killer to their presence.
Behind her, Buffy squinted into the darkness, cursing the fact that she couldn't see as well as the demon; she knew that switching on the light wasn't an option though, not as long as they had no idea if the man was even down here.
"I hope he doesn't have a million rooms down here", Pat whispered in front of her while she reached the bottom of the stairs, finding herself looking at a wooden door in front of her and a hallway that curved to the right, the wall next to the stairway keeping her from seeing what might await them in said hallway.
"Stay behind me", she added, not seeing how Buffy nodded behind her; she took in a deep breath, then stepped around the corner, briefly relieved to see that the hallway in front of her was empty, making her wonder if the man was even at home.
Still with a tight grip on the axe, the demon took a moment to study the hallway, trying to figure out if her girlfriend was being held captive behind one of the several doors to her left and right; they all looked identical at the first look, unlike the one opposite of the stairway being made of solid steel instead of wood.
For a moment, she felt like just yelling her girlfriend's name and see if there'd be an answer, then realized that this wouldn't be exactly smart and forced the urge to shout back down; instead of yelling, she thus made her way to the door closest to her, just reaching for the handle when the key in the lock of another door at the far end of the hallway caught her eye. Immediately, she realized that this was the only door where the key was in the lock; with her heartbeat speeding up, she pointed the door out to Buffy, then quickly moved over to it, not even noticing how she held her breath as she turned the key and opened the door, at the same time excited and afraid about what she might find behind it.