&&&&&&&&&&&
Giles' House
8:30 pm
Willow still held the phone handset. She looked at it, as if she
wasn't sure what to do with it. Oz took it from her gently, and
placed it back.
"Just because they're not answering at Xander's, doesn't mean
something has happened to them. They're probably at the Bronze,"
Giles offered helpfully.
"We'll go find them," Oz said, and he and Willow gathered a few of the
smaller weapons, just to be safe.
Buffy said, "I'll come--" but at Willow's glare, she finished
with "....or not."
After Oz and Willow had left, Buffy looked to Giles, and
whined, "What's with her? Aren't I allowed to forget things?"
"Not when those things could cause the death of someone you say is
your friend," Giles answered disapprovingly.
"Geez, I didn't do it on purpose," Buffy huffed, "I just--"
"got careless, Buffy. And careless is NOT something a Slayer is
allowed to be," Giles said.
"Okay, okay, lecture understood. Bad Slayer, I get it. I'm going to go
patrol," Buffy said, closing the book she had been trying to study and
standing up. "Hopefully my being out there will keep Angelus and Spike
away from the others. I'll check in after a little while and find out
if the gang got back here safely."
"I think that would be a good idea, your going out patrolling that
is," Giles answered with a nod, not looking up from his book. As
Buffy opened the door, he looked up and said, "Buffy?"
"Yeah, Giles?" she looked back at him with a not-another-lecture
look. "Be careful," he said.
She smiled, and said, "I always am."
&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale, near the Bronze
8:30 pm
Xander and Anya were walking to the Bronze, enjoying the unusually
quiet demon-free spring evening. "Do you think it's because of Adam?"
Anya asked. "The lack of demon activity, I mean."
"I don't know, but I'm not going to complain," Xander replied with a
grin, taking Anya's hand. "I like being able to walk down the street
with my girlfriend, without having to do demon killing and vampire
dusting along the way. Although I am prepared for them. I've got some
holy water, a stake, and well, if those things fail.... I can yell
really loud," he said with a grin.
Anya giggled in reply, and said, "Don't worry, honey, I've got your
back. I can protect you from the big bad demons."
"Okay, while I don't doubt that, I'd prefer if you didn't spread that
information around. It would seriously hinder my reputation as a manly
man." When Anya giggled again, he added, "And giggling at that remark
doesn't help my self-image either."
"Oh, Xander, you're a very manly man," Anya reassured him. "And if you
need any reassuring on that point, we could go back to your place,"
she added with a smile.
"Uh...suddenly I can't remember why we were going to the Bronze,"
Xander said with a grin.
"But lucky for me, you are so predictable," Angelus said, walking up
to them with a smile.
"Dead boy! What are you doing back?" Xander replied in surprise. "I
thought you were in L.A., doing a slaying thing of your own."
"I really wish you wouldn't call me that," Angelus said with a roll of
the eyes. "You think you're funny, but you're so not. As for what I'm
doing here, well, I have some unfinished business to take care of here
in bad old Sunnydale."
"Such as?" Xander asked.
Angelus snapped his fingers, and twenty vampires appeared, surrounding
Xander and Anya. "Such as maiming, torturing and killing you, to begin
with. Basically all part of my plan for making the Slayer pay for
sending me to hell."
As Angelus approached, Xander said, "Uh, I guess it's probably
stating the obvious but something tells me you misplaced your
soul again?" He looked around, to see if there was a place to run, but
there were vampires on all sides. He pulled Anya behind him, and put
his other hand in his jeans pocket, closing it around the vial of holy
water.
"I guess you could say that," Angelus answered with a smile. He nodded
to one of the vampires, who charged at Xander and Anya from
Xander's left. Xander threw the holy water, and the vampire screamed
and stumbled away.
"What else ya got?" Angelus asked, still grinning.
"Oh, don't worry," Xander said. "I'm saving the best for you. Unlike
Buffy or Willow, I have no qualms at all about removing you from this
world. I still haven't forgotten what you did to Miss Calendar, and I
will enjoy ending your unlife."
"I'm scared," Angelus replied boredly. He nodded to another vampire.
This one, on Xander's right, ran at Xander, who staked him before he
got close enough to do any harm.
"Okay, so we've established that you do well with one-on-one attacks,
but we need to wrap this up," Angelus said. "You can hurt them all you
want. But leave them alive," he said to the vampires.
The remaining vampires approached Anya and Xander then. Xander dusted
two more, but the next one grabbed his wrist and snapped it. He yelled
in pain and dropped the stake. Anya inflicted some scratches on
several vamps, but was overpowered quickly. Angelus led the group
back to his mansion, the remaining vampires dragging the yelling Anya
and Xander behind.
&&&&&&&&
The Bronze
9 pm
Willow and Oz arrived at the Bronze, and Willow scanned the building
quickly. "They're not here," she wailed. "Oz, what if--"
"No," Oz interrupted her, putting his hand on her arm to comfort her.
"Happy thoughts, Willow. Xander and Anya are fine. And we are going to
find them, okay?"
"Okay," Willow said taking a deep breath. "Thanks for coming out here
with me," she added with a smile.
"Where else would I be?" Oz replied. "I haven't always been Xander's
biggest fan, but that's because I was jealous. And I'm over that now,
I think. I'm glad you have such a good friend."
"Thank you for saying that," Willow said, and hugged him impulsively.
He sighed with relief, glad that she'd finally let him in, a little
bit at least, and put his arms around her.
She pulled away finally, saying, "You never did need to be jealous
though. You do know that, don't you?"
"I think so. Come on, let's call Giles and see if we somehow managed
to miss them on their way to his place," Oz suggested.
"Okay, that sounds like a plan," Willow said, taking his hand as they
went in search of a pay phone.
&&&&&&&
Spike's Mansion
Angelus and the other vampires reached the house finally. Angelus
ordered the vampires to put Anya and Xander in the other room Cordelia
and Wesley. They shoved them roughly inside, and locked the door from
the outside. "Let us outta here!" Xander yelled, banging on the door
with his un-injured hand. "That vampire broke my wrist!" he said to
Anya.
"Well, I guess you aren't the rescue party," Wesley said
sarcastically. "Wait, you aren't are you? Because if you are I think
I might start crying--"
"Can it, Wes," Xander said. "I'd say it's good to see you and it
is...but I guess I would've preferred not seeing you here, if you get
my drift."
"Perfectly," Wesley replied, "and believe me we feel likewise."
"Cordy," Xander said.
"Xander."
"Gee, I can so feel the love here," Anya interjected then with a roll
of her eyes.
"Anya," Cordelia said, "I must say, I would've thought you would have
done better for your choice of boyfriend."
"Hey!" Xander yelled. "I happen to be a perfectly good boyfriend--"
"Sorry, the matching scars on my stomach and my back would disagree
with you," Cordelia returned calmly.
"It's not _my_ fault that you fell through those stairs!" Xander
yelled back.
Anya put a hand on his arm, to stop his outburst. "Xander, Cordelia,
why don't we play 'blame game' later, please? We have more important
things to think about right now. Such as getting away from the
psychotic vampire who wants to.....what did he say....oh yeah, maim
torture and kill. Those were his words."
"Anya's right," Wesley agreed. "The first thing you two could do is
untie us. Then, maybe, we could determine a way out of here."
"Now, see, this is what I get for leaving it up to others," Angelus
said, entering the room. "If you want something done right, it's just
better to do it yourself. Or at least pay close attention and make
sure that others get it right.
"Tie them up, just like these two," he said to five vampires who had
followed him into the room. After a short struggle, Xander and Anya
were tied, hands and feet.
"You won't get away with this," Xander threatened. "I'm sure that when
Buffy finds out--"
"Buffy has known since this morning," Angelus interrupted. At
Xander's shocked look, he gave a cruel laugh. "Oh, she
didn't tell you. Well, I guess you know where you stand with her, now.
Don't you?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&
One of many cemeteries
9 pm
"Here, demons, demons, demons," Buffy called. "Where are all of you?"
she yelled out into the silent night. "After the day I've had I need
some slayage fun. First my ex-boyfriend comes back as his evil twin,
and then Willow gets all wiggy on me because I forget to fill Xander
in on the news. And then Giles gets on my case, and I hate it when he
does that. He gives me a guilt trip like nobody else can. Meanwhile,
I'm sure that Anya and Xander are safe and sound somewhere, doing
what they do best, which is something best done in private."
As she rounded a corner, she saw Spike feeding. "Oh, this is just too
perfect!" Buffy said, and let out a sigh of irritation as he dropped
his dinner, this time a young man. "How many times do I have to tell,
you Spike. Stop...punch killing kick my backhand classmates!
punch"
Spike got up from the ground, where he had been knocked down, and
said, "You're more violent than normal, Slutty. What's got you in a
snit tonight?"
"Gee, Spike, I dunno," Buffy replied, pulling out her stake. "It might
have something to do with the fact that you made Angel go soulless
again. You are _so_ going to pay for that one, and I'm not going to
make it a quick, painless death, like I normally would."
"Promises, promises," Spike said with a grin. "Like I said before, if
I was ever in any real danger from you, I wouldn't still be here,
would I?"
"I was too soft on you, Spike," Buffy replied. "I felt sorry for you,
you were so pathetic. And then when you left, I figured you weren't my
problem anymore. But then, when you came back, I really should've put
more effort into ending your patheticness.... is that a word? Well,
any way, point is, I'm done being Miss Nice Slayer. You do realize
that removing Angel's soul was a major death wish, don't you?"
"Stop talking and slay, already," Spike taunted.
"Okay," she replied happily and ran at him. He leapt back and tripped
her on her way by. She jumped back up quickly, and punched him in the
face. He punched her back, and the force of it threw her ten feet. As
she was getting up, contemplating making that cocky face of his a lot
less cocky, she heard footsteps and whirled around.
"Oh, hey, Riley," she said, greeting her boyfriend. "You're just in
time to help me dust Spike!" she said, kissing him quickly.
"Sorry, Buffy, can't do that," Riley said, with an apologetic look.
"Wha-?" Buffy's bewildered expression caused Spike to chuckle.
Riley smiled, and said, "It's bad manners to dust your Sire," and
changed to game-face.
Buffy promptly shrieked in surprise, and then fainted.
End of 8
Giles' House
8:30 pm
Willow still held the phone handset. She looked at it, as if she
wasn't sure what to do with it. Oz took it from her gently, and
placed it back.
"Just because they're not answering at Xander's, doesn't mean
something has happened to them. They're probably at the Bronze,"
Giles offered helpfully.
"We'll go find them," Oz said, and he and Willow gathered a few of the
smaller weapons, just to be safe.
Buffy said, "I'll come--" but at Willow's glare, she finished
with "....or not."
After Oz and Willow had left, Buffy looked to Giles, and
whined, "What's with her? Aren't I allowed to forget things?"
"Not when those things could cause the death of someone you say is
your friend," Giles answered disapprovingly.
"Geez, I didn't do it on purpose," Buffy huffed, "I just--"
"got careless, Buffy. And careless is NOT something a Slayer is
allowed to be," Giles said.
"Okay, okay, lecture understood. Bad Slayer, I get it. I'm going to go
patrol," Buffy said, closing the book she had been trying to study and
standing up. "Hopefully my being out there will keep Angelus and Spike
away from the others. I'll check in after a little while and find out
if the gang got back here safely."
"I think that would be a good idea, your going out patrolling that
is," Giles answered with a nod, not looking up from his book. As
Buffy opened the door, he looked up and said, "Buffy?"
"Yeah, Giles?" she looked back at him with a not-another-lecture
look. "Be careful," he said.
She smiled, and said, "I always am."
&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale, near the Bronze
8:30 pm
Xander and Anya were walking to the Bronze, enjoying the unusually
quiet demon-free spring evening. "Do you think it's because of Adam?"
Anya asked. "The lack of demon activity, I mean."
"I don't know, but I'm not going to complain," Xander replied with a
grin, taking Anya's hand. "I like being able to walk down the street
with my girlfriend, without having to do demon killing and vampire
dusting along the way. Although I am prepared for them. I've got some
holy water, a stake, and well, if those things fail.... I can yell
really loud," he said with a grin.
Anya giggled in reply, and said, "Don't worry, honey, I've got your
back. I can protect you from the big bad demons."
"Okay, while I don't doubt that, I'd prefer if you didn't spread that
information around. It would seriously hinder my reputation as a manly
man." When Anya giggled again, he added, "And giggling at that remark
doesn't help my self-image either."
"Oh, Xander, you're a very manly man," Anya reassured him. "And if you
need any reassuring on that point, we could go back to your place,"
she added with a smile.
"Uh...suddenly I can't remember why we were going to the Bronze,"
Xander said with a grin.
"But lucky for me, you are so predictable," Angelus said, walking up
to them with a smile.
"Dead boy! What are you doing back?" Xander replied in surprise. "I
thought you were in L.A., doing a slaying thing of your own."
"I really wish you wouldn't call me that," Angelus said with a roll of
the eyes. "You think you're funny, but you're so not. As for what I'm
doing here, well, I have some unfinished business to take care of here
in bad old Sunnydale."
"Such as?" Xander asked.
Angelus snapped his fingers, and twenty vampires appeared, surrounding
Xander and Anya. "Such as maiming, torturing and killing you, to begin
with. Basically all part of my plan for making the Slayer pay for
sending me to hell."
As Angelus approached, Xander said, "Uh, I guess it's probably
stating the obvious but something tells me you misplaced your
soul again?" He looked around, to see if there was a place to run, but
there were vampires on all sides. He pulled Anya behind him, and put
his other hand in his jeans pocket, closing it around the vial of holy
water.
"I guess you could say that," Angelus answered with a smile. He nodded
to one of the vampires, who charged at Xander and Anya from
Xander's left. Xander threw the holy water, and the vampire screamed
and stumbled away.
"What else ya got?" Angelus asked, still grinning.
"Oh, don't worry," Xander said. "I'm saving the best for you. Unlike
Buffy or Willow, I have no qualms at all about removing you from this
world. I still haven't forgotten what you did to Miss Calendar, and I
will enjoy ending your unlife."
"I'm scared," Angelus replied boredly. He nodded to another vampire.
This one, on Xander's right, ran at Xander, who staked him before he
got close enough to do any harm.
"Okay, so we've established that you do well with one-on-one attacks,
but we need to wrap this up," Angelus said. "You can hurt them all you
want. But leave them alive," he said to the vampires.
The remaining vampires approached Anya and Xander then. Xander dusted
two more, but the next one grabbed his wrist and snapped it. He yelled
in pain and dropped the stake. Anya inflicted some scratches on
several vamps, but was overpowered quickly. Angelus led the group
back to his mansion, the remaining vampires dragging the yelling Anya
and Xander behind.
&&&&&&&&
The Bronze
9 pm
Willow and Oz arrived at the Bronze, and Willow scanned the building
quickly. "They're not here," she wailed. "Oz, what if--"
"No," Oz interrupted her, putting his hand on her arm to comfort her.
"Happy thoughts, Willow. Xander and Anya are fine. And we are going to
find them, okay?"
"Okay," Willow said taking a deep breath. "Thanks for coming out here
with me," she added with a smile.
"Where else would I be?" Oz replied. "I haven't always been Xander's
biggest fan, but that's because I was jealous. And I'm over that now,
I think. I'm glad you have such a good friend."
"Thank you for saying that," Willow said, and hugged him impulsively.
He sighed with relief, glad that she'd finally let him in, a little
bit at least, and put his arms around her.
She pulled away finally, saying, "You never did need to be jealous
though. You do know that, don't you?"
"I think so. Come on, let's call Giles and see if we somehow managed
to miss them on their way to his place," Oz suggested.
"Okay, that sounds like a plan," Willow said, taking his hand as they
went in search of a pay phone.
&&&&&&&
Spike's Mansion
Angelus and the other vampires reached the house finally. Angelus
ordered the vampires to put Anya and Xander in the other room Cordelia
and Wesley. They shoved them roughly inside, and locked the door from
the outside. "Let us outta here!" Xander yelled, banging on the door
with his un-injured hand. "That vampire broke my wrist!" he said to
Anya.
"Well, I guess you aren't the rescue party," Wesley said
sarcastically. "Wait, you aren't are you? Because if you are I think
I might start crying--"
"Can it, Wes," Xander said. "I'd say it's good to see you and it
is...but I guess I would've preferred not seeing you here, if you get
my drift."
"Perfectly," Wesley replied, "and believe me we feel likewise."
"Cordy," Xander said.
"Xander."
"Gee, I can so feel the love here," Anya interjected then with a roll
of her eyes.
"Anya," Cordelia said, "I must say, I would've thought you would have
done better for your choice of boyfriend."
"Hey!" Xander yelled. "I happen to be a perfectly good boyfriend--"
"Sorry, the matching scars on my stomach and my back would disagree
with you," Cordelia returned calmly.
"It's not _my_ fault that you fell through those stairs!" Xander
yelled back.
Anya put a hand on his arm, to stop his outburst. "Xander, Cordelia,
why don't we play 'blame game' later, please? We have more important
things to think about right now. Such as getting away from the
psychotic vampire who wants to.....what did he say....oh yeah, maim
torture and kill. Those were his words."
"Anya's right," Wesley agreed. "The first thing you two could do is
untie us. Then, maybe, we could determine a way out of here."
"Now, see, this is what I get for leaving it up to others," Angelus
said, entering the room. "If you want something done right, it's just
better to do it yourself. Or at least pay close attention and make
sure that others get it right.
"Tie them up, just like these two," he said to five vampires who had
followed him into the room. After a short struggle, Xander and Anya
were tied, hands and feet.
"You won't get away with this," Xander threatened. "I'm sure that when
Buffy finds out--"
"Buffy has known since this morning," Angelus interrupted. At
Xander's shocked look, he gave a cruel laugh. "Oh, she
didn't tell you. Well, I guess you know where you stand with her, now.
Don't you?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&
One of many cemeteries
9 pm
"Here, demons, demons, demons," Buffy called. "Where are all of you?"
she yelled out into the silent night. "After the day I've had I need
some slayage fun. First my ex-boyfriend comes back as his evil twin,
and then Willow gets all wiggy on me because I forget to fill Xander
in on the news. And then Giles gets on my case, and I hate it when he
does that. He gives me a guilt trip like nobody else can. Meanwhile,
I'm sure that Anya and Xander are safe and sound somewhere, doing
what they do best, which is something best done in private."
As she rounded a corner, she saw Spike feeding. "Oh, this is just too
perfect!" Buffy said, and let out a sigh of irritation as he dropped
his dinner, this time a young man. "How many times do I have to tell,
you Spike. Stop...punch killing kick my backhand classmates!
punch"
Spike got up from the ground, where he had been knocked down, and
said, "You're more violent than normal, Slutty. What's got you in a
snit tonight?"
"Gee, Spike, I dunno," Buffy replied, pulling out her stake. "It might
have something to do with the fact that you made Angel go soulless
again. You are _so_ going to pay for that one, and I'm not going to
make it a quick, painless death, like I normally would."
"Promises, promises," Spike said with a grin. "Like I said before, if
I was ever in any real danger from you, I wouldn't still be here,
would I?"
"I was too soft on you, Spike," Buffy replied. "I felt sorry for you,
you were so pathetic. And then when you left, I figured you weren't my
problem anymore. But then, when you came back, I really should've put
more effort into ending your patheticness.... is that a word? Well,
any way, point is, I'm done being Miss Nice Slayer. You do realize
that removing Angel's soul was a major death wish, don't you?"
"Stop talking and slay, already," Spike taunted.
"Okay," she replied happily and ran at him. He leapt back and tripped
her on her way by. She jumped back up quickly, and punched him in the
face. He punched her back, and the force of it threw her ten feet. As
she was getting up, contemplating making that cocky face of his a lot
less cocky, she heard footsteps and whirled around.
"Oh, hey, Riley," she said, greeting her boyfriend. "You're just in
time to help me dust Spike!" she said, kissing him quickly.
"Sorry, Buffy, can't do that," Riley said, with an apologetic look.
"Wha-?" Buffy's bewildered expression caused Spike to chuckle.
Riley smiled, and said, "It's bad manners to dust your Sire," and
changed to game-face.
Buffy promptly shrieked in surprise, and then fainted.
End of 8