Chapter 7
"Here, I want to show you something." Buffy held a book out to Tina. "This is Drusilla. I just want you to get a good look at her, so you'll recognize her if you see her."
Tina looked through the old book on vampire lore, which Buffy had dredged up from the boxes of Giles' books still unpacked in her spare room. There was also a photo of a particularly bloodthirsty looking Spike, bearing the caption, "William the Bloody." Angelus was there too, part of that legendary family of vampires, but who was this pretty blonde girl, with the ringlets and lace dress? Oh, this was Darla, Angelus' sire.
"I've met her." Tina said.
"Who? Drusilla?"
"No...this one called Darla." Tina showed the page to Buffy, " She was the vamp who came up to me in the train station the other night, pretending to be from a homeless shelter. She offered me meatloaf."
"Darla? Are you sure it was her?"
"Totally. It's not like she looks any different then she did then, except for her hair and clothes."
Drusilla and Darla both in New York! It couldn't be a coincidence. They had to be working together. This was so not good. Each of them was dangerous in her own right, but together they were a scourge. Strangely enough, Buffy felt a little better. When it was just Drusilla, Buffy had harbored a secret fear that William had gone off with her of his own free will. She had a mental picture of him tossing away the FAO Schwartz shopping bag and setting off with Drusilla into the moonlight. But with Darla in the picture, it was much more likely that he had been abducted. Small comfort though, since she still had no idea where he had been taken.
Over the past few hours, she and Tina had hunted in vain. They had gone back out and searched the area around the toy store again and had even gone into the park, but they had found no other evidence. They had phoned several cab companies, but Tina had been correct; they wouldn't give out that information to non-police types. If Buffy had been a licensed detective, it would have been a different story. But Buffy didn't really think that William had taken a cab. If Dru and Darla had spirited him off someplace, it was probably somewhere close enough to Fifth Ave. that they could get him there, perhaps unconscious, without causing undue attention. Well, that narrowed it down to about 50,000 places.
Dawn wanted to take Emily outside to their little neighborhood park to play. Buffy was apprehensive, but realized that it was probably safe enough in the broad daylight. It was good to get Emily out of her hair for a little while so she could think. What could have happened? How did Dru and Darla get William to go with them? She thought of Drusilla and that cattle prod, and shuddered. The telephone rang. Buffy leapt for it, hoping for some news.
"Hey, Buff."
"Oh, Hi Xander!"
"Willow said that you were missing the sound of our voices. So I just figured I'd call and give you a good dose of Xander speak."
"Oh, Xander it is so good to hear your voice."
"Buffy, what's wrong? You don't sound like the happy Buffster we've grown so accustomed to lately."
"Oh Xander. William is missing."
"Missing? Old Spike? Uh...how long has he been gone?"
"He was supposed to come ho…over last night and he never showed. I think he's been abducted."
"Whoa, Buff! Just because a vampire stays out all night, that's not exactly milk carton time!"
"Xander…you don't really know him. Not since he's changed. I swear...this is not typical behavior from him. I'm really worried."
"Well, he and I did have few laughs at Giles' funeral. Well, not laughs exactly…I mean, we got along pretty well. It took me a while, but I could see that he had changed. And…I know how you feel about him...if you're worried, well then there is probably something to worry about."
"Oh Xander...it's even worse than that. Drusilla and Darla are in town!"
"In New York? Okay Buffy...you now have my official permission to be worried as hell."
"Thanks. But what can I do? I really wish you guys were here. We'd comb this City until we found him."
"I know, Buff. Can you call that new Slayer kid to help you?"
"I did. She's here." Buffy lowered her voice, "But she doesn't understand about William. To her he's just another vampire…a sub-species. The other night we were in this restaurant and she was asking him all these questions. But it was as if he was a talking dog, and she was asking him why dogs chase cars and chew up sofas. She wasn't trying to get to know him as a person. Do you know what I mean?"
"Yeah...it seems to me we all pretty much felt that way about vampires."
"Oh, I know. I'm not blaming her; I'm just not getting a whole lot of emotional support here. Plus, let's face it, she's 15 years old. I wasn't exactly as deep as the ocean when I was that age. Thank goodness for Dawn. But I need her to watch Emily, so it's only Tina and I to find William."
"Well, maybe I could have Willow and Tara fax over a locator spell. I don't think it really works that way though."
"A locator spell. Boy, I really could use Willow right now...or any witch for that matter…. wait!"
"Buffy, are you still there?"
"Xander, you are a genius, even long distance. We have a witch. Winnie the Witless! Our secretary!"
"Uh, Buff…why doesn't the name Winnie the Witless give me feelings of confidence?"
"Oh, she's the world's worst witch. But maybe with adequate supervision, she could do a simple locator spell. Oh Xander, I've got to go. Thank you so much. Love to Anya, Alex and little what's 'er name."
"Okay, Buffy. And don't worry, you'll find him. One way or another. Let us know what happens, okay? We love you."
Buffy phoned Winnie at the office. Buffy had long suspected that Winnie had a major crush on William, and her suspicions were confirmed when she heard how distraught Winnie was over William's disappearance. She was pathetically eager to help, and said that she could indeed do a locator spell, and that she would be right over if Buffy could provide a large map of New York City.
Buffy sent Tina down to the gas station on the corner to get a map. It was probably stupid to pin her hopes on a witch who had once set William's office on fire, while trying to produce a light spell, the kind of thing that Willow could do without batting an eyelash. But Buffy was now officially out of better ideas.
Dawn came back with Emily. It was getting close to dinnertime, and Buffy ordered some pizza for all of them, though she herself couldn't eat any of it. Emily had asked about William, and Buffy told the child that he was working and would be home when he could. Emily understood working, though William didn't usually work in the daytime. Buffy hated lying to her, but she didn't really know what else to do at this point.
Winnie came to the door with William's signature black duster draped over her arm and a shopping bag full of ingredients for her spell. She indicated the coat. "I needed an item of his clothing for the spell."
"Come in Winnie." Winnie waddled in. Short and stout with hair of an improbable shad of purple, Winnie looked as though she had just graduated from Hogwarts Academy. Or flunked out, which was more likely. She was only 19 years old, but seemed much older, because, as she put it, she had previously lived many lifetimes and had a very old soul. She also claimed to be psychic, though Buffy had yet to see any evidence of this. Her bedraggled cat, Fluffy followed behind her. Emily took one look at Fluffy and picked her up and carried her off to her bedroom to play with. Poor Fluffy knew Emily, and was very patient with her. The cat also obviously had a very old soul.
Winnie handed her spell book to Buffy, who read the directions, while Winnie and Tina spread the map out on the living room carpet. Winnie carefully mixed the ingredients in her large copper bowl, which she placed upon the black duster that was on the floor next to the map.
"Wait!" Buffy said. "This involves fire! Dawn get the extinguisher!"
"Oh, ye of little faith, "pronounced Winnie solemnly.
Dawn produced the extinguisher, and Winnie intoned a little Latin, lit a match and tossed it into the bowl. The powder in the bowl briefly flared up, and a small spark rose up out of the bowl. It hovered over the bowl, and the women watched in fascination as it floated over the map. It hovered over Fifth Avenue and began to move. Finally it came to a stop, and went out. They looked at the map. Disappointment flooded their faces.
"It's the middle of the lake!" Exclaimed Dawn.
"How could he be in the middle of the lake?" Buffy moaned. It was hopeless.
"Okay...perhaps I was a little off…maybe he's just near the lake."
Buffy studied the map. There were plenty of places to hide out in Central Park. She and William had hunted vampires there. In fact they had routed a nest of vampires from an abandoned boathouse right near the lake.
"That's it!" Winnie exclaimed suddenly making Buffy jump. "It's the boat house!"
"How did you do that?" Buffy demanded.
"Do what?" Winnie asked.
Buffy got to her feet. "Tina, do you want to come check out the boathouse with me?"
Tina had been reaching for a slice of pizza, so she grabbed a handful of napkins and plopped her pizza slice down on them. She took her weapons bag and was ready to go. Buffy had to smile at Tina's enthusiasm.
"Winnie. Would you please stay here with Dawn and Emily? We'll call you if we have any luck."
Buffy and Tina took a subway to the park, Tina munching pizza along the way. Flashlights in hand, they ran to the boathouse. It looked dark and deserted, the windows boarded over. Tina tried the doorknob…it turned in her hand. Tina quickly pulled open the door and Buffy rushed in stake in hand, but came to a halt when she realized that the boathouse was empty. With the flashlights, Buffy and Tina scanned the small room, looking for clues. Rowboats leaned against the walls, but only a few rats were hiding there. An ordinary kitchen chair stood in a corner, Near one leg was what looked like a puddle. It was sticky and Buffy knew that it was dried blood.
"They've been here," Buffy announced, her voice filled with despair. But where were they now?