TITLE: Pretty
AUTHOR: Love's Bitch, a.k.a. Kristin L. M.
DISCLAIMER: Credit where credit is due, Joss is God, Grrrr Argh, etc. I only *wish* Spike were mine.
DISTRIBUTION: If you like it that much, you are my new best friend! Just let me know where it's going.
RATING: Probably R, for graphic and disturbing depiction of torture.
SPOILERS: Takes place after Blood Ties.
FEEDBACK: Better than drugs! Will you help feed my addiction?
SUMMARY: A serial killer makes a stop in Sunnydale and nothing will ever be the same for the gang. **WARNING**: Character death.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to Richess, for giving me an idea to run with. Thanks to Dean Koontz for the inspirational *Whispers*. Thanks to Hilsy, Py, and Lady Mac for their constant vigilance in the beta department.
SATURDAY, 8:13 p.m.
'Willow will love this,' Tara thought as she exited the Chinese take-out place on her way home. She was late meeting the redhead, but the surprise dinner would surely make up for it. Satisfied with herself and excited to give her little gift to Willow, Tara didn't even notice the man standing directly in front of her, until she ran into him. "Oh, excuse me," she said, barely looking up.
She was torn from her quiet reverie when the man clamped his hand roughly on her arm, forcing her to drop her bag. "There you are, pretty." The blonde witch looked up, terrified, her eyes meeting two blank voids. "You thought you'd get away this time, didn't you?" A fist came out of nowhere, and Tara's world went black.
***
SATURDAY, 9:27 p.m.
Now Tara was over an hour late and Willow was getting worried. Not that the shy blonde was ever right on time, but this was pushing it, especially without a call. Willow had the news on, but she wasn't really watching. Each of the stories flashed before her, but Willow kept looking over her shoulder at the door, waiting for her love to come through it with some excuse for her delay.
Willow was facing the door when the next news story seized her attention.
"And now our top story. Tonight in Los Angeles, the body of 17-year-old Vicki Patton was found in room 217 of the Days Inn. You may recall that she was taken from outside her home in San Francisco only 12 days ago. The state of the body suggests that this is the third murder by the so-called Seattle Skinner. The three girls have all been about the same height and size, with straight blonde hair and light eyes. Ms. Patton was by far the youngest of the three, as the other two, Mara Russell and Katherine Tyler, were both in their early twenties. The police and FBI believe that he is headed south and may try to pick up his next victim within the next few days. All women between the ages of 17 and 24 with straight, blonde hair are implored to stay inside, or in groups, if you must go out. The reward for information leading to the capture of the man responsible for these deaths is at $50,000. Any information should be directed to the Seattle FBI."
The woman rattled off a number to call and mentioned an address for sympathies. At this point Willow was frantic. This psycho was headed straight for them and Tara was nowhere to be found. She picked up the phone and dialed Buffy's number.
"Hello?"
"Buffy, its me. Something's wrong; I can't find Tara."
"Will, calm down. Tell me what happened."
"Nothing happened!" Willow was yelling now, but she couldn't help it. She'd tried calling Tara's room, and she'd called the Magic Shop, but no one had seen her since about eight. "That's the problem, she's an hour and a half late and no one has seen her!"
"I'm sure she's just held up somewhere, Will; give her some time." Buffy thought that her friend was overreacting, but after what she said next, the Slayer began to wonder herself.
"Buffy, did you see the news tonight?"
"Yeah, so?"
"The serial killer, where is he heading?"
"South from L.A., so this way."
"What type of girl is he taking?"
"Blondes, our age, light…eyes…oh, Willow, I'm on my way."
***
SUNDAY, 12:20 a.m.
Tara felt the pain first. Her head was throbbing and she was fairly sure her nose was broken. Her head lolled to one side and she slowly opened her eyes, the glaring light sending another bout of shooting pain to her head. From what she could gather, she was tied to a chair with a light in her face. 'So much for thinking my way out of this,' she tried to look around, but saw nothing in the room besides her and the light. The blonde witch couldn't turn her head completely, no matter how much she struggled. Suddenly there was an emotionless, raspy, voice behind her, in her ear, and it made her skin crawl.
"Ah, you're awake. I've been waiting for you, pretty. You thought you'd gotten away. You won't this time. This time…" Tara cringed as she felt his sour breath against her neck. "This time, you'll stay dead."
***
SUNDAY, 12:34 a.m.
"Will, we've been walking around for hours; she's not here. All the shops are closed; we can't ask anyone if they've seen her. Lets go to the police." They had searched the streets of Sunnydale and found nothing, periodically calling both Willow and Tara's rooms in case she'd gone there.
"Oh, Goddess…what if she's…I mean what if he really took her?"
The look on Willow's face tore Buffy apart. She looked terrified. "It's okay; we'll find her. We'll go to the police and tell them what's going on and then we'll look for her ourselves. We'll find her. I promise." She hated to promise something she wasn't sure she could deliver, but she hated the look on her friend's face even more.
The two girls went straight to the police headquarters and filed a missing persons report. They tried to impress upon the cops that it was possible the Skinner had taken Tara, but they only smiled and said that Tara would probably turn up on her own.
On their way out of the police station, twenty minutes later, Buffy started to wonder if maybe the cops were right and they had overreacted. "You know, Wills, it's possible she's just off somewhere, needing to be alone. Why don't we take you home, you can get some rest. This will all look better in the morning."
"You're right, Buffy," Willow started, sarcasm evident in her voice. "It'll seem so much better in the morning that my girlfriend was taken by a psycho who skins his victims and takes their hearts."
The redhead walked swiftly away from Buffy in the direction of the park, and the Slayer debated on whether or not to follow her. Deciding that Willow just needed to blow off some steam, but not trusting Sunnydale in the middle of the night, Buffy let her walk away, then followed, keeping a good distance. Just in case.
***
SUNDAY, 1:15 a.m.
Three knocks came at Spike's crypt door, while he sat listening to loud punk music. 'No one knocks...' he thought, confused. The vampire walked over to the door, opening it on a very nervous looking Willow. He smirked.
"Red, how good of you to stop by. Buffy too busy to order me around, or is this a social call?" He wagged his eyebrows at her suggestively, but noting her extremely worried look, he changed his tone, becoming serious. "What is it, love? Is the Slayer okay?"
"Buffy's fine. It's Tara; I can't find her. Buffy and I, we searched everywhere, we talked to the cops and no one will do anything. I need your help." She looked at him pleadingly, but worried he would say no, she continued. "I knew you'd be awake, and with your heightened senses, you could maybe, I don't know, smell her out or something? You can do that, right?"
"Look, love, I'm sure she'll turn up-"
"I swear to God, Spike, if you say it will look better in the morning I will stake you." Her demeanor had changed drastically and he saw that her jaw was set and her eyes were glowing with anger. Spike took one look and changed his mind.
"Right then, let me get my coat."
They set out, the vampire and the witch, walking over the streets that Willow had already searched once that night. After about a half hour, they stopped in front of a Chinese take-out place, and Spike looked as though he was thinking very hard.
"What is it?"
"She was here, I think…her scent's faint, but it's here."
"Can you track it?"
Spike looked at her, a little irritated. "I'm not a bloody hound, Red."
Willow had enough sense to look ashamed, but continued. "I'm sorry, but I have to find her. I start to think maybe I overreacted, but then I think about what that awful man has done and I just…" her voice became weak, and she looked at Spike with eyes full of unshed tears. "I just have to find her."
Spike thought for a second about what he would do to get Buffy back in the same situation, and nodded. "I understand, pet. Let's get to sniffing." Taking a big whiff, he very slowly tracked Tara's scent to the Magic Shop.
"She must have stopped for the Chinese on her way home from the Magic Shop." Willow was thinking out loud, trying to play Sherlock Holmes.
Spike had an idea and hit himself in the forehead for not thinking of it before. "Uh, Willow."
"Shhh, Spike, I'm thinking."
"Evidently not hard enough, Red."
"What are you mumbling about?"
"Well let's do the math, shall we? Witch plus Magic Shop plus missing girlfriend equals…" He waited as she realized the one thing she hadn't tried.
"Locator spell. Duh, Willow." She smiled sheepishly at Spike. "Thanks. Hey, can you get us into the shop?"
Spike puffed up proudly. "Why, yes, I can."
***
SUNDAY, 2:30 a.m.
Buffy watched as Spike broke into the Magic Shop with Willow right behind him. She felt a little hurt that Willow had gone to him for help, but understood her reasons. He could sense people pretty well and could actually be of assistance every once in awhile. She kinda felt like she'd let Willow down, though, because she hadn't really believed Tara had been kidnapped. Deciding the redhead was safe with Spike, she left to get some sleep so she could start keeping her promise to Willow. She was now determined to find Tara.
***
SUNDAY, 3:00 a.m.
Tara was crying. She didn't know when she'd started crying, or which of the man's knives had brought the tears. She only knew that this man was hurting her because he believed she was someone that she wasn't. Any attempt to tell him this was met with more bruises and cuts, so the blonde witch had stopped trying to convince him. He had drugged her, making her movements and her thoughts sluggish, which also meant she couldn't concentrate long enough or hard enough for any kind of spell. She'd tried to do a few to throw him across the room and to paralyze him, but nothing seemed to work. 'Willow, where are you?'
She couldn't tell what time it was or where they were, mostly because she kept passing out, from pain or from the drugs. Every time she woke up she was in a different position, so he could reach different parts of her skin. Right now, she was on her stomach and he had ripped her shirt down the back. She also seemed to be in a different room every time she woke up. Tara didn't know if this meant a different room in the building they were in or a different building all together.
"What's wrong, pretty? Don't cry…I'm trying to help." The kind of helping he was referring to, Tara realized dimly, was putting alcohol on the already opened wounds. He evidently didn't want her dead. Yet. All thoughts ceased when he emptied the bottle of alcohol on a large gash across her back.
***
SUNDAY, 3:15 a.m.
Willow had chosen a new type of locator spell, one she hadn't tried before, hoping to steer clear of her past track record. With one that hadn't worked at all, when she was looking for Adam and another that had tried to attack her while looking for Oz last Halloween, she figured new was better.
"Situati Tara!" Spike watched as the witch performed the spell, turning a small square on the Magic Shop floor into a map of Sunnydale. There was a faint line of fog from where the shop was to where the take-out place was, then it lead off the map completely. "See! There! You were right, she'd been at the restaurant, but then the line goes out of town. I'm guessing not of her own volition."
Impressed with Willow's abilities, Spike was glad he'd been able to help. "Well, listen Red, as much fun as this has been, and I'm glad we have a start on your witch's position, but honestly, you aren't going to get anything done tonight. Get some rest, call your Slayer, and tomorrow we'll go find her."
Willow looked up at Spike, a little surprised. "We? You'd go with us? To help, I mean?"
"Well, yeah, you know, in the name of love and all that," he was uncomfortable under her gaze and felt a little silly for being so bashful all of a sudden. "If it's this monster you think it is…well, maybe I can help. And I can drive." Plus he'd get some time with Buffy.
"Okay, then. We'll leave from here at sundown tomorrow. Or rather, today." She smiled. "You've been great, Spike, really. Thanks."
Spike felt her gratitude was misplaced and he quickly changed the subject. "You can take all this location spell stuff with you, right, love? It'd be helpful on the road."
"Yeah, I'll bring enough for a few days."
Willow grabbed what she needed and they parted ways to get the much-needed rest for the work ahead of them.
***
AUTHOR: Love's Bitch, a.k.a. Kristin L. M.
DISCLAIMER: Credit where credit is due, Joss is God, Grrrr Argh, etc. I only *wish* Spike were mine.
DISTRIBUTION: If you like it that much, you are my new best friend! Just let me know where it's going.
RATING: Probably R, for graphic and disturbing depiction of torture.
SPOILERS: Takes place after Blood Ties.
FEEDBACK: Better than drugs! Will you help feed my addiction?
SUMMARY: A serial killer makes a stop in Sunnydale and nothing will ever be the same for the gang. **WARNING**: Character death.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to Richess, for giving me an idea to run with. Thanks to Dean Koontz for the inspirational *Whispers*. Thanks to Hilsy, Py, and Lady Mac for their constant vigilance in the beta department.
SATURDAY, 8:13 p.m.
'Willow will love this,' Tara thought as she exited the Chinese take-out place on her way home. She was late meeting the redhead, but the surprise dinner would surely make up for it. Satisfied with herself and excited to give her little gift to Willow, Tara didn't even notice the man standing directly in front of her, until she ran into him. "Oh, excuse me," she said, barely looking up.
She was torn from her quiet reverie when the man clamped his hand roughly on her arm, forcing her to drop her bag. "There you are, pretty." The blonde witch looked up, terrified, her eyes meeting two blank voids. "You thought you'd get away this time, didn't you?" A fist came out of nowhere, and Tara's world went black.
***
SATURDAY, 9:27 p.m.
Now Tara was over an hour late and Willow was getting worried. Not that the shy blonde was ever right on time, but this was pushing it, especially without a call. Willow had the news on, but she wasn't really watching. Each of the stories flashed before her, but Willow kept looking over her shoulder at the door, waiting for her love to come through it with some excuse for her delay.
Willow was facing the door when the next news story seized her attention.
"And now our top story. Tonight in Los Angeles, the body of 17-year-old Vicki Patton was found in room 217 of the Days Inn. You may recall that she was taken from outside her home in San Francisco only 12 days ago. The state of the body suggests that this is the third murder by the so-called Seattle Skinner. The three girls have all been about the same height and size, with straight blonde hair and light eyes. Ms. Patton was by far the youngest of the three, as the other two, Mara Russell and Katherine Tyler, were both in their early twenties. The police and FBI believe that he is headed south and may try to pick up his next victim within the next few days. All women between the ages of 17 and 24 with straight, blonde hair are implored to stay inside, or in groups, if you must go out. The reward for information leading to the capture of the man responsible for these deaths is at $50,000. Any information should be directed to the Seattle FBI."
The woman rattled off a number to call and mentioned an address for sympathies. At this point Willow was frantic. This psycho was headed straight for them and Tara was nowhere to be found. She picked up the phone and dialed Buffy's number.
"Hello?"
"Buffy, its me. Something's wrong; I can't find Tara."
"Will, calm down. Tell me what happened."
"Nothing happened!" Willow was yelling now, but she couldn't help it. She'd tried calling Tara's room, and she'd called the Magic Shop, but no one had seen her since about eight. "That's the problem, she's an hour and a half late and no one has seen her!"
"I'm sure she's just held up somewhere, Will; give her some time." Buffy thought that her friend was overreacting, but after what she said next, the Slayer began to wonder herself.
"Buffy, did you see the news tonight?"
"Yeah, so?"
"The serial killer, where is he heading?"
"South from L.A., so this way."
"What type of girl is he taking?"
"Blondes, our age, light…eyes…oh, Willow, I'm on my way."
***
SUNDAY, 12:20 a.m.
Tara felt the pain first. Her head was throbbing and she was fairly sure her nose was broken. Her head lolled to one side and she slowly opened her eyes, the glaring light sending another bout of shooting pain to her head. From what she could gather, she was tied to a chair with a light in her face. 'So much for thinking my way out of this,' she tried to look around, but saw nothing in the room besides her and the light. The blonde witch couldn't turn her head completely, no matter how much she struggled. Suddenly there was an emotionless, raspy, voice behind her, in her ear, and it made her skin crawl.
"Ah, you're awake. I've been waiting for you, pretty. You thought you'd gotten away. You won't this time. This time…" Tara cringed as she felt his sour breath against her neck. "This time, you'll stay dead."
***
SUNDAY, 12:34 a.m.
"Will, we've been walking around for hours; she's not here. All the shops are closed; we can't ask anyone if they've seen her. Lets go to the police." They had searched the streets of Sunnydale and found nothing, periodically calling both Willow and Tara's rooms in case she'd gone there.
"Oh, Goddess…what if she's…I mean what if he really took her?"
The look on Willow's face tore Buffy apart. She looked terrified. "It's okay; we'll find her. We'll go to the police and tell them what's going on and then we'll look for her ourselves. We'll find her. I promise." She hated to promise something she wasn't sure she could deliver, but she hated the look on her friend's face even more.
The two girls went straight to the police headquarters and filed a missing persons report. They tried to impress upon the cops that it was possible the Skinner had taken Tara, but they only smiled and said that Tara would probably turn up on her own.
On their way out of the police station, twenty minutes later, Buffy started to wonder if maybe the cops were right and they had overreacted. "You know, Wills, it's possible she's just off somewhere, needing to be alone. Why don't we take you home, you can get some rest. This will all look better in the morning."
"You're right, Buffy," Willow started, sarcasm evident in her voice. "It'll seem so much better in the morning that my girlfriend was taken by a psycho who skins his victims and takes their hearts."
The redhead walked swiftly away from Buffy in the direction of the park, and the Slayer debated on whether or not to follow her. Deciding that Willow just needed to blow off some steam, but not trusting Sunnydale in the middle of the night, Buffy let her walk away, then followed, keeping a good distance. Just in case.
***
SUNDAY, 1:15 a.m.
Three knocks came at Spike's crypt door, while he sat listening to loud punk music. 'No one knocks...' he thought, confused. The vampire walked over to the door, opening it on a very nervous looking Willow. He smirked.
"Red, how good of you to stop by. Buffy too busy to order me around, or is this a social call?" He wagged his eyebrows at her suggestively, but noting her extremely worried look, he changed his tone, becoming serious. "What is it, love? Is the Slayer okay?"
"Buffy's fine. It's Tara; I can't find her. Buffy and I, we searched everywhere, we talked to the cops and no one will do anything. I need your help." She looked at him pleadingly, but worried he would say no, she continued. "I knew you'd be awake, and with your heightened senses, you could maybe, I don't know, smell her out or something? You can do that, right?"
"Look, love, I'm sure she'll turn up-"
"I swear to God, Spike, if you say it will look better in the morning I will stake you." Her demeanor had changed drastically and he saw that her jaw was set and her eyes were glowing with anger. Spike took one look and changed his mind.
"Right then, let me get my coat."
They set out, the vampire and the witch, walking over the streets that Willow had already searched once that night. After about a half hour, they stopped in front of a Chinese take-out place, and Spike looked as though he was thinking very hard.
"What is it?"
"She was here, I think…her scent's faint, but it's here."
"Can you track it?"
Spike looked at her, a little irritated. "I'm not a bloody hound, Red."
Willow had enough sense to look ashamed, but continued. "I'm sorry, but I have to find her. I start to think maybe I overreacted, but then I think about what that awful man has done and I just…" her voice became weak, and she looked at Spike with eyes full of unshed tears. "I just have to find her."
Spike thought for a second about what he would do to get Buffy back in the same situation, and nodded. "I understand, pet. Let's get to sniffing." Taking a big whiff, he very slowly tracked Tara's scent to the Magic Shop.
"She must have stopped for the Chinese on her way home from the Magic Shop." Willow was thinking out loud, trying to play Sherlock Holmes.
Spike had an idea and hit himself in the forehead for not thinking of it before. "Uh, Willow."
"Shhh, Spike, I'm thinking."
"Evidently not hard enough, Red."
"What are you mumbling about?"
"Well let's do the math, shall we? Witch plus Magic Shop plus missing girlfriend equals…" He waited as she realized the one thing she hadn't tried.
"Locator spell. Duh, Willow." She smiled sheepishly at Spike. "Thanks. Hey, can you get us into the shop?"
Spike puffed up proudly. "Why, yes, I can."
***
SUNDAY, 2:30 a.m.
Buffy watched as Spike broke into the Magic Shop with Willow right behind him. She felt a little hurt that Willow had gone to him for help, but understood her reasons. He could sense people pretty well and could actually be of assistance every once in awhile. She kinda felt like she'd let Willow down, though, because she hadn't really believed Tara had been kidnapped. Deciding the redhead was safe with Spike, she left to get some sleep so she could start keeping her promise to Willow. She was now determined to find Tara.
***
SUNDAY, 3:00 a.m.
Tara was crying. She didn't know when she'd started crying, or which of the man's knives had brought the tears. She only knew that this man was hurting her because he believed she was someone that she wasn't. Any attempt to tell him this was met with more bruises and cuts, so the blonde witch had stopped trying to convince him. He had drugged her, making her movements and her thoughts sluggish, which also meant she couldn't concentrate long enough or hard enough for any kind of spell. She'd tried to do a few to throw him across the room and to paralyze him, but nothing seemed to work. 'Willow, where are you?'
She couldn't tell what time it was or where they were, mostly because she kept passing out, from pain or from the drugs. Every time she woke up she was in a different position, so he could reach different parts of her skin. Right now, she was on her stomach and he had ripped her shirt down the back. She also seemed to be in a different room every time she woke up. Tara didn't know if this meant a different room in the building they were in or a different building all together.
"What's wrong, pretty? Don't cry…I'm trying to help." The kind of helping he was referring to, Tara realized dimly, was putting alcohol on the already opened wounds. He evidently didn't want her dead. Yet. All thoughts ceased when he emptied the bottle of alcohol on a large gash across her back.
***
SUNDAY, 3:15 a.m.
Willow had chosen a new type of locator spell, one she hadn't tried before, hoping to steer clear of her past track record. With one that hadn't worked at all, when she was looking for Adam and another that had tried to attack her while looking for Oz last Halloween, she figured new was better.
"Situati Tara!" Spike watched as the witch performed the spell, turning a small square on the Magic Shop floor into a map of Sunnydale. There was a faint line of fog from where the shop was to where the take-out place was, then it lead off the map completely. "See! There! You were right, she'd been at the restaurant, but then the line goes out of town. I'm guessing not of her own volition."
Impressed with Willow's abilities, Spike was glad he'd been able to help. "Well, listen Red, as much fun as this has been, and I'm glad we have a start on your witch's position, but honestly, you aren't going to get anything done tonight. Get some rest, call your Slayer, and tomorrow we'll go find her."
Willow looked up at Spike, a little surprised. "We? You'd go with us? To help, I mean?"
"Well, yeah, you know, in the name of love and all that," he was uncomfortable under her gaze and felt a little silly for being so bashful all of a sudden. "If it's this monster you think it is…well, maybe I can help. And I can drive." Plus he'd get some time with Buffy.
"Okay, then. We'll leave from here at sundown tomorrow. Or rather, today." She smiled. "You've been great, Spike, really. Thanks."
Spike felt her gratitude was misplaced and he quickly changed the subject. "You can take all this location spell stuff with you, right, love? It'd be helpful on the road."
"Yeah, I'll bring enough for a few days."
Willow grabbed what she needed and they parted ways to get the much-needed rest for the work ahead of them.
***