"We rumbled this afternoon. I missed you." Willow held the phone between chin and shoulder as she tapped away at the keyboard.
"Anybody hurt?" Oz asked.
Willow shook her head, causing the phone to squirt from its precarious niche and bounce off her thigh on the way to the floor. She retrieved it and proceeded to tell Oz what he had missed.
"Wow," he said. "Sounds tough. Should I come over?"
"No. Giles kept repeating that. Stay home. Real 'Night of the Hunter' stuff."
There was a long pause then Oz said, "Sometimes Giles can remind you of Lillian Gish."
Willow shifted the phone to her other ear. "So what did you do while the rest of us pursued fangy evil?"
"Not much. Met a guy. Had a talk." Willow could read Oz's tone. It said 'This is all you'll get from me. Don't ask any more.'
***
Xander stretched out on his bed. "Well, sure it sucks. I mean, if the choices for tonight's activities are being cooped up here in my bedroom or spending time with you, I know who gets my vote."
Cordelia's scowl could be heard over the phone line. "And this had to happen when I was planning a special night."
"Special?" Xander elbow-walked into a reclining position against the headboard. "In what way?"
"Well, I thought that instead of going to the Bronze we might go someplace nice for dinner."
"I assume that 'someplace nice' disqualifies all restaurants with a mascot."
"Yes." Cordelia sighed. "I was planning on Domenico's."
"D-Domenico's?" Xander pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a second. "That is someplace nice."
Cordelia's voice dropped a couple of notes. "I just... I thought it would be a nice change from just hanging out. That was before everything got all Stalag 17."
Xander swallowed. "Thanks for the thought. But Giles is probably right."
They talked for some time after that, then played the nightly 'you-hang-up-first' game. Xander placed the phone in its cradle and lay back, his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.
Domenico's was nice-nice enough that Cordelia would have had to pay the tab. Xander let his eyes roam across the ceiling, noticing familiar details without really seeing them. He'd lied to Buffy this morning; well, half-lied. He was trying to be the supportive boyfriend, and a part of him did find it enjoyable, but another part of him was feeling the strain.
Cordelia was much more complicated than he'd ever imagined. Before the impetuous beginning of their relationship, he'd thought he knew all about her. She fit rather neatly into a little square box in his psyche-Cordelia Chase, rich snob who looked down on all she surveyed. After dating for almost ten months, he wasn't sure he knew anything about her at all.
The sex thing, for example. Finding out that Cordelia was a virgin was pretty shocking even if that virginity seemed to be pretty technical in nature. He'd tried to respect that and suck it up, but she was offering no explanations to make that easier to do. After her abduction the thought of anything more than a good-night kiss seemed uncomfortably close to sexual assault. And yet he couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to be the guy who deflowered Cordelia Chase. Perfect recipe for psychosexual confusion.
There was also the little matter of her family. Cordelia seemed determined to keep them behind a high wall and a deep ditch. She'd never even suggested that he come to her house or meet her parents. He was guilty of this as well, but he knew the reason for that-he was deeply ashamed of his family. Working from this frame of reference had led him to one conclusion. Cordelia was ashamed of him. He was fine for hanging out with at the Bronze, but he couldn't be seen on the Chase's side of town. But then why had she been planning dinner at Domenico's?
"Probably has dim lighting," Xander muttered to the uncaring ceiling.
***
"Where's Faith?" Willow asked as she sidled up beside Buffy.
The Slayer nearly jumped out of her skin. "Jeez, are you trying to scare me to death? Let me get jump-started." She thumped her fist on her chest. "There. Faith is with my mom."
Willow's mouth turned down. "She's at the gallery?"
"Nooooo, my mom took the day off."
Willow nodded. "So, how grim was it?"
Buffy pointed at her own face. "See these bags under my eyes? They're not packed for a trip to Maui. Mom finally got her calmed down about three, so we got a couple hours sleep."
"And you left her with your mom?"
Buffy shrugged. "The most amazing thing is, my mom's good with her. It's like another side of Joyce Summers." She yawned. "Doesn't help me much, though."
"Well, I hate to pile on like this, but Giles wants to see you in the library."
Buffy looked up. "Of course. That would be the next stop on the Morning of Torture tour."
***
Giles held a Polaroid. Buffy took it from him. It was a picture of a battered-looking Lindsay holding a newspaper in her bandaged hands. Buffy looked at her Watcher.
"It's a copy of today's news," he said.
"So she's alive." Buffy handed the photo back to him.
"As of this morning," he said.
"Both hands are bandaged now."
Giles gave a small nod. "You noticed that, did you?" His face grew grim and hard. "I now have a matching set of grisly souvenirs."
Buffy digested this new information. "How about we don't tell Faith about that, okay?"
Giles looked at the photograph. "My thoughts exactly."
The Slayer looked at her Watcher. "What are we going to do?"
Giles pursed his lips. "If we followed standard Council protocol, we would do nothing."
"What?" Buffy's mouth dropped open.
"When I took my oath as a Watcher, I knew quite clearly that I might be in grave danger. It was also made very plain to me that my life might be forfeit... an acceptable casualty, if you will. Lindsay took the same oath."
"Giles, we are not going to let Lindsay sit there while Trick cuts off fingers until he gets bored and kills her. I didn't do that when Angel had you and no way will I even try and get Faith to agree to it." Buffy's jaw was set.
Giles tapped the Polaroid against his left palm. "If you had," he said, "I would have understood."
Buffy gaped at him. "Excuse me? When did this turn into creepy masochist theater?"
"I'm trying to make a point. Lindsay is not a civilian any more than I am. Danger is part of what we do just as much as it is for you." Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "What would you have done if Angel had killed me?"
"Giles, that is so Sylvia Plath, I can't even begin."
Giles looked stern, almost angry. "Will you answer my question?"
Buffy scowled at him. "It would have killed me."
"Metaphorically."
"Yes, metaphorically. You know how important you are to me. Is this really the time to be fishing for weird-ass compliments?"
Giles jabbed at the tabletop with a forefinger. "But you would have gone on. Your life would have continued."
The Slayer rolled her eyes. "Yes, as hard as it would have been, I would have found a way to go on, but it would never have been the same," she said in a singsong voice. "Happy now?"
"Buffy, there is a very real possibility that Lindsay will die. What will become of Faith if that happens? You saw her yesterday afternoon. You've seen her reaction to any threat to Lindsay. What if the worst happens?"
Buffy swallowed, then folded her arms and squared her shoulders. "We'll make sure it doesn't."
***
Oz stopped just inside the cafeteria doors and scanned the room. Devon sat at a table about midway down the wall on the left side. Oz threaded his way through the early-lunch diners and sat down. "Hey," he said.
"Hey yourself," Devon said, taking a drink from his Coke. "Guess you talked to Trey yesterday."
"Yeah, and I, uh, I..." Oz took a deep breath. This was harder than he'd expected. "I acted like a jerk."
Devon shot a look out of the corner of his eye. Oz braced himself for a major busting of chops. Devon held the look for another beat, then waved his hand. "Don't sweat it. It's not like you threatened to leave the band or anything." He grinned at Oz. "Hey, if you're interested, there's a gig to be had at the U. Saturday night. Frat party needs primo entertainment on the quick."
Oz nodded. "I'm there." He stood up. "Hey, Devon... Thanks for not, you know."
Devon took another drink. "I look at it this way. You got pissed because you care about Dingoes and you thought we were cutting you out. Since I never planned to do that, then that means I didn't communicate well, so it's part my fault." He wiped his hands, tossed the napkin onto his tray, and stood up. "This band's too good to ruin it. You're the right hand, always have been. I wouldn't even keep it going without you."
Oz nodded, then ducked his head and made for the door.
***
Willow used great care in placing the sheets of paper on the table. "There," she said. "It's a big place."
"Willow, how did you get a copy of the blueprints for CRT?" Buffy looked over the plans carefully, her eyes never leaving them.
"Technically, those aren't blueprints; they're just floor plans. Anybody can get them."
"Anybody?" Buffy kept looking at the plans but her eyebrows arched.
"Yeahhhhhhh." Willow developed a sudden interest in a spot on the wall. "Anyone who can hack their security password."
"Good Lord." Giles rubbed his forehead. "I miss the days when fighting evil didn't involve breaking the law ourselves."
"What days were those?" Buffy leaned over the plans.
"When you faced danger with a stout stick and a stouter heart and charged straight ahead."
Buffy looked at him, her face incredulous. "What year were you born? 1730?"
Giles shrugged. "Just a wish, I guess."
"It won't be easy to figure out where Lindsay is," Willow said. "It's a big place, like three stories and lots of twisty hallways, and that's just the part I saw when I was there during the event we don't speak of."
"Well, we have to do something." Buffy turned and rested her butt against the edge of the table. "Faith's on edge. She'll head out there by herself if we don't have a plan."
"If we could just discern Trick's motive we might know where to begin." Giles stared at the papers on the table.
"Does 'why' matter?" Willow's face was stern. "Who cares why he's doing it? You know the 'what'-he's trying to lure you into a trap. Why the angst and analysis?" She pointed at the plans. "We need to look for places that are a long way from the exits, that might be easy to get into but hard to get out of. There are fire exits at the end of every hallway, so he's probably not holding her in any of the rooms close to those. That cuts the search area down a lot. Ground floor's probably out too..."
***
They gathered in the parking lot, the six of them clustered around Oz's van and Giles' Citroen. Cordelia had expressly declared her Sebring off-limits for this adventure.
"It will be dark by the time we get there," she said. "Isn't that bad? You know, the dark, when the undead walk, their power is greatest, that whole thing?"
"Not really," Buffy said. "Once we get inside, it won't matter if it's day or night, and this way some of them might be out prowling."
Giles checked a flashlight. "In any case, we couldn't get there earlier." Satisfied that the batteries were strong he tossed the light into his car. The parking lights of a vehicle pierced the dusk as it turned into the school.
"That's Mom," Buffy said. "And Faith."
Faith was out of the Jeep before Joyce could bring it to a complete stop. Buffy reached through the window and took her mother's hand. "Go home and stay there, Mom. Promise me?"
Joyce nodded, her eyes wet and shiny. "Be careful, okay?" The patent absurdity of her mother's suggestion almost caused the Slayer to laugh out loud. Instead she smiled and patted her parent's hand.
"I will, Mom. Very careful." She squeezed her mom's fingers and stepped back. As the Jeep pulled away she turned to the group. Faith looked very pale; her fingernails were jagged, gnawed-off stubs.
"Let's go," Giles said. They got into the cars in silence. Giles' Citroen creaked out of the parking lot with Oz's van following. As they turned onto the street a figure hurried away from one of the school windows.
***
It was full dark by the time the vehicles pulled over to the side of the road. Giles pulled two duffel bags out of his trunk. "We walk from here," he announced.
"What? It's still two miles." Cordelia pointed back the way they had come. "That sign right there says two miles."
"Two miles by road." Giles pointed at the woods beyond the cars. "It's a little under a mile across country."
"Oh, that's so much better. Let's see-two miles on pavement or a mile through the woods in the dark. What's the third choice?" Cordelia was definitely miffed.
"The third choice is I stuff your mouth with moss," Faith snarled. "Shut your piehole."
"Wow, riding in close quarters sure can make a body testy," Xander said.
"You won't have to walk that far," Giles said. "It's a mile from this spot to the fence around CRT. The three of you will be staying in the woods. Buffy, Faith and I will actually enter the facility." He handed a duffel to Xander and hefted one himself. "Shall we go?"
***
The trees ended abruptly and open ground stretched before them-one hundred and fifty yard of it. The terrain fell away in a shallow slope, then curved up. The one-time computer firm's HQ sat on top of the rise so that they looked at it across the hollow. The chain-link fence and the security lights that illuminated it gave the entire place a vague, sinister air, like a prison or a military base. The bright halogen glow of the security lights only penetrated fifty or so feet. The rest of the intervening distance was blanketed in night. Giles placed his duffel bag on the ground and pulled out what looked like bolt cutters. Willow rummaged in the other bag for her supplies. These were various herbs, a wooden bowl, and a candle. The herbs went into the bowl to be crushed as Cordelia, Oz, and Xander positioned themselves around Willow. She shielded the candle with her body as she lit it and placed it in the bowl. The Slayers and the Watcher moved to the edge of the woods as Willow began the spell. Cordelia felt a clammy breeze across her face; icy fingers skittered up Xander's spine. Willow completed the incantation, passed her hand over the candle and blew it out. She nodded and Buffy moved out of the trees and started across the open ground.
The Scoobies held their ground in the trees as their friends disappeared into the gloom. "So," Xander whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "does this make them invisible?"
Willow continued to stare into the dark. "No. It's really more of a small glammer. It just makes them... insignificant. You know, the way Cordelia makes everyone feel."
"Hey," the cheerleader hissed. "I'm standing out here in the cold like everybody else."
"Sorry," Willow said. "The spell makes it hard to see them, but it can't conceal them. If someone was to stop and look right at them, they'd be visible." With a click and a thump, a high-powered searchlight on the fence snapped on. It was followed quickly by two others. Buffy, Faith and Giles were pinned in the harsh glare.
"Or you could do that," Willow said.
***
When the first light blazed over them Buffy broke to her left, but two more piercing beams found them. The Slayer stopped, shielding her eyes with an upraised arm. A fourth spotlight stabbed through the dark, but this one wasn't directed at them. It cast a white oval on the ground to their right, drawing attention to itself. Buffy felt her eyes turn that way. The light moved across the ground until it found what it was searching for, then it stopped.
Two metal poles were driven into the ground. Buffy's heart surged into her throat. Lindsay hung there, suspended by cables attached to manacles on her wrists. Buffy couldn't breathe; she threw her arm out across Faith, feeling the other girl tremble beneath her touch.
Lindsay wasn't alone. A vampire stood by each pole. Buffy recognized one of them-Othniel Hampton. The other was unfamiliar, but he was big. The third one stood just in front of this wrenching tableau. He wore an immaculate overcoat and stood lightly, his hands clasped in front of him.
Buffy felt Faith quiver. "Don't rush him," the blond Slayer whispered but she knew that she might as well have said "Build a skyscraper out of jelly beans."
***
The Scoobies didn't breathe. Actually, they did breathe, but the respirations were so shallow and fast as to appear nonexistent.
"Oh my God," Cordelia said. "What's Buffy doing?"
***
Faith took two steps toward Trick and Buffy grabbed her. Faith spun and caught a glimpse of Buffy's wide, frightened eyes just before a fist slammed into her jaw. Faith dropped, rolled, and came up in a fighting stance. Buffy was now between her and Lindsay.
***
Buffy felt as though an iron cap had been slammed onto her head and was being tightened with steel screws.
Stop it, her mind screamed at her body. What are you doing? Stop it now! But her body wasn't listening.
***
Willow's head was almost a blur as it shook back and forth. "Something's wrong," she moaned.
"Gee," Cordelia said. "You think?"
***
Mr. Trick had not moved, but his eyes narrowed and sweat began to bead on his high forehead. A dull, burning pain began to grow behind his right ear.
***
Every punch Faith threw, Buffy blocked; every kick the dark Slayer launched was parried. It was a grim and tragic mirror of their training sessions-two foes so evenly matched that neither could gain advantage. Faith feinted left and threw herself right, trying to dodge around Buffy. The blond Slayer responded with catlike quickness and wrapped Faith in a bear hug. Faith lunged in an attempt to bull past Buffy but could not.
The purpose of the other two vampires now became apparent. The cables ran from Lindsay's wrists through ratcheted pulleys suspended from the poles. The end of one cable rested in the hand of the Reverend Othniel Hampton, the other cable held by Booker, Trick's lieutenant. They began to pull, taking up the slack. Then they braced themselves and hauled. Lindsay's mouth opened and she screamed. Her shoulders dislocated, pivoting in an unnatural and sickening way. Then the skin began to stretch. Human skin is amazingly elastic. Lindsay's shoulder joints elongated to an absurd shape before the skin tore. For an instant a knob of bone shone blue white at each severed joint before gouts of arterial blood obliterated it. Booker staggered back, a shredded arm flopping at the end of the cable. Lindsay collapsed to her knees. Her eyes locked on Faith's for a heartbeat, then she pitched face first onto the ground. Faith froze, her eyes wide, then she threw back her head and howled. Buffy felt the iron band around her head loosen.
***
Trick's legs felt watery as he turned away. Now the willpower was shifted. He poured it into the act of staying upright and steady. Booker approached him and started to hold out a hand. Trick simply gave him a venomous look. The hand was withdrawn.
***
Xander started to charge out of the woods. "Come on," he said. "We've got to get down there in case there's an attack."
Oz shook his head. "I don't there's going to be an attack. I think we've seen it."
***
Buffy felt her mouth fill with bile. Giles and Faith rushed past her. Lindsay's body lay in the wet green grass; her arms dangled from the posts, casting strange shadows in the brilliance of the searchlights. Buffy collapsed to her knees and vomited.
***
Faith dropped to the ground beside Lindsay, her knees squishing on the bloody turf. She turned her Watcher over as gently as she could. Heedless of the blood she cradled Lindsay in her lap, sobbing. The tears fell on Lindsay's upturned face, washing away the mud and gore.
Giles pulled her up. "Faith," he said. "Go. Get back. Let me take care of this." He pushed her away. Faith stumbled a few steps. She looked up and saw Buffy approaching on unsteady legs. The blond Slayer's face was ashen. Faith's fist curled into a ball.
***
Buffy never saw the punch coming, or at least made no attempt to block or avoid it. The force of it spun her halfway around. She was unconscious when she hit the ground.
***
"Come on." Oz grabbed Xander by the arm. "I think they need us." As they left the shelter of the trees the spotlights shut off with a thud. They fumbled down the hill in the dark. Willow and Cordelia stayed in the woods, Willow weeping, Cordelia standing in stunned silence with unfelt tears running down her face.
***
End of chapter 4 of "The Bad Touch."
"Anybody hurt?" Oz asked.
Willow shook her head, causing the phone to squirt from its precarious niche and bounce off her thigh on the way to the floor. She retrieved it and proceeded to tell Oz what he had missed.
"Wow," he said. "Sounds tough. Should I come over?"
"No. Giles kept repeating that. Stay home. Real 'Night of the Hunter' stuff."
There was a long pause then Oz said, "Sometimes Giles can remind you of Lillian Gish."
Willow shifted the phone to her other ear. "So what did you do while the rest of us pursued fangy evil?"
"Not much. Met a guy. Had a talk." Willow could read Oz's tone. It said 'This is all you'll get from me. Don't ask any more.'
***
Xander stretched out on his bed. "Well, sure it sucks. I mean, if the choices for tonight's activities are being cooped up here in my bedroom or spending time with you, I know who gets my vote."
Cordelia's scowl could be heard over the phone line. "And this had to happen when I was planning a special night."
"Special?" Xander elbow-walked into a reclining position against the headboard. "In what way?"
"Well, I thought that instead of going to the Bronze we might go someplace nice for dinner."
"I assume that 'someplace nice' disqualifies all restaurants with a mascot."
"Yes." Cordelia sighed. "I was planning on Domenico's."
"D-Domenico's?" Xander pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a second. "That is someplace nice."
Cordelia's voice dropped a couple of notes. "I just... I thought it would be a nice change from just hanging out. That was before everything got all Stalag 17."
Xander swallowed. "Thanks for the thought. But Giles is probably right."
They talked for some time after that, then played the nightly 'you-hang-up-first' game. Xander placed the phone in its cradle and lay back, his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.
Domenico's was nice-nice enough that Cordelia would have had to pay the tab. Xander let his eyes roam across the ceiling, noticing familiar details without really seeing them. He'd lied to Buffy this morning; well, half-lied. He was trying to be the supportive boyfriend, and a part of him did find it enjoyable, but another part of him was feeling the strain.
Cordelia was much more complicated than he'd ever imagined. Before the impetuous beginning of their relationship, he'd thought he knew all about her. She fit rather neatly into a little square box in his psyche-Cordelia Chase, rich snob who looked down on all she surveyed. After dating for almost ten months, he wasn't sure he knew anything about her at all.
The sex thing, for example. Finding out that Cordelia was a virgin was pretty shocking even if that virginity seemed to be pretty technical in nature. He'd tried to respect that and suck it up, but she was offering no explanations to make that easier to do. After her abduction the thought of anything more than a good-night kiss seemed uncomfortably close to sexual assault. And yet he couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to be the guy who deflowered Cordelia Chase. Perfect recipe for psychosexual confusion.
There was also the little matter of her family. Cordelia seemed determined to keep them behind a high wall and a deep ditch. She'd never even suggested that he come to her house or meet her parents. He was guilty of this as well, but he knew the reason for that-he was deeply ashamed of his family. Working from this frame of reference had led him to one conclusion. Cordelia was ashamed of him. He was fine for hanging out with at the Bronze, but he couldn't be seen on the Chase's side of town. But then why had she been planning dinner at Domenico's?
"Probably has dim lighting," Xander muttered to the uncaring ceiling.
***
"Where's Faith?" Willow asked as she sidled up beside Buffy.
The Slayer nearly jumped out of her skin. "Jeez, are you trying to scare me to death? Let me get jump-started." She thumped her fist on her chest. "There. Faith is with my mom."
Willow's mouth turned down. "She's at the gallery?"
"Nooooo, my mom took the day off."
Willow nodded. "So, how grim was it?"
Buffy pointed at her own face. "See these bags under my eyes? They're not packed for a trip to Maui. Mom finally got her calmed down about three, so we got a couple hours sleep."
"And you left her with your mom?"
Buffy shrugged. "The most amazing thing is, my mom's good with her. It's like another side of Joyce Summers." She yawned. "Doesn't help me much, though."
"Well, I hate to pile on like this, but Giles wants to see you in the library."
Buffy looked up. "Of course. That would be the next stop on the Morning of Torture tour."
***
Giles held a Polaroid. Buffy took it from him. It was a picture of a battered-looking Lindsay holding a newspaper in her bandaged hands. Buffy looked at her Watcher.
"It's a copy of today's news," he said.
"So she's alive." Buffy handed the photo back to him.
"As of this morning," he said.
"Both hands are bandaged now."
Giles gave a small nod. "You noticed that, did you?" His face grew grim and hard. "I now have a matching set of grisly souvenirs."
Buffy digested this new information. "How about we don't tell Faith about that, okay?"
Giles looked at the photograph. "My thoughts exactly."
The Slayer looked at her Watcher. "What are we going to do?"
Giles pursed his lips. "If we followed standard Council protocol, we would do nothing."
"What?" Buffy's mouth dropped open.
"When I took my oath as a Watcher, I knew quite clearly that I might be in grave danger. It was also made very plain to me that my life might be forfeit... an acceptable casualty, if you will. Lindsay took the same oath."
"Giles, we are not going to let Lindsay sit there while Trick cuts off fingers until he gets bored and kills her. I didn't do that when Angel had you and no way will I even try and get Faith to agree to it." Buffy's jaw was set.
Giles tapped the Polaroid against his left palm. "If you had," he said, "I would have understood."
Buffy gaped at him. "Excuse me? When did this turn into creepy masochist theater?"
"I'm trying to make a point. Lindsay is not a civilian any more than I am. Danger is part of what we do just as much as it is for you." Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "What would you have done if Angel had killed me?"
"Giles, that is so Sylvia Plath, I can't even begin."
Giles looked stern, almost angry. "Will you answer my question?"
Buffy scowled at him. "It would have killed me."
"Metaphorically."
"Yes, metaphorically. You know how important you are to me. Is this really the time to be fishing for weird-ass compliments?"
Giles jabbed at the tabletop with a forefinger. "But you would have gone on. Your life would have continued."
The Slayer rolled her eyes. "Yes, as hard as it would have been, I would have found a way to go on, but it would never have been the same," she said in a singsong voice. "Happy now?"
"Buffy, there is a very real possibility that Lindsay will die. What will become of Faith if that happens? You saw her yesterday afternoon. You've seen her reaction to any threat to Lindsay. What if the worst happens?"
Buffy swallowed, then folded her arms and squared her shoulders. "We'll make sure it doesn't."
***
Oz stopped just inside the cafeteria doors and scanned the room. Devon sat at a table about midway down the wall on the left side. Oz threaded his way through the early-lunch diners and sat down. "Hey," he said.
"Hey yourself," Devon said, taking a drink from his Coke. "Guess you talked to Trey yesterday."
"Yeah, and I, uh, I..." Oz took a deep breath. This was harder than he'd expected. "I acted like a jerk."
Devon shot a look out of the corner of his eye. Oz braced himself for a major busting of chops. Devon held the look for another beat, then waved his hand. "Don't sweat it. It's not like you threatened to leave the band or anything." He grinned at Oz. "Hey, if you're interested, there's a gig to be had at the U. Saturday night. Frat party needs primo entertainment on the quick."
Oz nodded. "I'm there." He stood up. "Hey, Devon... Thanks for not, you know."
Devon took another drink. "I look at it this way. You got pissed because you care about Dingoes and you thought we were cutting you out. Since I never planned to do that, then that means I didn't communicate well, so it's part my fault." He wiped his hands, tossed the napkin onto his tray, and stood up. "This band's too good to ruin it. You're the right hand, always have been. I wouldn't even keep it going without you."
Oz nodded, then ducked his head and made for the door.
***
Willow used great care in placing the sheets of paper on the table. "There," she said. "It's a big place."
"Willow, how did you get a copy of the blueprints for CRT?" Buffy looked over the plans carefully, her eyes never leaving them.
"Technically, those aren't blueprints; they're just floor plans. Anybody can get them."
"Anybody?" Buffy kept looking at the plans but her eyebrows arched.
"Yeahhhhhhh." Willow developed a sudden interest in a spot on the wall. "Anyone who can hack their security password."
"Good Lord." Giles rubbed his forehead. "I miss the days when fighting evil didn't involve breaking the law ourselves."
"What days were those?" Buffy leaned over the plans.
"When you faced danger with a stout stick and a stouter heart and charged straight ahead."
Buffy looked at him, her face incredulous. "What year were you born? 1730?"
Giles shrugged. "Just a wish, I guess."
"It won't be easy to figure out where Lindsay is," Willow said. "It's a big place, like three stories and lots of twisty hallways, and that's just the part I saw when I was there during the event we don't speak of."
"Well, we have to do something." Buffy turned and rested her butt against the edge of the table. "Faith's on edge. She'll head out there by herself if we don't have a plan."
"If we could just discern Trick's motive we might know where to begin." Giles stared at the papers on the table.
"Does 'why' matter?" Willow's face was stern. "Who cares why he's doing it? You know the 'what'-he's trying to lure you into a trap. Why the angst and analysis?" She pointed at the plans. "We need to look for places that are a long way from the exits, that might be easy to get into but hard to get out of. There are fire exits at the end of every hallway, so he's probably not holding her in any of the rooms close to those. That cuts the search area down a lot. Ground floor's probably out too..."
***
They gathered in the parking lot, the six of them clustered around Oz's van and Giles' Citroen. Cordelia had expressly declared her Sebring off-limits for this adventure.
"It will be dark by the time we get there," she said. "Isn't that bad? You know, the dark, when the undead walk, their power is greatest, that whole thing?"
"Not really," Buffy said. "Once we get inside, it won't matter if it's day or night, and this way some of them might be out prowling."
Giles checked a flashlight. "In any case, we couldn't get there earlier." Satisfied that the batteries were strong he tossed the light into his car. The parking lights of a vehicle pierced the dusk as it turned into the school.
"That's Mom," Buffy said. "And Faith."
Faith was out of the Jeep before Joyce could bring it to a complete stop. Buffy reached through the window and took her mother's hand. "Go home and stay there, Mom. Promise me?"
Joyce nodded, her eyes wet and shiny. "Be careful, okay?" The patent absurdity of her mother's suggestion almost caused the Slayer to laugh out loud. Instead she smiled and patted her parent's hand.
"I will, Mom. Very careful." She squeezed her mom's fingers and stepped back. As the Jeep pulled away she turned to the group. Faith looked very pale; her fingernails were jagged, gnawed-off stubs.
"Let's go," Giles said. They got into the cars in silence. Giles' Citroen creaked out of the parking lot with Oz's van following. As they turned onto the street a figure hurried away from one of the school windows.
***
It was full dark by the time the vehicles pulled over to the side of the road. Giles pulled two duffel bags out of his trunk. "We walk from here," he announced.
"What? It's still two miles." Cordelia pointed back the way they had come. "That sign right there says two miles."
"Two miles by road." Giles pointed at the woods beyond the cars. "It's a little under a mile across country."
"Oh, that's so much better. Let's see-two miles on pavement or a mile through the woods in the dark. What's the third choice?" Cordelia was definitely miffed.
"The third choice is I stuff your mouth with moss," Faith snarled. "Shut your piehole."
"Wow, riding in close quarters sure can make a body testy," Xander said.
"You won't have to walk that far," Giles said. "It's a mile from this spot to the fence around CRT. The three of you will be staying in the woods. Buffy, Faith and I will actually enter the facility." He handed a duffel to Xander and hefted one himself. "Shall we go?"
***
The trees ended abruptly and open ground stretched before them-one hundred and fifty yard of it. The terrain fell away in a shallow slope, then curved up. The one-time computer firm's HQ sat on top of the rise so that they looked at it across the hollow. The chain-link fence and the security lights that illuminated it gave the entire place a vague, sinister air, like a prison or a military base. The bright halogen glow of the security lights only penetrated fifty or so feet. The rest of the intervening distance was blanketed in night. Giles placed his duffel bag on the ground and pulled out what looked like bolt cutters. Willow rummaged in the other bag for her supplies. These were various herbs, a wooden bowl, and a candle. The herbs went into the bowl to be crushed as Cordelia, Oz, and Xander positioned themselves around Willow. She shielded the candle with her body as she lit it and placed it in the bowl. The Slayers and the Watcher moved to the edge of the woods as Willow began the spell. Cordelia felt a clammy breeze across her face; icy fingers skittered up Xander's spine. Willow completed the incantation, passed her hand over the candle and blew it out. She nodded and Buffy moved out of the trees and started across the open ground.
The Scoobies held their ground in the trees as their friends disappeared into the gloom. "So," Xander whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "does this make them invisible?"
Willow continued to stare into the dark. "No. It's really more of a small glammer. It just makes them... insignificant. You know, the way Cordelia makes everyone feel."
"Hey," the cheerleader hissed. "I'm standing out here in the cold like everybody else."
"Sorry," Willow said. "The spell makes it hard to see them, but it can't conceal them. If someone was to stop and look right at them, they'd be visible." With a click and a thump, a high-powered searchlight on the fence snapped on. It was followed quickly by two others. Buffy, Faith and Giles were pinned in the harsh glare.
"Or you could do that," Willow said.
***
When the first light blazed over them Buffy broke to her left, but two more piercing beams found them. The Slayer stopped, shielding her eyes with an upraised arm. A fourth spotlight stabbed through the dark, but this one wasn't directed at them. It cast a white oval on the ground to their right, drawing attention to itself. Buffy felt her eyes turn that way. The light moved across the ground until it found what it was searching for, then it stopped.
Two metal poles were driven into the ground. Buffy's heart surged into her throat. Lindsay hung there, suspended by cables attached to manacles on her wrists. Buffy couldn't breathe; she threw her arm out across Faith, feeling the other girl tremble beneath her touch.
Lindsay wasn't alone. A vampire stood by each pole. Buffy recognized one of them-Othniel Hampton. The other was unfamiliar, but he was big. The third one stood just in front of this wrenching tableau. He wore an immaculate overcoat and stood lightly, his hands clasped in front of him.
Buffy felt Faith quiver. "Don't rush him," the blond Slayer whispered but she knew that she might as well have said "Build a skyscraper out of jelly beans."
***
The Scoobies didn't breathe. Actually, they did breathe, but the respirations were so shallow and fast as to appear nonexistent.
"Oh my God," Cordelia said. "What's Buffy doing?"
***
Faith took two steps toward Trick and Buffy grabbed her. Faith spun and caught a glimpse of Buffy's wide, frightened eyes just before a fist slammed into her jaw. Faith dropped, rolled, and came up in a fighting stance. Buffy was now between her and Lindsay.
***
Buffy felt as though an iron cap had been slammed onto her head and was being tightened with steel screws.
Stop it, her mind screamed at her body. What are you doing? Stop it now! But her body wasn't listening.
***
Willow's head was almost a blur as it shook back and forth. "Something's wrong," she moaned.
"Gee," Cordelia said. "You think?"
***
Mr. Trick had not moved, but his eyes narrowed and sweat began to bead on his high forehead. A dull, burning pain began to grow behind his right ear.
***
Every punch Faith threw, Buffy blocked; every kick the dark Slayer launched was parried. It was a grim and tragic mirror of their training sessions-two foes so evenly matched that neither could gain advantage. Faith feinted left and threw herself right, trying to dodge around Buffy. The blond Slayer responded with catlike quickness and wrapped Faith in a bear hug. Faith lunged in an attempt to bull past Buffy but could not.
The purpose of the other two vampires now became apparent. The cables ran from Lindsay's wrists through ratcheted pulleys suspended from the poles. The end of one cable rested in the hand of the Reverend Othniel Hampton, the other cable held by Booker, Trick's lieutenant. They began to pull, taking up the slack. Then they braced themselves and hauled. Lindsay's mouth opened and she screamed. Her shoulders dislocated, pivoting in an unnatural and sickening way. Then the skin began to stretch. Human skin is amazingly elastic. Lindsay's shoulder joints elongated to an absurd shape before the skin tore. For an instant a knob of bone shone blue white at each severed joint before gouts of arterial blood obliterated it. Booker staggered back, a shredded arm flopping at the end of the cable. Lindsay collapsed to her knees. Her eyes locked on Faith's for a heartbeat, then she pitched face first onto the ground. Faith froze, her eyes wide, then she threw back her head and howled. Buffy felt the iron band around her head loosen.
***
Trick's legs felt watery as he turned away. Now the willpower was shifted. He poured it into the act of staying upright and steady. Booker approached him and started to hold out a hand. Trick simply gave him a venomous look. The hand was withdrawn.
***
Xander started to charge out of the woods. "Come on," he said. "We've got to get down there in case there's an attack."
Oz shook his head. "I don't there's going to be an attack. I think we've seen it."
***
Buffy felt her mouth fill with bile. Giles and Faith rushed past her. Lindsay's body lay in the wet green grass; her arms dangled from the posts, casting strange shadows in the brilliance of the searchlights. Buffy collapsed to her knees and vomited.
***
Faith dropped to the ground beside Lindsay, her knees squishing on the bloody turf. She turned her Watcher over as gently as she could. Heedless of the blood she cradled Lindsay in her lap, sobbing. The tears fell on Lindsay's upturned face, washing away the mud and gore.
Giles pulled her up. "Faith," he said. "Go. Get back. Let me take care of this." He pushed her away. Faith stumbled a few steps. She looked up and saw Buffy approaching on unsteady legs. The blond Slayer's face was ashen. Faith's fist curled into a ball.
***
Buffy never saw the punch coming, or at least made no attempt to block or avoid it. The force of it spun her halfway around. She was unconscious when she hit the ground.
***
"Come on." Oz grabbed Xander by the arm. "I think they need us." As they left the shelter of the trees the spotlights shut off with a thud. They fumbled down the hill in the dark. Willow and Cordelia stayed in the woods, Willow weeping, Cordelia standing in stunned silence with unfelt tears running down her face.
***
End of chapter 4 of "The Bad Touch."