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Angelus: (looking at reader…yes, you) Now watch this. Buffy has her slayer senses to the full…looking for me no doubt. Heh heh heh. I'm a soulless demon, therefore I must die. She stalks her prey, never noticing the rope she is about to step in.
[Suddenly a loud scream and a thud is heard. Angelus snickers evilly.]
Angelus: Did you see the grace with which she walked into the rope? I never believed that Buffy was the brightest crayon in the box, but this kind of proves it. Look at the way she is dangling upside down…just like a worm. She's screaming to be let out. I didn't know she knew some of those obscenities. Must be Spike's influence. I don't know what to say about my wayward grand childe. I should thump him for being such a dumbass around her. What is it about her that turns vampires into puppies with no personalities? Must be a Slayer thing.
[He slowly makes his way from the dangling slayer. Buffy is squirming viciously, trying to free herself from the rope.]
Angelus: Hey, Buffy? Whatcha doin'? Just hangin' around? (looks back at reader) That was bad…even for me. I do wish she would shut up. I've got just the thing though. (pulls out a role of duct tape and places a piece over her mouth) Aaah, that's so much better. I think my real problem is the fact that Buffy thinks everything is always about her. Yes, she is the one strung up, but I just did this for shits and giggles. I don't feel any real malice toward her. It's not like she can actually kill me or anything. She's just so fun to mess with.
[He gives Buffy a push, making her swing back and forth like a pendulum.]
Angelus: Don't worry. I don't plan on leaving her like this forever. (looks at Buffy) I've got plans for you, girlie. (laughs at her) Joss may own you, but me and everyone else on this island have decided we want to have our wicked way with you. Just not in the sense that you are thinking right now. We'll return you unharmed, relatively speaking.
A/N: Look, it's another chapter! We had such a great opening night for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that we decided to update. Please, read read read and review. It will make us happy!
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Buffy burst through the door of the Magic Box. "I'm going to kill them both!" she exclaimed.
Dawn looked up from the book she was studying. "You didn't find them?" she asked, biting her lower lip with worry.
"Not a peep, Dawnie," Buffy answered. She growled in frustration. "This isn't funny anymore. They've been gone all night."
"It wasn't funny to begin with," Dawn retorted. "They could be in real trouble, and we have no idea where to even start looking for them."
The bell above the shop door jingled, diverting both girls' attention. The man nodded to the two ladies. "I've got a package for a Ms. Buddy Summers? I was told she'd be here."
"You mean Buffy?" the slayer asked.
The man squinted at the package label. "Huh. Whatever. You wanna sign for this?"
Buffy rolled her eyes and signed. The UPS man left without a word. "You could have at least got my name right," she grumbled after the door closed behind him.
"Who's it from?" Dawn asked.
Buffy sat down beside her at the table. "Doesn't say. It's not very heavy." She ripped into the envelope open and spilled its contents onto the tabletop.
"Oooh, photos!" Dawn cried, snatching them up and glancing at them. Suddenly she threw them back on the table. "Bad photos, Buffy!"
"What?" Buffy looked at the pictures. "Oh, no." Buffy snatched up the letter, pointedly ignoring the pictures of Spike and Xander, unconscious or…no, she wasn't even going to think that!
"Buffy?" Dawn queried, her voice trembling. "This is some kind of joke, right?"
Buffy shook her head. "No, Dawnie, it's not. Someone's kidnapped Spike and Xander."
"Well, what do they want?" Dawn asked.
Buffy frowned. "Me," she answered. "We need to get the rest of the guys here now."
*****
It didn't take long for everyone to gather at the Magic Box. Everyone had been on their way there anyway, wanting to continue the search for their friends. Giles had even brought Drusilla along. She'd sang "Everything You Know is Wrong" at the top of her lungs for thirty minutes before Giles had finally agreed she could accompany him. She sat tied to one of the many chairs around the table at the back of the Magic Box. Tara stood near one of the bookshelves, Willow leaning against her, and Gunn beside her with his hand on her shoulder. Giles and Anya sat across from Drusilla. If anyone had looked, they' have noticed Giles' hand gently squeeze Anya's knee before he began speaking.
"Well, now we know why Spike and Xander failed to show up last night. The question now is why go after them?"
"They want me," Buffy answered. "That's what the letter said."
"Yes, but why kidnap them?" Giles asked. "You have several other friends, and it's not the usual tactic."
"Yeah," Dawn said, frowning. "They usually go after me."
"Or Giles," Anya pointed out. "They sometimes go for Giles. But they usually leave Xander and Spike. They only get kidnapped by accident or as an accessory."
"Lilah doesn't know about Xander's visions, does she?" Tara asked worriedly.
Buffy paled. "She was here yesterday when we came in. She must have suspected something."
"Guys, you're missing the point here, I think," Willow interrupted. "It doesn't matter whether Wolfram & Hart knows about Xander or not. We have to meet with them to have any hope of seeing them again. After Buffy finds out what they want with her, then we can focus on Spike and Xander. Until then, we're going in blind."
"It's probably a trap," Giles argued.
Buffy smiled grimly. "Only one way to find out."
*****
It was twenty-nine steps from the front desk of the Hyperion to the big couch in the lobby. Each step was a distance of approximately one and a half tiles. The length of the front desk itself was only six steps back and forth. At top speed, Angel could make it from the phone to the door in two seconds. One and a half if he jumped the couch. So, once Tara and Gunn called, Angel would have no problems helping, fighting, anything to get out of this godforsaken hotel!
"Angel…"
The souled vampire spun on his heels to look at Cordelia. "What?" he asked innocently.
"If you pace the length of the floor one more time, I'm chaining you to the wall," she threatened.
Angel smirked. "Really?"
"Not in a good way," Cordelia clarified.
Angel flung himself onto the couch. "Fine, be that way," he pouted.
*****
Buffy glowered at the back of Anya's head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Buffy had to resort to sitting in the back seat with Drusilla. Anya would call shotgun, and Giles had agreed with the arrangement.
"You can better handle Drusilla, my foot!" she said under her breath. She knew why Anya really got to sit up front. Stupid ex-vengeance demons!
Buffy sighed and looked across the seat at Drusilla. The vampire was curled up in the seat, biting the nails of her bound hands and mumbling softly to herself. Or, at least Buffy assumed Drusilla was talking to herself.
"Ahh!" Giles growled in frustration. "How the bloody hell does Spike see out of this windshield?"
Anya squinted. "I think that's what the tiny chips in the paint are for, but I'm not sure. You can do it, Giles!" she encouraged.
Buffy watched Drusilla for a few more minutes, but finally her nerves couldn't take it anymore.
"What the hell is up with you, Drusilla?"
"My knight and Spike are in the dark room with the lawyer," Drusilla whispered. "Bad things happen there. The walls cry out, they wail. What if they put together the puzzle?"
"God!" Buffy rolled her eyes. "Can't you speak like a sane person for once in your unlife?"
"Xander understands me," she whispered softly. "We must rescue him from the bad men. They really don't like him."
Buffy scowled. "I don't know what your deal is with Xander, but I don't like it. I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. How do I know you won't turn him the first time you get out of Giles' little prison for you?"
"The slayer might kill my Spike."
"I don't have a reason to stake Spike. You're a vampire. Xander's food to you."
Drusilla cast a murderous glare Buffy's way. "The White Knight is not food. He's special." She looked at Buffy curiously. "But you don't really see it, do you?"
Buffy shot Drusilla a glare of her own. "I don't trust you."
"You're the slayer, but my childe loves you, trusts you. I'm not sure I do."
"I'll be watching you," Buffy warned before she resumed glaring at the back of Anya's head.
"And I you," Drusilla whispered. She curled tighter in the seat and tried to push away thoughts of her two loved ones suffering in a dark room.
*****
Step, step, step, turn. Step, step, step, turn. Step, step, st—
"I can't take it anymore!" Angel yelled, vaulting over the front desk.
Cordelia, Wesley, and Fred jumped at the outburst. The books in Wesley's lap fell to the floor. Fred's soda spilled across the lobby floor.
"Geez, Angel! You need to switch to decaf. They'll call. Go stare at your bird or something."
"It's not mine!" Angel screeched. "Stop calling it mine!"
Wesley sighed. "He's going to keep this up until we go after Tara and Gunn, isn't he?"
Fred nodded. "Probably. He's like that."
"All right. That's it. We haven't heard from them since yesterday. We have to go after them."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Never mind. They're here," Cordelia said through gritted teeth.
"How do you know?" Fred asked as Angel bounded over her and the lobby couch.
"They knocked," Cordelia answered simply.
Angel opened the door and ushered the Sunnydale gang inside. He looked strangely at Drusilla huddled under a blanket, but let her in too.
"You morons! Don't knock on our door! It's pointless! No one knocks! Geez!"
"Cordy, get a grip," Angel chided. He stood at the door expectantly. Any second now. Wait for it. Wait for it, Angel thought to himself. Wait for it. "All right. Where are they?"
"Who?" Willow asked.
"Spike or Xander? I know they're thinking of some way to torment me even as we speak.."
*****
"Peroxide in the hair gel," Spike suggested.
Xander nodded. "Wow, five points. Good job, Spike."
Lindsey grinned. "How about wadding up all of his shirts and throwing them in the bottom of his closet?"
"Ooh! That's twisted. Seven points for Lindsey."
Xander quieted for a moment, then smiled and chuckled evilly. "Let Bob out of his cage."
Spike started laughing hysterically. "That's bloody brilliant! Ten points for you, mate. Twenty if you get him to scream like a girl."
Lindsey laughed at the image. Good ole Bob.
*****
"Don't be ridiculous!" Cordelia exclaimed. "You think everyone's tormenting you. You're so paranoid."
"And I'm usually right! So where are they?"
Buffy showed Angel and the others the pictures and letter from Wolfram & Hart.
"Aw, man. We have to rescue them?" Angel asked.
Buffy glared.
"Um, I mean…yeah, evil's afoot, and stuff. It's my business, not to mention my sacred duty to help them."
"Plus, you'll be foiling Wolfram & Hart's newest evil scheme," Wesley added helpfully.
"What are we waiting for then?" Angel asked, smiling. "Let's go into Wesley's office and start talking strategy."
Everyone followed Wesley into the next room, Angel taking the rear. "I better get redemption for this," he grumbled.