Title: Hurricane, Chapter 4: Winds of Jealousy
Author: Sandy S.
E-mail: ssoennin@juno.com
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All belongs to Joss and UPN.
Spoilers: Set a few years after season 6
Dedication: For Thia...who is a new and dear friend and whose creativity
inspires me! :o)
Summary: Dawn, a lot of blood, a disappearance, a search. Buffy's worst
nightmare comes true. This chapter is Buffy's POV. Buffy and Willow
travel to find Spike in New Orleans. Buffy deals with her feelings about
what's happened to Dawn and what's possibly happening with Spike. Oh, boy,
an angsty chapter! Notably, Buffy and Willow are on Interstate 10 while
traveling.
Winds of Jealousy
"Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave."
-From the The Song of Solomon in the Old Testament of the Bible
"Nor jealousy Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell." -From Paradise Lost by John Milton
My feelings about everything that recently occurred were too overwhelming to process. My usual reaction when I felt out of control was to *do* something physical like workout, slay some demons, or...engage in other strenuous activities. However, I couldn't do a whole lot while stuck in a car with Willow for hours. Good thing she was behind the wheel. I was left with large amounts of time to stare out the window, daydream, and perhaps occasionally help Willow locate highway signs and turnoffs. Finding things like street signs was difficult when the wind swept rain against and rocked the vehicle.
The car's blinker began clicking, and Willow guided the car onto the exit lane, leaving the highway behind. I reached up the fingers of my right hand as the droplets on the passenger-side window streaked from their original path and flowed in an alternate direction.
"Willow, why are we getting off?" I glanced at the map splayed open on my lap. We couldn't possibly be near the next turn our route.
Willow giggled. "Ice cream...I need ice cream." She pulled the car into a parking spot in the lot of a nationwide food chain that punctuated every few miles along the interstate. "Oz and I used to stop on every trip to get an ice cream cone. It's one of the things I remember most about him and one of the things I promised myself I wouldn't forget to do while traveling. Tara always thought it was cute that I kept doing it even when she and I went on trips together."
"Oh."
Willow had the funniest little sentimental traditions.
"And, I have to use the restroom. Too much coffee," she added, waving her empty gas station mug and letting me know she wasn't stopping just for a treat. Her car door opened, letting in a cold draft of air and a fine liquid mist. "Do you want one?" she asked when I remained unmoving.
I shook my head. "Nah. I'll sit this one out." Grasping the edges of the map, I held the paper up, mock-studying the route. "I'll figure out where we are."
She grinned. "Okay. Be back in a sec."
The car door slammed, shutting out the sounds of the highway and precipitation and enclosing me in a heavy warmth. Feeling almost suffocated and claustrophobic, which was not something I wanted to re- experience after being buried alive, I hastily rolled down the window, now grateful for the fresh scent of the icy water drops in the midst of the humidity. I was also thankful for the stolen moments to think.
What had happened in the last several hours? I closed my eyes, knowing that the stimuli infiltrating my other senses were only blocking my memories. Chewing on my lower lip, I skimmed over the events like they were part of a slide show.
One, Spike was gone along with all his possessions, and Dawn's room was coated in *her own* blood...no trace of her body to be found. Two, Willow's witch friend from school, Cynthia, had done a location spell, searching for Dawn and Spike. Dawn hadn't turned up at all, and Spike's indicator had been in a place called Stillwater, Oklahoma but then changed to a movement headed toward and then into Louisiana. Willow reassured me that Dawn not being located didn't mean she was dead and that magick wasn't perfect. But, I wasn't so sure. Three, we had no answered questions about the dusted vamps in the mansion. However, since things were as quiet as they could be on the hellmouth, Willow and I could go after Spike and hopefully get some answers about him and Dawn. Xander and Anya were staying behind to take care of things in Sunnydale...like slaying and their jobs. I had called the employers at the jobs Spike and I worked and arranged temporary leaves of absence.
Gosh...everything boiled down to one, two, three. If only my feelings were as simple as the facts. Hot tears welled behind my eyelids, and I opened my eyes after an indeterminable amount of time to find Willow sitting next to me with her vanilla ice cream forgotten in her hand.
Passing me a napkin, she smiled compassionately and said, "I was wondering when you were going to cry."
Through my tears, I laughed shakily and blotted my cheeks. "Yea, I guess I tend to hold things in, huh?"
"Understatement of the year," she replied.
I didn't say what was bothering me, and after years of observing my behavior, Willow knew better than to ask. Instead, she continued, "So, did you pinpoint our exact location?" She peeked over at the crumpled map that was crookedly balanced on my thighs. "Let's see, we're probably about near Baton Rouge...hmmm, right h..."
"Willow," I burst out, "it hurts so much. Why did Spike do this to me?" *Like all the others...* How many times had I had this conversation with Willow? A shot of guilt flew momentarily through me...well...not since she moved back into the house five months ago...actually, not for about three years. I felt a little better about burdening her.
Compassion overwhelmed her features, and disposing of her ice cream cone out the window, she let me sob with my head on her shoulder for several minutes.
When my tears had finally ceased, she spoke, "Oh, Buffy, I don't know why he would do something like this. I don't think we have all the answers yet. Don't worry, we'll find him, and he's probably all safe with Dawn. There's probably a good explanation for everything."
I looked up at her with wide eyes. "But, what if it's not...all okay, I mean? What if there's no explanation? What if Dawn's...what if something terrible has happened to Dawn? I-I mean, the spell couldn't locate her..."
"The spell isn't perfect," Willow patiently repeated. She wiped my tears away with her other napkin. "And there'll be an explanation. There always is. Until then, we gotta keep thinking positive and keep going, so we can figure this out."
"I don't know if I have any positive-ness left in me," I said despondently.
"Well, I have enough for both of us," she maintained with her confident, everything-will-be-all-right tone.
"Good." My eyes dropped to the napkin twisted in my hands. "Why do the guys I fall in love with always have some major problem or do something horrible and twisted to hurt me? Why can't I meet a nice guy who doesn't do stuff like this...who doesn't hurt me so bad? I mean, Spike even promised that he would never hurt me when we started over."
"Well, everybody hurts the other person when they're in a relationship. You've just had some extreme examples. And, you haven't heard Spike's side, yet. Maybe he has a real understandable reason for what he's done. I mean, in the last three years, has he given you any reason to doubt his love and concern? Has he given you any reason not to trust him?"
"Well, no."
"See, that's better than both Angel and Riley. Maybe you should continue that trust just a little longer 'til we hear from him."
"Maybe." I knew that Willow was just trying to convince me to keep going, and she had a point about trusting Spike. However, given my track record with men, accepting that was easier said than done. All my previous relationships had ended up causing pain to me and the people I cared most about.
"And, hey, we'll royally kick Spike's butt no matter what's happened."
"We will?" My tone contained a spark of hope, partly for my own sanity and partly for Willow's.
"Yep! We definitely will." She started the engine.
"Okay." I sniffled and presented Willow with a lopsided smile. "Pity party's over. Let's go! Spike's butt is waiting."
* * *
Bampf!
Just outside of Baton Rouge, the unexpected sharp noise from the back seat made Willow and I start in our seats. My heart thundered wildly as I flew forward and seized the dashboard to steady myself. Willow jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid smashing into the van in front of us. The car swerved almost off the shoulder of the road into the marshy swampland that seemed to be pervasive in Louisiana even along the highways.
"Anya!" Willow yelped as she steadied the car's path. "Don't do that! You almost got us killed!"
"Sorry," Anya grumped from behind us. I could almost picture her arms crossed and her face in a characteristic pout.
"Yea, Anya," I added, "We brought the cell phone with us if you remember." I held up the hunter green phone. "And look." I twisted around to show her more closely and pointed at the tiny blinking screen. "I set it to on like Xander told us to do when it was in range of the tower thingy."
"Couldn't you have just tried to call us first?" Willow suggested, looking at Anya in the rearview mirror.
"Oh, didn't think of that. Xander told me to take care of contacting you guys while he went and took care of the other things," Anya replied, thoughtfully. "Maybe next time."
Resuming a more comfortable position in the seat, I sighed. "You have news for us, Anya?"
"Oh, yes. Very good news. Xander and I agreed that you would be very pleased and should know right away. He wanted to tell you himself, but he had to take care of those other things, which I'll tell you about as soon as I tell you about the other. I'm kinda worried about him, so I'll have to keep it brief. Don't want him to do what he's doing by himself. But you know how men are...always trying to take care of things by themselves and insisting on not taking any help when it's offered. Well, I think that..."
"Anya!" Willow rolled her eyes at me and broke into Anya's continuing irrelevant rant. "What do you have to tell us?"
"Oh, yea! Sorry. You know me...rambling off the subject." Anya ceased talking with her hands as she had been and leaned closer between the bucket seats. "What was I supposed to share...oh, yes! Dawn was located! Willow's friend found her!"
"Really!" My breath caught in my throat. "Where?"
"In New Orleans...the French Quarter. Willow's friend...Cynthia, is that her name?...said that Dawn's presence was only detected for a brief window of time. Then, she disappeared again."
"Why?" My questions were unelaborated. I was anxious for more information and the bare facts.
"Well," Anya explained, "probably some other magick is hiding her location."
"That's interesting," Willow commented. "Must be someone with power."
"Yes. Spike's in New Orleans, too. Same area." Then, Anya noticed the wires hanging down from the dash near Willow's steering wheel. "Wow, he and Dawn did a number on your car, Willow. It must have been some first driving lesson."
"Is that all you know, Anya?" I pressed.
"Well, there is something in Sunnydale," she said, fingering the silver charm that she always wore around her neck.
"What?"
"Just the normal vampire activity. Xander went out to wait by a couple of fresh graves. Speaking of which, I better get back to help him."
"Who were they?" I vaguely wondered if they might be related to the vamps in the mansion.
"Umm. A local anesthesiologist. And the nurse from his office, I think."
"Hmmm." I filed away the information for later. "Okay, thanks, Anya. Guess we'll head to New Orleans. Won't take but about two hours, right?"
Keeping her eyes fixed on the road, Willow nodded. "Better help Xander, Anya."
"You're welcome. And okay." Anya acknowledged me and Willow, respectively. Her arm made a small move to teleport away.
Before she could vanish, I had a recommendation. "And, Anya?"
"What?" She sounded slightly annoyed.
I peered back at her and waved the cell phone at her. "Call next time."
She smiled, eyes sparkling with mirth. Then, she was gone.
* * *
The crowd on Bourbon Street was thinning during mid-week as I expected. Willow and I walked casually down the trash-laden, car-less street, blending in with the throng of people like tourists in our sun dresses. I observed a rat creeping past a man standing in front of a seafood restaurant. The apron-clad man was clutching a stack of menus and urging people to enter and eat. I wrinkled my nose. Who would want to eat in a rat-filled restaurant on a street that smelled like something rotten? I supposed that the ambiance of New Orleans was what mattered and not the quality of the health control or the food. We passed a kareoke and piano bar and several tiny hole-in-the-wall shops selling brightly painted porcelain masks, Mardi Gras beads, cheap T-shirts, and postcards.
"Buffy, what are we looking for again?" Willow seemed uncertain as she stared wide-eyed at the strip bars on the left.
"Vamps." I was resolute, professional slayer Buffy now. My every sense organ was on alert.
"Oh." She skittered to the left when a tall, scantily-dressed drag queen stepped suddenly out of the door to a private bar. "Seen any, yet?"
"One or two, but they haven't *felt* right. Know what I mean?"
"I guess so." Willow tucked strands of red hair behind her ears with both hands and then patted the travel pack attached around her waist. "Got the stakes ready to assist with the slayage whenever you're ready, Dr. Summers."
"We won't need them right away," I assured my friend, pausing in my search to offer her a smile. "I'll let you know. Right now, we're just looking for a vamp to follow."
"Oh." She seemed mollified by my explanation.
Then, I saw *him*.
The right vampire.
I slowed Willow down with a hand on her forearm. She glanced in the direction I was looking. A tall dark-haired vampire dressed in a dark suit and wearing a large silver charm on a chain around his neck was skulking in the opposite direction from where we were walking. He was attempting to camouflage himself in the crowd of tourists but failing miserably.
"Him?" she whispered in my ear.
I nodded, stealthily permitting the vamp to walk past and then changing directions to pursue him. He guided a trembling Willow and I through the nearly empty streets south of Bourbon Street. Ignoring the extraneous sights around me, I remained focused on not allowing him to sense us in any way until we could catch up to and question him.
On a street close to the Mississippi River, the vamp entered a night club, ostentatiously called "The Lean Monkey." Jazz music poured out of every crack in the old building. What did I expect in New Orleans?
"Are we going in?" Willow asked, bringing me out of my reverie.
"What? Yes. Just giving him a minute to get in further. No need to crowd him in the doorway."
"What exactly are we trying to do?"
"I just have a feeling...you'll have to trust me on this one, Will." I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with this particular vampire. I was relying on my slayer instinct.
She unzipped her pouch, removing two wooden stakes. "I'm getting these out, then. Just in case."
"Good idea." I took the stake she extended.
* * *
Tailing people, much less vampires, without them noticing me was not my strongest ability. In this instance, however, the crowds made things much easier on me. Huddled in a corner near the bar, Willow and I searched for our vampire target by scanning over the people who were sitting on bar stools, standing, and dancing to the slow number that blared over the speakers.
"There he is," Willow said just loudly enough so she could be heard over the music and conversation.
Squinting through the cigarette smoke haze, my heart dropped. *Spike.* Spike was here...on the dance floor...in the arms of another woman...a *very* beautiful woman with auburn hair, flawless skin, a skimpy black dress, and tall pumps. Words could not describe the raw pain that twisted within me.
Willow saw my stricken expression and looked confused until she glimpsed what I was seeing. Anger snapped inside me, replacing the hurt and spreading a smoldering fire through my limbs and into my face. My fists clenched involuntarily. I felt something in my hand...my stake. All at once, I knew for what purpose I could use the wood.
"Buffy!" Willow asserted. "In this case, violence is not the answer. Isn't that what you were saying outside on the street?"
"No," I growled, ready to fight my way through anything in my path. Sweat beaded on my forehead. Humidity even permeated the air inside the club. "Now *is* the time to get answers from a very doomed vamp whose name is Spike."
Willow wrapped her fingers around my fist that held the stake. "Wait, Buffy. Look."
Doubtfully, I surveyed the street vamp sidle up to Spike and that...that...*her*. Spike slipped out of the embrace, turning to speak with the other vampire. Willow tugged me along, remaining in the shadows. She was drawing us nearer the conversation, so we could eavesdrop.
When Willow and I finally found a place to roost, I forcibly calmed my rage further as I strained to hear what Spike was saying. As soon as I stopped moving, Spike's head lifted briefly. Confusion and uncertainty...and love?...flickered across his face as he glanced around as if searching for something. My heart foolishly danced with hope. Part of me longed for him to find me in the din of the club and chase all my fears away. But, just as quickly as he was distracted from what he was saying, he refocused. Disappointment soared, especially when *she* clasped his hand. I seethed inside at what I was witnessing.
Abruptly, Spike whipped out a wooden stake from an unknown hiding place, and the vampire we'd been following exploded into a cloud of dust. I was shocked when the people around him didn't even seem to notice. People in New Orleans must be highly habituated to weird occurrences...or maybe everyone was just drunk by midnight.
"Buffy, did you get that?" Willow was talking to me.
"Get what?" Had I missed something?
"What the vamp said to Spike?" she asked impatiently.
"I couldn't hear a thing." Distracted by my feelings, I hadn't heard anything.
"Boy, for someone with supposed heightened slayer senses, you sure are deaf."
I glared at her, and she snickered. The music changed, and I noted that Spike was gone. *Damn! I was so ready to kick his butt!*
Returning to serious mode, Willow reported, "Travis said..."
"Who's Travis?"
"The other vamp. Anyway, Travis said that he was left behind by his gang. He'd been out hunting, and they forgot him. Apparently, he recognized Spike. He was one of Spike's old minions. Anyway, when Spike asked Travis for the full story, he said that his group took several older men and a young girl out of New Orleans because of a security breach."
"Security breach?" I fought the urge to chase after Spike.
"I'm betting that Dawn made a little escape."
"Oh!" That made perfect sense to me. Dawn was turning out to be a resourceful young woman. Spike and I had raised her well in the last few years. I mentally shook myself. No thoughts about Spike allowed! They only hurt.
"And then, they recaptured her."
"Where did Travis say they went?"
"Some place in Texas...just over the Louisiana-Texas border...back the direction we came."
I was quiet.
"Buffy?" Willow prodded gently. "You do realize what this means?"
"What?" My eyes were wide with vulnerability...*so* not a good trait for a slayer who needed to be currently prepared for battle.
"Spike didn't hurt Dawn. He's trying to save her."
"But, why's he with that other...woman?"
"I don't know that one. Maybe she's helping him in some capacity."
"Oh." I wasn't too certain about the helping part. She was probably "helping" him in more ways than one. "Wait. What about all the blood in Dawn's room...I mean, it was her blood and everything...and Spike's missing stuff?"
"I don't know the answer to that one either, Buffy."
Straightening my shoulders in determination, I brushed the stray tears out of the corners of my eyes. "Texas, it is."
end of chapter 4
**Note, Travis means "at the crossroads," which is symbolic of this chapter.**
Winds of Jealousy
"Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave."
-From the The Song of Solomon in the Old Testament of the Bible
"Nor jealousy Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell." -From Paradise Lost by John Milton
My feelings about everything that recently occurred were too overwhelming to process. My usual reaction when I felt out of control was to *do* something physical like workout, slay some demons, or...engage in other strenuous activities. However, I couldn't do a whole lot while stuck in a car with Willow for hours. Good thing she was behind the wheel. I was left with large amounts of time to stare out the window, daydream, and perhaps occasionally help Willow locate highway signs and turnoffs. Finding things like street signs was difficult when the wind swept rain against and rocked the vehicle.
The car's blinker began clicking, and Willow guided the car onto the exit lane, leaving the highway behind. I reached up the fingers of my right hand as the droplets on the passenger-side window streaked from their original path and flowed in an alternate direction.
"Willow, why are we getting off?" I glanced at the map splayed open on my lap. We couldn't possibly be near the next turn our route.
Willow giggled. "Ice cream...I need ice cream." She pulled the car into a parking spot in the lot of a nationwide food chain that punctuated every few miles along the interstate. "Oz and I used to stop on every trip to get an ice cream cone. It's one of the things I remember most about him and one of the things I promised myself I wouldn't forget to do while traveling. Tara always thought it was cute that I kept doing it even when she and I went on trips together."
"Oh."
Willow had the funniest little sentimental traditions.
"And, I have to use the restroom. Too much coffee," she added, waving her empty gas station mug and letting me know she wasn't stopping just for a treat. Her car door opened, letting in a cold draft of air and a fine liquid mist. "Do you want one?" she asked when I remained unmoving.
I shook my head. "Nah. I'll sit this one out." Grasping the edges of the map, I held the paper up, mock-studying the route. "I'll figure out where we are."
She grinned. "Okay. Be back in a sec."
The car door slammed, shutting out the sounds of the highway and precipitation and enclosing me in a heavy warmth. Feeling almost suffocated and claustrophobic, which was not something I wanted to re- experience after being buried alive, I hastily rolled down the window, now grateful for the fresh scent of the icy water drops in the midst of the humidity. I was also thankful for the stolen moments to think.
What had happened in the last several hours? I closed my eyes, knowing that the stimuli infiltrating my other senses were only blocking my memories. Chewing on my lower lip, I skimmed over the events like they were part of a slide show.
One, Spike was gone along with all his possessions, and Dawn's room was coated in *her own* blood...no trace of her body to be found. Two, Willow's witch friend from school, Cynthia, had done a location spell, searching for Dawn and Spike. Dawn hadn't turned up at all, and Spike's indicator had been in a place called Stillwater, Oklahoma but then changed to a movement headed toward and then into Louisiana. Willow reassured me that Dawn not being located didn't mean she was dead and that magick wasn't perfect. But, I wasn't so sure. Three, we had no answered questions about the dusted vamps in the mansion. However, since things were as quiet as they could be on the hellmouth, Willow and I could go after Spike and hopefully get some answers about him and Dawn. Xander and Anya were staying behind to take care of things in Sunnydale...like slaying and their jobs. I had called the employers at the jobs Spike and I worked and arranged temporary leaves of absence.
Gosh...everything boiled down to one, two, three. If only my feelings were as simple as the facts. Hot tears welled behind my eyelids, and I opened my eyes after an indeterminable amount of time to find Willow sitting next to me with her vanilla ice cream forgotten in her hand.
Passing me a napkin, she smiled compassionately and said, "I was wondering when you were going to cry."
Through my tears, I laughed shakily and blotted my cheeks. "Yea, I guess I tend to hold things in, huh?"
"Understatement of the year," she replied.
I didn't say what was bothering me, and after years of observing my behavior, Willow knew better than to ask. Instead, she continued, "So, did you pinpoint our exact location?" She peeked over at the crumpled map that was crookedly balanced on my thighs. "Let's see, we're probably about near Baton Rouge...hmmm, right h..."
"Willow," I burst out, "it hurts so much. Why did Spike do this to me?" *Like all the others...* How many times had I had this conversation with Willow? A shot of guilt flew momentarily through me...well...not since she moved back into the house five months ago...actually, not for about three years. I felt a little better about burdening her.
Compassion overwhelmed her features, and disposing of her ice cream cone out the window, she let me sob with my head on her shoulder for several minutes.
When my tears had finally ceased, she spoke, "Oh, Buffy, I don't know why he would do something like this. I don't think we have all the answers yet. Don't worry, we'll find him, and he's probably all safe with Dawn. There's probably a good explanation for everything."
I looked up at her with wide eyes. "But, what if it's not...all okay, I mean? What if there's no explanation? What if Dawn's...what if something terrible has happened to Dawn? I-I mean, the spell couldn't locate her..."
"The spell isn't perfect," Willow patiently repeated. She wiped my tears away with her other napkin. "And there'll be an explanation. There always is. Until then, we gotta keep thinking positive and keep going, so we can figure this out."
"I don't know if I have any positive-ness left in me," I said despondently.
"Well, I have enough for both of us," she maintained with her confident, everything-will-be-all-right tone.
"Good." My eyes dropped to the napkin twisted in my hands. "Why do the guys I fall in love with always have some major problem or do something horrible and twisted to hurt me? Why can't I meet a nice guy who doesn't do stuff like this...who doesn't hurt me so bad? I mean, Spike even promised that he would never hurt me when we started over."
"Well, everybody hurts the other person when they're in a relationship. You've just had some extreme examples. And, you haven't heard Spike's side, yet. Maybe he has a real understandable reason for what he's done. I mean, in the last three years, has he given you any reason to doubt his love and concern? Has he given you any reason not to trust him?"
"Well, no."
"See, that's better than both Angel and Riley. Maybe you should continue that trust just a little longer 'til we hear from him."
"Maybe." I knew that Willow was just trying to convince me to keep going, and she had a point about trusting Spike. However, given my track record with men, accepting that was easier said than done. All my previous relationships had ended up causing pain to me and the people I cared most about.
"And, hey, we'll royally kick Spike's butt no matter what's happened."
"We will?" My tone contained a spark of hope, partly for my own sanity and partly for Willow's.
"Yep! We definitely will." She started the engine.
"Okay." I sniffled and presented Willow with a lopsided smile. "Pity party's over. Let's go! Spike's butt is waiting."
* * *
Bampf!
Just outside of Baton Rouge, the unexpected sharp noise from the back seat made Willow and I start in our seats. My heart thundered wildly as I flew forward and seized the dashboard to steady myself. Willow jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid smashing into the van in front of us. The car swerved almost off the shoulder of the road into the marshy swampland that seemed to be pervasive in Louisiana even along the highways.
"Anya!" Willow yelped as she steadied the car's path. "Don't do that! You almost got us killed!"
"Sorry," Anya grumped from behind us. I could almost picture her arms crossed and her face in a characteristic pout.
"Yea, Anya," I added, "We brought the cell phone with us if you remember." I held up the hunter green phone. "And look." I twisted around to show her more closely and pointed at the tiny blinking screen. "I set it to on like Xander told us to do when it was in range of the tower thingy."
"Couldn't you have just tried to call us first?" Willow suggested, looking at Anya in the rearview mirror.
"Oh, didn't think of that. Xander told me to take care of contacting you guys while he went and took care of the other things," Anya replied, thoughtfully. "Maybe next time."
Resuming a more comfortable position in the seat, I sighed. "You have news for us, Anya?"
"Oh, yes. Very good news. Xander and I agreed that you would be very pleased and should know right away. He wanted to tell you himself, but he had to take care of those other things, which I'll tell you about as soon as I tell you about the other. I'm kinda worried about him, so I'll have to keep it brief. Don't want him to do what he's doing by himself. But you know how men are...always trying to take care of things by themselves and insisting on not taking any help when it's offered. Well, I think that..."
"Anya!" Willow rolled her eyes at me and broke into Anya's continuing irrelevant rant. "What do you have to tell us?"
"Oh, yea! Sorry. You know me...rambling off the subject." Anya ceased talking with her hands as she had been and leaned closer between the bucket seats. "What was I supposed to share...oh, yes! Dawn was located! Willow's friend found her!"
"Really!" My breath caught in my throat. "Where?"
"In New Orleans...the French Quarter. Willow's friend...Cynthia, is that her name?...said that Dawn's presence was only detected for a brief window of time. Then, she disappeared again."
"Why?" My questions were unelaborated. I was anxious for more information and the bare facts.
"Well," Anya explained, "probably some other magick is hiding her location."
"That's interesting," Willow commented. "Must be someone with power."
"Yes. Spike's in New Orleans, too. Same area." Then, Anya noticed the wires hanging down from the dash near Willow's steering wheel. "Wow, he and Dawn did a number on your car, Willow. It must have been some first driving lesson."
"Is that all you know, Anya?" I pressed.
"Well, there is something in Sunnydale," she said, fingering the silver charm that she always wore around her neck.
"What?"
"Just the normal vampire activity. Xander went out to wait by a couple of fresh graves. Speaking of which, I better get back to help him."
"Who were they?" I vaguely wondered if they might be related to the vamps in the mansion.
"Umm. A local anesthesiologist. And the nurse from his office, I think."
"Hmmm." I filed away the information for later. "Okay, thanks, Anya. Guess we'll head to New Orleans. Won't take but about two hours, right?"
Keeping her eyes fixed on the road, Willow nodded. "Better help Xander, Anya."
"You're welcome. And okay." Anya acknowledged me and Willow, respectively. Her arm made a small move to teleport away.
Before she could vanish, I had a recommendation. "And, Anya?"
"What?" She sounded slightly annoyed.
I peered back at her and waved the cell phone at her. "Call next time."
She smiled, eyes sparkling with mirth. Then, she was gone.
* * *
The crowd on Bourbon Street was thinning during mid-week as I expected. Willow and I walked casually down the trash-laden, car-less street, blending in with the throng of people like tourists in our sun dresses. I observed a rat creeping past a man standing in front of a seafood restaurant. The apron-clad man was clutching a stack of menus and urging people to enter and eat. I wrinkled my nose. Who would want to eat in a rat-filled restaurant on a street that smelled like something rotten? I supposed that the ambiance of New Orleans was what mattered and not the quality of the health control or the food. We passed a kareoke and piano bar and several tiny hole-in-the-wall shops selling brightly painted porcelain masks, Mardi Gras beads, cheap T-shirts, and postcards.
"Buffy, what are we looking for again?" Willow seemed uncertain as she stared wide-eyed at the strip bars on the left.
"Vamps." I was resolute, professional slayer Buffy now. My every sense organ was on alert.
"Oh." She skittered to the left when a tall, scantily-dressed drag queen stepped suddenly out of the door to a private bar. "Seen any, yet?"
"One or two, but they haven't *felt* right. Know what I mean?"
"I guess so." Willow tucked strands of red hair behind her ears with both hands and then patted the travel pack attached around her waist. "Got the stakes ready to assist with the slayage whenever you're ready, Dr. Summers."
"We won't need them right away," I assured my friend, pausing in my search to offer her a smile. "I'll let you know. Right now, we're just looking for a vamp to follow."
"Oh." She seemed mollified by my explanation.
Then, I saw *him*.
The right vampire.
I slowed Willow down with a hand on her forearm. She glanced in the direction I was looking. A tall dark-haired vampire dressed in a dark suit and wearing a large silver charm on a chain around his neck was skulking in the opposite direction from where we were walking. He was attempting to camouflage himself in the crowd of tourists but failing miserably.
"Him?" she whispered in my ear.
I nodded, stealthily permitting the vamp to walk past and then changing directions to pursue him. He guided a trembling Willow and I through the nearly empty streets south of Bourbon Street. Ignoring the extraneous sights around me, I remained focused on not allowing him to sense us in any way until we could catch up to and question him.
On a street close to the Mississippi River, the vamp entered a night club, ostentatiously called "The Lean Monkey." Jazz music poured out of every crack in the old building. What did I expect in New Orleans?
"Are we going in?" Willow asked, bringing me out of my reverie.
"What? Yes. Just giving him a minute to get in further. No need to crowd him in the doorway."
"What exactly are we trying to do?"
"I just have a feeling...you'll have to trust me on this one, Will." I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with this particular vampire. I was relying on my slayer instinct.
She unzipped her pouch, removing two wooden stakes. "I'm getting these out, then. Just in case."
"Good idea." I took the stake she extended.
* * *
Tailing people, much less vampires, without them noticing me was not my strongest ability. In this instance, however, the crowds made things much easier on me. Huddled in a corner near the bar, Willow and I searched for our vampire target by scanning over the people who were sitting on bar stools, standing, and dancing to the slow number that blared over the speakers.
"There he is," Willow said just loudly enough so she could be heard over the music and conversation.
Squinting through the cigarette smoke haze, my heart dropped. *Spike.* Spike was here...on the dance floor...in the arms of another woman...a *very* beautiful woman with auburn hair, flawless skin, a skimpy black dress, and tall pumps. Words could not describe the raw pain that twisted within me.
Willow saw my stricken expression and looked confused until she glimpsed what I was seeing. Anger snapped inside me, replacing the hurt and spreading a smoldering fire through my limbs and into my face. My fists clenched involuntarily. I felt something in my hand...my stake. All at once, I knew for what purpose I could use the wood.
"Buffy!" Willow asserted. "In this case, violence is not the answer. Isn't that what you were saying outside on the street?"
"No," I growled, ready to fight my way through anything in my path. Sweat beaded on my forehead. Humidity even permeated the air inside the club. "Now *is* the time to get answers from a very doomed vamp whose name is Spike."
Willow wrapped her fingers around my fist that held the stake. "Wait, Buffy. Look."
Doubtfully, I surveyed the street vamp sidle up to Spike and that...that...*her*. Spike slipped out of the embrace, turning to speak with the other vampire. Willow tugged me along, remaining in the shadows. She was drawing us nearer the conversation, so we could eavesdrop.
When Willow and I finally found a place to roost, I forcibly calmed my rage further as I strained to hear what Spike was saying. As soon as I stopped moving, Spike's head lifted briefly. Confusion and uncertainty...and love?...flickered across his face as he glanced around as if searching for something. My heart foolishly danced with hope. Part of me longed for him to find me in the din of the club and chase all my fears away. But, just as quickly as he was distracted from what he was saying, he refocused. Disappointment soared, especially when *she* clasped his hand. I seethed inside at what I was witnessing.
Abruptly, Spike whipped out a wooden stake from an unknown hiding place, and the vampire we'd been following exploded into a cloud of dust. I was shocked when the people around him didn't even seem to notice. People in New Orleans must be highly habituated to weird occurrences...or maybe everyone was just drunk by midnight.
"Buffy, did you get that?" Willow was talking to me.
"Get what?" Had I missed something?
"What the vamp said to Spike?" she asked impatiently.
"I couldn't hear a thing." Distracted by my feelings, I hadn't heard anything.
"Boy, for someone with supposed heightened slayer senses, you sure are deaf."
I glared at her, and she snickered. The music changed, and I noted that Spike was gone. *Damn! I was so ready to kick his butt!*
Returning to serious mode, Willow reported, "Travis said..."
"Who's Travis?"
"The other vamp. Anyway, Travis said that he was left behind by his gang. He'd been out hunting, and they forgot him. Apparently, he recognized Spike. He was one of Spike's old minions. Anyway, when Spike asked Travis for the full story, he said that his group took several older men and a young girl out of New Orleans because of a security breach."
"Security breach?" I fought the urge to chase after Spike.
"I'm betting that Dawn made a little escape."
"Oh!" That made perfect sense to me. Dawn was turning out to be a resourceful young woman. Spike and I had raised her well in the last few years. I mentally shook myself. No thoughts about Spike allowed! They only hurt.
"And then, they recaptured her."
"Where did Travis say they went?"
"Some place in Texas...just over the Louisiana-Texas border...back the direction we came."
I was quiet.
"Buffy?" Willow prodded gently. "You do realize what this means?"
"What?" My eyes were wide with vulnerability...*so* not a good trait for a slayer who needed to be currently prepared for battle.
"Spike didn't hurt Dawn. He's trying to save her."
"But, why's he with that other...woman?"
"I don't know that one. Maybe she's helping him in some capacity."
"Oh." I wasn't too certain about the helping part. She was probably "helping" him in more ways than one. "Wait. What about all the blood in Dawn's room...I mean, it was her blood and everything...and Spike's missing stuff?"
"I don't know the answer to that one either, Buffy."
Straightening my shoulders in determination, I brushed the stray tears out of the corners of my eyes. "Texas, it is."
end of chapter 4
**Note, Travis means "at the crossroads," which is symbolic of this chapter.**