Chapter 2: Ten Little Indians...
"The view is amazing from here," commented Willow, looking out the huge window that overlooked the water all around them. On the coast, she could see the small pinpoints of light that bordered the mainland.
"I know," agreed Tara, coming behind Willow and encircling her arms around the redhead's waist, leaning her chin on her shoulder. "Can you smell the air? Hear the lapping of the waves? It's so… relaxing."
They heard the snort from behind them, but chose to ignore the continuing saga that was Dawn's bad attitude. Even Xander was losing his patience as he sat beside her and said, "Ease up, Dawn. We all know you hate this, but you're here now, so just lighten up."
Dawn looked at him with a serious, worried expression. "Xander, there's something not right here, okay? I have this really bad feeling. I can't just ignore it."
Buffy threw her arms up in frustration. "Dawn, how many times do we have to tell you it's safe here? Giles gave us his word that his friend cleaned this place out, okay? Now, just calm down and relax!"
Dawn glared at her sister, but said nothing. She moved over to the armchair in the corner and sat there, curled up with her tea, shutting everyone out.
Buffy sighed and rubbed her temples. She took a sip of the steaming tea Giles had set out and tried to relax, which wasn't easy with two vampires staring at her from every corner. Angel she felt she could handle later, for the moment, he and Cordelia were regaling Anya and Giles with tales from LA.
Spike was a different story. Since they landed in England, he had been unusually silent, speaking only when necessary. She would have thought he would have been happy to be back in his mother country but he stayed close to them, not venturing out to visit his old homeland. Since they set out for Devon to reach Indian Island, he had not said a word, keeping to himself. Dawn's attitude and Anya and Xander's arguing had distracted her from noticing until now.
She would have rather not approach him, knowing her proximity was like rubbing salt into an open wound. Their breakup after Riley's return had created an increased uncomfortableness between the two of them. But as Buffy glanced around the room, she noted no one else would approach him. It was obvious there was no love lost between Xander and Spike, or between Angel and Spike. Cordelia didn't know about the changes Spike had gone through and remembered him as the Spike that tried to kill her. Anya was too selfish and Willow and Tara were too busy trying to make their relationship work. Dawn was busy sulking and Giles was trying valiantly to make the weekend enjoyable.
No, Buffy was the only one and so with this in mind, she slid beside him and said, "Okay, what's the what? Why are you being all Mr. Pouty?"
"I'm not," he answered, morosely.
"Yes, you are. You haven't said a word since we got here. So, spill."
Spike sighed. "Nothing, luv. Just wallowing in traditional British stuffiness, I suppose."
"Oh, come on, we're supposed to be having fun! What do you want to do?" she asked, bouncing beside him, trying to get him interested. He looked at her, pointedly and she stopped in mid-bounce, reading his mind. "Except that. Look, Spike," she whispered quietly, looking over her shoulder at the rest of the group to see if anyone was listening then back at him, "I know this is hard, but really, it was for the best. It wasn't gong to work between us, you know that."
"Do I?" Spike turned towards her and said, "Never gave us a real chance, Buffy. You stopped it before we even tried. Didn't have the heart to tell anyone…you still don't," he said, as she looked over her shoulder again. She smiled sheepishly, caught in the act as he turned away from her. "Can't use that as an excuse anymore, Slayer. Fess up, you were just scared, plain and simple."
"I was not!" she added, indignantly. "Spike, you're a vampire, I'm a Slayer. Tell me how that was supposed to work?!"
"Worked for you and Peaches."
"Angel is different, he has a soul. And look! Still didn't work!" she hissed.
"That's because the bloody wanker's up on blocks! He can't even look at you without Angelus threatening to pop out!" Spike sighed and looked away. "You can't just expect me to be content about this, Slayer. Just leave me the hell alone."
"Fine! Sit here and sulk, just like my sixteen-year-old sister! Funny, after a hundred years, you'd think you'd be a bit more mature," said Buffy, rising to her feet.
Spike looked up at her and replied, "Your sis's got it right on the nose, Summers. This place… you don't know England, pet. It's got ways of holding on to you. A way of keeping the past alive. This house has a history, luv… and it won't let you forget it."
"You too, Spike? Dead people? Ghosts?"
"No, I'm just saying…"
"What, Spike? You're not making any sense!"
Spike hardened his jaw and looked away, frustrated at his inability to correcting express his reservations. He settled for a calm, "Just don't say I didn't warn you," that sent Buffy to the other end of the room in equal frustration.
He saw how Angel leaned over to ask her what was wrong. Seeing them together almost killed him as unresolved feelings for the Slayer and her first lover, his sire, tumbled in his head. Suddenly, he felt like he could no longer sit in the same room. He rose to leave when Giles said, "Spike, there's a small cabinet to your right. No, lower. Yes, there. There's a player in there, would you be so kind to press play?"
Spike pressed the button, his frustration set aside as the sweet notes of his favorite musical piece filled the room. Not like any of these pillocks would know that, but it was enough to have him sit down again, averting his eyes from the former lovers and listening to the music under the guise of sulking.
"What is this, Giles?" asked Tara.
"Just a small selection of pieces I chose to set a relaxing environment. I can stop it if you care," he offered.
"No, no, it's lovely."
They sat, conversing quietly for awhile, in the beauty of that music when it abruptly stopped and a deep voice came out of nowhere.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, SILENCE, PLEASE!"
It caused Willow and Cordelia to shriek in surprise as Dawn looked furtively around her and asked, "What the hell was THAT?!"
The voice continued and said,
"You have been charged with the following indictments:
Rupert Edward Giles, you are charged with the death of one Laura Adams on 22nd day of March, 1972.
Tara Louise MacClay, you are responsible for the assault and murder of one Raymond MacClay on the 21st day of August, 1994.
Cordelia Chase, on the 18th day of May, 1999, you were party to the death of Marcus Perry.
William Harold Boyd, you killed one Edward Anthony Boyd, the 25th day of September 1868.
Willow Rosenberg, you have been guilty of the deaths of Lisa Garraty and Emmanuel Richards, the 17th day of April, 2000.
Dawn Mary Summers, you are charged with the death of Barry Grant on the 10th day of October, 2001.
Liam ó Coileáin, you were responsible for the rape and murder of Erin Mac Carthaigh, the 12th day of December, 1756.
Elizabeth Anne Summers, you have been charged with the knowledge and abetting of the murder of Deputy Mayor Allen Finch on the 5th day of April, 1999.
Aud Andersdotter, you are guilty of the death of Leif Fredrickson, the 4th day of March, 895.
Alexander LaVelle Harris, you are accused of the death of Aaron Joseph Harris on the 15th day of January, 1983.
Prisoners at bar, have you anything to say in your defense?"
The silence resounded in the room when the voice finished speaking. Prisoners at bar, have you anything to say in your defense? The voice echoed in Xander's head. Defense? He thought. What defense? He didn't…
"What the HELL was that?!" Dawn repeated again. "GILES…?" she intoned hysterically.
"Calm down, Dawn," he said, shakily. "I'm sure there's a reasonable… explanation."
"Ghosts is what it is," Spike muttered.
"No, it can't be!" cried Willow, sitting down nervously. "We would have felt it, Tara and me, we would have!"
Tara looked worriedly at Willow and said, "Hush, honey. We'll figure this out…"
Angel was glancing and feeling around the room, trying to find out where the sound came from.
"What was that all about? Murder? Why was he accusing us?!" added Cordelia.
Buffy paced to where Cordelia was and said, "I don't know. We have to find out where that voice came from. Xander, you and Spike go check outside. Anya, take Cordelia and check upstairs. Tara, maybe you can do some energy spell, find out if there actually…"
"I can't," replied Tara.
"Huh?"
"No magic, remember? We don't have our powers," she explained.
"Oh." Buffy bit her lip, worriedly as she tried to think.
"So, we're screwed?" moaned Willow.
"No," replied Buffy. "We just… have to use our brains, that's all."
Giles looked as if he were struck by an idea and walked over to the small cabinet with the player. He pressed a few buttons and they all heard, "– ged with the knowledge and abetting of the murder of Deputy Mayor Allen Finch on the 5th day of April, 1999. Aud Andersdotter, you are guilt – "
"Oh, turn it off, turn it off!" cried Dawn, holding her hands to her ears.
"It's horrible," whispered Cordelia, as Giles hurriedly pressed the stop button.
Angel walked up beside Giles and pulled out the compact disc. "Guess we've determined where the voice came from. You made this?" he asked Giles.
"Um, no. Actually, my colleague did. You know my ineptness with those blasted computers!" he said, defensively. "I gave him the names of the pieces… He created the disc for me."
"Yeah, well, I had just about enough of your 'colleague'," said Anya, angrily. "He takes my powers and now, this!"
"I want to go home," whined Dawn in agreement.
"Look, let's get calm down, okay?" Buffy said, glaring at her sister. Turning to Giles, she asked, "Why don't you tell us about your friend? Why would he accuse us like that?"
"First of all," started Giles, "that's not his voice. John's voice is much more high-pitched, not so booming, if you will. Secondly, the person who recorded that knew more details about us that most of us in this room. John is very skilled, but not quite so informed."
"Giles is right," added Angel. "Whoever is on this disc knew quite a bit. He even knew my full name, something few knew. He knew Spike's real name… and dates… and events."
"But come on, Angel, accusing us of stuff that never happened?" asked Cordelia.
"What wasn't true?"
"Everything!" she cried. "None of killed anyone! Well… except for you… and Spike… and Anya… Okay, but come on, Dawn? Xander? Willow? None of the rest of us ever killed anyone!"
"I told you all this was stupid!" exploded Dawn. "We have to get out of this house right now!"
"All right, Dawn. Just take it easy," Xander said, putting his arm on her shoulder.
Dawn shrugged it off aggressively. "Stop telling me to take it easy and to calm down! We shouldn't calm down! Something's playing with our heads! Can you see it?!"
She rose and tried to storm out of the room, but she walked into Spike who was leaning on the doorjamb. He casually stopped her by putting his arm out and gave her a look that said, 'I'm on your side here. I get you.' It reassured her and she turned to face the group who listened as Cordelia cried out, "Okay, so what about this other stuff? Tara assaulting someone? Xander killing someone? And I did not kill Marcus, I didn't!!" She sat down heavily, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.
Buffy nodded. "Maybe we should clear up these accusations. Who's Marcus?"
Cordelia sniffed as she looked up at Buffy. "You don't remember Marcus Perry?"
Xander snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! Marcus! You know, Buffy, he was president of the chess club in high school?"
"The one with the big glasses? Didn't he have like, the hugest crush on you?" she asked Cordelia.
Cordy nodded, as a soft look took over her features. "Looking back, it was kinda of sweet. He didn't do anything creepy like follow me around. He just kinda doodled my name in notebooks and wrote these poems that everyone found out about. The guys from the football team found out and they decided to 'teach him a lesson.' I was in high school! I was cool! I couldn't protect someone like him!" she said, defensively. "They grabbed him one night and strung him up behind the school, on that big oak tree? They took his clothes…" She looked down at her hands. "He froze to death," she whispered. "And I was too cool to save him…"
"Come on, you couldn't have possibly known…" said Tara.
"But you could have told someone," added Buffy, arms crossed. "You left him to die, Cordy!"
"Don't look at me so high and mighty!" Cordy countered. "You think I don't regret it? You don't think I wish I could take it back?! Why do you think I went to LA? I tried to escape from it! The guilt, the pain, the nightmares! But you wouldn't understand that, would you, Miss Goody-Two-Slayer…? No, wait, I think you would. I don't think I would talk if I were you… I'm not the only in this room with blood on her hands!"
Tara put her hand on Cordy's shoulder and looked at Buffy, who stood, mouth open. "She's right. The voice," she pointed to the disc in Angel's hand, "said you were responsible for the murder of Deputy Mayor Allen Finch. What was that about?"
Buffy blinked at her then answered, "Well, it was before you came into our lives, Tara. Remember I told you about the other Slayer?"
"Faith?"
"Yes. She killed the Deputy Mayor. It was Faith, not me!" said Buffy.
"No, the voice said you were responsible for the knowledge and abetting of the murder of Deputy Mayor Allen Finch," corrected Anya. "You were there, weren't you?"
"Well, I did know about it, but I tried to… help Faith, get her to take responsibility," Buffy defended.
"You were still part of it," whispered Cordy, venomously.
Buffy stared at Cordy icily as Willow tried to ease the tension by saying, "Well, the voice said I killed two people, Lisa Garraty and Emmanuel Richards," whispered Willow. "I did do that… The magic…" Willow looked ashamed as she recounted, "I made more mistakes learning than I let on. I grew in power, but despite what you all thought, it was more like trial and error. One day, I tried a… conjuring spell. I thought I was ready. I thought I was alone in the forest, I did. I was creating ice, I created sheets of it, covering the river, the ground… and two students behind a tree. I didn't know they were there!" she sobbed. "When I unfroze them, it was too late!"
"Why didn't you tell anyone, Wills?" asked Xander, concerned.
Willow looked up with tear-filled eyes. "You would have made me stop. And even thought I killed them, I… I didn't want you guys to make me stop."
Tara sat beside Willow and stroked her back. "It's okay, you stopped now, that's what's important…"
"I killed them, Tara. And I didn't care. I just left them… It's not okay," she whispered, wiping her tears away.
"What about you, Tara? The voice said you assaulted someone?" asked Giles, quietly.
Tara looked up and nodded. "Raymond MacClay, my uncle. I was five. My uncle… he was a drunk. One night, he came over, he had been drinking… He was arguing with my brother, pushed him." Tara ran her hand through her hair as she remembered. "I grabbed the pan, I don't what I thought I was going to do. I was five! I thought I could maybe… stop him." She looked back up at Giles. "I hit him," she said, simply. "Cracked his skull. They acquitted me, of course. It was self-defense!" She looked around at the group looking at her. "I didn't intentionally kill him, okay?" she said, loudly.
"We know," said Xander. "It's okay. Really."
"And you, Xander?" asked Angel. "The voice said you killed someone."
"I didn't kill him!" Xander spun to face Angel, angrily. "You have no right – " Buffy put her hand on Xander's chest to prevent him from launching himself onto Angel. Xander tried to get past her, then gave up and walked away from them, turning to Willow.
She looked at him thoughtfully and said, "It wasn't your fault, Xander."
"It wasn't?" he asked, almost unsure of himself, then more resolutely, "It wasn't." Xander turned to the window and looked out at the dark waters as he said, quietly, "Aaron was my brother. We were playing in the park, climbing trees. All kids climb trees, right?"
When no one answered, he wrung his hands and added, "Aaron was always trying to prove himself. To me, to my dad, to anyone who would notice. I told him he was climbing too high but he insisted. He fell, broke his neck. I'll forget that sound as he landed." Xander shivered. "But I didn't kill him! It was an accident!"
Angel nodded thoughtfully, but Xander misinterpreted the nod of sympathy as one of sarcasm. "Hey, you killed people, too! Lots of them! Don't be looking down on me, all right?!"
"I wasn't," said Angel, gently. "I know I killed people, Xander. I don't excuse it. I feel it, all their pain, all their… But I'm a vampire. At the same time as I regret, I also accept that I can't change the past or excuse the fact that I was… am a demon. Angelus is still in me, and while I, my soul, controls him now, I didn't always used to."
He paused thoughtfully, then added, "The voice used my Gaelic name, Liam ó Coileáin. Haven't heard that in over… two hundred years. And despite all the people I've tortured, maimed, killed, he chose Erin. Erin Mac Carthaigh," Angel reminisced. "My first girl, you could say."
Angel turned to face them all. "My name is Angel, but I wasn't always one. Even before Darla found me. I was a drunk, a womanizer, a lazy bastard. I did anything and everything to disappoint my father. Nothing I could do would please him. And so, when he tried to 'arrange' my marriage, so I could be an 'upstanding, God-fearing man'," his voice hinted at an old Irish brogue as he mimicked his father, "I did everything I could to hurt him. I met with the darling virgin girl he had found for me, his business partner's daughter. I drank heavily that night, and… I raped her. I then left her there, stumbling home in the dark. They found her body the next morning. No one could prove I did it, but the whole village spoke in whispers when I was around. I left her for dead and I was human. No excuse of a demon there, no Angelus. It was me, pure and simple. I killed her," he said, simply. "That's what Darla saw in me. The evil that already existed. So, looking back, I can see sometimes how becoming Angelus… wasn't really a stretch."
Buffy looked at him, her face blanched. "Angel," she whispered. "How could you?"
Angel shrugged in sadness. "I can say I was drunk, I can say I getting back at my father. But I would be lying. There's evil in us all, Buffy. I was evil. I can't excuse it. And of all the people I've killed, hers is the death I regret the most. She was so innocent and I… I took everything away from her," he said, quietly.
They sat quietly for a bit, absorbing what Angel said, then Dawn asked, "Am I evil, then?"
"No!" cried Buffy. "You're not evil," she insisted.
"But Barry… I killed Barry Grant," Dawn replied.
"What?!"
"Well," Dawn said. "Not intentionally." She sighed audibly, then looked at Buffy. "I lied, okay? Last year, during the whole Glory thing, I said I was going to Janice's, but I lied. I didn't go. I was going out with Barry. It was innocent. He'd pick me up, we'd go parking. You know." She fiddled with the edge of the wall as she confessed, "I asked him to let me drive. Begged him. He finally agreed and I want to show off. Cool Dawn, I can drive a car, no problem. We hit a tree…"
"Dawnie…" admonished Willow, in a hushed voice.
"I didn't know he'd die!" screamed Dawn. "He was bleeding… everywhere. I tried to wake him, but… I was so scared! I just ran and ran and ran! I didn't know! I didn't know!"
She turned and tumbled into Spike's arms, bawling loudly as he tried to calm her. "It's okay, Nibblet… shh, hush, now, that's my girl…"
"You know, I knew she was no good. First, she steals from me, and now, this!" cried Anya, from her corner.
"Anya!" said Xander, shocked at her tactlessness.
"It's true!" crowed Anya. "They have special places for girls like her…"
"Oh, and you're Little Miss Perfect?! Miss Vengeance Demon for a Thousand Years?!" Xander shot back.
Anya shrugged indifferently. "It was my job, Xander. Not like you cared enough to consider that…"
"Aud Andersdotter… no one by that name here, but your name wasn't on the recording, Anya…" Willow said. "You're Aud?"
"My real name. My real name before Anyanka, that is," she replied.
"So that guy, he was just one of your 'customers'?" mocked Buffy.
"Who, Leif? No, I knew him way before D'Hoffryn approached me. No, he was my best friend's husband."
After a small pause, Willow prodded, "And how did you kill him?"
"Hmm? Oh, well, he was cheating on her, of course, like all the slimy pigs that are men do. He got sick. I had medicine. I chose not to give it to him. He died. End of story."
"You just let him die when you could have saved him?" asked Tara, unbelievably.
"He was scum! Besides, I gave the medicine to this other girl. I saved her… She was much more deserving."
"What are you, God?" asked Giles. "You simply cannot decide who deserves to live or die, Anya!"
Anya spun to face Giles. "Look, it wasn't easy to live in those times. You made sacrifices, choices! It wasn't easy to survive, so I chose my battles. That girl was needed. Leif was a waste of human flesh. I don't regret it!"
"How could you be so heartless?" he replied.
"How can I…? Hey, you're not so innocent yourself! You're on that recording too, you know!"
"Yeah, Watcher. Besides, you're the chap who brought us here. What's your story?" added Spike.
Giles looked away from Anya to Spike, then back as he cleared his throat. The he answered calmly, saying, "Laura. Laura Adams. I don't believe I met anyone by that name, much less killed her."
"So, it's not true?" asked Buffy.
"Of course it's not true! I don't know her! How can I kill her?" Turning to Spike again, he added, "I brought you here to relax. Now I fear that was a mistake. There is an old radio up in the study. I shall try to radio the mainland and have someone fetch us."
As Giles left to do so, the other nine stared at each other, exhausted at the revelations made that night. Dawn looked up at Spike and said, "You didn't tell us."
"Tell you what, little one?"
"Who you killed… the recording…"
Spike pulled the tear-stained girl off his chest and set her aside, saying, "It's not important now, is it?"
"Hold on, that's not fair! We all confessed, you should too…" cried Willow.
"Yeah, deadboy, spill," said Xander.
Spike looked at them and answered, "Unlike the lot of you, I'm evil. I have no obligation to tell you all anything."
"Come on," said Dawn. "Please?"
Spike looked at the young girl's expression, her need for him to be her equal. He sighed and reluctantly said, "Edward Anthony Boyd was my father. I… I was a weak boy. Never thought I'd have something in common with my sire, except a blood bond, but I also didn't seem to quite live up to my old man's expectations. One day, when I was a young boy, we were coming home from the shops when a couple of swaddlers came up and attacked us, wanting his money and all. My father ordered me to go find the police and so I ran, but by the time I found someone and came back, it was too late. They had left him for dead."
"So… you didn't kill him?" asked Anya, hesitantly.
"No, just was too much a nancy-boy to save him is all," he answered, head low as he slid into the small armchair.
"But…" she started, then decided against what she was to say when Giles came back in.
"Blasted machine's useless," he announced. "Doubt it's been used in over twenty years."
"So, we're stuck here?" asked Willow.
"No, no, no…" moaned Dawn, rocking slightly on her heels.
Giles ignored her and answered Willow. "I'm afraid so. At least until Monday."
Xander added, "Even if Giles had been able to get through, I don't think we would have made in to the mainland."
"Huh?"
He pointed outside and Willow saw the gray thunderclouds loom overhead. "Storm's on the way. I'll look at the radio in the morning, but I think it might be the storm's interference that's the problem."
"Well, looks like we're here for tonight," concluded Angel. "Maybe we should get some rest," he suggested as Dawn looked at him, petrified.
"No! We can't stay here! We… we have to leave! Please!" she cried.
Buffy came to her sister and said, "Dawn, there's nothing we can do. We have no choice."
"Please, Buffy, I can't stand it here! Please!" Dawn begged, tears pouring down her face as she shivered in fear. She looked at Spike and said, "Spike! Tell them! Tell them it's not safe here!"
"Dawn, get a hold of yourself! You're hysterical!" Buffy pushed his sister down onto the couch and sat beside her, trying to soothe her.
Cordy handed Buffy Dawn's tea and Buffy pushed it into Dawn's shaking hands as she said, "I promise, the minute we can get off this island, we will, okay?"
Dawn nodded hesitantly, but her expression showed her fears were still not allayed.
"Don't worry, Nibblet," added Spike. "It'll all be better soon."
Dawn looked at him, warily, then took a long gulp of her tea. Perhaps too long of one. For as soon as she swallowed, she started choking uncontrollably.
"Dawn?" Buffy asked. "Dawn!" Spike's eyes widened in concern as he rushed beside her just as Buffy instinctively started thumping on her back.
"Stop! You'll make it worse!" he cried as he grabbed Buffy's arm to stop her and quickly laid Dawn on her back, going through the initial steps of CPR.
"Breathe into her mouth," he ordered, pulling Buffy forcibly on her knees to the ground on his right. "One breath every five seconds. Go!"
Buffy reacted instinctively to the authority in his voice and put her mouth on Dawn's, doing as he said. She saw him start to do compressions, but after a few minutes, he stopped her and felt Dawn's neck for a pulse.
"Sh-she's not br-br-breathing…" hiccupped Buffy, eyes wide at Spike's expression. "We have to…" Buffy leaned over to resume her breathing, when Spike stopped her with his hand, shaking his head slightly.
"She's gone, Buffy," he said, sadly. He reached over and closed Dawn's eyes as the first tears streamed down his face.
"No," said Buffy. She saw Spike crying and noticed it was the first time she had ever seen him cry. "No," she repeated louder, shaking her head vigorously for emphasis.
Xander, standing in shock behind Buffy, reached out for her as she rose to her feet. She slapped his hand away, angrily as she repeated once more, "No!", refusing to believe Dawn was dead.
Spike dropped his head on Dawn's chest in defeat, uncaring for the people around him who were witnessing his profuse grief.
"Buffy!" cried Angel, forcibly holding her by the upper arms and making her look at him.
"Angel?" She… She can't be…" she whispered.
"She is," he answered, softly.
Angel saw as Buffy's lower lip began to tremble and the tears that slid down her face as he took her into his arms. She wailed into his shoulder as he rubbed her back. Angel looked at the others who were frozen in shock. He saw Xander slide him a look of utter contempt for having be able to be there for Buffy when she rejected his comfort.
"H-how did this h-happen?" said Willow, when she re-found her ability to speak.
Tara shook her head in wonder. "She was drinking and…"
"…she choked," completed Cordy, reaching for the cup of tea. But Spike beat her to it, scooped the half-empty cup off the saucer as he rose. He tried to sniff the tea, but growled in frustration as he remembered he had no vampiric smell. Instead, he quickly downed a gulp of the lukewarm tea before anyone could react.
"Spike, no!" cried Tara as she saw the blond vampire's knees give out, causing him to slump to the ground, unconscious. She ran to his side on her knees and propped up his head onto her lap. "Spike, wake up! Don't die!"
"He's already dead," Giles reminded her, coming up behind her.
"He'll come to in a few minutes," Angel agreed, "Vampires cannot choke… or be poisoned. It merely stuns us for a few moments."
"Poisioned?" whispered Buffy.
Giles picked up the cup of tea and sniffed it as well.
"Don't, Giles," warned Willow. "We don't know what that stuff is!"
Giles smiled weakly, then said, "The tea smells a little unusual. Perhaps Dawn did not simply choke…"
A groan came from Spike as he came to, holding his head in pain. "What the hell - ?"
Tara shushed him, as she stroked back his hair. "Easy, Spike, you had a nasty spell."
Spike managed to sit up and saw the cup in Giles' hand. "It's been tainted," he said, rubbing the nape of his neck.
Giles nodded, as he saw Cordelia sniffing the tea in the pot and the other cups. "I think it was just Dawn's cup," she said.
"But why? Why would someone want to hurt Dawn?" asked Xander, forcefully.
"I don't know," replied Giles. "Could you identify the poison?" he asked Spike.
Spike shook his head. "No vampiric taste… but it did taste a bit strange… like nuts…"
"Almonds!" Giles sniffed the tea again and nodded.
"Almonds are poisonous?" asked Anya.
Willow stood beside Giles and sniffed the tea as well, saying, "No, but a typical indication of poisons are their smell. Like an almondy kind of smell usually indicates a cyanide of some kind."
"Probably potassium," agreed Giles. "Almost instantaneous effect and relatively easy to acquire."
"Who would poison my sister?!" yelled Buffy, not quite believing what she was hearing.
Angel put his hands on her shoulders. "We'll find out, Buffy. Don't worry. Are you sure it's potassium cyanide?" he asked Willow.
Spike snorted and offered up the cup. "Fancy a taste, Peaches?"
Angel scowled at him, but eyed the cup thoughtfully as Buffy snatched the cup and smashed it into the fireplace, saying, "Enough with the tea! My sister's dead! I want to know who did this!"
Spike looked into her eyes and replied seriously, "We will, pet. We will."