"It's been too long, Xander still isn't back. If we don't start soon, it might be too late, but he's supposed to be here when we put the warding spell up." Tara asked, eyes flickering between the door and Willow's face.
Willow thought about this for a while. Concern for both her oldest friend and her newest one had her on edge. "Maybe he's getting coffee?" she suggested hopefully. "He could be back any minute."
Tara shook her head sadly. "It's been more than fifteen minutes, Willow, you know that. He should have been back at least five minutes ago if that's what he decided to do." She frowned. "I can't do the spell without him here. It's to protect him as much as us."
With a sigh, Willow nodded her agreement. "You're right. How about we wait a couple more minutes for him? Buffy and Angel are out there, if anything happened, then they would know, right? They would come get us, or, or tell us, or something."
The blonde girl's frown deepened, but she nodded reluctantly. "Okay, two more minutes. After that, we have to go to Buffy. It's not safe for him out there." Tara went over the components for the fourth time, mentally going through the chants she and Willow had prepared. If only Xander would hurry up and get back, they could get back to the plan.
~~
After a quick rummage through the boy's pockets, a set of keys shone in his hand. He lifted the boy easily and set him back in the shadows, where no one would see him. Blood ran down the dark haired boy's face, a slow trickle out of his nose. Nothing compared to that witch boy, but this one would have quite a headache when he woke up. Unless some of the resident vampires got to him first, he grinned.
He stood over the young man for a few moments wearing a dark smile. Maybe this one wouldn't get to wake up. But then, that wasn't his concern here. He slipped around behind the building, from where he'd seen the boy enter before. He slid the key into the lock on the back door and turned, opening the door easily and stepping inside. Now which of these halls lead to the witch's rooms?
~~
"Okay, let's go," Tara said boldly, stepping towards the door. "The sooner we go, the sooner we get some answers and get back." Willow looked really hesitant to leave the apartment. Also, she looked as though she felt guilty for Xander's absence.
"I never should have let him go, I should have been paying attention." She furrowed her brow and looked like she was trying not to cry. "If anything happened to him, it's no one's fault but mine."
Tara reached out a hand for Willow, who clasped it in her own. "It isn't your fault, we told him to stay here, and we were busy getting things ready for the spell. He knew he wasn't supposed to take off like that." She pulled Willow closer to her, then gently let go of her hand. Now was not the time to be distracted, she reminded herself sternly, struggling not to lose herself in those soft greenish eyes. "Come on, we'll tell Buffy and Angel what's happened and they'll help us."
"Okay," the redheaded witch answered quietly, trusting in Tara.
Together, they made their way down the front staircase. Tara opened the front door, and Buffy immediately stepped out towards them. "What's going on?" the Slayer asked quickly. "I thought you would have finished the spell by now. You're supposed to be safe up there watching The Princess Bride or something." She turned and looked over her shoulder into the shadows. "Angel, come on. Conference, here."
"Just a minute, I smell something," the vampire said, barely visible in the building's shadow. "It's … it's blood, and it's pretty close. I have to check on it, I'll be right back. It's coming from back here." He disappeared further into the shadows behind the building.
Tara gulped. "W-what? Blood? We, we came down to tell you – Xander's missing." Willow nodded from the doorway, where she clutched at the door frame to steady herself. They had noticed fairly quickly that Tara's door keys were missing, and had figured Xander must have picked them up so he could let himself back in from where ever he had gone. Willow wasn't about to let the door shut and get them all stuck outside with this thing on the loose. Especially when she didn't know where Xander was.
"What? He's missing? He was just here, like, a few minutes ago," Buffy exclaimed worriedly. "He said he was going right back up, he went in through the…." She turned her head towards where Angel had vanished. "Oh god."
Buffy and Tara both ran back into the shadows, leaving Willow partially in and partially out of the building, still holding the door. "Uh, guys?"
Tara turned back for a moment. "Willow, shut the door," she said firmly, decisively. "We'll come right back for you, but I w-want you safe. Stay inside, no matter what." Willow nodded and stepped back inside the building, letting the door shut before her as she watched Tara through the opening as long as she could. Tara waited until the door clanged shut, then rushed after Buffy.
"Unh, by head feels like a … sobethig bad," she heard Xander mutter. "A bad … thig." Angel knelt at the boy's side, and Buffy supported him gently.
"What happened?" the witch questioned urgently.
He held his head in his hands, sitting partway up. "I duddo. I cabe out to see if Buffy deeded adythig, and I was on by way back when sobethig cracked be on the back of the head. Does this look broken to you?" he asked, wincing as he felt his nose gingerly with one hand.
"You look okay. Well, not really okay, but passable," Buffy said reassuringly. "I can't believe that thing got this close and we didn't even know it!"
Tara, however, had other concerns now that she knew Xander was all right. "Keys, where are the keys? W-we have to get back inside. Then W-Willow and I can-"
The bloodied young man felt in his pocket for the keys, still cupping the other over his nose. "Yeah, umb, they're right … doh, they bust be in this one." He pulled out a pair of keys on a worn key chain. "Oops, those are bine. Yours are right … doh, right … shit."
If he hadn't been hurt, Tara would have liked to cuff him a solid blow to the head. "You lost my keys! You took off, were attacked by that thing, and lost my keys!"
"Or someone took them," Angel pointed out.
The usually patient and calm Wiccan threw up her hands. "You let a monster steal my keys!"
"Hey," Xander said defensively, "I dididt like, hand theb over or adything. 'Excuse be, are you a demon? How about you dock be out and take these keys? Bet that'd be fun!'"
Tara was ready to scream with frustration. "Willow's in there! Now whatever stole the keys can get in too!"