Lost in the Smoke

Chapter 10

(Disclaimer in part one)

            The scene that greeted Willow when she looked up from the table was slightly ironic. Buffy, the girl who would rather take several beating than research, was urging everyone on and running the group like a drill sergeant.

            They were all gathered at Buffy's and had been since mid-afternoon. They had very little to go on about the explosion. Most people would start making a list of the intended victim's enemies, but with Spike that would have take longer than it takes Buffy to get dressed. Instead, they had brainstormed, coming up with nothing. Their resoles were wearing thin and their attentions were wavering.

            "I have an idea. I mean, it might work," Tara announced.

            "What do your idea baby?" Willow asked her lover.

            "There were cops and firefighters around right after the explosion weren't there? Maybe we could get a copy of their reports; see if they found anything while they were down there," Tara replied.

            "Good idea Tara. Will, you get on the computer and see what you can dig up. I think Spike and I should go over to the crypt and take a look ourselves. Then, maybe go beat up Willy and see if he knows anything," Buffy agreed with an evil grin at the thought of pummeling the town snitch.

            "Okay Buffy. We'll keep our noses to the grind," assured Willow.

            The Slayer nodded her acquiescence to her friend and walked out of her house, vampire boyfriend in tow.

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            The scent of char and ashes still clung to the area even after the several days that had transpired since the blast. Footprints from the various rescue squad members marred the ground just the entrance to the crypt. The stone that was still, what little there was, had been turned a grainy black   color from the sot caked on it, and the grass around the place was still scorched in places. Both blond warriors, temper by years of fighting stopped in their tracks at the sight; he because this was the first time he had seen his home in days, and she because then sight brought back the feelings she had felt when she had first witnessed the scene on the television.

            Buffy turned and looked at Spike. She could see the swirl of emotions just below the surface of his calm exterior. Putting all of her comfort in the act, she grasped his hand and placed it between hers.

            He glanced down at the love of his life and of his unlife and smiled despite the pain he was feeling. He should have felt aimless at the loss of his home, but he knew that he had a new home with the Slayer and her sister, and it wasn't like he had owned anything valuable anyway. They were all that mattered to him now.

            Inside, the crypt was a reminiscent of a deserted battlefield. Shards of this or that littered the area and the air was filled with a hallowed quality, a hush that neither of them wanted to shatter. Silently, they split up and set about the task of searching for anything useful. The upper level yielded no clues as to the culprit or even anything that could remotely be salvaged, so the pair made their way to the second level.

            After descending the ladder, it was evident that the blast had originated up top because this story was visibly less demolished. Things were almost as they had been when Spike had last seen them; minus the obvious charring and slight disarray. The hint of smoke in the air was diminished down there. A few sad minutes passed as they gave it a once over before leaving the crypt, both of them glad to leave it. The place held some good memories, but infinitely more bad ones then good, and Spike realized that he didn't really mind losing it, that he would much rather have the chance to make the memories ahead of him than to have the crypt back.

********

            When Buffy and Spike arrived at the Magic Box, Willow still had her head bent over the laptop on the research table, while Anya and Dawn passed some printouts between themselves. Tara was bringing her lover a cup of coffee. The redheaded witch looked up at her best friend beaming.

            "Hey Buff. I've got news," Willow said rather smugly.

            "Willow did her whole hacker thing and now we have something to go on," Dawn grinned.

            "Ooh Will, go you. So, what ya go for me?" the Slayer inquired taking a seat in Spike's lap and draping her right arm around his shoulders.

            "Well, I got into the fire department system first, which was a big bust. All the good details were in the Sunnydale police department mainframe. I printed out a copy of all of their reports," she said gesturing to the papers Anya and Dawn had, "Also, they had pictures and diagrams of what was left of the incendiary device that they found at the scene."

            Seeing the confused look that one glance at the schematics had put on his love's face, Spike decided to cut through all the technical mumbo-jumbo. "And all of this helps us how Red?"

            "I used the specifics of the device to determine where it could have been bought; that is assuming that it wasn't home made, or mail-ordered, or something else. But, I can tell from stuff on the Internet that it was probably purchased at one of maybe ten places in LA."

            "That narrows it down some I guess. At least it's more than we had," Buffy replied.

            "I don't see how you people can think that that is even remotely helpful. The only reason it probably came from LA is that it's the closest large city near here. It could have been purchased in another city and brought here, or even another country, or anywhere. And even if did come from Los Angeles, Willow said there were ten places it could have come from, in a city with that many people. It just doesn't seem to provide that much hope to me," Anya commented with her usual bluntness.

            "She does have a point luv," the resident vamp retorted, followed by a string of damns from his girlfriend.

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I am so sorry about the delay on this chapter everybody. I had major writer's block. I knew where I wanted to go with the story; I just didn't know how I wanted to get there. Plus, I'm not really happy with this chapter, but I don't know of how to improve it. Although getting it done has made me want to get back to writing faster. Please review and tell me what you think. Your reviews are a major helped to inspiring me.