Beta by Sigma!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 10-

Painted on the kitchen wall, in what looked like blood, were ghastly words: 'Was it good for you, too?'

Spike raced in, Jonathan at his heel.

"Buffy..." The vampire gently turned her to face him.

"No." She shook her head violently. "We haven't looked everywhere...she's here. I know she is. It's just not real...she knows not to let him in, and he can't get in without an invitation...we took care of that..."

He didn't say anything for a moment. He knew all she said was true, but it was obvious that something had gone wrong. "Pet...Dawn isn't here, she would have found us by now."

"No! She's here! Saybe she's hurt and and she needs help...maybe she got away..." She screamed it at him before beginning to sob, as her worst nightmares came true one by one...as if someone up there knew exactly how to destroy her. "It's all my fault, Spike..."

"No, Buffy, it's not! How can you say that?" He gently brushed away her tears.

"Yes...it is...it is. You...I...she wanted to come with us, and I said no. You were afraid, and you thought that maybe she shouldn't be alone...but I only cared about saving the world and finding Angelus. Because of my stupidity, my sister could be dead or worse!"

"Slayer!!! Snap out of it now! It is not your blood fault!"

"I...I...all the things I told her about Angelus...she had this nightmare, few nights ago. She was so afraid of, and now she's all alone. she can't defend herself like me...You know Angelus. Do you think he won't hurt her? Do you really?!"

Spike held her close as she shook with the force of her sobs. They both knew that Angelus didn't have a good bone in him. He'd either killed Dawn or took her with him. Knowing him, he'd probably have taken her, so he could use her as bait. He didn't want that to happen to anyone, much less the girl he'd come to think of as a bit of a friend. "We'll get her back, Pet. I promise, we'll get her back."

***

About half an hour later, the Scoobies were in Buffy's ruined living room, all of them looking somber as they contemplated what Buffy'd just told them.

Meanwhile, the slayer sat quietly, curled up sadly on one of her remaining chairs as Spike paced in front of her.

"Will you cut it out?" snapped Xander at the vampire.

"Sorry, mate." Spike muttered distractedly, not realizing who he'd just apologized to.

"So..." Willow took a deep breath. "What do we know?"

Anya said matter-of-factly, "We know that the psycho-vampire Angelus was here, he didn't seem to fancy the house decoration much, he probably grabbed Dawn, and maybe he turned her?"

"An!" Xander whispered furiously.

"What?! It could be true. Buffy needs to know all the options."

"It also might not be true!" Willow snapped. "Buffy knows the risks here, and she knows Angelus."

"Yes, but still everyone is so cheerful! You're all 'we'll get her back,' but what if she's already..."

"Enough." Snarled Spike, staring at the demon dangerously.

Jonathan, stuck in the middle of the angry group as they began to argue loudly, silently wished that he was at home watching Xena without a care in the world.

"SHUT UP!!!" Buffy finally screamed, tears slipping down her cheeks.

They immediately silence, looking ashamed of themselves as they realized how much the slayer was already going through.

"I know what Angelus does to people. I know it because he did most of his repetoire to me. I'm not stupid. Your shouting at each other might be making me go deaf, but I'm still smart. I know that Dawn might be dead or turned. I know just how sick Angelus can be, but I also know that he wouldn't go to all this trouble just to kill my sister and watch me cry.

"It's different...I can feel it. He wants something from me and maybe from Dawn as well. I need all of you...all the help I can get. We need to try to locate Angelus. He'll probably leave me another message soon, but in the meantime, we can try to find him by ourselves.

"I think she's still alive...no, I KNOW it!!! It's not just wishful thinking. She's alive, and we will find her. I have two requests though: if you can't work together, then leave; if you don't have anything useful to add, then don't. I don't have any time to waste. If If you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower."

With that, she left the now-quiet room. The group just stood there for a few seconds before Willow started giving orders.

She had Spike and Anya to head out to talk to the demons, Xander and Jonathan (she told him do it or she'd feed him to Angelus) clean up the place, while she and Tara searched the web.

They worked furiously for a few hours, Buffy joining them, before Spike and Anya returned. Angelus was apparently in LA, and he'd indeed left them a message: "The key is in the hotel."

It was quite obvious that he meant the Hyperion Hotel, so they packed and drove off to LA. The whole group had decided to come, except Jonathan, even though Buffy really didn't want them in danger.

To be continued