Chapter 13
"Buffy, Will's got something." Xander said coming into the living room where Buffy and Angel sat. It had been a day and a half since Buffy had told them about Cassie. Since then, everyone had been researching.
Buffy stood and followed Angel and Xander into the dining room. Willow had Cassie's records pulled up. Buffy sat down and read what the screen said.
"Cassie's records all show the same thing." Buffy said. "Good grades, good kid, then all of a sudden not so good grades, absenteeism, comments about apathy and depression."
"So, the question is, what changed?" Angel asked.
"Right. If she did have some sort of psychic vision, that would explain it."
"Do you really think this girl is some kind of precog?" Willow asked.
"Oh, I don't know. I told you about the shirt, right?"
"Buffy, you spilled a cup of coffee. I'm not saying you don't have slayer grace, but it's not the first time." Angel said.
"I mean maybe, just maybe, you're trying so hard to help that you're seeing paranormal when there's just normal." Willow said.
"Maybe. But maybe not."
"Want me to check her medical records?"
"Her doctor already sent them." Buffy handed the folders to Xander.
"Let me see that. Strep throat. Ear infections. Yeast infections. None of my business.. no real info here." Xander said, putting the folders down.
"Have you Googled her yet?" Willow asked.
"Willow, she's 17!"
"It's a search engine. Look. Ok, let's see what 'Cassie Newton' pulls up." The computer beeped. "Hey, look. Check this. She's got her own site."
"A day and a half of researching, and we finally try looking up her." Xander said.
"Wow, that's a lot of poems." Buffy said, looking at the brightly colored website.
"Poems. Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil."
"The sheets above me cool my skin like dirt on a mad woman's grave I rise into the moonlight white and watch the mirror stare. Pale fish looks back at me. Pale fish that will never swim. My skin is milk for no man to drink. My thighs unused unclenched. This body is not ready yet. But dirt waits for no woman and coins will buy no time. I hear the chatter of the bugs. It's they alone will feast." Willow read.
"Ok, death is really on her brain." Xander said as Conner and Dawn walked in.
"We all deal with death." Dawn said.
"This girl isn't just dealing, she's giving death a long, sloppy word-kiss. She has a yen for the big dirt-nap."
"I don't know. I mean, a lot of teens post some pretty angsty poetry on the web. I mean, I even posted a melodramatic love poem or two back in the day." Willow said.
"Love poems?"
"I'm over you now, sweetie."
"Love poems!"
"Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fan-fic. It's all normal, right? Let's see what other sites there are."
"You guys are way off track. I got a hunch on this one." Dawn said. No one paid her any attention.
"Oh, wait, no, here's something. No, that's Philip Newton." Willow said.
"No, that's her dad. Open it." Buffy said.
"Guys, I'm telling you. I got this case cracked wide-open. I got the perp fingered. I told you 'bout Mike Helgenberg, right?" Dawn asked.
"Uh, that's the guy that asked her to the dance?"
"Right. The one that keeps asking her to the dance. I'm thinking, who likes to be rejected? Nobody. I'm thinking, some people can't handle the rejection. I'm thinking that.."
Willow cut Dawn off. "Hey, I got something. Whoa, drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace. There's a lot of charges here."
"Her dad's a drunk?"
"A violent drunk?" Angel asked.
"We'd better find out. I have his address right here." Buffy said. "Angel?"
"Coming."
Angel and Buffy drove the van over to Cassie's father's house. It was a dingy little place that looked ok in the dark. In the light it probably looked run down. It was small and shoved into a corner of an old neighborhood. Buffy and Angel walked up to the door and knocked.
"Buffy, the vampire slayer, would break down this door." Buffy said.
"And Buffy, the counselor?" Angel asked.
"Waits." They looked at the door as Mr. Newton opened the door. "Mr. Newton?"
"That's right." Mr. Newton said.
"I work at your daughter's school. I need to talk to you." For a second, the man just stood there. "May we come in?"
"Sure. Come on in."
Buffy looked at Angel as he walked through the door nervously. He was always nervous when he walked through a door he was just invited through.
"So, is she screwing up her grades again? Because she's not the sharpest apple in the barrel." Mr. Newton said.
"She's got some problems. But it's, um, it's kind of you we wanted to talk about." Buffy said.
"What about?"
"We know you've been picked up by the police a couple of times. We wanted to know if you still drink a lot." Buffy noticed the bottles on the counter.
"What's that got to do with Cassie?"
"Frankly, we were worried that you might drink too much and hurt Cassie. That's all."
"Oh. Oh, I see. That's.. that's all. You just come in here in the middle of the night, into my home, and start accusing me of beating on my daughter? That's all?"
"We just want to make sure that Cassie's.."
"Well, that's a lie! Who told you this? Did Cassie's mother put you up to this, 'cause I pay my support, ok? To the dime! She just wants to take away the one weekend a month I get to be with my girl."
"Which is when?"
"What?"
"Which weekend is it?"
"I-I just had her last weekend. Look, I may not be the greatest dad in the world, but I don't beat up my daughter."
"So, you won't be seeing her this Friday, then?"
"Not unless my ex-wife gets a personality transplant."
"Ok."
"Ok what? Ok now you'll get out of my house?"
"Yeah."
Buffy and Angel are walked back out to the car when they saw Cassie had just pulled into the driveway. She used a remote keyless entry system to lock her car, which beeped.
"It's not him. He's not the one who does it. Thank you for trying, but I probably shouldn't have told you anything. You're making such a big deal out of it, and I want it to all to just go away." Cassie said.
"Are you talking about killing yourself?" Angel asked.
"No, of course not!"
"Then fight. Try." Buffy said.
"There's no point. I told you.."
"This doesn't sound like someone who really wants to live."
"You think I want this? You think I don't care? Believe me, I want to.. be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal.. I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music. To wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff. I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will."
"You will. Cassie, you will. You just have to tell us what you know. You have to tell us everything. Please, help us."
"I can't. I just know it's gonna happen. I don't know why and I don't know how, but something out there is gonna kill me."
Buffy and Angel stared helplessly at Cassie as she went up to the door of her dad's house. Angel took Buffy's hand and led her to the van. He drove Buffy up to the bluff where Angel had tried to kill himself near the mansion. They got out and walked up to the cliff.
"Why are we here?" Buffy asked.
"You need to clear your head. This is the best view I could find for you." Angel said.
Buffy wrapped her arms around Angel's neck and started to cry. "I don't know how to help her! She won't tell me anything."
"Shh. Please Buffy, don't cry. We'll figure this out."
"What if we don't? I can't sit back and watch a girl die because I didn't help."
"You are helping. You're doing everything in your power right now. We've got a few more days. I'll call Faith, have her help. I think she'll be glad to get away from that basement."
Friday afternoon came around too quickly for Buffy. She, Angel, Xander, and Willow were at the house on Buffy's lunch break trying to find anything and everything about Cassie. Conner and Dawn were in school keeping an eye on Cassie. Faith knocked on the door and came in. She motioned to Buffy to follow her into the living room.
"What is it?" Buffy asked.
"I've been trying to get Spike to talk all night, but it's not working. He may know something since he's in that basement 24/7, but he's playing comatose. Maybe you could come down and see if you can get anything out of him?"
"All right. I have to get to work anyway." Buffy walked into the dining room and grabbed her jacket and keys to the van.
She and Faith drove to the High School and went down into the basement. They walked around, looking for Spike. When they found him, he was crouched on the floor. He had got the "bad hair of redemption", unkempt and not slicked back. Buffy walked up to him, and waved her hand in front of his eyes. He didn't respond. She snapped in front of his face, and he still didn't respond. She was frustrated, and sighed. Buffy was getting impatient with his moods and games.
"Spike, what are you doing?" Buffy asked, crossing her arms.
"Nothing. If I don't move, if I don't think, if I don't listen to the voices, then I won't hurt.. much." Spike said.
"I need to ask you something."
"Don't."
"There's a girl, she's in danger, and she needs your help. Now. Time is running out. It's Friday, the day Cassie said she's going to die."
"I can't. I can't hear you."
"Is there something evil in the school? Down here, maybe. Spike, please, do you know anything?"
"Yes. There's evil. Down here. Right here. I'm a bad man. William is a baaad man. I hurt the girl."
Spike started to violently punch himself in the face and Buffy grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "Spike, stop it! What did you do?"
"I hurt Faith, and I will pay. I am paying because I hurt the girl."
"Spike. No. It's not Faith. It's a different girl, ok? Her name is Cassie Newton. Please, do you know anything specific?"
Spike shook his head no, and Buffy sighed. She turned to leave, when Spike called out softly after her, "Don't.. don't leave me. Stay here, and help me be quiet."
"I think it's worse when I'm here."
"Don't let him hurt the girl."
Buffy and Faith walked off. They reached the hallway upstairs and stopped at the sound of lockers being opened. They turned the corner and found Principal Wood and a security guard doing a locker search.
"Well, there's nothing in this one. What've you got?" Principal Wood said to the guard.
Mike walked by Buffy and Faith and Buffy grabbed his arm. "Where's your hall pass?"
"No hall pass. I got a free period." Mike said. He started to walk off again, but Faith blocked his way.
"You seem kind of upset. Something on your mind?" Faith asked.
"No, not really. Well, I got a lousy 'B' in Egyptian history. Knew this stuff cold, so that, you know, that pisses me off."
"You get pissed off a lot?" Buffy asked.
"No, I.."
"Let me cut to the chase. I hear you can't get a date for the winter formal."
"Oh, whoa, look, I know it's your job to talk to kids with problems, but honestly I don't have any. I'm fine. All right, look, it's really no big deal. I have a friend that I really wanted to take. I don't know, I guess she doesn't see me that way. She makes me crazy."
"Crazy?"
"Yeah, sometimes I jus.. That's funny. You're Dawn's sister, right?"
"Uh, that's right. Dawn is MY sister."
"Oh, that's so weird. I was just thinking about her. Yeah, I was thinking if, you know, Cassie won't budge, maybe I'll ask Dawn."
"You aren't mad at Cassie, with her rejecting you like that?" Faith asked.
"Nah, she's a girl right? Making boys crazy is like your guys' job description."
"You're asking my sister to the dance, and she's your second choice?" Buffy asked, offended.
Behind Mike, Principal Wood and the security guard opened a locker and lots of coins fell out onto the hall floor. Buffy noticed the commotion.
"I'll be keeping an eye on you." Buffy said. She and Faith went to the locker to check out the coins with the Principal and the security guard.
"Seems like someone's got quite a coin collection, huh?" Principal Wood asked.
Buffy picked one up, and it was unusual. She stood and looked at the label on the locker door, which read 281. Faith looked at the coin in Buffy's hand and followed the blonde back to the office. Buffy checked the school records and found the owner of locker 281. She sent a messenger to retrieve him.
"Cool powers, B." Faith said. "Wish you woulda used the intercom. Maybe when no one's here, you can hook me up. Always did wanna mess around on one."
"Faith, this is serious. This guy could know something." Buffy said.
"Sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood."
Buffy put her face in her hands and sighed. Looking back up at Faith when the messenger came back and said that the boy was right outside. Buffy waved her away and the boy came in and sat down.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked.
"You have locker number 281?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, why?"
Buffy held up the coin. "I want you to tell me what this is, and what this has to do with a girl named Cassie Newton."
"I don't know. I-i-it's late. I'm going to miss my bus."
"I know it's late. That's why I don't have time to mess around, so you need to talk to me. Now."
"Believe me, i-i-if I knew anything, I'd tell you. I just don't."
"Do you know why I came back to Sunnydale High?"
"To creep me out?"
"To help. I'm a counselor here because I wanna help. I know what it's like to walk these halls and feel lost, alone. I just want to make things better, connect. And I'm going to connect with your face if you don't stop wasting my time and help me do my job."
"I.. please, I.."
"A girl could die." Faith said.
"I guess I know who you're talking about. She's some weirdo suicidal poet girl. These guys I know wanna mess with her. They've got this plan."
Buffy and Faith looked around from under their robes in the library at all the boys that had gathered for some ritual to make them rich. Buffy rolled her eyes and listened to them talk.
"All present?" Peter asked.
"All present." The boys responded.
"Then we begin." Someone giggled. "Mandel, shut up."
"Sorry, dude, it's.. It's just so cool, I mean.. We're gonna be rich!" Mandel said.
"Keep your shorts, all right. We have to do the ritual if we wanna score. Oh, Keith, did you take care of the fire exits?"
"Yeah. Anybody tries to bust in here's gonna get a nasty surprise. I set up this booby trap my cousin Ben always used to do." Keith said.
"Then nobody is getting in." Peter pulled a blindfolded, bound, and gagged Cassie from behind a bookshelf and into the circle. "And nobody is getting out."
"Dude." Mandel said.
"This is our sacrifice." Peter said, picking up a large cleaver. "It's nothing personal. It's just that you have this death-kick suicidal vibe going. I figure if you disappear, everybody'll just assume you threw yourself in a river somewhere. Extinguish." All the robed people holding candles licked their fingers and pressed them to the candlewick to extinguish the flames. "All mighty Avilas, please accept our sacrifice. Please appear before us, oh mighty soldier of the dark. Please appear before us, and grant us with infinite riches, and we will pay you with our sacrifice. We kneel before you with the gift of flesh."
Buffy and Faith stood simultaneously and took off their robes. Buffy smirked and said, "Ok, that is going on your permanent record."
"Wait, this is.. the counselor! What the hell is she doing here?" Peter asked.
"I-it was his idea!" Mandel said.
Buffy and Peter started to circle each other. Peter was still holding the cleaver. "Back off. Get back! Get back, you stupid bitch!" Peter said. Buffy kicked him in the face, and he fell back. He got back up and yelled, coming at her with a cleaver. "Aw, you're gonna die!" Buffy kicked him again, in the crotch this time, and he fell down in agony, dropping the cleaver.
"Do you know how lame this is? Bored teenage boys trying to raise up a demon. Sorry it didn't show. I bet it's 'cause you forgot the boom box playing some heavy metal thing, like Blue Clam Cult. I think that's the key to the raising of lame demons." Buffy said.
Peter looked behind Buffy and pointed. "That lame demon?"
Buffy and Faith spun to look and saw the demon Avilas standing there. He was six feet tall with a curved horn coming out of either side of his head. He had scaly brown demon skin, very muscular, with fins jutting out from his shoulders. He also had a circular cavity where his abdomen should have been.
Faith grabbed the cleaver from the floor in front of Peter and hurled it at the demon. It landed in its chest, but didn't phase the demon at all. Buffy lunged at it to attack it, but it threw her across the room.
"Dude, help!" Kevin said to Peter.
The demon took the cleaver out of its chest and threw it back on the floor near Peter. The demon went after Buffy and Faith, who each tried to kick him away. Peter grabbed the cleaver and went after Cassie.
"NO!" Buffy yelled.
Peter held the cleaver to Cassie, bending her head back to bare her neck. Buffy kicked one of the cult members out of the way, and the demon attacked her again, throwing her into a bookcase. While Buffy was down on the floor, the demon stepped on her chest.
"No! OW!" Buffy cried.
Faith tried to pull the demon off, but it threw her against a window, which shattered, and Faith went through unconscious. The demon was going to hurt Buffy when it turned around instead to measure a new threat. Spike stood behind him with the torch to the demon's back. It roared.
"Spike?" Buffy asked.
"Here to help. No hurting the girls." Spike said.
"Untie her. I'll take care of this."
Buffy took the torch from Spike and pointed it at the demon. Spike walked to Cassie. Buffy swept the torch in front of the demon's face. Spike punched Peter, knocking him to the ground. Buffy jabbed the torch into the demon's abdomen cavity. Spike was on top of Peter, pummeling him ferociously. After each punch, Spike paused to hold his aching head, and then he punched Peter again.
"Who are you?" Peter asked.
"I'm a bad man." Spike replied.
After knocking Peter out, Spike grabbed the cleaver and held it menacingly over Peter while he stood. The demon had caught on fire from Buffy torching it. Spike used the cleaver gently to cut the ties on Cassie's hands, and then he took off the duct tape on her mouth. The demon burned to a crisp. Cassie was crying, but calmed down enough to tell Spike something about Faith.
"Are you ok?" Buffy asked, coming up to Cassie.
"Uh-huh. Ow." Cassie said as Buffy inspected her arm.
Peter crawled over to the crispy demon. "You can't be dead. Where are my infinite riches?" The crispy demon jumped up and bit his shoulder. "Ahh! Ahh! It bit me!" Then the demon exploded.
Faith stood up outside and jumped back through the window. "Damn, I was hoping to get that demon back."
"C'mon." Buffy said. Faith, Buffy, and Cassie walked out to the library's front room. "It's all ok now. I hope you're not too disappointed." They walked to the main door, and when Buffy opened it, the booby trap triggered a crossbow to shoot an arrow at their heads. Buffy reached up in time to stop it from hitting Cassie between the eyes. "See?" Buffy broke the arrow in half. "You can make a difference."
Cassie reached up and pushed a strand of Buffy's hair behind her ear. "And you will." Cassie breathed in sharply and collapsed onto the floor. Buffy and Faith kneeled down to help her. Buffy put her ear to Cassie's chest, then checked her pulse, and stroked her hair.
"Cassie? Cassie. Cassie. No, come on. Cassie. Cassie." Buffy said as she started to cry.
"B, come on. We need to call an ambulance." Faith said.
"I can't leave her. I have to help her."
"She's gone Buffy. You can't help her."
Buffy looked up at Faith, tears streaming down her face.
Buffy, Angel, Willow, Dawn, and Conner all sat around the living room. Buffy sat curled in on herself in the corner of the couch, crying. Angel sat next to her, holding her hand. Conner sat on the floor, his head resting against the edge of the couch. Dawn sat at the other end of the couch while Willow sat in the big comfy chair.
"How is her mom?" Willow asked.
"Ok. As ok as.. She told me that her family had a history of heart irregularities, but she never told Cassie." Buffy said.
"Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?"
"I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she. Didn't matter what you did." Conner said.
"She just knew. She was special. I failed her." Buffy said.
"Uh-uh. No. You didn't, 'cause you tried." Dawn said, crying. "You listened, and you tried. She died 'cause of her heart, not 'cause of you. She was my friend. She was mine and Conner's friend because of you. I guess sometimes you can't help."
"So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?"
"You keep fighting." Angel said gently. "We're champions, Buffy. It doesn't matter that in the long run we can't save everyone. All that matters is that we try and we keep fighting. And I learned that from you. Remember what you said to me? We never will win. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there are things worth fighting for."
Buffy just stared back at him. She knew he was right, but right now, she was in her own personal hell because of all she had done to save Cassie only to have it crushed by a heart condition. All Buffy could do was fold herself into his arms and cry.
"Buffy, Will's got something." Xander said coming into the living room where Buffy and Angel sat. It had been a day and a half since Buffy had told them about Cassie. Since then, everyone had been researching.
Buffy stood and followed Angel and Xander into the dining room. Willow had Cassie's records pulled up. Buffy sat down and read what the screen said.
"Cassie's records all show the same thing." Buffy said. "Good grades, good kid, then all of a sudden not so good grades, absenteeism, comments about apathy and depression."
"So, the question is, what changed?" Angel asked.
"Right. If she did have some sort of psychic vision, that would explain it."
"Do you really think this girl is some kind of precog?" Willow asked.
"Oh, I don't know. I told you about the shirt, right?"
"Buffy, you spilled a cup of coffee. I'm not saying you don't have slayer grace, but it's not the first time." Angel said.
"I mean maybe, just maybe, you're trying so hard to help that you're seeing paranormal when there's just normal." Willow said.
"Maybe. But maybe not."
"Want me to check her medical records?"
"Her doctor already sent them." Buffy handed the folders to Xander.
"Let me see that. Strep throat. Ear infections. Yeast infections. None of my business.. no real info here." Xander said, putting the folders down.
"Have you Googled her yet?" Willow asked.
"Willow, she's 17!"
"It's a search engine. Look. Ok, let's see what 'Cassie Newton' pulls up." The computer beeped. "Hey, look. Check this. She's got her own site."
"A day and a half of researching, and we finally try looking up her." Xander said.
"Wow, that's a lot of poems." Buffy said, looking at the brightly colored website.
"Poems. Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil."
"The sheets above me cool my skin like dirt on a mad woman's grave I rise into the moonlight white and watch the mirror stare. Pale fish looks back at me. Pale fish that will never swim. My skin is milk for no man to drink. My thighs unused unclenched. This body is not ready yet. But dirt waits for no woman and coins will buy no time. I hear the chatter of the bugs. It's they alone will feast." Willow read.
"Ok, death is really on her brain." Xander said as Conner and Dawn walked in.
"We all deal with death." Dawn said.
"This girl isn't just dealing, she's giving death a long, sloppy word-kiss. She has a yen for the big dirt-nap."
"I don't know. I mean, a lot of teens post some pretty angsty poetry on the web. I mean, I even posted a melodramatic love poem or two back in the day." Willow said.
"Love poems?"
"I'm over you now, sweetie."
"Love poems!"
"Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fan-fic. It's all normal, right? Let's see what other sites there are."
"You guys are way off track. I got a hunch on this one." Dawn said. No one paid her any attention.
"Oh, wait, no, here's something. No, that's Philip Newton." Willow said.
"No, that's her dad. Open it." Buffy said.
"Guys, I'm telling you. I got this case cracked wide-open. I got the perp fingered. I told you 'bout Mike Helgenberg, right?" Dawn asked.
"Uh, that's the guy that asked her to the dance?"
"Right. The one that keeps asking her to the dance. I'm thinking, who likes to be rejected? Nobody. I'm thinking, some people can't handle the rejection. I'm thinking that.."
Willow cut Dawn off. "Hey, I got something. Whoa, drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace. There's a lot of charges here."
"Her dad's a drunk?"
"A violent drunk?" Angel asked.
"We'd better find out. I have his address right here." Buffy said. "Angel?"
"Coming."
Angel and Buffy drove the van over to Cassie's father's house. It was a dingy little place that looked ok in the dark. In the light it probably looked run down. It was small and shoved into a corner of an old neighborhood. Buffy and Angel walked up to the door and knocked.
"Buffy, the vampire slayer, would break down this door." Buffy said.
"And Buffy, the counselor?" Angel asked.
"Waits." They looked at the door as Mr. Newton opened the door. "Mr. Newton?"
"That's right." Mr. Newton said.
"I work at your daughter's school. I need to talk to you." For a second, the man just stood there. "May we come in?"
"Sure. Come on in."
Buffy looked at Angel as he walked through the door nervously. He was always nervous when he walked through a door he was just invited through.
"So, is she screwing up her grades again? Because she's not the sharpest apple in the barrel." Mr. Newton said.
"She's got some problems. But it's, um, it's kind of you we wanted to talk about." Buffy said.
"What about?"
"We know you've been picked up by the police a couple of times. We wanted to know if you still drink a lot." Buffy noticed the bottles on the counter.
"What's that got to do with Cassie?"
"Frankly, we were worried that you might drink too much and hurt Cassie. That's all."
"Oh. Oh, I see. That's.. that's all. You just come in here in the middle of the night, into my home, and start accusing me of beating on my daughter? That's all?"
"We just want to make sure that Cassie's.."
"Well, that's a lie! Who told you this? Did Cassie's mother put you up to this, 'cause I pay my support, ok? To the dime! She just wants to take away the one weekend a month I get to be with my girl."
"Which is when?"
"What?"
"Which weekend is it?"
"I-I just had her last weekend. Look, I may not be the greatest dad in the world, but I don't beat up my daughter."
"So, you won't be seeing her this Friday, then?"
"Not unless my ex-wife gets a personality transplant."
"Ok."
"Ok what? Ok now you'll get out of my house?"
"Yeah."
Buffy and Angel are walked back out to the car when they saw Cassie had just pulled into the driveway. She used a remote keyless entry system to lock her car, which beeped.
"It's not him. He's not the one who does it. Thank you for trying, but I probably shouldn't have told you anything. You're making such a big deal out of it, and I want it to all to just go away." Cassie said.
"Are you talking about killing yourself?" Angel asked.
"No, of course not!"
"Then fight. Try." Buffy said.
"There's no point. I told you.."
"This doesn't sound like someone who really wants to live."
"You think I want this? You think I don't care? Believe me, I want to.. be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal.. I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music. To wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff. I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will."
"You will. Cassie, you will. You just have to tell us what you know. You have to tell us everything. Please, help us."
"I can't. I just know it's gonna happen. I don't know why and I don't know how, but something out there is gonna kill me."
Buffy and Angel stared helplessly at Cassie as she went up to the door of her dad's house. Angel took Buffy's hand and led her to the van. He drove Buffy up to the bluff where Angel had tried to kill himself near the mansion. They got out and walked up to the cliff.
"Why are we here?" Buffy asked.
"You need to clear your head. This is the best view I could find for you." Angel said.
Buffy wrapped her arms around Angel's neck and started to cry. "I don't know how to help her! She won't tell me anything."
"Shh. Please Buffy, don't cry. We'll figure this out."
"What if we don't? I can't sit back and watch a girl die because I didn't help."
"You are helping. You're doing everything in your power right now. We've got a few more days. I'll call Faith, have her help. I think she'll be glad to get away from that basement."
Friday afternoon came around too quickly for Buffy. She, Angel, Xander, and Willow were at the house on Buffy's lunch break trying to find anything and everything about Cassie. Conner and Dawn were in school keeping an eye on Cassie. Faith knocked on the door and came in. She motioned to Buffy to follow her into the living room.
"What is it?" Buffy asked.
"I've been trying to get Spike to talk all night, but it's not working. He may know something since he's in that basement 24/7, but he's playing comatose. Maybe you could come down and see if you can get anything out of him?"
"All right. I have to get to work anyway." Buffy walked into the dining room and grabbed her jacket and keys to the van.
She and Faith drove to the High School and went down into the basement. They walked around, looking for Spike. When they found him, he was crouched on the floor. He had got the "bad hair of redemption", unkempt and not slicked back. Buffy walked up to him, and waved her hand in front of his eyes. He didn't respond. She snapped in front of his face, and he still didn't respond. She was frustrated, and sighed. Buffy was getting impatient with his moods and games.
"Spike, what are you doing?" Buffy asked, crossing her arms.
"Nothing. If I don't move, if I don't think, if I don't listen to the voices, then I won't hurt.. much." Spike said.
"I need to ask you something."
"Don't."
"There's a girl, she's in danger, and she needs your help. Now. Time is running out. It's Friday, the day Cassie said she's going to die."
"I can't. I can't hear you."
"Is there something evil in the school? Down here, maybe. Spike, please, do you know anything?"
"Yes. There's evil. Down here. Right here. I'm a bad man. William is a baaad man. I hurt the girl."
Spike started to violently punch himself in the face and Buffy grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "Spike, stop it! What did you do?"
"I hurt Faith, and I will pay. I am paying because I hurt the girl."
"Spike. No. It's not Faith. It's a different girl, ok? Her name is Cassie Newton. Please, do you know anything specific?"
Spike shook his head no, and Buffy sighed. She turned to leave, when Spike called out softly after her, "Don't.. don't leave me. Stay here, and help me be quiet."
"I think it's worse when I'm here."
"Don't let him hurt the girl."
Buffy and Faith walked off. They reached the hallway upstairs and stopped at the sound of lockers being opened. They turned the corner and found Principal Wood and a security guard doing a locker search.
"Well, there's nothing in this one. What've you got?" Principal Wood said to the guard.
Mike walked by Buffy and Faith and Buffy grabbed his arm. "Where's your hall pass?"
"No hall pass. I got a free period." Mike said. He started to walk off again, but Faith blocked his way.
"You seem kind of upset. Something on your mind?" Faith asked.
"No, not really. Well, I got a lousy 'B' in Egyptian history. Knew this stuff cold, so that, you know, that pisses me off."
"You get pissed off a lot?" Buffy asked.
"No, I.."
"Let me cut to the chase. I hear you can't get a date for the winter formal."
"Oh, whoa, look, I know it's your job to talk to kids with problems, but honestly I don't have any. I'm fine. All right, look, it's really no big deal. I have a friend that I really wanted to take. I don't know, I guess she doesn't see me that way. She makes me crazy."
"Crazy?"
"Yeah, sometimes I jus.. That's funny. You're Dawn's sister, right?"
"Uh, that's right. Dawn is MY sister."
"Oh, that's so weird. I was just thinking about her. Yeah, I was thinking if, you know, Cassie won't budge, maybe I'll ask Dawn."
"You aren't mad at Cassie, with her rejecting you like that?" Faith asked.
"Nah, she's a girl right? Making boys crazy is like your guys' job description."
"You're asking my sister to the dance, and she's your second choice?" Buffy asked, offended.
Behind Mike, Principal Wood and the security guard opened a locker and lots of coins fell out onto the hall floor. Buffy noticed the commotion.
"I'll be keeping an eye on you." Buffy said. She and Faith went to the locker to check out the coins with the Principal and the security guard.
"Seems like someone's got quite a coin collection, huh?" Principal Wood asked.
Buffy picked one up, and it was unusual. She stood and looked at the label on the locker door, which read 281. Faith looked at the coin in Buffy's hand and followed the blonde back to the office. Buffy checked the school records and found the owner of locker 281. She sent a messenger to retrieve him.
"Cool powers, B." Faith said. "Wish you woulda used the intercom. Maybe when no one's here, you can hook me up. Always did wanna mess around on one."
"Faith, this is serious. This guy could know something." Buffy said.
"Sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood."
Buffy put her face in her hands and sighed. Looking back up at Faith when the messenger came back and said that the boy was right outside. Buffy waved her away and the boy came in and sat down.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked.
"You have locker number 281?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, why?"
Buffy held up the coin. "I want you to tell me what this is, and what this has to do with a girl named Cassie Newton."
"I don't know. I-i-it's late. I'm going to miss my bus."
"I know it's late. That's why I don't have time to mess around, so you need to talk to me. Now."
"Believe me, i-i-if I knew anything, I'd tell you. I just don't."
"Do you know why I came back to Sunnydale High?"
"To creep me out?"
"To help. I'm a counselor here because I wanna help. I know what it's like to walk these halls and feel lost, alone. I just want to make things better, connect. And I'm going to connect with your face if you don't stop wasting my time and help me do my job."
"I.. please, I.."
"A girl could die." Faith said.
"I guess I know who you're talking about. She's some weirdo suicidal poet girl. These guys I know wanna mess with her. They've got this plan."
Buffy and Faith looked around from under their robes in the library at all the boys that had gathered for some ritual to make them rich. Buffy rolled her eyes and listened to them talk.
"All present?" Peter asked.
"All present." The boys responded.
"Then we begin." Someone giggled. "Mandel, shut up."
"Sorry, dude, it's.. It's just so cool, I mean.. We're gonna be rich!" Mandel said.
"Keep your shorts, all right. We have to do the ritual if we wanna score. Oh, Keith, did you take care of the fire exits?"
"Yeah. Anybody tries to bust in here's gonna get a nasty surprise. I set up this booby trap my cousin Ben always used to do." Keith said.
"Then nobody is getting in." Peter pulled a blindfolded, bound, and gagged Cassie from behind a bookshelf and into the circle. "And nobody is getting out."
"Dude." Mandel said.
"This is our sacrifice." Peter said, picking up a large cleaver. "It's nothing personal. It's just that you have this death-kick suicidal vibe going. I figure if you disappear, everybody'll just assume you threw yourself in a river somewhere. Extinguish." All the robed people holding candles licked their fingers and pressed them to the candlewick to extinguish the flames. "All mighty Avilas, please accept our sacrifice. Please appear before us, oh mighty soldier of the dark. Please appear before us, and grant us with infinite riches, and we will pay you with our sacrifice. We kneel before you with the gift of flesh."
Buffy and Faith stood simultaneously and took off their robes. Buffy smirked and said, "Ok, that is going on your permanent record."
"Wait, this is.. the counselor! What the hell is she doing here?" Peter asked.
"I-it was his idea!" Mandel said.
Buffy and Peter started to circle each other. Peter was still holding the cleaver. "Back off. Get back! Get back, you stupid bitch!" Peter said. Buffy kicked him in the face, and he fell back. He got back up and yelled, coming at her with a cleaver. "Aw, you're gonna die!" Buffy kicked him again, in the crotch this time, and he fell down in agony, dropping the cleaver.
"Do you know how lame this is? Bored teenage boys trying to raise up a demon. Sorry it didn't show. I bet it's 'cause you forgot the boom box playing some heavy metal thing, like Blue Clam Cult. I think that's the key to the raising of lame demons." Buffy said.
Peter looked behind Buffy and pointed. "That lame demon?"
Buffy and Faith spun to look and saw the demon Avilas standing there. He was six feet tall with a curved horn coming out of either side of his head. He had scaly brown demon skin, very muscular, with fins jutting out from his shoulders. He also had a circular cavity where his abdomen should have been.
Faith grabbed the cleaver from the floor in front of Peter and hurled it at the demon. It landed in its chest, but didn't phase the demon at all. Buffy lunged at it to attack it, but it threw her across the room.
"Dude, help!" Kevin said to Peter.
The demon took the cleaver out of its chest and threw it back on the floor near Peter. The demon went after Buffy and Faith, who each tried to kick him away. Peter grabbed the cleaver and went after Cassie.
"NO!" Buffy yelled.
Peter held the cleaver to Cassie, bending her head back to bare her neck. Buffy kicked one of the cult members out of the way, and the demon attacked her again, throwing her into a bookcase. While Buffy was down on the floor, the demon stepped on her chest.
"No! OW!" Buffy cried.
Faith tried to pull the demon off, but it threw her against a window, which shattered, and Faith went through unconscious. The demon was going to hurt Buffy when it turned around instead to measure a new threat. Spike stood behind him with the torch to the demon's back. It roared.
"Spike?" Buffy asked.
"Here to help. No hurting the girls." Spike said.
"Untie her. I'll take care of this."
Buffy took the torch from Spike and pointed it at the demon. Spike walked to Cassie. Buffy swept the torch in front of the demon's face. Spike punched Peter, knocking him to the ground. Buffy jabbed the torch into the demon's abdomen cavity. Spike was on top of Peter, pummeling him ferociously. After each punch, Spike paused to hold his aching head, and then he punched Peter again.
"Who are you?" Peter asked.
"I'm a bad man." Spike replied.
After knocking Peter out, Spike grabbed the cleaver and held it menacingly over Peter while he stood. The demon had caught on fire from Buffy torching it. Spike used the cleaver gently to cut the ties on Cassie's hands, and then he took off the duct tape on her mouth. The demon burned to a crisp. Cassie was crying, but calmed down enough to tell Spike something about Faith.
"Are you ok?" Buffy asked, coming up to Cassie.
"Uh-huh. Ow." Cassie said as Buffy inspected her arm.
Peter crawled over to the crispy demon. "You can't be dead. Where are my infinite riches?" The crispy demon jumped up and bit his shoulder. "Ahh! Ahh! It bit me!" Then the demon exploded.
Faith stood up outside and jumped back through the window. "Damn, I was hoping to get that demon back."
"C'mon." Buffy said. Faith, Buffy, and Cassie walked out to the library's front room. "It's all ok now. I hope you're not too disappointed." They walked to the main door, and when Buffy opened it, the booby trap triggered a crossbow to shoot an arrow at their heads. Buffy reached up in time to stop it from hitting Cassie between the eyes. "See?" Buffy broke the arrow in half. "You can make a difference."
Cassie reached up and pushed a strand of Buffy's hair behind her ear. "And you will." Cassie breathed in sharply and collapsed onto the floor. Buffy and Faith kneeled down to help her. Buffy put her ear to Cassie's chest, then checked her pulse, and stroked her hair.
"Cassie? Cassie. Cassie. No, come on. Cassie. Cassie." Buffy said as she started to cry.
"B, come on. We need to call an ambulance." Faith said.
"I can't leave her. I have to help her."
"She's gone Buffy. You can't help her."
Buffy looked up at Faith, tears streaming down her face.
Buffy, Angel, Willow, Dawn, and Conner all sat around the living room. Buffy sat curled in on herself in the corner of the couch, crying. Angel sat next to her, holding her hand. Conner sat on the floor, his head resting against the edge of the couch. Dawn sat at the other end of the couch while Willow sat in the big comfy chair.
"How is her mom?" Willow asked.
"Ok. As ok as.. She told me that her family had a history of heart irregularities, but she never told Cassie." Buffy said.
"Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?"
"I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she. Didn't matter what you did." Conner said.
"She just knew. She was special. I failed her." Buffy said.
"Uh-uh. No. You didn't, 'cause you tried." Dawn said, crying. "You listened, and you tried. She died 'cause of her heart, not 'cause of you. She was my friend. She was mine and Conner's friend because of you. I guess sometimes you can't help."
"So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?"
"You keep fighting." Angel said gently. "We're champions, Buffy. It doesn't matter that in the long run we can't save everyone. All that matters is that we try and we keep fighting. And I learned that from you. Remember what you said to me? We never will win. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there are things worth fighting for."
Buffy just stared back at him. She knew he was right, but right now, she was in her own personal hell because of all she had done to save Cassie only to have it crushed by a heart condition. All Buffy could do was fold herself into his arms and cry.
