Disclaimer: A vague disclaimer is no one's friend. Check in the earlier parts for a better one.

***********

She hadn't known she could be this scared.

Willow was running blind, not just from the panic - of which there was lots - but from genuine darkness. All she could hear above the hammering of her own heart and her own sloshy footsteps were the bigger, louder footsteps quickly gaining on her. She knew the vampire was going to catch her. Would have caught her already, except apparently he wanted to play with his food.

It was just like her nightmares about the playground. Only wetter. And gooier. It smelled a lot worse. And she pretty much doubted her mother was going to show up in the sewer to save her.

She felt a chill around her heart. This time, no one was going to save her.

She faltered, her small legs growing increasingly unwilling to move at this pace despite her fear, but the splashing behind her spurred her onward. Cold fingers entangled her hair and she found her voice in a scream that echoed shrilly down the tunnel. She was pulled around and lifted, yellow eyes glittering at her in amusement. The vampire's grotesque grin made her scream again.

"Thanks for that, sweetness. And for the run. It was invigorating," the vampire chuckled. "I appreciate the warm up-"

"Drop the girl."

The soft voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. The vampire frowned.

"Get your own snack. There's a couple more of these little ones running around here."

"She's not for you. She's already spoken for."

Willow's eyes looked around wildly. She knew the voice, but she couldn't place it.

"Umm, look here, Obi Wan. I don't know what this is about, but finders keepers," the vampire said snarkily, tilting Willow's head to the side for better access. His teeth brushed her throat and Willow whimpered...then found herself falling, landing hard in a crouch with dust showering all around her. She held her hand over her heart, catching her breath, amazed she was still alive as she heard something wooden fall beside her.

"Are you hurt?" the voice whispered. A hand touched her shoulder tentatively, and helped her to her feet

"I...I don't think so..." Willow said, looking up at her savior and nearly fainting. Dr. Ephor's cold angry face came into view.

"That'll change if you don't tell me where I can find your friend. Where is Buffy Summers?"

***********

Xander stumbled, reaching weakly for something, anything to hold himself upright. He'd soldiered on pretty well up till now, but his head felt kinda funny and his arm was on fire and all he wanted to do was lie down and sleep for a while. But he'd lost Buffy and Willow somewhere in the dark, and he needed to find them. They might be in trouble-

A hand clamped over Xander's mouth and he was pulled off of his feet. Struggling with his unseen attacker he kicked his feet violently, causing whoever was holding him to curse softly but not to let go. Panic rising, Xander redoubled his efforts, the twisting causing the hot pain in his arm to flare up unbearably. His outcry was muffled by the hand over his mouth as spots swam in front of his eyes. He suddenly realized that someone was calling his name, and that someone was the person with the steel grip who currently had him captive.

"Xander, stop! It's me. Angel."

"Anfwehw?" the boy's muffled voice squeaked. Angel grimaced, then spoke in tones that he hoped were reassuring.

"Yeah. I'm gonna take my hand away, but I need you to be quiet, okay?"

"Mmmph-mmphay," the boy agreed softly. Angel peeled his hand away and the child whirled around to fix him with a hostile glare.

"You're mean," Xander whispered sullenly.

"Sorry I scared you."

"I wasn't scared. You couldn't scare me...ever!" the child responded, looking down. Angel shook his head, knowing they had more pressing concerns then his ability to scare the boy. Which, of course, he could, anytime he wanted to.

"Xander, where are the girls?" he asked. The boy's head snapped up, his brown eyes now wide with worry.

"Lost. Buffy said we should go down the stinky tunnel, and then she started to run and I sort of...I w-was dizzy and...and they were...they were gone and I couldn't find them," he said with rising panic, then added with hope at the vampire's alert look, "You know where they are?"

"No...I...I don't ...I'm not sensing anything."

"But you found me! You hafta find them!" the boy demanded. When Angel sadly looked away, Xander snarled, "What kinda vampire are you anyway?"

Angel stiffened. This child was getting on his nerves, and wasn't anyone he was sent to protect. Plus the smell of his blood was driving him nuts. He struggled to control himself.

"Look, kid-" Angel said, trying to keep his voice even. It wasn't any use, though. The smell of the child's blood was overwhelming, and Angel could feel his face change, and saw the boy's face pale. He couldn't even pretend that he didn't take some satisfaction in that.

"Hey!" Xander squeaked. "You got monster face! Stop that!"

"Why, does it scare you?" Angel taunted in his scariest voice. Xander gulped, then stuck his chin out with a defiance that the vampire had to admire, however grudgingly.

"Nuh-uh, it's dumb. And yucky. And you're looking at me funny!"

"You're bleeding," Angel growled. Xander took a step back, cradling his arm protectively.

"Don't care. S'my blood. You can't have it. S'mine. Stop looking at me!"

Angel sighed, suddenly feeling foolish for bringing himself down to the child's level. He forced his features back into his human visage, his mouth set in a grim line. Without a word he started down the tunnel at a fair pace. Xander stared after him uncertainly for a moment before running to catch up.

"Wait! Where we going?" the boy panted.

"We're finding Buffy and Willow and we're getting out of here."

***********

Rupert Giles was unsurprised to find that while the building had sustained major damage it was still essentially intact. Still, it seemed to be essentially deserted, only emergency lighting brightening the din. There was a strange sound that Giles couldn't quite place, a kind of low muffled siren; intrigued, he headed towards the source, carefully picking his way among the rubble. It didn't escape his notice that while there was a great deal of damage, none of the outside walls or windows had suffered any. No natural light in the building whatsoever, and Giles knew what that meant. Vampires. On the Hellmouth. And his young charge right in the middle of it, if she was even still-

"She's alive all right, no thanks to you," Giles whirled, stake in hand, to take in the sight of an odd little man in a bad checkered sports coat and weathered fedora leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed. The man (more likely demon, Giles suspected) rolled his eyes and made a show of looking at a nonexistent watch. "Took your own sweet time getting down here, didn't you? Almost made a liar out of me...well I guess I lied to them anyway, technically, with that angel thing-"

"Look here, mate," Giles said gruffly, his eyes glinting. "I don't care what kind of demon you are, though I'd venture to guess you're a balance demon."

"Whistler," the demon said, raising his eyebrows and letting out a low whistle that made Giles frown. "Damn, the Powers were right, you *are* good."

Nonplussed, Giles shook his head. "I'm afraid I've not read anything about Whistler demons, but-"

"I take it back, English," Whistler cut him off with an annoyed grimace. "You're not so hot. Whistler's my name, and you should have quit while you were ahead. I`m a balance demon alright, working for-"

"I don't have time for a rundown of your CV. I have a child - a couple of children actually - to find."

"Actually, four," Whistler corrected with a smirk.

"Pardon?"

"Four kids. You really need to get all four. The Harris kid's okay, he's with Angel, unless Angel gets fed up and kills him. But the Rosenberg girl...she's in big trouble, she needs you pronto."

Giles shook his head. "You're talking nonsense, but perhaps you can be helpful. I'm looking for a boy named Daniel Osborne and a girl named Buffy Summers."

"Yeah, I know. But the other two are important. Big time. Future of the world in the balance stuff." Off of Giles' impatient look, Whistler sighed. "Fine. Have it your way. Daniel Osborne's in with most of the other kids. In there," Whistler said, with an off-handed wave. Giles looked in the direction of the gesture and saw there was a room at the end of the corridor, heavily guarded by vampires.

"Bloody marvelous," Giles cursed softly. "I suppose Buffy Summers is in there as well?"

Whistler opened his mouth to answer then closed it, a look of genuine shock on his face. He shrugged helplessly, suddenly seeming afraid.

"I have no idea where she is."

***********

To Be Continued...