Chapter Two
"Turn left," Tara informed Xander. She was concentrating hard, using Magick to find her friend.
Xander swerved the car round and sped on. Willow sighed and buried her head in her hands. She couldn't believe Dawn was gone. Someone so young and full of life. She couldn't even comprehend what Buffy must be going through.
"A warehouse. Around here, she was there," her girlfriend said and the car came to a halt.
The four got out of the car and looked around for an entrance.
"There," Tara said, pointing to a hidden doorway, behind a large dustbin that was partially open.
They filed quietly into the large, dusty room. Warren was lying in the centre of the room. His body had obviously been split open with a sharp weapon. Not one bit of his skin was unmarked. The stench of burning flesh was thick in the air.
Tara turned and gagged, holding the wall for support. Xander grabbed hold of her before she fell and hurried back outside.
"She's on her way to the prison," Anya informed them. The four stood outside the warehouse. All of them were trying to keep from throwing up.
"How do you know that?" Xander asked, helping Tara towards the car.
"I can.sense it." She looked away, not meeting his eyes.
"Is this a thing left over from." He stopped, noting the guilty look on her face. He sighed. "When?"
"When do you think?" Anya replied, narrowing her eyes.
"Come on.we have to beat her there," Willow pressed, not wanting to get into an argument.
Xander re-started the car and swerved away from the building.
***
"What is that noise?" Jonathan cried, sitting up from his bunk in Sunnydale police station.
The two boys jumped up at the same time when they heard it again. Andrew ran up to the bars and shook them, trying to find a way out.
"Like that's gonna work, dummy," Jonathan said, rolling his eyes.
The loud thud sounded again, shaking the whole building. They looked at each other fearfully. The door suddenly banged open and Anya ran in, keys in hand.
"How did you get in here?" Andrew asked.
"Demon perk. Quickly, Buffy is breaking the wall down. She killed Warren and she's looking for you two."
"Warren's dead? He can't be." Andrew protested, his face crumpling up.
"He killed Dawn and Buffy has gone 'temporarily insane.' We need to hurry." She finished unlocking the door and pulled it open. "This way."
Anya ran back out of the room, and down the back stairs. "Come on," she called back to them.
All the police officers had run out of the building at the first sound, so no one challenged them.
The blonde fumbled with the lock to the fire exit, before managing to get it open. Xander was waiting for them outside the door.
"We need to hide," he told them, as they squashed into the back.
"Where will we go?" Jonathan asked.
"Haven't got that far," Willow answered, trying to think quickly for a safe place.
"Nice plan," Andrew retorted.
"You wanna go back?" Xander started.
"Okay, stop it." Tara said, peacemaker as always. "Now is not the best time for this."
"What are we going to do?" Willow quietly murmured, her eyes filling with liquid. "We have never faced anything like this."
"Apocalypses are child's play in comparison," Xander finished.
***
Sorrow filled every fibre of her being, as Buffy gently laid Dawn down on her bed. She paused and tenderly stroked Dawn's cheek with the tips of her fingers. Her hair looked so dark against the bedcover and it shone in the light of the lamp.
Buffy went into her bedroom and retrieved Mr Gordo. When Dawn was younger, she had desperately wanted the stuffed pig her older sister treasured.
She placed it into Dawn's hands, over her stomach, and kissed her on the forehead.
"Goodnight. Sleep well," she whispered, flicking the lamp off and closing the door with a soft click behind her.
Her eyes turned cold and all pain left her body, as she paused for breath outside the bedroom. She felt her soul get smaller and she tried desperately to grab hold of it. It was no time to be losing it now. The darkness of the Slayer within her got stronger and stronger and she whimpered and fell to the floor in her struggle. The air became bitterly cold around her. Strength filled every muscle and all feelings died away. She slowly climbed to her feet. Only one feeling was left.
Rage.
***
"Why?" Buffy asked, as Warren lay chained in front of her.
"I wasn't aiming at her." He choked, spitting blood out. "I was aiming for you."
"Oh, well that makes it okay then." The small blonde smiled, almost sweetly as she pressing the tip of the arrow into his stomach slightly further. He gasped loudly.
"Why have you made it your mission to have me dead?" Buffy wondered out loud.
Warren shuddered from the pain, before shaking his head.
"You don't know? I am the only mother Dawn will - would have had," she corrected. "My friends don't cope too well with me being dead, you know. They always manage to bring me back." As she talked, she slid the arrow further down his body, as he screamed.
"They are coming now, you know," she continued. "Trying to save the day. Trying to save me." The Slayer jumped to her feet and grabbed a tin of petrol.
"Good bye, Warren."
***
Buffy thought about waiting to see her friends' reactions, then quickly dismissed the thought. It would be funny though. They had no idea what sweet, noble Buffy was capable of. They would probably go to The Magic Box after they found Warren. They were rather - predictable - that way.
A loud, black motorbike came around the corner. It stopped and a man hopped off. Buffy walked over slowly; she reached him without him noticing her. He stood, looking as if he was waiting for someone. Her shoe hit a stone, making a tiny, pinging sound. The man spun at the noise but relaxed when he saw the small female.
"Hello there, little lady." He smiled. She could almost see the flirting cogs in his brain start to turn.
She didn't answer him. Grabbing his head, Buffy twisted it hard, with a loud crack. He slumped to the floor and lay there looking like a strangely positioned doll. Sliding onto the bike, she flicked the engine back on. It took her no time at all to find a demon and torture it until it lead her to Rack.
She strode through the empty waiting room and slammed his door open. He stood in the middle of the room with a small smile playing on his lips.
He almost groaned in ecstasy when he saw her. "You came, I knew you would. I felt it, the change of power."
"Cut the crap and give me it," she snarled.
"I've always wanted to taste you," Rack continued. "You smell so sweet, so dark and yet.the pureness is there, deep within you." He stepped forward and placed his hand on her chest. "Let me in, let me explore and I will give you want you want."
"And that would be?" Buffy asked.
"The world," he replied with a smirk. "All the power in the damned world."
She felt a jerk through her body and the smile on his face widened. Rack moaned loudly and closed his eyes. A faint wind whispered through her hair and, as it did so, the strands darkened to brunette, until no trace of blonde was left. Shadows filled Buffy's hazel eyes until they were almost an inky black.
The feeling suddenly stopped and Rack dropped to the floor unconscious. He had a look on his face as if he had just had the best lay ever.
***
The shop was dark when Buffy arrived a few minutes later. She jumped off the motorbike, discarded it behind a bush and made way to the back of the shop.
She trashed the back door with a mere shove, and went in. Grabbing one of the candles from the shelf, she lit it with some matches behind the counter. Her acute ears heard Xander's car pull up and she pulled a chair out from under the table. Sitting down on it, she swung her feet up onto the wooden table and put the candle down next to her.
The Slayer found a magazine on top of a pile of books and started flicking through while she waited.
The door opened and Willow hurried in. She stopped dead when she saw Buffy. The red haired Witch gasped at her friend's drastic change in looks. Buffy's once shiny blonde hair was now a dark brown. And her eyes, once a bright green with brown flecks, now a dull, cold, browny-black. She was dressed in black jeans with a black top on, the bright red blood on her hands standing out sharply. Dawn's or Warren's, Willow couldn't tell.
The sound of a car engine growled clear in the night and before Willow could move, they heard Xander's car pull away. Her heart pounded loudly, fear gushing through her veins. It was stupid, Buffy would never hurt her.
Right?
Buffy stood up. "Hey, Will," she greeted. "How you doing?"
Willow looked around fearfully for a way out, but she knew even if she ran out of the door, Buffy would catch her in a couple of seconds.
"You look terrible!" she suddenly exclaimed, then looked even more terrified. She paused before adding, "You killed Warren."
"I did," Buffy confirmed, taking a step towards Willow, who in return took a step back. The door slammed with a loud bang and Willow let out a yelp of shock.
"You can do Magick?" she asked in a panicked voice.
"Yeah.it's neat. I get what the big thrill with it was, Will. One huge power trip." Buffy smirked, "You wanna test it?"
"Not so much." Willow whimpered, hitting the wall as she continued to unconsciously move away. The knock jarred her and she hit a sense of reality. "Buffy, this isn't the way to go about it. I know revenge is the strongest feeling right now-"
"As sweet as this little speech is, shut up." Buffy took a step towards Willow. "So, where are the others? They left you all alone."
"I wanted to." Willow paused, realising she couldn't say exactly why she was here.
"Let me guess? Xander has taken Jonathan and Andrew and is currently driving madly down the highway to escape evil little me, and they left you behind to find some Magick mojo to save everyone?"
"Umm.w.well." Willow stuttered, going incredibly pale.
"Really, Will, knew you wouldn't last on the no Magick rule. Kind of pathetic, really. Now then, as interesting as this discussion is, excuse me while I knock you out and tie you up." Before Willow could even think of a spell to protect herself, her best friend was in front of her and she felt a sharp pain deep in her head, before the world around her spun and sank away.
***
"We need to get out of Sunnydale," Xander declared. Anya turned to give him a look. Xander sighed as he slowed the car down and pulled up outside Buffy's house. "Do you want a lift back to The Magic Box?" he asked Tara, as she climbed out.
"No, it's fine thanks. Just gotta grab these books and I'll go straight there," she answered.
"Good luck," he said quietly.
"Shouldn't we be getting out of this town now?" Andrew whined from the back seat of the car.
"LA," Anya suddenly said.
"Excuse me?" Xander said as he turned off the main road to go onto the highway.
"We could take them to Angel. Wouldn't he be best at protecting them, with that tall, dark 'grr' ness he has?" Anya suggested. "I mean, none of us are strong enough to fight Buffy. And they had that tortured love thing."
Xander sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I think the best thing right now is for me to drop them off at a motel somewhere and go back to Sunnydale. I'm not leaving Willow and Tara alone and I want you safe too."
Anya shook her head. "No, you aren't leaving me here like a silly little girl that can't do anything, plus Willow and Tara can hold their own. Witches remember? What are you going to do? Joke at her to death?"
Xander's brown eyes shone with hurt as he looked over at her. "Look, I don't know what to do. We have lost people we love and people try to destroy the world every other week it seems. But that's nothing compared to this. We can't kill Buffy, we can't hurt her, but the way she is right now, how else are we going to stop her?"
***
It was hard to decipher a rational thought in Buffy Summers' clouded mind. The need to inflict as much pain as possible on anything moving was the most palpable. She drove along Sunnydale's cold, dark streets looking for only one person.
And he was going to suffer.
The demons seemed to have sensed there was something amiss with the Slayer and had either got out of town as fast as they could or disappeared far enough underground they wouldn't be found, unless they were specifically being looked for.
She closed her eyes briefly, concentrating her energy deep inside. Images flashed before her dark eyes, a port and a ship. So, Spike thought he could escape Sunnydale and get away with it?
***
Tara quietly opened the door to the Magic Box and crept in. She immediately spotted the lit candle and froze. Keeping very still she listened for any noise that would send her running. Hearing nothing she grabbed hold of what little courage she had remaining.
"Willow?" she whispered. The brunette cleared her throat. "Buffy?" she said louder. Still no answer.
Tara put her books down on the table and went to put the lights on. A small sound caught her attention and she spun towards it. Gasping, she saw her girlfriend tied and gagged sitting on a chair.
"Oh my gods," she muttered, running towards Willow to untie her. The red haired Witch took a deep lungful of oxygen as tears poured down her face.
"Tara, I think we lost her." Willow sobbed as Tara worked on the tight ropes keeping her bound to the chair.
"Don't say that, there must be a way," Tara reasoned.
"You didn't see her. She even looks different, and Tara she can even do Magick."
The ropes finally dropped to the ground and Willow jumped out of the seat. "We have to do a binding spell," the red head called, already halfway up the stairs to the off-limits section. "A strong one," she added to herself.
"Willow." Tara said, and then stopped.
"I know! I know no more Magick, but." Willow cried.
"But it's Buffy," Tara finished.
Grabbing the book she was looking for Willow turned back to her. "Yeah, it is."
Tara nodded understandingly, grabbing a handful of candles, some black, some white.
"Then let's do it," she said.
Willow smiled through her tears as she dropped everything on the floor. Tara came and sat opposite her and they held hands over the candles.
Following the spell in the book, chanting the words loudly, the room temperature suddenly dropped. Gooseflesh appeared on the two women's arms and their voices got louder. The candles suddenly flamed into life and the temperature zoomed back to normal.
"Keep going," Willow said.
***
Buffy gritted her teeth angrily as she felt the strong hum of the spell in the air. She should have killed the stupid Witch, not just tied her up.
Slowing down the bike, she hopped off it. Pain twisted her gut as the spell hit her harder, falling to her knees she whimpered. Using her last burst of energy, Buffy sent a strong jolt back to them, to try and protect herself. It kept on coming. She screamed in pain and frustration a few seconds before she blacked out.
***
"Can I have one room for a night please?" Xander asked the lanky-looking attendant at 'Marci's Motel.'
The boy, who seemed to be no more than fifteen years old, looked sceptically at the four people standing in front of him.
"We have no dodgy business here," he said, shaking his head.
"Ew!" Anya protested. "Like I would sleep with these people." Off Xander's look she added, "Well, I used to with him."
Giving her an even stranger look the boy asked, "So one room between the four of you?"
"No, just for these two." Xander replied, nodding at Andrew and Jonathan who hadn't said a word since they left Sunnydale. "I'm just paying for it."
The boy smirked as he typed in some information in the computer.
"That would be thirty dollars for a double room and forty five for two singles."
"I'm not sharing a bed with him," Jonathan exclaimed.
"You paying?" Xander snapped, "They can have the double." He paid and took the key off the boy. "Go to the room, lock it and don't leave it until we come back tomorrow."
"I still think we should go to LA," Anya muttered.
"We have to get back to Sunnydale Ahn, now." He stalked back towards the car.
"Well good luck," Anya called back to the shell-shocked boys. "Don't get killed. Motels charge extra if blood is shed during the stay."
***
"Turn left," Tara informed Xander. She was concentrating hard, using Magick to find her friend.
Xander swerved the car round and sped on. Willow sighed and buried her head in her hands. She couldn't believe Dawn was gone. Someone so young and full of life. She couldn't even comprehend what Buffy must be going through.
"A warehouse. Around here, she was there," her girlfriend said and the car came to a halt.
The four got out of the car and looked around for an entrance.
"There," Tara said, pointing to a hidden doorway, behind a large dustbin that was partially open.
They filed quietly into the large, dusty room. Warren was lying in the centre of the room. His body had obviously been split open with a sharp weapon. Not one bit of his skin was unmarked. The stench of burning flesh was thick in the air.
Tara turned and gagged, holding the wall for support. Xander grabbed hold of her before she fell and hurried back outside.
"She's on her way to the prison," Anya informed them. The four stood outside the warehouse. All of them were trying to keep from throwing up.
"How do you know that?" Xander asked, helping Tara towards the car.
"I can.sense it." She looked away, not meeting his eyes.
"Is this a thing left over from." He stopped, noting the guilty look on her face. He sighed. "When?"
"When do you think?" Anya replied, narrowing her eyes.
"Come on.we have to beat her there," Willow pressed, not wanting to get into an argument.
Xander re-started the car and swerved away from the building.
***
"What is that noise?" Jonathan cried, sitting up from his bunk in Sunnydale police station.
The two boys jumped up at the same time when they heard it again. Andrew ran up to the bars and shook them, trying to find a way out.
"Like that's gonna work, dummy," Jonathan said, rolling his eyes.
The loud thud sounded again, shaking the whole building. They looked at each other fearfully. The door suddenly banged open and Anya ran in, keys in hand.
"How did you get in here?" Andrew asked.
"Demon perk. Quickly, Buffy is breaking the wall down. She killed Warren and she's looking for you two."
"Warren's dead? He can't be." Andrew protested, his face crumpling up.
"He killed Dawn and Buffy has gone 'temporarily insane.' We need to hurry." She finished unlocking the door and pulled it open. "This way."
Anya ran back out of the room, and down the back stairs. "Come on," she called back to them.
All the police officers had run out of the building at the first sound, so no one challenged them.
The blonde fumbled with the lock to the fire exit, before managing to get it open. Xander was waiting for them outside the door.
"We need to hide," he told them, as they squashed into the back.
"Where will we go?" Jonathan asked.
"Haven't got that far," Willow answered, trying to think quickly for a safe place.
"Nice plan," Andrew retorted.
"You wanna go back?" Xander started.
"Okay, stop it." Tara said, peacemaker as always. "Now is not the best time for this."
"What are we going to do?" Willow quietly murmured, her eyes filling with liquid. "We have never faced anything like this."
"Apocalypses are child's play in comparison," Xander finished.
***
Sorrow filled every fibre of her being, as Buffy gently laid Dawn down on her bed. She paused and tenderly stroked Dawn's cheek with the tips of her fingers. Her hair looked so dark against the bedcover and it shone in the light of the lamp.
Buffy went into her bedroom and retrieved Mr Gordo. When Dawn was younger, she had desperately wanted the stuffed pig her older sister treasured.
She placed it into Dawn's hands, over her stomach, and kissed her on the forehead.
"Goodnight. Sleep well," she whispered, flicking the lamp off and closing the door with a soft click behind her.
Her eyes turned cold and all pain left her body, as she paused for breath outside the bedroom. She felt her soul get smaller and she tried desperately to grab hold of it. It was no time to be losing it now. The darkness of the Slayer within her got stronger and stronger and she whimpered and fell to the floor in her struggle. The air became bitterly cold around her. Strength filled every muscle and all feelings died away. She slowly climbed to her feet. Only one feeling was left.
Rage.
***
"Why?" Buffy asked, as Warren lay chained in front of her.
"I wasn't aiming at her." He choked, spitting blood out. "I was aiming for you."
"Oh, well that makes it okay then." The small blonde smiled, almost sweetly as she pressing the tip of the arrow into his stomach slightly further. He gasped loudly.
"Why have you made it your mission to have me dead?" Buffy wondered out loud.
Warren shuddered from the pain, before shaking his head.
"You don't know? I am the only mother Dawn will - would have had," she corrected. "My friends don't cope too well with me being dead, you know. They always manage to bring me back." As she talked, she slid the arrow further down his body, as he screamed.
"They are coming now, you know," she continued. "Trying to save the day. Trying to save me." The Slayer jumped to her feet and grabbed a tin of petrol.
"Good bye, Warren."
***
Buffy thought about waiting to see her friends' reactions, then quickly dismissed the thought. It would be funny though. They had no idea what sweet, noble Buffy was capable of. They would probably go to The Magic Box after they found Warren. They were rather - predictable - that way.
A loud, black motorbike came around the corner. It stopped and a man hopped off. Buffy walked over slowly; she reached him without him noticing her. He stood, looking as if he was waiting for someone. Her shoe hit a stone, making a tiny, pinging sound. The man spun at the noise but relaxed when he saw the small female.
"Hello there, little lady." He smiled. She could almost see the flirting cogs in his brain start to turn.
She didn't answer him. Grabbing his head, Buffy twisted it hard, with a loud crack. He slumped to the floor and lay there looking like a strangely positioned doll. Sliding onto the bike, she flicked the engine back on. It took her no time at all to find a demon and torture it until it lead her to Rack.
She strode through the empty waiting room and slammed his door open. He stood in the middle of the room with a small smile playing on his lips.
He almost groaned in ecstasy when he saw her. "You came, I knew you would. I felt it, the change of power."
"Cut the crap and give me it," she snarled.
"I've always wanted to taste you," Rack continued. "You smell so sweet, so dark and yet.the pureness is there, deep within you." He stepped forward and placed his hand on her chest. "Let me in, let me explore and I will give you want you want."
"And that would be?" Buffy asked.
"The world," he replied with a smirk. "All the power in the damned world."
She felt a jerk through her body and the smile on his face widened. Rack moaned loudly and closed his eyes. A faint wind whispered through her hair and, as it did so, the strands darkened to brunette, until no trace of blonde was left. Shadows filled Buffy's hazel eyes until they were almost an inky black.
The feeling suddenly stopped and Rack dropped to the floor unconscious. He had a look on his face as if he had just had the best lay ever.
***
The shop was dark when Buffy arrived a few minutes later. She jumped off the motorbike, discarded it behind a bush and made way to the back of the shop.
She trashed the back door with a mere shove, and went in. Grabbing one of the candles from the shelf, she lit it with some matches behind the counter. Her acute ears heard Xander's car pull up and she pulled a chair out from under the table. Sitting down on it, she swung her feet up onto the wooden table and put the candle down next to her.
The Slayer found a magazine on top of a pile of books and started flicking through while she waited.
The door opened and Willow hurried in. She stopped dead when she saw Buffy. The red haired Witch gasped at her friend's drastic change in looks. Buffy's once shiny blonde hair was now a dark brown. And her eyes, once a bright green with brown flecks, now a dull, cold, browny-black. She was dressed in black jeans with a black top on, the bright red blood on her hands standing out sharply. Dawn's or Warren's, Willow couldn't tell.
The sound of a car engine growled clear in the night and before Willow could move, they heard Xander's car pull away. Her heart pounded loudly, fear gushing through her veins. It was stupid, Buffy would never hurt her.
Right?
Buffy stood up. "Hey, Will," she greeted. "How you doing?"
Willow looked around fearfully for a way out, but she knew even if she ran out of the door, Buffy would catch her in a couple of seconds.
"You look terrible!" she suddenly exclaimed, then looked even more terrified. She paused before adding, "You killed Warren."
"I did," Buffy confirmed, taking a step towards Willow, who in return took a step back. The door slammed with a loud bang and Willow let out a yelp of shock.
"You can do Magick?" she asked in a panicked voice.
"Yeah.it's neat. I get what the big thrill with it was, Will. One huge power trip." Buffy smirked, "You wanna test it?"
"Not so much." Willow whimpered, hitting the wall as she continued to unconsciously move away. The knock jarred her and she hit a sense of reality. "Buffy, this isn't the way to go about it. I know revenge is the strongest feeling right now-"
"As sweet as this little speech is, shut up." Buffy took a step towards Willow. "So, where are the others? They left you all alone."
"I wanted to." Willow paused, realising she couldn't say exactly why she was here.
"Let me guess? Xander has taken Jonathan and Andrew and is currently driving madly down the highway to escape evil little me, and they left you behind to find some Magick mojo to save everyone?"
"Umm.w.well." Willow stuttered, going incredibly pale.
"Really, Will, knew you wouldn't last on the no Magick rule. Kind of pathetic, really. Now then, as interesting as this discussion is, excuse me while I knock you out and tie you up." Before Willow could even think of a spell to protect herself, her best friend was in front of her and she felt a sharp pain deep in her head, before the world around her spun and sank away.
***
"We need to get out of Sunnydale," Xander declared. Anya turned to give him a look. Xander sighed as he slowed the car down and pulled up outside Buffy's house. "Do you want a lift back to The Magic Box?" he asked Tara, as she climbed out.
"No, it's fine thanks. Just gotta grab these books and I'll go straight there," she answered.
"Good luck," he said quietly.
"Shouldn't we be getting out of this town now?" Andrew whined from the back seat of the car.
"LA," Anya suddenly said.
"Excuse me?" Xander said as he turned off the main road to go onto the highway.
"We could take them to Angel. Wouldn't he be best at protecting them, with that tall, dark 'grr' ness he has?" Anya suggested. "I mean, none of us are strong enough to fight Buffy. And they had that tortured love thing."
Xander sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I think the best thing right now is for me to drop them off at a motel somewhere and go back to Sunnydale. I'm not leaving Willow and Tara alone and I want you safe too."
Anya shook her head. "No, you aren't leaving me here like a silly little girl that can't do anything, plus Willow and Tara can hold their own. Witches remember? What are you going to do? Joke at her to death?"
Xander's brown eyes shone with hurt as he looked over at her. "Look, I don't know what to do. We have lost people we love and people try to destroy the world every other week it seems. But that's nothing compared to this. We can't kill Buffy, we can't hurt her, but the way she is right now, how else are we going to stop her?"
***
It was hard to decipher a rational thought in Buffy Summers' clouded mind. The need to inflict as much pain as possible on anything moving was the most palpable. She drove along Sunnydale's cold, dark streets looking for only one person.
And he was going to suffer.
The demons seemed to have sensed there was something amiss with the Slayer and had either got out of town as fast as they could or disappeared far enough underground they wouldn't be found, unless they were specifically being looked for.
She closed her eyes briefly, concentrating her energy deep inside. Images flashed before her dark eyes, a port and a ship. So, Spike thought he could escape Sunnydale and get away with it?
***
Tara quietly opened the door to the Magic Box and crept in. She immediately spotted the lit candle and froze. Keeping very still she listened for any noise that would send her running. Hearing nothing she grabbed hold of what little courage she had remaining.
"Willow?" she whispered. The brunette cleared her throat. "Buffy?" she said louder. Still no answer.
Tara put her books down on the table and went to put the lights on. A small sound caught her attention and she spun towards it. Gasping, she saw her girlfriend tied and gagged sitting on a chair.
"Oh my gods," she muttered, running towards Willow to untie her. The red haired Witch took a deep lungful of oxygen as tears poured down her face.
"Tara, I think we lost her." Willow sobbed as Tara worked on the tight ropes keeping her bound to the chair.
"Don't say that, there must be a way," Tara reasoned.
"You didn't see her. She even looks different, and Tara she can even do Magick."
The ropes finally dropped to the ground and Willow jumped out of the seat. "We have to do a binding spell," the red head called, already halfway up the stairs to the off-limits section. "A strong one," she added to herself.
"Willow." Tara said, and then stopped.
"I know! I know no more Magick, but." Willow cried.
"But it's Buffy," Tara finished.
Grabbing the book she was looking for Willow turned back to her. "Yeah, it is."
Tara nodded understandingly, grabbing a handful of candles, some black, some white.
"Then let's do it," she said.
Willow smiled through her tears as she dropped everything on the floor. Tara came and sat opposite her and they held hands over the candles.
Following the spell in the book, chanting the words loudly, the room temperature suddenly dropped. Gooseflesh appeared on the two women's arms and their voices got louder. The candles suddenly flamed into life and the temperature zoomed back to normal.
"Keep going," Willow said.
***
Buffy gritted her teeth angrily as she felt the strong hum of the spell in the air. She should have killed the stupid Witch, not just tied her up.
Slowing down the bike, she hopped off it. Pain twisted her gut as the spell hit her harder, falling to her knees she whimpered. Using her last burst of energy, Buffy sent a strong jolt back to them, to try and protect herself. It kept on coming. She screamed in pain and frustration a few seconds before she blacked out.
***
"Can I have one room for a night please?" Xander asked the lanky-looking attendant at 'Marci's Motel.'
The boy, who seemed to be no more than fifteen years old, looked sceptically at the four people standing in front of him.
"We have no dodgy business here," he said, shaking his head.
"Ew!" Anya protested. "Like I would sleep with these people." Off Xander's look she added, "Well, I used to with him."
Giving her an even stranger look the boy asked, "So one room between the four of you?"
"No, just for these two." Xander replied, nodding at Andrew and Jonathan who hadn't said a word since they left Sunnydale. "I'm just paying for it."
The boy smirked as he typed in some information in the computer.
"That would be thirty dollars for a double room and forty five for two singles."
"I'm not sharing a bed with him," Jonathan exclaimed.
"You paying?" Xander snapped, "They can have the double." He paid and took the key off the boy. "Go to the room, lock it and don't leave it until we come back tomorrow."
"I still think we should go to LA," Anya muttered.
"We have to get back to Sunnydale Ahn, now." He stalked back towards the car.
"Well good luck," Anya called back to the shell-shocked boys. "Don't get killed. Motels charge extra if blood is shed during the stay."
***