"Isn't this dangerous to do in the daylight?
Ethan looked at his companion. Long, thick hair, bright hazel eyes, body to kill for, he wished she was a little more amenable to seducing. "It's better than at night when her pet vampire is at her side."
The tall, thirty-something woman looked down at the two unconscious girls. "What do we do about the other one?"
Ethan grabbed Willow's shoulder and dragged her behind some decorative hedging. "She didn't see us. She'll wake up eventually. Give me a hand with the Slayer, Ruby."
Ruby helped him stand Buffy upright and they lugged her to the car. They propped her up in the back seat. "This is going to work?"
"The hardest part will be trussing up this little bird good enough that she doesn't get free in the middle of the spell. She's a tricky one, likes to hit," Ethan replied, ruefully, remembering his encounters with Ripper's little girl.
"She's a Slayer. She's got my power, this unworthy chit of a girl." Ruby slapped Buffy's face.
"But not for much longer." Ethan eyed his Canadian companion warily, wondering if he'd have time to get away from her before her cork blew. He knew Ruby wasn't playing with a full deck. Anyone who actually wanted to be a Slayer had to be half way around the bend. To go about stealing the power meant she was all the way there. Ethan didn't really care about that. He cared about the money this was putting in his pocket and he had a few scores to settle with the Slayer. Besides, this would hit Ripper where he lived. Ethan was all for that. The whole process should be over by the time Ripper even knew his Slayer was missing.
Willow woke, feeling horribly sick. Her head thumped as her belly made like a wash machine on the spin cycle. A branch was jabbing her in the kidney. It slowly percolated into her stunned brain that she had been taken out by some kind of magical percussion grenade.
Willow shook her head, trying to clear it. "Buffy?" she muttered then realized Buffy was nowhere in sight. Willow got up, her body shaking, and saw she had been moved off the sidewalk. Buffy was gone.
She fumbled for her phone. "Giles! Buffy's gone. Someone knocked us out with magic. I just woke up and she's gone...yeah, I'm okay...No, I didn't see who...okay, I'll be there as soon as I can...No, you don't have to come get me. I'm not too far away. I can walk."
Willow didn't walk. She ignored her pain and ran.
Buffy didn't know which hurt more, her head or her hands. Her hands quickly became her big concerned as the fog lifted and Buffy realized she was chained up in a warehouse. She could hear the surf not far away so she had to be in the docks area. She glanced around the room. It was very empty and very big. The only things in it were the table she was chained to and an altar with blue candles on it, a bowl and Mr. Gordo. At the back of the warehouse was a sectioned off office area.
Buffy gritted her teeth. How dare they drag her beloved pig into this? "Ethan!" she screamed then realized that had been dumb to do before at least attempting to escape. She squirmed under the heavy chains and could barely budge.
Ethan and a lady Buffy didn't know came out of the office. The woman had the same batty look in her eyes Dru had. Buffy assumed this was the ex-Potential and she most definitely didn't have the appearance of someone who made the transition back into society. Buffy half expected white-suited men with butterfly nets to come after this woman.
"Sod it! I was hoping you'd stay out until after the spell. It would have been easier all the way around," Ethan groaned.
"Just knock her back out," the lady said, with a dismissive wave.
"I'm saving my magical energy for the big show, Ruby. You can beat on her if you'd like, knock her out the old fashioned way." Ethan smirked. "It's more fun anyhow."
"Always the gentleman, Ethan," Buffy sneered, tugging on her bonds.
He smiled. "It's all part of my charm. Since you're awake, you can just lie there and be good until it's all over."
"What are you going to do to me? That Odin Reversal spell thingie?" Buffy rattled her chains but they didn't move.
"Odawiy Reversal." Ethan scowled. "Damn, if you know that, that means Ripper's already got more clues than I wanted him to."
"This won't take us long, right?" Ruby frowned. "We don't need a Watcher gumming up the works."
Ethan's lips thinned. "About an hour. The first part of the spell isn't done yet."
"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked as Ethan went to the altar and dipped his hands into the bowl in front of Mr. Gordo.
"Because your powers should have been mine," Ruby said, not looking at her as if Buffy were beneath her. "And now it will be. I was supposed to be the Slayer. It may have taken me years, but I'm putting things right."
"Let me get this straight. You want to be isolated from the rest of humanity, forced to fight until you die, have no life, nothing but pain and fear? Are you insane?" Buffy stared at the woman, unable to fathom why anyone would chose this life but in the back of her head she thought about Kendra. If given a choice, Kendra would have said yes.
"That's the general assumption," Ethan muttered.
Ruby glowered at him, shoving back her grey-flecked brunette hair. "It's a calling. It's the reason I was born." She turned to face Buffy. "You want pain and loneliness, try being barred from your one true purpose in life."
"Did it ever occur to you that you were skipped over because you're bonkers?" Buffy strained again the metal pinning her down. "You're going to kill me just so you can be the Slayer."
"Ah, luv, this won't kill you. In fact, you should thank us. You'll be that normal girl you're so longing to be," Ethan said.
Ethan sprinkled fluid from the bowl onto Gordo. Her toy glowed hot pink and Buffy felt something tug inside her, pulling like taffy. She knew she should combat them, fight for her life but Ethan's words echoed in her head. She could be a normal girl again. It was what she had wanted since Merrick first crossed her path. For a moment, she stopped struggling with her chains.
"Why aren't we just looking for Buffy instead of being here wasting time?" Xander raged, pacing around Giles' apartment.
"Because we could waste more time running around clueless," Giles snapped back. "The Council gave me six names of possible Potentials that they feel likely to try something like this. Willow's running them down to see if she can find any credit card activity in the area that might tell us where to look."
"In the mean time, Rupert and I are going to try a locator spell," Jenny said, a bit more soothingly. "They're far from fool proof but it's worth the effort."
"Shouldn't we get Angel here?" Cordelia asked.
"Why?" Xander shot her a surly look. "It's not like he's magic-proof. Ethan could turn him against us or something or make him into a toad." Xander's face brightened. "You know..."
"Xander!" Willow glared. "Giles called Angel's home already."
"You have his number?" Xander's dark eyes widened in surprise.
"When we were working together on the Codex, he gave it to me," Giles replied. "He's not home. He's probably out doing what I asked him to do. If he has a cellular phone, I don't know the number."
"I don't think he does." Willow shrugged. "Buffy said he's not good with modern stuff."
"Common enough for older vampires," Giles muttered, putting a few things into a small cauldron.
"Nothing on the computer search," Willow said, a hint of panic creeping into her voice. "Ms Calender, do you want to give it a try? I can help Giles.
Jenny nodded and they traded jobs.
"I can not believe I was so blind. When Buffy mentioned her missing stuffed animal, I should have realized that was the first part of the spell, the personal item needed," Giles said, shoving his glasses up, frustration in his blue eyes.
"You couldn't have known, Rupert," Jenny said, tapping keys on her laptop.
"I should have. Obviously, Ethan knew where Buffy lived. He sent the pizza. He took advantage of her compromised mental state and stole inside and took a personal item. I should have known," Giles argued.
"Should have but didn't. Nothing you can do about it now," Cordelia said and Giles let it drop, knowing she was right.
In the end, the computer work offered nothing and they headed into town following the locator lodestone's trail. Giles only hoped they would be fast enough.