Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow

Previously:

"We can't go back empty handed," the first voice replied. "Let's take her."

Kara felt hands groping at her, lifting her up, and carrying her out of the house. Her eyes rolled back in her head and the last thing she remembered seeing was the blue sky above her and the warm sun shining down on her face.

.........................

Xander nodded and ran back into the store. "You're gonna be okay," Anya told Faith. "Just hang on."

Chapter Seventeen:

"Oh, look. She's finally waking up. Here I thought we'd have to wait all freakin' day," Glory muttered sarcastically, sashaying up to Kara, who was chained to a pole in the middle of Glory's bedchamber. "Now, I already know you're not my key. Wasn't too hard to figure out. In fact, you're not even really supposed to be here, are you?" Glory asked, running her fingers down the side of Kara's face, her red painted nails lightly scratching the skin.

"You taste all funny. And there's definitely something off about you. Like the air around you runs in your wake because it knows you don't belong. Everything's afraid to touch you," Glory said contemplatively. Then she smiled. "But I'm not. I'm not afraid of you at all. This may not be my world, but it isn't yours either. No home field advantage for you, nope, we're just two players in some alien dimension without a clue what's going on. But that's okay, because I'll be going home soon."

"Now, somewhere is that head of yours is the information I want," Glory said, her ruby lips curling up in a smile that chilled Kara to the bone. "And either way, I'm gonna get it. So be a good little puppy and tell me what I want to know."

.......................................

"The operation was a complete success. Your mother's resting now, but you'll be able to visit with her in a couple of hours," the doctor said, smiling as Dawn and Buffy collapsed into each other's arms in relief. Spike stood a few feet away, a tiny smile playing on his face. When Buffy pulled the doctor aside to ask some questions, Dawn turned around and squealed, running into Spike's arms.

"She's gonna be okay," Dawn breathed, clutching onto Spike like a life raft.

"I heard," Spike said, gladly returning the hug. "Seems like things are lookin' up, eh Nibblet?"

"You wanna go down to the café with me? I know you can't really eat anything, but" –

"Of course," Spike said, cutting her off. "Not really one for sitting still anyway. Besides, I don't particularly think Buffy's too thrilled with my company," Spike said as the excited fourteen year old grabbed his hand and yanked him down the hallway.

"Thanks again," Buffy said as the doctor gave her a small nod and walked away. Sighing, she looked around the empty waiting room. She had told Faith she and Dawn would be fine on their own, but she desperately wanted her to be here. Glancing over at the bank of pay phones in the corner, Buffy fished a quarter out of her pocket and deposited it in the slot.

She dialed her home number only to have the phone ring several times without answer. Trying again, she dialed the number for the Magic Box. It rang twice before Xander answered. "Hey," Buffy said, wondering why he picked up the phone and not Giles or Anya. "Is Faith there by any chance?"

"Buffy," a voice from behind her said. Turning Buffy saw Giles standing a few feet away.

"Hold on, Xand," Buffy said, covering the receiver with her free hand. "Hey, Giles. What're you doing here?"

"Buffy, I'm afraid there's been an accident," Giles said, slowly approaching her. While Buffy hadn't told Giles about her newfound relationship with Faith, he had easily figured it out.

"I'll call you back," Buffy said, hanging up the phone before Xander could reply. "What happened?"

"Faith was shot outside the Magic Box," Giles said gently. "She's downstairs in surgery in the ER. She was shot in the chest, just a bit to the right of her heart."

The world started spinning around Buffy and she sunk to the floor, Giles immediately rushing to her side. "Oh my God," she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Is she okay? She's alive, right? What have the doctors said?" Buffy asked, the questions shooting out of her mouth.

"We don't know much," Giles admitted. "Anya and I are downstairs. We left Xander at the shop to tell Willow and Tara when they come back. They should be here soon. We couldn't get a hold of Riley," Giles said, placing a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "She needs you to be strong now. I know how much she means to you," he said, smiling at Buffy's 'deer in the headlights' look. "And I'm fine with it. Come on, I'll take you downstairs," Giles said, helping Buffy to her feet.

"Wait, Dawn and Spike are here. I think they went to the café. Someone needs to tell them," Buffy said as Giles led her down the hallway.

"I'll go as soon as you're with Anya," Giles said. "Everything's going to be okay."

...........................

When Callum awoke, the sun was starting to sink in the sky, the late afternoon rays coming in the kitchen window at an odd angle, lighting up the wall in shades of orange and red. "Oh, that's not good," he mumbled to himself as he sat up, rubbing his head. A sharp pain flooded his consciousness and he suppressed the urge to vomit. The last thing he remembered was a group of crusty looking demons in brown robes busting through the back door and knocking him on the head with something rather large and heavy.

Glancing around the room, he noted that he was alone. "Kara!" He yelled out, shakily pulling himself to his feet. Using the kitchen counter for support, he shuffled his way over to the door and stepped out into the hallway. The front door was hanging wide open and he could see a trial of blood splashed down one of the walls. "Oh, this is really not good."

Grabbing his jacket off the coat rack, Callum flung it on and ran out of the door, his feet pounding on the sidewalk, heading toward the Magic Box. When he finally reached his destination, he was completely out of breath and the pounding in his head had drastically increased. He was standing outside the store, doubled over and wheezing, when Tara and Willow walked up. "Hey, you okay?" Willow asked, approaching him with concern.

"Little...brown robed demons...came to the house...took Kara....in big shit...think they work for...Glory," Callum managed to say in between heaves of breath.

"T-this is not good," Tara said, as she and Willow helped maneuver Callum into the Magic Box. The little bell above the door cried out as they entered the surprisingly abandoned store. Xander appeared from the back training room, looking completely stressed out, and with blood staining the front of his shirt.

"Xander! What happened to you?" Willow asked, tore between rushing over to him and helping Callum into a chair. The latter won out and once the lanky Englishman was seated, she rushed over to Xander.

"Just take deep breaths," Tara said, sitting next to Callum.

"Nothing. It's Faith's," he said motioning to the blood on his shirt. "Someone shot her in the alley. Giles and Anya just left with the ambulance and told me to wait for you to come back," Xander said, his voice thick with concern. Willow's face instantly went pale.

"Oh no," she said, stumbling back and falling into a chair.

"What is it, baby?" Tara asked, rushing over to her side. She knelt beside Willow, taking the red-haired witch's hand in hers, and tracing patterns on her skin to calm her.

"Riley. Riley shot her," Willow declared. "He came in here a few minutes before I left and asked me to call Faith and tell her to come to the back room of the Magic Box. He told me to say I wanted to talk to her. I thought it was a little weird, but he said Faith wouldn't come if he called himself. Said he wanted to talk to her about looking after Buffy. He seemed really twitchy though, like he was nervous about something. I should've known," Willow said, mentally kicking herself. "If she dies, it's my fault," she whispered.

"No, it's not," Xander said forcefully, also kneeling beside her. "If Riley shot her, it's Riley's fault. You couldn't have known what he was going to do. Let's just go to the hospital and we'll figure out what to do from there, okay?"

"I hate to interrupt," Callum said. "But we have bigger problems."

"How so?" Xander asked, turning toward his friend.

"Glory took Kara. Kara knows where the key is. I imagine Glory's figured that out. We need to get her out before Glory breaks her," Callum said, rising to his feet. The world was spinning a bit, but he was determined.

"Why don't we know where the key is?" Willow asked, suddenly feeling a bit hurt that Buffy didn't think it necessary to share that piece of information with them. Callum sighed.

"I'm not really supposed to tell you," he said hesitating.

"Come on, man. We need to know so we don't accidentally let something slip," Xander said.

"Okay. You can't tell anyone, are we clear? Dawn is the key. Glory needs Dawn's blood to open the portal to go back to her world. Only Dawn's blood can close the portal. It's imperative Glory not find out that Dawn is the key," Callum stressed. "We need to find Glory and we need to find her now."

"Tara and I can find her," Willow said, jumping to her feet and rushing over to the magic books. "We can do a locater spell. It shouldn't take long at all," she said, flipping through one of the books. She settled on a page and she and Tara set about the store, looking for the ingredients.

Moving over to Callum, Xander leaned against one of the display cases. "Not been a very good day, huh?" he said, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I would say not," Callum replied, looking equally as frazzled and weary.

"When we find Glory...well, what are we gonna do? I mean, you and I aren't slayers. Will and Tara can only do so much," Xander said. "Should we call Buffy?"

"No," Callum responded after a moment's thought. "She's got enough to worry about. We can do this."

"Found her," Willow said suddenly. "Come on, she's living in one of the old mansions." After gathering a few weapons, the four Scoobies hurried out of the shop, heading towards Glory's mansion.

...........................

Riley boarded the bus heading out of Sunnydale feeling far lighter than he had in months. He had contacted Graham about a job and disposed of the gun he used to shoot Faith, tossing it in the river. It sunk down to the murky bottom and with it went any concern of Riley's over the incident. He had lost Buffy far before Faith appeared, but something about the dark haired slayer just irked him. Sitting back in his seat, he smiled, knowing the bitch would never bother him again. He had gotten away with murder.