Chapter 9: Who Is She

Buffy woke up more tired, looking at the clock she noticed she barely got an hour's worth of sleep. This past week she barely slept because of stress of fear. Her head was aching with pain, everyday getting worse from the lack of sleep. She heared the whole team in her living room, waiting for her to come down, whispering something that she didn't quite catch.

She got up and walked downstairs. When she did, it turned silent. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and turned to watch her walk down. She knew something had happened. She felt it in her gut, something was wrong.

"Buffy, please, come sit down." Angel asked as he walked over to her and guided them over to the couch. Angel sat but she didn't.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice thick with fear. She prayed it wasn't Dawn.

"A girl was found dead this morning at the pond where the caller said the four bodies were. They searched the area more and found three more bodies...well bones of bodies."

Buffy backed away slowly, bumping into someone, automatically knowing it was spike as he wrapped his arms around her and held her.

"Who is the girl?" She was torn between wanting to know and not wanting to. If it was the answer she was expecting she didn't know what she would do.

"We, well we don't know. The body was beaten so badly, it...it's hard to identify it right away. It's being looked at. We should know in a few hours." Angel replied softly, never looking at her when he spoke. He sighed then stormed out, slamming the door.

The room was filled with tension. Anya left the room, Buffy hearing her sobs from the kitchen.

She turned to Spike, now seeing that his eyes were filled with tears just waiting to be released. She could tell he thinks its Dawn's body just as much as she does.

"It's Dawn Spike, isn't it? It's her." She whispered, tugging on his shirt, causing him to wrap his arms around her tighter, exactly what she wanted him to do. She needed some type of security. Some form of safety. The simplist gestures can be the most profound. Just a touch from Spike had Buffy's nerves relax, but not much.

"We don't know that Buffy. I...They are looking into it. Dawn is fine. Alright?" Spike kissed her forehead, blinking rapidly as he tried to force his own tears away.

It was a rhetorical question. She knew that he didn't expect an answer.

The cell phone rang.

Spike ripped away from Buffy and headed straight for the phone.

"Spike, no!" Buffy yelled, running after him and grabbing the phone from his hands. "You can't answer it. You're too mad."

"Damn right I am! I want to know what that bastard knows!"

"Then let me ask him." She said calmly as she answered to call.

"Did you hear?" The voice asked her.

"Who is it? Who's the girl?" She said it too panicky and regretted having it come out they way it did.

"You did a good job on finding the girls. Of coarse, I did help a little. What can I say...I hate waiting." A chuckle sounded through the phone.

"Who is she?" She asked again, this time more demanding.

"It isn't dawn if that's what you are thinking, and I'm suspecting you are. It was good for you to think that, shows how much love you have for her."

Relieve poured throughout her body at the news. She took Spike's hand, who was standing right next to her, and squeezed it hard. She looked at him and gave him a slight smile, telling him it wasn't Dawn.

The voice spoke again. "I think you will be surprised on who it is. Think hard Miss Summers. Who contributed to the hurt in you're life? Who had taken something that was yours away from you?"

Her mind was racing, trying to think of all the possible people that matched the clues he gave her. The only person she could remotely think about was Drusilla and how she had taken Spike away from her. But she had Spike back, why would they even bother with her now. Besides, she was in New York. But she didn't quite rule her out just yet.

"Well, Miss Summers? Do you think you know?"

She didn't answer, instead she sighed heavily as she said calmly and evenly "I'm hanging up now."

"Fine. I'll accept that. You have a hard time talking now. Shock will do that to a person. Talk to you soon."

She lowered the phone from her ear, seeing everyone watching intensely for her to give them the heads up on what was said. She looked around and saw someone was missing.

"Where's Angel?" She was so blank before, she had forgotten he left.

"He needed to step out for a moment." Spike spoke up, taking the phone from her hands and hanging up as he placed it on the counter. "He'll probably be back later tonight, unfortunately."

Anya appeared from the kitchen with red eyes. "Did he tell you, who it was? Who the girl was?" she sniffled.

"It isn't Dawn but other than that, they didn't say."

"We'll find out. I've sent everything we collected down to my lab. They will call me immediately when they know who she is." Anya patted Buffy on the back. The two of them connected in a way no one can explain. Buffy vaguely remembers Anya saying both her parents died in a car crash but never asked the full details. She could relate to Anya. Losing a family member is like losing apart of yourself. In a way, she was Buffy's hero. Anya was still so strong after everything she had been through.

She watched as Anya walked over to where she sat next to Xander before continuing. "In the meantime, we can trace the number. We have it narrowed to about half a million now." Anya joked.

Both Spike and Buffy sat down, offering help to Xander, Gunn, and Anya. Buffy noticed how Anya and Xander spoke to each other. There was something there. Something between them. Xander kept making stupid jokes that she could tell was mostly meant for Anya, smiling when she laughed. She smiled at the thought of someone getting something good out of this. Anya and Xander would be good together, she seeing that they noticed that as well.

It was late in the night when her cell phone rang again. Anya had fallen asleep on the couch, leaning on Xander as he continued his work tracing the number and Gunn stood outside, scanning the area. She wasn't expecting a call from the kidnapper this early. He said soon but didn't think it would be this soon.

"Hello?"

"Buffy, it's Angel."

She was relieved to hear a different voice on the other end then the same one she heard for the past week.

"Who is it?" Xander asked her quietly, making sure not to make a lot of noise and wake Anya.

"Angel." She whispered back then directed her attention back to the phone.

"We found out who the girl was that we found at the pond."

Her mind automatically went back to Drusilla. How would she tell spike? She didn't really know how he would take it, he was with her for a long while before they spilt. She knew he still cared for her.

"Who is she?"

"Do you know a girl named Faith?"

Everything came together for Buffy.

"Who contributed to the hurt in you're life. Who had taken something that was yours away from you."

"...So how are you and Riley, You two still together?"

"Riley also found someone else."

"Hmm, well maybe ours ran off together."

"No. I knew the girl. You knew her too, Faith..."

The conversations and memorys flashed through her head. This person is serious as hell, reality hitting her like a ton of bricks. They don't care who they kill or hurt, as long as the game is played.

And she was definitely going to play. The more he tried to hurt her, the more determined she got. They weren't going to hurt Dawn now, it was too far in the game for that but not quite the end either. She was smack dab in the middle. She knew, more was definitely about to come...

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 10: A SHIFT IN THE GAME