Angel looked at her in stupefaction. "What? How could you know?"
She shrugged. "They came after Spike last night."
"Spike?" he asked in complete disbelief. "Why the hell would a bunch of them come after Spike?"
Buffy shrugged. "Beats me. I guess some people think a bloodstained leather coat and a lack of social skills is hot."
Angel was still mentally retching when the aforesaid vampire barreled into the Magic Box, clutching a blanket over his head and sizzling.
"Bloody hell! Someone barricade the doors! They're right on my tail!" he snarled, beating out the fire that was burning on his cover and pointing to the entrance.
Buffy looked out the window and froze for a second. What looked like a total armada of slayer lookalikes were running down the street. She called to the Scoobies and they all grabbed something large and heavy and placed it over the entrance. Giles let down the metal door and window protectors and locked them.
"You idiot! You led them right to us!" Angel hissed at Spike.
"Well, look what the cat hacked up," the blonde returned. "Couldn't stay in L.A. and fight them yourself? Had to come running to the Slayer to help you?"
"Look who's talking!"
"Enough! Shut up, both of you!" Buffy spat, pacing the floor while the girls hit the store front and tried to get through, to no avail for the time being.
"Hey, why is it just Spike and Angel who get the masses of chicks? Is it just vampires that get all the fun stuff?" Xander mused, crossing his arms.
Willow cocked her head. "Well, maybe it's because, well, humans are so ordinary, you know? I guess these girls just wanna…I dunno…aim for the darker side."
"Splendid theory," Xander said, slightly hurt. "I can be plenty dark and mysterious! I can mystify the best of them!"
"No you can't," Anya scolded. "You can't even lie very well, honey."
As Xander sputtered, Buffy was looking for a way out of their veritable Alamo. "How about the air ducts?" she suggested.
"Fine by me. All I want is out of this soddy mess," Spike cussed as he stood on a chair to pull the grating off a vent.
"I'd think you'd like all the extra attention, Spike," Angel taunted. "Dozens of impressionable little girls panting after you. Must really do something for that ego."
"Oh, go do a jig in the sunlight," he returned, clambering into the now open vent. The group followed behind, one by one, with Buffy bringing up the rear.
"Ouch!" Anya said. "I put my hand down on a nail! You'd think whoever built this place would have picked up the extra nails!"
"Would you rather them have not nailed it in at all?" Willow muttered from near the back.
"It's really cramped in here," Xander said, a little breathless. "And stuffy."
"We're gonna have to make do, Xander. It's the only way out. Now everyone shush up so no one hears us talking," Buffy demanded.
Spike laughed in his throat from the front. "Yeah, and no one'll notice the loud scuffling from the air ducts. They'll think we're just a bunch of huge rats."
"You are a huge rat." Angel shoved hard on Spike's rear and Spike fell over, slamming his face against the warm metal.
"You sodding son of a-…"
"Shut up!" Buffy snapped. "Keep moving."
They finally all reached the end, and Spike pushed the final grate away so they could climb up onto the roof. Fortunately, it had become rather overcast, so the two vampires didn't incinerate. The group stood around, looking for a way out.
"I guess we could go over the rooftops, if we stayed out of sight. Make for my house," Buffy suggested.
"It's our only way out," Giles supported, his joints aching from crawling through such a long duct.
They carefully stuck to the middles of the roofs and hopped over, one by one. Finally they reached the end of the commercial district and they climbed down a fire escape. As their feet touched the ground, Buffy gasped.
"Oh my God! Dawn! She's home from school and she doesn't know about any of this!"
Xander sighed. "We better get there before something crazy happens. Like they initiate her into their ranks."
"Why would Dawn want to link up with a hoard of Spike-worshiping nutcases?" Angel sneered.
"Well, she did have that crush-…" Buffy started, but at Spike's amazed expression, she shut up and shook it off. "Forget it. Angel, stop starting fights. Spike, stop-…doing whatever you're doing to piss me off. Let's just get home."
They made a break for it, and they barreled in the door just as the sun peeked out and Spike and Angel started smoking. Buffy slammed the door shut, locked it, and called for Dawn.
"Dawnie? Dawn? Are you home?"
No answer. She ran upstairs to see a tousled bed and an empty room. She practically fell back downstairs to see a tacit group. Giles was holding a piece of paper.
"Buffy…" he said quietly. "They've…taken Dawn."
The Slayer froze. "Let me see," she asked, and took the note.
"If you wish to get your sister back, you'll go to the cemetery at midnight and wait by the Cox family crypt," she read aloud.
Willow sighed. "Oh, Buffy!"
"Relax, Will. It's no big deal; they're probably just holding her hostage to get someone out of us to come rescue her in the hopes that we'll bring one of the two guys and they'll grab him in the fray."
"Well bugger that!" Spike spat. "I'm not gonna be bait."
"Do you want Dawn to get hurt?" Angel demanded. Spike straightened his lapels and made a sound of disgust.
"Of course not. Little bit's the unlucky one, that's all. I just don't feel like having to fight off a wild mob of girls while Buffy trots off home with Dawn in tow."
"How very selfish of you."
Spike turned to Buffy. "Don't tell me you wouldn't! You don't give a damn about my safety over Dawn's, and I know that and I see the sense in that. But I'd rather not have to keep them at bay all the same."
Buffy considered this. "True. Let's promise this instead. You all come with me, and we leave no man behind. We're getting Dawn back, come Hell or high water."