Chapter Six
"They're closed. How are we supposed to-" Codelia's question was interrupted by Buffy's hand bursting through the door and unlocking it from the inside. "By violence of course. That's how things are always done here."
Buffy carefully ripped the list in two. "Here. Get these ingredients."
Cordelia gave it a quick glance. "Ew, salamander eyes. I am so not touching those." Buffy snagged the list from her and gave Cordelia her half. She browsed through this new list and exclaimed, "Raven's claw? Is there any part of this list that isn't body parts?"
"Cordelia. This, isn't helping."
"All right. All right." They separated and started grabbing supplies from the shelves. "So, do you think people willing work here or do so under penalty by law?"
"What's wrong with working at the Magic Box?"
"For starters, a piece of fruit lasts longer than whoever works at this place. Second it's dusty and completely unhygienic. And third, I can only imagine what the uniform looks like. They probably have to wear a pointy hat and matching cape."
"Remember what I was saying about the not helping?"
"I'm helping, I'm just conversing as I do it."
Buffy grabbed two of the three ingredients from her list and placed them on the counter. "Cordelia could you find a bag and put this stuff in it?"
"Yea, sure." She walked behind the counter and started to scream. Buffy ran towards her and looked at the floor. Sure enough there was a girl lying there with two holes in her neck.
"Well this confirms your theory."
"I know. Look at her outfit. It's JcPenney's for crying out loud."
"Cordelia?" Buffy was going to say something but just made a fist and brushed it off. "Hurry up and find the other ingredients in case the predator decides to come back." Buffy pulled out a bag and inserted the two jars.
"Okay, here are my three." She placed them in the same bag.
"All right now all I need is-"
"A bodyguard," a deep, somewhat familiar voice spoke.
Buffy looked up at a shadowy figure in the corner. "Cordelia, grab the bags."
"Okay." Cordelia slipped her hand through the plastic holes, keeping her eyes on Angelus, and pulled it from the counter top.
"Doing a little shopping? Might I suggest some Muck Weed. It tastes great in turkey soups."
"Aren't you a regular Emeril Lagasse?"
"You're not leaving this store."
"Wanna recheck that crystal ball?" Buffy snatched a bottle of holy water from the shelf and threw it at him. "Cordelia, run!"
Cordelia darted out the door and into her car. "Buffy!"
Buffy grabbed a couple more bottles of holy water to chuck at him as she searched for the final ingredient.
"That wasn't nice."
"As opposed to the death-o-gram you left for me?"
"Oh good, you got it. I was afraid the delivery was too soft. I wanted to go with something a little more eye catching but I was in a rush. People to kill, boys to torture."
"You're a repulsive psycho path you know that?" Buffy asked as she tried to keep a shelf between the two of them.
He clutched his heart. "Oh, now that hurts. And here I thought we were getting along. Oh well." He drove his hands forward and knocked the shelf over, and Buffy with it. She quickly tried squirming loose but Angelus stood with one foot on each side of her. "And where do you think you're going?"
Buffy thrust her leg up, breaking the shelves in her way, and kicked Angelus over her head. She slid her top half down so she could escape through the newly destroyed shelf and ran out to Cordelia. "Buffy look out!" Cordelia screamed. She turned around in time to duck Angelus's reach for her neck.
"Cordelia, get ready to catch this!" Buffy yelled. She blocked his right kick and did a spin kick to his head. Cordelia opened her door and got out of the car. "Ready?"
"No."
"Catch." Buffy tossed the jar into the air right before she got a punch in the stomach.
The popular brunette took a step to the left and surprisingly caught the jar. "Oh my God I caught it."
"Good, now get out of here." Buffy blocked the right hook and kicked Angelus in the abdomen. She tried swiping his legs out from under him but he jumped out of the way.
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me. You need to get that to Willow." He blocked her next swing and punched her in the face and then in the gut while she was still stunned. Cordelia got in her car and sped down the street.
"There goes your getaway car." Angelus grabbed her and swung her around to throw her, but her footing was good and she regained her balance. He kicked her in the face again and this time she fell to the ground, the cement penetrating her skin. "This is it? This is all the Slayer has to offer? I gotta tell ya, I'm a little disappointed. I feel like you're not as into this fight as I am. I think you're only here about forty percent. Where's the other sixty?"
Buffy flipped to her feet and landed a backhand punch to his left cheek. He went to swing but she dropped down and kicked the back of his knee, making him fall onto the pavement. She then kneed him in the chin and deliverd a series of punches to his gut. He grabbed her fist before the next contact, twisted her arm back and pulled her into his chest. "This is where I bite you and you die." He prepared to gnaw her neck but she rammed her head into his face.
Buffy looked up the street when she heard a car speeding down it. It was Cordelia. Buffy rolled away from Angelus and hopped into the car when she stopped. He started running after it but discontinued after a couple feet when he realized he would never catch up. He kicked and swatted at the air in front of him in frustration that she got away.
"Not exactly how I would've done it," Faith stated, revealing herself from the confines of the alleyway.
"And where were you Faithy?"
"Hey I wasn't gettin' in between you two. I really liked how you let her kick your ass like that."
"I had her!"
"And then she rammed her skull into your face. Love the bloody nose by the way. Adds to the whole bad ass look."
"I was this close," he said, leaving minimal room between his thumb and pointer finger.
"Whether you were this close," she held her thumb and pointer finger a centimeter apart, "or this close," she held her arms out, "the story reads the same way. You didn't kill her."
"And you could've done better?"
Faith exhaled in an oh-please persona. "Way better. She at least would've been more bloodied up then me, if not dead."
"Then why didn't you help?"
"Like I said before, I wasn't gonna be the parental unit. You were the one that could handle yourself. And I gotta say, you're handling of things sucks. Luckily, this is the part of the game where I get tagged in."
"We gotta check something first."
"What?"
Angelus headed back into the Magic Box and looked for the piece of paper he saw in Buffy's hand. It was on the ground where he knocked her to the floor with the shelf. "Aha!" he snatched it from the ground as if it was going to try and grab it first. "Try and find the other half of this list."
"Why, you want to compare shopping items?"
"Just look."
"Or what? You'll let me kick your ass?" Faith said with a smirk. She looked at the floor behind the counter and saw the dead body. "This your handy work?" Angelus ignored her as he searched the floor. Faith revealed her teeth as she bent to grab the other half of the list. "Is this the paper you were lookin' for?"
Angelus rose from the ground and snatched it from her. He read the ingredients off to himself. "Oh great."
"What's with the trauma?"
"They're doing a locator spell."
"Locator spell?"
"Yes. A spell that locates things," Angelus said as if he was talking to a child that really pissed him off.
"Like kidnapped teenagers?" Faith asked, beginning to catch on.
"We need to do a spell."
"I get it, a little fire vs. fire. What do we need?"
Back at Giles' house everyone was on edge. Spike made sure to keep an eye on everyone's move, at least what moves he could hear. Most of his attention was through the window so he could see Buffy the second she came down the steps. "Bloody hell," he said before he opened the door. Everyone watched him leave the sanctuary of the house and remained in place until Cordelia came in.
"Finally," Willow said with relief.
"Yea well we got held up when tall, dark, handsome and psycho appeared out of no where."
"Where's Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Spike's helping her."
"Helping her?"
"Your cheek is bruised," Spike observed.
"Yea well that happens when someone kicks you in the face."
"Angelus?"
"The wretchedness himself." Buffy felt some pain in her side but she forced herself to walk without limping. If Spike knew how much she ached he would never let her leave the house alone again No matter what she said. "I'll be fine. I got the whole Slayer healing thing working for me."
Giles ran through the doorway and took a look at Buffy. "Good God are you all right?"
"I'll be fine. Is Willow starting the spell?"
"Yes, of course."
Spike walked beside Buffy as she made her way inside. She counted four heads. "Where's my mom?" she asked in panic.
"She's resting in my bed."
Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. "I really can't take any more surprises like that."
"Are you all right love? You seem a little under the weather? More then you're lettin' on."
"I'm fine. Slayer strength remember? I just need an hour or two and then I'll be good as new."
"Why are you always so stubborn?" Spike asked.
"Why are you always so nosey?" Buffy countered.
"I don't like seeing you in pain."
"Aw." Buffy leaned forward and gave him a kiss. "Any one ever tell you you're the best boyfriend ever?"
"Actually my girlfriend in Cancun mentioned it the other day."
"Oh. Well since we're being open about our other relationships I should tell you about Eduardo in Spain and Gutentag in Italy."
"Gutentag is German."
"But his vacation mansion is in Italy."
"Oh I see," Spike replied with a smirk before deeply kisisng Buffy.
"Não ache o rapaz engraçado com o rosto gordo," Willow finished. The map had no response at all, not even a shimmer of light. "Não ache o rapaz engraçado com o rosto gordo," she repeated. "Why isn't it working? Something's not right."
"What does that mean? What do you mean it isn't working?" Cordelia asked.
"That means he either isn't in Sunnydale or…"
Cordelia's mouth dropped open, not needing Willow to finish her sentence. "That's impossible. They couldn't have killed Xander. What would they gain by doing that? He's fine. He's Xander, he never dies. He's not allowed to. I will kill him if he's dead!" Cordelia yelled. She began to cry, thinking that she would never see her boyfriend ever again.
"There's another option," Giles suggested.
"A less dead one?" Cordelia asked, wiping her eyes.
"Yes." He sat down on the couch and looked at the three faces staring at him. "There could very well be a barrier around him, blocking your spell in order for him to remain hidden."
"Yes, that's the one. That's the problem we have," Cordelia informed them.
"Okay, everyone load up with weapons and let's go save Xander."
"How do we find him Buffy?" Willow asked.
Buffy opened her mouth to say something but realized she had no idea. How are we going to find him, if there's even a 'him' left?