Chapter Six

Jaime struggled mightily against the arm that brutally restrained her and tried to bite the hand clamped over her mouth, with no success. Since her feet were free, she kicked out at the nearest tree breaking it at its base and sending it to the ground. As she'd hoped, Steve saw it and knew it was a red flag. "She's over there!" he told Buffy urgently.

Jaime's captor, hearing them approach, released her from his vice-like grip and shoved her roughly to the ground. She was immediately back on her feet, albeit a little shaken, but the attacker had disappeared. Steve was at her side in seconds, saw her stricken look and the vicious bruises already forming on her left arm and her neck, and he drew her into a very gentle, comforting hug. His eye scanned the horizon in all directions, but he saw no one and nothing unusual.

"Steve...that was him. He was so strong; I couldn't get away from him!" She was shaking all over and silent tears began streaming down her face. "He was stronger than we are," she repeated.

"I think it's pretty safe to assume he won't be back here tonight." Steve said to Buffy and Angel, who had just found them. "I'm taking her back to the hotel to rest."

"Did you wanna keep looking tomorrow?" Buffy asked meekly.

"Unfortunately, there's still a killer to catch. I'll be here - same time. But we'll have to see what her doctor says about Jaime. He's less than an hour away, and I know he'll want to check her over."

"Steve, I'm ok," Jaime affirmed, right before her legs gave out. Steve caught her as she fell and carried her to their car.

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"Stress," Rudy proclaimed when he'd finished Jaime's exam. "Her legs are fine. She's got some nasty bruises and possibly a broken rib or two, but she'll be just fine. I'm glad you called me, though. From what Oscar told me and what the two of you said, I think I'll hang around until you wrap this one up. I've already got a room two floors down."

"Rudy," Jaime said weakly, "would you please tell him I'm ok to go back out tomorrow?"

"I'd rather see you take a couple of days to rest," the doctor answered.

"I told you -" Steve said.

"But if you take it easy - no fighting off vampires on your own - you should be ok."

"I told you," she smiled. "Rudy, I promise to leave the staking to Buffy and Steve."

"The - what?"

"I won't go killing any vamps on my own."

Steve couldn't hold back a chuckle. "It's vamps now? You're turning into Buffy."

Rudy shook his head at both of them. "Jaime, I'll give you something to make sure you rest tonight. Tomorrow, we'll just play it by ear."

Steve pulled him aside in the hallway. "Is she really ok, Rudy? I just don't wanna take a chance..."

"I'll look at her again in the morning, but I'd say as long as she doesn't try to be the hero -"

"This is Jaime we're talking about."

"Keep an eye on her, Steve. But she should be fine."

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Jaime and Steve met Buffy again after lunch the next day, and together, the three of them went to see Angel. "Everything ok?" he asked, meaning Jaime but looking at Steve.

"Just a few bruises," Jaime answered. "Nothing serious."

"And a couple broken ribs," Steve reminded her.

"Yeah. Whatever," she said in her best Buffy voice.

"Last night, after you left, I went to Willy's bar to see if he's heard anything," Angel told them.

"Is he a vampire or a demon?" Steve asked.

"Neither. We call him Willy the Snitch. He runs the only bar in the area that caters specifically to the so-called 'undead'. I'd hoped he might have, at the very least, a good rumor or two to give us, but - nothing. Sorry."

"Thanks for trying," Jaime said quietly. "I'm surprised there wasn't a new victim last night, the way it's all been escalating."

"There almost was," Steve pointed out.

"It would help Buffy and me if you could fill us in on anything you might have found out, any facts you have."

"We've got the file in the car," Jaime said. "I'll go and get it." She headed up and out.

Steve waited a reasonable length of time, figuring she was fine since the sun was out, but as more time passed he began to worry. "I'm gonna make sure she's ok," he told Buffy and Angel.

He was halfway to the gate when he saw her. Jaime was lying on the ground, a man hunched over her still form, poking at her neck with a device he couldn't quite make out. The attacker heard him coming and took off running. Steve began to chase him, but couldn't bear to leave an injured, unconscious Jaime lying alone in a graveyard. They had at least one clue they hadn't had before; Steve had gotten a good look at the man's face.

Buffy and Angel had apparently thought things were taking too long as well, because when Steve returned to Jaime's side, Buffy was already there. Jaime was just beginning to recover her senses, moaning softly as she fought to open her eyes.

"Jaime - I never should've let you go alone..."

"And you'd have stopped me - how?" she asked with a very weak smile.

"She's got a hell of a goose-egg on the back of her head," Buffy told Steve.

Jaime was beginning to fade again, but held up a medallion on a chain, which Buffy took from her. "Ripped...it off...his neck..." she mumbled.

"I'll take this to Angel; it's so unusual, he just might know who it belongs to."

"Buffy -" Steve wrote a phone number on a scrap of paper. "If he does know, call. If we're still at the hospital with Jaime, you can leave a message for me to contact you."

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Steve took Jaime back to the hotel, where Rudy was waiting. While they prepared to get her to the hospital, Buffy was back talking to Angel. "We know now that it isn't a vamp," Buffy said. She handed Angel the medallion. "Jaime tore this off of his neck."

"Oh no..." Angel muttered, his face growing even more pale than usual.

"What?"

"I know this; I know who it belongs to." He looked up at Buffy, his face looking stricken and his eyes deadly serious. "It's Willy's."

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