Disclaimer: Capri sun juice drinks and Wet-nap pre-moistened napkins are probably trade marked, please don't sue me.
Author's notes: Thanks very much reviewers.
A Well in the DeadLand
By Marz
Chapter 8: Near Miss
A wall of sweltering air hit her full in the face as she pulled open the back doors of the van. Even the underground parking area was not immune to New York's scorching summer. They'd opened every window they could, but Xander and Giles were soaked in sweat, and the thin sickly looking man seated between them didn't look any more comfortable. Not that anyone looked comfortable jammed between an angry one eyed carpenter and an angrier former librarian, with their wrists and ankles chained together.
"Nobody's seen them," Buffy declared as she crawled onto the thin crumb infested carpet of the van. "Your contacts from the council got the wrong plane."
"I am certain they did not," Giles said calmly. He took off his glasses and tried to wipe the steamed-up lenses, but as his shirt was damp it didn't do much good. "The security cameras showed them boarding flight 489. Since they did not purchase tickets, I think it is rather obvious the boy used some sort of spell to hide himself and Dawn from notice. It's possible it hid them when they got off the plane as well."
"I waited in front of their gate Giles. I was there two whole hours before they landed. I would have sensed them! Willow was there too."
"The First's gotten around her spells before, Buffy," Xander added. "Where is Will anyway?"
"She went to check out the J.F.K. security cameras. She told me it'd be easier for her to sneak a peek if I wasn't following her around glaring and threatening. I came to get a look at him." Buffy nodded to the sickly looking man.
Xander had called her from a plane, the one they'd managed to catch an hour and a half after finding out where the boy was taking Dawn. Giles had wasted a whole hour getting a fake passport so they could bring the man with them. They made it pretty clear that the man knew the kidnapper, who was named Harry apparently. Xander had said the sickly looking man had tried to help them before the boy hit him with a spell. Giles thought it was some sort of memory spell. Buffy stared at the man, Lupin, according to Xander. Lupin started back, and there was something in his eyes that made her skin crawl.
Before he could react Buffy grabbed him by the shirt front and dragged him off the bench, onto his knees.
"Who's the kid and where is he taking my sister?" She growled.
Lupin blinked in surprise, then bared his teeth and growled back. It was a low rumbling sound that seemed out of the range of human vocal cords. When Buffy did not react the man went back to staring at her blankly.
She gave him tooth rattling shake. She had a bad feeling about him, and the growl only confirmed her suspicions; this man wasn't human. If he'd just turn into a demon or something she could pound information out of him. She raised her fist.
"Buffy stop!" Xander said, diving forward to catch her arm.
"Buffy. Stop," Lupin said in a very quite monotone.
"He knows something. He has to! How could you let this happen!" she shouted.
She pushed Lupin roughly away and he tipped over, across Xander and Giles' feet. They helped him up.
"How could I let this happen?" Buffy said, slumping against the side of the van. "The whole thing was a set up. The dream, the First must have sent it to me. They probably aren't even heading for Sunnydale."
"Ok. Let's not freak out," said Xander, who was a bit baffled by the Slayers sudden mood swings. "What ever the First is planning, we know it needs Dawn alive, and we know it has something to do with that weird Harry kid, so we'll call up the reserves, do some research and save the day. Come on Buffy, we're going to find her, kick evil's ass and go out for Chinese. Just because we haven't averted an apocalypse in a few months is no reason to think we've lost our edge."
Buffy nodded woodenly. They weren't too late. Dawn would be fine. Dawn could take care of herself. No matter how many times she said it, she didn't believe it. Dawn nearly strangled herself on four separate occasions, getting her scarf caught in the revolving door at Macy's.
Waiting in the van for Willow to contact them did not get anymore pleasant as the afternoon wore on. Xander brought out a case of Capri sun pouches, and handed them out. Giles looked very confused by the futuristic beverage container and handed it to Buffy. She forced a laugh and expertly stabbed the straw through the little dot in the top. Lupin watched her carefully, and attempted to open his own tropical punch flavored corn syrup. A jet of pink liquid hit him squarely in the eye. His face fell, and he looked near tears. Xander tried to calm him down, and handed him a wet-nap, but Lupin just stared at the little package, juice dripping down onto his shirt front.
Buffy realized then, how bad off he was. When Willow had accidentally done a memory spell on all of them, they had at least retained general knowledge. They could talk and make use of the postal service, but this guy... She felt more then a little guilty about pushing him around. That didn't mean she trusted him either. He had bad vibes that went well beyond the normal magic-happy human range. Will can set him right, she thought, watching Xander go into soccer mom mode and try to clean up their juice spattered prisoner. It might have been funny if it wasn't so damn sad.
"Come on," Xander cajoled. "You're going to have bees after you."
Lupin put up his hands once again to fend of the wet-nap. "Bees!" he said a bit desperately.
"Hey guys?" Willows voice echoed in their heads.
"What's up?" Buffy asked.
"I found footage of the kid jacking a car. He pointed his wand at the driver, there was a flash of light, and then he and Dawn climbed in. The driver was in complete zombie mode. It was a red Volvo. I couldn't get the plates. They left about an hour ago."
Buffy started to interrupt.
"There's more. When I was tracking them through the airport on the different cameras I saw them duck down a service corridor. Ten minutes later they came back out, and the boy had blood all over him."
"Did he hurt her?" Buffy growled.
"No but I'm there now. The paramedics are picking up what's left of the other guy. Do you want to see?"
As Buffy thought "yes" her eyes went dark for an instant. When she opened them she was standing in a crowd of gawkers. A man in black robes was wheeled by. His face was red and purple pulp and they'd strapped him to a backboard with a neck brace and the whole deal. His left wrist looked very wrong and his sleeve had been pushed up to reveal a skull tattoo that just screamed "I'm an evil cult member!" Sensing her thoughts Willow responded.
"I don't think he's a good guy either, but I'm going to go with him and see what he knows."
Buffy nodded, and a second later she was back looking through her own eyes at Xander and Giles.
"It's time to call up the cavalry," she declared.
Xander stared at her for a moment.
"What?" Buffy said.
"You're the only one with a cell phone."