Chapter Seven

With no fanfare, no flashes of light, no sound, Buffy simply disappeared, but left within the circle of sacred sand her clothes, the tent, the sleeping bag, the water, the food . . . and the amulet!

"Oh, god!" Willow exclaimed. "What happened? I don't understand!"

"Well, you said D'Hoffryn told you there were going to be a couple of peculiar effects," Anya said. "I think we just saw one."

"Willow, you have to do something!" Dawn ordered her. "You can't just leave here there with no way to come home."

"I – I don't know what to do."

"You have to go back to see D'Hoffryn. You have to get a spell to bring her back!"

"Yes! You're right. I'll do that."

"When you do," Anya told her, "be very careful how you ask. D'Hoffryn isn't one to give out favors like peanuts on beer night."

Willow nodded.

"You want me to come with?" Tara asked.

"Do you think he would mind?" Willow asked Anya.

Anya shrugged her shoulders.

"Who knows? If he's in a good mood, I don't see a problem. But if he isn't, he just might decide to kill one, or both, of you."

"Thanks! That makes me feel a WHOLE lot better."

"You asked."

Willow brought out her amulet and began the sing-song chant. And as before, just as the last word was said, she and Tara found themselves in the anteroom of D'Hoffryn's underealm domain. But unlike her previous visit, no one was there. After hesitantly calling out, a little louder each time, they decided they were being ignored, which was much better than being killed. So they returned to Buffy's dining room.

"So now what?" Dawn wanted to know. "How are you going to get her back?"

"I'm . . . not sure."

"Can't you do a spell? Surely there must be tons of spells for situations like this. Anya? Right?"

"Oh, sure. There's probably hundreds of them. But finding them is the problem. If they were just laying around for anyone to find and to use, then everyone would be doing it."

"What if you change the words around? Would that work?"

"I don't know. I've been trying, but I'm can't remember the original spell. And before you ask, the page it was written on disappeared when Buffy did."

"Another 'little peculiarity' ," Anya said. "I guess she's gone for good."

"Don't say that!" Dawn shouted at her. "Don't even THINK it! We're going to get her back. We just have to figure out how."

"If I could remember the spell, maybe I could at least send her things to her, and the amulet."

By now Buffy could tell that Xena's patience was running out.

"Okay, ask me anything, anything at all. And I'll try my best to answer as truthfully as I can."

"Or as truthfully as you want?" Xena shot back.

Buffy held up three fingers, Girl Scout style. "I swear to tell the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me, whatever god or gods you swear to."

Xena still didn't trust her, and kept her sword close at hand.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Because we – my friends and I, were thinking you might be a Slayer."

"You came from the future because you thought I killed people?"

"No. In this case a Slayer is a good thing. Do you know what vampires are?"

"I thought I was asking the questions."

"I can't answer them unless I know what you know. Otherwise they wouldn't make any sense to you."

"No, I have never heard of vampires. Gabrielle?"

"No, never have."

"Well, to begin with, vampires have fangs – here."

Buffy used her two little fingers to point to her canine teeth, showing which teeth were fangs.

"And they use these fangs to bite into your neck -- here."

She pointed to the spot where the jugular vein ran just under the skin.

"And they suck the blood from you, and you die."

Gabrielle was shaking her head. "Nothing I've ever heard of."

"I have," Xena said. "The Bacchae. They do that. They drink the blood of their victims in order to live. They're disciples of the god Bacchus."

"Well, they could be vampires who have associated themselves with this Bacchus to make it easier to find their victims."

"And they're women only, no men."

"There are women vamps. I guess they've joined this guy's cult."

"So what to they have to do with Slayers?"

"Slayers hunt and kill them."

"Kill them? Just like that?" Gabrielle asked.

"Pretty much. Slayers use a wooden stake to the heart, or cut off their heads . . . ."

"That would kill a lot of things," Xena interrupted.

"And sunlight. It causes them to burst into flames. That's why they hunt for their victims only at night."

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