Chapter Three

A couple of days had drifted by without any large incident happening. Buffy had stopped in for a rest and quick discussion over this slayer power redux. Nobody had come up with a valid solution and so it was back to the drawing board for the watchers and researchers. Faith had departed to the Midwest with her two new team members, one of whom was Sarah. Dawn was sure Dani would be picked but not this time around. Both Willow and Faith knew the reason that Dani was not picked was that she was doing so much better than all the other younger slayers in training and patrol. They needed her there, for the time being, to protect the hellmouth. They had a sense, as each slayer had their destiny in prophecy, this was Dani's. Willow and the dark slayer chose to keep this news quiet, as they did not want to ruffle Kennedy's feathers.

In all actuality, though Willow and Kennedy seemed to be doing better, it was Dani who seemed to hold Willow's interest more often times then not. She found herself looking for the bright young woman for some intellectual conversation, for a quick lunch or just whatever else she could think of. Of course Willow was not admitting to herself that she was enjoying her time with Dani to much or that she felt a pang of sadness when Dani announced that she had a date for the evening.

A group of girls prepared dinner for the team members who chose to stay home that night. Willow was enjoying herself and their company. It was a casual conversational night with Kennedy and a few new slayers out on patrol and Dani on her date. As the clock struck 11:00 however, Willow grew worried and tried to get hold of Kennedy. "There is no answer, all of us would have checked in by this time." Willow gestured at the clock and her worries about the slayers were confirmed with a nod from Dawn.

"I'll go look for them," Natasha, one of the slayer's that Faith sent home offered.

"No I hate to do this but I should call Dani." Willow said dejectedly. She recalled how it was no fun having their nights of fun interrupted but it was part of the job.

- - - - - -

Dani arrived at 08:00 sharp to pick Tracy up. She had managed to sweet talk Willow into letting her use Giles' nice new car for the occasion. "Hi," Tracy stammered, as Dani opened the door and stepped back for the girl to get in.

The girls had spoke on the phone the night before and both seemed delighted to learn of the sexual dating preference of the other. "HI," Dani said with a smile, as she handed Tracy a single rose.

The two young women shared a nice dinner that consisted of a small portion of steak, salad and pie. They then shared a few dances and talked about the general, get to know you, conversations of a first date. "Would you like to catch a late show?" Dani asked, as she did not want the date to end at 10:30 in the evening.

"That sounds great," the blonde woman said. She enjoyed the company of this lovely young lady very much.

"Let's walk then, it's not that far." Dani offered, as she held out her hand to see if the woman was ready for the small amount of contact.

Tracy accepted Dani's hand and found it refreshing to have such a seemingly kind lady to get to know better. By this time of the evening, most women were ready to hit the sheets in Tracy's experience. Hitting the sheets just was not something that Tracy was willing to do in such a hurry and she hoped this didn't turn into one of those nights where she'd have to leave or explain why. "It's a nice night," Tracy offered, as she smiled up at the clear skies that delivered a cool night air.

As the two rounded the corner, Dani caught site of a fierce battle between the slayers and some sort of demon. Then her phone rang. "Hello?" She said in a quick tone of voice, as she turned Tracy in the opposite direction. She would have to come up with a good solution as to why they weren't going to the theater and hoped Tracy didn't see the goings on. "Yes I see that," Dani said in reply to Willow's frantic tone that Kennedy and three others were missing. She hoped that her brief statement would be enough to indicate to Willow that she saw them, or at least some of them.

Tracy did see the events that were unfolding unfortunately. These were types of events that her uncle had strictly warned her to stay away from and she had a great respect for the man. She felt both compelled to help and saddened that her new potential dating partner was involved in such activities. Added to these thoughts, was something unfamiliar deep in her belly, something like a whirlwind waiting to get out. It was both strong and loving, both frightening and settling. Whatever this was, she couldn't push it to the forefront, as she obediently got in the car for Dani.

As Tracy watched the horror unfold, she felt a sudden urge to get out and do something. She wanted to stay in the car as Dani had asked her to but something was pulling her to move. One of the young girls was lying motionless on the ground and that was enough to get the shy blonde out of the car. She knelt down beside the girl, as she watched Dani expertly beat down the creatures that were trying to kill the other girls. There was another woman that was fairing well but Dani seemed to be the most experienced.

As the fight ended with two losses, Kennedy turned and looked directly into the eyes of the young blonde who knelt by Sandra. She knew that face, or thought she did. "I'm sorry that you had to see this." Kennedy stated coyly. "I'm Kennedy."

"Tracy," the girl said, as Dani walked up to them. Kennedy decided that Tracy it would be and began to hatch a plan in case this was whom she thought it was.

"Tracy," Dani said in stumbling words. "I need to help Kennedy and Jo get these two taken care of."

"No, we can handle it," Kennedy offered. "You take her on home and thanks for coming to help." She flashed a sad smile at the two women.

"I can get home by myself," Tracy stammered, as she needed time to process all of this.

"Absolutely not," Dani and Jo chimed simultaneously.

- - - - - - -

Dani walked into the headquarters nearly an hour later. She had a long talk with Tracy about her calling and what was really out there. Tracy remained aloof throughout their conversation but Dani had hoped that, in time, Tracy would come around and at least call her. Granted she had only two meetings and a phone conversation with the woman, but rather enjoyed her company. "Hey Miss Willow," Dani said in a sad tone. "I'm sorry that I didn't get there in time to save all of them."

"That's not your fault Dani," Willow said, as she quickly checked the woman's cuts over. "Are you all right? Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, I didn't have time to look around." Dani said somberly.

Willow gathered some ointment and items to tend to Dani's fast healing cuts. "Kennedy said the same thing, they were blind sided. There is something really strange happening with the slayers lately. I've contacted Giles and he's coming home tomorrow to help us get a handle on this."

"Did Kennedy tell you about my date?" Dani asked in a frustrated tone.

"No," Willow said and sat down next to the woman. "She was to busy whining because I didn't go to bed with her."

"You should have, I'm doing all right." Dani added with a smirk. Kennedy's whining and tantrums were becoming a normal ritual around the place.

"No, I wanted to make sure you were ok." Willow said emphatically. "So what happened with the date?"

"I tried to keep her from seeing and it didn't work. She didn't seem to receptive of my explanation and so I would guess there won't be a second date," Dani said flatly.

"You'll find the right one Dani," Willow said in a shy voice.

"I shouldn't even be worrying about that sort of thing, I mean we've got two dead slayers to mourn." Dani added with a sad look on her face.

"It's all right Dani," Willow said and placed her hand atop Dani's in an effort to show comfort. "We all have feelings, no matter the situation we're going through. It's fine to share those feelings with me. I mean we've got used to doing that and…" the two women looked at each other for a moment before looking away. "I guess we better get some sleep," Willow added, as they both got up and headed to bed.

- - - - -

Dawn trudged down the stairs the next morning very unhappily. Not only did one of her good friends get killed last night, but she had to be awakened to Kennedy complaining because Willow never returned to their bed. On top of all that, she answered the call from Xander who indicated that he, Robin and the two remaining slayers that they had left, were coming home. The group had thirteen slayers with them when they left. Apparently, four were killed and seven mysteriously lost all powers. One of the watchers, Philip Marlow, was taking those to a different location until the problem could be worked out.

"All right, it's time to shut up and tend to real business!" Dawn shouted at Willow and Kennedy, who were in a discussion over their sleeping arrangements. "We have major problems on our hands. Slayers that had powers are either dying or losing their powers! Xander and his group are coming home minus a bunch of slayers because of this. Now my suggestion is to keep as many slayers as we can in the field. So, I've called Faith who is willing to split her group up with Robin and then Xander will take a small group on his own. If we all bunker down in here, whoever is doing this, wins. Therefore those of us who remain behind have a lot of work to do!" Dawn continued shouting in an authoritative manner.

"I think we all need to regroup here and then send out groups," Willow added. She thought Dawn had a good idea, but felt it would help if they could find out who had what strengths before they sent everyone out again.

"I agree with that," Dani offered, as she came into the room. "It sounds like we're dwindling in numbers, could it be the first again?"

"Anything's possible but I think the first would just kill all of them," Willow added. "Whoever it is, they have the strength to kill some and take away from some. What a way to divide and conquer."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Andrew offered, as he stepped out of the kitchen.

"Yeah," Kennedy spoke smugly. "Keep the food coming."

"Grow up Kennedy," Dawn snapped rudely. "He did a lot to help us out in the last battle, more than some of you did!"

"He gave us entertainment," Kennedy snapped back.

"Stop it right now!" Willow shouted, as she hung up the phone. She was making quick arrangements to get everyone home, including the seven who had lost powers. She decided it would not be a good idea to have people scattered in such a way, at least until they knew what was on the go.

- - - - - - - -

Later that night, Willow stood out in the front of the main building deep in thought. She knew that Buffy, Faith, Xander with Robin, and Philip with Kennedy would all need to take small groups of slayers to demon hot spots around the world. She knew that Kennedy wouldn't like this but it had to be done this way. Dani was far better equipped to protect the hellmouth and Giles would be needed at the headquarters. The other watcher, Beverly Smythe would need to help with the slayers that remained at headquarters as well as those who lost powers. As Willow shook her head in an unsuccessful attempt to come up with more than just the basic framework of a plan that was full of holes, someone stepped from the shadows. "Always the thinker," snapped a familiar voice.

"What do you want to try and bite me again?" Willow asked and turned to face Harmony Kendall. There was something different about the eyes of the vampire who had been more of a thorn than real threat but Willow couldn't place her finger on it. She had a tired look on her face and fresh wounds that were healing fast.

"Actually, no. I have some news and didn't know where else to go deliver the news," Harmony gazed at Willow in what, shockingly to Willow, appeared to be a mournful look. "The remaining survivors of Angel Investigations are dead." Harmony spat out bluntly.

Willow's face showed shock then turned to disbelief. "You betrayed Angel before his big battle a few weeks ago, why should I believe you now?"

"Why would I bother coming here and telling you bunch of losers this news?" Harmony snapped back.

"Maybe your aligned with the current drama we have going on here." Willow said then realized that, as shallow as Harmony was, that might not be correct.

"The betrayal was a plan of Angel's, he gave me a real chance and said that if I could get a soul, I'd really be on my way to redemption. He also got this before everyone started getting slaughtered," Harmony said flatly and withdrew a disk from her jacket pocket. A jacket that Willow realizes belonged to Spike.

"Is he gone too?" Willow asked tentatively, as she took the disk from Harmony's outstretched hand.

"They all are," Harmony said and withdrew a stake. She spun it behind her and connected easily with a vampire that was coming up on them. "They got some information on some sort of deal Wolfram made with a sorceress and then everything went poof. I got all banged up but managed to get out with the disk."

"I've got somewhere you can stay till I check this disk out. I'm not letting you in the main building with all those humans." Willow added and proceeded to walk through the yard.