One Good Turn Deserves Another

"I think I've found them," Angel announced as he entered the library.

"What did you find out?" Willow demanded anxiously as Oz Patted her hand comfortingly.

"Your double was seen at the Magic Shop and I managed to get a partial list of what she purchased," Angel explained, handing the list to Wesley who immediately started working on it with Giles, trying to puzzle out what she was planning.

"How does this help you find Xander?" Willow asked.

"That part doesn't," Angel admitted. "However someone spotted the direction she left in and I discovered someone's been killing off all the vampires in the dock area."

"Why would she be killing off other vamps?" Faith asked.

"She wouldn't," Angel said. "Xander would."

"And you believe he's capable of such, while under her thrall no less?" Wesley asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Angel said flatly. "And he may not be enthralled. I'm not sure how sane he is at the moment."

"What do you mean?" Wesley asked.

"Look at what he's gone through lately," Angel said. "Kidnapped and almost beaten to death, followed by his girlfriend getting injured and dumping him before dragging all his dirty laundry, which he shared in private, out in public. That alone is pretty stressful, but then his best friends reject him and expel him from the one thing in his life he found value in—"

"It wasn't like that at all!" Buffy interrupted horrified.

"Yeah it was," Faith said. "Just cause you don't see it that way, doesn't mean it aint."

"And then he finds his oldest friend, who he probably has some very confused feelings for at this point, has been turned into a vampire," Angel finished. "Angelus liked to drive people insane, so trust me when I say there is a good chance Xander is dangerously insane at this point."

"The vampire version of Miss Rosenberg may not need to drive him insane as Angelus was fond of doing to his victims, but she's apparently decided against turning him as the ingredients she's purchased point to a binding spell of some kind," Wesley said.

"This is bad," Willow said, looking so pale she probably matched her vampiric counterpart.

"We'll fix this," Buffy promised. "We'll find Xander, dust the bitch who took him, and smack some sense into him!"

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

The vampire paused as he spotted as he spotted the bag of blood sitting directly under the spotlight with a sign on it reading 'not a trap.'

"Oh, come on!" he complained. "Even I'm not that stupid!"

The door he'd entered, following the smell of blood, had slammed shut behind him and lacked an inside handle to open it with. There were two doors out of the room he could use, one had a sign reading 'Not a Trap' on it and the other had a cross carved in the knob.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Xander heard the fwoosh noise of another Vampire combusting and grinned, returning to reading the paper as he waited for Willow to return to the crematorium where they'd taken up residence.

He'd promised to play nice with the neighbors and he had, he'd placed a bag of blood where they couldn't miss it and made sure to label the doors correctly to prevent accidents. Why, he'd even gone so far, as to carve a cross into the door handle of the door leading into the crematorium to ensure it!

*fwoosh*

Finished with the comics he dug out his homework. Even undead, Willow insisted he get good grades.

Typing by: Stephenopolos