-
Faith had watched as Buffy walked towards the nearest landline phone that was held in the hallway. She had a theory of who called the house and she was sure B also thought the same. She would be surprised if it wasn’t Dandridge and if it was she knew B was going to want to talk to him. She knew that she would have done the same thing.
“Nobody else follow,” Faith instructed as she followed after Buffy. She stopped in the doorway and leaned against the side as she watched B take the phone and have a conversation with the vampire. As B grew more worried so did Faith. She knew that in case there was no way out with words.
“I’m giving him what he wants,” Buffy had said after she hung up.
“No B,” Faith said as she stepped into the room. “You can’t.”
“I don’t have much of a choice,” Buffy said. “If I don’t then Ronnie will die. I can’t let that happen.”
“You have no idea if he will keep his word,” Faith said.
“I can’t take that chance,” Buffy said. “Not for Ronnie’s sake.”
“What if he turns you?” Faith did not like the idea of having to stake B.
“Hard to turn a Slayer, and besides he’s the same kind of vampire that Charley is. I’d end up being like them.”
“You would be under his power,” Charley said. “He could force you to do things that you would later regret.”
“I still have to be at this pancake place,” Buffy said.
“I’ll take you there,” Charley offered.
“I’m going too,” Faith said.
“No,” Buffy held up her hands. “He said no friends and no weapons.”
“Well good cause we aint always been exactly friends and you just met Unicorn Boy here.”
“Tell them we will be waiting for Ronnie,” Charley said. “I think the weapons are only for you, but we will not attack.”
Buffy took a deep breath. “I’ll explain that I needed a ride and that you will be there to wait for Ronnie. I’ll tell them to drop off Ronnie at the same location. I just need to get one thing.” She ran towards the direction of the stairs.
“I can’t believe we agreed to do this,” Faith said as she walked around. She rubbed the top of her head. “I still can’t.”
“Neither can I,” Charley said.
“I don’t negotiate. My style of negotiating is the same as the Australian kind in those beer commercials. I’m all action and very little words.”
“I wonder if we should tell the others.”
“No. They will all want to come.” She paused in her pacing. Was B telling the others? “I wonder what she is doing.”
“I’m ready,” Buffy said. She had grabbed a small purse.
“Did you tell anyone?” Faith asked.
“Just Xander and Spike.” She turned to Charley. “Let’s go”
-
“This is still a bad idea,” Faith said as Charley pulled into the parking lot. She had been silent through out most of the ride. She tried to think of other ideas that would be better than what B was doing.
“Do you have any other ideas?” Buffy asked. “Because my ears are like Dumbo.”
“Good then maybe you can fly away,” Faith said.
“I agree with you Faith, that this is a bad idea,” Charley said as he pulled into a space. “But there are no other options when it comes to saving Ronnie.”
“Except now we are going to have to be saving B,” Faith said.
“That is what I am counting on,” Buffy said as she looked through the windshield. “I still can’t see where they might be.”
“Still have about twenty minutes,” Charley said after he had checked his watch. “We will try to look for them in about ten minutes.”
“Screw this,” Faith said. She stretched herself out in the backseat. “You two can talk amongst yourselves. I’m done speaking.” She placed her ear buds in and listened to her ipod. She knew this wasn’t going to end well and B refused to listen, but she was right there wasn’t any other choice.
After three songs she turned it off and sat back up. “Okay time for talking about me is over.”
“So is my time,” Buffy said as two headlights were illuminated across the lot. “Faith promise me you will keep the scythe.”
“Don’t talk like that, B,” Faith said.
“Promise me,” Buffy said as she looked into her eyes.
“I promise.”
“Thank you.” Buffy pulled out a small bottle of green liquid and chugged it down. She handed the empty bottle to Faith and stepped out.
“What was that?” Charley asked.
“Midori,” Buffy said and closed the door.
“Midori?” Faith repeated. “She had a bottle of Midori on her and didn’t offer me any?”
“Why would she carry that around in her purse?” Charley asked.
“You don’t think she had a drinking problem?”
“No I don’t. I just hope that didn’t mean that she had lost all hope.”
“B doesn’t drink when she loses all hope. She just goes in charging, willing to fight for the death.” She sniffed the bottle. She didn’t smell anything that smelled like Midori. It didn’t smell like anything with alcohol. “That wasn’t Midori.”
“She’s going to the car,” Charley said.
They watched as Buffy walked up the mystery car. Someone got out and opened the door for her. She cast one more look their way before she got inside.
“Now what?” Faith asked in a soft voice. She did not know why she was whispering.
“We wait.”
-
As soon as Buffy sat down in the backseat of the car she looked at those who were in the vehicle with her. There was a vampire in the front passenger side and another woman in her twenties that was in the back with her. She wasn’t sure if it was a vampire or not since her face was not in vamp mode.
“We got the Slayer,” the woman said in a English accent once the driver closed the door. “Return to the house immediately.”
“My friends dropped me off,” Buffy said as soon as the car had started and they pulled away. “They are not going to follow. They just want you to return Ronnie to the same location. If that is possible.”
The woman shrugged. “Sounds reasonable. We were just going to drop her off where we got her, but since she will be drugged it would be better and safer to drop her off with someone.”
“Who are you?” Buffy asked.
“Abigail,” she answered and waved her hand in front of the rear view mirror. She had a reflection. “I’m here to make sure these guys do not try to snack on you.”
“Why are you working for Dandruff?” She shouldn’t have said that because Abigail narrowed her eyes at her.
“That is Dandridge,” Abigail corrected. “My father and I brought him back.”
“Why?”
“He is a powerful creature. He has lived so long and in that time he refined himself educated himself. He has such charisma and they way he speaks.”
“Okay you can marry him,” Buffy said and sat back. She could tell the girl had a huge crush on the vampire. Buffy almost felt sorry for how she was deluding herself and she knew Abigail would not listen to reason.
“Marry?” Abigail chuckled. “He would not go for something so mundane as marriage.”
Buffy shrugged. “Well whatever he does then you can do it with him and I’m aware of what I just said, but I think you might actually jump at that.”
“Jump is not a word that I would have used.” Abigail said as she sat back. “It was a Siren Seed Crystal.”
“Huh?”
“That was what put on the girl. No bigger than a sesame seed and sticks to the skin, no matter how much you scrub and no matter how much you scratch.”
“You used it like some sort of homing device?”
“Exactly.”
Buffy breathed deeply and sat back. She didn’t feel any different from drinking the potion. She didn’t feel tired, or caffeinated, she didn’t fee light headed, or agitated or queasy although according to Willow she will feel queasy a week later. She hoped the potion would do its job in case she feared the worst would come true for her.
“And here we are,” Abigail said when the car stopped in front of the house. “Step out now we can’t disappoint our master.”
Buffy got out of the car as soon as a vampire tried to grab her arm she wrenched away. “I do not need to be led anywhere.”
“Hands off,” Abigail ordered. “Two of you can be in front of her in and I will follow behind.”
Buffy held her breath as she entered the house. There were lights but they were dim and she could see more vampires around. There was also a man sitting on a couch with someone leaning against him. As she stepped closer to him she felt blood rise to a slow boil.
“Ethan Rayne,” she nearly growled the name. “You got tired of turning people into their costumes, teenagers and demons?”
“You can say that,” Ethan said as he stroked the head of the girl. It was Ronnie and either she was drugged, drunk, under a spell, sick or weak from blood loss. Buffy didn’t see any bites on her neck. “My first resurrection. I’m quite proud of myself with that one.” He smiled at Abigail’s direction. “I don’t know if I would have been able to do it without my little Abigail.”
“Father, please,” Abigail said and rolled her eyes.
“Ethan Rayne is your father?” Buffy asked her.
“Gets most of her looks from her mother,” Ethan said.
“You also decided to sink low into kidnapping,” Buffy said as Ronnie moaned and opened her eyes half way. Buffy grabbed her and pulled her away from Rayne. “Ronnie, are you okay?”
“Who?” Ronnie moaned out and tried to stare at Buffy. “Buffy right?”
“What happened?”
“Took me, stuck me with something.”
“She will sleep that off in a few hours,” Rayne said.
“I knew a military cell wouldn’t be enough to hold you,” Buffy said.
“When did your camo wearing old flame say I escape?” Rayne asked.
“I’m not sure,” Buffy said. When did Riley say Rayne had escaped again? Why was he bringing up that subject now and why was she even thinking about it. “Over a year.”
“And Two months exactly before the worlds merged.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Who do you think caused the worlds to merge?” Ethan asked and raised his eyebrows.
“You did all of this?” Buffy asked. She wasn’t sure if she should be astonished or if she should be pissed. She decided to go with being pissed off. “You merged two different dimensions together and you didn’t care about the ramifications that it might have caused?”
“Why would I worry about that?”
“You are insane.”
“Many others also believe that theory,” Rayne said as he stood up. “I’ll be taking the girl now.”
“No,” Buffy said as she held Ronnie closer to her. “She is not going anywhere with you.”
“Let her go,” the voice of Jerry said as he walked into the room. His eyes were on her. “Let them both go.”
Buffy felt her hold on Ronnie slip as she stared into Jerry’s warm and dark eyes. “No.” She blinked and shook her head. She was not going to let him work his mojo on her.
“Deke,” Abigail cried out. “Drive them back to the IHOP.”
“You have done well, Abigail,” Jerry said to her. “There is only one more job for you to do.”
“I will do it quickly,” Abigail said before she ran off to another room.
Jerry turned to the crowed. “Except for the ten that I personally hand picked the rest of you are dismissed for the evening.”
Buffy watched as most of the vampires left the house and saw Rayne as he carried Ronnie out the door. “Ronnie.” Buffy shouted and was about to go after them when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“You did the right thing,” Jerry said to her. “Why don’t you sit down and have a drink with me?”
“I don’t drink people.”
“I was talking about a nice pinot.” He turned to one of the servants. “Bring the wine.”
“You put something in my glass.” She knew he was going to drug her so he could bite her.
“How could I have?” Jerry asked as a servant brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses. “I haven’t even poured it yet. Now please have a seat.”
Buffy felt her knees buckle and she lowered herself to the couch.
“I should have asked if you preferred red or white,” Jerry said as he uncorked the bottle.
“I’m not much of a drinker.” She wanted to look away from him but she had to keep looking to make sure he didn’t do anything to her glass.
“I hope you like this brand,” Jerry said as he filled their glasses. He handed her one.
“Why are you doing this?” She sniffed the glass and only detected the scent of wine. She took a tiny sip, only allowing a few droplets to pass into her mouth.
“I want to get to know you.” He took a sip from his own glass.
“You know you could have just asked me out for coffee or a drink at the bar.” She took another sip this one a little bit bigger.
“You know that I am a vampire, and you are the queen of the Slayers.” He took another drink.
“Just because I slay em don’t mean I don’t date them, as long as they have souls of course. My standards aren’t too high.” She took another sip. “And from what I heard, Charley and Lyra have a great relationship.”
“Tell me about you.” He stared deep into her eyes and stroked the top of her hand.
“Me?” Buffy wasn’t sure why he would be interested in her past. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“I was born on January 19th 1981 in Los Angeles. My father is Hank Summers and my mother was Joyce and I have a sister named Dawn.” She decided to leave the part about Dawn once being Glory’s key out.
“You said was about your mother?” He almost sounded concerned.
“She died from an aneurysm,” Buffy explained. “She had a tumor and they removed it but the stupid hospital let her go to early. I had to take care of my sister since my father doesn’t want to be in our lives anymore.”
“But there were others.”
“My friends and Giles.” She took another sip. She did feel loosened up but she wasn’t sure if that was the wine or Willow’s potion or Jerry’s thrall. She just knew that it felt nice.
“Who is this Giles?”
“He was my Watcher. Those are the ones who seek out potential and newly activated Slayers. They told them their destiny’s and trained them. Giles was my second Watcher and the librarian for my high school in Sunnydale.” She wondered what the next question would be when she felt a sharp prick in her arm.
“Forgive me my dear, Buffy,” Jerry said. “But we have a flight to catch.”
“What?” Buffy asked as he pulled the needle out of her arm.
-
It had been an hour since Buffy had told Xander and Spike what she had planned on doing, and it had been an hour since Xander took to comforting Lyra. Her friends took turns to assuring her and each other that Ronnie was going to be all right. Xander had no idea if the knew that Buffy was basically handing herself over to them. The only other person she told was Spike.
“Xander?” One of the Slayers addressed him. It was Giang, a Slayer from Vietnam. She always seemed to wear a headband in her hair and kept it cut so that it was an inch above her shoulder. “We want to know if we should patrol?”
“Not tonight,” Xander told her. “Where is Rowena?”
“She is speaking with Tracie and Fadwa,” Giang said. The only thing Xander really knew about those two Slayers was that one was from Vancouver and the other from Jordan.
“Tell her I wish to speak with her,” Xander told her. He looked down at Lyra and saw that the poor girl had cried herself to sleep. He should ask Ace to take her home. He heard a trill and looked down to see Dru’s Tarasque looking up at them.
“You wish to see me?” Rowena asked.
“I want you to tell everyone not to patrol tonight, or tomorrow evening,” Xander said. “We will train in the afternoon in the yard.”
“I’ll tell the others,” Rowena said as she adjusted her favorite cap. “Is she going to be all right?”
“Buffy?”
“No, this young Slayer.” She pointed at Lyra. “I know Buffy will be all right. She always is. She’s Buffy.”
“Lyra will be fine,” Xander said as the phone rang. “She has several things in common with Buffy.”
Rowena nodded before she ran off to organize the others.
“Why aren’t we going out there?” Tyler asked. “We should be looking for Ronnie and Where is Faith?”
“Charley and Buffy aren’t here either,” Ace said.
“They were in that hallway,” Rissa said as she pointed to the nearest landline. “Talking about a phone conversation. Buffy went to speak with Xander and Spike, grabbed her purse and that was the last I saw of her.”
“Oh?” Tyler asked and narrowed his eyes at Xander. “What did she have to say?”
“I shouldn’t,” Xander said as Lyra stirred.
“Tell me,” Tyler demanded.
“Leave him alone,” Rissa said as she grabbed her cousin by the shoulders.
“What did Buffy say to you?”
Xander sighed. He knew he wasn’t going to shake him off. “Buffy is going to trade herself for Ronnie. Charley and Faith took her to a meeting point.”
“What?” Lyra asked as she sat up.
“She’s doing that?” Tyler asked as his anger softened for a few seconds. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because she asked me not to,” Xander said. “She didn’t want anyone to go after her and try to talk her out of it.”
“Why didn’t you talk her out of it?” Rissa asked.
“I’m still asking myself that question,” Xander said. He wondered why he didn’t ask Buffy that. He remembered saying “Wait what?” And that was about it before she ran off.
“Wonderful news,” Drusilla sang as she walked up to them. “Charley called. They have Ronnie and are at the police station.”
“Thank god,” Lyra said. “Which station?”
“I wrote it on the shiny board,” Drusilla said. “By the phone.” She was referring to the dry erase board that was hung up next to the phone in the hallway.
“Thank you, Dru,” Xander said. “Were going to the station now.”
-