Chapter 6

Travelling was a bitch when you were a vampire, thought Riley as he sat in the airport restaurant, nursing a cup of coffee and trying to look as though he had somewhere to go. He hadn’t been able to get to LA in time to catch the redeye last night and now he was stuck at the airport all day, waiting for the next evening flight.

Things would be a lot easier if he could have gotten the information that he wanted from Harris. He had made the mistake of counting on Xander’s stupidity. Unfortunately, that assumption had proved to be based on outdated information. Xander had been suspicious of him right from the get go, and he had been lucky to get out of there in one piece. He never found out Buffy’s new last name or her address, or anything about the whereabouts of Spike at all. Maybe the bastard was even back with Dru! The thought filled him with rage, and it was all he could do to control his face, and maintain his mild mannered façade. He forced himself to calm down, and think. Riley had found out one piece of valuable information from his visit to Sunnydale. Anya had let slip that she and Xander were travelling to New York today. His sharp eyes had also noticed a Continental Airlines folder on the coffee table while Anya was regaling him with stories about her wedding. This was good news, because he already had associates in New York, searching for Dru there. It was a logical place for her to be; near the Hellmouth and all. He had contacted Burke, Finch and Washington last night on their cel phones and given them their assignments.

Riley had staked enough minions to know that they were usually poster boys for stupidity. He, himself, had no need for muscle bound idiots. He had recruited his team, as he preferred to think of them, with care. Two of them were soldiers; Burke an Army Corporal, Washington a Marine PFC. He had been careful not to recruit anyone who had outranked him as a human, so that they would have no problem following his orders. Some vampires treated their minions badly, abusing them and half starving them, and then wondered why they turned traitor at the first possible moment. Riley treated his team with respect, and made sure that they all fed when he did. Finch was a different case, all together. But Finch, too, had his price, and Riley met it gladly. He had earned their loyalty and trust during the last few months, and was confident that his exercise would go off without a hitch. Well, as soon as he located his prey, that is.

Riley hadn’t been 100% honest with Xander when he said that he was only looking for Drusilla. Oh he wanted to find her, of course. But he also wanted to bring her a gift, in order to woo her back into his arms. Something special that she would really like. He wanted to bring her a Slayer. It seemed like the very least he could do. That was why he had detoured to Sunnydale while his team had gone on to New York. He had not been a happy camper when perky Mrs. Wilson had opened the door on Revello drive. But he had turned on his Iowa charm and gotten himself invited in, taking advantage of the fact that she was an obvious newcomer to Sunnydale. Unfortunately, he had lost his temper when he found out that Buffy was no longer in town. He hadn’t planned on killing the Wilsons…it was too big a risk, but once they saw him in game face, there really was no choice. A vampire ‘s got to do what a vampire’s got to do. But at least they had led him to Xander, before they died, and now he knew that Buffy was in New York, and that Xander and his family were coming in to meet her.

Riley leafed through the USA Today he had picked up at the newsstand. It was a ridiculous paper but it would help kill the time. What did he care about these silly humans and their silly problems? Did he really need to know that Brad Pitt was getting married for the third time? Well, this was a little more like it. A short article entitled, Devil in New Jersey? caught his eye. It seems that people had been disappearing from the Ft. Lee and Cliffside Park area of New Jersey over the past six months, leading to speculation about the New Jersey Devil, a legendary monster thought to reside in the Meadowlands. Riley shook his head…people were so blind to what they didn’t want to see. According to the article the two New Jersey towns were right across the river from New York City. But not one mention of the Hellmouth. It had been the same in Sunnydale…total denial, even from the police. Of course, that near to the Hellmouth the New Jersey Devil could even be real...Riley had seen stranger things. He chuckled...Maybe he could find this Devil and ask him if he’s seen Dru. Hell, knowing Drusilla, she was probably dating the guy! Riley tore the article out and put it in his pocket. It wouldn’t hurt to check out the local papers when he hit New York.

Buffy raced home from dropping Emily off at school. No messages. This was so not good. The last time William had disappeared, he had been kidnapped by Dru and Darla. Of course this situation was different. She had kicked him out. Should she call him? Did she feel like groveling? Not really. Damn him! He should have just told her about Drusilla in the first place. No way was this her fault! Now she had a day full of errands to run and things to do, before Emily got out of school. She would be out of town for the next two weeks, and bills had to be paid, dry cleaning picked up, mail stopped etc. A limo was picking the gang up at the airport, and they would be descending upon her sometime after 6:00. Their reservation at John’s was for 8:00. She and William had planned kind of an all-purpose engagement party, bridal shower, bachelor party and rehearsal dinner…with pizza. She didn’t know what to do…just go about her business as though everything was okay, and hope for the best? And what about Riley? Well, unless he could fly like a bat, there was no way he could arrive in NY before tomorrow. And then he still had to find her. Buffy shrugged. No point in borrowing that particular trouble until it came. Today, she had the small matter of being one fiancé short of a wedding.

William woke up and immediately wished that he hadn’t. There wasn’t a place on his body that didn’t hurt, and he had the vampire version of a hangover. If it was this bad for him, he couldn’t imagine what humans must go through. He lay there trying to remember last night…there had been fighting with Burly Guy and company, which had been so bloody good, and then somehow he and BG had become best mates…how had that happened? Oh that’s right…BG’s tattoo. Somewhere in the mist of the fray, William had noticed that BG had the word ‘Spike’ tattooed on his arm, in elaborate calligraphy. So he stopped mid punch, to ask him about it, and it turned out to be his bloody name! A human called Spike! This struck William as hilarious, and before long he and human Spike and his mates were all drinking together and having a great old time, until the bartender at the last bar threw them out, and William noticed a reddish tinge in the sky. He’d barely made it back before the sun. Well, William rationalized, it was the closest he was going to get to a real bachelor party…tonight’s shindig was strictly a family affair. William sat up suddenly, causing bad things to happen to his head. Bloody hell! What time was it? Oh Christ, 5:00…he’d slept the whole bloody day away, and had never called Buffy! This was not good. He walked gingerly into his office and checked his machine. No new messages. Oh she was really brassed off at him now! He dialed her number, but was met with her voice on the machine. Groveling by remote control was not his thing. Got to do it the old fashioned way. He stepped into the shower.

Buffy was unlocking the door with Emily, when she heard the phone ring. But the machine only let it ring twice, and by the time she got to the phone, the caller had hung up. Buffy had fretted all day about explaining the William situation to Emily, who adored him. She was used to William being here when she got home from school every day. He listened to her tales about her teacher and classmates, and helped her with her reading and writing exercises while Buffy made dinner. It was a great arrangement, which William had seemed to enjoy as much as Emily did. This morning she had told Emily that William had spent the night in his own apartment because he had all kinds of things to do before going away. That had sounded so convincing that she had almost believed it herself. Emily knew that William had to stay put during daylight hours, but she would be expecting him as soon as the sun set. What would she say then?

"Can I get you a refill of that gingerale?" the waitress asked the cute soldier with the blonde crew cut. The poor guy had been siting here for hours, waiting for his flight. "It’s on the house." One couldn’t do too much for our boys in uniform, especially when they were that cute.

"No thanks, ma’am. This here one is fine with me." He had a broad southern accent, which just added to his appeal. He gave her a big smile, which revealed his dimples. "Too bad I’m flyin’ outta here today."

She sighed. Yes it was too bad. Her shift wouldn’t be over for hours. Well, it was obviously pointless to flirt with him, and that jerk over at the next table was signaling her. She smiled politely and left.

Jimmy Bob Burke took a photograph out of his pocket. He had arrived at Kennedy airport before dawn this morning, and had spent the morning sleeping in an out of the way utility closet. It had been hot and airless, but he didn’t mind the heat, being from Alabama, and he didn’t need air. He studied the photograph, while keeping one eye on the Continental Airlines Gates. The picture was of a happy group of young people at the beach. He recognized Riley of course, with his arm around the Slayer. She was sure a cute little thing. A bulky dark haired boy had his arm around a slender blondish girl. These were the people he was watching for. The other person in the photo was a perky redhead who was blowing a kiss to whoever was taking the picture, probably her boyfriend. Washington, over at la Guardia Airport had a similar photograph from the same batch. Riley sure didn’t believe in taking chances. That was one of the things that Burke admired about him. That, and his total ruthlessness, of course.

"So, will somebody explain to me again why we are coming to New York in the dead of winter?" Willow asked as she struggled with a pile of winter coats as well as their hand held luggage. Tara was carrying Esme, who was trying to get down and walk, as well as the car seat. Xander and Anya were similarly laden, though Sasha was too young to try to escape, and Alex could carry his own coat.

Anya spoke up. "I agree. Why couldn’t Buffy get married in June like everybody else does? It’s not like she is pregnant like I was."

"Could you speak up, Anya? I’m not sure that everybody in the airport heard that." Xander exchanged a wink with his son. There were no secrets in the Harris household.

"Well, Buffy wanted us all to come out last summer, but that didn’t work out. Then Anya had Sasha, and then there were the holidays, and well…suddenly it was February." Said Tara.

"Well, I don’t mind. I always wanted to see the Big Apple, and winter is as good a time as any. Maybe we’ll get some snow…wouldn’t that be fun?" Xander waved at the limo driver who was holding up a sign that said Harris.

"Yeah, fun. I hear it’s cold and white! " Willow muttered, as she helped Tara get Esme into the car seat, while Anya buckled Sasha in her car seat next to her.

None of them noticed the young soldier as he watched them scramble into the limo. The line for cabs was too long for him to grab one and follow them like in the movies, but Riley had planned for that. Burke simply copied down the name of the Limo Company and the license number. He then phoned that info into Finch. His job done, for the time being, Burke was finally free to do a little hunting. He decided he would wait for that cute little waitress to get off work.

By the time Riley landed tomorrow morning, he would have the address of the slayer.