“Phooey,” Buffy said huffily as she threw her pencil onto her page.
“Poor Buffy,” Willow said sympathetically from the other side of the dorm room she and Tara shared. “Is that pesky work getting you down again?”
“Yes. Something’s not working… I just don’t know if it’s me or if it’s the work that’s broken. The work could be wrong, right?” Buffy continued hopefully. “It could be full of… of things that aren’t right, or things we haven’t learned… oh! I bet it’s demon work. It’s the work of a demon.”
Willow smiled with sympathy at Buffy. “I don’t think so, somehow. I think your Slayer senses would probably have noticed by now if it was.”
Buffy looked back at her page, crestfallen. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She perked up suddenly. “But, hey. It’s only Saturday, right? And it’s still relatively early… how about we gather up the gang and go Bronzing tonight? I mean, just for a while,” she added, putting on her serious face.
Willow’s smile faded for a second. “We could, but… I… there’s… just a lot of work to do. Shouldn’t you patrol or something tonight? There could be evil afoot,” she added.
Buffy shifted uncomfortably. “Well, yeah, there might be evil, but… I’ll patrol on my way home. It’ll be fun. C’mon… you, me, Riley, Xander… probably Anya as well…”
Buffy stood up with resolve in her eyes. “Good,” she said, without waiting for an answer from Willow. “We have a plan. I’ll just… go, and find Riley. I won’t be long.”
“Okay,” Willow said, giving in to the idea. “I’ll call Xander while you’re gone.” Buffy left the room, half-smiling to herself. Willow pretended to be taking her time putting her things away while she waited a moment to make sure Buffy wasn’t going to double back to check her hair or anything. Sure enough, Buffy hurried back into the room, gave a sheepish apology while she tucked a few stray strands behind her ear, and rushed off again. Willow took out a pad of paper and a pen and scribbled a note to Tara telling her where she and her friends were going. Tara was on a little trip; she said she’d be back around seven. It was now just after eight.
Willow blinked hard to bring herself back to earth and called Xander. She was slightly disappointed to hear Anya talking in the background, seemingly trying to find something half-healthy to eat. Xander quickly and eagerly agreed that he and Anya would meet them at the Bronze, and then ended the conversation quickly, apparently happy to give Anya the distraction from tearing apart his place for the food she was looking for.
Buffy and Riley appeared outside the door, deep in conversation about something. Buffy unwound her fingers from Riley’s hand and walked towards her closet. “Xander coming?” she asked.
“Yep. He and Anya are both going to meet us there. I don’t really know where Tara is,” Willow said, a bit too quickly, “so I just left her a note.” Buffy looked at her best friend with a funny look on her face.
“Are you okay, Will? You don’t have to come if you…”
“No, no! I want to. I just… I… think we’re wasting time, is all. So, come on! Let’s get partying!” She grinned and walked out the door. Buffy raised her eyebrows at Riley, who returned the look, and the couple followed Willow out the front door.
Buffy looked at her best friend a bit skeptically as they caught up with her. “Are you sure you want to come?”
“Yes, already.” Willow smiled, and felt like going genuinely, and very strongly. “I think that maybe some time away from the books is exactly what I need right now. Really, I’m just a little absent-minded.”
Buffy looked at Willow for a second, and then her eyes widened in sympathy as she understood why Willow was acting so strangely. “It’s because Tara’s back late. You can wait. I’ll wait with you, if you like.”
“No. No, I’m okay. Maybe being away for a while will let me get my mind off worrying.”
“She’s fine, Will.”
Willow smiled sadly. “I know. I think I’d know if something bad was happening. I just… have to worry.”
Buffy smiled reassuringly. “I know.” Buffy gave Will a quick hug, and the two girls and Riley set off across the campus of UC Sunnydale.
***
Buffy, Riley, Xander, Anya and Willow were all sitting around a table at the Bronze; Riley and Buffy were holding hands again, and Anya was resting her head against Xander’s chest. Willow felt like a bit of a third wheel… or a fifth wheel. Her thoughts returned to Tara and where she was, and what happened to her that was causing her to be late, even if it was just a little. Her unhappy thoughts, however, were interrupted a second later.
“Hello, all,” said Giles amiably as he drew up a chair and sat beside Willow at the table. The five younger and less British folk at the table shot each other glances.
“Hey, Giles,” Buffy said reluctantly. “Is everything okay?”
“Hm? Oh, yes. Things are going quite well, actually.” Buffy expected him to continue, but he just looked with mild interest at the band that was playing.
“Well, that’s… good,” she provided. “Great, really. But… why are you here?”
Giles’ pleasant smile turned quickly into annoyance as he made to leave. “Well, if I’m bothering you…”
“No! No, it’s not that, really,” interrupted Buffy. “But, it’s just that it’s a little… unusual that you’re here for just… being here. I mean, it’s happened before, but…”
“We’re glad you’re here, Giles,” provided Xander. “It’s different, that’s all. We weren’t expecting you.”
“Yes,” said Anya. “It is a little weird, because this is a club for mostly young people, and you being so old and everything…”
“Yes, thank you, all, but you can stop now. The truth is that I don’t particularly know myself why I’m here. I just… came,” he finished, and frowned as the lame ending to his sentence. He would probably have tried to redeem the sentence if he actually knew why he was there; some little voice in the back of his head had just decided that he would desert his newly opened Magic Shop and trundle downtown in his shiny red car to be at the Bronze. Fortunately, he was saved from his thoughts by Riley, who stood up and announced he was getting drinks. He took orders and left his seat. Buffy was just about to speak when Spike walked up to the table where the six Scoobies sat and just stood there, staring at the surface of the table.
“…Spike?” Buffy asked coldly. “What are you doing?”
The vampire jumped as though he had had no idea that anyone was there until Buffy spoke. He looked around the table at the five fairly indignant faces staring back at him and his spaced-out manner was replaced by a sneer. He opened his mouth as though about to say something, but then closed it again and frowned a little bit.
“Actually, I’m not sure,” he said simply, and walked off toward the food area of the club. The five people at the table stared after him as Riley sat back down with drinks.
Looking at the place where everyone was staring and seeing nothing but people, he said, “Is there something enthralling about that wall that I’m just not seeing, or have you all seen someone you weren’t expecting?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Buffy said distractedly.
“…So, there are unexpected people in the wall?” Riley asked, smiling.
Buffy shook herself out of it and smiled back at her boyfriend. “It was just Spi…” Buffy caught herself just in time. “…der. Just a spider. A really big one on the wall over there. It’s gone now.”
Spike was a vampire, true, but Buffy was reluctant to kill him. After Riley and his government army buddies put a chip in Spike’s head to prevent him from hurting people, Buffy had trouble bringing herself to killing a basically harmless creature. Riley strongly disliked Spike, and as much as she hated lying to Riley, she decided that it would be best if she didn’t mention he was here tonight.
While Buffy and Riley launched into a bit of a banter wherein Riley, having just been over there, had not seen a spider, Willow was thinking deeply about the sudden and extremely bizarre occurrence wherein both Giles and Spike appeared at the Bronze, neither of them appearing to know why they were there. It was possible that it was just coincidence, but hey, living on a Hellmouth here. It was about then that Willow felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
It wasn’t really a bad sensation, though. She knew what she would see when she turned around, and a huge feeling of relief swept over her. Willow got out of her chair and turned to see her girlfriend there, looking completely unharmed and happy.
“Hey, you,” Tara said as she swept Willow into her arms.
“Hey back,” Willow said as she took in the moment.
The band that was playing left the stage. Another band came on and picked up their instruments. This was apparently planned, because the audience clapped and cheered appreciatively.
“I didn’t know there were two bands playing tonight,” Buffy said as Willow sat back down and Tara pulled up a chair next to her. Xander looked as though he was about to answer, but that was before the band started playing.
Willow wasn’t sure if they or someone else had bewitched the instruments to sound very much like non-instruments, because whatever sound they were trying to make was clearly not music. All seven people at the table winced and drew back a little simultaneously. Anya looked particularly affronted.
“Who are these people?” she yelled over the din. “They’re loud and strangely unmusical.”
“I’m not sure,” Xander shouted, “but I really hope we never see them ever again.”
“Or hear them,” Riley provided.
“Okay, maybe my schoolwork isn’t the work of a demon, but there must be some hellmouthy mojo going on with these guys. That’s the only possible way they could sound this bad,” Buffy said, still wincing. Somehow, through the incredible racket, Buffy thought she could make out the voice of a particular British vampire across the room, yelling things like “bloody hell” and “sodding noise”. Buffy agreed with Spike mentally, and she shouted at her friends that she was going to get out of there.
Buffy fought her way through the sudden crowd, realizing that her friends were doing likewise behind her. It wasn’t this crowded when we got here, she thought. Actually, I’ve never seen it this crowded. It’s almost like half the town decided to be at the Bronze tonight… literally half. She saw Spike fighting through as well, though he was making much less progress than she was. But nobody else seems to want to leave, she noticed. It’s just us and Spike. Eight people out of the whole club. That’s more than coincidence. Buffy dashed for the door; Giles, Riley, Willow, Tara, Anya, and finally Xander immerged in the alleyway, Xander shutting the door as quickly as possible behind him.
“It seems I was not the only one with unknown wishes to attend the Bronze this evening,” Giles commented between breaths.
The others were nodding slightly in agreement when the door opened again and the unbearable noise that had been muffled by the door hit them full blast for a moment before Spike forced the door closed behind him.
“What,” the vamp began, “in the bleeding hell was that?”
Xander, smiling sardonically through his hatred for Spike, said “Aw, did the Bronze give Spikey a little scare? Or did the noise make the chip in your head short out and start frying your brain?”
“Oh, please tell me it was that second option,” Riley added, also looking at Spike with utmost loathing.
The mild fear and pain in Spike’s eyes switched to sarcasm as he turned to Riley. “Oh, listen to Mr. American Hero over here, all hypocritical. I didn’t see you looking too pleased about the wondrous cries of the Hellmouth coming from the stage as you fought desperately to get out of the building.” Spike’s eyes softened slightly as he turned to Buffy. “I’m telling you, Slayer, there was something supernatural about the noise those vamps were making. It wasn’t right.”
Buffy snorted a little and looked at Spike unbelievingly. “Yeah, because I’m going to take pointers from… wait, those were vampires?”
Spike’s face took on a minorly superior smile. “What, didn’t you notice?” The smile tapered before he spoke next. “But as much as the boy—“ Spike moved his head in Xander’s direction, “—is an extreme moron, he wasn’t far off. That insolent noise made my chip go and have a field day with making my brains into a lovely soufflé. I had to struggle to get out of that place without passing out in pain; it wasn’t your standard racket.”
“If it’s a standard racket you’re looking for, I’m sure I could find one and plunge it through your chest for you,” Riley said, stepping forward.
Spike looked at Riley with a kind of sarcastic humour and made to leave. He took a cigarette out of his pocket and stopped beside Buffy to light it. “Think about it, Slayer. Why else do you think no one else is leaving the establishment despite that?” He beckoned to the Bronze, from with the putrid noise was still emanating, though muffled. He replaced the lighter in his pocket and strutted away into the night.
Spike had obviously had the same thoughts Buffy had had; she hadn’t particularly wanted Riley make Spike go away just yet. He had obviously sensed that the people onstage were vamps when she, the Vampire Slayer, had not. He seemed to know more about it than she did. She supposed she could have stopped Spike from going, but Riley seemed to be feeling a little left out right now, what with her mom getting sick and her brand new work ethic in both school and her Slayer studies. She could always just go see Spike later, anyway.
“Well, that was unpleas—“ Xander began. “Hey. Where did Willow and Tara go?”
Buffy wheeled around. It was true; Willow and Tara were nowhere to be seen. She was sure she’d seen the couple hurry out of the Bronze with the rest of them; they’d just disappeared since then.
“Yes, well, that’s hardly the issue at hand right now,” Giles interrupted. “What we need to decide is…”
What they got to decide was never known, because the noise stopped just as abruptly as it started. Giles sighed in relief and interrupted his own train of thoughts. “Well now, that’s better, isn’t it?”
Moments later, someone from within yelled, “Let’s get out of here!” Suddenly, hundreds of people were streaming out of the exit, bumping into one another in their obvious hurry to get as far away from the Bronze as possible. Giles, Xander, Anya, Buffy and Riley all stepped well out of the way and watched in amazement at the incredible flow of people.
Eventually, all the people were out of earshot, and Giles turned back to the rest. “What I think needs to be done now is—“
Once again, Buffy’s Watcher was cut short. “Hey, did anyone see where Buffy went?” Riley asked.
“Whatever. She’s the Slayer. She can deal. Finish your sentence, Giles,” Xander said rather blatantly.
“Right. What I think we need to do now is research,” he finished.
“What? Now? It’s late, and Xander and I have… plans,” Anya finished, putting her arm around Xander.
“Anya has a point. We should probably have Buffy there, anyway; and Willow’s kind of a researching whiz, isn’t she?” Riley provided.
“Yes, all right. I can see I’m not going to win this argument. Perhaps it’s best, anyway.” Giles sighed. “I’ll call Buffy later and let her know… will someone contact Willow and Tara?”
“You bet, Gilesey,” Xander said seemingly in a hurry and putting an arm around Anya, who looked very content indeed. “Goodnight, all.”
“Bye,” Giles and Riley returned, and they went off their separate ways.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
