Chapter 6
The dining area for the Summers household used to be a passive place where meals were lovingly served. Now, seven years and many battles later, it is mainly used for strategy meetings. On the end of the table sat Willow busying herself at her laptop. After a recent abuse of magic she was content with using her other skills to help with the Scooby problems. Buffy shadowed her closely watching every keystroke carefully. After a few moments of hacking Willow turned to Buffy
“Okay. I’m into the county school records what’s the name we’re looking for?”
“Foster, Daniel Foster” Buffy replied.
Willow typed in the name. The screen scrawled up confidential information. They both examined the information closely. Willow looked up at Buffy. She help a lot of people in the last few years but this kid Buffy seemed to be taking it a lot more personally.
“Hey Buffy, not to be miss nosy, by can’t you get this information from the school.”
“We tried,” Buffy replied, ”Danny fake numbered us. Plus his home address turned out to be a meatpacking factory. No exactly prime student accommodation.”
“Well, maybe he just shy? You like a mouse or a little bunny. You said that you talked to his folks.”
Buffy stood up and started to pace. She thought about the conversation she had with the man that claimed to be Daniels father and couldn’t help notice that he sounded way to young to have a fifteen-year-old son.
“His dad did seem confident that Danny’s okay at home but.”
“But you don’t believe him.” Finished Willow
“Not for a second. His excuses sounded a lot like the one I would have used when I was his age.”
The laptop beeped. Willow looked at the screen. She furrowed her eyebrows. These were the school enrolment records for Sunnydale High but something didn’t add up
“That’s weird” Said Willow
“What?” asked Buffy as she strolled around the table to look at the screen.
“These are the records for Sunnydale high but according to this there is no Daniel Foster enrolled.”
Buffy double-checked Willow findings. Sure enough there was no record of Daniel ever going to the school. This troubled her even more. She had found an answer but this answer only raised more questions
Principal Wood looked stunned. In his short time of being principal he had to deal with a lot of strange things happening in the school but this goes beyond most of them. He sat at the dining table in the summers how in complete awe. Buffy stood across from him equally concerned. Between them sat Xander and Willow.
“No record at all?” Principal Wood asked.
“None. We checked school records, hospital records, police records, and birth certificates. And all of them tell us the same thing. This kid doesn’t exist” Replied Buffy, “Somebody has gone to great lengths to hide him.”
“I know I’m probably going to get a look for asking this but are you sure?” asked Principal wood
Willow nodded emphatically
“Uh huh. We checked everywhere. I think I out Googled Google.”
“I think the question we should all be asking is why,” Xander said, “I mean it’s not like this kid is running from the law. What’s he got to hide?”
“Or who is he hiding from?” asked Buffy “this kind of effort usually means a big bad is involved.”
Buffy turned to Willow and Xander and gave them a commanding look.
“Guys look around the school. Talk to some of his friends. See if he told them anything that might help us.”
Xander and Willow nodded. The investigation part of the scooby work is what they were good at. Principal Wood stood up he already new his part in this plan.
“I’m guessing we go have another chat with Danny.” Principal Wood said confidently
Buffy shook her head. The look of concern on her face told everyone that the need to move cautiously.
“No if he sees either of us he just going to shut down again.” Buffy said
“Then who do you suggest?”
“Isn’t Dawn in a couple of his classes?” Buffy Asked
“From what I remember she has English and Science with him.”
“She would have a better shot then us at getting the info”
“I suppose,” Principal wood said, “Yeah that sound reasonable.”
“Also you better check his locker. It’s usually the best place to hide stuff.” Xander commented
Buffy nodded. She looks at the group like a general surveying their troops.
“You guys talk to his friends. Principal Wood and I will check out his locker. Then I’ll talk to Dawn.”
The Scoobies started to gather their things. The gang had themselves a mystery. Buffy gave her troops a serious look as the made their way to the front door.
“We have to move quick on this guys,” Buffy commanded, “It’s not like he’s just going to drop on our doorstep”
Daniel stood nervously. He stared at his objective with the type of concentration that a major sports star would have just before his final match he had taken Candy’s advice and written Dawn a note. He had spent most of the night doing it. The scrunched up paper on his living room floor was the proof. In his other hand he held a rose. To him dawn seem more the flower type of girl more than the Calorie adding chocolate kind. He walked up to the house slowly. Outside a wooden letterbox held the name of the people who lived inside
‘Summers’
Summers . . . WHERE HAD HE HEARD THAT NAME BEFORE !?!
That question had been boring into him like a dentists drill. He knows that it’s important if only he could figure out . . . No he had to focus if he didn’t he will lose the confidence he had been building up on the walk over. Plus if he stops concentrating now he going to pee himself which nobody wants. The plan was simple leave the note and the rose on the doorstep and get out. As he approached the door he heard voices coming from inside. He thought he recognized a couple of them but he didn’t want anything to deter him from his plan. He reached the front door and paused. He drew in a deep breath. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The moment he had being trying to achieve for six months. He knelt down to place the items.
The door opened suddenly and Daniel found himself staring at four pairs of shoes. He swore to himself as he slowly stood up and found himself being stared at by for individuals. The two most recognizable were Buffy and Principal Wood. The third was that foreman who is working on the school. The forth one he had never seen before. She was a short red headed girl.
“Danny.” Buffy said in a surprised tone “what are you doing here.”
Danny thought hard. He had pretty much used up every excuse he had. Xander, looking at the scene, decide to break the ice
“Well since you came all this way would you like to come in,” he asked Daniel Cheerfully
He gauged Daniels reaction. It wasn’t the one he hoped for.
“Or breath?” he finished
“Breathing might be good.” Echoed Willow
Daniel looked at the for of them and sighed. Perhaps it was time to tell them the truth. It would certainly make things a whole lot easier. Perhaps doing the grown-up thing will make things better more then worse. Or at least that’s what he thought as he bolted away from the door at full speed. From behind them he heard Buffy call his name as she gave chase.
He looked back at her. She seemed unusually fast for a girl her size. Fortunately for him he had a back up plan in case something like this happened. Daniel quickly rounded a corner. Buffy follow suit and was shocked to discover that he had completely vanished. A look of defeat crossed her face as the rest of the group joined Buffy.
“Where did he go?” asked willow
“I don’t know?” replied Buffy “I’m sure he came round this corner.”
“Great,” said Xander, “we’re dealing with a kid who can pull a Houdini anytime he wants.”
“Calm down. Lets just stick to the game plan he surface eventually.” Buffy said confidently.
Daniel tried to calm his breathing down. He only had a few seconds to strap on the safety harness and jump into the sewer maintenance hatch and close it behind him before Buffy arrived. Daniel listened to the group’s conversation as they stood above him. As soon as they left he pulled himself back up to street level.
This trick he had done before and become extremely good at it. He had found these hatches all over the town and use them on a regular basis if he is being chased by pack of vamps to numerous for him to fight. He sat on the street for a moment. He asked himself why that group was so eager to find him. The principal and the Councilor he could understand but the girl and the foreman were a complete mystery. The whole thing stank and he wasn’t talking about the sewer.
School was no longer safe.
Candy sat alone in the lunchroom of Sunnydale high. Daniel hadn’t shown for school today and she was worried. There had been rumors being spread that Daniel was being hunted by the cops so that’s why he had to stay awake at night. She never believed it until today. Adrian strolled in a few moments later and sat down across. This was the last thing Candy wanted.
“Hey there lover girl,” he sneered, “where’s kamikaze?”
“What?” she asked him. Not really wanting to know the answer
“Kamikaze. Danny boy. He likes to fly in then crash and burn!”
Candy rolled her eyes. Adrian’s personality was grating on her like nails down a chalkboard. She glared at him
“Why do you hang with us if you hate him so much?” she snapped at him
“Hey somebody gotta do my homework for me.” He chuckled evilly
That was the straw that broke the camels back. She stood up and walked out of the room. Adrian watched her and sighed. He got up and followed her.
“Did you ever stop and think that maybe it wasn’t him I wanted to hang with.” He asked her as he caught up
This got her attention. She stopped and faced him arms folded glaring like there was no tomorrow. Adrian walked up to her slowly
“Lets face it Candy,” he said with a softness he had never used before, “Danny is not gonna look at you while Summers is around.”
she continued to glare at him. If this was a joke it wasn’t funny
“So what. All those jokes about how I should be in a morgue were just what? Sweet talk?”
Adrian shook his head. He leaned against one of the lockers.
“You’re not like the others at this school. They’re all into how they look and what other people think of them. You, you’ve got brains they don’t and you don’t give a crap who you tell.”
Candy slowly unfolded her arms. She had never heard Adrian talk like that. She’s usually the one who can pick up any scam he is trying to pull but what he was saying at the moment sounded genuine. It sounded like it came from what ever Adrian used as a heart. Adrian sensed that Candy was slowly letting her guard down.
“Tell ya what,” he said confidently, “give me one night to prove myself. If you don’t like it I’m gone.”
Her senses were still telling her that this had got to be a scam but something in the back of her mind was telling her that maybe he is being honest.
“Come one! One night who’s that gonna hurt?”
Finally she gave in. she rolled her eyes and sighed
“Alright one night. But if you are tying to pull anything . . .”
Adrian stood up straight quickly. He place one hand on his heart and the other gave the Boy Scouts salute
“Scouts Honor.” She said excitedly
Candy smirked. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She looked at him curiously
“You were a boy scout?” she asked amused
“Well I robbed one once,” he joked back, “they seemed honorable”
From behind them two people approached.
“Hey.” The male voice said to get their attention.
They both turn around. Willow and Xander looked anxiously at them
“Can we talk to you two for a second?” Xander asks
“Your not serous?” Dawn asked as Buffy and principal wood stood over her in the library, “there is no way I am talking to that freak.”
“Dawn this is important,” Buffy insisted, “We think he is in some serious trouble and he wont talk to either of us.”
Dawn thought about Daniel and shuddered.
“He keeps staring at me and doing weird things,” Dawn, replied, “plus he has that whole creepy sleep disease thing. You know necromancy.”
Buffy looked at Dawn curiously
“He can’t sleep because he’s raising the dead?” she asked
“I think she means narcolepsy.” Mused Principal Wood
“Oh.” Replied Buffy
She put a comforting hand on her little sisters shoulder.
“I just need you to find out what’s up okay.” Buffy said reassuringly, “and I can’t help him unless I know what’s going on.”
Dawn glared at the both of them. This was a fight she was never going to win
“Alright but if I find him and he had a bunch of dead guys doing icky stuff I am so not talking to you anymore.” She replied
Buffy Smiled
“Sounds fair.” She replied
Buffy and Principal Wood left Dawn to continue her studying as they exit the library Xander and Willow join them. Buffy looked at the two of them hoping for good news.
“Any luck?” she asked them
“A very large resounding no,” Xander replied, “plus I think one of them was the one who keyed my car last week.”
Buffy gives Xander the ‘that’s not important information’ look which didn’t go unnoticed
“They don’t know anymore than we know, which is to say not much at all,” Willow commented, “Anything turn up in the locker search?”
“The usual. Books, pens, paper but we did find this.” Replied Buffy as she showed them the note that was taped to the back wall of the locker.
“Stay strong, Keep fighting,” Read Xander, “Not exactly ‘have a nice day’ but it has a certain ring to it. What do you think it means?”
“Probably some kind of message.” Replied Buffy
“Or a warning,” Prompted Principal Wood “We were leaning on him pretty hard. Maybe who ever was hiding him stood up and took notice.”
Buffy folded her arms.
“Well let’s hope Dawn can come up with something or else we are right where we started.”
Back inside the library Dawn was still studying. This English assignment she was working on was reading more like Latin then English. From behind her the sound of breaking glass rang out. Small stone with a note wrapped around it landed efficiently next to Dawn at her desk. Stunned by it’s appearance she unwrapped the note and read it.
School had been over for a couple of hours as Daniel approached. Every feeling he had was telling him that it was a stupid idea to head back but he wanted to Apologize to Dawn for a lot of what he did. As he walked he remembered the time he tried to buy her lunch and it ended up over the both of them.
He spotted dawn waiting by the tree in the far corner and his heart missed a beat. He was just surprised that she showed let alone wait for him. He approached cautiously, partly because he didn’t want to run into the principal or the councilor, but mostly because this is the point where things usually goes south for him.
“Hey.” He said softly
She turned to look at him. It took most of his strength not to giggle excitedly
“Hey,” she replied in turn, “I got your rock note.”
“Yeah sorry about that.”
Dawn looked at him closely. He didn’t seem to have any dead guys following him. And now that they’re having an actual conversation he doesn’t seem as freaky
“What’s going on Danny? A lot of the guys in class say that you’re on Drugs or something.”
“It’s not drugs it like . . .”
This looked so much easier in the movies he though to himself as he tried to find the right phrasing.
“I just wanted to apologize for, well, pretty much everything. In fact is it possible bank some of this apology for future conversations?”
Dawn laughed. He seemed kind of cool now, less Weird and creepy, now that he is not trying to stare at her.
“It’s cool,” she replied “and you know what? I didn’t even like that top I was wearing during that lunch. It was my sisters.”
They smiled at each other. As much as Daniel was enjoying this moment he knew he was stretching his luck.
“I gotta go.” He said softly
“Oh ok” she said sweetly
Dawn felt a little disappointed. Then she remembers what Buffy wanted her to do.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asked quickly
“Actually,” he said sadly, “I’m not coming back for a while.”
“Well . . . maybe we could hang out now? You’re not doing anything now right?”
His original plan was to apologize, get home, get his stuff and take the first bus out of town. But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity spend time with Dawn Summers his ‘it’ girl.
“Sure,” he said sweetly, hoping he wasn’t sounding to desperate, “where do you want to hang?”
Dawn thought for a moment, if she was going to find out anything its best to go to the source.
“Well . . . How ‘bout your place?” she asked hopefully
By this point in time Daniel was sick and tired of weird surprises springing up on him. This one however didn’t feel like a trap.
They arrived at Daniels it was already dusk. Daniel unlocked the door and let them both in. Dawn looked around the living room. It seemed like a nice place, very well organized with everything having its place. Daniel and Dawn sat on the couch and talked for what felt like hours. It was nice, not as awkward as Daniel thought it would be, and being able to talk to her in complete sentences that make sense really helped. Eventually dawn asked the question he hoped she wouldn’t.
“So is your mom coming back soon?”
“Not for a while she works late.” He replied as confidently as he could, “some nights I don’t see her at all”
“What does she do?” dawn asked interested
Daniel though for a moment
“Nurse, she’s works the night shift at the hospital.”
Dawn nodded. She smiled at him
“My sister works late to. It’s kinda cool having to house to myself.”
“Yeah. Hey have you ever just spent a night running around in your underwear?”
She gave him a look. The conversation went from cool back to creepy. Daniel thought about what he’d just said
“ . . . Because I don’t that just weird,” he corrected himself quickly
Dawn started to look around the room. There wasn’t any sign that something was wrong with this guy.
“So when’s you’re mom coming back from England?” she asked
This was another question that Daniel had to walk carefully around. He had made this mistake before and wasn’t planning on repeating it.
“Soon she said that her sister is fine and that she is coming home.”
Then something occurred to him that he didn’t think of before.
“Wait,” he said suspiciously, “I never told you that my mom was overseas.”
“One of the other kids told me she was away,” dawn replied thinking quickly, “that’s why you were acting so weird at school right?”
“Yeah, that must be it.” He replied
He looked at her closely. He never told anybody that story except . . . oh that’s it.
I am such an idiot he thought to himself. How could he have fallen for such an obvious ploy? Big sis couldn’t find out anything so she sent in little sis to get the dirt. He excused himself and went into the bathroom. As Daniel berated himself more Dawn took the opportunity to look around the house.
Everything she examined seemed normal. Maybe Buffy is just being a little to paranoid this time she thought to herself as she headed down the hall. She looked into the first bedroom, which looked like a typical boys room with mounds of mess everywhere. The next room along looked a lot more tidy and proper. She guessed that that’s his mom’s room. By the time she arrived at the third bedroom she was fully convinced that Buffy had made a mistake. That was until she entered the workroom. She recoiled in horror as she examined the various medieval weapons that lined the back wall. On the side was the range of modern and indescribable weapons. Out of all the weapons on the far wall the one that was most recognizable was the curved dagger used by the guys who have been killing the potential slayers.
Dawn went into shock. This was one of the last things she had expected to find. She was so focused on the room that she didn’t hear the bathroom door open behind her and Daniel step out.
“What are you doing?” asked Daniel as he noticed the open door.
Dawn swung around in a panic, her eyes wild with fear. Daniel looked from the room to Dawn and put two and two together. He walked up to her cautiously
“Dawn I can explain . . .” he said as calmly as possible
By now Dawn wasn’t interested in explanations all she wanted was a way out.
“Stay away from me!” she yelled at him as she pushed him out of the way and bolted for the front door.
Daniel looked at the clock. The streets would be dangerous by this time of night. He quickly changed and gathered his tools and weapons and made off after her.
Dawn dashed through the streets as fast as she could. Daniel could be minutes behind her and she wants to put as much space between her and him as possible. She tried to call Buffy but it was no good. By this time of night she would be out training the potentials and she usually keeps her phone off. Calling home met a similar result. Realizing that she is on her own she ran through as many back alleys and streets as she could. Spying an abandon factory and stops to catch her breath next to it. She tries buffys Cell one more time but with the same result. During the call five vampires confront her. Dawn stumbles back slowly as the vamps approach.
“Wait!” a voice behind them yells.
An older looking vampire approaches and examines Dawn.
“Yes. She is perfect! She will a fine morsel for the feast,” he sneered as he picks dawn up off the ground.
He throws her to the other five who hold her effortlessly.
“Bring her! Our master he grows hungrier by the hour.”
Daniel arrived just in time to watch Dawn being dragged into the Warehouse. She had led him no a not so merry dance and he thought the he had lost her completely. He quickly surveyed the structure. Vamps guarded every entrance, including windows, which was strange. Usually the vampire populous doesn’t go to that much trouble with their security. Something big was going down and it was going down now.
Daniel approached with cautious speed. Time was of the essence and every minute he wasted brought Dawn and anybody else in there closer to death.
And he was pretty much convinced that if Dawn dies she would never speak to him again.
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