Disclaimer: Ownership rights have not changed hands so I don’t own them, I think, hang on… *Checks pocket for papers* Nope, not mine.
Chapter 18
The headache wasn’t going away. That was pretty much the only thing she could concentrate on without going crazy. Her headache. She’d gotten it from losing her judgement and drinking more than she should have. She shouldn’t have had any at all. Alcohol was a bad, bad thing. Hadn’t her mother always warned her against it? Yeah, but don’t all parents. Alcohol tended to return the blonde slayer to the state of; fire, bad, tree, pretty.
She remembered most of what had happened in the bar. The drunken daze she was in had cleared almost instantly, leaving Buffy to think she’d never had a thing to drink. It was some kind of pretence, she’d never drank anything at all; they’d just made it look like she had, to avoid suspicion.
They’d untied her hands, thank goodness, but before they had, they injected her with some kind of serum. One of the guards had said it was the same thing used for the cruciate ligament or something. Apparently it was used on all Slayers at some point. She’d have to ask Giles about that. The serum basically robbed her of her strength. She didn’t feel any different but when she tried to pick something up or move something, she had the same strength as a child. It was really, really frustrating. No escaping for Buffy.
Her captors, none other than one of the missing teams of Slayerfest, were apparently waiting for their boss to arrive. They weren’t allowed to harm her until he was there. Here, there, Buffy really didn’t think it mattered. Either way they were all going to die. If not by her, then by Angel.
The man with the beautiful green eyes- his eyes were his weapons, they put people in trances, of course she’d found that out way to late, stupid Giles- had been in to see her once and the affect had already worn off. Instead of diving into his eyes like she did last time, she only felt the rising urge to kill him. Unfortunately being a Slayer did not permit the death of humans. Damn.
Now, instead of saying goodbye to the gang as they left, kissing Angel, eating pizza, she was being held captive in a seriously smelly room, on a cold cement floor, weak as a kitten. Life sucked. At the moment anyway. Usually, she had no complaints.
A sudden thought struck her. If they killed her, she’d never get to make up with Xander. She’d die with him hating her. Her head hit her knees where she sat hunched up against the cold wall. She felt hopeless. With the thought of never being able to apologise to Xander, she felt a lot more glum than she first was. Giles had better find her fast. She had a feeling she didn’t have much longer.
The door slowly opened, scratching up the concrete, the sound hurting Buffy’s sensitive ears. They were back for her. Light spilled in the doorway, lighting Buffy’s small frame. Her clothes were covered in dirt and gunk, rips appeared every so often and her top had a large patch of God-knows-what on it.
Green eyes walked calmly though the door and stopped. Buffy’s heart beat kicked it up a notch as she watched the silent man. Dread filled her. What did they want with her now? She was already weak, she couldn’t possibly do anything to them, she had no information for them so what did they want? Your head, a snide voice answered in her mind and she mentally told herself to shut up. If her mind couldn’t make useful comments then it shouldn’t make any at all.
Instead of speaking, the man took hold of her arm and forced her to stand. She stumbled at first but quickly regained her natural balance and grace. His grip on her arm surprised her. For someone so seeming un-extraordinary- if you didn’t count the eyes- he had an amazing grip. Kinda Slayer like.
He pulled her out the door into a brightly lit corridor. Buffy blinked, the sudden bright light made her pupils contract too fast, giving her a headache behind the eyes. Her mouth felt dry and she wondered when was the last time she’d drank. It wasn’t at the bar, she now knew for sure. She’d drank nothing. The last liquid she’d ingested had been the peppermint tea at the mansion.
The man- she’d call him Pickles- led her down the hallway and through another door into another hallway. Everything looked so much the same that Buffy was lost the moment they left her cell.
Pickles took her into yet another hallway. Buffy began to think this whole place was made up of hallways. They seemed to go on forever. Like a giant, sterile, brightly lit, white-painted maze. She cried out in protest when her jerked her to a stop and let go of her arm. Not even bothering to try and escape- where would she go?- she glared at him and rubbed her arm. ‘You could have just said stop.’
He ignored her. ‘Chatty Cathy you’re not,’ she noted and he glanced at her in irritation. ‘You didn’t seem this mean at the bar,’ she pouted, purely for reaction’s sake. Gotta do something for kicks. Pissing off bad guys is something I’m good at.
Again, he ignored her, instead he reached out and rapped three times on the door Buffy just realised they’d stopped in front of. Pay attention, she chastised herself.
The door opened and she was shoved through. It closed firmly behind her with an ominous thud. Movement in the room had her tensing. Her Slayer senses were going crazy, screaming run, run, save yourself but she ignored them. The light above her flicked and she took a deep breath. She was in danger, about to be pitched into darkness and she was without her Slayery goodness. Altogether not the best position she’d ever been in. It didn’t even rank top ten.
Whatever was lurking in the shadows stayed there, not content to come out yet and Buffy silently encouraged it. Stay there, I don’t mind, really.
Instead of being attacked, as she was expecting to be, whatever it was continued to avoid her, confusing her immensely. Wasn’t it here to kill her? She kept her guard up, ready for an attack which would never come. Buffy started as she felt something around her feet. Something wet. The light flickered out just as she realised what was happening.
Oh, hell.
**************************************
Angel paced restlessly, back and forth, almost climbing the walls with his need to find Buffy. She’d been missing for three hours now and they were no closer to finding her.
Giles and the others were avoiding him, avoiding looking at him. The only people who payed him any attention were Cordelia and Willow. Cordelia was used to his moods and now told him when he was being an ass but at the moment she was strangely silent. Willow was watching him with something akin to curiosity.
He slammed his hand against the wall, startling everyone. Most returned to their research, understanding or at least trying to understand how he felt. He was worried about Buffy, they all were.
He’d related the bar story as soon as he’d entered the mansion. Everyone had dropped the research on the apocalypse immediately, Buffy‘s fate was more dire. They didn’t have much to go on but they were still searching. Willow had thought maybe the Slayerfest contestants weren’t as far away as Spike said they were. Angel thought she was right. Who else would be stupid enough to kidnap a Slayer? One he knew would become severely hostile when pissed off?
When she’d mentioned it to Angel he’d immediately tried to go and confront Spike but Giles had held him back. After all, what did Spike have to do with the other contestants? They were all against each other, competing for the Slayers head. While agitated, Angel had let slip one important fact he’d left out while talking to Buffy. Not only did the contestants have to get Buffy’s head, there had to be considerable proof that her death was creative, Normal beheading wouldn’t cut it. As if beheading is normal.
The redhead was utterly worried about her blonde friend. This was the first time something like this had happened since she’d met Buffy and Angel could see how badly it was affecting her; almost as much as it was him. He felt some kind of connection with the young girl in that moment. He regretted not getting to know her better. There would be time for that when Buffy was returned safely.
Willow jumped up suddenly and left the room. Angel frowned, seeing the dazed look on her face. He followed her through the hallway and watched as she went into the kitchen. Angel hung back, watching from the doorway. He just wanted to make sure she was okay.
‘Xander, it’s Willow. Something happened on patrol tonight. Buffy’s missing. We’re doing everything we can to find her but we don’t have much to go on. Just thought you might like to know.’
She hung up and Angel could see the tears forming in her eyes. Whether they were because of Xander’s rejection or Buffy’s disappearance he didn’t know but it angered him.
‘He’ll come round,’ he said with certainty and Willow swung round. His heart almost broke at the completely lost expression on her face. Buffy cared greatly for this young girl and what was important to his love, was important to him.
He put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug as she burst into tears. Sobs racked her body and he held her tight against him, a large hand soothingly rubbing her back, waiting for to her to ride out the worst. She’d hadn’t had time to react yet and it was only now sinking in.
For the moment, he forgot about his own pain, his own worries and concentrated on something, someone else. It had been a long time since he’d looked after someone. His first human contact- that didn’t result in their deaths- in over two hundred years, was with those people furiously at work in the lounge.
Willow quietened and pulled back from him. With a small smile, she wiped the tears from her cheeks then plonked herself down at the kitchen table. Angel took the seat opposite her and they sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Both thinking the same thing. Be okay, Buffy.
Angel wished he knew where she was. He wanted her back here, safe in his arms. So much for going back to L.A tonight. The others could but he wasn’t leaving Sunnydale until Buffy was safe. He wouldn’t accept anything else.
‘She’ll be okay, right? I mean, she’s Buffy,‘ Willow was looking for reassurance and Angel wasn’t sure he could give it and mean it, no matter what he thought..
Despite his misgivings though, he answered the girl as best he could. ‘I wouldn’t doubt her. Like you said, she’s Buffy,’ he graced her with a small smile, his worry clearly seen behind the expression.
‘Yes, she’s been through things like this before right? She even died once. She can handle anything,’ Willow tried to reassure herself but Angel could see it wasn’t working.
Not able to sit still any longer he stood from the table and headed for the back door. ‘Where are you going?’ Willow’s timid voice halted his steps.
He turned back to her, his face grim. ‘I’m going to find answers, Giles be damned. Someone has to know what happened, or where she is.’
Willow stood, a determined look on her face, steel reflected in her eyes. ‘I’m coming with,’ she said quietly.
Angel began to protest but the redhead cut him off. ‘Look at my face. This is my resolve face. Buffy told you about this face, didn’t she?’ she gave him a look of pure power. Women. Power. In Sunnydale, these things seemed to go together a lot.
In the end he relented. If for nothing else, he would take her along for the company. It was better than being alone.
Buffy.
*****************************
Buffy was bored. B-O-R-E-D. Bored to death, bored to tears, just plain bored. Over two hours ago, the room she was in had started filling up with water. Hence the wet feeling around her ankles. Two hours had passed and the water was approaching her shins. They were obviously trying to kill her, it was just a very slow and drawn out process.
There was no way out of the room- she’d knew the walls intimately now- and there was no weapons she could use for escape. She'd tried to find the source of the water and was dissapointed to find only a small hole in the wall emitting the water. The thought had crossed her mind that maybe the wall was weaker there but as she'd proved- with her fist and feet- no dice.
So she was sitting cross-legged in the shallow water, elbow on knee, hand resting under chin, waiting for the water to drown her, for the roof to cave in, waiting for SOMETHING to happen. Anything. She didn’t care what. Leprechauns could dance in front of her, pink elephants could parade in tutu’s, whatever. Just something happen before her death was from boredom instead.
Since they’d locked her in this room, she’d searched every nook, cranny and draw for some information about who they were or why she was here. Nothing. They were good.
The thing hiding in the shadows had ventured out once, it had come close to her, seemingly curious about her. It’s beady little eyes had looked at her and it had taken a few exploratory sniffs- reminding Buffy of a bloodhound- before it scrambled back into hiding. It hadn’t made a move in just under an hour, it’s curiosity satisfied.
The little creature had startled Buffy at first. When it had emerged from hiding, she’d admittedly given a high pitched girly scream- thank God no one was around to hear that- before she’d truly looked at it. Aside from it’s hairless skin and forked tale; it looked to Buffy very much like an overgrown Care Bear and it seemed harmless. She wondered if it knew the way out.
All of a sudden the water level rose considerably. Her captives seemed to have given up on the slow and agonizing death plan. The water was rising fast, much faster than it had before and Buffy wondered if this was actually where she died.
The creature started to make little keening sounds, like an injured puppy and Buffy felt her heart melt even in the face of certain death. She slugged though the rising water over to the - she wanted to say demon?-and she picked it up. If I manage to get out of here alive, Pickles and his friends are so gonna pay.
She held onto the demon, who clutched her tightly, shivering in fear. Someone had better get here soon. The way the water was rising she had about an hour left.
Come on, Giles, save me. I promise to give up coffee. She reconsidered that, best not to jump right in. For a week.
It remained to be seen whether she would keep that promise.
Hi everyone. Well? Good? Bad?
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
