Disclaimer: See Part One.
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Part Five
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As Drusilla turned over a card, spike continued his wheeling around the room. "I can’t believe I’m letting him get to me. Here I am, in the middle of the bloody day, pacing until I’ve got no rubber on the tires. Damn him!" Spike ranted.
Drusilla examined the card she had turned over carefully. "Spiiike," she drawled, "you’re forgetting something…something important…"
Spike wheeled himself over to Drusilla and looked at the card.
"Shit."
* * *
"Xander! Come here!" Willow called urgently. Waking from his precious slumber, Xander ambled over to Willow.
"What is it, Wil? What didja find?" He looked at the screen Nothing on it made sense to him. It was all blurry to him. So was Willow…he rubbed his eyes and focused.
Willow pointed at the screen. "There was a murder last night. A little girl that strayed from her mother while shopping…her neck was broken. There was a word painted in blood on her back." Willow skimmed the coroner’s report. "The word was ‘practice’."
"So a little kid was killed last night. Any vamp marks?" Xander asked. Willow shook her head, read some more, then gasped. "Wil? What is it?"
Willow checked her discovery again. "The girl’s name," she said. "Her name was Buffy Sleys."
* * *
"Had myself a bit of fun last night. It was more practice, though. The little girl thought I was just a friendly toyman. Pity, she didn’t know her real connection." The deep and scratchy voice laughed at its prisoner.
Giles had resumed his struggle to escape the chains. "You…you killed…a child," he said, gasping from his spent strength.
The jailer cackled again. "Poor Buffy…"
Giles screamed. "NO!!!!!!!"
The monster snickered. "Oh, how I do enjoy watching you squirm. No, Giles, I couldn’t kill Buffy *Summers*…" he teased. Giles let out a sigh of relief. "…without you there to watch."
He melted back into the shadows once again.
* * *
Buffy slept through most of her classes. Instead of going to the library like she wanted to, she ended up getting all the notes she had missed. When the final bell rang at last, she stumbled into the library.
Finally, after a good amount of rest, Buffy was awake. "Where’s Giles?" she demanded as the doors slammed shut behind her.
Willow looked up from a book she had stuck her nose in. "Sorry, Buffy, but he hasn’t been here at all." Willow shrugged and continued reading.
Xander, for once, also had his nose buried in a book. But it was too busy snoring, as usual. By his head was two stacks of books. Buffy saw them and something in her head clicked.
"You’ve found something, haven’t you! I knew it!" Buffy said excitedly. She ran over to Willow and peered over her shoulder. "What did you find?"
Willow moved the book into Buffy’s view. "Just a couple of clues. Clue number one: whatever this being is, it associates with vampires. Unfortunately, that also could mean the monster is a vampire itself. Thus, the first stack of books and the book Xander is drooling on." She indicated the sleeping teenager.
"Clue number two: wherever this guy is from, they speak French. Although there are more countries that speak French than people think…" She looked at Buffy and caught herself. "Anyway, three books from stack two are from that clue."
She pointed to the computer. The coroner’s report was still on the screen. "Clue number three: whatever this thing is, he ‘practices’ on innocents before going after its main target."
Buffy inspected the screen. "A little girl…only five…oh my god…" Buffy gasped as she read the girl’s name. "Buffy. Buffy Sleys…slays…" She sat down in a nearby chair, a look of shock clearly on her face. "I’m his target."
"Buffy…" Willow said gently. "There is also one more thing. There is a possibility that…" she tried not to choke on the words, "…that it took Giles. So we have to look for that, too."
Her face turned back to its fighting look - a cold, grim determination that only faced evil. This time, it faced death. Buffy bit her lip.
"Then let’s consult his books." She picked up a volume from a stack and began reading.
* * *
Giles hung his head in shame. He had lost track of time, waiting in the darkness for his inevitable doom. He had failed Buffy. He didn’t even know who the demon that was playfully torturing him was.
A light came on in his head. He thought desperately of all the tortuous demons he had ever read about. Several monsters ran through his head, until only one made sense…
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