Xander looked around the Bronze as he approached the table where Buffy sat
alone. It was obvious to him that Willow was not present, but what was also
painfully obvious to him was how solemn Buffy was. She was even avoiding
eye contact with him and this gave him reason to be concerned.
"Okay, I'll bite...What's with the expression of death warmed over?" Xander
asked as he sat at the table across from her.
Buffy looked at him. "'I'll bite'?"
"Okay. Bad choice of words considering your job description. Let me try
something else..." He paused as he regarded her with his dark eyes. "What
did you say to Willow that made her run off?"
Buffy looked startled. But she also looked guilty. "What do you mean by
that, Xander? I haven't said anything!"
"You did. I can tell. What did you tell her?"
"Xander, I didn't tell her anything. I..." She opened her mouth and then
closed it. Then, she tried again. "Willow and I had girl talk. That's
all. It didn't involve you."
Xander frowned. "Girl talk is just another way of saying, 'We're talking
about boys'. My guess is you were talking about Moloch and you said
something and Willow booked on out of here. Is that the way it went?"
Buffy didn't answer. She looked at him as if she wanted to say what she and
Willow had talked about, but she didn't want to bring him into it.
"You talked about me." Xander nodded his head slowly. "Willow's
hurting...and it's my fault?"
Buffy shook her head. "Willow will be fine, Xander. Just let her have her
space for awhile."
Xander looked at her as if she were insane. "Wait a minute! Willow left
here and you didn't walk her home?"
"She didn't want me to--"
"She didn't want!! Since when do you let that stop you from seeing your
friends home safely?" He rose from the table.
Buffy did, too. "Xander! Willow's safe. Angel followed her home. He'll
make sure that--"
Xander pointed angrily at her. "That's another thing I don't understand
about you, Slayer. Willow is your friend and you entrust her life to a
blood-sucking vampire. You are even in love with him, aren't you?" He
shook his head. "Well, it's wrong. One day you'll see that. Too bad it
isn't tonight...unless he takes Willow now."
"He won't--"
"Don't follow after me. I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself." With
that, Xander spun away from her and stormed out of the Bronze.
Not willing to let Xander go alone, Buffy did follow him. But as she saw
Xander walking off down the street in the direction of Willow's house, two
dark figures stepped out of the shadows in front of her. From the way they
began to approach her and from the hissing sounds they made, she knew that
they were vampires. She knew it even before then.
"I am NOT in the mood for you fiends tonight!" Buffy declared as a stake
appeared in her hand from within the folds of her coat. "You want a piece
of me? Come and get it!"
They attacked together and Buffy's feet were suddenly spinning through the
air. Her fighting skills had managed to separate the two from each other
and she managed to thrust the stake through the heart of one. As it turned
to dust, the remaining vampire leapt onto her back and they both fell to the
sidewalk. Buffy managed to roll away and she was on her feet as the vampire
was on his.
Unfortunately, he was facing the other way.
She tapped him on the shoulder.
"Huh?" the vampire inquired as he began to turn around.
"Not very bright, are you?" she asked. She staked him through the heart
before he could answer.
Then she looked down the street. Xander was no where in sight, but that
didn't mean she couldn't catch up to him.
That's when she heard the growl from behind. She turned around and
discovered two more blood-sucking fiends.
"My my...aren't I the popular one," Buffy said to no one in particular.
Then she launched herself at them.
-----
Xander never made it to Willow's house himself. He had meant to get there.
He had wanted to. But he saw something that disturbed him so in a wild
hunch, he went away from Willow's house as he trailed the four figures he
saw moving down the street. They had come from the direction of Willow's
house and Xander was certain that they could have been from one of the
neighboring houses...
But his gut told him that that wasn't right. There was something very
sinister about them and as he watched them, he was more than certain that he
knew them. There was something familiar about them. What was even more
distressing was that he had a very bad feeling that the four dark figures
that he was now following had meant to do something to Willow.
Did they see Angel and back off? If that was the case, Xander silently
thanked Angel and continued to follow the four.
They stopped beneath a street light and were laughing and talking together.
For awhile, they just stood there.
It was enough.
Xander saw them.
And he knew who they were.
-----
Willow's eyes were open. They had been open for awhile now, staring at the
ceiling above. She was still on the floor at the foot of the bed, her back
on the floor and her eyes simply staring. She had had a terrible dream...a
nightmare. It was the worst dream she had ever had.
In the dream, she saw Xander. Every where she went in the dream, he was
there. In class, in the gym, in the library, at the Bronze. He was always
so nice to her and he was always asking her out. He was telling her that he
wanted to be with her and no one else.
But in the dream, Willow turned him down every time. Told him to go away.
To get lost. To even drop dead. In the dream, she told him that she hated
him. Never wanted to see him again. That he should be with Buffy.
Buffy...
<"Tell me, Will...Before Buffy came along, our lives didn't need that much
saving...did they?...When we were alone.">
Willow blinked her eyes.
She just wanted to lay there and fade away, but that wouldn't happen. There
would be a tomorrow. There was one more school day before the weekend.
"I'm not going," she said softly to herself. "My parents don't care
anyway...and...and neither does Xander."
She brought her hands to her face and rubbed her tear stained eyes. She had
been on the floor for quite a few hours so she was stiff. She sat up and
stretched. The light was still on and she looked at the clock on her desk.
4:48 am.
Slowly, she rose to her feet and sat on her bed. For awhile, she simply sat
there as if she were trying to wake up from a slumber, but didn't want to.
She looked at her desk and her eyes fell onto the books she had brought home
from school. One of them was open and on the pages of the book was a disc.
She remembered that someone had put it in her locker at school. With
nothing else to do besides stew in self despair, she decided to find out
what was on the disc. She picked it up and read the writing out loud.
"'Tell No One.'" She frowned. "Oh, great...an X-File on floppy."
She sat down at her desk, turned her computer on, and waited. She twirled
her hair around her finger while she waited. Her eyes spied a picture of
Xander and absently, she reached over, grabbed it, and laid it face down.
She continued to wait for the computer. Then, she went through her log-in
and finally her desktop arrived.
She put in the floppy.
She opened the Word Document and began to read what was in the disc. It was
a letter addressed to her.
DEAR WILLOW, IF YOU ARE READING THIS LETTER THAN IT MEANS THE WORST HAS
HAPPENED AS I FEARED THAT IT WOULD. IT MEANS THAT YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME. IT
MEANS THAT YOU HAVE STAYED TRUE TO YOUR FRIENDS AND HELPED THEM RETURN ME TO
THE DREADED PRISON THAT HAS BEEN MINE FOR SO LONG. AH, WELL...THERE WILL BE
ANOTHER TIME. SOONER THAN YOU EXPECT. FOR I HAD THE FORESIGHT TO SEE WHAT
YOU WOULD EVENTUALLY DO. I HAVE MADE PREPARATIONS...AND THIS IS ONE OF
THEM. NOW OBEY MY WORDS VERY CAREFULLY, MY LOVE, FOR WE SHALL BE REUNITED
ONCE AGAIN. IF YOU CHOOSE TO GO TO YOUR FRIENDS, THEY WILL DIE HORRIBLY. I
HAVE ALREADY SET THINGS IN MOTION. XANDER WILL DIE, BUFFY, YOUR VAMPIRE
SLAYING FRIEND WILL DIE, GILES, YOUR FAVORITE BRIT, WILL DIE. PERHAPS WE'LL
ADD JOYCE SUMMERS AND JENNY CALENDAR AS WELL. THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR
LIFE BESIDES THE ONES I MENTIONED THAT WILL SUFFER IF YOU DO NOT DO AS
INSTRUCTED. SO YOU CAN TELL NO ONE AND DO AS EXPECTED OR YOU CAN TELL YOUR
FRIENDS AND REAP THE CONSEQUENCES. THE CHOICE, MY LOVE, IS YOURS. I TRUST
THAT YOU WILL USE WISDOM IN THIS AND DO THE RIGHT THING. ONCE WE ARE
TOGETHER AGAIN, WE WILL NEVER BE SEPARATED. FOR I BELONG TO YOU AND YOU
BELONG TO ME. IT IS DESTINY NOW. IT WAS DESTINY WHEN YOU FIRST RELEASED
ME. IT IS IRONIC DESTINY THAT YOU WILL RELEASE ME ONCE AGAIN. FORGET YOUR
FRIENDS, FOR THEY DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE REAL YOU. THEY DO NOT KNOW YOU AS I
DO. WILLOW, I LOVE YOU. GO ABOUT YOUR DAYS AS YOU NORMALLY WOULD, MY LOVE.
YOU WILL BE APPROACHED SOON BY SOME OF MY MOST DEVOTED FOLLOWERS. WHEN
YOU SEE THEM, THEY WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO. BUT YOU MUST STAY AWAY FROM
THOSE WHOM YOU THOUGHT WERE YOUR FRIENDS. STAY AWAY...OR THEY DIE. SO
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, MY LOVE...I, YOURS...YOU, MINE.
Willow was horrified. Could this be happening? She read the note over
again and realized that this was very real. Somehow, Moloch the Corruptor
had prepared a plan in the event that he was returned to the Book. That
plan was now in action and...and if she told anyone, they would be killed.
Horribly killed. How could she tell anyone when she didn't know who
Moloch's followers were or how many there were? Could they really kill the
ones she loved? Were they watching her house?
She took the disc out of her computer and looked at it in fear.
She felt so alone. She didn't know what to do.
But she had no choice now. She had to go to school, avoid her friends...and
wait until the devoted followers to come to her.
