Author: Kathryn A Pantaleo

Rating: FRM

Disclaimers: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon, UPN, Mutant Enemy, and whomever else he shares them with! I can only dream!!

"GET OUT, DAWN! GO!" With Giles’ cry ringing in her ears, and the sounds of breaking glass and furniture behind her, Dawn Summers ran out the door of the Magic Box and turned right. She sped around the corner of the little shop, and down the alley. There was little coherent thought in her flight, besides the desperate need to get away.

She heard a muffled shout from inside the shop. "Find the girl!" Seeing a white van in the alley, it’s rear doors open, she plunged in without further thought or hesitation. There were some crates and blankets in the front part of the body of the van. She dove between the crates and pulled the black blankets down over her. The next few minutes seemed like an eternity. She could hear the black-clad men searching for her. She was certain she would be discovered, for surely they would be able to hear the pounding of her heart!

Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, bit her lips, and fervently wished that her sister would suddenly appear and kick some ass. She wondered what had happened to Giles, afraid for him. And she waited…

Her wait did not last for long, though it seemed different to her. She heard a loud "BANG" as the back door of the magic shop crashed back on it’s hinges, and from under the fold of the blankets over her, Dawn saw two of the black-clad men come up to the open doors of the van.

"Oh, god, NO!" Dawn thought to herself. "This is THEIR van! Nice work, genius!"

One scrambled into the van, bent over, and lifted the front of something heavy inside. The other followed, grunting as they dragged their burden in.

Dawn bit back a cry, as she saw them unceremoniously drop the limp form of Rupert Giles less than a foot away from her hiding place.

The Watcher was on his side. He was pale, and there was blood tracing long red rivulets down his face. For a terrible moment she thought he was dead. Then to her relief, she saw his chest rising and falling with his respiration. The black-clad men moved to the open van doors.

"Giles?" Dawn whispered softly. She reached carefully, keeping a wary eye on the men nearby. She touched his head, but there was no response. Then she quickly snatched her hand back under cover, as the men swung the doors shut, and took seats on either side of the unconscious man. The drivers’ door slammed and the van began to move.

The ride was an eternity for the terrified teen. The strange men did not speak, but sat with their hands resting on the hilts of their ancient-looking swords. From her place of concealment, she found herself staring in horrified fascination at the blood trickling over Giles face and through his sandy brown curls.

Tears streamed from her eyes, as the one thought pounded in her brain… "This is MY fault! He got hurt trying to protect me! Why did he DO that? Why didn’t he run?" The thoughts chased each other in an endless litany through her mind, and the van raced through the late afternoon streets of Sunnydale.

In truth, it was not very long before the van stopped. Dawn realized that they had ceased to move, and the men in black had risen and opened the rear doors. Giles had not stirred. The men sheathed their swords and leapt to the ground. They grabbed the Watcher by his ankles and dragged him to the door, lifted him, one at the head and one gripping his legs, and disappeared from Dawns line of sight. The drivers’ door slammed, and the van grew quiet.

After a few minutes, Dawn forced herself to move. Trembling, she crawled to the doors and peeked out. She was at the Sunnydale waterfront. A dangerous area, she knew, that her sister patrolled regularly, as the numerous dark and empty warehouses were frequently used by vampires for nests. She looked at the sky. It was red with the approaching sunset.

Carefully, she slid out of the van and ran soundlessly down the street. She dried her tears as she ran. She knew now what to do. Giles needed help, and he needed it immediately! She needed a phone. She needed her sister. They needed the Slayer, and they needed her now!

*********************************

Xander Harris and his former-vengeance-demon-girlfriend, Anya, strolled down the street to the magic shop where Anya worked for Giles, and the "Scooby gang" gathered. An amused smile on his open face, Xander was listening to Anya rattle on a mile a minute. One of the "human" pleasures that Anya had recently discovered was coffee. She had consumed several large cups already this afternoon, in rapid succession, and it showed in the animation of her speech. It was almost as much fun as some of the other….pleasures…that she had discovered.

"No," he thought, "check that. Not nearly as much fun…Not even close!"

Laughing at her chatter, he did the gentlemanly-type thing that made the girls crazy for him, opened the door for her, and bowed her through.

The chatter stopped as the wreckage and carnage in the shop greeted them. He stepped in front of her, his eyes taking in the bodies lying nearby, one with an ax sticking out of its’ chest, the other on its’ side in a puddle of blood.

"Giles?" he called. There was no answer. The shop was silent with the stillness of death. "Giles!" he shouted again, louder.

Leading Anya by the hand, he quickly searched the shop, stopping only long enough to pick up a fallen sword from one of the bodies. The back door of the shop, leading to the alley, was open. There was no one there.

"Maybe we should call the police?" Anya asked.

"No, no police." Xander answered. "We need to call Buffy… Now!"

Anya looked at him. "She’s in the mall, with Willow and Tara. They asked me if I wanted to go, but I told them we would be busy having sex this afternoon, so I couldn’t go."

Xander blinked at her for a minute, and let that pass. He grabbed the phone off the counter and dialed Buffy’s cell phone.

"Now, THIS, is more like it!" Buffy thought, as she looked at a hot fudge sundae of enormous proportions on the table in front of her. The trip to the mall had restored her good humor. The three young women had wreaked havoc on their spending money, and each had several bags with them. Willow seemed nearly herself, keeping up a steady stream of conversation with Buffy and Tara, though Tara spoke little, and seemed, as always, just a little withdrawn and nervous. Buffy had come to accept that in Tara, who was now an accepted member of the "Scoobies."

Willow was discussing the philosophical merits of the hot fudge sundae, ("What could be better than ice cream combined with gooey chocolate goodness, all in one?) when Buffys’ cell phone rang.

"Hello? Xander! Hey! Did Anya finally tire you out? Oh, yeah, Will and Tara say "hey", what….." Buffys’ voice trailed off, and the color drained from her face.

Willows’ smile vanished. "Buffy, what?" she asked in concern.

Buffy ignored her. "Is Dawn there? Are you sure?… No, you’re right, no police. At least, not yet. Stay there and don’t touch anything, we’ll be right there."

Snapping her cell phone shut, Buffy met Willow and Taras’ now-frightened eyes. "Something’s happened at the magic shop. Xander and Anya found everything open, and the inside is all trashed and there are dead people in there."

Willows’ face was now white as the blouse she wore. "Oh my God!" she said softly. "Giles? Dawn?"

"We don’t know." Buffy answered. And with that she was running for the mall exit, bundles and ice cream forgotten. Willow and Tara were right behind her, although they fell behind as the Slayer put on a burst of speed as soon as she was outside the mall.

The Magic Box was only a few blocks away from the mall complex, in the old business district. Buffy reached it in a few minutes, and burst through the door. The feeling that came over her was surreal…the Slayer part of her took over for the next few minutes. Analyzing. Assessing. It pushed aside the fear that gripped her.. There was no time for fear. She felt a sudden, urgent need for information, and somehow she knew that lives were in the balance, before a single word was even spoken.

Xander and Anya watched her from behind the sales counter silently, recognizing the look on her face. They had seen it often in times of crisis.

Buffy was examining the first body as Willow and Tara came into the shop. They stood, hand in hand, breathing hard, and watching Buffy as she moved around the shop. She was speaking, as if talking to herself, as she moved among the wreckage.

She bent over and pulled the axe from the chest of the first corpse. "Giles was working on translating the runes on this." She took a good look at the sunburst tattoo on the forehead of the body. The black clothes and chainmail.

She met Xanders eyes from across the store. "Knight of Byzantium" she said, pointing at the body. She moved to the second body. "This one too. That looks like a sword wound."

She moved further to the right of the store, near the head of the counter, and went down on one knee. The others followed her. There were more signs of struggle here, tables overturned. She pointed. There were drops of blood on the floor. The drops left a trail to the back of the shop. Some smeared, as if something had dragged through them. Buffy followed, and stopped at the overturned table that they generally used for research. She moved in among the wreckage. She bent, and when she stood, she held Dawns’ schoolbook in one hand, and Giles glasses, somehow unbroken, in the other. Her eyes met those of her friends, and they all read the naked fear there.

"Oh God." she said, softly.