Note: Thanks to my betas MadRog and t_geyer for their unending patience, perseverance and support.


SECTION 6 - GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun

Hey now, hey now
What's a matta with ya?
Girls just wanna have fun now
Come on

(Cyndi Lauper, Album - 12 deadly Cyns... and then some)




Chapter 6.04
Wednesday, May 15th, 2002

"Dawn?" Brandon knocked on the outer door of the toilets. "Dawn, are you all right in there?"

Dawn leant against the other side of the door. Sweat was trickling down her face as she clasped her purse and her pants to her, afraid that if she didn't that she would forget them again. She didn't know what to do. She felt like she was burning up. She desperately needed to get out of this place, but to do that she had to go past Brandon.

"Dawn?" his voice seemed even louder. "If you don't answer me, I'm going to have to come in there."

"You can't." Her voice was edged with panic. Everything had gone so wrong and she just knew that if she didn't feel so ill she could work out how to fix it.

"I won't, as long as you keep talking to me, so I know you're okay. If you stop talking, then for all I know, you could be passed out with your head down a toilet or something."

"Like you'd care !" she accused him.

"Do we have to do this with a door in the way?" he asked his voice sounding suddenly tired.

"I'm not that stupid. If I come out you'll grab me again."

"Okay. Look, I'll back away from the door. I won't come any closer than six feet. If you just open the door an inch or two you can see. Okay?"

"I want to go outside." The door opened a fraction of an inch and Brandon could just make out a single blue eye making sure he was as good as his word.

"Okay, but I'm going to follow you and make sure you're okay till someone comes. I'll stay back. I won't touch you. I just don't want to leave you on your own."

Slowly Dawn edged toward the back door of the club, carrying her bundle clutched against her chest. Equally slowly, careful not to make any move that might startle her, Brandon followed her into the alley beside the club. Dawn's legs were decidedly shaky and she was more than a little relieved to spot a stack of palettes, which formed a convenient resting spot. She reached down with her hands to lower herself onto the makeshift seat, no longer trusting her depth perception to guide her. Brandon kept his distance, leaning against the opposite alley wall as if he, too, were having difficulty supporting his own weight.

"Dawn. You have to phone your sister and let her know what's happening. She's not at the house. Do you know where she is?"

"Can't."

"Can't what, Dawn? Can't contact her? Won't she have her cell with her? Or is she at the cinema or somewhere where she'd have it turned off?"

"Can't tell her. Snuck out. She thinks I'm at home."

Brandon allowed himself to slide down the wall until he sat hunkered at its base. "Dawn, in a few minutes my dad is going to be here. He's going to have to decide whether to take you back to our place or whether to take you to the hospital. You can't go home unless there's going to be someone there to look after you, and unless we can get a hold of your sister she's not going to know there's anything wrong."

Just at that point, the black four by four pulled into the alley screeching to a halt mere feet from the couple, its high beams making both of them raise a hand to their eyes. A smallish figure stepped from the car to be rapidly flanked by two much larger ones who seemed to step from the alley's shadows.

"We'll take care of Dawn, won't we?"

Brandon looked over at the newcomers. The woman who had spoken didn't look particularly offensive, but he wasn't ready to trust anyone who walked or drove into this situation. The hint of Eastern European in her accent didn't exactly set his mind at rest either. He began to edge his way over toward Dawn, trying to place his body between her and the others.

"Sorry, thanks for the offer, but as I told the lady earlier when I take a girl on a date I make sure she gets home safely."

"I'm afraid you're under a misapprehension here. It wasn't an offer. It was a statement of fact." The woman nodded toward Dawn. "Secure her and put her in the back."

Looking round, Brandon grabbed at a broken off length of three by one, holding it like a double handed sword and sort of shuffling forward with one foot always well ahead of the other.

"Kendo? Very impressive, especially since you should be just as messed up as your girlfriend."

"She kept me talking. Didn't drink as much."

"Pity." In an effortless and obviously much practised move, the woman pulled a pistol from an underarm holster that had been hidden by her jacket. Brandon got a good view of the silencer before the momentum of the shot carried him off his already shaky feet.

He struggled to stay conscious despite the drug and the pain and succeeded just long enough to catch Dawn's gasp of recognition as her captors dragged her off.

"What about him?" one of the men asked as they closed up the rear of the car.

"Leave him. In five minutes the smell of blood will have every vampire in a half-mile radius down here. Just get her to the containment site and get back here before alpha team realises you're gone and not a word about this to any of the others."

"Not even Riley?"

"Especially not Riley. He doesn't deal well with grey areas. That's why it's my job to make sure he doesn't see any. As far as he's concerned alpha team is out hunting the vampire that is holding the slayer and her people under its thrall. He has a duty to stop it before it uses this foothold to start an insurrection amongst the sub T population. I don't see any need to confuse the issue."

 

---

 

Willow was off the bike even before Wes could turn the engine off, her front door key ready in her hand.

"Dawn? Dawnie?" The living room light was on, as was the one in the bathroom, but otherwise the house was in darkness. She made her way through the living room to the kitchen, flicking the lights on as she passed. When she saw the fluorescent pink post-it stuck to the fridge door she heaved a sigh of relief, even before she got close enough to read it. Somehow bad news didn't belong on something that garish.

She pulled down the note reading it with a smile. "Panic over. She went to the Bronze to see Devon's new band. She probably couldn't hear her phone over the music."

"Yes," Wes drew the word out as if to show his reservations. "But who did she go with?"

Willow's mouth formed into a silent 'O' as she realised what the former watcher meant. "I guess we could try calling her again. We might be lucky." Willow crossed to the phone and only then noticed the blinking message light. She pressed the playback button.

"Hi. I guess there's no one home right now. This is Brandon. Dawn's sick. Actually, I think maybe someone spiked our drinks 'cause I don't feel so good either, but Dawn's a lot worse. I'm going to call my dad and get him to pick us up. I don't think Dawn should be left alone, but she... I think she thinks I did it or at least she doesn't know I didn't, so the sooner someone she trusts can get here the better. By the time you get this, chances are we'll either be at our place or if she gets any worse we might be at the hospital, but if we go there I'll try to leave another message. My cell number's..." The message finished by giving Brandon's cell number, his home number and his address.

"Oh God, something's happened to them and it's my fault."

"Willow, we don't know that. It may simply be a childish prank, but I think Buffy needs to know what's going on."

"Don't you think we should return the call first?"

"I think maybe Buffy would want to do that herself."

Wes pulled out his cell phone. "Can you have that message ready to play when I give you the signal?"

 

---

 

As the phone rang on unanswered, Buffy could feel the rage that built within the vampire with each additional ring. She let it sweep through her, too. It was so much better than the gnawing fear that was the alternative. If the cell phone had been switched off that might have meant they were at the hospital, but when both it and Brandon's home number were unattended the odds of some sort of foul play being involved increased dramatically.

The vampire pulled back onto the road, paying no heed to speed limits and little more to intersections or crosswalks. As he neared the club the heavy coppery scent guided him to the alley, but all that remained to tell the tale was a large puddle of blood and some tyre prints, those and the pitiful bundle made by Dawn's new trousers wrapped around her purse.