Xander’s eyelids fluttered, then opened. He let out a low groan and rolled over on one side, cradling his head between his hands. “What happened?” he asked in agony. “My head is killing me.”

“Well no wonder,” Buffy said. “You’ve got a gigantic welt on the side of your head.” Xander shot her a panicked look. “Just kidding,” she said with a small smile. “Come on, get up. We have to find the others.”

“Willow!” Xander exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. He grabbed his painful head and lurched to his feet. “We have to find her!” Xander cried hysterically. “I left Will alone at the docks! God, what was I thinking?” He hung his head in pure misery.

“Xander, you’re being too hard on yourself,” Buffy said. She got up carefully and slowly made her away across the room to Xander. She patted him gently on the back, and forced a reassuring smile. “We’ll find Willow, wherever she is. She might have found her way back to the rest of the group. Who knows? In the meantime—“ She glanced around the room in disgust. “Why don’t we figure out where we are?”

Xander glanced around the room. “You know what it looks like?” he asked quietly.

“No,” Buffy said. “I can’t tell anything. The light’s not on.”

Xander looked at Buffy, startled, then nodded. “I was wondering why I couldn’t see you.”

“Yeah, Xander,” Buffy said. “It’s called dark and you can’t see anything in it, except maybe white and other bright colors, and different shades of black and blue—“

“Yeah, Buffy, I get it,” Xander said rudely, and brushed past the slayer. He felt quickly along the wall until he felt a light switch. “Bingo,” he said, and flipped it on.

The room was filled immediately with the harsh glow of fluorescent light. “Ouch,” Buffy said. “There goes my late-age eyesight.” She glanced over at Xander, who was shading his eyes and peering curiously around the room. “So—“ she said, and also looked around. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Well, let’s see,” Xander said, as he passed by her. “We’ve got a few chairs, a really bright light, and a pool table. We must be in a nightclub.”

“Wonderful deduction,” Buffy complimented him. “But how do you know we’re not in someone’s game room?”

“Well,” Xander admitted, “I don’t. But a nightclub sure sounds cooler, doesn’t it?”

“Oh yeah, and that’s so important now,” Buffy commented.

“It is.” Xander walked over to the door, which was actually just beside the light switch he had recently flipped on. “Let’s blow this joint.” Buffy nodded her agreement and watched in amusement as Xander tried valiantly to push the door in.

“You do it like this,” Buffy said, and threw all of her weight against the door. The door crashed in, sending Buffy stumbling out of the room. She fell heavily onto the floor. “Oh my—“ she breathed.

“We’re at Luke’s!” Xander shouted, then grimaced at his outburst. “Sorry,” he said in low tones to Buffy.

“What’d you do to my door?” an outraged man bawled, walking toward Buffy.

“Uh—Luke,” Buffy stuttered. “Sorry, I was just, I mean we were—just trying to get out,” she finished with some effort.

“Well, why didn’t you turn the knob?” Luke asked incredulously. “It was unlocked.” Xander and Buffy stared at each other in shock, then turned back to the fuming club owner. Buffy noticed that something seemed different about the man, but couldn’t quite place her finger on what it might be. She thought for a moment longer about it, then dismissed it as paranoia and concentrated on standing up. “So what are we doing here?” Buffy asked, brushing herself off.

“You're friend brought you here,” Luke said, and waved distractedly toward the front entrance of the club.

She heard Xander’s breath catch behind her. Buffy lifted her eyes to the entrance, and felt her heart tighten in her chest as she saw the person leaning casually against the doorframe. “Angel,” she whispered.

***

“Forget it,” Giles said for the tenth time. “I won’t have any part of it.”

Emily looked around the small group, thoroughly irritated with the adults gathered around her. “Rachel,” she implored. “Will you please tell him?”

Rachel hesitated briefly, then looked Giles in the eye. “I guess Willow and Xander are missing too,” she said quietly.
“What?” Giles asked sharply. He looked at Nick in shock. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well—“ Nick said. “It doesn’t really help you to know, now does it?”

Rachel nodded and started counting off on her fingers. “That means that we’re now missing the slayer, Xander and Willow, and Lucky. That isn’t so bad.”

“It cuts us in half,” Nick disagreed. “And we’ll need all the fighting force we can get against these vamps.”

Rachel studied his face for a moment, then looked briefly at Emily and Giles. “Do you think we should call Derek?” she asked Nick.

“I think we might have to,” the ex-SEAL conceded, and stared glumly at Emily. “You don’t have to get involved in this if you don’t want,” he said.

“I’m already involved,” Emily insisted. “And Lucky’s my friend. I’ll do whatever it takes to help him.”

“Great,” Nick said, rubbing his hands together. “Rachel, you call Derek. Tell him to get here as soon as possible. And have him bring Philip,” he added as an afterthought. “Giles, Emily, you two come with me. We have some slaying to do.”

***

Spike waited for Dru to turn her back, then grabbed up the bottle. He cheered silently at his victory, then hastily shoved his hand behind his back. Dru regarded him coolly, then glanced at the table where the bottle had been.

“What happened to the bottle?” she asked frantically, looking wildly around the table and its immediate surroundings.

“Bottle?” Spike asked casually. “What bottle?”

“The present,” Dru whined. “The one I got for daddy. Where is it?”

“Oh. I think you put it in the car, love.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You said you didn’t want to lose it.”

“Oh—“ Dru said, but seemed uncertain. “Are we going to the club then?” she asked excitedly. “Angel is waiting.”

Spike nodded, holding back an angry reply. He waited until Dru was out of sight, then drew his hand out from behind his back and examined the bottle that it clasped. He brought it to his face, then quickly unstopped the cork. After briefly sniffing the contents inside, Spike tipped the bottle and took a tiny sip of the clear liquid.

There was an immediate burning sensation in his throat, and he sputtered, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “Spikey?” Dru asked from the doorway. Spike looked up, panicked. Luckily, the other vampire did not seem to notice the bottle held loosely at his side. “Are we going now?” she asked impatiently.

“Yes, love, we’re going,” Spike said, and the two hastily made their way to the car parked just outside the warehouse. Spike quickly laid the bottle between the driver’s and passenger seat in the front, and watched in amusement as Dru snatched it up.

“I did leave it in here,” she said. “I thought maybe you were lying to me.”

Spike simply raised an eyebrow, then regarded his companion more seriously. “What’s in the bottle anyway?”

Dru smiled mysteriously at him, then gave in and broke out in a fit of gleeful laughter. “A love potion,” she said between giggles.

Spike fought to keep a straight face, and ignored the sudden whirling in his head.

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