Cause and Effect

Thanks, Terri and Nokia! : ) Payback? Hmmmm, a definite yes, but not so soon.


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Chapter Six
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Dawn hid nervously in the shadows of a large oak tree, fingering the heavy cross she wore around her neck. Dropping her hand to her side, she also double checked the stake she'd tucked into her waistband. It was still there -- just as she'd already known it was, it wasn't as if she could miss feeling the wood press into her stomach.

She glanced down, gathering her courage, just before stepping out and heading across the street. Both hands bore a ring on every finger, each ring made from crosses carved of silver -- and dipped in holy water. She didn't think the silver would make any difference, and she wasn't sure the holy water would either -- considering it had already dried. She just wasn't taking any chances -- well, anymore than she could absolutely avoid.

//You could not go in.//

Dawn ignored the voice of reason, determined to carry through on her plan, fingering the cross rings she wore. They, alone, would be some protection, she knew. She imagined it wouldn't exactly be pleasant for a vamp to get a right cross from a fist covered in tiny little crosses -- even if the punch itself wasn't exactly up to Slayer standards.

For the last two months she'd wheedled, and whined, and cajoled all her friends into helping her look for Spike. She'd wanted them to *at least* figure out why he was gone. A month ago, she'd actually gotten them to try, but their attempts had been half-hearted at best -- except for Xander. He'd stood by her the longest, and had seemed to really try. He actually started helping her earlier than the others. The others had give up too quickly to suit her. Even Xander had finally shook his head at her persistence, telling her to give Spike up as a lost cause a week ago. . . .


~~~~ 'Spike has been gone for three months, Dawn,' he said. 'He's either not coming back, or he's--'

'No!' Dawn screamed at Xander, 'don't say it. I'd know if he were dead!'

Xander pulled back in surprise, and a look passed through his eyes that she didn't understand and wasn't entirely sure she liked.

'What makes you say that, Dawn?' he asked quietly.

Dawn slumped. 'I don't know, Xander. I just *feel* it,' she insisted, 'in here,' she continued, pointing emphatically to her chest -- and her heart.

Xander melted in front of her. There was no other way to describe it. It looked like very muscle in his body just went limp. 'All right, Dawn. Just promise me one thing.'

'What?' she asked warily.

'Give it another couple of weeks, but if, after that, we haven't found him -- or at least some clue to where he is -- please give it up.'

Dawn automatically started to protest, but Xander cut her off with an upraised hand.

'Alive or not, if he's still gone by then, you know as well as I do that he's not coming back. It isn't healthy to be obsessed like this.'

Frowning, Dawn bit her lip pensively. Then, slowly, she nodded. 'I promise,' she swore quietly, pleased when he simply nodded and walked away. It wasn't until he disappeared from sight that she uncrossed the fingers she'd held behind her back. Childish it may be, but there was no way she was going to give up on Spike until she knew for sure -- one way or the other.

//And if he's dead? How are you going to get proof? All that'd be left is dust.//

Dawn squashed the insidious voice. **Spike isn't dead!**

No, she wasn't going to give up. She simply wouldn't ask any of the others to help her any more.~~~~


She had no clue why she was so certain. This *was* the hellmouth, and so many things could have happened to end her friend's life -- unlife -- whatever.

When her mom had died, no matter how much she'd tried to deny it to herself, she'd known it was true, even before she'd seen the body. When Buffy had jumped -- while it was pretty obvious all along that she wouldn't survive -- a . . . feeling had gone through her the moment Buffy had died. She'd known the precise moment her sister had died. She'd never told anyone. It was too creepy -- even for this group.

This time though, that strange, oogey feeling hadn't come. Instead, there was this persistent, nagging feeling that time was running out, that she had to move faster. She couldn't help but feel that he needed them -- badly. Xander's two weeks had come, and gone, but instead of giving up like he'd suggested, she simply hid her efforts.

Whenever she was with the group now, she acted 'normal', like Spike's continued absence didn't eat at her. She acted like she'd given up on him.

**But no!** Dawn thought emphatically. She wasn't really going to do that, not even now. It was why she was here, where she shouldn't be -- only twenty feet from Willie's door. She was scared out of her mind, but she wasn't going to let *that* stop her either. She knew as well as anyone did that Willie was the best source in town to get information about local demons and vampires.

Xander had come here once while helping her. Willie hadn't know anything then -- or at least had said he didn't. She hadn't bought it then, and she really didn't buy it now. The snitch was bound to know *something* that would help in her search. Xander just hadn't had the right . . . incentive. Without The Slayer to back them, they had to move to different tactics.

Hesitating one last time, Dawn grabbed the door handle and yanked the door open. She *was* going to find out what had happened to Spike -- she was! Fear and uncertainty be damned.

Stopping just inside the door, Dawn blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the darkened interior. Her heart pounded up into her throat when every head in the room turned toward her.

**Ever feel like an appetizer?** she thought irreverently.

Stark terror shooting through her as their stares hardened, Dawn almost -- almost -- ran back outside into the safe haven of daylight. Forcing herself not to finger the heavy cross she could feel nestled against her chest and hanging out in the open where all could see it, Dawn took a shaky step forward, then another, letting the door close ominously behind her.

One slow step at a time, eyes glued to the bar and the bartender, she forced herself to continue forward. Breathing deeply, she tried to control the shaking, but couldn't seem to stop. She couldn't ever -- well once maybe -- remember being this scared. And right now, this seemed like the stupidest, most foolhardy stunt she'd ever pulled. Right now, she wished she'd taken first Willow's and then Xander's advice and given up. It would certainly have been the safer . . . saner thing to do.

"Are you crazy, little girl?"

Dawn snapped back to attention, glaring at the man who'd spoken, only to realize it had been Willie, the man she'd come to see. "No!" she snapped at him, her own resolve firming at his condescending question. "I'm here to talk to you."

Willie's eyes snapped down to the cross she wore and back up at her eyes. He leaned forward, resting his weight on the bar top. "It's obvious you know what kind of place this is," he hissed quietly. "What's so important that you'd put your life in this much danger?"

"A friend."

Willie wilted. "A friend?" he echoed faintly, his expression one of asking the powers that be to save him from crazy, too-loyal friends.

Dawn nodded sharply, tensing and desperately trying not to cringe as a man came up to the bar, sitting down three stools away from where she stood.

"I'm looking for a vampire," she said quietly, intending the words for Willie alone.

The man sitting too close for comfort laughed. "Well, little girl, take off that cross you're a wearin' and you've found yourself one. We can just go to a corner booth and get a little better acquainted."

Dawn automatically rolled her eyes, even as her skin crawled and her knees threatened to buckle out from under her. She gulped, and her eyes flashed. "What do you take me for," she retorted sarcastically, unable to stop the words she just *knew* she was going to regret, "an idiot?"

Her fear, and her rational self, hid in a corner of her mind, as some, unknown til now, part of herself rushed to the fore. She contemptuously allowed her eyes to flicker down the length of the vampire and back up to his eyes. "If I thought, even for a split second that you would suffice, I'd commit myself to an insane asylum," she retorted, her mind in utter shock at the words coming out of her mouth. Half of her screaming at her to run for her life, she continued, still unable to stop the scathing words from falling from her. "Why don't you run along back to your mommy, and come back when you're weaned."

**Oh, God! Oh, God! He's gonna kill me. I'm dead.**

The vampire lunged forward, and Dawn stood stock still, in utter shock as she saw something she never thought she'd see -- a red faced vampire. She couldn't move, even as everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, part of her fascinated with this vampire's face. She hadn't realized before, that vampire's had enough blood in their bodies to *get* that color. **Don't you have to have a pulse to blush?** Dawn frowned. Maybe she'd ask Spike about after she found him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Willie's mouth open, strangely slowly, kind of like a video tape moving forward frame by frame -- only without the pauses. She felt herself swallow, thick saliva sliding down her throat as if reluctant to leave her mouth. Then, with a wrench that was as physical as it was mental, time slid back to normal and suddenly the vampire was turning to dust mere inches in front of her.

Absent-mindedly she glanced down, and her eyes widened in surprise. **When did I grab the stake?** She certainly didn't remember doing it. She jerked her head up and stared at Willie in absolute shock. When she spoke, her voice was shrill, and far louder than she'd intended. "I guess being The Slayer's sister taught me a thing or two," she quipped, wishing with every ounce of her being she could sound just a *little* less terrified.

Her eyes glued to Willie's equally shocked face, she could hear muted whispers behind her -- and rapid footsteps -- but she couldn't have looked around to see what was happening if her life depended on it. When silence fell behind her, Willie shook his head, snorting. "Well, now that you've cleared out my bar almost as quickly as The Slayer, what is it you want from me?"

It took a moment for Dawn to gather her scattered wits enough to reply. "Spike," she said point blank.

Willie's mouth fell open for the second time. "What would you be wanting with *him*?"

Some of Dawn's anger snapped back. "None of your bloody business. What do you know about where he is?" she demanded, fumbling in her pocket for some of the money she'd brought along just for this. Not caring how much she'd pulled out, she slapped it down on the bop. op. " *If* you've got information, I can make it worth your while," she continued on pure bravado. The truth be told, she wanted nothing more than to admit defeat and go home and crawl into bed.

She wanted to let out the screams that threatened to come even now. She'd almost died. She could have died.

**I dusted a vamp! Yay me!**

"Two hundred dollars," Willie said, reaching for the money. "Impressive."

Dawn kept her hand firmly on the money. "Not until you tell me something I can use."

Willie leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially, despite the empty bar. "Last I heard, was that he'd gotten caught by vigilante hunters -- humans," he said, glancing down at the money.

"When?" Dawn demanded sharply, her chest constricting so tightly around her heart and lungs that she found it difficult to breath.

"Heard about it, two--"

"No! When was he taken?"

Willie shrugged. "A few months ago, give or take," he replied carelessly. "He's probably dead. Word is, he didn't escape from them, and he hasn't been seen since."

Hope withering inside, Dawn let go of the money, which Willie snapped up quickly enough. **No! Just because he got captured by someone, doesn't mean he's dead. Nothing's changed.**

With once again renewed purpose, Dawn straightened, and pulled another forty dollars out of her pocket. She slapped it down on the bar. "If you hear *anything* that will help me find out where he is, or will give me absolute proof he's dead," she said, sliding the money toward the snitch, "I'll give you twice what I've given you today. If you can tell me *exactly* where he is, I'll triple it!"

Without another word, or giving Willie time to respond, she headed toward the door, just barely keeping herself from an all out run. Once she had the door open, however, the sunlight streaming in around her, she turned and gave the bartender slash snitch a glare she hoped was intimidating. "This, of course, is just between you and me. I hear from anyone else that I'm looking and you'll regret you opened your mouth."

She took one step, quickly slamming the door shut behind her. Only then did she allow herself to run. She ran until she couldn't run anymore, collapsing into a breathless heap onto the grass of her own front yard.


TBC
Kiristeen
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