Getting Ahead of Myself
by sailor80
Thirty-seven
[reviews]
**Dialogue from Buffy vs. Dracula by Marti Noxon**
The ringing phone woke Willow. It stopped ringing before she woke enough to answer. She looked casually around the room, and her eyes ended on Buffy, sleeping beside her. Willow smiled and moved onto Buffy's shoulder. Buffy's arm went around her immediately, and Willow smiled again as she fell back into sleep.
"Hey, I just got in," Faith said.
"Everything go all right?" Tara asked.
"So far. Watcher seems all right. Our digs are pretty nice. Vampires are clueless. Who knows how long it's been since a Slayer's been here."
"How many?"
"Fourteen," Faith bragged with a grin.
"You're kidding."
"Nope."
"W-wow." Tara said.
"So, what'cha wearin'?"
Tara chuckled. "We agreed, remember?"
"Can't blame a girl for tryin'. How's everything?"
"Interesting, as usual. Buffy met Dracula."
"No shit?"
"Nope."
"Damn, it figures I'm here."
"Everything else is normal. Well, as normal as it gets around here." Tara yawned.
"I'll let you go," Faith said reluctantly.
"Miss you."
"Miss you, too." Faith hung up before they went any further.
Something tickled Willow's sleeping brain, and she opened her eyes again. There was a dark shadow at the window. She elbowed Buffy, who grunted.
The shadow slowly coalesced while Willow shook Buffy.
"What?" Buffy asked crossly.
"Somebody's in here."
"Sleep," Dracula said, and waved his hand toward Willow, who fell bonelessly into the mattress.
"Hey!" Buffy said. She was wide awake, and sat up.
"You are magnificent."
"I bet you say that before you bite all the girls."
"No, you are different. Kindred."
"Kindred? Hardly, I-"
"Pull your hair back." Buffy looked surprised that her hand obeyed. "This isn't how I ... usually fight. You think you can just waft in here with your music video wind and your hypno-eyes..."
"I have searched the world over for you. I have yearned for you." Dracula sat on the bed next to her. "For a creature whose darkness rivals my own." He put his hand on Buffy's chin and turned her head. He saw the scar from Angel's bite and gently touched it. "You have been tasted," he said, and trailed his fingers along her cheek.
"He was," Buffy began.
"Unworthy. He let you go." Dracula looked into Buffy's eyes. "But the embrace. His bite. You remember."
"No," Buffy said uncertainly.
Dracula continued to caress her face. "Do not fight." He put his hand behind her neck. "I can feel your hunger." Dracula leaned down and bit her neck. Buffy gasped, but didn't, couldn't, pull away.
Buffy woke early. She sat up, frowning, and reached for her neck. She got out of bed and hurried to the bathroom. In the mirror was proof of what she had hoped was just a dream. She was angry with herself as she remembered her inability to protect Willow or herself. At the thought of Willow, she quickly returned to bed. She kneeled beside Willow, searching her neck.
Willow was uninjured, and Buffy shook her awake. Willow sat up without saying anything, her eyes going immediately to Buffy's neck.
"I didn't want him to," Buffy said.
"I know, sweetheart." Willow brushed her lips against Buffy's. "Let's clean it up, all right."
"How did he get in?"
"I don't know. I don't think it was me." Willow put her hand on Buffy's shoulder.
"I, I, could have," Buffy began.
"It's all right," Willow said soothingly.
"But, Dawn, and Mom, and Tara." Buffy backed off the bed and scrambled for the bedroom door. Willow was right behind her.
They were relieved to find everyone safe. Willow pulled Buffy into a hug outside Tara's just closed door. Buffy's arms went around Willow. Her relief was tempered with the fear that Dracula could return at will.
"Let's clean your neck up," Willow said gently, and Buffy followed her to the upstairs bathroom. As they had countless times before, Buffy sat on the tub and waited for Willow. Willow turned to Buffy, peroxide bottle in one hand, gauze in the other. "You ready?"
Buffy nodded and steeled herself for the burn that didn't come until Willow rinsed her neck with holy water. Buffy hissed at the sensation, but remained still as Willow repeated the action before drying and bandaging her throat.
They didn't talk while Willow put everything away. When Willow turned around from the cabinet, Buffy was on her feet. They went back to bed, where Willow pulled Buffy close. "I'll ask Tara to put out an uninvite spell."
"All right."
"You didn't do anything wrong," Willow said, and kissed Buffy's forehead. Buffy looked up at her, and Willow bent to kiss her. The contact reassured both of them, and Buffy lowered her head back to Willow's shoulder. "I'll call Giles later." Willow stroked Buffy's hair, soothing both of them.
Willow reluctantly let Buffy go to class, figuring that she would be relatively safe while the sun was up. Tara promised to cast the spell that afternoon. After everyone left, Willow and Dawn sat at the dining room table for Dawn's lessons.
Willow was constantly delighted by her daughter's nimble mind, even as she wondered whether it was mystical or genetic. Dawn continued to grow at breakneck speed, physically and intellectually. Willow gave Dawn a set of mathematical puzzles to solve before they made their weekly trip to the library.
While Dawn worked, Willow researched Dracula. She found nothing they didn't all ready know, and was frustrated. Dawn's voice pulled her from the computer. "All done, Mommy."
Willow checked Dawn's work while Dawn looked expectantly at her. "Great job, sweetie. Get your books and we'll go."
Dawn raced off and returned with her pink book bag. It was stuffed to bursting, but she insisted on carrying it herself during the long walk. They played eye spy on the way, and once Dawn had traded one bag of books for another, headed downtown. Willow thought about dropping in at the gallery, but decided not to. They went to the magic shop.
While Willow and Giles talked, Dawn read one of her new books. She wanted to play in the training room, but knew she wasn't allowed unless Buffy or Faith were present.
Willow related what she remembered of the night before. "He bit her, Giles. Why didn't he just turn her if that's what he wants?"
"Dracula is subtle. He prefers to seduce his victims," Giles said.
Willow shuddered. "He was in our bedroom," she told him again.
"I'm sure he won't be able to get in again," Giles said.
"I don't think Buffy should patrol until we figure out how to stop him."
"I'm inclined to agree with you. The thrall can be quite powerful."
"What can we do?"
"First, find out where he's staying. Perhaps we'll get lucky and stake him before he does any further damage."
"Buffy's really down on herself about it. You should let her stake him."
"We'll see what circumstances arise. In the meantime, would you please use that machine to get a list of all recent property rentals and sales?"
"I'm on it," Willow said.
When Buffy came to the shop after her classes, she scooped Dawn up and took her into the training room. Willow came in behind her, smiling as she watched Buffy chase Dawn. Buffy looked up from the chase to smile at Willow. She felt a little closer to normal. Her neck had healed completely during the day, and all she wanted was to forget what happened the night before.
Dawn stopped quickly, and to avoid running into her, Buffy leaped over her. Dawn took advantage of that to head for the safety of Willow's arms, where she stood and smirked at Buffy, who laughed out loud.
They heard the bell, and Xander's voice, and took their cue to take their seats at the table. Willow settled Dawn on the floor with one of her books, and a few minutes later, Joyce and Tara came in.
"What do we have?" Buffy asked once they were all seated.
"Well, I think we have Dracula factoids," Willow said.
"Like any of that's enough to fight the dark master," Xander said. Everyone looked at him, and Xander hurried to add, "bator."
"A lot of it we already knew," Willow continued. "Turnoffs: wood, fire, crosses, garlic. Turnons: nice duds, minions, long slow bites that last for days."
Giles added, "Dracula likes to live in style. Which means we can rule out the usual vampire haunts."
"Ah! But he's smart enough to figure that we probably already know that. I'm guessing he's lying low," Xander replied.
"Actually, my research backs Giles up. Drac isn't the lay-low type," Willow said.
"So we can, uh, check out the nicer places. Don't you think, Buffy?" Giles said. Buffy didn't answer, and he said her name again.
After a second, Buffy answered. "Yeah. We'll check all the swanky places first. What else did you guys get?"
"Well, Willow has most of it, actually."
"Dracula's modus operandi is different from other vampires. He will kill just to feed, but he'd rather have a connection with his victims. And he has all of these mental powers to draw them in. He, he can read and control minds, appear in dreams." Willow said, glancing at Buffy.
"Uh huh," Buffy said distractedly.
"Makes sense. That stare, he just kinda looked right through you. Didn't you feel it, Buffy?"
Buffy shuddered. "Yes." She reached for Willow.
"The point is," Giles said, "though he goes through the motions of an intimate seduction, the end result is the same. He turns them into a vampire."
"Well, that *is* intimate," Xander said. "Dracula's gifting these ladies with his own blood. And blood, blood is life." He noticed a spider on the staircase and got up from his seat, ignoring the looks he received. "According to them." He plucked the spider from the spindle.
"Just be aware that he, he tends to form a relationship with his prey," Giles went on.
Xander waited until Giles had everyone's attention again to put the spider in his mouth and chew it.
"It's not enough for him to take her. She must want to be taken. She must," Giles paused, "burn for him."
"That's interesting. I'm gonna go find him." Buffy got up, but Willow held onto her hand.
"Not tonight," Willow said firmly. "We have other things to do."
Buffy looked down at her, and caught a glimpse of Dawn. She shook her head and sat back down. "I think I wanna go home."