Fight to the Finish (BTVS, Book Seven)

chapter 10 - Bring on the Night

After the fight with the Bringers that led to the Summers house getting trashed again when they had taken Spike, Buffy, Willow and I were doing research at the table, while Anya and Dawn were on the couch researching.

Xander was sweeping up the broken glass from the fight, exasperated. "It's a look. Like the mummy hand. I'm doomed to replace these windows for all eternity. You know, maybe we should just board these up until things are less Hellmouthy."

Anya held up a notebook she was reading. "Nothing, and nothing." She held up two other books, one in each hand. "Cliff notes of nothing. Nothing abridged."

Willow looked up from her computer. "Yeah, my search isn't turning anything up either."

"Well, we barely found anything when Giles first told us about the First and the Bringers, remember?" I asked.

Buffy nodded in agreement. "It claimed to be the original evil, the one that came before anything else."

Anya looked up over her reading glasses. "Please, how many times have I heard that like in my demon days? 'I'm so rotten, they don't even have a word for it. I'm bad. Baddy bad bad bad. Does it make you horny?'" Everyone stared at her. "Or terrified. Whatever."

"It wasn't a line," Buffy told us. "When I came up against this thing, I felt it. It was ancient and enormous. It nearly got Angel to kill himself."

I sighed worriedly. "And if wee don't rescue Spike soon, God only knows what the First will get him to do."

Xander looked over at Andrew, who was passed out, tied to a chair. "I wish Sleeping Ugly would come to. He's been out all night."

"Yes, he was just starting to squeal when the spooky SWAT attacked," Anya told us. "Said the First was held up at the Seal of... Danzar something?"

Dawn stood, walking toward Andrew. "Hmm. Maybe he's just faking so he doesn't have to answer any more question." She punched him in the face, standing back to observe. "Hmm. Or maybe he's in a fugue state."

Dawn reared back to punch him again.

I gave her an amused look. "Dawn."

Dawn looked at me innocently. "What?"

"He'll come to when he comes to," I told her. "Keep reading. If we're gonna rescue Spike, we need to figure out how to fight this thing."

Dawn pouted, going back to the couch. "Anya gets to hit him."

Willow got excited. "Hey. Here. The First... bank of Delaware. Sorry."

I sighed. "Hand me the Watchers' Codex again." I noticed that Buffy had passed out, talking in her sleep, trying to wake her up. "You're dreaming. Buff, wake up."

Buffy woke up. "Hmm? Did you see it?"

"There's nothing to see," Xander told her. "You were just doing a little dream talking, that's all."

Buffy looked around. "Oh."

"You okay?" I asked. "What'd you see?'

Buffy looked disappointed, a little hurt, shaking her head. "Nothing. It was nothing."

  ~~~~~~~   

The next morning, Buffy and I walked into the living room, where Dawn and Anya were about to walk out, but they turned to sit on the couch instead.

"Whoa, hey," Anya told us.

"Hi," Dawn told us. Buffy and I noticed they were acting off, probably because they were still trying to wake Andrew up, eyeing them, but  they avoided eye contact nervously. "Nothing."