Chapter 2

Willow continued, ‘the only reason they discovered the bodies right away is that a neighbor came by to borrow some sugar."

Xander was speechless. He literally couldn’t force a word from his throat. He looked at Riley sitting there on the sofa next to his wife, chocolate chip cookie untouched in his hand. He thought of his children upstairs, asleep, and the Wilson’s unborn child. He felt sick.

"Xander, are you okay?" the voice from the phone brought his mind back to what he had to do.

He laughed into the phone. "That’s funny, Will. That Esme is a character. Listen, are you coming by this evening?" He shot a glance at Riley. He seemed to be listening to Anya who was describing their wedding in great detail. Good, let her ramble. "Alex wants to borrow your Snoopy backpack. For our trip to the Great Barrier Reef."

"Xander, I don’t have a Snoopy backpack. It’s Scooby Doo, and didn’t you hear what I just told you?"

"Well. He only wants the Snoopy one. You know how kids are."

Snoopy. Suddenly Willow understood. Snoopy had been their signal word when they were kids. It meant all sorts of things, like "come rescue me," or "I can’t let my folks hear what we’re talking about." She thought quickly. What else had he said…something about The Great Barrier Reef.

"Xander are you talking in code?" she asked him, keeping her voice low.

"That’s the one! I knew you had it." Xander’s relief was real. Good old Willow.

"Do you need a barrier spell?"

"Yep. And tomorrow we can have an old fashioned barbecue...I’ll throw some beef filets on the barbie."

"Steaks? Uh...stakes? Do you have a vampire in your house right now?"

"Hey I never got to tell you who’s sitting in our living room! Riley Finn! The Wilsons told him where to find us!" At the mention of the Wilsons, Riley looked up. He was listening.

"Oh my God! Xander!"

"So come on by, it will be just like old times."

"Yeah…those good old Hellmouth days. I’ll be there and I’ll bring everything I can. Hang in there."

Xander looked at Riley. Anya was describing the bridesmaids’ dresses in excruciating detail. He almost laughed at Riley’s glazed expression. Xander knew all sorts of ways to kill a vampire. But was it possible to bore one to death?

"Sorry guys. That was Willow, " he said with false heartiness as he rejoined the group. "She’s on her way over. She was dying to see you again, Riley!"

Riley smiled politely. Clearly he was losing his interest in small talk, and in maintaining his Iowa farm boy act. But surely he and Anya were of more use to him alive than dead right now. And didn’t he have some feelings left for them? They had all been friends once, hadn’t they? He thought of Angelus, and shuddered.

"So, Xander, When was the last time you saw Dru?"

Dru, eh? Thought Xander. So that’s how it was…the guy sounded just like Spike after Dru ran off with that chaos demon. Xander sat down. He wished that there was someway to signal Anya to grab the kids and climb out the window, but that was impossible. Fighting vampires in a graveyard was a whole different thing then fighting one in your living room. Especially when it was a vamp you knew. And used to like.

Xander sat down, trying to look relaxed. "Let’s see. It was about 7 years ago; a couple of months after you left town. She came by looking for Spike to bring him back into the family. He turned her down, or so I heard. I wasn’t there, though Buffy was. She left and that was the last I heard of her."

"Yes, that’s when she must have come looking for us. We were moving around a lot, all over Central and South America. Whole continent was a demon hotbed. Not too many vampires though, oddly enough. Why didn’t Spike go with Dru when he had the chance?"

"Buffy." Riley had snuck the question in so quickly that Xander answered before he had time to think.

"That’s right. He had the hots for Buffy didn’t he? I knew I should have staked the bastard for real that night. He still have that chip?"

"H-how should I know?" Anya opened her mouth to correct him, but he silenced her with a look. Please Anya…just keep quiet, he begged silently. "We haven’t seen Spike in years! Never could stand the guy!"

"That’s right. He was evil. Though not unattractive." Anya spoke up determined to help Xander in whatever strange game he seemed to be playing.

"So what’s Buffy’s address in New York?"

Xander felt as though he were falling into a deep pit. "Buffy doesn’t know anything. She hasn’t seen Drusilla either."

"No but I’ll bet Spike has. And I’ll bet you anything, if Buffy is in New York, then Spike is too. I know his type." Suddenly Riley was on his feet in full vamp face and had Xander by the shirt and up out of his chair. He growled, "If you know anything, Harris, you’d better tell me. Because I’m going to find Dru and get her back!"

Anya leapt up, and ran for the fireplace. She grabbed the poker and came after Riley. She raised it to whack him, but he grabbed it and tossed the poker, with Anya still attached, across the room. At that moment the front door burst open and Willow came in brandishing a stake, and a Scooby Doo backpack full of weapons and spells. Riley was still smart enough to appreciate really bad odds, so he threw Xander at Willow and took off towards the kitchen. Xander landed on top of Willow, and they were in a tangle of arms and legs and couldn’t get up. "Thicken!" Willow commanded the air around the departing vamp, but he was already out of the room. By the time they got up to follow him, he was out the back door, and disappearing into the night. Anya had bumped her head on the mantle, but was okay. Willow quickly performed a barrier spell to revoke Riley’s invitation, making sure to secure the children’s windows with holy water and sage leaves.

"Now what?" Xander asked, as the three of them huddled together in the living room.

Willow shook her head, thoughtfully. "He won’t stick around here. He’ll head for New York. We have to warn Buffy and Spike."

"Well, he doesn’t know Buffy’s address or even her last name. So that should slow him up some. But not for long, I expect. Oh...they’re going to love this! " Said Xander.

"I told you he wasn’t an old friend," said Anya righteously. "Damn! Do you think this might affect the wedding?"

"Riley a vampire," exclaimed Willow, "I just can’t believe it. I thought he went to South America to fight demons! How could such a thing have happened?"

Xander answered with one word, "Drusilla."