Day 3
Buffy sat on the railing of the gazebo, watching the sun go down. Their daylight search had found no more than the one last night. Xander had disappeared in an instant, vanishing, like most of the town, without a trace.
The Slayer had never felt so out of control of the situation. She knew, with absolute certainty, what the next step would be. The only way to stop the pattern was to watch Willow around the clock. But how could they possibly accomplish that? And how would they stop something that Buffy had dreamed, when her dream was already coming true?
“Buffy?” Giles voice was a welcome intrusion on her thoughts, and she turned to see him illuminated in red light. “Do come inside now. The sun is almost gone.” Buffy sighed and slid off the railing, trudging up the steps to the porch with ancient weariness. Her Watcher touched her arm lightly, a brief reassurance, and led her inside to the others.
Willow and Oz had been attached at the hip since the moment of Xander’s disappearance, knowing that Willow was the one in the most danger. The werewolf refused to allow anything to happen to the girl he loved. Mrs. Gates blamed herself for what happened to Xander, and was sniffling non-stop into a lace-edged hanky. Only Giles was really stoic, putting on a brave face for the remaining children and assuring them that they would have Xander back.
And Buffy was distant, drifting away mentally and emotionally, unable to deal with the inevitability.
All in all, Giles reflected, a rather grim situation.
“We must patrol tonight”, Giles insisted to Buffy. "Mrs. Gates, Oz and Willow will remain indoors, and will not answer the door for anyone. I still believe that the vampires in the area, should there be any, would have some idea what is depleting their food source.”
“Ok”, Buffy agreed quietly. “Where do we start?”
It was nearly 1 A.M. before Buffy and Giles returned home, empty-handed. Mrs. Gates had retired to bed, unable to stay awake, and Oz and Willow sat on the floor of her room, well used to the late hours. The expression on Giles’ face was all they needed to know that the night had gone badly...
Go on to Day 4