Something Gray chapter 10/26

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Chapter 10
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Tara nervously looked towards the back exit, waiting for the return of the college boys. They did not return.

She just had to know if the man who had come to her aid was okay. She went to the back and cautiously opened the door to the alley. She looked out into the rain, not seeing anyone or anything, and sighed in relief.

“Okay, I overreacted. I’m sure everything is fine,” she tried to convince herself. “Well, maybe I should just look around a bit more to be certain. I’d hate to be a coward only to find out I should have helped. Besides, those boys are gone and I’ll be safe from them anyway,” she reminded herself.

She had only walked a short distance when she saw the dark form lying on the ground. She recognized him right away, even without the coat he had been wearing earlier.

Tara bent to check on him and pulled back her hand in terror. He was ice cold, covered in blood and not breathing! “Oh, goddess, they killed him! What should I do now? If it gets in the newspaper, my family will know where I am and come for me.” Tara paced in agitation. “I can’t just leave him. He might not be dead. No, do the right thing, Tara,” she encouraged herself.

She ran to the door to get help only to find it had locked behind her. Tara then ran toward the front door of the Bronze to get help for the poor man in the alley. She prayed it wasn’t too late.

In her haste, she wasn’t looking where she was going and ran right into a redheaded girl she recognized from the Wiccan group she had joined that very morning. ‘Willow. Yes, that was her name,’ she remembered.

“Oh, please help him, help me! It was awful and I feel like it’s my fault partly. H..h..he tried to help me and they’ve killed him, I think,” she stuttered. “You’re Willow, aren’t you? Please, I need to call the police and an ambulance, but I think he may already be dead.”

Willow thought she’d seen the hysterical girl before somewhere on campus but could not put a name to her face.

“Um, you need to take a deep breath and calm down so we can help you,” she said in an attempt to comfort and calm the girl.

Tara took a ragged breath but could not stop shaking.

“Okay, where is this guy you think might be dead?” Willow asked.

“He’s in the alley. I saw them follow him out and knew they wanted to hurt him. He beat them at pool and made them leave me alone, so they weren’t happy with him. They were drunk too. I never thought they’d kill him though, or I would have sent help right away, I swear,” she said in a rush. “There’s a lot of blood and he’s not breathing at all.”

Willow took the girl’s hand and headed for the alley saying, “Come on, guys, let’s check it out. Buffy, do you have your cell to call the police?”

“Yup, all celled up and callin’ for backup,” Buffy replied as she frantically began to punch numbers.

The evening intended to comfort Willow for losing Oz had taken a quick turn into the lifesaving part of the evening without even a single dance. ‘Well, nothing like a bit of high drama to shake Will out of her own problems.’ No one wanted Willow to resort to witchcraft again to heal her broken heart! ‘Not that I’m wanting anyone dead or anything,’ she amended. “It’ll probably just turn out to be someone passed out after a bar fight,” she tried to reassure everyone. ‘Willow can pat herself on the back for doin’ the good deed and all will be of the good,’ she thought to herself.

The girl who had run up to them was still pouring out the story of the heroic young man who had come to her rescue only to be so badly punished for his good deed. The slight stutter she had displayed earlier disappeared with the urgency of her story.

“I really think he’s dead,” Tara had just finished saying as they came upon Spike’s body. Taking in the scene, Buffy felt her breath leave her body as she looked at the large pool of blood surrounding the familiar figure. She closed her cell phone before sending the call.

“Dead, yeah, but not permanently unless he’s dust,” Buffy whispered quietly. She was uncomfortable with the slight lurch her heart had given at the sight of her recent fiance so still and broken. “So, who did he piss off to wind up pulp boy?” she asked Tara.

No one noticed the slight quiver in her voice because they were all so horrified at the damage done to the once powerful and frightening vampire.

Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/197842.html