Emma felt as though she had been hanging out in the stupid closet for months—and if she had to listen to the idiots outside go over the rules of Go, Fish one more time, she was going to scream—again! 

Getting really tired of just sitting there, she figured she might as well do something productive.  Since the screaming thing didn’t work, she knocked a hanger down.  She positioned it in front of her and began twisting it back and forth a couple hundred times, breaking it apart.
 
Studying the point of the hanger and holding it in her hand, she realized she had never stopped to think of the different ways someone could tie you up.  It was her wrists, not her hands that were bound, which was a good thing.  She’d be in even more trouble if her hands were actually out of commission.

Emma maneuvered the mutilated hanger into her right hand, and tried to poke holes in the ropes in order to loosen it.  All it ended up doing was bending the hanger.  After a few more pokes out of pure frustration, she saw that it was pretty much impossible to identify the piece of metal in her hand anymore.

“Damn it!” she whispered through clenched teeth, throwing the hanger aside.  “It would be nice if someone showed up about now,” she said to no one in particular.

Glancing at the discarded hanger, which just missed her puke, another idea drifted into her brain.  What was she thinking?  No way she could break the rope with a twisted piece of metal, but undoing a knot, that was something different.  Emma snatched the hanger yet again and went to work.

+++

“What is it with all the demon-goo in this place?” Andrew whispered, side-stepping yet another puddle of it.  “It’s everywhere.”

“That’s the least of your concerns,” Dawn shot back.  “Now, shhh.”

Dawn stopped and turned back towards Xander.  “How far is it?”

“If memory serves me correctly," Xander said, "she should be around the next corner, in one of the rooms over there.”

“Well, come on, then,” Dawn said as she began walking, picking up her pace.

“Slow down!” Andrew called out.  “I can’t keep up.  My pants are all hard and crusty and I’m having a hard time moving my legs.”

Dawn didn’t even bothering answering him.  She was afraid if she did, she wouldn’t be able to control what would come out of her mouth.

“What in the hell are you doing here?”

Dawn stopped dead in her tracks as she directed her flashlight beam in the direction the voice had come from.  “Faith?”  Dawn turned back to Xander.  “How come you didn’t tell me she was so close?”

“I wasn’t looking for non-movey or movey red dots.” Xander shrugged.  “I haven’t looked at any dots in a while.  I knew where we were going.”

“I repeat,” Faith said.  “What in the hell are you doing?  How did you even get here?”

“We partook in a magic spell that involved teleportation,” Andrew said, stepping in front of Dawn and Xander.  “Our super-witch, Willow, had the decency to send us here so we could assist in saving our virgin-slayer.”

“What the fuck?” Faith asked.

Dawn pushed Andrew aside.  “What Andrew just said--we’re here to help.  Giles stayed with Willow because she was too weak to be transporter and transportee at the same time.”

“Big sis is not going to be happy… with either of us,” Faith said.

“Where is she?  How did you two get separated?” Dawn asked.

“Not the time or place.  We need to find Emma,” Faith said, turning away from her.

“Around the next corner,” Xander said as he tapped Faith on the shoulder and handed her the blueprints.

“What?”

Dawn snatched the blueprints out of her hands.  “Our guide.  Now let’s go.”

“When did she get so pushy?” Faith asked Xander.

“It’s a thing,” Xander said.  “And if earlier today is any indication, I suggest we all follow her.”

+++

“Did you hear that?” Buffy asked.  “Sounded like Dawn.”

“All the yip-yapping in front of us?” Spike asked, shifting the weapons bag to the other shoulder.  “How could anyone have bloody missed it?  I suggest we catch up before they have an army of demon-boys on their asses.” 

“What is Dawn doing?  And was that Xander?  How’d they even get here?” Buffy snapped.

“I suggest we go and find out.”

+++

“Are they playing Go, Fish?” Dawn whispered, tipping her ear towards the door.  “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Pretty sure that’s the only card game where you ask for fours,” Xander said.

“Emma’s in there?”  Seeing that the door was already halfway open, Faith took advantage of it and peeked in.  “And there’s only two vamps guarding her?”  Looking at Xander and then Dawn.  “Does that seem strange to anyone else besides me?” she whispered.

“I was thinking…” Andrew began.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Faith spat.  She wasn’t in the mood for him and she blamed Andrew for losing Emma in the first place.  Idiot.

“What are we going to do?” Dawn asked.

Like there was any question?  “Get back,” Faith demanded, pushing the door all the way open, stake in hand.

Surprised, the vampires jumped to their feet. 

“You guys should try euchre once in awhile,” Faith chirped.

“You wanna teach us?” one asked, as they both moved away from her.

Instead of rushing her like she thought they would, the demons scampered away, hiding not too well, behind their card table. 

“We don’t want no trouble, lady.”

“Kind of late for that, isn’t it?”  Faith kicked the table, slamming it into both of them.  Doubling over in pain, they looked baffled for a moment, but only a moment.  With a very impressive one-two strike, Faith staked them both.

“Emma!” Dawn cried, running into the room.  “Where are you?”

“In the closet!” Emma called out.  “Literally, not figuratively, because I like guys, although if I would’ve found one I really liked, I wouldn’t be in my current predicament now, would I?”

“Out of my way.”  Faith kicked the door.  “Damn it.”  The lock didn’t budge.

“Watch it!” Emma called out.  I don’t need a door falling on my head on top of everything else!”

Faith kicked it again, watching as part of the door splintered and fell away.

“Hey!” Emma yelled.

“Do you want to get out of there or not?” Faith shouted.  Her question was met with silence.  “Pretty much what I thought.  Now move as far back as you can.  I think one more hit should do it.”  Faith kicked it once more, the door finally giving way. 

Faith opened what was left of the door and was immediately assaulted by the smell of puke.  Faith’s hand immediately covered her nose.  “God, Squeak.  Couldn’t you have held it in?”

“Vomit is actually a side-effect of chloroform,” Andrew said.  After Faith glared at him, he backed further away from her.  “But one should be able to contain their puke.”
 
“Like I had a choice,” Emma said, looking at Faith and tossing a mutilated hanger to the floor.  “Now would you mind getting me the hell out of here?”

Faith reached in and grabbed Emma by the wrists, hauling her out.  Using her skilled fingers, she untied Emma’s bindings.  Once her hands were free, Emma tossed the ropes aside and went to work on her own feet.

"You can twist a hanger every which way from Sunday, but you couldn't untie your feet?" Faith asked, confused.  Emma just looked at her.

“Are you okay?” Xander asked, giving her arm a light squeeze.

“Am now,” Emma said, a nice pink hue rising in her cheeks. 

“We need to find Buffy and Spike and get out of here,” Dawn insisted.

“Good idea,” Andrew said.  “This room has all that slimy stuff.  And maybe it’s just me, but there’s more of it now than there was when we first got in here.”

Faith wasn’t quite sure what the moron was talking about, but after scanning the room, she saw that there were quite a few puddles of gunk around.  “What is that stuff?”

“Goop,” Xander said.  “Andrew fell into a puddle of it and has been obsessed ever since.”

“Obsessed is better than being possessed,” Andrew said, sounding like a ticked-off-twelve-year-old.

“Who’s obsessed?” Emma asked.  “What did I miss?  Did I miss something good again?”

Faith wasn’t listening to them.  She was watching where the vampire dust had fallen.  She knew that it had floated to the floor, the carpeted floor, but now she couldn’t see any remnants of the ash.  All she saw was a puddle of some blue-gray gooey stuff that wasn’t there before.

“I think we leave,” she said, edging her way toward the door.  The puddle grew larger as she watched.  “Now.”

+++

“Shit,” Buffy said, stopping.  “So much for my last pair of Italian shoes.”  She reached down and tried to wipe off the sticky-substance she had stepped in. 

“What is it?”

“Nothing.  It’s fine.  Are we close?”

“We are,” Spike said.  “Andrew has the unmistakable smell of pepperoni.  I’m surprised he hasn’t been some vamp’s snack at some point already.”

Buffy was still using the flashlight, but Spike’s vision was just fine and his senses were even better.  He was picking up traces of everyone now-- Harris, Pepperoni-Boy, the Bit, the Girl, and Faith and something else he couldn’t quite identify.

Oomph!

"Buffy!" Where had she gone? Spike whirled to see her sliding back the way they had just come.

Something picked him up and he was heaved through the air, landing with a painful splat, not far from Buffy. "What the hell?" he said, scanning the area, his vampire vision a gift in the current lighting conditions.

“I don’t know,” Buffy replied as she stood up, reaching down and pulling him up with her.  “Did you see anything?” she asked as she picked up her flashlight and readied her stake.

“No,” he growled.  “But I definitely felt something.”

“There!”

Spike turned to see where Buffy was pointing with her flashlight.  “You have got to be kidding me.”

+++

As Faith backed her way to the door, she hoped that no one noticed that they were no longer alone in the room.  The puddle was not only bigger now, it was starting to glow—and if Mr. Obsessed noticed, they were pretty much screwed.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Faith felt Dawn’s hair brush her cheek as Dawn peeked over her shoulder. 

“What?” Dawn asked.  “Oooh… tall, ugly, misty--Nigriv demon?”

“Emma,” Faith whispered.  “Up, here with me.  The rest of you, out.”

“Eww,” Emma said, standing along side Faith.  “I’m glad these guys waited before showing up.”

Without taking her eyes off the form that was taking shape, Faith reached into her weapons bag, handing Emma the first thing she found.

Emma looked down at the axe.  “This helps.”

Dawn was still standing close to Faith, she hadn’t moved at all.  Xander and Andrew hadn’t ventured any further either.

“Which part of ‘get out of here now’ did you people not understand?” Faith asked, finally turning around and seeing them all still standing there, a look of awe encompassing their faces.  “Dawn, is Willow getting us out of here?  Or do we need to make a run for it?” Faith asked, nudging her backwards.

“Running for it would be good,” Dawn said.

“Uh, guys,” Xander blurted out.  “We have company.”

Faith, Dawn and Emma turned around simultaneously, Faith stepped into the hall; there were more rising mist puddles out here.  “Have I mentioned, ‘shit’?”

“I am so dead,” Emma said.

“Not feeling all that secure myself at the moment,” Dawn added.

+++

“How many are there?”  Buffy asked, backing up.  “I thought there weren’t that many Nigriv demons?”

“Someone’s count was a little off I ‘spect,” Spike said as he moved to stand next to her.

“So what you’re telling me is that I got part of one of them on my shoe?”

“I don’t think it’s them, maybe stuff from a portal or something.”  Spike paused, looking at her.  “What are you asking me for?  Like I’m a soddin’ expert!”

“Where are all the vampires?  Shouldn’t this place be overrun with them by now?”

“I don’t know, Buffy.  I’ve been here as long as you have!” Spike said, exasperated.

“Got anything good in that bag?”

Spike smiled, opening it up.  “Thought this might come in handy.”

Buffy reached out her hand and took the weapon Spike offered her.  “I haven’t seen this in awhile.”

“Rupert had it in the back of the van, in one of those net things.”

Buffy looked at the scythe with affection.

+++

Faith figured she didn’t have much choice.  She had one demon materializing in the room at her back, and about five of them in the hallway.  Her plan fell into the ‘no-brainer’ category.  “Back into the room.”

Andrew spun so fast he stumbled into Xander, and Dawn shoved them both inside. Xander slammed the door shut as Faith pushed right passed them, and headed toward the glowing half-corporealized demon.

“How in the hell do you fight a ghost?” Emma asked.

Scanning the room, Faith was relieved to see that there weren’t any other manifestations… yet.  Knowing her stake wouldn’t do her much good, Faith put it into the waistband of her jeans and then reached into her bag and pulled out a knife, tossing the bag to the ground.  Her pointy friend never failed her before, and she was hoping that this time wouldn’t be any different.

“Come on, Emma,” she whispered.  “Let’s get this over with.”

+++