[when witches come a calling]

[justlittlethings]

At the Starbucks Willow was taking advantageous advantage of the free WiFi, clicking around a few sites while enjoying her over priced iced coffee. She had been meaning to drop by Searchlight, there was something she couldn't quite put her finger on, but she figured it was a-brewing something interesting at least. Then as if kismet was snipping at her fingers for poking around there was Spike's post.

It was like karmic confirmation, though that Spike used the word confirmation didn't exactly make her feel any more thrilled that whatever she'd been sensing actually was related to the last pit stop she'd made along her journey of Slayer discovery. Closing her laptop she slipped it into her messenger bag and took her cup to go heading out onto the sidewalks outside. The weather was still a bit warm which was good for the light jacket she had picked out that morning.

Shifting her bag on her shoulder she dug into her pocket for her phone and dialed up the house hoping that whatever she'd been trying not to notice in the ether wasn't anything really big and hairy... which she had a feeling it was.

It was ringing which at least was a good start.

Comments

[deep-red-bells.livejournal.com]

No one was answering the phone. The witches and the doctors were all down the hallway, tending to Annie. The Slayers were in the basement with Spike, helping secure their new 'guest.' And Baileigh was in the kitchen, staring down at the mug of tea that had been forced on her since no one wanted to let her help with...anything else.

So they gave her tea. Yes. That was logical. Because it was so goddamned calming and all.

And the phone kept ringing. And whoever it was wasn't hanging up. And she was angry, and sad, and angry, and not at all her usual self, and she threw the steaming cup across the kitchen, didn't even bother to watch the cup shatter, just stalked straight over to the extension and yanked the phone out of the cradle. "What?!" she snarled into the mouthpiece. "What do you want, what?!"

[justlittlethngs.livejournal.com]

Willow stopped when the voice snapped across the line. It cut into her a bit, feeling the pain and the anger behind it all and she knew, more than that she realized just how big this problem was. With a slight pout that came from her she shifted that happy coffee drinking girl aside and pulled up the concerned version of Willow. She did it well, as she headed across the street to the parking garage where her car waited for her.

"Well, a moment to recover from that would be great, and you know it does sort of stop me from asking how things are." Looking both ways once more Willow crossed the other two lanes and headed to the second level. "I'm going to guess not good. Spike mentioned needing some help, so this Witch is ready to assist."

She was being calm, and rational and trying to add a touch of relief in her tone, but she knew that when tensions ran high, that meant that everything was going to feel a lot more end of the world than it really was. Unless it was actually end of the world, which in that case she owed Xander ten bucks.

[deep-red-bells.livejournal.com]

She didn't recognize the breathy little voice, but 'Spike' and 'mentioning' and 'needing' and 'help' combined with 'witch' hit her over the head enough that she put together who it probably was. "...Willow?" She was half-hoping she was wrong. Even through the extreme anger, snapping at Willow was among the very last things she'd want to do right now.

[justlittlethngs.livejournal.com]

Unlocking her car doors she put her bag in the backseat and smiled shaking her head, "Gee helps if I say who's calling when I start out the conversation."

Shutting the door she opened the drivers side and slid in moving to turn over the engine and actually get on the road. From the tone? She was going to need to at least get to a haven so she could park the car and not worry about the towing before teleporting to Searchlight. Bit biggish of a deal, but so much easier than driving and such.

"So yes. Witch of the Willow variety, and you sound stressed, like Bee's about to snap sort of tightness here. What's going on and is this a pull over and ditch the car for later emergency? Or can I head to the next town before popping to you guys?"

[deep-red-bells.livejournal.com]

Well, now she felt about an inch tall. "Oh, Willow, I am so. Sorry," she groaned, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. "We had, uh...kind of a werewolf problem. Have, kind of a werewolf problem. We have it tranquilized and locked up in the basement..."

She trailed off, heaved a sigh and walked over to the mess of tea and broken ceramic mug, cradled the phone against her shoulder to free her hands so that she could start cleaning up. "We figured you'd be the go to witch, since, you know, you dated one?"

She carried the broken shards over to the pantry and tossed them into the trash can, moved to the sink to wash the tea off of her hands. "It uh, it got Annie. We don't know if it--if she was bitten or not. She was pretty mauled. We couldn't tell."

[justlittlethngs.livejournal.com]

Witchy GPS was always good for things and at the moment it was currently a swirling trail of dust above her console directing her to the closest haven so that she could just park her car in a garage stock up on a few things and head to Searchlight.

"Oh Goddess, Bee I'm so sorry. Look I'm about twenty miles from Arris. She's good people, has a step-brother that has a sister that is a - you know that's a bit long of an explain here. I'm going to stop there and then you should have Witch to Door service pretty easy. I'll just teleport. I've been working out the kinks since the last few times I ended up a bit... well off isn't the word I guess. Don't worry I'll get there and we'll see what I can find out about your resident Wolfy."

[deep-red-bells.livejournal.com]

"All right, okay," Baileigh replied softly. She tossed a towel down on the kitchen floor to mop up the splatter of tea. "I'll uh, let everyone know. We'll get a room ready. Thanks, Willow, thanks a ton."

[justlittlethngs.livejournal.com]

Willow nodded turning right when the little swirly told her to and headed down the road. At least now it looked familiar and with a wave of her hand she dismissed the dust back to the ether and was headed toward haven.

"You're welcome Bee, and if there's anything you need you know like in the next twenty minutes or so, feel free to call. You should give Angel a call too. I mean he's got a wolf working for him last I checked. But in the meantime, just relax, the deep breathing routine, and I'll be there sooner than you think."

Hanging up the phone Willow focused on the drive, and mentally preparing herself for the jump to Searchlight. It wasn't going to be difficult, it was just not going to feel like fast enough to those there.