Buffy Logo 'Villains'
Story Code '6ABB20'

by Marti Noxont
Buffy

An ambulance arrives at the Summer’s house to collect Buffy, but Xander is unaware of Tara’s death. Upstairs, Willow summons the god Osiris to return Tara to life, but the deity refuses, telling the witch that Tara died by human hands, and her death cannot be undone. As Xander prepares to accompany Buffy to the hospital, Willow comes out the house, looking very calm; Xander explains that it was Warren who shot Buffy, but the witch just walks away. At the police station, Andrew and Jonathan wait for Warren to rescue them. But Warren is at a vampire bar, bragging that he has killed the Slayer; however, a news report tells the patrons that Buffy survived his attack. Willow arrives at the ‘Magic Box’ and demands access to the books on the dark arts; Anya tries to stop her, but Willow freezes her with a spell and then magically absorbs all of the information from the books, as her hair and eyes turn jet black. Unaware that anything has happened Dawn returns home from school and finds Tara’s lifeless body; the shock sends her into convulsions. Warren goes to Rack to seek protection from Buffy, but the magician tells him that he can feel Willow’s hate for him and can sense impending death; he warns Warren that Willow is going to blow Sunnydale apart. At the hospital, Xander watches as the doctors operate on Buffy; but then Willow walks in, orders the doctors and nurses to leave, and magically removes the bullet from Buffy’s chest. After bringing the Slayer back to full strength, Willow tells her friends it is time to go. Warren boards a bus leaving Sunnydale, but Willow, Xander and Buffy pursue it in a car, as Willow can feel Warren’s essence. Xander and Buffy believe that their friend is behaving this way due to the attack on Buffy, as they still do not know about Tara’s death. Willow stops the car and stands in the road just in front of the bus, which screeches to a halt. After commanding Warren to get off, she grabs him by the throat, strangling him. But then Warren’s eyes pop out, revealing wires. Frustrated to find a robot, Willow sets off to locate the real Warren. When Xander and Buffy try to stop her she finally tells them about Tara; her friends try to warn her off using magic, but she throws them backward with a spell, and then vanishes. Buffy and Xander return to the Summer’s house, where they find Dawn sitting next to Tara’s body. They call the police and coroner, the former promising to return the following morning. Dawn and Xander both think that Warren deserves punishment, but they soon get into an argument with Buffy, who is adamant that none of them have the right to take the law into their own hands. Buffy wants her sister to be safe, so Dawn suggests that Spike look after her. Xander is unsure if the vampire can be trusted, but Buffy reminds him that Spike cannot hurt Dawn. Meanwhile, Willow uses her blood-stained shirt to cast a spell to locate Warren. Buffy takes Dawn to Spike’s crypt, but they find Clem there alone; the demon tells them that Spike has left town, and may be gone for a while. Clem agrees to look after Dawn. Meanwhile, Spike has arrived in Africa; he enters a cave and is confronted by a demon, which reveals that he knows the vampire came there because of a woman who has castrated him. Spike blames his brain-chip, but the demon just mocks him, accusing the vampire of being weak; Spike offers to go through any test to prove that he is worthy of being turned back into his old self. Xander goes to the ‘Magic Box’ and helps Anya to recover from Willow’s spell; he asks Anya if she can cast a spell to locate Willow, but she admits that she does not need to - she can sense Willow’s location as part of being a Vengeance demon again. For Willow’s sake, she agrees to help Xander and Buffy find her. Elsewhere, Willow pursues Warren through the woods outside of town. The boy suddenly jumps on her from behind and embeds an axe in her back, but this does not even slow the witch down - she simply pulls the axe out and continues chasing her quarry. Warren tries using magic to slow Willow down, but it has no effect on her. She catches up with him and uses tree vines to tie him up, suspending him between two trees. Able to tell that Warren has killed before, Willow summons Katrina’s spirit to taunt him. The witch then realises that Warren enjoys hurting women, and that Buffy would have been the ultimate one to hurt. Willow produces the bullet that she pulled form Buffy, and, using her magic, causes it to slowly bore its way into Warren’s chest; she stitches his mouth shut to cease his screams, releasing them only so he can beg for mercy. Finally, staring Warren in the face, Willow magically rips off his skin, flaying him alive. Buffy, Xander and Anya arrive; seeing Warren’s skinned body they ask Willow what she has done. As Warren’s body goes up in flames, Willow turns to her friends and calmly states “One down”, before disappearing in a flash of light.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), James Marsters (Spike), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Adam Busch (Warren), Tom Lenk (Andrew), Jeff Kober (Rack), Amelinda Embry (Katrina), James C. Leary (Clem), Steven W. Bailey (Cave Demon), Tim Hodgin (Cororner), Michael Matthys (Parametic), Julie Hermelin (Clerk), Alan Henry Brown (Demon Bartender), Mueen J. Ahmad (Doctor), Jane Cho (Nurse #1), Meredith Cross (Nurse #2), Jeffrey Nicholas-Brown (Vampire), Neson Frederick (Villager)
Directed by David Solomon

TX (US): 14th May 2002
TX (UK - Sky One): 16th May 2002

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya and Dawn