The Fallen Slayer {1}

Whatever It Takes

TIME SINCE BUFFY'S DISAPPEARANCE: 4 MONTHS

"Just can't stay away, can you?" Damon moaned in annoyance as he spotted Elena walking into the Boarding House yet again.

It was starting to feel like she lived here given how often she was over.

He had been hoping that after last night, she would take that as a hint to stop showing up all the damn time.

Clearly, Elena Gilbert could not take a hint.

"I called Buffy last night." Elena announced, cutting to the chase.


Damon merely snorted as he moved to pour himself a glass of bourbon. They all knew Buffy's phone was in the Gilbert House, hell at one point each of them had called it over the summer, just to hear that stupid voicemail message of hers.

He was almost positive the blonde's voicemail box was now completely full.

 "Yeah, and the other hundred times were different because..."


Elena couldn't blame Damon for his reaction. Each and every one of them had called Buffy's cell just to hear her voice again.

But this time, it had been different.


"She answered the phone, Damon."

There was a long moment of silence as Damon took in her words, letting them process through his brain.

That was impossible. Her phone was in Mystic Falls! I

t made no sense, how the hell had Elena magically found a way to contact her after months of nothing but silence?

"What?" He whispered, only managing to utter that one word.

"Mary sent me a message...with a phone number. When I called it, Buffy picked up."

Inhaling tightly, the vampire clenched his jaw tightly and forced himself to turn away from the brunette as he tried to reign himself in. He had no idea what this meant, he just knew it was bad.

Mary had straight up told him she couldn't be involved.

Why send another clue?

It just didn't make any sense.

"What did she say?" He asked, rather quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. Last night he had completely given up hope and now here Elena was dangling another piece in front of him.


Elena just sighed as she flopped down on the couch "The line went dead but I heard her voice, Damon, she's alive."

After the phone call, it felt like their search had taken one step forward, yet two steps back at the same time.


Her reveal about the call, caused Damons to clench his fists together tightly. That certainly explained why Mary had momentarily decided to help them again. She had given Elena the number knowing that it would only allow her long enough to confirm that Buffy was alive.

Not long enough to actually try and find out where Buffy actually was.

"Did you try the number again?"

"30 times." Elena and Jeremy had been up all night taking turns redialling the number but there had been nothing "It's disconnected."

"Did you send it to Liz?" He asked next. Surely with her resources, Liz could find some way to track the number or at least figure out a general idea of where the call had been received.

Again, Elena shook her head in disappointment "Yeah...she couldn't find anything."

"Dammit!" He exclaimed suddenly before punching a hand through the wall causing Elena to scream and jump in shock.

Every time he thought they were getting closer, all of their efforts, and all of that hope were ripped away from them.

Yes, they finally knew that at least Buffy was still breathing but they still had no idea of finding out where the hell she was!

Klaus had covered his trail. Probably making sure that the number could not directly be linked to whatever house he was keeping Buffy stored in.

Hell for all they knew, Klaus had told her to answer the phone to get them to back off then disconnected the line himself.

They just had no way of knowing anything!

"How did she sound?" He couldn't help but ask, as he kept his eyes glued to the hole in the wall he had just created.

Elena couldn't help but wince at his question, that was the worst part.


It was confusing as hell because instead of sounding scared or like she was worried...Buffy had sounded completely fine. Acting as though nothing was wrong.

Like she hadn't been kidnapped and taken away from her family.

"Fine. She sounded fine, not in pain, or scared. Just fine."