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Part 3
"Buffy! Buffy wake up!" a voice whispered to Buffy. Buffy woke up slowly, squinting at the person. She was out of Riley's house, and back in the dorm. It was Willow.
"Willow?" Buffy whispered.
"Yes! Wake up!" Willow smiled at her.
"Riley! Is Riley okay!" Buffy asked. "We have to findhim!"
"Riley's fine, I'm sure Buffy. What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?" Willow, asked, looking concerned.
"Understatement," Buffy proceeded to tell her the whole gory dream. Willow's face rotated from confusion, to horror, to disgust, then all of them at once.
"Buffy! That's awful!" Willow said.
"Which is why I have to find Riley." Buffy concluded, as she got dressed. "Are you coming with?"
Willow nodded, and they walked to Riley's together. They heard bits and pieces of others conversation.
"Did you hear? Some guy got murdered!"
"stabbed, I heard."
"This is just frightening."
"At Christmas! Can you believe it!"
Buffy and Willow looked at each other worriedly. This did not sound good. Buffy grabbed one of the girls talking about the murder.
"What happened?" Buffy asked. The girl looked at her.
"Some guy got stabbed last night in his house. It seems they had all the doors and windows locked, but there was no break in. It's very freaky." she told her.
"Do you know who the guy is?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, some T.A. His name is Rally or something," she told her. "That's all I know, see you around," the girl said as she left in a hurry.
"Buffy are you okay?" Willow asked. Buffy wasn't. Riley was dead. Buffy started sobbing.
"I didn't- I didn't- I couldn't- I couldn't move!" Buffy gasped to Willow.
"Buffy, it was a dream. A prophetic dream, it wasn't your fault," Willow reassured her.
"He's- He's dead," Buffy sobbed.
Willow quietly led Buffy back to the dorm, where she left Buffy to cry. And then she went to Giles to research, on this "Santa Claus".
As Willow told Giles what happened, Spike walked in. He listened quietly, for once, at the description.
"I know what happened," he said. Willow and Giles turned to him, shocked. He hadn't exactly been the most helpful vampire to them.
"You see, this demon, Kringle, takes on the form of Santa Claus, when summoned for. He attacks in dreams, killing those dearest to the summoner's enemy, nemesis, or whoever they just plain want revenge on. The only way to stop him is to kill the summoner. Or until the summoner has the person he wants dead, well, dead."
"How do you know all this?" Giles demanded.
"I summoned him once. I wanted revenge on this demon who had been rude to Dru. Kringle can kill demons, humans, whatever. It's just very tricky to summon him. You can only summon him once. Or else the Slayer would've been dead," Spike muttered. Willow smacked him on the head.
"Ow! That hurt!" Spike complained to her. "Do you want information or not!"
"What else is there to tell?" Willow asked sweetly.
"Not much. Kringle invades dreams, bringing the enemy, and sometimes her friends, to watch their loved ones die, unable to stop him."
"How do we find the summoner?" Giles asked.
"Who's the Slayer's enemies? Oh right, the entire population of bad guys, minus two!" Spike sneered. "Me and Angel, in case you were wondering. And I will be her enemy again, once the blood fix is over, in case you're wondering. I'm counting the days." Spike sighed.
"Well, who has access to such powerful magic?" Willow asked. Spike glared at her. "It's not me!" she squealed.
"I know pet, just joking," Spike told her.
"We're not thinking right!" Giles said impatiently. "We need to focus on the important things, like who would want to kill Buffy and her friends!"
"Do you have any Twinkies?" Spike asked.