There's a whole slew of missing faces. Natalie had to attend some god-awful family function, while Xander has taken Beth to Willow to try to help her figure out the whys and wherefores of her undead status. Xander has left Dwane in charge in his absence, nobody has seen Twitch for several days, and Ramone prepares to hatch a scheme designed to make Mitran jealous.

The day begins like many others, with some training. Determined to make himself the equal of any Slayer, Mitran trains hard with Ramone's ASSes, and Twitch finally makes an appearance. Soon, however, the scoobies find they have attracted an audience, a pair of Native Americans who turn out to be Totem Warriors.

Their names are Danielle and Robert Walksalong, and they hail from a Cheyenne reservation. They've been tracking a trio of Wendigos, Serena Brady, Clarence Bailey, and Richard Ashbury, who appear to have settled in Huntington, and are already responsible for several murders. They hoped to have the assistance of Xander and Natalie, but with both of them out of town Dwane instead steps up to the plate and offers to help them, and the others agree, despite the fact that their fighting strength is seriously curtailed with so many of their number absent.

At the old glass-plant on the West-End, the scoobies and the Totem Warriors investigate the scene of the latest murder. Entering the old plant itself, they find a macabre larder of human organs. Determined to end the carnage before it gets any worse, Duane and the scoobies ply the two warriors for more info. Robert and Dani tell them all they know, and warn the gang that the trio of Wendigos will attempt to gather a small army of demon bodyguards to their side, if they haven't already. Soon, Ramone, with Dani's help, decides to tailor his locator spell to get a better fix on the Wendigo's current positions.

Around that time, Xander calls to check in on the gang, and Dwane explains their situation. Xander extends an offer to send some help, an offer which Dwane accepts. Within seconds, Willow conjures up a swirling mystical gateway, and the group receives some much-needed muscle in the form of Kennedy the Vampire Slayer. Ramone and Dani's combined efforts reveal the current location of, not only the Wendigos, but their Demon henchman as well.

With the strength of their enemy more accurately assessed, the group loads up and heads over to the area of the Veteran's Memorial arch. Over the course of the evening Kennedy quickly picks up on the fact that Mitran feels much more than respect for Xander. Thinking the look on Xander's face in the future might be priceless, Kennedy quietly resolves to reveal nothing. The group then splits up into a trio of 3-man squads, and ambush their unsuspecting enemies. The battle that follows is fierce, but short, and soon the scoobies have put a serious dent in the local population of evil, demonic beasts.

The group then returns to the library, where Kennedy accepts Mitran's offer of a quick sparring session before returning to Willow's side. Before leaving, Robert and Dani thank Dwane and his friends, and tell him that if they ever need help, he can call on them.

That night, Ramone is tormented once again in his dreams by the malevolent and mysterious woman in black. However, as she conjures up what he believes to be images of his fellow scoobies and tortures them, Ramone taps into a wellspring of resolve and power, and seemingly draws even more strength from his allies, including Kennedy, and Willow, with whom he has corresponded, but never met. With a surge of power, Ramone seemingly banishes his vicious nemesis, at least for the time being.

The next day finds a sore, tired and bruised scooby-gang lounging in the Library training-room. Returning from her family function, Natalie rushes into the training room, luggage in tow. So relieved to be back among her friends and away from one monotone speech after another, Natalie immediately begins to relate her tale of relentless boredom. She finally stops and asks the gang what they were up to, which results in a display of bruised ribs and bandaged cuts.

Dumbstruck, Natalie barely has time to register her feelings of regret that she wasn't able to help the gang, when Ramone puts his plan into action. He walks over to Natalie, produces a bouquet of flowers, and says "pick me up at 7:00!"

Twitch: "How about we pretend to fumigate the place, and then watch for anyone going out to eat people?"
Mitran( pondering the logistics of such an approach ): "Oh, excuse me. Are you going to eat people? No? Okay, you can go then."

Kennedy: "I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but I don't swing that way."
Ramone: "Swing? Swing what way?"
Mitran: "You have an affinity of not hitting men?"

Twitch: "The Demon spell...my house will show up! Moloch is holding up the short-leg of my bed!"
Mitran: "So you really DO have a monster under your bed!"

Twitch: "Oh...Willow, the witch!"
Kennedy: "Yes. Willow. She's my girlfriend."
Mitran: "Oh! THAT way!"

A busy day ensues following Ramone's none-too-subtle approach to asking Natalie out on a date. Xander and Beth return to Huntington, knowing only a fraction more about Beth's resurrection than they had when they started. Rather depressed and disappointed, Beth immediately retreats to her dorm-room.

Soon, evening arrives, and these days evening usually brings some sort of trouble. A young student named Elizabeth Moore is rushing across campus, eager to get back to her dorm room. As she hurries down the steps near Morrow, she's accosted by a pair of Vampires. She does her best to fend them off, and as she does so, her screams do not go unheard. A pair of MUPD officers on Bike-patrol rush to her aid and soon are fighting for their own lives as well. One of the officers is knocked unconscious, as the other, officer Chris Owens, fights for his life.

Just as it looked like the Vamps would get their evening meal, their luck turned sour. Natalie, nervous and running behind schedule, hurries towards Morrow to meet Ramone for their date. As she scurries towards the library, she notices the Vampire attack, pulls a stake from her purse, and quickly dusts both vamps. She quickly assesses the condition of the unconscious officer, his groggy partner, and Elizabeth, determining that they'll all be fine. As Elizabeth helps officer Owens to his feet, the horror fades from her mind, and is replaced by curiosity. "Who *was* that girl, and what is she spiking her Wheaties with?"

Soon, Natalie meets with Ramone, and with Xander smiling slightly at "those crazy kids", the pair make the short drive to the Restaraunt at Heritage Station. As the dinner progresses, the pair is doted upon by their server, who seems to be there precisely when he's needed. During the course of their conversation, Natalie mentions a strange dream... and Ramone realizes that Natalie's dream was *his* dream. Perhaps the images of his friends during his nightmare weren't just images after all. Unnerved by this, Ramone orders another glass of wine, and decides not to tell Natalie that he may have inadvertently pulled her into his own nightmarish vision.

After their dinner, with the night still young, Natalie and Ramone went to Harris Riverfront Park, where they relaxed and Natalie watched the gleam of the flickering lights on the surface of the water. Her mind wandering, Natalie soon inserted her foot firmly in her mouth by forgetting Ramone's blindness for a moment, asking about the beauty of the waterfront. Instantly realizing her mistake, Natalie chastised herself inwardly for her mental-lapse. Ramone, however, didn't seem to be upset by it. Later, as their date came to a close, Ramone said goodnight to Natalie with a somewhat awkward hug, and suggested they go out again sometime.

The rest of the week unfolded rather normally after that. However, as the weekend beckoned, that would all change. On her way to the library that Friday afternoon, Natalie casually scooped up an issue of the Parthenon, the University Newspaper. The news within shocks her, and she quickly dashes inside Morrow to relay the what she had read to Xander:

Nick Parker, Beth's ex and murderer, had been arrested.

Natalie: "Doesn't the river look beautiful tonight?"
Ramone: "..."
Natalie( realizing the stupidity of such a question ): "That was stupid. Could you slap my head for me? Your hand is closer to it than mine."
Ramone: ( Taps the side of her head )

Xander quickly reads the Parthenon article detailing Nick's arrest in Kanawha county on suspicion of 5 counts of kidnapping, and decides that the news should be kept from Beth until they can figure out the best time and the best way to tell her. Xander, and the others, agree that Beth may drive down there and rip the place apart in order to get to Nick. In another interesting development, Mitran decides to throw in and "help" Ramone to woo Natalie by sending her a boquet of flowers in Ramone's name which are given to Natalie after one of her classes. She immediately goes to the library afterwards and thanks Ramone profusely, and a somewhat confused Ramone can only go along with it. Afterwards, Xander suggests to Natalie that she and Heather grab Beth up and find something to do to keep her occupied, and Natalie agrees. Before she leaves, Natalie asks Ramone if he'd like to go horseback riding with her the next day, and he accepts the offer.

As Natalie and Heather take Beth out to the river on Natalie's boat for a picnic lunch, the scoobies concoct a plan. Using Dwane's contact on the Huntington Police Dept, a visit with Nick is hastily arranged. With Ramone in tow, Dwane drives down to the Kanawha county jail, to question Nick. In Nick, they find one of the most morally deficient and reprehensible human beings either of them has ever encountered. Initially resistant to say anything to anyone without his lawyer present, Nick starts spilling the beans once Ramone casts a rather potent truth-spell upon him.

Nick shows no remorse as he details how he and some of his buddies came across an old Celtic spellbook that contained within its pages a prosperity spell requiring a series of 5 blood-sacrifices. He explains how he used his significant charms to lure the missing young women to their ultimate deaths at his hands. He complains bitterly about how Beth's reanimation threw the whole plan out of whack for a while, and goes on to name each of his partners in crime. One of them, Rafel Taylor, is holed up in a cabin somewhere in Cabwaylingo State Park in Wayne county, and that he also has the spell-book in question. As they they wrap things up, an angry Ramone casts a second spell upon Nick, a rather nasty one that, in essence, gives Nick a bad case of Kidney stones. They leave just as Nick starts to double over in pain.

Dwane calls Xander en-route, and tells him what they've learned an how they want to go grab Rafel Taylor as quickly as possible. Xander agrees, and asks Mitran to tag along. Dwane picks them up at the Library, leaving Twitch to dig up any info about Nick's cronies that he can get his hands on. They quickly drive to Cabway-Lingo as the evening approaches, and Ramone uses his senses to locate the slight tug of mystic energy radiated by the book. Finding the correct cabin, the scoobies make plans to capture Taylor, but Ramone jumps the gun and charges right in. Mitran suggests to Dwane that he transform into his werewolf form, not understanding that Dwane considers his lycanthropy to be a curse, not a blessing.

After Ramone fights off a spell designed to repel uninvited guests, a short, one-sided battle erupts between himself and the novice, would-be Mystic. Taylor tries to use a cloud of thick fog to cover his escape, but finds it means nothing to his blind adversary. As Xander rushes in the back and dispels the fog, Ramone drags the screaming felon to the Hummer with his telekinesis. Soon, Rafel Taylor is in Police custody, and the book itself in the hands of Ramone and Xander. As Xander studies the book, Dwane goes off on his own to work off his frustrations.

That night, Dorian has a disturbing vision in which he travels deep into the woods, only to be confronted by a man in a dark cloak, with two bright pin-pricks of light where his eyes should be. "Tell them I'm coming" says the dark figure, just before Dorian awakens.

The Following day (Saturday) finds the scoobies gathering at the library as usual. Xander has examined the book, and has come to the conclusion that with the exception of the Prosperity spell, the book, while quite old, seems extremely mundane. He also finds, sadly, that the spell called for an animal sacrifice, not a human one. Nick and his boys must have expected to get a stronger effect with a bigger sacrifice. Whats more, something seems to be off within the prosperity spell itself, something he can't quite put his finger on.

He asks Ramone to examine the book to see if he agrees, and after a half-hour of looking through the book and jotting down some notes, Ramone deduces that the Prosperity spell itself is a complete sham, and the other spells were copied from other sources. However, hidden and codified within the false spell, is a very real spell, which seems to be some sort of trans-dimensional locator. Ramone reasons that the entire book was designed to hide this locator spell. Realizing that there's way more than meets the eye to the book, Xander decides to fax the info directly to Giles.

When Beth arrives, Xander decides its time to tell her about Nick. Expecting the worst, Dwane stands near the door, ready to try to stop Beth should she try to rush out in an attempt to get to Nick. However, everyone is shocked when Beth calmly accepts the news, but is clearly shaken. She then goes to the workout room, and gives it a good thrashing. Afterwards, Natalie takes Ramone out to her family's stables for some horseback-riding, and then an early dinner at the country-club, where she runs into an ex-boyfriend. After her workout, Beth seems quite calm, and even kisses Twitch on a dare from Mitran. Although it took a hefty sum of money to get her to agree to it. Twitch is, naturally, dumbstruck.

As evening falls, things take a more serious tone when word comes over the radio that Nick is inexplicably being transferred back to Cabell county on Sunday morning. Dwane finds this very odd, and goes to the HPD to speak to Lt. Williams, who tells him that the press report is a cover, and that the transfer is actually going down tonight. They both agree that such a false report must mean that they expect possible trouble with Nick's transfer. Before Dwayne can really process this info, a call comes through to the station from a hysterical woman who claims that she and her boyfriend were attacked by the abandoned Train-Cars on the tracks by 8th avenue. She says the attackers looked like "monsters", and that they dragged off her boyfriend. Dwane quickly leaves, and stealthily checks the train-cars, where he finds a nest of at least 7 Vampires.

Dwane quickly calls Xander and tells him about the Vamp nest, and the false prisoner-transfer report. Xander decides to run with the certainty, and suggests that they take out the Vampires. Dwane agrees, and waits for the others to arrive. As the scoobies load up and head out, they are unaware that they are being watched by Elizabeth Moore, who follows them to their rondevous with Dwane. As Dwane transforms and barges into one end of the train-car, with Mitran right behind, Xander and the others wait at the other end for the Vamps to emerge, which they do. A dust-o-thon quickly erupts, in which everyone notches at least one kill. The highlight of the battle comes when Ramone uses his telekinesis to drive the contents of a box of toothpicks into the heart of one of the Vampires, dusting him instantly.

As the battle winds down, one lone, remaining vamp attempts to escape into the night. But Ramone merely reaches out with his mind and trips the fleeing undead bloodsucker. Before anyone can make a move to kill the downed vamp, Elizabeth bursts from behind the train car and attacks the dazed Vampire, driving one stake into his back. Unfortunately, she doesn't quite reach the heart, and so she jams her second stake in opposite the first, and still comes up short. Before she can react further, a very frustrated Natalie runs up and punts the Vamp 10-feet into the air. He whirls around as he arcs through the air, and comes down hard on his back, driving the pair of stakes right into his heart.

As the Vamp dusts away, Natalie turns to Elizabeth and says, "Who are you?"

Meanwhile, on I-64, Nick's transfer proceeds apace, until a semi-truck jack-knifes on the road ahead of the small convoy, forcing them to stop. Suddenly, an unmarked van screeches up behind the convoy, and a quartet of black-garbed commando-types attack and subdue the 7 police officers with Taser-rifles. As they are joined by the driver of the wrecked Semi, they free Nick, pile into the van and take off into the night.

Nick Parker has been freed... by the Order of the Spear.

Ramone ( musing to himself ): "Curiouser and curiouser. A spell designed to find the keys you lost in that nameless hell-dimension."

Mitran ( after being slugged in the jaw by a Vamp ): "You'll pay for striking a slayer!"