H.A.T. by Deacon Rayne: Chapter 19 - The City That Never Sleeps
Summary: "War is coming. A slayer leads the way, a son of darkness heralds shadows, and a young girl claims her birthright as the light of all lights. These heroes, and others, in a last stand against the ancient evil; all corrupting and all consuming, poised to devour the world."
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Link to previous chapter
Hellmouth Ascendant Trilogy: Revamped Edition
Book One:
Dusk
Chapter 19
The City that Never Sleeps
Dawn was bored. They had left the Estate and had pulled into the rest stop right around sunrise; almost everyone had gone to bed. Pulling on her shoes, she opened the door and headed out into the brisk early morning air. Shivering slightly, she zipped up her fleece jacket and blew hot breath onto her hands.
“Nippy out isn’t it?” a voice called down from above.
Dawn looked up and saw Alec sitting cross-legged on the roof of the RV peering down at her curiously, a small smile gracing his lips. Dawn smiled happily.
“Alec! What are you doing up there?” she asked.
Alec shrugged and gestured to the rapidly paling sky. The sun was just about to come up.
“Watching the sunrise. Want to come join me?” he asked.
Dawn nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh,” she smiled up at him.
Alec smiled and, carefully dangling off the roof of the RV, extended a hand, easily hauling the girl up off her feet.
“Whoa!” she squealed in delight as she was picked up off the ground and brought to rest before the still-seated Alec. The young man grinned.
“Light as a feather,” he smiled wryly at her.
Dawn blushed. “Yeah, well, tell that to Mom. Every time I order a Big Mac at McDonald’s she looks at me like I’m about to eat my own body weight,” she quipped.
Alec chuckled appreciatively at the younger girl’s wit. He pointed towards the horizon.
“Look,” he whispered breathlessly.
Dawn turned, her back to him, and gasped as the first rays of the morning sun exploded over the horizon. Dawn leaned back, soaking in the rays of light. Alec smiled and gently opened his arms, letting the young woman come to rest against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, his fingers entwining with hers. The girl opened her eyes and looked down at their joined hands in pleasant astonishment, then closed her eyes and made a long sound of utter contentment, resting against his chest. He smiled in turn and rested his face against her head.
“Alec?” Dawn whispered quietly. She still hadn’t gotten used to the idea of calling him Alec.
“Mmm?” he replied quietly.
“Are you scared? I mean, about fighting the Hellmouth and all that?” she asked him.
He smiled and stroked her hair affectionately.
“Not anymore,” he whispered back to her.
Dawn felt her heart just about burst at the sheer poignancy behind his words. Her lower lip trembled and she quickly turned to him, and, without saying anything, leaned over and placed a long, lingering kiss on his cheek.
Alec closed his eyes as he felt something like a great light flooding his body.
Must be the sunlight, he said to himself, unconvincingly. When Dawn finally pulled away, he smiled at her, gently touching his cheek.
“What was that for?” he asked gently.
“That was for being my hero, Alec,” she replied quietly, looking up into his dark eyes, her voice thick with emotion. “For making me feel safe and feel like everything’s going to be all right.”
Alec closed his eyes, her words like sunlight upon melting ice.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered quietly.
Smiling, he opened his arms for her. She turned and laid back against his chest, smiling contently. He kissed her head as she smiled warmly at him. Together they watched the approaching sunrise and drank it in.
Dawn gently touched her lips.
Not bad for a first kiss, she thought to herself, her heart beating double-time. Nestling against Alec, she went back to gazing at the coming dawn.
“Okay, so, Wills, you said you saw something like this before?” Buffy asked from her seat upon Spike’s lap.
The redheaded witch nodded from her own perch upon Alec’s lap, she was busy peering at the writhing diagram. Alec smiled as he made himself busy brushing her hair - a little indulgence he found she responded very well to and it helped her think sometimes.
“Yeah, I just can’t place where,” she frowned at it, her lower lip jutting out in frustration.
“You know, that thing looks kinda like that poster in Mr. Gaffney’s math class,” Dawn commented.
Willow’s eyes widened as a thunderbolt of understanding blew through her.
“OF COURSE!” she cried out, leaping from Alec’s lap, sending him tumbling against the side of bed. Willow raced to the computer, hitting keys in rapid succession. “That’s where I saw it before!” she squealed in delight.
Buffy came up behind her.
“My sister's junior high school math class?” she asked puzzled.
Willow shook her head excitedly.
“No, in Miss Calendar's class!” she replied as she turned the screen to Buffy.
Sure enough, there was a similar, though far less complex, design displayed in brilliant shades of red, blue, and yellow.
Buffy frowned. “Okay, what is it?” she asked.
“It’s a fractal,” Willow replied. “This one is called ‘the Mandelbrot set,’ ” she explained hurriedly.
Buffy was still frowning. “Still not following you, Wills.”
“A fractal is a graphical representation of a mathematical function,” the witch elaborated, slipping into lecture mode. “They’re sometimes used in programming. Miss Calendar once suggested that instead of mathematical formulas and functions, that maybe magical formulas and functions could be represented by a fractal.”
Faith frowned at the ghostly fractal.
“So, this thing is a spell? What is it, ‘Abracadabra, poof, I’m a floating Rubix cube’?” Faith asked incredulously.
Buffy looked up at her and smirked. She had confided to Faith what Marlena had revealed to her regarding the Slayers and their vulnerability to insanity due to the absence of the Awakening ritual, and in doing so had freed both herself and Faith from the burden of guilt and shame from the events of the past years. While they were not close by any stretch of the imagination, they were, at least, on the right path.
Willow nodded as Buffy turned her attention back to ghostly apparition.
“Yes, but it’s also a program,” Willow explained. “Once we decipher it, we can run it like any other program and the spell should activate,” she looked up at Buffy, “at least, that’s how most technomantic magic works, anyhow.”
The blond Slayer nodded.
“Could this spell tell us where the Everstone is?” she asked.
Willow nodded and replied, “It certainly looks complicated enough to contain a set of coordinates.”
“It’s worse than a bloody triple-A map! How are we supposed to make heads or tails out of it?” Spike asked, snorting.
The redhead frowned.
“I don’t have the foggiest idea. Like I said, I only heard Miss Calendar talk about it once,” she responded despondently.
“Well, then we need to talk to the people who would most likely know about these,” Angel put forth quietly.
Buffy turned to frown at him, puzzled.
“You mean other technopagans?” she asked.
Angel shook his head.
“I mean other gypsies. Like the ones that attacked us the other day,” he replied quietly.
Everyone looked taken aback at the suggestion, Spike laughed humorlessly.
“Has all that hair gel finally soaked into your brain?” he sneered at Angel, finally unable to contain the bitterness and envy he held towards the other. “In case you haven’t noticed those people did try to kill us the other day, or have you forgotten ‘Little Miss Lightsaber’ and her unfortunate accident?”
Angel looked down as Buffy threw a shocked glance at her lover.
“Spike!” she chastised him.
The vampire in question got up angrily from his chair.
“The lot of you want to take pretty-boy’s advice and ask the warlocks for help, be my guest. Me? I would prefer NOT to be turned into a pile of ash, thanks,” he spat out before jerking the door to the RV open and stormed out, slamming it hard behind him.
There was a stunned silence as Buffy suddenly blinked back tears. Angel growled and headed out the door to follow the raging vampire. He spied Spike stalking away from the RV, hands firmly shoved into his pockets. Angel raced up to him, and slapped a restraining hand on his offspring’s shoulder.
“Where the Hell do you get-”
That was as far as he got before Spike spun around, face transformed in rage, and slammed a fist hard into Angel’s face. The older vampire flew back as Spike began to pummel him.
“Go to blazes, you stupid, worthless wanker!” he roared, kicking Angel hard in the ribs. “She’s mine! You got that?! Mine! She loves me!” He emphasized each word with another kick to the ribs. “You got that? ME! Not you! You took Dru from me, you can’t have her!” he growled, slamming a fist across the other’s head.
With a roar, Angel’s face shifted and he tackled Spike to the ground.
“Okay, Spike, you want to play the jealous lover, I’m game!”
With a growl he slammed a meaty fist into Spike’s face. Spike shot his head up to collide with that of the other vampire’s with a resounding crack!. Angel fell off Spike as the other got to his feet and, with a roar, plowed into Angel, driving him hard against a picnic table. He straightened and slammed another fist into Angel’s face.
“What, you think you can come in here all soul-having and brooding and take her from me?” he demanded, decking Angel hard across the chin. “Think you two will have a romp just for old time’s sake? Oh, wait, I forgot, you can’t, ‘cause then you’ll turn into an even BIGGER ponce than you already ARE!” He slammed another blow across Angel’s head and reared back to smash his skull into paste.
“I didn’t come here to get back with Buffy,” Angel replied through split and bloody lips.
“Go to Hell, you lying sod!” Spike roared back.
Angel suddenly grabbed Spike’s head and slammed a knee high and hard into it. Spike flew back, his hands to his nose, as Angel grabbed his arm and wrenched it behind his back, slamming him hard over the picnic table.
“Been there. Done that, Spikey!” Angel growled out, twisting Spike’s arm harder, eliciting a growl of pain from the younger vampire. “You can believe whatever you want to, it’s obvious you don’t care about what’s really going on and what isn’t, but I’m telling you, I’m not here for Buffy.”
Spike wrenched his head to the side to glare balefully up at him from the picnic table.
“Yeah? What about that touching little scene on the motor home the other night?” he spat out.
Angel released Spike in shock, his face becoming human once more. Spike scrambled away, nursing his shoulder.
“Can you really look me in the eye, mate, and tell me you don’t still got warm fuzzy feelings for her?” he demanded, his own face changing back to its mortal visage.
Angel opened his mouth to deny it… and found that he couldn’t. Spike just sneered at him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he growled turning away.
Angel slammed a hand on his shoulder, pivoting him and slamming him against a stop sign, his arm locked across his throat.
“Spike, you want to play twenty questions, I’ve got no problem with that.” He tightened his grip across Spike’s throat, who thrashed and struggled. “But ask yourself this, Spike, do you really love her… or are you just getting even with me for Dru?”
The blond’s eyes widened in rage.
“You son of a…” he spat and struggled harder against Angel’s arm, who just slammed him against the stop sign again.
“Think about it, Spike. Think long and hard, because if the answer is ’yes’, that this is all about Dru, then take the time to ask yourself ‘Doesn’t she deserve better?’ ” Angel demanded quietly.
Spike snarled at him and spat, “What, like you?”
Angel shook his head.
“No. Like a man she can take out into the daylight. A man that she can grow old with and have children with, a man she can marry and be with, who is of this world, of this time, to walk beside her in that beautiful thing called 'life'.” He leaned in closer to regard Spike, who had turned livid, his skin a paler shade of white. “A living, breathing, loving man she could be proud to someday call ‘husband’,” Angel growled before releasing him.
Spike staggered away, opening his mouth to deny his words, but Angel cut him off.
“Do what you got to do, Spike. Just remember that loving someone means putting their needs before yours, no matter how much it hurts.” He leveled a stern gaze at the younger vampire. “I doubt you’ve ever loved anything that much.”
Spike sneered at him.
“Sod off, you bleedin’ ponce!” he spat.
Angel just nodded his head.
“That’s what I thought,” he replied quietly.
Shoving past Spike, he strode back to the RV leaving the younger man with his thoughts.
When Angel entered the trailer, Buffy looked up and rushed over to him.
“Oh God, Angel,” she whispered lightly, fingering his battered face. “What happened?” she demanded.
He waved her off.
“Forget it, it’s nothing,” he replied, “I’m fine.”
“Nothing. Hey, no offense, Dead Boy,” Xander commented, “but you look like you just went ten rounds with Muhammad Ali.”
“I said I’m fine!” he snarled at Xander, who jumped back.
Buffy also looked startled as Angel moved past her to the sink to soak a rag and hold it to his bleeding lip.
The Slayer looked shaken as she stuck her head out the door.
Her lover was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Spike?” she demanded.
There was no answer and she pulled herself back into the camper, striding angrily up to Angel, who sat in the corner, dabbing at his lip.
“Damn it, where is he?!” she demanded.
Angel glared up at her through those dark eyes of his.
“I. Don’t. Know,” he responded, biting out each word.
Buffy’s lower lip trembled as she raced out of the camper.
“Spike! SPIKE!” she screamed.
Alec was outside holding her tightly.
“Shhh, it’s all right, I’ll find Spike,” he promised her. The Slayer was trembling.
“He wouldn’t just leave us, he wouldn’t just leave me, he wouldn’t…” she choked.
She spied Angel standing in the camper doorway over Alec’s shoulder and pushed away from her brother, stalking over to him.
“What did you say to him?!” she demanded, sobbing.
“The truth,” he replied, unshaken, stepping off the camper. “That you deserve to have someone you can grow old with, someone who possesses a pulse.”
Buffy’s jaw dropped and, with a grunt, she reared back and punched him hard across the face.
“How dare you!” she screamed at him. “How dare you come into my life and pass judgment on my loved ones!” she spat at him, making the aged vampire flinch as the spittle hit his face
“I don’t know you anymore. I don’t love you anymore. Stay out of my way,” she said in a frozen tone.
Angel shuddered at her words, his face spasming in pain as she shoved past him, back into the camper. Alec calmly walked up to him.
“You know, Angel? I’ve always thought that Buffy’s choice in lovers was a little lacking.” He stopped and regarded the vampire coolly. “Now, I’m sure of it,” he finished.
Angel looked up at him, opening his mouth to retort, but Alec cut him off.
“You want Buffy to be happy, that’s good. But you’re trying to tell her what to do, and that’s not righteous, that’s self-righteous. You’re telling her she needs to be with the living, and that’s true, she does. But are you telling her for her sake,” he focused on Angel, his eyes boring into the other man’s, “or for yours?”
Silently, he strode past the stunned vampire and off into the woods to hunt for his sister’s boyfriend and his best friend, leaving the vampire alone in the dark.
Alec quietly opened the door. Willow, Anya, and Faith were comforting Buffy, Xander and Giles were reading something on the ‘Net. They all looked up. Alec sighed and shook his head; Buffy’s face fell and she began to shake quietly. Faith put a comforting arm around her and looked up at Alec.
“What about Angel?” she asked.
Alec shook his head.
“He’s gone, too, doesn’t look like he’s planning on coming back either,” he informed them.
Faith paled a little and swallowed. Dawn shot her a look, knowing exactly that Angel’s departure would wound her as deeply as Spike’s had wounded Buffy. Faith turned back to the other Slayer, comforting her. Willow sighed and got up from the table, wrapping her arms around Alec, resting her head against his chest.
“Why does love have to be so complicated?” she asked sadly.
Alec looked up at Dawn, who had a lost little girl look on her face as she regarded the two lovers. He sighed and kissed Willow’s head.
“I don’t know,” he responded truthfully.
Giles cleared his throat.
“Spike and Angel’s desertion aside, we still need to come up with a plan to have the fractal decrypted,” he put in gently.
Alec nodded and sighed, releasing Willow.
“Well, unless anyone has a better idea, I say we go ahead with Angel’s plan and try to find these gypsies.”
Giles frowned up at his son.
“Are you sure that’s wise, Alec? The Spaarti have proven themselves very dangerous adversaries,” he cautioned.
Alec nodded.
“Yeah, but chances are they were there for the manor, not for us,” he frowned. “At least, not for any of us - it is possible they came gunning for Angel.”
Buffy looked up from her resting place on Faith’s shoulder.
“But how could they know he was here?” she asked.
Anya turned to her.
“Romany are very skilled seers. Some of those stories regarding crystal balls are true, you know,” she informed the heartbroken Slayer.
Buffy just nodded and went back to leaning on Faith. Alec sent his sister a sympathetic look, before continuing.
“Whatever the cause, I think they could at least point us in the right direction,” he commented.
“IF they don’t try to kill us first,” Xander added.
“They won’t,” a voice said from behind them.
They turned to see Angel, his face fully healed, standing in the doorway of the camper.
“Alec is right, chances are they were either gunning for me or for the manor. In either case, the rest of you shouldn’t have any reason to be attacked.” He turned aching eyes to Buffy. “I couldn’t find him, Buffy, I’m sorry.”
She raised a hand, cutting him off.
“We have nothing to say to each other,” she replied quietly, before resting her head back on Faith’s shoulder.
Angel looked like he was about to say something, then thought better of it and turned back to Alec.
“If we can find their lair, we should be able to get an audience with their chieftain, DeGanon, I’m guessing. With any luck, he’ll be able to decipher the fractal or at least point us in the right direction of someone who can.”
Alec nodded thoughtfully. “All right, but we still need to find them,” he replied.
Angel sighed. “I spent a few decades on the streets of New York, the tattoos the girl had on her face - I’ve seen them before. It’s the symbol of a gang down in Manhattan, we could get there in a couple of hours. I’ve got a few people I can talk to, I should be able to dig up a lead.”
Alec nodded. “All right, let’s do it.” He turned to Xander. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Xander frowned.
“What about…?” He gestured to Buffy.
Alec sighed. “If Spike wants to be found, he’ll have to find us. Other than that, there’s nothing else we can do.”
He looked up for her agreement. She sniffled and nodded.
“He’s right, we don’t have time to wait around,” she lifted her head to look at Xander. “Get us out of here,” she whispered.
Xander just nodded.
“You’re the boss, Buff,” he replied quietly, his heart aching for his friend.
Shooting Angel a nasty look, he walked towards the front and started the engine. The camper roared to life and slowly pulled away from the rest stop to disappear in the gloom of night.
“Ah, New York, the city so nice they named it thrice,” Xander quipped as the blazing lights of the city came into view.
Alec looked up, as the glowing metropolis came into full view.
“Wow!” Dawn breathed, her nose pressed up against the window in the passenger seat, taking in the overwhelming sights. It was her first time in the big city and it was pretty impressive. Alec grinned at her from the back and gently shook the slumbering witch in his lap.
“I’m up, Mom,” Willow responded sleepily.
Alec grinned and kissed her cheek; Willow smiled demurely and rotated her face to capture his lips in a long kiss.
“You’re not Mom,” she commented, opening her eyes.
Alec grinned and opened a window, letting in the cool night air.
“No, but you want to see something interesting?” he asked her.
Willow bobbed her head, sitting up. Alec grinned and stood.
“Get your coat,” he instructed her.
She did, puzzled, and with some gymnastics, Alec crawled out of the window and clambered up the side of the moving camper to sit on the massive roof. Willow peeked her head out of the window, staring up at him.
“Alec, what do you think your doin- EEK!” she squeaked as he reached back and hauled her up over the side to rest beside him. Alec grinned his crooked grin and pointed.
“Look,” he said.
Willow looked up and gasped. The whole city glowed, pinks, greens, violets, turquoise and all the colors of the rainbow shined in the city that never slept. Alec grinned at her, his face colored by the barrage of lights.
“You like it?” he asked her.
Willow just shook her head, speechless.
“It’s unbelievable,” she breathed.
Chuckling, the younger Giles wrapped an arm around her. She scooched closer to him, mooching body heat from her lover as she rested her head on his shoulder, gazing in awe at the glowing city that surrounded them.
Xander pulled into a large RV rest area, just inside Manhattan and shut the engine off.
“My first experience with New York traffic. God willing my last,” he commented dryly as he got off the camper.
“Yeah,” Anya agreed, following him, “I didn’t know nuns even knew some of those words they yelled at you on the expressway.”
Xander grimaced, remembering the bus of angry nuns he’d managed to cut off and the barrage of insults that had been screeched at him by the seemingly harmless-looking old women. He sighed and stretched his arms as the rest of the group filed off the bus. Alec hopped off the roof of the motor home and, reaching up gently, caught Willow as she jumped off the roof. She landed gracefully and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, kind sir,” she whispered demurely.
Alec grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist, turning to the rest of the group.
“Okay. So, what now?” he asked.
Angel pursed his lips in thought.
“There’s a club. ‘Nocturnal Sacrament’, I think it was called. Goth hangout, but a good place to start,” he informed them.
Alec nodded and did a little mental math.
“We’re a tad too many for the average cab, any suggestions?” he asked Angel.
Angel sighed. “I guess, the subway,” he stated resignedly.
Giles’ eyes widened.
“The New York subway, at night, during the holiday season?” he asked in dismay. “I think I’d prefer the Hellmouth,” he stated dryly.
Alec chuckled, patting his father’s shoulder affectionately.
“Agreed. But remember this is in the name of global salvation, so we must endure,” he grinned at the elder Giles, who smiled back wryly and nodded.
“This way,” Angel told them, leading them down the shining street.
They quickly formed a diamond with Buffy, Giles, Xander, Faith, Angel, and Alec on the periphery and Willow, Dawn, and Anya in the center. None of them were taking any chances with the infamous New York City streets. Angel quickly led the group down a set of stairs where they descended into the subway station. The floors were caked in grime, stained white linoleum peeking through here and there. Trash strewed the floor as bits of newspaper blew about. A vent in the wall churned out foul smelling steam and a shattered florescent light dangled crazily from the ceiling, flickering madly and giving off a strobe-light effect to the subway platform.
“Cozy,” Buffy commented as she looked around.
A bored subway attendant took their money, through bulletproof Plexiglass, no less, and handed them all their subway tokens. They walked through the rusted turnstiles, doing their best not to touch them much and waited on the platform, near the track. Dawn leaned over the edge of the platform, staring intently into the dark depths of the tunnel. A hand reached out from behind her and gently pulled her back. She started and turned to confront Alec.
“Careful, petite,” he admonished.
Picking up a stray cigarette box from the ground, he tossed it onto the third rail that was humming quietly. There was a series of sparks as the box made conduct with the electrified rail, the box burst into flames and curled in on itself, the smell of burning cardboard hung heavily in the air. Dawn swallowed and moved a little closer to Alec.
“Thanks,” she whispered. Alec smiled and stroked her hair affectionately.
“Anytime,” he looked down at her. She looked up at him and smiled. “Every time,” he added.
Her smile glowed as she made a happy sound and moved away from Alec to read some posters. Alec chuckled as Willow came up behind him.
“Oh yeah, she’s got a thing for you,” Willow observed wryly.
Alec turned and favored his lover with a wry grin.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he commented.
Leaning over he placed a kiss on her brow. She smiled and winked before turning to talk to Faith about something. Still chuckling, he looked up and frowned. There was something in the darkness of the tunnels. Alec squinted and could just make out a vaguely humanoid shape, hunched over. The shadow shifted and Alec started to see two tiny pinpoints of red light regarding him, shining from the dark. Then the lights disappeared as the shadowy figure vanished. Alec carefully turned to Angel who was also observing all this.
“Did you just see…?”
“Yeah,” Angel responded.
“Any clues?” Alec asked.
“Not one, but let’s stay on our toes,” he advised.
Alec nodded.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” he agreed quietly.
There was a quiet rumbling and Alec gestured for Angel to move back. Angel turned to address the rest of the group.
“Train's coming,” he announced.
The rest of the group fell into line behind the vampire as the subway train came whooshing past, before pulling to a screeching stop. The doors haltingly slid open and Angel held them as the rest of the group filed into the dirty subway car. He let go and the metal doors shuttered closed as the train pulled away from the station. There was a gang of ne’er-to-do looking punks on the other side of the car, near the back door. They leered and hooted as the girls walked onto the train. Alec and Angel glowered at them. Giles and Xander carefully moved to flank the young women as the gang got to their feet and sauntered over for a chat.
“Well, well, well, what do we got here?” One of the punks, a man with a crew cut and a barb through his eyebrow leered as he scanned the group. “It’s not even Christmas yet,” he chortled.
Alec bristled as the thug's gaze fell on Willow.
“Here, now, a redhead. Oh, I do like the pretty redheads.” The punk licked his lips as the gang behind him laughed.
Willow tried to avoid eye contact as Alec straightened up.
“She’s not for you,” he informed the young thug.
The gang made an "ooo"-ing sound as the lead thug produced a switchblade.
“Yeah, so what are you going to do about it, tough guy?” he challenged.
Buffy flinched as Alec’s face split into a vicious grin. Here it comes, she thought grimly.
Alec lashed out with a hand, catching the punk's knife hand in his fist, he jerked the punk around, ripped the blade from his hand, spun him around hard, and slammed him against one of the support bars, putting the knife to his throat.
“Now, then,” Alec purred, his voice full of deadly intent. “You can apologize to the young lady, or we can give you a permanent smile,” he stated.
Buffy started to get up.
“Alec…” she cautioned.
Alec turned to flash her a wink, letting her know his threat was mainly for show. At least, she hoped that's what he meant as she sat back down. Alec turned back to the punk and gave his arm another hard twist.
“Well?” he demanded.
The punk muttered something obscene.
“Dust this creep, will you?” he yelled.
Alec looked up as several gang members removed pistols from their belts to take aim at Alec. Willow and Dawn gasped as Xander and Giles moved to protect them. Faith and Buffy got to their feet.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Angel commented.
He stepped more into view of the gang members, his game face in place, then grinned, his face displayed prominently and licked his lips in a decidedly Angelus-like fashion. There were muttered gasps from the gang members.
“Madre de Dios,” one of the punks muttered, crossing himself.
Angel grinned.
“What are you guys waiting for? Fill him full of lead!” the leader with the knife to his throat cried out.
Some of the guns turned on Angel, who was ready to jump into the fray. Alec tightened his grip on the leader’s arm, pressing the glittering knife tip to his pulsing jugular.
“Not unless you want Slappy here to be dead before he hits the floor,” Alec growled back at them.
And without any warning, the car was plunged into blackness. The only lights coming from the service lights lining the subway tunnel that flashed by in rapid succession. There were exclamations of surprise from everyone as the punk, forgotten, scrambled away from Alec, rubbing his arm. He whipped out a pistol and took aim at the younger Giles.
“Alec!” Faith yelled.
Alec turned just in time to stare down the long barrel of a .357 magnum. The punk grinned homicidally and cocked the hammer back.
“Not so tough now are we?” he giggled before taking aim.
There was another loud click, and Giles advanced with his own monstrous weapon aimed at the man threatening his son.
"If you'll forgive the expression, mine is bigger than yours, now let my son go."
Alec frowned at the weapon his father was brandishing.
"Dad, where on Earth-?!"
Suddenly there was a high-pitched wail of pain and terror from behind the gang, causing the gangbanger to spin round abruptly. Alec lashed out with a tendril of darkness, knocking his arm down. The gun went off and fired a bullet right into the meaty part of the punk’s thigh. The thug screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching the bloody ruin of his thigh. Alec looked up from his work, and froze in shock.
A great shadowy darkness was holding one of the thugs up by the neck, its head hunched over the man’s throat, a trail of blood trickling down. Alec understood immediately.
“Vampire!” he cried as the rest of the group came together behind him.
The shadowy apparition reared up from its meal and hissed at them, its features still cloaked in darkness. The thug was dropped to the ground, lifeless, as the creature began to advance on them. The other gangbangers shook off their surprise and turned their weapons on the advancing monster. The small car exploded deafeningly with gunshots as no less than six weapons opened up on it. Dawn put her hands over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut in fear. Xander lurched across the car and tore an emergency kit down from the wall. Ripping it open, he fished around and found a small flashlight. Praying that it was still in working order he flicked it on and pointed.
He instantly regretted it.
The vampire was well over six feet tall and utterly inhuman. It had a bald, misshapen head and monstrous features. Its eyes shined red like a great rat, its fangs jutted out from its mouth, which was caked in grime. The creature snarled up at Xander, hissing, a forked tongue flickering out as bullets tore though its body. Then, with a blur of superhuman speed, it charged the gun-wielding thugs and tore through their ranks. A splatter of gore struck Xander in the face, causing him to drop the flashlight in shock as screams of pain and terror filled the car. Sounds of rending and splattering and a disgusting guzzling sound followed. Xander put a hand to his mouth, trying hard not to be sick.
“The front! Get to the next car!” Angel yelled, frantically herding everyone towards the front of the car.
Alec followed him, on the way helping the still whimpering punk writhing on the floor to his feet, taking the gun from his hands. It would have been so much easier to leave him there to be eaten and, for a moment, Alec considered dropping the other man to do just that, but his better nature won out. The gangbanger may have been scum, but nobody deserved that.
“Come on, man!” he yelled as the punk hobbled along side him.
The wounded thug made it three steps before something reached out from the dark and yanked him back, screaming. Alec spun around and grimaced at the sounds emanating from the shadowy portions of the room, before fleeing into the next car.
“Come on, come on, come on!” Xander cried frantically.
Alec dove through the door and Xander kicked the release handle, causing the other car to begin to drift away from the main body. The young carpenter sighed in relief and wiped at his face frantically.
“Well, I guess that takes care of tha-”
His eyes widened as the bald abomination appeared in the doorway of the rapidly retreating car, hissed, and, with a bound, flew towards the open doorway. Xander yelled and slammed the door shut. The creature burst through the thin metal door, spraying shards of Plexiglass upon everyone, and hooked a claw on Xander’s shirt as it dangled half out of the car, the train tracks flashing by with blurring speed. Xander yelled in fright and braced himself against the doorway, desperately struggling against the monstrous vampire dragging him slowly out of the car.
“Xander!”
Buffy cried as she and Faith ran over to him, pulling him away from the snarling vampire. The young man groaned as he was pulled in two directions. The vampire reared back a clawed hand to strike… and stopped in shock as the barrel of Giles's gun manifested seemingly out of nowhere and wedged itself directly into the creature’s drooling mouth. The older man looked over the gun sight and smiled grimly.
“Hello, there,” he quipped darkly and pulled the trigger.
The back of the creature’s head simply exploded as the beast wailed in rage and agony. Giles stepped back as his son charged past him, and, with a flying kick, the creature was blown backwards, arching high into the air with a monstrous screech. Xander almost went with it, but Faith and Buffy yanked him back into the car where they all tumbled into a heap on the stained floor.
The vampire, its arms flailing, came down right onto the third rail with a loud crunch. Its body ignited as it roared in pain, thrashing as thousands of volts of electricity cooked it. Finally, it lay still, burning brightly.
Alec watched it as the subway pulled further away and turned a corner, causing the creature’s burning corpse to vanish from sight. With a shuddering sigh, he came back in to sit wearily on a bench. Willow rushed over to hug him.
“Are you all right?” she asked worriedly.
Alec nodded, a little shaken. “I’m okay.”
He looked over at Xander, who was being helped to his feet by the two Slayers.
“Xander?”
Xander nodded, fingering his shredded shirt.
“The shirt has suffered, but the man is intact,” he replied shakily.
Anya rushed to his side, bowling him over, kissing him and holding him tightly.
“That was very brave honey, don’t EVER do it again!” she demanded.
Xander just nodded and sighed, resting his head against the car wall. Alec smiled slightly.
“Well, I guess they aren’t exaggerating when they say that New York is full of weirdoes,” he quipped lightly.
The group dissolved into laughter as Willow kissed him.
Giles adjusted his glasses and peered at his son, holstering his weapon.
“What I wouldn’t give for a cup of Earl Gray and a good book right now,” he commented wistfully.
Alec looked up at him and grinned.
“And the Bay City Rollers playing softly in the background?” he asked wryly.
“At this point, I’d even be willing to listen to your ‘Six Inch Nails,” he commented dryly.
"Dad, about that gun-?"
"Another time, son. Please."
Alec sighed and nodded, then grinned and shook his head, not bothering to correct his father regarding the name of his favorite band as the subway rumbled on.
The damaged subway car pulled into another stop and the group wasted no time in quickly filing off it and heading back to ground level.
Buffy turned to Alec.
“Any ideas at all on what that thing was?” she asked him.
Alec shook his head.
“A vampire obviously, and one that seemed pretty adept at concealment,” he replied.
“Pretty quick on his feet, too,” Xander chimed in, shuddering slightly at the memory of the vampire tearing through the ranks of the punks like a scythe. Anya held him just a little bit tighter as they emerged onto the street.
Alec turned to his sister.
“Like I said, no idea, but I think you’re asking the wrong person,” he arched an eyebrow, gently insinuating.
Buffy scowled at him.
“If you’re suggesting I should make nice with Angel…” she growled.
Alec raised a placating hand.
“He did help save our lives back there,” he reminded her gently. “He does deserve some credit,” he finished and then turned to Willow to speak with her in hushed tones.
Buffy sighed and, with a growl, fell into step next to Angel, who had his hands in his pockets, his head lowered.
“What about you? You ever seen anything like Baldy, back there, before?” she asked curtly.
Angel’s head shot up and looked at her, a look of earnestness flashing across his face, before he calmed.
“I’ve heard stories,” he began cautiously, “of vampires living in the sewers and subway tunnels. Cast out from the rest of society.”
Buffy snorted. “I can see why,” she commented, remembering the creature’s monstrous appearance.
Angel nodded.
“They’re supposed to be masters of concealment, blending in with the shadows, sometimes rendering themselves completely invisible. No vampire would lair in the sewers, those that did were rarely heard from again,” he finished grimly.
Buffy shook her head.
“Gee, honey, what’s the matter with the world when the sewers are no longer safe for decent, law-abiding citizens to wander amidst?” she asked wryly.
Angel flashed her a smile that caused her heart to flutter just a little.
“Don’t know, as soon as I see some decent, law-abiding citizens, I’ll ask them,” he replied sardonically.
Buffy swatted him on the arm and the two of them laughed quietly. Alec shot a look back, smiling wryly, before turning his attention back to the witch on his arm.
“What do you think the odds are of those two getting back together?” he whispered to her.
Willow frowned and turned to observe Buffy and Angel walking together, smiling and nodding. The redhead smiled and turned back to her boyfriend.
“Who knows?” she replied, shrugging her slim shoulders before smiling. “But they do look cute together, don’t they?” she asked.
Alec chuckled and held Willow closer to him, smiling as they walked the streets.
After a few more blocks, Angel pointed to a large building.
“That’s it. ‘Nocturnal Sacrament’,” he informed the group.
“Is anyone home?” Xander asked, squinting in the darkness.
Angel turned to him and nodded.
“I can hear the music from here,” he assured, before leading the group towards the building.
The building that turned out to be a huge, ruined cathedral.
For a moment, the group just gaped at the structure - stone gargoyles with eyes painted in some kind of luminous paint that reacted to the black lights, were mounted on stone pillars, their eyes glowed green in the night. A steady bass beat emanated from the cathedral as various people in pancake make-up and vinyl capes filed to and from the club.
Angel threw Buffy a wry look.
“Remind you of any place we know?” he questioned sardonically.
Buffy nodded.
“Billy’s club-o-vampire deluxe,” she responded, remembering her poor childhood friend who had betrayed her in his quest for immortality in order to escape a terminal brain tumor. A quest that had ended with a stake to his heart. She sighed and headed up the stairs towards the club, the rest of them following.
Buffy had been mistaken; this place had a bit more class than Billy’s vampire club back in Sunnydale. Black lights filled the room as throngs of people writhed and danced to pulse-pounding David Bowie. Huge stained glass windows dominated the room, lit from behind by multicolored lights, giving them an eerie and otherworldly appearance. Candelabras burned with red candles and the holy water pews were filled with a glowing orange liquid. Fortunately, for Angel’s sake, there were no crosses to be seen anywhere. Buffy had to yell to be heard over the music.
“Keep close!” she screamed, leveling a stern look at Dawn, who was gaping at everything in open amazement. “This means you!” she admonished.
Dawn stuck her tongue out at her and continued to gape at the techno-goth club patrons. Alec turned and smirked to his father.
“Think there’s a demonic cult in this place?” he yelled to be heard over the din.
Giles shook his head, his hands over his ears.
“How could one possibly tell?” he gestured to a pair of women with vinyl bodices, coming equipped with plunging necklines.
Each girl had a mouth caked in red lipstick and a set of ridiculously oversized vampire fangs wedged in their mouths. Alec shook his head mournfully, as his father grimaced.
“Americans!” they commented in unison, giving each other long, suffering looks before descending down into the masses of people.
Shoving their way to the bar, the group found a pair of booths and sat down. A waiter dressed as a priest came to take their order, Angel scowled at him so alarmingly that the man blanched and fled from the table. Angel turned his attention back to the group.
“Now all we need to do is to make contact with someone who would know where to find the Spaarti tribe,” he told the group.
Buffy rolled her eyes.
“And just how do we do that?” she asked.
“Mingle!” Faith yelled back. “Come on!”
Taking the blonde Slayer’s hand she dragged her from the booth and entered into the sea of writhing bodies.
Alec chuckled and took Buffy’s vacated seat, Dawn sat next to him and Willow across from them both.
“You do realize we’re never going to see them again, right?” Alec commented sardonically.
Willow just shook her head. Xander looked around.
“This place is kinda spooky,” he commented.
Anya nodded.
“Do your best to ignore the people around us, honey. I took a look around, and I can tell you right now a few of these people are very scary folk,” she informed him.
Xander blanched and tried to become inconspicuous. Alec grinned as he turned to regard Angel.
“So, how do we get in contact with the Spaarti?” he asked him.
Angel didn’t answer him, instead beckoning to a nearby waitress, this one attired in a nice cross-between a French noblewoman and a dominatrix, came to their table.
“Round of drinks and a Coke,” he requested, shooting a look at Dawn.
The waitress nodded and headed to the bar.
Giles frowned. “Well, while I certainly will need a couple of stiff drinks to endure this place, I fail to see how it will speed our fact-finding excursion along.”
Angel took a napkin from the table, and looked around.
“Anyone got a pen?” he asked.
Giles reached into his breast pocket and produced a deep blue ballpoint pen. Angel nodded his thanks and scribbled something onto the napkin. Handing the pen back to Giles, Angel took out his wallet - which was black and leather, to absolutely no one’s surprise - and placed a crisp twenty dollar bill neatly into the folds of the napkin, folding the whole thing over once lengthwise just as the waitress came back with their drinks. Angel flashed her his most winning smile.
“Thanks,” he said cheerily.
As he helped remove the drinks from the tray, he discreetly slid the napkin and the money, under the tray to brush against the waitress’s hands. Her eyes met his for an instant, questioning. Angel smiled up at her.
“What’s the club special?’ he asked politely, cocking a flirtatious eyebrow.
Alec held up a hand to hide his grin. The waitress smiled at him.
“I’m not sure, let me go back to the bar and ask,” she replied before turning away.
Alec was chuckling.
“Slick. A little heavy-handed perhaps, but slick,” he complimented.
Angel was peering intently at the bar as Willow frowned.
“Okay, what did I miss?” she asked.
Alec turned to her.
“I’m willing to bet that Angel’s twenty and note, is right now being scrutinized as our waitress is consulting his little telegram with a few other people.” He turned a questioning look to the vampire. “A password?” he asked.
Angel shook his head.
“A pair of teardrops and something written in Romany,” he replied.
Alec chuckled. “Clever. So, just in case they’re not connected, we don’t look like a bunch of chumps for revealing our interests to the wrong people.”
Angel tilted his head in acknowledgement. Willow made a sound of understanding.
“Sneaky. We’d never do this kind of thing at the Bronze,” she commented.
Alec gestured to a pair of large men, with grayish skin and horns.
“Yes, but you’d never run the risk of running into those in the Bronze either,” he smiled wryly.
Giles snorted. “Care to place a wager on that, son?”
Alec chuckled as Xander turned to look. He blanched and hurriedly faced front.
“And those would be…?” Xander asked.
Giles spoke up.
“C’boath demons,” he replied. “Apparently, taking a break from guarding the reigning nobles of the fifth circle of hell to have a pint and a smoke,” he commented dryly.
Alec chuckled in amusement.
“It could be worse, Dad,” he whispered direly. “There could be karaoke.”
Angel’s head shot up.
“What’s wrong with karaoke?” he demanded.
Alec shrugged.
“There’s nothing wrong with karaoke? Why?” he asked teasingly. “Picked up a new hobby aside from lurking and brooding?”
Angel shook his head vehemently.
“Not by choice anyhow.” Alec arched an inquiring eyebrow, but Angel waved him off clearly unwilling to discuss it any further. “Long story, I’ll tell you later.”
Alec grinned and looked up as the waitress came back with a tray of food they didn’t order.
“Okay, two burgers medium rare,” she placed them before Xander and Alec, "three hotdogs,” she placed a basket of wieners before Dawn, who grinned in delight and quickly pounced on the first, “a Chicken Caesar salad,” the waitress continued as she placed it before Willow, who smiled in surprise, “a cup of tea, Earl Grey, with milk and sugar,” she handed the cup to Alec, who handed it to Giles. The Watcher took it, flabbergasted. “And a club special,” she finished, putting a large sandwich down in front of Angel before smiling at them. “Compliments of the house. If you require anything else, don’t hesitate to let us know,” she smiled at them winningly before retreating.
Alec looked over at Angel.
“Okay, now I’ve missed something,” he confessed, taking a few tentative bites of the burger in front of him before setting it down, feeling nauseous; for some reason, food just wasn't agreeing with him lately.
Angel, meanwhile, just set upon dismantling his sandwich systematically. Alec frowned, puzzled, as Angel rooted through slices of corned beef with mustard.
“Uh, Angel? Aren’t we a little old to be playing with our food?” Willow asked around a mouthful of chicken salad.
Alec shot her a wry look.
“Aren’t we a little old to be talking with our mouths full?” he replied chuckling.
Willow narrowed her eyes at him and made an angry little growl, before going back to chewing contently on the salad in her mouth.
“I’m just looking for…”
Angel smiled and slowly removed a tiny, folded up piece of paper from between two slices of beef.
“If that says ‘I know what you did last summer’, you’re on your own,” Xander commented, swallowing a mouthful of burger. He looked down and frowned, the other half of his burger was missing. He turned to observe Anya delicately wolfing down the missing piece.
She frowned at him.
“What? I’m hungry!” she replied defensively.
He sighed and forlornly took another bite out of his half of the burger.
Dawn looked up from her hot dog basket, one already devoured and eagerly working on the second, an inquiring look on her face.
“Hey, how did that lady know what to bring us?” she asked.
Alec turned, and was shocked to see only one, and a quickly disappearing half a hot dog, left over from her original three. He looked up at her in amazement. She frowned at him in a perfect imitation of Anya’s earlier gesture.
“What? I’m hungry,” she repeated.
Alec smiled, shaking his head before gesturing to the bartender, who had black skin and a large diamond embedded in his forehead.
“See him?” He turned to Dawn, who nodded as she took a bite out of her third and last hot dog. “Guy’s a telepath. Chances are, when we came in here, he gave us a quick ‘once over’ to see what we would be most likely to order. Pretty effective if you think about.” He smiled back at Dawn, who frowned in distaste.
“You mean that guy read my mind?” the girl asked, understandably uncomfortable with the idea.
Alec smiled reassuringly.
“Yes, but not at a very deep level. Believe me, if there had been any sort of powerful telepathic probe, I’d have picked up on it.”
He smiled wryly as the others looked about, slightly confused about how on earth Alec would know about telepathic probes. Giles, who most assuredly did not look confused, merely sipped his drink.
Dawn smiled, reassured by Alec’s words and continued to devour her food. Alec chuckled and turned back to Angel, who was scrutinizing the note.
“What’s it say?” Xander asked.
Angel looked up.
“Well, it says we can make contact with the people we need to see, downstairs, in a sort of VIP section,” he replied.
Alec’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Trap?” he asked.
Angel nodded. “Probably,” he replied.
Alec sighed and turned to the dance floor. Scanning the crowd, he found Buffy and Faith, it was pretty easy given the vast circle of men they had surrounding them, and beckoned to his sister. Buffy nodded and turned to Faith, gesturing to the table. Faith turned and sighed before nodding; she turned back to the men, pantomimed dialing a phone, pointed to herself, and followed Buffy.
“What’s up?” Buffy asked.
Alec got up and spoke with her in a hushed tone.
“Angel’s got a lead to someone who can direct us towards the Spaarti.” Alec sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s also probably a trap. So, we’re going to split up.” He turned to Angel. “You, me, Buffy, and Dad will go downstairs and play Keyser Soze with our pals downstairs. The rest of you, stay here and keep your eyes open.” He gave Faith a grim look. “We’re not back up here in twenty, come down ready to pound people into insurance settlements.”
Faith nodded. “On it, D,” she replied.
Alec turned to Willow.
“Don’t suppose you’ve got anything in the way of magical charms in case things get hairy?” he inquired
She frowned, then her eyes lit up as she dug into her purse, removing a small sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball.
“If things get bad, throw this on the ground, it ought to serve as a pretty good distraction,” the Wiccan replied, smiling up at him.
Alec tentatively took the ball from her, and tucked it into his coat.
“Be careful,” she told him.
Alec smiled wryly.
“I hear that a lot from you,” he replied dryly.
Willow nodded, and leaned in close to his ear.
“It’s because I love you, you idiot,” she whispered before kissing his head gently.
Alec grinned and stood up, stroking the witch's face with affection, then turned back to Faith.
“Something does go down, make sure Dawn gets someplace safe first, all right?”
Faith nodded in understanding and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s done,” she reassured him.
Alec nodded, not sure why his chest suddenly felt tight, before turning back to the group. Angel rose from his chair to stand beside him; Giles finished his tea and followed.
“Alright. Let’s go be social,” Buffy declared.
She left the table, Angel, Alec, and Giles following. They arrived at the door to the back. A stony-faced bouncer-type stood vigil over the door. Angel handed him the note, the guard looked it over before unclipping a velvet rope and granting them access. The four walked through the open doorway and headed down a flight of stairs. Soft music came from an open doorway on the left at the bottom of the stairs. The gentle glow of firelight flickered in the darkness, spilling out of the open doorway, casting shadows against the opposite wall. The four finished their descent and turned towards the open room.
Several cocked crossbows and guns greeted them, wielded by young teenagers with unsmiling faces and teardrops tattooed on their faces. The four of them sighed and slowly raised their hands.
“Guess we won’t have to look for the Spaarti tribe after all,” Buffy commented quietly, her hands above her head.
Alec just nodded wearily.
This wasn’t going to be pleasant.
(TBC)
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Hellmouth Ascendant Trilogy: Revamped Edition
Book One:
Dusk
Chapter 19
The City that Never Sleeps
Dawn was bored. They had left the Estate and had pulled into the rest stop right around sunrise; almost everyone had gone to bed. Pulling on her shoes, she opened the door and headed out into the brisk early morning air. Shivering slightly, she zipped up her fleece jacket and blew hot breath onto her hands.
“Nippy out isn’t it?” a voice called down from above.
Dawn looked up and saw Alec sitting cross-legged on the roof of the RV peering down at her curiously, a small smile gracing his lips. Dawn smiled happily.
“Alec! What are you doing up there?” she asked.
Alec shrugged and gestured to the rapidly paling sky. The sun was just about to come up.
“Watching the sunrise. Want to come join me?” he asked.
Dawn nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh,” she smiled up at him.
Alec smiled and, carefully dangling off the roof of the RV, extended a hand, easily hauling the girl up off her feet.
“Whoa!” she squealed in delight as she was picked up off the ground and brought to rest before the still-seated Alec. The young man grinned.
“Light as a feather,” he smiled wryly at her.
Dawn blushed. “Yeah, well, tell that to Mom. Every time I order a Big Mac at McDonald’s she looks at me like I’m about to eat my own body weight,” she quipped.
Alec chuckled appreciatively at the younger girl’s wit. He pointed towards the horizon.
“Look,” he whispered breathlessly.
Dawn turned, her back to him, and gasped as the first rays of the morning sun exploded over the horizon. Dawn leaned back, soaking in the rays of light. Alec smiled and gently opened his arms, letting the young woman come to rest against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, his fingers entwining with hers. The girl opened her eyes and looked down at their joined hands in pleasant astonishment, then closed her eyes and made a long sound of utter contentment, resting against his chest. He smiled in turn and rested his face against her head.
“Alec?” Dawn whispered quietly. She still hadn’t gotten used to the idea of calling him Alec.
“Mmm?” he replied quietly.
“Are you scared? I mean, about fighting the Hellmouth and all that?” she asked him.
He smiled and stroked her hair affectionately.
“Not anymore,” he whispered back to her.
Dawn felt her heart just about burst at the sheer poignancy behind his words. Her lower lip trembled and she quickly turned to him, and, without saying anything, leaned over and placed a long, lingering kiss on his cheek.
Alec closed his eyes as he felt something like a great light flooding his body.
Must be the sunlight, he said to himself, unconvincingly. When Dawn finally pulled away, he smiled at her, gently touching his cheek.
“What was that for?” he asked gently.
“That was for being my hero, Alec,” she replied quietly, looking up into his dark eyes, her voice thick with emotion. “For making me feel safe and feel like everything’s going to be all right.”
Alec closed his eyes, her words like sunlight upon melting ice.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered quietly.
Smiling, he opened his arms for her. She turned and laid back against his chest, smiling contently. He kissed her head as she smiled warmly at him. Together they watched the approaching sunrise and drank it in.
Dawn gently touched her lips.
Not bad for a first kiss, she thought to herself, her heart beating double-time. Nestling against Alec, she went back to gazing at the coming dawn.
“Okay, so, Wills, you said you saw something like this before?” Buffy asked from her seat upon Spike’s lap.
The redheaded witch nodded from her own perch upon Alec’s lap, she was busy peering at the writhing diagram. Alec smiled as he made himself busy brushing her hair - a little indulgence he found she responded very well to and it helped her think sometimes.
“Yeah, I just can’t place where,” she frowned at it, her lower lip jutting out in frustration.
“You know, that thing looks kinda like that poster in Mr. Gaffney’s math class,” Dawn commented.
Willow’s eyes widened as a thunderbolt of understanding blew through her.
“OF COURSE!” she cried out, leaping from Alec’s lap, sending him tumbling against the side of bed. Willow raced to the computer, hitting keys in rapid succession. “That’s where I saw it before!” she squealed in delight.
Buffy came up behind her.
“My sister's junior high school math class?” she asked puzzled.
Willow shook her head excitedly.
“No, in Miss Calendar's class!” she replied as she turned the screen to Buffy.
Sure enough, there was a similar, though far less complex, design displayed in brilliant shades of red, blue, and yellow.
Buffy frowned. “Okay, what is it?” she asked.
“It’s a fractal,” Willow replied. “This one is called ‘the Mandelbrot set,’ ” she explained hurriedly.
Buffy was still frowning. “Still not following you, Wills.”
“A fractal is a graphical representation of a mathematical function,” the witch elaborated, slipping into lecture mode. “They’re sometimes used in programming. Miss Calendar once suggested that instead of mathematical formulas and functions, that maybe magical formulas and functions could be represented by a fractal.”
Faith frowned at the ghostly fractal.
“So, this thing is a spell? What is it, ‘Abracadabra, poof, I’m a floating Rubix cube’?” Faith asked incredulously.
Buffy looked up at her and smirked. She had confided to Faith what Marlena had revealed to her regarding the Slayers and their vulnerability to insanity due to the absence of the Awakening ritual, and in doing so had freed both herself and Faith from the burden of guilt and shame from the events of the past years. While they were not close by any stretch of the imagination, they were, at least, on the right path.
Willow nodded as Buffy turned her attention back to ghostly apparition.
“Yes, but it’s also a program,” Willow explained. “Once we decipher it, we can run it like any other program and the spell should activate,” she looked up at Buffy, “at least, that’s how most technomantic magic works, anyhow.”
The blond Slayer nodded.
“Could this spell tell us where the Everstone is?” she asked.
Willow nodded and replied, “It certainly looks complicated enough to contain a set of coordinates.”
“It’s worse than a bloody triple-A map! How are we supposed to make heads or tails out of it?” Spike asked, snorting.
The redhead frowned.
“I don’t have the foggiest idea. Like I said, I only heard Miss Calendar talk about it once,” she responded despondently.
“Well, then we need to talk to the people who would most likely know about these,” Angel put forth quietly.
Buffy turned to frown at him, puzzled.
“You mean other technopagans?” she asked.
Angel shook his head.
“I mean other gypsies. Like the ones that attacked us the other day,” he replied quietly.
Everyone looked taken aback at the suggestion, Spike laughed humorlessly.
“Has all that hair gel finally soaked into your brain?” he sneered at Angel, finally unable to contain the bitterness and envy he held towards the other. “In case you haven’t noticed those people did try to kill us the other day, or have you forgotten ‘Little Miss Lightsaber’ and her unfortunate accident?”
Angel looked down as Buffy threw a shocked glance at her lover.
“Spike!” she chastised him.
The vampire in question got up angrily from his chair.
“The lot of you want to take pretty-boy’s advice and ask the warlocks for help, be my guest. Me? I would prefer NOT to be turned into a pile of ash, thanks,” he spat out before jerking the door to the RV open and stormed out, slamming it hard behind him.
There was a stunned silence as Buffy suddenly blinked back tears. Angel growled and headed out the door to follow the raging vampire. He spied Spike stalking away from the RV, hands firmly shoved into his pockets. Angel raced up to him, and slapped a restraining hand on his offspring’s shoulder.
“Where the Hell do you get-”
That was as far as he got before Spike spun around, face transformed in rage, and slammed a fist hard into Angel’s face. The older vampire flew back as Spike began to pummel him.
“Go to blazes, you stupid, worthless wanker!” he roared, kicking Angel hard in the ribs. “She’s mine! You got that?! Mine! She loves me!” He emphasized each word with another kick to the ribs. “You got that? ME! Not you! You took Dru from me, you can’t have her!” he growled, slamming a fist across the other’s head.
With a roar, Angel’s face shifted and he tackled Spike to the ground.
“Okay, Spike, you want to play the jealous lover, I’m game!”
With a growl he slammed a meaty fist into Spike’s face. Spike shot his head up to collide with that of the other vampire’s with a resounding crack!. Angel fell off Spike as the other got to his feet and, with a roar, plowed into Angel, driving him hard against a picnic table. He straightened and slammed another fist into Angel’s face.
“What, you think you can come in here all soul-having and brooding and take her from me?” he demanded, decking Angel hard across the chin. “Think you two will have a romp just for old time’s sake? Oh, wait, I forgot, you can’t, ‘cause then you’ll turn into an even BIGGER ponce than you already ARE!” He slammed another blow across Angel’s head and reared back to smash his skull into paste.
“I didn’t come here to get back with Buffy,” Angel replied through split and bloody lips.
“Go to Hell, you lying sod!” Spike roared back.
Angel suddenly grabbed Spike’s head and slammed a knee high and hard into it. Spike flew back, his hands to his nose, as Angel grabbed his arm and wrenched it behind his back, slamming him hard over the picnic table.
“Been there. Done that, Spikey!” Angel growled out, twisting Spike’s arm harder, eliciting a growl of pain from the younger vampire. “You can believe whatever you want to, it’s obvious you don’t care about what’s really going on and what isn’t, but I’m telling you, I’m not here for Buffy.”
Spike wrenched his head to the side to glare balefully up at him from the picnic table.
“Yeah? What about that touching little scene on the motor home the other night?” he spat out.
Angel released Spike in shock, his face becoming human once more. Spike scrambled away, nursing his shoulder.
“Can you really look me in the eye, mate, and tell me you don’t still got warm fuzzy feelings for her?” he demanded, his own face changing back to its mortal visage.
Angel opened his mouth to deny it… and found that he couldn’t. Spike just sneered at him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he growled turning away.
Angel slammed a hand on his shoulder, pivoting him and slamming him against a stop sign, his arm locked across his throat.
“Spike, you want to play twenty questions, I’ve got no problem with that.” He tightened his grip across Spike’s throat, who thrashed and struggled. “But ask yourself this, Spike, do you really love her… or are you just getting even with me for Dru?”
The blond’s eyes widened in rage.
“You son of a…” he spat and struggled harder against Angel’s arm, who just slammed him against the stop sign again.
“Think about it, Spike. Think long and hard, because if the answer is ’yes’, that this is all about Dru, then take the time to ask yourself ‘Doesn’t she deserve better?’ ” Angel demanded quietly.
Spike snarled at him and spat, “What, like you?”
Angel shook his head.
“No. Like a man she can take out into the daylight. A man that she can grow old with and have children with, a man she can marry and be with, who is of this world, of this time, to walk beside her in that beautiful thing called 'life'.” He leaned in closer to regard Spike, who had turned livid, his skin a paler shade of white. “A living, breathing, loving man she could be proud to someday call ‘husband’,” Angel growled before releasing him.
Spike staggered away, opening his mouth to deny his words, but Angel cut him off.
“Do what you got to do, Spike. Just remember that loving someone means putting their needs before yours, no matter how much it hurts.” He leveled a stern gaze at the younger vampire. “I doubt you’ve ever loved anything that much.”
Spike sneered at him.
“Sod off, you bleedin’ ponce!” he spat.
Angel just nodded his head.
“That’s what I thought,” he replied quietly.
Shoving past Spike, he strode back to the RV leaving the younger man with his thoughts.
When Angel entered the trailer, Buffy looked up and rushed over to him.
“Oh God, Angel,” she whispered lightly, fingering his battered face. “What happened?” she demanded.
He waved her off.
“Forget it, it’s nothing,” he replied, “I’m fine.”
“Nothing. Hey, no offense, Dead Boy,” Xander commented, “but you look like you just went ten rounds with Muhammad Ali.”
“I said I’m fine!” he snarled at Xander, who jumped back.
Buffy also looked startled as Angel moved past her to the sink to soak a rag and hold it to his bleeding lip.
The Slayer looked shaken as she stuck her head out the door.
Her lover was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Spike?” she demanded.
There was no answer and she pulled herself back into the camper, striding angrily up to Angel, who sat in the corner, dabbing at his lip.
“Damn it, where is he?!” she demanded.
Angel glared up at her through those dark eyes of his.
“I. Don’t. Know,” he responded, biting out each word.
Buffy’s lower lip trembled as she raced out of the camper.
“Spike! SPIKE!” she screamed.
Alec was outside holding her tightly.
“Shhh, it’s all right, I’ll find Spike,” he promised her. The Slayer was trembling.
“He wouldn’t just leave us, he wouldn’t just leave me, he wouldn’t…” she choked.
She spied Angel standing in the camper doorway over Alec’s shoulder and pushed away from her brother, stalking over to him.
“What did you say to him?!” she demanded, sobbing.
“The truth,” he replied, unshaken, stepping off the camper. “That you deserve to have someone you can grow old with, someone who possesses a pulse.”
Buffy’s jaw dropped and, with a grunt, she reared back and punched him hard across the face.
“How dare you!” she screamed at him. “How dare you come into my life and pass judgment on my loved ones!” she spat at him, making the aged vampire flinch as the spittle hit his face
“I don’t know you anymore. I don’t love you anymore. Stay out of my way,” she said in a frozen tone.
Angel shuddered at her words, his face spasming in pain as she shoved past him, back into the camper. Alec calmly walked up to him.
“You know, Angel? I’ve always thought that Buffy’s choice in lovers was a little lacking.” He stopped and regarded the vampire coolly. “Now, I’m sure of it,” he finished.
Angel looked up at him, opening his mouth to retort, but Alec cut him off.
“You want Buffy to be happy, that’s good. But you’re trying to tell her what to do, and that’s not righteous, that’s self-righteous. You’re telling her she needs to be with the living, and that’s true, she does. But are you telling her for her sake,” he focused on Angel, his eyes boring into the other man’s, “or for yours?”
Silently, he strode past the stunned vampire and off into the woods to hunt for his sister’s boyfriend and his best friend, leaving the vampire alone in the dark.
Alec quietly opened the door. Willow, Anya, and Faith were comforting Buffy, Xander and Giles were reading something on the ‘Net. They all looked up. Alec sighed and shook his head; Buffy’s face fell and she began to shake quietly. Faith put a comforting arm around her and looked up at Alec.
“What about Angel?” she asked.
Alec shook his head.
“He’s gone, too, doesn’t look like he’s planning on coming back either,” he informed them.
Faith paled a little and swallowed. Dawn shot her a look, knowing exactly that Angel’s departure would wound her as deeply as Spike’s had wounded Buffy. Faith turned back to the other Slayer, comforting her. Willow sighed and got up from the table, wrapping her arms around Alec, resting her head against his chest.
“Why does love have to be so complicated?” she asked sadly.
Alec looked up at Dawn, who had a lost little girl look on her face as she regarded the two lovers. He sighed and kissed Willow’s head.
“I don’t know,” he responded truthfully.
Giles cleared his throat.
“Spike and Angel’s desertion aside, we still need to come up with a plan to have the fractal decrypted,” he put in gently.
Alec nodded and sighed, releasing Willow.
“Well, unless anyone has a better idea, I say we go ahead with Angel’s plan and try to find these gypsies.”
Giles frowned up at his son.
“Are you sure that’s wise, Alec? The Spaarti have proven themselves very dangerous adversaries,” he cautioned.
Alec nodded.
“Yeah, but chances are they were there for the manor, not for us,” he frowned. “At least, not for any of us - it is possible they came gunning for Angel.”
Buffy looked up from her resting place on Faith’s shoulder.
“But how could they know he was here?” she asked.
Anya turned to her.
“Romany are very skilled seers. Some of those stories regarding crystal balls are true, you know,” she informed the heartbroken Slayer.
Buffy just nodded and went back to leaning on Faith. Alec sent his sister a sympathetic look, before continuing.
“Whatever the cause, I think they could at least point us in the right direction,” he commented.
“IF they don’t try to kill us first,” Xander added.
“They won’t,” a voice said from behind them.
They turned to see Angel, his face fully healed, standing in the doorway of the camper.
“Alec is right, chances are they were either gunning for me or for the manor. In either case, the rest of you shouldn’t have any reason to be attacked.” He turned aching eyes to Buffy. “I couldn’t find him, Buffy, I’m sorry.”
She raised a hand, cutting him off.
“We have nothing to say to each other,” she replied quietly, before resting her head back on Faith’s shoulder.
Angel looked like he was about to say something, then thought better of it and turned back to Alec.
“If we can find their lair, we should be able to get an audience with their chieftain, DeGanon, I’m guessing. With any luck, he’ll be able to decipher the fractal or at least point us in the right direction of someone who can.”
Alec nodded thoughtfully. “All right, but we still need to find them,” he replied.
Angel sighed. “I spent a few decades on the streets of New York, the tattoos the girl had on her face - I’ve seen them before. It’s the symbol of a gang down in Manhattan, we could get there in a couple of hours. I’ve got a few people I can talk to, I should be able to dig up a lead.”
Alec nodded. “All right, let’s do it.” He turned to Xander. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Xander frowned.
“What about…?” He gestured to Buffy.
Alec sighed. “If Spike wants to be found, he’ll have to find us. Other than that, there’s nothing else we can do.”
He looked up for her agreement. She sniffled and nodded.
“He’s right, we don’t have time to wait around,” she lifted her head to look at Xander. “Get us out of here,” she whispered.
Xander just nodded.
“You’re the boss, Buff,” he replied quietly, his heart aching for his friend.
Shooting Angel a nasty look, he walked towards the front and started the engine. The camper roared to life and slowly pulled away from the rest stop to disappear in the gloom of night.
“Ah, New York, the city so nice they named it thrice,” Xander quipped as the blazing lights of the city came into view.
Alec looked up, as the glowing metropolis came into full view.
“Wow!” Dawn breathed, her nose pressed up against the window in the passenger seat, taking in the overwhelming sights. It was her first time in the big city and it was pretty impressive. Alec grinned at her from the back and gently shook the slumbering witch in his lap.
“I’m up, Mom,” Willow responded sleepily.
Alec grinned and kissed her cheek; Willow smiled demurely and rotated her face to capture his lips in a long kiss.
“You’re not Mom,” she commented, opening her eyes.
Alec grinned and opened a window, letting in the cool night air.
“No, but you want to see something interesting?” he asked her.
Willow bobbed her head, sitting up. Alec grinned and stood.
“Get your coat,” he instructed her.
She did, puzzled, and with some gymnastics, Alec crawled out of the window and clambered up the side of the moving camper to sit on the massive roof. Willow peeked her head out of the window, staring up at him.
“Alec, what do you think your doin- EEK!” she squeaked as he reached back and hauled her up over the side to rest beside him. Alec grinned his crooked grin and pointed.
“Look,” he said.
Willow looked up and gasped. The whole city glowed, pinks, greens, violets, turquoise and all the colors of the rainbow shined in the city that never slept. Alec grinned at her, his face colored by the barrage of lights.
“You like it?” he asked her.
Willow just shook her head, speechless.
“It’s unbelievable,” she breathed.
Chuckling, the younger Giles wrapped an arm around her. She scooched closer to him, mooching body heat from her lover as she rested her head on his shoulder, gazing in awe at the glowing city that surrounded them.
Xander pulled into a large RV rest area, just inside Manhattan and shut the engine off.
“My first experience with New York traffic. God willing my last,” he commented dryly as he got off the camper.
“Yeah,” Anya agreed, following him, “I didn’t know nuns even knew some of those words they yelled at you on the expressway.”
Xander grimaced, remembering the bus of angry nuns he’d managed to cut off and the barrage of insults that had been screeched at him by the seemingly harmless-looking old women. He sighed and stretched his arms as the rest of the group filed off the bus. Alec hopped off the roof of the motor home and, reaching up gently, caught Willow as she jumped off the roof. She landed gracefully and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, kind sir,” she whispered demurely.
Alec grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist, turning to the rest of the group.
“Okay. So, what now?” he asked.
Angel pursed his lips in thought.
“There’s a club. ‘Nocturnal Sacrament’, I think it was called. Goth hangout, but a good place to start,” he informed them.
Alec nodded and did a little mental math.
“We’re a tad too many for the average cab, any suggestions?” he asked Angel.
Angel sighed. “I guess, the subway,” he stated resignedly.
Giles’ eyes widened.
“The New York subway, at night, during the holiday season?” he asked in dismay. “I think I’d prefer the Hellmouth,” he stated dryly.
Alec chuckled, patting his father’s shoulder affectionately.
“Agreed. But remember this is in the name of global salvation, so we must endure,” he grinned at the elder Giles, who smiled back wryly and nodded.
“This way,” Angel told them, leading them down the shining street.
They quickly formed a diamond with Buffy, Giles, Xander, Faith, Angel, and Alec on the periphery and Willow, Dawn, and Anya in the center. None of them were taking any chances with the infamous New York City streets. Angel quickly led the group down a set of stairs where they descended into the subway station. The floors were caked in grime, stained white linoleum peeking through here and there. Trash strewed the floor as bits of newspaper blew about. A vent in the wall churned out foul smelling steam and a shattered florescent light dangled crazily from the ceiling, flickering madly and giving off a strobe-light effect to the subway platform.
“Cozy,” Buffy commented as she looked around.
A bored subway attendant took their money, through bulletproof Plexiglass, no less, and handed them all their subway tokens. They walked through the rusted turnstiles, doing their best not to touch them much and waited on the platform, near the track. Dawn leaned over the edge of the platform, staring intently into the dark depths of the tunnel. A hand reached out from behind her and gently pulled her back. She started and turned to confront Alec.
“Careful, petite,” he admonished.
Picking up a stray cigarette box from the ground, he tossed it onto the third rail that was humming quietly. There was a series of sparks as the box made conduct with the electrified rail, the box burst into flames and curled in on itself, the smell of burning cardboard hung heavily in the air. Dawn swallowed and moved a little closer to Alec.
“Thanks,” she whispered. Alec smiled and stroked her hair affectionately.
“Anytime,” he looked down at her. She looked up at him and smiled. “Every time,” he added.
Her smile glowed as she made a happy sound and moved away from Alec to read some posters. Alec chuckled as Willow came up behind him.
“Oh yeah, she’s got a thing for you,” Willow observed wryly.
Alec turned and favored his lover with a wry grin.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he commented.
Leaning over he placed a kiss on her brow. She smiled and winked before turning to talk to Faith about something. Still chuckling, he looked up and frowned. There was something in the darkness of the tunnels. Alec squinted and could just make out a vaguely humanoid shape, hunched over. The shadow shifted and Alec started to see two tiny pinpoints of red light regarding him, shining from the dark. Then the lights disappeared as the shadowy figure vanished. Alec carefully turned to Angel who was also observing all this.
“Did you just see…?”
“Yeah,” Angel responded.
“Any clues?” Alec asked.
“Not one, but let’s stay on our toes,” he advised.
Alec nodded.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” he agreed quietly.
There was a quiet rumbling and Alec gestured for Angel to move back. Angel turned to address the rest of the group.
“Train's coming,” he announced.
The rest of the group fell into line behind the vampire as the subway train came whooshing past, before pulling to a screeching stop. The doors haltingly slid open and Angel held them as the rest of the group filed into the dirty subway car. He let go and the metal doors shuttered closed as the train pulled away from the station. There was a gang of ne’er-to-do looking punks on the other side of the car, near the back door. They leered and hooted as the girls walked onto the train. Alec and Angel glowered at them. Giles and Xander carefully moved to flank the young women as the gang got to their feet and sauntered over for a chat.
“Well, well, well, what do we got here?” One of the punks, a man with a crew cut and a barb through his eyebrow leered as he scanned the group. “It’s not even Christmas yet,” he chortled.
Alec bristled as the thug's gaze fell on Willow.
“Here, now, a redhead. Oh, I do like the pretty redheads.” The punk licked his lips as the gang behind him laughed.
Willow tried to avoid eye contact as Alec straightened up.
“She’s not for you,” he informed the young thug.
The gang made an "ooo"-ing sound as the lead thug produced a switchblade.
“Yeah, so what are you going to do about it, tough guy?” he challenged.
Buffy flinched as Alec’s face split into a vicious grin. Here it comes, she thought grimly.
Alec lashed out with a hand, catching the punk's knife hand in his fist, he jerked the punk around, ripped the blade from his hand, spun him around hard, and slammed him against one of the support bars, putting the knife to his throat.
“Now, then,” Alec purred, his voice full of deadly intent. “You can apologize to the young lady, or we can give you a permanent smile,” he stated.
Buffy started to get up.
“Alec…” she cautioned.
Alec turned to flash her a wink, letting her know his threat was mainly for show. At least, she hoped that's what he meant as she sat back down. Alec turned back to the punk and gave his arm another hard twist.
“Well?” he demanded.
The punk muttered something obscene.
“Dust this creep, will you?” he yelled.
Alec looked up as several gang members removed pistols from their belts to take aim at Alec. Willow and Dawn gasped as Xander and Giles moved to protect them. Faith and Buffy got to their feet.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Angel commented.
He stepped more into view of the gang members, his game face in place, then grinned, his face displayed prominently and licked his lips in a decidedly Angelus-like fashion. There were muttered gasps from the gang members.
“Madre de Dios,” one of the punks muttered, crossing himself.
Angel grinned.
“What are you guys waiting for? Fill him full of lead!” the leader with the knife to his throat cried out.
Some of the guns turned on Angel, who was ready to jump into the fray. Alec tightened his grip on the leader’s arm, pressing the glittering knife tip to his pulsing jugular.
“Not unless you want Slappy here to be dead before he hits the floor,” Alec growled back at them.
And without any warning, the car was plunged into blackness. The only lights coming from the service lights lining the subway tunnel that flashed by in rapid succession. There were exclamations of surprise from everyone as the punk, forgotten, scrambled away from Alec, rubbing his arm. He whipped out a pistol and took aim at the younger Giles.
“Alec!” Faith yelled.
Alec turned just in time to stare down the long barrel of a .357 magnum. The punk grinned homicidally and cocked the hammer back.
“Not so tough now are we?” he giggled before taking aim.
There was another loud click, and Giles advanced with his own monstrous weapon aimed at the man threatening his son.
"If you'll forgive the expression, mine is bigger than yours, now let my son go."
Alec frowned at the weapon his father was brandishing.
"Dad, where on Earth-?!"
Suddenly there was a high-pitched wail of pain and terror from behind the gang, causing the gangbanger to spin round abruptly. Alec lashed out with a tendril of darkness, knocking his arm down. The gun went off and fired a bullet right into the meaty part of the punk’s thigh. The thug screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching the bloody ruin of his thigh. Alec looked up from his work, and froze in shock.
A great shadowy darkness was holding one of the thugs up by the neck, its head hunched over the man’s throat, a trail of blood trickling down. Alec understood immediately.
“Vampire!” he cried as the rest of the group came together behind him.
The shadowy apparition reared up from its meal and hissed at them, its features still cloaked in darkness. The thug was dropped to the ground, lifeless, as the creature began to advance on them. The other gangbangers shook off their surprise and turned their weapons on the advancing monster. The small car exploded deafeningly with gunshots as no less than six weapons opened up on it. Dawn put her hands over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut in fear. Xander lurched across the car and tore an emergency kit down from the wall. Ripping it open, he fished around and found a small flashlight. Praying that it was still in working order he flicked it on and pointed.
He instantly regretted it.
The vampire was well over six feet tall and utterly inhuman. It had a bald, misshapen head and monstrous features. Its eyes shined red like a great rat, its fangs jutted out from its mouth, which was caked in grime. The creature snarled up at Xander, hissing, a forked tongue flickering out as bullets tore though its body. Then, with a blur of superhuman speed, it charged the gun-wielding thugs and tore through their ranks. A splatter of gore struck Xander in the face, causing him to drop the flashlight in shock as screams of pain and terror filled the car. Sounds of rending and splattering and a disgusting guzzling sound followed. Xander put a hand to his mouth, trying hard not to be sick.
“The front! Get to the next car!” Angel yelled, frantically herding everyone towards the front of the car.
Alec followed him, on the way helping the still whimpering punk writhing on the floor to his feet, taking the gun from his hands. It would have been so much easier to leave him there to be eaten and, for a moment, Alec considered dropping the other man to do just that, but his better nature won out. The gangbanger may have been scum, but nobody deserved that.
“Come on, man!” he yelled as the punk hobbled along side him.
The wounded thug made it three steps before something reached out from the dark and yanked him back, screaming. Alec spun around and grimaced at the sounds emanating from the shadowy portions of the room, before fleeing into the next car.
“Come on, come on, come on!” Xander cried frantically.
Alec dove through the door and Xander kicked the release handle, causing the other car to begin to drift away from the main body. The young carpenter sighed in relief and wiped at his face frantically.
“Well, I guess that takes care of tha-”
His eyes widened as the bald abomination appeared in the doorway of the rapidly retreating car, hissed, and, with a bound, flew towards the open doorway. Xander yelled and slammed the door shut. The creature burst through the thin metal door, spraying shards of Plexiglass upon everyone, and hooked a claw on Xander’s shirt as it dangled half out of the car, the train tracks flashing by with blurring speed. Xander yelled in fright and braced himself against the doorway, desperately struggling against the monstrous vampire dragging him slowly out of the car.
“Xander!”
Buffy cried as she and Faith ran over to him, pulling him away from the snarling vampire. The young man groaned as he was pulled in two directions. The vampire reared back a clawed hand to strike… and stopped in shock as the barrel of Giles's gun manifested seemingly out of nowhere and wedged itself directly into the creature’s drooling mouth. The older man looked over the gun sight and smiled grimly.
“Hello, there,” he quipped darkly and pulled the trigger.
The back of the creature’s head simply exploded as the beast wailed in rage and agony. Giles stepped back as his son charged past him, and, with a flying kick, the creature was blown backwards, arching high into the air with a monstrous screech. Xander almost went with it, but Faith and Buffy yanked him back into the car where they all tumbled into a heap on the stained floor.
The vampire, its arms flailing, came down right onto the third rail with a loud crunch. Its body ignited as it roared in pain, thrashing as thousands of volts of electricity cooked it. Finally, it lay still, burning brightly.
Alec watched it as the subway pulled further away and turned a corner, causing the creature’s burning corpse to vanish from sight. With a shuddering sigh, he came back in to sit wearily on a bench. Willow rushed over to hug him.
“Are you all right?” she asked worriedly.
Alec nodded, a little shaken. “I’m okay.”
He looked over at Xander, who was being helped to his feet by the two Slayers.
“Xander?”
Xander nodded, fingering his shredded shirt.
“The shirt has suffered, but the man is intact,” he replied shakily.
Anya rushed to his side, bowling him over, kissing him and holding him tightly.
“That was very brave honey, don’t EVER do it again!” she demanded.
Xander just nodded and sighed, resting his head against the car wall. Alec smiled slightly.
“Well, I guess they aren’t exaggerating when they say that New York is full of weirdoes,” he quipped lightly.
The group dissolved into laughter as Willow kissed him.
Giles adjusted his glasses and peered at his son, holstering his weapon.
“What I wouldn’t give for a cup of Earl Gray and a good book right now,” he commented wistfully.
Alec looked up at him and grinned.
“And the Bay City Rollers playing softly in the background?” he asked wryly.
“At this point, I’d even be willing to listen to your ‘Six Inch Nails,” he commented dryly.
"Dad, about that gun-?"
"Another time, son. Please."
Alec sighed and nodded, then grinned and shook his head, not bothering to correct his father regarding the name of his favorite band as the subway rumbled on.
The damaged subway car pulled into another stop and the group wasted no time in quickly filing off it and heading back to ground level.
Buffy turned to Alec.
“Any ideas at all on what that thing was?” she asked him.
Alec shook his head.
“A vampire obviously, and one that seemed pretty adept at concealment,” he replied.
“Pretty quick on his feet, too,” Xander chimed in, shuddering slightly at the memory of the vampire tearing through the ranks of the punks like a scythe. Anya held him just a little bit tighter as they emerged onto the street.
Alec turned to his sister.
“Like I said, no idea, but I think you’re asking the wrong person,” he arched an eyebrow, gently insinuating.
Buffy scowled at him.
“If you’re suggesting I should make nice with Angel…” she growled.
Alec raised a placating hand.
“He did help save our lives back there,” he reminded her gently. “He does deserve some credit,” he finished and then turned to Willow to speak with her in hushed tones.
Buffy sighed and, with a growl, fell into step next to Angel, who had his hands in his pockets, his head lowered.
“What about you? You ever seen anything like Baldy, back there, before?” she asked curtly.
Angel’s head shot up and looked at her, a look of earnestness flashing across his face, before he calmed.
“I’ve heard stories,” he began cautiously, “of vampires living in the sewers and subway tunnels. Cast out from the rest of society.”
Buffy snorted. “I can see why,” she commented, remembering the creature’s monstrous appearance.
Angel nodded.
“They’re supposed to be masters of concealment, blending in with the shadows, sometimes rendering themselves completely invisible. No vampire would lair in the sewers, those that did were rarely heard from again,” he finished grimly.
Buffy shook her head.
“Gee, honey, what’s the matter with the world when the sewers are no longer safe for decent, law-abiding citizens to wander amidst?” she asked wryly.
Angel flashed her a smile that caused her heart to flutter just a little.
“Don’t know, as soon as I see some decent, law-abiding citizens, I’ll ask them,” he replied sardonically.
Buffy swatted him on the arm and the two of them laughed quietly. Alec shot a look back, smiling wryly, before turning his attention back to the witch on his arm.
“What do you think the odds are of those two getting back together?” he whispered to her.
Willow frowned and turned to observe Buffy and Angel walking together, smiling and nodding. The redhead smiled and turned back to her boyfriend.
“Who knows?” she replied, shrugging her slim shoulders before smiling. “But they do look cute together, don’t they?” she asked.
Alec chuckled and held Willow closer to him, smiling as they walked the streets.
After a few more blocks, Angel pointed to a large building.
“That’s it. ‘Nocturnal Sacrament’,” he informed the group.
“Is anyone home?” Xander asked, squinting in the darkness.
Angel turned to him and nodded.
“I can hear the music from here,” he assured, before leading the group towards the building.
The building that turned out to be a huge, ruined cathedral.
For a moment, the group just gaped at the structure - stone gargoyles with eyes painted in some kind of luminous paint that reacted to the black lights, were mounted on stone pillars, their eyes glowed green in the night. A steady bass beat emanated from the cathedral as various people in pancake make-up and vinyl capes filed to and from the club.
Angel threw Buffy a wry look.
“Remind you of any place we know?” he questioned sardonically.
Buffy nodded.
“Billy’s club-o-vampire deluxe,” she responded, remembering her poor childhood friend who had betrayed her in his quest for immortality in order to escape a terminal brain tumor. A quest that had ended with a stake to his heart. She sighed and headed up the stairs towards the club, the rest of them following.
Buffy had been mistaken; this place had a bit more class than Billy’s vampire club back in Sunnydale. Black lights filled the room as throngs of people writhed and danced to pulse-pounding David Bowie. Huge stained glass windows dominated the room, lit from behind by multicolored lights, giving them an eerie and otherworldly appearance. Candelabras burned with red candles and the holy water pews were filled with a glowing orange liquid. Fortunately, for Angel’s sake, there were no crosses to be seen anywhere. Buffy had to yell to be heard over the music.
“Keep close!” she screamed, leveling a stern look at Dawn, who was gaping at everything in open amazement. “This means you!” she admonished.
Dawn stuck her tongue out at her and continued to gape at the techno-goth club patrons. Alec turned and smirked to his father.
“Think there’s a demonic cult in this place?” he yelled to be heard over the din.
Giles shook his head, his hands over his ears.
“How could one possibly tell?” he gestured to a pair of women with vinyl bodices, coming equipped with plunging necklines.
Each girl had a mouth caked in red lipstick and a set of ridiculously oversized vampire fangs wedged in their mouths. Alec shook his head mournfully, as his father grimaced.
“Americans!” they commented in unison, giving each other long, suffering looks before descending down into the masses of people.
Shoving their way to the bar, the group found a pair of booths and sat down. A waiter dressed as a priest came to take their order, Angel scowled at him so alarmingly that the man blanched and fled from the table. Angel turned his attention back to the group.
“Now all we need to do is to make contact with someone who would know where to find the Spaarti tribe,” he told the group.
Buffy rolled her eyes.
“And just how do we do that?” she asked.
“Mingle!” Faith yelled back. “Come on!”
Taking the blonde Slayer’s hand she dragged her from the booth and entered into the sea of writhing bodies.
Alec chuckled and took Buffy’s vacated seat, Dawn sat next to him and Willow across from them both.
“You do realize we’re never going to see them again, right?” Alec commented sardonically.
Willow just shook her head. Xander looked around.
“This place is kinda spooky,” he commented.
Anya nodded.
“Do your best to ignore the people around us, honey. I took a look around, and I can tell you right now a few of these people are very scary folk,” she informed him.
Xander blanched and tried to become inconspicuous. Alec grinned as he turned to regard Angel.
“So, how do we get in contact with the Spaarti?” he asked him.
Angel didn’t answer him, instead beckoning to a nearby waitress, this one attired in a nice cross-between a French noblewoman and a dominatrix, came to their table.
“Round of drinks and a Coke,” he requested, shooting a look at Dawn.
The waitress nodded and headed to the bar.
Giles frowned. “Well, while I certainly will need a couple of stiff drinks to endure this place, I fail to see how it will speed our fact-finding excursion along.”
Angel took a napkin from the table, and looked around.
“Anyone got a pen?” he asked.
Giles reached into his breast pocket and produced a deep blue ballpoint pen. Angel nodded his thanks and scribbled something onto the napkin. Handing the pen back to Giles, Angel took out his wallet - which was black and leather, to absolutely no one’s surprise - and placed a crisp twenty dollar bill neatly into the folds of the napkin, folding the whole thing over once lengthwise just as the waitress came back with their drinks. Angel flashed her his most winning smile.
“Thanks,” he said cheerily.
As he helped remove the drinks from the tray, he discreetly slid the napkin and the money, under the tray to brush against the waitress’s hands. Her eyes met his for an instant, questioning. Angel smiled up at her.
“What’s the club special?’ he asked politely, cocking a flirtatious eyebrow.
Alec held up a hand to hide his grin. The waitress smiled at him.
“I’m not sure, let me go back to the bar and ask,” she replied before turning away.
Alec was chuckling.
“Slick. A little heavy-handed perhaps, but slick,” he complimented.
Angel was peering intently at the bar as Willow frowned.
“Okay, what did I miss?” she asked.
Alec turned to her.
“I’m willing to bet that Angel’s twenty and note, is right now being scrutinized as our waitress is consulting his little telegram with a few other people.” He turned a questioning look to the vampire. “A password?” he asked.
Angel shook his head.
“A pair of teardrops and something written in Romany,” he replied.
Alec chuckled. “Clever. So, just in case they’re not connected, we don’t look like a bunch of chumps for revealing our interests to the wrong people.”
Angel tilted his head in acknowledgement. Willow made a sound of understanding.
“Sneaky. We’d never do this kind of thing at the Bronze,” she commented.
Alec gestured to a pair of large men, with grayish skin and horns.
“Yes, but you’d never run the risk of running into those in the Bronze either,” he smiled wryly.
Giles snorted. “Care to place a wager on that, son?”
Alec chuckled as Xander turned to look. He blanched and hurriedly faced front.
“And those would be…?” Xander asked.
Giles spoke up.
“C’boath demons,” he replied. “Apparently, taking a break from guarding the reigning nobles of the fifth circle of hell to have a pint and a smoke,” he commented dryly.
Alec chuckled in amusement.
“It could be worse, Dad,” he whispered direly. “There could be karaoke.”
Angel’s head shot up.
“What’s wrong with karaoke?” he demanded.
Alec shrugged.
“There’s nothing wrong with karaoke? Why?” he asked teasingly. “Picked up a new hobby aside from lurking and brooding?”
Angel shook his head vehemently.
“Not by choice anyhow.” Alec arched an inquiring eyebrow, but Angel waved him off clearly unwilling to discuss it any further. “Long story, I’ll tell you later.”
Alec grinned and looked up as the waitress came back with a tray of food they didn’t order.
“Okay, two burgers medium rare,” she placed them before Xander and Alec, "three hotdogs,” she placed a basket of wieners before Dawn, who grinned in delight and quickly pounced on the first, “a Chicken Caesar salad,” the waitress continued as she placed it before Willow, who smiled in surprise, “a cup of tea, Earl Grey, with milk and sugar,” she handed the cup to Alec, who handed it to Giles. The Watcher took it, flabbergasted. “And a club special,” she finished, putting a large sandwich down in front of Angel before smiling at them. “Compliments of the house. If you require anything else, don’t hesitate to let us know,” she smiled at them winningly before retreating.
Alec looked over at Angel.
“Okay, now I’ve missed something,” he confessed, taking a few tentative bites of the burger in front of him before setting it down, feeling nauseous; for some reason, food just wasn't agreeing with him lately.
Angel, meanwhile, just set upon dismantling his sandwich systematically. Alec frowned, puzzled, as Angel rooted through slices of corned beef with mustard.
“Uh, Angel? Aren’t we a little old to be playing with our food?” Willow asked around a mouthful of chicken salad.
Alec shot her a wry look.
“Aren’t we a little old to be talking with our mouths full?” he replied chuckling.
Willow narrowed her eyes at him and made an angry little growl, before going back to chewing contently on the salad in her mouth.
“I’m just looking for…”
Angel smiled and slowly removed a tiny, folded up piece of paper from between two slices of beef.
“If that says ‘I know what you did last summer’, you’re on your own,” Xander commented, swallowing a mouthful of burger. He looked down and frowned, the other half of his burger was missing. He turned to observe Anya delicately wolfing down the missing piece.
She frowned at him.
“What? I’m hungry!” she replied defensively.
He sighed and forlornly took another bite out of his half of the burger.
Dawn looked up from her hot dog basket, one already devoured and eagerly working on the second, an inquiring look on her face.
“Hey, how did that lady know what to bring us?” she asked.
Alec turned, and was shocked to see only one, and a quickly disappearing half a hot dog, left over from her original three. He looked up at her in amazement. She frowned at him in a perfect imitation of Anya’s earlier gesture.
“What? I’m hungry,” she repeated.
Alec smiled, shaking his head before gesturing to the bartender, who had black skin and a large diamond embedded in his forehead.
“See him?” He turned to Dawn, who nodded as she took a bite out of her third and last hot dog. “Guy’s a telepath. Chances are, when we came in here, he gave us a quick ‘once over’ to see what we would be most likely to order. Pretty effective if you think about.” He smiled back at Dawn, who frowned in distaste.
“You mean that guy read my mind?” the girl asked, understandably uncomfortable with the idea.
Alec smiled reassuringly.
“Yes, but not at a very deep level. Believe me, if there had been any sort of powerful telepathic probe, I’d have picked up on it.”
He smiled wryly as the others looked about, slightly confused about how on earth Alec would know about telepathic probes. Giles, who most assuredly did not look confused, merely sipped his drink.
Dawn smiled, reassured by Alec’s words and continued to devour her food. Alec chuckled and turned back to Angel, who was scrutinizing the note.
“What’s it say?” Xander asked.
Angel looked up.
“Well, it says we can make contact with the people we need to see, downstairs, in a sort of VIP section,” he replied.
Alec’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Trap?” he asked.
Angel nodded. “Probably,” he replied.
Alec sighed and turned to the dance floor. Scanning the crowd, he found Buffy and Faith, it was pretty easy given the vast circle of men they had surrounding them, and beckoned to his sister. Buffy nodded and turned to Faith, gesturing to the table. Faith turned and sighed before nodding; she turned back to the men, pantomimed dialing a phone, pointed to herself, and followed Buffy.
“What’s up?” Buffy asked.
Alec got up and spoke with her in a hushed tone.
“Angel’s got a lead to someone who can direct us towards the Spaarti.” Alec sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s also probably a trap. So, we’re going to split up.” He turned to Angel. “You, me, Buffy, and Dad will go downstairs and play Keyser Soze with our pals downstairs. The rest of you, stay here and keep your eyes open.” He gave Faith a grim look. “We’re not back up here in twenty, come down ready to pound people into insurance settlements.”
Faith nodded. “On it, D,” she replied.
Alec turned to Willow.
“Don’t suppose you’ve got anything in the way of magical charms in case things get hairy?” he inquired
She frowned, then her eyes lit up as she dug into her purse, removing a small sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball.
“If things get bad, throw this on the ground, it ought to serve as a pretty good distraction,” the Wiccan replied, smiling up at him.
Alec tentatively took the ball from her, and tucked it into his coat.
“Be careful,” she told him.
Alec smiled wryly.
“I hear that a lot from you,” he replied dryly.
Willow nodded, and leaned in close to his ear.
“It’s because I love you, you idiot,” she whispered before kissing his head gently.
Alec grinned and stood up, stroking the witch's face with affection, then turned back to Faith.
“Something does go down, make sure Dawn gets someplace safe first, all right?”
Faith nodded in understanding and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s done,” she reassured him.
Alec nodded, not sure why his chest suddenly felt tight, before turning back to the group. Angel rose from his chair to stand beside him; Giles finished his tea and followed.
“Alright. Let’s go be social,” Buffy declared.
She left the table, Angel, Alec, and Giles following. They arrived at the door to the back. A stony-faced bouncer-type stood vigil over the door. Angel handed him the note, the guard looked it over before unclipping a velvet rope and granting them access. The four walked through the open doorway and headed down a flight of stairs. Soft music came from an open doorway on the left at the bottom of the stairs. The gentle glow of firelight flickered in the darkness, spilling out of the open doorway, casting shadows against the opposite wall. The four finished their descent and turned towards the open room.
Several cocked crossbows and guns greeted them, wielded by young teenagers with unsmiling faces and teardrops tattooed on their faces. The four of them sighed and slowly raised their hands.
“Guess we won’t have to look for the Spaarti tribe after all,” Buffy commented quietly, her hands above her head.
Alec just nodded wearily.
This wasn’t going to be pleasant.
(TBC)