Chapter 38: Breaking In
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Charley dropped the luggage and ran towards the house as soon as he had heard Lyra scream. To his relief she was all right but seemed startled. He pulled her close to his chest and turned to see what she had seen.
“Sorry if I scared you,” the tall man said. His hair seemed to stick up from too much hair gel and he had a good-sized forehead. He also wore a long black leather coat.
“Don’t worry about him, love,” Spike said. “He scares a lot of people. I think it’s the hair.”
“Oh god,” Lyra gasped as she pointed at the strange man. “You were in my dream and you were evil. You killed Willow.”
“It’s okay,” Charley said as he rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t think he’s evil now.”
“I still have my-“ the man was cut off.
“Angel?” Xander asked as he and Faith ran up to them.
“What are you doing here?” Faith asked as if the town was the worst place ever to be in.
“Angel moved to Wallace Iowa?” Xander asked.
“Why would he move here?” Faith asked in the same tone as before.
“You know this place isn’t that bad,” Charley said in an annoyed tone. He was getting tired of people constantly putting it down. “This was where Fright Night started before Universal bought it.”
“I didn’t move here,” Angel said as he held open the door to let Evil inside. “Lorne did. This is his place. I’m just watching the place.”
“Lorne?” Xander asked. “That was the green demon that can read your future when you sing?”
“That be the one,” Spike said. “Nice bloke. Now he is someone who knows how to have fun.”
“This is the tight ass with no sense of fun?” Evil asked as he pointed at Angel.
“My ass isn’t tight,” Angel said as he glared at Spike. “And why would you be looking at it?” He didn’t notice Faith was staring at his backside.
“I said stick up his ass,” Spike said and turned to scowl at Ed. “Not tight ass.”
“And I know how to have fun,” Angel said.
“Please,” Spike said as he rolled his eyes. “You don’t allow yourself to have fun. You think fun is just staying at home and watching a movie on the telly.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Xander, Lyra and Charley asked.
Angel held out his hands. “Even Xander agrees with me.”
“Well of course Droopy Boy is going to agree with that.”
“Are you three going to fight all night?” Faith asked. “We got a situation here.”
“She’s right,” Xander agreed. “Lets just get the rest of the stuff inside.”
It only took a few more minutes for everyone to get everything inside and put in an appropriate location.
“You brought a good crowd,” Angel said to Faith as soon as they were done. “Some of them are a bit young, and one has wings.” He looked up at Ace. “How did this happen?”
“Magic,” Ace replied. “And a whole lot of stupidity.”
Angel nodded. “Makes sense.” He turned back to Faith. “How many Slayers did you bring?”
“I brought three of B’s,” Faith said. “Lyra insisted on coming.”
“The one I scared,” Angel said and turned to Lyra. “I’m still sorry about that.”
“Don’t blame yourself because my subconscious made you all evil and scary.”
“You dreamed about Angelus?” The tall vampire asked in a worried tone.
“She and the Vixen dreamed about all the big bads that Buffy had fought,” Spike explained. “You and the Fun Size were at the mansion with Acathla.”
“How much did Spike tell you?” Xander asked.
“A resurrected vampire that was originally from a parallel world forced Buffy to go with him and he may have turned Buffy into a vampire.”
“That’s the gist,” Charley said.
“And Willow told me she will be human in less than a week,” Angel said, and drew everyone’s attention to him.
“How?” Xander asked. “If Buffy had been bitten then she’s been changed.” He pointed at Charley. “Their kind it’s possible to turn back but you have to kill the sire within a certain time.” He pulled down his collar and showed the bite marks he received from Regine. “I was lucky. Buffy wasn’t.”
“When did Willow contact you?” Faith asked.
“Last night,” Angel said. “Right after Spike had called. She told me about the potion.” He looked confused. “She didn’t tell you?”
“We had a hard time trying to contact her,” Xander said and looked betrayed. “She called you but did not return my call.”
“What kind of potion?” Lyra asked.
“Hard to pronounce the name,” Angel said. “But it’s a curse bonding potion. Some of the ingredients include holy water, charcoal, and a powder made from the scales of a tarasque and a few other things.”
“That’s why Dru kept the skin’s it sheds,” Spike said.
“Charcoal?” Ace asked.
“The kind used to treat poison victims,” Angel explained. “Except the poison in this case is vampirism. The potion will stay in Buffy’s system for a week and then she will throw it up.”
“And if she pukes she’ll be human again?” Faith asked.
“Exactly,” Angel said.
“This potion is green right?” Charley asked. Now he knew what Buffy had swallowed when she left the car.
“I knew that wasn’t Midori,” Faith said.
“While the potion is still in her she will still be a vampire,” Angel said.
“And she will be under Dandridge’s control,” Charley said. “Kill Dandridge and she will be free.”
“I got several things earlier this evening,” Angel said.
“When are we going to get B and stake this guy?” Faith asked.
“Tomorrow evening,” Charley said. “Dawn is getting too close.”
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It had been a while since Jerry had a good flight in bat form. He missed soaring through the night flapping his leathery wings. Tonight was a good night to do so and it was a good night to teach his new bride how to achieve the form.
She was wary at first but he just told her to believe and when she balked again he grabbed her hand and jumped out the window with her and changed. She shifted her form along with him and the two of them flew through the night. After a couple of hours the circled back to the house and shifted back once they entered a window.
“That,” Buffy said after she had regained her human form. “That was intense.”
“I can never tire of that myself,” Jerry said. “Your wolf and mist form are quite similar.”
“Not sure about the mist thing,” Buffy said as she found a chair to sit in. “I don’t want to lose myself.”
“You will not lose yourself,” Jerry told her.
“How could you be so sure?” Buffy asked as she looked up at him.
“Because I will hold on to you and never let you go.” He helped her up to her feet.
“I never want to leave you.” She embraced him.
“And you never shall. We will always be together.” He held her close and twirled her around the room. He remembered how they once danced so long ago. He remembered the ornate balls they would attend while pretending to be human and when the balls were over they would find stragglers who were so drunk that they could barely stand up to feed on.
There was a cough behind them. “I’m not disturbing you am I?” Abigail asked.
“A little,” Buffy said and sneered at her. “Shouldn’t you be preparing our coffins, girl?”
“I just came here to let you know that your coffin has been prepared,” Abigail said and frowned. “The flower petals and potpourri have been added.”
“Thank you, Abigail,” Jerry said. “You are dismissed.
“By your leave sir,” Abigail said and closed the door behind them.
“Ugh,” Buffy rolled her eyes. “Can I eat her?”
“She has been quite helpful,” Jerry said. “You should be more kind.” He remembered having a similar conversation with Lucinda. “Speaking of killing the servants you need to stop staking those other kind of vampires that work for us.”
“I’m sorry,” Buffy said and stared at her hands. “I guess a part of me will always be a Slayer.”
“You can kill those of us who are not working for us that includes killing those to drink.” He had been snapping the necks of humans he brought for her to feed on. She felt like she couldn’t.
“I can’t hurt the innocent.”
“They are beneath us, beneath you.” He ran his fingers through her hair while he stared into her eyes. “They are animals.”
“I protect the innocent.”
“You will not be strong if you continue to feed on those who are already dead. You will need blood from a live victim.”
“I can’t kill an innocent.”
“What about those who are not innocent?” Jerry asked. “The criminals? The murderers and the rapists?”
“I can feed of those,” Buffy said. “I’ve killed a bad man before.”
“That will be a start,” Jerry said and kissed her.
-
Charley loaded the stakes into the rifle as he listened to Xander’s instructions. He had been awake since sunset and got a good amount of sleep in his sleeping bag. He looked over at Lyra. She also appeared to have been well rested and was putting stake bolts into her hand held.
“We will arrive in front of the house,” Xander said. “Charley, how many entrances are there?”
“A few,” Charley answered. “There is the front door, the back door, and the basement.”
“You can enter through the first floor windows?” Xander asked
“They are like normal windows,” Charley said. “I also lived at that place for several years.”
“Good,” Xander said and looked towards Spike. “Looks like you get to break a few windows after all.”
“The fun just keeps on getting better,” Spike said with a grin.
“We will be four teams,” Xander said as he paced in front of him. Charley had to wonder if the guy had any military training. “There will be one vampire and at least one Slayer on each team.” He looked towards Charley and Lyra. “Obvious you two will be part of a team.”
“As obvious as you and Faith will also be a team,” Lyra told him.
Faith blinked. “What do you mean by that?”
“Uh why would you say that?” Xander asked. He was blushing for some reason. He scowled at Spike when the British vampire started to chuckle.
“You two work together real well,” Lyra said. “The both of them are good fighters and teachers.”
“Ah,” Xander said. “Of course we would make a good team them.” He cleared his throat and he still seemed to be flustered about something.
“That’s not the only reason,” Spike said.
“Oh yeah,” Evil said and started to laugh. “Because of you know.”
“Spike,” Xander said in a low tone.
“They still are,” Spike added and in turn set of Evil to an even louder laugh.
“You really need to shut up now,” Faith told him.
“Nothing to be ashamed about,” Spike said. “Then again it’s Xander, so I would feel ashamed.”
“You guys are in love?” Ace asked as he pointed at Faith and Xander.
“No,” the Slayer and Watcher said at the same time.
“Not love,” Spike said. He made his index and thumb into a ring and used his other pointer to poke through it.
“Friends with benefits,” Evil said between laughs.
Xander’s face was red as a tomato and Charley wasn’t sure if it was because of embarrassment or anger. Whatever the emotion was it as at the point where Xander and Faith ran over towards the bleached vampires.
Charley, Ace, and Lyra jumped in between them and Tyler, Dessaree and Angel held back Faith and Xander.
“This is not getting us anywhere,” Charley said. “Spike you an Ed can knock the immaturity. We are here to take on Dandridge and rescue Buffy. We are not here to act like eighth graders, talk about everyone’s sex life, or attack each other.” He turned to look at Faith and Xander. “I know you two are pissed but can you not kill some of the team this evening.”
“He’s right,” Angel said. “It might be best if I’m with you two.”
Xander nodded. “I was going to talk more but I did put Charley in the lead.”
“Thank you,” Charley said as he stepped in front of the crowd. “We already got two teams here.” He turned to Ace. “You are with Lyra and me.” He turned around to face Spike and Ed. “Spike you Dessaree and Tyler will make up the third and Ed you are with Fahwa and Thera.”
“How are we to attack?” Thera asked. The Colombian Slayer’s English was not the best and Lyra had offered to translate for her but she was determined to work on improving it.
“We go in through each side,” Charley instructed. “Xander’s will take the front, Spike’s will take the right, Ed’s will be from the left and mine will be through the basement. Stake them all but Buffy.”
“I have a question,” Tyler said. “What if there is a human living there. How would you fangy ones get in?”
“Crap,” Charley grumbled. He hadn’t thought about that. He and the other vampires might have trouble getting in.
“I bet the place is crawling with vampires,” Faith said. “If there is a human there they may have given a universal invitation to all vampires and if not.” She paused to crack her knuckles. “We’ll convince them to let you guys in.”
“Then it is settled,” Charley said. “We will leave at once.”
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Charley crouched down between the trees and up against the fence that separated the two yards. They climbed over the gate of the house behind the Dandridge house and were as quite as the night when they made their way through the yard, climbed that fence and slid down to survey the back.
There were plenty vampire in the back just relaxing. Some were drinking beer and a few were smoking. None of them had even noticed Charley’s group, not even with the loud crunching and munching sound that came from Ace.
“Ace could you not eat so loudly?” Charley whispered to him.
“Sorry,” Ace said after he swallowed. “I was hungry.”
“What are you eating anyway?” Lyra asked. “We didn’t bring anything edible except for the communion wafers. Oh no. You are not.”
“Ace,” Charley groaned and turned to the boy.
“Sorry,” Ace said. He had a half eaten wafer in his hand.
“We need those,” Lyra pointed at him. “And how can you eat those. They are duller than plain rice cakes.”
“They are actually not bad,” Ace said. “They would probably be good with hummus.” He popped the rest of the wafer in his mouth.
“Could you not think with your stomach?” Lyra asked.
“Shhh,” Charley whispered and held up his hand. He watched as three of the vampires were walking towards the bushes diving the property between the house and the house where Charley grew up in. They had to have heard Spike’s team.
There was a crash of glass breaking coming from the left and several more vampires ran off in that direction.
“Time to move,” Charley instructed. He ran towards a few vampires that decided to hang back and fired the rifle at them. He was able to take out two of them and missed the third one. Lyra shot it with her gun.
He ran towards where Spike’s team was while Lyra and Ace went after the vamps on the other side. Using the gun he was able to fire after two of the vampires but could not find the third.
The sound of hammer banging against wood was heard and Charley turned to see someone actually hammering a stake into the chest of a vampire one the ground. The hammer slammed down again while the vamp turned to dust.
“That wasn’t messy,” the teenager said as he stood up. “The stake is gone though.”
“With that kind you have to hold onto the stake,” Charley explained as he checked out the kid to see if he was hurt. “If you don’t hold it then it will disintegrate along with the vampire.”
“You know they exist,” the boy said. He looked like he was somewhere between fifteen and seventeen. His light brown curly hair was styled in a neat cut. He stared up at Charley with bright green eyes. “Nobody believes me when I said there are vampires living next door.”
“I believe you and that is why I’m here. What is your name?”
“Kyle,” the teen said. He blinked his eyes. “You’re Chaz Broker.”
“Are you hurt?” Charley asked him. He should have figured this kid would have been a fan of his
“Just a few scrapes.”
“Kyle, you listen to me. I have a team of vampire hunters with me. We will take care of them. You need to go home and stay there where it is safe.”
“But Mr. Broker I can help,” Kyle said. “I know everything there is to know about vampires.”
“This isn’t a movie, Kyle. This is real.”
“I know. I got to kill one.”
“What is a Slayer?”
“A Slayer?” Kyle asked.
“You don’t know. A Slayer is a young woman, most likely a teenager who upon a certain age gets their powers. They are stronger than vampires. They run faster than normal humans. They have the agility and skills to kill vampires and demons. I didn’t know at first either. Go home where it’s safe. You can watch from your window.”
Kyle clenched his fists at first but he turned around and went through the bushes to his house.
“Too much like me,” Charley said as he ran to join up with Lyra and Ace. “Don’t want him to get involved.”
-
“That was the last one,” Spike said as Deesree finished staking a vampire.
The Kenyan Slayer exhaled through her nostrils as she stared at where she had dusted the vamp. She wore four earrings, two in each ear, and a yellow shirt because yellow was her lucky color.
“Better get a move on before others arrive,” Tyler said as he climbed through the window.
“You mean before more arrive inside?” Spike asked. Their trying to break in through the window did not go exactly as planned. Tyler and Spike both tried to break in through the glass in silence but none of them had a proper glasscutter and made a loud crash sound.
“Talk about this later.” Tyler climbed through the window and was grabbed from behind.
Spike jumped through the window and the second he had landed he felt two people advancing on him. He struck one in the gut while he shoved the other one away and stepped aside and pulled out his stake. As soon as another one came for him he struck him the face.
“What are you?” The vampire asked.
“One of you,” Spike said as his face shifted. “But only better.” He slammed the point of the stake into the vampire’s chest and spun around to dust the other one in a similar matter.
He could hear more ass kicking and dusting going around him and out of the corner of his eye he could see Deesree fighting hand to hand with two other vampires.
Spike felt an extreme burning and heat on his arm. It had caught on fire. Spike screamed and dropped to the ground and rolled around until the flames were smothered.
“You are one of us,” another vampire laughed at him. “Burn just like us as well.”
“Little shit,” Spike snarled as he advanced on the vamp.
“Spike!” Tyler shouted.
Spike looked up to see a young woman with brown hair past her shoulders and dressed in a red dress. She held her hand raised and was saying something in Latin. In front of her was dozen pencil thin wooden stakes floating in the air. The woman said another word and the stakes flew toward Spike.
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Lyra and Ace were at the entrance to the basement. Lyra was tearing away at the wood while Ace was standing guard over her with the stake gun in his hand. He was a bit too nervous and aimed the weapon at Charley when he approached them.
“Oh good,” Ace said when he realized who it was.
“I think we can squeeze in here,” Lyra said when she had ripped off half of the boards.
“I’ll go first,” Charley said as he walked down the stairs. To his surprise there were no vampires down there waiting for him. There were two coffins. He lifted the lid of one and saw that there were flowers and what smelled like potpourri in it. “Not his.”
“Then this is the one,” Lyra said as she opened the other lid.
“You and Ace make a large cross out of the wafers,” Charley said as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. “I’ll keep watch.”
“How many did you eat?” Lyra asked as she opened the box of wafers.
“Only three,” Ace answered.
Charley listened to them as the pulled wafers out of the box. He did not remove his eyes from the door.
Two vampires came in through the door and ran down the stairs. Charley shot them both with the bolts. A third came running. This one was a big beefy vampire with long wild hair.
Charley tried to shoot it but the rifle had jammed. He tried to jam it into the vampire’s chest but the big demon snatched it out of his hands and broke it in half.
“Now what?” The big vampire asked as several more were pouring in.
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