Spike followed his wife as they pushed their way off the crowded airplane back from England. They had bought the plane tickets so they would arrive and return after dark. They were now standing in the airport luggage pickup. Buffy grabbed their bags and they finally made it back outside where Xander was waiting to pick them up. "How was it?" Xander asked as he opened the trunk to his 2003 Toyota Celica.
"It would have been a lot better if it wouldn't have been so bloody crowded…" Spike grumbled.
"Do you complain about everything?" Xander asked unconsciously.
"He's lying he had a great time he just doesn't want it to show right sweetie?" Buffy smiled at Spike as she tossed her big suitcase into Xander's trunk.
"Well at night I did…" He began.
"Okay well that's all I really wanna hear of that sentence." Xander cut him off.
"How are Charli and Conner?" Buffy asked changing the subject.
"Patrolling probably, that is what they were getting ready to do when I left Angel Investigations." Xander replied closing the trunk. The three of them got into the car and Xander started the drive back to Angel Investigations.
****
Charli's sword cut through the air like a knife cutting through butter, the vampire's head fell to the ground and then exploded into a pile of dust along with the rest of the vampire. She and Conner had just cleaned out a huge nest, one she didn't think Buffy couldn't have taken. She smiled and looked around the old dusty apartment. "Funny how they all fit in here." Charli commented. It was a rather small apartment for 12 vampires.
"What do want to do now? I mean you're parents are coming back sometime tonight and I'm sure you want to see them again…" Conner said.
Charli followed him out of the door of the apartment, "Conner, what's that?" She asked pointing at a pale white figure across the street. "It's kinda paler than the average vamp." She pointed out.
"Maybe he doesn't believe in tanning beds." Conner shrugged.
Charli laughed, "I don't much think that's it but it's a possibility…" She smiled. They leaped off the edge of the outdoor walkway, down 3 floors and on the ground. "Hey buddy, you wanna see something cool?" Charli yelled across the empty road. The creature turned around, it's jaw way open and it had more teeth than any vampire Charli had ever seen. It's jaw closed and it appeared to have a normal mouth. "Damn!" Charli said in surprise.
Conner looked as confused as his lover, the creature jumped on Charli. She tried to kick it off but she was too weak from her previous battle. Out of nowhere came another just like it and it attacked Conner. He tried to fight too but couldn't. Charli heard a swoosh and thought it was more of these freaky looking things. She was wrong, the Slayer didn't see much but the vampires were quickly dusted. She couldn't see who had done it but she did see the end of a long leather trench coat go behind a brick wall. She jumped up, now reenergized, and ran after the person so fast Conner barley saw her leave.
Charli stopped when she realized whom the only person in the world it could have been.
****
"Did you have a good time?" Angel asked Buffy as she unpacked her clothes into a dresser in an empty room in the hotel.
"We did, it was nice." Buffy really didn't know what to say. "I hate to ask because I really don't know if I want to know or not, but how were Charli and Conner?"
"Trying to get them to sleep in a different room was hard because Charli always found a way to get to Conner but other than that they were the perfect little angels from a hell dimension." Angel smiled.
"Dad!" Conner yelled as he burst into the hotel's main entrance. Angel, Buffy, and Spike came rushing down the stairs.
"What happened Conner? Where's Charli?" Angel asked noticing the cut down his son's arm.
"These things, they looked like vampires but they were feeding on other vampires, they attacked us. Someone killed them and Charli followed them, but… I don't know!" He said.
"Look Conner calm down, we'll find her, just after Cordy fixes your arm up just take us to the spot where it happened." Buffy told Conner.
****
Charli stepped carefully around the corner of the huge abandoned warehouse, not knowing what she expected to see. Her leather top shone under the bright streetlight that flipped on abruptly when she had taken the turn. 'Motion sensor…' she thought. She knew who it was she just hadn't been expecting them to be in Los Angeles.
****
"Are you sure this is where it was? Because I don't see any clues. Maybe she got kidnapped or ran away…" Dawn thought aloud.
"Dawn! I only let you come so you wouldn't be at Angel Investigations alone, so behave." Buffy snapped. Dawn rolled her eyes and looked around.
"Hey, Buffy! What's that?" Dawn asked nodding her head over to a piece of paper near the edge of a building. Buffy followed Angel over to it.
"Good to see you again Chuck…" Angel read. Angel looked up puzzled at Buffy.
"That could have been anybody right? I mean who on earth is Chuck? What does that have to do with Charlize?" Dawn babbled.
"Dawn!" Buffy and Angel yelled at the same time.
"That's what they called her at home, for short. But who else knew that?" Conner said aloud.
"Who on earth…" Dawn began.
"DAWN!!!" Buffy yelled. "Enough, Chuck is a nickname for Charlie, and according to Conner it was her nickname when she was 13 or 14. Okay, Conner so who else called her that assuming it's for her?" Buffy asked.
"I knew, Holtz, T.K. and there could be more that I don't know about, there was this one guy I saw her with he was black and had some weird tattoos. I think she called him B, what that stood for I don't know."
"So how do we find this guy?" Spike asked, "I mean all we know is black, swirly tattoos, and B…wait a second I think I've seen him somewhere before…." Spike said.
****
"Been a while hadn't it?" A deep voice asked the young Slayer.
"Two years, so why now?" She asked.
"You and your friend were almost done for, I couldn't see you become one of them."
"Thank you Blade." Charli smiled as he stepped out of the darkness.