Out with the old, in with the new [PG-13]
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson
Summary:
Set in the first season, the Master Vampire is assassinated and another vampire takes control over Sunnydale's undead population. The new guy in town decides to check out for himself why so many of the local vampires are scared to death of the Slayer...
Rating:
This 'ere is PG-13 territory, due to violence and coarse language. At least I think so, feel free to correct this ignorant Swede if it should be higher or lower.
***** Disclaimer *****
Buffy, the Slayerettes and the Buffypires doesn't belong to me, blablabla, belongs to a heap of other fellows. Cainites doesn't belong to me either, blablabla, belongs to White Wolf. Roland however, is mine, *all* mine. Muhahahahahaha!
***
Flames, feedback, corrections or whatever, is accepted and appriciated at:
hawk@telia.com or ICQ:21771860
New stories, updates and whatnot is available at:
http://hem.passagen.se/hawkgts/
***** Stop reading this shit and move along to the rest *****
"....." = Speech
*.....* = Screams/Emphasis
/...../ = Thoughts
*/.../* = Telepathy
~.....~ = Translations
+.....+ = Sounds/Radio/Telephone/Computers
+Whhhhhhhsssss*twiph*+
"Nasty creatures..." Roland muttered and shuddered as the cat was thrown off the roof with an arrow in it's head. "Hate cats..." he mumbled and ran, throwing himself off the roof towards the adjactent building. "Hate 'em!" he exclaimed as he landed on his feet and kept on running.
Roland was an intelligent man, he knew that his irrational fear and hatred of cats were something he really should learn to deal with. But old habits were hard to break, he had 'lived' with that fear, 'lived' with the hatred, for nearly nine hundred years.
During his lifetime, he'd probably killed thousands of the wretched animals. But it didn't seem as if his best efforts had done the world any good. There still were cats all over the place, one of the reasons why Roland prefered to stay the hell away from the surface.
But after what he'd heard about this girl, he just had to see her in action for himself. He had waited for deccades, waited for a chance to take control over this town. But he hadn't been able to do so before, his attempts had all been twarted by the experienced old bastard that had ruled over Rolands kind here.
But the old guy had made a misstake, he'd become too preoccupied by the girl, allowing Roland to arrive unnoticed. Once he'd arrived, it had been relatively simple to remove the old bastard. Roland smiled and glanced at his longbow before he lept onto the roof of another building. The bow was his weapon of choice, something that his fellow knights hadn't appriciated much during his breathing days. But even they couldn't deny the fact that he was extremly good with it.
He was especially good at making thoose long, impossible shots. More then one target who'd believed himself safe had suddenly found out just how wrong they were. The old bastard who ruled here in Sunnydale had been one of them.
The arrow through the heart had been followed up by a strike from the three underlings Roland had managed to bring with him. The old guy had been exposed to holy water, been decapitated and set on fire with a flame thrower. It had perhaps been just a little excessive, but Roland didn't belive in taking chances in certain situations. Killing that old bastard had been one of thoose situations.
The old guys underlings had protested, but after Roland and his own three underlings had explained the situation and killed a few of the most vocal protesters, the protests ended instantly.
"Miaow?"
The unexpected sound had a profound effect on Roland. The acient vampire, a man who'd been alive for almost a millennia, yelped out loud and jumped. The balance was shattered, the footing lost and Roland fell off the roof he was running on. But even in the fall, he managed to yank out an arrow and fire it long before he landed. He saw out of the corner of his eye how the arrow struck the cat in the chest and threw it backwards. Roland tossed the bow away and concentrated on breaking his fall without having to worry about breaking the bow at the same time.
He landed on the sidewalk and rolled around, slamming backfirst into a signpost. Roland grunted and took a few seconds to recover before he stood up again. He looked around and grumbled, there weren't many others out at this time of night. But the few who were out were all staring at him. He picked his bow up and walked down the street. He was almost there, he would have had to get down soon anyway in order to cross the street. He could see the park ahead on the other side of the road.
Frank had a failing, he was a slave to his habits. One of them was the way he fed. He always went to the local park to find his vessels. He'd only been in town for two weeks, but Roland was sure that the feeding habits of his moronic underling had been noticed by the Slayer. Especially since the paper had run a large special on the latest series of murders in the park in their morning edition. The Slayer was without a doubt waiting somewhere in the park, lurking in the shadows while she waited for the murderer to make his move.
The police would be there as well, but neither the Slayer nor Frank would allow them to bother them. According to what he'd heard, the Slayer was an accomplished sneak and Frank had long since learned how to avoid the police staking out his feeding grounds.
Roland made it inside without being spotted, the overworked Sunnydale PD simply didn't have the manpower to maintain proper security around the park. Their idea of securing the park was apparently a sign that said that one shouldn't walk alone there at night. Roland merely shook his head, the stupidity of humankind still managed to surprise him from time to time.
Roland felt how the power of his acient blood burned hotly in his veins and seeped out towards his skin. Vampires of his kind often found it hard to learn the more mystical powers available to them, but Roland had always been a quick learner.
By masquerading as a Cainite, he'd been able to receive training in their so-called Disciplines. The one he used now was one that he'd learned from a Toreador Ancillae, the power to Obfuscate himself and fade into the background. He'd found that ability useful on several occations.
His contacts among the Kindred also gave him a defenetive edge over his equals. His kind were highly territorial creatures, extremly paranoid and had severe cooperation issues. The Kindred suffered from the same afflictions, but to a lesser degree. They cooperated from time to time, they had organization on a global scale and rumours spread quickly in their world.
Roland had always detested the fact that he hadn't been Embraced by a Cainite, he'd never felt quite at home among his own kind. That was the main reason why he'd spent so much time among the Kindred, posing as Caitiff or sometimes even as Nosferatu.
He'd grown quite skilled during the years and he now had two alternate identities that he used whenever he wished to blend in with the Kindred. The Nosferatu anarch Vorshak, a man who'd often expressed his sympaties for the Sabbat. He could also pose as the Caitiff Quill, a loyal supporter of the Camarilla who once held the office of Sheriff in Vancouver before he had been forced to resign.
"Run!" he heard a female voice scream and directly after that he heard a grunt of pain that sounded very much like Frank. He stepped out of the way as a terrified and shocked out of her mind teenaged girl rushed in his direction, heading for the nearest exit. He smiled as she passed him by and then headed in the direction she had come from. He hurried up his steps a litte bit, he didn't want to miss this confrontation.
Frank was a little more stupid then most, but he had been a mercenary by profession before he'd turned into a vampire. He could hold his own against almost anything and was very useful for as long as there was an opponent he could be directed at. But when there wasn't, he was a severe problem and had now outlived his usefullness. His mad dash at the 'Master vampire' of Sunnydale and the quickness with a blade had resulted in the decapitation of Rolands deadliest enemy. With that out of the way, Roland had no other immediate use for Frank.
Pitting him against the Slayer would probably generate a great deal of useful information. After what he'd heard about the girl, he didn't think Frank would survive the encounter. But by watching from the shadows, he'd be able to study her style and possibly gain some insight into her failings.
He slowed down and searched for a better spot to watch from. He now saw the two combatants, one tiny girl standing proudly a little bit away from a enourmous male vampire who was hunched over in pain.
"Hurt much, asshole?" the girl asked and Frank glared at her with a promise of never-ending violence in his eyes. Roland smiled and headed for an old oak that he leaned against as he waited to see what would take place here. He leaned the bow back beside him, not wanting to be obstructed by it.
"I'll skin you alive, girlie." Frank snarled, already in his demonic form. He slowly straightened up, something he often did at the start of a confrontation. It usually intimidated opponents when they saw Frank stand up straight. The man stood well above two meter tall and he had the bulk to match the height.
But the Slayer seemed to be less then impressed, she merely smiled and yawned before she glanced down at her nails. She sighed theatrically and shrugged.
"I just had these done. You creeps are costing me a fortune in clothes and personal appearence. Have you got any idea how much money I have to spend on replacing ruined clothes, ruined makeup, broken nails and just attempting to maintain a decent hairdo?" she asked and Roland had to struggle to keep himself from snickering. The girl had guts, he had to give her that.
"That will *not* be a problem for this guy." a new voice suddenly said. "He'll be nothing but a pile of dust before the night is over. Right, Buf?" Roland glared at the new arrival, a teenaged boy who tried to maintain a casual countenance, but failed badly. He held a stake in his right hand and he had a cross in his left. A teenage girl suddenly stepped out from behind him, brandishing a cross and a vial of a clear liquid, possibly holy water.
"Stay out of this, guys. I'm the Slayer here, remember?" the Slayer told her friends and moved around, so she stood with her back at her friends. Preventing Frank from rushing at them without first passing her. Roland nodded to himself, then glared at her friends. He wished to see the Slayer fight on her own. He might wish to observe her fighting in a group later on, but it was important that he first saw how she fought alone. Protected by the powers of Obfuscate, he walked right up behind the two new arrivals and slugged them in the back of their heads.
"Roland!" Frank exclaimed joyfully. "Want to give me a hand here?" he asked and indicated the Slayer with a nod. Frank had obviously been unnerved by the girls statement of being the Slayer, otherwise he'd never ask for help with any foe.
"Oh, yeah. Like I'm going to fall for *that* old trick." the Slayer exclaimed. "Look, guys. Just make sure that nobody creeps up on us, okay?" she added and waited for a few seconds. "Guys?" she asked again and Roland bent down to check for their pulses.
"They're alive." he said. "Just unconcious." he added and walked over to the oak where he once again leaned back in a relaxed posture. "Please, do continue."
"Boss?!" Frank protested.
"You did this to yourself, I've told you time and time again to change your feeding habits now and then. You are on your own. I'm only here to watch." Roland said and took out a notepad and a fountain pen. He scratched it against the pad, making sure that it worked. "Don't mind me." he added and waited to see who would make the next move.
Frank was hesitant, unnerved by the appearence of the Slayer and being abandoned by his superior. The Slayer was equally unnerved by the loss of her comrades and a vampire leaning against a tree, prepared to take notes as she fought against another vampire. Roland hadn't bothered to hide his demonic features, so the girl was obviously aware of just what he was.
The one who finally took action was Frank, just as Roland had expected it to be. He stepped forward and slashed at the girls chest with his razor-sharp claws. The attack was swift and skillfully executed, but the Slayer managed to both avoid it and respond with a kick at her opponents stomach. Roland felt like clapping his hands and he had a sudden craving for popcorn, but he settled for making a few notes on his pad.
Frank hardly seemed fazed by the kick, he merely tried again and slashed at the now crouching Slayer. Her response was to dodge and throw herself out of harms way. Roland shrugged and quickly jotted down a few lines about her lack of agression. If it had been him, he'd have responded with a dodge and a blow at the groin. He sighed and wished he'd have though to bring along a few extra observers who could watch from other angles. It was possible that Frank had prepared a counter-strike that the girl wouldn't have been able to avoid if she'd struck out at his groin. Frank could afford to take a few hits, but the girl couldn't.
The fight continued, almost as much of a verbal fight as a physical one. The girl had a quick wit and didn't hesitate to use it in order to enrage Frank. Frank couldn't match her in wits, so he settled for inventive curses and graphic descriptions of just what he had in mind for his annoying opponent. Roland even found himself writing down parts of their verbal sparring, it didn't provide him with any useful information. But it would provide him with a few smiles in the years to come.
It was pretty obvious that both Slayer and vampire were pretty evenly matched. Frank was strong, the Slayer was fast. Frank was a skilled Martial Artist, the girl had lightening reflexes and great intuition. Frank healed, the Slayer managed to avoid serious injuries by deflecting or avoiding attacks.
What finally ended the stalemate was a cross that hung around the Slayers neck. Franks fist made contact with it as the Slayer side-stepped a straight right. Frank howled in pain and became distracted for a split second, that was all the Slayer needed. Within seconds, she'd broken Frank's right arm at the elbow, shoved a knee up into his stomach and tossed him to the ground.
Before the much larger man had time to react, she whipped out a stake from beneath her t-shirt and expertly pierced his heart with it. With a dull 'phoom', Frank exploded into million particles of dust. The Slayer took a moment to recover, then turned against Roland who was still busy taking notes. He finished writing and then looked at her with a tiny smile playing on his lips, displaying his large fangs.
"Not bad, Slayer. Not bad at all." he said and pocketed both pen and notepad. "I assume that you have medical supplies at home?" he asked and she slowly nodded. "Good. Then you may bring your friends home and care for them. I think we'll be seeing more of each other, but not for very long." he said and chuckled.
"You're not another Vampire with a soul, are you?" she asked with a suspicious look in her eyes.
"Good heavens, no!" Roland exclaimed. "I take it you've met Angelus?" he asked but didn't wait for a reply. "I'm merely the new guy in town, the new 'Master vampire' if you will. I just wanted to size up the girl who allowed me to get rid of an old rival." He glanced at the boy and the girl once again. "Do you want me to call for a cab or do you wish to take them home on your own?" he asked and brandished a celluar telephone. "You can make the call yourself if it makes you feel any better."
"No... I'll take care of it..." she hesitantly replied and looked even more suspious then before. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded to know.
"I told you. I wanted to see what I'll be up against. Now I'll go back to my 'home' and you'll go back to yours. You'll care for your friends and I'll compile a little instruction pamflet for my underlings in how to face you and live. If you survive long enough to meet me again, we'll probably fight to the death for at least one of us. But until then, there's no reason why we can't be civil to each other." Roland explained and picked up his bow.
"Except for the fact that I'm the Slayer, you're a blood-sucking leech and I won't let you get away from me." the girl said and reversed her grip on the stake she was still holding, brandishing it like a knife at Roland.
Roland shrugged and use his innate vampiric ability to become extremly quick. Then he pulled out an arrow, strung it, aimed and fired, quicker then the blink of an eye.
+Whhhhhhhsssss*twiph*+
"*AAAA*aaaaaaaaahhhhh!" the girl screamed and crumbled to the ground with an arrow sticking out of her left thigh. Roland shook his head in dismay, then walked up to the girl and slapped the stake away from her hand. He quickly frisked her, relieving her of two more stakes and a Bowie knife. He removed the leather belt she was wearing and placed it in her mouth.
"Bite down on this." he instructed her. "This is going to hurt like hell." he added and lifted her right leg, pushed the arrow all the way through her leg and then pulled it out from the other side. She was trying to fight him, but her movements were uncoordinated and her eyes were unfocused. "By the way, that arrow was poisoned." he told her and grabbed her wrists, preventing her from further struggle. "You'll be feverish, suffer from migraine and you're going to sweat like a pig for a couple of days." She spat out the belt and kicked him in the ribs, but it wasn't hard enough to affect him.
"I'll dust yah!" she threatened, then whimpered in pain as he dropped her right wrist and clamped down around her leg, right where the wound was. His claws dug into her leg and she thrashed in pain.
"After that, you'll be right as rain again." he continued and released her. He ripped her t-shirt, tore it up and used the bits to fashion a primitive bandage for her leg, using the belt to make sure that it'd stay in place. She screamed as he fastened the belt around her leg, perhaps a little more tight then the situation required. But he hadn't become one the most feared vampires of his kind by treating everyone around him with silk gloves.
He pulled out her wallet and checked out her ID, shaking his head as he tried to imagine why she wore that while she was out on patrol. He memorized her adress, her name and then returned the wallet to her pocket. He repeated the process with her two friends, then left the park in order to find a car that he could hot-wire. Soon enough, he arrived back at the scene with a ten year old pickup with the door on the drivers side yanked off. Supernatural strength did have it's uses sometimes.
He tossed the three teenagers up onto the back, none too gently and then hopped back into the car. He had neither the time nor the desire to visit all of them, so he settled for heading to the Slayers home. Finding her room didn't take very long, getting the window open took even less. Getting the three kids up to that window took a little longer and a few slates were broken in the process, but he managed to pull it off without alerting any inhabitants of the house.
Since he couldn't enter without an invitation, he just pushed the kids in through the open window, then jumped off the piece of roof he was standing on and landed on the lawn. He looked back up at the window and saw the disoriented and probably delirious Slayer peeking out at him. He smiled and waved happily at her, then walked away with a happy grin on his lips.
It was foolish beyond measure to leave a living foe behind, able to fight another day. But Roland had always loved a challenge and this girl might just be the one to give him one. She would need some time to recover, but that suited him just fine. That time would allow him to consolidate his position among the vampires of Sunnydale. When the Slayer was ready to pick up her stakes again, he would be waiting for her.
"Miaow."
Roland stopped dead in his tracks and shivered, there was a cat somewhere nearby. He glanced at the shadows around himself, then quickly darted for the pickup truck where he'd left his bow and arrows in the passenger seat. When he had them in his arms, he relaxed a little bit, but he was still shivering.
"I've got to seek help for this..." Roland muttered and closed the door behind himself. He hesitated over what instinct to follow. One told him to get the hell away from here. Another one told him to stay and put an arrow between the eyes of the wretched beast that stalked him in the darkness.
He glanced at the dark shadows provided by the houses of the neighbourhood, the fences and the vegetation. The cat could be hiding anywhere, just waiting for a chance to pounce on him.
"Miaow?"
The faint sound made him burst into action, he tossed the bow back into the passenger seat, started the car and pressed the pedal to the metal. With the tires screeching, he swiftly made the car dart ahead. He cursed the fact that he never really had learned how to drive. He'd observed the process often enough and he knew how to hotwire a car, but today was his first time behind the wheel.
The way from the park to the Slayers house was now littered with evidence of his reckless driving. Mailboxes were shattered, dented garbage cans lined both sides of the road and more then one car had been scratched. He didn't do much better now, the old knight cursed in Latin as the car seemed to do as it pretty damn well pleased. The mysterious gearbox protested loudly as he yanked the stick in several directions, attempting to change gears.
The high-pitched wine of the engine he'd been forced to endure on the way to the house was suddenly replaced with a lower-pitched sound that turned higher by the second as the car moved faster and faster. The tires started to screech as he skidded back and forth over the road, occationally crashing through a hedge or a fence as he swerved into peoples front lawns.
"Accursed servant of the devil!" he roared and punched at a blinking red light with a picture of a seated human in front of it. "Silence thy screaming, foul rubber hooves!" he added as the tires squealed again. He heard sirens from behind and looked back, cursing at the presence of policemen following him. He looked back forward and yelped as he saw that his brief distraction had altered the direction so that he was now heading directly at the home of one of the wretched humans of Sunnydale.
+CRASH+
"Damned be thou and thy decendants for fifteen generations!" he roared as another crash came. The car emerged from the house and he just barely managed to steer away from a tree in his path. "Moronic carriage of steel! Get back onto the path!" he urged the car and glared at a red light on the panel directly in front of him. It had a circle with a white exclamation mark in front of the light, but he didn't know what sort of mysterious purpose it served. "Stop thy blinking!" he shouted and put his fist through the entire panel of lights, meters and mysterious contraptions.
"Catspawn!" he cursed and howled in pain as electric sparks jumped out from the ruined panel. He saw one of the gas stations his drivers stopped at on occation to fill the cars up with liquid and headed for that. Roland figured that the car might disobey him because it was hungry, he knew many a horse that had acted out of character because they hadn't been properly fed or watered. But he cursed again as he saw more policemen heading at him from other directions. "Feed thyself, accursed beast of metal!" Roland shouted at the car, grabbed his bow, grabbed his arrows and then leaped out of the car.
He tossed the bow and arrows into a yard at the side of the road, then howled in pain as he landed on the hard street and rolled around. He felt his clothes being torn apart and he felt his flesh burn as it was scratched from his body. He rolled through the fence of another yard where he came to a stop, but the policemen followed the ravenous car directly towards the gas station. It appeared as if they hadn't seen him leave that nasty beast of a car. If that was any indication of how a thirsty car behaved, he intended to make sure that his drivers kept his car well watered at all times in the future. This experience was not something that Roland wished to repeat anytime soon.
+KAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOM+
Roland was still lying on the ground, recovering from jumping out of the car and rolling through a picket fence when the blast came. It was a horrible detonation, Roland felt the air rushing past him and saw a great pillar of flames rise up into the night sky. He swiftly turned away from the raging fires and lept over the fence into the yard where his bow and arrows were lying, waiting for him.
He swiftly picked them up and left, running around to the back of the almost endless row of small houses with miniature yards. Humans would soon enough be gawking out through their windows, looking at the blaze down the street. Roland had no wish to be spotted running away from it. Chances of the police being able to track him down were slim, but he prefered to minimize them as much as possible. The police weren't much of a threat, but if they started to pass around phantom scetches of Roland, more dangerous creatures might find out about it.
Roland still refused to look back as he fled from the inferno, his kind weren't as terrified of flames as the Cainites, but it was still possible to suffer the horrible Rötschreck at the sight of large fires. Roland was even less prone to it then others, but this was one area where he didn't like challenges and taking chances. He prefered to be on the safe side when it came to the Rötschreck, because that involved loss of control, something Roland had been striving for ever since he turned into a vampire.
He soon found himself far enough away from the blaze and swiftly located a manhole leading down to the sewers. He shoved his claws right through the steel lid and yanked it away, throwing it aside with as much force as he could muster. He barely noticed as it slammed right into the wall of a house where it became lodged half-way through. He held the bow close and then jumped down into the darkness below.
He wasn't very familiar with the sewers of Sunnydale just yet, but at least he knew the general direction he would have to go. Once he got closer to the actual lair, he'd know where to go. He shrugged and started walking, the sooner he got back, the sooner he'd be able to start training his underlings in how to best fight the Slayer. He smiled, when the Slayer started with her patrols again, she'd get a few nasty surprises.
Roland thought about the girl, the way she fought and the dry wit she possessed. He sighed, she would have made a terriffic addition to his underlings. But trying to convert a Slayer was just too darn dangerous. He wouldn't risk ruining everything, just for the sake of having her on his side. The old geezers constant attempts to open the Seal had also been a major flaw. Roland did wish to see it open and the glory's of old come again, but he was in no particular hurry. A creature who would live forever if nothing ended his unlife almost never were.
The old bugger had been caught in the Seal, perhaps that was why he hadn't displayed more patience. He only studied the prophecies that seemed advantageous to himself, Roland made certain to read the others as well. He'd even gotten his hands on a few that belonged to the other side. He smiled even wider as he thought about it, the Slayer and the moronic Watchers would probably be willing to pay a fortune for them. Perhaps he'd just hand them over, just to see their reactions.
Roland chuckled to himself, that was precisely what he would do. But he wouldn't do that until the final prophecy had come to pass. He would be looking forward to it, looking forward to seeing Angelus leave this plane of existance for a less pleasant one and knowing that the Slayer would be responsible for it. That would devestate the little slip of a girl, knowing that if she'd just gotten her hands on them a little sooner, she would have been able to prevent the comming disaster.
The hysterical laughtered echoed in the sewers as Roland headed in the general direction of his new lair.