9:42 pm eastern

The cold wind blew damp newspapers past drunks, wandering clubbers, and street-corner preachers. A few of them stuck to parked cars, bikes, and lampposts. The chattering of people walking rang through the alleyways and it only grew louder as it came to a crowd gathered outside a dark building. It was shrunken in, almost underground, almost hidden beneath the shadows. If not for the one glowing light bulb that hung from the lantern outside, partially obscured by the hulking bouncer, and the pounding music that vibrated off the old walls, no one would know it was there. The crowds hung around outside, cigarette smoke and alcohol permeating the air.

The bouncer growled at a passing cigarette-holder. "No smoking." He said to the drifter. The drifter scoffed and walked along.

Alex rode up to the curb and parked her bike. Taking off her helmet, she looked at her watch and sighed. Late again. She shrugged and walked out of the alley and made her way around the corner. Approaching the thick throng, she pushed her way through and to the bouncer.

"Tough night?" She asked above the din.

The bouncer cracked a smile. "Always." He said. He unhooked the worn Iron Gate and it creaked as she passed by, holding her helmet.

A few members of the mass noticed the girl creeping by while they waited and they kindly expressed their outrage. Alex rolled her eyes as the bouncer threatened to punch a guy who was waving his bottle of scotch.

As she pushed the door open, the bouncer shouted "She pours your drinks and she'll spit in them too!"

Alex walked through the madness and waved to her 'public'. Various shouts of her name and a few fists in the air let other people know that she had arrived. She brushed a lock of long hair from her face.

"Hey girl." Cindy said from behind the bar. Alex deftly jumped over the counter and threw her helmet into a cabinet under the bar and stuffed her leather jacket into it. She shut the cabinet and muttered a curse as it stalled on it's way to shutting. She stepped back and kicked the cabinet with the bottom of her boot. It rattled and then shut compliantly.

"There are a lot of people outside." She said to Cindy as she pulled out a row of shot glasses.

"Bull keepin' them straight?" Cindy asked.

"Always." Alex smiled. A man came up to the bar and her grin disappeared. She exchanged a look with Cindy.

"You must be new here." She said.

"How do you know?" He asked.

She waved a hand at him. "You don't fit in." She said. "What do you want?"

"Beer is fine." He said.

Alex looked at Cindy and shrugged. Cindy opened a cabinet to her left and pulled out a tall glass.

As she filled it with beer, the man leaned forward. "What time do you get off?" He asked.

Alex smiled and leaned forward. "For you? Never."

She leaned back and the newbie's face glared in anger.

He grabbed his beer and the foam sloshed onto the bar top. He walked away angrily.

Alex looked at Cindy and they both started to laugh.

***

6:42 pm pacific

"You know, I don't like guys like you." Buffy said, kicking a vampire. " It makes evil creatures look cheesy."

"You tell em', Buff." Xander said, spitting out a kernel onto the grass below him. He and willow sat on a nearby bench and watched Buffy fight.

"Yeah, you go." Willow nodded.

Buffy whirled around and planted a stake in the vamp. She turned to her friends.

Xander stopped chewing and clapped. Willow joined him in applauding.

Her eyes went up as another vampire came jumping at her from behind the bench. Willow and Xander left their snacks and grabbed their stakes.

"That's not a lot of vampires." Willow said, watching the two vamps advance toward the three.

Suddenly three more appeared from the sides.

"Wanna say that again, Will?" Xander said, laughing.

They circled around the Slayer, Xander, and Willow, licking their fangs.

Buffy made a face. "Ew. You know, I heard that toothpaste does wonders for that plaque."

A girl vampire growled and ran forward, arms outreached for the nearest bare neck. Willow kicked her in the stomach and she went down. Xander threw her a bottle of holy water and the vampire shrieked in pain as the liquid burned her body.

Buffy punched a vampire and he flipped over a tombstone. Jumping up and over him, landing on the soft grass, she turned and implanted her stake.

Xander ducked behind the bench and kicked a male vampire's legs out from under him. The vampire hit his head on the bench seat as Xander stood up and ran past him.

The vampire started to run after Xander. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned.

"Hi." Willow said, and drove a stake into him. He burst into ashes and Buffy, Xander, and Willow regrouped.

"Good work." Buffy said, dusting herself off.

"Likewise." Xander nodded.

"Well, I suppose there's some big evil going on." Willow said. "Should we get back to base?"

"Are you guys going Riley-speak on me?" Buffy asked.

"Negative, General." Xander said, saluting.

As they walked out of the cemetery, Willow grabbed the cookies and chips. She turned to Buffy. "Are you a general?"

"More like a Commander."

"What's the difference?"

"General is army." Xander immediately said. "Commander is Navy."

"Well, then isn't there supposed to be a Captain?" Willow asked.

They started walking back to the Magic shop.

"Yeah, but Commander sounds so much cooler." Xander said. "Captain invokes images of fishermen and fish sticks."

Willow and Buffy turned to look at him.

"Or maybe I'm just hungry." Xander said.

"Wanna get something to eat before heading back to base?" Buffy asked them.

***

10:33 pm eastern

Alex filled another shot glass with whiskey and looked at her watch.

Across the bar at the other end, Cindy was yelling at a guy in a cheap Hawaiian look-alike shirt who was trying to hit on the new waitress.

"Cindy!" Alex yelled.

She didn't turn around.

"Cindy!" Alex shouted again. The guy waved her off and continued to bother the waitress. Alex sighed and marched over to Cindy.

"Need some help?" She asked.

"Hey, get the hell away from me." The guy spat out. He stank of beer and cigarette smoke.

Alex frowned.

She grabbed the guy's shirt as he turned away to focus his attention on the waitress, who was looking more nervous by the minute.

"Hey!" She shouted at him.

He didn't respond. His grip tightened on the attendant's arm. Beer on her tray was sloshing all over the place.

Alex groaned and jumped up on the bar top, her boots slipping on the wet countertop. She caught herself from falling off and she pulled the guy by the shirt over to the bar.

"What the hell are you doing, bitch?" He shouted at her, the pungent smell of beer permeating her senses. Alex reached back and punched the guy squarely in the nose.

Somewhere in the distance, hidden partially by the darkness and the music, there was a loud cheering and some clapping.

"Cut it out or you're gonna be bleeding worse than that." She muttered to him before Rio, the other bouncer, came and hauled him away.

"Geez, Alex." He said to her as he pulled the Hawaiian shirt guy away, avoiding the bloody nose. He shook his head and grinned.

Alex jumped back down. She looked at the stunned and frightened waitress.

"You all right?" She asked.

For a second she didn't reply.

Alex leaned forward and tapped her on the head. "Hey, you okay?"

"Wha-yeah." She said. "thanks."

"No problem. You're new here, right?"

She nodded slowly. She was still holding her tray, but her hands were chalk white, gripping the tray.

"Here, let me take that." Cindy said, smiling and taking the tray away.

"What's your name?" Alex asked the girl.

"Lila." She said quietly. "I started work last night."

"That's it. I wasn't working last night." Alex smiled. "I'm Alex, you already know Cindy, I guess."

"Yeah. Uh, thanks for-"

"no problem. Don't let it turn you off; this is a pretty decent job. Some jerks come in once in a while but if they give you any trouble, find Rio and if you can't get over here and we'll handle it."

Alex cleaned a glass and filled it with beer again.

"Thanks." Lila said. "I'm just not used to this. It's dark, loud, and I can barely hear myself think." She laughed.

"Then you're in the center of the action." Alex said. "Leeta built the bar so that we'd hear ourselves think and more importantly, hear the orders. See this stuff on the back of the wall?"

Lila nodded as Alex pointed at the background of black.

"That's insulation. High quality stuff, it dampens all the noise. Here, come back over here." Alex said and Lila uncertainly climbed over. Her knees slid on the wet counter and she almost fell off.

"Wow." Lila said as she crossed the bar top. It was quieter.

Cindy came by and gave them two cans.

"What's this?" Lila asked, looking at the can of Rocket.

"We don't drink on the job, Leeta told you that right?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah." Lila said. "I picked the wrong job. I should've been a bartender." She smiled.

"Well, it pays good and if you know how to pour drinks right, you might get something over here. Talk to Leeta." Alex said, taking a drink from her soda.

Cindy glanced at the door. "Trouble." She said, grinning.

"What's going on?" Lila asked in confusion.

"You don't want to know." Alex said. "Just deliver these to those guys over there and lay low."

"O-Okay." Lila nodded as Cindy handed her some bottles.

"Hello Ladies." A voice said, and then a body appeared.

"Hey, Chad." Cindy said.

"It's Detective Chad to you." The man said, smiling.

It was Detective Chad Martin of the special homicide unit for the NYPD. 26 years old and a detective for almost a year, he saw the original building get converted from a bread factory to an art studio in the mid 80's when he was a teenager and when the studio went bankrupt in '92, he saw Leeta Paulson arrive and rescue the building on the day it was about to be demolished for an apartment high rise to be built. With enough charm and money, she bought out the corporation and set up a bar.

And a resident of New York for his entire life, he had his share of late night check ups and warnings from when he was a rookie cop assigned to deal with local bars and their rowdy guests. For his age, he was considered a fast riser among the ranks. He was 18 years old when joined the force in 1992, and then he made Detective in 1997, the girls were still in school. He met Cindy and Alex when they were just babies and they were his neighbors, one girl living on either side. His mother used to joke that he was born to woo the girls. They grew up together. Despite their age difference and the social gap, they became the best of friends. When Cindy's parents died in '95, she moved in with Alex and they became like sisters. The girls started working for Leeta in 1998. He would've busted them for being underage bartenders, but all they were doing was tacking up flyers and advertisements for the bar. He was 25 when he made Detective. And now he was 26, 1 year later. And they were 20 years old. How different their lives had turned out.

He smiled as he saw a familiar face. A guy dressed in black stumbled through the crowds, hoping to reach the bar. He stepped through, saw Chad, and immediately turned back around. He had kicked the guy into jail a few months ago for starting bar fights. The guy turned on Chad and hit him with a left hook. Chad didn't have to go back a second time to wrangle him into handcuffs though cause Alex left the bar and hit the idiot with the right hook he remembered teaching her when they were young.

"Oh, Scraggy's back." Cindy said.

"What can we get you, Chad?" Alex asked. "Oh wait, excuse me. Detective Chad."

"Laugh all you want." He said. He pulled out a photo of a young girl. She was perched on a swing, the backdrop of a pastel summer surrounding her.

"New girlfriend?" Cindy asked.

"Wouldn't work out." Chad said.

"Why not?"

"Cause she was killed last night on a jogging path next to the university." He said, nodding.

"Who did it?" Alex said.

"No one knows. There weren't any witnesses. So I was wondering if any of you had heard anything."

Alex shook her head. "Nothing through here."

"How'd it happen?" Cindy asked.

Chad sighed. "That's tough too. We sent some stuff down to the feds cause they had some experience a few cases, and they said that it could be ritual killing. The coroner's report stated that all the blood had been drained from the body. This is the second body we've found" He shook his head. "But there's missing persons reports trailing back through December."

"Ritual killings, huh?" Alex asked. "You got some pictures?"

"Yep." Chad said. He pulled out a manila file folder and handed it to Alex. She opened it up and flipped through. Cindy stifled a groan in disgust and went to serve people waiting for drinks.

Alex nodded.

"I know you were studying this kind of thing." Chad said. "So I was wondering if you had any ideas."

"Well, you did say that you gave this to the feds. They're pretty smart. Smarter than me, I just do it as a hobby. I'm just trying to get into law school." She smiled.

"Yeah, but I trust you more." Chad said. "They act like NYPD cops are nothing but donut crunchers."

"Wouldn't be the first time." She took one photo out and handed it to Chad. "See the puncture marks? I've heard of some vampire cults that revolve around the city, but this is different. Most of them won't go into killing, much less puncture marks."

"Vampires?"

"No, vampire cults. Big difference. Vampires actually suck blood from their victims. Vampire cults drink blood, but very rarely do they actually bite. The ones that do occasionally drink human blood won't bite each other. Too dangerous."

"Hey, can I get a drink around here?" A patron shouted at her. Alex stopped talking to Chad.

"Shut up over there and maybe you will." She shouted back. She turned back to Chad. "Hang tight, I have a break at 11:30."

"Sure." Chad said, shrugging. He looked around him, lost, as Alex left to tend to the whiner.

He hung around the bar for a few minutes before Cindy strode over laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You." Cindy said. "You and your blue sweaters. What's with the hair?"

"What?" He consciously held his hand up to his head.

"I think you should avoid the smokers, the gel might catch on fire."

"it's not that bad." Chad said, grinning. His grin disappeared. "Is it?"

***

7:33 pm pacific

"Well, I didn't say there was anything bad." Giles said.

"You implied." Buffy said. "And usually implied means that there's something waiting to end the world."

"Well, I just noticed the dry spell we've been having."

"Dry spells are good." Willow said. "I wouldn't want a…wet spell of vampires."


"I haven't gathered anything from my books." Giles said, shutting one. A puff of dust rose from it and he waved a hand to clear it.

"That's a first." Xander said. "So what now, oh wise one?"

"We go to Willy." Buffy said, getting up from her chair.

***

"I don't know anything!"

CRASH!

"And I'm here for a spa treatment. Come on, Willy, you know the ins and outs of the scum that pass through this town, what can you tell me tonight?" Buffy pushed him closer to the glass that was perched on the counter. The edge poked against his shirt.

"You're a good guy!" Willy said, eyeing the glass.

"Only to good people, Willy." She said, shoving him closer.

"Okay, okay!" Willy said. "Let me down already!"

"Not until I get what I want."

"I've always been honest with you." He said.

She pulled him closer down. "You know, Willy, I don't think you're in a position to bargain."

"All right! There's supposedly a new vampire in town up in New York. He's a real old guy, not like the idiots you dust."

A few vampires turned and growled.

"No offense."

"What else?"

"He's building a gang or something, an army."

"Army for what?"

"Don't know." Willy said.

Buffy sighed. She tightened her grip and pulled Willy closer.

"I really don't know!"

"Okay." Buffy said, dropping Willy. He landed on the floor of his bar with a loud thump.

"Thanks, come again." He said from the floor as Buffy left.

***

Back at the Magic shop, Buffy started to pack.

"How do you propose you get to New York?" Giles said.

"I've got money, I can get a flight."

"Right, and how do you suppose to bring weapons through the airport?" Giles asked.

Buffy stopped in the middle of stuffing a crossbow into her pack.

"Okay, that's a problem. But if there is a big party in New York, I should be there to stop their fun."

"I understand, Buffy, but you can't walk into an airport carrying stakes. I know a Watcher-"

"More of those guys?"

"-a watcher in New York who I've helped before. I could call him up and see if he would get weapons."

"You know, I think we should get rid of the chosen one crap and start an international agency. I'm getting tired of doing all the dirty work."

"What's going on?" Xander said as he walked in, followed by Willow. They were carrying sodas and pizza. Buffy could smell the pizza and her stomach rumbled.

"A big bad vamp is heading up a vampire colony up in New York." Buffy said.

"Oh, a trip." Willow said. "When do we leave?"

"We don't. I'm going, you're not."

"But you're going to need backup." Willow said. "We're the Scoobies."

"But it's going to be dangerous."

"Which is all the more reason why you need someone there with you." Giles said. "I think you should consider it."

"I don't know." Buffy said. "I mean, I have no plans, I don't even know where I'm going to be staying-"

"I'll get on that one." Giles said, and picked up the phone.

"But it's okay, Buffy. We can handle it." Willow said. "I wouldn't want you to go into it alone."

"Me either." Xander said. There was a deafening silence. "So, will the Scoobies ride again?"

Buffy sighed. "I guess the Scoobies will ride again." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Yay! Well, not for the vampires and fighting part, but for the riding part."

"We leave tonight." Buffy said. "First flight out to New York."

"How many of us are going?" Xander asked.

"That's a good question." Buffy said. "As less people as possible. If we're going to cut through, we can't have a big group."

"Right. I guess we don't really need Tara, I mean, I have the magic aspect."

"Anya's out." Xander said. "She won't want to come either."

"And Spike can't travel in the day." Buffy said. "That's a big one, we need someone else with the strength."

"I stumbled onto a recent copy of the New York times recently." Giles said.

He showed them the newspaper.

"There have been multiple murders over the past few weeks. The police think it's a serial killer, however, the abnormal nature of the killings would suggest-"

"Vampires." Buffy nodded.

"What would I do without you guys?"

***

11:38 pm eastern

"So you think that it's a serial killer?" Chad asked. They were in a back room, where the employees usually take their breaks.

Alex nodded. "These puncture marks aren't precision, which would mean that they were made from a set of something rather than surgical equipment. But it's still possible that he used something to perforate to jugular and extract the blood."

"Well we're still getting reports back from Forensics." He said. "This is a tough one."

"Why'd they send it to you?"

"I don't know if you've heard-"

"Yeah, that you're the new Fox Mulder of the department."

"I don't know how, but I built up a reputation for serial killers with weird stuff." Chad said, shaking his head. "I think I should stop coming to you for advice."

"Maybe you should buy something when you come." She said, laughing.

Chad's beeper went off and he sighed.

"I guess I should go." He said.

"Come back soon." She said, smiling. They hugged and he waved as he left the backroom.

"Bye Cindy." Chad said as he made his way through the crowd.

"See you." She said between pours.