Vehemence
Timeline: Season 2, 'The Dark Ages'
Disclaimer: don't own. Just using for a fanfiction. Belongs to M.E.
A/N: After a six plus month hiatus, I'm back!! First attempt at a chappie, lemme know how I did. Trying to get back into the swing of things. AS.
Fifteen hostiles…surrounded…no hope of escape…these suckers are all gonna die!
Xander's own thought reminded him of a quote from a Marine. We're surrounded…GOOD! Now they can't escape us! Or something like that, he couldn't remember. It didn't matter, anyway, at least not as much as the fist that was coming his way.
Out of the four people gathered there, only two had been armed, so, the odds were very against them. Sam had drawn her sword the second the invasion had begun, and had already decapitated two vampires. He had drawn both his stakes and engaged the enemy, easily staking one vamp that had just ran straight at him.
The odds, though thinned, were incredibly against them.
Timothy and Susannah were backed up into a corner of the shop, both using crosses to keep the vamps at bay. Both knew, however, that it would only stop them for so long before they snuck in past their guard.
Xander dropped his head as a vamp tried to nail him with a powerful punch, only to punch the vamp that had been directly behind him. Xander staked the wounded vamp behind him, then, threw himself into the vamp that had thrown the punch, bring him down to the ground, and staking him with his weapon.
As he landed in the dust, he saw something falling toward him, so, he twisted himself around to keep it from hitting him. As it fell, he recognized it for what it was.
Timothy's blowtorch.
Xander grabbed it and turned it on, thrusting it into the first vampire's face he saw, burning and blinding it at the same time, and he used it to set fire to its clothing, causing it to combust within seconds.
He used it to keep the four vamps that were around him at bay and, as he did so, he took stock of the situation.
Out of the fifteen that had come in, there were nine left, four surrounding him, four around Sam, and the other five were busy trying to break Timothy and Susannah's guard.
He restrained himself as he saw that the situation had just grown worse. Two vamps that had been around Sam had broke off, and had grabbed Timothy's tools. One had a circular saw, which, unfortunately, could run off a battery, while the other had gotten a power drill. Either one would break through Sam's armor, with ease.
"SAM," he shouted, "WATCH OUT!"
Hearing his warning, as well as seeing the vamp with the saw coming at her, Samantha ducked down and let the two vamps, who had been trying to catch her in a pincer movement, collide with each other, both cutting and drilling into each other. Unfortunately, the other three had more than enough opportunity to jump on top of her, and that was exactly what they did.
OK, neither groups'll last more than a minute longer, so, how can I solve this situation with one decisive strike?
He took another quick look around and, suddenly, an idea (an idiotically dangerous one) came to mind. He moved over to a nearby table, using the torch to keep the vamps at bay, and grabbed a piece of wood. He dunked it into a liquid, which he hoped to God was gasoline, and lit the wood on fire with the torch.
As soon as it was lit, he tossed it to the nearest vamp, who caught it on instinct, and was instantly lit on fire. The vamp nearest to it also got its pants leg caught on fire, and the two were desperately trying to put out the flames.
Xander used the distraction to stake the two utterly shocked vamps, leaving the other two to burn to death.
His distraction had served its purpose, too, for the four vamps atop Sam had been momentarily distracted from their search for her neck, and she used that to escape their clutches, decapitating a vamp along way. Seeing their companions dust, two of the five vamps that had been antagonizing Timothy and his cousin dislodged themselves from the fight and ran over to Xander.
The young man used his torch to blind the first vamp that came to him, and he shoved that vamp into the other, and the two fell onto the still-lit sword. Xander, satisfied that the burning sword's use was over and that the other three could maintain themselves a moment longer, turned the torch off and grabbed the fire extinguisher, putting it out with the foam before it could become too much of a danger.
As soon as it was out, he went to go aid the group in the most danger. He staked one vamp behind, going through its back to the heart, and that alerted the other two to his presence. Before they could engage him, Xander tossed the unlit torch to Timothy, who caught it and turned it back on, using it to assault one of the vamps.
Xander and the other one engaged, and it launched a furious attack at his face, one which he barely dodged. He countered with a knee to the gut, followed by a downward swipe with both his arms. It wasn't enough to bring it down to the ground, but, the vamp did go to its knees. He raised both his hands, preparing to end its unlife, when the vamp used its claws to swipe his legs out from under him, bringing him to the ground. The vamp got on top of him, held both his arms down, staring at his neck.
"I'm not going to kill you," it said to him, a devilish grin on its once-male face, "I'm going to turn you, make you one of us, to replace the ones you killed. How does that sound?"
"Piss off," Xander roared at the vamp, slamming his head into it.
Instead of forcing it off of him, all he did was give himself a headache and make the vamp pissed. As it loomed down upon him, preparing to drive its fangs into him, Xander did the only thing he could think of.
He kneed it in the groin.
That was enough to make it gasp and loosen its grip, just enough for him to force it off of him. Before the vamp could get up, however, another being had jumped onto it, slamming a stake down into its heart.
Xander got to his feet, a little shaky. That was as close as any vamp had ever gotten to feeding off of him. He turned towards the one who had staked the vamp, who was just kneeling there, shocked to the core.
"Hey," he knelt down beside Susannah, who was just staring at the spot where the vampire had last been, "You OK?"
She didn't respond. He knew she wouldn't.
"It's hard, staking the first one," he said to her, as well as to himself, "But, just remember…they were dead long before you ever met them. What you did was release them. It was merciful, when compared to what the person had been through."
"…Is…every battle like this," Susannah asked him.
"Most," he answered honestly, "Some are actually tough."
"And this was…"
"Not much," Xander said with a sigh, "Just wait till your first apocalypse."
"Xander," her response was delayed when Samantha called him over, "We got one…undead, I guess you could say."
"Come on," he helped the somewhat mollified girl to her feet, "Let's go see what our friend has to say."
The two walked over to the bench where Sam was holding the vamp, a skinhead dressed in leather, held still by the point of her blade and Timothy's flame. Xander came forward, pulling out a bottle of holy water, and stood a few feet in front of the vamp.
"…I'm only going to ask you this once," he said, "Then, the pain begins. That for heat," he pointed towards the torch, "That for cold," he pointed to Sam's sword, "And this," he lifted the bottle up for the vamp to see, "To help sooth the pain."
"What do you want to know," the survivor was freaked out by this human's calm nature, how he easily commented on how he was going to torture him, almost as though he were talking about the weather. So, he was doing exactly what he should do: trying to survive.
"Who's your boss," Xander demanded.
The survivor had an idea of what would happen: either the human would kill it and call it a night, or, he would release it to its master, to tell the vampire called Spike of its failure, and to be tortured to death. There was one way out of it, though…there was a vampire named Garrett, a former swordsman who had been turned not too long ago. Garrett had been taking over ever since the night he became a vampire, gaining ground and leverage with some of the town's most powerful vampires.
As it had gained power, it had begun challenging Spike for territory. Spike, who was busy trying to kill the Slayer, would probably be unable to destroy the enemy. Since this human wanted a name, the survivor decided to use it as a way to keep itself alive.
"A guy called Garrett," the survivor shouted, "Hangs around Fiend. He and William the Bloody have been feuding over control."
"Why'd he send you," Xander asked.
"I think I know why," the girl armed with a sword said, her face paler than death, "Does Garrett have brown hair and a scar on his ear?"
"Yeah," it answered, "How'd you know?"
"…Get this, fang," the girl growled at it, "We're going to let you go, but only so you can deliver a message. Tell him this…we're coming for him, do you hear me!?"
He nodded his head.
"Get out!"
Not needing to be told twice, the survivor ran out as fast as its undead legs could.
"Why did you let it go, Sam," Xander asked calmly, already having a good idea why.
"Because, that vamp it mentioned, Garrett," she sighed and said, "He was my father."
"…So, he sent the vamps to come and finish you off," Susannah figured.
"It's not like him," the sword maiden said, "He'd call that kind of an attack cowardly, saying that a warrior should take on his enemies directly, not through hired help."
"Hate to say it, but, your dad's a vamp now," Timothy said, "Honor might not make much of a difference."
"Actually, a vampire might still retain a sense of honor," Xander countered, "Only, it would be warped to its own specifications. Odds are, your dad still has some honor, but, it's not enough to stop him from sending people at you."
"…So," Timothy said, "On the job less than a month, and we've already got an enemy."
"It's good," Xander said with a grin, "Now we know who to focus our attacks on."
"…Well, it's been fun, guys, but, I think I'm going to head on home," Susannah said to them, grabbing her stuff as she did so, "I'll be by tomorrow to help clean this mess up, Timothy."
"Me, too, man," Xander told his friend, "Those were some good ideas, too, I think we should get cracking on them as soon as we can."
"Sure, but, let's get this place cleaned up, OK," Timothy grinned.
"Yeah, I'll help you out, too," Samantha told him as she passed by, "I'll also bring by some pictures and some of Dad's swords so we know what we're up against."
"Great idea," Xander said to them, "I'm going home, see you."
The surviving vampire, whose name used to be Vincent, walked into Spike's lair, a worried look on his face.
"Well," the vampire himself stepped out of the darkness as Vincent came to the main hall, "How'd it go, mate?"
"…They won, Spike," Vincent said, a quiver in its voice, "They killed all the others, and only let me go after I told them who it was that sent us."
"Really," that seemed to surprise Spike, "Wait. They? Who's they?"
"That boy, Harris, a redhead armed with a sword, a boy with brown hair, and a girl with brown hair."
"Hmm," Spike rubbed his jacket, causing it to squeak slightly, "Sounds like Harris has gotten himself some new friends. Interesting. Well, mate, sounds like you all got roughed up. So-"
"Wait," Vincent raised his arms, interrupting the platinum vampire as he did so, and said, "I didn't tell them it was you who'd sent us, Spike. I said it was the new guy, Garrett. They sent me back here to tell him that they were coming for him."
Spike thought about what his minion had said…the four of them were coming after his competition…two enemies, working against each other. It would put Garrett off his back long enough for him to get rid of the Slayer, and it would get rid of the whelp, which would cause the Slayer some grief…or, the whelp would win (as if, he thought to himself) and he'd lose an enemy.
It was a win-win situation.
"That was good thinking there, mate," the English vampire said, "For that, I'm going to give you five seconds to get out of here before I kill you."
Vincent was already running for the door before he'd even finished Spike's sentence and Spike, in a moment of rare mercy, decided to let the vamp go. Of course, that mercy was muted by the rising sun which caused Vincent to combust into ashes, but, that was alright.