Chapter Nine

On the Run

The wheels of Angel's black convertible locked as he slammed his foot down on the brake, causing the car to twist sideways into a sharp skid. Alongside he and Wesley, the old abandoned warehouse district stood ominously under what few stars were visible in the night sky. The place was deathly silent, not even the slightest trace of movement issued from within.

Slowly, Angel narrowed his eyes as he sniffed gently at the air. He felt the demon within him stir slightly as he tapped into his vampiric senses. He could smell others, though their scent was fading fast. Chances were they were long gone by now. He slipped silently out of the car, and  moved cautiously toward the gates of the old district. The chain link fence creaked slightly as a breeze stirred it, causing it to swing inward. It was open! The last time Angel had even tried to pay King a visit, a padlocked chain had held the gate securely shut.

He moved through the gate, Wesley following him, an axe clutched tightly in one hand, a well-worn crucifix in the other.

"Which one?" the former Watcher asked softly as he nodded toward the rows of decrepit old warehouses. Angel shrugged.

"Whichever one looks most intact." He said, his eyes scanning the buildings. He couldn't believe a creature like King lived here. The place was a ruin, a crumbling remnant of better times.

His eyes lighted on warehouse three. Of them all, it looked by far to be the most undamaged. The roof still seemed to be intact and more importantly the windows had been boarded up, quite securely from the looks of things, as well.

"C'mon." he said, making his way purposefully toward the building.

Inside, the building was as quiet as it had been outside. Nothing stirred and the whole place had an eerie feeling of desolation. 

"Where are they?" Wesley whispered. Angel glanced back to see the Watcher's grip tightening around the handle of his axe.

"I'm not sure." Said Angel, sniffing at the air again. There was no doubt there had been vampires here. The scent was stronger inside the warehouse but still fading. "But vampires have been here recently." Wesley frowned as they arrived at the bottom of a rickety iron grill staircase.

"More than one?" he said slowly. "I thought you said King lived alone." Angel nodded.

"He does. That's what's confusing me." Cautiously they ascended the staircase. Angel reached inside his long duster and drew out a stake, his finger closing tightly around it as they approached the top.

At the top of the staircase, a door swung gently in the draft that blew through the warehouse, the set of offices beyond looking out over the main floor. Angel carefully reached out and pushed the door. It swung inward silently. Slowly he made his way inside, scanning each room as he passed through it. The final room was larger than the rest, its walls lined with shining gold sarcophagi, jewellery and other valuable Egyptian artefacts. Angel heard Wesley give a long low whistle.

"Looks like our friend King's been busy." He stepped forward, fingering one of the artefacts. Even in the darkness, Angel could see his eyes sparkle as he recognised the item. Angel smiled. Wesley might not be a Watcher anymore, but the old habits and excitements died hard. His smile was replaced with a frown as he caught sight of the back of the room. The previously boarded up window had been smashed open. Slowly he made his way over to it, keeping a watchful eye on the myriad shadows that filled the room. He paused briefly at the window. There was no glass on the floor. Peering out his suspicions were confirmed. A huge chair with a high backrest and cushioned arms lay in a shattered heap among glittering shards of glass. The window had been smashed out from the inside. Angel frowned. Where were Faith and Gunn? What had happened here?

A low groan drifted slowly out of one of the room's shadow draped corners. Angel was there almost immediately, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the groaner. It was Gunn. He was lying in crumpled heap against one of the walls, his ankle twisted at a vicious angle from where it had failed to take his weight.

"Gunn!" said Angel, sounding nowhere near as surprised as he actually felt. "Gunn! Are you alright?"

"Angel?" Gunn said slowly. "Is that you, man?"

"Yeah, it's me." Said Angel kneeling at his side. "Wesley's here too."

"Cool." Said Gunn trying to shift into a sitting position, wincing slightly as his ankle twisted.

"Here, let me help you up." Said Angel, extending a hand. Gunn batted it away, shaking his head as he did so.

"C'mon man, I've just twisted my ankle is all. Not like I've never had worse." He said, bracing his back against the wall and slowly sliding into a standing position. Gingerly he tested his ankle, biting back a cry of pain when it failed to take his weight. Angel was immediately at his side, slipping his arm around Gunn's torso as he held him up.

"What happened here?" Wesley asked, keeping a watchful eye on the shadows as they moved. "Where's the girl you came here with?" Gunn frowned as he hobbled along.

"You mean that Faith chick?" he said. Wesley nodded.

"She's a very dangerous young woman." Gunn nodded in silent agreement.

"You got that right." He said. "I've never seen any girl who could fight like that. What's her deal anyway?"

"Gunn, we need to know where she is." Said Angel, tightening his grip as they approached the stairs that lead down toward the bottom floor of the warehouse. Gunn let out a frustrated sigh.

"Wish I knew." He said finally as he hobbled down the stairs. "We turn up here, tooled up for some vampire wasting and the vamp we take on wipes the floor with us. I mean we seriously had no chance! He was so fast it was unreal!" he paused as they reached the bottom of the stairs, his concentration focused on moving from the final step with a minimum of pain.

"Anyway, he throws me headfirst into a wall, and I trip and break my ankle at the same time. I blacked out for a minute or two, but the next thing I know, they've stopped fighting and there's this new guy talking to the vamp." Angel frowned at that. From the word on the underground, King liked his privacy. In fact, he guarded it jealously, as any who ventured into the district without his permission were quick to discover. What had the other person been doing here?

"What did he look like?" asked Wesley.

"The new guy?" said Gunn. Wesley nodded.

"Short, oriental looking, long dark hair. Fairly creepy little guy." Wesley glanced over at Angel.

"Angel?" he said. The vampire shook his head.

"Sorry Wes. Doesn't ring any bells." Wesley let out a sigh of annoyance at this new piece to the puzzle.

"Go on Gunn." Said Angel as they moved out of the warehouse. Gunn shrugged.

"Not much more to tell. A Whole bunch of vamps turned up and attacked the two of them. Faith and the vamp escaped out the back window, and I kept my head down so that they wouldn't find me."

Outside the moon was riding high in the sky; it's soft silver light bathing the whole district in an eerie silent glow. Something drifted on the night breeze, an almost palatable smell of evil that made even Angel shiver nervously.

"Okay," said Gunn, limping slowly along toward Angel's car, "now it's my turn to ask the questions. Who's Faith, and what the hell…"

*****

"…is going on!" Faith demanded as she leaned back against the wall of the alleyway, her chest heaving in exhaustion. They'd lost their pursuers a couple of blocks back.

"Who were those vamps, and what's all this about you marching in the soul parade?" The vampire paused for a moment, his skin seeming to shine in the light from the streetlamps. Suddenly and without warning he whirled to face her, his fist flying up to collide with her chest.

Faith's breath exploded out of her in a surprised gasp as she doubled over with the force of the blow. The vampire didn't waste anytime. Grabbing her roughly by her top, he shoved hard against the brick wall, so hard that she could've sworn she felt the stone and mortar crunch loudly under her.

"Did you really think I wouldn't figure you out?" he snarled viciously. "Do your employers think so little of me?" He slid his forearm over her chest, just below her neck and pushed hard to keep her from moving.

"Employers…" Faith said, frowning in confusion, "I don't kn…" his free fist flew up, catching her hard across the jaw and snapping her head sharply to the side.

"I am not a fool!" he snapped loudly and pressed harder with his forearm. Faith was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. "First that decadent slut, then Shinji and now they dangle you in front of me as if she lives again!" Slut? Faith's mind whirled. He couldn't mean the lawyer could he? Could Wolfram & Hart really be behind all this? If so, what did this vampire and Shinji have to do with any of it?

"This woman…" Faith gagged as he suddenly pressed sharply against her ribs. "…Is she tall? Brown hair? A good looking Ice Queen?" The vampire watched her silently for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

"So you do know her!" he hissed finally. "Why does she want me? Why does she persist in torturing me?" Torturing him?

"Listen!" Faith gasped, her breath coming in short laboured pants while all along, she pushed ineffectually at his arm. How was he so strong? "We're in the same boat here! She wants me too! She got me out of prison just so her firm could get their claws into me!"

"Firm?" said the vampire, easing the pressure on her chest. "Tell me about this firm." Faith gulped in a huge lungful of air.

"She works for a law firm." She said, trying desperately to judge what reaction her words were having on the vampire. "They're called Wolfram & Hart and they represent the kinds of things I've spent the last couple of years of my life fighting against."

"And Shinji," said the vampire slowly, as if considering what she said were true. "What about him?" Slowly he slid his arm off her chest, allowing Faith to breathe freely again.

"I was hoping you'd tell me that." She said, rubbing at her bruised ribs. "After all, you seem to know him."

"I…" the vampire began, but suddenly his head snapped round sharply as if he'd heard something. Faith followed his gaze to the end of the alley. There was nothing there. A soft rasping chuckle sounded behind them. Faith whirled back round to face the other end of the alley. Five vampires were watching them, the lead seeming to be enjoying the sight of the two of them together. He was both medium height and medium build and upon first glance didn't seem like much of a threat. But there was something there, a dark cunning that shone from behind his cruel brown eyes. A long and vicious looking scar ran across his throat. Faith guessed, quite rightly, that it was the result of coming one step too close to decapitation.

"So, you're the Great King of Vampires who Sire so often speaks of." He said. His voice was a harsh rasp, probably due to the scar. The vampire standing next to Faith smiled. "I have to say, I'm a little disappointed, what with the lurking in an alley way alongside a Slayer of all things. It's all so…" the vampire gave a shiver of disdain. "…so common." He finished. The vampire standing next to Faith smiled.

"So Shinji sends a mere pup to take me. His judgement must be fading after all these years." Faith rolled her eyes. Was posturing and muscle flexing the only way these vamps could communicate with one another? She hoped not, otherwise they'd be here all night.

"I am no pup King!" the vampire snapped. His rasping voice dripped with menace. "I am Grachus, first of Shinji's breed after the holocaust you brought upon our ancient Kingdom!" The vampire called King's smile vanished in an instant.

"Our Kingdom! OUR KINGDOM!" he roared. "I built that decadent pit you insolent boy! It was a mistake I have never seen fit to repeat and it was mine to destroy!"

"You took away our paradise!" the vampire calling himself Grachus hissed. "You took us to the brink of greatness and then threw us to the wolves!" King's smile reappeared.

"You had grown fat and slow, and the wolves were hungry."

"Well now the time has come, oh Great King." The vampire said, bowing with mock reverence. "Your grandchildren arise from the ashes of the old to bring forth the new, and this time we will not grow fat nor decadent, and the wolves shall make fine dining."

Faith glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widening in surprise as she caught sight of the vampires closing in behind them. Six of them. All along, still more flooded into the alley behind Grachus until they vastly outnumbered the two of them. Even with her new supervamp playmate she didn't fancy their chances if it came down to a stand-up fight. King seemed to be aware of the ever decreasing odds too as he cast a furtive glance over his shoulder at the alley entrance.

"The Kingdom shall be reborn in a baptism of blood and you'll be there to see the Truth, then my lord Shinji's debt shall be repaid." Grachus continued. A dark smile spread slowly across his face. "Then you shall die as did your children." Slowly the veritable army of vamps that had now gathered at the front of the alley began to advance on them.

"Well," said Faith, stepping slowly back from them. "This really has been fun…"

"No it hasn't." Grachus said. Faith shrugged.

"I guess you're right. Okay then, it's been worse than a painful root canal op, which is why we really should be going." And with that, she spun on her heel and hurled a stake into the nearest vamps chest. The creature looked mildly surprised as it vanished in a cloud of dust. The other vampires let out a collective bellow of fury at the death of the comrade and surged forward.

Before she knew it, Faith was fighting for her life as the vampires fell upon her, cutting off the alley exit before she even had time to make a move in its direction. She ducked the first vamp to come at her. Grabbing hold of a nearby trash can lid as she swept by, she pivoted, and brought it crashing down over the back of the vampire's head. As the creature crumpled unconscious to the ground, another lashed out at her in a vicious roundhouse. A well-timed duck allowed her to catch his leg and heave him round like weighty club, slamming him hard against another vampire attempting to grab her from behind. Which was when it occurred to her, the vampires weren't trying to kill her. Their blows were aimed at spots that would incapacitate her. She frowned as she hurled an empty trashcan hard into the face of an attacker. They wanted her alive! Sadly this knowledge didn't seem to be doing her much good in the fight. Even with her superior skill, speed and strength and the aid of King, who was fighting like a demon from hell, there were just too many of them and she was already beginning to tire.

Suddenly there was the sound of squealing rubber on tarmac and a panicked rush by the vamps to move aside as a familiar black car hurtled through the throng.

"Angel!" she yelled over the clamour of battle as he leaped from the car, brandishing a wicked looking broadsword.

"Here!" he yelled in return, tossing a small fighting axe through the air. Faith's fingers snared it expertly, and before long her hands were practically humming as the axe span through the air in an intricate series of arcs. Wesley had also leaped to join the fray, displaying more nerve and skill with a stake and sword than Faith had ever thought possible from the same man she remembered as being a snivelling incompetent. She felt a rush of relief as she caught sight of Gunn seated in the backseat of the car with a crossbow levelled across the headrest of the passenger seat, letting fly with bolt after bolt like a man possessed.

Even with the reinforcements though, the tide of the fight did not turn. The group was still too small to take on such heavy numbers and the vampires were beginning to press their advantage once again. Slowly but surely, the four of them were pushed back to the car. Faith found herself alongside Wesley, the two of them sweating madly as they worked forms and stances with their weapons.

"This… isn't… working." Wesley gasped between short ragged breaths.

"New plan then." Faith breathed heavily. Without warning, she turned and vaulted into the drivers seat of the car. She gunned the engine with a satisfying roar.

"Get in!" she yelled as she slammed it into what she hoped was reverse gear. She'd never driven a stick shift before. None of them needed telling twice. In an instant, King, Wesley and Angel had turned and dived into the relative sanctuary of the car. Easing off the clutch, she was surprised when the car barely moved, while all around her, vampires closed in. In desperation she brought her foot up sharply and the car shot off up the alley in a screech of tyres and the scent of burned rubber.

Faith clung grimly to the steering wheel as they hurtled backward out of the alley, before twisting the wheel sharply. The car span into a one eighty-degree turn as she struggled vainly to shift into first. There was a crunch of complaint from the gearbox at such violent treatment and she stamped on the accelerator. Hard. The car shot forward like a bullet from a gun, swerving wildly at first as Faith wrestled to bring it under control, before she finally managing to calm the temperamental beast. Once they were a safe distance away, she stopped the car and traded places with Angel.

Together, the ragtag group set off in the direction of the Hyperion Hotel.