Alex grinned at Kermit, "Our tour should start here. No visit to Sunnydale is really complete without a stop at Willie's Alibi, the best place in town for onion blossoms and bloody mixed drinks."
The Alibi seemed quiet, with an assortment of human, near human and clearly non-humans hanging around, drinking, munching on various fried appetizers, and watching the sports channel on the large television in the corner. Not surprising at all, considering that bars seemed to be bars regardless of where they were and who or what they served. Kermit was the shortest being in the bar by two feet, which didn't surprise the frog at all.
"A Budweiser, please," Kermit spoke toward the man behind the bar.
"That's Willie," Alex murmured. "He runs this place, and tends to know a lot of the rumors about what's going on and who's in town."
Willie the barman passed Kermit a beer, not asking for any form of identification. Instead, he asked a different question, "So, you're the one who's supposed to get the Count back under control? How's that going for you?"
"Back on his medication," Kermit corrected, taking a swallow of beer. "And yes. Things are going well for getting him properly medicated again. Just as long as nobody else takes his pills."
Half the people in Kermit's line of sight shuddered.
"I'll have a Snakebite," Alex said, glancing over at the jukebox. "Nobody's going to be stupid enough to take the Count's pills. Especially not if they've heard what happened to Paul."
"What happened t' Paul?" the deep rumble came from someone that might have been at least mostly human.
"The Count got angry," Kermit shrugged, and sipped at his beer. "And then he made Paul very sorry."
"How? Paul's an unrepentant nasty piece of work," the large man rumbled.
"The Count carved his feet away before used his toe bones for dice and the bones of his feet for casting runes. Then he did the same to his hands, and pulled every one of Paul's teeth. To make things worse, he took detailed notes through the whole thing," Alex shuddered, and downed the rest of his drink in a single swallow. "Give me another one, Willie."
There was a horrified curiosity in the now silent bar as Willie gave Alex another drink.
Kermit glanced over at another vampire, and offered, "The Count verified that there are fifty two bones in the feet by carefully removing them one bone at a time."
"The drinks are on the house, just… don't say another word about what happened to Paul," squeaked the barman, his face taking on a greenish cast.
"Fair enough," Kermit agreed.
Once Kermit had finished his Budweiser and Alex had finished his second Snakebite, they left Willie's Alibi. The rest of the patrons watched uneasily until the door closed behind Kermit.
Sunnydale had the look of a town that was slowly withering, clinging to the glory of an almost forgotten heyday. There was a large area that housed a railroad stock yard and over a dozen officially abandoned large factories and one cannery that still operated. Other small shops were there as well, some in use and others boarded over and dark. Here and there were buildings that showed signs of use despite being boarded over with broken, dull lights.
"This is a pretty popular part of town for lairs," Alex commented, waving his hand at all the buildings. "Some of the allies don't even get any direct sunlight except right at noon."
"I suppose that would be convenient for a vampire," Kermit agreed. "The Count has mentioned a few magical methods for dealing with the sunlight, but I got the impression that those were pretty uncommon."
"Yeah, that's one way to look at it," Alex snorted. "Damn near legendary would be another."
Alex explained the way a family of Fyarls had taken over an old slaughterhouse, and the twelve week infestation of some nasty little things with big triangular ears that multiplied in water that they'd faced, eventually eliminating the last of the so-called gremlins in an old shoe factory.
He was just about to start in on a story about the old cookie factory when something made a crunching noise behind them. "That can't be good…"
There were two pale and skinny demons standing there, with long bony arms ending in wicked talons. They bared rows of pointy teeth at then before lunging forward with threatening clicking noises.
Kermit tried to leap out of the way, evading a swipe of claws that left gouges in the brick wall. Alex kicked at the kneecap of the closest demon, smiling at the loud pop that his foot made and the way the kneecap crumpled.
The bony demon roared in pain, revealing that it had two rows of narrow fangs in that wide mouth, not just one.
The demon backhanded Alex, the impact sending him crashing into the wall before slumping down in an immobile heap.
The other grabbed Kermit around the throat while he was dodging the one with the broken kneecap. Kermit could feel the tips of the claws digging into his shoulder, and he reached up, trying to pry away the grip. It didn't help, and he kept struggling until his vision went dark.
End part 13.