Chapter 19: Vampire Attacks

*****The Next Day*****

Buffy planned on returning to New York the next day after the gala. She joined Faith and Bruce for breakfast as she was staying at the Wayne Manor with them while she was in town. Faith still had her own place, but she stayed at Bruce's more often than not.

Faith greeted her with a wide grin. "Good morning, sleepy head," she said.

"Morning," Buffy mumbled, reaching for the coffee. Alfred always made an incredible spread at breakfast. Pretty much anything she could think to want to eat was on the table. She examined the offerings with a happy little sigh. When he came to the table carrying a flower bouquet, she said, "Alfred, will you marry me?"

"Hey, no stealing our butler!" Faith said.

"Why should he be content as a butler when I'm prepared to make him my husband?" Buffy said with a smirk.

Faith opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn't think of a reply. She glanced at Bruce for help, and he just shrugged. "She's your friend," he said.

"While I do thank you for the flattery, I am afraid I would have to decline," Alfred said, smiling at Buffy. "But these flowers are for you."

"Really? You shouldn't have, Al," she said.

"I didn't," he said. "There's a card."

Buffy couldn't recall the last time she'd gotten flowers, and she admired the wide variety of flowers as she grabbed the card.

"What's it say?" Faith asked.

"It's from Lex Luthor," Buffy said. "He wants to take me to dinner. His number is on the card."

"That's great. You should call him," Faith said with a grin.

"You live in New York. What's the point?" Bruce pointed out.

Faith smacked his arm. "The point is that she needs to get out there. It's been a long time since she's got her jollies off, right, B?" she asked.

"Thanks for the reminder," Buffy said, giving her a sour look. "He seemed like a good enough guy. You said he was okay, right?" She looked at Bruce.

Bruce shrugged. "He's okay," he said.

"Clark said he was okay—at least these days, and I'm not one to hold a person's past against them," Buffy said.

"So you'll call him?" Faith asked.

"Sure," she said. "After I have breakfast." She ate her fill, and then took the flowers to her room to get dressed.

Faith came into the room and asked, "What he say?"

"I don't know. I haven't called him yet," Buffy said.

"Why the hell not?" Faith asked.

"I don't know," Buffy said with a shrug.

Faith narrowed her eyes suspicious. "Sure, you do, but for some reason, you're not telling," she said. "Is there someone else?" When Buffy didn't immediately deny, she realized that was it. "There is! Who?"

"There's not. Not really," Buffy said. "I'll call Lex. You're right. It's beyond time for me to get some type of social life." She reached for her phone, but Faith stopped her.

"What are you not telling me? Who is it?" Faith asked. "The only guy you've even really spent time with is Clark—Clark! It's him, isn't it?"

Buffy looked glum. "I know. It's stupid. Talk about not available," she said.

"Well, he can't mourn forever," Faith said.

"Yea," Buffy said. "But I am going to call Lex because I can't be that girl."

"Damn right," Faith said with a wink.

Buffy called Lex, thanking him for the flowers and agreed to have dinner with him.

Just like that, she was dating her own billionaire. Lex was charming and the paparazzi was in a frenzy to see them together. Buffy was impressed with his deft handling of the press, smiling but pushing them away politely.

"You are so much better at that than I am," Buffy said. "I really want to hit people."

Lex grinned at her. "Well, you might really hurt someone, so it's probably a good thing if you keep exercising self-control," he said.

"Yea, I know," she said with a rueful smile. "But they follow me everywhere. They even started wearing black and trying to follow me on patrol. I had to save one of the idiots from a vampire the other day."

"Yes, I read about that," Lex said. "Of course, I first saw the man's gushing interview about how wonderful you were."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "They are impossible!" she exclaimed.

She enjoyed her dinner with Lex, finding him charming with a sardonic sense of humor that she enjoyed. When it was over, he walked her to her car as she had met him at the restaurant. Naturally, there was still plenty of onlookers, so he simply squeezed her hand and asked, "Can I call you sometime?"

"Sure," Buffy said. "Thanks for dinner. It was nice."

Lex had been pleasantly surprised to find that Buffy didn't seem to take herself too seriously even though she was clearly frustrated with all the attention. He definitely wanted to see her again.

Neither noticed that there were more than just reporters watching them.

Amy Madison burned with rage as she watched an actual billionaire fawn over Buffy Summers. Sure, most of her hatred was reserved for Willow, but ultimately, Buffy was the one to blame. If it wasn't for her, Willow would have never dared crossed so many lines. Amy wouldn't have gotten so bad herself and been violated by Rack. She wasn't her mother—she wasn't. Ethan Rayne had taught her how to channel her magic to honor Chaos.

She pulled out her phone and called her new mentor. "It's time," she said. "The world is worshiping Buffy Summers, and they know that monsters are real. Let's see how they handle real death and chaos unleashed."

"It will be glorious chaos," Ethan agreed.

*****The Watch Tower*****

Chloe was at the computer monitoring things. With their new relationship with the slayers, they now could monitor communication worldwide. It had been decided that since Clark was not working with the Justice League that his sister Cora would take his place. Although she got visions that Chloe didn't quite understand, she still was willing to answer calls that would take her across the globe to assist natural disasters. With the revelations that Buffy had revealed about not just how to kill vampires and demons but that heaven and hell was real, things were unsettled everywhere. Crime had at first skyrocketed. After the President had done his religious forum, it had helped. Other countries had followed suit, and there seemed to be a settling down. Chloe, though, was feeling antsy. Something was going to shift soon—she just knew it.

"Anything to report?" Oliver asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Not yet," she said.

Cora landed on the balcony and came in. "Hey," she said.

"How's things in L.A.?" Oliver asked.

"Good. I got there in time to help," she said.

"So how's this working?" Chloe wondered. "Are these Powers giving you visions to help Angel even though you're not with him?"

Cora shrugged. "I think due to my ability to move superfast, they will at times," she said. "Angel, though, is going to see if he can get another conduit. Lorne is already an empath demon. It wouldn't be much more for him to get visions to help."

"But the visions aren't going to leave you?" he wondered.

"No. If they were going to be gone, they would've when I transformed to Kryptonian," Cora said.

"We have a report of an attack in Gotham," Chloe said when a ping went off on her computer.

"Buffy and Faith will handle that," Oliver said. "Buffy's still there, right?"

"Yes," Chloe confirmed.

"Damn it! Another in Miami," she said, clearly agitated. "I'm dispatching A.C."

Pings started going off on her computer. "There happening all over! Metropolis. New York City. Cleveland, Los Angeles, Dallas, Las Vegas, New Orleans—I knew things were too quiet!" she fumed.

"There's one here!" Oliver said. This had never happened before, and he wasn't sure they were equipped to handle this.

"I'm sending out reports to Giles and all the Watchers," Chloe said worriedly. She was relieved that they had more allies now. "You guys go."

"I'll help you with this one and then head to Metropolis," Cora said. "Be careful." Oliver nodded and took off.

When she got to the location Chole gave her, she mentally groaned. It was one of those day vamps that were infused with Kryptonite. "Damn it!" she said. She hit her comm and told Chloe and Oliver the bad news.

"I'll pass on the info to Clark. Keep your distance," Chloe said. She hoped her team could handle this, but the sinking feeling in her stomach grew as she listened on the comms and dispatched her teams.

Oliver arrived on scene and saw a huge monster that was downtown. It was nearly seven feet tall, and people were fleeing. Cora was trying to hit it with her heat vision, but it kept throwing bodies at Cora.

"This is a vampire?" Oliver asked.

"It's a Turok-Han," Cora said. "They're like purer vamps. The kind that Buffy and them fought when they closed the hellmouth, but this one is a daywalker. The Kryptonite it's infused with must be what allows it to be in the daylight. We took down one of these—Willow and Buffy and I. It was a bitch to put down."

"I will try to tie its arms, so you can get it with the heat vision," Oliver said after a few of his arrows didn't seem to hurt it much. He moved closer after the vampire managed to kill two men in suits. It made him sick that they were so close, and yet they couldn't prevent this monster from killing bystanders.

He shot his arrow that he connected to a long rope around the torso of the creature, which did succeed in pinning its arms. "Now!" he shouted.

Cora didn't hesitate. Since she was afraid that her heat would burn the rope, she went for the neck, trying to severe its head. It kept moving, but she moved forward. Waves of nausea hit her, but she pressed on, determined to put this thing down.

Finally, she cut through the neck, and it turned to dust. A few cheers went up, but people were mostly horrified as they gazed at the pile of green rocks left in the dust pile.

"What was that?" someone asked her.

"A vampire," she said.

"I thought they couldn't come out at night," another said.

"It's been genetically altered," she said grimly. "Someone has created this and set it loose on the city."

"Will there be more?"

"I hope not," Cora said. She looked at Oliver and knew he was having the same thought.

Who would do this?

*****Gotham*****

Batman helped Faith and Buffy put down the daywalker that was loose in their city, and then there was a report of another. Before they could respond a third report hit them.

"Three? There's three here? Where the hell are they coming from?" Faith asked.

"These things were created," Bruce said. "They're not natural, so it would make sense that they were placed here."

"Who would do this?" Faith asked.

"We can worry about that after we put them down," Buffy said.

They each agreed to take one, but Faith didn't think Bruce could take one down on his own. "You'll get yourself killed!" she yelled.

"People are dying, so I suggest you go take care of the one you need to. Then come join me," Bruce said. "I can at least help people."

Faith reluctantly agreed, and the three separated. Because Faith did not want to be outed as a slayer, she had reluctantly agreed to wearing a disguise when she fought. She wore a form fitting black suit that Bruce had designed to be stronger than normal leather, which meant it held up well to demon claws or blades. Since Buffy was blonde, Faith thought it was a kick to wear a blonde wig instead of sporting her normal dark locks. No way anyone would think it was her, especially after her mask. She didn't go with the eye mask, but she had a mask for her lower face that concealed her distinctive dimple, which Bruce insisted was a dead give away for her identity since they'd been photographed together too many times. It was a pain in the ass putting on the outfit, but she had the wig loose and in ponytail versions. This was her second week wearing her disguise, so she felt fairly comfortable with it. She refused to wear anything bat-like, and the first reporter that called her Batgirl, she punched in the face. The papers had taken to calling her the Blonde Bombshell instead, which she found hilarious. Buffy, of course, thought it was sexist. Faith was just glad no one knew her identity because she didn't want the attention that her sister slayer was currently dealing with.

The police were dispatched trying to protect people from the vampire as well as trying to put down the creature. Of course, nothing they tried was working as bullets didn't hurt the vampire at all. Batman knew from his first encounter with the daywalker that he couldn't possibly handle a one-one one fight, so he pulled out the long sword Faith had insisted that he start carrying on patrol with her.

He had to put this one down quickly, so he could help Faith. When the police saw him, one asked what he wanted them to do.

"Try to keep the people away," he said. He moved quickly, shooting ropes around the legs of the vampire, and while the vampire worked to get loose, he swung his sword, cutting off its arm. Then he swung hard, decapitating it. Relieved, he watched it turn to dust. The kryptonite that was imbedded inside it, however, didn't dissolve. "Mine's dead. I'm coming to you," he said into his comm.

When he made it to Faith's side, she was predictably fighting the thing, exchanging blows. It made him a bit nuts the risks she took. Her drive to punish monsters and do violence pushed her to take unnecessary risks, which he detested. One day, it would get her seriously injured. By this time, there were media there filming, but the police had created a perimeter.

When the vampire kicked Faith hard and she flew into a group of people, he used the method that had worked so far, shooting his ropes to temporarily immobilize the vampire before quickly swinging his sword at the vampire's neck.

He moved to help up Faith, checking her over for injuries. "If you'd go for the kill and not the hurt, the thing would be over much faster," he admonished.

"Yea, well, what's the fun in that?" she said with a typical smirk. She hit her comm. "B, we're coming."

There wasn't an answer, which worried them, so they moved fast to get to her location. She hopped on her bike while he jumped in his batmobile.

When they made it to the location, there was an ambulance and a large crowd. This location was around a church that had an iron fence with those pointed iron stakes. Faith gasped in horror when she saw that Buffy was impaled on one, and she pushed people out of her way to get to Buffy's side.

"Oh God, B! Is she alive?" she asked the paramedic.

"She is," the paramedic said. They had pulled her legs up to keep her body as stable as possible. Someone was keeping her head supported, so that no more pressure was pushing down at the top, but the iron stake seemed to be protruding out of her gut.

"Where's the vampire?" Batman asked, scanning the area.

"She threw her sword just as it sent her airborne," a spectator said. "It actually beheaded the thing. It was incredible!"

Buffy opened her eyes and looked at Faith. "Ow!" she said.

The fire chief looked down at his nation's greatest hero with more than a little trepidation. "Miss Summer, we have to cut the iron under you so that we can get you off this," he said.

"Just cut the top," Faith said. "Then, it will be easier to get her off the thing."

"She's right," Batman agreed.

The paramedic started an IV drip. "We're going to give you some morphine," he said.

"That will be nice," Buffy said. "This isn't the first time I've had something sharp through my gut, though, so I'll be okay."

Her comments were, of course, picked up by nearby reporters. The media swarm around her was massive as the vampires attacking in daytime had hit the media in Gotham quickly. Cameras were filming the fire departments every move as they cut the bar above Buffy's stomach. Then they took the one underneath her, and Faith help her to her feet even as the paramedic tried to get her onto the stretcher.

"Just pull the thing out," Buffy told Faith.

"Do not do that!" the paramedic screeched. "She could bleed to death!"

"I won't bleed to death, but the damn thing hurts," Buffy said, glaring. "Pull it out or I will!"

"Are you sure?" Faith asked.

"It's missed my spine, or I couldn't be standing. If it hit my lung, I'd be coughing blood, but I'm not. I'll be okay," she said. She looked at the paramedic. "Get ready to plug the holes."

Faith reached out and yanked out the bar, causing the audience to gasp in various degrees of dismay or horror. When Buffy did nothing more than wince, however, her legend built.

The paramedic moved quickly to lift her shirt and place a bandage on both sides. "You need to get on the stretcher and get checked out," he said.

"I hate hospitals," Buffy said. "I'll be fine."

"Please, Miss Summers," the fire chief said. "You have too many eyes on you. The mayor will want to make sure you are okay."

"Fine," Buffy conceded. "But I better get some chocolate pudding."

Faith watched her get loaded up as reporters shouted questions and snapped photos. Buffy smiled and waved. "Look at her," she said to Batman. Buffy was the epitome of wounded heroine. It made Faith smile even as she felt relief as her close call. If they lost Buffy, what would they do?

"She's going to be okay," he said.

"I know," Faith said. "She may hate the attention, but she's still the right person to lead this circus we're in now."

Bruce agreed. "Let's get changed, so we can go be with her," he said.

Faith thought that was a great idea, and they slipped away without much notice as all eyes were on the retreating ambulance.

All over the country both the slayers and the budding Justice League were hard pressed putting down these attacks from the Turok-Han. Angel and his team had three in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco that Kara flew to battle. Unfortunately, the Justice League wasn't as prepared to fight the creatures, and Dinah was killed. She wasn't the only casualty. Kennedy went the rescue of a trio of slayers, and she got her neck snapped.

In just a few short hours, chaos reigned across the country as word spread that vampires could now come in the daylight. When Superman was filmed trying to fight one and being brought to his knees by the Kryptonite in the creatures, panic built, and Ethan and Amy watched it all in glee.

Chaos was pleased at their offering.

*****Chapter End*****