Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Cinematic Universe, Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

Chapter 12- Unexpected alliance

A pale, pretty feverish man with a thin scar running from his lower lip to chin, was sitting on a bench near a community blood bank, coughing, as another man sat next to him.

"First time giving blood?"

The pale man coughed and nodded. "Yes."

"They pay cash here. And there's no limit to how many times you give. They even buy it in the jar", the man lifted a jar with blood, showing it to the pale man.

A nurse then arrived, holding a clipboard. "Jared Nomak, we're ready for you."

The pale man, called Jared Nomak, stood up as he and the nurse walked down the dimly lit hallway.

"In the past 12 months, have you gotten a tattoo, or undergone any ear, skin, or body piercings?"

"No."

The nurse inquired. "Where did you get that scar on your chin?"

Nomak informed. "Childhood accident."

"You say you don't have any immediate next of kin, is that right?"

"Not that I'm in contact with."

"Nobody to call in case of an emergency?"

"No one."

"No family?"

"I told you, no", Nomak was a little agitated now. "Are you telling me I can't be a donor?"

"It depends", the nurse informed him. "We came up with some unusual results on your blood test."

Nomak seemed surprised. "What? How unusual?"

They entered a room opened by a guard, and as they entered, the nurse punched in a code, closing it again as Nomak seemed shocked.

"Let me explain. Your blood has a very rare phenotype, one we haven't encountered before."

There was another man in dark clothes standing near a reclining dental chair with arm and headrests.

"What? What are you talking about?"

The guard then grabbed Nomak and started dragging him to the chair as he asked in panic. "Who are you? No."

"Sit down, please."

He was forced to the chair and strapped down as the three looked at him with smirks.

"What is this?"

He saw many containers of blood kept nearby.

"This is a good news-bad news scenario, Jared. Good news for us..." the man exchanged a cruel smirk with the nurse, "bad news... for you."

The man, nurse and guard all Vamped out in that moment as Jared shook and started crying, but as they moved closer, the cries turned into maniacal laughter instead, shocking all three. Definitely not a reaction they were expecting from a potential victim.

The flesh on Nomak's chin briefly separated along the scar, almost as if it were a seam, and veins appeared all over his face now.

Then he broke his restraints and grabbed the nurse by the throat, slamming her to the wall before the man and the guard saw him bite her neck so hard her blood splattered over the whole wall.

As he drank from her, the guard shot him in the back. He dropped the nurse and turned to the guard, his face all bloody.

The dark-clothed man made a run for it as Nomak disarmed the guard and threw him into the wall, shattering it right there.

The man was punching the code to open the door but when he turned, Nomak grabbed his throat, then looking up at the camera said in Slavic. "Vampires. I hate Vampires."

Nomak looked back at the man as the flesh along his scar separated and what looked like a long, disgusting and slithering tongue came out, and the man screamed in pure terror, the last sound he ever made.

Los Angeles, Wolfram and Hart

Lawson snuck into the building, revenge against Angel in mind. His sire finally had something to live for. He was CEO of this place, had a girlfriend, even a son from what he'd heard, and many friends, so Lawson would get them all.

What he hadn't counted on was improved security.

"Hey."

Lawson turned to see Groo standing there. "Who are you?"

"I am here to visit Angel."

"What is your name?"

"Sam Lawson."

"You do not have an appointment, as head of security, I know of all appointments with everyone. In fact, no one has an appointment with anyone at this time."

"Oh!"

Lawson vamped out and leapt at Groo who barely avoided as Lawson spin kicked his face and then spin kicked again before Groo grabbed his foot and threw him into a corner.

He leapt at Lawson who leapt away to avoid and grabbed Groo in a chokehold, both struggling, before Groo pushed his head back, hitting Lawson who let go, and Groo turned around, smacking him down.

Lawson tried to leap up but Groo grabbed him by the throat and kneed his gut thrice, before bringing his face down on his knee, finally taking him out.

Later, Angel was informed and walked to the interrogation room, seeing Lawson restrained there, and sat down in front of him.

"Hiya, chief. Aw, come on. Don't tell me you don't recognize me. Spend time in the tube, should know your crew like the back of your hand."

"Lawson."

"You see there?" Lawson put his hand over his heart. "I'm touched. Seems like you're doing pretty well for yourself. It's a far cry from all those years you spent in the gutters, eating rats."

Angel commented. "You've been following my life. I'm touched."

"I just check in every decade or so. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Mr. Vermin-eater himself was suddenly fighting evil and running Wolfram & Hart", Lawson scoffed. "Mind explaining that one to me? Those 2 don't exactly go hand in hand."

"It's complicated."

"Find that's true about most things these days. I don't mean to sound like an old man, but..." Lawson sighed. "We used to live in simpler times, didn't we? Never thought I'd miss being on that sub. Things made a kind of sense. "Keep your head down…..Watch each other's backs, and stay alert." Safe and sound. Guess now's not the time to argue semantics, is it? Did you care about any of it— The ship? The mission? The men? Or were you just in it to save your own ass?"

Angel just asked. "What do you want, Lawson?"

"Same thing I've always wanted: to understand."

"Understand...what exactly?"

"Why me?"

"I never wanted to do this to you."

"Oh, put your hanky away. I know how important the technology they pulled from the sub was to helping us stop the Germans. Sounded like a fair shake. One person damned to make the world safe for future generations", Lawson sighed. "Except your friends."

"Killing them's not going to change the past."

"But it'll hurt you. Maybe that's enough."

"Never is."

"Then maybe I found my mission again after all these years."

"Being an evil son of a bitch not keeping you busy?"

"We all need a reason to live, even if we're already dead. Mom, apple pie, the stars and stripes— That was good enough for me till I met you. Then I had this whole creature-of-the-night thing going for me—the joy of destruction and death—and I embraced it. I did all the terrible things a monster does—murdered women and children, tortured fathers and husbands just to hear 'em scream—and through it all... I felt nothing. 60 years of blood drying in my throat like ashes. So what do you think? Is it me, chief? Or does everyone you sired feel this way?"

Angel confessed sadly. "You're the only one I ever did this to...after I got a soul."

"Do I have one, too?"

Angel blinked, looking aside. "I don't think it works that way, son."

"Didn't think so", Lawson glared. "You gave me just enough, didn't you? Enough of your soul to keep me trapped between who I was and who I should be. I'm nothin'... because of you."

Angel asked him. "You really want it to end like this?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Angel looked at Lawson who dared. "Come on chief, give me a mission!"

Angel took out a stake and plunged it into Lawson as he turned into dust, Angel watching sadly.

He walked out, Faith looking at him sadly as they shared a hug, and then as they parted Matt put a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

Angel nodded at him and walked as Spike asked from a corner. "So sailor boy finally came back for a yo-ho-ho, did he?"

Angel nodded. "Finally came back."

"Took him long enough. Know revenge is best served cold and all, but his must've been frozen solid."

Angel told him. "I don't think that's what he was after."

Spike looked at Angel. "No? Then what was he looking for?"

Angel whispered. "A reason."

Spike said. "He was one of us now. He was a monster."

Angel sighed. "He was an innocent victim."

"So were we... once upon a time."

"Once upon a time."

Angel came back into his penthouse, where Connor was playing, and he sat down next to his son, holding him lovingly.

"Dada."

Angel smiled as Cordelia then sat next to him, wrapping her arms around him for comfort as Angel kissed both her hands, holding one.

"It wasn't your fault", Cordelia assured.

"Thank you", he said before getting a call, and groaned. "Lilah."

He picked it up and asked. "What?"

"The lawyer of one of our firm's oldest clients is here, we cannot turn him back no matter what time he comes at, so get your ass here right now."

A while later, Angel sat down on his chair with Matt, Faith, Lilah and Gunn standing behind them, and in front of them sat the lawyer of this old client.

"I represent Damaskinos, the ruling body of the Vampire Nation", the lawyer told them all.

"Damaskinos, I know him", Angel commented.

"From your 'old' days?" Faith asked.

"Yeah", Angel nodded.

"Now we know that some of you here have been our enemies, and still are even after running this firm", the lawyer started, and seeing he had their attention, continued. "But this time we want to offer a truce."

"Why?" Matt asked, his arms folded.

"This is not a trick, I assure you", the lawyer said, and Matt heard his heartbeat. He wasn't lying. "We have been enemies, yes, but now there is something worse than the Slayers, the Daywalker and you on the loose."

A while later, the whole team was gathered in a room.

"This whole deal is giving me a serious case of butt-willies", Cordelia quipped, and Connor was sleeping so he didn't hear.

"Yeah, but I don't think they'd try to do much, ya know?" Lorne pointed out. "Not even Vampire Lord would defy the Senior Partners."

"Green Bean is not wrong there", Lilah agreed. "These people would not defy the Partners, they lack the power to do so."

"Still not convinced", Cordelia commented. "This guy also sent some Vamps to get your son when he was born."

"I remember", Angel told her.

"Yeah, client or not, this guy is called 'Overlord of the Vampire Nation', I mean, you can't not expect something fishy", Fred pointed out.

"I have been ousted by a revolution myself, so I am having doubts myself", Groo added.

"Well, at day's end, decision lies with you, suckhead. So, what do ya do, eh?" Stick asked. "What do ya do?"

"I know this guy tried to take my son before, so I want him to pay for that. I want to see how he works, how the place is, so I can make the job easier. So I say I'm taking this deal", Angel finally said, shocking them.

Cordelia started. "But Angel-"

"Damaskinos hasn't made any moves against us yet since we started running the place, if he does we can do a lot of things to him", Gunn pointed out.

"And if something happens to Angel before that?" Cordelia asked, pointing that out.

"It won't, because I'm going with him", Matt said, as all turned to him.

"Me too, let's see them try anything with the Devil and a Slayer around", Faith quipped, folding her arms.

Angel looked at them both gratefully and said. "I do need some of our best fighters for this. So me, Matt, Faith and….." He turned to Spike and added with a groan. "Spike."

"Was waiting for you to ask", Spike quipped.

Angel turned to Stick and Groo. "You two are great fighters but please stay here with the rest."

"Since you said 'please'", Stick quipped.

"I will", Groo assured.

"Be careful Matty, these are the worst kind of suckheads", Stick told him and turned to the other three. "You lot too."

"Thanks", Faith said.

"Yeah, we'll be careful", Matt assured.

"And come back to us in a piece", Wesley added as all shared chuckles, and then hugged, with Cordelia kissing Angel on the lips.

"Come back to me", she whispered to him. "To Connor."

"I won't go anywhere", Angel assured as they shared another kiss on the lips and then parted as Angel lifted up Connor, rocking him and kissing his forehead lovingly. "I'll be back."

The helicopter carrying Matt, Faith, Angel, Spike and the lawyer eventually touched down outside a terraced, Frank Lloyd Wright structure overlooking the ocean. As the lawyer lead Matt, Faith, Angel and Spike towards the facility, a circular crimson logo encircling a double-helix was seen.

There were guards on the gate. Matt now did not have his glasses or cane but wore his lawyer suit, knowing his Hell-Mark would come in handy here. His Daredevil suit he carried in a case shut by magic from the firm, and only he could open it.

Matt noted. "The guards are human."

"Nation has its hands everywhere, mate", Spike commented as they went inside into an elevator and rode down as the doors opened to a 4-way intersection.

The lawyer lead them into a hub out of which multiple corridors project. They took the central corridor, which ended at a pair of steel security doors. The lawyer stood before a biometric scanner, allowing a beam of light to play over his face.

"Place is quite high-tech, didn't expect that", Faith commented.

"Unlike other Vampires, Damaskinos moves with the times and looks to science for the future", Angel informed her and Matt.

The scanner acknowledged the lawyer's identity and the doors hissed open, revealing a series of security doors beyond these which successively opened into a final door, set into a stainless steel wall, incalculably ancient, elaborately carved.

The lawyer told Spike. "The House of Erebus you, the other Slayer, the Daywalker and Spider-Man encountered before in Sunnydale were nothing but feudal lords. The true power of the Vampire Nation lies here-"

They moved forwards as the lawyer pushed the doors open into Damaskinos' lair- A crescent-shaped room filled with antiquities: quarry columns from Middle Kingdom Egypt, stacks of arcane volumes, Medieval frontispieces.

A Borgia-esque Renaissance portrait was staring down at them with a severe gaze. Towering over all of these was a massive Greek Cross carved from stone.

Standing in the midst of this was Overlord Eli Damaskinos, wearing a robe of black silk.

"Sir", Damaskinos turned to his lawyer. "I brought them like you asked."

He walked out, leaving Damaskinos alone with them.

"So as you can see, this is not a trick, or I would not let myself be alone with you lot", Damaskinos pointed out to them. "Welcome, I have been quite anxious to meet you all."

He stepped into the light, showing his features, and Matt was especially disgusted by the marble textured albino skinned, and pointed eared Vampire.

"You tried to take my son before", Angel snarled.

"That is in the past now, Angelus, now that you run Wolfram and Hart, we are not making any moves against you or him", Damaskinos assured before adding. "For now. Besides, like I said, this is a truce, we will not attack each other for the time being."

"You two know each other, don't ya?" Spike quipped.

"Yeah, we have met, once", Angel said with a snarl, remembering when he had been brought here against his will when he was Angelus.

"He had great ability for death and chaos, but was too archaic", Damaskinos shrugged, then looked to Spike. "William the Bloody, you were the same as him from what we heard, did kill 2 Slayers though."

"I'm nothing like him", Spike scoffed.

"He's nothing like me", Angel scoffed at the same time.

"And you experimented on Dru", Spike snarled in disgust. While she had been crazy and a toxic influence on him, a part of him did care about her.

"For the future", Damaskinos said.

"I know what future", Spike scoffed.

"Faith, Vampire Slayer", Damaskinos then turned to her in greeting. "I have met a few Slayers in my life. None of them lasted as long as you, or the other one."

"We plan to last much longer", Faith told him with folded arms.

Matt stepped in. "Careful now, your age is starting to show."

Damaskinos chuckled. "The Lord of Hell has a strong son, how frustrating it must be for him."

"He is not my father."

"Clearly, Abaddon."

"His name is Adam."

Then the doors opened and the lawyer came back but with him were a Sufi Muslim man possessing a restrained nobility, and a woman who was 20-something, with brown eyes and strong, darkly exotic features.

Both were Vampires.

And with them were Blade, Whistler and a young man who oozed arrogance.

"So we are not the only you reached out to, eh?" Blade asked.

"Blade", Angel greeted him.

"Good to see you lot again", Blade commented to them.

"Heard you got a soul, Willy boy", Whistler said to Spike.

"Well, you heard right, Whistles", Spike replied.

"Whistler", Whistler shrugged.

"Spike."

Hearing the name 'Whistler' reminded Angel of another Whistler he used to know before.

"Who's that?" Faith asked, gesturing to the young man.

"Name's Scud, technician and ladies' man", Scud introduced himself overconfidently.

"Yeah right", Faith chuckled, holding hands with Matt as Scud groaned.

"I am Asad", the Muslim Vampire gave his introduction.

"I am Nyssa", the woman introduced herself too, then turned to Damaskinos. "Father, we now have everyone here."

"Father?" Matt asked in surprise.

"The people he has sired himself and recruited consider him their father", Angel told the group. "Weird, I know."

"So, whatever you called us all for, tell us the deal", Faith finally spoke up.

Looking at some containers holding organs, Damaskinos began. "As you may know, Vampirism is... a horrible virus, carried in the saliva of predators. In a short time, it spreads through the human bloodstream as they die, creating new parasitic organs."

"Been there, done that", Spike shrugged.

Blade snarled. "It brings forth a Demon, which spreads in the body like a parasite."

Angel sighed, since yeah, the Demon when he was Angelus had taken over him, turned him pure evil. What spread through the human bloodstream was like a parasite.

Damaskinos said. "Parasite with a purpose." He looked away and paced.

The lawyer then told them. "Unfortunately, viruses evolve, too. We've encountered a new one. We dubbed it the 'Reaper Strain'. And like any good pathogen", he held up a drive, "it appears to have found a carrier."

He put the drive in a computer nearby, and typed some stuff in 'Slavic' before a video appeared of Jared Nomak biting the Vampire nurse's neck as the blood splattered all over the wall, with the guard firing at him but being thrown off.

The lawyer pointed at him. "There... Jared Nomak."

Damaskinos explained to them. "Sired into a Vampire, but an anomaly like you", he looked at Blade, Angel and Spike. "Two of you are ensouled while one of you is only half-Vampire, none of you feed on humans unlike us due to conscience."

"Come to the important part", Matt urged him.

"Unlike the rest of us, however, Nomak here feeds on not just humans, but Vampires as well."

That came as a shock.

Nomak looked up at the camera.

Blade quipped. "Looks like he was doing me a favor."

"Yeah, don't see what's bad", Faith chuckled.

"Uhhhh, I don't think he'd make a distinction between souled and soulless", Angel spoke up to Faith, and she realized he was right.

"Bloody hell!" Spike said.

"You're all missing the point", Nyssa then told the group as she looked at Team Angel and Team Blade with folded arms. "Their Vampire victims don't die... they turn. They become carriers."

"What?" Faith asked. "You mean-"

Asad spoke up. "You've got to understand. These things are like crack addicts. They need to feed daily. Nomak's been up for 72 hours. By our estimates, there are already a dozen Reapers. There'll be hundreds before the week is out. Thousands within a matter of months. Do the math."

"Wait", Blade said. "Let me get this right. You want us to hunt them... for you?"

"Does sound like what they're saying", Spike nodded.

Damaskinos looked up and asked. "When they are finished with us, who do you think they'll turn on next? All of your precious humans. Not one of them will be left."

"Hate to say it but he's right", Faith said, looking like she'd swallowed poison.

"So, guess we've no choice", Matt realized.

The lawyer told them. "We spent two years training a small tactical unit... The Bloodpack. We want you to lead them."

"Two years?" Blade asked.

"I don't think it was for Nomak", Angel said.

Nyssa looked at Blade, Angel, Spike, Faith and Matt with a smirk. "We've been training to hunt you."

A while later, all entered Scud's workshop.

Scud asked. "So, B-man, what do you think?"

"Sounds like a plan", Blade shrugged as he put on his gloves.

"I think he meant what you really think", Faith pointed out.

"They're going to fuck us the first chance they get", Blade shrugged.

"My thoughts exactly", Angel agreed.

"Well, you have me so there's that", Matt spoke up.

Scud asked them all. "So, we ain't gonna do this, right?"

Blade walked to him and said. "We'll play along for now. They'll take us in deeper than we've ever been. Get a chance to see how their world really ticks."

"Yeah, we've been on the other side", Spike said as he exchanged a look with Angel. "But we only ever caused death and chaos. No settling or ruling for us, no conspiracies or organizations, so, new territory."

"Means we must be careful", Faith agreed there.

Scud told them. "I had enough of their world."

Whistler walked down and took off his coat. "They're just shitting bricks because they're no longer top of the food chain."

Spike nodded. "The hunters have become the prey."

Whistler beckoned to Matt. "You, Matt, want to talk to you."

"Sure", Matt shrugged as he walked downstairs to talk to him. "What do you want to talk about?"

"How's Stick?" Whistler asked, surprising Matt a little. "We knew each other, he helped train Blade too. He mentioned you as well."

"Well, he's dead", Matt revealed, now surprising Whistler.

"Huh, had a feeling he'd be the first to go," Whistler commented, looking respectful and a bit sad as he was hiding all his emotions, then told Matt. "We a bet on who would die first between us."

"He's a ghost now and stays with us."

"Well shit, always knew he was too stubborn to stay in the ground."

Matt chuckled as Whistler then told him. "Your suit will stick out like a sore thumb."

"Right", Matt realized. "So, what should I do then?"

"Dress up like your friends."

Blade then walked downstairs, handing Matt a Glock 34. "Not your style, but you lot need it here. Besides, nothing we're killing that ain't already dead."

A drug dealer stood on the road side as a woman approached him and paid, as he gave her a drug packet, and she walked off, sniffing it.

He was then approached by a hooded guy who beckoned the alley, and they walked there as the hooded guy stood with his back to a car.

"Looking to get hooked up?" The dealer asked.

"Maybe. What do you have?"

"No problem. Horse, Hawaiian Ice, whatever you need."

"Whatever I need", the hooded guy commented. "I like that. What if I need you?"

As the dealer turned, the hooded guy grabbed his throat and threw off his hood, revealing himself to be Jared Nomak, and he smashed the dealer into the car, breaking the glass.

He then dragged him out and ripped out a shard of glass stuck to the dealer, now having his blood, and tasted it. "So, so sweet."

Nomak then looked at him as his seam parted and he threw the dealer down, feeding on him, and when he got up, 2 more Reapers were behind him, gaunt and feral-looking with shaved heads.

Nomak walked off as the Reapers started feeding on the dealer.

At the workshop, Matt walked out, now wearing a red wool duster coat, with the buttons all open, exposing the Hell-Mark to complete the look.

Faith looked at it admiringly and commented. "Sexy and deadly, all in one."

Matt smirked. "Should look like this more often then."

Faith chuckled as they shared a kiss and Spike added. "Yeah, look suits you, mate."

"Now we all dress up the same", Angel said as they all laughed.

Matt then heard Blade about to inject himself and walked to his room, as Blade looked at him, and Matt offered a hand, letting Blade grasp it as he finished injecting himself and dealt with the shakes that came due to it.

Blade then stopped and inquired. "How's the kid?"

Matt told him. "Had some trouble not too long ago, but he's okay. Healthy, happy. He's even speaking now."

Blade smiled, going soft at the mention of the baby Daywalker, the only other of his kind.

Nyssa then walked in, having seen and heard it all, and said. "They are ready whenever you all are."

They walked out and downstairs where the rest were gathered as Asad made introductions. "Blade, Angelus, Spike, Faith, Matt, meet The Bloodpack."

The group turned to the Bloodpack, representing an assortment of ages and races, their one unifying characteristic being a callous, almost fanatical disregard for human life. In short, these guys were the most stone-cold motherfuckers ever seen.

"Lighthammer."

He was a massive bald man with tattoos on him, looking very eager for a fight, like Spike.

"Verlaine."

She was Lighthammer's lover, her arms wrapped around him, and was a curvaceous beauty with bee-stung lips that exuded a predatory sexuality, like Faith before she had reformed.

"Priest."

He had long blonde hair with sunglasses, and was Irish, like Angel.

"Snowman."

He was a mute Asian carrying two sheathed swords and he did a gesture, using sign language, and it was clear he was the skilled martial artist, like Matt.

"Chupa."

He was a blunt-featured blonde man with a blonde beard, and had a smug face, like Whistler.

"And Reinhardt."

He was in his 30s, and a square-jawed, chiselled Australian. He was the group's hardass and wore shades, like Blade.

Reinhardt walked to Blade and leaning closer said. "Hey, um... me and the gang were wondering..." He whispered something only Matt heard.

"What was that?" Blade asked, putting a hand to his ear.

Reinhardt leaned to him again and asked louder. "Can you blush?"

Blade nodded as Angel, Spike and Faith rolled their eyes, while the Bloodpack chuckled.

Blade smirked and paced. "Oh, I get it. I see now." He walked to Reinhardt's other side, now between him and the rest of the Bloodpack as Reinhardt looked at him. "You've been training for two years to take me out. And now, here I am. Ooh, so exciting, isn't it?"

Blade then suddenly took out a stake. "Okay, here's your chance."

The rest of the Bloodpack aimed their guns at Blade but then Angel, Spike and Faith raised guns back at them, with Matt raising a ball of Hellfire in his hand as the Hell-Mark glowed.

Blade put the stake to his chest, taunting Reinhardt. "Come on. What are you waiting for? Here I am. Right here in front of you."

Nyssa made a gesture as the rest of the Bloodpack lowered their weapons, so Angel, Spike, Faith and Matt did the same.

Blade told the rest. "Adolf here gets the first shot."

Reinhardt leaned his head towards Nyssa as Blade taunted further. "Come on. What are you looking at her for? You need permission? Maybe you need a little bit of incentive. Okay, I can help with that."

Blade now started twirling the stake in his hand swiftly and as Reinhardt watched, he decked Reinhardt with his other hand, sending his face the other way.

Blade stopped twirling the stake and asked the glaring Reinhardt. "What's the matter? Missed that?"

Spike commented. "Oooh, I like his style."

"Me too", Faith smirked, looking forward to more schooling of Reinhardt.

"It's okay, I can do it again", Blade twirled the stake swiftly again as Reinhardt watched, and was decked again, sending his face the other way.

Verlaine urged in Slavic. "Do it Reinhardt! Do it!"

"Come on. What, do you need a manual?" Blade handed Reinhardt the stake. "Do it!"

Chupa snarled. "Kill the bastard!"

Reinhardt grabbed Blade's collar and raised the stake, but Blade had already whirled out of the way, trapping his hand, then violently twisting it backwards.

Before Reinhardt even knew what was happening, Blade swung him around into a headlock. In his free hand he'd got a tiny, barbed flechette. The barbs sprung open like a tick's gripping mandibles as Blade drove the flechette into the base of Reinhardt's skull. Reinhardt howled in pain as it started beeping.

"That should teach them to mess with us", Faith said.

Blade told Reinhardt. "Now you've got an explosive device stuck to the back of your head. With wood in it", he looked at the rest of the Bloodpack. "Rigged to go off if anybody tampers with it. I'll have the detonator with me." He turned back to Reinhardt. "And you... if you so much as look at me wrong..." He twisted Reinhardt's arm, making him growl in pain.

Blade let him go and told everyone. "From now on we work as a unit. You'll be taking orders from me."

"You good with that, mate?" Spike asked Angel.

"Yeah, Blade is infamous with this line of work", Angel told him.

"So we follow his lead", Matt nodded.

"Any questions?" Blade asked, looking at them all, including the now straightened Reinhardt. No response from anyone.

"Good", Blade walked to Nyssa and Asad with Angel, Spike, Faith and Matt gathered nearby. "You want to catch the hunter? You start with the prey. We'll target all the night places where Vampires congregate. Blood banks, safe houses. The bigger the better." He asked the two. "So... what's first?"

Nyssa shared a look with Asad, then looked back at Blade, Angel, Spike, Faith and Matt.

"The House of Pain."

And that's it, so now we're on Blade II, hope all enjoy it, and thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help.

5x13 is the worst episode of this Season so I had Lawson taken out early.

Matt now is dressed up like Dante from 'Devil May Cry 3', just black hair instead of white, LOL! And he does have a Demon form to go with it, what a coincidence!

Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter.