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Thank you to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help.
Hope all enjoy.
Chapter 13- House of Pain
Blade, Matt, Angel, Spike, Faith, Whistler, Scud, Nyssa, Asad and the rest of the Bloodpack made their way to the House of Pain.
"Name doesn't give me the warmest feelings", Faith quipped to Matt.
"I think we know what to expect", Matt shrugged before asking Angel and Spike. "You two know anything?"
"No, I don't", Angel said. "Europe has changed lot from my time."
"And not in the good way either", Spike added.
They stopped near the nightclub as Blade asked Nyssa. "Where's the entrance? I don't see any signs. No vampire glyphs."
Nyssa told him, Blade, Angel, Faith, Matt and Spike. "No, because of you all, we've had to rethink our habits, tighten our security", she offered Blade special binoculars. "Have a closer look."
Blade took those and used them to spot the glyph. "Nice."
He gave it back to her as Faith commented. "So Vampires do evolve."
"Yeah, good number of them do", Spike confirmed to her. "Deacon did, and Damaskinos always does."
Whistler and the rest were near Scud's vehicle as Whistler handed out guns to the whole group while explaining the properties. ".38, .45 and 9mm caliber. All with foil capsules at the tip filled with wood, and garlic extract." He held up a gun. "This hyper-velocity stake gun spits out a wooden stake at 6,000 feet per second." He tossed it to Reinhardt.
"He really has it all, doesn't he?" Angel commented to Faith.
"Yeah, I think he is more knowledgeable on Vampires than the whole Council combined", Faith added, impressed by Whistler.
Whistler then held a UV gun with a filter on its barrel. "Since you suckers don't like sunlight, we've modified the gun's entry light with a UV filter. Pop it open... instant UV light", he popped it open for a second while pointing at himself, and nothing happened, before putting the filter back on.
He then pointed at Priest who got annoyed and took out his own gun but Whistler pointed out. "Filter's on, no problem."
Faith chuckled at the whole thing as Scud had a gauntlet in his hand. "Yo, B, check this out. It's got an pneumatic syringe delivery system", the syringe popped out. "The vials are filled with an anti-coagulant called EDTA." He popped it out again. "One punch with this, you'll blow your target up like a balloon." He pointed at the cartridge. "The cartridge ejects. Automatic reload."
"Nice", Blade smirked, impressed.
"You three know a lot more about Vampire weaknesses than we do", Matt noted.
"Only thing we do, tried a lot of stuff", Blade shrugged as they prepared to move.
"Let's go", Whistler said as he prepared to go with them.
"You won't pass for one of us", Asad pointed out.
"Like I give a shit", Whistler prepared his gun but Blade stopped him.
"No, he's right. Why don't you post up on the roof over there? Cover our backs."
"So the Bloodpack's calling the shots now, huh?" Whistler was annoyed as he said sarcastically. "Great."
He turned to Matt and Faith. "You two are human too."
"Hell-Mark", Matt pointed at it.
"Slayer", Faith shrugged.
"Stick used to be in the thick of fighting all the time", Whistler argued.
"And now he's dead", Matt gave his counter-argument. And unlike Stick, Whistler couldn't be a ghost.
Whistler groaned and walked into the other direction, bumping into Reinhardt's shoulder before passing by him.
Reinhardt walked past the group while telling Blade. "Better curb that dog of yours or we'll do it for you."
Blade pressed the remote and the little bomb on Reinhardt's head activated again.
"Keep pushing, asshole."
Reinhardt smirked and walked off as Spike said. "This whole thing is one step from a landmine."
"Tell me about it", Angel agreed as they walked across the street.
Whistler took position on the roof and looked through his scope which only picked up body heat from Matt, Faith and Blade.
Chupa opened up an entrance and all of them walked inside, walking to a guard.
Nyssa said. "We're in."
She turned to Blade, Matt and Faith. "You're about to enter our world. You will see things... feeding. Just remember why you're here."
Blade told her. "I haven't forgotten."
"Those living like that are already dead", Matt shook his head as the guard opened up a door and they walked through a hallway, where there were more guards, and there were tables on either side with various torture instruments which Blade, Angel, Spike and Faith eyed warily while Matt sensed them.
Chupa then asked. "What exactly are we looking for in here?"
Reinhardt replied. "Anything that looks suspicious."
"Doesn't exactly narrow it down", Faith told him.
The door in the front opened.
Blade commented. "You got to be kidding me."
The others saw what was before them too.
Angel started. "What."
Faith continued. "The."
Spike carried on. "Bloody."
Matt finished. "Hell?"
Vampires were dancing at the club music all over with neon lights shining around, and Matt had to wince at the loud music as it irritated his ears.
They walked in, looking around as Faith said. "Younger me would have felt in place here", she added. "Dancing and slaying both."
They saw a Vampire couple French kissing while exchanging razor blades with their mouths, disgusting even Angel and Spike as things weren't this bad in their time.
"What is wrong with these sods?" Spike wondered.
"Yeah, we loved pain, but not to this level", Angel nodded.
"Things have changed since your time", Nyssa simply said.
"What is it with you people and pain?" Faith asked Nyssa.
"We need it. Sensations are addictive and pain cuts the deepest", Nyssa saw the looks the others were giving her. "Tattoos, piercings, tribal scarring - because we regenerate, none of it's permanent. So we have to take it to the next level. To remind us we're alive."
"Oh!" Faith said as Angel and Spike exchanged a look, remembering their own experiences as Vampires.
Matt didn't say a word. When Nyssa put it that way, well, it was quite sad really.
They noticed one Vampire having opened the back of another one using torture instruments, and was fiddling with his internal organs as the opened up Vampire simply leaned on the table, not making any expression.
Then they split up, going different ways as Blade put a camera and asked out. "Scud, do you read me? Scud, you reading me?"
Scud was in his vehicle where he saw a monitor displaying the scene inside due to Blade's camera and confirmed. "Reading you loud and clear."
Blade informed him. "The whole place is a safe house. The windows are painted black, one access door. 200, 300 suckheads in here."
"That sounds cool", Scud said before calling out to Whistler with his other earpiece. "Hey, W, you got me? W? Tell me something, how's the weather up there?"
It was raining outside now with Whistler still in position. "Walkin' on sunshine, toad boy."
'Blood is Pumping' by 'Voodoo and Serano' started playing as the split up party started searching.
Some Vampire women started touching Matt, putting their hands on his shoulders and chest, smacking their lips when Matt's eyes and Hell-Mark glowed, and they scampered away in fear.
Faith, being the Slayer, kept Vampires away from her with that too.
Some Vampire women touched Angel's and Spike's arms but were ignored as they walked further.
Faith saw Chupa looking at her lecherously and rolled her eyes as she looked away, when Matt stepped next to Chupa.
"You gonna tell me to stay away from your girl?" Chupa asked tauntingly.
"If I had to do that, she wouldn't be my girl", Matt shrugged.
"Well then I guess you've nothing to worry about, do you? Abaddon?" Chupa snarled.
"Must burn you up that you have to team up with your greatest enemies, huh?" Matt taunted back now. "Got to be careful about your tempers in such a situation."
Then suddenly Matt grabbed Chupa's arm with a burning hand, making Chupa scream in pain as a permanent black handprint was left on his arm, making him fall to his knees and hold his arm in pain.
"And Chupa", Chupa looked up at Matt with pain and rage in his eyes. "Stay away from my girl."
He walked off to Faith who looked him up and down, looking turned on as she whispered to him. "Do that more."
He chuckled and said. "Sure."
Priest looked at the Vampires around in disgust and snarled. "Look at them. Half of these bastards, they're not even 10 but do disgusting crap. I tell you what, why don't we just fucking kill everyone? Just to make sure."
"Sounds like a plan", Faith agreed there.
"Yeah, wouldn't mind", Angel added.
"Me neither", Spike shrugged.
"Let's do it then", Matt commented.
Reinhardt saw Blade standing with folded arms and commented. "God, it would be so easy."
He aimed his gun at Blade, the laser dot visible on Blade's chest.
Chupa, who'd finally recovered, walked to Reinhardt and told him. "He's got you."
Reinhardt looked down to see a laser dot on his chest too and looked up to see Blade discreetly pointing a gun at him.
Spike saw and told Reinhardt. "If it were easy, mate, I would have done it years ago."
Blade gave a mocking smile to Reinhardt who mouthed to him. 'Fuck you.'
He then added to Chupa. "Only other of his kind is a dumb baby, got to sting."
Reinhardt was hit on the face by the butt of Angel's gun, staggering back, and next moment, had Angel's gun to his face. "Say it again, bomb won't kill you."
"Neither will he", Matt said to Reinhardt from behind, and Reinhardt could sniff the fire in his hand already.
Snarling, Reinhardt walked off with Chupa.
Below the nightclub, in the sewers, Nomak was standing with his Reapers, and sniffed, catching certain scents. "Daywalker. Slayer."
Nyssa left the dance floor and walked around in a corridor which had peeling wallpaper, looking around.
Snowman and Spike walked around together on the dance floor, passing a Vampire couple feeding on an already dead woman.
Spike cringed and said. "Oooh, that stings."
He turned to Snowman and asked. "Doesn't it?"
No response.
"You don't talk, do you?"
Snowman walked further as Spike shrugged. "Sure."
Lighthammer and Verlaine were looking around in a torture room together, passing various instruments. They separated a little as Lighthammer looked at some hooks, then thought he heard something from a corner.
Spikes activated on either side of his hammer.
Scud had started eating now and said to the rest via earpiece. "Mother's milk. I say we got about half an hour till sunrise, Cinderella. Hurry up."
At the nightclub, Asad saw a Reaper at the corner but a Vampire passed by and then the Reaper was gone.
Asad said into his earpiece. "I spotted one, but lost it. Be on the lookout."
Scud heard some lightning, then thought he heard some thumping outside on the van's roof.
"Fuck."
He walked to the front seat and activated the UV lights for a second before shutting them off.
Nyssa climbed up a ladder, turning her flashlight on, and looked at the dark room above, finding nothing, while below, Blade opened a door and walked in, finding nothing either.
Faith opened a door and saw a Vampire feeding from a woman. He looked up at her with a snarl and walked to her, blood on his mouth, only for Faith to throw a stake, which hit the mark as it dusted.
Nyssa climbed back down, then went through some curtains, looking at an empty room which had a cupboard with some torture instruments and discs too, but nothing else.
Scud went to the back of the van and called out in his earpiece. "Whistler, they're on the roof. I got them on the roof of my bus."
No response.
Scud groaned.
Nyssa planted a camera where she was, and started walking back to the curtain, then turned around, only for Nomak to grab her face, muffling her from making a sound.
"Shhh."
Lighthammer was still walking around when he heard a snarl and turned around to see a Reaper crouched on the table.
The two glared at each other.
Reinhardt was still on the lookout, not noticing someone take off his hood behind, revealing himself to be a Reaper, and the Reaper walked to him, holding out its hand.
Scud kicked the doors of his van open and ran out, holding two handguns and aiming them around, as he looked here and there.
He saw nothing, then turned back to see 4 Reapers a short distance away.
They screeched and rushed him as Scud rushed back into his van and quickly shut the doors, hearing them snarling outside.
Blade saw the ladder, then turned to the curtain, walking through to see Nomak restraining Nyssa.
"Nomak", he greeted.
"Daywalker", Nomak snarled at him. "What am I to you and the Slayer? Is the enemy of my enemy my friend... or my enemy?"
Blade didn't respond, then looked at Nyssa who gave him a nod, then stomped on Nomak's foot, making him let go as she went to the side while Blade took out his gun and shot Nomak's head, sending him flying off and crashing onto the cupboard and all the instruments and discs, shattering the glass.
The Reaper was about to reach Reinhardt when both Angel and Chupa saw it and started firing at it. Reinhardt now turned around and fired at it too.
Priest saw a Reaper really close and took out a gun to fire but it was too close and grabbed his hand, twisting it. Priest tried to punch with his other hand but the Reaper blocked and twisted again, making him scream in pain.
Spike and Snowman were walking together when they heard Asad on the comms. "We're under attack! There's three of them. Probably more."
The doors opened as the Vampires in the club started running out.
Scud saw one Reaper on the roof through the glass and fired, shattering the glass.
Nomak got up and fled as Nyssa tried to follow but Blade grasped her arm. "Daylight."
She stopped as he followed Nomak then.
Lighthammer swung his hammer as the Reaper jumped back to avoid, and he swung again as it was hit on the face and its head twisted at an odd angle.
Lighthammer watched as it twisted its head back into place and he snarled in Slavic. "What the fuck?"
He struck again as it ducked and the pillar was shattered instead.
Angel and Reinhardt both fired at the Reaper together, making it fall back.
Spike and Snowman stood amongst the fleeing Vampires and turned to see another Reaper which took off its hood, exposing its face.
Snowman charged and leapt, kicking it back with both feet before landing as Spike threw off his gun, cracking his knuckles. "You know how to do it, mate. I like you."
It got back up with a roar as Spike took Vamp face and leapt at it, punching it back, then avoided a strike before spin kicking it back again as it fell down.
It got up as Snowman passed Spike and held out his fingers in a 'come here' motion, taunting the Reaper.
As it charged, Snowman swung his sheathed sword, and the Reaper grabbed it, only for Snowman to pull back, unsheathing his sword now.
With that, he started swinging his sword skillfully, battling the Reaper. It grabbed the sword but Snowman pulled back again, cutting its hands before Spike did a flip in the air and kicked its face with both feet, sending it falling back again.
Scud ran to the front of the van as Reapers tried to break in the glass. He tried to start it but it was jammed.
Angel and Reinhardt chased the Reaper, firing at it as it screeched.
Chupa now started firing around randomly to get the fleeing Reaper and killed some normal Vampires too.
The fleeing Reaper came before him and he fired many times, making it screech in pain.
The Reaper beating up Priest flipped to his other side and pushed him off, sending him crashing through glass into a corridor.
It dodged some gunfire from Asad and leapt to the other side.
Chupa fired at his Reaper when he heard on the comms. "Wood don't do jack shit. Don't waste the bullets!"
"Motherfucker", Chupa snarled.
"You hear me, Chupa?"
"Say, "cheese."" He fired at the Reaper as it tried to flee, making it convulse and finally fall.
Snowman spun to avoid a strike from the Reaper as Spike flipped back, and it leapt above and screeched, and both marched to it.
"Scared? You should be", Spike taunted as Snowman pointed at it.
Scud finally managed to start the van and drove it. "Come on." He slammed the van onto a wall, the Reaper on the front getting hit.
Lighthammer swung as the Reaper dodged before being struck on the chest, and fell down.
The Reaper leapt down as Snowman twirled and stabbed it in the gut, the sword sticking to the wall, trapping it, while Spike grabbed its face and twisted, breaking its neck before sticking a stake where the heart should be.
They watched as it screeched at them and twisted its neck back into place, then crawled up, the stake and the sword slicing its body and crotch too as Reaper blood poured out, but it didn't care about the pain and crawled up to the ceiling.
"What the...?" Spike cringed, noticing the Reaper had ripped its own crotch to get away.
Lighthammer put his comms away and knelt near the Reaper, checking it.
Scud saw the Reaper recovering and more started climbing as he tried to switch on the UV lights. "How about some daylight, motherfucker?"
Priest was down as the Reaper towered over him. Asad appeared and smacked it thrice with his gun before being flipped down. It then picked him up and tossed him away before pinning Priest to the wall.
Priest punched it twice but it twisted his hand and slammed his head to the wall twice.
Angel and Reinhardt made their way to the downed Reaper as Angel wondered. "What the hell are you?"
It reached out as Reinhardt fired at one arm and Angel at the other.
The Reaper picked up Priest and opened its seam as the fat disgusting tongue starting coming out, when suddenly, Matt flip kicked its head, sending it falling to the ground as it screeched at him.
Lighthammer saw some kind of blood on the Reaper's chest and sniffed it. "You ugly little beast."
It suddenly woke up and climbed onto him. They struggled at it pierced his back with its claws, and then its seam parted, revealing the disgusting mouth, from where the pincer-like tongue came out, latching onto his neck.
"Fuck!"
Scud tried to hotwire his van and it worked before he turned on the UV lights, disintegrating all Reapers on his van.
The Reaper had started feeding on Lighthammer when he took out a gun and shot its chest, making it stagger away as Verlaine arrived and fired. It ran off, escaping.
Verlaine kneeled near the wounded Lighthammer. "You're bleeding. Did it bite you?"
Lighthammer shook his head. "My back. He just wounded my back."
He then touched the spot on his neck where he had actually been bitten, and used his collar to hide it as Verlaine tended to his back.
Scud saw the Reapers were gone and said to the comms. "Listen to me. If you're under attack, use your UV lights. Use your UV lights. They can't take the light."
The door of the van opened and he saw Whistler there.
Angel and Reinhardt heard, then put the filter away before aiming at the Reaper as it screeched and burnt up, dying.
The Reaper screeched at Matt as his Hell-Mark glowed as he commanded. "Stop!"
To his shock, it didn't stop and continued moving at him, as Matt formed Hellfire in his hand, and that made it screech and bolt as Asad and Chupa came up next to Matt.
Chupa saw the groaning Priest and kneeled to him. "Priest. You all right, man?"
"Yeah", Priest groaned in pain, though he'd live.
Blade now reached a big ledge as he heard Asad say to him. "Daylight's coming. You're on your own, Blade. Other than Faith and Matt."
Blade saw some daylight streaming in from a colored window.
He walked further onto the ledge, putting his gun away, before hearing something behind him and turned to see Nomak having leapt onto the ledge, the hole in his head now closing up. "You want me so bad, Blade? Here I am."
They marched to each other as Nomak asked. "Why kill me? You, the Slayer and I, we have the same enemy. We want the same thing."
Blade then tried to punch as Nomak leapt to his other side while kicking back, sending him staggering forwards.
Blade turned to him as both prepared to fight. Nomak charged as Blade blocked some strikes and punched Nomak, sending him back.
Nomak charged again as Blade blocked all punches and kicks, then leapt up as Nomak tried to sweep his feet from under him.
He then kicked Nomak, sending him falling down, and popped out his EDTA gauntlets.
Nomak jumped back up as Blade decked his face, then spun as Nomak tried to kick but he leapt over Nomak's head without even turning and got on his other side.
He then leapt and tried to give Nomak bicycle kicks but Nomak blocked all. Nomak then leapt at Blade and grabbed him, only to be kneed in the gut as Blade hit him with the gauntlets on the chest several times, making him gasp as Blade hit him hard the last time, sending him sliding back by a few feet.
The cartridge ejected as Nomak grabbed his head, kneeling in pain and roaring, as his skin expanded a little, and he spat out Reaper blood.
Then he started laughing as Blade realized, to his horror, that Nomak had healed.
Any other Vampire would have exploded with one injection.
Nomak charged Blade and grabbed him as both were sent falling down the ledge. They kept punching each other before crashing into various objects below.
Nomak got up and was about to punch before Blade twirled his feet and kicked his face, sending him flying off and crashing through debris.
Nomak got up and got a piece of rebar with debris attached at the end as Blade took out his sword.
"We need the same thing, Blade."
Blade kicked a stone as Nomak dodged, then sword and rebar clashed before Blade spun to dodge a strike which hit the wall.
Nomak punched Blade who backed off and dodged a swing before being spin kicked back. They clashed again thrice before Nomak kicked Blade, then was about to strike again when Faith grabbed the rebar from behind, snatching it from him.
He turned and snarled. "Slayer."
She spun and struck his face twice before slicing his chest, then struck his face again. He charged as she hit him hard enough to turn him the other way, then grabbed him in a chokehold with the rebar.
Blade then held up his sword, reflecting the sunlight onto Nomak's face as he screamed, burning up. He then pushed Faith off and leapt away into the shadows, escaping.
Faith and Blade exchanged a disgruntled look, then walked back to the corridors as Nyssa asked. "What happened?"
Blade asked a question of his own. "Why didn't you tell us these things were immune to wood and garlic?"
Nyssa confessed. "I didn't know."
Faith asked pointedly. "If you did, would you have told us?"
Nyssa shook her head. "I think you two know the truth when you hear it."
"Mm-hmm", Blade asked Nyssa. "Then why didn't he kill you?"
Nyssa's eyes widened as Faith agreed. "Got a point."
They all gathered together before Matt realized something, and walking to Lighthammer, removed the collar. "He's been bitten."
Lighthammer turned to Matt with a growl. "Fuck off!"
Verlaine saw and her eyes widened in horror as Lighthammer looked at the rest, but it was clear whose side they were on.
He tried to run but Angel and Chupa restrained him.
"Seriously, you fuck?" Reinhardt asked Lighthammer. "You'd hide it and get us all killed?"
"I am fine!" Lighthammer argued.
"Reinhardt, please", Verlaine begged him.
"He'll turn and kill us all", Faith pointed out. "You included."
Verlaine had tears in her eyes. "First my sister, now my lover." Her sister had been a Vampire in Sunnydale who had led a young man into Frost's whorehouse/nightclub, and then Blade had invaded the place the same night Spike had exposed Riley's infidelity to Buffy, and her sister had been among the Vampires killed while the young man had been saved.
She glared at Blade, Faith, Spike, Angel and Matt angrily, then turned to Lighthammer with tears, crying. "I'm sorry."
He tried to argue. "Verlaine, I-"
Spike shot him in that moment as he fell down, convulsing violently. "Goodbye mate, rest in pieces."
Only, a seam opened under Lighthammer's chin, and he screeched as the latching tongue popped out, and Faith and Angel restrained him together.
"Put him out of his fucking misery!" Reinhardt roared.
Nyssa asked him. "Don't you get it? You can't finish him that way!"
"He's turning, the shooting accelerated it", Faith said.
Snowman tossed his sword to Reinhardt and he chopped off the top of Lighthammer's head as Verlaine looked away, sobbing.
The rest of him was still convulsing as Blade ordered. "Angel, move."
"Sure thing", Angel moved back as Blade fired at a blacked out window, and sunlight streamed in at Lighthammer, making him screech as he burnt up and was gone.
The top part of his heard Reinhardt had chopped off had escaped the sunlight, and Verlaine looked at it. The part of the head was still capable of moving its eyeball, and Verlaine looked at the moving eye sadly.
"If that was your Bloodpack Sunday punch, we're in trouble."
Whistler and Scud walked in as Scud told the rest about Whistler. "This motherfucker left his post. He just disappeared."
"Where were you?" Chupa asked him.
"Ran into a little Reaper action myself", Whistler shrugged.
"Oh, yeah? How little?" Chupa asked. "We lost a man."
"Lighthammer", Verlaine cried out. "You want me to carve his name on your chest?"
"Hey!" Matt called out as they turned to see his eyes glowing, and backed off.
"Let me show you", Whistler gestured to them.
They all gathered around the octagonal iron culvert beneath the dance floor. A Reaper was there, emaciated and pale, and dying, his arm trapped under one of the sectional culvert coverings. He'd been trying to gnaw it off to escape.
Whistler told the whole group. "Saw him moving in the alley and followed it down. Found it just like this. I think they came through here. It was trying to crawl back in the culvert. Caught his arm. Been gnawing at it like a coyote. Little Boy Blue."
Reinhardt was about to aim his UV light but Nyssa stopped him. "It's already dying. I need to examine it as quickly as possible."
"Good idea, can find a conventional weakness that way", Angel nodded in agreement.
"Okay, look for a lever", Blade ordered.
"Let's open it up", Faith nodded.
Later, at night, Blade, Nyssa, Spike, Matt, Faith and Angel examined the Reaper as Blade noted a tag. "Recognize this? The blood bank. He's one of the guards."
"The one from the video", Faith remembered. "So he got turned too."
Nyssa asked. "So why is he dying? What's killing him?"
"Time", Blade told her. "His metabolism is burning too fast. They need fresh blood every couple of hours, or they'll start feeding on themselves."
"And looks like it tried to do just that", Angel noted with narrowed eyes.
Blade added. "Nomak's different. He's the carrier. It all started with him. It'll end with him."
"Just need to find him and kill him, which is the hard part", Spike commented.
"Time to examine it properly now", Matt realized.
A while later, the Reaper lay on the table as all were gathered around it. Nyssa wore gloves and held up tweezers, and told Scud, who was behind the table. "Open the mouth, Scud." Nothing. "Open the mouth."
Scud was afraid and turned to Blade. "B, come on."
Blade smirked. "Sissy."
"Chicken", Spike added with a chuckle.
Scud looked at Nyssa nervously as she gave him a nod, and opened up the seam, opening the mouth, and Nyssa examined the tongue and other parts of the mouth with her tweezers and flashlight. "Only the tongue carries the virus. It is injected through these barbs." She touched them with the tweezers. "It has bifurcated masseter muscles. Overdeveloped, allowing for a much stronger bite."
"So its hard to shake it off once it gets on you", Faith realized.
Nyssa examined the teeth. "The jaw structure remains the same. But there's no mandible bone."
"There's a neurotoxin in the teeth", Matt said as Reinhardt blew a bubblegum next to him.
"How do you know?" Nyssa asked.
"Because I know", Matt shrugged.
"Then squeeze that tooth", Nyssa said, touching it with her tweezers, and Scud did as the neurotoxin fell on Nyssa's glove.
She looked at it and said. "Probably paralyzes their victim while they feed."
Scud commented. "Garlic don't work. Wood, that don't work. We got to go with the sunlight, right?"
"That's deadly to us, too", Nyssa pointed out, looking at Angel and Spike. "So let's see what else we can find."
"I'm in agreement with that idea", Angel said. "Though magic can kill them."
"Don't have it on us", Faith pointed out.
"Hellfire too", Angel added.
"That one ran off when I conjured Hellfire", Matt remembered and told them.
"Still, a different way for the rest of us", Spike shrugged as Nyssa made an incision on the chest, and eventually cut it open, revealing the insides of the Reaper, the abdominal cavity. A complex, pinkish-grey parasitic organism had taken over every organ visible.
"Urgggh, that's…" Faith trailed off, disgusted at the Reaper's inner body parts.
Nyssa told Blade. "These things are as different from us as we are from you."
She shone the flashlight over the inners and showed them the lungs, pulling back to show a calcified structure encasing a fibrous mass where the heart would normally be. "Look at that. The heart is encased in bone." She tapped it with a scalpel, the sound produced confirming there was bone covering the heart before showing a little more. "Only the side is vulnerable."
"Good luck getting a stake through that", Whistler commented.
"Yeah, you'd have to make an angle to do that, for that, you need time you don't have", Faith nodded in agreement.
"That's why that git survived my stake to the chest", Spike said in realization.
Nyssa took off a glove. "Pull a leg off a spider, it keeps moving on its own, essentially trying to walk without a body attached to it."
She cut her finger as Scud asked. "What are you doing?"
"Hard-wired, right?" Nyssa dropped her blood drop into where the heart would be, and suddenly all the internal organs started working, digesting the blood as Scud jumped back in fear while Faith looked disgusted.
"That happens in your bodies?" She asked Angel and Spike randomly.
"Bloody hell", Spike said, disgusted himself.
Angel added. "It's anatomy, it's completely different."
Faith realized. "It isn't a virus, or a demon. It's a mutation."
"What the fuck is that?" Scud asked.
Matt used his senses to detect it and told them. "Brain's dead. Body's still trying to feed."
"Right", Nyssa nodded in agreement.
"We got six hours before sunrise", Blade started walking off. "Be ready by then."
Asad walked to Blade. "Hey... What happens at sunrise?" Blade didn't respond. "Blade, I'm talking to you. What happens at sunrise?"
"We hunt."
Asad was shocked. "In broad daylight?"
"You're joking, right?" Spike asked, gesturing to himself. "Good Vampire."
"Me too", Angel added. "Can't hunt in sunlight."
Whistler quipped to the Bloodpack, mainly Chupa. "You better get you some sunscreen, buttercup."
Chupa turned to him with a snarl. "Listen, shitkicker. You're about one cunt hair away from hillbilly heaven."
Whistler smirked. "I love it when you talk dirty."
Blade stood on the stairs and told them. "Sunlight's the only edge we've got. They'll be more vulnerable then."
"And so will we", Asad said.
"I said during sunlight, not in it", Blade pointed out.
"Right", Spike realized.
"Still risky", Angel pointed out. "Though we don't have any other choice."
"So, what's going to happen then?" Faith asked.
"I think he has a plan", Matt said, trusting Blade.
"Let's be real about one thing... I don't expect everybody to make it back tomorrow. Remember to protect yourselves... at all times."
With that, Blade walked upstairs, walking off.
And so we finish up the 'House of Pain' and autopsy part, 53 more minutes of this movie to go, the exciting and horror stuff.
Thank you to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help once more.
Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter.