Part Four
The Wizards moved to surround Melissa and Buffy, circling like a pack of sharks sighting bloody meat. "Oh, well," said Buffy "Best defense and all that." She launched a spin kick into the head of the first speaker, whom she'd informally designated as Rat-boy. Her booted foot crumpled his nose and sent him smashing into the alley wall.
Three of the gang rushed Melissa; knives weaving in and out like snakes. "Bad idea there, dumbshits," she commented.
"What?" said one. He was a huge, sulky-looking guy who was holding an honest-to-God sword.
She pulled her sawed-off shotgun from beneath her jacket. "Because it's not real smart to bring knives to a gunfight." Ka-Blam! She discharged both barrels into the big guy. The impacts flung him backward and sent him crashing into a pile of garbage.
The other two, unconcerned over their comrade's fate, rushed her from two sides, slashing at her. Melissa sidestepped one, but the other slashed her arm, tearing the leather jacket and slicing the flash beneath. "You fucker! That was my best London Fog!" In revenge she slammed the stock of the shotgun into his chin, sending him reeling back, choking on his broken teeth.
Buffy heard the roar of the shotgun, but was busy with her own problems. Aside from Rat-boy, three other gangers faced her. One charged, attempting to distract her. As he reached her, she stepped slightly to the side, grasping his arm and torso and using his own momentum and her Slayer-augmented strength and skill to flip him. He sailed threw the air at another opponent, smashed into him feet first and landed awkwardly on the ground.
"Fuck this Middle-ages shit!" panted her third panicky opponent. He clawed a cheap-looking revolver from his cloak and aimed at Buffy. But the Slayer was ready and rolled away from the shot. He moved in, cocking the pistol and grinning. "That Karate bullshit ain't savin' your ass again!"
The garbage pile near Melissa exploded as the huge sword-wielder rose from it. His T-shirt was torn from the blast and blood stained it. Blood from wounds now healed. "Crap, you're a ghoul." Her other opponent charged her, knife held like the steely horn of charging rhino, well, thought Melissa, taking in the boy's size, maybe an anorexic rhino.
The teen was wide-eyed as he charged and Melissa glared into his eyes. "You. Go kill him!" she said, exerting her will and pointing at the sword-wielder. For a bare instant, the teen hesitated, and then charged his fellow ganger.
Buffy dodged another shot and found herself by a garbage can. She yanked off the top and rolled into the alleyway as the guy prepared to fire again. She hurled the lid at him. It smashed him in the stomach and he went down like a house of cards in a tornado. In her triumph though, she failed to notice her now recovered third opponent and he leapt on her back.
The teen reached the sword wielder and tried to stab him, compelled by Melissa's will. The huge teen stepped back and plunged the sword into his comrade's stomach. Ripping it out he swung again, and the mind-controlled teen's head separated from his shoulders and rolled down the alley, his neck fountaining blood as his body hit the ground.
The sword wielder stalked toward Melissa. He smiled, exposing fangs. "Your eyes cannot touch me. My will is too strong, little one."
"Who says I'd want you. There's at least gotta be a mind there for me to control." said Melissa.
"Camarilla toy! We of the Sabbat are not fools. We expected that not all would be blind to the wolf-boy's significance. You and yours have thwarted us before. It is a pity you had no time to seek the "Prince." We should have wondered what you would say to his shattered skull!"
The teen hissed and Buffy smelt the stink of used blood emanating from his mouth. "Gross! Mouthwash, discover it!" and flipped him away. He shifted in midair and landed on the balls of his feet. Buffy clapped her hands in a mockery of applause. "Oooohh! Very Kerri Strug! And what do we have for our toothy Olympian? Gold, Silver or Bronze?" The vampire hissed at her again and she felt a wave of fear wash over her. Remembering Melissa's earlier words, she let the fear flow through her and be gone, leaving only Buffy behind. "Nope, just wood!" So saying she hurled the stake she'd been drawing during her speech at the vamp. It slammed into the center of his chest and knocked him to the ground.
The sword whistled slowly, easily through the air. "A pity that information will do you no good. Alas, when we Kindred struggle, it is to the Final Death. And in this little duel, as for victors," the huge Kindred smiled, "There can be only one!" He swung the sword at her.
Melissa ducked away and the swing took her opponent off balance. "Maybe so," she said, bringing up the now reloaded shotgun and shoving it up under his chin. "But that one sure as hell ain't gonna be you!" She pulled the trigger. The force of the shot severed his head from his neck, sending it smashing into the alley wall before it and the body decayed into bone dust.
Buffy turned to see the huge vampire decay. Then she turned back. The staked vamp was gone!
"Buffy! Behind you!" came Melissa's voice.
An agony of cold steel ripped into Buffy's side as her opponent, stake still in his chest, pulled free his knife to stab again. "Fool," he said "Your enemy must have a heart for you to stake it!" Buffy stumbled back, blood flowing over her fingers as she tried to staunch the bleeding.
The vamp advanced, hissing. His tongue was a two-foot snake-like thing the lashed at the stricken Slayer, trying to taste her pain.
"You Motherfucker!" yelled Melissa. "You Sabbat make my blood boil! Now I'm gonna return the favor!" She reached out with a hand. He tried to move back, but she brushed his cheek anyway.
Instantly he began screaming, a hissing choking sound. His skin began to pop and burst as the blood inside blistered outward, his eyes exploded in their sockets. Finally, his very skin turned molten and slid from his body before his whole form dissolved into nothingness.
Buffy felt a coldness growing in her. Melissa knelt by her side. "Oh God!" said Buffy. "I don't wanna die again."
"Forget that shit," said Melissa as she rolled up her sleeves. "You're not gonna." Melissa took the knife and cut deeply into her wrist, a vertical slash that reached the blood within. When it started flowing she placed the wound against Buffy's mouth.
Buffy remembered other of Melissa words and tried to shake her head no. "Don't worry," said Melissa. "I'll still respect you in the morning." She forced the blood flow into Buffy's mouth.
Buffy started to gag on the blood, but then felt a burst of heat emanate from her tongue and travel to her wounded side. The blood carved a hot, pleasurable, healing track down her throat, through her loins into the wound. She felt a pleasant itching in her side that continued as she drank more. Strength exploded into her arms and legs. Suddenly the flow stopped and she was in reality again.
"Wha-, Wha-?" gasped Buffy. Except for a fading itch in her side, she felt fine. Better than fine. "What the hell was that?!"
"I'm guessing you and what's-his-fangs never did the blood-sharing thing, huh?" said Melissa. "He probably didn't know about it."
"What's the deal? I feel..." Buffy tried an experimental stretch. No pain at all. "I feel great!"
"That's the blood. For a while, at least, you'll be faster, stronger, tougher than before, until it wears off. You'll also be able heal even really nasty wounds a whole lot faster and easier. You okay?"
Buffy looked at her. "Oh, thanks. I mean I guess I'd be dead, even if it was gross as hell, though. What was that you did to that guy?"
"Magic. Boiled his blood. Hope it hurt like hell, too." she said.
Buffy scowled at her as she retrieved her stake. "Eeeww. Vampsnot." Buffy wiped the stake off on some used paper towels in a can nearby and secreted it back in her jacket. "How come he didn't seem to mind the stake? And what was the deal with that *tongue*? That was seriously nasty!"
"I think he was a Setite. They're this cult clan based in Egypt and Haiti. They like to spread evil and corruption wherever they go." At Buffy's look she continued. "No lie. It's like a religious tenet or something for them. If they're in with Pentex on this, we could be in deep trouble!"
"What are in now? Shallow trouble?" Buffy asked.
"Ha. Freakin' ha," the young-looking vampire commented sourly.
As she spoke Melissa grabbed one of the unconscious gangers. She bit into a wrist and started sucking.
The boy was growing paler and paler when Buffy said, "Stop." Melissa kept sucking. "Dammit, Melissa. Stop it! You're killing him!" Buffy yanked the boy away.
"What the Hell?" sputtered Melissa. "Look, I used up a lot of blood healing you up! I need to feed, and these sucker's will do."
"I'm not letting you kill anybody," Buffy said.
"Look, Warrior Princess. What the Hell do you think would've happened if we hadn't been who we were, huh? They'd have raped us, killed us and sucked us dry. And not necessarily in that order." Melissa glared at her and pointed a finger. "I'm gonna feed, and just this once, I won't kill 'em." She sucked on another one and let him go before he died. "But get this straight. We are going up against some stone-cold evil bastards here. I don't know how things are back in sunny old Sunnydale, but down here not every monster has fangs. Now, can you handle that, or do I need to send you back up to base so you can be morally secure when the shit hits the fan?"
"I'll handle what I have to handle. But you can't beat the monsters, fangs or not, by doing what they do," said Buffy meeting her glare.
Melissa held the gaze a few moments longer and then nodded. "Fair enough. Just don't get us killed 'cause you got squeamish."
A groan from the trashcans interrupted their argument. The two girls walked over to see Rat-boy sitting up. His tried to crawl away when he saw the carnage that had been inflicted.
"Ah-ah-ah." said Buffy, shaking a finger. "We've got a few question to ask you, oh wizard."
He sneered at that two of them. "Lemme guess. Good-cop, Bad-cop?"
"Nope," said Buffy as Melissa came over with the shotgun and she tapped her palm with the stake. "Bad-cop--"
Melissa pointed the shotgun at his crotch and said, "Worse-cop."
The implied threat to his life and what little manhood he had was more than sufficient motivation to convince 'Rat-boy' as Buffy still thought of him to spills his guts, lest they be spilled in a less figurative manner.
"Look, all I know is they told us to patrol this area and waste anybody the two new guys said to."
"New guys?" asked Buffy.
"You know, the guy with the sword and the snaky guy." said Ratboy.
"Fine, when and where do you report back?" demanded Melissa.
"I can't. They'll *kiil* me!" he wailed.
"Yeah, maybe. But they're not here." She cocked the shotgun for emphasis.
"We are." added Buffy.
"B-By the Oakdale Mall. Stan's Tatoo's. That's all I know!" he said.
"What about a kid? Maybe ten or so." said Buffy.
"Never saw anybody like that." he said.
"Shit!" said Melissa. "Okay, who else is at Stan's. And if you try lying, you'll try dying."
"Ooh, very Jesse Jackson." commented Buffy.
Melissa shot her a glare and looked back at Ratboy. "Well. *You* don't have all night."
"Um, okay, there was maybe four or five more of us, and a couple more of those new guys that took over. And there was this one guy in a fuckin' suit. He got in charge. One of the new guys, h-, he made the fuckin' *shadows* grab Derek, the High Wizard and crush him like a Goddamn ragdoll! Ogod, they're gonna kill me!!" Ratboy started weeping.
"Oh Jesus!" snorted Melissa. "Shut up and get the fuck away from here before I put you outta my misery!" As she leveled the shotgun at him, he scuttled away into the darkness.
"So, where exactly *is* Stan's Tattoo's?" asked Buffy.
"Dunno. So let's call information." Melissa said as she reached into the weapons bag and produced a cell phone. "I'll put it on speaker so you can hear, too."
Melissa dialed and a surfer voice answered. "Yo, Batgirl, what's the haps?"
"Goddamnit Andru, don't call me that! I hate that!" said Melissa. Buffy thought for a second she was actually blushing.
"Uh-huh. Suure ya do. So watcha need?" asked Andru.
"Look, we got some info and we need to know where uh, Stan's Tattoo's is. Not a prob. Sending homer coords now. Say, after ya waste the bad guys, you gonna get another tattoo, you know ta match the one on yer-"
Click. Melissa pushed the off button. Buffy was just looking at her, one eyebrow raised in amused puzzlement. Melissa set her teeth and glared at Buffy. "Don't say a fucking word!" she said.
Buffy raised her hand. "Don't worry, I am *so* not ready to deal with your personal life. Did he tell you where to go?"
"Yeah, and I'm gonna tell *him* where to go when I get back up there!" Melissa growled.
"While you were bonding with your 'S. O.', I found transport." said Buffy, walking out of the alley. Melissa followed.
Outside the alley were several Harley motorcycles. "Oh, yes. They may've been geeks but they knew their bikes." said Melissa, running her hand down the seat of one of them. "C'mon, I guess your driving." she said.
"Me?" said Buffy.
"Yeah." said Melissa. "I just never got around to it, living in the city and all. Plus, there's no place to park on the satelite."
"Um, I don't have my license yet." said Buffy.
"You don't have a license for this world anyway." she said. "Look, can you ride a bike?"
"Yeah."
"Can you drive a car?"
"My mom's." said Buffy.
"Then put those skills together and let's fucking go!" she said. "Besides, I need my hands free to shoot something if I need to."
"Like what?" asked Buffy, suspicion tinting her voice.
"I dunno. Vamps, ghouls, some asshole goin' twenty in the fast lane. The usual."
"Oh, okay." said Buffy. "You were kidding about that last part."
"No comment. Oh," Melissa pulled out a couple of headsets. "Put one of these on, they'll let us talk without the bike drowning us out."
"Good, Ive got some more questions." said Buffy as she gunned the back to follow Andru's map.
Memphis blazed passed them. They noticed few cars on the streets and fires in several buildings.
"What happened?" asked Buffy. "This reminds me of the L. A. riots!"
"Yeah, that's how it usually works. When the Sabbat, or the Camarilla decide to take a city, they cause some kind of riot or disaster, like a blackout, to cover all the gunfire and explosions and shit that happen when they go to war. That way, whoever wins, the Masquerade is preserved." said Melissa.
"What about the people that *live* in the cities?" asked Buffy, frowning as the wind whipped past her.
"Generally shit outta luck, like people in most wartime cities." replied Melissa. "Hell, I don't like it either, but that's the way it is, at least 'til the powers that be decide otherwise."
"Like this 'Prince' guy?" asked Buffy. "Who's the Prince?"
"Dunno. I guess he's dead. A Prince is the Kindred ruler of a city. He and a council of the oldest, most powerful vamps in a city rule it. The council's called the Primogen. Collectively, they control the politics of a city, both Kindred and human. Most humans don't *know* who's really in charge of course, and those that do make damn sure the other humans don't find out."
"Jesus." swallowed Buffy. "It's bad enough with Spike and Ag- uh, *Angelus*" she emphasied. "running around by themselves. I can't imagine what it'd be like if they were in charge of the place."
"I can. Just go to any Sabbat-run city. Ultrahigh murder rate. Gangs everywhere. The Sabbat runs it a lot faster and looser and human life doesn't mean shit to most of them. They keep the Masquerade just enough not to get caught, but just barely. Eventually they're gonna fuck up and that's gonna be it."
"Sounds to me like they'll get what's coming to them." said Buffy, a tone of righteous indignation in her voice.
"You mean when the humans rise up and destroy their evil vampire masters? That shit only works in the Dracula movies. Remember real life. The Kindred have their undead fingers on the nuclear button. If it came down to it they'd nuke the world to save themselves. Go torpor for a few hundred years or so after ninety-nine percent of humanity got blown to hell or died of disease or starvation. Way I figure it, humanity's better bled than dead, you know."
The pulled up about a half a block from the tattoo place. "Okay, the guy Ratboy said did stuff with the shadows, he's Lasombra. He can actually control shadows to take physical form and attack. Lasombra's can also use Dominate and Potence, so don't look in his eyes and remember he's gonna be stronger'n fuck, too." cautioned Melissa.
"Do they at least have hearts?" asked Buffy. "I have *no* wish to go through *that* again." She rubbed his side in memory.
"Figuratively, no. They're cold-blooded pricks, but you *can* stake them." said Melissa. "One more thing, the guys they have with them are probably ghouls, sorta like you, now."
"You mean this blood thing is permanent?!" said Buffy, an unwelcome note of fear in her voice.
"No, it's not." said Melissa. "But they *will* be stronger than normal humans. Do *not* get yourself killed trying to let them live." she said.
"I'll do what I *have* to do, no more, no less." said Buffy in a stronger tone of voice.
They crept quietly up to a window.
"Where the hell *are* those idiots? How long does it take to destroy one relatively young vampire?" demanded a cold voice from inside.
"Take it easy, Ravager. They're probably just playing with her."
Melissa pulled an object that looked like a hockey puck from her pocket and gestured for Buffy to look away. Buffy did and Melissa hurled the device through the glass. An instant later a hellish blast of light exploded inside.
"Aaaaah! I'm blind! I'm fuckin' blind!"
"So much for a fair fight." said Buffy, moving to dive inside.
"Fuck fair." said Melissa. "I play to win!"
They dove inside and battle was joined.
