The three walked across the parking lot to a nearby alley

The three walked across the parking lot to a nearby alley. A helicopter flew overhead, its rotors fading into the midnight sky.

They entered the alley and Melissa turned to Cyke. "Okay, bud, talk. why were those guys after you?"

"I found ssomething, ssomething hidden," said Cyke.

"What was it?" asked Buffy.

"It'sss hard to remember, don't know where to sstart. Get fuzzy," said Cyke, squinting his one eye in concentration.

"Why don't you just start with the beginning and go from there?" suggested Buffy.

Cyke nodded, although Melissa looked impatient. "I wasss...

*****

Cyke looked around himself. The sewer tunnels were lightless, except for weak bulbs at infrequent intervals. But Cyke, despite his mental age, had living in the tunnels for a long time, he knew them as well as he knew himself.

He looked in the small piles of rubble and trash that occasionally floated past in the filthy water.

Sometimes these bits of flotsom yielded unexpected treasures. Once he'd even found a watch in a Taco Bell carton that had the X-men on it in place of numbers and it had even still running. It was broken now, but it had run for some time anyway. Cyke wanted another watch.

*****

"Fine, after this is finished we'll getcha another watch," said Melissa, frowning in impatience.

"Melissa, you're not helping, let him finish," said Buffy.

*****

Cyke moved on, he was also a little hungry, but this part of the sewers didn't seem to have any rats. The construction looked old as well. A hole with a faint trickle of sewage flowing from it opened into the wall. From the hole came sounds, like voices.

Curious, Cyke climbed up into the hole and followed the voices. Even most of the Nosferatu couldn't have negotiated the narrow tunnel, but Cyke was small and wiry and had had a lot of practice in getting into small places. The voices got louder and the tunnel branched off. Cyke followed the voices until he reached a grating. It was loose, so he silently pushed it up and found himself inside a storeroom that was covered in dust and rotted carpeting. The voices came from one of the walls.

Cyke walked over to the wall and slid aside a loose bit of plaster, revealing a peephole that was just

his height. He looked inside and a person inside. He wore leather and was pale, Cyke could sense

he was a vampire. The other person was out of sight but he talked funny. The two were arguing.

*****

"What'd they argue about?" asked Melissa. "And how was the guy's voice funny?"

Cyke shrugged. "Jusst funny, not like other voiccess."

"Anyway," said Buffy, prompting the little vampire to continue.

*****

Cyke listened to the two men arguing and took a picture of it in his head, like he'd been taught. The

others in the clan had told him how important it was to 'member exactly what was said, even if it didn't make a lot of sense. Of course most of the things the big folks said didn't make a lot of sense to Cyke.

"...sure it's safe?" asked the man with the funny voice.

"This place ain't even on the map. Hell, I don't even think the fuckin' Nosferatu know about it. The

knife's as safe as its going to get without puttin' it in Fort Knox and not even then."

"The Dagger of Ashikara is the key to everything, you bloody fool, everything. Only with it and the girl with the blood of power can we stop the madness. The girl, the Slayer, is here. The dagger is here and the time is nigh, if this gets screwed up, the consequences will be unimaginable, do you get it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I *got* it. No screwups. No problem."

"You'd by God better have got it!"

Cyke heard the man with the funny voice leave. They'd been talking about a knife or something. Ratbreath had lost his lucky Swiss-Army knife. Maybe this would be a replacement, thought Cyke.

As the other man left Cyke pushed open a catch and entered. He willed himself not to be seen and walked into the place. There were other people here, he could hear them talking and moving around. Finally, he came to a door. Two vampires stood watch. Willing himself to become dim, Cyke just walked past them and opened the door. They never even noticed.

He saw a knife with red and white shiny stones resting on a pillow in a glass box. He walked over to it and then lifted the box. Instantly the place filled with noise and screeching.

Cyke grabbed the knife as the two vamps burst in. He hissed at them and charged. They tried to grab him, but his strength for his size was deceptive. He knocked one of them flying and ran into the hall. He could hear cursing and sounds of pursuit as he ran up some stairs. He saw three figures running toward him and ran into a room with an open door. He shut and locked the door.

Shots slammed into the door and Cyke looked around. There was a window! He ran at the window as the door burst inward. He leapt through the window and sailed through the air. He grabbed onto a fire escape and climbed down to the street. The three figures still pursued him. He tried to not be seen, but they were chasing him too fast. He tripped and fell and the knife skidded into a pile of trash. They didn't notice. One of them fired a shotgun at him and missed.

Cyke got up and ran and ran for several blocks until he got to the grocery store.

*****

"Yes!" crowed Melissa. "All I've, we've, gotta do is get the Dagger and we're home free!"

"What? Why?" asked Buffy.

"The Dagger's what's used for the sacrifice ceremony, okay?" said Melissa. "No Dagger, no ceremony, no problem."

The helicopter was circling back.

"What about that stuff about the Slayer, nobody said anything about that earlier," said Buffy.

"Forget it. I'll tell ya later, right now we've gotta get that Dagger!" She concentrated and a watch appeared in her hands. She handed it to Cyke.

"Cool!" he said. "It'ss even got me in the twelve ssspot!"

"Wait a min-" started Buffy.

A beam of brilliance like God's own flashlight suddenly enveloped them. The rotors of a police

helicopter beat the air as a megaphone called out.

"Put your hands in the air and kneel to the

ground! This is the police! You are under arrest!"

Melissa dove out of the spotlight and Buffy went in the opposite direction. A thunderous "Goddammit!" sounded over the megaphone.

Melissa yelled to Buffy, "C'mon, we gotta go! We gotta lose these guys and get it!"

Buffy made a snap decision and rushed away from Melissa. "You get it! I'll draw 'em off! We'll meet

where we first got here!" She ran on.

Buffy heard Melissa yelling, "No, Goddammit! I need you with- shit!"

Shots came from the chopper but were cut off as a voice screamed "Cease fire!"

Buffy ran on and the chopper pursued. She tried dodging into an alley. She raced along it and heard

policemen on foot pursuing her. She jumped at a fence that was blocking the alley and swiftly scaled

it, dropping to the other side. She ran behind some decaying buildings and into another alley. She

emerged to find several cops in front of it pointing pistols and shotguns at her.

"Don't move." said one, "Don't even breathe!"

*****

Buffy had grown rather tires of looking at the same four walls of the interrogation room. Her hands were cuffed in front of her and they'd left her some water. Oddly enough, nobody had even talked to her for the hour she'd been there. With a chill she recalled Melissa's words about the vampires controlling the police.

She realized again her predicament. There was no one she could call. The cops had taken the com unit she'd been given. She thought about asking for a phone call, but then realized she had no idea who she could call.

She heard music suddenly from outside the door. Someone was playing Don Henley's "Garden of Allah". Buffy could just make out the lyrics within the thrumming energy of the song.

Lyrics: It was a pretty good year for fashion, a lousy year for rock 'n roll.

She could here conversation outside, but couldn't decipher the words.

Lyrics: The people gave their blessing to crimes of passion, it was a dark, dark night of the collective soul.

The door opened and a cigarette haze entered the room. The song got louder, but the conversation remained indistinct.

Lyrics: And I was somewhere down on Riverside, by the El Royale Hotel,

The conversation finished and someone stopped at the doorway. Buffy eyed the door warily.

Lyrics: When a stranger appeared in a cloud of smoke, I thought I knew him all too well.

Striding through the cigarette haze, Rupert Giles entered the room.