*****
Xander's group was headed back toward the university campus and the meeting place when a scream from ahead of them caused the lot to break into a run.
"This happen a lot around here?" O'Neill asked as he kept pace with Xander.
"Every night." Xander replied, as he drew Elan and held the deactivated weapon ready.
O'Neill shook his head and muttered something under his breath.
"Incredible." Xander heard Daniel wheeze from behind them, "That an entire sub-culture could exist within the modern world."
Xander ducked into the alley the scream had come from, speaking over his shoulder. "Well, vamps and demons tend to keep their profiles low... Sunnydale is an exception, the night stalkers have a real good grip on this town."
"No," Daniel answered, "I mean the vampire hunters... an entire human culture dedicated to preserving life while fighting a secret war... it's reminiscent of..."
Xander didn't hear the rest of Daniel's thought as the words were cut off by the shock of running into a dozen big vampires surrounding a small blond.
*****
Tara shrank back into the corner as the... things... surrounded her. Her mother had warned her that there were dangers in the world worse then even her own terrible legacy, but she never really believed it completely before. Her mind cast about for a spell as the largest of the creatures advanced on her.
"I...inciendre!" She splayed her hand and cast the spell, more then a little nervous about whether it would actually work.
A burst of flames leaped from her hand and caught the big one in the arm, transforming his jacket and arm into a blaze. As he started to rush about, trying in vain to douse the magical blaze, she tried to make a run for it.
"Oh no you don't girly!" A second grabbed her from behind, pinning her hands down. She could smell the rot on his breath, the death and decay of other victims.
"Lu... lumos!"
A bright flash of light blinded the vampire behind her as it tried to bite her. "Ah! My eyes! You little bitch, you blinded me!"
His grip didn't loosen unfortunately. She could feel his breath return to her neck, and then the world seemed to explode.
*****
Xander actually paused when the small blond showed some steel under her hesitant exterior. He smiled and even let out a sharp laugh when the first vamp started flailing around with the rapidly growing flames running up his arm. He got serious, though, when the second vamp grabbed the girl from behind.
"Toast 'em all except that one." he snarled as he extending Elan to her full length, pointed directly at the one who had grabbed the blond.
The group behind him didn't bother to respond, sweeping MP-5's from under their long coats they leveled them on the vampire gang and opened fire with short, controlled, bursts.
*****
Jak snapped his head around at the sudden report of firearms to see a squad of people with military weapons firing into his brethren. He grinned to himself, Good. The others can eat those guys, and I'll keep the little tidbit here to myself.
He watched as the vampires shuddered with the impact of the bullets and then moved to advance on their attackers. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as, one by one, the vampires fell to the ground screaming and smoking from the inside out.
"What...?" His voice trailed off as he gripped the girl tighter, not as a meal but as protection. "What are you guys!?"
He watched as one of the group stepped forward, a silver staff in his hand. "Let her go."
"No way." Jak said nervously, "I look stupid to you? You can't shoot me with those things if I've got her in between us."
The guy nodded slowly, "All right. Then we've got ourselves a problem. Cause I can't let you walk out of here with her."
Jak sneered, "Like you'd let me walk out without her."
The guy shrugged. "Tell you what, how about a little one on one? Winner walks out free and clear."
Jak shook his head, "No way man. I don't trust you..."
He started shedding his weapons. First slipping off his trench coat and slowly stripping himself of all weapons by tossing them lightly to a pile on the coat. In a moment the young man was dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans and a tight t-shirt. He turned around a couple times to show the lack of weapons.
"What about them?" Jak jerked his head toward the group behind the kid.
"Back out of the alley, guys."
None of the group seemed to like it but they nodded and slowly backed away. When the alley was clear Jak vamped out and shoved the blond away hard, then charged the young man.
The man shifted to a defensive stance and snapped out a single word.
"Elan!"
Jack caught a glimpse of a silver shimmer, then felt a odd pressure in his chest. He looked down and saw the silver staff buried halfway through his torso. Jak shuddered and began to dust. "How?" He croaked before vanishing completely.
"I hate vampires." Xander said as he retracted Elan and slipped her back into the hip sheath. He walked over to where the girl had been tossed, "You ok?"
"I....I'm.. F... f.... fine." She stammered out as Xander helped her to her feet. "T... those were vam... vampires?"
Xander raised his eyes slightly, then realized that he shouldn't be too surprised at her acceptance. She was obviously a witch. "Yep." He grinned, "You should be careful around here at night... vamp central, you know."
"P....pardon?" she barely managed to whisper the word out, as if she expected to be punished for her lack of knowledge.
Xander shifted his grin to a gentler smile, "Come on, I'll get you home and explain a bit on the way. Ok?"
"Ok..."
*****
Jack Crow shook his head as he watched the kid talk amiably to the young girl as he slipped his gear back on. He had to smile at the way the kid took the bastard out, but at the same time the weapon the kid used bothered him. What the hell is that thing anyway?
*****
Xander walked back to the group with Tara, as he had just found her to be called, following close behind. "Crow, you and Jarod take the other two to the meet. I'm going to run Tara here back to the dorm and meet with you later."
Jack nodded easily. Jarod and the SG members looked a little uncomfortable.
"You sure about this, Xander?"
Xander nodded to Jarod, "Yeah. No worries. I'll meet you guys later."
"Ok. If you're sure." Jarod said hesitantly as he started to turn away.
Xander watched the group head toward the graveyard and then turned to Tara, "So, a witch huh? How's that working for ya?"
Tara stared at him in mute shock as the two began to walk toward the university dorms.
*****
"Where's Xander?" Buffy asked as the group arrived.
Jarod smiled slightly at her, "Relax. He's escorting a vampire victim home."
"Alone?" She said, her voice calm but tinged with worry.
"He'll be fine." Jarod said confidently.
"I guess..." She said, a little uncertainly as the group gathered. Finally she shook it off and watched as the SG people got together and talked vampires.
*****
"So you saw them too?" Jack O'Neill asked, almost disappointed when the answer as in the affirmative.
"They... seemed to be vampires." Carter admitted.
"Yes..." Daniel said, "they do fit many of the historical references to vampiric creatures..."
Teal'C remained silent, not having any idea of the historical stereotypes of vampires.
"Hammond is going to pitch a fit when I report this." Jack shook his head mournfully.
"I doubt if General Hammond will 'pitch a fit'." Teal'C corrected tonelessly.
"Shut up, Teal'C."
*****
"Target in sight."
"I want Harris brought here.... ALIVE."
"Confirmed." The man replied into his radio. He turned to the IMP beside him and nodded.
The Initiative Military Police goon nodded, "We taking her too?"
The first man considered, then shrugged, "Sure. She isn't normal that's for damned sure... Walsh won't mind another body to dissect."
"Gotcha."
*****
Xander led Tara onto the campus and grinned as they hit the well lit area's, "Almost home."
"Than.... thank you."
"No problem. But you be careful out around here at night. Its not a safe place."
She nodded vigorously. "I will."
Xander smiled and nodded back. "Good."
He was about to leave her at the door to the dorm when his hand flashed to his throat, feeling the dart embedded there as his eyes began to go dark. Beside him he could see Tara do much the same, her yelp of pain and fear coming to him as if from far off. He crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap, and his last sensations were of being manhandled into the back of the dark SUV.
*****
"Mission accomplished."
Walsh sat back and allowed herself a smile. "Good."
*****
Initiative Labs
The still body lay, strapped in a dozen places, on the cold examining table. A dozen machines were arrayed around him, all actively scanning, probing, sampling, or otherwise examining the still form. Three lab-coated doctors were bouncing from one display to another as they studied the data the machines sent them, while three nurses kept careful observation on the IV that was pumping chemicals into the helpless form.
It took hours but the results came back, triple checked by no less then two doctors and five technicians. They weren't what Professor Walsh had expected, nor what she had hoped.
"What do you mean?" She practically screamed at the third scientist in an hour, "He can't be human! I have tapes of our soldiers talking about him in demonic armor!, doing things no human can do. Humans can't teleport! They can't turn invisible! He can NOT be human!"
"Professor," The technician said calmly, "We can detect no genetic baselines to match any HST on record, and there are none of the energy spikes we get from examinations of the more human like HST's. He is 100% human, Ma'am."
Walsh cursed before calming enough to ask, "And the girl?"
"She is human." The technician confirmed, "but there are some of the odd energy spikes present in her system... extremely low powered however, I'd say that if she has any HST in her genetic background that it has almost been bred out."
Walsh was silent for a long moment, "Prepare her for dissection. I'll deal with Harris."
"Ma'am." The technician nodded and backed out.
Walsh turned to the camera that monitored the examination room that Harris was still occupying. "If I can't learn anything by dissecting you, Mr. Harris, I'll have to find some other way for you to contribute to my research."
She flickered through the security monitors until she came to rest on one of the security cells in the detention block. In the cell was a blond HST they had recently captured, one that hadn't undergone the chipping process. "Excellent." She smiled.
"I've always wanted to monitor the process that occurs when one of these creatures propagates."
*****
"Has he checked in?" Jarod asked tersely over the cell phone.
"No." Phoebe answered, just as tense. "I'm going to get the ingredients for a locator spell."
Jarod was silent for a moment, "Good. I'm coming back, there is much more that can be accomplished running around like this."
"I know." Phoebe said quietly.
"We will find him."
"I know."
The Phone went dead and Phoebe turned to thin air and called out, "Leo!"
When the shimmer finally arrived Leo looked tired. "What is it, Phoebe?"
"Xander's missing."
"What!?" He started, his eyes popping open.
"I need to get some things form the manor."
"All right, hang on." Leo reached out and touched her shoulder and the two people vanished into the air.
*****
"So your telling me that Harris was right?" Hammond didn't sound happy. "Vampires are running around a town in California?"
O'Neill sounded even less happy. "Sir, if what I'm being told is accurate it's a lot bigger then that. But in a nutshell, yes. Harris gave us the straight goods."
The General took a deep breath and let it out, "Is there anything you'd like me to recommend to the President when I tell him that there really are monsters living under the bed?"
Jack grimaced into the phone, "Sir, if he doesn't already know then someone is pulling some strings on the black ops budget, because there is a Government facility in place already."
"I see." Actually Hammond was happy to hear that, it meant that at least someone was on the ball. "I'll have Harris and his people cleared from further investigation and I'll arrange a commendation for them."
"Thank you, Sir." O'Neill hesitated. "Sir? Harris has gone missing. Permission to join the search teams?"
"Granted." Hammond said immediately, "Do what you can."
"Thank you sir." Jack said, with relief. "I'll be in touch."
"You do that. I'll be seeing, Colonel."
"Yes Sir." O'Neill said and hung up the phone. He turned to the other members of SG1 and smiled. "Harris and his 'Irregulars' have been cleared."
The team smiled.
"Good."
"That's Excellent, Sir."
"Indeed."
Jack nodded, "Now. Let's find him and tell him the good news."
The group nodded and headed back to the first floor of the building, to join the search effort.
*****
Phoebe and her sisters orbed back into the kitchen as SG1 and Jarod both hit the room. Behind Jarod a very agitated Slayer and entourage were not far behind.
"Where is he!?"
"Calm down, Buffy." Giles said quietly, "You are not helping."
Buffy stayed quiet but was obviously fuming as she grabbed a chair.
The Charmed Ones quickly assembled their spell ingredients and began preparing the locator spell, to the active interest of Jarod and Willow. A few minutes later Phoebe added the last ingredient, only to have a fair portion of the spell to explode in her face.
The sisters stared at the ruined spell in shock for a moment before Piper spoke. "Well... that's never happened before."
Giles got up and looked at the spell curiously, "I say. What spell were you casting?"
"Just a standard locator spell..."
"Hmmm... The Hellmouth tends to cause those to be somewhat indistinct... but I've never seen one react like that before."
"What do you use if a locator spell won't work?"
Giles considered, "Generally we use 'sniffer' spells... they are less accurate then a full powered location spell but they do the job well enough."
Phoebe sighed, wiping some of the guck off her face, "What do we need for that?"
Willow chimed in, "Something personal of Xander's and some basic supplies... I think you have everything here."
"Ok, I'll get something from his room." Phoebe said as she headed up the stairs. They all heard a disgusted mutter echo back after she was gone, "And I'll get a towel while I'm up there."
*****
Elan raged from her metallic prison, unable to contact Xander in anyway. Even the Dreaming was unavailable, and she could barely feel his pulse as it hammered slowly through her being. She had a decent idea of why, but it did her little good. Drugs were the only possibly answer, because even comatose she would be able to make contact with his subconscious mind. Some heavy sedatives and neurological poisons however tended to slow or scramble even the subconscious mind, leaving her cut off from him and helpless.
*****
They sniffer spell worked as planned, even better then Giles had expected, when the sisters cast it. His eyes widened as a realization came upon him. "Of course!"
Everyone looked at him in confusion. "What?"
"The reason the locator spell reacted so... ummm... energetically."
Prue looked at him, "Well? Don't leave us hanging here?"
"You're the Charmed Ones." he said, ignoring the confused looks he got from Willow and Buffy. "Your own Magic is extremely powerful, but here on the Hellmouth you get a substantial boost from the latent energy that permeates the area. You over energized the spell."
"Ok..." Prue said, "I can under stand that."
Her sisters nodded, thinking about a trip to the future they had recently taken in which their maturing powers had been magnified beyond control of their, still young, minds."
"We don't have time for that now, though." Phoebe interrupted. "Lets follow the spell."
"Oh... ummm... yes, quite."
*****
Riley was leaving Lowell House, heading for his first class, when his eyes widened at the grim faced group stalking straight toward him.
"Uh... Guys? What's going on?"
"Where's Xander!?" This came from the young brunette in the lead, Phoebe he belatedly remembered.
"What the hell would he be doing here?" Riley demanded, still a little angry over the events of the last few days.
"Riley," Buffy interposed herself between the two, "He went missing last night. We know that he's alive, and a spell led us here."
Riley shook his head, "No... no, he can't be. He doesn't have clearance to be... unless..." He trailed off slowly.
"Unless what?" Phoebe demanded.
"Walsh sent out the security goons last night. One of my guys noticed... they don't normally leave the base while they're on duty..."
"So?"
Riley shook his head, "So I don't know. Look, I'll check out the base. That's the best I can do, if he's around I'll find him."
"Not without us, you don't."
Riley saw a group of them agree with the young woman, but he shook his head. "No way." He said firmly, "Not going to happen. None of you are cleared for entry to this base. If you try I'll have you all arrested."
Several of them looked like they were willing to take the chance, but Miss Parker stepped forward. "You have three hours, Riley. Then we come looking again. The same way Xander would come looking for us, armed and dangerous."
Riley swallowed. He had seen this group in action, and didn't want to be at cross purposes with them. He nodded, and turned back to Lowell House. The group watched him go in for a moment before turning away themselves.
"Is this a good idea?" Phoebe asked.
"It's the only one we have right now." Miss Parker's answer was curt.
The group mumbled it's, unhappy, agreement.
*****