"I can't believe you had to kiss your motorcycle good-bye! And you think I'm weird." Pro grumbled to Max as they made their way silently through the woods surrounding Manticore.
"Pro! I told you before, SHUT UP!" Spike hissed through Pro's earpiece. "We need to be SILENT! You do understand the meaning of that word, right?"
"Yes, William!" Pro snarled, rolling her eyes. Spike let loose with a string of obsenties that even Max heard. Pro grinned and tapped her ear peice twice to shut it off. She waited a minute before turning it back on.
"...and if you ever call me William again, I turn you into Manticore myself!" Spike finished. Alexzs voice, shaking with contained laughter, came over the radio.
"Okay, okay. Radio silence." Pro opened her mouth, but knew if she broke radio silence just to chew out Spike, she'd be in major trouble. Max smiled and shook her head as they walked through the woods.
"Do you always have to yell at her?" Alexz snapped at Spike.
"She called me William!" Spike was still shaking with rage at Pro.
"So what?" Alexz snarled at him, letting her vampire face come out.
"Alexz, you know I hate being called William as much as you hate being called Alexzandria."
"SHUT UP!" Alexz hissed. Before Spike knew what had happened, she had bit his neck, hard!
"OWWWWWWW!" Spike yelled. Alexz slapped her hand over his mouth before more than a squeak had emerged. She lifted her hand off, and Spike snarled, his own fangs sliding down. "Owww." He whispered. "That hurt!"
"What did?" Came Logan's voice over the ear peice.
"Alexz bit me!" Spike said, indignantly.
"She what?" Max's voice came over now, while Pro laughed hysterically in the background.
"I bit him because he wouldn't shut up! Now, did I or did I not say RADIO SILENCE!" Alexz snarled.
"Oh, what are you going to do Alexz, bite me too?" Pro asked over the radio.
"No, I'll get Angel to do that! Only problem is, he might enjoy that too much."
"Shut up!" Pro said.
"Ahh, Max, is she blushing?" Spike teased.
"Yep!" Max said gleefully over the radio.
"I can't win." Pro whispered.
Alexz fought the laughter that treatened to overflow from her throat. "Radio silence, now!" This time no one argued with her. "Finally, they listen to me. About time."
"Alexz you sound like Dr... Owww!" Spike yelped as Alexz chomped down on his neck again. "What is it with you and bitting me tonight?"
"My bloodthrist is on high."
"You haven't been drinking your blood?" Spike asked, his eyes wide, not believing his luck. Alexz shook her head, her eyes still foreward. Spike hooted with laughter and had to refrain from rolling on the ground so he didn't get his fatigues wet and muddy. "Ohhhh! I'm telling on you!"
"Tattletell." Alexz shot back at him. "You tell, and I'm biting you again."
"Nothing has stopped you from doing it all night." Spike muttered. Alexz hissed and opened her mouth.
"Just kidding! Just kidding! Look, it's Manitcore!"
"So, Kesal. What are your sisters like?" Zack asked.
Kesal shot him a sideways look. "Depends on what 'sister' you want to know about."
"How many do you have?"
"Four. You've only met two. I also have four 'brothers'."
"Who are your sisters?"
"Alexz, Project M.A.X. , Cordelia and Nefertiti." Kesal usually bright eyes glazed over slightly when he said Nefertiti's name.
"Dude, you have a crush on your sister!" Zack said, digusted.
"So what? You have a crush on Max, even though she likes Logan. As besides, Nefertiti's not really my 'sister'. It's just easier to call her my 'sister' then to explain what she is."
"So, what does M.A.X. stand for anyway?" Zack asked.
"Mutant Alteration Experimentation." Kesal said, vemon obvious in his voice.
"Mutant?"
"Yeah. Let's just say we're very different from anything you've ever met, in Manticore or out."
"Different how?" Zack asked.
Kesal sighed. "Give me you knife." Confused, Zack handed Kesal the knife. "Watch this." Kesal held the knife over his arm. He took a deep breath and held it. Then he slashed his arm quickly with the knife.
"What are you doing?!" Zack hissed. Then his mouth dropped. Before his very eyes, the skin had sealled and there was no trace of a cut. "Whoa! How did you do that?"
Kesal smiled sadly. "I told you we were different."
"Hey, why was Pro acting so weird, besides the fact she is in heat?"
"Her heat cycles wreak havok on her for about a week, to a week and a half. Her systems kick into overdrive, and she gets a little crazy. Then she gets sick for a few days afterward. Nothing really serious, just a fevor, stomach ache, and a little nausea. She feels like crap for a few days, but it passes. She's usually pretty cool when she's not in heat."
"Poor thing. I like her dude."
"You have some competion."
"Who? Krit? He won't stand in my way."
Kesal shook his head. "Remember how I told you I have four 'brothers'?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they are Spike, Angel, Drew and Connor. Angel and Cordelia are the only true siblings in the V's. Their twins. Connor's dead. And Angel likes Pro!"
"I can't belive how googly eyed you got over Pro. She was just using you to satisfie herself when she was in heat. It's not real emotion." Syl whispered to Krit.
Krit held back a branch for her, then answered her. "Well maybe I like fake emotion better than real emotion. Besides, emotions are emotions. Who are you to say if their fake or real?"
"Krit, I go into heat too. Granted, not as bad as Pro, but still its pretty bad. Your hormones take over, and you have almost no control. You can't think straight and you want to jump every guy within a ten mile radias. Max told me about when she went into heat just a few days ago. She was lucky that Cindy stopped her when she did, or she might have ruined a sure thing with Logan. As it was, she's lucky Logan is so understanding."
"What do you mean? What happened?" Krit asked, intrigued.
Syl shook her head. "It's not my place to tell you. Ask Max. If she wants to tell you, she'll tell you. If she doesn't, well," Syl shrugged, "then she'll kick your butt for asking about it."
Pro pushed aside a small bush, and gazed down at the building that had haunted her nightmares since she was four years old. Max just looked at it in disgust.
"Not exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted a family reunion." Max muttered.
"You had it easy compared to what we were going through in there. We were half your age, but we were pushed twice as fast and twice as hard to be faster, stronger and smarter than you." Pro leaned back on her heels. "And I hated every moment of it. They even took my 'brother' away from me. I don't even remember him!"
"What are you talking about? When I was four years old, I didn't even understand what was going on. How could you?"
Pro shook her head. "I was in and out of labratorys half the time. How could I not understand what was going on? And I told you, we were designed to be smarter then anything they had created before. Of course we knew what was going on!" She turned away, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "At least you knew all your brothers and sisters. They took my oldest 'brother', Connor, away from the group before I was old enough to remember him. The others do, because they are a little older than me, but I don't! Those bastards stole my 'brother' away from me!"
Spike's voice came over the radio. "Okay, lets move in." The four groups moved in, with no trouble what so ever from the alarms.
Pro, Max, Spike and Alexz met up in the hallway outside the DNA lab.
"Gee Pro, your handling this pretty well." Alexz remarked. Spike elbowed her, but she ignored him.
"Let's just do what we came here to do and get out of here before I do something I'll regret." Pro said through gritted teeth.
Spike nodded and they moved down the hallway. To Max's surprise, the V's blended almost perfectly into the shadows of the hallway, disapearing completely.
"Max, are you coming?" a voice at her elbow asked. She jumped and spun around. Spike was standing behind her, a michevious grin on his face.
"Spike!" Max said, putting a hand over her racing heart. "What the hell are you doing there?"
Spike ignored her. "Your supposed to be helping with this bloody lookout job." He glanced at his watch. "They've been gone to bloody long. I hope something hasn't gone wrong."
"How long have they been gone?"
"Three minutes."
"Three minutes? Calm down, they probably haven't even got..."
"We're done." Pro announced from behind Max. Max jumped again and Spike collapsed with laughter.
"Max, I think they went a little overboard with those cat genes in you. Your too jumpy."
Max made sure she stepped on his hand on her way past him. Spike hissed at her, then Alexz pulled him to his feet and they spilt up once again.
"Met you outside." Alexz whispered to Pro and Max before her and Spike disapeared into the shadows.
Max followed Pro down the hall, somehow knowing that, if she really wanted to, Pro could have left her behind, disapearing into the shadows just as easily as her 'brother' and 'sister'.
"How do you guys do that?" Max asked quietly, straining all her senses to keep track of Pro, and try to keep a lookout for gaurds.
"Do what?"
The voice caught Max by surprise. She glanced around widly and couldn't see Pro. "That! Disappear!"
Pro chuckled and emerged from the shadows right in front of Max. "Sorry. I know it's a little creepy, but it's natural for a V. We have some of the best hunters blood in the world. It's easy for us to disappear, and only be seen if we want to be seen."
"The X's have some of the best predators blood too. How come none of us can do that?"
Pro grinned, and tapped the part that had been flashing. "See these?" Max looked closer and saw with a start that instead of regular canines, Pro had fangs. "These and some other...um...qualities make us very different."
"So the other's have fangs too?" Max asked, remembering the flashs at the warehouse.
"Yes we have the bloody fangs! Now shut up!" Spike yelled over the radio. Max and Pro rolled their eyes at each other, then kept moving, Pro disapearing into the shadows, and Max using her instincts, and occasional whispers from Pro to follow.
"Women!" Spike grumbled. "Always have to stop and chat! I hate doing missions with you!"
Alexz stomped on his foot. Spike grunted, then elbowed her. Alexz shoved him, then raced ahead before he could retaliate. Spike hissed and raced after her, keeping to the shadows and using his hunter qualities to keep track of his 'sister'. They got outside, just to hear the lab blow behind them. Spike glanced at his watch.
"Five minutes. You set the charges for too late."
"V's aren't the only ones on this mission." Alexz reminded him. Just then, Max emerged from the smoke, coughing. Pro was nowhere in sight. Alexz streched out her senses, then whirled around and grabbed her 'sister's' wrist before she could grab her shoulder.
"Never try and sneak up on a V 'sis'." Alexz said with a grin. She went quiet for a moment. "Here come the others."
"How can you tell?" Max asked.
"Trust us, she can tell." Spike grumbled, diapearing back into the shadows, followed by Alexz and Pro, leaving Max with the feeling that she was totally alone. She knew they were there, simply by inscint, but she couldn't see or hear them. It was creepy.
Zack, Krit and Syl ran up to her. "We lost Kesal!" Zack announced. Max used her senses, and grinned.
"No you didn't!" Kesal announced, emerging from the shadows. Zack, Krit and Syl jumped. Max even jumped a little, even though she knew he was there. "Jumpy guys? Too many cat genes." He grinned.
"That's what I said." Spike said from the shadows. Kesal looked confused for a minute, then smiled and disapeared into the same shadows the others had gone into.
"Whoa! How did he do that? Majorly creepy." Krit said with a shiver.
Max grinned at her brother. "I know. I was look out with Spike, and he kept talking from the shadows. Then Pro kept disappearing on me. I don't think I'll ever get used to it."
"That's not natural!" Zack cried.
"Nothing that comes from here is naturel!" Alexz said from the shadows. Zack jumped.
"Who's there? Where are you?" He yelled, glancing around widly. There were giggles from the shadows that seemed to come from everywhere. Alexz popped out her head, just her head. It was a creepy image. Her head just kind of there, nothing visable supporting it. Spikes appeared just below hers.
"Hey guys. Whats hanging?" Spike grinned like a mad man.
Krit shivered. "Dude, get out here! That's too creepy."
Spike grinned and stepped out of the shadows with Alexz. She was riding piggy back, explaining how they had done that head trick. She hopped off his back and stood leaning against him. He put an arm around her shoulders and they both grinned at the X'5's, their fangs flashing.
"Your crazy!" Krit declared.
Spike shrugged. "Craziness keeps us sane."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Of course it does." Alexz said. "To a V." Then they were gone again, back to the shadows where their 'brother' and 'sister' were waiting.
The X'5's stood staring at the spot. The Pro popped out. "Listen, are you going to stand here gawking, or are we going to go? Come on." And she was gone again. There was the sound of a fast and furious fight, then Kesal popped out of the shadows, stumbing as if he'd been pushed, his normally neat hair a mess. He glared at the shadows, then turned to the X'5's and ran a hand through his hair.
"I've been desegnated your tour guide boys and girls. Now stay with the group and don't feed the animals. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Not!" He started off, staying half out of the shadows so they could follow him.
"Hey Kesal?" Syl asked tentivly.
"What?" He turned, half of his body gone. It was weird. He was just standing there, looking at her curiously, while she could only see half his body.
Syl threw a disgusted look at Krit, who had had a goofy grin on his face every since Pro popped out of the shadows, then ran after Kesal. "Wait up."
Kesal raised his eyebrow, then smiled and extended his arm to her. "Of course little lady." Syl grinned for the first time in hours, took his arm, and they both disappeared into the shadows.
Syl blinked, then looked around. "Where are we?" She asked Kesal. He grinned at her, then took her hand, holding it tightly.
"This is where we keep going." Kesal said. "You see, the shadows are gaps in the real world. The V's can enter these gaps. It's pretty cool."
"Yeah, it is." Syl said, looking around. Everywhere she looked, everything was gray. The only colors were the black she and Kesal were wearing. Alexz and Spike came towards them, Spikes almost white hair standing out like a sore thumb and his and Alexz's green eyes shining like bright lights.
"Kes, we're going to met in this clearing up ahead here. Then we each take an X'5 and stay in the shadows. I can feel that somethings here. Oh, hi Syl!" Alexz said. Then she and Spike ran foreward and popped out of the shadows.
Kesal gripped Syl's hand tightly and pulled her foreward with him. "Come on. We need to pop out just up here."
"How can you tell?" Syl asked, finding it hard to concentrate with Kesal holding her hand. Kesal grinned at her, distracting her even more. "We can still see the real world. See?" He swiped his hand across some of the thick grayness, and Syl could see the forest, bright as day.
"Whoa! Cool. Kind of creepy though." She shivered a little. Kesal gave her a hug, then whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, but I've always considered it a prime make out spot." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, then pulled her out of the shadows into the clearing.
They emerged from the shadows to join Spike, Alexz and Pro in the clearing, Kesal and Syl still holding hands. They heard Zack, Krit and Max calling out. Kesal hit his forehead with his hand.
"Opps! I forgot my tour group!" He yelped and disappeared back into the shadows. Soon the V's saw him leading the X'5's through the woods. His face was red and he was shaking with contained anger. He had Zack by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground at Spike's feet.
"Get this idiot out of my face before I do something I'll regret." He snarled. Syl stood up and went to him. He grabbed her hand and they disappeared into the shadows.
"Kes, get out here! We gotta go!" Spike called. Kesal stepped out of the shadows.
"Lets just get out of here. I'm with Syl!" Kesal declared, brighting when Syl slipped her hand into his. He grinned shyly at her and sat down at the base of one of the trees. Syl sat down next to him and leaned against him, and Kesal arm went around her waist. Spike and Alexz grinned like the cats that had swallowed the canary and turned to the others.
"Okay, I'll go with Krit, Spike will go with Zack, Max will go with Pro, and I guess that Kesal is going with Syl. Let's move out." Alexz said. She grabbed Krit's wrist and dragged him toward the shadows.
As each headed off with their charges, Alexz saw Kesal give Syl a quick kiss out of the corner of her eye. 'Awww! How cute!' she thought before dragging Krit into the shadows.
"Where are they?" Zack asked, pacing back and forth at the foot of a very large pine tree. Max, Pro, Kesal and Syl were still somewhere in the shadows. Spike and Alexz were in the tree as look outs, enjoying annoying Zack by pretending to fall off their branches.
"Come on you guys! Stop messing around! Aren't you worried about your brother and sister?"
Alexz was hanging upside down from her branch, so she looked at Zack a little cross-eyed. "Why should we? Pro and Kesal can take care of themselves and Max and Syl."
"Yeah Zack. Chill out." Spike added, hanging upside down from his branch as well. With his insane grin and fangs, he looked like a vampire from an old horror movie. Spike swung his legs off the branch and landed on Alexz's. Alexz extended her hand and he pulled her upright.
Just then Max and Syl ran in. Alexz looked, but there was no sign of Pro or Kesal. 'They must be doing a permiter check.' she thought.
"We lost Pro and Kesal!" Syl yelled, near tears.
Alexz and Spike really did fall out of the tree at that.
"WHAT?!?!" They both yelled, as they struggled to untangle themselves from each other.
Zack, Krit, Max and Syl watched in amazement as Alexz and Spike tried to get up.
"OWWW! Get your foot out of my mouth!" Spike yelled.
"Sorry! Get your foot off my back!" Alexz retorted.
Alexz managed to get out from under Spike and stood up. Then she whirled on Max. "What do you mean you lost Pro and Kesal?!"
Spike stood up next to her. "Where's my little 'sister'?!" He demanded.
"I thought you said Pro and Kesal could take care of themselves." Zack said.
Spike threw a look of pure contempt over his shoulder at Zack. "They can. But those to are like oil and water. They fight continuously, and right now won't be any different. We got to find them!"
Logan came over the radio. "Guys! Get out of there!"
Lydeckers voice followed Logan's. "Now! They released the X7's on you! Get out!"
The V's were getting ready to pull the remaining X5's into the shadows when they were attacked. Everywhere they looked, there were faces. Faces they knew. Alexz stagered back when she saw Angel and Drew's faces in the crowd. Beside her, she heard Spike gasp. She glanced over and had to stifle a scream. In front of Spike was. . .her! And Spike was there too! But they were much younger, only eight or nine. What was going on?
Kesal dived out of the trees and threw several rocks into the crowd. From the cries and the smug look on his face, he had thrown them with all his might. The cries of pain broke everyone out of their stunned state, and they moved into action. Spike and Alexz both moved as one. Even Zack envied how well they fought together. It was like they read each others minds. Kesal danced around the edge of the trees, throwing punchs, kicking the back of knees, throwing rocks and taunting the nine year olds. Understanding dawned in Alexz's mind. These kids might have been born and raised at Manticore, but they were still nine year olds. And nine year olds HATED being taunted. Sure enough, more and more of the X7's shifted their attetion from the small group to Kesal. A few fired shots, but Kesal dived and weaved between the trees, so the bullets just buried themselves into the trunks.
Alexz realized that Kesal was trying to draw the X7's attetion away from them so that they could get away. She spun around to yell to Spike, only to watch, in horrifed slow motion, as his body jerked foreward and fell to the ground, hit in the back by a round of poorly aimed bullets from one of the X7's guns.
"SPIKE!" She screamed, running to him and dropping to her knees beside him. There was blood everywhere. "SPIKE! SPIKE!" She screamed hysterically. Through the painful haze that clouded her brain, she heard her older brother scream "Get the hell out of here! NOW!" Alexz clutched Spike's black shirt in her hands and pulled. Spike's body rolled over on to his back. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing.
'Duh! He doesn't breath anyway idiot!' Alexz told herslef, trying not to panic. She managed to pull Spikes body onto her shoulder. His body just hung there. 'Like a dead weight.' she thought before she could stop herself. "Stop that!" She said out loud. She ran to where the X5's were waiting. Zack and Krit took Spike from her, and Alexz turned, thinking to go help her brother. But Kesal sensed what she was thinking and his voice floated through the woods. "GO! ALL OF YOU GO! PLEASE! I'LL DRAW THEM AWAY!"
Alexz stopped. Syl seemed to finally realize what Kesal was doing, and started for the clearing. Alexz grabbed her.
"NO! KESAL, NO!" Syl screamed, fighting Alexz's hold. "KESAL DON'T! PLEASE!"
"I LOVE YOU SYL!" Kesal shouted, before they heard the sounds of the fight dying away as Kesal led the X7's away from them. Syl hung limply in Alexz's hold, sobbing. "No Kesal. No. Please." She whispered.
"Syl, I'm sorry." Alexz said, her own tears running down her face. "I'm so sorry."
She let go of Syl, and Syl just lay on the ground sobbing. Alexz turned to where Zack and Krit had laid down Spike. One look at Spikes pale face and unmoving chest and she almost broke down. But she couldn't cry. Spike would tease her forever if she cried. That's when she lost it. Spike had used up his forevers. The tears started rolling down her face. She walked over to him. The ground beneath Spike was covered with blood, and his black fatigues were soaked with it. Alexz's tears fell faster. 'He was hit with twenty bullets in the back. He can't be alive.'
Spike's eyes opened and he sat up. He blinked and looked around. He saw Alexz and spang to his feet.
"Alexz! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He asked, concern in his voice.
"Spike." Alexz whispered. "SPIKE!" She screamed, throwing herself into his arms and crying into his chest. Spike wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He rested his cheek on the top of her head.
"Shh, shh. Don't cry, it's all right." He whispered. He looked around confused. "Where are the other two?"
Alexz pulled back and wiped her eyes. "Pro and Kesal distracted the X7's so we could get away."
While she had been holding back Syl, Alexz had relized that Pro had kept some of the X7's back, and that Kesal had gone after the rest of the X7's when they had come after Spike, Max, Zack, Krit, Syl and her.
"WHAT?!?!" Spike screamed. He started toward the clearing, but Alexz darted foreward and grabbed his arm.
"Spike." She said softly. "It's too late. He...he...he's gone." She started crying again, and Spike just stood there stunned for a minute.
"No. No! NO! He can't be! He can't be! NOOOOOOO!" Spike wailed, sinking to his knees. Alexz knelt next to him and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her tightly in return. Alexz leaned her forehead against his, and let him cry. He and Kesal fought a lot, but she had seen them leap to each others defense in an instant. Only two weeks apart, they were closer than anyone else in the V group, including Angel and Cordelia.
Slowly, even Zack wiping away tears, they left the woods and made their way back to the van. They decided to wait a while to see if Pro and Kesal found their way back. While they waited, Logan removed the bullets from Spike's back. After he had gotten them all out, the wounds had closed. He sat down and Max came over. She gave him a quick kiss, then sat on his lap. Zack sat in the corner and stared at his feet. Krit sat on a chair, staring at the floor stunned. Alexz sat on Spikes lap, and they sat by Syl in the doorway, hoping against hope that their older 'brother' and their youngest 'sister' would appear out of the woods.
They stayed there until late the next night, none of them saying much of anything. With the vampire blood in them, the V's had infinete patience, and Syl flat out refused to leave unti there was no hope of Kesal showing up. But soon even Spike had to admit that Kesal and Pro should have found them by then and they decided to leave. Syl didn't say a word the entire eleven hour trip back to Seattle, she just sat staring out the window, tears rolling down her face.
"Pro! I told you before, SHUT UP!" Spike hissed through Pro's earpiece. "We need to be SILENT! You do understand the meaning of that word, right?"
"Yes, William!" Pro snarled, rolling her eyes. Spike let loose with a string of obsenties that even Max heard. Pro grinned and tapped her ear peice twice to shut it off. She waited a minute before turning it back on.
"...and if you ever call me William again, I turn you into Manticore myself!" Spike finished. Alexzs voice, shaking with contained laughter, came over the radio.
"Okay, okay. Radio silence." Pro opened her mouth, but knew if she broke radio silence just to chew out Spike, she'd be in major trouble. Max smiled and shook her head as they walked through the woods.
"Do you always have to yell at her?" Alexz snapped at Spike.
"She called me William!" Spike was still shaking with rage at Pro.
"So what?" Alexz snarled at him, letting her vampire face come out.
"Alexz, you know I hate being called William as much as you hate being called Alexzandria."
"SHUT UP!" Alexz hissed. Before Spike knew what had happened, she had bit his neck, hard!
"OWWWWWWW!" Spike yelled. Alexz slapped her hand over his mouth before more than a squeak had emerged. She lifted her hand off, and Spike snarled, his own fangs sliding down. "Owww." He whispered. "That hurt!"
"What did?" Came Logan's voice over the ear peice.
"Alexz bit me!" Spike said, indignantly.
"She what?" Max's voice came over now, while Pro laughed hysterically in the background.
"I bit him because he wouldn't shut up! Now, did I or did I not say RADIO SILENCE!" Alexz snarled.
"Oh, what are you going to do Alexz, bite me too?" Pro asked over the radio.
"No, I'll get Angel to do that! Only problem is, he might enjoy that too much."
"Shut up!" Pro said.
"Ahh, Max, is she blushing?" Spike teased.
"Yep!" Max said gleefully over the radio.
"I can't win." Pro whispered.
Alexz fought the laughter that treatened to overflow from her throat. "Radio silence, now!" This time no one argued with her. "Finally, they listen to me. About time."
"Alexz you sound like Dr... Owww!" Spike yelped as Alexz chomped down on his neck again. "What is it with you and bitting me tonight?"
"My bloodthrist is on high."
"You haven't been drinking your blood?" Spike asked, his eyes wide, not believing his luck. Alexz shook her head, her eyes still foreward. Spike hooted with laughter and had to refrain from rolling on the ground so he didn't get his fatigues wet and muddy. "Ohhhh! I'm telling on you!"
"Tattletell." Alexz shot back at him. "You tell, and I'm biting you again."
"Nothing has stopped you from doing it all night." Spike muttered. Alexz hissed and opened her mouth.
"Just kidding! Just kidding! Look, it's Manitcore!"
"So, Kesal. What are your sisters like?" Zack asked.
Kesal shot him a sideways look. "Depends on what 'sister' you want to know about."
"How many do you have?"
"Four. You've only met two. I also have four 'brothers'."
"Who are your sisters?"
"Alexz, Project M.A.X. , Cordelia and Nefertiti." Kesal usually bright eyes glazed over slightly when he said Nefertiti's name.
"Dude, you have a crush on your sister!" Zack said, digusted.
"So what? You have a crush on Max, even though she likes Logan. As besides, Nefertiti's not really my 'sister'. It's just easier to call her my 'sister' then to explain what she is."
"So, what does M.A.X. stand for anyway?" Zack asked.
"Mutant Alteration Experimentation." Kesal said, vemon obvious in his voice.
"Mutant?"
"Yeah. Let's just say we're very different from anything you've ever met, in Manticore or out."
"Different how?" Zack asked.
Kesal sighed. "Give me you knife." Confused, Zack handed Kesal the knife. "Watch this." Kesal held the knife over his arm. He took a deep breath and held it. Then he slashed his arm quickly with the knife.
"What are you doing?!" Zack hissed. Then his mouth dropped. Before his very eyes, the skin had sealled and there was no trace of a cut. "Whoa! How did you do that?"
Kesal smiled sadly. "I told you we were different."
"Hey, why was Pro acting so weird, besides the fact she is in heat?"
"Her heat cycles wreak havok on her for about a week, to a week and a half. Her systems kick into overdrive, and she gets a little crazy. Then she gets sick for a few days afterward. Nothing really serious, just a fevor, stomach ache, and a little nausea. She feels like crap for a few days, but it passes. She's usually pretty cool when she's not in heat."
"Poor thing. I like her dude."
"You have some competion."
"Who? Krit? He won't stand in my way."
Kesal shook his head. "Remember how I told you I have four 'brothers'?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they are Spike, Angel, Drew and Connor. Angel and Cordelia are the only true siblings in the V's. Their twins. Connor's dead. And Angel likes Pro!"
"I can't belive how googly eyed you got over Pro. She was just using you to satisfie herself when she was in heat. It's not real emotion." Syl whispered to Krit.
Krit held back a branch for her, then answered her. "Well maybe I like fake emotion better than real emotion. Besides, emotions are emotions. Who are you to say if their fake or real?"
"Krit, I go into heat too. Granted, not as bad as Pro, but still its pretty bad. Your hormones take over, and you have almost no control. You can't think straight and you want to jump every guy within a ten mile radias. Max told me about when she went into heat just a few days ago. She was lucky that Cindy stopped her when she did, or she might have ruined a sure thing with Logan. As it was, she's lucky Logan is so understanding."
"What do you mean? What happened?" Krit asked, intrigued.
Syl shook her head. "It's not my place to tell you. Ask Max. If she wants to tell you, she'll tell you. If she doesn't, well," Syl shrugged, "then she'll kick your butt for asking about it."
Pro pushed aside a small bush, and gazed down at the building that had haunted her nightmares since she was four years old. Max just looked at it in disgust.
"Not exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted a family reunion." Max muttered.
"You had it easy compared to what we were going through in there. We were half your age, but we were pushed twice as fast and twice as hard to be faster, stronger and smarter than you." Pro leaned back on her heels. "And I hated every moment of it. They even took my 'brother' away from me. I don't even remember him!"
"What are you talking about? When I was four years old, I didn't even understand what was going on. How could you?"
Pro shook her head. "I was in and out of labratorys half the time. How could I not understand what was going on? And I told you, we were designed to be smarter then anything they had created before. Of course we knew what was going on!" She turned away, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "At least you knew all your brothers and sisters. They took my oldest 'brother', Connor, away from the group before I was old enough to remember him. The others do, because they are a little older than me, but I don't! Those bastards stole my 'brother' away from me!"
Spike's voice came over the radio. "Okay, lets move in." The four groups moved in, with no trouble what so ever from the alarms.
Pro, Max, Spike and Alexz met up in the hallway outside the DNA lab.
"Gee Pro, your handling this pretty well." Alexz remarked. Spike elbowed her, but she ignored him.
"Let's just do what we came here to do and get out of here before I do something I'll regret." Pro said through gritted teeth.
Spike nodded and they moved down the hallway. To Max's surprise, the V's blended almost perfectly into the shadows of the hallway, disapearing completely.
"Max, are you coming?" a voice at her elbow asked. She jumped and spun around. Spike was standing behind her, a michevious grin on his face.
"Spike!" Max said, putting a hand over her racing heart. "What the hell are you doing there?"
Spike ignored her. "Your supposed to be helping with this bloody lookout job." He glanced at his watch. "They've been gone to bloody long. I hope something hasn't gone wrong."
"How long have they been gone?"
"Three minutes."
"Three minutes? Calm down, they probably haven't even got..."
"We're done." Pro announced from behind Max. Max jumped again and Spike collapsed with laughter.
"Max, I think they went a little overboard with those cat genes in you. Your too jumpy."
Max made sure she stepped on his hand on her way past him. Spike hissed at her, then Alexz pulled him to his feet and they spilt up once again.
"Met you outside." Alexz whispered to Pro and Max before her and Spike disapeared into the shadows.
Max followed Pro down the hall, somehow knowing that, if she really wanted to, Pro could have left her behind, disapearing into the shadows just as easily as her 'brother' and 'sister'.
"How do you guys do that?" Max asked quietly, straining all her senses to keep track of Pro, and try to keep a lookout for gaurds.
"Do what?"
The voice caught Max by surprise. She glanced around widly and couldn't see Pro. "That! Disappear!"
Pro chuckled and emerged from the shadows right in front of Max. "Sorry. I know it's a little creepy, but it's natural for a V. We have some of the best hunters blood in the world. It's easy for us to disappear, and only be seen if we want to be seen."
"The X's have some of the best predators blood too. How come none of us can do that?"
Pro grinned, and tapped the part that had been flashing. "See these?" Max looked closer and saw with a start that instead of regular canines, Pro had fangs. "These and some other...um...qualities make us very different."
"So the other's have fangs too?" Max asked, remembering the flashs at the warehouse.
"Yes we have the bloody fangs! Now shut up!" Spike yelled over the radio. Max and Pro rolled their eyes at each other, then kept moving, Pro disapearing into the shadows, and Max using her instincts, and occasional whispers from Pro to follow.
"Women!" Spike grumbled. "Always have to stop and chat! I hate doing missions with you!"
Alexz stomped on his foot. Spike grunted, then elbowed her. Alexz shoved him, then raced ahead before he could retaliate. Spike hissed and raced after her, keeping to the shadows and using his hunter qualities to keep track of his 'sister'. They got outside, just to hear the lab blow behind them. Spike glanced at his watch.
"Five minutes. You set the charges for too late."
"V's aren't the only ones on this mission." Alexz reminded him. Just then, Max emerged from the smoke, coughing. Pro was nowhere in sight. Alexz streched out her senses, then whirled around and grabbed her 'sister's' wrist before she could grab her shoulder.
"Never try and sneak up on a V 'sis'." Alexz said with a grin. She went quiet for a moment. "Here come the others."
"How can you tell?" Max asked.
"Trust us, she can tell." Spike grumbled, diapearing back into the shadows, followed by Alexz and Pro, leaving Max with the feeling that she was totally alone. She knew they were there, simply by inscint, but she couldn't see or hear them. It was creepy.
Zack, Krit and Syl ran up to her. "We lost Kesal!" Zack announced. Max used her senses, and grinned.
"No you didn't!" Kesal announced, emerging from the shadows. Zack, Krit and Syl jumped. Max even jumped a little, even though she knew he was there. "Jumpy guys? Too many cat genes." He grinned.
"That's what I said." Spike said from the shadows. Kesal looked confused for a minute, then smiled and disapeared into the same shadows the others had gone into.
"Whoa! How did he do that? Majorly creepy." Krit said with a shiver.
Max grinned at her brother. "I know. I was look out with Spike, and he kept talking from the shadows. Then Pro kept disappearing on me. I don't think I'll ever get used to it."
"That's not natural!" Zack cried.
"Nothing that comes from here is naturel!" Alexz said from the shadows. Zack jumped.
"Who's there? Where are you?" He yelled, glancing around widly. There were giggles from the shadows that seemed to come from everywhere. Alexz popped out her head, just her head. It was a creepy image. Her head just kind of there, nothing visable supporting it. Spikes appeared just below hers.
"Hey guys. Whats hanging?" Spike grinned like a mad man.
Krit shivered. "Dude, get out here! That's too creepy."
Spike grinned and stepped out of the shadows with Alexz. She was riding piggy back, explaining how they had done that head trick. She hopped off his back and stood leaning against him. He put an arm around her shoulders and they both grinned at the X'5's, their fangs flashing.
"Your crazy!" Krit declared.
Spike shrugged. "Craziness keeps us sane."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Of course it does." Alexz said. "To a V." Then they were gone again, back to the shadows where their 'brother' and 'sister' were waiting.
The X'5's stood staring at the spot. The Pro popped out. "Listen, are you going to stand here gawking, or are we going to go? Come on." And she was gone again. There was the sound of a fast and furious fight, then Kesal popped out of the shadows, stumbing as if he'd been pushed, his normally neat hair a mess. He glared at the shadows, then turned to the X'5's and ran a hand through his hair.
"I've been desegnated your tour guide boys and girls. Now stay with the group and don't feed the animals. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Not!" He started off, staying half out of the shadows so they could follow him.
"Hey Kesal?" Syl asked tentivly.
"What?" He turned, half of his body gone. It was weird. He was just standing there, looking at her curiously, while she could only see half his body.
Syl threw a disgusted look at Krit, who had had a goofy grin on his face every since Pro popped out of the shadows, then ran after Kesal. "Wait up."
Kesal raised his eyebrow, then smiled and extended his arm to her. "Of course little lady." Syl grinned for the first time in hours, took his arm, and they both disappeared into the shadows.
Syl blinked, then looked around. "Where are we?" She asked Kesal. He grinned at her, then took her hand, holding it tightly.
"This is where we keep going." Kesal said. "You see, the shadows are gaps in the real world. The V's can enter these gaps. It's pretty cool."
"Yeah, it is." Syl said, looking around. Everywhere she looked, everything was gray. The only colors were the black she and Kesal were wearing. Alexz and Spike came towards them, Spikes almost white hair standing out like a sore thumb and his and Alexz's green eyes shining like bright lights.
"Kes, we're going to met in this clearing up ahead here. Then we each take an X'5 and stay in the shadows. I can feel that somethings here. Oh, hi Syl!" Alexz said. Then she and Spike ran foreward and popped out of the shadows.
Kesal gripped Syl's hand tightly and pulled her foreward with him. "Come on. We need to pop out just up here."
"How can you tell?" Syl asked, finding it hard to concentrate with Kesal holding her hand. Kesal grinned at her, distracting her even more. "We can still see the real world. See?" He swiped his hand across some of the thick grayness, and Syl could see the forest, bright as day.
"Whoa! Cool. Kind of creepy though." She shivered a little. Kesal gave her a hug, then whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, but I've always considered it a prime make out spot." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, then pulled her out of the shadows into the clearing.
They emerged from the shadows to join Spike, Alexz and Pro in the clearing, Kesal and Syl still holding hands. They heard Zack, Krit and Max calling out. Kesal hit his forehead with his hand.
"Opps! I forgot my tour group!" He yelped and disappeared back into the shadows. Soon the V's saw him leading the X'5's through the woods. His face was red and he was shaking with contained anger. He had Zack by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground at Spike's feet.
"Get this idiot out of my face before I do something I'll regret." He snarled. Syl stood up and went to him. He grabbed her hand and they disappeared into the shadows.
"Kes, get out here! We gotta go!" Spike called. Kesal stepped out of the shadows.
"Lets just get out of here. I'm with Syl!" Kesal declared, brighting when Syl slipped her hand into his. He grinned shyly at her and sat down at the base of one of the trees. Syl sat down next to him and leaned against him, and Kesal arm went around her waist. Spike and Alexz grinned like the cats that had swallowed the canary and turned to the others.
"Okay, I'll go with Krit, Spike will go with Zack, Max will go with Pro, and I guess that Kesal is going with Syl. Let's move out." Alexz said. She grabbed Krit's wrist and dragged him toward the shadows.
As each headed off with their charges, Alexz saw Kesal give Syl a quick kiss out of the corner of her eye. 'Awww! How cute!' she thought before dragging Krit into the shadows.
"Where are they?" Zack asked, pacing back and forth at the foot of a very large pine tree. Max, Pro, Kesal and Syl were still somewhere in the shadows. Spike and Alexz were in the tree as look outs, enjoying annoying Zack by pretending to fall off their branches.
"Come on you guys! Stop messing around! Aren't you worried about your brother and sister?"
Alexz was hanging upside down from her branch, so she looked at Zack a little cross-eyed. "Why should we? Pro and Kesal can take care of themselves and Max and Syl."
"Yeah Zack. Chill out." Spike added, hanging upside down from his branch as well. With his insane grin and fangs, he looked like a vampire from an old horror movie. Spike swung his legs off the branch and landed on Alexz's. Alexz extended her hand and he pulled her upright.
Just then Max and Syl ran in. Alexz looked, but there was no sign of Pro or Kesal. 'They must be doing a permiter check.' she thought.
"We lost Pro and Kesal!" Syl yelled, near tears.
Alexz and Spike really did fall out of the tree at that.
"WHAT?!?!" They both yelled, as they struggled to untangle themselves from each other.
Zack, Krit, Max and Syl watched in amazement as Alexz and Spike tried to get up.
"OWWW! Get your foot out of my mouth!" Spike yelled.
"Sorry! Get your foot off my back!" Alexz retorted.
Alexz managed to get out from under Spike and stood up. Then she whirled on Max. "What do you mean you lost Pro and Kesal?!"
Spike stood up next to her. "Where's my little 'sister'?!" He demanded.
"I thought you said Pro and Kesal could take care of themselves." Zack said.
Spike threw a look of pure contempt over his shoulder at Zack. "They can. But those to are like oil and water. They fight continuously, and right now won't be any different. We got to find them!"
Logan came over the radio. "Guys! Get out of there!"
Lydeckers voice followed Logan's. "Now! They released the X7's on you! Get out!"
The V's were getting ready to pull the remaining X5's into the shadows when they were attacked. Everywhere they looked, there were faces. Faces they knew. Alexz stagered back when she saw Angel and Drew's faces in the crowd. Beside her, she heard Spike gasp. She glanced over and had to stifle a scream. In front of Spike was. . .her! And Spike was there too! But they were much younger, only eight or nine. What was going on?
Kesal dived out of the trees and threw several rocks into the crowd. From the cries and the smug look on his face, he had thrown them with all his might. The cries of pain broke everyone out of their stunned state, and they moved into action. Spike and Alexz both moved as one. Even Zack envied how well they fought together. It was like they read each others minds. Kesal danced around the edge of the trees, throwing punchs, kicking the back of knees, throwing rocks and taunting the nine year olds. Understanding dawned in Alexz's mind. These kids might have been born and raised at Manticore, but they were still nine year olds. And nine year olds HATED being taunted. Sure enough, more and more of the X7's shifted their attetion from the small group to Kesal. A few fired shots, but Kesal dived and weaved between the trees, so the bullets just buried themselves into the trunks.
Alexz realized that Kesal was trying to draw the X7's attetion away from them so that they could get away. She spun around to yell to Spike, only to watch, in horrifed slow motion, as his body jerked foreward and fell to the ground, hit in the back by a round of poorly aimed bullets from one of the X7's guns.
"SPIKE!" She screamed, running to him and dropping to her knees beside him. There was blood everywhere. "SPIKE! SPIKE!" She screamed hysterically. Through the painful haze that clouded her brain, she heard her older brother scream "Get the hell out of here! NOW!" Alexz clutched Spike's black shirt in her hands and pulled. Spike's body rolled over on to his back. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing.
'Duh! He doesn't breath anyway idiot!' Alexz told herslef, trying not to panic. She managed to pull Spikes body onto her shoulder. His body just hung there. 'Like a dead weight.' she thought before she could stop herself. "Stop that!" She said out loud. She ran to where the X5's were waiting. Zack and Krit took Spike from her, and Alexz turned, thinking to go help her brother. But Kesal sensed what she was thinking and his voice floated through the woods. "GO! ALL OF YOU GO! PLEASE! I'LL DRAW THEM AWAY!"
Alexz stopped. Syl seemed to finally realize what Kesal was doing, and started for the clearing. Alexz grabbed her.
"NO! KESAL, NO!" Syl screamed, fighting Alexz's hold. "KESAL DON'T! PLEASE!"
"I LOVE YOU SYL!" Kesal shouted, before they heard the sounds of the fight dying away as Kesal led the X7's away from them. Syl hung limply in Alexz's hold, sobbing. "No Kesal. No. Please." She whispered.
"Syl, I'm sorry." Alexz said, her own tears running down her face. "I'm so sorry."
She let go of Syl, and Syl just lay on the ground sobbing. Alexz turned to where Zack and Krit had laid down Spike. One look at Spikes pale face and unmoving chest and she almost broke down. But she couldn't cry. Spike would tease her forever if she cried. That's when she lost it. Spike had used up his forevers. The tears started rolling down her face. She walked over to him. The ground beneath Spike was covered with blood, and his black fatigues were soaked with it. Alexz's tears fell faster. 'He was hit with twenty bullets in the back. He can't be alive.'
Spike's eyes opened and he sat up. He blinked and looked around. He saw Alexz and spang to his feet.
"Alexz! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He asked, concern in his voice.
"Spike." Alexz whispered. "SPIKE!" She screamed, throwing herself into his arms and crying into his chest. Spike wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He rested his cheek on the top of her head.
"Shh, shh. Don't cry, it's all right." He whispered. He looked around confused. "Where are the other two?"
Alexz pulled back and wiped her eyes. "Pro and Kesal distracted the X7's so we could get away."
While she had been holding back Syl, Alexz had relized that Pro had kept some of the X7's back, and that Kesal had gone after the rest of the X7's when they had come after Spike, Max, Zack, Krit, Syl and her.
"WHAT?!?!" Spike screamed. He started toward the clearing, but Alexz darted foreward and grabbed his arm.
"Spike." She said softly. "It's too late. He...he...he's gone." She started crying again, and Spike just stood there stunned for a minute.
"No. No! NO! He can't be! He can't be! NOOOOOOO!" Spike wailed, sinking to his knees. Alexz knelt next to him and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her tightly in return. Alexz leaned her forehead against his, and let him cry. He and Kesal fought a lot, but she had seen them leap to each others defense in an instant. Only two weeks apart, they were closer than anyone else in the V group, including Angel and Cordelia.
Slowly, even Zack wiping away tears, they left the woods and made their way back to the van. They decided to wait a while to see if Pro and Kesal found their way back. While they waited, Logan removed the bullets from Spike's back. After he had gotten them all out, the wounds had closed. He sat down and Max came over. She gave him a quick kiss, then sat on his lap. Zack sat in the corner and stared at his feet. Krit sat on a chair, staring at the floor stunned. Alexz sat on Spikes lap, and they sat by Syl in the doorway, hoping against hope that their older 'brother' and their youngest 'sister' would appear out of the woods.
They stayed there until late the next night, none of them saying much of anything. With the vampire blood in them, the V's had infinete patience, and Syl flat out refused to leave unti there was no hope of Kesal showing up. But soon even Spike had to admit that Kesal and Pro should have found them by then and they decided to leave. Syl didn't say a word the entire eleven hour trip back to Seattle, she just sat staring out the window, tears rolling down her face.