The Roman vampire's house was a Tudor mansion on the edge of the city. We parked down the street from the place and hurried to join Wells, Giles, and Van Helsing. They were hiding behind some bushes across the street from the place.
It must have once been an elegant abode, but Antonius obviously hadn't been taking care of it for a very long time. It was surrounded by an ornate iron fence, which had bits broken off from rust. What once must have been a formal English garden was slowly going to seed. The gate was slightly off its hinges. With my night vision I could see that many of the windows were broken or boarded over. A hedge row was along the path to the front door and it didn't look like it had been trimmed in years.

"Did you enjoy you dinner?" Giles asked as we walked up.

"It was delicious," said Buffy. "Too bad you missed it. Beatrice took us to this Italian restaurant."

"Now that you have a full stomach, are you ready to plan?"

"Sure, let's strategize."

"We saw the one you call Spike come out and make a phone call at that phone box on the corner," said Professor Wells. "It's too bad none of us could hear what he was saying."

"I have to wonder who he could possibly be calling," said Van Helsing. "I would assume he doesn't know anyone in this world."

"I guess he wouldn't be calling out for pizza," said Beatrice.

"Not something vampires do," said Buffy.

"Do you know anything about this place, Professor?" I asked.

"Not very much. One thing we can be sure of, however, is that he has made his main abode in cellars beneath the house. No vampires these days would dare live above ground," said Wells.

"I don't think we have a lot of time for discussion," I said. "I propose that we go in, find the entrance to the basement, and go after the vampires with guns blazing, in a manner of speaking. Buffy has stakes and she said that Giles picked up a cross bow. I can distract Antonius while you deal with the other two, then we can all gang up on the big bad guy."

The others looked at each other for a moment and then nodded. It seemed no one else had a better suggestion. Buffy passed out a stake each to Beatrice, Wells, and Van Helsing. Giles cocked the crossbow. I wondered why the other two hadn't armed themselves better, but then again I couldn't see Wells or Van Helsing being good with a cross bow. Buffy stuck some stakes in her belt and had one in hand.

"I'll take point. Buffy and Beatrice, follow right behind me. If we don't find the entrance quickly, we'll have to split up," I said.

We crossed the street, each one straining their senses to keep a look out. I swung the front gate open and winced at the loud creaking noises it made. Everyone froze for a moment and listened. There was no response. I headed for entrance. The front door was locked, but I simply pushed it open. There was no light in the front hallway. Buffy and Beatrice turned on flashlights and shone them in front of me. It was empty.

"Let's split up," said Buffy. "We'll find them faster."

We did as she suggested. Van Helsing went into the first room, Giles went into the next, then Wells, Beatrice, Buffy, and I went into what turned out to be the kitchen. There was a door to the back garden, but no stairs. It stood in the center of the kitchen and studied the floor and the walls, but couldn't find anything.

"I've found it," Buffy called.

I joined her in what turned out to be the library. She had pulled on a copy of

"Anthony and Cleopatra and a secret door opened. The others joined us.

"How did you guess that?" asked Beatrice.

"Most vamps I know have a sense of the dramatic, so I figured Roman vampire, Roman play, why not?" Buffy said.

"Is everyone ready for this?" Van Helsing asked.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," said Beatrice. "So aim for the heart?"

"Yeah, and don't miss," Buffy said.

We started down the stone stair case, trying to move as silently as possible. Buffy went first and I followed right behind her. As we got to the bottom of the stairs we heard someone chanting in Latin. It was a woman's voice. Buffy gestured for silence and we all crept towards the sound.


Chapter XII

Lyanka had arrived as promised. Antonius had set brought her to a large circular room with a stone floor. Spike and Dru watched as she drew a large circle in red chalk in the center of the room. She added swirls and other strange designs. Antonius had a couple of large bags. He had packed as much gold as he could carry. Spike wondered if there would be time for him to grab them before they went home.

"Dru, aren't you glad to be going home?" he asked.

Drusilla didn't answer. She just kept staring at Lyanka as the woman started to chant. She was now using blue chalk and adding lines to the first designs in red.

"You don't really mean to give me the silent treatment. Come on, Dru. You know I had to kill the girl. She would have been too dangerous. Look at what she caused back in the Tavern. She would have used that on us. We killed her friends."

"Now you must all stand in the circle. You see the triangle I have placed in the center? Each of you must stand at a point of the circle," Lyanka said.

Antonius took the point closest to Lyanka. Dru stood on the point to the right of him, leaving Spike the left. Lyanka had a large carpet bag. She pulled a silver goblet out of it and a green glass bottle. She poured a dark red liquid into it. She walked over to Dru first.

"Drink for this will connect you to the spell," she said as she handed Dru the goblet.

Dru took it and drained it, licking a drop that spotted her upper lift. Lyanka refilled it and brought it to Antonius. He sniffed it suspiciously.

"What is in here, woman?" he asked.

"Our young friend's blood, and some herbs. Nothing that could harm such as you. I am your paid servant, you can trust me," Lyanka said calmly.

If Spike had breath it would have been held at that moment. Antonius stared into her eyes and then took the goblet. He drank it in one gulp. Lyanka filled it one last time and brought it to Spike. Spike was watching Antonius, but nothing happened. He flashed the money at her and she grabbed it out of his hand. Then she winked at him. Spike had no option but to trust her. He drank the liquid. It was very sweet tasting. It filled him with strange warmth.

Spike looked over at Dru and saw that she was singing quietly to herself. Antonius was watching her with a frown on his face. Lyanka set the goblet down and then strode to the middle of the triangle. She began to chant in Latin. Antonius listened closely, as if he would know if she made a mistake. For what seemed like hours Lyanka stood there with her eyes closed swaying slightly.
Then spike noticed that Antonius was swaying back and forth to the same rhythm. Lyanka raised her voice into a crescendo and Antonius sank slowly to the ground. She stepped out of the circle and pulled him out as well. Then she stood with both of her palms up facing the circle and shouted a few words in some other language. A tiny ball of light appeared in the middle of the triangle and started to expand. Within a few minutes there was a large glowing circle.

"There is the way home. Quick step through before Antonius awakens," Lyanka said.

Dru was now standing with her eyes closed signing to herself. Spike grabbed her arm with one hand and one of the bags with his other. He started to pull her through the portal.

Before they were already through he shouted back to Lyanka, "You'd best get out of here. I don't think he'll be too pleased with you."

Then he pulled Dru the rest of the way through.


Chapter XIII


We arrived in the room the chanting had been coming from just in time to see Drusilla and Spike disappear in a flash of light. A woman with long dark hair wearing colorful clothing turned to look at us and smiled. Beatrice gaped at her.

"Lyanka, what have you done?" she demanded.

"You know this woman?" asked Giles.

"She's the one I was thinking of when I said I knew someone who could send you home. I can't believe you did that."

"What did I do, Beatrice? I sent those to strange vampires back where they came from. I should think you'd be pleased. Now there will be no more killing."

"What about him?" Beatrice asked pointing to a dark haired man lying unconscious on the floor. "Who's that guy?"

"That must be Antonius," I said. "He's a vampire."

"Yes, I am Antonius," the vampire said. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I can see that I'm outnumbered. One of you must be the slayer. When you catch up with that William, tell him that I will find a way to get my revenge."

With those words he changed to mist form and fled the room. I didn't follow. I really had no desire to face a 2000 year old vampire all alone. I'm not stupid. We were all left standing there feeling disappointed.

"So one of you is the slayer?" Lyanka asked.

"That'd be me," said Buffy.

"If I'd known you were here, I would have let you deal with them. I simply felt that it would be best to send them back."

"That's all right. I'll have to deal with them later, that's all. I take it you can send us back?"

"Yes, but perhaps it would be better to do so somewhere else. I don't think you wish to go where I sent those two."

"Where was that?"

"About a mile under a large London cemetery. It will take them quite a while to get back to the surface."

Buffy laughed at that. I guess she was picturing the two vampires clawing their way through that much earth. I almost felt sorry for them, but not really.

"Let's go back to the hotel. I can pick up my nice wardrobe that Katherine got for me," Buffy said.

"Antonius left his gold here," Lyanka said. "I was going to donate it to charity, but perhaps you have a better use for it."

"Let's talk about it somewhere else."

Lyanka packed up her bag and Van Helsing grabbed the bag of gold. We went back to the cars. Lyanka had taken a cab, so she got in the back seat with Buffy. Everyone was silent with their own thoughts on the way back to the hotel.