Title: In the Shadows of Twilight

Author: DOKChairman

Time/Spoilers: I have no idea when this takes place.  However, everything after season six is fair game.

Summary: There is no summary.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all of its characters.  I own nothing except the story.

Author's Note: Warning!  This story is a hard R.  I have always wanted to do a more serious, more realistic, and darker story for the BTVS universe, and this is it.  There will be violence, language, sex (sometimes), and other adult themes.  If any of these things offend you, or just not your cup of tea, do not read any further.

Author's Note #2: This story takes place in the not so distant future.  As anyone who has read my other Buffy story knows, I love complicated plots, and this story is no different.  Things will start off as polar opposites, but eventually everything will converge.

Chapter 3

            Timothy and Michael Kellner were twins.  Identical twins to be exact.  And like many twins, they shared everything with each other.  Whether it was girls, money, or in their current case, jobs, they did everything together.  When one was in a tight spot, whether it was financially, emotionally, or, as it was so frequent with them, when one was in a fight, they always backed the other up.

            So when one found himself to be inside a bank, emptying a modified 30 round clip of magnesium tipped, Teflon coated bullets, from a high powered assault rifle into the rapidly approaching torso of a very pissed off vampire, the other was not far behind.

            The plan had been relatively simple as far as Tim and Mikey were concerned.  They were to wait for the predetermined time, the moment when the other three members of their team activated their little distractions, and then storm one of the many Los Angeles branches of Bank of America through its sewer entrance. 

Before the twins had joined their "special" team, they would have found the very idea of a bank having a sewer entrance completely ludicrous.  That was until they learned that some banks had the entrances put in so that they could better service their more unsavory clients.  Vampires and demons needed to place their valuables in a safe place just as much as humans did, and the banks were more than willing to accommodate the previously untapped client base.

Of course that was why they were here in the first place.  Their team specialized in the appropriation of mystical artifacts.  Unfortunately for Tim and Mikey, along with the other team members, the act of appropriating those mystical artifacts seemed to frequently take place inside of a bank.  Suffice it to say, they had quite a reputation amongst the law enforcement community.

None of that mattered to Tim and Mikey though.  They were in it for only three reasons.  The first being the obvious one; the money.  Every member was paid very well for their work, and it was the best job the twins had ever had.  The second reason was a much less tangible one, but it was one that was as important to them as the money.  They loved the thrill.  The thrill of living life on the edge, knowing that at any moment a vampire or demon, or even on the off chance that a cop might actually get lucky, might kill them, was a very intoxicating feeling.  And the third reason was the most important one to them.  Their boss.  The father that they never had.  Tim and Mikey idolized their team leader, and they were willing to go to Hell and back for him.  Which was kind of ironic considering the type of creatures they frequently killed.

Which brought them back to their current situation.  After seeing the power go off in the sewer, they had donned their "acquired" gas masks and readied their weapons.  They waited for the appropriate ten second time delay, they knew that was roughly the amount of time it took the newly released gas to knock the average human unconscious, and then entered through the sewer entrance into the rear of the bank.

Wasting no time to think, the twins acted merely on instinct.  Leap frogging from one position to the other, they began quickly searching the bank for any conscious inhabitants.  They didn't have to wait long to find one.

They saw a bewildered looking vampire come stumbling out of one of the managing offices.  Tim reacted first.  Depressing his finger, his MP5, equipped with silencer, rapidly spat out three rounds at the approaching vampire's head.  One of the magnesium tipped rounds hit the vampire right between the eyes, while the other two, due to the gun's slight upward motion as a result of being fired, entered the vampire in his forehead.  The vampire instantly stopped in his tracks, his skull shattered and blood and brain matter sprayed all along the wall behind him.  While Tim covered him, Mikey quickly went up to the twitching vampire and shoved a stake through his heart, turning him to dust.

After dispatching the first vampire, Tim and Mikey continued moving down the hall.  It was their job to clear the back of the bank while their boss cleared the front.  Both Tim and Mikey hoped that he was having as easy a time as they were.

The enraged vampire leapt at her, but he didn't get very far.  Halfway through his leap, he was hit by four carefully fired rounds to the chest.  The bullets hit his heart, and the magnesium made fast work of it, burning it up until it was nothing.  The vampire exploded into dust, and instead of a 200-pound vampire landing on top of her, she was coated with a thick layer of dust.

She didn't stop to say anything as she ducked under a fist rapidly approaching her head.  Grabbing the extended vampire's arm with both hands, she kicked out one of her legs in a sweeping arc sending the vampire falling to the ground.  Bringing the vampire's still extended arm down sharply on her thigh, she heard a very satisfying crack and the vampire cried out in pain.

The woman then smiled underneath her mask as she brought her two deceptively strong hands up to the female vampire's head and gave the head a sharp twist.  Again a satisfying crack could be heard, but this time no sound came from the vampire on the ground.  Breaking her neck, she knew, wasn't enough to put a vampire down for good, but it was more than adequate for temporarily disabling it.  Besides, killing vampire's was her boss's job.  She just loved the fighting that led up to the staking part.  It was one of the reasons why she didn't carry a stake with her.

She got up on one knee as she surveyed the rest of the bank in front of her.  Her boss was quickly checking all the unconscious human customers to make sure that they were in fact human.  She still remembered that one time when Matt had still been with them and he hadn't checked everybody.  She could still hear the sound of his neck breaking when she thought about it.  That had been the one and only fuck up since they started the whole bank robbing bullshit, but it had been a costly one.  She knew that her boss would never make another mistake like that again. 

Matt had been her partner's best friend for over two years before he died, and she knew that her friend had never forgiven himself for what happened.  She would never admit it to his face, but she would sometimes watch her friend sleep and she would see the nightmares that he still had about that day.

She saw that her boss was finally finished checking the humans and she got up and walked up to him.  Making sure to stay in cover, she thanked him for stopping the flying vampire.  "That was some pretty nice shootin there Tex.  Thanks for the save X."

"No problem F.  You know how much I like covering your ass."  The man said laughingly.

The woman snorted, "Don't I know it.  If your not covering my ass, you're staring at it.  Either way I think you have an unhealthy fixation on my ass.  You should really get that taken care of."

The two began walking to behind the bank counter, heading to the vault.  As they were walking, the dark haired woman said, "How are T and M doing?"

Before her partner could say anything, they heard the soft phhoot sound a silenced weapon made when it was being fired.  It was coming from just down the hallway on their left.  The man broke off in a dead run, the butt of his rifle already braced against his shoulder in case he needed to fire.  The woman wasted very little time in following him.

Tim yelled out to his brother as he used his submachine gun to block the flying kick coming at his head.  "What the fuck is going on here?  Where did all these damn veeps come from?"  Veep was Tim and Mikey's word for vampire.  It just sounded better to them.

Mikey responded through gritting teeth as he dealt with his own vampire.  "I don't know man!  They shouldn't be here!"  Mikey ended his sentence when the vampire punched him in the gut.  Thankfully his Kevlar armor absorbed most of the blow, but Mikey knew that he would probably have a small bruise there tomorrow. 

Tim saw his brother get punched in the stomach and then again in the face, and he became enraged.  Nobody messed with his brother.  Bringing the butt of his MP5 crashing down on the vampire's face with as much force as he could manage, the vampire went sprawling to the ground.  Looking down, Tim could see that the vampire's face was a mess.  Its nose was broken, blood was coming out of its nose and mouth, and it looked like the left side of his face had caved in.  Tim pulled a long, sturdy stake out of his vest and jammed it down hard into the creature's heart. 

Not wasting time to see the vampire explode into dust, he brought his weapon up and aimed carefully.  His brother and the vampire were struggling and Tim could not get a clear shot.  "Get out of the fucking way you dumbass!"

Mikey heard him and managed to elbow the vampire in the face, sending him back a few steps.  Jumping backwards, falling hard on his ass, Mikey brought his own gun to his side, a M-16, and fired at the stunned vampire from the hip.  Most of his shots went wild, digging into the wall of the bank, but a few found their mark.  One hit the vampire in the arm while two more hit him in his stomach.  The vampire groaned in pain and fell to one knee.

Mikey, by now steady, took careful aim at the vampire and finished him off with two rounds to where his heart was supposed to be.  The vampire exploded into dust and Mikey climbed to his feet.  Dusting himself off, he gave his brother the finger.  "Who you calling a dumbass?  I don't need your fucking help."

Tim was saved from responding when they saw two black clad figures turn the corner up ahead and run down the hallway.  When Tim saw who they were he said in a happy tone, "Hiya boss!  How's it goin'?"

  The man just ignored Tim.  "Are you both all right?"

Both brothers nodded their heads.  Mikey spoke up, "Yeah boss, we're five by five.  Just ran into some trouble.  There are more veeps here than there should be."

"How many?"  The man asked.

Mikey responded, "Four.  One when we first came in and three more in this hallway."

The man was quiet as he thought about what Mikey had just said.  Mikey was right.  Four in the back, and three in the front made seven.  That was way too many.  Usually when they hit a bank that had otherworldly customers, they would only get two, sometimes three, vampires (It had been there experience that demons never visited the bank during the day.  They would be too noticeable.  At least the vampires could blend in with the human customers).  But seven was unheard of.  The odds that a bank would have that many vampires, at the precise time they decided to hit the bank were astronomical.  The man did not like where this situation was heading.

Reaching into a pocket on his vest, the man pulled out a handheld radio.  Keying the mike, he spoke into it, "J?"

James responded quickly, "Yeah boss?"

"J, take the van and leave."  The man said.

He could hear James' voice ask in disbelief, "But boss, what about you guys?"

The man raised his voice slightly, making sure to add some authority for good measure.  "Don't argue with me J.  Leave now and head to the safe house.  If you don't hear from me in four hours I want you to contact McAllister and tell him the plan went to hell.  Tell him someone set us up."

The man could hear James' voice respond chokingly, "Ok, boss."

The man then turned the radio off and placed it back in his vest.  He focused his attention on the rest of his team.  It was times like this that he wished he could look everyone in the face, but protocol demanded that they never reveal their identities while on the job.

With confidence that he really didn't feel, he took charge.  "All right, here's the plan.  We act as if everything is normal, but I want everyone to be on high alert.  It might just be some sick coincidence that there are so many veeps here today, but I doubt it.  We came here for a reason, and I don't intend on leaving unless it's with that book.  Is everybody ok with that?"

The woman answered for all of them, "Yeah X, we're good.  You're the boss man and we trust you to lead us to the Promised Land."

"Ok then.  M takes the rear and T has got point.  F, I want you with me.  Since you stubbornly refuse to carry a gun, somebody's gotta watch your ass."  The man ordered.

"Unlike some people I don't need a gun to beat somebody in a fight.  I just use my god given ass kicking talents."  The woman said smugly.

The man laughed, "Please, you can't even take me."

The woman let out a cry of outrage and then said in utter disbelief, "Take you?  I could take you drunk, stoned, and with both arms tied behind my back.  I've seen you lose to J and he can't even hit the workout bag half the time!"

The man shrugged his shoulders and said, "Believe what you will, but shut up now ok.  We're moving out."

Tim had already started moving and soon the others followed him.  They were heading straight for the vault, not stopping for anything unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.  Luckily, they made it to the vault without incident.  Now they only had to worry about the combination that they had been given worked.

The man reached into his vest and pulled out a small piece of white paper.  Written on that paper was the combination necessary for opening up the vault.  Handing his gun to Tim because he knew that his dark haired friend would never agree to hold it, he began to turn the dial on the safe.

Once he turned the dial to the last number and heard an audible click, he sighed in relief.  He had feared that the combination would have been false.  Maybe, he figured, things were going according to plan after all.

Twisting the wheel-like handle, he pulled the door open…and came face to face with what looked like at least ten vampires.  Standing at the center of the group of vampires was a tall man with dark blond hair.  Speaking with a slight Russian accent, the vampire said, "Ahhhh, so good of you to finally join us.  I was starting to fear that my comrades outside had scared you off.  It makes me happy to know that you don't scare easy."

The blond vampire paused as the other vampires in the vault spread out into what little space the vault allowed.  The man grabbed his gun from Tim and brought it up to his shoulder; Tim and Mikey did the same.  The woman just pulled her two knifes out of their sheaths.

The blonde vampire just ignored the group's hostile actions as he said in a conversational tone, "You know what one of the best parts about being a vampire is?  It's not having to breathe.  Here we were waiting for you for three hours.  If we had been human, our air would have ran out hours ago.  Breathing is so overrated, I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about.  Oh well, its not like you four will have any need for breathing for very much longer anyways." 

The man then snapped his fingers and the ten vampires rushed the four humans.