All characters are the intellectual property of their respective creators, film companies, etc.; this story may not be sold or distributed on a profit-making basis.
I'm British, so's my spelling. Live with it.
WORK IN PROGRESS - Feedback is greatly appreciated, especially on anything that looks like a continuity or factual error.
Several reviews have asked me to introduce more of the Scooby gang, Faith, Angel etc. into the story. I'd better say now, to avoid disappointment later, that it probably won't happen. First, I don't want to bring in characters who are still in Britain, jail, or otherwise unavailable at this point in Buffy/Angel continuity. Second, I want to give equal time to the CSI team, and as this chapter shows that won't be easy with Buffy in the picture... More of the CSI team will be in the next chapter.
Finally, many thanks to whoever suggested the Xena / Gabrielle gag.
Slayer, Las Vegas
By Marcus L. Rowland
II
"Your visitors have arrived," said the intercom, and Catherine went down to the lobby to meet them. She looked around; a few civilians leafing through magazines, nobody who looked remotely like the warrior she was expecting. "So where are they?" she asked the desk clerk.
"Over there," he said, pointing to a table where two girls - no, a girl and a woman in her twenties - were reading magazines, "the blonde chick in the red leather trousers."
"There has to be a mistake," thought Catherine, saying "Summers?"
"Yeah, they're both called Summers."
"Right."
"Not what you expected, huh?" said the brown-haired kid as Catherine neared their table.
"Dawn..." said the blonde warningly. Catherine recognised their voices. "Hi. I'm Buffy Sunmers, this is my sister Dawn. You must be Catherine Willows."
"Um.. yes, I'm Willows."
"Don't worry, I'm used to people being surprised. You were expecting someone like Power Girl, weren't you?"
"Actually I though Xena."
"Okay, well I guess I look a little like Gabrielle, so we're half-way there."
"Just don't ask her to sing or recite poetry..." said Dawn
"Do you have the packet?" asked Catherine.
Buffy reached into a large leather bag and pulled out a dry-cleaning bag, secured with a wire twist. Catherine noticed metal gleaming in the bag. Swords.
"I'll just label this and have it sent to the lab." She suited word to deed, and waited while a messenger came to fetch the pack. "Later we'll have to get your fingerprints, to eliminate you from our enquiries."
"You may find they're the only prints there, vampires don't usually leave them."
"I know, but Polaroid film has a soft surface when it's developing, prints can sometimes be left in it. If you'd like to follow me..."
Buffy picked up the bag, and another like it, while Dawn carried a small suitcase.
"Would you like a hand with one of those?" asked Catherine.
"Don't think so, but thanks for asking."
"You couldn't lift them," said Dawn, "Buffy never heard of packing light."
"Well, I do like to travel well-prepared."
"I keep telling you two axes are plenty."
"So, both these bags contain weapons?" asked Catherine.
"Yeah. That's why we had to travel by road. Try going through airport security with this stuff and there's going to be problems."
They reached the lift; Catherine noticed that it lurched downwards slightly as Buffy stepped aboard. They were the only occupants, but the "load limit" light lit for a second, blinking out as Buffy moved to the middle, putting the bags down with muffled thuds.
"Do you want Dawn to wait somewhere while we're talking?"
"No. There are reasons... good reasons... why she needs to be involved."
"My boss isn't going to be happy."
"Don't worry, I'll persuade him."
"Buffy, Dawn, this is Gil Grissom, he runs the department. Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers."
"Miss Summers, I'm pleased to meet you. Would your sister like to wait in the recreation room?"
"No, I think she'd better stay here," Dawn said, completely deadpan.
"Dawn will be participating," said Buffy, "judging by previous experience there's a good chance that this whole thing was a plan to separate us so that she can be kidnapped and used to pressure me. Vampires tend to be a little unimaginative. She's also probably the best person in this building for supernatural research, and we'll need that."
"I see. Miss Summers, please don't feel offended, but we didn't actually ask for your help. Perhaps you could explain why we need you."
"Riley Finn explained some of it, I'm sure. Briefly, I've been fighting vampires and other monsters for more than seven years, and I'm very good at it. I know how to find these things, I know how to fight them, and I can usually do it without getting hurt. If police try it on their own they're going to get themselves killed. I don't usually work with the police, Sunnydale has possibly the worst police force in the USA, but from what Oz told me you're a little better at handling this stuff."
"That's all very well, but we have the law to consider; our job isn't to play judge, jury, and executioner, our job is to find the perpetrator and bring him to trial. We aren't vigilantes. Did Oz explain what happened when he was here?"
"No, last I heard he was still working on it."
"He led us to the killers. We arrested them, but we had problems with the evidence and they were to be released on bail. Oz knew that we would have to publicise the existence of werewolves to prove our case; he found that unacceptable, so arranged for them to be killed."
"Oh. Poor Oz, he must have hated having to do that."
"No, Miss Summers, I think he enjoyed it."
"You're wrong. Oz is very good at hiding his feelings."
"Oz thought through and carried out what I can only describe as a flawless and completely unprovable multiple murder, in front of numerous witnesses. I don't want to see anything like that happen in this case."
"Okay... I can see your point, I guess. All I can say is that unless something is done these murders will probably continue. These things are worse than any werewolf; vampires kill intelligently and sadistically. Would I be right to guess that the death toll already exceeds the werewolf case?"
"Yes, at least for this state."
"That's one night, I'd guess from no more than one or two vampires. And if they want to they can kill themselves an army to help them. It can expand as fast as a disease, and deadlier than any plague. Usually they try to stay out of sight, and have more sense than to alert people like this, but you've got the equivalent of a vampire terrorist on your hands, I think, and one that wants me in the game. If it doesn't get what it wants I think it'll stage some more demonstrations. I need to be out on the streets by nightfall, making my presence felt. Once they know I'm here they'll probably switch to attacking me, and that's a whole different ballgame."
While she was talking Jim Brass appeared in the doorway. "Miss Summers, I'm Captain Brass. Welcome to Las Vegas. Gil, the governor has just been talking to me. Apparently this isn't the first time that Nevada has needed the help of a Slayer. The previous governor concerned laid down some guidelines for future emergencies, our current governor has decided to follow them. The directive is to treat this as a major terrorist incident. Under state law this involves the use of all necessary force to bring the threat to an end. Miss Summers is regarded as the necessary force."
"Under normal circumstances I'd be tempted to offer the governor my resignation," said Grissom, "But I have a feeling he may have a point. Miss Summers, can I at least assume that you will do your best to minimise collateral damage and civilian casualties?"
"I'll try."
"Very well, let's get to work. I should warn you now that some of the details are unpleasant," said Grissom. "Are you really sure your sister should be here?"
"Mister Grissom, I've been doing this for seven years now, and Dawn has been caught in the crossfire more times than I can remember. She's seen the aftermath of vampire attacks, she's killed a few herself. Don't show her those photographs or the bodies, apart from that she'll be fine."
"Nevertheless..."
"She knows what she's talking about," said Dawn, "I won't freak out. Barf, maybe."
"Very well."
"So, d'you have any suspects?" asked Buffy.
"Given our rather limited experience of vampires, I suppose I would have to say only one. Angel, who appears to have dropped out of sight from Los Angeles at the moment."
"No, not a chance. Angel, as Angel, would never hurt an innocent, especially a child. Angelus, the monster he used to be, would have been more... artistic."
"I don't understand."
"Angelus was an artist. He made sadistic murder into an art-form. In these pictures, there's nothing that looks like art. You've got a group of bodies, they're just lying around on the floor in... what is that place anyway? A film studio?"
"We raided it on an anonymous tip a few hours after the murders. It was a studio for child pornography, we'd been looking for it for some time."
"Ugh. Well, anyway, the place looks to have good lighting, and it wasn't used. Some of the bodies have hair covering their faces, some are in kinda ugly positions. And the pictures are badly framed, a little out of focus, and taken with a Polaroid. Angelus would have posed them, sketched them on paper, probably used their blood for ink, and if he'd taken a photo at all it would have been perfectly framed and focused, and printed up as an eight by ten glossy."
"But Angelus was last active in the late nineteenth century. Couldn't he have changed?"
"No, he.." she seemed to catch her thoughts for a moment then said "No, there's something about vamps, they just don't change something that works for them, even over centuries. On the phone you said that none of the bodies were vamps, right?"
"No," said Grissom. "They were just dead, as far as we can tell. Thanks again for suggesting that, I can see we're going to have to make it standard procedure if there's another case like this."
"More evidence that it wasn't Angelus, he was notorious for sending vamp children back to their families."
"But Angel does seem to have disappeared," commented Grissom.
"A year or so ago he and his friends vanished off the face of the earth - literally. They were transported to another dimension. Wouldn't surprise me if he's gone back there for a vacation. There's something weird about the place, Angel can walk around in daylight, and Cordy, a friend who works for him, got made their princess. Which is truly bizarre if you know Cordy."
"I think I heard her on the phone once," said Catherine, "the woman whose date was interrupted by a werewolf?"
"Yeah, that's Cordy," said Buffy, grinning at a memory.
"Well, eliminating Angel, we're short of suspects," said Grissom.
"Okay, since those pictures were sent to me I have to assume that it's a vampire I've met, or might know of. I didn't recognise the writing on the card or the mailer, so that doesn't help. Dawn did some research on the way here, but we haven't had a chance to talk it over yet. Dawn..."
"Well, number one on the list is a guy called Marcus. He's a real creepo, about two thousand years old, a torturer who likes harming children. But I don't think you ever met him."
"No. Angel killed him a couple of years ago."
"Are you sure?" asked Grissom.
"Oz and Cordy saw it," said Buffy, "Doyle too. Impaled on a stake in daylight. That's good enough for me."
"Rats." said Dawn. "We've got to get Internet access in the car, books just don't cut it. Okay, next up is Harmony. She's stupid enough to think you'd fall for a trick like this, and children are about her speed."
"Says the girl who invited her into our house. No, I'd love another crack at her, but there are problems. First, she's kind of squeamish for a vampire, I think she'd regard the whole kiddy deal as kind of icky. Second, I'm pretty sure she's hiding in Mexico. Third, she'd never think of FedEx, she'd phone to gloat."
"Okay, can't argue with that."
"Do you have a picture?" asked Catherine.
"Sure, she's in my high school yearbook, got turned during graduation."
"During?" she said disbelievingly.
"It was kind of a traumatic ceremony, got attacked by vamps and the Mayor turned into a giant snake-demon. He was an immortal wizard, he'd been planning it for more than a century. Sixteen dead, and the school burned down."
"Is that sort of thing normal for Sunnydale?" asked Grissom.
"Oh yeah," said Buffy and Dawn, almost in chorus.
"Sunnydale was built on the Hellmouth," said Buffy. "A place where mystic energies are strong. Disneyland for monsters."
"I read Sunnydale's statistics for murder and other violent deaths when I was researching the university a couple of weeks ago," commented Catherine. "I think you just explained them."
"Next I had Angelus," said Dawn,"But I guess you've already touched base on him. Moving on, we have Count Dracula."
"Dawn, he's dead. I killed him, remember."
"Everybody's killed Dracula, he's notorious for it. Van Helsing killed Dracula, and he was a total wacko. But Dracula keeps coming back from the dead."
"Well, if he can come back from being staked three times in ten minutes I suppose it's possible."
"You killed Dracula? " said Catherine, "I thought he was a myth."
"Everyone does," said Buffy, "smartest thing he ever did was talking to Stoker. All the other vamps hate him for it, he did reveal quite a lot about how to kill them, but it meant that even I thought he was a myth until I met him. He's really old, he's got the hypnotism stunt down cold, he's about the only vamp that can really change shape, and he's very difficult to kill. But I don't think children are his style, he's more into seducing people into becoming willing victims, and I'm as sure as I can be that he's dead."
"If you're wrong?" asked Grissom.
"Is there a castle anywhere around here that recently got a new owner? Or someone just built one? Look for something like that, Dracula tends to stick out if you know what to look for. But I don't have photos. He's handsome, in a sort of 'Interview With The Vampire' way. Got a bite mark if that'll help, you could maybe compare sizes. Got one for Angel too."
"For Angel? Not Angelus?" asked Catherine.
"No. A few days before graduation, the Mayor tried to distract us by having Angel poisoned, with a special venom that could only be cured by drinking the blood of a Slayer. I made him do it..."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," said Catherine, "But all of this is so strange to us."
"Finally, and I think most likely," continued Dawn. "Drusilla."
"Could be," said Buffy.
"Who's Drusilla?" asked Catherine.
"Angelus' finest creation," said Buffy, "sired some time in the nineteenth century. She was a psychic about to become a novice nun. Angelus murdered her family and drove her totally insane, then turned her into a vampire. She's mad, strong even for a vampire, totally unpredictable, knows how to hypnotise people, and kills for the sake of killing. And she does kill children. Likes to play with her food. I've come up against her three or four times, never managed to kill her."
"Here's a picture," said Dawn, "It's kind of old though."
"Victorian," said Grissom. "Does she still look like this?"
"Oh yeah," said Buffy, "Vamps don't change much, except that they sometimes get ugly when they're older. Hair's a little different though. Oh, she's about my height and she has an English accent, sings kind of nonsense songs, and often carries a doll."
"Is she rational enough to take photos and post them to you?" asked Catherine.
"It's possible," said Buffy, "and she was always good at recruiting minions to help her. Okay, there's one more Dawn missed."
"Did not."
"Spike.
"No, Buffy," said Dawn, a note of protest in her voice.
"Who's Spike?" asked Catherine.
"A vampire sired by Drusilla," said Buffy. "He was captured by Riley's commandos about two and a half years ago, they had a chip put into his brain that stopped him hurting people. It seemed to change him... he didn't have a soul, but he gradually started to help us fight the other monsters. He saved our lives a lot of times, helped look after Dawn while I was... out of action... for a while. Eventually I let myself... forget what he is. A soulless creature powered by a demon. The problem is that at the end the chip in his head wasn't stopping him from hurting me. I don't think he wanted to, but he could. The theory is that I'm abnormal enough that it didn't think I was human, but it may have been running out of power. He dropped out of sight a while ago, nobody knows where he is."
"But he started to have a conscience, Buffy," said Dawn "and he was always good to me once he'd had the chip a while."
"Maybe. All I know is that if the chip is gone he has the potential to be as bad as Angelus, he was nearly as vicious before they caught him. About all I can say in his favour is that he wasn't known for killing children. I doubt it is him, but we can't rule him out. If you're going to help me you have to be prepared to look at all the possibilities, not just the ones you like."
"Yeah... I guess."
"Do you have a picture?" asked Grissom.
"Sure," said Buffy "It won't be him... I hope. I think he really did have something approaching a conscience. But we have to consider the possibility."
"How would you rank them in order of liklihood?" asked Catherine.
"I'd say Drusilla first, then maybe Harmony, the rest somewhere behind," said Buffy.
"Drusilla, Dracula, Harmony, Angel, Spike," said Dawn.
"So what now?" asked Grissom.
"Well, first of all you want our fingerprints, I think. Then Dawn stays here and makes sure that you're up to speed on vampires, while I hit town and make my presence felt for a couple of hours. Then I'll pick her up and we'll check in at the hotel. Are your guys still working at the studio?"
"Yes, we probably have another day's work to do there."
"Get them out before sunset - I make it about another hour, is that right? I'll be going in a little later, I'll try not to disturb things but if my guess is right the vamps will expect me to go there. They'll probably try to set some sort of lame trap."
"And that doesn't... worry you?"
"Nah, used to it. Besides," She reached into one of her bags and took out a bundle of wooden stakes, some bottles of holy water, a silver crucifix and a crossbow, "I'm not easy to trap."
To Be Continued.
