******
Act I: En Passant
Part 3: Blitzkrieg
******
"The truth of the matter, Holekamp exclaims, is that the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is highly intelligent, with mental abilities and social skills to match many a primate. These hyenas are also superb predators, feeding mostly on fresh meat. Their hunting skill equals that of lions or cheetahs."
Excerpt from John Pickrell's "Rebranding the Hyena." Science News Online Article, volume 161, Number 17, dated April 27, 2002.
******
"Look. the bottom line is. I don't know!" The vampire named Antonio said.
"You gotta know something," another vamp named Santana replied. "Nobody else has even seen this guy. You said you saw him in action, now talk."
"No, no, no. I said I saw somebody get dusted. Looked like she'd been shot or something and she just dusted. I didn't see a who or where the who was at. And I was more worried about staying alive myself then playing fuckin' Perry Mason." Antonio sat back.
The vampires in the room sighed almost collectively.
"Does anybody know something about this guy," Mike asked. "I mean, we got how many in this room? Coupla dozen maybe? And don't nobody know nothing?" He shook his head.
"Whacha expect?" Guido interjected, almost panicked. "This guy, works all-shadowy-like, takes us out whenever he feel like, ain't nobody ever faced him and lived to talk about it, whatcha want us to say?!"
Eddie was nervous. He wasn't supposed to be nervous. He was a vampire, the predator's predator. Still, he was nervous. So was everybody else in the room. Which made him even more nervous. There were not any true master vamps in the room, Mr. Trick being the only one in town. He was most notably absent and not expected to attend, citing other more important business. But they had enough Heavies, Eddie included, with power backing them to run this meeting. Still, all of them were very nervous and, though no self-respecting vamp would admit it, scared.
They had called this meeting to discuss a few problems in the community, namely the Slayers. Things were bad enough when there was just one of them, but two? Fortunately for Eddie and his crew, the Slayers and the Traitor tended to stay in certain areas at somewhat predictable times. The only vamps who got caught were either stupid or arrogant enough to go spoiling for a fight.
Eddie made sure his crew knew where they had to be, where to hunt when needed. He didn't fancy direct confrontations with any of them unless the numbers were big in his favor. And those numbers had fell off thanks to the other problem, the Hunter.
No one had ever seen Him. He has no set pattern, unlike the Slayers. The only things the community knows are that He tends to work East Side and He prefers to pick off vamps in small numbers. He might not even be human. .
Practically every crew in the room has lost a few members at least to this guy over the past six weeks. Angela, Marco, Tony, Sheila. Eddie's crew members all sent to Final Death by Him. He could feel his demon raging at the thought. There was a rumor that he might be a hired assassin. Of course, that begged the question of who did the hiring. The Community wasn't strong on ideas like trust and loyalty. Vamps had one eye looking over their shoulder for the hunter and the other on everyone else.
Eddie was about to interject a point, when several windows shattered suddenly on both sides of the room. Every vampire shot up from their seats, the nervous feeling shot past fear and went straight to absolutely terrified. He could hear a rolling sound, like a six-pack falling loose across the hard wood floor. He spotted one of the objects; it looked like an insect bomb or something. It came to a stop, with a sound like a soda lid popping, spewing something gas-like. The sound was echoed across the room, more mist rising. Eddie's eyes narrowed, curious. His first thought, amused, was that the Sunnydale Police decided to raid the house for some reason.
That's when the screams started.
Followed shortly by the sound of the front door being kicked in, hard.
******
Faith stood in the doorway and admired her handiwork for a moment, before attacking aggressively. The vamps were too distracted and in too much pain from the holy-water mist to notice her at first, she was able to dust three before one of them realized someone was there.
"Human!" One vamp yelled, swinging a wild punch in her general direction. She stepped up, punched him hard in the gut and staked him, returning to her position in front of the door and snap-kicked another in the jaw, staggering him. She took advantage of it by staking him quickly. The vampires now seemed to realize they were under attack, she smirked. Unfortunately for them, the vapors stung their eyes, forcing them to just stumble around wildly, trying to painfully track her by sound.
She stayed silent, not leaving her area by the door, though; it was all a part of the plan. She felt like a goalie, except it was her job to keep them in the house, forcing them to go the other way. She noticed through the mist that some were groping their way down the hall toward the back door. She smiled wickedly. *Time for the next surprise,* she thought.
That's when the back door exploded.
******
Xander pounced in behind the blast, there were several hostiles down on the kitchen floor, squirming. He also noticed that some broken shards had gotten lucky and impaled a few. He watched one vamp flopping around, causing the shard in his chest to slip into his heart. He fired a bolt from his wrist-mounted crossbow, dusting a hostile standing in the hall before whipping out his stake and getting a straggler who stumbled bleeding toward him.
He finished the downed vampires before moving to the hall entrance, killing another staggering hostile. The mist was beginning to dissipate through the two open doorways. There was still enough to keep them distracted, though; which was all he and Faith needed. He reached his hand to his radio, clicking the send button twice.
******
She heard Xander's signal, meaning he secured the rear door, even though her Slayer-sharp eyesight could spot his progress through the steadily clearing mist. She could hear the screams from the kitchen, followed by the wonderful sound of a dusting. She grinned. In the chaos, she staked more than a few of the vamps herself, maintaining control of her area.
It was almost too easy; kinda like picking off blind ducks. She could see the vamps were completely overwhelmed by their attack. A vamp wobbled, blinking rapidly. She staked him, no need to be pretty. Noticing a group of three trying to reach the front door, she moved into their path, attacking quickly. She reared back and decked the middle vamp, leaving the others without an anchor. One attempted to lunge in her direction; she ducked, getting inside his guard, before rising with an uppercut to the ribs, doubling him over. In one motion, she hurdled and staked him, twisting and whipping a kick to the jaw of the last, dropping him to his knees. She staked him, slid left and staked the vamp she'd knocked cold.
******
Xander noted two hostiles in the hallway; he greeted one with straight stake to the heart. Upon hearing his friend's death, the other hostile fired a left hook to where he hoped was their attacker's head. Xander evaded and parried, trapping the punch into a straight arm-bar, and snapped the elbow at the joint. The hostile screamed loudly, spinning directly into Xander's stake.
Xander smiled beneath his mask; he moved into the back of the living room, where the last hostiles remained. He made eye-contact with Faith, who had finished off some of her own. There seemed to be a perfect stillness. She smiled at him, tilting her head.
"Leave one,"
"Five-by-five."
Almost in concert, they waded into the leftovers, dispatching them with precision.
******
She saw the cold look in his eyes, still not something she's used to on the Geek. Or ex-Geek, whatever. He was cutting them down, as brutal as he was last night. Still, she felt he was enjoying the whole thing, almost half as much as she was. She beamed brightly as her own opponents went down.
In all the time since she'd been Called, she couldn't remember a nest raid going so well. There were at least two dozen vamps in the meeting and they might as well have dusted themselves for all the struggle they put up. *Damn, gotta work with X more often,* she thought.
She dusted another vamp before noticing they were down to just one. He staggered along the wall, trying to reach the hallway. She laughed. It was just too easy.
******
Eddie didn't know what went wrong. One minute, he and a bunch of vamps were talking business; next minute, they are under attack by something, or two somethings. His face and hands blazed, couldn't see jack shit, barely made out shapes more than three feet away. He tried to smell his way through and inhaled a cloud of vapors, the feeling reminded him of the sinus headaches he got when he was human. He got all spun around during the attack before finding his balance, now trying to grope his way to the kitchen, to his only hope. He only could wish the attackers forgot about him. He prayed for a miracle.
Of course, he already knew he wouldn't get one, being an abomination and all.
******
She watched Xander with growing anticipation, wondering what he might do next. The last thing she expected was for Xander to simply raise his left arm. She saw his arm tense briefly, her eyes widened when a bolt came flying out, hitting the vamp in his stomach, slamming him into the wall. The vamp screamed, dropping to the floor bonelessly. She could hear the bolt sizzling somehow in the wound. She turned to him, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
"Want to know what's the what?" He smirked, raising the mask to expose his face. She nodded her head, doing the same while conceding the floor to his pride, knowing the answer might help intimidate their prisoner.
Ever notice your stakes seem to be a bit." He paused, hands gesturing, "shiny?"
She looked at the stake in her hand curiously, seeing the light reflect off it.
"Yeah, I just thought you made it pretty for me." She shrugged.
He laughed. "Well, partially. But the gloss had a purpose." He looked at the vamp on the floor, who mewled weakly while slightly twitching. Xander crouched, looking directly into the vamp's glazed eyes, who tried to disappear into the wall. He turned back to Faith.
"It's a wonder what can happen when you paint with holy-water based enamel."
The vamp's eyebrows raised noticeably, at the same moment as Faith's.
******
He chuckled at their reactions, knowing he had the hostile by the balls and Faith's total and complete attention. He turned back to the vamp's panicked expression.
"Well, we got choices here, buddy. Either you tell me any and everything you know that might interest me, or." He hesitated, before reaching out and wiggling the bolt in the wound. The hostile screamed from his depths, grasping at his hands. Xander hauled back and struck his face flush, snapping the hostile's head back.
"I could leave this in here for awhile. Let it burn slow." Xander smirked. "Oh, and by the way," He stood up again, letting the hostile dangle on his words like a fish on a hook. "Did I forget to mention that the bolt tip is coated with a mix of many. painful poisons." He smiled, shark-like. "Matter of fact, they should be kicking in right about."
The hostile's struggles increased, he wailed brokenly. Xander chuckled devilishly. "Now."
******
Faith looked down at the last vamp, her mask back in place, shaking her head while laughing to herself. After Xander played him like a piano, the poor guy sung like a Backstreet Boy. Two of the biggest things were the location of a possible cash spot in-house and a potential situation at a homeless shelter. Xander gave her a look that meant they'll discuss it later, before going up to check on the cash, trusting her to watch the exits for the late-comers due anytime soon.
When he came back, he was carrying a good-sized bag and laughing wickedly. Just the way she liked him.
"What you find up there?"
"Not much," he said. Still smiling, he opened the bag, showing stacks of money. Her eyes widened as she stared at the bag. She hadn't seen that much money since she ran with Tony's crew in Southie. She turned her gaze back to Xander, who winked. She laughed.
"Okay, what we gonna do with him."
Xander laid the bag down and bowed solemnly, holding a stake out like it was Excalibur. She laughed harder.
"If your highness would do the honors?"
Snatching the stake, she whirled and staked the vamp out of his misery. She turned to see Xander walk to the wall, holding a knife he'd found in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
"What's that for, Stud?" He placed the piece of paper on the wall before sending the blade through the top.
"Just sending a little message." He stepped back to admire his handiwork. Curious, she moved closer.
"'Thanks for the invite, Nemo?'" She turned to look at him again. "Whatha hell?"
"Tell you what," he looked down at the floor. "How bout we discuss it at the diner?" He glanced her again. "After all your help, I at least owe you dinner."
She blushed slightly and rolled her eyes, not used to being appreciated. A lot like him, she thought. She did notice he deflected her question, though.
"You did promise to feed me too." Her eyes danced with amusement. He chuckled.
"Yeah, and you are the only real eating rival I got in this town."
"Well, I am a big girl," she looked him up and down slow. "Gotta keep my strength up."
He smiled. "No comment."
She laughed huskily. "Didn't think you would."
******
He watched them leave, keeping to the shadows to evac easily. From start to finish, the Op took under 10 minutes, and even included a fruitful interrogation. They cleared the area, leaving that note as the only trace of their presence, the disguises and bomb clouds preventing any real identification. He was quite impressed.
He noticed some straggling vamps coming up to the house, looking shell- shocked. He laughed softly, moving away himself. Flipping open his cell, he dialed several digits. He heard a soft click and began, not waiting for any acknowledgement.
"There is a new situation." He smiled ferally. "One that requires.observation."
******
Act I: En Passant
Part 3: Blitzkrieg
******
"The truth of the matter, Holekamp exclaims, is that the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is highly intelligent, with mental abilities and social skills to match many a primate. These hyenas are also superb predators, feeding mostly on fresh meat. Their hunting skill equals that of lions or cheetahs."
Excerpt from John Pickrell's "Rebranding the Hyena." Science News Online Article, volume 161, Number 17, dated April 27, 2002.
******
"Look. the bottom line is. I don't know!" The vampire named Antonio said.
"You gotta know something," another vamp named Santana replied. "Nobody else has even seen this guy. You said you saw him in action, now talk."
"No, no, no. I said I saw somebody get dusted. Looked like she'd been shot or something and she just dusted. I didn't see a who or where the who was at. And I was more worried about staying alive myself then playing fuckin' Perry Mason." Antonio sat back.
The vampires in the room sighed almost collectively.
"Does anybody know something about this guy," Mike asked. "I mean, we got how many in this room? Coupla dozen maybe? And don't nobody know nothing?" He shook his head.
"Whacha expect?" Guido interjected, almost panicked. "This guy, works all-shadowy-like, takes us out whenever he feel like, ain't nobody ever faced him and lived to talk about it, whatcha want us to say?!"
Eddie was nervous. He wasn't supposed to be nervous. He was a vampire, the predator's predator. Still, he was nervous. So was everybody else in the room. Which made him even more nervous. There were not any true master vamps in the room, Mr. Trick being the only one in town. He was most notably absent and not expected to attend, citing other more important business. But they had enough Heavies, Eddie included, with power backing them to run this meeting. Still, all of them were very nervous and, though no self-respecting vamp would admit it, scared.
They had called this meeting to discuss a few problems in the community, namely the Slayers. Things were bad enough when there was just one of them, but two? Fortunately for Eddie and his crew, the Slayers and the Traitor tended to stay in certain areas at somewhat predictable times. The only vamps who got caught were either stupid or arrogant enough to go spoiling for a fight.
Eddie made sure his crew knew where they had to be, where to hunt when needed. He didn't fancy direct confrontations with any of them unless the numbers were big in his favor. And those numbers had fell off thanks to the other problem, the Hunter.
No one had ever seen Him. He has no set pattern, unlike the Slayers. The only things the community knows are that He tends to work East Side and He prefers to pick off vamps in small numbers. He might not even be human. .
Practically every crew in the room has lost a few members at least to this guy over the past six weeks. Angela, Marco, Tony, Sheila. Eddie's crew members all sent to Final Death by Him. He could feel his demon raging at the thought. There was a rumor that he might be a hired assassin. Of course, that begged the question of who did the hiring. The Community wasn't strong on ideas like trust and loyalty. Vamps had one eye looking over their shoulder for the hunter and the other on everyone else.
Eddie was about to interject a point, when several windows shattered suddenly on both sides of the room. Every vampire shot up from their seats, the nervous feeling shot past fear and went straight to absolutely terrified. He could hear a rolling sound, like a six-pack falling loose across the hard wood floor. He spotted one of the objects; it looked like an insect bomb or something. It came to a stop, with a sound like a soda lid popping, spewing something gas-like. The sound was echoed across the room, more mist rising. Eddie's eyes narrowed, curious. His first thought, amused, was that the Sunnydale Police decided to raid the house for some reason.
That's when the screams started.
Followed shortly by the sound of the front door being kicked in, hard.
******
Faith stood in the doorway and admired her handiwork for a moment, before attacking aggressively. The vamps were too distracted and in too much pain from the holy-water mist to notice her at first, she was able to dust three before one of them realized someone was there.
"Human!" One vamp yelled, swinging a wild punch in her general direction. She stepped up, punched him hard in the gut and staked him, returning to her position in front of the door and snap-kicked another in the jaw, staggering him. She took advantage of it by staking him quickly. The vampires now seemed to realize they were under attack, she smirked. Unfortunately for them, the vapors stung their eyes, forcing them to just stumble around wildly, trying to painfully track her by sound.
She stayed silent, not leaving her area by the door, though; it was all a part of the plan. She felt like a goalie, except it was her job to keep them in the house, forcing them to go the other way. She noticed through the mist that some were groping their way down the hall toward the back door. She smiled wickedly. *Time for the next surprise,* she thought.
That's when the back door exploded.
******
Xander pounced in behind the blast, there were several hostiles down on the kitchen floor, squirming. He also noticed that some broken shards had gotten lucky and impaled a few. He watched one vamp flopping around, causing the shard in his chest to slip into his heart. He fired a bolt from his wrist-mounted crossbow, dusting a hostile standing in the hall before whipping out his stake and getting a straggler who stumbled bleeding toward him.
He finished the downed vampires before moving to the hall entrance, killing another staggering hostile. The mist was beginning to dissipate through the two open doorways. There was still enough to keep them distracted, though; which was all he and Faith needed. He reached his hand to his radio, clicking the send button twice.
******
She heard Xander's signal, meaning he secured the rear door, even though her Slayer-sharp eyesight could spot his progress through the steadily clearing mist. She could hear the screams from the kitchen, followed by the wonderful sound of a dusting. She grinned. In the chaos, she staked more than a few of the vamps herself, maintaining control of her area.
It was almost too easy; kinda like picking off blind ducks. She could see the vamps were completely overwhelmed by their attack. A vamp wobbled, blinking rapidly. She staked him, no need to be pretty. Noticing a group of three trying to reach the front door, she moved into their path, attacking quickly. She reared back and decked the middle vamp, leaving the others without an anchor. One attempted to lunge in her direction; she ducked, getting inside his guard, before rising with an uppercut to the ribs, doubling him over. In one motion, she hurdled and staked him, twisting and whipping a kick to the jaw of the last, dropping him to his knees. She staked him, slid left and staked the vamp she'd knocked cold.
******
Xander noted two hostiles in the hallway; he greeted one with straight stake to the heart. Upon hearing his friend's death, the other hostile fired a left hook to where he hoped was their attacker's head. Xander evaded and parried, trapping the punch into a straight arm-bar, and snapped the elbow at the joint. The hostile screamed loudly, spinning directly into Xander's stake.
Xander smiled beneath his mask; he moved into the back of the living room, where the last hostiles remained. He made eye-contact with Faith, who had finished off some of her own. There seemed to be a perfect stillness. She smiled at him, tilting her head.
"Leave one,"
"Five-by-five."
Almost in concert, they waded into the leftovers, dispatching them with precision.
******
She saw the cold look in his eyes, still not something she's used to on the Geek. Or ex-Geek, whatever. He was cutting them down, as brutal as he was last night. Still, she felt he was enjoying the whole thing, almost half as much as she was. She beamed brightly as her own opponents went down.
In all the time since she'd been Called, she couldn't remember a nest raid going so well. There were at least two dozen vamps in the meeting and they might as well have dusted themselves for all the struggle they put up. *Damn, gotta work with X more often,* she thought.
She dusted another vamp before noticing they were down to just one. He staggered along the wall, trying to reach the hallway. She laughed. It was just too easy.
******
Eddie didn't know what went wrong. One minute, he and a bunch of vamps were talking business; next minute, they are under attack by something, or two somethings. His face and hands blazed, couldn't see jack shit, barely made out shapes more than three feet away. He tried to smell his way through and inhaled a cloud of vapors, the feeling reminded him of the sinus headaches he got when he was human. He got all spun around during the attack before finding his balance, now trying to grope his way to the kitchen, to his only hope. He only could wish the attackers forgot about him. He prayed for a miracle.
Of course, he already knew he wouldn't get one, being an abomination and all.
******
She watched Xander with growing anticipation, wondering what he might do next. The last thing she expected was for Xander to simply raise his left arm. She saw his arm tense briefly, her eyes widened when a bolt came flying out, hitting the vamp in his stomach, slamming him into the wall. The vamp screamed, dropping to the floor bonelessly. She could hear the bolt sizzling somehow in the wound. She turned to him, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
"Want to know what's the what?" He smirked, raising the mask to expose his face. She nodded her head, doing the same while conceding the floor to his pride, knowing the answer might help intimidate their prisoner.
Ever notice your stakes seem to be a bit." He paused, hands gesturing, "shiny?"
She looked at the stake in her hand curiously, seeing the light reflect off it.
"Yeah, I just thought you made it pretty for me." She shrugged.
He laughed. "Well, partially. But the gloss had a purpose." He looked at the vamp on the floor, who mewled weakly while slightly twitching. Xander crouched, looking directly into the vamp's glazed eyes, who tried to disappear into the wall. He turned back to Faith.
"It's a wonder what can happen when you paint with holy-water based enamel."
The vamp's eyebrows raised noticeably, at the same moment as Faith's.
******
He chuckled at their reactions, knowing he had the hostile by the balls and Faith's total and complete attention. He turned back to the vamp's panicked expression.
"Well, we got choices here, buddy. Either you tell me any and everything you know that might interest me, or." He hesitated, before reaching out and wiggling the bolt in the wound. The hostile screamed from his depths, grasping at his hands. Xander hauled back and struck his face flush, snapping the hostile's head back.
"I could leave this in here for awhile. Let it burn slow." Xander smirked. "Oh, and by the way," He stood up again, letting the hostile dangle on his words like a fish on a hook. "Did I forget to mention that the bolt tip is coated with a mix of many. painful poisons." He smiled, shark-like. "Matter of fact, they should be kicking in right about."
The hostile's struggles increased, he wailed brokenly. Xander chuckled devilishly. "Now."
******
Faith looked down at the last vamp, her mask back in place, shaking her head while laughing to herself. After Xander played him like a piano, the poor guy sung like a Backstreet Boy. Two of the biggest things were the location of a possible cash spot in-house and a potential situation at a homeless shelter. Xander gave her a look that meant they'll discuss it later, before going up to check on the cash, trusting her to watch the exits for the late-comers due anytime soon.
When he came back, he was carrying a good-sized bag and laughing wickedly. Just the way she liked him.
"What you find up there?"
"Not much," he said. Still smiling, he opened the bag, showing stacks of money. Her eyes widened as she stared at the bag. She hadn't seen that much money since she ran with Tony's crew in Southie. She turned her gaze back to Xander, who winked. She laughed.
"Okay, what we gonna do with him."
Xander laid the bag down and bowed solemnly, holding a stake out like it was Excalibur. She laughed harder.
"If your highness would do the honors?"
Snatching the stake, she whirled and staked the vamp out of his misery. She turned to see Xander walk to the wall, holding a knife he'd found in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
"What's that for, Stud?" He placed the piece of paper on the wall before sending the blade through the top.
"Just sending a little message." He stepped back to admire his handiwork. Curious, she moved closer.
"'Thanks for the invite, Nemo?'" She turned to look at him again. "Whatha hell?"
"Tell you what," he looked down at the floor. "How bout we discuss it at the diner?" He glanced her again. "After all your help, I at least owe you dinner."
She blushed slightly and rolled her eyes, not used to being appreciated. A lot like him, she thought. She did notice he deflected her question, though.
"You did promise to feed me too." Her eyes danced with amusement. He chuckled.
"Yeah, and you are the only real eating rival I got in this town."
"Well, I am a big girl," she looked him up and down slow. "Gotta keep my strength up."
He smiled. "No comment."
She laughed huskily. "Didn't think you would."
******
He watched them leave, keeping to the shadows to evac easily. From start to finish, the Op took under 10 minutes, and even included a fruitful interrogation. They cleared the area, leaving that note as the only trace of their presence, the disguises and bomb clouds preventing any real identification. He was quite impressed.
He noticed some straggling vamps coming up to the house, looking shell- shocked. He laughed softly, moving away himself. Flipping open his cell, he dialed several digits. He heard a soft click and began, not waiting for any acknowledgement.
"There is a new situation." He smiled ferally. "One that requires.observation."
******