Chapter Six - The Red Stuff
"Slayer!" Shouted the lead vampire of the pack of twenty. He is tall, dark, and handsome, and dead. He's wearing what appears to be a very expensive, possibly Italian-made, suit with a reservoir dog-style black tie. If you had met him on the street you would have thought he's a merchant banker or some other job involving financial jargon and unbelievable outright greed. You probably wouldn't have given him a second look, why would you? You couldn't have known his true identity, but Buffy knew. She stared at him through eyes tinted with hatred.
In the corner of her eye she saw movement. It's Xander. She turns round and moves to help him but he brushes her off. He manages to haul himself off the floor and to a standing position albeit with amble support from the wall. He blinks a few times, shakes his head slightly then brings his hand to the back of his head where the brick hit. His hand returns with a vibrant red covering the fingers. Both Buffy and Xander stood staring at the blood then their eyes made contact. Buffy's gaze is full of concern whereas Xander's has disbelief about it.
"Ouch!" Says Xander with emphasis.
Then the door to Buffy's left burst open. Willow and Dawn rush in. They are confronted with the image of a brick on the floor in front of them surrounded by broken glass, a window with a large hole in the middle of it and Xander holding out a hand dripping with blood.
Willow's hands jump to her mouth, "Oh my God." She murmurs.
A shock engulfs Dawn's face leaving her mouth open but no sound coming out.
"Slayer!"
The shout causes all four to spin round and look out the window. The shock on Dawn's face turns into fear and is matched by a similar transformation from Willow.
Outside the lead vampire sees the face he had been waiting to see staring out of the broken window. He grins like a Cheshire cat. "This is a warning." He shouts. "You have one week to leave town. One week." He holds up his index finger.
"Or what?" Comes the reply from behind the window.
"Or else!"
There is a moment of silence. Nothing moves, not even a mouse. Then from inside the house there comes another response, "Or else what?"
The lead vampire is clearly annoyed by this response. He shouts back as if he had just been asked an irritatingly simple question by a five-year old. "Or else what? What do you think? We'll kill you! We'll cut your throat, break your neck, rip out your heart, slice you in two, err." He stumbles for words. One of the vampires directly behind him whispers something in his ear. "We'll rip out your brain through your nose and feed it to Gary here."
Gary grins.
"Basically," Continued the lead vampire. "By the end of the week the only way you are going to remain here is if you are dead. Got it?"
"Yeah. Got it."
"Okay, then. Good." The lead vampire turns to walk away but the group of vampire behind him don't move. They just continue to stand facing the house. Eventually after a few uncomfortable seconds and a lot of wild arm movements by the lead vampire a path emerges through the crowd. With a little shoving and general aggression the lead vampire gets through the group and walks off with renewed dignity. The other vampires wait for him to get through then follow on behind. After two minutes they are completely gone and the street returns to normal as if nothing had happened.
Inside the house Buffy stares out the window making sure all the vampires leave, flanked on both sides by Willow and Dawn. When she is satisfied they have gone she turns round only to jump back in shock at the closeness of the other two girls. As she jumps back she instinctively puts out her hand unfortunately she puts it right onto the windowsill full of broken glass. She cries out in pain as the glass is shoved into her skin by the weight of her body. She slowly brings her hand into view only to see small drops of red suddenly turn into a flowing tickle.
"That looks bad." Says a distressed Willow, taking Buffy's hand in her own.
Buffy quickly withdraws it, "It's nothing." She insists.
Willow looks squarely at her in the eye and says with authority, "You need to go to the hospital."
But before Buffy can protest a loud cough draws the attention of the three girls behind them and to Xander. "Ahem." He says emphasising the blood on his hand while pointing to the wound in the back of his head.
A wave of concern flows through the girls as they converge on Xander. "All right, all right. Enough" He says cynically. "Let's go."
He leads them outside. As they emerge into the bright sunshine all four simultaneously shield their eyes, well, it takes Buffy slightly longer than the rest as she has to switch hands. Dawn quickly scans the drive only to discover no car sat there. "Where's your car?" She asks Xander.
"Over there." He says pointing to the really expensive silver car across the street.
"No, seriously, where's your car?" Dawn repeats.
Xander looks back at her, "Over there." He says again pointing. Then he walks over towards the car. The three girls stood motionless for a second before reluctantly following. Xander pulls out the keys and pushes the button to open the car, which it duly does. The girls exchange a glance of disbelief. Xander goes to get in the driver's side but Willow stops him, "Should you really be driving?" She asks.
"I'm fine." He replies dismissively.
Willow holds up two fingers, "How many?" She asks.
Xander tries to concentrate but his eyes kind of glaze over. He gives up. "Yeah, okay." He says handing Willow the keys. She gets in. Xander walks round to the front passenger seat to find Buffy opening the door. He indicates for her to get in the back seat. "But I'm bleeding." She protests indicating her hand.
Xander looks down with disdain. "I'm bleeding more." He says indicating his head.
Buffy concedes and gets in the back with Dawn. Willow turns on the engine then looks down worriedly at the gearbox. She then looks up to see Xander anxiously looking back at her. She gives him a sheepish grin. Then she crunches the gears. "Oops." She crunches them again. Xander is looking increasingly apprehensive. "Willow.?" Before he can finish she finds first gear and the car is moving. Willow smiles triumphantly at Xander. He gives her an unimpressed look, which kind of punctuates her glee. He then draws down his window and sticks his head out of the car.
"What are you doing?" Asks an alarmed Dawn.
"I don't want to bleed on the car." Says Xander as if it is obvious.
This answer dumbfounds everyone causing a collective stunned silence. This is broken by the sound of an electric window whirring itself down. Dawn and Willow turn to the culprit, Buffy. Xander tries to turn to see but can't work out a way to get his head to move that way. Buffy responds to these looks with a blank, "What?"
Willow returns to looking at the road only to discover the car has veered slightly to the left. It is now in directly in the path of an oncoming car. A very fast oncoming car.
"Slayer!" Shouted the lead vampire of the pack of twenty. He is tall, dark, and handsome, and dead. He's wearing what appears to be a very expensive, possibly Italian-made, suit with a reservoir dog-style black tie. If you had met him on the street you would have thought he's a merchant banker or some other job involving financial jargon and unbelievable outright greed. You probably wouldn't have given him a second look, why would you? You couldn't have known his true identity, but Buffy knew. She stared at him through eyes tinted with hatred.
In the corner of her eye she saw movement. It's Xander. She turns round and moves to help him but he brushes her off. He manages to haul himself off the floor and to a standing position albeit with amble support from the wall. He blinks a few times, shakes his head slightly then brings his hand to the back of his head where the brick hit. His hand returns with a vibrant red covering the fingers. Both Buffy and Xander stood staring at the blood then their eyes made contact. Buffy's gaze is full of concern whereas Xander's has disbelief about it.
"Ouch!" Says Xander with emphasis.
Then the door to Buffy's left burst open. Willow and Dawn rush in. They are confronted with the image of a brick on the floor in front of them surrounded by broken glass, a window with a large hole in the middle of it and Xander holding out a hand dripping with blood.
Willow's hands jump to her mouth, "Oh my God." She murmurs.
A shock engulfs Dawn's face leaving her mouth open but no sound coming out.
"Slayer!"
The shout causes all four to spin round and look out the window. The shock on Dawn's face turns into fear and is matched by a similar transformation from Willow.
Outside the lead vampire sees the face he had been waiting to see staring out of the broken window. He grins like a Cheshire cat. "This is a warning." He shouts. "You have one week to leave town. One week." He holds up his index finger.
"Or what?" Comes the reply from behind the window.
"Or else!"
There is a moment of silence. Nothing moves, not even a mouse. Then from inside the house there comes another response, "Or else what?"
The lead vampire is clearly annoyed by this response. He shouts back as if he had just been asked an irritatingly simple question by a five-year old. "Or else what? What do you think? We'll kill you! We'll cut your throat, break your neck, rip out your heart, slice you in two, err." He stumbles for words. One of the vampires directly behind him whispers something in his ear. "We'll rip out your brain through your nose and feed it to Gary here."
Gary grins.
"Basically," Continued the lead vampire. "By the end of the week the only way you are going to remain here is if you are dead. Got it?"
"Yeah. Got it."
"Okay, then. Good." The lead vampire turns to walk away but the group of vampire behind him don't move. They just continue to stand facing the house. Eventually after a few uncomfortable seconds and a lot of wild arm movements by the lead vampire a path emerges through the crowd. With a little shoving and general aggression the lead vampire gets through the group and walks off with renewed dignity. The other vampires wait for him to get through then follow on behind. After two minutes they are completely gone and the street returns to normal as if nothing had happened.
Inside the house Buffy stares out the window making sure all the vampires leave, flanked on both sides by Willow and Dawn. When she is satisfied they have gone she turns round only to jump back in shock at the closeness of the other two girls. As she jumps back she instinctively puts out her hand unfortunately she puts it right onto the windowsill full of broken glass. She cries out in pain as the glass is shoved into her skin by the weight of her body. She slowly brings her hand into view only to see small drops of red suddenly turn into a flowing tickle.
"That looks bad." Says a distressed Willow, taking Buffy's hand in her own.
Buffy quickly withdraws it, "It's nothing." She insists.
Willow looks squarely at her in the eye and says with authority, "You need to go to the hospital."
But before Buffy can protest a loud cough draws the attention of the three girls behind them and to Xander. "Ahem." He says emphasising the blood on his hand while pointing to the wound in the back of his head.
A wave of concern flows through the girls as they converge on Xander. "All right, all right. Enough" He says cynically. "Let's go."
He leads them outside. As they emerge into the bright sunshine all four simultaneously shield their eyes, well, it takes Buffy slightly longer than the rest as she has to switch hands. Dawn quickly scans the drive only to discover no car sat there. "Where's your car?" She asks Xander.
"Over there." He says pointing to the really expensive silver car across the street.
"No, seriously, where's your car?" Dawn repeats.
Xander looks back at her, "Over there." He says again pointing. Then he walks over towards the car. The three girls stood motionless for a second before reluctantly following. Xander pulls out the keys and pushes the button to open the car, which it duly does. The girls exchange a glance of disbelief. Xander goes to get in the driver's side but Willow stops him, "Should you really be driving?" She asks.
"I'm fine." He replies dismissively.
Willow holds up two fingers, "How many?" She asks.
Xander tries to concentrate but his eyes kind of glaze over. He gives up. "Yeah, okay." He says handing Willow the keys. She gets in. Xander walks round to the front passenger seat to find Buffy opening the door. He indicates for her to get in the back seat. "But I'm bleeding." She protests indicating her hand.
Xander looks down with disdain. "I'm bleeding more." He says indicating his head.
Buffy concedes and gets in the back with Dawn. Willow turns on the engine then looks down worriedly at the gearbox. She then looks up to see Xander anxiously looking back at her. She gives him a sheepish grin. Then she crunches the gears. "Oops." She crunches them again. Xander is looking increasingly apprehensive. "Willow.?" Before he can finish she finds first gear and the car is moving. Willow smiles triumphantly at Xander. He gives her an unimpressed look, which kind of punctuates her glee. He then draws down his window and sticks his head out of the car.
"What are you doing?" Asks an alarmed Dawn.
"I don't want to bleed on the car." Says Xander as if it is obvious.
This answer dumbfounds everyone causing a collective stunned silence. This is broken by the sound of an electric window whirring itself down. Dawn and Willow turn to the culprit, Buffy. Xander tries to turn to see but can't work out a way to get his head to move that way. Buffy responds to these looks with a blank, "What?"
Willow returns to looking at the road only to discover the car has veered slightly to the left. It is now in directly in the path of an oncoming car. A very fast oncoming car.