Dev crashes the awards presentation where Angel planned to suck up to Dev. And in Japan, three of Buffy's Slayers battle three powerful vampires in a brutal and picturesque fight to the death.
Inside a large two-story tea house in Osaka, Japan, Hoshiko, a large man in his mid-thirties dressed like a samauri, sits with his son, Goro, a bulky man in his mid-twenties, on his right, and his daughter Manzo, a pale, petite woman in her early twenties, on his left. The men are each being attended to by a pair of geishas, as Manzo is catered to by a trio of well-built men whose chiseled physiques are visible beneath their skimpy robes. They daintily drink blood and saki from tea cups while an older man walks around them reading poetry. At one hundred and fifty years, Hoshiko is the oldest surviving member of the Akakawa, or Red River, clan of vampires. The clan originated during the civil wars of the sixteenth century, but hit on hard times during the peaceful Tokagawa Period, when thousands of samauri, unable to fight each other, spent their time hunting and beheading vampires. Hoshiko had helped revive them, and hold off challenges from foreign vampires who entered the newly reopened kingdom during the Meiji Restoration. His Master and sire had told him about how tough things were in the old days. Hoshiko thought the old man was exaggerating. If they were so bad, how did he survive? In 1945, the Master barely escaped the firebombing of Tokyo and fled south to Hiroshima, which he assumed would be a less likely target than Osaka, where Hoshiko hid out. Ever since, Hoshiko had regarded Osaka as a safe place of refuge. He'd survived General Douglas MacArthur. What did he have to fear from this Buffy girl?
Standing guard outside, to the left of the front door, is a human member of the Yakuza holding a sub-machine gun. To the right of the door stands a vampire. He thinks he hears noises behind some nearby shrubs. The human puts his finger to the trigger, then gets hit in the left side of the neck with a dart and slumps to the ground. The vampire gets nervous and listens to the footsteps, realizing, to his relief, that their is only one attacker. He reaches down to grab the gangster's gun with his left hand, but gets his head chopped off by an unseen enemy. The head flies through a window and lands on the floor of the tea house, terrifying the vampires on the first floor before it disintegrates. The front door is battered down, and in walks a sixteen year-old girl with orange pigtails, wearing a short green plaid skirt, white boots and a white long-sleeve button-down shirt. She has a scar on her right cheek. In her right hand is a three foot-long samauri sword, and in her left the wooden scabbard which has been filed down to a point. "Hello Hoshiko," she says, looking up towards the back of the room. He stands and smiles.
"You remembered me, Aneko," he replies with a smile. "Then again, how could you forget?," he adds, running the flat side of his sword along his right cheek to remind her of how she got that scar. "Finish her," he calmy orders, turning his back to the Slayer and walking away as if she's nothing special. Manzo stands along the edge of the railing, looking down eagerly as Aneko repels her first four attackers with a series of acrobatic kicks. Goro, looking concerned, retreats to talk to his apparently disinterested father.
"The three of us can finish her now!," he argues.
"She's not alone."
"All the more reason to attack this instant."
"Now would be too late." He looks upwards. "They have fast little cat feet." After having used ropes to climb on the roof, Haru and Yumiko swing through second-floor windows along the side of the building. Both are seventeen, though each is less experienced than the younger Aneko by about six months. Each is dressed in basic form-fitting black, unlike the flashier, cartoonish Aneko. Goro runs after Haru while Manzo tries to grab Yumiko, to their father's consternation. The Slayers leap over the railings, do a flip and land on the first floor, making the fight down there six on three. Hoshiko barks for his children to return to him. Yumiko is attacked by a vampire wielding a niginata, a six foot-long wooden pole with a curved two foot-long blade on the end. She quickly backs up, then uses her sword defensively. He's aggressive and skilled, backing her up nearly to the wall. She manages to lock blades with him, but he uses his superior leverage to pin her against the wall. Yumiko spits out the holy water she had put in her mouth before the fight, blinding the vampire, who stabs forward. She ducks, the niginata slices into the wall, Yumiko steps forward and beheads her opponent, grabbing his weapon and putting her own in the scabbard across her back.
Yumiko then comes to the aide of Aneko, who is being triple-teamed. First, Aneko leaped up to the balcony, only to be attacked by Hoshiko, Goro and Manzo. Aneko had no choice but to leap down – away from her original attackers, of course. As they pursued, she fled to the back wall so as not to be surrounded. Now, just as she ran out of room, Yumiko beheads the vampire to Aneko's right with the niginata, spins and beheads the vampire in front of her – snipping a lock of Aneko's hair and nearly cutting her right ear on the follow through. She skewers the vampire to her right, picking up her weapon like a spear and hurling it – and the vampire – into the side wall. Aneko half-smiles in appreciation, pointing to her hair, leaps to her right and kicks the back of the niginata, driving the wooden shaft into its heart and dusting it.
On the other side of the room, Haru hides from her two opponents behind one of the wooden posts holding up the balcony. When one of them tries to get behind her, she runs behind another post. After dodging a few slices, she runs the other way, towards the front door and away from the other two Slayers. Haru looks across the room at Aneko, who calmy twirls her chewing gum around her right index finger, as if to tell Haru she can handle these guys. Haru takes her scabbard in her left hand so she has two weapons. When the vampire to her left raises his sword and charges on in, she throws her wooden scabbard through his heart, then engages the other vampire with her sword. It doesn't take long for her to parry his attacks, get behind the vampire and behead him. She picks up her scabbard and walks to the middle of the room to meet up with the other two girls. There is no sign of the vampires they came to kill. Then Aneko looks to the dark ceiling thirty feet above, and sees the black-clad Hoshiko hiding there with his two children. The three vampires fall to the ground, their swords outstretched before them. Aneko leaps back to avoid Hoshiko, whose sword cuts through the floor. Haru gets knocked down by a flip kick to the head from Manzo. While trying to block Goro's sword with her niginata, Yumiko gets the metal blade chopped off, leaving her with a four foot wooden stick.
"Feeling weary, Aneko?," Hoshiko asks the panting Slayer as he charges in. She blocks three slashes before counterattacking. He parries, resumes the attack, and is rebuffed once again. Hoshiko backs away from Aneko's straight right kick, and she backs away from a right roundhouse kick.
"Don't worry. I'll have enough breath left to kill you." He goes bumpy, yells and swings down for her head. She blocks and tries an unsuccessful slash for his left hip. Aneko leaps forward and attacks Hoshiko from above. He blocks it, she flips and lands behind him.
"It's almost a shame I have to kill you," he says with a smile. Aneko rolls her eyes, realizing that after multiple fights to the death, the vampire starts to feel attached to the Slayer.
Devlin walks down a Los Angeles street on Tuesday afternoon wearing a black pinstriped suit with a blue shirt, yellow tie and white collar. On this sunny day, he carries an open umbrella in his left hand. In his right hand is a briefcase. Debbie, who wears a short brown skirt, white stockings and a red silk blouse, puts her left arm around his right. "Don't they have a garage?," she asks. "You know, that's covered?"
"Yes, but that would leave my car next to evil people who could do evil things to it."
"You'll let me near these people, but not your car?"
"The Mustang can't defend itself."
"I just get worried, ya know. One gust of wind and . . . that's why you parked on the street! So I'd worry about you, and remind myself that I worry cause I love you."
"Am I really that devious?"
"I think you know the answer to that one." They enter the lobby. Dev closes his umbrella. Debbie shows the security guard her pass. Devlin shows him his. He looks Dev over.
"Yes, I'm a vampire. Deal with it. For Christsakes, you work for one."
"He's my pet," Debbie jokes, opening her purse, taking out a small stake and jabbing Dev with it.
"We're like pot-bellied pigs, except we eat less and clean up after ourselves," Dev quips. The guard rolls his eyes and lets them pass. Dev tosses his umbrella to Deb, who catches it in her left hand. She takes his left hand in her right hand and they walk to the elevators.
"This thing's heavy."
"It better be. There's a gun and a large knife inside."
"Maybe you should be carrying it." They get in the elevator with six other people. She pushes the button for the sixteenth floor.
"Just point it at the ground," he whispers. "Oh, and don't press that lever you have your finger on."
"Why do you have to make everything so dangerous?"
"The world's a dangerous place."
"Yeah, and you helped make it a little more so."
"Until you came along." She squeezes his hand and smiles. The door opens and they walk out, following the signs to the gathering. Devlin scans the crowd. "The world would be a better place if do-gooders weren't so boring. I think it discourages people from making a difference."
"You promised you'd behave."
"I am. I haven't killed anybody yet."
"Can't I hold you to a higher standard?"
"I thought you liked my antisocial rebelliousness?"
"Said by the man dressed like a banker," she retorts.
"I love a woman who knows how to cut me down to size." They stare at each other for a few seconds, then let go of each other's hands. Debbie tries to mingle. Devlin lurks around the edges, listening in on conversations.
"I've been looking forward to this all week," Angel says to Gunn, Wes and Fred as they exit the elevator.
"It's Tuesday," Gunn notes.
"And all last week."
"I think it's nice that Wolfram & Hart lets all these good people into their building and doesn't try to execute them," Fred offers. "They're not gonna, right?"
"I think I put out a memo on that," Wes jokes. Angel enters the room, shaking hands and introducing himself while keeping an eye out for the Slayer. She spots him and walks over.
"Do you own all this?," she asks.
"I don't own any of it. But I run all of it."
"Wow. And you didn't even go to college." He laughs.
"It's great to see you again, Debbie. You look very nice." He'd never seen her dressed up before.
"No, she looks beautiful," Dev whispers. Angel turns around. His jaw grinds in anger. "Is that any way to greet an ally?" Angel resists the urge to rip Devlin's neck off. He looks at Debbie.
"I don't have a car. Plus, half the award's his." Angel shakes his head, grabs Gunn and walks to a corner.
"Winifred. Good to see you again," Devlin says. Debbie walks over to her boyfriend.
"Remember, be nice. No gloating," she whispers.
"You can stop me from killing. But gloating? That's against my nature." She scowls. "Okay, I'll try."
"You can do better than try."
"I promise I won't start any fights." She smiles, rolls her eyes and goes off to mingle, trusting that Dev won't want to disappoint her. He walks up to Fred, causing Wesley to sidle up next to her. "You're being protective. That tells me two things. One, you're an extraordinarily lucky man, since you're dating this fine creature. And two, you don't understand that she can protect herself. Or, perhaps you do understand, but want to appear macho." Dev holds out his right hand. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. You're Wesley, I presume." They'd met when Dev helped Angel nab the werewolf kidnapper, but didn't interact much.
"And you're quite talkative for a vampire." Wes doesn't shake Dev's hand.
"How chilly. It's almost like I've done something to hurt you. Have I?" They stare at each other.
"So how's the slaying goin', Dev?," Fred asks, trying to play peacemaker and avoid an ugly scene. Devlin smiles at her.
"Excellent, Winifred. Debbie and I have destroyed all vampire packs south of the Los Angeles county line. There are still isolated individual vampires, but nothing organized." He puts his briefcase on a table and opens it. "I've used my experiences to create a monograph on vampire fighting. Strategy, tactics and such." He pulls out two leather-bound one hundred page volumes and hands them out. "I also brought copies for Angel and Charles Gunn. Maybe you can tell me how they match up to your manual, based on your even more extensive experiences." He knows they don't have such a manual, hence the obnoxiousness.
"Thanks," Fred says before Wesley can throw his copy on the floor and shoot it with his revolver. "Ah'm sure the security people would be happy to look it over."
"Who cares about them. It's your opinions I value. Is my father around?" Wesley's thrown by the terminology.
"Spike's in the building. Ah don't know if he's coming here."
"He will. Now that I'm here." Dev closes his briefcase and walks away.
"I'd hate him so much less if he'd just come right out and try to kill us," Wesley declares.
"I think it's nice the way he wants Spike's approval." Wes looks shocked. "Okay, he's a conceited little brat. But better a vampire-killer than a killer vampire."
Angel gets off the phone with the guy at the front desk. "He says he had a ticket. How did he get a ticket?," Angel angrily asks Gunn.
"The award winners were allowed to bring family members."
"She doesn't have any family!"
"Which is why I sent her only one ticket. He could have found out who the other guests were and wrangled a spare ticket from one of them."
"So someone in your organization gave him that information?"
"I don't know. Maybe he hacked into our computers like he did before. I think you're making too much of this."
"This was supposed to be her moment. Not his."
"If he bothers you so much much, why don't you ignore him?"
"Because I'm standing right here." Gunn looks to his right. Dev smiles. "Charles Gunn. Your reputation precedes you. Vampires speak highly of you. By which I mean they curse your name, much as they curse your boss's. Sorry. No pun intended," he adds about the "curse" remark. "I hope we can all get along here for a little while. For Debbie's sake. It's what she wants. It's what she deserves."
"Are you what she deserves?," Angel asks.
"I believe she's the judge of that." He opens the briefcase and hands them the books. "It's my screenplay. Just kidding. It's what I've learned about vampire slaying. From Debbie. I'd greatly value your professional opinions. Granted, Laguna Hills isn't Watts or Sunnydale, but I like to think I have a few original insights. It was a pleasure talking with you. Or, should I say, it was a pleasure talk to you." He leaves. Angel seethes over the nerve of Devlin to dare to take the high road.
"Someone needs to teach that boy some humility," Gunn offers. "Preferably with a tire iron and a few brass knuckles. Angel smiles.
Deprived of the business end of her weapon, Yumiko tries to impale Goro, who backs up and cuts her stick twice, reducing it to a stump. She ditches what's left of the weapon and does a forward roll as he swings for her neck. She takes out her sword as she gets up and clashes weapons with the bulky, powerful vampire. He goes bumpy and pushes back into a wooden post, shattering it. Part of the second level falls on her, and she goes down as Goro steps out of the way, smiling.
Manzo goes on the offensive, alternating between slashes towards Haru's neck and legs to keep the Slayer off-balance. She leaps in the air, does a flip above Haru, lands and swings for her ankles. Haru spins, hops above the attack and swings downward for Manzo's head. The vampire blocks this and sweeps Haru's legs, knocking her down. Haru rolls back and gets up before Manzo can do any damage with her sword, but takes a leaping kick to the chest which almost puts her on her back again. Haru takes her scabbard in her left hand. Manzo chops this second weapon in half while ducking Haru's attempt to cut Manzo's head off with the sword in her right hand. Manzo adds a quick left kick to Haru's chin, forces the Slayer to backpedal with a renewed sword attack, then knocks Haru down with a right roundhouse kick. Things were not looking good for this Slayer.
Aneko is the only one holding her own. She kicks Hoshiko back towards the stairs. They lock swords, and he hurls her onto the stairs and pursues. She climbs most of the way up. Hoshiko follows, knocking down six stairs behind him before jumping back, creating a sizeable gap between vampire and Slayer. He waits for her to make the next move. She worries about him severing the staircase, causing it to collapse beneath her feet. Aneko leaps up to the second level and heads to her right, daring Hoshiko to jump up and follow her. Instead, he patiently watches as Manzo's three strapping servants attack the Slayer. Aneko can tell they are human, creating a problem for her. She puts her sword away and takes a right cross, knocking her into the railing. Aneko then gets down to business, putting one guy on his back with a straight right kick, another with a right roundhouse kick, ducks a right hook and takes the final man out with a left hook kick. Just then, she hears something crack. Hoshiko has split the wooden post below her in two with a swift right kick. She climbs onto the railing and leaps off just as the floor collapses, dragging down the three men. Hoshiko, who expected this, leaps through the air and hits Aneko's body in midair with a straight right kick, sending her crashing into another post, splitting it in two and causing another section floor to collapse on top of her. As she tries to get up. He hits her face with a left hook, picks her up and tosses Aneko into the wall. She gets up and coughs a few times. Dust covers her hair and clothes.
"I don't get it," she tells him. "If you're so sure you can beat me, why destroy your house?" It does seem a little desperate.
"A broken house can be rebuilt. A broken body cannot." He knocks her down with a powerful right hook.
No sooner does Yumiko stand up than she is knocked down by a right kick. Goro moved in to hit her while she's down, but Yumiko brandished her sword, warning him off. He lets her get up, then attacks. They lock swords, and he pushes her into the wall. "Back against the wall," she says. "Now's the time for you to get really worried." She head-butts him, lands a straight right kick to his face, then a left roundhouse kick, knocking him back towards the center of the room.
Not doing well, Haru puts her sword in her belt. Manzo watches and waits, looking suspicious. "It's not a trick," the Slayer assures her. "I just don't find you threatening." Manzo leaps at Haru, slashing her sword in midair. Haru quickly backs up. When Manzo pursues, she leaps twenty feet back. When Manzo leaps twenty feet forward, she hops ten feet to her right, runs forward onto a debris pile and picks up a five foot-long section of a wooden four-by-four, which she uses to knock her charging opponent to the ground, then hits her one more time in the head for good measure before dropping the weapon and taking up her sword. The woozy vampire stands up, sword at her side, only to get kicked in the chest.
Hoshiko makes use of his advantage in size to keep Aneko on the defensive during their sword fight. He lands a right roundhouse kick. They clash swords a few more times, and she tries a straight right kick that he backs away from. When she attacks, he parries her sword and lands a right hook kick, opening a cut on her left temple. Her nose is bleeding, and her clothes are torn and her arms scratched from having a floor fall on her. Not one to be kept down, Aneko leaps in the air, does a flip and slashes for Hoshiko's head. He deftly ducks, slides forward, stands up just after she passes over his head and thrusts his sword into the air. When Aneko lands, she realizes it entered her back and came out her stomach. Hoshiko smiles, sensing victory.
Spike races into the room while Angel introduces the award winners. "What the bloody hell's going on?"
"Shhh," Fred replies as several startled spectators look back at them. Spike looks around and quickly spots Devlin, who smiles when they lock eyes.
"Is Angel giving Dev a bloody trophy?," Spike asks incredulously.
"No. Just his girlfriend."
"Buying her loyalty."
"Nobody is being bought," Wesley insists.
"Actually, she gets a $5,000 college scholarship," Gunn points out.
"As do the other honorees," Wes responds.
Spike looks at the program. "Unbloodybelieveable. He's honoring all these nobodies so he can woo a Slayer and make it look legit. The lengths Angel will go for one of those girls."
After the ceremony, the people eat from the buffet and mingle. Devlin approaches Spike. "Not much to eat here for the likes of us. Unless you like Good Samaritan," he jokes, as if Spike needed a reminder that Devlin could go back to his old ways at any moment.
"And no liquor."
"Angel strikes me as a teetotaler. Have you seen my book on vampire slaying? I gave a copy to Winifred and the others."
"Who needs a book? You stab them with wood, and they turn to dust."
"The actual slaying is easy. It's finding them that's the challenge. Have you heard about my success? Vampires are more afraid of Debbie than they are of Angel." It's clear Devlin is desperately fishing for a compliment.
"That's not much of an achievement, now is it?" Devlin's disappointment turns to anger.
"Elektra said you had a new woman in your life. Good to see you're moving on from Buffy. Who is she? Does she work in the building?"
"What makes you so sure there's only one?," Spike replies, worried about Devlin tracking down Claire, as be consistent with his obsessive personality.
"You're not the man you used to be."
"Neither are you."
"That's true. I've gotten better. Stronger. Smarter. You've withered into a shell of your former self. You don't even control your own destiny. You're just a part of someone else's." Debbie walks up and takes Devlin's right hand in her left.
"That sounded rude. I thought we talked about not being rude."
"I'm only being rude to Spike."
"Oh. That's okay." She kisses Dev's hand, smiles at him and walks away. Dev watches her.
"Wut does your pet have against me?," Spike asks defensively. "Or are you her pet?"
"You never approved of any of my girlfriends. So why should you be shocked when one of them doesn't approve of you?"
"What did I ever do to her?"
"You made me."
"Shouldn't she thank me for that?"
"Since Deb loves me, her feelings on my getting sired are mixed. You figure it out. You're the one with a soul."
Goro gets Yumiko off-balance. When she raises her sword to protect her throat, he stabs for her stomach. She flinches, unconsciously hunching over and raising her left leg. The blade passes through her left thigh instead of her abdomen. While it's stuck there, she grimaces and swings her sword, cutting off Goro's right hand. He screams and backs up. She limps towards him, the vampire's weapon still in her leg. "Want it back?," she asks. Yumiko pulls it out of her leg and throws it through his left shin, cutting off the lower third of his leg. He growls and leaps at her off his right foot in desperation. She cuts off his head. "Baby," she says of his inability to handle a few flesh wounds. Yumiko stands there, hunched over on her one good leg, watching Haru and Aneko. If things go badly for either of them, Yumiko will be very easy prey.
"What about Scientologists?," Devlin asks a teenage boy who works for an evangelical charity.
"What?"
"If the government gives funds to one religious organization, it has to give money to them all. Constitutionally, it can't discriminate."
"I suppose if the Scientologists have, I don't know, a drug treatment program, then they should get money for that."
"So you give them junkies going through withdrawal – the very definition of desperate and impressionable – and you don't expect them to proselytize. How could they pass up the opportunity?"
"I can't speak for other religions. In volunteer work at my church, we don't force Jesus on anybody."
"That makes two of us," Dev replies with a wicked smile. "Or how about the Nation of Islam? Should Congress give money to Louis Farrakhan?" A black man with a white skull cap steps to Dev.
"You got a problem with black Muslims?"
"Of course not. As I'm sure you're aware, fewer than ten percent of black Muslims in America follow Farrakhan, and he's not even close to an orthodox Muslim. But the white media turns him into the symbol of black Muslims in order to discredit them."
"What are you, mister-know-it-all?"
"I don't know it all. Just enough. I have a long interest in Islam. It's a simple, pure, iconoclastic religion, without idols or holy water or that other hocus pocus. Just God. And beautiful poetry." He starts saying in Arabic "In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful" and recites the first four line of the Koran. The guy gets freaked out and moves away. "Not that I don't believe in Jesus," he assures the teenager. "I know he exists. He's touched me."
"You're born again?"
"My sophomore year in college," Dev replies. "By the way, I'm a friend of a friend of Angel's. He's a lapsed Catholic looking for a new path. Maybe you can give him a copy of the Good Book. I think he'd really appreciate it."
"Maybe you could give it to him, since you claim to know him."
"You're right. I'll do that tomorrow. Praise Christ." Devlin smiles politely and walks away. It would have been great for Angel to yelp in pain and drop a Bible like it's a hot iron in front of all these people. What would they think? But as he walks over to Deb, who is talking to Angel, he realizes such a prank would have rubbed her the wrong way.
"I'd love to have you go on patrols with me," Angel says to Debbie. "Now that things have calmed down where you are."
"You patrol?"
"Not much anymore. I'm too busy with work. But I could start again."
"What about Spike?," Devlin asks. "He must have plenty of time on his hands."
"So do you."
"That's true. Maybe I can find an evil corporation of my own to run in my spare time. Say, DeBeer's."
"You and diamonds."
"Or Halliburton. Did you know I was once briefly on their payroll?"
"Let me guess: as a mercenary," Angel replies. "Do you always sell your services to the highest bidder?"
"No. Otherwise I'd be working for your firm. It's not as if they haven't made me offers. I guess once you've co-opted one vampire champion, you think you can co-opt them all."
"You? A champion?" Angel laughs. Debbie frowns. Angel stops laughing, realizing that he's playing into Dev's trap. "I just meant he shouldn't take any credit away from the real champion," he weakly adds, referring to Debbie. But Dev can't leave well enough alone, and has to go for a dig.
"While we're flaunting our ability to defend people, I should point out there's been an uptick in suspicious deaths in Ventura County this week. That's north of here, which puts it in your jurisdiction as opposed to mine. But I'm sure you're already looking into it, as would befit your role as champion of people."
"Oh look. Most of the people have left. Maybe we should get going." She takes Dev's hand. "Thanks," she says to Angel while walking out before he could come up with a comeback. Wesley walks up to Angel.
"Is there a problem?"
"She doesn't need him."
"Professionally, or personally?" Angel takes a few seconds to answer.
"Both."
"And you plan to fulfill both needs for her?" Angel cringes.
"That's not what I meant."
"You've shown her she's not alone. You've done your best to convince her of your noble intentions. There's nothing more you can do."
"Except wait."
"And hope." Hope Dev doesn't kill her. Hope Buffy doesn't send another Slayer Corps to abduct her. Hope she doesn't go completely rogue, take off with Devlin and leave Angel forever.
Deb and Dev walk out into the night. He twirls his closed umbrella in his left hand. "The party's over, and you're still making me nervous," she says, knowing a slip of his fingers could cause the umbrella to spew bullets at innocent bystanders. He stops spinning and grips the middle of the umbrella. "That's better." She puts her left arm around his waist. "You did good tonight. Not great. But good."
"It was fun. And not entirely in an ironic way. It's nice to see you honored." In her right hand, she holds the plaque and the certificate Angel gave her.
"Although some of the other people seemed confused about what it was I exactly did."
"Probably because you couldn't exactly explain what it is you do."
"Remember, even I didn't know what I did until I met you."
"Don't look so grateful. I did have my selfish reasons for training you."
"If only every every guy had to save dozens of lies before he could get laid," she jokes. He puts his right arm around her shoulders. The walk in pleasant silence for a few seconds, savoring the moment. "This is our first time in LA. We've been Aspen, but not Los Angeles."
"LA doesn't have snow. Or quaint yet expensive little cabins."
"We should stay. Check it out."
"LA's not the kind of city you check out. New York has lots of people on the streets and interesting stuff you can walk to. Here everyone drives everywhere."
"So let's drive. And see what we can find."
"Don't you have homework?"
"I always have homework. I'm not always in LA with you. And the night's still, like, really young. Especially by your standards."
"Very well. Who am I to disappoint you? And this city is best when viewed at forty miles-an-hour."
With Manzo down, Haru goes for the kill. But Manzo blocks the sword and sweeps Haru's legs. The two of them get up and Haru retreats over the rubble. Manzo spins and swings her sword into Haru's right shoulder. Manzo raises her sword to finish the Slayer off. But a growling Haru drives her sword down between the vampire's right shoulder and neck, leaving a six inch-long cut and a drooping arm. Both fighters take their swords in their left hands and swing for the opponent's neck. Haru wins, beheading Manzo and cheating death by less than two inches and a few hundredths of a second.
Hoshiko kicks Aneko in her stomach wound. She cries out in pain. He goes for another stab and she takes several quick steps back. He holds his ground and notices that his children are gone. On the other hand, all the Slayers look like easy pray. He could become the first vampire to kill three Slayers at the same time. Yumiko and Haru both call out to the badly injured Aneko that they've won, and she should retreat so they can regroup and attack as a team. "What help will you be?," Hoshiko asks back. He points with his sword to Yumiko. "You can barely stand." He points to Haru. "You can barely hold a weapon." Then he points straight ahead to Aneko. "And you. You are barely alive."
"Maybe. But that's more alive that you," she replies with determination before charging in heedlessly. He blocks her sword and trips Aneko up. While she's on her back, he tries to finish her off. But once he gets within range, she slices his left achilles tendon.
"Fool," she boasts, using all her energy to rise to her feet.
"Clever girl," he replies with a smile, limping towards her. "But never clever enough." He swings down for her chest. She blocks it, but is staggered by the force of the blow. He goes for a stab, causing her to backtrack and lose her balance. Planting his right foot, he lands a left kick to her stomach. She cries out again in pain, but stays on her feet. He runs his left thumb up his blade and tastes her blood. Haru starts to walk towards Hoshiko from behind.
"No!," Aneko yells out, not wanting another Slayer to die to save her. She lifts her left leg and pulls a small stake out of her boot while holding her sword in her right hand. Hoshiko laughs.
"You're going to kill me with that?" He doesn't notice that the stake appears to be made of two kinds of wood.
"Yeah." He takes his sword in his left hand and attacks. She blocks his swing and stabs for his heart with her stake. Hoshiko grabs her left wrist with his right hand and tosses the petite Slayer behind him. She rolls along the ground and slowly gets up, leaving a trail of blood, but still holding on to her weapons. He leaps at her off his right leg, sword outstretched. Aneko tosses the stake in the air. The bottom half is made of cork, but the top half is ash. She sticks her sword up, catching the cork, then stabs forward. The stake gives her just enough length to outreach Hoshiko's sword and stake him before he can stab her. He looks down, realizes he's doomed, and glares at a smiling Aneko, blood dribbling from her lips. He screams in agony before disintegrating. Aneko drops her weapons and falls to the ground, her white shirt soaked in blood. Haru kneels over her, and Yumiko limps over.
Manzo's three male servants stand in the rubble by the door, watching. The ferocious Slayers had terrorized them. They thought once their masters were dead, they would be next. But now they appeared so fragile. Such sublime contrasts. They couldn't help but want to help.