"Kill me. With what? Those teeny-tiny fangs," Vi taunts before knocking Dev back with a straight right kick.
"There are other ways." He ducks a right cross and takes a left jab, absorbs a left kick to the chest but backs away from a right roundhouse kick. "You move like a dancer. In one of those ballets where the ballerina dies." Dev blocks a right kick and a right jab, but Vi backs away from his right jab before lunging in and landing a quick left hook.
"And you look like a loser vampire who's too poor to own a shirt."
"Careful, Red. Contempt for your enemy can get you killed." He tries a right hook kick, but she grabs his leg and throws Dev into a light post. "And it will." Vi takes a couple quick steps forward, flies through the air and puts Dev's back on the sidewalk with a leaping right kick to his chest.
"You were saying," she scornfully replies to his empty boasts. Dev remains on his back and motions for Vi to come forward with both hands.
"Come on. I like it when the girl's on top." Vi folds her arms.
"Get up."
"Make me." She grabs his right leg and drags him out into the street. Dev leans forward, reaches his arms out, grabs Vi's arms and pulls her down to him, kissing her on the lips. Vi leaps back and spits several times as Dev stands up. This vampire sure fights dirty.
"Pity. I hear all the best Slayers find vampires arousing."
"Who'd you hear that from?"
"My father."
Rona and Elektra exchange punches. Rona tries a straight right kick, but Leks does a back flip. "Just you and me, Rona. No Watchers. No secret weapons. Just us, one-on-one."
"Just how I like to kill my vampires," she replies before attacking. Leks blocks her left jab, but takes a right hook to the head. Leks answers with a right hook of her own. Rona ducks a right kick and nails Leks in the stomach with a left kick before grabbing the vampire and tossing her to the ground. As Leks tries to get up, Rona lands a right kick to her mouth.
"I don't think you see the seriousness," Elektra states before ducking a right punch and blocking a left kick. "You're gonna die." Elektra tries a right hook kick for the ribs, which Rona blocks, then spins round and does a right roundhouse, which Rona backs away from.
"So where's the vampire who's gonna kill me," Rona asks sarcastically, sending Leks into a rage. She screams and leaps at Rona, landing a right kick to the chest, though Rona takes a step back to absorb most of the force. She then blocks Elektra's left cross and lands a left hook, followed by a right kick. Rona reaches for the stake in her right pocket, but Leks lunges and lands a right hook to her head.
"Don't even think about it! We're just getting started."
"You mean your sire," Vi asks Dev.
"I think you two have met." As Vi thinks this over, Dev charges forward and tries a right clothesline, but Vi ducks and sticks out her right foot, tripping Dev up. She chuckles as he falls on his face.
"Spike?"
"The one and only," Dev replies as he picks himself up.
"Is that supposed to impress me?"
"Daddy did teach me a few things about killing a Slayer."
After Dev saved the family in Brooklyn, Spike decided it was time to show the boy some tricks. Once Spike got healed from that nasty beating. "Gotchya," Dev says after popping Spike's nose with a left jab. They're sparing shirtless in the cavern while the women are out shopping. Spike nails Dev with a right hook to the ribs and a left uppercut to the chin, knocking him down.
"Gotchya back." Spike reaches his right arm down and pulls his son back up. "You can't just protect the face." Spike lands a right kick to Dev's stomach, then a left hook to his face. Devlin staggers, but stays on his feet. "The body blow makes you double over, and your head's a big juicy target.
"Okay dad." Devlin lowers his fists so he can protect head and body.
"He was wasting his time," Vi declares, putting Dev down with a right hook kick-left roundhouse combination.
"Now that's where your wrong." Dev puts his hands on the ground, arches his back and vaults to his feet. Vi steps forward and tries a quick left hook kick for the body, but Dev grabs her leg. She sweeps his feet with her right foot and they both go down. Dev leans forward, grabs her feet and pulls her towards him. He gets on top. She tries to knock him away with her feet, but he pulls her legs apart. She lands a right punch to his face, but he grabs her arms and tries to pin them down. Vi's too strong to let that happen. But as Dev looks down at her, bares his teeth and growls, for the first time in the fight she feels vulnerable. Soon, she grabs his head with both hands and drives his forehead into the pavement to her right, then pushes him aside and gets up.
"Sicko," Vi says. She'd never been that physically close to a vampire. It sickened her. Though their bodies were only in contact ten seconds, it felt like an eternity. She nails his nose with two left jabs, then adds a right kick to the groin. Dev groans and limps away. Vi pursues. Dev blocks her right hook, grabs both her arms and pushes her away.
"Sorry if I created a misperception. I won't do to you what I did to Hilda." Dev blocks a leaping right roundhouse with both arms. Vi blocks his left cross and nails him with a right uppercut. Dev responds by kicking her in the stomach with his left foot, landing a right hook to her face when she leans forward, and putting her down for the first time with a right kick to the chin. "Apparently you never heard of Hilda. She was a Slayer for a week. Before I killed her." Dev attacks when Vi stands up, but she blocks his left jab, ducks his right cross and sends him back with a right kick to the chest. She doesn't know if he's lying. The information, if true, would be mildly disconcerting.
"Guess what, loser? I've been a Slayer for almost a year."
"How does killing a Slayer make me a loser?"
"Me kicking your ass makes you a loser."
"Then what are you waiting for, pet? Come and get me." Vi flies forward and knocks Dev down with a right kick to the chest.
"Daddy? How do you kill a Slayer," Leks asks after Spike throws her on the bed. They're in Buenos Aires in 1984.
"By trying," he coyly replies, running his right hand up her left leg and unbuttoning her blouse with his left hand.
"I mean it."
"You're not thinking of - ?"
"Not tomorrow. But someday. And I wanna be ready. Who says only the guys in this family get to have fun."
"I'm not fun," Spike asks as he takes off his shirt and leans down to kiss her. Elektra laughs and puts her hands to his chest.
"You know what I mean. I'm a Cosmo Vampire. I can do anything a man can. And more."
"Amen to that," Spike replies, leaning in to kiss her neck.
"Oh, Spike!" Then she changes moods and pushes him away. "Tell me how. Give me a lesson." Spike smiles.
"You want a lesson? Have fun."
"I do! Always. How does that help," she asks, confused and annoyed.
"Have fun with the Slayer. Don't be scared. Just enjoy it. Try to prolong the moment," he says, kissing her stomach as she giggles. "And prolong it, and prolong it, and prolong it," he adds while she moans. "Until the Slayer can't take it any more. Then you have her." Elektra laughs and sits up, fiddling with Spike's hair.
"Tell me again."
Rona knocks Leks to the ground, then kicks her in the stomach. Elektra gets up, lands a right kick to the Slayer's right knee, then spins and connects with a right roundhouse to her head, knocking Rona down. "This is getting tedious," Elektra taunts. "Maybe we should take a break. Get something to eat." Rona is bothered by the vampire's insouciance. It's almost as if Elektra doesn't respect her.
"You've had your last meal," Rona vows.
"Is that so?" Rona lowers her head, charges forward and takes Elektra down. She lands several punches to the vampire's face and drives the back of her skull into the pavement twice before Leks grabs both her arms and pushes her off. When she gets up, Rona nails her with a right kick. Leks blocks a left kick, lands a right kick to the Slayer's stomach and tries a forward flip kick which Rona backs away from. Leks then does a back flip when the Slayer attacks. Rona tries a right cross, but Elektra does a forward flip over her head and tries a right reverse kick that Rona blocks. When Leks turns, she is met with a right cross.
"This ain't gymnastics."
"What's the matter, Rona? Can't stake a girl if she moves too fast?"
Vi lands a right kick to Dev's stomach, then a right roundhouse to his head, follow by two right hooks to his head. He staggers back, but doesn't go down. She takes out her stake, but when he bends his knees and puts his fists up she realizes he's not beaten yet. "Be honest, Vi. Has a guy ever gone this long with you?" His smile indicates he's still enjoying this, which infuriates the Slayer. She does a forward hand-spring and kicks Dev in the chest, knocking him down. Dev rolls to his feet, spins and tries a right hook kick that she blocks. He ducks her right hook kick and lands a left uppercut. She responds with a left jab, but he ducks her right cross and lands a left hook. She answers with a swift left roundhouse and moves in for the kill. He grabs her left arm when she tries a jab and throws her towards a street lamp. She grabs the pole with both hands, spins counter-clockwise and flies at Dev with a right kick. He ducks down low, but after flying past him Vi lands on her feet and lands a left reverse kick to his back. She then grabs his hair and slams Devlin's forehead into the lamp post. He blunders around, apparently woozy, but ducks a left cross and a right hook before grabbing her right foot when she tries a kick. Vi does a back flip to get free. Dev charges in, takes a right hook and grabs her shoulders, head-butting Vi in the nose. She responds with a right kick to his face. She blocks his right hook and lands a right jab, followed by two left hooks. Dev lunges forward as if trying to tackle her, wraps his right arm around her body, picks her up, spins round and slams her back into the street, his right hand pushing down on her chest, feeling her heart throb and her lungs expand and contract.
"It's a shame I gotta kill you," he says. "We're so good together." Vi takes hold of his right wrist with her left hand and pulls back his fingers with her left hand, threatening to break them. Dev stands up and extricates himself, allowing Vi to stand.
"Fucking amazing," Elektra says as she lies on her back and looks up at Spike. "That's the problem. I try to find a guy of my own, but none of them can live up to you."
"Maybe I should dial it back," he jokes.
"Don't you dare." Leks rolls over, puts Spike on his back, slashes his chest with her nails and licks up the blood.
"Duck." Leks appears confused, and stops licking.
"If you want me to go down, you don't have to use a code word."
"No," Spike chuckles, caressing her long hair with his left hand and pulling her head towards his so their faces are only a few inches apart. "It's a tip for fighting a Slayer. Remember to duck."
"When?"
"You'll know."
"And I thought mummy was the cryptic one," she says before kissing him.
"That's your problem Lex," Rona says to Leks. "All you ever do is run. You scared to stand up and fight?" That provokes Leks, who always feared her speed made her susceptible to quick retreats. She attacks. Rona backs up, blocking a left jab, ducking a right cross, blocking a right hook and nailing Leks in the chin with a right uppercut and right kick, followed by a left hook kick and right roundhouse. Elektra goes down and puts her hands over her heart to protect against a staking. Rona grabs the vampire's hair with her right hand, picks her up and drives her head into the conical metal top to the post of a chain-link fence, dazing Elektra and leaving a large red mark on her forehead just above her left eye. Sensing an opportunity, Rona goes to work, landing left and right hooks to Elektra's ribs, then left and right hooks to her face. Leks braces her arms against the top of the fence and swings her right leg upward, but Rona backs away from the kick before storming back in to add a right jab to the body, left hook to the face, right uppercut to the chin and right hook to Elektra's right eye, following this up with a right kick. As she pulls her leg back, Rona takes out her stake with her right hand and makes a back hand stab for Elektra's heart. Leks, is using her arms to hold herself up, so she can't block the stake. Instead, she bends her knees and lets her body slip towards the ground, allowing her heart to "duck" the stake, which lands three inches too high, at the base of Elektra's neck. Rona looks at the wound and is shocked and disappointed.
"You missed me bitch," Elektra screams before hitting Rona's face with the back of her right hand.
"I've been thinking about those guys who attacked us," Dev says while sparing with Spike. "Buncha white racists fighting vampires. Connection?" Spike lands a left jab. "I think so." Spike connects with a right hook. "They don't like the blacks taking over their neighborhoods. But they can't fight the blacks, cause the black gangs have guns." Dev backs away from a right cross. "So, instead, they fight the vampires, who don't have guns. Maybe fighting vampires is actually safer than a gang war." Spike grabs Dev and hurls him into the wall.
"Will you shut your gourd?"
"What if we got guns? We'd be unstoppable."
"We ARE unstoppable." Spike lands a right cross. "Now shut the bloody hell up. You can't kill a Slayer with a gun."
"I don't see why not." Spike slaps his son with his left hand and punches him with his right fist.
"What's the bloody point? What's the bloody point?"
"To make her dead?" Spike knocks his son down with a left jab.
"To make your reputation. Shoot her, and you become a laughingstock and get called a coward."
"I suppose you have a point," Dev concedes after rising to his feet. "In the grand scheme, Slayer killing is pointless since another takes her place. The only benefit would accrue to the killer in the form of increased esteem." Spike shakes his head.
"Why do I bother with you, boy?"
"Because I'm brilliant?" Spike kicks him in the stomach.
"Cuz you're family. Course, I wouldn't believe that if I hadn't been there myself," he jokes. "Now attack."
"When you're expecting it? I'm no idiot."
"It's a demonstration."
"Demonstration seems to be a word for kicking my ass."
"How else will you learn? If you've had enough, we can call this off."
"No. I'm fine. You haven't even hurt me." Spike lowers his arms. Dev lands a left jab and winds up for a right hook, but Spike beats him to the punch and lands three powerful right hooks, knocking Dev down. "Okay. Maybe now you hurt me a little," he jokes. Spike helps his son up.
"Just about everyone drops their left when they go for a right hook. That's the opening. Just like wut Schmelling did to Joe Louis."
"Yes, but without the racial and nationalist overtones."
"Now you try it."
"You're expecting it."
"I'll play dumb."
"Play," Dev asks with a smirk, causing Spike to pop him in the mouth.
"Watch your mouth. Don't talk big unless you can back it up."
"Oh, I can back it up."
"We'll see." Spike connects with a left jab. Dev hesitates, and Spike lands a right hook, knocking Dev down. "Cum on!"
"Sorry. It's a timing issue."
"We'll try again." This time, Dev takes the jab and lands his right hook, though Spike backs away from the follow-up punches. "Not good enough. You gotta hit harder, or the Slayer will have your bloody head."
"You're not a Slayer. You don't look anything like a Slayer. It's hard to pretend. Maybe with Alexa - "
"Alexa's NOTHING like a Slayer," Spike angrily insists, disgusted by the comparison. The thought that he sired Alexa to have a worshipful Slayer-substitute to shag is sickening to him.
"I just meant cause she's a teenage girl. Relax."
"I'll relax when you're able to defend yourself. Take three." Spike mixes it up, throwing two jabs before the hook, as Joe Louis did. Dev takes the first jab, ducks the second and lands a powerful right hook, staggering Spike. Two more right hooks knock him down. Spike smiles. "Now you're gettin' it!" Spike leaps to his feet and hugs the boy, then playfully puts him in a headlock and slams Dev's skull into the wall.
Vi knocks Dev back with a left roundhouse to the chest. She follows this up with a left jab, right cross and straight right hook to the chin. "You got fire," Dev tells her. Vi kicks him in the stomach with her right foot, but Dev blocks a left kick to his face. "I like fire." She lands a left jab, but he preempts her right hook with two of his own, putting Spike's lesson to use. She ducks the third right hook, but he puts Vi on her back with a left uppercut. "Are we having fun yet," he asks as he circles her. When he tries to kick her while she's down, Vi grabs his right foot and pulls him down. After they both get up, Dev blocks a left hook and right cross and tries a right kick. Vi sweeps his left leg, taking Dev down. While he's down, she lands a left cross to his face, grabs his head with both hands and slams his face into her right knee.
"NOW we're having fun." Dev gets up. He's more battered than Vi, though both are tired and hurting.
"All it takes is one mistake," Dev remembers Spike telling him, as both encouragement and warning. The two fighters step forward and back a few times, testing each other and looking for an opening.
"Who's gonna lead," Dev asks with a smirk. Vi interprets Devlin's caution as fear, and attacks. He blocks a right kick and ducks under a left kick. She blocks a left jab and ducks a right hook before connecting with a swift right roundhouse kick. Dev responds by ducking his head down, landing a left punch to her stomach and trying a lunging right cross. She steps back from the punch and nails his nose with a right kick. Vi follows this up with a right hook, beating Dev's left jab. This was the opening she needed. The Slayer follows up with two left hooks and a right uppercut. Dev blocks a left hook kick, but Vi responds by landing a right roundhouse kick. Dev spins round but stays on his feet. Vi takes her stake in her right hand and raises her arm. Now Dev sees his opening. He reaches his right arm across his body and grabs the stake when its point is six inches from his chest. With his left hand, he grabs her right shoulder and pushes, spinning her around. As she spins counter-clockwise, Dev rips the stake from her hand and flips it so the point faces the other way. Dev steps forward and drives the stake down so that it strikes her body just as Vi spins round, before she has a chance to react. The point cuts through her sternum and plunges into her heart.
Dev puts his left hand under her back, holding Vi up and gaping at what he has done. He drops the stake and instinctively leans forward and puts his mouth to her wound, gorging on the blood. It's the first human blood he's tasted in five months, and Slayer blood at that. It proves too rich, and Dev quickly feels lighthead and lies down next to Vi, just to her right. On her face is a look of shock, the product of an incredibly swift and entirely unexpected defeat. She truly never saw it coming. Never even had an inkling.
Thirty feet away, Rona and Elektra were locked in stalemate. "Ya know, this was great for a while, but now it's getting tedious," Leks quips. Rona shuts her up with a right hook.
"Don't worry, honey. I'll end it real soon," Rona promises, adding a left kick to the stomach and a right roundhouse kick to the face. Leks blocks a right hook and lands one of her own. Rona grabs the vampire and head-butts her. She blocks Elektra's right hook kick and right roundhouse follow-up, and lands a left kick to the vampire's face. Rona moves in for a right cross. Leks backs away from a left uppercut and pops the Slayer with a left jab-left hook combination. Rona spins round, and sees Vi on the ground, motionless, with a giant red wound on her chest. She can't believe her eyes, and momentarily forgets about the vampire behind her. "What happened," she asks her dead best friend as she stands there. Elektra takes advantage of this distraction, wrapping her arms around Rona, pinning the Slayer's arms to her body so that she is defenseless while Leks sinks her teeth into the right side of Rona's neck. She cries out in pain, but falls to her knees and loses strength before she can free her arms and try to save herself. For Elektra, this is one of those life-transforming, slow-motion, out-of-body moments, like when Spike bit her. After Rona's heart stops and Leks has sucked out all the blood she can, she stands up and sees her brother on the ground. She also sees Vi, and smiles.
"We did it! We did it," she yells, jumping up and down. "Dev. Yo, bro, what's wrong?" He doesn't say anything. She grabs his left arm and yanks him to his feet. Dev takes a few steps forward, doubles over and hurls, expelling the blood he just drank. Leks can't believe what she's seeing. "You bulimic or something?"
"She didn't deserve this. Neither of them did. But Buffy put them here," he declares, trying in vain to deflect blame. "She made us do this to them. She makes these girls die for her. This is her doing." Dev removes Vi's shoes.
"No it's not. We won. She'll be pissed. Which is great!" After all these years of Buffy hurting Elektra's family, she's overjoyed to be getting some payback.
"It's not like she doesn't have other girls. Will Buffy even miss them," Dev asks as he remove Vi's top.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Killing is pointless. Both sides get destroyed in the end. Doesn't Buffy realize that?" Dev pulls down Vi's pants.
"Dev, we just did the coolest thing in history. Enjoy the moment. Whoa. This Slayer blood's kicking in. This is better than sex. Actually, it would be even better with sex. Where are my boys? Oh, boys?" The vampires had kept their distance. None of them expected Dev and Leks to win, and they still can't believe their eyes. The four of them hover over Rona, half-expecting her to rise. These two Slayers had seemed all-powerful. Now they were inert, like the helpless human victims they strove to save.
"Why can't we all just get along," Devlin wonders. "I mean, us and them. Not those urchins," he adds, gesturing to the vampires they saved. "We could make each other happy. Buffy knows that better than anyone. She's such a hypocrite."
"She fucks the dead. And from the looks of it, so do you. Hey, whatever floats your boat." Dev becomes alarmed.
"You think I would violate her," Dev asks, shocked, as he jams the bloody stake in between Vi's legs.
"Why else would you take her clothes off?"
"It's a thing that warriors do."
"Whatever. We won!" She jumps up and hugs him. He pushes her away.
"Funny. Victory doesn't usually feel like this."
"It's that Debbie bitch. She's brainwashed you."
"The city is yours, Leks. Bring in more vampires. Turn this into the center of resistance. Make Buffy send more and more Slayers to put us down. Make Cleveland her ulcer." Dev puts his shirt back on walks up to the vampires, who are grateful for his efforts yet unsettled by his erratic behavior. He takes the two cameras, his umbrella and his coat. "I don't even like you people. And yet I risked my life to save yours. That's war for you." He starts to walk away, by Elektra chases him down.
"You're going back to her."
"You think this changes anything?"
"It changes everything. You're with the good guys now."
"You mean the bad guys."
"Don't go putting down your own kind."
"I thought you revelled in being bad?"
"Shut up! My point is . . . look at what you did." She tries to make him, but he turns his head away. "Hey! We made history. Is a smile too much to ask for?"
"We did what we had to. Have fun with your new friends." Dev runs off, commandeers the limo, and takes it to the airport. On the way, he makes a phone call. "I just found two dead girls. I think they were murdered."
Back at the scene of the crime, the vampires try to bite Rona, but Elektra stops them. "You want a taste? Lick it up. Lick . . . It . . . Up." They look at the puddle of vomited blood. Then they look at the Slayer Killer. They decide it's best to obey. "That's right. Lap it up like dogs. Cause you are dogs. My dogs. I saved your lives. That means I own your asses." Elektra is experiencing her first stirrings of omnipotence, and she likes it.
Devlin wasn't sure if a flight back would be available by the time he finished his work. The last direct flight left at eight, and those routed through Chicago left Cleveland by half past ten. So he used his ample bank account to charter a Gulfstream jet. He thought he would be enjoying his triumph. But all he felt was guilt. He knew he had betrayed Deb. And even if he got away with it, this secret would haunt him.
Rona and Vi were twenty minutes late. Robin thought of calling them, but decided to let them have their fun and not nag them while they were on their dates. The two of them had certainly earned the right to have a little unsupervised fun. Then the phone rang. Like a parent, Wood sensed trouble. A chill went through his body. When he answered, a cop friend of his was on the other end. Not a good sign. "Rob, I don't know how to tell you this . . . " He collapses into a chair.
"I'll be right there." He drops the phone, and remembers the night twenty eight years ago when his mother's Watcher came with the bad news. Before long, the grief would cascade across the Atlantic, to Giles, and Gretchen, and Buffy.