7

It was about 45 minutes before sunrise, on a Saturday morning. I was inside my room in the Sunnydale Motor Lodge, when I received that frantic call on my cell phone from Dylan McKay.

I asked him, "Why are you calling me about this?"

"You're the only other vampire I know Val. You might be able to give me some advice."

"Well," I told him, "If you don't want Kelly to burn up into cinders when the sun rises, you'll have to let her into your house."

"But she's now a hungry vampire. If I let her in, she might try to kill me for nourishment, or Brenda."

I said, "Then you or Brenda'll just have to ram a sharp wooden stake through her heart."

"Val, it's not a joke. I don't want to kill Kelly. Neither does Brenda."

"Yeah." I said, "That's a real toughie isn't it?"

"'A toughie'?" He shouted, "What are you, making a joke about it?"

"Dylan." I asked, "You wouldn't just happen to have a pint bottle of pigs' blood in your refrigerator, would you?"

"Pigs' blood? In my fridge? Val! Stop making jokes!"

"Okay. Listen carefully. There's a six-pack of bottled pigs' blood' in the fridge in my office in the AfterDark. You can drive on over there, pick them up, and if you leave now, you can be back to your place, and in time to feed Kelly, before sunrise."

"I can't drive over. If I step outside she'll pounce on me."

"Like I said, you got a real toughie there."

In the background, I heard Brenda's voice. I couldn't understand her words. Dylan said something inaudible to her. She said something to him. Then he spoke over the cell phone to me.

"Listen Val. Brenda says I should toss my keys out the window to Kelly, so she can drive on over herself."

"Good idea. Just one thing Dylan..."

His voice was away from the phone again. Then he didn't speak to me for a minute or so.

Then he said, "It's okay Val. I tossed my keys out the window. Kelly's just drove off in my car. She'll be able to get into the AfterDark, and get the pigs' blood. Things'll be okay."

He clicked off his phone before I could say, "No they won't Dylan."

About a half-hour later my cell phone rang again. I answered.

"Valerie." The caller said, "It's Dylan. I just got a call from Kelly. She's inside your office in the AfterDark, but your refrigerator is locked."

"I tried to warn you," I told him, "but you hung up. I locked the fridge so no one would find the pigs blood. I didn't want anyone to find out I was a vampire."

He said, "And I bet you're the only one who has the key."

"No." I told him, "There is a duplicate."

"And where's that?"

"I'm not telling."

"What kind of game is this?"

"I'm not telling anyone where it is, until you cancel the reward for my arrest."

"Okay. Consider it canceled."

"No Dylan. I know how you are. I'm not telling you where it is, 'til I hear it on the News, that you've canceled the reward."

Then I hung up.

Let them sweat, I thought, I can wait. I've got all day.

All day to do what? To be stuck here inside this motel room, on the outskirts of Sunnydale?

I could check out the action in the Demonic Gladiator Games video.

I had the video that I'd got from Willy in my handbag. I slid it into the player and switched the TV to channel 3. Then I played the video.

I watched the "Valhalla Games". I saw an armed battle on an athletic field, between two teams of warrior men and women, armed with swords, spears and shields, fighting to the death between two goal posts. It was a truly bloody massacre. They counted the number of people killed, and the number wounded, along with the goals, to reach the final score. When the game ended, the head of every dead player was impaled on a stake, and a losing team's cheerleader was hanging from the winning team's goal post; and she wasn't the only dead cheerleader, or fan.

Then the video jumped ahead a few hours, to show all the headless demon warriors rising up. They walked over to the stakes. Each one picked up his or her head, and put it back on. Then the hanged cheerleader was brought down. The noose was removed from her neck, and she got back up on her feet. Then all those who had been killed said good-night, and went on their way home.

Before this, I would have been revolted by the whole thing; but now, as a vampire, I loved every minute of it. I was sure that if we showed a live, closed circuit cable broadcast of this event, at the AfterDark, we could charge $1000 a pop, and the place would be packed.

The video had lasted about two and a half-hours. When it ended, the time was almost 9 o'clock. This was gonna be a very long day.

I again switched to the 24-hour news from L.A.

They repeated the same story about Kelly's disappearance, and that I was the chief suspect. They said nothing about the reward, but they also did not say that it had been canceled.

My phone rang.

"Val. It's Dylan. I just got a call from Kelly. She's still inside the AfterDark, but she's starving. She says she's ready to go outside and pounce on the first person she sees. I need to know where the duplicate key is now."

"And I need to hear a News report, that you canceled the reward. They didn't say a word about it."

"I told them Val."

Then I asked, "Has Kelly told you who killed her?"

"Yes. She says it was a vampire named Harmony."

"Yeah. I know her. They do not call her 'Harm' for nothing. I'm finally off the hook."

"No you aren't." He said, "This Harmony told Kelly, that you put her up to it."

Wouldn't you know it? I thought, I've just been through the very worst night, followed by the very worst morning, to top off the very worst week of my entire life!

I bellowed. "What do you mean I put her up to it?"

"Did you tell Harmony that you wished you could bite all of us except Donna, and the one you wanted to kill most was Kelly?"

I wondered if I should tell him that I wasn't being serious, but Harmony obviously thought that I was.

What I did say was, "I'm exercising my right against self incrimination."

"Go right ahead." He told me, "Kelly'll be exercising her right, to bring an indictment against Harmony, and you'll also be named in the indictment, as a co-conspirator."

"Wait Dylan. I'll make it up to her."

"How can you possibly do that?"

"Call her, and ask her if she'll be willing to forget any charge against me, if I help her get all the pigs' blood she'll ever need."

"You mean you'll tell her where the key is?"

"Dylan. There is no duplicate key."

"Then you can forget about her dropping the charges."

"You don't need any key!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You spoiled, pampered, Beverly Hills dilettantes, must be the only people in Los Angeles, who don't know that you can buy all the pigs' blood, that any vampire could possibly need, in every single butcher shop in the City"
I hung up.

Now what? By now the desk clerk of this Motel, along with that guy named Oz, and all those other guys who'd seen me in Willy's Place, must have I.D'd me to the police. That Lieutenant Colombo's probably on his way here with an arrest warrant in his pocket.

I'm gonna need a Lawyer.

I looked through the Vampire's Handbook, and found Wolfram and Hart's number again. I picked up my cell phone and called them, dialing Lindsey McDonald's extension once more. The time was 9:10 AM. Now he was at work.

He said, "Good morning Miss Malone. I just heard your voice mail."

I told him, "And I've just heard from Dylan McKay. Kelly Taylor has revived as a vampire. She's accused Harmony of killing her, and Harmony accused me of putting her up to it."

Mr. McDonald said, "Don't worry about it Miss Malone. That's just hearsay. It won't be allowed in Court."

"Thank you for saying that," I told him, "But I'm sure it's not that easy for me to just walk away from the whole thing."

"No it isn't Miss Malone. If you want Wolfram and Hart's help, it's going to be very costly."

"I figured that." I asked, "Can you give me an estimate of the cost?"

"Your entire interest in the AfterDark Nightclub."

"My entire interest? So that's what this is all about huh? Right from the beginning? Even before Spike bit me?"

"Exactly. You have a choice Miss Malone. Sign over your entire interest in the AfterDark to us, and you can continue to exist as a creature of the night. If you refuse, you'll be burning up in the daylight, before the sun sets today."

So repent you sinners.