CHAPTER 2 - WELCOME TO THE MYSTIC VOID
"There's a car approaching the gate, sir". Crackled the voice in the radio.
Sergeant Jeff Higgins sighed and lay the newspaper on the table in the guard house. It was one o'Clock in the morning and well past curfew. He had been expecting an easy shift tonight and was in no mood to deal with trivialities. He grabbed the radio on the table.
"Can you not deal with it yourselves, Davis?."
There was a short hesitation from the other end.
"I think you should come and see this, sir. The windows appear to be blacked out. It doesn't look right."
Reluctantly, Higgins stood up, put on his combat helmet and picked up his rifle. Sighing again, he walked outside into the dimly lit street. Shiverering in the cool November air, he joined the other two sector cops standing by the barrier of the road block in front of the high gate marking the entrance into the inner-city area of Seattle. Like Higgins, both his men were dressed in black police fatigues. All three cops were armed with automatic rifles.
A dark coloured car was slowly approaching them. The windows were indeed blacked out. Higgins frowned. This was indeed suspicious.
"Have your weapons ready. Davis, halt the car!"
Davis stepped in front of the car. Bathed in the light of the shining headlamps, he held out one hand.
The car came obediently to a halt. Higgins knocked on the window. There was no answer. He raised his rifle and stepped back. Davis and the third officer, Jennings, also covered the car with their rifles.
"Whoever is in there, we have you covered. Come out slowly with your hands up!" Shouted Higgins firmly.
The door opened and a medium height man in his twenties with short spiky blond hair climbed out. He was wearing a black leather jacket and black Doc Martin boots. Higgins' first thought was that these would suit his teenage son very well. He began to hope that the civilian did not have correct ID. Some convenient confiscation may be in order.
The blond man leaned back against the car and casually lit a cigarette. He looked at the silhouettes of the run down buildings and makeshift houses on the other side of the nearby ten foot fence which marked the border of the inner-city.
"So this is Seattle. What a dump!" Speaking with an English accent, he grinned taking a drag from his fag. "Just my sort of place."
All three cops aimed their rifles at him nervously.
"Show us some ID. But slowly." Demanded Higgins.
The blond man took another drag from his cigarette and threw it to the ground before grinding the butt into the dirt with his boot. Then he spread his arms out and smiled.
"Don't have any, mate."
"OK. Hands against the car." He nodded to Jennings and Davis. They rushed forward, grabbed the man and pushed him harshly face down against the car. Higgins shouldered his rifles and began to search him roughly.
"Hoy. What where you're putting your hands, woofter." Said the man flinching. Davis struck him on the back with the butt of his rifle.
"Bloody, hell!". Gasped the man, staggering to his knees under the blow. Higgins pulled a wallet from the man's jacket.
"No ID." Said Higgins. He pulled out a wad of dollar notes and the packet of cigarettes. "I think we'll have to confiscate these. Could be stolen." His two colleagues laughed. Higgins pulled the man's hands behind his back and snapped a pair of hand-cuffs on them.
"OK, smart guy. You're in big trouble." He grabbed the man by his jacket and pushed him into the guard house. "You two search the car and check to see if it's stolen."
Inside the guard house, Higgins pushed the man roughly into the one of the chairs. He removed his helmet and sat in the chair opposite. He took out a note book.
"Name?"
"William." Replied the man leaned back casually in the chair
"Second name?"
"Spike." The man smiled at him
"William Spike." Said Higgins doubtfully. The name seemed unusual to him. Must be an English name.
"Age?" Asked Higgins, continuing his questioning.
"I don't really keep count. But I would say about one hundred and forty."
Higgins sighed. Clearly he had a real wide ass on his hands. He stood up and moved beside the man who grinned up at him.
"They say I look young for my age. Any chance of a fag?"
Higgins had no patience for this. He struck the man on the face with the back of his hand. The man's head was thrown to one side by the harsh blow.
"OK, wise guy. What's your real name?" He put his hand on his police baton threateningly. The blond man smirked. He obviously did not take any of this seriously. Higgins would just have to teach him a lesson in respect. Higgins withdrew and extended his baton, patting it menacingly on his left hand. "You better start to co-operate or you may find yourself resisting arrest. If you know what I mean."
To Higgins' shock, the man snapped the hand cuffs apart as if they were dry twigs and stood up.
"Actually, William is my real name." Said the man stepping towards him casually.
Surprised, Higgins took a step back. Before he could react further, his eyes widened as the man's face suddenly transformed. The man's eyes turned yellow and his pupils flattened into horizontal slits similar to a cat's eyes. His face lengthened into a grotesque mask as his forehead expanded outwards to form two solid bumps protruding from his skull. But, worst of all, his teeth extended and sharpened to form a row of pointed teeth and a pair of long sharp fangs.
Higgins stood frozen to the spot staring at the grotesque face in front of him. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He just stood there quivering.
Spike grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off his feet.
"My mother called me William. But my fans call me Spike."
Higgins started to choke and his limbs waved around like a rag doll.
"But you'll not have the pleasure of getting to know me." Spike brought Higgins face right up to his own. "But one of your keystone colleagues will." Then with a growl, Spike pulled Higgin's head to one side with one hand and sank his fangs into Higgin's throat.
Paralysed with shock, the cop hung there limply as Spike ripped deep into his throat and felt the delicious blood pour into his mouth and down into his gut. As Higgin's living blood pulsed through his veins, the vampire felt stronger and stronger as the cop's life force rushed into him.
But this had to be a quick kill. No time to enjoy the agony and the suffering this time. It only took a few seconds for the cop's heart to stop. Spike let the body drop as soon as his victim was dead. He had only fed on only a fraction of the cop's living blood. That was the consequence of sucking the blood in too quickly. He looked at the corpse. This one was not for siring, just a straight kill. Still that was fun enough. From outside someone was approaching the guardhouse. Spike smiled. Course number two was just on schedule. And boy did he need a good feed. It had been a long journey and he hadn't properly eaten for hours.
Meanwhile, officers Davis and Jennings had searched the car. What they found was worrying. In the trunk they discovered the fresh corpse of a pretty blond female in her teens, dressed in jeans and a red top. She was lying beside a mini refrigerator full with bags of blood.
"Look's like we've got a whacko on our hands. You'd better inform the captain." Said Davis nervously. "I'll wait here."
Jennings walked to the guard house. Davis took hold of his radio microphone attached to his helmet and made contact with the Sector Police HQ. He read out the number plate and a female police women on the other end confirmed the car was stolen.
His back was to the car, so at first he did not see the supposedly dead girl sit up from the open trunk.
"Send us back-up as soon as you can." He said as he turned round to see the young dead woman climb sluggishly from the trunk. He stopped and stared as she advanced towards. She growled at him in a deep savage voice. A voice that did not sound feminine, nor even remotely human. He let go of the microphone and stepped back in fear. He could no longer hear the voice of the police woman at the other end.
"Officer Davis. Are you still there? Can you hear me?"
He was sure girl had been dead. He had checked her pulse. But now she stood in front of him, her face deformed and two razor sharp fangs glinting in the street lights. She hadn't look like this just a moment ago. Before she seemed almost fresh and beautiful. Now she looked like a monster from hell.
Panicking with fear, Davis ran to the guard house. The female launched herself in pursuit. He reached the door and entered. He turned and managed to close it just as the female's hand clawed in the doorway. Davis slammed the door shut on her grotesque blue veined fingers with their long sharp nails. She screeched and withdrew her hand hastily. Relieved, Davis turned to speak to his colleagues. He stared in silent shock at the scene before him.
Higgins was lying in a heap on the floor. Jennings was slumped in a chair. His face was deadly pale and his mouth and eyes were wide open in an expression of terror. His head lay back revealing two red holes in his neck. Spike was sitting on the edge of the table wearing his human face and smoking a fag.
"Hello Davis. My name is Spike. I believe you have met Lucy. We will be getting to know you intimately in the next few moments."
Davis' eyes widened in terror.
Spike raised his eyes to the ceiling.
"I don't mean like that. I'm not going to roger you." Said Spike standing up. "I'm not called Angel, after all". At that point, Davis remembered his rifle. He Pressed the trigger frantically and the gun jolted in his hands as he emptied the whole magazine.
Needless to say, this was not part of Spike's master plan. As the bullets slammed into every part of his body at high velocity, in quick succession and at close range, Spike found himself dancing and spinning around uncontrollably like a string puppet. The salvo only lasted a few short seconds, but for Spike it seemed like a lot longer as each individual bullet caused him to grunt and jolt from the searing pain as the bullets struck his chest, his back, his arms, his legs and his stomach.
When the last bullet struck him full in the groin, Spike collapsed like a rag doll crashing through the wooden table in a heap on the floor.
Davis stood motionless as Spike lay still among the remains of the shattered table. He did not seem to hear the voice from the radio.
"Officer Davis. Are you there? Please report your situation."
Spike began to move among the splintered remains of the table. Davis, wide eyed, retreated slowly.
"Bloody hell! That hurt!" Cried Spike sitting up. Feeling a sharp pain in his back, he patted the back of his left shoulder and removed a sharp splinter that was lodged there.
"Now that was too bloody close for comfort." He looked up at Davis, who stood there unable to believe his eyes. "You almost dusted me, you git!"
Before Davis could react further, Lucy burst in from behind and grabbed Davis round the chest and gleefully sank her fangs into his neck. He cried out briefly.
Held in Lucy's vice like grip as she drained him of his blood, he could only watch as Spike slowly stood up and brushed himself down.
Spike was relieved Lucy had not seen the shooting incident. That would have been embarrassing.
"Look what you've done to my jacket, you prick."
Having recovered his composure, he brushed back his peroxide blond hair with one hand and watched Lucy as she fed on the petrified cop.
"That's enough, my girl. We'll need this one for later." Spike transformed into his vamp face.
Lucy lifted her head and grinned with delight. Spike grabbed Davis and ripped off his microphone, silencing the voice from the radio. As Lucy held Davis' head to one side, Spike growled and sank his fangs into the cop's neck, sucking the blood out eagerly.
Just as Davis' heart was about to stop, Spike stopped feeding and stood back. He slashed his own wrist with his finger nails and let the blood drip into Davis' mouth. Davis choked on the blood pouring down his throat, swallowed and slumped down in Lucy's arms. They let the corpse collapse to the ground. Spike smiled and changed to his human face. The siring was successful.
In the distance they could hear the sound of sirens. Time to go.
"Why did we not change the others?" Asked Lucy
This was a really irritating question.
"Don't ask bloody stupid questions." Replied Spike. "I know who will make the strongest vampires."
That was true, but he did not explain that Davis would actually make the weakest vampire. Jennings had resisted the siring, an occurrence that happens more often than vampires would like to admit, especially when they were in a mystic void. Higgins would have made a strong vampire indeed, as is the case with most middle age humans. But Spike needed followers, not rivals to his authority. And he was not about to admit that, especially to a newly raised vampire like Lucy.
Spike collected all the cash from the cops. That would keep him supplied with the essentials for some time. Fags, beer and, where necessary, blood. Then he flicked the switch on the wall to open the gates.
"Where do we hunt now? I'm still hungry". Asked Lucy as they walked to the car. Spike went over to the car trunk and collected the blood. Spike threw her one of the bags.
"Make do with this. And stop moaning." Lucy sneered at him in disgust, still in her vamp face.
Then picking up a gas fuel tank from the trunk, Spike doused the car in petrol. He lit a cigarette, took one drag and threw it on the car. As he walked through the open gate into the city, the car exploded into a fireball behind him. Lucy looked at it, and then hurried after Spike.
From the darkness, they looked back to see police cars arriving at the guard house. They'd timed it perfectly. Three kills, his fill of blood and a bundle of cash. Now to find a place to crash. It was so easy. Well, apart from being riddles with bullets, including one right in the knackers. And almost being accidentally staked. But then Spike had always lived on the edge. And he had always been able to ride his luck.
They walked through the streets. The buildings and roads were in disrepair. Here and there some tramps were warming themselves by flames lit in barrels and other containers. The city really was in an economic mess, just like the rest of the country. The chaos would provide the perfect cover for Spike.
"We could take one of these." Said Lucy, pointing to a lone tramp.
"Not here." Grunted Spike. "We need to scarper before the pigs turn up."
"Huh?" She mumbled, looking at him with a dim look on her face. Spike shook his head. Look's like he had another Harmony on his hands. He could tell that she was really going to annoy him. It was inevitable.
"If we stay here we will get caught." He said in a very slow and patronising voice. She seemed to understand that. She nodded. She looked around.
"What is this place?" She asked. Spike smiled in reply.
"This is Seattle, babe. This is where the electromagnetic bomb went off." She looked at him questioningly. "It was from here that I was set free. It was here that allowed Spike to say goodbye to Mr Chip."
She looked at him idiotically, still in her vamp face, mouth hanging open. Another stupid blond bint, thought Spike to himself. Although he realised that she could not possibly know what he was talking about.
Some terrorists had let off an electromagnetic bomb in Seattle a few years before. This had wiped out all electronically stored data causing chaos in the USA and much of the world. The country had still not recovered from the depression that followed. The human Lucy would almost certainly have been aware of these facts. But she would not know about Spike's chip.
For Spike, the effect was significant. The bomb had freed him from Willow's binding spell and neutralised the chip that prevented him from harming humans. From that day, the Big Bad was back.
"Never mind. Now put your pretty face on for uncle Spike." He said. She changed her face to human form and beamed at him with her pretty smile. "That's my girl". He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
Yes, this was Seattle. No Helllmouth. No Demons. No Slayers. The Big Bad would probably be the only real vamp in the city. (Lucy being a newly raised blond dimwit, naturally didn't count). He smiled at the thought. No Buffy. He frowned a little. And no Willow. He shivered at that thought. Unusual for vampires who don't feel the cold.
Lucy obviously noticed his discomfort. "What's wrong, Spike?"
"Nothing's wrong". He snapped. Then, more tenderly. "There should be easy pickings here. We have the whole town to ourselves." That he believed was true. He took her hand and they walked arm in arm into the shadows of the inner city.
Back in the guard house, the pages of Sergeant Higgins' newspaper were flipped over from a gust of air as armed police burst in on the scene of the slaughter. A moment later, the pages settled and lay open on one of the pages with a headline and a story that may have worried Spike if he had seen it. The headline read "Further Mutant Attacks reported".
This was Seattle in 2020. It was a Mystic Void, where there was almost zero mystical energy. The very opposite of a Hell Mouth. Here, there were no demons, slayers or vengeful witches to worry about. But Spike was soon to find out that Seattle had its own share of super humans and monsters. For in the Mystic Void of Seattle, the transgenics were waiting.