CHAPTER 3 - CRASH
Spike sucked in one last mouthful of blood and let the old man fall to the ground. He looked disgusted at the unkempt corpse dressed in rags and lit a cigarette.
"Well, that really was quite revolting." He said to himself and took a drag, trying to get the after-taste out his mouth.
He looked around the abandoned basement that constituted his layer. On an old couch, Lucy was feeding noisily from an old women. In a corner of the room, three other vampires were feasting on the blood of a man in tramp's clothes, one feeding from the neck and the other two from the wrists.
He looked over to Lucy again. She had just slit her own wrists with her long nails and was letting her blood dribble into the old women's mouth. Spike smiled at her vain attempt at siring.
"It won't work, you know. I keep telling you. Only uncle Spike can sire here." He said looking down at her.
"But why not?" Asked Lucy looking up at him despondent. It's exactly what you do."
Spike took another drag on his cigarette. Normally he would have rebuked her with a sarcastic comment. But tonight he was a bit depressed. For once he told her the truth.
"This is a Mystic Void, love." He sighed. "There is no mystical energy here. You'd have to be a vamp for least fifty years to sire in this dump." He looked at the body of the old woman. "Anyway, we don't want any more vamp trash. We have enough already."
He looked across at the other three vampires whom he'd had the dubious honour of siring. All three were youngish homeless types. But none had any spirit and all three had given up too easily, without a whimper. They were all obedient. Too obedient and too dull. But, at least there was no threat of receiving a stake in the back as was usually the case.
Unusually for Spike, things in Seattle had gone without a hitch since his arrival, even if the incidents at the checkpoint and at the hospital were a bit hairy. Yup! It wasn't as exciting and dangerous as Sunnydale. But at least it was safe here.
"And ruddy boring!" He said to himself. Lucy looked up at him from the couch with that stupid expression on her face, questioning him with her eyes.
"You know", he continued. "I think its time we were a bit more adventurous. I'm fed up with tramps and runaways. Its time we treated ourselves to something with more…. quality. "He looked across at the other vamps. "And a bit more life." Spike smiled. "Yup! Its time to let everyone know that the Big Bad is in town."
Lucy got up, her hideous vamp face even more wrinkled by a frown.
"But Spike, you said we had to keep a low profile."
That was true. He had said it continuously, and had meant it. And Lucy had at lat last come to accept it, despite being rebellious at first. But things had been ridiculously easy here over the last couple of weeks and it was time to have some fun.
"We're vampires, love. Evil creatures of the night. Curse of mankind and all that stuff. We're supposed to kill people and cause chaos in an orgy of blood and terror. Not act like a bunch of well behaved girl guides at a Sunday School bible class."
Spike took a drag of his cigarette looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Actually, that sounds quite appealing. Crashing a Sunday school bible class."
Lucy changed into her pretty human face and smiled sweetly. Then she looked at Spike with a confused expression on her face.
"That sounds good, Spike. But where will we find a Sunday school bible class on a Thursday night?"
Spike rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that was a serious question. But from the expression on Lucy's face, apparently it was.
"You know, I think we will leave the Sunday school for another day. " Said Spike with a strong hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Perhaps, you know, for a Sunday."
"Okay, Spike. Where shall we go then?" Asked Lucy. Spike looked at her pretty face and smiled.
"Let's go to a boozer instead. We can have a beer, some crisps, a game of pool." He took another drag of his cigarette as Lucy looked at him vacantly. "Oh, and then we'll slaughter everyone and trash the place. It'll be just like old times."
Lucy smiled with glee. Although she was extremely thick, she had no problem understanding references to death and pain. Sweet really.
"Round up the lackeys, love. We're going now!" Ordered Spike, turning up the collar of his leather jacket.
"What about Davis?" Asked Lucy.
"Where is PC plod, anyway?" Asked Spike looking around, referring to the cop he had vamped on his arrival in Seattle.
"He's still out hunting with the others." Replied Lucy. "Said something about slaughtering his family."
"Typical." Grunted Spike. New vamps were always so predictable.
"Shall we wait for him?" Asked Lucy. Spike pondered this a moment.
"Nah! He's useless anyway." Spike smirked. Then smiling as Lucy giggled.
"Let's go! It's party time"
With that Spike strode out the basement, followed by Lucy. The other three obedient vamps shuffled after them. Swiftly, they walked through the dark, rubbish filled streets of the Seattle, passing the frequent groups of homeless men and women who were huddled around fires made from rubbish. These people had been their prey for the last two weeks. But not tonight.
Spike led the others into a bar called 'Crash' he had spotted a couple of days before while wandering about the streets. It was poorly lit inside and it reminded Spike a little of the Bronze in Sunnydale.
There were only a handful of customers tonight. A couple stood at the bar and a few customers sat at the various wooden tables dotted around the establishment. But it was the two attractive young women playing pool a few yards away that caught Spike's attention. One was a very pretty exotic looking white girl with dark hair, while the other was a African-American girl with a large afro style hair-do. Both wore jeans and casual tops. Spike ordered a drink and sat on a bar stool. He watched the two friends laugh and joke as they played pool. He smiled to himself.
"Look at these two." He said almost to himself. "They have spirit. That's the sort of talent we need."
The white girl won the game and strode towards the bar, swaying her well shaped hips. As Spike observed them, he considered waiting for a bit and ambushing them outside.
"Nah. Bollocks to that". He murmured. He needed some excitement after keeping low for so long. He turned to Lucy.
"I'll take the one at the pool table. You take the other one. But don't kill her before I have my share. She will be coming back with us." He turned to the others who looked at him obediently.
"When I strike, trash the place. This bar is about to become a front page headline." The others nodded.
While the other girl was at the bar, Spike wandered up to the black girl with the afro. She looked at him.
"What do you want?"
Spike grabbed the pool stick.
"I want to play." He said.
"Hey, what are doing?" Cried the dark-skinned girl and tried to grab the pool cue back. "It's not your game." He smiled gleefully as she struggled with him over the pool cue. This was more like it. Eventually he let her have the cue.
"You take your scrawny spiky haired ass somewhere else." She rebuked him scathingly.
He approached her slowly smiling, making her walk back against the pool table.
"I'm not going anywhere, honey." He said. She looked round towards her friend, still at the bar. "And either are you." With that he changed into his vamp face and launched himself at her.
To his surprise she struggled, fought and screamed out loud. Normally, humans became paralysed with fear when they first glimpsed a vamp face, but this girl pulled her head back away from his fangs and desperately tried to push him away.
"Max! Help me!" Screamed the girl.
But it was all in vain. Spike knew he was too strong for her. And after a short, but entertaining struggle, he was able to force his mouth down to her neck and sank his fangs into her flesh.
He rapidly sucked the blood out. He had to be quick. Normally he would have taken his time to savour the healthy young blood as it poured into him. But he had two sirings to do and there was a risk his vamp gang would kill the other one too quickly.
Around him he could hear the sound of fighting, violence and destruction as his vamp gang attacked the rest of the bar, smashing chairs and tables to bits. But he did not look up. He finished feeding quickly and slit his own wrist. Spike was impressed that the girl still tried to resist as he forced his wrist onto her face, although she was weakened. She certainly had spirit. But he was too strong and she was soon choking on his vamp charged blood as it poured down her throat.
From the bar he heard a girl cry "Cindy!" at the top of her voice. He looked up. He could not believe what he saw.
The bar was in a mess, with smashed tables, chairs and bottles lying everywhere. The customers and bar staff had all fled the bar. All of spike's vamp gang were attacking the friend of the black girl. Unbelievably, she was kicking their asses.
She sent one vamp flying to her left with a hard blow to the face. Then spinning round, she struck two other vamps hard with a flying kick, sending them both sprawling to the floor in front of her. Seeing Spike drop Cindy's body to the ground, she launched herself towards him at great speed.
But before she could get near him, vamp Lucy threw herself at the girl and the two females tumbled to the ground. They wrestled on the wooden floor for a moment. Lucy managed to get on top of the girl and edged her fangs towards her neck. Spike smiled. This one did have spirit.
" Don't kill her too soon!" He shouted. "Leave some for me."
But as the two girls struggled, the human suddenly grabbed a loose bit of sharp wood on the ground and thrust it deep into Lucy's back. Lucy screeched and sat bolt upright, arching her back from the blow. Wide eyed, Spike and the remaining three vampires looked on in disbelief. Then as the demon left Lucy's body with its habitual death groan, her body disintegrated into a shower of dust.
For a moment there was total silence, as Spike and the other three vamps looked on in shock.
"Bloody hell." Exclaimed Spike. "She dusted Lucy."
Spike's first assumption was that the girl was simply well trained in the martial arts. Often such fighters could better the weaker and younger vampires like Lucy and the others. But Spike was over a hundred years old and would be too strong for her. He growled and charged forward.
But before he could reach her, she sprang up on her feet like a cat. With superhuman speed and agility, she smashed Spike hard in the face with her right fist. Spike was sent hurtling through the air and ended up crashing, hard and painfully, against the pool table.
Spike sat there on the floor a moment, a bit dazed. Humans could not punch like that. There could be only one explanation. And he could not believe she was here, in Seattle, in this bar, with Spike. It seemed impossible.
The other vamps gathered round the girl growling and ready to attack. The girl held her ground, poised in readiness.
Spike got slowly to his feet smiling. This one would not get away. This time the Big Bad would get himself another scalp. He walked towards her slowly. Then, he stood in front of her grinning. He growled one word. A word he had not spoken in anger for many, many years.
"Slayer!"