Chapter 8: Best Laid Plans

As always, thanks to my betas – Jason, leathon, murg, SariLane, and Satsuma!

Upon leaving the Hotel Transylvania, Buffy immediately began to head for her motel. Weapons weren't really necessary during the daytime, so she currently had just Mr. Pointy on her. Even that was more out of habit than actual necessity. Night had fully descended, however, so it was time to break out the party favors.

Now I just need to find a party, she thought as she turned onto one of the main thoroughfares in town.

Although the Shreveport Motel was a good three miles away, she didn't mind the walk. She had extra energy to burn from the general lack of slaying. Besides, she could use the time to figure out how she wanted to handle the Watcher's Council.

Aside from some major pride swallowing, could she really play nice with them? Did she want to? She tried to think of one time, just one, when her interaction with the Council didn't end in bloodshed or betrayal or both. And she was coming up empty. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Uncle Alastair.

Then again, she didn't have many other options. Vamp-wise, she was at a dead end, and not one of those cute cul-de-sacs with basketball hoops and manicured lawns. Still, there was no guarantee that the mystery Watcher had any info on Vi.

Buffy was so deep in thought debating whether she should Council up or not that she almost didn't notice that she had walked right by the St. Charles Hotel. When it finally registered, she stopped and turned around until she was peering through the glass windows.

Not surprisingly, the St. Charles was quite the swanky establishment in that pompous, stuffy kind of way, as evidenced by the lobby full of antique furniture that didn't look remotely comfortable to sit on. Factor in the Cordelia-worthy looks of disdain the doorman was currently giving her, and the Council probably felt right at home.

She turned her attention to the few people milling about the lobby, as if she would be able to recognize Alastair Davies if he happened to be there. In reality, unless he had a sign over his head that said 'Watcher', she probably wouldn't be able to pick him out of a lineup. And yet every fiber of her being screamed in protest at the idea of walking inside the hotel and asking for him at the front desk.

Buffy straightened. This was pointless. She obviously wasn't 100% sold on this little reunion, and for good reason. If she had to work with the Council to get Vi and the others back, so be it. She wasn't going to jump into bed with them – and that was so on the metaphorical level – without thinking it through a little more, though. She just hoped she was making the right decision.

One more night, she told herself as she turned to resume her trek back to the motel. If I don't find anything else out tonight, I'll call him first thing in the morning.

And who knew? Maybe tonight would be her lucky break. After all, she had gotten an e-mail from Xander and her first bit of solid information from Elvira today. Good things always happened in threes, right? Wait, maybe that was death. Crap.

After Buffy got a few more stakes and a silver dagger back at her room, she immediately headed toward a section of town she hadn't explored the night before.

She had gotten halfway to her destination when she felt it: there was a vampire nearby. She scanned the people around her and honed in on a woman she saw a little further down the street.

Buffy knew it was a hybrid vamp; she could feel it. She hadn't had time to examine it too closely the night before, but she could now appreciate the subtle difference in her spidey sense between the two kinds of vampires. She was glad for it, too, because it was difficult enough trying to distinguish Mainstreamers from the rest without playing 20 Questions. At least something about slaying remained simple.

She began walking towards the vamp, knowing full well that she would have to wait until they were some place more secluded to confront her. Sunnydale had been small, and enough freaky things happened that the streets were pretty empty by this time of night. Not Shreveport, though. The city was alive with people, too many people. The last thing she wanted was for someone with a cell phone camera to see her cornering this vamp and go all Crimestopper on her.

The vampire soon turned off the main road onto a side street. Buffy kept her eyes sharp and her ears open as she followed her. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay too close for fear of giving herself away. She trailed at a comfortable distance as the vamp wound her way through a maze of side streets, passing the occasional person every now and then.

At the first opportunity, Buffy began to make her move. She stopped, however, when she sensed another vampire nearby. She watched as her vamp disappeared around a corner; then she heard voices, two female voices to be exact. Buffy froze and listened, catching snippets of their conversation.

"…ready for the attack on Fangtasia? Serafina wants the Sheriff to know that she's serious…"

"Will we get to feed, too?"

"We'd better!"

Just then, a group of people passed by and the vampires stopped talking. As soon as the humans were out of sight, Buffy walked around the corner to face the vamps. As interesting as their conversation was, she didn't want to risk losing them.

"Excuse me," she said brightly. "I think I got turned around. I'm looking for Texas Street. Do you know how to get there?"

The two vamps exchanged glances, failing miserably – in Buffy's opinion, at least – at hiding their delight in finding a lost and seemingly helpless human. "We're headed there ourselves," one vamp said with an insincere smile. "Why don't you come with us?"

"Great!" Buffy exclaimed as she walked within striking range. She quickly checked to make sure no one was coming near. "Hey, maybe you can help me with something else, too. I'm looking for my friend. She's about this tall, red hair, and, oh yeah, she's a Potential Slayer."

She pulled out a stake and waited for their reactions. To her immense satisfaction, both vampires instantly morphed into their game faces and snarled.

"Slayer," they both hissed as they launched themselves at her.

Buffy smirked as she dodged their initial attack. She then executed a quick snap kick and sent the vampire closest to her flying into the wall of a building, stunning her slightly. Buffy turned toward the other one.

"So, like I was saying, I'm looking for my friend. And I'm thinking that you might know where she is," she continued conversationally as they circled each other.

"Why would we know?" the vampire replied angrily, throwing a punch toward Buffy's head.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she ducked and followed up an uppercut. "Duh, because you're vampires," she explained.

Conversation momentarily stopped as the other vampire had recovered and rejoined the fight. After trading a few more blows, it soon became apparent to Buffy that these vamps were newbies; not the best sources of information. While they were more apt to talk, especially under pressure, they were often kept in the dark by their masters for that very reason.

Not wanting to waste any time, Buffy decided to fast track her interrogation. She swiftly staked one vamp and pinned the other to the wall before the dust had a chance to settle. The vampire struggled, but Buffy had her in an iron grip. She pressed her stake against the vamp's heart.

"So, start talking," she said in a quiet, deadly voice. "Where's my friend?"

"How should I know? We didn't even know you were in town, let alone your friend," the vampire spat out, though there was fear in her eyes.

Buffy decided to try a different angle. "Who's Serafina? Is she the Master here?" she asked, testing the vamp's reaction to her questions.

The vampire immediately pressed her lips together, suddenly unwilling to talk.

Buffy frowned. This was discouraging. Generally, people clammed up when they had something to hide, like the vamp was doing now when questioned about this Serafina. Yet the vampire had no problem denying any knowledge of Vi. It wasn't conclusive by any means, but it wasn't a good sign, either.

She tightened her grip. "I heard you talking about an attack-"

Buffy suddenly stopped talking; there were voices coming closer. More people.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath.

Although she had a million more questions, she couldn't risk exposure, or worse, the vamp hurting any innocent bystanders. The people were getting closer, so she had to cut her losses and go. At least she had a name. Serafina.

She looked at the vamp regretfully. "Well, I hate to stake and run, but I don't think people here will buy the whole PCP story," she explained.

With that, Buffy staked the vampire and watched as she exploded into a cloud of dust. She waved her hands around to dissipate the ashes just as a small group of people rounded the corner. She smiled as they passed by. Once they were out of sight, she let out a sigh of frustration.

The hybrid vamps were planning an attack against the Sheriff at Fangtasia. They also mentioned feeding, which meant humans would be involved. While it irked her to no end that she was going to do the Sheriff's dirty work for him, she didn't have much of a choice, not if she wanted to protect the humans inside the bar, or have another opportunity to question the hybrids about Vi.

Buffy silently tread down the alley adjacent to Fangtasia. She didn't have much of a plan beyond lurking around the bar in the hopes of circumventing the attack, if it even happened tonight.

As she walked closer toward a door in the alley, it began to open. Buffy jumped back, putting a good ten feet between her and the door, her stake out of sight but at the ready. She was reluctant to stake a non-demony vamp outright, especially after last night's fiasco in the park, but if they attacked her she considered them fair game.

To her astonishment, the Sheriff himself stepped out, in all his Viking glory, with a cell phone to his ear. Judging by the slight widening of his eyes at the sight of her, he didn't anticipate this, either. He quickly shut the door behind him and stowed his phone away. And did he look uncomfortable?

"Hello, Slayer," he said pointedly.

"Sheriff," Buffy replied evenly in an outward display of calm.

Her body was humming in anticipation, however. He knew who she was. And based on their little meeting the night before, he probably had less than fond feelings toward her. She wasn't too pleased with him, either. Still, slaying the Sheriff would bring a whole host of new problems.

Of course, she might not have any choice. Maybe many of these vamps didn't kill humans – the jury was still out on that – but Buffy couldn't imagine they took too kindly to Slayers. And truth be told, after seeing how fast he could move the other night, she was kind of looking forward to seeing what kind of fighter he was.

To her surprise and slight disappointment, the attack never came; he just studied her, looking almost casual with his hands in his jeans' pockets.

"This is usually the part where you make some sort of threat," Buffy said helpfully. "Like, you're going to make me wish I never came to your town, you'll drain me dry… You know, your standard posturing and vamp bravado."

Eric didn't reply immediately; he was still trying to decide the best way to handle this situation. He didn't know why she was there. It didn't matter; regardless of the reason, her presence sent all of his plans reeling. Now he would have to improvise.

From what Violet had told him and his own experience the previous night, the Slayer wouldn't attack unprovoked. So he wouldn't provoke her. Much.

"I'm not interested in killing you," he finally said.

Okay, definitely not expecting that, Buffy thought, not that she was going to let him know that.

"Well, I'll give you major points for originality. Not so much with the intimidating, though," she said breezily as she brought her stake into view.

Eric ignored her taunt. For now. "It's not in my best interest to kill you," he calmly explained.

The scary thing was that he looked like he meant it; not to mention he had a certain gleam in his eye as he looked at her. Buffy pursed her lips in annoyance, suddenly reminded of his little extortion attempt the night before.

"Why? Because I owe you a favor? How's your jaw doing, by the way?" she asked sweetly.

"Just fine," Eric replied with a faint smile before getting back to the subject at hand. "And no, it's not because you owe me a favor, although there is still that. No, we've gone thousands of years without conflict with you and your people. There's no reason to start a battle neither of us can ever win. It's not as if we kill humans anymore."

Buffy had to give him credit; he said that entire last part with a straight face. Too bad she wasn't Called yesterday. "Right," she said sarcastically. "You're just the epitome of all that's good and wholesome."

"You must think so. Why else didn't you try to kill us last night? Or stake Amelia when you had the chance?" he asked.

Amelia? That must've been the vamp in the park. Geez, news traveled fast in Shreveport.

And this conversation just took a turn toward the awkward, Buffy thought with a frown.

Just because the Sheriff supposedly didn't want to kill her, it didn't mean that she had to explain herself to him. No, it was time for the time-honored tradition of deflection.

"As much as I'd like to debate the ethics of slaying with you, I so don't have time for this," she replied. "And neither do you. The hybrid vamps are planning an attack on Fangtasia, maybe even for tonight."

Eric frowned. The leader of the half-breeds had been trying to intimidate him into allowing them to hunt in his territory without repercussion, leaving little messages for him like Violet. He knew it was only a matter of time before they made a more aggressive move. The only reason they hadn't yet was because the Great Revelation benefited them in some ways, too, and they were reluctant to take that final step. It didn't mean they wouldn't, however. He would have to take care of this once and for all.

Then he realized that this was why the Slayer had come to Fangtasia. It wasn't necessary to manipulate her; it was perhaps even foolish to do so, at least so openly. Violet was mistaken, but then so was he.

He gazed at her speculatively. "You're not what I expected," he said.

"Let me guess," Buffy said dryly. 'You thought I'd be taller."

Eric shook his head. "No, I thought you'd be more… savage? Feral?" he smirked, unable to resist the opportunity to goad her.

She didn't disappoint. He could see her bristling.

"And you rip people's throats out in a civilized manner?" she retorted. "Oh, wait, I forgot. You don't kill people. But if you ever fall off the wagon, I'm here for you. Really, I am." She twirled her stake in her hand for emphasis.

Buffy abruptly stopped and gripped her stake tightly as her senses started going off the charts. At the same time, she noticed that the Sheriff had tensed. She looked down the alley. At least a dozen vampires were approaching, maybe close to two dozen.

"Wow, you must've really pissed them off," she commented distractedly, already assessing battle strategies in her mind.

Eric didn't bother responding, focusing instead on the vampires. The odds themselves didn't bother him. It was a busy night in Fangtasia, however, so he needed this handled as quickly and quietly as possible.

Not having much of a choice, he banged on the back door. At Buffy's questioning look, he replied tersely, "Reinforcements."

She nodded in approval and slight apprehension. After all, adding more vampires to the mix didn't exactly give her the warm fuzzies.

As the door opened, she glanced over her shoulder to size up the recruits. First came that ray of sunshine, Pam, who raised her eyebrow at the sight of Buffy.

"Eric?" she said questioningly, but Eric was too busy staring intently at the Slayer. Then Pam honed in on the approaching vampires, her fangs extending as she hissed. She quickly stepped into the alley without another word.

Next came the Asian vamp from the night before, and right after him was–

"Vi?" Buffy exclaimed incredulously. "Vi!"

She was so astonished to see her friend that she didn't think to question why Vi was with the Fangtasia vamps. She launched herself at her friend and caught her up in a huge embrace. That's when she noticed how cold Vi was.