Chapter 26.

THE HAVEN, SAN FRANCISCO

Giles would probably have called it "overkill" to have emptied the whole clip of silver bullets into both of the Fyarl demon's eyes. But, from what Buffy had read in his tomes, these things were like the old Viking berserkers of medieval Europe. Almost unstoppable (even with their vulnerability to silver), once they had worked themselves up to a proper fury!

That was when she heard his voice.

"Buffy?"

"Oz? What are you doing here?"

"Our band was hired for a two-week gig, here. How about yourself?"

"Uhm! I think we'd better table any further discussion until you can put on some street clothes."

Oz looked down: "Oh, yeah! Sorry about that. I've had some further training in shapeshifting. This is my Glabro form (or, as I like to call it, ' Bigfoot mode'). It's easier to communicate this way than in my Krinos form."

Meanwhile, Lak Nepp was starting to tip-toe backwards, towards the Haven's kitchen. That way, he would be able to maintain line-of-sight on those he wished not to see him depart. Unfortunately, for him, he had forgotten one or two others in the general excitement.

MICK ST. JOHN'S P.O.V.

Sonny Toussaint and I had just regained consciousness. And, the first thing I saw (besides a heavily-armed Buffy standing over the carcass of a Fyarl Demon) was that Shriner impersonator making a stealthy bee-line for the nightclub kitchen. So, I carefully counted to three before sprinting around and behind him as only a vampire can!

"Going somewhere?" I sarcastically whispered, as I put his right arm in a half-Nelson, while putting my left arm around his neck!

"Not yet, he isn't!" snapped Lily Langtry: "Julian, Nick, and I have been on the roof, watching the SFPD S.W.A.T. team trying to get through the front door. And, they're using some kind of chemical solvent on the Fyarl snot currently sealing it up! Exactly what kind, I don't know. But, it's working fast. Their first wave will be inside, here, any minute! So, _you_..."

It was at this point her fangs shot to full length, and her eyes became a fiery orange, before she covered Lak Nepp's ears with her hands.

"..._you_ are going to use that telepathic hoodoo that you do so well, and make them see something else. Something that will explain what happened here, tonight, more conventionally. Or, I swear to Cain, I will tear your fez-wearing head off your shoulders with my bare hands!"

"You'd better follow her advice," I added: "She's the Toreador primogen of this city. So, I'd be obliged to give you to her, if she so ordered it."

No sooner had she said this than the a pair of S.W.A.T. point men came rushing in. Crouching down, M-16's raised and pointed, and shouting for everyone in their sights to freeze. Sonny Toussaint later told me that Nepp had evidently made them think the two dead Fyarl demons were actually just a couple of bulked-up, trigger-happy bikers who had apparently been on a steroidal rampage. Nick used his own powers of hypno-persuasion (while giving his preliminary statement) to make sure they continued seeing that. And, nothing else! As for after their corpses reached the police morgue?

Nick, Sonny, and Daedalus would infiltrate it, steal the bodies, and dump them in San Francisco Bay for the dining pleasure of the local Rokea. As for Lak Nepp, himself? Lily kept her word about not manually decapitating him, immediately afterward.

She let Daedalus have that privilege.

It was not a pretty sight, believe me. Especially, when Nepp's fez fell to the ground, revealing what Boone had meant by "bio-medically augmented." The guy's brain looked like a football with twp Bactrian camel humps!

Of course, by the time all the cops had left, Buffy had retreated upstairs with me, Angel, Boone, Detective Kohanek, and Prince Julian. The latter having given his consent for us to talk things over in the private office he maintained, on the premises, as the club's silent partner.

If nothing else, it was going to be interesting. Of that much, I was sure.

tbc