"I was kinda hoping we were wrong." Cordelia said as they were led into the room that smelled so strongly of blood. "That maybe, just maybe, you were actually a nice guy who helps people to get a start in the business. I mean, there have to be some nice people in the world, right?"
"What makes you think I'm not a nice guy?" He asked, as the man who'd led them into the room tensed.
"The reek of blood." Cordelia answered. "Fairly recent too."
"You can smell blood?"
"I can also smell the fact that you're slightly decayed. But corpses, animated by demons or not, always smell."
"You think I'm a corpse?" He honestly sounded confused. "How - ?"
"You must be new." Buffy told him. "I mean, we're from Sunnydale, demon central. I could recognize a vampire within days of my fifteenth birthday, but then I was the Slayer."
"Slayer!"
"Oh, that he recognizes." Cordelia commented as Russel Winters went into game face and snarled at them. "So scary. No, not really. I'm friends with a Hexenbiest. Now they know how to do scary."
"A what?"
"Yeah, he's definitely new." Buffy decided. "Or just really confused." The man who'd led them into the room grabbed Cordelia and started trying to move her toward the vampire.
"I don't think so!" Cordelia growled and slammed her elbow into his gut at the same time she slammed her head back. "Self defense lessons, Dad insisted on it." She smelled more blood as the man swore. "Ha! There goes your nose. Don't get your nose job at Sunnydale's only hospital, they'll botch it. Just ask Aphrodesia, one of my Cordettes." The man himself was snarling now and Cordelia grimaced as his grip tightened and suddenly blunt claws were digging into her arm. She woge and pulled away from him, swinging around she glared at him. "A black fox? I'm so embarrassed, do we foxes not already have a bad enough reputation that you have to add to it by working for a vampire? Come on, where's the standards?"
Meanwhile Buffy had also woged. "I finally get to test out my horn." She gloated. "Very first time I get to stake a vampire with it!"
"Ah crap." The vampire backed away from her. "An Abath. I've heard of you, the horn...distinctive. But you said you were the Slayer!"
"I was, I died. Did we mention we know a Hexenbiest?" As she kicked his knee, if he'd been human it would have bent backwards, as it is, he still howled. It wasn't just Buffy's hands that turned into hooves after all. She struck out with her right fore hoof and had the vamp howling even more as his own nose broke.
The black fox Wesen was faster and stronger than Cordelia, considerably so, but he relied on that strength and speed and hadn't anticipated the supposed wanna be starlet could know anything about self defense. Which was especially useful in the limited space of the study. Cordelia grabbed a lamp and smashed it into the black fox's already abused face and than kicked him, hard, between the legs. Doesn't matter if you're human, Wesen or animal, all males are vulnerable to that move. He dropped like a stone, holding himself and trying not to pass out.
Buffy reared back and used the momentum to slam her horn into Russel Winters chest and then jerked it back out, watching as he crumpled into dust. She turned toward Cordelia and the other Wesen. "What do we do about him?" She asked. "And damn, my shoes are ruined!"
"We turn him over to the Wesen Council." Cordelia answered as she picked up a chair and slammed it down on the whimpering Wesen and knocked him out. "Working for or with vampires is a crime. They'll decide what to do with him." She headed for the desk and called the local emergency number for the Wesen Council and reported the situation, they promised to send someone out immediately to collect the black fox. "We should tie him up." She said. Buffy nodded and going over to the curtains, pulled them down and used them to tie up the fox Wesen.
"Dust pile proves the vampire and employment records and witnesses should prove the fox worked for Winters." Buffy said. "Right? And nice finish with the chair."
"Shouldn't be a problem and we can prove self defense, I've got claw marks on my arm where he grabbed me. And thanks, I saw Xander do it once. So, successful hunt?"
"Very successful." Buffy agreed. "Pike will be disappointed though, he likes when we hunt together. He really doesn't like vampires."
"Yeah, I'm with him on that." Cordelia agreed.
"So is he a Fuchsbau?"
"No, thank goodness. Sort of a cousin, you could say, Vulpesmyrca, black fox. They've got a reputation as greedy and opportunistic. But to work for a vampire? That's low."
"How long until the Council rep gets here?"
"Half hour to an hour, they said, depending on traffic. I wonder how Xander's night is going?"
Xander's night was going pretty well. He and Jesse had found a nest with five vampires nesting in it and tore through them with their own enthusiastic glee. A good night for all of them.