Things were definitely not looking good.
How did things turn bad that fast, he thought.
You couldn't say that he wasn't well equipped. He carried three firearms with him: a Colt 1911, a Mac-10 with an attached silencer and a Benelli M1 shotgun. Add the five stakes and the K-Bar Combat knife you really couldn't say that he wasn't well prepared for a night of vampire hunting.
The only problem was that Xander couldn't reach any of his weapons in his current position.
He was lying on the floor of a warehouse and the only thing that was seperating him and the vampire on top of him was the shotgun, with which he tried desperately to hold off his opponent from biting into his neck.
But slowly the vampire won the battle, overpowering Xander with his demonic strength. He knew he had to act or he would lose this fight and his life .. or worse.
Xander headbutted the Vampire. It startled the vamp only for a second but that was enough time for Xander to push the creature off him.
Right after the vampire loosened his grip on the shotgun Xander pumped the big gun while aiming at the vampire's head. He pulled the trigger, sending a 12 gauge bullet into the vamp's head. The result was devastating. The vampire's head was completely ripped off his shoulders. Seconds later his body was nothing but a dust pile on the floor.
Xander slowly stood up. Things were really going from bad to worse. It was only an hour ago that he left Willy's to check out the rumor that Trick's new hideout was in one of the warehouses near the docks. He even got the exact address.
Problem was, that Trick and twelve of his minions were already waiting for him.
He was able to dust two of them before they came too close for his taste.
So he ran. He knew that his only chance to survive this mess would be to go guerrilla. Take the vamps out one by one. Sounds easy. But it isn't.
The vamps were not that stupid. They patrolled the area ,where he hid, in groups of at least three people.
The first group was easy to eliminate. Headshots from his Mac-10 killed two of them, but the last one got lucky and was able to bite into his hip before he could dust him.
He tapped the wound the best he could but he knew that the vampires would smell the blood.
So the second group found him. But this one contained four vamps. He killed three of them with his shotgun, again aiming at the head. But before he could shift his aim at the last one, the vampire tackled him. But now even that one was history.
Xander looked around, knowing that the last group was going to find him sooner or later.
Two, maybe three minutes left.
Time to check ammunition.
The results weren't that impressive. He had only one shotgun shell left, one magazine for the Mac-10 and two for the Colt. So the shotgun would be useless after the first shot and the Mac would run dry after a few seconds, if he had enough time to dispatch the Benelli before the vamps could reach him. He could curse himself for not taking more ammo with him, but he never thought he would run into that much trouble.
Running away was out of question with his bad leg.
That left only one option. Fight for his life.
"I'm so fucked," he said to no one in particular.
While he waited for his fate he recalled the last few months which led him to this point. Things between him and the scoobies were not going well. Too much happened last year. After his parents death and the whole Angelus incident he just needed some time for himself.
Leaving Sunnydale and his friends for the summer seemed like a good idea. He just needed some time off. So he sold his parents' house and bought himself a black SUV for his trip. It is amazing what people are ready to pay for the house where William the Bloody killed his last victims. They even let him store his stuff there until he returned. Giles was able to convince Snyder to give him the rest of the school year off.
So there were no problems when he left Sunnydale for his road trip. First he moved up the west coast until he reached Seattle. Then east through Canada. After that down the east coat, visiting all the great cities of America like Washington, New York and Philadelphia. When he reached Atlanta he decided that it was time to return home.
Things in Sunnydale had dramatically changed since he left. Willow was becoming a witch and they got a new slayer in town, Faith. The raven haired girl was from Boston and she also brought some trouble with her. But she and Buffy were able to handle that. The biggest surprise, was that Buffy told her mom about the whole vampire slaying deal. She and Buffy were more than willing to let him stay at their place. Weekly Movie nights at chez Summers became the standard. It helped a great deal to restore the friendship that was partly lost over the summer. But the slaying was a complete different story. Xander was hardly needed. Buffy and Faith were both slayers, Willow was a witch, Oz a werewolf, Giles a watcher and Angel the souled vampire. But during his journey all over the country he picked up some useful skills, old and new ones. The guns were also a little present from his visit to Seattle.
Things weren't great, but it could have been worse.
That all changed after Buffy's birthday. She had to go through the Cruciamentum, a test where the slayer has to face a dangerous vampire without her powers. Needless to say that Buffy succeeded, but Xander was more than angry that the watchers played russian roulette with the life of one of his best friends. He knew that Giles had no other choice, his attempt to rescue both Buffy and her mom proved that he set his priorities straight. No, the responsible one was Quentin Travers, head watcher of this operation.
So he waited in front of the hotel Travers was staying in. When the watcher was walking out of the door and up to his car he was intercepted by Xander. He threatened him, that if he would ever come back to Sunnydale he would never get out of town alive. Travers laughed at him, and told him that the Cruciamentum was older than this country and that he would never follow the orders of a teenage kid. And he reminded Xander, that Faith was going to turn eighteen in a few months and that he would return for her.
That was the last straw. Xander and Faith weren't close friends, but he respected the dark haired slayer and would do everything to protect her. When Travers drove off in his car Xander knew that he had no other choice. So he pressed the button on the remote control, which was linked to the car bomb he had planted right under the gas tank of Travers' car.
The car exploded into a giant fireball, killing the watcher immediately.
Of course Buffy and the rest of the gang found out about this little affair. They confronted him and he stated his case. They didn't agree with him. They told him that they didn't need someone who killed people instead of helping them.
So he started patrolling on his own. Now that he was not longer a scoobie he didn't have to hide his skills. The only one who knew about his patrols was Giles, and the watcher promised him that he wouldn't tell the gang about his "night time activities". Xander even visited him to take care of some of the minor wounds he got during the slaying.
During his nightly patrols Xander heard some interesting things, especially that Mr. Trick , the current leader of the vampire population in Sunnydale, was not working on his own. Rumors were going around that he was working for a powerful demon. But nobody knew who that demon was.
The Key to this new Big Bad was Trick. If he could find the vampire and find out who he was working for, then he could .. Yeah, that was the big question: What would he do with the information? Telling his "friends" or Giles ? He wasn't really fond of telling this to people who treated him like an outcast. He was not really coming to a solution here, so he decided that he would think over it when he definitely knew about the identity of this new major player on the hellmouth. And this decision was what brought him into this mess in the first place.
He sighed again.
There were four vamps left, Trick himself and three of his minions. Things were really not looking great.
He looked around, searching for anything that could help him in the upcoming confrontation, but found nothing. He was in a typical warehouse. Only one entrance which meant they could only come from one direction. The second floor only contained a wooden catwalk. A lot of boxes were stored up there.
Xander angrily kicked against one of the pillars, which was supporting the catwalk above the entrance of the warehouse. The rotten wood nearly cracked under the force of the his kick. The whole structure was shaking for a moment and some of the boxes fell down.
Xander smiled for the first time in hours.
Maybe things weren't as bad as he thought.
He could smell the blood of the mortal. He was hiding in the warehouse right in front of him. Trick looked around at the four vampires that were left of his group. He wondered how the boy was able to kill nine of his best minions and still be alive. The files the Mayor gave him said that the Harris boy was harmless in comparison to the other members of the slayer's group. The only reason that they set him up was that the Harris kid was asking people about the demon that was behind Trick and his vampires.
The Mayor decided that it was too early to reveal who had the power in this city. So he ordered Trick and his men to eliminate Harris. A few well spread rumors about his whereabouts had the desired effect, but the kid proved that he is a bigger problem than first assumed.
Trick shook his head. When he returned he would personally kill the one who got the information about the slayer's friend.
But things didn't work out the way he thought. It would cost some time to create enough vampires to replace the ones which were destroyed this night.
Carefully he and his men approached the entrance. His sharp vampire senses could already hear the heartbeat of his victim. When they entered the warehouse they could see their enemy. He was standing about seven meters away from them, shotgun carefully aimed at the vampires.
"Mister Harris, you gave us some trouble finding you," Trick said, while his minions formed a circle around their leader. "Put that gun down and I promise you that it'll be painless for you."
"I've got another offer for you. Why don't you tell me who your boss is, and I won't kill you and the rest of your guys," Xander offered.
"You're not in a condition to make demands. You're injured and I think eliminating the rest of my group cost you most of your ammunition. Do you really think you can take us four?," Trick told him with a smug grin.
Xander grinned back at the vampire.
"Yeah, I think so," he answered. Xander shifted his aim at the pillar behind the four undead, before any of the vampires could react . He pressed the trigger and the shotgun bullet crashed through the rotten wood, leaving a large hole in it.
The damaged pillar was not longer able to carry the weight of the catwalk and the boxes on it. Both came crashing down on the four vamps, burying Trick and another vamp under the boxes. The other two undead were only hit by dust and few debris, which caused them no harm.
After firing the shotgun, Xander immediately let the deadly weapon fall to the floor. Without ammo it was only a dead weight. He grabbed the Mac-10, which was lying on a box next to him, and fired at the vampire closest to him.
He aimed at the head, but he knew that he would be lucky if one of the thirty .45 bullets would hit the vamp in the head. After all, he was firing on full auto. Most of the bullets hit the vamp in the chest, but a few found their mark and his head exploded in a mist of blood and brain before his body turned into dust.
Gotta love hollowpoints, he thought
The second vamp however came pretty fast over the shock and was now walking into Xander's direction.
Xander quickly drew his combat knife, the Mac still in his left hand.
"Catch," he told the vampire and threw the submachine gun into the direction of the advancing vamp.
The vampire caught the weapon in mid air, leaving his mid-section wide open. That was all what Xander needed when he stabbed the vampire in the stomach. The undead roared in pain and slashed with his claws after his opponent. He was able to hit Xander right above the right eyebrow, leaving a deep gash. The Vampire dealing with his pain gave Xander enough time to draw his .45 Colt. He aimed at the kneecaps, shattering them both. While the vampire fell to the ground, Xander got one of his stakes out of his pocket. He quickly staked the Vampire, leaving another dust pile on the floor.
He now moved his attention to the last two undead. Trick was trapped under a big box, but the other vampire was able to claw his way out of the debris which buried him. Xander connected the sight of his pistol with the vamp's head, firing twice. Just like the other vampire his head exploded. Without a head attached to the body the vampire's body quickly turned into dust.
Xander now moved up to the black skinned vampire leader, who desperately tried to lift the box off his body. Trick knew that his chances of surviving this night were very small. His spine was broken. He knew it, cause he couldn't feel his legs. Even if he would survive, it would take months to heal these injuries. His thoughts were interrupted when Xander began to speak to him.
"So, you gonna tell me what I want to know or do you prefer torture?" he asked the vampire leader.
Trick practically spat in his direction. "Fuck you Harris. Do you really think I would tell you who he is? He would kill me!"
Xander slowly circled the vampire before he continued "Yeah, but he isn't here. You should deal with me first. Come on Trick, tell me who the Big Bad is and I'll let you live. or unlive if you prefer."
"My spine is broken. I will never survive one night in Sunnydale,"the vampire stated."Even if I tell you who he is, I will still die."
"Okay, new deal. You tell me who your boss is and I will free you from that box. I'm going to drive you to LA where you can heal your injuries. What do you say ?"
Trick considered the offer. It was the best he could get in a situation like that.
"How do I know that you will not stab me in the back once I give you your "precious" information;" he asked.
"I give you my word."
"That's all?" he asked.
"Accept it or I will let you lie here until the sun rises. Your choice," Xander told the vampire.
"Okay, I accept." Trick paused "It is Wilkins."
"The Mayor?" Xander asked surprised.
"Yes, the Mayor is the Big Bad around here. Could you help me now." Trick asked more desperately.
"That is really an unexpected turn of events," Xander mused to himself.
"Yeah really unexpected. Would you please help me now" he repeated his question.
But instead of helping the vampire, Xander pointed his stake at Trick's chest.
"Wait! Wait!" the vampire interrupted him " You gave me your word"
"I lied."Xander shrugged. "One of my lesser sins."
Before the vampire leader could protest again, Xander plunged the stake deep in his heart. He waited until the body turned into dust before he began to collect his weapons. Leaving the warehouse, he started walking to the only person he still could consider as a friend.
When Giles opened the door he was shocked. Half leaning on the doorframe stood Xander. But he didn't look the same when he left. His dark clothes were covered with dust and his skin was covered with minor wounds and bruises. But the most visible injury was the large cut above his right eyebrow.
"Xander...?" Giles asked, just to confirm that the young man in front of him was really his friend.
Xander half-grinned at the older man. "Heya G-Man, whatcha doing ?"
Richard Wilkins III was not a happy camper. His right hand Mr.Trick was supposed to make his regular call, to update him on the Harris case. He even tried the vampire's cell phone, but no one answered. So the Mayor of Sunnydale waited in front of the phone.
After an half an hour he decided that he waited long enough, and that it was time for him to go home. Things would clear themselves in the morning.
But when he opened the door to his office he was surprised, that someone was already waiting for him on the other side.
In front of him stood a young man, about eighteen years old. Dressed in black plants, black t-shirt and a black leather jacket. The only thing that was out of place was the large, white bandage that covered the area above his right eyebrow.
The Mayor recognized the face immediately. It was the face of the boy Trick and his vamps were supposed to kill. That he was standing here proved that the vampire failed.
But despite all these fact the Mayor never lost his cool façade.
"Can I help you young man ?" Wilkins asked.
Xander answered, without reacting to the question. "So, you are the new Big Bad around here" He eyed the Mayor from head to toe. "You're not that big you know."
Wilkins ignored Xander's futile attempt to provoke him. "So, I suppose you got your information, Mr.Harris."
Xander grinned at the older man. "Yeah, you can say that." He paused a second to scratch his forehead. "Well, I just came here to see for myself who is the Boss around here. Oh, you might want to know that Trick is dust."
The Mayor responded coldly. "I figured that out myself, with you standing here."
Xander took a step forward. "So, I guess that means you got a job offer for me."
The Mayor grinned, while stepping back, giving his brand new employee enough room to enter his office.
Maybe things weren't looking so bad, the mayor thought, after he closed the door behind Xander and himself.