Corey Jones was running for his live. But in his case you could rather speak of unlife. The night had started not that bad. He and his two friends had been walking through one of Sunnydale's many graveyards, searching for a little snack.
They were chatting about nothing important when Lenny's head exploded and covered them in a shower of brain and skull. It took only a second for the vampire's body to turn into dust. They had quickly scanned their surroundings, searching for the source of the sudden attack.
But before they were able to a small red dot appeared on Charlie's head and a second later his head was no longer attached to his body, leaving nothing but dust of the vampire.
Corey didn't knew what happened, but standing at the same spot didn't look like a good choice at the moment. So he ran.
He could have spared himself the effort. From his position his predator could see every move of the vampire. That the undead still existed was due to the fact that the shooter just toyed with him.
He watched as the vamp ran away from the remains of his friends. But the undead never stood a chance. A second later the same red dot appeared on the back of his head. And another second later his head was ripped apart. His momentum carried his body a few feet along until it hit the ground and burst into dust.
Xander watched through the scope of his sniper rifle as the body of the last vampire burst into dust. He scanned the surrounding area, to look if someone maybe had spotted the little show.
Satisfied that he attracted no attention, he ejected the spent cartridge and reloaded a new one.
From his position on the opposite side of the street he could observe the whole area of Restfield cemetery.
He placed the rifle beside him on the mat he was lying on. He took his binoculars, and searched the graveyard for more targets.
Using a sniper rifle to clean out the cemetaries had nothing to do with the fact that he had to guard the hellmouth with almost no assistance. The only reason for this little session was, that he needed the exercise.
The memories from Halloween provided him with a lot of useful talents. Sniping was also one of them. But in the past he never really had the opportunity to use this skill, so his abilities in this sector were a bit rusty.
Since he was all alone on the hellmouth, he decided to train his sharpshooter skills once a week. Kyle had provided him with various sniper rifles that all had to be tested. But finally he settled down with the G22, the German version of the AWP sniper rifle. The .300 Winchester weapon also came with a pretty effective silencer, a bonus that had to be appreciated. But what really turned the rifle into a vamp killer were the special explosive rounds. He had also bought a few boxes for his other guns, but the bullets were both expensive and very hard to find on the market, so he decided to spare them for the really hard cases.
But his sharpshooter skills were not the only thing he had trained during the summer. Giles introduced him into the fine art of sword fighting, a skill his soldier memories lacked. The only skills that could come near were his abilities with the knife, but a sword was a totally different manner.
But he was a quick learner, at the end of the summer his skills with the sword rivalled Giles'. He still thought that it was better to use a gun, but like the Mayor said: There were things out there you can't kill with a bullet. He hadn't encountered one till now, but it was always best to be prepared. And the black katana was the most effective slash and hack tool he had encountered till now.
Even Giles had to admit it. In one of their training sessions, he insisted that they used real swords. Xander had shrugged and drawn the katana. Giles had moved into a defensive stance. Xander had simply slashed at the Watcher's broadsword, Giles trying to parry the strike. The blade of the black sword however cut right through Giles' sword, leaving him only with the handle and half of his blade. Xander wished that he had a camera with him to record the puzzled look on the Watcher's face.
After the initial confusion Xander told him what it was about with the black sword. Giles was very interested to research the history of the sword and Xander gave him all the information he had received from the Mayor.
Giles finally found out that the blade once belonged to a samurai clan in Japan, which was known for hunting demons. One of their their most respected warriors defeated a dragon and used its blood to forge this powerful sword. The sword stayed in the clan till they were destroyed by a demon army. The entire clan was wiped out and the sword was said to be lost.
It was rumored that the demons took the sword as a trophy. Somehow the Mayor was able to get his hands on the blade and now it rested in Xander's hands. It felt strange, but somehow he felt honored to continue the work of the Japanese and use the sword for its original purpose. Killing demons.
Another important thing he had to do was to build up his base of operations. With the Mayor's money this wasn't a hard task, and he really needed a place for all the weapons to store. The garage he had rented was filled to the ceiling, with guns, equipment, ammunition and other stuff. And he needed the place for his growing number of vehicles.
Yesterday he was finally finished with the warehouse he had bought. Just ready for Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies to come back from their three months holiday on the Bahamas.
Joyce had returned after only one month, she had a gallery to run after all. But the others stayed the rest of the summer.
Tomorrow they would come back, just in time to attend college. But the end of the summer also meant that the vampire activity in town would soon rise.
While these thoughts went through his brain Xander scanned the graveyard. He was just ready to call it a night when he spotted a group of six vampires coming through the west entrance. He wanted to grab his sniper rifle when he spotted another group coming through the north entrance. But this group didn't look like vampires.
They were dressed in army fatigues and were carrying strange looking rifles. Xander watched as both groups continued their way and were bound to meet in the middle of the cemetery.
Xander took the G22 and aimed it at the vampire group. But a voice in the back of his head told him to wait and see what the other group was about. So he waited and watched as the two groups met and the battle begun. The suspected soldiers fired their rifles at the vamps, blue sparks of electricity coming from their muzzles. Their combined fire brought two vampires down. But the vampires didn't wait for their guns to recharge and stormed into the six man team of soldiers.
Xander could see that the soldiers didn't really know what they were facing. Cursing under his breath he aimed his rifle at the one of the vampires.
Riley Finn and his men really were in a bad situation. They had knocked down two of the hostiles but the rest of them were slowly overpowering them. Anderson laid on the ground, his arm twisted in an odd angle. And the rest of his men had trouble keeping up with their enemies.
But before he could dwell into this thought the head of the vampire that stood over Anderson exploded. He looked with amazement as the body of the vampire fell to the ground and exploded into dust.
Riley looked around and tried to find the source of the shot, but decided that it could wait. Whoever took out that vamp was on their side.
His rifle beeped, signalling that the recharging phase of the energy cell was completed. He quickly aimed the rifle at the vampire Graham was struggling with. But the two stood too close to another, the blast would hit them both.
Luckily in this case the vampire was winning and pushed Graham a few feet away. Not waiting for another chance he fired and hit the vamp with the energy blast, knocking him unconscious. He wanted to shift his aim to another target when the head of another vampire exploded covering the Initiative soldier he was struggling with with his brain.
Riley and Graham teamed up to charge the last of the vampires and were able to drag him away from Forest. The black skinned soldier was lucky. One second longer and the vamp would have bitten him in the neck. The vamp however was able to get free from the grip of the two soldiers. He pushed Graham away and punched Riley in the face. Both commandos fell to the ground.
But before anyone could react the head of the last vampire was ripped from his shoulders. The headless body fell to his knees before he vanished into dust.
It took Riley a few seconds to come out of his daze. "Is everyone okay?" Riley finally shouted and looked around for his comrades.
"I'm okay," Graham replied.
"Forrest?" the leader asked.
"I'm fine boss," the soldier told him from his position beside Anderson. "But Anderson here needs a medic. His arm looks pretty bad."
After he checked on the remaining members of his team he took the radio from his pocket.
"HQ, this is patrol Alpha," he spoke into the speaker.
"This is HQ patrol Alpha," came the reply. "What's your status?"
"We have captured three hostiles. We have also taken out three more," Riley reported.
"Roger patrol Alpha. We'll send a unit to your location. Any casualties?" the radioman asked.
"No casualties. But they broke the arm of one of my soldiers. We need a medic here."
"Roger patrol Alpha. Medic is underway," the soldier told him. "And by the way. Good job."
"Thanks. Patrol Alpha out," Riley said and deactivated the radio.
"Riley, what happened here? Who blew those vamp's heads off?" Forrest asked him.
"I don't know Forrest," Riley admitted. "But whoever he is, he saved our asses."
The soldiers nodded in agreement. "He's good," Graham stated. "Simms was struggling with the vamp and despite that he was able to shoot him in the head. Without hitting Simms I may add."
"Yeah. And he seems to know what's going on in this City," Riley exclaimed. A few minutes later the first of the Initiatives Humvee's arrived.
After the last vampire was dead Xander decided that enough was enough, so he started to pack his things up. He waited a few more minutes and watched as the soldiers cleared the area, watching the whole show through his binoculars. When he left the building Xander finally had time to go through what happened only minutes ago.
He didn't know if the arrival of these soldiers was a good or very bad thing, but he was willing to find out. Gathering information could be difficult. He wasn't as good with the computer as Willow, so he had to wait until the red haired witch returned. And he doubted that Giles had something about the soldiers in his books.
Finally he reached the ground floor and left the building. He quickly stepped into his SUV and drove in the direction of his apartment.
Xander, Joyce and Giles waited in one of the many halls of LA's international airport. The flight Buffy and the other Scoobies should arrive on had a little delay. So the three had to entertain themselves. Joyce and Giles were engaged in a conversation, whereas Xander wandered around. Finally he returned to the seats the two adults were sitting on.
"Ah, the good old LAX," Xander said and took a sip from his coffee. He sat down between the two. "Always worth a visit."
Sitting there he took a drag from his cigarette. Unfortunately Joyce caught a lungful of his smoke. "Please Xander," she said and coughed. "Could you please put the cigarette out," she asked, waving the smoke away from her face.
"I thought we already established that smoking isn't harmful for me," Xander stated.
"Maybe not for you, but for us," Giles said and looked disapproving at him.
Xander rolled his eyes, but finally let the cigarette fall into his cup and threw it into the nearby trashcan.
"Thanks," Joyce said. A second later she came up with an idea to get back at Xander. "I bet if Buffy asked you to quit smoking you would do it,"
Xander groaned and looked at Giles. "I'm really curious," he asked the Watcher, ignoring Joyce completely. "How can the Council keep the whole slayer gig as a secret when you can't even keep a private conversation as one."
"Xander…." Giles tried to reason with him.
"Don't Xander me, okay?" Xander said annoyed. "I'm going to get me another cup of coffee. Anything for you two?"
"No thanks," Giles replied.
"Joyce?" he asked.
But the older woman shook her head and so Xander walked into the direction of the nearby coffee shop.
"I didn't think that he would be that touchy about the subject," Giles told Joyce.
Joyce rolled her eyes at that. "Rupert, Faith had been bugging him about it the whole morning during our visit. I think he is a bit annoyed about people giving him advice," she said, but stopped talking when she spotted her daughter and the other Scoobies coming from one of the hallways.
"Giles, Mom," Buffy shouted and hugged her mother and her father figure.
"Hey honey," Joyce greeted her. "How was your flight?"
"Everything was fine," Buffy told her with a smile.
Finally the rest of the Scoobies had caught up with the blonde slayer and greetings were exchanged.
"Where's Xander ?" Buffy finally asked.
"Oh, he just went to get himself a coffee," Joyce said and waved in the direction of the coffee shop, where Xander finally had made it through to the counter.
"Okay, I'll get him," Buffy said and walked in the direction of the shop.
Xander just wanted to take his cup from the counter and was about to turn around, when his eyes were covered with two hands.
"Who am I?" asked the voice he immediately recognised. Xander couldn't help but smile.
"Well," he started, " soft hands," he said when he touched the hands, "annoying voice and has to step on her tiptoes to block my vision."
"And?" the voice asked upset.
"Looks like my favourite slayer is back in town," Xander said and immediately the hands were lifted from his eyes. He turned around and smiled at the blonde slayer.
"Hey Buffy," he greeted her.
Buffy instead threw herself into her friend's arms and hugged him hard. "Hi Xander."
Finally she released him and took a step back.
"How was your holiday," both asked each other at the same time. They had to laugh at the awkward situation.
"You first," Xander said and grabbed his cup.
"It was incredible. I was really sad that we had to leave," Buffy blabbered. "And that you weren't there."
Xander smiled at that. "Yeah, you already told me that in the over 100 emails you guys sent me."
"Just wanted to thank you," Buffy told him.
"You're welcome," Xander told her with a half smile.
"And you?" Buffy finally asked.
Xander shrugged and they both started to walk in the direction of the remaining Scoobies. "Did things that needed doing. Visited Faith and Angel a few times, helped them getting comfortable in LA. That about covers it."
"So, what was so important that you stayed in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked curiously.
"You'll see," Xander told her.
During their talk the remaining Scoobies had retrieved their luggage from the baggage carrousel.
"Will," Xander greeted his childhood friend and closed her into his arms.
"Hey Xander."
Finally he released her. "I hope the holiday was worth the cost," he said and looked at all his friends. "At least all of you got a good tan."
Surprisingly Cordelia stepped forward until she stood in front of Xander. "Hi Cordy. Don't I get a hug," Xander said and opened his arms in a dramatic gesture.
But instead the brunette took his face into her hand and kissed him softly on the lips. After a few seconds she released and looked expectantly at him.
"Not that I'm not grateful, but what was that for?" Xander asked confused.
Now Cordelia was glaring at him. "What that was for?" she mimicked his voice. "Xander you paid my college fees."
"And your point is?" he asked. "You wanted so badly to go to LA. This way you can study there."
"I just wanted to thank you," she told him.
"Oh, believe me you did," Xander said and licked over his lips. The scoobies now moved in the direction of the parking lots. "But don't thank me too soon. You'll have to share an apartment with Faith," Xander told her with an evil smile.
"I have to share an apartment with Faith," Cordelia shouted shocked, attracting the attention of people around her.
"Either that or you can sleep on the streets. Your choice," Xander stated.
Cordelia's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I know I will regret this," she said, but then she remembered something. "But all my stuff is still in Sunnydale."
"Not any longer," Xander told her. "We brought it with us this morning. It's already at Faith's apartment. Oh, by the way. She said: Hi." Xander told the rest of the Scoobies. "She had classes this morning, so she couldn't come. But she said she would visit soon."
"That's nice to hear," Willow answered. "I hope she is doing as good as she described in her emails."
"Oh she is doing great," Xander told her with a smile.
"And the driving arrangements?" Buff asked when they finally reached the parking lot.
"Well, I will drive Cordy to her apartment," Xander said while he loaded Cordelia's suitcases into the trunk of his SUV. "You guys will drive with Joyce and Giles back to Sunnydale. You still have to finish registration this afternoon."
"Oh man," Buffy groaned. "I can't believe College is starting already."
"Yeah, three months can be a very short time," Willow agreed with a nod. "Especially when you dwell in luxury like us."
"Yeah, dwelling in luxury can really be a hard job," Xander said and walked up to the door of the SUV. "Oh, by the way," he said and produced a small business card from his pocket. "When you are finished meet me at this address."
Buffy took the card from his hand. "Your big secret?" she asked.
"I told you that you would see it soon," Xander told her with a half smile. Then he and Cordelia stepped into the SUV and Xander drove the big car out of the parking lot.
"Do you think he will kill us when he gets the final receipt from our trip," Willow asked while she and Buffy walked to Giles' and Joyce's cars.
"That would be more merciful than forcing us to pay him the money back," Buffy told her.
"Oh, I have an idea," the witch told her with an evil grin. "You could pay him back with sex."
Buffy looked at her friend with a blank look. But then her lips turned up in an equally evil grin. "Maybe I'm doing that," She told her, leaving a shocked Willow behind her.
"So you have no idea who assisted you last night?" Professor Walsh asked Riley. Both were sitting at the briefing room table, going over the details of yesterday's patrol.
"No Professor Walsh," Riley admitted. "Like I said, he used a sniper rifle. But we searched all the rooftops from which the shots might be fired."
"And?" the professor asked interested.
"On one we found several empty shells," Riley told her. "We brought them with us for further analysis."
Walsh nodded at that and looked at the folder in front of her again. "Who do you think this person is?"
"I have absolutely no idea. But he is good," Riley admitted. "Maybe an ex-soldier that found out about the vampires in this town."
"Yes that might be possible," Walsh agreed. "I will order intel to look if there are any ex-soldiers living in this town that might be able to perform such a stunt. And I want you to look out for this person on your upcoming patrols."
"Yes Professor Walsh."
"Good. Now come with me, we still have a cover to obtain. Which means students to teach," she said and walked out of the room.
Riley followed her a moment later and groaned. This was the part he hated about the job.
"Can you believe this," Buffy shouted angrily as she and Willow left the psychology lesson that was taught by Professor Walsh. "She puts me down only because I was sleeping during her class."
"Buffy, it's our first day at college. Sleeping in classes is not something that makes a great first impression," Willow told her. "And you were snoring also."
"Yeah, okay. Not my greatest moment. It's just this stupid jet lag. Gets me all tired," Buffy said sadly.
"Yeah," Willow agreed "Too bad our flight on friday was cancelled. Then we could have slept through the weekend. Stupid weather. You might think that going to the Bahamas means no storms. We were lucky that we arrived just in time."
"Well, at least we don't have to move our stuff to the dorms. Mom and Xander really did a good job decorating our room," Buffy admitted.
"Let's go find Oz," Willow proposed. "Than we can drive to the address Xander gave us. I'm really curious to see what he spent the whole holidays for.
"Me too Willow." Buffy told her. "Me too."
Oz parked his van at the warehouse that matched the address Xander had given them. The three scoobies stepped out of the volkswagen and approached the gate of the building.
"You sure this is the right place?" Oz asked.
Buffy took the business card from her pocket and read it again. "Yep, that's the address."
They now had arrived at the entrance. Buffy tried to open the door beside the gate, but it didn't open.
"Great, how are we supposed to get in?" Buffy asked her friends.
"Maybe you should ask nice?" came Xander's voice out of nowhere. The three Scoobies jumped startled.
"Xander?" Willow asked, while she, like the rest of the group, tried to find the source of the voice.
"Up here Will," came the voice and now the Scoobies could see the camera that was attached to the wall above the door.
"Uh, hi Xander," Buffy greeted the camera.
"And hello to you Buffy," came the voice from the small speaker at the side of the camera back. Buffy couldn't help but imagine the smug gin that was now on Xander's lips. "You can open the door now, I unlocked it."
Buffy again tried again the handle of the door and this time it moved. The three Scoobies walked through the doorway and found themselves inside the warehouse.
It looked like most of the warehouses in Sunnydale. Basically it wasn't more than a big hall, with an office at the top left side that reached the second floor. On the other side of the room Xander's SUV was parked. Besides the big car there were three more vehicles of different size, but at the momnet they were hidden by white covers.
Currently Xander walked down the stairs of the office, wearing black jeans and a t-shirt with the Heckler&Koch logo on the front. On the back you could read 'In a World of Compromise, some don't'.
"Hi guys," he greeted his friends as he reached the end of the stairs.
"Hi Xander," they greeted him back. The Scoobies continued to inspect the warehouse.
"So, you bought a warehouse," Buffy finally stated.
"Yep," Xander told her with a smile. "Took me a lot of work, but it's finally finished."
"Well, it looks….dusty," Buffy deadpanned.
"All part of the covert operation plan," Xander explained. "The only thing really valuable on this floor are cars," he said and lead the group to the four vehicles.
"Why do you need four cars? Isn't one enough?" Willow asked.
"Well, it's a guy thing. It's the same with women and clothes," Xander told her. "Maybe you don't need them, but it's really nice to have them."
With this sentence he removed the cover of the first car.
The three Scoobies gasped at the sight. In front of them stood a shiny, black Hummer.
Oz was the first to find his voice. "A Hummer? You bought a hummer?" he asked.
Xander just shrugged. "Yeah, why not? It's a good car," he said and moved to the second car and removed the cover.
"And a BMW?" Willow shrieked.
"You forgot the bike," Xander said and removed the last cover. It revealed a black Kawasaki Ninja, similar to the one he used a few months earlier. "Had to replace my old one since a certain. Mayor slash giant snake crushed it."
"Xander, the whole stuff must have cost more than the warehouse and our vacation together," Buffy summed up.
"See, I had a good reason to stay here," he said with a grin.
The group finally was able to overcome their first shock. And examine the cars that stood in front of them.
"Wait a second," Buffy asked from behind the steering wheel of the Hummer. "You said the cars were the only thing valuable on this floor. And the other floors?"
"God, I waited for someone of you to notice this," Xander answered her question. "Follow me," he said and the gang followed him to the other side of the room. Xander opened a door and lead them down to the cellar of the building. The cellar was completely dark, not one light was shining down there. Xander reached for the light switch.
"Okay, prepare yourself. What you will see now goes beyond the understanding of simple humans," he said with a mocking tone.
"Oh please," Buffy told him. "You've got a slayer, a witch and a werewolf here. That's not exactly human."
"Got enough for my cellar," Xander said and turned the switch down. The darkness immediately vanished and you could see everything in the room. "Tada," he said.
The Scoobies looked confused in the room. Apart from a few buckets there was nothing in the room.
"Er, Xander. The room is empty," Oz stated the obvious.
Xander now also inspected the room, the same confused expression on his face.
"Oh, you are right," he finally said and smacked himself against the forehead. "That's bad. Well, shit's happens. Let's go upstairs again," he said and turned around. Buffy however grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back.
"Xander;" she said annoyed.
"What?" he asked, trying to look as sincere as possible.
"Will you tell us the big secret about the room or not," Buffy asked him.
"Since you asked so nice," Xander said and rolled his eyes. He took a remote control out of his pocket and pressed the button on it.
At the other side of the room the something rumbled and a part of the wall moved away and gave the way free to another room.
Xander walked to the new passage and through it, the rest of the gang following him. He pressed the light switch and the light turned on.
"Wow," all of the Scoobies exclaimed.
The wall to their left was covered with racks, containing a great number of assault rifles, shotguns, sub machine guns, sniper rifles and a few heavy machine guns.
In the middle of the room stood various shelves. They contained boxes, that were labelled with 'magazines', 'communications', 'grenades' and other kind of equipment.
The right side of the room many boxes were placed on each other. They contained the ammunition and explosives.
And on the other side of the room there were lockers, in which Xander had stuffed the handguns.
"Welcome to the Matrix," Xander announced.
"Huh?" Buffy asked, her eyes still glued to the sight in front of her.
"Guns. Lots of guns," he quoted the famous line.
"Xander, you bought all this stuff," Willow finally asked.
"Yeah. Ask Oz," he said and motioned with his thumb for the werewolf. "He was with me when half of the equipment arrived."
"And the other half?" Oz asked.
"Came over the summer and some of it I already owned before," he explained
"And that secret agent wall move trick?" Buffy asked.
"My friend, Kyle, knows a few people that designed CIA safe houses. One of them owned him a favour. That favour he sold to me and so I got this wall thing installed," Xander explained.
"I'm impressed," Buffy said and walked into the room.
"Hope so. Cost me a pretty penny," he said and followed her. "But I think it's worth the cost. If the police ever get their heads out of their ass and they come here, they will find nothing but an empty cellar. And the whole surveillance equipment should warn me in advance," Xander explained and lead them to a door on the opposite side of the room. He opened it walked into the next room.
"And I also got a firing range installed," he said and showed them the range. "Nice, isn't it?"
"If you like guns," Willow stated.
"Like I said: Nice," Xander said and lead the out of the room. "The whole thing is also sound proofed. So no problem with people showing up, asking about the noise."
They left the armory and he closed the wall door behind them.
"I'm sorry to tell it you on your first day back at home, but we have to get to business," Xander explained on their way upstairs.
"Yippi," Buffy exclaimed with a blank face.
"Hey, you had three months of vacation," Xander told her. "The least thing you can do is to show some enthusiasm."
"Yippi," Buffy said again with a fake smile.
"That's better," he said.
"What do you mean business?" Willow finally asked. "Did something happen?"
Xander lead them up to the office. "Last night I saw something strange. A group of soldiers took down a group of vamps."
"Soldiers?" Willow asked.
"Yep," Xander simply answered.
"The Army," Willow asked again.
"Yep," Xander again told her.
Willow thought about it for a few seconds
"The United States Army?" she finally asked.
"Oh, for God's sake: yes," Xander said annoyed as he opened the door of the office.
Willow and Buffy exchanged a brief smile. Buffy had to admit that Willow was better with driving Xander crazy.
"What's the army doing here in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked as they stepped into the room, which was filled with surveillance equipment. Eight monitors showed the surrounding of the warehouse and the computer showed the position of the various alarms systems that were installed at the doors and windows.
"I have no Idea Buffy," Xander admitted while he motioned for them to sit down at the table. The table was in the middle of the room and a map of Sunnydale covered it at the moment. "They were here in Restfield Cemetery," he said and pointed at the map. "But that's all I know."
"And why are they showing up now?" Buffy questioned further. "Why not a year ago or so?"
"I also thought about that," Xander told her. "Maybe blowing up the school attracted their attention. But it's not important why they are here. Fact is that they are here and we have to deal with it."
"I don't understand;" Willow asked. "Isn't it a good thing? I mean, soldiers here at the Hellmouth. That could help us."
Xander shook his head. "That's is were it is getting really weird. See, they knocked a few vamps out and took them with them."
"But maybe they just want to find out how to kill vampires," Willow interjected.
"Will, everyone who watched a few horror flicks can find out a vampire's weaknesses," Xander told her. "And that's also a point. They just carried some kind of tazer gun. No stakes no cross or something else."
"How did hey survive then," Buffy asked.
"I assisted them a bit," Xander explained. "I was lying on a roof, clearing the cemetery with my sniper rifle."
The gang kept quiet for a few seconds, thinking about the new informations.
"So, do you think we can trust those army guys?" Buffy finally asked.
"Well, the soldiers I'm pretty sure. I helped them, so that should have made a good impression," Xander said. "But I don't know about their higher ups. The whole thing just sounds just too much like the X-Files for my taste."
"So what do we do," Oz asked, calm as ever.
"Well, we research," Xander said and stood up. "I got a pretty good look at their leader. I think I could recognize him when I see him."
"And how do you want to do that?" Willow asked. "Sunnydale is small but I think even you have trouble to find someone in the town only because you know what he looks like."
"That's where we need our favourite hacker," Xander told her.
"What me?" Willow asked confused.
"Yeah, Will," Xander said and motioned for the computer. The redhead stood slowly up and sat down in front of the computer screen. "I want you to look up the files of all the people that moved to Sunnydale during the last three, four months. That can't be that much. People are rather moving out of town than in."
Now Buffy and Oz also stood behind Willow, looking over her shoulder.
"Hey," Willow exclaimed. "I know those hacking tools. Those are the same I have on my computer."
"Sorry Will," Xander said. "Borrowed your laptop for a while. Thought, if you have the same tools here it will be easier for you to work with the computer."
Willow didn't really look happy about the situation, but the continued to work.
"You think he is officially listed?" Buffy asked.
"Don't know," Xander admitted. "But it's worth a shot."
"Okay," Willow said. "I have about one hundred persons that moved into town. Anything more specific?"
"Yeah, he was between 20 and 25," Xander told her.
"Okay, ten left," Willow exclaimed.
She opened the files and he faces of the persons appeared on the screen. Xander looked on the pictures and finally recognized the group leader.
"That's him," he said and tapped on the screen.
Willow clicked at the picture and the whole file appeared.
"Riley Finn," Willow read out loud. "He moved in town shortly after Graduation. He is currently a TA at UCS."
"Look Willow," Buffy said and pointed at something. "He is assigned to the same psychology course we have."
"Maybe we could speak with him," Willow proposed.
"Not a good idea," Xander said. "I helped him and his group. If he is willing to talk to someone it's me."
"And what do we do then?" Buffy asked.
Xander looked at everyone. "You guys better get some sleep. You look pretty tired."
"Yeah," Willow said and yawned. "Stupid jetlag."
"I'll handle patrol tonight," Xander announced as he led the group out of the warehouse. "You got to bed and tomorrow we'll see what we can do about the soldiers."
"You are not telling us the truth Xander, "Buffy exclaimed. "What do you really want to do?"
"Oh, I'm telling you the truth," Xander told her with a grin. "But I'm going to pay Mr. Finn a little visit."
"You think that's a good idea?" she asked "What if he tries something stupid?"
"Oh, I think I can handle a single TA," Xander told her while the Scoobies mounted Oz's van. "Don't worry about me."
"Okay. Just be careful," Buffy said.
"Always Buff," Xander told her. "Get some rest. You need it."
Oz shifted the volkswagen into gear and drove down the street. When the van was out of sight Xander turned around and returned to the warehouse.
Dean Carver inspected the office building his men had rented. After a few minutes he turned around and looked at his assistant.
"Not exactly the standard I'm accustomed to," he said and sighed. "But I think it will be enough for the moment. Status?" he asked.
His assistant took the folder he had under his arm and opened it. "Most of the vampires we selected for this mission arrived in town. The summer is coming to an end and the vampire activity will rise soon. And like you ordered we contacted Sanchez to come to a kind of solution for the situation. No answer."
"That's bad," Carver said. "I hoped we could prevent a war between our organisations, maybe share the hellmouth between the two of us. But now it doesn't look this way. The slayer?"
"She and her support group arrived today. They were on holiday," Paul said and showed his boss the pictures from the airports surveillance cameras.
Carver arched his eyebrow. "She left the Hellmouth? That's very uncommon. Any idea who guarded it during her absence?"
"We are clueless. But it might be this young man," Paul said and pointed at the black dressed man that hugged the slayer. "But we are not sure."
Carver inspected the photo closely. "Is this her boyfriend?"
"It might be," Paul said. "They at least acted that way."
"Our supervisor was right," Carver exclaimed. "This slayer really goes against all rules the Council has set up. How is he by the way?"
"There were a few minor problems with him, but nothing major. Why are you asking?"
"Because I want him here in Sunnydale," Carver explained. "As soon as possible."
"Sir, do you think this is a good idea?" Paul asked. "This individual has a certain habit for stabbing his partners in the back."
"We have no other choice," Carver explained. "There is more going on with the slayer than we thought. We need him here. The slayer is the variable we can't control."
"I will order our base in LA to send him to us," Paul said and wrote the order down on the page. "Something else?"
"No that was it fro the moment," Carver said.
Paul turned around and left the room, leaving the vampire leader of LA on his own.
It was already dark when Riley left the university building. He didn't mind to help the professor to obtain her cover, but that also took a lot of his time. He walked into the direction of Lowell house as suddenly someone called his name.
"Riley Finn?" the voice asked.
"Yeah," Riley answered and looked around. A second later Xander appeared out of the shadow of a nearby tree. The soldier eyed the newcomer. "Can I help you?"
"Yep," Xander told him with a grin. "You see, I wanted to join the army to fight demons and I wanted ask you where I can sign up."
Riley now had a shocked expression on his face. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Not an officer and gentleman then?" Xander asked, still smiling.
Riley didn't lose a second. He grabbed the Beretta, he had hidden in a holster in the back of his trousers and aimed it at Xander, who in the meantime had drawn his USP.
"Oh please," he mocked the soldier. "You want to shoot at me? That wouldn't be very nice. Especially since I saved your asses last night."
Now Riley realized who was standing in front of him. "You were the guy that shot those vampires," he stated. He took a closer look Xander and slowly lowered his gun.
Xander did the same and put the USP back into its holster.
"Yep that was me," he confirmed the soldier's suspicion. "Don't I get a thank you?"
"Well, thanks," Riley said, still a bit confused about the whole situation. "I don't want to sound rude, but what the hell are you doing here?"
"Me?" Xander asked back, trying to sound as innocent a possible. "Well, I got curious what the army is doing here in Sunnydale."
Riley looked at the young man from head to toe, trying to place him somewhere. "Sorry, but most of that stuff is top secret."
Xander nodded at that. He expected an answer like that. "Okay. Let's try it another way. You have ever seen The Silence of the Lambs ?" Riley nodded. "We play a round of quid pro quo. I ask you a question and after I'm finished it's your turn. If my question touches anything sensitive you say so and I'll ask another question. You okay with that?"
Riley again nodded. "I think that's acceptable," he said and looked around. "But maybe we could continue this conversation somewhere less public."
Xander now smiled at him. "And I know exactly the place for that."
"Nice place," Riley commented as the two sat down on one of the table in the Bronze.
"Yeah," Xander said and chuckled. "It's also the only place around here. And loud enough so no one will hear us."
The waitress came and took their orders. A minute later she returned with two beers for the two.
"So," Xander said after he had taken a sip from his bottle. "Since this whole idea was mine you can start to ask."
"Okay," Riley said and though about his first question. "Last night, you shot those vampires with a rifle, right?"
Xander nodded.
"So, how did those bullets kill them?" He asked. "I thought vampires couldn't be killed with guns."
"Explosive rounds," Xander simply said.
"Explosive rounds?" Riley questioned confused.
"Yep. They almost immediately blow up once they hit something solid," he explained. "Like the skull of a vampire. They rip the head apart. And for your second question. Well, you watched to many movies. You can't really kill a vamp with a bullet like you can do with a human. But if you blow his head up with a high calibre bullet, well just say the rule doesn't apply here."
Riley nodded, a few things now clearer to him.
"My turn," Xander said. "What are you guys doing here in Sunnydale?"
"I can't tell you that," Riley told him. "That one of the secrets."
Xander nodded. "Then another question. What are you doing with the vamps you captured yesterday?"
Riley shook his head. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't be authorized to tell you. All I can tell you is that were are ordered to capture as many hostiles as possible, not only vamps also demons."
"Hostiles?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, all the of supernatural creatures running around here," Riley explained. "Like I said, I don't know what they want to do with them. But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that they didn't invite them to play a round of poker. The word going around is that they test all kind of poisons and other stuff on the vamps, to figure out how to kill them. I also heard that they dissected one."
"What about, let's say, humans that have certain abilities. Like witches or werewolves," Xander questioned further.
"I don't know. The briefings never said anything about a situation like this," Riley admitted. "But I bet that the guys as the research section would love to get someone like this in their hands."
"And you?" Xander asked.
"I don't know," Riley said. "Orders are orders, if you like it or not."
Xander nodded. "Your turn."
"Why are you asking about what we would do with witches or werewolves?" Riley asked. "Do you know someone like this?"
"That's my secret," Xander told him with a smile. "And even if not. Do you think I would tell you after what you have just told me? Next question."
"Okay," Riley said. "Since you seem like an experienced vampire hunter, what are the most effective ways to kill a vampire?"
"You really want to waste your question this way?"
"Hey," Riley said and smiled. "I just want to see the pissed of looks of our scientist. Will all the stuff you are telling me they will be unemployed at the end of the week."
"Okay, your choice," Xander said with a slight chuckle and took another sip from his beer. "To kill a vamp you ram something wooden in his chest. A stake or a crossbow bolt. Dusts the fucker immediately. Or you cut his head of. A sword, battle axe or machete should do the job. You can also throw him into the sunlight, but since you guys operate at night that might be pretty useless. Crosses cause a vampire pain if you touch him with it and it also repels them if you hold it on front of them. They're also a pretty effective interrogating method. The same goes for holy water. But if you dunk a vamp, let's say in a pool full of holy water, it's eats through him like acid. And last but not least to can set them on fire. That should cover it."
"That's all?" Riley asked.
"Yep," Xander simply said.
"So, what do you use?"
"Me?" Xander asked.
Riley nodded.
"Well, like I said, a high calibre bullet can do the job if you blow a vamps head off. I mostly us hollow points that are blessed by a priest. They stay in the vamps body and burn like crosses, causing the vampire too much pain to do anything other than rolling on the ground in pain," Xander explained. "The explosive rounds also work pretty well. I have them for every calibre I use, but they are too expensive to use them regularly. It would be a waste of money. So I spare them for the real mean guys. What else? Oh yes, I use tracer round for my assault rifles to set vamps on fire. And wooden buckshot in my shotgun shells. Same effect as a stake."
Riley looked at the teen in font of him, trying to get everything he said,
"My turn," Xander said and shook Riley out of his thoughts. "And since I gave you just a lot of information, its only fair if I ask two questions."
Riley nodded.
"So, what were those rifles you shot the vamps with?" he asked.
"Modified taser rifles," Riley answered. "Good to knock out targets."
"Yeah, I saw it," Xander said. "But they take a lot of time to recharge."
"Yeah," Riley said. "It's the energy cell. I only has enough power to fire one shot. After that it needs thirty seconds to recharge."
"That a major drawback," Xander stated. "Thirty seconds can kill you if you fight against vampires."
"You are telling me?" Riley said. "I was there last night. We would have had more casualties if you hadn't assisted us."
"By the way, how is the guy with the injured arm?" Xander asked.
"It was broken," Riley told him. "But he will be up in a few weeks."
"Good to hear," Xander said. "That brings me to my next question. What are you guys? Rangers?"
Riley nodded. "Most of us are Rangers, before they recruited us. How did you guess?"
"Your fighting skills were not as advanced to be Special Forces, but you were still better than normal troops," Xander explained.
"That's another thing bothering me," Riley said." Last night you shot a vamps head off while he was struggling with one of my men. To get the kind of skills you would have to be a member special operations unit. But you can't be older than twenty. It's impossible to get into one of the units in that little time."
"Well, another one of my secrets," Xander told him. "Maybe I will tell you someday."
Xander looked at his watch and gulped the rest of his beer down. "See Riley, you look like a honest guy, but I don't trust your superiors. And all this black operation stuff doesn't create the most trustworthy atmosphere."
"What are we going to do now?" Riley asked.
Xander shrugged. "Well, until something changes I will let you guys do your work and I do mine, which is basically the same kind of work. You guys leave me alone and I will leave you alone. Any problems with that?"
Riley shook his head.
"Okay. Just one thing before I leave," Xander told him. "You guys should carry some normal firearms with you. Just to protect you while your star trek rifles reload. And carry some stakes. Listen to this advice, or a few of your men will leave Sunnydale in a body bag."
"Will do," Riley said. "You gave me a lot to think about."
"Good," Xander said and stood up. He took a business card from his pocket and dropped it on the table. "My cell phone number. Ignoring each other doesn't mean we can't help each other out if things get heavy."
Riley took the card and put it into his pocket. "I will remember this."
"Good," Xander said and turned around, walking in the direction of the exit. Suddenly he remembered something and turned back. "Oh, and don't try to trace the number. You will only waste your time with it."
Riley nodded, but he had a question himself. "By the way, what's your name?"
Xander thought about not giving him his name for a second, but that decided to go for it. "Call me Xander," he said and walked to the exit.
"Can you believe that that guy is a secret soldier?" Buffy asked, after she and Willow got their daily dose of Professor Walsh's psychology course.
"Well, he doesn't look like one," Willow agreed."At least he seemed kinda nice."
"Way more nice that Professor Walsh," Buffy muttered. "I don't get it. It makes no difference if I'm awake or not. She's always the same dragon."
They walked along the hallway, when Buffy's cellphone suddenly began ringing.
"Hello?" she answered the phone.
"Hi Buffy it's me," came Xander's voice over the speaker.
"Xander," Buffy said and smile. "What's up? Something wrong?"
"Yeah," Xander responded a bit uneasily."Look I have to cancel our meeting for lunch. I doing a little errand for your mother in LA."
"Oh," Buffy said disappointed.
"Yeah, bad luck, I know. Well, what have you guys planned for tonight," he asked.
"Just the Bronze," Buffy said.
"Okay meet you there. Eight?" he asked.
"Eight is it."
"Hey guys," Xander greeted the Scoobs when he finally reached their table, thirty minutes too late.
"Hi Xander," Willow greeted back.
"What took you so long?" Buffy asked a bit annoyed.
"Visited Cordy and Faith. Those two in one apartment, not a nice picture. I was tempted to lay a minefield in the middle of the room to separate them," Xander told her with a smile and waved for the nearby waitress. "Whisky," he ordered.
She wrote his order down and walked in the direction of the counter.
"And I thought me and Faith had a tendency for getting on each others nerves," Willow mused and played with the straw in her glass.
"You and Faith?" Xander snorted. "You two were like two tame small kittens. Faith and Cordy are like two grown up lionesses," he explained and the three scoobies grimaced at the image.
The waitress returned with Xander's drink an placed the glass on the table
"So," Buffy asked expectedly." How did your meeting with Finn go."
"Not so bad, if you consider this whole conspiracy crap," Xander told her and took a sip from his glass. "I asked him questions, he asked me questions. I told him ways of killing vampires and he told a bit about their operation."
"And? Something interesting?" Willow asked interested.
"Nothing really new. But one thing is interesting. He told me that their researchers would probably like to get werewolves, witches or other civillians that have certain abilities into their hands," Xander explained.
That statement caused a bit of uneasiness especially for Oz and Willow.
"You told him about us?" Oz asked a bit worried.
"No, I didn't tell the anything about you guys," Xander reassured them. "I just asked him a few theoretical questions."
"So, what do we do with the soldiers?" Buffy asked after everyone had the opportunity to absorb the information.
"I think we should do the same as before. I told him we would leave them alone and they leave us alone," Xander explained the situation.
"That isn't really a solution. We can't do our work here if we have to tip toe around them," Buffy said.
"I know Buff," Xander tried to calm her down. "But in the current situation we have to take what there is to take. Maybe we can make some deal with their higher ups once they have learned more about the hellmouth. But for the moment we should keep a low profile."
Buffy's expression suddenly shifted from relaxed to alarmed when three men passed their table. Xander immediately noticed this change.
"Trouble?" he asked worried.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah," she said and motioned for three men that now were walking to another table in the other end of the room. "Those spanish looking guys over there? Vamps."
Xander sighed, but still stood up. He gulped the last drops from his glass and slammed it down on the table. "Those guys really know how to ruin an evening," he said and pulled one of his stakes out of his pockets. On the other side of the table Willow and Oz had done the same. And Buffy had of course always her favourite stake with her.
"Okay, let's clean the Bronze out," she said and the three slayerettes followed her to the place where the three vamps were still standing.
When they came nearer they could hear the argument that took place between the three guys that sat at the table and the vampires that were standing in front of them.
"Austin, I tell it you only one more time. Join up or you and your guys will die," the vampire leader threatened the guy sitting at the head of the table.
"I told it you once and I'm telling it you twice. I'm not working for Sanchez. So you can tell your boss he can fuck himself for all I care," the Austin spat back and turned his back on the vamps.
"Your choice," the leader said and nodded for his two men.
Before the occupants of the table knew what was going on the two vamps had drawn two stakes from their jackets and plunged them into the chests of the two men that accompanied Austin.
The two immediately dissolved into dust, which caused a panic among the teens that stood around the table.
The vampire leader in the meantime had Austin pinned on the table, holding him firmly in place.
"I'll give my boss your regards," the leader told him with an evil smile a placed his own stake over the Austin's heart.
"Hey," came a voice from behind him. "Why don't you mess with someone you own size?"
The leader turned around confused and before he could react the blonde girl had already kicked the staked out of his hand. Not waiting for him to regain his balance Buffy slammed her own stake into his heart and watched with satisfaction as the vampire turned into dust.
The two remaining vampires looked confused at the small girl.
"Seems like you two are new in town," Buffy told them. "Well, I'm the slayer. You can no either die or run."
Clearly not accustomed to a situation like that vamp number 1 decide to fight the girl whereas vamp 2 decide to seek his luck by fleeing.
But his run was cut short. He impaled himself by running directly onto Xander's stake, who looked at the shocked face of the vampire with an evil smirk.
"And if you run, you die tired," he continued Buffy's sentence and watched as the vampires features turned into dust.
Buffy meanwhile had made short work with the remaining vampire and was currently beating the hell out of Austin. She was just about to stake him when Xander grabbed her wrist and stopped her this way.
"Buffy wait," Xander said.
"What?" she asked confused. "You know, it's my job to kill vampires."
Xander rolled his eyes a bit at that. "Yeah, I know that. But I think it would be useful to know why the vamps are fighting under each other, don't you think?"
Buffy pouted, but finally agreed and placed her stake back into her waistband. She took the vampire's left arm whereas Xander took his right one. Together they carried the unconscious undead out of the now empty nightclub, Willow and Oz following them.
"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Giles asked. The Scoobies had carried the vampire to Giles' apartment, because it was the nearest one. The apartment still was filled with the books they rescued from the high school.
"Yep," Xander said and applied the last layer of ductape and finished tying the vampire up to one of Giles' chairs.
"Giles, it was really weird," Buffy explained." Those vamps were fighting and killing each other. Something is going on. And that vamp might know what that is."
"I didn't mean that," Giles said. "Do you thing there will be no damage to my chair? It had been in the possession of my family for the last 70 years."
"You are telling me this now," Xander quipped. "Well, unless he is not too much into struggling, then your chair will be fine."
"And how do we wake him?" Willow asked. "Buffy gave his head quite a pounding."
"Well, I would suggest blood," Giles proposed.
"Great idea," Buffy said sarcastically. "Has anyone a blood bag lying around."
"Eh, no," Giles said.
"Oh you wimps," Xander said and took a knife from his boot. He cut with the blade over his open palm and waited for the blood to spill.
"Ouch," Buffy stated and looked with a bit of concern at Xander's blooody hand. "So, who is going to interrogate him?"
"Since it was yours and Xander's bright idea to bring him to my apartment you can also do the dirty work," Giles said and lead Willow and Oz out of the room.
"Hey, wakey up," Xander said as he waved his bloody hand under the vampire's nose.
Slowly the vampire came to his senses, the smell of the blood waking his hunger.
"What happened," Austin asked confused "Where am I?"
"That are two excellent questions," Xander stated and withdrew his hand from the vampire. "But were are the ones asking here."
"He is right," Buffy asked. "See, it not exactly normal for vampires to fight under each other. We would to know a bit more about that."
"Look," the vampire started. "We want no trouble with you guys. We have enough of that already."
"Why don't you tell me about it?" Buffy asked with a fake smile.
"Why should I?" the vamp spat back.
"Because if you don't you'll have through a very slow and painful death." Xander asked rhetorically.
The vampire sighed, but decided that the only chance of survival was cooperating.
"Okay, what do you want to know?" he finally asked.
"Who were those vamps that attacked you?" Xander asked.
"Sanchez's men." The vampire told him, nearly spitting the name out.
"Sanchez?" Buffy asked confused.
Austin nodded. "Big time vampire leader. Rules the business in south california and in north Mexico."
"Okay, so what are his guys doing here." Buffy asked.
"Man, for a slayer you are really dumb. Must have something to do with your hair colour," he told her with a evil smirk. That remark earned him a hard punch from Buffy, which broke his nose. "Ouch! Okay, okay. I'll stay to the story. Well, since the Mayor is out of business, Sunnydale's vampire are in a kind of civil war," the vamp explained. "We are fighting under each other to determine the next master vampire of the town."
"And Sanchez?" Xander asked.
"He and his men moved into town at the beginning of the summer. But the whole summer gap delayed his activities. Vampires don't fight much during the summer, because we are weaker than normal and all that stuff."
"Go on," Xander urged him
"Well, Sanchez' men basically want to take over the hellmouth. They are forcing all the vamps to either work with them or die."
"And you choose the last one." Buffy stated. She turned to Xander "I think it's clear. We kill this Sanchez and everything is fine."
That statement caused a burst of giggles from the tied up vampire.
"What?" she asked annoyed.
"Not only Sanchez is in Sunnyhell," Austin told her, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"And who else?" Xander asked.
"Another big time gangster. Dean Carver. Vampire leader. Controls LA and most of northern California." the vamp explained.
"And why are these two coming to Sunnydale now?"
"You see, before the Mayor died Sunnydale was kind of neutral territory. It separated Sanchez area from Carvers empire. With the Mayor gone this blocker is gone and those two are clashing against each other."
It took a few seconds for Buffy and Xander to let the information sink in.
"Open war between two vampire groups. That doesn't sound good." Xander muttered.
"So, I told you all about it." the vamp stated. "I have done my part. Now let me leave."
But instead of cutting him loose Buffy took the stake from her waistband and was ready to stake the vampire. But for the second time this evening she was stopped by Xander.
"Buffy wait," he said and took the stake from her hand. He took his knife again and freed the vampire from his restraints.
"Go," Xander told him. "Tell all the independent vampires to keep a low profile. We are gonna take care of the problem."
The vamp looked warily at the two, but finally made carefully his way out of Giles' apartment.
"Did we really have to let him live," Buffy finally asked when the vamp had closed the door behind him.
"Don't know. I just hope that this will keep the number those two gangster recruit their vampires from a litle lower."
"So how did it go?" Giles asked as he and the two other Scobies came back into the living room.
"We have a problem," Buffy stated.
"What happened?" Willow asked. "Where is the vampire?"
"We let him go," Buffy said.
"You what?" Willow shrieked. "You let a vampire leave? Why?"
"Okay, why don't we all sit down before the big yelling starts," Xander proposed and motioned to the couches and chairs. Finally each of the the Scoobies took a place and sat down.
"Yes, we let this vampire leave. Why? Cause Sunnydale's vampires are our smallest problem at the moment."
"What do you mean?" Giles asked confused.
"The guy told us about two vampire groups fighting for supremacy on the hellmouth," Buffy filled the rest in.
"Oh dear god," Giles muttered.
"My thoughts exactly," Xander threw in. "That is one hell of a problem for us. Now we not only have to deal with those soldiers but also with two groups of vampires that want to make the hellmouth their new home."
"What do we do now?" Willow asked.
"The same as always. Gathering information," Xander stated and stood up. "Maybe Giles' books have something on one of those vamps. The one was called Dean Carver the other one Sanchez," he told the ex-librarian and took his jacket.
"And what do you think you are doing?" Buffy asked him.
"Oh, I'm paying Willy's a little visit," he told her with a smirk.
"And you want to leave me stuck here," Buffy yelled with fake outrage. "No way, I'm coming with you."
"Buffy how do you get information out of Willy?" Xander asked rhetorically
"I beat him till he talks," she said.
"See? I'm paying him for information. And if you enter his bar all the vamps and demons leave the place. Maybe I'll get a hold on one of Sanchez or Carver's men," Xander explained and opened the door.
"Okay," Buffy said and sat down. "But the next time I'm going to Willy's and you can do the boring research," she called after Xander's retreating back.
"Hey Willy," Xander greeted the barkeeper when he entered the bar. "How is it hanging?"
"Oh Harris," Willy said as his head appeared from under the counter, where he had been searching something. He quickly checked the few vamps that sat on the various tables in his bar, but none of them paid him any attention. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, that's very rude," Xander complained and sat down on one of the barstools. "Why don't you ask me if I want something to drink?"
"Do you want anything to drink?" Willy asked nervous.
"No," Xander said with a straight face.
"Then why this whole 'Ask me if I want something to drink'-scene?" Willy nearly shouted at him. The scene of outrage attracted a bit of the attention of the vampires, but that interest only lasted a few seconds.
"Because it's the polite thing to do," Xander said, a bit taken aback. "Man, you really have to calm down. A heart attack isn't a nice thing."
"Sorry," Willy apologised. "Things are a bit tense at the moment."
"Yeah, I heard of it. One of the reasons I'm here," Xander explained. "So, let's get to business. Have you heard anything about the new vampires in town? Sanchez and Carver?"
"Who hasn't heard of them," Willy muttered."Look Harris, you would do me a great favour if you would stop right now and not ask these questions, okay?"
"Why? Trouble?" Xander asked and looked over his shoulder to the nearby vampires.
Willy sighed but finally leaned over the counter. "I don't know anything about Carver," he whispered, "but Sanchez would skin me alive I he knew that I told you something about him. This kind of business is a bit too hot for me."
"Do you know where he is?" Xander asked.
"You really want to bring me to an early death?" Willy muttered and checked to see if the vampires were interested in their conversation. "To answer your question: No, I don't know where he is."
"Okay," Xander said. He thought about the next question for a few seconds. "Another question. Are any of his boys here?"
"Harris…" Willy tried to reason him.
"Just say yes or no, you don't have to tell me which of them is one," Xander reassured the barkeeper.
"Yes…." Willy said after a few seconds.
"Thanks," Xander said and stood up from his stool. He walked into the middle of the room, so all the vamps could see him. "May I have you attention please," he announced. The vampires turned their head and looked at the slayerette. "I'm looking for someone who is working for a vampire called Snachez."
"What do you want?" growled one vampire that was sitting at the nearest table with two other vamps.
"For a start," Xander said and drew his USP. "You being dust on the floor."
With these word on his lips he fired the gun at the still seating vampires. He hit two of them square in the head, their heads exploding and covering their chairs with dust. The leader of the little group didn't wait for Xander to aim at him. He jumped up from his chair and ran as fast as possible towards the door.
Xander fired after the retreating vampire, but only succeeded in ripping a few chunks of wood out of the wall. The vampire crashed through the door and continued running for his life.
The remaining vampires had stood up and advanced at Xander. They stopped however when he pointed the still smoking gun at them
"You really don't want to know haw many more of you I can take out," he threatened and almost instantly the vampires sat back down.
Xander put the gun back under his jacket and ran to the door. He quickly opened it and stepped out of the bar. In the distance he could see the form of the fleeing vampire.
"Oh, I hate this running shit," he said and began running after his target.
"Do you really think this works?" Forrest asked as he eyed the improvised stake in his hand.
"Don't know," Riley admitted. "We have to try it out."
"I can't believe this shit is supposed to work," Graham muttered and made a few stabbing moves with his stake.
"Hey, it comes from the guy that saved our asses last night," Riley stated. "If it doesn't work, we can still use our rifles."
"Seems like we have found our test object," Forrest said and motioned for the vampire that came running towards them.
"Okay," Riley said and took the taser gun from his shoulder. "Shoot him down and stake him then. Questions?" The remaining soldiers shook their heads. "Good. Now take some cover. If he sees us standing here in the open he will just take another way."
Quietly and efficiently the soldiers behind various bushes and trees. The vampire Xander had been chasing stepped into the small opening of the graveyard and looked over his shoulder, trying to find any trace of his predator.
But before he could resume with the running part five electricity blasts knocked the vamp out.
Slowly the soldiers came out of their cover. Riley decided to take the initiative and walked up to the fallen vampire. He took his stake and carefully placed it over the vampire's heart. Breathing deeply one more time he pushed with all his strength and penetrated the vamp's heart with the tip of the stake.
"Hey, it works," Forrest exclaimed cheerfully as the vampire dissolved into dust.
"Who would have thought that such a small piece of wood can kill a vamp," Graham muttered in disbelief.
The five soldiers looked at the pile of dust that seconds ago was a deadly vampire.
"Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me," Xander exclaimed as he saw the soldiers milling around the dustpile.
"Xander?" Riley asked confused.
But Xander completely ignored the question. "Please don't tell me that the dust pile there was seconds ago a very healthy vampire?"
That earned him a collective nod from the soldiers.
"Oh Great," Xander exclaimed and threw his hands up into the air. "Just fucking great, he couldn't have asked something different. He had to know how to kill vampires. And I was dumb enough to tell it to him. That what I get for being so generous with my information."
"Ah, Xander….."Riley interrupted his rant.
"What?" Xander snapped at the team leader
"Could you enlighten us as to what's going on here," Riley asked, getting more confused by every second
"That vampire," Xander said and motioned for the dustpile, "had information I wanted to beat out of him. And you guys dusted him."
"Oh," Riley simply said. "Sorry?"
Xander took a step forward and poked the Initiative commando in the chest. "You are so lucky that you have the government backing you up Riley. Cause at the moment I really want to kick your ass through the whole graveyard."
"Hey, slow down a bit," Riley said and lifted his hands in surrender. "We didn't know that the vamp was important to you. We just saw a target we could test these things on," he said and lifted his stake.
Xander sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You're right. I can hardly blame you guys for doing your job. It just has been a pretty heavy night, okay? I'd better leave know. You guys go on with whatever you had planned for the evening," Xander said and waved goodbye at the soldiers before he turned around and retraced his steps.
"Is there anything we can help you with," Riley called after him.
"Sorry," Xander called back. "This thing is at least at the moment a bit out of you league."
With this word Xander disappeared in the darkness of the night and Riley walked back to his soldiers.
"That was the guy that saved our lives," Forrest asked. Riley nodded. "From which institution did he break out of?"
"Mr Sanchez," came the voice of one of his closest vampires through the office.
The vampire in which direction the call was directed looked up from the neck of the teenage girl, whose blood he was currently drinking.
"I hate it when someone disturbs me during my meal," he said angrily and threw the corpse to the ground. "What do you want?"
"There has been a little …. incident," the vampire reported.
"What kind of incident," Sanchez asked and walked up to the weapons cabinet that was placed behind his desk.
"We lost six vampires tonight. Three of them were on a mission, the other three had free time and wanted to check out the nightlife," the vamp reported. Sanchez in the meantime had taken down a 19th century saber from the cabinet and walked down the stairs and into the direction of his minion.
"So you think they are dead?" he asked and made a few training strikes, to warm up.
"Yes."
"Any idea who is responsible for this?" he asked.
"There might be a few possibilities," the vampire mused. "We still have a slayer in town. And let's not forget Dean Carver."
"Yes, this little pest Carver," Sanchez said with anger "I will have to deal with him sooner or later. So, what do you suggest to what we do to prevent debacles like this in the future?"
"Well," the vampire started. "We should only send out groups that consist of at least six vampires. And we should also limit our exposure to a minimum, so we don't attract the attention of the slayer. Which means no hunting for blood anymore, we'll have to rely on our supply on blood bags. And no visits in the local bars, to minimize encounters with her."
"That all are fantastic ideas," Sanchez said and stopped with his training. "I would promote you if you weren't already my right hand. But there is one thing bothering me. Why did we need to lose six vampires for you to come up with this idea? Why couldn't you have thought about that before?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an answer.
"Sir…..I…." the vampire stammered.
"You have no answer?" Sanchez asked.
The vampire could only shake and lower his head.
"Too bad," Sanchez said and turned around. But before the vampire could react Sanchez had quickly turned back around, slashing with his saber after the vampire's head. The blade easily cut through his neck and separated his head from his shoulders.
"Michael," Sanchez shouted once the corpse had turned into dust.
"Boss," the new vampire said once he was in the room.
"You heard everything?" Sanchez asked while he cleaned his blade with a handkerchief
"Yes boss," Michael said.
"Aren't you pissed that this moron used your ideas to impress me?" Sanchez asked him with a half smile.
"How did you.." Michael asked confused.
"It's my job find that kind of stuff out," Canchez said and walked back to the cabinet. He replaced the saber from where he had taken it. "Congratulations, you are my new right hand. The changes we discussed, I want them done before tomorrow night. And I want to know who exactly killed my men. That's it for now."
With these words Michael left the office, eager to fulfil his masters orders as fast as possible.
"Hey guys," Xander said when he finally arrived back at Giles' apartment.
"How did it go?" Buffy asked
"Bad. My only clue was dusted when he ran into our soldier friends," Xander explained. "So, did you find out anything new?"
"Well we found this Sanchez guy," Buffy said while Xander sat down besides her on the couch
"Yes, idea," Giles threw in. "Hector Sanchez was a general in the Spanish army. He was known for his cruelty and brutality. He disappeared after the Spanish/American war and since then he has been the unchallenged vampire leader in North Mexico."
"And Carver?" Xander asked.
"I haven't found anything about him. It seems that he belongs to the newer generation of vampire leaders," Giles explained.
"Newer generation?" Xander asked.
"He was just about to explain that to us," Willow said.
"Yes," Giles said and cleaned his glasses "During the last decade Council has recorded a very disturbing development. It seems that a lot of the older vampire lords are not longer able to retain their reign. Time changes faster then a they can adapt to them, so a lot of vampires that were originally born in this generation have taken over their organisation."
"That sounds bad," Buffy threw in.
"It's is. These new leader lead their organisation more like criminals would do. They engage in drug dealing, prostitution and any other thing they can make money with. Kaksitos was one of the last ancient vampire leaders on the east coast. Now there are only these new vampires around," Giles explained.
"Wait a second," Xander interrupted the Watcher. "Didn't the vampire we had here also say that Sanchez controls South California?"
"Yeah, he said something like that," Buffy answered his question. "Why?"
"Well, if those were the guys I encountered we're in deep trouble," Xander said and sighed.
"Could you please clarify that a bit?" Giles asked confused.
"My road trip," Xander simply said. "On my way back to Sunnydale I made a stop in San Diego. Wanted to spend the night there. Well, until I ran into those vamps."
"I don't understand," Buffy interrupted him. "How could a few vamps cause you that much trouble?"
"Easy," Xander said. "They shot at me."
For the next few seconds no one dared to say anything. It was Willow who broke the ice finally.
"They shot at you?" Xander nodded. "With crossbows, right?"
"Nope Will, sorry," Xander said and shook his head. "They used guns."
"And you think that those vampires were Sanchez' men?" Giles asked a few seconds later.
"Well, back then I didn't know who they belonged to," Xander explained. "But with the information we got now I'm pretty sure. Let's just say, after I finished those vamps off, I had a lot of trouble getting out of the City. Speaks of a good organisation."
"But those vamps we encountered earlier didn't carry any guns," Buffy threw in. "Just stakes"
"Yeah, but they didn't expect any trouble. They just thought they would have to kill a handful of vamps. The next time they will be warned and probably armed to the teeth," Xander told her. "And let's not forget the fact that Sanchez is about over one hundred years old. And if his men carry guns with them around, Carver's men will probably too."
For the second time in a few minutes the people in Giles' apartment were at a loss of words.
"Two armies of vampires here in town, both armed with the newest weapons the US gun industry has to offer," Buffy finally summed the situation up. "That doesn't sound good."