It has been three months since Xander talked Willow out of ending the world by declaring his love for her on Kingman's Bluff. While recuperating from Willow's magic attacks, he was made foreman on the new high school project when the other foreman went "missing." Buffy and Dawn were reconnecting and Giles took Willow to England so the coven could teach her to control her magic.
Spike had disappeared since he found Buffy on her bathroom floor.
Since the new high school was being rebuilt on the same location as the old one, Xander safely got the buildings up and running two months in advance and $750,000 under budget. He found it funny he had to rebuild the same school he helped blow up years ago and hoped he didn't have to blow this one up, too. Xander's bosses were so impressed with his work; they offered him the foreman's job in Vegas building a new thirty-story office building. It paid five times his present salary, he got a condo, and free tickets to whatever sold out show he wanted to go to. 'Anya loved free stuff. Made our lovemaking that much more enjoyable.'
Since Xander has been working with Buffy, he couldn't remember not patrolling. It had become routine after all these years. He even helped the Fang Gang once in awhile when he was in LA for work. He got a laugh at Caritas watching the guys of AI sing.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Xander?" A cultured voice he hadn't heard in years asked.
"Wesley? How are you? Is Cordy still getting the visions?"
"Yes, but that's not why I'm calling. I'm going to be in Vegas for a few days for an occult auction. I was wondering if I could use your couch?"
"I have a spare room you can use. Just let me know when you'll need it." Xander looked at his watch and saw that it was 7:00. Thirty minutes until sundown. "I have to go, Wes. I'm going out for a few hours.
"Gambling?"
"Only with my life."
"Don't get killed. I still need a place to sleep while I'm there."
"Your concern for my well being is overwhelming, Wesley." Xander hung up the phone chuckling at the way he talked to one Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. He never talked that long to him in one sitting ever. 'Maybe he'd like to see The Blue Man Group. I'll ask when he gets here.' The patrol was fruitless. The vamps were taking the night off and it wasn't Halloween.
Xander was filling his car with gas, when he sees 2 men, a fifty year old white man and a mid twenties African American man, struggling to get away from two vamps. Never giving up a chance to kick some undead ass, Xander grabs the stake he hides under his driver's seat and rushes over to the scene.
The vamps wanting to toy with their food first threw their two meals against a wall. The younger of the two drew his gun and yelled, "Back off! Las Vegas Police! Get on the ground with your hands behind your head!" The vamps looked at each other, put on their "game faces" and laughed.
"Get real, blood bag. You're bullets won't kill us. No matter where you shoot us." He stops talking when he notices he's just been staked.
"Yeah, but a sharp piece of wood will do the trick." The two officers are shocked when they see a man in his mid twenties holding a sharp piece of wood, after the dust clears. "Pardon me, Officers. I shall only be a few moments." The two men nodded, realizing questions can come later.
Facing the other vamp, Xander gets into a boxing stance. "Come on, Fang Face. I'm in a hurry to get to a casino." The vamp, true to form, rushed at Xander. He sidestepped him to his left, then tripped him with his right foot. "I'd do the Time Warp, but I'm busy." Xander turns to the fallen vamp and quickly stakes him. "Man, Vegas vamps are nothing compared to Sunnydale vamps." Xander turns ti the two cops and sees the younger one pointing his service revolver at him.
"Alright, what's going on here?" The young cop asked.
"Warrick. Put your gun away. This guy just saved us from two vampires and we left our stuff in the car." His boss told him.
"Thank God, I don't need to convince you they were 'Gang members on PCP.'"
The older man stepped forward. "I'm Gil Grissom. This is Warrick Brown. We're from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. You mentioned Sunnydale and Gang members on PCP. Are you Xander Harris?"
"Am I under arrest?"
"No."
Xander got his driver's license out and handed it to Gil. "Then, yes. I'm Xander Harris." In his best Yogurt voice, "You hoid of me?"
"There are vamps all over the place here. Millions of tourists, easy pickings and just out of the Slayer's sight. Now, why is there a core member of the Scooby Gang here in Vegas?"
"How do you know that nickname?"
"There's a web site on all of you. There are your life stories and everything you've done since you've met Buffy Summers."
"OK. Give it to me, I'll check it out. Now that I know you believe in the things that go 'Bump in the Night' why do you believe? You're scientists. You deal in facts. Vampires are folklore. What gives?"
"There was a murder last year. Blood drained, two puncture marks on the neck, bruised hands and a sharp piece of wood in his hands. There were also two piles of dust near the corpse. The dust had DNA in it that was over 125 years old. Greg Sanders, our lab technician, a man who when he talks we don't listen, tried to show me the evidence that the dust was vampire dust. As you said, vampires are folklore, they don't exist.
Greg tested and retested the dust that was found at the crime scene. All the tests proved it was vampire dust, but no one here would believe him. How do you explain to scientists that things that are considered folklore really exist? Without killing them? He needed to stall, until he could prove to them that vampires really exist.
"Hey Greg. What have you got on the dust we found?"
"Hi there, Nick. I need more time to run some tests. The results I'm getting aren't making sense. I think we need new equipment." When he saw that Nick Stokes bought his lie, Greg let out a silent sigh of relief. "Just out of curiosity, Nick, what is the name of the victim?"
"Graham Miller."
'Oh, Dear God. No.' "Five foot eight, hundred sixty pounds, crewcut, looks like he's been in a few fights?"
"Yes. How do you know him?"
"What was the approximate time off death?"
"Four hours ago. What's going on, Greg?"
"When was he brought in?"
"Ninety minutes ago. Why?"
"Shit." Greg Sanders, lab technician, ran faster than anyone had ever seen a human run before. This got the attention of the entire lab. He ran to his locker and opened it as fast as he could, grabbing a wooden stake, a vial of holy water and a cell phone, then hurried to the morgue. When Greg got to the morgue, he heard a loud crash. The entire staff entered the morgue. When Greg looked inside, he saw Dr. David Robbins, Chief Medical Examiner, futilely trying to hold off Graham Miller, newly risen vampire.
'Think.' "Lieutenant Miller, stand at attention!" Graham looks, with his game face on, at where the voice that called his name was coming from. He sees who's looking at him and takes his game face off.
The vampire that was Graham Miller notices him. "Greg Sanders? What are you doing here?"
"This was the civilian assignment I chose. What are you doing here?" Captain Jim Brass looked at the two, with a puzzled look on his face. 'Civilian assignment? I thought Sanders transferred to here from San Francisco.'
"I'm on R & R. I think it'll be longer than two weeks."
Greg loosened the top on the holy water and splashed it onto Graham's face. Graham started to scream in agony. "Here, Gil. Hold this for me. I'll be right back." Greg quickly stakes Graham. 'Rest in Peace, Graham.' While everyone is in shock, Greg grabs the cell phone and hits speed dial. "This is Cactus. I need to speak to Lilac. Priority Alpha."
<Greg Sanders? What's the situation?>
"Captain Finn, I'm sorry but Lieutenant Graham Miller is no longer of the living or undead."
<Explain.> Riley's anger is obvious.
"I'm not sure of the specifics, but it seems he was drained and sired. The vampire that sired him disappeared. I had to stake him, Captain. I need you to come to Vegas with as much non-classified data you have on vampires as well as any videotape. The cops need this evidence or I'm in deep shit."
<OK. I'll be there in six hours.>
"Ask for Captain Jim Brass."
<Will do. See you in six hours, Cactus.>
"See you in six hours, Lilac."
The story of the Vegas Crime Lab meeting Riley Finn was giving Xander a major case of the giggles. He didn't want to laugh too loud, or he might draw attention to the group he's in. "You met Riley Finn? Captain Cardboard? GI Joke? Although, he has mellowed out since he got married."
Warrick leaned over to Gil, and whispered, "Now we know why he gave Sara the brush off when she was coming on to him."
"So Mr. Grissom, what went through your mind when you found out this Greg Sanders was a black ops scientist who chose to live in Vegas?"
"We were angry. Very angry, actually. Captain Brass wanted to beat him up. Sara Sidle wanted to tie him up and give him a case of the blue balls. But all was explained when Riley Finn showed up. He showed us what they were doing when he was in Sunnydale, which he admitted was wrong. Then he showed us the Slayer. We misjudged her because of her size. We saw videotape of when she was evading the soldiers in a training exercise. He told us she was moving at 20% of her full speed. Every night patrol has an anti-vampire kit with them, thanks in part to Greg."
Xander was pleased with this news. He was pleased he didn't have to explain himself to the cops. He was pleased that there were cops, scientists too, that knew about the real nightlife. And he was pleased that there was help, major help, if he or the Scoobies needed it. 'So, that's why there were no vamps out during my patrol tonight. The cops are handling it.'
Gil turns to Xander, "So, Xander. Why are you in Vegas? On your honeymoon? The site hasn't been updated in over a year. The last we saw was when the Council of Watchers reinstated Rupert Giles."
"I didn't marry Anya." They silently asked him to continue. "At our wedding, a man that Anya 'got her vengeance on' wanted revenge for sending him to some alternate dimension eighty years ago. He showed me images that I could have turned into an abusive drunk like my biological father. I couldn't do that to her. She hated me at first, but we've gotten to the point where she doesn't want to hurt me. I'm here building that office building near the Luxor. I'm the foreman." For the next hour, he explained the defeat of Glory, his engagement to Anya, Buffy's death and resurrection, Willow's power issues, Spike's attempted rape of Buffy, this upset the cops a little, Tara's murder and Xander stopping Willow from destroying the world.
Gil and Warrick could hear the sorrow in Xander's voice. The cops look at each other, nod, and then Gil asks Xander, "Would you like to visit our lab? There are people there who would like to meet you."
After dealing with cops who had their heads buried in the sand for so long, Xander hated going to the police station. But, since these cops knew what was going on, he figured it would be a good experience to see how cops should be. "Sure, why not? I've got nothing better to do."
Gil, Warrick and Xander enter a quiet crime lab. There are people walking around, but they're either done with their work or waiting for answers. Xander is handcuffed, being led into an interrogation room. "It was self defense! They tried to kill me and I defended myself! You can't arrest me for that! I want my right to bet Lord Byron! I want my right to bet Lord Byron!"
Nick Stokes helps Warrick get Xander into an interrogation room. "What's going on, Warrick?"
"Murder suspect. He killed the two people who were trying to mug him. He's claiming self defense, but there were no weapons in the victims' hands. He's been claiming self-defense since we arrested him. He's also been quoting movies since we put him in my car. Trying for a dual defense. Self-defense and insanity. Doubt they'll work, though. Gil and myself witnessed the attacks he made, not the ones he is claiming happened before we were there."
"How did he kill the muggers?"
"Sharp piece of wood through the heart. Dusted them both." Warrick was trying hard to keep a straight face. "Warrick, why did you arrest a guy for killing two vampires?"
"Do you want to know who that is? That's Alexander "Xander" Harris."
"From Sunnydale, California? Why is he here? Shouldn't he be there helping save the world?"
"You'd be right, except that he's the new foreman on the office building being put up by the Luxor."
"OK. That doesn't explain why he's in cuffs in an interrogation room."
"Gil wants to pull a joke on Brass. Xander went along with it. Want to watch his 'interrogation?'"
"Sure. I'll get the gang. This should be fun."