FIC: Another Type Of Vampire (1/5)

Faith stared around their derelict surroundings, a burnt-out industrial area in Kansas City, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "This place is a complete dive," she groused. "Why the hell couldn’t Tommy ‘The Talker’ send us somewhere classy?"

"What did you think Faith?" Xander chuckled from beside her. "That the child-traders would do their exchanges at a night-club?"

Faith glared at her companion. "Bite me Harris."

"No," her heart sank when a group of maybe eight vampires stepped out of the shadows to surround them. "We’ll bite you," continued the group’s leader, a thick-set Hell’s Angel before glancing at his fellow demons. "Kill the dude, keeps the babes," he instructed before leering at her. "Oh yeah, definitely worth waiting for."

"Need any help Faith?" Xander asked.

"Eight guys at once?" Faith’s gaze didn’t shift from the burly biker in front of her. "Even I’ll need a little help with that."

* * *

"Always happy to oblige." Stepping sideways, Xander drove the point of his elbow into the nearest vampire’s jaw. The demon’s head snapped back and he stumbled backwards. Xander spun round, stake at the ready.

"Hell!" he cursed as another biker vamp charged him. Re-adjusting his position, he slammed his heel into his rival’s shin, the blow shattering bone. The vampire’s mouth opened in a scream that was cut off by Xander thrusting his stake into his heart. "Shit!" Xander swore as his arms were grabbed from behind by a pair of vampires, restraining him as the demon he’d elbowed in the face advanced, his yellow eyes gleaming.

Xander’s mouth dried as he tried and failed to escape the two vampires holding him, his eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching demon. He knew a number of techniques that would get him loose from the holds on him – but only if they were humans, the demons were just too strong. He glanced hopefully towards Faith, but the Slayer was involved in her own batt-.

Suddenly the vampire to his left exploded in dust. Xander glanced over his shoulder to see the Wicca there, stake in hand, her face pale but resolute. "Thanks Tara!" Taking advantage of the leverage offered to him by the shocked vampire still clinging to his right arm, Xander launched himself into a clockwise spin-kick.

His feet smashed into the on-rushing vampire’s face in quick succession, knocking the demon on his ass. Landing opposite the demon that had been restraining him, Xander winked. "I like you," he drove a knee into the shocked vampire’s groin, doubling his rival up, before slamming his stake home. "But not enough to hold hands with you."

"DIE!"

"No thanks." Xander glanced over his shoulder to see the demon he’d just knocked on his ass charging him, drool dripping from his fangs. Realising that he didn’t have time to turn to face his opponent, Xander simply sidestepped and thrust his stake backwards, impaling the demon’s heart. "I’d rather you did." A grin on his face, he spun to check on his friend.

* * *

The moment she’d finished speaking, Faith leapt into a jumping crescent kick, the toe of her lead foot colliding with the boss vampire’s jaw, shattering bone, and sending the demon crashing to the asphalt. A grin playing on her lips, she stepped towards her adversary only to hear a footstep behind.

Faith instantly threw a back heel kick. Her blow landed in her would-be attacker’s thick chest with a satisfying thud and a milli-second later she heard a pained grunt. She felt a strong hand grab her by her shoulder. "Bitch!"

"Now," her hand lunged up to grab her assailant’s wrist. "That’s," she twisted the wrist, smirking at the sound of breaking bone, "rude!" Spinning round to face the demon she slammed her stake home.

A punch to the back of the neck staggered her. Shaking it off, she spun to face her attacker only to catch a right to her forehead. Dazed, and noting the two vampires she’d knocked on their asses were getting up, Faith realised she had to take a chance. Taking a breath, she leapt backwards into the wall behind and powered off to dive stake first into the vampire.

The demon’s eyes widened even as he exploded into dust. Faith leapt through the dust, hitting the ground in a forward roll, and continuing on through between the other two vampires before leaping to her feet. Spinning to face her remaining rivals, she caught the demon to her left with a side kick to the gut, doubling him up. "Argh!" she grunted as she blocked a left hook from the other vampire on her forearm before ducking a right cross and driving her stake home.

She spun to face the final surviving demon and winced as it grabbed her around the throat in an iron grip. Wheezing with the effort of forcing air into her lungs, Faith smashed a knee into her attacker’s groin. Instantly the chokehold was broken and the demon stumbled backwards. Before the stunned vampire had chance to recover she’d driven her stake into its heart.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Xander and Tara hurrying towards her. "You guys k?" she queried, a note of anxiety in her voice.

Her question was answered by a Xander trademark goofy grin. "Better than okay, Tara," his friend threw an arm around her sis’ shoulders and hugged her. "Tara managed to get her first vampire!"

Faith smirked. "Way to go big sis!" Hurrying up to the blushing witch she raised her hand in a high-five. After a second her friend meekly raised her hand. Faith whooped as they slapped palms. "Now all we need to do is find ya a nice cow-girl and that’s two cherries popped in one night!"

Tara spluttered and Xan chuckled. "Thanks for the nice visual Faith," Xman’s tone turned serious. "But we’ve got a problem."

"Uh?" Faith’s gaze took in the eight dust piles dotted around their makeshift battleground. "Eight dusted vamps, we’re still looking as cool as ever. No problem that I can see."

"It was a trap."

Faith squinted at Xander’s coldly stated words. "Why do you say that?"

"Oh yeah, definitely worth waiting for."

Faith’s brow furrowed. She’d heard the words before but couldn’t remember where. "I’m missing something ain’t I?"

"T..the boss vampire said it before the fight started," Tara replied.

Aw fuck. Faith pouted, the vampires had been told to be here. Question was who knew they’d be here? Nobody knew they were coming here but themselves….. "Damn it," she muttered before looking up. "Tommy ‘the Talker, set us up. The fucking bastard!" She kicked a near-by trash-can, dinting it and propelling it over the brick wall. Calming herself, she looked up into Xander’s eyes. "What we gonna do about this weasel?"

"I think we should pay him a visit to discuss our displeasure."

"Sounds good to me," Faith nodded. As long as displaying her displeasure involved breaking a few bones.

* * *

Tommy ‘the Talker’ hurried out of the smoky back room, his heart pounding and sweat pouring down his face. In all his twenty-five years as a hustler, he’d never had such a shitty day. First those damn kids and now the scary black dude. Taking a breath, he speeded up, lengthening his stride as he heard the sounds of fighting behind him. He might never have been a lover or a fighter, but he was one hell of a runner. His eyes widened as he saw a trio across the intersection. "Oh crap."

* * *

Faith grinned as she saw their quarry’s face pale from across the street. "Gotcha you bastard!"

"We’ll cut him off at the abandoned bowling alley on seventh," Xander suggested.

Faith laughed. "Fifty bucks says I get him first." Brushing off Xander’s protests she leapt over a fire hydrant, ran over the roof of a parked car, and charged across the road after the fleeing man.

In seconds, she ran around an alley corner. "Fuck off!" She caught the small-time crook’s wildly swung steel pipe, snatched the makeshift weapon out of his hand, and threw it to the muddy ground. Next the thug grabbed a bottle from the top of an over-flowing trash can, smashed it against the wall, and thrust its jagged end at her face. Faith casually kicked the bottle out of her assailant’s hand before grabbing him by the throat and flinging him into the wall.

Before her rival had a chance to recover Faith drove a fist into his rail-thin stomach, knocking the man to his knees, tears of pain rolling down his unshaven face. "Man, you are really pissing me off. First you set my friends and me up," she stomped on the man’s right hand, breaking fingers. "Then you try hit me with a pipe!" She kicked the man in the balls. "And try to fucking bottle me!" Grabbing the man around his throat," she lifted him off a foot from the ground. "You are going to talk!"

Sensing a presence at the far end of the alley, she looked towards the newcomer. The interloper was thickly-muscled, crew-cut African-American of medium height. Faith tensed as she noticed the purposeful air that surrounded the intruder, he was definitely a player.

And something more. There was something, vamp-, no not quite vampiric about him. Eyes gleaming suspiciously, she flung Tommy to the ground. "Move and I will break you." Her warning given, she turned back to the cold-eyed black man. "Who the fuck are you?"

FIC: Another Type Of Vampire (2/5)

"Name’s Blade," he replied, eyeing the lithe brunette with interest. Even if he hadn’t seen the babe’s inhuman strength he’d known there was something not quite human about her.

"Really?" the girl’s chocolate brown eyes widened and her cupid-shaped lips parted in a crooked smile. "Wicked! Always wanted to meet you! I’m a big fan!"

Blade chuckled, amused despite himself by her enthusiasm. "I get that a lot. Who are you?"

"Name’s Faith," the teen introduced herself before tilting her head to one side and raising a finely-mascaraed eyebrow. "What ya doing here Fudge?"

Blade’s brow furrowed. "Fudge?"

"Yeah," the brunette rolled her tongue between her lips. "I’d like to have you spread all over me like hot fudge," the teen explained. "What ya going here?"

Blade stared at the brash young woman, slightly bemused at her forwardness before replying. "Same as you," he nodded towards the scumbag lying on the ground. "Him."

The brunette’s eyes hardened. "Sorry, but he’s mine."

"Then we’ve got a problem girl," Blade commented.

"No you have." Surprised that anyone could sneak up behind him, Blade glanced over his shoulder to see an athletically built male and a shy-looking girl stood there. "Thought you’d got lost Faith."

The raven-haired beauty snorted. "Yeah, right. This asshole took about twenty seconds to take down." Suddenly the teen swung around, grabbed a rising Tommy by his pony-tail, and flung him back to the alley ground. "Stay there!" she snapped before turning back to him and the others. "Sorry about that, he needs some more obedience training. Dude’s Blade," the shapely temptress nodded towards him. "And he wants Tommy too."

"You wouldn’t think someone’s Tommy winning personality would be so popular," the young man drawled. "Why do you want him?"

Blade stared at the youth for a second, impressed by his purposeful calm. "Over the last two years, fifty kids have disappeared from the area."

"Tragic, but not unusual," the young male commented. Despite his casual tone, Blade noted a flicker of interest in the teen’s eyes. "Sad, but kids runaway from home all the time."

"Ain’t that the truth," commented the sultry beauty, an under-current of bitterness in her husky tone.

Blade shook his head. "Yeah, but they’re not normally being sold to a demon cult."

The male teen raised an eyebrow. "Really? Isn’t that a coincidence?" he smiled. "That’s who we’re tracking. Want some partners?"

"Sorry kid," Blade pushed his duster open, ready to grab his sword if things got physical. "I work alone. I don’t carry passengers, especially ones I know jack about."

"Passengers?" the boy laughed. "Faith’s the Slayer," he nodded towards the beautiful brunette. "And Tara’s a Wicca," the youth tilted his head towards the shy blonde.

Blade squinted, interesting. "And you?"

The kid shrugged his impressively wide shoulders. "Nothing special." Behind him the Slayer snorted. "So what do you say?"

Blade considered the offer for a few seconds. "If she’s a Slayer, where’s her Watcher? Neither of you are old enough for the job."

"Don’t want shit to do with the Council!" Faith’s eyes darkened. "Found out about the Cruciamentum, no way those fucking limeys are doing that to me!"

Blade stared at the Slayer before nodding. "Don’t blame you kid," he commented. He decided to accept Xander’s offer, he’d met two Slayers in the past and didn’t want to fight one unless he had to. He glanced at Xander. "Partners?"

"Wicked!" Faith cheered. "Working with Blade, what a fucking buzz!"

"Faith, you’re sounding like a groupie."

"Bite me Harris," the east native flipped the young man the bird before turning her attention back to the thug knelt on the ground. "Where were we?"

"I don’t know anything!" Thomas wailed.

"Oops." Blade winced when the Slayer kicked the small-time crook in the chest. "Why don’t I believe you?"

"F…Faith," it was the Wicca, Tara. "Maybe you shouldn’t-."

"Sorry Tar," the Slayer’s gaze didn’t shift. "But this fucker knows something about all these missing kids and I’m gonna find out what. How many bones are there in the human body, Xand?"

"206."

"Uh, uh," Faith nodded. "Tommy, how many will I have to break before you get smart?"

"I don’t know anything!" the informant protested.

"Elbows," Blade watched as the Slayer grabbed the crook’s scrawny right arm, "snap like a twig."

"Wait!" Tommy screamed. "I know the guy who paid me to set you up! I can tell you that!"

"Oh yeah?" Faith didn’t release her grip on the hoodlum’s arm. "So talk."

"His name is Marcus Stewart, he’d heard you were nosing around and wanted you taken care of."

"Describe him," Xander demanded.

"Early forties, short, thin, balding, with a hooked nose," Thomas babbled.

"That all you know?" the informant nodded, clearly too frightened to speak. "Five by five," the Slayer glanced towards them. "What are we going to do with this piece of crap Xan?"

"We can’t leave him here," Blade interjected. "The little runt will only go babbling to everyone."

"We could bring him with us, throw him in the back of my car," Xander suggested.

Blade nodded approvingly. "Sounds good, we can take him back to my place and keep him there until we’ve got the kids free."

"You can’t just -, SHIT!"

The informant’s protest was cut off by the brunette grabbing his ear and twisting. "Or, we could just cut out your tongue?" the girl cheerfully suggested.

"I..I’ll come with you."

"Smart guy," the Slayer picked the informer up by his shirt collar and stood him up. "Try and run and I’ll break your kneecaps. Get me?"

Tommy nodded. Xander chuckled. "You’ve got a way with people Faith."

The brunette threw the young man a wink. "Just my natural charm X."

"Uh, and I thought it was fear and intimidation."

"Hey," the Slayer shrugged and grinned even as she slapped Tommy on the back of the head and pushed the underworld rat towards them. "I go with whatever works," Faith licked her lips sensually as she looked at him. "So Fudge, we’ve only just met and you want me to come back to your place?" Faith winked. "Fast worker, I like that in a guy."

* * *

"Who is he?" Tara asked in a whisper.

Faith tore her glance away from the back of Blade’s head sat up front with X to look at her sis. She knew Blade’s hearing would probably be able to hear them so spoke normally. "Blade? In the early fifties," Faith’s brow furrowed in thought. The African American didn’t look much older than his early thirties and yet he had to be in his late forties. Wicked weird. Although, Faith licked her lips, however old he was, he was still one hell of a piece of prime meat. Ignoring her confusion she continued on. "They say in the early fifties Blade’s mom was in labour with him when this Master Vampire, Deacon Frost, broke into her hospital room and fed from her. The fucker killed her, but somehow, Blade was still born and he got a vamp’s strengths but none of their weaknesses. This old guy Whistler, found him living on the streets in the late sixties and trained him. Ever since then he’s hunted vamps, he scares them way more than Slayers. The Council hates him."

"B…but he’s on the same side."

Faith blinked. Was her sister that naive? "Yeah, but the Council is all about power." Seeing Tar’s confused expression she tried to explain some more. "The Council get all their fame and shit from the Slayer, they love the rep they get from the Slayer’s exploits and hate the idea of anyone being more effective or better than a Slayer." Of course not better than her, Faith reminded herself, just other Slayers.

"Oh," Tara paused for a second. "If you like Xander why are you flirting with Blade?"

Although she kept her face impassive, Faith squirmed inwardly at her best friend’s disapproving tone. It was difficult to fight the damage her upbringing had done, the belief that all she had to offer was her body, hard to break the habit of a lifetime. "Just having fun," she evaded flippantly.

She was saved from any further probings from Tara by Blade speaking up from the front. "We’re here."

Faith glanced up to see the a run-down slaughterhouse’s double-doors. "Oh yeah," she muttered. "Real homey."

FIC: A New Type Of Vampire (3/5)

Whistler’s hand dropped to his sidearm even as he looked up to glare at the opening door, not having yet had time to set up the surveillance cameras in their temporary base. He relaxed when his protégé entered followed by a trio of teens and a rat-faced man in his late thirties. "Hey kid," he greeted as he stood. "If I knew you were bringing company I’d have a baked a cake."

The nearest thing he had to a son didn’t smile. Not that expected him to, stone had more chance of cracking. "She’s," the vampire hunter nodded towards a devastating brunette, "the Slayer."

"Um, um," Whistler raised an eyebrow. "Thought we didn’t get involved with the Council?"

The raven-haired beauty snorted. "Fuck, I dumped those pricks the moment I found out about the Cruictamen bullshit!"

Whistler nodded in understanding. In ’88, he and Blade had discreetly aided a Slayer in passing her’s, the first in close to a century to do so. "Smart move."

The Slayer smirked. "Glad you approve Grandpa."

Ignoring the jibe, he turned to Blade. "How come you bring them with ya kid?"

There was more than a note of dry amusement in the half-vampire, half-man’s reply. "We reached a Mexican stand-off. They had Tommy," Blade thumbed towards the informer, "I wanted him."

Whistler nodded, bowing to his only friend’s decision. "What do you want to do with that piece of crap?"

"Throw him in the meat locker, I might fancy a snack later."

Whistler hid a laugh at Tommy’s croak and paling face before grabbing the crook by his collar and dragging him over to the meat locker. Once the informer was locked up, he turned back to Blade and their guests. "What did he give you?"

"Name of a guy who’s real interested in stopping people investigating the missing kids," Blade replied.

"Oh yeah," Whistler arched a grey eyebrow. "And what are we going to do with said name?"

"I..I," Whistler turned towards the shy-looking new age babe, "could do a search on the computer." The blonde looked towards his laptop. "See what I can find."

Whistler looked towards Blade for guidance. After a second his son nodded. "Sure girl, knock yourself out," Whistler agreed. He noted the young man was wearing a brace of Desert Eagles in shoulder holsters beneath his trenchcoat. He didn’t approve of kids the teen’s age using guns, but, he glanced towards the Slayer, if he was running with her he’d probably need one. He hesitated before making an offer. "Want to learn some tricks you can do to make some more effective vamp ammo?"

* * *

Xander glanced at Faith. His friend winked at him. "Go on Xan, go do that male bonding crap. I’ll stay with Tar."

After a second he nodded and forced a smile. Guys like Blade still intimidated the hell out of him, made him feel like he wasn’t worthy to be in their presence. "I’d love to."

Whistler beamed. "Great," the leathery faced old-timer took him by his elbow and led him towards a cluttered workbench towards the back of the large building. "We’ve picked up a few tricks along the way. Which leads me to ask," the veteran demon hunter fixed him with a piercing stare. "How the hell you ended up running with such strange, although beautiful, company?"

"Yeah," Xander looked to the ground, his reluctance to talk about himself asserting himself. After a second he raised his gaze and began to talk, telling the two older men about living on the Hellmouth, meeting Buffy, and then Faith. Finally he told them about leaving Sunnydale and his possession by Mithras. Seeing the duo’s doubtful looks, he treated them to a demonstration of the magical objects that had come with it. When he was satisfied they now believed him, he went on to talk about the upcoming battle, where, and whenever it was, and the army he was forming to fight it.

"Okay," Whistler and Blade exchanged a long glance that was unreadable to him but probably spoke volumes to them before turning back to him. "Like I was saying before," the older of the two men continued. "Our experiences have taught us a few tricks that could come in handy. Want to see our close combat stuff first?"

"Sure," he nodded.

"First we have these." Whistler threw him a pair of brass knuckles. He tried them on to find they were a great fit but nothing out of the ordinary. "See the button on the side?" he nodded. "Press it." He obeyed, his eyes widening when there was a click and a trio of quarter-inch high silver studs popped out of the top of the weapon. Whistler chuckled at his surprise. "Blessed silver with crosses engraved in them," the weapons smith explained with a smirk. "You punch a vamp in the face wearing those babies and the blood-sucker will know about it."

"Most demons too," Blade commented.

"Next we have this." Whistler passed him a leather sheath containing a stake. "Fasten it to your wrist." After taking off his trenchcoat he obeyed. "Now flex your hand downwards." His eyes widened as a stake shot out of the sheath to land in his hand. "Handy uh? It’s spring loaded, reacts to the muscle-flexing."

"Wow."

"And there’s this," now he watched with interest as Whistler produced a stake with a steel cap on the opposite end. "You miss the vamp’s heart, catch it in the shoulder maybe. Vamp’s in pain, but still dangerous. Grabs this steel cap to pull the stake out," the demon hunter chuckled darkly, "only trouble is, this stake is hollow and pressing down on the metal cap sends a vial of holy water into the vampire.  Hurts like a bastard.”

Xander grinned. "That’s just evil. I like!"

"Tell me kid," Xander was now completely ignoring the old guy’s ‘kids’. If it was good enough for the legendary Blade, it was sure as hell good enough for him. "What would happen if you tried to garrotte a vampire?"

"Unless you catch him or her by surprise, which is near to impossible, you’d lose," he replied. "They’re too strong."

"Not with this," Whistler produced a silver garrotte. "Blessed silver, wrap it round a vamp’s neck and pull, cuts through them way quicker than normal."

"Uh, uh," Xander was less impressed with that one. He didn’t have Blade’s strength. "Anything else?"

"This."

Xander’s eyes widened when the grizzled old-timer threw him a mace spray. "Oh crap!"

"Problem?" Blade raised an eyebrow.

"This is filled with holy water right?"

"A mixture of liquefied garlic and holy water," Whistler replied.

Xander threw his head back and laughed. God he was such an idiot. "Back in Sunnydale I was always saying we should have a more effective method of using holy water. But the best I could up with was water pistols. The others laughed at the idea. But this," he looked at the modified spray. "This would have been perfect."

Whistler chuckled before continuing. "And now we come to the ammunition part of the tour. First we have teak rounds, hollowed out and filled with lead. Or you could have a hollowed out metal casing, containing a plastic cell filled with holy water that cracks open on impact. Best of all are AET rounds -."

"You just lost me?"

"Advanced Energy Transfer rounds," Whistler explained. "Bullets that hit the body and don’t go through but ricochet around the body, Israeli Air Marshals are armed with them." Xander winced, Whistler grinned. "Yeah, they’re a real bitch. I use a capsule containing small blessed silver bearings dipped in holy water that explodes on impacts and rips through a vamp."

"Wow." Xander stared at the two men stood opposite before smirking as the implications of the weaponry hit him.

"Problem is kid, you need real money and expertise to make them," Whistler warned.

"I’ve got an armourer," he replied.

Whistler nodded. "That case I’ll give you recipes and instructions for making them all."

"Thanks." After a nervous lick of his lips he opened his mouth to ask Blade and Whistler to join the Brotherhood. If nothing else, the older man’s ingenuity and experience would make him invaluable and that was without even considering Blade’s special powers.

"Yo Xand!" he turned to see Faith excitedly jumping up and down on the spot. "Tar’s found the bastard!"

FIC: Another Type Of Vampire 4/5

"I…I did a search," Tara stuttered, her customary nervousness increasing at having an audience consisting partially of strangers. She relaxed slightly when Xander squeezed her shoulder. Reassured by his closeness, she continued, her voice more confident. "I did a search on Marcus Stewart, cross-referencing it with Kansas City. There were five matches but one was a pre-schooler, and another a 78 year old retiree, which left us with three poss-."

"And one of them’s a fucking social worker!" her sister interrupted, her eyes outraged. "The bastard -."

"Faith," Xander interrupted, his tone firm but soft. "Tara did the work, let her finish." After a second Xander spoke again. "Go on Tara."

"One of them works in child welfare. I checked the names of the missing children. All of them had no known relatives and most had criminal records or were frequent runaways or both." After a pause she added the clincher. "According to Angela, he’s got three out-of-state accounts totalling one hundred thousand dollars and a hundred and sixty thousand dollar Palm Beach condo."

"Not bad for a public servant," Xander commented before patting her gently on the back. "You did good Tar," she blushed at the praise.

"So he finds kids no-one cared about," Blade growled. Tara resisted the urge to shudder at the coldness in the veteran demon hunter’s eyes. "And he picks them out for his contacts. If he hadn’t kidnapped so many in so short a time, no one would have noticed. Question is, what do we do about it?"

"I’ve kinda got an idea about that," Faith volunteered. "We could fake up some records for me. We could let me snatched-."

"No way," Xander shook his head. "That is not going to happen."

"But-."

"It’s too risky," Xander overrode Faith’s protests. "The moment your photo enters the system, everybody – government agencies, the Council will be down on us and fast. Besides, it’ll take too long."

"Fine," Faith growled. "Then as anyone else got an idea?"

"Yeah," Blade put in before pinning Tara with his piercing gaze. "You got an address for Stewart kid?"

* * *

Marcus Stewart whistled cheerfully as he made his way up his apartment stairs. Life was good, real good. Eighteen months had passed since he’d first been approached to supply kids out of the system at $10,000 a pop, ten brats a quarter. A compulsive and poor gambler he’d jumped at the chance to clear his debts and make a little money for himself. After all, twenty years in the social work business had taught him that the little bastards who came through the system weren’t worth a shit anyway.

His whistling turned to a humming as he headed down the corridor, unlocked, and opened his apartment door. He reached in to turn the wall light on.

His wrist and throat were grabbed by an awesomely strong attacker. In a split-second he was flying into the far wall. Dazed, he looked up to see a powerfully-built African-American standing over him and a booted foot swinging towards his head

* * *

"Oh no," Stewart groaned his way consciousness, his entire body aching and his head roaring with pain. After what seemed an eternity he managed to force his eyes open, ignoring his body’s protests.

At first he thought his eyes weren’t working right. It appeared that he was surrounded by three men and two teenaged girls standing upside-down on the ceiling. Then, as his panic began to abate and his senses returned, he realised that he was in a shadowy room, suspended upside-down by a chain tied around his ankles over a half-full oil-drum. "Hi asshole," growled the black man.

"Let me go!" he demanded. At least he meant to do, but the words came out in a high-pitched squeak. "I’m warning yo-."

The hot-looking brunette stepped forward and back-handed him across the mouth. The incredibly powerful blow snapped his head back and split his mouth open, splattering blood against the far wall. "No," the girl husked, her eyes coal-black. "We’re warning you. Answer our questions about the missing kids or else."

"Missing kids?" Stewart attempted to bluff. "I don’t know -."

The dark-haired babe nodded towards the black man holding onto the other end of the chain. The African-American grinned before loosening his grip.

He was plunged instantly into the half-full container beneath him, his head, shoulders, and chest completely submerged. He was soon gasping for air. His discomfort increased when someone kicked the barrel, causing it to reverberate around him. After what seemed like a lifetime he was pulled out of the barrel, eyes streaming, ears ringing, and lungs heaving, his throat raw. Finally he managed a panicked scream. "I don’t know anything!"

"Then," a leather-faced man in his sixties with long straggly white hair stepped forward. "You’re in deep shit son."

Stewart stared at his tormenter. He hated guys like this one. With their dangerous edge he got women Stewart would never even dream of getting close to despite being two decades younger than his torturer. "If I tell you they’ll kill me," he whined, his voice tremulous. The older man raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly he was dropped back into the water but this time for just a few seconds before being pulled out spluttering. "If I was you I’d worry about us," the old-timer replied. "We can do this all night." Heart racing, he stayed silent. The snowy-haired man nodded. "Of course that would be boring. So," the older man glanced towards the back of the room, "we’ve got a variety of barrels." Marcus’ eyes widened as he noted the rows of containers. "One filled with ice-cold water, one with boiling water, another with hazardous waste." He moaned with terror. "And one with acid." The white-haired man smiled at him. "Now do you want to talk?" he nodded, his mouth too dry with fear to allow speech. "Smart decision. Now who do you sell the kids to?"

"Tony Parsi," he managed to gasp.

"The gangster?" the black man snarled. "Shit!" The thickly-muscled man turned to the three teens. "Parsi runs the local franchise for the mob."

"That makes things interesting," the male of the trio commented.

"Where does he keep them?" the old man had turned his attention back to him. "Where is Parsi keeping the kids?"

"I don’t know, argh!"

His head was snapped sideways when the leather-clad brunette punched him in the mouth, knocking teeth out. "Lying bastard!" she snarled. "You must drop the kids off somewhere!"

"I don’t!" he screamed, terrified by the insanity raging in the female’s eyes. "He picks them up from me. But I know where he does the exchange!"

"And where," he was relieved when the male teen took hold of the girl’s shoulders and guided her away, "is that?"

"The abandoned cattle market next to Independence Park." By now he was unable to prevent tears from streaming down his face.

"When?" the white-haired man demanded.

"Tomorrow night," he sobbed. "Ten."

"Thanks." The old man beamed at him before kicking the barrel beneath him away, splashing the water on the dirty ground and lowering him unceremoniously onto the floor. "Now, the only question is what to do with you? I know." The man stepped backwards and nodded to the male teen.

Stewart screamed from his position on the ground when the boy kicked the other four containers over. His screams turned to hysterical giggles when nothing poured out. "Oops," the old man smiled at him. "Guess we lied. All in a good cause though. Now my friends are going through that door," his captor pointed towards the room’s entrance. "And we’ll be locking it behind us. But don’t worry. Once we’ve dealt with Parsi we’ll let you out."

* * *

"Now," Whistler was pleased with the way Stewart’s interrogation had gone. The problem remained about what to do with him afterwards, but that was for later. "We know who’s kidnapping the children. Question is, who they’re selling them to?"

"We know," Xander volunteered. "The reason we came here is because we heard a rumour about a tribe of child-eating demons living here – the Chat-Zuh."

"Tell us about ‘em kid," Blade prompted.

"Okay," Xander pursed his lips for a second before continuing. "The Chat-Zuh believes that eating the same meal, a human child, once a week binds the family together-."

"Kinda brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘the family that eats together, stays together’," Faith interrupted. The Bostonian’s eyes widened innocently at their stares. "What?"

After shaking his head, Xander continued. "The leader eats the brain, the champion the heart, the leader’s mate," the young man looked vaguely sick, "the sexual organs, and the four kids a limb each. They eat one kid a week for ten weeks, then fast for three, then start the cycle again."

"Forty kids a year," Blade shook his head. "This ends tomorrow night."

FIC: Another Type Of Vampire (5/5)

Charlie ‘The Chin’ Gigante resisted the urge to shake his head in disgust as he watched the van containing this quarter’s kids pass by him. He didn’t have a moral problem with selling them to be eaten. His beef was pure economical. There were plenty of pretty girls and good-looking boys in this batch that could make their sale-price four times over in a year working the street. And even those who weren’t that cute could make ten times their selling price before they were used up.

"Tony never was that patient," Charlie shook his head. Him and Tony Parsi started on the streets together in the late sixties. He’d always had a better sense of the big picture but the capos had been impressed by Tony’s ruthlessness. And it wasn’t like Kansas was a major territory.

His brow furrowed at the sound of something behind him. Turning, he unbuttoned his jacket giving him better access to his shoulder-holster before peering into the surrounding darkness. "Hello?"

"Hi." His mouth dried with desire at the curvy leather-clad hottie who stepped out of the shadows, a confused look on her sultry face. He couldn’t help but wonder what her price was. "I’m lost," she trembled. "Can ya help me?"

"Oh yeah," he leered. He’d help her, right into his bed. He stepped towards the babe, just about to insist on a body search. Then his world exploded into pain.

* * *

"Just for the record," Faith glared at him as he threw the gangster’s unconscious body behind some near-by trash cans. "I hate playing decoy."

"But you do it so well," Blade looked up to see Xander step out of the shadows behind the Bostonian female, a taunting grin on the youth’s face. "It’s the little girl act that does it."

Seeing Faith’s eyes flare and her mouth open, Blade interrupted before the pair began to bicker. Again. "I’ll take Parsi and his goons. You two handle the demons." Without waiting for agreement he melted into the night.

* * *

"Hold on! Fuck!" Faith cursed when the big man slipped into the shadows. Eyes blazing, she swung round to face Xander. "What the hell does he think he’s doing? Giving us orders?

Xander looked back at her, his expression unusually serious. "He thinks he’s saving us from having to kill humans. And he’s probably right."

"Oh." Faith’s heart dropped. Shaking herself, she glanced at her companion. "We gonna kick some demon ass then?"

"Let’s."

* * *

Tony Parsi smirked as the ‘circus freaks’ as he’d mentally dubbed his clients approached. Every van-load of ten brats brought him a cool half a million of which three hundred K was profit. "Not bad for one night’s work," he muttered with a smirk.

"Your last night asshole."

Parsi looked up to see a powerfully built spade stood on the roof of the cattle shed behind them, a gun in each end. "Get him!" he screamed at his half-a-dozen bodyguards as the intruder leapt off the roof, his guns blazing, the retort of his weapons shattering the night’s silence.

* * *

Wheels’ head snapped up at the sound of gunfire. "Shit!" he leaned out of the van’s window and craned his neck back to see if he could see what was going on.

"Yes, you are," a hoarse voice whispered in his ear before grabbing his head and repeatedly driving it into the side of his vehicle.

* * *

Satisfied that the van driver was out cold, Whistler opened the door, allowing the body to fall to the ground. After crouching down and reaching into the man’s jacket to relieve him of his sidearm, he glanced over his shoulder to his companion. "Shall we get these kids out of here?"

The wicca nodded. "Y…yes."

* * *

The moment he saw Blade leap into the air, Xander stepped out from the shadows from behind the demons. His sword slashed to the right, one smooth stroke decapitating the nearest Chat-Zuh. At the same time, Faith did the same from the other side. Two down, five to go.

Sensing his approach, the other demons spun to face them. Xander shuddered at the demons’ ugliness. They were short but stocky, kinda like yellow-skinned fire hydrants. They had two mouths, one in the centre of their thick chest and the second between their pig-like snouts and solitary red eye. "Nice," Xander muttered as two of the beasts lunged towards him in flanking positions.

Xander reacted instantly, jumping backwards to his right, temporarily putting one of the monsters between him and its companion. The nearest monster lunged at him, leading with a gnarled fist.

Xander easily sidestepped the attack, driving the point of his foot into the beast’s thickly muscled gut. The monster grunted before doubling in pain. Before it had time to recover, Xander brought his sword down, through the creature’s thick neck.

Even as the beast fell its companion slammed into him, the impact taking him down to one knee. Realising that this meant he was at head level with the monster’s lower mouth, Xander thrust his sword diagonally upwards, powering the blade hilt deep into the monster’s gnashing mouth.

"Ugh!" Xander winced as blood erupted from the wound, showering him. Ignoring his distaste and the pained monster’s fists clubbing at him in its death throes, he shoved the creature to the ground, stood, and turned to look for Faith. His eyes widened in horror. "FAITH!" he lunged for the Chat-Zuh, pulling his Desert Eagle out of mid-air as he did so. It was a risk, but he had to take it.

* * *

The moment the first demon dropped, three of his companions turned to face her. "Hi gang," she winked. "Want a taste of Faith?" All three demons charged her. "That’s a yes then."

She waited until the trio were just a couple of feet away before leaping into a flying dropkick to the central Chat-Zuh’s face. The monster roared in pain as it crashed to the ground, Faith landing in a crouch beside it. A grin on her face, she brought her blade down only for the beast to roll away. "Damn!"

Sensing a demonic presence behind her, she shot out a back sweep kick, taking the demon’s legs from beneath it. A hand dropped on her left shoulder, Faith reacted instinctively, stepping into her assailant, and driving an elbow into its throat before spinning round to face it. The monster’s blood-red eye widened and its hands reached up to grasp its throat as it gurgled desperately. Taking advantage of the demon’s distress, she coolly decapitated it.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the demon to her left making it to its feet. She shot out a side thrust kick only to have her left foot grabbed. Faith reacted immediately, leaping into the air, and using the leverage offered by her trapped foot to pivot round and send a thudding spinning right backfist into the side of the monster’s face.

The Chat-Zuh released its grip, stumbling backwards. The moment she landed, she decapitated her opponent.

Even as she looked around for the final demon, a thudding pain exploded in her upper back, knocking her head-first into the stone ground. Dazed, she was helpless to prevent the remaining beast flipping her onto her back, grabbing her by the throat, and begin choking her with steel-hard fingers. Eyes widening in terror, she grabbed hold of the monster’s thick wrists, tried, and failed to pull free.

"Faith!"

A booming sound filled the air as shot after shot thudded into her assailant, sending blood erupting out of its back, and forcing the demon to release its grip. Seizing her chance, Faith grabbed her blade and rolled out of the line of fire. "I’ll take it from here X!" she shouted before springing to her feet. After a grateful wink to her friend, she turned to face the wounded Chat-Zuh.

Wounded but still dangerous, she reminded herself as the demon threw a wild right. She ducked beneath the blow before coming up inside its defences and driving her head into its. The monster stumbled backwards, before it had to time to recover, Faith’s blade sliced through its neck, propelling its head into the air.

A smirk on her face, she turned to Xander. "Thanks for the save X."

Xander bowed theatrically. "’Tis always a pleasure to assist a damsel in her hour of direst need."

"Dickhead."

"Jeez, and they say you chicks want romance."

* * *

The moment he jumped off the roof, Blade moved into a flawless tucked somersault, firing his guns as he leapt. He smirked with satisfaction as his steady aim hit their targets. His first shot took the head off a bullet-headed white guy, his second ripped through a stubby brother, his third exploded in the mouth of a long-haired white guy, his fourth took its target in the heart, sending a heavy-set dude crashing to the ground. Then he landed, his knees bent to absorb the impact, and long coat billowing around him. The other two guards pulled their guns up, before they had a chance to fire he did, blowing their heads off, leaving their brains pumping out on the tarmac beneath them.

Finally he turned his attention to the short, fat man currently attempting to pull his gun out from his shoulder-holster, his shaking hands making such a manoeuvre impossible. "I’ve got money!" the sweating crook screamed, his eyes bulging in terror.

"I’ve got justice." Blade aimed and fired.

* * *

"What are you going to do about Stewart and Tommy?" Xander asked. They’d just returned to Blade’s base after dropping the sacred and confused kids off at a police station. Ten saved kids and no major injuries to their side. A pretty good night overall.

But there was still the question of the prisoners. Blade and Whistler exchanged glances before Blade spoke. "We’ve spread a rumour that they set Parsi up for guns hired by the Yakuza. They’re going to spend the rest of their very short lives running."

Xander opened his mouth to protest at his companions’ cold-bloodedness. Then he remembered all the children Stewart had betrayed and that Tommy had set them up to die, and the words died on his lips. "Guys," he swallowed nervously. "Would you be interested in joining the Brotherhood?"

Again, the pair of veteran demon hunters exchanged glances, but this time it was Whistler who spoke. "Sorry kid," Xander’s heart dropped. "But me and Blade are kinda independent. But you need us, we’ll be there."

Xander forced a smile as he held out a hand for both men to shake. "Same here."

* * *

Xander looked up at the knocking on his hotel room door. "Xan it’s me. Can I come in?"

Xander raised an eyebrow at the voice. It was Faith, but not her usual cocksure tones he’d grown to love listening to. In her place was a scared sounding kid. "Sure," he hurried to the door and opened it, his unease growing at the troubled look on his friend’s face. "What’s up?"

The brunette smiled wanly as she walked in. "I’ve been thinking. When I was growing up I used to wish that I’d been taken into care. Anything to get away from my Ma and Marco. But what if," the desolation in Faith’s eyes when she looked up at him broke his heart. "What if I’d ended up in the hands of someone like Stewart? Damn it X, he was meant to protect them!"

"Faith I-."

"Hush," the Slayer pressed a shaking finger to his mouth. "Don’t say a word. Just hold me. You can do that, right?"

"I can do that, " he confirmed as he pulled the east coast native into a hug.

"Thanks X."

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