The Resurrection Gambit
Part One: Quiet Drinks in a Foreign Land
China, 2023: “Shanghai,” muttered Xander as he dodged the vampire's punch. “Why the Hell did it have to be Shanghai?”
Dawn just rolled her eyes at him. The vampire—old one, she thought, her usual glamours weren’t throwing it—took a swing at her. She ducked, and its fist shattered brick behind her. She didn’t stop to see the spectacle. She fell to her back and kicked out, tripping the vampire’s feet out from under it. It fell forward, and Dawn let gravity do her stake’s work for her.
“Hello!” she said, springing to her feet. “Doing all the work here! Complain later!”
Xander got his bearings, turned, and staked the vampire before it could get another shot at him.
“You sound just like your sister sometimes.”
Dawn shot Xander a withering glance. They stepped back to back to assess the potential danger from the remaining vampires. The vampires obviously didn’t like the odds. One swore in Mandarin, and they retreated into the night.
“We never go anywhere nice,” said Xander. Dawn shook her head, but was smiling. “Twenty years," she thought. "And in some ways, he hasn’t changed.”
She was glad of that.
They pushed on to the waterfront bar they’d been headed toward when they were attacked. Dawn noted that the vampire gangs were getting larger, more organized.
Xander nodded, more serious. “They’re coming together for protection,” he said. “The war’s starting.”
Dawn said nothing. They approached the bar in silence.
Inside, a seedy, underworld—in both senses of the phrase—crowd hid in plain sight, obscured by each other’s efforts to remain unseen. Through the dim light, they sought out their colleagues. Xander knew they’d have beaten them here.
He was right. Wesley and Spike sat in a corner, obviously as unhappy with their location as Xander was. Shanghai had not been good to them.
Xander and Dawn pulled up chairs.
“I was afraid you weren’t coming,” said Wesley, smiling thinly.
“Vampire attack,” said Xander. “They’re coming fewer now, but more viciously.”
“Like bloody wolves pushed out of the woods by construction,” said Spike. “They’ve got nothing to lose now.”
“The balance is gone,” said Wesley. “We need to set it right, before the Slayers are gone.”
They all nodded in agreement.
“So,” said Dawn, all business. “Is everyone in place?”
“Buffy’s group is in London,” said Spike. “Willow’s got the wards cast, and is dead sure the spell will work. Faith and Vi have Slayers spread out across the globe. We don’t know exactly what the reaction will be. Could be bloody chaos.”
“It’s not like we have a choice, Spike,” said Xander, grimly. “We’ve got to finish what we started in Sunnydale. The fate of the world depends on it. Angel died for it.”
They were silent then. Wesley went pale. His stiff upper lip was quivering a bit, Dawn thought. Xander and Wesley had become close—nearly brothers, in some ways. At first it was because they were at the core of the new Watcher’s Council, but then Angel’s death, in this very city… it had affected the two of them hardest of all.
Wesley raised his glass.
“To Angel, and to everyone else that’s died to set this sorry world right.”
The four of them toasted in silence. Four heroes, each of whom have been through the fires more than they could count. They drank silently for a moment, and then Spike smiled maliciously.
“They’ll never forgive us for what we’re about to do to them,” he said, his dark mood evident despite his voice’s lilt. “Trust me mates, “I know.”
Great stuff Am-Chau.
Victor, I'm glad you decided to keep on writing fic. I like this a lot.
Victor, man, you make me squirm in all the right places.
Thanks, all. Part Two will be around later today or tomorrow. Must work now.
YAY! More Victor!!!!!!!!!
[link]
Victor's CWDP story is up now. There was a minor delay involving some minor hacks to my alt.css for the site, as it turns out NN4.7x is even more random in its support of CSS than even I knew.
Victor, great story. Loving Dawn and Xander more and more. You do good Spike.
The Resurrection Gambit
Part Two: The Raid
Los Angeles, 2003: The LAPD barreled down the door with a battering ram, and policemen nervously hoisted their guns at the crowd of vampires gathered within the run-down warehouse.
The monsters lurched forward as Angel leapt into the fray ahead of the cops, barreling into the crowd, vamped out and in an obvious frenzy. Gunn began barking orders.
“All right, people!” he shouted. “We're shooting anything that’s a vampire and not on our side. Remember, you’re on the side of the angels this time.”
“Whattaya think we usually are?” asked an offended cop.
“Huh.” said Gunn. “Hadn’t thought about it.”
Wesley folded his arms into the lining of his jacket, and pulled them out quickly, revealing a pistol in each hand. He began firing—head shots only—into the crowd.
“Now, Gunn, don’t taunt the clients. It’s gauche.”
After years of thinking Kate Lockley was crazy, a sudden increase in L.A.’s vampire population proved to be more than they could explain away. They turned to Kate. Kate referred them to Angel. Angel charged them a lot of money.
Spike came flying out at the crowd from the police’s opposite flank It was his first big scrap since he fell naked out of the sky into the crater that was once Sunnydale, where he was found by a Wolfram & Hart scout team trained to seek out otherdimensional disturbances. His reckless abandon disturbed Gunn. Vamp was having too much fun.
Still, Spike’s obvious need for release was nowhere near as disturbing as the fact that all of these vampires were, judging from their colors, Bloods. He didn’t laugh at the joke.
He pulled out a stake and joined the fight, covering Wesley’s back.
“Noticed anything about them?” asked Wesley coolly, as he tossed away one empty pistol in favor of a loaded secreted in his belt. “Head shots only!” he shouted at the cops, who seemed a bit lost. “The body shots have no effect!”
“You mean besides fighting beside the cops and a couple of Brit vamps against a bunch of ex-brothers? Starting to think I’m the wrong side, dog.”
Wesley smiled. “I think they’re taking applications. This lot's fresh.”
Gunn looked closely. They were. Clothes still in fashion. New sneakers on a few. That “just exhumed” smell.
Angel and Spike did most of the heavy lifting, and the nest was cleaned up in no time. Angel pinned one against the wall, his hand tight around its jugular.
"Talk,” said Angel. “Who’s bringing vampires into my town? Why the sudden increase?”
The vampire grimaced, and then smiled at him.
“You.” it said. “You will be judged, Angelus. Soon.”
Angel bashed the vampire’s head against the wall, knocking it unconscious. He turned to the group.
“Gunn, you have an idea what neighborhood this group was from originally?” Gunn nodded. “Good. Take a team tonight. find out where they’re coming from. What’s going on.”
Angel turned to the police, and pulled a cell phone from his pocket.
“I’m calling my people. They’re equipped to handle the survivors. We’ll let you know when we know something.”
The cop looked like he was about to protest, then thought better of it.
“Where you going to be?” asked Gunn.
“Evidently,” said Angel, “I have an appointment.”
Very nice Victor, except for the part where there's not enough of it.
(head spinning in fourteen directions.
Too. much. juicy. stuff. to. read.
Need to figure out what today's drabble challenge is, too.
