Chapters 31-35

Chapter 31: When Warrior’s Meet


Buffy paid for the blue dress and glanced out the door looking for Christina.

“Christina…Christina,” Buffy yelled dropping the dress as she ran out the store. She looked left then right, “Oh, no…Oh, no! Christina…”

“Ma’am, calm down…is there something wrong?” a young Security guard asked her, unclipping his radio. Buffy had a total look of despair on her face.

“My daughter…She was right here…I told her to stay here.”

“Central…this is Security top floor…We have an Amber alert…I repeat, we have an Amber alert, stand by for description. Ma’am. I need to know what she was wearing, what she looks like…”

In between tears, Buffy described Christina’s outfit and her appearance.

“Central, prepare to copy…She’s a twelve year old female, stands about four one, black hair, brown eyes, light blue dress, light blue shoes, and she answers to Christina.”

By law, the mall shut down and locked all doors, sending security guards to search every store and block all exits, but it was too late.

“Ma’am, if you could come with me, the Police are on their way.”

“I have to make a phone call…” Buffy said shuddering; she was barely able to walk. The security guard helped her to Mall Security.

Buffy pulled out her cell phone from her purse “Hello, yes, this is Miss. Summers. I need to speak with Mr. Giles…it’s an emergency…Giles…Christina’s missing…I’m at the Galleria on E. St. Clair Ave. Giles, she was there, I told her to…alright, I’ll be waiting.”

“Hello…Sgt. Maj. Yes, this is Mr. Giles. I need everyone available in the conference room at once.”

Giles and Arthur walked into the conference room together, where everyone, except Dr. Kidare and Kimberly, were seated.

“It seems Christina has been kidnapped, Buffy is at security at a mall called the Galleria. It’s on E. St. Clair Ave. Dawn, I want teams deployed immediately to check the surrounding area. That includes the subway system and the sewer systems. The mall activated the Amber Alert, so it isn’t likely that she was carried out the front door.”

Naiya raised her hand, “Did anyone wash her clothes this morning?”

“No, what does that have anything…” Dawn snapped, her arms crossed in front of her.

Naiya ran out the door and up the stairs into Christina’s room and grabbed a small tee shirt laying on the floor. Then she ran into her own room and grabbed her stake, knife, bow, and quiver and went back down stairs.

“What the hell was that,” Dawn said as Naiya ran back in and opened the window.

“Naiya, what are you doing?” Mr. Giles asked.

“Shhhh, Mars, come here…” Naiya yelled out the window.

Less then a minute later Mars jumped through the window and up on the conference table. Naiya walked over to him.

“Christina’s missing, find her… now,” Naiya said as she rubbed the Tee shirt in his face. Mars bared his teeth, growled, and jumped out the window followed by Naiya.

“Naiya, it’s seven miles to the mall…how?” Dawn yelled after her.

“Actually, that’s within the range of smell for a mountain lion,” Arthur stated.

“Alright, Alpha team you’re with me. Mr. Asano, I need you to come with us. Choi-Ann is in charge of Alpha and I need you to translate. Alpha will take the sewer system. Faith, deploy Bravo. Mr. Giles, I need you to drive, Bravo team will take the subway system. Kennedy takes Charlie team, Arthur will you go with them, find Buffy and work from where Christina came up missing. Sgt. Maj., I need any info on the location of The Devil’s Seraphim, Willow you work with him. Equipment and vehicle checks in twenty minutes. Let’s move people,” the young watcher ordered.

Everyone got up and ran down to the Armory, drawing equipment and checking radios. Twenty minutes later three Suburbans left the compound going east on route ninety.

************

Christina was dragged kicking and screaming into a room in the basement of a high-rise.

“Let me go,” Christina pleaded.

“Shut up,” a large vampire said slamming her to the concrete floor, knocking the wind out of her.

The vamp chained Christina to the wall. She lay there in filth crying, bleeding from her mouth and wrists; as she looked around, she could see five other children chained to the same wall.

“Someone, help me…please.”

“They’re all dead, there is no one here to help you! Now shut up! So I can think.”

Christina looked down and lying next to her was a young girl with blonde hair covered in blood. As she turned in Christina’s direction, she saw that the girl was beaten half to death, one eye completely shut, blood caked to the side of her face.

“No, you shut up, my mom is going to come for…”

“No, child, no one is going to come for you, we have to get out of here ourselves,” the young girl said as she struggled to her feet.

The two girls met face to face.

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to have to shut you…”

Christina punched her hard in the face, her head snapped back against the wall. On instinct, the young girl punched Christina in the solar plexus knocking her down and all of the wind out of her. Christina coughed and made it to her feet steaming, a fury she had never felt before. As their eyes met, the young blonde was all smiles.


Chapter 32: Escape

Christina, infuriated, took a single step forward as she felt the young girl grab both of her hands and placed them on the chain.

“Pull…Pull now,” the young girl said, and as the two girls pulled on Christina’s chain, the concrete gave way and the chain came out of the wall with a loud metallic snapping sound. They both looked at each other.

“American craftsmanship, it can hold one slayer, but not two,” the injured girl said, “We are going to be great friends, this I can see.”

Christina smiled and grabbed the chain holding the injured girl; together they yanked her chain from the wall.

“Listen to me, we have to find some weapons, a wooden chair or something, we have to make it to the upper floor; stay in the sunlight, it’s still daylight outside,” the young girl said as Christina helped her out of the room.

The young girl kicked a small wooden chair against the wall and it smashed it into a hundred pieces. She walked over and handed Christina a sharpened stake, picking up two more. The two girls started up the flight of steps as the guard on duty opened the door. Christina saw an outer door leading to sunlight, the guard charged, grabbing hold of the blonde haired girl and falling down the steps. Christina ran to the upper deck and headed for the daylight, she stopped, her legs trembling, the sun high in the sky, it beat warmly on her face. She turned around and ran back down the steps; the young blonde haired girl lost both of her stakes on the tumble down. The vamp had her up against the wall and was choking the life out of her, his lip curled up, ready to sink his teeth into her neck. “

I hope you have some blood left, bitch,” the large vamp said as he laughed and bit down hard.

The young blonde, hoping Christina made it to the outside, readied her self for the inevitable. Then the vamp dusted before her one good eye; through a cloud of black dust, Christina appeared smiling.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m alright…what is your name? I’m Natasha Rozhkov, The Vampire Slayer, I am from Romania.”
“I’m Christina…Christina Summers … The Vampire Slayer, I’m from here, nice to meet you.”

“So, it is true then, the Witch, the Witch Willow activated all of the potentials at once; is she at your home?”

“Yes, Willow…she’s at home now, at The Sanctuary… she’s very nice.”

“Watch yourself, little one, she once tried to destroy the world.”

“She’s very nice… now, Miss. You talk very funny.”

Christina helped Natasha up the steps and out the door to an alley, where they held hands to cross Memphis Villa’s blvd.

“Summers… do you know a Buffy Summers?”

“Yes…that’s my Mom or it will be…soon.”

“It is truly small world, yes.”

“Do you know you talk funny?” Christina asked helping her new friend.

“This, I think…I can accept,” Natasha replied.

The two companions made it far away from the high rise and stopped at a large Dumpster.

“Christina, where is the Sanctuary, I have been seeing this old, very old mansion, gargoyles on the roof, but it is for good, this I can see in my dreams? Where is it you and your mama live?”

“I’m not sure. We drove to the courthouse this morning…I’m not sure,” Christina said.

“When you were driving this morning was the sun at your back or in your eyes?”

“In my eyes,” Christina answered.

“We go west, that’s easy. The sun sets in the west, we just follow the sun, come on.”

The two girls kept Memphis Avenue on their right, cutting sharp left, to cross Winter Lane traveling through some back alleys. Natasha was worried, but didn’t say anything to Christina; the sun would be down soon. If they didn’t make it out of the city by darkness, they would soon have company. Natasha knew with her injuries she could hold off two at the most. She also knew that Christina was untrained.

She tried to move faster, holding on to her side, wincing occasionally, while Christina helped her over fences and other small obstacles. They broke up a wooden chair in an alleyway behind an Italian restaurant and made two good stakes apiece. Natasha went into a backyard and, from a tool shed, she grabbed some heavy gauge wire, wire cutters, some gasoline, a small bottle of laundry detergent, and some rags. She then handed Christina four coke bottles. She placed them in an old bookbag, along with everything else.

Whenever the two Slayers took a short break, Natasha showed Christina different grips on the stake, thrusts, parry’s, and defensive and offensive techniques. Natasha looked up as the sun started to set. It was time. Natasha lined up the coke bottles using the two-third, one-third rule of fuel to thickener, which was the laundry detergent. She proceeded to show a twelve-year old how to make a Molotov cocktail. As the girls moved along the alley, with Christina’s help, Natasha estimated the distance from the ground to the neck area of someone riding a motorcycle and started to string wire across the alley, a length of heavy gauge wire, every couple of hundred yards. Natasha stopped under a streetlight and drilled Christina in the different attacks with a stake, first year slayer stuff.

“Jab, jab, cross, backspin clockwise, back spin counter clockwise, good! That is good, Christina, let’s move on,” Natasha said as they crossed over into another alley.

The two Slayers took turns leading, Natasha ignoring the pain she felt in her side, in order to better help Christina.


Chapter 33: Hell Central

Hell Central, The Devil’s Seraphim Cleveland Chapter Headquarters

Sonny was sitting in an easy chair, two young girls, a red-haired and a brunette, lay at his feet in chains whimpering. He looked up when hearing two loud knocks on the door of his private office, in the back of one of his warehouses.

“Sonny, we have a problem, two of our girls escaped from Brooklyn Towers. A blonde thirteen year old, and a brunette only twelve years old, we paid a thousand for her alone. Talon the guard is dust. They had to have outside help,” Books explained to his Boss.

“Of course they had outside help! How else are two young girls going to stake Talon, and leave through my neighborhoods without outside help? Books, we need those two to make this week’s shipment. We need them untouched. My overseas customers can not be disappointed. Put the word out on the streets, I want everyone on it,” Sonny told his Lieutenant.

He reached down and yanked the chain on the red haired one, bringing her to her feet, and bit down hard on her neck. When she stopped struggling and went limp, he discarded her like an empty beer can.

***

Christina helped Natasha cross Conrail Railroad, the underpass at Interstate four-eighty. The two slayers crossed Brookpark Road, then Natasha saw what she was looking for, Holy Cross Cemetery. Christina took point, She held her two stakes the way Natasha told her to, parallel to and against the inner arm, concealed until she was ready to use them, with a flick of the wrist. The forward-stake would block or counter high, and should strike out like a coiled snake, protecting her head and upper chest area. The stake in her backhand, her stronger arm, should strike out like the Mongoose, much more elusive, protecting the line from the chin to the groin area.

The hook, spinning back thrust, and upper thrust were the techniques used by her people since the days Dracula ruled over her province. Natasha silently wished that she had more time to train her friend. Christina was a fast learner, and she wanted to be a vampire slayer, even though Buffy had told her it would be four to five years before she could hope to be an active slayer.

Natasha’s family has defended Romania against evil since the fourteen hundreds. Her family, until her, had never had a Slayer. Much of Natasha’s family history dealt with a particularly dangerous and elusive prey. Throughout the last five hundred years he has gone by many different names: Vlad the Impaler, Count Dracula, and a reverse spelling of the same name, Alucard or Mr. Alucard.
Natasha scanned the surrounding area with her good eye, mostly staying in front of Christina. She knew that the graveyards close to a Hellmouth would be very active, a good place to train newbees.

They would be virtually swarming with Vampires, but a good portion would be new risers, who were good for training a newly called Slayer, because they were sluggish, confused, and disorientated, certainly not the viciously, brutal Devil’s Seraphim. Natasha vowed to do anything she could to help Christina, but she had already decided to not be taken alive and, if necessary, she would strike the final blow and take out Christina, before she allowed her to be captured again. She saw what happened to the other girls, some were raped and tortured, some were fed on like so much cattle, and others, young ones, were sold throughout the world, to the highest bidder, for whatever perverted reason.

Natasha saw what she had been looking for; a first riser walked out onto the path to attack Christina, who must have looked, to a first riser, as a tasty morsel. Christina saw the movement, she thinks back to one of the times they took a break during their journey home.

“Now remember Christina, you must take full advantage of all of the weapons you were given, including your beauty; why do you think they picked woman do this job?”

Christina keeps an eye on her prey; he was walking parallel to the path she was on. When she got to a park bench, she stopped and acted like she was making an adjustment to her dress. She cruelly lifted the dress up, exposing her inner thigh, and the riser had no control, he went right after the leg. Christina dropped her leg and spun in midair staking him on the way down through the back, sending him to Hell in a shower of black dust. Natasha held her side; the pain in her ribs was excruciating, and ran down to the bottom of the glade.

“That was good, that was so good, but next time don’t wait so long, you had me worried,” Natasha said. “Christina, wait right here, I’m going to leave some surprises for our friends on the motorbikes.”

“Then I should watch your back, right?”

“Yes, you can watch my back, my beautiful friend. We may just make it to
your home tonight,” Natasha answered.

Christina guarded Natasha while she opened the large metal gate to the Holy Cross Cemetery, and moved up the single lane road one hundred meters to allow time for the bikers to speed up. Natasha set up another trap and grabbed the bookbag that lay at her feet, and with Christina taking point, they started to move through the dark, cold cemetery. Then the two girls heard it at the same time; the loud reverberating roar of motorcycles, Natasha counted five. She grabbed Christina by the arm, pulling her friend to the ground. The two young slayers low crawled to the rise of a hill that overlooked the gate entrance.

The motorcycle in the lead was riding fast and hard through the gate. He had the bike in fourth gear by the time he hit the first trap. He had a slight grin on his face below his goggles, his head came off clean, as the dusty bike came to a stop and fell over. The other four riders pulled up, one found the wire and they drove around it. The leader motioned for one of the riders to go ahead, he broke away from the other three and accelerated heading to the top of the hill, where his head came completely off.

Natasha grabbed Christina by the hand and ran towards a large mausoleum. The girls climbed up into an empty vault. Natasha held her side for a moment; then pulled out two of the bottles they had prepared, as one of the riders rode in fast behind them. Natasha handed a Molotov cocktail to Christina and picked one up herself, on the second pass, Natasha lit hers while Christina leaned hers towards Natasha’s and lit her own. The biker vamp looked up as the two slayers threw down the firebombs. He turned into an In-human torch, and lighted up the whole area. Christina quickly helped her friend down as the other two riders rode up.

Natasha ran past Christina, stakes in hand, the leading left stake raised out front. She spun one hundred and eighty degrees to her right, burying the stake in her right hand to the hilt. She fell through the cloud of black dust, landing in a heap against the far wall of the mausoleum, screaming out, holding her side.

Christina walked up to the last biker as he was locking in the kickstand; he stepped right past Natasha who was struggling to get up, and went straight for Christina.

“Please, don’t hurt me…I will do anything.”

“I won’t hurt you…much.”

Christina waited for him to move closer; behind her back, pressed through the fabric of her brand new light blue sundress, were her two sharpened stakes.

“I might pay off the thousand…and keep you all to myself,” the cocky vampire said.

The vampire arched his back as a wooden stake came through his chest, out the front. Natasha materialized in front of Christina as the dust settled.

“Oh, it will cost you much more than that…this I promise, bitch!” Natasha said with a snarl.

“Christina, a word, please?” Natasha asked as Christina strode up to her, “Are you going to be like this when we go to the local school together?”

“Like what?” Christina asked the Romanian Slayer.

“Like a great big, how do you say, Ho!” Natasha said as the two vampire slayers started to laugh.

“Never…never tell Buffy what we did today…I mean it, Natasha.”

“Your secret is safe with me, but my friend, I would think she would be extremely proud.”

“Thank you! You know for saving my life, and being my friend, it means a lot.”

“Just so the record is straight, you saved my life this morning, I shall never forget, and I could be nothing but your friend, or I could be...give me your hand, Christina.”

Natasha produced a very sharp Swiss army knife, from a sewn in hidden pocket of her once pink wrap around dress. She cut herself on the palm of her left hand, then she cut Christina’s left hand, and they clasped their hands together.

“Repeat after me! I vow to be your friend, till the end of time, whatever we do we do together. If we should part and one of us dies, the other will make sure her friend’s body gets home to her family,” Natasha said, followed by Christina as the two tended to their self-inflected wounds.

“We are now friends no longer,” Natasha said helping Christina tie her hand off with a strip of her dress, and picking up the book bag.

“What…What do you mean?” Christina responded looking a bit confused.

“We are now sisters,” Natasha said looking back as she took point.

“Oh, Cool! Did I mention you have your own room, not mine!” Christina said running to catch up.

*************

Xander drove Buffy’s Suburban home, and helped her to her room. Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie teams were still out searching for Christina. Naiya and Mars didn’t have a radio with them.

Buffy was in shock, she couldn’t stop crying as if the stress of being the Slayer for the past eight years finally took its toll. Xander tried to be comforting, but couldn’t find the words.

“Buffy, are you alright? O.K. stupid question, do you want to be alone? Another stupid…” Xander asked.

In between sobs Buffy, nodded her head, “Yes.”

“Too bad!” Xander replied grabbing a chair and pulling it up to his friend’s bedside.

“Please Xander, I…I just want to be alone, I don’t need an intervention guy.”

“Yes, but Christina does! She needs an intervention Mom and you’re lying on your ass when you know you should be out tearing this town apart looking for your child.”

Buffy stopped crying, turned and looked at Xander with a fire that he had never seen before. Xander stood up and slowly backed away, “Buf…fy.”

Buffy stood up slowly, her expression never changing, approached Xander standing a foot from his face, then she whispered the words.

“Thank you! Xander, do you want to drive?”

“Damn right!”
The two got dressed for combat quickly and ran down to the armory.

************

Dawn coordinated the search by radio. She sent Xander to drive home Buffy’s Suburban, Dawn re-directed Charlie Team to a mobile patrol looking for any Harley Davidson Motorcycles with The Devil’s Seraphim embroidered on their backs.

***********

Willow and the Sgm, searched Police Data banks for missing children reports. Willow placing pins on a map of Cleveland on the wall, she walked over to a supply cabinet as she ran out of pushpins from the first box of three hundred.

“How’s Buffy taking it, Willow?”

“Not good, I’ve never seen her like this, maybe something like this.”

“Alright, what you are about to hear, I could lose my Sgt. Maj. card, but Huh!”

“There’s the whole thing, if Buffy’s life is in danger, she gets mad and unstoppable, but if a member of her family or friends gets hurt or captured she zones out, but only sometimes. Sort of in a catatonic state, I once had to enter her mind and pull her back after Dawn was captured by this God, Glorificus.”

The Sgt. Maj. got out of his chair after hearing a loud knock on the armory’s thick steel door. He opened the door and stepped back

“Buffy, what can I get you?”

“Hey, Sgt. Maj. Two complete assault kits, The Flame, Mr. Pointy, and your most powerful Crossbow with Wooden and silver tipped bolts.”

“Xander, what can I get you?”

“A Katana, Wakizashi, two stakes, same type of Crossbow with the same types of bolts, and one of the assault kits, Sergeant Major,” Xander responded.

“Buffy, your call sign is Bravo X-ray, we are operating on a frequency of eight hundred and fifty megahertz as the primary, eight seventy five as a secondary, Willow can brief you on possible locations of The Devil’s Seraphim.”

Buffy and Xander dressed in black Gore-Tex tops and bottoms, black jungle boots, and tac-vest; the two walked over to the map.

“Are those missing children, is one of those little red pins…Christina?” Buffy asked about to lose it.

“Focus, Buffy, you have to focus or we are not going to make it out of the car port,” Xander stated pointing in the general direction of the Sanctuary’s garage.

“Buffy, I’m so sorry, if there’s any…”

“No…no, Xander’s right, thank you! There will be plenty of time, for joy…or tears, what do you got?”

“Well… we entered the data from police and missing persons reports into this computer program I wrote, it sets a point on the map, for each incident as a quadrant, and calculates…”

“Willow, I don’t have to see the math!”

“We traced the attacks back to one of five warehouses, and a high rise all in the same general area, the Sgt. Maj. has operated against the Devil’s Seraphim in that area before. Come on, who’s the man,” Willow said as she held her hand up.

Xander lightly threw a fist into her hand. “Will you be da man!”

“Buffy, once you have located the nest, radio in, so we can relay your location to the other three teams. Do not enter until every one is in position.”

“The best that I can tell from the data we collected is somewhere in Brooklyn. I have it to within Ridge Road, Outerbelt South, and Broadview Road; look for an abandoned warehouse or apartment tenement with motorcycles parked outside or coming in or going out, now go get Christina, go get her Buffy,” Willow said to her best friend.
*********

Christina helped Natasha up a small embankment, and through a hole in a chain link fence. The two youngest Slayers reached the underpass of route 237. Natasha’s hand was on her side as she struggled to keep up. The two girls stopped and rested next to a burnt out car. Natasha pulled Christina to the ground and reached under the chassis, her hand came back as a greasy black mess. With her other hand Natasha started what would soon be Christina’s tiger stripe camouflage pattern. Christina did not question it, she knew that Natasha had a lot more experience and she wanted badly to get home.

Natasha applied the same black striped pattern to her own face using the car’s burnt and broken side view mirror; for the first time she got a look at just how badly her face was beaten, one eye sealed shut and purplish.

CHAPTER 34: Biscuits


Neither slayer had to worry about their dresses giving away their position, they did not look at all like the pretty pink and light blue dresses they had on this morning. Christina, half-carrying Natasha, crossed under route 237 and gingerly climbed a fence into the Rocky River Reservation. Natasha collapsed from the pain, holding her broken ribs. Christina let her rest for a few minutes then helped her new friend into the Rocky River where they swam together to get to the other side. Stake in hand, the two girls walked out of the water.

Natasha grabbed Christina’s arm, “Christina do you smell that?”

“Yes, it kinda smells like… biscuit,” Christina said.

Natasha gave her a weird look with her one good eye.

“What…we had a snoopy dog named biscuit?”

“Werewolves,” Natasha said pulling Christina to cover.

“Werewolves, nobody ever said anything about Werewolves,” Christina retorted.

“Shhhh, we have nothing silver, we are what you Americans would call, screwed.”

**********

Buffy and Xander exited the driveway and headed east on interstate ninety.

“This is Bravo X-ray to all Victor Sierra units. I am assuming command of this operation. Request check in, over.”

“This is Charlie Delta, good copy, over.”

“This is Foxtrot Victor, five by five, glad you’re with us, over.”

“Bravo X-ray, this is Kilo Golf, we saved you a ticket, over.”

“Victor Sierra units, this is Bravo X-ray…Charlie Delta deploy to Broadview Road and Outerbelt south, out. Foxtrot Victor deploy to Broadview Road and Ridge Road, out. Kilo Golf, deploy to Outerbelt South and Ridge Road, out.”

Buffy readied her weapons and checked the map as Xander drove the vehicle.

“Xander, take exit one sixty seven, take a right on Denison Ave, then a right onto ridge road, slow down, look for the intersection of Broadview and Ridge and pullover,” Buffy said.

The vehicle pulled over onto a side road off of Broadview road. Buffy got out, crossbow in hand, Mr. Pointy in a sheath behind her jacket, and placed the ruck on her back as Xander did the same. She placed the flame between the ruck and her shoulder blades, so that with a shift of her back muscles it would be in her hands.

The two soldiers ran down to the end of the alleyway that opened up to a series of warehouses and a high-rise apartment complex. Buffy pulled out her night vision goggles as she got behind the cover of an abandoned vehicle.

“I count fifteen motorcycles in front of the warehouse on the left, switching to thermal, three guards one on each corner of the warehouse, reading outside temp.” Buffy said to Xander as he pulled out his Motorola.

“This is Bravo X-ray to all Sierra units, come in…over,” Xander said into the mic.

“Hold your current position, send all watchers to my location, Broadway and Ridge, end of alley, where suburban is parked, how copy, over?”

“Bravo X-ray, this is Charlie Delta, good copy… out.”

“Bravo X-ray, this is Foxtrot Victor, read you Lima Charlie…out.”

“Bravo X-ray, this is Kilo Golf, good copy… out.”

The Watchers drove to Buffy and Xander’s location. Dawn, Giles, and Arthur made their way down the alley, after parking their vehicles, to where Buffy was waiting. Buffy led the leaders’ recon along the side of an adjacent building. They observed the target house from three separate points, then Buffy lead them back to the alley. Xander, crossbow in hand, stood guard as Buffy took a knee, drawing in the dirt, the target house and some of the surrounding buildings.

“All right, Alpha and Bravo teams are assault, along with me and Xander, Charlie your support by fire. Assault elements hand all crossbows and compound bows to Charlie. This is how I want to do this: Arthur, have Kennedy set up her support by fire element here at the front of the building. Give us some time to get into position on the side entrance,” Buffy said while pulling out her canteen and taking a drink, trying to keep any images of Christina being hurt, buried deep in her mind.

“Arthur, have Kennedy take out the guard at the far side entrance, I will take out the guard at the front. Giles, have Faith take out the guard at the rear entrance. Each team check in after you have taken out your guard. Once all teams have checked in, Arthur, use flaming arrows to light up the bikes in front and take out any vamps trying to exit that way. I’ll lead Alpha and Bravo through the side entrance. Kill anything that doesn’t have a pulse, any vampire near Christina is mine…any questions? Good, go get your teams, we go in ten minutes.” Buffy said while standing up.

About ten minutes later, three Suburbans pull up and park next to and across the street from Buffy’s. Dawn led Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie teams down to the end of the alley. The Watchers explained the plan to their teams and gave a thumbs up to Buffy, who ran straight against the side of an adjacent building with Alpha and Bravo running behind her. Charlie ran left behind a warehouse, Kennedy led them to the other side and got them in position a hundred meters from the front of the target house.

Buffy, Kennedy, and Faith set their teams in place, and went into the darkness to take out their guards. Buffy ran low getting behind about six Harleys and bolted to the corner of the target house. She glanced around the corner and could see the guard she was to remove. He stood in front of the large metal doors of the warehouse. Buffy, remaining in the shadows, slowly crept closer to her target pulling out Mr. Pointy from behind her Gore-Tex jacket, gripping the familiar wooden stake she had for years. Xander watched using his night vision goggles, he actually felt sorry for any vampires that went against Buffy tonight.

She closed the distance and jumped in front of her prey, spinning a hundred and eighty degrees, and spin kicked the wiry vamp, catching him high across the face with the blade of her foot. She knew she should take him out quick and silently, but she wanted to beat on him for a little while. Buffy uppercut him under his chin with the non-pointy end of Mr. Pointy, his head snapped back as Buffy flipped him over her shoulder, and drove her stake to the hilt through his leather jacket, dusting him.

“Well, maybe I can play with someone inside,” Buffy thought to herself as she made it back to where Alpha waited.

Xander hung up the Mic to his Motorola, as Buffy walked over to them.

“Faith and Kennedy report they have taken out their guards, we’re ready,” Xander reported.

“Good, get into position, radio Arthur to start the show. Remember, anyone near Christina is mine!”

“Arthur, Alpha radioed in that we send in the firestorm,” Kennedy reported.

“Make it so, I’ve always wanted to say that,” Arthur said as Charlie team lit their arrows and sent a shower of flaming arrows and crossbow bolts that flew in an arc towards a row of motorcycles parked out front.

A huge fireball ignited as one of the arrows flying at three hundred feet per second hit a gas tank. Buffy took point at a run with Choi-Ann leading Alpha close behind their highly pissed off leader. Faith, leading Bravo, was right behind them. Buffy made it to the side door, kicking through it, ripping it right off its metal hinges; the two dead bolts that held it flew across the floor. At three large tables in the center of the room, sat about fifteen of the Devil’s Seraphim playing cards and watching television. Across the walls were cages with three to five young girls in each. Those that could stand, walked over to the edge of their cages to see a short blond leading ten what looked like soldiers into the center of the room; but they weren’t soldiers, most of them were girls their age.

Buffy met the first of the Devil’s Seraphim to approach, he was mammoth, about six four, three hundred pounds, with the lettering juggernaut underneath Devils Seraphim in red and yellow colors across the back of his black leather jacket. Buffy leaped off the ground meeting him half way, she performed a flawless flying tiger kick, the blade of her rear foot striking the huge vampire across the sternum, barely phasing him. Buffy bounced off his chest as Choi-Ann by-passed her and met the rest of the bikers in the center of the room.

Bravo team ordered to flank right by Faith, hit the group from the side. Buffy rolled back across her left shoulder on the ground righting herself, stoically walking up to juggernaut. She upper cut him first with her left fist then with her right, burying Mr. Pointy to the hilt under his chin, she yanked out her stake as juggernaut reeled, with a stupid look on his face, only now realizing that she was a slayer. She spun clockwise and slammed Mr. Pointy through the thick chest, she materialized on the other side of a thick cloud of black dust, with blazing eyes seeking her next target. The young girls lifted their companions up to the bars to see, and they started cheering.

Choi-Ann held her arms out to her sides indicating for Alpha to get on line, the fire team slammed into about seven of the Devil’s Seraphim, Katana’s loping off heads. Faith led Bravo into their flank and met about five that turned to face them. Buffy ran over to the cages and one by one kicked in the metal frame door. The older girls helped the younger ones, except two or three, who ran into the center of the room and picked up weapons, looking like mad dogs, for their well deserved payback, some being raped and tortured for weeks. Buffy got to the last cage and kicked it in. Looking around, she fell to the floor.

“Christina…where are you!” tears streamed from her eyes she just simply couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Hey, it’s alright” a young brunette walked over and held Buffy. “What did she look like?” she asked the leader of her rescuers.

“Huh,” Buffy replied as she looked up.

“What did she look like?”

“She was very young, twelve years old, she had on a light blue dress.”

“I heard the guards, two young girls, a blond and a twelve year old brunette, wearing a blue dress escaped about four hours ago, most of the bikers went out to hunt for them,” the young girl told Buffy as she stood up.

Buffy struggled to breathe as Dawn ran up to her, “Really.”

The teams took down each of the warehouses one at a time, Buffy in the lead. They rounded up about thirty girls and led them out to a crowded part of Broadway, and Dawn pulled out a special non-traceable phone the Sgt. Maj. gave her and called 911. The Slayers and Hunters waited till they heard sirens, then jumped into their Suburbans and drove fast out of the area amidst a lot of cheering and heart felt thank yous. They checked every alleyway and side road around the Devil’s Seraphim’s headquarters, for any sign of the young girls.

***********

Christina in the lead, stake in hand, Natasha slightly behind, left the riverbank, crossed a small service road ducking down behind a rock wall. Natasha checked the wind; it was blowing north to south, at this time the smell was up wind.

“What are you doing, Natasha?”

“We must keep the smell on our right shoulder, as long as the wind does not change we will be fine,” Natasha answered trying to sound comforting. “Christina, stay close, I’m taking the lead now, it’s much too dangerous.”

The two young Slayers jumped over the stone wall, and moved through a small apple orchard. Natasha suddenly stopped, her hand shot up in a fist, the signal to freeze, although she knew Christina had never been trained.

“The wind did not shift directions, but that smell surrounds us,” Natasha thought to herself.

Natasha then heard it, a low growl to her left, as Christina reacted to movement to their right. Christina moved even closer to her friend as the two werewolves made their attack. Natasha stepped in front of Christina to bore the full onslaught. She figured that at least she could pay Christina back for saving her life that morning. The two Slayers took a last look at each other, Natasha placed a hand on Christina’s shoulder and smiled. Turning on the ball of her forward foot, Natasha assumed a fighting stance and yelled “Hai, sa va vad!”, the Romanian equivalent of ‘bring it on!’

Christina mimicked the stance, stake ready and yelled “Yeah, Bitch!” as she looked at Natasha and shrugged her shoulders stepping forward in line and beside her friend. Natasha simply smiled.

The closer of the two Werewolves came across a small creek at a full sprint leaping in midair at Natasha’s throat as his body dropped one foot in front of them with an arrow shaft sticking out of his neck. The silver tip glimmered up through the blood and glistened in the light of a full moon.

Natasha and Christina turned, not sure what had happened; they heard movement from the front and behind. A furry shoulder knocked Natasha to the ground leaping right over Christina and locking on to the throat of a Werewolf that was just inches from Christina. Mars snapped its neck in a single shake of his massive head. Natasha looked up in horror as the big cat leaped onto Christina and started to clean her face.

“Mars, stop! Get off, you’ve got werewolf breath,” Christina got up off the ground her face beaming with joy like a child on Christmas morning. “We’re home now, Natasha…Oh, hey Naiya…have you seen my mommy? I mean Buffy,” Christina asked.

“Are you two alright, are you injured?”

“We’re alright…”

Christina looked over at her friend, Natasha’s eyes rolled into the back of her skull and she passed out.

Naiya set down her bow and lifted the young girl’s tattered pink shirt; she saw a huge purplish and blackened bruise the size of a football across the girl’s abdomen.

“She has internal injuries, and we are four miles from the Sanctuary. Christina, go soak this in the water from the creek,” Naiya said as she pulled off her Tee shirt, revealing a blue halter top underneath.

Christina ran over with the Tee shirt soaked in icy cold water. Naiya tied the Tee shirt to Natasha’s injured stomach and clicked twice. Mars ran over and lay down next to the injured girl. Naiya tied the girl to Mar’s back and pointed west, “Find lady doctor, go.”

Dr. Kidare took samples of her and Mar’s blood this morning. Mars ran off leaping small creeks through foliage, Natasha’s eye opened once, but she passed out. Naiya and Christina ran behind them. Christina had never quite felt this alive before.

***

Buffy dropped her rucksack to the floor.

“Options, I need some options! Giles, I won’t stop looking for her until I get her back, this is what I do everyday until I find out what happened to my little girl,” Buffy said.

“Dawn, plan another mission. That warehouse was not the only place they kept the children. Xander, find out anything you can at the docks. If it is a white slavery ring, they have to get them out of the country somehow, right?” Buffy, after giving her orders, stepped out onto the patio. She glanced down the hill, touching her mouth with her hand, and started to cry. But they were not tears of sadness, they were tears of joy, because of what she saw at the bottom of the hill, by the maintenance shed. Mars had jumped from a tree, to the top of the shed, dropping to the ground. Tied to his back was a small child.

“Christina!” Buffy cried out as she ran to meet them halfway.

She ran as fast as she had ever run in her life, and met Mars halfway. She lifted the child’s head up, it was a bloody and bruised mess, but it wasn’t Christina. Buffy checked her pulse, she was still alive, then she pointed to the large double patio doors, and Mars took off. The senior Slayer looked down the hill, “I’ll find you! I promise…baby!”

Naiya was jumping to the ground from the top of the shed, lifting Christina from her back to the ground with one arm; she still had on the makeshift camouflage that Natasha had done earlier. Christina and Buffy ran towards each other, Christina leaped into the air colliding with Buffy who gladly accepted the full impact.

Tears streamed down Buffy’s face as she held Christina at arm’s length from her.

“I am so sorry, are you hurt? Did anyone hurt you?” Buffy asked.

“Please don’t cry, mommy. I’m alright, Natasha helped me, and she’s just like me, I mean us. She’s hurt and I want to see her. Buffy, you should have seen Mars and Naiya, they killed these two Werewolves about to eat me and Natasha and I staked three vampires all by myself,” Christina said.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about Werewolves?”

Buffy stood up and looked at Naiya, “Thank You, Naiya” as the three Slayers ran to the Infirmary.

***


Chapter 35: Cat Seatbelts


Dr. Kidare and Willow were sitting at the table talking with the Sgt. Maj. who was inspecting recon and assault kits. Willow looked up, thinking she heard scratching at the Infirmary’s door. She got up and headed for the door. When she opened it, Mars leapt in and up on the operating table.

“Oh, my gosh!” Willow said as Dr. Kidare and the Sgt. Maj. made it to the table at the same time.

Dr. Kidare produced a pair of surgeon’s snips and started to remove the bindings. The Sgt. Maj. pulled out a Gerber Swat folding knife from his belt and cut off the cat seatbelts, as he called them. Once they had Natasha on the table, Dr. Kidare and Willow started to cut off her clothes as the Sgt. Maj. stepped aside. Dr. Kidare looked down at her patient; she was barely past twelve. Mars walked over to the other side of the room and flopped down on the floor, licking his paws and looking up, flicking an ear. He was obviously pleased with himself.

The Doctor started a cursory inspection going from head to toe, paying special attention to the large bruised area on the child’s rib cage. Willow was at the sink, scrubbing up with iodine anti-bacterial scrub. The Sgt. Maj. was waiting his turn, picking up the tattered remains of the dress Natasha had picked up the weekend before in Bucharest. Dr. Kidare returned to Natasha’s side after she scrubbed up and placed on her inspection mask. Willow’s eyes and ears tuned to the Doctor’s, who flipped on the recorder’s Mic.

“Young female, approximate age twelve to thirteen years old, head trauma, occipital eye fracture, neck contusions.” Dr. Kidare moved along the child’s chest area, “Three fractured ribs, the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth lumbar regions, pulse over ninety, loss of blood pressure. Willow, quickly, blood type this child.”

Dr. Kidare started an IV with lactated ringers, as Willow ran across the lab with a blood sample from Natasha.

Buffy and Christina made it to the double swinging doors to the operating room; Buffy looked in as Christina started to slip past her leg. The whole room was scampering, it looked serious, and Willow ran back with three bags of B- whole blood.

“She’s B-, Dr. Kidare,” Willow stated.

The Sgt. Maj. saw Buffy in the window and motioned for her. Buffy stepped in holding on to Christina who was struggling to get a glimpse of her friend.

“Buffy, call Xander, get him down here. He is the only donor that has B negative blood.”

As Buffy reached into her purse, Christina broke away and ran next to Dr. Kidare.

“What’s wrong with her? Why isn’t she waking up? Wake up, Natasha.”

“She’s going to be fine, Christina. Buffy, I need you to take Christina into Exam room 2 and see if she has any injuries, I can’t spare anyone, Sgt. Maj. I also need Kennedy down here, this is bad, guys.”

Willow glanced over to Dr. Kidare, “Doctor what do we have here?”

“She has three fractured ribs, the way her white cell count skyrocketed and her pulse, she’s in shock; I would say that she has septic shock or septicemia, they’re hard to distinguish without further testing. It could be from a punctured liver or kidney, maybe both,” Dr. Kidare explained as she readied Natasha for surgery.

Kennedy and Xander ran through the double doors, and as they closed, you could see all of the mansion's residents outside in the hallway. Kennedy ran to scrub up, as Xander was led by the Sgt. Maj. to an operating table where he was prepped for drawing blood. After Buffy reported to Dr. Kidare that Christina seemed fine, the doctor let Christina stay as long as she was no closer than Mars.

Christina knew something was wrong, she lay across Mars’ chest, sobbing. Ever the guardian, Mars laid a paw across the child’s leg as she snuggled deeper into his warm, safe fur. Mars gently cleaned the child’s face.

Kennedy finished with Xander’s IV and handed Dr. Kidare a sponge with an iodine germicide to swipe the area the Doctor will enter at.

“She has a temp of one zero four, a high cardiac index and low systemic vascular resistance. Some of these injuries are twelve hours old, is this girl a Slayer?”
“Yes, that’s my friend Natasha, Natasha Rozhkov,” Christina said as she lifted her head up.

“Rozhkov, of course. I didn’t even recognize her with her injuries. She is a Romanian Vampire Slayer,” The Sgt. Maj. answered. “I have been on a few operations, demonic kind, with her father and his team. I had no idea.”

Dr. Kidare glanced at the Sgt. Maj. and held her hand up to her ear as if she were making a call.

“Well, if that slayer healing power is going to kick in, it better start soon.”
The Sgt. Maj. ran to the back office to call Romania.

Dr. Kidare removed her mask and walked over to where Christina was laying against Mars; Buffy sat in a leather chair close to her daughter.

“Christina…I’m sorry, there is nothing else we can do, her injuries caused a massive infection and I’m afraid we didn’t get to your friend in time.”

Christina screamed, “No…she’s not gone, she can’t be, we just found each other.”

“Doctor, there is nothing…nothing you can do?” Buffy asked.

“If there was anything else, I would gladly…”

Willow ran out to the hallway and yelled, “Sgt. Maj. bring me your compass, and I need Faith, Choi-Ann, Buffy, and Vi,” then she ran to her office and grabbed a black bag from under her desk.

“Sgt. Maj. position Natasha’s head facing north, feet at south. Vi, I need you at the head, Buffy at her feet, Faith on her left, and Choi-Ann her right.”

Then Willow looked at the doctor and said,

“Doctor Kidare, time to see if any of your theories are correct. Alright, everybody wrap her up in these sheets.”

The Slayers wrapped Natasha in cotton sheets so that only her bruised and battered face was visible. Christina and Mars raised their heads, as Christina wiped away a silent tear. Willow pulled five white candles from her bag, placing one in Natasha’s hand and handing the other four to the Slayers. She then lit a black candle and said,
“Wrap thy Slayer in cotton, Bind thy Slayer with love, Protection from pain, Surrounds like a glove. Slayer earth, wind, fire, and water stand by at points in a circle. May the brightest of blessings surround thee this night. For thou art cared for, healing thoughts sent in flight...It is this slayer’s sister that is the key, this night, a touch from her shall vanquish all fright.”

Willow lit Natasha’s candle first, followed by VI’s, Faith’s, Buffy’s, and Choi-Ann’s. Her head snapped straight up into the air, her eyes turned red, then black, she turned a sardonic grin towards Christina and in a rougher voice, not Willow’s, said:

“You… you are her sister, if you wish to save this Slayer; come and touch her forehead, now!”

Christina jumped up horrified by the instant transformation that Willow took on, but ran over without question, pulled herself up onto the bed and gently kissed Natasha on her forehead.

What looked like a swirling storm cloud formed above the bed, showering all within range with random blue arcs and bolts. Christina opened her eyes and looked at Natasha as her face swollen, lips cracked, black and blue eye, smashed in face, were all gone, healed right before the child’s eyes.

“You’re…you’re so beautiful, I knew you would be! Wake up, I want you to meet my friends,” Christina said, still holding on to the edge of the bed as Natasha’s eyes opened.

Willow collapsed on the floor, blood streaming from her nose, but she had a smile on her face. Kennedy ran to her side wiping the blood from her lover’s face, as she held her tight.

“Willow, that was truly amazing…there really is an unseen force to these Slayers,” Dr. Kidare said as she grabbed her medical bag to take some readings.

Christina would not let go; she held Natasha tightly around her neck, as she felt a shudder and leaned up to see what was the matter. Natasha’s eyes were gripped in terror as a two hundred and twenty-pound mountain lion dove on her chest from the foot of the bed.

“Christina, get that cat off of my hospital bed,” Dr. Kidare said.

“Oh, Lori! He just wants to make sure she’s alright,” Christina said.

“So, I was not dreaming…I rode a lion? Being a Slayer is so cool, agree,” all the girls laughed and introduced themselves as did everyone out in the hallway.

Buffy walked over to the bedside as a note of instant recognition showed on Natasha’s face.

“Ah, Buffy, it is good to meet you, you have a wonderful daughter, she saved my life this morning.”

“That’s not exactly what my daughter told me, I think you saved each other’s lives, and I just want to thank you…” Buffy paused as emotion tried to resurface.

“You obviously love her very much! As do I; she does have way to make people to do that.”

The Sgt. Maj. walked over to her bedside with a cell phone in his hands; he handed it to the young slayer as it began to ring. He nodded to the girl.

“Hello, papa…I’m all right…no, I am fine. I don’t want you to worry, yes. I love you too, papa. I was injured, but now I am all right…you sound like old woman, Colonel Rozhkov. I will call you when I get settled, this I promise…goodbye, papa, I love you so much.”

Dr. Kidare kicked them all out, but Christina and Mars already had plans to return. Dr. Kidare, Willow, and Kennedy tended to Natasha, she still had to fully recover, but the Doctor could find no signs of broken bones, contusions, or the massive infection that she had only twenty minutes before.

“I want you to get some rest, young lady, I will be here all night, right over there if you need me,” Dr. Kidare told the young slayer.

“Thank you, Doctor…where is Christina?”

“Don’t worry about Christina I am sure she will be sneaking back here very soon, with that big cat.”

***********

“Mom…he saved our lives. I want Mars to sleep with me tonight, he’s so soft and cuddly and he’s mine, Naiya said.” Christina begged her mother.

“Why does he have to sleep in your bed, he is two hundred and twenty pounds, he could crush you, or he could be dreaming and think you’re a bunny or squirrel or a bag of cat nip or something,” Buffy replied back.

“Don’t be silly, you know he wouldn’t do any of those things.”

“All right, but don’t think you are going to do this all of the time,” Buffy said.

“Do what all of the time?”

“Get you’re way with everything…young lady, now wash up and go to bed. Mars, get in here.”

“Murrrr…” Mars stuck his head around the corner and ran over and licked Buffy’s hand. “Purrrrrrrrrr…” Mars purred loudly rubbing against her leg.

“You’re not slick either, you’re probably teaching her all this,” Buffy said as she rubbed him behind the ear.

***********

Around two o’clock in the morning, Christina was walking down the hallway with Mars at her side. They went into the cafeteria, and opened the large stainless steel refrigerator. She poured Mars a bowl of cold milk, which he gratefully lapped up; she then poured two large glasses, mixing some chocolate powder in them, stirring the treasure until it was frothy. Christina put away the milk, grabbed a steak from large tray and gave it to Mars, who gulped it down in less than a minute. The two companions walked down the winding granite steps to the infirmary. Mars pushed the double doors open with his nose and Christina walked through. She set the two glasses on the bedside table, and approached the edge of Natasha’s bed as the young slayer opened her eyes.

“Did I wake you?”

“No, I am glad to see you,” Natasha answered, and as she pushed herself to a sitting position, Mars jumped up and sat his large frame between Natasha’s legs, nudging his large head in range of ear scratching.

Natasha gladly scratched Mars behind his ear and as the big cat started to purr, she looked over to her friend,

“What’s his name, Christina?”

“Natasha, this is Mars…he’s mine, but he could be ours if you want.” Christina said as tears started to roll down her soft cheek, her big brown eyes transfixed on her friend’s bright blue eyes.

“Hey, what is this all about? Are those tears for me? I am alright…now,” Natasha said as she pulled her friend up onto the bed and stroked her hair.

“I almost lost you last night. Look at me, big bad vampire slayer, I’m nothing but a big sissy.”

“Oh, but you are not! Do I have to remind you that we both almost lost each other four times yesterday? If we didn’t help each other we would both be werewolf shit this morning, or some stinking vampires chamber maid. We live only because we help each other, always remember that.”

“Natasha, what is a chamber maid?”

“I see you brought Natasha present,” she said changing the subject.

“What is going on here! Christina, what am I going to do with you?” Dr. Kidare said as Mars rolled over on his back. The great cat’s eyes narrowed as he leapt off the bed, starred straight up at the ceiling and bolted for the double doors.

***********
Choi-Ann was sleeping on her back as a shadow gently lifted the pane off of the skylight. The shadow lowered a string down to the bed just above the slayer’s lips, he produced a vile from a hidden pocket and poured some thick liquid down the string; it glistened in the moonlight on its way down the string. The closet door opened slightly as a body dressed all black fell out of the closet to the ground and rolled onto the floor. Crossbow in hand, and let a bolt fly striking the shadow through the shoulder; as he fell forward through the skylight and bounced onto the floor, Choi-Ann awake jammed her stake deep into the shadow’s chest, as Mars bolted into the room; the shadow turned to dust. Dawn stood up and smiled at Choi-Ann as the Cantonese slayer nodded her head.

Buffy ran in, stake in hand, followed closely by Faith, “What’s going on? Dawn what are you doing here?”

“She’s my Slayer, where else am I supposed to be!” Dawn answered.

“Sorry, what’s going on?” Buffy asked looking at the pile of black dust.

“Does this cat sleep with everyone but me?” Faith asked. “That sounded weird!”

“Xander, Choi-Ann, and me watched the Pink Panther last night and…” Dawn explained, being cut off.

“You were playing the part of the crazy Chinese butler who hid in closets and attacked inspector Coustau, for training; yes, I’ve seen the movie, but what happened here,” Buffy said pointing at a pile of familiar dust by Choi-Ann’s bed.

“Ninja Vamp tried to kill Choi-Ann with this,” Dawn answered as Kennedy and half the floor ran into the room.

Giles ran in wearing a smoking jacket followed by Asano, and Arthur. Asano picked up the string and sniffed the glistening substance,

“This is most powerful poison, she would have been certainly dead if not for her Watcher,” Asano nodded to Dawn as he held Choi-Ann by the shoulders.

Buffy strode across the floor and opened the window, “Mars, search the grounds. Faith, Kennedy, full patrol five mile radius around the compound, all teams. Not in our house! Not here,” Buffy said with gritted teeth glaring at Giles.

“Everyone down stairs now, weapons draw, I want a full sweep by morning, move it.”

***********

Dr. Kidare, Christina, and Natasha raised up to look as three fire teams ran past the infirmary towards the Armory. Christina ran out into the hallway as Buffy rounded the corner.

“What are you doing out of bed?”

“I brought Natasha a glass of chocolate milk. Mom, what’s going on?”

“I don’t want you to worry about it, stay here with Natasha, and Mars is with me.” Buffy said kissing her on her forehead and running into the Armory.

Mars had five of the Ninja vamps cornered at the fence at the lower end of the compound. One of them pulled out his Katana and faced off with the big cat. As he slowly approached, he was lifted off the ground by some unseen force and slammed against the fence, dusting. Then the loud retort of a sniper rifle was heard.

“Right on target, Sgt. Maj. Wind blowing north to south at five knots, humidity seventy percent. What kind of round are you using?” Xander asked his mentor watching through a Starlight spotter scope.

Sgt. Maj. Douglas raised his head, his patrol cap turned backwards, away from his night vision scope, connected to his Browning fifty caliber sniper rifle.

“I use a round made from a Dogwood tree, raised them myself, I feed them Miracle Grow and Holy Water. The Dogwood is the type of tree that Jesus was crucified on; God made sure they would never get that big again, but they kill Vampires really good, and make great stakes,” The Sgt. Maj. answered firing another round at any Vamp fool enough to approach Mars.

“Xander, take a shot,” The Sgt. Maj. said as he rolled over, grabbed the Starlite spotting scope and took Xander’s place.

“Really, alright, walk me through this.”

“Place the stock up against your cheek, adjust for a five knot cross wind, good, now take aim and gently squeeze the trigger, it should surprise you a little.”

Xander looked through the PVS-10 Night sight scope, he saw Mars dust a Ninja vamp as another one was trying to strike from behind. Xander placed the crosshairs, adjusting the gradient to a five knot cross wind, he gently clicked in the adjustment aiming slightly above and right of the center of the target’s chest, he breathed in letting out a small amount of air, and held gently pulled the trigger.

The vamp flew back about seven feet turning into a cloud of dust before it hit the ground. Xander dusted the final vamp as Mars jumped on top of the tool shed and disappeared into the woods. Three Suburbans pulled out of the Sanctuary for a night patrol of the surrounding woods.