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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is a longer chapter, but it pretty much starts from the end of chapter eighteen. It is slightly edited.
CHAPTER NINETEEN

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The moment Riley's jeep pulled up to her house, Buffy bounded out, not even bothering to kiss the army commander like she always had. She wanted desperately to punch her ex fiance into next week, but Riley was not her concern, and Spike was.

Riley was stunned, but he forced himself to concentrate on more important matters.He had a beast to teach a lesson to, and he would start right away.

He drove away vowing that as soon as the whole situation at the base was over, Riley could have some Buffy time and rekindle their relationship.

Buffy unlocked her door and slammed it behind her. Joyce saw her disheveled condition and said, "Buffy, what on Earth…?"

The Slayer went over to Giles. "We have to talk right now!" She insisted. When her mother called her again, the teenager snapped, "not now, Mom!"

Joyce yelled, "You DON'T take that tone with me, young lady!"

Buffy responded by steering Giles into the back of the study and locking the door. Joyce sputtered, her temper rising.

Emerging from the bathroom, Cordelia asked, "Is that Buffy I heard with the door slamage?"

Joyce nodded once. NEVER had her youngest shouted at her before, and she didn't quite know how to take that. Her instincts told her that something was going on between her surgeon and Buffy; something that was more than just a job. The mother of two didn't want to intrude on her daughter's private life, but Buffy owed her an explanation!

"Delia, run upstairs and grab my key to the study!" Joyce ordered.

As Cordy ran upstairs to grab the key, her mother had a slight moment of indecision. She felt somewhat guilty about Riley all of a sudden; she didn't want to persue her course of action. Riley COULD have had a reason for bugging her house. What he'd done wasn't right, but if he did such a thing because Buffy....

Joyce focused all of her attention on the study. Cordy came back downstairs momentarily with a bunch of keys on a chain.

"It's the one shaped like a diamond, honey," she told her daughter.

As Cordy looked for the key, Joyce wondered what Riley could do to her if she confronted him. Suppose, her dark side told her, Riley didn't take too kindly (to put things mildly,) at having been exposed?

And, what was Buffy's involvement--if she WAS involved--in all of this?

**In for a penny; in for a pound,** Joyce thought.

She glanced at her eldest as Cordy held up a round, gold key the size of a mailbox one. Joyce held out her hand, telling her, "No, that's not the one. I'll get the right key ring. You see if you can listen in and find out what Buffy's saying."

Cordy's curiosity won out over her morals. She went into the kitchen and, spying a glass, held it up to the door. She could hear Giles saying something, but his voice was muffled.

"They sure don't make glasses like they used to!" She commented.

After several moments of muffled voices, Cordelia heard Buffy yelling."…taken Spike there!" She lowered her voice lest her mom and sister burst inside.

"We've GOT to do something!" the youngest Summers said.

Attempting to placate her, Giles said, "Buffy, above all, you-you must be calm. You are the Chosen One after all, and it would not do for you to become upset,"

Joyce came downstairs with another key chain, this one smaller than the first. As she looked for the key, she and Cordelia shared the same thought: **what's a Chosen One?**

They refocused their attention on the conversation while Buffy was heard arguing,"So we just sit back and do nothing?! Giles, they're gonna KILL him, if they haven't already! And if they have, I'll make them pay!"
"

""BUFFY!" Giles' sharp retort rang throughout the room. He lowered his voice just then.

"We mustn't do anything rash. You are the Slayer; however, if there are several soldiers at that army installation we must go in when we are certain of our advantage. Besides, we don't know where Riley has taken Spike, and I don't think the army has an advertisement posted in the papers as to where they are," Giles said. "And, need I remind you, he IS a vampire?"

"Soooo..." Buffy's voice said slowly, "we just leave him there because he's a vampire?"

"Because he IS a soulless demon!" Giles pressed his point, forgetting to lower his voice.

Just then, Joyce and Cordelia burst into the study.

"Mom," Buffy greeted, trying to be nonchalant. "What's goin' on?"

"You tell me," Joyce said. "What IS going on? Is this a meeting about your job? And, why would you need to save Spike?"

The mother folded her arms and glared at her youngest daughter. Buffy didn't know how to respond. Her mother's look changed to one of censure and disappointment that her youngest daughter had kept something major from her.

"What job exactly are you doing, Buffy?" Joyce pressed. "And how would YOU be able to save him?"

Cordelia joined in, asking, "Yeah, and what's the deal on this 'Chosen One' stuff?"

Buffy and Giles exchanged a look. Giles sighed, telling Joyce and Cordelia, "I suppose the truth is a little hard to hide, particularly since Buffy lives with you both."

"We SO don't have time," Buffy responded, tapping her watch. She walked over to the door, then saw the glass in her older sister's hands.

"Eavesdropping with glasses. Figures," the youngest Summers muttered. Buffy tried to exit the study, but she found that Joyce was blocking the door.

"Mom, get out of the way!" Buffy yelled. Giles simultaneously said, "It might be prudent, Joyce, to do as she says."

Joyce shook her head, saying, "I'm not doing anything until you confess! I want the truth, and I want it now."

"And while we're sharing, an innocent being is suffering!" Buffy countered. Wordlessly, Joyce stepped out of the way. She went to the coffee table in the living room and, before the Slayer could grab the car keys, the mother yanked them out of Buffy's reach.

"Mom!" Buffy protested.

"I'm driving," Joyce said in a tone which brooked no argument. She looked at Cordelia.

"Do you have the printout from the computer?" she asked her oldest daughter.

"Yeah," Cordelia said. She scanned the data and brightened, adding, "the base is nearby."

"Perhaps you should divulge where it is," Giles said, holding his hand out for the papers. Cordelia walked past him and went out of the front door.

"Why don't we discuss what a Chosen One is AND how Buffy can rescue Spike on the way to the base? Call it a mutual exchange of information, since I also have business with Riley," Joyce said, smiling sweetly and staring at the White One.

Giles sighed in defeat. He knew when he was beaten.

"Very well," he said. Waving a cautionary finger at Joyce, he added, "But, you both shall stay in the car when we get there, and Buffy and I shall handle this! I don't want her to have to worry about you while she is attempting to locate Spike."

Cordelia opened her mouth to retort, but Buffy advised, "Don't even think about it!" When her older sister saw Buffy's thunderous expression, she wordlessly climbed into the back of the car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Spike threw himself at the glass cage he found himself in, trying desperately to escape. He roared at the passing scientists, but they paid him little attention.

"Was that the latest hostile?" one scientist asked his coworker.

The other, taller scientist nodded, "Yep," she confirmed.

"So, should we get ready for the operation?" the first scientist asked. His coworker shook her head.

"Commander Finn wants us to hold off on this one," she said. "He has special conditioning in mind for him."

The scientists continued talking as they rounded the corner. They failed to see the dark mists gathering above their heads. When they had left completely and Spike was alone, the mists gently floated in front of his cage and turned into the shapes of Darla and Drusilla.

"Poor Prince William!" the insane, raven haired vampire sorceress said. "'He plays alone! No other children will play in his sandbox."

They stared at Spike's futile attempts to break the glass. Darla spoke as she saw his bruised hands.

"Of course, we might save him if he does one small favor for us," Darla said, looking at Spike.

His eyes fell on Drusilla and he snarled. As his mind processed what his grand sire had just said, he looked at the blonde vampiress.

"Kill the Slayer," she said simply.

Spike growled, trying to get out, his feral mind processing what it could. He didn't wish to hear any more of Darla's request. He thought about the tiny blonde girl, his Goldilocks.

"No!" he roared. "Slayer: MINE!"

"Oh, well," Darla said, sighing. "Have fun in Casa de Army Base. I can't wait to see what tortures they have lined up for you!" She walked on, but stopped when she heard Drusilla wailing.

"Nooooo!" Drusilla protested. "My Prince has her light in his heart! He doesn't want to join the tea party! I want my William back."

"Never…yours," Spike grunted, still trying to escape his prison.

Darla regarded him for a second, then turned to Dru, saying, "He has got a point."

"Nooo!" Dru wailed, tearing at her hair. Darla looked at her with disgust.

"This is getting real old, real fast, Dru!" she cried. "Don't make it necessary for me to alert them to put YOU in a cage!"

Drusilla's wails became silent tears as she jerked back. She turned mournful eyes on Spike, but as Darla became a mist again and floated out of the base, Drusilla did the same.

XXXXXXXXXXX

When they reached their home and changed back into their vampire shapes, Drusilla smiled insanely as she saw a vision. She could see him, as handsome as her William, and fiercely loyal to his Sire.

**Another Prince will come to snatch the dollies from the chest, just as the pixies told me!** She thought. **Then, brother, mum an' me will dance a' the ball as the end of days begins!**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Riley and some of his men let themselves into VHIP headquarters via the secret door. He saluted some soldiers as he passed by. They in turn saluted him and the scientists behind the army commander. The Midwesterner turned left upon reaching the subterranean base and went to a non-descript room. Riley pressed his hand to a plate and gave his name, rank and serial number into the vocal response microphone beside the scanner.

The door slid open to reveal several senior officers. A fifty-ish woman stood up and saluted Riley, her grey-blue hair framing her square face. She wore general's stars and the plaque behind her proclaimed that she had been decorated several times over for bravery and ingenuity.

"Commander Finn," the general greeted, "it's good to see you. When we were debriefed on the situation concerning the hostile known as the 'vampire beast' and several other demonic operatives, we were thinking you'd be among the missing."

"It takes more than a hemoglobin drinking revenant and his followers to bring me down, General Atwood," Riley responded. One of the officers, a Colonel, offered Riley a seat. The Commander sat in it, basking in his being offered a seat by a superior officer. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the top brass noticed him and the operation they'd given him cartes blanche over.

"We understand that you have him tucked away in the maximum security cell," the Colonel said once he sat down.

Riley nodded, saying, "I felt that it was best. This is no ordinary vampire, and it would be folly to put him in just any cell."

"What about this...experimental treatment you've got planned for it? Will it work?" another Colonel asked, his Tennessee drawl extremely pronounced.

Before Riley responded, the Tennessee Colonel said, "We wanna verify that the taxpayers' dollars are bein' well spent."

"Of course you do, sir," Riley agreed wholeheartedly. He scanned all of the occupants of the room with his dark eyes and pushed a button on the table.

A screen slid down, and the Commander advised everyone, "Please, take your seats. I think you'll find this demonstration...enlightening." The junior ranking officer then commanded the film to be shown. A cage was shown, not unlike Spike's.

"This is the next step in technology, and we're very lucky to have it," Riley told his superiors. A pink skinned demon was brought in. He was bound in chains and temporarily stunned. The military personnel deposited him down on the floor, then walked away. The scientists removed the demon's chains and gave it a shot, then all left the creature alone in the cell. Two other lab technicians rolled over a small machine to the glass.

Inside the cell, the demon awakened to find that he was a prisoner. He roared, throwing himself against the glass and trying to reach toward the scientists. One scientist turned on the machine; the other pressed several buttons.

"Begin," a scientist said. He concentrated, then extended his hand in a stabbing motion. Though nothing was being held, the demon jerked and clutched his chest as though he was being stabbed. The scientist then made a shooting motion with his hands. The demon jerked and twitched, grabbing his chest as though he was checking to see if he was bleeding.

"What's going on?" one senior officer asked. "Why is that creature acting like that?"

Riley shook his head, responding, "I'd rather not disclose that at this time. Suffice it to say though that this is what I would like to try on the vampire beast Hostile 18,. The lab boys will film this live so that you receive every image." He regarded the Colonel from Tennessee, saying, "You asked how the tax dollars were being spent. Now, I can show you."

The Colonel nodded, telling Riley, "Go ahead, Commander Finn. Show us this new technology in more depth."

"Yes, sir; thank you sir," the Commander replied, switching off the projector. Riley left the small room. It was time to kick some butt.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Once he was healed, Angelus and two of his children made their way to the docks. They waited patiently for a box wrapped in black burlap. The crane hoisted it from the ship and as soon as the box was placed on the docks, the elder vamp ran up to the loader and clapped him on the back.

"Hey, Jace!" Angelus shouted. "How long has it been?"

The man frowned, saying, "Long enough for you to have forgotten my name."

"Oh...so, sorry," Angelus said apologetically. "Who are you again?"

"I'm Jax," the man said. He whipped out a pad, saying, "OK...one package from India, sans customs. I went through a lot of trouble to both steal it and meet you here. I don't even know what's in it, but when some dingbat broad asks for it to be delivered here and pays me triple what it's worth, I usually excuse the craziness and do it."

"How very enterprising of you," the senior vampire praised. A small sliver of moonlight illuminated all three vampires who were fully in game face.

"What...what are you?" the man asked, horrified. All three vampires snickered.

Angelus turned evil, yellow eyes on the human victim, saying, "hungry." The three descended on the hapless man and drained him of his blood before he could scream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

C. G. had run into the precinct after Riley had dropped him off. The 28-year-old policeman punched some buttons on his computer. Reginald "Tater" Edwards came into the Deputy Chief's office.

Tater studied his friend. Never had he seen C. G. looking pissed before. The leader-cop had always been the type to be cool under pressure, but now he looked like he was out for blood. Reginald's blue eyes showed worry and concern. Had his friend found the vampire beast and was he going to confront the revenant?

"C. G., what's going on?" Tater wanted to know.

C. G. continued typing. "A little detective work," the brownish blond haired cop said. "I'm punching up the locations of the sightings of vampires in the past few weeks and the areas where the murders took place."

"What good'll that do?" Tater asked. "There've been a lot of sightings ever since the beast made his mark. Besides, I thought you had told me when you called me from Riley's jeep that the army caught him."

"I don't think they did," C. G. mused, still typing. "I think they just decided to pin the murders on the most convenient suspect."

"What makes you say that?" Tater asked, peering at C. G.'s entries.

"Well, first of all, the pathologist told me that the victims were attacked by a man who was 6 feet tall or more. The perp Riley and his men carried out was possibly five seven or eight, nowhere near as tall as the one Nancy described. Another thing: if the creature I saw was the one who did it, why didn't he finish the job? Most vamps usually drain their victims dry, or they turn them. There's no in between."

"Maybe he was playing games with you," Tater suggested, "if he was even a vampire at all." C. G. printed out a map of the general area where the vampires had been spotted.

"Perhaps, but I don't think that we're dealing with the same guy," the Deputy Chief said. "I'm probably crazy, but I think that monster is innocent."

"You're right: you are crazy," his best friend agreed. "Listen to yourself! Someone is pulling a prank, and you're talkin' about vampires as though they're really real."

C. G. studied the map, but then looked up at Tater. The older cop didn't want to tell him about the things C. G. had found out from Nancy, including being at the warehouse and not gathering any evidence about the revenants he saw there. He knew that if he told Tater his real reason for being so gung-ho about investigating these sightings, C. G's best friend would have the cop committed.

The Welsh policeman tried a different tack. "There's just something that doesn't wash; something that Riley did that doesn't make sense." C. G. mused, describing the army commander's actions.

"He might be taking him into custody at a government facility, but I think he isn't," C. G. continued saying thoughtfully. "It's just a gut feeling, and one I can't prove, but I believe that Riley has gone off the deep end and he's playing for keeps."

The older law enforcer drew dots at the locations where the sightings and murders had taken place and then connected them. He looked at the land in the center and studied the topography.

"Tell me something, Tater," C. G. asked. "Why would the vampires attack all around this small area, but totally avoid what's in the middle? What's keeping them away?"

Reggie peered at the map and shrugged, saying, "I dunno. There doesn't seem to be anything there." C. G. punched a request into the computer to provide more details on the area in the middle of the map. After tabulating the data and scanning it, the computer spewed out two lists. He scanned the names of the streets on both lists, but paused when he got to the next to the last one.

"Where the hell is Topkin's Field?" he asked Reggie. "Doesn't seem to be on the more recent listing."

Tater leaned over C. G. and punched up specifics on Topkins Field. He printed the info out, then grabbed the papers from the printer.

"Here, C. G.," Tater said after a moment. "There was a Topkin's Field in Sunnydale around the year 1945; however, when the land surrounding it was purchased in 1953, the owner changed the name to Steinway Avenue, to keep it sounding like the other areas." Reggie pointed to several names with "Stein" in their titles.

"So, it was just a big field?" C. G. responded by way of a query. "Why would someone just buy acres of nothing?"

Tater went to the printer and looked at the information. "The place was sold cheap to one Harry Stein by the Government. Apparently, they sold it because word got out that there were some unorthodox experiments going on at a military base there. When the experiments were quietly ended due to pressure from some humanitarian organizations, the base was shut down. According to this, it was never demolished, just abandoned. Stein agreed in a handshake deal to take the land off their hands for a ridiculously low price. In exchange, Stein would keep his mouth shut about the Government's shady deals," Tater reported.

"Wanna bet that the experiments concerned night creatures, like revenants and demons?" C. G. guessed.

C. G. tugged on the black leather jacket that was on the hanger behind him. He postulated his theory, asking, "you also want to bet that the Government has reestablished that base and it is probably continuing that work there, and that maybe, just maybe, the vampires and demons heard of it? Would make the revenants stay well enough out of the army's way to avoid capture, wouldn't it?"

"So if there actually were vampires at the warehouse and if Riley captured one of them, particularly the one he thinks is the vampire beast..." Tater started surmising.

At C. G.'s curt nod, the younger cop grimaced. "Oh, man!" he exclaimed. Tater couldn't wrap his mind around the concept that a real live vampire could have been caught, and that the being was more than likely being experimented on by the U. S. Government.

"Where's the proof?" Tater asked his friend.

C. G. didn't respond, but instead requested that Tater get his knapsack from the outer area. When Tater left his office, C. G. hid the weapons in a long paper bag, and went outside to the nearest squad car. Reggie handed the sack to C. G. The Welsh cop threw the sack and the long paper bag on the back seat and put the siren on top of the car.

"C.G.?" Reggie Edwards' muffled voice asked through the window.

"Yeah?" the Deputy Chief asked, rolling down the window. "What is it, Tater?"

"Do you want backup now?" he wondered. C. G. considered asking for help, but he didn't want to risk the lives of the police since it was obvious that there were several revenants about and not just the vampire beast. He also wasn't quite ready to field questions about night creatures and their existence to the other members of the Sunnydale Police Department. Of course, even with knowing what he faced, C. G. wasn't suicidal.

"Get two officers," he ordered Reggie, "and tell them to follow me, but instruct them to do exactly as I say!"

"You got it," Tater assured his friend. "Be careful."

"Aren't I always?" C. G. asked, rolling up his window. He backed out of his parking space and went to what he hoped was the location of the Army base.





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