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Brenda sat shivering
on a bench at the docks, watching the fog roll lazily over the still water.
She glanced at her watch and noticed the small hand had slipped past the
ten. She sighed and turned her attention once again to the water.
"Waiting for someone?"
a man asked as he descended the stairs toward her.
"My fiance," Brenda
replied, drawing her coat tighter around her. "He was supposed to meet
me here over an hour ago. What about you?"
"I don't wait around
for anyone, love," he said.
Brenda raised an eyebrow.
"Well you came all this way for something."
"Not as far as you
think," the man drawled. "Don't you worry, pet, I'll get what I came for."
Brenda stared curiously
at the strange man, taking in his odd appearance. He was fairly tall, with
short cropped, peroxide-blond hair, and icy blue eyes. His eyes were the
most arresting of his features, along with his clothing, which seemed oddly
out of place with the current fashion. "So I take it you've been here a
while?"
"What do you mean
by that, love?"
"You obviously aren't
from around here," she explained. "But you say you aren't from as far I
thought. So you live in the United States."
"Clever one, aren't
you? How long did it take you to make that brilliant deduction?" the man
asked, stepping toward her.
"Well, you have a
British accent-" she started, but was cut off by the man's hand over her
mouth.
"Quiet, girl!" he
snapped, leaning in to caress her neck.
Brenda squealed against
his hand, but the pressure did not lessen. She bared her teeth and bit
into the soft flesh of his palm.
The man snatched his
hand away, fixing her with a deadly glare. "Ah, so you're a biter, then?
Seems luck is on my side tonight."
Brenda pondered his
words for a short moment, then leapt from the bench. She managed a few
quick steps before the man caught her from behind and dragged her back,
screaming, towards him. "Nice try," he said and whirled her around her
to face him.
Brenda screamed in
horror at the sight of his hideous face. "Shh," the man rebuked her, and
bared his fangs. "Now this won't hurt a bit," he said. He tilted his head
and regarded her with gold eyes. "Actually it'll hurt like hell, but there's
not much you can do about THAT is there?" Brenda's scream was cut off sharply
as he bit into the tender flesh of her throat.
Brenda's thin form
dropped limply to the ground. The man licked his lips, and his face morphed
back to its original appearance.
The man turned at
the sound of applause behind him. "Oh, Spikey, can I have one too?" the
brunette asked, approaching him and the still form at his feet.
"We're not finished
with this one, pet. But you can have the next one."
"Oh, goody," she squealed,
and clapped again.
"Will someone PLEASE
tell me how we ended up here again?" Xander asked, neglecting to hide his
irritation.
"Remember the airport,
Xander?" Willow responded seriously. "The plane, the fog, the delay, the
cancellation."
"Yes, I know HOW we
ended up here. I meant WHY did we have to get stuck here. This isn't much
better than Sunnydale," Xander complained.
"Oh, come on, Xander,
this place isn't so bad," Buffy cut in. "At least there's no vampires."
"Yeah, that's always
a plus," Willow agreed.
Giles sat at by the
window sill, rubbing his forehead gingerly. "We'll be leaving in the morning,
Xander. I would hardly launch a complaint over one night."
"In a four star hotel,"
Willow added.
"But still," Xander
whined. "Port Charles? It's not even on the map."
"Neither is Sunnydale,"
Buffy pointed out. She twirled around to face the rest of the group. "So
what do you think?" she asked.
"Uh--isn't that the
same outfit you were wearing earlier?" Willow asked timidly.
"I loosened the collar!"
Buffy exclaimed.
Willow and Xander
exchanged an exasperated look. "Oh, yeah, Buffy, it looks TOTALLY different,"
Xander commented.
"Good," Buffy said
in satisfaction. "Now let's go."
"And where precisely
are we going?" Giles inquired.
"Out," Buffy said
cheerfully. "You weren't planning to spend the whole night in this stuffy
hotel room, were you?"
"I'm with Buffy,"
Xander said, jumping from the bed. "We may as well get something out of
this nightmare."
"Just think, Xander,"
Buffy said over her shoulder as she pulled on her coat. "At this time tomorrow
we'll be roaming the streets of Manhattan."
"We could be doing
that NOW if it weren't for that stupid airline," Xander said on his way
out.
"You can't blame the
airline for the fog," Willow said, following them out.
Giles sighed and got
up to follow the teenagers out into the hall.
"What do you mean we
can't get in?" Buffy asked indignantly.
"I'm sorry miss,"
Claude said, but still barred the entry to the club. "I don't make the
rules-"
"But you have to follow
them. Yeah, I know," Buffy said rolling her eyes. "But you see, we're close
personal friends of the owner."
"And that is?" Claude
prompted.
Buffy glanced at the
sign over the door, and spoke confidently. "Luke." She gave him her sweetest
smile, then started when the door flew the rest of the way open.
"You rang?" he asked,
eyeing the group assembled outside the door.
"Your close, personal
friends did," Claude said.
"So I heard," Luke
said. "Funny, you don't look that familiar."
"Uh, we were just,
uh--perhaps we have the wrong person," Giles sputtered, wiping his glasses
nervously on the front of his shirt.
Luke laughed. "Forget
it," he said. "Come on in. This place is dead anyway," he said, and waved
them in.
Xander looked to Willow
nervously as they walked in. "I hope he didn't really mean that," he muttered
to her.
Willow nodded. "Me
too."
They understood Luke's
meaning when they entered the club. With the exception of a young couple
seated at the bar, the place was empty. "No wonder he let us in," Buffy
said.
"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed.
Buffy ignored her
friend and they continued toward the bar. "So what'll it be?" Luke asked
as they approached. "Lemonade or root beer?"
"Cherry coke," Willow
and Xander said together. "Extra cherries," they added.
Luke raised an eyebrow,
but poured their drinks without comment. "And you?" he asked after handing
them the glasses.
"Oh, nothing for me,"
Buffy said.
"I'll have a scotch,"
Giles said. "Make that a double," he amended, glancing at the teenagers.
"I get you, man. The
kid over there is my son."
The group turned to
the boy indicated. He looked up and regarded the group silently. "Introduce
yourself, Lucky," Luke prodded.
"Lucky?" Xander asked.
"Is there some kind of special meaning to that?"
Lucky stared at him
as if he were crazy. "No," he said sharply, and extended his hand toward
Buffy. "I'm Lucky Spencer," he introduced himself. "And this is my--Emily."
"YOUR Emily?" Buffy
questioned.
Lucky blushed. "No--
just Emily."
Emily gave an irritated
look, then smiled and shook each of their hands. "It's nice to meet you,"
she said politely.
"I like this one already,"
Giles said under his breath.
Lucky leaned casually
against the bar. "I haven't seen you around before," he said, directing
his words toward Buffy. "Do you live around here?"
"No, thank god," Xander
responded.
Lucky looked at him
sharply, his eyes flashing. "Xander," Willow reprimanded him. "How would
you like somebody saying that about Sunnydale?"
"I say that about
Sunnydale all the time," Xander said.
"I'm Buffy Summers,"
Buffy said, shaking Lucky's hand.
"So how long are you
in town?" Lucky asked, grinning.
"Only as long as we
have to be," Xander muttered.
"Just for tonight,"
Buffy said swiftly to cover Xander's remark.
"Oh," Lucky said,
eyeing Xander suspiciously.
Giles looked to Luke
and shook his head tiredly. "Another drink?" Luke asked.
"Please," Giles begged.
Buffy and Willow took
seats on either side of Lucky and Emily while Xander hovered protectively
behind them. "Can we watch some TV?" Buffy asked.
"Of course," Lucky
replied, and he and Xander both jumped for the remote in Luke's hand.
"Hey, hey, hey," Luke
cried, batting them away. "I can turn it on myself."
The girls hid their
smiles with their hands. Luke turned on the TV and switched to a local
channel. "Just in case we get some earth shattering news," he explained
with a smile.
As if on cue, a reporter
appeared on the screen. "This just in," the reporter stated. "Two bodies
were found floating face up in the harbor late this evening. The bodies
bore no mark of injury other than two small punctures in the neck, as shown
here." The screen flashed to a picture of a swollen gray neck. Sure enough,
there were tiny punctures in the side of the neck.
Buffy looked with
wide eyes at her friends, then back at the screen. "Oh no," she said.