"Yes...........Graham had led us to the underground Initiative base where we hoped to find sanctuary, but the vampire police......tracked us there.  We were forced to retreat and the undead constabulary destroyed the base behind us, making sure no one else could use it.

Annabelle spreads her arms indicating The Fish Tank around them. "This is our headquarters now. A dive pub with the stench of blood, body odor, and cheap alcohol that no doubt had to pay off the health inspector to stay in business. They won't look for us here because, well no one in their right mind with a pinch of good taste would stay here.

"Of course we did had to deal with an odd vampire drugged up junkie and a demon or two. Since it's daytime it'll be the demons and at night well you know the story. Annabelle you left out the backstabbing Init agents that sold themselves for vampiric power. But we made sure that their ambitions were destoryed.Buffybot shook her head and can't believe that since Annabelle and Mike had been here the longest that it convinently slipped their minds.

Annabelle smacked herself on the head and sighed loudly.  Bloody machine has no concept of tact! she thought.


"Why, thank you!  I don't know how I could have left that part out!  I must be off my trolley!" the Slayer said to the robot before turning back to Lance.

"Lance, when we arrived at the Initiative base, we found it cleaned up, power on, and a skeleton crew of four agents house sitting it. They said the government decided not to shut it down completely.  Two of the four agents were traitors, they betrayed us and their two comrades to the vampire police which is how the vampires found us there. And well.......the two loyal agents were killed by the traitors.

She pauses a moment, then; "But I'm confident the traitors were given their final reward. Graham told the rest of us to go during our escape while he went back to take care of something important, that's how he got separated from us.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:56, Wed 29 Apr 2015.

Lance looks to each of them and puts his hands in his pockets to keep them occupied instead of reaching for a cigarette.

"I went to the base last night. It was overrun with the vamp cops you spoke of. looked like they were pretty worked up looking for something, or someone. I slipped back out and spent the night in a house down the road. When I was discharged I had lost contact with my squad. I spent three years traveling here and there taking out any HST I could. I never wanted to come back here but I was drawn back for some reason." 

He turns inquisitively toward Michael,"And whats this about a force field keeping us here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:44, Thu 30 Apr 2015.

Mike says, "Exactly what it sounds like. If you try to leave town...there's an invisible one way barrier, which allows people in, but not out. Even birds can't leave, and they'll beakplant into nothing if they try."

"You know a briefing before I go back would be appreciated. What do we know about the undead pigs?  Are they organized? Who's leading them? How long has this barrier been up? Yadda yadda yadda." he smirks to himself wondering if anyone got the reference.

"Before you go back where? You're hardly equipped to deal with the vampire PD. And going out alone with the city as it is, would pretty much be a delayed suicide. One man alone isn't capable of dealing with the creatures of Sunnydale. So if you had plans to that effect I suggest you forget them now and work with us to find the root of the problems." The young man's manner was begining to grate on Aaron, though that could just be his general feelings about being in America. That Lance had been part of the Initiative was a slightly sore point, they shouldn't have been messing around with the occult. They hadn't had any idea of the forces they were dealing with.

Lance looks to Aaron not amused in the least. Giving him the smirkiest smug look he can "So your briefing is you got jack crap?"

Obviously this guy has no clue about infiltration and military spying techniques, most of which are missions for one.

With that Lance rolls his eyes and shake his head and steps outside. Lighting up one of his "special" cigs he takes a deep toke and and thinks to himself.

The town is deserted, there's a force field trapping us here and who knows what type of supplies are left here. What the hell was Graham up to and where is he? Something important huh? Could be anything. Guess I got to play nice since these guys maybe the only human contact I may have for quite a while.

He regroups and brushes his hair back out of his face and enters the Fish Tank.

"Ok good sir, we will do it your way.  What do we need to do?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:33, Fri 01 May 2015.

Annabelle interrupts before Aaron can respond.  "Lance, don't be too hard on Aaron.  He got here just a few hours ahead of you and  is only a couple of steps ahead of you as far as information is concerned.

She sits down in the nearest chair before continuing.  "We going to try to capture one lone vampire constable and interrogate him for information.  We have procured a police vehicle of our own and by listening to the police radio, ascertained that they were in force last night and trying to capture just one would be near impossible.

Annabelle then stands up again and begins to pace the floor.  "Supplies are relatively easy to come by in daylight.  With the vampires indoors and Sunnydale nearly deserted, we can easily procure what we need. Unlike the vampires we can move about freely under the sun except..... oh yes that topic hasn't come up yet has it?

Annabelle moves closer to Michael as if she's ready to stop Lance from attacking him.  "Michael is a vampire.  But he's a good vampire.  He has a soul, which separates him from the evil ones. I guess he's what you would call a Friendly Sub Terrestrial or FST.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Fri 01 May 2015.

Mike nodded.

"It's true. Though I'm told you people have dealt with vampires that aren't the normal kind before...my sire and Spike both. I think you guys were the ones that put a chip in Spike."

He looks straight at Michael "A chip I can understand. A soul? One of my squad leaders Riley told me about a vamp he met once. One with a soul. He didn't like him to much if I recall. So what's your story? Why aren't you part of the Sunnydale Night watch?"

He looks at Aaron in particular to see his reaction realizing this situation is probably way more than any of them bargained for.

"The vampire Riley told you about was Angel. And he was my sire. How I ended up with a soul involves a bit of magic, to be sure, but it mostly had to do with the fact I was the childe of another ensouled vampire."

"So a good vampire is going around siring other vampires? How is that good?" Lance looks around the room like Am I the only sane one here? Then his face lights up. After a wide smile he laughs. "Don't tell me he is trying to raise an army of good vampires to fight the army of bad vampires? Sounds like an old old USA Up All Night movie."

"Longer story then that. There was also some accidents of magic involved. I doubt he could repeat the process intentionally."

Annabelle exhales loudly.  This wasn't the time for excessive explanations regarding ensouled vampires that Lance probably wouldn't comprehend anyway (and being British she had no idea what he was talking about with the USA Up All Night movie reference).

"Lance, can we just say Michael is a good vampire an leave it at that? You've been here for several minutes and he hasn't tried to eat you, that should be proof enough. Now let's turn our attention to other matters such as your sanctuary.  I recommend you stay here with us.  Strength in numbers after all.  We can't force you to stay, but if you go back to the abandoned house you stayed in last night, it will offer you no protection from demon intruders.  The invitation required rule will save you from surprise vampire attacks. But there are countless demon varieties that have no such limitation.

Lance deciding to leave it at that turns to his attention to the Fish Tank itself. "I appreciate the offer. You are correct of course about the demons and what not. I am no slayer and I have no squad. I will accept your invitation. Just point me to a corner I can call home. Oh and ah no worries I will pull my own weight.".

"A corner is all we can give you at the moment actually. We have a shortage of beds and we'll be needing more food supplies as well. Best to attend to this while the sun is out and the vampires are indoors." Annabelle said heading towards the back entrance.

"Come on Lance, we'll head to the marketplace and you can select your own food supply. Then we'll see about procuring two extra beds, one for you and one for Aaron.  He hasn't slept since he's been here.

Annabelle then glances around the room.  "Anyone else want to come along?"

"I can't, obviously, but you should probably take the bot. I'll be fine."

"Well Mike if that's how you feel about it then. I have no issue. Anything else you need while were out there? Hopefully Mike might remember something that he forgot to take on the last trip. Buffybot nods and grins once again.

"Well, unless you manage to drop by the hospital for a withdrawl, probably not, really."

The hospital has the most bags, of course.

"I think I'll use the time to try and inventory our book collection somewhat. Hopefully make any future searches more fruitful. If we have any books on prophecy I'll see if anything comes up as being pre-ordained for around this time. It may give us more to work with." Nothing like researching apocalyses (apocalypsii?) to brighten one's day.

"Good show Aaron. That's a good idea.  Well then, the three of us are off to the marketplace. Annabelle says as she leads Aaron and Buffy out the back entrance.

Less than twenty minutes later, Annabelle, Lance, and Buffybot enter the supermarket.  Doors were unlocked, electricity is still on (as it is in most of the town), no one to check you out though.

Just grab a basket and start shopping.

Lance looks around and smirks "Shop Smart. S-Mart." Strolling over to grab a basket or cart he looks to Annabelle. "Cant help but wondering what our undead friend meant by take the bot?" Looking at what he believed to be the slayer and smiling "Dare I ask?" He reaches for a carton of cigs and laughs.

Annabelle catches up with Lance on the next aisle, but before she can answer that complex question, they realize they are not alone.

Two Turok-Hans stand just a few yards away at the other end of the aisle.  They came in here to seek cover as the sun came up. These are the vampires other vampires fear, something Lance has never encountered before.

He's about to get a crash course.



To Be Continued