Twenty minutes later, the trio are gathered around the bar.  Food and blood partially consumed as they plan their next move.

"You two seem to have been here for a little while at least. So why don't you bring me up to speed on everything you know before we start planning properly?"

"Well, there's only a few Turok Han left, and apparently the vamp cops have been catching them. Most of our temporary allies, like the military base personnel, have been killed. Also, they tend to keep the pressure up. We rarely have time to heal all the way."

"We've only claimed this as our sanctuary a few hours before you got here Aaron." Annabelle said in between eating some white rice.

"The benefit of it is the vampire police have no strategic interest in it.........or any other kind of interest really. she says looking around The Fish Tank in disgust.  "We should be safe here as long as we're cautious about being followed.

She takes a sip of tea before continuing.  "As I mentioned before,something peculiar happened yesterday; it was cloudy all day with the sun blocked out. This allowed both Michael and the vampire police to move about freely in daylight hours.  We don't know if it will happen again at sunrise in a few hours.  However, Sunnydale has no shortage of underground tunnels.  If the sun does indeed come out, both Michael and our enemies will not be confined to one building.

A couple of hours pass.

It's now not too far away from 6 am.  And the sun is definitely rising today. No cloud cover like yesterday.

Mike won't be able to move about freely.  But then, neither will the vamp cops.



OCC: I've adjusted life points accordingly.  Everyone is now back to full health.

Looking out at the new dawn Aaron is both heartened and concerned. "Well it looks like we'll be safe here until night at least. But I don't like that yesterday was so odd. It is the sort of portent that smacks of prophecy or ritual. If it was then we could be in a worse position than we believe." He drifts into a contemplative, brooding silence pondering on dark thoughts.

Annabelle was about to add something, but stopped herself, deciding to leave the watcher with his own contemplative thoughts.

"Now that we know it's safe to walk about in daylight, I've got business to take care of." She gathers up her mud covered clothes that she arrived in Sunnydale in and throws them in the nearest bag.

"I'm going to go find what passes for a laundry service here and get these cleaned up." as she heads for the back door.

"Maybe. Watch out for necrotempered glass in police cars. It's specially made glass that prevents sunlight from getting through to vampires."

Buffybot when she got up wasn't too happy at what happened. She went to join the others. "Ok what did I miss?" Buffy was sorting out her issue on the demon that got the best of her.

"Well, that would be just peachy. Let's hope they don't.  As if they didn't enough advantages already." Annabelle responded.

"You haven't missed much. It's daytime and I'm off to do laundry." Annabelle said in Buffybot's direction as she headed out the back entrance to The Fish Tank.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Tue 21 Apr 2015.

Aaron, still deep in his own thoughts, barely even notices his charge leaving on her own.

Flashback to the night before......

"Closure."  A funny word.  I know what happened yet I can not leave it alone. As the lights of evening begin to outline the town against the evening sky the view is breath taking yet unsettling. despite what happened in the base I am strangely drawn back to this place. There is nothing here for me, yet here I stand.

Sunnydale.  The Hellmouth itself. It's been three years since I left. What has been going on here since I've been gone? My contacts had given me intell that indicated something or someone was going on here.

Strange reports pertaining to this area indeed. Perhaps there is something amiss in the town.  Where is the Slayer?  How did things get this out of control?  Where is everyone at? Well, one way to find out.

Taking a puff of his cig and rubbing his hand back through his black greasy shoulder length hair he stalked to the edge of what used to be the Lowell house.  Doesn't look good he thought to himself.

He infiltrated the old Initiative base through a secret passage to room 314. The closer he got to the inside of the base the more the memories came flooding back to him. Dr. Walsh, Zeke, Bobby, and even Riley.  The death, the destruction that day. Shake it off Lance, you son of a bitch, shake it off! He fought off the grisly visions and moved on.

Half way down the debris littered passage he was able to see through a destroyed portion of the venting he saw what appeared to be cops destroying what is left of the place.  Cops what would they be doing? Cops?? Wait those aren't cops.  They're vamps!! What the Hellmouth is going on?

Backtracking the rest of the way back out he slipped in and out of the shadows using every bit of his former training and his "Street Camo", that consisted of ripped jeans and a dark green army jacket with one of his Slayer t-shirts underneath, topped off with a pair of hiking boots spray painted black. Locating an abandoned house that was easily secured turned out to be easier than expected. It seemed no one was there. ANYWHERE!. He walked the perimeter of the 2 story family home and noticed the pretty green hedges that were starting to overgrow, Strange indeed. He made his way upstairs and barred the doors and windows and settled in. Lighting up one last smoke he reflected. I should be safe in here, at least until morning. In the daylight maybe I can get some answers. For now I need to rest.

With a smirk and an audible exhale of smoke "Goodnight, Good Old Sunnydale."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:21, Fri 24 Apr 2015.

Lance manages to get a good night sleep.  At the crack of sunrise, the former Initiative agent is already awake and walking the streets of Sunnydale, trying to find a person of the non-vamp variety who might give him some answers.


He's now walking in the seedy section of town, when he spots a teenage girl walking down the opposite side of the street.  She's definitely not a vamp, otherwise she couldn't be walking out in the sunlight.  She's carrying a cloth bag full of something, looks like she's off to do her laundry.  She stops walking, she's just spotted him too.


OCC: Yes, Lance has just spotted Annabelle on her way to find a laundrymat.

Annabelle freezes in her tracks as she sees a man coming down the opposite side of the street.  He's definitely not a vampire, or else the now risen sun would save her the trouble of slaying him.

Hopefully he wasn't a spy for the vampire constabulary, she wouldn't put it past them.

"Hello!  Over here!"she shouted as she started walking in his direction (albeit cautiously).  "Did you just arrive in Sunnydale?"

Stopping in his tracks, Lance looks toward the girl "Well, whats left of it anyway yeah." He scans the area for others that may be in hiding not trusting anyone at this point.  He sparks up a smoke and takes a deep drag. "Got in last night looking for an old friend but his apartment is empty.  Seems to be a theme around here."

Annabelle takes a step back as the stranger lights up his cigarette.  This won't do at all.

"Yes the town is nearly deserted.  Your the only human I know of, besides my colleagues.

She grabs him by the wrist (and since she's the Slayer he'll be impressed by her grip) and pulls him back the way she came.  "Come along, I'll introduce you to everyone. We have a hideout" She circles around to the back entrance of The Fish Tank and takes him through the door.  If he's a spy for the vamp cops, they'll soon find out. She was going to tell him to put his cigarette out, but let it go for now.  There was no danger of him stinking up The Fish Tank any worse than it is.

"Look now everyone, I've brought back a human survivor.  That's Michael, that's Aaron, and that's Buffy. she said pointing around to everyone.

"And this is..............what's your name stranger?"

Lance followed the girl since he needs answers.  He notices she has a pretty good grip on him for such a small frame. As they get closer to the Fish Tank he sees the smoke seems to bother this lady.  Lance hotboxes another puff or two and then flicks the cig to the ground stomping it out with the tip of his boot. Upon entering the hideout he looks to the others as they are introduced and nods.

"Lance, Lance Chambers. He says confidently.  Got in last night looking for some old friends that seem to have up and left the area.  Sunnydales a bit different now it seems huh?"

"Pleasure, Lance."

Mike was watching TV...and staying a good way from the door and any open windows.

"Same here Lance. I was going to ask Mike if he is ok or does he need a blanket or something. I think we need to be completely up to speed because I was out and I just have the sinking feeling I missed something thanks to the stupid demon. But still nice to have to with us Lance."She thinks there is something being withheld.

"Thank you for extinguishing that foul odor Lance. she said gratefully, glancing down at his now crushed cigarette.

"I'm Annabelle.  And the first thing you should probably know is the Sunnydale police department is now composed entirely of vampires.  You're lucky I found you before you went to the police station looking for answers."

"Vampires I can handle, cops I can do with out." Looking at Buffy The Slayer is here. At least thats what I remember her to be Buffy.  "So this is civilian headquarters and we're the only ones left? How long has Sunnydale's finest been riding on the blood train?"

Aaron holds his peace, only nodding in greeting to the newcomer. Finding someone else in Sunnydale could be a blessing, or possibly something else entirely. He lets the others explain things to Lance as he has only arrived recently himself and doesn't know all the details.

"Just a couple of days ago, their were human police still in charge, albeit incompetent ones.  I suspect the vampires had been planning this for some time, then initiated their hostile takeover when the time was right.  They they got all of their bishops, rooks, and knights where they wanted them, then checkmate.

Annabelle takes note of the military colors on Lance's clothes.  "Yes, you could call this civilian headquarters.  Until recently, we had help from a military man named Graham Miller. Used to be part of some group called the Initiative. Annabelle finished, pausing to see Lance's reaction to that information.

Annabelle's statement catches Lance off guard. Looking eye to eye with her he asks "Where is Graham?" then he chuckles a bit thinking he may have come off to seriously. Looking towards Buffy he mumbles under his breath "and what happened to Riley while we're at it?" he laughs nervously again. "Seems all my old (air quotes) "Friends" have left this place." He reaches for a cig from his pack then looks at each of the others and sighs as he sees their silent disapproval. He slides the pack back into his pocket. "So where is Graham? Can I see him?"

"He...broke off from the group at a time he shouldn't have. I'm not sure what happened to him. He could be dead, undead...but I doubt he got away. That forcefield keeping us here is pretty thorough."