Throughout the journey, Buffy tries to emulate Vhesthine, with a modicum of success. At least enough that the vampires don't notice. Though she does balk when Vhesthine starts using her hand down there. Not that the vampires seem to notice, as they are all joking about breaking them in. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Buffy is aware that most girls her apparent age would probably be starting to feel anxious.
After a short drive, they pull into an abandoned underground carpark. As they do, the vampire in the front passenger seat turns around, "We're here ladies."
With a vapid expression, Vhesthine smiles, "When do we get our money?"
The vampire leers, "At the end of the party luscious."
Vhesthine nudges Buffy, "See, I told you it was easy money. We just do what we love, and they pay us in cash rather than drinks. Sorry, she's a bit shy."
As the two of them are roughly pulled out of the car, Buffy growls, "I hate crowds."
The vampire holding her leans down and whispers in her ear, "Don't worry love, we'll loosen you right up once we get upstairs."
Fighting the urge to snap the vampires neck, Buffy allows herself to be led to a lift. From the lift, they're led to a small apartment with a metal bar lock on the outside, "Be good girls, the party starts in a couple of hours."
As the door slams shut, and the bar drives home, Buffy looks around at the room that has seven or eight other women in varying states of distress. Brightly, she asks the room, "So, who's for Pizza?"
From the far end of the room, a woman with bad tracks on her arms looks up sourly, "Don't bother trying to make the mood better. We all know the score, we knew it when we tried to get out. Don't bother with the window either, we're on the 9th floor. Only thing out there is a quick and painful death."
"And nobodies jumped yet?"
The woman shakes her head, "Look at them, they're so strung out they wouldn't feel it if you kicked them. If you want to join them, the shit's in the bedroom."
"What about you?"
"I went cold turkey when I got pregnant, babe's sleeping at home. Least I hope he is."
Vhesthine asks, "How did they get you then?"
"Girls got to eat, that takes money and there's only one thing I know now."
Buffy and Vhesthine share a glance, before Vhesthine asks, "Do you want to take the chance?"
Buffy sighs, "She has a baby."
Vhesthine grimaces, "Yeah, that does change things." Looking back at the woman who is looking at them like they're cuckoo she adds, "If we could get you out of here safely, would you be able to do two things for us?"
The woman gives a bitter laugh, "What ya going to do, batter down the door? Some o the girls tried that earlier before they started on the shit."
Vhesthine shakes her head, "Not like that. But say we could. Would we be able to use your place for the next week, and would you allow me to feed on you?"
The woman starts laughing, "Now I know you're taking the piss. But yeah, sure. If you can get me out of here safely, you can crash at my place for a week. And take a nibble at my neck."
Vhesthine smiles, "Don't worry, I'm a succubus, not a vampire. Buffy, would you do the honours?"
"Now I know you're shitting me. Ain't no way a demon would be stuck here waiting to be food. An my name's Suzy."
As Buffy opens the window and looks down and around, Vhesthine smiles, "Vhesthine. What do you think Buffy?"
"Hmm, there's a tiered building just over there, but it might be better to go for the low-rise across the street, and then use a fire escape. I'm just checking to see if this is the only place with a light on."
Suzy chuckles, "It's the only apartment without blacked out windows, worked outside it often enough. That's East 6th Street right there. You've got Crocker Street to the left, and San Pedro to the right."
Buffy nods before hoisting Suzy over a shoulder with a Squeal, "Vhesthine, wait till I get back so I have somewhere to target this first time."
Vhesthine nods, and moves to the window when Buffy void jumps out into thin air, to the accompanying scream from Suzy. In four consecutive jumps, she appears to run through mid-air to land on the four story building, and set Suzy down gently.
As she's recovering her void energy, Suzy collapses to the roof, "Shit, y'ain't kidding. Well, a deal's a deal, and I'll be happy to have a few more days with Denzell."
Buffy smiles at Suzy before she void slings back to the apartment, "I hope you have more than a few days with your baby."
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Dawn fidgets in the hotel room, her eyes glancing to the TV that looks like it came from the 80's in the corner. Looking at the place, it probably did. For the first hour after Buffy and Vhesthine left, Dawn dutifully knelt in front of the door, but to one side, with her bow held loosely on her knees. Since then, she's checked her phone every few minutes and had to force herself to put it down, as she knows the rules about hotels and vampires.
It's not like you can get away with not knowing them with the Slayer as your sister. Standing up she walks over to the TV and turns it on with a loud clunk, followed by the whine of the tube warming up as a couple of women kissing appears on the screen. Quickly changing the channel, Dawn quickly gets frustrated with the fact the remote only has an up and down channel change button, and that there's too many channels with naked adults.
Once she finds Cartoon Network, she settles down to watch it, until someone touches her on the shoulder. Stifling a scream, she rolls to one side and brings up her dagger in a ready stance, only to stop when she sees the girl looking at her, confused.
Elaena smiles brightly, an effect that just highlights how bad her condition is, as her bright smiling eyes contrast with their sunken nature, and her hollow cheeks, "Hi, I'm Elaena, who are you?"
Dawn lowers her dagger, "I'm Dawn, I guess I'm your new sister?"
Elaena cocks her head in a move that makes it look like it's going to fall off, "Are you a succubus too?"
Dawn shakes her head as she sheaths her dagger, "No, not at the moment. I'm human."
Elaena looks down, "Oh, my bearer told me to stay human and live until she came back."
"Did she come back?"
Elaena shakes her head, "I don't remember. I used to remember more, but the headaches stole them away when I met that nice couple. They were human, and I was very hungry. I remember them feeding me, but it didn't help. Neither did kisses, they just caused headaches that made me forget stuff. I don't know why, but kisses are important."
Tears form in Dawn's eyes, and the TV remote clatters to the floor, as she walks forward and pulls Elaena into a hug, "You poor thing, we feed through kissing. And other stuff, but I'm not old enough for that stuff yet. Buffy and Vhesthine are out getting you food now."
Elaena leans back to look at Dawn, "Is Vhesthine the nice lady who kissed me and made it better?"
"Sort of. They said you're not better yet, and they're out hunting right now. Um, sorry for not guarding you properly."
Elaena looks around Dawn as the TV lets out the sound of gunshots, "What's that?"
Dawn looks over her shoulder, "That's a Bugs Bunny cartoon with Elmer Fudd trying to catch Bugs or Daffy."
"What's a cartoon?"
"Um, it's where they draw the program rather than filming people acting it. You can do the same with a pad of paper."
Doubtfully, Elaena says, "Ok. Why did the gun just come out of the tree?"
Dawn smiles, "Because it's a cartoon, so it's not limited to the way things work in the real world. How comes you know what a gun is, but not a cartoon?"
Elaena smiles, "The nice couple had a couple of shot guns, and a rifle, they use for hunting. My mother didn't use a gun for hunting though."
Dawn nods, "Humans have to eat food, it's inconvenient. But I guess we can store it for longer than essence can be stored."
"Essence?"
"It's what Vhesthine calls the stuff succubae live off."
From there, the two of them settle in to watch cartoons, until Dawn jumps when her phone rings loudly. Scrambling across the room, she picks it up and answers it, "Hello?"
"Dawn, I'm outside with someone we rescued, open the door."
Dawn yelps, "I was on guard, honest!"
Vhesthine's voice sounds amused, "Dawn, you're awake and alert, that's all we expected from you."
Dawn sags as she goes to open the door, "Oh… Well, um, I've been watching cartoons with Elaena for a while too."
Vhesthine hangs up and kisses Dawn on the forehead, "Dawn, it's fine. You're 15, we don't expect you to behave like a seasoned PI or police officer."
Elaena looks around, "You're the nice lady that kissed me and made it better. Can I have another kiss please?"
Vhesthine steps out of the way to reveal Suzy, "This is Suzy, she lives around…"
Suzy says, "8 blocks away."
Vhesthine nods, "And she is willing to put us up for a week. Dawn, grab our bags and your bow. Elaena, come here, it's not much, but it should keep you going for a little bit. Don't wear yourself out."
It doesn't take the four of them long to drive to Suzy's home. Whey they are led up 3 flights of bare concrete stairs, littered with rubbish. The hallway to her apartment has peeling paint on the walls, with many suspiciously yellow spots, and an overwhelming smell of ammonia from those spots. Almost as soon as they enter the hallway, the sound of a baby crying fills the air, and Suzy breaks into a jog down to her door.
As the other three follow her into the apartment, they stop to take in the sight of a cheap tenement, that was obviously furbished before Suzy moved in. There's a large yellow patch on the ceiling above the kitchenette, and the doors to the cabinets are so warped by water damage where the chipboard has swollen and split the veneer. On the coffee table is a large, cheap, candle with a broken needle and syringe sticking out of the top. Next to it is an ashtray full of butts, and a pouch of tobacco and papers next to it.
Suzy comes out of the bedroom nursing a baby and looks where everyone's looking, "Yeah, the candle. I was four months pregnant when I did that a year ago. A local 'midwife' told me about foetal addiction, and how my baby could be born addicted to that shit if I didn't knock it off. It took me two weeks, and that stupid pamphlet staring at me. But one night I decided that I was going to be a better mother than mine was. That's when I did that, I poured the last of my stash in the wax too. I'm getting better with the smoking too, but it's still hard."
Suzy looks up at Vhesthine, "How are we going to do whatever you need to do?"
Vhesthine smiles gently, "Finish nursing your child, then we'll want to use your bed. I'm going to need to feed deeply, so you may feel tired afterwards. If you have the details, order a stack of pizzas before we start, and I'll pay for them. You should then eat as much of one as you can, as it will help you recover your essence."
Suzy nods and heads over to a cracked, cream coloured, handset on the wall by the door, before dialling the number by heart. When she turns back around to see Vhesthine in her succubus form, she almost screams. Only the credit card she's holding in her fingers stops that from happening.
Elaena looks at Vhesthine and whispers, "Are you my bearer?"
Vhesthine shakes her head, "No child, I am your matriarch though. Let me just finish this order and I'll make sure you can be fed. Can you return to your natural form?"
Elaena shakes her head, "I don't remember how."
Vhesthine smiles sadly as she adds some drinks and a few more pizzas to the order, before using her credit card.
While she's doing that, Suzy hands Dawn the baby and shows her how to hold him, while glancing back at Vhesthine's wings and tail. 20 minutes later, she stumbles out of her bedroom with a silly grin on her face and flops down on the couch between Dawn and Elaena, "Fuck that was some good shit. I ain't never thought I could be gay, but damn she makes it hard not to be."
Vhesthine smiles at Suzy as she comes out herself, "We don't usually go for women, because it's harder than men. Elaena, it's time for your feed."
Suzy shakes her head as Vhesthine feeds Elaena, "I wonder if that's any good?"
Dawn nods wistfully, "It's better than anything you've ever tasted. I still wish I was a succubus, the world is so different to them."
Suzy nods, "Y'all probably right. But I bet they have their own share of problems that makes eating food like us look like a decent trade off."
Dawn nods, "There are some, the biggest one is how easy it is to accidentally kill someone while feeding."
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Buffy jumps slightly as her phone starts to ring and vibrate, pulling it out of her bra, she looks at it accusingly before realising it's Vhesthine. Stabbing the answer button, she says, "Hi, how did things go? Sure, give me a sec."
A moment later, Buffy is carefully hoarding a pizza while Vhesthine tells her about her trip. The other two pizzas, well at the smell of food, all of the women who weren't comatose descended on the pizzas and demolished them within seconds of them being put down.
It's probably around 9pm when there's a clanking at the door, and then a couple of vampires with metal baseball bats walk in, "Right girls, it's time for the entertainment. Everyone that's awake, up you get, it's time for you to dance for your freedom."
Buffy tries to mimic the meek and dead-eyed look that all of the other girls, even Vhesthine, have. She really does. However, she can't help looking around at the exits and placement of the vampires as they're led up a floor, where they've knocked the adjoining walls of the apartments out to make one large room with key walls left for structural support and privacy. Or at the large trestle table that the comatose girls are being laid out on, in pleasing positions. It's not the worst situation she's ever been in, but it is probably the worst situation where she's so lightly armed.
"You, the one that's looking around." Buffy turns to look at the speaker, a heavy set white Vampire decorated in gold chains and wearing a smart black suit. He walks across the front of the girls and sits, wide legged, on a throne, "Come here, you look like fun."
Buffy looks around in case he's talking to one of the other girls before she steps forward with a deliberate sway to her gait, making her dress swish provocatively. When she's standing in front of him, the Vampire smiles, "Kneel."
With the click of a gun behind her, Buffy does as requested, and kneels, her eyes still darting around the room.
The vampire laughs, "You've got spunk girl. Girls, I am Rocky and you are here as entertainment. If you are still alive at midnight, then you get to go home, all safe and sound. All you have to do is keep us entertained after our dreary board meeting." He reaches down and caresses Buffy's cheek, "This one will show you one way you could do that. Unzip it!" Buffy looks at his pants and carefully unzips them, "Now suck it."
A shiver of revulsion runs through Buffy as she reaches out her left hand to cradle the member she's just released. That's when she looks up at Rocky and smiles while she activates the Guardian Shell, before releasing a void beam from her left hand as she stands up, causing Rocky to fall into dust, "Actually, I think you're a little too small for me. Especially now."
Spinning around, she laughs as the armed vampires empty their clips into her shield while it's still establishing itself, the kinetic energy from each shot being added to the shield until a purple flash ripples across it, and the last few bullets leave purple ripples in the air.
With the void beam raking over the heads of everyone that ducked at the sound of gunfire she addresses the room, "Now Gentlemen, would all the vampires who want to survive the week please stand by the back wall. All the girls who want to survive, stand by the tables, and take cover. Everyone else, let's dance."
As Buffy somersaults into the middle of the room, the girls scream and follow Vhesthine as she runs over to the trestle table, and starts pulling the unconscious girls off the table, before turning each segment over to hide behind.
A couple of the vampires do go and sit down by the back wall, however, most of them either attack the mad woman who is laughing and dancing in the centre of the room, her dagger twirling wildly. Or they head for the easier targets, only to be faced with Vhesthine and her dagger, and protected by the same shield as the other girls.
After several minutes of frantic fighting, where Buffy has needed to use her healing and shielding powers more than once, along with the void snare to prevent some vampires from taking the women hostage. Buffy is surrounded by piles of dust and screaming vampires.
As she methodically goes around and cuts their arms and legs off at the elbow and knee, she looks up at Vhesthine, "Do you think these will be enough?"
Vhesthine looks at them critically, "If we keep them alive, then they should be."
Buffy smiles broadly, "Oh good, I don't have to learn to socialise. Do you think you could find that other succubus?"
Vhesthine nods, "I should be able to, why?"
One of the less drugged girls looks over the table, "Um, can we go now?"
Buffy looks at the woman, "Not yet. We just need to find someone who can look out for you. Vhesthine… Tell her that she's got a new commune to look after, as she's their matriarch."
Vhesthine looks offended, "Buffy, it doesn't work like that."
Buffy looks at Vhesthine with a slightly disappointed look, "Then maybe it should. Especially here and now. If we do nothing, then another Rocky will be here inside a month, I guarantee it. If we make these women honourary succubae, then together they can control their own destiny. And you never know, they might look up someone who will help them transition, and become a real commune."
Vhesthine tries to meet Buffy's gaze, "Buffy, I… I'll go and find her."
As Vhesthine slumps down the stairs, Buffy looks at the woman who spoke up, "Hey, do you want to help me with these, as I need to make sure they can't hurt anyone while they're still alive."
The woman ducks down behind the table, "This is just a bad trip, this is just a bad trip. Everything will be normal in the morning."
"Sorry kid, but no it won't. I think that whatever drugs you took earlier are already wearing off."
Buffy is finished dismembering the vampires who didn't stand against the back wall. The ones who did, and stayed there, all two of them, stare at the professional, and methodical way the slip of a girl is removing limbs. The one on the left asks, "Um, can we move yet?"
Buffy looks over, "No, your new boss isn't here yet."
"Um, who are you if you're not the new boss?"
Buffy smiles, "I'm the Slayer, decided to take a vacation from Sunnydale."
Both vampires look at each other, before pressing themselves into the wall.
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It doesn't take long for Vhesthine to return with the succubus in tow, a succubus who looks very grumpy.
"Hey, your girl pulled me out of my hunt at knife point. What gives?"
Buffy stands up and walks over to the succubus, before kissing her and pushing some of her essence into her kiss, "There, hunt's finished."
The succubus stumbles back with a moan, "Damn you, you can't just spring that on a girl. I ain't no fledgling."
Buffy smiles, "Then stop behaving like one, and I'll stop treating you like one."
The succubus looks up at Vhesthine, "Hey, you're a matriarch, ain't you supposed to be protecting me or something?"
Vhesthine looks at Buffy, "We will be having words about cultural norms later. Either way, I'm not your matriarch, as you made that clear earlier."
Buffy shakes her head, "Congratulations, you are now the matriarch of your very own commune. The women behind you are your family. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee over there are your heavies. Rocky's dead, and your job is to stop there being a power vacuum."
The succubus looks alarmed, "No, you can't do that. I'm not cut out for that shit, and I ain't dealing with the big three."
Buffy looks at her critically, "If not you, then who? We're only here for a week, and then we're gone. None of these girls have the power to stand alone. So who would you trust to take Rocky's position in this part of the city?"
The succubus shakes her head as she backs towards the stairs, and into Vhesthine, "No, no, no no, no. You are not doing this to me. I left because I didn't want to get into this shit."
Buffy stalks forward, "Listen to me fledgling, you think I asked for this? You think I asked to be the Slayer? You think I asked to be Tenno? You think they asked to be here? No, none of us did. But we are here, and all we can do is make the best of it. Now, fledgling, should I take your spade and show the world how young you are forever?"
Vhesthine hisses, but the other succubus launches herself at Buffy, her human disguise falling away, "I will kill you before I allow you to do that."
With a practiced move, Buffy grabs an outstretched hand, places the other hand on her pelvis and turns her over her head to land on her back.
"You couldn't come close to stopping me." Buffy grasps her tail, "So, what will it be. Are you a succubus, or are you a fledgling that runs away from all her problems?"
The succubus tries to prevent Buffy's knife hand from moving towards her tail, but eventually she shouts, "I'll do it, I'll do it. Fine, you win."
Buffy nods and stands up smoothly, "Good. I won't say 'you won't regret it' because you will. We all do, but you'll be able to be proud of yourself. Teach your girls your ways, your traditions, and your laws. You never know, some of them may want to become succubus themselves. There's magic for that, you know. If they do, vampires are great for training. As if you eat too much, a little blood and they're right as rain the next night."
The succubus looks surprised, "Wait, really?"
Buffy nods, "They don't have souls, so they only die when the demonic energy inside them runs out. It's how I learnt how not to kill people."
The succubus looks at the two vampires speculatively, "Well now, that puts a different spin on things."
Buffy nods, and points a thumb over her shoulder, "We'll be here for a week, especially now we have a decent food supply. Those are ours by the way. While we're here, you've got my number if you need any help. Otherwise, you can always call for advice. Anyway, I think my job tomorrow is going to be checking at the hospitals for out of date blood. Need to keep them alive and healthy until Elaena is better. Anyway, we both need to feed before we head off, and I get my impromptu lesson on cultural awareness."
