Back in the library, Willow had continued searching through various data sources, some of which she was actually entitled to look at. Eventually she found that Harry Cortland was a junior member of something called the El Dorado Club, having been recommended by his boss, Walter Benedict.
"El Dorado Club," Willow mused. "That's... Oh boy." She had a quick and mostly-legal look at the club's membership. "Ohh. The list of SENIOR members looks like 'Who's Who in Sunnydale'. That's not good. If Harry Cortland's a vampire now, he can go in there... can he go in there? Let's see, vampires can't go in without being invited, and it is a private club, not a public place... but he is a member; that probably counts as an invitation. He can go in there, and bring out a whole bunch of new vampire candidates for Simon."
"Giles..." Willow called out, then remembered. "Right, he's not here. So, um, call Buffy! That's it, call Buffy's pager number." She called and left a message. "So I just wait for Buffy to call? No, Xander and Angel, I'll call them too." She left another message for them, got a quick call back, and filled them in. "Okay, now just Buffy has to call me."
Buffy, however, was unable to check her pager; she was too busy fighting for her life.
At the morgue, just before Willow paged Buffy, this is what had happened:
Spike pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Want one, girl?" he asked. "Oh, right," he continued before she could answer, "you Slayers are so pure and unsullied by common vices. I'll just step in here so I don't defile those innocent lungs of yours," and he went into a small office just off the room they were in.
Just after he left, Buffy noticed a movement from one of the tables containing a dead body. "Oh, Spike is going to miss wake 'em and stake 'em time; how tragic," she said sarcastically. She readied a stake for the newly-risen vampire, but was jumped from behind and dropped the stake; the female vampire Eliza had entered the building, and snuck up on Buffy while Buffy was concentrating on the new vampire. Buffy managed to break free, but by then two dead bodies had risen as vampires. One was Walter Benedict, the bank president, while the other was a man in military uniform, a Major Durant.
The three vampires surrounded Buffy. She kept them at bay, but she was kept too busy fending off their potentially lethal attacks to recover her stake and finish off any one of them. "Come on, guys, one at a time, there'll be plenty of Slayer to go around," Buffy said.
And just then was when Buffy's pager buzzed. "I'm sorry, Buffy can't speak to the living right now," she muttered, "but she'll call you right back as soon as she's finished with the dead."
"Now YOU die, Slayer," Eliza hissed.
In the office, Spike listened and gave a satisfied nod. He'd heard Eliza approaching, noticed signs that the other two were about to rise, and timed his actions accordingly.
"And now..." he muttered, then ran back into the outer room. "Hey, Slayer, need some help?" he said as he dived between two vampires, and wound up back to back with Buffy.
"If you insist," Buffy said grudgingly.
Eliza yelled, "Spike! The Betrayer!"
"I prefer 'Spike the Devilishly Handsome,' myself," he said to her, then to Buffy, "Let's finish this off."
"Yeah, yeah, whenever you're ready," Buffy replied. With Spike running interference for her, Buffy was able to stake the vampirized Walter Benedict. "Hope this doesn't mess up my Mom's loan for the gallery," she muttered.
Seeing that the odds had shifted, Eliza and the Major broke off and fled. Buffy and Spike jumped after them, and each caught and dispatched one vampire.
"Good work, partner," Spike said to Buffy, and began a high five. Buffy automatically began to return it, then scowled as she realized what she was doing, and turned away from Spike.
Buffy pulled out her pager, and saw the page from Willow. She looked up; Spike was looking at her with a distinctly hurt look. "Oh, just go away," she said crossly, and went into the office to use the phone. After she was out of the room, the hurt look vanished, and Spike chuckled.
Buffy called the school. "Will, what's up?"
"Buffy, are you okay?" Willow asked, sounding concerned. "You took a while to call me back, and I thought..."
"Everything's fine," Buffy answered. "A little vampire trouble, totally non-big."
"Vampire trouble? Has Spike..."
"Actually, he was here, and, um, technically, he helped me out. Two new vamps and one old one dusted, and no casualties to the good guys. Or to the purely-temporary allies. Now, what's the sitch? Why'd you call me?"
"I think I found Simon's next target," Willow said. "His prisoner was probably Harry Cortland, who's a member of the El Dorado Club."
"Mucho rich snooty guys for making into vampires, right?"
"Right. I told Angel and Xander, already. It didn't look like anything was going to happen at the funeral home; things were, um, dead there. They left Sheila there to watch the place, just in case, and they're going to the club, but ..."
"But I'd better go there, too," Buffy finished. "It was 'curses, foiled again' time for the vampires here; maybe we can make it a double play. Right, I'm on my way, Will."
"Oh, Buffy," Willow added. "Giles went over to Ms. Calendar's place. Her phone went out while he was calling her, and he was worried that it might have been..."
"Something nasty? He probably just wanted an excuse for a little face time with her. Whoa, Giles and face time; WEIRD thought. But I'll swing by afterward, just in case. Bye, Will."
Buffy left the office. Spike was waiting in the outer room. "So," he said, "word from the grapevine?"
"Just something to check out," she answered. "You, ohhh, you can come with me."
"I'm honored, girl," Spike said mockingly.
"But don't TALK to me," Buffy added.
Buffy and Spike arrived outside the El Dorado Club, and saw Xander and Angel there. Angel and Spike glared at each other, like two dogs held back on leashes.
"What's the sitch, guys?" Buffy asked.
"We, um, we're too late here," Xander said.
"Harry Cortland came here, and we don't know the exact details, but half a dozen members of the club left with him," Angel finished.
"MAJOR investigative skills, here," Xander muttered to Buffy. "Angel bribed the doorman to tell him what happened."
"Those club members are probably in Simon's hands by now," Angel continued, after a glare at Xander.
"NOT good," Buffy said. "I, um, oh, okay, WE got three vamps at the morgue, but if they've got six MORE candidates, we're falling behind."
"Forgive me if I'm not quite in tune with the whole Slayer/vampire lingo," Xander said, "but these aren't just vampire candidates, are they? They're six people who are going to be killed. That's kind of relevant, isn't it?"
"Well, yes, but... that is..." Buffy began. "Damn, you're right, Xander. I'm thinking so much about this as a, a war game, with pieces, that I forgot they're people."
"Yeah, yeah, nice compassion routine," Spike said. "However, now's the time for aggression, not compassion. You don't want me increasing MY forces; then we've got to attack Simon, in his base, before he can increase HIS forces."
"Hey, I'm as ready to attack him as you are," Buffy retorted. "And NOT just as a move in some war game. We may be able to SAVE those people."
"Saving them is NOT our main goal," Spike said. "This is a WAR. You don't win a war by stopping collateral damage; you win by killing the enemy."
"Hey, I can do both," Buffy replied. "But I can't save people, OR slay vampires, unless I know where they are. I don't KNOW where Simon is."
"Then I'll FIND Simon," Spike answered her. "I have been doing this for the odd century, girl. I have my ways of finding and getting what I want. Angelus, here, knows that."
"We do NOT want you to..." Angel began.
Spike interrupted him. "Yeah, yeah, I'll go easy on the INTENSE methods."
"INTENSE?!" Angel said incredulously. "Is that what you call..."
"TIME OUT," Buffy said loudly. "Spike, you can try to locate Simon, GENTLY. And the sooner we find him, the more chance we can save some lives. That is what I'M here for."
"That's not what's on your job description, SLAYER," Spike said.
"My 'job description' is killing YOU," Buffy replied. "If you're going to be picky about it, then maybe I should..."
"Now I'M calling a time out," Xander interrupted. "We'll have a really good argument later, with hair pulling and everything. Now, let's work out what we're doing next."
"The 'dish of the day' here is right," Spike said, and Xander gave him a dirty look. "If we can PLAN something..."
"FINE," Buffy said, "I'll call Giles, and... damn, I completely forgot, I was gonna stop by Ms. Calendar's to check on Giles. I'd better call Willow and see if she heard anything from him."
"Buffy," Willow said when Buffy called, "I've got Giles on another line. He's calling from a pay phone by Ms. Calendar's; her phone is still out."
"No nasties there, right?" Buffy said.
"Actually, there was. Josh, Spike's hacker, he made an unauthorized attack on Ms. Calendar."
"He WHAT?!" Buffy almost shouted. "Spike sent him to..."
"NO," Willow said. "Apparently Josh went on his own, against Spike's orders. A personal grudge thing."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yes, they're fine. Ms. Calendar rigged up some computer gimmick, Giles is rather vague about it, but they've got Josh held there."
"Hold on, Will. I've got someone here I've GOT to speak with." Buffy put down the pay phone and turned to Spike. "Oh, Spike, you know that kid, Josh? You sort of killed and vamped him? Where is he?"
"What are you blathering about, girl?" Spike said.
"What I'm 'blathering' about is that YOUR vampire tried to put the bite on a friend of mine. Jenny Calendar? Ever hear of her?"
"What? I TOLD that kid to stay... Okay, that's it. No more Mister Nice Vampire. I'm going to RECYCLE that kid. Where is he?"
"Um, recycle him?" Xander asked.
"I'm going to re-use his blood. ALL of it," Spike explained.
"Well, I don't know," Buffy began. "Oh, what the hey. Do I really care what one vampire does to another? Fine, Spike, you can have him. Let's go get him." She picked up the phone again. "Will, are you still there? We're gonna let Spike punish Josh for this. It sounds, um, lethal."
"Oh," Willow said. "I'll, um, I'll tell Giles. And, ohh, I'd better talk to Spike. The computer, communicating, we'd better set up how we'll work it. You know, without Josh, he was..."
"I get it, Will," Buffy said. She handed the phone to Spike, and he and Willow set things up.
After Spike hung up, Willow filled Giles in over the other phone line. "We'll be shoving Josh out to Spike, then," Giles said to her. "Oh, Willow, something else. I did get one useful piece of information from these... intruders. Here's what I want you to check for me..."
Buffy, Angel, Xander, and Spike drove by Jenny Calendar's place, and Giles sent out Josh, who was still watching Jenny's special screen saver. Spike glanced at it, and said "Oh, not the old 'count the seeds' routine."
Giles and Jenny looked out at the unaffected Spike, and Angel said "Don't try that one on any experienced vampire. You'll just make him laugh."
Spike grabbed Josh. "Come on, kid. It's time for your final lesson in obeying the chain of command," he said. "I'll be in touch to set up our assault," he added to Buffy, and drove off.
"Angel, you'd better see what you can find out," Buffy said. "If Spike DOESN'T come through, maybe you can locate Simon by morning, and we can ..."
"We can save more victims from MY fate," Angel finished, and he left also.
"Giles," Buffy said to him, "I'd better, um, fill you in on what we've decided to do."
"What YOU'VE decided to do," Giles echoed. "That would be you, and Xander, and Angel, I take it. And not forgetting Spike. That ought to be ... interesting." And Buffy began filling him in.
Spike entered his base, dragging Josh along with him. "Hello, people," Spike called out. "I'm feeling a little peeved now. I hope someone has some good news for me."
The two vampires Dirk and Tex looked at Spike nervously. Spike looked back at them, and said "Don't tell me; you screwed up."
"I was guarding that grave, like you told me," Dirk began, "and Reginald appeared. He's one of Simon's experienced vampires, right, we really want to get rid of him, so I chased him. But he got away, and when I got back, well..."
"When you got back," Spike finished, "the grave was open and the new vampire was gone. Is that it?" Dirk nodded. "And you, Tex, where were you during all this?"
"We-ell," Tex drawled, "Ya see, I was, I went,..."
"Let me guess," Spike interrupted. "You were off feeding your face."
"But Dirk agreed that I should rustle up something to eat," Tex protested.
"And that makes it better?" Spike asked. "That Laurel AND Hardy agreed on it? Someone's going to have to be punished for this. Let's see, how about, YOU" he said, and flung Josh against a wall, then grabbed him again. Josh groaned.
As the other two vampires looked on in confusion, Spike explained, "You two morons were just, well, morons. This little turd DELIBERATELY disobeyed my explicit orders. However, I'm going to give him a chance to make up for it. Drusilla, can you come here? Did you find out what I wanted, love?"
Drusilla came over to Spike. "Here it is, Spike," she said. "I drew a picture of it for you. And Mr. Torture got up and had something to drink at the same time."
"That's very nice, Drusilla." Spike took the picture. "Now, moron 1 and moron 2, you've been in this town longer than I have. Do you know what building this is?"
Dirk and Tex looked at it, and Dirk said, "Yeah, it's an abandoned building, I know where it is."
"Very good," Spike said, "you're not as dim as I thought. This is Simon's headquarters, right Drusilla, love?" She nodded. "Dirk, you're going to take 'Mr. Torture,' as Dru calls him, and Wallinsky out to 'acquire' appropriate supplies, and then they're going to set up a little surprise I have in mind, a little surprise that will get rid of both Simon and that pesky Slayer girl."
"Um, Spike," Dirk said, "Wallinsky hasn't risen yet."
"And THAT is how this little turd is going to make up for his disobedience," Spike said, shaking Josh roughly. "Take him and drain him to get Wallinsky up. NOW."
"Spike, can I watch?" Drusilla asked eagerly.
"Sure, love. At least YOU manage to do what I tell you."
"And you do what I tell you, don't you, Spike?"
"Always, love," Spike said, although he gave Drusilla a thoughtful look. "Come on, love, let's go make a new vampire, and then I'll brief our two recruits on their mission. And once they've returned from it, THAT'S when we'll contact the Slayer again."
In Simon's lair, Reginald was waiting around with a newly- risen vampire, who formerly had been Dr. Rachel Levine of Sunnydale Hospital. "This is truly remarkable," she was saying. "I keep checking myself, and according to normal standards, I'm obviously deceased. Yet I am able to walk and speak and otherwise function normally. I'll have to study this thoroughly." She looked at Reginald. "Can you get me several other so-called vampires? I'll need to do complete dissections. Oh, and several living humans for comparison purposes."
"I'll see what I can do, miss," Reginald said. "After the conclusion of this war."
"War? Oh right. Try to finish it soon, will you? This a marvelous research opportunity; I want to get to it as soon as possible. Now, living dissection would be the best way to do this; I can study the biological processes as they're occurring." She paused. "You know, that's funny; a few days ago I would have thought dissecting living human beings was wrong, but now I can't imagine why."
That was when Simon and Abraham entered. "Reginald, you were successful, I take it," Simon said.
"Yes, sir," Reginald replied. "I distracted the traitor Spike's forces long enough for Miss Rachel here to rise properly. However, sir, Eliza has not returned, and neither have the ones that she and Abraham sired. I'm afraid that they may have fallen to Spike or the Slayer."
"Damnation," Abraham cursed. "I chose Major Durant most carefully. He comes from a long-established upper-class family, he had a distinguished military career, he truly deserved to become one of us."
"Sir," Reginald said to Simon, "if I may inquire, were you successful with further potential recruits?"
"Yes, Reginald," Simon replied. "Harry is confining them now. I will instruct them about our kind, and the Great Ones we follow, and then we shall begin converting the worthy ones."
"Simon, I want to speak to them before we begin conversions," Abraham said. "If I am to sire a new vampire from among them, I must choose my candidate properly."
"Very well, Abraham," Simon said. "We shall begin the conversions tomorrow; you have until then to choose. However, know this; you WILL sire a new vampire from among them. If you reject all, I shall choose for you, and you will NOT argue with me."
"Excuse me, are you in charge here?" Rachel said to Simon. "There are things I'll need for my research, and..."
"Is this how a newly-risen vampire behaves toward her lord?" Abraham said mockingly.
"YOUR behavior toward me has left much to be desired, Abraham," Simon said. "However, Reginald, he does have a point. You will explain to your whelp how she should behave during our future deliberations. But for now, you will bring her to the prisoners; I will be instructing them, and she has much to learn about us as well."
Rachel looked distinctly miffed, but Reginald led her away, and Simon followed shortly after.
On Saturday morning, Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles assembled at the school library. "Giles, I've got a message from Spike here," Willow said. "I should have explained to him about the spell-checker," she added; "whoever's typing instead of Josh didn't do it very well."
"We're worried about candidates for vampire-making, not secretarial school, Will," Buffy said. "What's the message? Did Spike find Simon's HQ?"
"Yes, he says it's in an abandoned building. Here's the address."
Angel's voice came from the library doors. "Let me see that." He looked at the message. "Yes, that could be it. I've been narrowing down Simon's location; that's a likely prospect."
"But you didn't actually find it," Xander pointed out. "Looks like Spike's ahead of you on this game."
"Spike has D..., never mind," Angel said. "My POINT is, it sounds legitimate."
"What is Spike proposing, Willow?" Giles asked.
"It's a two-pronged attack. He suggests humans attacking from above, from the roof of the building where it's light. The vampires attack from below, through the darkness of the sewer tunnels. And they catch Simon between them."
"That means Angel has to go with Spike's group," Buffy said. "I don't like that."
"But it does make sense to attack from two fronts, including one that Simon will have trouble protecting," Giles said. "And if we wait until night..."
"Then more of Simon's prisoners could be dead," Buffy finished.
"I'll keep an eye on Spike," Angel told Buffy. "And I'll be careful."
"Willow," Giles said, "what about what I asked you to check on?"
"Here they are," she replied as she handed Giles a couple of printouts. "It, um, it looks like you could be right."
"In case I am, you'll have to handle it, while the rest of us go in," Giles said. "Are you certain that you'll be able to do it? I do hope I'm wrong about this, but if I AM right, you might be our only hope."
"I'll do it," Willow said with determination. "I've been researching; it's kind of like science fair projects."
"Then tell Spike we'll make the assault with him on Simon's headquarters," Giles said, and Willow started typing in the message.
Later that morning, Buffy, Giles, and Xander stood on the roof of Simon's headquarters, an abandoned two-story building with few windows that used to be used for storage of some sort.
"Are you SURE that you two want to go in with me?" Buffy asked. "I'm the Slayer here, while you two are, well, NOT."
"Going into a nest of vampires isn't my favorite thing," Xander admitted. "In fact, it comes slightly below doing math homework and having massive dental work done. At the same time. While naked in front of the entire school. But I'm not letting you go in there alone."
"Xander and I can help get Simon's prisoners out, and can keep vampires at bay temporarily," Giles added, checking on his cross to make the point. "Even a Slayer can't handle everything at once."
"Okay, guys," Buffy reluctantly agreed. "It's your fu... um, never mind." To change the subject, she pulled out a floor plan of Simon's building (Willow had downloaded it from the Sunnydale records office). "Just to review the plan. After we go in through the roof entrance here, we go down through the second floor. The windows aren't boarded up there, so Simon probably doesn't use it. We get down to this room, the most likely place for prisoners to be locked up. You two get the prisoners out, and I kill as many vampires as possible. And either Spike's group is killing them as well, or else..."
"Yeah," Xander said, "we know what else. Let's just go already."
"Okay, we'll go," Buffy said, and the three entered the building.
Meanwhile, Angel had met up with Spike and several other vampires, and they were walking through the tunnels. Drusilla was conspicuous by her absence from the group; Angel asked Spike how Drusilla was, but Spike just glared at Angel.
"Here," Spike said, and the group exited from the tunnels. Angel looked around; they were NOT in the right building. "Hold him!" Spike said, and Dirk and Tex grabbed Angel. Angel struggled, but couldn't break free.
Spike suddenly seemed more chatty. "Angelus, my dear old sire. I've prepared a little entertainment for us." Spike gestured at two vampires who were already in the room, and spoke to one of them who was fiddling with a TV monitor. "Mr. Wallinsky, are they in position yet?"
"Almost, Spike. Yes, here they are now." Angel looked at the monitor; he could see Buffy, Giles, and Xander on it. The picture seemed to be coming from a camera aimed into a second- story window of the storage building.
Spike picked up a microphone. "Hey, Slayer girl."
In the storage building, Buffy looked toward the window. Spike's voice was coming from some sort of speaker outside.
"You know that little deal we made?" Spike continued. "It's over. And you're dead." Then, to the vampire who'd been waiting with Wallinsky, "Now, Torcher!"
Torcher pushed a button. Flames shot up in front of the window that the camera was looking into.
"I'm being rude, aren't I?" Spike said. "Angelus, this is Torcher McGee. He was in prison for arson before I gave him a new lease on life, so to speak. Torcher, why don't you explain what you did."
Torcher said, "I've planted special incendiary devices at every exit of that building. Anyone in there is trapped; they'll all burn to death."
"Interesting how fire can kill both vampires AND Slayers. And there's no way out?" Spike asked Torcher gleefully.
"None whatsoever," Torcher said. "I guarantee it. And I've arranged to ... divert ... the fire dapartment, so no one will put that out in time to save them. Vampire, human, or Slayer, they're doomed."
"So much for Simon the Boring and his lot, and bye-bye Slayer," Spike said. "It looks like I've won. But I'm not going to boast. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I'm going to boast. I'm bloody marvelous, and I played that little Slayer twit for a right fool. Well, Angelus? Care to come back to the winning side?"
Angel had been staring at the screen. Then, with a cry of "Buffy!", he managed to break away from the two vampires holding him and dash back into the tunnels.
Dirk and Tex started to follow, but Spike said, "Let him go. He can't save his precious little Slayer. He'll either come back to me in the end, or he'll burn trying to rescue her. Come on, gang. Let's go tell Drusilla the good news." Spike paused. "Oh, Drusilla did want to talk with her beloved 'Daddy'. Well, I guess you can't have everything. But I, on the other hand, WILL have everything. Sunnydale, watch out. Spike is here, and NO ONE can stop him."
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