Black Friday: Chapter Three + Haunted By A Whisper

[missmara13]

Chapter Three + Haunted By A Whisper


Newport Beach, California
The Model Home

It took the entire ride from their hotel to Newport for Ryan to convince Dean and Faith to let him into the Model Home alone, but he'd managed to pull it off with the simple argument that Kaitlin didn't know them and might panic if they went in with him. So he was alone when he stepped into the half completed mansion and felt a wave of... something... wash over him. It didn't feel like anything supernatural he'd encountered, didn't even feel neccesarily negative, so he shook it off and headed further in. "Kaitlin?" he called softly.

Suddenly, there was a blur of motion and then he had an armful of crying 13 year-old girl. "Hey, it's okay," he murmured softly, stroking her hair. "It's okay now, Kaitlin, I'm here, just like I said I would be."

"What's going on, Ryan?" Kaitlin asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"We're working on that," Ryan replied. "Wait right here, okay? I've got some friends outside, and I wanna get them in here, okay?"

"What friends?"

"You'll see," Ryan said, detaching himself from Kaitlin and going back outside to wave Dean and Faith in. He watched closely as they walked past the spot where he'd felt the... something... but neither reacted so he decided it was his own memories haunting him. "Kaitlin, these are Dean Winchester and Faith Lehane. Dean's the guy I've been travelling with the last year, and Faith's a new friend who also happens to know Summer."

"I think I know where they might have Summer," Kaitlin said after a moment. "I heard some stuff, about cattle and feeding, but I don't think they meant cows."

"Where?" Dean asked as they all sat down, ranging out into a circle with Ryan and Kaitlin against a wall.

"There's a club, it opened the night everything got weird."

"Vamps always did like the buffet option of clubs," Faith said. "The Bronze in Sunnydale was a favorite take-out place."

"Marissa went to the opening, and then Mom got a call that she was at the hospital, and when she came back she was crying and told me to go to bed, she'd tell em everything in the morning. But then the weird people came, and Marissa was with them. I heard Mom screaming, and then... then Marissa and mom cam looking for me and I ran away."

"Marissa's your sister?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, she was Ryan's girlfriend," Kaitlin said, leaning against Ryan's side and clinging to him.

"A lifetime ago," Ryan whispered, because that was what it felt like. Before he'd lost his family, before he'd found out just what was out there hiding in the dark. "Do you know the name of the club?" he continued to Kaitlin, stroking her hair reassuringly.

"It was something stupid..." Kaitlin said. "Down on the pier... Something about Bait..."

"Baitshop," Ryan said. "I remember Caleb mentioning it last time we talked."

"He was upset because he thought Marissa would get drunk and make him look bad," Kaitlin said.

"Do you know where Mr. Nichols is?" Dean asked.

"I think he's still at the mansion," Kaitlin said.

"Okay, so, game plan," Faith said. "I say we lay down some Devil's Traps and protection runes, lock this place up tight, and Kaitlin stays here while the three of us go kick some butt and rescue some people."

"Sounds like the right idea to me," Dean agreed.

"Can you do that, Kaitlin?" Ryan asked her. "Stay here and stay inside, while we go do what we can? I promise, one of us will come back for you."

"You will?" Kaitlin asked, looking up at him to make it clear she meant him specifically.

"If I can," Ryan said. "But there's always risks, so if I can't, Dean or Faith will come back for you, I promise."

"We won't leave you behind, pipsqueak," Dean swore as he got up. "I'll get what we need to secure this place."

"You'll stay here?" Ryan repeated his question.

Kaitlin nodded. "I promise."

"Good," Ryan said.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Somewhere Near The Indiana-Ohio Border
A Rest Stop

Brooke sat on a stool at the counter, as far away from everyone else as she could get. It was just her luck that the bus would have a tire blow out and nearly crash, leaving them all stranded here in the middle of nowhere. She'd had a bad feeling, like something was going horribly wrong, for the last few hours, and it was only getting worse. Slowly, she stood and went to the pay phone, pulling out the piece of paper that the blond girl had given her at the hospital. She stared at the number for a moment, then quickly slid in her change and dialed.

"The Summers School," a cheerful voice said.

"I need to talk to either Buffy Summers or..." Brooke paused, trying to remember the names the blonde had given her. "Rupert Giles?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Brooke."

"I'll see if they're available."

Brooke looked around the diner, then froze as suddenly Lucas appeared in front of her. "That's right, pretty girl, call them, go to them. They'll take care of you."

"Yeah," Brooke whispered, smiling shakily at her dead boyfriend.

"Miss Davis?"

Brooke started at the sound a man's british accented voice coming over the line. "Yes? Mr. Giles?"

"Are you alright?"

"Not exactly," Brooke said. "Something... something's following me, everywhere I go, it shows up and says things, and... I need help."

"Where are you? We'll send someone to get you."

"I'm in Hanleyville, near the Indiana-Ohio border," Brooke said. "There's a little diner attached to a lame motel, the Rest E-Z

"I'll come myself, along with a few others, in case we need to fight what's following you."

"I don't think you can fight it," Brooke whispered. "It's not... I don't know if it's... It's here, I'm not hallucinating, but... I don't think there's anything physically there to fight."

Giles was silent for a moment. "Has it called itself anything?" he asked quietly.

"No, but... it can make itself look like people, and at least two of them are dead." Brooke wasn't sure, but she thought he'd covered the mouthpiece of the phone to swear. "Mr. Giles?"

"We're coming, just stay put."

"I will," Brooke promised, feeling relief wash over her, even if the pull towards ther south west was still there. "Mr. Giles?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know if... is there something happening in California?"

"No!" Lucas snapped, getting into her field of vision. "No, Brooke! You leave that alone, you stay away from it! I'm not done..." he suddenly stopped, as though realizing what he was about to say.

"Not done with what?" she asked him.

"Miss Davis?" Giles asked. "Who are you talking to?"

"Do you know anything?" Brooke replied to him, eyes still on Lucas, watching closely.

"There's a town undersiege, we were going to send teams in to help, but our contacts said the military is going to take care of it tonight. I just hope anyone left alive gets out before they do," Giles said. "Miss Davis? Brooke?"

Brooke was already gone, leaving the phone hanging as she ran out of the diner, pausing only slam her seldom used credit card onto the counter before running out into the night to hitch a ride. She had to get to California, she could feel it. Someone had to warn them before it was too late.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Newport Beach, California
The Model Home

"She's out like a light," Ryan said as he returned to the room where Dean and Faith were going over the map they had of Newport.

"Where do we hit first," Dean asked, looking up at Ryan.

"You're asking me? Haven't you two been doing this shit a lot longer than I have?" Ryan repleid with a sigh, sitting down.

"You've got a personal investment in this, people you care about at both locations," Faith said. "Whichever we save, the other might die because the vamps lash out in rataliation."

"Do Vamps retain anything of their personality after being turned?" Ryan asked, looking between the two.

"Sometimes," Faith said. "But not usually. Why?"

"Kaitlin said that Julie and Marissa seemed like themselves, but meaner. And if they're ruling the local vamps, then they won't think to retaliate. They'll be too angry to think that far ahead. They'll want everyone around them to protect them."

"So we get your grandfather first, then there'll be less around the slayer girl," Dean said.

"No," Ryan said. "We get Summer first. And we go now, while it's still light out. We get the humans out, and burn the place to the ground, don't let anyone get out to warn Julie and Marissa. Then we take Summer with us to hit the mansion and get Caleb."

"Sounds good to me," Faith said. "We can ask for human volunteers to help us, too. Years ago, long before Sunnydale became a crater, there was a demon set to emerge at the graduation. The entire senior class was armed and ready to fight when the time came, and they won. So it can't hurt to ask if anyone wants some revenge." She got to her feet and pulled on her leather jacket. "I'll go make sure it's all clear out there," she said as she left.

Dena watched her lerave, then turned bakc to Ryan, who was carefully slipping a knife, a pistol, and a couple stakes into his pockets. "We don't have to be strategic, you know," he said.

"Yeah, we do," Ryan said. "We have a better chance of getting Caleb out if we have more help. And Summer... I owe her."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't save them," Ryan replied quietly. "She was Seth's girlfriend and Marissa's best friend. They're both gone, her dad probably is, too... I need to save her to try to... make up for it."

"None of it's your fault."

"You can tell me that all you want, Dean, it won't make me believe it."

"Have I lied to you yet?"

"You said Broken Bridge would be fun," Ryan said, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Hey, hot saloon girl did hit on you."

"I hate you," Ryan said as he pushed past dean to head outside, feeling the rush of... something... again and for a moment he heard screams and smelled burnt flesh. He gagged on it, doubling over as he coughed, and immediately Dean was there, grabbing his arm.

"What is it?"

"Bad memories," Ryan said, trying to pretend he believed his own words, though how could he? There was no burnt flesh the night of the model home fire, no screaming. "I burned this place down once, on accident."

"Yeah, sure, how about you tell me the truth now?"

Ryan hesitated, looking up at Dean and Faith, who'd come over to join them. "It's like... suddenly I heard screams and smelled flesh burning. It was..."

"We're gonna be burning the club down," Faith suggested. "Even burnt dead flesh still smells bad. Maybe you were just... mixing it all up."

"Maybe," Dean agreed, though he didn't seem quite ready to believe it.

"Let's go," Ryan said, straightening. "I wanna get this over with."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Newport Beach, California
The Baitshop

Summer was watching from the balcony, trying to remember everything Faith had taught her about getting out of tight situations like this. First step was to figure out how many enemy there were. Then figure out where the exists were and how well guarded they were. Then get the civilians to stand back and let her do her thing.

"15 vamps, two at every doorway, and the last one kicked back in the office," she murmured to herself. Then, down by one of the doors, she heard a yell followed by a scream as first one and then the second vampire at that door were dusted. There was a stunned silence for a moment, then all hell broke out with people screaming and trying to get away from the surviving vampires, who were pissed off. Summer leaned further out to see, and spotted a familiar figure shoving through the crowd, armed and looking determined. "Chino," she whispered.

One of the other vampires had spotted him and was coming up behind him, so Summer reacted on instinct, shoving the crowd back behind her and leaping over the railing to land on the bar, catching Ryan's attention. "Behind you!" she yelled to him.

Ryan spun, bringing up a stake, which plunged right into the chest of the monster that had been Zach, a waterpolo player Summer had once called a friend. by the time Ryan turned back to her, she had shoved her way through the crowd to throw her arms around his neck.

"I didn't mean any of it," she whispered in his ear.

"What?" Ryan asked over the roar of the crowd that was pressing around them.

In that instant, the main doors exploded open, taking half the wall with them, and letting the sun flood in, dusting 4 of the remaining vampires and letting humans out into the sun. "We gotta move and light this place up!" Faith yelled as she got to them. "Good to see you, girl," she added to Summer. "You two keep the vamps back, me and Dean'll set the charges."

"Got it," Ryan said, pulling out a second stake to offer Summer. "You up for this?"

"If you promise to tell me how you know about this stuff later," Summer replied as they moved to go after a vamp that was trying to drag a boy back into the shadows.

"Deal," Ryan said.

"When he lets go, get the boy away," Suymmer said before kicking off the floor and flipping over the vampire to yank him back.

"I really need to find out more about Slayers," Ryan muttered as he grabbed the boy he vaguely recognized as one of Luke's former friends. "Get out of here, Chip. Get into the sun, you're safe from them in the sunshine."

"You're a freak, Chino," Chip replied before running.

"Ass," Ryan said, turning in time to see Summer jab her stake into the vamps chest.

"Let's go!" Dean yelled as he and Faith ran past them.

"Everyone clear?" Faith yelled, looking over the crowd of scared teenagers.

"Just do it," Dean said.

Faith flipped a switch and in an instant the club went up in flames. There were screams, but Ryan was thankful there was no sent of burning flesh, all of it covered by the smell of burning wood and paint.

"We need to go if we want to do this before dark," Dean said as he came over.

"We're going to try to get Caleb out alive," Ryan said to Summer.

"Count me in," Summer agreed.

"Then let's go," Faith said as she joined them. "None of these kids are gonna step up and help."

"No, they won't," Summer agreed in disgust.

To Be Continued...