The rebellious young girl brushed her hair out of her face as she walked into her boss's office.

"Has my package arrived yet?", asked Mayor Richard Wilkens

Faith nodded. "And it's been positioned.", she told him

"It's on the hellmouth?", Mayor Wilkens questioned

She nodded. "Just like you asked. I even got some of your boys down there to make sure the job gets done right."

The mayor smiled. "Good. You know you really are something special Faith. I applaud your work. Now why don't you go on home. There's nothing else for you to be doing here."

"Sure thing boss. I'll see you tomorrow.", she said

"Bye.", the mayor waved to her as she left. "I don't know what I would do without her."

One of the mayors minions ducked into the room. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes I want you to go to the hellmouth and make sure we're drawing enough attention to that area. I want to keep our little slayer busy. Can't have her interrupting pre-ascension plans now can I?", the mayor told him

"No of course not.", he said. Then he rushed off.

"Well time for my nighttime snack.", the mayor said sitting in his chair and reaching for a box.

"Hey Ricky just in time.", Carlos Rodriguez said as he noticed his partner in crime

The young Hispanic walked over to Carlos and the two men Carlos was dealing with. "Sorry I had some business to attend to.", Victor Del Toro explained. "So are we ready?"

"Yeah yeah we're ready.", Carlos said. Then he turned to the other two. "That's Ricky for you, all business."

The bigger of the two gentlemen smiled. "Not a bad way to live.", he said. He snapped his fingers. His accomplice gave him a box. Upon opening the box a large sum of cash was revealed to the other two.

"Looks to be all there.", Carlos smiled as he took the box

"Where's our cocaine?", asked the first guy

"Right here.", Victor said handing him a briefcase. Victor was smirking but nobody could see him, it was too dark outside. On cue the calm of the night was interrupted.

"Freeze police!", Cory McNamara yelled as she jumped out of the shadows along with some fellow officers.

Both groups of men split. The two Victor and Carlos were dealing with were caught quickly.

"Ricky we gotta get out of here.", Carlos hissed as they ducked behind a wall

"I've got somewhere to take you.", Victor said as he pulled out his police badge

"Shit you're a cop!", Carlos exclaimed taking off

Victor sighed as he started the chase. Why don't they just ever give up. He chased him down an alleyway but Carlos jumped the fence fast and Victor wasn't sure what way he had gone. Victor heard the screeching of bicycle breaks and he turned around.

"Need a hand?", TC Callaway asked

"You go one way I'll take the other.", Victor said. TC hopped off the bike and they jumped over the fence and split up.

As Victor ran onto the beach and started jogging down he heard screams. Someone was in trouble. And it sounded like Carlos. The screams stopped just as quickly as they started. Victor reached the site of the noise. He looked down and had to try hard to keep from throwing up.

He heard someone gasp from behind him. "What happened?", Cory asked

"I... I don't know I didn't see anything.", Victor replied. It was Carlos who had been screaming. And now Carlos was missing his eyes, teeth, nails and a good portion of his skin.

"Good morning everyone.", Buffy Summers said as she walked into the library and sat down. "Whatcah reading Wil?"

"This morning's paper.", Willow Rosenburg replied. "Listen to this. 'Last night a police chase in LA ended with the criminal missing eyes, teeth, nails and skin. Officers said this happened within a matter of seconds. The police are clueless as to what could have done something so horrifying.' Isn't that strange?"

"Sounds like something we would know about. What do you think Giles?", asked Buffy

"I don't know it could always be a human playing some sort of sick game.", Rupert Giles suggested

"In that short of a time period? But then again it was in LA.", Buffy contradicted her own self

"LA you say?", Giles questioned. The slayer nodded. "Strange things have been happening there. Maybe I should look into this."

Xander Harris came through the double doors of the library and caught the tail end of what Giles was saying. "Strange things in LA? Who would've known.", he said taking a seat beside Buffy

"We're talking slayer strange Xander.", Buffy informed him

"Oh that kind of strange. Now it makes sense why you would care about it.", Xander replied. "So what's going down in LA?"

Willow handed him the newspaper and he read the article. "Well this makes me glad I didn't eat breakfast.", he said looking queasy

The doors to the library opened yet another time and in walked Oz. "Hey.", he said going over to sit beside Willow

"Well now that you're all here, I suggest you leave before you're late to class.", Giles said

Buffy made a face. "Fine. We'll go. But only if you promise to research this.", she pointed to the paper

"Yes of course." Giles said

One by one the Scooby Gang left the library and Giles started his work.

Lt. Tony Palermo looked at his four best. He glanced over at the blond. "I assume you've been caught up?"

"Yes sir.", Chris Kelly replied. She was not at the bust last night, she had other matters to attend to.

"Good then I can start in on business.", Palermo said. "Someone killed Carlos Rodriguez last night and I want to know who."

"Lieutenant it just doesn't seem possible that a human could kill that fast.", Victor said

"We found fingerprints on the body.", Palermo informed him. "Only when we ran a check on them nothing came up."

"So what you're saying is there's no way to track down the killer?", asked TC. The lieutenant nodded. "So chasing this guy going to be about making a whole bunch of wild stabs in the dark?"

"Someone committed a murder right underneath the noses of some of my best officers and I want this person found.", Palermo said the anger in his voice showing through

"Maybe I can go back into Carlos's ring. Take control.", Victor suggested

"That's too dangerous!", Cory exclaimed

"There are three people who know I'm a cop. Two are downstairs locked up and the third one is dead. If I go back in I can find out if anybody was out to kill Carlos. Maybe this was a planned hit. And if all else fails we can at least get the rest of his people for the drug ring.", Victor pointed out

Palermo sighed. "As much as I hate to say this you're right Victor. I want you back in that ring. As for the rest of you, start asking around and see what you can come up with."

The four officers nodded as they walked out of Palermo's office and went downstairs.

Buffy stood in the doorway of Angel's place and watched him work out. She had come there the minute the bell rang signifying the end of class. Buffy cleared her throat.

Angel turned around. "Buffy.", he simply said going to put on his shirt

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?", she asked

"I was just finishing up.", Angel replied. "Did you see this morning's paper?"

Buffy went over and sat down. "Yeah. Big bad in LA. You have any ideas?"

The vampire shook his head. "I don't know. I think I've seen something like this before but I'm not completely sure."

"Well Giles is on research mode. So hopefully we'll know something soon and I can go slay that bad boy.", Buffy said in her usual spunky manner

Angel chuckled. "I've never met a slayer with as much enthusiasm as you have."

"Why thank you."

"Buffy I do want you to be careful with this one. If it's what I'm thinking of it's dangerous and has taken more than its share of warriors.", Angel warned

"But no slayers.", Buffy replied

"And we are going to keep it that way.", Angel replied

"I don't see what you're getting so worked up about. I mean I've beaten the master, Spike.... this guy should be a piece of cake.", Buffy told him

"Piece of cake? You could at least be more concerned about this.", Angel said

"You know you don't even know what this is to be telling me I need to worry about it.", Buffy responded

"Well you're not working hard to find out.", Angel pointed out

Buffy stood up. "Fine then. I'll be leaving now."

"Fine.", Angel said

With that Buffy walked out the door and neither the vampire nor the slayer knew exactly what that was all about.

Victor walked into the building where the drug ring was taking place.

"Ricky you're back!", Marco Torres greeted him. "Man after what happened with Carlos we thought..."

Victor shrugged his shoulders. "I laid low for a few days. Didn't want to arouse suspicion. But I'm back here now, and ready to operate."

"The boys and I were talking and we figured if you came back you could take charge. You were Carlos right hand after all.", Marco told him

"Glad to know you all feel that way."

"So are you up for it?", Marco asked

"What do you think?", Victor smiled as he walked off with Marco

"Ricky there you are!", Cory exclaimed as she walked through the door

"Who's that?", asked Marco turning towards his new boss

Victor was unsure of what to say. Luckily Cory walked over and took care of that. "Jennifer Martin, Ricky's girlfriend."

"Ricky you never told me you had such a pretty woman.", Marco said taking her hand and laying a kiss on it. Cory smiled at him.

"Can I have a moment alone with my girlfriend?", Victor requested

Marco smiled. "But of course. I had some other business to attend to anyway. Speaking of business, how would you and your lady like to join me and my girlfriend Isabel tonight at the bar. I had some ideas I wanted to run by you."

"We will be there.", Victor said. Marco left leaving the two officers alone. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching your ass.", Cory replied. "Somebody's got to do it and it might as well be your partner."

"Alright fine but don't blow this for me.", Victor snapped

"Hey!", Cory replied. "You trust me don't you?"

Victor sighed. "Yeah I do."

"Fine then. Let's go find the killer shall we?", she questioned

Victor nodded and he led Cory off.

Night was quickly falling on Sunnydale. Buffy was in the Bronze talking to her friends. "Can you believe him? I mean he thinks that because he's older than me he knows everything about all things evil and I'm just a little weakling."

"I'm sure Angel didn't say that.", Willow told her

"Well... no. Not in those exact words. But it was very similar to that.", Buffy replied

"Sounds to me like you're getting worked up for nothing.", Oz put in his two cents

Buffy gave him a look. "No it's not nothing it's something. At least to me anyways. And I thought you were supposed to be playing tonight."

"We were going to. Until we got a gig in LA Saturday night so we dropped tonight's gig to practice.", Oz informed her

"Doesn't practice involve not being here?", questioned Buffy

"Long story.", Oz said leaving it at that

Buffy glanced at her watch and sighed. "Might as well patrol.", she said getting up

Xander approached the table. "Hey Buf where you going? I just got here."

"Patrol. You know look for the big bad guys with the long pointy teeth.", Buffy replied

"Sounds like fun. Can I come too?", asked Xander

"Only if you behave.", she said. She led him out of the Bronze and no sooner had they turned the corner they ran into a group of the undead harassing some females.

"Hey now. Play nice.", Buffy said

The vampires looked up and let their dinner escape concentrating solely on the slayer.

"Prepare to die.", one of them said

"Like I haven't heard that before.", she replied. She and Xander ran at the vampires. Xander was being ignored by the vamps for the most part so he had it easy. Between the two of them they got the vampire group down to one.

"You think you're so smart slayer.", he said as she stood in front of him in fighting position

"Oh but I am.", Buffy told him as she kicked him. She got him on the ground and held a stake over his heart.

"Maybe you can slay me but you can't stop what's happening by the hellmouth.", the vampire said. She quickly turned him into a pile of dust and turned to Xander.

"The hellmouth?", she questioned

"Giles.", Xander said. The duo ran off to find the older man. They entered the library and there he stood with Wesley Wydaham-Price.

"Is something wrong?", Giles asked as Buffy stormed past Wesley and walked to him.

"A vamp was saying something about activity on the hellmouth. Well this is the hellmouth.", Buffy pointed out

"Yeah and you were here so we switched into worry mode.", Xander finished

Wesley walked over to the three of them. "Maybe the vampire was trying to throw you off track. You know the mayor might be planting things in your head so he could work on this ascension in peace."

"Or he could not be. Buffy what exactly did he say about the hellmouth?", asked Giles

"He said I can't stop what's happening on the hellmouth.", she replied

"But it doesn't look like anything's happening.", Xander said

Giles thought for a moment. He glanced around and his eye caught the morning's paper. "But what if....", he stopped mid thought and jumped into the research

"What is it Giles?", asked Buffy

"I think I may have an idea.", he replied then he tuned everything out as he started to look for answers

Four of the guys working for Ricky were walking along the beach that night goofing off.

"So what do you say we go find some hookers and have some fun.", one of them said taking a swig of alcohol

"You got that kinda money?", asked another one

"Hell yeah today was pay day for all our hard work.", the first one replied

"I got my pay.", said the third one. Out of his pocket he pulled out a little pouch of cocaine.

The fourth one's eyes went wide. He was the good one of the group if you could even call him that. "You stole from Ricky?"

The other two laughed. "Man if he catches you he's gonna fry your ass.", the second one pointed out

"Ooooh Ricky really scares me.", the third guy said putting up the cocaine

The group of four was approached by two guys. "What the hell do you want?", asked the first of Ricky's workers

"We're hungry.", replied one of the two visitors

"Newsflash buddy. We don't give a damn.", said the second guy as he tried to lead his foursome off

"Well you should.", replied the second of the visitors

The first guy pulled out a gun. "Now I suggest you move outta my way before I blow your ass up."

The two guys looked at each other and growled. When they turned back towards the other four their faces we're vamped out. "We told you we're hungry.", said the first vamp. Then he and his companion jumped the first two guys of the group. The first one shot a vampire in the heart, but it didn't do any good.

Scared to death, the third and fourth guys fled. "Shit man we gotta get outta here!", exclaimed the third guy. Out of nowhere a hand grabbed the third man and he screamed. The fourth guy glanced back only he couldn't make out what kind of monster it was that had taken his friend. He screamed and kept running, and almost tripped over the homeless man on the beach. Remembering his boss was meeting at one of the local bars, he went to find him.

Victor and Cory walked into the bar and sat down at the table with Marco and Isabel.

"Ricky there you are. I'd like for you to meet my beautiful girlfriend Isabel.", Marco introduced them

Victor reached over and shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you.", she replied smiling

A young woman came over to their table. "Can I get you anything?"

Cory and Victor ordered their drinks and the waitress left.

"So anyways I did call you here on business matters.", Marco reminded him

"Tell me, what kind of business matters did you want to discuss.", Victor said

As Marco opened his mouth the sound of glass shattering could be heard throughout the bar. "I told you to give me another damn beer!", the drunk yelled

"Sir you've had enough.", the waitress hissed

Victor got up and grabbed the guys arm, pulling him off the bar stool. "I suggest you leave."

"And who are you to be telling me what to do?", he asked willingly getting off of the stool. "You know I've had one hell of a crappy few weeks. I finally found my girlfriend only to find she ran off with some other demon to New York. New York of all places. Now I have to go there to prove I'm really the man she wants. And you know I'm starting to wonder if it's all worth it."

"Look I'm sorry for your bad time but maybe you should leave.", Victor said tugging on his arm

He yanked his arm away from Victor and straightened out his black trenchcoat. "Why can't I just have one more for the road? Please?"

Victor looked at the guys pale complexion. "You've had enough already."

"Alright fine. Can you at least provide me with dinner before I go?", he asked running his fingers through his blond hair.

"Look there's plenty of places to eat out side of here. In fact if you walk right outside the door I'm sure you can find something.", Victor told him

"Food... right outside the door... you're right.", he said. "All those delicious meals just waiting for me." He smiled at Victor then he walked out the door.

"Bravo.", Marco said clapping for his boss

"I wanted to be able to talk in peace.", Victor told him. "Now, where were we."

"I was about to run through some of my ideas for the business. I've got a great way to up the profits by at least....."

The fourth guy from the beach stumbled into the bar holding his neck and interrupting the conversation yet again. "Ricky..."

Victor and Marco looked at each other then they went to see what was going on. "What happened?", Victor asked

"The others... on the beach... they're dead.... looked like monsters that killed them.", he said

"What happened to you?", asked Marco

"Outside.... something about dinner....", he couldn't finish the sentence. He fell to the floor and his hand fell away from his neck revealing two bite marks.

Victor looked at the body and thought about the other three that were supposedly lying on the beach. Somebody was killing off the people in this drug ring and he had to find out who.

TC and Chris walked down the beach the next morning surveying the area. Victor put in a call late the previous night. In one spot they found two bodies drained much like the guy that died in front of Victor. The fourth victim of the night was found just like Carlos. Missing eyes, teeth, nails and skin.

"TC what are we going to do?", Chris asked as they stood between crime sites looking at the body

TC shook his head. "I don't know. We can't find any fingerprints and we have no idea how this got done and without witnesses..."

"I saw.", the voice of an older man came through

Chris and TC spun around. "Saw what?", asked Chris

"Those three men get killed. The fourth one tripped over me he was trying to get out of here so fast.", the homeless man from the night before replied

The two bike cops exchanged glances and went to talk to the man. "Alright tell me what you saw.", TC said walking over to him

"It was a horrible, horrible murder.", the man said his voice shaking

"Tell us what happened so we can punish the people who did this.", Chris requested looking up and acknowledging Victor's coming up from behind

"Those two... over there," the man paused and pointed to the spot where the two victims were found drained, "They were attacked by guys with pointy teeth and they bit him. And the third guy was grabbed by a big water monster by his hand. Then the monster took him down in a matter of seconds. It ate the eyes, the skin.... tore him up like nothing I've ever seen before."

Chris half smiled at the man. "Thank you."

The man nodded. "Any time officer. I just hope you catch the folks responsible for this.", he said walking off

Chris laughed and looked at TC. "Well that was useless.", TC said

Victor shook his head no. "I think that old man's onto something."

TC rolled his eyes. "Please do tell me what you think is going on here."

"Guys with pointy teeth, drain all the blood? Vampires.", Victor paused when Chris started laughing. "Or at least wannabe's. And the monster this guy was talking about... my mom told me legends about it when I was a kid. She called it an ahuizotl."

"A what?", Buffy questioned looking at the librarian curiously

"Ahuizotl.", Giles repeated. "It's part of an old Central American legend. Half monkey, half human, it eats eyes, flesh, teeth and nails. And it lives near the water. The killing was done by the beach right?"

"Yeah so what makes you think it's this monster?", asked Buffy

"I'm almost positive. Every sign points to it.", Giles told her

Buffy sighed. "Ok so it's this ahuizotl or whatever so I'll go kill it. But what about what's going down on the hellmouth?"

"That is what's happening at the hellmouth.", Giles said

"Wait a minute this is Sunnydale this is the hellmouth not LA.", Buffy pointed out

Giles reached for a book and opened it to a map. "I have reason to believe that LA is a second hellmouth. Look here you see the hellmouth opens right here. Over Sunnydale. And in the event that someone attempts to open the hellmouth and fails there's an extreme build up of energy that needs to go somewhere and what it does is reform itself and create a new hellmouth right about here.", he put a finger over the map

"Over LA.", Buffy said

"The mayor must have placed an ahuizotl here at this hellmouth for you to find.", Giles told her

"The mayor is definitely involved in this one.", Willow said walking in with Oz holding the mornings paper in her hands. "Listen to this. 'One more body was found last night with the eyes, teeth, nails and skin missing. Not far from this person two more victims were found with two puncture wounds in their neck and all their blood drained.' This has the mayors fingerprints all over it."

"Alright so I'll go to LA.", Buffy paused, "Somehow."

"Wil and I were going up for the gig, why don't you head up with us. We're leaving right after class today.", Oz told her

"Good. Then it's settled.", Buffy replied

"One more thing.", Giles spoke up. "Wouldn't you like to know how to kill the ahuizotl once you find it?"

Buffy's face fell. "Oh... yeah.... I guess need to know that. So I take it I can't just go in there with Mr. Pointy and let him have it."

"It's just a little more complex than that. You'll need something sharp, preferably a knife out of your weapons box. The strong spot of the ahuizotl lies in its tail. It has a human hand at the end of the tail which it uses for the initial attack against people. You must cut off the tail to weaken the ahuizotl. Once the tail is gone you can use your knife to slice it through the heart and kill it.", Giles told her

"Is it going to go poof and turn into dust?", Buffy asked. Giles gave her a look. "Well I was hoping. I didn't want to have to fool with disposing it."

"Sorry Buffy but it's part of slaying.", Giles said

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "I know."

"Since that's settled I suggest you get to class.", Giles ordered. The three started to head out of the library. "Oh and good luck.", he called after them

Palermo had called a meeting of his officers once again. "Have you been able to find out anything about the deaths?", he asked

"No but Victor came up with a theory.", Chris snickered

"Oh?", Palermo questioned

Victor shook his head. "It's nothing really."

"I'll be the judge of that.", Palermo said

"Vampires and ahuizotl's.", Victor quickly explained. "Legends from my childhood."

Palermo sighed. "In other words we've got nothing."

Victor shook his head no.

"I say we go ahead and finish taking out the rest of the ring. They've got nothing for us and the longer we stay in the more dangerous it gets.", Cory suggested

"Agreed.", Palermo said. "TC you and I are going to be dealers looking for some cocaine. And Victor's going to sell it to us. In his main building of operation."

"We're busting them when we go in to make the deal?", questioned TC

Palermo nodded. "This goes down tomorrow. Chris I want you to make sure we've got plenty of backup. But I don't want you there I need someone looking after the place for me."

"Yes sir.", she replied

Lt. Palermo looked over his four officers. "Dismissed.", he said as he went back to his paperwork

Victor sighed as he put on his jogging shoes. He had just gotten back from a supposed meeting with the new client and was ready to wind down. He figured nothing better for that then a nice long jog on the beach. The ocean at night always calmed and comforted him even when he was a little kid.

He jogged down to the beach and looked around, wondering what lurked in the darkness. Something was out there killing people. Maybe it wasn't even safe for him to be doing this. But what was he afraid of he knew that there was something out here and he was prepared. It was just the what part that got to him.

Victor went past two drunks on the beach. He picked up bits and pieces of what they were saying. One of them mentioned something about dinner. The other one replied by saying that he was going for the sacrifice. Victor almost stopped. He? Maybe they're talking about a cow or other animal. Or maybe they were just rambling after all they were drunk. Still it spooked him. He shook his head and kept going. That's when he saw it.

"Shit.", he muttered. "Why did I have to be right?" It was an ahuizotl, the made up creature from his childhood, the one that wasn't supposed to really exist and was only used to scare little boys and keep them from going near the water. And it was attacking him.

Victor ducked as its tail swung for him. But the tail came back and whacked him on the floor and the hand went to strangle him. Victor struggled, but it wasn't doing much good.

Finally the hand let go but it wasn't for anything Victor did. It was thanks to the person who was strong enough to kick the ahuizotl off of him. He jumped up and to his surprise saw a female standing there, knife in hand. Quickly the ahuizotl disappeared into the ocean.

"Those guys knew!", Victor exclaimed running back to find the drunks. But they were long gone.

"What guys?", asked Buffy walking over to him

Victor turned to her. "Oh... nobody."

"My guess is nobody was a couple of vampires.", Buffy said

"You've got to be kidding me. Of course I just saw an ahuizotl which is something that's also not supposed to be real.", Victor said

Buffy blinked. "How... how did you know what that was?"

"Story from my childhood. The question is, how did you know?", he asked

"Uh... I think I'd better be leaving now.", Buffy said heading off

Victor grabbed her arm. "I think you'd better come with me."

"I suggest you let my arm go.", Buffy said in a threatening voice

Victor pointed a finger at her. "Young lady I think you need to change your attitude. Threatening a police officer is an offence and could land you jail time."

"What do you want from me?", Buffy asked. "I haven't done anything."

"I want a statement.", Victor replied. "Look you sound like you know what you're talking about and my department has been trying to figure this thing out since the first murder."

"I can't give you a statement.", Buffy said

"Why?"

"Because... if I gave you the truth nobody would believe me anyway."

Victor let go of her arm. "Try me."

She sighed. "Alright I'm from Sunnydale. We read about the murders in the paper and they sounded like something up my alley."

"Up your alley?", Victor questioned

"Yeah. I'm the slayer. Vampire slayer that is. Monsters fall into the slayer category and you have a monster here that was hand delivered from the mayor more than likely for the sole purpose of my finding it. Why I don't know but that's what he did.", Buffy explained

"If it makes you feel any better I believe you.", Victor said

"I can't give my statement to the police. I can't let my secret out like that.", Buffy told him

Victor sighed. "At least come down tomorrow morning and talk to someone. Give us something, anything even if it's not the whole truth, just enough to stop the ahuizotl."

"You won't be stopping it I will. You'll just get yourselves killed. You saw how it almost took your life.", Buffy said

"Can we work together?", asked Victor

"I might be able to use your help. But I'm not taking the whole department. You yes. One more maybe.", Buffy said

Victor threw his hands up. "You're the expert. Just come down tomorrow and say that I sent you. My name's Victor Del Toro. I won't be there but I'll make sure one of my friends takes care of you."

Buffy nodded. "I'm getting off of this beach. If you've got any sense you will too."

Victor followed the slayer as both of them left the beach and headed back to get some sleep.

"Wait a second what are we doing here?", Willow asked confused about the concept

"Going down to the police station to give a statement.", Buffy said. "And it's not we it's I."

"Safety in numbers though.", Oz pointed out

"I don't understand why you're going to tell the police about the vampires and stuff.", Willow said

"I'm not telling them. I'm going to rearrange the truth a little bit. I just promised one the officers I'd make a statement so I'm going.", Buffy said heading out the door

"We'll we're coming too.", Willow said as she and Oz followed. Buffy glared at her best friend. "Like Oz said safety in numbers."

Buffy locked the hotel room door behind them. "Safety from what?", she asked as they walked outside and got hit by the cool morning air. "We're going to be in a police station."

"But what if they start interrogating you and asking horrible questions. You'll want us by your side then.", Willow pointed out

"Highly doubtful.", Buffy told her. "But in the event that they do, I'll have you guys by my side."

Willow smiled and nodded in approval. "So what are you going to tell them?"

Buffy made a face. "I haven't exactly thought of that yet."

"How about some guy on some super drugs that caused him to mutate attacked and the others were vampire wannabe's in a cult.", Oz suggested

"Oz you watch too much.... hey wait a second that's not a half bad idea.", Buffy started thinking about it

"Yeah Oz that's a great idea.", Willow said

"Just doing my job.", Oz replied

They walked a little further before they came up on the police station. Buffy walked in and approached the first officer she saw. "Excuse me. Victor Del Toro wanted me to come in and see someone here."

The officer blinked. "I don't know anything about that."

"Did you say Victor sent you?", asked Chris walking over to them

"Yeah that's right.", Buffy replied

"Chris Kelly.", she said. "I've got somewhere for us to talk in private."

Buffy walked off and Oz and Willow followed. Chris stopped them. "Who are they?", she asked

"My friends.", Buffy replied. "They know everything and I'd prefer to have them with me."

Chris nodded. She led them into Lt. Palermo's office and shut and locked the door behind them and she closed the blinds. After she was sure there was going to be nobody to bother them she sat down at his desk and got out a pen and paper. "Alright tell me what you know."

"The guys with the bite marks and the blood gone, they were attacked by a vampire cult. Full of wannabe's. I'm not quite sure how they do it but they puncture the right spots on the neck and take the blood.", Buffy started to explain

"Including the guy from the bar?", asked Chris

"Including him.", Buffy said. "This quote monster you've been dealing with is nothing but a science experiment gone bad. He took some super drugs of some sort, and it caused some strange mutations."

"What kind of mutations?", Chris asked

"Super strength for one. He has a monkey like appearance now.", Buffy told her

"Two more questions. One, how did you get your information? And the second is do you want to keep this anonymous or do you want your name on it.", Chris asked

"No name.", Buffy replied quickly. "And I have a friend who joined the vampire cult. They're responsible for the mutations. He told me what was going on and I decided it was time for the police to know."

Chris finished writing what Buffy was saying then she put the pen down and the paper aside. "I talked to Victor. He wouldn't tell me everything but he said something's going down soon. Off the record, what's going on?"

"It's going down tonight. There is no vampire cult. Those are real vampires. And they are responsible for your monster problem. But it's a real flesh and blood monster, known as an ahuizotl. I'm going to kill the ahuizotl. Victor wants to be there. You're welcome to come too but nobody else can know about this. I'll need someone to keep an eye out for the vampires while I fight the ahuizotl.", Buffy told her

"What about your friends?", Chris asked pointing to Willow and Oz

"We'd help but I've got a gig.", Oz told her

"And I'm going to watch.", Willow added

Chris nodded. "So how do we kill vampires? Legends say stake through the heart."

"Legends are right.", Buffy replied

"And where are we supposed to find stake's to fight?", asked Chris

"Believe me when I say I have plenty.", Buffy said. Chris looked at her curiously. "Never leave home without them.", Buffy told her. Then she and her friends stood up. "Meet me outside of the Hilton down the street at seven. We'll go from there."

"Victor and I will be there.", she said. Then Buffy, Oz and Willow left her in the office thinking about all they had told them.

"Ricky there you are.", Marco said approaching Victor and Cory. "Been waiting for you all morning."

Victor smiled. "Just conducting some business. The new buyers should be here any minute now."

"We get a good deal?", questioned Marco

"Enough to make us both rich. These two want to supply the southeast with quality drugs. They heard from a friend of a friend that we were the best.", Victor replied

"Is that them?", Marco asked pointing to TC and Lt. Palermo

"Yes. Jenni baby this is our job so go make yourself useful somewhere else.", Victor smiled sweetly at Cory

She nodded and went off to strategically place herself in front of one of the main exists.

Palermo approached the duo first and extended his hand. "The name's Mike.", he said. Marco took his hand and replied with his name, then shook TC or "Robbie's" hand.

"Now gentlemen my deals are short sweet and to the point.", Victor told them

"Before any deals go down we want to see the facilities.", Palermo said

Victor rolled his eyes. "What is this? Don't you trust me?"

"I just like to see where my stuff is being made. That's all.", Palermo replied

"Right through this door.", Victor led him into the factory like back room where he had everyone working that morning from the cocaine producers to the street dealers who thought they were there to get some more crack to sell

"Everything looks nice.", TC said

Marco nodded. "We make the best."

"Well I guess there's only one thing left to do.", Palermo said

"Do business.", Marco replied

Palermo shrugged. "If you could call it that. Boys."

On cue the officers came out of the front room led by Cory after taking down anybody that happened to be in there.

"This is our business.", TC told him. "You're under arrest."

"Your woman's a cop!", Marco exclaimed

"Newsflash she's not my woman she's my partner.", Victor said pulling out his gun. "And save me the trouble don't run."

Marco looked towards the back door but more cops busted in. He sighed knowing he was defeated and let Victor cuff him. It took a while but eventually everyone in the room was arrested and they started to break down the facilities.

"So we've busted the ring. Did we get anything on the killings?", Palermo asked once they were gathered in his office

"I talked to a witness this morning. I have the information sir.", Chris said

"Good. So tell me what's going on.", Palermo demanded

"It's like this. I talked to the friend of a member of a vampire cult that has been going around killing people. They had some sort of experiment feeding some guy drugs causing him to mutate and give him super strength. Now the cult uses him to kill people.", Chris explained

"So how are we going to stop the cult activity?", asked Palermo

"What if we...", Cory started to say but was cut off by her best friend

"Victor and I planned to go down there tonight. We have information on how many are going to be there and how to contain the, well, the monster.", Chris told him

"Do you have backup?", asked Palermo

"I don't think that will be necessary. They don't run with many people it should be a clean take down.", Victor assured him

Palermo nodded. "Alright then you two can take this. But be careful." he warned. He watched as the four officers left his office so he could get back to work.

Seven o'clock approached quickly. Buffy saw Willow and Oz off then she leaned against the side of the building waiting for the two cops to arrive. Finally they came walking towards her.

Buffy looked at both of them. Neither of them were in uniform. "Did you bring a gun?", Buffy asked

Chris and Victor glanced at each other. "No.", Victor replied

"Good.", Buffy said. "These are your weapons.", she told them handing them each a wooden stake. "Stay behind me and you should be fine."

They took the stakes and followed as Buffy walked down towards the beach where they had seen the ahuizotl the night before.

"Hey babe where you going?", they heard somebody ask once they got down on the beach

Buffy turned and saw three figures a little ways down.

"Hey you can't do that she's got to be saved.", one of his two companions yelled

"There's three of them.", he replied walking over to Buffy. "And this one's mine." Buffy turned as he approached. "Hey babe wanna join me for dinner?"

"No but thanks for the offer.", she replied. He vamped out and she stood there. He was surprised that he hadn't phased her at all.

"You are going to join me for dinner.", he said sternly

"I go for the tall dark and handsome type. Like my ex-boyfriend. Maybe you know him. He goes by the name Angel.", Buffy told him

The vampires eyes got wide. "Oh hell that means you're..."

"That's me.", Buffy said sending a stake through his heart before he could respond. She turned to Victor and Cory. "See how easy that was?"

Quickly the other two vamps jumped into action and went to fight thinking that they could take Buffy on. She jumped into fighting stance but the ahuizotl arrived on the beach and tackled her to the floor. Buffy threw him off of her and went to fight him while the others fought the vampires.

Victor was fighting his vampire and was holding him off pretty well. But he knew he needed to get a chance to be on offense or else he was never going to get a chance to use that stake.

The vampire swung at him. Victor stuck his hand up and blocked the shot, then he punched him in the stomach causing him to cringe. Using that moment to his advantage, Victor pulled out the stake Buffy gave him and plunged it through the vampires heart causing him to turn to dust. Then Victor went to see if Chris needed a hand.

Meanwhile Buffy was engaged in a fight with the ahuizotl, and things weren't going quite like she wanted them too. The ahuizotl seemed to be stronger than her and had an advantage with his tail hand. It swung at her with its regular hand and she flipped out of the way and as soon as she was back on her feet it grabbed her neck with its tail hand.

Buffy took one hand and tried to get the tail hand off of her neck. With the other hand she reached into her inside coat pocket. "Now it's my turn to play.", she said whipping out a knife and quickly cutting off the tail. It went limp and was no longer wrapped tightly around her neck. she took it and threw it off to the side. The ahuizotl yelled loudly from the pain as Buffy went to attack it.

Chris was getting in a good fight against the other vampire. She saw what was going elsewhere and she saw Victor slay his challenger. Chris went head to head with the vampire for a while until he got her off balance. He swung at her and she ducked then he went to knock her off of her feet. She rolled out of his way and jumped up behind him, pulling out the stake and plunging it through him, causing him to become a dust pile.

"Well I was going to help but it doesn't look like you need it.", Victor said

"This wasn't too hard. Let's see if Buffy needs help.", Chris replied. The two ran over to her just in time to see her finale.

"And this is for ruining my weekend.", Buffy told the ahuizotl just before she shoved the knife through it's heart killing it. "Great now we get to burry it."

"Burry it?", Victor questioned

Buffy nodded. "He isn't going poof." She turned her head for a brief second before she was going to help burry him. That's when she saw a fourth vampire. He realized she had noticed him and he fled, Buffy assumed that he was going back to the mayor.

The trio quickly took care of the remains of the ahuizotl. Chris sighed. "Now what?"

"The night is still young. I say we hit up some clubs.", Victor replied

"Remember my friend Oz?", Buffy asked

Victor shook his head no while Chris nodded.

"Well his band is playing tonight an I was going to go check it out. You two in?", she asked

"I don't see why not.", Victor answered

Chris shrugged. "Sure not like I had anything better to be doing."

Then they left the beach for a night of fun after ending the reign of the ahuizotl.

Sunnydale found itself in a blackout. There was one room in a building in the city that was lit up. When all the lights cut back on the lights in that one room dimmed and the mayor stood there with electrical jolts going through his body. It was him that lit up the room, not any normal light.

The mayor looked up as the vampire in charge of the LA operation burst through the door to his office. "Something wrong?", he asked

"The slayer...", he started, "She slayed the others and killed the ahuizotl."

"Well... that's ok.", the mayor replied

"Ok?", repeated the vampire

"Yeah didn't you notice?", Faith asked. "There was a blackout. The mayor's work is done. B can come back whenever she wants but there's nothing she can do about this."

The vampire glanced at the mayor, unsure of wether or not to listen to Faith.

"She's right you know. We took over the city and drained some energy. Now I suggest you get out of my site while I'm still in a good mood.", Mayor Wilkens told him sending him scampering off.

"Well now that's done, I think I'm going to go have some fun.", Faith said walking out the door

"You deserve it.", the mayor told her. "Enjoy yourself. And don't stay out too late.", he called after her

Mayor Wilkens found himself alone. He pulled a notepad out of his pocked and put a checkmark beside the item "become more powerful". Then he looked down at the next thing on the list. "Time to go prepare that speech for the kiddies.", he said. He looked around his office and being satisfied with the look of it, he locked it up and left for the night.