In the wake of the Gnomish rampage through Solomon's automobiles, Sam has been extraordinarily busy at the shop. Drew, meanwhile, has been uncharacteristically broody ever since Mr. Nimbus's disappearance. The next day after school, he tells Sam that he really needs to talk to her and asks her if she can possibly tear herself away from her work long enough to have dinner with him.
"Yes, I'd love to get a burger with you. Quarterback Club, between training and patrol? Since it's not getting dark as early nowadays, we'd have a little time then."
The QB Club is a locally-owned burger joint that serves big, sloppy burgers and shakes you eat with a spoon, and where the pictures on the walls are of the High School Football team and photos of wildlife taken by a local photographer.
At dinner, Drew starts off: "I'm not sure how well you were really filled in on events while you were...away. There's stuff you...need to know." Drew does not look real happy.
When Sam nods encouragingly, he goes on. "You were missing and stuff was being stolen all over town and there were these weird chameleon demon things sneaking around the Sacred Grounds. And, I mean, it's Solomon and we're Slayer Club, so you know this stuff is never good. And we were standing around in the basement talking to that Astin guy who was being all weird and unhelpful. Armed, 'cause we'd just been chasing one of the gremlins."
"Anyway, I wasn't even really paying much attention. 'Cause, I mean, Astin's crazy and he was being really unhelpful at that point even by his standards. And then Hartsdale shouts, 'There's one! Shoot it!' Not that he even needed to tell me to. As soon as he pointed it out, I was already turning and raising my crossbow."
"And, I mean, it was a good shot. Snap shot against a small, camouflaged target and I hit that thing dead center. Six months ago, I'd have been lucky to hit the bookcase. But I nailed it. Just made it mad, of course. It turned all red and jumped me and tried to claw my throat out. It wasn't very big though, so I was just able to pull it off and yell 'batter up!' and throw it at Erik for him to hit with his sword. Nice swing, too. Sent it smashing up against the wall, knocked all the color out of it, and stunned it for a moment. Then, it kind of shook itself and ran back for the bookshelf and opened the portal and ran away. And then we were able to go through the portal and found you. But that's not the point."
"The point is: It was lost and it was marooned and it was trying to get home. And I shot it." Drew is still speaking quietly, since they're in a public place, but he's visibly as upset as Sam has ever seen him.
Sam reaches out and gently takes Drew's hand. "I think I understand what you mean. When I first saw them, my instinct was to lash out, too. When I found some of them rummaging around in the back of my truck Sunday night, I grabbed one and shook it until its teeth rattled, and then said something terribly witty, like 'Stop that! What do you think you're doing?'" Sam smirks at herself. "They certainly don't look friendly, and they were, in a way, attacking us by stealing our tools and stuff. But it isn't nearly on the same scale as the monsters that try to take our blood or spinal fluid, is it?"
"No, it's not. I don't even think there was any hostile intent in the stealing. They just didn't understand. The only hostile intent was mine. I shot this friendly creature for no good reason. Just because... that's what I do, now."
Sam nods and drops her voice even more, even though there aren't many people in here, and none within earshot. These thoughts can only come out softly. "You and me both. We have to be careful, and me more than anyone else... These experiences are changing us, Drew. We can't help but be changed in some ways."
But Drew doesn't seem consoled by her comparison. "You more than anyone else... but you passed the test. You helped them. I shot them. You were the hero, like always. I was... the..." he can't quote bring himself to say 'villain'. "Bad guy."
"You're learning to shoot straight. I'm learning how to not only fight, but kill, on a daily basis. We get ourselves wound up so tight, we have to be careful where, and on what, we're unleashed."
Drew nods. "Yeah, and I don't know what scares me more. That I was capable of doing that. Or that I'm the only one who seems bothered by it."
Sam changes tacks. "If it bothers you, then it bothers me. Do you want to make it a pact - that whenever one of us looks like we're going trigger-happy, the other one promises to slap them out of it? I promise I won't slap too hard."
Drew smiles. "I've heard that before. But, yeah. I think that would be a good thing. Even if it does leave bruises. Better bruises on me than on... my next victim."
"You're not a bad guy, Drew. You made a mistake. But there was no harm done."
"Yeah, well, that was luck. The gremlins turned out to be immune to physical damage, as they say in D&D. Not to mention a hive mind, so damage to a single individual doesn't really bother them. Fortunately. Because my intent was to do harm. For a moment there, I was every stupid military guy from every sci-fi movie... the ones who wanted to put ET in a bubble or keep Richard Dryfus away from Devil's Tower."
Sam gives a slightly blank look for a second, and then "Oh! Close Encounters. Right."
"Yeah, sorry, having a nerd moment, there."
Sam shakes her head. "No, you weren't. Not even for that moment could you be that stupid, Drew. The difference is in the planning. Yours was a knee, or rather, finger-jerk reaction. You saw something you thought was dangerous. You shot it. But, if I were to tell you exactly how to get back to the gremlins' home, and how it would be possible to kill them, would you do that - go back and slaughter them all? Of course you wouldn't! Because you know that they didn't mean any real harm to us, and You- Are- Not- A- Bad- Guy. How many times do I have to tell you?"
Drew blushes. "Thanks. I mean... you're right. I'm not. Now. I'm just afraid of what this is doing to me."
"Don't be afraid, Drew. You can handle this. Isn't this what you always dreamed of? Fighting the good fight against unspeakable evil, and you don't even have to wear spandex!"
"For which unspeakable evil is no doubt eternally grateful."
Sam chuckles. "How about let's go out now, as it's getting dark, and practice spotting some real bad guys and make the town safer than it would be otherwise?"
"Yeah. Something indisputably evil. That would be...just what the doctor ordered."
"Excellent! I know just the place." Sam takes her crutches both under one arm so she can handle her own tray, but Drew offers to get it for her. She murmurs "How gentlemanly!"
He grins back at her. "Don't get used to it. You're pretending to be hurt. I'm pretending to be chivalrous."
"Of course. This is the '90's, after all." They head back to her truck. After a few minutes' drive they reach Rose Hill Memorial Garden. "I read in the paper that there was a funeral here yesterday. A "Short, sudden illness" seems to be the obits' code phrase for vampire attack. So, let's go check it out."
"Oh, yes, that does sound like our line of work, all right."
Sam and Drew arrive at the "Memorial Garden." Where High Acre is historical, staid, and pretty much "full" (except for the graves that are actually empty) and Greenfields is a more modern cemetery with some empty plots left and room for expansion, Rose Hill is positively New Age, sprawling over a small hillside maybe a half-acre in area. Although, this being Solomon, it could be filling up soon enough. There are no tombstones here, only marble and brass plaques set flush with the ground, but almost every grave has a bunch of flowers in a vase, or a potted plant, or even a small tree planted nearby. Thus, the "garden" part of the name. But unlike a real garden, many of the floral arrangements are made of plastic.
"Although I don't know why the undead would want to hang out here. Anybody standing around is going to stick out like a sore thumb, unless they all hide over there." Sam points out the only mausoleum, a large marble edifice in the center of the cemetery, covered in carved angels, flowers and harps.
Drew looks around the cemetery. "That looks like a fresh grave over there. If it's our guy, it looks like either we're in plenty of time or he's obsessively neat."
Sam frowns. "No welcoming committee, though. The last few dustings have been multiple, because one or more vamps were hanging around, waiting for the new one to rise. They're learning that there are multiple Slayers in town and taking better care of their 'young' is my guess. Let's check out the mausoleum first, just to be certain."
"OK, then. Creepy outbuilding, it is." Drew lets Sam lead. He walks a couple steps behind, his eyes roving around the graveyard, watching for something to jump out from behind the... well, his eyes are roving around the graveyard.
They circle the mausoleum, finding nothing hiding behind it. Everything looks quiet.
Just then, behind them, the ground shifts and a hand reaches up out of the freshly-dug grave. From out of the mausoleum burst two vampires, one male, one female (a regular little family of undead) and run over to help the new one out of its grave. Their backs are to Sam and Drew, for the moment.
Sam gives a little hand-wave towards the trio and whispers "After you, Mr. Killian..."
"Well, I'm not so much for the rushing at them..." Drew raises his crossbow, takes a leisurely moment to aim at the male vamp's heart and lets fly. Unfortunately, just as he squeezes the trigger, the vamp gives a big heave to and straightens, as he pulls the new one out of the ground. The result is that the bolt hits him in kidney instead of the heart.
"Oops. Guess I shouldn't have been bragging about my marksmanship."
"Not a problem. You reload while I distract them."
Sam steps forward out of the shadows, nonchalantly dangling a stake by the point. "Mommy, Daddy, and now, baby makes three. What a cozy little vampire family." She grins at the female. "Sorry, babe, but I'm gonna have to be a home-wrecker here. Him and me are about to have a torrid affair."
The female is nonplussed. The male, who is already mad about the arrow sticking out of his back, leaps at Sam and growls "Slayer!"
Sam catches him in mid-leap, and re-directs his trajectory - right into the arms of his "mate." "Or, maybe not. You two are so cute together. How could I break that up?"
The new vamp is a little confused. He's not sure exactly what's going on... but he's fairly sure the girl who just picked up a grown man and threw him around like a sack of potatoes is not someone he wants to mess with. He takes off toward Drew.
Drew's reloaded by this point and his next shot catches the charging vamp in the chest. The right side of the chest, unfortunately. But that's enough to stop the vamp, which stops short and stares down at the bolt protruding from his chest.
"Hey! That... didn't hurt nearly as much as you'd think," he says in wonder as a slow smile spreads across his face. The smile turns into a grin as he pulls out the bolt, snaps it in two with one hand, and looks down at his wound to see that it's not even bleeding. "This is going to be fun."
He's still grinning when Drew's second shot catches him in the heart and he goes all dusty. "Sad, really, the way the fun things never last."
"I know. Heartbreaking." Sam does a 1-2 combo, gripping the arrow sticking out of the male vamp in one hand, she plunges her stake into his heart with the other. "Or, heart-staking, as the case might be." As he goes to dust, she continues the thrust, down into the female vamp, who never had a chance to get out from under the other one. The arrow goes into her abdomen. The stake goes into her heart.
Two dustings, no waiting!
"Rats. Now, they're all mixed up. How am I going to get a clean sample?" Sam sighs. "Oh, well, I can get the other one, anyway. Good work, Drew!" She takes a small plastic vial out of her coat pocket and scoops up some of the new vamp's ashes, sealing it and marking it RH 4/3/91.
Drew grins. "Thanks. It's much more fun when you know they're evil. And nice double shot there, even if it did mix up the dust a little. What do you do with that stuff, anyway?"
Sam grins back. "Thanks. I've got a back-log right now, because of all the extra hours in the shop, I haven't had time to get into the lab. But, the theory is, that is, I was justŠ you know, thinking. I don't really have a theory yet. And I don't know if anyone else has already thought of this or not..."
Sam realizes that she's babbling, takes a deep breath, and starts again. "If I analyze the dust and the samples of blood I get from the vamps," She holds up the crossbow bolt that has some of the female vamp's blood on it, "And compare and contrast with normal human blood, and see what, if any, differences I can find..." She shrugs, unsure of herself again. "I dunno. Mostly it's for my own curiosity. I don't understand all that magic mumbo-jumbo that Kevin does, but I do understand science. But, maybe, if we get enough data, and put it all together... we, or somebody, might be able to find a "cure" for vampirism some day. Or a vaccine that would keep normal people from becoming vampires when they get bitten. I mean, it's basically a blood-born pathogen. If we could find a way to keep vampires from making more vampires, eventually, the Slayers and Watchers could all take a nice, long vacation. Which, just from looking at Hartsdale, I think they could seriously use."
"Wow. That would be...way cool. I mean, not that I don't enjoy spending my evenings hanging out in creepy graveyards with you. But, yeah. How this all works has been bugging me ever since we found out about it. It's all very well for Hartsdale to say," he slips into a bad British accent, "'the world is a stranger place than you know.' Fine. Obviously. But it would be nice to know why. And double bonus points if it gives us some kind of tool to help protect people. I have a feeling this may be a bit beyond what we can pull off in a high school bio lab, though. I wonder if there's a way to get into Martense's lab."
Sam blushes with pleasure. "Well, we have a Martense student right in our own Slayer Club. Maybe Moira could help us with that. She's not a science student, but she might know someone... or maybe they have a campus tour, or something. We could go, pretending to be prospective students for a couple years down the line, and get a look at what facilities their labs have, and what hours they are open. I wonder if they have an electron microscope..." She and Drew share a moment of dreamy silence, imagining playing advanced scientific toys. "That would really be helpful, and way cool besides."
While Drew and Sam talk, they stick their heads inside the mausoleum where the vamps came out, but it is now empty. Rows of closed drawers line the walls, and filigreed cupids adorn the ceiling. There is that close-stone musty smell that is becoming very familiar to both of them. Sam pushes the door closed again and they make a quick circuit of the graves. There are no other fresh ones, so Sam leads the way back to her truck.
"A successful night's slaying. And it isn't even that late. You want to go back to the Sacred Grounds to powwow with me and Moira about science labs? Since you're taking Honors Bio this year, and I'm just in regular Bio."
"Sure. You don't think I could possibly let you do science geek stuff without me, do you?"
"Wouldn't think of it."