On route to the Arms Hotel, Friday night

[can_be_more]

[Happens about the same time as this.

No interaction possible, locked to current players, continued in comments, offer not valid in Tennessee.]

<td width="14%"></td> <td width="86%">Aeryn's the first one out, making sure the others are coming along. She's not leading, just walking with them, and letting them do most of the talking. That's what she would be doing normally.

It's just that normally they'd be going the other way on the road, back towards the school.</td>

	Parker is uneasily aware of how many weapons she's carrying, and the occasional trooper on the streets. But more than that, she'd looking around, watching, hoping to spot something out of place.
	Anakin didn't realize just how much he'd missed the feel of a lightsaber on his waist until he had that comforting weight there again. The stakes he had didn't hurt much, either. "Almost there," Anakin murmured. "Those troopers give me the creeps."
	"The helmets could use a little work," agrees Aeryn, who otherwise finds them kind of comforting.
	"I think they need a little more colour in their uniforms," Bridge adds.
	"As long as none show up that are bigger than man-sized, I won't have a problem with them," Molly said.
	Anakin gave them another glance over his shoulder. "Yeah. That would be bad."
	Parker checks her earpiece, and then back at Aeryn and the others. "You don't really think she'll be there, do you? Darla had to have left after last week's attack."
	"If she's not, hopefully there's something at least we can use," Aeryn says. The thought's crossed her mind, too, but she's hoping they at least find something.

	It looks pretty quiet at the back of the hotel at this time of night, but Aeryn keeps her hand near her holster, just in case. She slows her walking a little to let Bridge take the lead, since he's the one who's going to be tracking.
	Silly little poppets. Come to play, had they? Come to find Darla and take her away, scatter her to the wind and the dust? Her pets didn't swarm together in the darkness, she'd taught them that much. Five soft figures, crouched low and hiding, shadows on the edge of vision. She stood back, farther in the shadows, watching and waiting. Perhaps her little pets would sharpen their fangs and teach the students not to leave their soft, warm beds. Perhaps she'd have to interfere her very own self. She'd been a teacher. Such fun they'd all had, in the days when Daddy had been around to play. Drusilla's hands smoothed down her skirt. Pretty and quiet, all darkness and lace to blend with the night. Such fun they would have tonight.
	The hairs on the back of Anakin's neck stood up. Something was wrong. His lightsaber was out and lit before he had consciously thought to do it. He hoped the troopers didn't know what a glowing blue blade meant. "I have a bad feeling about this," he murmured.
	Hearing this, Aeryn has to fight off the instinct to grab her pulse rifle. Instead she reaches for one of the stakes hidden under her coat and figures she's probably going to have to get close. She might walk slower, but doesn't stop.
	Seeing Aeryn pull out a stake, Molly did so as well. She looked around for a threat while she shifted the unfamiliar weapon around in her hand.
	Bridge scans the area. "More evil energy than I can shake a stick at. Six of them... one of them, she looks like one of the pictures that was posted around the school. Drusilla. They'll be here any second." He's unsheathed his sword now, dropping in to a fighting stance.
	Parker got out the crossbow, and made sure the wooden bolt was secure, and that her holy water gun was ready. "Great," she said under her breath. "Where are they?
	Parker gets her reply very quickly as a vampire lunges from the shadows and moves right toward the leader of the group, in this case Aeryn.
	Okay, the instinct to go for the pulse rifle wins out this time. And as soon as it's close enough, Aeryn goes to knock the vampire in the head with it.
	Parker hits the comms button. "Control, this is Prada-- we have vampires near the hotel service entrance!" She aims at the vampire, but can't get a clear shot. "Damnit!"
	Its head snaps back and he growls in annoyance, the shot hits its shoulder but he still has enough momentum to barrel right into Aeryn. His hand moves to her throat and it snarls at Aeryn.
	Aeryn grabs its hand with her left to try and get him to loosen its grip, working her fingers under his grasp to give herself breathing room. And with her right hand, she finds the stake to plunge it into its chest where Angel showed her.
	The vampire howls in pain, its foul breath washing over Aeryn but she missed his heart and his fingers tighten around her throat even more as he lifts her up and throws her off of him.
	Aeryn hits the ground hard, wincing but not thinking any more about it. Grabbing another stake, she gets to her feet.
	The vampire seems to only have eyes for Aeryn and jumps towards her. He grabs for her hand, twisting the stake away from him.
	Now that the two combatants weren't so close together, Molly moved in to assist Aeryn. Forgetting about the stake in her hand, she picked up the vampire and threw it against the side of the building.
	The vampire whimpered as it hit the wall hard and fell to the ground. Its attention had now definitely moved from Aeryn to Molly and crawled back to its feet and approached the girl as if stalking a prey.
	Remembering the stance that Angel had shown her, Molly stood her ground and readied the stake in her hand as she waited for the vampire to get closer.
	Vampires weren't patient and soon it pounced, aiming a punch at Molly's jaw.
	Molly didn't flinch this time as the punch connected.
	The vampire howled as it could feel the bones in its hand shatter and break. Giving up wasn't in its dictionary, though, and it used its other hand to grip Molly's shoulder and pull her in closer. It bared its fangs and leaned in.
	As the vampire leaned in, Molly lifted the stake and stabbed it in the heart.
	The vampire snarled and snatched its teeth before it went poof and its dust fell to the ground.
	As Parker's attention is on the vampire attacking Aeryn, another one moves eerily quiet sneaks up beside her.
	Parker tightens her grip on the crossbow, and mutters to Bridge, "Come on, point us at them, where are they?" She's looking in all directions at once, her heart triphammering with adrenaline.
	"Beside you!" Bridge says, not even looking over in Parker's direction.
	"Crap!" Parker turns, her eyes widening, her finger tightening on the trigger but not releasing the crossbow yet, just as the vampire comes out of the shadows.
	At the same time, the vampire lunges at Parker. He tries to knock her crossbow away.
	Parker keeps a grip on it, and even manages to pull the trigger-- but she's too busy to see if it even hits anywhere. It didn't hit the heart, that's for sure. Then she kicks out, going for the knees, hoping to put just enough distance between them to get a clear shot with her holy water gun. "Bridge! Someone! A little help!"
	Anakin, completely forgetting about his promise to Rory about not being a hero, went charging towards the vampire. His hand flew out and he reached into the Force, concentrating on throwing the vampire backwards to buy Parker a little more time.
	Between the kick and the Force push, the vampire was slammed backward and hit the ground. He didn't have the sense to be afraid, though, and scrambled right back up. Intend on jumping Parker again.
	"Thanks!" Parker already had her holy water gun out in her left hand, and she squeezed off three shots at point-blank range into its face and torso, then grabbed the stake from her belt, rushing forward.
	The holy water burned and the vampire hissed in pain. Even more annoyed now, it made a wide sweep with its arm to knock the stake away.
	Parker saw the move coming, ducked it, and then yelled, putting all her weight behind her strike with the stake as she leaped forward.
	The stake hit bone, but no heart and the vampire snarled in outrage as he gripped Parker's arm and lashed out at her face.
	"Agh." Parker felt the nails scrape as her head whipped around, and the sting brought tears to her eyes as her teeth rattled. "God. Damnit." She rabbit-kicked forward into the vampire's gut, and brought her elbow up in a hard strike for its jaw, panting for breath as she reached for another stake.
	The vampire doubled over and staggered back a bit, but it didn't relent and used its full body to slam into Parker.
	She managed to grab the next stake, that was the plus. The minus was another bone-shaking impact that now had her stumbling backward, her balance off, head spinning.
	The vampire sent its elbow crashing into Parker's back as it grabbed hold of the back of her neck and moved closer.
	Parker gasped for breath, clinging to her stake and scrabbling for purchase. Oh, god, oh god-- She kicked backward, a mule-kick toward the vampire's groin, and then snapped her head back as hard as she could.
	The headbut and the kick were enough to let the vampire let go. He stumbled back and made a whining noise as he didn't know where to rub first.
	Whirling, Parker re-adjusted her grip on the stake, and then pushed off the ground and up, punching with her left hand toward the head, then aiming for the heart, under and up.
	The vampire reached out for Parker's throat, but as soon as the stake hit its heart, he became nothing but dust.
	Parker's momentum had her stumbling forward, coughing on the dust, her head ringing from the hits she'd taken. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then opened them, turning around and scanning for her team members. "Control, Prada, one vamp down, two vamps down, last one-- in progress." She ran toward Anakin and Bridge, hoping she'd be able to help.
	Seemingly out of nowhere, a third vampire jumped right onto Anakin's back. It might be looking for a piggy back ride, but then again it seemed rather intend on trying to bite at his neck.
	Anakin let loose with a stream of Huttese profanity and dropped his lightsaber. He leaned forward and yanked on the vampire's arms, trying to toss him off.
	"On the plus side? That's the last one that's gonna attack out here. The others are still inside," Bridge says, before moving to try and help Anakin. Holding the sword in his left hand, he grabs one of the vampire's arms with his right and pulls.
	Between the pulling and the yanking, the vampire loses its grip and falls to the ground. It is however in the perfect position to grab hold of Anakin and Bridge's ankle to try and pull them both to the ground.
	Whumph. Anakin fell onto his back, stretching out with his hand and the Force to bring his lightsaber back. "That's very encouraging," he said to Bridge.
	Bridge flails and falls forward, the sword slipping from his grip. He puts his hands out to lessen the impact of his fall. "I thought so!" Bridge says flippantly.
	Having no one to banter with, the vampire jumped on top of Anakin. Sending his fist into Anakin's left shoulder, he bend down going for the neck once more.
	Anakin cried out in pain as the vampire's fist connected with a shoulder still bruised from the snow monster attack. He reached into the Force, concentrating on sending the vampire as far up as possible without alerting the troopers to the presence of their fight. Being hit by a randomly flying member of the undead would be a bit of a giveaway. A couple meters into the air should do it.
	This wasn't something the vampire was prepared for. It kicked and squirmed, trying to reach out for Anakin or Bridge. Or simple anything.
	"That's-- amusing," Parker panted, joining them after her vampire was dust. "What are you going to do to him?"
	"Kill him," Anakin said, eyes flashing. He pulled the stake Rory had given him from the leg holster Sam had made and stood up, slamming the stake into the floating vampire's chest.
	"Roger that. Keep your eyes open."
	Parker hit the comm button again. "Control from Prada. Three vamps down, no casualties." She leaned over and rested her hands on her knees. "Except for my enthusiasm.
	Anakin tried to roll his left shoulder and winced. "Just when it was starting to feel better, too," he muttered. He looked around. "Molly, you okay?"
	Molly looked up from examining the pile of dust at her feet. "Yup. We've got it handled over here." She grinned at Anakin, her eyes still glowing pink.
	Anakin grinned back. Glowing eyes didn't faze him. "Good to hear." He nodded his head towards the hotel. "Shall we go discover whatever it was they didn't want us to find?"
	Drusilla had held back, waiting and hoping and with a little smile on her face. This wasn't nearly so fun as she'd hoped. Not enough splashing and crunching and screaming.