"Have you got the holiday schedules finalised?" Faith was wondering who she'd be stuck with as a skeleton crew.

Andrew handed her a list. "There's a three who'll be staying at headquarters and there's several more locals who can make the night shift. I'm just worried about so many of them descending on Ibiza. Do we need to issue a warning?"

Faith laughed. "The only casualties are likely to be drugged out English boys and from the ones I saw on the first mission we carried out there, that will be no great loss."

"I guess we're sorted then. Drink?"


open_on_sunday — challenge #347: s/3
open_on_sunday — challenge #348: origin
open_on_sunday — challenge #349: holiday travel
Part of the London!verse

"If it wasn't for all this vampire shit I wouldn't need your blood." Sookie studied the rapidly fading bruises amongst her other injuries.

"What would your life be life without all this vampire shit?" Eric asked quietly.

"Well, I wouldn't get beat up as much." She frowned in thought. "But I'd be bored to tears, I'd never have a relationship with a human and would probably end up a crazy cat lady."

"Your life is much more interesting when I'm in it?" Eric pulled her onto his lap.

Sookie nodded and snuggled closer. All she need was the right perspective.


trueblood100 — challenge #10: free

"It's supposed to be a costume party." Andrew glared at Faith. "Turning up in street clothes, a stake in hand and announcing you're a Slayer, really isn't going to impress anyone."

"But it does get me out of looking like a tool."

"Have you thought about a costume where you're completely incognito?" Faith leaned against the wall, arms folded and raised a questioning eyebrow. "You could stalk people at the party without them knowing who you are."

Faith grinned. She could fondle sweet young things to her heart's content then disappear when she got bored. That suggestion had definite potential.


open_on_sunday — challenge #344: costume
open_on_sunday — challenge #345: candy
open_on_sunday — challenge #346: wall
Part of the London!verse

"You indulge her." Pam folded her arms, glaring at the phone as Eric hung up. She was surprised a human could leave him with such a stupid expression on his face.

"She's worth it."

Pam shrugged her indifference. "It would be much easier to arrange fatal accidents for Bill and the tiger instead of waiting for your human to come to her senses."

Eric steepled his fingers. "The chase is half the fun of the hunt."

"Laying in wait and catching your prey unaware is also quite enjoyable," Pam countered.

"It could be argued that we're discussing the same thing."


trueblood100 — challenge #9: failure

"We're going to have to take Xander off active duty before one of the little bitches kills him." Faith had found him bound and gagged in the walk-in freezer this time.

Andrew sighed. As a craftsman, the Juniors had a great deal of respect for Xander. However, when it came to his duties as a Watcher, they wouldn't take him seriously.

"We're getting a lot of queries from older Potentials." These were women who'd trained as Slayers years ago, but never been called. "They'd like to put their skills to use and they'll be able to hold their own."


open_on_sunday — challenge #341: cure
open_on_sunday — challenge #342: the cranberries: wanted
open_on_sunday — challenge #343: blue
Part of the London!verse

Sookie felt Eric's fury moments before she saw him. He stalked across the club covered from head to foot in blood.

She heard the usual mental white noise of sex shift to shock at the sight, terror over whose blood it was and a few of the more disturbing fangbangers went straight back to fantasising it was their blood and the sex that went with it.

Pam appeared at her side. "Go to him, Sookie." Apparently, Eric was checking the details of a recall when a case of fermented True Blood exploded. "Distract him or he'll start killing the vermin."


trueblood100 — challenge #8: because

Eric was lost in his own thoughts. If he wasn't, the fangbanger attempting to lick his boots would have found himself missing a head instead of nursing a couple of cracked ribs.

Glancing across the bar at Pam, Eric nodded towards his office. He was staring at the floor when Pam joined him.

"You seem preoccupied."

"Do you think it would be bad for business if we flayed the odd customer?"

"It would displease the police and cause headaches with the department of health, but would be drawcard for tourists."

"Too much of a risk?"

"I think so, yes."

"Shame."


trueblood100 — challenge #7: skin

Dawn stumbled back to her desk, hands cupped around her mug. She'd apologised for disturbing the Retjulls and appeased them with the offering of her muffin. She'd apologise in the morning for raiding Ray's candy cache, but she needed a sugar fix before tackling the office accounts.

It wasn't terribly complicated, but she always procrastinated, leaving it until the last minute. Right after pulling an all night engagement probably wasn't the best time to go over the books, but it did may for some creative, if somewhat eccentric accounting. She idly wondered if DVDs could be classed as research materials.


open_on_sunday — challenge #338: plain
open_on_sunday — challenge #339: pray / prayer
open_on_sunday — challenge #340: book
Part of the London!verse

Eric looked up at the sudden ruckus. There was a loud slap, a scream and then every vampire turned to watch, suddenly interested in the smell of drawn blood.

As Fantasia's extremely large human bouncer ejected the two combatants, a waitress hurried to Eric's booth to report.

"What happened?"

The girl was new and wouldn't look at Eric directly. "Hen's night, sir. Two of the guests came to blows over a boyfriend."

Eric nodded and dismissed her. The silly creatures would do well to remember where they were before spilling blood. He wondered if they'd live to see the dawn.


trueblood100 — challenge #6: remember

"How's your offsider working out?"

Faith leaned against the wall of Andrew's office, arms folded across her chest. "She'll take on all comers. The vampires think she's a joke and she's killed them while they're still laughing."

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Interesting tactic."

"Yeah," Faith grinned. "It's bitching funny, but it's going to come back and bite her if she tries it on demons."

"No sense of humour?"

"Well, that and some of them have no idea about humans, so being small and cute is no longer an asset. She's hell fast, but that won't help her with all targets."


open_on_sunday — challenge #335: expert
open_on_sunday — challenge #336: line
open_on_sunday — challenge #337: work
Part of the London!verse

Faith looked through the files. "She's young."

Andrew nodded. "Not quite thirteen. Yet she dusted three vampires on her own with no training and no idea who she was fighting."

"She's a natural." Faith whistled as she read the report. "She needs the theory, but she's way ahead of her age group on the practical. They picked her up in the early hours of the morning in Central Park?"

"Yeah, it says she doesn't play well with others too, like another young Slayer I could mention. I don't think she'll take to the group. I'm making her your personal project."


open_on_sunday — challenge #332: echo
open_on_sunday — challenge #333: triple
open_on_sunday — challenge #334: novice
Part of the London!verse

"You're joking, right?" Jack looked at the Doctor in disbelief.

"Nope. I took out a Dalek with a pot."

Rose frowned. "A kitchen pot or a plant pot?"

"Plant."

"Come on. How can you kill a Dalek with pot?" Jack still couldn't figure out the logistics. "How?"

The Doctor managed to look insufferably smug. "It was a very large pot and I dropped it from a decent height."

"So, Daleks don't look up?" Rose wondered if this was like their stair aversion that wasn't.

"This one didn't." The Doctor shrugged. "Flattened it like a pancake. Or a giant Dalek frisbee."


dw100 — challenge #261: pot

"Four leaving now. Premises clear. Lights out." Wolf cocked her head. "At least one computer is still crunching data."

Andrew noted the time and details. "Hey, check it out! Full moon."

Wolf looked up. "Pretty!"

"Aren't you supposed to go all," Andrew waved his arms about, "Wolf-y?"

"The two things aren't related, but if it makes you happy..."

Andrew suddenly found a large wolf sitting beside him on the roof. "Cute." She changed back.

"Thanks. How about we go check out the office and see what our new friends are up to before the losers do something silly?"

"Let's go."


open_on_sunday — challenge #329: win / winner
open_on_sunday — challenge #330: moon
open_on_sunday — challenge #331: left / leaves
Part of the London!verse and the Wolf&Declán!verse

Dawn packed the blood in the fridge, still amused how easy it was to purchase.

After tracking down a supplier, she'd spent an afternoon trying to find the most obscure item available online and had lost when Andrew had found Uranium Nitricum from a homeopathy supplier. Technically, it was nothing more than tap water, but he still claimed victory.

For a girl who'd grown up in the Californian sun, she barely saw it any more and kept company with all manner of creatures most people regarded as fantastical. She laughed, realising that she was one of those mythical creatures too.


open_on_sunday — challenge #326: sun/son
open_on_sunday — challenge #327: franz ferdinand: shopping for blood
open_on_sunday — challenge #328: clock
Part of the London!verse

I've got a couple of Dreamwidth invites if anyone is interested.

"He got the weekly report, didn't he?" Faith ignored the body that was curled foetally in the corner, gibbering quietly to itself.

"Of course he did. Everyone gets it." Andrew frowned at the expense record.

"So why the hell did he take his team anywhere near a sale?" Faith shook her head in disgust. No lives were lost, but the girls had blown their credit out the window and Xander had developed a tic whenever someone mentioned cup size that was oddly entertaining.

Andrew tossed the paperwork aside in disgust. How shoes could cost that much was beyond his understanding.


open_on_sunday — challenge #323: sale
open_on_sunday — challenge #324: league
open_on_sunday — challenge #325: cup
Part of the London!verse

"They look adorable." Dawn poked a finger at a box full of what appeared to be capsule toys, each containing a furry car mirror ornament.

"Don't let their looks fool you. Last time they got stroppy about their environment being disturbed they nearly created a black hole in the financial district."

Spike and Dawn had sealed the small demons in individual stasis fields and temporarily relocated them to their office while the demons favourite elevator shaft was being serviced.

Dawn stopped poking the box of demons and looked at Spike. "If they're so dangerous, should you really be juggling them?"


open_on_sunday — challenge #320: prosper
open_on_sunday — challenge #321: descend
open_on_sunday — challenge #322: ascend / ascension
Part of the London!verse

The report they'd followed up had mentioned demons fighting. It hadn't said anything about a rowdy audience watching demons compete in a cooking contest.

"Can you make out what's going on?" Faith whispered from her hiding place.

Andrew winced as the audience launched into another round of raucous barracking as the cooks bustled around their studio kitchens. "I know the language, but the dialect is unfamiliar. I think the green meat dish is organic and the purple one is a curry. Nothing to warrant our intervention."

"Aside from a disturbing pop culture infection. I expected demons to have better taste."


open_on_sunday — challenge #317: eco
open_on_sunday — challenge #318: pan
open_on_sunday — challenge #319: dash
Part of the London!verse

"Who have you got so far?" Faith asked a slightly frazzled Andrew. He'd spent the last couple of days trying to chase up warm, and not so warm, bodies to cover the holiday shortfall.

"Dawn's available, Declán's in Canada with Rachel, and Spike and Wolf are running about town somewhere torturing gullible teenage wannabes who've been watching too many bad movies." Andrew rolled his eyes. The popularity of bad vampire and werewolf media had seen some close calls with civilians interfering on Slayer territory.

"Torturing the stupid? Is it too late to put in for holidays so I can play?"


open_on_sunday — challenge #314: knight
open_on_sunday — challenge #315: passion
open_on_sunday — challenge #316: cross
Part of the London!verse and the Wolf&Declán!verse

"Why does Xander smell like shit?"

Andrew smiled at Faith standing in his doorway. "He's been GPS tagging Huttni demons in the sewer."

"Roughly the size and intelligence of a rat?" Andrew nodded. "They're no threat."

"True," Andrew agreed. "But they spray an hallucinogen when they're cornered and I'd like to match their whereabouts to any outbreaks of weirdness. I'm hoping it will rule out certain cases from further investigation."

"So how did Xander avoid getting sprayed?"

"He didn't." Andrew grinned. "That's why he's only doing one at a time."

"So that's why I saw him stroking the wall earlier."


open_on_sunday — challenge #311: tag
open_on_sunday — challenge #312: pat
open_on_sunday — challenge #313: lock/key
Part of the London!verse