1.3: Proactivity
The episode begins with the gang on patrol on Friday night on the weekend following the last episode. Early, they meet none other than Will Hindle, or at least the vampire incarnation of the popular former student. He doesn’t seek a fight, but wants to deliver a message for Xing. It seems Gabby Blades, leader of the vampire motorcycle gang “Las Chicas,” would like to meet with her as they like to recruit strong women and anyone who can kill two of her gang must be very strong. The group first encountered word of “Las Chicas” in Sweeps Week Part 1 and had their basic history from Karl’s library. Karl urges her to slay and in less than a moment Will is a pile of dust. Xing is not interested in meeting Gabby.
Keishawn, still upset about the theft of “An Occult History of St. Louis” from his aunt’s apartment last week, seeks to go to Brad Johnson’s home to get it back. Karl, interested in this rare book, agrees. Brad’s car is not at his house and the only light on is the television which is tuned to “Emeril.” Brad’s mom watches intently. No one answers when the gang knocks as Brad’s mom just sits there and his dad soon enters, very slowly to sit beside his wife. The gang knocks on the window but the parents don’t respond at all. The gang eventually enter through the back door and find Brad’s parents in a sort of trance, not noticing them and replying emotionlessly to questions as if the gang were their children. A quick search upstairs finds Keishawn’s book and it happens to be open. They are also able to search Tori’s (Brad’s sister’s) email and find a suspicious email from Brad to his sister, her friend Sara, and his friend Kevin mentioning that “the tip was right, the book has what we need. Meet at the usual spot on Friday.” Brad had deleted all of his email. In the basement the crew finds a pentagram and small altar with the ingredients for several nasty spells. They are left to wonder what’s going on and why Brad wanted the book, rare though it may be.
They return to Karl’s house to find out exactly what Brad was researching and Keishawn tries to find a reversal spell for Brad’s parents. Long into the night, a motorcycle gang of about thirty women rolls by slowly…searching. Roach hops in her car and follows them, eventually leading her to the abandoned Lemp Brewery where she spots the black van that was seen in Sweeps Week Part 1. She returns to tell everyone what she saw.
At Karl’s research has been fruitful. It seems Brad was studying an even that happened in the 1930’s. A powerful demon named Adam was terrorizing the city with his minions who were called “The Brotherhood of Seven,” who thrived on consuming human brains. Little else in mentioned except the following passage of interest “The Covenant was at that time young and would not have been able to stop Adam and his fiends had it not been for the help of the Slayer, a Korean warrior woman of great prowess, and her friend, a private investigator whose name has been lost to history.”
The passage gives the location of the final battle but only by vague landmarks, which Brad had highlighted (much to Keishawn’s disdain). The group works on narrowing down the location to find what Brad is after.
The next day Keishawn finds what he think could reverse the spell on Brad’s parents, but not before Xing decides that Las Chicas need to be exterminated before they cause too much trouble. At midday they head down to the Lemp Brewery. Xing climbs a fire escape to spy on the happenings inside. A handful of vamps are arguing in the shadows below. It seems that their numbers have been depleted after a visit to some place called “Sunnydale” and the group is at such low strength that they are worried of attack. The leader, Gabby, dismisses this mentioning that they have been through harder times and they still needed to narrow down the recruits…can’t have weak women becoming weak vampires, after all. Xing reports what she saw.
The group plans for a bit and then attacks. The battle is swift, but deadly, with Xing taking a terrible slash from Gabby’s sword across the chest. Xing returns the favor and skewers Gabby, hurting the vampire badly. Meanwhile Roach proceeds to surprise one of the minions and proceeds to dust her while Karl dusts another with a well-placed crossbow shot. Keishawn uses his sorcery to distract Gabby, aiding Xing. Xing manages to throw another minions into sunlight while barely defending Gabby’s skilled swordplay. Karl tussles with another and eventually dispatches her using an axe. Soon, with all her minions dead, a shocked Gabby flees into the shadows. St. Louis may never know how much destruction was just averted by the Slayer and her small circle of friends.
