Unnatural Selection (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - Softcover

In addition to writing for Buffy, he's written books in the fantasy, SF, computer gaming comics, action-adventure, and horror fields, including titles for Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Allen Strange, Young Hercules, and Alex Mack, as well as the novelization of Blade.

His e-mail address is denimbyte@aol.com, and he enjoys corresponding with readers.

Buffy reloaded the crossbow on the run. Now there's dexterity! Glancing over her shoulder, she saw at least six vampires coming after them. Gaining ground in fact....

"Which way?" Giles asked breathlessly.

Sprinting quickly to the side, Buffy glanced ahead. Yellow earth-moving monster machines occupied the clearing ahead. She recognized bulldozers and backhoes and other tracked vehicles designed to rip, dig, or shove the earth.

"The equipment," she told Giles. "It's bigger than the trees. It'll give us more cover."

The Watcher ran for the nearest bulldozer.

I never should have let him come out here, Buffy chided herself. I knew the forest was starting to fill up with these guys. She and Xander had stopped in at Willy's tavern only yesterday and found out about the gathering of vamps at the forest.

Giles ducked under the bulldozer. He hunkered down and glanced at her. "Come on, Buffy!"

"Do me a favor," Buffy said. "Just stay there a minute and keep out of the way." She didn't mean it in a bad way, but they both knew she was better than him at this sort of thing. It was kind of what made him the Watcher and her the Slayer. Watchers watched, and Slayers slayed.

Not breaking stride, Buffy launched herself into the air. She turned a complete somersault in the air and landed on top of the bulldozer's engine cowling facing the direction she'd come from.

The lead vampire had been an older female before she'd died and come back. Her gray hair flared out behind her, proof that a bad hair day could come back to haunt someone. Her yellow fangs glinted in the moonlight, and a silvery bubble of anxious saliva gleamed on her lips.

Buffy aimed the crossbow and put the shaft through her heart. The creature stopped for just a moment, then exploded into a shower of ash that the two vampires behind her rushed through without slowing down.

Dropping the crossbow, Buffy reached into her backpack and pulled out a pair of wooden stakes. She twirled them in her hands and moved to counter the two young male vampires leaping up onto the bulldozer.

One of them landed in front of her while the other dropped onto the canopy over the operator's seat. "Stakes?" the one in front of her asked.

"Well, I've done the Shot-Through-the-Heart riff," Buffy said, "so I thought I'd try something a little more close up and personal." She feinted, then ducked to the left, drawing the young vampire in front of her out of his position.

He raked at her with his fingers, intending to rip her face off. Buffy dodged under the blow, taking a step behind him. Her Slayer senses also told her the vampire on the bulldozer's canopy was leaping down at her back as she turned.

Hooking her right elbow up into the first vampire's armpit and shoulder, Buffy flung him forward into the one that had leaped. They struck each other with a meaty impact, sounding like linemen in a football game. Before they could disentangle from each other, she staked the one she'd thrown.

The vampire disintegrated, falling to ashes at her feet. "Oh man," the other vampire said, backing away. He tried to leap up onto the bulldozer's canopy again.

Buffy threw herself after him. She grabbed him by the shirt collar with her free hand. They fell over the side and crashed to the ground. The fall dazed Buffy for just a moment, but she recovered quickly. She pushed herself up and started to stake her quarry. Then she noticed one of the other vampires dragging Giles from under the bulldozer.

The librarian fought back valiantly, punching and kicking, but the blows had no effect on the creature that held him. The vamp grinned, revealing huge canines.

"Giles!" Buffy called. He turned and she tossed the stake to him underhanded.

Giles caught the stake, then shoved the sharp point toward the vampire who hissed and jumped back. "Thank you," the Watcher said over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a moment." He took a better grip on the stake and pursued the vampire.

Buffy's attention returned to the vampire she confronted.

"Lost your toothpick," the vampire taunted. He stood and came at her.

Holding her hands in front of her, Buffy straightarmed him in the forehead, snapping his head back. She whirled and sidestepped, bringing a slashing backfist into the vampire's mouth. His fangs shattered with loud pops. "That comes from not flossing between kills," Buffy said.

The vampire clapped a hand over his mouth and howled in disbelief. "Ou mroke muh teef! Ou mroke muh teef!" He sank to the ground, momentarily stunned.

A shadow slipped across the ground to Buffy's right. Without hesitating the Slayer leaped straight up and flipped over, coming down with her heels on the back of another vampire. She drove the creature to the ground.

In her life, this vampire had been a girl not much older than Buffy. She howled in rage and rolled over, raking out a handful of sharp talons.

Buffy flipped again, already knowing the direction she needed to move. A half-dozen two-by-fours lay on the ground near the bulldozer. She landed and picked the end of one up while the girl vamp hurled herself forward again.

Stamping on the middle of the two-by-four, Buffy cracked it. She picked up the three-foot section she held, satisfied with the irregular edge the break had created. She rammed it into the attacking vampire.

Ashes fell where the creature had once stood.

Buffy braced herself and threw the other section of the wood at the vampire whose teeth she'd broken. He exploded when the jagged end pierced his heart.

Glancing toward Giles, Buffy saw the librarian had managed to stake the creature that had attacked him. She gave him a smile, then retreated to her backpack while the remaining two vampires tried to figure out what they wanted to do. She grabbed two more stakes from the backpack. What good is a Slayer who doesn't accessorize to the max?

The vampires broke and ran, plunging into the forest.

"Well," Giles said, "that was exciting."

Buffy tossed him one of the stakes. "Oh, we're not done yet." She took up the chase.

Willow stumbled on the stairs in the darkness. She grabbed the railing, listening to the phone ring and ring in her ear. Panic welled up inside her, tightening her breath. She made herself be calm. Realizing that Oz and the band must have already gone for pizza and no one was there, she punched the phone off.

Oz's gone. Buffy's gone. Xander! Gotta be Xander! She punched Xander's number on the phone's lighted keypad. Cupping it to her ear again, she started up the stairs again. Tad's up there! I hope!

It almost broke Willow's heart to think of the baby lying up in his bed alone and unprotected. At the top of the stairs she searched the wall with her free hand and found the rechargeable flashlight hanging there.

The phone picked up. "Hi, this is Xander's machine," Xander's voice said. "Xander's not here right now. Leave your name and number at the beep."

Willow beat the beep and punched the phone off. She switched on the flashlight and a cone of yellow illumination splashed against the ceiling. She adjusted it, pointing it toward the baby's room. The door remained closed.

Okay, okay, be calm, Will, be calm....

At the end of the hallway, a window overlooked the upwardly mobile residential area. Lights glowed in all the other houses.

Not good, she told herself. It's not good to be the only house without lights. She looked around for a weapon, then realized she was all out of hands. Phone, flashlight. It's a start. She crept across the smooth wooden floor that, thankfully, didn't creak underfoot.

She listened at the door and heard nothing. She'd already decided that was bad. Thinking maybe Xander was over at Cordelia's, she punched in that number.

"Hello?" Cordelia said. "I don't recognize the name or number showing on my Caller ID, so this had better not be a prank call. I'll track you down and -- "

"Cordelia," Willow whispered hoarsely, "it's me." She hated that she was reduced to asking Cordelia for help.

"I see," Cordelia said, clearly not seeing. "Is this Me Smith or Me Jones? I get you two confused sometimes."

Willow put a trembling hand on the door, not liking what her mind was conjuring up about the baby. Xander Harris, you're going to pay for all those movies you dragged me to. "Cordelia, it's Willow."

"Willow? You sound like you have a cold."

"I'm whispering because I don't want to be heard." Willow put her hand on the doorknob and turned. It turned easily. That was good. Or maybe it was bad.

"If you don't want to be heard, why are you calling?"

"Something's here with me." Willow pushed the door inward slightly and peered through the crack. She barely saw the baby bed. The window on the other side of the room appeared closed and intact. She felt a little better.

"Something as in fanged and gruesome?"

"I don't know. I'm over at the Campbells' house baby-sitting."

"Baby-sitting?" Cordelia made it sound like leprosy.

"It was a favor."

"Isn't there a Campbell on the zoning commission over the park development?" Cordelia's tone turned suspicious.

Cordelia's knowledge of that surprised Willow. Usually Cordelia showed more interest in fashion and hairstyles. And heading up the planning committee for the Spring Blow-Out. "Yes, but -- "

Cordelia shifted into outrage. "You went there to talk about Gallivan Industries and the amusement park?"

"No. They asked me to baby-sit. I was going to talk to him later."

"Willow, this is so beneath you! I can't believe -- "

"Cordelia, shut up and listen." Willow gasped, feeling guilty and totally weirded out as she stepped into the baby's room. Nothing moved. Please let the baby be asleep. She crept toward the crib on trembling legs. "I'm over here and something's going on. I heard these noises, like somebody might have been climbing on the roof."

"Probably a cat," Cordelia said. "Do they have a cat?"

"No. But the lights are out."

"Power outages happen all the time."

Give it up, Will, she thought. Cordy's no help. Willow forced herself to take a deep breath. "I was c...