SP2.1 It's A Helluva Town
Written and directed by John Gianopoulos.
Sam, Drew, Joshua, Tori and Michael board a train for New York. Kevin and his family were traveling to Summer Revels as they do every year, and Hartsdale has non-refundable tickets to a rare books conference in Boston. They arrive at Grand Central Station and are met by Erik, who is excited to show his friends around the city. They board the subway to take them to a hostel near Columbia University where Erik is studying art this summer, on his grandfather's dime. Drew clings to Sam to avoid touching anything -- he doesn't want to accidentally get a vision of Slayer Nikki Wood's death this early in their vacation. Sam doesn't mind, but she does notice something peculiar: there are no vampires on the subway, or in the stations they pass through. None at all. But several people do stand out, as much for the amount of luggage they're taking on the outbound trains, as for the barely-hidden ears, tails and skin conditions that reveal their non-human nature.
Slayer Club settles their things at the hostel, and then takes a leisurely walk down Broadway to Central Park. Tori begins her "campaign of shopping" -- making a list of boutiques to check out later. When they reach the Park, Michael waves Sam and Drew aboard one of the horse-drawn carriages. The ride is almost literally magical: Central Park in the slanting sunlight, gold edging toward dusk, crystalline reflections off the ponds and cool breezes rustling the leaves. Sam and Drew settle back, unselfconsciously holding hands. More than halfway around the park, they realize their driver isn't using his reins, but occasionally murmurs directions under his breath. Sam whispers in Drew's ear, "You think he's telepathic, or the horse is?" They laugh, as comfortable together as they've ever been. When the ride ends, the carriage-man helps Sam down and kisses her hand. "It's our pleasure to give back to those who give so much." They meet the rest of their group and continue on to Bayamo's, a Cuban-Chinese fusion restaurant where a mannequin of Chairman Mao rides a giant chili pepper across the ceiling.
After dinner, shopping! The group splits up to do more damage. Erik and Drew go to The Forbidden Planet's back room and lose themselves in comic book heaven. Tori picks up a handmade brooch from a silversmith/jeweler's while Sam looks over the display of swords and knives in the window next door. The proprietor there is built like a Greek god -- Hephaestus, specifically. Tori is drawn to a curved blade, eight inches long, with a bone handle carved with Hercules fighting the hydra. Mr. Smith, who is a smith, offers to let her try it out on blocks of wood that he keeps in the back room. If she likes it -- and it likes her -- he's willing to let her set any price she thinks is reasonable for it. Tori tests the knife, cutting through the hardest hickory like butter. The hilt fits her hand as if it were made for her. The smith is pleased that they are such a good match. This is one of the oldest blades in his collection. Michael agrees. The blade is from the Middle Ages, as he recognizes the method of forging. (He doesn't say he recognizes it first-hand.) Tori, Sam, and Joshua put their heads together and come up with a price. The smith agrees, and throws in a hunting knife that Sam had been eyeing, and the set of knives that Joshua had decided to buy for juggling purposes, along with scabbards, peace-bonding, and three licenses to carry concealed weapons within the city. And then, if that weren't enough, the smith brings out one more sword and offers it to Sam. She pulls back, "I couldn't possibly afford it." He insists that it's not for sale, but he would like to see her test it -- the most ancient blade he owns. Sam lifts the blade, does a quick salute, and cuts halfway through the block of ebony. And she was trying to pull her strength, thinking that the Kessler Sword would probably be jealous, if it could. In a moment of whimsy, Sam carves her initials into the block and then returns the sword to its owner. Mr. Smith tells them about a fencing club that meets weekly in a studio above his store, and invites Sam and Tori to join them, whenever they are in town.
The group re-convenes at the Strand and searches for the perfect Christmas present for Hartsdale. They find an old-looking tome, written in Basque, that actually dates back only to the sixties. The Strand employee who monitored that section said that the subject matter was South American archaeological sites and apocalyptic prophesies revealed therein. "But of course, all that was disproved years ago, when UCLA published a new translation of the hieroglyphs. What they thought was prophesy was actually just a record of rainfall and corn crops." It was perfect. Hartsdale would spend who knows how long translating this ancient-looking book that was nothing more than a hoax. But he'd probably enjoy the exercise. They all chip in to have it gift-wrapped.
The next morning, Slayer Club meets Erik's art teacher for breakfast. Drew is in for a surprise -- Erik actually kept a secret! His teacher is none other than Frank Miller, the artist behind the Dark Knight Batman comics. Drew is in awe. Here, in the flesh, is one of his heroes. Prof. Miller takes this in stride, and presents Drew with an autographed copy of Dark Knight. But he is meeting with Slayer Club for a reason. They need to talk.
Prof. Miller is not only artistically gifted -- he is also magically Gifted, as are all six of his students this summer, to varying extents. Erik gets along particularly well with a young man named Christophe Duchampe, who was born in Haiti, but came to the U.S. ten years ago at the age of eight, with his grandfather and two-year old sister. Neither of their parents survived the trip, so Grandpere Robere is sole custodian of Christophe and his sister Joie. Three weeks ago, Christophe's grandfather disappeared. They fear that he has met with foul play, but there is more. Robere was the Houngan (shaman) of their voodoo church, and at the time of his disappearance he was "sharing his shell" with Ogou, the Voodoo Lwa (spirit) of war in its beneficial sense -- defense and protection. When Robere disappeared, Ogou also vanished, throwing out the spiritual balance in the city. Tensions have mounted exponentially in recent weeks. (There was the highly publicized Tawana Bradley rape case, incidents surrounding the Korean Store Protests, as well as a young black child who was killed by a Hassidic Jewish driver in Williamsburg. Though the police believed the incident to be an accident, the black population of Williamsburg NYC did not, leading to riots, knifings, and shootings on both sides of the racial divide.)
Aware of Slayer Club's abilities in a general way (Erik couldn't help bragging, just a little bit), Frank Miller asks them to help find Grandpere Robere, if he is captured, or his spirit, if he is dead. They agree to meet with Christophe that evening. His church is leery of letting a bunch of small-town white kids into their confidence, but Christophe knows Erik, and Erik vouches for the others.
To fill the time until then, Michael takes Slayer Club to the Cloisters museum, where some of the researchers, friends of the Temple, have set up a very special "historical display" at his request. Slayer Club is allowed the run of the museum. No place is off-limits, however every room is observed by polite staff members, eager to answer any questions. Joshua is miffed -- there is no way to be sneaky. He slouches along, realizing that this "historical display" has no interest for him. The researchers have spent considerable time and effort, both mundane and magical, to discover: Who were Slayer Club's ancestors and previous incarnations? Joshua just doesn't believe in reincarnation. Sure, one of his ancestors worked with MI5 in London to ferret out Nazi moles during WWII, but so what? Joshua is determined to follow his own path, for his own reasons. But he is alone in his skepticism. The others are fascinated.
One of Drew's ancestors was an Irish patriot who fought for independence from Britain in the '20s. Erik's incarnations included a Nordic Skald who fought and sang alongside a Germanic Slayer named Olga Tyrrinmyth in a battle against the Huns, who had summoned a Prime Demon to help them take over Asia. In that battle also fought: a Celtic warrior (Drew), a Rom gypsy (Kevin) and Olga's shield-maiden and best friend (Sam). During the French and Indian Wars, a pathfinder in Washington's army (Drew) teamed up with a British naturalist (Hartsdale), the wife of an army colonel (Tori) and a colonial settler (Sam) to fight a demon-incursion in the Hudson Valley. As far back as the First Empire of Egypt, where one of Tori's previous incarnations was a priestess of Isis, incident after incident unfurled in books and scrolls and photos that told the stories.
Michael takes Sam aside to a curtained gallery where are books, newspapers, paintings, photographs, and even statues of previous Slayers. Some of them, Michael had known personally: Ishtar, who was immortalized by her people as a goddess; also Alcestis, wife of Admetus, King of Pherae, whose myth told of her dying in her husband's place and then being rescued from the underworld by Herakles. Michael admits that in that case, 'Herakles' was a pseudonym used by himself and several others who brought Alcestis back from the dead and helped her and Admetus escape the forces that had slain her. She retained Slayer strength after her resurrection, but the line of Slayers continued with her successor. Afterwards, she 'retired' with her husband to live in peace. As the line moves closer to modern times, Sam finds most of the Slayers she and Drew read about in the Watcher's diaries, but there are some that she does not know. When he is finished discovering his own "ancestors," Sam takes Drew to "the Hall of Slayers." They "ooh" and "aah" and she makes a charcoal rubbing of the statue of Ishtar to take home with her.
After leaving the Cloisters, Slayer Club goes to see the Red Sox play the Yankees. Loudly cheering for the Red Sox, Sam gets heckled by someone sitting behind them. She pushes the heckler back down into his seat, and Erik loses his temper and tries to punch the guy's face in. Before the police arrive, Sam and Erik come to their senses and everyone beats a hasty retreat. The Red Sox win the game, and the New York Post blames a "riot" in the stands for distracting the Yankees.
That night after full dark Slayer Club joins Christophe and his church for a voodoo ritual of drums and dancing to find out where Grandpere Robere is. As another incarnation of War, Tori's help is requested. She is given a bathing suit and joins the dancers in the middle of the sacred field where the ground is soaked to churn the earth to mud. As the music grows more frenetic, first Erik, then Joshua and Drew start dancing at the edge of the mud-pit. In the center, Tori throws her whole self into it, covered with mud, and joins the ecstatic trance. Sam remains on the fringes, watching, but not participating. Michael absents himself from the ritual, as the energies released eat away his visage of humanity. Sam gets a glimpse of his true "face" before he leaves -- swirling sands, like a desert whirlwind. At the climax of the ritual, the dancers fling mud into the air. A gust of wind blows it south. Christophe is exhausted, but confident that the mud will cling to wherever his grandfather's spirit is. After Tori cleans up and changes back to her own clothes, Slayer Club follows the trail of mud into Columbia's campus. They find it splattered across the front steps of Low Hall, where Frank Miller's art class takes place.
Slayer Club searches the building: central atrium, Art wing, and Physics wing. They find nothing but art in the Art wing, but in the Physics wing, zombies: two shambling men and a woman who can cast spells. The fight is not quick. Even severed zombie limbs continue to fight. Michael takes on the gruesome task of butchering the bodies down to pieces too small to move. Erik paints a quick vever drawing, hoping to channel Robere's spirit so they can pinpoint it. Instead, Robere warns him to stop Christophe from "falling down the path of darkness." Erik and Sam run back to the Hougou church, where Christophe is in mid-trance, ready to unleash more dark voodoo to avenge his grandfather's death. Erik talks him down, convinces him that this is not the way. He shows the vever he painted, and tells him what Robere said. Christophe comes back to himself and promises not to do any more dark magic. Erik and Sam return to Low Hall to continue searching for Robere's spirit.
They find it in one of the physics labs. Professor Seidel has been experimenting on the fringes of physics and necromancy, to find a way to harness ghosts to power electric devices. He built a spirit-capacitor effective enough to power Low Hall entirely for the whole semester. This is where Robere's spirit was captured, and with him, the spirit of Ogun. According to the notes that Sam found in Seidel's desk, he would soon be applying for more grant money to continue his research. With those notes and the copious equations on the blackboard, Sam and Drew figure out how to release the spirits, and then break the device. Drew changes the blackboard equations so anyone trying to re-create Seidel's research will be led down a blind alley. Joshua hunts up an electro-magnet from another lab to wipe Seidel's computer. Last, they "accidentally" spill enough chemicals on his file cabinets that all his papers become one big, gooey mass. When this vandalism is discovered on Monday, Prof. Seidel is released from Columbia's faculty. He goes to UCLA and changes his focus from necromantic physics to other-worldly physics (a few years later, he'll send his grad student, Winnifred Burkle, to the dimension of Pylea). Once Ogun is released from his prison, tensions in the city return to normal levels (a dull roar, not a screaming whine). Slayer club goes back to their hostel to shower and sleep.
The next morning, they are met by a messenger from Uncle Carmine, the new Don of Tony Rascona's "Family." They are cordially invited to dinner -- an invitation it would not be wise to refuse. Tori continues her "campaign of shopping" with Sam in tow. It would not do to attend such a function in flannel and jeans. Sam finds a simple, elegant, black dress to wear. Tori splurges on Versace.
Uncle Carmine sends a limousine to pick them up promptly at sunset for the ride out to Long Island. Just as she's stepping into the limo, Sam feels a familiar prickly sensation on the back of her neck. A platinum-haired vampire with chiseled cheek-bones and a long, black coat slouches down the street, muttering to himself. "Leave town, come back to town, what the bloody hell is going on? Bollocks! I should have stayed in London." Sam catches his eye and gives him a "look" before she ducks into the soft leather upholstery beside Drew. And Spike never knew who she was.