Even after I closed the gateway, when I burst up through it's skull - I knew it wasn't over. I knew the fight would never be over for me. Harth fled. I don't know where he went and I looked everywhere. But I knew that one day, when I was least expecting it, he'd show up. And I'd kill him. He wasn't my brother any more. There had been traces, small things that reminded me of him, but it was just a shell. My brother, my twin, was dead. And the demon that possessed his body was going to die, too.
Still, I had nightmares. Meeting Harth in a dark alleyway, where I had met so many Lurks and turned them to dust. Where he'd kiss me and tell me it wasn't over, and just before I woke up, everything would dim and he'd whisper 'I'm going to kill you.' I'd wake up in a cold sweat and I could still taste his mouth. Metalic and bitter. I'd spend the morning rinsing my mouth out repeatedly until the taste went away.
I'd recently gotten a letter from some guy in Lodyn. He said he was my Watcher. He arrived today and I only hoped he didn't light himself on fire like the last idiot. Urkonn had said they were all crazy. At first I'd believed him - I believed a lot of the things he said until I figured out he'd killed Rocketmouth. To spur me on. Kill the lurks and close the gateway. It worked but I didn't forgive him for it. It would be like forgiving Icarus. So I figured maybe all Watchers weren't crazy.
I live with Erin now. After my apartment was trashed and there was that huge hole in the wall, I thought about getting a new apartment. Gunther had made it up to me for selling me out to the cops. He tells me who I'm grabbing for now, otherwise I won't do it, 'specially if it's some museum artifact that's old and probably mystical. He paid me five sil after I broke his tank, which I didn't think he'd forgive me for. That gave me eight sil. Enough to buy a decent apartment in downtown Haddyn. But Erin had asked me to move in with her and I couldn't refuse. Not when our relationship was going up. Besides, Erin had a real shower. Even a tub. And a big screen.
Today I woke up from that nightmare early. Erin woke me up before she left for work. She's still a cop. She's gotten pretty good at ignoring the fact I'm on the wrong side of the laws when I grab. It works, though. If the laws have trouble with lurks, Erin calls me and I deal with the problem. Grants me certain immunity. Having a sister who can get you out of trouble easy helps, too.
I'm doing my daily routine of rinsing out my mouth. Erin bought me some mouthwash the other day. Gets rid of the taste faster. She doesn't know why I do it, only that I do and that I do it less with mouthwash. I take a quick shower and by the time I'm back in my room with my hair wet, Erin's left the apartment. Today's one of those lazy days. I haven't got any work to do, so I figure I'll sit around mostly and wait for the Watcher. Normally I wouldn't be able to do this easy without getting restless except that last night I had a tough fight with two lurks and a Chaos demon.
Chaos demons aren't good fighters - they like to cause chaos, not battle with Slayers as a rule. But they're all antlers and slime, which makes them slippy. I stepped in a glob of slime and ended up slipping right off the top of a building. So I'm pretty sore and looking forward to a relaxing day in front of the screen.
I pull up my hair, too lazy to dry it properly like Erin says I should 'cause she still thinks I'll catch a cold, and pull on the nearest shirt. I don't have hardly any clothes that aren't torn or ripped up anymore, but I figure it's a look. It works with me. Besides, I don't need to keep up appearances with lurks or demons. I don't care about making a good impression on the Watcher. When it comes to me, I doubt there's such thing as a good impression.
I sit for an hour, eating Asian leftovers from last night before the bell rings. I got up, brushed the crumbs off my chest and set the leftovers on the coffee table where my feet had been. When I open the front door, I expect to see one lunatic. Instead I see two, which only surprises me a little. I don't surprise easy. I guess it comes with facing lurks and having surprises constantly thrown in my face.
"You're Canon right? Who the hell is this?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest and leaning back. It gave the impression I was not impressed. I couldn't really care less. Erin would have something to say, though. She didn't care for people stomping all over her place.
"Yes, I'm Bryce Canon. This is a... Well, this is Angel. You are Melaka Fray, yes?" Canon said. He had an upper crust accent that made me cringe and he wore thin-framed glasses. He looked like he belonged in one of those university libraries I once read about in a museum brochure while pretending to be inconspicuous on a grab.
"Friends call me Mel," I said seriously, not so much as a twitch. I was proud.
"Mel, then. You'll have seen Angel's likeness in your dreams, I suspect," the Watcher began.
"I didn't say you were my friend. Call me Fray and I won't have to kill you," I said with only a slight twitch of a smirk. I couldn't help it. So I was smug. It was a fault. Angel seemed to find this amusing. He was dressed all in black and seemed like the dark, broody type. That type didn't fit around much in these parts. He'd be eaten alive before the day was out. "And I don't have dreams."
"You don't -"
"You're a Watcher right? Aren't you supposed to - you know - watch? Shouldn't you know that I don't have dreams about my heritage already?" I asked, only slightly irritated. Occasionally I wished I did have those dreams. Being reminded of what my brother had and I didn't made me irritable. The Watcher seemed stumped, and Angel was silent. He was beginning to get on my nerves. "I have - had - a twin. A brother. He got the dreams. I got the strength. End of story."
"Strange," was the first word out of Angel's mouth. I had the sudden urge to grab my axe and stake him. Probably not a good idea.
"I do keep having this one dream about some guy and cheese. Maybe it's prophetic. Maybe I'll have to stake some Gouda trying to take over Haddyn," I said sarcastically, kicking the door shut with my foot and moving towards the worn-down sofa. "You guys have your own place right? 'Cause my sister would bust a gill if I even thought about letting you stay here. Besides, we only have the one couch. Well, and the armchair but it's not too comfy."
"Yes, we have our own place, thank you," Canon said and I rolled my eyes. No worries, though, two weeks in the dingiest part of Haddyn and he'd be dropped down to size in no time. "Actually, we've rented out an old refurbished warehouse that I think will be suitable for training."
"You're not going to train me by throwing girders at me, are you? 'Cause last time, it didn't work out that well," I said, inwardly recoiling at the memory. Urkonn was lucky I didn't drown in my own blood. What kind of training was flying girders anyway? It's not like I could have slayed them.
"No girders, it's a promise," Angel spoke, and I narrowed my eyes at him in warning. I didn't like him and he was going to know it.
"So what I don't get," I said, not liking the silence that the two were offering. "Is why it took you so long to come? I mean, the first Watcher came, set himself on fire and it's been what - two months since? And why not before then? Urkonn said -"
"Urkonn?"
"A demon. Of D'avra-something. Anyway, Urkonn said that I was the first to be called in two centuries. So that's a big deal, right?" I asked, sitting on the back of the sofa. Canon sat in the uncomfortable armchair and Angel stood. "So why now?"
"By the time word came that the last Watcher set himself ablaze, you'd already closed the gateway. It seemed unnecessary to send someone right away," Canon explained.
"Also, they had to make sure the next Watcher wouldn't set himself on fire," Angel said. I liked him a bit more for this, but not much. Maybe he just didn't give a good impression. Like someone else I knew. "I'm here to make sure that if Canon decides to commit suicide for the greater good, you'll have someone to teach you the ways."
"I've already assured you I won't."
"Yeah, so did the last guy before he doused himself in gasoline."
"So what's the urgency now? Why two guys and why now?" I asked, looking from Canon to Angel.
"There's news of a vampire in these parts that's looking to mix up a whole lotta trouble," Angel said, digging into his pocket and pulling out a picture. I didn't need to look at the picture to know who he was talking about. I could only wonder how they got a picture of Harth and what he was up to now. I took a glance at it before handing it back.
"Harth."
"You know him?" Canon asked, standing. "This is good news. If you know him, you'll be familiar with his technique."
"His technique?" I said, my hands clenching into fists and my jaw tightening. "His technique is to kill everyone I ever loved. He wants to get to me."
"Because your the Slayer," Angel said.
"Because I'm his sister."
There was a moment of silence.
"Is that it? We're done with the introductions and I doubt you have anything to tell me that I don't already know," I said, irritably.
"Actually, we were sort of waiting on one more person to show up," Angel said and suddenly looked sour. He glanced over at Canon and glared. As if on cue, there was suddenly a crash from outside the apartment door, and I walked briskly over to it, swinging it open.
"I swear I'll never bloody get the hang of those jet ski thingies."