The Army of Dead Girls

Chapter 1
Murderous ideas

A/N: This is my next big story idea It's a bit different to a normal fan fic, because it has none of the characters that appear in either BtVS or Ats… and I mean at all. There's not even a smattering of a familiar name (like "Mrs Giles") in the watcher's council.

What it does have is Slayers, and watchers- lots of them. This idea just came to me in the shower (as most of my good ideas too) when I was thinking about how Buffy died (the first time ). I thought it was a really interesting idea, worth exploring- though I know it's not as fun to read stories if the scoobies aren't in them

For that reason I'd really like some feedback on this story. Comments, criticisms, any thing.

1967- America

"It's hard Becky," Charlotte told her sister as the two of them lay on their backs under the bright sun beside the little river. "I kill one vampire, and there's three or four to take its place," she sighed, "and they're so quick and strong. I thought being the slayer would make me stronger than them, but it really just evens us out." She took a drag from the thin joint between her fingers and passed it to her sullen sister, barely noticing Rebecca's bad mood. "And they all come at me at once." She continued with a groan "I got a bruise again last night-look." She offered her shoulder to her sister, awkwardly trying to look for the aforementioned injury, "Oh, it's gone."

"Slayer healing." Becky said, just a hint of jealous resentment in her voice.

"Oh yeah," Charlotte laughed. "Still getting used to that."

Beside them the little brook babbled, as poets claim brooks often do. The grass was soft and green on the little hill on which the girls lay. Rebecca rolled onto her stomach and began to pull it out slowly but viciously, throwing the ripped blades into the lightly blowing wind.

"All the late nights." Charlotte continued, "Jack went easy on us in training, he let us go home to sleep, but the vampires- they never stop! I wish I could take a break."

"It must be hard." Becky sighed sarcastically. She mushed the burnt butt of the joint into the grass just a little angrily.

"Yeah, it is." Charlotte turned her head to look at her sister, "I wish you could take over for a while."

"Well" Becky said, "Maybe I will." Charlotte crinkled her brow up in confusion, about to protest that it wasn't actually possible for Becky to take over being the slayer, when her sister jumped on her.

"What the hell, Becky!" She cried. "Get off me!"

"You weren't supposed to be the Chosen One!" Rebecca screamed, her hands around her sister's neck, "I was! They got it wrong! It was supposed to be me!" Charlotte struggled and screeched as she scratched and clawed at her sister, but Becky had her pinned down. Rebecca's eyes flashed frighteningly as she throttled her little sister, grinning like a maniac.

"Becky, Becky!" Charlotte gasped, writhing in fright, "Get off me! What are you on about?" For a moment, Charlotte thought she was going to die, then all of a sudden, she remembered what she was; the Slayer. She had super strength. With one forceful kick, she shoved her sister off; Rebecca fell backwards hard.

"God, Becky," Charlotte said breathlessly, "What the hell came over you?" She stood up, pulling her mussed blond hair behind her ears, "Were you trying to kill me?"

"Yes," Becky said. She launched herself at Charlotte's ankles sending the girl crashing down backwards. Charlotte landed with a splash in the river, hitting her head hard on a rock. Becky jumped on her. She forced her sister's shoulders under the water shaking her violently. "It was supposed to be me!" she screeched, "The power was supposed to be mine! I was supposed to be the slayer! Not you!" Charlotte's neck flopped back and forward as Becky violently shook the life out of her. She finally let her sister's limp body fall back into the water; delighting in one vicious smile at her sister's demise.

Blood from Charlotte's head, where she had hit it on a rock, washed away into the river. Becky looked down in horror at the sodden girl in the water. And suddenly she thought this wasn't such a good idea after all. "Oh my God." She wisperd. "Oh my God." She desperately pulled Charlotte out of the water and dragged her to the bank. "Charlotte," she cried, "Charlotte." She slapped her sister hard across the face, "Charlotte, wake up!" The girl didn't move. "Oh my God. Jack!" Becky screamed desperately, "Jack! Help! Jack!"

Charlotte Wills hadn't been likely to become the Slayer. True, more likely than most, considering she was a "potential slayer", a girl with the birthright capability of becoming the slayer, if destiny so ordained. Most girls weren't born with such special potential, so in that way, she was likely to become the slayer, but there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of potential slayers- Charlotte was just one of them. Besides that, no one really thought she was Slayer material.

She wasn't very strong and her fighting skills left a lot to be desired. She was useless with weapons, she couldn't use a quarter-staff or a fencing sword, she wasn't even allowed near the crossbows. Though she had been training for nearly two years, she still couldn't fight off a vampire single handed. Jack or Becky usually had to step in and dust them for her. She was smart enough, though not nearly as smart as Jack, and not so witty as Becky. She was also on the small side, mostly soft skin and weak bones. Not the sort of build a Slayer should be.

Her sister, Becky, was a potential slayer as well. One day in the autumn of 1961, when Charlotte was 11 and her sister was 13, Jack Townes had turned up in town, and given Becky and Charlotte some strange news. Monsters where real, he said, and they had to be stoped. Only the slayer could stop them. This sacred birthright only fell on particularly special girls, possibly one such as Becky. Because, as Jack explained, Rebecca Wills was a potential Slayer. One day, fate willing, she might become the Chosen One and take her place in a long line of powerful, heroic women.

Jack had at once taken up the post as Becky's watcher, training her in the ways of the council, so that should she be chosen, she would be prepared. She had been training for a year, when Jack brought more strange news. The council had sent him word that Charlotte was a potential slayer as well and- to save time and resources- he would be her Watcher, as well as Becky's.

When Charlotte was 13, her parents died- quite naturally- in a car accident. She and Becky moved in with Jack. They had been with him for 4 years. Charlotte had just passed her 17th birthday. Rebecca was 19.

Jack had been very kind to them both. He was young, very young by the usual standards for a Watcher- just 31. However, he was a qualified Watcher and a good trainer and guardian to the girls. His little house was their home and school- Jack taught them ancient languages, demon history, martial arts and all manner of things a Slayer needs to learn.

Jack favoured Becky over Charlotte. He spent more time training with her, gave her more attention in theory. She, in response, was vivacious and boisterous with Jack. They "favoured" each other. Neither of them would admit to the intimacy of their relationship, but nor did they deny it.

Becky was much more likely to be a Slayer. Completely opposite to Charlotte with her soft skin and blond curls, Becky had fierce strong features and tough wild brown hair. She was strong and trained hard. She was a good fighter, dedicated and naturally skilled. Her mind was that of a calculating tactician and her heart was strong and cold enough to kill. Of the two, Becky would surely be the one called.

That's why it came as such a shock to everyone when the young Belgian Slayer died and Charlotte took her place as the Chosen One.

"Help, Jack! Oh God help!"

"Rebecca!" He barked, coming over the hill, "What are you yelling for?"

"She's dead, Jack! I killed her." Becky admitted. Jack started to run when he saw what was going on. He knelt beside Charlotte's drenched body, staring in horror at his drowned Slayer.

"What the hell have you done!" He screamed at Becky.

"I-we were fighting-and she slipped." Becky stammered. "Don't just stand there, Jack! Do something!"

Jack pulled open Charlotte's mouth and pinched her nose. He took a deep breath and covered her mouth with his, breathing hard, forcing air down her waterlogged airways. He then began to pump her chest, five quick times. Charlotte didn't stir. He tried again, a deep breath into her mouth and five hard pumps. Still she didn't move. He swore quietly.

Becky watched, her fingers in her mouth. She desperately wished Charlotte wasn't dead; now the she was lying cold and very dead on the riverbank. "Charlotte, Charlotte," she pleaded; but still Charlotte remained motionless.

"Bloody hell," Jack muttered, still pumping desperately at Charlotte's chest to restart her heart. "C'mon Charlotte, wake up." He focused his attention on the dead slayer, oblivious to the trouble his other charge was having beside him.

Becky felt something grip her chest- a heart attack? She was dieing! The judging powers had stuck her down for killing her sister. They where killing her as a punishment. Then the tightness passed and something entirely different rushed through her. It was painful beyond belief, like a million tiny knives stabbing though her veins. It was strong and forceful, impossible to tame and yet somehow completely Becky's to command. It was power. Becky felt a new strength coursing through her blood; the demon was inside her. She was what she was born to be; a Slayer. "Jack!" She yelled excitedly, wanting then and there to kill her sister all over again just to feel the rush; knowing now that she could snap Charlotte in two. "Jack!" She laughed suddenly, the euphoria of drugs and power filling her. "Oh God, Jack, it's happening! I can feel it."

And suddenly; Charlotte coughed. Water sloshed out of her mouth onto her already drenched blue sun dress.

Jack stoped trying to reviver her, seeing she was recovered. "Thank God you're alive," He said relieved.

"Wha- what happened?" Charlotte asked groggily. She looked up, focusing her eyes on Becky. "You-" she said, "You bitch!" She got roughly to her feet and lunged for her sister.

Becky was prepared for her. As Charlotte charged headlong for her, Becky readied her fist, landing a sharp right punch squarely on Charlotte's chin. She flew backward almost two meters, landing with a thud on the grass. Jack looked up at her in surprise, as did a bewildered and pained Charlotte. "Welcome back Charlotte." Becky said smiling, "Looks like there's a new Slayer in town."

"This is astonishing," Jack said, his British vernacular getting the better of him in his excitement, "just astonishing." He stop pacing, resting against the kitchen table, and regarded the two women in front of him. "Two Slayers. It's impossible."

Charlotte was sitting on a Spartan kitchen chair, a packet of frozen peas pressed up against her head where she had banged it on the rock. "I still can't believe you killed me." She muttered darkly to Becky.

"That's not important now." Becky said impatiently, "What's important is finding out how this happened."

"When one slayer dies, another is called," Jack reminded her, "Charlotte died briefly, during which time you were called, thus- two Slayers."

"But how can Charlotte be the Slayer still?" Becky asked, "I'm the slayer now, I was called. She should be dead."

"And thank God she's not," Jack reminded Becky. "When we revived her, we revived her powers too."

"So we're both Slayers?" Charlotte asked.

Becky grabbed a pot from the stove and handed it to Charlotte. "Here, try bend this." Charlotte took the pot and easily bent the handle backwards. "Yep, we're both Slayers." Becky confirmed.

"What a waste of a pot." Charlotte complained. Becky snatched it and bent it back to it's original shape. She poked her tongue out at her sister.

"This changes everything." Jack said, "Never before has there been two Slayers."

"So we've got double the fire power," Becky said, "double the dead demons."

"You're thinking too small," Jack said. He paced excited across the kitchen, Becky and Charlotte watching him with scepticism. "What if- what if there wasn't just one slayer-or even two- what if there were ten." The girls looked blankly at him. "If two Slayers means double the fire power; ten Slayers-"

"Would be ten times the fire power." Becky finished excitedly, "We'd finally be able to get the edge on the vamps. Jack, this is amazing. We could change the world."

"I don't get it," Charlotte said tersely, "What's so exciting? And if it's that Becky worked out the difference between two times and ten times, I could do that already."

"Charlotte, we're both Slayers now. We both have the power of the Chosen One." Becky said, kneeling beside her sister's chair and looking her in the eyes to emphasise her words, "But it doesn't have to stop with us. There are hundreds of potential girls who could inherit this power too. Before now there was only one lone girl against the millions of vampires, but we're living proof it doesn't have to be like that. We can even out the odds. We have the means to change the world- call all the potential Slayers!"

"By killing off each girl that gets called?" Charlotte asked.

"And bringing them back." Becky cheerfully.

Charlotte still wasn't convinced. "Do I have to drown again?" she asked.

"No," Jack said thoughtfully, "I think you've already died and passed on the calling. It would be Becky's death that would call the next Slayer." He tentatively met Becky's eyes, "You'd have to die for this to work."

"Fine by me." Becky said recklessly. She spun around quickly to face the sink, full of dirty dishes and pots half filled with water. "Jack, you'll probably have to hold me down." She said hurriedly, pulling back her hair so it wouldn't get wet. "wait till I go limp before you pull me out."

Jack rushed over to her and pulled her away from the sink, "Don't be so hasty," he said. "There's other ways to kill a girl than drown her. Safer, magical ways. And it'll be easier to bring you back."

"Fine," Becky pouted, obviously put out by having to wait to put their plan into action.

"And there are arrangements to make. Once you die, we'll need to find out where the next girl has been called. And I have to call the council- they'll be able to tell when the Slayer dies, they probably already know about Charlotte." Jack suddenly took Becky's hand gazing at her with his big brown eyes, "Imagine it Becky," he said softly, "hundreds of Slayers to fight against the vampires. Not just one; but an army."

"An army of Slayers." Becky agreed.

Charlotte squeezed the ends of her wet hair, a few diluted drops of blood from her head wound mingling with the creek water and dripping onto the table. "An army of dead girls you mean."