A/N: Thanks to Fetching Mad Scientist, who's doing a great job with beta'ing this story.
Greenville, 2005
Jenna was walking through the cemetery alley with both hands buried deep in the pockets of her jacket and one of them clenching a hidden stake. All alone, at night, playing a vampire bait – it was freaking scary. And she shouldn't have been scared, she shouldn't have been so damn close to panicking because she had the power, the strength and the speed, because she was –
Tinglies. Rustling leaves. Footsteps.
– A slayer.
She took a few breaths before turning around.
'Not freaking out, not freaking, not…' Okay, she was already freaking out.
She found herself face to face with not one, but three vampires.
One of them smiled broadly. "Hello, puppy."
The other two chuckled wickedly.
"And what is a cute little thing like you doing in such a dangerous place?" He inquired politely in a little odd and old fashioned manner of speaking. One of his companions licked his lips hungrily, which made her want to throw up.
"Maybe she's waiting for someone?" The third vamp asked no one in particular. "Maybe there are more of her wee little friends somewhere around here?"
"Do tell, puppy," the first one – probably a leader – encouraged her. "Are you all alone? Poor little lost lamb – "
"Maybe little, but neither a puppy, nor a lamb," Jenna said, greeting her teeth.
The vampires looked at each other and laughed sincerely.
"Aw, how sweet," the leader teased. "Neither a puppy, nor a lamb… So what? A kitten maybe?"
Jenna pulled out a stake in a silent response.
"The kitten shall you be." The vampires changed into their game faces. "Considering the fact you're showing claws – "
"Damn right I do," the girl cut in and attacked remembering, that attack was supposed to be the best defense. Well, whoever said that had been way bigger than Jenna. And in less trouble.
Jenna acted on impulse – it was all she could do these days. She might have lacked experience, skills and grace in fighting – instead of those she had power, basic knowledge and a great desire to live through the night. So she was kicking and punching with all her unnatural strength. That was what the instinct was telling her to do. And she trusted it because so far, Jenna's instinct had never failed her.
Somehow she managed to dust one of the minions. The other two froze in a sudden shock, the left fledgling obviously scared and looking expectantly at his master. To his and Jenna's surprise, the older vampire chuckled.
"Here, kitty kitty. "
The younger demon lunged forward. Jenna ducked, hoping he would loose his balance. And indeed, he stumbled clumsily. In a split second he was nothing more than a pile of dust. Holding firmly the stake, Jenna quickly turned around to face the leader.
Too slow.
The vampire was much faster. She didn't know how he did that but he attacked her from the behind, kicking her hard in the back. Jenna hit one of the tombstones, feeling a saering pain in her head. She tried to get up, she had to get up, she had to fight, she didn't want to end like this, all alone in the graveyard –
A pair of strong, cold hands surrounded her neck. She closed her eyes.
"Nothing better than a little kitten like snack before bedtime – "
"Your mum forgot to tell you it's bloody unhealthy to eat before sleep, mate?" Somebody spoke in a thick, British accent. Jenna's eyes slapped open only to see the vampire's teeth inches from her skin. Hearing the intruder's retort, the vampire froze, obviously annoyed that someone dared to interrupt his meal.
He growled, "And yours forgot to tell you it's rude to bother a person who's eating?"
"Aw, come on, mate," the guy mocked. "You not sharin'?"
"No," came the angry reply. The slayer felt the grip on her neck tightening dangerously. She couldn't decide what was worse – being drained or chocked to death.
"Too bad," the Brit smacked, disappointed. "Since you're not treatin', I gotta help myself without an invitation."
That was beyond the vampire's patience. Fuming, he let Jenna, who slid flatly to the ground and lunged at the stranger. However Jenna felt all dizzy and her sight was blurred, she couldn't keep herself from sighing in admiration.
The man, who – intentionally or not – had saved her from becoming a vampire's snack, was the best fighter she had ever seen. His moves were full of a cat like grace, fluent and precise. Clad in black, he was barely visible and only his strangely white head shone in the dark.
The vampire Jenna had considered a master stood no chance against this man, who dusted his opponent in no time.
Her savior approached. "You okay?" He asked and helped her stand up… Jenna's eyes grew in shock and fear.
His hands were cold. Dead cold. Comprehension slowly downed at her.
You not sharin'? Since you're not treatin', I gotta help myself…
Another vampire. And this time, a real master.
"What are you doin' here at night?" He frowned, looking at her intently.
"N-nothing," she replied in a voice that was shaking a little bit. While she started to move away from him, her hand slowly wandered to the back pocket of her jeans, where she had been always keeping a spare stake.
"Nothin'? You know how much this nothin' could have cost you?" He looked at her angrily.
"I guess so – "
"No, you bloody well can't guess," he mocked her. "You know why? To little imagination, that's why – "
"Spike!"
The vampire turned to the direction, from which had come the voice. Jenna faced his back and it was an opportunity she couldn't miss. Using his distraction, she raised the stake, ready to plunge it home…
"Look out!" Somebody shouted.
Everything next had happened so quickly, that even moths later, better trained and more experienced, Jenna had problem with remembering, how she had found herself pinned to the ground, with her arms twisted on her back and sniffling the cemetery grass. A cold hand grabbed her wrist, forcing her to drop her weapon.
"You are… a tricky little bird – " She heard muttering above her.
Jenna struggled and tried to shout for help (as if anybody could have been in the graveyard at such a late hour), but her scream was muffled by the grass. So instead she tried kicking the vampire off her, but it was impossible to hit somebody who was sitting on your back.
" …and a strong one – " There was genuine surprise in the vampire's voice.
"Wow, and you're a bright one," said the third person, the one who had warned him earlier. Another vampire? Most likely.
"I would thank you," the Brit snarled, "if I weren't about to kill you. What the bloody hell are you doin' here?!"
"Ah, beside saving your skinny, vampire ass?"
A vampiress, to be specific. A young one. Or maybe just somebody turned young, the slayer corrected herself. Her voice was cheery and chirpy and most definitely girly.
And strangely familiar. Next student from Greenville High sired? Not a surprise, providing the fact that in a few minutes there would be another one turned. Or just brutally killed. Whatever.
"My ass is not bloody skinny," the male sounded affronted, "and it's sure as hell not in need of savin'."
"Yeah, right, because you so weren't about to be dusted by – oh, gosh, unbelievable! – a local slayer."
Jenna hold her breath. How did she…?
"A slayer?" The English vampire repeated slowly, savouring those words.
The said slayer, feeling the adrenaline kicking in, made one last effort to free herself –
"Stop… bloody… wriggling!"
"You know, it's been scientifically proved that slayers who don't think they're going to be killed are much less wriggly," the girl noticed matter-of-factly.
"Why does she think she's going to be killed?"
Jenna froze.
"Don't know, unfortunate circumstances maybe. Night, a graveyard, a vamp sitting atop her."
"If I let her go, she'll stake me," came the calm and reasonable reply.
"C'mon, she's in my class, she can't be older than – what? Thirteen?"
The slayer didn't even notice when she was freed, the shocking realization striking her once again this night, as she recognized the girl's voice. Collecting her thoughts, she jumped on her feet.
"You?!" Jenna shouted accusingly, facing the pink-haired girl she had met in school.
"Um, me?" Carrie smiled shyly, looking away. "And – hey yourself."
I moved here a week ago with my… older cousin, w-who's British and…
Shit.
"B-but you're not a vampire – " She finally stuttered.
"A slayer, you say? Could believe that, seeing how smart she is not," the man who was a vampire, joked.
"I'm sorry," Carrie apologized sincerely, ignoring her companion's retort. "I didn't want it to end like that… I would tell you… Eventually."
"What are you?" Jenna whispered in utter shock. "To live with… with such a creature – "
"Hey, standing right here, Freckles!"
"I couldn't let you kill him. You have to know that – "
"All I have to know is how to plunge a stake into a vampire's heart!"
"Let me explain, it's important – "
"No, you let me explain," Jenna said through greeted teeth, anger raising in her. "And listen up, 'cause I'm gonna cover some basics here. This is my town, get it? And I won't allow any bloodsuckers wander around – not on my watch. You," she pointed at Carrie, "can leave. I'll cut you some slack for being human and extremely dumb. But he," she pointed at the pink girl's companion, "stays. Preferably, in the ground."
The vampire smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't hear you saying that neither when the bad guy had you pinned to the tomb stone, nor when I had you pinned to the ground."
"You – "
"That's a big talk, Freckles, for such a little girl you are," the vampire didn't let her finish. "Very slayer like. No surprise here, considerin' the fact that the Council of Wankers teaches that rot all of its girls."
"Yeah, and how would you know?" Jenna challenged.
"Been there, done that." The Brit shrugged casually. He became serious in a moment, looking at her intently. "Known a few right blokes. Beside the point. The thing is, we had a little misunderstandin' here. I saved your life, havin' no idea who you are and now you wanna stake me, havin' no idea who I am."
"Where did you get the idea I need to know that?"
The vampire's smile broadened and he turned to Carrie, "I like that one, Sunbeam. She's sassy. Look, love, if you run into that English guy of yours, who probably considers himself as your watcher, he'll tell you that not all vamps are black hats."
Jenna raised her eyebrows sceptically, "And you're one of them?"
"And how quick, isn't she?"
"Bull shit," the slayer exclaimed.
"Language."
Carrie rolled her eyes, her irritation growing. "You gonna tell her, Spike, or you two prefer to bicker the whole night? 'cause hello, some of us are neither a corpse, nor have superpowers and people in question are freezing now!"
The one called Spike shot the girl a dirty look. "You better stop bloody complain' and start thinkin' of an excuse good enough for me not to kill you for wanderin' in the cemeteries at night – "
"Tell me what?" Jenna asked, staring at this strange duo. She was starting to realize that indeed, nobody's going to hurt anybody and she became more relaxed, however still cautious.
"He is," Carrie said in a mockingly festive tone, "a vampire with a soul. Beware, forces of evil, his stupid hair and British curses nobody understands – "
Spike hit her playfully in the pink head. "Hey!"
The slayer blinked. Once. Twice.
"Huh?"
"Oh, the tormented soul of his shell or shell not but eventually shall be – "
"You're Angelus?"
Silence. Spike scolded, Carrie looked as if she was about to laugh. What did they think? That she was some kind of stupid, mindless muscle? Her watcher – her ex-watcher, the coward and the filthy traitor – left all his books in the basement she had been training in. Really, tons of old, smelly volumes. Quite a lecture for lonely, cold evenings… When he had left, Jenna had decided that she hadn't wanted to work with any of those Council jerks ever again. Still, she had needed somebody to do research for her. And since she hadn't got anybody for it, she had had to do it herself.
So she was no stupid, mindless muscle. She was well educated muscle.
"Are you Angelus?" She repeated patiently. "'cause if you are, gotta tell you – you looked differently on the sketches from my books – "
"No," Carrie answered for Spike, "he's the other vampire with the soul. Look it up in a revised edition."
"Why the other? Why can't he be the other for once?"
"Because he was first? About a century faster – "
Spike rolled his eyes and sighed, "Yeah, right, forget it. Point is that I'm on your side, Freckles." He looked at Jenna intently. "And even if I'm not featured in your fancy books, you can check in with the Council."
Whoa. Checking in with the Council? Who was going to check who? Jenna, if Spike was really one of the good guys, or Spike, if Jenna was still in touch with watchers?
Considering the fact she had faked her own death just to get them out of her hair – she didn't like the idea of them coming back to her life.
"Let's assume I believe you," she started slowly, minding her own words. "Let's assume I won't ask how do you know about me being a slayer. What will happen then?"
"Nothin'," Spike answered. "Well, nothin' you don't want to happen, pet. We'll part here – I'll take Sunbeam home, you'll go back to yours. Kinda like a truce," he smiled mysteriously.
"A truce?"
"I'm not getting' into your way, you're not getting' into mine."
"How will I know you're not killing?"
"Told you, can call the watchers. If I lie, they'll send you enough of a backup to take down even me."
Jenna was silent for a moment, making her decision. 'kay, a quick list of pros and cons for the 'stakage'. Pros: he was a vampire. Vampires needed to be staked. Cons: he was a master vampire and seeing him fighting had left Jenna without any doubts about her chances. Meaning – she had none. What was more, there was a possibility he was speaking truth. Next, seeing if he indeed had a soul would require contacting the Council, which she couldn't do – so a pro for staking-without-asking here. But how was she going to kill him on her own, lacking the watchers's support? Another con…
Finally, she looked straightly at him. "Fine. We've got ourselves a truce."
The vampire hold her gaze. After a few seconds, he put his hand on Carrie's shoulder. "Let's go, Sunbeam."
They turned around and started to walk away.
"Spike!"
He stopped without looking behind.
"Just because we've got a truce doesn't mean I trust you."
Jenna could swear that he smirked. He was silent for so long that she didn't think he'll answer her. But he did.
"That you don't."
