Potential

A couple weeks later a few more potentials had arrived and Buffy and Spike were training the potentials in one of the grave yards. Vi and Rona were acting as the hunters while Annabelle, Kennedy, and Chao An observed and took notes. In a matter of just a few seconds Spike popped up and knocked Rona down and captured Vi. The red haired potential screamed as she felt Spike's fangs brush against her neck, "OK, these two are dead. Why?" Spike asked while changing out of his demon face.

Rona made a quip about her being black and being the first one taken out. Then went on to complain about not having the right set of skills to take on a vampire and that it was an unfair fight. "Vi, you think I care if it's a fair fight?" asked the blond vampire.

"No…No sir. You don't play by the rules and I've learned a valuable lesson of some sort…" Vi answered as Spike let her go.

"You are right Rona, about not having slayer strength and speed, but even as potentials you have skills that normal humans don't." Buffy started her pep talk.

"But not like you do." Annabelle pointed out.

"No not like me or Faith, but each of you has the potential to have that power given to you…when Faith dies."

"Just Faith? What about you Buffy?" Asked Kennedy.

"Well I've already died. The first time Kendra was called, then when she died Faith. The second time I died no one was called, because technically the line now runs through her…of the Chosen Two she is technically the one. Slightly more important than me in that regard."

"Oh come on B, you're makin me blush. I aint that important. Are you guys about done here? Cause I got my team ready for our training with Mr. Bloody." Faith asked as she walked up with the four newest potentials, all of whom had been put through some amount of watcher training.

"Not quite finished yet, have your girls pull up a tombstone, that way we only have to give this speech once. As I was saying the slayer line now runs through Faith one of you, or maybe even a potential who hasn't arrived yet would then be called. Until then you all have to learn to use the instincts you naturally have. Rona, what were your instincts telling you to do just now?"

"Block his attack, keep him off balance…gain the…advantage." Answered the dark skinned potential.

"No they didn't." Buffy deadpanned.

"They said run."

"Vi?"

"They told me to run…their kinda still telling me to run." Answered the redhead.

"Follow your instincts, don't fight on his terms. Make the fight yours. If you instincts tell you to run, run. Don't second guess yourself…follow that advice and you up your chances of staying alive. Anything to add Faith?"

"Nothing here B, you got it all I think."

"Ok girls, let's head back and let Faith and her group train. Since Vi and Rona took part in our demonstration, Kennedy you guard the rear and Chao An…" She said switching to rough Cantonese which she had been learning in order to give the Chinese potential orders, "Nǐ ná diǎn. (You take point)"

"Sure thing." Kennedy replied.

"Wǒ míngbáile, I…under…understand." Answered Chao An.

Later on when everyone was back at the house, or slayer central as Xander and their newest recruit Andrew called it. Buffy and Faith started a meeting with everyone present. Anya's demon contacts had informed them that The First was temporarily in remission, which had the Scoobies thinking that he had hoped that the uber-vamp, or Turok Han as Dawn and Anya had discovered, would have done more damage to them.

"What does that mean for us?" Kennedy asked.

"We don't really know, for now all we can really do is keep training and not let our guard down. Just because its hiding doesn't mean we've won. I think that's all we have for this meeting so I guess you guys are off for the rest of the night, so get something to eat, study up on demons, and do your own training, but don't forget to rest, we're gonna ramp up the training starting tomorrow." Buffy said dismissing the potentials.

After the meeting Dawn pulled her sister aside, "Buffy, I think it's time to close down the dojo. No one showed up for classes at all so far this week. So do you want me and Tara to go ahead and shut it down?"

Buffy sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "Yeah," She answered motioning for Tara to join them.

Tara noticed right away that Buffy was tense without having to read her aura and so comfortingly wrapped her arm around her slayer girlfriend. Buffy closed her eyes and leaned against the blonde witch's body. "I just told Dawn that you guys could go ahead and close the dojo. And if it's not too much trouble, try and bring most of the weapons back here, I have a feeling we're gonna need them."

"No problem Buff. And the principal asked if I would act as a TA in a class, it would count as college credit. Plus he said it wouldn't hurt to have another demon fighter on campus."

"That sounds like a good idea Dawnie." Said Tara, "I'll probably stay here and help Faith watch the potentials once we get the dojo taken care of."

"Alright, now that we've got all that settled…sorry to do this to you Buffy, but it's only cause I care…Tara, I haven't seen her eat anything all day, and on top of that I don't think she's really been sleeping very much." Dawn flinched from Buffy's glare, but refused to back down.

Tara however was staring at the slayer next to her, not glaring or showing any other emotion, just staring at her, "Thanks for throwin me to the wolves Dawnie…I'll remember this. Tara, honey, I did so eat…I had a Gatorade and a protein bar for lunch." Buffy tried to explain.

Tara raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. After a few moments of staring at one another Buffy lowered her eyes in defeat, Tara's lips turned up into a smirk, "To the kitchen slayer…now." She ordered pointing, Buffy turned and made her way to the kitchen receiving a swat to her backside from her witch.

Dawn had left to her and Willow's room, which they shared with Chao An. Kennedy and Faith now shared Dawn's old room with Rona and Vi. Buffy and Tara had Annabelle and two other potentials with them. When Dawn arrived in the doorway she saw Willow gathering ingredients for a spell while Chao An watched curiously. "Whatchya doin babe?" Asked the mystical Key.

Willow looked up and gave her girlfriend a smile, "The seers at the coven said there was a potential here in Sunnydale, but due to all the hellmouthy interference they couldn't pinpoint her location. So I'm doing a locator spell."

"Cool." Dawn said before translating for Chao An who nodded her understanding before readying herself for bed.

Dawn watched while Willow performed the spell, but instead of forming a cloud to lead them to the potential in town there was a bright flash of light. When the smoke cleared and Dawn could see clearly she saw the red haired witch sitting on the floor crying. Dawn quickly knelt down next to her and wrapped her girlfriend in a tight embrace. Willow laid her head on Dawn's shoulder, "Why can't I do it on my own Dawn? It's so hard to fight the draw of the dark magic. I left to Devon so I could get over it, but I'm not strong enough to fight it…I'm back to where I was before I met Tara. My spells fizzle out and my potions turn out soup."

Dawn pulled back slightly, cupping Willow's face in her hands and brushing the tears away with her thumbs, "Don't think like that baby. You're so strong and you don't even realize. Yes you are constantly fighting the draw of the dark magic, but it never wins over you. Sure your spells don't turn out right all the time, but I'm so proud that you haven't given up. I will always be here to help you Willow, even if you can never do a successful spell without help again it will never make me think any less of you. Don't forget that you maintain that telepathic link with the coven for us twenty-four/seven, I can't imagine the amount of power and focus that takes. And the amount of research you do around here…even without magic you do more than your fair share. Now why don't you get some sleep? I can tell you're tired." Dawn said before helping Willow up and into their bed.

"But girl…in danger…Bringers." Willow protested groggily.

"If you lay down I'll go talk to Tara and she and I will try to locate her OK?"

Willow nodded as Dawn brought the quilt up to cover her, the red head's eyes began to flutter closed. Dawn leaned down and gently kissed Willow goodnight. "Sleep well my love." She whispered before leaving the room.

As she walked down the hall she saw Tara and Buffy going into their room and decided not to bother them. She peeked her head into her old room and talked to Faith. "Yo, F. There's a potential somewhere in town and I'm gonna do a spell to locate her. Buffy really needs rest bad and you should probably get some sleep too. I'm gonna take Spike with me so you and the potentials guard the house til we get back."

"You sure you and Mr. Fangs can handle it?" Faith asked and got a nod in answer, "Alright, but if you get into any trouble call me and I'll be there in a flash."

"Will do Faith."

Dawn went to the basement and filled Spike in on the plan and then performed a spell that conjured a small green ball of energy, Take me to the potential slayer in this town that is not present in this house." Dawn commanded and the light darted out of the house at a pace that she and the souled vampire easily followed.

The tracker spell lead them to Sunnydale High School, "Of course," Dawn muttered, "Everything just has to revolve around the damned hellmouth!"

"Course it does Lil Bit. Otherwise where's the fun."

Dawn gave her friend a half-hearted glare before they made their way inside the building. There moved through the halls silently, but quickly. When they got to the second floor they heard a banging sound followed by a scream and more banging. The two of them took off in a sprint with Spike quickly gaining the lead, both of them forgetting about the light they were supposed to be following. They saw a vamp dressed in all black trying to break through a reinforced classroom door, they could also just make out the sound of someone crying inside the classroom. Spike shoulder checked the pre-occupied vamp and sent him sprawling down the hall. Dawn asked the person in the classroom, who turned out to be her friend Amanda, if she was alright.

"Yeah," Amanda answered in a shaky voice, "I'm not hurt, just scared."

Dawn had Amanda open the door and after checking to make doubly sure that she was okay noticed that the ball of light they had been following had landed on Amanda's shoulder, "Spike, looks like two birds with one stone today."

The other vampire took off and Spike turned around, "Finally some good news!" He said just as a Bringer's knife come through is chest causing Amanda to scream again.

The demon pulled it's knife back out and Dawn took out a pair of wooden tonfa that she carried with the ends lathed to a point, "Amanda I don't care whether you believe me completely or not, but I know you, just like everyone else in this town, aren't completely oblivious to the strange things that happen. The thing that was after you earlier was a vampire. Spike is a vampire too, but he has a soul so he's cool. These things are Harbingers of Death, or Bringers." She explained as she took on two of the demons while Spike faced off against three others, keeping themselves between Amanda and the Bringers. "I'll explain more later, for now just trust me that Spike and I will keep you safe. OK?"

"OK." Amanda incredulously although she could not discount all of what Dawn had just said.

Dawn switched her focus fully on the Bringers in front of her and soon out maneuvered one sending the sharp end of one tonfa through its chest. She then knocked the dead Bringer into his comrade and used that distraction to stab her still living opponent through his eye-socket. Dawn picked up one of the Bringer's curved knives and handed it to Amanda, she then turned to Spike who was finishing off his fifth opponent. She looked past him and saw another group coming towards them. "This ways clear Spike, let's go! Amanda stay between us."

While they ran down the hall Spike grabbed a mop and broke the mop head of giving the handle to Amanda, "In case that vamp didn't actually run away."

Amanda took the sharp ended staff and felt a strange familiarity with it, like it was something she had trained and practiced with regularly. They got to the stairwell and saw a group of Bringers coming together on the ground floor and at the far end of the hallway was the group they were running from as well as the vamp from earlier. Dawn took the knife from Amanda so she only had the mop handle and said firmly yet slowly enough so that her friends adrenaline fueled brain could follow, "Amanda, listen to me cause this has to be quick. Just like there are vampires in the world there are special people who fight them…"

"Like you?" Amanda asked.

"No not like me better, faster, stronger, and at times smarter, there are two in the world right now. My sister is one of them, the familiarity you're feeling with this improvised weapon," She said noticing how Amanda was holding the mop handle like it was a quarterstaff, "It's an indication that you have the potential to be one of those special people, you're already stronger and faster than a normal human your age and build. Spike and I will have your back, but as of now this is your fight."

Amanda had no time to protest as the first of the Bringers got to them and she had to dodge. It sailed past her and met its end on Dawn's knife, she picked up the knife from the now dead Bringer and was now duel wielding the curved blades as Amanda sidestepped the next Harbinger and hit it in the back with her staff. Dawn sliced both knives across the demon's throat simultaneously and spared a glance at Spike who was fighting the Bringers on the stairs…along with Buffy and Xander. Amanda blocked a punch from the vampire then struck it in the head quickly and followed up with a hit to its body. She then delivered a kick to the vamp's ribs and dodged his counter-kick and pushed him against the wall before sending the sharp end of the improvised staff through his heart turning him to dust. Had lost her blades to one Bringer and quickly grabbed the last one alive by the neck and put him in an expert rear naked choke hold, which she'd learned from Xander's jiu jitsu training, and held on until he ceased moving. Then just to make sure he was dead Buffy drove a knife into his chest.

Amanda stood there for a moment looking around before finally bursting out, "Does somebody wanna explain to me just what the FUCK is going on!?"

"I'll explain everything, but first let's get outta here. Xander, spike take care of the bodies. Dawn..." She trailed off with a sigh, "I know you're gonna say that you were careful, that you're better trained than any of the potentials and have more field experience, you're probably also gonna point out you brought Spike as back-up and told Faith where you were going and even had your cellphone ready to speed dial her if you needed help right?"

"Yeah that's about everything…" Dawn said looking at the ground waiting for Buffy to lecture her for being irresponsible.

"Good job." Buffy said surprising all except Amanda who had no clue what to expect, "Yes you heard right, I wish you had taken more back-up with you, but aside from that I couldn't have asked for you to have planned your mission better. In fact if you think you can handle it on top of the research and you Wicca training I would like to make a third team with you in charge since you've proven yourself time and again."

"Wow…um I think I can work out a schedule with Willow and Tara for my magic training. As far as the research is concerned we're kinda at a standstill right now anyway. So yeah I'll do it."

"Cool well let's get back to the house, oh and Dawn just cause I didn't tear into you doesn't mean you're off the hook yet, there's a certain red head who wasn't too happy you left with just Spike as back-up. Lucky for you she was too tired to come along herself."