The Council team left that afternoon. With them had gone the last concrete thread that had connected Val to her old life. From here on in, it was all new. She already rather liked Bethany. The girl had a flair for rebellion.

Underneath the veneer, though, was something darker. Val couldn't identify it. She let it go for now and concentrated on getting to know the girl who was to be under her care.

Bethany had been living in a small, cluttered apartment since the death of her father six months ago. Her mother had died when she was small. She'd lived with her father for the intervening years. She was loathe to talk about that time and Val did not press her.

"How did your mother die?"

Bethany looked up suddenly. "She was eaten." Her eyes took on a mischievous gleam. Val couldn't tell whether the girl was lying or not.

"By what?"

"By whom, I think you mean. She was eaten by Drusilla. I think you know her."

"I know of her, yes."

"I've read about you, you know. That's why I told Montrose that story about being nervous around men. I knew they'd give me you instead. You had dreams about Drusilla and her Mom."

"We don't refer to a vampire's sire as a mother, usually."

"Why not? It's the same idea, really. But Angelus was Drusilla's Mom, right? Darla was more of a step-mom."

"Grandmother."Val knew this story well. She'd studied it for years. "But they're not really families. They're monsters. Incapable of love." Val did her best to look Bethany in the eyes as she said this. The girl's stare was unnerving.

"I don't think they're that much different than us. They just know what they're capable of. If we could, we'd probably do it too."

"Humans have souls. That's the difference between a human and a vampire. The soul."

"Maybe."

***

Val moved into a large apartment in the middle of town. She was glad to be rid of the hotel room. She was trying to convince Bethany to move in as well. There was certainly room enough.

"I like my space."

"So do I, but everyone needs a little company once in a while."

"I have company."

"You do? Who?"

"Ghosts."

"Ghosts?"

"Well, and I have a friend. She doesn't know about you though."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"I might. I want to wait until I know if I like you or not."

"I see."

***

The Slaying itself was fairly easy. The little Oregon town was nowhere near as busy as Sunnydale had been. Val and Bethany would patrol every night. Sometimes they would talk, sometimes they wouldn't.

Bethany picked up the fighting skills quickly. She had a lot to learn but she'd covered a lot of the basics before Val had even arrived. There were stacks and stacks of books in the girl's room dealing with everything from witchcraft to crossbows. She was avidly learning history both under Val's supervision and on her own as well.

"Why are so many of the Watchers men?"

"It's a very old organization and there wasn't room for women in it until fairly recently."

"But the Slayer has always been a woman, right?"

"Right."

"So all through history, since the dawn of time, it's been some old guy sent to look after a teenage girl?"

"Pretty much."

"Sounds like a shady combination to me." Then, "why did you become a Watcher?"

"I'm not sure. You remember about my dreams, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they would scare me so badly. I thought that the only way to get rid of them would be to learn everything I could learn about where they came from. I read a lot. Like you. I thought that if I learned enough I would be safe."

"Did it work?"

"No."

***

Val and Bethany were sitting on the floor of Bethany's apartment Val was showing her pictures of demons and Bethany had to identify them.

She held up a card.

"Boura. Can be killed with salt."

"Good. This one?"

"Toojah. Heavy armour with a weak spot in the knees."

"Excellent." The phone range.

Bethany scrambled up and reached for the receiver. Val watched her, curiously. The girl was far from introverted and yet she was so impossibly secretive. Well, no. About some things she was very forthcoming. About others, nothing. Val still didn't know anything about Bethany's father or this mysterious friend of hers.

"No, she's here right now. Uh huh."

Bethany was standing in the doorway staring blindly in Val's direction, phone receiver in hand.

"Do you want to?" She was asking the phone, not Val.

"Okay. We're almost finished here. Bye."

Bethany hung up.

"She's coming over here. To meet you." Bethany smiled a little.

"Does she know why I'm here?"

Bethany scowled. "I told her. You can trust her, though. I promise."

"We must still be careful."

***

Within five minutes there was a soft knock on the door. Bethany got up to answer it while Val cleaned up the picture cards and her own notes.

She'd written very little down about her and Bethany's conversations. Next week she would be required to send an envelope containing her journal entries back to the Council. She would have to spend the weekend filling in the blanks. Val despised the idea of telling the Council too much about Bethany, feeling it was something of a breach of confidence. Surely Bethany knew what was expected of her, given that she'd read several books about Council policy. God knows where she'd gotten them from but Val hadn't gotten around to asking yet.

Bethany was a true enigma. Val was not yet privy to the girl's secrets. Bethany had been exposing little pieces of herself very slowly over the course of the past month but Val was no where near knowing anything concrete about her history or even her present. For all Val knew, Bethany could have been lying about everything.

Val had another concern. Bethany had not shown any signs of the hunger that was so common in Slayers. She was not violent. Her fighting was clean, eerily concise and without any sort of passion whatsoever. Val didn't understand it. She'd seen Slayers fight before. They'd always had this fire in their eyes, as if they'd seen too much. Bethany's eyes were clean and fearless when she fought. Val didn't know whether this was an act or a peculiarity.

Bethany led another girl into the room and sat down with her on the old, dusty sofa. The other girl had shoulder length black hair and she looked vaguely Asian. Her brown eyes were bright. One eye looked stronger than the other. It looked as though an old injury had left her with a scar above her right eye. She looked a little like a reflection of Bethany herself. Val wondered if the two were related.

"Val, this is Bronwyn. Bronwyn, this is Val. She's my Watcher."

Bronwyn stared coolly at Val with her good eye. Val reached out to shake her hand. The girl offered it up, limply.

"Bethany and you are close friends, then?"

"We are partners. I helped her fight before you got here."

Val was surprised. Bethany had not had her Slayer strength more than a few short hours before the Council had arrived. She'd been fighting before Faith's death?

"Fighting? Have you had any formal training?"

"I've been a boxer since I was a child. I taught Bethany. Her mother was killed by monsters. We were fighting back."

Suddenly Val wanted to ask this girl just how old she was. She could have been fifteen or sixteen like Bethany but she could also have been much older. Her lazy eye was disconcerting. Val was nervous. She didn't know what to make of this strange girl. Just when she thought she was getting to know Bethany, in walked this inexplicable presence who made the hairs on Val's neck stand up.

Bronwyn whispered something to Bethany who was staring at Val. Bethany looked annoyed.

"Val, she's on our side. You look like you've seen a ghost. Be nice!" Bethany's voice was not chiding, it was cool and commanding. Val didn't know what it all meant.

"I'm sorry. Of course. It's just not Council Policy to let regular girls fight alongside of the Slayer."

"What about Buffy? She had friends, right? I read about her. They let her get away with it. Why not me?"

"Because you're not Buffy. The last thing the Council needs right now is another Buffy. They're scared and they're dangerous. As far as my records are concerned, you, Bronwyn do not exist. Perhaps you both think that you're strong enough to fight like this, risking each other's life, but you're just children." Val sighed. Something told her this argument was useless. Bronwyn was still looking at her, expressionless.

"Take us out tonight. We work well together. You'll see."

Val rose. Against her best judgment she said "All right."

***