Christian Lamont sat in his hotel room and looked around at the drab wallpaper, which had faded with age. He couldn't look at the three council members that stood around him, least of all at the chairman; Henry Diaz. He sighed as Henry began to speak, he didn't want the hassle and trauma of working for the council again; he had served his time; he had given enough.

"Christian it is in the interest of the council that you find this child."

"The Slayer she may be, but I have had mine, I have given my service to the council for the last four years and I have done what was requested of me…my slayer died in the line of duty."

The young man was clearly still grieved at the death of his slayer. He took off his glasses and cleaned them impatiently as he looked at the three council members that stood around him. His face was tired and his eyes were clouded with an unspoken sorrow.

" We did see the love you felt for that child Christian…"

Christian stood up at this momentarily enraged.

"She was more than that."

He spat in disgust, he would not hear those who had used her and never given her a second thought talk of her as though she was nothing. They had not seen her suffer in vain; they had not loved her.

"Sophia was one of the strongest slayers that the council has seen for a long time and now you speak of her as if…" He sat down again fighting his own emotional battle.

"That is what we're trained to do Mr. Lamont. Never get emotionally involved with a slayer. They are born to fight and die and the council will always remain. If we all allow ourselves to get this…attached there would be no council. Perhaps you were too young when we gave you the job as watcher to Sophia, but there is no time now to pry on such thoughts."

He lowered his voice slightly as he continued.

"Sophia is dead; she died at the hands of Angelus, and as you know, no one, slayer or not, has ever lived to tell the tale of a fight with him. He is the council's greatest threat. It is not the time to live apart from the council and the fight, it would not be doing your slayer the justice she deserves. She died to save you above anything else; she died with your name on her lips. Help us find this child, slayer or not she is the one prophecies have told us about."

"Through her fall one shall rise." Christian murmured the words of the prophecy that he himself had worked on for countless hours. " My predictions were wrong I thought it meant that Sophia would rise again…as a vampire."

For the first time in that days brief meeting the chairman of the council smiled. His face was old and scarred with worry. Christian was young but had wisdom far beyond his years.

"That was our thought as well, be glad Christian that it wasn't so, she'd have formed an alliance with Angelus," for a moment he looked at the floor unable to meet Christian's sad eyes, "She'd have been powerful." He finished almost in a whisper.



"Well," began Spike, as he and Drusilla emerged from the alleyway, "Wasn't that fun?" Spike shook his game face off as Angel and Darla followed them into the now silent street.

"Hmmm, there's nothing like a good kill to put me in the mood for a… good kill. Isn't that right pet?" He addressed the last question to Drusilla, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Naughty Spike talking in whispers. The little girl doesn't like whispers, do you?"

Spike smiled in adoration at his girlfriend, who was obviously only speaking sense to herself. He slid his arms around her waist and softly kissed her neck.

"Does she like this?" he paused only briefly before continuing his task. With force he pulled her around and began to kiss her. The previous kill had left him unsatisfied, such artistry was not in his nature. Drusilla was one of the few things that could fulfil his hunger.

"Let's leave them to it, eh?" Angel spoke to Darla, "We've a boat to catch."

"I'd thought you'd never ask."

"The trouble William causes…I guarantee we'll hear of them… or see them…"

"…in a few decades…"

"…or in hell."

Angel and Darla looked at the couple for a minute before starting their journey, and as Spike broke off the kiss, they were gone. He looked around and smiled his game face on display again.

"Looks like it's just us then, love."

Paris, 1885

"I will die before I let Angelus touch you." Christian smoothed a stray piece of hair that had escaped from the loose ponytail of the girl that stood before him.

"You are strong…one of the greatest slayers of your time…I will not allow you to die."

Although Sophia was obviously growing impatient, she remained soft spoken.

"Christian, I have to do this…no one else can…I was chosen, I will not defy what the fates have in store for me. Please try and understand."

" I do understand, perfectly. I understand Angelus. It has been foreseen if you pursue him, you will die."

"If I do not act, Angelus will still kill me, he will kill others, he will kill you."

" My life means nothing."

"Your life means everything. I was born to die. One slayer falls another rises. Somebody will take my place. If you die there's no one."

"There are other watchers Sophia."

"That's not what I meant Christian…" Sophia spoke quietly and looked at him with sad and tired eyes.

"And you think that I don't feel the same. Sophia," his voice suddenly became desperate, " I love you."

"I love you Christian but I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Slayer stepped back and hit her watcher knocking him out instantly, and before she could change her mind, Sophia turned and ran knowing that her love was safe: knowing that she wouldn't have to endure the pain of watching him die before her.

Later that evening

When Christian came around his head was throbbing, he sat up groggily looking around trying to remember what had happened. "Sophia," he whispered his voice hoarse and fearful, "what have you done?" Getting up he staggered towards the door, and ran out into the street, it was raining heavily; he didn't care. In a blind panic he ran, and with each step took he screamed her name, maybe if he said enough, if he loved her enough then she'd be okay.

Angelus laughed. The Slayer was losing, they both knew it; she was going to die. With each blow that he delivered, Sophia felt her energy being drained from her now fragile body. With each she returned she felt her instincts fail and her strength fade. For a second, for the slightest fraction of a second, Sophia wondered if dying would be so bad. She was in a cemetery, the place where she had spent the majority of the last four years. She was fighting to the death to protect people she didn't know, people who would never know or care about her; another thing she had been doing for the last four years. What was there to live for? If this was all her future had to offer, maybe she didn't want it.

And with that final thought, that lapse of focus, Angelus made his final move; sinking his teeth into the creamy white complexion of her young neck. With a silent scream, The Slayer fell to the ground, in a strange world of grey almost between life and death itself.

With an ear splitting cry, Christian ran to her side too late.

Sophia was wrong; there had been something worth fighting for. She could feel the life slipping from her now and she began to cry. Panicked Christian soothingly wiped the tears from her face all the time whispering sweetly. "Sssshhh."

"Christian?" her voice was dry and afraid, "I'm sorry…"

Lost in sheer emotion the watcher kissed his Slayer's forehead, calming her skin with his warm and bittersweet embrace, and with this final declaration of forgiveness and love Sophia breathed her last breath and another slayer fell.

Christian looked at his hand the rain water mingling with her blood and tears, washing them away, willing him to forget. With that one kiss every ounce of his strength and control had died with her. He collapsed, his breath coming in short broken sobs, his body trembling beyond control. Screaming he looked up at the sky. "Kill me." He pleaded with Fate "Please…please is no one listening…take me…take me instead of her…" and with that he lay beside the dead slayer and wept.