A/N: Rating has been highered due to language. Evil characters say evil things.

To anybody else, it would seem that the two clerics could have been brothers. Both dressed in the traditional black with white collar, the two priests made a seeming portrait in symmetry.

Beneath the clerical collar, the two could not have been more different.

"You shouldn't have come here, Caleb," said the priest at the desk.

"Oh, come on, Marcus," replied the one in the doorway of the office, his thick southern accent making him sound more like a televangelist than a Catholic priest. "What's the use of a Hellmouth without someone to let loose some hell?" He paused, looked out the office's window at the school's courtyard, at the St. Clare's boys and girls who peopled it. "What is it about the things that makes people want to build schools on them?"

"It needs to be guarded," answered Fr. Marcus. Sunnydale has the Slayer now. What do we have?"

"An unorthodox Catholic priest, a nun who teaches Latin and tutors Fyarl, and a bunch of boys and girls who've learned that if you wear a red blazer the vampires won't attack. Such young and nubile children," Caleb observed. "It's enough to lead one into temptation, isn't it?"

"I am vowed to chastity, just as you have been. Unlike you, I keep that vow."

"Just that once, is that how it is?" Caleb mocked.

There was silence for a moment, then Fr. Marcus spoke. "I won't let you harm then," he said.

"Which ones out of those dirty girls are they?" Caleb asked. "That blonde under the tree? Or how about that nigger bitch over there?"

"Caleb," Marcus warned.

"Oh, I know," Caleb said. "They are all children of God, for whatever that's worth. We'll be seeing how far that goes pretty soon, won't we? But you don't have to be the one who fails them. You know, I could just kill them all, every last unclean vixen. That way, I could be sure to wipe out any potential Slayers you might have in the mix."

"You will not touch any of my students," Marcus answered, his voice firm.

"No, of course not. No doubt if I tried, your precious Sanctuary spell would knock me into last Tuesday. Now, what's a good Catholic priest like you doing using black magicks?"

"Whatever it takes to protect my children," said Fr. Marcus as he pulled a revolver from out of his desk. "I'm sorry, Caleb. It didn't have to come to this."

"I thought redemption was always possible," said Caleb. "Isn't that what they taught us in seminary?"

"Not you," said Marcus. "Not after what you've done, what you plan to do." He pulled the trigger, and it fired even as Caleb knocked the gun out of his hand. The silver bullet shattered the office window. In the courtyard, a dozen teenage faces were suddenly turned towards Fr. Marcus' office.

"Don't worry, I'll be on my way now," Caleb said. "I have other girls to take care of. Call it shepherding the flock—gonna have lamb for dinner tonight. But sooner or late, these girls will fall. As will the school itself. Pride always goeth before, y'know?"