DISCLAIMER : See first chapter ..I don´t own shit!

Notes: Thanx for the feedback ..here we go!

 Up close and personal

They were vampires, but good ones, Alice had been quick to point out. Normal vampires didn´t have a soul, the two had ……although her stating this so openly to the crew seemed to make both men uncomfortable. They were fighting the good fight, she had said. Mal didn´t really care as long as they did not think about the crew as a snack……

The quarters they had given to the girl and the two vampires seemed to suffice.

 So far the two men had been staying in their bunk, if they were sleeping or doing  anything at all……Mal couldn´t tell.

So far Mal had not enquired about the contents of the portable cooling device. He had his own ideas about that, not quite sure if he wanted to know whether he was right or wrong.

Kaylee had spent the whole day asking Alice a million questions about the three of them, where they had been, the places they had seen……..

Alice had seemed to enjoy just spending time with a girl her own age. They were on their way to an old friend of the darker, broodier vampire, but apart from that Mal couldn´t tell if they had a hidden agenda.

He was quite surprised to find Alice alone in the middle of the night, sitting in the dark mass.

„Can´t sleep?"  Mal said, sitting down at the table opposite to her.

She cradled her mug of steaming tea in her lap, looking at him.

" No …..comes with the territory ."

"Nightmares, ha?"

From the way she smiled sadly,  he knew she could tell he had a few of those himself.

" Yeah….. Amongst other things. I need some time for me sometimes …"

Mal nodded, taking a sip of his own tea.

" The guys are very protective of you. Seems weird to me, judging from the things I´ve seen you do."

" They try to help…"

Mal leaned forward, putting his mug down on the table.

" So what´s the deal with the three of you, if you don´t mind me askin´? Where did you find these guys….vampires with a soul. Don´t think you can pick´em up on a street- corner."

Alice rolled her eyes, sighing.

" See…that´s the thing. I did not look for them, nor did I find them ……they found me and now , well you´ve seen how they are……..They are not very big in the leaving again department. Mighty helpful though. Don´t think I´d still be alive if it weren´t for them, had a close call right before they found me, saved my life!"

Mal had figured that they were fighters, but he wasn´t sure.

" So they are any good…in a fight I mean?"

Alice laughed.

" Oh yeah, as good as they come, my daddy would say."

Mal lifted an eyebrow at her.

" So what´s their story? Seems there is a bit of tension between those two."

Alice bit her lip, placing her mug next to Mal´s.

" Please take my advice on this, ok? Do yourself a favour and don´t ask them. Now Angel is not much of a talker when it comes to all his personal stuff, but once you get Spike to spill the beans, Angel will jump right in there in order to put some things straight and then you´ll never hear the end of it! It´s a really long story and I´ve heard it more times then I cared to…..really, really long, like epic long if you catch my drift?  We are talking centuries here!"

Mal laughed out loud.

" Short version?"

" It´s about a girl." She said simply.

Mal lifted his brows.

" Must be some girl…."

" She´s dead." Alice finally elaborated.

" She´s been dead for centuries. I don´t know the whole story, it´s like …..it still hurts when they mention her, there´s almost a physical quality to it. She was a slayer like me back on earth that was. Maybe the best there ever was."

Mal took another sip of his tea before it got too cold and shot Alice another enquiring glance.

" So …..she got killed in the line of duty so to speak?"

Alice smiled sadly, shaking her head.

" No ….she died an old woman. She died in peace surrounded by a big, loving family. It think that was the hard part about it. They loved her so much ….Angel once lost his soul for her, Spike even went through a bunch of trials to get his back ….they would have done anything for her. And so they did …..they let her have a life. She wasn´t immortal, she was human despite all the strength that comes with the calling. They just ..stepped back and let her be happy. Angel rarely talks about it, but Spike told me that ….they still watched her from a distance. Watched her get married, become a mother, a grandmother …..it must have been excruciating. It takes a lot of love to just let someone go ……a lot of devotion."

Mal nodded solemly.

" So why are they running with you now?"

Alice shrugged.

" It´s their mission …..help out the slayer, train the slayer. Back on earth that was they had watcher´s for that. But something …..happened, changed all that. Now there is just them.

I think they´re doing it for her ……they still love her."

" That´s some devotion!" Mal commented.

" Love is not love which alters where it alteration finds,

 or bends with the remover to remove.

Oh no, it is an ever fixed mark

That looks on tempests but is never shaken,

That is a star to every wandrin´ bark;

Whose worth´s unknown although his height be taken.

Love´s not time´s fool ,

Though rosy cheeks and lips into his bending sickle's compass come.

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved …."

" …I never writ nor no man ever loved." Mal cut in.

Alice nodded, obviously  amazed.

" You know your Shakespeare."

" I know a little!"

Mall answered evasively , growing a little uncomfortable. He barely knew this girl and yet she had shared a lot with him already. It must have shown in his face, because Alice gave a little laugh.

" Sorry, Captain …..it´s not that I´m a blabbermouth but…..it´s good to talk to someone else once in a while."

Now that was something Mal could relate to …..

" So lemme ask you something else."

Alice nodded for him to go ahead.

" Why do you do this? As far as I catch this whole slayer deal, there seems to be no payment involved. So how did a pretty little girl like you get into all this trouble?"

Alice tugged a loose strand of her auburn hair behind her ear and smiled sadly.

" This trouble you speak of is nothing you sign up for voluntarily…..you are chosen. There was a time when there used to be a lot of us….slayers, I mean. A whole lot of us  ….from what I´ve heard the guys say…….back then on earth that was. I don't know if there still are others than me, if there are I´d like to meet them…the others. But so far I haven´t found any of them ……right now there is only me. You cannot buy or bargain your way out of it. I am the chosen one, it´s as simple as that. Not a thing I or anyone else could do about it!"

Mal wrinkled up his brow.

" What if you´d just said ….No thank you, I don´t care much for bein´ chosen, choose somebody else!"

" You can´t escape your fate." Alice returned matter-of-factly. Something told Mal that she spoke from experience, which made him scowl.

" You can´t tell me that hasn´t happened before! I don´t believe much in fate …..I choose my own and you should get to do that too. It´s your choice after all! You could just stop and walk away."

Alicia shook her head. She liked what he was trying to do, but she had been down that road before. She had scars on her wrists that proved how much she had wanted to get out ……and she had two men on her heels already, trying to protect and save her no matter what.

" I don´t really know if that has happened before, I suppose it could´ve…..

It´s like I said, this is not something you can run from. It´s my destiny, there is no way to outrun it. No matter how far I travel or how long I run, it will catch up to me in the end.

And suppose I do turn away, if I am not there…who will step up? There is only me until the day I die. That´s when this will end. When I´m dead there will be a new slayer."

" There has to be some king of back-up plan.."

Alice laughed resentfully.

" That is the back-up plan! I die, a new slayer will rise, another girl will be chosen. There has always been a slayer, there will always be a slayer……I´m just one bond in a very long line."

Mal frowned.

" That sound like a mighty tough deal for a young girl to handle…."

Alice looked at him, smiling.

" I can handle myself!"

Mal laughed.

" Oh …I´ve seen that! So why are you looking for this guy, this friend of …."

" Angel´s friend? He is supposed to help us ….he knows things about people. His name is Lorne. He is supposed to help me find my way…or our way…I don´t know. Angel always starts to snicker every time I ask him how this Lorne is able to do that…."