The Binds that Tie
Inside the body she knew; she knew who she was and who he was (although not who the other two were), but outside she had no idea who any of the four people were.
Janine sat in the back seat of her boyfriend's car. Terror. Pain. Ken sat in the front. His mouth and nose bled onto his shirt, the shirt she gave him when he got his drivers' license two months ago and he wore for her tonight because he knew she liked him in it and now it had blood on it--
The man (thing!) on her right squeezed her arm. Pain. Pain! His grip was strong, too strong for a tall, skinny guy in his early twenties with floppy indie-rocker hair, and her arm hurt where he grabbed her.
"For such an old man, Donner, you sure drive well," backseat guy commented.
Audrey watched (from where?) from above as the car pulled into a driveway. The drive led up the left side of the house, around the side and to the right once in the back yard. The car parked. A large man dragged a young boy, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, out of the car behind him.
Janine cringed as Ken got dragged out of the car. The man beside her, Cole, made a "shoo" motion with his hand. "Ladies first," he said. She shuddered.
He tripped her as she got out--
A girl, about the same age as the boy, fell to the ground as she exited the car. A thin young man, perhaps in his early twenties, followed her out gracefully, lifted her off the ground.
"Now what, Cole?" the bigger man asked.
"Step one is to gather your materials. We have a house, humans, and vampires present and accounted for." He grabbed the girl and lead her to the house. "Step two -- state your hypothesis."
Janine cried out as Cole yanked her to her feet. He looked her in the eyes for a moment; he seemed almost curious. "So. Do you have a key to this house?"
"N--no!" she said. Her voice came out quiet and hoarse, barely audible. "I don't live here, I've never even been here before!"
"Good," he said. He smiled, and she shivered. Her tears -- pain! -- increased. "Hypothesis: an invitation, in order to be effective, must be invoked by one who has a logical right to issue a social invitation to a home. Just any random human will not do." He turned. "Donner? Please use your key to open the door."
Donner grabbed Ken by the neck and the waist of his jeans and threw him. Ken smashed into and through the back door.
Audrey stood off to the side with a small blonde. "You're supposed to kill them, you know," the blonde said. "Steak to the heart, little sunlight. Don't fall off the log, but it's like that."
"Steak to the heart?" Audrey repeated.
"Oh, sorry!" The blonde giggled. "Typo. Wordo. I don't know. Count down from the seven-three-oh. Wait -- that last one was for me, not from me. You're more like six-oh, maybe nine-oh. It's muddled."
"What? I don't understand!"
She could hear Ken moaning in pain, even over her own sobs. Pain. Terror. How did this happen? She wore pink tonight, her pretty color, with a bow in her hair and a condom sneaked into her purse to maybe give Ken a surprise--
"Invite me in," Cole said.
"Come in!" she said. "Please, come in!"
He chuckled. "Not you. Him."
"Ken!" she said. "Invite him in. Please!" Stockholm Syndrome, she'd studied it--
Ken groaned. He shook his head, seemed to regain awareness. He looked up through the door. "Come in," he said.
Cole looked over at Donner. Donner stuck his hand forward, to the doorway, and stopped. He shook his head.
"Hypothesis proven," Cole said. He stared at Janine. "Ken, you have a choice. Stay in there and live, but she dies -- or come out here and save her, but die."
"Ken!" Janine shrieked.
"I-- I don't want to die," Ken said. Tears and blood covered his face, a pink mixture like her shirt and--
"Chivalry," Cole said. He shrugged -- his face changed -- Janine tried to scream but nothing came out -- his head went forward--
Audrey woke up and grabbed her neck. Her heart pounded in her chest as her lungs sucked in air, but the terror faded quickly as she immediately forgot her dream, just as she had trained herself to over the past year.
Tuesday night, after three straight days of Slayer training, Katharine snuck out of the house.
She had plenty of experience sneaking out of houses, dating back well before she inherited her Slayer powers. At thirteen, Audrey developed a crush on Daxter Jackson, a seventeen-year-old boy down the street who liked to make out with her in his back yard by the swing set there, and they spent the summer finding various exits to use without parental notice. Daxter had a cute friend, Jason, who would often make out with Katharine when he was over.
Reasons changed over the years, but they always managed to find a reason to sneak out -- Audrey more than Katharine. The secret, they finally realized, was to make noises their parents expected to hear rather than to try to hide all noise.
Xander led Janet and Rona into the cemetery -- Faith had to work that night, so it was just the three of them. He pulled a silver dollar from his pocket and held it up. "Whose turn is it to call it?"
"It's Janet's turn," Rona said. Her eyes scanned the cemetery already, and her hands opened and closed slowly.
"Heads," Janet said.
Xander flipped the coin. "Heads it is. What's our plan, Jan?"
He only half-listened as Janet laid out their patrol of the cemetery. For days now, since he talked with their newest Slayer out by the car on Saturday afternoon, he'd felt torn between two different aspects of his duty as a Watcher. His job was to locate and assess any girl who was potentially a Slayer, and the identical twin sister of a Slayer certainly qualified.
On the other hand, though, he'd watched Buffy and Faith and the other girls learn what it was to be a Slayer, and he knew how protective they could be about the boundaries between that calling and their personal lives. He remembered before the fight with Glory, when Buffy was so fiercely determined to protect Dawn from harm -- from everyone -- at any cost. He felt confident Katharine hadn't mentioned her sister to anyone else, and he also felt confident that any inquiries into that sister before she was ready to go there would drive her away.
It was also his job to look over and protect the Slayers, even the ones that weren't his. So he said nothing about Audrey Beckford, not even to Giles. It would come out soon enough. They had time.
Audrey's hug rocked Katharine back, same as always. Except now she knew why.
"Katharine!" Audrey said. "I'm so glad you're back."
Katharine smiled. She gingerly reached up and touched Audrey's hair, near where the scar from her brain surgery was. "I missed you," she said softly.
"Are you..." Audrey trailed off, looking for the right word. "Fine?"
"I'm good." Katharine paused for a second. In a rush, she said, "How are your dreams?"
Audrey's eyes opened wide -- Katharine never brought up her nightmares. She always kept the subject away from them, tried to let Audrey forget about them. "What-- Why?"
Katharine felt as shocked as Audrey looked. She meant to ease into the conversation about Slayers and vampires and such, not burst out with it before she got her sister prepared. She wanted Audrey to know what she was getting in to, to have foresight and have a choice; unlike Katharine got. "Do you still have those nightmares?" she asked softly. "The ones with the monsters and the girls?"
"I-- I don't know," Audrey said. "I don't remember dreams anymore. It..."
Katharine gently pulled her sister into her arms. "I know, Aud, I know," she whispered. "They're scary, and no fun -- but I think I know why you have them."
Audrey stiffened and hugged her tighter. "You do?"
Katharine nodded. She pulled back and smiled. "Let's go into your room, and I'll tell you all about it."
"So what do you two think of our newest Slayer?" Xander asked as they patrolled the cemetery.
Janet scoffed. "What, are all the Watchers doing a popularity poll?"
"I don't know if they are or not, and I don't care," Xander snapped. "I'm asking."
"Sorry," Janet said softly. "Just joking."
Xander felt bad -- he hadn't meant to snap at her, it just came out -- but before he could apologize, they answered him.
"I like her okay," Rona said. "She's kinda quiet, kinda distant, you know? Hard to get to know."
"She's got a bit of an intellectual snob attitude about her," Janet added. "It just--"
"Seems like she's hiding something," Rona finished.
Xander could understand that impression. He knew what she was hiding: a sister.
"Thanks," Xander said. "That's about what I got from her, but it's nice to see if you guys share my impressions."
They walked through the cemetery in silence a little while longer. Rona caught a vampire as it rose, and staked it easily. They walked some more.
"Hey, um, Janet," Xander said. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, earlier."
Janet smiled and shrugged. "It's okay. Bad joke. My bad, too."
"Joke? How do you mean?"
"You know -- all the Watchers asking their Slayers."
Xander looked at her for a moment, waiting for more. Nothing came. "Um, I'm afraid I don't get it."
Janet and Rona both stopped and stared at him.
Xander held up his hands. "Hey, that look? Not comforting. Go easy on the dense guy, cool?"
Janet and Rona looked at each other for a moment. "Yeah, sure," Rona said.
"It's just that there ain't no way Wood asks his Slayers about the new girl," Janet said.
"Come again?" Xander said.
"Giles might, but no way Wood's gonna," Rona said.
"Yeah," Janet said. "Wood's all controlling with his girls, all, 'The Slayer stands alone, responsible only to her duty and herself,' with them."
"Pretty much the opposite of how you are," Rona said.
"They seem to eat it up, though," Janet said.
Xander had no idea how to respond to that. "Um..."
Janet smiled. "Hey, we like it better your way, Harris." Rona nodded in agreement.
"Oh." Xander forced a smile. "Thanks."
Janet and Rona turned back to the patrol. Xander followed them, unsure of exactly what just happened, unsure if there was some sort of rift between the Slayers (and perhaps the Watchers) developing.
"So... I'm a Slayer?" Audrey said.
They sat together on Audrey's bed, legs crossed. Katharine held Audrey's right hand in both of hers.
"We both are," Katharine said. "Along with a bunch of other girls."
"You do remember -- I'm the one with brain damage, right?"
Katharine swatted her arm. "I'm serious, Audrey! I've met the girls, I've seen vampires kill and be killed. It's for real. You should come with me, meet Giles, talk with him. He's amazing. He's so smart and nice and -- just -- great! You should come."
Katharine looked at her twin and saw the skepticism on her face. She had to get her to understand, to believe, even if it meant pulling no punches and bringing up subjects she would rather avoid. "You are a Slayer. You wouldn't be alive, otherwise."
Audrey waited, but Katharine stayed quiet. "What do you mean, wouldn't be alive?"
"You were dying, Aud," Katharine said. "You were... hooked up to a machine, life support, and you were dying. I remember watching you get worse, nothing worked. I remember the day we became Slayers, but not because I felt the power go through me -- it took me a while to even feel that." She took a deep breath. "I remember that day because it's the day we were going to kill you."
"What?"
"We pulled the plug on your life support, Aud." Katharine squeezed her sister's hand tighter. "We never mentioned it because you got better, you survived, so it didn�t matter. But it does. God, I remember it all, the way Dad talked and kissing you goodbye and--"
"Stop!" Audrey yanked her hand from Katharine's hands and pulled back her hair from her face. "How-- you--"
"I'm sorry," Katharine whispered. "I didn't want to tell you--"
The bedroom door slammed open against the wall. Katharine jumped off the bed and into a fighting stance before she realized it was just her father.
"What are you doing here?" he said. "What are you telling her?"
"Dad, I was just--"
"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but whatever it is, stop," he said coldly. "God, Katharine, why would you lie to your sister like that?"
"What?"
"Are you trying to hurt us?" Katharine shrank back as her father continued. His soft, strong voice felt like a physical force, pushing her down, more powerful than all the Slayer strength she had and more. "Are you striking back from some perceived slight? Do you want something? I just don't get why you would do this."
"I'm not lying!" Katharine looked at Audrey. "Please, aud, you gotta believe me, I'm telling you the truth about everything--"
"Katharine, please!" her father shouted. "Can't you just leave her alone, why do you have to lie to her--"
"I'm not lying to her! You are!"
Her father stared at her, livid, for a moment before he exploded. "Get out!" He thrust a hand toward the door and grabbed her upper arm with his other hand, pushed her toward the door. "Just get out of my house, you lying bitch!"
Katharine easily shrugged his hand off her arm. "Audrey, please," she said. "Please, I'm telling you the truth!"
"I said get out!" her father roared. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her toward the door.
And Katharine shoved back.
Her father left the ground briefly before he slammed against the wall on the far side of the room. His head bounced against the sheetrock, left a slight dent. He slumped down some, but managed to keep his feet.
Katharine's hands covered her face as she stared at him, horrified. "Oh, God, Daddy," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
"I said to get out," he growled.
Katharine looked over at her sister, who still sat on the bed. "Aud?"
Audrey looked at her for a moment, then turned and looked over at their father. She glanced at Katharine again and said, "Slayer strength, huh?"
"What? What are you talking about?" their father said. "She's lying to you, Audrey, baby. She's lying."
Audrey stood up and shook her head. Tears glinted in her eyes as she said, "No, she's not. You are, Daddy. I'm sorry. I love you. But... I'm going with her."
He straightened. "Audrey? Sweetie?"
Katharine held her hand out to her sister. After a slight hesitation, Audrey reached up and took it, and they left together.