THROUGH AN ANGEL'S EYES – CHAPTER 5

Unfortunately we only had a couple of hours to ourselves before we were interrupted by a powerful mental call. Realizing what it was, I threw on some clothes and ran to Janice's room, all the while using my mind to reassure her that I was coming. When I got to her room, I found her sitting up in bed.

"Greetings sister" I said "do you know me?"

"Ian" she replied "it's good to see you, but where am I and what has happened."

I gave her the short version of events and explained what she had done to herself and the consequences. I went on to tell her what she would have to do over the next two months.

"So I must re-learn human behavior and define and refine my emotions and those of others."

"Correct; and combat training."

"I can understand the need for the first two, that is logical; but why combat training?"

"So that you will be able to avoid the extremes to which you resorted this time. You know I will always be there to help, I just don't want to have to worry again about being late to your aid."

"I see. Can I receive all of these things at this place?"

"Yes; it is a place for training slayers. I will be here for the first few days, after that I will find a suitable tutor for you."

"Very well, I have rested enough; how would you have me begin?"

"Reading" I answered. Handing over several of my favorites, I told her "go through these and we will discuss them tomorrow. Write down any questions that you have, so they will be remembered." Standing, I said "I apologize for the timing, but I have a prior commitment. Is there anything that you need right now."

She asked for directions to the dining area and the bathrooms. I gave her these and left her; barely noticed for she was already lost in 'The Foundation' trilogy.

I found Dawn and we discussed tactics for the evening. We came up with some wicked surprises. We ran our ideas past Buffy to make sure we weren't going too far. The enthusiastic response we received told us that we hadn't.

Two hours after sundown, twenty new slayers came charging out of the training room looking for two enemies. I was sitting in a clearing about ¾ of a mile away, meditating and listening to 'Ballads and Blues' by George Winston on a portable CD player. Can you say 'here kitty, kitty, kitty'. Being slayers, most of them heard the music, and those that did alerted those who hadn't. They came directly at me; all pretense of searching was gone; meaning they wouldn't locate Dawn. I was in the classic lotus position, swathed in a voluminous black cloak, just sitting and charging the batteries. It was really too dark for vision to work, but with my senses extended I could function quite well without sight. I was a bit away from the CD player, and they were centered on it. One reached for the player.

"Please don't touch that" I said.

Many of the girls jumped. Even with their slayer senses they had not detected me.

"Who the devil are you" a voice asked with a French accent.

"I am your enemy" I said without moving.

They backed off a bit, confused; I thought 'stupid', I announce myself as your enemy, but no-one was attacking. Well, I'll leave that to Dawn to start; I could feel her coming up behind them, through the woods. Meanwhile, none of these brain donors had thought enough to turn off the CD.

One of the girls behind me gave me a bit of a shove and snarled "stand up or else."

I stood up, chuckling low in my throat "you're all dead, you just don't know it yet". Then I lifted my head and made my eyes glow. It's a cheesy effect but at the right time, it's pretty scary. I just stood there laughing. They were totally focused on me, which was the perfect time for Dawn to attack. Needless to say, she did. With no sound, except her wooden sword whipping through the air; a CRACK resounded through the woods, and the first slayer dropped. Dawn moved back through the woods, cursing like a drunken sailor, moving like a wraith, sword licking out at every opening. Of course no-ones attention was on me; this gave me the perfect opportunity to draw my swords and start dropping slayers around me. I had remained silent, while Dawn was yelling. The slayers couldn't decide to chase her or deal with me. There was no communication, no co-ordination, no plan. We had all the information, so we had a huge advantage. I could hear Dawn handing out some nasty blows; I knew she had some issues with the junior slayers, I just wish she wasn't so emphatic about working them out. I was using the dark and confusion, moving, striking moving again; leaving a trail of dazed and unconscious slayers. Dawn was doing the same. Finally three of them concentrated on me, coordinating their attack. I lunged at the one on the right, pushing her back with the tip of my sword. She stumbled and tripped over one of the fallen slayers. I immediately attacked the other two. A fusillade of blows, a couple of oofs, one crap, and two slayers down before the first could collect herself and figure out where I was. She came at where I had been, but I had moved. I grabbed her from behind and whispered "I told you, you're all dead", and using Little Earl's gloves, rocked her to sleep. I dropped her among her fellow slayers and went to help Dawn clean up the remains. I found her playing tag with the shadows, and using her superior speed to hit the last two from unexpected angles. I popped up behind the two slayers and knocked their heads together.

Dawn looked out and said "spoil sport".

"Sadist, you shouldn't play with em, just finish em."

She just gave me a very moist raspberry.

"Help me get everyone to the clearing." We dragged their unconscious forms back to the clearing, supplying additional knockouts to those that just looked groggy. Everyone was there, and I finally turned off the CD player, and we headed back. Suddenly I stopped.

"Dawn, there were twenty of them and there's only nineteen bodies in the clearing."

She stopped and her eyes lost focus. "There" she said snapping out of it and pointing in a remote direction.

We pursued fast and loud. There was no way she didn't hear us coming. She broke and ran, blindly, scared. I was uncomfortable with this, but it was a lesson she needed to learn; sometimes the bad guys won. She stumbled and we were on her, silent and ominous, our eyes glowing. I grabbed her from behind, holding her arms; Dawn moved in from the front. The girl was crying, but still silent. Dawn reached out and pinched her carotid artery. Very soon, she was limp in my arms and we were finished.

We headed back to the house, where the chosen two were. The slayers would be OK out here, sore and a bit humbled but OK. As we walked in, Buffy turned to Faith and said "HA, fifty minutes, pay up."

Faith gave a grimace and handed over the money, "you could have at least given em time to wander around lost in the dark a bit".

Dawn regaled the two slayers with a blow by blow account. They both looked disgusted that all of them had fallen for the trap.

"Both of us suck at group strategy B, anything larger than two and we're out of our league".

Buffy didn't look happy, but didn't disagree.

"Ask Riley" I suggested, "he is an expert, after all, and he's here."

Faith looked at Buffy, "you better do it B, he'd probably shoot me on sight."

Buffy laughed at Faith's exaggeration, and agreed to ask Riley for help.

Dawn headed back to our room, and I looked in on Janice. She just waved at me when I asked how it was going. I laughed and told her that she already had teenage behavior down pat. She blushed a bit, said she was fine and agreed to have breakfast with me in the morning. I went to our room and walked in on Dawn, shewas wearing a huge smile, and nothing else. We proceeded to properly celebrate our victory.