She stared at him while he smiled. Now that he wasn't trying to kill her, it was kind of cute. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you were glowing." He jested. She became furious, and sick of embarrassing herself in front of this complete- although very much attractive- stranger. She stormed out of the crypt, not paying attention to her surroundings.

"You might want to-"

Seras turned, staking the vampire who had come out to the right and behind her with her left hand; all the while giving him a look of absolute enragement. "Guess I don't have to tell you anything." He said, a tinge of amusement still in his voice. She yanked the stake out of the vampire, allowing him to disintegrate at her feet. She stood, her look of molten gold trying in vain to set him a blaze. Without a word she continued to storm out of the graveyard.

Seras pounded the pavement as she went about the business of patrolling. She stopped, feeling someone following her, and hoping it wasn't who she thought it was. She bent down, taking the dagger out of her boot, and standing upright again, dagger in right hand. The footsteps that had almost silently succeeded her stopped as well. Seras felt her muscles tense, but then remembered what her brother had told her:

"Tense your muscles and you won't be as fast when you react. It's better to be loose, especially that if you are, injuries you receive won't be as bad as they could be."

She relaxed, letting the night breeze brush against her sun-kissed skin. Without turning, she threw the dagger over her shoulder, and followed with a spinning side step to the left, watching the flaming stake fly past her into a nearby telephone pole. She looked at Marco who was twirling her dagger in his hand. That smile still on his face, only plastered on now instead of simply being there.

"You're good, but not quite there yet."

"I thought you said you stopped using turpentine?" She questioned looking back at the flaming stake.

"Yeah well I might have lied." He tossed the dagger back at her. "God forgives, right?"

She caught the dagger and replaced it in the scabbard hidden in her boot. "Yeah I suppose. I've only been a slayer for a month, but a lifetime catholic against the wishes of my father."

Marco blinked, the smile had been completely wiped off his face and somehow transported onto Seras's. "I stand corrected. You're pretty damn good for only being at it for a month."

Seras looked down at her shirt and gave a little laugh. "Yeah well that didn't save my shirt now did it?" She looked up and smiled at him.

He smiled back, but this time it wasn't as annoying. "You know, you should really smile more. Scowling doesn't suit you…And you look cute when you blush."

Seras felt the slight heat in her face bloom into a heat with a life of its own. Instead of running, she stood there, let the coloring subside, and then turned around. "I got to go."

"Where?" He asked after her.

Seras called out rather than face him again. "To finish my patrolling."

"You know it's not too wise to go walking in the direction of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages with a mercenary's kit of weaponry."

Seras stopped and looked at her surrounding only to notice that he was right; she was walking straight through the same area she had ran through while Persephone was giving chase and realized that if she was caught there with her weaponry, she would be in big trouble. "Maybe going this way isn't the best thing."

"Yeah."

She turned around to see the tall blonde Italian hovering behind her. She gave a short gasp as Marco took her by the hand. She looked him in his deep blue eyes and fell silent. This was getting to be annoying. He was making her blush, causing her heart to slightly flutter and his blue eyes were burning cavernous wholes into her soul.

If she didn't know any better she'd say she was actually…quite possibly…falling in love?

"Come on. Let's walk away next morning's top story, shall we?"

As the two walked aimlessly through the Brooklyn streets, they made small talk.

"So you're mother was a slayer, eh?"

Seras nodded her head. "Funny part is I didn't find out any of this until practically the other day. I've only been a slayer for a month, and even that time was spent in training. I've only been patrolling for about a week."

"And I'd say you've been rather successful." Seras gave Marco a look of mild confusion. Marco continued, "Usually if a slayer has some powerful ancient entity chasing after them with the intention of making them nonexistent, they're getting along pretty well. Except, I don't think it's such a good thing in you're case, seeing as you're inexperienced and all."

"So I would guess that you're a slayer yourself." Seras stated, trying to change the topic away from her near death in the past hour or so.

"Not exactly. It's more of a hobby, something to do to kill time on those long lonely Saturday nights."

"Oh."

They continued to walk down the street of the opulent neighborhood until they reached the end. The Manhattan skyline glowed in the not too distant horizon, along with a harbor cruise ship that was traveling around the island with its continuously partying passengers. This view was lost on the two patrollers, mainly because all they saw was two women about to be sucked dry by a pair of all too hungry looking vampires.

"I'll go left for the one on the left, you the right. Sound good to you?" Marco looked over at Seras to see whether she agreed or not and found the space where she had been standing empty. He looked up to see Seras going at it with the two vampires. Marco sighed. "Or we can just charge head on into the fight without thinking. That's always a classic."

Marco pulled out a holy water soaked sake and headed after the newbie slayer.

One of the over dramatically dressed Goth vampires saw him coming and charged head on, letting out a supposedly horrid hiss.

"Dress normally would you? This isn't a game." Marco launched the stake out of his hand and into the vampire heart right as it got within arm's length. "Unlike in one of yourgames of Vampire The Requiem, you can actually die." He let the vampire stand there and croak fora bit. "Okay, enough. I'll take this back now." Marco plucked the stake out of the vampire, and placed it back in his belt as it turned into dust. "Waste not what not. Wonder how the newbie's doing…"

Marco looked over to see Seras being backed up against the railing by the other equally over dressed vampire. He sighed and was about to go and help her, when he took a second look. He knew he didn't need glasses, yet he could swear he saw a look of enjoyment on the young slayer's face. Well who knew? Someone who enjoyed killing the damned bastards as much as he did. How nice to know.

He stepped closer to get a better look at what she was going to do. This should be interesting.

The vampire closed in on the poor helpless, well armed slayer and gave a smile. Idiot probably thought that this whole "being a vampire" thing was totally awesome, and was showing off his teeth. "Poor little good Samaritan, coming to save the defenseless victim only to become one yourself. Don't you understand that you can't beat me? I'm a child of the darkness. This, the night, is my realm. Even you're little friend is struck motionless with fear. You can't possibly hope to win. After I get you, he's next. This is it for the both of you." The Bella Lugosiwannabe gave a smug little laugh.

"Great now he's monologueing." Marco groaned. "She better get rid of him before I do."

Seras stopped and gave a sigh of defeat. "You're right." She whimpered hopelessly. She deserved an Oscar for the acting job she was doing right now. "But can I at least get a last drink…and a last kiss? From such a beautiful perfected creature of power?" From her peripheral vision she could see that Marco was greatly amused.

The vampire smiled and looked her up and down. "Go ahead. Might as well take something to dull the pain."

Moron.

Seras pull her other hip flask out and uncorked it. "After I drink all this down, I'll kiss death and be ready to die." She looked at him, not focusing her gaze so as to make it look like she was ready to cry. The vampire smiled. This little prick was really enjoying this master of fate thing. Might as well let him, it was his last moments on Earth. Why not send him off with a kiss for a moderately beautiful young woman?

She tilted her head back and drank down the contents, leaving half of the contents in the flask, with a gulp's worth in her mouth. Dramatically she swung her head back down and looked at the vampire. With flask still in hand, she threw herself into his arms and kissed him, spitting the gulp's worth of holy water into his throat when he tried to get some tongue.

The vampire pushed her away and dropped to his knees, grabbing his throat as it disappeared under his fingers. Seras smiled as his neck collapsed in on itself, along with the rest of his body. He then turned into dust, spilling into the breeze and blowing all over her hands, clothes, face and hair.

"Poor baby, can't handle his drinks."

Seras stood, faced away from the dust and took a deep breathe, exhaling a deep sigh of satisfaction. She faced Marco, who still stood at a distance, looking at her with something that resembled mild interest.

"Too much?" She asked, sounding surprisingly innocent for someone who had just cruelly killed someone just seconds ago. Well, it wasn't really a person he supposed. So her innocence would still technically be withstanding. But still, she was pretty nonchalant for a newbie. Hardly seemed effected at all.

He liked that.

"Just a bit disturbed that you're okay with being covered in vampire remains."

Seras laughed and gave him a smile. Even from where he stood he could see her eyes dancing in the dim street light with the satisfaction of the kill. He found himself staring for the simple reason that he had only seen that look in the quick reflections he had seen of himself after he had killed a vampire.

"Lets get you home."

"Why?" She protested.

Marco laughed. "I know you seem to be enjoying yourself, but as you can see…"

Seras looked to where Marco was pointing in the distance. The sky had started to lighten, and the sun was threatening to come up, ruining all the good fun she was having. She sighed and replaced the flask on her hip. "Suppose I can't continue hunting when the sun is out."

"Not unless you have an answer ready as to why you're walking around with a two centuries old sharp object and a flask filled with holy water."

The two exchanged a look of amusement. They both knew that technically, they could go hunting in the day time, but neither was up to the job of explaining why they were kicking open random crypt doors, looking inside for a few seconds, and then closing the door as if nothing had happened. So it was time to go home.

"It was nice meeting you." Seras offered her hand. "Marco right?"

Marco walked up and yet again took her hand. "And where do you think you're going?"

A slight sense of alarm took over Seras. "I'm going home." She pointed over her shoulder. "I was planning to walk along the pathway until I hit the Brooklyn Bridge over there."

He gave her and incredulous look. "Uh huh. And then what?"

As she gave her answer, she realized how ridiculous it sounded. "Walk over to 118th and Madison." She looked up at him and offered an embarrassed grin. He sighed, and walked over with her hand in hand to the curbside edge.

"Where exactly are you taking me?" She questioned.

"I'm assuming that you don't know how to get back home by train, and that even if you do you really don't feel like doing that right now. So I'm going to put you in a cab and send you home. And if you even think of paying for the cab fare I'll break you're arm off here and now."

Seras became a bit stunned and allowed Marco to lead her along. She had never before heard someone force chivalry on another person, and threaten them if they tried otherwise. She was quickly beginning to believe that this guy Marco was completely, utterly, undeniably…nuts.

They soon reached a major street and Marco waved down a cab. The foreign driver rolled down his window and asked with a surprising lack of accent, "Where to?"

Marco looked over at Seras, who was still dumbfounded by his threatening kindness to realize a simple face…Marco didn't know her exact address. "You need me to check your wallet for you?" He asked, a slight tone of impenitentness sliding through. She snapped back to reality and peered down at the driver. "Can you take me to Madison between one-eighteenth and one-seventieth?"

The driver seemed to be taken back for a second, as if he had been struck by a frying pan wielded byan eight foot tall yeti. She must have looked horrible. He said almost inaudibly, "Sure I can take you there, just need to get the directions up on my GPS, no prob."

"Alright then." She watched Marco as he opened the door for her. "In you go."

Seras walked around and stepped into the cab, looking back up at him. "You know you don't have to do this. I can handle the-"

He cut her off. "Do you think I was kidding about breaking your arm?" Shestopped what she was saying and just blankly stared at him. "Get in the cab. I don't want you're brother worrying about you."

"Thanks." She offered her hand again in a sign of good faith. "I hope we can cross paths again."

"We will. Until then…" He took her hand and gave it a quick kiss. "Parting is such sweet sorrow, my dear slayer." Without reaction from her, he placed her hand at her side and closed the door. He looked at the driver. "So how much is the damage?"

The cabby looked back at her, still a bit dumbstruck, and replied, "For her? Twenty'll cover any fare she accumulates." Marco reached into his back pocket, pulled out a relatively small wad of twenties and handed one to him.

Before the driver took off, Marco called his attention again. "By the way? If you try anything with her, just remember I have your license plate memorized, and have no qualms with hunting you down and treating you with the same loving care that a white supremacist would have with you and yours. Am I understood?"

A look of pure horror emerged on the driver's face as he mechanically nodded his agreement. "Good." Marco pounded on the roof of the cab. "Tally ho then. Don't want to keep the poor girl's family worrying do we?"

As Marco backed away from the cab, he caught Seras's eye and did a small mocking bow as the cab sped off. She turned to watch him walk into the distance until she couldn't see him anymore, then slid into the back seat of the car and smiled. Interesting man that Cattalano. Bizarre, but in the way that you would want someone to be. Definitely someone she would check up on in the future.

She looked up to notice the cab driver nervously checking his review mirror. "You know I never had any intentions of laying a hand on you." The cabbie said in the awkward silence that was now filling the car. "I'm not that kind of man."

Seras waved off her benefactor's behavior. "Don't pay him any mind. He's just an enthusiastic chivalric is all." As she said this, she realized for a millisecond a gleam in the cabbie's eyes. He was getting ideas was he? Well she very well couldn't go around letting that happen, now could she?

"Besides, I don't need him to protect me." She sighed casually.

"Oh?" He questioned with some interest. "And why's that?"

Seras took out herdagger and allowed the shinning blade to catch his eye. "Because I know how to use this to cause you so much pain you'd rather have sex with deli slicer. Now keep your eyes on the road will you? We don't want any accidents, do we?"