A/N : Thanx to my latest reviewers; spuffy-monica, KelleyTheSelfToastablePopTart, Brunettepet, Spuffy2008, kim, and amytherat, to whom I also want to say Happy Birthday.
This chapter is a little different, but I hope you still like it. Let's do the time warp again... ;-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 21

Location : Rome, Italy
Time : July 31st 1977 20:34

"Luisa? Luisa Vincenzi?" an older English woman asked as the young Italian girl turned around at the sound of her name.

"Who are you?" she asked worriedly, "How do you know my name?"

"There is no need for alarm, Luisa" she was assured by the kindly looking woman, "I am here to help you" she assured her as the waitress backed up further, "My name is Mary Fisher, and I have important news for you. Is there somewhere we might go to talk?"

Thinking she was perfectly safe whilst she was surrounded by so many people, Luisa told her friend she was taking her break now and led Mary over to a table at the back of the cafe.

"What do you want to tell me?" she asked immediately they sat down.

"Luisa, you must promise me you will remain calm as I explain myself" Mary told her, "I imagine you have had some rather frightening dreams the last two nights or more" she guessed, her suspicions confirmed by the young girls surprised expression, "I am here to tell you what those dreams mean, Luisa, to explain to you that the creatures you saw whilst you slept, the vampires and demons, they are real"

"This cannot be" she protested, "Monsters like these do not exist in real life"

"Indeed they do" Mary told her firmly, "Vampires in particular walk amongst us in the night, so dangerous since they are so difficult to detect, but I digress" she shook her head, "I am here to tell you of a long line of warriors, that all started with one girl. She was Chosen to fight the demons and the vampires, and keep a balance on Earth. When one Slayer dies another rises and so it has always been" she said as gently as she could, "Luisa, the latest Slayer was killed two days ago, by a vampire that overpowered her, and the new Slayer was activated. It is you, my dear"

Location : Rome, Italy
Time : September 24th 1977 19:47

"Mary?" Luisa called as she let herself into the apartment. Her Watcher immediately sprang apart from the man she shared the couch with, their passionate kissing completely interrupted by the entry of the Slayer.

"Oh, Luisa" Mary gasped, "It is you... er, you remember my friend, Marco, do you not?" she said with a nervous smile as she straightened her blouse and hair.

"Good afternoon, Senor di Luigi" the Slayer said politely, a smirk tugging at her lips as the man returned her greeting and shot up from the sofa like a scalded cat. He whispered something to Mary before saying he must be going, squeezing past Luisa and out of the door, closing it behind him.

"I did not mean to interrupt" the young girl apologised, "but I had something I needed to speak to you about" she admitted, looking altogether too serious.

"What is it, my dear?" Mary asked with concern, gesturing that she should come and sit down beside her. Over the past weeks the two young women had become more than just Watcher and Slayer to each other, but good friends and right now Luisa needed a friend.

"I went out with Gianni again last night" she admitted, looking down at her hand in her lap, "He is so wonderful, Mary, and I love him so much. He took me back to his apartment and he told me I was beautiful. He promised that he would always love me and that all he wanted to do was show me how much..." she couldn't say anymore and she certainly couldn't look at her Watcher right now.

"You spent the night with him" Mary guessed, "You and Gianni, you made love, didn't you?"

"We did" Luisa admitted, looking so guilty, "I am so sorry, Mary, truly I am" she began to apologise and her Watcher could not understand it at all.

"My dear, it is not my place to judge you on such matters" she said kindly, "If you love him truly and believe he feels the same there is no reason that you should not... be physical with each other" she said some what awkwardly.

"But Mary, you told me I must patrol the cemetery last night" she said guiltily, "I was so occupied with Gianni... we did not leave his apartment until it was light outside"

"Oh Luisa" Mary tried desperately not to laugh, as she hugged the poor girl to her, "Do not upset yourself" she told her, "One night will not make so much difference, I am not angry that you did not patrol" she assured her, "Indeed I must confess Marco has taken some of my time that I probably should have spent on work"

"You believe that love is more important than the work we do?" Luisa asked uncertainly as she pulled away.

"Love is more important than anything, my dear girl" Mary said with a smile, "Do you not agree?"

"I do" Luisa nodded firmly a grin spreading cross her face, "I love Gianni with all my heart and I know we will be together forever"

Location : Rome, Italy
Time : November 6th 1977 23:17

"Hush now, sweetheart, do not cry so" Mary said as she held Luisa to her and rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her, "All will be well, I am certain"

"It cannot be well" Luisa sobbed and hiccuped, "Without Gianni nothing can ever be well again!" she wailed.

A vampire gang had attacked as they patrolled together. Gianni had learnt of Luisa's calling and far from being appalled or frightened, he was so proud of his girl and her gifts. He was quite the fighter himself and helped her with her patrols and training sessions when he could. Unfortunately he had not the strength and skill of a Slayer and had been captured by vampires as Luisa had fought for her own life. She got away with minimal cuts and bruises, but knew by now her lover was more than likely dead.

"It might not be too late" Mary told her, "We may be able to save him yet. A locator spell would show us where they have taken him and you know he is strong Luisa, Gianni may still be alive" she said positively, in reality knowing he most likely wouldn't have survived but also knowing that in her current state, Luisa was of no use as a Slayer.

"You truly believe he may be alive?" the younger girl sniffed, trying to wipe the tear from her face.

"Indeed" Mary half-lied, "but we must hurry. The vampires that took him must be found and destroyed"

Mary set about performing the spell whilst Luisa gathered her weapons and tried not to cry. Her anger would give her strength, her tears only made her weak, she told herself as she pulled the axe from her weapons chest and strapped it to her body. This was a dangerous mission, going into a possible nest of vampires alone. Whilst Mary could fight she was only mortal and could only do so much to help. It was up to Luisa to save her lover and then herself, not to mention another whom she had yet to mention to her Watcher.

"Mary?" she called across the room as the spell ended, "There is something you should know..." she said, her hand going subconsciously to her stomach. She had spoken so quietly and the Watcher was so intent on doing the spell and getting on with things she did not properly hear her and simply thrust a map into her hands.

"The burn mark here shows where they have taken him" she explained, "The caves beyond the woods. Such a spell as this tells us he is still alive, Luisa, it would not work it he were not"

For a moment the Slayer paused still considering whether to tell her Watcher about the baby she secretly carried, but if she did it was probable she would not be permitted to go into those caves with so much danger all around. Mary cared too much for her to let anything terrible happen.

"Then let us go" she said eventually, "We have no reason for hesitation" she lied as they took up their weapons and left the apartment.

Location : Rome, Italy
Time : November 7th 1977 00:09

"Luisa!" Mary screamed as another vampire lunged at her charge. For fully ten minutes they had been fighting, and still there was no sign of Gianni. No doubt he was being held at the back of the cave, forcing the Slayer and her Watcher to fight through all his captors in order to save him.

Another head rolled to the floor, turning the whole vampire to ash, another fell beside it as a stake pierced it's heart. One after the other the demons fell at the hands of the two incensed women, determined to win this fight. Alas it was too late as Luisa found when she reached the back of the cave. The body of her lover lie broken and cold. The vampires had tricked her somehow, made her believe she had something to fight for when she had not. If Gianni's life was gone hers might as well be too.

"He was not worthy, Slayer" said a voice behind her, but Luisa was stunned to the spot and could not react. The vampire slid it's arms around her body and pulled her to him, "I shall be worthy" he murmured as he vamped out, "You shall be mine" he told her as his fangs sunk into her neck.

"Luisa! No!" Mary yelled but to no avail. The young Slayers life was drained from her body and her Watcher was swiftly hit in the face, knocking her out and keeping her from making further noise.

"The mighty Slayer shall rise again" the evil being that had taken her life smirked, "Because I make it so" he added as he slashed his wrist on the girls sword and forced it to her mouth. Luisa's instincts told her to drink, though her mind could not properly process what was happening. Her unconscious Watcher had no idea that her charge's death would also be her rebirth, and for almost thirty years, she would live in ignorance.

Location : Rome, Italy
Time : March 15th 2004, 20:34

"Mama?" David di Luigi called as he let himself into the house, "I fetched the pasta from the store..." he trailed off, gasping in shock as he took in the scene. His mother and father were bound to chairs in the centre of the room, gags in their mouths so they could not speak.

"Oh my God" he said as he moved towards them but immediately a young girl blocked his path.

"So, this is the precious Davy I hear so much of" she smiled in sinister fashion as she put her hand to his face, "He is as beautiful as you said Mary, almost as beautiful as my own child would have been"

"Who are you?" Davy demanded to know, knocking the young woman's cold hand away. She looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't think why.

"I am an old friend of your mother, dear boy" she told him, "And you will do for me a favour, if you wish for us to remain friends"

"Mama?" her son asked her with a puzzled look as tears ran unchecked down Mary's face. The frightened look in her eyes told him this was no ordinary girl before him and the confusion he felt soon subsided as he realised where he'd seen her face before.

"The Slayer" he said softly, "You are the Slayer to whom my mother was Watcher... Luisa?"

The vampire let out an almighty scream as she back-handed poor Davy across the room.

"This is not my name!" she bellowed, "I am the True Chosen! You shall know it, and soon all shall know it!" Luisa yelled. In an instant she was calm again and it was disturbing how her anger came and went like someone flipping a switch.

"You, my boy, shall be the key, my instrument against she that would take my destiny" she explained, "And you will do as I tell you, if you wish to keep your life, and the lives of those you cherish" she smirked, glancing back at Mary and Marco.

"What would you have me do?" Davy asked nervously as he got up from the floor.

"Nothing you cannot handle" Luisa assured him as she moved towards him, carefully took his hand in hers and led him back across the room, "Something that will come quite easily to a man such as yourself" she smiled, seeming suddenly so normal and kind, "All I want you to do is find a girl, and win her heart" she said with a playful grin, "That cannot be so difficult for a beautiful specimen of a man as yourself, now can it?"

Location : Rome, Italy
Time : October 27th 2005 14:29

"She comes!" Luisa smirked, cackling like the evil creature she truly was, "She comes to find me, to kill me" she laughed, "Oh Mary, what a foolish creature this Slayer must be"

"Why do you do this?" her old Watcher cried, "Why must you make so many suffer for your loss?"

"I have no loss!" Luisa bellowed, "Only power! Power shall be mine, the power that was prophesied, that should have been mine!"

"The Prophecy of the Half Light does not speak of you..." Mary reminded her, only to receive a strike across her face for her trouble.

"Hold your noise, or I will hold it for you!" the Vampire/Slayer told her angrily, "I shall have what is mine. My revenge and my power" she muttered, "If the new Slayer must die at my hand for this to be, then let it be so. She will be no loss as my child was!"

To Be Continued...