Chapter 4

"Faith," Angel said, "Get onto the Council. See if they have heard anything about this. We need as much info as possible."

"Sure thing boss." Faith said. She then turned to her slayers

"Get back out there girls. Beat down as many vamps and demons as you can find. See if you can get them to talk."

Without a word, the slayers turned and left the hotel again. Spike walked over to Angel.

"So, what? We hit demon haunts 'til some little birdie sings?"

"Thats the plan," said Angel. "Illyria, you stay here with Faith. As soon as you find something out, let us know."

With that, the two vampires left the hotel.

It had been two hours since Faith had sent Talia and Laura out on patrol again, and they hadn't seen so much as a rat demon. They were starting to get bored.

"Hey Tal," Laura said, as they wandered through yet another alleyway "I been meaning to ask you. That tattoo on your arm. Does it mean anything?" Laura pointed to a large tattoo, made up of lots of tribal symbols on Talia's left arm.

"It is the mark given to the girl chosen in my tribe," said the Aborigine. "In Australia, the tribes hold the Slayer line in high regard. I find it puzzling that other cultures would keep the slayer line a secret, why they do not celebrate such a strong warrior."

"Some people just can't accept the way the world is," said Laura. "Show the average Brit a vamp, they'll run screaming. But afterwards they will refuse to admit it was what is was. Try and blame it on drugs or something."

"But people accept the lion, and the snake," said Talia, "Why can they not accept the demon and the vampire?"

"Well for one thing, lions and snakes don't surround you, blocking off all the exits, and wave swords at you..." Laura muttered, as she loaded her bow.

Talia looked in front of them, as about fifteen vampires, all dressed like the Order closed in on them...

"SPIKE! DUCK!"

The blonde vampire ducked in time to avoid an axe smashing into his skull, thrown by a rather large demon. Angel shook his head. This was the second bar they went into, and the second time Spike had started a fight. This attempt at low key information gathering was not Spike's strong suit. Angel picked up a pool cue and smashed it across the back of the demon's head, knocking it to the floor and breaking the pool cue in half. He drove one half of the cue into the heart of an oncoming vamp, then brought it round to stab the demon, which still lay on the floor. He looked over at Spike, who was currently trying to twist the head off of the shoulders of a rather irate red skinned demon. This was getting them nowhere...

Back at the Hyperion, Faith had just finished speaking to Giles. She looked at Illyria. "We need to get everyone back here, now." said the Slayer. "Especially my girls. If The Order get to them, we're all screwed. Giles said to bring back The Master now his bones had been crushed, they would need the Hunter's Blood. Which, if Giles is right, is the blood of a Slayer..."

The vampires closed in on Talia and Laura. Laura had managed to take a few down with her bow, but now they were too close to pick off. Now it was time to get up close and personal. Talia unsheathed her swords and dashed the first group of vamps, killing one as she reached them. Laura reached behind her, and drew her secondary weapons, a pair of hand axes modelled on the Slayer Scythe. Razor sharp blades on one end, and a wooden stake on the other. Laura ran at the nearest vampire, delivering a powerful kick to the head of it, before spinning round, and driving the stake-end of her weapon into its chest. The vamp exploded in a cloud of dust. Laura looked over at Talia, who was surrounded by four bloodsuckers. She beheaded one and drove the other sword into the chest of another. Laura was impressed by the warrior-woman's skills.

Suddenly a large group of vamps rushed Laura, knocking her to the ground. She saw out of the corner of her eye the same thing happen to Talia. Laura climbed to her feet, taking out another vampire, and started to back off from them. Then she realized something. The vamps were splitting them apart, making sure they couldn't aid one another. Suddenly one of Talia's attackers smashed her across the back of the head, knocking her out. Laura tried to get to her, but there were too many vamps in the way. She watched helplessly as the bloodsuckers bundled Talia into the back of a van, and sped off. Laura span around and staked two vamps rushing her. There were two left, who dodged past her and escaped. It appeared that they had got what they came for. Laura turned and made a dash for the hotel. She had to warn everyone. They had to save Talia...