"Now, Faith, listen carefully. We don't have much time."

Just as these words are out or Rowan's mouth, the headlights of three cars almost blind them as tires screech and doors slam. Their escape routes from the dark alley blocked, Faith watches in rising panic as Mr Trick advances them wearing a wide grin which shows his long incisors.

"Hiya, Kid. Long time, no see," the elegant vampire greets them.

Faith looks at Rowan in rising consternation, as two Men in Black restrain him with a straitjacket.

"I'm sorry, Sunray," Rowan shakes his head sadly as the sleeves are tied behind his back and the crotch-strap tightened. "It's all up to you now."

"No, no," Faith shakes her head. "I-I'm not good enough."

"Oh, well," Rowan shrugs his shoulders sadly as a part of his skull is lifted aside and a chip is inserted in his brain. "There's another one."

Inside the black limo Faith watches helplessly as Rowan struggles in vain against the straitjacket in the seat next to her.

"I think I'm going slightly mad," Rowan smiles at her. "But it's ok. You should have just gotten some and then gotten gone. The Mayor will see us now and you know how hungry Olvikan can get if he's not fed regularly."

Flicker

"Very well done, Faith. Oh, very well done," Mayor Richard Olvikan III greets her with a hug. "I knew I could count on you."

Straddling her new HD Electra Glide beside the Boss' desk she grins cockily. The Lehaïr is on his knees in front of the Mayor's massive oak desk wearing a crown of thorns. His ludicrously large eyes are almost totally swelled shut behind the massive bruises marring his previously oh so perfect face.

"Faithy?" comes the gentle admonishment as the Boss hands her the scroll containing the sentence to be carried out. She dismounts the bike and comes to stand by the Boss' side.

As Faith takes the elaborate scroll, the Boss presents Trick with a katana. "Hattori steel. Nothing else works on these vermin," he grins.

"Ahem," Faith clears her throat. Then something occurs to her. "Boss?"

"Yes, Faith?"

"I still love him. Are you mad at me?"

"No, of course not, Faith. We all make our mistakes. This is your chance to learn from yours."

Faith unrolls the scroll. It's almost two feet long. There's only one sentence, repeated over and over.

"The line of Slayers will come to an end."

"Guilty as charged!" she hears the Boss' triumphant voice proclaim. "The only possible sentence is death."

"For you," she hears Rowan say to her as the blade descends upon his unprotected neck.

At the same time, she feels a stake pierce her back. "Sorry, Faithy," she hears the Boss' apologetic words. "But, you know... once a traitor, always a traitor."

Everything fades to black.

Faith woke up in her bed in cold sweat. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she felt close to throwing up. She pulled her legs up and hugged her shins, breathing deeply in and out, and feeling the immediate panic slowly leave her. Her eyes quickly flickered to her nightstand but there were no JD bottles decorating it.

'I need...,' the thought flashed through her mind as she blinked her eyes.

Still clad only in her black boi shorts and a plain white T-shirt, she opened the door to the hallway and quietly stepped into the corridor. The door opposite hers was both very close and, at the same time, very far away. She took a deep breath and, without bothering to knock, opened the other door quietly.

Stepping through the threshold, she was instantly aware that the occupant of the room was awake and alert.

"Faith?" came Miyoko's quiet question.

"Can I...?" Faith almost whispered from the doorway, already mentally preparing herself for the rejection.

In the dimness of Miyoko's room she saw the duvet being lifted in invitation.

"Come here, Faith-chan," Miyoko called her quietly.

"I... I just want to," Faith licked her lips nervously as she stood beside the Japanese woman's bed.

"Faith!" Miyoko hissed exasperatedly. "Get your ass under the covers, now!"

Under the down duvet it was already warm from Miyoko's body heat. Miyoko herself kept a slight distance away from her but Faith was almost painfully aware that the other woman was watching her intently.

"Bad dreams?"

"Yeah," she answered hesitantly. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

"You probably know this quote, Faith-chan. 'Nail them while they are vulnerable.' I'm not like that."

Suddenly Miyoko's arm was around her. "Sleep. I'll watch over you."

A shuddering sigh went through Faith as she relaxed. In a minute she was asleep with a slight smile on her lips.

When Miyoko woke up the next morning, she found herself alone in the bed. When she reached out, she felt that the spot beside her was still warm.

With a slight smile on her lips, she started on her morning routine. She was fairly sure the Slayer wouldn't mention the night's events when they met later, but she felt this was a beginning of some sort.

Sophie Lambart was almost painfully aware of the amber eyes fixed upon her as Konoe-sensei and Craig lead them through the moves they'd have to fix in their muscle memory for their black-belt test. They had all entered the dojo with a half-way resigned attitude, fully knowing that they would have to face a Lei-Ach demon there that day. 'Fucking Craig, leaping into conclusions!' she groaned internally as she followed the shouted instructions.

Their kata was only a few moves away from being completed when a shouted "Yame!" froze everyone on their spot.

"We have a visitor here today," Konoe-sensei addressed them in his clear voice. "What can you tell me about him?" he asked suddenly, totally surprising Sophie (and as far as she could see, everyone around her).

There was a complete silence in the dojo.

"WE HAVE A DEMON IN THIS ROOM!" Konoe-sensei roared, making everyone lose whatever concentration they had left. "AND NO-ONE HAS EVEN ACKNOWLEDGED HIS PRESENCE!"

"Um, Sensei?" Sophie heard Eddie ask hesitantly. He had always been the inquisitive one.

"Yes, Mr Courtenay?"

"Well, we saw him with you..."

"And how do you know he hasn't charmed or enthralled me?" Konoe-sensei interrupted him, making everyone's jaw drop. "Unacceptable. 30 push-ups! Anyone else?"

"Sensei?" Sophie heard herself ask.

"Yes, Ms Lambart?"

"Erm... he doesn't quite look like a demon," she mumbled and blushed.

"And what does that have to do with anything, Ms Lambart?"

"We... we were expecting a Lei-Ach..."

"You were expecting," Konoe-sensei interrupted her with a precisely-articulated, flat statement. "And what did you do when your expectation turned out to be false?"

"I...," Sophie started, not knowing how to answer.

"Unacceptable. 30 push-ups!" Konoe-sensei commanded her. "Anyone else?"

"He has a green belt," Sophie heard Benny answer as she started her push-ups.

"Very good, Mr Rothchild," Konoe-sensei answered dryly. "And what does that tell you?"

"He is wearing a green belt around his waist," Benny answered flatly.

"Excellent deduction!" Konoe-sensei exclaimed with a straight face making almost everyone titter. He silenced them with a stern gaze. "The rest of you not already on it! 50 push-ups!"

"He has a green belt around his waist," Konoe-sensei repeated as the class sans Craig and Benny dropped down. "That is the only thing that can be deduced from the fact."

"So, the logical step would be to attack first and ask questions later?" Sophie heard Craig ask.

"You, Mr Fiennes?" Konoe-sensei asked.

"Yes!"

"And your charge?"

"She...," Craig started, feeling the familiar frustration rise its head inside him.

"She would be dead before you could utilize her to her full... potential," came an even reply from where the demon had been watching them. The voice speaking the words was vibrant and melodious – nothing like Sophie had heard before in her life.

'That green belt – what an excellent disguise,' Shinzo smiled inwardly as Rowan came to stand next to him on the other side from Craig Fiennes – but not close enough to be within immediate attacking distance. 'Most of them just cannot see past it and the façade he shows. They are just as clueless to the fact that I wouldn't be able to attack him with a single move from where I'm standing.'

"Yeah, but so what?" he heard Fiennes almost spit out. He subtly altered his stance. He knew a challenge when he heard one.

"What are they good for anyway, huh?" the young man continued loudly with a sneer so that everyone could hear him. "If not for us, they would be just untrained, clueless girls anyway."

'I guess this was inevitable,' Rowan thought to himself. 'Also, a premeditated challenge,' he realised as several eyes briefly flicked to where the young Watcher-in-training who had spoken the disparaging words about the Slayers was standing.

"I accept the challenge," Rowan announced evenly. "Let's say that the premise is that his Slayer is down and he's the only one standing between me and an artifact I'm coveting. The artifact's full powers I'll leave to the imagination of everyone here. Furthermore," he continued and let his gaze sweep over everyone present. "Uncontrolled circumstances. Just me and him standing with one of the students acting as the fallen Slayer."

'He's done this before,' Sophie realised suddenly. 'Who the fuck is he? Oh, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck. We never questioned any of this. So fucking clever. We just fell for it – it's all one big setup. And none of us realised...'

Craig Fiennes was feeling none of these hesitations. Things couldn't have been arranged better for him even if he had wished for it. He kept his eyes low as he prepared himself, and his classmates slowly made their way to the side-lines. 'Don't look him in the eyes,' he reminded himself but then sneered. 'A green belt, hah, this should be fun!'

Craig stepped over the prone Sophie who had been selected as the fallen Slayer and turned to face his opponent who had come to stand on the other side of his classmate. They faced each other for a few seconds with Craig almost vibrating with anticipation. Then the demon took a cross-step to his right and Craig quickly countered with a similar step to his right. Another similar step, almost like in a circle around the body on the ground. Another step, another and another, in a wide circle, until...

"Stop!" Craig heard their instructor shout after they had each completed a half-circle. "You lose, Mr Fiennes."

"What!" he growled in anger. Nothing had yet passed. "No bloody way!"

"The demon now has free access to the item you were supposed to be protecting from him. Had it been, say... a mystical weapon, you would be down already. You forgot the big picture in your eagerness to test your skills against your opponent."

"That's... that's...," Craig was seething. "That's not fair."

"Fair, Mr Fiennes? We are not in a business where 'fair' is a factor."

When Craig opened his mouth to protest again, Konoe-sensei raised his hand to quiet him. "You will continue. The item isn't anything that could be used as a weapon in physical combat."

Sophie was almost trembling with restrained energy as the two combatants stepped over her and started trading tentative kicks and blows. Past them, she noticed Konoe-sensei wink at her and incline his head almost imperceptibly in Craig and the demon's direction. Understanding immediately, she silently raised herself to her feet and took a few tip-toed steps towards the demon's unprotected back.

The next she knew, she was once again prone on the ground with her head ringing like a bell. She hadn't even seen the lightning-fast kick to her temple which felled her like an ox.

Craig tried to keep his face stoic as Sophie got back to her feet and approached his opponent's back. Then his heart skipped a beat as the demon, practically from a relaxed standstill, whirled around and caught Sophie in the temple with his foot. If not for his training, the follow-up leg-sweep would have felled him as well. 'This is no damn green-belt-level stuff,' he realised.

He went all in, squeezing out every ounce of his skills – only to have his attacks met, blow for flow and kick for kick, and then some. His opponent wasn't telegraphing any of his moves, always varying them slightly to avoid predictable repetitions. Doing his best to keep his mind clear, it didn't take long for him to come to the conclusion that he was badly outmatched.

His opponent was good, Rowan realised quite early on, but his skills belonged in the dojo, not in dark caves and cemeteries. He lacked the 'win at all costs' mentality, which could be the deciding factor between otherwise equally matched opponents. The young man had tried to keep his face impassive to avoid betraying his "Slayer's" sudden "recovery", but that (and his eyes) had been hints enough. The kick had been instinctive, but he had pulled it back slightly, not wanting to seriously injure the young woman.

The young man was getting noticeably irritated at his failure to land any deciding blows but, to his credit, he kept his stance steady and his attacks expertly delivered.

They started circling each other again with the young man grinding his teeth together. "I'm going to enjoy making you kiss the tatami, freak!" his opponent hissed.

"Why don't I kiss you instead?" Rowan replied immediately in an even tone.

Craig froze at the demon's evenly delivered response and, before he could react, his opponent was suddenly behind him, pulling his head to the side.

"You're mine, boy," a warm breath whispered in his ear and at the same time the demon pressed himself against his back. He felt sharp teeth bite lightly down on his pulse point.

With an incoherent yell, Craig ripped himself away from the grisly embrace and... not noticing the still prone Sophie, tripped on her and fell on his face to the tatami. He turned around in a flash and started crab-walking away from the scene as quickly as humanly possible. His heart was racing a mile a minute and his breath was erratic. Revulsion... and something else were swirling around in his shocked brain.

He kept backing away as the demon followed him with a leisure step... until his back hit the wall. He was almost in tears as the demon crouched down in front of him. The demon then touched his chest lightly with his fist.

"You're dead, human," the demon told him simply, stood up and walked away.

Konoe Shinzo kept his face impassive as the Lehaïr approached him, but inside he was dancing the jig. This was something he had been trying to impress on his students. The demons and undead didn't fight fair. You couldn't allow them under your skin or you were all but dead... or worse. Before this there had been no way to believably demonstrate what facing a demon in combat meant. You just couldn't simulate their way of thinking. 'Oh, this is just too precious.'

He and the Lehaïr bowed to each other respectfully and then Shinzo gave the signal that the class was over. Immediately a few students rushed to Sophie's aid and several others all but ran to where Craig Fiennes still lay slouched against the wall.

"This was the first and last time I'll be going one-on-one with any of them," the Lehaïr told him quietly as they both watched the students help their two companions.

Shinzo understood the reasoning behind the statement from where he was standing but he was still curious to hear the Lehaïr say it. "Why?" he asked.

"I beat the best of them without leaving any doubt as to which one of us was better," Rowan explained his point of view. "An unbeaten record is a very powerful image. Demonstrating and sparring with you is ok, so is going against multiple opponents outdoors at night where we can simulate patrols."

"You can call me Shinzo, Lehaïr, when we are not on the tatami," Shinzo nodded with a slight smile on his lips and turned his head a little to catch the demon's eyes.

"Shinzo, my name is Rowan."