Hey all. Here's some new updates. Whatever I had that was lacking in the last chapters, I got back in this chapter.

NOTE: Don't jump to conclusions readers… It's bad for ya.

Chapter 13

Unlocking Potential

Brisbane – Australia

It was three in the morning, and the suburb of Southport in Brisbane's central area was almost dead silent. Occasionally, a car drove down the street every half hour or so, and occasionally a person would be seen moving about in the shadows. There was only one place that showed any activity at all. It appeared to be an apartment complex that was a little worse for ware, but only those who were ever allowed inside knew that the building was far from an apartment complex, and that one floor held the most up-to-date communications equipment available. Another floor was committed to weapons, a gym and sparring floors, and that the only apartments in the complex were outfitted with all the modern furnishings. The building was home to a select few that knew of the existence of vampires, demons and Slayers. This building was the Watchers' Council's outpost in Australia, and because of the recent events, security was extra tight. On the roof, there were three men on every side, all armed with crossbows and large knife each. Crossbows were aimed out of at least a couple of windows too on each side of the building. There were also a number of magickal wards and warning systems surrounding the building. The was home to at least seventy people, having living quarters in the apartments of the building, as well as under ground in one of the sub basements that the Council had constructed when they had purchased the building. Anything that came close to the building would be killed in a heartbeat, but unfortunately, the security didn't extend beyond the building's foundations. Inside, they were assessing the damages done to the Watchers Council. They had just received news hours before that the Headquarters in Västerås and Mexico City had been overtaken by unknown forces and that there was an attack at the main Headquarters in England earlier that day. They still didn't know who had done it, or how it had been done. But they did know that when the investigators entered the building afterwards, accompanied by an armed escort, there was no evidence towards the massacre except for the few eye witnesses who said to the official authorities that they didn't have time to see what was happening, but said to the Watchers what had really happened. The story on the news was that the whole executive board of a computer company was massacred in the building by gunfire, but the Watchers knew the truth; it was an attack against the Council by unknown forces. There were five centres that the Council had left, the one in Brisbane – Australia, they had one left in New York – USA, Madrid – Spain, Moscow – Russia, and San Juan – Argentina. Combined, they had little resources, and were safe houses for all the remaining Potential Slayers that had been discovered and who weren't dead or on their way to Sunnydale. The Outpost in Brisbane was home to three Potentials; two of which were out in the streets of Brisbane with their Watchers training.

Skye Slatcher and Michael Ryan had just turned down the street that the Headquarters were on; that their home was on. Skye was tall for her age and had long blonde hair and very blue eyes and a tanned complexion. She had a lean build as she had grown up on a property in Western Queensland, or the Australian Outback and her favourite activity was horse riding. Just under the age of nineteen now, Skye was one of the oldest current Potential Slayers. Michael had brown hair and brown eyes and had been in the Watchers Council since he was twenty. He had begun training to be a Watcher, but soon filed for another position in one of the Watchers Council's strike teams, but as he grew older, he had completed his Watcher Training, and now his charge was Skye.

Immediately after entering the street, they felt safe. The Headquarters was a fortress, and nothing was going to get anywhere near them once they were inside. They had both had a very hard and frightening night as both Skye and Michael had almost died at the hands of some vampires. It was the way they trained, both Skye and Michael would attack the vampires, allowing Skye to get training in fighting, while being relatively safe. Unknown to them, the ambush was set up by both vampires, and humans. It was an uncanny mix, but both vampires and humans were working along side each other as they watched the combat ability of Skye and Michael as they fought off the vampire ambush.

Luckily for both of them, they were now nearing the Headquarters and everything that night could put behind them, and the promise of safety behind the Council's doors spurred them on. That's why they were so shocked when an explosion ripped through the building when they were no further than a block away from it. The feeling of safety vanished in an instant and was replaced with fear and absolute shock. They both knew that they had been followed by something on the way back to the Headquarters, they could both feel it, but they didn't know what was following them.

An hour later, and Skye and Michael were helping the authorities to clear the rubble in hope of finding survivors, but Skye doubted that there would be any. The explosion was overkill, guaranteed to kill everyone inside the building. She looked over to Michael, but saw that he wasn't there and she stopped work and looked around the area which was filled with fire engines, ambulances and police. She saw her Watcher talking to a man who she thought looked suspicious, but she was pulled out of her thoughts by a shout from behind her. She turned around to see a fireman calling for people to come around him.

"I've found someone alive in here," he shouted. She raced over to the area to see who it was. After all the firemen had cleared the rubble off of the person, they pulled him out of the rubble and lay him on one of the ambulance trundle beds. He could see that it was Charles, the Watcher to one of the other Potential Slayers; Amy.

"Charles, what happened? Do you know who did this?" Skye asked him, but he just groggily looked up at her and shook his head. She watched as the paramedics wheeled him into an ambulance and closed the doors. She hoped that he'd come through with no major injuries, but one part in her mind doubted it as he was covered in blood, and both his legs looked to be at odd angles. She watched as the ambulance pulled away, still in shock over the whole thing. She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder and turned to see Michael behind her. She could also see a young woman, just her age beside him. She had long Auburn hair and a light complexion and Skye also noticed that she was dressed completely in black, and that she had enchanting green eyes that captured anyone up in them.

"Skye, this is Amanda Tippin. She works for the Watchers Council and she has a safe place for us to go," Michael told her.

"Just follow me, we'll take you to a safe house, and then out of the country. It was obvious that this attack was aimed at the Potential Slayers," Amanda said to them. Skye didn't trust this Amanda, she was too confident, and there was something about her that said that she could, and would kill without a moment's hesitation. Skye looked to Michael, who reassured her that it was safe, and reluctantly followed the girl called Amanda. They had walked maybe two blocks when Skye felt a wave of relief. Ahead of them were Rhonda and Jim, the other Potential Slayer/Watcher team that had been out that night. There was another man standing with them, dressed exactly the same as their escort Amanda.

"Rhonda, thank god you're alright," Skye said as she rushed up to her and hugged her counterpart. Rhonda and Skye were more like sisters than friends or team mates.

"We have to keep moving and get to the safe house as soon as possible," Amanda said to them before starting to walk off. Michael and Jim followed her, followed by the two Potentials and then bringing up the rear was the escort of Rhonda and Jim.

They had walked maybe four hundred metres when Skye noticed four other people silently sneak into their group and start walking with them so that Michael, Jim, Rhonda and Skye were escorted by a circle of people. Skye didn't like any of them. They were all dressed in skin tight black clothing, and there was a predatory sense about every one of them and she didn't like it how silently they all walked, none of them made a sound.

It was another half an hour before they reached the safe house and Skye guessed that they had walked maybe four or five kilometres. The safe house wasn't much, it was just a run down house that looked like it had been abandoned for years, and unlike the Council's headquarters, the inside wasn't any different. Skye, Rhonda, Jim and Michael gathered in what could be guessed to be the lounge room, and all of the other people who had escorted them had left, except for Amanda.

"So, where are we going after here?" Jim asked.

"Out of the country," Amanda replied.

"But where?" Jim asked again.

"Västerås. It is a city in Sweden and is our last stronghold. You'll be safe there, I promise," Amanda lied to them.

"That's what they said about this one," Rhonda said.

"I would suggest that you all get some rest. We leave at precisely nine tomorrow morning," Amanda said to them all, but it sounded like a command. Skye knew that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it, or more likely, she was afraid to put her finger on it.

Two hours later, the sun was just rising in the sky, and Skye had hardly slept at all. Her nagging suspicion about Amanda and the rest of the people they were with wouldn't stop gnawing away at her mind. It was just about to drive her crazy. She decided that she'd go to the kitchen and get a drink and something to eat, at least that would give her something else to think about, hopefully. On her way there, she passed by a closed door and could hear voices behind it. By the sound of them, she could tell that one was coming from a phone that had a speaker on it, and she could tell that the other's was Amanda's. She pressed her ear to the door and listened.

"Yes, don't worry. We have them. No, they don't suspect a thing. We shadowed them earlier tonight. That's fine. We'll be there soon. There's no need to worry, we have Skye Slatcher with us, and there is no way that she is going to escape. We also have the secondary objective; Rhonda Baker," Amanda said into the phone. There was a long pause, and Skye was about to leave, but she heard Amanda speak up again. "Samantha, Montague, don't worry, we'll arrive at the coven with them soon. I have to go."