Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep

Charlotte looked with bleary eyes at the alarm clock going off next to her bed, and hit the off button. Eight o'clock, time for school.

She dressed in a hurry, and went downstairs to see her mother rushing around, checking her phone and putting her makeup on, the per usual morning routine.

Charlotte stood in the doorway for a moment, her mind tumbling through possible conversation starters, but what finally came out was, "Mom? Can I talk to you?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, Charlotte, what is it?" Annette asked distractedly, as she checked her lipstick in her mirror.

"It's about what's been going on these past few weeks."

That made Annette pause and she slowly put her mirror down. She turned to look at her daughter and walked over.

"Is this about what you were trying to tell me last night, Charlotte?" She asked quietly, to which Charlotte nodded. Annette smiled a little and sat down, indicating the seat in front of her.

Shakily, Charlotte sat, the butterflies already making a muck of her insides. Just be honest. Nothing bad can come from telling the truth, right?

Charlotte took a deep breath. "A little while ago-"

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Annette quickly grabbed it and silenced her phone. "I'm sorry, Charlotte, continue with what you were saying."

Charlotte shook her head; the moment was gone. "No, it's fine. It can wait until later, Mom. You need to get to work, and I need to get to school."

Annette sighed heavily, and softly patted her daughter's cheek. "Okay, sweetie, we'll talk about it tonight. No interruptions, I promise."

Charlotte smiled and nodded in agreement. "Alright, Mom, I'll see you later."

She grabbed her backpack and was out the door. A whole day now to plan out what to say.

In science, Charlotte thought of just explaining it all point-blank. The only problem with that plan is that her mother was a very literal person, not one to just take things like vampires, and girls meant to slay them at face value. Charlotte couldn't help but smile at. Her mother had been a mermaid, and her daughter had been a mermaid, and was now a vampire Slayer. Kinda funny to her that her mother never suspected a thing. Although, really, who would suspect that?

During history, she came up with the idea of asking Willow to prove it with her magic again, but that might just scare Annette more than anything, or possibly make her question the sanity of everyone involved. That wouldn't do much to help.

Before she knew it, it was time to head home, and she was nowhere near to a decent plan. Charlotte walked up the steps to her house. Her mother's car wasn't in the driveway yet, she must still be at the restaurant. Normally, she didn't get home until later. Inside the kitchen, there was a note attached to the fridge in rushed handwriting:

Hi, sweetheart! I should be home around six, we can talk then, okay?

Love you,

Mom

Charlotte smiled slightly, taking the note off the fridge and setting it aside, then reached in for a bottle of water. She had a good feeling about tonight. Just being honest about things. If it all went alright, she'd be able to talk to her mother, and then meet up with Willow at the docks so that they could go to Mako.

Ding… Dong

"Coming!" Charlotte called out, going to the front door. Opening it, she was surprised to see none other than Rikki standing on the other side.

She had to stop herself from dropping her jaw. "Hi," she murmured. "Can I help you with something?" Charlotte asked as politely as she could.

"Hi," Rikki said, looking off to the side. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you. Actually, Emma, Cleo, and I wanted to talk to you."

A few butterflies filled her stomach, but Charlotte managed to say, "Oh, alright. Where are they?"

"Actually, they're at Emma's house," she responded sheepishly. "They wanted me to bring you."

A small smile crept over Charlotte's lips. "Really?" She asked hopefully.

Rikki nodded, and Charlotte shut the door, trying as hard as she could to keep from grinning like a fool. They were actually inviting her there? She looked briefly back at the house as they walked down the driveway. Her mother's note said that she would be back at six, but knowing her mother, it most likely meant around 7:30, and that was still at least five hours away. As long as she got back by then, this would be fine.

"Listen, I, um, need to be back by seven," Charlotte said quietly, rubbing her neck. "I need to talk to my mom."

Rikki raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell her about you being a Slayer?"

"Yes. I think that if I'm doing something this dangerous, my mom should know."

The hairs on the back of Charlotte's neck prickled a little, but she rubbed it absently.

Then Rikki said something that Charlotte was not expecting. "Good, she should know."

Charlotte looked at her in surprise. "Really? You guys are normally so pro-secret."

The blonde girl laughed. "Well, you know how well-kept ours is turning out to be. I'm surprised that not everyone knows by now."

"Yeah," Charlotte agreed, smiling, chuckling a little. Somehow, it was kinda nice that Rikki thought that her mom should be told. They walked in silence for a little while, but finally, Charlotte had to know. "Why do you think my mother should know, Rikki?"

Rikki sighed, and bit her lip for a minute. "Because one of the things that I wish I could do is talk to my dad about this stuff." Regret filled her voice. "We used to be really close, it's been only us for a long time. But ever since I grew a tail, well…" Rikki trailed off, but Charlotte knew what she meant.

"It's a little hard to talk to him?" Charlotte finished quietly. Rikki nodded, and Charlotte continued, "It's like that with me and my mum," Charlotte said quietly. "I don't know my father, my mum is all I have. She's busy a lot of the time, but you know, she's still great."

"Mum left when I was little, like five or six," Rikki whispered. "I don't really remember her that well. But Dad's been just as good."

Charlotte nodded. "It's kinda like that with my father. Mum doesn't like to talk about him, I think he was a one-night stand kind of thing. I've never met him."

"That's why you and your mum have the same last name?"

"Yeah, that's why." For a few minutes, the two girls continued to walk in silence, until Charlotte whispered. "Rikki, I really am sorry for everything that I did. I guess, I just let it all go to my head."

By then, the two girls were out in front of Emma's house. Charlotte rubbed her neck, she was feeling even tenser than before. There were goosebumps all over her body, and she nervously rubbed her arms. She looked around; the night was calm, not even clouds in the sky. Then why did she have this feeling that someone was watching them? The bushes around Emma's door fluttered in the breeze, and the foreboding sense of dread washed over her.

"Let's just talk about it inside, Charlotte," Rikki replied tiredly. She turned her head to where Charlotte was looking. "What are you looking at?"

"I don't know," she replied absently, walking over to the side of the house, where it almost completely dark. What if… What if there was a vampire over there?

"What is it, Charlotte?" Rikki asked, starting to follow her.

Charlotte made a 'stay there' motion. With one quick sweep of her hand, she swept the bushes back…

But nothing was there.

Charlotte stepped back, breathing hard. It was nothing, probably just her nerves.

"I'm sorry about that, Rikki, I thought there was something-"

The rest of that sentence was drowned in a short scream, and when Charlotte turned around, she had to suppress a gasp at the sight of a large vampire sinking his teeth into Rikki's soft neck.