Chapter 6 - Hollaback Girl

-------------------------------------------------

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Because I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl

I heard that you were talking shit
And you didn't think that I would hear it
People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up
So I'm ready to attack, gonna lead the pack
Gonna get a touchdown, gonna take you out
That's right, put your pom-poms downs, getting everybody fired up

So that's right dude, meet me at the bleachers
No principals, no student-teachers
Both of us want to be the winner, but there can only be one
So I'm gonna fight, gonna give it my all
Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you
That's right I'm the last one standing, another one bites the dust

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Because I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl

Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

-------------------------------------------------

Rika POV

She had arrived at the library pretty fast, within about fifteen minutes. The perks of slayer speed. She had met her watched in one of the reading rooms, where he had had his nose buried in a load of books, the computer turned on.

"So, what's the news?", she had asked.

"I found something that potentially might be our killer", Hugh responded. "A demon called Belphegor. It feeds on human life-force, as it sucks the life out of it's victims. Leaving no apparent cause of death."

"It sounds like it could be a fit", Rika said and nodded. "So, how do I kill it?"

"It's not particularily powerful from what I reckon based upon my sources, so the usual things. Beheading for example", Hugh had explained.


"That's good to know", Rika had thought.

"We'll do a tracking spell tomorrow, to see if we can find it", Hugh had continued. "Meanwhile, maybe you could patrol tonight, see if you find anything out of the ordinary."

"Sure", Rika had replied. "I'm already on my way".

Hugh had followed her outside.

"Just take care of yourself", he had warned. "If you manage to find Belphegor, be cautious. Don't let his mouth come near you, he uses it to drain your life-force".

"Okay, so no making out with the demon then", Rika had joked and nodded.

"I'm not joking" Hugh had said angrily.

Then Rika had been angry too.

"I can take care of myself you know!", she had spat. "I'm not a 16-year-old anymore."

Hugh had put his hand on her shoulder. He was like a father to her, which was good since she hadn't seen her own in a couple of months, not since Christmas. He was her American family. Well, except for the fact that neither of them was actually American.

"I know, I just don't want you to get hurt."

She had calmed down a bit and smiled.

"I won't."

After that, Rika had walked away, towards the cemetery. She was almost there now, with a firm grip on the stake in her hand. Her slayer sense suddenly started tingling. "There's something here", she thought, but the thought came too late as she was knocked to the ground by something. She landed on a branch that snapped. She looked up and saw some fangs glowing in the moonlight. "Great, just what I was hoping for. A simple, stupid vamp." She kicked the vampire off of her, and it flew into one of the headstones nearby. She jumped off the ground and stood up. The vampire had gotten on its feet aswell.

"Tell me, have you ever heard the expression "biting off more than you can chew?", Rika said, tilting her head a bit so she could get a closer look of the vampire. He looked average, no strange cultish clothing or anything.

"What are you talking about, little girl?", the vampire said angrily. She could see the thirst in his eyes. He would definitely kill her if he would get the chance.

"Okay, how about the expression "Oh God, my leg, my leg"?", she tried.

The vampire looked confused and she used it to her advantage. She threw a punch and then kicked him in the knee. The vampire fell to the ground and bent over in a fetal position, screaming in pain.

"Oh God, my leg!", he screamed.

"See, now we're communicating", she said with a slight smile.

The vampire got up and limped towards her. She did a spinning kick and the vampire landed on the ground several meters away from her. She rushed towards it, the familiar adrenaline coursing through her veins. She kicked it in the head, right before staking it. The vampire turned to a pile of dust in front of her feet.

"Det var en tid sen det var så här lätt", she muttered to herself. Then she heard a sound and looked up. She saw Sam and his friend standing a few meters away from her, with their mouths open in confusion. "Oh crap", she thought. "I have a feeling they won't believe the "gangs on PCP" explanation".

-------------------------------------------------

Sam POV

Sam was worried sick when he and Dean rushed towards the cemetery. "Please God, let me save her. I can't lose another one". Sam was holding a crossbow and Dean had a stake and two bottles of holy water. They arrived just in time to see Rika getting knocked down by the vampire, and see it bend over her. Sam felt helpless and worried, and was about to fire the crossbow, when she kicked the vampire and it flew atleast four meters. "What the hell?", he thought right about when Rika did this impressing jump off the ground, pressed her hands against the grass and jumped up with her back arched. The vampire had gotten up aswell and it was standing in front of her. Sam felt his jaw drop.

"Tell me, have you ever heard the expression "biting off more than you can chew?", he heard her say.

The vampire asked her what she was talking about, looking very confused, upon which she replied:

"Okay, how about the expression "Oh God, my leg, my leg"?".

"She knows", Sam thought. "She knows it's a vampire, and she's going to fight it."

She punched the vampire and kicked it's knee, upon which it screamed exactly the thing she had predicted. He watched her delivering an impressing spinning kick, the vampire flying and her dusting it. He heard her say something in a language he didn't know - probably Swedish, it was her mothertongue after all, and then she looked up, right at them.

She walked towards them, slowly with her hands raised.

"Okay, so I can explain", she said with a calm voice. Then she noticed the weapons they were carrying. "Ah, hunters. Pfft", she said.

Sam felt confused. She knew they were hunters? They had never seen a girl this small single-handedly take down a vampire.

"I figured there was something strange about you two", she said and smiled. "I knew that you weren't a journalist!"

"Who are you?", Dean asked. Sam saw his brother was just about as confused as himself.

"Maybe we should talk somewhere more private. I'll explain everything. I need some answers from you guys aswell", she said and Sam nodded in agreement. "You guys have a car?"

"Yeah", Dean said, still looking very suspicious.

They walked towards the Impala, without a word. Rika sat down in the back seat, Sam and Dean in their usual places. Sam looked as Dean handed her a bottle of holy water and she looked at him.

"Is this really necessary?", she asked him and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes", Dean said. "If you're human it shouldn't hurt you, just a bit of holy water."

Rika drank the entire bottle and threw it back towards Dean who caught it. She didn't even flinch.

"Happy now?"

"So, where to?", Dean asked, once again turning his head towards Rika.

"My place", she said and gave him an address. The drive to her appartment was silent, and when they got there, Sam and Dean followed her. She unlocked the door, opened it and did a gesture with her hand, showing them to step inside.

-------------------------------------------------

Dean POV

Dean was just about as confused as his brother at the cemetery. He was impressed by Rika though. She was gorgeous, funny and apparently a pretty good fighter. He thought it was amazing someone so petite could take out a vampire all by herself. But he had to make sure she wasn't a demon or vampire, with that kind of strenght. He was happy when she passed the holy water test. "I'm so marrying that chick" he thought when he was driving towards her appartment.

-------------------------------------------------

Rika POV

Rika followed Sam and the other guy into her own appartment. Now that she had figured out they were hunters, things would be much easier to explain. She was a bit concerned though, as to how they would react. Most hunters were amateurs in comparison to her. Hugh had told her about so called "hunters" before, and that slayers usually avoided revealing their identity to hunters who rarely even knew slayers existed. But the best ones did. Still, they were playing in completely different leagues. Although, when Dean opened the trunk to his car to put their weapons away she was almost impressed when she saw the arsenal they were carrying. With emphasis on almost.

To the naked eye, her small but cosy appartment looked normal. She had designed the interior herself, and it was beautiful. There were photos on the wall, from her previous life back home in Finland. Graduation, friends, family... She loved doing photography, so there were some of her more artsy photographs aswell. A TV, a computer, a bookshelf. Her old guitar, which she used when writing songs, in a corner. Papers, notes and books scattered across her desk. The appartment of the average college student. However, the box under her bed was anything but normal. It was filled with old books about demons and other forms of evil, spellbooks and weapons of all kinds. Maybe she could show them to Sam and his friend. She realized no person in her American life had ever been through these doors, except for her watcher. And she had just let two demon hunters through the doors.

"Go ahead, sit down", she said and pointed towards the white couch. Sam and his friend sat down, and she sat down on a chair across from them. Then there was silence.

"So, maybe someone should speak", Sam said. It looked like he was trying to find some words.

Rika looked at them, not knowing how to begin. Just like Sam apparently.

"Okay, I'll go first", the other guy said. "What the hell are you?"

"Cancer on the verge of Leo", she replied with sarcasm. "You?"

"I'm sorry", Sam said quickly. "Dean tends to be a bit... direct."

"No kidding", she replied and looked down.

She hesitated before looking up at them, and opening her mouth.

"I'm the slayer."

"What?!", the guys said in chorus.

"Slayer. Comma. The", she tried. "She who hangs out in the cemeteries a lot? The chosen one?"

They still looked confused, and she was surprised.

"You two really have no idea who I am, do you?", she said feeling slightly amused looking at their confused faces. "And you call yourselves hunters."

-------------------------------------------------

A/N: Just had to leave a little cliff. ;) Reviews are fantastic.