Faith listened with disbelief as they her told that Slayers weren't the only people that fought vampires and demons. The Protectors did too and had for centuries. Witches fought them. Ordinary people fought them and there were even units in various militaries that fought them.

"So, if all these people are fighting the vamps and demons, why does the Watchers Council tell us we do it alone?"

"My uncle, he was a Marine, part of a unit that hunted demons, he was one of our teachers, he says you're an asset. And they don't want to share. Problem is, they leave you real vulnerable. Your training is lackluster, you're not given any personal protection, you're sent out barely armed and with no backup or ability to call for support. Slayers that have those things live alot longer. I'm descended from a Slayer. Her name was Miriam Running Deer. She survived for 12 years as a Slayer, because she didn't hunt alone. She hunted with a mixed coyote/wolf Protector Pack. She had a husband and two kids. The Watchers Council had her killed because she refused their control. The Council has a lot of knowledge about the supernatural, they started out to help the Slayer, but at some point they started helping themselves. We've got a friend, Willow, Giles is training her to be a Research Watcher. She hopes she can make some changes to the Council, get them back actually helping Slayers. As to how you get Chosen, that's not something we have an answer to. The Council believes your Chosen by a Higher Power. And you may well be. Someone has to do the choosing after all." Xander told her.

"Explain what a Protector is and why you called her your mate." Faith said, nodding at Cordelia, who was curled up beside Xander on the couch, his arm around her.

"The Protectors are created by The Guardian Ritual. A long and complex Ritual that starts with determining if someone is capable of being bonded with an animals soul. The next step is to identify a compatible animal. Both the animal and human have to be willing to bond. It has to be a free choice on both parts. If either is forced an imbalance happens within the souls. They become feral, a creature known as a wendigo. Wendigos are carnivorous and their bite can make others into wendigos as well. We've seen it. The father's of some boys we knew wanted their sons to be apart of the Ritual. They had no understanding of what it meant or what it entailed. They did the Ritual on their boys and two friends. Ten people total died. Some of them were eaten. The Watchers Council, long ago, decided the Ritual was too dangerous. We think they tried to do it themselves and could never make it work right. Probably because they too, had no real understanding of what was needed to make it work. Anyway, Cordelia and I are bonded to the Alphas of the wolf pack that answered the Call of the Ritual. Which makes us co-alphas. But we're also bonded to each other. It's the equivalent marriage, we've been together since we were 15, officially anyway. I started stealing kisses long before then and she let me. As for why the term mate is used, our thinking shifts, once we're bonded to the animals souls. We start using terms that set us apart, identifying as something other. Mate, instead of wife, cub, instead of child, pack, instead of family etc. Our Pack consists of us, our Betas Kyle Defours and his mate Rhonda Kelley, and Tor Hauer and his mate Heidi Barrie."

"You said he was the Watcher for a Slayer. What happened to her?"

"Giles translated a prophecy that said Buffy, that was her name, would face a vampire, a really old and powerful one, that called himself simply, the Master, and that she would die. She went into emotional shock. It's one thing to know that sooner or later you will die. It's something else entirely to be told a specific time or way of dieing. It messes with your head. I guess she thought if she was going to die anyway, she would take him with her. It didn't work out that way. He was too strong for one person, even a Slayer. He was almost too strong for all six of us together to deal with. And that was while wearing heavy armor and armed with bladed weapons. He was made stronger by the fact that he'd fed on her. Slayer blood hypes their strength. We managed to dust him and it wasn't easy. We all had injuries."

"So are there more of you Protectors around?"

"Not around here, besides being able to bond, you also need to be a certain age. It works best if you start preparing at age ten and complete the Ritual at age fifteen. We were the only ones in our tribe capable of bonding. There are other tribes that use the Ritual. It used be that almost every tribe on the North American, African and Australian continents used it. But the European expansions almost destroyed the ability completely. What few of us there are, well we'll keep doing it as long the need exists. Same as Slayers or human hunters."

"Man you've laid a lot on me. I think I need some time to process it. I'm gonna head back to my motel room. Think about all this."

"No problem. Hey where are you staying, in case we need to get ahold of you?"

"Place called the Motor Lodge,"

"That place is a pit. We'll help you find something better. More permanent. Places like that, the threshold rule doesn't work, because they're considered temporary places."

"I didn't know that. Damn, anything could come in while I'm trying to sleep."

"Why don't we go get your stuff. You can stay at my place until we find you something of your own," Cordelia said. " My parents won't be home for a couple of weeks, my father knows about this stuff anyway and we've got room."

"You're sure I wouldn't be putting you out?"

"It's not a problem, if it was I wouldn't have offered."

"Tomorrow we'll introduce to everyone else, okay."

"Okay."

A/N Whew, exposition, long winded doesn't begin to describe it. But now its done and we can get on with the story. Thanks for hanging in there.