"Gather 'round everyone, I want to introduce you to a temporary recruit." Colonel Telford called out to his men, who were eyeing Xander and wondering who the kid was. "This is Private Alexander Harris, he's a Reservist. Make him feel welcome, boys."

"Why a kid, Sir?" One of the men asked as Xander stopped scanning the area around the edge of the small base and focused on him. "He's probably been in the service just as long as we've been hunting and being a Reservist, wouldn't have seen much action."

"Private Harris has a few skills that I think will benefit us." The Colonel answered cryptically. It was better to let the Private deal with any problems himself, he wouldn't earn much respect from the men if the Colonel was always saving him.

"Like what?" Another asked.

"Like spotting the two demons sitting in a tree about 50 feet behind you, Captain." Xander answered. The men all swung around instantly, reaching for their weapons.

"Put your weapons down!" Aaron, the Magic user, barked.

"Why, if there are demons - ?" Another asked.

"Because I'm pretty sure they're Lister and non hostile." Xander answered. "I'm not sure because I've only seen pictures of them in a book, but they match the description. And they're gone now anyway."

"He's right." Aaron told them. "They've been here for about four hours, just watching."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Another demanded to know.

"The Wards would have alerted me if they were hostile and Lister's are one of two races that I think have been mislabeled demons in the first place."

"Why?" Colonel Telford asked curiously.

"Because they can interbreed with humans." Again it was Xander that answered. "In fact, I heard from a scholar who studies demons that there are so many halflings that they've actually formed their own society, like the Metis did."

"Metis?"

"A group of part European, part Native Americans, outcasts from both societies." Xander told him. "History is a favorite subject of mine."

"You've studied demons? Is that why you're here, to teach us?" One soldier asked. "I think we've managed to do pretty well on our own."

"Actually you have. The Colonel told me you've lost one person to death and two people that were vamped and dusted. Out of what, fifty people stationed here? But no, I'm not here to teach, I was recruited to hunt."

"Just how much could you know about hunting?"

"I hunted long enough to retire. A lot of hunters never get to that point. They either die or get lost in the darkness."

"How old are you?"

"I just turned twenty and I've been retired for a year and a half. I joined the Reserves after graduating from High School."

The men were silent as they wondered how the Hell a kid ended up being a hunter.

"Where are you from that you would start hunting as a teenager?" Was the next astonished question.

"Sunnydale, California."

"The shithole those stupid scientists were studying demons in because there's so many of them there?!"

"Our High School had a missing and obituary column. Our graduating class literally had the lowest mortality rate in Sunnydale history. To survive Sunnydale, you had to hunt or you'd be hunted. I had friends, people who mattered to me, I wasn't going to let them be hunted."

"What's the biggest thing you've ever taken down?"

"Alone? Vampires. As part of a group? A sixty foot demon snake that swallowed people alive. That necessitated recruiting our entire class, over a hundred people, to fight. I recruited them, I planned our battle and I built the bomb we used to destroy it. One of my friends played bait to get it into the same space as the bomb."

"Damn."

"Causalties?"

"Two swallowed alive, one spine snapped in multiple places, one missing."

"Out of over a hundred recruits?!"

"His planning abilities have been noted by his CO. It's one of the reasons he's here." Colonel Telford told them. "I'm giving him a chance to plan the strike against the demons that took out the villagers."

"Can you tell me why your aura looks shadowed?" Aaron asked. "I'm seeing two faint shadows. They're you, but not you at the same time."

"I've been possessed twice, unwillingly. It's why I have issues with Magic. The first one, I accidentally triggered a trans-possession ritual a Primal Mage had set up. The second was a worshiper of Chaos' idea of a joke. He's the only one who thought it was funny."

"That explains it. Someone else was in control both times, but it would feel like they were a part of you. And a trans-possession ritual would involve an animal. I bet you have really good instincts, whether you're consciously aware of them or not. I'd like to discuss your experiences in more detail, if you're willing."

"Later." The Colonel said. "Right now it's time to plan an assault. And later you can introduce us to the Listers, so we can do a threat assessment of our own."

"Very well." Aaron nodded, eyeing Xander thoughtfully. 'This is going to be interesting.' He thought.

A/N Listers are the demons Doyle dies saving. A group of halflings looking to join up with a colony of their people somewhere in South America. They're the most human looking demons on the show, aside from the vampire's human mask.