"Leave my mom alone!" A human voice screamed out of the smaller mantis.
"She's killing people!" Buffy yelled.
"We don't have a choice!" The smaller one cried. "You think we want to kill?! There's no other way to get what we need, it's how we reproduce! How our people survive!"
Cordelia straightened and transformed back into a human, the mantises froze, staring at her. "What if there was another way? One that didn't involve killing people?"
"What other way?" The older one asked, shifting into a human form herself.
"Mom?" The girl questioned.
"You think I want this life for you? If there's another way, I'm willing to try it! I don't want you to ever bear the burden of killing. I don't want you to be a monster."
"You really feel like a monster?" The smaller mantis shifted into a teenage girl, Cordelia recognized her as Kami, the girl at the Bronze who'd left with Blaine.
"Yes, I do. I told you this was necessary, just the way it is, that you'd get used to it. I lied, you don't get used to it, it eats you up inside. But I don't know any other way to do this, it's how we've survive as a people."
"You've never had the chance to figure out what it is you need that makes this necessary, have you?" Aura had transformed as well. "If we can figure out what you need, then maybe we can figure out a substitute and hey, there's sperm banks too, maybe you don't actually need to eat your mates. It's worth exploring, isn't it?"
"But how would we do it?" The mother asked. "Who could we trust to help us understand something we don't understand ourselves?"
"We can help you." Cordelia assured her. "You came to Sunnydale because of its reputation, right? As a haven for demons and vampires, with humans who don't see the dead?"
"Yes, we figured we could get away with it, no one would notice a couple more dead bodies." The mother told them. "It's my daughter's first time."
"Sunnydale is no longer a haven for demons and vampires, they're no longer welcome here." Cordelia told her. "Have you ever heard of Wolfbloods?"
"Rumors, there are always stories of other shifters." The mother answered.
"That's what we are, Wolfbloods. I'm Cordelia and this is Aura, my father is the Prime Alpha, he found out about Mayor Wilkins, the last and previously only Mayor Sunnydale had for nearly a century. A black Magic user who worked a spell to keep the humans ignorant while he sacrificed people and let vampires roam freely. My father challenged him and won, now he's working to make Sunnydale a safe haven for normal humans and others like us, the ones in-between, the neutrals. We have doctors we trust, they can do blood tests and other tests to help you understand what drives you to reproduce like this and they can figure out ways around it. Sunnydale can be a haven for you too."
"Your father would really help us?"
"You're like us, you just want a safe place to raise your family and not be seen as a monster, to not be a monster. Yes, he will help you."
"And if you go back to killing, you'll have to deal with me." Buffy informed the two mantis shifters. "You ever heard of the Slayer?"
The mother flinched. "Yes, also rumors. I take it you're a Slayer?"
"Yes and I'll leave you alone if you don't kill people, I promise. I'm really not built for dealing with people, I'm a vampire Slayer! They're the ones I'm suppose to be dealing with, so if you promise not to kill people anymore and let the doctors figure out what it is you need so you don't have to, than I never have to deal with you."
"I agree." The mother nodded. "If there's even the smallest chance my daughter never has to kill to continue our race, I'll take it."
"I'm willing too, it's not like I was actually looking forward to killing Blaine, even if he is a moron."
"Something else we can agree on." Cordelia nodded. "And the next time he acts like an idiot we can remind him that the whole reason you went after him is because he's a virgin."
"Yeah, it was fun telling him that once I had him locked up." The girl grinned.
"By the way, is your name really Kami?" Cordelia asked.
"Yes, Kami Norton."
"And I'm her mother, Margo." The older woman told them.
"I'm going to get dressed and call my dad." Cordelia replied. "And then we can get started on helping you two."
"I really like this, this is the second time we thought we'd have to kill someone to stop them from killing people and we ended up finding another solution." Buffy smiled. "Of course the last one's going to be spending a long time in an insane asylum because she's totally nuts and didn't want to change."
"Than I'm doubly glad we do." Margo smiled too.
A/N This was inspired by the Grimm tv show. Amy Acker, who stars as Fred on Angel, appears in an episode of Grimm were she played a spider Wesen. These particular Wesen needed to eat their mates or they aged and died within a few years of reaching adulthood, but she loved her husband and refused to eat him. So she seduced and ate strangers and absolutely hated it, both the seducing and eating of people. In the end, she provoked Nick, the Grimm, into killing her. I saw the episode recently and thought, it's too bad they couldn't figure out a way to help her and this led to the mantis in this story being helped. Her character also had a daughter. I take my inspiration from wherever I can get it.