He watched her walk by again; he stared dreamily at her wondering if she would ever notice him. If she didn't, he was content with just looking. She was so beautiful to him She had naturally blonde hair, which she had even lighter highlights in. She was very slender, yet shapely. She had these blue eyes that seemed to pierce through you, they were as blue as turquoise stone. He just adored this girl, whom he actually knew very little about. ..but little did he know all that was about to change. "So what do you think?" was the question that brought him out of his fantasy-like daze.
"W- What?"
"Do you think, I should be getting the blue or the green?" asked Steph. Steph was a girl whom just happened to sit with him at lunch one day. Her long dark brown hair waved nicely over her shoulders and fell onto her blue sweater.
Without really knowing what was going on he responded, "Green, much better"
"Yeah I think so, too" Chanted the girl whom he had known only in school for two full years. "So, who is she?"
"Who is who?"' came the reply to the question he wasn't sure he felt like answering.
"That girl that you watch walk by our table every day."
"Who are you talking about?" he responded, as if he didn't know.
"You know who I am talking about, what's her name over there. ..Lindsay"
"Oh her. .."
"Yeah. ..her. .." Came the sarcastic remark from the' girl."
Well. ..it's a long and depressing story ...back in first grade I saw that girl walk into the room, and ya know how on TV and movies when it shows a beautiful woman there is a big light behind her and a choir is singing, well that might as well be what it was for me when she walked into the room. I had a crush on her until she left the school in 6'th grade and she knew it too. It turns out that I found out in second she had a crush on one of my present day best friends, Tony .Well nothing happened, I once bought her a birthday present with my own money. ..I believe it was in fourth grade. I asked someone to give it to her, I didn't even get a thank you, and that really hurt.
"Jeepus. ..and after all these years you still like her?"
"There's something about her. ..something I just. ..something draws me to her. "
"I see. .." came Steph, obviously wanting to change the subject.

"So who's that?" asked Lindsay's best friend, Amy.
"Who?" Lindsay really had no idea who her friend was talking about.
"That guy that always looks at you when you walk by that table right there" She pointed to the table Danny was sitting at, and Lindsay looked to it inquisitively
"The kid with the black hair?" She asked
"Yeah, him."
"His name is Danny, I know he's liked me for the longest time, and I just don't like him. ..personally I think he is beneath me."
"I see. ..I think he's kinda cute," Amy responded.
"You can have him. "
"So. ..any hunting tonight?" asked Amy
"Um. ..not sure have you read anything in the paper?"
"Yeah the usual, two neck wounds, have you found anything?"
"No I haven't, I swear we must be the only kids in school who turn to the obituaries when they open the paper"
Amy then pointed to a table full of people wearing black wit white face paint. "Except for them."
"Oh yeah,” responded Lindsay seeing that she was referring to the Gothic kids and they both started laughing hysterically.

Danny couldn't help but turn his head after he heard the laugh that he had known so well. He let out a mournful sigh knowing he was looking at what he wanted but could never have.
"She's not worth it you know"
Danny responded to Stephanie's comment without looking, "Yes she is."
Stephanie threw her hands up, "You 're hopeless"
"Hopelessly in love, " he responded
Stephanie, changing the subject "So you gonna go to the cemetery tonight?"
Danny said, "As always, I go every night, ya know, just look around for an hour unless something seems wrong.
"Oh. .." came Stephanie's response, "Can I come?"
"What?"
"Can I come?" she repeated
Never before had Stephanie asked to hang out with Danny outside of school, never mind go hunting with him, so this came as somewhat of a shock.
"You do know how to handle yourself right?"
"Of course I do, you only talk about it 90% of the time, stakes, knives, crossbows, holy water and a bunch of other crap I know, I know."
" And you actually own these things?" Danny asked very intrigued.
"Yes,” came her answer.
"Since when. ..?"
"Since you first started talking about it, a girl's got to protect herself you know."
"Well if you bring your stuff and you think you can handle yourself don't see why not."
"Great! We'll meet up at the entrance of the cemetery at 8:00"
"Fine with me," Danny responded, "but just so ya know, I usually go earlier so I’ll go at 7:00 and I'll hang around until 8:00 when I’ll meet you and we'll go back. .. presuming of course I don't get killed"
"Don't talk like that! Besides what are you talking about you're the all powerful slayer, you can't get killed"
Danny let out a small chuckle, that seemed a little forced. "Well how do you think I am the slayer. ..the last one died. "Well you won’t I just know it."
"Well if you 'just know it' then it must be true," Danny remarked, sarcastically. The bell rang to signal the end of lunch and the beginning of the last class of the day. Danny continued out his schedule, going to Algebra 2 and then leaving to where he was picked up by either his parents or his "guard." He wasn't sure who it would be today. Seeing her black ford explorer he knew it was the guard and approached the SUV. He dropped his bag in the front seat and sat down. "Hi" Sophie."
Sophie was an Irish woman whom Danny had met by chance at the library, she recognized what he was immediately, and talked him into letting her train him. She had the most beautiful red hair he had ever seen in his life, it was usually in a pony tail, she was not very skinny, but yet not large either. Her soft green eyes masked the amazing strength she possessed.
"How was yer day?" Sophie asked in her subtle Irish accent.
"It was fine, thanks. Hey, Sophie?"
"Yes?" she responded.
"Remember how you said I could let a few people in on my secret and they could. ..help me?"
Sophie stopped buckling her seat belt and just looked at him, a little angry . "Yeah. .."

"Well I think I found my first member. "
"Aww jeez Danny!"
"What? You said I could have help. I want to-"
"Well you can't have what you want this time, and you better have not told this person anything did you say anything?"
Danny looked down somewhat ashamed, "Yes."
"How much…?"
"Everything. ..ever since I found out, ever since this started” responded Danny in a low tone.
"TWO YEARS!? You mean to tell me that you have been telling someone everything you’ve done for two years and have not told me anything about it... which makes me wonder. ..why do you only tell me now?" she asked angrily.
"Well. ..she wanted to come on a hunt with me tonight."
"And you told her no. ..right. ..said you had to run it by your guardIann right. ..?"
"Weeelll….”
"Oh c'mon Danny, you do realise that this girl can be killed."
"You said I could have a team," He persisted
"That's right, when you're older and you can protect the members, but now is just too early. Well nothing you can do now. She will have to be the first and only  member for the time being, do you hear me?"
"Yes, ma' am,"
"You didn't tell anyone else, did you?"
"No I didn't and I already know what you are going to say I won't"
"Good," Sophie said as she buckled her seat belt; Danny did the same and they drove off for home.

Lindsay walked out of the school with Amy and walked slowly to their school bus, it was already half full when they both got on. They chose a seat near the back of the bus to set their bags down on the floor and sit.
"Want to come tonight?" Lindsay asked Amy.
"Sorry, can't I got a long report for history. I have Mr. Everett, remember?"
"All right then," said Lindsay with not much care because this happened somewhat often. For some reason Lindsay couldn't really understand Amy wasn't too fond of the undead. "Oh, well I guess I'll just go and check it out and then come home," she said.
After a minute another boy walked onto the bus, his complexion was nearly flawless. He had dark tan skin and a shaved head. Both girls followed him with their eyes as the boy sat in the seat in back of them. When he sat both girls turned around to face him.
"Hi Jay," greeted Amy cheerfully, "so. ..are you going to go to the dance next Friday?”
"I think so,” responded Jay.
"...Got anyone to go with?" Lindsay asked.
"Not yet. .." was Jay's response
"I see," said Lindsay. As they both settled back in their seats the girls gave each other a quick glance.
Soon afterward, the bus lurched forward and out of the school parking lot. ..
“By Sophie” Danny said to his guard Iann as he got out of the car, she waved then drove off. He got out his key and made his way toward the door. Just then a school bus stopped across the street about three houses down from Danny's. He stood
there looking at it knowing what was to come. Lindsay got off the bus and walked to the door of her house. Danny stood at his doorstep dumbfounded. Lindsay searched her backpack for her key and got it out. After she got out the key she glanced across the street to where Danny was in a daze, seeing she was looking he quickly turned around and unlocked the door to his home.
"Pathetic. .." muttered Lindsay under her breath.
Danny walked into his house and closed the door behind him and then quickly threw his bag on the floor and went to look out the window to see if he was able to catch another glance at Lindsay but all he saw was the door to her house closing
“I'm pathetic," he said to himself. He looked at the clock, it was 2: 30. His parents wouldn't be home for another few hours, He decided to get his homework done before going hunting. After doing so he went to see if he had enough supplies for
the night, he did, and had extra in case Steph forgot something. Five o’clock came sooner than he expected and the sound of his parents coming home greeted his ears along with the sound of rustling bags. It was McDonalds bags that he heard. From the fast food he knew that his parents were going out tonight.
"Hi , guys," he said to his parents.
"Hi," they both responded at the same time.
"Can you lock the door please?" Danny's father asked.
Danny did as he was asked and followed his parents into the kitchen and began taking the things out of the bag and setting them on the table. After they had eaten his parents announced that they would be going out and would be back around !0:00 some kind of work meeting they said. They said their good-byes and Danny headed up to his
room and checked his stuff again just to make sure everything was there. This was a big night for him he knew that someone else's life might be in his hands.

Lindsay got all her gear out and being even more organised than Danny got out a clipboard, and checked over everything. After she was finished she went down to the basement with a stake. In the basement there was a punching bag, a worn out dummy, a balancing beam and many weights all set up. Lindsay had changed now and was in a tank top and some sweat pants, her sneakers were now on, rather than her heels, which she had been wearing before. She began to punch the bag With amazing strength, but even more so for a girl. Each kick and each punch that she landed (and she landed all of them) sent the bag spinning and flying back. Each kick and punch seemed more devastating than the last. After she had seemingly worn herself out she went to a table, which had some weights on it. She grabbed a black cloth and tied it around her head covering her
eyes. She felt around until she felt the familiar bag. She again started wailing on it again once again landing each punch and kick, it seemed as if the blindfold did not make any difference in her performance. After a few minutes she began to pant and stopped. She went over to her weights and began to lift 50 lbs. on each arm, she did this for about ten minutes or so then. looked at her watch. Quarter to seven. After going up stairs and back up to her room, she grabbed a two stakes and put them in the waistband of her sweatpants. She grabbed some holy water and put that in her pocket, then grabbing her cross, which was sitting on her dresser she put it around her neck, the was ready to go out and hunt

Danny grabbed all the gear and put it in a small gym bag, which he found under his bed. He was in his lose black jeans and a black short-sleeved shirt. He was ready. He looked at his watch. Quarter to seven. He grabbed the gym bag and headed outside. Right on time just as always Lindsay was going out for her nightly stroll which is why he always went at 7:00 to hunt. He saw her walk down the right of the street and he headed for a left as always. He always went to Quark's cemetery even though there was a closer one next to his house, he liked the terrain there and decided it was better for any fighting. He began walking and he looked back and Lindsay, to his surprise she was walking in the same direction he was, he ignored it and kept on going, not looking back. Halfway to the cemetery he looked back and didn't see her, decided she must've wanted to go the other way after all. After two more minutes of walking he was at the cemetery with the stake in hand and the gym bag around his shoulder. He could struggle going on somewhere in the distance and took off toward the sounds until he got to where he was able to see. To his utter shock and amazement he saw a vampire attacking Lindsay he was ready to dive in and be her savior when he realized that the vampire wasn't attacking Lindsay, she was attacking it. He hid behind a headstone and watched the action. "What's goin’ on here?" he wondered to himself.
"How are you so strong?" The vampire hissed out as the battle drew on.
"I get asked that all the time you know I'm surprised no one knows?" responded Lindsay. After seeing a stake being pushed through the monster Danny heard Lindsay say, "The strength comes along with being the slayer."
"' Danny was so shocked that he almost fell over. Lindsay then walked away and went to check out the rest of the cemetery .Danny just sat there wondering what in the world was going on. He knew there was only one slayer and the next was only chosen after the first one was dead. But he wasn't dead, neither was she. It just didn't make sense. He looked at his watch, it was ten to eight remembering that Steph was supposed to come with him tonight he went to the entrance of the graveyard, but stayed low just in case Lindsay happened to walk by, but she didn't. Danny got to the entrance and had to wait only a few minutes before Steph got there. He decided not to tell her what he saw. They went through the graveyard cautiously. He soon met up with a vampire, it dove straight for Stephanie. Luckily he was behind the vampire and he drove the stake through the back of it, straight through the heart. The vampire's now dead body fell full force on Stephanie, she screamed. Danny desperately tried to calm her down, for fear Lindsay would hear her and come by. He helped Stephanie up after she had stopped screaming. He walked her home slowly, she was still shaking from fear and shock. He felt really bad for her considering it was her first hunt. Danny wondered about a lot of things on the walk home that night. He wondered if Stephanie would ever come hunting with him again, he also wondered how Lindsay could have been the slayer if he was, he wondered about Lindsay and her past. Too many questions about Lindsay he decided he needed to get to the bottom of  ...but how could he talk to her? He wasn't supposed to reveal himself to anyone. Finally reaching his house, he went in and headed straight to bed.
The next morning he woke up around 5:00 and put on a tank top and some shorts to go outside for a quick jog. The morning air felt good against his exposed arms and legs, it was still dark, and daybreak would be in about a half an hour or so. He knew better than to go out unprepared he put some seeds in his pocket just in case, for he knew if he did run into a vamp throwing some seeds at it would force the vampire to count
them and that would hopefully be long enough for the sun to rise. As he was jogging he heard someone behind him, he looked back and saw Lindsay. He thought to himself, "Wow. ..we must train the same I wonder how strong she is." For a moment he actually considered picking a fight with her just to see how strong she really was, but he thought better of it deciding that two slayers fighting together would be better than two slayers fighting against each other. He came around the block ofhis house and went in wondering if Lindsay was going to retire too. He went back to bed and slept for another
half an hour. He then got up, took his shower, put on his school clothes grabbed a pop tart and went in the car and waited for his mom to take him to school. He decided to ask if Sophie would pick him up today, he hoped she would but if not he could always walk to her house. Five or so minutes later his mom popped into the car and started it up.
"Mom, is Sophie picking me up today or are you?"
"I will be picking you up today."
"Okay, just wondering," he said.
Before he knew it they were at school. He walked into the school, made a quick left and walked down a hall to a hall shaped like a circle there were "branches" of halls that extended from some points in the circle. He tossed himself in with the mass of people walking. Looking to the left and saw Lindsay yet again. This time she glanced at him a long critical and curious stare. He looked down at himself to see if she was staring at something in particular, he saw nothing. He walked into the first hallway and made his way down it to where it split to where one could either take a left or a right Danny took the right and that hallway lead him to a set of doors, behind these doors were staircases. He went down two flights of stairs. There were many blue lockers. He went to the first one in the second row and put his coat in it then made his way to the room next
to it. He sat in his seat and looked at the clock. Only 7:30, that was seven hours before he could get some answers.

Lindsay got off her bus, she was a little spent from the jog, since she had jogged much longer than Danny and had not taken a rest. She made the same path Danny did in the school except when in the circular hall she made a left and travelled in a circle before heading to a green set of
lockers. She went into her room and looked at the clock. Only 7:30, that was seven hours before trying to get Jay to ask her to the dance.

They day dragged on for both of them until lunch. Danny sat with Stephanie as he did every day. He saw Lindsay walk out of the lunch line as she did every day and he stared at her with much more admiration and hope for he knew that they did have something in common, though he did not now how or why. His crystal blue eyes met hers and she took another critical look at him and he knew. He knew she felt something. Something he had been feeling since the day he met her. She didn't know exactly what she was feeling but she felt something from this stranger who adored her so. Danny had a sly smile on his face as he took a bite into his turkey sandwich.
"What are you smiling about?" asked Stephanie. "I know I have nothing to be smiling about, I was nearly killed last night."
"But you weren't," he replied, "Did you actually think I would let anything hurt
Stephanie smiled and blushed slightly taking the statement for more than it actually was.

"I saw that," said Amy as soon as Lindsay set her tray down. "Saw what?"
"You were checkin’ him out, I saw you, you two had complete eye contact."
“I really wasn't its just. ..something I don't know what."
"Slayer sense maybe?" she asked, "Maybe he's a demon."
 “No, he’s not…its just…something…”
"Yeah and that something is something you were checking out if you wanted"
"I'm telling you, it's not like that"

"So are we going out again tonight?" asked Stephanie.
“We You want to go again? Even after everything that happened last night?"
"Of course, I want to do this."
"Can I ask why all of a sudden?"
"Well. ..I just do."
Danny sighed not thinking that was an acceptable answer. "Okay but try and keep yourself calm."
"Will do." Stephanie smiled happily.
After he had arrived at home his mom went out to go shopping. He quickly did the little homework he was given, he then set off to see Sophie. When he arrived he knocked at her door to find her in a worn out state.
"Is this a bad time?" he asked.
"No, no I just was getting some rest," replied Sophie.
"Well I have some major questions to ask you, can I come in?" "Of course, of course."
He followed her in and to the kitchen table. "Would you like some tea?" she asked
"Sure, if its not too much trouble."
Sophie poured two cups of tea for them. "So what do you have to ask?"
"Am I correct in saying that a new slayer is chosen only after the last has died?" "Yes," was Sophie's response.
"Then can you tell me why there are two slayers, me- and someone else?"
"Two Slayers? Are you sure?"
"I'm positive, I donno how to prove it to you but you must take my word for it."
"I believe you, let me do some research and I'll get back to you."
With that Danny left and headed for home. He quickly ran upstairs as his mom called after him, "Where were you?”
"At Sophie's!" he called back.
"Okay!" Mom only knew that Sophie was Danny's tutor, which really wasn't a lie she tutored him in slaying. ..so that kept Danny from feeling too guilty.
With that he grabbed some stakes, some holy water, his flashlight and his cross and headed downstairs. The stakes were concealed under his shirt. It was now 7:30 and he planned it as so, he wanted to get out-a little later to avoid Lindsay. He made a quick jog to the graveyard, and waited at the entrance for Steph. She got there early that night. They went in and after about fifteen minutes or so of walking they ran into their first Vampire. Danny had his stake poised and ready. The vampire shielded herself with her arms over her face
"NO!" was the call that came from behind him.
"What?" Danny said as he looked back at Stephanie and then quickly back at the creature. Stephanie ran up to Danny and grabbed his arm holding him back with weak force. The vampire stood shielding itself.
"She's my friend," said Stephanie to Danny's shock. "Friend. .." he responded, "I don't understand."
"Um. ..I've been hunting once before on my own. While hunting I met Kelly here." Danny looked back at the vampire who was not shielding herself now. Danny could see she was very pale, as all vampires were, she was slightly taller than he with dark brown hair .
"And she didn't kill you?"
"Not all vampires kill, you know," said the vampire finally getting the courage to speak

Danny looked at the vampire the stake still in his hand. Seeing that she wasn't a threat he put the stake back in the waistband of his pants.
"When I saw Stephanie here that night I didn't bite her, I didn't feel the need to just as I do not feel the need to kill anyone. I told her to leave and never come back. ..but she obviously didn't obey since she is here."
Danny was still a little confused but he shrugged it off deciding a vampire ally could be a value. Danny out stretched his hand to the friendly vampire whom took it and shook it slightly. Her hand was cold and clammy. "I'm Danny," he said.
“The slayer?" The vampire asked.
"Yes."
"I'm Kelly."
"Well, thanks for uh. ..not killing us, and thanks for telling Steph to go back and not to stay in the cemetery that night."
"It’s what I do," responded Kelly. "Oh and you needn't be here tonight I haven't seen any other of my kind around.
He nodded and turned. He turned again and said, "It was nice meeting you." Throughout the short conversation Stephanie hadn't said much. They turned and walked out of the graveyard. Danny walked Stephanie home and they talked about slaying, but he was careful not to mention Lindsay. When they reached Steph's home they stood there awkwardly for a minute or two not exactly knowing what to do until Danny said that he had to get home for school the next day. He walked home and on his way he wondered about Kelly, and if she could be trusted, he also wondered if Steph would want to come every night now, but mostly he kept wondering why there were two slayers and how it could be. Finally halfway home he had a break-through. He must have died, or she must have. He decided he'd ask mom some questions tomorrow.

Lindsay didn't go hunting that night instead she stayed home and talked to Jay on the phone for about four hours. He had asked her for her number on the bus that afternoon and without hesitation she gave it to him. As of then they were going to go to the dance together.

The next morning while on the way to school he finally asked his mother . "Mom?" he said.
"Yes hun?"
"This is really going to sound strange. ..but did I ever die?"
His mother looked at him with a look of shock on her face. "How could yo-. Yes, technically you did die, you see when you were born your heart stopped for no apparent reason it stopped for only a moment then the doctor's brought you back, but how did you know?"

"I don't know…" he answered just as they arrived at school. ...
The day again went slow for both of them. Finally at lunch it happened. Danny was sitting at his table watching Lindsay walk by, but this time she looked back at him, as she passed the table she slammed her tray down, "WHAT!? What is it, what are you looking at!?"
This caught both Stephanie and Danny off guard Danny didn't exactly know what to say. He merely smirked slylyand said, "You feel it, I know because I have felt the same thing." Lindsay quietly picked up her tray and walked away. Danny smiled fully almost holding back a laugh. He knew the time hadn't come for him to reveal himself and what he knew. Stephanie gave him a look as if to say, "what just happened here?" then she came out and said it.
"What just happened here, what were you talking about?"
"I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out myself "
"Okay. .."
Just then a girl walked over to the table, Danny looked at her wondering if he had seen her somewhere before. Then it hit him it was Laura, a girl that had been in his Portuguese class.
"Hi guys," was her cheerful introduction, "can I sit down?"
Stephanie and Danny looked at each other then back at the girl, "Sure," Danny
She took a seat close to Danny and looked at him. "You like all that weird ghost stuff, right?"
"Yes.. ."
"So do I, I've been to your web site, I like it a lot I have one; too," she then handed him a tom piece of paper with a web URL on it. "I think we should team up and make a unification site, let me know."
"Okay," his was totally unexpected he hadn't even been thinking about his we bsite. "What's your favourite area of the paranormal?"
"Definitely vampires," said Laura.
Danny and Stephanie gave each other a quick glance and Stephanie raised an eyebrow.
With that Laura got up and walked away, Danny and Stephanie watched as she went back to her table where she sat alone. Danny looked at Steph, "She's not sitting with anyone I'm gonna go get her"
"Okay," said Stephanie not really liking the idea very much, but wanting to be polite.
"What is your web site address? I've never seen it,” Stephanie asked before Danny got up
Danny grabbed a paper and pen out of his backpack and wrote down, "www.geocities.com/prjredbook/AFI.html" and handed it to her.
Danny got up and walked to Laura and sat next to her, she smiled at the company. "Would you like to come and sit with us, maybe talk a little about web site plans and the paranormal?"
"Sure!" Laura said happily. She followed Danny to the table, and sat next to him again.
The three of them talked and got to know each other better until the bell rang. ..

"So what was that all about?" asked Amy,
"I'm sick of it; he keeps looking at me 'm sick of him," replied Lindsay, obviously aggravated. "I just told him off,"
"And what did he say?"
"Well he said you feel it or some crap like that I donno what he's talking about." But Lindsay did know, she felt it, still unsure of what but she felt something from this boy whom she considered "beneath her."

Danny left school and met Sophie outside in her car. "I figured it out," Danny said,
"What?"
"How there can be two slayers, I found out that when I was a baby I died for a moment, but the doctor's brought me back, hence choosing the next slayer that girl!"
"Yes, of course, why didn't I think of that?" "And I have another question."
"Yes?" Sophie looked at Danny with her driving glasses on.
"Can I have another member? I found someone who would be good."
To Danny's surprise she said, "Can she handle herself?"
"I think she can "
"Thinking isn't good enough, take her out, do you think you can save her if you get into any trouble?"
"I know I can.”
"Okay, then go ahead," she replied. With that Sophie drove off.
On the bus that day Lindsay sat with Jay and they talked all the way home. The bus pulled up to Lindsay's house and she got off, again Danny was at his door, this time he didn't turn around. Of all the times not to, when Lindsay really wanted to talk to him he didn't. She just couldn't take it any more and ran across the street to him. He turned around the smirk on his face again.
"Yes?" he said.
"What did you mean at school?" she asked him.
"I meant what I said," and with that he opened the unlocked door to his house, went in and closed it behind him. Leaving her on the porch. He didn't even bother to look out the window.
He ran upstairs to his room and put on his computer. He signed online and pulled the paper out of his pocket. He went to the web site. It was rather good from what he saw. Just then he got an Instant message from a screen name called "ParagrI86"
"Hi, its Laura," was what was read.
"Oh, hi, hey I need to talk to you about something call me at: 555-4736"
"Okay," Laura typed back
A few minutes later the phone rang and Danny picked up. "Hi," came the cheerful voice on the other side of the line.
"I have something to tell you, but you must first promise to keep it a secret."
"Okay I will, you didn't kill anyone, did you?"
"Um. ..kinda, I'm the vampire slayer. I kill vampires I'm 'the chosen one' I go out night after night and kill them to keep the world safe, I want you to be on my team Stephanie is in it and I want you to be to, you already know all about them so I think you should bring any weapons you have and I'll bring some extra stakes tonight. Meet me at Quark's field tonight at 8:00 okay?"
"Wow. ..that's a lot to take in, "
"I know I did kinda just blurt it out there didn't I?"
"Yes, you did. Well, I'd love to come."
"That's great meet me there at eight," said Danny.
"Okay! bye," said Laura before hanging up.

At 8:00 Danny set out for Quark's field with his gear only to find Stephanie and Laura already there. "Lets go," he said. They walked throughout the graveyard for about a half an hour before hearing a scuffle, they ran and got to the source just in time to see Lindsay grabbing Kelly by the collar with a stake poised to strike. Danny came behind Lindsay and grabbed her hand, as she was about to kill his new friend. Lindsay struggled but couldn't move.
"How can you. ..?" she stammered, letting go off Kelly.
"You know what I am, I know what you are."
"But how?"
"We have a lot to talk about. "
"I have time now," said Lindsay.
"Okay the basic thing is when I was just born my heart stopped for a moment, thus choosing you as the next slayer, but I survived, making two of us, and I guess the 'vibe' we've been getting from each other is the sensing of another slayer."
"Uh-huh. ..I still don't believe it. ..prove it to me," She grabbed a knife out of her pocket quickly and threw it at his head he caught it by the handle.
"What’s your problem!? What if I was lying? What if you just killed me, would you have cared?"
Lindsay, thinking for a moment replied, "Maybe just a little."
Danny just looked at her in disgust. "Okay just tell me, what don't you like about me, what bothers you so much?"
"I donno maybe just because you're such a loser, a goof, an idiot."
Danny turned around and left with his friends. "Sorry we didn't see any action, guys”

"I don't know that was pretty action-like to me," said Laura with a smile

The next day was Saturday and time for Danny to train. He got up at 6:00 and put on a green short-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts. He jogged to Sophie's. Danny was greeted at the door by a kick to the midsection by Sophie. He caught her leg before it hit him.

He smiled at her, "And a good morning to you too!"
"Come in, " she said as soon as he walked into her living room he saw a punching bag set up. It was brand new and practically shined in the light that was pouring from the spotless windows.
Danny smiled widely, and turned to Sophie, "For me?"
"What do you think my world revolves around you? Yes it is," replied Sophie with a smile.
He touched the bag gently with his fingertips feeling the bag up and down. "Well if you are gonna be so nice to it, I might as well take it back."
Danny gave the bag a swift kick; it hardly gave because of the newness. He again smiled widely. He jumped up and gave it a hard kick sending it flying back and bit, he followed this up with a left, and then spun around with a right he dropped down to the floor and gave the floor under the bag a sweep kick. Sophie tried to sneak up behind him, he turned around and grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back.
"Good," she said getting out of the hold after he loosened his grip.
Sophie then tried to sweep kick him, he jumped up and came crashing down with a punch to her face, but stopped a few inches from it. She nodded at him approvingly. She then handed him a sword, which he quickly took and slashed at her throat, but again stopped an inch or so from hitting it. Sophie stood there, not even flinching with her own sword in her hand and slashed and Danny's leg. He quickly used the sword to shield himself.
Sophie went for Danny's neck, but he saw it coming and stopped it with his own sword. Then with a little manoeuvre he made up himself he used the blade of his sword to catch one of the arms that came off the hilt of Sophie's he did an upward motion, whipping the sword away from Sophie’s hands. She again nodded approvingly. You are good with the physical training; lets see how you are with the mental training! Sophie pushed a play button on the stereo that was in the living room and the sound of GregorIann chants began to fill the room. They both sat. IndIann style in the room. Both of them had their eyes closed and their own hands cupped. Danny opened his eyes and looked at Sophie's hands and saw a small ball of white light.
"No peeking," Sophie said without opening her eyes. Danny looked down to his hands and saw nothing, he then closed his eyes and began to concentrate, trying to find
his inner chi. He slowly felt his hands get warmer, he was getting happy at this result, and lost his concentration, forcing his hands to feel normal again. He tried again, Lindsay's face suddenly appeared in his closed eyes. With a gasp he opened his eyes quickly.
"What?" asked Sophie.
Danny quickly looked at his watch, then out the window, they had been doing this for a few hours, which seemed to Danny as mere minutes. "I have to go."
Danny went to Sophie's dresser, which was in her living room, he removed the inner lining to reveal a secret compartment full of stakes, he grabbed one and ran out the door .
He ran as fast as his 16-year-old legs would take him, at first he wasn't sure where his destination was, but as he was running it became clear that he was heading to the graveyard. When he got to the entrance he heard a bloodcurdling scream. He ran to see Lindsay on top of Kelly. Danny ran over: to Lindsay and grabbed her shirt, and all in one motion flung her off the vampire. Lindsay landed hard on the ground, harder than normally because she didn't see it coming. With Lindsay off her, Kelly ran into the darkness of the cemetery .
"What's wrong with you?" Danny asked harshly.
"Look let me put it in terms you can understand, she vampire. Bad. Slayer kill. Was that simple enough for you?"
Danny never actually talking back to the girl decided this was too far and he had to say something back, "Let me put it in terms you can understand, no kill good vampire. Did ya get all that or was that too fast?"
Lindsay was somewhat surprised that he actually said something to snap back at her, but didn't know what to say next so she just turned and began to leave. "Wait," Danny called after her, "Look, if you are a slayer and I am a slayer. ..I think we should at least work together, we are fighting for the same thing after all."
"I go solo," she said, turned and walked away, not looking back. After she was out of sight Danny walked out of the graveyard.
He made his way home not exactly sure what he was gonna do when he got there. He walked in and looked at the clock, it was only 8:00. He picked up the phone and decided to call someone. Without really thinking he dialed a number that he was so used to dialing that he would literally dial it when trying to call someone else,
"Hello?" came a woman's voice from the other line.
"Hi, is Tony jr. there?" asked Danny.
 "Just a minute."
He could hear on the other line even though it was at a distance, "Tony! Its for you!"
"Hello?"
"Hi Tony, what's up?" "Nothing, you?"
"Nuthin. .." Danny said, after that there was a full five minutes of silence. "So, anything funny happen at school yesterday?"
"Yeah actually, guess who's trying to act cool." Tony said, coming a bit more alive.
"Who?" Danny asked.
"Mr. Landry!" responded Tony, “Well see-“  BEEP was the tone that interrupted Tony .

"Hold on a sec, Tony I'll be right back."
"Okay." Tony replied a little annoyed that he couldn't finish his story. Danny pushed the button on the phone, "Hello?"
"Hi!" Came the cheerful voice, Danny had an idea of who it was, but wasn't sure. "Um. ..who's this?" Danny asked.
"Laura!" came the cheerful voice again. Danny quickly thought about whom he wanted to talk to more, he decided that he would talk to Laura, and then call Tony back later .
"Can you hold on a second please?" Danny asked. " up! " Laura said with enthusiasm.
Danny thought to himself as he pushed the button again, "Wow , is this girl always happy?"
"Hey Tony, can I call ya back?"
"Sure, later." Tony said before hanging up.
Danny clicked over again, "Hi, Laura," he said after changing.
"Hi, I have a question. .." came Laura, still cheerful, but not as before.
"Let me guess, you want to know if I know when cheerleader tryouts start?" Danny said being a little sarcastic, but more playful.
"No, silly, I was wondering when are we gonna work on the site?"
"Oh yeah," Danny said, he had nearly forgotten about it with the whole Lindsay situation.
"Well, look I haven't eaten all day, I've been doing the whole slayer thing, so wanna go to Wendy's and pick up a bite to eat? I'll call Steph and see if she wants to come too, and we can throw around some ideas there."
"Wendy's, my fave, sounds great I'll meet you there!" said Laura cheerfully.
"Okay, see ya there," Danny said before hanging up.
After he hung up the phone he decided it would be slightly awkward with one guy and two girls, so he decided to call his best friend Iann.
"Hello?" came Iann's voice from the other side of the line.
"Hey, what's up?" Danny responded.
"Nuthin much, you?"
"Well I was wonderin if you wanted to come along with me and a few girls to Wendy's to grab something to eat."
"Uh. ..sure. ..I'll see ya there."
"Okay," Danny responded as he hung up, and then picked the phone up again to call Steph. She too agreed to go since she had nothing better to do with her night
They all met up and grabbed a table outdoors. The ladies set their things down as the guys went inside to order. Soon after the girls followed. After ordering they went back to their table only to be distracted by a laugh. The laugh was something that was very familiar to Danny's ears. Almost as a reflex he cocked his head to confirm what he already knew. It was Lindsay, but she was not alone. She and Jay were sitting together, eating and laughing.
"Oh my God. .." Iann said almost in a love struck moan. Danny looked at his friend. Lindsay had been in Iann' s homeroom for the three years they had been in high school, and even more pathetic than Danny, Iann remembered what Lindsay wore to school every single one of those days. Almost every Saturday they would meet up and Lindsay always came up in their conversations.
The two girls looked at each other and shook their heads.

Lindsay glanced over as jay was talking. She remembered the first time she actually noticed Danny. It was when he asked her to race, they were small children at the time, and neither of their slayer "powers" had begun to take effect. She remembered as she beat him, she could feel something from him. No, it wasn't a slayer sense. She knew he liked her. However she did not know exactly what to do about it. She had no feelings for him at all, but rather puppy love for Tony. She tried everything to put this boy down, she tried ignoring him, and being mean to him, still after the constant rejection he came back hoping for some type of relationship, only to be put down again. She wondered why he would go to such lengths to be nice to her even as she was so mean to him.
"…so then I ducked under the arms of the guy and shot in the winning basket," came jay's voice breaking into Lindsay's thoughts.
She looked back at him trying to show interest in what he was saying, but doing a poor job of it. "Oh really?" she responded hoping it would make him believe her attention was being kept.

They all began eating, Danny and Iann kept looking over to Lindsay , and once in a while Iann would make a love struck moan and then smile. Danny too would smile but not moan. His glance shifted from Lindsay to Laura' s smiling face, he looked at Laura' s face studying every aspect of it. He thought to himself, Laura is every bit as good looking as Lindsay, and nicer. Why was he not attracted to Laura as he was with Lindsay? He tried to think of a reason, but came up with none. He was still looking at Laura; she was now looking down, obviously a little self-aware, because Danny had been staring at her for quite some time. Danny soon realised this and looked away turning red. Iann shifted a glance to Danny and then to Laura, then back to Danny again. Danny gave a slight shake of the head; he knew Iann was asking if he was interested in Laura. "S~
Laura," Laura looked up from the table and at Danny, "what exactly should we do for the site, do you have any ideas?"
"Yes, actually, I get this paranormal weekly newsletter, I can take some of the stories and search the net too and put up a news section. Also I can probably find a few more people to work on the occult section and that type of thing, because I saw from your notice that you aren't good in that area of the paranormal, and neither am I."
The shattering of glass interrupted Laura, and all the occupants at both Lindsay and Danny's table looked to see what was going on.
"Wait here," came Danny and Lindsay's voice in unison.
They went into Wendy's to see what was causing the noise. They saw a very muscular vampire grabbing the man behind the counter by the neck.
"Slayer team?" asked Lindsay.
Danny looked at her in surprise and quirked an eyebrow. He knew they were wasting time and quickly nodded. After the nod was cast they both ran at the vampire that was literally twice their size. They jumped and kicked him in the back. The vampire dropped the man he was holding. He quickly spun around to see Danny and Lindsay side by side in fighting stances.
In a very deep voice he said, "Children. ..the perfect midnight snack."
Lindsay looked at Danny and shifted her head up and then down. Danny nodded. Danny jumped up, catlike and kicked the vampire in the head. He stumbled back into the counter. Not a second after he hit the counter Lindsay was on the floor and giving him a sweep kick that sent him down hitting his head on the counter .
Danny looked at Lindsay, "You got a stake?" He asked quickly. "No."
"Hey!" came from outside. Just then a stake came whizzing through the air at Danny, he snatched it out of its path and quickly drove it through the heart of the creature. Danny got up and looked around, all the occupants had cleared out after the brawl had begun.

"Who threw that?" asked Danny.
"I did," said Jay as he came through the door. "Thanks," Danny said to Jay.
"How did you know?" asked Lindsay very bewildered.
"I've lived here all my life, and I've seen a lot of those in my day ."
"Okay..." said Danny not exactly knowing what to say.
Lindsay walked past Danny to Jay, they then went back to walk out, as she passed Danny she showed some respect or at least acknowledgement of him by saying bye as she left.

Danny stood there not exactly knowing what to do with himself. She actually spoke to him, and it was not negativ~. ..
"Well that was unexpected," said Iann. Danny looked at him, "I'll say. .."
Laura finally asked what had been bugging her for some time, "Do you like her?"
Danny gave her a look as if to say "duh" but then changed his expression after he remembered that he hadn't told her. "..I’ve got a story for you..."

The walk home for Lindsay and Jay was quite silent until finally Jay asked, " Are you the slayer?"
Never had anyone asked her this so she knew not how to answer. "Um. ..yeah…”
"That's cool," said Jay and that ended the conversation for the rest of the night.

Danny got home earlier than he had expected and decided to watch a movie. He put "John Carpenter's Vampires" into his DVD player and sat down to watch the movie for the 94’th time. Danny thought to himself with a smile as the opening credits rolled, "Man, this movie never gets old.” At that point in time the phone rang. Danny picked it up, wondering who would be calling him at this time. "Hello?” he answered questioningly
  "Hi!" came the cheery voice on the other line.
"Hey Laura," Danny said with a hint of excitement, in attempt to match hers.
"I have some stuff you might be interested in if you are willing to come to Quark’s field tomrrow."
“Um…sure- what is it?"
"You 'II see, just be at the run down warehouse next to Quark's field tomorrow at dawn." With that she quickly hung up.
"Yeah, I know where-" Danny stopped abruptly realizing that there was no one else on the other line. "Riiight. ..Dawn. ..this girl's crazy ...its Sunday," he thought to himself as he set his alarm.

The next day Danny awoke to the beeping of his alarm. He reached over without even picking his head up and shut off the alarm. He rolled out of bed, grabbed a black short sleeve button down shirt which hung off his low bedpost, then put on some jeans. With a yawn he fastened his belt which was equipped with a utility knife and went out the door of his room.

The walk to the warehouse was a short one. He arrived at the warehouse and knocked on the door. The sliding metal door was opened and he peered in questioningly. A familiar face poked out of the darkness. "Hiya!"
"Laura. ..its. .." he looked at his-watch then looked back up at her," 5:42 on a Saturday morning, how in the world are you fully awake?” he asked.
Laura ignored his question and pulled him inside by the arm. She hit a switch and the warehouse lit up. Danny looked around, still half asleep, what he saw quickly woke him up. A sight of weapons, computers, chemicals, vials, and vehicles greeted his eyes.
"What the-"
At this Laura unsheathed a katana blade that she was holding. Danny jumped back, assuming a fighting stance.
Laura, ignoring her jumpy guest looked at the katana, "It's a beauty isn't it? I crafted it myself, made entirely out of titanium, with the exception of the hand grip, of course."

"What the hell is all this?" Danny asked
Laura quickly thrust the blade at Danny, stopping a half an inch from his throat. "Watch your language!"
Danny nodded slowly. "Okay. ..okay. .." he said in a dry voice.
Taking the blade away from Danny's neck she explained, "This is my destiny, I was sent to help you destroy the creatures of the night. Now that that's settled, lets begin the tour. With that Laura began walking ahead of Danny as she waswalkiIlg she threw the sword up in the air, Danny caught the sword by the grip and stared at it. "For you, " she said without looking back.
 "Thanks. .." With that Laura turned around and threw the sheath to Danny. She then began as if trying to sell her arsenal to him. "This is what I so lovingly call. .the wall of blades. As you can see we have almost anything you can imagine. Katanas of every shape and style, want an Excalibur? What length blade? Daggers? You want 'em we got 'em. Survival kives, how could you live without them? (she paused for a slight chuckle) Then of course we have the copycat swords, any movie you have seen. …sword from Lord of the Rings? Got it. Blade? Got it. Highlander? Got it." The wall was littered with all types of swords the likes of which Danny could only dream of. Laura who had been shifting her hand at the wall signaling to the different swords now gravitated her hand under the wall. There was a wine bottle rack, which ran from wall to wall. Each slot filled with a stake. "We got any wood you want. Cherry, Ash, Rose." She then walked to another wall, this wall had all types of guns on it. "Yes, they look real don't they? They don't shoot real bullets, though, no need. We have every model you could want, though. I'm sure you are wondering what they shoot. Every clip and chamber is specially fit for pellets. We have two types of pellets. We have the paint ball style, which are filled with holy water; we also got the ones made of pure silver. These are air guns and pack enough punch to penetrate the skin, yet not kill. Shoot at a human, he'll be mad, shoot at a vampire. ..he'll be dead. "Danny looked around; this was his dream come true. Laura walked to a cabinet. She opened a door of the long cabinet that spanned the lab bench and opened it. Inside were gallons of holy water, "At last count we had 400 gallons of holy water, if you wanted you could fill a swimming pool and dunk the vampires whole. ..up to you." Her hand moved to the door of the cabinet- "And of course. ..water guns. ..super soakers work best, but you got the small caliber stuff too, it's entirely your choice." She moved to the top of the lab bench on which a computer sat. "This is our state of the art vampire library and tracking unit." She picked up a microchip, which had been lying in a glass dish next to the keyboard.
"This is a work in progress, when its done you will be able to load these babies as pellets into your guns, then you can shoot and track a vampire." With that she clicked with the mouse of the computer and brought up a screen, which was a map of the city. There was a small red dot on the area on which the warehouse lay. "I should have these done within the next month." She didn't move, but pointed to yet another wall. "That is our fine assortment of religious items and garlic."
"Cripes," was the only thing that Danny could utter. "You mean- you y- all- with the- and the-. ..okay must calm myself...thank you! I feel like a kid in a candy store!"
Laura opened a draw in the lab bench. She pulled out a belt with various holsters and pouches on it. After that she pulled out a pair of leather boots. "Size 9½?
Danny said nothing and took the boots. He sat down on the ground, took off his sneakers and slipped on the boots. "Yep, 9 ½ feels right." After slipping the boots on he went over to the wall of swords, katana still in hand. He put the katana back in the sheath and began loading up with blades. He took two small daggers with blades about 5 inches in length and slipped them into his boots. Next his took two slightly larger knives and slipped them in the back of his new belt. He decided that he would keep his katana and not exchange it for another blade, and put it on his back. He then made his way over to the wall of air guns. Grabbing two replica sig sauer p226’s he thrust them into his two thigh holsters. He quickly noticed there were no clips and grabbed the two clips which rested on another smaller rack under the respective guns for which they were used. He grabbed four. He loaded two into his guns and put two in the back of his belt, on either side of the two knives. He headed over to Laura. "Do you have the cross-"

Before he finished his sentence she already had gone under the lab bench and gotten out a crossbow and threw it to him “John Carpenter’s Vampires…here ya go…” in his excitement he reached over and gave Laura a grateful kiss on the forehead. "You're the best!" He quickly loaded the vials on his right side of his belt. "Pellets?"
Laura shook off the slight daze she was experiencing after the surprise outburst of emotion, walked over to the wall of air guns and opened a cabinet on shelf attached to the door was a bucket of pellets on the other door there was another bucket of different pellets. Danny systematically grabbed his two air guns and took the clips out. He loaded each gun with a different type of pellet. He took the two clips, which were on his back and loaded each with each type of pellet. He re-holstered his weapons and clips and took a quick check of his supplies. He then took some extra pellets and loaded them into his pouches "Stakes." He went over to the racks of stakes. Danny grabbed a few rosewood stakes and slipped two on either side of his thigh holsters.
"You 're forgetting your pump action shotgun. .." Laura went over and grabbed the shotgun. She headed over to another cabinet with shotgun shells. She loaded the gun and gave it to Danny along with some shells. He put the gun on his back. On one side of his back now rested the katana diagonally and on the other side, oppositely diagonally rested the shotgun. He took the shells and loaded them into yet another pouch. "The shells work the same as the pellets only a greater quantity of silver and water." Danny looked in a mirror .
"Good Lord, I'm Rambo the vampire hunter. .." Laura giggled at his comment and went over to her computer. Danny looked over at the computer. "What's that?" On the screen was a real time video of every action Danny was making at the mirror.
"I've put a small camera in a every mirror, every mirror is a two way., that way you don't even see the camera," replied Laura.
"Ah. ..what's the use of that if vampires don't have reflections.. .they aren't going to be standing in front of a mirror?"
"Simple, this isn't for vampires. I have this little camera transmitting images to my home computer, if someone comes in here I'll know."
"Good idea," by this time Danny had turned back to the mirror and began looking at all his equipment again. "You ta1kin' to me? You talkin' to me?” after a small pause to look behind him he continued, "There ain't no one else here so you must be talking to me." He then quickly went for his air gun, which was still holstered at his thigh and pointed it at the mirror. "Yeah. ..that's what I thought. .."

While Danny was busy getting his new gear together Lindsay was shopping, getting her own gear of sorts. She and Amy were walking throughout the mall stopping in various stores. They made a left turn into a store with various dresses in the front window.
"Hmm what to buy, what to buy. .." said Amy stopping to look at a long black dress.
Lindsay continued on to the middle of the store. Her eyes darted from rack to rack. Her eyes became fixed upon a red low cut dress. She moved to the price tag, which was crossed out from 150 dollars to 75. "Half off!" Lindsay thought to herself and quickly removed the dress from the rack. She went over to a nearby mirror and pressed the dress to herself, it was as if the dress was made for her. It would fit her perfectly. She took it to the counter, paid for it and turned around to go back to Amy. Amy was coming toward the counter with the black dress she had previously been looking at. Amy purchased the dress and they walked out, and throughout the mall together.
"Where to next?" asked Lindsay as they passed the CVS in the mall.
"Hmmm. .." Amy's eyes darted around at the different stores and finally settled upon a nail styling salon, “There," said Amy pointing to the salon, which was one level above them. They continued on to the escalator on the way a shoulder collided with Lindsay's. A shiver ran down Lindsay’s spine and she looked to see who bumped into her, but only saw the back of the culprit, which one could see was female with a white shirt and black pants, but the woman ducked into a store before Lindsay got a good look. Lindsay only looked away from the store which the woman entered after Amy literally pulled her onto the escalator.

 Meanwhile Danny and Laura were sitting at the lab bench hovering over the computer discussing ideas for their web site.
 “Want something to drink?” asked Laura as she got up
 “Sure,” Danny answered
 “What do you want?”
 “Well, you seem to know my tastes very well, you pick.”
 Laura went over to a small refrigerator that was in the corner of the room next to the air guns. She came back with two Fire Snapples. Danny shook his head with a smile, “You’re amazing...” She blushed as he took the bottle from her. Danny thought a moment then looked at her seriously, the previous smile now faded. “How do you know so much about me…”
 Laura’s face became even redder. “Well you see…I knew who you were from the beginning I followed the lineage of slayers and I know all your personal stuff from your website…” she spun the computer around and showed him his bio page.
 “Oh yeah…I almost forgot about that…” With that he took a sip of the Snapple. “One more question, where did you get the cash for this?”
 “Ah, that’s an easy one I asked my parents for the money for my birthday, my Dad’s a stockbroker and he makes a pretty penny.”
 “Oh… hmm…I got an idea, where’s the phone?”  Laura got up and handed him a portable phone. Danny dialed a number and waited, but it just kept ringing.
 “Who’d ya call?”
 “Lindsay…lets admit it this place is very large and I alone would end up wasting all these great weapons by just letting them sit here without use. Lets see…we need a team…” After realizing what he had just said he looked at his watch with wide eyes. “CRAP!”
“What?”
“I’m late for my training,” he began to remove his belt, but thought instead of him going over Sophie’s he should have Sophie come to him she really should see all this great stuff. He picked up the phone again and dialed Sophie’s number, but got only the answering machine, he then decided to call her cell
“Hello?” came his guard on the other side of the line.
“Hey Sophie…”
“Ah, I see punctuality is no longer important to you, I waited for you for a half an hour then decided I would just go do my errands.”
 “That’s exactly why I called look, come to quark’s field right now I believe I have something you will be interested in,” with that he hung up not giving Sophie a chance to say no.
“Who was that?” Laura asked with curiosity.
“That was my guard, I have a guard who trains me for my…”slayerhood” would be the word, I guess.”
“Okay…I like what we’re getting going here it makes me feel useful.”
“Me too,” responded Danny as he took another sip of the Snapple.

While at the mall Lindsay kept looking around for the person who tapped her shoulder, but found no one matching the vague description she had of the person. On the way home Lindsay pretty much forgot about the event and only stared out the window. The car ride home was silent, for Amy had just gotten her license and was not yet comfortable with driving with the radio on.
Lindsay tried to decide what the passing clouds looked like in the blue sky overhead. “Hmm…stake…sword…vampire fangs…decapitated body…I don’t think I’d pass an inkblot test.” She sighed and looked forward to the truck in front of them. Nothing about the truck actually caught her eye, just the fact of an object in front of her sparked her interest. She averted her attention when she realized that her right shoulder was itchy. She scratched it and looked under her shirt to find a red rash there. “That’s odd…” she thought dejectedly. She rubbed her forehead and sat back, for this long silent trip would be too long for her to bare.

 Danny and Laura kept watch at the computer which was wired to a wireless camera that was outside the warehouse. After about ten minutes after calling Sophie the Irish woman appeared at the front door. “That her?” Laura asked.
 “Yep,” Danny responded as he walked over to the door to let the woman in, her hair was still damp from the shower which she took after coming home from her errands.
 After stepping inside Sophie’s eyes grew wide and she breathed in a deep breath. “Wow…” she looked to Laura, “you set all this up?” Laura nodded proudly. “This is very impressive,” Sophie continued, “This is going to be useful.”
 “This is why I wasn’t at our training session today…and I also brought you here to make a proposition. I think that I am really ready for a team…a real team. I already have an idea for the members. Laura and I had been talking about it and obviously her and I are in it, but also that girl that I was telling you about, Stephanie…” Danny went over to the lab bench and grabbed a yellow notepad, “Iann, Lindsay, This kid Jay that we met, Tony…”
 “Whoa whoa whoa, I think you need to calm down a bit…let me think here, this is a lot to take in, you do realize that? I mean first it starts with a single member then another…now you have a freggin’ base!”
 “Yeah it’s great huh!?” Danny exclaimed excitedly.
 Sophie let out a loud sigh and nodded silently. “One condition!”
 Danny looked up at Sophie with some what aggravated eyes, he wasn’t sure what the condition was but he was sure it would hinder his plans. “What?” he asked.
 “All members must be trained, tested, and approved by me, honestly this isn’t that bad an idea, getting the two slayers together…I have been wanting to meet this second slayer ever since you mentioned her...”
 “Great then its settled the team will be…” Said Danny with confidence.
 With a sly smirk Sophie replied, “We’ll see…lets get started right now…you,” she said as she pointed to Laura, “you will prove yourself…”
 Nothing more needed to be said to Laura she lunged at Sophie and to even the surprise of Sophie herself Laura had the point of a 7 inch dagger to her throat. “Fast enough for ya?” Laura asked slowly drawing the blade away.
 “Fast yes…smart no…” Sophie reached for Laura’s still outstretched arm, latched on to it and with one swift motion tapped the heel of her hand to Laura’s arm, making her drop her weapon. Sophie then came around and tripped Laura’s leg causing Laura to fall hard on her back onto the cement floor.
 Sophie looked at Danny, “I like her, she’s got spunk… I think she’s in, but she needs to train a bit more on tactics…” With that Sophie turned her gaze to Laura, “Lesson one, never let your guard down-“ at the same time Danny and Sophie both finished the sentence, “NEVER” Sophie stretched out her hand to the girl on the floor, who grasped her hand and in one motion attempted to drag Sophie down, but Sophie instead pulled back with greater force springing Laura to her feet.
 “You learn fairly quickly,” Sophie said with a soft smile.
 “Laura do your thing I need some numbers, Iannn Abu, Tony Sylvia, Lindsay Brooke, Jay Johnson, Marty Heinberg and Stephanie Leurns.”
 After getting all the numbers he called all of them, but was still unable to reach Lindsay, the rest of them agreed to the conspicuous conditions to come to Quark’s field and to look for the nearby warehouse.
 After they all arrived Laura and Danny took a seat next to Sophie as she breifed all of them, “I assume you all know the identity of Daniel Simmons? If not, I am going to make you all aware right now. He is one of apparently two slayers, but normally there would only  be one. The slayer is chosen once the last has…perished. The slayer’s job is to destroy the undead…I’m talking vampires, people. I don’t know how many of them that you have seen around if any but the only reason you don’t see them is because of this young man right here. Now ‘why are you here?’ you must be asking yourselves. Well the answer to that question is that most of you have seen vampires, and that is a problem. Two slayers we have learned aren’t enough to combat the increasing number of vampires that seem to be rising in this town. You have been chosen to be let in on the secret, but if you all wish you may try to be on the slayer team in which we are trying to put together.
 “If you wish to be on the team then you will be ‘auditioned’ to see if you have what it takes and then be trained to battle vampires, so who’s in?
 All the guests raised their hands, as they did so Danny smiled knowing his friends would not let him down. “Alright then, lets get started…Who wants to be first?” Sophie asked as she walked back and fourth among the seats in which the guests were sitting. “No volunteers? You.” She said pointing to Tony.
 Tony rose from his seat. “Are you ready?” Sophie asked
 Tony silently nodded.
 Sophie stared directly into Tony’s eyes and he stared intensely back. The tense staring went on for another five minutes, no one moved, or seemed to even breath. Silence came on the room and was finally broken by the sound of skin meeting skin. Sophie had tried to slap Tony, but he quickly blocked her arm, they stayed locked up for a moment. “Sit down, you’re in,” Sophie said.
 “You’re next she said pointing to Iannn.” Iannn rose slowly. Sophie leaned into Iannn and came close to each ear, her eyes closed. Her body pressed up alluringly against Iannn. She mumbled something inaudiable to the rest of them into his ear. She slowly moved to his neck and began gently kissing him. After two kisses she bit him, hard. Iannn began screaming wildly. Sophie quickly backed away before breaking the skin. Iannn was left with a bruise on his neck.
 “That was a lesson, a vampire could be anyone, trust only your team and no one else. Had I been a member of the undead family, you would be gone. I want you all to think about that, this runs a very real risk of death, if you are uncomfortable with that then get out now, and no honor will be lost, but if you become part of the team and lose yourself out there on a mission and begin panicking, then you run a greater risk of getting yourself or one of your team mates killed, I will not stand for it, and I will kill you myself.”
 “I’m out,” Said Iann being made aware of the danger perhaps better than any one of them.
 Sophie nodded, “Anyone else?” then said after a silent pause, “good.” Now, who here feels comfortable with weapons?” Marty raised his hand as did Jay. Sophie looked to Laura, if you please. Laura went to get two swords with 20 inch blades. She came back and handed one to Marty and one to Jay.
 “Okay then, will you two stand up, please.” Sophie went into her black leather boots and took out a dagger approximately 5 inches in length. “You first,” she said pointing to Jay. “I want you to try to stab me, and don’t worry about going easy because I guarantee you it won’t happen.”
 Jay rushed her, gripping his weapon tightly in his hand he tried to slash at Sophie’s shoulder, she came up with her other hand, which held her small dagger and blocked the larger sword. Jay tried to slash at sophie’s legs, but she jumped above the blade and came down, her dagger in a stabbing position pointed at his chest. The blade stopped a mere inch from his shirt. Jay had his eyes closed and dropped his sword in defeat.
 “You’re dead, lesson two: when using weapons, size is not an issue so don’t make it one. You.” She said pointing her dagger at Marty.
 Marty held his sword in a fencing position and awaited Sohpie’s attack instead of engaging her as Jay did. The two fenced for a few moments, the fencing ended in Sophie using her small dagger to force Marty’s sword out of his hand.
 “Sit down. Lesson three: when using weapons…keep yours, you’re weapon is as precious to you as your life, for that may be the only thing that can save it.”
 Sophie looked to the last one she had neglected, “You’re next,” she said pointing to Stephanie.
 Sophie tossed Stephanie her dagger, “Stab me, run at me and stab me,” Sophie stuck out her chest so that Stephanie had an open shot at her.
 Danny leaned over into Laura’s ear, “I love this one…”
 Stephanie ran at Sophie with little resistance and felt the separation of flesh as the dagger pierced through Sophie’s chest. She stepped back horrified, dropping the dagger on the floor. Sophie feel hard upon the floor, and did not move. Stephanie turned with a look of fear on her face to the other ‘recruits.’ Sophie quietly, but quickly got up, and grabbed the back of Stephanie’s head. “Lesson four…once you kill something…kill it dead…”
 When she realized that Sophie had gotten up and grabbed her she fainted into Sophie’s arms. When she awoke again Laura was standing over her waving smelling salt in front of her nose. “What happened?” Stephanie asked as she slowly got up.
“You took a slight spill when I grabbed you from behind,” said Sohpie casually.
“Well, folks if you’ve seen this much without quitting…then you’re in. Now…lets see here…I think you should all probably go home, and get some rest, tomorrow’s Sunday…and we will begin your training. Over there, there are a bunch of stakes, take a few of them with you for protection, tomorrow you will get real weapons, but that will do you for now.” Sophie watched as they all (with the exception of Laura and Danny) systematically got a stake and left. She then turned to the two remaining souls in the room, “I think that went well, don’t you?”

 When Lindsay arrived at home she ran upstairs to her room. She set her bags down near the entrance and collapsed on her bed. She looked over and noticed she had a new call on her caller ID. She looked closer and saw a number which she did not recognize, out of curiosity she dialed the number.
 The phone rang on the other side at the warehouse. Laura answered it with her usual cheerful attitude, “Hello, how may I help you?” Sophie and Danny gathered around the phone wondering who called.
 Lindsay paused not sure exactly what she wanted to say. “Hello? Uh…you called me before?”
 Laura instantly handed Danny the phone who was somewhat taken aback and hesitated in taking the phone from Laura.
 “Hello?” he asked as he came on.
 “Who is this?” demanded Lindsay, thinking she knew who it was at the other side of the line.
 Realizing that it was Lindsay Danny put on his best professional salesman voice to try to get Lindsay to come down to the warehouse, “OH! HI! This is Danny, I called because I think you should know about what is going on, my friend whom you just finished speaking to has set up a little…base I suppose you would call it for us at this warehouse near Quark’s field. If you are interested then you should come down, and I believe you will be impressed with what we have here.”
 Thinking for a moment Lindsay decided that she would go, “OK…I’ll be down in a few minutes,” she said and hung up the phone.
 “Well that’s gr- hello? She hung up,” he said somewhat disapointed.
 Laura went over to “the wall of blades” as she so lovingly called it and grabbed a katana from the wall.
 “What are you doing?” Asked Danny as she went over by the door.
 “Giving her the same tour I gave you,” Laura responded cooly.
 “Whoa Whoa Whoa…back the weapons convoy up here…she’s not like me she’ll get pissed she’ll strike back I guarantee it,” as he said this he took the blade from her hands which were reluctant at first, but finally relinquished it.
 “Okay…So how does the team look so far Sophie?” Danny asked dejectedly as he looked out the window.
 “I’ve seen better…seen worse too, the real heart of the team seems to be you two.”
 Just then Danny saw Lindsay coming up the trail to the warehouse. “Here she is!” he said excitedly.
 After reaching the door Lindsay, clothed now in jeans and a white shortsleeve shirt, hesitantly knocked, the response to the knock came almost instantly as Laura cheerfully swung the door open, “Welcome to slayer central…”
 Lindsay, still unsure what she was getting herself into peered inside cautiously.
 Her curious eyes were greeted by Danny standing in back of Laura, trying to keep the excitement from his face. “What’s going on here?” She asked, after taking a step inside.
 The door closed behind her and Sophie came from the lab bench she had been sitting at. “As you already know Danny here is a slayer, like you, we figure two slayers working together could be very useful and relieve part the strain from both of you.”
 Lindsay nodded, now looking around and stepping a bit further into the warehouse. She turned abruptly, “So are you telling me, you want both of us to work as a ‘slayer duo?’ And this would be our ‘base’ I am presuming?”
 Laura nodded excitedly “Yes, do you like it, I put most of it together myself?”
 Lindsay nodded slowly, turning around completely looking over the walls and equipment. She stopped the turn when she got to Sophie, “So who are you exactly?”
 “Well I am Danny’s…er…guard basically his tutor, I’ve tutored him for two years, ever since he first learned about his ‘talent.’”
 Lindsay folded her arms in jealousy, she had no one to help her, why is it that he did? Inside Lindsay was overjoyed, she knew that this could mean a few things, for one easier duties, and for two she would not be completely alone in her secret and interest in the gift she was given, but played it cool, she didn’t want to think that she really wanted to be in this group as much as she did.
 “Along with this we are trying to put together a little more of a team, we have a few of Danny’s friends who are greatly interested in this little opertunity,” Sophie continued.
 “How many people are we talking here?” Lindsay asked, arms still folded.
 Sophie thought a moment, “Six, counting Danny and Laura over there”
 “I suppose I am lucky seven, then?”
 Danny’s face could not stay the same and he smiled widely as did the other two.
 Sophie looked out the window, “Twilight…anyone up for a little fun?” asked as she turned back to the three.
 Lindsay turned to the wall of swords, grabbed an excaliber and lead the way out the door. Danny went to the cabinet where he previously put his gear, suited up in a Martyer of seconds and was out the door after her in a flash.
 The two left in the warehouse stood next to each other shaking their heads, “Men…” Laura said as Sophie nodded. They turned and got their blades and stakes and followed after the two.
 Danny caught up to Lindsay quickly "So...where do you usually go to uh...work?"
She looked at him, but did not bother to respond Danny figured perhaps that was a bad question to start out with, "How was it when you first found out you were a slayer?" Again she gave no response, "A bit psersonal," he thought to himself
 They walked in silence the rest of the way to the cemetery, they ended up going to the one that Danny usually went to, the one next to the field. Slowly, Sophie and Laura caught up to the two. They walked by each other in silence the rest of the way to the cemetery. When they reached it the sky had grown black and the bright stars were clearly visible.
 Although Lindsay would not admit it, she was as excited as Danny was, she felt a missing piece had been filled, she was going to go do what she did best with the only other one who could do it as well as she. Lindsay glanced to Laura, who's face was forward, looking around at the tombstones. They all crept further in slowly, as not to literally wake the dead. This was Laura's first actual hunt and she gripped her stake and sword tightly in her hand, her expression masked the intense pounding of her heart that grew harder with each step she took.
 Sophie seemed to be the only cool one out of the bunch, her face was as expressionless as the other three, but unlike them she had no emotions to hide.
She walked through the cemetary, creeping slowly over every grave, eyes constantly darting from side to side.
 A shadowy figure in a tree was first caught by Laura's eyes. She poked Danny, who was directly in front of her. She pointed her delicate finger up, Danny looked up, then back down at her hand, she was beginning to shake. Danny grabbed her hand and with the other hand made a motion as to tell her to be calm. He repeated the motion to the other three and reached for the gun in his thigh holster.
 Slowly he raised the gun to the shadowy figure, he fired a shot, the creature fell to the ground and was quickly covered by the blades of the other three, it had nowhere to go. A burn from the holy water could be seen on its forehead, Danny had apparently gotten a direct shot.
 While the others had their blades merely guarding themselves from the vampire Lindsay ruthlessly slashed at the head with such force that it was severed in a single slash. She lit a match which she had gotten from her pocket and dropped it on the body which erupted into flames.
 Sophie said in a whisper, "Did the rest of you see that? No hesitation," she looked to Danny, "...you should've ended him..." Sophie continued to walk on, Lindsay trailing shortly behind her, Danny paused a moment, a bit disgruntled, then followed, with Laura close by his side.
             As they were walking Laura's hand brushed Danny's, he looked at her, smiled gently then looked forward again. When it happened Laura silently gasped a bit. Laura took a minute to think, of things other than vampires and weapons for the moment. She daydreamed about the two of them...together so close that nothing could pull them apart.
The daydream was interrupted by someone grabbing her from behind. Danny turned, and gathered up all his strength into his punch which sent the beast to the ground, his automatically pounced on it, and staked it. Lindsay and Sophie doubled back. Sophie looked at the body, nodded to Danny and turned around to head on her way, Lindsay still following her every move.
"You all right?" He asked as he helped Laura up from her fall which was a result of the commotion.
 She brushed herself off, "I'm fine, thank you."
            They kept walking, constantly creating space between them and the other two.
After twenty minutes of walking, and no vampire surprises the two relaxed and began talking, a whisper which slowly grew to ordinary audio level. The conversation got around to school which ended up getting into relationships and finally their own personal experiences.
 "So have you dated anyone in high school?" Danny asked
 Laura shook her head, "I never have...you saw me in your Portuguese class it was nearly impossible for me to form words."
 "But you came up to me at lunch with no problem."
 She giggled slightly, "That's what you think, it took me quite a while to come to talk to you, the whole year up until that point, as a Martyer of fact."
 Danny was taken aback, she seemed to comfortable around him, “So was there anyone that you've liked in high school?"
 Laura blushed red, "Yes there was one guy...but I don't know...Well maybe you can understand...You ever find someone that you know is for you, and that the closer you get the more the feeling of love grows?" Danny looked at her, her hazel eyes twinkling in the light of the full moon. She continued, "well that's how I felt for this one guy...as a in  fact I still feel like that for him...its just...hard ya know?"
 Danny stopped walking and smiled, "I wish I knew...I wish I knew what you felt, being able to be close enough to someone to feel like that, but the only person I've even remotely had that feeling for...refuses to coexist with me," he looked down to Lindsay who was nearly out of sight .
 "But based on what you said, I think you should let that guy know, you never ever know, he may just feel exactly the same way you do."
 Their eyes met, they looked at each other, Danny with pity, Laura with hope, with joy, with...love. The moment was interrupted by Danny's sigh and look to Lindsay who was growing further away from him. They continued walking trying to catch up after the other two...

 The next day was a memorial day, and they all had the day off from school so Sophie called a meeting of the slayer team. They met early that Saturday morning. Everyone with the exception of those who went on the graveyard hunt the night before were visibly tired. Sophie paced the row of chairs slowly.  She had gotten there before everyone else and set up a dummy for the rest to practice on.
 They were given a short run-through of the events for the day, all of them were to start practicing with the dummy then each other, Laura was to lead the training.
 Danny and Lindsay were to be taken to another part of the warehouse and be trained solely by Sophie. Sophie was very interested in Lindsay, she saw in him something she did not see in Danny, a ferocity that Danny did not possess.
 "Come at me," Sophie said to Lindsay once they had gotten to the area in the back of the warehouse.
  Lindsay lunged at her with no hesitation every kick and every punch was blocked by Sophie with little effort. Sophie remained on the defensive not making an attempt to strike back, but merely stopping Lindsay's blows.  Lindsay realized her strategy and jumped up on a pipe that was above the two of them. She used her weight to spin herself around the bar once and on the second revolution tried for a kick at Sophie's midsection. Her feet were abruptly caught and she was taken down by Sophie. Sophie rushed for her, and landed her knee upon Lindsay's neck pinning her down.
 "Don't telegraph your moves so much, I saw the pipe thing coming from a mile away."
 Lindsay nodded while gasping for air. Sophie got off of her. Lindsay slowly got up and went back to where Danny was standing, he abruptly took his fighting stance, he knew he was next.
 He had sparred with Sophie many a time before and he knew her style as well as she knew his.  Danny started off with a shot to the head, which Sophie ducked and attempted to counter with a sweepkick. Danny jumped at the move and brought his elbow down on Sophie's head, but she quickly rolled out of the way. Sophie quickly got back on her feet, she ran at Danny and jumped in the air, trying to kick him in the midsection.
 Danny had countered this move many times before and grabbed sophie's leg bringing her down. He followed up with an elbow to the midsection which he landed on Sophie. Danny quickly got up, doing a roll like Sophie had done a moment before, the battle had already outlasted Lindsay's. Danny got to his feet, he was abruptly kicked in the area behind the knee. Lindsay had gotten him to his knees, she grabbed his hair and raised her hand to strike him.  She brought it down, Danny caught the fist, and breathed in a deep breath, with his free hand he grabbed the arm that was grabbing his hair.
 He got to his feet and twisted the arms so that Lindsay's back was pressed up against him. He whispered into her ear, "nice try." She struggled and he finnaly let her go. Applause could be heard on the other end of the warehouse The Rest of the recruits had been watching the intense fight. After the clapping had died down only one pair of hands remained clapping, Sophie's.
”I am impressed, good technique, creativity, and each of you were ready for anything. I think there may be hope for this group yet.”
 The recruits turned back to the dummy and began fighting it. Laura, however, continued to stare at the three. She glared at Lindsay, and Lindsay caught her eyes. They stood for a moment looking fiercely at each other.
 Laura turned away and back to the dummy. ”Good you guys take a break, there's water and snapple in the fridge to your left"  Laura said as she made her way to Sophie.
 "So how are the others doing?" Sophie asked.
 "They're coming along, slowly, but I think it will be a while before they are ready for the field," Laura responded
 "Is that right?" asked Sophie, "well, tell them they're goin out tonight."
 Laura looked at Sophie with a look of question and objection, “But I just said they aren’t even close to being ready.”
 “Are you questioning my descisions? I’ve been fighting these things for longer than you’ve been alive, hunny.”
 Laura stomped furiously away. Danny followed after her. “Hey don’t worry about what Sophie says she really does know what she’s doing though, given you don’t know her well, but try to trust her.”
 “If anything happens out there the blame is going to be on her, I hope she realizes that, and if something does happen to her, I will have some stuff to say to her and believe you me it won’t be pleasant. I’m giving you a fair warning now.”
 “Okay, but don’t worry about it.”
 
 That night they went to Lindsay’s usually prowling grounds which was a mile in the opposite direction from Quark’s field. They were each carrying weapons which best suited them. Danny had his usual gear on. Marty had gotten the original 20 inch sword that he was given the day before as did Jay. Along with that Marty had two ashwood stakes in the back waistband of his jogging shorts. He had gotten a USP P8 gun with two different clips one with each type of ammo. Jay had gotten a small caliber water gun, which he felt was sufficient along with five stakes which he kept in the backpack he had brought. Tony had brought a pump action shotgun and two daggers which were concealed in his shoes, along with this he had a single stake which he kept at his side where a holster would normally be. Laura had brought a crossbow with her, she had some extra bolts in a small bag at her left side. She also had brought two stakes and a tomb raider style gun with only holy water ammo. She enjoyed the katana and got one very similar to Danny’s with the exception of the hilt, Danny’s had black cloth hers had baby blue. Stephanie, wanting to be simple brought a single dagger and stake.
 Lindsay brought only a single stake, and a crossbow, that was all she felt she needed and thoight that anything more would wear her down. Sophie went to the graveyard completely unarmed, she knew that she would be in no danger and her skills would save her if need be.
 The mile walk was walked in complete silence not a single word was uttered among the eight of them. Laura and Danny walked together, they seemed to be getting closer every day, or at least Laura felt so. Danny, on the other hand, did not realize the connection he had with this girl and how alike and compatible they were. He was too blinded by love, the kind of love only a fool has, a fool who wants that which he can not have.

 They entered the graveyard, Lindsay leading the way, for she knew the terrain and where the path lead. She walked the path from the main entrence around the winding graves, slowly she stepped, ever so slowly, the rest followed noiselessly. Stephanie breathed out hard, she had been holding her breath since they had first stepped foot in the grave yard, and only now realized it. Lindsay’s deep blue eyes scanned the darkness and her keen ears waited and listened for any sign of trouble, hearing no immediate danger her pace quickened and she stepped normally, a bit less cautious.
Laura looked around, her hand constantly on the hilt of her katana. Danny stayed alongside her and kept a watchful eye out for her, he knew she was one of the best trained of the bunch, but nonetheless had a bad feeling about this adventure. They kept walking slowly, ever so slowly. The pace and pressure was enough to make one go mad. A fog began to creep slowly in. A shiver ran down Jay’s spine. Tony and Marty stuck close together. Tony kept his shotgun out and Marty kept his sword poised and ready to strike.
 The group was very close together and eyes were on all sides watching, waiting. A rumble could be heard, but by Lindsay’s ears only. She put out her hand and the group sopped. She put her head to the ground. She stayed on the ground for a moment, three graves down from her point the earth could be seen moving, fresh dirt being displaced under the level ground. Lindsay quietly rushed to the grave, stake in hand.
 “No,” Sophie whispered, but loud enough for all to hear. Let the recruits handle it.
 Lindsay reluctantly backed off. Stephanie, Tony, Jay, and Marty surrounded the grave. Marty and Jay kept their swords poised to strike, Tony had his shotgun pointed at the ground. Stephanie put a death grip on the stake she was holding and nervously swayed from side to side around the grave. Laura Sophie Lindsay and Danny stood 20 feet away ready to back them up. Laura had her now unsheathed katana in her hand, Danny had his sig sauers pointed at the group, and Lindsay had her loaded crossbow in hand.
 The earth grumbled, it was loud enough to be audible to the group standing around the grave. A drop of sweat fell from the tip of Jay’s nose and onto the damp ground. A hand poked out of the ground, each person shifted nervously.
 “Wait,” Sophie said to them.
 The moment seemed interminable but the hand reached up, then a second appeared slowly a head and shoulders were now visible.
 “Whenever you wish…” Sophie said.
 Jay’s eyes grew wide, he backed off slowly and the rest followed his lead. The body climbed out and got to its feet, and got its orientation. After a moment a bloodlust plagued him and he went after the first person he saw, which was Stephanie. He jumped at her, it seemed to her that he flew. She let out a bloodcurdling scream. She held out the stake, but it was quickly knocked away in the confusion. She had to rely on the others to save her life.
 Jay and Marty slashed at the vampire at the same exact time, they hit only its back, this did not deter him from his job. The vampire began to go for Stephanie’s open neck. An arrow came from the left, it was Lindsay’s it went through the beast’s head, this made him look left but did not destroy him. He got up, scratching Stephanie’s face as he did. Tony did not hesitate and fired a shot at the vampire, it missed and hit a gravestone making a ricochet sound as it hit. Lindsay braced herself, she was taken down to the ground, but used her weight to counter and kick the vampire off as she went down with it.
 It quickly regained it balance and went for her, she ducked, the creature ended up tackling Tony who had been running after it. He was pinned on the ground, he kneed the male vampire in the crotch, no effect. He reached up and punched it with such force as to knock out a tooth. Danny, holstered his weapons, went over to the vampire and threw it off his friend. Stephanie was now on the ground squirming in pain.
 The vampire landed close to where Jay and Marty were standing. They each jumped on it, slashing at the neck with the swords, instantly severing the head.
 “Burn it,” called Lindsay as she threw a lighter at them. Marty who caught it, and lit it, then bent down and set the body aflame.
 Danny ran to Stephanie who was still on the ground. He took a look at her scratches, they were all superficial, but still very painful. She had four marks on her face, it looked like she was clawed by a large cat. He helped her to a sitting position and she kept sobbing on the ground. The tree that they were under shook slightly, he knew what lurked up there, but didn’t say anything not wanting to alarm Stephanie any more. He quickly and quietly helped her to her feet and to where Sophie Laura and Lindsay were standing, her loud sobbing could be heard by all in the group.
 Laura sympathized and hugged Stephanie warmly, trying to comfort her. As Danny brought her over he made an eye motion to Laura trying to alert her of the danger in the tree. Laura, with her arm still around Stephanie turned and walked, set on a course for the exit of the graveyard and Stephanie’s home, she gave one last glare to Sophie before leaving.
 Lindsay looked and Danny, he made the same motion to her as he did to Laura, she nodded knowingly, and began to reload her crossbow. Throughout the whole thing Sophie stood with her arms crossed, not making a single motion, it seemed she wasn’t even breathing. Tony had wandered under the tree, soon after the danger lurking above jumped down on Tony and began ripping and clawing at his back, Tony was quickly knocked unconscious. Marty ran over, sword in hand and sliced at the face of the vampire, leaving only a cut that healed almost instantly. The vampire leaped from the back of Tony to Marty. Jay ran and went to tackle the vampire down, but slipped on a wet patch of grass. He got up and ran at the vampire, sword in the air, the vampire reached out and knocked him out with one punch.
 Lindsay and Danny both shook their heads. Danny unsheathed his katana and ran after the vampire he ran it through from the side. He forced the vampire off Marty and held it in place. Marty abruptly got up and stabbed the creature repeatedly in the heart with a stake, even after it had been killed. The body went limp after the first stab and Danny removed his sword from the now twice dead body, Marty followed it to the ground and continued to stab in a fit of rage, which was so strong that Danny had to actually pull him off the body to stop.
 Seeing that the whole crew had been more or less beaten senseless Danny said, “I think its time we-“ He was interrupted by a scream that was in the area of the graveyard where Laura and Stephanie had headed.
 Danny, Lindsay, and Marty ran for the scream with no hesitation, they all jumped over various gravestones, as he tried to jump over one Marty got his leg caught and fell behind. Danny and Lindsay left him knowing that a more immediate danger was at hand.
Upon reaching the source of the screaming they found Laura fighting off four vampires with her katana and two bodies lying face down in the dirt, Stephanie however was nowhere to be found.
 Danny and Lindsay each pulled out their stakes and began fighting the vampires that were closing in on Laura. Lindsay punched one and got its attention, it tried to slash at her midsection, but she abruptly dodged and punched it again in the face. She gave the vampire a back hand punch and staked it when it was taking the hit.
Danny had slashed at his vampire's legs, and kicked it, the legs were now completely separated from the body as he was able to kick it before the vampire was able to heal. He spun around, his katana outward and cut off the head of the vamp. "Ya mind?" he asked Lindsay. She got out her lighter and ignited the body
 Laura jumped up and did a split kick to her two vampires, on the way down she got out her two stakes. She landed still in the split position and stabbed both vampires while being on the ground they both fell and hit the ground at the same time.
 Laura got up completely out of breath, "Stephanie...one of them took Stephanie and the others jumped me. I'm so sorry," she panted.
 "Shit happens," Lindsay said as she averted her gaze to see three more vampires coming toward them
 "Not again," Danny sighed as he got in his fighting stance.
 Marty jumped out from behind a gravestone, he took one quick, but powerful slash with his sword and the heads of the three vamps all fell to the ground, the bodies fell on top of each other. He spat at the the creatures’ lifeless bodies.
   Danny turned to Lindsay, "Yeah I got it," she said as she bent down and set the bodies aflame.
 Emotion and regret overcame her and Laura collapsed in tears, she knew she had failed at her only job.
 Danny shifted his gaze from the burning mass to Laura. He made his way to her, and kneeled next to her, “hey, you tried your best, we’ll get her back.”
 Laura kept sobbing uncontrollably, Lindsay looking to her rolled her eyes and said, “c’mon lets get out of here we gotta figure some things out.” Just then Sophie, bringing the unconscious Tony and Jay came walking up to them, with one boy on each shoulder, carrying them as if they were newly killed deer.
 “What happened here?” Sophie asked as she looked at Danny and Laura who were still on the ground.
 Danny got up and faced Sophie, “She was attacked and they took Stephanie we don’t know where she is…”
 “Or even if she’s alive,” Lindsay interjected.
 The comment caused Laura’s cries to grow louder. Danny helped Laura up and they all headed back to “slayer central.” On the way Lindsay thought about the events of the evening and noticed that there was a considerable amount of vampiric activity for any day. They had encountered a total of nine vampires, and usually she herself was lucky to see even one.
 Danny was in deep thought the whole way home and was fearful for the physical condition of Stephanie, along with these thoughts he wondered how he was supposed to rescue stephanie. Another throught that rang in his head was the condition of the team in general, he personally thought at least one member would quit, he thought Jay would be the most likely to do so.

 The next morning Lindsay’s alarm went off as usual, she put on her jogging outfit, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. After grabbing the stakes and heading downstairs she flung the door open and looked outside into the cool morning mist. She breathed in deep and began to stretch. She loved the coolness, and the jog in general it made all her cares disappear she could jog for hours she thought to herself as Danny came out from inside his house. He looked at her momentarily then headed in his usual direction. She set off after him and after a few moments managed to catch up.
 “Hi,” she said politely.
 Danny, taken aback by the greeting stammered out a response, “uh…hi.”
 “How far do you usually go?”
 “About two miles or so then head home, four in all,” came his reply as he dodged a tree that came between them.
 She looked at him, his straight black hair waving in the wind with every step he took. He was taller than she, but just by a few inches, he himself, however was short standing at a mere 5’4.
 He looked back at her, noticing she was staring she looked down and tried to continue the conversation, “So how long have you known Laura…?” she asked casually.
 “Not long, only about a week, but she was in my Portuguese class, but we didn’t talk then.”
 “Oh, you two seem like you’ve known each other all you’re lives.”
 “Yeah she’s a great person, she’s into the same stuff I am,” he replied, nearly forgetting who he was taking to, he was beginning to feel more comfortable.
 Lindsay looked at him once again, then turned her gaze back to the ground wondering if he had feelings for this girl now, she knew not why she cared, and what confused her even more was why she had been talking to him, why she cared what he thought and why he thought it. Thinking more about the matter she decided that for some reason unknown to her she didn’t want him to want anyone but her…
 He turned his crystal blue eyes to the side and looked at her, he could tell by her glazed over eyes that she was deep in thought, but what was she thinking about he wondered. Was she thinking about him? It couldn’t be, she detested him and he knew so.
 She turned her eyes to meet his and they jogged together, without either of them knowing it they began to jog in step. Danny averted his eyes only to see a tree rushing up to him, he slammed into it so hard that he feel upon the cold cement.
 Lindsay bent down and stretched out a hand to help him up, he grabbed her hand and got up very much embarrassed. Lindsay pulled and he sprang to his feet, when he regained his balance his face was an inch away from hers. Their eyes again met, they stared a long deep stare into each other. Danny swallowed hard his heartbeat quickening with each passing second.
 Lindsay looked at him, looked at his straight black hair those crystal eyes that matched hers, continuing her previous thought thinking, “Because…I want him.”
 They stayed in the position a moment longer both unsure of what to do, he knew not to take the initiative for what if he was wrong he could completely ruin any friendship relationship that may have been developing. He turned away and began to jog, she followed in silence. The awkward moment would be burned into both their memories.

 After arriving home Danny finished his morning routine and ate breakfast then headed off for school. That morning Sophie picked him up in front of his house. He sat in the front seat next to her and buckled his belt. He looked at Sophie as she put the car in drive and drove a few feet to Lindsay’s house. Danny looked questioningly at the house and at sophie. Lindsay emerged from the house and sat in the back seat.
 “Hey guys,” She said pleasantly.
 “Hey,” Both Danny and Sophie responded.
 “She must really be a morning person,” Danny thought to himself.
 Lindsay looked from Danny to the road wondering what had suddenly attracted her to him. She decided finally that it was the way they could relate. On the surface they were different people with different pasts and different histories, but underneath it all they lived the same life they had to live with the same responsibility and secret. If they were to be together no secrets needed to be kept it would be so…simple.

…TO BE CONTINUED…

-Copyright Daniel Fyre 2003