When Synnove went down under the vampire, she feared for her life. She was unusual for a Slayer, in that her strengths didn't lie in . . . strength. She relied on her uncanny sense of the dead to do her job, catching the vampires unawares. Tonight, one had caught her instead.

Pinned beneath the vampire, Synnove thought about her family who wouldn't be seeing her again. She wondered if her Watcher would tell them how she'd died. Fighting for her life, she knew she wasn't getting out of this one. Feeling a tear roll down her face, she feared not dying, but giving up. She couldn't give up, even when she knew there was nothing else left to do.

Suddenly the vampire was no longer on her, pulled away by two pairs of strong hands. Laying dazed where she had landed, she watched as the vampire flew back from her, growling as he was thrown. He scrambled to his feet and rushed towards her again. One of Synnove's rescuers came between them, a small blond girl. For a moment Synnove feared for the girl's safety, but the girl surprised her. A moment before she would have been knocked to the ground, she let loose with a high kick that met squarely with the vampire's chin. The vampire staggered backwards, and the other rescuer, a tall man, hit him from the side. Unlike how the vampire would have reacted when faced with two normal humans, it staggered under the blows, then fell under their joint attack. As Synnove's mind cleared from the initial shock of her fall and certain death, she watched her rescuers work together, quickly, cleanly, and without words, defeating a vampire that had her easily beaten only moments before. As the vampire went down, the dark man tossed the blond girl a stake, and then the vampire was dust.

Synnove lay where she had fallen, surprised to be alive. The blond girl approached, smiling slightly, and held out a hand to help her up. "You alright?" she asked gently.

"Yeah," said Synnove, standing and dusting herself off. Her clothes were a mess. "Thanks for your help." There was something about this girl that tickled her senses, something familiar. "Who are you?"

"I'm Buffy," she said simply. Then she gestured to the man behind her. "And this is Angel."

The dark man held out his hand for Synnove to shake. He didn't look much older than the girl, or Synnove herself, and he was quite nice to look at now that the situation was calmer. She touched her hand to his own . . . and jumped back in shock. It was cold, the cold of death. The man was dead, undead . . . a vampire. Synnove stared at her rescuers in horror.

Then, a second shock, as Buffy finished what she'd been saying. "The Watchers Council sent us."

Synnove was having trouble grasping the situation, and she knew it. She just couldn't get past the fact that she'd just shaken hands with a vampire, one she hadn't sensed . . . one who'd rescue her. She could only stare at them, dumbfounded.

The strange girl smiled, reassuringly with more than a hint of humor. "We come in peace," she quoted. "Take us to your Watcher."

Buffy could guess what was wrong. "Could you give us a second?" she said to Angel, who hung back a ways. Though Buffy was pretty sure he could still hear what they were saying, she knew it would make Synnove feel better. "Listen," she said softly. "You don't have to trust us yet - a bit of suspicion is good for you - but don't get stake happy."

"But . . . he's-" Synnove stared at the older Slayer in shock.

"A vampire. I know," she said. "So does the Council."

"Then why . . . ?"

Buffy tried another approach. "I've been told you're pretty incredible when it comes to sensing vampires and such," she said.

"Yes," Synnove acknowledged reluctantly.

"Did you sense Angel?"

The younger Slayer looked at her in shock, "Obviously!" she replied testily.

Buffy shook her head. "No, I mean before you really saw him, before you shook his hand."

Synnove looked at her curiously, then seemed to think for a moment. "No, I guess I didn't."

Nodding, Buffy switched her questioning slightly, hoping that keeping the younger Slayer confused would get her to answer the most truthfully, without thinking. One thing that had changed about Buffy in 100 years was how she dealt with people. "This sense that you have of people, can you tell other things about them?"

"Yes," Synnove replied quickly.

"Like what?" Buffy asked, hoping for a certain response.

The young Slayer obliged. "Special things, powers . . . and more general things. I can usually tell if someone's lying, or if I can trust them . . . ." Her voice faded out, and she looked preoccupied.

Buffy looked at her closely and stopped walking. Synnove stopped next to her in surprise. "All the rest of that . . . what does that tell you about us?" When Synnove said nothing, Buffy continued. "I mean, ignoring the fact that Angel's a vampire . . . does that sense tell you that you can trust us?"

Reluctantly and very slightly, Synnove nodded. "It does," she said. After a moment of silence during which she studied Buffy, she said, "There's something else about you. What are you?"

Buffy knew that Synnove would know by the end of the evening anyway, so she said smoothly, "Immortal. Aside from that I'm as human as you are." With that she began walking again.

Synnove was taken by surprise for a moment, then sped her steps to catch up. "No! There's something else, something familiar. . . . And you fight vampires like you're as strong as they are!"

"Like she said, she's just like you are." Angel walked up to join them again.

Buffy smiled and held out her hand to him. He took it and walked besides her. She then looked at Synnove again. "I'm a Slayer," she said.

"Another Slayer?!" Synnove asked in surprise. "But what about that whole 'only one' thing?"

"Long story," Buffy said with a smile. "There's two."

Synnove looked past Buffy at Angel, confusion still clear on her face. "And you?" she said. "What makes you different from other vampires? Why should I trust you?"

"Another long story," Angel said. Then, simply, "I have a soul."

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Buffy could see that Synnove was preoccupied, thinking. Every once in a while she would glance at her rescuers as she continued to lead them down Sunnydale's nighttime streets. This was a residential area, just as it had been 100 years ago, though old homes had made room for the new. Giles had lived near here.

Synnove led them to the door of one of the more modern homes and banged on the door. "Landon!" she called. "Open up!"

They waited for a long quiet moment outside the door until movement inside became audible. The door opened quickly, and a relatively young man stood on the other side. "Synnove!" he said in surprise. "What are you doing here? What happened?"

Synnove brushed absentmindedly at her disheveled clothing. "I was attacked by a vampire," she said. Then, as he was about to reply, she added quickly, "I was rescued." The Watcher gave Buffy and Angel an odd look, as if trying to find out everything about them without asking any questions. As the Watcher continued to look at them silently, she said impatiently, "May we . . .?"

The Watcher looked flustered and stood aside. "Of course. Come in."

Buffy smiled as they entered, closing the door behind them. Synnove, on the other hand, got a suddenly angry look on her face. "Landon!" she yelled. "How could you?"

Angel smiled. "Don't worry. He can uninvite me later, if necessary."

Landon looked confused. "I'm sorry?" he said.

Chuckling, Buffy spoke to the Watcher. "Never say 'come in' on the Hellmouth," she said. "I'm Buffy Summers. The Council sent me."

Landon looked at her, then glanced at Angel for a moment, then said, "This is most unusual, Ms. . . . Summers."

"Buffy. William Rutherford came from London with us. I really ought to call him . . . . He can vouch for us."

"Yes, perhaps that . . . ." Landon stopped talking, looking at her closely. "Buffy Summers? That name sounds familiar."

"She's a Slayer," Synnove said testily.

"Another vampire Slayer!?"

"That's what I said."

Buffy couldn't help but smile. "That's what I am. Buffy Summers, Slayer, Sunnydale High Class of 1999."

The Watcher moved quickly, riffling through bookshelves. He flipped through a couple of old books, quickly putting them aside. As he did so, he spoke again, glancing at Angel. "And you are . . . sir?"

"Angel," he replied simply, before adding, "or Angelus, in your older records."

"Older?"

"Around 300 years ago."

Synnove felt the need to speak up again. "He's a vampire."

"Yes, I . . . had guessed as much."

Reluctantly, Synnove told what else she could. "We can trust them," she said.

Nodding, Landon pulled a book off a shelf. After flipping through it for a moment, he replied, "Yes, I believe we can."

It was one of Giles's journals, Buffy recognized. She saw, slipped between two of the pages, a photograph of herself, Giles, and the 'Slayerettes.' The picture was odd, in that Angel was in it as well, and Buffy had no clue when it was taken nor who had taken it. Landon handed her the journal. It was clearly the last such book Giles had kept, for its end entries only mentioned Buffy in passing, and in past tense.

"Why are you here?" the Watcher finally asked.

"Landon," Buffy began to explain, "as good a Slayer as Synnove is, sometimes something more is necessary." Grimly, Buffy removed her sword from under her coat. "You have an unusual vampire problem," she said, "and I'm an unusual solution."

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