Slayers: Academy Years

Liz shivered again as she felt something run up her leg. At first she’d thought it was Brennon’s foot… but after several moments, and the type of movement, she’d figured out that it was the woman’s tail. She was sitting there, talking amiably with a demon… hell, not just amiably, she was happily chatting… and letting that demon’s tail feel her up. What Liz wondered was when Brennon had ended up sitting so close to her. Four beer bottles were sitting on the table, only one of them hers, and it only half finished. She couldn’t even claim intoxication, her Slayer metabolism was too high for half a beer to affect her like that. Blushing, she took another sip, trying not to smile as the tail curled around her leg just above her knee.

“And so I threw him down at the feet of a warlock that worked for Daddy, and said that if he didn’t want me to royally kick his ass, he’d let the damned ass suck enough of the black out of him that he wouldn’t retain an addiction.” Brennon chuckled, shaking her head. “He’s been careful with his magicks ever since, but sometimes I wonder how much black he uses when I’m not around.”

“I didn’t know you could have a warlock suck enough black magic out of someone to cure their addiction.” Liz was certainly surprised about that, and looked in all seriousness at the half-demon.

“Oh, not to cure, no. Curing… that I dunno if it’s possible. But if they’re not yet, well…” Brennon shrugged, leaning back with her head tilted onto the booth back, looking at Liz. “It’s like with a drug. Some people don’t become addicted right away, and if you catch them early enough, you can try to draw it out of their system, or treat it. Similar thing. It’s not safe though. Ya don’t know or control the warlock, when they get that boost of power… holy hell but they can near drain the person unconscious, and the power boost is dangerous to deal with.”

“Oh…” Liz sighed and squirmed a little again, trying to ignore the feel of Brennon’s tail wrapped around her leg above her knee. As disconcerting as it was that a demon tail was on her, other than that it felt almost… comforting.

“So… did you always want to become a Slayer?” Brennon casually lifted a strand of the girl’s hair, then let it drop.

“I… I don’t know.” Liz sounded shocked at the question, and at her answer. “I guess. I was identified as a Potential when I was very young. Being a Slayer was kind of expected.”

“I know for a fact that not all girls with the Slayer powers become Slayers. You can’t tell me that the family of the people that came up with the policy that allows that, forced you to become a Slayer. That kind of life, and danger?” Brennon turned toward her again, raising her eyebrows.

“I wasn’t forced. I just… I could have been something else. But… I grew up listening to stories about the great Buffy and Willow. All of my bedtime stories as a kid were of them fighting off the badguys. I don’t think there’s one Prime group legend that I haven’t heard a hundred times over. I never really dreamed of being anything else. When I was Called at puberty, and they asked me… of course I said yes. I was a kid, I didn’t know what I wanted. Now… I don’t know what else I could be.” Liz’s voice became a little bitter there. “It’s a hard path to take. With who I am, I’m always being compared to Buffy or Willow.”

“Nothing you would have done if you hadn’t talent or been Called?” Brennon pressed, still curious and gently playing the tips of her fingers through a few strands of Liz’s hair.

The Slayer’s mouth twisted in thought, and she finally smiled. “I don’t know. I probably would have been an artist. I actually do pretty good work with charcoal, chalk, and pen.”

“I’d love to see some of your work.” Liz turned abruptly toward Brennon, startled, and was even more surprised to feel that the woman was telling the truth. She didn’t even register that Brennon’s lips were lightly brushing hers until she’d begun to respond.

A loud clearing of someone’s throat brought them apart, and Liz jerked to stare in the direction it had come from. There was Mary, staring at her, and there was Kevin, looking both apologetic and smug somehow. “You… She kissed you.” Liz turned bright red, her color deepening further as she felt Brennon’s tail slowly slide off of her. “And you let her. You kissed her back.”

When Kevin leaned forward and whispered in Mary’s ear just loud enough for Brennon’s enhanced hearing and Liz’s Slayer hearing to catch it, Brennon’s eyes narrowed. “Looks like I won our bet.”

“Mary, it’s not what it looks like.” Liz slid out of the booth, eyes wide with horror that they’d been caught. What the hell had she thought she was doing anyway? “She’s really not… It’s not like that.”

“You kissed her back.” Mary’s voice actually squeaked, her eyes wide. “And… You have to tell the Watchers what happened tonight. This… You can’t just think… and…”

“It’s really not like that. Please Mary, you can’t tell the Watchers about tonight…” Liz’s eyes were wide and pleading. “Please…”

“I can’t.” Mary growled, glaring at her and stomping a foot. “So you have to. The Watchers said that…”

“That not all demons are evil. Look around Mary. What kind of demons do you see?” Mary looked around, glowering as she took in the crowd. Even the vampires had left by now, leaving only demons she couldn’t recognize, and peaceful species that she’d been trained not to engage unless they attacked for some reason. “Please Mary… you can’t just… It’s not like that.”

“Come on, girl. Let’s just go play another round. Talon will be done in a few.” Kevin smirked.

“No… No you have to take us home now.” Liz turned and stared at Brennon, her cheeks gaining color again as soon as she saw her. The half-demon looked anything but happy and smug though. She was glaring at Kevin as if she couldn’t believe him.

“Liz…”

“Take us home.”

~

Liz looked down at the jacket as she laid it once more across her window. Whatever Kevin had done to it before they’d gotten out of the car, it felt different to her senses. She had a feeling that he’d prevented them from tracking Brennon and he via the jacket. Glaring at the door, then at the window, she flopped into the bed.

The next morning had Liz waking to the same call from Diana that always roused them. The yelling made her actually roll out of the bed into a fighting crouch. Peaking out into the common area, yawning, she nearly fell to her face. The Head Watcher was standing there with Victor. “Morning report Summers.” Scrambling, Liz ran to get the jacket, combing back her hair with her fingers.

“Good evening ladies. I’m glad to see that the four of you are… erm… fully awake so early.” The woman smirked softly behind her hand at the fact that, other than Diana, the girls were in mussed sleepwear. “I would first like to congratulate you on your conduct last night. The agent from the Initiative responsible for blowing cover is currently on suspension, you’ll be happy to note.” The woman paused, watching Liz to see if she had any reaction to her now-ex-boyfriend’s predicament. “Now, please give a full report before any further congratulations and celebration commence. I would like to hear this with my own ears.”

“Em…” Diana waited a moment to see if Liz was going to take the reigns from her, and smiled when she didn’t. “Intel suggested the location of a meeting between Talon and another person at this location. Our team was assigned for a recon mission. Under the guise of two witches there to meet an employer,” here Diana gestured the two of them, and then to the others, “and the others in hiding. Brennon Talon entered the bar accompanied by her ally and brother, Kevin Smith. There she met a notorious vampire assassin. We had only just begun listening to the conversation, Liz mentioned them talking about ballet, when the Initiative soldier approached. Brian began arguing with Liz about her breaking up with him… when he bent forward to retrieve the bracelet he had gifted her, the wiring in his earpiece crossed with the spells on her ring. That alerted several demons, and when he jerked in response to the screech in his ear, it fell out and alerted others. When Initiative was cried, Talon made to move and escape, so I called ours to advance as well.”

“Were you not instructed not to engage Talon?” The woman asked, smirking still but raising her eyebrows.

“To follow, not to engage. If we could track Talon as she retreated, we could have then reported her whereabouts.” Diana defended, not even hesitating. Then she smiled back. “It created more havoc in the bar to have Slayers appear, but we left the Initiative to handle it as one of their own had created this mess. After breaking through the door that her mage had barred after them, we split in twain down the two directions possible. Kelleigh and I stayed together to the two dead ends we found, then moved back along where the others had gone. We found Mary shouting that she had hit a dead end and was trying to find Liz.”

The woman held up her hand there and turned to Liz for her part of the story. She blushed again, clutching the jacket. “I… um… it really wasn’t all that impressive. I… I split with Mary because we reached another fork. I happened to be following the right one. Talon was… um… about to jump a fence to get back to the street when I found her. We circled a bit and traded barbs… I told her to just give up and surrender herself… and then Mary started shouting. I barely turned my head to shout where I was, and she disappeared. They arrived a moment after, and we found her jacket hanging, left behind.” Liz shrugged, trying not to stutter nervously.

“I would say that she hadn’t thought a single Slayer not worth the time to kill… but that she left you her jacket?” The woman frowned, still smiling and shook her head. “Something about you impressed her. I’d expect no less from the great-grandchild of the two Legends. I’d like to place you in charge of this Slayer unit…”

“Oh no, Miss Pryce, please. I’m… I can’t. Even all of my examinations show that I’m not good at leading a team.” She pleaded, seeing Diana tense up. “I’m either better being led, or working alone. Diana… she’s the best team leader we could ask for.”

The woman looked surprised, and glanced Diana up and down, as if just now noticing her. “Alright… if that’s what you believe. But you have full authority to separate from your unit when needed. If you’ve an instinct, when dealing with Talon, that you need to go somewhere else, or check something, you do it. You can call for backup if it’s needed… but something about you, girl, is what kept you alive. Something told you where to look.” She paused then gestured the jacket, readying to leave. “Have your unit’s magics look at that. I doubt it’s able to track to her if she left it behind, but we can’t risk not checking.”

They all watched as the woman left, Victor staring at them too-proudly. “Liz… thanks… for um…”

“Diana, we all know you’re ten times the leader I’ll ever be.” Liz smiled, her nerves screaming, and turned slightly. “I… um… I’m bushed. Didn’t sleep much last night. Mind if we, yanno… do this later?”

“Oh, understandable. Geese, and the whole Brian thing too.” Diana said with an understanding smile, still proud that Liz hadn’t tried to take her leadership away. Behind her, Mary was looking at her like she was completely unbelievable. “We could all use more sleep after last night. How bout we meet up around mid-afternoon and get that jacket looked at?” Liz only nodded, moving into her room and quickly closing the door behind her. Heart racing, she let out a long breath and tried not to groan. What the hell was she supposed to do now? Logically speaking, she should have sounded the alarm as soon as she’d realized Brennon had snuck into her bedroom. Even at that, she should be telling them what happened the previous night. Instead she was covering. Whimpering slightly at her predicament, she fell onto the bed for more sleep, tossing the jacket onto a nearby chair.

TBC