What Could Be Lurking In The Corner

[whole_bloody_business]

Something's killing the students. Again.

Cara didn't ask to be stationed right on top of the Hellmouth. She certainly didn't ask to put her extremely expensive education to use trying to convince a bunch of drooling American teenagers to pay attention to Latin verb conjugations. In fact, she'd strongly prefer to avoid demons, non-Slayer high school students, and other such unsavory creatures altogether. But, well, she's the one who decided to become a Watcher. She made her bed, she has to lie in it.

Of course, when she signed on, she didn't expect a missing Slayer.

The girl seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, which, of course, means demonic activity is skyrocketing. And, of course, Cara's the only one around with even the tiniest chance of keeping it in check. Which is why she's poking around in the boiler room during her lunch break instead of popping another aspirin and taking a nap on her desk.

Whoever this missing Slayer is, she'd better have a damn good explanation.

Comments

[cross_and_bow]

"Yeah, I was thinking about that because of some of the books in the library being various languages which, whatever their virtues, are not Spanish. Have you got an intro-level section meeting fifth period or will this call for more elaborate shuffling?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"As a matter of fact, I do. Convenient. Shouldn't be too hard to put in for a transfer," she says. "Also, you're quite right, Latin is a helpful language to know for anyone trying to learn about demons."

[cross_and_bow]

"Okay. Can you paperwork that or do I need to do things to swap?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"I think you have to get a signature from your Spanish teacher," she says. "You can get the form at the front office. And then we can start planning our not-at-all-suspicious student-teacher trip to San Francisco or wherever."

[cross_and_bow]

"What's in San Francisco?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"A large vampire population. I was just naming a random city you may want to use as Slaying grounds. There are other places we could go if you prefer."

[cross_and_bow]

"I'm not picky about where I do my Slaying, really. L.A.'s closer, though. I'll get Señora Hawthorn to sign the form tomorrow."

[whole_bloody_business]

"L.A. it is. Now, you should probably eat something, and I should probably mop up all this blood. See you in a few days, fifth period?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Sure thing."

Off goes the Slayer.

She turns up with her transfer form the following Thursday ready to attempt to integrate midstream into Latin.

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara makes it a point to mention that she is available for tutoring after school.

[cross_and_bow]

"Cool, that should help me catch up!" chirps Bella The Studious Student Interested In Studenting.

And after the last bell, here she is.

[whole_bloody_business]

No one else is taking advantage of the tutoring hours, it seems! (Mrs. MacMoran has a reputation, and it does not include the words "patient" or "understanding").

"I told the Council about your existence last night," she says. "I also told them you were not interested in interacting with them further than you had to. They took the news with the expected amount of squawking."

[cross_and_bow]

"But did they take the news with a well-behaved amount of acquiescence?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"After the grumbling died down, yes," says Cara. "You don't need to worry about them for the time being so long as you continue Slaying regularly."

[cross_and_bow]

"Good. I don't need more things to worry about right now. Hey, maybe you can answer a question. I've been assuming that the reason vampires and demons and such are not common knowledge despite not being particularly well-hidden is that vampires are motivated to avoid having people organize large-scale, well-informed hunts for them, and everybody who knows vampires exist would like them to continue to have that motivation rather than descending in packs on large groups of Broadway viewers or whatever. Is that about right or is there something more elaborate going on?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Unless there's something going on that the Council isn't telling me, yes, that's about right."

[cross_and_bow]

"So there isn't any reason to avoid, say, informing people with access to morgues of my Vampire Planned Parenthood deal, if there's a concise way to convince them?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Not that I'm aware," says Cara. "Personally, I say there's no reason to keep potentially-lifesaving information hidden from people."

[cross_and_bow]

"Well, if there's an equal downside - say, if I could only notify the morgue people by also talking to trigger-happy people with nukes prone to misunderstandings about where vampires are to be found - then that would be something, but I don't see any obvious reason to think that's the case."

[whole_bloody_business]

"Me neither. It seems safe enough to me," she says, smiling. "So, are you ready to learn everything there is to know about demons?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Hit me."

[whole_bloody_business]

She pulls a large, old-looking book from her bag and sets it gently on the desk in front of her. There are several brightly-colored Post-It notes sticking out from between the pages.

"This is the most helpful demon encyclopedia printed in English that I've encountered," she says. "Orange sticky notes mark particularly dangerous demons, green sticky notes mark particularly common demons worldwide, yellow sticky notes mark particularly common demons locally, and purple sticky notes mark neutral demons. Let me know if you can think of any additional sticky note categories you'd like me to add when I mark up the rest of my collection. Also, over the years I've made several helpful notes in the margins. If something I've written has faded to the point where you can't read it and I haven't rewritten it, don't bother trying to decipher it, it's probably not important. I've cross-referenced a number of books in the marginal notes. If you think you'll need one of them sooner rather than later, let me know and I'll prioritize marking it up. Please don't damage this book, it's the closest thing I'll ever have to a spouse. Start reading, I'm here to answer questions as needed."

[cross_and_bow]

"Ooh, color-coding. I like. I'll be gentle with Spouse Book." Bella hauls out a notebook and gets started.

[whole_bloody_business]

"Spouse book appreciates it. I probably don't need to give you my 'information is the best weapon' lecture, do I?"

[cross_and_bow]

"I think I'm thoroughly inculcated with this idea."