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]

"Which foot?" asks the Slayer, mirroring the demon as it jukes left and right in the hope of going around her and back out into the hallway. When she has a clear shot she tries a foot, and when that doesn't work she tries the other foot.

[whole_bloody_business]

"I...uh...the left one!" she yells. She's positive about this.

[cross_and_bow]

She shoots its left foot again.

This time it's a clear hit.

The demon falls over.

"Thank you," says the Slayer, putting her crossbow in her bag. "Don't write me up for having weapons on campus and we'll call it even?"

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara blinks.

"I..." she begins. Oh Christ, the thing is bleeding all over her floor...

"You're the bloody missing Slayer, aren't you?" she finally manages.

[cross_and_bow]

"...Sorry, 'missing'? Who else is trying to find me?"

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara slumps into her chair.

"This might be easier if you tell me what you do know about being the Slayer."

[cross_and_bow]

"I guess the cat's out of the bag. I have nifty physical superpowers, I'm supposed to have prophetic dreams but I didn't get any, I noticed that I wasn't tripping and then a Power That Be showed up in my room to tell me what was going on, I've pieced together a little more from library books."

[whole_bloody_business]

"A Power That Be showed up in your bedroom," Cara says faintly. "That's...something we should definitely return to later. Okay. There's a secret organization known as the Watcher's Council. It's our job to find both activated and potential Slayers, teach you to fight evil things, help you learn which demons are poisonous and which ones keep their brains in stupid places, make sure you're following proper procedure, and generally aid you in the ongoing fight against evil." She takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "I don't suppose you have any idea why you didn't get the dreams?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Not a clue. The Power That Be made rude comments about my brain not working correctly, but my brain does everything I need it to do except have divinatory nightmares. Why is a member of a secret Slayer-support-group teaching Latin in a high school?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"This town happens to have an unusually high concentration of demonic energy," she says. "We call it the Hellmouth. It's a much more accurate name than Sunnydale, but for some reason we haven't been able to convince the town council to paint "Hellmouth" on the cheerful welcome sign. Anyway, it's helpful to have undercover Watchers here, as it's a good place for a Slayer to set up her home base."

(She seems to have recovered her composure. Being able to snap into Teacher Mode probably helped).

[cross_and_bow]

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. I was actually born here, though."

[whole_bloody_business]

"Well, that's an interesting coincidence," says Cara. "Perhaps it has something to do with whatever's going on with your brain. Remind me to do some research on that. I doubt there's anything wrong with it, but if you have unprecedented magic powers, I'd like to know where they're from. Actually, there might be something in the library..." She gets up from her chair, and...oh. Right. Dead demon bleeding on her floor. Farewell, composure.

"On second thought, I think I'll get rid of this first," she says weakly.

[cross_and_bow]

"Do you have a demon incinerator in a back room somewhere? This is the first time I've killed one indoors, usually I just sort of leave them lying around. Vampires are more convenient but I'm seeing fewer these days."

[whole_bloody_business]

"I was planning on stuffing it in my supply closet and dragging it into the woods later tonight, when everyone's left," she says. She bends down, scrunches her eyes shut, grasps at the demon gingerly, and begins to pull it towards the aforementioned closet.

[cross_and_bow]

Bella picks up the other end helpfully. "Sounds like a plan. I've been thinning out the vampire population so you probably won't get eaten, but - well, you probably already own cross jewelry?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Thanks," she says. "And yes, I've got scads of crucifixes in various places in my house and classroom. Exactly how much of the vampire population have you been able to thin out, working on your own?"

[cross_and_bow]

"I have a key to the morgue and a lot of little wood splinters."

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara looks at Bella for a few moments and decides that the smug look on her face is completely deserved.

"That is brilliant," she says. "Are you sure you're a high school student?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Yep. I'm also painting and scratching little crosses all over town, but that's slower going."

[whole_bloody_business]

"My god," says Cara. "A Slayer with some sense. I never thought I'd live to see the day."

(Privately, she assures herself that of course she would've thought of that, if she were the Slayer. She just hadn't thought it was her problem to solve, and she'd been preoccupied with other things. Yes. That's it.)

"Any other unusually effective strategies you want to mention?"

[cross_and_bow]

"I have holy water balloons? I don't know what's usual, for Slayers, really."

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara hefts the demon into the supply closet and slams the door before it can fall out.

"In my experience, 'punching, stabbing, and shooting' seem to be the go-to methods. Holy water balloons. Generations of Slayers and Watchers, and no one's thought of that."

[cross_and_bow]

"I try to avoid having to punch and stab. Did you know, most of the time vampires do not rise from the grave equipped with ranged weapons?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Yes, that's one of their more convenient features," says Cara. "I really don't know why official Slayer training doesn't prioritize crossbow training more. It's almost as if they don't want to keep Slayers alive past their teenage years."

[cross_and_bow]

"That's disquieting."