New
Arrivals
Author-Laura Picken
Titles
The Wild Wild West
by Laura
Picken
Summary: Crossover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Blair falls asleep one night reading Andrew's Guide journal, and starts having the strangest dream...
Hi all! Thanks for the great response to Blessed Protector - by far, it has been one of my most popular stories to date. This story elaborates on a section at the end of the story, so if you haven't read the story and you want to, stop here and jump back to it.
If you -have- read the story, you'll understand when I tell you that this story is related more to the story of the Sentinel / Slayer mentioned at the end of Blessed Protector than it is to either Jim and Blair or Buffy & Co. So you should be warned that it is mostly set in the universe of Dr. Quinn, from the point of view of one of the Sentinel characters. Buffy's really only referenced in here-this story's more related to Slayer lore than to any of the current characters on BtVS.
Disclaimer: All Sentinel characters belong to Pet Fly and Paramount, all Buffy-related characters belong to Joss Whedon and company, and all Dr. Quinn characters belong to The Sullivan Company (I think) and CBS. I -know- you'll never get together and try anything like this for yourselves, so there's no possible way you'd sue me, right? Right? *gulp* Oh, but anybody else is mine.
Many thanks to Melanie Hoover, Shay, and Lorri who beta read this story for me. Like I said, this was a little unusual – thanks for being patient with me while I tried to blend everything in a way that made the author, the audience - and- the characters happy.
And now, on with the show...
It was far too quiet in the loft when Jim walked in, which meant that Blair could only be doing one thing: reading. The Sentinel dropped his keys on the table and hung up his jacket, trying to be just conspicuous enough to make sure Blair noticed he was home. That way, Jim could tell how important the reading was. Since his partner didn't look up, he knew it must have been extremely important. He called out, "Hey, Chief! How was school today?"
Nothing. That could only mean that whatever Blair was reading was most definitely related to Jim's senses--only reading material of such high importance could hold the young man spellbound for so long. Since finding Blair deep in such reading would most likely mean a long day of sensory testing, Jim was highly tempted to bolt for the door, until he heard the page turn. The paper sounded familiar. Moving closer to Blair, Jim noticed the unique book in the hands of his partner and Guide. This particular book had been fascinating his partner ever since they had returned home from their adventures in Sunnydale three months earlier.
Jim relaxed immediately. The day had been long, he was tired, and he had no desire to fend off his partner's attempts to get him into the lab. Now he knew he didn't have to. That particular book would keep Blair enthralled the rest of the night, and Jim could easily get some sleep. But, trying one last time to make an attempt at conversation, he asked Blair, "More bloodsuckers again tonight, Sandburg?"
Blair jumped at the sound of his partner behind him. "Oh! Jim, how are you?"
Jim smiled. He had -finally- gotten the younger man's attention. "I'm great, Chief. How's the journal?"
Blair removed his glasses and set the book down. "It's fascinating stuff, Jim. Andrew was a medical doctor, so he came at things from an entirely different perspective than I do. Brings a whole new level to my research."
Jim smiled. -Anything- related to Sentinels brought a whole new level to Blair's research. Even vampires. "Sure, Chief. Want a beer?"
"That would be great, Jim. Thanks." Blair put his glasses back on as Jim went to the refrigerator for the beers. Jim was never into talking about this stuff, anyway. After they had been sent on a ‘police exchange program' to Sunnydale where the partners had their first major run-in with vampires—not to mention a certain high school girl and her friends whose ‘destiny' it was to hunt said vampires—the Sentinel had been so shell-shocked he refused to talk about the trip for almost a full month. It was only recently that Jim had been able to make even casual references to Sunnydale, and they were only in connection to the journal he now held in his hands—the journal he had received as a going-away present from Buffy's Watcher Rupert Giles. Blair was beginning to wonder if Jim would ever be able to talk about the experience.
Blair didn't even look up from the open book as Jim placed a cold beer on the table next to him. Jim was beginning to get the impression that if he yelled, "Blair, look out! David Lash is behind you!", the kid would insist Lash be put off until he finished the current journal entry. Sensing that tonight was truly going to be quiet for the rest of the evening, Jim stretched and yawned behind his friend. No response. Blair was definitely committed for the night. Chuckling, Jim called out to his roommate as he climbed the stairs, "I'm going to get some sleep. Good night, Chief."
Never once looking up from the book, Blair replied, "Good night, Jim. See you in the morning." As fascinating as the journal was, though, exhaustion finally caught up with the young anthropologist, and he fell asleep in the chair, the journal still laying across his lap...
*****
It was like watching a three-dimensional movie without experiencing any of it himself. Standing outside a building that looked like a country inn, he realized that it looked unlike any place he had ever visited. "Well, Toto," he commented, "Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore." He moved around it, trying to get a bearing as to what was going on around him, when he noticed that he couldn't hear any of his footsteps.
When Blair watched a young man march intently up the stairs to the inn wearing a topcoat and boots, the young Shaman realized he was in some sort of old west scene. As Blair followed the man, the sign at the office door told the anthropologist where he was--at the office of Dr. Andrew Cook, Slayer's Watcher and Sentinel's Guide. He vaguely remembered something about this being in a book he read once, but passed off the thought as unimportant.
Blair's mind was more fascinated by the scene around him. The doctor seemingly had no books on the occult in his office; he didn't have any weapons, anything that could link him to a Slayer. Did he know he was to be her Watcher? Of course he knew--Watchers were trained for their job from a young age.
So had the slayer come to Colorado Springs yet? It wasn't unusual for the Slayer to be born to a drifter's lifestyle, allowing her to travel from town to town as needed. Maybe that was the case.
He would soon find out, as a young blond-haired boy came running into the doctor's office, calling, "Andrew! Andrew!"
"What is it, Brian?" replied the doctor.
"Hank found a dead body by the hotel this morning. Ma says it doesn't have any blood in it. She sent me to get you right away."
No blood? That could only mean one thing, and from the look of surprise, shock, and knowing despair on Andrew's face, it was clear to Blair that the good doctor knew it too. Grabbing his coat, Andrew followed the young boy out the door. "Let's go, Brian. We can't keep your mother waiting."
*****
In an instant Blair was standing in the middle of an old west town, facing a house with a sign denoting it as the office of a Dr. Michaela Quinn. Were they still in Colorado Springs? Of that, Blair was not certain.
Moments later the young boy rode up, followed by Dr. Andrew. Blair darted over quickly to follow them into the office as they raced in, then turned his head away just as quickly when he discovered a tall, auburn-haired woman in the midst of a detailed autopsy on the corpse of a fair-hared man not much younger than Andrew. When the young Shaman realized that he felt nothing - no shock, no disgust, not even a churning of his stomach - he turned back to see every one of those things passing across Andrew's face for a split second before the young doctor could compose himself. Andrew then asked the woman, "Well, Dr. Mike, what have you found?"
The auburn-haired woman (apparently the doctor from the sign out front) looked up from the task she had been performing so intently when she heard the voice of her colleague in the room. "Oh, hello Andrew. I must say this is the most fascinating autopsy I've ever performed. There are no signs of trauma to any area of the body, yet all the blood has been completely removed from the victim. I have to say that this gentleman's cause of death could only be attributed to excessive blood loss."
Apprehensively, the young doctor commented to the sheriff, "Boy, Matthew, there must have been a lot of blood where this body was found."
Out of the corner of his eye, Blair recognized the star pin on the young man's chest immediately -- apparently this was Matthew, the town sheriff.
Matthew replied, "Oddly enough, there wasn't. The body was found back behind the saloon by one of Hank's girls. There was no blood in the area. Only," he nodded back to the corpse the doctor was working on, "him."
"How's the girl?" asked Andrew. "She must be taking this hard."
Matthew nodded. "Yeah, she wasn't doing too good. Colleen's with her now."
Andrew nodded, seeming to approve of the woman's name. It was hard to tell with the man's eyes showing that his thoughts were a million miles away. Blair could hear a voice echo in the back of his own mind:
{I didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was right there in front of me. A corpse drained of all blood, but with everything else intact. No other blood where the body was found. Still, I hoped against all hope...}
Turning the corpse's head to one side, Dr. Mike called out, "Matthew, Andrew, I think you should take a look at this."
The two men walked over to confer with the doctor. The marks on the body had become uncomfortably familiar to Blair, so it was no surprise when Dr. Mike described what they were seeing as, "Two puncture wounds right on the jugular vein. They must have drained the blood into something from there."
Matthew asked, "How?"
Dr. Mike replied, "Well, if these holes are as deep as I think they are, then the vein would act as its own blood pump, letting the body drain the blood faster than any machine could."
Andrew stood silently, looking shocked by what he had just seen. The voice echoed over the scene again:
{When I saw those puncture marks I knew without a doubt that vampires had found their way to Colorado Springs. My destiny, which I had run from for so long, had finally caught up with me.}
*****
Blair was no longer in Dr. Mike's office, but out in the middle of town. It was dark; and the most noticeable sound was the loud music coming from the saloon just behind him. A beautiful blond-haired woman breezed past him confidently, heading straight for the saloon. Not one to pass up a beautiful woman (even if she couldn't see him), Blair quickly followed her.
She walked into the saloon confidently, like one of those gunslingers from an old western movie, and immediately sauntered up to the bar to order a beer. As she took her first sip, she cocked her head to one side in a move that reminded Blair of the way that Jim would clench his jaw when he sees or hears something using his heightened senses.
The woman scanned the room, looking for something, when apparently it found her. A tall, dark-haired man walked up to her spot at the bar and slammed a glass down on the countertop. This move drew the attention of everyone in the room, and for a moment the room was so quiet that Blair swore he could have heard a pin drop. He then ran a long-nailed finger across her cheek and purred seductively, "You're new in town, aren't you?"
Setting her beer down on the countertop, she casually replied, "Yes, and apparently so are you." In an instant, she grabbed the hand that was still dangerously near her face and declared, "Let's take this outside, shall we?"
As she picked up the larger man and threw him out the saloon doors, it was clear to everyone that the tall man wasn't going to get the chance to argue.
*****
The woman followed her adverasry back out into the center of town, and any potential onlookers were immediately scared away when they found that the man's face had changed into the demonic features of a vampire.
But instead of being scared away herself, the woman simply pulled a large wooden stake out from a specially designed holster in the inside folds of her long coat. The woman and the vampire each other in an ancient dance, the vampire wanting to grab her for access to her neck, the woman looking for an opportunity to use the stake which looked so much like a comfortable extension of her hand. Every time one attacked, the other would counter perfectly. Each came close to their goal, but the other would find a way to somehow wrench away from their opponent's grasp. Occasionally, one would find a way to slash and injure the other, but the injuries healed almost instantly—each of the warriors treated them as meaningless, the concentration on their own battle being so focused.
Finally, it seemed as if Hell itself had risen up in opposition to the woman's quest. A wolf howled in the distance, its mourful cry stopping the battle for a moment. But while the vampire was unaffected, the woman's focus was completely diverted. She stood in the middle of the square, her stake frozen in her hand.
Blair recognized the signs immeditately, a panic rising in his throat. A zone- out. In the middle of a life and death fight. He tried to scream, to do something to keep from having to view his worst nightmare come to life, but nothing he could do seemed to help the young woman. [Where is her Guide?]
The vampire stopped mid-attack, stunned at the change in his opponent's demeanor. She was waiting to lure him in, he was sure of it. When she refused to move for several minutes, though, the demon seized upon his opportunity. His eyes glowed with the bloodlust as he lowered his fangs down to the woman's neck¼
A gunshot pierced the silence, snapping the woman out of the zone-out almost immediately. While her opponent's head was turned toward the foolish mortal who had shot him in the back, the woman seized on -her- opportunity, turning around quickly to stake the vampire in the heart. She then watched with satisfaction as the demon's body convulsed, then fell to the ground at her feet, instantly turning into dust.
The woman then looked up into the eyes of her unknowing savior, who was standing on the porch of the Saloon, rifle at the ready. Blair recognized the young man immediately: it was Matthew, the town sheriff, whose horror at having had to shoot to kill was immediately replaced with confusion at exactly - what- had happened to the dead body that should have been in middle of town. The woman and the sheriff locked eyes, unspoken pleas for explanation and understanding passing between them. Finally, the woman took off at a run, and Matthew simply stood on the porch of the saloon, watching her, too stunned to move.
In the shadows, Blair also watched.
As did Dr. Andrew Cook.
His Slayer had just arrived in Colorado Springs. And already she had gotten herself in trouble.
*****
Instantly, it was the next morning, and Blair was in Andrew's office. The young doctor was holding a large book in his hand. Blair moved behind him and noticed that the pages of the book were blank. Apparently, this was to be his Watcher's journal. It was the first evidence that Blair had seen of Andrew's Watcher inheritance. The voice echoed in Blair's mind:
{All the pieces are starting to fall into place. A vampire-related murder, and last night, a vampire's death at the hands of a young woman who could only be the Slayer. But now, how do I arrange our meeting? And how do I protect her from Matthew. Already this morning Matthew has been spotted around town, asking questions of anyone who wasn't too drunk to remember seeing the fight between the vampire and the Slayer last night. I fear that he may become obsessed by this—which is the type of obsession that could easily get the young man killed.}
His musings were interrupted when the same young woman he had been watching the previous night stood just outside his open door, looking exceptionally uncomfortable. Seemingly realizing it was her place to say something, she greeted him, "Are you Dr. Cook?"
"I am," he replied, "Please, come in."
The young woman entered the office and looked around as Andrew shut the door behind her. Knowing that the Slayer would not normally come looking for medical attention, he asked, "Can I help you with something, Miss...?"
"Christiana. Christiana Michaelson. But you can call me Christy."
Andrew smiled sheepishly as he moved past her to get back to his desk. "All right, Christy. Please, have a seat." As he returned to his own seat, the doctor asked, "How can I help you?"
"Well," Christy let out a sigh and began, "For a couple of days now I've been having these episodes."
"Episodes?" asked Andrew.
"Yes. It's like I'm hearing voices or something. One minute everything will be fine and the next..."
Andrew leaned on his desk, listening intently, which caused Christy to sit back a little, fidgeting uncomfortably. "Doctor, I don't usually get sick..."
"Of course not," Andrew instantly replied, "You're the -"
Christy's eyes widened, and for a moment she sat there, speechless. Suddenly, she cocked her head to the side and a look of realization came over her face. "You were there, weren't you? You saw what happened. Last night, with the...?"
Reluctantly, Andrew nodded.
Christy then asked, "You know who I am, don't you? That I'm the Slayer?"
Again, Andrew nodded.
Christy asked, "How?" Eyes growing wider, she answered the question before he even had the chance to speak. "You're my new Watcher, aren't you?"
Andrew nodded, and shifted uncomfortably in his own chair. Trying to change the subject, he mumbled, "I'll start some research right away, see if I can find something about why these episodes might be occurring..." and jumped up from his chair, going to his bookcase.
Hesitantly, Christy replied, "You do that..." She got up from her own chair and started pacing the room. Turning to face the man that she now knew as her new Watcher she told him, "Doc, I've been tracking a powerful vampire named Tarios from Salt Lake City. He killed my Watcher in Denver, and my Watcher's dying words were that someone would be waiting for me in Colorado Springs. Now I know that someone is you. If Tarios hasn't started killing people here yet, he soon will. Now -will- -you- -help- -me-?"
Andrew moved away from the bookcase, looked straight at Christy, and sighed loudly. The voice commented:
{She was right. Tarios has already started killing people in Colorado Springs, and the woman who stood before me was our only hope of stopping him.}
"Tarios, eh?" Apprehensive but smiling, Christy nodded as Andrew returned to his spot behind the desk and began, "Why don't you tell me what you know about him..."
*****
Blair looked around, confused for a moment until he realized he was back in Dr. Mike's office, watching as Andrew walked in and scanned the bindings of several medical textbooks. The voice returned:
{October 16, 1894: Christy has been staying with me for a week now, and I'm happy to say that people in town seem to be buying the argument that Christy is a distantly related niece of mine from Ohio. Thankfully, though, Christy sleeps during the day, so she has not had a run-in with Matthew that I know of. Christy already knows how to be discreet, so we've been able to train her in relative isolation and she's almost never been spotted hunting since that night. Nevertheless, I still worry. If Matthew ever catches up to her¼
We have not found this Tarios she has been pursuing, but in the weeks since she came to Colorado Springs, Christy has been able to kill many of his men. She's quite confident and driven - a pleasant relief, considering I could have been forced to train a Slayer who was equally as reluctant to fulfill her destiny as I have been to fulfill mine. I worry, though, that part of this might be her only way of dealing with the death of her first Watcher. It has only been two months since his death, but I have yet to see her grieve, and that is a fact that bothers me.
Still, sadly, many people in Colorado Springs are turning up dead -- food for the vampires. Luckily, although Dr. Mike has performed autopsies on all of the victims, she has not made any connection between the murders and Christy or myself. Still, though, she is suspicious, as is Colleen. She has been giving all the medical evidence she's collected to Andrew, which is only fueling his obsession with this case. Not to mention the fact that although many strangers pass through Colorado Springs, Christy is the only one lately who has made friends with his sister. Colleen's growing friendship with the Slayer puts us all in a dangerous position. I hope and pray that changes soon, particularly before Matthew is able to put two and two together.
And Christy's physical condition still remains a mystery. Several times she had been overcome by debilitating seizures, which seemed to be invoked through an overload to one of her senses. A few times those overloads even sent her into a comatose state - sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours.
I worry about Christy constantly. If she had a seizure or went into one of those comas during another fight... I think I've gone through every piece of medical literature in the world today, and yet I have no better knowledge of what's bothering Christy than I did when I first met her. At this point, she may need a miracle to keep her alive and out of danger. One that I don't know if I'll be able to provide.}
A dark-haired young woman opened the door and walked into the office. "Andrew, what a surprise! What are you doing here?"
Andrew jumped at the new voice in the room, but after recovering from the startle he replied, "Oh, hello Colleen. I'm just looking over some information to try and help Christy."
Colleen nodded. "Her condition hasn't improved, has it?"
"Sadly, no. But that doesn't mean that I won't keep trying."
"Do you think there's a cure for her seizures?"
Andrew eyes widened briefly as he looked over at Colleen. He couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice as he asked her, "You know about those?"
Colleen nodded again. "She had one in front of my mother and me a couple of days ago. It seemed like she heard something that overloaded her brain."
Andrew admitted, "Yes, that's it exactly. But what I can't figure out is how or why."
"And if you do figure that out, then she might be able to stop having these seizures?"
Andrew nodded. "It's a definite possibility."
Colleen seemed to pace the room a bit, thinking intently. She picked up a handful of papers off the nearby desk and handed them to Andrew. "Maybe this will help."
Andrew's eyes widened as he read the papers, and he began to smile broadly. "Yes, yes, this is it!" He kissed her ecstatically, exclaiming, "Thank you, Colleen. I think now we might finally be able to get somewhere!"
He then ran out the door to inform his Slayer, leaving a bewildered Colleen in his wake.
*****
Blair was starting to get used to the location jumping, and noticed that he was now in a blue-painted bedroom, watching Christy sleep. A moment later Andrew slipped silently into the room and sat down next to the young woman. If his theories were correct, that should be enough to wake her.
Sure enough, the young woman opened her eyes less than a half-second later, facing her new Watcher's smiling face. She greeted him, "Morning."
Warmly, he answered her, "Good morning, Christy."
Her brow furrowed, appearing both concerned and confused. Sitting up in bed, she yawned and asked, "Andrew, what's going on? Did something happen?"
Andrew shook his head. "No, nothing like that." He then whispered conspiratorially, "I think I found out what's been going on."
Christy whispered back, "With my...condition?" Andrew nodded.
Christy then prodded him, "Go on...I'm listening."
Andrew pulled up a chair next to the bed and explained, "Well, we know that, as a Slayer, only a very aggressive disease or extreme injury will have any effect on you. So I had to rule out most diseases and simple things like ear infections. Unfortunately, that left several other possibilities that I didn't want to contemplate."
Christy's face darkened as she said, "Like I might be losing my mind."
Smoothing some hair away from Christy's face, Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder and reassured her, "But I knew that wasn't the case. So that left me on a search for answers. And I think I finally found them."
Curious, Christy sat up in bed and prodded, "Go on."
Andrew showed Christy the papers that Colleen had given him and summarized, "Colleen handed me this article a few moments ago. It's from an archaeology journal of all things, about the work of an explorer by the name of Sir Richard Burton. Apparently in South America he discovered a new 'class' of soldier called a Sentinel. There was one Sentinel in every tribe, and he acted sort of like the town sheriff, you know, keeping the peace, et cetera."
Christy mused, "Sounds a lot like a Slayer."
Andrew nodded, and continued, "The most fascinating thing about Sentinels, though, is that they seem to be born with grossly enhanced senses."
Christy's eyes widened at the last comment. "-Enhanced- senses? That means the voices I've been hearing aren't inside my head-"
Andrew completed the thought, "They were just sounds that other people weren't able to hear."
Christy then asked, "What about the seizures? And those episodes where I blank out?"
Andrew replied, "That's when I figured out that this Burton fellow may have something here. He said that a Sentinel, if he focuses too much on one particular sense, would blank out and begin to lose touch with the outside world. He usually had some sort of partner around to watch his back and help him out of the comatose states."
Christy released a deep breath that she didn't know she was holding. "So how does this change things?"
Andrew drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. He knew what he was going to say next was something that his Slayer was most definitely -not- going to like. "Well, if we determine that you possess the abilities of a Sentinel - and so far I've seen no evidence to the contrary - then the biggest change is that I must go hunting with you from this point on."
Christy immediately disagreed, "Andrew, no! You need to be out of harm's way."
Andrew shook his head, "But so do you. And the only way for that to happen is for someone to watch your back. We'll also do some testing and some new drills to make sure that you can control these abilities and gain some focus without having seizures or going into a coma."
Christy could only sigh in response. "I guess that sounds reasonable."
Andrew smiled, and embraced his less-than-enthusiastic Slayer. "Great! Then we start tonight."
*****
Dark again. Blair looked around, trying to find out which of the principal players in this story he would be observing next. His questions were soon answered as Andrew walked toward his position at the edge of a small field just outside of town¼and straight through him. Shaking off the disorientation, Blair followed, matching Andrew's clip step for step. The voice chimed in:
{October 16, 1894, late evening: From this point forward, I am keeping this as a separate journal, one that will document everything outside the traditional Slayer's realm, particularly the tests related to Christy's Sentinel abilities.
The initial tests of those abilities have yielded spectacular results. All five of Christy's senses are heightened beyond anything I have ever seen. She can hear a butterfly's wings at fifty paces. She can describe a pebble in my hand from a hundred paces away. But the most fascinating new development is that she can use her sense of smell to not only tell where someone has been, but who it was and whether the person is human or vampire. Her hunting and tracking skills have gone up exponentially, and the numbers of human deaths in Colorado Springs have gone down dramatically as a result.
I could almost say that it's safe to walk the streets again at night, except for Christy's ominous warnings that Tarios is still around. She can pick up traces of where he's been, but she hasn't been able to track him much farther than a few paces from those points. Considering the strength of Christy's Sentinel abilities, it bothers me that we haven't been able to find him.
Also, although the seizures have subsided greatly, she still loses her concentration to one of Burton's 'zone outs' from time to time. Sometimes I am the only one who is able to bring her out of one of these states. I can't be with her all the time -- a thought that leaves me terrified to the very core of my being. As a Watcher, my job is to train the Slayer, and protect her as much as I possibly can. Yet this is a threat that we do not know how to face, can strike at any time, and leaves her paralyzed. These senses are a weakness that could kill her as easily as any vampire. And if Christy dies, I fear Colorado Springs will not be far behind.}
Andrew seemed to be focused on his thoughts, which greatly distracted him from the young woman who was approaching a few paces away from him. Blair watched the couple with great fascination as Andrew caught up with his young Slayer, while Colleen hid in the shadows a few feet away.
Andrew embraced Christy warmly in greeting, which worked to keep up the appearance of the town's explanation that Christy was an old friend of the family. Blair heard Colleen mutter, though, "Old friends don't hug like -that-."
Colleen then turned her attention to the Slayer and her Watcher, Apparently, they were unaware of their audience, who had climbed up into a small nearby tree. Blair's focus followed, immediately pulling him into the middle of what seemed to be another test for the young Sentinel.
"Okay Christy," started Andrew, "I want to see if we can use one of your senses as a lead for another."
"What good will that do?" asked Christy.
"Well," Andrew explained, "I think you might be able to combine the input you're getting from your senses to help you isolate, identify and track things."
"Particularly vampires," Christy added.
"Definitely vampires," confirmed Andrew. He then slipped into a calm, instructing Guide mode. "All right now Christy, I want you to close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and extend the circle of your hearing as far as you are able, without losing control of it."
Standing in the middle of the field, Christy complied. Andrew continued, "Filter out any sounds that seem normal for this time of night. Do you hear anything unusual?"
Christy nodded, her eyes still closed. "We've been followed."
Andrew stomped his foot on the ground in frustration, causing Christy to wince. He immediately apologized, "Sorry, Christy. Open your eyes, and breathe in slowly. Let your hearing act like a beacon that will lead you to the one that followed us. Are they human or vampire?"
Christy breathed deeply, then quickly answered, "Oh they're human all right." Opening her eyes, she was able to immediately pinpoint her target, and stomped her own foot on the ground in frustration. "Andrew, it's Colleen. How much does she know?"
Andrew shrugged. "I don't know. How far away is she?"
"Far enough away that she can barely hear us if we keep our voices down." Christy jerked involuntarily, tilting her head.
Andrew asked, "Christy? What is it?"
Pulling out a stake, Christy broke into a run. "It's a vampire. And he's headed straight for Colleen."
*****
From Blair's vantage point, Colleen never saw it coming. He was at the young woman's side in a heartbeat, yet the vampire still made it to her before he did. All Colleen knew was that two strong hands had grabbed her from behind, and she could feel someone trying to get at her neck. Involuntarily, she screamed.
Blair felt helpless and angry. A woman was going to be killed right in front of him, and he could do nothing. He tried to scream -- to warn Colleen, to express his frustration, to do -something- -- but no sound emerged.
Blinded by his rage, even Blair didn't notice Christy until she was practically on top of them. She yelled to the vampire, "Hey monkey face, why don't you pick on somebody your -own- size?"
Looking up from his position over Colleen's neck, the large, ugly, and evidently rather stupid vampire dropped Colleen to the ground and moved hungrily toward the Slayer, which Christy must have found amusing because she started to laugh. Then, with speed that made the vampire look like he was moving in slow motion, Christy shoved a stake through his heart. Using one finger to push her stunned opponent to the ground, she turned and commented to Andrew, "Can you believe this guy?" as the 'guy' in question turned to dust behind her.
Amazed as always at his Slayer's casual attitude, Andrew laughed with her until a moan from ground level stopped both Watcher and Slayer cold. Colleen was trying to sit up, but something about the movement was painful.
Immediately Andrew and Christy dropped to her side. Concerned, Andrew asked, "Colleen, what's wrong?"
The discomfort was evident in Colleen's voice as she replied, "...Hurts when I try to sit up..."
Gently, Andrew and Christy guided her at the shoulders until she was sitting up. When Colleen wobbled a bit, unsteady even when sitting, Andrew whispered, loud enough for only Christy (and Blair) to hear, "I think she might have hit her head." Out loud, he calmly asked Colleen, "Do you know where you are?"
Slowly Colleen replied, "The field outside of town."
Christy mouthed a silent "uh oh" to Andrew, then asked Colleen, "What's the last thing you remember?"
Eyes wide with fright, Colleen tried to push herself away from Christy as she replied, "I saw you stab that guy who attacked me." She then noticed that she couldn't see a body nearby. She demanded, "What did you do with him?"
Andrew and Christy both sighed. Even Blair could tell that the Slayer and her Watcher were going to have a lot of explaining to do.
*****
The sun was coming up over Colorado Springs, and the crowing of the rooster was the signal for most of its citizens to start the new day. For three people in town, though, the rooster only tried their patience. Because for them, this wasn't the start of a new day -- the last one hadn't ended yet.
Christy, Colleen and Andrew sat in Andrew's office. Christy and Andrew were both in chairs, rubbing their temples while Colleen paced the room. Exasperation evident in his voice, Andrew asked, "Colleen, we've been over this three times already! What's it going to take to make you believe? Two bite marks at the base of -your- neck?"
Colleen rolled her eyes, then turned to look out the window. "Andrew, what should I believe? That the guy was a -vampire-? And that Christy is the -only- hope of saving this town from being wiped out? And to think that I only followed you because I was jealous of you and Christy..."
Andrew's eyes widened, and he turned away, blushing. He couldn't do anything to wipe the silly grin off of his face, though. "You're jealous of me and Christy?"
Now it was Colleen's turn to blush. Smiling, she replied, "Well, yeah. I mean, you're spending so much time with her..."
Andrew's tone now turned pleading, "But don't you understand, Colleen, I -have- to! She's the only one..."
Colleen cut in, "...who can stop the vampires, I know, I know!" Collapsing into a nearby chair, she let her arm rest on one of the chair's arms...
...And immediately cried out in pain as her wrist made impact with the chair. Concerned, Christy was immediately at her side. "Colleen, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" she hissed, "I hurt my wrist!"
Andrew, who had by this point made his way over to Colleen's side, asked, "When was the last time you put any weight on that hand?"
"When I tried to sit up earlier," replied Colleen, trying to rub the pain away from her wrist--which only seemed to make it worse.
"Here," Christy soothed, "let me." Hesitantly, Colleen reached out her hand, which Christy placed in her own hands with a light, gentle touch. A look of confusion crossed her face as she exclaimed, "Andrew, this feels strange..."
One eyebrow raised, Andrew asked Christy, "Define strange."
Christy replied, "Like I can feel everything going on in her body just from touching her wrist."
"Hmmm," mused Andrew, "We really haven't tested your sense of touch yet--maybe you can help me figure out what's wrong with Colleen's wrist."
By this point, Colleen's expression went from pained to thoroughly confused. She asked, "Wait a second, what's going on here?"
Confused, Andrew asked her, "Colleen, didn't you read any of that material you gave me the other day in your mother's office?"
Colleen shook her head. "No. I just knew how badly you were looking for new information, and that journal was one Ma had gotten the day before. I thought it was just another medical journal. Why?"
Andrew sighed. "Well, to make a long story short, that material helped me determine that Christy's seizures were a result of her acutely heightened senses."
"Really?" Colleen asked.
"Yes, really. Now will you let -us- try to help you?"
Reluctantly, Colleen nodded. Automatically slipping into guide mode, Andrew started to instruct, "All right. Christy, take a deep breath and relax." Closing her eyes, Christy complied. Andrew continued, "Good. Now concentrate on Colleen's wrist until just before you feel yourself losing control. Now filter out everything that feels softer than bone, the way you did with your hearing. What do you feel?"
Opening her eyes, Christy replied, "There's a couple of small pieces floating around. Every time I press, they move."
Andrew sighed. Standing up, he told Colleen,"Evidently, you must have chipped a bone in your wrist when you fell. There's not much I can do for it, except prepare a splint and tell you not to use that hand for a couple of days."
As Andrew left to find the supplies for the splint, Colleen asked Christy, "You mean you can tell all of -that- just by touching my wrist?"
With an equally amazed look on her face, Christy nodded.
Colleen's eyes widened further as the realization seemed to hit her. "And this whole thing about your killing vampires for a living? That's real, too, isn't it?"
Looking away from Colleen, Christy nodded. As Colleen stared back at her, speechless, Christy got up from her spot next to Colleen's chair to stare out the window. "I don't like doing the things I have to do, Colleen. But if I weren't the Slayer...if I couldn't do the things you saw me do last night..."
In a voice barely above a whisper, Colleen realized, "I'd be dead right now, wouldn't I?"
Turning around to face her friend, Christy wordlessly nodded.
Having heard the conversation from the other side of the door, Andrew took that moment of silence as an opportunity to re-enter the room. "Well," he sighed, kneeling down to examine Colleen's wrist, "Let's get this wrist taken care of, shall we?" Noticing intense looks on the faces of the two women, Andrew looked up at Colleen and asked, "I trust you two got everything worked out?"
Smiling, Colleen nodded. As Christy watched, Colleen's face light up in a relaxed smile. Only then did she allowed herself to relax as well, and the last of the tension disappeared from the room.
Andrew watched the wordless exchange between the two women and relaxed himself, until he heard Colleen's next question -- "So what can I do to help?"
Christy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Colleen..."
The young woman locked eyes with the young Slayer. "Christy, you can't expect me to sit around here and do nothing while knowing that something like this is going on. There must be something I can do."
Before Christy could open her mouth to argue, Andrew chimed in, "There is something that you can do, Colleen."
Christy and Colleen both looked over to the young doctor, surprised. Andrew explained, "Christy, I can't be with you all the time. You need someone to help you when I'm not able to be there, particularly with these new heightened senses of yours. I see no reason why Colleen can't fill that role."
Colleen smiled, the delight evident on her face. Christy tried to open her mouth to argue, but before she could, Andrew continued, "-And- I could use a good research assistant. Being a Watcher is a time-consuming task, Christy. There are going to be times when I can't keep up with my practice and help you most effectively at the same time. Colleen is a great nurse as well, so she can help me quite readily with both those things."
Seeing that Andrew was -not- going to back down on this, Christy relented. "I suppose you're right." Then turning to Colleen, she insisted, "But Colleen, you -must- promise me one thing."
"Sure," responded Colleen, "What is it?"
"No one else knows about my identity as the Slayer besides yourself and Andrew. If a vampire finds out who I really am, it can put both of you at risk. I already lost a good friend in Denver because someone I trusted couldn't keep their mouth shut. I couldn't bear to see that to happen to either of you." Extending her hand out to her friend, Christy asked Colleen, "So will you -promise- me that everything we've talked about today will not leave this room?"
Colleen smiled, shaking Christy's offered hand. "I promise."
Clasping both of his hands over theirs, Andrew 'sealed the deal', affirming the promise for himself as well. "Then it's settled then?" The heads of both women nodded, and Andrew continued, "Good. Now, Colleen, how are we going to explain the splint on your wrist to your mother?"
*****
[Outdoors again,] thought Blair. He walked straight along the railroad tracks, trying to figure out what he was here to observe. The moon and seemingly millions of stars lighting up the night sky did nothing to quell the sense of foreboding he felt welling up from the depths of his soul. Something was going to happen tonight, of that he was certain. The voice returned once again:
{When I discovered the truth about Christy's unique abilities, I resolved that I needed to find out as much about them as possible. To that end I wired a friend at Colorado University and asked him if he had heard of the Burton study. Imagine my surprise when he wired me back saying that not only had he heard of the Burton study, he had, in fact, spoken with Dr. Burton himself. Apparently, Dr. Burton now wishes to meet with me to discuss my experiences with Christy here in Colorado Springs.
While a part of me fears for Christy's safety while I am away, as I am sure it always will, I believe that I can entrust her safely to Colleen. Colleen has accomplished so much in such a short time...she and Christy have become the best of friends. Occasionally, she has even been able to pull Christy out of a zone-out even when I failed to be able to do so. Perhaps Colleen is Christy's true guide, and I, as her Watcher, should only serve as her backup? I am constantly worried about putting Colleen in such a dangerous position, but how can I ignore the fact that Christy has progressed far faster in the weeks since Colleen joined our group than she would have with me over months of training?
I will admit, though, that my feelings for Colleen may be clouding my judgment in this matter. Even though Christy, Colleen and I are but a few years apart in age, my feelings for the two women are vastly different. I admire Christy for her courage, envy her in some ways for her strength, and respect her for her determination and focus. In many ways, she is like a sister to me. But with Colleen, there is...more. There is really no other word to describe it. It would kill me to see either woman hurt, and yet they both march into battle night after night, knowing they must do what needs be done. I pray for them, I worry about them, I fear for their safety, but in many ways I know I am helpless to stop them. Christy does what needs to be done-what only she can do. Colleen does all she can to help because it goes completely against her nature to do nothing when people around her are dying. I suppose that is why I am leaving for Boulder tonight. I am only doing what needs be done - gaining the knowledge to help them in any way that I possibly can.}
The voice stopped as a loud whistle signaled the approach of a train. Looking up from his place on the tracks, Blair realized that he had [walked? floated?] to the Colorado Springs train station. On the platform, Christy, Colleen and Andrew were caught up in an emotional farewell.
One hand on his shoulder, Christy warned Andrew, "You take care of yourself in Boulder, all right? I won't be there to look out for you, you know."
Andrew smiled knowingly. "I'll promise to be careful, Christy, if you'll do the same. I need to know that the two of you will be looking out for each other."
Colleen answered him. "We promise, Andrew."
As Andrew's eyes locked with Colleen's, Christy could almost -tell- the exact moment when her presence was no longer noticed by her two friends. Knowing neither one was listening to her, but still feeling she had to say -something- polite to excuse herself, Christy smiled and told the young couple, "I'll just-wait over here-"
Colleen nodded, giving only the briefest of acknowledgments to Christy's statement. Then, returning her attention completely back to Andrew, she told him, "I'm going to miss you, you know."
Andrew smiled in return. Gathering her up in an embrace, he kissed the top of her head before he responded, "I'm going to miss you, too. But you do understand why I have to do this, don't you?"
Lifting her head to look Andrew in the eye, Colleen nodded. "I just wish I could go with you." Glancing over at Christy, who was trying to find out something fascinating from the station's floorboards, Colleen continued, "I think she does, too."
Andrew laughed as he watched his young charge from a distance. Returning his focus back to his love he told her, "She's needed here, at least until we find Tarios or we're sure he's gone. And you know-"
"We can't leave her completely on her own, I know."
The train's second whistle cut off their conversation all too abruptly. Allowing himself one last hug, he assured Colleen, "I'll be home as soon as I can."
As they broke the embrace, Colleen asked, "You promise?"
Too scared to even kiss her yet, Andrew could only cup her delicate face in his hands to seal the truth. "I promise."
Taking Andrew's hands in her own, Colleen pushed them away as she pushed him toward the train. "Now go, before they leave without you."
Finally, reluctantly releasing Colleen's hands, Andrew picked up his bag and ran for the train. When he made it to the top of the stairs, he turned around. Sure enough, Colleen was waiting on the platform with Christy. He called out to her, "I love you, Colleen!"
Colleen smiled even wider in return as she called back, "I love you too, Andrew!"
*****
Christy listened to Andrew and Colleen's good-byes with a satisfied smile on her face. As the train pulled out of the station, though, the smile vanished from Christy's face when her Slayer instinct alerted her to a danger she could no longer ignore. There was a vampire somewhere in the area. Somewhere close. Opening up her sense of smell, she strained to pinpoint her adversary's location.
Colleen immediately noticed and recognized the look on the face of her friend. Placing one hand on Christy's shoulder to keep from zoning, she pulled a stake out of the holster she now wore on her leg with the other and whispered cautiously, "Where are they?"
Christy shook her head slightly as she whispered back, "I'm not sure yet; the scent seems to be fading away quickly..." The implications of that statement hit her as soon as she said it. Filtering the scent through her memory, she recognized exactly -who- it was she was tracking. Just before she broke into a dead sprint, taking off after the train, she exclaimed to Colleen, "It's Tarios! He's on the train with Andrew!"
By the time Colleen realized exactly -what- Christy had told her, the Slayer was almost to the end of the train platform. Stomping her foot in frustration, Colleen did the only thing she could do to help at the moment, she called out to her friend, "Christy!", threw Christy the stake she was holding in her hand, then turned and ran toward town, knowing she could never keep up with her friend. Christy caught the weapon effortlessly, then turned back in the direction of the departing train, running straight into a blond-haired man, knocking both of them over.
Christy got up quickly, yelling, "Sorry!" behind her as she took off at superhuman speeds to catch up with the train. Behind her, Matthew watched as the woman he had been dreaming about for months ran off yet again. Blair heard him mutter, "So that's Christy. Wonder what it is about me that makes her run like that¼"
*****
From the look of discomfort on Colleen's face, Blair was grateful that if he had lived in their time, he would have been able to wear pants. Riding sidesaddle at breakneck speeds did -not- look like a whole lot of fun.
Blair's thoughts turned to how Andrew was faring against Tarios. Instantly he was at the Watcher's side. Andrew had been bound with rope, but not gagged, in his sleeping car. A large, powerful, pale-faced vampire sat across from him, while two equally large but rather stupid-looking accomplices appeared to be guarding the door. Staring at the bodyguards for a moment, Blair sadly realized that one of them was Hank, the saloon owner from town. Ignoring the guards, Andrew seemed to be concerned entirely with the vampire sitting across from him The look of disgust on his face was obvious. "What in the world do you possibly expect to get from kidnapping me? I have no money, no family-"
The vampire laughed--a sound which made Andrew sick to his stomach. "Cut the act, Doctor. I know exactly who you are, and I believe you know exactly -who- I hope to get from kidnapping you." Grinning wickedly, the vampire leaned in close enough that Andrew thought Tarios was going to drain him then and there. Instead, though, Tarios simply hissed, "Do your Watcher chronicles have any records of what Slayer's blood can do to a vampire? It can make a weak vampire unbelievably strong. It can give a newborn the wisdom of a Master. And for a Master, it can-"
A confident female voice interrupted the conversation. "Give you gas?"
Blair looked up to see Christy standing confidently between the two thug vampires. He couldn't help but laugh. Buffy had had the exact same look on her face in Sunnydale. [They have no idea what they're in for, do they?]
Tarios, as well, had looked up to see the Slayer standing in between his men. Backing away from Andrew for the moment, he motioned silently for each vampire to grab one of the Slayer's arms, and they complied, effectively immobilizing her. Standing and pulling himself up to his full height, he walked casually toward the door until he was face-to-face with Christy-his thugs lifting her up forcefully by the arms until the two adversaries were literally nose-to-nose with each other. Enjoying the internal battle that seemed to be going on in the Slayer's mind, Tarios hissed, "Hello, Christiana. It's nice to see you again."
Coolly, calmly, Christy simply replied, "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, Tarios."
The vampire laughed again. "Oh -really-? Well, now that it's here, any last words before I take your Watcher's neck?"
Christy seemed to think it over or a while. "Actually, yes, I do."
"And what would those words be?"
Leaning in so that her face came even closer to the vampire's Christy hissed, in a voice barely above a whisper, "Burn...in...hell."
Things moved quickly from that point. Christy used the leverage she was getting from the vampire thugs to land a solid kick in Tarios' chest, sending the ancient vampire flying out the window. Dropping to the ground, she let the heads of the two vampire thugs bounce against each other, rendering them temporarily unconscious. Staking them, at that point, was a simple matter of driving the two wooden skewers through their hearts.
Shaking the dust off as she stood up, Christy immediately went to attend to her Watcher. As she checked his neck carefully for any signs of bite marks she asked him, "Andrew, are you all right?"
Helping her dust off, Andrew quickly reassured her, "Yes, Christy I'm fine. How did you know Tarios was here?"
"As you were pulling out of the station I smelled him through an open window, and I came running."
As always, Andrew marveled at the Slayer's remarkable speed. Within moments, though, his thoughts turned toward the missing member of their team. "What about Colleen? Is she all right?"
"She's fine, Andrew. I left her at the station when I took off after you--" A scream in the distance interrupted any of her other explanations. Christy ran to the window, hoping that, for once, she was hearing things.
No luck. The scream was coming from Colleen, who was riding closely alongside the train, her horse galloping at a fast and furious pace to keep up. Tarios had perched himself behind her in the saddle, his hands on her waist, his mouth dangerously close to her neck. "Well," he exclaimed, "If I can't get my hands on the Slayer, I suppose her best friend will just have to do."
"Noooooooo!!!!" Christy jumped out of the window, heedless of any possible injury the jump might cause her. Rolling the instant she hit the ground, she quickly got up and took off running, attempting to intercept the horse. Andrew, for his part, had run to the hallway, attempting to get to the emergency brake on the train and praying with all his might that his Slayer wouldn't be too late.
He needn't have worried. Christy ran with twice the speed she had used to catch the train, intercepting the horse within seconds after she had jumped. An impossibly high kick threw Tarios from the horse, which kept following the train even after its other rider, Colleen, had fainted. Tarios tried to fight, but the Slayer had the upper hand from the beginning. Blow after blow landed on his face, rendering Tarios unconscious quickly after he heard Christy declare, "You-will-NEVER-hurt-me-or my friends-AGAIN!" And within moments of being rendered unconscious, a stake through the heart soon changed him into nothing but a handful of bones.
Finally satisfied, Christy looked up to see that the train had stopped about a hundred yards ahead of her. Focusing, she could tell that Colleen's horse was standing obediently near the train as Andrew untangled Colleen's feet from the stirrups and worked to rouse her to consciousness. Breaking into a run, she almost beat Blair back to the train.
By that point, Colleen was conscious, her head resting on Andrew's lap. Christy asked her, "Colleen, are you all right?"
Colleen nodded. "You caught us just in time. I can still feel his fangs on my neck." Terrified at the possibility of Tarios' return, Colleen tried to sit up, now alert from fear. "Is he--?"
Christy helped Colleen lie back down again as she smiled. "Dust in the wind, Colleen. He'll never bother us again."
Seeing the certainty in the Sentinel's eyes, Colleen slumped back down into Andrew's lap. "Oh. Good." After a few moments of quiet, Colleen looked up into Andrew's eyes and asked, "So what did I miss?"
The simple comment had both Slayer and Watcher laughing. Scooping Colleen up in his arms, Andrew suggested, "C'mon. I'll tell you on the way to Boulder. That is, if you two still want to go...?"
Colleen and Christy shared a look of unspoken communication, and nodded excitedly. With everyone in agreement, Andrew brought Colleen up the stairs of the train, Christy quickly following behind them.
Blair watched quietly as the train once again headed toward Boulder and the horse turned around, running in the direction of home. As the train disappeared over the horizon, the voice returned:
{Over the months after our trip to Boulder it became clear that Colleen and Christy had bonded as Guide and Sentinel. Within a week of our conversations with Sir Richard, Colleen had completely taken over responsibility for Christy's training. Eventually Matthew closed the vampire murder cases as unsolved...and Colleen and I were married. Life can be a funny thing, sometimes - I was so reluctant to accept my destiny, and now, looking back, I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I -hadn't- been a Watcher.
On the day that I am writing this, the last entry in our Guide's journal, I have just returned from Christiana's memorial service. Two days ago, Christiana Michaelson slipped into a deep zone-out from which neither Colleen nor I had been unable to retrieve her. After suffering for a full week in this catatonic state, Christy's husband Matthew went to check on her - but she had vanished. The entire town had searched for her, to no avail. After finding her wedding ring near the Colorado River, we could only assume that she had somehow fallen into the river and drowned. Only Colleen refuses to believe this, stating firmly that -somehow- she knows Christy is alive somewhere. Even though Colleen has consented to give up the search, I know she will hold that belief until the day that she dies. Colleen can be so stubborn...}
*****
"Blair? Blair, wake up!"
A firm hand on his shoulder brought Blair back to the waking world. Opening his eyes, he looked up into the concerned eyes of his Sentinel. "Rise and shine, Chief. Breakfast will be ready in a minute."
Blair's brow furrowed in the confusion of half-consciousness. "Breakfast--?" Finally he realized where he was, and who he was with. Yawning and stretching, he noticed that sleeping in the chair left him with an awful pain in his neck. Still rubbing it as he stood up, he jumped at the sound of a book hitting the floor. As he bent down to pick it up, he discovered that it was the Guide's journal. [I must have fallen asleep when I was reading it--]
Still holding the book in his hands, Blair yawned again as he walked toward the kitchen, where Jim shoved a cup of coffee in his hands. The smell immediately brought the young anthropologist to full wakefulness, and he sipped at the hot liquid gratefully.
Jim smiled at the quick change in his friend's demeanor. "You looked like you could use that, Chief. Guess I was right."
"You were," replied Blair, "Thanks." Sitting down at the table, he found he was unable to shake last night's experiences from his mind.
Jim noted the distant look on Blair's face with concern. "You okay, Blair? You look like you're a million miles away."
At the sound of his Sentinel's voice, Blair fought to bring his attention back to the present. "Oh? Yeah, Jim, I'm okay." Fingering the ornate leather cover of the book, Blair commented, "I just had the strangest dream last night..."
-end-