Alternately, she might still want to fight for the right of mankind, although she obviously wasn't going to be up to the challenge until she had rested and recovered.

"If I'm not a zombie," The girl's rational side was coming to the fore once again. She was obviously intelligent, apparently very shy, but ready to say what she thought. "I can not be a vampire. Dey took me in di daylight." She frowned. "Is dere any odder kind of demon dat can possess di body wit'out affectin' outward appearance?"

Scratching his neck with one hand, a thoughtful expression filtered onto the vampire's pale features. "I'm not sure. Do you feel anything inside you? Telling you to kill? Telling you to tear out the nearest human's throat? Telling you to go bowling with Buffy's head?"

Kendra arched an eyebrow. "Dat is what yer demon tells ye to do ta Buffy?" Angel nodded sheepishly. "Well," She gave him the smallest suggestion of a smile. "At least its wantin' ye to have some kind of exercise."

"Do all Slayers have to meet a prerequisite of being crazy?" He chuckled, shaking his head, the mischievous glint in her eye causing him to grin. The girl was still curled fearlessly against his broad chest. "Or is it just my luck to meet the stark raving mad ones?"

"Deat' does make ye take life dat little bit less seriously." She acknowledged, leaning forward and grabbing the folder off the table. "Maybe we should fin' out why dey wanted me and what dey did ta bring me back."

She flicked open the file, letting Angel climb over her to go to the kitchen to dig out some food for both of them. The microwave whirred softly to life, the sound of Angel's whistling making the undead Slayer giggle in spite of herself.

Here she was: dead, but not, sitting in the house of one of the most famous Watchers that had ever been on the council, listening to the most deadly of the Scourge of Europe making her something to eat and whistling 'Zippity-doo-da' off-key.

Skimming over the words in a number of languages, she found one passage in scrawled English, poring over it in concentration.

"I've found somet'ing." She remarked, gratefully accepting the sandwich that the vampire proffered to her, taking a large bite before continuing, gesturing to the passage. "I've been brought back wit' a Ri'taki Umrola spell. Dey wanted be ta come and destroy somet'ing called de key...do ye know what de key is?"

"The Key." Angel leaned over her shoulder examining some of the etchings scratched onto ancient yellow parchment. "It's a powerful energy source...now, its in the form of Buffy's sister, a young girl called Dawn."

Kendra's face paled. "Dey wanted me to kill a child?"

An arm around her shoulder, Angel gave her a reassuring hug. "I think its safe to say that you're not any kind of demon." He murmured. "You haven't gone rushing out to kill her have you?" She gave a reluctant nod, staring at the runic texts

"What does dis say?" She finally asked, her cheeks flushing dark pink. Her finger directed him to a small passage that was inscribed beneath a rather interesting picture of two figures entwined in a flagrantly sexual position.

Half-smiling at her embarrassment, Angel leaned closer to examine the words. After a few moments, he frowned. "I don't recognise that language." He finally stated. "Why did you pick that part of the text?"

Kendra scratched the back of her hand awkwardly. "I do not know." She replied. "I jus'...I t'ought it might be somet'ing useful."

"I think we should get Giles around here." The vampire reached for the phone. "I don't think we should leave these documents unexplained. He'll want to understand whats going on as soon as possible."

***

"It looks like someone's cleared this place out." From one of the high gables, Buffy's eyes searched the floor of the warehouse, Riley staring up at her, waiting patiently for her to report. "I think that law firm must have had something to hide."

She started down the massive piles of crates, dropping onto her feet on the smooth concrete floor and dusting her hands down her trousers.

There wasn't any sign that the warehouse had been used for months, a thin layer of dust on the top of the highest crates, the floor free of dirt, footprints and any other thing that implied people had been there at all.

"If the law firm were trying to hide something, what would they have done, when they found your friend gone?" Riley enquired, his hair flopping over his eyes as he looked down at his petite lover.

Buffy stiffened, biting on her lower lip anxiously. "They've been destroying the evidence." She said, gesturing around them. "They cleaned this place up real good. They really want to keep all of this under wraps."

"And what do you think the last piece of evidence is?"

She turned away from him, fists balled. "They'll be going after Kendra." She replied, her voice hushed, a tremor of anger in her tone. "They try and kill her again and I'll do the same to them –very slowly and painfully."

"So I guess we're going back to Giles'?" Buffy was already storming towards the shattered door, her expression set, her body taut, ready to fight. "Um..." Riley started after her. "I'll take that as a yes, then."

He broke into a sprint and caught up with his girlfriend quickly, half wondering if he should take a chance and ask her what the deal was when she looked up at him. "You want to know about her, don't you?"

"Well, if you don't mind me asking..." He shrugged, giving her his best smile.

"You know I drowned and that she was called, right?" He nodded. "She was the first other Slayer I'd met and she was the Council's idea of a Perfect Slayer, by the book in everything that she did...I wasn't."

Riley couldn't help but grin at that. Such a perfect way to describe Buffy – everything you didn't expect her to be, she was.

"I hated her at first, until I found out what she'd lost to be a Slayer. No friends, no school, nothing." She shrugged, her pace never faltering. "I'd just started to appreciate her when she was killed by Spike's girlfriend." Riley gave her a surprised look. "Then, I was the only Slayer again. I was the only freak."

"And this law firm brought her back because they knew that Faith wouldn't fight you, after coming back to the light side?" She shrugged. "If she had gone after Dawn, would you have been able to take her down?"

For the first time, Buffy shook her head. "I don't think I could have. Not just because she was a friend...her training." She caught his gaze. "I don't think I've really ever seen anyone who can fight like Kendra. Faith fought with fury, but Kendra – she has incredible control. I've only seen her lose her cool when I was winding her up."

That thought made Riley shiver. He'd felt a fraction of Buffy's strength and didn't even want to contemplate how tough someone would have to be to actually suceed in taking the blonde Slayer down.

The remainder of the journey back to Giles' apartment was made in silence, the couple entering to find themselves face-to-face with Dawn and Joyce, Giles sitting on the couch, poring over some ancient- looking documents.

"Hey mom...Dawn..." Closing the door behind them, Buffy frowned. "What are you guys doing here? I thought Angel was watching Kendra..." Then she noticed something – or more precisely, two someones – were missing. "Where are they anyway?"

Giles waved absently in the direction of the bathroom. "K-Kendra was rather badly injured." He replied, not even looking over his shoulder at the blonde. "Angel is seeing to-to-to her wounds and removing any splinters."

"Its more serious than we thought, Giles." Buffy temporarily ignored her mother and sister who were playing scrabble at the table. "Not that bringing a Slayer back from the dead isn't important, but that law company...they've cleared the warehouse out, completely."

Giles looked up, removing his glasses and squinting at her. "Removing the evidence?" He suggested. "Did you find any suggestion of who our 'buyers' were?"

"What part of cleared out completely don't you get?" Dropping onto the couch beside him, she leaned forward to peer at the papers that were scattered all over the surface of the coffee table, some in languages she didn't recognise. "Whoa...look at Research Man go!" She picked up one of the sheets. "Where'd you get this anyway?"

The former Watcher retrieved the sheet from her with a reproving look. "Kendra had a-acquired it, before she escaped. I'm work-working on translating some segments that seem of import to us."

"Wow." Buffy leaned closer, seeming to stare at every inch of the side of his face, peering into his ear. "Whaddya know...the Librarian and Watcher we all knew and feared is still lurking in there, underneath the midlife crisis."

"Yes, very droll." Giles proved to her that he still had the power of the glare, then turned his attention back to the parchments in front of him.

"Wait a minute," Riley spoke quietly. "You said Kendra had those sheets with her?" The older man gave him a curt nod. "Then what's to say that they don't want them destroyed as well? I mean, its all evidence, isn't it?"

Buffy's eyebrows rose. "Ho boy." She muttered. "Somehow, we always end up in trouble, even when we weren't planning on getting involved."

"Well, we've been involved, whether we like it or not." One of Giles' large, hefty magick books materialised in her hands, dropping onto her lap heavily. "Both your family and your friends are in danger."

Rolling her eyes, she started flicking through the pages. "Oh goody." She mumbled under her breath. "Research party the one time Will and Xander can't make it. I think someone really hates me up there."

***

"I'm surprised I can move." Kendra's initial embarrassment at allowing the vampire to treat her injuries had faded. At this moment, he was carefully fastening the row of buttons up the front of one of Giles' shirts to conceal her body. "I t'ink I'm a walking stickin' plaster."

Angel grinned at her. "Just a precaution." He reminded her, smoothing the shirt on her slim shoulders. She gave him a skeptical look. "I know, I know, you have Slayer healing...I just have a thing for putting plasters on people."

"You are a strange vampire." Kendra's expression went serious for a moment, but she couldn't hide the smile his contagious grin brought out in her. She tried to raise her hands to tie her hair back, wincing as a pain shot through the muscle.

"Here." Angel took the elastic band she was planning on using, pulled her hair back into a ponytail and wrapped the band around the base three times, stepping back to admire his ragged and extremely off-centre attempt. "Perfect!"

Glancing under his arm, she saw her full reflection in the mirror and arced an eyebrow at him, as if to say "What the hell have you done to my hair?". Instead, though, she reached up and brushed a kiss against his cheek. "T'ank you." She said sincerely.

"Ready to go and face your audience?" He offered her his arm for support, the cuts and swelling on both her legs still making walking an effort. Wrapping one hand around his wrist, she levered herself up and flashed him a pained grin.

Opening the bathroom door, he helped her to walk through, only to be engulfed in a hug from a relieved blonde Slayer. "Buffy!"

"Oh!" The blonde stepped back, shrugged. "I forgot, you don't hug."

Kendra couldn't help but smile. "It's not dat." She reassured her firmly. "It just hurts dat you hugged me so hard." She turned her plaster-covered hands over. "Angel t'inks I needed a lot of deese...I t'ink your boyfriend is crazy."

"Ex-boyfriend." Buffy and Angel both put in, a little more sharply than was necessary.

"Oh...I forgot." Kendra gave them both a sheepish shrug. "I t'ink deat' might have played wit' me memory."

"I only told you an hour ago." Angel reprimanded, helping her over to one of the seats and to sit down. She gave him a helpless look.

"You t'ink I can remember everyt'ing you say? You have one of dem voices dat makes me feel sleepy."

Angel gave her an annoyed look. "You mean I sound boring?"

She looked up at him innocently, her eyes glinting with mischief. "I didden say dat, did I?" She pouted at him. "You t'ink I would be stupid enough ta tell a vampire dat I t'ought he was borin'?"

"Okay...this is wiggy..." Buffy looked to Giles for confirmation. He – too – was watching the scene with interest and confusion. "Who are you and just what the hell have you done with out Kendra and Angel?"

Kendra drew her attention from the smirking vampire who was towering over her. "We were comparin' stories." She replied, nodding up Angel. "He told me about bein' in hell and I told him about bein' dead."

"And you've been at my bottle of Scotch."

Both the undead Slayer and the vampire looked shocked at the accusation. "We only used it to clean her wounds out." Angel growled in feigned in annoyance. "You must be the only human with no antiseptic lotion anywhere in the house."

"There was some on the shelf above the sink in the bathroom." Giles pointed out dryly.

"Um..." Angel's face split into an unconventional grin, his eyes glinting with devilry. "Looks like my little prank was found out..."

Kendra frowned up at him. "You're tellin' me ye spiked me drink?" Angel gave her an mock innocent drink. "Ye did, diden ya!"

"You said I did." He looked everywhere but at her, biting on his lower lip to stop a wider grin escaping. "Anyway, you were unconscious. I thought dribbling some whisky down your throat might bring you round a bit quicker."

Kendra blinked at him. "Am I drunk, den?"

"Nah." He sat down on the arm of the chair and let her pillow her head against his hip, running a hand over her head gently. "Just relaxed enough not to go completely insane on us." He felt her yawn, snuggle closer. "You wanting to sleep, little one?"

Nodding against his side, she managed to murble. "Mmm-hmm."

"You want me to look after her until we decipher those pages?" The vampire offered. "If the mansion is still deserted, I can look after her up there. No one would suspect it and its quiet enough for her to recover." He half-smiled at his words. "Recovering from death...that sounds kind of strange."

Joyce looked over from her game. "Are you sure it wouldn't be better for her to stay with us?"

"Not if Wolfram and Hart are looking for her." Angel shook his head. "They don't know I'm here and they won't suspect the old mansion. If she had been under their control, they wouldn't have lost her, but since shes free-thinking, they know she'd come to you first for help." He paused, turned to face the sleeping girl. "And I know what she's going through." He added.

"So how will we contact you when we find out anything?"

Angel pulled a disgusted face and dipped a hand into his pocket, withdrawing a small, square black object. "Call me."

Buffy muffled a snort of laughter. "You've got a cellphone?"

"Blame Cordelia." Her ex-lover glowered at her furiously, "Don't know how to work the damn thing, so if you can figure out what the number is, use it." Buffy took the phone from him, finding the number immediately. Angel growled softly. "I hate technology."

Retrieving his jacket, he pulled it on, taking the bundle of pages that Giles had assigned to him and stuffing them unceremoniously in his pocket, before returning to Kendra's side and carefully lifting her up in his arms, her own arms draping around his neck instinctively.

Buffy slipped his phone into his jacket and reached up to murmur. "Don't you be getting my fellow Slayer drunk again. Dead or not, I don't want her to get a hangover at the same time, you got that?"

"Yes, mum." Angel nodded, heading for the door, which Dawn hurried to shut behind him.

Buffy gazed at the panel of wood for a long moment, dragging her attention back to Giles and the abundant wads of parchment and the scraps of musty paper that had caught the Englishman's interest. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Hmm?"

"The papers. How long is it going to take to translate them all?" Buffy repeated.

Giles spread his hands in a shrug. "I-I-I honestly couldn't say." He replied absently, scratching his jaw with the leg of his glasses, a frown furrowing his brow. "There are a great many languages that I- I-I will have to translate..."

"So, until you've figured out how, who, why and what we're up against, Riley and I better be on our guard for any demon people coming to try and get rid of Kendra?" She hefted one of the battle axes from the floor and grinned. "I haven't had a good fight in ages."

Giles had to chuckle softly. He had to be the only Watcher in the world who had been unlucky enough to have three Slayers on the go at once. He wondered what the Council would have to say about the jailed one, the undead one and the rebel one.

Sometimes, the Hellmouth really did the strangest things.

***

Carefully laying the half-asleep girl on the bed that had once been his, he sat down on the mattress beside her, her dark eyes holding his impenetrable gaze. Raising one hand, he ran his knuckles lightly over her bruised cheek.

"Feeling any better?" He asked gently. She was definitely looking better, now that her Slayer healing had kicked in properly. Her cuts were fading away, the puffiness around her eyes reducing rapidly.

She nodded, patted on the expanse of mattress along side her. "Don't leave me alone." She whispered fearfully. "I don't like being on my own again."

Angel nodded, knowing just what she felt. Walking around to the other side of the bed, he lay down alongside her, letting her curl against him for comfort and reassurance, her head resting against his chest, hands clutching his shirt tightly.

With an arm around her shoulder, the dark vampire recalled the nights he and Buffy had ended up napping side-by-side in this particular bed and – although the memories were good ones – he found he no longer thought of Buffy or his memories of her every moment of the day.

Instead, he had somehow ended up with another Slayer sharing his bed.

One who was as vulnerable and weak as he had been when he had been turfed out of hell to continue to do 'good work' until he was deemed good enough to become human. For some reason, it seemed that it was going to be a long time in coming.

Propping his head on his left hand, he stared up at the ceiling and blew out a long sigh. Beside him, the dark Slayer shifted, a shiver passing through her. "Angel?" Her voice was more of a whimper than a word.

Turning his head, he found her staring up at him. "What is it?"

"You won't let dem kill me again, will you?" She whispered desperately, pleading. Her helplessness, the lost expression in her dark, tear-filled eyes settled it. There was no way he could let this girl die again.

"They'll have to kill me first." He promised and was surprised to feel his demon agreeing with his decision. Apparently Angelus rather liked the Jamaican Slayer: her fire, her strength and – unsurprisingly – her undead status appealing to the demon.

Content with that reply, she nestled against him again, Giles' shirt rough against the vampire's hand as he soothingly stroked the girl's back.

***

Her attacker swung out of the shadows, larger than her. Immediately, a flash of silver arced through the air, embedding itself in the still-moving form, which was knocked six feet backwards with the impact of the throw.

Rolling over on her toes, she squatted, wrapped her hand around the handle and jerked the glinting blade free, the innards of her attacker spilling through the torn hide.

A catlike footfall behind her made her whip round, the knife leaving her hand at blinding speed, the dark vampire ducking just in time with a yelp of dismay as the shining blade skimmed across the top of his head.

Balanced on one knee, her breathing heavy, the dark-haired Slayer rested one hand on the floor, inhaling several slow breaths and giving the fallen vampire a weak grin.

"So you're back to full strength I see." He remarked dryly, picking himself up and running a hand through his hair, a shorn lock coming away in his hand, one of his eyebrows arching reprovingly at her.

Kendra shrugged. "I t'ink I could be better." She wandered passed him to retrieve her small throwing knife. "I killed yer punch bag t'ough." She gestured to the sand that had spilled from the ragged tear in the leather.

"You think you could be better?" Angel gave a dry laugh. "All you've done for the last week is train and you damn near decapitated me just a second ago. I think you're doing pretty good for someone who was dead less than two weeks ago."

The Slayer turned her knife in her hands, tracing a fingertip up the blade. "It wouldn't have decapitated ye." She remarked, taking a step towards the vampire. Rising on her toes, she positioned the tip of the blade against his neck and continued to talk clinically. "It would have passed t'rough...comin' out..." She pressed against a spot at the back of his neck. "Here."

"Which would just hurt like hell?" He suggested.

"Oh no." She shook her head, pressed harder against the spot on the back of his neck. "Ye feel dat?" Pain shot through his skull, the pressure hitting the right nerves and muscles with agonising accuracy. He nodded, grimacing. "It would sever dees nerves...ye'd be paralysed from de neck down." A small smile curved her lips. "Den, ye'd be at me mercy." She pushed herself higher on her toes to whisper, her mouth close to his ear. "Both of ye."

Both demon and soul blinked in astonishment. /She knows I'm in here?/ Angelus seemed more surprised than Angel. /You know, Slutty never admitted that I was really in here, but that little bitch there is threatening us both if we get out of hand. I think I'm starting to like the little spitfire. She'd be one helluva torture demon, wouldn't she? All that knowledge.../

Angel didn't need his demon to point out the fact that Kendra was, by far, more intelligent than Buffy had been. Using quiet threats over cheesy puns to gain the interest of some of the fiercest demons in the world.

[She'd never let you back in control, without one helluva fight.] Angel cautioned his less precautious self. [You heard her. She could easily disable us, before we knew...you knew what was happening.]

/Dost my ears deceive me? Is the great wuss speaking to humble little me?/

[You know I'm right about this one.] Angel glanced at the girl who was balancing on her toes by the fireplace, sharpening the blade of her knife carelessly. [You hated Buffy. That was fair. This one is different. This one's a warrior.]

Angelus chuckled. /What is it about you getting attracted to the wrong kind of women? They all try to kill you and still, you wanna get 'em. First there was Darla, then Slutty, then that Faith bitch and now, this one. Must be the danger thing. Unless you just want someone to kick your ass for pleasure./

[You disagree about Kendra?]

/Just wanna know how such a great fighter could be bumped off by Dru./

Angel unconsciously ran a hand through his hair. [That freaky thing she did with her eyes, I guess. That was enough to terrify Darla.]

/Have you heard how mum is doing then?/

[No comment.]

/Just because you have someone else's pants that you want to get into./ Angel arched a mental eyebrow. /Oh, come on, Soulboy. Look at her! After blonde sluts, you've always liked dark girls and we both know it. This one has brains and brawn and the balls to match./

Angel groaned. The day his demon fancied the undead Slayer as much as he liked her had finally come and it was an exceptionally surreal experience.

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