Invitation Mission by Coll

"Looks like the Hellmouth is officially closed for business." Faith said as she walked up to the core Scoobies, gather around the 'once-was-Sunnydale' crater.

Before the words could settle into the group and relief could wash over them, Giles spoke up, "There is another one in Cleveland. Not to spoil the moment…"

"We changed the world," Willow corrected as she stepped up to Buffy and lightly touched the slayer's shoulder. "I can feel them, Buffy. All over. There are slayers awakening everywhere."

"Yes, because the mall was actually in Sunnydale," Giles reminded them. "So no hope in going there tomorrow…"

Dawn put on her best mock shock face as she joked, "We destroyed the mall? I fought on the wrong side…"

"All those stores gone," Xander added to the sarcasm. "The Gap, Starbucks, Toys R Us…who will remember these landmarks unless we tell the world of them?"

"We have a lot of work ahead of us." Giles told them, spoiling their thoughts of carefree days or any vacation plans they might have been making when they stopped the Hellmouth from remaining open.

"I just wanna sleep, yo," Faith announced, playfully shoving Giles although he stumbled a bit more than she meant. "For like a week."

"Yeah, the First is scrunched, so…" Willow agreed before pausing and thinking. "What do you think we should do, Buffy?

"Yeah, you're not the one and only chosen anymore," Faith added before smiling. "Just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?

Buffy doesn't respond, just stares at the crater as the questions and banter fly around her. "Buffy?" Dawn asks quietly. "What are we gonna do now?"

Buffy looks at them, looks back at the crater. Relief finally settling in on her, amidst all the questions and new found possibilities Willow's spell and the closing of the Hellmouth brought, Buffy found a second to let a big smile spread across her face.

The slayer's cover was blown and the alarms blared in her ear, causing a ringing that kept her distracted from her thoughts of escape. She held the crystal firmly in her left hand as her right aimed the crossbow at the only door into the room.

The slayer had to think fast, find some kind of way out of here without having to risk her neck fighting a horde of vampires. The bangs on the door had begun, and she noticed the crossbow begin to shake a little. "Steady hand, steady hand." She mumbled under her breath, trying to keep herself ready for battle.

It was doing any good. Her hand just shook more before the slayer dropped the crossbow, slinging it around her shoulder and scanning the room again.

Bright white, crisp, a couple tables, a filing cabinet, and a safe she cracked to get this crystal. There had to be more, something she was missing. The door broke down, flying into her and sending her on her back.

The slayer pushed the door up with her hands, sending back most of the vampires that had charged into the room. It held them for a moment, but only a moment. In one fluid like motion, the slayer crouched down, gaining some strength, before jumping up and busting through vent and entering the ventilation system.

It was dark and dust immediately flew into her nose and mouth. Not taking the time to cough, she crawled forward. When she felt she was a good distance away, she suddenly realized that she had no idea where she was going.

"So far, so good." She muttered as she came upon another vent. Crawling slowly so that she didn't make too much sound, the slayer peeked her head over the vent, scanning the area below. It was just another room, and it was empty.

Carefully removing the vent, the slayer scanned the room again before jumping down. Looking around, it was another crisp, clean room like the one she stole the crystal from. Well, she didn't steal. She got it from vampires, they're not citizens, so it wasn't stealing.

She walked forward and pulled the door open. She recognized the hall; it was the one she used when she went to the other room to take the crystal. Staying close to the walls, moving swiftly and quietly, the slayer back tracked her steps and headed for the building's exit.

As she neared, she took the opportunity to shove the crystal into her pocket so she could pull out a stake from the bag that was slung over her shoulder. She had it at the ready because, as stupid as she thought vampires were, they had enough common sense to block the exit.

Sure enough, after she ran down a few flights of stairs and peaked through the window at the three vampires milling around the door. It was daylight out, so she had a good chance to dust at least one and bolt outside the door into the safety of sunlight.

That was her plan, until she heard the growls and footsteps pounding down the stairs towards her. "Great." She muttered as she pushed through the door. Right off the bat, she grabbed the closest vampire and shoved her stake through his chest.

As he turned to dust, one of the other vampires was charging towards her. He tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms to the floor. He smiled; thinking that pinning her arms down and twisting her wrist in a way that made her drop the stake was enough to stop her.

It wasn't. She slammed her head into his and then pushed the vampire aside. The slayer kicked herself up and immediately punched one vampire away as the other came up from behind. She tuck rolled out of his grasp, grabbing the stake and dusting a vamp that burst from the stairwell as soon as she was on her feet.

"I don't have time for this, guys," she told them as she kicked one of the now six vampires aside before punching the other in the face. "I'm already late."

She staked the fazed vampire to her left before turning and staking the one she felt coming up behind her. There were four left, but she didn't have time to take them all out. The slayer threw her stake towards one of the vamps. It took it in the shoulder, growling a little but laughing at the fact that it missed and hit his shoulder.

The slayer wiped the grin off of his face when she grabbed her crossbow and shot an arrow straight into his heart. With three left, she decided to screw it and take them on. Her crossbow was automatic, and already had another arrow loaded into it as she turned to her left and pulled the trigger.

Two to go. The slayer didn't have time to wait for the next arrow. One of the vamps was already charging her. As a battle cry ripped from her throat, she swung the crossbow, itself, around and connected it with the vampire's face as she brought her leg up behind her and kicked back the other vamp.

The arrow was loaded, and she fired it at the vampire before her. As he growled and crumbled to the floor, the last vampire jumped on her shoulders and tried to bring her to the ground. She grabbed his arm, however, and flipped him on to his back.

A new arrow had loaded itself into her crossbow. Her legs were on either side of the vampire who groaned looked confused. She ripped the arrow out of the bolt and crouched down before she shoved it into the vampire's chest.

The sun bathed her body and she squinted her eyes. Being in the vamp building for an hour was killer on the corneas. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.

After slipping them on, her eyes began to adjust and the light wasn't so much harsh and more comforting. The slayer had the crystal that the vampires were keeping from them, and she knew they wouldn't be following her out here to get it.

The people passed her by without even looking twice at her. The citizens of Cleveland weren't stupid. They were more educated than the residents of Sunnydale, but they also didn't really talk about it. The fact that vampires and demons existed was there, but it was in the background along with the people who fought them.

Shrugging off the non-looks she was getting, the slayer turned and headed to the garage where her vehicle was parked. It was true, what she said, she was late, but at least the job was done. That's why her head was held up high and she felt like she was walking on air.

Succeeding at a job like that and taking out at least eight vamps was exhilarating. However, with her head held high the slayer wasn't really watching where she was going. The curb ahead was higher up than the rest, and her foot got caught as she toke another step.

When she smacked into the concrete, something rolled out of her pocket and clinked along the pavement. The slayer looked up to see the crystal. As soon as she registered what was going on, she tried to push herself up so she could reach out and grab it, but a pedestrian walked by and kicked it away from her grasp and into the street.

Crawling over to where it fell, a groan escaped her lips as she watched the water on the street pick up speed and take the crystal into the sewer. The slayer heard the plunking sound it made as it fell into the sewer.

"Shit," Kennedy muttered as she slammed her fist into the pavement. "Willow is going to kill me."

It most certainly was not what she asked for. When they had all decided to go to Cleveland after a short rest, they had no idea what would happen there. None of the group knew they would end up starting an 'Academy,' if you will. They didn't know they were going to end up like watchers: the next generation.

It's what happened though, and Kennedy was happy about that because she really didn't know what else to do. She was a slayer now, and that meant a lot to her. Buffy had told them they had a choice, because there wasn't one slayer anymore. Kennedy knew, though, that she couldn't turn her back on her powers. She knew there was darkness out there and she couldn't live knowing that and not fighting. She wanted to do good in the world, help others because they weren't alone anymore.

Slayers were awakening and being granted power every single day, and they had to find them and extend an invitation to join their Academy. Kennedy liked the whole deal, even the invitation part…just as long as she wasn't the one doing the inviting.

Yet, here she was: driving her Wrangler out of Cleveland heading towards some no place town to go find a new girl.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you this," Kennedy replied through gritted teeth. "You can't play the license plate game when you're driving. Not to mention the lack of cars, so…"

Here was the deal: After the crystal incident, Kennedy wasn't really getting any jobs. She hated that. She didn't sign up to the Academy just to sit around and do research, she was a warrior, one of the original potentials in Sunnydale. She had been trained a lot longer than some of the other girls and felt she deserved more respect even though she slipped up.

Willow and Mr. Giles had kinda got the whole Academy idea and started it up, so they were the head honchos. The new watchers, if you will. They delegated, kept up on demonic activity and the awakenings of new slayers.

So, earlier that day, when Willow called her into her office, Kennedy thought that she was finally getting a job. Instead she got the half ass invitation mission.

Kennedy and Willow had talked before the whole Academy really got started and decided that they both needed to be professional and not let their work lives and social lives mix, but she would have thought that Willow would have more faith in her.

They had gone through so much together. Before going to Cleveland, the two spent time together away from the group. They traveled, got to know each other better, and lived like normal people for a while. When they got to Cleveland, things relatively stayed the same. Their relationship was actually going pretty well until the crystal thing.

It was weird. Kennedy was really pissed off at Willow, and sad at the same time because Willow sending her on this mission (which she knows that Kennedy hates) was almost a sign of her belief in Kennedy. Willow was walking on eggshells ever since the crystal, and Kennedy hated being coddled.

She wasn't really sure what was going on between them now. Kennedy yelled, said some stupid things about invitation missions that Willow wasn't happy about. It was their first real fight.

Things between them had gotten shaky before, sure. Mainly because of the whole magic thing. Kennedy never really got it and, during her training before she came to Sunnydale, she never really paid attention to it. The only thing magic ever did for her was make her a slayer, shared Buffy and Faith's powers with hundreds of girls all over the world.

To Kennedy, however, magic was still something she wanted nothing to do with. The negative experiences definitely out weighed the bad. Like that time Willow used her essence to open up the portal that brought Buffy back…not that she remembered that much, or anything.

All she knew was that she was mad, and it hurt her at the same time because she was mad at Willow. Her Willow.

"So, are we just going to be quiet until we get to…" Andrew trailed off, scrunching his forehead as he tried to remember the name of the city they were going to. "That place that we're going?"

Having Andrew there just made it worse. The guy was OK, but he wasn't someone you wanted around when you were mad and going through a time when you just wanted to be quiet and think, "Andrew, you've seen me pissed off before, right?"

He thought for a minute before nodding, "Yeah…I remember you were teaching these girls and you began to spar with one of them. She had no idea how to fight, and she kicked your…well, she kicked you, and you got really mad and punched through a wall…"

Kennedy looked over at him briefly as he trailed off and looked at Kennedy with a fearful kind of respect. "OK, we can just talk when you talk," Andrew concluded. "But, I can tell something's bothering you. If you wanna talk-"

The silence had started to become uncomfortable for her a few minutes after she had snapped at Andrew. Kennedy knew that he had been uncomfortable since he was assigned to go with her. "Sorry," she muttered as she took a hand off the wheel and ran it through her hair. "I didn't mean to snap, it's just…"

Kennedy sighed, not really too sure what it was, exactly, that had her so worked up. "I know," Andrew told her. "You don't like doing this kind of stuff."

"Right," Kennedy said, feeling as if someone was finally getting her point. "You know…I'm almost like one of the originals and then they have me doing this crap? I could be out there stopping darkness or-"

The rant was cut off by Andrew's cell phone. "Oh, it tickles!" Andrew said as he jumped and tried to fish his phone out of his pocket. The ring grew louder and Kennedy listened closely to the ring.

"Is that Britney Spears?" Kennedy asked Andrew who shrugged quickly and answered the phone.

"Andrew here." He said into the phone. Kennedy rolled her eyes at his manner. He was a pretty amusing guy, and Kennedy didn't really have a problem with him, just…him being here on the mission with her.

He listened for a long time before nodding and holding out the phone for Kennedy. She turned and looked at him, raising her eyebrows. "Oh," he said in a duh way. "It's Willow."

Kennedy couldn't help the frustrated sigh that came out of her. She gave herself a moment before grabbing the phone and holding it up to her ear. "Hello." She said without any real emotion.

"Swell," Kennedy replied as she held the phone up with her shoulder so she could turn using both hands. "Do we have an address yet or should I just walk the streets screaming this girl's name?"

There was a pause before Willow answered. "I got the address," she replied quietly. "With the help of the coven-"

"Great, you can tell Andrew all about it," Kennedy interrupted. "I shouldn't really be talking on a cell phone and driving, Willow. I hear it's dangerous."

"Kennedy, wait," she heard Willow call out as she began to pass the phone back to Andrew. The slayer sighed before bringing the phone back to her ear. "Kennedy?"

"Look, I'm really sorry that you don't like this," Willow began, but paused when Kennedy scoffed into the line. "I am…but I don't make decisions like this alone. I know how much you hate this…"

"Obviously you don't," Kennedy shot back. "You know what being a slayer means to me, Will, more than anyone else. You could have tried to defend me a little more, you know?"

The line fell silent, but Kennedy still held it up to her ear and waited for Willow to say something. "We've talked about things like this before," Willow reminded her quietly. "I can't help but think that you're more mad at me than at the decision."

"Look…I'm pissed in case you couldn't tell," Kennedy sighed. "Just, please, tell Andrew the address before we both say something we might regret. We'll phone when we get the girl."

"OK, I just," Willow began, but paused and tried to find the right words. "I feel weird, having you out there and mad at me. Can't we say bye on some kind of nice term?"

"What do you want me to say?" Kennedy asked her, getting Willow's point. Anything could happen out here, even though it was a stupid mission where nothing would most likely happen. Anything could happen there too, so she'd feel really crappy if she were mad at Willow when something happened to her.

Kennedy could almost see Willow's brain trying to think of an answer. "I guess goodbye is fine." She answered.

Andrew smiled awkwardly as he took the phone and got the address of the slayer. Kennedy kept her eyes on the road, trying to focus on anything but Willow. She still wasn't feeling any better because she kinda got the feeling that Willow felt justified on her end of the argument.

Andrew hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket before looking back at Kennedy. He had been staring at her for a while before Kennedy looked over at him. "What?" she snapped before turning her eyes back to the road.

"No it wasn't-" Kennedy began, but cut herself off. She refused to play the nerds game. "What happens between me and Willow isn't really any of your business."

"OK," Kennedy cut him off as she turned the wheel to the left and pulled to a sharp stop on the side of the road. "You really wanna do this?"

"I just think…" Andrew began, but quickly trailed off and looked out his window.

The slayer looked back at him, rolling her eyes at how he just dropped the subject. "What?" she asked, trying to get Andrew to continue. She wanted to know his say in all this. "What do you think?"

Kennedy sighed. "I won't hurt you, Andrew. Just tell me, come on. This is an adult conversation and I want to hear your opinion."

Andrew looked skeptical, but he turned completely and faced her. "OK, I just think," he began. "That, maybe, you should tone down this whole thing."

Hand gestures directed towards the slayer accompanied his statement, and Kennedy furrowed her brow at him. "Eh?" she simply replied.

"You care about Willow," he said, speaking slowly now like Kennedy was a child and he was teaching her a hard math problem. "Willow cares about you. I don't know why you let stupid things get in the way of that."

"Why I let…?" Kennedy began, but paused and took a couple deep breaths. "She sent me on this dumbass mission-"

"Finding slayers and inviting them to the Academy isn't dumb," Andrew interrupted. "It's important. You get to be a part of this whole big thing…who cares if you're fighting demons or finding new slayers?"

The slayer looked at Andrew. She was pretty angry, but right now it was controlled and with each second that passed it got pushed deeper down inside of her. Kennedy thought about Andrew's question for a good minute before chocking out, "I care."

The nerd nodded, as if almost expecting her to say that before firing back, "Is it enough to give up Willow for?"

The anger began to rise again as Kennedy rounded on Andrew. "Who says I'm giving up Willow?" Kennedy asked, a tiny shrill sounding at the end of her question. "We just had a fight. All couples do. We'll deal, and then we'll get through it.

"The way you're going right now," Andrew said as he curled himself into a little ball and tried to push himself as far away from Kennedy as possible. "If you get this kind of attitude every time she tells you to do something you don't wanna do, she'll let you go."

"I have a gift, Andrew," Kennedy told him. "I know I'm not the only one, but…I'm a part of this huge thing and I'm connected to it. I am the slayer, and if I'm not out there killing demons and helping the world…what am I?"

Things had calmed between the two, and now they were both in a civilized discussion. Kennedy wasn't getting angry with Andrew and he wasn't afraid to pry deeper anymore. They both knew there was something more, they just had to touch base on it.

"There has to be more," Andrew responded firmly, not willing to accept otherwise. "Buffy and Faith were more than just slayers, you are too."

"Not so sure, Andrew," Kennedy shrugged. "The only good thing I ever really had is…"

She trailed off, and Andrew kinda turned away, knowing that she just got it. There was more to her than just the slayer. There was Willow. It never registered how much she actually needed the red head until right now. The slayer cursed under her breath at her stupidity and smiled back up at Andrew.

Shaking her head, she clapped Andrew on the back before going to put the car in drive. "You do this on a regular basis?" she asked him.

"Now I know where to go when I need to be kicked in the ass," Kennedy told him as she began to drive down the road. "Who would've thought?"

"Glad I could help you see your insecurities and help you lower that defensive shield you had on level ten," Andrew told her.

Kennedy looked over at him, something registering in her brain. The nerd understood, "I won't tell anyone."

"Good," she replied, turning back to the road. "I wouldn't want to kill you after our little heart to heart."

"OK, I feel like I'm in a horror movie," Andrew told Kennedy before shifting uncomfortably. "This has trouble written all over it with a capital 'T.'"

Kennedy merely arched an eyebrow at the nerd as she looked back up at the house, sizing it up: three floors, Victorian style, a deep shade of blue with those creepy plants growing all over it. "Good," she muttered. "I need some freakin action."

Andrew scoffed and crossed his arms, looking at Kennedy with an offended look on his face. "Hey, I thought the ride over was very action packed."

"Andrew, driving around for an hour, trying to find a bathroom while you hold it in is not action," Kennedy told him with a frustrated sigh. "Now, are you sure this is the right address?"

Receiving a nod in response, Kennedy stepped forward and jogged up the stairs. When Andrew met her up there, she extended her fist and pounded on the door a few times. There was nothing at first, but Kennedy figured it was a big house and someone would come to answer the door in a second.

Five minutes rolled by and Kennedy had knocked several times and still received no answer. "Look like no ones home," Andrew said as he reached into his pocket and got the address out again. "703 Cherry Street in Warren, Ohio. We're at the right house."

Kennedy snatched the paper from his hands and looked closely at it. "Great," she muttered. "We drove two days to the most ironically named east bumble fuck town in Ohio to an empty house."

"I like the name," Andrew muttered which got him a glance from Kennedy before he suggested quietly. "Maybe we should call Willow. I mean, we can double check the address or-"

Frustration took over Kennedy. She lifted her foot and connected it with the door, knocking it down and opening it to them. "Kick the door down," Andrew finished before looking shakily at Kennedy. "This is breaking the law, Kennedy. We shouldn't-"

"Look, I just wanna get home, OK," Kennedy interrupted softly. "We won't disturb anything, just look for her." Not waiting for an answer, Kennedy walked through the doorway, stepping over the now broken door. Without turning she knew Andrew was following her.

After taking one look around the entryway, Kennedy soon realized why no one came to the door. The house was torn apart. If they had planned on ransacking it, they couldn't because everything was either taken or destroyed.

"There might not be anyone to look for." Andrew observed as Kennedy moved forward. Taking the stairs two at a time, Kennedy paused briefly to check out the looks of the second floor. Bunch of big rooms with stuff thrown all over the place.

She jogged up the next flight, reaching the floor where all the bedrooms would be. "You didn't really give the other floors a thorough look," Andrew said as he came up behind her. "If she's here, she could be any-"

"She's up here." Kennedy said, not knowing how she was so sure of this. Kennedy just chalked it up to being a slayer thing. The point was that the girl was here, and Kennedy had a job to do that she wanted to get over with. All the doors were wide open, looking just as well as the whole rest of the house.

There was one door, however, that was shut. It didn't take her slayer senses to tell her that if she was right, that if the girl was in here, she'd be in the room with the closed door.

Being polite and ignoring her desire to break the door down and drag this girl back to Cleveland, Kennedy knocked on the door. It opened immediately, but instead of being met with a girl, Kennedy was met with a baseball bat.

The only thing that seemed to hurt more than a bat to the head was her head slamming into the floor. Her hands instinctively went to cradle her head, and she watched Andrew scamper back and squeal.

The person wielding the bat walked forward, ready to strike Andrew, but Kennedy swept her feet towards their ankles and kicked them down. The person grunted and the bat clattered out of their hands, and Kennedy realized that it was a girl.

Her brow furrowed, and Kennedy knew she had finally found the new slayer. Now, all she needed to know why she was attacked with a baseball bat. "Who the hell are you?" Pryia responded as Kennedy pushed herself into a sitting position.

"OK," she said slowly, following Kennedy's lead before uneasily taking her hand. "But who the hell are you?"

Kennedy got what she was asking, but wasn't sure which way to answer it. Should she just blurt it out or ease her into it? Normally, these girls didn't really know what a slayer was, or anything about demons. They had to be eased into this new world. "I think you know who I am," Kennedy replied, and the look that Pryia gave her she did know. "And I have an offer for you."

"I don't know how much you know about what you are now, what I am," Kennedy started. "But I'm here to invite you to learn more. You have a gift, Pryia, and where I'm inviting you to come you can put it to use."

Mentally, Kennedy was rolling her eyes. The speech that they have to give on invitation mission was pretty gay, in her opinion. And that was saying something. If she was giving this dumbass speech on this dumbass mission, this girl better damn well listen.

Pryia was looking around with wide, shocked eyes. Every creek, or the wind blowing outside, made her jump. Her pale skin looked even more pale and glistened with sweat. Her blond, curly hair was pulled into a messy bun that was falling out. She was freaked, and Kennedy wanted to know why.

"Are you paying attention?" Kennedy asked, snapping her fingers in front of the slayer.

"You wanna take me away?" Pryia asked, looking at Kennedy and holding her gaze for the first time. "Out of this house? Out of the city?"

"Yeah," Kennedy answered, her brow furrowed slightly. "We're inviting you back to Cleveland with us. Interested?"

"Cleveland sounds great," Pryia interrupted as she pushed herself off the floor and went into her room. "You got wheels?"

"Yeah, outside," Kennedy answered, getting up herself and looking back at Andrew who just shrugged. "Look, they give me this speech to tell you so you understand what you're getting into. I don't really like giving it, but other girls always wanna hear it."

"Well, you don't like giving it, and I don't need to hear it," Pryia responded, coming back out of her room with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. "Let's get out of here."

Even though she was getting what she wanted, Kennedy still felt uneasy about it all. She was tired, though. Her and Andrew drove straight through, alternating drives. They could get out of this town, stop at some motel for the night and Kennedy could actually sleep on a bed.

Then again, none of the other girls acted this way. There were always documents about the invitations after a mission, and Kennedy couldn't remember reading one where a girl had no questions what so ever.

The tired side of her won the small mental battle she was having, and she turned and headed for the stairs. "You good to drive?" she asked Andrew when they were outside. He shrugged, and it was good enough for Kennedy to toss him the keys.

She grabbed Pryia's bag and tossed it into the back. Kennedy then came forward and opened the door for the girl. Pryia sat up front, hugging herself tightly and looking around through the cold night as Kennedy climbed in and plopped down in the back. "How bout stepping on it?" she asked urgently, interrupting Andrew's standard pre- driving procedure.

He sighed, looking back at Kennedy for approval. She nodded, not wanting to get into anything because the sleep was suddenly overcoming her. It might have been the fact that she may have a concussion from the bat, but either way she wanted to sleep.

"Where are we going?" Andrew asked once they hit the center of Warren, Ohio. From there, they could get back on the road that led them into the city. Kennedy furrowed her brow, trying to remember if she saw a rest stop or a motel or something along the way.

"Stop at the first place that'll take us for the night," she told Andrew as she stifled a yawn. "I can't go two straight days of driving again."

"Whoa, relax," Kennedy told her, holding her hands up. "We have to stop. Don't worry though, we'll be fine."

The new slayer didn't look so sure as she turned back around in her seat. Kennedy eyed her as she zipped her gray hooded shirt up the rest of the way as the crisp night air whipped her hair behind her. The feelings she was getting from Pryia consumed her mind. Since becoming a slayer, Kennedy had a sort of spider sense, if you will. She had just become more in tune with people and sensing what they're feeling.

About an hour passed before they were out of Warren completely and pulling into some trucker motel a few miles outside of the city. Kennedy hopped out of the jeep, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes but failing miserably.

While conversing with the clerk, yawns interrupted their transaction. His bearded face turned into a smile as he ran her credit card though and looked her over. "Late night, girlie," he flirted. "Wanna nice, comfier bed to rest in?"

"I've got one," Kennedy responded coldly, not in the mood for any come on's tonight. "It's back home with my girl."

The smile on his face only grew bigger as his beer belly rose and fell with loud chuckles. He handed her a pen and paper o sign the receipt before dangling a key in front of her. Kennedy's face was stone, expressionless as she went to take the key, but he moved it out of her reach playfully.

The clerks other hand reached out, extending a card for her to take. "If you ever decide you want something," he looked her over again. "Extra in your bed, something your girl don't have, here's the number to call."

This was just not what she wanted at all, but this guy was just asking for her to teach him a lesson. Kennedy leaned forward on to the counter, unzipping her shirt a bit to give him a nice show. He smiled; leaning forward as well as Kennedy stuck out her leg and ran it up and down the side of his pants underneath the counter. "You think you can give me what I want?"

Kennedy just smiled back before pulling her leg back and connecting it with his crotch. The clerk's eyes went wide and he yelped before he found that no more sounds could be made due to the pain. Kennedy reached forward, a satisfied smile on her face, and snatched the keys.

"Those things are always tricky," Kennedy whispered to him. "They just...get in the way. That's why I don't drive stick, Bubba."

Twirling the key around her finger, Kennedy strutted out to the car and jumped in. She pointed over to their room and Andrew drove over. "We heard someone...yelp, or something inside," Andrew said as he parked the car. "Everything go OK in there?"

"Just made sure that he knew how to treat a girl," Kennedy answered as she grabbed Pryia's bag and handed Andrew the key to the room. "He'll think twice before hitting on anything that breaths and has tits."

"Sleep," Kennedy answered as she repositioned Pryia's bag so it was now slung over her shoulder. "We'll give ourselves six hours, then clear out...head home."

"Whoa, sleep?" Pryia asked with a shrill tone. "No, we have to keep going. You said we were going to Cleveland."

Kennedy eyed the new slayer as Andrew continued to try and open the door properly. Pryia was looking back at Kennedy with wide, scared eyes. Under any other circumstances, Kennedy probably would just drive straight home; but these weren't normal circumstances. She was pissed, and tired.

"And we are," Kennedy told her slowly. "Look, I love my car, but I need a bed. Not to mention I just had to deal with the god of sleaze to get this room...so, deal with it."

The door was barely open as Kennedy pushed past the two and into the room. It was your normal, typical, seedy motel room: two shabby beds, one table between the beds with a bible in the drawer, no doubt, and one bathroom.

She chucked Pryia's bag to her right and headed straight for the bathroom, hoping for a moment's peace to herself...and that it didn't smell too bad. She slammed the door, not intentionally, but Andrew jumped anyway as he walked over to the closest bed and placed his backpack down.

After stretching himself out on the bed, Andrew rested his hands behind his head as he crossed his legs at the ankles. It was an OK bed, a little lumpy, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Is she always so...?" Pryia trailed off as she moved to the other bed and sat down on the edge, looking back at Andrew.

"I was gonna go with bitchy," Pryia corrected, but shrugged. "But, yeah, cold works."

"Not all the time," Andrew told her. "You just have to give her time, get to know her."

Pryia thought about this a second before crossing her legs on the bed and resting her hands on her knees. "Not sure if I'd wanna know her..." she muttered to herself before turning back to Andrew. "So, what's in Cleveland? Um...Kennedy, she said something about an Academy."

"Yeah, place where the slayer's go and get trained," Andrew answered. "Kennedy's a trainer, you might get in her group."

Pryia rolled her eyes. "Fun," she replied sarcastically. "What do we get trained for?"

Andrew opened his mouth to answer, but he stopped and looked at her with raised eyebrows. He went to respond again, but Pryia got a confused look on her face, "Wait...slayers?"

Before Andrew could say anything, Kennedy opened the door and shot daggers at him. He looked back, shrugging his shoulders and sitting up on the bed. "What?" he asked.

Kennedy sighed, "You're on the bed, Andrew. Guys on the floor, girls in the bed. It's gentlemanly, now get off the god damn bed and on the freakin floor!"

"Kennedy, please," Andrew whined. "I want a bed too...Please! We only have five hours and forty five minutes left."

With a heavy sigh, Kennedy kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed. Andrew smiled at her, reaching out to pat her on the back, and Kennedy barked, "Touch me and I will throw you on the ground."

The nerd withdrew and rolled over, curling up on his side so that his back was facing the girls. Before lying back, Kennedy looked over at Pryia who looked away suddenly and at the door.

Kennedy used the opportunity to observe her. Her hair was an even bigger mess than when they left and Kennedy noticed for the first time that the girl's clothes didn't match one bit. The ones she wore were wrinkled and looked like she just grabbed them off the floor. She was stiff too, sitting straight up even though she sat cross- legged on the bed.

It had been at least two hours since they picked her up, and she still looked freaked. "Sorry about that," Kennedy apologized. "Andrew and I have this tendency to butt heads...only this time it wasn't literal."

"It's OK," the girl said, turning back to Kennedy and forcing a smile. "This whole thing...it's just so new. It's kinda scary."

"I know," Kennedy sympathized. "But the Academy helps. You got the power, we've got the training."

The question took Kennedy off guard. She didn't know how to respond, thinking that they had covered this thing back in Warren. Apparently they didn't. "I'm sorry?" Kennedy said, raising her eyebrow and willing Pryia to step forward.

"OK," Pryia said. "All I know is that one day I woke up and I ripped my closet door off its hinges."

"I know I feel...I dunno, it's like I know you. I just don't know why..." Pryia rambled, trying to find a way to communicate how she was feeling but failing. Kennedy knew what she was saying though. She was saying she didn't know anything about being a slayer.

Andrew shushed her from the other side of the bed, but Kennedy ignored him and looked back up to Pryia. "When we left," Kennedy began, pausing slightly so that she could try and grasp the situation. "You didn't care where we were going. You didn't need any explanation."

"There's just some weird stuff happening," Pryia told Kennedy quietly. "The powers were just a start, but then..."

The girl trailed off, and Kennedy had an idea what was going on. They ha experienced cases with new slayers that didn't know what they were and ended up being attacked by vampires.

The only way the head honchos at the Academy could explain it was that it had something to do with Willow's spell. It must have made the new girls like a homing beacon to vamps and demons.

"If something happened, Pryia," Kennedy started off. "I can help. You just have to tell me."

"You wouldn't understand..." Pryia said in a tone that sent chills down Kennedy's spine. The girl was scared, and Kennedy hadn't seen anyone that scared in a long time. She had done a couple of these invitation missions before, but none of these girls had ever looked at Kennedy the way Pryia was looking at her now.

The slayer kept her cool, though. She hardly cracked her exterior for anybody, and she wasn't about to begin with some girl she just met. "Try me."

Pryia froze, staring back at Kennedy with a look of awe in her eyes. To Pryia, Kennedy was fearless, strong, and knew things she couldn't fathom. The girl trusted her more than she ever trusted anyone in her life now, and for a second she didn't care what she was because she knew Kennedy was in it with her.

"Do you know what it looked like?" Kennedy asked, right off the bat. They could be dealing with vampires, who were the ones keen on hunting new slayers, but demons have been attacking too. Kennedy just needed to know what she was dealing with.

Pryia shook her head, getting more and more freaked out as she keeps talking, "It's always been in the dark. Sometimes, I don't even see. He...it, just talks to me. Says what it'll do to me. I don't think it's...human..."

"OK, Pryia, I'm just gonna be straight with you," Kennedy pause, taking a second to smile at her words. "Which you'll find ironic once you get to know me. The powers you have...you have them for a reason. You, me, and hundreds of other girls all over the world were chosen to fight the demons and vampires."

The girl looked back at her and it seemed that she had stopped listening and focused on something else, as if something had struck her. "The who now?" she responded, arching an eyebrow to show her confusion.

Kennedy matched the girl's _expression, not really sure what was going on herself. "Demons, vampires..." Kennedy began. "Anything you think is a monster, that goes bump in the night, they're real. OK, have you ever felt like some things just couldn't be explained? Like there's just something too weird about things that go on?"

"Yeah, who hasn't?" Pryia snorted. "There's always weird things, but I've never met anyone that takes it seriously. Well, until tonight."

"There's evil out there, Pryia," Kennedy told her. "I'm not gonna bullshit you to ease you into something that you're a part of whether you like it or not. The power you have is real, and it's there so you can fight back the darkness."

"This is just a little...hard," Pryia told her as she rubbed her hands together. It was most likely a nervous agitation. "So, whatever the hell this thing is...it's a demon?"

"Could be a vampire too," Kennedy said as she shrugged. "It depends. I mean, I would need as much information from you as possible. Can you tell me anything about what it looked like?"

Pryia shook her head. This was tough, but Kennedy had to give it to her. The girl hadn't completely freaked out yet, and she only looked to be sixteen or seventeen. It was a young age to deal with this, and Kenned had seen girls crack under this kinda pressure since they started the Academy.

"No..." Pryia said, still shaking her head. "No, I can't...There is no way I can fight stuff like that. This is too much-"

"Listen to me," Kennedy began, reaching across the beds and putting her hand over the other girl's. Apparently she wasn't as tough as Kennedy thought she was, but it was fine. The whole other world realization is a lot to take in. "You don't have to fight yet, OK? Not ever, if you want. There are hundreds of us, Pryia, although we can take all the help we can get."

"So that's what you do at that Academy?" Pryia asked. "I'm not...I don't know if I want to know."

Kennedy sighed. "Well, you can't help that," Kennedy told her softly. "You do have a choice, Pryia, OK? But...you know about this, you can't turn away from that. At least come to Cleveland with us for protection. If something comes after you, I'll kill it."

She was doing better, had stopped rubbing her hands together; mostly because Kennedy had physically stopped them, but still. When she looked back at Kennedy, she looked back with hope and confidence she didn't see when she first met Pryia.

The fear was still there, Kennedy could see it clear as day, but Kennedy's new job was to make sure that she felt safe and to protect her so that she lived to make her own choice.

"I've never been more scared in my life than when it talked to me." Pryia said, turning her gaze to the floor and staring at it with a hollow _expression.

"You don't have to be scared anymore," Kennedy told her confidently. "I give you my word that nothing will touch you if you're with me."

Pryia smiled, and Kennedy was starting to understand how important invitation missions truly were. "And I don't have to fight?"

Kennedy shook her head, "Not if you don't want to. For now...just get some sleep."

"Wait, what if..." Pryia began, getting a little nervous before stopping and taking a deep breath. "What if it...tracks us?"

"I know what I said," Kennedy told her, pushing herself off the bed and nodding back to Andrew. "But he's gonna get going in a sec and I can't take his snoring. Besides, I'm not one to fall asleep on the job."

Kennedy grabbed her bag off the floor, slinging it over her shoulder as she made her way to the door. Pryia had grabbed her hand though; stopping Kennedy and forcing her attention back to the girl. That was the first time that Kennedy noticed she had piercing, emerald eyes like Willow's.

For a second, Kennedy got lost in them, missing Willow even more until Pryia spoke. "I want to thank you," she said quietly. "No one has even been this nice to me, ever. Before, when I was getting ready to run, I was...terrified. You made me feel less afraid though. So...I wanna-"

Pryia raised her eyebrows and Kennedy retracted her hand. Hugging herself tightly, Kennedy just shrugged at Pryia who was still looking back with a questioning look. "Not too sure why I said that." Kennedy admitted quietly.

"It's OK," Pryia told her, although she was still looking at her as if she was an alien or something. "I'm sure she's...lucky."

Kennedy nodded, getting more uncomfortable by the minute. If things couldn't get worse, however, Pryia stopped Kennedy again just when she was about to go and sit outside their room. "Kennedy?" she began and continued when Kennedy turned to look at her.

Pryia nodded over to where Kennedy should be sleeping and where Andrew was beginning to snore the night away. "No," Kennedy replied, trying to hold back her laughter from the thought that anyone would be interested in dealing with Andrew. "We're not sure if he...well, Andrew's an enigma. Let's just leave it at that."

Sitting outside of the room, Kennedy felt like she was in some kind of bad horror movie. The motel they were staying at was straight out of a Steven King novel and she was waiting for some demon, or if they really were in a King book an alien or something, to find Pryia so she could kill it.

It was quiet for this time of night. Honestly, she had expected all the trucks to be passing by the major highway on their graveyard shift deliveries. It was creep, and Kennedy wished she were getting some sleep right now.

Truthfully, she didn’t really need it, but Kennedy viewed sleep like a privilege or something. It had been a hard day, even though it was ending with her waking up and realizing what a bitch she had been about this whole mission thing. Pryia was genuinely thankful for Kennedy, which made the slayer feel like going out on an invitation mission could feel just as rewarding as killing a nest of vamps.

She’d also realized how stupid her being mad at Willow was. It was one of the reasons she sat outside. Sure, it was past midnight, but Kennedy turned on her cell phone anyway and dialed Willow’s number.

While it rang, she instantly felt bad and went to hang up…but Willow had picked up and Kennedy suddenly realized that she was just afraid of facing the music. "Hello." The witch greeted groggily.

Kennedy remained quiet for a second, debating on whether or not to hang up. Willow probably hadn’t looked at the caller ID, and it was so late she probably wouldn’t remember. She went to hang up, but only realized that if she didn’t apologize now it was just be harder for her ego later.

"Hey, Will," Kennedy whispered, smacking herself in the head and squeezing her eyes shut as she talked to Willow. "Sorry, I, um, I didn’t mean to wake you…"

"No, no you didn’t…wake me," Willow responded. "Well, in the sense of waking me, you did, but it’s OK. Actually I was worried because you said you were gonna call and I hadn’t heard from you-"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Kennedy apologized. "After we got the girl…well it’s a long story, but things happened. Anyway, we got her, she’s fine, and we’re at a truck stop. We’re leaving in a few hours after Andrew and Pryia get some sleep."

"Yeah, well, that’s where the long story comes in," Kennedy told her. "She has a demon, or something, after her. I’m on guard duty, just in case whatever it was decides to track her."

"Will you be OK?" Willow asked, worry laced in her tone. "You sound tired and I know you weren’t sleeping-"

Silence was all Kennedy got in response, and she wasn’t sure if she should take this opportunity to jump in and apologize. Kennedy had never been used to putting aside her pride, letting her guard down, and saying what she felt.

Luckily enough, Willow beat her to it anyway. "Yeah, about the whole mission thing, Kennedy," Willow began. "I’m sorry-"

"No," Kennedy interrupted. "You shouldn’t be sorry, Willow. I’m…I should be apologizing not you so…I’m sorry."

Another pause before Kennedy heard Willow laugh. Kennedy smiled, but still felt offended. "Hey, still listening," She said to Willow who had began to calm herself. "Why are you laughing?"

"Hello? You just apologized," Willow responded. "I never thought I’d live to see the day where you admitted you were wrong."

"OK, you know this is still hard for me," Kennedy shot back lightly. "But, seriously, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been a bitch about the mission."

"I get where you’re coming from, though," Willow sympathized. "I know how important this is to you. I may not like it sometimes, but I know it’s important."

"Still, I shouldn’t have let my temper get in the way," Kennedy told her. "I feel bad that we left things…how they were left."

"Well, if you’re coming away from this grown and with a better knowledge of the grown up world-" Willow began in a mock lecture.

"OK, Miss Maturity," Kennedy responded. "You know you maybe an old head, but I’m not that much younger than you."

Although her tone had been defensive, Kennedy was happy that they were back to normal and able to joke with each other. Even though she hated fighting and being mad at Willow, Kennedy figured it was something they needed to go through to make their relationship stronger.

"You know, I am twenty," Kennedy played along. "And, if I’m not mistaken, a little more experienced than somebody I know-"

"Oh no," Kennedy replied. "I am not about to piss you off again. I suddenly can’t wait to get home now. Do you know how much I’ve missed you? It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever."

"Well, if you factor in those late night patrols I know you took," Willow began. "I’d say, actual time, it’s been a week. So, after leaving where ever you are, how long will it take till you get back?"

"ETA…a day if we drive straight through," Kennedy responded her. "Which I plan on doing, cause let me tell you there’s a few things that I’ve been…"

Trailing off, Kennedy shot her head up to look at the lot when she heard something, deep and low, coming from somewhere in front of her. She had been a slayer for a little over a year, and Kennedy could still marvel at her powers and heightened senses.

Sure, she could hear everything that was going on in every room in the truck stop, but she had learned how to hone her skill and hear what was important and what was not. The rustle she heard, or growl…she wasn’t sure, wasn’t close.

Close enough to make all thoughts of ravaging Willow get pushed to the back of her mind.

"Sorry," Kennedy said, snapping back to the conversation while still having her sensors on high. "I heard something."

"The whole slayer gig," Kennedy answered, not changing her tone. "Will, look, my slayer senses are tingling. I should go."

"OK, the whole light hearted thing is turning into a me being scared thing," Willow told her. "What if it’s the demon?"

"Slayer, remember?" Kennedy reminded Willow. "Listen, I really have to go. I’ll call you in the morning…well, later in the morning, I swear."

After hanging up the phone, Kennedy slipped it into her bag and pulled out a knife. She hadn’t heard anything though since the first sound. If she were still a potential, Kennedy would have chalked it up to her hearing things.

The slayer trusted her instincts, however, and knew that something was out there. Whether or not it was the thing stalking Pryia or not, Kennedy had another job. Even though she couldn’t hear anything, Kennedy knew that whatever was out there hadn’t left.

Pushing herself out of the chair, Kennedy took a couple steps forward and looked around. Her sight was a little better as a slayer, but she still couldn’t see this thing. She felt it, however.

Something tackled her from behind, wrapping it’s arms around her. She was shocked at first, yelping a bit and instinctively grabbing it’s arms. Whatever it was, the grip around Kennedy’s waist tightened. Kennedy lost her breath a bit and heard her knife clatter to the ground.

With no weapon and her ability to breath becoming more and more difficult by the second, Kennedy allowed herself to panic a little. Although she was in peril, she was able to rule out that this thing wasn’t a vampire. She wasn’t sure that it was Pryia’s stalker, but best-case scenario…

Kennedy yelped again. There must have been horns or spikes coming from it’s arms, because something was now digging into her sides and stomach. Definitely not a vampire.

"Where is she?" It breathed into her ear. The warmth breath sent tingles down her spine. The voice was low, almost like a growl, and it sounded human even though Kennedy knew this was no human.

The slayer was just about to respond, Kennedy had some kind of pun plan, but the thing beat her to it and whispered in her ear, "Where is the little whore? I can smell her, close by. Taking what doesn’t belong, just like whores do."

Not only was this thing wicked strong with a creepy voice, but how he had a sick, woman-hating mind to go along with the package. Kennedy had had enough of that with Caleb; she didn’t need, or want it, now. Kennedy could only imagine what it had been saying to her and for how long now.

According to Willow, she had been recently activated, but that was still a month ago. It just took them that long to find an address and get a team together. They had put a lot of effort into finding Pryia, and Kennedy had just realized how wrong she was about these missions. She wasn’t about to let this thing kill her, Pryia, and Andrew and ruin all the work.

Getting a good hold on the one arm that had wrapped itself around Kennedy’s shoulders, she put all of her strength and weight forward; pulling the demon over her head and on to it’s back.

"Can whores do that?" Kennedy asked before she actually got a good look at the demon. It had a good foot and a few inches on her, and it was covered in slick, blue-green, scaled skin that wrapped itself tightly around it’s muscular frame. There were, indeed, horns and spikes coming from it’s arms, as well as cuts and scratches on her stomach and shoulders.

Kennedy had never seen anything like it before…well, she had because, hello, slayer, but this was different. Demons stalking their victims and talking dirty to them, freaking them out basically, wasn’t on their to do list before they killed them.

Whatever it was, it began to move and was trying to push itself up. Kennedy looked beyond the demon and saw that her knife lay on the other side of the demon’s body. Kennedy couldn’t get to it, not without risking further injury. Sure, her wounds were already beginning to heal, but this demon could cause a hell of a lot more damage than her body could repair.

She began to back up slowly, trying to make her way to the door before the demon realized that she was moving. It sat up suddenly, however, shooting her plan to hell, and snapped it’s head towards her direction.

That was enough for Kennedy to turn and book it towards the door. She opened it quickly and shut it behind her with a slam that woke Andrew and Pryia. As she pushed her body up against the door, pushing her foot against the bed to help her put all of her strength on to the door, Andrew whined, "Hello? People are trying to sleep!"

"Yeah, well people better wake their asses up," Kennedy shouted as a loud thump sounded on the door. Kennedy took the full pound into her body, but she didn’t budge. "Some thing’s out there."

"Oh, God," Pryia whispered, her eyes getting that freaked out look again. "It found me, didn’t it?"

Kennedy wanted, more than anything, to lie to this girl, but the obvious banging and growls from the other side of the door prevented her from shielding Pryia from the truth. "I wish it hadn’t," Kennedy responded. "But you listen to me, I promised you he wouldn’t touch you and he won’t. I’m gonna kill it."

Andrew didn’t budge from where he stood. Instead, he kicked the floor with his foot and bit his lip. "Andrew…" Kennedy growled, not in the mood for any of the nerd’s crap at the moment.

"All the weapons we had were in your bag," Andrew admitted quickly, before quickly adding. "And the Jeep."

Before Andrew could even flinch at her snap, a sword plunged through the door…right nest to Kennedy’s head. She instantly pushed herself off the door, stumbling back into Pryia. After regaining her composure, she pushed Pryia behind her and motioned for Andrew to get behind her as well.

Kennedy merely glared at him, not even dignifying the nerd’s statement with a response. "Yeah and he’s gonna be in here any minute," Kennedy added. "We just need to get to the car so we can drive out of here."

Kennedy turned, shaking her head a bit. "If I fight this thing, and lose, you two are at it’s mercy," Kennedy replied. "I am not risking that."

The sword was pulled out and then the banging resumed. This time, without Kennedy’s strength holding it, the door began to open slightly and nearly came off its hinges. Kennedy had to think fast; otherwise she might not even get the chance to fight this thing.

That’s when it dawned on her. "This way." She commanded as she grabbed both Pryia and Andrew’s hands. She drug them into the bathroom where she wrapped a towel around her fist and punched through the convenient window located in the back of the bathroom.

"We gotta do this quietly," Kennedy instructed as she began to help Andrew get out the window. "We move fast, low, and quietly. The demon’s gonna be working on that door for a few more minutes before it gets in. He’ll check the room, come in here, see the window, and put two and two together. In that time, we have to get the car and get the hell out of here."

"You’re the boss," Pryia responded. Kennedy held on to Pryia’s hand as the girl began to climb up the window. The slayer was focused on her task, but something flashed and it caught her eye. Looking down at the girl’s hand, Kennedy saw a bright, flashy ring on Pryia’s finger that looked familiar to Kennedy.

Pryia had gotten out the window, but Kennedy wouldn’t let go of her hand or break her stare. "Kennedy." Pryia hissed, tugging her hand back. It didn’t work, though, because Kennedy would tug back.

"I don’t think now is a time to discuss where I shop for jewelry," Pryia responded. "Kennedy, we have to go."

"What’s going on-" Andrew said, coming back, but stopped suddenly and interrupted himself. "Oh, shiny."

"What are you talking about?" Pryia asked, yanking her hand away from Kennedy’s grasp. She had finally picked up that she had the slayer strength to do that. It was going to take more than that to stop Kennedy from getting the answers she needed.

That goddamned crystal had put her through hell in the past three weeks and left her sitting on her ass doing nothing, and she was gonna get her answers no matter what. "Three weeks ago," Kennedy began quickly. "I was sent to retrieve that crystal from a vampire building only to lose it the moment I got it."

Kennedy shot a glare his way before continuing, "We had a team check the sewers…they should have found it…how did you get it?"

"Are you sure this is it?" Andrew asked when he noticed Kennedy’s temper rising.

"Do you think I’d forge something that put me through this much shit Andrew," Kennedy replied before turning back to Pryia. "How did you get this? And on a ring?"

Kennedy turned her head to see that the demon was nearly into their room. The plan she had formed wasn’t going to work now; she had wasted too much time obsessing over the crystal. Someone had to stay and stall so they could get to the Jeep.

"Great, talking about my freakin ring is gonna get us killed." Pryia muttered as Kennedy turned her attention back to them.

"No, it might get me killed, but you two…" she trailed off, looking specifically at Andrew whose look showed her that he knew what she was thinking. "Andrew…"

"I know what to do," he replied, not at all resembling the pain in the ass he normally was.

"Don’t worry about me," Kennedy reinforced. "Just worry about getting Pryia out of here. Before you go, drop the weapons and come back in fifteen minutes. If the demons still standing, get back to Cleveland."

He wasn’t expecting that, Kennedy thought when he shot her a quizzical look as a reply. There wasn’t any time to argue or think of anything better, however, so Kennedy shoved Pryia fully out of the window while still keeping her eyes on Andrew.

"You can beat this thing, right?" he asked, his voice shaking a little. "I mean…you’re one of the best slayers, one of the strongest-"

"Whatever this thing is, it’s stronger," Kennedy interrupted. "I might not be able to win."

The situation wasn’t good, and both of them knew it. Kennedy wasn’t good at good byes and she wasn’t even sure what she would say to Andrew if she were. There was only one thing she could think about when she was getting ready to stare death in the face.

"Tell Willow I love her," Kennedy said quietly before pushing him too. "Now go."

Without giving him a chance to reply, Kennedy turned just as the door flew off it’s hinges and fell at her feet. The demon had to duck in to enter the room and looked around. "I can feel her," it said in it’s low, creepy voice. "She’s close."

"You’re not gonna touch her." Kennedy told him before lunging forward and tackling the demon. He was stronger, however, and Kennedy didn’t budge him. Instead, she fell on to her back and felt a little dazed from the impact.

The demon didn’t waste one second of this opportunity. He wrapped his hand around her throat and hoisted her into the air with ease. His eyes scanned her, as if he was looking for something and then stopped suddenly, locking with her own.

Yanking her closer to himself and forcing her hands to reach up and grab his, the demon closed his eyes and took in her scent. He lifted her up and sniffed, smelling every part of her before holding her eye level and staring at her again.

Kennedy was about to respond, assuming she could talk, but he cut her off again, bringing her face close to his own. "You deceived," he told her. "You’re not the whore. You lied, made me think…

Kennedy wasn’t sure about what happened next. She knew he had let her go and somehow she ended up outside the room and lying face down on the pavement with shattered glass fragments littered around her, as well as on her body.

The slayer felt numb, at first, but then was hit suddenly with jolts of pain. She couldn’t move, however, and was left to lie there and endure. Kennedy opened her eyes, blinking at first when she realized something was dripping down the side of her face. The substance traveled into her mouth and Kennedy recognized the copper taste.

Slowly, she lifted her head and looked around. No one had come outside and the parking lot was completely empty. Kennedy slowly brought her hand up to the side of her head, wincing a little at the movement. She felt the blood coming from a cut along her hairline. She also felt some of the shards of glass that had embedded themselves into her head, and no doubt other parts of her body.

Even though it hurt to do so, Kennedy positioned her arms underneath her and tried to push her body up off the ground. She had no strength to do so, however, and ended up collapsing back on the pavement. She could move her head slightly, though, and looked around as best she could to see if she could see the demon.

Kennedy hadn’t been sure if she passed out, but by the looks of things she had and the demon was now long gone, probably trying to track down Pryia. Something wasn’t right about this whole situation: the freaky, stalker demon, Pryia having the ring, none of it made sense, yet Kennedy knew it all tied into together.

She had wanted excitement, it was true, but this was a little too much. The pain began to die down a little and Kennedy managed to push herself up and into a sitting position. She looked down at her body, examining the damages. Her clothes were completely shredded and blood was seeping through from her cuts. It didn’t seem like anything too extensive, nothing a little slayer healing couldn’t cure.

The slayer wasn’t sure what to do next. She was completely stranded and badly wounded. She figured the best way was to at least try and stand, get her body moving, and that’s when she heard it.

A car was driving up. She turned to see, but it was still a good distance away, the sounds and vibrations rung in Kennedy’s ears and she realized she wasn’t focusing on keeping her slayer senses under control. Kennedy clutched her head, wincing in pain and trying to shut out all the noises she was hearing.

The sound wasn’t the only thing hurting. If it were possible, Kennedy could swear that her wounds weren’t healing, but in fact tearing themselves open and causing more damage.

Not being able to support herself, Kennedy crumbled to the ground again just as the car pulled up nearby. "Kennedy?" someone called. The voice echoed and sounded far away. Kennedy peeked her eyes open and saw Andrew…a fuzzy, blurry Andrew, but no other human being had hair that stuck up straight like that.

"Some…s-something’s…happening…" Kennedy managed before it became too difficult to speak. She closed her eyes again, trying to focus on anything but the pain and the sounds ringing in her ears. She felt her body being touched as Andrew and Pryia conversed.

"She’s not," Andrew responded. "Some things not right though. It’s like she’s lost all of her slayer powers or something. Kennedy’s not healing."

"We have to get the hell out of here. That thing probably was following the car. It’s gonna come back when it realizes we doubled back."

"Kennedy wouldn’t leave us. I‘m not leaving her. She’s…jeez; she’s sweating all over. Feel her head."

Even though she was nervous, Pryia knew Andrew was right and put her hand on Kennedy’s forehead. She was heating up; but, out of nowhere, a scream was torn from Kennedy’s throat and she smacked Pryia’s hand away from her.

With strength Kennedy didn’t know she had left, she snapped her eyes open and scampered away from Andrew and Pryia. Her hand instinctively went up to her head, where Pryia had touched her. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"I-I was just trying to help," Pryia began, even though Kennedy’s eyes had shifted and focused on the ring. "Andrew asked me to-"

"It’s the crystal," Kennedy muttered, inadvertently interrupting Pryia. "It’s responsible for everything. The demon, whatever’s happening with my powers, the new it hurts when it touches me thing…that’s the only explanation."

"Whoa, if this is for real, if this crystals affecting you, we have to get back to Cleveland." Andrew said immediately, although his tone suggested he wasn’t too sure about Kennedy’s theory.

Pryia shook her head at the same time. "That thing is still following us," she reminded them. "Once it sees our that we double backed, it’ll come here. You have to kill it."

"No, I have to get the facts straight first," Kennedy insisted, shaking her head. "When, exactly, did you get this?"

Kennedy pointed to Pryia’s ring, sending the girl’s gaze down to the crystal. "A week ago." She answered quietly.

"I don’t know," she answered, still in a low voice. "My parents got it for me. They’re always away on business. They guy me stuff and thinks it makes up for the fact that they’re not there."

A sigh escaped from Kennedy as she looked up at Pryia. The girl was hiding her eyes that were most likely beginning to tear up. Kennedy could relate. Her dad wasn’t really Mr. Availability either.

Deciding not to dwell, Kennedy kept pressing on, hoping something would strike her or Pryia. "You don’t know where they got it?"

She shook her head, and Kennedy cursed under her breath. That route was a dead end; Kennedy had to go a different way. "OK…" she began, still thinking things out in her own head. "When did the demon start stalking you? When did it make first contact?"

The girl’s brow furrowed in thought before something dawned on her, causing her eyes to widen and her mouth to drop. "After my parents left…"

"Bingo." Andrew said with an overly dramatic and dark tone, even though there was no need for it and he was most likely trying to make things sound more serious than they were for the moment.

Kennedy glared at him before turning her attention back to thinking. This was good, they knew something about this crystal, now they just had to put everything together and make it fit.

It was hard, and Kennedy took a second to appreciate the people who did research back at the Academy. "It’s a demon magnet." Andrew said, going along with his goofy thinking and interrupting her train of thought.

"The vamps wanted me to get it," Kennedy thought out loud. "They probably got it back after I lost it and set Pryia up to get it…"

"It’s your kryptonite." Andrew muttered, not even in the conversation Kennedy was having found that slayer kryptonite was far more interesting.

"Andrew, shut up…and if you mention anything else that remotely sounds like it’s from a comic book, I will end you!" Kennedy warned before something dawned on her. "Wait…weren’t you on the research team for this?"

The nerd got a little nervous before slowly answering, "Yes…but I think you should know-"

"Where’d you get the information?" Kennedy asked, interrupting Andrew who continued talking over Kennedy, saying, "-that I had those things I’m not supposed to mention tucked inside the ancient books we were reading."

Upon comprehending Andrew’s words, Kennedy sighed at the typical Andrew fashion of flaking out and rubbed her temples. "You don’t know anything, then?"

"No, I know why we wanted it," Andrew replied defensively. "Willow said it could be used to detect demons and it would help us find them in a city as big as Cleveland."

"OK, we’re getting somewhere…" Kennedy said, even though she was honestly frustrated. "Where did Willow get the information that told her about the crystal?"

"Andrew, focus!" she shouted, hoping that something would wake up inside of his head. "I know Willow. If she gave a report, or a briefing of some kind, then she cites her source. It’s one of her…things."

Taking a moment…a very long and completely overdrawn moment, Andrew stroked his chin and furrowed his brow in thought. Kennedy’s foot unconsciously began to tap in frustration, but the slayer took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

Right now, Andrew was her only hope to piece together this mystery. "Oh," Andrew said suddenly. "She said she was tipped off…"

The nerd took some more time to think and Kennedy tried to keep calm again. "It was a local source," he responded slowly, voicing his thoughts. "Oh, um…she said…they knew someone, a contact Willow knew, that’s why she listened, why we researched."

"Dammit, they completely set us up!" Kennedy shouted, all of her anger and frustration coming out. "They wanted a slayer to get it. The things a demon magnet and sucks the power from a slayer that’s in contact with it for too long."

"Wow…they’re strategists," Andrew marveled, but shrugged when Kennedy glared at him. "What? I was evil! Probably would’ve been victorious if the Trio had that kind of planning…"

"What!? No?" Pryia answered immediately. "M-my parents gave this to me. Now that I’m in this crazy world I probably won’t see them ever since I never saw them that much anyway."

"Look, I’m sorry about that…trust me, I can relate," Kennedy said sympathetically, but this was more important. "But that thing is killing me, draining our powers, and it turned loose a demon on you, and who knows how many others? You’re a freakin magnet, Pryia!"

Well, this is new, Kennedy thought as she arched an eyebrow and merely responded with, "Eh?"

"OK, new hurdle…no time," Kennedy said. "Pryia, I’m sorry, but that’s killing me."

The girl’s eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and Kennedy could see herself clinging to something her mother gave her before she died. Pryia was scared, pretty much alone, and this crystal was all she had.

Kennedy wasn’t about to take it away from her, but her powers were still being drained.

"Oh! I have a led box!" Andrew announced as he pushed himself off the ground and scampered off to the Jeep, retrieving his box. He came back and, sure enough, plopped a led box down in front of Pryia.

"Andrew…why do you…just, why?" Kennedy stammered, racking her brain to try and come up with an explanation for Andrew’s possessions.

"Or…you saw it on Smallville and decided to find one on eBay?" Kennedy guessed.

"That is so not why I…" Andrew began defensively before narrowing his gaze to Kennedy. "Wait…how would you know that?"

"You know what? We have one and that doesn’t matter," Kennedy responded, opening the box and holding it to Pryia. "Pryia…?" After a minute, the girl sighed and pulled her ring off. She looked down at it one last time before putting it in the box before Kennedy snapped it shut.

Kennedy smiled, trying to convince herself that this will work, "Well, if this does work, because the crystals not really kryptonite, that demon thing will stop stalking you, I’ll get my powers back, and we can go to Cleveland."

"I don’t know," Kennedy answered honestly. "But we’ll think of something. The pain, though, it’s…um, it’s dying down. I feel like I’m healing."

Andrew nodded as he grabbed the box from Kennedy and admired it. "I knew this would come in handy," he said to himself before looking up at Kennedy. "So…should we go home?"

"Very much so, yes," Kennedy answered, laughing a bit as all three of them pushed themselves up off the ground. "I knew these missions were a bad idea."

"I thought you wanted action and stuff." Andrew said knowingly, nudging Kennedy a bit.

Glaring, Kennedy pushed him back, sending him a few feet away from her and causing him to wince as they all headed for the car. "The kind of action where I win," she corrected him. "This just pisses me off."

They had entered Ohio not nearly soon enough for Kennedy’s taste. Apparently, the box had worked and Kennedy was, more or less, healed of her vital injuries. Some of the cuts scarred, she couldn’t stop that, but Kennedy must have had some broken ribs because she felt her bones mending themselves.

Looking at herself in the rear view mirror, however, never made her appreciate her powers more than she did before. Tiny scabs were scattered over her face from where the shattered glass cut her, as well as a huge gash with surrounding bruises on her left temple. She was lucky it wasn’t worse.

Kennedy had no powers, whatsoever, when she attacked that demon while Andrew and Pryia ran; if it hadn’t been for the same crystal that was stealing her powers also attracting the demon, the thing would’ve stayed and taken care of her…killing her.

Not being able to look at her scarred, bruised self anymore, Kennedy turned her attention elsewhere and began to space while her hold on herself tightened. Thinking about how close she had come to death also made her think about what she had said to Andrew before they left.

The words echoed in her head. Her and Willow were coming up on a year in their relationship now. They had just gotten past their first real fight, dealt with working and living together while still learning about each other, and a lot of other things except for love. Kennedy had never thought about how, specifically, she felt about Willow.

It was more than attraction; Kennedy knew that much after the first night they’d made love. She never saw the reason to evaluate her feelings, however. She was happy during the time they spent together before the Academy was formed and started, and Kennedy never felt the need to evaluate why she was happy.

The slayer’s life wasn’t a good one. She had periods of happiness before she’d lose people she’d love and have to relocate. Not just lovers, either, but her mother, Cedric, her watcher, they were close with her and then died on her.

Kennedy began to suppose that reason was why she never stopped and thought about what Willow meant to her. People close to her died…and Kennedy did not want Willow to die.

These thoughts soared through her head when she had called Willow and told her about what happened after they’d begun driving. Naturally, Willow freaked, especially when Kennedy quickly told her about the losing of her powers and being thrown through a window.

"I’m so sorry, sweetie," Willow had said when they talked, her tone filled with worry. "I should have looked into it more. I shouldn’t have sent you or let work come between us. Goddess, I shouldn’t have-"

Willow kept going for a while before Kennedy had to cut her off and assure the witch that she didn’t hold anything against her.

Now, all she wanted to do was get home. While Willow was breaking down, all she wanted to do was hold her and tell her how much she loved her. If Kennedy wasn’t sure how she felt before, talking to Willow definitely confirmed her feelings.

The slayer had nearly died recently, and all she was thinking about was how she never let Willow know how she felt. Kennedy debated telling Willow over the phone, but this was something she wanted to do in person, despite how scary it was.

"Are you OK?" Andrew asked, snapping her attention back to the rear view mirror where Andrew’s eyes were staring back at her own.

Kennedy shrugged, "Physically I’m doing pretty good. Looks like that box did the trick."

"I knew you’d like my box," Andrew said as his eyes shifted from Kennedy to the road.

"I’m just gonna pretend you didn’t say that," Kennedy muttered before continuing. "Pryia asleep?"

Andrew nodded, looking over at the sleeping slayer. "Yeah, she seems to be doing pretty well, considering…everything," Andrew said before getting serious, which was something Kennedy wasn’t that accustomed to seeing. "Also, when I asked if you were OK, I didn’t just mean physically."

Instantly, Kennedy knew he was talking about what she had told him to tell Willow. "What do you mean?"

"Something tells me that you never told Willow that you loved her before," Andrew said, cutting directly to the chase. "Am I right?"

"You know, before we have our latest heart to heart where you’ll, no doubt, make me see the errors of my ways, I have to ask: are you, like, two different people or something?" Kennedy laughed.

"No, I haven’t told her," Kennedy admitted quietly. "I didn’t even realize it until I was about to fight that demon. I just…it popped into my head that I might lose and I had…I made you promise me that you’d tell her."

"Well, now that you know and you’re still alive…" Andrew began, but Kennedy just sighed. "OK, what?"

"It’s not that easy, Andrew," she responded. "In a way, this is the scariest thing I ever faced. I mean…I have never felt this way about anyone before and I don’t know what to do."

This was the question she avoided when she thought about telling Willow how she felt. Millions of scenarios ran through Kennedy’s head. Willow laughing in her face, Willow being uncomfortable every time she saw Kennedy, Willow being so happy about it, Willow saying I love you back…

The slayer didn’t know what she would do if Willow would reject her. Sighing, Kennedy looked up and was met with Andrew’s waiting eyes in the rear view. "Sorry," she muttered. "Didn’t mean to space…"

"You want a list of the worst things that could happen?" Kennedy chuckled, trying to laugh her fears off. "Look, I know I gotta tell her…it’s just going to take a lot of courage. I’m not sure I’m strong enough."

"Silly, silly, Kennedy," Andrew sighed, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. "Have you not realized you’re one of the strongest slayers? One of the most experienced?"

Kennedy scoffed at Andrew. "Yeah…in slaying," Kennedy retorted. "When it deals with emotions and relationships, I’m totally clueless. I’ve never…loved anyone before. Not romantically anyway."

"You know, these things never work out well…" Andrew began, continuing after seeing the confused look on Kennedy’s face. "I mean, the whole ‘I-love-you-but-I’m-not-going-to-tell-you-because-I’m-too-afraid’ stuff. I’ve seen it before, I know what can happen."

"Well, I knew these two people," he began. "And they loved each other, they did. It was like they were meant to be, but the one person was different and scared of showing himself to her. Saying he loved her would mean he had to expose his true identity. He was afraid she wouldn’t accept him and that everyone would find out who he was. So, he built a wall up, never revealing his emotions. One day, however, he had to show her how much he loved her by saving her life and risking his identity-"

Andrew gripped the wheel nervously even though he said, nonchalantly, "From…Roswell…"

With a deep sigh, Kennedy shook her head. "Does all of your advice stem from TV shows?"

"No," Andrew shot back defensively. "Some…come from movies…but it was a great show…Damn TV executives…"

"Look, I get it," Kennedy changed the subject. "I’ll tell her when we get back, OK?"

"You know, all TV show talk aside, you really should tell her," Andrew concluded. "I mean…everyone likes to hear I love you."

"OK…" Kennedy began, nodding her head before her brow furrowed and she looked back at Andrew. "So, what show was that from?"

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Invitation Mission

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