Friday was out patrolling. She was with a group of friends - if reluctantly. She was still convinced that it was her fault that Lilly died and nothing anyone would say to her was going to convince her otherwise. The head doctor even took the liberty of showing her the statistics that anyone on a patrol with Friday was actually less likely to be injured, hence why she was always moved around from group to group. Friday's reponse was to say that she had obviously made up for it by getting Lilly killed.
There seemed to be no convincing her. But there was no way she was going to be allowed to patrol on her own, and that was final.
Tonight she was with Gwyn, Carlee and Suzie.
"What about an Olympic sized pool of water?" Suzie was asking.
"I have never created that much water in one go before," Gwyn replied. "Let alone try to bless it all."
"But do you think you could?"
"I don't know. I don't expect I'd have any reason to."
"But what if it was a swimming race for vampires?"
"Well..."
"Why would vampires have a swimming race? They're demons," Carlee cut in.
"I don't know..."
"Just because you're the Olympic swimmer..."
"I like swimming."
"Shush!" Friday cut in, waving a hand at them.
The three girls looked at each other, sharing a 'here she goes again' expression.
Friday crept forward cautiously, and frowned, then smirked. She gestured for them to join her.
"What is it with these guys and nesting around here?" Carlee said in a low voice, frowning at the sight. "I mean, hello, there's a freaking slayer school on their doorstep."
"Well, there is a hellmouth here. That would be the reason why the school is here," Suzie pointed out.
"Why don't we just take it down?"
"Destorying a hellmouth is no mean feat," Gwyn replied. "Besides, they have an annoying tendancy to crop up elsewhere."
"Sometimes the demons like to get together to take down the schools here too," Friday pointed out. "Like the dance a few months back."
The girls were silent for a time as they surveyed the vampires.
"It won't be long before they smell us out," Friday said finally.
"Can you like, spray them all with Holy water like you did at the dance?" Suzie asked Gwyn.
"My range is limited. And a drop of Holy water will burn them, but not neccesarily kill them."
"Oh."
"Whatever," Friday cut in. "Gwyn, you take the left. Suzie, you're the right. Carlee, you're with me. On my mark.... Mark!"
The four moved into the fray, using the advantage of surprise. In the few minutes it took for the vampires to register what was going on, half their number was taken down.
*Hello again* said a voice inside Friday head.
"You!" Friday exclaimed, looking around for the telepathic vampire.
*Hmm, oh, don't worry, you're not going to find me.*
Friday stabbed the nearest vampire with her sai-stake.
"I'll kill you!"
*Not if you can't find me, you won't,* the voice chuckled. *You know the best part about this? I could freeze you and your little slayer friends at any time, and you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. You'd all be dead.*
"Which just proves that vampires have no honour. We'll killing all your little vampire buddies, and you're just letting us."
Gwyn sprayed another vampire closing the distance between then, and finished him off with a stake through the heart.
*They're no friends of mine. Unlike... what was her name? Lilly.*
The last of the vampires died. Suzie, exhausted, panted for a time.
"You killed her, you bastard."
Carlee looked at Friday with a confused expression on her face.
*No, you did,* the voice taunted.
Friday felt all this unreptentant rage fill up inside her.
*It's Black Friday, Friday Black,* the voice went on. *Unlucky name for an unlucky girl.*
"Unlucky? Unlucky!" Friday exploded, causing all her companions to stare.
"Friday?" Gwyn asked.
Friday's pain-filled eyes met Gwyn's concerned ones. The rage started to fall away and a smirk crossed her face.
"Speaking of girls, have you managed to turn yourself back into a boy yet? Or haven't you found a witch who'll accomodate you?"
Silence.
"You haven't have you? You're still a gi-irl," it was Friday's turn to taunt. "And I'm the only one you know who can change you back. Well, I'm not going to. Because if I ever see you again you bitch I will kill you. You understand? Kill you!"
*Day. I may call you Day, right?*
"No."
*Day,* the voice persisted. *My name is Dylan. Remember it. We'll meet again, I promise you.*
The voice seemed to fade out at that point, and Friday knew she was gone. It was not that she registered the looks on Carlees' and Suzies' faces.
"You know that vampire telepath we encountered a couple of months back?"
"The one that killed Lilly?" Suzie asked pointedly.
"Mmm-hmm," Friday nodded. "He - she, sorry, felt like having a chat."
"You mean she's here? Well, we should go get her! Teach her that no vampire gets away with murdering our friends!"
A glint appeared in Friday's eye that Carlee hadn't seen in months.
"She's not here. I think she was at the edge of her range."
"What makes you say that?"
"The quality of the contact," Friday said.
"Could she have been tricking you?" Gwyn asked.
"I suppose it's possible. But in any case, she's certainly not here any more. However, even if she was, I think it would be unwise to go after her now."
"How so?" Suzie frowned.
"Well, for one thing, she can prevent us from moving. She must have a way of blocking the signals going from our brain to our body. But one distraction and she can loose her grip, so I'd say she needs to concentrate to keep us frozen," Friday frowned, deep in thought. "This will take a lot of planning, yes it will. No foolhardy stuff here."
"Plans that she can just pick out of our heads?" Suzie pointed out.
"We'll find a way around that," Friday said determindly. "We will."