"Selene" said Michael, and she only moved her eyes to the door.

Demons were everywhere. And they all noticed the slayer walk in. Amazing how many of these demons looked human, but they stopped smiling and trying to look drunk as soon as she walked in. They all looked at each other nervously.

However the Lycans in the room ignored her, and kept in a knot in the VIP section in the corner, watching them. Selene had ignored them the whole night. The meeting was tomorrow.

"She's early" said Selene, smiling slightly

Buffy ignored the shifting demons, and headed straight over to Selene and Michael. She hugged them both (Selene managed to return it, despite it feeling awkward) and sat down to get a drink.

"My sister's going to go crazy when she sees the mall they have here" she laughed above the music

"So where are you staying?" asked Michael

"A watcher's place," said Buffy, accepting her drink with a smile at the barman, "it's near the cathedral"

She then noticed Michael and Selene both having drinks

"The barman knew we're not human," explained Michael, "we didn't even have to order"

"What do you know of someone called the Immortal?" asked Selene, and added "The barman told us our first drink was on him"

"House rules" added Michael sceptically

Buffy frowned a little and shrugged, but her eyes were still on the drinks "Is it... you know...?"

"Yes, it's just blood," said Michael, but there was a lot of it left, "and a little preservative"

Selene hadn't drunk hers at all. Their shallow conical glasses made the blood look like a cocktail, even with an umbrella in it.

"Who are the butcher boys?" asked Buffy, not even looking at the Lycans

"Guillo said they were our bodyguards" said Michael, grinning

"Graceful host" said Buffy, raising her eyebrows

Selene smiled, and then set down her drink, and went over to the Lycans

"She's telling them we're going" said Michael, draining his glass

Buffy nodded, watching Selene negotiate with the man at the rope barrier,

"How's her optimism?" she asked

Michael smiled "she's getting used to it"

It's been six months, thought Buffy, a little irritably. Michael stood as Selene came back they walked out of the bar, pausing only slightly as Michael had to prise a young girl off his chest as she babbled Italian flirting in his ear. Selene rolled her eyes and Michael, slightly sheepish, put a hand around her waist as they struggled out through the mass of mixed humans and demons pouring in.

"How is everyone?" asked Selene once they were outside, Buffy noticed she had linked hands with Michael. It was the most obvious she'd ever seen them behave as a couple.

"They're good, Willow and Kennedy are in Ireland doing a magic thing and trying to talk to the Lycans there"

"They don't have to do that," said Selene, "we were going to get round to them after we'd got Italy, Belgium and Finland"

"We all saw your face when you talked about them and we know you don't scare easily" said Buffy, "she says it's going slowly, but they've stopped yelling in Irish when she goes near them, they're even starting to listen"

Selene raised an eyebrow and Michael let out a single chuckle.

"Dawn is finishing school; she's getting an English accent and knows more ancient languages than I think any school-age kid should, so she's our Giles-ette now"

"Giles-ette?" asked Michael, who remembered him from Germany but they hadn't spoken

"My watcher, I never told you that? We stayed in his friend's house in Germany"

They nodded. It was a shortened but completely identical nod. Buffy had forgotten they did that.

"Giles and Dawn are starting this 'Slayer Camp' thing, I just drop in to exchange Slayer-ettes and keep on travelling"

"Slayer-ettes?" asked Michael, smiling

"Well, they're not really slayers," said Buffy, "not until they had some Watcher-and-Slayer-time and have lots of lectures on duty, and also learned about weapons, fighting and how to drive Giles crazy"

"One and a half watchers against dozens of slayers," said Selene, "I'd prefer Ireland"

Buffy eyebrows shot up "That's what he said"

Michael snorted

"It's not just him anyway, older slayer-ettes help out, and the grads come back to get them experience"

"The graduates?" asked Selene, quietly dismissing an idea of going to visit this place

"Slayers who've been through an apocalypse"

Michael and Selene gripped each other's hands a little tighter and exchanged a glance; there were now worse fates than being an immortal...

"So how about you guys?"

"We were in Germany for a while after we left you," said Michael, "we found Daniel, he's doing a good job, and we think he might even be Lucian's son, he looks like him, he was born a Lycan, and his dad wasn't actually his dad. After that, we found out vampires have been turning as many as they can and we had to stop that, which brought us way into Normandy and had to get them to make a coven instead of hunting in groups..."

Buffy saw half the story in their faces and eyes. It was the look people get when they seen when power corrupts and/or drives people crazy, and their eyes said it had gone all the way wrong. They'd most likely had to kill the worst ones and had had to explain to the rest what was actually happening to them, there might even have been mercy killings for the really innocent, crazy ones.

Buffy and Faith had had to drop everything and fly over to the L.A airport to collect a crazy slayer the slayer-ettes and Andrew had prised off Angel. The girl now was on a mass of medication on top of her training, but Giles wasn't sure she'd ever be stable enough to be a 'graduate'.

"... so now the Lycans in Russia are looking after them, which is the strongest link we have in the alliance"

"That's great" said Buffy

"Nothing teaches you about hope better than teaching it to other people" Selene said, only looking at Buffy sideays

"Speaking of teaching," said Buffy, as they had stopped outside a townhouse, "there's," she caught a crossbow bolt out of the air, a few inches from landing in Michael's shoulder, "some people," they each caught another out of the air, "you need to meet"

At which point Buffy looked up behind her shoulder at the only open window and called

"I'm standing here talking to them, doesn't that mean anything?"

Once inside Selene and Michael took off their trench coats (Selene had ditched the old jacket at the first opportunity) and ignored the three girls standing down the hall all armed with various weapons. One included Selene's UV-round gun.

"God, stand down," said Buffy wearily, brushing past them into the kitchen, and then called "if you guys are hungry we have O Negative!"

The slayers stood out of the way as they walked past into the kitchen. Selene neatly took her gun back as she passed.

"I got it from a friend of Matt's," said Buffy, putting two mugs on the counter and emptying half a blood pack each into them, "he said it's free range, which I think means its fresh, but from him it might mean he got some volunteers and practiced some voodoo-who-joo on them before sending off what he didn't need... Girls, will you just sit down!"

The three slayer-ettes grudgingly took seats at the opposite end of the table. Selene knew by looking at them that two were from the UK and one from the Middle East. Women used to wearing a niqāb face-covering have a way of expressing themselves very clearly using the eyes alone. Plus there was a tan line, however faint.

Buffy put the blood in the microwave (on low heat) and pointed at the girls, "Shauna, Rosheen and Fatwa"

Shauna and Rosheen were identical twins, except Rosheen had finer, reddish-brown hair as opposed to Shauna's darker brown. They fixed Michael and Selene with unfriendly glares whilst Fatwa seemed to be more curious than murderous.

"Guys, they're not demons," said Buffy, prodding Rosheen so she was pushed into Shauna's shoulder, and got the blood from the microwave, "well, we're not sure what they are"

"It's not like you're offering tea though, is it?" said Shauna, looking behind Rosheen at Buffy

Buffy raised an eyebrow

"When I tell you they're okay, you can trust me" she said with a tone that dared her to argue

Rosheen nudged Shauna and they were both quiet. Fatwa watched them take a sip from their mugs and smiled slightly

"You manage to keep it off your mouth" she said

"With practice" said Michael, grinning back. Fatwa hesitated at his answer and seemed unsure what to do

"It must be difficult to come from such a traditional background and suddenly become a slayer" said Selene quietly

"It is a lot to adjust to," said Fatwa, "I was studying medicine in Bristol University when it happened, and suddenly I couldn't stay as I was"

"You stopped believing?" asked Michael

"No... I couldn't hide myself from men because they demanded it for respect"

"Imagine, one day, thousands of Slayers' worth of memories telling you that the only thing you were afraid of was death, and you were going to die violently like all the others had, and then try putting that face-cover thing on" said Buffy, who was now leaning back with her feet up on a chair on Michael's side of the table. She was bang in the middle of the large table, facing the two immortals. Selene saw the effortless leadership in her; she was used to using everything from her words to her body language to tell others what was happening. She saw Rosheen's expression relax a little and Shauna's shoulders tighten.

"Are you two the only slayer twins?" she asked them

"The only slayers in Ireland" said Shauna with a little pride

Selene frowned slightly and looked at Buffy "How do you know that?"

"Willow has this thing, she knows where all slayers are" Buffy explained

"What exactly happened to Willow?" asked Michael, "You say she did a spell to make all slayers become slayers, or whatever, and now she's connected to them all?"

"We're not sure," said Buffy sighing, "Kennedy said she looked like some kind of goddess for a second when it happened, y'know. Glowing and all the jazz, and she does know where all slayers are, and she can connect to them like she did..." there was a little pause, "in Germany... she couldn't have done that so easy with anyone else, with regular people"

Selene's eyes narrowed

"She held up a building by using her magic, and I was told she located us underneath it"

"She's something like a goddess" said Buffy, and then frowned, "although I dunno if that makes me one of her subjects or something, I don't do subject well"

"I think she knows you well enough not to expect it" said a man, walking into the kitchen.

"Carlos, Selene and Michael; guys, that's Carlos" said Buffy, waving a hand casually

"I'm happy to receive more guests" said Carlos, nodding at the two. He had a naturally warm expression

"We're not staying, we're..."

"They're gonna be here for a little while," said Buffy quickly, "just like a week or something"

"Giles was on the phone a moment ago," said Carlos, putting his mug in his coffee machine, "he has begun hinting at my taking a few slayer-ettes on to teach slaying"

"What happened to the grads helping?" asked Buffy

"Faith has appeared again, with new slayers from Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and all the islands around that area; fifteen of them."

Buffy let out a big sigh and closed her eyes, leaning her head on the back of the chair

Selene and Michael just looked at each other and then at their mugs.

"This is just like Faith..." muttered Buffy

"Who's Faith?" asked Shauna

"One of the slayers who got through the Big Bad," said Buffy in a weary monotone, getting off her chair, "she's the most experienced we've got and the biggest pain in my ass, I'm gonna call Giles"

Selene and Michael watched her go, and just as Buffy walked through the door she called

"And be nice!"

Carlos sipped his coffee and smiled slightly at the awkward group at his table.

He'd been a lonely watcher/bachelor for years and was suddenly being invaded by half a dozen beautiful women.