Chapter Two

"Apocalypse"

India walked into the hotel suite at Hotel Villa Magna and was at a complete loss for words. She had only saw pictures of fancy European hotels in magazines but had never imagined that they looked a lot nicer in person. The pale tones of tans, pinks, and dull greens of the room were accented by the magnificent golden lighting. She made her way from the sitting room to the full kitchen adjacent to it. She began to enter the bedroom when the watchers walked in, deep in discussion. She froze in her footsteps and took a seat in the nearby chair. The watchers, along with Kit all found their place in the dark blue chairs that surrounded a dark, round cedar table. One of the female watchers took some files and a few books out of her bag and passed them out amongst her colleagues. India could tell that this woman was an eager watcher, because of the fact she kept the thickest book for herself. When Quentin took his seat with a glass of scotch from the bar in hand, India knew it was business time.

"Look, I know you guys mean well, but I really don't need to be observed, and I think that the record shows for itself, I have done pretty well for the past year without any interference from you stuffy watchers, okay?" India finished.

"Thank you for that little dialogue, Ms. Cohen, but this really isn't about how well you've done in the past or anything of the sort. The truth is, we are here to give you the chance to give one of our most promising girls a little field practice," said Quentin, only pausing to take deep gulps of his scotch.

"Girls?" India said confused.

"A potential slayer, I mean. Her watcher is on official council business in Africa and has left her in our care. But when our Mr. Bothwell here told us of your trip to Madrid we discussed that it would be a good time to give her some field practice; and we all know there is no better teacher than the slayer herself," finished Quentin.

"You mean, she has a watcher? I thought you just gave them to a slayer when she is called," said India. Quentin went on to explain how that every potential slayer they find early enough, they assign them a watcher and begins her training, and that only in rare occasions such as hers, a girl isn't assigned a watcher until after she is called.

"So where is she?" asked India. Kit had know time to answer her when the doorbell buzzed. One of the other watchers went to the door and let their guest in. In the doorway, stood a girl wearing a pair of loose fit jeans and a tank-top that exposed her belly button, and was no more than fifteen years old. In her hands, she held a brown leather drawstring backpack

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome our guest, Ms. Paloma Gueterres," said the watcher. The watcher walked her into the sitting room and she sat down in the chair next to India's.

"It is a pleasure to see you again Ms. Gueterres," said Quentin.

"You too Mr. Travers." India was shocked at how clear and good her English was. Quentin introduced India and Paloma, who only muttered a small hello towards each other.

After about an hour, the group had dinner from the Tse-Yang Restaurant in the hotel and found a place to sleep. Before falling a sleep, India left a message at her hotel for her father, claiming she had met some friends at a club and that she was gonna crash with them and probably won't be back for awhile. After she hung up, the slayer went to sleep.

***

The next morning, India and Paloma ate breakfast on the terrace of the suite. India went to the table and grabbed a cup of coffee. She offered some to Paloma, but she politely refused.

"My watcher doesn't allow me to drink coffee, he says you get too skittish from it and your body crashes and you get really tired," was all she said. After a brisk jog, the girls re-arranged the sitting room and made it roomy enough for them to train in. The watchers were in the dining room, conversing about council business. Dummies and punching bags were conveniently hung from flower hooks in the ceiling and weapons were in no short supply for the girls. The slayer sparred with her young apprentice, then they moved on to hand to hand combat. The potential made up in skills for what she lacked in strength. After about 4 hours of gruelling training, the pair sat around the suite until nightfall.

When the sun was close to the horizon, Paloma and India began preparing for patrol. They dressed in dark colours, India wore her black tank top and a pair of dark blue jeans, and her leather boots. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, then fixed a gold cross around a fine silver chain around her neck. Paloma wore what she had on when she arrived the night before, and out of her jacket pocket, she pulled a black rosary, then after saying a little prayer, she put it around her neck. India equipped herself with a stake and a hunting knife. Paloma took a sword and two stakes.

Slayer and potential slayer made their way to a large cemetery, India thought it went on for miles. They pushed the creaky iron gate open and went in. They looked over their backs every time a creak creaked or an owl hooted.

"So is this your first time in the field?" asked India.

"Yes, my watcher never thought I was trained or prepared enough for field practice." responded Paloma "So I mainly trained in different fighting styles of the world for about 6 years, I even studied with a Buddhist priest in Tibet and then I went on what my watcher called a 'spiritual odyssey' in Mongolia last year," said Paloma.

"Well, you're a lucky girl, Paloma, the only field practice I got was when my watcher took me on my first official hunt," said India "Okay, so we were on Oshima Island, and we were attacked by these Korean vampires who had been there since World War II and-" when India didn't see Paloma walking alongside her, she turned and saw her froze at the sight of two vampires approaching her.

India quickly ran at them and kicked them both in the face. They hissed in pain and India prepared to fight. She managed to block the vampire's attacks with a series of blocks. She saw out of the corner of her eye, that Paloma had the vampire at bay with her sword, but couldn't stall her assailant much longer. India kneed her vampire in the gut and rushed to Paloma's side.

"I think my watcher is right, I'm not ready," whimpered Paloma.

"Yes you are, that's just your emotions overpowering you, you have got to fight or you're useless, understand?" pepped India.

"Yes, now let's kick some undead ass!" said Paloma. The girls were on fire. They punched, blocked, kicked, and dodged. They took their share of hits but came back even stronger because of them. Paloma blind sided her enemy and sliced his head from his neck and watched as he turned to dust. In an instant, India had her vamp on the ground and she plunged the stake into his chest. They wiped the dust off their clothes and searched the ground for any lost articles. Paloma picked up a necklace with a weird Celtic symbol on it.

"Are you okay?" India asked

"Yea, I'll live," said Paloma, still panting.

"You did good for your first time, come on let's get this back," said India and they left the cemetery.
 

***

Back at the suite, the council members were deep in research. Some sat in comfortable chairs or other furniture, and others sat at the table. As soon as the door opened, all eyes were on the girls. Kit assessed their bodies, to check for wounds. When he saw they were fine, he went back to the sofa. Quentin came in with a small glass of scotch in his hands.

"I trust all went well?" asked Quentin.

"Yeah, and here - I found this on the ground." She handed the amulet to Quentin, a grim look appeared on his face.

"Uh, Ms. Gueterres, would you excuse us, please?"

"Sure, I was gonna head down to the pool and swim some laps before bed." She waved good-bye to India and walked out the door.

"How did she really do in the cemetery, Ms. Cohen?" asked Quentin.

"She freaked. Her watcher really sheltered her, she told me she hadn't had any field tests since she began training six years ago. You should have seen her, she saw the vamp and I swear she would have bolted if I wasn't there," said India, now angry.

"Well she'll have another chance soon enough," said Quentin.

"Alright, now what's up?" asked India.

"This amulet, belongs to an ancient sect of vampires who were the acolytes of a powerful vampire named Damion. This particular sect was feared throughout Europe and were responsible for the deaths of two vampire slayers in a row. During the Spanish Inquisition, their leader was slain by a group of vigilantes and they stole his amulet." Quentin paused. "This amulet, if returned to the sect, can bring about the end of the world, allowing the demons to regain hold on this reality. They must be stopped."

Quentin walked over to one of his books and showed India the picture of a vampire wearing a crimson robe and the symbol of the amulet is embroidered in gold on the front.

"The vampires I killed didn't have a robe," said India.

"Well, they must have been working for the sect, returning the amulet to them," guessed Quentin, "you and Ms. Gueterres must stop them before they can discover that we have the amulet."

"What!" India yelled, feeling the anger boil inside of her. "You want to send a girl that you were just told freaked out when she saw a vampire into battle against a whole army? I won't do that, she'll die for sure," India said.

"The decision has been made, she goes," said Quentin.

"I'll go, but you can't send that girl, Quentin it isn't right, she has had very little field experience and now you want to put her in a life or death situation? Are you mad?" piped Kit.

"Bothwell, you undermine me again and your status as watcher will be revoked immediately," warned Travers.

"He's right, she will die!" yelled India.

"This war we fight is all about death, Ms. Cohen. Slayers live, they fight, and in the end they die. That's the way it's always been," said one of the other watchers.

"The war you fight? You just sit on your asses with your noses in your books while countless girls over the centuries have died because your too afraid to fight yourselves. So don't you ever say this is a war you fight, because from what I've seen, you couldn't tell the pointy end of a stake," said India.

"I must warn you, Ms. Cohen, you are standing on thin ice, so I caution you to think before you speak in that tone again," said Travers.

"Bite Me, Travers," was all she said. She headed towards the door with Kit in tow. She let Kit out first and slammed the door so hard behind her, she thought it was gonna fall off the hinges.