Methos entered Sarah's room only to find the blade of a rapier being
held to his neck.

"Give me one good reason not to take your head, o wise one," she mocked him.

"Because then who'd take you on improvised road trips and make you end up in
such great motels as this one and fetch you awesome, almost warm and almost
Chinese food?" he replied on the same tone.

"True," she conceded, putting her sword down. "What made you so late?"

"You worried about me, honey?"

"Methos!"

"You're not going to believe me anyway," he started, taking the food out of
the bags.

"Methos," she warned him again.

"Fine... Vampires and slayers," he stated, waiting for her reaction.

"Vampires? Haha, good try, nearly got me. I thought you capable of making up
better excuses," she blamed him.

"Told you you wouldn't believe me," he replied, opening a box of cold food.

"¹Cause you expect me to believe this? And what's this slayer thing?"

"She's the Chosen one," he explained. Seeing her puzzled look, he went on.
"Chosen to fight off the forces of evil. Among which are vampires. The name
of the current one's Buffy. Ran into her and a redheaded friend of hers
named Willow; I helped the latest get rid of one those deliciously fanged
creatures. I'm going to meet them again later tonight. Want to come?"

    Sarah eyed him cautiously. "You seem to believe in what you're saying...
I'll come," she decided. "I wouldn't miss the opportunity to meet a slayer,"
she added sarcastically. ³Especially one named Buffy.²

"You'll be surprised," Methos promised her as he held a box of food out to
her.

    She grabbed it, smelled it and grimaced.

"I was raised as a lady," she remarked. "And *this* is what you expect me to
eat?"

"The way you held a sword to my neck a few minutes ago didn't seem too
ladylike to me," Methos answered as he got up. "I'm going to shower."

"Whatever," Sarah grumbled as she started eating.

    She knew what the problem was. He was feeling way too comfortable around
her - not like with his mortal loves. With all of them, he had felt uneasy,
and certainly not self-confident. With her, he was totally relaxed; and a
relaxed Methos wasn't someone easy to live with.

-----------

"Let me see if I get this straight: you knew this guy in the eighteen
hundreds whatever, and you're claiming he's still around, as a vampire who
has a chip in his head which prevents him from hurting humans?" Sarah looked
up at Methos with laughing eyes.

"Yes," he sighed. Luckily the house of this Mr Giles isn't far away, he
thought as he looked around Sunnydale's dark streets.

"And there are other Watchers, formed to protect and teach the Slayer, who
happens to be one little girl chosen to fight off all the evil forces of the
world?"

"Yes. Sarah, that must be the hundredth time you ask me."

"You ever thought of writing scripts for TV? That would make a hell of a
show," she laughed softly.

    Her friend had such a fertile imagination. But she was wondering where
he could possibly be taking her right now, considering it couldn't be to
this so-called Watcher.

    Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a snigger behind the two
Immortals. They turned around in one motion, checking their coats for their
swords. They were faced with two men in old-fashioned bell bottom pants and
flashy-coloured shirts.

    Sarah's brown eyes grew wide at the sight of their faces. Distorted by
ridges; exactly like Methos had explained to her true vampire faces were.
She checked for her sword once again and watched Methos by her side. He had
stiffened his back and kept one of his hands in his coat. She remembered his
tale; how strong those creatures were supposed to be.

"Don't they look like a perfect dinner," one of the two vampires said to the
other one.

"Don't they look like perfect decapitated bodies," Sarah said to Methos,
mimicking the vampire's arrogant tone.

    The Immortal took their swords out, which only made the vampires' grin
widen.

"Looks like we'll even get some sport before eating," the other one
remarked.

"You know, right now, I'm just pissed off at always being right," Methos
lamented to his friend with an amused grin, without turning his eyes away
from the two creatures.

    Just as he finished his sentence, the vampires lunged forward with
incredible speed. Methos was prepared for their attack and managed to avoid
his opponent, but Sarah got caught by the other creature. They rolled to the
floor as her sword  fell on the floor with a resounding metallic noise.

"Thought you'd be more of a fight..." the vampire who ended up on top of her
grinned, uncovering his fangs.

"You took me by surprise." Sarah grinned back.

    Without letting him time enough to grab her wrists, she seized the
dagger hidden in one of her boots and drove it into the place where she
supposed the vampire's heart was. It did not kill him, obviously, but he was
taken aback. Sarah took the opportunity to roll him off her and lunge at her
sword, a few meters away.

    She seized its hilt and stood up, checking on Methos. He had just
discovered that decapitation could indeed kill those things. And now it was
her turn.

    Her opponent was rushing towards her once again, only this time her
blade was ready for his neck. He turned into dust under her bewildered gaze.

"Believe me now?" Methos chuckled, dusting off his coat.

"I guess so," the Immortal replied, still trying to process what believing
in vampires meant.

"Well, let's be on our way then. They must be waiting for us."

    Sarah put her rapier back in her long coat, picked up her dagger and
followed him, lost in her thoughts. Vampires - it seemed to awaken something
in her. Those ridged faces - she'd already seen them somewhere. She shrugged
the thoughts away as Methos spoke again.

"Here we are."

    They were standing in front of an all-too-normal suburban house. Hard to
guess it was the headquarters of a gang of - how did he call that? - vampire
slayers. Though only one of them was the actual Slayer. Sarah sighed in
confusion as she followed Methos to the door.

    Before he could knock, the door opened and a couple of teenagers bumped
into him.

"Sorry," the young man said with a goofy smile. "You must be Adam. I'm
Xander."

    Xander offered his hand and the Immortal shook it.

"Yes, I'm Adam, this is Sarah."

    Sarah nodded her head with a smile.

"And I'm Anya," the young blond girl said. "Xander's with me. You don't get
anywhere near him," she went on, looking at Sarah.

    The younger Immortal chuckled at this girl. She liked her already. She
liked bluntness.

"Honey, I've already told you, keep the aggressiveness down when you meet
people. Especially when they supposedly carry swords on them constantly,"
Xander said, smiling awkwardly.

"Don't worry, Anya," Sarah gently said. "The man's all yours."

    Methos and she exchanged an amused look. Kids...

"Fine," Anya acknowledged after studying Sarah in silence for a few seconds.
"We have to go now."

    She walked between the two Immortals, then turned back, waiting for her
boyfriend. He gave the ghost of an apolegetic smile to Methos and Sarah
before following Anya.

"That is a whipped man," Sarah laughed.

"Don't get any bad ideas into your head, Sarah," Methos replied with a
smile.

    The old Immortal knocked on the open door as he walked into the house,
Sarah right behind him. Immediately, a middle-aged man dressed in tweed
suits came up to them.

"I'm Giles, you must be Adam, I believe," he offered his hand to the
Immortal who shook it briefly and firmly.

"Yes. This is a friend of mine, Sarah," Methos replied.

"How do you do." Giles shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," she replied with a small smile.

    As Giles was about to invite them to follow him in the living-room, a
small voice interrupted him.

"Adam, I'm glad you came. I had almost lost hope."

    Sarah watched the small redhead who had spoken with interest. So she was
a witch. Why not. She watched her come and hug Methos. That was new, almost
genuinely incredible. Methos hugging teenagers.

"Willow, this is Sarah," he introduced them.

"Hey," Willow said to her in a shy voice.

"Hello," Sarah replied. "So you're a witch? I knew one once - well, if you
could really call her a witch. I wonder about what exactly you can do."

    Methos smirked at the mention of Cassandra. Sarah could be the jealous
type, sometimes ­ to the point of being jealous of Cassandra, of all people.
Curiously, she had never been jealous of Alexa, though.  He reported his
attention to Willow, who was about to answer, when Giles interrupted her.

"Maybe we should go and have a seat before engaging ourselves in long,
indepth explanations," he suggested.  "I am most eager to hear about your
kind of Watchers, Adam. Anyone wants tea? Coffee?"

"We'll both take coffee," Sarah replied.

    They headed into the living room where three people had remained seated.
The young blond girl had to be the Slayer, Sarah figured out. She was seated
in some buff guy's lap. Probably her boyfriend. And there was this bleached
blond pale guy looking at her in disbelief. Had to be William, or Spike
rather.

    The Immortal grew uneasy under his gaze. He looked as if he'd seen a
ghost. He stood up from his chair and made a couple of steps towards her.

"What's the matter, Spike?" Methos asked.

    But Spike was unable to answer. He was caught up in one unpleasant
flashback.
 

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