“Ooooohhhhh. I’m scared now. GET THEM!!!”

Before he finishes his command, Kennedy and Sasha begin to sprint towards the group of vampires. As she reaches their line, Kennedy springs into the air over two of the vampire’s heads. Reaching her summit, she does a full twist and uses her sword to slash out at her targets. Both vamps reach for their throats as Kennedy lands and crouches behind them just in time to see their bodies disintegrate into piles of dust. “Two down! Now… Who’s next?”

The vampire leader and the one that he had been yelling at earlier charge at Kennedy with a roar. Turning to face them, Kennedy glances in Sasha’s direction just in time to see her cartwheel and flip towards her closest goal. Sasha comes to a stop just in front of the vamp, punches him in the face with her free hand, and drives the stake into his chest with the other. “That’s three!” she exclaims with excitement.

Kennedy drops into a karate stance with one hand in front of her and sword raised and pointed towards the charging blood suckers. She then decides to rush them instead of wait. With a roar of her own, she begins to windmill her sword at an amazing speed. Turning her body at the last second, she places herself between her attackers, spins with her sword above her head, and then drops into the stance in which she had been in before her attack. A large cloud of dust erupts from where the two vampires had stood. “That’s five!”

“NOOOOOOOO.” Screams the last vampire still standing as he begins to run away.

“Don’t let him get away!” yells Kennedy.

Turning to face the vampire, Sasha flips her stake over in her hand and sends it sailing through the air at the vampire’s back. With a thud, it strikes true and the vampire disappears in a cloud of dust. “And that’s six,” she says wiping her hands on her jeans.

“Sasha! DROP!” Kennedy yells as she produces a thin, flat stake from the inside of her boot. Sasha drops into a full split as Kennedy hurls the stake into the chest of what used to be the bum.

“OÖK…I guess the bum argument was an after dinner fight,” Kennedy mused out loud.

“Are you always this smart-alecky after a fight?”

“Only when we win. Are you OK?”

“Yeah, they never touched me. I have to admit…this does get the blood pumping! And I never in a million years would have thought that I would be doing flips again!”

“You’ll be doing a lot more than that.”

“Really? Does that mean I pass?” Sasha asks excitedly as she gets to her feet.

“You pass with me! Three vamps your first night? That has to be a record or something. Come on, I’m sure Willow is worried and….I’m starving,” Kennedy says as she rubs her growling stomach. “Now…let’s call a cab,” she says as she pulls a cell phone out of her recovered bag. “I’ll call Giles when we get back to the hotel. Hey, you know what?” she asks sniffing the air.

“What?”

“I don’t notice the smell anymore,” Kennedy says laughing.

“Me either,” laughs back Sasha as Kennedy begins to dial.

After she finishes her taxi request, the two of them sit down on a curb and enjoy the sunlight that is beginning to fill the sky.

“You know, they must stay nearby.”

“Who? The vampires?”

“Uh huh,” Kennedy replies.

“Why do you say that?”

“No vampire would be caught very far from a good hiding spot that close to daybreak. I’ll have to remember this place for future reference…you know, in case there are more. I know I’ll have more tests to do and it’ll be easier if I know where to look already.”

“And there is what that one said…about going into the other borough. He must have been talking about another vampire gang or something.”

“That’s true…I’ll mention it to Giles.” As she speaks, a cab arrives. “But, right now all I want to think about is food and a hot shower. Let’s go not-so-newbie, you’ve got a long trip ahead of you.”

“Yeah…a long trip,” Sasha says wistfully as they get in the cab.

As the two ride in silence, all Kennedy can think about is how strong a vampire has to be to scare another group of vampires so badly that they would eat scraps to survive.