All right. So, I'm sitting across from this chick who may very well be as psycho as everyone thinks I am. She's drinking some chamomile tea, and picking at a slice of apple pie. I'm taking a breath in between wolfing down a burger with the works, chili cheese fries and a large milkshake. Lucky for me, she's buying.

She's a real cutie. She's on the tiny side, maybe 5'1" or 5'2" and pretty thin, although the tank top she's wearing proves she's muscular. Her arms do this rippling thing every time she flexes her arm to take a sip of tea. She has long black hair and brown eyes and a little beauty mark near her eye. The name she gave me was Katina Kokotovic, but who knows if she's telling the truth- she averted her eyes a bit when she told me her name. I almost told her my name was Faith Hill, until I remembered that Faith Hill is a some blonde singer. I told her my name was Faith Summers.

Yeah, it's a little sick, ain't it? Okay, so here's why I think she may be psycho.

I'm working as a bouncer in a club called Charybdis, it's aptly named, if you ask me. We get a lot of clients of the demon persuasion, but I don't touch them unless they're asking for it. I'm not really in that line of business anymore anyway. So, I was working, when she comes in looking hot as hell. She starts scanning the room, like she's looking for someone. So, I go up to her, you know, just curious. I'd never seen her before.

"Looking for someone?" I asked her.

She smiles at me. "No."

Then she walked away. I don't see her for a few hours until I get off work and I'm about to walk back to my cheap motel room. She's outside fighting with some vamp, and I run over to stake him, but I see she has an ice pick in her hand. Now, what kind of person carries an ice pick?

I stake him, it didn't even have his game face.

She looks at me, like she's scared as hell.

"Well, fuck."

I smile at her, ready to walk away.

" Come on, I'll buy you something to eat."

"No thanks. I-"

"Look, kid. I know you're probably used to no one thanking you when you do a good thing or whatever, and I'm not used to someone helping me out. So, at least let me try and square us away by buying you a burger or something, all right? Besides, my theory is, if it's free, I'll take three."

I have to laugh. I accepted her offer, and got into her car- a rental.

"You don't live around here?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "What's your name?"

"Faith. You?"

"Katina. Katina Kokotovic. You?"

"I told you, it's Faith."

"Your last name, kiddo."

"Summers."

"Faith Summers?" she looked thoughtful. "It fits you somehow."

"Uh, thanks."

I didn't really want to do this. I didn't want to think about Buffy, or how badly everything ended for us. Jesus, this situation sucked. But then again, it's normal for things to be shitty. Anyway, I saw that she had an ice pick in her hand, but she must have pocketed it. She's real quick, I suppose. She's not too talkative, and she avoids personal questions, which is five by five for me, you know?

So, here I am. In this little diner at four am with this random girl. She looks like she's only a few years older than I am, but who knows? I finish my burger and fries and slurp down my milkshake. It's been a while since I got to eat, money is pretty scarce for me, and I won't get my first paycheck in over a week, since I just started working. She looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "You still hungry?"

"Well-" my stomach growls, and I blush.

"Order whatever. Don't worry. I would like to ask you some questions though."

I'm a little cautious. "Uh, okay . . ."

Katina motions for the waitress and urges me to order. I do, and the waitress leaves, shaking her head at how much food I'm putting away.

She leans closer to me and whispers, "are you the Slayer?"

I back away from her. "I'm not really in that business anymore."

"That guy at Charybdis was a vampire, no?"

I nod, surprised.

"How did you know he was a vamp? He wasn't wear game face yet," she asked me.

"I just knew."

"Slayer sense?"

"Something like that."

"Hm."

"You're not eating your pie."

"I'm not really hungry."

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"To thank you and ask you those questions."

"You're wicked cryptic."

"Not really."

"So, where's the ice pick?"

She looks startled for a moment, but pulls it out of a chest pocket in her coat. "I put it up my sleeve when you arrived on the scene and then in my pocket in the car. When I asked you to put on your seatbelt."

"And here I thought you were just concerned for my safety."

"That too."

She drove me home, and I thought while the whole thing was just too weird, I'd just forget it all.

Chapter Two- Katina

The name I gave the Slayer was Katina Kokotovic. It's not my real one, of course, since I was on the job at the time. I'm sort of a contract killer. Now, before you go judgmental on me, I get hired to kill of demons a lot too. The one tonight was a real shocker though. I had no clue I was going up against a vamp. I would have only brought a stake along if I knew. Lucky for me the Slayer didn't see all my supplies, since I kept them in the trunk. I know trying to kill a guy in the alley wasn't the smartest thing to do especially armed only with an ice pick, but I had a plan. Really. All right, maybe I didn't. Maybe I was kind of hoping that this one would take me out of commission. Here's the thing. I like my job. I get paid a lot of money to kill people or demons. I never ask any questions, and if they want to tell me what a horrible person the victim will be, that's fine. But I never ask. It is not my job to play judge, I am simply the executioner, you see? But then I got to thinking a few days ago. I'm not that old- I'm 21. I'm in college, and I'm a murderer for hire.

I'm good at my job because I don't feel remorse. Or at least, I didn't used to. A few days ago, I was hired to kill a guy who was testifying a major drug case. I thought the house would be empty, but it turned out the asshole's estranged wife and six year old son was back. I was going to kill him with an ice pick to the brain through the ear, since it produces minimal bleeding and will get the job done. Sometimes, they attribute it to a brain hemorrhage. When I saw that the wife was sleeping beside him (curled AWAY from him, by the way . . .) I knew I had to act fast. I did my job. I got out. But then it happened.

The kid. He was standing in the doorway in a pair of pajamas with feet, and there I was. He was looking at me with eyes as wide as saucers, and his jaw was literally hanging on the ground. I was hired by a government agency for this job, and don't even begin to ask how I got involved with that, so I knew that there was something more to this kill than what they told me. But, like I said. I don't ask questions. Anyway, this job had to be done right, and that meant killing off the wife and kid, now that the boy saw me. Except, I couldn't do it. No, it wasn't out of some strong moral code, I don't really have that. It's that . . . fuck it, I don't know.

Anyway, I approached the kid, who was still as hell. I said, "hey Jimmy-boy. You're having a bad dream, why don't you go back to bed, yeah? Want a drink of water?"

I got him a glass of water, still wearing my rubber gloves, and he went off to bed.

I contacted the Agency and told them that everything went smoothly, despite it all. They had no reason to doubt me, I sort of work for them. Yeah, I'm a fucking freelance La Femme Nikita. My partner, Randall Carlson and I meet up. Randall and I work together for the Agency, he's actually a member, whereas I'm more of a freelancer as I've said before. They call me in when they don't want to get their own assassins involved. Randall and I met up, and I gave *him* the recap, since he always asks. Usually, we go in with audio-recorders, but I thought it'd just add more bulk to my knapsack.

But the Agency found out about it anyway. Rand called me out to his place, and told me that the Agency had to kill the wife and kid. He went in shortly after we separated the night I killed the guy. I guess I wasn't a good enough liar. Which brings me to the night I was tracking the vamp at Charybdis. I thought maybe the guy would kill me. I was kind of hoping for it, actually. But it didn't happen. Faith came.

I took one look at her and my heart fluttered, and I knew that I was in trouble. She made me think that I could have a normal life. I've already contemplated leaving the business, but now it's like, she made me see the possibility of a normal life. Strange that she would be the one to do that, but she was. While we were eating, I thought that there is a world of possibilities out there for me. I'm young, I could finish up my degree, I only have two years left. Maybe I'd get married, and start a family.

Yeah, right. After I drove her home, reality sunk in. I'm a killer, and I like it. There is no place in the real, normal world for me. I made an egregious mistake when I was fifteen to put me in the place where I am now. It put the things that normal, decent people aspire for . . . it put it out of reach for me.

And, strangely, in Faith, I sensed a kindred.

Most of my info about the Slayer came from word on the street. A few years ago, I came across a demon and now, he's what you might call, a close friend. He showed me a new world of demons, vampires, shit like that. It's why I'm known on the street as the Anam Dabh. Roughly, I'm basically the Black One. As in black souled.

I wanted to see her again.

But I am still a killer. I kill humans, and she kills demons. Not a lot of common ground there. She fights for the greater good, I fight for the almighty dollar. I'm scum, and she's practically an archangel.

But I want to see her again.

Chapter Three Faith Revisited

This morning, something weird happened. That chick, Katina, knocked on my door bearing food. We got to talking, and she offered to show me around San Francisco, as I was new in town. She was kind of shy and stuttery- very Willow like. I guess she doesn't do this kind of thing very often. I found myself unable to refuse. We spent the day together, although neither of us did a whole lot of talking. Around 7PM, she got a page, and got a weird look on her face. She said she had to go, and she gave me her number, and asked if we could get together again.

I could never refuse a pretty face, especially when I'm trying to forget the one back in Sunnydale.

I had to go check in at work soon anyway, so we split up. I started walking around a little bit, and saw a club called P3. I thought it was kind of a dorky name, but I wanted to check it out anyway. I was standing outside the door of the club when it opened, and crashed into me. Ow. Fuck, that hurt. I was ready to start pulling some punches, but the woman who opened the door stepped out. She was very pretty. She was all apologetic and cursed her clumsiness.

"Hey, it's okay. No harm done," I assured her.

Jesus, look at me melting at the sight of another pretty face.

"I'm so sorry!"

"Really, it's okay. I just wanted to check out this club a little . . ."

She smiled at me. "I'm the owner."

"What does P3 mean?"

"Well, I have two sisters, and we all have names that begin with a P. Prue, Phoebe and Piper. So, P3. You know?"

"Clever. So, which one are you?"

"Piper. Uh, what's your name?"

"Faith."

"Well, Faith. We're not quite ready to open, but the place should be pretty hopping if you come back in a few hours."

I grimaced. "I have to work soon, actually."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a bouncer at Charybdis."

She looks surprised.

"Hey," I tell her, "I may not be some big, muscled guy named Butch, but I'm strong."

"Well, actually. I was going to say you look a little young."

I shrug.

"Well, Faith. What time do you get off work?"

"11."

"Come by at midnight then, I'll put you on our special guest list."

"Uhm, I might be meeting up with a friend later . . ."

"Bring him along too."

"Her."

"Okay, bring her along."

"Well, cool," I tell her, "thanks."

Two cute women in two days, and invitation to a nice club and money will soon be in my pocket, San Francisco is beginning to look up for me.

I'm facing this handsome guy, and I'm a little perturbed. I'm in his small apartment, the place is sparsely furnished, so I don't think he's planning on staying long. There are no personal touches on the place. Even I have a framed picture of me and Randall on my desk, and I'm not into the whole touchy feely thing. I'm here to see him about a job.

"The Charmed Ones? Are you fucking crazy? How do you expect for me to get the upper hand to kill them!" I was sort of talking pretty loud by this time.

"Koko-whatever, chill out. I'm asking you to just off ONE of them, thereby taking away the power of three."

"Oh." Well, that made it easier.

"There are three of them," he continues. Like that isn't obvious. "The oldest is Prue, the middle sister is Piper and the youngest is Phoebe." He shows me a photo of each woman. Then he passes me a folder of information about 'em. Usually, I stalk the mark for a bit, to learn his or her patterns so I can do the job without getting caught.

I shrug and stand up. "All right." I stand up, intending to look at the folder later. That's when I get a page. Faith? I leave, and call the person from a payphone outside the guy's apartment complex.

"Hello?" It's Faith. Hooray!

"Hi, it's Katina."

"Hey. I'm still at work, but do you want to pick me up and go to a club? I got us on the special guest list."

"Cool. What time should I pick you up?"

"In an hour, at 11."

"Yeah, one hour away from 10pm is 11pm."

"Smart ass."

"See you soon."

I decide to read the folder on the Halliwell sisters tomorrow, and just read a book for a while, until it was time to pick up Faith. I always keep a copy of Infinite Jest in the car.

I go inside to pick her up, and she looks at my car. "This wasn't the car I met you in."

"That one was a rental."

"Oh." I can tell by the tone of her voice that she knew the car last night was a rental, and that made her suspicious.

You never use your own car when you're doing a job. Sometimes, especially when the job is in the same city you're living in, you wear a disguise. I took a risk last night, not wearing a wig and contact lenses like I usually do for San Francisco jobs.

"So, where to?" I ask her,

"A club called P3. I'll show you how to get there."

"Cool."

Katina picked me up in her own car tonight. I wonder why she wasn't riding in it last night. There are a few things that just don't add up with her, which is why I still think she could be psychotic. Somehow, I don't think she just had car problems with her own vehicle last night. But I put the suspicions out of my mind, and gave her the benefit of the doubt. God knows I know how it feels like when no one will do that for you. Anyway, she looks at me with lusty eyes, so I think she just wants to get fucked- and I wouldn't mind that. Besides, it's almost like hanging out with her, going to a few clubs, working, that kind of thing is my way of trying to be normal for once. Maybe if I can achieve normal, I can achieve decent.

We walk into the club and I see Piper fairly quickly-at the bar. I see her talking to two pretty chicks, who must be her sisters. I look to Katina and see that she's all wide-eyed. I'm about to go over there with Katina, when she suddenly stops. "I, uh gotta go the bathroom." She takes off.

I shrug. I walk over to the bar to say hello to Piper and tell her that I dig the club. She looks inexplicably happy to see me. She introduces me to her sisters.

"This is Prue," she said, pointing to the one that looked older and "that's Phoebe," she pointed to the one with the brown eyes. I shake Prue's hand and then Phoebe's. I feel Phoebe's hand tense up suddenly, and she looks like . . . hell, I don't know. Then quickly, it fades and she looks at me with concern. "I'm sorry. Did you feel that? One of those electric shocks."

I shrug. "No, I didn't. Sorry."

"Hm. So, Faith. Do you want something to drink?"

I open my mouth to say something, but then the oldest one, Prue interrupts. "Are you even old enough to drink?"

I roll my eyes. "I was about to ask for a water, thank you. I'm a bouncer at Charybdis, and I've inhaled enough cigarette smoke to damage my body for the night."

Piper and Phoebe both give Prue evil looks, and inside I have to chuckle. Piper hands me a large glass of water.

"So, where's your friend?" she asks me.

"Bathroom," I tell her,

"Are you a student?" Prue asks me.

I shake my head. "I dropped out."

"I've gone back to school," Phoebe announces.

I'm happy to take the attention off me, and I ask her "Do you like it?"

"I do. I love it!" she chirps. Jesus, she's sweet.

I feel like it's been a while since I've talked to them, and look around for Katina. No one spends that much time in the bathroom. I see her against the wall, and she has her head bowed down, so you can't really see her face, but I can feel her eyes on me. I motion her over there. She shakes her head.

I sigh. "I think she's a little shy."

I get off the chair I'm sitting on, and walk over to her. Her head is no longer bowed, but it's turned away so that the sisters can't see her.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she says softly. "Except, I have to go. But you should stay here. I can pick you up in a few hours, just page me. Maybe we can go for coffee or something later "

I want to know what's up, but I hardly know her, so I don't pry. "You going to be all right?"

She grins at me. "Yeah, see you soon."

I walk back over the sisters who I see are in deep discussion, and stop when I get there, I shrug it off, I'm used to that, and from the looks on their faces, it's a family thing.

"Where'd your friend go?" Phoebe asked.

"Dunno. She had an emergency. I think I've been abandoned, but she's going to pick me up in a few hours."

"So, Faith. How long have you been in San Francisco?" Prue asks.

"A few weeks. How'd you know I was new around here?"

"You have a slight regional accent."

"Oh."

"Where are you from?"

"Boston," I tell her.

That's when this guy asks me to dance, and I'm more than willing to oblige.

*****

I'm watching Faith dance. Very sexy. The whole room is watching her dance. She has a group of guys around her, but it's like she doesn't give a damn about them. She's not dancing with them, they're dancing NEAR her. She has this presence, she's completely graceful and absorbed in the music. Occasionally, she presses herself up to a guy and gets him all hot and bothered. But, for the most part, she dances for herself.

I had a premonition of her. It looked like she was fighting a demon or something, and she looked like she was in a lot of pain.

Prue, Piper and I talked about her while she was with her friend.

"She's the one we have to protect! We have to watch out for her, maybe even take her home with us." I told them.

"What're we going to tell her? Watch out for demons? Come home with us? She'll think we're three perverts trying to molest her." Prue whispers. Actually, she practically hissed it.

"Well, what can we do?"

"It's agreed upon that we need to protect her, we'll just have to decide a non creepy way to approach her," Piper said. "Oh, here she comes."

After she finished dancing, she came over to us, looking a little flushed and excited. The four of us talked for a while, but she seemed uneasy about giving out any personal details, very reluctant. There's something sad about her.

"You guys play some great music," she said.

Piper smiled at her. "Thanks. You know, why don't you come back tomorrow? We'd like to meet that shy friend of yours."

Faith laughed. "Katina is a bit of a mystery. I don't know if she'd want to come out tomorrow, but we'll see."

"Where are you staying?" Piper asked.

"At the Millicent Motel."

"That's really close to us," Piper exclaimed, "maybe you should have dinner with us one night."

Faith looked a little surprised. "Hey, if all this is trying to make up for hitting me with the door this afternoon, we're squared away. Five by five, you know? There's no need to-"

Prue laughed. "Believe me, Piper here won't be satisfied until she at least gives you a good meal. She's a great cook."

Faith looked uncertain, and I could see what my sisters were trying to do. The more information we could get on Faith's whereabouts for a while, the better we can protect her. I tried to put her mind at ease, I knew we were freaking her out by seeming too eager. "Hey, why don't we exchange numbers, and we'll give you a call or something tomorrow, yeah?"

She shrugged, and brushed an errant strand of hair away from her face. For the first time, I could see how beautiful she really was. She should wear her hair up, not try to hide her face.

"You have such a pretty face, you should wear your hair up, instead of trying to hide behind it," I told her.

She freezes for a second, and then looks like she mentally slapped herself. "Yeah," she said, smiling weakly, "someone once told me that. Thanks."

Faith asks for another water, and drinks that pretty quickly. It was then that I noticed how thin she is, her collarbone jutted out, and you could see the water going down her throat. I knew that it was a good thing that we invited her to dinner, I just hoped she'd accept.

She takes a look at the clock, and stretches. "I think I better call Katina, we're probably going to go get a cup of coffee of whatever, do you mind if I use your phone to page her?"

"Not at all," Piper said, passing her the phone.

She pulls out a scrap of paper from her pocket, and dials a number. "What's the number here?"

Piper and Prue tell her the number in unison, making both Faith and I laugh. A few moments later, the phone rings.

"Katina, it's Faith. You able to pick me up?"

After a few seconds, Faith nods. "See you in a few."

"Well, thanks ladies- for everything. She starts to walk away, but Piper calls her back and hands her a napkin with our phone number. Faith grins in amusement. "Got a pen?"

She writes down her number and passes it to Piper. "I don't give out my number to just anyone, because I don't like to be bothered, but I like you."

I see Piper blush a bit, and I wonder if Faith may be developing a crush on Piper. Faith walks away, and all the guys in the room are looking at her ass as she exits.

Katina

Well, shit.

I swear, my life is turning into some Shakespearean Comedy of Errors John Woo style. I meet Faith, I get a new job. It turns out that one of the people I'm supposed to kill is a friend of Faith's, whom I like.

I think I nearly had a coronary when I saw the Halliwell sisters in the club. Christ. I read the folder while I was in my car, parked in front of the P3 club. It turns out they own it. Man, I am fucked. I would probably have had to don my blonde wig and blue contacts when I did the job anyway, but I couldn't let them risk seeing me.

I considered calling the employer back and telling him that I won't take the job. He didn't give me any money, which means that nothing is final. However, the consultation face-to-face usually meant that I'd do it. But something tells me that I could be the victim of a hitman if I didn't do it. And, suddenly, I'm loving life. I think it's Faith.

I've never fallen for a woman before, and Faith is really little more than a girl. I know as the Slayer, she's more experienced than other girls her age, and her eyes are really imbued with experience. There's a lot there. But I don't want to be a cradle robber, and . . . and, I'm getting way off topic.

The Halliwell sisters. I'm supposed to off one of them, but I'm not sure which one. I'll have to watch them a bit more carefully, to see which one would be the easiest to kill. From the file that I'm reading, the youngest, Phoebe would be my best shot, no pun intended. Her powers lie with premonition, whereas the other two have more active powers. Given enough time, though, I think her powers would be the most dangerous. Witches powers develop with age, and in a few years, I bet she would have gotten telekinetic powers and mind reading capabilities. Pity that she won't be able to find out.

Faith's waiting for me when I pull in front of the club to pick her up.

"You okay?" she asks me.

"Peachy. Ya hungry?"

"Starved."

"Denny's is open, that okay with you? I'm buying."

"Hey, if you're buyin' . . ."

Neither of us say very much as I'm driving, but suddenly she starts laughing. I look at her.

"What?"

"Dancing Queen?"

"Huh?"

"You were singing along with ABBA."

Oh, God. Poor girl got a taste of my God awful singing voice. I try to play it off. "Hey, this song was the best thing that came out of the 70's."

"I wasn't born then."

I chuckle. "Yeah, you're just a kid."

"You don't look that old, how old could you have possibly been in 1979? A year old?"

"Ah . . . that's about right."

I pull into a Denny's and we sit down. I ask her about her night, mostly to find out about information on the sisters.

"So, who were your friends at the bar?"

I am such scum.

"Oh, they're not really friends. But they're the owners of the club. They're three sisters, all with P names: Prue, Piper and Phoebe. I met Piper earlier today . . . well, technically yesterday. She hit me with the door on accident, and now she's trying to compensate by putting me on the special guest list and inviting me for dinner at their house, stuff like that."

"Oh, so you don't know them well?"

"Nah. Not after a night. They seem pretty nice, but I'm kind of suspicious as to why they're so nice to me, but I got to dance a lot tonight, had some free drinks. You know, crap like that."

"You like them?"

"They seem nice, but everyone has their own agenda, and nine times out of ten, the face a person shows you is not the real one."

I can sense that she's getting uneasy, God knows I am. I try to change the subject. "Do you like your breakfast skillet?"

She smiles. "Yeah, thanks."

We make some idle chit chat for a while, but I can see that she's a little tired, and I have an 8am class tomorrow. I'm fucking insane when I stay out until 2am before my 8 o'clock class, but I always seem to do it. I fall asleep with Faith's image floating through my brain, and my last coherent thought is 'Oh shit.'

When I wake up the next day, I follow around the sister's most of the day after 10am. I watched Faith exit the Halliwell home in the evening. I was sort of surprised when I saw her enter the home, but I figured they were eating dinner or something together. I followed the three sisters around most of the day. They all seem to have irregular schedules, except for Piper. But I made my decision. It's going to be Phoebe. It's sort of a pity, really. She's really cute, and seems fairly sweet. But again, I am not the judge. I am merely the executioner. Faith looked kind of upset when she exited the house, so I decided to pull up next to her.

Faith

Katina was acting a little strangely today, and when she paid for dinner, or breakfast, or whatever that meal was. I saw her driver's license. The name on the license was Katerina Hagan. I'm guessing that Katina Kokotovic is an alias, and not Katerina Hagan, but I wonder why she would lie about her own name. I mean, I know that I had my reasons, but someone like her, what would be the motivation? She seems so normal.

Yeah, Faith. You keep telling yourself that. You want a friend so bad that you're practically spending every free moment with a girl who carries an ice pick with her and lied about her name to you. Yeah, she's REAL normal.

I guess I just miss having someone around. I was so used to being alone and then I arrived in Sunnydale. I mean, I know I wasn't exactly welcome after the novelty of being a new person in town wore off, but I still had Buffy around. Then I had Boss. I guess I just miss that companionship or whatever. Maybe that's why I'm trying to spend so much time with Katina. I'm doing my damnedest to walk the straight path, to be normal. I know it's not something I'll ever really attain, but some semblance of it would be nice.

Piper called around 2pm and asked me over to their place for dinner. I said yes, since I'd never refuse a free dinner. Plus, Katina has been paying for my meals for the last couple days, and I don't get my paycheck for a few days. Charybdis got a few belligerent vampires during the day, so I got to do my slaying thing.

About 7pm, I found the Halliwell house, which was fucking huge. The sisters all looked pretty good, but Piper was still the most beautiful. It turned out that Prue was right. Piper is a great cook. I stayed until dark, and was about to head out, but Piper stopped me. "Uh, you can't go." She looked sort of anxious.

That kind of perturbed me. "Why not?" Right then, I had all sorts of lurid ideas about the sisters. Like, they were really demons or something . . . I don't even fucking know.

"Uh, 'cause it's late!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"It's okay. I can take care of myself."

"But- but-"

"Hey, it's cool. I really can take care of myself, years of experience."

"Phoebe, Piper, can I talk to you guys for a sec?" Prue asks. They all shuffle into the kitchen. With my Slayer hearing, I heard every word.

"You guys are freaking her out!" Prue hissed.

"We can't just let her go out there! Alone! What about Phoebe's premonition?"

"Maybe neither of you stopped to consider that it was a vision of the past, and not the future."

"You're just saying that because you don't like her, Prue!" Phoebe insisted.

All right. I knew something was brewing then. I had to put a stop to it. What were they trying to do? Protect me from something?

"Prue . . . I just have this feeling that- aw, geez. That demon that I saw in my premonition-"

Demon? All right. Time to find out what the hell was going on.

I walk into the kitchen, and they all give me these looks of surprise and embarrassment.

"Hi." I state. "Demon, huh?"

"How did you hear? Were you listening in on our conversation?" Prue demanded.

"Don't flatter yourself. I have great hearing, super human, in fact." I turn to Phoebe. "This demon, you saw. What did it look like?"

S