In every generation, there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.

Or so it has been for so many generations as to become the stuff of legends. Until the mantle of the Chosen One fell up a young California High School girl named Buffy Summers. Unlike those who came before her, Buffy refused to live the life of a solitary warrior, relying on friends to aid her in the never-ending fight. A difference that proved to have far-reaching and previously unimagined effects.

When Buffy Summers fell in battle, as all Slayers before her had done, the mystic call had gone out for another to take her place. But then, since Buffy had not been alone when she fell, her friends were able to bring her back from clinical death. So, for the first time in history, two young women now carried the title - Vampire Slayer.

The dark cloak of night had long overtaken the warmth of day as two young women moved silently through the graveyard. Leading the way was a blonde-haired teen; her long hair tied back in a ponytail and dressed in simple denim jacket, black jeans and a sleeveless white T-shirt. Using hand signals, she showed her companion which path she was planning to take toward their destination. Not waiting for an acknowledgment, the slim, athletically-built, girl leapt over a wide tombstone and raced toward the large mausoleum a few hundred yards ahead.

There were a dozen cemeteries in the town of Sunnydale, and each as familiar to the Slayer as her own backyard. For a town of Sunnydale’s size, the number of graveyards might seem excessive to a casual observer, but the small community was far from ordinary. It was built a century before over the Hellmouth, an entrance to the underworld and a center of demonic activity.

Her companion, dark-haired and dressed in similar clothing, if of a darker shade, waited a few seconds and then headed for the tall structure as well. Using a different path, she stealthily came up from the opposite direction. Nearing the open space in front of the iron gated entrance, she saw a large group of men and women standing in front of it.

Or what appeared to be men and women, for in her heart she knew them to be dark reflections of the people whose bodies they now possessed. Soulless demons that had risen from the grave, draining the blood of the living for sustenance, adding some of their victims to their number. It was to combat such evil that she had been born.

Long before she had received her mystic call, and the powers it had imparted within her, she had been training for her destiny. Taken from her family home in Jamaica at an early age, the light-brown skinned girl had raised with only one goal in mind - to be the Slayer. A destiny that she had been taught would require her to forsake all aspects of a normal life.

It was that single-minded dedication that caused Kendra, for that was the only name she had ever known, to have such difficulty understanding this one called Buffy. During her years of training, she had studied the lives of those who came before her. From the primitive who was the first, to the Slayer who had preceded Buffy Summers. They had all given themselves fully to the life, accepting the wise advice of the Council of Watchers. Yet, time and again, Buffy insisted on defying their orders. This was not the life of a Slayer as it had been taught to her.

Even more, the American had grown up with her family by her side, and when the gift of her powers had been made known to her, she had tried to deny them. Then, after finally taking up the role she had been born to, Buffy had disregarded the first rule of a Slayer, that of secrecy. Almost from the beginning, she had involved those she called friends in her mission.

Much as she had pondered the discrepancies in the weeks since she had met her still living predecessor, those were questions to be put aside for now. The small grouping in front of her had become aware of her presence and now turned in her direction.

Following their previously agreed upon plan, Kendra stood up from behind the headstone that had temporarily concealed her from the vampire nest and stepped out into the open. As expected, all eyes turned in her direction.

“Who the hell are you?” the tallest of the figures closest to her, who in life had been George Wilson, called out.

“I’ll tell you who she is,” the shade of Michael Smith, standing at the other end of the semi-circle, said as his features morphed into his game face, “she’s dinner. I do so love it when they deliver.”

“I am Kendra,” the mocha skinned girl said without fear as she lifted a sharply pointed wooden stake in her hand, “de vampire Slayer.”

“Yeah, right,” the first vampire laughed, a reaction echoed by the rest of the ensemble, “and I’m Count Dracula.”

Taking advantage of their distraction, Kendra surged forward and, with a rapid motion almost too quick to follow, drove her stake into the chest of the laughing demon. There was just enough time for George Wilson’s face to fill with a look of surprise before his entire body collapsed into a pile of finely ground dust. A pile that was quickly carried away by the blowing breeze.

“God damn you, bitch!” Michael Smith cried out as he watched his associate die a second death, ignoring the absurdity of a spawn of hell calling on the Deity to curse someone.

“I think she might be for real, Mike,” a red-haired female vampire said from the back of the pack.

The remaining vampires took a step back, moving to form a wide circle around Kendra, keeping a respectable distance from her and the deadly tool in her hand. Her senses fully on alert to any sudden moment they might make, the dark-haired girl kept herself moving as to keep all of them in view.

“You know, I’m actually glad to meet you, Slayer,” Smith said with a grinning laugh as a realization caused his anger to abate, “I really am. Cause according to the legend, just the fact that you’re here means that Buffy bitch is feeding the worms somewhere. And I for one am not sorry to see her go, only that I wasn’t the one that got to plant her.”

“Then I think you’re going to be doubly disappointed,” a voice said from behind the vampire as he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his chest, “because the legend’s been rewritten.”

He just had time to look down and see a wooden arrow sticking from his torso. Then, in less time than it would’ve taken his heart to beat, if it did beat, he became dust in the wind as his compatriot had done a minute before.

“Two Slayers?” another of the female vampires, a dark skinned girl named Tanya, asked in confusion as the remaining demons turned to look at the new arrival.

“ ... no waiting.” Buffy answered, completing a phrase that had become almost a litany these last few weeks.

Buffy dropped the now empty crossbow and did a barrel roll that brought her to Kendra’s side. Continuing the fluid motion, she rose to her feet, drawing a wooden stake from beneath her jacket. A powerful kick into the chest of the closest vamp sent him hurdling into a tall stone obelisk, stunning him long enough for her to dispatch the surprised demon with a quick thrust.

Kendra followed her lead, lashing out at the closest vampire as well, reducing her to ashes after knocking her to the ground with a blinding series of powerful punches.

Of the original group, almost a third were already gone.

Odds of more than four to one, especially with the element of surprise exhausted, might seem overwhelming, but neither Slayer showed any signs of fear. They covered each other’s backs as the remaining vamps circled around them.

The clock ticked slowly as both Slayers and the remaining members of the nest took stock of the situation, each gauging their chances of success in the coming battle. Tension hung in the air like a tangible thing, until an unexpected voice broke it.

“Buffy? Buffy Summers?” one of the remaining undead, a brunette the same age as Buffy, asked as she stepped out to the front of the group. “Is that really you?”

It took the blonde-haired Slayer a moment to recognize the girl calling her name. It wasn’t until she dropped her game face that she remembered her.

“Sandy Wilson?” Buffy said, remembering the girl she knew from her first months at Sunnydale High.

“How are you?” Sandy asked, her tone and mannerisms shifting from the murdering demon she was to the party girl she once had been.

“A little busy at the moment,” Buffy said, keeping the rest of the pack in view.

“I can’t believe you’re the Slayer,” Sandy said as she stepped even closer. “I mean like you used to copy my answers in history class.”

One of the problems with living on the Hellmouth was that some of the undead you encountered tended to be people you once knew. Putting that from her mind and taking advantage of her new proximity, Buffy swung out her arm and dusted Sandy.

“Her answers didn’t help,” Buffy quipped as she pulled back her stake and whirled about to face the two other vamps that had surged forward after she had staked Sandy, “I got a C in that course.”

The rest of the nest followed suit and battle was quickly joined. Aside from possessing inhuman strength, vampires tended to return from the dead with an assortment of fighting skills that they had lacked in life. It took all of both Slayer’s strength and training to just to brunt the force of their attack, and then try to turn it around.

The first vamp to reach Kendra spied a weapon in the form of a long handled shovel left behind by a careless gravedigger. Swinging it like an ax, he aimed it at the Slayer’s head. Kendra leaned back at the last moment and avoided decapitation as his swing went wide.

He swung again from above, but she blocked the attack with her stake. Still, the force of the impact knocked it from her hand. Kendra brought her booted foot up in a snap kick that dislodged the spade from his hands, sending the makeshift weapon spinning into the air.

Kendra grabbed the long handle with both hands, bringing it down across her knee with enough force to snap it in two. Dropping the half with the metal pan, she drove the now jagged wooden end into the heart of her adversary, again reducing their number.

Realizing that their sole advantage lay in their still superior numbers, four of the remaining vamps attacked Buffy at once. The golden haired Slayer grabbed one by his shirt and pulled him to her as she dropped down to the ground. Once on her back, she lifted him off of her with both her legs and sent him hurling into the broken branch of a nearby tree. The impromptu stake served its purpose as his body exploded in a dust cloud.

Jumping back up on her feet, Buffy managed to avoid the swing of another onrushing vampire, blocking it and then smashing her elbow into his face, followed by a backhand punch to his head. He went down awkwardly, but gained his fellows the opening they needed.

Tanya caught Buffy off guard with a solid punch in the face. A second blow right behind it was hard enough to split her lip. Buffy stumbled backward, but managed to stay on her feet.

The vamp she had stunned, joined by the last of the quartet, returned to the fray and grabbed Buffy’s arms. Tanya grabbed the restrained Slayer by her hair, yanking her head up hard and fast before she could regain her equilibrium. Another pair of powerful blows followed, this time in her stomach.

Kendra meanwhile copied a move from her recent adversary, with much more successful results. Using the sharpened blade she carried in her boot, one could never have enough weapons after all, she decapitated her present opponent, which had the same effect as a stake through the heart.

Tired of being a punching bag, Buffy used the vamps pinning her arms to her advantage. Bracing her weight on them, she brought up both her legs and wrapped them around Tanya’s neck, snapping it in two. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but caused her to drop like a marionette whose strings had been cut. The killing came a few moments later when, after breaking free of her captors, she drove her backup stake into the black girl’s chest.

There was no time for celebration as Buffy immediately returned her attention back to the two she had just escaped from. One lunged at Buffy’s legs, attempting to pin her down once more. He grabbed empty air as the Slayer leapt high into the air, letting him pass beneath her.

The other tried a more direct approach. Producing a long jagged knife from his belt, he swung it at Buffy’s mid-section as she dropped back down. The blow grazed her side, drawing a small amount of blood as she hit the ground. Ignoring the cut, she blocked a second attack with her left arm, grabbing his knife arm with her right and snapping it in two. Alternating kicks pushed him back just long enough for her to make an opening for her deadly stake. Number ten crumbled to dust.

Number eleven came from behind, hoping to catch her unaware. Without even looking back, Buffy flipped her stake and drove it into his chest, pulling it out even before he imploded.

Finally, only two remained. These turned out to be the cream of the pack, not as easily dispatched as their fellows. Buffy paired off with the female vamp, as Kendra held her ground against the male.

Back and forth they battled, as Kendra drew on every aspect of her Slayer skills. But the very fact that there had been so many Slayers before her was proof that sometimes, even that wasn’t enough as the vampire delivered a crushing blow off the side of her head, powerful enough to stun her for a second. It was a hesitation he took full advantage of, knocking the stake from her hand and catching her in a chokehold.

The vamp had the advantage of leverage as Kendra found herself unable to break his grip. It was getting hard to breathe and she found her field of vision beginning to shrink and blur.

“Always wanted to kill a Slayer,” he laughed as he applied even greater pressure, cutting off her breath totally.

An unaccustomed fear filled Kendra as she struggled hopelessly against his strength. She could feel the press of his fangs against her exposed neck, not quite breaking the skin yet as he savored the moment, but leaving no doubt as to his intention. The Jamaican girl heard the words of her Watcher in her mind, reminding her that there were some things worse than death.

“I always wanted a puppy,” Buffy said as she suddenly appeared behind the vampire and with a quick thrust, turned him into part of the dust to dust set, “but we don’t always get what we want, do we?”

It took Kendra a second or two to realize the crushing weight against her windpipe was gone. Then another few breaths to regain her voice.

“Don’t you just hate it when they turn to dust before you get to use your best lines,” Buffy grinned as she glanced around them to be sure they’d gotten them all. “Sometimes the undead can be just so inconsiderate.”

“Ya saved me,” Kendra said, her voice still a little raw.

“Of course, we’re on the same team, aren’t we?” Buffy smiled. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that, maybe we should get shirts or something made up?”

“Tank ya,” Kendra said, not sure if Buffy was being serious or not.

“Blue would be a nice color, or maybe something in red. What do you think?” Buffy said as she stepped over to where Kendra’s stake had fallen, picking it up and handing it to her. “Here you go, wouldn’t want you to lose Mister Pointy, would we?”

Kendra was unusually silent as they decided to call it a night and headed back to Buffy’s house. The house was empty, with Buffy’s mother visiting friends in Los Angeles. Deciding to make a snack before they turned in, Buffy led her counterpart to the kitchen.

“Hungry?” she asked Kendra as she opened the refrigerator to see what leftovers were available.

“No, tank ya,” Kendra said, food being the last thing on her mind at the moment.

“Suit yourself,” Buffy said as she took a piece of cold chicken and ripped off a piece of it, popping it into her mouth. “I always get a little hungry after dusting a few vamps.”

“Should we not report to Mr. Giles and tell him of the vampires we have slain?” Kendra asked.

“It’ll wait till morning,” Buffy said as she took a second piece of chicken. “Are you sure you don’t want some?”

“I am sure,” Kendra replied.

“Okay,” Buffy said as she covered the plate and put it back in the refrigerator. “I guess it’s time to turn in then and get some sleep. Even with Slayer strength, it’s not easy leading two lives. Personally, I’d rather face whatever thingie decides to come out of the Hellmouth next than Miss Rosselli’s English Lit class.”

Kendra followed Buffy up the stairs to the second floor bedrooms. Telling her mother that the other Slayer was an exchange student, which in a way she was, Buffy had convinced her to let Kendra stay in the guest room during her visit.

“Well have a good night’s sleep,” Buffy said as they reached the door to the guest room, “what’s left of it anyway.”

She turned to go to her own room, when Kendra stopped her. The Jamaican girl laid a hand on Buffy’s shoulder, causing her to pause and turn back around. She didn’t say anything for a few moments, trying to form the right words.

“There are some tings that I find meself having a problem with,” Kendra said.

“What sort of things?” Buffy asked.

“What a Slayer is supposed to be?”

“Well you’re the one with the handbook,” Buffy smiled, thinking that the other girl’s main problem was that she was much too serious all the time.

“I now begin ta tink dat all the answers are not in wat de Council has taught me,” she admitted.

“Welcome to my world,” Buffy smiled, thinking that maybe Giles asking Kendra to stay on a few weeks was a good idea after all. “Why don’t we go to my room and have a little chat.”

“I would like that,” Kendra replied, following Buffy across the hall.

“Have a seat,” Buffy said as she cleared some of the laundry that had been piled up on her bed. “So what’s on your mind specifically?”

“Friends,” Kendra said.

“What about them?” Buffy asked as she sat down next to her.

“Wat is it like to have them?” Kendra asked.

“You don’t know?” Buffy asked in return.

“I have never had dem.”

“Oh yes you have,” Buffy replied.

Kendra just gave Buffy a blank look, unable to understand what she was saying.

“I’m your friend, and Giles is certainly your friend too. Didn’t he ask you to stay here a few weeks before going home?”

“Ya are anodder Slayer,” Kendra retorted, “and he is a Watcher. There can be no friendship there, only duty and responsibility.”

“That’s the Council talking,” Buffy said. “Trust me, Giles is nothing like most of them. I can honestly say that as much as I didn’t want to be the Slayer in the beginning, I’ve really come to love him as if he was family.”

“A Watcher as family?” Kendra repeated, now making it a question to be asked of herself, one that she found it hard to apply to Mr. Zabuto, the Watcher that had raised her. Teacher and taskmaster of course, but looking upon him as family seemed too far to reach.

“Besides, even if you eliminate me and Giles, you also have friends in Willow and Xander.” Buffy went on. “Even Angel sort of liked you, after you stopped trying to drive a stake through his heart of course.”

That Buffy maintained a relationship, however platonic, with a vampire was the hardest thing about the Slayer for Kendra to understand. Regardless of the nonsense they had told her about Angel having a soul, she usually found it hard to think of him as anything but an animal to be slaughtered.

“Xander even thought you were really cute,” Buffy smiled, “but then again I think he says that about every girl he meets.”

“I do not know any boys,” Kendra said, “Mr. Zabuto said dey were too much of a distraction.”

“That they can be,” Buffy grinned, “but a nice distraction at times.”

“Do ya have feelings for Xander?” Kendra asked.

“Of course, we’ve been friends since...” Buffy started to say, then realized what Kendra meant. “Well he’s had a crush on me almost since the day I met him, but I really don’t feel the same way about him. He understands that and we’re cool about it.”

“And Willow?”

“Willow definitely has a crush on Xander.” Buffy said. “They grew up together, but I don’t think he really sees her as anything but a friend and...”

“I meant ya and Willow,” Kendra corrected.

“Oh we’re the best friends,” Buffy replied. “I think she was the first friend I made here in Sunnydale. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

“Are de two of ya lovers?” Kendra asked.

“Me and Willow?” a surprised Buffy asked, thinking that she heard it wrong.

The expression on Kendra’s face told her that she had heard it right.

“I really don’t think that Willow is the sort that might be attracted to other girls,” Buffy said, as if the thought had never occurred to her before, “at least not in that way.”

Kendra’s face bore a look of momentary confusion. How could Buffy, with the same abilities that she possessed, not see what was obvious to her?

“And ya?”

“Me what?”

“Have ya ever thought of a girl in dat way?”

Now it was Buffy’s turn to give a non-verbal response as a knowing, yet non-committal smile filled her face. It was one that Kendra studied intensely for long, silent seconds. Then, with no answer forthcoming, she took the first totally emotional action she had ever taken in her life.

Leaning forward, she kissed Buffy on the lips.

The kiss took Buffy by surprise in a way that few things now did. At first, she wasn’t sure how to react, but then let her own emotions take over and enjoyed the press of Kendra’s lips against her own. There was a soft warmth in the other Slayer’s body, one she could feel passing between them during their brief contact.

“Whoa,” Buffy exhaled as they both pulled back from the kiss. “Where did that come from?”

Kendra took a long moment before responding, still coming to grips with having acted on emotion rather than the solid, cold and logical facts she had been trained all her life to trust. Since she had been a child, it had been drilled into her that emotions were a weakness to be avoided. Something for other people, but not the Slayer. Yet, from the moment that she had discovered that Buffy was also a Slayer, Kendra had felt an attraction that had grown too strong to be ignored.

There had been times in her life that she had wondered about the attraction between two people that the books she had read without Mr. Zabuto’s knowledge had called love. He had forbidden her contact with men, but she had felt a stirring within her that came close to what the books had described when she looked at some women.

In the past, she had suppressed any such thoughts by telling herself that they could never be allowed to interfere with her holy mission, that a Slayer must always be alone. Yet, hadn’t Buffy showed her that she, also a Slayer, was stronger because of the support of her friends. And if a Slayer could have friends, could she not also feel love? What better lover could she have than one who was not only her equal, but shared her sacred calling.

“I do not know how to explain dis,” Kendra said, “Dere are feelings inside of me dat I do not understand. It is very confusing.”

Hearing her words, and the passion in them, Buffy had no confusion as to what Kendra was feeling. Unlike her counterpart, the blonde-haired girl’s world hadn’t always been filled with stories of Slayers and vampires. It wasn’t that long ago that she had simply been a student at Hemery High back in Los Angeles. A popular cheerleader and member of the in crowd, who was more interested in being elected Prom Princess and Fiesta Queen than in the fate of the world.

There had been a time, just before the appearance of Merrick, her first Watcher, when the American Princess had explored those feeling with Jennifer Walkens, her best friend on the cheerleader squad. Their explorations had gone pretty far, enough for Buffy to consider that even though she had never gone all the way with a boy, she could hardly be considered a virgin in any but the most technical sense of the word.

Even though she hadn’t acted on those feeling since, Buffy hadn’t forgotten them. There had been times when she couldn’t help but notice some of the women around her. Especially after a night patrol, when her hormones and passions were in overdrive. Slaying didn’t just make her hungry, as she had said earlier, it also made her incredibly horny.

Normally, as soon as she made it home it would be straight to the shower where she could wash off the night’s exertions, as well as take care of the fires that usually blossomed between her legs. With Kendra staying with her the last few weeks, that hadn’t always been possible.

The thought of her fellow Slayer reminded the senior vampire hunter of how sexy the Jamaican girl looked, especially when she got all hot and sweaty, much like she had been back in the cemetery. The image sent a pleasing spark through her body.

“Ya are angry at me,” Kendra said, taking Buffy’s momentary silence as a negative reaction to her kiss. “I was wrong in what I did.”

“No, you weren’t,” Buffy quickly replied, realizing the possibility that Kendra felt about her pretty much the same way that she did her. “I was just a little surprised, that’s all.”

“I tink that maybe we should just forget it happened,” Kendra suggested, part of her mind retreating back to the safety of never breaking the rules and following orders without question.

“I think that would be a really bad idea,” Buffy countered, a broad smile filling her face.

Kendra’s own face filled with a look of surprise. She had thought Buffy would surely see the wisdom of ignoring what she had just done. Better to live with a small lie than to let dangerous emotions run unchecked.

“Because, if it never happened,” Buffy explained in a soft, quiet voice and she leaned closer to Kendra, “then I wouldn’t have any reason to do this.”

Closing that last small distance between them in a heartbeat, Buffy kissed Kendra. Her lips were enticingly soft, and now that she was ready for it, the touch of them brought back fleeting memories of the nights she and Jennifer had spent together. But the remembrance of the spoiled California girl quickly faded away against the reality of the girl she was kissing now. There was a fire in Kendra that even with this brief touch, Buffy knew that her one time friend could never have matched or even understood.

“Do you still want to make believe that none of this happened?” Buffy asked as she reluctantly pulled back from Kendra, but only a fraction of the distance of before.

“No,” Kendra mouthed softly, her single word of surrender almost too low for anyone not with the enhanced senses of a Slayer to have heard.

But heard it Buffy had, and it was enough to cause her heart to jump a beat. She pulled Kendra close to her once more and kissed her again, this time gently teasing her soft lips until the Jamaican born Slayer opened her mouth. Buffy slipped her tongue carefully into Kendra’s mouth, slowly massaging its counterpart and letting the girl in her arms grow used to her touch.

Kendra’s education might’ve been lacking in this area, but as their mouths pressed together she proved that she was both a quick study and eager to learn. She quickly copied the movements of Buffy’s tongue as it slipped deeper into her mouth. Back and forth they traded passions, giving each a hint of the desires within the other.

As they continued to kiss a second time, Buffy reached down and cupped one of Kendra’s firm breasts, massaging it through her shirt. She could feel the nipples grow hard at her touch, and an appreciative moan spilled from Kendra’s lips.

“Do you want to spend the night with me?” Buffy asked after they had kissed for a few minutes more.

“I would like dat very much,” Kendra replied, her lips still tingling from Buffy’s kisses.

“I hoped you might,” Buffy smiled as she let all of her repressed desires come to the surface. “So what do you say we have some real fun?”

Kendra didn’t reply with words, as she had always been better with actions. She leaned towards Buffy and gently kissed her, this time taking the opportunity to slip her hands up under Buffy’s blouse and feel her breasts. Their softness was all she imagined they might be.

“Oh yes,” Buffy whispered as she felt Kendra’s fingers massaging her nipples through her bra, strength mixing with softness in her touch.

Kendra kissed her again, this time a little harder and longer as she built on what she had learned only minutes before, probing deep into the blonde’s mouth with her tongue.

At the same time, the taller girl pressed Buffy back onto the bed, bringing her body down on top of hers. She continued to squeeze the breasts in her hands, her fingers causing the nipples to grow even more rigid.

“And I’m supposed to be the one with experience?” Buffy laughed silently as she closed her eyes for a moment and savored the strength of the girl pressing against her.