Chapter ten

 Alison paced the room, feeling an unreasoning rage directed at her mentor and friend.  She was only trying to protect them both, but why could she never seem to see anything from her point of view.  “I’m not going,” she stated once again, as firmly as she had every time before in this particular conversation.
 She could hear Maria’s sigh of frustration, and it pained her that the two of them had to be having this argument, but they had had it so many times in the past that she had expected her friend to understand her feelings by now.  Why could she not possibly see it from her point of view?  Why did she see her as only a slayer, and not a human being with dreams and needs that did not coincide with what she was?  “I don’t see why you are being so stubborn in this matter.  I know you understand the danger as much as I do, so why will you not consider what is best for the both of us?”
 Alison wheeled on her, barely able to control her anger now.  “If you want to up and leave this place, than do it.  I’m not keeping you here.  I’m not telling you to stay here.  I’m not twisting your arm behind your back and forcing you to stay.  If you want to go, if you’re so scared of this, than just go.”  She regretted the words the moment they were out of her mouth.  She had never said anything half so cruel and harsh to her friend in all the time they had known each other.
 Maria huffed, bringing herself up to her full height, a very intimidating sight, even to another slayer.  “I am not afraid of any vampire,” she said defiantly.  “I only wish to protect you because you are too young, immature and stupid to do it yourself.”
 “Stupid?” she cried out.  “Who are you calling stupid?  If this…vampire…wishes to get a hold of me so badly, then what is to keep him from coming after me.  He found me once, he should be able to do that again.  I don’t see what would keep him from that.  It’s not like they stay stuck to their own territory or anything like that.  I pack up and leave, he could just as easily do the same.  How would running in fear save me then, or do I just keep running and running, and hope he eventually gets bored?  Any idea how fast it takes a thing that lives for eternity to get bored of something?”
 Maria threw up her hands in disgust.  “Have you not heard a word I’ve said.  There are three ancient ones who claim different parts of this city.  Yes, only one may be out for you now, but if the other two become aware of you, or take interest in you, which is a very possible chance now that one has, then they could all be after you very, very soon.  If we move out before the other two find you to be a problem, perhaps we would only have the one to deal with.  One would be easier to fight of than three.”
 “I tried to fight just the one,” Alison reminded her.  “I don’t really see what the difference is between fighting three invincible monsters as opposed to one.  I’m still dead meat, whichever way it goes.  Why should I let them drive me from my home, my job, everything I’ve worked for, if there’s still a chance that I’m going to die anyway?  Why not stay here and fight for what I have, what I believe in?  Why run just to fight someplace I don’t love, know or even care about?”
 “You do not understand-”
 “No,” Alison cried out, moving over to her mentor, and tapping her very firmly in the chest.  “No, you’re the one who doesn’t understand.  This is my home.  This has been my home for a very long, long time, and I have no intention of giving it up now.  I’m not letting fear, vampires, slayers or anything else run my life for me.  If that’s too much for you to deal with, then…maybe you should find another slayer to train, because, baby, I’m not budging an inch from my home.  Not one, damn inch.  I worked myself to the bone to get what I‘ve got here, and I‘m not giving it up for anything.”
 Maria sighed yet again, shaking her head.  “I knew you were thick headed, but I had no idea that it was this bad.  Are you sure of this?  Are you sure you do not wish to go somewhere else, at least for a little while,” she asked, desperate for an answer she knew she would not get.
 Alison shook her head.  “I can’t cut out on my job now.  They need me.  I split, no matter what the excuse, and I can kiss my career good-bye.  I’m not willing to do that.”
 “Even if it costs you your life?”
 “Even if It costs me my life.”
 Maria threw up her hands in surrender.  “Fine, have it your way.  You are impossible, do you know that?”
 Alison gave her the most innocent grin.  “Yeah, but you still have to love me.”
 Maria walked over to her, and put her arms around the smaller woman.  “Of course I do.  That’s why I worry so much about you.  If I didn’t care about you, this would not worry me so much.”
 “Well, you shouldn’t let it worry you in the first place.  We’ll make it through this without having to go underground.”
 The darker woman shook her head.  “And how can you be so sure of this?  You were terrified of this vampire last time you saw him.”
 Alison let her thoughts drift back to that night, the night she had first seen one of the ancient ones, and shuddered with the memory of it.  Yes, he had been incredibly powerful, and she had no idea how she was going to fight such a beast, but she did know if she did not keep her confidence and her spirits up, there was no way she would be able to defeat the thing, and fleeing in the face of danger would help her do neither one of those.  Shrugging, she said, “Well, one does have to have hope, doesn’t one?”
 Maria smiled.  “Yes, one must have hope, for without hope, there is no point to life.”
 A chill ran through both of them as a terrible sound seemed to force its way into their minds, suddenly and from out of nowhere.  Alison clapped her hands over her ears, but could not block out the sound.  It was not coming from without her, but from within, digging its way into her brain.  “What the Hell is that?” she cried out, having never experienced anything like this sensation before in her life.
 “It is the challenging cries of a vampire,” Maria called back.
 “Oh my God, how can anyone stand this?” she wailed as the sound seemed to increase in intensity in her mind, trying to tear her head open from the inside out.
 Maria was shaking her head.  “Most people would not even notice the sound.  We are some of the few who would be aware of it for we are slayers.  Our ability to hear them when they challenge each other is to help us know when to flee any given area.  A fight between two ancient ones can be very dangerous for us, for when they are done, the winner usually patrols his new territory, and rids it of any slayers that they think may cause them a problem.  Are you sure you do not wish to reconsider your decision now?”
 Alison was shaking her head, trying to rid it of that sound as a second one joined with the first, searing her mind with a blinding pain.  “Ahhh.”
 “The challenge has been answered and accepted.  I would guess that it is between the two males who are near us.  The female would have little enough interest in fighting, being as old as she is.  The younger male has most likely issued the challenge, and the older has answered that he will fight.  I am surprised it took him so long to join the battle.  Usually, they can be very eager to fight each other, but the elder was a bit of an eccentric from what Martuf told me.”
 Alison really didn’t care about vampire social etiquette at that time.  She just knew that she wanted that awful noise to stop, and do it soon.  She didn’t think she would be able to remain conscious much longer if it kept up.  “How long do these fights take?”
 Maria shrugged.  “They have only until the sun rises to determine a winner.”
 Alison gapped at her.  “Sunrise is hours away.”
 “Hope they do not take that long to choose a winner.”
 The fight between the two vampires took longer than Alison would have liked, lasting most of the night.  Somehow she managed to keep both her sanity and her life as the sounds rebounded through her head again and again and again, although there had been many times she had wished that she would just die so the pain of it would end.  Finally, one, final, horrific scream sounded in her head, and it was done.  Silence filled her mind, her home, her very being.  Pulling her hands away from her ears, where she had held them, uselessly, most of the night, she asked, “What…what happened?”  Her voice sounded rough and haggard to her, but there was nothing to be done about that.  Her only consolation was that she had the day off.  She would be able to sleep it away, and hopefully recover from what she had just been put through.  She honestly wondered at the helpfulness of her kind being able to hear the fighting of ancient vampires.  She would have much rather spent the night in blissful ignorance.
 “The battle has ended.  The victor has taken his prize,” Maria assured her, confirming what she felt she already knew.
 “And the loser?” she asked, also knowing the answer to that one.
 “Dead.”