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We had word that there might be another potential out on the streets of Sunnydale. I wasn’t sure what she even looked like. We had been getting tips from the council as to who the girls were that would be heading here. We all knew that these recent few tips were going to be the last. The council was gone. Completely gone, all the books, all the people. The evil that we were fighting had found a damn good way to give us a serious blow on our defense mechanism. The council and I had never really been friends, but we had understandings. At this point, we needed all the help we could get, and by destroying the council, it severed our ties with potential slayers, which was what it wanted. Giles had given us this news after he arrived from England with a few of the potentials that needed the protection of the slayer.
I had never been more happy to see him, but the news that he had brought with him made what should have been a happy time a somber one. Somber like last few weeks have been for all of us.
Harbingers were coming in from all over the place, they weren’t the hardest thing in the world to kill but when there are enough of them, it’s hard to protect yourself much less others who aren’t even used to the fighting scene. Enter Turrekan, uber! Vampire. Add harbingers, and trying to protect someone while trying to keep alive yourself is a nearly impossible task. Even for the slayer. This is how the potentials died. Most of them had been killed before I could find them and protect them. Others would slip out of the house because of cabin fever, and come face to face with a harbinger. The rest died within seconds of coming face to face with a Turrekan.
With the tips from the council, I was able to find a few of them before the harbingers did. Those were the lucky ones. One after another, we were losing them. Then came the raid in the house that took every potential that we had in the house. I remember some of the minor details, but the rest of the night was more of a blur. I was talking to Spike and Xander.
Xander and I were about to head out to pick up a potential that was 2 miles outside of town when we heard a harsh scream and the door breaking in. From there it was a blur. They had one goal, and they managed to succeed at it. They were smart about it too; They isolated us from the potentials, and by the time I had killed all of them and fought off the Turrekan enough to try and help, most of the damage was already done. After they got what they came for as fast as they broke in, they left faster. The fear I had that night of the raid could be one of the hardest times that I have been through. I had lost girls that reminded me of myself so many years ago, and Dawn had lost friends, people her own age. I didn’t think Xander would have been able to take much more death in his life after Anya.
We were left with 6 dead girls, at least 9 dead harbingers and blood from the living as well as the dead. It was a horrible mess that I hope that I never have to live through again, and yet, I know that it’ll come again. It won’t happen the same way - I’ll make damn sure of that. But I know power when I see it, and what’s behind the Turrekan and the Harbingers has a lot of power…and we’re far from over.
A few days before the raid, a few of the potentials were wondering why they had been brought to Sunnydale when they could just as easily try to drop off the face of the planet away from the radar. They came here because they needed my protection. I was supposed to protect them, and it seemed that the sooner that they had come in, the more harbingers would raid, the faster the harbingers would raid, and the easier it was to lose more and more girls that we didn‘t even get a chance to know. We were fighting an uphill battle, and there were more potentials coming in. We had a break with the council, and Giles coming with a few more potentials, but that soon changed when we learned the news of the entire council, literally, exploding. So here we are. Out searching for a girl that might be the next slayer, or might already be dead. Xander and Spike, on the other side of town hopefully had more luck than us. I could only pray that they did.
Willow and Kennedy were walking a bit behind Giles and I as we were going down the street looking for any sort of clue as to where the potential would be. Kennedy was the only potential that was left as far as we knew. We were walking the streets with baited breath, but luck not on our side. Not that it had ever been before.
I turned my head when I heard a scream, a young girl scream. I started running, clenching the axe ready for battle. Hoping for the best, but fearing I was already too late.
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