It's morning.  The sun is bright and shining through the windows as you queue up to make an order.  Sonja walks in behind you and taps you on the shoulder.  She is out in sunlight and she is inside the iron wall.

"Mine's a tomato juice", she says with a mischievous grin.  "And we can talk at this time cause I'm all alone in my head."

"Sonja, nice to see you girl" Elissa looked pleased to meet the Day Walker "And there was me expecting you to order a bloody Mary. Wuster Sauce with it?" Elissa ordered a tap water for herself, and Sonja's drink taking them to a table as they were delivered. She carefully didn't say anything meaningful while they were in a queue of 'ordinary people'.

As they got to the table "Tell you: it's nice to see you in the daylight, girl." Elissa said cheerfully toasting Sonja with her glass "I feel a lot more trusting all of a sudden. Well" she touched her neck and laughed "more trusting about this anyway." there were a little laugh in her eyes that perhaps implied her 'not trusting' was about something other than violence or money

"I'm new to all this 'wierd' world. You've been at it far longer than I have. If you were to give me one piece of advice... what would it be?"

Sonja thinks about that and eventually said, "It all boils down to three things.  First, never make a deal with dragons, devils or the Fey.  Second, the best way to kill the undead is to behead them (except Ghuls... them you have to bury in stone).  Third, try to find someone who'll love you for what you really are, not what you ought to be.  I'm still working on that one."

"Wah they are real. Dragons I mean" Elissa's eyes were wide with surprise. "And I take it they aren't the size of my friends poodle. Are they car, lorry or express train size?" she had to think about the Fey. That sounded very much in line with Shakespeare. "I take it if you don't want to 'make a deal' you think the best thing is just 'steer clear'. I have to admit that sounds like good advice"

"As for love... yeah... still looking here. I went through a phase where every boy in school was trying to go out with me. But it turned out all they wanted was to get into my panties. After a couple of them realised that 'no means no'... that kind of dried up and they started calling my a dyke." she shrugged and sipped some of the water "Maybe. I don't know. I met a pretty welsh girl at that same night club I was with you at, but I think she panicked after a kiss and cuddle. We'll see. So no significant other here... not yet. What about you? Have you found someone you like yet?"

"You know you should hang out at the Hurricane. The reason I go punk is that it's all about 'what you are, and not what other people want you to be'. You're much more likely to meet someone like you describe there, than at the Talon"

Sonja laughs and though her laugh tinkles like bells, there is something beneath the surface as if those bells were of glass and the laughter shattered them.  "I'll not find love.  I already have someone I hate and I hate him more than I have ever hated anyone or anything in my life.  His name is Dragan and he wanted to make a vampire of me.  He's asleep right now because he doesn't do daylight. He's the bastard in my head if you hadn't guessed."

She takes a sip of tomato juice and makes a face.  "The things I'll do for a joke." she sighs, "Dragons.  Yes they're real.  Most of them are human in form.  They are the seven percent who horde eighty four percent of the wealth."

Elissa gave a chuckle as she got the 'dragon' joke. Dragan and Dragon were very similar.

"You know, girl...someone else I would advise 'stop hating'. Hating changes you. Makes you a less nice person. But in your case... maybe that's what is keeping him out" Elissa said thoughtfully "Sheesh that's awkward. I know jackshit about this occult stuff... but if you want to chat with some that does... Inoue... you met her... she's the kind of person who might know. And ... well you know Anns the slayer. Her watcher might be another person."

"Me... I'd leave well alone.It's that punk thing. You are who you are, and you should be happy with it. If other people aren't happy with it... then stuff them. You sometimes have to make exceptions for people you care about ... a bit. So like with my mum... I try not to upset her too much. And if I had a boy or girl friend, then I might change things if it made them feel better... but not too much, because as you say... they have to accept you for yourself, not what they want you to be."

"So punk's a good thing this day, yeah?  About personal responsibility and that. Well I can live with that.  Time'll come when Dragan leaves my husk for good.  Every day he's weaker and weaker and one of these days, he'll come out during a solar eclipse or maybe I'll get converted and have myself tattooed with a crucifix and that'll be the end of him."  Sonja grinned and took a sip of tea.  "Well, you've seen my bona fides now so what shall we do next?"

"I don't know if Punk's 'good'" Elissa said with a laugh "But it suits me. Mum says I'll grow out of it, but Dad never did. I don't think I can fill his shoes, but I can at least try. And being clear about 'what you want' and 'why you want it' is a big thing. Punk helps me do that"

Sonja's 'what next' was a good question "Hmm... well this whole thing started with Ann saying 'hey what's that'. We're living in the same city, with common concerns, so the basics are out of the way... which is nice. It means that... for example ... I could ask 'do you want to go see a movie tonight' and not worry about being eaten" That was said deadpan, leaving it up to Sonja to decide if that question was just an example or asking her out for a date

"But if you are up for it, it would be nice to get some sort of 'underworld briefing'. I told you I was new to this world. I've seen vampires try to kill people, and stepped in and stopped them. I've seen Fey try to make people dance to exhaustion...perhaps even death and tried to stop that. I know that Druscilla is a prophetess. But I don't know anything about 'William the Bloody'. I don't even know much about vampire society... if you can tell me anything about it, it will stop me making mistakes. Maybe even fatal mistakes"

Sonja smiled.  "Let's get a punt and go along the river, yeh?  Harder to be overheard in the open.  They'd need a parabolic reflector or a laser bug, and neither would work on the river unless it's absolutely calm.  How does that sound?"

If you're agreed, then Sonja gathered up a doggy bag and began to run, South down Regent Street, West along Lensfield Road, North up Trumpington Street and then a quick jog across Granta Square to Scudamore's boatyard about two minutes twenty seconds later.

"I've never been punting" Elissa said agreeing. She ran too, but not as fast as Sonja. She wasn't 'breaking cover' and beating the time an olympic athelete could make in the middle of cambridge! Still she made her way to the boatyard enjoying the run, even if it was a little short

Sonja presumably knew what she was doing, so she watched the Day Walker 'do stuff' and get the punt ready to go

"I've seen this on TV, girl, but never for real" Elissa laughed spreading out on the end of the punt, admiring the way Sonja moved. She could get used to this! Nice eye candy, a relaxing boat ride. What wasn't great? "So do they really do jousting? Trying to knock each other off the punts. Or is this just designed for romantic trysts?"

"Were you serious by the way about the tech? Do vamps really do that sort of thing?"

When Sonja noticed Elissa's admiring eye, she began to play up to it, offering lovely views of denim stretched tight over her ass for example, or the way her t-shirt stretched with each push of the pole.

"They do really have jousts but mostly, I think it's designed so that students can smoke blow safely."  Slowly the punt began to move under Sonja's direction.  "I should wear a boater I suppose, and a hoopy t-shirt ala gondolier." 

As they moved under the mathematical bridge, she began to sing for the tourists, "Sul mare luccica l'astro d'argento,
Placida é l'onda
Prospero il vento
Venite all'argine
Barchette mie
Santa lucia, santa lucia"

She grinned and said, "Now where were we?  No not vampires, the security services, MI6, special branch and the like they use gear like that, and so do the proper bad guys.  It's also hard to scry here as well.  Now let's see, Drusilla's not a prophetess, she's a psychopath, going some way to call bullshit on the idea that the person vamps were when they were alive is gone.  Drusilla was a lunatic when she was alive.  William the Bloody, or Spike as he likes to be called has no such excuse, he's utterly sane but he's a nineteenth century nihilist.  Daft get thinks he's a cross between Lord Byron and Raskolnikov.  Then there's Angelus.  An Irish vampire.  He's just plain evil although I've heard a rumour that he was cursed by gypsies and now he has his soul back and feels crushing remorse over all his crimes.  Far fetched if you ask me."

Sonja's movements put to rest any lingering doubts Elissa had. Her gaydar had said 'yes' when they were dancing, but she'd been .. very .. keen to see Sonja in sunlight before even contemplating anything. And now... well Sonja made very nice eye candy indeed. And was going out of her way to be even nicer.

There was a little smile on her lips as she silently thanked Sonja for the view, and stretched a little herself to reciprocate. Nothing too blatent: even though they were on a punt it was in public. "A boater might be nice" Elissa agreed, "but girl, a hoopy T Shirt isn't you"

It was a little hard to concentrate on Sonja's words with all the distractions, but Elissa tried. And was a little ... no make that a lot ... suprised. "Do ... Do the security services know about vampires?" That didn't really compute. Elissa was pretty sure if she was the boss of the security services it wouldn't be long to find and rid the world of vampires. There were so many markers. Vampires couldn't really hide. Not from the resources of the security services. That thought sent her head spinning as she started plotting and for a second or two she forgot about Sonja. Only a second or two, because Sonja did another very pleasing punt and that dragged her back to reality

"They sound bad" Elissa mused aloud at the description of the Terrible Trio. She didn't really know what any of it meant though. Other than the three sounded bad. She was glad Ann didn't have to face them alone.

"Now there's a good question", said Sonja.  "Do they know about vampires, I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure they know about witches, demons and the Fae so I wouldn't be surprised if they knew about vampires as well.  I mean, they certainly know vampires exist.  They must do.  The OSS staked Ernst Rohm in 1943 but I've seen no actual evidence that they know about vampires in 20th century England."

"Tell me Hitler was a Fae. Or a Vampire" Elissa's eyes were wide in shock as she heard that some Nazi was a Vampire. And had been staked by the OSS which she had heard of.

Sonja wasn't reacting to her own careful exploratory 'stretches' in any way, so Elissa sat up to look around. And to think about what Sonja had said. An observer could probably see imaginary wheels whiring in her head as she started to reassess her view of the world

"You know the Terrible Trio. They've been around for at least a hundred years right?" If William the Bloody was a 19th century Nihilist that made sense "I keep wondering why the security services don't 'deal' with them. Do you think they make a deal with people like these three. 'Do this odd deal for us and we'll look the other way'. Or do you think that their intelligence gathering is so bad that they can't tract the vamps down, or don't even know they exist?" That last didn't really square with what her dad and his friends had told her. British MI had been utterly awesome, totally worldclass during the war. And there was no reason to believe they couldn't track down three vampires. But they were ruthless. And made deals...

Sonja grins, "If the truth is told, William the Bloody would most definitely have been terminated if there was anybody sane in any of the security services.  I sometimes wonder whether the Watchers' Council is part of the whole military security complex but then the question is, do they exist to keep an eye on vampires, or to keep an eye on the Slayer and her companions."

The grin faded and the words became silent for a while as she appeared to be concentrating on a rather tricky patch of the river bottom.  After a while she adds, "I may be paranoid of course. I wouldn't blame me if I was.  By the way, yes, you're right, I like girls more than men but I just can't right now not with HIM in my head". 

It's clear she's thinking of something worse than him being a vampire.

"I am not a fan of the fucking Watchers" Elissa said bluntly "Especially the faction they call the conservatives. As far as I can tell they engineer the deaths of the slayers quickly by their policies. They do nothing to help her materially other than one person... and I've heard some pitiful excuses as to why that is"

"All that said... it's an organisation. And within it there seem to be good people. I like Ann's watcher. She put her life on the line to help."

She nodded at put down, just a little hint of hurt visible, but only a tiny bit "Just letting you know, that you are attractive, funny, clever and I like you. And all things being equal... well it would be nice to maybe more than dance. But if I was you, I would say the same thing. Maybe in a bit things will change."

"So are we going to be allies? Do you need an ally? If we were going to take on William the Bloody would you help? Do you have other problems you need help with? Or are we going to be 'just friends' and maybe dance together when we meet?"

Sonja considers and says, "If you're daft enough to go after one of the three then I'm daft enough to help.  I have to say, I thought they were in New York City but yea, whistle and I'll come to thee my lass." The last sounds like a quote from somebody or other.

"As for my own problem." she continued, "Here it is in all its glory.  You know how vampires are born yeh?  Vamp bites food. Vamp doesn't clear after himself, Corpse gets buried.  Corpse wakes up yadayadayada?  That's not what happened with me.  Mine was more like monster jumps on girl in smelly back alley, has his way with her, uses her hard and leaves her for dead.  Girl wakes up with a fire blazing inside her.  Now the girl (me) wants to find him and take him down in the hope that killing my sire will get rid of the tenant in my headspace."

She smiled a sad little smile.  "I enjoy dancing with you Elissa and will do so at any opportunity that presents itself."

"Druscilla is here. Don't know about the others" Elissa said "Of course I am just going off what a vampire said. Maybe they lied... who would have thought?"

"Hearing someone say 'count your blessings' always makes me mad" Elissa said hoping to lighten the mood "But Sonja. Girl. You are alive. Here. Able to function. And... we'll help. At least I will and I think the others will too. And I'm not helping because I want to jump your bones. I'm helping because I want to. And because I like you"

"Let's let the eggheads work out what our options are. If it's 'hunt the sire'... maybe the watchers can work out who that is"