Mild Mannered
by Firestorm17

Damiane's fatigue-faded senses came to attention as she felt the 
approach of her student. Somehow the feeling of her mortal pupil 
drawing near always reassured her. She knew part of it was that even 
after all he'd seen, all he'd done, there was still something of a 
wide-eyed innocent to the boy. In a weird way, it was almost 
refreshing to feel that kind of innocence shining through the 
darkness that was all too common in this town. 
{And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb} supplied her age old 
memories of a Catholic education. Never mind the fact that if any of 
the "wolves" in the waiting room decided to make trouble, *they* 
would be the ones in for a world of hurt. She had certainly seen to 
that. Even though he had barely half his power at his command, her 
apprentice was more than a match for the usual run of demonry the 
Hellmouth brought in. It hadn't always been that way, though.
As her young pupil paused to chat with one of the regulars, the 
vampiress thought back to her first encounter with the dark-haired 
mortal. Her Stephen had found the young man wandering the streets in 
the middle of the night, seemingly unaware of the danger surrounding 
him. Her human beloved had brought the teenager to her door, telling 
her this one was a special case. The boy had been shaking, terrified 
to the bone. Not surprising, considering that he'd just been in a 
waiting room filled with demons. The first real shock had arisen 
when she'd tentatively brushed the surface of his mind. The child 
had been scared half to death, all right, but not because of any of 
the creatures in the other room. In fact, he'd barely even noticed 
them. He had been petrified of himself.
Damiane had hesitated a moment, reluctant to further disturb an 
already frantic mind. Then, her demon side had come to the 
forefront, and she'd smelled it. Spilled blood. The boy had 
killed. Within twenty-four hours, unless she missed her guess. Not 
a human, but from the child's reaction, that hadn't mattered.
"It's all right, child. Let it out," she had said, "It always 
hurts like this the first time."
The youth hadn't been able to meet her eyes.
"It wasn't the first."
At those words, morbid curiosity had overcome Damiane's 
cautious nature, and she had ventured deeper into her young patient's 
mind. As soon as she had done so, she'd wished she hadn't. She 
didn't think she'd ever forget the overwhelming loss that accompanied 
the painful image of all that remained of a dear friend turning to 
dust. And the grim satisfaction of luring the trusting redhead into 
the hyena spirit's clutches had been chillingly gratifying to her 
inner demon. Burying those disquieting emotions beneath a layer of 
protective instincts, she had cradled the sobbing mortal in her arms.
{Gods, kid, you can't be more than fourteen.}
And then one word had turned her world upside down.
"Fifteen."
* * * * * * *
Damiane's green eyes had gone wide, and it had taken significant 
effort to stop them from turning gold. Flattening the shock flooding 
her mind, she'd offered an inquisitive smile to the young man, who 
had finally managed to compose himself.
"What did you just say?"
The mortal's dark brow had wrinkled in confusion.
"I'm fifteen. You said I couldn't be more than fourteen."
The vampiress had braced an arm against her desk and waited for 
the room to stop spinning. {Gods Almighty, he's one of *us*.} As a 
wave of the boy's stark terror had broken over her own already 
troubled mind, Damiane had belatedly realized that she had slipped 
into game face. {Now that's just perfect. The kid's only a month 
into transition *at most*, and I just told him he's one of us. And 
to top it all off, I did it wearing a face only a demon could love. 
All in all, I'll be lucky to get him to calm down this *millenium*.} 
Consigning the self-beratement to a later date, she had turned her 
attention back to the terrified human who had favored her with an 
often used "please don't hurt me" expression.
"You- you're a vampire."
It hadn't been a question, but she had felt obliged to answer. 
Forcing her human features back into place, the vampiress had tried 
for a disarming smile.
"Among other things, yes."
By that point, the dark haired mortal had backed into the 
opposite wall.
"Oh, man. This is how I'm going to die, isn't it?"
Raising her hands in a gesture of capitulation, Damiane had 
drawn the young man's quaking mind into her own inner calm. She'd 
known the conversation would go more smoothly if they didn't have to 
actually speak. {It's all right. I'm not going to hurt you. The 
way your control is right now, I'd probably get blasted across the 
room if I tried.} The vampire had tried not to flinch as the 
mortal's wordless question exploded through her mind. {No, it's 
nothing like that. You're not a monster, you're not a demon, and 
*I'm* the only vampire in the room.} Gathering her resolve, she had 
pressed on. {What you are, my dear boy, is a Guardian, the youngest 
of the Seven. We're kind of a support team for the Forces of the 
Light. It's our responsibility to keep the big heroes out there in 
their right minds, stop them from giving up on humanity, that sort of 
thing. Not the greatest job in the world, but somebody has to do 
it. On the bright side, that somewhat dubious distinction comes with 
phenomenal cosmic power.} When her soon-to-be-pupil has answered, 
she'd decided that she liked feeling the sardonic bite of the boy's 
humor in her mind. 
{So, what's the catch? Let me guess: itty bitty living space?}
If it hadn't been for the serious question hiding behind the 
joke, she would have laughed. The poor kid had had no idea what he 
was in for. {It's a bit more serious than that, sugar. You see, 
right now you're in what we call transition. Pretty much what it 
means is that you have all the power inherent in a Guardian, but you 
don't know how to control it. Pretty scary if you think about it, 
especially this close to the Hellmouth.} Ice cold terror had washed 
through her brain, as the teenager had realized what she meant. 
{Don't worry, kid. It'll be okay. You don't have control now, but 
you can learn it. And I'll be there to help you.}
Frightened brown eyes had locked onto her own green orbs.
{You promise you're not going to, you know. . .} And a sudden 
image of herself sinking her fangs into the boy's neck had had her 
fighting back her demon side.
{I don't eat anybody I've been introduced to. It's in bad 
taste.} Feeling the child finally relax, she had continued. {This 
would be the point where you introduce yourself.}
The infant Guardian's frantic blinking had given way to real 
laughter, a sound his mentor had looked forward to hearing many times 
over. Shaking the ancient vampire's hand, the mortal boy had smiled.
{I'm Alexander.}
For some reason, the name had started her waxing poetic.
{'And Alexander wept, for he had no more worlds to conquer.' 
Well, Alexander, somehow I don't see that day coming anytime soon.}
* * * * * * *
Damiane snapped out of the past when she felt the younger 
Guardian graze the surface of her mind as her opened the office 
door. She couldn't help but be proud of Alexander's progress. {Kind 
of a given with someone who's ad-libbed raising the dead, and in his 
first year no less.} Her young student flushed at the compliment. 
{Well, it's true. And kudos for getting Deadboy to believe the whole 
CPR thing. You think he'd be interested in some swampland down in 
Florida?} Her pupil apparently didn't find that worthy of a 
response. {Alexander? Is everything all right?} Settling himself 
on the couch, the young man met her gaze.
{He tried to kill us all again.}
So it was going to be one of *those* sessions. She should 
really be used to this by now, especially since it had been going on 
for the past four years.
{Well, he *is* a vampire, Alexander. You know, fish got to 
swim, birds got to fly. . .}
A shadow crossed her student's eyes as he finished the thought.
{. . . I've got to love one man 'til I die.}
The vampiress flinched as the mortal's raw pain washed over her 
mind. Feeling his teacher's discomfort, Alexander broke the 
connection and turned his gaze to the floor.
"Sorry. It kind of got away from me."
Damiane smiled at the young man.
"That's all right. You didn't hurt me. So what did the Blond 
Menace do this time?"
The Blond Menace was how her pupil always referred to the object 
of his affections. The mix of endearment and insult seemed to suit 
the odd combination of emotions the younger vampire seemed to awaken 
in Alexander's mind. Not surprising considering how it had all 
started. 
Nearly a year into the apprenticeship, the young Guardian had 
come in distracted, unable to focus. After a complex working had 
backfired in a way that had left her relieved that Alexander hadn't 
been casting it on anybody human, she'd asked what had been troubling 
him. He'd come right back with a question of his own.
{What's a Sire?}
Her face had instantly flushed blue. She had been as flustered 
as if he'd asked her where babies came from.
{Well, at the most basic level, your Sire is the vampire who 
turned you. You know what is means to turn someone, right?} She'd 
been grateful for the affirmative response. She was reasonably sure 
she would have died of embarrassment if she'd had to go through 
*that* conversation. {That's part of it, but there's more to it.} 
The ancient Guardian had searched her mind for a suitable 
explanation. {Have you ever seen "Empire Strikes Back"?} That 
analogy had earned her the young man's laughter.
{That's exactly how *he* put it.}
Her questioning glance had been met with a feeling best 
described as Oh. My. God, which the dark-haired mortal had quickly 
flattened before continuing.
{Nobody. There's this new vamp in town. He said Deadboy was 
his "Yoda" or something.}
Returning to the present, Damiane raised her eyes to see her 
student smile at her sadly.
"Yeah, I remember. Just call me Pinocchio."
"I would have gone with King Tut. Goes so much better with 
denial. So what did Blondie do this time?"
Alexander pushed back a wave of resentment as he answered.
"He's back with Harmony. They had this new plan to kill the 
slayer, take over the Hellmouth. You know, the usual fun and games."
Damiane favored the younger Guardian with a look that said "You 
know I'm right."
"Is it just me or are you more upset about the 'back with 
Harmony' part of that?"
Her apprentice's bitter laugh cut into her psyche like a knife.
"Even dead, that bitch is still screwing up my life."
The dark-haired vampiress sighed. She hated how vulnerable 
Alexander's feelings for the other vampire made her student. This 
was the second time in as many months that the young man had come in 
torn up inside because of the Blond Menace. She could still see the 
betrayed look on Alexander's face from last month's confrontation 
with Vlad. Her borrowed blood still boiled when she thought of what 
Dracula had done. Claiming Sire right in another vampire's name, 
wearing his face even: now that was appalling. It had taken hours to 
ensure the Impaler's final death, but she had enjoyed every last 
minute of it. Her mortal student blanched as he came across that 
thought.
"Can we work on something else now?"
Damiane mentally cursed herself. It was far too easy to forget 
that Alexander could read her mind just as well as she could read his.
"All right, why don't you work on bypassing mental shielding?"
The ancient vampire broke the connection to her pupil and closed 
off her mind. Searching her brain for a thought that wouldn't upset 
the boy if he stumbled into it, she let her mind return to the last 
patient of the night before. {No matter how long I live, this world 
will still keep finding ways to surprise me.} She didn't know what 
she'd expected when she'd ventured into the bleached blond's troubled 
mind, but a sexual identity crisis had not been it. Vampires usually 
didn't go in for that kind of inhibitions, or any inhibitions for 
that matter. As a psychiatrist, Damiane had known there were 
exceptions, but she'd never expected to actually meet a vampire who'd 
hide behind the Slayer rather than admit that he wanted a pretty boy 
in bed with him. Not that she'd gotten a good look at the boy in 
question. Every time she'd even gotten close, the other vampire had 
covered his thoughts with an image she was sure was now burned into 
her brain. Despite her natural curiosity, a major part of her really 
didn't want to know how the younger vampire had gotten to the point 
where the thought of offering himself exposed and vulnerable to what 
was essentially Death incarnate was the distraction rather than the 
real problem. Then she realized the horror in her mind wasn't all 
her own.
{You're getting good at this, Alexander. Sorry about the mental 
picture. For the record, it creeped me o-}
Damiane realized that opening the connection between them had 
been a mistake when the image of the blond draped over the slayer 
slammed into her mind again, the rage and anguish radiating from her 
student practically frying her brain. Her horrified gaze met eyes as 
green as her own. Alexander had had bad days before but never like 
this. His control was just plain gone. Not daring mental contact, 
she rose to take her student by the hand.
"Alex? What's wrong?"
An overwhelming rush of images submerged the elder Guardian's 
mind. The last thing she was aware of before she fell to the floor 
unconscious was a familiar voice in her mind.
"Yeah, fine, you're a *nummy* treat."
* * * * * * *
When Damiane regained consciousness, her mortal husband was 
standing over her.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
She sighed in annoyance, as she got to her feet.
"I'm already dead, Stephen. I'm not going to get a concussion. 
Besides, I really don't have time for this."
The look her mate gave her did not leave from for argument.
"How many?"
"Three. Is Alexander still here?"
Stephen shuddered visibly at the thought.
"No. It would have been suicide to try and stop him in that 
state. The kid's a walking critical mass right now. What set him 
off anyway?"
A shadow passed over the Guardian's eyes as she thought over the 
last hour's events.
"It's the Blond Menace. He's not so much of a phantom anymore."
*********

TBC