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Charlotte gripped the phone tight. She had to remind herself that this call will change nothing. Nothing Natalya can say will ever change her mind about Becky.
She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Two months. That's how long she and Becky have been, for a lack of a better word, dating . It was distasteful to Charlotte: how do you date a woman you had not courted? She had wanted to woo Becky formally, to give her flowers and little trinkets and gifts, to earn her trust and affection, step by step.
Becky had laughed in her face.
'Char, you don't need to convince me of your intentions,' the Slayer had said. 'I like you, you like me. Okay, I tried to kill you the first time we met, but that's water under the bridge, right?'
'Yes,' Charlotte had said.
'Okay, then.' Becky had smiled, a disarming smile, a smile that made Charlotte's undead heart warm. 'How about we watch a movie after patrol tomorrow?'
The vampire found herself saying yes.
And now it's been two months. Charlotte had wondered if she would get tired -- maybe even bored -- of Becky, but she knew within herself that it was not possible. There was no end to this.
She gripped the phone again, took another deep breath, and dialed the number she knew by heart.
"Well hello there," Natalya purred. "So nice of you to check up on your old mentor."
"Nattie," Charlotte replied. "Uh. I know it's been a while."
"Try a few decades, sweetheart," Natalya replied. "But it's all right. I forgive you. What's a few years to us, right?"
Charlotte despised small talk from the bottom of her unbeating heart. "Nattie," she said abruptly. "I met a girl."
"Oooohh, interesting," Nattie replied. "Tell me about her."
"Well," Charlotte said, then hesitated. "She, uh, she's a Slayer. The Slayer."
There was a long pause. Too long. Charlotte wondered if Natalya had hung up on her, but knew that the older vampire would do no such thing.
"Nat - "
"Charlotte," and now Natalya's voice was much softer, gentler. "A Slayer? Really?"
"I didn't mean to," Charlotte replied, a little surly, a little childish. She couldn't help it -- talking to Nattie made her feel like she was once again a newbie vamp, unsure of her place in the world, uncertain of how to act.
"We never do," Natalya sighed. "Charlotte, be careful."
"She'll never hurt me," Charlotte said. "I know she won't."
"That's not what I mean," Nattie replied quietly. "Slayers are... replaceable. You know that. Their life spans are --"
"I know, Nattie," Charlotte said, and now there was a bite to her tone, a sharpness. "But I'd like to keep this one around for as long as I can, thanks."
"I know you do," her mentor said, and now there was a wistfulness to Nattie's voice, bordering on a sigh. "I know you'll do all you can to keep her safe, to help her, to keep her alive."
"Nat --"
"I know you'll do all you can to keep her by your side, you'll try to scare all the demons away, you'll protect her the best you can. You'll do everything within your power. You’ll want to keep her in a safehouse and keep her from the world,” Nattie continued. Charlotte was silent.
“I just want you to know, Charlotte, that it’s not always going to be possible,” Nattie said, her voice ever so gentle. “I’m sure you’ll do your absolute best. I just want you to be prepared for when it’s not enough.”
Charlotte was silent for a long while. “I’m sorry,” she eventually said, “If I reminded you of her.”
“Beth’s been gone a long while, Char,” Nattie said. “I’m fine. But I want to be certain that you will be fine, too.”
Charlotte closed her eyes, thinking of the devastation that Natalya had caused when Beth Phoenix -- a Slayer in the ‘60s -- had lost her battle with the forces of evil. Her mentor had always been a calming influence on her, but for years Nattie had cut a swathe of destruction across the United States as she dealt with the demise of her lover.
“Don’t worry about me, Nattie,” Charlotte finally heard herself saying. “When that time comes, I’ll know how to handle it.”
“After all,” she added. “Didn’t I learn from the best?”