"Carl, do you have any idea what is going on?" Van Helsing asked his friar friend as the poor boy looked through as many books as he could.

"No, I'm still looking thank you," he sighed, slightly annoyed at how impatient his partner was becoming.

Faith had quickly agreed to join them. She found herself laughing, at the idea of the whole thing, to herself. She kept staring at the man who looked like and proclaimed to be the one and true Van Helsing. This guy was supposed to have killed Dracula. She guessed he had killed the real thing and Buffy had dealt with a look a like or wanna be. Faith was sure Buffy was going to love hearing about this. Faith listened to the two bicker while looking through things. She was beginning to doubt the idea that this was some kind of masquerade party. The whole place looked old style. She was beginning to think she had gone back in time. There really was no other way to explain it.

They were only using candles for God's sake. No one got this into character for so long. The whole building looked like something out a history book. She hadn't seen a glimpse of anything electronic since she had gotten there. She had searched to.

Her mind couldn't wrap around the idea of being in a different time. She was sure it was possible. She had seen a whole town disappeared behind her, and other things she would rather not bring up. The only problem was why. Why was she here? Who had sent for her across time.

And why the hell was she with Van Helsing of all men? She stared up at him with a smirk. Couldn't the fates think of anything more original then putting two infamous vampire slayers together? This guy was a push-over anyway. Who he had dealt with? One vampire in his entire career. She had killed a hundred, maybe thousands of vampires, not to mention almost dying too many times to count on one hand.

He caught her staring at him and looked back at her confused. His head tilted to one side pulling his long hair to the other. His brown eyes looked befuddled. She gave him a teasing grin. A slight blushed crept over his face. He adverted his eyes and looked back to the other man.

The other man, who proclaimed himself to be Carl, had overly liked her. He had gone goofy when he saw her. It seemed a girl in jeans and a tank was a little too much for these boys. At least she could use that to her advantage. She smirked.

If she was going to have to go through with this whole thing believing it was actually the past, she would have to give this time some cultural shock. She thought of the bikini in the bottom of her bag. She knew the boys would most likely have a heart attack.

"How did she get here?" Van Helsing asked Carl softly.

"I have no idea. There is no spell, no chants, no nothing. It's like she just popped here from thin air," Carl explained sounding slightly more annoyed.

Faith looked over at the two. She knew right away that they were talking about her. She could sense it in the side glances, and the way they were whispering instead of saying things in a normal tone. Not to mention the fact that Van Helsing seemed to be the aggressor. She turned her attention back to things around her.

They had the curtains closed so that no one could see inside. She guessed they either didn't want her or themselves seen, maybe even both. What she remembered about the stories of Van Helsing, was that he was a wanted criminal. She smirked. She knew what life on the run was like. Maybe they did have no other thing in common. Only he didn't seem like a guy that would go to the bad side of the tracks easily.

"So you're the great killer I'm been hearing about? The almighty Van Helsing," Faith said still looking at the candles they were using in place of lamps and light bulbs. She could have really gone for a little electric light in this room. It was so dark, and candles only helped so much.

"I won't say almighty, but yes as I have said, I am Van Helsing," he responded as he looked over Carl's shoulder at a spell books.

"So prove it," she said stroking her hand over a sword on the wall. She picked up quickly and held it by the hilt. She was a pro with a sword. He shook his head almost laughing.

"I don't fight ladies without fangs," he said like a true gentleman. Since Carl's lack of discovery to how she could possibly be from the future, he found the most likely solution was that she was in truth…insane. He thought it better to play along with her and her disillusions than upset her by denying. He was going to look into asylums for her to stay in.

"I don't need fangs to fight," she said putting the sword to his throat with one hand. She smiled wildly as she saw fear enter his eyes. She pushed him back against the wall. His eyes went wide with terror. His breathing was still even, and his eyes scanned the room. She had backed him into the part of the wall that was bare with no way to go.

Van Helsing was a little more than shocked by her actions. The fact she had to be so strategic about what place in the wall she had put him against took him aback. He had not thought she would be so wise. Still, he held his own. Facing danger was something he did everyday. The thing that scared him the most was the look of blood thirst in her eyes. That made him believe she had killed before now and would again if the need would arise.

"Now, pop quiz time. Lets find out if you really are who you pretend to be," Faith said tossing her curled brown hair out of her face, her hand still firmly on the sword. She looked at him intensely, loving playing with him like this.

"Van Helsing….." Carl whispered unsure what to do.

She looked over to the wimp, Carl, warningly. She put a finger up and waved it back and forth telling him no like a mother would. She gave him a pouting, cute face lowing her chin, to go along with it. When his eyes went wide and he backed up she raised her head smiling and looked back to Van Helsing.

"So trivia time. What year were you born?" Faith asked him.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully knowing that this insane woman won't take it as the truth. She most likely had seen his face on a poster and now thought she knew him and everything that had to do with him. Of course it would all be made up. The best he could do was tell the truth so he could go to heaven with one less sin on his record.

"Of course not. You can't remember anything past the time when you were found on the church steps almost dead," she told him with a trademark smirk.

Van Helsing looked truly surprised. His mind raced with ideas and reasons trying to make sense out of this insanity. Did this disallusional girl work for the church? Or had she killed someone to find out? Was she stocking him and had overheard him saying that? If she had, why the facade of a woman who thought she was fun from the future? It made no sense to him. The story that she was fun the future was seeming to make more sense at the moment.

"Next questions. What did you do to the monster Frankenstein created?" she asked. Van Helsing looked confused and astonished once again. No one was suppose to know about any of that. They might know of the monster, but not that he was involved with it.

"I let him go free against the order of the church," Van Helsing told her. He had stopped trying to figure out how she knew and more what to do. He could think of things like that later if he lived. If he didn't, the thinking would have been meaningless.

"Good answer. So, you got the facts. This all still could be a good remake of his time. The way I see it your just a freak that has watched the movie one too many times," Faith said. She started getting closer. She walked to the right towards the wall. She kept the point on his neck at all times. She slide her way down the blade getting closer to him.

"I don't know what your talking about," he told her with a sigh. He wished to ask what a movie was, but knew this was not the time.

She was standing, sword in hand, only inches from him. He could feel the cold, menacing steel on his neck. A drop of blood fell where she was pushing too hard. He looked over the corner of his eye. She was beautiful this close, but with a deadly glint in her eye. He knew if she didn't like his answer he would be dead before he hit the floor.

"I'm going to ask you something that only the real Van Helsing and I could answer. How did it feel to kill an innocent life? How did it feel to accidentally spill the blood of a human all over you? How did it feel to know you ended a life and all its possibilities with your own bare hands?" she asked, a wild look in her eyes.

Van Helsing went still. How could she have known about Anna and what he had done. How could she possibly pretend to understand what he had gone through. How could this young woman ask him to explain such a thing.

"It's beyond words," he told her. She didn't looked pleased.

"You're going to have to do better then that. Give me some adjectives that seem like one way of putting how it felt. I know it'll be vague, but I'm looking for one word that only someone that had gone through it, could use," she said sounding confident he won't use it.

"It was painful. It made me feel guilty. It was saddening. So much grief and pain. Surprise, terror, horror," Van Helsing said and looked up at Faith knowing that wasn't what she was looking for. He sighed and said the one word he had never spoken aloud before, "Powerful. It was empowering to know I could stop someone's heart. That not only that I could kill evil, but almost good. That there was no line that stopped me. It made me feel powerful."

Carl looked more then startled. He looked appalled.

"But Van Helsing, you love-…" Carl started, but Van silenced him.

"I know, but that makes no difference. The feeling was there. The realization was there," Van Helsing explained, then to Faith asked, "Does that answer your questions?"

Faith looked a little surprised…then nodded. A strange understanding hung between them. She dropped the sword. She swung it seemingly carelessly as she walked away. She looked back at him with a flirtatious smile.

"So, you're really him. You're completely and totally the one and only Van Helsing," she said turning quickly waving her arms wide open like she was dancing. She had a smug expression on her face.

Van stared at her. He didn't know what was going through her head, but he could tell it wasn't good. Had this girl snapped? Had whatever was wrong in her head finally come further undone? He worried for his own and Carl's safety. Not to mention that of the city if she got past him.

"This is your partner Carl! This is a town that's never heard of Saturday Night Live. This is country where they don't have outdoor plumbing. I'm living in a time where they don't have electricity!" she said and picked up an unlit candy and its holder, "And this is the only means of light!" She violently tossed it to the other side of the room. "SCREW THIS!"

She marched out of the door and went to the door. She went to open it, but of course Van had locked it just in case. She brought a booted foot up and kicked it with all her might. She used her anger to fuel her strength, and the door swung open. She found something she hadn't expected outside. A group of police officers were standing with their nightsticks in hand.

"Excuse me miss, but we're here on official business," one officer, with a bad mustache, said.

"We're looking for Van Helsing," another one piped up, clearly annoying the rest. 'He must have been the Andrew of the group' she mused.

"He's not in at the moment might want to come back in a while," she said sarcastically scanning the group.

"We saw him behind you," the stupid one chimed in, as the others shushed him.

"We are going to have to come in miss, and since you are protecting him we'll have to take you into custody too," the clearly self-appointed leader said.

"You see, that's going to be a problem. I've got things to do today. Maybe tomorrow?" she asked sarcastically. Then Van Helsing, our daring hero, slid behind her.

"This has nothing to do with her. Take me…I'm the one you want," Van said valiantly from behind her, poking his nose where Faith thought it clearly didn't belong.

"It's Van Helsing," the idiotic one stated, pointing at him.

The other officers charged at him, forgetting about Faith. She slightly enjoyed how they underestimated her because she was a girl. She grabbed one of them by the arm and twisted it behind his back letting the other three go by knowing Van Helsing could handle them himself. The man she was holding screamed as she pulled his arms farther likely breaking or dislocating it. She then kicked him head first into a wall. He collided with it then fell to the floor, unconscious.

She raced over to the clearly out numbered Van Helsing. She grabbed one of the men he was trying to fight off. She tossed the guy to the side by his shoulder. He bounced of the wall and came back at her. She gave him a good right punch in the jaw and he went down like a baby at nap time, blood coming out of his nose and mouth.

Van Helsing had one man, the stupid one come over and jump him from behind. The man landed on his back, piggy back style. The smaller man started hitting him in the head. Van Helsing reached back and grabbed his shoulder. He tossed his forward and over his head with grace and speed. He swung the man into the officer he had been fighting. They both feel on the floor unconscious. Finally only the leader was left standing.

Van and Faith ganged up on him. He backed up into a corner holding his nightstick up in self-defense. Faith grabbed it and yanked it from his hand with ease. He quivered in fear. He looked terrorized as his saw his friends bodies laying deadpan the floor. He was shaking now, and Faith seemed to enjoy it somewhat. Van on the other hand gave mercy. He backed up and made a path for the man to leave. He pushed Faith back from following him as the man ran for his life.

Carl crawled out of the corner he had been hiding in. He walked over to the two, again grateful that they were on his side. He walked in between them. He looked over at the girl that had done so much damage.

"What are you some kind of Amazon?" he asked looking at her for the first time noticing her muscle mass.

"No, better a Slayer," she said with a smug look on her face.

Van and Carl exchanged a confused glance and asked in unison, "What's a Slayer?"