I have inside me Blood of Queens

The sharp pain in Tori's stomach was what drew her to the street corner, the smell of the street vendor's hot dogs traveled to her nose. The 19 year old girl watched carefully though. Her amber eyes keenly watching his movements. Customer approached, he turned to take the money and turned back to fix the hot dog. Her small window of opportunity was when he was facing the customer. She waited and when he turned again, she darted from the shadows. Her hand reaching into what she realized too late was hot water. She put her hand in and grabbed as many as she could hold and ran off just shy of getting grabbed by the yelling vendor. She disappeared around the corner, and darted down another alley to lose anyone that might pursue her.

She looked down at her burnt hand and found that it held four hot dogs. She didn't quite feel the pain as hunger over road all. She quickly scarfed them down in almost no time. It had been four days since the last time she had eaten. She should have been much weaker, but for some reason she wasn't. She hadn't been weak for quite sometime. It was strange. She had been used to using whatever forms of exchange she could to get what she wanted. Sometimes though, they took it without any exchange. That all stopped about two years ago. She had killed a man on accident, hurling his body off of herself and into a brick wall.

The strength was unexplained, she had thought that maybe she was a mutant. Despite the fact that her father was a mutant, it would have been rather late for it to kick in. She knew who her father was, she had been told as a small child, Victor Creed. They had named her after him. They had told her she looked like him. She guessed it was where she got the odd set of dental work. Her canines on the top and bottom were a bit more pointed than the rest...only a bit.

The burning pain in her hand registered finally, it was red and swollen and covered in blisters. Her skin was tight and every time she moved it felt as if it would crack. She peeled the cloth fingerless glove off of it and stuffed it into her pocket. The blue gloves were old and tattered. She was wrapped in an over sized wool coat, and had a beanie over dreaded locks. Dreaded from the lack of washing or brushing it. She went to join a group by the fire but stopped dead. There was a man speaking to them all, a cop? She didn't know, he didn't carry himself like one but she wouldn't stake her life on that. He handed them money and they pointed down the alley in her general direction. For a second she was frozen in place. Then, as he locked eyes with her she ran. She could hear him calling after her. She didn't stop but she could hear he was running after her. Over head was an old fire escape, she jumped and grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder. Her right hand screamed in pain, and she let go, only holding on with her left. By that time the dark haired man was below her and grabbed her feet pulling her down.

The move was risky, they told him how strong she was, it resulted in him being kick square in the face. Methos frowned deeply but he understood.

"Wait, I just want to talk," Methos told her.

She stood up again and Methos pulled out a hundred dollar bill making her freeze. He thought that would do the trick.

"Just take a ride with me, hear me out and the hundred dollars is yours," he told her.

She looked skeptically, "Are you a cop?"

"No," he answered honestly.

She searched his face for any hint that he was lying. Little did she know, even if he had been lying she wouldn't have known it. He had 5500 years of experience in lying. She pulled her coat around her with her good hand and gestured for him to walk in front of her. She didn't trust him, Methos expected that, most of the homeless didn't trust people. He had been one before.

"My name is Adam Pierson, Victoria," He said gesturing for her to get into his car.

"How do you know my name if you're not a cop?" She demanded.

Adam smiled at her, then opened the door for her to get in. First things first, the girl needed a shower. It was going to look odd for him to bring a homeless girl into his expensive hotel but he didn't care much about that. Though she would draw a bit of attention that he didn't want. Nonetheless the girl did need to be cleaned up.

As he suspected he got weird looks as he brought her in. She looked just as freaked out probably thinking he was some kind of rich pervert. He got an even weirder look when he told them he wanted to pay for the room adjoining his too.

"There now you have a room, a shower...Are you hungry?" he asked her.

She shook her head, she was actually feeling a little sick from eating those hot dogs so fast. The concept of a shower though, that sounded good. She looked at him oddly though.

"What do you want?" she demanded suspiciously.

"I just want to you listen, but first we'll get you cleaned up, let me know if you are hungry." Methos told her patiently then left her to her room. After a good hour she stuck her head in his room wrapped in the fluffy hotel towel. Her hair was still dirty but he could see a bit of blonde under what had looked to be gray. Adam gestured for her to come into his room, and he lead her to the bathroom.

"Here, let's try this," Adam said pulling our a pair of scissors. They had trouble hacking through thick dreads. When he was through her hair fell to her chin in an uneven bob. He would have to take her to get that fixed, for now though, he leaned her over the shower and washed her hair for her.

Tori felt like a puppy at the moment with hands in her hair she almost felt like kicking her leg in contentment. All that hair cut off it felt like an enormous weight was lifted. She was in a vulnerable spot leaning over the edge of the tub with this guy washing her hair. Hell she could have purred. She didn't care about the hack job that was her hair.

After washing her hair, he discovered just how blonde she was. It was a color that was normally only seen in children or people with a cheap dye job, but this was natural.

It was the first time in a long time she felt clean. Hell she even shaved, okay so she cut her legs a few times, but it wasn't that hard. The hotel had disposable razors and things for her to use. For once, she felt like a human.

She pulled the robe around herself, as he gestured for a seat. He had a drink in his hand.

"You've gotten stronger, started dreaming about women you've never met...about their lives and deaths?" Adam asked her.

She just looked at him, how did he know this? Did he know what was wrong with her?

"Reflexes are faster, senses better...you are just better all around...stop me went I'm wrong," he continued.

"My father is a mutant," she told him with an eyebrow raised.

"You don't think you're a mutant though do you?" Methos asked suspecting she was making an excuse for something she couldn't explain. When she didn't respond he continued, "And the dreams you could just right off as being just that, but many of the women are the same every night, maybe in different scenarios. I bet you have seen many of them die."

She looked taken aback, she crossed her arms defensively over her chest, and clamped her jaw shut. She listened though, if this man she had never met had some sort of explanation for these changes in her, then she wanted to hear it.

"They probably were fighting a lot, killing things you've never even fathomed before," he continued, "Those women, are called vampire slayers."

The woman raised a single eyebrow, though she didn't speak he disbelief was evident.

"One girl in all the world, chosen to stop evil," Methos stopped not wanting to recite that stupid speech, "Vampires, demons...all kinds of nasty things...when one dies another is called. You have been identified as a slayer. Normally those with the potential to become a slayer are taken from their families and trained in the art of fighting, but they missed you."

"I want to smoke what you're smoking," she told him laughing a bit.

He sighed heavily, he hoped they were right about this because if not...Methos picked up a butter knife that was laying on the end table and hurled it end over end at her head. He was just as shocked as she was when she caught it between her palms. She looked at the knife in her hand then at him again. Her mouth was opened just slightly, her eyes wide.

"Take a walk with me I can offer you further proof," Methos told her, "Apparently all slayers can do that."

Tori looked at the butter knife in her hand again and hurled it back at him as hard as she could. Lucky for Methos he was able to move, and the knife flipped end over end and stuck into the dry wall wobbling before settling in. Methos looked to her and back at the knife.

"I knew you'd catch it, relax, Let's take a walk," Methos smiled, now pulling out a white T-Shirt and a pair of sweat pants for the woman to wear until he got her new clothes.