To Conquer Death
by Rainne
Interlude: The Watchers' Council
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Quentin Travers was near the end of his tolerance. With Janna Markham gone rogue, and no one able to tell him what, if anything, she might know of the current Slayer and her ridiculously named "Scooby Gang," he was petrified to make any sort of move lest he cause the apocalypse foretold in the Prophecy of Destruction. The daywalking vampire had to be neutralized. That was all he was truly concerned about.
One of his operatives entered his office and stood quietly, waiting to be acknowledged. Travers turned his full attention to the man. "What can you tell me?"
The operative shook his head gravely. "Not much, sir. The girl seems to have disappeared completely. I've had people check every hotel and hostelry between here and Scotland and she's nowhere to be found. Sir, we need to consider the possibility that she's got across to the Continent somehow."
"Impossible. She hasn't any papers."
"Sir, swimming the Channel's not such a proposition for a girl as well-trained physically as Janna was, sir. He did take care to make certain she was physically fit."
"And from France, then where?"
The operative shrugged. "No idea, sir. Could have gone anywhere. She could be in Switzerland by now, sir. It's been three days."
"Three days. Three days in which she could easily have gotten in touch with the Slayer or someone in her camp. Three days in which she has slipped out of our grasp and control. Three days." Quentin Travers' face was slowly growing dark red. "Three days in which the incompetence of my operatives has been eclipsed only by the extreme danger that, before this is all over, there will be no Council at all!"
The operative desperately tried to find a bit of information that would appease Travers. "We've sent agents to watch the family's home, sir."
"In America?"
"Yes, sir. On the off chance that she should make her way to America somehow, we believe her family would be the first people she would contact. We're watching them in the hopes of apprehending and neutralizing her before she has an opportunity to communicate with the Slayer."
Travers nodded. "Neutralize her. I agree. Whatever the cost. She's extremely well-trained and would make a fine Slayer, but she's proven rogue. She's to be treated as hostile. Your orders are to apprehend her if possible. If not, eliminate her."