"I'll try. Most people are pretty friendly once they talk to me."

"I wish you all the luck in the world," he says sincerely.

"Thanks. So. Information?"

"Yes.  Vampires.  There are other sorts of supernatural creature but you are far more likely to wind up in a fight with a vampire over the next few days than anything else.  The weakest vampire is, I think, stronger than the strongest human, and if not it's a close thing - but so are you.  Vampires heal more slowly than you but are less inhibited by injuries they do sustain, with a few exceptions.  They don't age, and outside of a few particular methods it is impossible to kill them outright.  However: they burn to death much more quickly than humans.  They tend to catch fire in the sunlight, although in all likelihood you will almost never be able to take advantage of this fact.  Holy water and crosses both burn their flesh painfully but do not set them outright aflame.  They do not have reflections in mirrors and so cannot be seen through some old-fashioned cameras, but will appear in photographs.  They cannot enter inhabited houses without an invitation from one of the house's inhabitants.  Beheading a vampire will cause it to die if you can manage it, but the surest method is to drive a wooden stake or spike through its heart.  You will know that a vampire is well and truly dead when it shrieks hollowly and explodes into gray-black ash."

"Typical tactics? Am I likely to run into a bunch of vampire snipers?"

"I can't say there has never been a vampire who knew how to use a sniper rifle, but it's not a common skill.  They usually prefer relying on their own strength and speed rather than using modern weaponry, particularly if you encounter them on the hunt - they can weather a bullet from a handgun and so have no reason to be able to shoot first.  An unarmed vampire is primarily dangerous in melee range; the prudent Slayer will become skilled with a crossbow, although I don't suggest trying to carry one on campus.  Which reminds me..."

He returns to the library desk and rummages in one of the drawers, retrieving a long, thick wooden needle attached to a perpendicular handle.  "This is a weapon designed by the Watcher's council, the organization I work for that trains and supervises Slayers.  It's based on the Robbins-Dudley punch knife, and is ideal for killing vampires.  I have a number of them, should this one become damaged.  It would not be - wholly imprudent to keep it on your person at all times, but bear in mind that it is illegal to have such a weapon on a high school campus, and I will not be able to protect you if you're caught with it."

She'll take it, but - "I'm not killing anyone. At least not unless I've confirmed they're a threat."

"Any vampire you're likely to encounter in the next several days will likely confirm itself a threat very swiftly," he says a bit sharply.

He sighs.

"I apologize, Miss Uzun.  I do understand your perspective.  But vampires are frequently much better liars than - than the humans they usurp," he says, "and I worry they will use your skepticism against you.  If you want to do independent research, to confirm what I've told you - I will help you to whatever extent I can.  But it is likely to be very difficult."

"I get that. But humans are plenty good liars as it is."

"Most humans have less reason to lie - but I do take your point."

"People lie to themselves, too - but yeah." She shakes her head. "Anything other than vampires out there? And who're these guys you're working with?"

"After vampires, you are most likely to encounter werewolves or ghosts.  Werewolves are more or less what they sound like.  They transform into lupine monsters during the night of the full moon each month, in which form they have no control over their actions and regard ordinary humans as prey.  Werewolves in human form are no more evil than ordinary humans.  It is possible but inadvisable for werewolves to learn to call on the strengths of their wolf form outside of the full moon - doing so will warp their personality to be more amoral and predatory.  Some - subcultures - of werewolves exist that encourage this behavior.  But you cannot infer someone's membership in such a society merely by observing they have the condition."

"Ghosts are - approximately - disembodied human souls.  They vary more in their abilities and nature than either vampires or werewolves, but typically they are tied to the location of their death, and sometimes its circumstance.  They often have... what might charitably be termed as supernatural anger management issues which drive them to hurt or kill the people they come into contact with.  Some ghosts can be freed by resolving some, as the saying goes, unfinished business, but this is not always possible.  The other option is exorcism, a complex magical ritual that is typically unpleasant for all parties."

"Beyond this, there are demons, who come in too many species to list, but are not found on Earth anywhere near as frequently."

He pauses for questions.

"Are demons supposed to all be evil, too?"

"Some species are more reliably malicious than humans; some subset of those are comparable to vampires.  My understanding is that the ones who aren't typically spend even less time in this dimension than the already-rare malicious demons."

"Does anyone know why some're malicious like that?"

"If they do, they have not informed the Watcher's Council."

"How much do you guys actually do - I don't know, diplomacy? Demonic sociology?"

"Traditionally, the Vampire Slayer specializes in - well, vampires.  The primary purpose of the Watcher's Council is to find and train Slayers and potential Slayers, and accumulate information about entities which are hostile to or otherwise pose a threat to humanity, particularly those best solved by the application of a teenage girl with supernatural strength.  Which is to say, very little."

"Pretty sure 'talking to people' is usually ranked up there on strategies for getting them to not do stuff." She shakes her head. " - Look, if you guys have been - doing whatever - and the world's still trying to end... It sounds like you guys aren't big on the diplomacy thing. Throwing super punches at things can only do so much, you know? Maybe my thing will be getting, I don't know, supernatural embassies established. Get some of the threats helping resolve themselves more."

"...I won't say that the Watcher's Council has done everything right," he says.  "We have made a great many mistakes.  And I won't say that reaching out to nonhostile demon species, or even some hostile ones, is necessarily a bad idea.  But I'm not sure either of us are the best people to do so.  Often the intervention of the Slayer and the Watcher's Council is the reason that the world is merely trying to end instead of already ended.  Being the Slayer... it isn't a position I would put someone in if I had any choice.  But it is extraordinarily important work."

"How does a superpowered teenager in a single part of the world - change anything?"

"You'd be surprised.  The presence of a Slayer anywhere in the world, taking actions visible to the supernatural community, has a quelling effect on the activity of vampires worldwide.  And Sunnydale isn't just any town.  We live on something called a Hellmouth - a confluence of mystical energies which attracts a great deal more supernatural activity than anywhere else in the world."

"I will admit that it is - something of a point of contention among the Watcher's Council - whether it is worth the expense to convey the Slayer to multiple such parts of the world," he says a bit wryly.  "But even if we did, it would likely be for more of the same kind of work - finding and defeating vampires and other evildoers."

"So the Hellmouth means - apocalypses are more likely here?"

"There are many problems it will be important for you to solve that aren't apocalypses, but yes, all of them will be more common on a Hellmouth."