"You may as well tell me cautionary tales anyway for in case I run into a tempting shortcut," suggests Juliet.

"Some evidence suggests that the Greek myth of a would-be immortal shrivelling into a cricket was based on actual events," he says. "For a start."

"That sounds suitably horrifying," says Juliet, nodding gravely.

"There are also legends indicating that the original union of human and demon that created vampires was an attempt at immortality on the part of the human involved," he says. "But that's one mistake I definitely don't expect you to repeat."

"...Should I be elaborating in my head about the union there or is it purely a magical glomming-the-demon-onto-the-soul thing?"

"Blood was shared," he says, looking at her overtop of his glasses. "In the usual vampire way, as far as sources can determine."

"Noted."

"Does that only cause vampiring if the human in question is also dead?" asks Shell Bell.

"It's not completely clear," he says. "The traditional method is for the human to drink some of the vampire's blood, and the vampire to drink all of the human's blood. We know that works. It's hard to make a reliable study of the edge cases."

"...My instinct is to distrust the magic," he says. "But it's not necessarily a good instinct. Sparring with Sherlock, studying demons, and acquiring a powerful secret weapon are all important goals. I'm not immediately sure how exactly to prioritize them."

"The only hazard of the wand is that you can set things on fire with it, which you handle by practicing near water," Shell Bell says. "I'm perfectly fine. Juliet'll be even safer because she'll have my squares if something does go wrong."

"Out of curiosity," says Juliet, "who would I be practicing fighting with if it were not for Sherlock? Do Slayers usually just get thrown directly at demons who want to kill them? I killed vampires exclusively with a crossbow and preemptive morgue staking until I met Sherlock for that reason." Pause. "Oh, Giles, did I tell you that I have covered the entire town of Sunnydale in hidden crosses that should make vampires find it vaguely unpleasant to be here? I don't think I told you that before."

"I'm not sure I followed all the subtext there?" says Shell Bell.

"I am ashamed on behalf of the Watcher's Council that none of us in a thousand years of strategizing for Slayers has thought of the obvious strategies this Slayer apparently comes up with in her sleep," Giles explains.

"I was awake. Also crossing the town took me a long while, I could only cover one neighborhood per night." Pause. "I also used to rinse my hair in holy water, but I stopped when I started letting Sherlock anywhere near my personal space. I still have water balloons of it though."

"Water balloons," he repeats, shaking his head.

"Well, I wanted ranged weapons because I had no combat training and ranged means a few tries before screwing up kills you," she shrugs. "I haven't used them, so far everybody but Sherlock has gotten dusted while still out in crossbow range, which is good because the priests in the local churches were starting to look at me funny."

"And I was letting them assume I was Catholic, too," laughs Juliet, "wearing the crucifix outside my shirt and doing that crossing gesture thing - Please tell me that crucifixes are standard Slayer issue and you would've got me one or at least told me to get one if I hadn't already located and started wearing this?"

"They are," Giles assures her.

"Okay, that's good, because if they weren't that would be really dreadfully negligent. Even if Sherlock proves that a vampire can with sufficent effort learn to find crosses not-aversive. They do still burn him and - not bother him, but repel him a little in a way he can ignore, so I take it off when we spar."

"...I am never sure whether I should be reassured or terrified when you tell me something new about Sherlock."

"I think the happy medium between the two is being glad he's on our side?" offers Juliet.