**********
He came back a few minutes later and drove us
back to his house. He helped me into
the house and to the bathtub upstairs.
I chanted briefly to let the vest be shown again and then took it off as
well as my beaten and shredded clothes and got into the tub naked even though
Adam was by my side. Modesty wasn't
going to help me get clean and relaxed at this moment. I washed myself off in the warm bath and
then Adam helped me get up and out of the tub and he dug through my bag and
gave me some clean clothes of my own to put on. I pulled on my tank top and then raided Adam's drawers for a pair
of flannel pajama sleep pants to wear.
After I got dressed I wandered downstairs to the kitchen where he was
cooking us something to eat. We were
eating when the front door opened and Adam spun around on his chair.
"Methos, where are you?" A deep
male, accented, voice echoed through the house. I looked at Adam and he called out to the voice.
"We're in here," Adam called to the
man. A man came into the kitchen
followed by the man I had the vision about.
"We…you aren't alone…" the man
said.
"Mac its ok. She had the vision about Richie," Adam softly said and Mac
relaxed visibly.
"So you are the Cordelia Adam talks
about all the time. Thanks for saving
my life," Richie said and pulled me into a hug. I cringed at the hard, rough contact. Adam gently pulled him away from me and I noticed Adam was
blushing a little.
"Actually I'm Faith, Cordy's best
friend," I said to them.
"But…the vision…"
"Cordelia gave me the visions hopefully
on a short term basis. She was in a car
wreck recently and couldn't handle them – so I get them now," I told them
all and they nodded. Mac came forward
to me, hand extended.
"Good to finally meet you Faith. Adam has told us a lot about you as
well," he said as he shook my hand.
"I wish I could say the same."
"You never asked Faith!" Adam
yelled back.
"Sorry, I wasn't all together with it
when I was here last,' I teased him and he grinned.
"Yeah yeah."
"So why are you here Faith. Not that I'm not happy about you saving my
life but why Seacouver and not LA?" Richie asked me with a slight smile.
"If you can't tell by looking at me I
got the shit kicked out of me last night.
I need help with my line of work, my duty, my mission in life, etc.
"Adam said you had an excellent team at
Angel Investigations," Mac said.
"We did atone point but things
change. Roughly two weeks ago two of my
coworkers were in a car wreck. Cordelia
survived but Wesley didn't. He was the
leader of our team. He was research guy
and magic man too. Since the accident
our team has been cut in half. Wes is
dead, Cordelia is hospitalized and Gunn is by her side 24/7. I am getting an ass whooping because
sometimes when I have a vision – of Cordelia's – I'm in the middle of fighting
a battle from another vision. Angel is
the only strong one out of all of us and right now his insides are only on the
inside because we stapled his stomach shut.
He is worse than me," I explained to them.
"How is he still alive?" Richie
threw in.
"He is a vampire," I answered and
went to continue with my explanation when I was interrupted again.
"Angel is a vampire…I thought he was
your boyfriend," Mac said and I shook my head.
"You didn't bother to tell them that
Angel's a vampire?" I glared at Adam.
"Not really…it didn't come up," he
shot back with a smirk.
"My boyfriend is a vampire with a
soul…reformed baddie like me… but that is besides the point. I came to get help from the only person I
knew that would help me that wasn't already helping the fight elsewhere."
"What makes you think Adam is gonna
leave everything here for your help?"
"I don't. I can only hope," I told him.
"I'm going with her MacLeod. I don't know how long I will be gone for,
perhaps a year, or more but they need me Mac."
"Since when did risking your neck for
someone else become your thing?" He angrily shot back.
"Since she walked into my classroom and
slammed me up against the board," he shot back.
"What does she have to do with it? She is Angel's! You are mine!" Mac retorted.
"She is very special MacLeod. Angel told me about her but I didn't believe
him until I looked into her eyes and saw it for myself. Her fight is the good fight. Whether she is fighting demons for the good
of humanity or killing humans for the sake of the demon world. Where she fights I follow!" Adam yelled
back.
"Then you can follow alone. I won't kill humans!"
"Not now MacLeod. I'm talking the big picture here…years down
the road. Now she needs my help with
killing the demons and keep evil from taking over. You can come or not come.
I'm going."
"Your classes?"
"I have an emergency here. Family died – I gotta help out now,"
Adam said in response.
"And me? What is my excuse?"
"You are my partner Duncan you can come
with me and no questions will be raised."
"So you want me to follow you while you
are on your question to worship Faith?"
"If you want yes MacLeod. I want you to come with me Duncan."
"Why?" Duncan quietly asked him and
the silence following that question was long and thick. I noticed Adam's face shifted into something
gentler before he spoke again.
"I care about you a lot Duncan. I might not show that often but I do love
you. Never doubt that. I might up and leave to follow Faith but I
still love you and I will no matter where I am and who I'm with," Adam
admitted after a few seconds. Duncan's
demeanor changed completely after that.
"Thank you," Mac whispered and
kissed Adam gently. "I'll go pack
for a long-long trip."
"Richie you coming?" Adam asked the
young man beside Mac.
"Why not," was his reply.
"Mac you think Joe and Amanda will want
to move to LA?" Adam questioned now.
"I'll call now," Duncan murmured
and kissed Adam once more before he walked out of the kitchen to another room
to get to the phone. Richie grabbed a
bear out of the frig and headed out to the back deck. I looked up at Adam and raised an eyebrow.
"So…Methos…you have a boyfriend?"
"Not now Faith," he told me as the
mask reappeared over his face. I didn't
really notice until now how different his face was when he was declaring his
love for Duncan as it was now.
"Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Change your facial expressions when
talking to Duncan?" I asked him bluntly.
He leaned back against the counter and really looked at me.
"You sure you wanna know the truth
Faith?"
"Of course," I answered without
hesitation.
"Because with Duncan you have to make
sure that he believes you love him and he will do anything for you. I have never declared my love for him or
anyone else to him before…not until this moment. I was saving it for a moment when I knew that I would need it to
get him to do something big for me." I was in complete shock.
"You love no one?"
"Myself…and you Faith. Angel wasn't lying when he said that you
were special. You don't realize your
whole destiny yet Faith and that is ok…we are here and we know it. I will die for you Faith. That is an honor I will bestow upon no one
else…no matter how much they love me or think I love them."
"You are a coldhearted bastard," I
told him angrily.
"No Faith…I'm a survivor. To have lived 5000 plus years you can't love
anyone but yourself," he told me and my eyes probably popped out of my
head at that comment.
"Methos… I know why that sounds familiar
now. The oldest Immortal—the
legend. You are him?"
"I know…everyone is disappointed when
they find that out. Yes I am him. I am Methos…keep that in mind when you think
of me now. I'm not a good little
professor at college…I'm the oldest living man on this planet and I intend to
stay that way for a very long time," he told me and frowned for a second.
"I would rather live 5 years and have
loved someone then 5000 and love nothing but myself!" I snapped at him.
"I wasn't meant to love anything until
you came around Faith. I knew my
destiny was to stop the world from ending.
I knew that I had to survive over 5000 years to do that and here I am,
awaiting the day, as it grows closer. I
couldn't tell you the exact day…but it is coming—I can feel it coming,"
'Methos' told me and walked out of the kitchen leaving me alone with my
thoughts.
**********
I called Spike's apartment on my cell as soon
as I finished my food.
"Hello?" He asked after the third
ring.
"Hey cutie," I stole his line of
greeting.
"What do you want?"
"Your help. I need you in LA by dawn."
"Demanding little bitch aren't
you?"
"And you know you love me for it,"
I told him.
"I'll call Rupert and if anyone asks
then you called him and he unfortunately send me instead of the Slayer."
"Good."
"Right then…how is Cordelia?" He
asked in a moment of genuine concern.
"Go see for yourself…you know she would
love to see you in the hospital."
"Suppose I'll swing by. You gonna be waiting at the apartment for
me?"
"By the Hyperion by dawn…Oz will be
there to greet you."
"Confused now pet but ok," he said
and I giggled a little.
"I'll see you tomorrow," I told
him.
"Will do," he answered and hung up
the phone. I was about dial the hotel
number when my phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Faith, where are you?" Oz asked me
clearly irritated.
"In Seacouver. I'm waiting for Adam and his crew to pack their things and join
me on the return trip to LA."
"Adam and his crew?"
"Yes.
I'm bringing Adam, MacLeod, and Richie definitely and possibly two
more. We'll see," I answered and
he sighed.
"I was worried about you Faith. We weren't sure you were coming back."
"I'll be back tomorrow before
sunset. How is everyone doing? How are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine, getting better. Linds is loopy from the medicine, which
makes for inventive sex. Kate is just a
zombie from her meds. Angel is still
out though. I moved him back to the
hotel and he hasn't moved yet. I'm a
little worried about him."
"As long as he isn't dust he is fine
Oz."
"Ok."
"Well I have some other important news
to share with you. Spike will be at the
hotel by sunrise tomorrow morning. Try
to be nice to him and give him a room.
He is family here understood?"
"Yes Faith. You want him close or far away from Angel?"
"Whatever, I'm not worried about him
hurting Angel. Not at all," I
admitted to him.
"I'll do up a room. So you will be back by sunset
tomorrow?"
"Right," I answered.
"I'll see you then," he answered
and hung up the phone with me.
**********
Adam, Mac & Richie packed their
belongings up for an extended stay in LA.
Along with them came an Immortal woman named Amanda and Duncan's Watcher
Joe. We ended up taking down three cars
and two bikes. Richie and I rode his
two bikes back to LA. It only took us
17 hours where it should have taken us 19-20.
We made it an hour before sunset as planned. I had them follow me into the garage and park their vehicles.
"Grab your weapons and supplies
only," I told them as we shut down our engines. It took a few minutes for them to get their gear and then I ad
them move into the hotel. I opened the
door to the hotel and walked inside with the five of them close behind me. Spike was at the computer working on
something an Oz and Lindsay were surrounded by books.
"Hey guys," I said and I got a few
grunts in greeting. "I want you to
meet he new editions to the crew," I told them and the looked up
then. "This is Adam Pierson – aka
– Methos, Duncan MacLeod – Mac, Richie Ryan, Amanda and Joe. Four Immortals and Joe who is an experience
Watcher. We'll be ok with them. Guys this is part of my crew here in
LA. Oz – werewolf – warlock – and
researcher, Lindsay – lawyer and researcher, and this is Spike. He isn't one of our regular crew but his here
on loan from Sunnydale to help eliminate this situation. Spike is also Angel's son," I threw in.
"Another vampire?" Richie asked.
"Yeah another vampire…I'm just not all
poofy like Peaches," Spike shot back and I tossed an angry glare in his
direction. He smirked, blew me a kiss,
and went back to work. The two sides
greeted each other a little warily but with overall acceptance.
"Good.
Now when the sun sets we'll head out.
Where is Kate? Angel?"
"Kate is upstairs in Cordelia and Gunn's
room sleeping and Angel is still out cold in your room," Oz answered.
"I'll be back in a few – you all play
nice till I get back ok?" I warned them all and then headed upstairs to
check on Kate. She was asleep and
seemed ok so I headed to my room. Angel
was out on his back in a semi-comfortable but stiff-looking position. I sat down on my side of the bed and looked
at him. He was a bloody, bruised mess -
worse than I have ever seen him before.
I brushed my fingertips gently across his forehead and then his lips.
"Love you sweetheart," I told him
gently.
"Love you too Faith," he whispered
back and I looked at him in shock.
"You are awake?"
"For the moment yes," he answered
and grabbed ahold of my wrist.
"What do I need to do for you?"
"Let me feed and then you need to fix my
arm and shoulder. Gunn didn't fix them
at all and they are still in the wrong position and hurt like a bitch. I don't have the strength to fix them,"
he answered and I nodded in understanding.
"Fine – eat me," I dirtily
suggested with a wag of my eyebrows. He
smirked and bit into my wrist none too gently. I gasped in shock and looked at
him and noticed then that his eyes had been closed the whole time. "Open your eyes," I told him
suddenly. His eyes opened to small
slits. "What is wrong with your
eyes?"
"They are bruised Faith," he told
me gently as if I should have figured that out on my own.
"Oh.
Ok. I was just worried I
guess," I answered and he pulled me down to kiss him.
"You worry too much. I'm fine.
In like a century I will be back to normal!" He joked and I smiled.
"Good cause until then you will be laying
in this bed and you will be under my control.
I plan on doing nasty, nasty things to you too," I teased him.
"Promise?" He asked and we both
laughed and kissed again. When we
parted I held out my wrist to him again.
"Spike is here."
"Yeah," I answered as Angel bit
into my wrist again, this time gentler.
"Why?"
"I called Giles and asked for help. He sent Spike," I quickly lied to
Angel.
"Good, he will help you out. Did you get Methos…er Adam?"
"Yeah I got him. You didn't tell me you were friends with the
world's oldest man," I teased Angel.
I pulled my arm away when I felt weak and dizzy.
"You never asked," he shot back at
me.
"Smart ass."
"You love me anyway," he yawned and
reached out for my hand.
"That I do," I answered and bent
down and kissed him on the lips, holding nothing back. He tasted of blood and a taste I can only
describe as unique and purely Angel.
Nothing else in the world tasted like he did…and I knew that I would
never find something I was more addicted to then the taste of his kisses.
"Promise me that you will come back to
me tonight in one piece and alive?" Angel asked of me.
"I'll do my best to come back to
you," I told him honestly, not promising something that I had no control
over.
"Promise me…"
"I can't Angel…we both know that
anything can and will happen. Not even
death could part us…nothing could keep me from you, my love, nothing," I
told him and rose up off the bed still holding his hand. "I'm headed out. I'll be back as soon as we kill this
fucker. Then I'll make sure to get all
the kinks out of that body of yours," I told him and he nodded to me. "Love you," I gently told him.
"Me more," he answered and I walked
away from him and out of the room. I
shut the door behind me and tears ran down my face silently as I headed to the
staircase to the lobby.
**********
As the sun set Methos, Mac, Amanda, Richie,
Spike, Oz and I were in the sewers loaded down with weapons and magic
ingredients to kill this ting. Lindsay
had located it in the books and found one way to kill it. We were all a little worried about killing
it but we would either kill it this time or die trying. Four hours and multiple pints of blood lost
later we limped back to the hotel.
"I think we killed it," Adam said
as we all stood around the splattered and shredded parts of the serpent and
some of his minions. I laughed.
"I'm not going to wait around to find
out," I told them and they all laughed and agreed.
We headed back to the hotel slowly each
savoring the fact that we were alive.
Each of us covered in our own blood, some of each other's blood and
unidentifiable demon substances. Adam stopped us after we got out of the sewers
and were about to enter the hotel and turned back to look at us.
"Welcome home ladies and gents,"
Adam called and then bounded into the hotel leaving us all stunned.
"Yes, welcome home," I told them
all and walked into the hotel after him, the rest of the group following
silently after me.
**********
Summer 2005 LA…
Then *the* battle came. Cordelia had been
getting practically nonstop visions for about a week. We were always busy –
always trying to save someone. It was a Wednesday evening at 5:09 p.m. Methos,
Richie, Amanda, MacLeod, Joe, Oz, Lindsay, Gunn, Kate, Angel, Cordelia, and I
were all sitting around the hotel lobby/research center eating Chinese take out
when the vision came. The vision looked to be a painful one, causing her to
drop her carton of food into her lap and clutch her head as if to keep it on
her shoulders in one piece. Gunn sat silently beside her knowing from previous
experience that attempting to help or comfort her during these visions was
sometimes painful to the caregiver. She tended to lash out when the pain was
too much so we would catch her before she fell but then set her down and wait
for her to finish getting her vision before we went to comfort her. We waited
for her to speak, but she only cried silently. Finally she looked up at me,
then Angel, then back at her Chinese food that now covered her jeans, leaving
stains immediately.
"We are too late," she quietly said
to us. We were all very confused right then. Food had been set aside and
everyone was tensed ready to go out on another mission especially since the
magnitude of the vision that had been sent to her.
"Spill Cordy," I told her from my
seat on Angel's lap. He had visibly tensed underneath of me when she made eye
contact with him.
"Buffy will die in about 15 minutes. We
can't save her. No one is available at the shop to get the call. They are all
out fighting right now. I'm so sorry Angel, Faith," Cordy told us softly.
So softly that it took Angel's vampiric hearing and my enhanced Slayer hearing
to understand half the words she spoke. Angel threw me off him as he quickly
jumped to his feet.
"NO!" he roared at Cordy. I sat there
completely in shock. Angel grabbed Cordy off the ground and pinned her up
against the wall with one hand around her throat. "Tell the Powers That Be
that it isn't going to happen! Tell them now! She can't die; I won't allow it.
Tell them to do anything to save her. Tell them to trade me for her. I will die
in her place!" He screamed in her face.
"Angel!" I yelled at him as I
rushed over to where they were. I pushed him angrily and harshly away from
Cordy. She crumpled to the ground gasping for air. I fell to the floor with
her, making sure she could still breathe. Gunn stood protectively over the two
of us at that point, about ready to pummel Angel for touching Cordy. She met my
eyes; tears fell down both of our cheeks. My tears were for my sister that was
going to die, while hers for having to see the death and deliver the message to
the two sitting before her, who both loved Buffy dearly.
"B's gonna die?" I quietly asked
her finally after I could get words out.
"Yeah Faith – she is gonna die - a really
shitty death. I'm so fucking sorry Faith," Cordy sobbed to me. We held on
tightly to each other, tears streaming freely down both of our faces.
A huge crash brought my attention back to
reality. Angel had thrown the telephone through the glass door to the courtyard
garden. He picked up the closest stack of books and threw them over the counter
into the other stacks on the desk. They all went crashing to the floor. I stood
and walked up behind him.
"Angel." I gently said as I placed
my hands on his shoulders in an attempt to pacify him. My touch usually cooled
the demon that raged in him. This time it did no such effect; it actually
seemed to cause him further rage.
"Stay the hell away from me! You can't
change anything," he spat as he spun around to avoid my touch and in the
process backhanded me across the left side of my face. I was completely
unprepared for the blow. It put me on my ass and skidding across the floor.
When I came to a stop a few feet later I looked up at Angel in complete shock
and confusion as my hand went up to cradle my now broken jaw. His jaw dropped
and his eyes widened in horror as he realized what he had just done. He dropped
to his knees. When he reached out to touch me I quickly scrambled backwards
away from him. "Faith…"
"No! Stay the fuck away from me!" I
yelled at Angel.
"Faith. I'm sorry! I just whipped
around. I really…" he started to apologize as he followed my backwards
movements but I cut him off.
"Shut up!" I screamed at him. I
managed to push myself up onto trembling legs. He stayed on his knees beneath
me while still reaching out to touch me. I stumbled backwards again, this time
into Gunn. He immediately pulled me into his arms and held me tightly as I
first attempted to get away and then as I finally collapsed from realization of
the whole situation. Angel stood and I visibly tensed.
"How about you stay right there big guy.
I don't think you need to come at her again," Gunn suggested to him in a
tone that made Angel think twice about advancing on Gunn and me.
"I have to go. I can still save her. I
can get there to save her," I rambled and pushed myself away from Gunn's
embrace.
"Faith, I don't think that you are going
to save her," Cordelia gently attempted to persuade me into accepting the
fact.
"You have no chance of making it to save
her in the next five minutes. She is going to die and we are going to have to
go to Sunnydale to pick up the pieces of the fight tonight."
"No Cordy, I can save her. I owe it to
her to do anything to save her. I have to try!" I cried to her and headed
for the door when Amanda grabbed me.
"I don't think that you are going to be
able to get to Sunnydale in five minutes. No one here could even do that. I
just think that you need to calm down," Amanda tried to reason with me and
I punched her in the face causing Kate to get to her feet and
"protect" her lover.
"You don't understand Amanda! I have to
try, I owe her that," I said to her as tears continued to cascade down my
face. Kate stood a few feet away from us eyeing me warily ready to jump in to
break up the fight in a second's notice.
"I do understand completely Faith. But
she is probably dead at this point." She tried to reason with me.
"NO! I have to save her. I can't let her
die," I sobbed and clung to her slim frame. She held me tightly as sobs
racked my body. My body was basically Jell-O in her strong arms.
"She can't die. I have to save
her," I kept muttering against Amanda's body.
Cordy suddenly clutched her head and Gunn
caught her before she hit the floor. "She is dead and the end of the world
is coming," Cordy's soft voice echoed through the silent lobby. I couldn't
believe it and cried even harder. Angel broke a few more things until Methos
grabbed him and restrained him from taking out anything more.
"Perhaps we should go to the hospital
before we go to Sunnydale. I think you need to go to the emergency room and
have that jaw of yours looked at. It needs to be set and fixed so you can
hopefully heal before you run into another fist," Methos finally suggested
after he got Angel calmed down and sitting on the couch with Cordy. I then
realized my jaw was really broken.
"Ok," I answered. Methos had
Cordelia and Gunn go with me to the hospital. Angel wanted and tried to come
too.
"No!" I yelled at him when he
reached out to help me through the door. "I don't need anything else from
you," I informed him. Guilt, sadness, and pain crossed his face visibly. I
could see the fight fall out of him. I was too upset about B and my jaw to deal
with him right then.
**********
Methos sent Angel, Oz, Lindsay, Amanda, Kate,
Mac, Richie, and Joe to Sunnydale. They hid Angel in the back of Oz's van.
Everyone piled into Oz's van except Mac and Joe, who rode in Mac's car.
Cordelia, Gunn, and Methos waited for me to undergo surgery to set my jaw. They
set it and released me telling me not to do anything dangerous over the next
few weeks. I lied and agreed, took the drugs, and left the hospital. Methos
drove the Land Rover to Sunnydale. Cordelia and Gunn sat in the back, while I
passed out in the front seat from the drugs and pain. Halfway there I was moved
into the back seat to lean against Methos. Gunn drove with Cordy shotgun and
Methos held me at a 45 degree angle while applying ice to my jaw to make sure
the swelling stayed down. I woke up about 5 minutes before we go to Giles &
Cassandra's house. My jaw hurt badly but it wasn't too swollen, thanks to
Methos. I was confused to find myself in the back of the truck rather than the
front. We pulled up at the house and I got out more painkillers. I quickly took
them and got out of the truck. Methos looked at me as I faltered and stumbled
to the side, unsteady on my own feet. He started towards me, but I held up my
hand.
"I'm fine Adam. Let me walk on my own
two feet," I managed to get out and he stopped his movement towards me. We
all walked into Giles's house not even bothering to stop to knock.
"Faith," Giles softly said and
pulled me into a tight embrace. I felt tears that had rolled down his face hit
my face and mix with mine. He was badly bruised in his face and I guessed the
rest of his body as well. I assumed the bruises came from the fight that Cordy
had received the first vision about.
"Where is she Giles?" I manage to
choke out.
"In the living room," Giles said
and I let go of him and moved to his living room.
He was right – she was there – dead and lying
on the floor. Her throat slit from ear to ear, her face beaten to a bloody
pulp, her body broken and bloody as well. I spun around and rushed out of the
room only to throw up in the kitchen sink; I didn't make it to the bathroom.
After a few minutes I was better. After I collected myself I walked back to her
body with a bowl of warm water and an old rag to clean off her body.
"No Faith, let the coroner do
this," Giles started and Cordelia cut him off.
"Leave her Giles. Buffy wouldn't have
wanted to be seen like this by anyone. Let Faith clean Buffy and heal
herself," Cordelia stated placing a restraining hand on Giles's arm.
I heard voices but not words as I sat down
next to her body. I slowly washed off her face and rinsed the rag, turning the
water in the bowl a dark red almost instantly. An hour and a half and at least
a dozen bowls of warm water later she was clean. I washed her entire body with
the rag – making her look as clean, virginal, and pure as possible. Oz took
Willow to get a white summer dress for her to wear in her coffin. I washed the
blood out of her hair as well, returning it to its blonde color. Willow was
still in shock and denial from the events of tonight. She had lost Buffy and
then Tara tonight, her best friend and her lover respectively. Both died on the
same night. I can only imagine how horrible it was for her. It hit her about
5a.m. that they were both dead. Her cries wouldn't let any of us sleep. I
finally passed out again from the pain medicine. Methos and Amanda took turns
holding me up at a 45-degree angle with ice on my jaw throughout the night.
**********
When the sun rose in the morning, Giles
decided it would be a good thing for Buffy to be taken to the coroner's so that
they could report the dead body to the police and not have to deal with the
repercussions of hiding a dead body for any longer than they already had. There
would be a lot of questions already because of her death and because of Tara's.
Their bodies were badly mutilated and it was evident that they didn't die from
natural or near natural causes. Giles along with Methos and Cassandra took her
body as well as Tara's to the morgue for the coroner to deal with. He took care
of everything, as a Father would do. Later that day, Willow and Xander decided
that they would go to pay their last respects to their deceased friends and to
their fallen allies. It was really hard for them because B was their best
friend. They were the three original members of the Scooby Gang, the three
Musketeers as Xander often called them.
**********
I awoke from a pain medicine-induced nap to
the sounds of screaming and people rushing around. It took me a few seconds to
process everything in my head. I finally recognized that it was Willow who was
screaming and upset. I looked up over the couch to see Willow and what all the
commotion was about. Her face was all bruised and slightly bloody. That was all
it took for me to leap over the couch and get completely focused on every word
that she was saying.
"She killed him, she drained him right
there in front of me and then slit her wrist and made him drink. Oh God, I
couldn't save him. She must have been awake the whole time since we left the
house. Does this mean she has an invitation in? We need to revoke the whole
invitations and then re-invite Angel in," Willow managed to get out in one
breath. I walked up to her and gently touched her face and she cringed.
"What did she do to you Willow?" I
quietly asked her.
"She just punched me and threw me up
against a wall. When I woke up she was gone and so was Xander's body. I came
back here as soon as possible. I still don't know why she didn't kill me.
Perhaps she just was overcome by the bloodlust."
"Perhaps," I answered and turned to
look for Angel to answer some questions for me.
"I think that we should go to the store
and get the magic supplies and try to restore her soul. That way in case she
really didn't want to kill Xander and it was just bloodlust then we can save
her. I mean, after all it is Buffy," Willow suggested and I nodded in
agreement to that one. I made eye contact with Giles and he nodded as well.
"I'll go," Anya said, she was
shaking and tears were flowing down her face. "If Xander is undead then
perhaps we can still save him too. I mean, it is Xander, if she turned him into
a vampire then perhaps we can give them both souls and have them come back to
us," she reasoned with us, her eyes pleading with everyone to agree with
her.
"That is a good idea Anya. Why don't you
take someone with you and get the supplies from the shop. Willow and I will
work on the spell to ban vampires from access to the house and then re-invite
Angel in while you are gone," Giles suggested to her.
"Anyone want to go with me?" Anya
asked in a tiny voice. Amanda, who was a longtime friend of Anya's, stood up.
"I'll go," she said and then
squeezed Anya's hand gently and held onto it. Joe stood as well.
"A tour of the shop wouldn't be that
bad. Besides I could use a walk in today's beautiful weather," Joe said
and they nodded in acceptance.
The three of them headed off from Giles's
house to the shop to retrieve the things needed to do the restoration spells.
We performed the spell to revoke invitations at Giles's house and then Giles
re-invited Angel into his home. It only took a few minutes for them to do the
spell and the re-inviting in of Angel. About 2 hours later Joe, Amanda, and
Anya hadn't returned from the shop and we were starting to get worried.
"Do you think that one of us should go
after them?" Willow asked, really worried about them. Everyone in Giles's
house was really edgy right now and almost all of the few remaining Scooby Gang
was borderline crazy at the moment.
"I think that we should give them a
little while longer. Anya knows what is needed from the store. Joe can't walk
that fast and Amanda, well knowing her she probably tried to steal a few things
from the store and Anya yelled at her about not paying. I am sure that they
will be back within the hour," Cassandra gently suggested in a soft yet
reassuring voice from her seat in the lazy-boy in the corner of the living
room. The rest of the people agreed with her but that didn't stop Willow from
pacing around the room chewing on her nails or Giles from repeatedly cleaning
his glasses. In that time I felt like something or someone was missing and
looked around at who was in my presence.
"Are we missing anyone?" I asked
Giles and he looked around the room.
"You know that some left for the Magic
Box right?" Giles asked me gently.
"Other than them…and Xander, Tara and
Buffy…we are missing someone in this group," I told them and looked around
confused. My eyes locked with Angel's
for one brief second and it hit me then.
"I don't think…" Giles started and
I cut him off standing up suddenly, almost losing my balance in the process.
"SPIKE!" I yelled at everyone. "We are missing Spike. Oh God…he could be out there injured or
dead…we have to find out what happened to him before he finds out that Buffy is
dead or else we might be too late," I told them and headed over to my
shoes and jacket. I sat down to pull
them on and Giles stood in front of me then.
"We aren't going to look for him
Faith. He probably had something to do
with this whole thing. If he comes back
to us then we will decide what to do with him."
"What are you talking about? This is Spike the guy that loved Buffy and
helped her for the past few years without trying to kill anyone. The guy that has no fucking chip but has not
killed you yet!" I yelled at him and everyone in the house looked at me in
interest at the sudden panic over Spike.
Cordelia rose to her feet and joined us and convinced Giles to
leave. She held me as I cried silently
into her shoulder and then she turned to Giles.
"Giles, you have a training room in this
house somewhere don't you?" She asked him as I stood and stretched my arms
out above my head.
"Yeah I do Cordelia. Um…in the basement
is the training room that Buffy and I use…" he trailed off and then paused
for a moment to reflect. He exhaled slowly and then continued in an almost
transparent voice. "It is the door right across from the bathroom down the
hall. Everything you need is down there…" he trailed off again as he
realized finally that he would probably never train with Buffy anymore.
"Thanks Giles," She said to him as
she reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder. He forced a smile to her. She pushed me towards the training room so I
could work out my aggression and aggravation on my own.