**********
The next hours went by quickly and
painfully. Spike retold the whole story
from the minute he left the house with Buffy to the minute that he attacked me
and coincidentally was saved by me. He
retold the tales that Buffy told him about her torturing the Scooby gang
members and such. He edited the part about B killing Willow, just saying she
knocked her out and left her in the coffin to freak her out. It wasn't something that we all wanted to
hear but it was what everyone needed to hear. We all needed to understand that
this was not our Buffy anymore because our Buffy wouldn't have tortured and
killed our friends and got off on it.
It was decided that we would analyze everything that Spike told us and
go over it. Each person was to come up
with a battle plan using every person in the room. They would have teams selected, team leaders, weapons and
such. It was a good idea and most of
the people in the room agreed it was a good plan. We would take the best plan or the best parts of plans and
utilize them the best that we could.
I didn't want to make up a plan that would
involve sacrificing my friends at the moment.
I would do that later after I had had some time just to let this all
sink in. Instead I went back to Spike's
room with him and we talked for hours.
I really missed talking with him and arguing about things that we both
knew we agreed upon. He was a good
friend to me and I knew that I would miss that when he was gone. I told him of the fight that Angel and I
had. I told him how hurt I was that he
was so upset over Buffy's death, how he wouldn't let me help me at all, how he
broke my jaw, and finally how he broke my heart and didn't realize it still.
Spike didn't have a lot of suggestions but he did know that Angel was dense
when it came to certain things and that was the truth, neither of us argued
about that. He thought that sometime
before the battle with Buffy that I should sit down with him and tell him
exactly what I felt in case something happened to either one of us during the
battle. I didn't think that was a good
idea. I didn't want things more
emotionally messed up for me before I faced a Slayer turned Vampire. Then I listened and held him as he cried for
the death of his Slayer, the death of his lover, the death of his other half. He knew that he had to make sure she was stopped. He knew that she couldn't live with the
guilt if she was cursed after all that she had done. She had told him that if she ever became a vampire not to curse
her just to stake her because she couldn't live that way. It was the opposite of what she was born to
be and she couldn't live in the dark all the time. She had grown to hate the
darkness due to her fate. We talked
about death and how we were both ready and awaiting it. He couldn't believe that I was awaiting
death so calmly.
"What do you mean that you are ready to die?
You haven't even begun to live Faith!" Spike yelled at me.
"Keep it down Spike. It isn't like I want to die. I just know it
will happen soon. I just have this
feeling. I know that B is going to kill me.
I can't beat her. I'm not sure that even Angel can beat her. I think that I am going to just let him
drain me and then go kick her ass. That
is the only real option that I am seeing of her dying. You can't kill her
unless you kick her or bite her to death. I mean – I'm sorry but you have no
hands to hold a stake."
"A stake won't do Faith. I didn't want to tell the others this just
yet. I was only going to tell you and Angel because I knew it would be one of
you that finishes her and then possibly let you guys break the news. She can
only die by beheading. It is fucked
up. Like she is a goddess more so than
ever before now that she is half demon. So you are going to have to behead to
kill her totally. Keep that in mind,"
Spike informed me and I just nodded to him in acknowledgement. We continued to talk and finally he passed
out again after I let him have about a pint of my blood.
I left him there on the bed for the remainder
of the day. That day while Angel and
Spike slept, side-by-side no less, the humans talked and plotted the battle
that lay ahead. We decided we needed to
go to the grocery store to get food for all of us for the next week or so. Only a few of us went. Cordy, Gunn, Oz, Lindsay, Methos and I went
to get food for us and the other humans in the house. Angel wasn't awake but if something went wrong all they had to do
was yell and he would be up and ready for battle, as would Spike. Plus Mac, Amanda, Richie, Kate, Willow,
Giles, and Cassandra could take care of themselves when it came down to
it.
We drove in Oz's van to the grocery store and
got food. Each person made a list of
food they wanted and we combined all the lists into one huge list. It took us about 2 hours to do the grocery
shopping about $350.00 as well. We were
all going to chip in but Methos just covered it for us. Grocery shopping was fun because we just got
to get out of the house and have some fun.
It was fun until I turned a corner with several boxes of cereal in my
arms and I ran smack into Quentin Travers, the head Watcher from the
Council. He was with 3 other Watchers
and a young girl, probably 14-15. I
dropped the cereal and took a step back away from them.
"Excuse me," I mumbled and quickly bent to
grab my cereal boxes to leave their presence, quickly.
"There is no excuse for you Faith. You are simply a disgrace to the Council and
past Slayers," Quentin said to me and I stood up slowly with my cereal boxes,
unsure of what to do.
"Faith?" Cordelia's voice asked from behind
me, confusion evident in her voice. I backed toward her slowly. "What is going on here?" She snapped,
clearly pissed off now. She knew my body posture very well and therefore knew I
was frightened now.
"C, meet the Council," I told her as I came
to a stop slightly behind her. She moved to block me from the people that
threatened me. I threw the cereal
carelessly in her shopping cart. Gunn
stood behind the cart, looking warily at the Watchers.
"Faith, why don't you go find Adam? Gunn and
I can handle this," Cordelia suggested to me.
I backed away to go look for them and ended up backing right into Adam.
"I'm here C," Adam's voice said from behind
us. Adam came up behind me and placed a
hand on my left shoulder with his right hand as he stood next to me on my
left. I knew that he would protect me
at this moment and I felt comfortable and safe just by this innocent
touch.
"I think we have unfinished business Faith,"
Quentin said to me.
"No, Quentin you don't. She isn't under you anymore. She put in her
time in jail to serve the US laws. And she
has put in her time to the Council as well.
She isn't any of your concern anymore," Adam boldly told them.
"Well, well, if it isn't Adam Pierson – the
Immortal who got into Watcher's HQ. I
should have guessed to see you two together."
"Why are you in town?"
"Same reason as you. Buffy's a vampire and planning on opening
the Hellmouth. So, we are here to kill her.
Are you here to join her in death and destruction?"
"No, I am here to slay B and close the
Hellmouth. Same thing you are here for," I answered confidently.
"That is right you hate Buffy and will have
no problem slaying her at all."
"How do you plan on slaying her?" I asked
him. "You and your Watchers and your
little girl?"
"Faith – I want you to meet Robin, the newest
Slayer."
"The newest Slayer?" I asked, confused.
"I don't think that you understand Faith. She
is the Slayer. You died." Quentin said to me and I was shocked.
"When and how Quentin?" I asked him, not
believing this at all.
"She was called in the fall of 2004, after
Isabelle - the slayer after you - was killed. You are supposed to be dead
Faith. That is the only reason we have not come for you Faith. We believed you
to be dead. Unfortunately we were wrong and not that lucky."
"So she is your plan to kill B? Do you really
think that she can take B? Um...I think no!"
"What is going on here?" Oz asked as he
walked up to us with Lindsay. "I smelled… well trouble," he finished as he
stopped next to us.
"I sense evil on him. His aura is worse than
the others," we heard the girl say to Quentin.
"Oz, I presume – the werewolf," Quentin said.
Oz didn't really respond; he hardly does anyway despite the event and
situation.
"He's a werewolf sir? Are you sure?" One
Watcher asked Quentin.
"Yes, I am sure," Quentin snapped at him.
"How about you guys finish the grocery
shopping while Faith and I continue our chat with Quentin," Methos asked of
Cordy, Gunn, Lindsay and Oz.
"You sure man?" Gunn asked.
"Yeah, we'll be ok here in aisle 7," Methos
teased him.
"We'll be nearby," Cordy said and then left
us alone.
"So you are leading this band of merry-men?"
Quentin asked Methos.
"I am," I answered. "I'm in charge of it all.
We all came down here to stop a vampire and seal the Hellmouth. That is all.
Since my Watcher isn't available anymore I am in charge of myself," I told them
all confidently.
"You mean your Watcher is dead," one said
from the back with a slight smirk.
"I guess death is the same as unavailable."
"Wesley…" Quentin started to speak.
"Shut up Quentin. You have no right to speak
of him so directly. Mr. Wyndham-Price will do for you and yours. You didn't
know him – you didn't know anything about him."
"I think I did – perhaps more than you. You
forget that he was at the Council HQs for years before he was sent to you to be
your Watcher."
"You might have know him then, in a world
without demons and evil to face everyday but you didn't know the Wes that I
knew. The man I knew was a brave man – an intelligent man – a man of honor and
principle. He trusted me even after I almost killed him and he found it in his
heart to believe in me and to know me. Few have done that. The man you knew was
nothing compared to the man I knew!" I told him honestly.
"A man doesn't change over time. The Wesley
you and I both knew was the same person. He couldn't have changed that much,"
Quentin argued.
"When I first met him he would run and hide
from anything that moved. He would offer anything to save his own life. The man
that died wasn't that man. I tortured him for hours and he didn't utter a
scream, no protest, just sat there and took it and didn't even think about
betraying Angel or Cordelia. You aren't worthy of him. He was a true Watcher,
he did his job to protect good in the world and kill the evil."
"He worked with a demon."
"I am in love with a demon and yet here I am.
I still fight the ‘good fight' and hunt down everything that needs to be
killed. I am not a bad person because of it. I was evil I met him, he made me
good, he understood my darkness and helped me harness it and use it in a different
outlet. Just because Angel is a vampire does not mean that he is evil. Do you
want me to start naming the number of times that he has helped out a Slayer?
Between Buffy and myself the number is probably too high to count. You don't
understand about him Quentin. Because you have been locked inside the Council
gates you don't understand anything that has to do with good and evil. I am the
perfect example. I wasn't the model Slayer, I turned evil, I killed humans, and
I did horrible things. My boyfriend is a demon and he is supposed to kill
humans and wreak havoc on the world, however, he chooses to save it and protect
it. Tell me now Quentin. In your world as you see it. I should be the one was
still allowed to live because I was a human, but I was evil. He should have
been killed because he was a demon but he was good. Tell me how that is right,
how that is correct, and above all how that is FAIR! Tell me that the Council
still doesn't view it that way and I will come back to the Council." I told him
and he just stood there in silence.
"You know that I can't tell you that."
"And you know that I can't value anything
that you have to say to me. Our truths are not the same. You see the world
through tinted, jaded, colored glasses. I see the world as it is. There is no
such thing as good and evil. There is no black and white world. There is a lot
of gray area that no one in the Council acknowledges. Wes didn't acknowledge it
when he came here to Sunnydale. He did after he realized and had his eyes
opened to the events that were taking place around him!" I told Quentin
angrily. "Go home Quentin. You and your Slayer are in way over your head here,"
I told him and he just shook his head.
"It is my duty to make sure that Buffy is
stopped. I need to make sure that evil is kept in check," he told me.
"You can't beat her. You can't. Neither can
she. You are going to send this Slayer to her death. One can only hope that she
dies quickly and painlessly. Stay away from me and mine. You do your own thing
here. You want to take her down do it. Don't interfere when we attack her
though. You interfere and get any of us killed and I swear by everything I
stand for that providing I survive the fight that I will hunt you and everyone
else in the Council down and kill every single one of you in the same way that
my friends all died. It won't be pleasant and I'm sure that you don't want to
see if I will hold that promise true. I am a psycho Quentin…keep that in mind,"
I told him and then walked away from him to join Cordy, Gunn, Lindsay and Oz in
the next aisle over. Adam joined me a few seconds later.
"They won't leave Sunnydale. They are going
to get killed," Adam said to me.
"That is on them. They aren't listening to
reason so they will die. I don't care," I told them all honestly and they
nodded in agreement.
**********
We continued our shopping, got everything on
the list and headed back to Giles's house. We made sure that the Watcher's
weren't tailing us when we did that though. We unloaded all the groceries into
Giles's kitchen and then called a meeting with everyone. I sat down on the
couch and Spike curled up next to me and leaned into my embrace. He rested his
head on my chest as we leaned on the side of the couch. I ran my hands through
his soft, not gelled hair in a random soothing pattern.
"So what is up?" Richie asked us
once everyone had settled into the living room area. Adam looked at me and I
nodded for him to continue.
"The Council is in town. We ran into
Quentin and a few of his little flunkies, and…" Adam took a breath
releasing it slowly. "the new Slayer," he finished.
"The new Slayer? Why was a second Slayer
called after Buffy died? She only died once?" Willow asked and everyone
was immediately talking among themselves.
"The first, Isabelle, was called when
Faith died in 2001. When she took that dive out of the fifth story window with
Darla after the fight she died in route to the hospital, at the hospital,
several times during surgery, etc. Her death, like Buffy's momentary one in
1997 allowed the new Slayer to be called. When Isabelle died in 2004 the newest
one that is in Sunnydale at the moment, Robin was called. Right now there are
two Slayers alive and one undead," Adam said. He rose from his seat and
stretched out a little. "Quentin is being a bastard and won't leave the
country till Buffy is killed, yadda, yadda, yadda," he continued in a
monotone voice. "Basically I don't think that we have to worry about them
slaying Angel and Spike, but we might have to worry about them interfering the
fight with Buffy. However, after Faith's threat I'm not so sure that we will be
seeing them around for the final fight. I think that the Slayer peed herself
and Quentin looked pale," Adam said and I smiled a little.
"Since when do you threaten people,
luv?" Spike whispered to me.
"When I need to get the point across, I
get graphic, no big," I told him quietly and then returned my attention to
Methos.
Spike scooted up further into my embrace and
started to purr a little. I held him a
little tighter so that he wouldn't slide down my body and he started to gently
kiss and lick on the junction on the left side of my neck where my neck met my
shoulder. I felt blunt teeth bite into
my shoulder and I closed my eyes at the feeling. This wasn't supposed to be happening. I wasn't supposed to let another vampire near my body, I wasn't
supposed to let Spike do this to me, I didn't need this right now, but the
sensation felt too good, too familiar and too comforting. I didn't stop him. I didn't stop him when I felt him change into game face. I didn't stop him when I felt his fangs
enter my neck and gently suck enough to get blood to come out but not enough to
hurt me. He did this for several
minutes, biting, feeding, licking the wound, and then repeating the
process. I didn't realize that everyone
in the room was talking to me and now staring at me until I felt Spike being
pulled roughly off of me. Thankfully he
didn't have his fangs in my neck at that time or I might have had my neck ripped
open yet again. You don't get too many
free tickets to get out of death and I think that mine were all used up at this
point; I was on borrowed time and a half.
I opened my eyes to see a pissed off Angel beating Spike's face in with
one hand while Spike was held down on the floor by the other hand. I was angry. I jumped up off the couch and tackled Angel. We both went rolling away from Spike and
into a nearby wall, shaking it. I
landed a punch to his face before he realized what was going on. He grabbed ahold of my throat and twisted my
head to the right with his left hand, held my body down with his own, and
gently fingered the bite mark on my neck with his right hand. I couldn't believe this was happening. I hated him for this so much.
"Get off of me Angel," I yelled at
him angrily.
"Do you really hate me that much that
you would do that with him in front of my face?" Angel yelled at me. I caught movement out of the corner of my
eye and saw Spike kick Angel in the face causing Angel to release his hold on
my head but not my body. Spike kicked
him again this time causing Angel to hit the wall next to me and bounce back
off of it towards Spike. I managed to
get up from under him.
"Spike, knock it off!" I told him.
"No.
This bastard just beat the shit out of my already beaten face. He kneed me in my non-existent balls and I am
in pain right now. So shove it
Faith!" Spike yelled at me. I
punched him in the face causing him to fall to the floor and look at me in
complete shock. Angel stood up as well
behind me and I backhanded him across his face too, causing him to stumble and
grab onto the wall for balance.
"This is ridiculous!" I said to
them both. "What the hell is this
over Angel? Just tell me - don't throw in anything else opinion wise."
"You are letting him feed off of you right
in front of my face. He was fucking
purring and getting intimate with your neck.
You were enjoying it Faith. You
should have seen the look on your face and the noises that were coming out of
you and out of him. The two of you were
getting off on it!"
"You are jealous!" I exclaimed
completely shocked. "You are
jealous aren't you?" I asked him and he just frowned. "This isn't about Spike this is about
me isn't it? I wasn't intending to get off on it Angel. You and I both know that I get off when you
feed from me. I'm sorry that I let him do it.
I really wasn't thinking and I'm sure that he wasn't either. It just has
been too long since you and I have been anywhere near that comfortable with
each other. Things were shitty before
Cordelia's vision and they went straight to hell after that. I just needed to feel loved, needed to feel
something other than the coldness that is closing in around me. I needed to feel Angel…I just needed to
feel," I told honestly and moved away from him. I grabbed a hold of
Spike's forearm that he held up in the air for me to help him up with. "I'm sorry for hurting you both,"
I told them and walked out of the room.
The rest of that day was a total bust. I stayed down in the basement and worked out
for about 6 hours. Giles came down and
trained with me for a little while until he got too tired and hurt. Oz came down for an hour too but he didn't
want to get the hell beat out of him any more so he left and Methos came down
to be my last victim of my training session.
"You feel like you are doing something
positive here? You send Giles and Oz up beaten up and you are still down here
breaking things and beating the shit out of yourself mentally," Methos
said to me.
"I don't need your psychotherapy
Methos. Can it!" I told him as I
punched the punching bag that had been mounted in the wall. I guess it had been done like that so Buffy
could train without someone holding it.
"I don't want to 'can it' Faith. You need to hear it. Beating up poor old Giles is just wrong and
Oz said that he was all wolfy and still got his ass kicked. Perhaps you need a break yourself. You aren't going to be able to take Buffy if
you wear yourself out now," Methos suggested to me.
"Leave Methos. I told you I don't want
to hear it. I am going to get all this
shit out of me right now. I have been having problems lately and this isn't
making it any better. My friend, my
Slaying sister, my blood, she died and I have to cut her head off to kill her. I don't think that this is in any way fair or
just. I hate this Methos. I have to go
up against her. I am going to lose too.
I am going to die when I face her – I can feel it. She kicked my ass on a regular basis when she was only a Slayer.
She is like super Vampire now, a turned Slayer. I am going to die. I only hope
that Angel can take her once I am dead. I need you to promise me that if I died
and he can't kill her that you will cut her head off. You can do it, you might not be able to beat her with strength
but you can beat her with skill. Promise
me Methos. Promise me you will finish
her if Angel and I fail," I looked at him completely serious.
"I promise you. I will make sure she dies when we fight
her," Methos said and took off his shirt and shoes. "Lets go a few rounds Faith. You have my permission to attempt to kill
me. I don't care how you do it just
make sure that if you snap my neck put it back in the right position after I
die please," he told me and I just nodded to him.
The two of us fought heavily for about two
hours and I finally got him into a "death" position. I didn't kill him though because he had told
me on several occasions about how he hates to die and then come back. After the 6 hour training session I had I
went back upstairs and took a shower in the bathroom adjoining Spike's bedroom.
After a 45-minute shower I came out feeling much better. I had relaxed all my
muscles and got a lot of stuff straight in my head. After I toweled off I pulled on a sports bra, underwear, and a
pair of Angel's ratty sweat pants that had been packed for the trip down here,
and tightly braided my hair. (Everyone minus Methos, Gunn, Cordy and myself had
ransacked Angel's and my room, and Oz's and Lindsay's room to take clothes and
stuff for the time that they knew they would be here for.) I walked out into
the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and an apple out of the frig. I headed over the window that overlooked a
park.
"You going to be ok?" I heard a
very familiar and at times like this annoying voice question me.
"I'll be fine Cordy. Don't worry about me," I told her.
"I do though. You are my best friend Faith.
I never thought that I would say that, but you are. Please just let me in right now," Cordy
admitted to me and I reached my hand back over my shoulder and let her take
hold of it and squeeze it tightly to let me know that she was here for me. "You wanna talk about the whole comment
about how things between you and Angel weren't good before my vision. I was under the impression, along with
everyone else, that things were great between you two," she asked me. I sighed.
"I have been just really restless
lately. I don't know, perhaps just feeling my mortality slipping away. Especially when I would come back night
after night completely beaten along with Angel and that he healed overnight
while I was left to heal for a longer time period and resulted in prior
injuries leading to new injuries. Angel
is just healing faster than me, and he is just better than me. That bothers me
a lot Cordy. But yet I still continue
to let him feed from me because I don't want him to die. I want him to be strong so that he survives
the final battle. But I don't know
Cordelia. Something just doesn't feel
right to me anymore. I think that he
knows that too. Perhaps I'm just
pulling away so that when I die he will have it easier or something," I
answered honestly and sighed.
"You know that your death is
coming?" Cordelia asked me.
"As do you. I know about the vision you
got about my death Cordy. I can read you like a book. I saw fear in your eyes when you looked at me the day after
it. I knew. It is ok though. It just
confirmed what I already knew was going to happen. I can't change the future.
I will die when I fight B and I don't really care. Angel is my main priority. I must make sure that he survives to beat
this apocalypse. It is his
destiny."
"And what about you and your life Faith?
You don't care if you die?"
"I was born to die Cordy. Sooner or later I will die permanently and
there is nothing that either one of us can do about that. I don't want to die Cordelia, God I don't
want to die, but I am a Slayer. I
accepted my destiny long ago. I have
had too many chances and opportunities to relive my life after near death
experiences. I don't have much time
left on my card. I think that I'm
actually running on borrowed time," I told her honestly.
"We are going to do everything we can to
keep you safe Faith," she told me and wrapped her arms completely around
my neck and shoulders, leaning over my shoulder to look out the window into the
park.
"Don't worry me Cordelia. Others are more important. I won't survive this battle but the other
people are more important than me. Make
sure that the innocents survive. They
are the ones who will create the future.
Teach them the ways of good, lead them away from evil," I told him
and she rested her head on my left shoulder and just held me. We rested that way for a few hours, just
staring out watching the night recede and the sun rise over the horizon of
Sunnydale. Cordelia went to bed after
the sun rose and I was left alone while the others still slept until they woke
up several hours later.
**********
Later that morning shortly before noon we got
unexpected visitors to Giles's place. I
had informed the other people in the house that the Watcher's Council was
there, but we didn't really expect to see at all after our incident with
them. I was in the kitchen cooking
lunch with Lindsay, Methos, Kate, Dawn, and Spike. Well Spike wasn't exactly helping, more like a hindrance, but he
was there to keep himself entertained.
We were cooking the lunch for everyone else in the house so we could all
maintain our strength for the fight that was going to come. Dawn and Kate were placing the dishes and
silverware on the table so everyone could grab their stuff and go wherever they
wanted to eat. Methos and Lindsay were
putting the food into the dishes and Spike was annoying the hell out of me by
just standing behind me at all times and playfully biting on my neck with blunt
human teeth as I tried to get the rest of the food cooked and prepared.
"You know that isn't a good idea
Spike. If Angel was to wake up and find
you on her neck again…lets just say it wasn't a happy ending last time. I don't
think that he will suddenly change his mind and think it is ok for you to be
all over his girl," Methos told Spike and Spike froze.
"I'll be damned if I am going to be
threatened by that Poof that calls himself my Sire. I can bloody well do as I please when it comes to Faith. I know how to treat her, I know what she is
thinking pretty much all time; I know her.
The Poof doesn't even know that.
You worry about your own shit Old Man.
I'll worry about mine," Spike hissed at Methos and left the kitchen
angrily, but not before he "brushed" past Methos sending him into the
refrigerator to catch his balance. I
was amused by Spike's childish behavior.
"Methos, was that really necessary? He wasn't seriously doing anything with
me!" I asked him, a little perturbed.
"I think that it was. You don't need another fight between you and
Angel. You don't need to let Spike to
nibble on your neck," Oz said from the living room where he was just
sitting down reading a book. I growled
in frustration and threw my hands up.
"Damn wolfie, do you have to hear everything?"
I asked him angrily, he just chuckled in response. "You aren't funny furball," I retorted childishly. This caused everyone to laugh and it made me
realize this was all dumb. Lindsay and
Methos finished putting everything on the table and Kate and Dawn had finished
putting out silverware and dishes for people to eat with.
"LUNCH IS READY!" I yelled
obnoxiously. People began to filter out
of the various rooms in the house.
Angel came out as well looking completely oblivious to everything that
was going on around him. Spike came out
a few minutes later. I had semi-fresh
blood ready for them both. I had been
able to drain about a pint for both of them from myself for lunch today. It was kind of a peace treaty I was trying
to reach with the both of them. Angel
sat down in a chair and I handed him the tall mug filled with warmed
blood. He took it from me and took a
sip and almost spit it back out.
"What the hell are you thinking? This is like a pint of your blood and there
is another mug there for Spike! Are you
insane? You need this more than we
do," Angel yelled at me and I just looked at him.
"Drink up Peaches. She did this for you now drink it. Don't you think that you are going to need a
little Slayer blood to get through this upcoming fight," Spike told him as
he sat down in front of his mug and I placed the straw in his. I bent down next to his ear.
"I would have put Wheatibix in there but
you can't exactly suck that up through a straw. So you are just you are just going to have to deal with good ole
fashion Slayer blood," I told him and he chuckled.
"Thanks for the thought Luv, really, you
are too good to me," Spike said and kissed my lips gently and then I
walked away from him. Angel glared at
the both of us at the same time somehow.
I continued to get food on the table as everyone else dug in. I was the last to eat. I had just sat down to eat my lunch when the
doorbell rang. Cassandra stood up and
headed for the door.
"Sit Cass, I'll get it," Giles told
her. She nodded and returned to her
seat. Giles walked over to the door and
opened it up. I didn't pay attention to
who was there this one time. I didn't
think that B was going to be dumb enough to attack so I really didn't pay
attention.
"You aren't welcome here," I heard
Giles angrily tell whoever was at the door.
I was on my feet immediately, grabbing my knife off the counter in one
movement as I headed for the door. I
was behind him ready to attack when I got to the door.
"Well, well, if it isn't Faith. So we meet
again. Really now, do you think that is
anyway to greet an old friend? With a
knife of all weapons?" Quentin Travers asked me. I growled deep in my
throat and lowered my knife. He was
with his flunkies and his little Slayer.
"What do you want?" Giles asked
him, still blocking his entrance to the house through the door.
"She is trying to open the Hellmouth and
cause an Apocalypse. I think that it is
necessary for us to combine our efforts and stop this threat to the
world," he told Giles and I just continued to glare at Quentin
unhappily.
"You have 10 minutes to convince me this
is worth my time," Giles said and stood back away from the door. I backed up towards the table. The Watchers and Slayer came in. They all pulled out guns and held them
aiming at the whole group of us.
"You are all by order of the Watcher's
Council of England under house arrest until this threat to the world is dealt
with. We are not going to let a
Renegade Slayer, two renegade Watchers, and a whole lot of misfits be responsible
for destroying the world," Quentin told us and we were all in a little
shock. I didn't expect this at
all.
Angel snarled when he realized that it was
the Watcher's Council who was bothering us.
He rose quickly from his sitting position at the table, completely awake
and alert now as he came up behind me.
He moved off to my right and threw his arm around my waist and held onto
me tightly. Despite the fact that I was
still extremely pissed off at him I was happy that he was here to protect me
and defend me.
"Who is this? Your boyfriend Faith?" Quentin asked me. "Let me guess the only guy you could
get is a criminal and probably a murderer?" He teased me and I just glared
at him.
"So this is the new Slayer huh?"
Angel asked and I nodded to him. He
laughed a fully body laugh.
"What are you finding so amusing about
this? Who are you?" Quentin asked Angel, slightly angry.
"Who am I? You mean you don't know who I
am? You haven't studied my face and told your children not to go out at night
for fear of running to me?" Angel asked, his voice slipping deeper and
darker. He was completely mocking Quentin for not knowing him.
"I have no idea who you are."
"Do you know me Slayer?" Angel
asked her. She shook her head, confusion evident in her facial features, and I
smiled at this one.
"You should," he told her and then
redirected his attention to everyone. "Well, she is a piss poor
Slayer," Angel said to Quentin.
"And why is that?" Quentin asked in
return.
"Because her vampire detectors haven't
gone off yet."
"Why should they?" The girl asked
smartly. Angel took a few steps around
and in front of me and smirked at them.
"Because I'm a vampire," he said
and vamped out.
The reaction was immediate. She reached for her stake, I grabbed Angel
and pulled him behind me and then blocked the attack that was coming for
him. I grabbed her wrist knocking the
stake out of it. It clattered to the
floor and Cordelia grabbed it and held onto it tightly, as she still stood in a
fighting position. I snapped her wrist
in two and then punched her in the face.
Her head snapped back with the impact.
I grabbed her and spun her around using her confusion of the moment to
get her in position. I put the knife up
against her neck and cut into her flesh a little, leaving a small line of
blood.
"That is how you plan to stop B?" I
asked him. "I don't think that I
am powerful enough to stop B and you think that this *child* will do?" I
spat at him. Robin clutched her broken
wrist close to her body and put her other hand up to stop the blood from
running down her face. She didn't even bother to fight with me; she was too
worried about her injuries.
"Let her go Faith. You are just signing your own death
warrant," Quentin threatened me.
"Don't play games with me Quentin. You know me, and you know what I am capable
of. I don't care about the fact that she is an innocent child here. I will kill her and you know that," I
threatened him. He nodded to me in
understanding but refused to back down at all.
"Give her to me and you will be killed
quickly."
"Don't play games," I hissed at him
and tightened my hold on the girl, pulling the knife up higher, choking her and
applying pressure with the blade, cutting a little deeper.
"Mr. Travers…" she begged with a
choked voice.
"Let her go Faith. We'll leave," Quentin said and I nodded
to the door.
"Back out! Leave us Quentin. Don't even
bother trying to help out in killing B. Take your sad excuse for a Slayer and
go back to the motherland," I snapped at him completely pissed off that he
was planning on sending this incapable girl out to fight Buffy and knowing that
she would die.
"I'm not leaving until what I came here
to finish is finished."
"And you are going to send her into
battle to die? Knowing that she can't take B at all?" I asked him in
complete shock.
"She was born to die."
"You are just going to go up against a
vampire slayer turned vampire? Do you have any idea how good she was before she
was killed? Do you know that she was the longest living slayer and that wasn't
just by chance? She was the best. Do
you have any idea what you are asking for because she is a now a vampire? Do
you really want to die this soon?" I asked the girl in my arms.
"I can take her!" Robin insisted
even though she was in a vulnerable position.
"Sorry, I don't believe you at all. I
just broke your wrist and your face and now have you in my control, and I'm not
even a vampire, let alone a slayer turned vampire. Try again child! She will kill you and when she figures out you
are the new slayer she will play with you. I already know she is fucked up
since she tortured and almost killed her now ex-boyfriend."
"Buffy had a boyfriend?" Quentin
asked.
"Yeah perhaps you know of him then. William the Bloody, Spike, the vampire, my
childe?" Angel said to him and smiled cockily.
"You have got to be kidding me. You are Angelus?" Quentin asked me. "What the hell are you doing here dating Faith?" he
laughed loudly.
"I am dating her because I love
her. She is my other half, my
equal. I am nothing without her; she is
nothing without me. We complete each
other and we make sure that the other is still heading for the light, still
fighting the good fight," Angel told him.
"Don't insult me Quentin.
Just because I have a soul doesn't mean that I don't kill humans. I'd say ask the W&H lawyers from 2001
but well they are dead. Dead people usually don't talk much. I let them all die by the hand of two other
vampires. I didn't care that they died,
and I still don't. Don't tempt me to
have you killed as well old man, I have friends and even then I'd be tempted do
it myself, and you would rather me not kill you. It will much more pleasant if someone else does it to you,"
Angel hissed at him. "Don't threaten my girlfriend ever again
Quentin. I'm sure you read about
me. I'm sure you know that I am not the
sanest vampire out there. I suggest
that you leave the United States," Angel snarled at them.
"You aren't understanding what I am
saying here Angel. I am not
leaving. Your empty threats mean
nothing to me. I know you. You are
Angel, the vampire with a soul. You
defend the innocent and all that jazz.
I am not afraid of you," Quentin said and Angel got pissed. He rushed him and threw him up towards the
other Watchers. Everyone fell down
around Quentin, and the other Watchers quickly worked to get up off him and him
up as well. Angel wasn't finished,
however. He threw the other Watchers
out the door of Giles's home away from Quentin. He dragged Quentin out and then slammed him again the floor. He got right down in his face, with his game
face on. "Don't fuck with me
Watcher. I am not what I seem. I might be Angelus the souled vampire. But I wasn't a nice human with this soul,
don't think that I will regret killing you, your Watchers, your pitiful Slayer;
I won't regret it at all. I'll do it in a heartbeat," Angel growled at
Quentin and then kissed his forehead before getting up and standing my side,
his mask slipping away. I tossed the
Slayer towards the Watchers still standing outside the doorway. Quentin slowly climbed to his feet.
"This isn't over by far. You will pay for your insolence!"
Quentin threatened us as he backed out the door.
"Watch out for B, she's pissed," I
suggested to them and slammed the door in their face. I turned the deadbolt and walked a step before I faltered and
almost fell from nerves. Angel had me
in arms before I hit the ground.
"You need rest. Giving us your blood wasn't a good
idea. Someone grab her a plate of food
and something to drink. We'll be in the
other guest room," Angel told everyone and pulled me up into his
arms. I was too weak to protest as he
carried me down the hall. He put me
down gently in the bed where Spike and him were sleeping earlier. "You wanna explain about that little
stunt? You took out two pints of your
blood and gave it to us. I can
understand me but Spike?"
"Spike deserves it just as much at this
point as you do. He is severely injured
and he needs my blood so that when we fight Buffy he doesn't get killed
instantly. I need him around for the
fight. I need him."
"If he needs blood then feed him another
Immortal. Don't feed him your
blood."
"My blood is stronger. You know that as well as I do. Draining Methos didn't help you recover as
fast as one drink from me. Don't yell at
me. Just because I can't beat your ass
doesn't mean that I won't try."
"I'm just saying that you could have
been injured in that fight with the Slayer because you weren't at your
best. You collapsed after they were
gone…what if you had collapsed in the middle of the fight? She could have hurt you or one of the
Watchers could have hurt you before I could have gotten there to save
you," Angel tried to reason with me.
"You don't have to always save me. I'm not a fucking porcelain doll damn it.
Every time something hits me I am not going to go down. I am the fucking SLAYER Angel. I don't need your fucking help!" I
yelled at him as I rose up to a sitting position on the bed. He flinched from my words and I immediately
regretted saying them to him.
"I'm sorry that you feel that way. I'm sorry if I came off as the
overprotective vampire boyfriend Faith.
But I love you and I don't want to see anything happen to you," he
confessed to me and stood to leave the room.
"I'm going to die someday Angel. You can't save me from that. Death is inevitable for me Angel. I can't run from that. It is the destiny of every Slayer. Spike told Buffy once that every Slayer has
a death wish. He wasn't lying when he
said that. B knew he was right and that
is what scared her so bad. I know I
have no aces to pull out of my sleeves anymore. My cards are all down on the table Angel and I still don't have
enough to beat death this time. The
next time that I have a run-in with Death will be the last time. I will lose," I told him calmly as he
walked out of the room. He paused at
the doorway.
"I won't let that happen," he told
me with his back still to me, as he stood halted in the doorway.
"You can't always be there Angel. Someone has to finish the fight. One of us has to live to fight
tomorrow. You have that option, that
opportunity. I don't. You still have to get your gift from the
Powers That Be. Don't throw it all away
for a mortal Slayer destined to die either way."
"You are more to me than just a mortal
Slayer. I thought you knew that,"
he told me as he walked out of the room never turning around to look back at
me. I collapsed back on the bed. He was right, I shouldn't have given out
that much blood but Spike and Angel needed it.
They would need it again before we fought Buffy. They needed to be strong enough to beat her
when I failed, as I knew I would.
As I laid in that bed changes were made
around the house. Giles took control
and had shifts arranged so that someone was always keeping a lookout at different
areas of the house for anyone that was approaching it. He didn't want any more surprise visits from
unwelcome guests. Shifts schedules were
made, assigned and implemented.
Everyone in the house knew that that final fight with Buffy was
coming. Each was preparing for it in
their own way.