The "Holding the night" was a nice place, Faith thought when she entered the bar a little later on this evening. Of course, the brunette Slayer used to hang out in bars and nightclubs way more noisy and crowded than this one, and for once in a long time, she wouldn't have said no to one of these nights spent forgetting everything even herself, under blinding spots and deafening music, dancing all night till morning. But the series of murders committed around the bar had obviously quietened the ambiance. The bar was far from full and only a few patrons were dancing on the floor. Most people were sitting on low stools or on imitation leathered seats around small tables placed around the dance floor under wide purple curtains. Others were leaning on the bar, and appeared to be deeply engrossed in their conversations, probably theorizing about the identity of the mysterious killer.

Faith and Tara did not remain unnoticed and everyone in the bar seemed to look at them when they walked in and walked over the bar, which made Tara rather uncomfortable whereas Faith did not feel indifferent to the attention they were getting. Faith perfectly knew it wasn't only due to the fact they were two beautiful and unknown young women walking in there for the first time. The Slayer quickly noticed that there was not a single woman alone in the bar: every young woman was surrounded by groups of men. Two girls coming in alone here just after the third murder of a bar's client had been announced probably felt quite weird to the local community. Pretending not noticing all eyes turned to them, Faith walked to the bar casually with Tara on her heels. Both friends sat on a bar stool and a middle-aged man, half bald and with round cheekbones and a sparkling gaze which probably made him look jolly in other circumstances - quickly went to meet them to ask what they wanted to drink. Faith ordered a beer and to her great surprise, Tara asked for a pineapple Malibu.

"Drinking now? "Faith said with a frown as the manager walked away to get their drinks.

"You said you would try to find someone for me. What would I look like if I'm drinking orange juice?" Tara replied almost seriously.

Faith looked at the blonde in disbelief for a moment, unable to decide if she was joking or not. The barman's voice made her come back to reality.

"Here is your order, ladies" he announced as he put their glasses in front of them.

Faith thanked him and paid for the drinks. Then she turned to the dance floor to watch the dancers while already swallowing a mouthful of her beer.

"You're new in town, aren't you?" asked the barman.

Faith turned to him again and nodded.

"Is this that obvious?" she asked with a half-smile.

The man shrugged before answering in a bitter tone.

"Girls don't come here alone these days"

"Bad business?" the Slayer questioned.

"When people start to call a serial killer like your bar, it's not as advertising as you might think"

"I bet," Faith commented, before carefully asking. "But those girls used to come here, uh?"

The barman gave her an annoyed look but nevertheless answered:

"A lot of young people in town come here" he replied dryly. "Well, all young people in town come here in fact." He clarified after a silence. "Where are you from, yourself?" he then asked in a nicer voice.

Faith didn't get mad at him for his brief bad mood but wavered about what to answer. It wasn't that she didn't want to answer, but she wasn't sure which place was the right answer.

"Cleveland," she said after a second. "But I'm from Boston, and Tara here, is from Minnesota."

Saying this, she pointed at the blonde who was watching the scene while drinking in silence.

"I'm from California," she corrected between two mouthfuls.

Faith arched a questioning eyebrow, but the barman did not give her time to protest.

"California?" he repeated, turning frankly to Tara. "Where in California? I'm guessing South, Los Angeles. I very well see you working for the cinema or the television industry!" He exclaimed with a giggle.

"North of California," countered Tara. "Sunnydale."

The name seemed to ring a bell for the man but he did not answer all at once, thinking probably about where he had heard about this town. His eyes opened wide in surprise when he remembered.

"Sunnydale? That town that collapsed all of a sudden about a year ago?" he asked.

Then, he went on without waiting for an answer:

"No wonder you had to move to Cleveland." He commented more for himself than for the girls.

"Dad," then called a voice from the other side of the bar.

The three of them turned together where the voice was coming from. A young waiter, busy with a large group of clients, was looking pointedly at the man between two orders.

"My son," the man commented. "Snowed under his work, as always," he said in a sorry tone, rolling his eyes. "Have a good evening, ladies"

And he went away toward his son.

Faith and Tara remained alone and watched her surroundings in silence for a few minutes before Tara asked:

"So, are you feeling something?"

The Slayer shrugged.

"Dunno," she grumbled while casting new glances around. "And you? What about the magic?"

"Nothing special," Tara answered. "Most people feel kind of worried; this ambiance doesn't help to truly feel things"

Faith slightly grimaced and swallowed a new mouthful of her beer while turning again to the dance floor where a few dancers were hoofing it shyly.

"The way this guy is dancing would make him my main suspect," she chuckled, pointing to a young man particularly awkward among his friends.

That comment earned her a severe raised eyebrow from Tara.

"Not everyone can be good at dancing," she protested.

"Well, it's not like it's complicated," Faith replied. "You just have to… Do you want me to show you?" she interrupted herself.

"Please don't," Tara answered immediately and firmly.

Faith grinned then pretended to pout for a second.

"Well, let's not forget our other goal for tonight," the Slayer resumed in a mocking tone while looking around the bar. "A girl to your liking in the crowd?" she added, turning to Tara with a knowing smile.

The blonde rolled her eyes and sighed annoyingly.

"Again? Will you ever stop with this?"

"What do you think of the blonde over there?" Faith asked, totally ignoring her friend's irritation, and pointing to a young blonde woman wearing an extremely short skirt and who was provocatively dancing between three boys.

Tara looked at Faith in disbelief and the brunette giggled.

"Ok, not your type"

"What about this one over there?" the Slayer went on, pointing to another woman across the bar.

But Tara pretended to not listen and refused to look where Faith was showing, watching deeply her drink with mock interest instead.

"And her?" Faith resumed, not discouraged at all.

Still no reaction from the witch.

"Ok, it's true that you're more into redheads…" Faith commented, almost more for herself than for Tara. "Let's see if there's a hot redhead around"

"Why have you hesitated when the barman asked where you were from earlier?" suddenly asked Tara.

Faith frowned at the unexpected question.

"Don't you try to change the subject Tar!" she protested, waving an accusing finger toward the blonde. "I know what you're trying to do!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Tara replied. "I was just wondering if you had a particular reason to be discreet about that."

Serious again, Faith shrugged and perched again on the stool she had deserted to get a better view of the crowd in order to find a possible date for Tara.

"I didn't want to be discreet about anything," the Slayer answered between two mouthfuls of beer. "It's just when he asked, I wondered if he meant the place where I grew up or the place where I live these days. And as I don't live anywhere precise, I thought about the last place I've spent some time. That's all."

A brief silence passed before Tara asked thoughtfully:

"Don't you miss that?"

"What?"

"Having a place where to live? A place to call home?"

Faith appeared to think about the question then casually shrugged.

"Dunno," she said unconvincingly. "Sometimes I do," she added shortly after. "I think I may be nearly done with the appeal of living in cheap motel rooms"

"Or maybe I'm getting older," she said mockingly after a brief pause.

It drew her trademark smile out of Tara.

"When do you think you'll go back to Cleveland?" she asked.

"Coming back to Cleveland?" Faith repeated with surprise. "Why should I come back to Cleveland?"

"You're a Slayer, aren't you? Isn't Cleveland the place where most Slayers are?"

The brunette snickered before swallowing what was left of her beer in one shot.

"Y'know, there are Slayers all around the world now. Cleveland doesn't have the monopoly of monsters."

"But it's where the council and the main hellmouth are, right?"

"You're the oldest Slayer, except for Buffy; you should be there, shouldn't you?" Tara insisted as Faith did not answer.

"Pfff", she finally said. "Not a fan about being there with all those Watchers behind my back, just waiting for me to screw up again"

"I'm sure Mr Giles doesn't see things like that," Tara protested.

"Giles may be an exception," Faith admitted.

"And you're a great Slayer, Faith," Tara resumed solemnly after briefly wavering. "You shouldn't be afraid of what these people think. They don't risk their lives every night, they haven't seen what you've done for months."

The brunette slightly turned to her friend and stared at her silently for a few seconds before shrugging.

"What would I do there anyway?" she grumbled. "We're doing as much here, you and I, aren't we?"

"I'm certain you'd make a perfect leader," Tara replied without hesitation, before adding in a lower and faltering tone.

"I saw how you got along with Kira, when we still thought she was a Slayer and…"

Faith rolled her eyes and missed to choke at the mention of Kira.

"Bad example Tar," she hissed between her teeth.

"I'm just saying that you don't have to run away from these people, that you deserve as much as any other to be part of that organization and to…"

"Don't waste your time Tar, I get it," Faith interrupted, trying not to sound too harsh.

Tara fell silent and stopped insisting, which she showed Faith with a knowing nod. Faith nodded in turn to thank her then gestured to the barman when he turned his head toward them. The son of the manager with whom the girls had talked a little earlier, hurried to come and see what they wanted. He was of average height, probably hardly taller than Faith, with dark blond hair and dark almond-shaped eyes, nicely ordinary.

"Ladies?" he politely asked with an open smile.

Faith smiled back then glanced at Tara's drink which was almost empty then gestured to their two glasses.

"Same thing, please."

He nodded and hurried to the other end of the bar, failing to see Tara frowning heavily at her friend.

"Faith!" she snapped. "I thought we'd better avoid unnecessary expenses!"

"Expenses? What expenses?"

"The drinks!" Tara exclaimed impatiently facing the brunette's mocking innocent expression.

"Don't worry Tar," Faith said in an evasive tone. "It's obvious you've never seen me in a bar before! We won't pay a single dollar anymore tonight!"

She drank two long mouthfuls from her beer then stood while putting back her glass on the counter.

"Well, anyway, I think it's time to dance. You coming?"

She faced Tara with her hand half-raised, in a way that could be either interrogative or encouraging. But the blonde shook her head strongly and immediately.

"No, thank you, I'm going to stay here."

"You sure?" Faith insisted, pouting a little. "You know, you'd have a better chance of finding someone moving your body on the dance floor than by staying stuck to the bar"

The blonde rolled her eyes with exasperation, which made Faith chuckle.

"Go away!" Tara scolded and Faith did as she was told without further ado with a wide smile on her lips.

When she came back nearly forty-five minutes later with a new beer in hand, dripping with sweat after having danced all this time without any rest, she found Tara in deep conversation with the young waiter and she grinned to herself as she noticed how interested in Tara he looked. The Slayer flopped down noisily on her stool and emptied her glass, not caring if her return had interrupted the ongoing conversation. Which of course, was the case. Slightly distracted by Faith's tactless arrival, he half turned to her and gazed at her hesitantly, as he expected her to say something. The brunette smirked when she noticed and casually waved to them before saying between two mouthfuls of beer:

"Go on whatever you were doing, pretend I'm not there"

The waiter appeared to waver for a second or two, but he seemed to have decided to do as he was invited when he was interrupted by very telling gestures from his father standing at the other end of the bar.

"Sorry, we're going to close, I gotta go." He apologized to Tara. "Maybe see you later."

And he went away to go back to work.

"I thought you were into girls?" Faith giggled as she came closer to Tara.

"Who knows what dying can do to a girl," Tara replied in the same tone while sipping her drink.

"You should have told me then, wouldn't have lost my time trying to find a nice girl for you here!"

"Like you were doing that for me! You were having a lot of fun!"

"How would you know? You were in a deep passionate conversation with the waiter!"

"Jealous?" Tara asked with a smirk.

"Well, I'm just thinking it would be far more logical that you try to hit on those girls and I go for the waiter than the other way around!"

"Hey!" Tara shouted in a shocked voice. "I was only talking to him and at least I was trying to get some info about the murders! I thought that's why we've come here in the first place, not for you coming out of the closet!"

"Oh, what a big mouth you're having!" Faith tittered, obviously in a good mood. "Two drinks and you can't stop talking!"

"Talking about drink, where have you found that one?" the blonde asked, pointing with her chin to the glass Faith had brought back from the dance floor.

"Someone offered it to me. Told you I was good at this!" the Slayer answered, finishing off said-drink.

"We gotta go," Tara said then.

"Already?" Faith protested. "Why?"

"It's about to close," Tara reminded her, gesturing to the waiter and pointing at the empting bar around them.

"It's already that late?" Faith grumbled. "Dunno where the time went. We should have come earlier"

"The waiter told me it closes later tomorrow night. We'll come back then."

Faith nodded.

"There're two drinks left to pay." Tara reminded as they stood to leave in their turn.

"Don't worry, my call"

Faith walked over toward the waiter who came to meet her when he saw her coming his way. Tara watched her friend talking a few minutes with him, bending at his ear over the bar. She saw her giving him small laughs to which he answered; then she witnessed some nods, other words exchanged, a new smile and finally Faith took her leave and came back toward Tara with a satisfied smile plastered on her face. The blonde was waiting for her, arms crossed over her chest and grimaced when her friend announced casually as she reached her:

"It's ok, we can get going"

"And you haven't paid"

"Not a cent," Faith confirmed proudly as the women left the bar.

"So what? A few smiles and that's it?" Tara grumbled.

"Oh, no!" Faith chuckled. "I had to promise you will hang out with him when we come back tomorrow!"

"Faith!" Tara exclaimed, slapping her lightly on her shoulder.

Faith offered a knowing smile as an answer.

"What? He's nice, right?"

Tara shrugged with a mocking annoyed look on her face and quickened her pace, pretending trying to shake her friend off.

"C'mon, tell me what you've learned tonight!" Faith called out after her and she quickened her pace too to catch up with her as they went away toward their motel in the silent night.

"Not sure how it's supposed to help," Faith commented the morning after at breakfast.

Both friends were sitting at a table in the restaurant of their current motel and were enjoying the inclusive breakfast buffet of the place. Faith in particular and with no surprise, gave the word "enjoying" all its meaning, having piled up as many muffins, pancakes and other sweets as their little table could hold. Tara had just gone for a tea and picked at Faith's helping from time to time without the Slayer really noticing.

"It's a start," countered Tara.

Faith wanted to interrupt her, but her mouth was too full for that and she had to let her carry on.

"At least, I tried to find out something, we can't say the same about you!"

"You're wrong," Faith protested when she finally overcame her blueberry muffin. "One of the girl I tried to hit on for you knew one of the victim."

"And confirmed she was at the bar the night she died."

"The waiter told the same thing," added Tara.

"The waiter, who's very much into you," Faith commented wryly.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're the one he offered the drinks to."

"He probably did for your beautiful blue eyes!" Faith chuckled.

It earned her to be sent a piece of muffin in full face, but thanks to her Slayer's ability, Faith swallowed it mid-air, which made her laugh even more, to Tara's great displeasure.

"Let's get serious Faith," the blonde protested and frowned at her friend. "What are we gonna do?"

"What are you suggesting?" Faith replied. "Do I have to remind you who's the brain?"

Tara rolled her eyes, wavered for a few seconds, then made up her mind to accept the role Faith was suggesting she assumed.

"Maybe you could find a vampire or two and threaten them to make them burn in the sunlight if they don't give you some intel about the demons around here?" the blonde offered. "Meanwhile, I'll try to find the local news paper archives and learn some more about the previous victims?"

"Sounds like a plan," the brunette approved. "Just give me time to be done with my brownies and we're going." She added between two bites of said-brownies.

Tara rolled her eyes and sank into her chair.

"Of course Faith," she said in an amused-ironic tone. "Wouldn't want you to be starving"

The Slayer gave her the hint of a smile and swallowed an almost full brownie before standing. She gathered the last remaining brownie and muffin in her left hand and gestured to Tara to follow her with her right one. The blonde did as she was instructed and both friends went out of the restaurant.

"You can finish you know," Tara said, once they were out.

"I'm good Tar," Faith assured. "I'll finish on my way. Do you want some?" she asked, waving the blueberry muffin under the witch's nose.

Tara refused with a slight grimace.

"I'm already full," she explained.

Faith shrugged and gave a good bite into the muffin.

"So, we're meeting at the motel at noon?" the Slayer suggested.

"You wouldn't miss lunchtime!" Tara said sarcastically with her trademark smile.

"Exactly!" Faith answered happily. "Good luck with your research, see you later!" she added while getting away.

"Be careful!" Tara shouted to her back, before leaving in the opposite direction.

Though always very welcome, that advice wasn't really useful to Faith. As she expected, she didn't find any demons bar – always useful to get some information – and the only two vampires she got a hold of did not last long enough to be any kind of a threat. Using her legendary persuasive force, Faith made each of them talk about the events of the 'Holding the night' without great difficulty, but she didn't learn anything worth of interest from these heated exchanges. So, she came back to the motel nearly two hours later, empty-handed and annoyed to say the least.

She felt happy to notice that Tara was already back and found the blonde sitting at the desk under the wide window of their room, reading a pile of photocopies. When she entered, the witch looked up immediately from her documents and checked her out from head to toes.

"I'm five by five," the Slayer said, preceding the blonde's question.

She threw her weapons casually on the bed before flopping down tiredly on the mattress in her turn.

"Have you found something interesting?" asked Tara.

"Not a damn thing," Faith answered in a bored tone.

"Not a single vampire?"

"Oh yes," Faith said, shrugging. "But except mentioning there were weird things happening around this bar, nothing precise. And yet I've tried everything I could."

"I'm sure you have," Tara approved.

"What about you?"

"I got every press article I've found about the case" the blonde responded, gesturing to the pile of documents on the desk. "Was reading them. Some interesting stuff in there."

"Interesting stuff like what exactly?"

The Slayer stood again and came to stand behind Tara to be able to read above her shoulder.

"To begin with, I've learned there was a link between the first and third victims" she said, waving a piece of paper under Faith's nose. "They were sisters."

"Great," the Slayer grumbled, grabbing the sheet Tara was holding her. "Great for the parents."

"They did not live long enough to see that," the blonde answered. "They died in a car accident two years before the eldest was killed. Tabloids made full use of the story of this family."

"I bet they did," the Slayer commented, while quickly scanning the article.

She gave the paper back to Tara after glancing at the two pictures on it.

"So, okay, they were sisters, that's sad and everything. But how is this useful to us?" the brunette asked, a hint of impatience in her voice. "From what I've read, every single customer has been carefully interrogated, without any luck."

"I know, I know," Tara approved. "But the police did not look for what we're looking for."

"Which is what?" Faith grumbled.

"A clue telling us that those murders have something to do with the supernatural!" Tara exclaimed in an obvious tone.

"So? Have you found some?" Faith replied. "Don't see how the fact they were sisters…"

"Yep," Tara confirmed. "The fact they were sisters is just a detail, but look at this."

Saying this, she was holding another press article to Faith, this one showing in the center a large picture of a crowd gathered in front of the 'Holding the night'. The image did not inspire anything particular to Faith at first sight but seeing how Tara was looking at her questioningly, she stared at the picture with attention to try to discover whatever the blonde had found interesting about this photo. But despite her poor efforts to focus, she quickly gave up and gave the picture back to Tara.

"What's interesting about it?" she asked, slightly annoyed. "I'm only seeing people gathered in front of the bar."

"Well, you've got that right," Tara approved ironically as she took back the picture. "But look at the bar's sign," she added, showing said-sign on the image.

Faith did as she was instructed. Next to the sign above the entrance door and showing the name of the bar in neon letters, another sign had been added, but to Faith, it only looked like a heap of intertwined branches.

"Looks like a beaver dam," she commented with a pout. "Am I right?"

Tara could not help but chuckle at this unexpected answer but immediately returned to serious mode to correct the brunette.

"No, sorry," she said gently. "It's not."

"What is it then?" Faith asked impatiently. "Spill the beans; you're burning to tell me!"

"It's the sign of a demonic brotherhood!" Tara answered triumphantly.

"A what?" Faith questioned, but the word 'demonic' had been enough to attract her attention.

"There are dozens of them," Tara explained. "Humans or group of humans making deals with demons in exchange for money or power most often."

She grabbed one of her magic books which was opened but concealed under the photocopied articles and held it to Faith. The Slayer took the book and read the title of the double-page that Tara was presenting her: 'Most common demonic brotherhoods'. Then her gaze scanned the page up to the picture Tara was specifically showing.

"It's not exactly the same symbol as the bar," Faith noticed. "Even if I have to admit they do resemble each other."

"It's a mirrored version then turned a quarter to the right," Tara explained. "It's not exactly subtle."

Faith looked at her a second dumbfounded then her gaze went from the picture of the bar to the book's symbol as she obviously tried to process the operation Tara had just described in her head.

"Let's say you're right," she finally said. "So, that would mean that the managers of the bar made a deal with a demon for whatever reason and feed it with victims?"

"That's a possibility." Tara answered.

Then she gave Faith another article. This one was titled: "The 'holding the night's sign changes!". Under the title, a picture was showing the manager's son -the young waiter who had offered two drinks to Faith the night before- posing proudly under the brand new sign above the entrance door. The Slayer skimmed through the article quickly and only one bit of sentence attracted her attention "…the new sign drawn by the manager's son…"

"The manager's son has…" she began.

"I know, "Tara interrupted. "The manager also mentions that it was his son's idea to change the sign. And there's more."

She took another press article page from her pile for Faith to read. This time, it was a list of wedding and engagement announcements from a paper. One specific announcement had been circled in red.

"Jason J. Petterson Jr and Rebecca Howling are getting married on Saturday," Faith read out loud.

"Our waiter and our first victim," Tara clarified. "And look at the announcement date and at the date of the article about the sign change."

Faith did as instructed. There was one week between the two.

"So, what are you thinking? Some kind of initiatory ritual?" she asked with a disgusted grimace. "The kind where he gives his bride as offering to seal his deal?"

Tara nodded.

"It would be a classic in that sort of things. Never met any enemy of this kind before?"

The Slayer shook her head, then appeared to give some thought to the question.

"Well, I didn't," she confirmed just after. "But I think B already met that sort of nut-jobs."

"Not surprising," Tara resumed. "Unfortunately, it's rather common."

"But what's the point for the demon?" Faith asked with an annoyed pout. "It doesn't make any sense, it could go and eat those girls all alone."

"Not always," Tara countered, shaking her head. "Some demons don't have a direct access to our world, and these deals allow them either to enter, or to gain victims."

Faith flopped onto the mattress again and smiled.

"What's funny?" Tara asked, surprised.

"You," Faith answered immediately. "All this stuff you know. You really hanged out too much with the scoobies y'know !"

Tara discreetly smiled to that comment but did not answer.

"So, what are we doing?" Faith resumed, seeing her friend remained silent. "Going to the bar tonight, grabbing our new friend the waiter and nicely convincing him to tell us where he's hiding his demon?"

Tara chuckled at the word 'nicely' and nodded.

"It's a way to proceed," she approved.

"Seeing another?" Faith asked.

Tara appeared to waver a short moment before briefly nodding. She turned round from Faith again to gather three new articles she then lined up in front of her friend. Each of them displayed a picture of a smiling young woman under grim titles.

"Look," Tara said.

"What?" grumbled Faith annoyingly, obviously not decided to look for whatever Tara was trying to show her.

"Here are our three victims," Tara explained gently. "Don't you notice anything?"

As Faith pouted, the blonde resumed quickly:

"They're all blonde"

"And what about that?"

"And I'm blonde too."

"And wh…"

"And you said the waiter looked interested in me," Tara interrupted. "We could use th.."

"Using you as a bait?" Faith cut her short, at last seeing where Tara was going with that. "Not a question. Remember when we said you wouldn't serve as bait again?"

"Well, we said that quite some times…" Tara started.

"No way," Faith replied. "We know it's him, I'm gonna make him squeal without you taking any risk!"

"But I…"

"No buts. It's no."

"And as a plan B?"

"We'll look for a plan B if plan A fails. End of story."

"Ok," admitted the blonde, sighing. "As you want."