Bad Influence

Chapter Seven: Promising Home

Summary: Faith ran off, Aurora and Hope have returned to home and a servant receives a reward.

~*~

Buffy sighed. They had planned to look for Aurora and Hope in just a couple of hours, after they created a plan that would have been basically full proof. But for just a second they took a break, Faith said she was going to go grab a drink, something to unwind herself, dull the emotions, and she didn't come back. Annie had stated the fact that she saw Faith leave and exit into woods at full pursuit of Aurora and her baby.

With an Axe over her shoulder.

It was Faith, irrational as ever, being herself. How similar she and Aurora were in that department. And yet Faith wouldn't, possibly couldn't, admit she was in love. Blowing it off as though they were like sisters, pointing out the fact that she would and has done the same for Dawn. It was different with Dawn though, Dawn is family, and Aurora and Hope are basically strangers.

Xander coughed and suddenly Buffy turned around away from the window that faced the woods and into the eyes of Willow, Giles and Xander. They were all at a loss, all stressing over the same thing and all had the same look in their eyes. If Buffy were to look into a mirror herself she'd probably see the same look in her own eye, that look that was lost and on the verge of giving up.

"What do we do Buffy?" She hated this, the fact that she still was in charge at least she thought she did until Faith had taken control a year back over the potentials. Losing control of a situation you thought you hated wasn't fun. Especially when you realised you liked it, not because of power, but because if you died at least you knew it was under your own orders. Of course this didn't apply to when others died, there was always the guilt that followed, even if it were for the greater good.

No she wouldn't dwell on Angel. That was her mistake and he's alive now, alive and not even missing her.

Was he really in love with Cordelia? God she hoped not. And was Spike really alive?

She had to stop thinking about the past, the Scoobies all wanted to know for the future, what her plans were. What could she tell them? There was no point planning now, Faith had taken matters into her own hands.

"I think," She took a breath, realising something, "I don't know, it's not our fight, if Faith needed us she would have stayed and helped." Swallowing down the feeling her stomach had that began to rise like bile she looked directly into the eyes of Willow, "I doubt she's still alive anyway." The woods carried secrets and darkness and at night it was one of the dangerous places to be, not including active hellmouths.

"Buffy-"

"Don't, lets… if Faith doesn't return by tomorrow we'll go." She sighed, "We have the girls here to think about though, each one has the potential to save thousands of lives, we can't take them somewhere we ourselves aren't prepared to go into, its stupid."

Grimly the others agreed, it was suicidal, it was stupid, but hadn't they done the same thing for themselves? Yes, they defeated the odds for those they loved, but those doomed that they barely knew they didn't risk the world for. Even Buffy didn't let Angel live for the world to end.

"So what do we do?"

"We wait, if Faith returns asking for help, we will, if she doesn't ask we won't, and if she doesn't return we'll send a rescue team, we can't lose someone like her, the girls need her as much as they need us." Slowly Willow, Xander and even Giles made a movement or a noise that agreed with Buffy.

Then individually they all left, there was nothing more to talk about, nothing more to do. Though they weren't happy with their choice, there weren't many options, and this one at least kept more people alive then dead. And in the end isn't that what's important? That they keep more people alive from the darkness so that other people can rest easy?

So that they can rest easy?

-

Don't scream.

That's what the person said as they wrapped a hand around her mouth. The voice was familiar, but she didn't know where from. She was so tired. A smell over powered her and she felt weightless suddenly, then she felt something leave her arms. "Hope." She murmured before darkness reached around her eyes covering her. "Don't-" She wanted to scream but darkness was everywhere.

When she awoke, she awoke in a room on a bed. Did Faith find her? She stood up suddenly and the world spun, but it wasn't important, nothing was important except Hope. She was there though, in a crib.

Shakily Aurora walked over to her, the light sounds of heavy breathing from sleep came to her ears and visibly Aurora relaxed. Her baby was safe, now she was allowed to find out her surroundings. As her eyes darted around the room, her body once again became tense.

The bed that she had thought was Faith's wasn't because the smell was not familiar. Faith didn't have a window that looked out onto a backyard. Nor did she have a bookcase covered in books for 'the common household wife'. She was back home. Only her heart wasn't here.

It takes a lot for a mother to forget her own child. But for a moment Aurora did and she screamed as all the memories of this house came rushing back to her. The smell of blood, the black smoke, the broken bones, her husband, her cries, Hope's cries, the raping, the torture, the others.

Whimpering she backed herself into a corner before she heard Hope begin crying. Scared and worried she quickly shuffled to Hope, her eyes darting everywhere as picked her up and went back into the corner, her back to the wall, not daring to let her eyes shift from the door. She knew that Hope was picking up on her own whimpers but she couldn't focus, her thoughts were clouded.

Everything was so clouded.

Everything but the past, the past that was flashing through her eyes, making her remember, forcing her to remember.

"'Ello Darlin', so nice to see my wife cooking my dinner." He whispered into the back of her head, playing with the long strands of her hair as he did before he slowly kissed down her neck, onto her collarbone. Aurora swallowed the fear, and tried to keep a firm stance, she was his wife not his servant. She had a right to say no to him didn't she?

"I-I don't want to burn dinner, I have to keep stirring." Some part of her scoffed as she took the cowards way out of saying no. But she was scared, she didn't want to make him angry, didn't want him to throw the dishes at and around her. He loved her, he wanted a family just like her, and he had known her parents.

"Just a quickie." He told her, there was no asking with him, it was always telling. He lifted up her dress and Aurora began to shake, she didn't like sex, there were only a few times she did and it was before they were officially married, before she saw this side of him, before she understood physical pain.

"No… please." Her voice was pleading, it was begging, and he knew it. One hand grasped on her waist and the other one pulling down at the only material protecting her from him, she began crying. "Please, don't do this, please." Her sobs echoed around the room as he manoeuvred and posed her body like she was just a doll, though frozen in fear the only parts of her that moved from the position he had placed her in was her chest sobbing and her lips begging.

"Oh yeah baby, just keep on begging, beg like it's your life." He told her as she screamed. Aurora use to wonder why her neighbours didn't hear, why they didn't call the cops. But she knew better now, the neighbourhood were all in the same thing; they were all part of the cult, the religion. They laughed at her screams.

There had been no one then to save, no one knew of his behaviour but the group then, but now- now there was hope, now there was Faith.

Aurora shivered. A bad feeling crossed her, a bad thought, what if she had hurt Faith too badly in trying to get away, to save the others. She didn't know that He had such methods of finding her, was it just a ploy for her to go to Faith? Did he want her to go to that area for some reason? Or was he just biding his time?

If only she hadn't been so reckless. Maybe then Faith would have found her in time.

-

Faith hadn't stopped looking for any sign of Aurora or Hope yet. How could she? Some part of her knew they were alive, the other parts she blocked out, kept them quiet by focusing hard on looking for signs of Aurora and the baby. The whispers didn't matter at the moment, not in this situation, not until she could hold Hope in her arms and whisper to Aurora that she could keep them safe from her husband.

They didn't matter until Aurora and Hope were curled up in her arms, and Aurora was singing again. The Slayer bet she never sung for her husband.

Faith stopped. What if her husband had found her before she did? What if he had whispered something into her ear that made her scared, through a spell, or a demon, or something? Maybe that's why Aurora left in such a way.

No, she couldn't ponder on the "what ifs" they only lead to trouble. Trouble and major pain that she would not deal with yet. Like with most of her feelings, she would lock it into a tight little box until it broke free or the moment was right. If she was lucky it might just go away forever. Implode on its self and never exist again.

Yeah right.

Faith had to be strong. It wasn't like her to let these emotions get to her, she spent years of her time blocking them out and today was no exception. It was just like the time with Angelus, she had to focus on the fact that Angel was there inside him somewhere.

She would save Aurora and her baby, she would kill that sonovabitch, and she would protect Aurora and Hope for the rest of their lives if it killed her. But why would she do it? They weren't family, hell she only new Aurora for half a year back pre-rogue. But somehow both of them had a hold on her.

And man did she miss those cookies, the cookies and the kiss. That sweet kiss that had made her just forget everything and everyone, even her mum. It took a lot to forget her mum; even dancing didn't make her forget, at least not completely. Faith sighed, this was crazy, she needed to concentrate around her, pick up a smell, a piece of torn material, foot prints, anything that could lead her to where Aurora might be.

As she continued to move around the thickets and the trees, she came across a blanket, one Aurora had probably quickly wrapped around Hope. Faith looked around, there was no way that Aurora would have dropped this and continued unless something happened. Aurora was careful.

A howl echoed the area and looking up Faith saw the cruelly beautiful light of the full moon. She didn't want to deal with a Werewolf at this moment in time, and she was pretty sure she knew where Aurora was now. She wished she didn't have to go back, but maybe she would have to re-visit Boston again.

She hadn't been back there in a while and there were a lot of places that damned man- no he wasn't even worthy of been called a man, he was a monster like any other she had slayed- could have hidden. Turning around and away from her path, she made her way back to the castle, holding back her emotions and placing them in an already filled up bottle. Sooner or later the bottle would smash, Faith just hoped the she was around Aurora's husband when it did.

She hoped the bottle would smash so badly that she wouldn't be merciful with his killing that she could drag it out slowly and as painfully as he deserved.

Still clutching the baby blanket, she headed inside the castle. Her breathes ragged from over using her body and her anger; she stomped inside, bringing in leaves, twigs and lots of mud. No one told her off like they normally would have, but this wasn't under normal circumstances.

No one spoke to her, even Buffy just watched her head to her room it was obvious that she didn't find Aurora or Hope. It was all too obvious and wrong.

-

"Sir?" The red goat-like eye focused on the servant, Jeremy. "The girl is awake, but the baby's asleep." He, the servant, had watched the baby fall asleep again from the mother's words, he did as his master asked, he had waited for the girl to loose all of her strength and will before he came to his master.

She broke so easily and all she saw was the inside of a room. What a weak girl, so undeserving of his master. "You have done well my servant." Jeremy looked up at his master, biting the inside of his mouth to stop from smiling in please at his Master's words.

"It's all for you Sir." He whispered, bowing his head so he could smile before he bit down in his mouth again. Holding his expression, he looked up at his master, his teeth clenched tightly around the skin inside his mouth before his master spoke again.

"I've seen you looking at her." The servant no longer needed to bite his tongue, as the cold ice-like feeling spread down his spine and through is stomach, chilling him to the bone, scared of what his master would say. "I know what you want." The master's voice was as cold as the feeling that had spread throughout the servant's body. "I think my Aurora needs to be put in her place don't you think?" He asked the servant and the servant almost collapsed in relief.

He was getting his reward at last.

The Master waved him off. Jeremy didn't need to be told twice, after bowing to his master, he nearly ran off through the tunnels to Aurora's little room. Guards stood by to make sure that no one came or left without permission of the Master. But with one small sentence, they went inside the room and pulled out the barely struggling Aurora before placing her in the room opposite.

Jeremy entered the room, but not before he glanced back at the guards to see them standing stiffly by the baby's door as if they never moved. The guards were puppets, with no soul, no sense of humanity in them, they were just a meat bag with the strength of an ogre and the hearing of a vampire.

Closing and locking the thick, heavy door behind him with a murmur of latin, he faced the cowering Aurora who was in the corner of the cold, hard, barely lit room. Arms tightly around her and knees pressed as close to her body as she could get to give her a small, fragile look.

"You probably don't remember me Aurora." Jeremy told her as he stepped forward, his tongue dancing out of his mouth and around his lips in a perverse suggestion that froze Aurora. She began shaking her head, what was happening couldn't be right, she had left this type of world, she had escaped it.

"Nonononononono." Her single syllabled, two-lettered words merged into one because of the fast, furious, terrified pace she used them at. Shaking her head in an ironic timing with each syllable. "Don't." The last sobbed and echoed around the room like a solid, rubber, bouncy ball.

"I came here a year ago, I liked you, you and your voice, could you sing for me?" He crouched down by her, knowing that the real fight had left her body long ago. "Could you beg for me?" Her lips muttering a pray to a goddess, or someone she wanted to save her, Jeremy didn't know, didn't care. He just wanted Aurora for a small fraction of time, body and soul, then he would give the broken doll back to his master, their master.

"Please…" Her sobs were louder then her words as her body barely struggled, she was tired, so tired, she was as strong as a newborn kitten, and as scared as one. "I-I'll do any-anything," She hiccuped and sobbed. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her nose was running, but through all that, she still looked like the beautiful angel Jeremy had fallen in love with.

If he could ever feel or know was love was that is to say.