A/N Thanks for all the great reviews and sorry for taking so long in updating. And don't worry Faith-rulz this story will have a happy ending. And to ArticWolf2 I don't write slash fanfics...sorry.
Chapter 11
Tears Of The Prophet
BGM Club
Night
"Man I can't remember the last time we had fun like this!" King yelled over to Faith as they danced together on the floor. They had been running themselves ragged with cases for the last couple of weeks and had decided to go out to have some fun. "I just wish my girl would come over and dance with me though." he said glancing back at Tara, who was at a table not to far away talking to Wesley.
"Look, King there's something you need to know about her!" Faith yelled back as she gave him a sad look. Every since they had come back from the past, her senses were on high alert. And the one thing she learned was to read certain things about people. And what she picked up about Tara was only what she could interpret as lust. She only picked that feeling up however when Tara was around her.
"Yeah, what the...hell is that guy doing over there?" he asked as he looked over her shoulder. Following his gaze she saw an energetically dancing couple. Although the girl's style was more contemporary, the guy was dancing way too fast for the music, with an unmistakable 70's disco influence. As her senses reached out she could already tell that the guy was a vampire, but there was something off about the blonde. Even though she couldn't see her face, there was something still familiar about her.
"What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?" King asked, snapping her out of her musings.
"Probably so, but he ain't exactly the type of guy that thrives on sunshine." she replied as the couple got close again, and the girl extended her arm, pointing at the door. The guy took the hint, and led her out with his arm around her. Faith watched them go, not suspicious of his intentions, because she already knew what he was going to do.
Nodding her head to King, she quickly put down her drink and started out after them. As she strode out and looked around, King came out right behind her followed closely by the others.
"Where'd she go?" Faith said looking around.
"Where'd who go? What's going on?" Wesley asked as Faith took a few steps down the alley to the left to check things out. The others looking around also.
"I saw a vamp taking a girl out here."
"I bet it's nothing. They're probably just making out." Wesley said as they all heard a girl call out in a complaining tone. Seconds later they also heard a loud noise, as though something was just broken. By habit King pulled a stake out of his jacket as Faith took it from him and headed in the direction of the noise.
'That's not what making out sounds like, unless I'm doing it wrong.' Wes thought to himself as he followed the others down the dark alley.
As they rounded a corner, they saw the outlines of the couple from the dance floor. The boy had the girl up against a section of temporary chain link fencing that was leaning against the building.
"Stop struggling. This won't hurt...much." the boy said as he vamped out and moved in to bite the girl.
Surprisingly she grabbed him by the neck, pushed him away a bit and elbow jabbed him in the face. He staggered back and regained his balance as she jumped onto a crate, did a jumping roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him to the pavement. As Faith and the others arrived, the girl noticed her and approached, smiling.
"Hey Faith." Chrystal said with a huge smile. "Long time no see."
Faith was taken aback and just as she was about to answer, the vampire came up behind Chrystal and grabbed her by the shoulders. Going back into fight mode, she snapped her head back to head butt him in the face and grabbed onto his arm. Twisting the vampire, she shoved him into the section of chain link fence.
Going on the defense she knee'd him in the gut from behind. As the vamp whirled around and tried to backhand punch her, she easily ducked it, punched him in the gut and then again in the face. Paralyzed in place, everyone just watched her fight, even King, who followed her moves with jerks of his head. Doing a high side kick to the vampire's jaw, she grabbed onto his shirt and neck and threw him to the ground. While the vamp did a no-hand front roll to control his fall, Chrystal reached over to Faith for the stake and jerked it from her hand.
"Thanks." she said as behind her the vampire used the momentum of his roll to get back to his feet and run at her, throwing a punch as he came. Seeing it coming she ducked it, hooked her hand on his shoulder, turned him around and pushed him back into the fence. Raising the stake, she jammed it cleanly into his chest and jerked it back out, making the vampire instantly crumble into ashes. Faith could only stare in confused amazement as Chrystal faced her and handed her back the stake.
"Hey Faith, how you been?" Chrystal asked with a wide smile. She never saw the punch coming. Instantly knocking her out, Faith picked her up and the gang went off into the night.
Her head throbbing after coming back into the realm of conciousness, Chrystal opened up her eyes and found Faith staring down at her. And looking around she saw that she was in Faith's bed.
"Who or what the fuck are you?" Faith asked, on the verge of turning into her vampiric visage. Her inner demon had to calm down at looking at something that pretended to be her friend. Even though she had to admit that she smelled just like her.
"Come on, Faith...it's me Chrys."
"A likely story." Wesley commented from behind Faith.
"And how would you know, Wes?" Chrys asked as she sat up in bed.
"How do you know..."
"Your name?" Chrystal finished for him. "I know all of you, because the powers that be showed me all you guys."
"At least part of her story is true." King said walking into the room, shaking dirt off of his boots. "I just went to where I buried her and her body ain't there."
"So what, you tellin' me that you went to heaven or something?"
"No." Chrys replied as she met Faith's gaze. "But I almost went to the bad place."
Flashback
Some Month's Before
Chrystal immediately felt that something was wrong as the drugs she had just taken surged throughout her body. She had taken a huge dose before, but it had'nt felt anything like this. If Faith knew that she had done this she would be so mad. And now here she was caring what someone else thought of her. The slightly older girl seemed to genuinely care about her, so she decided to give her a shot. But she had to shoot up just one more time and then she'd stop.
Closing her eyes to brace the pain, she slumped over and hit her head on the side of the sink. With a gasp, a few moments later, she opened her eyes and saw Faith and King in the bathroom with her.
"Damn." King said aloud as he croched down beside something.
"I'm fine...you guys. I'll be okay. I'm just..." she stopped talking as she turned to see her body lying a few feet away from where she was. "Dead?"
"Bury her someplace nice." Faith said sadly as she hurriedly walked out of the room. "I'll be right back."
"Faith! Faith! I'm right here." Chrys yelled out.
"Damnit." King suddenly exclaimed, snapping her out of her musings."Why the hell did you have to do this kid?" he asked, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer. "Don't you know that Faith needed you even more then you needed us?"
"King...King, I'm right here." she replied, tears stinging her eyes as a wind started to blast through the room affecting only her. Backing into a corner she slowly slid down to the floor and watched as a dark shadow seeped out of the wall opposite her. The air rippled like a pond and a big armored demon with a broken off horn materialized from it.
"Hey. How's it going?" it asked with a wave as she slowly stood up and took a few steps closer, showing no fear .
"You're - you're - death? You've come to take me?" she asked as the demon burst into an echoing laughter.
"Are you kidding?" he asked offering her his hand. "I'm Skip." he said as she just looked at him. "You're Chrystal Jones, right?"
"Yeah, but who are you? What the hell is going on?!"
"What's going on little girl is a choice. You can either come with me or stay here and suffer your fate."
Weighing her options and giving him a look up and down, she made her choice.
"I'll take my chances."
"Whatever you say kid." Skip replied with a snap of his fingers. Suddenly the mysterious wind kicked back up and a red portal opened up behind her, with the echoing screams of those already damned. "Well good luck in hell kid." Skip said turning to leave.
"Wait...hell?"
"Yeah..." he said turning back to her. "Don't you know that's where all whores go?"
Shaking with anger and fear, Chrystal took one of Skip's outstrecthed hands and faded into nothingness.
End Flashback
"When Skip took me out of the bathroom, I ended up alone in some kinda desert." she went on. "I walked in it for...God knows how long until I came to a small pond. When I looked into it, I saw all of you guys."
"And that's how you know Wes and Tar'?" Faith replied thinking.
"But there's still something I don't understand." King said, putting down his dirty shovel. "How long have you been back and how did you learn how to fight like that? The last time I saw you, you couldn't go a round with a fruit fly."
"I've been back for almost a week and believe it or not but you and Faith taught me." she said as all of them gave her a look. "When I was in that desert it was like time didn't mean anything. So when I looked into that pool and saw you guys fighting, I started to copy your moves and when I got them right I was sent back here to Boston."
"And you really expect us to believe all of that, rubbish?" Wesley asked, giving her a stern look. "I can't believe..."
"She...she's telling the truth." Tara spoke for the first time, cutting him off. " I...I read her aura and she's telling the truth...a...about all of it."
"So what are you here for?"
"To be your new vi..." before Chrys could finish her sentence, she started to clutch the side of her head in pain.
"What the hell?!"
"It's alright." Faith said grabbing King's arm to calm him down. "She's having a vision."
"There's a girl in an alley on Melrose." Chrystal said as she snapped her eyes open, sickly sweat dropping off of her forehead. "She's being attacked by a vampire."
"Alright, I'm going."
"Faith what if this is a trap?" Wesley asked as he ran forward and grabbed her arm. "This girl comes in here with a fantastic story and you believe her?"
"No but if what she's saying is true, then I'll believe her." she said as she put a stake in his hand. "And as for this being a trap, that's why you're coming with me."
In a dark alley a vampire pinned a girl up against a wall and bent down close to her neck.
"No please." the girl screamed out making the demon smile at her.
"Evening." Faith spoke loudly as she walked down the opposite end of the alley, her hands held tightly in her duster pockets.
"Get lost!" the demon growled as he turned back to his meal.
"Not until I see what you guys are doing, it looks wicked fun."
"What?"
"Help me!" the girl yelled out again.
"I don't think you heard me." the vampire said as he roughly threw the girl to the ground. "Get out of here."
"Can't do it."
"Then you just made the biggest mistake of your life—" not wasting anymore time Faith punched the vampire in the face, then knocked him into a wooden
porch located at the side of the alley, causing the rails to splinter. As the demon came back for more Faith pushed him back into the splinters turning him into ash, even as the girl got up and ran away.
"Can't even get a thank you anymore." Faith whispered to herself, as she turned around and looked in the darkness. "Are you satisfied now?"
"Hardly." Wes said as he walked up to her. "There are probably girls being attacked in dark alleys all over this city."
"But why this specific one at the same time Chrys told us it would be? And what's your problem anyway?" she asked. "She proved who she is."
"Yeah." he whispered.
"What was that?" Faith asked as she folded her arms over her chest. "You got somethin' to say then say it out loud."
"I think you're doing a poor job as a leader." Wes started, suddenly feeling bold. "The decisions you've made thus far could've gotten us all killed. I think that we need someone more capable of leading the team." as he finished talking, Faith did something he didn't expect. She laughed.
"Is that so, Wes?" she asked as she finished chuckling. "Now the truth's finally out. You've been wanting my job since the beginning haven't you?"
"I think that either myself or King could do a better job."
"Well guess what, I never asked for the job in the first place. It was just thrown on me."
"Are you saying that you're going to relinquish leadership to me?" Wesley asked, a little more excited then he should have been.
"No, what I'm saying is that you're fired." she said walking past him and out of the alley, the last of what she had to say echoing behind her. "Get your crap together that's at my house by tomorrow night and get the hell out of town."
To shocked to move, Wesley didn't notice the figure as it sneeked up behind him. Raising up her arm the figure knocked Wes upside the head instantly knocking him unconcious. Picking him up in a firemen's carry she took off with him into the darkness.
Faith's Apartment
An Hour Later
"I still can't believe you're back." Faith was saying as the group all sat together eating pizza and drank some soda.
"Yeah, just as long as you kicked the habit." King said, pointingly looking at her. He was so dissappointed with how she had ended her life the first time, he was a bit skeptical this time around.
"Believe me after the stuff I saw, you can consider my habit kicked." Chrys replied as she took a bite of her pizza, before a sad look appeared on her face. Seeing it, Faith decided to see what was wrong.
"You said the time there was different right?" Faith asked as she nodded her head. "Well, how much time passed and what exactly did you see?"
"Almost a year passed and as far as what I saw...I saw you guys' lives." she said stopping everyone cold.
"What did you say?" King asked as he got over his initial shock.
"I...I didn't see everything." she quickly assured. "Just whatever the Powers saw as important." like the abuse that was handed to Tara and Faith during their lives and the murder of King's parents and the trials he had to go through in life. And not to mention Wesley's... not completing her thought, she looked around the room and noticed the older man wasn't in the room with them. "Hey, where's Wes?"
"You don't have to worry about him coming around again." Faith replied as she took a sip of her pigs blood and took a bite out of her pizza. "Because I fired his ass."
"Faith do you know what you've done!" Chrystal all but shouted as she stood to her feet.
"Yeah, I got rid of a jackass...now what's your problem? Wes didn't even want you here."
"It's not like I gave him much reason to believe in me. I wanted to earn his trust."
"What crawled up your ass?" Faith asked, as she stood to her feet aswell.
"Probably the same thing that crawled up yours. Don't you understand how important Wesley is to our mission? How all of us are important. Now come on, we'll find him and you're gonna apologize."
"You're trippin' yo. I ain't telling, Wesley nothing."
"Yeah you are, now come on!" Chrystal yelled out as she grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. The others walking behind her.
"Damn and I thought I was the boss." Faith whispered as she got up and ran out after them.
Warehouse District
Sametime
Wesley sat gagged and bound to a chair in the middle of a mint warehouse, looking like he had gone a round with Mike Tyson. Coming into full conciousness the vampiress Michelle slowly paced in front of him, then suddenly jumped onto his lap making him let out a muffled scream. Licking two fingers she rubbed the swelling under Wesley's right eye.
"Stay with me baby. Your pain is only gonna last a little bit longer." she said with a devilish smile. As Wesley calmed down a bit, she removed his gag.
"It does...doesn't matter if you kill me or not." Wesley said tiredly as he looked up into her evil brown eyes. "My friends will come for me."
"Friends? Friends you say? Are these the same friends that fired your sorry ass about an hour ago?" she asked at his shocked look. "Now listen gringo, you killed part of my gang, but instead of doing the normal thing, I'll give you a choice. Either I can keep torchering you until you die or you can become like me." she said morphing into her vampiric visage.
Spitting on the floor to one side of her, Wesley opened his eyes up wide, before speaking to her in her native tongue. "Anda la puta que te pari."
Interrupting him, she stuffed the gag back into his mouth and changed back into her human face.
"Death it is then."
"And you just left him here?" Chrystal asked as she and the gang walked down the dark alley that Faith and Wesley had their argument.
"Hey, he's a grown man so he can handle himself."
"I...I don't think so." Tara spoke as she pointed to a nearby wall. Following her line of vision the saw a fresh splash of blood on the wall and the ground, along with Wesley's glasses.
"Damn...you...you don't think he's dead do you?" King asked as he picked up the blood stained glasses.
"No..." Chrystal replied as she unsteadily touched the wall. "No, we gotta find Wesley fast."
"What's going on?" King asked.
"Michelle." Faith growled as she took a whiff of the air and smelled the scent of her old rival.
Michelle sat in the open window of the warehouse looking at the bloodstained piece of glass in her hands. With a sigh she let it drop and listened to it shatter on the ground below. Sighing again she jumped off the window sill and walked over to Wesley, who was still tied to the chair, with bloodstains covering his shirt and pants.
"You know I thought that this would be a whole lot more exciting." she said as she rubbed her hands together. "Man you're even more boring when you get your ass kicked."
"Go...go to hell." Wesley murmured as blood and saliva bubbled out of his mouth.
"You first, baby." she said pulling out a wickedly curved knife. Suddenly the door to the warehouse burst from its hinges and Faith and the others slowly walked in. With a smile she took the knife and held it against Wesley's throat.
"Let him go, Michelle." Faith growled, as she looked at Wesley's torn body. 'What have I done?'
"Or what?" Michelle asked, nonchalantly. "You gonna kick me off the team?"
"This is between me and you."
"You're right." she replied as she let Wesley go. "But I think your friends need to meet mine."
With that said, she snapped her fingers and a dozen cloaked demons with scythe's materialized into the room. Seeing that the gang were well armed and could handle themselves, Faith tackled Michelle and they both burst through the window, falling two stories to land on a dumpster lid. As they rolled off of it Michelle started to throw Faith around. As she kept hitting and kicking her, Faith blocked as halfway through this it started to first rain then pour.
"I'll clear you a line, Chrystal." King said as he ducked a scythe swing and chopped off the head of the nearest demon, with his axe. "You get, Wesley."
Attacking a couple of demons herself, Chrystal weaved through the demonic forces until she got to Wesley. Making sure nothing was behind her, she crouched down before him and started to cut through his restraints.
"I'm sorry." came his half concious voice, as he struggled to look up at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't trust you."
"Ssshhh... don't talk. I got you now."
As she helped him to his feet, she looked up to see a scythe blade headed towards her head. Knowing it was to late to dodge, she closed her eyes and awaited her devastation. One that never came. Opening her eyes, she saw Tara using her magic to keep the demon in place. With one smooth stroke King lobbed off it's head, turning it to dust and ending the fight with the Reapers.
"Alright let's get Faith and get the hell..." before he could finish his sentence they all heard maniacal laughter. Looking about the room, a cloud of darkness swarm through the room, landing in front of them. As it fully stood up they saw that it was a seven foot tall cloaked demon, with a large sickle. "out of here."
The two vampiresses slammed each other around and Faith managed to kick the Jackal knife away from Michelle, before tossing her onto the dumpster. Using her demonic strength she took a hold of one of Michelle's wrists and tossed her away again. Getting back to her feet she tried to hit Faith, but she avoided it, so she instead sweeped the feet out from under her.
"I want that knife back, chica." Michelle growled out as she spat rain water out of her mouth.
"Then come and get it." Faith taunted back.
Taking the challenge Michelle swung at her, but she kept ducking them, so instead she kicked her in the gut. Faith came back and hit her, but Michelle hit back with a devastating left hook, before tossing Faith into a wall. She then jumped to kick her again as she got up, but she intercepted her kick and pulled her down to the ground. Straddling her, Faith took out a stake and hovered it over her chest, the both of them struggling for control of it.
"It's finally time to end this little game of ours." Faith said as her ears picked up the not so distant sound of something laughing.
"You gonna waste your time with me, or are you gonna save your friends?" Michelle asked, with a smirk.
Knowing that she didn't have enough time to finish the job, Faith stood to her feet and jumped on the dumpster. Turning she saw that Michelle was already long gone. With an inner growl she scaled the side of the building and as she looked into the room from the window she saw a towering demon standing over her friends ready to swing it's weapon. What happened next was the scariest and fastest thing Faith had ever done.
All that she could remember at the time was the Jackal knife pulsating with a soft glow as it let loose a surge of power throughout her body. The next thing that she remembered happening was she flung herself into the window at super speed, making everything around her seem as though it were moving at a snails pace. Dropping down to the floor, she leg sweeped the demon and as it was falling back, she stabbed it through the chest with the knife, making the demon cry out in pain before crumbling into dust.
"Whoa." Faith whispered to herself as she looked down at the knife, the others looking at her in awe.
Faith's Apartment
Later That Night
"Are you comfortable?" Faith asked as she placed a pillow under Wesley's head and leg. After taking him to the hospital to get checked up, she brought him back to her place since it was closet, so he could relax and get some sleep.
"Yes...thank you." he replied with a grimace.
"Listen, Wes we need to talk." Faith started as she sat down on her coffee table. "I'll listen to you guys' suggestions, but I need you to understand how hard it is for me being the boss, but that's what I am. The boss. I know some of my decisions seem crazy, but I'm doing the best I can with what I got."
"I...I understand that now."
"Good, because that's as close as you're gonna get with getting an apology out of me." she replied, with a smile as she stood up and started to walk away.
"Faith."
"Yeah?" she asked, turning back to him. Reaching up, he took her new knife out of her side sheathe and put it down on the table. "When I wake up, I want to examine that."
Tara's Room
"I...I...hope you don't mind us sharing a room?" Tara said as she handed the slightly younger girl some blankets.
"Believe me, I've had worse." she replied as she put the blankets down on her cot. Looking around the room she saw the it was devoid of true personal objects except a few wiccan artifacts and books and a photo of the Faith in the King Investigations team. "And thanks for having my back at the warehouse."
"N-no problem." Tara replied meekly.
"Tara can I ask you a personal question?" Chrystal asked, as the wiccan nodded. "When are you going to tell King that you're a lesbian?"
"W-what?"
"I'm not trying to offend you." she continued hurriedly. "It's just that, I've been watching you guys for a long time and King is in love with you. And I do mean head over hills in love. I think the sooner you tell him, the better it'll be on his heart."
"I...I'll think about it." Tara said as she turned off the light and layed down on her bed. "Can I ask you something now?"
"You know you can ask me anything."
"W-will Faith ever...love me...the way that I love her?"
Giving her a sad look, Chrystal lowered her head and said the only thing that she could at the moment.
"Good night, Tara."
Vergil's Apartment
Sametime
"So how was your little adventure, without me?" Vergil asked as Michelle entered the living room, dripping wet from the rain water.
"Not as good, as I thought it would." she replied as she threw her jacket on the floor.
"The Slayer interfered didn't she?" he asked. Taking her growl as a yes, he continued. "Don't worry soon the Slayer will see what a real vampire is. Now come on let's go to bed."
"But, I'm all dirty."
"Not as dirty as you're about to be." he said taking her hand.
