Chapter 12: Absolution

ibThree Days Earlier/b

Faith was only half conscious as her limp form was dragged roughly out of the locked 'cell', a closed off and unlit concrete room where she'd been kept for at least the past twelve hours or so following the short fight in the alleyway outside the club that she and Diana had gone to looking for vampires to hunt, only to run afoul of Mr. Trick, Ezekiel and Avery.

Diana had been restrained by Mr. Trick with little effort as Ezekiel and Avery had proceeded to beat her senseless before both she and her watcher had been dragged off to 'meet' their lord Kakistos.

The young slayer let out a groan of pain as she was forced to her knees in front of the ancient vampire, and her hair fell down in front of her face as her head hung in front of her, and the only reason she didn't fall to the ground was that Avery and the Russian vampire Conrad kept her upright with their steel grips on her shoulders to hold her down and in place.

"You've been causing me quite a bit of undue problems these past weeks, Ms Lehane." She hears Kakistos say as he moves close to tower above her, and shakily she raises her head upward to stare at him through the veil of dark hair obscuring her face.

"It w-was my p-p-pleasure." Faith croaks out, flashing the vampire master above her a bloodstained and toothy grin of defiance and then her head snaps to the side and blood sprays from her mouth as Kakistos viciously backhands her with his cloven fist. She collapses sideways to the ground, her vision swimming with pain before she's hauled back up into a kneeling position by Avery and Conrad. She winces in pain as Kakistos grabs her by the chin and forces her to look up at him again.

"I am going to take great pleasure in smothering out that fire of yours." He snarls at her before shoveing her chin away and her head falls again as the vampire master backs off a bit. "Bring the watcher!"

Faith lets out an agonized scream a moment later as Diana is dragged into her line of sight by Edwin and Sergei, the watcher's figure a bloody mess, and looking even worse off than Faith herself.

"d-d-Diana!" She manages to choke out, blood dribbling out of her mouth as she struggles in vain against the grips of the two holding her, but with her injuries there is little she can do to get herself free. As she watches in horror, Kakistos moves up to where Diana is being held and after a quick look and sick grin to Faith, the vampire turns and plunges his fangs into Diana's neck before ripping her throat apart with his teeth.

"Noooooooooooo!" Faith screams and begins to thrash wildly against he two vampires holding her down, with all the fight left in her.

"Let her up." Kakistos orders as he turns back to face Faith, Diana's blood dribbling from his fangs.

Faith rises shakily as she's suddenly released and begins to hobble over to where Kakistos stands, hoping that she can at least take him down before she's killed.

*Flash*

She's in the midst of a fight with several of Kakistos' minions, including Mr. Trick as Kakistos watches in amusement.

*Flash*

She collapses to her knees as mind numbing pain assaults her mind, almost causing her to black out.

*Flash*

Confusion and pain as razor sharp claws shoot out of her fingertips, but she is in too much pain to fight the vampires as they take advantage of her disorientation to begin beating and kicking her fallen form.

*Flash*

Feeling herself being dragged to her feet. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she hears someone whisper 'Find the mutants, find them and kill them all'.

*Flash*

She blinks as the pain suddenly ends, and struggles vainly as the vampires haul her to her feet, and hold her in place.

*Flash*

Her eyes widen in pain, shock and horror as Kakistos rushes her with a katana, driving it through her torso, impaling her halfway upon the blade.

*Flash*

Tasting copper in her mouth as the ancient vampire rips the sword out of her, and the flash of silver as he turns and swipes out with a smaller blade, catching her in the throat and slicing open the tender flesh. This done, he leans in close to whisper in her ear. 'You never even had a chance of winning.'

*Flash*

Collapsing to a heap on the floor as the vampires holding her immobile shove her to the ground, and her hands clutch at her torn neck.

*Flash*

As she feels life fleeing her, the last thing she hears is Kakistos dismissive order to Mr. Trick to 'dispose of the garbage'. She blacks out, almost relieved at the lack of pain that comes with the oblivion of death.

* End Flash*/i

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

bNow/b

"Kakistos!" Faith screams out as she clears the threshold of the door that led out onto the roof, her eyes darting around wildly for any sign of the vampire in question, her clawed hands hanging at her sides as she bristles with rage and the want to tear Kakistos to pieces. "Where are you, you son of a bitch?!"

"Behind you." She hears him whisper and then lets out a cry as she's kicked in the back and goes sprawling to the roof's surface, rolling a couple of times before she brings herself to a stop, crouched low as she turns to face him, only to find the spot he'd been a second or two earlier.

Her eyes dart back and forth about the expanse of the roof as she rises, trying to find the vampire amidst the smokestacks, air-vents and the still burning skylight and section of roof set aflame by her cousin just a little while earlier.

A sudden flash of movement draws her attention as something darts between two of the smokestacks about ten yards away and she bursts into motion, running at a full-on sprint toward the figure's hiding spot.

She runs around the corner of the smokestack with her claws out and ready to hack and slash, but once more finds that Kakisto's isn't there.

"Enough of you're goddamn games yah motherless fucker!" She scream in rage and irritation that after everything that he had done to her Kakistos seemed unwilling to face her. Suddenly she hears a slight thump behind her and spins around, already preparing to shred the vampire to pieces.

Things don't quite go her way and Faith lets out a scream of pain as she suddenly finds herself once more impaled on Kakistos' katana with a flash of silver and she falls forward with her head against his chest as he slowly lifts her up, still stuck fast on the blade until her feet are dangling a couple inches off the ground.

"Ughhnnn.." She moans as he twists the blade in her gut, then slumps seemingly lifeless against him as he laughs heartily, and uses the hand not holding the katana to brush her hair back almost gingerly as he prepares to take a bite of the slayer that had been so hard to kill.

"I told you that you would never be able to w-URK!" Kakistos is cut off as searing pain rips through his chest and looks down to find that Faith had slammed her left hand, still clawed, into his chest cavity.

"D-didn't come here to w-win." She chokes out, her blood flowing from her mouth, much more steadily than before. "I came to drag you down to HELL!"

With that said, she rips Kakistos unbeating heart from his chest as he roars in pain and tries to throw her away from him.

As she hits the ground, still half-stuck on the katana, Kakistos explodes into flame and ash and she lets a small smile form on her face. Slowly and shakily, she rises to her feet and grips the handle of the katana with her hands to pull it from her stomach, all the while wincing in pain as she feels the sharp blade further tear her insides.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, she pulls it free and drops it onto the roof atop the pile of ash. Faith is still for a couple long moments, just staring at Kakistos' remains before finally she moves forward a step and spits on the pile before turning and beginning to make her way back toward the stairwell to escape.

She only makes it a couple of steps before she falls into blackness, her body impacting the surface of the roof with a loud thump and a pool of blood begins to form around her lifeless body as the moon shines down upon her, lighting up the spot she'd fallen almost as if it was daytime.

To Be Concluded…

Note: A very special thanks to Kevinn from TTH for the Rec, it's very much appreciated. XD