Buffy POV
The look Faith gives me sends a chill down my spine. She's looked at me with hatred, with anger, with lust, with every emotion you can imagine, but nothing compares to the way she's looking at me now.
Before she could regain consciousness, Sookie, Jason, Bill, and I brought her back to Jason's house. We figured it would be safer than bringing her back to Sookie's place where MaryAnn had already proven she has no qualms about breaking-and-entering.
So now we're all standing around in Jason's dining room. I tied Faith to one of the dining room chairs, and she's not very happy about it.
My sister-Slayer hisses animalistically and rocks back and forth on the four legs of her chair. I can sees her strong forearms flexing and straining to break out of her binds. I know it's useless though; it's not like I tied her up so she could just snap the ropes or wiggle free.
Jason stares at the brunette and I can tell he's second-guessing letting us hide out at his house. Faith doesn't have to say a word, but the look she's giving him right now says she wants to snap his head off his neck and use it as a soccer ball.
"I'll just, uh, see if I can wrestle us up some sandwiches or something," Jason says before disappearing into the kitchen.
"What are you thinking?" I question Sookie. She's had a strange look on her face ever since we brought Faith back to Jason's house.
"I wonder what she's thinking," the telepath comments, nodding in the direction of the growling slayer.
"You can't tell?" I ask.
Sookie shakes her head. "Not from this distance at least. And it's usually easy for me. Faith's a real projector. She nearly screams out her thoughts."
"Really?" The idea of Faith's mind being easy to read is a little shocking. I'd always believed she buried her emotions and thoughts so deep that even the telepathic waitress couldn't reach her.
The waitress nods. "Uh huh. Usually it's just about sex and food, but her mental images come through loud and clear for me normally."
"So she's possessed then," I murmur, staring into her charcoal black eyes.
Sookie looks at me curiously. "Well of course she's possessed. Did you actually think she'd gone bad?"
I hang my head. "It...it wouldn't have been the first time. I guess it was stupid of me to think she hasn't changed since then though. Some habits are hard to quit."
Sookie tentatively reaches out, her fingertips just a few inches from Faith's shoulder. The brunette slayer twists her head and literally barks at the telepathic waitress. I hastily grab the blonde's hand away before Faith can bite it off.
"What are you doing?" I ask Sookie, releasing her hand.
"It seems we have a rabid dog in the room," Bill murmurs from his isolated position near a large grandfather clock.
Sookie's eyes are wide and she looks a little shaken. "I just thought if…sometimes if I can't get a good read on a person because they're supernatural or somethin', if I touch them, I can read their thoughts better."
"Let me try to calm her down before you try anything," I say. I crouch down so I'm at eye level with the Boston girl. "Faith," I say in a quiet, even tone. "We're not going to hurt you. We just want to help."
Her eyes seem to fix on me, but I don't feel like she's actually looking at me…it's more like she's looking through me. But at least she's not snapping and drooling anymore. Extra saliva doesn't look good on anyone, even someone as naturally sexy as Faith.
Sookie crouches next to me, close enough that I can feel the warmth radiating off her body. "Remember when I touched MaryAnn when we were rescuin' you and that white light zapped between us?" she states, careful not to get too close to the possessed slayer.
I twist on the balls of my feet, still in my crouched position, to look at the Southern waitress. "What are you thinking?"
The blonde woman continues to stare at my dark colleague while she chews on her bottom lip. "Maybe I can do the same thing to Faith and zap the darkness out of her."
Bills voice sounds from behind us. "I'm going to have to disagree, Sookie. No offense to your friend, Buffy, but I'm not willing to put my girlfriend in harms way any further to save her."
Sookie stands up and gives her vampire boyfriend an icy glare. "Bill Compton," she declares, "I will not have you tellin' me what I can and cannot do."
I feel almost sorry for the vampire. He dips his head apologetically and sits back down.
The Southern girl drags a dining room chair next to where Faith is bound. She takes a seat and rubs her palms together. "Well," she breathes, "here we go."
Sookie lays her hands flat on the tops of Faith's arms. There's no white light, but I can tell that something is happening.
"What do you see?" I ask in a small voice.
The blonde's eyes are closed and her mouth is scrunched together in a tight line. She shakes her head. "It's dark," she mumbles. "It's like I'm in a maze or somethin' and someone forgot to pay the electric bill."
The waitress is quiet for a few minutes and no one in the room dares breath. "I'm someplace different now," she states. "Someplace cold." She wrinkles her nose. "And it smells like garbage."
"I'm small. I'm young," Sookie continues. "I-I think I'm like reliving her memories or something. God, why does it reek of alcohol and cigarettes?" she complains. Her hands shoot off of Faith and her expressive eyes are wide open.
"What's wrong?" I worry.
The Southern woman swallows and shakes her head. "I don't know. Everything was fine, but then it felt like someone was burning me. My arms felt like they were on fire and I could smell burnin' flesh."
"Sookie," Bill calls out. His girlfriend flashes him a warning look.
"I'm gonna try again," she says in a voice more shaky than before. Sookie once again places her hands on Faith's form, this time on her shoulders. She closes her eyes and sucks in a deep breath.
"I'm older now," she announces as she travels along Faith's memories. "I feel strong –
like I can take on the world. Nothing can stop me." Sookie makes a small whimpering noise. "Oh God," she gasps. "There's so much blood. I can feel it warm and sticky on my hands."
"Stop," Bill commands in an authoritative tone. "It's too much. There's too much darkness for you to handle."
Sookie snaps her eyes toward in her vampire boyfriend. "No," she insists. "I just need…I need…something."
She twists her head to look at me. What I see makes me take a step back in alarm. Her eyes are completely black. It's like looking at Willow when she went bad and was determined to destroy the world.
The waitress abruptly grabs onto my wrist before I can pull away and a blinding spark of white light shoots from my skin and jolts through Sookie and into Faith. The brunette slayer's head falls backwards and her torso twitches as though she's just been shocked with a defibrillator. My body's tingling slightly like when one of your limbs falls asleep.
Sookie gives out a tiny cry and releases her hold on both Faith and myself, falling slack in her chair. Bill rushes to her side immediately, the concern apparent in his clear, dark eyes.
A quiet moan from Faith's direction drags my attention away from the unorthodox couple. The Boston girl's head pops back up and a grimace is plastered on her face. Her eyes are closed though, so I have no idea if what Sookie just did actually worked.
"Fuck," the brunette woman groans, her head lolling slightly forward. "B," she moans, "why'd you let me drink so much last night?"
"Faith?" I take a tentative step toward the still-bound slayer.
One of her eyes slowly pulls open as if it's taking her a lot of energy. "I've got the Mother of all Hangovers, Twinkie. Shut off that light and get me an aspirin, will ya?"
When I don't respond, her eyes open fully. "What the fuck…." her voice trails off. She suddenly realizes that her arms are tied behind her, and her brow furrows. "What kind of kinks are you into, Blondie? You coulda at least waited 'til I woke up so I could have enjoyed myself, too."
I hastily reach down and fumble with the tight knots that keep Faith tied to her chair. I curse under my breath when my fingers slip over the nylon rope, unable to get my short fingernails beneath any of the tight knots. I did a better job than I thought.
"Here." Bill's cool voice startles me. I hadn't realized he was standing so close. He reaches down and yanks the rope away as if it were made of nothing more than cotton candy.
Bill shrugs nonchalantly when he reads my shocked expression. "It's a Louisiana thing," he vaguely explains.
Faith stands up abruptly from the chair and it tips over from her hastily movement. She flicks her eyes around the room trying to gain her bearings. "Where am I?" she asks in a panicked tone.
"You're at Sookie's brother's house," I state as calmly as I can.
"What happened?" she fires off. "I don't…I don't remember anything. And why the fuck did you have me tied up?"
"It was MaryAnn. She had you brainwashed or something," I say shaking my head. I don't exactly have a word for what had happened to the brunette. "Sookie, Bill, Jason, and I just rescued you from her."
Faith looks down at her hands. "Did I…did I hurt anyone?" she asks, looking up finally to meet my gaze.
Her chocolate eyes are a welcome sight, but it hurts to look so deeply into them. I cast my own eyes to the ground. "I…I don't honestly know."
Faith blinks hard and shakes her head. "I don't understand," she states in a voice thick with exhaustion. "How did I get my powers back? I can feel it. I feel strong again, like before."
"It must have been MaryAnn," I conclude after a moment. "When she…when she hypnotized you or whatever, it must have re-awoken your dormant powers just like drinking Bill's blood did for me."
My sister-Slayer rubs at her wrists. I must have tied her ropes tighter than I thought. "What is she?"
"According to Willow and the gang," I say, "she's a maenad."
Faith's beautiful face blanches. "A what?"
"It's a long story," I say, shaking my head, "but the Cliff Notes version is she's a crazy woman who worships Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of booze and sex."
Faith snorts. "Sounds like my kind of god." She makes a face immediately after the words have left her mouth. "Sorry," she apologizes. "Reflex."
"What was that woman raving about anyway?" Sookie asks, breaking into our conversation. I'd nearly forgotten about the girl who saved Faith's mind. "Something about being a vessel for someone?"
Faith's the first one to wrap her tongue around the name. "Kakistos," she growls. "The Worst of the Worst."
Sookie looks anxiously back and forth between Faith and myself. I don't know what she's mentally reading off of Faith and I feel a sudden pang of jealousy. Sookie knows what Faith is thinking. I never know. She's just as much of a mystery to me as when I first met her…maybe even more so lately.
"MaryAnn," Faith sighs. "You called her a maenad? I-I know what they are. I've…"
My sister-Slayer runs her fingers through her long hair and sits down on a worn couch in Jason's living room. She rests her head in her hands as though it's suddenly gotten very heavy. After a few tense moments, she looks up.
"There's stuff that happened to me…" she says, staring off into the distance, "back in Boston….before Sunnydale….that I haven't ever told you about."
I take a seat beside her and give her what I hope is an encouraging look.
"My tattoo, B," Faith starts darkly. "I…I didn't get it at some tattoo parlor in Boston…it wasn't just some rebellious teenage whim."
I have no words, but I don't think Faith needs me interrupting.
"You know that Kakistos killed my Watcher," she says thickly.
I nod. That had always been part of Faith's burden – that she hadn't been able to save her first Watcher – that she'd watched this woman who deeply cared about her get tortured and murdered in front of her. And despite all her Slayer strength, Faith had been entirely helpless.
"Kakistos used her to get to me," she continues. "Not just because I was a Slayer, but because I was somehow connected to another Slayer – someone who lived in ancient Greece. And not in just the normal way how all of us Slayers are connected." She pauses and looks at me meaningfully. "You have dreams…do you ever dream about Alex?"
The name takes me by surprise.
I look at Faith, unblinking. "How do you know about Alex?" I ask her in a low voice.
Faith swallows hard. "Because I was never able to save her either."
Images of long-ago, but not forgotten Slayer dreams flood my mind. The blood. The hanging bodies. The chaos. Never being able to save the little girl, Alex. The dreams had haunted me for I don't know how long, and then suddenly they stopped. Right around….right around the time Faith showed up in Sunnydale.
"My Watcher, Diana, told me all about maenads," my sister-Slayer continues in an even voice. "They worshiped Kakistos…they were his slaves." She pulls up the sleeve of her t-shirt to reveal the familiar armband tattoo. "And all of his followers were given this brand."
I reach out tentatively and stroke my fingers along her revealed skin. She sucks in a deep breath and I quickly pull my hand away, afraid that I'd made her uncomfortable.
"Kakistos branded you?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "No. Artemia did. Alex's mom," she clarifies. "She was a Slayer, too. She wanted to make sure that Kakistos found me. Or rather, that I found him. She wanted vengeance for what he'd done to Alex."
"Wait," Sookie interrupts. "Let me get this right. This guy Kakistos…and the Greek god Dionysus are the same person? The Greek god of wine and partying was a vampire?"
"Wine….or blood," Bill murmurs.
Fuck. Fuckity Fuck.
"So how do we kill her?" I ask, feeling confused and exasperated. I wish someone would tell me the answer so I can just end this once and for all.
"Ya give me something sharp and pointy and I jab it through her heart. I'll kill her just like I did Kakistos," Faith growls. "I don't care if she's not a vampire; she'll die just the same."
"Are we sure that's the best idea?" Sookie calls out in a worried tone. "I mean, the last time Faith was around MaryAnn, she zombified her like the rest of the town."
Faith's face falls and she has no retort. It's got to be killing her that MaryAnn was able to manipulate her like that.
"You're a Slayer again," I say, shaking my head. "She's not going to be able to control you like that again." My words are more confident that I feel, however. Who knows what could happen the next time Faith and MaryAnn meet up face-to-face?
"Sure," Faith grunts, but I can see the worry in her chocolate eyes.
"We should all get some sleep," Sookie murmurs above the quiet. "It's been a long couple of days."
Bill agrees with a curt nod and straightens his shoulders. "I'll keep watch outside until dawn. That will at least give you all a few hours to rest."
Jason finds a few extra pillows and blankets in the linen closet and pulls out the hide-a-bed in the living room for Faith and me. He looks apologetically at the two of us as he makes up the lumpy-looking bed.
"Sorry this is the best I can do," he drawls. "I gave Sookie the twin in the second bedroom; I'm not used to so much company. Normally my house guests, uh…"
"Sleep in your bed with you?" Faith finishes for him. I'm glad to see that being under the influence of a demented maenad hasn't made her lose a step. It kinda makes my heart swell with pride, actually.
The Southern boy flushes. "Yeah, something like that," he mumbles before scampering off to his own bedroom.
The cotton sheets are wrinkled and smell faintly musty. But it feels so good to just rest - to let my body and my brain relax. Even though I know we still have to do something about the maenad before we can leave Bon Temps in good conscience, I'm not worried about it. We got Faith back, and that's really what matters.
It feels like ages since we've lain next to each other like this.
I turn on my side to face my sister-Slayer. She's lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling, with her head propped up on her arms. I can't tell if she's as relaxed as me, but I seriously doubt it. I know what Kakistos means to her. It would be like if someone was trying to bring The Master back...again.
"Are you okay with all of this?" I ask her. "I know that bringing up old memories of…of him can't be easy."
Faith flicks her gaze in my direction. Her eyes are dark, but at least I can see the warm chocolate tone in them again. "I was just a kid then, B," she whispers, "and Kakistos did some fucked up things." She sucks in a quick breath between her teeth. "But I'm a different person now," she rasps in her graveled tone. "I've seen stuff since then, ya know?"
I grab hold of her hand underneath the thin sheets and give it a reassuring squeeze. "He's not coming back," I tell her. "I won't let that happen."
She gives me a fleeting smile and squeezes my hand back. "I know, B. I know."
TBC