Chapter Four
The wind whipped by Buffy's face as she sprinted across the road to the hedge surrounding the field. Leaping over as only one endowed with supernatural power can do, she paused to snap a branch from the hazel that lined the field. It was the perfect wood for an impromptu stake. Feeling the security of it in her hand, she resumed her sprint across the field. She felt Faith's presence half a step behind her, the brunette fanning out to the left, ready to flank the five vampires they were chasing down.
"Satsu!"
Buffy's scream pierced the night and she saw the younger slayer pull up from her stalking position. She could almost laugh at the face the Japanese woman made, as if Satsu were ready to object to the interruption of her hunt. But it was not a time for laughing. And the younger woman saw instantly why her mentor had shouted across the darkened field. Her own stake already in hand, Satsu snapped into a fighting stance, but was unsure whether to turn and face the five who were bearing down on her, or the three she had been stalking. The hesitation almost cost her life.
For Buffy's scream had not only alerted Satsu to the danger she was in, it warned all eight vampires that their trap was detected. And the three turned and lunged for Satsu.
But Buffy Summers wasn't one of the longest living slayers in history for no reason. And one of those reasons was Faith Lehane. They both reached the five hunters mere seconds after Buffy had shouted Satsu's name; two were instantly dusted. Their eyes met and Buffy pivoted to face the remaining hunters while Faith sprang towards the spot where Satsu had made her stand. The brunette Slayer leapt to intercept the lead vampire, rolling him away from her younger compatriot. This gave Satsu the space to jump backwards, away from the two advancing on her.
Behind them, Buffy had dusted another vampire, leaving her to face the remaining two of the hunting group. Faith tussled with her opponent on the ground and Satsu gripped her stake as two more advanced on her. As Faith aimed a headbutt at the vampire pinning her to the ground she heard a scream of pain from Satsu. Headbutting the vampire again and flipping herself up from the ground, the dark slayer found her target and he was dust. Satsu had been momentarily knocked back by the two vampires. Faith watched as Satsu grimaced in pain while trying to stand and sympathised as she clocked the swelling blooming around the other girl's ankle. A quick check behind her to see how Buffy was doing and she breathed easier as the blonde slayer was dusting the last of her opponents. Their eyes connected and they exchanged a shared smile of relief before both turning their attention back to Satsu's attackers.
The younger slayer had managed to wriggle away from her two opponents who both now looked around them with a feeling unfamiliar for vampires: fear. Now outnumbered, they both bolted for cover. "Don't let them get away. I want one alive," Buffy hissed urgently at her girlfriend. Nodding in agreement, Faith leaped onto the closest vampire and pinned him down, a knee on his chest and a hand at his throat. Watching as his companion ran towards the woods at the edge of the field, she flipped the stake in her hand and threw with deadly accuracy. He was dust before he could take another step.
Buffy came up beside Faith and helped her lift their captive to his feet. Without any preamble, the blonde slayer smashed an elbow into his face, breaking his nose. Even for a vampire that is something that stuns you for a while. Another wordless exchange between her and Faith and the brunette was striding over to Satsu to assess the damage. The other woman sat on the grass, one hand to her head and the other grasping her ankle. A quick assessment and it seemed the ankle was sprained, not broken. A nasty gash across her forehead and a few bruised ribs completed the injuries. Thankful for small mercies, Faith put an arm around Satsu and lifted her up. "Can you help by walking on your good foot?" Satsu winced, but nodded through the pain. "Okay then. Let's see what was in this trap that you sprung." The younger slayer gave a pained smile and hobbled with Faith over to where Buffy stood menacingly over the captured vampire.
Faith watched with a grim satisfaction as Buffy knelt beside him, shoving her thumb hard into the soft tissue just below his solar plexus. His eyes bulged with pain and surprise. "That's just a fraction of the pain that's coming your way if you don't tell us what we want to know." Buffy's voice was even, almost icy. It was a tone Faith hadn't heard for a long time and hoped never again to hear directed at her. She knew her lover's green eyes would be verging on the blue end of their spectrum, the pupils like pinpricks. This was the hardened Slayer at her most merciless. The vampire slid into his human face and rolled his head back. "You won't…" Buffy's hand met his face and he screamed, pulling back from the silver cross she held in her palm. "I will. And you know what they don't tell you when they turn you? You know what most people don't know about vampires? They're much much easier to torture than humans." His eyes went even wider and he shook his head. "You see," she continued, "Vampires, unlike humans, don't have any predators, except for me. They don't endure pain, they're the predators. But because you don't have much experience of pain, your threshold is pretty darn low. And I'll be betting you're pretty close to that threshold right now." She grabbed the hair at the top of his head and wrenched it back, forcing his mouth open. Letting the cross drop from the palm of her hand, holding it by its chain, she let it fall into the open mouth and with both hands forced the vampire's mouth shut around the charm. His screams sent shivers down Satsu's spine, but Buffy and Faith remained unmoved. This was a vampire. A daemon. Without a shred of humanity or soul. It did not deserve a drop of compassion.
Buffy pulled the cross out of the vampire's mouth and gave him a moment. "Ready to talk?" She watched as he panted unnecessarily, gathering himself. "Promise not to slay me and I'll do better than talk. I'll show you what you need to know. And I'll leave this god forsaken country and never come back." She leaned back on her heels, as if considering his offer. "I'll go you one better," she said calmly. "No slayer will ever touch you. As long as you don't come near any slayer. We won't hunt you, as long as you don't hunt us. Deal?" He nodded, wiping the back of his hand against his mouth. She pulled him up roughly and held him by the wrist, twisting it behind his back. "And don't even think about double crossing me. I will kill you in a god damned second if I think you're playing me. And you know I can. Got it?" His answer was a deep growl, but she took it as an acceptance. "Okay then. Lead the way."
XXXXX
The oddly assorted group made their way carefully across the field; Buffy still holding the vampire's arm behind his back like a leash and Faith with an arm around the hobbling Satsu. The vampire led them towards the woods skirting the field and tipped his head to indicate they would go into them. All three slayers remained on high alert as the vampire led them deeper into the woods. Through dark holloways, the sunken lanes in the forest; under great oaks and past beeches; passing a badger sett and hearing the scurrying of all the night creatures, they ventured deeper and deeper into the wood.
Just as they had slid down a small scree laden slope, they came upon a small glade governed by a giant of an oak, its roots as big as drainpipes rippling across the mossy ground. Their vampire guide pulled up short and turned to Buffy, a finger over his lips. "There's a cave entrance down that way. Can you hear the river? There's a waterfall about a hundred feet along, the entrance to the cave is behind the waterfall. But it's better for you to see if we go by this back entrance." He walked slowly around the huge tree, the soil on the other side having slipped away in a flood long ago, leaving a kind of strange natural verandah created by the lattice of roots. And under it was the beginning of a dark tunnel. Buffy felt a strong hand grip her arm from behind and spun to see Faith's eyes trained on hers, concern foremost in her dark brown orbs. "B, are you sure about this? Following a vamp into a dark hole at night?" The blonde shrugged. "I trust him about as far as Giles could throw him, but I do genuinely think he's operating on survival instinct right now and his only option is to be honest with us. And since when does the girl who leaps into sewers with no strategy do caution?" She added that last with a teasing smile, her hand reaching affectionately to brush Faith's arm. Faith just looked down and then lifted her gaze back to Buffy's. "I have something to live for now."
"Now who's the sap?" Buffy murmured in a low whisper.
A cough from Satsu interrupted them and they pulled away from each other, unaware that they had unconsciously stepped into such a close proximity. "Oh yeah, work stuff. Vampires setting traps for slayers. Show us the way." And with that, Buffy pushed their captive towards the dark entrance beneath the roots.
The three slayers followed him slowly, Satsu crouching low between Buffy and Faith and still limping. Then, just ahead, they saw the unmistakable flicker of torchlight. They walked quietly along the low tunnel and then were able to stand as it opened out into a large cavern. Finding themselves on a walkway above the main cave with a long low expanse of rock acting as a natural wall, they peered over to see what the vampire had brought to show them.
There below was a teeming gathering of around fifty or so vampires. The cavern was lit by huge torches and even a few big electric lamps that looked like they had once served as floodlights at a sportsground. Here they were powered by generators that hummed at the edges of the cavern. At the far end of the cavern was a raised portion of rock, whether a natural formation or carved, it didn't matter. What did matter was that it was obviously serving as a kind of altar. Above the rock, hanging on the wall was a standard bearing the faded image of a golden-haired man, mounted upon a bear. On the altar itself were three candlesticks, the black candles yet to be lit. To one side a large bowl with an undetermined dark liquid, to the other was what looked like the pelt of a boar, head included. In the centre of the altar was a curved object that looked made of bone or horn. It was narrow at one end and widened. It could have been the tooth of a huge animal, the horn of a smaller one or simply a carved bone. It was gilded at both tip and base and at the widest end it was clustered with precious stones. Even with slayer sight the three women could not make out any further detail on the object, but they could sense it throbbing with immense power. Perhaps this was the artefact they had come for.
Buffy grabbed the vampire next to her by his upper arm and dug her fingers into the flesh painfully. "Okay spill," she hissed. "Tell us everything about this clichéd 80s soft rock video." Blanching at the pain, the vampire tried to pull back, but her grip was unshakeable. As he still tried to squirm, she pushed him into the firm muscled body of her girlfriend. Faith obligingly gripped his other arm and pulled out her improvised stake she had stashed while helping Satsu walk. "I have zero problem dusting you right now pal. We've seen enough and we have friends who can tell us the rest. We don't need you."
"You promised!" His urgent whisper came out as more of a whine and a smile stretched over both slayers' faces. "She promised. I didn't. And unlucky for you we've just established tonight that she's not the boss of me." She rested the end of the stake on his chest and leaned in. "Okay, okay. Look all I know is that we were supposed to get some ram's horn and that there would be a slayer coming to the area. We had to lure her into the woods and bring her here." Buffy exchanged a quick look with Faith and squeezed his arm just one inch tighter. "And for our bonus round, who is 'we'?"
"The Order of Aurelius. Our old leader was killed a few years ago, we've been laying low here ever since. A few months ago, this crazy woman comes and finds us. Shows us she's from his lineage; tells us she has a way for us to 'regain ascendancy', whatever the hell that means. She came through with a lot of her promises. We got strong enough we were able to enter that church, find the horn she was telling us about. She's nuts, but she gave us power. And we've been able to feed in this area without interference. Until tonight." With a grimace Buffy pushed the vampire away from her. She had seen enough.
"Let's get out of here." She glanced at Satsu. "We need to regroup. Get you seen to. And we need to talk to Giles."
"Agreed. Ol' Rupert has got some explaining to do." Faith accompanied her words with a tired smile and nodded towards the exit. "I'll take point."
XXXXX
The three slayers made a discreet entry to the hotel. Guests coming and going in the middle of the night may well be a common occurrence in LA or New York, but they figured it would be remarked upon in sleepy Cwmbran. The had cut their erstwhile guide free once they had cleared the forest. He had held up his end of the deal and in fact had given them a lot more information than they had reckoned with. As for Buffy's promise, the slayers didn't offer any further assurances of the practicalities and the nameless vampire sought none. He simply slipped away into the night, acknowledging he was lucky not to be dust and happy with at least that.
The two elder slayers took Satsu back to her own room, the swelling of her ankle already going down thanks to slayer healing. They sat her on her bed and Faith quickly ran to their room to retrieve the first aid kit she always packed. Returning to Satsu's room, she quietly shut the door and sat beside Buffy on the bed who was already lifting Satsu's foot to put a pair of pillows underneath it for elevation. The two women got to work, Buffy strapping up the ankle and Faith cleaning, then steri-stripping the cut on Satsu's head.
The younger slayer sat quietly, allowing them to look after her. She had abandoned her embarrassment at having to be bailed out of trouble hours before and there remained only her awe at the two other women. Despite having worked and patrolled with Buffy before now, this was the most time she had spent with her and seeing Faith in action had been a completely new experience. On top of that, watching the two older slayers fight together had been a revelation. She had never seen two people fight that way; so aware of the others' presence, strength and skill. It had been beautiful and terrifying. And put her crush into perspective.
She knew her crush got under the brunette slayer's skin and she had leveraged that irritation the previous day for her own entertainment. She'd only vaguely known they were an item. But having seen what she had seen in that field, she knew that whatever they had, it was more than just them 'being an item'. And she felt her crush was almost heretical.
But then there was also this. Where both slayers tended her wounds with absolute tender attention. Mildly unexpected from Buffy; undeserved from Faith.
"Thank you," she said quietly, only just above a whisper. But more than loud enough for slayer hearing. "It's nothing, you're one of us," Faith answered, eyes focused on the cut over her eye. "No," she insisted, placing a hand on Faith's. "It's something." An uncharacteristic blush crept over Faith's face then and Satsu saw the unmistakable flick of her eyes over to Buffy. The oldest Slayer nodded and patted the ankle she had just finished wrapping. "You're welcome then," Buffy said with a smile as she stood. She reached over to the first aid kit and pulled out a vial and syringe. "Woah, hang on a minute."
"It'll just be a small prick. Just something to help the pain and swelling and to speed up that Slayer healing even more. Courtesy of a couple of good friends of ours. We need you up and functional tomorrow." Satsu, still leery of what looked to her like a rather long needle glanced between the other two slayers. Faith patted her thigh in reassurance. "Hey kid, I'm not a fan either. But I've had Simmons stick me with a couple of these shots now and I promise you won't regret it." Satsu curled her lips, as if assessing Faith's words. Then she quietly rolled to the side so that Buffy could get a good shot at her thigh and raised an eyebrow. "Get on with it then," she challenged with a smirk. Faith just chuckled and got off the bed, pulling the supplies back together to put in the kit. "Careful kid, I might just start to like you."
"Oh we can't have that now can we?" Satsu shot back. A sigh came from the blonde slayer. Looking Satsu in the eye, she pushed the needle into the flesh of her thigh. "There, you're all done. And if you could stop with teasing the big bad slayer any time, that would be great." She turned to hand the syringe to Faith and quirked her mouth in a half smile. "And you're not helping," she added, glancing at Faith, a quirk of a smile playing on her face. The two dark haired slayers shared a glance and both grinned at one another. Buffy rolled her eyes. "I think I preferred it when you hated each other." She patted Satsu fondly on the knee. "I guess I'm happy to settle for 'competitive respect'. So, rest up and you should be good to go in the morning. Hopefully Giles and Willow have been busily researching since I texted them both and we'll have more answers." Then closing up the first aid kit and standing straight she walked quietly to the door. "Hey, thanks again. I owe you. Both of you." Satsu's thanks was louder this time and her face held a serious look. It was Faith who answered. "Always welcome kid. Now, get some sleep. We're on the clock tomorrow."
And with that, the lovers left for their own room.
