Shadows - Part 3


She was at the bottom of a deep lake, suspended in the black, cool water, her hair moving around her face like a dark vermilion. The burning heat lodged painfully in her chest was gone and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Turning her face upwards she saw shafts of sunlight filter through the surface of the water and warm her cheeks, highlighting the golden flecks in her soulful eyes. She could not breathe, but her lungs no longer craved the oxygen above, nothing could disturb the peace she felt. Her clothing was loose, billowing around her as she smiled, letting her eyelids slip closed, enjoying the sensation of the healing liquid sliding over her scarred skin.

Voices floated to her ears from the surface of the lake, echoing and distant as if they were coming from the end of a long tunnel. Faith started to float upwards towards the voices and the figures above her, leaning over, peering at her from dry land, sillouhetted against the sunlight. Her brow furrowed uncertainly, she couldn't make out what they were saying, nor did she want to leave the lake. It was quiet and tranquil down there but she was still being pulled against her will. She tried to fight against the upward current but the once soothing water hampered her movements, rendering her unable to move.

She stared skywards helplessly, incapable of resisting the force taking her towards the figures. The sunglight was brighter the closer she got and no longer warmed her but burnt her face. Her eyes widened, but she was otherwise paralysed, caught in a frightened trance as she broke through the surface of the water...

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"Is she still out of it?" she heard the muffled words float through the fog that clouded her brain.

"Careful, she looks like she's comin' 'round..."

Faith let out a rumbling groan as she slowly slipped out of her delerium. She gasped for air but breathing was hard, her arms were pulled painfully behind her and her cheek and chest were pushed against the cold cement floor. Her thoughts were confused and her limbs would not yet respond to the correct commands, the drug used on her still held control of her motor functions.

"Hey Slayer?" Her head snapped back as a large boot landed heavily between her shoulder blades. Little agonizing lightening bolts radiated along her spine and her breasts dug uncomfortably into the concrete. "Are you going to grace us with your presense anytime soon?"

She heard his smirk as he gloated over her defenceless form and although she hadn't even seen her abductors yet, Faith had the undeniable urge to remove that smile from her captor's face. She tried to place her palms against the floor so she could stand up and see who was taunting her but only suceeded in discovering her hands were bound at the small of her back with thick, grating rope so tightly it was tinted red from the cuts it made into her skin. She managed to roll onto her back, weight painfully resting on her tied arms, vision spinning from the sudden movement.

She finally managed to focus on the two faces hovering above her. They were vampires alright. The first who had kicked her was in full vampire form, the second looked human but she could smell the demon on him. The first staggered closer leering at her like a famished dog.

"You know, I've never tasted a Slayer before," he grinned idiotically.

"The boss said not to touch her until he got here," the second piped up.

"I won't kill her," he assured his companion before fully turning his attention back to Faith, "anyway... I'm starving."

His words caused her to shake, not out of fear but out of rage. This arrogant little shit could be no more than a few decades old, yet he honestly thought he would be the one to take the dark slayer down.

Her sore muscles tensed in readiness as the first vamp approached. In a flurry of tranquilizer-inhibited movement she managed to raise her unbound legs and clamp them around his waist, bringing her head up far more quickly than a drug-induced haze should allow and blindly rammed her forhead into her attacker's face. The vampire stumbled backwards a few steps before Faith's unbalancing weight and his own feet tripped him over and sent them both flying into vamp #2.

With her arms tied, her legs trapped beneath a tangle of undead limbs, her enemies rapidly recovering and her vision spinning at 1,000 rotations a second, she hoped her next move would involve a long lie down and a stiff drink. Faith wasn't sure, when the thick, metal door of the room slammed open, screaching on it's hinges, if it was a blessing or a curse. When she felt steely strong hands wind around her biceps and effortlessly hoist her into the air, she assumed it was the latter...

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