Title: Silver's True Charm
Authors: AriellaGiselle and StaceyWinters
Email: ariellagiselle@aol.com and staceywinters@aol.com
Rating: R, for violence and sex
Category: General
Distribution: AriellaGiselle's Site and FanFiction.net; anyone else, just ask.
Summary: A new prophecy and a new evil rear their ugly heads for Buffy and the Slayerettes on the eve of Buffy's 25th birthday.
Spoilers: None
Time-Frame: approximately five years in the future
Status: WIP
Author's Notes: This is an Alt-U storie. It leaves canon pre-"The Gift."
Disclamer: We own nothing. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all affiliated characters and situations are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui/Sandollar Productions, and few other entities forgotten at the time this disclaimer was written. No copyright infringement is intended.

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As she walked into the courtyard, Faith shivered, despite the warm California night. 'That's funny,' she thought, 'I haven't felt that in a while.' She shrugged off the strange feeling as she had shrugged off the disturbing dreams which had recently been troubling her sleep and walked to a bench sitting squarely in the middle of the yard. She smiled, looking at the moon and the stars. It was truly rare that the inmates were let out for a night-sky viewing, but tonight was special, and Faith wasn't about to let it go to waste.

The brunette ex-slayer leaned back on the heels of her hands and closed her eyes. The cool night breeze felt good on her face. She rarely allowed her thoughts to turn back to her times in Sunnydale with B. Back when Buffy still trusted her. Back when she walked throught the night air with purpose, before she landed in prison on a murder rap. 'Five years,' she thought, 'Damn.'

She never noticed the small group of shadowed figures approaching her.

Suddenly, her eyes jerked open and stared into the face of her first attacker. The young woman's smiling face shifted into game face, and Faith nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked around frantically for anything wooden she could break and came up empty.

'Oh, well, I'll just have to hold them off until a guard notices the fight,' she assured herself. But she wasn't wholly convinced she could hold them all off.

Her eyes darted around the crew, taking a quick head-count. "So, what're you guys in for? Wickedly stupid behavior?" she bantered, hoping to buy herself some time, if only a couple of seconds. She knew she couldn't take on seven of them on her own. The split-second before the leader's fist connected with her jaw, she wished that she were in Sunnydale, fighting along side Buffy.

Faith hit the ground with a sickening thud that satisfied the black-haired vampire. "She'll go down easy," the leader hissed.

"Not so easy," Faith quipped, pulling herself off of the ground. "You wanna rumble? I'm game." She assumed a fighting stance and backoned to the nearest vampire.

The nearest vampire being a small red-headed girl. Faith landed a solid right hook and an even more solid double-kick to the vampire's midsection before three others grabbed her wrists. She struggled futily in the preternatural grips. "Who are you bitches?"

"We're the daughters of one of your kind, Slayer," a minion spoke.

"Shut up!" the lead growled, "Who we are is none of your concern, considering that you won't be living in another moment or so."

"Hmm, how original. Where have I heard that before?" Faith said sarcastically. She immediately regretted her big mouth when the vampire's fist wrapped around her hair and yanked. Hard. Faith was sure she would have a bald spot for a couple of months. If she made it out of here alive. The leader backed off and beamed at the tuft of hair she held in her pale hand.

"Ah, this ought to be good," the leader hissed, slipping the strands of dark brown hair into her pocket. As she approached, Faith's body tensed in fear. "Mm, I love a Slayer in the evening. Makes unlife bearable, ya know?"

Faith clenched her teeth and spat, "Just fucking get it over with, will ya?" She still tried in vain to loose herself from the dirty half-dozen that held her in place.

The lead vampire laughed. "My pleasure," she growled.

Faith gasped in pain as the vampire's fangs pierced the sensitive flesh above her jugular. She felt the leader pull away. "I thought you were going to finish me," she hissed. Her head jerked back with the force of the vampire's backhand. Her vision blurred and came back into focus, just in time to see the look of sadistic pleasure on the pale face framed with black hair.

"Finish her," the lead vampire ordered to the other six, who were growling hunglily at the scent of fresh blood in the air.

Faith's calls for help were drowned out by the cackling of the leader, pleased by a job well done.