Chapter Two: Masks and Voices
Or The Tall, The Dark, and The Evilly Slutty
* * * * *
The diner was in the middle of nowhere, along a highway, off of a backwater exit. The place was
almost empty, not too surprising because it was two in the morning. Other than the waitress and the cook,
there were only two customers.
Faith and the dark man, Raven, sat at a table in a back corner. Raven looked much as same as he
usual did, dressed in black, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses, his long, black hair hanging loosely around
his face. Faith was looking disheveled and confused. She was dressed in a hospital gown and Raven's black
trench coat. A line of dried blood was running down her chin.
Faith stared at the plate in front of her. It had a full course breakfast on it; eggs, toast, bacon,
sausage. A small glass of orange juice and steaming cup of black coffee stood off to one side of the plate.
She stared at the food quietly for a while, then eventually looked up at Raven.
"Who are you? What's going on? Everything is... blurry." She asked in a scratchy voice. Raven
looked at her, saying nothing for a brief moment. Then he spoke up.
"I healed you," he said quietly. "You haven't eaten anything solid in a few weeks I understand.
Enjoy your breakfast." Faith blinked, then lifted her fork and cut a piece of egg with it, then ate it. She
chewed slowly, swallowed, then looked up at him again.
"What happened to the Mayor? To... Buffy." She asked, her voice cracking when she tried to
speak Buffy's name.
"She defeated him, stopped the Ascension. It was rather interesting, according to the stories I
heard." he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Good," Faith said quietly, then ate a little more of her eggs. She set her fork down, then looked
up at Raven again.
"Why did you help me? Who are you?" she asked, her voice a little steadier now.
"I told you, my name is Raven. I helped you because I need you to do something important for me.
I need you to find someone," he said, his eyes studying her face. Faith looked back at him.
"You want me to kill whoever this is?" she asked. Raven laughed.
"Not at all. I just need you to bring him or her to me, unharmed," he said, amusement in his voice.
"Him or her? Don't you know who you are looking for?" she asked. Raven shook his head.
"To tell you the truth, no. I'm looking for a Bard, and you'll be the one to find him or her for me.
That's all I know," he said quietly. Faith laughed for a moment, then stopped when she started coughing.
Raven watched her silently until the coughing subsided.
"How am I supposed to know when I find this person?" she asked, breathing heavily.
"I don't know. I suppose you'll just know when you do," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"Okay, most important question; why should I help you?" Faith asked. Raven smiled.
"I don't suppose waking you from a coma is reason enough," he said, still smiling. She shook her
head. He spoke up again.
"Alright. I will pay you an obscene amount of money, and send you where ever you want to go
afterwards," he said. Faith looked at him silently for a moment, thinking.
"All right, I'll do it. Where do I start looking?" she asked. Raven said nothing, but reached under
the table and pulled out a large, black duffel bag. He set the bag on the table before he spoke again.
"I suggest you go to Los Angeles. There is clothing, money, and weaponry you might need in
here. There is enough money for you to get a car or some other form of transportation. There is also a
cellular phone so we can keep in touch," he said. Faith smiled, opening the bag and looking through it. She
whistled softly when she saw the shotgun and the handguns.
"You think I'll need these?" she asked, pointing at the guns.
"You will be dealing with supernatural creatures of a type you have never met before, eventually.
I'd be surprised if you didn't need them," Raven said.
_ _ _ _ _
"Yes, that is quite and interesting story," Giles said in his stuffy, British voice. He was standing in
the middle of his living room, talking to Buffy and Jason. Buffy was sitting on the couch, rubbing the faded
bruises Callista had left on her neck. Jason was leaning against the wall, slowly smoking a cigarette.
"Have you ever heard of these Kindred before Giles?" Buffy asked. Gilles started pacing before he
spoke.
"There were rumors of another species of vampires. The Watchers tried investigating this on
several occasions, but each time the investigators either turned up dead or simply vanished," Giles said.
"Joyous," Buffy mumbled under her breath.
"I told you they liked to be subtle," Jason said quietly. Buffy glared at him.
"If I still worked for the Watchers, they would be sure to find a report of last nights activities very
interesting. It would have been the first time a Slayer fought these 'Kindred'," Giles said again.
"That's all well and good," Buffy said as she turned to look at Jason. "But that still doesn't tell us
why you happened to show up." Jason shrugged, taking a drag off his cigarette.
"I'm a demon hunter. I heard the Sabbat was planning on trying something here. I knew you
wouldn't be ready for them, and I was in town, so I came to help. I'm going to train you," he said, exhaling
smoke through his nose.
"Train me? What do you think you can teach me?" she asked.
"A lot of things. I have traveled all over the world. I've learned a lot of nifty tricks that work
wonders against all sorts of evil things," he said, taking a deep drag off his cigarette before continuing.
"What you saw last night was nothing. The Kindred aren't like the vampires you deal with.
Crosses and holy water don't work, they can go anywhere they want without being invited, wooden stakes
don't kill, only paralyze. Some of them have powers you wouldn't believe. And the Kindred are far from the
worst thing out there you will have to deal with. If you want to survive, you will learn what I will teach
you," he said in a quiet tone.
"I can handle it," Buffy said confidently. Jason just shook his head.
"You aren't ready. You've gotten by so far on a combination of luck and natural skill. I think you
used up most of that dealing with the Mayor," Jason said, before dropping his cigarette in an almost empty
cup of coffee.
"You know about that?" Buffy asked, surprised. Jason nodded.
"You got a lot of notice over that. People had been watching Wilkins for along time. I was on my
way here to see if I could stop the Ascension. I was a little late... arrived just in time to watch the high
school go boom. Nice work, that," he said, a slight smile on his face.
"Gee, thanks. Nice to know I'm noticed," Buffy said, her tone a little sarcastic. Jason shook his
head and stood up straight.
"This is pointless. If you want my help, I'll be here," he said, tossing a slip of paper to Buffy.
"That's where I'm staying downtown. Later." And with that he walked out the door.
Giles watched Buffy as she examined the slip of paper. He coughed, then spoke.
"Odd boy," he said. Buffy nodded, slipping the paper into her pocket.
"He isn't telling us everything. I know it," she said softly. Giles sat down on the couch next to her.
"Are you going to let him train you?" he asked. Buffy sat quietly for a moment before she spoke.
"I never saw anyone fight like him. He hit one of the vampires so hard that it's jaw exploded. I'd
like to learn how to do that. I suppose it might be useful to see what he has to teach... as long as I keep an
eye on him," she finally said.
Giles opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. He
stood up and walked over to the phone, picking it up on the third ring.
"Hello?" he said into the phone. He listened quietly for a few moments, then his eyes widened. He
mumbled a thank you into the phone and hung up. Buffy looked at him, concern on her face.
"What was that?" she asked. Giles blinked, then looked at her.
"That was the hospital. Faith has gone missing," he said in a shocked tone.
_ _ _ _ _
Jason entered the abandoned warehouse he had moved into for his stay in Sunnydale. It was
almost as long as a football field and just as wide, and was for the most part empty. His car, a matte black
1967 Mustang, was on one end of the building, near a set of double doors.
On the far end of the building was the area he used as a living space. There was a double-sized
bed, a nightstand with a lamp, a desk that had a laptop computer sitting on it, and a desk chair. Opposite the
desk was a small entertainment stand, with a decent sized TV sitting on it, as well as a VCR and a DVD
player. A kitchen table, a refrigerator, and a small table with a microwave sitting on it were sitting close to
an old industrial sink.
About halfway between the car and the living area there was a series of gym mats. Hanging over
them was a punching bag, and sitting off to the side was a rack that was holding a variety of martial arts
weapons. There was a nearly fifty-foot long mirror hanging along the wall along the lengths of the gym
mats.
Jason idly punched the punching bag as he walked toward the living area. He went over to the
fridge and opened it, withdrawing and unopened Cup Noodle. He opened the Cup and filled it with water,
then shoved it into the microwave. A few minutes later, he took the now steaming cup of noodles from the
microwave, grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the sink, and walked over to the desk, sitting down.
He picked up remote and turned on the television, then picked up some of the noodles with the
chopsticks and swallowed them down. He turned back to the TV, eating a mouthful of noodles every once
in awhile.
"How can you eat that swill," a dark and sultry voice said from behind him. Jason sighed and set
the Cup Noodle down on the desk.
"Hello Callista. How did you get in? It's the middle of the day," he said tiredly. Callista walked up
behind him, dressed in a leather bikini top and a pair of cut off jeans. The Japanese writing that had been
burned into her forehead the night before was still there. Jason didn't bother turning around to look at her.
"Ohh, there is a nice little sewer access in that hole you call a bathroom. Very convenient," she
said, moving up behind him, laying a hand on her shoulder. He reached up, still not turning around to look
at her, and pushed her hand off his shoulder. Callista gave a pouty frown.
"Oh what's the matter. You used to like it when I touched you," she said, her voice in a teasing
tone. Jason shook his head.
"Oh get over it. I used you, you used me. That's all there was to it," he said before standing up,
turning around to look at her. She smiled wickedly at him, running her hands up her body slowly,
sensually.
"Yes, that's true... but it was still a lot of fun. Even if you did kill my sire," she said, licking her
lips. She stepped closer to him, pressing her body against his tightly. Jason frowned.
"Still upset about that?" he said, a slight tinge of sarcasm creeping into his voice. Callista laughed.
"Portyuos was a child raping bastard. You did me a favor. But that isn't what I came here to talk
about," she said, running a fingernail gently across his lips. "I came to convince you to leave town, and to
stay away from the Slayer."
"Why should I?" Jason said, raising an eyebrow. Callista smiled, tracing the fingernail up his
cheek slowly. His face twitched slightly.
"Because she's going to die, and her little friends will die, and the Sabbat is going to take Los
Angeles and all these little shit-hole suburbs in an orgy of blood, and there isn't a damn thing you can do
about it darling," Callista said sweetly. She smiled an almost innocent smile up at Jason.
"The Anarchs might have something to say about that. They did fight off a siege once before," he
replied. Callista laughed again.
"The Anarchs are not going to be a consideration this time. Why don't you just leave? The
Archbishop doesn't care about you, really. Just go. Or you could come with me... we could go kill the
Slayer together..." she said, leaning up to brush her lips against his ear.
At that moment, a loud bang filled the room. A spray of blood, flesh and bone blew out of
Callista's back. She flew backwards, hitting the ground where she lay, writhing in pain, dark blood seeping
onto the floor. Jason stood over her, the 9mm handgun he had shot her with pointed idly at the ground, it's
barrel smoking.
"You are lucky I didn't have my special ammo loaded, or you'd be a quickly rotting corpse right
now," he said, no emotion in his voice. Callista snarled, and slowly got to her feet, the one hand over her
belly the only thing holding her intestines in.
"I gave you a chance lover," she spoke, blood bubbling up out of her mouth. "You won't get
another one." She stumbled off toward the restroom, and out of sight. Jason waited a minute until he heard
the storm drain slam shut. He walked back to the desk, sat down, and picked up the Cup Noodle again.
_ _ _ _ _
Willow stood in an endless field of flowers, utterly confused. She looked around, wondering to
herself how she had gotten here. She glanced downward, then blushed brightly when she noticed she was
naked. She crossed her arms over her breasts.
How embarrassing, she thought.
She took another look around. There was nothing but flowers for as far as the eye can see.
"Pretty isn't it?" a feminine voice said. Willow jumped almost a foot and a half, and spun around,
looking for where the voice came from. She still saw nothing.
"Hello?" she said timidly.
"Hello Willow," the voice said. "Don't worry about finding me. It isn't time for us to meet face to
face yet." Willow noticed that while the voice was almost below a whisper, she could hear it clearly.
"Who are you? What's you name?" Willow asked, nervously. The voice laughed.
"Names have power, Willow. You should know that. Never ask for a name, ask what someone
would like to be called," the voice said, amused.
"Okay, what should I call you?" Willow asked.
"I've been called a lot of things over the years... I think you should call me Orchid," the voice said.
Willow could almost imagine the voice as smiling.
"Okay Orchid. Where am I?" she asked.
"You are in the Dreaming right now, that is not important though. Everyone comes here when they
dream," Orchid said.
"This is a dream?" Willow asked.
"Yes Willow... a large portion of your life is a dream. You have been Sleeping. However, since
you met the Slayer, you have been slowly Waking Up. Soon, you will have to cast the veil from your eyes
completely, Willow," Orchid said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked. At that moment, a loud, inhuman shrieking filled the air.
Willow groaned and pressed her hands against her ears, falling to her knees. The noise changed into the
ringing of a telephone. She opened her eyes and found herself lying in her bed. He phone was ringing.
Willow shot up and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she spoke into the phone sleepily.
"Will? It's Buffy. It's almost noon girl, since when did you sleep this late?" Buffy's voice came
over the line. Willow blinked, looking at her clock. It was almost noon.
"I must have been tired from last night," she said distractedly.
"No prob. Look, you need to come over to Giles' place," Buffy said.
"Why?" Willow asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
"Faith is missing. Someone took her out of the hospital," Buffy said quietly.
Willow dropped the phone.
End of Chapter Two
Or The Tall, The Dark, and The Evilly Slutty
* * * * *
The diner was in the middle of nowhere, along a highway, off of a backwater exit. The place was
almost empty, not too surprising because it was two in the morning. Other than the waitress and the cook,
there were only two customers.
Faith and the dark man, Raven, sat at a table in a back corner. Raven looked much as same as he
usual did, dressed in black, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses, his long, black hair hanging loosely around
his face. Faith was looking disheveled and confused. She was dressed in a hospital gown and Raven's black
trench coat. A line of dried blood was running down her chin.
Faith stared at the plate in front of her. It had a full course breakfast on it; eggs, toast, bacon,
sausage. A small glass of orange juice and steaming cup of black coffee stood off to one side of the plate.
She stared at the food quietly for a while, then eventually looked up at Raven.
"Who are you? What's going on? Everything is... blurry." She asked in a scratchy voice. Raven
looked at her, saying nothing for a brief moment. Then he spoke up.
"I healed you," he said quietly. "You haven't eaten anything solid in a few weeks I understand.
Enjoy your breakfast." Faith blinked, then lifted her fork and cut a piece of egg with it, then ate it. She
chewed slowly, swallowed, then looked up at him again.
"What happened to the Mayor? To... Buffy." She asked, her voice cracking when she tried to
speak Buffy's name.
"She defeated him, stopped the Ascension. It was rather interesting, according to the stories I
heard." he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Good," Faith said quietly, then ate a little more of her eggs. She set her fork down, then looked
up at Raven again.
"Why did you help me? Who are you?" she asked, her voice a little steadier now.
"I told you, my name is Raven. I helped you because I need you to do something important for me.
I need you to find someone," he said, his eyes studying her face. Faith looked back at him.
"You want me to kill whoever this is?" she asked. Raven laughed.
"Not at all. I just need you to bring him or her to me, unharmed," he said, amusement in his voice.
"Him or her? Don't you know who you are looking for?" she asked. Raven shook his head.
"To tell you the truth, no. I'm looking for a Bard, and you'll be the one to find him or her for me.
That's all I know," he said quietly. Faith laughed for a moment, then stopped when she started coughing.
Raven watched her silently until the coughing subsided.
"How am I supposed to know when I find this person?" she asked, breathing heavily.
"I don't know. I suppose you'll just know when you do," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"Okay, most important question; why should I help you?" Faith asked. Raven smiled.
"I don't suppose waking you from a coma is reason enough," he said, still smiling. She shook her
head. He spoke up again.
"Alright. I will pay you an obscene amount of money, and send you where ever you want to go
afterwards," he said. Faith looked at him silently for a moment, thinking.
"All right, I'll do it. Where do I start looking?" she asked. Raven said nothing, but reached under
the table and pulled out a large, black duffel bag. He set the bag on the table before he spoke again.
"I suggest you go to Los Angeles. There is clothing, money, and weaponry you might need in
here. There is enough money for you to get a car or some other form of transportation. There is also a
cellular phone so we can keep in touch," he said. Faith smiled, opening the bag and looking through it. She
whistled softly when she saw the shotgun and the handguns.
"You think I'll need these?" she asked, pointing at the guns.
"You will be dealing with supernatural creatures of a type you have never met before, eventually.
I'd be surprised if you didn't need them," Raven said.
_ _ _ _ _
"Yes, that is quite and interesting story," Giles said in his stuffy, British voice. He was standing in
the middle of his living room, talking to Buffy and Jason. Buffy was sitting on the couch, rubbing the faded
bruises Callista had left on her neck. Jason was leaning against the wall, slowly smoking a cigarette.
"Have you ever heard of these Kindred before Giles?" Buffy asked. Gilles started pacing before he
spoke.
"There were rumors of another species of vampires. The Watchers tried investigating this on
several occasions, but each time the investigators either turned up dead or simply vanished," Giles said.
"Joyous," Buffy mumbled under her breath.
"I told you they liked to be subtle," Jason said quietly. Buffy glared at him.
"If I still worked for the Watchers, they would be sure to find a report of last nights activities very
interesting. It would have been the first time a Slayer fought these 'Kindred'," Giles said again.
"That's all well and good," Buffy said as she turned to look at Jason. "But that still doesn't tell us
why you happened to show up." Jason shrugged, taking a drag off his cigarette.
"I'm a demon hunter. I heard the Sabbat was planning on trying something here. I knew you
wouldn't be ready for them, and I was in town, so I came to help. I'm going to train you," he said, exhaling
smoke through his nose.
"Train me? What do you think you can teach me?" she asked.
"A lot of things. I have traveled all over the world. I've learned a lot of nifty tricks that work
wonders against all sorts of evil things," he said, taking a deep drag off his cigarette before continuing.
"What you saw last night was nothing. The Kindred aren't like the vampires you deal with.
Crosses and holy water don't work, they can go anywhere they want without being invited, wooden stakes
don't kill, only paralyze. Some of them have powers you wouldn't believe. And the Kindred are far from the
worst thing out there you will have to deal with. If you want to survive, you will learn what I will teach
you," he said in a quiet tone.
"I can handle it," Buffy said confidently. Jason just shook his head.
"You aren't ready. You've gotten by so far on a combination of luck and natural skill. I think you
used up most of that dealing with the Mayor," Jason said, before dropping his cigarette in an almost empty
cup of coffee.
"You know about that?" Buffy asked, surprised. Jason nodded.
"You got a lot of notice over that. People had been watching Wilkins for along time. I was on my
way here to see if I could stop the Ascension. I was a little late... arrived just in time to watch the high
school go boom. Nice work, that," he said, a slight smile on his face.
"Gee, thanks. Nice to know I'm noticed," Buffy said, her tone a little sarcastic. Jason shook his
head and stood up straight.
"This is pointless. If you want my help, I'll be here," he said, tossing a slip of paper to Buffy.
"That's where I'm staying downtown. Later." And with that he walked out the door.
Giles watched Buffy as she examined the slip of paper. He coughed, then spoke.
"Odd boy," he said. Buffy nodded, slipping the paper into her pocket.
"He isn't telling us everything. I know it," she said softly. Giles sat down on the couch next to her.
"Are you going to let him train you?" he asked. Buffy sat quietly for a moment before she spoke.
"I never saw anyone fight like him. He hit one of the vampires so hard that it's jaw exploded. I'd
like to learn how to do that. I suppose it might be useful to see what he has to teach... as long as I keep an
eye on him," she finally said.
Giles opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. He
stood up and walked over to the phone, picking it up on the third ring.
"Hello?" he said into the phone. He listened quietly for a few moments, then his eyes widened. He
mumbled a thank you into the phone and hung up. Buffy looked at him, concern on her face.
"What was that?" she asked. Giles blinked, then looked at her.
"That was the hospital. Faith has gone missing," he said in a shocked tone.
_ _ _ _ _
Jason entered the abandoned warehouse he had moved into for his stay in Sunnydale. It was
almost as long as a football field and just as wide, and was for the most part empty. His car, a matte black
1967 Mustang, was on one end of the building, near a set of double doors.
On the far end of the building was the area he used as a living space. There was a double-sized
bed, a nightstand with a lamp, a desk that had a laptop computer sitting on it, and a desk chair. Opposite the
desk was a small entertainment stand, with a decent sized TV sitting on it, as well as a VCR and a DVD
player. A kitchen table, a refrigerator, and a small table with a microwave sitting on it were sitting close to
an old industrial sink.
About halfway between the car and the living area there was a series of gym mats. Hanging over
them was a punching bag, and sitting off to the side was a rack that was holding a variety of martial arts
weapons. There was a nearly fifty-foot long mirror hanging along the wall along the lengths of the gym
mats.
Jason idly punched the punching bag as he walked toward the living area. He went over to the
fridge and opened it, withdrawing and unopened Cup Noodle. He opened the Cup and filled it with water,
then shoved it into the microwave. A few minutes later, he took the now steaming cup of noodles from the
microwave, grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the sink, and walked over to the desk, sitting down.
He picked up remote and turned on the television, then picked up some of the noodles with the
chopsticks and swallowed them down. He turned back to the TV, eating a mouthful of noodles every once
in awhile.
"How can you eat that swill," a dark and sultry voice said from behind him. Jason sighed and set
the Cup Noodle down on the desk.
"Hello Callista. How did you get in? It's the middle of the day," he said tiredly. Callista walked up
behind him, dressed in a leather bikini top and a pair of cut off jeans. The Japanese writing that had been
burned into her forehead the night before was still there. Jason didn't bother turning around to look at her.
"Ohh, there is a nice little sewer access in that hole you call a bathroom. Very convenient," she
said, moving up behind him, laying a hand on her shoulder. He reached up, still not turning around to look
at her, and pushed her hand off his shoulder. Callista gave a pouty frown.
"Oh what's the matter. You used to like it when I touched you," she said, her voice in a teasing
tone. Jason shook his head.
"Oh get over it. I used you, you used me. That's all there was to it," he said before standing up,
turning around to look at her. She smiled wickedly at him, running her hands up her body slowly,
sensually.
"Yes, that's true... but it was still a lot of fun. Even if you did kill my sire," she said, licking her
lips. She stepped closer to him, pressing her body against his tightly. Jason frowned.
"Still upset about that?" he said, a slight tinge of sarcasm creeping into his voice. Callista laughed.
"Portyuos was a child raping bastard. You did me a favor. But that isn't what I came here to talk
about," she said, running a fingernail gently across his lips. "I came to convince you to leave town, and to
stay away from the Slayer."
"Why should I?" Jason said, raising an eyebrow. Callista smiled, tracing the fingernail up his
cheek slowly. His face twitched slightly.
"Because she's going to die, and her little friends will die, and the Sabbat is going to take Los
Angeles and all these little shit-hole suburbs in an orgy of blood, and there isn't a damn thing you can do
about it darling," Callista said sweetly. She smiled an almost innocent smile up at Jason.
"The Anarchs might have something to say about that. They did fight off a siege once before," he
replied. Callista laughed again.
"The Anarchs are not going to be a consideration this time. Why don't you just leave? The
Archbishop doesn't care about you, really. Just go. Or you could come with me... we could go kill the
Slayer together..." she said, leaning up to brush her lips against his ear.
At that moment, a loud bang filled the room. A spray of blood, flesh and bone blew out of
Callista's back. She flew backwards, hitting the ground where she lay, writhing in pain, dark blood seeping
onto the floor. Jason stood over her, the 9mm handgun he had shot her with pointed idly at the ground, it's
barrel smoking.
"You are lucky I didn't have my special ammo loaded, or you'd be a quickly rotting corpse right
now," he said, no emotion in his voice. Callista snarled, and slowly got to her feet, the one hand over her
belly the only thing holding her intestines in.
"I gave you a chance lover," she spoke, blood bubbling up out of her mouth. "You won't get
another one." She stumbled off toward the restroom, and out of sight. Jason waited a minute until he heard
the storm drain slam shut. He walked back to the desk, sat down, and picked up the Cup Noodle again.
_ _ _ _ _
Willow stood in an endless field of flowers, utterly confused. She looked around, wondering to
herself how she had gotten here. She glanced downward, then blushed brightly when she noticed she was
naked. She crossed her arms over her breasts.
How embarrassing, she thought.
She took another look around. There was nothing but flowers for as far as the eye can see.
"Pretty isn't it?" a feminine voice said. Willow jumped almost a foot and a half, and spun around,
looking for where the voice came from. She still saw nothing.
"Hello?" she said timidly.
"Hello Willow," the voice said. "Don't worry about finding me. It isn't time for us to meet face to
face yet." Willow noticed that while the voice was almost below a whisper, she could hear it clearly.
"Who are you? What's you name?" Willow asked, nervously. The voice laughed.
"Names have power, Willow. You should know that. Never ask for a name, ask what someone
would like to be called," the voice said, amused.
"Okay, what should I call you?" Willow asked.
"I've been called a lot of things over the years... I think you should call me Orchid," the voice said.
Willow could almost imagine the voice as smiling.
"Okay Orchid. Where am I?" she asked.
"You are in the Dreaming right now, that is not important though. Everyone comes here when they
dream," Orchid said.
"This is a dream?" Willow asked.
"Yes Willow... a large portion of your life is a dream. You have been Sleeping. However, since
you met the Slayer, you have been slowly Waking Up. Soon, you will have to cast the veil from your eyes
completely, Willow," Orchid said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked. At that moment, a loud, inhuman shrieking filled the air.
Willow groaned and pressed her hands against her ears, falling to her knees. The noise changed into the
ringing of a telephone. She opened her eyes and found herself lying in her bed. He phone was ringing.
Willow shot up and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she spoke into the phone sleepily.
"Will? It's Buffy. It's almost noon girl, since when did you sleep this late?" Buffy's voice came
over the line. Willow blinked, looking at her clock. It was almost noon.
"I must have been tired from last night," she said distractedly.
"No prob. Look, you need to come over to Giles' place," Buffy said.
"Why?" Willow asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
"Faith is missing. Someone took her out of the hospital," Buffy said quietly.
Willow dropped the phone.
End of Chapter Two
