Duty of the Slayer – Part II
Chapter Four
"So what you're saying is… You got your butts kicked by a hot Vampire dressed in leather." Xander leaned back in his chair with a goofy grin on his face, "I would have paid to see that."
Everyone was gathered in the library to hear about what happened on Buffy's patrol last night. Giles was digesting the information still, not really paying attention to what was said now. Already the wheels were starting to spin in the Watcher's head in trying to figure out this new mystery. Buffy was still staring at Xander from across the table. Sometimes even her friend's one track mind baffled her, "Xander, I think you missed the point."
"No I got it. There's a new big bad Vampire in town that threw you and Faith around like an afterthought. So," he rubbed his hands together, "let's get back to the sweaty fighting. We need to know her… OW!!!"
"That's enough help from you." Xander looked over at his girlfriend while rubbing his arm. Cordelia heard quite enough and was sick of watching Xander drool all over himself. He tried to protest but shot him a look which silence him quickly.
Willow and Oz exchanged looks of amusements. The redhead couldn't help but think how cute Xander was when he was all pouty. She stopped for a moment and frowned. There it was again. Those unwarranted thoughts that needed to leave her mind before they got her into trouble. Well, trouble was already had between Willow and Xander since Homecoming but it was his fault being so adorable in that tux! She was with Oz though. Willow loved him so much but the temptation that the first guy she ever had feelings for finally noticed her was alluring … alluring and bad. They both needed to get their acts together because they were already with people that cared about them. Xander had Cordelia and she had her Oz…
Perhaps it was his enhanced senses or just simply he loved Willow so much, Oz could feel that something was bothering her. He already noticed that she was thinking about something deeply but it wasn't about this new Vampire. That would be a different Willow look. He leaned close to her, speaking quietly, "Hey… You alright?"
Hearing Oz's voice brought Willow back to the present and she tried to not look flustered, "What? Me? Alright?" Well, she tried.
Oz squeezed her hand reassuringly and wrapped an arm around Willow's shoulders, "Yeah. You seem kinda, I dunno, tense."
She shrugged and laughed, "Nah. I was just trying to figure, y'know, things out because I'm worried about Buffy and this new brand of evil. Since evil is coming only in one package this time means that the threat of evil isn't so obvious so I was trying to figure it out."
"Well, it is going to be hard to distinguish this Vampire's identity with the description that Buffy has provided," chimed Giles and Willow was grateful for the Watcher bringing things back on topic. He removed his glasses and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, "Is there anything else you can remember about her, Buffy?"
"Nope. There was nothing about her that stood out. Brown hair, pale, and she wore all black. No tats or weapons that I could see." An odd thought ran through the Slayer's mind, "It was kinda like a Vampy version of Faith."
"Now there's a thought," Oz said.
Willow snorted, "Yeah, instead of being hungry and horny we get blood thirsty and horny."
"You say that like it's a totally bad thing." Xander could feel it coming and put his arms up in defense against Cordelia.
She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to pretend her boyfriend wasn't that immature, "Speaking of Faith," Cordelia looked to the group, "where is she? Shouldn't she be here since she found the Vampire first?"
Giles finished cleaning his glasses and slid them back into place, "Cordelia's right. How badly was she injured last night? Perhaps that would explain Faith's absence."
Buffy shrunk down into her chair trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, "I don't think it's that."
"Buffy… What happened?" She was trying to use the pleading look to get Giles to back off but it wasn't going to work, "Buffy…"
Sighing, she sat herself upright and told herself that she was going to explain things calmly and rationally, "Faith and I had a fight. Not a fist fight but a regular fight where she got upset because I was a complete idiot that doesn't know when to back off and made things completely worse since the whole, guess what… Angel is alive thing. So our non-talking is probably non-everything now which is why she isn't here. To not break that non-nothing thing."
Everyone stared at Buffy, trying to piece together what came out of her mouth. The Slayer was starting to think that her calm and rational explanation didn't work out so well since no one was saying anything. Cordelia was the one to break the silence by standing up and getting her books together, "I don't know about you guys, but I have class." She swung her purse over her shoulder and stared at Buffy, "And here I thought Willow only had the brain cells for babble mode."
"It was an impressive impersonation," Oz said to no one in particular.
Cordelia left the table followed by Xander standing up with an uncomfortable laugh. He was frantically trying to think of something to say but all that came out was, "Later, Buffster."
Willow's looked to her best friend and her face shifted as she tried to get something to come out her mouth. Buffy patted her hand and forced a smile, "Its Cordelia remember. She's evil."
"In more ways then one," she pouted.
Oz got up and tugged at his girlfriend gently, "We're gonna be late."
"Go on you two, I'll catch up. I need to talk to Giles about something."
Willow picked up her things and Buffy watched the couple leave. As soon as the door to the library closed, she turned to her Watcher, "I'm going to ask Angel for help."
"I'm not sure that is…"
"A good idea? Giles… Angel can get into places that I can't. Someone out there knows about this new Vampire and we need that information."
"I was going to say wise, Buffy. I know how valuable an ally Angel is."
Buffy stood down, "Oh."
"But your being around Angel is dangerous. I want to be sure that your safe and nothing happens to you."
The words that she heard hurt deeply but Giles had a right to be concerned. "Answer me this." Buffy looked deeply into her Watcher's, her friend's, eyes and asked, "Do you trust me."
This was an important question being asked by his charge. With keeping Angel hidden, Buffy had suffered the consequences with her lie. Now it wasn't the time to keep dwelling in the past. What's done is done and now she needed his support. "Of course I do."
"Then let me talk to Angel and see what he can find. I need to know who we're facing and we both know those books of yours aren't going to be of much help yet."
He smiled, "No. I suppose you're right. Let me know what happens and please… Be careful."
Her eyes had misted over and Buffy picked up her books. She walked up behind where Giles was sitting and wrapped an arm around his neck, squeezing him gently, "Thank you."
Giles lowered his head and was grateful that Buffy couldn't see his face. He couldn't say anything because he was afraid that his voice would crack. Instead, he lifted his hand up and returned the embrace. She was like a daughter to him and it was moments like this that reinforced those paternal feelings.
"It's not my fault! How the hell was I suppose to know that Faith was gonna show up?" Aliya was pacing back and forth between the living room and kitchen. She put off calling Donovon all day. It was a staring contest between her and the cordless phone, with her chickening out and walking away. When it finally turned noon, Aliya finally let her fingers do the dialing and was being chewed out as expected.
"Because it is your job to know, Aliya."
She pulled her arm back and started to punch the wall. Before it connected, Aliya stopped herself and instead ran a hand through her hair, "Look… Donovon. I've been trying to watch the girl like I have Buffy, but she isn't as easy to read and figure out. Trust me, I've tried." She knew that he was right but who wouldn't get defensive when their duty was being questioned.
"Sounds familiar," Donovan mumbled away from receiver.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I was trying to say you hadn't factored Faith into your plan completely and that was the cause of your being caught, which then led to the other Slayer finding you as well."
Aliya stopped her pacing and sighed, "I know. I messed up but do recall this is the first time I let anyone down and I did find the knife."
"And now it is time to rectify the mistake. I will put my plans into action sooner then expected but it should help in covering your tracks and finding the sword. You know what you need to do?"
"Yes. Clean up starts tonight."
"So that's the story." For the second time today, Buffy finished telling her story of how patrol went last night. Well, at least the highlights. She didn't want to go into what happened with her and Faith again. That was still a sore spot even for Angel. It wasn't that long ago when Faith showed up at the mansion with death set in her eyes. Angel was over it, this Buffy knew, but it still wasn't a fun topic to talk about. She watched as Angel tended to the fire, wondering what he was thinking. Buffy had found him in the middle of his Tai Chi exercises and hated to interrupt. Before everyone found out about his return, they shared those exercises together in a form of training. How she wished for those moments again. It was just her and Angel. Nothing else mattered or existed. But it did matter. Their love was forbidden and there was nothing that could be done to change that. It also didn't help that Angel forgot to button the front of his black silk shirt…
Angel stood up and replaced the poker back in the stand before turning around. Buffy quickly diverted her eyes from his chest to his face. "That isn't much to go on but I can probably find something out. I can start looking in the usual places but I'll need a few days."
"I understand and thank you. There's something odd about this Vamp. I just… I dunno. Must be that good old Slayer instinct."
Angel smiled somewhat, "Yeah. Must be."
He started to say something else but closed his mouth, thinking better of it. This was Buffy's cue to leave. "I better go. I got to study and all." The uncomfortable tension between them got to her a long time ago. As soon as she started explaining things to Angel she crossed her arms around her body like it could create a shield so there would be no pain.
"I understand. Good luck on… On your studying."
"Thanks. I think. I don't need much luck opening a book. Unless I fall asleep without opening it." She shook her head and stopped herself. Buffy had enough babbling for one day, "Night, Angel and be careful."
"I will. I promise." Angel started to button his shirt as he left to go get ready
Buffy closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from throwing something at him. "He would wait until I was leaving to do that," she grumbled as she left the mansion.
"So's, looks like ya had a rough night, eh?" Willy poured the downtrodden Vampire that just down at the bar some fresh blood. As soon as the Vampire raised his head, Willy took a step back and cringed, "Now that my friends a nasty shiner. Let me guess, brunette?"
He shook his head yes, "It was bad enough with one and now there's two!" The anger from yesterday's interruption from his feeding forced his face to shift. He snarled and downed the offered blood in one gulp before setting the glass down. "There shouldn't be two!" The glass cracked and then shattered in his hand as rage got the better of him.
Willy watched the blood oozing in-between the Vampire's fingers and looked at his customer, "You're payin' for that."
The door to the bar swung opened and everything just stopped inside. Those that could breathe felt their chests constrict with fear, and those closest to the entrance moved towards the back of the room to get away from the person that walked in.
Needless to say, Willy wasn't happy seeing the tall dark haired Vampire that walked in, but he pretended to be. "Angel! So good ta see ya! Want something ta drink?"
Angel calmly walked to the bar counter and sat down, "No." He turned and glared at the injured Vampire next to him, "I think you need to clean that up."
The Vampire's lips curled into a sneer but it had no effect on someone like Angel. He picked out a couple of the glass bits in his hand and flicked them away, before he got up and left.
"Don't think I'm not puttin that on your tab!" Willy shouted as he put away the bottle of blood. Grumbling a few obscenities, he started to clean up the mess that was left behind, "Ya know what I love aboutcha Angel?" He took the silence as his cue to continue, "You scare away my business. Whadya want?"
"Information."
"Ha!" He scoffed and turned around to throw away the broken glass, "Doesn't everybody."
"About a new Vampire in town."
"You gotta be kiddin' me?" Willy faced Angel with a fresh glass and set it down before him, "There's a ton of you guys coming and going in this town. Even I can't keep track."
"Humor me."
"Eh, depends on whatcha got."
"Not much of a description but…"
Willy shook his head and poured Angel a drink, "You know what I meant."
Angel slipped a hand inside his jacket and stopped, "I was thinking the usual."
A grin came across the bartender's face, "Heh. Well, all I'm askin' is that you don't come 'round here that much. Considering your rep now… Well, like I said, you scare away my customers."
"Fair enough. She's about 5'6" to 5'8", appears to be in her early to mid- twenties, thin, has long brown hair and was wearing all black. Only distinguishing feature is a long leather trench coat but even that's not much."
The bartender corked the bottle and thought about it for awhile. "With that, you described about a dozen or so of my clientele or people that my clientele have told me about, which some are human. I can't help ya, man. Not unless you got something else?"
Angel lowered his head, "No."
"Well, sorry couldn't help." He tapped the glass once, "But ya can have this on the house."
"Not surprising." His eyes rolled upwards to stare at Willy, "but if you hear anything…"
"Yeah, yeah… I know, I know. I'll keep ya in mind. Kay?"
The Vampire sniffed at the free drink and felt his eyes begin to water, "You should be condemned for serving this." With that, Angel took his leave frustrated that another place turned up with no information. Willy was the best source for practically anything but Buffy gave him little to work with. That was his best shot but now the bartender had an idea what Angel was looking for. The man wasn't called Willy the Snitch for no reason and he would be a fool thinking that this was the last he would see of Angel.
Back inside the bar, things were returning to some semblance of normalcy. People continued their conversations at a relaxed level and the tables at the front of the bar slowly became filled. Even the Vampire that was chased away by Angel was back at the counter and enjoying the free drink that was left. Not all Vampires held such high standards.
Willy leaned over the bar, "Tell me honestly. It's good right?"
He swallowed, "I'm not spitting it out am I?"
"Heh, good point." Just then Willy turned around when he heard someone trying to get his attention. He squinted his eyes towards the backroom door and saw someone disappear from view. "I'll be right back."
He walked into the back room and flipped on the lights. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the change and he started looking around. There was nothing but cases of beer, keg's and boxes of various kinds of alcohol that could been seen. Even the cage was empty and the trap door that led to the sewers was closed. He was apparently alone.
A lighter flipped on and Willy screamed like a little girl with his arms flaying about. It felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest when he turned around and saw Aliya leaning on the door taking a long drag from her cigarette, "Jesus woman, you scared the hell outta me."
She shrugged, putting her lighter away and blew out a long trail of smoke, "The point was not to be seen. Did you honestly think I be doing this out there now?"
"Well, no but I wouldn't have lost three years right now."
She dangled the tip of her cigarette off her lips and reached into her pocket, "Here." A wad of cash was tossed over at Willy, "Should be all there."
His greedy little eyes lit up as he flipped through the bills, "Oh I believe ya. Ya never steered me wrong."
"Keep it up and there'll be more. So," Aliya pushed herself off the door and was looking at a few cases, "… where's Antonio and Maria. I owe them a favor."
Considering what she wanted Willy to do, he had a pretty good idea what that favor was. He almost felt bad about letting her know where they were. Almost. "They have a new place over at the docks. By pier three."
"Thanks." She grabbed one end of the box of Jack Daniel's and ripped it opened, "I'll probably be back in a couple of days depending how things go."
Willy sighed, "By all means."
A smile appeared quickly as it disappeared. The double meaning wasn't lost on Aliya as she took a bottle and walked up to Willy, placing the cigarette in his mouth, "You're a Saint." She placed a small pat on his cheek before she slipped down the trap door.
He watched the last folds of her trench coat disappear and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, "Yeah. A Saint."
Chapter Five
"Don't worry so much Buffy. Just think of the test as a three hour mental endurance challenge."
Buffy looked at her best friend and was not convinced, "Try torture, Will. These tests do nothing to really prove intelligence or knowledge."
Willow scoffed and pushed the door to the library open, "And what else is there to base your education on, Buffy. High School grades?"
"Well, it's not like I don't want to do well." The two of them walked inside. "Countless Vampires and world catastrophe's are very inconvenient for a proper education."
"Especially super late night patrolling," said Willow with authority.
"Damn right." Both of them paused when neither of them spotted Giles around. There were rare occasions when the Watcher wasn't inside the library but those were the times when he was out looking for Buffy. With her acute sense of hearing, Buffy heard some muffled voices coming from Giles' office. "Hmm."
"What's up?"
"Not sure but seems like Giles has some company," she said, and started to walk to the office.
"Be careful."
Buffy stopped and looked at her friend oddly.
The redhead shrugged, "It could be Principle Snyder lecturing him again."
That caused the Slayer to shudder but continue, until the door shot open. It barely missed hitting Buffy. Giles looked surprised in seeing his charge which then quickly melted into concerned, "Buffy?! I didn't hear you come in. Are you alright?"
She nodded, "Yep. Close encounter with the door kind but fine." Buffy was smiling until another man walked out of Giles' office. He was unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. Dressed proper in a three-piece suit that was perfectly press, distinguished in his looks and carried himself with refinement. It was a presence she hadn't felt since first meeting Giles. Minus the glasses and a few years, add chocolate colored hair that didn't have a strand out of place, it was him. Of course, seeing this stranger didn't rattle the Slayer, "Let me guess. You're a Watcher."
Giles was impressed and surprised at the same time and looked to his fellow Watcher, "I swear I didn't mention you coming here."
"You knew about this?" said Buffy, stunned.
"He did not know long enough for it to matter, Buffy. Don't be upset with him." The younger Watcher stepped forward and extended a hand, "Donovon Sinclair. Pleased to meet you."
She looked at the offered hand and then at Giles, "He's not evil is he?"
Giles chuckled nervously, "No. Donovon works closely with the Council and is well known."
For the brief time it took for that exchange, Donovon was clueless until he thought about what happened in recent weeks. "You must be referring to Post. My sympathies." Post was a deep wound that the Council hid. It was something that the Watcher wasn't proud of. "That never should have occurred and was sloppy."
The fact that he admitted to a mistake helped to ease Buffy's doubts. It was also the sincere sorrow and regret that she heard in his voice. She took his hand, "You should look into a behind the bars solution for bad Watchers. Now, I'll be pleased to meet you as soon as I know why you're here."
He smiled, "Of course. Please." Donovon let go of Buffy's hand and motioned for everyone to take a seat where Willow was.
As they started to assemble, Willow looked uneasy at the new Watcher, wondering if she should really be here. Her fingers were drumming against the surface of the table and her leg was nervously shifting underneath. Buffy and Giles could feel the table moving and looked over at her. Willow's eyes opened wide, all defensive. "What?"
Donovan interjected, "You can calm down."
"I'm calm. I'm the perfection of calm. I'm like the eye of the storm, all…"
He stopped her before she could continue her description, "Not all Watchers disapprove of the help that the Slayer gets. Your technical skills do not go unnoticed. You are welcomed here, Willow."
Her face couldn't be beaming any brighter unless it was the sun, "Oh. Wow. Thanks." Willow really wanted to say more but actually being praised by a Watcher, other then Giles, caused the part of her brain to form more then a one-word sentence to fail.
"Now, as to why I am here." All eyes turned to focus on Donovon. "For a long time, I have been researching the location of a sword of power. My findings have pointed me here to Sunnydale." He smiled somewhat, "Not surprising since we are literally sitting on the Hellmouth." The collective expressions he saw told him to keep the Hellmouth humor to a minimum. "I am not sure where the blade is located exactly, but I thought working with the Watcher and Slayer assigned here, it would expedite my efforts greatly."
Giles looked at the girls and raised his eyebrows, asking the question without speaking the words. If things weren't so quiet in Sunnydale, Buffy would have some ammo to object with. Her other ammo was looking at her with pleading eyes to work with Donovon. One little complement and Willow was already mushy around the new Watcher. She had to concede, "Need some more information first about the sword before we can get all research mode like."
Donovon's features relaxed, "Thank you. The weapon is called the Sword of Vahlshalynn. It has a very ornate hilt that is carved with runes and a ruby embedded at the end. The blade itself is polished and pure, never growing dull."
"Sounds pretty."
Giles frowned, "The aesthetic nature aside, I have never heard of this weapon."
"Not many have, Giles. Only few know of its existence. Mainly the Watcher Council and close allies. It took some doing to get their approval of this meeting but they trust my judgement." Donovon leaned closer, his eyes growing serious, "We need to get this weapon first before any malevolent entity does."
Willow's was taken in what was said and looked up at the ceiling in thought. Something was nagging at her since seeing the new Watcher and with everything that had happened recently. Her eyes grew wide as it fell into place, "Vampire!"
Buffy shook her head, "Will. Its afternoon now. No Vamps, but they do fall into the category of evil entity."
"I think she meant the new Vampire that you and Faith quarreled with," Giles offered.
This caught Donovon's attention, "New Vampire?"
Willow nodded, "Yeah. This Vampire was strong enough to take on Faith and Buffy and win no less."
The Slayer pouted, "Can we talk about something else?"
"But Buffy, it could be the sword this Vampire is after. I mean, I don't think its coincidence that Donovon is here looking for a sword along with our new big brand of evil."
Giles had to agree, "That does make sense." He turned to Donovon, "Faith and Buffy encountered a female Vampire that was loitering near an old Crypt. That could possibly indicate she was looking for the sword."
"Hmm, perhaps." Donovon looked at the Slayer, "Was she looking for something when you found her?"
The blonde cringed slightly, "Well, actually, I came in when the Vamp was fighting Faith."
"And what was Faith's account of what occurred?"
Buffy mumbled her answer with quick embarrassment, "Wehaven'thadachancetotalkto heryetbecauseofafightwehad."
The young Watcher blinked in confusion, "Come again, girl?"
Giles shifted in his chair, "What Buffy is trying to say is that Faith has been avoiding us because of an altercation between them."
"Well, I think you need to talk to her and put your differences aside. We need to know what Faith saw." His eyes seemed to burrow straight into the green eyes of the Slayer that actually caused her to flinch, "It's imperative, Buffy. We need that information."
The blonde sighed, defeated. Donovon was right and she put off talking to Faith long enough, "Alright. I'll stop by her place after school."
"Want me to come along and help?" asked Willow.
Buffy smiled, "Thanks but no Will. This is between me and Faith."
"Quit staring at the damn door and knock already." Buffy had been standing outside of Faith's motel room for the last five minutes, debating on what she should say to her fellow Slayer once she opened to door. There was no way to determine what mood the Dark Slayer would be in and whether or not she was actually awake. Faith seemed like the person to be up until eight in the morning and wake up at three in the afternoon.
"This is stupid. Knock and say what comes natural. Like, 'Hi Faith. We need to talk.'" She grinned as if proud of the simple sentence, "Direct and to the point. I like." She lifted her hand and finally knocked on the door, "Now to get shot down in record time."
There was no answer after a few moments and Buffy knocked again, "Maybe she's in the bathroom?"
Again, there was nothing but silence. Buffy leaned over to peek through the window but the drapes were drawn. "Not home, or are you ignoring me." She grabbed hold of the doorknob and turned it to the right, then left and finally shoved the door opened. When Faith and her were actually on speaking terms, the brunette mentioned the door could open without a key. You just had to know how to jiggle the handle right. Good thing Buffy was paying attention. Poking her head inside, the room was dark since the lights were turned off and there was no noise. Buffy stepped inside the disheveled room, taking note of the unmade bed, clothes lying around and countless pizza and Chinese food containers scattered around the floor. She took a quick look in the bathroom but there was no Faith to be found.
Buffy came back into the middle of the main room and kicked an empty beer bottle over, "Great."
"This has nothing in it." Xander slammed the book closed and tossed it on the table, "And yes Giles, I made sure to read over the pages twice." He rubbed his tired eyes and yawned.
So far nothing could be found with the old fashion research methods. Xander and Cordelia were focusing on Sunnydale's history, trying to find anything mentioning the sword, while Giles was trying to find any information about the sword itself. Donovon hadn't been researching the weapon for that long and only knew that it was magical in nature and was for good, not evil.
That really didn't narrow the search. Giles was thumbing through his volumes in the book cage and was perplexed. "Willow? Did you happen to come in here and rearrange anything?"
Willow stopped typing at her laptop and turned around to look at Giles, shaking her head, "Nope."
"Odd." He pulled three different leather bound books from the rack and inspected them curiously, "I wonder who did… Were you able to find anything, Willow?"
"No," the redhead returned to her screen, "I checked to see if by chance the sword was acquired by any museums in town, but nope. I'm trying something else now. The crypts near where Buffy and Faith found that Vampire… I'm researching the family lines and seeing if that comes up with anything. Considering I don't know which crypt she could have been in, I'm trying them all." She sighed, "That's gonna take awhile."
"I thank you for your efforts as always."
Cordelia flipped the page of the volume she was reading and coughed, as the tome was thick with dust, "Don't you people ever clean these things. Yuck."
"Aw come on hun," Xander yawned out, "They like the dust. The more dust the better. Guys here like to compare cars and sports facts. In Watcherville, the thicker the dust on the books, the more respect you get."
Giles rolled his eyes, "I will pretend I didn't hear that."
Xander pulled another book towards him and opened it to the first chapter, "'A Foundation for the Future: The Early Years of Sunnydale.' You know history isn't my strong point. I'll probably fall asleep after the first paragraph."
Cordelia had a smirk on her face, "Like you have any strong points when it comes to school dear."
"Don't you just feel the love," said Xander with an exaggerated grin on his face, which mirrored his girlfriend's.
"Confound it all!" All eyes turned to look at Giles in the book cage. "Whoever was here knew what to look for. I can't find the book of Theriane. It has what we needed and it's not here!"
"Maybe you misplaced it?" offered Willow.
Giles placed the books he was holding on top of the filing cabinet, "You all know I keep a watchful eye on these books, potions and weapons that are locked inside here. Someone knew what to look for. It means that any diagrams, abilities and history of that weapon, which might have been found, were in that book."
"You don't think that Vampire knew to look in there?" asked Xander.
"I honestly don't know. But if it's true, that is quite disheartening and this enemy is more deadly and cunning then we possibly thought."
"Why do I bother coming back here?" Faith sighed as she hugged the shadows that were created by the crypt. For the last week since her encounter with that Vampire, the Slayer had made it a point to keep an eye on the Engelson Crypt. Faith had no idea it was called that until she came back to the crypt after loosing that Vampire's trail. The family name was weather worn but when Faith focused long enough, the letters made sense. It had to be one of the oldest crypts in this cemetery just by the overgrown vegetation and the decade old headstones surrounding it.
Now the chances of that Vampire coming back were beyond negative odds. What the Slayer was looking for was any other supernatural, or non-supernatural, that was interested in this crypt. She had caught glimpses of that Vampire looking through those coffins and pulling out a small knife. Faith didn't get a good look at it and was hoping to dust the Vampire and claim it, but that plan failed miserably. She unconsciously winced as she remembered being slammed into side of the crypt and being knocked out. Between her humiliation in that fight and Buffy getting on her nerves, Faith vowed to figure this out on her own. Proving to all those followers of the mighty Buffy that she was a Slayer too and could figure things out. She refused to be around them, feeling like an outsider and having to be in Buffy's shadow.
So far this plan of hers had yielded nothing. Faith had been close many times this week in forgetting this whole stupid thing but then remembered why she was doing this. She wasn't going to start something and just drop it. This was her chance to prove to herself she wasn't a screw up and there was a reason she was a Chosen One.
Tonight was Faith's lucky night and her patience was going to pay off. She noticed that there was a man heading towards the crypt that looked out of place. A feeling that ached inside her bones told her this guy was not human. She smiled, all eager for some action and answers, "Finally…" Faith rounded the back of the crypt and extended her Slayer senses. Something was odd about this guy, like that Vampire.
Her instinct was on the mark and Faith knew it. As soon as she saw wisps of white hair, the brunette tackled him to the ground. She landed with a knee into his groin and pinned his arms to the ground, "Alright, Buddy. Time for a little chit-chat." Faith noticed that his left eye carried a deep scar and that his other one was filled with anger. Pissing people off was a talent of hers. One she was proud of.
Andelvon groaned and spat in the girl's face, "Insolent whelp!"
All her Slayer strength wasn't enough to stop him from breaking her hold on his arms and punching Faith in the face. It was like being hit with a brick as she fell off of him. Andelvon unceremoniously shoved the rest of her body off of him and stood up. He spoke as if Faith's mere presence was an affront to his person, "The Dark Slayer… Be gone. I give you but one warning for my quarrel is not with you."
Her head shot up in surprise. Who did this person think he was? "Oh, no, no, no, my friend. You're not gonna get rid of me like that. Besides, " she had to laugh, "I know something you don't know."
This caught Andelvon's attention, "Spit it out quickly."
Faith took her time getting to her feet and then walked over by Andelvon, stopping a few feet away from him. She put on her sweetest smile and leaned forward, "You asked for it." She winked and then spit right in his face, returning the favor. Faith then quickly smashed a right kick into the side of Andelvon and backhanded him across the face. "You really need to learn how ta treat a lady."
It was like watching something out the Matrix. Andelvon was falling backwards but he never fell. His feet stayed firmly planted on the ground as his upper body bent over. He steadied himself with his arms and leaned back, staring straight into confused brown eyes, "Not smart are you Dark Slayer." Both of his hands chopped down on the side of her shoulders and Faith yelled out in pain. A vicious sneer broke across his lips as he choked her, "Why are you here?"
If she were not hurting so much, she would love to spit in his face again or at least say something insulting. Both her arms were dislocated and her ability to breathe was taken from her. A pleasant laugh that was seemingly out of place for this white haired man, escaped from those thin lips, "You don't wish to be social now? Very well."
With his free hand, he punched her in the stomach and broke two ribs. All her mind could do was register the pain. Lungs that craved air were on fire each time she heaved for breath. Faith struggled in his grasp, trying to kick with her feet but Andelvon shrugged them off as if she was a fly, "The pain too much?" His speed was incredible and the Slayer never saw him ready himself to attack. He leveled his elbow into her sternum and let her fall to the ground.
Faith wanted to grab at her throat, like most do, but her arms were useless. What had she gotten herself into? A foot across the back of her neck reminded Faith that Andelvon had not left. She could feel his steely gaze penetrating the back of her head and then she could feel him, searching around her mind. These violations of her own being caused her to snap, "GET OUT OF MY MIND YOU BASTARD!!!"
"I will my dear." His good eye narrowed as he concentrated fully on finding why this Slayer was here, "As soon as I find what I am looking for." Her screams went unnoticed as he tore through her most recent memories and stopped. His eyes bulged out of his sockets as his rage seethed to what he saw, "No… Not again!" His scowl deepened as Andelvon looked down at her, "You have been most helpful. Now I leave you to your fate Dark Slayer." He lifted his foot off her neck and headed towards the crypt. His voice was a shadow, quiet and distant to Faith's hearing, "I know they will not be as benevolent as I."
She had no idea what the hell he was talking about and trying to figure out what he said was making her head hurt even more. "Benevolent my ass." It was useless just waiting for someone to just happen to pass by and pick her sorry ass up. By using her feet, Faith pushed herself onto her back and growled in pain, "Sonofabitch! That asshole is gonna fucking pay!"
"Oh… is that so Slayer?"
Faith rolled her head to find a pack of five Vampires in greeting. Now what that bleach blonde said made more sense. She assessed the situation and the situation wasn't good. Five hungry Vampires and a Slayer that was completely messed up with no arms to wield a stake weren't real good odds.
They stalked closer and put on their game faces, "Time for a little payback Slayer Bitch."
Faith was now starting to see that pissing people off wasn't such a good idea…
To be continued…
Chapter Four
"So what you're saying is… You got your butts kicked by a hot Vampire dressed in leather." Xander leaned back in his chair with a goofy grin on his face, "I would have paid to see that."
Everyone was gathered in the library to hear about what happened on Buffy's patrol last night. Giles was digesting the information still, not really paying attention to what was said now. Already the wheels were starting to spin in the Watcher's head in trying to figure out this new mystery. Buffy was still staring at Xander from across the table. Sometimes even her friend's one track mind baffled her, "Xander, I think you missed the point."
"No I got it. There's a new big bad Vampire in town that threw you and Faith around like an afterthought. So," he rubbed his hands together, "let's get back to the sweaty fighting. We need to know her… OW!!!"
"That's enough help from you." Xander looked over at his girlfriend while rubbing his arm. Cordelia heard quite enough and was sick of watching Xander drool all over himself. He tried to protest but shot him a look which silence him quickly.
Willow and Oz exchanged looks of amusements. The redhead couldn't help but think how cute Xander was when he was all pouty. She stopped for a moment and frowned. There it was again. Those unwarranted thoughts that needed to leave her mind before they got her into trouble. Well, trouble was already had between Willow and Xander since Homecoming but it was his fault being so adorable in that tux! She was with Oz though. Willow loved him so much but the temptation that the first guy she ever had feelings for finally noticed her was alluring … alluring and bad. They both needed to get their acts together because they were already with people that cared about them. Xander had Cordelia and she had her Oz…
Perhaps it was his enhanced senses or just simply he loved Willow so much, Oz could feel that something was bothering her. He already noticed that she was thinking about something deeply but it wasn't about this new Vampire. That would be a different Willow look. He leaned close to her, speaking quietly, "Hey… You alright?"
Hearing Oz's voice brought Willow back to the present and she tried to not look flustered, "What? Me? Alright?" Well, she tried.
Oz squeezed her hand reassuringly and wrapped an arm around Willow's shoulders, "Yeah. You seem kinda, I dunno, tense."
She shrugged and laughed, "Nah. I was just trying to figure, y'know, things out because I'm worried about Buffy and this new brand of evil. Since evil is coming only in one package this time means that the threat of evil isn't so obvious so I was trying to figure it out."
"Well, it is going to be hard to distinguish this Vampire's identity with the description that Buffy has provided," chimed Giles and Willow was grateful for the Watcher bringing things back on topic. He removed his glasses and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, "Is there anything else you can remember about her, Buffy?"
"Nope. There was nothing about her that stood out. Brown hair, pale, and she wore all black. No tats or weapons that I could see." An odd thought ran through the Slayer's mind, "It was kinda like a Vampy version of Faith."
"Now there's a thought," Oz said.
Willow snorted, "Yeah, instead of being hungry and horny we get blood thirsty and horny."
"You say that like it's a totally bad thing." Xander could feel it coming and put his arms up in defense against Cordelia.
She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to pretend her boyfriend wasn't that immature, "Speaking of Faith," Cordelia looked to the group, "where is she? Shouldn't she be here since she found the Vampire first?"
Giles finished cleaning his glasses and slid them back into place, "Cordelia's right. How badly was she injured last night? Perhaps that would explain Faith's absence."
Buffy shrunk down into her chair trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, "I don't think it's that."
"Buffy… What happened?" She was trying to use the pleading look to get Giles to back off but it wasn't going to work, "Buffy…"
Sighing, she sat herself upright and told herself that she was going to explain things calmly and rationally, "Faith and I had a fight. Not a fist fight but a regular fight where she got upset because I was a complete idiot that doesn't know when to back off and made things completely worse since the whole, guess what… Angel is alive thing. So our non-talking is probably non-everything now which is why she isn't here. To not break that non-nothing thing."
Everyone stared at Buffy, trying to piece together what came out of her mouth. The Slayer was starting to think that her calm and rational explanation didn't work out so well since no one was saying anything. Cordelia was the one to break the silence by standing up and getting her books together, "I don't know about you guys, but I have class." She swung her purse over her shoulder and stared at Buffy, "And here I thought Willow only had the brain cells for babble mode."
"It was an impressive impersonation," Oz said to no one in particular.
Cordelia left the table followed by Xander standing up with an uncomfortable laugh. He was frantically trying to think of something to say but all that came out was, "Later, Buffster."
Willow's looked to her best friend and her face shifted as she tried to get something to come out her mouth. Buffy patted her hand and forced a smile, "Its Cordelia remember. She's evil."
"In more ways then one," she pouted.
Oz got up and tugged at his girlfriend gently, "We're gonna be late."
"Go on you two, I'll catch up. I need to talk to Giles about something."
Willow picked up her things and Buffy watched the couple leave. As soon as the door to the library closed, she turned to her Watcher, "I'm going to ask Angel for help."
"I'm not sure that is…"
"A good idea? Giles… Angel can get into places that I can't. Someone out there knows about this new Vampire and we need that information."
"I was going to say wise, Buffy. I know how valuable an ally Angel is."
Buffy stood down, "Oh."
"But your being around Angel is dangerous. I want to be sure that your safe and nothing happens to you."
The words that she heard hurt deeply but Giles had a right to be concerned. "Answer me this." Buffy looked deeply into her Watcher's, her friend's, eyes and asked, "Do you trust me."
This was an important question being asked by his charge. With keeping Angel hidden, Buffy had suffered the consequences with her lie. Now it wasn't the time to keep dwelling in the past. What's done is done and now she needed his support. "Of course I do."
"Then let me talk to Angel and see what he can find. I need to know who we're facing and we both know those books of yours aren't going to be of much help yet."
He smiled, "No. I suppose you're right. Let me know what happens and please… Be careful."
Her eyes had misted over and Buffy picked up her books. She walked up behind where Giles was sitting and wrapped an arm around his neck, squeezing him gently, "Thank you."
Giles lowered his head and was grateful that Buffy couldn't see his face. He couldn't say anything because he was afraid that his voice would crack. Instead, he lifted his hand up and returned the embrace. She was like a daughter to him and it was moments like this that reinforced those paternal feelings.
"It's not my fault! How the hell was I suppose to know that Faith was gonna show up?" Aliya was pacing back and forth between the living room and kitchen. She put off calling Donovon all day. It was a staring contest between her and the cordless phone, with her chickening out and walking away. When it finally turned noon, Aliya finally let her fingers do the dialing and was being chewed out as expected.
"Because it is your job to know, Aliya."
She pulled her arm back and started to punch the wall. Before it connected, Aliya stopped herself and instead ran a hand through her hair, "Look… Donovon. I've been trying to watch the girl like I have Buffy, but she isn't as easy to read and figure out. Trust me, I've tried." She knew that he was right but who wouldn't get defensive when their duty was being questioned.
"Sounds familiar," Donovan mumbled away from receiver.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I was trying to say you hadn't factored Faith into your plan completely and that was the cause of your being caught, which then led to the other Slayer finding you as well."
Aliya stopped her pacing and sighed, "I know. I messed up but do recall this is the first time I let anyone down and I did find the knife."
"And now it is time to rectify the mistake. I will put my plans into action sooner then expected but it should help in covering your tracks and finding the sword. You know what you need to do?"
"Yes. Clean up starts tonight."
"So that's the story." For the second time today, Buffy finished telling her story of how patrol went last night. Well, at least the highlights. She didn't want to go into what happened with her and Faith again. That was still a sore spot even for Angel. It wasn't that long ago when Faith showed up at the mansion with death set in her eyes. Angel was over it, this Buffy knew, but it still wasn't a fun topic to talk about. She watched as Angel tended to the fire, wondering what he was thinking. Buffy had found him in the middle of his Tai Chi exercises and hated to interrupt. Before everyone found out about his return, they shared those exercises together in a form of training. How she wished for those moments again. It was just her and Angel. Nothing else mattered or existed. But it did matter. Their love was forbidden and there was nothing that could be done to change that. It also didn't help that Angel forgot to button the front of his black silk shirt…
Angel stood up and replaced the poker back in the stand before turning around. Buffy quickly diverted her eyes from his chest to his face. "That isn't much to go on but I can probably find something out. I can start looking in the usual places but I'll need a few days."
"I understand and thank you. There's something odd about this Vamp. I just… I dunno. Must be that good old Slayer instinct."
Angel smiled somewhat, "Yeah. Must be."
He started to say something else but closed his mouth, thinking better of it. This was Buffy's cue to leave. "I better go. I got to study and all." The uncomfortable tension between them got to her a long time ago. As soon as she started explaining things to Angel she crossed her arms around her body like it could create a shield so there would be no pain.
"I understand. Good luck on… On your studying."
"Thanks. I think. I don't need much luck opening a book. Unless I fall asleep without opening it." She shook her head and stopped herself. Buffy had enough babbling for one day, "Night, Angel and be careful."
"I will. I promise." Angel started to button his shirt as he left to go get ready
Buffy closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from throwing something at him. "He would wait until I was leaving to do that," she grumbled as she left the mansion.
"So's, looks like ya had a rough night, eh?" Willy poured the downtrodden Vampire that just down at the bar some fresh blood. As soon as the Vampire raised his head, Willy took a step back and cringed, "Now that my friends a nasty shiner. Let me guess, brunette?"
He shook his head yes, "It was bad enough with one and now there's two!" The anger from yesterday's interruption from his feeding forced his face to shift. He snarled and downed the offered blood in one gulp before setting the glass down. "There shouldn't be two!" The glass cracked and then shattered in his hand as rage got the better of him.
Willy watched the blood oozing in-between the Vampire's fingers and looked at his customer, "You're payin' for that."
The door to the bar swung opened and everything just stopped inside. Those that could breathe felt their chests constrict with fear, and those closest to the entrance moved towards the back of the room to get away from the person that walked in.
Needless to say, Willy wasn't happy seeing the tall dark haired Vampire that walked in, but he pretended to be. "Angel! So good ta see ya! Want something ta drink?"
Angel calmly walked to the bar counter and sat down, "No." He turned and glared at the injured Vampire next to him, "I think you need to clean that up."
The Vampire's lips curled into a sneer but it had no effect on someone like Angel. He picked out a couple of the glass bits in his hand and flicked them away, before he got up and left.
"Don't think I'm not puttin that on your tab!" Willy shouted as he put away the bottle of blood. Grumbling a few obscenities, he started to clean up the mess that was left behind, "Ya know what I love aboutcha Angel?" He took the silence as his cue to continue, "You scare away my business. Whadya want?"
"Information."
"Ha!" He scoffed and turned around to throw away the broken glass, "Doesn't everybody."
"About a new Vampire in town."
"You gotta be kiddin' me?" Willy faced Angel with a fresh glass and set it down before him, "There's a ton of you guys coming and going in this town. Even I can't keep track."
"Humor me."
"Eh, depends on whatcha got."
"Not much of a description but…"
Willy shook his head and poured Angel a drink, "You know what I meant."
Angel slipped a hand inside his jacket and stopped, "I was thinking the usual."
A grin came across the bartender's face, "Heh. Well, all I'm askin' is that you don't come 'round here that much. Considering your rep now… Well, like I said, you scare away my customers."
"Fair enough. She's about 5'6" to 5'8", appears to be in her early to mid- twenties, thin, has long brown hair and was wearing all black. Only distinguishing feature is a long leather trench coat but even that's not much."
The bartender corked the bottle and thought about it for awhile. "With that, you described about a dozen or so of my clientele or people that my clientele have told me about, which some are human. I can't help ya, man. Not unless you got something else?"
Angel lowered his head, "No."
"Well, sorry couldn't help." He tapped the glass once, "But ya can have this on the house."
"Not surprising." His eyes rolled upwards to stare at Willy, "but if you hear anything…"
"Yeah, yeah… I know, I know. I'll keep ya in mind. Kay?"
The Vampire sniffed at the free drink and felt his eyes begin to water, "You should be condemned for serving this." With that, Angel took his leave frustrated that another place turned up with no information. Willy was the best source for practically anything but Buffy gave him little to work with. That was his best shot but now the bartender had an idea what Angel was looking for. The man wasn't called Willy the Snitch for no reason and he would be a fool thinking that this was the last he would see of Angel.
Back inside the bar, things were returning to some semblance of normalcy. People continued their conversations at a relaxed level and the tables at the front of the bar slowly became filled. Even the Vampire that was chased away by Angel was back at the counter and enjoying the free drink that was left. Not all Vampires held such high standards.
Willy leaned over the bar, "Tell me honestly. It's good right?"
He swallowed, "I'm not spitting it out am I?"
"Heh, good point." Just then Willy turned around when he heard someone trying to get his attention. He squinted his eyes towards the backroom door and saw someone disappear from view. "I'll be right back."
He walked into the back room and flipped on the lights. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the change and he started looking around. There was nothing but cases of beer, keg's and boxes of various kinds of alcohol that could been seen. Even the cage was empty and the trap door that led to the sewers was closed. He was apparently alone.
A lighter flipped on and Willy screamed like a little girl with his arms flaying about. It felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest when he turned around and saw Aliya leaning on the door taking a long drag from her cigarette, "Jesus woman, you scared the hell outta me."
She shrugged, putting her lighter away and blew out a long trail of smoke, "The point was not to be seen. Did you honestly think I be doing this out there now?"
"Well, no but I wouldn't have lost three years right now."
She dangled the tip of her cigarette off her lips and reached into her pocket, "Here." A wad of cash was tossed over at Willy, "Should be all there."
His greedy little eyes lit up as he flipped through the bills, "Oh I believe ya. Ya never steered me wrong."
"Keep it up and there'll be more. So," Aliya pushed herself off the door and was looking at a few cases, "… where's Antonio and Maria. I owe them a favor."
Considering what she wanted Willy to do, he had a pretty good idea what that favor was. He almost felt bad about letting her know where they were. Almost. "They have a new place over at the docks. By pier three."
"Thanks." She grabbed one end of the box of Jack Daniel's and ripped it opened, "I'll probably be back in a couple of days depending how things go."
Willy sighed, "By all means."
A smile appeared quickly as it disappeared. The double meaning wasn't lost on Aliya as she took a bottle and walked up to Willy, placing the cigarette in his mouth, "You're a Saint." She placed a small pat on his cheek before she slipped down the trap door.
He watched the last folds of her trench coat disappear and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, "Yeah. A Saint."
Chapter Five
"Don't worry so much Buffy. Just think of the test as a three hour mental endurance challenge."
Buffy looked at her best friend and was not convinced, "Try torture, Will. These tests do nothing to really prove intelligence or knowledge."
Willow scoffed and pushed the door to the library open, "And what else is there to base your education on, Buffy. High School grades?"
"Well, it's not like I don't want to do well." The two of them walked inside. "Countless Vampires and world catastrophe's are very inconvenient for a proper education."
"Especially super late night patrolling," said Willow with authority.
"Damn right." Both of them paused when neither of them spotted Giles around. There were rare occasions when the Watcher wasn't inside the library but those were the times when he was out looking for Buffy. With her acute sense of hearing, Buffy heard some muffled voices coming from Giles' office. "Hmm."
"What's up?"
"Not sure but seems like Giles has some company," she said, and started to walk to the office.
"Be careful."
Buffy stopped and looked at her friend oddly.
The redhead shrugged, "It could be Principle Snyder lecturing him again."
That caused the Slayer to shudder but continue, until the door shot open. It barely missed hitting Buffy. Giles looked surprised in seeing his charge which then quickly melted into concerned, "Buffy?! I didn't hear you come in. Are you alright?"
She nodded, "Yep. Close encounter with the door kind but fine." Buffy was smiling until another man walked out of Giles' office. He was unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. Dressed proper in a three-piece suit that was perfectly press, distinguished in his looks and carried himself with refinement. It was a presence she hadn't felt since first meeting Giles. Minus the glasses and a few years, add chocolate colored hair that didn't have a strand out of place, it was him. Of course, seeing this stranger didn't rattle the Slayer, "Let me guess. You're a Watcher."
Giles was impressed and surprised at the same time and looked to his fellow Watcher, "I swear I didn't mention you coming here."
"You knew about this?" said Buffy, stunned.
"He did not know long enough for it to matter, Buffy. Don't be upset with him." The younger Watcher stepped forward and extended a hand, "Donovon Sinclair. Pleased to meet you."
She looked at the offered hand and then at Giles, "He's not evil is he?"
Giles chuckled nervously, "No. Donovon works closely with the Council and is well known."
For the brief time it took for that exchange, Donovon was clueless until he thought about what happened in recent weeks. "You must be referring to Post. My sympathies." Post was a deep wound that the Council hid. It was something that the Watcher wasn't proud of. "That never should have occurred and was sloppy."
The fact that he admitted to a mistake helped to ease Buffy's doubts. It was also the sincere sorrow and regret that she heard in his voice. She took his hand, "You should look into a behind the bars solution for bad Watchers. Now, I'll be pleased to meet you as soon as I know why you're here."
He smiled, "Of course. Please." Donovon let go of Buffy's hand and motioned for everyone to take a seat where Willow was.
As they started to assemble, Willow looked uneasy at the new Watcher, wondering if she should really be here. Her fingers were drumming against the surface of the table and her leg was nervously shifting underneath. Buffy and Giles could feel the table moving and looked over at her. Willow's eyes opened wide, all defensive. "What?"
Donovan interjected, "You can calm down."
"I'm calm. I'm the perfection of calm. I'm like the eye of the storm, all…"
He stopped her before she could continue her description, "Not all Watchers disapprove of the help that the Slayer gets. Your technical skills do not go unnoticed. You are welcomed here, Willow."
Her face couldn't be beaming any brighter unless it was the sun, "Oh. Wow. Thanks." Willow really wanted to say more but actually being praised by a Watcher, other then Giles, caused the part of her brain to form more then a one-word sentence to fail.
"Now, as to why I am here." All eyes turned to focus on Donovon. "For a long time, I have been researching the location of a sword of power. My findings have pointed me here to Sunnydale." He smiled somewhat, "Not surprising since we are literally sitting on the Hellmouth." The collective expressions he saw told him to keep the Hellmouth humor to a minimum. "I am not sure where the blade is located exactly, but I thought working with the Watcher and Slayer assigned here, it would expedite my efforts greatly."
Giles looked at the girls and raised his eyebrows, asking the question without speaking the words. If things weren't so quiet in Sunnydale, Buffy would have some ammo to object with. Her other ammo was looking at her with pleading eyes to work with Donovon. One little complement and Willow was already mushy around the new Watcher. She had to concede, "Need some more information first about the sword before we can get all research mode like."
Donovon's features relaxed, "Thank you. The weapon is called the Sword of Vahlshalynn. It has a very ornate hilt that is carved with runes and a ruby embedded at the end. The blade itself is polished and pure, never growing dull."
"Sounds pretty."
Giles frowned, "The aesthetic nature aside, I have never heard of this weapon."
"Not many have, Giles. Only few know of its existence. Mainly the Watcher Council and close allies. It took some doing to get their approval of this meeting but they trust my judgement." Donovon leaned closer, his eyes growing serious, "We need to get this weapon first before any malevolent entity does."
Willow's was taken in what was said and looked up at the ceiling in thought. Something was nagging at her since seeing the new Watcher and with everything that had happened recently. Her eyes grew wide as it fell into place, "Vampire!"
Buffy shook her head, "Will. Its afternoon now. No Vamps, but they do fall into the category of evil entity."
"I think she meant the new Vampire that you and Faith quarreled with," Giles offered.
This caught Donovon's attention, "New Vampire?"
Willow nodded, "Yeah. This Vampire was strong enough to take on Faith and Buffy and win no less."
The Slayer pouted, "Can we talk about something else?"
"But Buffy, it could be the sword this Vampire is after. I mean, I don't think its coincidence that Donovon is here looking for a sword along with our new big brand of evil."
Giles had to agree, "That does make sense." He turned to Donovon, "Faith and Buffy encountered a female Vampire that was loitering near an old Crypt. That could possibly indicate she was looking for the sword."
"Hmm, perhaps." Donovon looked at the Slayer, "Was she looking for something when you found her?"
The blonde cringed slightly, "Well, actually, I came in when the Vamp was fighting Faith."
"And what was Faith's account of what occurred?"
Buffy mumbled her answer with quick embarrassment, "Wehaven'thadachancetotalkto heryetbecauseofafightwehad."
The young Watcher blinked in confusion, "Come again, girl?"
Giles shifted in his chair, "What Buffy is trying to say is that Faith has been avoiding us because of an altercation between them."
"Well, I think you need to talk to her and put your differences aside. We need to know what Faith saw." His eyes seemed to burrow straight into the green eyes of the Slayer that actually caused her to flinch, "It's imperative, Buffy. We need that information."
The blonde sighed, defeated. Donovon was right and she put off talking to Faith long enough, "Alright. I'll stop by her place after school."
"Want me to come along and help?" asked Willow.
Buffy smiled, "Thanks but no Will. This is between me and Faith."
"Quit staring at the damn door and knock already." Buffy had been standing outside of Faith's motel room for the last five minutes, debating on what she should say to her fellow Slayer once she opened to door. There was no way to determine what mood the Dark Slayer would be in and whether or not she was actually awake. Faith seemed like the person to be up until eight in the morning and wake up at three in the afternoon.
"This is stupid. Knock and say what comes natural. Like, 'Hi Faith. We need to talk.'" She grinned as if proud of the simple sentence, "Direct and to the point. I like." She lifted her hand and finally knocked on the door, "Now to get shot down in record time."
There was no answer after a few moments and Buffy knocked again, "Maybe she's in the bathroom?"
Again, there was nothing but silence. Buffy leaned over to peek through the window but the drapes were drawn. "Not home, or are you ignoring me." She grabbed hold of the doorknob and turned it to the right, then left and finally shoved the door opened. When Faith and her were actually on speaking terms, the brunette mentioned the door could open without a key. You just had to know how to jiggle the handle right. Good thing Buffy was paying attention. Poking her head inside, the room was dark since the lights were turned off and there was no noise. Buffy stepped inside the disheveled room, taking note of the unmade bed, clothes lying around and countless pizza and Chinese food containers scattered around the floor. She took a quick look in the bathroom but there was no Faith to be found.
Buffy came back into the middle of the main room and kicked an empty beer bottle over, "Great."
"This has nothing in it." Xander slammed the book closed and tossed it on the table, "And yes Giles, I made sure to read over the pages twice." He rubbed his tired eyes and yawned.
So far nothing could be found with the old fashion research methods. Xander and Cordelia were focusing on Sunnydale's history, trying to find anything mentioning the sword, while Giles was trying to find any information about the sword itself. Donovon hadn't been researching the weapon for that long and only knew that it was magical in nature and was for good, not evil.
That really didn't narrow the search. Giles was thumbing through his volumes in the book cage and was perplexed. "Willow? Did you happen to come in here and rearrange anything?"
Willow stopped typing at her laptop and turned around to look at Giles, shaking her head, "Nope."
"Odd." He pulled three different leather bound books from the rack and inspected them curiously, "I wonder who did… Were you able to find anything, Willow?"
"No," the redhead returned to her screen, "I checked to see if by chance the sword was acquired by any museums in town, but nope. I'm trying something else now. The crypts near where Buffy and Faith found that Vampire… I'm researching the family lines and seeing if that comes up with anything. Considering I don't know which crypt she could have been in, I'm trying them all." She sighed, "That's gonna take awhile."
"I thank you for your efforts as always."
Cordelia flipped the page of the volume she was reading and coughed, as the tome was thick with dust, "Don't you people ever clean these things. Yuck."
"Aw come on hun," Xander yawned out, "They like the dust. The more dust the better. Guys here like to compare cars and sports facts. In Watcherville, the thicker the dust on the books, the more respect you get."
Giles rolled his eyes, "I will pretend I didn't hear that."
Xander pulled another book towards him and opened it to the first chapter, "'A Foundation for the Future: The Early Years of Sunnydale.' You know history isn't my strong point. I'll probably fall asleep after the first paragraph."
Cordelia had a smirk on her face, "Like you have any strong points when it comes to school dear."
"Don't you just feel the love," said Xander with an exaggerated grin on his face, which mirrored his girlfriend's.
"Confound it all!" All eyes turned to look at Giles in the book cage. "Whoever was here knew what to look for. I can't find the book of Theriane. It has what we needed and it's not here!"
"Maybe you misplaced it?" offered Willow.
Giles placed the books he was holding on top of the filing cabinet, "You all know I keep a watchful eye on these books, potions and weapons that are locked inside here. Someone knew what to look for. It means that any diagrams, abilities and history of that weapon, which might have been found, were in that book."
"You don't think that Vampire knew to look in there?" asked Xander.
"I honestly don't know. But if it's true, that is quite disheartening and this enemy is more deadly and cunning then we possibly thought."
"Why do I bother coming back here?" Faith sighed as she hugged the shadows that were created by the crypt. For the last week since her encounter with that Vampire, the Slayer had made it a point to keep an eye on the Engelson Crypt. Faith had no idea it was called that until she came back to the crypt after loosing that Vampire's trail. The family name was weather worn but when Faith focused long enough, the letters made sense. It had to be one of the oldest crypts in this cemetery just by the overgrown vegetation and the decade old headstones surrounding it.
Now the chances of that Vampire coming back were beyond negative odds. What the Slayer was looking for was any other supernatural, or non-supernatural, that was interested in this crypt. She had caught glimpses of that Vampire looking through those coffins and pulling out a small knife. Faith didn't get a good look at it and was hoping to dust the Vampire and claim it, but that plan failed miserably. She unconsciously winced as she remembered being slammed into side of the crypt and being knocked out. Between her humiliation in that fight and Buffy getting on her nerves, Faith vowed to figure this out on her own. Proving to all those followers of the mighty Buffy that she was a Slayer too and could figure things out. She refused to be around them, feeling like an outsider and having to be in Buffy's shadow.
So far this plan of hers had yielded nothing. Faith had been close many times this week in forgetting this whole stupid thing but then remembered why she was doing this. She wasn't going to start something and just drop it. This was her chance to prove to herself she wasn't a screw up and there was a reason she was a Chosen One.
Tonight was Faith's lucky night and her patience was going to pay off. She noticed that there was a man heading towards the crypt that looked out of place. A feeling that ached inside her bones told her this guy was not human. She smiled, all eager for some action and answers, "Finally…" Faith rounded the back of the crypt and extended her Slayer senses. Something was odd about this guy, like that Vampire.
Her instinct was on the mark and Faith knew it. As soon as she saw wisps of white hair, the brunette tackled him to the ground. She landed with a knee into his groin and pinned his arms to the ground, "Alright, Buddy. Time for a little chit-chat." Faith noticed that his left eye carried a deep scar and that his other one was filled with anger. Pissing people off was a talent of hers. One she was proud of.
Andelvon groaned and spat in the girl's face, "Insolent whelp!"
All her Slayer strength wasn't enough to stop him from breaking her hold on his arms and punching Faith in the face. It was like being hit with a brick as she fell off of him. Andelvon unceremoniously shoved the rest of her body off of him and stood up. He spoke as if Faith's mere presence was an affront to his person, "The Dark Slayer… Be gone. I give you but one warning for my quarrel is not with you."
Her head shot up in surprise. Who did this person think he was? "Oh, no, no, no, my friend. You're not gonna get rid of me like that. Besides, " she had to laugh, "I know something you don't know."
This caught Andelvon's attention, "Spit it out quickly."
Faith took her time getting to her feet and then walked over by Andelvon, stopping a few feet away from him. She put on her sweetest smile and leaned forward, "You asked for it." She winked and then spit right in his face, returning the favor. Faith then quickly smashed a right kick into the side of Andelvon and backhanded him across the face. "You really need to learn how ta treat a lady."
It was like watching something out the Matrix. Andelvon was falling backwards but he never fell. His feet stayed firmly planted on the ground as his upper body bent over. He steadied himself with his arms and leaned back, staring straight into confused brown eyes, "Not smart are you Dark Slayer." Both of his hands chopped down on the side of her shoulders and Faith yelled out in pain. A vicious sneer broke across his lips as he choked her, "Why are you here?"
If she were not hurting so much, she would love to spit in his face again or at least say something insulting. Both her arms were dislocated and her ability to breathe was taken from her. A pleasant laugh that was seemingly out of place for this white haired man, escaped from those thin lips, "You don't wish to be social now? Very well."
With his free hand, he punched her in the stomach and broke two ribs. All her mind could do was register the pain. Lungs that craved air were on fire each time she heaved for breath. Faith struggled in his grasp, trying to kick with her feet but Andelvon shrugged them off as if she was a fly, "The pain too much?" His speed was incredible and the Slayer never saw him ready himself to attack. He leveled his elbow into her sternum and let her fall to the ground.
Faith wanted to grab at her throat, like most do, but her arms were useless. What had she gotten herself into? A foot across the back of her neck reminded Faith that Andelvon had not left. She could feel his steely gaze penetrating the back of her head and then she could feel him, searching around her mind. These violations of her own being caused her to snap, "GET OUT OF MY MIND YOU BASTARD!!!"
"I will my dear." His good eye narrowed as he concentrated fully on finding why this Slayer was here, "As soon as I find what I am looking for." Her screams went unnoticed as he tore through her most recent memories and stopped. His eyes bulged out of his sockets as his rage seethed to what he saw, "No… Not again!" His scowl deepened as Andelvon looked down at her, "You have been most helpful. Now I leave you to your fate Dark Slayer." He lifted his foot off her neck and headed towards the crypt. His voice was a shadow, quiet and distant to Faith's hearing, "I know they will not be as benevolent as I."
She had no idea what the hell he was talking about and trying to figure out what he said was making her head hurt even more. "Benevolent my ass." It was useless just waiting for someone to just happen to pass by and pick her sorry ass up. By using her feet, Faith pushed herself onto her back and growled in pain, "Sonofabitch! That asshole is gonna fucking pay!"
"Oh… is that so Slayer?"
Faith rolled her head to find a pack of five Vampires in greeting. Now what that bleach blonde said made more sense. She assessed the situation and the situation wasn't good. Five hungry Vampires and a Slayer that was completely messed up with no arms to wield a stake weren't real good odds.
They stalked closer and put on their game faces, "Time for a little payback Slayer Bitch."
Faith was now starting to see that pissing people off wasn't such a good idea…
To be continued…