Critical Condition
The hospital was a bustle of activity as King rushed through the yawning electrical doors, the bleeding body of Faith cradled gently in his arms. Torn strips from his sweater were wrapped tightly around her side where the sword had plunged into her. At first they'd seemed to work, slowing the blood flow remarkably quickly. They hadn't lasted though. It hadn't taken long for him to smell the blood quickening, and then she was bleeding again, heavier this time, soaking his ragged improvised bandages in a matter of minutes. His eyes were almost weeping in desperation as he rushed through the reception area. He wasn't losing her again. Not again and not like this.
"Somebody help me!" he yelled over the hubbub of the reception. The words sounded alien in his throat. In all his life, both human and vampire, he'd never once asked for help before.
"Please, somebody help me!" he yelled again, his desperation reaching new heights as he felt her heart beat slowing. Suddenly they were at his side, figures clad in white and blue overalls, tugging her gently out of his grasp and laying her flat on a stretcher. Cries for a doctor echoed through the air as she was wheeled away from him. King found it absurd that he noticed the way one of the wheels on the stretcher squeaked slightly as it rolled steadily away from him. Exhausted and panicked to the point of passing out he sank down into a waiting chair, and closed his eyes.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there, trying to calm himself. If his heart could have still beaten, it would have been racing. Had his lungs still been able to draw breath, he would have been panting. Determinedly he set his jaw. This was stupid. How could he let himself get so flustered over this girl? How could one person tear him up inside like this? One word echoed around inside his skull. Soonan. But this girl wasn't Soonan, so why did he care? He'd never cared before, so when had he started. His mind roved in circles treading the same path over and over again while he sat there. Did it even matter why he cared? Angel's voice sounded distant to him, quiet and muted, as if he was speaking from the other side of a wall.
"How is she?" he asked. King glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, while he waited for the words to sink in.
"How is she?" Angel asked again. King blinked in surprise, as if he was being asked for the first time.
"Huh… Oh… They haven't said yet." Angel nodded.
"How about you?"
"What?" said King, his voice flat and emotionless, almost hollow.
"I said ho…"
"I heard you. Why are you asking?"
"You just seem preoccupied. It's not like you." King turned to face him, and for the first time since they'd taken her away, he focused on something other than the doors through which Faith had been reeled on that stretcher.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't know." Said Angel, seeming to give the question serious thought. "I'm really not sure."
"Maybe you don't care." said King, turning back to face the doors again.
"That's not true." Said Angel. He sounded genuinely offended. An amused smile spread across King's face.
"But it is. Let's not play games Angel, you're only here to find out if Faith is all right and in the end, that's all that really matters." Before Angel could answer the doors at the far end of the room swung slowly open and a man in a white doctor's coat strode purposefully through them. After a brief discussion with an orderly, a finger was pointed in King's direction and the doctor turned and made his way across the reception to meet him. King practically leapt out of his seat as he made his way over to the doctor.
"How is she?" he demanded urgently, before the doctor even had chance to speak. "Is she all right?" The doctor eyed him critically for a moment.
"Your friend has suffered a severe stab wound, Mr…"
"King." He said automatically. The doctor seemed to produce a clipboard out of nowhere and filled in a small set of notes.
"Under the circumstances, I'd say she's been remarkably lucky. Whatever it was made an extremely clean cut and it missed all the major organs, but she has lost a lot of blood. You got her here just in time for us to stabilise her. Had you taken any longer, I'm not sure what would have happened." King felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders as the man spoke. She was stable. She was going to be fine, save perhaps a scar or two for her trouble.
The rest of his time with the doctor was spent in little more than a haze as he signed a series of forms and answered as many questions as he could; what relationship was he to the girl? Who was she? Did she have any medical needs or problems they should know about? Was she allergic to penicillin? It seemed endless. Finally he managed to ask the question.
"Can I see her?" The doctor shrugged.
"If you want to. She's sleeping right now, we had to give her some pretty heavy sedatives for the pain." King nodded in understanding.
"I want to see her. Where is she?" the doctor turned away.
"I'll show you." He said, striding off down the corridor, King falling into step behind him.
*****
Buffy slumped into the chair in the hospital waiting room alongside Angel, nursing her freshly bandaged arms. She could cope with the sting of the wounds and the freshly daubed antiseptic; after all, during her time as the Slayer she'd had far worse injuries to contend with. What hurt more was the impotent jab of embarrassment she was feeling. She was the Slayer damn it, and yet a vampire had trussed her up and tried to bleed her dry as if she were cattle, and she hadn't been able to stop him! Not only that, she had then been rescued by, of all people, Faith and King. Faith and King! Faith, the girl who'd spat on her attempts at friendship, tried to kill one boyfriend, slept with the other and even stolen her body for a brief period, and King, an ancient and evil vampire with surprisingly good hair care knowledge and a propensity for trying to kill her!
She shook her head. She supposed she ought to be grateful for their assistance. After what she'd seen, the two of them had definitely come through for the group, saving Angel, Wesley and Xander from being completely overwhelmed and Faith even going so far as to get stabbed for the cause. It just chafed that of all the people in the world who could have saved her, it had to be those two. Better to have Spike rescue her than Faith.
"Any news?" Angel asked.
"Nothing." Buffy replied, prodding gingerly at the bandages on her arms. "Xander's been keeping an eye on Wolfram & Hart and he says nothing's come in or gone out that he knows of all day. Spike's going over there in a few hours so Xander can catch a break." Angel nodded in understanding. Xander had been keeping an eye on Wolfram & Hart ever since daylight had broken. Now in mid afternoon, the law firm had been quiet most of the day. Something was wrong and she didn't like it.
"What about Faith?" she asked. Angel shrugged.
"She's sleeping right now, King's in there with her. They seem to have been getting on quite well together." Buffy's eyes widened.
"What!"
"Buffy, don't start..." Angel said as she groaned.
"I should've known you'd be the first to stick up for the two of them. I don't have to remind you what they are."
"Faith's trying to change Buffy, remember?" Buffy nodded.
"All too well, but she should still be rotting in jail. And King, what about him?" Angel gave a sigh of defeat.
"I'm not sure."
"Exactly Angel, you're not sure. I don't trust him, and I don't trust Faith with him either." Angel's eyes narrowed at her silent insinuation.
"I think you're going a bit far there. They only met a couple of nights ago."
"Angel, you know what Faith's like. If it happens you've got no idea what he's like, what we're getting, or how pissed he's going to be for what we did to him." She glanced up.
"I've got to see him." She said.
"Buffy, I don't think that's a good…" She waved Angel away as she turned and made her way off down the corridor to find Faith's room.
*****
King sat silently in the high backed plastic chair, ignoring the discomfort he felt. It kept his mind attuned to the room around him, preventing his thoughts from wandering. Faith lay in the hospital bed, the back adjusted so her upper body was raised at an angle. Her pale skin matched the white hospital gown and crisp white sheets.
How could they be so alike? Soonan had always been so headstrong, so wilful, just like Faith. Walking into the hospital with her cradled in his arms had reminded him so much of his life long ago, striding through the halls of the palace, Soonan's still bleeding body clutched tightly to his chest as he'd taken her before his master, taken her to show him that he'd won. That night he'd sworn revenge against his master. He'd sworn that the man would die by his hand and no other, and that was when the stranger had come to him. He'd moved out of the night like a ghost, offering him power and the ability to exact his revenge. King remembered that night as clearly as if it were yesterday. The night he'd left his life behind and become what he was now, a creature of darkness.
He watched the slow rise and fall of Faith's chest as she slept peacefully. She was so beautiful, but not just because she looked like Soonan. There was strength in her, a refusal to give up that he admired. Even now she refused to give up. After everything Angel had told him she'd been through it would have been so easy just to lie down and die. That she hadn't was a testimony to her strength.
"I should have known you'd be involved in all this." He didn't need to look round to know who spoke from just within the doorway. He'd have to be an amnesiac to forget that voice.
"Get out." He said quietly.
"No." King's head whipped round to glare at the small blonde girl making her way across the room. He'd never been able to work out how something so small had been able to hurt him so much.
"She wouldn't want you here." He hissed, nodding in Faith's direction. "She wouldn't want you to see her like this."
"Too bad she's going to have to put up with me." Said Buffy, standing next to the bed, softly touching the other girl's arm.
"Get off her!" King yelled, immediately out of his chair. His hand flashed out, grabbing Buffy's wrist and yanking it away from Faith. "Don't you dare touch her!" he snarled dangerously.
"Why so protective?" she said, a twinkle of amusement in her voice. Was she laughing at him?
"I…" he couldn't think, his mind tumbled head over heels as he searched in vain for something to say. Buffy nodded silently to herself.
"It's alright to admit it King." She said softly. "You've got a thing for her." King turned away. The modern nights he lived in were a time of crude language, but she'd hit the nail square on the head with that one simple sentence.
"I don't know what to do about it." He said, his voice cracking only slightly.
"I'll tell you." Said Buffy, her voice flat and unreadable. "Nothing." A dry snort escaped King.
"You hate her." He said still not turning to face her. For some reason he found looking at her almost unbearable. "You'd do anything to make her unhappy."
"I don't like Faith, you're right there." She paused. "I respect what she's trying to do, atone I mean. But you and her King, it just doesn't fit, no good can come of it and I think you already know that." King looked at Faith lying there so peacefully. Could he really drag her down to his level? Would that be fair?
"You know what you are, and you know what she is. Happiness doesn't come from that; I should know…" she paused again. "I speak from experience." He turned to face her, to tell her she was wrong, that she had always been wrong, but she had already left the room. Slowly he turned to look at Faith.
He reached down and touched her arm, feeling the warmth of her skin, the pulse of the blood in her veins, the beat of her heart, the feeling of life beneath his dead fingertips. You know what you are, and you know what she is. Buffy was right.
Gently, he wrapped his fingers in between hers, holding her by the hand for only the briefest of moments.
"I know what I am." He whispered sadly, then turned and strode out of the room. Behind him Faith moaned quietly in her sleep.
*****
Xander had just been having a dream about himself, the entire squad of the Laker Girls and a huge family sized tub of banana yoghurt when he heard the soft tapping on the car window. He cursed himself mentally. Here he was, supposed to be keeping an eye on one of the most heavily guarded and downright evil buildings in the whole of LA, and he'd dropped off!
Hurriedly he slipped into an upright sitting position, glancing out of the window as he did so. Outside dusk was falling, a dark and overcast sky swirling dangerously overhead. He began to wind the window down as quickly as he could in a desperate attempt to find the source of the noise. A figure dropped into view alongside the window, his arms folding up and resting on the edge of the doorframe as he knelt on the curb. Xander recognised him only too well. It was King.
"What are y…" he began, but King cut him off.
"I know why you're here boy." King said quietly. "You tell that Slayer of yours what happened here tonight. I'm sure she'll be glad to know she was right about me." And with that he turned and walked off toward the building. Xander sat stunned for a moment, before he clambered out of the car and followed him.
"Hey!" he yelled. "Hey! What are you talking about?" He drew up to a sudden stop. There was another man stood by the front entrance. He was smaller than either King or Xander, but he carried himself with poise and precision. Xander remembered the battle beneath Wolfram & Hart, remembered the vampire with the sword who'd fought Angel and nearly killed Faith. He watched from a distance, barely able to make out what was being said as King stopped in front of him.
"I knew you'd come master." Shinji said, a touch of smugness in his voice. "It was inevitable."
"You have learned well." Said King, standing perfectly still as he spoke. For a brief moment, Xander thought he could here a touch of sadness in the vampire's voice. "Is the ritual prepared?" Shinji nodded, almost eagerly.
"Yes master, we have simply been awaiting your return to us." There was a long silence as the two vampires stood, watching one another. Xander was reminded of the standoffs in every spaghetti western.
"Then let us begin." King said finally, striding past Shinji without even a backward glance. Shinji turned to follow, then for a brief moment, he cast a backward glance at Xander, a dark smile lighting his face. Then he, like King, was gone.
Xander stood for a moment, confused by what he had just seen. His confusion lasted only a moment, before he was darting back across the concrete, leaping into his car and hurtling off into the gathering gloom.
