Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah. The song is "Dark Shines" by Muse...download it, like, right now! :P

AN: Thank you for your feedback....You know...that useful kind.

AN: THANK YOU!!! I am so glad someone besides me notices that her criticism was about as useful

as....Joss Whedon's new show "Firefly." That show sucks.....really.




*~ Passing by, you light up my darkest skies

You'll take only seconds to draw me in.

So be mine and your innocence I will consume.


Dark shines

Bringing me down

Making my heart feel sore

Cause it's getting...~*


Buffy closed her eyes and tried to blend in with the mat on the floor. She had spent the last few hours

training with Faith and getting her ass "kicked". She didn't have the heart to tell her that she wasn't that

great.

"C'mon B. Get up." Buffy shuddered at the nickname and pulled herself up uncertainly, trying to act at

least somewhat hurt.

"Why don't you tell me about this Angelus dude now," Faith threw a punch.

She ducked, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Faith tried to sweep her legs out from under her.

She jumped. "Ok."

She dodged another of Faith's punches. "He's evil......end of story," she kicked Faith, holding back
alot.

"Ooof," Faith doubled over.

"Oh you are such a baby...I barely touched you!"

Faith gaped at her, incredulous, "Barely?!?!"

She shrugged.

"You've been holding back this whole time haven't you," she accused.

"You wouldn't like me if I didn't hold back," she warned.

Faith opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find something to say.

"That's what I thought," Buffy took out a sword.

Faith's eyes widened briefly from fear before she realized the handle was facing her. "Oh."

"Can I give you a word of advice?"

She nodded.

"Avoid Angel. If he feels like it he'll kill you before you can blink."

"How do you know?"

She laughed quietly. "Who do you think taught him?"

"Oh." She thought more about it. "Maybe I should hide."

"I would....but you're stronger than me. Mentally, I mean. 'Cause I could so kick your ass," she
made a face.

Faith smirked. "You could try."

"I'll take that as a challenge," she pulled another sword from the weapons cage.

"What else should I know?" Faith lunged the sword toward Buffy's stomach.

She moved. "I'll tell you when there aren't so many sharp objects around."

***

Faith settled into a nearby chair, drinking Giles' tea while she watched Buffy put the weapons back in

the cage and lock it. She couldn't help but notice the animalistic grace and ease she moved with. She

was struck by how she could senseother vampires, but not this one.

"How old are you?"

"You of all people?!? Older than Angelus."

"Yeah, but how old is that?"

"Angel's two hundred and forty-two."

"Tell me about your relationship then." Faith crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair.

"We were...close....for a long time."

"What happened?"

"He wasn't the most faithful of sorts. But then, most vampires aren't." At Faith's blank look she

explained. "You see...we turn humans either to be our mate or...well to have a minion. With the mate

thing, after a while the sire gets bored."

"Giles never went into much detail about it."

"I don't think he would know. There aren't many like me that would really stop and talk to a slayer

and watcher before they kill them. Not that I have that planned or anything."

"Why are you different," Faith frowned, her eyebrows knitting together.

"I don't really know. I've always been different. Had something of a conscience."

"Didn't you kill that guy outside the Bronze?"

"How did you know about that?! But, yeah. I said 'somewhat', I never said I was a Saint."

Faith grinned. "What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"Killin'. Livin' forever."

"Well, killing is empowering. It gives you an aldrenaline rush. And living forever? It gets boring

after a few hundred years.

"How long did it take you?"

"A few hundred years. And I've had extra years to get sick of it."

Faith mentally cursed.

"Do you have any other plots to try to get my age out of me?"

"How did you....."

"It was obvious. Besides, I've been around you long enough to know when you're trying to pry."

"Oh yeah."Faith had been the slayer for three years. She wouldn't have survived that long though if

it hadn't been for "Buffy". Giles was the only one that knew her real name. It had been kept a secret

from the rest of them. Probably because they didn't want them to research her history. She was

unusually strong, even for a vampire.

"Anyway, what's he like?"

A wistful smile crossed her face. "He was vicious...but needy in some ways. Until Darla showed up

and he made Drusilla."

"I thought a vampire's 'children'," she drew quotation marks in the air. "Were all loyal to their sires."

"Oh he was loyal. Well, for a while. Now I'd go as far to say he wouldn't kill me at least."

"Twisted."


***

*~ Hold your hands up to your eyes again

Hide from the scary scenes, suppress your fears

So be mine and your innocence I will consume ~*

He watched her from the shadows. Training with the slayer? No...that couldn't be, Angelus shook

his head in disbelief. She really had changed.

She sauntered out of the school building minus the weapons he'd seen. For a moment he

considered killing the slayer and taking the sword. It wasn't like he had one. Instead he choose to

follow his sire, hating the puppy expression he could feel replacing the scornful look he tried for.


She stopped in front of him, turned around and waited.

He walked to her and tried to stare her down. He fell to his knees at her feet, hugging her

midsection.

She reached out and pet him reassuringly. She smiled at the purring coming from him.

She hit him as he looked up, surprised when he whimpered. "Get up," her tone was the same as the

night she had changed him. He could never forget the seduction and danger present in her voice. He

arose and stared at the ground, waiting for instructions.

"You know where to go."

He nodded and began walking with his head bent to the house she was using.

She smirked and followed, thinking of all the fun she was going to have with him.

***

*~ Dark shines

Bringing me down

Making my heart feel sore

'Cause it's good..

You're dark shines

Bringing me down

Making my heart feel sore

Because it's good

Dark shines

Bringing me down

Making my heart feel sore

Because it's good~*

"What do you plan to do to me," Angelus hazarded a glance at her.

"Punish you, of course. It's been so long since I've really hurt anybody."

He smiled, happy with the thought that she hadn't been around Spike or any of the others.

***

TBC....