Part 6: Settling of Scores…
1998 Elizabeth's Apartment 10.24 pm
Elizabeth's door visibly shook as an out of breath Faith banged on it. " Liz let me in it's just me, I kinda forgot my key." She shouted. The sound of movement in the flat could be heard, then the sliding of a bolt and the clicking of the door being unlocked. As the door slowly swung open, Faith burst through, "Liz, you shoulda seen me, I was the biz, these two vamps ate dust before I even broke a sweat." Faith boasted as she made her way through the apartment, she threw her jacket over the back of a chair and sat herself down on the couch with a triumphant grin spread across her face.
… That was the first time I felt it, the high that slaying gave me. I can remember it like it happened today the action, the excitement, and the danger after that first dose I was hooked. I stayed hooked a long time on the slaying of vampires until I tasted something else, the killing of a human, but that is another story. The adrenaline and the high blinded me from the fact that I nearly bit it the first time out, I guess if I had taken time to realise and appreciate the fact that I had nearly tasted death every time I slayed maybe I would have been more cautious more like Buffy, maybe I would never have ended up in this hellhole. Just one of my many regrets that one day I hope to try to put right…
Faith spent the next half hour describing her first patrol in great detail. She went through everything from how she finished off the vampires to the information that she had 'persuaded' the vampire to tell her. As Faith spoke Elizabeth scribbled on a small notepad taking in everything that Faith told her. When Faith had finished a short silence broke out as Elizabeth silently perused her notes. Faith eventually broke the silence with a simple "So?" This seemed to snap Elizabeth out of her thoughts, " Ah Yes, Very good work, but I'm afraid what you have told me is not good. If Kakistos is holding a meeting then it shows the seriousness of the situation, this could lead to increasing violence." She explained as a look of concern came over her. The pair looked sullen for a moment, Until Faith jumped off the couch to her feet and exclaimed, " Right here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go to that Casino and kick this Kakistos' undead ass and put an end to all of this!"
"Absolutely not!" Elizabeth snapped, Faiths face became a little downcast " You would be greatly outnumbered and end up getting killed, I think a more sensible option would be for you to do a little reconnaissance at this casino to see if you can find any information about Kakistos' next move." Faith mulled this over for a minute and a smile came to her face as she asked, " If I get this recon done could I then maybe get a couple more stakings in before sunrise?" Elizabeth looked into the expectant eyes of her young slayer as she replied, "I don't see why not as long as you be careful." As Faith's eyes lit up Elizabeth shook her head and laughed, " Just where do you get your energy from?" Faith simply shrugged and answered, " You know me Liz always a zesty little trooper ready to put a little overtime in." she shot Liz a smile before putting her dark denim Jacket back on and making her way to the front door. As Faith was just about to shut the door behind her she heard Elizabeth calling her name, Faith poked her head through the door and looked at Liz, "What?" she inquired. Liz answered in one word, "Keys."
"Oh Right," Faith sheepishly added, Faith then collected her keys from a drawer in one of the cupboards of Elizabeth's flat and made her way back towards the door as she opened the door Elizabeth shouted to her, " Please be careful." Faith turned around and looked at Elizabeth, "always" was Faiths response along with one of her trademark cocky grins, Faith then left to do what she now does best...slay.
1998 Tremont Street 11.58 pm
A Long black sleek limousine steadily made its way down the dimly lit street, a small splash of water could be heard as the limo pulled up outside of a large neon lit single storey building, the headlights illuminated an alley close to the building, for a split seconds a shadow was exposed, but as fast as it had appeared it disappeared. The hum of the engine came to an abrupt halt at the same time as the headlights shut down. The alley that had been bathed in light was now pitch black. In the alley a hiding figure strained to get a closer look at the limousine and its occupants, as it did a trashcan lid was knocked to the ground, the figure cursed under it's breath, "Great Faith, real smooth!" Faith continued to observe the car hoping that no one heard the noise. She watched as two men exited the car, they were lit up as the doors of the casino opened. One of the men Faith guessed had to be 7ft tall he was dressed in red robes and Faith could see that his hands were disfigured, "I guess that has gotta be Kakistos, you couldn't grip anything with those hands, oh and he needs to find some fashion sense, I mean the pyjamas look is not exactly in," Faith whispered whilst laughing to herself. "What a stud!" she exclaimed a little too loudly as she looked at the other man. He was better dressed in a stylish designer suit and had a pair of designer sunglasses on; he had short blonde hair and was quite handsome. Faith quickly darted across the street and pressed herself to the casino wall, she could no longer see the pair as the pair were directly around the corner but she could hear their conversation. "Ianus are the men here yet?" a gruff sounding voice demanded.
"Don't worry, I phoned ahead and they are all inside and ready to take your commands" was the response. There was a short silence between the two, as Faith strained to listen she could make out the sound of footsteps and then a new voice spoke up, "Welcome my friends to Tricks Place," this new voice oozed confidence and charm as it continued, " I am Mr Trick your host for the evening, I'm sure you'll like it here, I cater for everyone, white men, brothers, vampires, demons and…. Whatever the hell you are my friend." The last part of the sentence was directed towards Kakistos who responded with a gruff, " I'm Kakistos the vampire Overlord!"
" Well I ain't never seen a vampire with hands like those." Mr Trick asked. This time Ianus spoke up, "When you have lived a long as my master, your hands will look like that, but since you are a human..." He was quickly interrupted by Mr Trick who knew vampires were easily provoked and he didn't like the tone to which Kakistos and Ianus spoke, " Its ok my friends. No needs to be starting nothing, just come in and take a load off, your vampire friends are waiting for you."
Faith heard the men climb the steps; she then straightened her hair and whispered to herself, " Showtime." Faith put on her sexiest smile as she turned the corner and began to climb the steps to the casino. A black man, who was of a similar height, stopped her at the casino doors. Faith noticed he was wearing the flashiest Purple suit she had ever seen, Faith had to suppress a stupid grin and keep up her sexy smile as she spoke to the man. " So I've heard this is the place to come for a good time?" As the man began to answer Faith recognised the voice it was the confident charming voice of the man she had heard call himself Mr Trick, he grinned a wide smile as he replied, " Oh It usually is, but tonight we have a private reception, you understand." He continued after he had looked Faith up and down, " But on any other night a sexy young athletic woman like yourself is always appreciated, have a nice night." With that Mr Trick nodded his head turned and entered the Casino locking the doors from the inside.
" Damn!" Faith cursed under her breath as she found herself standing in front of Tricks place, locked out. Faith quietly made her way around to the back of the building looking for anyway there was to gain entry to the building. She was out of luck all doors were locked securely; all windows were covered and also locked. Faith muttered to herself, " Doesn't look like they want anybody spying on them, the blacked out windows couldn't be to block sunlight, sunrise is hours away." Her only alternative was to find a way onto the roof, she climbed up onto a fire escape of an opposing building and then leaped across to the casino roof, momentarily Faith lost her footing and was teetered dangerously close to the edge of the roof, but she quickly regained her balance and slowly crept along the roof towards a large glass dome in the middle of the roof. As she approached the dome she crouched as low to the ground as she could and peered through the glass dome at its base trying to keep out of sight, as much as she could. From her elevated position she could see everything that was happening in the room below. The room was very large and dimly lit with various neon lights lighting up various parts more than others. There was a stage to the back of the room with a dance floor in front of it. To the left of the stage were various low-lit tables and behind them were various slot machines and gambling tables, which were lit up brighter than most of the room. To the left of the stage was a bar, there wasn't a single slot machine or table in use, there was not even staff at the bar or at the tables. The only people she could see were three rows of vampires staring at the stage, the one called Ianus was standing in front of them and they were all staring at the stage, Mr Trick was no where to be seen and Kakistos was standing on the stage ready to address his followers.
…That vampire would become my archenemy, he tracked me across half the country just to hunt and kill me, with a little bit of help from Buffy though I finally overcame him. At the time though I just assumed he was gonna be another bloodsucker on the end of my stake you know, but just how wrong could I be. I can remember that meeting was just the usual vampire crap. Saying how strong he was, how he would reclaim the streets. I was thinking to myself that he was full of shit and I would just kick his ass plain and simple…
The meeting broke with all the vampires shouting in unison, " For Kakistos we live for Kakistos we die." The vampires all then began to disperse, some left through the front of the casino, others propped up the bar or went to the gambling machines. Mr Trick then emerged from door on the far side of the casino he made his way over to Kakistos, they chatted for a while and they then disappeared into the same room, where Mr Trick had emerged from, out of the sight of the watching slayer.
Mr Trick entered a dimly lit room with Kakistos the Vampire Lord close behind, "What's so important that you drag me in here," Kakistos growled.
Mr Trick calmly sat himself down in a chair in front of a mass of TV screens; he then opened up a laptop computer and began to press some keys. "Well with the rumours that have been going around I thought you might like to take a lookey at what we have here" Mr Trick turned the lap top so that Kakistos could see and, tapped on the screen just above the dark haired female that was on the live pictures of the roof of the casino. Kakistos growled and shouted, "get one of my men to follow her we need to see if she could be..."
"The Slayer?" Mr Trick finished.
Faith had seen enough; she quietly sneaked across the roof and jumped back over to the opposing building. Just as she was about to climb back down the fire escape, when she heard a side door of the casino open. Faith looked on as the blonde haired man from the front of the casino quietly closed behind him and walked off down an alley. She smirked and exclaimed, "Step on up, the first staking has arrived!" She quickly made her way down the fire escape and began to stalk the vampire. With all her concentration on the vampire ahead, Faith didn't realise that lurking in the shadows behind her she too was being followed. Ianus steadily made his way through the streets and various alleys not noticing the dark slayer that was following his every move. Faith herself kept on getting a nagging feeling that she too was being followed, she kept hearing noises behind her and she just got that feeling that something was there. She simply dismissed it as her getting a bit jittery and put all her attention on sneaking up on the blonde haired vampire.
Faith edged up to the corner of a back alley and quickly took a peek around. She spotted the vampire heading inside a small abandoned warehouse. Faith was just about to follow and corner him when she saw other vampires following Ianus into the building. Faith quickly climbed onto a large wheelie bin that was along the side of the warehouse she then quickly vaulted up onto the roof, "What is it with me and roofs today." She cursed under her breath as she made her way across the roof. The Vampire that was attempting to follow Faith swore to itself when he turned out of an alley and found she had disappeared. He was just about to climb to the roof of a nearby warehouse to get a better view, when he spotted a few vampires entering the warehouse. The vampire quickly scurried around the building to get a better view; he found a half smashed window that gave him a view of everything that was happening inside the building. Surprise came over his face when he noticed that Ianus, Kakistos' right hand man was standing at the head of the warehouse on a slight stage in front of numerous other vampires.
From her vantage point on the roof Faith couldn't see what was going on inside but she could hear the low murmur of voices from within. Faith explored the roof further to somehow find a way into the building. After a couple of minutes of looking Faith found a small dirty skylight, she couldn't see through it, but it was big enough for her too climb through, she slowly opened and climbed in. She dropped down onto a high walkway that was directly above the main room of the warehouse; from here she had a full view of the warehouse. The warehouse had many stacked crates around the sides and there was a slight twinge of oil in the air. Faith could see about a dozen vampires all assembled in rows much like the gathering at the casino that she had spied on. This time though the blonde haired vampire named Ianus was at the head of the vampires, talking and gesturing. " So this guy is playing both sides!" Faith uttered under her breath as Ianus continued his speech. " The Dawn of our new order is upon us, tomorrow is the night that we get the rewards we so richly deserve. Up till now we have done small gestures, but tomorrow with one huge gesture we will kill Kakistos and I will replace him. Together we will run the streets, me as your leader and all of you as my loyal troops. I have been covering Kakistos for years, but tomorrow it will stop and you my loyal friends will have a leader with strength!" The watching vampires roared with approval, Faith just rolled her eyes and commented under her breath, "How much bullshit can one slayer sit through in a night?" She continued to watch as Ianus split his vampire followers up into two or three smaller groups. He then dismissed these groups with orders to go and feed and too kill. Faith now knew that this was the group that had killed her mother and without Elizabeth's help would have killed her to. Faith couldn't just sit around and watch she needed to do something to settle the score for her mom.
…I had found the group responsible for the murder of my mom, whatever resentment or anger I held towards her I put aside I was gonna take them out for her. I guess it was the only thing I could do at the time, I thought if I killed the ones responsible, it would lighten the load of my mother being murdered, make me feel a bit better, but I guess things never turn out how you want them to…
The other pair of eyes that was watching the scene had seen enough. The vampire retreated to report to his master Kakistos what he had seen and heard.