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**Chapter 3**

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The train came to an abrupt halt, and Faith jumped to her feet. There was a feral, wild look in her eyes that would have terrified anyone who saw it. But, when she realized where she was, she began to relax a little bit.

Still a bit on edge though, she scanned the compartment, almost expecting to find a demon about to jump out at her. Not seeing anything dangerous, she allowed herself to fully relax.

Now, she just needed to find out where she was. Making her way to the side of the cargo train, she took a look out at her new home. As far as she could see, there was no one in sight, just trains and tracks.

No one to see her. Perfect. She quietly slipped out of the train and made her way out of there, securing her backpack on her shoulders.

The sun had just set over the big city that she'd arrived in. She had no clue where she was, but it looked pretty normal on first sight.

She carefully watched for people as she picked her way across the tracks, but it didn't seem as if anyone was around. Reaching a tall fence, she jumped it and headed into the city.

"Watch out people, Faith has arrived." She grinned, cockily.

*****

She glanced around, trying to figure where on Earth she was. Finally giving up on trying to guess, she followed the tracks toward civilization.

In a couple minutes, she'd reached a train station. The building was huge! It was sort of pretty, too, and seemed to be made of granite.

Walking into the station, Faith saw only a couple of other people waiting for their train. Sort of puzzled, she finally realized that the majority of the people were sitting on benches off to the side. That made a lot more sense.

Finally seeing what she was looking for, she headed for the rest room. The train-ride was kinda nice, but it didn't have all the necessities. The lady's room was actually rather clean, and she had it all to herself.

Standing in front of the mirror, she took a look at herself. Except for the straw in her hair, she actually looked pretty good. The day she slept inside the cargo train did her good, recharging her batteries and centering her being.

Half an hour later, she was ready to face the world.

Not having eaten much for a whole day, her Slayer stomach was growling noisily as she walked. Rolling her eyes, she muttered to herself, "All right, already! I'll get you some real food soon."

Stepping out of the station, Faith shivered slightly. Considering the chill in the air and the salty-tang, she must be pretty far north in California.

She hunched deeper into her jacket, trying to keep herself warm. She'd lived in Boston all her life, so she was used to the cold, but that didn't stop her wishing that it was a bit warmer.

She took in her surroundings, and, at last, figured out where she was. There was a sign reading: "Welcome to San Francisco. Enjoy your stay."

"San Fran! All right! I can get some food and action around here...other than the staking kind." Faith almost yelled, drawing curious stares.

The moment Faith uttered those words out loud, she'd realized that she might not be getting the break she thought. She immediately had felt the twinge warning her that a vampire was close by.

"Oh man, I can't get a fucking break for once in my life! I just got here and already you're ruining my first night here! What is with you bloodsuckers?!" She shouted, attracting some more odd looks.

She just ignored them, concentrating on reaching out with her senses. She really needed to figure out how many of the bastards there were, where they were, and how strong they were.

It didn't take her long to locate them; they were getting closer and heading her way. Scanning around, she quickly saw about six vamps walking down the boardwalk.

"Damn, why did I train my senses so that I couldn't miss them even if I wanted to? I guess I'll have to wait to get that food." Faith grumbled to herself. "Let's get this over with." As she went after them.

*****

She trailed the pack of vampires as they moseyed through what seemed like half the city. She was constantly alert, watching for opportunities to get them. However, they just kept walking, not giving Faith an opportunity to get close enough to them to launch a surprise attack.

It was almost like they were on some kind of mission...

Someone--or something--was definitely controlling these vamps. There was no way they'd go this long without a snack unless they were ordered not to.

For a very brief moment, Faith wished she still had a watcher--like her first one, not like the weasel or psychopath she got latter on--to tell her what was going on...someone she could tell her thoughts about the vamps to.

*****

At last, it appeared that the six had reached their destination. She carefully watched from the shadows across the street, keeping out of sight, as they milled around in front of a stairway going up to an old-looking house. She supposed that it was probably Victorian, or Tudor, or one of those fancy old things.

It was obvious the vamps were trying to figure out how to gain entry to the house. It was almost funny, actually. They'd marched across the city, and they didn't have a real plan.

They began to bicker. Listening to them was quite amusing. Luckily for them, the streets were deserted, or they would have drawn a lot of attention.

Having listened to them for a moment, she began to focus on the mansion, trying to figure out what was so important about it.

Before she could really think about it, one of the vampires grew tired of arguing and just knocked on the door.

That was a new one. Most vamps were too stupid to try the indirect approach. They usually just thought with their fangs and stomachs.

*****

The three Charmed ones were all at home, along with Leo, their Whitelighter.

Phoebe was studying hard in the kitchen, trying to catch up on her homework. With all the demon problems they had been having, she'd fallen behind. Somehow, she didn't think that the "a demon ate my homework" excuse would work on her teachers.

The Manor was actually quiet, for once. Prue was downstairs in her basement darkroom, developing her pictures. Phoebe couldn't understand how Prue could stand it down there. Even though they'd banished Woogly, she got the wiggins every time she went down there.

And she did have a good reason to be afraid. After all, Woogly had been banished before, by Grams, and he'd managed to come back. What was to say he wouldn't come back another time? They said the third time was the charm.

As she thought about, she realized that Prue might actually have set up her darkroom down there in order to have some quiet time. A place of her own, she knew for certain Phoebe would stay out of.

Piper and Leo were upstairs doing God knows what, and Phoebe so did not need find out what they were up to. Her sister had given her a look that told her to stay away.

She was a bit worried though. Every time they got together or the Manor was this quiet, some demon decided to come after all of them.

Her mind was everywhere...except for her studies. She'd re-read the same page three times now. She began squinting her eyes at it.

Phoebe really needed a break. The words were starting to blur before her eyes, and she couldn't concentrate.

With a sigh, she put her book down and went to get a drink and stretch her legs a little, maybe it'd help focus her mind back on her homework.

She'd just poured herself a glass of ice tea Piper had made. She just took her first sip when she heard a knock at the front door. Quietly grumbling to herself, she went to see who it was.

It was probably either Darryl with information about a demon or some salesguy. She really hoped it someone selling something. She wanted a break from demons.

At least it wouldn't be a bad guy. They *never* knocked...ok, that wasn't completely true. Those shape shifters and that guy that brought those flowers for Grams every year had knocked.

When Phoebe opened the door, she found a rather cute guy, with a couple of nice-looking friends behind him.

It didn't seem to be Jehovah's Witnesses, at least. Piper had gotten really mad when she'd truthfully told the last ones that she was a witch. It wasn't her fault that they had absolutely no sense of humour! Besides, she told them the truth.

Coming back to the present, she smiled flirtatiously. "Hello, handsome. What can I do for you?"

He smiled charmingly. "Um, hi. We were told to report to this address." He waved a cell-phone. "But it was a bit hard to hear the details."

"Oh! You must be here for Prue's photo shoot. Figures she didn't bother to tell us. C'mon in." she told him with a smile as she invited them into the Manor.

She turned her back to them, intending to call Prue. That's why she missed the vampires slipping into their game faces.

Fortunately, Faith had been paying attention. She couldn't believe how easily the vamps had gotten into the house with that dumb story.

Racing across the street, using her Slayer speed, she dusted one of them before they even saw her. She snapped, "Watch out!"

Phoebe spun around, hearing someone yelling "Watch out!", then gaped as she stared at the once-cute guy. His eyes gleamed yellow as he grinned, showing his fangs. "What's the matter? Aren't I still handsome?"

Hesitating for only a second, she leapt into action. With a karate yell, she snapped a high kick to his face, knocking him back a step. Unfortunately, it didn't take him long to recover.

With a growl, he launched himself towards her. Trying to avoid his attack, she levitated out of his reach, yelling for her sisters. "Piper! Prue! We got company!"

*****

Upstairs, Piper didn't even hear her call. In her mind, nothing existed outside of Leo...

*****

Faith didn't waste time looking at the girl, who was now floating just out of reach of the vamps...well, ok, she *did* take a second look. N-o-t bad she smirked to herself...but one of the vampires interrupted her by swinging at her. A very dumb move on his part.

Phoebe had just noticed the girl. And first, she'd thought she was with the bumpy-faced demons, but, when Faith made the things go poof leaving only dust in its place, she changed her mind. She carefully maneuvered herself so she was behind Faith, hoping the other female could keep her breathing and alive through this battle and tell her what the things were later on.

For her part, Faith was concentrating on staking vamps after being blind sided by one of them while she was looking at Phoebe. In the back of her mind, she thought about keeping one of them alive...uh, undusted. But, after the cheap shot, the rage had begun to take over.

Parts of Faith that have laid dormant for ages started to wake up, her blood started to sing the slayer began to emerge. After her long time of inactivity, the exhilaration of slaying was on. Faith lost herself in the fight like in the old days: nothing else mattered but the kill.

It had been a very long time since she'd had an opportunity to go full out and not hold back. In prison, she'd always needed to keep her strength a secret. There was a good point to that, though. Her control was now excellent.

However, she had a lot of energy pent up from her eight-month coma and six- month stay in jail; she just was itching for a good fight.

Faith was so involved in the fighting that she'd forgotten she was in a nice house. She threw around the vamps without thinking about the lamps and tables they were smashing into noisily. Soon, the ruckus started attracting the others...

*****

"Honey, did you hear that?" Piper shook Leo, trying to wake him up.

"Hmm?" Leo was very comfortable, and he really didn't have much energy left.

"I could have sworn I heard a crash." Piper was quite familiar with the sound of furniture breaking downstairs; it, along with huge repair bills, seemed like a daily event.

"Huh, well, if you're going downstairs, could you bring me a glass of milk?" Leo shifted wearily and was soon sound asleep.

"What is *with* guys? Is it genetic that they always fall asleep that fast? Or is it just their way of getting out of everything else?" Piper grumbled as she slipped on a robe and headed downstairs.

Walking down the stairs, she could hear the fighting that was going on clearly now, a battle was fought in the hall. Surely her sisters would have called her if demons were attacking...wouldn't they? Almost reaching the ground floor she watched in horror as a guy was tossed toward the grandfather clock.

"Oh, NO you don't!" Piper yelled, freezing everything except her sister. "Phoebe! What's going on? Why didn't you call for help?" she walked toward her sister.

Phoebe just looked around, surprised to see the dark-haired fighter was frozen along with the bumpy guys. "Hmm, guess that means she isn't a witch. Nuts." Turning back to her sister, she frowned. "What do you mean why didn't I call for help? I screamed!"

Piper ignored her, scanning the room. There was broken furniture everywhere, two bumpy-forehead guys with yellow eyes were snarling, and a girl was driving a stake into what looked like a man-shaped cloud of dust. "Just what is going on? What are those things, and why is there dust all over the place?"

Phoebe just shrugged, before whirling around when she heard Prue's voice. "Hey! Get out of here!"

Exchanging glances, Piper and Phoebe raced off to help their sister. As soon as they'd left, the vamps and Faith unfroze, Faith dusting the rest of them, having forgotten that she wanted to keep one of them around to question it about who send them.

"What the hell? What on earth happened to the blonde? She was here a minute ago watching my back..." Hearing a crash coming from the back of the house, Faith decided to check it out, she had dusted five of them, that left one of them still around.

Phoebe and Piper had yanked open the basement door and almost fell down into it. The staircase was in ruins, a small pile of dust at the bottom showing where a lone vamp had been. It was a bit of overkill, really. Using all that wood for one vamp.

Standing near the rubble of their former staircase was a very angry-looking Prue. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded, unconsciously echoing her sister's words.

Faith sauntered into the kitchen and peeked over the sisters shoulders to make sure there weren't any more demons around. Not seeing any threats, she causally dropped onto one of their chairs. "It was just some vamps."

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