Chapter Fifteen
Willow broke her affectionate gaze from Tara, still running her fingers along her back. "Party can't start without the main party favor." She wrapped her arms around Tara's waist, her gaze returning to Tara's. "We'll have to find a way to get it."
Tara smiled lovingly. "What is it?"
"Something that was taken from Him when He was banished," Anya replied irritably. "And now we can't spill the blood of the men until we get it." She smiled as if remembering something. "For some reason, causing pain to men gives me and her great pleasure. This mortal once reveled in it."
Faith felt a wave of terror sweep over her at those words, but realized that the ex-demon was talking about herself and not her. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and easily regained her composure. "So what are you guys doing back here in the shop? Don't you guys have…I dunno…chaos to wreak?"
"We would love to, but we have our own mission," Willow answered. "We were to find His writings. I thought maybe the old Watcher kept it here."
"Giles? Is he…is he all right," Buffy quickly asked with a worried tone. "I mean…I want to be the one to finish him," she quickly covered.
"They're all fine…for now," Willow added with an evil grin. "Master won't let me play with the toys," she pouted.
Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. "So what are we supposed to do?"
"Relax…enjoy the sights," Willow offered, her eyes never leaving Tara's gaze.
Both Slayers and the dark-haired seer could visibly see Tara blush to a shade of red that almost matched Willow's hair. They certainly knew that if they didn't get out of there now, Willow would undoubtedly penetrate through Tara's mind and find out the truth. Cordelia was smart enough to act first.
"Is the mall occupied," Cordelia asked casually. "I want to take get these girls into more…interesting…outfits for our Master." She smiled her usual cruel Queen C smile that made her the terror to all geeks and losers of Sunnydale High.
Willow placed a gentle kiss on her lover's lips and slowly released her. "It's as empty as the rest of the town. Oh and Cordy, make sure to get something…revealing."
Faith coughed to hide her laughter as she exited the Magic Box while Buffy had a distasteful look on her face. Tara followed with a dazed look while Cordelia trailed behind, closing the door softly on the way out.
"Well…that went…exceptionally well," Faith surmised.
"Except for we still have no clue on what the heck is going on," Cordelia reminded.
Buffy shook her head with a small frown, trying to think of a solution. "No, we don't."
"I'm guessing we pay this god a visit and get some info outta him?" Faith gave her best grin towards Buffy, who smiled slyly.
"I'm thinking we actually go to the mall so we could get you out of that prison suit," Buffy answered with a grin of her own.
* * *
"Are you certain I am playing the game right," Luna questioned as she looked down at the figures drawn in the dirt.
Xander looked up at her with his goofy grin. "Yeah, you're not supposed to get all of your X's in a row." He drew a circle in the remaining box and connected it with the others. "I win," he muttered softly to himself.
"What?"
"I said 'you win'. See? I got all my O's in a row." He gestured back down to the figures in the dirt. Thank God for ignorant women.
"Oh." She tilted her head to the side, examining the drawings. "You humans have strange ways for entertainment."
Xander raised an eyebrow. "Really? And what's the last game you played when you were human?"
"Human?" Luna gave a light laugh that was deeply melodious. "I was never a mortal."
"Oh, sorry, I…I thought you were a ghost," Xander replied sheepishly.
"No, I was made for one purpose: to guard the sword." She gestured to the altar beside them.
Xander glanced at the softly glowing sword. "What happens when it's taken? You just disappear?"
"Perhaps." Luna shrugged. "I would not know. Nobody has ever tried to take it."
"So this God…it belongs to him right? What happens if he gets it back," Xander wondered.
Luna frowned. "All is lost."
"Oh." He wringed his hands nervously as he looked around the small chamber.
Luna's brows furrowed as she watched the awkward young man's worried face dart from one corner of the room to the next. "Is something troubling you?"
Xander gazed at her for a moment as if regarding an answer and broke out in a bitter laughter. "Trouble? Me? Oh…no no of course not. What kind of trouble could I be in if I'm just stuck here with a magical sword and a mystical creature while my friends are bloodsucking fiends of the undead!" He ran his hands miserably over his face, gaining his composure. "Sorry…sorry I…" He took a long deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I just don't know what to do right now. I'm always the useless one in the group, you know?"
Luna's innocent gaze studied him for a moment. "You do not seem useless. You have more courage than most mortals I can sense in the outside world and you have a loyalty that could put any dog to shame."
"Great, now I'm being compared to a dog," Xander grumbled under his breath, not knowing it was a compliment.
Luna suddenly shot up from the ground, her gaze fixated on the entrance to the chamber, and her head cocked to one side. Xander trembled at the mere idea of another attempt to gain the sword and cowardly hid behind the now transparent Luna. He could see the shadowy outline of someone standing at the entrance but couldn't distinguish any features on account of looking through Luna was the same as looking at something underwater.
"You are not like the others…" Luna remarked. She sounded like a curious little child.
"Yeah? Well…you know what they say, 'you are what you are'," came the sarcastic and chillingly familiar voice Xander instantly recognized.
Xander hastily moved from his position behind Luna to get a full-on view of the entrance to see if his ears weren't deceiving him. The first thing he felt as he saw the visitor was a chill of fear moving down his spine followed by a stab of jealousy he always got whenever this person made an appearance.
"What are you doing here," was the only question Xander could form.
* * *
"HOLY SH…!"
A hand clamping firmly across her mouth cut off the rest of Cordelia's statement. The ex-cheerleader was then spun around to face a very pissed off, dark-haired Slayer.
"Keep it down, for Christ sakes!" Faith gave her a warning glance, before looking around to see if the other girls heard.
Cordelia gave Faith a disbelieving, open-mouthed stare before her gaze went down to the credit card in her hands and to the load of clothes piled next to the cash register. "Faith…do you even realize how much money you have?" Her voice was lowered to an excited whisper.
Faith shrugged indifferently, trying to hide the blush and embarrassment that was trying to creep its way to her cheeks. "It's…it's actually not mine…"
"You mean you stole it!" Cordelia exclaimed in hushed tones.
"No!" Faith gave her a wounded look that immediately disappeared into her usual look of haunted sadness. "I inherited it…from the Mayor…after I woke up from my eight-month siesta." Her eyes wandered to every part of the store besides Cordelia's penetrating gaze.
Cordelia's gaze softened at Faith's sheepish words and tucked the credit card back into her pocket. "Well, at least you can put all that wealth into better use." Like fixing my apartment, she thought wryly. She grabbed an armful of the clothes and thrust it towards Faith. "Here, change your clothes. It's all leather and tanks, so you'll feel right at home." She smiled at the withering look Faith gave her. "What? It's better than the 'wanted fugitive' look."
The corners of Faith's mouth twitched slightly into a small grin. "You mind not mentioning my sudden wealth to B? Don't wanna bring up bad memories, plus it'll totally wig her out." At Cordelia's sincere reassurance Faith gave a small nod and hesitated before going off to the dressing rooms. "Oh and Queen C?" She waited until the seer had her full attention. "Thanks…for everything."
Cordelia responded with a dazzling smile of her own and watched as the dark slayer disappeared into the dressing room. Not a second went past when Buffy came storming down the aisle, ready for a fight with Tara trying to keep up behind her. She stopped right in front of the ex-cheerleader with a dazed expression.
"What dulled your fangs?" Cordelia crossed her arms with an amused grin.
"I heard you screaming," Buffy replied, her adrenaline still pumping wildly in her veins. "Thought there was trouble."
Cordelia looked around. "Saw the price tag on that awful Versace dress and I couldn't help but get a little peeved."
Buffy gave Cordelia an incredulous look, before looking around for her dark-haired counterpart. She could feel the soft humming radiating through her body and knew Faith was close by. Probably in the dressing rooms, she thought absently to herself. She glanced at the pile of clothes near the cash register and gave Cordelia a dumb-founded look.
"Don't tell me you actually paid for all this crap," Buffy said amusingly, fingering a pair of discarded black leather pants. "No one's running the store! You could just…take it."
Cordelia shrugged. "Guilt is a demon. Besides," she gave a furtive smirk. "I didn't pay for it and all Faith owns is the pair of pants and tank top she confessed in, which is now torn and bloody lying in my apartment somewhere."
Buffy nodded in understanding, a sudden wave of sadness coming over her at the thought of Faith or was that coming from their bond? She didn't get the time to study it more closely when it was gone as quickly as it came, leaving her knowing without a doubt that it came from Faith. The blonde slayer contemplated over going into the dressing room to see if Faith was all right when the dark slayer decided to make her appearance.
Buffy held in her gasp of surprise as she beheld the girl in front of her. The clothes were utter Faithiness, decked out in a form-fitting red tank top and hip hugging black leather pants that flared at the bottom. Over her scarred hands was a pair of black motorcycle gloves with holes cut out for her fingers.
"It's all right guys," Faith finally broke the eerie silence with her usual sarcasm. "Prison food doesn't really mix well with the Slayer metabolism, but it's cool now. After this is all over, I'm gonna eat McDonald's outta business." She gave a weak smile.
Only Cordelia wasn't shocked to see Faith's diminished appearance. After all, she did take care of the girl for three straight days while she was tied to her bed. She gave a dubious glance at Buffy's horrified look and rolled her eyes. She grabbed a leather jacket from the pile of clothes and jokingly threw it at the dark slayer, who promptly caught it with a wink in thanks.
"C'mon, B, let's get going," Faith mused as she shrugged on her jacket to complete her badass look. "This god isn't gonna wait forever. He'll get suspicious if we take too long to make an appearance."
Buffy shook herself out of her stupor and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, at least now we're dressed to impress."
Faith turned to give Buffy a grateful look; thankful that the blonde wasn't questioning her. Buffy smiled knowingly, she could feel the anxiety from their bond as soon as Faith stepped out of the dressing room, but now it slowly faded away. However, she would question Faith later, after everything was all over. She was curious to the fact on why she hadn't seen the cause of Faith's unhealthy appearance and cause of the new stab wound above her own during her little romp in Faith's memories and as they made their way out of the mall, the blonde Slayer wondered briefly if she even got the full tour of Faith's mind.
* * *
It wasn't hard to find the god's lair. They just had to follow the unnatural pull of the god's power, like a moth to the proverbial flame, since they did have his evil spirits chained down in the back of their minds.
"It always has to be somewhere dark and dirty," Cordelia huffed. "Why can't evil things find somewhere classy if they're gonna try and take over the world?"
"I th-think dark places reminds th-them of home," Tara offered, trying to keep the rising fear out of her voice.
"Then roll out the 'Welcome Home' rug, cuz here we are," Faith whispered.
Tara and Cordelia exchanged glances and moved around the two Slayers, who have been leading the way, to peer down over the ledge. Sure enough, it opened to a large cavern littered with women dancing around a very large black cauldron sitting on a large fire in the middle of the cave. On a raised platform to one side of the cavern was the large crimson figure of the god, resting on what seemed like a throne made of bones. Sitting at his feet was Dawn and the creature was affectionately caressing her long brown hair, like a beloved dog.
"Gunn," Cordelia gasped, pointing to the wall near the 'throne'.
Buffy painfully wrenched her eyes away from her little sister towards the wall. There she saw Giles, Wesley, a handsome black man that she guessed was Gunn, and other men chained to the wall. She quickly pushed the boiling wrath she felt down into the pit of her stomach.
"Where's Xander," Tara whispered.
Buffy felt her heart sink as she realized her long-time friend was nowhere to be found. Near the tied up men was a tunnel where she knew would lead to even more men. Probably the whole missing male species. She turned to find Faith nearly trembling with rage as her eyes were fixed steadily towards the creature and Dawn.
"Ok," Buffy sighed, trying to remain calm. "Get ready, girls. This time our performance has to win us an Academy Award." She gently placed a hand on Faith's trembling fist and waited for Faith's seething dark eyes to find hers. "You ready?"
Faith only nodded. Let's do this!
Buffy froze. No Faith! We're not fighting him yet! We don't even know what we're up against…
B, your sister…Faith started to rage, but was immediately cut off by Buffy's soothing voice in her head.
Exactly, Faith. My sister. I want her back just as much as you do, but first we need to know exactly what we're dealing with, Buffy said seriously but gently enough to let Faith know just how much she did care. I promise you that when the time comes, we won't show any mercy.
Faith nodded mutely, a faint smile on her lips. Cordelia glanced back and forth between them, knowing they had just exchanged a mental conversation. And judging by the way Faith's demeanor relaxed considerably, it was a good exchange.
"You two done yet? This is the closest I will ever get to an Oscar-winning performance," Cordelia said with a sly grin.