Chapter Sixteen
Dawn's half-lidded golden eyes moved lazily across the cavern and the mass of women doing various activities. Her focus was mainly on the tingle of energy and power she felt every time her Master ran his fingers through her hair and what he was telling her. Suddenly, a familiar presence tingled her new heightened senses. It was almost as powerful as her Master, if not the same because it was a different surge of power. She stood up slowly, a lazy smile growing on her young features. She turned to look at her Master's questioning gaze.
"Master…" she began happily, but was cut off with a wave of his massive hand.
"I know," he stated simply. "Your sister is finally here. I felt her presence coming."
He closed his eyes as he felt the delicious energy of the Slayer rolling near him. It was more powerful than he ever realized. He couldn't believe that he had both the mystical Key and the Chosen One under his command. The thought alone made him giddy. This time around, he would not fail.
"Master," came a choir of singsong voices.
His eyes opened and he fixed his gaze on the golden Slayer and her three companions. "It is about time you have come to me."
Buffy grinned cruelly. "Sorry for the delay…Master. I had to make a detour along the way." She gestured towards Faith, Cordelia, and Tara. "You know, get a few friends along the way."
The crimson god nodded slowly then beckoned them forth. Cordelia immediately went towards his outstretched hand and caressed him fondly. Dawn frowned with jealousy, but went to her sister's side to give her a warm embrace. Buffy gathered her sister in a fierce hug, grimacing slightly as the thought of her not really being her sister came unbidden to her mind, but quickly dismissed it.
"That is enough," the god said gently, but in a commanding tone. Dawn pulled away reluctantly and went back to sit on the armchair of his 'throne'. "Slayer…" Both Buffy and Faith tensed at the title, but the god only kept his gaze on Buffy. "I have waited millennia's to be freed from my exile and now my success is hindered by one failed mission." At this, Dawn hissed in shame. "I think the job befalls you the best. You are the Chosen One."
Buffy and Faith exchanged surprised glances. The god didn't know there were two Slayers. Maybe they did have something against him after all.
"Your will is mine, my Lord," Buffy replied automatically. "I will retrieve it for you. I shall not fail."
The god nodded his head in satisfaction and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "If you are hungry, feel free to take any of the mortals." He gestured to the wall where Giles and the others were chained up. "If the old men do not satisfy your thirst, there are others."
Buffy nodded in thanks and turned to disappear into the throng of women with Faith and Tara in tow. Cordelia stayed on the other armchair, softly playing with the god's muscled bicep. She could sense the anger rolling off of Dawn and also the power.
Down girl, there is enough of the Master to share, Cordelia smiled sweetly towards her.
Dawn smiled mischievously at her and relaxed, resting her small head against her Master's large, broad shoulders.
Buffy finally made it to a dark corner of the cavern. Some of the women were huddled up against the walls, with men that seemed either drunk or under a trance as the women feasted upon them, but not killing them. Other women were engaged in obscene sexual acts with each other that she knew would get them arrested in an instant if they were doing that in a public area. And the rest were dancing seductively and wildly to a trance-like beat that was coming from god-knows-where. Buffy mentally thanked whomever that she was free in mind. She couldn't even begin to think of what she would do if she had become a mindless, blood-craving, lust demon.
Looks like one nasty little orgy, Faith said disgustedly. So…got a plan cooking there, B? Cuz I'm coming up empty.
Buffy shook her head in frustration. I don't know. At least he doesn't know you're a Slayer, too. Don't know how he missed that in the memo. I guess he can't read our minds.
Wouldn't that make him a wee bit suspicious that he can't get into the mind of his most powerful warrior, Faith wondered.
H-he can't read any minds. He…he's only t-telepathic. Like us, Tara finally spoke. She kept her eyes on the ground, her hair falling around her face like a curtain to hide her eyes of the things going on around her.
Geez, ya even stutter in your mind, Blondie? Faith chuckled despite herself.
Buffy nodded, considering something. So that's what that was. She smiled at the curious looks Faith and Tara were giving her. He told me to retrieve his sword. It's way down in the earth somewhere…guarded by a mystical something.
"Well, look what we have here," came a sultry feminine voice as a new person joined them in the corner.
Faith turned around, her eyes flickering a raging gold. "Lilah. What are you doing here?"
The lawyer raised an eyebrow. "Same as you." Her hazel eyes roamed lazily across Buffy's lithe body. "So you're Angel's ex?" She shrugged flippantly. "He always did have a thing for blondes."
Faith bit back the urge to slug her. She hated anything that had to do with her past. "You got a point in being here?"
Lilah turned towards her, slowly slinking her way closer to the dark Slayer until their faces were inches apart. Faith stared at her defiantly, wondering what game she was playing at. Lilah let her eyes roam across the Slayer's body before planting a quick kiss on Faith's lips, momentarily shocking the dark Slayer.
"Never did get what you came for," Lilah whispered to her slowly before stepping away. "I'll see you around."
With that, she disappeared into the crowd of women, leaving a surprised Faith and a confused Buffy and Tara behind.
"Wanna tell me what the hell that was all about," Buffy demanded, surprised at how jealous that sounded.
Faith shook the shock out of her system. She couldn't believe she let Lilah get that close to her. She bit back the shame in her voice. "She promised me I'd get off if in return I killed Angel, remember? And that I wouldn't be disappointed in her performance." She avoided looking into Buffy's eyes, afraid of the anger and hate she'd find there. "And if I didn't then…" she shrugged, letting the rest of the sentence hang in the air.
* * *
Buffy cautiously made her way through the tunnels. It was dark, considering there were only torches lighting the way, but her Slayer senses plus her newly heightened senses allowed her to see perfectly. She could feel a fading tingle of a familiar energy and a familiar scent of musky cologne tinge the air. Dawn had been here and so had Xander. Soft footsteps behind her quickly brought her out of her thoughts. She spun around, prepared for an attack.
"Whoa, easy there, B! Kinda jumpy are we?" Faith threw her palms up to reassure her she wasn't going to fight.
Buffy relaxed and continued walking. "What are you doing Faith? Isn't he going to wonder where you are?"
Faith shrugged. "I don't think he knows who I am, so it doesn't really matter. Plus, there are, like hundreds of other girls back there. I don't think he'll miss me."
"What about Tara? You just left her there," Buffy questioned, her eyes remained straight, her voice devoid of emotion.
Faith knew something was out of sync with her fellow slayer the moment after she told the blonde about Lilah. "She's with Willow now. Don't wanna interrupt…whatever they're doing." She noticed that with every word she was saying, Buffy was walking a little faster. "Hey, what's up with you?"
Buffy snorted. "Nothing." She paused, finally realizing she was being childish and acting the way she acted the first time Faith showed up in Sunnydale and finally slowed down her pace. "I'm just worried about Giles, Xander, and the others." She sighed. "I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do once I get this sword of his…or if I can even get it for that matter."
"Look, B, the only reason I went after Angel is to get him to kill me," Faith said quickly, holding back the self-loathing from her voice.
Buffy stopped and glared at Faith. "This isn't about that. Remember what the Master said right before I left? He's gonna start the preparations and the ritual will begin as soon as I come back with his sword." She shook her head. "I don't know what he's gonna do with Giles…"
"Oh," Faith stated blankly, feeling very stupid.
Buffy gave a slight nod and continued walking with Faith closely next to her. They walked in silence, neither knowing what to say to the other. Faith was wondering why Buffy was acting so nice to her. She hadn't done anything to earn the blonde's forgiveness and suddenly remembered that Buffy shared some of her memories. A shudder ran through her at the thought that the blonde knew everything about her. However, Faith somehow knew that she didn't know everything, because there was some memories that even Faith herself blocked out and kept in a tightly secured box in the recesses of her mind. There were many ugly little secrets in Faith's life that Buffy hadn't seen and was thankful she didn't see. She was grateful that she had a strong mind to even conceal that part of her mind from Buffy. There were just some things people don't need to know about. Faith knew that the memories Buffy gotten from her, were only to help Buffy understand her, to get the gist of her. It would still be up to Faith to fill in the ugly little holes, if even Faith herself can drudge up the courage to summon those memories out of her. Another thing Faith was wondering about was why Buffy was so quick to change the subject every time their past came up. It was something not easily forgotten.
Buffy, on the other hand, was thinking about the enigma that was Faith. Faith was acting like the Faith that had shown up for the first time in Sunnydale, before the incident with Allan and the dark Slayer's dealings with the Mayor. If she were still acting like her 'old' self, then maybe it wouldn't take her long to betray her again. Buffy quickly shook her head. Faith was acting this way because she didn't know how else to act around her. Plus the fact that they had to work together against this Big Bad, they had to push whatever unresolved issues they had to the side and save it for later, unless one of them didn't make it out alive. She suddenly remembered what Cordelia said that night when she came back to Los Angeles. Faith was going to save them, but die in the process. Buffy knew it wasn't fair, that even though there was still a lot of bad blood between them, she still didn't want Faith dead. At first she did, but now, after what she knew Faith had gone through in her young life, Buffy didn't want Faith dead because Faith never lived in the first place. Everything that surrounded Faith was always pain, anger, and death. That wasn't life. Buffy suddenly realized that a piece of Faith had been dead before she even got to Sunnydale. That's why it was so easy for her to turn against them. Maybe Faith thought that saving them with her own life was her only chance at redemption. Buffy hoped that wasn't true.
"B," Faith said softly, finally breaking the silence.
When she had Buffy's attention, she nodded to the small entrance that they had come across. It was lit by two torches on either side and above the entranceway was a symbol of a crescent moon with an arrow across it. A star speared the tip of the arrowhead. On one side of the moon was a tiger and on the other side was a wolf; both baring their fangs in a snarl as if in warning. Buffy extended her senses, she could almost feel Xander's presence. He was here not too long ago. She also caught the scent of something or someone else. It was very familiar but there wasn't enough of its presence to identify who or what it was.
Scent? I guess that's how vampires do that weird smelling thingy, Buffy thought humorously.
"You are too late," came a pleasant voice. "Tell your Master that the prophecy has been fulfilled."
Faith gave a once-over to the woman inside the room. She was translucent with an amused smile on her face. She was standing next to an empty altar.
"We don't work for the Master," Faith replied casually, as Buffy started towards the room.
Before Buffy could even cross the threshold, she found herself being thrown against the side of the tunnel. Her skin felt like it was on fire, but it was only for a moment before the pain subsided. She wafted away the tendrils of smoke that came from her pant legs and shot a 'don't-you-even-say-a-damn-word' look towards Faith, who was stifling a laugh.
"You do not work for the Master?" The woman in the room cocked her head to one side, watching as the last of the smoke disappeared from Buffy's body. "The guardians speak otherwise."
"Guardians?" Faith crossed her arms, getting impatient with the woman's cryptic talk.
"Yes. I am one of them," the woman said, smiling proudly. "The other one is…" She pointed upwards giving an innocent smile. Faith and Buffy both looked back up to the symbol above the entranceway. "You can not enter here. Besides, it is too late. The sword is gone. The dark warrior took it and Xander. Your Master will never lay his hands upon it again."
Buffy growled angrily, flashing her golden eyes towards the woman then back to Faith. "Find them. Follow their…scent." She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, her eyes returning to their normal hazel-green color. "I'll try to stall things."
Faith nodded, glancing one last time at the woman before disappearing into the darkness of the tunnels. Buffy waited until Faith was gone before going back down the way they had come, trying to formulate a plan.