CHAPTER EIGHT: GAMES
Faith walked into the apartment, a smile on her face. Nothing was going to ruin this day for her. In the past, her birthdays had never been as good as this, and even with her sudden loss of strength, it was still one of the best.
"Hey Jo," Faith called out in greeting.
Joanna looked up from her book and waved. "Did you have fun?" she asked with a smile.
"Fun was definitely had," she replied.
"Good," Joanna replied.
"We're going out again tonight," Faith explained.
"Oh…about that. I was hoping you could do a slight re-con mission tonight," Joanna said.
Faith's good mood suddenly deflated completely. "Uh, you do remember the whole me not having strength thing at the moment, right?"
Joanna nodded and fought to keep the guilt from her face.
"I know. I'm not asking you to patrol. There's just one house that needs to be looked over. It shouldn't be any trouble."
Faith sighed and sat on the couch beside her Watcher. She knew that she couldn't actually say no to any direct orders, no matter how much she didn't want to obey.
"Alright…so…details?"
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Buffy followed Faith as she made her way to the building that would house the brunette Slayer's Cruciamentum. Buffy wasn't too sure how exactly she could help her fellow Slayer without the Council finding out about the extra help, and without Faith knowing that Buffy hadn't exactly been truthful in their new friendship either.
The blonde Slayer couldn't help but wonder what exactly was between the two of them. They shared a connection on an obvious Slayer level, but there was something more to it than that. She was attracted to Faith, a startling revelation for Buffy. She had lain awake for the past two nights, her thoughts consumed completely by the dark-haired Slayer. She wanted to know about Faith and her life and everything else that made her the person that she was.
She knew that she would have to return to Sunnydale soon. She wanted desperately to stay and get to know Faith more, but she had a duty on the hellmouth that couldn't be shirked.
She sighed and continued following Faith, who was looking over her shoulder every few seconds, as though she knew that she was being followed by something or someone. A duffel bag was thrown over Faith's shoulder, and buffy could tell by the shape of the material that she was carrying more weapons than she normally would have on a standard patrol. Buffy could remember the feeling of absolute need to take every piece of arsenal that she could carry. It had given her a false sense of security.
Faith turned down the street that Joanna had directed her to, a mantra playing silently in her head. "I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I'm so not scared…"
She paused outside the house, not liking the look of it at all. She wondered what would happen if she went home and told Joanna that she hadn't had the confidence to go inside. She knew that Joanna wouldn't like it if she came home with no information, so with reluctance, she walked up to the front porch and entered the darkened house.
Buffy quietly followed her in, making sure to stay absolutely silent. She didn't want to be staked or shot with a crossbow bolt for startling the girl. The door slammed shut behind her and Buffy knew that the test had begun. Even though she herself was not weakened, she couldn't help but feel the fear all over again.
Meanwhile, Faith was on the verge of a panic attack. There was very little light in the house, and she could hear something moving in the house.
"Wanna play?" came a creepy whisper from the corner of the room. Faith held back a gasp and aimed her crossbow into the shadows, trying to see any sign of movement.
"Come on Faithy…let's play."
Faith spun again, scared beyond belief. She vowed that if she got out of the house alive, she would hit Joanna across the back of the head for forcing her to come into the house with her strength gone.
"Show yourself," Faith demanded, her voice slightly shaky.
"S'a game, birthday girl," the voice replied. "Gotta find me."
Somewhere upstairs, a door slammed. Faith jumped and pointed the crossbow to the top of the stairs. She psyched herself up and managed to get halfway up the staircase when another door slammed. She tightened her grip on the crossbow and the stake that she held, telling herself not to panic.
Buffy watched, her own crossbow in her hands, aimed at the top of the stairs. She wasn't about to watch Faith get killed, and she wasn't going to let her get turned either.
"Getting' warmer."
Faith reached the top of the stairs, and scanned the darkness. She could see nothing out of the ordinary. She breathed in deeply and began moving down the corridor.
Buffy began her slow ascent of the stairs, worried that Faith would turn around and see her at any moment. She made it to the top and ducked behind a pillar as Faith spun around, hearing the top stair creak under Buffy's weight.
"C'mon dearie. Nearly there."
An almost forgotten memory hit Buffy at full force. She recognised that voice. She couldn't believe she'd almost forgotten the craziest vampire she'd ever met. The voice belonged to Drusilla. She tried not to panic, but she knew how violent Drusilla could be. The crazy vampire had killed Kendra, and was now after Faith. There was no way that Buffy was going to let her get another sister-Slayer.
Faith continued following the voice, trying each of the doors on the sides of the corridor, only to find all of them locked. The door at the end of the corridor was flung open suddenly, and Faith shot of a bolt from the crossbow, missing the target completely. It hit the blonde vampire's shoulder, but missed the heart.
Faith discarded the crossbow, knowing she'd never be able to reload in time. She pulled a cross from the pocket of her jeans and held it in front of her, her hand trembling badly. The vampire hissed in anger and sent a spinning kick to Faith's wrist, dislodging the cross, leaving her with only a stake to defend herself.
The Slayer panicked for a moment before throwing herself completely into the battle. Even without her strength, she still had the training that she'd been given over the last few years. She threw a right hook at the vampire's face, her knuckles aching at the sudden pain that ran through her hand. She made a mental note to not take her Slayer strength for granted if she ever made it out of the house alive.
She ducked a roundhouse kick and shot out her foot, catching the back of the vampire's knee, sending him stumbling into the wall. It regrouped quickly and punched Faith in the face. She fell backwards and leant against the wall trying to push past the pain.
She attacked again, gaining the advantage for a moment. She went to plunge the stake into the vampire's heart but was startled by the sound of clapping coming from behind her. She turned and saw another vampire coming towards her. She was thin with long dark brown hair. Faith cast a quick look to the other vampire, annoyed that he'd recovered from the attack and now had her cornered.
Buffy kept her crossbow trained on Drusilla's back, directly aimed at the heart. She wanted to give Faith the chance to kill Drusilla, and if she failed, then Buffy would step in.
Faith looked between the two vampires, quickly deciding that the female was more of a threat to her than anything. She'd been wrong. As soon as her back was turned, she felt something solid connect with the back of her head, forcing her to her knees. Her hand reached to the now throbbing section of her head, and Faith could feel blood beginning to drip down the back of her neck.
The blonde vampire snarled at the sudden scent in the air, carelessly attacking, leaving Faith with an opening. She weakly thrust the stake into the vampire's chest, surprised by how much force she'd needed to use in order to stake the creature. It usually felt to seamless and simple, but now it as a struggle to even get a stake to penetrate the skin. He turned to dust leaving Faith alone with the female vampire.
Drusilla quickly stepped towards Faith, skilfully dodging a weak punch that Faith directed at Drusilla's legs. Drusilla slammed her fist into the back of Faith's head, clipping the wound the other vampire had inflicted upon the girl. The Slayer slammed into the wall and slid to her knees. Drusilla grabbed Faith's hair, dragging her to a standing position and slamming the Slayer's back against the wall.
"Look at me dearie," Drusilla crooned softly. "Be in my eyes. Be in me."
Faith felt her mind go completely blank. She stared into the vampire's deep brown eyes and the entire world as she knew it disappeared. She was suddenly in no pain at all, and she thanked whoever or whatever had just put her out of her misery, even though she knew that it wasn't a good sign.
Buffy stepped forward and shot off a crossbow bolt, hitting Drusilla's arm. The vampire let out a high-pitched wail, turning to the blonde girl and effectively breaking the trance that Faith was in. The brunette Slayer slumped slid to the floor, her head aching and her entire body feeling as though it was on fire.
"Bad Slayer," Drusilla said, pointing her finger at Buffy as though she was scolding a child. "Ruining my nice party."
"Sorry Dru. You know me, I just can't resist crashing these things." Her eyes never left the insane vampire, the crossbow reloaded and ready to be fired.
"You took away my sweet Angel…my daddy. My William thinks of nothing but you…you're all around him…laughing…floating in his head."
Buffy had never been able to understand Drusilla, and she was making no attempts to try and interpret anything that Angel's childe was saying now.
"You're aware you're insane, right?"
Drusilla laughed and approached Buffy slowly. Buffy made sure to keep her eyes away from Drusilla's. As much as Giles had ingrained the notion of always maintaining eye contact with your opponent so you could pre-empt their moves, the Slayer had no desire to fall into one of Drusilla's trances.
"Only cos daddy made me that way," Drusilla replied. "And you loved him. He loved me too y'know. Once. So long ago. Before you stole him away from me."
Drusilla lunged towards Buffy who quickly stepped backwards, kicking the vampire's stomach. Drusilla tried battling the crossbow away from Buffy, the sudden fight for the weapon making it shoot. The bolt hit Drusilla's stomach. Buffy quickly threw the crossbow to the side and pulled out a stake from the waistband of her pants. The Slayer and Vampire circled each other warily before Drusilla finally struck.
The two women fought with deadly accuracy, holding nothing back, knowing that only one of them would be walking away. Buffy fought with everything she had, wanting to avenge Kendra's death, and wanting to make sure Faith got out of the house alive. She knew that Faith wasn't doing too well, and that she would need treatment for the wound to her head and soon if she wanted to make it through the night.
Drusilla gained a momentary advantage, suddenly holding the short Slayer in a headlock, trying to cut off Buffy's air supply. Buffy panicked for a moment before collecting her wits and slamming her head into Drusilla's face, sending the vampire tumbling to the ground. Buffy slammed her boot into Drusilla's ribs and quickly knelt one knew on the vampire, keeping Drusilla pinned to the ground.
"I so shoulda done this years ago," Buffy commented, thrusting her stake into Drusilla's heart, watching with satisfaction as one of her longest standing nemeses crumbled to dust.
She jumped to her feet and gently took hold of Faith who was struggling to remain conscious.
"Faith?"
Faith looked up at her groggily, her eyes squinting to try and focus on her rescuer.
"Jo?"
The blonde managed to sling one of Faith's arms around Buffy's shoulders, hoisting her into a standing position and gently guiding her down the stairs. They made it out to the front porch and Buffy quickly rummaged into the Faith's jacket pockets, taking out Faith's cell phone.
She scrolled through the address book and found Joanna's number. The Watcher answered on the first ring.
"Faith?"
"Your Slayer needs help," Buffy said quickly, hanging up before Joanna could ask any questions.
Buffy sank onto her knees beside Faith, her fingers carefully probing the wound at the back of Faith's head, trying to gage how bad it really was. She knew that the other Slayer probably had a concussion.
"Faith, you still with me?" Buffy asked gently.
Faith groaned something unintelligible. "Jo…where's Jo…she…she'll help."
Buffy stroked Faith's hair gently. "She's coming. She'll be here. She'll help you."
For ten minutes, Buffy continued to get Faith to talk to her, even if the brunette Slayer had no idea what she was saying. As long as she stayed awake and conscious, Buffy wasn't too worried.
Buffy heard pounding footsteps running towards them. She stood quickly and let Joanna take her place at Faith's side. Buffy had done the best she could to stop the bleeding at the back of Faith's head, but she didn't have that much experience with head wounds.
Joanna finally turned her attention to Buffy, recognising her as the blonde girl that Faith had been dancing with the other night. Her eyes narrowed as she wondered if Faith had told her about being the Slayer.
"You're the girl from the club," Joanna said.
"Something like that," Buffy replied.
The Watcher regarded her curiously, hoping that if Faith had told the girl about being a Slayer then Buffy would have the necessary discretion to keep Faith's identity a secret.
"How do you know about Slayers?"
Buffy smiled enigmatically and began walking down the stairs, knowing that Joanna would be able to take care of the injured Slayer.
Watchers, as a general rule, were a curious bunch, and Joanna couldn't let the mysterious blonde girl just walk away.
She called out, hoping to stop the girl. "What's your name?"
Buffy turned around, and met the Watcher's curious gaze.
"Buffy."
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Ooo, long chapter. ;) Much thanks for the reviews and emails!!
S&K