Chapter 14
I think for the first few seconds we just stared at each other. The silence hung on the air, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
"What?" I asked again, not sure what else to say.
He grinned at me. "You heard me."
It was true then. He was nearly two-thousand, that would explain him in my memories. It didn't explain my memories, though, but I had the feeling he could answer those questions, too. The question really was, how much would he tell me?
I closed my eyes for a moment, putting my thoughts together before I said anything else. "So. wow." So much for putting thoughts together, but I didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, that's one way of looking at it," Alucard said with grim humor.
I looked at him, I mean really looked at him. He was serious, one hundred percent serious, and at the same time sort of leaned back. He was sure of himself, as if he had nothing to worry about, or maybe he just had nothing to lose.
"Why?"
"Hmm?"
"Why now?" I ask. "Why answer me now?"
He shrugged. "You needed a pick-me-up, I thought this might help," he explained.
"Why would you care?" I couldn't help but ask, I really wanted to know.
Alucard didn't say anything for a moment. He seemed to be thinking as hard and as carefully as I was. "I have a couple of reasons." He stated finally.
"That's not an answer." I stated. He nodded, knowing perfectly well what he wasn't telling me. Sighing I rubbed my eyes. Today had been too long, I didn't need this right now. But at the same time I did. It was either this or face what happened, and I was voting this. "So. is that it?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
Frowning I looked back up at him. "You don't know?"
He shook his head. "Nope, don't have a clue."
"That's helpful."
"Very."
Again with the silence.
Alucard broke it this time. "Why did you ask my age?" He really wanted to know, that I could tell.
"Got some help remembering a few things," I stated, leaving out a lot. "You happened to be a factor in what I remembered."
He gave me a questioning look while thinking out a reply. "Maybe you should go back a bit. Why were you trying to remember things and what did you remember?" He was clearly searching for information, and I wasn't sure why, but at the moment I didn't care. Right now I needed to know if it mattered that I told him.
Did it matter? Maybe. He was a vampire, technically evil. He was old, making him very strong and very fast, not to mention smart. He knew so much, he had done so much, there was no way I could ever really trust him. But what did that really have to do with this? I knew he was evil the moment I saw him. It hadn't made a difference. He knew something, and I needed to know what it was, if sharing my memories might give me that information, then it was worth it. I had to know what was going on.
"You remember the Prokaryote stone? The thing used to help Spike out awhile ago?" Alucard nodded. "I talked Giles into letting me use it." For a moment I thought Alucard might say something, but then he didn't, and I continued. "You see, I've been having these dreams, and I can't remember them. It's been bugging me. Heck, I still can't remember them, but I know they're important. Any dream that comes with a headache tends to be important.
"But to the point. Giles got out the stone, did the spell, and suddenly I'm seeing things I know nothing about. I'm back in what looks like ancient Rome, sitting around a table were people were eating finger food in togas. Scene after scene comes back to me like it was just a normal memory. I'm seeing a past I didn't know I had, and I still don't know if it's real. I don't really believe in past lives but this is making me wonder."
Alucard nodded, understanding, but still he didn't say anything. I waited, staring at him, in case he might say something, but he didn't, so I continued again.
"So now I'm some chick, a little younger than me, back in Rome. She's not human. She's Lerian," I paused a moment, watching him for reactions, he didn't show an emotion. "Her name's Airaei, she's a slayer, like me. She fights in an arena like a gladiator, and I remember all of it like it was me. Heck, it was me. I could tell, she was almost just like me, just a few things different."
"And where did I come in?" Alucard asked quietly.
I shrugged. "It wasn't important, but right at the end, there had been this big fight. I was behind stage or whatever afterwards, recovering kind of. Then you walked in, I saw your face, and just like that I'm back in reality."
Nodding slowly Alucard considered what I had said. "Well, I don't believe in past lives, either," he stated softly, "but I do know that Airaei was you, or at least partly you."
I blinked. "Okay, and how would that work?"
"I'm not sure exactly what happens, but it's really quite simple," he started. For a moment it looked like he wasn't going to continue, but I glared at him until he kept talking. "Lerians come to this world once every three thousand years or so. They stay for around five hundred years, and are off again. Lerians don't exist the same way we do. They don't have solid forms, so they have to borrow them, in a manor of speaking."
"So they posses them?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No, not like that. You see, the Lerians are basically a bunch of librarians. They seek knowledge, they want to know everything. The problem is they're limited to a certain time period to collect information. To help gather more, and not have to rely on the crappy history we dig up, they borrow the souls, or the essence, of someone. They kind of reach into the future and find a person who will make a huge difference in the world, and then take their essence and form a human out of it. Normally they look similar to the original person."
Okay, did I hear that right? They just snapped someone out of the future? That couldn't be right. "So it's like they travel through time?" I asked, trying to figure this out.
He kind of shook his head and nodded at the same time. "Kind of, but it's more like they remember these people, and then just summon them forth." He paused, searching for the right way to explain. "They have this thing, really not a physical thing, but something they can connect to, a part of their world. They use it to see the memories of everything. A Lerian can go into this place and remember everything in the world he or she is in. The problem is that it's too jumbled, they have to focus, and to do that they use the humans, They focus on the humans' lives and use their memories to add to their information sources."
"That can't be right." I murmured.
He smirked. "Why not?"
"A person with that much information available to them. it's just too much for anyone."
He shrugged. "To a human maybe. But the humans never connected to the memories," Alucard explained. "They left their human bodies, and went into pure Lerian form when they connected to the vault."
I paused a moment. "The vault?" I asked. Something was twitching in my head and I couldn't place why the name sounded familiar. The feeling was similar to the one I had in the prison cell, only stronger.
"Yeah, that's what they called it," Alucard explained. "Why?"
I shook my head, not meeting his eyes. "I-I don't know."
He frowned. "Fine. That's okay."
"So how did you know about all of this?" I asked looking up at him.
For the first time in this conversation he looked uncomfortable. "Well, you told me."
Huh? Oh, wait, he must mean Airaei. "I didn't think the Lerians would want their information gabbed about to just anyone."
Alucard smirked. "True, very true," He flashed me a quick grin., "but you never really cared what the Lerians thought. Quite a trouble you were."
I half grinned back at him. "Yeah, I got the idea, too." A sudden thought came to me. "I had a brother."
Alucard noticeably flinched. "Hoping you wouldn't remember that."
"Yeah, I bet you were." No wonder he had been worried that I'd recognize Lurio's name. "So you killed him?"
Sighing Alucard nodded. "Him and a few other people."
"Yeah, several other people," I agreed with a hint of sarcasm.
"The guy was a jerk, he had it coming," Alucard muttered. I raised an eyebrow. He shrugged. "Soulless vampire rookie, give me a break."
Honestly I wanted to say something very mean and angry, but I couldn't. I didn't even know who Lurio was. So he was my brother, that probably meant something important, but the only memory of him I had was him shoving a sword through my shoulder. Not exactly a reason to love him.
"Whatever, Alucard." I don't think he believed my indifference, if anything he looked nervous about it. "So now what?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean now what? I know you were alive back when I was, er. alive I guess you might say, but that doesn't matter. I know why I remember certain things, but it's only leading to more questions," I explained.
"Would you want the answers if they only confused things more?" He asked.
"Does that mean you'll tell them to me?" I replied.
He shrugged. "Some of them, maybe."
"Where you a vampire when you first met Airaei?" I asked.
"No."
"How did you get to know her?"
"I worked for her family," he replied, zoning out a little, these were easy questions.
"Did you know her dad?"
He rolled his eyes. "I had the misfortune of working for the guy," he muttered.
"So you didn't like him?"
He shook his head. "Not in the slightest."
"Why not?" I asked, really wanting to know.
"Because he believed that humans were weak creatures that existed only to support him with knowledge and give him a life of luxury. He was an ass," Alucard said a little bitterly.
"After all this time you still hold a grudge?"
He looked up at me, surprised. "I didn't say that."
I smirked. "You didn't have to."
Smiling a little he nodded. "Guess you're right, and yeah, it still bugs me."
"What, did he single you out or something?" I asked.
Shrugging he answered, "Something along those lines."
Stopping to think about what to ask next I leaned back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had just given me tons of information. I should be happy for every bit but I felt like I was missing something.
"What aren't you telling me?" I said, almost at a whisper.
Alucard didn't answer right away, I didn't look at him to see why. "I'm not telling you a lot of things, Liz."
"Why not?" Stupid question. There was a lot of things he wouldn't want me to know for a lot of different reasons, but it was the question that had to be asked. Anyone with curiosity wouldn't be able to help them self.
Alucard understood that fact, but he was still glaring at me. "It doesn't matter. If you're going to find out you need to find out on your own." Now he sounded angry. Maybe it was something I said.
"Sorry Alucard, didn't mean to pry," I murmured.
He rolled his eyes. "Of course you did." Okay, what could I say? He was right.
This would have led to a very awkward moment with a long awkward silence that neither of us would have bothered to break because neither of us would have known what to say, but instead something happened to fix all that.
Faith walked in.
She glanced at me, then at Alucard, brushing back a long piece of brown hair and looking grumpy. She had just as many bruises as me, and felt just as bad. Seeing her reminded me of why Alucard and I just had our little chat. The preacher dude and his lovely group of bringers. Just the reminder I wanted.
"Hey Beth," she said to me, tired, then glanced at Alucard. "This your pet vamp I keep hearing about?" Alucard frowned, not amused, I merely shrugged. She looked at the two of us again. "Am I interrupting something, cause I don't think the girls would mind me moving downstairs." Wow, that was nice of her to offer that. She was either trying to be a better person, or too hurt to care about it. Guess which one I was betting on.
"Nah, you're fine," I said. "Just talking about the past and other annoying stuff." She shrugged and threw her coat down on a chair. "How're you doing?" I asked, having nothing better to say.
She sighed, shaking her head. "Way past six, and going up."
I blinked, "Huh?"
"Nothing, nevermind," she murmured. Then she looked at me, her eyes narrowing a little. "You took quite a bruising yourself tonight," she stated matter-of-factly.
I nodded slowly, watching her as carefully as she was watching me. "Yeah, it happens sometimes."
"Caleb's pretty tough to take on, I'd think he'd tear your head off," she wasn't even joking.
Alucard looked at booth of us. "You're a Slayer Faith, you could take him. Liz's a Slayer too, why shouldn't she be able to?"
I don't think Faith even blinked, she just sat there. No one told her after all. How could that slip through? You know, it might be a small, unimportant fact, but hey, I was still a Slayer. Big deal here at the end of the world and all. She should have been told. Ah well, she knew now.
"Wait a sec, you?" She asked, looking at me. I nodded indifferently. "How in hell. well, B didn't tell me there was a new Slayer around. Thought I'd have to die to make that happen."
Shrugging I answered. "Might be the case, but things are a little odd about all of this. You might say I'm a unique case. Buffy did die though, so here I am, alive and kicking." I paused for a moment, "No pun intended," I added as an after thought.
"Wait, so you just showed up, a Slayer?" Faith asked, trying to get caught up on this.
Alucard stepped in again. "Not quite, she's been around for, what is it now? One hundred and thirty-nine years I believe." So much for tact, he was just dropping bomb shells.
Fortunately Faith wasn't up to speed, so it wasn't really making sense to her. "Slow down a bit. You're a Slayer," I nodded, "and he's tagging along with you?" she motioned to Alucard and I nodded again, "And those watcher freaks, they're yours? You have four watchers?" I nodded once more. "Shit, how'd that happen?"
I gave her the very short version of me getting cursed, hanging out for a few years, coming back alive, traveling with the watchers and ending up here. I think Faith was a little overwhelmed, but she was quick to deal with it.
"So you're like super Slayer or something?"
"Hardly," I muttered. "I got kicked around as easily as the next Slayer, and Buffy's still the boss."
Faith nodded to that. "Though technically you were a Slayer first," Faith pointed out.
I shrugged. "So what? Like anyone cares. Hell, I don't care. I'm happy were I'm at, or at least I hope I will be. The last thing anyone here needs is bringing them into my problems."
"No kidding," Faith muttered.
We sat quietly for a few minutes. Faith and I had just had a real conversation. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was a nice person, or at least she was when she was completely tired. But we had talked, and that was important. I couldn't help but compare it to the fact that Buffy had never bothered to get to know me. I had the feeling that even though she knew I was a Slayer she thought of me as a potential. That bugged me. Every one kept thinking I was just a little girl. Hell, I was older than al of them, with the exception of Spike, of course.
"Look, you take the bed," I said, getting up to grab a sleeping bag for myself.
Faith glanced at Alucard, "We're leaving him out like this?"
"He was unchained last night, I don't think he bit either of us," I stated.
Faith looked surprised, but not bothered. "So you two a couple or something?" She asked.
I froze for a second, hearing Alucard coughing behind me. Slowly I started moving again, reaching for the sleeping bag that was in the closest a I let my mind actually make sense of what she said. I finally responded by shaking my head, Alucard filled in for me.
"Trust me, Faith, we're not at all a couple. As a matter of fact, you're the first one even to suggest it, and I think she's a little confused to why you might think that," I turned and glared at him, he merely shrugged.
"I'm not confused, just annoyed," I growled, throwing the sleeping bag on the floor.
Faith grinned. "It's okay, Buffy's with a vamp, you can be too."
I turned my glare to her, my eyes narrowing. "I'm not dating Alucard. God, I haven't even thought about it until you brought it up, and trust me, it's not a happy visual."
Alucard chuckled and Faith only grinned. I hated it when people picked on me like this. I felt helpless, there wasn't really anything I could do but glare, and that only made it funnier for them. So instead I unrolled the sleeping bag and grabbed a pillow off the bed. "Laugh all you want, I'm going to sleep," I grumbled as I left the room to change. When I came back the light was already off and Faith was in the bed.
I crawled into my the bag and tried to sleep, but even while I was tired it was hard to relax. Faith and Alucard's taunting annoyed me, but it kept my mind off other things. The problem was I knew I was avoiding thinking about those other things. It was eating me up that I couldn't face the problems. I was scared, and I didn't want to admit it. Clutching the pillow I tried to squeeze my eyes shut and block out all unwanted thoughts. It wasn't working.
"Liz, relax. You have all of tomorrow to stress out," I heard Alucard say.
Blinking in the dark I rolled over and looked towards him, barely being able to make out his figure in the shadows. "What?"
"Relax," he said softly.
It sounded so simple. Sighing I rolled back over. Just relax, it couldn't be that hard. I unclenched my muscles, loosening up. Taking a deep breath I tried to relax, just letting myself go. Alucard was right. I could deal with this tomorrow.
~
*You still don't remember.* Airaei sounded disappointed.
It's your fault, you won't let me.
*You have to do it for yourself, make yourself remember.*
I shrugged in the nothingness, getting fed up with my other self.
Look, it's not my fault. I tired, remember? I tried and you got mad at me.
*If you had not tried you wouldn't be in this mess.*
What mess? Tell me, what mess have I gotten myself into? I don't see it. With all our memories I don't see how what I did was wrong.
*You fool! You're but a human, of course you don't see.*
My god, you're as bad as your father, no wonder Alucard hates him.
*You know nothing about this so called 'Alucard'* she snapped.
No? I know nothing? I know he wouldn't be arguing with himself like this. Let me out of here!
*You have to remember.*
Shut up already.
*I can force you to, you don't want that.*
I don't care, leave me alone.
*I can open doors you've never crossed, show you things that would drive you mad.*
Quit with the cryptic. You might be the strong protector where you're from, but here on Earth you're not that hot. If you're not going to be helpful then what're you bugging me for?
Airaei was silent for a moment. *You're going to ruin everything.*
I smirked.
That's what we Slayers do. We're here to disrupt and cause disorder.
*No, you're here to fix things.*
And is that what you did? Fix things? If I remember correctly you were more interested in a certain love life. Weren't you Airaei?
*You know nothing about that.*
I was you, remember? I know what you know. I remember what you remember.
*You don't want to look there.*
Why not? What could you possibly remember that would create such proble-
For a moment we were both silent, memories washed through me, from both times.
Oh. I see.
~
I woke up in the middle of the night, my head aching. Something was wrong, and I didn't know what. I had to remember it. I had to know what was happening. Right now though, I was more interested in something to calm my pounding head.
~
Swoosh! Check out my short chapter! But let's skip to the thanks:
Maude: Hey! Wow, you reviewed quickly, that's a first. (no offense or anything ^.^) actually I lost your e-mail 'cause a certain someone ripped it up ::glares at you know who:: anywho, thanks a ton!
Beyond the Silence: Glad you liked it ^.^ yeah, spelling sucks, and I haven't really checked this chapter. O.o finished writing it 'bout five minutes ago, so let's just go with what I have. I can correct it later. Thanks for the review! Much appreciated.
~Rave
I think for the first few seconds we just stared at each other. The silence hung on the air, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
"What?" I asked again, not sure what else to say.
He grinned at me. "You heard me."
It was true then. He was nearly two-thousand, that would explain him in my memories. It didn't explain my memories, though, but I had the feeling he could answer those questions, too. The question really was, how much would he tell me?
I closed my eyes for a moment, putting my thoughts together before I said anything else. "So. wow." So much for putting thoughts together, but I didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, that's one way of looking at it," Alucard said with grim humor.
I looked at him, I mean really looked at him. He was serious, one hundred percent serious, and at the same time sort of leaned back. He was sure of himself, as if he had nothing to worry about, or maybe he just had nothing to lose.
"Why?"
"Hmm?"
"Why now?" I ask. "Why answer me now?"
He shrugged. "You needed a pick-me-up, I thought this might help," he explained.
"Why would you care?" I couldn't help but ask, I really wanted to know.
Alucard didn't say anything for a moment. He seemed to be thinking as hard and as carefully as I was. "I have a couple of reasons." He stated finally.
"That's not an answer." I stated. He nodded, knowing perfectly well what he wasn't telling me. Sighing I rubbed my eyes. Today had been too long, I didn't need this right now. But at the same time I did. It was either this or face what happened, and I was voting this. "So. is that it?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
Frowning I looked back up at him. "You don't know?"
He shook his head. "Nope, don't have a clue."
"That's helpful."
"Very."
Again with the silence.
Alucard broke it this time. "Why did you ask my age?" He really wanted to know, that I could tell.
"Got some help remembering a few things," I stated, leaving out a lot. "You happened to be a factor in what I remembered."
He gave me a questioning look while thinking out a reply. "Maybe you should go back a bit. Why were you trying to remember things and what did you remember?" He was clearly searching for information, and I wasn't sure why, but at the moment I didn't care. Right now I needed to know if it mattered that I told him.
Did it matter? Maybe. He was a vampire, technically evil. He was old, making him very strong and very fast, not to mention smart. He knew so much, he had done so much, there was no way I could ever really trust him. But what did that really have to do with this? I knew he was evil the moment I saw him. It hadn't made a difference. He knew something, and I needed to know what it was, if sharing my memories might give me that information, then it was worth it. I had to know what was going on.
"You remember the Prokaryote stone? The thing used to help Spike out awhile ago?" Alucard nodded. "I talked Giles into letting me use it." For a moment I thought Alucard might say something, but then he didn't, and I continued. "You see, I've been having these dreams, and I can't remember them. It's been bugging me. Heck, I still can't remember them, but I know they're important. Any dream that comes with a headache tends to be important.
"But to the point. Giles got out the stone, did the spell, and suddenly I'm seeing things I know nothing about. I'm back in what looks like ancient Rome, sitting around a table were people were eating finger food in togas. Scene after scene comes back to me like it was just a normal memory. I'm seeing a past I didn't know I had, and I still don't know if it's real. I don't really believe in past lives but this is making me wonder."
Alucard nodded, understanding, but still he didn't say anything. I waited, staring at him, in case he might say something, but he didn't, so I continued again.
"So now I'm some chick, a little younger than me, back in Rome. She's not human. She's Lerian," I paused a moment, watching him for reactions, he didn't show an emotion. "Her name's Airaei, she's a slayer, like me. She fights in an arena like a gladiator, and I remember all of it like it was me. Heck, it was me. I could tell, she was almost just like me, just a few things different."
"And where did I come in?" Alucard asked quietly.
I shrugged. "It wasn't important, but right at the end, there had been this big fight. I was behind stage or whatever afterwards, recovering kind of. Then you walked in, I saw your face, and just like that I'm back in reality."
Nodding slowly Alucard considered what I had said. "Well, I don't believe in past lives, either," he stated softly, "but I do know that Airaei was you, or at least partly you."
I blinked. "Okay, and how would that work?"
"I'm not sure exactly what happens, but it's really quite simple," he started. For a moment it looked like he wasn't going to continue, but I glared at him until he kept talking. "Lerians come to this world once every three thousand years or so. They stay for around five hundred years, and are off again. Lerians don't exist the same way we do. They don't have solid forms, so they have to borrow them, in a manor of speaking."
"So they posses them?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No, not like that. You see, the Lerians are basically a bunch of librarians. They seek knowledge, they want to know everything. The problem is they're limited to a certain time period to collect information. To help gather more, and not have to rely on the crappy history we dig up, they borrow the souls, or the essence, of someone. They kind of reach into the future and find a person who will make a huge difference in the world, and then take their essence and form a human out of it. Normally they look similar to the original person."
Okay, did I hear that right? They just snapped someone out of the future? That couldn't be right. "So it's like they travel through time?" I asked, trying to figure this out.
He kind of shook his head and nodded at the same time. "Kind of, but it's more like they remember these people, and then just summon them forth." He paused, searching for the right way to explain. "They have this thing, really not a physical thing, but something they can connect to, a part of their world. They use it to see the memories of everything. A Lerian can go into this place and remember everything in the world he or she is in. The problem is that it's too jumbled, they have to focus, and to do that they use the humans, They focus on the humans' lives and use their memories to add to their information sources."
"That can't be right." I murmured.
He smirked. "Why not?"
"A person with that much information available to them. it's just too much for anyone."
He shrugged. "To a human maybe. But the humans never connected to the memories," Alucard explained. "They left their human bodies, and went into pure Lerian form when they connected to the vault."
I paused a moment. "The vault?" I asked. Something was twitching in my head and I couldn't place why the name sounded familiar. The feeling was similar to the one I had in the prison cell, only stronger.
"Yeah, that's what they called it," Alucard explained. "Why?"
I shook my head, not meeting his eyes. "I-I don't know."
He frowned. "Fine. That's okay."
"So how did you know about all of this?" I asked looking up at him.
For the first time in this conversation he looked uncomfortable. "Well, you told me."
Huh? Oh, wait, he must mean Airaei. "I didn't think the Lerians would want their information gabbed about to just anyone."
Alucard smirked. "True, very true," He flashed me a quick grin., "but you never really cared what the Lerians thought. Quite a trouble you were."
I half grinned back at him. "Yeah, I got the idea, too." A sudden thought came to me. "I had a brother."
Alucard noticeably flinched. "Hoping you wouldn't remember that."
"Yeah, I bet you were." No wonder he had been worried that I'd recognize Lurio's name. "So you killed him?"
Sighing Alucard nodded. "Him and a few other people."
"Yeah, several other people," I agreed with a hint of sarcasm.
"The guy was a jerk, he had it coming," Alucard muttered. I raised an eyebrow. He shrugged. "Soulless vampire rookie, give me a break."
Honestly I wanted to say something very mean and angry, but I couldn't. I didn't even know who Lurio was. So he was my brother, that probably meant something important, but the only memory of him I had was him shoving a sword through my shoulder. Not exactly a reason to love him.
"Whatever, Alucard." I don't think he believed my indifference, if anything he looked nervous about it. "So now what?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean now what? I know you were alive back when I was, er. alive I guess you might say, but that doesn't matter. I know why I remember certain things, but it's only leading to more questions," I explained.
"Would you want the answers if they only confused things more?" He asked.
"Does that mean you'll tell them to me?" I replied.
He shrugged. "Some of them, maybe."
"Where you a vampire when you first met Airaei?" I asked.
"No."
"How did you get to know her?"
"I worked for her family," he replied, zoning out a little, these were easy questions.
"Did you know her dad?"
He rolled his eyes. "I had the misfortune of working for the guy," he muttered.
"So you didn't like him?"
He shook his head. "Not in the slightest."
"Why not?" I asked, really wanting to know.
"Because he believed that humans were weak creatures that existed only to support him with knowledge and give him a life of luxury. He was an ass," Alucard said a little bitterly.
"After all this time you still hold a grudge?"
He looked up at me, surprised. "I didn't say that."
I smirked. "You didn't have to."
Smiling a little he nodded. "Guess you're right, and yeah, it still bugs me."
"What, did he single you out or something?" I asked.
Shrugging he answered, "Something along those lines."
Stopping to think about what to ask next I leaned back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had just given me tons of information. I should be happy for every bit but I felt like I was missing something.
"What aren't you telling me?" I said, almost at a whisper.
Alucard didn't answer right away, I didn't look at him to see why. "I'm not telling you a lot of things, Liz."
"Why not?" Stupid question. There was a lot of things he wouldn't want me to know for a lot of different reasons, but it was the question that had to be asked. Anyone with curiosity wouldn't be able to help them self.
Alucard understood that fact, but he was still glaring at me. "It doesn't matter. If you're going to find out you need to find out on your own." Now he sounded angry. Maybe it was something I said.
"Sorry Alucard, didn't mean to pry," I murmured.
He rolled his eyes. "Of course you did." Okay, what could I say? He was right.
This would have led to a very awkward moment with a long awkward silence that neither of us would have bothered to break because neither of us would have known what to say, but instead something happened to fix all that.
Faith walked in.
She glanced at me, then at Alucard, brushing back a long piece of brown hair and looking grumpy. She had just as many bruises as me, and felt just as bad. Seeing her reminded me of why Alucard and I just had our little chat. The preacher dude and his lovely group of bringers. Just the reminder I wanted.
"Hey Beth," she said to me, tired, then glanced at Alucard. "This your pet vamp I keep hearing about?" Alucard frowned, not amused, I merely shrugged. She looked at the two of us again. "Am I interrupting something, cause I don't think the girls would mind me moving downstairs." Wow, that was nice of her to offer that. She was either trying to be a better person, or too hurt to care about it. Guess which one I was betting on.
"Nah, you're fine," I said. "Just talking about the past and other annoying stuff." She shrugged and threw her coat down on a chair. "How're you doing?" I asked, having nothing better to say.
She sighed, shaking her head. "Way past six, and going up."
I blinked, "Huh?"
"Nothing, nevermind," she murmured. Then she looked at me, her eyes narrowing a little. "You took quite a bruising yourself tonight," she stated matter-of-factly.
I nodded slowly, watching her as carefully as she was watching me. "Yeah, it happens sometimes."
"Caleb's pretty tough to take on, I'd think he'd tear your head off," she wasn't even joking.
Alucard looked at booth of us. "You're a Slayer Faith, you could take him. Liz's a Slayer too, why shouldn't she be able to?"
I don't think Faith even blinked, she just sat there. No one told her after all. How could that slip through? You know, it might be a small, unimportant fact, but hey, I was still a Slayer. Big deal here at the end of the world and all. She should have been told. Ah well, she knew now.
"Wait a sec, you?" She asked, looking at me. I nodded indifferently. "How in hell. well, B didn't tell me there was a new Slayer around. Thought I'd have to die to make that happen."
Shrugging I answered. "Might be the case, but things are a little odd about all of this. You might say I'm a unique case. Buffy did die though, so here I am, alive and kicking." I paused for a moment, "No pun intended," I added as an after thought.
"Wait, so you just showed up, a Slayer?" Faith asked, trying to get caught up on this.
Alucard stepped in again. "Not quite, she's been around for, what is it now? One hundred and thirty-nine years I believe." So much for tact, he was just dropping bomb shells.
Fortunately Faith wasn't up to speed, so it wasn't really making sense to her. "Slow down a bit. You're a Slayer," I nodded, "and he's tagging along with you?" she motioned to Alucard and I nodded again, "And those watcher freaks, they're yours? You have four watchers?" I nodded once more. "Shit, how'd that happen?"
I gave her the very short version of me getting cursed, hanging out for a few years, coming back alive, traveling with the watchers and ending up here. I think Faith was a little overwhelmed, but she was quick to deal with it.
"So you're like super Slayer or something?"
"Hardly," I muttered. "I got kicked around as easily as the next Slayer, and Buffy's still the boss."
Faith nodded to that. "Though technically you were a Slayer first," Faith pointed out.
I shrugged. "So what? Like anyone cares. Hell, I don't care. I'm happy were I'm at, or at least I hope I will be. The last thing anyone here needs is bringing them into my problems."
"No kidding," Faith muttered.
We sat quietly for a few minutes. Faith and I had just had a real conversation. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was a nice person, or at least she was when she was completely tired. But we had talked, and that was important. I couldn't help but compare it to the fact that Buffy had never bothered to get to know me. I had the feeling that even though she knew I was a Slayer she thought of me as a potential. That bugged me. Every one kept thinking I was just a little girl. Hell, I was older than al of them, with the exception of Spike, of course.
"Look, you take the bed," I said, getting up to grab a sleeping bag for myself.
Faith glanced at Alucard, "We're leaving him out like this?"
"He was unchained last night, I don't think he bit either of us," I stated.
Faith looked surprised, but not bothered. "So you two a couple or something?" She asked.
I froze for a second, hearing Alucard coughing behind me. Slowly I started moving again, reaching for the sleeping bag that was in the closest a I let my mind actually make sense of what she said. I finally responded by shaking my head, Alucard filled in for me.
"Trust me, Faith, we're not at all a couple. As a matter of fact, you're the first one even to suggest it, and I think she's a little confused to why you might think that," I turned and glared at him, he merely shrugged.
"I'm not confused, just annoyed," I growled, throwing the sleeping bag on the floor.
Faith grinned. "It's okay, Buffy's with a vamp, you can be too."
I turned my glare to her, my eyes narrowing. "I'm not dating Alucard. God, I haven't even thought about it until you brought it up, and trust me, it's not a happy visual."
Alucard chuckled and Faith only grinned. I hated it when people picked on me like this. I felt helpless, there wasn't really anything I could do but glare, and that only made it funnier for them. So instead I unrolled the sleeping bag and grabbed a pillow off the bed. "Laugh all you want, I'm going to sleep," I grumbled as I left the room to change. When I came back the light was already off and Faith was in the bed.
I crawled into my the bag and tried to sleep, but even while I was tired it was hard to relax. Faith and Alucard's taunting annoyed me, but it kept my mind off other things. The problem was I knew I was avoiding thinking about those other things. It was eating me up that I couldn't face the problems. I was scared, and I didn't want to admit it. Clutching the pillow I tried to squeeze my eyes shut and block out all unwanted thoughts. It wasn't working.
"Liz, relax. You have all of tomorrow to stress out," I heard Alucard say.
Blinking in the dark I rolled over and looked towards him, barely being able to make out his figure in the shadows. "What?"
"Relax," he said softly.
It sounded so simple. Sighing I rolled back over. Just relax, it couldn't be that hard. I unclenched my muscles, loosening up. Taking a deep breath I tried to relax, just letting myself go. Alucard was right. I could deal with this tomorrow.
~
*You still don't remember.* Airaei sounded disappointed.
It's your fault, you won't let me.
*You have to do it for yourself, make yourself remember.*
I shrugged in the nothingness, getting fed up with my other self.
Look, it's not my fault. I tired, remember? I tried and you got mad at me.
*If you had not tried you wouldn't be in this mess.*
What mess? Tell me, what mess have I gotten myself into? I don't see it. With all our memories I don't see how what I did was wrong.
*You fool! You're but a human, of course you don't see.*
My god, you're as bad as your father, no wonder Alucard hates him.
*You know nothing about this so called 'Alucard'* she snapped.
No? I know nothing? I know he wouldn't be arguing with himself like this. Let me out of here!
*You have to remember.*
Shut up already.
*I can force you to, you don't want that.*
I don't care, leave me alone.
*I can open doors you've never crossed, show you things that would drive you mad.*
Quit with the cryptic. You might be the strong protector where you're from, but here on Earth you're not that hot. If you're not going to be helpful then what're you bugging me for?
Airaei was silent for a moment. *You're going to ruin everything.*
I smirked.
That's what we Slayers do. We're here to disrupt and cause disorder.
*No, you're here to fix things.*
And is that what you did? Fix things? If I remember correctly you were more interested in a certain love life. Weren't you Airaei?
*You know nothing about that.*
I was you, remember? I know what you know. I remember what you remember.
*You don't want to look there.*
Why not? What could you possibly remember that would create such proble-
For a moment we were both silent, memories washed through me, from both times.
Oh. I see.
~
I woke up in the middle of the night, my head aching. Something was wrong, and I didn't know what. I had to remember it. I had to know what was happening. Right now though, I was more interested in something to calm my pounding head.
~
Swoosh! Check out my short chapter! But let's skip to the thanks:
Maude: Hey! Wow, you reviewed quickly, that's a first. (no offense or anything ^.^) actually I lost your e-mail 'cause a certain someone ripped it up ::glares at you know who:: anywho, thanks a ton!
Beyond the Silence: Glad you liked it ^.^ yeah, spelling sucks, and I haven't really checked this chapter. O.o finished writing it 'bout five minutes ago, so let's just go with what I have. I can correct it later. Thanks for the review! Much appreciated.
~Rave