Sirius' conspicuous glances are making me feel slightly uneasy; because my Slayer senses annoyingly heighten the sensation of his stares, I can feel them even more strongly, and start to worry that maybe I should say something before I leave.
The Portkey has been arranged: a small, insignificant-looking wooden box that I would have passed without a second glance in a trinket store. It's about the size of my fist and made of a bland-coloured wood with no lid or opening. It's sitting on the kitchen table and everyone's careful to keep a good radius of space around it in case they get zapped to Oz. I start to softly drum an inane beat with my fingers on the side of the chair that I'm sitting on as we wait for one more wizard, a man named Mundungus.
"Probably getting drunk under a table," Snape mutters with a strong tone of loathing as he paces the floor.
"At the rate you're going, I wouldn't be surprised if you fell through the floor," I comment with a grin at his annoyed pacing, pretending to be carefully examining the polish on my fingernails as his head snaps up with an irritated growl.
Snickers come from the corner, and I tilt my head slightly to find Sirius laughing at Snape.
"At least I'm not chained to the house like a dog," he bites back at Sirius, whose face quickly contorts with anger and starts to step forward, his hand inching towards a pocket in his robes.
"Hey, calm down," I say, stepping in with a frown, "Fighting not allowed while I'm on duty."
The two men eye me carefully before retreating back to their spots, Snape continuing to slowly pace the floor again.
"Damn," Bill mutters with a smirk as he walks up to me, "Way to take the fun out of life. I was looking forward to a good duel."
"Yeah, that's me," I respond, grinning, "Fun-sucker."
I notice that everyone's dressed in black, full-length robes, looking like an extended version of the Addams Family. At least I don't have to worry about them blending into the dark.
Suddenly a haggard man stumbles into the kitchen, and even from this distance, I can see that his eyes look like they've had the life sucked out of them. Hey, maybe there's a business for this...fun-sucker, life-sucker...whoa, let's not keep going down there...
"I'm 'ere," the man I'm assuming is Mundungus says shakily, "We all set?"
I walk over and look at him carefully. He reeks of smoke, and looks like he's about to keel over any minute. I don't remember him being in this shape yesterday.
"Mundungus, right?" I ask him with concern, "You look like you rolled out on the wrong side of bed and all the way down the stairs."
"Nah, I'm o'right," he shrugs, leaving a fine dust of soot on the ground.
Raising an eyebrow, I seriously doubt taking him on this trip. I mean, he's no Tomb Raider at the moment. Watching him run a shaky hand through his already tousled hair, I wonder what to say. Someone touches me on the shoulder, and I turn to find Sirius standing behind me.
"He's had a rough night," he whispers, close enough to my ear to make me suspicious, "he blames himself for the Dementor attack on Harry."
The what attack? But I don't question him when I realise that we're losing time.
"Sorry Mundungus," I say to him, "but I can't let you on this Guard today, not when you look like you couldn't lift your wand without a forklift."
The tired wizard looks like he's about to protest, but I place a hand on his shoulder, saying, "Look, this isn't the best time for a heart-to-heart Buffy counseling session, but I don't think what happened to Harry is your fault. Now look out for Mrs. Weasley when it's not such a God-awful time of the morning, and eat one of her cookies."
"Let's move!" I say as I walk towards the little wooden box, "From now on until we return, I'm your leader, as in "follow the". If we come under attack and you decide to be your own macho-Arnie, that's your neck that you're sticking under vamp fangs."
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Sirius pulls out his wand and positions himself on the table as I continue to talk to the wizards in front of me, "Remember, vampires are the most likely demons you'll meet on this Hellmouth, and a simple fire spell or stake through the heart will dust 'em. If you wanna show off, try decapitation."
Giving them a grin, I say as they gather around the Portkey, Sirius' face already tight with concentration, "On the count of three. One, two, three!"
I give a small grunt as the still unfamiliar tug of the Portkey yanks at my navel, sending a slightly sick feeling pool at the bottom of my stomach. It's not until I hit gravel and have to steady myself that the nauseous feeling stops. There's not much difference in light, as the kitchen was quite dim, and only a few lampposts light the road. I do a quick headcount. Good, everyone's arrived in one piece; let's see if we can return without any dismembered parts. Ick-factor.
I realise that we have landed at the exact spot that Dumbledore said we would: at a bus stop about 200 yards away from the radius of the Hellmouth. The wizard said that the power emanating from the centre would interfere with the Portkey, and probably land us in some wayward Hell dimension. Well, not exactly those words, but I caught the gist of it.
To the side, I catch a glimpse of Snape pocketing the Portkey into his robes, handling it carefully with a black, silky looking handkerchief. Okay, now we just have to find Faith's house.
There's a distinct pull in my chest as we start to walk closer to the Hellmouth. Despite being at the front, I can tell that it's affecting the Aurors too. I can hear slight murmurs of hesitation as the pull of the darkness gets stronger, continuing down dimly lit streets. My fingers start to fidget in the pocket of my leather jacket, fingering the smooth wood of the stake that's hidden in one, and the small piece of crumpled paper with Faith's address in the other.
Just in case.
I can always call, you know.
Where's the fun in that?
A tiny tingle warns me of a vamp near by. I stop, and hear the others halt as well. Shutting my eyes briefly, I can sense that it's about 150 feet away to the right, near a dense patch of trees. Then the shriek of a girl sets alarms off and I spin around to the Guard.
"I should be able to handle this by myself," I say quickly, "but one person come with me. The rest of you stay here and watch out."
Not waiting to see who follows, I follow my instincts and sprint towards the vampire. There's another vibe running through that's worrying me, but I have to deal with this first. I'm there in a few seconds and see a young guy with dusty blonde hair greedily sucking the blood out of a girl, who is lying limply in his arms.
"Don't you know that the whole sucking thing went down with the Hellmouth?" I quip, catching his attention and making him drop the girl.
"And who the Hell are you?" he asks, fangs dripping with blood, face contorted and looking greedy for more.
"I'm the other Slayer. Just dropping by for a visit," I say before launching at him with a series of punches in his gut and face. He doubles over slightly, but catches my fist and pushes me back into a tree with force. Bark digs into my back and I'm itching for a good fight, but I remind myself that there might be a stronger attack than a vamp encounter, so hold back.
I duck as he sends his fist flying into my face, grinning when he growls at the splinters in his fist. I pull the stake out of my pocket and throw it accurately at his heart as he charges back at me, dusting him. But before the dust even manages to settle, I strong shiver jumps up my spine, and I dodge, but not before I feel the pinprick of a needle in the side of my neck, sending everything blur and dark.
I groan as somebody throws me over their shoulder, a wave of pain flooding my body. I barely manage to pick out and throw the piece of crumpled paper on the ground before everything goes black as my captive starts to walk. Shit.
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"'Bout time, B," a voice drawls from a few feet away.
Groaning, I clutch my neck. Cramps were never my style.
"Faith?" I ask, confused, "this isn't one of those cryptic-messages-foretelling-death dreams, is it? 'Cause I've got to say, I've been expecting a bald guy holding a plate of cheese for a while now."
It's only now that I realise that I'm stuck in a cage. Again.
"And what is with the cages?" I ask, annoyed.
"It must be a bondage fetish," she answers, sounding a bit tired, "the room's covered with them."
I frown. These guys must be planning for something big.
"Faith, how'd you get stuck here?" I ask, turning to the right where her voice is coming from.
"Question is," she starts, and I hear with worry that her voice seems to be deteriorating, "what are you doing here? Last I heard was you'd been shipped off to Giles-land."
Towards the end, I can hear tones of something else under her voice. She still sounds the same, but something isn't quite right...
"Yeah, I have," I answer cautiously, "just came back to tidy up a few things. What about you?"
"Nothin' much," the voice replies, strengthening as it goes, but it holds a harder tint to it, "Just trainin' some more Potentials we found, and keepin' an eye on the old place. What about you?"
Her voice has lost its usual teasing and roguish tone, and I know what game's being played here.
"Oh, it's been kinda quiet for me too," I say, trying to think up of lies as quickly as possible, "Don't know what that stupid, old wizard is thinking of, but he won't let me have a say in anything. All I've heard from people around is that Dumbledore's pretty scared of Voldemort. I mean, he's not even sending out patrols because there are too few volunteers."
I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping that whatever is possessing Faith will take the bait. Thank God the room is dark, so she can't see my hands clenched tightly around the base of the cold metal bars.
There's silence for a few moments until the voice says, "So what? No plans, no tactics, no action? Sounds boring, B."
A wave of short-lived relief hits me, "Nup, not a thing. I've just been keeping the kids busy in..."
Crap. I can't mention Number 12.
"In the school," I finish quickly. Damn it.
Momentary silence.
"So, you've been living in a school?" the voice asks, laced with something more sinister.
"Yeah," I reply, praying that I don't sound shaky, "Dumbledore's school. It's huge, Faith, and it's not like the decade of school you missed. It's so much better, 'cause they learn Potions...and um, Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Realising that I have strayed off the topic, the First leaves Faith, and I hear a soft thud as she hits the bottom of the cage. I breathe a huge sigh of relief, and lightly massage my neck with cool fingers.
In a few seconds, Faith stirs and moans, "God, did you get the plate of that truck?"
"Yeah, it had the number one and 's' and 't' after it," I answer, "how long has this been happening, Faith?"
"Couple of weeks, maybe," she replies, and I can almost hear her shrug, "I don't really remember the part where I pass out. Only this time, when I heard the trigger, I was out patrolling and found myself in this damn cage."
"It's back, you know," I say, crawling over to the side of my cage, "that's why I came here, because I know it's after you. You've gotta come back with me."
I hear her curse and smack her palm against the cage in frustration.
"What's the trigger?"
"A song that my mother used to sing to me when I was a kid," she whispers.
Silence passes between us for a while before I speak again.
"You still with Wood?" I ask softly.
She sighs, and I realise how much she has changed from the Slayer she used to be when she first arrived in Sunnydale.
"He followed me here first, and we were going to take it easy, y'know? Go slow," she says, her voice saddened, "but...I dunno, it just didn't work. We became busier and didn't see each other as much, until..."
Trailing off, it hits me that Faith probably hasn't had to deal with this heartbreak for a long time.
"Hey, I promise that when we bust out of Bondage Palace, we'll have a long girl chat," I say confidently.
I can almost hear the grin in her voice, "You're on, B. Now how the Hell do we get out?"