Chapter Seven – Damsel in Distress Again?
Dammit, I am not the damsel in distress again, Faith thought as she awoke in a small room devoid of furniture. The one overhead bulb shone dimly down to reveal a dank room.
Faith sat up gingerly, placing her hand over her stomach. Nothing felt off. She just hoped that whatever they injected her with wouldn't cause any problems. Luckily she had eaten before she went to rest, because she was getting hungry again and it might be a while before anyone decided to feed her, if at all.
Getting up off the floor, she checked the walls, trying to find out if a window had been boarded up, or if she could escape some other way. The only door in the place was steel-plated. Probably would be difficult, if not impossible to break down.
Faith was really getting sick and tired of being kidnapped by stupid fucks. Twice in a short amount of time must be a record, even for Dawn. She just hoped Dawn didn't let tease her about it once she got out of there.
She'd wait until one of them made a mistake, because they always seemed to, and she would crack a couple of skulls and escape. Easy plan. One she hoped to implement as soon as someone actually came into the room. Her fingers itched to take whoever was responsible apart.
Wes must be out of his mind, she thought. She was sure he felt the dream and that needle sliding in. She also hoped that someone was there to catch him once the drug took affect. Blocking him at the moment, she wondered if he was really OK.
Just as she started to open their link more, the door pushed open. The three Council buffoons who had tried to take her down in Sunnydale, then LA walked in the door. Collins, Weatherby, and Smith all crowded in the door to confront the once rogue slayer they had failed to apprehend.
"Oh, it's the three stooges. Dickhead, Fuckhead, and Butthead."
"Hello, Faith. So easy to trap you this time. Especially with that prick of a watcher around too."
"You hurt him, I'll kill you."
"Ah, Faith. Change of tune for you. I wouldn't be threatening anyone at this time."
"Not a threat," she said with all seriousness. "So is this a revenge thing, cause if the Council finds out about your little adventure, you may find yourselves at the pointy end of a sharp sword."
"We don't work for the Council anymore."
"Fucked up too many times, boys? You just don't know how to shoot straight. Must be a riot whenever you try to get laid, if you ever do."
Weatherby drew a gun and pointed it directly at Faith's head. "Just give me an excuse, you bitch."
Faith shivered on the inside, but didn't want them to know that she was scared to death. So she stood stock still until the urge to blow her brains out passed for the guy.
"That's not why we're here. At least yet," Collins added, as he pushed the gun down from Faith's head.
"Boys, boys. How many times have I told you not to play with the prisoner," a voice chided as he came into the room.
Faith didn't know this guy. She remembered the three fucks in front of her vividly. The guy behind them was unfamiliar. He was short, but carried an air of power. The three in front of her looked to be a little frightened of him. Something about him made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The look in his eyes was pure evil.
"Mr. Rayne, she was . . . ."
"I don't care what she was doing, Weatherby. Control that temper of yours or I'll snap your scrawny neck. Understand?"
Evil, indeed. If he could do that, then he must be strong, or the biggest liar in the world.
"Yeah," the man answered shortly, not wanting to get on the bad side of Rayne.
"Hello, Faith. My, my. They didn't tell me how beautiful you really are."
Faith crossed her arms over her chest, daring the guy to do something where she'd have to smack him down. "Let's cut the crap. What do you want?"
"Want? What makes you think I want anything from you?"
"Kidnapping me in the middle of the night from a dorm full of slayers might have given me a clue."
"Smart woman. You just sit tight," he answered, ushering the three out the door.
"Wait. What's going on?" she wanted to know.
"In due time, love. Relax. I will return shortly."
Rayne bowed to her as he slammed the door home, locking it on the outside.
Wesley swung out at the first person that he saw as he woke up from his little unintended rest. Luckily it was Connor, who dodged the blow successfully.
"Hey, watch where you're throwing that thing," Connor chided him as he caught Wes's hand in midair.
"Connor?" Wes said slowly.
His head hadn't quite cleared out yet. He was lying on a bed of some sort. Connor was in the room. And his head hurt like hell, again. He wouldn't be surprised if this time some of his brain cells didn't recover.
"Faith?" he asked the boy, knowing what the answer already was.
"We're searching. Willow's doing a locator spell, the girls are out looking. It's covered."
"But no one has found her yet," he concluded or Connor wouldn't have a grim look on his face.
"No. But we will."
Wesley didn't have much confidence in the statement. Whoever had taken her had slipped in unnoticed in a place where some of the most powerful beings on the planet resided. They obviously knew what they were doing.
Wesley gingerly sat up in the bed, rubbing a sore spot on his head.
"You hit your head. It hurt?" Connor asked as he handed Wesley some ice in a bag.
"Dreadfully. It's scrambling my brain. Where's Willow? I want to speak with her."
"She's in a conference room not too far from here. You sure you're up to this?"
"Yes. Now lead the way," Wesley told him as he got up from the bed.
"The one thing we do know about these guys, they're deadly," Connor said to him as they walked along a corridor.
"How so?" Could the situation get any worse for them?
"Someone stabbed Robin Wood and left him for dead. One of the slayers found him. He's in surgery right now. They don't know if he'll live."
Wesley thought that the guy was an ass, but he didn't deserve to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Anything else I need to know?"
"Nope. I think that's enough bad things for the moment."
When they arrived at the conference room, Willow growled in frustration as she sat down at the table. "Someone is blocking me. I will get through. It'll just take time," she mumbled to herself. "You OK?" she asked as she saw Wesley.
"I'll survive. If I contact Faith, could that help you in any way?"
"Might. We could try."
Wesley sat down at the table as Willow hovered above him. He settled down to open the link up to Faith more. He was so afraid of what he might find when he did. As he felt himself relax, Willow touched his arm lightly, wanting to connect to him as he used the link to contact Faith.
Faith?
Don't, stop.
Willow was thrown across the room, slamming into the wall sharply. Connor yelling in the background was closed out as Wesley looked down at his hands. They were bleeding. His whole body was bleeding. He tried to break the link, but it wouldn't work. Faith wasn't injured though. That much he knew. This was for him alone. Someone was messing with their link.
"Now that was unexpected," he heard a voice inside of his head before he finally was able to pull back from Faith. Or maybe she broke it from her side. All of the blood disappeared as soon as it happened.
"Willow," Connor called as he ran for the wicca.
Wesley shook from head to toe. Powerful magicks had rolled through his body again. Only he wasn't the cause of it and neither was Willow. The urge to throw up almost overwhelmed him until he saw Connor kneeling over Willow's unconscious form.
"Oh God," he said as he made his way over to her. "Get Giles, now," he told Connor as he tried to make her more comfortable.
"OK, that officially hurt," Willow mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes.
Wesley breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't been seriously hurt. "What happened?"
"Not sure. Headache beyond belief," Willow rambled as she tried to sit up.
Giles came running into the room, followed by Dawn and Connor. "Willow?" he started as he knelt down to her.
"WWF smackdown at its finest. All happening in my head, mind you."
Wesley felt guilty that he had ever let Willow in to the link. Could that have caused the damage, getting her thrown across the room like a rag doll? The voice that sounded in his head right before the link was broken told him not. She was just there for the ride.
"That wasn't supposed to happen, Willow. Someone else hijacked the link."
"Yeah, I figured as much. Hence the smackdown."
"You tried to link with Faith?" Giles asked Wesley, concern on his face.
"Yes. And I didn't find just Faith connected to it."
Wesley and Giles helped Willow to stand. Giles held onto her waist to steady her. Wesley wanted to help her more, but Giles literally slapped his hands away at the gesture.
"Who? Who would have that kind of power that's not standing in this room?" Willow wanted to know.
"Do you have any ideas, Willow?" Giles asked her as he leaned her body into his more.
"No, other than whoever it is, pure evil. And we surprised him, which means the secret is out. No way the guy knew about the link."
"He does now," Wesley sighed. "How do you know he's a he?"
"Oh, the smell. It was musky and old, dark. Has to be a guy, besides the voice in my head that told me the words 'fuck off' before he flung me across the room."
Giles looked at the wicca with a curious stare. "Did you see anything?"
"No. Nothing. Oh, and one more thing? The guy has a British accent."
Wesley and Giles looked at each other for a moment, contemplating what that might mean.
"Your father doesn't have that kind of power, does he?" Giles carefully asked him.
"No. My mother's side of the family was the one with magical powers. He never was able to perform any kind of magicks."
"That eliminates him from throwing Willow across the room. But why did he show up here? Doesn't seem like a coincidence, now does it?"
Could Giles be on to something, Wesley thought? His father's appearance had put Wesley on edge. Did he take Faith, or planned for someone to take Faith?
"Coincidence?" Dawn started. "No way," she ended sarcastically.
"She's right, Willow I mean. He did have an accent. I heard him also. He said that the link was unexpected."
Cordelia rushed into the room. "Anything?" she asked everyone in the room.
"No. Just a blinding headache. Which you would totally know about," Willow directed her way.
"Yeah, only now I'm just a girl. Not vision girl anymore. What can I do to help?"
"We need to find out where my father is staying," Wesley instructed her.
"Computer? I may not be as good at hacking as Fred, but I can hold my own. Willow? You up to it?"
"Yeah. Just point me to the aspirin and I'll be good." She staggered as she started to walk towards Cordelia.
"No, you will not," Giles explained as he led her out of the room.
Dawn and Connor followed the two out of the room, trying to be of help.
"Something happened?" Cordelia asked Wesley.
"Someone else was able to tap into the link. Threw Willow across the room."
"That's not good."
Faith huddled in a corner, trying to keep warm. Her warning to Wesley was hours old. She just hoped that he didn't get hurt. Closing the link abruptly had left her shaking. Someone else knew about their special connection. They'd not be able to communicate now, unless something drastic happened. Her guess was that Rayne guy. If she could just get the name to Wesley, he'd be able to figure out whom the guy was. She just hoped Rayne would come back so she could smash her fist into his face. Through the link, she figured that it must be him that interfered.
The door opened slowly, probably because they thought she'd clock them the first chance she got. She would have been ready too, if her body hadn't been so cold. That Rayne guy poked his head around the door, then shut it behind him, looking at her. Like he was trying to assess her, look into her mind.
"What do you want?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.
"What are you? That's what I'm wondering."
"You are such a stupid fuck, ya know that?"
"No, no, Faith. It's not good to piss off the jailer."
As she stood up against the wall, Rayne walked closer to her, smirk evident on his face. He placed one hand on each side of her face and leaned in to her. Her stomach churned, not knowing if she should take her best shot, or wait and see what he planned. Either way, he would eventually go down.
She looked directly in his eyes, challenging him to make her mad. "It's not good to piss off a slayer."
"Duly noted," he told her as he started to bury his head in her hair.
"You don't get off of me right now, you'll see just how pissed off I can get."
Rayne smiled as he slowly moved away from her body. She wondered if he would kill her if she puked on his front right then. Her stomach could do it if she wanted it to. That's how much revulsion she felt at the moment.
"From the rumors that I've heard, you'll do just about anything. What'll you say?"
Faith punched him in the gut, staggering him into the wall beside her. Running for the door, she reached it and pulled it open sharply. It slammed shut by itself. She tried again, only to be burned by the door handle.
"What makes you think I said you could leave?" Rayne asked from right behind Faith.
Faith turned to see that the man had recovered from her punch. Throwing her fist out again, it connected with a solid whack, making the guy's head snap back. Instead of going down, he just looked her and laughed. A couple more punches later, the guy was still on his feet, still grinning at her.
"Go down you motherfucker," Faith said as she kicked out.
"You've been a naughty girl, Faith," Rayne told her as he grabbed her by the shoulders.
Looking into his eyes, now she saw why he wouldn't go down. His eyes were pure black, much like Wes's were when he had used those dark magicks to help her. His hand moved up to her neck, sliding along her jugular. Forcing her head back, he brought his head down to her neck.
Wesley banged on the hotel door loudly, making sure that his father would have no excuse for not coming to the door. Behind him stood everyone that cared about Faith. Connor looked like he would rip someone's head off, Cordelia looked as pissed as he'd ever seen her, Willow seemed a little annoyed, but hopeful, and Giles stood impassively, but Wesley knew better than to misjudge any of these people. Dawn leaned up against the opposite wall, arms crossed over her front. Not many people would think that the little army assembled in the hallway could be deadly. He knew just how much, right down to the youngest member.
His father opened the door and glared at Wesley. "I had hoped that we would get a chance to talk privately, Wesley."
"There's not time. Faith's been kidnapped. Tell me what you know." Sharp, efficient, Wesley knew he had gotten to the point quickly. Unfortunately by look on his father's face, he could read nothing at all.
"I'm sorry. I know nothing. Now if you'll excuse me," Roger said as he started to close the door in Wesley's face.
Wesley caught the door with his foot, pushing it back open with force.
"What do you think you're doing?" Roger said as the team walked into his room, Dawn slamming the door after her.
Wesley had grown taller than his father the summer of his fifteenth birthday. Although he was scrawny, he had the height on him finally. He even felt proud that he'd finally grown since he was always the smallest child in his classes. But all his father had done was berate him for being clumsy, instead of telling him how big he was getting. That's what all of his friends, what few friends he had, parents had said to them. Now he used his size, including his height to his advantage.
Stalking over to stand in front of his father, he looked down at the man that had made his life a living hell for so long. Breaking away from his father had been the best thing he had ever done. Because if he hadn't, he wouldn't be standing there with loyal friends ready to back him up on anything that he did.
"Intimidating you to tell me where she is," he told his father in all seriousness.
"You? Intimidating? Wesley, why on earth would you think such a thing? Look at you. You look frightful. Get a grip on yourself and go get yourself cleaned up and presentable."
The rest hadn't said a word because he had told them not to. This was his job to handle. They were just there to back him up if there was any trouble. Now he wished they weren't there to hear the humiliating words coming from his father's mouth.
"You are such a waste, Wesley. I don't know why I put up with such a sniveling child like you. You obviously did not learn your lesson."
Wesley tried not to shrink back, tried to stand up to him, but the words would just not come out. The thought that Faith was out there somewhere, possibly hurt, made him suck it up, as she would say.
"What? What lesson would that be Father? To not speak, to not make mistakes. You don't seem to understand that I don't give a fuck about your opinion any more. The only opinions that matter are from the people that are behind me. They are my family." Wesley turned to the people behind him. "Search the room. There must be some clue . . . ."
It happened so fast, Wesley never had time to react. But Connor did, stopping the fist from smashing into his face. Connor held the older man's hand in his, pushing it back with not too much effort.
"I suggest you sit down and start talking. Otherwise this young man will show you why he's called the Destroyer."
The angry look on his father's face said it all. He wasn't going to give up being the prick he was, but he knew he was outnumbered for the moment.
"Roger, you will tell us what you know," Giles repeated the phrase for him, standing shoulder to shoulder with the younger ex-watcher.
TBC
Next: Will we find out if Roger knows anything? What does Rayne have planned for Faith? So many questions.
Author notes: The big bad has been revealed. I can't wait to figure out a showdown between Ethan, Wes, Giles, and Willow. Lots of magicks floating around. I couldn't think of a better guy to be the bad guy. I hope I didn't turn anyone off by putting Faith in peril again. I don't think they'll be able to keep her down for long though.
Thanks—Thanks to all that have kept up with this. I am hoping to wrap this thing up soon, because I really want to move on to other fics and finish ones too. But I've had so much fun with this one! To all the faithful out there who are still reading and enjoying. Remember to review and just not my fic! There's many good fics going at the moment.