Chapter Three
Drops of Fear
Paige opened the double doors, leading outside into a small courtyard. Joyce, who was now her guardian, had just finished enrolling her to Sunnydale High school. While Paige had only been at this school for a total of two hours so far, her mind already felt like it was going to explode. Hence her going outside for a bit of fresh air.
She had yet to see Faith or the rest of the gang but once this morning. This morning when she had arrived, Faith hadn't even gotten to school yet. The small little pinpricks of pain that she felt when she heard that were soon dismissed, being chalked up to nerves of her first day of classes. Other then that, she had been to busy to check in with anyone.
Sometime earlier a young girl about her age had been found outside of the school. They had been trying to keep everything on the down low, not wanting the students to get upset, but news in high schools always travel fast. The principal was currently holding a grief counseling center in the gym, talking to the students to explain what had just happened. Since Paige had no idea who this girl was, or even her name, she thought it best to skip it and come outside for a little alone time. Something she desperately needed.
Her life had been nothing but hectic for the last couple day. All it had been was training, settling into her new home, training, training.... Oh yeah, and training. She had only been out on one patrol so far though. The night with Faith was her first patrol and the way it looked, was going to be her last for awhile. Giles wanted to ease her into things, not push her to fast. When she had tried to tell him that it was okay, that this is what she was supposed to be doing for a living, he just gave her a stern lecture on how the Slayer isn't something you should take for granted. That just because you have super powers so to speak, it doesn't mean that you get to ignore the basics. To Paige, he was just being overly cautious, seeing how he had already lost one Slayer so early in her life.
Walking around the corner she took a sip from her water bottle. That was another one of Giles' rules. Always keep water with you so as not to get dehydrated. Paige and Faith just laughed when he told them this, thinking that it was some sort of a joke, but the look on his face had told them otherwise.
The sky was overcast and the smell of dew hung heavily in the air from the recent shower. Paige hated it when it was like this. There was always a sense of foreboding that came along with this type of weather. She always felt as if some higher power was trying to warn someone that the worst was yet to come. It was days like these that she was glad she was a slayer. Glad she knew how to fight for her life, even if it did mean that she'd have a handful of stupid rules to follow during it.
Leaning against the wall she closed her eyes in exhaustion. She hadn't been able to sleep last night due to weird dreams. They haunted her mind through most of the night, causing her to wake up in a cold sweat several times. She had heard Faith leave the house this morning, and had even contemplated getting up and going with her, but the sleepy ache in her bones prevented her from moving out of the soft confines of her bed. The dreams though still hung with her. Unfortunately she only vaguely remembered them and decided that she better not tell Giles about it. He had enough things to worry about at the moment. So she just pushed it aside, chalking it up to some bad food she ate the night before.
A squeak sounded in the distance causing Paige to open her eyes. A lone rat scurried out from behind the garbage cans, skittering away loudly. Paige frowned. There was something poking out from where the rat at just appeared from.
Walking forward she squinted her eyes to scrutinize what was in the dark up ahead of her. The color and texture looked as if it was soft human flesh. To her it almost looked like a hand of some sort.
"Some drunk probably." She muttered to herself. But as she got closer she saw the streaks of blood on the ground. Saw the crimson fluid splashed on the wall behind the body and the discarded stake to the right of it all.
"Oh god." Tears sprang forward as she ran to the body in front of her, her breath catching in her throat when she realized that the victim had long been dead.
Paige sat in one of the libraries chairs dumbly, her hands resting limply in her lap.
Faith was dead.
That thought alone kept swirling around in her mind, trying to process the information that no one wanted to hear. She had just met the girl and already her life was taken from her. Faith was smart. She was fast and had all the qualities that a slayer seemed to need, more qualities then Paige. But if she was already dead, after being on the Hellmouth for not even a month, then what was to happen to herself.
"You okay?" Willow kneeled down in front of Paige.
"Yeah." She whispered quietly. What else was she supposed to say? That she was scared? Not for others but for her life? Or was she supposed to say that finding Faith's dead and mangled body outside the school that morning was going to haunt her forever? Nothing seemed right. Nothing seemed to fit.
"Are you sure? You seem kind of quiet."
Paige just nodded her head slowly, still seeing Faith's cold blank eyes stare up at her from the ground.
"It's okay to talk Paige. This must be scary for you. It is for us too." Willow said gently, tears filling up her pretty eyes.
Paige got up from her seat, pushing Willow out of her way. Marching towards the door she pushed it open not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment. Outside the rain was pouring down on her. It only seemed appropriate at the moment for it to be gloomy. In the distance she could still see the lights from the police cars swirling around. Two girls were murdered on campus, and as stupid as the Sunnydale cops seemed to be, they couldn't let this one go.
Brushing her now damp hair out of her way she kept walking. Walking past the detectives, past the body bag with Faith's now broken and lifeless body inside, past the people who gave her suspicious glances. She had already been interview twice so far. Telling and retelling detectives what she found when she went outside to clear her head. Answering the questions that hey only ask to the people the suspect to be the culprits.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Slayers life expectances were short yes, but why? Why did they have to put their lives on the line for humanity day in and day out, and then die so suddenly? A month from now everyone would forget her. She was just another face in the crowd to most of the high schoolers. Would they do the same thing when she died too? It was only a matter of time right?
Paige shook her head almost violently, trying to get the racing thoughts to go away. In a matter of moments, reality had come crashing down on her, causing her to realize just how serious and dangerous her life had become. Before, she thought that the job of the Slayer would be fun and interesting. Leading a secret life, having a secret identity that only few knew about. She didn't have to worry about running into a vampire. It was just a fight. Truth be told though, her hand to hand combat skills had barley even been tested out. She didn't know if she was even any good at fighting. The only thing she had actually ever fought, besides the one vampire with Faith the other night, was her watcher during training. Those two things had a wide range of differences to them. Both being on the other end of the line.
Stomping heavily into a graveyard she looked around. She needed to kick some ass and she needed it now. Even though it was still day, the dark clouds above gave off enough light to shade the sun just enough for a vampire. Wiping out her stake she went into Slayer mode, opening up all her senses to the surrounding perimeter.
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out on a day like this?" Someone drawled from behind her.
Paige rolled her eyes, vampires, they're so predictable. "Just walkin'" She said, playing dumbly along.
"Walking huh? Aren't you a little young? Shouldn't you be in school right about now?"
"Not today. It was canceled." She turned to face the vamp, he was tall and muscular with sandy blonde hair. Totally not Paige's type, but that wasn't even in the question right now. All she wanted was to use him, and then kill him.
"Canceled? Well, lucky you."
"Yeah, lucky me." She tried to hide the bitterness that wanted to sneak into her voice at his words.
"I'm Josh. You?" He said, coming towards her with an outstretched hand.
"Paige." She smiled girlishly. That's right Josh, you keep on thinking I'm innocent.
"Paige. What a pretty name for such a pretty girl." He leaned down and kissed her hand. "So tell me Paige, how would you like to accompany me on this fine day of ours?"
"Where we goin'"
"Just for a walk. We could get to know each other a little better if you would like. I know I would."
"Why not." She said, looping her arm through his. She smiled broadly, it was only a matter of moments before she'd get to have her fun.
"Giles, this isn't good." Willow was typing on the computer frantically, searching for anything that could lead her to the cause of Faith's murder.
"Will's calm down okay?" Xander was trying to soothe his best friend.
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down? Faith is dead Xander! Do you not realize that?"
"I know what happened Will, but it wasn't our fault."
"How do you know? We've lost two friends now. Two of them! We're going through slayers like you go through a bag of potato chips!" Tears started to fall down her face as she still tried to look through the wetness and onto the glowing screen
Xander immediately went forward and wrapped his arms around her, trying to soothe her sobs. Ever since Buffy died she had randomly been bursting into tears. The gang was used to this ongoing process by now. No one blamed her either. They had all lost something when Buffy died and a part of them even wished they could cry as Willow had done. Maybe then it would ease the grief a little. But Buffy was gone now, and the problem on their hands was bigger then their own needs. After this was all done and over Xander would make time for grieving, but right now he was needed in other ways.
"It'll be okay Willow. We're going to figure this out." He whispered softly.
Giles, who had been standing over on the sidelines finally spoke up. "We always find a way Willow. We just have to be patient."
"I don't want to be patient. I've been patient all my life and this is how I'm repaid. My best friend dies, then a new potential friend dies, and Paige is a mess!" She sniffled a little and set her red eyes back onto the computer screen, determined to find a way to stop all this.
"Do we have any clues on who did Faith in?" Cordelia asked from her perch on the library table.
"I'm afraid not."
"But it's a vampire right?"
"It could be. But then again, it could be something entirely different."
"Well, whatever it is, we better figure this out soon before we're the next on the demons snack list."
"Thanks for you're concern Cor." Xander called over.
"Just stating what we're all thinking."
Paige dusted the specs of ash off of her coat. After leading Josh on for a good half an hour, and then having a heated make out session with him, she had finally killed him. Right in the middle of one of their kisses too, for that matter.
The fear was still there though. That nagging feeling that you're not safe, that you'll never be safe.
Sitting down on a cold bench she sighed, not knowing if being a Slayer was all it was cracked up to be. She had just traded in her life for superhuman strength, but at the same time she might have lost her humanity.
"Life sucks." She complained to herself, kicking dusty pebbles out of her way.
The rain started to fall again, slowly at first but after only a minute or two it began to pour. The heavens opened up and let the buckets of moisture fall to the ground. Starring up into the wetness Paige wondered when the next Slayer would arrive.