Chapter Fourteen – Blindsided

"Damn, this place is spooky," Faith commented on the structure they had just entered.

It looked abandoned. Neither she nor Spike sensed any demon activity. Thank God her senses hadn't been disrupted by her loss of power. And having Spike along made her feel a little safer. He was as strong as ever.

"Yeah. It got spookier since the last time I checked it out," Spike told her as he looked over his shoulder at her.

He was in the lead, pointing the flashlight in front of them.

"We're not gonna find a body, are we?"

Faith hoped that they wouldn't. It had been a little over a month. That image of a decaying body was not something she wanted to encounter for real.

"Let's hope for Percy's sake that we do eventually. The bloke does deserve a funeral."

As they went along the corridor, they checked each room, each looking abandoned just like the front had. Everything had been moved out. The walls were even blank. The place seemed to have been elegant once upon a time. Being a mage must be profitable.

"If we do . . . ."

"I'll take care of it, don't worry. Illyria was very thorough though. And my last adventure here didn't turn up anything. One question though?"

"Yeah, Spike?" Faith answered as she gently opened another door to another room.

"How'd you know that I called the watcher Percy?"

Faith laughed a little. "Hey, I read Harry Potter too. What, you want me to call you Malfoy?"

Spike chuckled. "Not a lot to do in that basement after they chained me up. Dawn lent me the books."

They came to the end of the corridor, which held a double door. Spike slowly opened it, shining the light in to see if there was any danger. When he was satisfied that no one would jump out at them, he marched forward. Faith shivered as she crossed the threshold of the room.

"This it?" she asked the vampire.

"I guess. Illyria never told me what happened exactly."

Spike's light finally found the large, now dried bloodstain on the floor. The flashlight had illuminated the fact that there had been some kind of battle in the room, considering the smashed wall and burn marks in places.

"How strong was this guy Vail?" Faith wondered.

"Strong enough. Big man in these parts. Angel didn't think that I could handle him."

Spike not handle a big bad? She wondered what Angel's thought processes were at the time. Obviously Wes couldn't handle him either. She wondered what possessed Angel to send in Wes in the first place.

"So he sent in Wes instead," Faith told him.

"Yeah. Something about betraying him. Wes was the man for the job. It gave him a calling card to get into the building."

When had Wes betrayed Angel? Faith wasn't around Angel much once Willow had restored his soul. They had to get to Sunnydale and help Buffy. Faith didn't know that the two's relationship had been strained. She did know that Wes had changed so significantly that when she first saw him she did a double, no triple take. Could have been the reason for his about face.

"Angel hasn't been much on the sharing lately. Wonder why he did it?"

"This is a waste of time," Spike said, resigned to the fact that nothing had changed.

Faith bent down to touch the spot where Wes had died. The stain was so large on the floor. She knew what it was like to almost bleed to death. That knife in her stomach had done a lot of damage. Reaching down to touch the floor, her hand found something she wasn't expecting. As she raised the hand to look at what she might have touched, she saw the impossible. Her hand was covered in blood.

She must have screamed, because Spike pulled her up and away from the spot in a hurry. Turning her hand over again, the blood had disappeared.

"What? What happened?"

Faith swallowed. Did she just have a hallucination? Was her mind playing tricks on her? At one time she had Wes's blood on her hands. Could that be what her subconscious was thinking about?

"There was blood, on my hand. It was still fresh. I don't understand."

"There's nothing there now. I don't smell it."

Spike looked at her like she had lost her mind. But she saw what she saw. No wonder the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as they entered the room.

"We should go," Faith said in a small voice.

The longer she stayed, the more concerned she was for her sanity. The place really did give her the creeps.

"I want to check out one more thing," Spike told her as he headed to the far end of the room.

As he approached the wall, Faith noticed nothing that would have attracted Spike to the spot. It was just a blank wall. But Spike had noticed something. He started to explore the wall with his hands.

"Paydirt," he said as his fingers started prying at the wall.

Finally, frustrated that he wasn't making any progress, he pounded the wall until it gave. Behind it was a passage.

"Secret passage," Faith agreed as Spike finished prying off the hidden door.

"Thought it was funny that the room only had one way in or out. Not very practical. What'll you say?"

"Lead on Malfoy," Faith quipped, happy to be out of the room.

Angel settled down in the office with the tome that he had obtained from his book source. It contained many spells, one of which might help Faith get her power restored. He didn't know what to think about Illyria other than they would just have to watch her and see if anything happened to her. She sat quietly reading not ten feet away from him.

Sometimes he didn't know what to do with her. Kind of like his attitude towards Fred when she had first come to the hotel, newly arrived from Pylea. He didn't know how to treat her, wanted to make sure she was comfortable, wanted her to know that he would be there for her, that he would do anything in his power to keep her safe.

In the end, he had failed to save her. Her life, her very soul had been forfeit to bring forth the demon sitting before him. The action not only took down the girl, it took out the rest of his team as well. Wes had never recovered from Fred's death and Gunn had been one of the links in the chain reaction that led to her demise. Fred had held them together after Cordelia had died. They all fell apart when she was gone, including himself.

Illyria shifted in her seat. Her posture was perfect, her face a study in concentration. He still didn't know what to do with her. But she had their backs in that alley. She had fought along side them, and saved Gunn by taking him to the hospital. For that he would be indebted to her. He couldn't help feeling less than hospitable to her though. Wes's pain had been his pain, with Wes's only magnified by the nth degree. Now he was in a better place. Somehow he knew that Wes was with Cordelia now. And nothing could hurt him.

Wesley hadn't thought much about going back to the scene where he died. It wasn't something that he wanted to experience again. When he was there before, he hadn't been frightened, just frustrated that he may not be able to stop the evil demon inhabiting the dwelling. He made the decision to just watch Faith for the time being. If she needed him, he would go running, or as the case may be, showing up in his ghostly form. So he held back, just watching for now.

"Hey, you know you can't spend all of your time watching her," Doyle called out to him as he entered the cottage.

Wesley just glared at him and returned to the small screen that held Faith's form.

"I guess you could, if you wanna. Get to be kinda boring, don't cha think?"

"Why didn't anyone tell me that I could be corporeal in dreams?"

"Oh, found that one out, did ya?" Doyle smiled at the other man.

"Yes, at the most inopportune moment actually."

Doyle sat down beside Wesley. He also started to watch Faith's progress in Vail's mansion.

"Well, technically you're not supposed to. Better to not. Creates a precedent. Just use it sparingly. You'll be fine."

Wesley shook his head no. "Why do I have the feeling you're not telling me everything?"

"Now why would you get that impression?"

Wesley returned to the screen, not wanting to miss anything. He was becoming more worried about Faith and her lost power. She still seemed to act like a slayer. What on the earth would take her power away? Someone like Vail could do it, or many of his cronies.

Spike had accompanyed her, which was good. He was strong enough to protect her from most things. He really didn't understand why the two of them went back to Vail's in the first place. The battle was over, he was dead. Nothing could change that.

As he watched Spike find the hidden entrance to another part of the mansion, he wondered what the two might find. Did the mage hide priceless artifacts or more of those orbs that changed people's destinies? No one else knew about Connor except for himself and Angel. Did Cordelia and Doyle know too? That would be something he would have to discuss with Cordelia at a later date.

Spike punched through the wall, pulling away the plaster and wood that covered the hidden entrance. After he was able to wrench the rest of the door open, he and Faith disappeared down the corridor. At least their little adventure was interesting. Maybe they would find out more about Vail.

Faith followed Spike down the dark, dank corridor, following the flashlight as it bounced along. When they came to a fork in the road literally, Spike pointed to the right side and started striding down the next corridor. Spike suddenly stopped, making her smash into his leather coat.

He put his finger up to his lips so she would know to keep quiet. Turning off the flashlight, Faith's eyes adjusted to the dimly lit corridor. She took Spike's hand as they slowly made their way to the sound of voices.

"Someone's coming," Spike barely whispered to her, dragging her into an alcove to hide them.

After the demon passed them by, Spike peeked out to see if the danger had passed. Creeping up the passage, Spike kept a tight hold of her. If she hadn't seen how protective he was of Buffy, she wouldn't believe his actions at the moment. He seriously did not want to see her hurt. Maybe that was why the vampire hadn't informed his greatest love that he was alive and well. It would hurt Buffy to see him. He'd made the ultimate sacrifice for her.

Spike stopped her again with a hand and a nod.

"Stay here," he ordered. He never gave her orders.

"Nope. Not gonna."

"You have the strength of a pissed off kitten right now. I just want to check things out is all. Please listen."

He sounded so much like Wes. Wes always asked her to listen to him, especially back in Sunnydale. She never did. When she finally did listen to him, he never had to tell her with his words. A look into his deep blue eyes told her everything.

"Yeah. I'll stay. Be careful."

Spike moved off quietly into the darkness. Faith stood in the corridor for what seemed like hours. Since she wasn't a patient person it only seemed like that long. Creeping forward, she heard chanting off in the distance. That was never good in her book. Had that been what Spike was off to investigate?

A flurry of movement ahead of her brought her up short. Someone or something was heading straight for her. Silently opening a door, she slid through, plastering herself to the wall behind the door in case someone came in.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim light coming from a small bulb. The room was devoid of everything but a table in the middle. Her heart hitched up a few notches when she noticed that something was atop the table, sheet draped over it.

It could not look like what she thought it was. This scene was so much like a horror movie, she just wanted to run and never come back. But by the time she found Spike, got back here with Angel, this would be gone. They may never get the opportunity again. As she told Spike, he'd take care of it.

Inch by inch, Faith walked over to the table. Taking hold of the covering, she gently raised it to look under. As a hand swung down off the table, Faith jumped back, stifling a scream that was trying to come out of her mouth.

Wesley jumped too when he saw what Faith saw. "What in blazes is going on Doyle?"

Doyle seemed surprised too, because he jumped a little. "Bloody hell. She needs to get out of there."

Wesley knew he had to take care of that, warn her that there was danger.

"Where are you going?" Doyle asked, worried look replacing the surprise.

"Faith needs help. She doesn't have any slayer power. I am not going to see her hurt."

"You can't change what may happen," Doyle implored him to listen.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"Well, no."

"Then butt out," Wesley told him as he walked forward and disappeared.

"Damn rash thing to do."

Doyle returned to look at the screen, but it had gone blank. Since Wesley wasn't there to watch it, it wouldn't show Doyle any of its secrets. He just hoped that the man knew what he was doing.

Wesley walked through the thick walls to find Faith against the back wall, eyes wide and fearful. He didn't know what exactly the two had been looking for, but this was obviously not what Faith wanted to find.

"Wes?" Faith whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.

Oh God, she could see him. How on earth? But she didn't look his way. She looked at the cloth-draped table with the hand sticking out. It all made sense to him now. They hadn't found his body yet. She and Spike were on a salvage mission.

Faith got up her courage again to cross the room to the corpse lying on the table. She passed right through him as she made her way to take the cloth all the way off. Stopping for a moment, she gathered herself back up and proceeded forward.

Wesley had to find a way to stop her from looking at whatever lie beneath. It wouldn't be pretty. It couldn't be. It had been too long. But why was his body here, in this dank room below Vail's mansion?

Faith was shaking by the time she made it over to the table. Avoiding the hand, she lifted the cloth again, careful to not come into contact with the body. She slowly pulled it off, closing her eyes after she had accomplished most of the task.

Wesley looked though. And what he saw shocked him. Now he saw why he sensed danger.

"Faith, get out of here this instant," he yelled.

There was nothing for him to grab on to, nothing to fling across the room to get her attention. She stood stock still, eyes closed, not wanting to look at what she had found. Gradually she started to open her eyes. All Wesley could do was look with her. He moved to stand directly in front of her, willing her to see him, if only for a moment.

Concentrating as hard as he could, he kept chanting in his mind for her to run. She started to shake her head no, like maybe on some level, she had heard his pleadings. But she was rooted to the spot still.

"Faith, I order you to get your ass out of here as fast as you can," he screamed directly into her face.

She looked around the room, looking for something. "I have to run?" the question came out of her mouth.

But before she could move, the body on the table twitched.

TBC

Next: Whoa, this has turned into a horror movie. When did that happen? It won't be gross or anything. I know I promised Wood. He's coming, since Angel is in his office now. I needed to get the story moving along.

Author notes: I didn't realize how this was going to play out, but here you have it. I hope y'all picked up on the clues. Because if you didn't, then I didn't do my job. To answer a few of the questions floating around, I write only unconventional relationships. I haven't even decided if I will have any kind of romantic entanglements in this fic. So you won't be seeing any Wes/Fred, Buffy/Angel, etc. because that's not what I like to write about.

Thanks go to: Wow, wow. You know, when I started this, I hoped for as many as I had for my other fics, maybe around 20 or 30 reviews total. This is so totally cool that lots of people are reading this!! Thanks to Imzadi, Vilandra4, pari106, tp96, shahid, Tariq, Steph, Uberwicca, Illiyra, and any others. I hope you are enjoying it.

Answers to Questions

Imzadi—I think Lindsey will appear ever so briefly soon. And yes, Lilah did love Wes, I think. And I had to explain that vision.

Uberwicca—I'm not sure how happy he will be after this chapter.

Shahid—I am going to kick it up several notches. I hope this chapter did. But no Nina, no Connor.

Tariq—There were so many unanswered questions between Faith and Wes before she left for Sunnydale. Faith's way of dealing is many times physical, hence the little dream with Wes. Also, don't flame me (OK you can if you want), but it still bothers me that Wes and Fred got together so suddenly whereas in season four, she pulled away from him after the kiss. Mind wipes are a pain! I would have loved to see her love him for what he was, not some sanitized version. And she was so much stronger when she wasn't attached to some guy.

Steph—will be some Faith/Angel bonding. It has to be there. I wanted to do some Faith/Spike bonding first. And you read my mind. I've been trying to make parallels between Spike and Wes. And that's all I'm gonna tell you right now.