"7565 Fountain."

Faith tapped the keyboard and then turned around with a scowl. "Nothing. You sure you got the right address?"

"Try it again." Vincent leaned forward and watched her type. "Wait! F-o-u-n-t-a-i-n. There's an 'a' in there."

"I knew that," she said, defensively. "I'm just not good at typing."

"That's okay. You're good at other things."

"And don't forget it." She grinned, still looking at the screen. "Okay. Got it. 7565 Fountain, here we come."

"How long do you think?"

"How the hell should I know?" Her brown eyes flashed as they met his in the rearview mirror. "We'll get there. Don't get pissy."

"I'm on a schedule."

"Places to go, people to kill?"

"Like that, yeah."

"I'm cool with that." She leaned back in her seat. "I've had an errand list or two myself. So. Who we gonna take out next?"

"We? What we?" Vincent's voice get cold, deadly. There was no warmth at all in his blue eyes as they met hers in the mirror again. "There's no we here, Faith. I do my job. You do yours. Yours is driving, remember?"

"You gonna toss this one out the window, too?" she asked, ignoring him.

"I didn't toss him out the window. He fell."

"You always that sloppy, Vinny?"

"Why? You think you could do better?"

"Hell, yeah. I could've taken him with a crossbow at a thousand yards."

"A crossbow? Bullshit!"

"A crossbow and no bullshit." She stopped at a light and turned around so she could look at him again. "He's just human, right?"

"What?" Vincent started to speak, caught himself and shot her an annoyed look. "I'm not getting into this with you. It's my job and I'll take out the target."

"Who hired you?" she asked, changing the subject, watching him twitch as she caught him off guard. When he wasn't being an uptight jerk, he really was hot.

"What the hell kind of question is that!?"

"I mean," Faith said, slowly, this time putting more thought into framing the question the right way, "how'd you get the job? I kinda just lucked into my last one, but you've clearly got some kind of career going, with all the fancy James Bond stuff, not to mention the hit list."

"You were a hired killer," Vincent said, voice dripping skepticism.

"I did what I had to do. The boss wanted a certain item, I got it for him. Unfortunately, the boss got dead and now I'm back as a free agent. Well, almost free. There's a couple of people who'll be getting some payback with the interest, if you know what I mean, Vinny."

"I don't think you can afford me, sweetheart."

"When I need pointers about throwing people through windows, I'll give you a call."

"Would you let it go already!? I told you. That was a one-off."

"What are you gonna say when the next one goes through the window?"

"He's not --! Never mind."

Snickering, she pulled up in front of the building bearing the address 7565 Fountain. It was a fancy high rise, the polar opposite of their last destination. "Nice digs."

Ignoring her, Vincent loaded a fresh clip into his gun and reached into his briefcase. He pulled out a folder. "Go around the side to the alley."

"You gonna drop him on the cab?"

"Just do it." He leaned forward, lips close to her ear as she pulled around the side of the building.

She felt a little ping of regret as he got out of the cab and then, to her surprise, he came around to the front and got in on the passenger's side.

"Hands on the wheel, Faith. Ten and two, just like they taught you in Driver's Ed." He shook a couple of plastic restraints to make his point.

"You wanna tie me up? I didn't think you were that kinda guy."

"I'm full of surprises."

Faith put her hands on the wheel. Let him think he had the upper hand for now, she decided. Winking at him, she said, "This making you hot, Vinny?"

"I'll let you know later," he told her, slipping the restraints on. "Don't wait up for me. Daddy's got a job to do."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He should have known not to expect everything to be smooth when he returned to the cab. Even though the kill was nice and clean, where Faith was involved, he was going to have to expect the unexpected. For example, the thugs she was wrestling with in the alley.

He'd worry about how she got free later. Right now, he needed to be concerned that one of them had his briefcase. "Yo, homie. Is that my briefcase?"

The thug turned, briefcase in hand, and snarled at him. "You wanna try and get it?"

"Hey, ugly, over here," Faith called. "I'm not done with you, yet."

Before Vincent could reach for his .45 HK, Faith whirled, knocking the giant down. She bounced over his prone body and kicked a wooden crate lying among the garbage, splintering the crate into sticks. Grabbing one, she brandished it.

"Come on! Who wants a piece of me!?"

One of the other thugs lunged, but she ducked with lightning speed, coming up and driving her wooden weapon into his back.

To Vincent's shock, the thug disintegrated into dust. "What the hell ---"

"She's the Slayer."

Vincent found himself staring up at the thug that Faith had knocked over. He raised his gun and fired.

The giant stared down at him, wounds bleeding, but not profusely. He should have been dead three times over. Instead, he looked very much alive and annoyed. "Are you trying to piss me off?"

Vincent fired again. Adapt to the environment, he told himself. Improvise. Darwin. I Ching. Shit happens. Whatever. And still the sonofabitch was standing.

Except, he wasn't. He disintegrated in front of Vincent's eyes, the briefcase dropping to the ground. Faith stood there, brandishing her wooden stick, a grin on her face.

"What? You never seen a vamp before?"

"Vamp? As in vampire?"

"Welcome to my world, Vinny." She grabbed his arm and his briefcase and steered him towards the cab. "You hungry? I'm starvin'! Slaying always makes me hungry. Makes me horny, too, but we're on a schedule, right? You figure we have time for a cheeseburger?"

Two down. Three to go.