The Seer
Summary: A prophecy allows a vampire with a soul to become human in the City of Angels, but what happens to the other one? Faith prepares to find out when a seer predicts her death…(F/D)
Rain cascaded down outside as I watched through the blurred window. Must bemonsoon season,I thought, as I studied the droplets flowing across the glass. I reflected on the building, my somber ghostly face manifesting in the clear glass. I remembered the running, capturing, killing. I remembered I had back up.
"She's lost!" the woman cried from behind me, her glossy auburn eyes rolled back, subconsciously fighting the monster attacking her from within.
"You shall never defeat the One who breathes; die at your lover's side, bitch!" That voice hit something; it broke my thoughts and unattained silence. That demon, that Beast.
I knew then what I had to do. I did not stand my ground worthlessly like I wanted to, but I flew to the possessed woman like a hawk diving for the kill. I threw on my best moves, eventually nailing it and grasping its scaly throat, looking straight into its rabid green eyes. My grown-out nails dug into its rough exterior as I whispered into its ear, "Fuck you if you insult her again. Now take your goddamn body out of this innocent girl!" I found him smiling at this threat, further angering me to use my murderer self.
"Oh…but this one knows too much about you and her…I can't let her go…" The way he said that compared to that of an innocent child. It made me want to puke.
"Then let yourself go. I'll kill you either way." With this, I whipped out a cross from the weapons bag beside me and slapped it on his fleshy chest. I wanted to torture him after what he said about my girl. I wanted to make him feel what my heart felt. Fire.
"I will not make peace with you!" the dementing voice replied, its skin beginning to sizzle to a crisp. Good, I thought. I wanted to make him suffer. I wanted to make him feel.
I threw him against a wall. Pain. Kicked him in the chest, and pulled out a bottle of holy water. Maybe it would scare him away.
I suddenly noticed the steam rising around us, and then the woman returned. "Go to her, it's the only way to stop—she—the Key!" I looked to her again, this time in the eyes, which, I found tears masking. This touched something that hadn't been touched in a long time. A long time.
The fierce Beast pierced through my flashback, continuing, "Never shall you find her!" It clawed at me, but I availed, kicking away the talons and throwing a fist in his face to knock him out. "You shall die before her…" Its filthy voice was fading. "The One's City of Angels shall reign…and the undead Key…his lead servant." The woman returned, a silver spirit emitting from her arms. The demon soon reappeared next to her, lay as but a body, a shell of what was.
I watched this woman, who slept peacefully, a seer and slayer in one. She lay with dreams of not peace and wonders, but of premonitions and apocalypse. I could sense her fears as I picked her up with both my arms and carried her to the village, Giles and Willow appearing before me.
"Is that her?" Giles's British accent gleamed through his words like the sun through crystal, answered by my Boston roots.
"She passed out after I beat the beat the Beast out of her." Not letting my heart get in the way, I added, "They both were sayin' something about a Key. You guys know what that means?" I knew she was the Key all along, but I'm not a backstabberI thought. Not anymore, that is. I searched my memories back through everything we went through then. Back to the beginning. To the times we talked and laughed, and when I loved just dropping by to watch her sleep. I remembered the way she smiled when she looked up at me like I was some actress going out with the new Brad Pitt. I loved how she looked into my eyes and saw beneath the surface.
"Faith, did they say 'the Key' or 'a Key'?" Willow pulled me from my remorseful thoughts.
I remembered 'the Key' but said 'a Key', one of my social blunders. Stupid me, I thought. "Oh, uh, 'the'; it said 'the'."
"Are you sure?" Willow replied.
"Yea," I muttered, continuing my façade while hoping I could see her again with Giles and save her from whatever 'the One' was, or is. "I'm sure."
Willow looked at Giles then back at me again. I could tell that she was stuck deciding on whether or not to tell me who the Key was, even though I knew the answer. When she saw the reassuring look in Giles's eyes, she went on. "Faith, what exactly did they say about the Key? Because if they said something bad, it might be about Dawn."
"Dawn, huh." I decided to play dumb. "I would've never guessed pip-squeak was the Key." I forced a laugh, which sounded pretty believable considering my experience. "But, all the thing said was that the Key would be the One's lead servant and something about its, or her being 'undead' I didn't really catch."
Giles stepped in. "Death, Faith, are you sure, what did it say?"
"Told you, G-man, it said she'd be undead or something but was real vague 'about it." I was almost at the point to 'fess up my love for her, but I continued my act. My feelings were going to stay buried inside me until I knew if she felt the same way.
Giles sighed softly in his prissy English way, then glanced at me, noticing the woman I was still holding. "Here, Faith, let me take her." I slowly set the woman in his arms, careful not to hurt her, and followed him to the van, Willow walking beside me. Giles laid the woman in the back against a few pillows he had set up for her. To his and my amazement, we saw she had no sores from the demon—they were apparently healed when the monster was released from her, and I didn't notice, being the very nonchalant and direct person as I am, and though against my nature, I watched him try to settle the woman in place as she mumbled in her sleep.
"Mmm…the Key…She was t'kn…" She coughed lightly. "In Los Angeles sh' lies…" The woman started to get quieter. "She's broken…the Sun—Bearers… Los llevados del sol…mmm… 'no puedo permanecer aquí' says she…" The woman rolled over between mumbles and soon returned to her deep sleep, leaving me and my two pals to investigate the seer's vision.