Chapter 42.
Faith walked leisurely around Edinburgh, her stake clutched in her hand, a dagger in her boot. Edinburgh was large, so tonight, Faith was only covering a small portion of it. This past week, she had been patrolling the hellmouth, someone needed to keep the vampire numbers down.
On this particular night however, Angel had decided to join her. Deciding that they could cover more ground if they split up, Faith and Angel had gone their separate ways, and Faith had not seen Angel for two hours.
It had been a busy night so far, Faith had dusted a total of nine vampires and three demons of different races. She had saved five women and two couples from being bitten tonight, and she had killed some newly sired vampires.
Just as Faith was thinking of touching her portkey that was wrapped in cloth in her pocket, that would send her back to Hogwarts, three vampires ran into the alley, heading straight towards Faith. She grinned, and immediately started to fight them, punching and kicking right and left.
The vampires were not that strong, but they kept together and attacked Faith and the same time, and Faith found it hard to stake one of them. As she kicked one away, the other two would attack immediately, and she would have to fight both of them. Finally, she thrust a stake into one of the vampire's hearts, and the vampire turned to dust.
She grinned at the other two, and sent a roundhouse kick to one of them, sending him to the cold grimy wall. She punched the other, knocking him in the jaw and he stumbled back. They quickly regrouped, and Faith attacked again. She was reckless and wild, and one of the remaining vampires found themselves on the end of her stake. He was dust.
She turned to the last vampire, raising her stake to shoulder level. His yellow eyes glowed at her, and she attacked again, kicking him and ducking a punch. She grabbed his hand and threw him in the air to the other side of the alley. He groaned in pain and she quickly ran to him, knelt down and staked him. He was dust.
She sighed and wiped her hands on her jeans. She tucked her stake in her back pocket and stood. She ran a hand through her loose hair, and stopped halfway. Her senses were going wild; there was something near her. Behind her.
She turned around as a door behind her creaked open and heels clicked on the concrete road. Her eyes widened as she saw who it was, a tall middle aged man with a receding hair line, wearing a sharp suit. He smiled in a fatherly way at her, and held out his hand, welcoming her to him.
"My little firecracker." He said, his arms still outstretched. Faith did not move. He frowned, and his arms dropped to his sides. "What's wrong? You're surprised to see me?"
"Yeah, considering you were blown up nine years ago." Faith said warily.
Mayor Wilkins smiled. "But I'm back." He said simply, as if that solved everything.
Emotions were going wild inside of Faith. Part of her wanted to run to Wilkins and hug him, embrace the man who had been a father figure to her when she had needed it most. The rest of her was telling her to kill him, because he was evil, and at any chance, he would try to kill her too.
"What's wrong Faith?" The moment he said her name, a decision of what she should do was made. Faith closed the space between them, and embraced him tightly, throwing her arms around his neck.
Wilkins smiled, and he placed a hand on Faith's hair. "Missed me?"
Faith couldn't say anything, because her throat was so choked up. It surprised her that she had missed the mayor so much. He had been a father to her, and she had appreciated him a lot more than she had previously thought. But there was something else…something that nagged her in the back of her mind. Something that told her that this was not right, that the Mayor should not be alive.
Because Buffy had killed him.
She practically jumped out of his arms, she retreated so fast. Her body instantly lost the warmth, but she felt better and secure with her arms folded facing the Mayor.
He frowned. "Faith, what's wrong?"
"You're not supposed to be here." She said.
He laughed. "If you're talking about Graduation…then you don't have to worry about that."
Faith scoffed. "I don't have to worry about that?" She repeated. "I have to worry about that! You wanna know why? Buffy killed you!" She shouted. Faith did not miss the way Mayor scowled as she mentioned Buffy's name.
"It's a miracle." He said. "I'm back, and there's no need to worry about a bit of fuel and a match."
"A 'bit of fuel and a match'? That 'bit of fuel and a match' blew up the entire school, not to mention your snaky self!" Faith said, glaring at the Mayor.
"Faith, you're not seeing things clearly." He said, smiling.
She shook her head, looking at him skeptically. "No, you're not seeing things clearly. What are you?"
"I'm Mayor Wilkins, remember Faith?" He said, not trying to be patronizing, but his tone was. It irked Faith.
"Human or demon." She said through gritted teeth.
He smirked. "Faith, I was never a human. Well, I sure haven't been for a long darn while."
Her face fell. She had been hoping he had been human, she honestly did not know why, but that was how she felt. "So you're a demon?"
"I'm not human." He said cheerfully.
"Right. So there's only one thing to do then." She whipped out her dagger and held it up to her shoulders. "I'm gonna have to kill ya."
Faith did not know how she expected Mayor Wilkins to react to that. She thought he might have reacted with shock. Fright maybe, even sadness. But she wasn't prepared for how he reacted.
He laughed. Simply laughed. He tilted his head back and let out joyous laughter that filled the alley. She did not know why at the time, but that unnerved her. Her resolve to kill him faded, and she felt herself lowering her dagger.
"Oh my little firecracker. Sure are a lively girl, aren't ya? You always want to kill someone."
Faith bristled. "No. I'm not like that anymore."
He looked surprised. "Really? You don't kill people anymore?"
Faith shook her head. "No. And you know why? Because it's wrong."
He chuckled mirthlessly to himself. "You sound just like the Buffy girl. You know what I would like to do to her?" He stepped closer to her, and his face was inches from hers. "Kill her."
"She's already dead."
He laughed again. "Well hat's off to whoever did that." He said, miming taking off a hat with his hand. He straightened up, and looked serious. "But Faith, didn't you wish that you killed her? All that pain she gave you…she stuck a knife in you kid. Don't you wish you could have paid her back? Taken your revenge? Didn't you wish it was you killing her?"
"No." Faith said, but she hesitated. Wilkins did not miss it.
"You do, don't you?"
"No." She said firmly.
"Admit it, Faith. You wish you killed her."
"No!" Faith shouted. "I liked Buffy! Hell, I loved the girl, she was like a sister to me! And she was an amazing friend! She helped me when I was down and bad. And I loved her more than I loved you."
His face fell. "Faith…I'm your father."
Faith shook her head. "No your not. My father was a bastard. He left me and mom years ago. You're a bastard, but sure as hell ain't him. You never were! And I know what you're trying to do, and lemme tell you right now, it ain't working! I don't know who brought you back, but you can tell them that I ain't gonna be a killer again! 'Cos that ain't me anymore! That ain't me." She added quietly.
Mayor Wilkins smiled. "Well I'll be damned. You really have changed Faith. You're a beautiful woman, and I'm darn proud." He smiled faintly, and stepped back into the doorframe. "But this ain't over. I'll be seeing you." And with that, he opened the door and stepped back into the warehouse.
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Halfway across town, Angel was having different problems. Two young girls had found themselves in a dark alley with three older boys. Much older boys.
Angel slammed the head of one of the vampires into the brick wall, and then flung him against the dustbin. Another vampire came at him, and Angel kicked at his chest and then punched him in the face. They fought quickly, and it was obvious Angel was the stronger vampire. The vampires looked newly sired, and they had little fighting experience.
The two girls hugged the wall as they watched Angel fight the three boys-vampires-who had tried to hurt them. They watched with open eyes as one after the other, the vampires exploded into dust as Angel plunged stakes into their hearts.
Angel sighed and brushed dust off his coat sleeve. "Go home girls." He said bluntly. The two girls nodded, mute with shock and ran off.
Angel was left alone in the small street. He started to walk down it, when a voice stopped him.
"Angel?"
He froze and turned around quickly, having not heard that voice for many years. She stood in the middle of the street, her face in the shadows. But she walked forward-a little feebly- and her face was in the street light. She looked young, full of life. Blond hair framed her face and she smiled sweetly at Angel.
"Darla?"
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Tomorrow I'm going on holiday for a week, so I'll hopefully update in a week and a half. And I'm just making a guess, but this story should end in about fifteen chapters. Hopefully.
Please review! I'll send you a fabulous, free but invisible gift?!
