She's Gone 12a – Lightness & Darkness
The blonde pouted as she flung aside the bloodless corpse they'd hitched into town with. "I hate this town," she whined. "All the time I was alive I wanted to get out. And now you say we have to come back. Why?"
"Because," Drusilla's eyes danced with merriment. "They killed our William. Raven's got to pay the price, and I want my kitten." Oh, her second Slayer. Just like her dear departed William.
* * *
"And how," Giles grunted as the ravishing brunette slammed a sidekick into the heavy bag he was holding. "Is Xander these days?"
To his profound relief the sultry Bostonian stopped her assault on the bag and, by proxy, himself instantly and looked up. His glee at his respite died at the tortured look in the girl's chocolate-brown eyes. "I..I think you should maybe talk to him G," she confessed, her tone troubled.
"Is he still drinking?" he remembered the night two weeks ago, when he and a practically hysterical Faith had had to call off patrol when Xander hadn't returned home from work. Eventually they'd found him in a dive that not even Ripper would have been found dead in, and Faith had to knock him out to drag him out of the bar. The idiocy of the bloody boy, getting drunk in Sunnydale was dangerous enough, but when you were the friend of not one, but two, Slayers, it was like painting a soddin' bull's eye on your back.
"No, he stopped after that night you bawled him out. Now all he does is go to work, come home, eat, and sit in front of the TV. Fuck G, we can go two, three days without speaking and we live in the same goddamn house. Seeing Cornfed pulled him out of his pit, but once he disappeared.... And what he did to the Doc, that wasn't the Xman."
"Perhaps you should talk to him," Giles suggested.
A look of almost comical fear flickered across the raven-haired beauty's face. "Me?" the former jailbird shook her head vehemently. "Uh, no way Jose. Me and comforting words are like two things that most definitely do not go together. Besides what do I say? There's plenty of other ex- vengeance demons out there looking for a well-hung stud. Or maybe I should go with -."
"Please stop," Giles said hurriedly before the conversation got steadily more pornographic. "Faith, you're the person his behaviour is affecting the most, you should be the one. You're the one who spends the most time with him." Normally he'd suggest Willow, but given their strained relationship....
"G, what the fuck would I say? Get over Anya, 'cause there's a super-hot Slayer wanting to back-track? Or how about I go with if your bed's feeling kinda cold, I wouldn't mind warming it up for ya? I'm not exactly coming from a place of neutrality here G, besides you're like his pa, the guy he looks up to." The brunette fluttered her long eye-lashes and pouted. "Oh please, Mr. English Watcher Guy, please help little ole me," she said breathlessly.
"Oh bloody hell, first Buffy with the doe eyes and now you," Giles caved in. He didn't know why he bothered resisting, they always got what they wanted. Even if Faith was far less convincing at the innocent act than Buffy. "I'll go round after we close up, okay?"
"Thanks G." The Slayer beamed at him, he had to admit he did enjoy seeing that smile. Not only was it dazzling in its beauty but it was also a million miles away from the smirk she'd used during her first chaotic run through Sunnydale, further evidence of how much she'd changed. However seeing it also brought with it a stab of bittersweet pain, reminding him of what might have been if this girl had been treated better in her formative years or if he'd been a better mentor to her during her first tour in Sunnydale. A young life almost destroyed by abuse and neglect, neglect that he'd been part of.
Suddenly the Bostonian frowned and glanced at her watch. "Fuck, Ancient Mythology starts in twenty. Gotta motor. You'll talk to Xman tonight?"
"I'll talk to Xander," Giles nodded as the brunette hurried towards the gym door. "Faith, I'm sorry."
"Uhm?" the brunette looked confused. "About the extra shifts I'm working since Anya shot through?" the Slayer shrugged. "I'm saving for a Harley, I like the job, and I've got the ener-."
"No Faith," Giles interrupted. "While your efforts are appreciated here, I'd like to apologise for," he took a breath, god this was so hard. "I'm sorry for the way I ignored you the first time you were in Sunnydale."
"Hey," there was a glint of the all-too familiar bitterness in the raven- haired Slayer's eyes. "You had B, the golden child. My face didn't fit," Faith shrugged, hurt in her face and her body tense. "Not the first time, won't be the last."
"No Faith," Giles felt his heart clench, oh bloody hell, did she really think that? "It wasn't that at all. You scared me," the supernatural warrior's eyes widened. He hurried on, anxious to get the words out before he lost his nerve. "You reminded myself of me when I was in my early twenties-."
"You ever wear a push-up G?"
He decided to ignore the interruption. "In my youth, I was reckless, rebellious, and irresponsible, caring only about having myself and having a good time. I know how such wildness can be addictive and was afraid that you'd bring out that side of me, so I pulled away, not even considering the effect my doing so would have on you. I'm so sorry."
The raven-haired beauty shrugged again. "Five by five G, past is -."
"No it isn't five by five," he interrupted, his tone firm. "I failed you most terribly and I can do nothing to repair the damage only to promise be there for you if should ever need me, and to say how proud you should be of the changes you've made. The way you interact with the others, the pride you take in your job, and your concern for Xander are all examples of how much you've changed."
The Slayer's full lips parted in a smirk. "Don't make me out to be Mother Theresa G. Me worrying about Xan isn't completely unselfish. I've got my reasons."
"Getting some booty-time perhaps?" Giles suggested with a grin, using one of the terms he'd overhead on one of Dawn's infernally invasive MTV programs.
Faith snorted in amusement. "Whoa! Getting with the new millennium lingo G?" the sultry Bostonian shook her head. "Nah, it's when he's in the dumps, he plays country music all through the house. I'm thinking of staging a break-in, burning his record collection and breaking his cd- player. It's either that and I kill him and try for justifiable homicide at my trial."
Giles shuddered. "Country music. You have my profound sympathy."
* * *
Xander sighed dispiritedly as he shoved his desk drawer apart and stood. He realised the noise from the building site had stopped and glanced at his watch. "Damn it," he muttered when he realised he should have been home nearly a hour ago, not that it was his home anymore, not really, not without Anya.
When he got home, he knew Faith would be waiting, together with the falsest smile he'd ever seen. Her concern was touching but stifling, not to mention confusing. Half of him wanted to be alone, to wallow in his pain over Anya's leaving. The other half though wanted to take the opportunity offered by the former demon's departure to grab Faith and repeat their kiss of a few weeks ago before pulling her into his bedroom, which also made him as guilty as hell. Faith had been used so much in the past, he knew how much the kiss they'd shared had hurt her and he was dammed if he was going to add to a lifetime of pain.
Conscious that night had fallen, Xander slid a pair of stakes into his jacket and slid a plastic bottle of holy water into his outside pocket. Satisfied that he was fully equipped, he hurried out of the cabin and onto the working site, and into hell.
His mouth dried and bile rose in his throat at the carnage that greeted him. All around the site there lay the bodies, scratch that, – all around the site lay the body-parts of his team, eight men who'd worked for him, several that he'd hired himself. Splashes of claret covered the once grey stone ground and the cloying taste of death clung to the previously gritty air. Heart pounding, Xander started to back to his cavern, maybe if he locked his door and called Faith up on his mobile she could get here before whatever -. "Oh shit."
If his heart had been thundering before, now it threatened to explode out of his chest. Not that, given the beautiful sight approaching him right about now, it was likely to stay there for much longer anyway. "D...Drusilla."
The vampiress beamed at his croak. "You recognised me."
Oh yeah, he mused as he edged towards the cabin, he was hardly likely to forget the loon who'd tried to love him to death during the love spell mess. "It's always a pleasure Dru," he babbled. He'd managed to charm a 1,100 year old vengeance demon, how hard could one slightly unhinged member of the undead be? "In town for long? A convention maybe, or to meet up with some old friends." If he could just make it to the cabin, maybe he could hold her off.
Suddenly the vampiress began to waggle a finger, her expression distinctly unamused. "Now kitten," she scolded. Xander resisted the urge to shake his head, unbelievable he was being told off by a homicidal undead nut-job. Only in Sunnydale. "You hurt my feelings, helping the naughty-girl Slayer kill my William like that. Was most upset I was."
Xander felt his limbs go weak. She knew, oh boy he was so dead. Xander swallowed, not even Angelus scared him as much as Drusilla, she was so unpredictable. He opened his mouth to speak only to stop when a blonde vampire stepped out of the shadows, an all too familiar sneer in place. "Yeah Xander, you're so toast."
Despite his predicament, he couldn't help but laugh. "Drusilla," his earlier fear was washed away by a tide of an amusement. "How the mighty have fallen," he taunted. "From hanging with Angelus and the Scourge of Europe to," a chortle escaped. "Harmony Kendall?"
"Uhh," the blonde shook her head, her expression furious. "You're so going to pay for all those smart-ass remarks in school!"
The former Cordette started forward only to be pulled back by Drusilla. "We don't dirty our hands," the raven-haired vampiress scolded her younger counterpart. "We leave all the fighting to our big, strong men. We save ourselves for other types of wrestling."
Xander swallowed as a trio of vampires stepped out from behind the cabin he'd been edging towards. "Oh shit." Pulling out the first of his stakes, he stepped sideways to the nearest of the newcomers, and slammed a left into his jaw. Knocked off-balance by his attack, the vampire was helpless to prevent his stake from plunging into his chest.
Hearing a footfall to his left, Xander pulled his bottle of holy water out of his pocket and flung its contents into where he guessed the second vampire was. Grinning slightly at the resulting scream, he turned to face the third vampire and then his world exploded in pain.
* * *
Drusilla beamed down at the body at her feet. Pretty Alex with his ready smile, brave heart, and pained soul, all hers. Suddenly her fellow female vampire pushed past her, her fangs showing. "I told you you'd pay dweeb. I'm going to enjoy eating you, that'll pay you back for putting those tacks on my chair."
Eyes rolling back, Drusilla snapped out her hand snapped out to grab Harmony by the scruff of her neck and fling her to the ground. "No touching of kitten," she remonstrated before crouching down and stroking her new toy's face. Her cruel minion had bashed his face most nastily, he'd have to pay for that. "Pretty Raven bird is going to watch her bestest friend become one of us," Drusilla trilled. "And then I'm going to kill her." Oh what sweet revenge. Standing she glanced towards a pouting Harmony and sighed, kitten had been right. Things weren't the same without grand-mummy, daddy, and her William.
But maybe with her kitten a new era of terror would dawn.
The blonde pouted as she flung aside the bloodless corpse they'd hitched into town with. "I hate this town," she whined. "All the time I was alive I wanted to get out. And now you say we have to come back. Why?"
"Because," Drusilla's eyes danced with merriment. "They killed our William. Raven's got to pay the price, and I want my kitten." Oh, her second Slayer. Just like her dear departed William.
* * *
"And how," Giles grunted as the ravishing brunette slammed a sidekick into the heavy bag he was holding. "Is Xander these days?"
To his profound relief the sultry Bostonian stopped her assault on the bag and, by proxy, himself instantly and looked up. His glee at his respite died at the tortured look in the girl's chocolate-brown eyes. "I..I think you should maybe talk to him G," she confessed, her tone troubled.
"Is he still drinking?" he remembered the night two weeks ago, when he and a practically hysterical Faith had had to call off patrol when Xander hadn't returned home from work. Eventually they'd found him in a dive that not even Ripper would have been found dead in, and Faith had to knock him out to drag him out of the bar. The idiocy of the bloody boy, getting drunk in Sunnydale was dangerous enough, but when you were the friend of not one, but two, Slayers, it was like painting a soddin' bull's eye on your back.
"No, he stopped after that night you bawled him out. Now all he does is go to work, come home, eat, and sit in front of the TV. Fuck G, we can go two, three days without speaking and we live in the same goddamn house. Seeing Cornfed pulled him out of his pit, but once he disappeared.... And what he did to the Doc, that wasn't the Xman."
"Perhaps you should talk to him," Giles suggested.
A look of almost comical fear flickered across the raven-haired beauty's face. "Me?" the former jailbird shook her head vehemently. "Uh, no way Jose. Me and comforting words are like two things that most definitely do not go together. Besides what do I say? There's plenty of other ex- vengeance demons out there looking for a well-hung stud. Or maybe I should go with -."
"Please stop," Giles said hurriedly before the conversation got steadily more pornographic. "Faith, you're the person his behaviour is affecting the most, you should be the one. You're the one who spends the most time with him." Normally he'd suggest Willow, but given their strained relationship....
"G, what the fuck would I say? Get over Anya, 'cause there's a super-hot Slayer wanting to back-track? Or how about I go with if your bed's feeling kinda cold, I wouldn't mind warming it up for ya? I'm not exactly coming from a place of neutrality here G, besides you're like his pa, the guy he looks up to." The brunette fluttered her long eye-lashes and pouted. "Oh please, Mr. English Watcher Guy, please help little ole me," she said breathlessly.
"Oh bloody hell, first Buffy with the doe eyes and now you," Giles caved in. He didn't know why he bothered resisting, they always got what they wanted. Even if Faith was far less convincing at the innocent act than Buffy. "I'll go round after we close up, okay?"
"Thanks G." The Slayer beamed at him, he had to admit he did enjoy seeing that smile. Not only was it dazzling in its beauty but it was also a million miles away from the smirk she'd used during her first chaotic run through Sunnydale, further evidence of how much she'd changed. However seeing it also brought with it a stab of bittersweet pain, reminding him of what might have been if this girl had been treated better in her formative years or if he'd been a better mentor to her during her first tour in Sunnydale. A young life almost destroyed by abuse and neglect, neglect that he'd been part of.
Suddenly the Bostonian frowned and glanced at her watch. "Fuck, Ancient Mythology starts in twenty. Gotta motor. You'll talk to Xman tonight?"
"I'll talk to Xander," Giles nodded as the brunette hurried towards the gym door. "Faith, I'm sorry."
"Uhm?" the brunette looked confused. "About the extra shifts I'm working since Anya shot through?" the Slayer shrugged. "I'm saving for a Harley, I like the job, and I've got the ener-."
"No Faith," Giles interrupted. "While your efforts are appreciated here, I'd like to apologise for," he took a breath, god this was so hard. "I'm sorry for the way I ignored you the first time you were in Sunnydale."
"Hey," there was a glint of the all-too familiar bitterness in the raven- haired Slayer's eyes. "You had B, the golden child. My face didn't fit," Faith shrugged, hurt in her face and her body tense. "Not the first time, won't be the last."
"No Faith," Giles felt his heart clench, oh bloody hell, did she really think that? "It wasn't that at all. You scared me," the supernatural warrior's eyes widened. He hurried on, anxious to get the words out before he lost his nerve. "You reminded myself of me when I was in my early twenties-."
"You ever wear a push-up G?"
He decided to ignore the interruption. "In my youth, I was reckless, rebellious, and irresponsible, caring only about having myself and having a good time. I know how such wildness can be addictive and was afraid that you'd bring out that side of me, so I pulled away, not even considering the effect my doing so would have on you. I'm so sorry."
The raven-haired beauty shrugged again. "Five by five G, past is -."
"No it isn't five by five," he interrupted, his tone firm. "I failed you most terribly and I can do nothing to repair the damage only to promise be there for you if should ever need me, and to say how proud you should be of the changes you've made. The way you interact with the others, the pride you take in your job, and your concern for Xander are all examples of how much you've changed."
The Slayer's full lips parted in a smirk. "Don't make me out to be Mother Theresa G. Me worrying about Xan isn't completely unselfish. I've got my reasons."
"Getting some booty-time perhaps?" Giles suggested with a grin, using one of the terms he'd overhead on one of Dawn's infernally invasive MTV programs.
Faith snorted in amusement. "Whoa! Getting with the new millennium lingo G?" the sultry Bostonian shook her head. "Nah, it's when he's in the dumps, he plays country music all through the house. I'm thinking of staging a break-in, burning his record collection and breaking his cd- player. It's either that and I kill him and try for justifiable homicide at my trial."
Giles shuddered. "Country music. You have my profound sympathy."
* * *
Xander sighed dispiritedly as he shoved his desk drawer apart and stood. He realised the noise from the building site had stopped and glanced at his watch. "Damn it," he muttered when he realised he should have been home nearly a hour ago, not that it was his home anymore, not really, not without Anya.
When he got home, he knew Faith would be waiting, together with the falsest smile he'd ever seen. Her concern was touching but stifling, not to mention confusing. Half of him wanted to be alone, to wallow in his pain over Anya's leaving. The other half though wanted to take the opportunity offered by the former demon's departure to grab Faith and repeat their kiss of a few weeks ago before pulling her into his bedroom, which also made him as guilty as hell. Faith had been used so much in the past, he knew how much the kiss they'd shared had hurt her and he was dammed if he was going to add to a lifetime of pain.
Conscious that night had fallen, Xander slid a pair of stakes into his jacket and slid a plastic bottle of holy water into his outside pocket. Satisfied that he was fully equipped, he hurried out of the cabin and onto the working site, and into hell.
His mouth dried and bile rose in his throat at the carnage that greeted him. All around the site there lay the bodies, scratch that, – all around the site lay the body-parts of his team, eight men who'd worked for him, several that he'd hired himself. Splashes of claret covered the once grey stone ground and the cloying taste of death clung to the previously gritty air. Heart pounding, Xander started to back to his cavern, maybe if he locked his door and called Faith up on his mobile she could get here before whatever -. "Oh shit."
If his heart had been thundering before, now it threatened to explode out of his chest. Not that, given the beautiful sight approaching him right about now, it was likely to stay there for much longer anyway. "D...Drusilla."
The vampiress beamed at his croak. "You recognised me."
Oh yeah, he mused as he edged towards the cabin, he was hardly likely to forget the loon who'd tried to love him to death during the love spell mess. "It's always a pleasure Dru," he babbled. He'd managed to charm a 1,100 year old vengeance demon, how hard could one slightly unhinged member of the undead be? "In town for long? A convention maybe, or to meet up with some old friends." If he could just make it to the cabin, maybe he could hold her off.
Suddenly the vampiress began to waggle a finger, her expression distinctly unamused. "Now kitten," she scolded. Xander resisted the urge to shake his head, unbelievable he was being told off by a homicidal undead nut-job. Only in Sunnydale. "You hurt my feelings, helping the naughty-girl Slayer kill my William like that. Was most upset I was."
Xander felt his limbs go weak. She knew, oh boy he was so dead. Xander swallowed, not even Angelus scared him as much as Drusilla, she was so unpredictable. He opened his mouth to speak only to stop when a blonde vampire stepped out of the shadows, an all too familiar sneer in place. "Yeah Xander, you're so toast."
Despite his predicament, he couldn't help but laugh. "Drusilla," his earlier fear was washed away by a tide of an amusement. "How the mighty have fallen," he taunted. "From hanging with Angelus and the Scourge of Europe to," a chortle escaped. "Harmony Kendall?"
"Uhh," the blonde shook her head, her expression furious. "You're so going to pay for all those smart-ass remarks in school!"
The former Cordette started forward only to be pulled back by Drusilla. "We don't dirty our hands," the raven-haired vampiress scolded her younger counterpart. "We leave all the fighting to our big, strong men. We save ourselves for other types of wrestling."
Xander swallowed as a trio of vampires stepped out from behind the cabin he'd been edging towards. "Oh shit." Pulling out the first of his stakes, he stepped sideways to the nearest of the newcomers, and slammed a left into his jaw. Knocked off-balance by his attack, the vampire was helpless to prevent his stake from plunging into his chest.
Hearing a footfall to his left, Xander pulled his bottle of holy water out of his pocket and flung its contents into where he guessed the second vampire was. Grinning slightly at the resulting scream, he turned to face the third vampire and then his world exploded in pain.
* * *
Drusilla beamed down at the body at her feet. Pretty Alex with his ready smile, brave heart, and pained soul, all hers. Suddenly her fellow female vampire pushed past her, her fangs showing. "I told you you'd pay dweeb. I'm going to enjoy eating you, that'll pay you back for putting those tacks on my chair."
Eyes rolling back, Drusilla snapped out her hand snapped out to grab Harmony by the scruff of her neck and fling her to the ground. "No touching of kitten," she remonstrated before crouching down and stroking her new toy's face. Her cruel minion had bashed his face most nastily, he'd have to pay for that. "Pretty Raven bird is going to watch her bestest friend become one of us," Drusilla trilled. "And then I'm going to kill her." Oh what sweet revenge. Standing she glanced towards a pouting Harmony and sighed, kitten had been right. Things weren't the same without grand-mummy, daddy, and her William.
But maybe with her kitten a new era of terror would dawn.
