HOW LIKE A FALLEN ANGEL – Chapter 3
We were away and really busy for a month and a half, few of the assignments involved fighting, but those that did had some very intense action. We both ended up with a few new scars and we got to use our new pistols a couple of times. We were becoming so seamless in the way that we worked together it was almost scary. We didn't have to see each other and we barely needed to communicate, we just knew what the other was doing. We got back to the Academy a little after Groundhog Day, and were greeted by a new group of trainees. We had a little difficulty at first because when we showed up, neither Buffy nor Faith was around; and the newbies didn't seem inclined to believe us. When the chosen two finally showed, they told us that they had been in the studio, finally cutting the album. Once Faith was able to headline venues without worrying about being arrested, she agreed to the tour, and of course, making the album. When they came over, both Spazz and Annie came with them, orbiting their masters like furry satellites. The dogs looked well and the slayers looked happy. We told them that we had a couple of days, and of course Faith asked if we could handle being hunted again. I looked at Dawn, and she just grinned "of course" I answered.
"Thanks" Faith said "remember, dirty tricks and no holding back. Otherwise it wouldn't be as instructional; or fun."
We spent the time up until dinner catching up with what was going on here and filled them in on some of our more interesting assignments. It always struck me as surreal, the conversations that we had, and the topics we covered. What we looked upon as commonplace would send most people into years of therapy. I guess it all boils down to what you are used to.
Dinner was fun, with everyone trying to figure out who we were and why we were there. A couple hours after dark, we were out in the woods and twenty slayers came looking for us. I could tell immediately that something was up; the group split into two elements of ten and each element came right for each of us. I stretched my essence out and discovered the reason; one of the trainees was a witch. Untrained, and not the most powerful thing in the world; but she was more than up to the challenge of finding two people in the woods. I communicated to Dawn what was up, and we were forced to improvise our tactics. Fortunately we had planned for such an occasion and were able to generate additional targets I the girl's mind. This was, she didn't know how many of us were actually out in the woods, and couldn't tell which were real until they actually found us. So, our first priority became find this girl and shut her down. I was controlling the doubles while Dawn searched the minds of the slayers. Eventually she was able to pinpoint the girl, what she looked like and where she was. The groups had broken up, smaller bands going for each of the generated doubles as well as ourselves. We realized that the girl was in the group that was closest to Dawn, so I popped over to her and together we attacked her and her four fellow slayers.
Dawn and I were dressed all in black, and we were armed only with Little Earl's gloves. Even with the witch there, they didn't anticipate the speed of our attack. It was clear that they knew how important she was because the other four ringed her protectively. While that slowed us down a bit, it certainly didn't stop us. Circling around, Dawn and I each faced two protectors. I darted in and gave a stiff fingered jab to the one on my left, knocking all the air out of her in one blow; she immediately dropped to the ground retching and gasping for air. I had dropped low to do this and the one on my right swung, but it went over my head. I stood, shooting my head upwards; and it caught her right in the face. She staggered back, eyes wide and blood spraying out of her nose and split lip. While she was focused on her injuries, I reached in and chopped her on the back of the neck and put her out. The first slayer was still on the ground, but she was starting to recover, so I quickly kicked her in the side and knocked whatever air she had sucked into her lungs, out. The witch realized that we were coming for her and turned and ran. Dawn dashed off after her and I faced the one remaining protector. She was good, and slipped in a couple of punches, but she got too cocky and pushed too hard and too far. I dropped and swept her legs, she was down and surprised; her defense was lax. I continued the sweep, pirouetting on my hand, raising my leg slightly and picking up speed. I came around again and my foot connected with her chin in a devastating kick. Her head snapped so hard, I was afraid that I had done serious damage, but she was just out cold. While I was still on the ground I reached over and finally put the gasper out of the fight with a couple of quick shots to the jaw. I quickly rose and went after Dawn.
She had caught the witch/slayer and was currently trading jabs. The girl got anxious and tried to finish Dawn off with a roundhouse right. Dawn ducked under the blow and used her elbow to deliver a vicious blow to the slayers right kidney. The girl crumpled in agony, all thoughts of fighting back gone; her eyes were wide with both pain and fear. She saw Dawn standing there and she saw the blow coming, there was simply nothing she could do about it; and Dawn delivered a five knuckle lullaby. Needless to say, the other slayers had heard the commotion; Dawn especially was almost unable to fight without also delivering a few verbal jabs. However, without their guide, they were late and we were able to grab hands and pop out of the area. Once clear, we surveyed the area and seeing a straggler, we popped in and took care of her; then we popped out again. We used this tactic to pick them off singly and in pairs until the clearing was again filled with unconscious young women. It had taken a bit longer, and we had taken a few more hits than we had anticipated, but no serious damage had been done. Eager for a hot shower and some down time, we headed back to the house.
Not surprisingly both Spazz and Annie heard us coming and alerted the slayers that we were in the house. They found us and we gave them a concise account of the encounter and told who we thought had promise and who really needed work. What we weren't sure about was what to do with the witch/slayer. Dawn suggested having Willow come down and training the girl to use her powers; correctly pointing out that if she remained untrained in magic, she could cause a huge amount of damage if her powers went out of control. I thought it was a good idea, if for no other reason than it got Willow out of the 'office' and doing something again. The slayers said that they would consider this, so Dawn and I went off to that hot shower.
We started kissing in the hall, pausing every few steps. Finally we made it to the bathroom and turned on the shower; steam slowly filled the room as we continued to kiss and hold each other tight. Our hands began moving over each other and, seemingly of their own volition, removing each others clothes. Becoming increasingly impatient, and still partially clothed, we stumbled into the stream of water. We were locked in a tight embrace, lips together, hands working off our last bits of clothing; the water sluicing off us, making vision blurry and skin slick. We broke our kiss, our mouths nipping and licking ears and necks and shoulders; our hands encompassing each others form. She still had on her panties and I still had on my boxers, but the water had rendered them transparent. We were interlocked, tighter and more intense than we had ever been. My mouth drifted down to her breasts, teasing and moving over them as my hands roamed her flanks and sides. My hands became more focused and intent; her hands were in my hair, her head thrown back in a soundless scream. With one hand at her center, my other moved over her skin, finding and healing her bruises. My hand drifted, millimeters off of her body, healing injuries, remembering scars, feeling the heat of her. I sank lower, my mouth tasting her belly and thighs, now both hands seeking out injuries and healing what I found. Finding no more, I moved back up and working my hands into her deep brown hair, pulled her into a fervent kiss. Then, her hands and mouth were on me, teasing and feeling. With the water and steam in the room, clear vision was impossible; but it was not necessary to see her to know where she was. I could feel her, a liquid warmth moving over me and wrapping me in her essence. We continued to make love in the shower for hours, our cries echoing off the tiles and mirrors. Finally, utterly drained, we staggered off to bed, and naked, fell in. We were wrapped in nothing but each other, and thus entwined; we drifted into a deep, dreamless and utterly secure sleep.
The next day, we helped Buffy and Faith work out with the trainees. Just like before, they were pretty upset that we had knocked them out and left them in the woods, but they had to understand that this was a deadly serious calling, and that losing meant dying. We worked on teaching them supporting tactics and group strategy. Like the group before, they learned quickly, and were giving us trouble by the end of the lesson.
After lunch, we went over to band practice to see how it was going. Dawn and I just sat back and watched the recording session; we certainly weren't there to participate. The sound guy from the record company obviously didn't know what to make of Clem or Druk, not to mention the Fyarl demons, but because everyone else accepted it as common, he did too. I leaned back with my eyes closed, listening, and something wasn't right. Faith could tell this as well and immediately stopped the song. She just stood there for a second, and then yelled "Ian, get up here and take Whistler's part so he can provide some fill".
I was really surprised, but not so surprised that I couldn't add my guitar to the mix. I got my guitar and plugged in and we started it back up. The results were amazing. Whistler, when he was freed from playing the 'straight' line provided some incredible fill, and there were times when he doubled me, and the results were really cool. Along with some percussion changes that Buffy provided, the newly arranged song came out hot, and the record guy was pleased. There were still a few songs that we needed to lay down, but it was becoming obvious that another song would be needed to complete the album. We were getting ready to go through 'Anne' again, when Oz suggested 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' as a good song to cover. Faith wasn't in the mood to do 'Anne' again (she was feeling way too good). So we just fired it up to see where it went. Where it went was great. Dawn had made her way up on stage and was with her sister on backing vocals. It's a fairly simple song but it allowed lots of room for improvisation, which everyone ran with. Faith's voice was also a perfect fit for the tone of the song, and she really wailed. We also added a wild twist towards the end. The song had gotten pretty sedate, just vocals and Druk with some funky keyboard work, when suddenly Oz, Whistler and I pulled some high notes while raising the guitar necks straight up, then we brought them screaming down like kamikazes with Clem and Buffy adding some punctuation from the percussion section. Faith, with her ear for the dramatic, picked up on it and basically delivered a primal yell that would have done justice to Roger Daltry. The song was really roaring and moving the last minute or so, ending with almost an explosion of sound. Everyone loved it. We knocked a few kinks out, and in less than an hour, we had a premium piece on tape. I'm amazed how it sometimes works that way, stuff just falls together like it was made to, and of course I know that sometimes it is planned that way. After all, I work for the planner.
Just as the session was breaking up, Faith asked us to hold off on leaving a bit so we could try and get 'Anne' right. She had not been able to capture that same magic that had occurred that night in Chicago. She knew that getting it exact was impossible due to all of the emotions that had gone into the original, but Faith said that she had an idea that would get it close.
After dinner, Dawn and I went for a walk, just enjoying the sunset and each other's company.
"What's the longest relationship you've ever had" she asked out of the blue.
"Other than this one?"
"Yeah."
I thought for a second "twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes?"
"Rhonda Flemming in sixth grade. A group of us were playing spin the bottle, and she and I kept aiming for each other. It lasted about twenty minutes until she got too enthusiastic and had to kiss someone else. Afterwards, she and Ritchie Anderson aimed for each other, and I was heartbroken. That's the sum total of my romantic past."
"But you've been around Faith quite a bit; you mean you never had . . . feelings for her?"
"Nope, I saw her as a friend, colleague, sister, but I've never entertained romantic thoughts about her."
"Why not, don't you think she's pretty?"
"Yeah, I think she's beautiful, it's just that I never thought of her that way."
"So, why me; I mean she and I are practically sisters in appearance."
"Yeah, you're close; I can't explain it, I saw you and just knew."
"Immediately?"
"Yeah, you opened the door and it just hit me; you were the one. And it's not because you're beautiful and smart and caring; I guess it's because you complete me. It's like that movie that you love, 'Pleasantville'; I was in black and white until I met you, and then suddenly I'm in color, and so is the whole world,"
She looked a bit shocked to hear me say these things. Honestly I'm surprised that we hadn't had this talk sooner, but it had never seemed necessary. "That's lovely, but now I feel bad."
"Why?"
"Well, you fell in love with me the minute you saw me, I didn't love you instantly."
"OK, so how long did it take?"
"It was on our way back from the church; those bringers attacked and you handed me a knife and trusted me to guard your back. You didn't hesitate, you just trusted me with no reservations and I knew. I mean I had been falling for you, but that just put it over the edge."
We fell silent, continuing to hold hands and just walk. There were some insistent thought buzzing around in my head. 'Where do we go from here', 'should I push the relationship farther than it already was', 'was it even possible to have something permanent with her'? I had never thought about those questions because, quite frankly, I had not believed that I would live to see twenty. Not to mention the possibility of seeing it with someone I cared about. When I became a Seraph, I had resigned myself to loving all of mankind; I had not expected that love to become so focused and personal. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize just how remarkable my life had been up to now. I had friends, a purpose and someone to share it with. Sadly, though, I also knew that my life expectancy was not great and that fact made the possibility of commitment difficult at best. I loved Dawn, and she loved me, did we need to do anything to make it more real or more true?
"Hey stranger" she said "where are you?"
"Just thinkin' me thinks" I answered.
And with those restless thoughts in my head, we went to bed. We were rolled out of bed at 3AM. Surprisingly it was Buffy and not Faith that woke us up. At first we thought it was some emergency; but Buffy told us it was just time to record. Not bothering to put much on, we staggered over to the studio. It was darn near pitch black in there. Just a bit of indirect lighting and the lamp above the mixing board was the only illumination. The girls made their way to the backing mike while I found my guitar. I had an easier time than most; I play a Fender Telecaster that's all white (of course), so it stood out a bit in the gloom. I made sure I was plugged in and in tune while the rest of the band was doing the same. I looked up and the sound tech from Virgin was with Willy at the board; and surprisingly so was the Bennet chick, the scout for the record company. The sound guy flicked a switch and said "Anne, take 1"
We all kind of looked at each other for a second because Faith wasn't there; but Whistler just shrugged and started off. It was as sad and forlorn a tune as I remembered. Suddenly Faith's voice was ringing our over the studio speakers. Obviously she was in the studio, but isolated from the rest of us. Oz and the others had followed Whistler, and I, like the first time, was adding punctuation wherever it seemed to fit. It did not totally recapture the emotional punch of the first performance but it still had quite an impact. The more I played, the more it felt like my heart was being torn from my body. The last note faded away, and Willy just hit the house mike and said "that'll do". He had to talk because both the sound guy and Leah were crying too hard; I guess we got it right enough.
Then the lights came up and Faith sauntered up from where she had been hiding, a satisfied smirk on her face. I guess she got the sound she had been after. With very few words exchanged we headed back to our beds. After something like that, it was hard for me to sleep; so I just lay there and held Dawn through the rest of the night. She woke back up at 8 AM, so we got dressed and went back to work.
It was a fairly eventful time. We ran into Daniel while guarding a hospital in an African country undergoing a rather painful revolution. Daniel was functioning as one of the doctors. There was a kidnapping by some crazed 'freedom fighters' in Central America. It turned out that these yahoos were working for some warlock that was trying to help them by summoning demons to fight for them. We hunted vamps in places where there was no slayer; we bagged the odd demon or two. In other words, it was a pretty typical month and a half for us. Around the equinox, we had to deal with all the Druids and other nature worshipers that came out of the woodwork. Most of them are harmless and actually quite pleasant, but you still have the fringe element that thinks human sacrifice is still the way to go. We worked steadily and happily, caring for the world and each other, busy but not swamped, when April 1 (Pagan New Year) came along.
