Chapter 8: Demands

Cordelia drove to Faith's motel. When she got there the lights were out. It was around 9 o'clock and Faith was usually up by now, and besides there was no school that day, so she would probably be getting ready for some lame plan.

Cordelia walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. There was no answer. She sighed then pounded on the door, still no answer.

"Hey, bitch, wake up!" Cordelia shouted as some children walked by.

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Faith rolled onto her right and buried her head in the pillows. She heard knocking at the door, she was too tired to answer it. Then there came a pounding, then shouting. Finally Faith gave in. She pulled herself out of bed, she pulled on some jeans and a baggy T-shirt. She walked wearily over to the door, she opened and was instantly attacked by the sunlight. It blinded her, but she saw someone standing there in front of her. Her eyes focused, and Faith saw that it was Cordelia.

"What the hell do you want Queen C.?" she asked rudely.

"Your boyfriend attacked Buffy, Xander, and Willow, and you know, normally I wouldn't care, but…wait I still don't care," Cordelia.

"So what do you want me to do? Walk in there and order him around? Tell him to let them go? You think I have that power over him? I don't control him, I can't tell h im to do stuff. Besides he'd kill me if I even tried. But don't get me wrong, I am sympathetic to there problems," Cordelia gave her a questioning look. "Buffy and her other friends, not the vamps. But I can't help," Faith said, Cordelia had a bored look on her face.

"Bull shit," she said grabbing Faith and pulling her out into the daylight, "you know I really don't care but, with all the vamps, and the hellmouth, I feel much safer," her voice lost the softness it once possessed, "if we had the damn slayer, ALIVE!" Cordelia shouted.

"Hey, I told you-" Faith shouted but was cut off.

"And I told you, you have power over Angelus, use it, get Buffy and Xander out alive!" Cordelia shouted.

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Angelus walked down the dusty stairs into the basement, where Buffy was. He looked around him, there were cells, but they rarely used them, rarely were there leftovers. He smelled blood, Slayer blood. He walked to the far most cell to his left, Buffy was still asleep. He walked to the other side of the room, Xander was awake. He stared at Angelus with hate and rage gleaming in his eyes.

"Gonna kill me?" Xander asked.

"That was a very stupid question, but then again, I hear you're a very stupid boy," Angelus said, "but yes, I am gonna kill you, just not yet. I'm gonna make you hurt!"

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Faith sat in Cordelia's car, the radio was cranked. Faith looked out the window and stared at the passing scenery.

"So what do you expect me to do?" Faith asked, she had given in, tough she wanted to help them, she wasn't sure if this would cost her the relationship with Angelus or her life.

"Talk to him, get him to let them go," Cordelia said.

"He won't listen," Faith said defiantly.

"If he really loves you, he wouldn't do anything you wouldn't want," Cordelia said.

"I know he loves me, but the rules for human love and vampire love are different, so I don't know how human and vampire love rules work," Faith said.

"Shouldn't be so different from human love."

"But…"

"Trust me, love is love," Cordelia said as she smiled warmly.

"How do you know so much?" Faith asked.

"Well, don't tell anyone but me and Xander have a little thing goin' on," Cordelia said. "Well, had, he was a pervert."

"Why, does that not surprise me?" Faith said sarcastically.

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Angelus walked around the mansion, Spike and Drusilla were in the kitchen once more feeding, foreplay, ultimately leading to them having sex…again and again and again. There was a knock on the door, Angelus ran down to the foyer, he knew it had to be Faith though he wasn't completely sure.

"Who's there," Angelus asked.

"Faith," she shouted.

He opened the door, careful to keep out of the sun, Faith walked in. He shut the door quickly, and immediately attacked Faith with kisses.

"Angelus! Angelus! Calm down," Faith shouted as she pushed him away.

"Sorry, missed ya," he said as he tried to kiss her again.

"We have to talk," she said with a serious look on her face.

"Um, what about?" Angelus asked.

"Uh, have you seen Buffy and Xander?" she asked, she wanted to trick him into telling her what happened.

"Who?" Angelus asked genuinely nonplused.

"The Slayer and her dumbass friend," Faith explained.

And with that sentence it dawned on Angelus, now he had three choices: tell her the truth, and risk losing her; lie, and risk losing her if she knew; or change the subject.

"The Slayer…was here, she attacked, we fought her off, she and her friends, and Xander is the guy with the brown hair right? He was here too, he and the Slayer, and another was here," Angelus said.

"Willow," she said under her breath, "what happened to them?"

"They…are…still here, they're alive, though the Slayer might be badly hurt," Angelus said. Faith spaced out for a minute, she was in denial. She should have expected they would fight, he was a vampire and Buffy was a Slayer…the Slayer. She looked at him, and her heart broke.

"Let them go," she said, coldness in her voice. Angelus stared at her, he then went into the basement and opened Buffy's cell, and he carried her upstairs. Faith saw her, her head was bleeding, and she was still asleep. Angelus laid her on the floor. Faith looked at Angelus.

"I can't say anything to make it better, I won't try to cover up, but I did what I had to, to make sure the nest didn't die," he said.

"So don't," she said.

Buffy's eyes opened, what she saw was blurry, then she slipped back into the darkness. Angelus kissed Faith.

"Xander's still in the basement," he said softly.

Faith walked into the basement, Angelus followed her. Xander looked at them.

"What the hell is going on?" he shouted.

"Open it," Faith said. Angelus obliged. Xander got up and once more looked at Faith.

"Buffy's upstairs, get her and get out," Faith said coldly. Xander did so. All that was left in the basement was Faith and Angelus.

"Faith I-" Angelus began.

"Don't, just don't. I don't want to hear it, don't need to," she said softly as she walked over to him, "I understand, you had to protect your family," her voice lost the softness and regained it's original flair, "if you can call them that," Faith said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I guess they are like my family, but you're more important," he said his voice soft as silk.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. He pulled her close.

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