The Quickening

Previously:

"I may not be able to live with her," Angel replied. "But I can live with you. You want me to suffer? Well, I'll make you suffer. I'll make you linger here for all eternity, never able to move on."

"No, you won't," Jenny replied smugly. "You'll kill her soon enough. You're too weak, Angel. You'll succumb. You always do."

Chapter Thirty-Two:

"I think we may have found something," Giles announced as Buffy and Angel walked into the library the next evening, with Faith trailing behind silently.

"Oh yeah? What's up?" Buffy asked, sitting at one of the tables. Angel stood behind her, his hands resting on the back of her chair. Faith moved over to the table where Xander was sitting and slid into a chair next to him. She could see Willow looking curiously over at her from the corner of her eye. But when she looked toward the red-haired Wicca in training, the girl quickly looked away, focusing her attention back on Giles.

"We believe that whatever is haunting Angel is called The First," Giles replied.

"First what?" Faith asked, leaning back in her chair. She smiled when she felt Xander reach under the table and slip his hand into hers.

"It's an ancient power. Older than anything I've ever heard of. The First Evil. From what I've read about it, The First Evil would be the only thing capable of bringing Angel back from Hell," Giles answered.

"So if it brought me back, it must have done so for a reason," Angel concluded. He was not going to admit it, but he thought he knew exactly why the First brought him back.

"Yes, but what that reason is, I can't say," Giles said, removing his glasses and cleaning them on the front of his shirt. Faith smiled, knowing that Giles was growing frustrated with his lack of knowledge of the First Evil. The act of cleaning his glasses seemed to be a nervous reaction, a way of calming himself when he became frustrated, angry, or embarrassed about something.

"I've seen these guys before," Buffy said, sliding one of the books closer. "In my dreams, I've seen them."

"You're having dreams too?" Angel asked, looking down at her in surprise. Buffy instantly reddened and sheepishly looked down at the table.

"Yeah, I didn't realize that they were important though," Buffy replied.

"You should always tell us when you have dreams if they seem relevant to your duties as a slayer," Giles said patiently. "You don't need to report every frivolous dream your ever have, but slayers are known to have prophetic dreams – dreams that are intrinsically involved in their fight against evil. Those kinds of dreams can be very important."

Faith looked up as Giles finished talking, the memory of her recent balcony dream flashing through her mind. That dream had been different than most dreams she had. It reminded her of the types of dreams she had around the time she found out that she was a slayer. Those dreams were prophetic in nature. One of them had even involved Kakistos, though she did not know what Kakistos was at the time. It was only after she fled from Boston that she realized that she had dreamed everything that was going to happen some months before it actually did. The dream on the balcony was definitely a slayer dream, but she did not know what it meant. Though she imagined that she should tell Giles about it, she did not want to tell him. Something about the dream spoke to her, something about it told her to keep it secret for just a little longer. Instead of involving demons, the dream involved just her. She wanted to know more before she told anyone about it.

"You okay?" Xander whispered over to her. Faith looked over at him sharply.

"Five by five, why?" Faith asked.

"You're kinda crushing my hand," Xander whispered back, flashing her a smile to hide the pain. Faith instantly lessened her grip.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking back over at Giles.

"So who are these guys?" Buffy asked, referring to the book.

"They're the harbingers of the First. The text refers to them as Bringers. They are most likely what's affecting Angel. The First grants them some of its power, allowing them to perform certain tasks," Giles answered.

"Like what?" Angel asked.

"Well, conjuring spirits for instance," Giles replied. "They are most likely the ones creating the visions that you're seeing."

"So how do we stop them?" Xander spoke up.

"It's not going to be easy," Giles replied, sitting down. "We can't fight the First. It's incorporeal. However, we can fight its Bringers."

"We just need to find them," Willow muttered.

"Any ideas?" Oz asked, looking around the table at each person. They all sat deep in thought.

"Willy," Angel replied. "He knows everything that happens in this town."

"Yes, I imagine he would be quite useful," Giles agreed. "Buffy, go to Willy's see if you can't dig something up. Take Angel with you."

"No problemo," Buffy replied, leaping to her feet, happy to be able to do something other than sit around and research. She and Angel quickly exited the library, leaving the others to continue on with the books.

"Help me put these away," Faith said to Xander, picking up some of the discarded books. He grabbed some as well and followed her as she walked back to the stacks. Faith could feel Willow's eyes on her as she walked away. She was tempted to look back and catch the girl in the act, but she thought better of it.

"So, did you really want me to help you put these away, or did you just want to get me all to yourself?" Xander joked, sliding his books onto one of the shelves. Faith smirked.

"A little bit of both, actually," she replied.

"Oh yeah?" Xander asked lowly, moving forward. Faith smiled and grabbed the front of his t-shirt, pulling him closer. His lips crashed against hers, his tongue instantly sliding into her mouth as he pushed her back against the wall. He tangled one of his hands in her hair as their tongues dueled and slid his other hand under the material of Faith's shirt, running his fingertips across the bare skin of her stomach. He could feel the muscles of her stomach jumping he touched her and she moaned into his mouth.

Breaking away, Xander smiled a little, struggling to catch his breath. "If we don't stop now, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to," he said, his voice low and rough with desire. Faith smiled, understanding what Xander meant when she felt his desire brush against her thigh.

"Maybe I don't want to stop," Faith replied, grinning when Xander's eyes went nearly as wide as saucers.

He was about to respond when they heard someone clearing her throat behind them. Xander moved away from Faith and looked back to see Willow standing there with some books. "Giles wanted me to put these away," Willow replied, walking between them and slipping the books onto one of the shelves. She glanced over at Faith, her eyes coldly taking in the other girl.

"Need anything else?" Faith replied, her eyes issuing their own challenge, one Willow apparently was not ready to accept.

"No, that's it," Willow answered, turning on her heel and walking away.

"So that's like the second time we've been interrupted," Xander said, turning back to Faith after Willow had left.

"Well, I can think of at least one place we can go to be alone," Faith replied. "How's the apartment working out for you anyway?"

Xander had found an apartment the day before down by the old motel where Faith used to live. He had Giles sign the lease with him, as reassurance for the apartment manager that the bills would be paid on time one way or another. Giles had even offered to pay Xander's first month of rent so that he could find a job and get on his feet without having to worry. Though Xander did not want to take Giles's money, he had to agree. He did not have enough to cover the rent and he had yet to find a job, though he had an interview at a restaurant in town the next day.

"It's good," Xander replied. "It's nice actually liking to go home."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Faith said. "By the way, Giles wanted me to invite you over for Christmas tonight. I don't know what you normally do, but he wants to have some kind of special dinner or something."

"Sounds good," Xander replied. "Count me in."

"Okay," Faith said, smiling. "We should probably get back."

"Yeah, they're gonna think that we got lost or something," Xander joked.

"But we are definitely gonna finish this later," Faith responded. "I meant what I said."