The Quickening

Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming.

Previously:

"Be careful," Angel said, rising to his feet. "If Balthazar is alive, he's not going to be too happy. They'll be looking for you."

Chapter Fifty-Two:

Vincent slowly approached Balthazar. The obese, pasty demon was sitting in his tank of water, screaming and wailing about his amulet. The rest of El Eliminati was gathered around Balthazar, their heads hung low. Vincent knew that they had failed Balthazar. He had charged them with the task of recovering his amulet. The slayers had gotten to it first. Something told Vincent that Balthazar was not going to be satisfied with their excuse. Vincent grimaced as he watched Balthazar break the neck of one of his companions.

"I see fear," Balthazar screamed, his voice shrill and harsh. "I see remorse. I see the pitiful look of faces that cry out for mercy! But what I don't see, what I want to see, is my amulet!" Balthazar yelled. Vincent felt cold beads of sweat break out on his forehead when he saw Balthazar's eyes land on him. He did not want to meet the same fate as his companion.

"Vincent!" Balthazar growled. "Come here, Vincent." Balthazar began to wheeze, his breath coming in short gasps as his distress increased. Vincent nodded and slowly walked forward, his eyes on the ground. He hated to look at Balthazar. The demon was absolutely disgusting. "Closer," Balthazar said as Vincent stopped several feet from the tank. Vincent looked up, his panic increasing. He focused his eyes on the water in the tank. It was incredibly dirty and Vincent had to stop himself from gagging at the smell of it.

"Yes?" Vincent asked, his voice cracking with fear.

"Closer," Balthazar responded. Vincent leaned forward until he was only inches away from Balthazar's face. Balthazar reached forward and rested his hands on Vincent's shoulders, staring deep into Vincent's eyes. "Let me tell you what I want to see," Balthazar rasped.

"Of course," Vincent replied.

"I want to see my amulet. I don't care how you procure it. Just get it. Use any and all resources available to you. Understand?" Balthazar said. Vincent nodded.

"Whatever you require."

……………………

Buffy and Faith left the Bronze through the back door. The heavy, metal door slid shut and the music, so loud inside, suddenly stopped. "Think we made the right choice?" Faith asked as she and Buffy walked down the alley that led through the warehouse district of Sunnydale, which led to the residential district. From there, they would split up, both going back to their houses.

"Yeah, I think so," Buffy said. "Angel can protect the amulet. We could have as well, but El Eliminati will be looking for us. It wouldn't be as safe with us as it will be with him."

"Good," Faith replied. "I just wanted to make sure that we're on the same page."

"Wait," Buffy said, stopping suddenly. Faith looked over at her.

"What?" Faith asked.

"Do you feel that?" Buffy asked, slowly moving forward again.

"Vampires," Faith responded, her slayer senses tingling out of control. Grabbing a stake out of the waistband of her pants, she followed Buffy. The blonde slayer had began lightly jogging down the alley, moving closer to the source of the tingles that ran up and down both her and Faith's backs.

They had just entered the warehouse district when the first vampire jumped out at them. It was on Buffy's side and she quickly dispatched it, sliding the stake into its heart. Another jumped out at Faith, who did the same. "For some reason, I think we're getting close to Balthazar," Faith said sarcastically.

"Really? You think?" Buffy replied. "All these vampires tell you that?" Two more jumped out, one in front of each slayer. As they progressed down the alley the number of vampires increased, until they were fighting just to keep moving.

"What do you think?" Faith shouted. "Turn back or keep going?"

"We could find Balthazar," Buffy replied. "I say we keep going."

"Fair enough," Faith answered as a vampire jumped out at her. It held a short sword in its hands. It thrust the sword at Faith. She side stepped it and grabbed the vampire by the arm, punching it in the face with her other hand. Breaking the vampire's wrist, she staked it in the chest. It exploded into dust and Faith moved forward. Another vampire jumped out at her and Faith did not hesitate as she slammed the stake into its chest. The moment the stake pierced the flesh, however, Faith knew that something was wrong. Somewhere in her mind, she could hear Buffy shout something at her.

"Faith! No!" She heard Buffy yell. The stake was harder to push through the vampire's chest than it had been with the other vampires. Usually the stake slid in easily, the muscles and bones caving as the stake entered. However, the muscles and bones did not cave as usual. They fought back and Faith had to use all of her strength to pierce the heart. Through the wood of the stake, Faith felt something that made her blood run cold. She could feel the vampire's heart beating.

"Oh my God," Faith whispered, looking up into the vampire's face. He was not a vampire. He was a human being. He was a man. He was a man and Faith could feel his heart slowing through the stake that she held in her hand. Faith quickly released the handle of the stake as if the wood had burned her. Looking into the man's eyes, wide with horror and the knowledge that his life was slowly ending, Faith felt sick. She could feel the burning sensation of bile creeping up her throat. The taste flooded her mouth and she had to restrain herself from vomiting. Faith felt someone push her out of the way as the man stumbled and fell into the wall of the alley.

"Don't move," Buffy said. "Everything is going to be okay." She knelt down beside the man and pressed her hand against the wound on his chest.

"I didn't mean to," Faith said suddenly, her voice panicked. "I didn't know."

"Get help!" Buffy yelled back at her, but Faith could not move. She tried to turn and run, to turn and run to get help, but she stayed where she was. Her feet seemed cemented to the ground. She could only stare at the man lying in front of her and the blood seeping out onto his crisp, white shirt.

"I can't," Faith said, her voice breaking. "I can't." Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Faith noticed that the vampires had stopped coming. Her slayer senses were no longer tingling. The night air blew through her hair and Faith looked up into the sky. The moon was big and round, shining down on her. Faith looked down at her hands and, for the first time, noticed the blood staining them. She quickly wiped her hands on her pants, but when she looked at them again, she could still see the blood. No matter how long or hard she tried to wipe it off, it was still there.

"You need to relax okay?" Buffy said to the man. "You're going to be fine."

"I…" the man said, "needed to see you."

"What?" Buffy asked.

"I was looking for you," he choked out. Blood was seeping through his teeth, running over his lips, and down his chin.

"What for?" Buffy pressed. She knew that he should not be talking, but she wanted to know why he was looking for her.

"I have information," he said. "Information about…" he trailed off.

"About what?" Buffy asked eagerly. "About what?" His breath hitched and suddenly his eyes went wide. Then his heart stopped. "He's dead," Buffy said.

"Shit," Faith muttered to herself. "What the fuck are we gonna do now?"

"We?" Buffy asked, looking back at her. "You staked him."

"I didn't mean to!" Faith yelled. "I didn't know he was human. I thought he was a vampire. You thought so too."

"I didn't know anything until I saw him. Can't you tell the difference?" Buffy asked, rising to her feet.

"Not when I'm surrounded by vampires," Faith retorted. "We need to get out of here." Faith turned and looked down an alley shooting off the main alley. Suddenly, one of her dreams came back to her. She was standing in this very place. She remembered the smaller alley and the chain link fence at the end of it. Looking back at the man lying dead in the alley, she suddenly recognized his face. "What the hell," she whispered.

"What about him?" Buffy asked, motioning back towards the body.

"Leave him," Faith said. Then she ran towards the fence. Vaulting over it, she took off down the street. She did not know if Buffy was behind her or not, but as she ran, she felt her sister slayer less and less. After running for nearly twenty minutes in no particular direction, Faith stopped, leaned against a wall, and tried to catch her breath. She could not get the images of Buffy's disappointed and disgusted face, the man's dead face, and the blood on her hands out of her head. Everything was swirling around in front of her vision and she felt like she was going to pass out. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew that she could not go home. Buffy would go directly to Giles. Faith knew that much. She could not go to Xander's apartment with blood all over her. He would ask too many questions that she did not want to answer.

Faith suddenly knew where she was going to go. Her feet took her without her mind even conscious of the movement. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of Cordelia's house. The house was larger than most Faith had ever seen. Moving up the driveway, she noticed that Cordelia's car was parked outside of the garage. It was late and Faith was unsure if Cordelia would even be awake. Walking up to the front door, Faith rang the doorbell and waited. She could not hear anyone moving about inside of the house. She rang the bell again and, finally, heard footsteps approaching from inside of the house.

The door swung open and Cordelia stood on the other side. "Do you have any idea how late it is?" Cordy asked, suddenly noticing that Faith did not look like herself. "Is that blood?" She asked, looking down at Faith's hands and pants.

"Yeah," Faith replied shakily. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Cordelia said, swinging the door open. "Are you injured?"

"No," Faith said, looking down at the blood. "It's not mine."

"Whose is it?" Cordelia asked.

"I don't know," Faith replied. "Something happened tonight."

"Sit down," Cordy said, moving Faith into the living room. "What happened?" She asked, kneeling down in front of Faith and looking deep into her eyes. Faith looked back at Cordelia and, for a moment, felt like everything was going to be okay. She knew that Cordy was not going to judge her for what she did.

"I staked someone," Faith answered.

"You mean a vampire?" Cordy asked in confusion.

"No, a man," Faith said, looking down at her hands. The blood was there again.

"Accidentally?" Cordy asked.

"Yeah," Faith responded. "I didn't mean to. Vampires were coming out of everywhere and all of the sudden, he was standing in front of me. I didn't think. I just thought he was one of them."

"Was anyone else there? Did anyone see?" Cordy asked.

"Yeah," Faith said, looking up again. "Buffy was with me."

"Where is she?" Cordy asked. Rising to her feet, she motioned for Faith to follow her. Faith followed Cordelia up the stairs and into her bedroom. "Sit on the bed."

"I don't know where she is. I ran. Buffy didn't follow me," Faith said. "Where is all of your furniture?" Faith asked, motioning towards the part of the house they had just walked through, which was practically empty.

"Auctioned," Cordy answered. "The family needed money. Do you think she'll tell anyone?"

"I don't know," Faith said. "She might go to Giles."

"What about the body?" Cordy asked, pulling an extra pair of pants from a dresser drawer. She tossed them to Faith. "Put these on."

"Okay," Faith replied. "The body's still in the alley."

"You left it there?" Cordy asked, turning her back as Faith changed her pants. "Done?"

"Yeah, I'm done. And yeah, I left it there," Faith answered.

"Follow me into the bathroom," Cordy instructed. Faith followed her into the bathroom and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. Cordy grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the sink. Then she knelt down in front of Faith. Taking the washcloth, she gently began to wipe the dried blood from Faith's hands. "What did you do to your hands?" Cordy asked, noticing that the skin on Faith's palms was rubbed red and raw.

"I couldn't get the blood off," Faith said distantly. Cordy looked up at her and nodded.

"It's coming off now, see?" Cordy said. Faith looked down at her hands.

"Yeah," she answered. "It is."

"We need to do something with the body," Cordy said quietly.

"Why?" Faith asked.

"Because the police are going to find it. They're going to find it with wood splinters in his heart. They'll trace it back to Buffy," Cordy said.

"How will they trace it back to Buffy?" Faith asked.

"Last year, the police arrested her for the murder of your predecessor. The police questioned Snyder, who talked about some of Buffy's extracurricular activities. If they find wood splinters in his heart, they'll link it to Buffy and then to you," Cordy said. "Word travels fast in this town. The police are more aware of what happens than we think."

"We need to dump the body," Faith confirmed.

"The question is, where?" Cordy asked.

"The harbor," Faith replied. "Weight it and sink it. They'll never find it. But we have to do something else first."

"What's that?" Cordy asked.

"We need to find out who he is. He said he was looking for us. We need to find out why."