Chapter 22 – Saturday Night Undead
Faith followed Xander and the dog at a safe distance. She didn't know their powers or the town, so she had to use all of her Slayer abilities and her street smarts just to follow without being seen. And the guy was good. He kept looking behind, checking for shadows almost all the time. Smart move for someone who lived on top of the Hellmouth.
Her mission was cut short, because the brunette walked into a house, dog obediently following behind. She had two options right now; either try and sneak a peek over a window or something, or turn around and walk back to the other Slayer's house. Faith wanted to use door number one, but how to explain to the guy she was doing a voyeur over his window without revealing that she knew?
And sure as heck, she wasn't telling anyone that she knew. Why? The most important thing in Faith's hard life: trust. Trust was a two-way street for her, you gained it and you gave it. So, she didn't trust the guy yet, even if he had been five-by-five with her last night, and he didn't trust her yet. And from what she heard from B last night and today, she didn't know as well that her best friends were the ones she was seeking most desperately. So, if they didn't tell her, why would her? Decision made, from now on she would shut up and listen, and help them keep their secrets, until she could trust them and them her.
She turned on her heels and walked back to B's house, deciding on taking a look on the other side of the news: the kid who wasn't a kid.
Richard Wilkins the Third, also know as Richard Wilkins the Second and Richard Wilkins the First wasn't having the best of days. It was Saturday, and he should be at home researching for his 'pet project'. Instead, he was expecting a call from his secretary about a visitor. It would be a fun meeting if he hadn't had such bad news to give him.
The telephone on his desk beeped. "Mr. Wilkins, your six o'clock is here, sir."
"Thanks, Marcy. Send him in. And could you please bring us some refreshments?"
A few moments later, a black vampire and his master, the oldest living vampire in activity today, named Kakistos, entered his office.
"Mr. Kakistos, a pleasure having you here. Come, have a seat," he said, pointing to the chairs in front of his desk. He was smart enough to not stretch his hand for shaking.
"I want to know about the backup you promised me, Wilkins," the old vampire said, not bothering to sit.
"Straight to the point, I like that in a vampire," he said, and calmly seated. "Well, there is a slight problem with that. The backup is dead."
"WHAT?" the vampire said, cloven hand hitting the desk with so much strength that it broke the desk in two. The Mayor stood up in a second, annoyed.
"Control yourself, Kakistos. I had this desk for fifty years."
Kakistos seethed, but he was smart enough to not piss Richard Wilkins. So, he asked in a more controlled voice. "What happened?"
"Apparently, something, or if I could make a guess, someone killed all of them last night. This someone is probably the same someone which give you this nasty scar."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" the vampire roared.
"Temper, temper, dear Kakistos. Or I'll have to ask you to leave," the Mayor said, in a deceptively calm voice.
"How many vampires?" Kakistos asked, fuming with rage.
"From the info I gathered, around thirty or more."
"No Slayer is that good. What did she do, burn the place down?"
"No, albeit some excessive force was used. I'm thinking she had help."
"From whom?"
"Maybe the other Slayer, the one called Buffy. But if I were a betting man, I wouldn't drop my chips on this specific number. This doesn't look like her or those so-called friends of her. This is something new."
"Tell me more."
They talked for another ten minutes, Wilkins explaining the situation his aide found, and Kakistos relaying the reasons for his vengeance against the other Slayer, the one called Faith.
"If I may give you a small measure of advice, I'd suggest you to wait a couple more days so that I could gather a new assault force. This situation is too unexplained for you to risk an attack now."
"I've wasted too much time, Wilkins, and my patience has ran thin with age. No acquaintances of her are going to save her. She dies tonight, not a day longer."
"That was just my opinion. I'll offer any assistance that I can, which I must point is rather slim at this moment. But I must ask you to not make too much a mess. I don't want the Chief of Police complaining about the night disturbances again. He's rather annoying."
A knock on the door halted the conversation for a moment. "Enter."
The secretary came in holding a tray with some glasses on it. She looked at the destroyed desk, not really bothering, but looking around for a place to leave the tray on.
"Oh, our refreshments. Thank you, Marcy. Gentlemen, feel free," he said, pointing to the woman, instead of the tray.
Kakistos didn't need to be told twice. The woman let the tray fall, but didn't have time to scream.
Wilkins looked to the destruction in his office. "I should have asked her to send someone to clean up first," he murmured.
-- --
Faith walked back to Buffy's house, and luckily, her sister Slayer hadn't arrived yet. She opened the door, and saw Dawn seated at the sofa, surfing channels on the TV.
"Anything good on it?" she asked, keeping the charade.
"Nah, coupla zillion channels and nothing good on any of them. Those TV owners must be demons in disguise, using bad TV to keep us under control or something. Ah, your bags, I put them in Buffy's room. Bought any goodies?"
"A coupla. Wanna see them?" Faith was terrible with the bonding crap, but this way she figured that she could take a look at the kid and try to fish some info from her. Her opinion so far was the same from the Xander guy, protect, but keep an eye on her as well.
"Sure," Dawn said, standing up.
-- --
Half an hour later, Buffy arrived, to the sound of laughter coming from upstairs. She climbed the stairs and walked into Dawn's room, and she saw something she never thought she would again. Her sister, rolling on the floor laughing, Faith with the most devious face was calmly sat on the bed, head rested on the headboard, smirking. The mood was so contagious that Buffy couldn't repress the grin that formed in her face
"You gotta be kidding me!" Dawn said, after controlling some of the laughter. "You have pics? Come on, you gotta have pics of it!"
"Birthday suit, remember? And the priest surely didn't think of bringing a camera with him."
That brought another fit of laughter from Dawn, which suddenly noticed her sister standing in her door. "Hey, Buffy, ever slain something nekkid?"
Buffy didn't catch the double meaning, and answered almost normally. "Some demons are naked, why?"
Faith laughed at the answer, which made the blonde Slayer red with anger. "No, B, you nekkid!"
The double set of laughs almost made Buffy explode with anger. Then, her mind processed the conversation, and she got redder from an entirely different reason.
"WHA. . .? How? You? When?" she asked, making a good Willow imitation with the babble.
"Slaying in the nude. Saving a bunch of priests. Yeah, me. Some time ago," Faith answered, still smiling. Dawn couldn't resist at the dumbstruck face of her sister, and started giggling all over again.
"Eh. . . ah . . . Explanation. Please," the blonde asked, while moving to seat on the bed.
Faith re-told the entire story all over again, and to add up to the unbalancing of the other Slayer, she also told some weird story about fighting alligators. At the end of it, Buffy couldn't resist herself, and was laughing freely.
"A-and what did your Watcher think about it?" Buffy asked, still giggling.
Faith's mood disappeared in a flash, and her face shadowed in a second. Buffy noticed it. "Sorry, I didn't mean to . . ."
"Yeah, yeah," the Dark Slayer said, the tone clearly denoting her mood.
"You . . . you said she died. How?" Buffy asked, worried.
"Don't wanna talk 'bout it," Faith said, standing up.
Buffy almost let the other Slayer go, but something struck deep inside of her, some sort of echo.
"Faith, wait, please," she pleaded.
The brunette stopped at the door and turned halfway around.
"I . . . we lost someone we loved as well. Believe me, it helps to talk about it. If not with us, then with someone else. But please, talk with someone."
Faith stood there for quite some time, speechless, back still turned to them. She then started to shake slightly, and Buffy realized her sister Slayer was crying. Taking a bold action, she walked to her and hugged her from behind.
"Y-you know . . . I had a shitty life," Faith started speaking, so low that only Buffy's hearing could pick the sounds correctly. "The bitch I had to call mother was only good for stuffing herself with dope an' booze, and to find Johns for her daughter. When the shit really hit the fan one day, I decided to bolt, an' never looked back. The streets weren't better, you know, but in there I had other options. I could run or I could fight. Then one day I had to fight a guy who was about to rape me, and I slapped him with all my strength. Lights out for him. I ran, scared. Then came the nightmares. Five days later, Linda found me."
Faith then turned around, and aside from the face wet with tears, she was smiling a thousand-watt smile. Buffy took the opportunity and made her sat sit on the bed again. Dawn was uncharacteristically mute in all of that, but her sister noted that she was listening intently.
"You know, after being told you were worthless your entire life, someone says that you have been Chosen to help in the fight and save the planet . . . if Linda told me to go to Hell and fight Satan hand-to-hand I probably would. She was like a true mother to me, caring, smart, giving advice an' shit . . . I loved her."
That brought more silent tears, this time to all faces involved.
"We slayed, I partied, 'cause, y'know, stuffy British and all that," she said, smiling. "A-and then, came that /bastard/!" she said, angered.
"Who?" Buffy asked, perking up.
"That cloven mutherfucker, Kakistos. Linda told me about him, before he killed her. He is like the oldest vampire alive."
"What happened?"
"We walked in a trap and he caught us. A-and he . . . he tor. . . he tortured. . . oh, God!" she crumbled again, tears falling freely. Buffy held her, and she sobbed for almost five minutes. They sat in the bed, Faith shrinking to a fetal ball. Dawn silently walked out of the room, going to the kitchen for some water for them.
She brought the glasses back up, not before adding a little something else in Faith's glass, to give her a modicum of calmness, nothing much or out of the extraordinary.
"Here, Faith, drink it. You'll feel better," Dawn said, and handled the glass to the Slayer. She drank it almost in a single gulp.
"Thank you," she said. She sat down, and looked to them both. "She sacrificed herself so I could escape, you know? And she told me to come here and find you."
"You did good, Faith," Buffy said. "Don't worry, we'll help you."
"H-how?"
"First, you need to stop worrying, if Khaki shows up, we'll clean his clock and dust his ass."
"Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed. That made Faith smile a little bit.
"Sorry, Dawnie. Second, we'll set your room up. Do you know how to cook?"
"Linda used to say that I can burn water like no one."
"Must be a Slayer trait," Dawn murmured.
"Dawn!" this time, it was Buffy.
"What? It's true, isn't it?"
Buffy pouted, which made Faith laugh all over again. "How do you survive in this house?" she asked, still grinning.
"The Great Food Nuker, that's how. Thank God for the man who invented frozen food," Buffy said.
"And Xander cooks sometimes. He knows how to make a killer omelet."
"Xander? The guy I met this afternoon?"
"You met him?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, he was getting out, I was getting in, it was a case of 'Hi-Bye'."
"Hi-Bye?"
"Yeah, I said hi, he said bye. But he seemed nice."
"He is. And the greatest friend you could ever want. And trustworthy. And funny. And . . ." Buffy stated.
"I get the idea. Babble much?" the Boston southie asked, smiling more, and detecting something curious in those declarations. "You like him."
"Of course I do. He's my best friend."
Faith smiled again, cleaning the tears. "No, you like him, /like/ him."
Buffy got red in a second, and not because of anger. "No, no . . .no I don't. He's, like, my best friend, my Xander-shaped friend. I don't like him like that. I swear I don't. He's like . . . friend . . . shippy . . . like," she babbled.
"Keep telling yourself that until you believe it, B," Faith said, her mood lifted as if by magic.
"I don't," she pouted and whined, looking at Dawn, whom she knew had some serious crush on Xander.
"Hey, don't look at me! I know I don't have a chance with him, so if I have to lose him to someone, better be you."
Buffy muted and reddened even further.
"Come on, B, let's patrol a bit. We can discuss the wrongness of it all while we dust some vamps," Faith snickered.
"Yeah," Buffy said, wanting to hide in some hole.
-- --
They found Xander near Restfield Cemetery, walking and talking calmly with the statuesque redhead, the latter clad in some different clothes than the bikini-leather-warrior-babe. She was dressed in tight leather pants, knee-high boots and a tight corset that left very little to the imagination, everything in white. To close the ensemble, she was wearing a duster, also in white, and her tiara was gone, replaced by a golden hair clamp that held her fiery mane in place and a gold choker with a blue gemstone in it. The gem looked like it glowed with some inner light. She looked like someone normal ready to go clubbing, the only thing proving that this wasn't her objective was the sword resting on her back and the attentive eyes scanning the surroundings.
"Hey, Xander," Buffy spoke first, eyeing the redheaded warrior.
"Hey, Buff," he said, smiling.
"Hello, Slayer. I believe proper introductions are in order, I'm She-Ra, He-Man's sister," she said, extending her hand.
Buffy shook it. "Hi. What's the reason for the clothes' change?"
"I've talked with my brother, and we came to an agreement that we need to, how to say it 'blend in' more with the surroundings. Hence, the clothes."
"Lady, this is the Hellmouth. You could do the hula naked in the middle of City Hall and probably nobody would notice," Buffy said, and saw Xander freeze for a moment, followed by Faith. She nudged the Slayer at her side, and Xander unfroze a few seconds later.
"Thanks for the visual, Buff," Xander said, and she could swear that she heard Faith mumble something like "yeah" at the same time. She-Ra only grinned, reddening a little bit. "Look, I gotta go, Dawnie must be waiting for me and the furry beast," her friend said, pointing to a waiting Ares.
"No sleeping on the couch tonight, buster. If you wanna crash, drop in my bed, I'll wake you when I arrive. And Ares, you go to the basement, 'k?"
The dog barked once, tail swishing.
"Thanks, Buffy. Hey, I forgot one thing. Cordy's show premieres tomorrow. Wanna make a Scooby Meeting and watch it?"
"Sure. We'll be there. Then we can call her and tease her unmercifully," Buffy said, smiling.
"I have ex-boyfriend privileges, first teasing is mine."
"No problem-o. Be there."
"I will. See ya. Ladies, always a pleasure," he said, mock-bowed and walked away, both Faith and the Princess of Power smiling.
"Is he always like that?" Faith asked.
"No, sometimes he's worse," Buffy said, smiling as well.
"You should have seen him earlier, he found me and he froze for five minutes, his tongue was almost licking the floor. When I said hi, he almost fainted," She-Ra said, mirth flickering in her eyes. It hasn't been exactly like that, it went more in the lines of 'Wow, Willow, you look so awesomely HOT!' but she couldn't say that to them.
"Hi, I'm Faith," the dark Slayer said, also stretching her hand.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you as well," she said, adding a more sexy tone to her voice. Her mystical senses felt the Slayer Spirit stir for a long moment and settle down. Faith's eyes and nostrils denoted the reaction to her as well. Good. "My brother spoke highly of you."
Faith blushed, a new one for her. "He-he did?" she asked, and She-Ra nodded. "T-thanks."
"What do we do now? Start here and make a quick patrol in all the cemeteries?" Buffy asked.
She-Ra looked up, and her eyes lost focus for a moment. "Nah, this one is empty, we can go to the next one."
"How do you know that?" Buffy asked.
"Because of him," She-Ra said, pointing to a growing speck in the night sky. In seconds, Thunderbolt was landing right at her side. "Slayers, Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt, these are Buffy and Faith, the Vampire Slayers."
The mystic beast approached them and bowed gallantly. Buffy's eyes shone, and Faith's mouth fell. "He's so beautiful," Buffy said.
"He says 'Thank you'."
"Can you talk to him?" Faith asked.
"Telepathic connection," She-Ra said, looking at Buffy, which approached the Griffin and started caressing the underside of his neck. "He is asking if you want to take a small fly-by."
"M-me? Flying around? O-on him?" Buffy looked like a kid in a candy store. She had hated WarWolf's ride more because of his deadly looks, but somehow the Griffin didn't scare her that much.
"Yes. I assure you, it's perfectly safe."
"Yay!" she said, and jumped on his saddle. He took the air in an instant, with a Slayer laughing on his back.
"You want to go after?" She-Ra asked to the other Slayer.
"Me? On him? Oh, no, thank you. I like my feet closer to the ground," Faith said, eyeing the flying white dot.
"Suit yourself. If you ever want a ride, just ask."
"Five-by-five."
They walked along slowly, talking about Hellmouths and fighting the good fight. Faith told her about the nude slaying, and was surprised by the belly laugh that came from the redhead. When she stopped, Faith could swear she saw She-Ra looking at her differently. She tried to shake the sensation away, but it didn't leave her.
"What?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing, it's just that I've never known anyone like you," She-Ra said.
"Like me how?"
"So carefree, so wild, so . . ." she let the word slide. Faith didn't.
"So?"
She-Ra reddened perceptibly, but added. "Beautiful."
It was Faith's time to redden. "T-thank you. You too."
She-Ra smiled, and answered a timid, "Thanks." They walked in silence for some time more, until the entrance to the next cemetery. The mystical superwoman looked up, and waited for several moments.
"Thunderbolt is coming down. He saw something moving," she said, unsheathing her sword. A few moments later, the Griffin was depositing a serious-looking Buffy to the ground. The blonde Slayer looked to the Griffin. "Thanks, cutie," she said and smiled for a moment. She-Ra looked to him and smiled as well.
"No, buddy, you do better as our bird's eye. I'll call if we need it," she said, and the transformed cat took the air once again.
"We saw some demons and some vampires walking around, looking for something. We better show them some Girl Power," Buffy said, eyeing the entrance to the graveyard.
"Let's go," She-Ra said. For some reason, Faith was not so sure about it, but she ended up following them.
-- --
Kakistos was beyond angered. He managed, with Mr. Trick's assistance, to find ten vampires to help him and five demons, on the promise of quite a sum of cash and some edibles, between human blood and virgin's brains. Kakistos agreed, but he wasn't happy with it. They were walking the cemeteries, looking for the Slayer, any one of the two, but so far, no such luck.
"What a bunch of uglies," a girly voice answered from the darkness.
"Couldn't agree more," said another voice, this one more mature.
They approached them, a blonde slip of a girl, a tall redhead holding a sword, and his enemy, the dark Slayer, "YOU!" he bellowed, angered, "I'm going to kill you and crush your bones to nothing, for what you did to /me/!" he said, pointing to the large scar on his face.
Faith was frozen on the spot, mind blocked on the sight of her Watcher being tortured by the vampire in front of her. She looked around, looking for means of escape. She-Ra noticed it, but Buffy was the one to take action.
"Khaki, right? I'll have to defend Faith here on that one. The plastic surgery didn't help any on your visual, you were already ugly before, and she can't perform magic, y'know," Buffy said, sounding like the typical airhead.
That only served to anger the vampire further. "KILL THEM! Leave the other Slayer to me!" he said, pointing to the brunette, which was still frozen. She-Ra acted first, going for the demons, while Buffy ran to the vampires.
The first victim of the night was a demon stupid enough to charge the tall warrior. He should have thought that anyone that walked with the Slayer should be treated with a modicum of respect, fear even. He didn't, so his head was rolling in the soft grass two seconds later, while his body still stood. She-Ra pushed the body away, not waiting for it to dissolve, while she struck another killing blow. Seeing their companions falling, the remaining trio decided to act more cautious, spreading a little bit.
Meanwhile, Buffy was acting her typical self. She punched a vampire in the nose, while her foot hit another in the 'family jewels'. While the two were out of it, she took the opportunity to stake a third one that was fully opened to it. Her luck didn't last, because one of them managed to tackle her and they dropped to the ground in a tangle of bodies and limbs. Her stake flew away in all that mess, and she looked around for it, while struggling with the other vampire. "FAITH!" she screamed on top of her lungs.
That shook Faith out of her reverie, luckily for both of them. She managed to dodge a flying clawed hand, and instead on tearing over the old vampire, she rolled to the side, and ran in the direction of her sister Slayer. She noticed the stake lying on the grass, and in a rolling tumble, she grabbed it, ending her roll right on top of the struggling duo. Her stake flew true, and vampire dust covered the Slayer on the ground.
"Eww, vampire dust is so . . . eww!" Buffy said, kipping back up.
"Better than flowers and a shroud," Faith said, handling the stake back to her sister, and palming one of her own.
"True," she said, and they stood back to back. Kakistos stood to the side, waiting for the vampires to wear them down, Trick right at his side.
It was as if they practiced together their entire lives. Nothing that approached them stood standing for long. Dust covered the ground in several different piles, the number of vampires decreasing by the ticking of the clock. She-Ra dealt with the remainder of the demons with some style and a touch of magic. She wondered momentarily if they would like the very close up view of the sun before burning to nothing. She was tired because of it, but she had to know the limits of her powers. Apparently, she found one of them.
And then, only the two vampires remained. Faith looked at him once again, fear still running its course in her veins, but not paralyzingly so.
"So, it's you and me, Slayer. Time to meet your destiny and to find your Watcher in the afterlife," the cloven demon said.
That was the wrong thing to say to her. Like a miracle, the fear burned itself out of her system, being replaced by a cold anger.
"She-Ra, can I borrow your sword for a moment?" she asked in a flat tone.
"Sure," the mystical warrior said, giving the sword in the hand of the dark Slayer.
"This toothpick won't help, whore," the old vampire said, approaching.
"Let's check it out, ok?" she asked, mockingly, sword held in attack position.
They started to dance, no one striking a blow in the first moments, dodging all around. Then Kakistos managed to hit Faith in the chin with a glancing blow. She-Ra wanted to kill the vampire right that moment, but a small hand halted both the muscles and the spell she was conjuring. "She's gotta do this herself. It's personal," the other Slayer said.
"Why?" the Princess of Power asked, and Buffy started telling her a small bit of what she had heard.
Faith stood up, a trickle of blood running from the corner of her mouth. "Good. Let's see if you take it as good as you deliver it," she said, and pressed on the attack. Kakistos dodged a few blows, but in a moment of distraction, he didn't manage to turn out of the range of the sword, and he did what he thought was wise, lifting his forearm to block the strike. Any normal sword would have halted in the mystically strong bones, but not the Sword of Honor. It cleaved cleanly through it, and what passed for his hand, together with half his forearm, turned to dust before hitting the ground. Faith spun around her own axis, capitulating on the first strike.
"You bi . . ." Kakistos started to say, but was halted by the sight of the sword coming straight for his neck. He started to dodge, but it was too late. Truth be told, the strike was perfect. The head didn't tilt out of place, so Buffy was surprised to see an entire statue of dust form, before the calm breeze dispersed it to the winds.
Faith let the sword fall to the ground, and she dropped to her knees. Buffy crouched next to her and took her in a bone-crunching hug, while the dark Slayer dissolved in tears. She-Ra collected her sword, and looked around, checking for the other vampire.
/Did you see the other vamp, TB?/ she asked her flying companion.
/He fled as soon as the fighting began. Want me to pick him up?/
/No, leave him, he'll spread the news that Sunnydale is even less safe for their kind./
/That is true. What now, Lady?/
/I guess we clean up and we party!/
/Teenagers!/ Tunderbolt huffed, but She-Ra could detect the mirth in his 'voice'.
-- --
Trick arrived at the Mayor's home in record time. He had discovered the man's address as soon as he knew that they were coming to town, and now since he knew his previous employee and master was dust in the wind, he needed a job. Who better to provide it than Richard Wilkins?
He knocked at the door, not feeling someone approaching his back. Wilkins opened it seconds later.
"Yes, Mr. Trick?" he asked, dressed in a robe.
"I believe I have somet . . ." he started, but his eyes buggered out seconds before he turned to dust.
"I guess he wanted you to offer him a job," said the owner of the well-manicured hand holding the stake that killed the vampire. "I have something else to offer."
"And what it that?" Wilkins asked, looking her from head to toe.
"A mutually beneficial partnership," said the beautiful blonde woman.
"Let's hear it, Miss?" he asked, getting out of the way. She walked in.
"You can call me Glory."
- To be Continued -