1Faith had gone out to get food, leaving Xander to take a quick shower and change out of his clothes into new ones. He walked over to the window and glanced out, seeing if any more shadows were moving around. They must've been scared off. He smiled at the thought.
The phone rang, making him almost knock over the lamp near the window. He recovered it quickly and let it ring again. Looking around as if getting permission, he shrugged and picked it up. "Hello?"
There was a brief silence, then "Ah - is Faith there?" and then "Wait - Xander? Xander Harris?"
"Yeah, that's... who is this?" he asked suspiciously. TWO people in one day knowing him? Kind of on the impossibly side.
"It's Robin Wood." Another silent moment. "IS Faith there?"
"Robin... Oh! Principal Wood... ex-Principal Wood." Then he realized what this might sound like, Faith's ex calling and him answering. "Um, Faith isn't here... she's out getting food for us... I mean, for her and me - not us and in 'us.'" He ran his hand through his hair.
"Right. I see." Again, silence. "I... I'll... tell her..." Once more, Robin paused, long enough for the motel room door to swing open as Faith returned bearing a pizza box in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.
Xander glanced over at her, his eye wide in not knowing what to do.
"Hey." She frowned at Xander and the phone. "Who?" she mouthed.
He ran his hand over his head to hopefully indicate baldness then realized THAT wasn't going to work. "Principal Wood," he mouthed back, pointing at the receiver.
"Oh. Hang up," Faith said dully, dropping the pizza on the small table near the TV.
"What?" Xander asked aloud. "I can't do that..." He shook his head, not paying much mind to the other person on the line.
"I can." Faith crossed the room in two quick steps and snatched the phone out of Xander's hand, slamming it down on the receiver. "There. Easy."
He stared at the phone as if it just talked to him and danced around doing the Macarena. "Faith, that was... kind of... how can I say this? Harsh?"
Faith flopped down on the bed. "I don't want to talk to him, or about him. End of story."
"Must've been a big bad, blow your house down break up," he ventured, going for the pizza box. He took a large chunk of the first slice, talking with his mouth full. "And he won't be mad for finding out I'm here, in your room, will he? The guy can fight."
"Not like I can."
"Not going to argue that..." he replied, biting into the slice again.
Faith tore open the plastic bag and pulled out the styrofoam container of chicken wings. She bit into a wing, tearing the meat off the bones, before answering. "Don't worry. He's not the type to get all drunken ex on you."
"Good because I'd give him a really hard... running away. Plus, it's not like he's got anything to be jealous of." He finished up the slice and picked up another one. "So by you staying here, I take it you two DID live together?"
"Yeah." Faith polished off the rest of the wing and most of a second one before elaborating. "Didn't work out. Like you were saying back at the bar, I'm not the 'stay in one place' gal."
"Guessing that you wanted to go and he wants to stay here?" Xander ventured, looking around the room. "Did we get any drinks?"
"That was your job, dude," Faith replied. "Vending machine. And yeah, that about sums it up," Faith added softly, reluctantly.
Xander caught the tone of her voice and decided to back off. He touched his throat. "Okay, vending machine it is," he said, weening away from the subject as quickly as possible. He put the slice down and dug into his pockets for change. "What's your flavor?" he asked by way of asking what she wanted to drink as he headed for the door. He had seen a machine near the lobby doors.
"Cold," Faith said around the sides of another wing.
He blinked at her. "If we get HOT sodas, we're going to have to talk to management..." He shrugged, figuring her for a Mountain Dew girl. He went down one flight of stairs and spotted the vending machine. "Ah, handy in all cities." He put in change and banged on the choices, a cranking sound coming from it - but no soda. "And broken in all cities! That's the fifth time this has happened to - "
He got shoved into it, slamming hard into the metallic cover. He was turned around as a fanged face and three others of the same kind were staring back at him. A fist came towards his face but he ducked easily and it slammed into the machine. He took advantage and rammed his knee into the vampire's stomach.
Wishing he had a stake, he moved around the dazed vampire only to be face to face with the other three. "C'mon, boys, this is getting really old! Look, I said I was sorry, didn't I?" They just growled. He moved to the side but they followed his every move.
Xander glanced over his left shoulder and rushed out the other way out the doors.
Back in the room, Faith alternately stared at the phone and the pizza box. After a minute or two, she muttered and poked her head out into the hallway. "Dammit, Xander, the food's getting cold..."
Another minute after that, she stalked down the hallway and down the stairs just in time to see three figures running across the parking lot, giving chase to - Xander. Fuck.
Faith took off after them, stake in hand.
The three vampires were beginning to catch up to the boy when one of them turned around and saw another figure chasing after them. They all glanced at one another.
"Slow down a bit," one muttered to the other two. "We need him to get to her. This is the only chance we've got." He sped faster while the other two slowed down a little - as distraction. Something along the lines of Japanese kamikazes.
The lone vampire saw Xander round a corner, following after him.
Faith didn't slow down. She charged into the two vampires, tackling them to the ground, ignoring their punches and clawing, and staked one, then the other. They were tougher than the average vamp, but nothing like the Turok-Han had been. Not even enough to get her to break a sweat.
Xander being chased, on the other hand... Faith raced after the last vampire.
The lone vampire walked slowly along the side street near the motel. He sniffed around for the boy, knowing his scent well. Glancing down one narrow alleyway, the vampire moved down it stealthily. Just as he reached the end, a metal trash can slammed into him from behind. "Tag, you're it!" Xander called, yet running back from where he came from.
Just as he reached the entrance again, he slammed into two other vampires. He was knocked down onto his butt, looking up at them, noticing the robes they wore with a sort of symbol on it. "Hey, tag is a game for all," he said, scooting back a bit. The lone vampire grabbed him from behind and lifted him onto his feet, both facing the two new ones.
"She's coming," one robed one said, turning around, waiting.
"Wrong. She's here." Faith jumped down off the fire escape and landed behind the two robed vampires. "Hi." She punched one hard in the face and kicked the other one in the ribs, driving it back into Xander and the vampire holding him.
While those three were distracted, Faith staked the vampire she'd punched, and then turned back to the others.
The vampires and Xander fell back onto one another. He managed to kick the remaining robed one in the mouth but the lone vampire grabbed Xander's neck and pinned him into the concrete floor. "Come any nearer, Slayer, and his neck will be in pieces."
"Um, ouch..." Xander murmured, scrunching him his face.
The remaining robed vampire got to his feet, ribs shattered. "Faith..." he growled. "You will more than nicely cooperate with us."
"Have you read the book, guys?" Xander managed to croak out. "Vampires and Slayers don't cooperate together... well, unless you're Buffy..."
"Xander, shut up," Faith said. "Okay... Let's talk. What do you want?"
"You, my dear," he vampire said, almost politely. "To finish what this boy so rudely interrupted." He kicked him in the ribs. "Because of him, you're the only hope we have to fulfilling the spell."
"What spell?" Faith asked, trying not to look at Xander. They had her over a barrel already; if they got the idea she cared what happened to him...
"You mean that spell you guys were wearing those funny really suspicious-looking robes with?" Xander said.
The one holding him pinned him harder to shut up.
"I'm just saying..."
The robed vampire growled but his eyes landed on the dark Slayer. "Spell of resurrection."
"Oh, no. Resurrection spells are bad, bad news!" Xander announced only to be kicked again. "Shutting up now..."
Resurrection? Who would these idiots want to bring back, Faith wondered, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. "Okay... keep talking. What do you want?"
"Agree to come with us, and we'll talk further," the robed one said, gesturing her out of the alleyway.
"Don't do it, Faith," Xander called to her. "Trap is written all over it with Sharpies!"
"Xander, SHUT UP," Faith hissed, then turned back to the lead vampire. "Slow down. We can talk here..."
"No, that's NOT the agreement." He stepped slightly closer to her in annoyance. "You come with us, your friend lives, and we'll call it even."
"Hey, what about me?" Xander asked. "I thought this revenge was ALL about the Xand-man! What happened to that?"
"Now that we have her," the one pinning him down said, nodding to Faith. "We can finish the spell. She's the key to it all, since you ruined the first alternative."
Xander winced, realizing what he had done. "Oh, God..." He struggled underneath the grip. "Forget her! Just slice my throat or-or break my neck! Okay, maybe breaking my neck would go quicker...and be less painful."
"Okay - slow down," Faith repeated, a hint of worry in her voice now. "I'll go, I'll go. Where to?" she asked slowly, wishing she had a shot at the vampire holding Xander. Just another foot closer and she could pull it off. Maybe. "Lead the way."
"Faith! What the hell are you doing?" Xander cried as he was hauled to his feet. "I was throwing myself into the lions! The least you could is - "
"Shut up!" the lone vampire snapped, backhanding Xander across the cheek. He watched as the boy crumpled to the ground. "Should have done that in the first place." He grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder.
The robed one couldn't help but laugh. "You've got a chatterbox for a friend," he told the Slayer as they began to walk. "It might do you good if he was dead."
Faith bit her lip, and held back from pummeling the son of a bitch. She knew vampire reflexes - the other one would break Xander's neck before she could get to him. No choice but to play along for now. She followed them warily.
They led her to a warehouse where a large circle was drawn in the middle and a few other vampires in the same garb were gathered around.
The lone vampire that carried Xander dumped him near a bunch of crates.
Faith surveyed the scene before her, her mind working as to how she was going to get them both out of this. As the symbol came into better few, however, her heart almost stopped. She recognized that symbol like it was branded into her brain.
"Kakistos," she whispered.
The resurrection was to bring him back.
She glared at the vampires all around her. These were his followers, the ones she remembered seeing but not killing while her Watcher suffered. Her hands went into her jacket as the robed vampire shoved her a little closer to the circle.
"So what're you plannin' here fellas?" she asked, noticing they had abandoned Xander.
"It's pretty obvious, isn't it Slayer?" the robed leader asked. "The look on your face as you came in told us you know exactly what the plans are." He gestured for two of the vampires to grab her on either side, pushing her closer to the circle.
Xander, meanwhile, slowly opened his eye, regaining consciousness. He lifted his head, fighting back the pain that came with the movement. The scene before him was slowly starting to sink in and since he wasn't even being watched, he knew they had no use for him anymore.
To be the one that's never seen…
He got to his knees, not making any quick movements, partly because it hurt his head to do it. It was similar to what he saw these guys doing before, only they had Faith in their clutches, and they were going to use her in some way.
Only, he wasn't going to allow it.
He got to his feet, grabbing a random broken part of a crate as a makeshift stake and came up behind the nearest vampire, giving a 'here I am!' yell before slamming it through his back. The vampire barely knew what hit him before he was dusted.
Everyone turned to him, and it was then he realized just how many of them were there.
"Uh, boy, there's a few more of you than I thought," he said just as the remaining ones forming the circle got to their feet and ran at him.
The lead vampire grinned, knowing that the Slayer and her friend were outnumbered.
At least until Faith staked one and decapitated the other who was holding her, bringing the odds down to a more manageable level. She grabbed Xander by the collar and plucked him away from the others, then winked.
"How you doin'?" she asked, smiling crazily as the battle lust came over her.
Xander stumbled from being brought to his feet too fast. "Oh, just dandy... you know, if I ignore the searing pain in my head."
"Good," Faith said, winking again and then turning to face the approaching vampires.
He ducked just as one of the remaining vampires tried to deck him. "Gahhh!"
"Xander!" The Slayer grabbed one of the vampires by the neck, twisted hard, and smiled when she heard the familiar SNAP of a broken neck. On to the next one...
"Her blood!" the lone vampire cried. "Just get her blood to fall on the symbol and the spell can be accomplished!" He looked around for something sharp to use.
Faith laughed. "Thanks for clueing me in on the big secret!" she said, shifting her stance slightly to gain some more distance from the symbol. The vampires snarled and charged as one, but she was ready for them. All five went down on top of her... but only Faith got up when it was over.
Bloody and bruised, but grinning. "Xander, you cool?" she asked, looking around for the lead vampire. She was going to take her time with him, for a lot of reasons.
Xander nodded. "Yeah, cool as... cool items can be while not being cool." He smiled, shakily.
The lone vampire had seen all five of his remaining "gang" members bite the dust in a matter of a minute and realized he probably couldn't force the Slayer back on the symbol. Or could he...? He growled and tried for Xander again.
Xander heard something from behind and instinctively lifted his elbow so that the vampire rammed into it. The vamp stumbled from the impact but glared at him.
"Um, sorry about that," Xander said with a mock sheepish smile.
"I'm going to KILL you, boy."
"There's just a slight problem with that theory," Faith said, smiling politely at the vampire.
He narrowed his eyes at the Slayer, still rubbing the place on his face where Xander's elbow connected. "Why's that, bitch?"
Faith laughed. "You're dead," she said, then tossed the knife at his face.
The trajectory of the knife was also heading towards Xander's face and his eyes widened. "Ahhh!"
Even before it hit, she was in motion, grabbing Xander and pulling him away with one hand, and thrusting her stake through the vampire's heart with the other. "See? Problem."
The lone vampire growled before he burst into dust, causing the echoey warehouse to grow silent for a moment.
Xander had his hand over his chest. "Jesus, you think next time you do that, you yell 'duck!' or something along those lines?"
"Sorry, Xander. But if I had said 'duck', it kinda woulda ruined the surprise, ya know?"
He looked down at the symbol and then all around them. "What's up with this anyway?"
"You remember that big fucker of a vampire that followed me to Sunnydale when I first came there?"
"Um, not really, no," he admitted. "All I remember is your alligator story..."
"Well, these idiots were trying to bring him back." Faith stared at the symbol, and then spat at it.
His brows rose up into his forehead. "Oh. Wow, Faith, I'm sorry..." He then remembered some conversation afterwards. "Actually, Buffy kind of told me and Will about... stuff. But I never met the guy or anything. Something about a large beam to kill him?"
Faith nodded, not taking her eyes off the glyph carved into the floor. "Yeah. Ancient history, though. Let's get out of here."
He nodded. "Yeah, okay." He looked once more at the symbol and wondered if there were more of them. All they would need would be the symbol and Faith. It was unsettling at the least.
As they walked back out into the night, he looked over at her. "I owe us some sodas, don't I?"
"Hell yeah. And they better be cold ones, too," Faith said with a tension-relieving laugh.
Xander woke up with a start on the floor of the hotel room. Faith had said it was okay for him to share the bed with her, but it was after-battle and she had eaten like a pig. He just didn't want to go there. No, wait - he didn't think they NEEDED to go there in case that's where she had wanted to go.
Groggily, he got to his feet, stumbling over his duffel bag. "Shhh," he said to himself warily. He went quietly into the bathroom and showed and dressed. After 15 minutes, he emerged from it, tip-toeing across the room. He looked over at Faith, looking so peaceful in her sleep. Like she couldn't hurt a fly... okay, maybe not even in her sleep could she look THAT innocent.
He slowly came up to the bedside and reached out and shook her. "Faith?"
"Mmhfm?" Faith asked into her pillow. She shook herself awake. "Hey. Ow. What time is it?" she asked Xander, squinting a bit and rubbing at the crease lines on her face.
Xander looked at the clock. "Kinda before noon," he answered, smiling. "I'm taking off."
"Early..." Faith shook her head. "Oh - you're leaving?" she repeated dully then shrugged to cover it. "All right. Any idea where you're heading? You ought to check out Mexico. Tijuana. You'd dig it."
"I was thinking about going there," Xander said. "But I'm just taking my time. I'll probably go see the Grand Canyon or hit Vegas with the non-money I have."
"Vegas! I love Vegas." Faith smiled for a second then cast about for her t-shirt.
He looked at her then looked away. "Um, remember how you keep saying your an 'always on the go gal'?"
Faith looked up. "Yeah..."
Hesitating, he looked out the window, wondering if his next words would cause a laugh in his face. "Maybe... you'd like to, I don't know, be my traveling buddy?"
"Traveling buddy," Faith repeated then shrugged. "All right."
"All right?" he asked, surprised. "Don't you want to follow that up with a 'no, what the hell are you thinking?'"
Faith grinned. "I could if you wanted me to... No, really. For now. Not making any promises here, though."
He stood up straight, watching her. "Um, not really asking for any. If you want me to drop you off somewhere, you just say the word and you can be on your merry way."
"Deal. Now let's get the hell out of here," Faith said. "I don't know about you, but I'm sick of California."