Title: TIME TO BE WHAT YOU NEED ME TO BE
Author: charmingsyrai
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Series: Envenom
Timeline: post Chosen
takes place after FOREVER IN A WORD
Characters: Faith, original characters
Prompt: #11 weapon
Rating: PG-13 (I dunno, i'm not good with these)
Warnings: bad, bad language
Word count: about 5355
Status: -fin as in finished
Table of prompts here
Summary: The Grey Triad is about to target a reckless vampire girl for assassination because of the sins she's committed against her kinds, but there are people out there desperate to save her.

Author's Notes: I have listened nothing but Vast for weeks now - hence the title. It was, surprisingly so, inspired by Vast's "Free" and for that we can all turn our blaming glares at F and smack her really hard with something sharp and pointy. Damned be that lilhobbit. I don't know if this ficcie is boring as hell or what, but I hope not. I rather enjoyed writing it (dude, why is that I love all the males here? Rhys is totally a honey) so I only hope you enjoy as much as I did. Ah, anyway, the story will be continued in another prompt, fear not. This one doesn't really seem that dark, but oh well.

TIME TO BE WHAT YOU NEED ME TO BE

The building had seen and survived many wars, battles as well as other sorts of social meetings, but never had it witnessed Rhys being this annoyed. That was probably because he rarely got annoyed and even when he did, no one usually noticed for he was too careful to let his weakness show. His posture was always so calm, so confident that most seemed to believe there was something seriously wrong with him. They said he was a sociopath. Well, other than being a vampire, a killer, and a very ruthless one at that, there really was nothing wrong with him, although some did believe that that was enough… he didn't. Besides being a co-leader of a huge, nicely working organization trying to bring back the old ancient laws of vampires, he was pretty normal with his blond hair and blue eyes. It was all because he had had hundreds of years to practice his patience and with that much time in his hands, he surely had learnt to keep his composure. It only worked for his advantage, though, and so he never complained. Things were much simpler when people feared him.

But now, however, the facade was slowly falling apart; he was extremely and all too clearly annoyed over the top. You could tell by the way he paced around his office room, restless like a predator after smelling his wounded prey nearby. Occasionally he would sit down on his blood red arm-chair and turn to look at the magnificent view of skyscrapers through the big window behind his desk, but after awhile he always got bored and would yet again rise from the chair. After a few deep sighs and rounds around the room, he would sit. Again. And the routine would go on and on and on. It was already three hours since he had hidden himself into his office and no one had dared to disturb him.

Sitting down again, he sighed, tired eyes staring into the space in front of him. Raking a hand through his blond curls, he sat back in the chair and closed his eyes trying to regain some of his normal calmness failing miserably. He just couldn't stop thinking about it all. Sometimes the fact there was only the tree of them; him, Sweeney and Kai leading the Grey Triad was tiring and took too much of his time that he could've spent so much better. He loved being the one to command others, sure, it was no secret, but having the weight of every little decision on his shoulders was exhausting. Especially now that there was so much to consider about.

Yes, there was a handful of issues to talk through, but he had not seen neither of his partners for two days. Fine, Sweeney had gone to south Africa to deal with some rebellious vampire groups but only after Rhys had bribed her into doing it. But where was Kai?

It was common knowledge that the three of them lead the organization together and therefore made the decisions together too, but that was pretty much all it was. Common knowledge did not always mean it was the truth, as he had noticed. Usually it ended up being his duty to make the final decisions for Sweeney was always too impatient to take part in decision-making and Kai, well, he was Kai. Always having something to say and changing his opinion depending on the situation. Kai, to Rhys, was more like an opportunist than a leader, but Rhys had never felt the need to try and get him kicked out of the council. Mainly because then it would've been just him and Sweeney and that would've meant even more work for him. Plus, neither of the other two vampires wanted to feel the responsibility of the made decision on their shoulders in case something went wrong. Usually it worked fine with Rhys; not having to deal with his loud friends, but during times like these… it just gave him a headache.

First of all, rumors had it that the Anointed one had been brought back to life. Just what the fuck was that about? The Anointed one had been the Master's little puppet, the Messiah of the Order of Aurelius, but he had been killed years ago. What on Earth could the Order want with the little boy now that the Master had been killed by the Sunnydale's infamous slayer? Well, infamous in his eyes. God, Buffy Summers had truly proven to be more of an annoyance than any known slayer before her. His feelings towards the Order weren't really that much warmer. Their only plus was the fact they worshipped the Old Ones, but the way they chose to live their lives in the dark, drafty tunnels, without no luxury of any sort, that was beyond Rhys. The Order was too conservative for the modern world and if they didn't change their ways, Rhys would simply have the Triad demolish the whole lot.

Then there was the whole issue with the raising slayers. It was said the Sunnydale slayer and her friends had been gathering other slayers all over the world ever since the potentials had been granted their powers. They said she was building a goddamned army and who knew what their next move would be? He had never personally faced this little slayer, but he knew from stories and reports that she was not to be underestimated. Many had died by her hand and that was not the kind of fate he planned for himself, but if she truly was building an army somewhere… he would have to find her, lure her out of her cave and tore her insides out. The last part he would do both out of duty and for fun.

As if that wasn't enough, there were the Watchers' Council - or rather, the numerous councils as they had been come to call. Ever since the real council had been destroyed the idiots had had troubles reforming their lines and instead of building a one strong council, they had built many less stronger councils. In addition, they were stupid enough to fight against each other, every one having different opinions about how the current world should have been handled. The vampires weren't hiding anymore, oh no, the world had changed ever since the curse had been lifted. Actually, Rhys wasn't sure what had happened, all he knew was that one day he woke up and realized the sun no longer hurt him. They had been trying to find out what had caused the change, but so far there was no real consensus among the Triad's agents about what had happened. He figured it would forever stay as a mystery.

For now Illuminati had proven to be one of the most annoying councils - they seemed to believe the vampires, demons and humans should simply live in peace. Just thinking about it, made him snort aloud. Just what were they thinking? They had even gone as far as establishing blood banks to offer them an "alternative feeding resource". Ridiculous, abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous. To think that they - vampires - would willingly choose to feed from plastic bags. Well, he had to admit that some actually did seem to prefer that option, but his respect towards those was very low. If you didn't want to hunt, then you should've at least bothered to check yourself into one of the Triad's safehouses where there were willing humans to be fed from. Strangely, it had proven to be a very supplying relationship both for the humans and the vampires alike. The humans got whatever it was they wanted, usually money though, and the vampires got fed without having to hunt anyone down. Besides -he smirked- the humans usually offered other kind of services too and from experience Rhys had to admit; the human girls were pretty damn good in bed. They did practically everything you could possibly ask.

"Rhys?" There was a knock on the door, accompanied by Poppy's delicate voice. "Rhys, you there?"

"Yeah," the vampire answered. "Come in."

The door was opened slowly by a young-looking female vampire, Penelope Lane alias Poppy. She was wearing a pair of black leather pants with a white top that revealed a noticeable amount of her chest - not that there was really that much to show off, but what she had, she carried with pride. The girl had only turned 16 few days before she had been made a vampire, but that had been years ago and so, despite her young looks, the vampire really wasn't a child anymore even though most people did view her that way. It usually only played for her advantage though - no one thought someone as young and angelic as her could kill in cold-blood. But she could, and she did. About a decade ago Poppy had ran into her sire on a street and killed him in a very, very brutal fight. Normally that kind of behavior would've been punished, but at the time Rhys had already taken the girl under his wings and besides, anyone stupid enough to turn a girl who would live rest of her life looking too young to get into decent bars deserved what he got. The next one that had dared to attempt the same, had been punished; Rhys had been sure to make an example out of him. The vampire had reasoned the decision by reminding the others that the man that had tried to kill his sire had been nearly 30 when he had been turned and so it was nowhere near Poppy's case. Sweeney had agreed, probably because she herself had been just above 20 when she had been turned, whereas Kai had been against it. In the end he had given up, as usual, and sulked for two days.

"What now?" He questioned after she had closed the door behind her, knowing it had to be something bad. Poppy looked too nervous for her news to be good. He sighed tiredly. His work was apparently never done - if things kept their current pace he'd never get home. Well, of course, that depended how you defined home. In one sense of the word he already was home as he lived in the same building in which his office was situated, just like many other Triad members did - with the obvious difference that his suite covered the whole top floor. The only minus was that the flat was shared with Sweeney and Kai, but since they all had their own separate bedrooms, it wasn't that bad. And hey, the view was definitely worth it.

Poppy walked to the oak desk and dropped a thick file on it. "It's about that rogue slayer, Rhian Fielding."

He had already reached out to grab the light brown file, but hearing the name, he retreated lying back on the chair. "Ah, Teagan Cain's little rebel then."

She nodded in confirmation. "Yes."

Letting out a bitter laugh, he locked his fingers together and asked: "What has she done now?"

"The usual," Poppy replied rolling her eyes slightly. "Attacked a safehouse, all alone might I add and killed three vampires while they were… " she paused, clearing her throat. Obviously she wasn't sure what to say, but in the end, she settled down with the most proper choice, "feeding, I'd assume. Killed the humans too."

His eyebrow rose into a question. "Why the fuck would she kill the humans?" Now, now, that was unheard of. Rhian Fielding had surely caused a lot of trouble during the passed months but killing humans, unless they were criminals or otherwise very deep in the vampire world, was something she didn't do.

"Who really knows?" Poppy shrugged in respond, "She's insane. Maybe she thought they deserved to die since they were associating with the vampires?" It was somewhat obvious Poppy felt nothing against the rebellious vampire and as much as Rhys hated to admit it, he in fact was a little taken by the way she handled herself. It had been three months since she had left Teagan's side and in that time she had managed to kill dozens of his vampires and even demons. It was frustrating, really. If only Teagan had made her a member of the Triad instead of dragging her along from one mission to another. At first the vampire had kept her existence a secret, but after a few months, the Triad had found out. Rhys knew he had always been too gentle with Teagan - he should've demanded him to bring her in. She knew too much about the Triad to be left uncontrolled so it was either to bring her in or kill her. At that time Teagan would've killed anyone brave enough to get too close to his lover, but things had changed… Rhys couldn't help but wonder… where did he stand now? On whose side was he?

"God," he grumbled, "why couldn't Teagan just keep her in a short leash, you know? All this trouble could've been avoided if he had only spanked her once or twice."

At that Poppy snorted cynically. Sometimes Rhys clearly had no idea what he was talking about. "With all respect towards your friend, Rhys, I think he did spank her once or twice - that's not the issue, though, I'm pretty sure she enjoyed that bit of their game." For whatever reason, he noticed she sounded a little too hostile before she managed to bring her tone back to normal, "The problem is that he should've gone after her when she took off and that's really it."

He considered her words for a moment and came to the conclusion that she was probably right. Well, she was a girl after all and probably knew better how the mind of another female worked. Seriously, what did he know about ladies anyway? He fucked them and he bit them and that was pretty much all the social contact he had with them. It was all his work permitted him to do - he simply didn't have time for relationships, he didn't need one. He didn't want one. At least that's what he had been telling himself for years now. He was just fine without one. Period.

"Yes, maybe," he agreed finally, "So what do you think we should do about this?"

Poppy hesitated obviously not understanding what it was that he wanted from her…Was it a test of some kind? "Me? I'm in no position to tell-"

"Drop that," Rhys interrupted bluntly dismissing her words with a wave of hand, "I'm only asking your opinion. There's a good chance you'll be on the Triad council one of these days and I'd like you to be prepared. So, tell me."

Hearing that made her insides tickle. Being on the council, that was something she had been dreaming about ever since she had met Rhys nearly 20 years ago. Taking few minutes to think about the situation better, she figured it would be best to let the source of the problem to actually handle the problem. The whole deal was yelling Teagan's name loud and clear. "Well, I do like Teagan..." A lie and they both knew it, "but since business is business… the girl, she has to be eliminated… Or," her tone suddenly changed and she smirked mischievously, "brought in."

The idea was rewarded by Rhys' agreeing smile. "Yes, that's what I figured. About elimination, using Finnegan is out of question, he's too close to Teagan."

"You think Teagan would try and stop him?" Poppy questioned. She knew Teagan, but wasn't really as close to him as Finnegan or Rhys. She had never liked him that much and couldn't understand why every other girl in the Triad did. It had to be his looks, there was no other option for his fame. It definitely wasn't his personality that drew them in for he was mean and rude and all that. The girls he had dated, or rather, used had told nothing but horror stories about the cold assassin who had kicked them out of his bed after the shared time telling them to either get lost or get thrown out. Well, technically, he wasn't an assassin anymore as he had chosen to switch his job description, but Poppy was sure that in his heart, he would probably always be one.

"Truthfully, I don't know," Rhys replied pensively pulling Poppy from her thoughts, "Teagan has been a little problematic lately. I'd like to trust him, I would, but I fear his connection to the girl is a little too deep."

Was he talking about love? Poppy's nose wrinkled at the thought almost as if in disgust. There was nothing wrong with love, but… she just didn't think Teagan Cain was able to feel such things as love. And even if he was, would he really put his lover before the Triad, before his family? That was something Poppy would never understand, how someone could abandon the people that had taken him in and turn his back on them.

"Maybe," she agreed, "but you might want to consider the alternative. Maybe she really should be brought to custody. I think Teagan is the right one to bring her in, to get her to join. If she says no, then by all means, kill her."

That had crossed his mind during their conversation, but Rhys, however, saw one flaw in it. "And what if Teagan chooses to help her if she says no? We've been tracking this little slayer for months now and she always finds a way to disappear from our radar. Imagine what would happen if she had Teagan to help her out. That girl is a fucking human weapon… well, vampire now. But you get the point."

Oh, Poppy was very well aware of that; her jaw clenched in suppressed anger. She knew the situation with Rhian a little too well - it was her who had been assigned to organize the little bitch's search. So far she had done pretty good job tailing her every move, but yet it seemed no matter what they tried, no matter what sources they used, they were always one step behind her. She was always one step behind her. Other than being highly annoying and frustrating, it also looked bad on her records and that was something Poppy couldn't stand. The girl would have to be dealt with. Now. Poppy didn't really care how or by whom, as long as it was done fast and efficiently. If that girl was to be found by the other slayers… that could've wreaked some serious havoc. She didn't even want to think about the consequences of that encounter - things were bad enough as they were.

"Yes, I know… Teagan taught her too well and that's why logically thinking, Teagan is the one who could find her. Send someone with him. He can't jump when he's got company loyal to us."

Rhys was silent for a few minutes, which told Poppy he was seriously considering her suggestion. She was more than glad, not only because he had taken her word seriously, but because… she wasn't quite sure why. Just the fact Rhys seemed to be approving her words made her head feel lighter.

"You're right," he said flashing her a wide smile, revealing the perfect pair of sharp fangs. Her own smile grew even bigger seeing his happy expression. "Page him… and page Finnegan and Rufus while at it. And Cloey - maybe she'll be able to keep the lot controlled."

Ah, Cloey. Poppy had always considered the colorful vampire to be one of her closest friends, but it had been practically forever since they had last met… or at least few months. She had been shipped off to some mission somewhere around east Europe but that was all Poppy knew. It would be so great to see her again and exchange the latest rumors! God, she actually did miss that girl more than she had thought.

"Right away," she replied nodding eager to comply and eyes shining brighter than ever. Her hand was already at the handle, when Rhys' voice suddenly stopped her. She glanced over her shoulder when her name was called for the second time.

"Good thinking," he said simply, looking at her with this weird expression in his eyes. She didn't know what it meant, but she assumed it was good and therefore, didn't bother analyzing it further.

"You've proven to be very useful, Penelope Lane."

She only nodded a thank you for before exiting the room.

0000

Faith was restless.

Life on the road had always been her ideal way of living, even now, after everything. She wasn't sure why, maybe because she had gotten used to it and for a long time, it had been the only constant thing in her life. No one stayed, the rooms in which she stayed changed, the people with whom she hang, but the way she lived was always the same. All she needed was her sailor bag with the little stuff she owned and that was that. Maybe she should've wanted a nice little house in some dull suburb area or something and for a little while, she had pretended she did. For Robin's sake… but the truth was, she really didn't want any of that. B of course seemed to think that having a normal, stationary life was naturally what Faith would want, just because she had had such unbalanced and not to mention completely miserable childhood, at least as far as she could tell. Sure, Faith admitted that much, her childhood hadn't been pretty, but maybe that was exactly why the whole house-marriage-dog-kids-thing had never been what she wanted. She didn't remember ever having a real family; she hadn't had a father, just her fucked up mother and her changing boyfriends. So, it hadn't worked for her parents and it would never work for her. Ever. First she had just feared it wouldn't work but then, slowly, she had learnt she didn't really want it to.

She was a freakin' slayer. She had saved the world. She wanted something more than dull, normal life. She had earned the right to want something more, hadn't she?

Sitting on the porch, searching through her pockets, she finally found what she was looking for. A cigarette. Ah, sweet. Now, if only she had had a lighter… going through her pockets again, her fingers found the old, precious lighter and lit the cigarette inhaling deeply. It was an evening in the Summers residence and she was all alone in the house. If she hadn't been alone, she wouldn't have been able to enjoy her cigarette in peace. If it wasn't Dawn telling her smoking was bad for her lungs, it was Buffy telling she shouldn't endanger her health like that. As if she didn't already spend every minute of every day endangering her health one way or another. Although, lately, she hadn't even been patrolling with Buffy and Robin. From her point of view it felt more than pointless, but Buffy was Buffy and always would be. The same old B till the end of the world… and beyond, obviously. The fact the Grey fucking Triad had been breeding new divisions like rabbits bred their babies filling every corner of every city and country with their stupid little groups, Faith recognized it to be useless trying to chase after vampires. It was nice, to kill a few here and there, but it really made no difference. They needed a bigger and better fight plan.

That was why she, Faith, had been training a small group of slayers through-out the passed months. With Buffy working and patrolling, she had taken the job on her shoulders to make herself useful. It was weird how the new slayers kept popping up on regular bases. They were still chased by all sorts of… things… bringers being one of their worries and yet there was still more slayers around. It was good though, really good. The more the merrier and so on.

Anyways, it was B's big plan - to train a small group of slayers and then to go patrolling with them. Ah, such a huge difference; a handful of slayers instead of one. Big deal.

Faith snickered in her mind. She hadn't been stupid enough to express her feelings to Buffy though. Faith wasn't really sure what had bugged the slayer for so long, was it the fact she had lost Spike and so many others, or just Buffy being Buffy - always had to feel miserable. Life just wasn't life without the angsty, apathetic B staring into empty space and wallowing in self-pity, making a martyr outta herself… Unfortunately she'd been miserable ever since the bight fight few years back and now she had finally been regaining some of her life force. Faith's policy went pretty much along the lines that if it took slayers to train and patrols to make to keep B happy, then fine, so be it. It couldn't harm them - except when someone got killed, of course, but that was rare. She shrugged the thought off; there was enough death in her life without her constantly thinking about it.

It was ok, living in the house with B and Dawnie… and Robin… but it wasn't nice enough. She had saved the world and the cops were too busy to chase around after her, with the vampires taking over and everything, but she still felt trapped somehow. Yeah, she cared about Buffy and the little B, but things with Robin were, well, difficult. She liked the guy and the guy obviously felt for her, it wasn't about that, but he wanted something that she couldn't give.

A house. A marriage. A dog. Children. Yep, the whole damned deal.

What kind of sane person wanted to bring more kids to this rotten world, really? Wasn't there enough of suffering as it was, huh?

She was cut off by the distant sound of phone ringing. It took her a second to realize it was actually their phone and when she did, she carelessly threw her cigarette on the pavement and got up. Someone would surely fry her for that one, probably Dawnie with some long lecture already in store, but she was too tired to think about that. She'd deal with the lil B later - possibly not before tomorrow if she managed to sneak into her own room before she arrived and fake to be asleep.

When she finally reached the phone in the lobby and picked it up, it had rang at least 20 times. Who the fuck would actually let a phone ring that long? Suckers.

"Yeah?" She answered, not bothering to introduce herself or even sound polite. She had no need for that - everyone who would call her lived with her and if the call was for Buffy, well, again, she had no need to be polite. B's business was B's business.

"Faith, I assume," a strong British accent spoke taking the slayer by surprise. She frowned out of pure displeasure. Oh man, a British accent… well, that never promised good.

"Who's asking?" She asked, suspicious. If the person on the line, as she assumed, was one of those wannabe watchers, then why the hell would they be calling her? Okay, so they had no reason to call Buffy either since out of the two, B was definitely the one who wanted to slay and burn pretty much every watcher there was… 'cept for Giles, but then, he was special. He was different. At least he had been the last time they had seen him.

"I'm, well, I'd rather not say my name on the phone-" the voice encountered, but was cut off by Faith's sarcastic comment. "But ya felt comfortable enough sayin' mine?" She retorted, almost angry. "Gee, thanks a lot."

Man, what was it about the British guys that made her so spiteful and edgy? Ah, now she remembered, probably the bitch that had manipulated her and tried to kill her. Yeah, she nodded, must been that one.

"Right, yes, well," the man sounded uneasy and most definitely embarrassed. Good, that was how she liked it. It was almost evil how she still enjoyed being feared by others. It gave her certain advantage that she still cherished. You would've thought that living with Buffy, the perfect little slayer that she was, would've drained her bad habits and traits out of her, but strangely, it hadn't. Sometimes Faith was almost sure it only added to them.

"To get this… done… I'm with the Council and we have a proposition for you."

Oh woah, that had come out fast. Personally, Faith had been sure it would take at least 10 minutes for him to choke it out, but there it was. Out on the table. She had been right about him, then. "The council," she started sweetly, "- all of them - can kick their own asses as far as I care. I'm not interested."

"Maybe you'd rather hear the proposition before declining it, yes?"

She knew she should say no. She knew she should just hang up the phone and forget about it. The council - all of them - were nothing but a big pain in the ass and every time they appeared, someone was bound to get killed. By them or because of them. It was a law of nature, honestly.

But Faith had always been one to follow her instincts and they were telling her to hold on a second. They were telling her that this could actually be what she had been waiting for… a way out, maybe? "Fine. Shoot me then," she said with indifferent tone.

"I take it you know about the Grey Triad-"

"Yeah, yeah," she sighed rushing, "evil groupie wants to take over the world. Vampires, bad, evil, blah blah and so on." It would be surprising if there still were people on Earth who didn't know about the Grey Triad. Some countries had tried to shield their inhabitants but after awhile people had gotten restless and suspicious - being cut off from the rest of the world was a huge tip-off, after all. They had demanded to be informed; it was part of their rights as humans and all that shit.

Trying to save ungrateful people... what a waste of censorship.

"Yes, well, according to our sources they're after a young girl, a vampire, that could be very useful to us later on."

And so? What could that possibly have to do with her? And, for fuck's sake… "I'm sorry, but who the fuck is us?" She barked out in annoyance. The guy hadn't even introduced himself, the least he could do was give some information. "I mean there's so many councils nowadays that it's fucking ridiculous."

"I'm with Illuminati if you must know," he spoke and she could just tell he was offended by her latest remark. Well, good, he should be. It really was ridiculous the way the councils were behaving these days. At least when there had been one strong council they had had been somewhat powerful - idiotic, that would never change, but powerful. Now only some of the councils were and some were just… fucking fools trying to act tough, really.

Illuminati, Illuminati… this one sounded familiar.

"Oh, the one trying to co-exist with the scumbags," she continued as her memory gave her a hint. Ah, yeah, she knew them alright. Didn't fancy them though. "I'm a slayer, ya know? I don't associate with the vamps." She paused to think it over. "Unless they're really hot."

She could hear him sigh. "The girl is a slayer. Angry," he emphasized the single word in a way that clearly told she should understand from where he was coming, "Lost and alone. Killing everything that moves."

Huh, what? Wasn't that sounding familiar… "'Kay, interesting… You've got five. Spill."

-fin