Yawning to myself, I walked into the student lounge where Xander and Oz are sitting on one of the couches across from Willow, who was excitedly reading through a pile of papers that was piled up on the table in front of her.
Dropping my bag, I jumped onto the couch next to Willow and picked up a few of the brochures lying on the coffee table, "What's this?" I asked, flicking through the pages where stuffy looking smiling faces were printed.
"Good morning to you too, Nikki" Xander grinned sarcastically as I pulled a face back at him before Willow takes the brochures from my hand with an excitable face as she hands me other collegey things to look at.
"I'm being wooed," She told me with a grin as I nod in understanding. "Like they're actually wooing me, but it's so much pressure. I-I got into actual colleges, and they all want me" I smiled fondly at the redhead.
"Of course they do, Will, you're amazing," I tell her as a subtle blush reaches her cheeks "any college would be lucky to have you."
Putting the papers down, I fold my legs up on the couch. "You'll be the college girl, Xander will probably still be living in his mom's basement, Buffy and I will still kill things that go bump in the night, and Oz-"
We all look towards Oz, who had been listening with that straight expression of his "Will always be Oz" the black-haired boy just nodded slowly as if he agreed with what I said before holding his fist out for me to bump.
"Oh, yeah, before I forget, Giles said he wanted to talk to you, and Buffy told me to tell you she'd meet you there" my stomach dropped a little at her words, Giles and I still weren't really on speaking terms, but I was still Slaying and practicing with him just – silently.
"Did he say what he wanted?" Willow shook her head at my words as the two boys watched on. "Okay, I guess I'll go there now," I muttered anxiously.
Picking up my bag, I tried to stall a little as Willow gave me a look. "Damn it," I grumbled, turning away and walking towards the library.
Peeking through the library window, I saw Giles sitting on the study table facing the doors with his arms crossed and looking very bored while Buffy was next to him with a similar annoyed- bored expression.
Frowning, I quickly noticed another man in the room; he had dark brown neat hair, gold-rimmed glasses, and dressed just like Giles, this wasn't good, but still, I had to do what I was called to do.
Pushing open the doors, I gave my sister and Giles a quick nod as I walked closer to them; the man immediately noticed me and smiles condescendingly. "Well, hello. You must be Nicola", he smiled smugly again.
Giving Giles the first actual interaction I had initiated in weeks, my eyes met his "New Watcher?" I asked as my sister snorted, seeing me giving the guy a quick survey before jumping up and sitting on the counter.
The librarian looks shocked for a minute before it passes, and he nods, "New Watcher," he told me with a sigh as Wesley takes a step toward me and holds out his hand in greeting, almost like an excitable puppy.
"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce"
Leaning away from him, I take in a sharp breath. "Never touch me," I say as I make no move to return the gesture. Hearing the tone of my voice, he rapidly steps back again as I see Giles give a small smile from the corner of my eye.
"It's uh very nice to meet you," Wesley tries again as I stare him down for a moment continuing to eye him critically; the last Watcher seemed just like this guy, and look how she turned out – she had Faith and me completely fooled.
I never took my eyes off him as I subtly turned my head to Giles, "Is this one going to try and kill us?" Wesley let out a small gasp of indignation at my question, "the chick before you tried to kill us," I say to him as he turns back to Giles, looking lost at my hostility.
Scurrying back to the table, Wesley picks up a book and hands it to me, keeping a safe distance away as my sister lets out an amused chuckle "Any-who we were just talking about the El Eliminati, a Fifteenth-Century duelist cult" I glanced down at the picture in the book and nodded.
"I shan't bore you with the details," my sister gives an annoyed huff as I throw her a smirk, "but they became acolytes of a demon called Balthazar, who had an all-powerful amulet to give him strength until his death. I believe the few remaining Eliminati are probably looking for it".
I just blink at Wesley's 'short version' "So a demon had a powerful necklace, croaked it, lost the necklace, and now some juiced up cult wants it back" my eyes instinctively look towards Giles instead of Wesley.
"uh, yes, that would be right," the librarian agrees as Wesley still struggles to understand my version of the story "A-and you don't think that this, uh, amulet poses any threat?" he questions Wesley.
The younger Watcher quickly shakes his head, pompously, "Oh, no, not at all. Nonetheless, we may as well keep it from them. Buffy, Nicola, you will go to the Gleaves family crypt tonight and fetch the amulet".
Both my sister and I sit up in shock at the tone of his voice; Giles never orders us around; we usually mutually agree to what we need to do "we will?" Buffy says as Wesley pauses, glancing back at us.
"Are you not used to being given orders?" my eyes narrowed at the tone of his voice; I'm not sure he was really getting off to a good start with us. As much as I hate to admit it right now, I was beginning to miss Giles as our Watcher.
"Whenever Giles sends us on a mission, he always says please and afterward we get a cookie," Buffy taunts as she grins at Giles, who smiles back modestly; my lips twitch a little as I tried not to smile.
Wesley comes back to the front of the table with a sigh. "I don't feel we're getting off on quite the right foot" Hearing footsteps, I look up to see Faith coming in. She walks up the counter and leans against my leg, looking confused. "Ah. This is perhaps Faith".
Faith critically looks Wesley up and down before glancing up at me, "New Watcher?" I let out a laugh as Buffy, Giles, and I all repeat the words back at her as Wesley blinks slowly to himself, obviously not getting the greeting he wanted.
The brunette snickers to herself, "Screw that," tugging on my leg, she pulls me from the counter and out of the library as I did nothing to stop her, Giles 2.0 was beginning to rub me the wrong way.
"We're not going through that again," Faith rants as I let her almost drag me through the school "that 'Mary Poppins' lady was bad enough, but now we have to deal with Princess Margaret. Hell no" the grip on my arm was tight, but I knew it wasn't bad enough to leave bruises.
Pulling Faith to a stop in the quad, I moved us to a quieter area. "It'll work out, and if not, we will just deal with it again," I offer as she eyes me for a while before nodding "you and me, Faith, we got this," I laughed as she grinned at me.
Buffy soon catches up with us. "Guys, wait. Look, I know this new guy's a dork, but..." she pauses for a second. "Well, I have nothing to follow that. He's pretty much just a dork", I snorted sarcastically at her eloquent speech; I couldn't wait to work with him now.
Faith just shakes her head in surprise, "You're actually gonna take orders from him?" I cross my eyes looking back and forth between the older two Slayers wondering where this was going to go.
"That's the job," My sister pouts as I roll my eyes at her answer. She was always so quick to please when would she realize this was more than just a job. This was something we were born to do. "What else can we do?".
Faith grinned as she shrugged, "Whatever we want. We're Slayers, girlfriend, the Chosen Three. Why should we let him take all the fun out of it?" I smirked at her tone, knowing my sister was too uptight to agree.
"Oh, that would be tragic, taking the fun out of slaying, stabbing, beheading," Buffy sarcastically said as I blinked at her. Did she really not feel the same thrill that we felt after Slaying.
The rush of taking down something so threatening just with your bare hands (and a pointy wooden stick) was addictive. Slaying with each of them definitely showed me their style, they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum, and I guess I'm somewhere in the middle.
Although I couldn't help but agree with everything Faith said - maybe I wasn't as neutral as I thought I was.
I catch their conversation again as Faith grunts and punches, much to my sister's awkward expression. "Again, with the grunting. You realize I'm not comfortable with this".
"Hey, slaying's what we were built for" The brunette shrugs throwing an arm over my shoulder. "If you're not enjoying it, you're doing something wrong," her hand slides down until it meets my wrist, and she gives it a small pull as we start to leave.
Buffy sighs from behind us sounding annoyed at our lack of care. "What about the assignment?".
I hold onto the arm that's keeping me close as we turn back to face my twin. "Tell you what-" Faith points at Buffy, "you do the homework, and we'll copy yours" She grins as I let out a laugh.
Turning back around, I again let the brunette take control as we walked away to the sound of my sister calling out to us, "Nikki, wait! You can't just-" Faith just smirks as she pulls me away from Buffy.
Buffy huffed as she slowly walks up to the Gleaves Family Crypt and turns on her Maglite. "No, don't worry, Nikki. You just run off with your bestie and leave me to do all the dirty work."
It's not that she minded her sister, leaving her to do the work since she had to do it independently before her twin became a Slayer. It was more of the fact of who Nikki was ditching her for.
The blonde steps up to the door and opens it; the large room is dark and dusty. In the center are two stone coffins.
Buffy takes the steps down into the room and goes to the first coffin; she pushes the heavy lid aside and looks into it with the flashlight. All that's left of the body is the skeleton and a pile of hair and fibers. "Strike one. No amulet there".
She goes to the next coffin and pushes its lid aside. The body in this one has dried out and looks mummified; the clothes are still more or less intact, and around its neck hangs the amulet.
"Game over" She reaches in for it, but jerks back up when she hears noises coming from outside. Through the door, she sees torches coming closer and hears voices.
She quickly jumps up onto the first coffin, rolls into it, and twists off her Maglite just as someone pushes the door open.
Pulling my shirt back on, I signed and turned to Faith, who was watching me. "What's up, Puddin'" she questioned as I tugged on my shoes. I had a bad feeling about letting Buffy search that crypt alone.
Maybe it was guilt – but it also could have been the food we'd bought earlier.
"I think we need to go help B," I say as I shrug my jacket on "if these guys are as dangerous as Giles 2.0 said they were, then she's going to need us", I explain as Faith nods following me out the door.
Running towards the Gleaves Family Crypt, Faith and I hide behind the wall off the crypt as The Eliminati start to make their way out as the leader held something in his hand. "That must be that amulet thing," the brunette next to me says.
I nod along with her words as my stomach drops. If they're here and my sister isn't fighting or yelling out in pain, then where was she? Jumping up, I stealthy moved towards the door with Faith hissing my name from behind.
Creeping through the door, my heart is revived by the sight of my sister climbing out of one of the stone coffins, dropping my hand on her shoulder, I frown when she jumps with a gasp "Nikki! Faith!".
"What are you doing, hiding in there?" Faith questions sounding confused as she looks down into the coffin that my sister was hiding in.
"Looking for the amulet. Wasn't counting on the Special Guest Stars. Six against one." she gestures at the coffin behind her. "Hence the hiding" Looks like my feeling was right; Buffy needed our help.
"Well, it's six against three now, so come on," Faith says as she rushes out of the crypt as Buffy and I share a look before following her out. Just as we exit the vault, we see the last two Eliminati jump down through a manhole into the sewers below.
Faith makes tracks for the manhole but gets stopped by Buffy. "Wait. Stop. Think!" she says, punctuating the words dramatically as if she were talking to a child, but Faith only smirks as she stops defiantly.
"No, no, no!" the brunette retorts as she starts towards the manhole with me following. There was no way I was going to let her go down there alone.
Buffy chases her, "It's a manhole. Tight space, no escape, six against three," she hisses as she grabs my arm like a mother trying to keep their unruly child from doing something they shouldn't.
"And there might be more," Faith grabs Buffy's hand that was still holding my arm, "so come on," giving a small tug, the oldest Slayer smirks as Buffy's grip is gone from me before she lets go too.
I turned to my sister with a shrug, "We've had worse situations B," and that was true. We beat worse demons and other beings before, so these guys would probably be a breeze.
"You're just gonna go down there. That's your plan", my sister huffed, crossing her arms, annoyed that I had sided with Faith, but it was 2 birds 1 stone. We get back the amulet and also get to kick some vampire ass.
"Who said I had a plan? I don't know how many's down there, but I wanna find out. And I'll know when I land. If you don't come in after me-" Faith shrugs and smiles deviously "-I might die! Come on, baby!"
Without any further hesitation, she jumps in, and my eyes follow her down before turning back to my twin, who was giving me a face. "Did she just call you baby?" my mouth opens and closes before I jumped down into the manhole, avoiding the question entirely.
Dropping down into the sewer, I stood by Faith, who grinned at me and quickly pressed a kiss to my lips. "I knew you wouldn't leave me to do this alone," I joke, rolled my eyes just as my sister landed next to us.
Buffy eyes the two of us suspiciously before sighing and walking ahead. "Let's just get this over with."
Wesley is at the study table going through a mass of books as Giles paces nervously. "These are all the diaries, then? Yours included?" the new Watcher questions the older man with an air of superiority.
"That's everything. Knock yourself out." Giles says in a worried tone before muttering a scathing, "Please?".
Wesley flips through Giles' diary. "Oh, yes! Here's your first entry. 'Slayer is willful and insolent.'" the man smirks to himself, knowingly, "That would be our Buffy, wouldn't it?" he hums as he continues to eye the diary.
Giles continues pacing, takes off his glasses. "Well, you have to get to know her," he defends the elder blonde Slayer, he too once thought little of her attitude, but it had grown on him quickly.
"Mm," Wesley just hums as he continues to read, "'Her abuse of the English language is such that I understand only every other sentence.'" he looks up gleefully. "Oh, this is going to make fascinating reading."
Giles checks his watch nervously. "They should be back by now."
Wesley similarly checks his watch. "Not to fret," he casually reaches for a mint. "My mission scenario has them back in one minute," the Watcher pops the mint in his mouth. "Shouldn't be any trouble."
He flicks through the diary again, "Ah! This must be the beginning of the elusive Nicola 'Slayer is the twin of Buffy; she displays an almost flippant attitude which often is used to hide her true feelings'".
The younger Watched lowers the book for a moment. "It is odd how she was completely overlooked by the council" Giles is shocked for a moment by Wesley's thoughts, "but then again there have never been two Slayers from the same family."
Giles rolls his eyes at the brevity of his understanding.
"'The Slayer has the power of telekinesis but shows lack of restraint and control to utilize it efficiently'" The librarian eyes the younger man as he goes quiet reading about Nikki's powers but couldn't decipher the look in his eyes.
Buffy, Faith, and I have our hands full fighting the Eliminati, who had more members in their ranks than I think any of us had previously thought. Although there were 3 of us fighting, it still felt like every time we sent a vamp down, another 4 moved into the fray.
"We're surrounded!" My sister calls out to Faith and I as we struggle to keep the Eliminati at bay; I know mini Giles said they were powerful, but I thought he was exaggerating due to him being a total dork.
"You noticed that, too?!" Faith retorts sarcastically as she backhand punches another Eliminatus.
Bringing my attention back to my own fight, I quickly duck a vampire's swing and give a roundhouse kick to the back of his knee, making him collapse to the floor. "Ouch, I bet that hurt," I taunted, getting a growl in return.
Another one comes at me from the side and tries to bring his sword down on me from above, but I step back in time, and it just clangs on the floor. I gasp in surprise before throwing back elbow jab at the vampire's face, causing him to step backward and trip over the other vampire.
I blinked in shock as another vampire jumps at me with a growl as I roundhouse kick him in the side of the head, sending him back against the rock wall. He tries to come at me again, but I flick my hand at my fallen stake and send it through the air into his chest.
"Nice, Puddin!" Faith calls out with glee, sounding impressed as we're yet again descended upon by another wave of Eliminati vampires; I quickly glance up at the brunette with a grin.
I notice Faith punches one of the vamps in the head, but he comes back with a punch to Faith's gut and grabs her "Lemme go!" He shoves her hard against a concrete wall; I tried to fight over to her, but it was 3 against 1, and it wasn't pretty.
"Faith!" I call out before Buffy sees her predicament and throws her stake into the vampire's back; as she gets up from the floor, he bursts into ashes as Faith gives Buffy a smile.
With her attention on Faith, Buffy doesn't notice the one behind her "B! Look out!" I call backhanding an oncoming vampire, as her vamp grabs her and holds her still for the leader, Vincent. Who holds out his long sword, pointing it at her chest, "Let's settle this honorably."
Buffy jumps up against the one holding her and does an out-to-in low crescent kick, knocking the sword out of Vincent's hand where it goes flying into the water pool. I nod contently, seeing my sister successfully escape their hold.
"Well, then, let's just settle it," I hear Vincent as I turn back to see him dunking Buffy's head into the small pool's water. She struggles to get back up, but can't get a good grip on anything in the filthy water.
"Buffy! Get off her!" I shout as I'm grabbed around the waist as I furiously try to fight my way over to my drowning twin, throwing my hands out vampires are being thrown all over the place as my emotions begin to haywire.
"Buffy!" Faith calls out as she too struggles with her assailants, "You son of a bitch!" the brunette growls as Vincent keeps holding Buffy's head underwater. I watch in horror as she struggles to get up, but just can't.
It isn't much longer before she stops struggling, and Vincent holds her under for another few seconds, then let's go and turns his attention to us, "You bastard!" I scream at him, my voice breaks as the other vampires struggle to keep me at bay.
Buffy remains motionless in the water as Vincent grins widely at us, as we keep struggling to no avail. Suddenly Buffy leaps up with Vincent's long sword in hand and swings it around at his head.
He's too quick, though, and ducks it, but is left off-balance in a crouch. "I hate it when they drown me," my sister says as he swings at him again, but he reacts instantly, somersaulting out of the way and back to his feet.
Still reeling from almost watching my twin die, I feel something heavy in my chest; it felt powerful; letting out a shriek, I threw out my hands as all the vampires surrounding me are forced back, hitting the stone walls before turning to dust.
"B! We gotta go!" Faith yells out to my sister as she catches my falling body, holding onto her I watch as Buffy misses another swing, but has a determined look on her face.
"We came for the amulet" She jabs the sword straight at Vincent, getting the tip right between the chain holding the amulet at his waist. She lifts the sword, drawing the chain out from under his belt, and it slides down the length of the blade to the hilt.
Vincent looks around him in fear and hightails it out of the area; Buffy pulls the amulet from the sword and holds it in her hand as Faith pulls me over to her. "Tell me you don't get off on this!" she questions as the two of us breathe heavily.
Buffy smiles down at the amulet. "It didn't suck," I grin at her holding my thumb up before my sister ducks under my other arm as the two of them lead me out.
"What the hell was that? Do you love me that much" my twin teased, motioning to what I did back in the sewer.
I just smirked tiredly at her as Faith laughed, seeing the expression on Buffy's face. "That was nothing. I was pissed that I'd have to pick up your extra patrols if you died", I jokingly lied as my twin just rolled her eyes, pinching my side.
Faith smirked at me as I glanced at her; my heart was beating fast than it had ever before, whether that was due to almost losing Buffy or losing myself to the thrill of letting my power go, I had no idea, but it felt good.
Recovering from yesterday's antics, I was back in school; the rush of using my power hadn't seemed to worn off yet. I could feel it itching at my skin just waiting to be released. It was like the devil on my shoulder whispering for me to use it.
Faith and I made our rounds across the rest of Sunnydale last night, but it was more playing with my power than actual patrolling. It's nice having someone who wasn't worried about me losing control and actually pushing for me to use my telekinesis.
Sitting at mine and Buffy's usual table, I sighed, playing with my pen. Taking a chem test today was the last thing I wanted to do. Faith was lucky she didn't have to go to school, but it did make me wonder what she did all day when we weren't patrolling.
Spinning my pen around on the desk, I hovered my hand over it and watched as it turned in a circle all on its own "Nikki!" my hand slammed on top of the pen as Willow and Xander stand in front of my table looking down at me.
The redhead in front of me watched me in concern as she quickly took a look around the room.
No one had noticed what I was doing, and seeing Willow's exasperated expression annoyed me a little "What? No one saw", I argued as she and Xander took their seats behind me.
"But what if they did?" Willow questioned as she took her books out of her bag "your powers aren't something to play around with," she stuttered as my face grew tense and eyebrows raised.
"Where's the Buffster?" Xander cut in after seeing my expression, as he motioned to the empty seat beside me.
"She took that amulet thing to Watcher 1 and Watcher 2," I explained just as a blonde head walked around the door as if she knew we were just talking about her; I just gave her a nodded greeting as she sat down.
The class quietens down when Mrs. Taggart stands from behind her desk and passes out the exam booklets for our test.
Buffy twisted around in her seat, talking quietly to Willow and Xander about last night. I smiled, hearing her talk; it was like she was pleased about Slaying and not just doing it like a chore.
I turned too as Buffy started to excitedly tell them about my telekinesis takedown. "It was intense. It was like I just... let go and became this force. I just didn't care anymore," I rapidly explained, holding my hands out as if they were amazing trophies.
Willow nodded with a small smile, our little moment forgotten about as we talked about the sewer events. "Yeah, I know what that's like."
I shook my head earnestly. "I don't think you can! It's kind of a Slayer thing, well actually I don't think even Buffy knows what I mean" my sister and Willow shared a look, but I continued to talk, "I don't even think I'm explaining it well."
"You're explaining it a lot, though," Xander says over me as he glances between my sister and me, who seemed just as excited as I did, and it was nice that we were on the same page for once.
Mrs. Taggart hands Xander and Willow their tests as Buffy and I turn back around, but my leg started to bounce as I fought the urge to move back and tell my friends more about yesterday.
They obviously didn't understand how it felt; I could see the looks on their faces. Maybe I just need to tell them again.
"Alright. You have one period to fill out your test booklets. Periodic charts are located on the back", Mrs. Taggart calls out as she toward the front of the class. "You're on the honor system, so remember, no talking."
My sister turns back to Willow and Xander. "You see, the thing was, Faith knew I didn't even wanna go down there, and Nikki went..." a slight cough interrupted Buffy's conversation.
"Ahem. Ms. Summers?" Buffy faces the front and gestures that she's buttoning her lips now as I let out a snigger. "You have one hour," Mrs. Taggart gives Buffy another look and then leaves the room.
I immediately spin back around to face my friends. "Okay, so the best part..." I breathe with a grin.
Willow interrupts me looking concerned, "Nikki. Test? Remember?" Her eyes flicker to Buffy for a moment "The thing you didn't come over to study for?" I noticed the upset tone in Willow's voice, but it seems like my sister didn't.
Buffy seems to understand, though "Right. Got it." She turns back to her test, but can't resist, and turns around again. "Sorry. Okay, so we're down there, in the sewers, and Faith-" I frowned, seeing Xander's eye twitch "-got three of them on her at once..."
"Hey! Whoa! Can we resume your 'Ode to Faith' later, like when I'm not actively multiple-choicing? "Xander whisper shouts at us as he laughs nervously when he sees me watching him.
"How come your eye twitches every time I say Faith's name?" My twin questions as once again, Xander's eye twitches.
"What?" he says defensively before letting out a chuckle. "No, it doesn't," leaning in closer to him, my eyes intently watching his face as Buffy says 'Faith' again, his eye twitches, and he slaps his hand over it.
"Cut it out! We got a test to take, okay? And I'm highly caffeinated, and I'm trying to concentrate. Some of us actually care about school. You know,", The dark-haired boy argues, pushing my shoulder back to put space in between us.
Buffy looks to Willow, but she's concentrating on her test and avoiding my twin's gaze.
Realizing that we're not going to be allowed to continue the story, my sister and I settle down to take her test, which neither of us actively prepared for.
Opening the booklet, I get ready to read when tapping catches my attention along with the rest of the class.
Glancing towards the window, I notice Faith rapping on the windowpane. She lifts the window sash and leans in, smiling deviously. "Hey, girlfriend," she greets as some of the other students look my way, "Bad time?"
The brunette leans over to the next window, wipes the dust from it with her sleeve, exhales to fog it, and uses her index fingers to draw a heart with a stake through it before she looks at me, smiles, and bounces her eyebrows.
Biting my lip, I consider for only a moment before deciding to blow off the test. Sliding down from her lab stool, I glance at the door before heading to the open window where Faith stood grinning at me.
"No, sh-she can't!" Willow calls out as she, Xander, and Buffy are watching me in shock. The rest of the class have started to whisper among themselves, but I lacked the incentive to care.
"Nikki, no way. Mom will kill you if you blow the test off", Buffy scolds as I pass her by, throwing my bag next to hers on the ground. I'm sure she wouldn't mind holding onto it for me.
"Y-you can't! Can you?" My redhead friend asks weakly as I just give her a smirk. Buffy eyes Faith; all traces of her previous excitement gone and now was replaced with something I couldn't explain – it was a mix of jealousy and annoyance.
Feeling a tug on my arm, I turned to see my twin scowling at Faith before facing me with an air of authority. "Don't even think about it," scoffing at her. I tried to pull away when she tightened her grip on my arm.
She was using her Slayer strength on me.
Narrowing my eyes at her hand, her arm suddenly flew away from mine, and her grip was gone. Faith held my hand as she helped me through the window.
"Hey Puddin'," she flirted with a toothy smile as she closed the window sash, leaving my sister calling me from inside the classroom.
"What's up? "I asked as the two of us hurried away from the classroom; the rush of rebelling made my whole body felt warm as my power ran through my veins. It felt like a sugar high.
"Vampires" was all she said; I scrunched up my face before letting out a confused laugh at her vagueness.
"Uh, Faith, unless there's a total eclipse in the next five minutes, it's daylight." I pointed up at the sky, which was clear blue, no clouds to be seen, and no way a vampire could be walking around right now.
"Good for us, bad for them. Found a nest," Faith said, and my ears perked up. I was used to being on the sidelines while my sister Slayed, but after having to fight alongside my sister and Faith yesterday, I knew I wanted more.
Tilting my head to the side, I smiled slyly as Faith's arm curled around my waist. "Has potential."
The vampires' nest is gloomy, with only a few rays of sunlight getting in. There are vampires lying all over the floor, waiting out the day.
Nikki and Faith kick in the door as bright sunlight washes in and onto one of them, who quickly bursts into flames. The lot of them scramble to their feet and begin to run.
The two Slayers smile into the nest almost manically. "Rise and shine, people," the dark-haired Slayer calls out as the blonde laughs along with her.
"It's your wake-up call" They both pull out stakes and run in recklessly for a fight.
Standing in the middle of the dance floor, Faith and I are moving along to the hard techno sound. The lights were strobing, and the floor was crowded with people, but with my eyes closed and the beat thumping through my body, it felt like it was just us.
Three boys come over to them and dance around us, and I tilted my head back with a contented sigh as the two of us were surrounded. We pretty much ignore the guys and just continued to dance in our own bubble.
My eyes opened as I felt a niggling in the back of my head; turning to look away from the dance floor, I saw my sister watching us with her arms crossed, I felt head moving through my body from being so close to both Faith and the guys.
Faith's body moved in closer to mine as I looked to see her glancing in my sister's direction too and smirking at the disapproving expression on Buffy's face before placing a hand in my hair and locking her mouth with mine.
I could hear the guys' excitement around us as Faith's tongue danced along with mine almost in sync with the music before we separated and gazed over towards my sister, who watched us in shock.
Angel walks under the stairs to the edge of the dance floor and stops beside my sister to watch us, a look of deep concern on his face before a third, new and unwanted face stands beside them.
I watch them talk as the guys continue to dance around us, but my attention was no longer on them. My eyes narrow as I see Buffy reaches into Wesley's jacket and pulls out the amulet before she tosses it to Angel.
I angrily push myself through the crowd towards the trio, "What the hell B?" I question as they all flinch at my tone, "I thought we were supposed to keep that thing safe and not in the hands of evil?" Angel's face falls at my words.
Wesley stammers as he stands beside me. "Finally, someone talking some sense," I cross my arms as Buffy glares at me from her spot next to Angel, who continued to stare at me like some lost puppy.
"How many more times do I need to tell you that Angel isn't evil" My sister sighed, pinching her eyes as fury begins to throttle my stomach. She had no idea what I went through at the hands of the man she still kisses so lovingly.
"I guess until you can turn back time and stop him from turning evil, Anne," I hiss as her face turns white at my use of words, and she begins to splutter, "maybe try hiding your diary somewhere harder to find."
My sister steps forward seething, "You read my diary?" as if an emotional barricade had broken, my twin began to viciously rant. Angel took hold of her by her biceps and gently pulls her back as my hands clench and unclench.
"Buffy-" He starts, but my sister continues her harsh words towards me even as the immortal man pleaded with her, his eyes roamed over my body he began to look anxious "-Buffy, stop!"
The glasses on the table next to us suddenly shattered as Buffy immediately stopped talking in favor of watching me trying to get my breathing under control. The four of us stand silently in the aftermath, none of us knowing what to say.
I lost control.
"I believe this is what Mr. Giles was talking about in his journals," the annoying British voice piped up from next to me as I turned to face him with a mean glare. "You should come to the library with me, and we can do an uh- training session?".
"What?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at his faux confidence. Not only did he think he could 'train' my telekinesis, but he said Giles wrote about me in his journals. Was it something bad?
"Yes!" We all turned back to my sister, who motioned for me to go with Giles 2.0. "You go with him, and I'll take Faith for some recon. You clearly need more... power guidance," my jaw clenched. I didn't need any training people just needed to stop making me mad.
Wesley watched the couple incredulously as they both go in opposite directions, leaving us behind. "What's going on?" The new Watcher examined me as I scowled, watching Buffy walk onto the dance floor and grabs Faith.
She pulls her out of the crowd and toward the door as Faith lets herself be led away but looks back towards me with a questioning expression. "Let's go," I mutter to the British man who still had no idea what was going on.
:::
Faith and Buffy are unusually quiet as they head towards the meatpacking warehouse; both only have one person on their minds: Nikki.
Faith was thinking about the expression her best friend and lover had on her face when she talked to the others while Buffy was thinking about what she had seen happen between her twin and the brunette on the dance floor.
"What are you up to with my sister?" Buffy asked, not being able to hold it in any longer, and instead of sounding concerned, she managed to sound like a parent meeting their child's partner.
Faith snorted out a laugh as she stepped in front of Buffy with a mocking smile. "Well, I was thinking quick engagement, Vegas wedding, and then a white picket fence with lots of adopted kids running around."
Clasping her hands together and holding them close to her face, Faith grinning as she taunting, "I just can't wait to learn how to make cookies for the annual bake sale."
Buffy rolled her eyes at the brunette's theatrics as she tried to get some honest answers. She had seen her twin and Faith, together, making out – in the middle of the Bronze. She knew the two were close but not that close. "I'm just looking out for my sister."
Faith stops short as she turns to Buffy, "then I guess we have something in common. You know B, you can't pick and choose when to care about her"
The two stare each other down for a moment before Faith sighs, "We're not like together - but we're together sometimes" Buffy frowns confused before turning her head when she hears noises coming from the warehouse in front of them.
They look in through a crack in the door and see Balthazar surrounded by the Eliminati. "Okay, we got ten, maybe twelve bad guys and one big demon in desperate need of a Stairmaster."
Faith nods at Buffy's words as she readies herself, "I say we take 'em all, hard and fast and now" glancing around the room, she took note of where all the vamps were stood.
"We need a little more firepower than none. We should head back to the library" Buffy hesitated, knowing that Nikki was at the library and was probably mad at her for everything she said at the Bronze.
It wasn't that she didn't feel bad about what happened between her twin and Angelus, but she was getting tired of everyone thinking Angel could turn into him at the drop of a hat.
Faith rolled her eyes; if she were with Nikki, they would have been in and out by now. No hesitation. "Well, I guess Jacuzzi Boy isn't going anywhere," she looks around. "I just... wish we had... "
Across the street at the end of the alley, she sees Meyer's Sport and Tackle shop. Smirking, she points Buffy in that direction. "Ah. That is too good" time to see if miss goody two shoes s ready to let her hair down. They head for the store.
"Concentrate, Nikki," Giles called out as I stood blindfolded in the middle of the library. Wesley had given up on 'training' me as soon as he was pushed over by my telekinesis. Giles had a good laugh after that one.
"I am!" I growl after getting hit in the stomach by yet another dodgeball, but honestly, I was concentrating on everything my sister had said and called me back in the Bronze "you should have heard her, Giles, after everything Angel did to us-"
I was cut off by another ball bouncing off my body; lifting up the blindfold, I glared at Wesley, who glanced at me sheepishly before he left the library quickly "clear your mind," my ex watcher said as I pulled the material back over my eyes.
Breathing deeply, I tried to remember all the breathing techniques Giles had taught me not long after -
"Hello, pretty Birdie."
"Be in my eyes."
"I want to keep you forever."
"Princess, there's more than one way to break a woman."
My head felt underwater as memories hit me, I couldn't breathe, and couldn't move. The blindfold felt tighter than it did before -"Nikki! Nikki," the room sounded clear for a moment as I heard Giles desperate shouting before I let out a shriek.
Feeling a body hit mine, I was pulled into an embrace as loud bangs and shattering rang out around us, ripping the material from my eyes. I cried as Giles held my face in his hands, "are you okay?"
"I want it to stop," I sobbed, holding onto the older man as he rocked us back and forth from our spot on the floor. "I don't want to be scared anymore," glancing around, I saw that all the bookshelves were now empty and the ground was littered with books.
:::
Buffy and Faith are in the back seat with their hands cuffed behind their backs. A heavy steel mesh separates them from the officers in the front seat. "You see, this is why I don't want Nikki patrolling with you alone," the blonde mutters quietly.
Faith faces her with raised eyebrows as if she was shocked at Buffy's words, but the blonde Slayer just scoffs, "come on, you can admit Nikki is definitely more reckless around you. Ever since you came here, the two of you have been like partners in crime".
The older Slayer leans towards the other, "I can't help that she needs me more than she wants to be around you." The two glared at each other again; they always seem to butt heads when Nikki is their topic of choice.
"That's some artillery you two were puttin' together. You with one of them girl gangs?" one of the officers questions the girls with a snicker.
"Yeah. We're the Slayers", Faith retorts sarcastically as the officer laughs, but Faith doesn't think it's funny. "You wanna get outta here?" she whispered to Buffy as she slouches down in the seat.
Buffy realizes what she intends and isn't at all sure it's a good idea. "We can't save the world in jail," Faith says impatiently. Buffy sees the truth in that and slowly slouches down also.
Faith raises her legs, and Buffy follows her lead. "One, two..." They both push-kick hard into the steel mesh, making it buckle and tear at the edges and hit the officers in the backs of their heads.
The driver loses control of the car, and it swerves screechingly to the left and smashes into a parked vehicle; both officers are immediately knocked unconscious. Buffy climbs out of the front passenger-side door.
A moment later, Faith comes out as well with one of the officer's keys. They turn back-to-back and fumble with the keys, trying to unlock the cuffs. Buffy looks at the officers, "We should call an ambulance."
Faith just shakes her head. "Five people already have, the racket we made, and they're fine" She was right; one of them is already regaining consciousness.
The brunette smirks as she gets the cuffs unlocked. "Come on. Let's get outta here". She starts to run, but looks back when Buffy doesn't immediately follow "COME ON!" Buffy sees the other officer begin to come to as well, she looks around quickly one last time and runs after Faith.
This is exactly the reason why she doesn't want Faith's influence around her twin sister.
Shuffling into the kitchen, I frowned, seeing my sister engrossed in the newspaper. Since when did Buffy read the local paper?
"You sure about those waffles?" My mom says as Buffy looks up and closes the paper, neither of them seeing me watching them from the doorway. I was watching my twin's demeanor; she had been acting weird all night, and now this morning.
I stayed up to talk to her on Giles' persistence, he said maybe it would help me let go of some of the emotional baggage I was carrying, but Buffy seemed spooked when she got home and immediately locked herself in her room.
"Yeah. But if you want them, I can help you make them", Buffy offered with a sigh as she closes the paper and puts it away. She obviously didn't find what she was looking for.
"No," my mom says with a pout. "They only don't have calories if I make them for you," I smiled, passing the two of them as I pull some orange juice out of the fridge silently. I wasn't a morning person in the least "Mom logic. Morning sweetheart".
I grumbled a good morning to them as I sat on the island. "I want waffles," I said, holding my head in my hands as my mom clapped her hands happily as she pressed a kiss to my forehead.
"This is why you're my favorite," she said with a wink "don't tell your sister" Buffy rolled her eyes as my mom mock whispered, pulling out her waffle maker and cast iron skillet, "I'll make bacon and eggs too."
I almost drooled at the thought as I gave my mom a smile, "and this is why you're my favorite" mom just laughed as she turned to start working on breakfast.
Turning to my sister, I sighed at her expression "okay, who did you kill?" her head snapped up as she looked at me in shock.
"What do you mean?" She started looking guilty as hell. "I didn't kill anyone; nothing happened last night," I furrowed my eyebrows at her response.
"I didn't say anything did happen last night, but now I definitely think something did" I grinned, sipping on my orange juice while she stammers for a comeback "Anything worth reading about?" I taunt as my mom places a plate of waffles in front of me.
Ignoring my sister's pale face, I started to eat my waffles. "What did you have planned for today. Daughter who isn't being vague'" I snorted as my mom aimed her burn at my sister. It seems like my mom had a helping of sassy this morning.
"I'm patrolling with Faith, saving the world; you know Slayer stuff," I answered with a mouthful of waffles and syrup.
"NO!" I choked at the sound of my twin's shouting as both mom and I look at her in shock as she stares at me. "I think I should take the patrol with Faith today" frowning at her, I shook my head.
"It's okay I've got it" I narrowed my eyes when my sister began spewing excuses at me. "If this is because what you saw in the Bronze, don't even, it has nothing to do with you."
Buffy sat next to me as she continued to try and defect me from taking the patrol and recon with our other Slayer. "Fine then I'm pulling rank on you" I just blinked at her words as more food was silently piled on my plate.
"You can't pull rank on me B; we're both technically dead."
A loud clang came from in front of us as Mom dropped the skillet in the sink "Nicola!" she gasped, holding out the spatula towards me. "You know I hate it when you say things like that" I gave mom a sheepish smile.
"I'm serious, Nikki, just let me take the patrol today" I eyed my sister carefully before giving in. As much as I want to go out and fuck things up with Faith, my twin looks serious about this.
"Fine," I grumble, telekinetically moving my mom's coffee to the other side of the counter while she had her back turned.
Buffy smiled in – relief?
Drinking from my glass, I smiled when Mom turned to the counter and looked confused but reached for her cup to drink her coffee before placing it back down, squinting at the cup, I watched at it slid to the opposite end of the counter.
Hearing a knock at the door, I turned my head when Buffy jumped up. "That'll be Willow, she's making some of those protection things" I just nodded, distracted as she walked away to answer the door.
Mom blindingly reached for her mug as she read through the paper only to catch air, she glanced up with a frown before seeing her coffee on the other side. I snigger at her lost expression. It was like a game of cat and mouse.
Hearing my laughs, my mom's face relaxes in realization. "Nikki!" she let out a chuckle as she playfully hits me with the now rolled up paper. "How many times do I have to say no powers at the table and no teasing us normal people with it."
Walking down an alley near the packing warehouse. Buffy and Faith walk around a corner, mostly silent. Faith has the compound hunting bow from the store with her and gets an arrow ready "You're quiet tonight," Faith comments as she fiddles with the bow.
"I just wanna get this done" Buffy sniffs the stress from what happened yesterday, causing her to be crabby. Even with taking her sister's patrol, she knew she couldn't keep it a secret forever.
Even if she managed to keep Faith away from Nikki during patrols, she couldn't keep the two apart forever.
"Yeah," the brunette grins. "I'm dying to test out the longbow. I think it might be my new thing", she boasts as she still fails to get the bow working.
"I can't believe you went back for that stuff" Buffy sighs as she watches the older Slayer play with her stolen property. They say Angel is bad for her to be with but no-one had anything to say about Faith being a bad influence on Nikki?
"Hey, how do you feel about getting some ribs? You know, after we're done? We can stop by and get Nikki on the way?" Faith says before they're surprised by an Eliminatus doing a front tuck from above and landing in their way.
Wesley checks out some of the pictures on the wall while Giles sits at his desk, fidgeting with his glasses. "I didn't say you had emotional problems," he turns to Giles. "I said you had *an* emotional problem. It's quite different," he says condescendingly.
"My 'attachment' to the Slayers is not a problem. In point of fact, it's been a very..." Giles starts enunciating clearly but is cut off by an incredulous Wesley.
"You had her in your arms consoling her, Mr. Giles, you are to be her mentor, not her father" The younger man scoffs as Giles listens to his words angrily. "And the way you've handled this assignment is something of an embarrassment to the council."
"She's been through more pain then you probably have in your entire lifetime," Giles huffs protectively. "If you want to criticize my methods, fine. But you can keep your snide remarks to yourself. And while you're at it, don't criticize my methods", He says, putting his glasses back on in annoyance.
"The fact is, you're no longer qualified to act as Watcher" Wesley paces behind Giles, patronizingly. "It's not your fault. You've done well. It's simply time for somebody else to take the field".
Giles looks at him, then past him through the window to the main area. "Now's a good time to start" Wesley turns to look as well, and there they see four Eliminati standing outside the office waiting for them.
Buffy and Faith start quickly in the direction of the packing warehouse, but we're stopped by waves of Eliminatus coming at them. "We're never gonna make it to the warehouse," Buffy growls as they keep the vampires at bay.
"If they keep coming one at a time, we got a shot" Faith huffs as another Eliminatus lands in front of them and thrusts at Faith with his short sword. She reacts instantly, catching his arm and shoving him into a crate, then pulling him off and swinging him backward onto a pile of several chords of wood.
Buffy steps right in and stakes him as he crumbles to ash. The two Slayers continue along the alley at a brisk pace. At the end of the building, an arm reaches out and grabs Buffy by the shoulder.
Instantly she grabs the man and throws him against a dumpster. Faith jumps right in to stake him. He slumps down to the ground, hurt by the impact against the heavy steel container.
It's Allan Finch the Deputy Mayor , but Faith is too caught up in things and doesn't realize he's human "FAITH, NO!" Buffy screams out to the other Slayer but it's too late.
Faith swings down with her stake and plunges it into Allan's heart, then pulls it out. Allan grabs his chest in pain and surprise. As blood pours out freely, pumped out by his now punctured, beating heart.
The shocked brunette backs away as Buffy quickly gets down beside him to try to help him. Allan pulls his hands away and looks down at them covered in his own blood, shaking hard as he goes into shock.
Buffy looks at the wound and sees its severity. "Don't move!" she tells him as she tries to cover his wound.
"I didn't... I didn't know. I didn't know", Faith says, sounding panicked as she looks down at the destruction she caused, for once Faith felt like she had no control of the situation and there was only one person she wanted right now.
Buffy calls out to Faith behind her "We need to call 911, NOW! "but Faith is paralyzed with fear. Allan shakes even harder as the blood loss increases as he glances up at Buffy. "Don't move, i-it's okay... She tries to apply pressure to the wound, but the blood just keeps coming. "I-I need, I need something to stop the..."
Allan begins to convulse, his eyes go wide with the fear of death as blood begins to trickle from the corner of his mouth. He tries to say something, but can't get the words out and Buffy can only watch in despair, unable to help.
The man looks down at his chest one last time, then reaches up to Buffy, but his arm never makes it. It falls to his side, and his body relaxes against the dumpster, finally dead. His eyes remain wide open, staring up into nothing. Buffy stares back at him in open-mouthed horror.
Allan lies dead against the dumpster as Faith begins to panic. "We gotta go!" she gasps, grabbing Buffy and pulls her up. "Come on, we gotta go!" they start to run from the scene. Buffy stops to look back, watching as Allan's body stays still and alone.
Faith grabs her arm to get her to follow. "Come on" She climbs up on some crates and jumps over a wall, but Buffy decides to continue down the alley to a fence and climbs over it instead.
Wringing my hands, I feel dread in the pit of my stomach, I had been to the library to talk to Giles and help put the books back on the shelves, but I found it empty with signs of someone being forcibly taken.
Someone or something had taken not only Giles but Wesley, I knew G would be okay, but I had no idea what the 2.0 was like in a pressured situation.
I sigh as I walk up to the meatpacking warehouse and peak through a crack in the door and see Balthazar surrounded by the Eliminati along with Giles and his mini-me, but no Buffy or Faith. "Dammit" I hiss wondering if they knew about Giles being taken.
I was almost ready to barge in there and start throwing people about when hands pulled my shoulders back and into the wall gently "Angel!" I gasp as the brooding vampire looked down at me in concern.
"What the hell are you doing?" He scolds as I brush his hands off me, subtly glancing around for my sister but nope it was just me and him, something that hadn't happened since he broke into my room all delusional.
"They've got Giles," I growled back at him as he continued to watch me with those stupid sad eyes of his, almost as if he were pleading with me without saying anything. "I need to help him before they kill him!".
Angel leans back to look through the door and sighs, which was weird enough because he was already dead and didn't need to breathe. "I'll go find Buffy, and then we'll go in" I bite my lip, wondering if we had that kind of time left. "Do not move, don't go in there."
I just rolled my eyes at his words. "I'm not a child Angel," I scoffed as the taller man gazed down at me, looking like he wanted to spill his heart out to me, trying to move from him. I tense when he puts his hands on my biceps.
"Well, I'm sorry that I care about you and don't want you getting hurt," He retorted, making my stomach clench at his tone of voice, it was soft, but it was also the voice he uses when Buffy throws herself into dangerous situations.
Why would he say that? How could he care about me? - Seriously, after everything?
I guard my expression as I level him with a mean glare, this wasn't the time to let him in and see the effect he still has on me, and my fear of his alter ego. "Yeah, well, you're the only one who's hurt me here."
His eyes drop along with his expression, and somehow he looks more tired than before just from me saying those words, "Just stay here Nikki, please" I didn't answer as he jogs off to find my sister, but I didn't move to enter the building either.
Moving back towards the crack in the door, I see that Wesley and Giles are being held before Balthazar, but he's ignoring them for the moment as he insistently orders around the vampire with the ladle.
My lips curl in disgust as the vampire pours the ladle full of water across Balthazar's chest like one would when cooking a turkey. "Gross," I muttered as the overly large creature moves around in enjoyment as the water is lathered over his skin.
Feeling hands on my body again I jumped back only to see the panicked eyes of my sister staring back at me, "what's wrong?" I instantly question before looking around, "Where's Faith?".
Buffy just shakes her head as she motions me to move with her. "What's this?" I ask taking her bloody hand in mine as she quickly pulls back with a scared expression before she smiles at me and shakes her head.
"It's not mine" was the only thing she said but her terrified face was enough for me to know whatever has happened isn't good.
I give Angel as look as I follow my sister to the back of the warehouse, but he just shakes his head; Buffy hadn't told him about it either. What was wrong with my sister today, and when did she get so secretive?.
Sneaking around to the back of the warehouse I roll my eyes from my protected position between my twin and Angel. I frown hearing the screaming voice of Balthazar as he shouts at Giles and Wesley.
"The Slayer g-gave it to someone. A tall man, a friend... a friend of hers. I can tell you everything", I heard Wesley sniffle as he breaks down in front of the morbidly obese demon, making me roll my eyes.
"Seriously?" I whine to my twin as Wesley fails to hold his own in the face of danger "this is the guy who gets to be our Watcher and train us?" Buffy's face mirrors mine before we move closer to the building.
"THERE IS ONE DEAL! YOU WILL DIE QUICKLY, OR YOU WILL DIE SLOWLY! THE MAN WHO HAS MY AMULET! WHAT IS HIS NAAAME?!"
Angel switches on his games face as Buffy nods to him "His name is Angel" He walks into their midst and immediately grabs the two Eliminati holding Giles and Wesley, pulling them away and slamming one of them into a wall, the other into some metal shelves.
Another one moves to take their place holding the Watchers, but Giles headbutts him, and he falls. Buffy and I jump in now, too, coming from different directions after moving around the building.
I backhand punch one vampire and punches another in the face watching as they both hit the ground. The first one raises his sword and tries to attack, but I block him and grabs his arm as I bring it down and knees him in the gut, making him drop his sword.
Catching it, I turn to Giles, who holds his tied hands toward me. I swing the sword in a high arc and brings it down on the ropes binding his wrists, slicing them cleanly. The pieces fall to the floor as Giles grabs Wesley and pushes him out of harm's way.
I swings the sword back at the Eliminatus, but he catches my hand and swings the blade down against the edge of Balthazar's pool, forcing me to drop it. He does a backhand swing at my face, making me trip forward, but I returns with a back kick at him.
Giving my twin a push she shoulder rolls onto a large crate to avoid being sliced by a sword. Balthazar begins flailing his arms in a tantrum as he sputters "Unacceptable!.
Angel ducks a swing from an Eliminatus and then does a right hook to his face and punches him hard in the gut. He turns around, and backhand punches the one behind him, blocks a return swing, and punches him again.
"UNACCEPTABLE!"
Dodging the swing of a sword, I back up and end up hitting a wall. Ducking down as the Eliminatus swings his sword again, it hits the wall, I quickly sent a kick to his stomach before roundhouse kicking the sword from his hand.
Flicking my hand, the sword flies through the air and directly into the heart of the vampire, who immediately turns into dust as the sword falls to the ground with a loud clang.
Another Eliminatus comes at me, "Jesus, are these guys respawning or something?" I grab his arm and pulls him closer to me before I throw him over a crate, only for him to fly further away then I estimated.
Glancing down at my hands I gape "What the hell was that?!" Another one swings at me while I'm distracted, and I fail to block him as I receive a punch to the gut. Holding my stomach with a groan I swing and punch him in the face as he falls to the floor.
Turning around, I gasp, seeing Angel being sucked back toward Balthazar, who is holding out his stubby arms "Angel!" I yell, holding my arm out as the air between Angel, Balthazar, and I became a tug of war.
"UNACCEPTABLE!. GET HER!" Suddenly I'm kicked in the stomach and find myself on the ground as Angel lands on his back on the edge of the pool. Balthazar seizes his head in both hands. Angel struggles to get away, but the grip is exceptionally tight.
Picking up the lone sword from the ground I begin to swing at the vampires who attacked me, making them both turn to dust as I angrily slay them.
Glancing up I see Buffy grab a wire and yanks it hard as the lamp falls from the roof with sparks flying right into the pool. Balthazar immediately lets go of Angel and writhes in agony as he is electrocuted.
We all stare in amazement as the demon convulses inside his pool, soon Balthazar seems dead and the circuit breakers shut off the power. I rushes over to stand by Buffy and Angel who appears to be shaken up but fine.
I take a closer look at Balthazar and is startled when his eyes whip open; I yell and jump back as Angel and Buffy catch me in their arms as Balthazar takes a strained breath.
He's weak and wheezing, "Slayers! You think you've won" He chuckles and wheezes again. "When he rises... you'll wish I'd killed you all" He lets out his last breath and finally closes his eyes.
Glancing at my sister and Angel before I look over at a shocked Giles, my heart thumps wildly. "What did he mean by that? Who's he?" Pulling myself away from the two holding me, I throw the sword to the ground.
Angel gazes at me as he blinks slowly. "You tried to save me" I begin back away from him, and whatever feeling he was having right now, the doe-eyed expression that reflected in his eyes wasn't helping at all.
"I have no recollection of that," I stuttered as all but ran away from the vampire and my now surprised twin. Saving Angel, or at least trying to save him, was purely battlefield instinct.
Turning to face the Watchers, I gave Giles a smile as Wesley began to brush himself off, complaining about what had happened. "Come on, you survived your first big bad," I grinned as he readjusted his glasses. "I still need to toughen you up, though."
Laughing, I walked away with Giles as Wesley followed behind us like a puppy dog questioning my words.
Buffy and Faith stand in the brunettes dingy motel as the younger of the two tries to talk about what happened with Finch; however, Faith was less than interested in the topic.
"We can help each other," Buffy offers as she watches Faith wring out the water from the once bloody top.
"I don't need it," The brunette says stoically as she pulls the plug from the sink, walks into the room, and pulls open a drawer on which to hang the shirt to dry.
"Yeah? Who's wrong now?" Buffy follows Faith into the room as she starts to become agitated. "Faith, you can shut off all the emotions that you want. But eventually, they're gonna find a body!".
Faith quickly faces Buffy with an annoyed sigh. "Okay, this is the last time we're gonna have this conversation, and we're not even having it now, you understand me? There is no body. I took it, weighted it, and dumped it. The body doesn't exist".
Buffy watches in shock as Faith turns away. "Getting rid of the evidence doesn't make the problem go away," clutching at straws, Buffy mutters, "What happens when Nikki finds out what you did."
Faith spins back to look at Buffy with a menacing expression. "She's not going to find out, you hear me?" the brunette spits before going back to her washing.
"Faith, you don't get it. You killed a man", The blonde punctuates clearly with concern written across her face. Keeping Faith away from her twin because she was bad for her was one thing, but now the older girl was a murderer.
"No, you don't get it" Faith smiles daringly as she gives off a cold aura. "I don't care!" She turns away again to tend to her things, leaving Buffy is speechless.