There was total silence around the hostel where Faith and Tara had been living for a few days. Neither the slightest move nor the slightest sign of wind seemed to be about to disturb the quietness of the hostel's tenants. No light was switched on inside the hostel. Everyone was sleeping like a log at this very late hour in the night.
Tara was no exception to that rule, despite the light that the moon – gibbous that night – diffused in the small room. If her body briefly shook and winced from time to time, if her face grimaced in her sleep, it was nothing the blonde witch was not used to. That night, Tara Maclay's sleep was as calm and restful as it could possibly be.
She nevertheless awoke all of a sudden.
No sound had pierced the night. No light had been switched on. But Tara found herself suddenly sitting in her bed, her heart racing. She stretched her hand in front of her and saw it trembled. She looked fearfully around her, looking for what could have woken her. She carefully listened, being perfectly still with her arms wrapped around her knees. After spending minutes without moving, she got up slowly and got closer to the window. She looked out carefully. The surroundings were deserted. And the immaculate blanket of snow as far as the eye could see told her that no one had gone for a walk under her window for hours. She moved on tiptoe as silently as she could to the room's door and listened again. But the hostel was still perfectly silent. Tara sighed and returned to sit in her bed where she was happy to find the blankets' warmth again. After a new silent minute to wait without anything happening, Tara had to admit that nothing external had awoken her. She probably had one of those nightmares she was used to. They may have happened much less often than before, it happened that they came back to her sleep without warning.
She decided to finish her night and lay down again. She turned in the sheets and her eyes met the clock radio. It displayed four am and thirty-eight minutes. Tara stared at the numbers for a moment, forcing herself to remember Faith telling her not to wait for her, that she would come back late. She turned to the other side, resolute to go back to sleep.
But sleep would not come.
A heavy anxiety clutched her. And despite all her efforts to reason with herself, she could not make it quiet. She turned in the bed once more to face the alarm clock. Four am and forty-three minutes now. Tara looked at the numbers scrolling until the minutes showed fifty. Her heart was beating wildly and she felt her instinct telling her that something was wrong. Sleeping was not an option anymore.
Tara threw the blankets away and got up. She switched the room's light on after groping for the switch. She collected her clothes – an old pair of jeans, a blue long-sleeved tee-shirt, un thick white woolen sweater, both bought in a frippery in Montana – and she got dressed quickly. She then slipped on her shoes and her coat, which she buttoned with her more and more trembling hands. In Faith's stuff, she looked for a stake and a knife she slid into her coat. Blood was now beating hard in her temples and the blonde witch felt an undefined but nevertheless vital emergency oppressing her.
Being more and more in a hurry, she did not even lock the room door and she hurtled down the stairs of the hostel, nevertheless taking care not to awake the others inhabitants. When she was finally outside, she paused in front of the door, caught by the freezing cold. Then she began to walk, walking quickly on the snowy and deserted road. She was under the impression she did not need to think where to go: her feet seemed to work for themselves, leading her where she had to go: finding Faith. Without knowing why, Tara was sure that something had happened to her friend and she had to go and help her while it was still time. This certainty grew with each step she took, so that she quickened her pace until running along the road, then on the forest's lanes. Her running leaded her on the Trillium lake banks.
The blonde slowed then finally came to a stop upon discovering the scene under her eyes.
Faith was lying in the snow, leaning on her elbows, her hair tousled, her nose swollen, her jeans torn, her wide opened jacket allowing to see her sweater spotted with more or less fresh stains of blood. She looked exhausted, being at the mercy of a threatening Kira, who brandished a branch that served as a makeshift weapon above the dark-haired slayer.
***
"Faith!" Tara shrieked, seeing her in such a bad situation.
The sound of her voice interrupted Kira's gesture and both slayers turned to her at the same time.
"Tara!" Faith cried with a hint of panic in her voice when she caught sight of her. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"At last! We were about to wait for you!" Kira mocked, lowering her arm that was threatening Faith the moment before.
"Go away!" Faith screamed as Kira threw away the branch she was using as a weapon before turning to Tara.
The blonde's eyes were roaming both young women in turn, and she was obviously trying to understand what was taking place under her very eyes.
As Kira was about to take a step forward toward the witch, Faith stretched her leg and tripped Kira up. The young woman stumbled and tried to catch herself, but Faith prevented her from doing so by jumping at her back.
"Go away Tara!" she screamed again. "Go away!"
But Tara did not comply with the slayer's plea and remained still staring at the scene, to Faith's great disappointment.
"Go aw…" Faith shouted once more, but a punch back from Kira hitting her in full mouth interrupted her order.
Despite the dark-haired slayer weight on her back, Kira managed to stand up back and threw Faith away ridiculously easily.
All of a sudden, everything made sense for Tara.
Faith got up as fast as she could to try to attack Kira again, but this time, Tara's voice interrupted her:
"Faith, step away from her," the blonde ordered in a somewhat faltering voice.
"What?" Faith said, frowning. "What are you talking about?"
"Step away from her," Tara resumed. "She's not a slayer."
"What?" Faith said again, still not understanding, while an elusive smile appeared on Kira's lips.
"She's not a slayer," repeated Tara. "She's a witch."
Faith's mouth opened wide at this, and she looked between Kira and Tara, as if searching a proof of what the blonde witch had just said.
"How wonderfully observant you are!" Kira sniggered. "It's taken you some time to realize! But who can blame you after all? I'm quite good at hiding myself."
"So that's true? You're a witch?" Faith asked, her tone unbelieving, angry and disappointed all at the same time.
"Don't be so disappointed, Faith," Kira said, turning to her. "See, I told you that witches could be fun too."
"A witch…" Faith repeated, as if to convince herself and now staring at Kira from head to toes.
"Of course," Kira replied in an evident tone. "How do you think all those vampires an demons came here? Do you think they really are the kind of guys who hide themselves away on the banks of Trillium Lake?"
"You made them come?" Faith exclaimed.
"I made some of them come, I created some others. It's a mix. Vampires are so stupid."
Faith was openly dumbfounded by the reveal.
"But why?" she whispered thoughtfully, seemingly thinking to her own question.
"It's kind of boring around here y'know," Kira explained casually. "I couldn't believe my chance when I found you both. A slayer and a witch. How could I find better things to have some fun?"
"You're playing weird games." Faith harshly commented.
"What do you think? It's often what happens when practicing too much magic! Why do you think your goody-goody friend doesn't practice more often?"
"Not wanting to play the slayer when she's bored is indeed a very good reason," Faith coldly answered. "Who do you think you are? Being a slayer is not a game, it's not a choice."
"Stop being all moralizing, it doesn't suit you at all! You were having fun a little while ago!"
"Faith…" Tara tried to interrupt.
"Mixing some pleasure with the job is not a crime as far as I know!" Faith replied to Kira without noticing the blonde. "Its not a game though!"
"Faith…" repeated Tara.
"If you go on like this, you'll end up telling me the part about the sacred side of the mission Faith," Kira mocked, not noticing Tara as well. "You really should stop before being really ridicu…"
Kira couldn't finish her sentence. Faith had just pounced on her. Kira did not avoid the attack and stumbled backward. But she managed to catch herself with one hand and turned back so quickly that Faith finally found herself under the other girl.
Tara shrieked in horror when she saw Kira getting rid of the dark-haired slayer with only a few blows, and she raised her hand as if to interfere but the words died on her lips at the moment she was about to cast her spell.
"So what? You're doing nothin'?" Kira asked in a mocking tone, standing up and then turning to her. "You're a witch and you don't even try a little spell to help your friend?"
She took a step toward Tara and her right hand started to glow with an unreal greenish light.
"So, Tara?"
"Leave her alone!" Faith screamed, throwing herself into her feet to interrupt her walk toward the blonde.
But Kira did not get caught this time and she pushed Faith way by kicking her in full face, which elicited a new shriek from Tara.
"So, Tara?" Kira repeated. "I'm pretty sure you're a surprising girl."
"I don't do that kind of magic," the blonde replied. "I never did."
"Oh please, I'm sure you know some tricks. We all do, even if mom always told us not to poke our noses into that kind of things."
Saying this, Kira was slowly walking toward the blonde and was raising her right hand that was shining with the same dark green light than previously.
"Dark magic is dangerous!" Tara cried out. "You should have listened to you mother, you wouldn't have fallen in this!"
"It's dangerous for those who are unable to know their own limits and let themselves be consumed by their ambition." Kira retorted.
Tara gritted her teeth at this remark and stepped back a little to put some distance between the other witch and herself.
"And I know mines very well," Kira resumed with a hint of pride in her voice. "Are you afraid to override yours and to be consumed by dark magic fever?" she added in a sarcastic tone.
"Never." Tara coldly replied.
Kira gave a half-smile and stretched her arm forward, releasing a bolt of light that Tara avoided by nimbly throwing herself on the side. Kira did not give her time to stand up and did the same thing again. The blonde witch rolled on her side and did it once more when Kira attacked her a third time. Tara perfectly knew that Kira did not really try to hurt her, her attacks being neither fast nor precise enough, and always giving the blonde time to react.
"C'mon Tara, that night started out so well, let's finish it in great style, pit yourself against me!"
Kira then gestured with her wrist while mumbling a few words and a wind started to blow around the blonde witch. It seemed that it came out from the ground and it whipped violently Tara's face as it took snow crystals, pile of dirt and small pieces of branches along. Tara put her hand across her face to protect herself.
"Will you tell me what you want?" she cried out when the effect of the spell had vanished.
"Playing with one of my kind…" whispered Kira upon bending over Tara.
Tara jumped at the witch's sudden closeness and stepped back as fast as she could, which obviously entertained Kira a lot. Tara got up quickly, took a step back again and looked for Faith. The slayer was still lying on the ground and was trying to recover.
"You know you make me a liar, Tara?" Kira said. "I told Faith that witches too could be fun. What do I have to do for you to deign to take part in this? Do I have to threaten to cut Faith's throat?"
Saying this, Kira turned to the slayer before looking at Tara again.
"Incendire!" the blonde screamed while raising her hand toward Kira.
This time, a tiny fireball flew away from Tara's hand toward the other witch. But it did not impress Kira in the slightest and the back of her hand was enough to make the flames disappear.
"Nothing better?" mocked Kira. "I'm not a vampire and I just did a slayer. You gotta find something better."
Tara visibly turned pale and she glanced toward Faith. The slayer seemed to have trouble to recover.
"Don't count on her," Kira said, noticing the gesture. "I'm a witch, a pretty good one. She can't do anything against me."
"You are really burying me too fast for my own taste," Faith said, finally getting up. "I hate this."
"Give it up Faith," replied Kira. "We're done."
"No, we're not."
Faith attacked Kira again, and threw one her short dagger with all her might in the witch's back direction. Kira did not move to dodge the weapon and just raised her right hand's index finger in front of her.
"Reverso." She whispered.
The dagger immediately stopped dead in the air and turned back to fly in the opposite direction at much quicker pace.
"Tego!" Tara shouted as soon as Kira had cast the spell, understanding all at once what would happen.
While shouting, she gestured to the bit of trunk used as a weapon by both Faith and Kira previously, and it rose in the air immediately and moved in the dagger's trajectory, just in front of Faith. The dagger stuck itself in the wood with a ringing sound.
"Not bad!" Kira complimented. "You see that you can! How about a little more?"
But Tara did not seem to be willing to obey. She remained still, staring at Kira with a cold decision shining in her eyes.
"Magic is not a game," she said. "You shouldn't play with it like that."
"Ok," replied Kira, and Tara arched an eyebrow, surprised with this answer she was not expecting. "I see."
"I see the kind of motivation you need." Kira added just after.
She then turned back to Faith who was trying to make the most of the witch's distraction to discreetly come closer to her. As Faith's fist was rising above her, Kira raised her two hands in front of her and her eyes misted over with blackness a brief instant as she whispered an incantation. The dark-haired slayer gesture was then stopped dead and a glimmer of surprise passed in Faith's eyes as she tried to move without succeeding.
As Kira was about to raise her arm toward the slayer once more, either to punch her or to cast a spell on her, Tara's voice interrupted her:
"Dissolvo!" the blonde cried out, opening her hand toward the other witch.
Kira turned back to her and took a quick step in her direction, in the process getting closer to the energy bolt Tara had sent. When the bolt came up to Kira, she simply opened her hand and the bolt appeared to simply settle in it. She smirked at Tara, then turned around again and extended the flight of the blonde's bolt toward Faith, much quickly than the bolt has been formerly sent. Both friends' eyes widened in horror, and Faith tried to move in vain.
"No!" Tara screamed as her own spell hit her friend in full chest.
Faith spat blood and fell forward but could catch herself on her forearms, her muscles working again.
"C'mon, all this is so weak, Tara!" Kira said, walking over to the dark-haired slayer. "You really believe you can protect yourself, protect you both against me with a dissolvo as white as snow?"
"I don't do dark magic!" Tara cried out in despair.
"You must know some spells more fun to counter, mustn't you?" Kira begged.
She had just arrived at Faith's side as the slayer was again getting up with much difficulty. The brunette gave a hint of a protecting gesture as she had not completely stood yet, but it was not fast enough to counter the witch's attack. After pushing the slayer back to the ground, Kira stepped over her body, bent forward and grabbed Faith's dark hair with her left hand and pulled it to make the young woman kneel. Faith tried to make her let go of her, but her efforts seemed to be as useless as every spell Tara had cast until then.
"So, Tara, what do you think? Spell or death?" Kira said while raising her hand above Faith's head. "The choice is simple."
"You wouldn't go that far," Tara challenged her.
"Would you bet her life?" Kira answered as quick as a flash. "Or her mental health?" she added the second after with a vicious smile.
Tara turned paler and her eyes went several times from Faith's crazed gaze to Kira's fevered one.
"Why are you doing that?" Tara asked in a shaking voice. "I'm no match for you! I don't have enough power!"
"I know you can't beat me!" Kira replied in an evident tone. "It doesn't mean you can't be a somewhat interesting opponent! You've been practicing magic since you're little, you must have a little something interesting for me!"
"I don't!" Tara replied in a loud voice. "Leave us alone! Haven't you had enough fun already?"
Saying this, Tara was showing Faith, who was still struggling, both to try to free herself from Kira's grasp and to contain the pain she felt.
"I'm going to count to five," Kira said, totally ignoring what Tara had just said. "When I'm done, I'll cast a spell on Faith. It's up to you to prevent me from succeeding."
"Stop that! Go fight people who can compete with you! Have you ever heard about Willow Rosenberg?" the blonde screamed, her voice filled with anger this time.
Kira let escape a small laugh at Willow's name.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she harshly retorted. "As I told you, I know my limits. I don't want to become like her."
"So you're a coward?" replied Tara. "You prefer to attack people weaker than you are, don't you?"
Kira did not answer and shook her head.
"Save your breath," she spat. "And your energy as well. I hope you've chosen the spell you're going to cast."
She took a break and raised her right again above Faith's head and visibly tightened her grip on the slayer's hair. A green light emanated from her hand and a small brilliant star appeared in her palm.
"One…" she began.
Tara understood she would not manage to reason with Kira. She had no other choice than obey the witch's injunctions.
"Two…" Kira chimed.
Tara's brain was working at full speed. She had to find a spell powerful enough to take Kira away from Faith. The dark-haired slayer appeared to be about to loose consciousness.
"Three…"
Kira's hand went a little higher and the light in her hand became brighter. Tara made her choice. She had not needed to search for too long. Her knowledge regarding offensive spells was not extensive. And among the spells she knew, rare were those she was able to cast quickly without any external accessory.
"Four…"
Kira's right hand turned, her palm now directed to the slayer's skull, and went down slowly. Tara began to chant the words of a spell in Latin, as quick as possible, but taking great care not to be mistaken with the spell's words.
Kira was staring at the blonde and she appeared to simply wait to see what Tara was about to do.
"Five."
Kira's word sounded like a sentence to Tara's ears and the light in her hand became dazzling as it came closer and closer of the slayer, whose face writhed in pain and in a strange mix of fear and resignation.
Tara chanted the last words of the spell and a streak of glowing dark energy flew from her fingertips toward Kira and Faith. She caught sight of Kira's expecting expression turning into a cruel, victorious smirk and could not help shivering in apprehension but there was nothing more she could do.
Kira's fingers released their strong grip on Faith's hair even before Tara's energy hit her. Faith's body fell to the snowy ground with a flat muffled sound. Tara hardly let escape a sigh of relief when she saw the brunette being freed. Before she even had time to fully realize, Kira was suddenly right in front of her and Tara had no clue how she had gotten so close to her within a second. A feeling of dread suddenly squeezed at her heart and for a brief moment, she found herself unable to breathe.
Kira was looking at her in the eye, the grin that had appeared at the moment Tara had unleashed her spell on her, now wider and openly plastered on her face. A satisfied grin. A grin of victory. Of contentment. Of accomplishment. An inside voice was screaming to Tara to back up, to run away from Kira's reach. But Tara could not move. She felt as if Kira's gaze upon her had transformed her into a statue. A living, breathing statue. But a statue all the same.
She saw Kira's hand extending toward her chest, barely visible as it was glowing with dark red deep energy. Tara immediately recognized the sign of dark magic and nearly felt nauseous and sick but escaping wasn't a possibility anymore. She felt strands of sweat forming at her temples and at the nape of her neck. Which suddenly turned cold when Kira's palm touched Tara's chest. The blonde witch looked horrified at the glowing hand on her skin and her eyes grew impossibly wide when she thought she saw Kira's hand pushing in under her skin and inside her body. It was impossible she thought, but then the burning ache in her chest was telling her otherwise. She felt like everything was leaving her: her strength, her magic, her will. She wanted to scream in agony but only a raw rattling got out of her constricted throat. Her legs buckled under her and she slowly slid to the ground. She thought Kira held her stood for a moment, using her grip in her chest, like she was tearing at her heart and Tara nearly fainted, but the second after, her knees touched the cold ground, shortly followed by her hands and arms and torso and head.
She was so weak that she was even unable to look up when she heard Kira's muffled, exited voice.
"Great! Oh Goddess, Tara, this feels so good! I'm sure you have no idea how good you feel! These days have been the best in my life since..."
The silence followed and Tara figured Kira wavered, probably giving thought to the matter.
"Whatever," she finally said. "In a long time."
She went on rambling alone but Tara wasn't listening anymore. She wasn't hearing anymore to be more precise. Kira's voice had become a far away whisper which sense she couldn't clearly make out. Her legs and arms were numb, the excruciating pain she had felt before was starting to fade away. Was she dying? For a second, she wished she remembered how it had felt to die the first time. To check if she was dying right now.
But it had been so sudden. It had taken her by surprise. Nothing to do with the way she was allowing herself to slowly slide into unconsciousness now. If she closed her eyes and didn't try too hard to breathe, it could be over so soon...
"You and Faith have been so perfect toys to play with," she heard among the mist that had been Kira's words for a while.
She didn't know why she had mastered to understand this sentence in particular, but a word struck at her ears and made her come back to her senses as if one had thrown a bucket of cold water on her face.
Faith.
Faith was the reason she had come there in the first place.
She had come to help Faith.
Faith was hurt.
She had to help her.
Tara tried to gather what little strength left she had. She raised her head with big difficulty and tried to make out Faith's figure through her blurred vision. It took her several seconds to take sight of the brunette Slayer, still lying in the snow a few feet from her. The blonde tried to sit up but she just couldn't.
She had to. Faith wasn't moving. She was at least hurt. Maybe worse. Tara had to go to her, to check on her, to help her if possible. She felt tears of despair forming at the corners of her eyes as she failed once more to sit.
"F-faith..." she tried to call the slayer and her voice sounded so weak and low she was sure Faith couldn't hear her despite her enhanced senses.
"Faith..." she repeated, trying to get louder but her friend's name sounded more like a desperate rattle.
Tara tried again to sit or to stand but her legs wouldn't obey her command. She felt so weak...
She looked up to her friend once more and watched her blurred figure for a few moments, hoping somehow that the incredible slayer would just regain consciousness, would just stand and finally kick Kira's ass. It was the way things always ended with Faith, right?
But not this time obviously. The brunette still did not move and Tara's great fear that Kira had killed her rushed in her head. She had to go to her, to reach her, to help her. Maybe it wasn't too late.
She tried to stand again with no more luck. In a desperate attempt, the blonde pushed on her arms and started to crawl in the snow toward her friend. She stopped a brief instant upon hearing Kira's mocking voice.
"Isn't it touching?" the brown-haired witch snickered.
Tara shivered, both from cold and fear. She had forgotten the other witch's presence for a moment, disoriented as she was by her attack. She turned apprehensively her head toward her. But Kira didn't look threatening at all anymore. She was casually sitting on a fallen tree's trunk and appeared to just watch and enjoy the scene in front of her. Tara hesitantly tore her gaze off her. She decided to forget about Kira for the time being and resumed her crawling to Faith.
When she finally reached the still slayer, Tara noticed at once her wide opened eyes and she felt her stomach violently squeezing in her chest. Faith's nose and lips were bleeding and her face was bruised. Her jacket was torn. Tara's first move was to check on the Slayer's pulse. She sighed with relief when she felt it and saw the brunette was breathing. She gently lifted Faith's neck with her arm and lightly shook the girl by the shoulder.
"Faith, talk to me," she breathed. "Tell me something, anything."
She got neither response, nor any reaction at all.
"Faith," she implored in a begging tone. "Talk to me."
She checked for the pulse once more and found it again.
"Faith," she repeated and her voice broke a little, as the slayer still didn't answer.
"It's useless," Said suddenly Kira in a casual voice. "She won't reply."
Tara turned slowly her head toward the other witch. She was still on her tree and wasn't even looking at Faith and Tara, as she looked engrossed in her own hands contemplation.
"Why is that?" Tara asked in a weak but nevertheless stutter-free voice. "What have you done to her?"
Kira looked up and stood. She walked to the girls and Tara began to shake as she approached. The brown-haired girl stopped beside both friends and smirked as she took sight of Faith.
"Don't be so afraid," Kira casually told Tara when she noticed how much the blonde was shaking. "You've got nothing left I'm interesting in."
"Wh-what have you done to her?" Tara repeated. "Have you put a spell on her?"
Kira's smile got wider and she shrugged. She let escape a long-suffering sigh before replying.
"You're a witch from what little I know. You'll figure it out yourself."
With that, she turned on her heels and started to get away, leaving a dumbfounded Tara behind. The blonde looked at Faith again. Nothing had changed in the slayer's state.
"Kira!" Tara called as loud as she could when she realized the other witch was leaving. "Come back! Undo it!"
"Kira!" the blonde shouted again a few seconds later as the young woman wasn't replying her calls.
"That's your job, girl!" Kira exclaimed, waving above her shoulder without even turning to Tara. "Have faith, you'll find a way!"
"Kira! Please!" Tara begged, feeling panic overwhelming her. "Please come back!"
But Kira didn't. She resumed her casual walk and Tara helplessly watched her retreating between the saplings.
"Good luck!" was the last thing she heard from the other witch as she finally disappeared from the blonde's sight.