The Redemption Series – The Amulet of Atheros – Chapter 1 "Faith"
All characters referring to Buffy and Angel belong to Joss Whedon, only the plot belongs to me.
Note from the author:
This is the first in hopefully a recurring series of a Buffy/Angel spin-off set a few years after the events that ended season 7. It has both characters from the Buffy and Angel franchise.
Friday, 16th November 2005
The night chill descends upon the slums of Brooklyn...
A brazen young harlot walked slouching, shivering inside a tattered leather coat, her hands searching inside the pockets. She pulled a crushed pack of cigarettes from the left and lit up. She threw the empty pack in a trash can and walked on, not noticing she dropped her lighter. Soon enough a tall and sallow-looking stranger was chasing after her. She turned the corner and he grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Miss, you dropped your lighter." He handed it back to her. Faith looked him up and down and took it slowly from his hand.
"Thanks." She put it back in her pocket and withdrew a freshly sharpened stake. The man looked at her with shock and confusion.
"What are you doing!?"
She kicked him to a wall and punched him repeatedly in the jaw, then tripped him to the ground.
"You have no idea who you're messing with."
She raised the stake and aimed at his chest, but halted when his face didn't change. She was suddenly taken back seven years to her first 'murder', the deputy mayor. Remembering the shock and dismay she felt and the words Buffy had said to her, she stepped back and helped the guy up.
"I uh… I'm sorry."
"Jesus you're crazy bitch."
"Oh yeah?" Well maybe next time you shouldn't go chasing women in the dark, pervert." She put the stake away and walked on.
Faith quickly turned on the heater in her sadly dilapidated apartment and turned on the TV. She switched on the stove and started boiling the kettle, kicked off her heels and jumped on her festering bed. Just then a repulsive demon smashed through her window and grabbed her throat, and threw her against the wardrobe. Faith struggled to get up but was picked up off the floor and flung face first out the window onto the fire escape. She spurted out some blood and stood to face the beast, with a large length of broken glass in her palm. The demon did not move.
"Come on!" She spat out some more blood and wiped her face.
"What are you waiting for!?" He stared blankly back. She picked up a large sheet of glass and flung it towards it. The demon stepped to one side and watched it smash. Then it looked back towards Faith and began to speak in a husky, booming tone.
"Buffy Summers?" Faith giggled.
"No honey, the names Faith." She jumped back through the frame and swung the glass at his neck; the demon picked her up at the waist and pushed her to the wall. While loosing breath she stood again and attempted a right hook at his chest, only to be beaten back to the floor.
"Where is the slayer?"
"Half way around the world last time I checked." She raised and faced it.
"Then I shall leave, you are of no importance to me." Faith picked up the broken glass and drove it straight through his back.
"Buffy, Buffy, Buffy. Can I ask, what is you're kind's obsession with her? I mean what makes her so great? I'm a slayer, I save the world too, but oh no Buffy gets all the credit, perfect Buffy Summers." She picks him up and heaves him towards the stove.
"Well you know what? I don't think she's got much going for her to be honest. Can't keep a man, skinny, nothing going for her in the chest department and 'bout as fun as a castration treatment." She fetches a knife from her gym bag and halts it above his head.
"You know, I'm glad you came here today, you really helped me think about my life, you know, helped me move on to the next step or something bullshit like that. See ya." She let the knife slip into the back of his skull and withdrew it, watching the blood ooze out.
As she began disposing the body, a grand-looking necklace caught her eye.
"Sweet." She snatched it off his neck and took a closer look. Something wasn't right. An aura of darkness surrounded the stone embedded in its centre, black and haunting, this was an item of evil and great power, she could feel it. Faith leaned in closer and closer until she could hear it mutter something, faint words.
"The Beast shall rise again."