Fic: Souls, Slayers... and a Scythe???
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
Chapter 8a:
Night time
Roger was nervous. They'd been walking around at night for a while now. His request to bring Bessie along, had been met with a lot of negativity. "Guns don't kill vampires." they'd all said. 'Pretty sure, they'd find biting me more difficult, once I'd blown their fucking knees off though.'
He took a look at the rest of the group. Amy was in front of him, she was holding a stake in each hand, and seemed fairly confident in doing so. A closer look revealed that she was nervous though, the anticipation of the night's possible events getting to her. Everyone so often she'd grasp her stake tighter, getting some form of reassurance from it's prescence.
Roger looked down at the stake he carried. It wasn't giving him any reassurances at all. He held it loosely it his left hand. Partially, in disbelief that this would work, whereas a good knife he'd been informed, would only do damage, no kill. Still, he had a trusty knife in his coat pocket, he'd snuck that on his person, not sure how the others would react to him bringing it along. He was also carrying a crossbow, Faith had handed him that, when she'd got tired of him complaining about not being able to take his shotgun along. He'd been told, not to actually carry that and just keep it attached to his coat's inner pocket. But it made his coat hang strange, and didn't feel like he would get chance to use it should they be attacked. Whenever they passed anyone who could witness it, he'd take the crossbow out of his coat and just carry it for a while. That made him feel reassured.
He thought how ridiculous they must all look. It was still warm at night, and here they were with three of them wearing coats or jackets. "Useful for hiding weapons," Xander had said. 'Sure that works fine in America. But most people out here are still in shorts and tee-shirts.'
He looked over his shoulder to see Xander bringing up the rear. Xander gave him a quick nod, then continued to monitor the surroundings. Xander seemed apprehensive about tonight, but Roger reckoned that was probably more to do, with himself and Amy being along while they go looking for trouble, than anything trouble might send his own way.
Xander was also wearing a coat. 'God knows what he's got under there though.' he thought to himself. Xander didn't have any weapons visible in his own hands, but Roger knew they'd be within easy reach should he require them. Xander had become the pack-horse for weapons, when they'd been getting ready. He'd been putting everything into his coat that he could. The coat seemed specifically designed to conceal weapons too. All in easy reach, and all getting assigned to certain pockets where they'd fit perfectly. Roger had only seen Xander putting stakes into his coat. But he knew other stuff would be there too. He was pretty certain at one point, there'd been a small hand axe on the table, but shortly afterward it'd gone. There would be no prizes for guessing, who was carrying that.
One of the reasons, Xander was carrying everything, was that Faith seemed to be carrying nothing.
He looked forward to where she was leading the way. Dressed in a pair of khaki mid-length shorts and a tee-shirt, she was the only one who looked like they actually belonged in Africa. Faith carried two stakes, neatly tucked into her belt. She seemed to be ignoring them too.
Wondering why Faith didn't have to carry anything, when she was supposedly the strongest of the group, he'd asked Xander. "Being overly armed would just slow Faith down." had been the reply. Misunderstanding that to mean that if Faith had been wearing what Xander had, she would have struggled under the weight, Xander had quickly corrected him. "Faith is a Slayer. She needs freedom of movement to fight effectively. Wearing an outfit like this, would be too restrictive for her."
Faith seemed practically cheery, she was leading the way, only a few steps in front of Amy. She was chattering away with Amy, trying to persuade her to put the stakes away.
"Look, you don't have to actually let go of them." Faith explained. "Just fold your arms slightly, so that you can hide them from view a little."
Roger noticed that Amy was looking more than a little doubtful. Confused he slowed down to talk to Xander.
"Why's she trying to get Amy to be unarmed?"
Xander responded without really looking at him. "It's a Slayer technique. As all Slayers are teenage girls, they normally lure vampires into attacking them, by acting all innocent and unaware of the supernatural. You'd be surprised at how often it works out."
"But...." Roger began.
"Walking as a group, with two of the members actually holding stakes out... That's not what we'd call inconspicuous, is it..? Vampires are going to know what we're up to."
"But wouldn't the vampires know anyway? I mean, can't they sense the Slayer, the way the Slayer senses them."
"I don't think it works that way. Can't say I've ever asked... wouldn't be a very good design of Slayer, if she stuck out in a crowd though, would it."
Roger looked forward, trying to imagine exactly what sort of crowd Faith could blend into. He decided the thought scared him a little.
"The other thing is... we don't know how vampires are responding to this 'multiple Slayer' situation. I mean, previously... one on the whole planet, they were unlucky if a night's meal turned out to be her. But now... if they'd heard about what happened, and they will have heard about it, then they may be more careful."
"How could they be more careful... I mean what could they do..?"
"Offhand... dunno... but... if I was in their shoes... I'd definitely try my best to avoid snacking on teenage girls... regardless of how tempting a target they seem to be." His eye wandered towards Faith on the word 'tempting'. "That'd definitely reduce the odds of accidently bumping into one."
"So tonight could be unfruitful..?" Roger asked.
"Yeah... but we still might get lucky." Xander said.
"Play your cards right." Faith responded, as she and Amy walked back to them. "'Kay, not getting anything that way... any places where vamps might attack?"
"Dunno..." Xander admitted, "told you, I've only seen a few since I got here. Rog, any clues?"
"You said the ones in America, they hung out in bars and so on... you know for easy pickings."
"If this is some excuse..." Amy began.
"I don't mean we have to go in... well... Faith does... but she's the only one who can sense them right..? We can hang out in wait outside."
"Sounds like a good plan." Xander said.
"I'm game." Faith agreed.
A Few Hours Later
Amy was tired. They'd gone to the more rowdier parts of the the city. Faith was running off into every bar and she'd been waiting outside with the others. 'Eleven bars now...' she thought, as Faith disappeared inside the latest one. 'Beginning to wish, I hadn't called Roger on the drinking, as I sure could use one myself.'
Amy wasn't really certain that was the best plan though. 'No... definitely need to stay sober if we're going vamp-hunting.' Having not been trained as a Field Watcher, Amy had never actually seen a vampire up close. Of course, she'd the ones brought in to the academy. But they were normally bound, tired and gagged. Some to be used in training exercises, others used as proof to newcomers. That'd been her first vision of a vampire. A man tied up on a desk struggling with his bounds, still a safety cage had been installed, so that they'd have time to run if it did get free. To prove that no trickery was involved, the cage had been placed in the centre of a large warehouse and no Watchers were near it. Once everyone had gotten a good look, one of the Watchers had removed the cover from the Skylight. The vampire had combusted before their very eyes.
She was interrupted in her musings when Faith came out of the bar. "Nope... nothing in that one either." she informed them.
They headed towards the next likely location. It was far emptier than the others. Faith quickly popped her head in. "Can't feel anything." She responded after a few seconds.
Xander was apparently in the same frame of mind as Amy was. "Let's go in here for a drink... non-alcoholic of course." He quickly corrected himself. Everyone shared mutters of agreement.
Amy was so pleased to get to sit down, she went over to get the first round in. "Four cokes please." She ordered, and patiently waited for the drinks.
The others all came over and collected their drinks, while Amy paid.
Moving to a free table, they all sat down. Sighs of relief could be heard. Weapons were quietly concealed about their person, and coats were carefully removed so as not to display their contents.
From her viewpoint, Amy saw Xander's coat open for a brief second. It reminded her of one of those sellers on a beach, with rows of fake watches on their inside lining. But Xander's coat held possible death, instead of cheap knock-offs.
"So..." Rog began, from beside her. "What am I really expecting to see here? For my first vampire staking that is."
"Yes." Amy agreed, "I'm intrigued as to what to expect as well."
"You!" Roger responded. "I thought, you'd have staked a few already."
"Not me... desk trained, remember? Got a few basics in self defense but nothing like what a field watcher, would have had."
"Thought you weren't impressed with the field watcher handbook?" Faith smirked at her.
"Would have been better than nothing." Amy responded taking a sip from her drink.
"So neither of you have seen a vampire, let alone staked one?" Xander asked, trying to get a better feel for how they might react if they managed to find one.
Amy watched his body language, as he asked his question, with interest. 'He's gonna be observing us... Not the vampie, he'll rely on Faith to deal with the vampire and he'll be making sure we're okay.'
"I told everyone... I don't think I've seen one." Roger responded.
"Seen, but not interacted." Amy admitted. "It was one of those, 'This is a vampire.' lectures at the council."
"So..." Roger continued. "What was it like then... when you two seasoned vets saw your first vampire?"
Faith and Xander shared a look. Xander shrugged, and gestured for Faith to go first. Nodding, she took a mouthful and began her tale. "Firstly, you have to remember I was no Potential... no-one gave me prior warning for this shit. The first I'd even heard about vampires being real, was when this woman turned up and told me she was assigned to be my watcher." Amy watched, as Faith paused, as if deciding what to say next. "After getting the four-one-one on the whole deal, I was a little dubious as you could imagine. Needless to say, she took me out into the cemetary. Waiting around freshly dug graves for most of the night, before we even found a new-born. As you can imagine. That came as quite the shock... I mean I thought this poor woman was deluded, but here she was knowing shit about my dreams and stuff."
"Dreams..?" Roger queried.
"Just your regular prohetic dreams... well actually, not... it's difficult to explain. Anyway, here I was sitting talking to this woman, when an honest-to-God fucking corpse climbs out of the ground. Lesser people would have shit themselves. Me... I was fighting the urge to just run. Instincts, ya know... like when you hear the cop sirens."
She took another drink.
"Right... So, I'm standing there... Get me, watching a corpse climb out of the ground, and all I'm thinking is that the woman might not be as crazy as I'd thought." Amy thought, she saw Faith swallow hard before continuing. "Turns out she was one of the best people, I'd ever get to know. But at that point, oo oooh crazy bitch alert." Faith mimed, the actions of a crazy person.
"This woman... fucking walks up to this corpse... casually, like this was an every-day event." At their looks, she quickly covered her tracks, "Well I didn't know it was gonna be a typical everyday event, did I..? And kicks it in the face... well tough bitch like that, I can respect, you know. She gets this bottle of some shit, and tosses it in the face. From it's reaction, I figured it must be acid or some toxic shit, turns out to be water. Proves it to me by later drinking some... But anyway, this corpse is just lying there on the ground, holding its face... saying it's gonna fuck her up and all that kinda shit, when she kicks it over so it's lying on it's front and plunges something into it's back."
Pausing for dramatic effect. "The fucking thing explodes, and I'm wondering what the fuck was in the bottle and what the fuck she has in her hand. I figure we're talking serious goverment issue, James Bond style weapons you know... but as the dust clears, I can finally make out the thing she stabbed it with... it's a sharpened tree branch... as tools go, it hasn't fucking reached the Bronze Age... she just strides over to me. Takes a swig of the water, and then pours some on my hand... to show it ain't no trick. And just says. 'And that Faith, is a vampire.' Fuck me, as first impressions go... that's pretty hard to beat. Gets me more used to what my body is capable of... I mean she was impressed with how I'd started to use it anyway... first time an adult been impressed by me in a long time." She added sadly. "Starts giving me proper training, shouting at me when I fuck up, complimenting me when I've done well, giving me advice on how to improve, treating me as a kind of equal... two nights later, she lets me face one alone... not one of these freshly risen motherfuckers either, those we'd used mainly for training purposes... one that was actually hunting... and she stands there. We interrupt it's meal and she stands to the side letting me deal with it. She has that much confidence in me. I stake the fucker and she treats me to some decent food. And that's it really..." she drifts off.
"Best thing that ever happened to me too." She mumbled extremely quietly.
Everyone stood around, not really knowing what to say. Amy looked at Xander, seemed he was the most shocked, unsure what to do next they just sat around in silence.
Seemingly uncomfortable, Faith was the first to break it. "So Xan... what was your first time, like?" She asked, returning to her more normal persona.
"We'll save that for another time, eh..?" Xander responded. "Break's over.... lets just stake a vamp and be done with it." Xander said, putting his coat back on.
"I really don't like the casual way they say that." Roger whispered in Amy's ear.
"I know... it wasn't like this, the first time I worked for the council." She said, as they both got up to join them.
Faith was already outside and Xander was holding the door open for them. Once outside they all continued onwards until they reached the next pub.
Amy was watching as Faith suddenly tensed.
"Getting a nagging feeling." She'd muttered, as they approached the entrance.
"What kind..?" Xander asked, tensing himself.
'Unlucky for some.' Amy thought to herself.
"Vamp." Faith informed everyone.
Amy watched as Roger started to fidget, trying to get a better grip on his stake. Amy wondered if she looked like that.
Xander kept watch though the window. "Go inside," he instructed Faith, "see if you can locate. We'll decide how to play this once we have got a better idea of the situation."
"Play this..?" Amy asked.
"Who'd be the bait." Faith explained, just before she darted into the bar.
She'd been gone for a few minutes, Xander was staring into the bar trying to locate her, Amy and Roger were standing in the middle of the street.
Roger had been there before, so he walked over to Xander to tell him what he knew. "It's a big bar, two floors... could take her a while to successfully locate."
"I guess." Xander said, eyes never stopped scanning the area visible to him.
That's when Amy heard it, the growl. And it was coming from somewhere behind her.
End chapter 8a