Faith walked quickly down the long drive towards Hogsmeade, breathing in the cool air, and swinging her arms to loosen the muscles. Still she was unaware of the follower. She walked into the town, wondering where the vamps were likely to hang. She'd heard that not many vampires bothered to come to this area- witches and wizards were harder to get near then normal people. But Faith was enough of a vamp expert to know that the majority of vampires would go whereever there was blood, and a large number would favour a whole town of people with such power flowing in their veins. It didn't take long for Faith to find a darker part of town, which stank of evil. And voila, a bar from which the stench of demons was all too clear. She entered calmly, and went to the bar, ordering a JD and coke, which she was served with a very confused look from the wizard barman. Faith sat on a bar stool, and looked around the bar. It was very much like Willy's in SunnyDale- jam packed with every type of scum, both human and otherwise. Many of them were looking at her very suspiciously. Within a few minutes, a vampire approached her, probably presuming that she was an innocent who didn't realise what she'd stumbled in on.
"Heya sweetie." He cooed, "Can I buy you a drink?"
"Already got one." She said.
"Well then… why don't we go somewhere… quieter?"
She rolled her eyes,
"Na. I'm good here." Faith said, opening her jacket a little wider to show more neck, and flicking her hair back out of the way. She was very good at winding people (or vampires) up. He growled.
"Well, see, me an' my boys are lookin' for some fun, so you don't really have much choice." Faith acted surprised as three more vamps joined them, just behind the first.
"Oh… well… ok then… I guess…" She murmured timidly. They grinned, and the first one grinned at the barman as they left, the vamps surrounding the under cover slayer. Faith was grinning herself inside. It was great being somewhere completely different, where they didn't just cry 'Slayer!' and run away. Outside, Faith smiled coyly at the first vamp, "So… what did you have in mind?" She purred. The vamp grinned wider, and closed in,
"Oh, the usual." He said, putting on his game face, expecting a nice scream. Instead, Faith smiled dangerously at him
"Oh I'm soo glad." She said. He lunged at her neck, grabbing for her arms, but she stepped calmly backwards, knocking him on the back of the head as he stumbled, "Well that was pathetic." She quipped. He was up again, growling, and holding up a hand to keep his friends back. He leapt at Faith again, and was staked in less than a minute. Faith wasn't even breathing hard, "I hope one of you can do a bit better." She said to the vamp gang. In answer, they all had a go, all at once. Faith was ecstatic. She'd been training day in day out for months and was in better shape than ever; plus she'd been craving a decent fight for a while. Soon enough there were two vamps left, both standing opposite Faith, preparing to attack simultaneously. Faith smiled, and they made their moves. Faith knocked one back quick, then played with the other a bit, knocking him down when the first was ready, and swapping. She was pummelling one when the other got up quicker than before, coming at her from behind. Faith sensed him, and staked the current vamp quick. But as she turned to face vamp number two, a figure leapt from the shadows onto the vampire. Faith put her hands on her hips- who dared get in the way of her fight? Then they moved further into the light of a street lamp-
"Charlie!?" She exclaimed. He punched the vamp, staked it, and faced her.
"You ok?" He asked.
"Yah." She huffed, "What the hell are you doing here!?"
"Erm… making sure you didn't get yourself killed." He replied.
"You followed me!?" She cried.
"I guess you could say that- what the hell were you thinking? Getting into fights…"
"It's called slaying. It's my job, dumbass." She snapped. Charlie sighed, knowing that arguing would help no one.
"Look… I just saw you sneaking about when I was going back to my room…"
"Sneaking about? I wasn't exactly being very sneaky!" She countered.
"Faith. Stop it. I just thought maybe you could use some help."
"Why does every one think I need help? I'm not deficient!"
"That's not what I meant and you know it." He said calmly. Faith sighed,
"We should get back."
"I thought you wanted to slay?" He said. Faith just looked at him. What she wanted to say was that she didn't want him getting hurt, but there were so many reasons why she couldn't. She shrugged,
"Lost the mood." She murmured, turning to rejoin the main street.
"Faith… I didn't mean to put you down." He said, following.
"You didn't." She replied quietly, "Don't worry about it."
"I get the feeling you were avoiding me today."
"Well done you."
Charlie chuckled,
"So you were then."
"You want a prize?"
"I… whatever." Charlie said, reaching a decision. "I don't know why I even bother." He quickened his step, over taking Faith and leaving her stunned. She had been avoiding him- she didn't want him around all the time, making her feel things she shouldn't, but now that he'd actually taken the hint, she felt worse- she felt cold, abandoned, and guilty.
"Charlie." She called after him before she could stop herself. She jogged to catch up, and stopped him. "Look… I'm sorry." He was truly shocked. "I just… I never… I'm not so good with dealing with people… urgh- I don't even know how to say this…" She took a breath, looked up into his eyes, and dove into the deep end, "When I care about people, they tend to get hurt… and it's usually my fault. I can't make… connections, Charlie. It's too complicated, too dangerous. Last night… well, that's always just been… skin… to me… It never meant anything…" Charlie shook his head and began to turn away. "Until you." She said quickly. He froze. "That's why I freaked." She sighed, "It wasn't meant to mean anything- it was meant to be a release, nothing else- but you…" She laughed shortly, "You keep making me feel, dammit. You made it more." She dropped her gaze, "I just needed to say that."
For a moment, they just stood there, Faith looking forlornly at the ground, and Charlie looking at the woman before him with an unreadable expression. This woman who acted like she'd seen everything, but was really little more than a girl. Charlie raised a hand to her chin, bringing her face up to meet his eyes. Then he stepped forwards, and kissed her gently. He moved his hand to her back, supporting her while she draped her arms around his neck. Inside, Faith was singing. This wasn't wild snogging- it was light, gentle, but passionate… and it meant something.
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Short but sweet. Fluff fluff fluffity fluff!!
Review please!!