When Faith had scrupulously eat Tara's plate up, she announced they were ready to leave. Impressed by her appetite, the barmaid offered her a sandwich for the road and Faith accepted with pleasure. After a last walk in the parking to stretch their legs, both young women settled back in the car with Faith at the wheel and Tara in the passenger's seat as previously.

They didn't have exchanged a word since the end of the dinner.

As during the previous hours and days, silence fell again in the passenger cell. Faith switched the radio on and let it play softly as Tara wedged her head between the door and the headrest. Faith cast her a glance from time to time and noticed that Tara went back to sleep quickly. Faith could tell to the way her chest was rising up regularly and her limbs were relaxed. It never happened when she was awake. Even when she gazed into space and looked like to be elsewhere, her limbs were tense , nervous, as they were ready to react to any unusual event.

Faith's attention came back to the road and the Slayer started to hum an old country song despite herself. She however didn't reach the end of the song as the ringing of the phone interrupted it. Faith seized the mobile laid on the dashboard in front of her. She was t a new glance to Tara. She hadn't moved.

Faith pressed the button to answer.

"Hello?" She said in a monotonous tone.

"Of course it's Faith. Who do you want it to be?" She grumbled a second later.

At the end of the line, Giles said something and Faith smiled. She could almost imagine the former Watcher frowning and grumbling an evident 'yes, of course'.

"Yeah, Tara's here" She answered a little later. "She's sleeping. As always. You sure she didn't get a partial resurrection?"

Giles's exclamation made her move the phone aside.

"Sorry, was tacky, I know… But I'm kinda bored lately…"

Faith fell silent, listened to Giles.

"No, I didn't kill anything these last few days. Just some vamps the day after we left Cleveland. Not that much"

Again, the Slayer fell silent to let Giles talk.

"Yeah, everything's right, Giles" She said and rolled her eyes. "What do you want to happen? There's nothing…" Silence again. "Yeah, I'll get you informed of what happen to us…"

Faith fell silent again and rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah, I'm taking care of Tara. Don't worry. And…"

Silence.

"Yes. Promise…bye"

Faith was about to hang up but hesitated for a second and finally put the phone to her ear again.

"Hum, Giles…" She said. "Thank you"

The Slayer nodded and finally hung up and put the phone back to its place. She turned to Tara. The blonde moved slightly and her face came in to sight. She was still sleeping.

Faith's gaze came back to the road. She turned up the volume slightly and leant back in her seat. If the barmaid had told her the truth, they would find a little town on their road in an hour or so now. Faith wasn't especially tired. But after spending two days in the car, a little break would do her some good. Tara would certainly be happy to have a bed after spending the last nights in the car. And Faith really wanted to go for a walk in a cemetery at night. Some action. That was what she needed, she thought as she stared at the dark deserted road in front of her.

A piercing scream tore her off her reverie. Surprised, Faith shied and she instinctively crushed the brake pedal. The car went off its lane, slightly skidded and stopped abruptly on the side of the road in a trademark screech of tires. Both passengers were thrust out forward and unkindly stopped by their safety belt.

Faith turned to Tara and saw the blonde backing against the door and looking at her wide-eyed, her heart pounding, breathing hard, her hand in front of her mouth.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Faith suddenly flared up. "What got into you?"

Tara simply stared at her, obviously indifferent to the Slayer's outburst.

"What got into you?" Faith harshly repeated.

She still didn't get any answer as Tara still looked at her without any change in her behavior. The Slayer's fingers clenched the wheel and Faith felt the little patience she still got about to vanish.

"What got into you?" She almost yelled this time, annoyed with the blonde's silence.

And her outburst was partially rewarded.

"I, I…" Tara stuttered.

"You what?" Faith went on in the same tone as Tara didn't manage to get her answer out. "We could have gotten killed! If I wasn't a Slayer, I'd probably have thrown this car in the décor or had an heart attack and…"

Faith fell silent when she saw the blonde's breathing didn't calm down and that she was backing more into the door behind her with each word she pronounced. She took back the control of her own breathing and tried to calm her nerves. The rage passed but Faith couldn't totally shake off her anger. She couldn't help but be exasperated by Tara's stasis and her look of a deer caught into a car's light .

"So?" She asked and tried to control the anger in her voice.

"I, I…"

Tara fell silent again and her face crumpled in front of the Slayer's obvious impatience.

"You what?" Faith insisted harder than she had intended.

"I…"

Faith rolled her eyes despite herself. Getting a sentence from the witch was the kind of challenge she didn't like. Having her saying something when she didn't feel like talking or when she started to stutter like now asked patience Faith simply didn't have. She loudly sighed before asking again in a bored tone:

"What happened?"

"I…A nightm…A nightmare…" Tara finally got out and the aforementioned nightmare had let her still agitated.

A nightmare. Of course, Faith thought. It wasn't the first time a nightmare pulled Tara out of sleep. But since they had left Cleveland a week before, Faith had never hear her scream like this.

"Okay" She said finally as she was looking at Tara trying desperately to control the shaking in her hands. "Do you wanna go for a walk outside before we leave?"

The witch shook her head and looked at Faith with something in her gaze looking like distrust.

"N-No…I'm gonna be o-okay."

She sat back normally again in her seat, looked at the road ahead and turned to Faith again.

"I'm gonna be okay…" She repeated in a low voice.

Faith nodded and got ready to drive again.

"I suggest that you avoid to sleep until we get to the hotel." The Slayer said in a casual tone, without looking at Tara. "We'll avoid that kind of unpleasant event"

And the car resumed its trip on the deserted road.

Faith's wish to drive quietly without any incident short lived. After just fifteen minutes spent in complete silence save for the engine's noise, the car backfired again like sooner and Faith had to stop on the side of the road. After pulled on the lever to free the hood, the Slayer got out of the car like a whirlwind and slammed violently the door behind her. Then she stood in front of the car with a dark look on her face as if trying to impress it this way could have resolved whatever the problem was.

"Godamn night!" She yelled to no one in particular.

She then kicked with controlled force the car's door and noticed that Tara had jumped to the noise. A slight satisfied smirk came to her lips.

Faith lifted the hood abruptly and bent forward in search of any sign of mechanical failure. She sighed a bored sigh after a few minutes of research and came back to the door she opened briskly. Tara turned to her while she ferreted in the wall-pocket but didn't tell her a word. Faith finally found what she was looking for when she laid a hand on a flashlight hidden under the driver seat. She took it and closed the door, still in silent.

The Slayer bent again above the engine, satisfied to see something this time. She ran the light over the engine, scrutinized each cable and growled with annoyance when she didn't notice anything wrong. She bent more forward and plunged her gaze as far as she could. Mechanically, Faith thought her white tee-shirt wouldn't be really white when she would be done.

The light went alternately on length of cables and went down lower and lower. And again, Faith mumbled unintelligible curse words. She bent forward again and almost put her cheek against the engine to examine as far as possible.

Suddenly, a yellowish light appeared just under her and Faith thought she could feel a breath on her face. A cry she couldn't identify rang and pierced her ears. The Slayer felt something move close to her and stepped back abruptly when she felt something tearing at her shoulder. Her head knocked violently the hood above her and it closed noisily. Faith found herself half-laid on the grass in front of the car, slightly groggy by the impact. But she came back quickly to herself and grabbed the flashlight she had let escape in her fall. Faith scanned her surroundings in search of the thing, which had just literally jumped onto her. She touched her shoulder and noticed she had scratched and that she was bleeding.

"Another wasted tee-shirt" she grumbled for herself.

"Something's wrong?" Tara asked then as she got out of the car.

Faith cast her a brief glance before her attention returned to their surroundings.

"Get in the car" she replied without even looking at the witch. "There's something out there"

"Something?" Tara asked in a halting tone.

"Don't know what it is. And as long as I don't know what it is or it's dead, I want you to get in that damn car"

Saying this, the Slayer was still looking around her carefully. When she didn't hear the car's door closing, she turned around to Tara and saw she hadn't moved at all and was still standing near the car.

"Get in the car" Faith repeated impatiently. "What part of that sentence didn't you understand?"

Both women stared at each other, Faith giving Tara a dark and imperious look while Tara was looking at her without really seeing her.

"Get in the car" Faith resumed and stressed each syllable. "I can't…'

"Behind you!" Tara interrupted, gesturing vaguely with her hand.

But even before the blonde had opened her mouth, Faith had already felt a presence behind her and she rolled on the side to avoid the attack coming in her back. She felt something brushing her arm and got to her feet as quickly and turned around as quickly as she had dodged to seize her opponent, which was already jumping onto her again.

The demon she was holding at arm's length above her head wasn't probably bigger than a wild cat. But to the strange light in its eyes, its impressive claws coming from what seemed half human arms and half animal legs, Faith knew without any doubt that her opponent was a demon.

The thing above her delivered a guttural scream and spat its rage to her face while trying to get its head and fangs closer to the Slayer's head. The beast was strong but not as stronger as Faith and with a surge of energy, she pushed violently on her arms to move the monster aside from. As soon as she was free, Faith jumped to her feet. She scrutinized the demon in front of her. Her first appraisal had been right: it wasn't really bigger than a wild cat. You could easily thought it was one at first sight. Except that what seemed to be bristled beards on its back were in fact sharps picks. Except that its fangs and claws didn't look at all like a wild cat's soft claws. Except for its weirdly articulated forward limbs. Except for its husky cry that certainly wasn't the meow of a regular cat.

"Get in the car" Faith repeated as she turned slightly to Tara without stopping any second to look at the monster.

She had tried to sound authoritarian but her firm tone didn't meet any more success than previously and Tara stayed still in her place, gazing at the demon not too far from her as Faith just didn't exist.

The Slayer sighed, rolled her eyes, clenched her fists with frustration but gave in.

"Good. Do as you want. But if you're killed AGAIN, you won't say I didn't warn you" she grumbled more for herself than for Tara.

Faith punctuated her sentence by moving slightly to stand exactly between the demon and the car. She ran her hand to her jeans' back pockets in search of a weapon and noticed she had none.

"Great…" She growled. "A knife would have been good"

She considered for a second asking Tara to grab her weapons in the car. But she gave up this idea. As long as she didn't move, Faith knew exactly where she was. And it was better to protect her.

The beast in front of her interrupted Faith's thoughts when it jumped without warning to the Slayer like a cat. Faith wanted to dodge the attack and took good care not to let the witch exposed as doing so. This way, she couldn't totally avoid the monster and a claw brushed her shoulder again.

Faith swore and noted the small demon's surprising execution's speed. It had hardly touched the ground that it turned again to her, hissing between its sharp teeth.

This time, the Slayer foresaw the attack, rolled on the side at the last moment and tried to grab it around the waist. Which worked real good thanks to the Slayer's outstanding speed and agility.

But in her hurry to instinctively act, Faith had forgotten the erected picks on the monster's back. As her arms surrounded the demon, she cried in pain and released hurriedly her prey.

"Shit!" She grumbled as she opened her arms in front of her and noticed the many small cut covering them now.

For an instant, she could imagine Buffy beside her rolling her eyes and lecturing her about how she should have been careful to attack a demon looking like a feline. Or a feline looking like a demon. Whatever it was.

The blonde Slayer wouldn't probably have acted as stupidly as herself, Faith thought bitterly. But she didn't really get time to linger about those reflections as Tara's voice brought her back to reality.

"Faith…"

Faith looked up and gave up the inspection of her hurt arms and turned to Tara.

The witch was still in the same place, standing near the car's right forward door. She was staring at the demon now just inches from the car and ready to jump forward.

The monster pushed on its hind legs with force and landed on the car's hood with a new piercing cry. Tara still hadn't moved.

Faith didn't let the beast time to attack the witch. She threw herself forward without thinking and grabbed with both hands the monster's hind legs and pulled it backward, out of reach of Tara. She stumbled in the process, because of the rudeness of her own gesture.

The demon hissed again frantically with frustration and bucked furiously backward. Faith hardly managed to avoid the bristled back of her opponent and she had a lot of squirming to do for that. She realized quickly that holding the beast in that position was far from the best but if she released it, she knew it would be hard to catch it again.

With great agility, Faith let go of one of the hind leg to grab almost at the same time one of the forward leg. The monster yelled even more forcefully and threw its free legs' claws to Faith in a furious and jumbled movement. Again, Faith felt the claws tearing at her thigh and forearm. She bit her lip in pain but she didn't let go.

In a new effort, she managed to turn the monster on its back and to put her knee on its stomach to keep her prey in this position.

"Tara!" She yelled to the blonde who was staring at the scene without moving a muscle. "Give me a weapon, a knife, anything!"

The Slayer bit her lip again to choke back a cry of pain as the monster bucked with renewed strength against the thigh keeping it in place.

"In the bag! Behind the driver seat!" She clarified in a choked voice when she noticed that Tara had still no reaction. "Shift your ass for God's sake!"

That new exclamation – sent in a much more piercing tone than previously – seemed to get the witch out of her torpor to Faith's great relief. Tara went back in the car and Faith saw her bending between the seats in search of something.

"Move, move, move!" She grumbled between her teeth as her jeans were reduced to pieces and the demon displayed a surprising strength in regard to its size, which forced Faith to tighten her grip to keep it captive.

Finally, Tara emerged again from the vehicle with a long thin dagger in her hand. She quickly and clumsily came to Faith and gave her the weapon. The Slayer released one of her grip to grab the dagger. The effect was immediate: when it felt Faith releasing it, the monster increased its efforts to try to free itself and scratches started to rain on the Slayer.

She didn't hesitate for a second and plunged the blade with rage in the demon's torso. Once, twice and he was struggling, hissing even more, buckling desperately to get free. Three times, four times, five times and at last he seemed to weaken. Six times, seven times, eight times and he stopped hissing. Nine times, ten times and he backed down, ceasing to struggle, ceasing random scratches. Eleven times and finally Faith felt life leaving the demon's body and it stopped to move.

When she was sure the monster was dead, Faith finally stood up. Beside her, Tara looked alternately at the demon and at the Slayer with the same horrified light in her eyes. Faith saw her chest violently jerk and the witch suddenly turned on her heels and ran behind the car when she fell to her knees. Faith could hear her barf the moment after.

The Slayer looked down at herself. Her hands were covered with a dirty mix of ground, dust, demon's blood and her own. Her jeans were in pieces, covered in blood too and here and there, her torn and mangled flesh could be seen.

The monster laid to her feet. The top of its torso was half-open by Faith's furious stabbing. For half a second, Faith thought she was going to get sick when she saw the beast's guts shown this way. But it last only a brief half-second.

Finally, Faith bent forward to take the dagger off the demon's body and she wiped it against the ground, then against what was left of her torn jeans. Her hands followed and the Slayer got back to the car. She opened the door and threw the dirty dagger in a weapons' bag, half-open behind the driver's seat.

Then, she came back in front of the car and opened the hood again before bending above the area where the monster had emerged.

"How the hell that thing was able to be there?" She grumbled for herself. "Damn contortionist…"

After several minutes she spent carefully inspecting, she noticed a slightly cut pipe.

"Tara you okay?" She asked loud enough to be sure to be heard, as she tried a quick fix.

The blonde didn't answer at first but after long silent minutes, Faith could hear her whispering a far from convincing "I'm fine".

"And by the way, I'm fine too" she resumed in a paltry tone after a silence. "In case you'd worry about my awful state, I'm gonna be fine, it looks worse than it really is. Got there already. And I guess you're happy to know?"

Faith waited a second but didn't get an answer as expected.

Satisfied with her word on the pipe, she closed the hood and got back in the car. She turned the ignition key and tried to start the engine. After two or three tries, it worked and Faith smiled with satisfaction.

"C'mon Blondie!" She exclaimed cheerfully. "We're gonna find a motel where you can get some rest!"

Tara didn't linger to open the door and to settle in her seat. Faith noticed she looked even more pallid than usual and couldn't help but smirk.

"You've gotta get a condition if you travel with me Blondie!" She said cheerfully. "Or that kind of things will often happen to you!"

She turned to Tara, almost smiling and noticed that the blonde was looking at her blankly.

"Yeah…" she grumbled, her almost smile vanishing from her face immediately. "Always so chatty…"

And the car left again, almost as if nothing had happened.