I still do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any mythology.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Tammin for all his hard work.

Kissing Toast

Sunnydale, Bronze

'She's got some weird friends,' Faith concluded as she popped a piece of a muffin into her mouth. It had been a little weird that they even knew about the Slaying, but she thought she'd adjusted well enough to that. The bigger audience was nice.

"The whole summer it was, like, the worst heat wave," the Slayer started while looking at the couple to her right. They were weird because they were together. The Cordelia chick was clearly some rich girl, probably high up on the high school food chain. Her boyfriend, however, was clearly a geek. A good-looking one, but not what the brunette was supposed to be dating.

"So it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees and I'm sleeping without a stitch on." That picture did get a normal reaction out of the odd couple. Xander was practically drooling while his girlfriend looked very not amused at his reaction.

It was Buffy's other friends who showed their weirdness then. The guy who's name was Oz looked cool as a cucumber, not reacting at all after hearing she'd slept in the nude. His girlfriend, though, had a very strong reaction. The redhead's eyes bugged out and then she licked her lips as Red blatantly checked Faith out. If it weren't clear how much Willow was into her boyfriend she would have sworn the girl was batting for the other team.

Finishing her fourth muffin, Faith got on with the story. "And all of a sudden, I hear this screaming from outside. So I go tearing out, stark nude, and this church bus has broken down, and there's these three vamps feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps, and the preacher comes up, and he's hugging me like there's no tomorrow, when all of a sudden, the cops pull up and they arrested us both."

Faith checked Buffy's reaction to that story under the guise of grabbing another muffin, but she didn't seem very impressed or shocked as the brunette had hoped. The blond was a puzzle herself too. She looked like a typical Valley-girl, but when she moved there was no mistaking her for that. 'Dangerous.'

Xander, on the other hand, was impressed with her tale. "Wow, they should film that story and show it every Christmas."

It earned him another death-glare from Cordelia, but it was Buffy's faintly amused smile that made Faith go for broke on trying to get a rise out of her fellow slayer. "God, I could eat a horse. Isn't it crazy how slaying just always makes you hungry and horny?" And just for emphasize she gobbled up a third of a muffin in one go.

This time, she hit jackpot. All of her friend turned their heads towards Buffy who got real uncomfortable under their combined stares. She was even blushing a bit. "Well... Sometimes I-I crav, huh, crave a nonfat yogurt afterwards."

"Oh," Willow suddenly spoke up before looking at Faith. "You haven't told us yet why you're here. I mean, when Kendra visited it was because we had a big evil brewing. Is that why your Watcher sent you?"

Faith did her best to mask the stab of grief and fear at the mentioning of her Watcher. She must have done a poor job of it because Willow was suddenly looking a lot more intently at her. "She didn't, actually. My Watcher went off to some retreat thing in England, and so I skipped out. I figured this was my chance to meet the infamous Buff," Faith used that as an excuse to stop meeting Willow's gaze, "and compare notes. So, B, did you really fight a robo-serial killer once?"

For some reason Buffy didn't look entirely happy at her mentioning the robot. "Yeah, he was dating my Mom and, huh, I wasn't sure what he was at first."

"He was evil," Xander interrupted. "A diabolical cooking genius that tried to fool us with food." Seeing everybody looking at him now, the boy quickly changed the subject. "So, huh, what was the, ehm, story about that alligator? You said something about alligators... before."

Not minding the change in subject too much, Faith dove right in. "Oh, there's this Big Daddy Vampire out of Missouri who used to keep them as pets. So he's got me rasslin' one of them, okay? The thing must have been twelve feet long and I'm..."

"So was this, ahem, also naked?"

Giving Xander a teasing smile, Faith confirmed the alligator was indeed naked. He took the joke well and they both laughed when Cordelia broke in. "Xander, find a new theme."

Faith shook her head at their antics and decided to save the story. "I tell ya, I never had more trouble than that damn vamp. So," Faith nodded to Buffy, "what about you? What was your toughest kill?"

The blond opened her mouth to answer, then seemed to think better of it. Her eyes darted towards her friends before focusing on the floor as Buffy seemed to be searching for an answer. "Uh, well, you know..." She looked up and gave her a smile. "They're all difficult, I guess, in their own way."

Getting really curious now, Faith decided not to say anything and just wait. Unfortunately, one of her friends rescued her from finally answering the question; Oz, who had been as quiet and still as a statue up until now, suddenly got a bit more animated. "Something occurring. Now, you both kill vamps, and who could blame you, but I'm wondering about your position on werewolves."

Faith's eyebrows rose at that question, and went even higher when Willow put a hand on his shoulder and explained to her that he was a werewolf. This was her first time hearing werewolves existed so she didn't have an answer ready.

"It's a long story," Buffy told her with a smile. A smile that died with Oz's laconic remark that he got bit.

'Buffy's friends are really weird,' Faith amended as she decided to go for casual. "Hey, as long as you don't go scratching at me or humpin' my leg, we're five-by-five, you know?"

"Fair enough."

"The vamps, though, they better get their asses to DEFCON 1, 'cause you and I are gonna have fun, you know." With those words Faith reclined back as she smiled a little more. "Watcherless and fancy-free."

Buffy's next word ruined her good mood, though. "Watcherless?"

Feeling the smile on her face congeal, Faith asked the question to which she was pretty sure she wasn't going to like the answer to. "Didn't yours go to England too?"

Sunnydale High

"There's a Watchers' retreat every year in the Cotswolds," Giles explained wistfully. "It's a lovely spot. It's very serene. There's horse riding, and hiking, and punting." His spirit lifted as he imagined what it must be like. "Lectures and discussions. It-It's a great honor to be invited," he went on with diminishing enthusiasm as he came back to reality. "Or so I'm told."

"Meh, it's boring," the new Slayer dismissed. "Way too stuffy for a guy like you."

That remark surely surprised Giles who had thought he'd been very successful at being stuffy. 'No, the word I'm looking for is responsible.'

"But she's half-right. The fact that they didn't invite you says to me that you wouldn't have many intelligent conversations there anyway," a miffed Gungnir said. "After all, you need at least two intelligent people for that." Obviously he took the slight to his wielder personal.

Buffy's defense, though, Giles could do without. "Um, maybe I should introduce you again. Faith, this is Giles." And she stressed his name like that said it all.

"I've seen him." After which he was on the receiving end of an uncomfortably appraising look. "If I'd known they came that young and cute, I would've requested a transfer." Giles found himself very glad that Jenny couldn't make it to this meeting.

Buffy, too, seemed to wish that she hadn't been there to hear that. "Raise your hand if 'ew'." She proceeded to do just that with Xander following her lead.

"The girl certainly is laying on the charm a bit thick," Gungnir remarked.

"Yes, well, leaving aside for a moment my, uhm, youth and beauty, there is other business that we must attend to." Having said that he walked over to where he'd left his newspaper and brought it to the table. "Two people disappeared in the Sunset Ridge District last night and a, ah, employee of Happy Burger working the drive-through was hauled bodily out of his booth."

"Aha," Willow spoke up. "So there's big evil brewing after all." She looked at Faith. "You'll never be bored here, Faith. Evil in Sunnydale never takes a vacation. Except during the summer." It earned her a smile from the girl.

"And that's how you can tell they haven't unionized," Xander quipped. "No pay, no lunch breaks, and way too little vacation time."

"Getting back to the topic of missing people," Giles said without mentioning what they all suspected; that those people were already dead. "I propose Buffy and, ah, Faith patrol Sunset Ridge while I and Xander will handle the vampire that is supposed to rise tonight over at Espenson. Willow, if you wouldn't mind taking the first shift of watching over Oz, I'll come back afterwards to take that duty over. Tomorrow is a school night after all."

Before any of the children could agree to his plan, Faith spoke up. "Damn, you weren't kidding when you said this place was hopping."

"This is just small stuff, the Big Bads don't come around until November or so," Buffy responded. "And it sounds like a plan, but the patrol is going to have to start late-ish. Mom wants me home for dinner. Oh," and she turned to Faith. "She want to meet you so you're invited to dinner too."

"Dying to meet the fam', count me in."

Buffy didn't seem too enthusiastic about the invitation though. More like worried. "Great, great. So, uh, why don't we give you a tour of the place?"

"Sounds good. And we," Faith turned back to Giles, "will talk weapons later."

Murmuring his assent, Giles watched as they all moved out of the library. 'This new Slayer is certainly livelier than Kendra.'

"You think so? To me, she seemed to be trying just a little too hard."

'Which is a perfectly normal reaction when first meeting a group of strangers that you want to be liked by. I think you just don't like the fact that you can't go surf the web with her around.'

"That's not it at all, Rupert. It grieves me to learn you think me an addict."

Sipping his tea, Giles parried. 'Actually, I'm imagining you as someone wanting that first cup of coffee in the morning.'

"Something that wouldn't be an issue if you finally got that T1 connection I asked for. You might not want to join the 21st century, but I do!"

'Alright, we'll do it.' He waited just long enough for Gungnir's pleasure at the news to leak through before finishing the thought. 'But you will have to pay for it.' Smiling, Giles took another sip of tea as Gungnir complained about his little joke.

Sunnydale, Sunset Ridge District

"Didn't we do this street already, B?" Faith asked sounding a bit bored.

Buffy couldn't help herself, Faith had started to get under her skin. "Funny thing about vamps. They'll hit a street even after you've been there. It's like they have no manners." It had been less than a month since she'd heard of Kendra's death and having her replacement suddenly appear stung more than just a little. She'd been a Slayer herself, and the idea that they were replaced so easily just rankled somewhere.

Still, if it had just been that, Buffy would have bit her tongue and smiled. But she'd noticed Faith's reaction at learning Giles wasn't in England. And Willow had told her that the strongest emotion Faith had felt when she'd talked of her own Watcher was fear. Add to that the way Faith been actually flirting with Giles and Buffy got the feeling Faith was holding something back; or trying to distract everybody from asking a question.

"And have you noticed her eating habits? Ravenous like she's had few good meals in a long while. As if the opportunity is something that can be snatched away at any time."

'At the Bronze she just slayed a vampire,' Buffy argued. Then she realized just what kind of opening she'd given Mjöllnir.

"You're the expert on post-slaying urges," the mystical war hammer conceded far too happily.

Deciding that not deigning that remark with a response was the best way to avoid giving Mjöllnir more openings, Buffy soldiered on. 'Of course, it was just one and she did seem to be just as hungry at dinner...'

"In other words, I'm right. But that leaves the more important question unanswered."

'Why,' Buffy finished. 'What could be the reason Faith's ready to... ready to bolt. Maybe she's on the run, or trying to get away from something.'

"Or someone. Willow did mention our new Slayer feels a great deal of fear for her Watcher."

Buffy's expression grew troubled as she considered that scenario. At first, it was hard to swallow. Her Watchers had never been people that were anything but loyal allies. Merrick had died for her and Giles would have done the same if she hadn't knocked him unconscious. But on the other hand...

'Kendra's Watcher seemed to be way different. Oh sure, I never got the impression he was abusive or anything but Faith isn't Kendra either. The things Kendra wouldn't have batted an eye at would probably not slide with Faith. And then cue the conflict snowballing down the mountain.'

"You're the expert."

"Huh?" A startled Buffy looked over at Faith before realizing she was reacting to what she'd just said. "Oh, right. Yeah, guess I am. I've been doing this long enough anyway."

"Maybe a little too long," Faith muttered quietly as they slipped past a fence onto an industrial terrain. Plywood, aluminum ducting, and other stuff were piled up against a wall to their right while construction equipment was scattered around the rest of the place.

The comment wasn't so low that Buffy didn't hear it, though. "What do you mean?"

The brunette shrugged. "Nothing, just that you seem to be taking this all way too seriously. You got the greatest deal in the world, you could be living large and have fun! Instead you're pretending to be something you're not." For a moment, Buffy's heart thudded in her ears as she thought Faith was talking about her still being a Slayer. Faith's next words dispelled that worry.

"An average, weak girl dreaming of that white picket-fence and the right guy." The derision in Faith's voice had grown with each word in that sentence.

"Not all of us want to sleep in the nude and wrestle alligators," the blond responded mildly.

"Maybe it's time you started. It's obvious something in your bottle needs uncorking," Faith said suggestively as she invaded Buffy's personal space.

The girl's nearness made Buffy unreasonably uncomfortable, but she had no intention of backing off. She wasn't going to hand this Slayer that kind of victory. "Thanks for the advice, but I have fun my way and I am going to lead my life my way. I don't need life-lessons from a rookie," she finished needling Faith right back.

"I'm not a rookie," Faith bit out.

Buffy noticed she'd hit a sore spot, and paused for a moment to figure out if she should try and defuse the situation. Or shake this tree some more and see what fell out? "Just telling it how it is, F." Buffy sneered. "Compared to me, you're still a newbie."

Faith's eyes flashed. "Oh, you think you can take me?" the brunette backed off too, but it was clearly to get some space in case fists were going to fly.

"In a heart-beat," Buffy stated matter-of-factly. Then her eyes caught sight of a group of vampires coming their way. "So it's a good thing they don't have one," the blond said nodding to the now rapidly approaching demons.

"What?" Faith asked even as she turned to see what Buffy was talking about only to get tackled by the first vampire. The next tried to do the same to Buffy but she brushed him aside as she moved over to where Faith lay. She didn't want to risk Faith's life just to hide her secret so she kicked her attacker with full strength.

Teeth and blood flew away as his head and then his upper body snapped up. He'd only just lost that momentum when Buffy grabbed him by the shirt to drag him off of Faith and flipped him over onto his back, hard. She had just enough time to stake the disorientated demon before his buddies reached them.

Faith flipped herself to her feet right before a vampire confronted her. Buffy didn't really see what happened next because his three friends all went after her. Grimacing at the fact that using Mjöllnir would be too blatant, the blond blocked their first few strikes.

"Great, once again I'm relegated to useless spectator only good for cheering you on from the sidelines," Mjöllnir complained.

'I'd like to finish this quickly too, but we got to keep you a secret from them,' Buffy thought back as she deflected two strikes simultaneously. Then one thought to get tricky and instead of a punch he took a hold of her right arm and tried to fling her into a dumpster. Buffy went along with it just long enough to get into the right position to turn the tables and sending him flying instead, the impact actually cracking the plastic of the dumpster.

Unfortunately, one of the others turned out to be both sneaky and really fast because he took the opportunity of Buffy having turned her back on them to kick her in the back of the knee followed by a karate-chop to her neck that sent her stumbling forward.

Feeling more annoyed with herself for giving them such a good opening than with the vampire that had hit her, Buffy turned the stumble into a roll. As she came up from that roll, the demon she'd thrown against the dumpster rose as well. Still groggy, he didn't even notice her stake entering his heart.

When she turned, two vampires had become three again. A straggler who was actually breathing hard thus betraying how new he was to the being undead-thing. Behind them, Faith was still fighting her first vampire and Buffy could just hear what Faith said after a punch slipped past her guard. "My dead mother hits harder than that!" After which she punched the vampire right back before throwing him through some wooden plank that was lying about.

'That doesn't sound right,' Buffy thought frowning as Faith started wailing on her opponent.

The vampire that had sneak-attacked her took advantage of her distraction by trying to rush her, his two companions following his lead. He lead in with a kick Buffy sidestepped than she kicked the vampire to his left in the guts preempting any move he could make.

Before she could turn her attention to the newbie of the trio, however, the sneaky one let loose a barrage of quick jabs that drew her attention away from the vampire on her right. Still, he wasn't doing anything Buffy couldn't keep up with.

Even when the newbie grabbed hold of her right arm Buffy didn't feel like she was in problem. She just needed some distance between her and the sneak so she could deal with her hanger-on. One quick kick provided that distance and then she just lifted her arm up taking the newbie with it before throwing him away.

Unfortunately, he had given the other two ideas because now they jumped her together dragging her to the ground with them. 'Okay, getting a little worried now.'

"For Kakistos we live, for Kakistos you die," one of them hissed at her.

Giving them a weird look, Buffy gave them her best dumb-blond act. "What's so great about kissing toast?"

While they were distracted by that leap in logic, Buffy quickly placed her hands over their hearts and took a deep breath to carefully gather her power. Firing lightning bolts from her hands would catch Faith's attention after all and she wasn't that desperate.

It still was enough to have that funky effect on her eyes apparently, because now the two vampires got a real surprised look on their faces. With an explosion of breath she pushed her power down her arms and into her opponents' hearts.

She'd hoped to stun them that way so she could get them off of her and then stake them while they were still twitching. But Buffy still didn't have a good idea of just how much power she had for instead of getting paralyzed, they cried out then disintegrated like she'd put a stake through their hearts.

"Whoops," Buffy said then looked over at Faith to see if she was dealing with that newbie now. 'Is she still pummeling that first vampire? Just look at him, he isn't even moving anymore.' She didn't seem to have an eye for anything else and the last vampire could have taken her by complete surprise.

He, however, was running scared after seeing everybody else in his group getting beaten like a drum and was running as fast as he could back the way he'd come. Close to a hundred yards away and there was a building coming up the demon would probably duck behind for cover. Getting cranky now Buffy threw her stake after him and smiled grimly when it sunk into the vampire's back.

He went down with a stumble, rolled over the ground a few times then scrambled back up and disappeared out of sight taking one of her two stakes with him. And Faith was still hitting the unconscious vampire. "Dammit," Buffy cursed as she pulled her last stake. The blond was very tempted to just leave her here and go after the escapee, if it weren't for the fact that it was pretty unlikely she would catch up with him without flying.

'What's wrong with her?' Buffy grumbled as she marched over to the Slayer. Yanking her off the vampire without saying a word, the Aesir just staked him before turning back to a heavily breathing Faith. "What's wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you living large on that vampire!" Buffy took care to put some sarcastic emphasis on the "living large" part.

"Gee, if doing violence to vampires upsets you, I think you're in the wrong line of work."

"The job is slaying demons," Buffy countered. "Not beat one of them to a bloody pulp while his friends stand around completely being ignored by you! They could have ripped out your throat and you wouldn't have even noticed!"

Now Faith's voice gained some heat as well. "I noticed them. If any of them had the balls to attack me I would have handled it. But I guess they saw you and recognized an easy target."

"We aren't talking about their mistakes," Buffy riposted. "We were talking about yours."

"Whatever," the brunette humphed, then turned her back on Buffy and started to walk away.

The blond didn't follow her, just sighed. 'There's definitely something wrong with her. And what was up with those vampires and their love for Mexican food?'

"They said Kakistos, not Taquitos."

'Oh, okay... What's a Kakistos?'

"A name, I think. It's old Greek for worst of the worst so it could be title too. In either case, it's a person."

'Then there's two things we need to talk to Giles about,' Buffy thought as she finally set off as well.

"Two things?"

'Yup, I want Giles to make a call to that retreat and find out what the heck's wrong with Faith. Because that girl is playing with less than a full deck and one dead Slayer this year is too much already.' She didn't have to elaborate on what the other thing was. They both knew they'd had to ask Giles if he knew who this Kakistos was.

TO BE CONTINUED