Chapter 7, If You
Faith stood leaning against the wall opposite his door, arms crossed.
"Here's the contract, just like I promised you, Rubix." Faith said, stepping into the flat.
"Contract?" Leicester blinked, "I don't remember you saying anything about a contract … are you making up excuses to be around me? Is this how people express their desire to have sex with each other nowadays?"
Faith looked distinctly unimpressed. "I think that's just stalkers. Which I sure as hell ain't." she stabbed Leicester in the chest with some rolled-up sheets of paper she had brought: the contract. "It's to make sure you keep to what we agreed: the not feeding on humans in exchange for my protection."
"What? But I gave you my word. Don't you trust me?"
Faith didn't dignify this with an answer, just unrolled the sheets of paper. She pointed at the dotted line at the bottom of the last page.
"You sign here," she said. And waited. Leicester paused, realising that she planned to stay until a signature had been provided. Faith smiled sweetly back at him.
He started feeling through his pockets obligingly, then looked back at Faith. "… damn, I don't know how to break this to you, but I seem to have misplaced all my pens … guess I'll have to sign another time," he returned her smile.
"Not an issue, fang-boy," Faith replied, "You have to sign in blood. Pens not necessary."
"Blood? Care to go over the finer details of this contract I'm signing?" Leicester asked suspiciously.
"Sure. You keep your diet non-human, or you go to hell." Faith clarified.
"Did you say hell? I'm really not remembering that part of the deal. Are you planning to add some kind of bonus to my side of the bargain as well or is this strictly one-sided?"
"Bonuses are available, if you play your cards right, and if I'm in that sorta mood," Faith grinned, "And yeah, you heard right. I guess it ain't hell-hell, as in the inferno kinda hell, though. Just some hell dimension. I hear it ain't much better than the abstract religious version though."
"Why do I have to sign this again? Is a contract really necessary?"
"All our clients do," Faith said breezily. "And why not sign, if you were planning on keeping your word?"
"Alright. Fine. But only because I have nothing to hide." Leicester turned away and walked further into his flat.
"Where're you going?" Faith followed tentatively, the door clicking shut behind her.
"To the kitchen."
"Why? It's not like you eat." Faith asked curiously.
Leicester tutted. "It's where I keep knives. And other cutlery, obviously."
"You're going to use a knife to cut your finger open?" Faith was half-stunned, half-laughing. "What's the point of being a vampire if you don't use your fangs?"
"Please. That's so antisocial." Leicester raised an eyebrow. "I was also leading up to phase two of my grand plan for the night: asking you if you wanted a drink. Which I also keep in the kitchen, incidentally."
"Smooth," Faith chuckled.
"Multi-tasking," Leicester replied.
"What was next in your grand plan? Could it be actually signing the contract?" Faith asked.
"Yeah, that comes somewhere in between getting you drunk and having my wicked way with you."
Faith nearly swallowed her tongue. "For a second there I thought you were being serious," she said when she had recovered.
"For a second there I thought you were on my wavelength," Leicester replied, looking at her over his shoulder, his dark eyes anything but joking. He turned away. "So I have wine, beer, liqueur, spirits. What do you fancy? Absinthe?"
Faith's pulse had been beating a little faster since Leicester's proposition, but she couldn't help laughing now. "Absinthe? Is that even legal? Are you aiming to destroy me?"
"I aim to please." Leicester had opened the fridge, but now he shut it and turned to her. "Here's your contract. Give me a copy of it at some point, would you? I like to keep a record of this kind of thing."
Faith looked down at the contract. Leicester's bloody signature shone a little in the artificial light from the kitchen ceiling as it dried.
Two glasses landed on the kitchen table, next to the contract.
"I'll get drunk with you," Leicester said, "that way neither of us is taking advantage of the other, and neither of us will be able to remember anything."
"Anything?" Faith muttered. Leicester's eyes were captivating.
"Anything could happen." He replied, starting to pour the contents of a little bottle into the waiting glasses.
Faith looked him over, imagining the body beneath the clothes. She thought briefly of Roxelana in their flat. Then her eye caught the contract, signed now, and beside it the green sheen of the alcohol.
Oh, what the hell. I never tried absinthe before.
–:::–
Closing the door softly, Faith walked into the flat she shared with Roxelana. Her flatmate waved to her from the couch where she lay with a steaming cup of red.
"So Leicester was good, huh?" Roxelana greeted her casually.
Faith paused momentarily, her face a half-grimace, "You can smell him on me?"
"He's all over you." Roxelana replied.
Faith groaned, partly regretting the way Roxelana had found out. "I had a shower and everything. Can I seriously not keep any secrets from you at all?"
"I can pretend not to know if you prefer." Roxelana replied.
Faith shrugged, lighting up a cigarette. "You forget I have no shame. It's cool, Roxy." She allowed herself a little smile. "And he was good."
"Huh."
"Toned body. Not too butch though, y'know? And he has this tattoo of a pig's head on a stick, on his ass."
"Classy." Roxelana sipped her cup of blood.
"Jealous?" Faith raised an eyebrow, her voice playful. But Roxelana had played this game before, and read the danger out of Faith's eyes, and knew that fearful desire to always be free as if it were her own.
"Nah, he isn't my type." she said, without answering the real question, and felt Faith relax invisibly. "Vampire who tattoos his tag on his ass, so not a turn-on for me."
"His tag?"
"You know. We mark our territory, our victims. Just the older, stronger generations; vampires always want to make their names bigger, but only some survive long enough to actually do it."
"Vampires compete with each other? For fame? Man, you guys are way more twisted than I thought."
Roxelana smiled. "What else is there to do when you live forever? Put Leicester and me in a room together, and I promise we'll be trying to kill each other in less than ten minutes. We are too big to fit in the same room."
"What do you mean too big? Your egos?"
"More than that," Roxelana said, "everything about us. We're so similar – in age, in strength, in self – that we can't help but try to dominate each other, to find out who would win. And at the same time – we are immensely attracted to each other." Roxelana raised a hand to silence Faith. "Attracted. That doesn't make me jealous. Attracted." She repeated. "But not in a healthy way. For vampires, it's death. I'm drawn to him like–"
And suddenly Faith knew exactly what like.
"Like life. Like he's the key to life. Like everything makes sense with him, and he understands you better than anyone, because he is more like you than anyone, and at the same time, and because of your sameness, you can't help but compete, can't help but try and find the differences between you, and push your limits – and that means fighting. It's practically impossible not to. It's like needing to be close to and needing to fight the same person. It's impossible."
"I was going to say we're drawn like a moth to a flame. Except that neither of us knows which of us is the moth and which the flame." Roxelana said instead.
"Is it really impossible?" Faith seemed almost not to have heard Roxelana. "Could it really never work?"
"We aren't talking about the same thing anymore, are we?" Roxelana said shrewdly.
Faith back-pedalled instantly. "Forget it, I'm talking shit. I guess last night tired me out more than I thought," she smirked, and Roxelana rolled her eyes.
"And now we're back to Leicester. The boy must have been good."
"It's not every one-night stand you get a massage, Roxy."
"He gave you a massage?"
"Yuh huh. My shoulders feel wicked good."
"He gave you a shoulder massage?" said Roxelana, her voice amused.
"What? What's wrong with that?" Faith demanded.
"Nothing. I just expected … more. Sounds like the bare minimum to me."
"You saying you could do better?" Faith squared up to her. Roxelana couldn't quite keep the smile off her face as she closed the distance between them and stood nose-to-nose with Faith in the same mock-aggressive stance.
"Sounds like a challenge," she said.
"It can sound any way you want if it means you're upping your game,"
"Full body massage coming your way," Roxelana replied.
Faith's eyes lit up. "Full body as in–"
"Full body as in full body," Roxelana clarified, the look in her eye making Faith's mouth go dry with longing. Faith realised suddenly that her hands were at her belt, moving of their own accord, clumsy and fumbling, but desperate for the promise in those eyes.
Roxelana stopped her. She grinned.
"Don't you know undressing the client is the masseuse's job?"
–:::–
It was night-time and Roxelana was standing by the crane of a construction site, looking out over Lake Erie and enjoying a moment's quiet reflection, when Buffy's boot smashed into the back of her head.
"Out stalking potential new victims?" Buffy demanded as Roxelana clambered back to her feet.
"Out Slaying." said Roxelana, still reeling from the kick, but facing Buffy now.
"Sure am." Buffy feinted a blow to the stomach.
"It wasn't a question."
"Huh?" Why isn't she attacking?
"Faith goes east, I take the west side of the city. You know. Demon patrol." Roxelana explained, keeping her eyes trained on Buffy's movements.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Has to be. Buffy swung. Roxelana blocked, caught Buffy's arm and launched her face-first into a newly-constructed brick wall.
"You have a shit sense of humour." Buffy rose and threw herself at Roxelana.
"So you're telling me you kill your own kind. Because you're in a relationship with a Slayer. Believable."
"Who said relationship? What, you think we're exclusive? As if. I'd lose her for sure if I ever said something that stupid."
That gave Buffy pause. She was so surprised she even took a step back.
"Are you kidding? Doesn't it piss you off?" Buffy was incredulous.
Roxelana took advantage of her surprise and punched her.
"No wonder she got bored of you," she laughed. "Don't you know a good thing when you have it? That is so human."
Buffy dodged the next blow and kicked Roxelana into the gutter.
"So you're telling me you're never jealous."
"Hey, like my Slayer said, we have an open relationship. Besides, she always comes back to my bed eventually. It's kind of flattering actually."
"You're disgusting."
"Says the girl who got rejected." Roxelana grinned, picking herself up. "You just don't want to believe I'm that good."
"Shut up!" said Buffy, pinning her against the wall. "I don't have time for your crap."
"Crap, huh? You want me to prove it isn't?" Roxelana chuckled. "Alright. Here's something recent: a couple of nights ago Faith stayed over at Leicester's, a new client. She told me about it. And then I fucked her so damn good she was curled up next to me all night. She's still paying me back. Wanna know how?"
Buffy hated her, had never been so jealous. She'd just wanted to rough the vampire up a bit, beat some respect into her. Now she wanted to kill her, and slowly.
"What's the matter?" Roxelana grinned, "Is this the first time you've lost to a vampire, Slayer?"
"Screw you." Buffy slammed Roxelana's head into the wall.
Dazed, Roxelana couldn't move as Buffy bent and picked a couple of big construction nails out of the gutter.
Then Buffy lifted Roxelana up and drove a nail through her wrist and into the wall behind. Roxelana screamed.
The second nail went through Roxelana's other wrist a moment later.
She jerked and twisted, trying to free herself from the wall. But the nails held, and she only succeeded in tearing the wounds in her wrists wider.
"Just stake me, Slayer," Roxelana said, her voice strangled and hoarse. "Just get it done."
"Too easy," said Buffy. "I'm gonna leave you here. Let the dawn get you."
"She'll hate you. You think this is eliminating the competition or something? She'll fucking hate you." Roxelana said.
"You know what, I think I want you to suffer a little more." Buffy paused, scanned the construction site for what she wanted.
She came back with a human-sized plank of wood, and leaned it against Roxelana so that it covered her body up to her chin.
"Now you get to watch the sun rise before it crisps you." Buffy said grimly. "And about what you said. Why should Faith hate me? She won't know what happened to you. She'll come running to me. For comfort. Think about that while you're burning."
Buffy started walking away, for good this time.
Roxelana laughed hollowly. "You're in crazy deep, Slayer. Note the adjective."
How the hell did they ever get together? Buffy wondered bitterly.
–:::–
It had been almost an entire year ago, the day it all started.
"She what?" Roxelana yelped.
"The whole clan, dust." Tommy, the last of her sons, repeated.
"That is some fighting machine." She whispered, almost in awe. "Let's kill it."
"She's still at headquarters. Checking she didn't miss any of us."
"Let's go."
–:::–
"I guess you're the boss, then," Faith deduced, seeing Roxelana as she came out of the building.
"Was," said Roxelana, and was speechless for a moment, because she hadn't expected the Slayer to be beautiful. "You planning on staking him too?" she asked, nodding to Tommy.
"You love him?" Faith asked.
"No." Tommy was keeping very still, but Roxelana knew he was scared, because his eyes were flitting all over the place, looking for some way to escape.
"Then keep him," Faith said, "you deserve each other."
A sadomasochistic Slayer.
Roxelana was smitten.
–:::–
"Fancy seeing you here," Faith looked up in time to see the blonde vampire she'd spared a few hours earlier join her at the bar. "Drowning your sorrows, huh?"
"The only reason I didn't stake you was because I was sick of Slaying. You bug me and that's gonna change real fast. So don't push it." Faith said bluntly.
"And I'm Roxelana." said Roxelana cheerfully. She turned to the bartender, "Two bottles of red wine. Yeah, big ones."
"Look, Roxy. I already have a drink," Faith said.
"Who said it was for you? That was code for two bottles of human blood. This place is black market." Her eyes danced. "Didn't you know that, Slayer?"
"What?"
"I'm pretty useful, huh?"
The bartender came back with the bottles. Faith waited till he had set them down before pouncing on him.
Roxelana stopped Faith from strangling him.
"Sorry about my friend." she said, "she's had a bit to drink. Lightweight, y'know. Put the nice man down, baby."
"A vampire telling me what to do. Are you shitting me?" Faith glowered.
"Kinda, yeah," said Roxelana, and grinned, "About the blood. And the black market stuff. Oh yeah, and the second bottle was for you. Guess I was lying about the whole thing."
The bartender gasped as Faith released him. She turned on Roxelana.
"That was so not cool. You know I'm gonna have to stake you now, right?" She already had the stake out.
"How about if I totally save your ass, will you reconsider staking me then?" Roxelana winked suggestively.
"Save my–?" Faith forgot what she was about to say as Roxelana's arm lunged at her – she'd never have time to block, how stupid to get distracted just by talking to her – and went past her.
There was a grunt.
Faith wanted to turn around and see who Roxelana had just knocked out, but Roxelana's face was two inches away from hers and Faith suddenly wanted to stay pressed up against that incredible body much more than she wanted to step away.
It's been way too long since I got any–
"Ass," said Roxelana. "I think that's the word you're searching for."
For a second Faith was paralysed, couldn't think. Then she remembered and laughed.
"Yeah. Guess you saved me. What the hell was that anyway?" She didn't mind that Roxelana wasn't moving out of her personal space.
"The bartender's a demon. One of that uber proud race, what's it called now? Ehrenhaft demons? Whatever. The point is, you can't start a fight with them and not end it. It's dishonourable. You hurt his pride, Slayer."
"Faith." Faith corrected, almost without thinking.
"Does this mean I'm not getting staked?"
"You can't pay for my bottle of wine if you're dust, Roxy." Faith smiled briefly, "You might wanna take back that lightweight comment, by the way."
–:::–
"Whatcha doing, baby?" Roxelana asked as Faith slumped down in the alley behind the club.
"Going to sleep. It's late and I'm tired."
Roxelana waited, but no further explanation seemed to be forthcoming. "Call me crazy, but don't people usually sleep in beds, in hotels or houses?"
"I don't have a place. I'm kinda broke."
"You bought me a couple drinks back in there. You spent everything boozing?"
"Nah. Just had some change. Not enough for a room, so … y'know."
"Want to stay at mine?"
"So you can kill me in my sleep?"
"Killing wasn't the activity I had in mind." Roxelana grinned. "Besides, I've already fed tonight."
"I'm a Slayer. Why don't you kill me just for the sake of it?"
"I can think of better things to do with you."
"Alright, enough with the innuendo. You're obviously just going to torture me."
"Damn, am I that transparent?" Roxelana asked, and laughed at Faith's face, "I'm kidding. I would have killed you by now, tortured you by now, if that was what I wanted. Look at you, baby, you're so drunk you couldn't defend yourself against me if you tried."
Faith didn't say anything.
"Alright, whatever. I'm going, OK?" Roxelana stepped away. "But just in case you change your mind, my flat's on the fifth floor."
"Fifth floor of where?" Faith asked.
"The club we were just in," said Roxelana, as if it were obvious. "Not that it matters. Unless you just changed your mind?"
"Help me up." Faith said.
–:::–
Faith woke curled up against the sleeping vampire.
Um.
For a long time she couldn't think. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe she just wasn't an early morning person. Maybe last night was just too fucking awesome. Roxy shagged my fucking brains out.
Roxelana stirred, blinked sleepily, then leaned over and kissed Faith's cheek.
Is this what couples do the morning after?
It made Faith remember the way Roxelana had straddled her, distracting her with kisses while her fingers worked over her breasts, working her up for another round. Faith had been sitting propped up against the headboard of the bed, still half-delirious from her first climax, but Roxelana had burned away all that delicious satisfaction with fresh desire. And then I put one hand around her neck and the other–
"Sleep well?" Roxelana asked with a smile.
"Is that a euphemism? You know exactly how I slept."
"I like to hear it."
"It was pretty damn good." Faith said, and liked how Roxelana kissed her after she said it.
"Mm. Wasn't bad."
Faith choked. Not bad? Is that it?
"What do you mean?"
"I was a little drunk, a little tired. Not at my best."
It gets better than last night? I guess I was drunk too. I was tired too. Did that make it less awesome than it could have been? Is she for real?
"Anyway, what do you want for breakfast?"
Breakfast? She's making me breakfast? Wicked.
Roxelana got out of bed. Faith just watched her putting on her clothes for a few minutes, then jumped out of bed and did the same.
Hey, I'm still alive, Faith realised suddenly. She didn't eat me.
–:::–
"I gotta go," Faith was saying as she finished the waffles Roxelana had cooked her. "Slay bad demons, y'know."
"Starting with me?" Roxelana asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"No." Faith back-pedalled. "That's not what I meant. I mean – you made me breakfast."
It sounded stupid after she said it, and Roxelana laughed, but it was true. She couldn't kill someone who had made her breakfast. That was just wrong.
"Alright – so you're going to use me for food and sex and meanwhile go killing my friends?" if Roxelana hadn't been smiling as she said it, Faith would have been upset that she thought of her that way.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to use you, Roxy. I – it won't happen again." Damn, am I for real?
"What do you mean 'it'?" Roxelana asked. "I'm kidding. I know you're a Slayer. It's your job to slay demons, I get that. But you can still crash here as long as you want."
"I can't," Faith said, unhappy, because sex with Roxelana had been awesome, "It's unethical."
Roxelana snorted. "Unethical?"
"Yeah. Sleeping with the enemy. Total war crime." Roxelana couldn't stop herself laughing, but Faith was serious. "I mean, I can't have anything to do with someone who drinks human blood. I'm protecting humans from that, I can't condone it."
"Alright. How about if I give you money so you can fill up the fridge with pigs' blood? And I don't eat anything but?"
"Roxy, that's crazy. You're a vampire, you couldn't – are you serious?"
"Deadly."
"Why?" Faith wanted so badly to believe it. But how can I?
"Because I want to have sex with you again."
"You trying to buy me? I'm not a freakin' prostitute, you know that?"
"Are you trying to make this difficult?"
"Hey, you're the one who said last night 'wasn't bad'. That's a quote by the way."
"It wasn't," said Roxelana, nonplussed. "And what? I was bad. You were good. So it could have been better."
"So … I was good." said Faith with a satisfied little smile.
"Is that all you wanted to hear?"
"Maybe." Faith paused. "Also, you haven't answered the question. Since when did sex come before human blood for vampires?"
"Hey, after you've lived for five hundred years you know what it is that makes you tick, what makes the world a little less boring. Blood is necessary, not exciting. Hence the sex."
"Y'know, I think we're gonna get along, Roxy," said Faith.
It felt good to smile again.