Faith looked around at the dark, dank alleyway. Construction stuff littered it, and one of the street lights dimmed as if it were ready to give out soon. Hadn't they already passed that broken crate? Buffy better not be fuckin lost… it was her town after all. "Yo B, ain't we been through here already?"
"Funny thing about vampires, Faith, they'll hit a street even after you've been there. It's almost as if they have no manners." Buffy answered sarcastically, twisting her stake around and looking desperately for some kind of demonic distraction.
Faith rolled her eyes in response. Major bitch-fest going on there. What the hell, maybe she shouldn't even say anything. Fuck, she still didn't really know if it was all true. The mere thought made the necklace burn and throb around her neck, and she looked down, expecting to see a glowing red around it. The pendant, however, looked as lifeless as ever. "Fuck it." She grumbled, stomping up and grabbing Buffy's arm. "Hey! B, I don't really know what the fuck is wrong with you, but I told you I wann'ed'a talk to ya about somethin."
Buffy glowered at her before wrenching her arm away. "Fine, what?"
"Listen… um…" Faith scowled and looked away, reaching back and scratching her neck, trying to force the words out. It was so difficult to talk about, and Buffy wasn't making things easier. "I… She's not at a retreat, okay?"
"What?"
Faith growled, scowling at Buffy. "She's not at some retreat off in England, safe and fucking sound with a bunch of tweed-encased Brits, okay! She's fucking dead and he fucking killed her!"
Buffy was staring at her in shock and confusion for a moment before the words finally worked their way into the blonde's head. "Your… watcher? What?" Faith held back a wash of tears and growled, getting aggressive in place of grieving.
"I…" She growled, ready to start in on Buffy for being so bitchy, but noticed something else and pushed the older girl aside harshly, shocking the blonde. At first, Buffy thought that Faith was just running off after springing that on her, but she realized that the brunette was barreling head-first into a group of vampires.
Rolling her eyes that, of course, the first bit of action for the night would have to happen now. Growling herself, Buffy jumped into the fray. It was certainly a bit of a fight, they seemed to be ganging up on her more than Faith, but then again she was the Slayer that was known around here. They might not think Faith would be that difficult of a challenge. Several close calls later, and many a bruise, and possible sore rib later, the vampires were all but dust in the wind, and she looked to see how her oh-so-wonderful sister Slayer was doing. Faith was busy wailing on a vampire several yards away, torn shirt still managing to cover her as she screamed at him and beat his now unconscious face beyond recognition even as a vampire.
Faith stumbled as she was pulled off of the vampire and he turned to dust. Turning to lay one into the person responsible for throwing her off, she stopped just short of actually hitting Buffy. "What the fuck, B!"
"What the fuck yourself." Buffy growled. "What did you think you were doing?!"
"Kicking some vampire ass, what else?" Faith growled, turning and folding her arms. Her stance was angry and defensive, and Buffy had to struggle to keep herself from slapping her.
"Sounded to me like you were screaming at him for someone named Kissing Toast…" She frowns then, looking confused. "Or did you say taquitos? Why were you yelling about Mexican food?"
Faith, for the most part, was thrown off by Buffy's ultimate blonde moment and turned to stare at her incredulously.
Buffy looked over at Faith as they sat on the pile of four-by-fours and watched what had once been vampire dust blow away with the night wind. "Kakistos. He… He killed her… he… there's no word to describe what he did to her." The blonde just remained quiet as Faith shuddered, reliving the moment temporarily. "I… I hurt him… and I ran. I… I just ran… I had to get away. I found myself here after a while. I just ran."
"I…" Buffy faded off, unsure of what to say. She barely knew the girl at all. Looking off into the distance. "I lost a Watcher too. A long time ago." Buffy let out a breath. "It's okay Faith. You're here now."
"He's here B. I…" Faith broke off before she spilled out what had happened that night at the Bronze, when they'd almost met for the first time. "I just know he's here. He's gonna come after me."
Buffy sat quietly for several minutes, which gave a now panicking Faith no comfort. Any moment she'd bolt up and run to pack up all of her stuff. Maybe she could get out and away before he found her.
"Don't worry Faith. We'll take care of him." Turning to look at the darker Slayer, Buffy leveled a strange, determined gaze on her. "We're the Chosen Two, after all."
"So what're we supposed to tell Giles?" Buffy asked curiously, striding toward the library the next morning, looking at Faith carefully. She still wasn't quite sure if she could trust the girl… but Faith had come clean to her, and was asking for her help. What made her even more curious was that strange pendant that the younger slayer would fiddle and play with when she was nervous. "I mean… we have to tell him something if we're gonna get him to help us figure out how to kill this guy."
"How 'bout we tell him nothin." Faith grumbled like a put-out five-year-old. Buffy raised her brows, and the brunette squirmed uncomfortably under the gaze. "Tell 'im we heard the vamps last night ranting about him. I…"
"He'll have to find out sometime Faith. It's not like we can lie to him forever." Buffy complained, scowling. "Come on, I promised you that I'd help. I promised that we'd take care of this guy. That's why you came here, right? To get met to help you kill him?"
"N… no…" Faith whispered, glowering. "I was running, okay B? Fuck, I was running. I… I didn't think he'd find me. Fuck, I should just get out of here…"
"What, and dump this big bad-ass on me to deal with?" Buffy sneered. "Faith, running away isn't gonna solve anything. God!" She groaned and threw her arms up and turned her back, folding her arms.
Faith nearly yelped at the sudden burning sensation from the pendant… which she hadn't even realized she was toying with in her left hand. Releasing it so that it swung back to connect with her chest, she gulped. "Fine, sorry. Fuck, just tell him, not like it'll make a difference."
Buffy glared over at Faith, noticed that the front of a tough, bad-girl was breaking away to show a scared and resentful little girl, though it was barely seen through her angry posture. Faith wouldn't even glare her in the eye. Letting out a breath, she grabbed the younger girl's hand and pulled her into the library, attempting to hold on to her own aggravation. It wasn't like she could just let Faith act like a brat and go all soft the minute she saw any sign of fear. "Giles!"
Willow jumped from where she was sat, cuddled with Oz, and stared. Giles nearly dropped the bowl he was putting some things together in. The werewolf didn't even seem to notice other than briefly glancing in her general direction. "Yes… Buffy… I would greatly appreciate if you would refrain from doing that."
Faith glowered as Giles cleaned his glasses, and was led by Buffy over to a sitting position at the table. She noticed how Buffy steered her toward the empty side of the table, and then sat on the table itself next to her. "Well, there's a problem. There's a new bad in town. His name was Kameros…"
"Kakistos…" Faith grumbled softly.
"Right, Kakistos. What do you know, how do we kill?" She leaned forward, brows knitting, and locked her stare on Giles. She at least was going to be nice enough to not throw Faith's problem out in front of Willow, though she'd really like to talk to her best friend about this. She needed someone to talk to.
"Ka… Kakistos…" Giles looked genuinely surprised, paused to shake his head and clean his glasses, and then stare at Buffy and Faith as if they'd each grown a new head. "H… How did you hear of him?"
"Er… Let's just say that we know he's here." Buffy glanced at Faith, seeing the girl look in an almost panicked state between Buffy and Willow, then force herself to look relaxed and bored as she sat back.
"Kakistos itself is Greek. It translates to the worst of the worst. It also happens to be the name of a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven." He disappeared behind the counter again, this time not for the bowl and such that he was working with, but to find something else. "And how exactly do we know that he's here? His last known whereabouts were in Italy."
"Let's just say that we know he's here, Giles…" Buffy locked eyes with him and emphasized her words carefully, making the Watcher's brows knit with confusion. He dropped it though. Looking around, he wondered just who exactly it was that Buffy was trying to keep out of the conversation.
Willow was watching Buffy in confusion, occasionally glancing at the too-cool looking Faith sitting there and picking at her fingernails. Occasionally Faith would cast a strange look at Buffy, but otherwise seemed to be paying no attention at all. Taking a deep breath, the redhead decided that perhaps now was best for their departure. "Um… I've gotta head off to class Giles, but I'll come by later to help with the research thing."
Oz looked at the clock, then at his girlfriend, then shrugged and walked out with her, waving briefly to the others. Faith watched them go in confusion, and looked over at Buffy, who seemed to be even more confused.
"Weird friends ya got there B…" Faith teased with a small smirk. "You said classes didn't start for another twenty."
"Yeah… they don't." Buffy agreed, but shrugged. "Um… Maybe… Giles…"
"What the fuck ever, B." Faith suddenly seemed to grow colder and look away, to hide the pain in her eyes.
Giles looked between then before coming out and waiting for a moment. Both Slayers were quiet for an inordinate amount of time, though. "Faith?"
"Fuck, fine, she's not in England, okay?" Faith growled. It didn't seem to register on Giles's face for several moments before he connected what the girl was saying.
"We just need to know how to kill this cloven guy, Giles." Buffy said softly. Despite her dislike of the girl, she couldn't help but have part of her heart soften toward Faith. It hurt to loose a Watcher.
"Perhaps Faith should tell us what exactly…" Giles began, but was silenced by Buffy jumping down off of the table.
"Not now Giles." She said calmly. "Not now."
TBC