Chapter Eleven

The cemetery is eerily quiet as I walk next to Satsu with Faith and Kennedy a few feet ahead of us. After what happened between Faith and I this afternoon, I spent the rest of the day avoiding her and everyone else and I even managed to squeeze in a two hour nap before we headed out on our nightly routine patrol together. Satsu knows something is up, I can tell with the way she's been looking at me since we left the house, but she hasn't said a word to me yet and I know she won't with Kennedy and Faith within earshot.

"We should split up," Kennedy says as she turns to look back at me and Satsu. "We'll cover a lot more ground that way."

"Sounds good," Faith says with a grin as she strolls up to me and casually places her arm over my shoulders. "What do you say you and me head off together, for old times' sake?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Faith."

"Why not, B?"

I shake my head as I push her arm off of me. "Because I said so, that's why. Just go with Kennedy and we'll meet up at the front gates in an hour, okay?"

Faith rolls her eyes as she heads off with Kennedy, finally leaving me alone with Satsu. There's awkward silence between us as we walk in the opposite direction. I know I have to talk to her, tell her the truth about what's been happening between Faith and I, but I can't seem to get the courage to come right out and say it. I want to make one thing right in such a wrong situation if I can, but I take one look at her and I know I can't break her heart like this.

I let her take my hand in hers and find myself wishing things could go back to being a hell of a lot simpler before this...thing started with Faith. I come to a stop when we reach one of the many stone benches strewn throughout the entire cemetery and I lead her over to it, sitting down with a heavy sigh as she just stares at me for a moment before sitting down next to me.

"You promised me earlier that we would talk," she starts as she lets go of my hand. "What's going on, Buffy?"

"I don't even know where to start and with this Falken situation, now is really not the time to try to deal with this, much less talk about it."

"We pretty much covered that earlier," Satsu replies coldly and I sigh as I close my eyes and wonder if there's any way out of this confrontation right now. "If you don't want to talk about what's going on with you, that's okay. I just don't want us to drift apart because of whatever is going on right now."

"We won't," I say, my voice cracking slightly as I try to look at her as I say it. I don't want to lose her, not over with what's happening between me and Faith, but I know how wrong it is to string her along, to keep cheating on her the way I am. "We won't drift apart, Satsu."

"I wish I could believe you."

"What do you want me to say?" I ask her, the desperation in my voice making me cringe as I try to stay calm. Having a little lovers spat in the middle of a cemetery is definitely not an ideal place. "I'm not fighting with you right now over this, Satsu. We didn't come out here for this."

"I know. I'm sorry. You know how I feel about Faith staying with us at the house. Now that she's there, we never get any time alone together."

I sigh as I close my eyes again, feeling a dull headache forming with the dilemma going on inside my head. I hold my breath and listen and I know from the way the footsteps fall upon the grass that there are at least three vampires near now. I turn around and open my eyes, barely able to make out a handful of vampires at least thirty feet away. They haven't spotted us yet and I want to keep it that way. I look at Satsu with a smile and we both reach for our stakes and approach the group of vampires that seem completely oblivious to their surroundings.

I motion to Satsu to take the left as we get closer. The smell of booze and blood is overwhelming and I smirk knowing a full, drunk vampire is never much of a fight. I can see Faith and Kennedy approaching from the other end and it'll be a fair fight, four vampires and four of us. I walk up to the biggest one, holding the stake behind my back as I reach with my other hand and tap him hard on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, know where a girl can get bit around here?" I ask and I hear Faith chuckling softly as she walks closer. The vampire growls as he turns to face me, dropping the beer bottle he had in his hand when he without a doubt recognized me. "Oh, it's gonna be like that, is it?"

"Slayer...we're not out looking for trouble tonight."

"That's what they all say after they've had a nice dinner, isn't it?" I smirk as I pull him away from the other three and send him flying with a roundhouse kick he sure doesn't see coming. I look behind me to make sure the others can handle themselves and I know they can, I always need to make sure. "Not looking for trouble? What kind of vampire are you?"

"The kind who follows his Master's orders."

"And who would this Master of yours be?" I ask as I place a foot over his chest to keep him down on the ground. "Speak or you'll be nothing but dust."

"I'll be nothing but dust whether I speak or not," the vampire laughs and he doesn't try to move.

"Who is your Master?" I ask again firmly, not in the mood for any games right now. "Wait, let me guess, does he happen to go by the name of Falken by any chance?"

"How did you-"

"We know a lot of things," I chuckle softly as I spin my stake in my hand and lean down a little. "But unfortunately we don't know enough."

"You're not going to get a word out of me, Slayer. We all took a vow. It is silence or death."

"Looks like your buddies took the death part of that vow already," I laugh as I look over at Faith, Kennedy, and Satsu as they finish off the three vampires, one after another. "Do you want to join them now or would you rather tell me what I want to hear and join them later?"

Faith came strolling over and pushed me aside as she plunged the stake into the vampire's heart. I could feel my blood boiling with anger and I grabbed her by the front of her shirt.

"What the hell, B?"

"I'd say the same thing, what the hell, Faith? I was trying to get information out of him! They are working for Falken. Or were."

"Shit."

"Why do you have to be so damn irresponsible, Faith?"

"Thought he was giving you a hard time since you hadn't staked him yet," she shrugs and I still don't let go of the front of her shirt. "Never takes you long to stake 'em anymore, B. Thought something was up, thought I'd come give you a hand here. Calm down, B. There'll be others. There are always others."

"Calm down?" I ask through gritted teeth, our face inches from each other's now. "Don't you dare tell me to fucking calm down!"

"Jesus, B, what's gotten into you? It's just a vampire! They all say they got information. Makes 'em think you'll let 'em live long enough to give 'em a chance to escape. What's up with you tonight anyway? Getting your rag soon or something? Just chill the fuck out."

Before I can take a swing at her, Kennedy and Satsu are pulling us apart. I really don't know what's gotten into me. I've never wanted to hit Faith this badly since she came back to Sunnydale to help us in the fight against the First. I feel Satsu's hold against me loosen and I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I make the mistake of looking over at Faith as she licks over her lips slowly and winks at me. Whatever rage has been stirred up in me comes rushing back and I charge at her, tackling her to the ground as my fists repeatedly fly into her face and arms as she tries to block each blow.

She groans as she tries to gain some control and rolls us over and I let out a yelp as we roll down a small hill I had no idea was there. I stop punching her as we roll to a stop and I take a moment to look into her eyes. She smiles a little as she reaches up and tucks a few strands of hair behind my ears and picks out some sticks and leaves, chuckling a little as she shakes her head.

"Feel better now that you let off some steam, B?"

"I'm sorry."

"No big, B. Figured it was long past due you went at me like that. Kinda deserved it. Acted before thinkin', you know how I get."

I move off of her as Satsu and Kennedy run down the hill towards us. I help Faith to her feet and apologize again even though the words feel foreign against my lips. Satsu hands me my stake and gives me a look like I've gone crazy and maybe I have, I wouldn't doubt it with all that's going on right now. I look over at Faith and even in the darkness I can see a few welts forming on her face. I sigh and make my way up the hill, the others following close behind me and I come to a complete stop when I see a large group of vampires heading straight for us.

"Something tells me that those vampires we stumbled across were just bait," Kennedy whispers beside me. "What are we gonna do now, Buffy? There's too many of them and not enough of us."

"We fight, Ken," Faith says as she steps ahead of us. "Come on, time to put all those long hours of training to good use."

Satsu grabs onto my arm and I look over at her and see how terrified she really is. I've never seen her scared, not like this, and I pull her in for a quick kiss and tell her we'll get through this together. We spread out enough to separate the group of vampires, fighting with all that we have. I keep my head in the game, keep focused on just fighting and dusting every vamp I come across and not on the others as they fight for their lives. They are quick and a lot more skilled than your average vampire, but we all have skills and Faith was right, we were definitely putting all those long hours of training to good use.

I have three vampires left surrounding me and I take off running, hoping to get them far away enough from the others so I can take them out without worrying about any more vampires coming up behind me. Every movement, every punch, every kick is perfectly timed and planned. The adrenaline rushing through my body makes me feel high and I stake each one, one after the other and breathe in deeply as soon as the dust has settled around me.

"Buffy, there's more! Behind you!" Satsu yells out as I spin around and find myself facing six vampires, all brandishing weapons.

I can't move fast enough and find myself being held to the spot by two large vampires. One twists my stake out of my hand and I feel my bones in my right hand break. The tears rush to my eyes, but now is not the time to show any weakness. I struggle against their ironclad grip as two others approach me slowly, the bloodlust making their eyes nearly glow in the darkness of the night.

"So this is the Slayer," the one on the right says with a smile that makes me cringe.

"One of many," I reply through clenched teeth as the tears roll down my cheeks from the pain.

"Yes, one of many, but you are the famous one," he chuckles as he holds the knife he's wielding to my chin. "You don't look as tough as the rumours have it."

"Appearances are deceiving."

"That they are," he sneers as he trails the tip of the blade over my chin and along my jaw. "You are also not too bright, are you? Fell for the oldest trick in the book; fell for our bait, the weaker ones in our army. Took them out without much of a fight. Bet you thought it was too easy, didn't you?"

"You've made our Master very angry," the one next to him says as he looks me up and down slowly. "Escaping like that. We've got orders to bring you back down and..." he leans in and I can smell fresh blood on his breath and I nearly lose my dinner, "kill you."

I close my eyes, the tears burning even more as I feel the sharp fangs barely prick the skin on my neck. The sound of tires squealing makes me open my eyes and in mere seconds each vampire surrounding me turns to dust. I look over at the truck and I see Xander standing in the back with a crossbow and I sigh in relief as I bend down and pick up my stake.

"Buffy, you okay?" Xander asks as I make my way over to the truck. "That was way too close."

"Far too close," I mutter under my breath as I climb in the back and grab the second crossbow. "Where are the others?"

"Over there," Xander points to Faith, Kennedy, and Satsu in the middle of a fight with the last of the vampires. "Your hand looks pretty mangled. Sure you can handle this?"

"It's broken, but I can manage," I say with a weak smile and I look in the back window at Giles behind the wheel. "Hey, Giles. How'd you guys know we needed back up?"

"Just a feeling," he replies as he drives down the pathway, bringing us closer to the others and within a more accurate range.

I realize I can't shoot the crossbow with one hand and I drop it to the bed of the truck and hop out. I ignore Xander as he yells at me to stop and I put myself in the middle of the fight. The adrenaline is still surging through my body and I waste no time in staking each vampire as I make my way to where Faith, Kennedy, and Satsu are fighting. With Xander's help, it's over quickly and I nearly fall to the ground as the dust settles around us. Faith catches me before I do and she cradles my right arm in her hand and lets out a soft sigh when she sees my broken, mangled, bloody hand.

"Shit, B. You okay?"

"I'll be fine. You guys okay?" I ask as I look over at Kennedy and Satsu as we all climb into the back of Xander's truck.

"Little banged up, nothing major," Kennedy replies as she rips off a piece of her shirt and holds it to the deep gash in Satsu's forehead. "We should go to the hospital."

"No," I say as I shake my head no and realize that Faith hasn't let go of me since she caught me from falling. "I'll just wrap my hand when we get home. Will be good as new in a couple of days."

"Satsu is gonna need stitches," Kennedy points out.

"Rachel is a qualified nurse," Xander says before he hops out of the back of the truck and makes his way to the passenger side. "She'll stitch Satsu up and set your hand, Buff. We better get back to the house in case there's more."

"Nice skills with the crossbow, Xand," Faith says with a smile. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Faith, I'm sorry about before," I say to her quietly as Giles drives out of the cemetery quickly. "I don't know what got into me."

"S'okay, B. Barely clipped me a few times. Bruises heal. Ain't like you gutted me with my own knife this time."

"Thought you two hashed that out?" Kennedy asks as she and Satsu both look over at us. "Didn't you two get over that years ago?"

"We did," I nod my head. "Seems like someone can't quite let go of the past," I say as I wink at Faith. "Water under the bridge though, right?"

"Water under the bridge, B."

I move away from Faith and sit next to Satsu. Her eyes are glazed over and I know she's lost a lot of blood. Faith is staring at me in a way that makes me feel guilty for wanting to try to comfort Satsu right now and I ignore it, I ignore her and slip my good hand around Satsu's waist as her head rolls to rest on my shoulder. The pain is red hot in my right hand and I feel every bump in the road as Giles drives us home. I hold back the tears of pain as best as I can, feeling weak is one thing, appearing weak is a whole other thing. I can't help but feel a little guilty either. If I hadn't charged at Faith, we might have seen those vampires' coming before it was too late.

I feel dazed by the time we reach the house and I help Kennedy take Satsu inside while Faith and Xander grab the crossbows out of the back of the truck. The others almost ambush us as soon as we walk into the house, wanting to know everything that just happened. It's overwhelming to say the least and I let Faith tell everyone what happened since she is the storyteller after all. I sit with Satsu while Rachel cleans her deep cut on her forehead and begins to stitch her up, letting her grip onto my good hand as she tries not to scream in pain with every stitch Rachel makes. She passes out by the fourth stitch and I try to hold her up so Rachel can finish, forgetting about my own broken hand for nearly ten minutes.

Rachel turns to me as soon as she covers Satsu's wound and she shakes her head and I know it's not good. I feel faint and the room begins to spin around me and I only faintly hear her say I should be taken to the hospital. I feel a warm pair of arms wrap around me as I nearly slip off the chair and I know from the smell of cigarettes, fresh soap and something else I can't quite put my finger on that its Faith holding me. I hear her tell Rachel we're not going to the hospital and after a short argument between them, I pass out from the fiery pain as Rachel begins to snap some of the bones in my hand back into place.

"You okay, B?" Faith whispers into my ear as she tightens her hold on me a little more as Rachel begins to wrap my hand up. "Buffy? You five by five?"

"Five by five," I whisper. The faintest of smiles curls over my lips as Faith chuckles softly and plants a light kiss to the side of my head. I can't fight the urge to pass out again; the pain too much to bear, the adrenaline having worn me out. I know that this is just the beginning of a fight we might not win.