Chapter Fifteen

We head down to the caves just a half an hour before dusk. We'd all spent most of the day coming up with a plan in finding Veronica and rescuing her before Falken did what we all knew he had planned. I stop everyone when we reach the mouth of the cave and I look over them, mentally taking a count in my head. Fifteen of us. Hundreds of thousands of them.

We have no chance, but we also have no choice. We have to save the world yet again. Or die trying.

"Satsu, take your team and fall back," I say to her. "Kennedy, you and your team will stay here and make sure nothing comes in and out. Faith?"

"What?" She snaps from where she's standing by a tree smoking a cigarette and looking thoroughly annoyed.

"After you," I say with a flourish as I stand aside from the mouth of the cave and wait for her to walk in first. "Any time now would be great."

I see her roll her eyes as she flicks her cigarette to the ground and walks over towards the mouth of the cave, her shoulders back and her head held high. I motion to our team of girls to follow as I stay close to Faith. She's pissed, it's clear as day that she is and she's been like this all day. It's bothering me that she's done a complete one-eighty since last night, but now is not the time to talk to her about it or try to figure her out. Right now, I need my head in the game and if my head isn't in the game, it's dangerous. Not just for myself, but for everyone here and especially for Veronica.

I already know things are too quiet as soon as we get further into the passageway. I can't feel anything and I reach out and grab onto Faith's arm, stopping her from going any further. I listen and I shake my head and turn back.

"Where the hell you goin', B?"

"They aren't here."

"How do you know that?"

"Can't you feel that?" I ask her and she only shrugs. "They aren't here."

"So what, they at the Hellmouth or something then?" Faith asks as we all begin to head back. "Why didn't we go there first? Some fuckin' plan you came up with, B."

I ignore her despite the fact that she's infuriating me right now and we head back out as quickly as we can. The Hellmouth seal is a good ten miles from here and I get a bad feeling if we try to walk or run there, we'll be too late. But we don't have a choice and after I brief the others with the new plan, we take off running, sticking to back roads and running through backyards, keeping our profile low. The last thing any of us need is to be caught out on the streets with as many weapons as we have. I don't think the Cleveland police would treat us too kindly if they stopped us either.

The Cleveland Hellmouth is just on the outskirts of the city, buried under an abandoned barn next to a crumbling farmhouse. Faith and Kennedy split the girls into two teams and I hang back with Satsu as they make their way around the property to make sure we won't be ambushed. I feel Satsu reach for my hand, but I don't look over at her as I watch the others make their way through the dense forest that surrounds the property. As soon as they get close, Satsu and I make our way towards the house, both of us keeping a look out for anything that could jump out of the shadows at any given moment.

"She's undermining you, Buffy," Satsu say softly as we approach the house slowly. "I can't believe you are letting her do it too."

"Now is not the time to be talking about this," I snap at her quietly even though I know she's completely right. "Go around that way, meet me in the back."

"Buffy-"

"Just go! We've already wasted too much time!"

I go around the east end of the house and I spot Faith and a handful of the girls making their way to the barn. The only sign of any activity is coming from the barn, the soft glow of candlelight now being seen shining under the cracks in the big double doors. My chest feels tight as I watch Faith approach the side of the barn and peer inside one of the holes in the wall. She barely manages to duck out the way as an arrow whizzes past her head. I hear her curse under her breath as she unsheathes the sword she's brought along and makes her way to the doors. The rest of the girls are soon right behind her and I try to catch up to them before Faith kicks open the doors.

It all happens too quick as a pile of vampires rush out of the barn. I manage to slip past all of them as the girls fight them off and I sneak into the barn and make my way past the old stalls towards the middle where I know Falken has Veronica. I keep to the shadows as I get closer and there's a huge hole dug out in the middle, the Hellmouth seal completely uncovered and Falken standing by it holding tightly onto a bound Veronica with Vivienne at his side.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, Slayer. I know you're there," he calls out and I see the smirk curl across his lips as I step out from the shadows and unsheathe my sword. "Ah, I was wondering how long it'd take you and your...pathetic little army of Slayers to come here."

"We aren't pathetic," I say through gritted teeth. "And you have one of my best Slayers. Let her go."

"I don't think so," he laughs as he tightens his grip on Veronica's neck. "Let me ask you something, Slayer. If she's one of your best, how was it far too easy to grab her as she slept?"

Veronica is shaking and I can see the fear shining in those deep blue eyes of hers. She has dried blood from a wound just at the top of her hairline and her face is swollen and cut up. She'd definitely been beaten to within a hairsbreadth of her life and she's weak, far too weak to fight right now. I look back, hoping Faith, Kennedy, Satsu or any of the other girls would be right behind me, but they are all still outside fighting off the vampires that had rushed out as us.

"You didn't answer my question," Falken growls.

"She doesn't have to answer a goddamn thing," Faith says as she moves to stand next to me. "Don't worry about the girls outside, B. They got it."

"Ah, the other Slayer. How nice. It's almost a party, isn't it, Vivienne?" Falken laughs as he turns to the exiled vampire queen next to him. "You think you can fight us? You think you can stop us?"

"Damn right we can," Faith quips as she grips onto her sword tightly. "What do you say, B? Wanna make 'em dance?"

I smile as I grip tightly onto my own sword, but as we try to take a step forward, I feel as if I walked straight into an invisible wall. Faith growls under her breath as she tries again and is sent tumbling back as Falken raises a hand towards her.

"Mother fucker!" She says under her breath as she picks herself up from the ground and dusts off the dirt from her jeans. "Magic. Got a barrier set up. We ain't getting through that."

One by one the others join us and we stand as one as I try to figure out a way to get past this invisible magic barrier that's surrounding Falken, Vivienne, Veronica and the Hellmouth seal. We need Willow, but it's too late to get her here. Every second we just stand here is a second wasted and a second closer to Falken spilling Veronica's blood to open the seal. I try to reach out to Willow with my mind, knowing if I tried hard enough, she'd hear me. But the distance is far too great for it to work, I know that, but I keep trying as the others try to figure a way past the barrier before it's too late.

"We need Willow," Kennedy whispers.

"No shit Sherlock," Faith mutters under her breath. "Any of you girls know a little bit of magic?" She asks everyone and nobody says a word. "Great. Just fuckin' great. You'd think Willow would've taught at least one of you some basic spells."

"A basic spell won't break through that barrier," Satsu points out. "Even I can feel how strong it is, how strong the magic is holding it together."

I pull Kennedy aside and keep my eyes on Falken. "We need to get one of them to grab us. It's our only chance."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Piss them off. I don't know. We have to try something, Kenny."

"Hey fucker!" Faith yells at Falken as she tries to storm past the barrier. "Why don't you fight a real Slayer, huh? Pick on someone half your size with half the power and strength you got."

"Looks like Faith is the perfect one to do just that," Kennedy chuckles softly and I feel my chest tighten again. I don't like this. At all. "She can handle herself, Buffy. Don't worry about her."

"I'm not worried about her," I whisper, but even Kennedy knows it's a lie.

I can only stand and watch as Faith taunts Falken and Vivienne. I can almost see Vivienne's eye glow red as she struggles to keep from slipping into her game face. It happened too fast, one second Faith is poking at the barrier with the tip of her sword, and the next Vivienne splits a hole in the barrier and has Faith by the throat.

"Move. Now!" I say to the others as we move through the tear in the barrier.

"B! Get Veronica!" Faith shouts as she struggles against Vivienne's tight grasp.

Dozens of vampires come in from outside and I make my way to Falken quickly as he holds a dagger to Veronica's throat. I know I have to move fast and I know I have to catch him off-guard if I want to save her and the rest of the city along with the rest of the world. Falken looks feral as I cautiously approach him while watching my back and keeping an eye on Faith. I swing my sword as he holds Veronica over the hole in the ground, slicing his arm clean off.

"You bitch!" Falken screams as he clutches his severed shoulder. "You fucking bitch!"

Veronica scrambles from the edge of the hole and I make sure Kennedy has her on the other side of the barrier before I move to kick Falken's severed arm that's lying on the ground in front of my feet. It's no longer human looking like the rest of him. It's shrivelled up and grey and just gross.

"You are going to pay for this!" Falken says, his voice shrieking through the chaos around us.

"Buffy!" Satsu yells from behind me and I spin around and find Vivienne about to snap Faith's neck clean in half. "We need to retreat!"

I need to save Faith. She's helpless against Vivienne and she's struggling to get out of her iron-clad grip to no avail. I turn around again and find Falken has disappeared, but I know I can't worry about him right now when I need to worry about Faith and the others getting to safety. I clutch my sword tightly in my hand as I make my way over to Vivienne as she continues to hold Faith by her neck, her face slipping into her game face as she growls at her. A vampire grabs me before I can get any closer and I try to fight it off, but find he is too big for me to fight alone.

"Satsu, give me a hand!" I call out to her, but she and the others are already retreating out of the barn, leading the last of the vampires out with them except for the one currently holding me by the back of my neck and twisting my arm until I drop my sword. "Satsu!"

My hand that had been broken snaps and I feel the sharp, burning pain shoot through my hand and up my arm. I hold back the tears as I twist my way out of the vampire's tight hold and kick him square in the chest, sending him flying back and down into the hole where the Hellmouth seal is. I pick up my sword with my left hand, cradling my right against my chest as I make my way over to Faith.

I stab the sword into the ground, pull out my stake, and hold it against Vivienne's back just over her heart. "Let her go," I say through gritted teeth. "Now."

Vivienne only laughs as she drops Faith to the ground and spins around before I have the chance to plunge the stake through her heart. "This isn't over yet, Slayer. We've barely begun."

I let her go, the pain shooting through my hand almost unbearable now. I kneel down next to Faith and place a hand on her shoulder. She's gasping hard, trying to catch her breath as she rubs over her neck. Bruises are already forming from Vivienne's finger's, but it's nothing that won't heal. She's okay and I feel somewhat relieved nothing had happened to her. I let out a shaky breath as Faith shrugs my hand off her shoulder and stands up slowly.

"The fuck happened, B?" Faith mutters as she picks up her sword. "Why didn't you kill him?"

"I sliced his arm off," I shrug as we make out way to the doors to join the others outside. I stop her before we reach the doors and she groans as she turns to face me. "Are you okay?"

"Never better, B. Coulda handled myself," she says, a hint of malice in her voice and with a roll of her eyes she continues towards the doors and steps outside.

I force back my tears and force back everything I'm feeling right now deep inside and join the others outside. It's quiet and nobody seems to be in a talkative mood. I spot Willow at the other end of our small group of Slayers and I make my way over to her, wondering how long she'd been here. From the drained look in her eyes, I know she'd teleported herself here, but she was too late and she looked guilty for not getting her any sooner than she had.

The walk home is long and eerily quiet. It gives me far too much time to replay everything that had happened so quickly in such a short amount of time. I'm not upset that I couldn't take out Falken or Vivienne, tonight was not the right time. I'm relieved that we got Veronica out of there before anything did happen. I don't know if I could handle seeing another Slayer die in front of my very eyes. There had been more than a few over the years, but in the end, I always knew I could've saved them before they risked their lives and paid with them.

"Hey, can we talk?" Willow asks as she catches up to me. "I was thinking," she says as she lowers her voice, "that house? It's perfect."

"Perfect for what?"

"All of us. We'll fill in that hole in the barn and turn it into a training room. The house is big enough to have all of us plus there's plenty of room for hundreds of Slayers."

"What are you talking about?" I ask her, confused at what she's trying to get at. "Our house is fine. The other girls can stay at the motel for as long as it takes. Giles is footing the bill."

"Buffy, after what I saw tonight, we aren't prepared for this fight against Falken. We aren't prepared at all!" Willow exclaims and I sigh as we hang back from the others a little bit. "We should be training more girls than we have been over the last handful of years. You know it, I know it, and I know Giles knows it too. It's hard to have more than a dozen girls at the house. Space is definitely an issue."

"Money is also an issue, Will. Don't you think that land like that would cost us more than what our house cost us?" I say as I shake my head. "I don't even want to know how much it'd cost us not to mention that it's too far out of the way for nightly patrols in the city."

"But think of it this way, we can protect the Hellmouth at the same time considering it'd be right in our very own backyard, Buffy."

I know she's making many valid points right now, but I'm not feeling this idea. Not yet. I do know we haven't trained enough girls, at least not properly, but that isn't completely my fault.

"Do you remember what we talked about on the bus as we left Sunnydale behind?" Willow asks softly and I nod my head slowly. "We all agreed to do whatever it takes to make all the newly called Slayers understand their calling, to understand the power they have inside of them and know how to use it. Properly. We never got that far, Buffy."

"It's too late for that, Will. This fight? This war with Falken? It's already started."

"You might have put a slight delay in his hands...hand," she chuckles softly and I roll my eyes and can't help but laugh along with her. "Giles and I have been talking a lot over the last couple of days about starting up some kind of training school for the girls. There is no better time than now to do this and you know it, Buffy."

I sigh softly as I look at the girls walking in front of us. These girls had been trained by the few Watchers left, the ones we knew we could trust. They were good fighters, strong, but there aren't enough of them. I know Willow is right. I know we have to try to do something to build ourselves a much stronger army so we actually have a chance against Falken, Vivienne and the hundreds, if not thousands of vampires who are at their disposal.

"I think you're right, Will," I say after a moment and she beams proudly that I'm on board with her idea. "We have to do something and this just might be it. It's too bad we didn't think about this before."

"It's never too late until it is," she says softly and she offers as small smile my way when I look over at her. "We'll talk to Giles when we get back to the house. You know, after we tell him what happened here tonight. I'm sure Xander would love to have a project right now. He's driving himself crazy and he has been ever since he was laid off. There's nothing more that would make him happy than to be able to fix up that house and the barn for all of us."

"You are way too excited about this, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! Think about it this way, Buff, we've got a chance to build our army and we might be cutting it a little close, but we all love a challenge, right?"

"You're right. By the way," I say to her as we reach the house. "How did you know to come to us?"

"I heard you call for me. Giles told me not to come, but I knew I had to. I had to come, Buffy. I'm sorry I was too late."

"We got what we came for," I reply with a shrug. "And you weren't too late. Well," I say upon her sceptical look, "maybe you were a little late. It doesn't matter now."

I know I have a lot to think about and I'm thankful it has nothing to do with my personal life. God knows my personal life is enough of a mess as it is to have to deal with it on top of everything else.