Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from BtVS.
Serious thanks to ObscureBookWyrm. She's always teaching me something new.
The Dawning
Chapter Seven
The dick-shit vampire was pacing the room in a dizzying Gordian knot, lighting up one cig after another until a fog of smoke hung thick in the room.
Still chained and gagged, Faith watched him with hard eyes, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.
She thought the vampire hated Buffy, but he knew her well enough to know that Faith wasn't her. When, during their flirtation, did he figure it out? Had he known from the beginning or had she slipped in some way? Had it been the moment he cocked his head and she knew she'd overplayed her hand? Or had it been from the very beginning when she feigned disinterest in his and Buffy's baby?
It didn't matter, because the result was just the same. She played straight into his sly hands. Even as he was getting her off, he was thinking about locking her down. Fuck her. The best sex she'd ever had, and it'd all been a play to catch her off guard so he could take her unawares.
Take her in a way that wouldn't leave a bruise on beautiful, perfect Buffy.
Her ego would like to think that he didn't engage her in battle because he was afraid of losing, but watching his fluid grace as he paced, and the ease with which he dodged her kick, made her think that he was far out of her league.
A master vampire like him could have easily put her in the ground. But then again, it wouldn't have been her, not entirely. It would have been Buffy too, and somehow Faith didn't think that would be at all acceptable in his world.
Upstairs, the crypt door slammed open, and the vampire went rigid. All the frenetic energy inside him coiled up tight behind marble-hard muscles and a dispassionate mask. With nonchalance entirely at odds with his earlier frenzied movements, he leaned against the stone wall, crossing his ankles as if he were waiting for the next bus instead of Buffy to come into the room.
Buffy stomped down the stairs, took one look at her naked body stretched out on Spike's bed, and stopped cold.
Her face morphing into something hard and ugly, she whirled on the vampire who hadn't taken his eyes off her since the moment her dainty foot stepped onto the ladder.
"You fucked her!" Buffy cast another bewildered look at Faith. Spike had tried to cover her up, but Faith's innate spitefulness had her kicking off the sheet as soon as it settled. As the watcher entered the room, Faith felt awkwardness creep up, even if it wasn't her naked body on display for everyone to see, and wished she hadn't been contrary just for the sake of it.
"Fucked her in my body?" Her tone matched her bewildered look, and Faith couldn't fathom it. Couldn't fathom the hurt on her sister slayer's face. It dawned on her that maybe Spike hadn't refused to take her in battle because he was afraid of hurting Buffy's body. Maybe he wanted to hurt Buffy in a less tangible, more personal way.
Bruises and broken bones healed. Emotions burned hotter and bled longer.
Faith thought she should feel triumphant in this moment, but all she could think about was how Dawn's nursery had rejected her.
Spike shot off the wall, smoke streaming from his nostrils. "No, I did not!" He growled. He spoke with precision that impressed Faith with his intensity. "But I can see that was a big soddin' mistake. Why don't you and the watcher step out for a nonce and I'll shag her silly, seeing this is about as close as I'll ever get again to your lush little body."
Buffy took a swing. Spike sidestepped and she missed, the foreign body she inhabited making her clumsy.
Thrusting his face into hers, he showed his teeth. "She's a real goer. Yowled like a bloody cat when she came."
Buffy went sheet-white. "You just said you didn't fuck her."
"Had to get her in my bed, didn't I? Had to make her lose her soddin' mind a'fore I could get those cuffs on her."
Buffy's chest rose as she fought for breath and Spike angled his head. It was the same gesture that clued in Faith that she'd overplayed her hand with him. With a morbid fascination she watched him go in for the kill, a cobra striking the mongoose.
"It sure was sweet. Tasting your body with an appreciative woman inside. I didn't have to work like I do with you. She gave it up sweet and easy, and let me know how much she liked it."
This time he didn't dodge away when she swung. Her fist connected with his nose, the crack of his bone loud in the crypt.
Hello, death wish. She thought B's relationship with Angel was pure angst. It had nothing on this one.
"That's enough, Spike." The watcher stood by the stairs, not glancing at the bed nor at the spatting couple. Poor guy looked like he just had a two-by-four rammed up his ass. Faith almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"Do you have the katra?"
Buffy nodded, scrupulously refusing to look at Spike, who was wiping blood off his face. She marched over to the bed to stare down at Faith. She met Buffy's gaze head on, notching her chin, even as she lay vulnerable and exposed.
Buffy ripped the ball gag out of her mouth, staring down at Faith like she expected something.
Faith worked her jaw, glaring at her sister. Fuck no was she going to apologize. No way in hell. Buffy betrayed her. Stabbed her in the gut and threw her off a building, all to save her honey bear. If that didn't scream wicked betrayal, Faith didn't know what did.
There sure as shit wasn't going to be Christmas cards and girl's night out in their future.
Faith's eyes cut to Spike, who had yet to take his piercing gaze off Buffy, even when she wasn't looking. For her soul-mate, Buffy had been willing to murder her sister slayer. Faith shuddered to think what Buffy would do for Spike.
They clearly had angst, but if they weren't devastatingly, sickeningly in love, then Faith was a closet submissive. Not just in love –– that fairytale romantic bullshit –– but the kind of love that endures for forty years, during all the ups and downs of life, until they die together in the same bed.
Maybe she should be afraid. Being chained naked to this particular vampire's bed seemed to be an increasingly bad idea. She knew terror when she thought Spike was going to sell her to the highest demonic bidder, but that was before Faith realized she'd walked into some kind of souped-up telenovela where the leading lady was more than capable of violence.
"You bitch," Buffy hissed, and Faith raised a brow. Sweet little Sandra Dee of Sunnydale was finding her inner Pink Lady.
"Sorry to horn in on your man. But if you'd have kept him satisfied I wouldn't have found him trying to pick up tail at The Bronze."
"Vicious skank," Spike growled.
Buffy fisted her hands, eyes dark. "I'd beat you bloody if you weren't in my body."
Faith laughed, weaving her stolen body sinuously on the red velvet comforter. "The vampire told me you liked to play those games, you kinky bitch."
The glare Buffy threw at the vampire should have immolated him. His returning smile could have frozen everything south of the equator.
Giles cleared his throat. "Buffy, we don't have time for this now. We need to get this done before the Council arrives."
For the first time since Buffy entered the room, Spike wrenched his gaze away from her. "The Council?"
"Quite. Ms. Lehane is going to return to England to be reeducated."
"Right," Spike drawled. "And I'm a blessed saint."
Faith felt her stomach drop into a squirming pit. She knew what the Council had in store for her. Either they would completely mind-fuck her, wiping away everything that was her, or they'd execute her. Either way she was a goner.
Buffy turned away, her expression merciless. Not that Faith expected mercy from her, the traitorous, selfish bitch.
"Let's get this done."
Giles approached the bed, stooping to snatch up the sheet Faith had kicked to the floor. "Do be a good girl and leave this on." Giles draped the sheet over her body, concealing her while trying not to look directly at her. She kicked it off with a big smile, the idea of seeing Buffy trussed up and naked appealing to the darkness inside her. Giles sighed and Faith's thoughts were drawn back to those silver sigils lighting up in Dawn's nursery when she tried to enter.
From a knapsack he had carried with him, Giles pulled out a pair of manacles. They rattled loudly in the quiet crypt.
"Buffy?"
Katra in hand, she knelt beside the bed, placing her hands behind her back. With quick efficiency, Giles chained her hands together, while Spike remained watchful.
Once Buffy was chained, Giles turned to Spike. "Extend Faith's hand, they need to touch for the switch to be reversed."
Spike leaned down, grabbing her wrist with more force than necessary and extending it towards the side of the bed. Faith thought about fighting, but lethargy dragged her down. All the fighting, day in and day out, exhausted her. She wished she was still in her coma. Back in that safe, quiet place where suffering didn't exist. Her own slice of heaven.
Buffy angled her body, clutching at Faith with the hand that held the idol. There was a flash of light and when Faith blinked she was on the ground looking up at Buffy chained to the bed. Out of reflex she tested the chains at her back, finding them unbreakable.
"Key, now," Buffy spat, eyes blazing fire at the vampire.
Spike sneered, opening the nightstand drawer to pull out a brass key.
"Chains on your bed, Spike? You bring your little harem of whores down here? Make them strip for you before you chain them up?"
His glacial eyes glittered under his lashes, as he unlocked one manacle. "I'll be sure to tell the girls you said hello. I'm sure they'll be pleased as punch that your ugly, judgmental thoughts are with them." He reached over her to undo the other one.
Buffy's mouth tightened into a firm line as she glanced away.
As soon as she was free, she bounced off the bed, sheet clutched to her chest as she gathered up the slut attire Faith had worn. She glanced around, uncertain.
"Through there." Spike pointed to another room hollowed out of the stone.
She scurried toward it without a thank you.
Faith chuckled. "Good ol' Princess Buffy. Expects everyone to bow before her. She can have anything and anyone she wants, but she's too busy moaning about how horrible her life is."
"Shut the fuck up. No one wants to hear what you have to say." Spike whirled away to pace by the wall.
Faith sighed, suddenly feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders as she knelt in the dirt.
8888
The stone room ended up being a half bath with a sink and shower, no toilet or mirror.
Making sure she couldn't be seen from the other room, Buffy dropped the bundle of clothes on the floor. Despair overwhelmed her, forcing her to press her forearm to her eyes lest she burst into tears. When the wave of emotion receded, she took a deep breath and cupped her hand between her legs.
She felt wetness, but no stickiness. No pleasant soreness of her muscles that usually accompanied sex with Spike. He'd always been vigorous, marking her in a way she felt for hours afterwards.
Heartsick, she lifted her hand, taking a sniff. No Spike scent.
He'd been truthful. He hadn't fucked her. But he had made her come, and from the wetness between her legs, he made her come hard.
She clamped onto the sink, nearly cracking the porcelain with the strength of her grip. Quickly she turned on the taps full force to mask her sobs. Whisking a dingy towel off the rack, she drenched it under the tap, using it wash between her legs, scrubbing hard enough to make her wince.
She wetted the other corner, cleaning the rest of her body. Finally, she washed her face, rinsing away the tears.
Clean, she hurried to pulled on her clothes, only to smell Spike all over them. Smoke and leather and his favorite whiskey. He'd been close enough to Faith to rub himself all over her, and the thought of it made Buffy want to cry all over again.
Pulling herself together, Buffy held her chin high as she stomped into the bedroom.
"Where's Giles?"
She directed her query at Spike without actually looking at him.
"Upstairs. I'm on guard duty."
Faith remained on the floor next to the bed, her dark brown hair hanging in sweaty tendrils around her face.
"I've got it from here, Spike."
"Too bloody bad."
She wheeled on him, face distorted with fury. "Get out!"
He crossed to her in two strides, face thrust into hers. "Sod you. Not leavin' you here alone with her."
"I want to talk to her."
"Be my guest. But I ain't leavin'. My crypt, my rules," he sneered.
When she pulled back her fist, he rolled forward on the balls of his feet, leaning into it like he wanted to get pummeled by her.
"Gawd." She dropped her fist. "Getting beat up is like getting to third base for you." She whirled away, her skanked-out hair nearly whipping him in the face.
She ignored the hiss of anger from behind her as she stood over Faith. Her sister slayer didn't lift her head, just stared at the toes of the sexy strappy sandals Buffy had been saving for a special occasion. Now she was going to have to throw them out.
Anger, vicious and brutal, boiled through her veins and before she knew it she lashed out with her foot, kicking Faith in the face.
"Why?" Buffy screamed. "Why do you do these things?"
Faith rolled onto her back, mouth bloody from Buffy's blow, and laughed. With her blood-stained teeth she looked every inch a vampire. Maybe that's what she wanted. To be evil without the guilt –– to escape the weight of humanity. Why else go to bed with a presumably evil vampire if not to be turned?
Chest heaving, hands fisted along her thighs, Buffy glared down at her sister, just barely resisting the urge to kick her in the ribs. How dare she try to use Spike that way? As an escape from her sins.
A quick glance at Spike showed her that he couldn't take his eyes off Faith. Buffy couldn't read his expression and it made her sick.
"Why did you do this to us?" Buffy's voice shook and she hated herself for it.
Faith rolled around in the dirt, finally getting her legs under her so she could kneel. Hunching her shoulders to scrub away the blood, she looked back up at Buffy with a dark chuckle. Pink stained her lips and around her mouth down to her chin. She looked like a well-kissed whore or a homicidal clown. Either made Buffy shudder.
"You know, you really chap my hide."
Buffy's mouth dropped. "Me! I chap your hide? You run around with your want-take attitude, ruining everyone's life, and then wonder why you get beat down. You're a freakin' selfish bitch!"
"I'm a selfish bitch? You have everything. Friends, family, a cherry-picked life, and all you do is whine about it. 'Poor me, me, me.' That's all that every comes out of your perfect, princess Buffy mouth."
Buffy wanted to stomp holes in the ground. "I do not have a cherry-picked life!" she screamed. "Do you think I wanted this calling? All this pain and suffering ––"
"––Power and strength," Faith finished. "We have abilities other girls only dream of. Every boring, normal girl goes through life wanting to be special. The one with super powers or a rockin' bod, hell, even the ability to burp the National Anthem. Anything to be noticed. Anything to be different from the herd. And here we are as special as special gets and you fucking CRY about it."
"Our calling isn't about being special or different. It's a burden."
Faith snorted. "I guess that's where we're different, B. I thought it was about saving people."
Buffy rocked back on her heels. Oh, God. Faith was right. Their Calling was all about saving people. Buffy had thought she'd accepted that, but apparently there were still remnants of that scared little girl inside her that just wanted everything to go back to normal. To go back to the time before she knew about monsters and mayhem and everything else that went bump in the night. She wished so badly that was the world she lived in. That it was the world that Dawn lived in. A safe world. A normal world.
"You don't really believe that," Buffy whispered. "For you, it's all about taking what you want."
Faith hung her head, her sweaty hair cascading around her face. "Yeah. I'm a fuck-up. But at least I accept what I am."
Buffy wished she had Faith's strength. She needed it. Needed to accept herself for what she was. Needed to accept the world would never be safe or normal.
Staring down at her sister, Buffy felt all the energy drain out of her. Her knees buckled and she fell into the dirt next to Faith, her head dipping low.
Buffy didn't know how long they sat there in silence. Eternity, it seemed.
"Kinky sex with Blondie, huh? Does he chain you up and make you call him master?"
"No! Nothing like that." Buffy shoved half-heartedly at Faith, and her sister swayed.
Faith took one look at Buffy's flaming face and chortled. "Oh, I see. It's the other way around. You make him lick your boots?"
"No!" Buffy hissed, glancing at Spike as he paced beneath the ladder leading to the upper floor. When he didn't leer or roll his tongue at her, she was certain he hadn't heard. "We do it –– did it…sweet." Buffy couldn't hide the longing in her voice. She didn't know why she was sharing. Maybe because, deep down, regardless of all the bullshit, they were sisters, and sisters shared. Besides, she didn't really have anyone to talk to about Spike. Willow had Tara, and Anya had Xander, and, well, her mom was her mom. No sex talk happening there. "He was sweet." She rubbed her hand down her midriff. "Always so careful of the baby. Of me."
Like this, kitten? That feel good? Easy now. I've got you. Love it when you purr for me.
Faith hummed in the back of her throat, drawing Buffy's attention away from her memories. "He tried to hustle me with those chains. Wanting me in them first thing, but I wasn't having it. Blew my mind, the idea of you doing it nasty like." She flicked a sideways glance from the corner of her eye at Buffy. "Blew my mind that you'd trust a vamp like that. Should have known you wouldn't have."
"I would have trusted him," Buffy murmured, rubbing her tummy again, missing the thrum of life that used to rest just beneath her heart, missing what used to be.
Faith watched her with dark, curious eyes. She shuffled closer, moving like an old woman instead of a girl barely twenty. "So you've got yourself a kid with…" Faith's gaze flickered to Spike. He puffed furiously on a cigarette, blue eyes flashing in their direction every few seconds as if checking Buffy was still unharmed.
Buffy dropped her eyes, hands clenched into fists on her knees.
"How'd that happen?"
Buffy thought about Dawn. Her big blue eyes just like her daddy's. The way she kicked up her heels to show her mommy her wonderful toes. "Magic," Buffy whispered.
Beside her Faith nodded, rocking back and forth on her knees.
"You guys aren't together, huh?"
Buffy shook her head. Behind her she could feel Spike's stare like a stake between her shoulder blades, but she kept her gaze squarely on her hands.
Faith chuckled under her breath. "You know, at first I thought he was being a dick. A vampire looking to get some. It wasn't until after, when he fucking tricked me wicked smooth, that I realized he was buggin'."
Buffy's eyes flashed up to Faith's. "What do you mean?"
"The first thing he did, before he called your watcher-man, was wash out his mouth with a shot of Jack. How fucking insulting is that? I thought to myself, 'Damn, this asshole really hates Buffy'."
Buffy's fists tightened, her back going ramrod straight. She could still feel Spike's eyes on her. She wanted to get up off her knees, march over to him, and clock him right across the face.
"Then I saw him when you strutted in wearing my body. He couldn't take his eyes off you."
"You mean you." Buffy's lip curled up into a disgusted snarl. She knew Faith had more going on in the looks department than her. Wild chocolate hair, red kiss-me lips, and a pair of plump c-cups any man would want to fondle.
"No, you." Faith leaned forward until their hair brushed, sisters sharing secrets instead of hated enemies. "He had your body and hated it. Hated touching it. The man wanted the soul. Wanted you. Hell, I think in some twisted way he thought kissing me in your body was still cheating on you. To my way of thinking that's a damn fine man to have."
"He's not a man. He's a vampire," Buffy whispered shakily. She leaned closer to Faith, smelling her own body wash on the other woman.
"There's some wicked shit in this world, B. Even me, uneducated street trash that I am, can see that not everything is as it seems to be. It'd be pretty fucked up if we were only Slayers and not women too. And just because he's a vampire doesn't mean he's not a man."
Buffy clenched her eyes closed, feeling the hot burn of tears leaking from the corners. When she shook her head, wisps of hair stuck to her cheeks.
"Doesn't matter," she whispered too low for even a vampire to hear. "I broke him. Broke his love for me."
Faith rested her forehead on Buffy's shoulder. "That's what Slayers do," she whispered just as quietly, her breath hot on Buffy's neck. "We break things."
"Yeah." Buffy cocked her head until her cheek rested on the crown of Faith's head. She inhaled, and beneath her body wash, Buffy could smell Faith's innate scent. Somehow it comforted her, soothed her the way her mother's scent soothed her.
"You've some pretty wicked enchantments on my niece's nursery."
Buffy lifted her head away from Faith, nudging her so their eyes could meet. "How do you know about those?"
Faith didn't answer, and Buffy felt bile high in her gut. Her sister's face crumpled as she fell forward into Buffy's lap. Her sobs shook her entire body, the depth of them sinking into Buffy.
Misery welled up inside Buffy, answering Faith's wretchedness. She wrapped her arms around Faith, holding her tight against her gut as if using Faith to hold her insides in. She was only peripherally aware of Spike exiting the room on cat-soft feet.
"When did that happen, Buffy? When did I become evil enough to hurt a baby?"
Buffy had no answer for her sister. As the Calling wore down on her, night after night, Buffy acknowledged that the lines between good and evil became more and more blurred.
Everything had seemed so crystal clear before the Initiative. Before Dawn. Before Spike.
Even her relationship with Angel, seemingly so complex and impossible at the time, really had been rendered in the simplest terms. A black and white love affair. With a soul, Angel was good. Without one, he was evil. Simple, neat, and completely two-dimensional.
It had none of the depth her relationship with Spike had.
Buffy shuddered to think how self-centered she used to be. Now with a broader world view brought about by the introduction of the Initiative and the benign demons, Buffy saw things in an array of color. No longer was the world black and white. Nor was it gray. It was every color in the spectrum. Every possibility was clear to her, good and bad.
She had to see herself in the same terms. Not just a fighter firmly on the side of good, but one who straddled the line, fighting to keep the balance. She wasn't white and Faith wasn't black, they were women making the best they could out of life, fuck-ups and all.
But where did that leave them?
Where did it leave her and Spike?
"Do you think it's possible to change?" Faith asked from Buffy's lap. Her tears had run their course, but she showed no signs of moving. "Do you think it's possible to come back from the abyss?"
Buffy carded her fingers through Faith's hair. She thought about Spike and everything he'd done. Not just for her and Dawn, but for his community. For his people.
"Yeah, I do. I've seen it."
"Spike?"
Buffy held Faith tighter, as if her words could somehow pour hope into her sister. "No soul. No ability to feel regret. But he knows the difference between good and evil, and he struggles every day to do the right thing."
"Does he win the struggle?"
"Every day is a battle."
"He does it for you?"
Buffy shook her head, tears prickling her eyes. "I'm not the prize anymore. He does it for himself."
Faith shuddered. "Makes it easier to slip if you don't have something to fight for."
Buffy gathered her close, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "I'm sorry, Faith. I'm sorry for everything I did to you. For everything I took from you."
Faith sat up, her face turned away. "Didn't really have anything, did I? Not even the Mayor."
Buffy reached out to stroke Faith's hair, but the other girl flinched away. She dropped her hand to her empty lap, feeling the emptiness all the way into her soul. "I should have done better by you when you first came to Sunnydale."
Faith chuckled. "Nah. It didn't matter what you did. I was destined to go bad."
Buffy's chest seized. "Faith."
"Hey, send the Watcher-man down here. I've some questions about this reeducation thing."
"Faith."
Faith's eyes were dead when she met Buffy's gaze. "C'mon, B. They'll be here any minute, and I want to know what to expect."
Buffy lost herself in the darkness of Faith's eyes, knowing nothing else could be said. She pushed to her feet, only looking back once before exiting the room.
8888
Buffy stepped out of the crypt, hands shoved into her pockets, gazing up at the stars.
Spike was a shadow among the tombstones, only the cherry of his cigarette visible. She glanced at him before looking away again. "Smoking again?"
"Not like I hav'ta worry about secondhand smoke hurtin' you or the baby."
Though it was summer in Southern California, Spike could see her shudder as if chilled.
"And the crypt? Why'd you move out of the apartment?"
Spike kicked off the tomb he was leaning against, swaggering out of the shadows, looking every inch a vampire.
"Flat's how a man lives, but I'm not a man. I'm a vampire and its time I start livin' like one. You put me in my place good and proper, Slayer. Good on you."
Buffy shot off the tombstone she had seated herself on, lashing out. The tombstone across from her shattered, chunks of granite showering the nearby graves. She didn't stop with one. She lashed out at the others, kicking and punching, and making a low, rumbling cry that reminded Spike of a wolf caught in a bear trap.
When she was done, she stood amid the shattered debris, chunks of rock with exposed quartz glittering like stardust in the moonlight, and shuddered. Her sobs were soundless, and somehow all the more terrible for it.
Spike stood behind her, fists clenched uselessly at his sides as he watched her suffering. He didn't revel in her pain, but he couldn't bring himself to ease it either.
Eons passed before she turned on her heel towards the crypt, wiping her wet face on her bare forearm.
Spike watched her go, words of comfort dead on his tongue.
8888
Buffy dropped down into the lower level of the crypt with grace owned only by Slayers and vampires.
Startled, Giles turned towards her.
"Key, now."
Giles blinked, and stared down at her open hand. "Pardon?"
"Give. Me. The key."
"Buffy," Faith whispered, warning clear in her tone.
Giles removed his glasses, his mouth puckering like he'd sucked on a lemon. "Do you really think this is wise?"
"Yes."
Giles shifted as if the force of her conviction had physically shoved him. When he looked at her it was with a new light. "Is this the balance you want to strive for?"
Buffy didn't hesitate. "Absolutely. What sort of champion would I be if I didn't encourage redemption?" Her eyes flashed toward the upper floor of the crypt before returning to Giles. "I've already screwed the pooch once, Giles. I can't do it again."
"Let them take me. I deserve what they're going to do to me." Faith sounded resigned, and it made Buffy's heart clench tight in her chest.
"They're going to kill you." Buffy shoved her hand toward Giles.
Watching her with unblinking eyes, he dug into his vest pocket for the key. "Who else will you try to reform?"
Buffy tightened her lips. "I can't reform anyone. It's not my job. It has to be a choice. All I can do is support it."
"Is that so?" Giles murmured, stepping aside as Buffy swiped the key from his hand.
Faith frowned, the undercurrents between Buffy and her watcher incomprehensible to her. "Let them take me."
"No." No one was dying on her watch. Not if she could help it. She stepped behind Faith to unchain her. "People worse off than you have come back from the abyss. Go to L.A. Angel will help you. I won't condemn a sister to die."
Faith rubbed her wrists, staying on her knees. "Even one who's a danger to your family?"
Buffy leaned down until her brow was pressed to Faith's. "You are family," she proclaimed, looking her sister deep in the eye. "I believe you can be saved. I know it."