Loss of Faith
Chapter 7: Strangers in the Night
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.
That would be Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc….
Faith's POV –
It was nice of Xander to drop that little bomb on me at the last minute, huh. B actually left me all her money and that kick ass mansion. I guess she wasn't kiddin when she said she wanted a nice place for me to stay. And how did I repay her? Left her to burn in the light of day. Christ, I hope she did survive. I gotta find her and tell her…………. Tell her what? How do I begin to apologize for what I musta put her through? It's not like I can walk up to her and say' Hey B, glad you didn't turn into a big pile of ash when I took the gem of Amara from you while you were standin in the morning sun. By the way, thanks for makin sure I was taken care of for the rest of my life.' Why do the Fates hate me so much? No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try to do the right thing, I just keep screwin up. It's easy for Xand to tell me to forgive myself, that I was just doin what I thought was best, but that's not good enough. My best wasn't good enough. Well what else is new? My best has never been good enough.
All these thoughts are goin through my head as I walk through the cemetery. I try and let the silence of the place calm me down. Ease my weary mind. I know just what I need. I need a distraction. Yea, that's it. Somethin to take my mind away, where I don't hafta think and I can just let go for awhile. Well, well, well, whadaya know. It looks like it's my lucky night.
As I come around a large crypt there's a coupla vamps standin over a new grave. Guess their waitin for the newest member of their fraternity to make an appearance. Good for me, bad for them. I let my slayer sense flow out and yea, there's just the two of them and I feel a faint stirring from the grave. It won't be too much longer before the new guy makes an appearance. Now should I take out the elders and wait for the newbie or give the new guy a chance to get free of the grave and take them all down? Decisions, decisions. I think I'll wait and have the all you can slay special. Like I said, I'm feelin really itchy from watchin the new girl take out the demon earlier and not getting the chance to join in. So I might as well make this a little bit of a challenge. Who knows if there'll be anything else slay worthy tonight.
I'm standin here in the shadow of a tall grave marker, waitin for the main event and I feel another vamp aproachin. At the same time the ground coverin the grave starts to shift and crumble as the new vampire begins to claw his way out. I hear a girls voice cryin and look over to see the latest vamp draggin some poor young thing to the gravesite as a comin out present for the newly risen vamp.
Okay, change of plan. I'm not gonna wait for this to go on any further. Not with a victim being brought into the mix. I reach down and pull a stake from the top of my boot as I step around the grave marker. "Hey guys," I say with a smirk firmly in place. "Got room for one more?"
The vamp with the victim snarls at me, "Slayer. What are you doing here? I was told you died months ago."
"Yea, well the rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated." Heh, Giles woulda got a kick outta that. Me quotin Mark Twain. And he thought I never read.
"We'll see what we can do to fix that," he says. He let's go of the girl and lunges towards me as the other two start movin also.
Yea, these guys are all the same. The one that was doin the talkin comes straight at me while the other two come in from either side. I step forward and move into a spinnin crescent kick that sends the lead guy flying back onto the grave the newbie is still tryin to pull himself out of. The two on my sides each grab an arm and I use a hook kick from my right foot to break the hold of the one on that side. I reverse the kick and catch him in the temple while usin his partners grip on my left arm for balance. While the two that are down are recoverin, I turn into the one still holdin me and follow through with my right elbow to his nose. Have I told ya how much I love the sound of demon bones breakin? He lets go of me to grab his nose that's gushin blood and I drive my stake into his chest. Whoosh, poof, there's another sound I never get tired of hearing.
The two on the ground have gotten back up and one of them helped pull the new guy outta the grave. It's still three on one and I almost feel sorry for them bein so outnumbered. I start hearin the old music in my head and begin the slay dance I've come to love so much. They move in, I slide through. They throw punches, I counter with blocks. I'm feelin the buzz and let my mind go of all thoughts. I'm lettin the rhythm take me away, my whole body in tune with the night and the slayer sense lets me know exactly where the vamps are. Spin, punch, kick, block, plunge the stake. Oh yea, there is nothing that feels better than this. Well almost nothing. I did feel something better than this before, but the chances of that ever happenin again are almost nil.
I close my eyes as the last vamp's dust brushes over my face and when I open them again it's just me and the girl they brought for dinner, alone in the cemetery. I reach down to help her up and ask, "You alright?"
She's lookin around like she's not sure what happened and says, "What were they? Why were their faces all gross and stuff? Where did they go?"
Typical Sunnydale denial. She saw what happened but is already tryin to change it in her mind. "Musta been a gang or something," I say. "Come on, I'll help ya home."
"My cars just down the street," she says. "We ran out of gas on the way home and my boyfriend went to get some. He should be back soon."
"Okay, why don't I walk ya back to the car and we'll wait for him to come back," I tell her. What kind of an idiot leaves his girl alone at night in a stranded car? Man, the world is just full of losers. And people always wondered why I stayed out of relationships. We get back to the car and sure enough there's her idiot boyfriend putting the gas in the tank and lookin oblivious.
"Hey Carla, you go for a walk? Who's your friend?" he asks. I told ya, what an moron.
"No. I didn't go for a walk. Some guy grabbed me and pulled me into the cemetery," she tells him.
The moron throws the empty gas can in the back of the car and says, "What guy? Where is he? Are you alright?"
"Some guy. We think he was part of a gang," she answers him. "We don't know where he went and yes, I'm alright."
"How did you get away," he asks while lookin her over for any damage.
"This girl saved me." Turnin to me she says, "I don't even know your name."
"Don't worry about it," I say. "How bout you two just get on home before those guys come back." I know they won't be back but it's as good a way as any to get these two outta here. I'm startin to get the tingles again and though they're not the same as when a vamp is around. I think I know who is causin them. The feelin runnin up my spine gets a little stronger, then just kinda levels out. She's here somewhere, close enough for me to feel and probably watchin me. She's gotta know I can feel her, but she doesn't want me to see her yet for some reason.
The kids drive off just in time cause it feels like my legs are gonna give out with the relief I'm feelin. Buffy's alive. I can feel her. I know she's around here somewhere. She survived the sun and I didn't kill her. I sink down to my knees and feel the tears of relief leakin from my eyes. All the nightmares I had. All the different ways I dreamed of how her final moments must have been. It all comes rushin through me and I kneel there and cry.
Then the connection starts to fade. She's movin away from me. She's leavin and I don't know why. I stand back up and cry out into the night, "Buufffyyy". But there's no answer