Loss of Faith

Chapter 21: Hunting

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc….

Faith's POV –

I pull my bike outta the bushes and start it back up. I'm just sittin here for a minute tryin to get my shit together. I almost really lost it in there. I can't believe that I was gonna start hurtin Red, just to get information outta her. It was information that I really already had. I know what it's like when you're first called. I know how it can make ya edgy if you're not out there slayin every night. If I had taken a moment to think about it, I probably would have even figured out that she would prefer the older graveyards. Just goes to show ya how far off my game B gettin poisoned has me. My only excuse is that I cannot lose her again.

Now that my heads a little clearer I start to think about which cemetery to start lookin in. Let's see, old graves, lots of character, old world charm. There's three that I can think of right off the bat. Lawncroft, Emerson, and Restfield. Restfield is where all this shit started months ago, but Emerson and Lawncroft are closer so I'll start with them. I throttle up my bike and head out into the night.

Emerson is about fifteen minutes away and is pretty small so it shouldn't take me long to check it out. If my lucks in, I'll have the mini-slayer bagged, tagged and back at the house inside the hour. Not sure what I'm gonna do when I get her there, though. I doubt she's gonna be willin to let B drink her down and that means I'm gonna hafta force the issue. I am sure Red isn't gonna like that one bit. Not to mention that I still don't think feeding humans to vampires is right. But, I will not lose B again. No matter what it costs me.

Alright, screw that shit. I'm gonna take it one step at a time. First find the newbie. Then take her back. Everything else I'll hafta work out as it comes up. If I spend too much time thinkin about it now, it'll just fuck with my head.

I pull over and park my bike at the curb. Goin into the cemetery I move quickly to the older part. That's the section near the back where the huge marble mausoleums are located. I'm slippin through the shadows, every sense on the alert for either demons or a particular vampire slayer. I start feelin the presence of vamps about half way through the cemetery. It feels like a small group, only one or two maybe. Comin around a big old oak tree, I see them movin in my direction. There're only two of them. One is tall with a mustache right outta the seventies, the other is a little shorter and has one of those little patches of hair under his lip, like he couldn't grow a real beard when he was alive. They're busy talkin to each other and haven't seen me yet. Their pain is gonna be my gain. I don't have time to fool around, ya know, places to be, slayers to see and all that. But I need to burn off some of the anger I was gonna take out on Red. I take off runnin straight at them pullin a coupla stakes outta my jacket as I go.

The dumbass vamp's finally look up and realize I'm comin for them. Mustache guy starts to smile until he sees my face, then he just looks scared. Patch dude is lookin at his bud and only turns towards me as I drive a stake in his chest while I move past him. He dusts away and I stop to face the one still standin. He holds his hands up, palms out and is backin up slowly.

"Hey, wait a minute, you're that other slayer, the one that died. Where's the new one?" he says. He is not a brilliant conversationalist.

"Kinda my question too," I mutter.

"I…I don't want no trouble with you," he goes on. He's jerkin his head back and forth, probably checkin to see if I'm here by myself. It'd be kinda funny if I didn't have other things on my mind. Like I said, I don't have time for this shit. He's about ten feet away from me and I start to move towards him again. That's when he decides to run. He turns around while keeping his eyes on me and the idiot runs right into a tree. A dead branch punches through his chest and he turns to dust without me getting anywhere near him. Since I'm in a rush it saves me time but, I'm glad it isn't always this easy.

As I turn to leave, I feel something hit my jacket just under the armpit. Lookin down I see the needle end of a dart stickin through and barely missed piercing my skin. I can feel her now that the vamps are dust. She musta been here waitin for me to finish them off so I'd be distracted. I can't believe that bitch shot me! I let my body go boneless and fall to the ground, bein sure the needle stickin in my jacket doesn't jab me. I'll lay here and wait for her to come to me. Then the British Brat is gonna get the surprise of her life.

I'm layin here with my eyes closed listenin as her footsteps get closer. She's talkin to someone so I figure she's on her phone. She's so sure I'm out cold that she's not really payin as much attention as she should be. That's the kinda mistake that'll get ya killed in this business.

Her words are getting clearer the closer she gets to where I'm on the ground and I hear her say, "Yes, I have taken care of them both now. The vampire will be dead shortly from the poison I coated my knife with. It turned out to be the Slayer that was originally here, Buffy Summers. As for the Rogue, she is lying unconscious at my feet."

She listens for a minute then continues, "We are at Emerson Cemetery. You can send the team over to get her."

Another moment then, "No, I'm not going to wait. I need to get back to that incompetent Watcher you assigned me."

I really wish she would wrap this up. I'm startin to get bored laying here. Then she finishes, "Yes, very good. It will be a pleasure once his replacement has arrived. Yes, I understand. Goodbye."

I listen as she closes her phone and crack an eye open to see what she's up to now. She's pulling a length of chain from her backpack. I guess she was planning on chainin me up and leavin me for her buddies to pick up. Let me tell ya how much that is not gonna happen. As she leans over me to wrap my hands up, I open my eyes wide and smile at her, "Surpise, Sunshine!" I say. "Today's just not your lucky day," then I twist around and deliver a foot sweep that knocks her on her ass.

I pull the tranq dart outta my jacket as I complete the spin. Then roll backwards and flip up to my feet so I'm lookin down at her. Her mouth is hangin open in shock as she scrambles to get back up offa ground. "There's no way I missed," she growls out. "You should be unconscious for at least two hours. What kind of demon are you?" she demands.

"Un,uh,uh," I say while waggin my finger at her. "Not a demon. You're just not as good as ya think you are," I finish with a smirk.

"This time I'll make sure you stay down," she says. She flexes her right hand out, which is still holdin the chain and it flashes out like a steel whip.

The end of it catches me on the left hand, smashin the dart I was holdin and makin me drop it. Guess she didn't want me stabbin her with it and sendin her to La La Land again. She pulls her arm back to lash me again and I step into her swing letting the chain wrap around my forearm. Givin a tug and twistin my hips, I pull her off balance and she stumbles towards me. Pivotin back into her I use my elbow to hit her in the sternum and I hear the air whoosh outta her lungs as she falls backward onto the ground. I unwrap the chain from my arm and throw it over my shoulder into a tree. I move over to her, then lean down to drag her back onto her feet and she kicks out catchin me in the chest. I feel myself fly backwards and get stopped by a tombstone. My vision goes grey for a moment from hittin my head on the marble and before I know it, the mini-slayer is back on her feet and circling around me.

"Come on," she taunts me, "we can play here all night. At least, being here, you will not have to sit and watch your demon girlfriend die screaming that way."

Buffy! She's right, I don't have time to play with this little bitch. That thought clears my head for me and I'm back on my feet in seconds.

In a lilting tone she says, "Don't you want to know how I was able to catch her off guard, Faith?"

Tell ya the truth, I do wanna know, but I'm not gonna tell her that. "Not really," I tell her. "I'm more interested in how I'm gonna make you save her." We're both sorta circling each other now, lookin for any opening to end this.

"Ha! She cannot be saved, so I'll tell you anyway. It was easy," she says. "After I left the library and your mediocre ex-Watcher, I went back to Mrs. Summer's house and picked up a few items my Uncle sent me. Then I went to your house. I thought I would find you there and be able to finally return you to the Council where you could be brought to justice. Instead, imagine my surprise to find the vampire I have been hunting, freshly washed, out of the shower and listening to the pathetic message you left for her."

Oh Christ! B got my message but it was too late. I feel the rage risin up in me again and stop thinkin of anything except makin this bitch pay. I rush her grabbin her by the shoulders and takin her to the ground with me on top of her. I start punchin her face and slammin her head back into the ground, the rage at what she's sayin takin me over. I'm gonna kill this bitch. She shoots out her hand and grabs a rock from the ground, then brings it up and across my jaw, knocking me offa her.

She rolls to her left and gets up as I'm jumpin back to my feet so we're facin off again. I step into her, blinded by my feelin's of revenge and reach out blindly to grab her again. She uses her arms to sweep my hands away and then delivers a round house kick to my ribs. I stumble to the side and she grabs me around the neck. She's tryin to use the sleeper hold I used on her the other night, but she's not bein as careful about not choking me. Good thing I got my hand up under her arm. That'll buy me some time. With her lips next to my ear she keeps talkin to me.

"She was reaching to pick up the phone, to call you back I would think, when I came through the foyer," she tells me. This chick seems to be getting off on causin me as much emotional pain as possible. She keeps tightening her hold on my neck and talking at the same time.

"Turning back towards where I came in she called, 'Faith? Is that you?'. She wasn't even looking at me, she was too busy putting her jewelry back on and I threw my knife at her. I had already coated it with the poison for just such an opportunity. The look on her face was priceless! She turned thinking she would find you returning to her and instead she gets a knife in her side. She stumbled backwards, dropping the ring from her hand while ripping the phone out of the wall and fell to the floor. You see, the Interfector Mortis poison initially paralyzes the vampire, and then their motor function returns along with indescribable pain as their muscle tissue starts slowly breaking down. I would think that by now your precious vampire is tearing her own skin off in blinding pain."

No! I scream out in my head. No, I can't let that happen to B. I gotta get out of this, I think as the world slowly starts to go grey.

"I went over to her lying there and noticed the gem by her hand. Of course I recognized the gem of Amara from descriptions in my Uncles library. If I hadn't seen it and just left, she might have been able to recover. We couldn't have that could we? So I took it, after all, she will not need it anymore. Then just to make certain, I started to give her slow slices all over to be sure the poison seeped into every part of her being. That's when I felt you show up. Rather nice of me to let you say goodbye alone, was it not?"

My fadin mind hears that last part and I get a surge of adrenaline. There's no way I'm gonna fail B again. I let my body sag towards the ground and then surge upwards while throwin my head back. I can feel and hear the satisfying crack as the back of my skulls first hits, then crushes her nose. Her arms go immediately limp around my neck and I reach up to grab her arms as they try to slide away. Draggin in ragged breaths and getting a solid grip on her, I bend over with a snap of my hips throwin her over my shoulder and into the ground. Instead of letting go as she flips over me, I hold on and slam her into the ground with as much strength as I have left.

The force of the shoulder throw makes her sink into the soft ground almost an inch. I don't hear any bones break, damn it, but it does knock her out like someone threw a switch. All I wanna do is straddle her waist and wail away on her till every bone in her body is crushed into paste. I climb on top of her and reach forward wrappin both hands around her throat. I start to squeeze as I feel all the pain and rage at what she did to B flow through me. I wanna see her eyes pop right outta her head. With my fingers sinkin into the soft flesh of her neck, the thought of B flashes through my mind and I stop myself. I can't kill this stupid bitch. Not now. I hafta get her back and get Buffy cured first. Then, if she survives, I can beat the shit outta her some more for all the pain she's put us through.

I climb offa her and goin over to the trees, I grab the chain she was gonna use on me, then go back over to where I left her on the ground. I kick her in the side to flip her over on her stomach and I use the chain to wrap her arms up tight behind her back. I got half a mind to hang out and wait for the Council assholes to show up, then I could teach them a lesson in manners, puttin all this shit to bed once and for all. If the clock wasn't tickin and runnin out for B, I would too. It would be a pleasure to show the freakin limey bastards that there's no way in hell they can sit over in the 'Mother Country' and call the shots here on the Hellmouth. They shoulda realized that after the first time they went round with Buffy.

I look down at the newbie thinkin briefly about what Xand had said, her being raised by Travers and all. I feel a small pang of sympathy and immediately shake it off. Fuck No, Uh-Uh, no way. She got herself into this and I will not sacrifice B for her or anyone else for that matter. Grabbin her by the shoulders, I haul her ass offa the ground and hoist her up on my shoulder. I carry her back toward my bike and the ride home.