Chapter Two

Faith slammed the middle-aged man against the door for the second time. She'd had enough of his bullshit and lies.

"Again, I'm gonna ask you, when is the last time you saw her?"

"She'll kill me if I say anything."

"Come on, Quinn, spill it or I'll do a whole lot worse to you than she ever could."

"I doubt that," Quinn muttered under his breath, gasping as Faith moved to slam him against the door again. "Look, I ain't seen her in a while and that's the truth!"

"How long is a while?"

"At least two-three weeks."

"Was she with anyone?" Faith questioned him, casting a quick glance over at Kennedy who had done nothing but stay out of her way when they caught Quinn opening the pub almost half an hour before. "Was she with anyone?" Faith repeated, her hands gripping the man's shoulders tight.

"No, I don't know! She wasn't here for long, but to tell you the truth, I barely recognized her when she came in to pay me off, to keep me from telling any of you people anything."

"Different? How?"

"Darker hair. Dressed differently than I've ever seen her. Said she was going away, a little holiday of sorts and that she'd kill me if I told any of her friends where she was going."

Faith glared at Quinn, trying to read him, but the man was terrified and not just of her. She could see it in the way his beady little eyes kept darting around that he was afraid of Buffy finding out he talked.

"So you know where she was headed?" Faith asked and he shuddered under her grip, his body language telling her that he did know. "Come on, buddy, don't make me hurt you, cos I will if I have to. Where did she go?"

"What's the difference? Girl wanted a holiday, some time alone and-"

"Her friends? Her family? They're worried about her. Brought me in to find her, make sure she's safe and what not. Now," Faith said, holding him against the door with one hand as she reached for the knife sheathed to her belt. "Where'd she go?"

"Faith-"

"Shut up, Kennedy!" Faith snapped as she raised the knife, the blade flickering in the lights from above. "Come on, I doubt she paid you enough to lay down your life for her. Bet you barely know her, right? Whatever she paid you isn't worth your life, Quinn."

Faith moved the knife to his cheek, pressing the sharp blade against his stubbly skin just hard enough for him to feel it. She was breathing steadily, trying to keep calm. There'd been situations like this in the past few years where she'd almost lost control and slipped back into the darkness that had once consumed her.

"She wasn't alone," Quinn whispered. "There was another with her, a woman. I didn't see her face. They were talking before she came to see me, talking about heading off to Italy, Rome to be precise."

"So she wasn't alone?" Faith asked, her voice even and steady as she kept the knife where it was on his cheek. "You told me she was alone not even five minutes ago. What else you been lying about, buddy?"

Quinn shivered as she trailed the tip of the knife down his cheek and slowly across his jaw and down to his throat. Faith could see the small beads of sweat breaking out over his forehead, his eyes glassing over as the fear overtook him.

"Guess she did pay you enough to lay your life on the line for her," Faith said and she pulled the knife back and raised it, ready to strike.

"Faith!" Kennedy yelled out as she sliced the small knife through the air and barely missed the middle-aged man's head as the blade stuck in the wood of the door behind him. "Jesus, you almost killed him!"

Ignoring Kennedy, she pulled the knife out of the door and made sure that Quinn was looking right at it. "Next time, I'm not going to miss. This time, I want nothing but the truth out of that lying mouth of yours."

"The girl she was with, she wasn't someone I recognized and I've seen most of your types around, slayers and what not. Thought she was just another normal human being, caught up in the ride that Buffy was headed on, but after I was paid not to talk, they both disappeared into thin air. I-I think the other girl was a witch, a powerful one at that."

"A witch?"

"Yeah, she had to have been right? Unless you slayers have magical powers as well then-"

"You know who this witch could be?" Faith asked Kennedy and she shrugged and pulled out her cell, indicating she was going to find out as much as she could. "Anything else, Quinn?"

"Tapes!" He gasped. "I have tapes, security footage."

"This place has security cameras?" Faith asked and she looked around the dank, dirty pub. "Are you for real?"

"Insurance reasons. Couldn't get-"

"I don't care," Faith cut him off. "These tapes? Where are they?"

"In my office," he said quietly. "You can take them! Just please, don't hurt me!"

Faith shoved him away from the door and kicked the locked doorknob off, the door swinging open loudly as she did. She walked into the small, dark office and fumbled around for a light switch. Finding the only light in the small room was a lamp on a small, cluttered desk, she flipped it on and looked around the room.

"Where are they?"

"In the closet," Quinn said as he hobbled into the office, his hands rubbing his neck and cheek where Faith had pressed her knife in her attempt to get him to talk. "The equipment and the tapes are in the closet."

"Jesus," she said under her breath when she saw the high-end security equipment neatly set up in a closet that was easily the same size as the office. Two walls were lined with shelves filled with tapes, each labelled by day, each section a different month. After a quick search, she found all the tapes from August up until last night.

"Wow," Kennedy said as she lingered in the doorway, one hand firmly holding on to Quinn's arm to make sure he didn't try to take off. "For a place like this, you sure got some high-end tech in here, Quinn."

"Insurance re-"

"We're taking these," Faith said, motioning to the shelf of tapes they needed. "We're gonna need something to carry 'em."

Grabbing on to Quinn, she motioned for Kennedy to go and find them something-anything they could use to carry the tapes back to the castle. She pulled him into the room with her and she walked over to the equipment. Looking over the screen, it looked like he had camera's everywhere, even in that room, recording every second of every day.

"Destroy it," Quinn muttered under his breath. "If she knows you were here, she'll kill me."

"Buffy won't kill you."

"She's not who you think she is. Not anymore."

Faith rolled her eyes and pulled the tape out of the recorder. She tossed it to the floor and destroyed it, crushing it hard once with her heavy boot. "You got it all wrong, Quinn. Buffy won't kill you. Buffy doesn't kill humans. That one falls on my lengthly resumé."

"Found a box," Kennedy said as she rushed back into the room carrying a box just big enough to carry the tapes they needed.

"Load it up, I'm gonna deal with our friend here."

"Faith-"

"I'm not gonna kill him so just chill, Kennedy."

Pulling Quinn out of the room and back into the office, she forced him down on the wooden office chair. Pacing, she sheathed her knife back into her belt and started poking around his cluttered office. Not finding anything of interest, she shoved the piles of papers off the desk and sat down. Every time Quinn moved, she shook her head and pulled back her jacket to reveal the knife sheathed to her belt. She didn't want to have to use it again, but would if he so much as made the wrong move.

"Let's go," Kennedy said as she came out of the closet with the box full of security tapes. "Faith? Let's go. Now."

"We were never here," Faith said to Quinn who quickly nodded his head in agreement. "These tapes? You don't know where they disappeared to if anyone asks. Make something up. You were robbed or something."

"I'd be better off to torch the place and disappear myself."

"You do whatever you need to do, buddy," Faith said and she followed Kennedy out of the office.

"Overly dramatic much?" Kennedy asked as they walked out the back door and over to the black SUV parked in the alleyway. "You almost killed him, Faith!"

"Almost? Not quite," Faith chuckled as she opened the back door. "I was aiming for scaring the truth out of him. Worked, didn't it?"

"You're crazy."

"Tell me something I don't already know."

Faith stood to the side of the monitor, watching with everyone else as Andrew ran through the security footage. They'd been going over them for hours on an end, making note of every time they'd seen Buffy on the monitor, the time stamp that showed up, if she was alone or with someone. The last time they saw her was on August 7th, five days after her initial disappearance and she definitely wasn't alone, she was with someone nobody in the room recognized.

"So, we know she was still in the area for a handful of days after she left here," Willow said and she rubbed her eyes. "This doesn't make any sense! Why wouldn't she come back home?"

"Who is that girl?" Xander said and he nudged Andrew to stop on a clearer view of Buffy's companion. "She doesn't even look familiar."

"Maybe it's someone she met after she disappeared?" Dawn suggested with a shrug. "Nobody knows who she is. Is she even human? What if she cast some kind of spell on Buffy? I mean, the days after her disappearance, every time she's shown up on camera she's been acting different. Different as in so not herself in any way!"

"Dawn, calm down," Xander said gently. "Let's not jump to any conclusions now."

"Yo, Andrew, print that up," Faith said quickly before he resumed the tape.

"What for?"

"I'm gonna head back to town and ask some questions about this girl, see if anyone knows who she is," Faith replied and with a few clicks, Andrew had the image printed off. She grabbed it out of the printer tray and folded it carefully. "If you guys find anything else, you know how to get in touch."

"Are you going alone?" Giles asked as he followed Faith to the control room entrance. "Are you sure that is wise?"

"I'm a big girl, G. You know that I can handle myself. Besides, I'm just doing some recon, asking around about the girl," she replied. "Like I said, you find anything else, get in touch and I'll do the same."

Faith left the control room and headed down the corridor, hoping that this time she wouldn't get lost and end up on the other end of the castle like she did after her and Kennedy had gotten back with the security tapes.

It didn't take her long to get to the guest suite and after grabbing a few weapons as a precautionary measure and concealing them under her jacket, her favorite knife sheathed inside her boot instead of her belt, she headed out, moving quickly to the front entrance of the castle. She wanted to go in to town alone, especially after the way that Kennedy reacted to her unorthodox interrogating measures with Quinn.

"You're going to need a ride," Kennedy said as Faith approached the front doors. Rolling her eyes she turned to look at Kennedy behind her. "I know you want to do this on your own, but-"

"You stay in the car," Faith replied, in no mood to argue with her or anyone else at the moment. "Giles put you up to this?"

"I put me up to this."

The ride into town didn't take very long, but the silence was heavy and the radio stayed off. Kennedy drove to one of the busier streets in the town where majority of the shops were located. After finding a spot to park, Faith got out of the SUV and started to walk down the busy road that was littered with hundreds of people.

Deciding to start at the first shop on the right, she entered and found herself in a small tourist trap, the shop filled with odd little trinkets and souvenirs. She was the only one in the shop and she turned to look at the doorway. Kennedy was out on the street waiting for her, having not stayed in the SUV as Faith had asked her to.

"Excuse me?" Faith called out to the old lady behind the ancient looking cash register.

"Do you need any help, dear?"

"I'm looking for someone," she replied and she pulled the printed picture out of her pocket. "I'm wondering if you've seen this woman around here before or if you happen to know anything about her?"

Taking the picture from Faith, the old woman pulled out a part of glasses from the pocket of her flowered vest and slipped them on. After staring at the picture for a few moments, she handed it back to Faith with a shake of her head.

"I'm sorry, dear, I don't recognize that girl, but the other one, I've seen her around before," the woman said. "The blonde girl," she clarified. "It's been a little while, but she was always around these parts, shopping with her friends. Lovely girl."

"Thanks, ma'am."

Exiting the shop, Faith breezed past Kennedy and headed for the small café next door. Every place she went brought up the same answers and nobody in town seemed to know or even recognize the girl. After a few hours, the sun started to dip below the horizon and Faith met up with Kennedy back at the SUV, feeling defeated and at a complete loss of what to do next.

The girl that Buffy had last been seen in Scotland with was their only lead and if they couldn't find her or anyone that knew her, their only lead would be a dead end and they'd be right back where they were before Faith showed up to help them find Buffy.

"What are we going to do now?" Kennedy asked her.

"I'm not sure," Faith replied and she pulled her pack of cigarettes out of her jacket pocket and quickly lit one. "I don't wanna say this was a bust, but we've got jack shit."

"Maybe we didn't ask the right people?"

"What, you wanna start knocking on doors?" Faith asked, scoffing when Kennedy shrugged. "Bad idea. Approaching people in public places is okay, knocking on doors and invading their person space is gonna have the cops coming after us with questions we're not answering."

"Excuse me?"

Faith spun around at the sound of a gentle, light voice from behind her. A small girl emerged from the narrow alleyway and pulled the hood off slowly as she approached Faith and Kennedy.

"You've been looking for my sister?" The girl asked. She couldn't have been more than eleven years old, if that. "Someone said you've been looking for Kate."

"Is this your sister?" Faith asked, handing the girl the picture. She nodded quickly and handed it back to Faith. "Do you know where I can find her?"

"Why?"

"A friend is missing and your sister was with her when she disappeared," Faith replied calmly. "We're just looking for a friend and if your sister knows where she is, I'd like to talk to her."

"You can't."

"Why's that?"

"She's not here."

Faith groaned in frustration and took a step closer to the girl. "Do you know where she is?"

The girl shrugged, but everything about her body language, the way her eyes purposely avoided looking right at Faith told her that this girl definitely knew where her sister was and she was withholding information. Why she was is something Faith couldn't figure out and unlike Quinn, she couldn't threaten a kid to get the information she needed.

"Come on, kid," Faith said gently. "If you know where we can find your sister, we'd appreciate it. We just want to know where to find our friend."

"She's going to be mad at me."

"Why?"

"Come with me," the girl said, motioning for Faith and Kennedy to follow her as she turned and headed back towards the alleyway she'd come out of.

"Come on," Faith said to Kennedy as she started to follow the girl. "Kennedy, what are you standing around for?"

"You sure this is a good idea, Faith?"

"What? You think something bad is gonna happen? You think this kid is gonna lead us into some kind of a trap?" Faith asked and she laughed at the perplexed look on Kennedy's face. "Whatever, stay here then."

Faith caught up with the girl in the narrow alleyway and she walked a few steps behind her, all her senses on high alert just in case this girl was leading her into some kind of a trap. Anything was possible, that was something Faith had learned well over the years and that meant having this girl show up right as they were about to give up on finding a lead on Buffy was more than just a coincidence.

The girl lead Faith to a red door that was unlocked and she held it open for Faith, motioning for her to step inside. It was dimly lit and ahead was a staircase, nothing more, and a single door at the top with multiple locks. Letting the girl lead the way, Faith stayed close, ready to grab any of her concealed weapons at a seconds notice.

"She's going to be really mad," the girl whispered.

"Why?"

"Because I promised I'd keep her secret."

"What secret?"

"Jessie, what the hell?"

Faith looked up at the door at the top of the stairs as it was flung open and the same girl that had last been with Buffy was standing there.

"She was asking about you, Kate!"

"I don't care if the goddamn coppers were asking about me, you know better than to bring anyone here, especially one of them!"

"Excuse me?" Faith said and she walked the rest of the way up the stairs and stood face to face with Kate. "One of them? What the hell does that mean?"

"Slayers," Kate replied, spitting the word out like venom. "You're the other one, one of the Originals. Faith."

"This is Faith?" Jessie asked, eyes wide. "I had no idea."

"Go inside," Kate said as she grabbed her little sister by the arm and pulled her towards the door. "Go, now."

"Don't be so harsh on her, she's just a kid," Faith said calmly. "So, you're the girl in question."

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked as she headed inside with Faith close on her heels. "Why are you even looking for me?"

"You're the last one seen with a friend of mine, well, she's not exactly a friend, more so like an acquaintance. Pretty sure you're aware she's missing."

"You're talking about Buffy Summers, aren't you?" Kate asked with a smirk and she sat down on a worn old couch in the small living room. "She's not missing."

"Well, whatever she is, her friends are looking for her and they're pretty damn worried about her."

"She can handle herself. Besides, it was her choice. If they were really her friends, they'd respect the choice that she made and leave her alone."

"Look, Kate," Faith said as she grabbed the woman by the front of her shirt and pulled her to her feet. "All I know is you were with her the last time anyone saw her around here. If you know where she is-"

"Don't threaten me."

"Fuck you."

Faith gasped as she was hit by a powerful stream of light. Magic. It sent her flying backwards towards the door. Scrambling to get to her feet, she walked right back up to Kate and stared her down.

"You're a witch."

"Aren't you a smart one," Kate laughed. "Yes, I am. So, you see? Your petty threats mean nothing to me."

"I just came looking for information," Faith said as she took a few steps back from her, deciding to change her tactics to something less violent. "Do you know where she is?"

"Why would I tell you anything?"

"Because I know of a witch who can strip you of every ounce of your power before you can even blink," Kennedy said from the doorway where she stood with Willow at her side.

"What the hell?" Faith muttered under her breath.

"So," Willow said as she strolled into the room and looked around. "Here I thought I knew of every witch in the country, and here is one right under our noses, completely undetected. However did you do it?"

"A spell to keep myself, as you can say, under the radar from people like you," Kate replied. "I'm not afraid of you, Willow Rosenberg."

Willow smirked and with a wave of her hand, she had Kate bound with a magical blue rope. "You should be. Binding you is not the worst that I can do. You have the answers we're looking for, so why don't you play nice and tell us what we need to know."

Faith chuckled, a little bit amazed at the way Willow was acting. She'd never seen this side of her before and yet, from the way Kennedy didn't look surprised, this was something that wasn't new. This was just who Willow was now, fierce and powerful when she needed to be.

"I'm not telling you-"

"Can I hit her?" Faith asked, looking back at Willow and Kennedy.

"I don't see why not?" Kennedy replied, smirking as Kate struggled to move.

"No, please don't hit me!" Kate yelled as Faith strolled right up to her, fist held up and ready to strike. "Please!"

"Wil?" Kennedy said and with another wave of her hand, Willow removed the bound from Kate and she fell to the floor. "Now come on, Kate, play nice and tell us what we came here for."

"She found me," Kate said quietly. "Buffy came looking for me about a month ago, asked me for a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Faith asked her.

"A cloaking spell," Kate replied. "She wanted out and she knew you'd all come looking for her. She said it'd be impossible for her just to disappear because of you, Willow. She knew you'd use a locator spell to track her down as soon as she turned up missing. So, I did the spell for her and promised if any of you put the pieces together and found me, that I wouldn't tell you anything. She's going to kill me."

"Buffy wouldn't-"

"That's where you're wrong, Willow," Kate laughed bitterly. "She will kill me. The Buffy you knew and loved? She's not that Buffy anymore."

Faith was intrigued. Kate was the second person to have said that and at first she hadn't believed Quinn, but now that a second person had clarified it, she knew there was something more to Buffy just disappearing. Something so much more than she could figure out just yet.

"So, you did her this favor, cast the spell and for what? What did you get in return for such a huge favor?" Faith asked her.

"She didn't kill me," Kate whispered, her voice quivering slightly. "She would've killed me. She almost did, but as soon as I did the spell, she changed. She was a completely different person. We even went out for a drink at Quinn's pub and then she told me to keep a low profile for a while and she left."

"Where did she go?" Faith asked and when Kate shrugged, she grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. "Gonna ask you one more time cos I have this lingering feeling you know exactly where she went or where she is right now. You shrug or say you don't know? You're gonna be in for a world of pain after Willow strips your power from you."

Kate shuddered and took a deep breath. "Rome. She went to Rome."

"There," Faith said and she let go of her. "Was that so frigging hard?"

"You find her, please don't tell her you found me first."

"Come on," Faith said to Willow and Kennedy. "Let's get outta here."

"Please don't tell her!" Kate cried out as the three walked out of the small apartment and headed down the stairs. "Please!"

"Rome is a big city, Faith, huge," Willow said as they exited the building and headed towards the SUV on the street. "We could've gotten more information out of her. What if she knows where Buffy is staying exactly? How are we going to find her in Rome, Faith?"

"We?" Faith laughed. "No, there is no we. None of you are coming. I'm doing this alone."

"But-"

"Look, Willow, it'll be easier for me to track her if I'm alone. Buffy isn't stupid either and she'll figure out she's being tracked down if any of you are with me. I'm likely the last person in the world she expects to be looking for her. You want me to find her and bring her home? I go to Rome alone."

Faith climbed off the back of the old Honda, paying the driver with what she hoped was the right amount. Slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder, she took in her surroundings. Rome was a big city and she'd been there once before and knew how easy it was to become lost just by taking one wrong turn on the maze of streets that littered the city.

After hours of being briefed on Buffy's last adventure in Rome, the months that she had spent there with Dawn and Andrew after Sunnydale, Faith knew she had her favorite spots in the city, various café's and dance clubs. She was holding out onto hope that Buffy would frequent those same spots, especially since as far as Buffy was concerned, nobody knew she was in Rome, hiding herself from the people that loved her and cared about her.

Faith was feeling the long flight she'd been on for the last nine hours. The plane had stopped over in a town in Poland for almost an hour and Faith had used that time to study the notes that Dawn had given to her, addresses of the places Buffy used to frequent years before when they'd been living there, an address for a hotel she'd be staying at and the surrounding areas. There were other notes, contact names of slayers living there in the city as well as contact numbers for informants and a handful of demon allies.

The driver had dropped her off a few blocks from the hotel, a mistake she realized as she started walking down the quiet, dark street. Pulling out her phone, she pulled up the GPS and quickly made her way towards the hotel. She needed to get herself settled in and because it was so late, she knew that most of the streets around the hotel weren't safe at any hour of the night.

The sounds of a fight nearby halted her in her tracks. Moving quickly while trying to keep herself concealed by the dark shadows along the narrow street, she approached the corner and peered around to look at where the fight was taking place. There were two large vampires and right in the middle of it was Buffy. Faith stayed where she was, just out of sight and watched Buffy as she effortlessly fought the two vampires, taking the one out of her left before making quick work of the second one.

"This was easier than I thought it'd be," Faith whispered to herself, almost in awe that by chance she'd stumbled across Buffy and she hadn't even been in the city for more than an hour.

Staying hidden by the wall, Faith watched Buffy as she dusted herself off. Even in the darkness, the street lights barely illuminating a soft glow, Faith could see how much she'd changed, her hair was slightly darker, the dye job already fading and showing the blonde that was underneath. There was something different about her and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was exactly. When Buffy started to walk in the opposite direction, Faith hung back just long enough to be able to follow her without-hopefully-being detected.

Faith pulled her hood up over her head and kept her head down low as she followed Buffy out to a busier street where people were walking, talking, laughing and dancing to the street band that was playing nearby. She didn't want to lose Buffy in the crowd, but getting any closer to her would look too suspicious. She slipped into a group of college guys and a handful of girls, blending herself into the crowd as she kept her eyes on Buffy.

Buffy was barely fifty feet away and she was talking with a man with sandy blonde hair. She was laughing and flirting and willingly took the offered glass of red wine the man offered her. In a matter of minutes, she and the man disappeared into one of the shops and Faith weaved her way through the crowd. She hung off to the side of the window of the small café and peered inside. There Buffy sat at a small table with the same man Faith had seen her with just outside moments ago, but they weren't alone. Two other women sat with them and Faith couldn't see their faces, just their long dark, nearly black hair.

Knowing she was risking being found following Buffy, Faith quickly made her way through the crowd and down the street to the hotel that was just around the corner. She had found a stroke of luck and found Buffy. Now it was just a matter of approaching her while she was alone and having a little chat with her, find out just what was going on with her.

Pulling out her phone as she stood just outside the small hotel doorway, she dialed a familiar number and waited. "Yo, Giles. No, nothing is wrong. I got here fine, yeah. Hold up," she said and took a deep breath. "I found her. No, she doesn't know I'm here, she didn't see me. You can tell the others, sure. She didn't look hurt or in distress. Look, I'll call you with anymore updates, but right now I'm gonna get myself settled in and see if I can find her tomorrow."

Faith hung up before Giles could say another word. Taking a deep breath, she headed into the hotel to check in, the reservation under Hope Lyonne, a precaution taken in case Buffy had informants of her own around the city.

The room was small, barely big enough to move around the single bed and small dresser that was in there. The bathroom was even smaller than she expected, but there was a shower and hot water and that's all that she cared about. She tossed her duffel bag on the bed and walked over to the window, discovering there was a very small balcony out there.

Stepping out, she breathed in deep, the night air slightly warm and sticky with a hint of humidity lingering in the air, a world of a difference from Scotland and Cleveland that was for sure.

The street below was still filled with people still dancing to the street band playing around the corner. They all appeared happy, enjoying their night and oblivious to what dangers could be lurking around any of the dark corners in the alleyways between each row of buildings. Faith stared down at a young couple, obviously drunk as they walked down the street, arms linked as they stumbled around and giggled together.

The further the young couple got away from the crowd, the more they stumbled with every step they took. Faith couldn't take her eyes off of them. Something didn't seem right to her and that lingering feeling in the pit of her stomach said that something was stalking them and all she was doing was standing there.

The instant the woman screamed, Faith leapt back into her room and grabbed her dagger out of her weapons pouch that had been concealed by a spell so she could board the plane with them without being detected. She made her way down the three floors and out the front door, sprinting off in the direction she had last seen the couple from her balcony. They were nowhere to be seen and she checked the street quickly, finding a small trail of blood leading to the dark alleyway near the hotel.

Gripping her dagger in her hand, she followed the trail, keeping quiet with every fluid step she took. She could hear soft whimpering cries up ahead and as she got closer, she could see the young couple backed up against the wall, the man bleeding from a nasty gash across his forehead.

"Hello, Faith."

Faith spun around at the sound of Buffy's voice from behind her. Before she even faced her, she felt that hard right hook to the side of her head and everything faded to black.