Chapter Six

Willow had been gone for nearly six hours. Faith could see the worry on Dawn, Xander and Kennedy's faces gradually get worse as the hours dredged on. She had been the one who broke the news to them earlier, telling them where Willow had gone. Only Andrew seemed to be submerged in researching, the others just sat there waiting, the minutes ticking by dragging on and on.

Faith hadn't mentioned the dream, the nightmare to anyone, not even Giles. She wasn't sure if she was ready to tell them what she'd seen, what she'd heard, the things that had happened to her when things took a turn for the worst. There was a nagging pang in her gut that told her she was making a mistake not telling the others what happened in her dream, but she kept trying to ignore it, dull it any way she could.

"Why isn't she back yet?" Dawn asked, breaking the heavy silence. "She should've been back by now, right?"

"Dawn, she went to find Kate. Who knows if Kate fled from where she'd been hiding. I wouldn't blame her after our last little encounter with her," Kennedy replied calmly. "Willow can handle herself."

"So, you're not worried about her? How can you not be worried about her?"

"I am worried about her, but I also know that if things take a turn for the worse, she can get herself out of there before she gets hurt."

"We know nothing about this Kate, other than she is a pretty powerful witch and has a little sister who just coincidentally showed up to lead you two to her," Dawn replied and she shook her head. "No, there's a lot more to this than what it looks like. I know I'm not the only one thinking it."

Faith had thought it too when Jessie had first showed up just as they were about to give up on finding out who the girl in the security tape with Buffy was. And thinking back, Jessie had been hot and cold, at first reluctant to bring them to her sister, saying she didn't know where she was and then telling her and Kennedy to follow her, taking them right to Kate herself.

If they could get any answers out of Kate, they'd be another step closer to figuring this whole situation out. Another step closer to figuring out what this demon had done to Buffy. Another step closer to bringing Buffy back home.

Grabbing her cold beer off the counter, Faith took a sip and then another before placing it back down. She wasn't the only one drinking. Xander had a beer open and in his hand, Giles had a small glass of Scotch and Dawn, after explaining that she was of age to drink to the others, had a glass of red wine, barely touched sitting in front of her on the kitchen table. Andrew was the only one who opted out, as did Kennedy, both of them instead stuffing their faces with pizza they'd gone out earlier and got from a store just around the corner from the house.

"The sister, what is her name?" Giles asked and the others looked at Faith.

"Jessie."

"Ah," Giles nodded and he grabbed Willow's laptop and opened it. After a few minutes, he was typing away, searching up the sisters in the directory that Willow had on all known practicing witches in the world. "The Marshall sisters. Katherine and Jessica Marshall, both practicing witches from a young age, descended from a long line of power that has run in their family for centuries. How did Willow miss this?"

"We have been focusing on other things, Giles," Xander reminded him. "None of us thought that Kate was anything more than just another witch who cast a spell for Buffy and then hid herself away."

"I vote to research more about the sisters," Andrew spoke up. "You know, as soon as this pain goes away," he moaned as he held his stomach. "So. Much. Pizza."

"You're the inane fool who ate more pizza than one could stand," Giles muttered and he turned the laptop towards Andrew. "Do suffer in silence. For the sake of the rest of us."

"Okay, Mr. Giles."

Faith chuckled lightly as she watched Andrew try in vain to suffer silently and failing miserably. Knowing that Giles was going to lose his cool, Faith headed out onto the back patio. The warm afternoon breeze was blowing just enough to make the otherwise hot day bearable. She sat down at the cast iron table and closed her eyes as she leaned back in the chair.

She wasn't out there alone for long and almost as if she expected it, Kennedy came out just a few minutes later, sitting in the chair opposite of her, the clang of her cold can of Coke being placed on the table making Faith open her eyes with an annoyed grunt. She'd escaped the impending chaos inside and she knew from the look on Kennedy's face as the arguing started in the kitchen, that she too had escaped just in time.

"For the record, I voted for Andrew not to come with us," Kennedy said, chuckling as Andrew squealed inside. "Now that is likely Dawn hitting him."

"You guys sure are an interesting bunch."

"When you live together for a couple of years, even in a castle, someone is always around. It's kind of impossible not to know everything about the people you live with, even how to annoy them, especially Andrew."

"He makes it easy. So, if he annoys you guys so much, why is he still around? Why haven't you told him to get gone?"

"He's kind of a Watcher to the younger girls and he's our tech guy," Kennedy replied. "If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be where we are now. He's more than proved his worth. We just deal with the annoying parts by letting Dawn slap him around a little every now and then."

Faith let out a soft laugh before pulling out her cigarettes and lighting one. She ignored the disgusted groan that Kennedy made and she took a long drag and listened to the chaos going on inside.

"Why'd you take off like that the other day?"

"Being told I'm not wanted, kinda grates on my nerves in a bad way. It was either get outta here or completely lose my cool."

"Dawn was just being Dawn. She's just worried about Buffy."

"Dawn already apologized. Don't need you attempting to do it for her on her behalf, Kennedy."

Kennedy sighed loudly and sipped her Coke. The chaos inside started to quiet down and Faith leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes again. A part of her knew that Kennedy was trying to keep things neutral between all of them when it came to her, but she didn't need to. Faith could handle the Scooby gang herself, accusations and whatever else they would decide to throw her way for one reason or another.

Things had changed over the years. She might not be one of them, but she knew they knew she wasn't one of the bad guys, that she was on their side and on her own at the same time, her own side being good with a sliver of darkness during those times she had to kill those rogue, out of control slayers. She didn't know if they knew what she'd done, what Giles wanted her to do to those girls, but it didn't matter. What was done was done and in the past. Every now and then, the faces of those girls would haunt her in her dreams, but ever since she'd arrived in Rome, the only one haunting her in her dreams and her nightmares was Buffy and the demon wearing her body.

"You know, it's funny," Kennedy said and Faith opened her eyes again to look at her. "You never once asked any of us anything more about Satsu."

"Don't give a shit about her."

"Or her intentions when it comes to Buffy?"

"Girl is in love with her," Faith replied flatly. "Surprise, surprise, someone else has fallen in love with Buffy Summers who she doesn't love back."

"For the record," Kennedy said quietly as she stared intensely at Faith. "I always thought it'd be you."

"What would be me?"

"I always thought you'd be the first girl to admit that you're in love with Buffy, not some newbie slayer who follows her around like a lost puppy."

"You got your wires crossed, Kennedy. I am not in love with Buffy."

"But you care about her."

"Sure, I care about her. What are ya trying to get at here?"

"I thought that's why you agreed to help."

"Let me get this straight," Faith said, amused as she shifted in her chair and stared Kennedy down. "You thought I willingly came to help you guys track Buffy down and bring her home cos I'm in love with her? No. I came cos it's the right thing to do and cos knowing Buffy, I'm the last person she'd expect to come looking for her."

"No, that's where you're wrong, Faith. You're the first person Buffy would expect to come looking for her."

"Don't know where you're getting your information from but-"

"Guys?" Dawn said as she opened the back door. "Willow is back. She has Kate. You might want to come inside."

"We're going to talk about this, Faith."

"No. This conversation is done," Faith said as she glared at Kennedy. She stood up first, heading inside to the kitchen and through to the small living room. There Kate sat on a wooden chair, magically bound with Willow standing close by. "Look what the good witch dragged in," Faith chuckled as she stared down at Kate. "You know I won't hesitate to hurt you if you're not willing to cooperate, right?"

"Faith," Giles said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need. She's already agreed to fully cooperate with us. Dawn, if you'll get our guest a refreshment, we'll get started."

"What made you change your tune, Kate?" Faith drawled as she sat on the arm of the worn leather couch.

"Willow and I had a very long discussion," Kate replied quietly, her voice raspy and weak. "This is bigger than me being afraid for my life. The things I know, you all deserve to know as well so you can save Buffy. If this was my sister, I'd be doing anything I could to find her and save her."

"Can I ask you something first?" Faith asked and Kate nodded slowly. "How'd Jessie find us? It wasn't just a coincidence, was it?"

"No, it wasn't. She has telepathic abilities, but only sometimes. She must have known you were looking for me-or someone who looked like me. She's not completely in control of that power. She's still too young to learn how to control it."

"Willow could help her," Kennedy said quickly. "I mean, after all of this is done, Wil could help Jessie learn to control it."

"We don't associate with anyone outside our family."

"But Wil is a-"

"Kenny, don't bother," Willow whispered at her, frowning as Kate tried to shift in the chair, the magic that bound her making it impossible.

"Is this really necessary?" Kate asked, looking right at Willow. "I told you people that I am willing to cooperate!"

"That doesn't mean we can trust you," Xander said as he stepped forward and stared down at Kate.

"Kate, can you tell them what you told me earlier?" Willow asked her calmly, motioning at Xander to sit down. "Kate seems to have had an encounter with not just the succubus, but the incubus as well. Months ago."

Faith was intrigued. She didn't know if she could trust the witch, but they didn't have anything else to go by. They were basically at their wits end and any information they could get would be more than what they've managed to figure out on their own.

"It started in early March. I'd always had strange nightmares ever since I was a child, something my mother told me plagued the women in our family for centuries. I thought it was just another nightmare, until it started happening nearly every night. A demon would come to me, sometimes appearing as human, other times appearing in its true form. It wasn't clear for a while what this demon wanted and it tortured me in my dreams night after night, until it told me what it wanted from me."

"This demon, what was it?" Giles asked her.

"An incubus," Kate replied and Faith noticed that not only Giles, but Dawn and Andrew were taking notes. "It wanted me to do a spell. Several actually, but when I was awake, things became muddled. Every day felt strange, I started to drift further and further apart from my friends, my family, and the coven I'd been staying with at the time. Every time I told someone about the dreams, about the demon, they told me I was just dreaming, that none of it was real and I believed them until I woke up one morning with physical evidence of what the demon had done to me in my dreams.

"After a few weeks, it's female counterpart started to appear to me. She was much more persuasive, didn't harm me the way the other did. She threatened to come after Jessie, telling me that if I didn't do what they wanted me to do, they'd kill my sister, my family, the women in the coven. I felt like I didn't have a choice. I was scared and so alone. I reached out for help and nobody was willing, nobody believed a word I said to them, telling me I was slowly allowing the dreams I was having to make me go crazy."

"What kind of spells did these demons want you to do?" Willow asked her when she fell silent for a few moments.

"They wanted out of the realm of dreams, something that had not been done in well over two thousand years," Kate replied and she took a shuddering breath, the silence in the room almost chilling. "It took me a little while, but I found the spells they wanted me to do. Every time I did each of the three spells that would release them from that realm, I-I started to forget things. There are still some things I can't remember and some that I can remember so vividly as if it just happened yesterday."

Faith wasn't sure what it was, but from the look in Kate's eyes, the fear she was showing, the guilt and regret, it made her believe everything that she was telling them.

"The succubus wanted a slayer," Kate continued. "At that time, I had no idea what a slayer was. One of the women in the coven told me about them, about all of you, about what happened in Sunnydale that made it possible for thousands of you to exist at one time. I had no choice. These demons, they were in control of me. I realized this when I tried to shut them out. I cast a spell to banish myself from dreaming and-and-"

Kate broke down, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Faith watched as Willow released the bound just a little and Kate raised her hands to her face to quickly wipe away her tears.

"They found my family," she whispered, her voice cracking as the tears continued to fall. "They killed them while they slept, mutilated their bodies and slashed their throats. The only one they didn't touch was Jessie and I still, to this day, do not know why."

"Where is Jessie now?" Willow asked. "Is she safe?"

"I didn't just cast that spell to protect us from being detected by you or any others," Kate said. "I did that spell to protect us from those demons."

"Is she safe?"

"Yes. For now," Kate said, frowning as she looked around at the others in the room. With a deep breath, she continued. "The incubus didn't care what man was chosen for him, all he wanted was a body and he chose the first man that was willing."

"Willing? You mean this man willingly let this demon inhibit his body?" Willow asked and she looked concerned. Even Faith knew this wasn't going to end well and the things that Kate would tell them wouldn't be what they wanted to hear.

"Yes, but it's not that simple. It's not quite a possession as it is borrowing a piece of one's soul to create life."

"And Buffy? Did the demon chose her?"

"It was by chance that the demon found her," Kate said. "Buffy was in town and I just happened to be out at the shop, picking up a few things. See, at the time, the demon came with me, but it wasn't inside me, it was just with me. It told me it chose her and wanted her by all means necessary. I didn't know what it meant by that, I didn't even know who she was or that she was a slayer, the slayer."

The others looked over at Faith for a moment, realizing that she had been right about Buffy, right about the fact that the Buffy that she'd found wasn't Buffy, but the demon itself. This was one instance that she wasn't happy that she was right. She wasn't even sure what this all meant yet. Could they still save Buffy? Faith still had to find her.

"Buffy wasn't willing like Lucian was," Kate continued and she motioned to Dawn to hand her the glass of water she'd fetched for her earlier. After nearly downing the entire glass, she sighed softly. "Buffy fought the demon relentlessly. And she lost. Lucian cornered her and she quickly found out that he was stronger than her. He brought her to my flat, unconscious and badly injured from their fight. I didn't want to do the spell, doing it for Lucian had nearly drained me of my power for days. But then Jessie came home and Lucian threatened to kill her-he almost did until I did the spell. It wasn't as easy as it was doing it for the incubus. This was a slayer and trying to "borrow" a slayer's soul is next to impossible."

"I suspect that would be because of the slayer itself," Giles noted. "But it worked, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"And Buffy? What did you do with her afterwards?"

"I didn't do anything with her. They took her with them, I'm not sure where, but it was the last I saw of them until just over a month ago when Buffy came to me, asking me for one last spell, threatening to kill me if I didn't, threatened to kill me if I told any of you any of this or where she was planning to go."

"But it wasn't Buffy, was it? It was the demon," Giles said and Kate nodded her head slowly. "When did you realize that it was the demon?"

"It made me sick. A cloaking spell had never made me sick before. I threw up black slime for days afterwards. I thought I was dying."

Black slime. Faith tried to hide the shock and luckily for her, nobody was paying any attention to her. All eyes were on Kate. The black slime couldn't be a coincidence. Faith had that in her dream and it had tried to choke the life out of her. Was it somehow connected to the demons? Or even Kate herself and the spells she'd cast?

Now Faith knew she had to share the details of the dream, but she wanted to hear more of what Kate had to say and she wasn't willing to tell Giles and the others the details with Kate there.

"I don't think that was just a cloaking spell," Willow said softly. "Black slime? Ooze like? What was the texture? Almost like smoke?" Kate nodded. "That's not because of the cloaking spell. I've read of this before, of demons who essentially take control of you. It's a side effect of being touched by the demon. It's your soul's way of trying to expel the darkness it left behind inside of you."

"What do you mean?" Faith asked before Kate could continue. "Touched by the demon? What does that mean?"

"When it's come to you in your dreams, usually more than once and hey, Faith, you had the succubus come to you," Willow said quickly, a look of realization dawning on her face. "You haven't had anything like that happen to you, have you?"

"I-"

"Is this stuff dangerous?" Dawn asked. "I mean anything coming out black from your body is definitely not natural by any means."

"Faith?" Willow asked gently and she walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Faith didn't push her hand away. She was too scared and too intrigued to do that. "You did, didn't you?"

"I-I wasn't awake when it happened."

Giles, seeing the look on Faith's face, stepped forward and said quietly to Willow that they would discuss it later. He turned to Kate, removed his glasses and promptly began making meticulous work at cleaning each lens with Kate watching him nervously.

"Tell me more about the spell you performed for the demons, the one that brought them through the fold into this dimension," Giles said and he stared long and hard at Kate before he slipped his glasses back on. "Was it an incantation, a spell using specific ingredients or both?"

"An incantation. I-I never heard the language before. I believe it was something from another world, another place and time. They told me what to say and all I had to do was repeat it."

"And do you, perhaps, remember the incantation?"

"Bits of it. Everything is kind of muddy, some memories of the last six months just come and go."

"Willow?"

"I can try something," she said as she turned to Kate. "A small memory retrieving spell. It won't hurt you or anything."

"I've already tried it."

"You cannot do it on yourself," Willow said and she frowned slightly as Kate rolled her eyes. "You may be powerful and descend from a long line of very powerful witches who have gone out of their way to keep themselves from popping up in the history pages, but that does not mean you fully understand the magic that you use. I can help you help us, but you have to let me do this spell."

"Faith, if you will? I'd like to have a word with you alone," Giles said, motioning for Faith to follow him upstairs.

Sighing heavily, Faith got up and followed Giles up to the room she was using as her own. She knew exactly why Giles wanted to talk to her alone. He wanted to know when she had the encounter with the black ooze and he would want every last little detail. There was no holding back anymore and she already felt guilty for not having told him about the dream already.

"Look, G, I know I should've-"

"I understand why you didn't say anything," he cut her off and motioned for her to sit down on the unmade bed. "There are things happening that we do not have the answers to, that we do not understand. When did this happen?"

Faith took a few deep breaths and told Giles all that she remembered of the dream, leaving out the tiny little detail that she'd kissed Buffy, an attempt to calm her and comfort her. It wasn't that she was hiding it from him, she still was trying to figure out why, even in her dream, even knowing that it was Buffy there with her, that she'd do something like that.

And while she told Giles the last part of the dream, she could feel the tightness in her chest returning as the vivid memories of it all came back.

It was as cold as it always was, damp, dark. Buffy felt the chains around her wrist digging more and more into her skin every time she moved. Shivering, she tried to get comfortable on the old twin sized bed, the quilt on it old, scratchy and the musty smell irritating her senses. With no sense of time when the light was gone from where the window had been boarded up, she wasn't sure how long off sunrise was.

Another long, lonely night, trapped in that room, bound in chains that came out from the stone wall, giving her just enough slack to move from the bed and to the small bathroom ten feet away, but no further. The chains itself were magically bound, unbreakable to even a slayer. But she knew there was something wrong with her. Something had happened to her when the demons had taken her and locked her up in that room in her castle.

Why hadn't her friends come to rescue her? She heard them outside the door so many times, day in and day out. She heard them talking about her, about how she'd disappeared and every time she screamed out for them, it was as if they had never heard her at all. She even heard Giles and Faith. She wasn't sure now how long it'd been, but none of them were there anymore. She hadn't heard any of them, not even Dawn, in what felt like weeks, but for all she knew it could've only been a few days.

She had gone to Faith twice, but she kept hoping for more, her sleeping pattern off depending on the level of pain she'd felt throughout the day. She had tried to tell Faith where she was, but those slayer dreams were always tricky and being as detached as she was from herself, she couldn't just come out and say it. It had frustrated her to no end, but at least she knew and she felt that Faith believed her, that Faith was going to do whatever she could to find her. The only problem was, she wasn't sure what had happened after the last time. All she knew was she had tried to tell her where she was, that she'd been in the castle the whole time, right under their noses.

Buffy feared the worst. She feared she led Faith into the nightmare that had become a regular one for her, projected by the demons and the spell that kept her in that room, undetected by all of those surrounding her, undetected even by Willow.

Her hope was fading. She was fading away. Every day that passed felt longer, every thought now centered on wanting out. Every memory she thought of, tried to hold on to, was the only thing keeping her from finding ways to end this herself-by ending her life.

"Cowards way out. Can't do that. I'm not a coward."

Laughing, she dropped the chains and laid back on the bed. Her eyes had grown adjusted to the never-ending darkness of the room. Her mouth was dry and she was hungry. She was always hungry. She did get food and water, at least once a day. She didn't know who brought it or how it got to her without the door being opened, but she never once questioned it, always grateful that at least the demons that were keeping her captive were keeping her fed, even if just barely.

Buffy heard footsteps outside the room, soft and quick. She strained to listen, to see if she could hear who was outside and completely oblivious to the fact that she was trapped inside the room. But the footsteps continued, fading away the further they got from the room.

Groaning, Buffy gripped on to the chains again. How could nobody know she was in there? She knew the room had to be magically sealed, but she wondered, if that was the case, wouldn't have Willow or any of her young apprentices have picked up on it by now?

These were the questions that ran through her mind continuously and she would come up empty, void of answers every single time. It was that, trying to ignore the hunger pangs, remembering all those little, happy memories that made up her life and even the bad ones, that made her hold on. But she was still fading, wasting away.

Buffy tried to remember every detail of the last dream she'd shared with Faith, not knowing if she brought Faith to her or if it had been the other way around. Slayer dreams were tricky and she'd tried almost every night to reach out to her, but either Faith wasn't sleeping, or their connection she knew existed between them, was fading just like she was.

"I kissed her," Buffy muttered, her voice cracking in surprise as she could almost feel the feel of Faith's lips on hers again. "Why did I kiss her?"

Raising a hand to her face, she trailed her fingertips over her lips. It didn't make any sense. Why did she kiss Faith? She'd been upset, she remembered that much, she remembered crying, the hopeless feeling she felt day in and day out had followed her into the dream. Did Faith kiss her back in an attempt to comfort her? If that was the case, it did work for those few moments they'd shared, locked in a soft, tender kiss she never imagined Faith was capable of. And it was Faith that had made the move first. She remembered how she kissed her forehead, then her cheek, and she hadn't done a thing to stop her. Or herself from kissing Faith with all that she had in her.

Torn from her thoughts by a whooshing sound near her, she blinked as she could see a shadowy figure form by the foot of the bed. After a few seconds, she could smell the warm chicken noodle soup, the fresh toast and even the apple that was on the tray before she even saw it.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked quietly as she watched the figure move over to the small table that was just within reach while she was bound in the chains. She heard the tray clatter on the table, the figure obviously startled by her. "Who are you?" Buffy asked again and she moved quietly and quickly to get up from the bed and she grabbed the arm of the shorter figure. "Satsu?"

In the darkness, Buffy could see the shock on Satsu's face as she wretched her way out of Buffy's weak grip. Satsu said nothing as she backed away from Buffy and before she could say another word, Satsu disappeared into the darkness of the room.