Faith sighed, trying to rub at her shoulder where it had been slammed into the pavement when the demon had first interrupted her and Mort. She'd been too busy to notice it earlier, but it ached. Hopefully just a bruise, it didn't feel painful enough to have been dislocated. Her stomach was still feeling a bit unsettled from the foul stench of that thing's breath, so she moved a bit, leaning against an apple tree. She could see Lorrie talking into the cell phone, one hand gesturing as she spoke.
Mort walked over to stand beside her, frowning a little. "Is your shoulder alright?"
"It hit the pavement back at the restaurant. Doesn't feel good, but not bad enough to have been dislocated… I just can't get a decent massage in." She frowned, trying again to reach the pain.
"Let me help you with that." His words were soft, and one hand slipped up under her jacket, carefully massaging her shoulder.
"An ambulance is supposed to be on the way over now." Lorrie's voice carried over, filled with questions. "What… I know that was a demon, but I don't know what type. How did the two of you… why were you chasing it? How did you manage… umm… and thanks."
Faith looked over at Lorrie, a part of her wondering if she'd ever been that young herself. She had to have been the same age, but… age wasn't always the same thing as youth. "I don't know what type it was either, other than big, rude and ugly. My boyfriend Mort and I were walking across a parking lot when that thing knocked us over."
Mort looked over at the demon's corpse. "Funny thing… It almost seemed like it was running away from something else when it knocked Faith and me over."
Faith felt herself shiver slightly. She hadn't thought about it, but Mort was right. Even stupid demons didn't just go charging across parking lots for no reason. Which meant that there had been a reason, most likely something that the demon had been trying to run away from. What could have scared that hulking thing, and how long before she found herself having to fight the scarier thing? "Yeah… well, we were both rather annoyed that it had nearly trampled us, so we chased it. Damn interrupting demons… Anyhow, we caught up to it here, it… well, I guess you saw what happened. A fight, we won, the demon's dead."
Lorrie moved a bit closer, peering at the two of them, as if she was trying to memorize their faces to ponder later. Her gaze settled on Mort, her eyes going wide. "So… How did you manage to kill it? Are you… umm… Mort's a mutant, isn't he?"
"I am. Pretty useful for avoiding demon fists and claws." Mort's voice had that carefully almost flat tone that said he was trying to stay calm.
"umm…." Lorrie shifted her weight from foot to foot, her eyes sort of glancing all over. "I haven't had much contact with mutants. I've heard things, but… the things I've heard sometimes conflict."
Faith shook her head, her mind heaping curses and insults on that miserable excuse for a Watcher that Lorrie had been assigned from the Council. "See… the main point to remember is that mutants are still people. They didn't have a say in how they were born, just like you didn't have a say in being born with the potential to become a Slayer. Some are decent people, like Mort, some are really angry and want to do something about it, like Magneto, and some are batty old ladies who live in a house full of cats. Except that the batty old lady might naturally have blue hair, instead of a bad dye job."
"But the things in the paper…" Lorrie looked confused, and then stopped. "But you don't see much in the paper about anyone who lives a nice, quiet life, do you? You don't hear about the couple down the road who raise seven kids on one income, and they're happy, or the person putting themselves through college by hard work. You hear about the people who mess up, or have amazing luck."
"Bingo." Mort's voice held a hint of bitterness. "You also don't hear too much about the nasty things humans do to mutants either. Just the other day, we bumped into a group of people in hoods trying to kill a kid with purple hair. Turned out the kid's hair was dyed, but that wouldn't have kept those bastards from killing him. Just because he looked a bit different. Think that would have made the news?"
Lorrie sucked in a breath, looking shocked and horrified. "But… they were going to kill him? Ohh….."
"All sorts of wrong." Faith nodded, wondering just how much that Watcher had let Lorrie know about the world. Did she get to watch the television? How many channels? Read the paper, or maybe just sections of it? Or was she stuck with nothing more than stacks of demon books?
"What about… is there anything about different about mutant vampires?" Lorrie looked vaguely uneasy, possibly remembering the other night in the cemetery.
"From what I've heard, the main thing is that they still have all their mutant abilities plus the usual vamp package. So, a mutant vamp's still a vamp, but they might have… oh, I don't know, striped hair and the ability to fly." Faith shuddered at the idea. "Or they might be just like any other minion except they have polka dots. Someone told me that mutants could be turned, just like anyone else, so I should watch out for that. Nothing else. No big prophecies, not big… just… oh, be careful."
Lorrie's arms wrapped around her, and she stared at the ground, her toe nudging an apple out of a tuft of grass. "Yeah, be careful sounds good. A lot better than 'there's a grave menace, kill it.' But I still don't see…"
The sound of wailing sirens could now be heard, and there was a flicker of flashing lights. "The ambulance is almost here. Just think over what we said. And be careful, especially in cemeteries."
Lorrie nodded, turning to walk back towards her Watcher. "Yeah… lots to think about."
Faith took Mort's hand, and started to walk away, not wanting to get caught up in the mess of the ambulance, and the inevitable questions of what the demon was, or why Lorrie and the jerk had been out walking in the orchard. She just wanted to go home.
End part 21.
"So, that's more of the down-side to this whole hero thing. Not only do you get bruises and scrapes and claw wounds from giant lizards, you get hulking demons interrupting your dates, and you can't dismember them in front of witnesses. On the up side, we aren't under arrest." He shook his head. When he continued, there was a low, persuasive tone to his voice, almost pleading. "Are you absolutely certain that as people mostly on the side of good, we can't go make sure that guy dies? Nobody will ever miss him. I can make the body vanish."
Faith giggled, absurdly tempted by the idea. "It's tempting. But… but… they took him to the hospital. If we follow and finish him off, that's premeditated murder, possibly caught on camera, and they send you to prison. That's probably close to being in a coma for being a miserable place to be. Maybe we can just hope he overdoses on pain medicine."
"I knew there had to be a downside to this hero thing." Mort grumbled, one hand holding hers as they walked back towards the restaurant where they'd left the motorcycle.
"Yeah, well… actually, the pay isn't too good either. But you can sleep better at night." Faith smiled a little, peeking at him.
"Do I get to snuggle up with you?" His words were soft, almost as if he didn't want to push too hard.
She grinned, pulling him closer, sliding her arm around his waist. "Definitely."
"That might almost make up for the brand new bruises. Now, if only…" Mort shook his head, apparently deciding not to finish whatever he'd been about to say. "Maybe we can try for a date again, and hope for no recurring demonus interruptus?"
Faith laughed, glad that Mort could find a little humor in the situation. "That sounds good. Or maybe we could send Tanya out somewhere and stay in? Or… well… I suppose we can't kick her out of the house so that we could… damn. I must be getting shy in my old age."
Mort chuckled this time, one hand sliding under her jacket to run a little bit up her spine. "Maybe we can just work on getting a few of those more remote rooms fixed up? Then, we would only need to make sure she stays on the other side…"
Faith laughed, part of her delighted that Mort seemed as upset by the interruption as she felt, and another part just a little worried that it might be too soon, that if they did have sex, everything would change. That Mort would turn out like the other guys that she'd known and leave her, or just turn into a jerk. But Mort wasn't like anyone else that she'd met, Mort was different. Hopefully better, and she didn't mean in any sort of genetics type way. "Well, we have to start something next, why not walls?"
They were almost back to the restaurant when Faith felt the vampire. She didn't see it, or hear anything obviously out of place, but she could fell the presence, a cold spot in the area, sort of but not quite like someone holding an ice cube near her bare arm. Not close enough to touch, but she could feel it. Whoever the vamp was, they felt old, and powerful – most likely the master vamp whose minions had been in the cemetery. Maybe even the something that had sent the big demon running into them.
"Mort… do you see anybody… off? Sort of weird or too pale?" She leaned over, whispering into his ear, hoping that any observer would just think she was making him naughty promises.
"Pair of Goths outside the coffee shop sharing a cigarette, there's lady looking like the mom from a sixties sitcom across the street, and a guy in a varsity jacket carrying a couple big, thick books." Mort shrugged. "Weird isn't quite enough. Sorry."
"Yeah, I guess it's not enough." Faith shook her head, feeling more worried than before. If the vamp was clever enough to blend in with the people, then they were smart enough to cause major problems if they wanted. The real question was – what did this vamp want? Maybe they'd need to talk with Tanya tonight, ask for some local history, like old ruins, Indian burial mounds, or mass killings. And she'd probably need to confess to being the Slayer… a Slayer anyhow. "I think this is going to be a long night. And not in the good way."
"I'll give you a massage later." Mort rubbed his hand over her back again, nodding slightly. "At least nobody stole our bike while we were gone."
"Yeah. We would definitely have had to go kill that jerk if he cost us our date and the bike." Faith sighed, not quite certain if she was joking or not about killing the Watcher.
"For just the date, we can let someone else have the pleasure, but if the bike's gone, we can go kill him?" Mort chuckled. "Anyone ever mention that you've got a wicked sense of humor?"
Faith grinned, suddenly swinging around and kissing him, flicking her tongue over his teeth just a little. "Not the sort of compliment most people give me. Ready to go home?"
"Absolutely." The keys to the bike were produced almost instantly.
Faith smiled as she snuggled up against his back, feeling the vibration of the motor running through their bodies. The interruption frustrating, the fight had been annoying, and the feeling of some vamp watching her absolutely creepy, but this was good. Snuggled up to a hot guy on a bike… Yeah. And maybe she could put off thinking about sharing her secrets with Tanya for a little longer.
End part 22.
Faith started trying to figure out the plan when they turned onto Tanya's road. If this was going to go at all smoothly, there should be some sort of plan, a how to go about this. But it had to be flexible enough to deal with Tanya's reaction. So, how to get organized but not scripted?
"Faith, sweetie, relax. Please. I think you're gripping a little too hard there." Mort's voice sounded a bit strained. "Things won't be that bad."
"How can you promise? What if she hates the fact that I didn't tell her before? What if the idea of something scaring the demons makes her freak? Or the presence of some master vamp is the last straw, and she tosses us out?" The words rushed out as the horrible possibilities spun in Faith's head. She didn't want to think Tanya would do any of those things. She liked Tanya, and had started to feel good about staying here.
"Because if Tanya was going to freak out, it would have been when she learned that you knew what a Watcher was. Anything else, we can figure out a way to handle." Mort's voice was calm, and he had a little smile.
Leaning forward, he kissed her, gently, but with enough persistence and emotion that by the time they broke apart, Faith was smiling, her stomach doing happy loops and her knees wobbly. "Wow, you do know how to make me stop worrying."
Mort just smiled, still holding her arm. "Time to go inside."
Faith sighed, allowing herself to lean on Mort as they made their way to the house. She shouldn't be this nervous. Mort was right that they could come up with a plan, so then why was she worried at all? She could feel the bits of the answer in her mind, almost but not quite connecting. She gathered her courage and opened the door, stepping inside the house, which was filled with the scent of baking chocolate chip cookies.
Tanya was in the kitchen, peeking into the oven, as they walked inside. Closing the oven door, she stood up, looking over at them. "I didn't expect the two of you to be back yet. Did something go… not as planned?"
Faith sighed, letting herself drop into a chair. "Yeah. Our date got interrupted by a big demon, and I felt something… I think a master vamp watching us. It's trouble."
Mort settled in the chair next to her, taking her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back. "Something scared the big demon, and it ran. Then Faith felt the vampire, but we didn't see any particularly likely candidates. She's pretty sure that means trouble."
"Oh dear." Tanya leaned back against the counter, right beside a big mixing bowl with a wooden spoon sticking out. "How did you know the vampire… umm. Why do I get the feeling there's something you haven't mentioned?"
Faith sighed, looking at her hand. "I'm the Slayer. I know about the Council because I used to have a Watcher, but… Mellie got killed. And the Council… nobody else cared about Faith, they just wanted a Slayer to follow orders and forms and stupid traditions."
"Well, that would explain sensing the vampire at least." There was a pause, and it sounded like Tanya had lifted her mixing bowl, although Faith didn't quite feel brave enough to look. "I've been going through Uncle's books, trying to get a better understanding of the whole Slayer thing. Is there anything that I can do to help?"
Mort grinned at Faith, still holding her hand. Very softly, he whispered "I told you it wouldn't be that bad."
Faith smiled at him, and then looked over at Tanya. "Maybe. If there's a master vamp here, then there has to be a reason why. Something that caused a powerful vampire to come to a little town. Maybe some old ruins or artifact, or… well, something. Maybe a ritual. I guess… I guess it's time to do research, to try to see if we can figure out why a master vampire is here."
Tanya was spooning out balls of cookie dough, her hands trembling. "That… does sound reasonable. To find out what the goal is. I guess this makes it a good thing that all of Uncle's books are still in the library."
Faith realized how much Tanya was shaking, realizing just how scary the idea of demons and vampires had to be for someone who'd had a normal life. "You don't have to do this if you don't want."
Tanya looked over, wiping at her cheek for some reason, leaving a little smear of dough. "No, Faith, I want to help you. This… what you do… It's important. You help keep the world safe and here, even if that just means other people go try to make a mess of it. Honestly, yes, there is a part of me that would like to just… crawl under the covers and pretend this isn't real, that it would all go away. But I know that it won't. If I help you… then I'm actually trying to make a difference in this world. A lot more of a difference than just recycling glass bottles and trying not to waste the hot water. And… well, it sounds a lot safer to look for things in books than to be the person trying to fight the demon. I don't know how to fight a demon, or anything else."
Faith smiled, feeling as if the crazy spinning images of possible disaster had been slowed down. Maybe she still would have to fight the master vampire, maybe there would still be something dreadful that she had to stop on a deadline, but… but she would have Mort and Tanya supporting her. She would have a place to stay, reliable food, and someone to massage the knots out of her back. "That's good. More than most people would do."
"None of us are 'most people'. He's not most people, or most mutants, or most guys, he's Mort. You aren't most people, most girls, or even most Slayers, you're Faith. And I'm Tanya, who's… well, not a mutant or a Slayer or a trained watcher, but I'm still going to help. All you can do is be Faith, and be the best Faith that you can, and since that includes being the Slayer, I'll try to help you be the best Slayer possible. And then I'll hope that it doesn't get me killed." Tanya sighed, putting the cookies into the oven with trembling hands.
"I don't want you to get hurt." Faith's words were quiet, as she tried to understand why Tanya would be so willing to help.
"I'd sort of like to avoid that myself." Tanya smiled a little bit. "But Faith, everybody dies eventually, and when my time comes, I want to be able to face God and know that I did my best to make a difference."
Faith considered that, and to her slight surprise, the words felt right. If Tanya wanted to help, it should be because she decided it, for her safety, for God, if that was her reasoning. Just as long as it was her choice, and not because a bunch of guys in suits told her to do this. "Hopefully, your face to face with God can wait a long time."
End part 23.
Mort walked over to stand beside her, frowning a little. "Is your shoulder alright?"
"It hit the pavement back at the restaurant. Doesn't feel good, but not bad enough to have been dislocated… I just can't get a decent massage in." She frowned, trying again to reach the pain.
"Let me help you with that." His words were soft, and one hand slipped up under her jacket, carefully massaging her shoulder.
"An ambulance is supposed to be on the way over now." Lorrie's voice carried over, filled with questions. "What… I know that was a demon, but I don't know what type. How did the two of you… why were you chasing it? How did you manage… umm… and thanks."
Faith looked over at Lorrie, a part of her wondering if she'd ever been that young herself. She had to have been the same age, but… age wasn't always the same thing as youth. "I don't know what type it was either, other than big, rude and ugly. My boyfriend Mort and I were walking across a parking lot when that thing knocked us over."
Mort looked over at the demon's corpse. "Funny thing… It almost seemed like it was running away from something else when it knocked Faith and me over."
Faith felt herself shiver slightly. She hadn't thought about it, but Mort was right. Even stupid demons didn't just go charging across parking lots for no reason. Which meant that there had been a reason, most likely something that the demon had been trying to run away from. What could have scared that hulking thing, and how long before she found herself having to fight the scarier thing? "Yeah… well, we were both rather annoyed that it had nearly trampled us, so we chased it. Damn interrupting demons… Anyhow, we caught up to it here, it… well, I guess you saw what happened. A fight, we won, the demon's dead."
Lorrie moved a bit closer, peering at the two of them, as if she was trying to memorize their faces to ponder later. Her gaze settled on Mort, her eyes going wide. "So… How did you manage to kill it? Are you… umm… Mort's a mutant, isn't he?"
"I am. Pretty useful for avoiding demon fists and claws." Mort's voice had that carefully almost flat tone that said he was trying to stay calm.
"umm…." Lorrie shifted her weight from foot to foot, her eyes sort of glancing all over. "I haven't had much contact with mutants. I've heard things, but… the things I've heard sometimes conflict."
Faith shook her head, her mind heaping curses and insults on that miserable excuse for a Watcher that Lorrie had been assigned from the Council. "See… the main point to remember is that mutants are still people. They didn't have a say in how they were born, just like you didn't have a say in being born with the potential to become a Slayer. Some are decent people, like Mort, some are really angry and want to do something about it, like Magneto, and some are batty old ladies who live in a house full of cats. Except that the batty old lady might naturally have blue hair, instead of a bad dye job."
"But the things in the paper…" Lorrie looked confused, and then stopped. "But you don't see much in the paper about anyone who lives a nice, quiet life, do you? You don't hear about the couple down the road who raise seven kids on one income, and they're happy, or the person putting themselves through college by hard work. You hear about the people who mess up, or have amazing luck."
"Bingo." Mort's voice held a hint of bitterness. "You also don't hear too much about the nasty things humans do to mutants either. Just the other day, we bumped into a group of people in hoods trying to kill a kid with purple hair. Turned out the kid's hair was dyed, but that wouldn't have kept those bastards from killing him. Just because he looked a bit different. Think that would have made the news?"
Lorrie sucked in a breath, looking shocked and horrified. "But… they were going to kill him? Ohh….."
"All sorts of wrong." Faith nodded, wondering just how much that Watcher had let Lorrie know about the world. Did she get to watch the television? How many channels? Read the paper, or maybe just sections of it? Or was she stuck with nothing more than stacks of demon books?
"What about… is there anything about different about mutant vampires?" Lorrie looked vaguely uneasy, possibly remembering the other night in the cemetery.
"From what I've heard, the main thing is that they still have all their mutant abilities plus the usual vamp package. So, a mutant vamp's still a vamp, but they might have… oh, I don't know, striped hair and the ability to fly." Faith shuddered at the idea. "Or they might be just like any other minion except they have polka dots. Someone told me that mutants could be turned, just like anyone else, so I should watch out for that. Nothing else. No big prophecies, not big… just… oh, be careful."
Lorrie's arms wrapped around her, and she stared at the ground, her toe nudging an apple out of a tuft of grass. "Yeah, be careful sounds good. A lot better than 'there's a grave menace, kill it.' But I still don't see…"
The sound of wailing sirens could now be heard, and there was a flicker of flashing lights. "The ambulance is almost here. Just think over what we said. And be careful, especially in cemeteries."
Lorrie nodded, turning to walk back towards her Watcher. "Yeah… lots to think about."
Faith took Mort's hand, and started to walk away, not wanting to get caught up in the mess of the ambulance, and the inevitable questions of what the demon was, or why Lorrie and the jerk had been out walking in the orchard. She just wanted to go home.
End part 21.
"So, that's more of the down-side to this whole hero thing. Not only do you get bruises and scrapes and claw wounds from giant lizards, you get hulking demons interrupting your dates, and you can't dismember them in front of witnesses. On the up side, we aren't under arrest." He shook his head. When he continued, there was a low, persuasive tone to his voice, almost pleading. "Are you absolutely certain that as people mostly on the side of good, we can't go make sure that guy dies? Nobody will ever miss him. I can make the body vanish."
Faith giggled, absurdly tempted by the idea. "It's tempting. But… but… they took him to the hospital. If we follow and finish him off, that's premeditated murder, possibly caught on camera, and they send you to prison. That's probably close to being in a coma for being a miserable place to be. Maybe we can just hope he overdoses on pain medicine."
"I knew there had to be a downside to this hero thing." Mort grumbled, one hand holding hers as they walked back towards the restaurant where they'd left the motorcycle.
"Yeah, well… actually, the pay isn't too good either. But you can sleep better at night." Faith smiled a little, peeking at him.
"Do I get to snuggle up with you?" His words were soft, almost as if he didn't want to push too hard.
She grinned, pulling him closer, sliding her arm around his waist. "Definitely."
"That might almost make up for the brand new bruises. Now, if only…" Mort shook his head, apparently deciding not to finish whatever he'd been about to say. "Maybe we can try for a date again, and hope for no recurring demonus interruptus?"
Faith laughed, glad that Mort could find a little humor in the situation. "That sounds good. Or maybe we could send Tanya out somewhere and stay in? Or… well… I suppose we can't kick her out of the house so that we could… damn. I must be getting shy in my old age."
Mort chuckled this time, one hand sliding under her jacket to run a little bit up her spine. "Maybe we can just work on getting a few of those more remote rooms fixed up? Then, we would only need to make sure she stays on the other side…"
Faith laughed, part of her delighted that Mort seemed as upset by the interruption as she felt, and another part just a little worried that it might be too soon, that if they did have sex, everything would change. That Mort would turn out like the other guys that she'd known and leave her, or just turn into a jerk. But Mort wasn't like anyone else that she'd met, Mort was different. Hopefully better, and she didn't mean in any sort of genetics type way. "Well, we have to start something next, why not walls?"
They were almost back to the restaurant when Faith felt the vampire. She didn't see it, or hear anything obviously out of place, but she could fell the presence, a cold spot in the area, sort of but not quite like someone holding an ice cube near her bare arm. Not close enough to touch, but she could feel it. Whoever the vamp was, they felt old, and powerful – most likely the master vamp whose minions had been in the cemetery. Maybe even the something that had sent the big demon running into them.
"Mort… do you see anybody… off? Sort of weird or too pale?" She leaned over, whispering into his ear, hoping that any observer would just think she was making him naughty promises.
"Pair of Goths outside the coffee shop sharing a cigarette, there's lady looking like the mom from a sixties sitcom across the street, and a guy in a varsity jacket carrying a couple big, thick books." Mort shrugged. "Weird isn't quite enough. Sorry."
"Yeah, I guess it's not enough." Faith shook her head, feeling more worried than before. If the vamp was clever enough to blend in with the people, then they were smart enough to cause major problems if they wanted. The real question was – what did this vamp want? Maybe they'd need to talk with Tanya tonight, ask for some local history, like old ruins, Indian burial mounds, or mass killings. And she'd probably need to confess to being the Slayer… a Slayer anyhow. "I think this is going to be a long night. And not in the good way."
"I'll give you a massage later." Mort rubbed his hand over her back again, nodding slightly. "At least nobody stole our bike while we were gone."
"Yeah. We would definitely have had to go kill that jerk if he cost us our date and the bike." Faith sighed, not quite certain if she was joking or not about killing the Watcher.
"For just the date, we can let someone else have the pleasure, but if the bike's gone, we can go kill him?" Mort chuckled. "Anyone ever mention that you've got a wicked sense of humor?"
Faith grinned, suddenly swinging around and kissing him, flicking her tongue over his teeth just a little. "Not the sort of compliment most people give me. Ready to go home?"
"Absolutely." The keys to the bike were produced almost instantly.
Faith smiled as she snuggled up against his back, feeling the vibration of the motor running through their bodies. The interruption frustrating, the fight had been annoying, and the feeling of some vamp watching her absolutely creepy, but this was good. Snuggled up to a hot guy on a bike… Yeah. And maybe she could put off thinking about sharing her secrets with Tanya for a little longer.
End part 22.
Faith started trying to figure out the plan when they turned onto Tanya's road. If this was going to go at all smoothly, there should be some sort of plan, a how to go about this. But it had to be flexible enough to deal with Tanya's reaction. So, how to get organized but not scripted?
"Faith, sweetie, relax. Please. I think you're gripping a little too hard there." Mort's voice sounded a bit strained. "Things won't be that bad."
"How can you promise? What if she hates the fact that I didn't tell her before? What if the idea of something scaring the demons makes her freak? Or the presence of some master vamp is the last straw, and she tosses us out?" The words rushed out as the horrible possibilities spun in Faith's head. She didn't want to think Tanya would do any of those things. She liked Tanya, and had started to feel good about staying here.
"Because if Tanya was going to freak out, it would have been when she learned that you knew what a Watcher was. Anything else, we can figure out a way to handle." Mort's voice was calm, and he had a little smile.
Leaning forward, he kissed her, gently, but with enough persistence and emotion that by the time they broke apart, Faith was smiling, her stomach doing happy loops and her knees wobbly. "Wow, you do know how to make me stop worrying."
Mort just smiled, still holding her arm. "Time to go inside."
Faith sighed, allowing herself to lean on Mort as they made their way to the house. She shouldn't be this nervous. Mort was right that they could come up with a plan, so then why was she worried at all? She could feel the bits of the answer in her mind, almost but not quite connecting. She gathered her courage and opened the door, stepping inside the house, which was filled with the scent of baking chocolate chip cookies.
Tanya was in the kitchen, peeking into the oven, as they walked inside. Closing the oven door, she stood up, looking over at them. "I didn't expect the two of you to be back yet. Did something go… not as planned?"
Faith sighed, letting herself drop into a chair. "Yeah. Our date got interrupted by a big demon, and I felt something… I think a master vamp watching us. It's trouble."
Mort settled in the chair next to her, taking her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back. "Something scared the big demon, and it ran. Then Faith felt the vampire, but we didn't see any particularly likely candidates. She's pretty sure that means trouble."
"Oh dear." Tanya leaned back against the counter, right beside a big mixing bowl with a wooden spoon sticking out. "How did you know the vampire… umm. Why do I get the feeling there's something you haven't mentioned?"
Faith sighed, looking at her hand. "I'm the Slayer. I know about the Council because I used to have a Watcher, but… Mellie got killed. And the Council… nobody else cared about Faith, they just wanted a Slayer to follow orders and forms and stupid traditions."
"Well, that would explain sensing the vampire at least." There was a pause, and it sounded like Tanya had lifted her mixing bowl, although Faith didn't quite feel brave enough to look. "I've been going through Uncle's books, trying to get a better understanding of the whole Slayer thing. Is there anything that I can do to help?"
Mort grinned at Faith, still holding her hand. Very softly, he whispered "I told you it wouldn't be that bad."
Faith smiled at him, and then looked over at Tanya. "Maybe. If there's a master vamp here, then there has to be a reason why. Something that caused a powerful vampire to come to a little town. Maybe some old ruins or artifact, or… well, something. Maybe a ritual. I guess… I guess it's time to do research, to try to see if we can figure out why a master vampire is here."
Tanya was spooning out balls of cookie dough, her hands trembling. "That… does sound reasonable. To find out what the goal is. I guess this makes it a good thing that all of Uncle's books are still in the library."
Faith realized how much Tanya was shaking, realizing just how scary the idea of demons and vampires had to be for someone who'd had a normal life. "You don't have to do this if you don't want."
Tanya looked over, wiping at her cheek for some reason, leaving a little smear of dough. "No, Faith, I want to help you. This… what you do… It's important. You help keep the world safe and here, even if that just means other people go try to make a mess of it. Honestly, yes, there is a part of me that would like to just… crawl under the covers and pretend this isn't real, that it would all go away. But I know that it won't. If I help you… then I'm actually trying to make a difference in this world. A lot more of a difference than just recycling glass bottles and trying not to waste the hot water. And… well, it sounds a lot safer to look for things in books than to be the person trying to fight the demon. I don't know how to fight a demon, or anything else."
Faith smiled, feeling as if the crazy spinning images of possible disaster had been slowed down. Maybe she still would have to fight the master vampire, maybe there would still be something dreadful that she had to stop on a deadline, but… but she would have Mort and Tanya supporting her. She would have a place to stay, reliable food, and someone to massage the knots out of her back. "That's good. More than most people would do."
"None of us are 'most people'. He's not most people, or most mutants, or most guys, he's Mort. You aren't most people, most girls, or even most Slayers, you're Faith. And I'm Tanya, who's… well, not a mutant or a Slayer or a trained watcher, but I'm still going to help. All you can do is be Faith, and be the best Faith that you can, and since that includes being the Slayer, I'll try to help you be the best Slayer possible. And then I'll hope that it doesn't get me killed." Tanya sighed, putting the cookies into the oven with trembling hands.
"I don't want you to get hurt." Faith's words were quiet, as she tried to understand why Tanya would be so willing to help.
"I'd sort of like to avoid that myself." Tanya smiled a little bit. "But Faith, everybody dies eventually, and when my time comes, I want to be able to face God and know that I did my best to make a difference."
Faith considered that, and to her slight surprise, the words felt right. If Tanya wanted to help, it should be because she decided it, for her safety, for God, if that was her reasoning. Just as long as it was her choice, and not because a bunch of guys in suits told her to do this. "Hopefully, your face to face with God can wait a long time."
End part 23.