They kept packing up things, everything of Lorrie's, all the weapons, all the training equipment and the watcher books on demons, vampires, and other dark and mystical stuff. There was also a trunk half full of what could have been mystical talismans and artifacts, or just weird little knick-knacks, so they took that away as well. After some thought, Tanya had concluded that they'd have to take away a couple of the big shelves that had held the books of demons, just so the gaping empty areas wouldn't be an obvious sign that things had been removed. The place still looked full, as if the rightful occupant would be coming home at any moment.
"It's just sad that I didn't have any more impact on this place. I mean, I've been living here, but you'd never be able to tell by looking." Lorrie sighed. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah, it's getting late already." Faith shivered, part of her worried about the chance that the vampire and her minions might know where the Watcher had lived.
The moon looked orange in the sky, like a huge D shape hanging over the town. The sun had started to slip below the horizon, and the sky was brilliantly streaked with reds, oranges and purples. It was a beautiful sunset, and had they been safely inside, they might have lingered to watch it. Instead, they hurried towards the farm house, the three of them hoping that the vampires weren't out.
The trip back was uninterrupted, despite the tension that they were all feeling. Glancing nervously at the stars that gleamed overhead, they quickly hauled the trunk of maybe-artifacts inside. The shelves were left in the truck. They could bring them in tomorrow, when the sun was out. It was only after they shut and locked the door firmly behind them that they realized just how quiet the house was.
"Shouldn't there be some noise from Mort?" Lorrie asked, rubbing over her arms as she glanced around the kitchen.
"Maybe." Faith glanced around, feeling uneasy. She walked over to the pile of boxes that apparently had just been left in the corner of the kitchen, and grabbed a blade that fell in that fuzzy area between knife and sword. "It might be good to take a look around."
Slowly, Faith headed upstairs. Maybe there was nothing more than the Door was finally working, and Mort was trying to talk to the people at Xavier's. Maybe he was just curled up with a book. Maybe he had decided to go to bed early. Or maybe not. But the Door might be a good place to start looking for answers. Most of the lights were out, so she found herself creeping through the dark house. A few of the floorboards were still creaky, and she tried to avoid stepping on them.
Faith was frowning by the time she reached the second set of stairs. Going off alone in the dark house at night… It sounded like something out of a horror movie. Hopefully there wasn't something or someone in the house planning on getting her… Of course, if there was something trying to get her, she'd be ready. She could just reach out and turn on a light… Well, not here. The wiring wasn't done yet, because they'd decided to start with the roofs and floors.
She knew that things weren't going to be that simple as she moved towards the section of hallway that held the Door. There was a faint bluish glow, not much more than a crescent moon, but definitely not from anything electrical. She wasn't surprised that it was coming from the frame around the Door, where all of the lines of glyphs were glowing. It was open about an inch, leaving it mostly closed, but open enough for a draft.
Slowly, she reached out, pulling the door open. Her knife was ready in case of attack, and she was half crouched and tense. But the door simply opened onto a large, empty room, like the sort of classy, marble floored reception halls that fancy mansions held. It looked as if Mort had figured out a way to make the Door work after all, and this was probably that Xavier's place. He was there, somewhere, probably trying to talk to that telepath that he'd mentioned.
After listening carefully for a few moments and hearing nothing to be alarmed over, Faith turned, thinking that she could shut the door and go back to the kitchen. Her hand had only touched the smooth wood when she stopped. The last time that he Door had opened to elsewhere, it hadn't gone there anymore after they'd shut it. If she closed the door now, would Mort be stuck on the other side? Maybe it would be best to leave it open just a little, at least until he came back.
For a few moments, Faith stood there, studying the glowing markings. Some looked like the old Mesopotamian writings, cuneiform. Others reminded her of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, though she couldn't be certain what they were. There were what she could recognize as Latin script, though she couldn't quite read anything with the glow making it hard to focus on them, and there was a fourth type as well, though she didn't know what it was. She'd have to come back later, when the Door wasn't leading elsewhere, and take a look. Mellie would have insisted on it by now…
There was a crashing noise from below.
Sucking in a breath, Faith spun and dashed towards the stairs. There were other noises, the sort of faint scuffles that meant a fight, and more objects falling. She could hear Lorrie's voice, and an unfamiliar male demanding 'let go of me right now!' Whoever he was, he didn't belong here, and that was probably trouble… Why did the Door have to be so far away from everything else in the house?
End part 34.
Faith had dozens, maybe closer to a hundred different images flashing through her mind as she charged towards the shouting. The unknown he could be human, he could be a demons, could even be another mutant like Mort. The only safe bet was that he wouldn't be a vampire – none of them would be inviting anybody inside after dark. But none of that meant he would be safe, or nice, only alive.
And she was the best fighter in the house. If he was a danger, she would be the best line of defense… damn the long hallway. She just leapt over the second set of stairs railing, ignoring the way the floorboards shrieked when she landed. Maybe it would turn out that he was safe, and then she'd feel embarrassed to come charging in with a knife, But embarrassed was better than someone injured or dead.
As Faith flung herself into the dining room, she saw a guy about Lorrie's age with reddish hair. He looked alarmed, and was fumbling for something in his pocket. Everything about him looked human, which narrowed a few things down… "Stop right there!"
"Ahhh!" He tried to stop, but his feet slipped on the floor, and he fell with a thump, his eyes wide as he stared at the sharp knife. "Oh shit…."
"Where did he go?" Tanya's question didn't sound afraid, just worried.
"He went that way. Where's Faith?" Lorrie's voice accompanied the sound of quick footsteps.
"Knife." The guy whispered, his hand slowly emerging from his pocket. There was one of those cheap, disposable plastic lighters in his fingers, and his thumb was running along the edge as if it could offer reassurance to him.
"There he is. Who is he, and how did he get here?" Lorrie asked, one hand holding a quarterstaff. "I know he's not a vampire…"
"Vampire?" The teen glanced from Faith to Lorrie for just a moment, his eyes returning to the knife. "I'm not a vampire! They aren't even real. I don't even know how I got here."
"Somehow, I think you must have more of an idea than we do." Tanya peered around Lorrie. "Now, if we can all calm down and talk like civilized people? What is your name?"
"I'm Pyro. And I was just… There was a door that I didn't remember seeing before. But I don't think this… Something's weird about this." He slowly stood up, moving a bit farther away from Faith.
"A door?" Tanya blinked, and then with an expression that Faith could only describe as 'aha!' she looked more closely at the boy. "By any chance did you end up on the third floor of my house?"
"I guess the thing does go both ways." Faith muttered, relaxing slightly, just enough not to look really threatening. She didn't trust the kid to be safe, but there was no point in looking like she was about to attack him at any minute.
"Yeah. And I just about killed myself on those stairs, got down here, tripped, and she" He pointed at Lorrie, scowling a little. "She tried to grab me, boxes fell… What's in those anyhow? Bricks?"
"Books." Lorrie muttered, suddenly looking upset again. "Lots of big, old books with leather covers."
"Those things are lethal." He rubbed at his shoulder. "So… this isn't Xavier's, so where am I?"
"About twenty miles south of Hallsboro, North Carolina." Tanya's dry comment carried well in the quiet house. "Hallsboro is a bit south of Route 76."
"None of this is meaning anything to you, is it?" Lorrie asked, her grip on the quarterstaff relaxing as she seemingly decided that he guy wasn't a threat.
"North Carolina?" Pyro gasped, his jaw dropping. "But… but I'm supposed to be in New York. At the school."
"Mort definitely got the door working then, didn't he?" Lorrie chuckled. "Can we have cocoa?"
Pyro gave a slightly nervous smile and scuttled closer to Lorrie and Tanya. "Right… Cocoa, and no knives. Oh man, what happens if the teachers find out that I'm missing?"
Faith tensed again, hoping that nobody would blame Mort for this. If he was trying to get help, this could seriously complicate matters… She sighed, and made her way into the kitchen, placing the knife on the counter, next to a good place to lean. "Hate to break this to you, Pyro, but vamps are real."
"Hah. Probably just freaked out over some strong mutant." His sullen mutter didn't quite go unheard by anyone.
"I know what a vampire is. And while there might be mutants whoa re as strong as they are, if there's a mutant that goes around ripping people's throats open to drink the blood and kill people, then they deserve to get it too!" Faith growled, resisting the urge to pick the boy up and shake him like a rag doll.
"There's no such thing as vampires! Or demons, or magic wands. None of that's real." He glared right back.
Something thumped against the front door. Faith also realized that part of her increasing temper came from the feeling of vampires nearby. Not close enough to really demand her attention, but… Yeah, close enough to throw rocks at the house.
end part 35.
Faith moved towards the window, leaving the knife on the counter. "Lorrie? How good are you with the crossbow?"
Peering out the window, Faith could see three figures, one of which was holding another rock. Two had the vampire ridges, while the third wore a hat pulled down low enough that she couldn't tell what he looked like. They were pretty obviously minions, and they looked amused. Amused was never good from vampires.
"Why?" Lorrie's voice was muffled as she searched in one of the cupboards.
"Who put the crossbow up there? There's three minions on the front yard. If I go out, can you cover me?" Faith glanced over at Lorrie, and then to Tanya before pulling a stake from the drawer full of dish towels. "The cupboard? Bad idea, you can never find what you need in there in a hurry."
"I'm a good shot. You won't have to worry about that. Now, if I can just find the… Got it." Lorie grinned as she pulled the crossbow down, preparing it to fire.
"Uhh… Have either of you considered having a nice, long talk with a shrink?" Pyro was staring at them, looking rather uneasy.
"As if that would help…" Lorrie muttered. "Ready when you are, Faith."
Faith opened the door and stepped out, reflecting that Lorrie's words would have sounded a lot better without the little 'I hope' at the end. She took a deep breath, and smiled at the vampires. "You got so bored with being someone's flunkies that you came here to die?"
"Give us the girl, and nobody will be hurt." The vampire with the rock snarled, his fangs the only thing preventing him from looking like a blandly ordinary farmer. "Well, not too badly hurt anyways."
"Somehow, I don't believe you." Faith tried to figure out who'd move first. She was betting on Farm-Boy and his rock, but the other one, a guy with a faded shirt with a picture of some Country music singer looked rather fidgety. Probably a short attention span. The wild card would be the guy in the hat, he seemed quieter, a lot more controlled.
She wasn't even surprised when the rock that had been in farmer-vamp's hand came hurtling towards her head. She just twisted out of it's way, smirking as the Country-fan charged at her, his hands reaching out as if he expected to wring her neck, like the stories of old time farmers killing their chickens. Faith lunged forward, the stake plunging into his chest, yanking it back out before it could fall to dust with him.
Inside the house, she could hear Pyro's startled yelp. "What the… He just fell apart!"
There was the sound of the crossbow being fired, and then the sound of the bolt sinking into flesh. With a startled "Hey!" the rock throwing vampire crumbled, leaving only the one in the hat.
He looked at her, and his eyes were glowing yellow, not just the normal vamp eyes. He grinned, and his teeth looked far sharper and more menacing than any normal vampire. "Very good. You must be a Slayer. The Lady grows frustrated. She wants the door, and believes that you are her only obstacle. I do not think that she will give up her quest."
"And you're here to make sure that she gets what she wants?" Faith asked, feeling a bit nervous. This guy… he didn't feel more than a century old, but he was strong.
He chuckled, and tucked one hand into the pocket of his pants. "No, Slayer. I'm here in this yard because those piles of dust were too stupid to read a map correctly. I'm here in this town to watch what happens to the Lady. What I want… I'm here to make certain that she gets what she deserves."
"What? What she deserves?" Faith was trying to puzzle out what the vampire meant as he tipped his hat politely, and turned away from her, walking back towards a dark sedan in the driveway. His hand emerged from his pocket with a jingling set of keys, and he just calmly walked to the car and drove away.
"Things are getting even weirder." Faith shivered, and decided to go back in the house.
End part 36.
Faith stepped back into the kitchen, shutting the door firmly behind her. "Things are officially getting even weirder."
"Those two… their faces. And they crumbled into dust." Pyro was looking at her, his eyes wide with fear and something else. "Those were… they were really… vampires?"
"Yeah." Faith sighed, and made her way towards the stove. Another cup of cocoa sounded good about now. "Hat-vamp isn't right, he's… Something about him is off. I just wish I knew what it was, and how badly it's going to bite us when we find out."
Suddenly, the whole house began to shake and rattle, as if a storm was blowing outside. Gusts of wind were coming down the stairwell, and they could hear things falling and papers rattling as they skittered and darted along hallways. It didn't seem natural.
"What's going on?!?" Tanya shouted, rushing to turn off the stove.
From upstairs, there was the sound of a door slamming shut, and the wind suddenly stopped.
"Whoa." Lorrie blinked, and looked at the things that had been blown in. "Since when are there indoor windstorms?"
"Ummm…. " Pyro shifted a little, trying to avoid eye contact with anybody.
"This is going to be fun to clean up." Tanya's words were filled with exhaustion.
"I guess she did remember me." Mort's voice was welcome as he stepped into view.
"Hey! You're back." Faith grinned, darting over to give him a hug. "What was all of that about?"
"Remember that I said the people in New York… well… One of them tried to blow me away. Wind, not guns. I barely managed to get through the door… Who's he?" Mort was now looking at Pyro.
"He said his name's Pyro. I think he's one of the students from that school. Apparently, he slipped through the door while you were out." Tanya sighed, and began fixing Mort a cup of cocoa as well.
"Okay, I'll just go back through this door, and everything will be normal again." Pyro stood up, and put down his mug.
"Sorry, it's not working again. The lights went out as soon as I closed it. You're stuck here for a while." Mort shrugged, not looking very sorry at all.
"I thought that stupid thing wouldn't open this morning?" Faith glanced over to her boyfriend.
"This morning it wouldn't. But just a bit after sunset, it started working again." Mort shrugged. "Of course, the lights went out after I closed it, just lie they did after the Statue of Liberty."
"Of course!" Tanya exclaimed. "That actually makes sense. It's called the Door to the Heavens, right? So, if it only works at night, when you can see the heavens… See the stars."
"Yeah, it does make sense." Faith nodded, and then looked back at Pyro. "So, what do we do with him?"
"There really isn't much room for discussion. If we can't send him back through the door, then he'll simply have to stay here tonight. The vampires make it too dangerous for the boy to try to leave, even if he is a mutant." Tanya handed Mort his cocoa, and sat back down. "We really need to get more of the rooms fixed."
"You want me to stay here tonight? In a house with one of Magneto's followers, a crazy woman who goes out to fight vampires, and someone else who shoots people with crossbows?" Pyro sounded stunned.
"Ex follower." Mort grumbled at the same time that Lorrie insisted "I only shot one person, and he was a vampire!"
"I'm supposed to fight vampires. It's my job. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not crazy… no more than any other Slayer. I mean, it's not like I talk to…" Faith froze, considering the words that she had almost said. But they weren't true. She did talk to dead people, at least in her dreams. Dick and Mellie, her messed up parental figures. Trembling, she walked out of the kitchen, determined that if she was going to struggle not to have a teary eyes fit of 'am I crazy?' that it wouldn't be in front of the boy.
Mort's hand touched her arm, gently. "Faith… You aren't alone. I'm here for you."
"What if he's…" She closed her eyes, hating the way she felt. Feeling vulnerable, afraid. It wasn't something that she could go out and slay, or something that she could just check a few numbers and pronounce wrong. Insanity. Dead people talked to her in her dreams, and sometimes she dreamed hints of the future.
"You aren't crazy." Mort faced her, his eyes serious. "Scarred by what you've seen and done, perhaps, but not crazy."
"You almost sounded like Giles for a moment there." Faith whispered, trying to muster a bit of a smile.
Mort shrugged, amusement in his eyes. "Why, is he a sexy, green British man?"
"Well, British, and a man, but not green. He's not to bad for an older guy, but I definitely prefer you." She leaned towards him, kissing his lips gently. She relaxed as she leaned against him, thankful that she wasn't alone, that she had Mort. "How'd the trip go?"
"I told Xavier about the problem. Whether he believed me… I'm not sure. But at least he listened to what I had to say." Mort sighed, and leaned his forehead against hers. "Of course, things got messy on the way back to the Door. There she was, and she saw me… at least there were no lightning bolts this time."
Faith chuckled, part of her thinking that it really wasn't that funny. "I guess neither one of us has fun with the idea of facing the past. I'm just really glad that my contact with the people who knew me before was just email."
"Yeah, well… Might as well check and see if they had anything useful to send you." He let his arm slide around her shoulder, and then muttered "Unless the wind messed up the computer, that is."
end part 37.
"It's just sad that I didn't have any more impact on this place. I mean, I've been living here, but you'd never be able to tell by looking." Lorrie sighed. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah, it's getting late already." Faith shivered, part of her worried about the chance that the vampire and her minions might know where the Watcher had lived.
The moon looked orange in the sky, like a huge D shape hanging over the town. The sun had started to slip below the horizon, and the sky was brilliantly streaked with reds, oranges and purples. It was a beautiful sunset, and had they been safely inside, they might have lingered to watch it. Instead, they hurried towards the farm house, the three of them hoping that the vampires weren't out.
The trip back was uninterrupted, despite the tension that they were all feeling. Glancing nervously at the stars that gleamed overhead, they quickly hauled the trunk of maybe-artifacts inside. The shelves were left in the truck. They could bring them in tomorrow, when the sun was out. It was only after they shut and locked the door firmly behind them that they realized just how quiet the house was.
"Shouldn't there be some noise from Mort?" Lorrie asked, rubbing over her arms as she glanced around the kitchen.
"Maybe." Faith glanced around, feeling uneasy. She walked over to the pile of boxes that apparently had just been left in the corner of the kitchen, and grabbed a blade that fell in that fuzzy area between knife and sword. "It might be good to take a look around."
Slowly, Faith headed upstairs. Maybe there was nothing more than the Door was finally working, and Mort was trying to talk to the people at Xavier's. Maybe he was just curled up with a book. Maybe he had decided to go to bed early. Or maybe not. But the Door might be a good place to start looking for answers. Most of the lights were out, so she found herself creeping through the dark house. A few of the floorboards were still creaky, and she tried to avoid stepping on them.
Faith was frowning by the time she reached the second set of stairs. Going off alone in the dark house at night… It sounded like something out of a horror movie. Hopefully there wasn't something or someone in the house planning on getting her… Of course, if there was something trying to get her, she'd be ready. She could just reach out and turn on a light… Well, not here. The wiring wasn't done yet, because they'd decided to start with the roofs and floors.
She knew that things weren't going to be that simple as she moved towards the section of hallway that held the Door. There was a faint bluish glow, not much more than a crescent moon, but definitely not from anything electrical. She wasn't surprised that it was coming from the frame around the Door, where all of the lines of glyphs were glowing. It was open about an inch, leaving it mostly closed, but open enough for a draft.
Slowly, she reached out, pulling the door open. Her knife was ready in case of attack, and she was half crouched and tense. But the door simply opened onto a large, empty room, like the sort of classy, marble floored reception halls that fancy mansions held. It looked as if Mort had figured out a way to make the Door work after all, and this was probably that Xavier's place. He was there, somewhere, probably trying to talk to that telepath that he'd mentioned.
After listening carefully for a few moments and hearing nothing to be alarmed over, Faith turned, thinking that she could shut the door and go back to the kitchen. Her hand had only touched the smooth wood when she stopped. The last time that he Door had opened to elsewhere, it hadn't gone there anymore after they'd shut it. If she closed the door now, would Mort be stuck on the other side? Maybe it would be best to leave it open just a little, at least until he came back.
For a few moments, Faith stood there, studying the glowing markings. Some looked like the old Mesopotamian writings, cuneiform. Others reminded her of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, though she couldn't be certain what they were. There were what she could recognize as Latin script, though she couldn't quite read anything with the glow making it hard to focus on them, and there was a fourth type as well, though she didn't know what it was. She'd have to come back later, when the Door wasn't leading elsewhere, and take a look. Mellie would have insisted on it by now…
There was a crashing noise from below.
Sucking in a breath, Faith spun and dashed towards the stairs. There were other noises, the sort of faint scuffles that meant a fight, and more objects falling. She could hear Lorrie's voice, and an unfamiliar male demanding 'let go of me right now!' Whoever he was, he didn't belong here, and that was probably trouble… Why did the Door have to be so far away from everything else in the house?
End part 34.
Faith had dozens, maybe closer to a hundred different images flashing through her mind as she charged towards the shouting. The unknown he could be human, he could be a demons, could even be another mutant like Mort. The only safe bet was that he wouldn't be a vampire – none of them would be inviting anybody inside after dark. But none of that meant he would be safe, or nice, only alive.
And she was the best fighter in the house. If he was a danger, she would be the best line of defense… damn the long hallway. She just leapt over the second set of stairs railing, ignoring the way the floorboards shrieked when she landed. Maybe it would turn out that he was safe, and then she'd feel embarrassed to come charging in with a knife, But embarrassed was better than someone injured or dead.
As Faith flung herself into the dining room, she saw a guy about Lorrie's age with reddish hair. He looked alarmed, and was fumbling for something in his pocket. Everything about him looked human, which narrowed a few things down… "Stop right there!"
"Ahhh!" He tried to stop, but his feet slipped on the floor, and he fell with a thump, his eyes wide as he stared at the sharp knife. "Oh shit…."
"Where did he go?" Tanya's question didn't sound afraid, just worried.
"He went that way. Where's Faith?" Lorrie's voice accompanied the sound of quick footsteps.
"Knife." The guy whispered, his hand slowly emerging from his pocket. There was one of those cheap, disposable plastic lighters in his fingers, and his thumb was running along the edge as if it could offer reassurance to him.
"There he is. Who is he, and how did he get here?" Lorrie asked, one hand holding a quarterstaff. "I know he's not a vampire…"
"Vampire?" The teen glanced from Faith to Lorrie for just a moment, his eyes returning to the knife. "I'm not a vampire! They aren't even real. I don't even know how I got here."
"Somehow, I think you must have more of an idea than we do." Tanya peered around Lorrie. "Now, if we can all calm down and talk like civilized people? What is your name?"
"I'm Pyro. And I was just… There was a door that I didn't remember seeing before. But I don't think this… Something's weird about this." He slowly stood up, moving a bit farther away from Faith.
"A door?" Tanya blinked, and then with an expression that Faith could only describe as 'aha!' she looked more closely at the boy. "By any chance did you end up on the third floor of my house?"
"I guess the thing does go both ways." Faith muttered, relaxing slightly, just enough not to look really threatening. She didn't trust the kid to be safe, but there was no point in looking like she was about to attack him at any minute.
"Yeah. And I just about killed myself on those stairs, got down here, tripped, and she" He pointed at Lorrie, scowling a little. "She tried to grab me, boxes fell… What's in those anyhow? Bricks?"
"Books." Lorrie muttered, suddenly looking upset again. "Lots of big, old books with leather covers."
"Those things are lethal." He rubbed at his shoulder. "So… this isn't Xavier's, so where am I?"
"About twenty miles south of Hallsboro, North Carolina." Tanya's dry comment carried well in the quiet house. "Hallsboro is a bit south of Route 76."
"None of this is meaning anything to you, is it?" Lorrie asked, her grip on the quarterstaff relaxing as she seemingly decided that he guy wasn't a threat.
"North Carolina?" Pyro gasped, his jaw dropping. "But… but I'm supposed to be in New York. At the school."
"Mort definitely got the door working then, didn't he?" Lorrie chuckled. "Can we have cocoa?"
Pyro gave a slightly nervous smile and scuttled closer to Lorrie and Tanya. "Right… Cocoa, and no knives. Oh man, what happens if the teachers find out that I'm missing?"
Faith tensed again, hoping that nobody would blame Mort for this. If he was trying to get help, this could seriously complicate matters… She sighed, and made her way into the kitchen, placing the knife on the counter, next to a good place to lean. "Hate to break this to you, Pyro, but vamps are real."
"Hah. Probably just freaked out over some strong mutant." His sullen mutter didn't quite go unheard by anyone.
"I know what a vampire is. And while there might be mutants whoa re as strong as they are, if there's a mutant that goes around ripping people's throats open to drink the blood and kill people, then they deserve to get it too!" Faith growled, resisting the urge to pick the boy up and shake him like a rag doll.
"There's no such thing as vampires! Or demons, or magic wands. None of that's real." He glared right back.
Something thumped against the front door. Faith also realized that part of her increasing temper came from the feeling of vampires nearby. Not close enough to really demand her attention, but… Yeah, close enough to throw rocks at the house.
end part 35.
Faith moved towards the window, leaving the knife on the counter. "Lorrie? How good are you with the crossbow?"
Peering out the window, Faith could see three figures, one of which was holding another rock. Two had the vampire ridges, while the third wore a hat pulled down low enough that she couldn't tell what he looked like. They were pretty obviously minions, and they looked amused. Amused was never good from vampires.
"Why?" Lorrie's voice was muffled as she searched in one of the cupboards.
"Who put the crossbow up there? There's three minions on the front yard. If I go out, can you cover me?" Faith glanced over at Lorrie, and then to Tanya before pulling a stake from the drawer full of dish towels. "The cupboard? Bad idea, you can never find what you need in there in a hurry."
"I'm a good shot. You won't have to worry about that. Now, if I can just find the… Got it." Lorie grinned as she pulled the crossbow down, preparing it to fire.
"Uhh… Have either of you considered having a nice, long talk with a shrink?" Pyro was staring at them, looking rather uneasy.
"As if that would help…" Lorrie muttered. "Ready when you are, Faith."
Faith opened the door and stepped out, reflecting that Lorrie's words would have sounded a lot better without the little 'I hope' at the end. She took a deep breath, and smiled at the vampires. "You got so bored with being someone's flunkies that you came here to die?"
"Give us the girl, and nobody will be hurt." The vampire with the rock snarled, his fangs the only thing preventing him from looking like a blandly ordinary farmer. "Well, not too badly hurt anyways."
"Somehow, I don't believe you." Faith tried to figure out who'd move first. She was betting on Farm-Boy and his rock, but the other one, a guy with a faded shirt with a picture of some Country music singer looked rather fidgety. Probably a short attention span. The wild card would be the guy in the hat, he seemed quieter, a lot more controlled.
She wasn't even surprised when the rock that had been in farmer-vamp's hand came hurtling towards her head. She just twisted out of it's way, smirking as the Country-fan charged at her, his hands reaching out as if he expected to wring her neck, like the stories of old time farmers killing their chickens. Faith lunged forward, the stake plunging into his chest, yanking it back out before it could fall to dust with him.
Inside the house, she could hear Pyro's startled yelp. "What the… He just fell apart!"
There was the sound of the crossbow being fired, and then the sound of the bolt sinking into flesh. With a startled "Hey!" the rock throwing vampire crumbled, leaving only the one in the hat.
He looked at her, and his eyes were glowing yellow, not just the normal vamp eyes. He grinned, and his teeth looked far sharper and more menacing than any normal vampire. "Very good. You must be a Slayer. The Lady grows frustrated. She wants the door, and believes that you are her only obstacle. I do not think that she will give up her quest."
"And you're here to make sure that she gets what she wants?" Faith asked, feeling a bit nervous. This guy… he didn't feel more than a century old, but he was strong.
He chuckled, and tucked one hand into the pocket of his pants. "No, Slayer. I'm here in this yard because those piles of dust were too stupid to read a map correctly. I'm here in this town to watch what happens to the Lady. What I want… I'm here to make certain that she gets what she deserves."
"What? What she deserves?" Faith was trying to puzzle out what the vampire meant as he tipped his hat politely, and turned away from her, walking back towards a dark sedan in the driveway. His hand emerged from his pocket with a jingling set of keys, and he just calmly walked to the car and drove away.
"Things are getting even weirder." Faith shivered, and decided to go back in the house.
End part 36.
Faith stepped back into the kitchen, shutting the door firmly behind her. "Things are officially getting even weirder."
"Those two… their faces. And they crumbled into dust." Pyro was looking at her, his eyes wide with fear and something else. "Those were… they were really… vampires?"
"Yeah." Faith sighed, and made her way towards the stove. Another cup of cocoa sounded good about now. "Hat-vamp isn't right, he's… Something about him is off. I just wish I knew what it was, and how badly it's going to bite us when we find out."
Suddenly, the whole house began to shake and rattle, as if a storm was blowing outside. Gusts of wind were coming down the stairwell, and they could hear things falling and papers rattling as they skittered and darted along hallways. It didn't seem natural.
"What's going on?!?" Tanya shouted, rushing to turn off the stove.
From upstairs, there was the sound of a door slamming shut, and the wind suddenly stopped.
"Whoa." Lorrie blinked, and looked at the things that had been blown in. "Since when are there indoor windstorms?"
"Ummm…. " Pyro shifted a little, trying to avoid eye contact with anybody.
"This is going to be fun to clean up." Tanya's words were filled with exhaustion.
"I guess she did remember me." Mort's voice was welcome as he stepped into view.
"Hey! You're back." Faith grinned, darting over to give him a hug. "What was all of that about?"
"Remember that I said the people in New York… well… One of them tried to blow me away. Wind, not guns. I barely managed to get through the door… Who's he?" Mort was now looking at Pyro.
"He said his name's Pyro. I think he's one of the students from that school. Apparently, he slipped through the door while you were out." Tanya sighed, and began fixing Mort a cup of cocoa as well.
"Okay, I'll just go back through this door, and everything will be normal again." Pyro stood up, and put down his mug.
"Sorry, it's not working again. The lights went out as soon as I closed it. You're stuck here for a while." Mort shrugged, not looking very sorry at all.
"I thought that stupid thing wouldn't open this morning?" Faith glanced over to her boyfriend.
"This morning it wouldn't. But just a bit after sunset, it started working again." Mort shrugged. "Of course, the lights went out after I closed it, just lie they did after the Statue of Liberty."
"Of course!" Tanya exclaimed. "That actually makes sense. It's called the Door to the Heavens, right? So, if it only works at night, when you can see the heavens… See the stars."
"Yeah, it does make sense." Faith nodded, and then looked back at Pyro. "So, what do we do with him?"
"There really isn't much room for discussion. If we can't send him back through the door, then he'll simply have to stay here tonight. The vampires make it too dangerous for the boy to try to leave, even if he is a mutant." Tanya handed Mort his cocoa, and sat back down. "We really need to get more of the rooms fixed."
"You want me to stay here tonight? In a house with one of Magneto's followers, a crazy woman who goes out to fight vampires, and someone else who shoots people with crossbows?" Pyro sounded stunned.
"Ex follower." Mort grumbled at the same time that Lorrie insisted "I only shot one person, and he was a vampire!"
"I'm supposed to fight vampires. It's my job. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not crazy… no more than any other Slayer. I mean, it's not like I talk to…" Faith froze, considering the words that she had almost said. But they weren't true. She did talk to dead people, at least in her dreams. Dick and Mellie, her messed up parental figures. Trembling, she walked out of the kitchen, determined that if she was going to struggle not to have a teary eyes fit of 'am I crazy?' that it wouldn't be in front of the boy.
Mort's hand touched her arm, gently. "Faith… You aren't alone. I'm here for you."
"What if he's…" She closed her eyes, hating the way she felt. Feeling vulnerable, afraid. It wasn't something that she could go out and slay, or something that she could just check a few numbers and pronounce wrong. Insanity. Dead people talked to her in her dreams, and sometimes she dreamed hints of the future.
"You aren't crazy." Mort faced her, his eyes serious. "Scarred by what you've seen and done, perhaps, but not crazy."
"You almost sounded like Giles for a moment there." Faith whispered, trying to muster a bit of a smile.
Mort shrugged, amusement in his eyes. "Why, is he a sexy, green British man?"
"Well, British, and a man, but not green. He's not to bad for an older guy, but I definitely prefer you." She leaned towards him, kissing his lips gently. She relaxed as she leaned against him, thankful that she wasn't alone, that she had Mort. "How'd the trip go?"
"I told Xavier about the problem. Whether he believed me… I'm not sure. But at least he listened to what I had to say." Mort sighed, and leaned his forehead against hers. "Of course, things got messy on the way back to the Door. There she was, and she saw me… at least there were no lightning bolts this time."
Faith chuckled, part of her thinking that it really wasn't that funny. "I guess neither one of us has fun with the idea of facing the past. I'm just really glad that my contact with the people who knew me before was just email."
"Yeah, well… Might as well check and see if they had anything useful to send you." He let his arm slide around her shoulder, and then muttered "Unless the wind messed up the computer, that is."
end part 37.