Chapter 51: Faith, Hope and Trick
October 12, 1998 – Monday
Gateway High School
On a tiny parklike common area across the street, seniors milled about, studying and eating lunch. Buffy was in front of a wooden bench, laying out a picnic on a red and white checkered tablecloth she'd spread on the grass. She had yet to be allowed back into school, but Prue was trying to get her back in.
With a soft smile on her face, Buffy saw her friends coming across the lawn. It was great to see them. Buffy felt so detached when they were in school and she wasn't—not that she missed the learning, even though it was a necessary evil—and this had been a nice way to deal with that. She'd gotten a bit dressed up. A beige summer dress with a subtle floral pattern and a light shirt thrown over her shoulders.
"Buffy!" Xander said amiably. "Banned from campus but not from our hearts. How are ya and what's for lunch?"
Buffy smiled as they all sat on the ground around her. "Oh, I just threw a few things together."
"When did you become Martha Stewart?" Cordelia said, impressed despite herself.
"First of all, Martha Stewart knows jack about hand-cut prosciutto," Buffy replied.
Xander nodded thoughtfully. "I don't believe she slays, either."
"I hear she can, but she doesn't like to," Oz put in.
Paying no attention to their remarks, Buffy went on. "Second of all, way too much time on my hands since I got kicked out of school." A bit sad, she glanced away as she sipped from a bottle of water.
"Oh, I know they'll let you back in," Willow told her.
"Don't you and Piper have a meeting with Principal Snyder?" Xander asked.
"We're seeing Snyde Man tomorrow," Buffy confirmed. "Maybe I should bring a wheel of my extra runny brie..."
Buffy looked at Willow, but her best friend had obviously spotted something of interest across the small park.
"Ooh, Scott Hope at eleven o' clock," Willow pointed out.
Buffy turned to see Scott talking to some friends. With dark hair and a sweet smile, he was more than cute.
"He likes you," Willow told her friend. "He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then. But I think you're ready now—or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation or do that thing with your mouth that boys like—"
Buffy stared at Willow in shock.
"Oh, I didn't mean that bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you …" she fumbled, then gazed pleadingly up at Oz. "You're s'posed to stop me when I do that."
Oz was cool as ever. "I like when you do that," he said.
Scott had walked away from his friends and was now moving in their general direction. As he passed he looked over at Buffy with a shy smile. "Hi, Buffy," he said.
Buffy felt a bit shy herself. "Hi."
"I think that went very well," Willow said happily. "Don't you think that went very well?"
"He didn't try to slit our throats or anything," Cordelia said reasonably. "It's progress."
"Hey, did you do that little half-smile thing?" Willow asked Buffy.
"Look, I'm not trying to snare Scott Hope," Buffy replied, reluctant to burst her friend's bubble. "I just want to get my life back, y'know? Do normal stuff."
"Like date," Willow prodded.
"Well…" Buffy was about to argue the point when Xander cut in.
"Oh, you want to date," he said, mouth filled with picnic munchies. "I saw that half-smile, you little slut."
Buffy gave him a quick shot to the arm. The grin of amusement on Xander's face disappeared after a moment, a delayed reaction.
"Ow," he protested.
"All right, yes," Buffy agreed. "Date and shop and hang out and go to school and save the world from unspeakable demons. Y'know, I want to do girlie stuff."
Happy Burger
Night had fallen on San Francisco by the time the long limousine with its blacked out windows rolled into the parking lot of Happy Burger. The fast-food restaurant's neon signs and plastic mascot were garishly bright. The near-silent limo cruised up to the hideous mascot—a hamburger-man sinking sharp teeth into a blood-red burger—and a voice came from the menu board behind it.
"Welcome to Happy Burger, can I take your order, please?"
In the dark recesses of the plush backseat of the limousine, Mr. Trick leaned slightly forward. "Diet soda. Medium."
"That'll be eighty-nine cents at the window, sir," the electronic voice came back.
Trick hit the button to roll up the tinted window and sat back into the soft seat again, aware as always of the ominous presence beside him. His eyes ticked right but he was reluctant to look at Kakistos for too long. His employer was far from easy on the eyes, never mind the sense of menace that exuded from him. Kakistos was a vampire, but far, far older and more powerful than Trick.
"Sunnydale," Mr. Trick said, glancing out the window again as the limo rolled up toward the takeout window. He looked at Kakistos and smiled.
"Town's got quaint, and the people? He called me sir, don't you just miss that? Admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers— strictly the Caucasian persuasion here in the 'Dale—but you just gotta stand up and salute that death rate. I ran a statistical analysis and Hello Darkness. Makes D.C. look like Mayberry. And ain't nobody sayin' boo about it. We could fit right in here. Have us some fun."
Unamused, Kakistos leaned slightly forward, the leather seat crinkling beneath his shifting weight. The lights from Happy Burger shone on the pink scar that ran down the right side of his face. One of his heavy cloven hands rested on Trick's knee.
"We're here for one thing," the vampire rumbled.
Trick swallowed nervously. "Kill the Slayer, yeah. Still, big picture …"
In the takeout window, the Happy Burger employee was ready with Trick's soda. The vampire was glad for the interruption. He rolled the window down again and reached out to take his drink.
"Have a nice night, sir," the teenager said.
"Right back atcha," Trick replied, still pleased by the manners of the locals.
"The Slayer," Kakistos snarled, not yet ready to move on to another subject. "I'm going to rip her spine from her body, and I'm going to eat her heart and suck the marrow from her bones."
Trick sighed. "Now I'm hungry."
His features shifted in an instant to the horrid countenance of the vampire.
With a single motion he reached out of the limo and grabbed hold of the takeout guy's uniform shirt, then dragged him out screaming. Glass shattered as Trick hauled him into the backseat of the limo.
As the limousine sped from the parking lot of the Happy Burger, he feasted on the polite young man's blood.
Buffy's Dreamscape
The Bronze.
An absolutely perfect night at Buffy's all-time favorite hangout with her buds. Cordelia, Xander, Oz, and Willow sat at a table and watched her as she danced.
Danced.
With Angel.
The music pounded out a subtle rhythm. Her friends did not smile at her.
She felt a tiny shudder go through her as a horrible suspicion crossed her mind. Buffy pushed it away. She needed the strength of his hands on her to be real, needed him with her.
Moving slowly with Angel, she glanced up at him sadly. Their foreheads touched as they nuzzled together just a bit.
"I miss you," she whispered.
Her hands moved down along his arms and her fingers twined with his.
The claddagh ring on her left hand—the ring he had given her as a promise that he would always be with her—slipped from her finger and hit the floor with a tinkling metallic sound. Slowly, Buffy and Angel both glanced down at it.
Angel reached down to pick it up. When his fingers touched it, he flinched. His gaze burned her like fire and guilt swept over her. He stared at her and she knew he remembered that she had run him through with a sword, sent him plunging through a portal into Hell eternal, in order to save the world.
Heart breaking, Buffy shook her head slowly. "I had to," she said weakly.
Angel crushed the ring in his right hand, the one upon which he wore its twin, and blood dripped from between his fingers. "I loved you," he said, though his voice quavered with anger.
His white shirt blossomed with a spreading bloodstain, right at the spot where the sword had punched through his chest.
"Oh God, Angel," Buffy cried, reaching out for him.
"Go to Hell!" he snapped, furious.
Buffy glanced at the bloodstain again. Then she heard him chuckling softly, cruelly, and her gaze went back to his face.
A horrible face. Dead. Decaying. The rotting face of a corpse.
October 13, 1998 – Tuesday
Halliwell Manor
Buffy's eyes flickered open. She sat up in bed, heart aching with the echoes of her dream, deeply troubled. It had all felt so real. But then again, the worst dreams always did.
She reached over and opened the nightstand drawer. Inside was the claddagh ring Angel had given her, hung from a chain. She pulled it out and was still staring at it when Piper rapped on the open door to her bedroom.
"Morning, Sunshine," Piper said pleasantly. "Ready to face the Beast?"
Gateway High School
Buffy and Piper sat in the office of the Beast—Principal Snyder—as the cantankerous, bitter man glared at them from his high-backed desk chair. Buffy reached out to pick up a silver, daggerlike letter opener from his desk and fiddled with it, a bit nervous.
"Here are the terms of your reentry, Miss. Take 'em or leave 'em," Snyder said, anger simmering beneath his words. "One, that you pass a makeup test for every class you skipped out on last year. Two, that you provide, in writing, one glowing letter of recommendation from any member of our faculty who is not an English librarian."
Snyder eyed the letter opener in Buffy's hands and rose from his chair. He continued to speak as he moved around his desk toward her. "Three, that you complete an interview with our school psychologist, who must conclude that your violent tendencies are under control." He snatched the letter opener from Buffy's hands and glared at her.
"I'm not sure I like your attitude, Mr. Snyder," Piper said tersely. "Prue, Phoebe and I spoke to the school board and according to them—"
"I'm required to educate every juvenile who's not in jail where she belongs," the principal interrupted. He crossed the room and stared petulantly out the window. "Welcome back."
Buffy stood up and eyed him with amusement. "So let me get this straight. I'm really back because the school board overruled you. Wow, that's like having your whole ability to do this job called into question, when you think about it."
Piper stood up beside Buffy. "I think what my cousin's trying to say is, nyah nyah nyah nyah."
Satisfied, Buffy stood up and she and Piper strode from Snyder's office.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
With the weight of her suspension gone, Buffy felt happier than she had in weeks. Even the fact that Giles had sent Willow to find her—which probably meant she had done something wrong—could not erase that good feeling.
Side by side, she and Willow breezed along the hallways of Sunnydale High as if she had never left. As they pushed through the doors into the library, Willow seemed almost happier than Buffy.
"It's so great that you're a schoolgirl again," Willow said.
Buffy glanced around the library, but they seemed to be alone. "Did Giles say what he wanted?" she asked. "Do you think he's mad?"
"No, I don't think so. I think he just needed to see you. Have you ever noticed though, when he is mad but he's too English to say anything, he makes that weird 'cluck cluck' sound with his tongue?"
Willow grinned but did not notice Giles rise from behind the library checkout counter with a mortar and pestle and a bowl of some odd concoction. He had apparently been retrieving something from under the counter, but had clearly heard every word.
"Hi, Giles!" Buffy chirped awkwardly.
Eyes wide with surprise, Willow turned around. "Oh, hi. Been there long?"
Giles paid no attention to the question. "Buffy, good timing," he said absently. "I could use your help. I trust you remember the demon Acathla."
"Giles, contain yourself," Buffy replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, I'm back in school but you know how it embarrasses me when you gush, so let's just skip all that and get straight to work."
Caught off guard, Giles fumbled for a response. "Oh, ah, of course it's wonderful to have you back. That goes without saying. But you…enjoy making me say it, don't you?"
Buffy did enjoy seeing him squirm. She grinned. "Okay, Acathla, huh? What are ya doin'?" she asked, gesturing toward the mortar and pestle on the counter. "Making him some demon pizza?"
"We need to make sure he remains dormant, and that the dimensional vortex is sealed tight," Giles informed the Charmed Slayer. "So I'm working on a binding spell."
At the mention of a spell, Willow perked up. "Ooh, a spell, can I help?"
"Possibly with the research. It's a very sensitive—" Giles informed the redheaded witch.
"—and difficult spell," Giles finished.
"Speaking as Willow's Whitelighter," Buffy informed her Watcher. "She is coming along nicely, Giles. She could probably handle the spell."
Giles sighed. "It involves a protective circle around…" he continued. "Well, I don't want to bore you, but there's litany that one has to recite in Aramaic and it's very specific." He looked back at Buffy. "So I need to get a few details about your experiences in defeating Acathla and Angel."
Buffy felt a twinge of pain and guilt as she recalled her last moments with Angel and her dream from that morning. With a heavy heart, she looked up at Giles. "Fire away."
"I've put the time at about six-seventeen? About half an hour after Xander rescued me."
"Less. More like ten minutes."
"Was the vortex already open?"
"Barely." Buffy felt cold.
The Watcher's expression was troubled. "I see. And Angel?"
"Big fight. Angel got the pointy end of the sword. Acathla sucked him into Hell instead of the world. That's about it."
"Yes, well that, um, should be very helpful," Giles said softly.
With a flash of alarm, Buffy glanced at her watch. "Oh, no. I have to go take an English makeup exam." She paused at the door and looked back at them. "Oh and guys."
"Yes?" Giles said looking at her.
"The curse worked," Buffy informed them. Yes Angel's death still hurt. But talking about it with Piper the month before had helped. "He was my Angel again. But it was too late. I told him I loved him, I kissed him, asked him to close his eyes and then I killed him."
"Oh." Giles said as Buffy rushed off to take her exam.
Willow picked up a small bundle of herbs Giles had put on the counter. She smiled as she inhaled deeply. "Mmm. Sage. I love that smell. I can really help you with the spell," she informed him. "Buffy may be my Whitelighter, but she isn't the only one who thinks I'm doing good. Prue, Piper and Phoebe think I'm making real progress."
"There is no spell," Giles informed her.
"You were trying to get her to open up," Willow said in understanding.
"I know she talked to Piper and informed her what had happened," Giles explained. "But Piper had been the only to date she had talked to about what had happened. Prue and Phoebe only knew because Piper had told them. And I know from Piper that Buffy has been having dreams…nightmares really…about Angel."
"You thought if she talked about it, it might help her to get over…" Willow said.
"Exactly."
Payson's
By the time Buffy hit Payson's with Willow and Oz that night she was nearly giddy. Even the echo of her dream the night before could not taint her feeling that everything was going right for a change.
Payson's was packed. Darling Violetta cranked out a sultry melody on the stage as people danced all around. Buffy had gotten drinks for the three of them and when she went back to the owner's alcove, Willow and Oz were trading soft kisses.
"Don't let me interrupt," Buffy said with a smile.
"Are you—" Willow began, then turned to Oz. "Is she all a glow-y?"
Oz nodded. "I suspect happiness."
"I passed my English makeup exam. I'm hanging with my friends." Buffy's smile grew even wider. "Hello my life, how I've missed you."
As if on cue, Scott Hope strolled up to their table. Willow grinned at him. "Hi, Scott, what are you doing here?" she asked.
Almost shyly, Scott shrugged. "You told me if I came after eight I could run into Buffy," he replied, before focusing on Buffy. "I'm sorry, I'm a bad liar. It's not good for the soul. Or the skin, actually. It makes me blotch."
Though she felt awkward, Buffy was charmed by him. "Hi, Scott."
"Hi," he replied, obviously relieved. "Don't you love this song?"
"Uh, yeah. Actually I do."
"Well, would you like to—"
"Dance?" Buffy finished for him, feeling a kind of panic rising in her. "I, uh…I don't know. I'm bad with, well…thank you for asking, it's just that…"
Scott took a breath. "Okay, you know what? I'm just going to go stand by the dance floor. If you change your mind you can mosey on over. And if not, then, you don't mosey. No harm, no foul, right?"
"Right," Buffy said sadly.
Scott walked off and Buffy looked over to see Willow staring at her.
"Come on, Buffy," Willow said. "I mean, the guy is charm. And normal, which you wanted to get back to."
"Plus, bonus points for use of the word mosey," Oz added.
Buffy knew they were right, but that didn't help. In some ways, it made her feel worse. "You know after Cupid I was ready to love. Then I was finally feeling ready to date again and well I had to kill Angel after your curse worked. Now I'm kind of back to not being ready."
"Angel wouldn't want you to mope around Buffy," Willow said, concern in her voice.
"I know," Buffy said as Cordelia and Xander arrived to join them.
"Check out the slut-o-rama and her Disco Dave," Cordelia said as she and Xander sat down. "What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?"
Buffy gazed out at the sea of bodies thrashing about on the dance floor of the Bronze. She identified the objects of Cordelia's scorn immediately. The girl was a handful and a half, dressed in a tight, belly-baring black tank and leopard print pants that were even tighter. She danced the way she dressed, like something wild.
The guy was a different story. If Buffy didn't know better, she would have guessed his hideous brown-and-beige shirt and pants were polyester. He danced like he'd just seen Saturday Night Fever for the first time. Buffy frowned as she watched him. And then she knew.
Like the girl, he danced and dressed like what he was. A child of the seventies. But he still looked no more than nineteen.
Which meant only one thing.
Vampire.
"I don't think that guy thrives on sunshine," Buffy said.
Even as the Charmed Slayer came to that realization, the vampire and his wild girl left the dance floor and headed for the exit. Buffy sprang up instantly and followed them. As she crossed the club, headed for the door, she found Scott Hope at the edge of the dance floor, waiting for her, just as he'd said he would.
"Hi," he said hopefully, a broad smile on his face.
"Hi," Buffy replied. Then, realizing he thought she'd come to dance with him, she fumbled. "Oh. No, I have to—"
A hurt look in his eyes. "Oh. Sorry. My bad."
"No. It's mine. Really, it's mine. But I have to go—" Buffy felt awful, but she strode past him and out the door.
Willow and the others weren't far behind.
The five of them stood out in front of the club and looked around at the shadows and dark alleys nearby, but no one was in sight.
"Where'd she go?" Buffy asked.
Cordelia grumbled. "I bet it's nothing. They're probably just making out."
From off to the right they heard a shout and a commotion, like a struggle going on.
"That's not what making out sounds like," Willow said as they all ran toward the source of the noise. "Unless I'm doing it wrong."
Fireball in hand, Buffy led the group around a corner into an alley just in time to see the wild girl drive the vampire to the ground with a powerful side kick. The girl's raven hair flew as she turned toward them. When she saw them, she smiled and sauntered over.
"It's okay, I got it," she said, as though fighting vampires were the simplest thing in the world. "You're Buffy, right?"
The vampire leaped from the ground and lunged at the girl from behind. It grabbed her, but she rammed her head back to smash into its face.
"I'm Faith."
Faith grabbed the vampire's arm, twisted, and slammed it into a chain link fence.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say there's a new Slayer in town," Oz observed dryly.
With a cold brutality, Faith battered the vampire. "You mind?" she motioned toward the fireball still in Buffy's hand. She ducked out of the way as Buffy threw the fireball.
The vampire exploded into dust. Faith turned and smiled at them. "Thanks, B. Couldn't have done it without you."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy was a bit shell-shocked. After she had dusted the vampire, they had all come back inside. Now the entire gang was gathered around listening to Faith ramble about her exploits, hanging on her every word. Not that Buffy was envious or anything. It was just that this new arrival had a very powerful personality, was ultra-sexy in that trampy, trashy way, and had a confident swagger Buffy had never felt in herself.
As she listened to Faith go on, Buffy tried to put her hesitations aside. The girl was a Slayer, after all. Liking her was sort of required. It felt like her duty to at least try to get along.
"The whole summer it was like the worst heat wave," Faith was saying. "So it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees and I'm sleeping without a stitch on. And all of a sudden I hear this screaming from outside. So I go tearin' out—stark nude—and this church bus has broke down and there's these three vamps feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps and the preacher comes up and he's hugging me like there's no tomorrow when all of a sudden the cops pull up. They arrested us both."
Xander gaped at Faith in undisguised admiration. "Wow! They should film that story and show it every Christmas."
Faith picked up a roll from the table and started nibbling at it. "God, I could eat a horse! Isn't it crazy how slaying just always makes you hungry and horny."
Buffy felt her friends staring at her, waiting for her response to Faith's bold declaration. She glanced around sheepishly. "Well…sometimes I crave a non-fat yogurt afterward."
"I get it!" Cordelia said suddenly. This time they all looked at her, and she scowled in disgust. "Not the horny thing. Yuck. But the two Slayer thing? There was one, and then Buffy died for like two minutes so then Kendra was called. Then when she died, Faith was called."
Willow frowned. "But why were you called here?"
"I wasn't," Faith explained. "My Watcher went off to some retreat thing in England, and so I skipped out. I figured this was my big chance to meet the infamous Buff and compare notes." Faith turned her attention to Buffy. "So B, did you really use a rocket launcher one time?"
Buffy was taken aback momentarily when Faith turned the focus back to her. Then she shrugged, a bit self-conscious. "Yeah, actually, it's a funny story—"
"So what was the story about that alligator?" Xander interrupted. "You said something before."
All her friends had heard her stories before. Or had been there for the actual real-life happenings. Buffy sank deeper into her chair as the spotlight went back to Faith.
"Oh, there's this big daddy vampire out of Missouri who used to keep 'em as pets. So he's got me rasslin' one of 'em, the thing must've been twelve feet long—"
Enthralled, Xander gazed at Faith. "Now, was this also naked?"
Obviously pleased with the attention, Faith smiled flirtatiously at him. "Well, the alligator was …"
Beside him, Cordelia had her arms crossed as she glared daggers at him. "Xander, find a new theme."
For her part, though, Faith wasn't paying attention. Her mind was still on the story she had begun to tell. "I'll tell ya, I never had more trouble than that damn vamp," she said idly. Then her attention was back on Buffy. "So what about you? What was your toughest kill?"
Buffy blinked. Though the intention of Faith's question was obviously something else entirely, her mind again went to Angel, to the moment in which she had run him through with that gleaming sword. She shook it off, and tried to think of something else. "There have been just so many between being Charmed and a Slayer. Oh, but, do you guys remember the Three? Or, you never met the Three... But anyway –"
Once again, Buffy was interrupted, though this time it was Oz who cut in. "Something occurring," he drawled. "Now, you both kill vamps and who could blame you, but I'm wondering about your position on werewolves."
Faith raised her eyebrows.
"Oz is a werewolf," Willow added, before she could respond.
"It's a long story," Buffy explained.
The werewolf in question gave a tiny nod. "Got bit."
"Apparently not that long," Buffy corrected herself.
Faith seemed unperturbed. "Hey, as long as you don't go scratching at me or humpin' my leg, we're five by five, y'know?"
"Fair enough," Oz replied.
The newly-arrived Slayer grinned at Buffy. "The vamps, though, they better get their asses to Def-Con One. 'Cause you and I are going to have fun, y'know? Watcher-less and fancy free."
Buffy frowned. "Watcher-less?"
"Didn't yours go to England, too?"
October 14, 1998 – Wednesday
Gateway High School
Giles stood with his back to them, a sense of melancholy radiating from him. With a sigh, he turned to face them. "There is a Watchers' retreat every year in the Cotswolds. It's a lovely spot, very serene. There's horse riding and hiking and punting, and lectures and discussions. It's quite an honor to be invited. Or so I'm told." He gazed off at nothing, a sadness in his eyes.
"Ah, it's boring," Faith put in. "Way too stuffy for a guy like you."
Buffy stared at Faith as though she were mad. "Um, maybe I should introduce you again. Faith, this is Giles."
Faith nodded appreciatively. "I see him. If I'd'a known they came that young and cute I'd've requested a transfer."
Horrified, Buffy turned to Xander and Willow, who sat on the study table in the center of the library. "Raise your hand if eww."
"Well, leaving for the moment the question of my youth and beauty, I would say it's fortuitous that Faith arrived when she did," Giles said, a bit flustered by Faith's attention.
"Ah-hah!" Willow exclaimed. When they all looked at her, she seemed to deflate a bit. "Sorry, I just meant—ah-hah! There's big evil brewing. You'll never be bored here, Faith, 'cause this is Sunnydale, home of the big brewing evil."
Giles retrieved a newspaper from the counter behind him and handed it to the two Slayers. "Yes, well, I don't know how big an evil it is, but two people have disappeared from the Sunset Ridge district."
Together, Buffy and Faith glanced at the article. After a moment, Buffy looked up at her Watcher. "Well, I'm good for patrolling," she said. "Lateish, though. I promised Prue, Piper and Phoebe I'd be home for dinner."
Xander looked at Buffy expectantly. Willow even nodded in Faith's direction. At first Buffy didn't get it, and when she did she wished she had not. At length, she turned reluctantly to Faith.
"To which you're also invited, of course. Dinner with us."
"Dying to meet the fam. I'm in," Faith said pleasantly.
"Great," Buffy replied, attempting to sound happy about the prospect. "Great. Then we can patrol. Also together."
"We'll hunt 'em down and kill 'em where they stand. Come to momma, unh!" Faith says as she mimed punching someone.
"She doesn't make it sound like work at all." Xander said.
"Hey, don't you have that health science makeup?" Willow asked suddenly.
Buffy sighed and nodded. Piper and Prue had said she didn't have to jump through Snyder's hoops. But Buffy had said it would be better to take the makeup tests anyways so she could be sure to be caught up. "Oh, yeah, actually. I could use a little coaching—" she began.
Willow did not hear Buffy, though. Her focus was on Faith. "Y'know, you can hang with us while she's testing. You wanta?" she asked.
"Say yes and bring your stories," Xander prodded.
"You guys go," Buffy reassured them. Not as if they needed it, however. She wondered if the sarcasm she felt was apparent in her tone of voice. "It's fine. I'll just sit."
"Okay," Faith agreed. She gave Buffy a tiny wave. "Hey, later." Then she pointed at Giles. "We'll talk weapons."
Forlorn and feeling more than a little abandoned, Buffy sat at the study table and watched them all go. A moment later Giles came to lean against the table.
"This new girl seems to have a lot of zest," the Watcher observed.
"So how's your spell?" Buffy wondered.
"There wasn't a spell Buffy," he informed her. "I've talked to Piper and she had informed me that she had been the only one you had talked to about what was going on. She also mentioned the dreams you've been having about Angel. I just thought…"
"That if I talked to someone else that maybe I could put it behind me," Buffy said in understanding. "Not to bring up a bad memory, but it's like you and Ms. Calendar."
Giles nodded in understanding. "It'll take time. You know your cousins and I are here for you."
"I know, thanks, Giles," Buffy said appreciatively. She slipped on her backpack and left the library.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Faith felt more than a little out of place in the burgundy leather pants she wore, but out of place in a good way. Gateway High students didn't share her fashion sense. Not that the kids in South Boston did either. Still, Willow and Xander seemed nice enough as they gave her the grand tour.
"And here we have the cafeteria, where we were mauled by snakes," Willow informed her, in an offhanded way, as if that sort of thing happened to her every day.
Faith was getting the idea that maybe around her it did.
"This is the spot where Angel tried to kill Willow," Xander added.
"Oh, and over there in the lounge is where Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on parent-teacher night," Willow continued, almost as though the two were trying to one-up each other. "Oh, and up those stairs, I was sucked into a muddy grave."
"And they say young people don't learn anything in high school nowadays," Xander mused. "But I've learned to be afraid."
Faith paused in the hall and turned to them. "You guys are a hoot and a half. I mean, if I'd had friends like you in high school…I probably still would've dropped out, but I mighta been sad about it."
Willow and Xander smiled.
Feeling as though she had made a connection with the two, Faith forged ahead. "Hey, so what's up with B? I mean, she seems wound kind of tight, needs to find the fun a little, like you two."
Just as Willow began to respond, Faith saw a fountain across the hall. "Oh, water," she said, almost to herself as she went for a drink.
"And then the alligator story," Xander reminded her. Then, when he thought she was out of earshot, he added: "She's got something, doesn't she?"
Faith smiled to herself, for even as he said it, his girlfriend Cordelia came up behind him.
"What is it with you and Slayers?" Cordelia demanded. "Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake to your throat."
"Please, God, don't let that be sarcasm," Xander said excitedly.
Amused, Faith turned away from the fountain and almost ran into a cute, dark-haired guy.
"Oh, excuse me," he said.
Faith smiled. "Sorry. I know you from somewhere."
He thought for a moment, then pointed at her. "Payson's? You're friends with Buffy, right?"
"Yeah. I'm Faith."
"I'm Scott. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy came down the stairs at a trot when she spotted Willow, Xander and Cordelia standing in the hall. "Well, I'm two for two with the makeup tests," she said. "Proud, yes, but also humble in this time of…we're looking at what?"
Across the hall, she spotted Faith flirting and laughing with Scott Hope. A sick feeling burned its way through her. That, of course, was what her friends had been looking at. So obviously she wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable about it. Not that she had a right to, but still.
"Does anyone believe that is her actual hair color?" Cordelia asked cattily.
Willow, on the other hand, seemed pleased. "I haven't seen him laugh like that. Hey, maybe Faith and Scott could hit it off." When she glanced at Buffy, however, Willow's smile disappeared. "That is, if you're done with him." She thought about what she said and her expression became even more crestfallen. "Not that you used him …"
"Well, I hadn't definitely one hundred percent said no for all time," Buffy confessed. "It's just, you don't enter into these things lightly, y'know. There's repercussions to consider, and …"
Buffy looked at her friends. Xander and Willow were both gazing at her with tired expressions. "Why am I seeing a look?" she demanded.
Willow sighed. "You really do need to find the fun, B…uffy!"
Appalled by her friend's use of Faith's annoying nickname for her, Buffy turned and strode over to where the other Slayer was still flirting with Scott. "Hey," she said.
"Hey, Buffy," Scott said amiably. "Faith has been telling me tall tales."
"She's funny," Buffy deadpanned. "And she's leaving. We have to go."
"Oh. Bye," Scott said.
As Buffy dragged her away, Faith leaned over to her. "He's a cutie," she said. "Is he seeing anybody?"
Halliwell Manor
In the dining room, Piper served dinner to her sisters, Buffy and Faith. She always enjoyed cooking, and Faith seemed like a very sweet girl.
"So you're a Slayer too," Prue said as Piper served the squash.
"Isn't that interesting?" Phoebe added. "Do you like it?"
"I love it," Faith replied without hesitation.
"Um, Piper?" Buffy ventured, indicating the unpassed squash.
"Just a second, Buffy," Piper said, fascinated by what Faith was saying. She put some broccoli on the girl's plate as well. "So why do you love it? Just out of curiosity?"
Faith shrugged. "Well, when I'm fighting it's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing; that I'm going to win and they're going to lose." She smiled. "I like that feeling."
"Well, sure," Buffy added, a bit of an edge to her voice. "It beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose." She piled French fries onto her plate.
"I don't let that kind of negative thinking in," Faith countered.
"Right…" Prue said, "…that can get you hurt."
Piper saw that Faith's glass was empty. "Oh, Faith. Can I get you another soft drink?"
"Oh, you bet," Faith said gratefully.
As Piper walked into the kitchen, she heard an exchange between Buffy and Faith.
"You guys are really cool," Faith commented.
"Best cousins ever," Buffy agreed. "Excuse me."
Piper smiled to herself as she pulled a bottle of soda out of the refrigerator and began to refill Faith's glass. A moment later, Buffy walked in followed by Prue and Phoebe.
"I like this girl," Piper told them.
"She's very personable," Buffy said, icy sarcasm in her voice. "She gets along with my friends, my Watcher, my cousins." She leaned back and glanced into the dining room, where Faith was apparently filching from her plate. "Look, now she's getting along with my fries."
"Now, Buffy—" Prue started.
"Plus at school today she was making eyes at my not-boyfriend," Buffy continued. "This is creepy."
"Does anybody else think Faith is creepy?" Prue wondered.
Buffy offered a tiny pout. "No. But I'm the one getting Single-White-Femaled here."
"It's probably good you were an only child," Phoebe chided Buffy.
"Hey, I'm just getting my life back," Buffy argued. "I'm not looking to go halfsies on it."
"Buffy, it would be good to have another Slayer here, you know," Prue interjected. "We're all stretched then. While we do love helping out. It would just be easier…"
"I guess," Buffy conceded.
"You heard her," Phoebe added. "She loves the slaying. You know we don't want you to die, Buffy. Three times was really enough."
Buffy nodded as she pulled her cousins into her arms. "It's okay, I'm not going to die," she told them determined. "I know how to do this job. Besides, I guess you all are right one extra person helping with patrols isn't a bad thing."
Streets of San Francisco
Hours after dark, when the streets were quieter and the breeze rustling a trash bag might turn out to be a creature of darkness, Buffy and Faith patrolled a particularly unpleasant area filled with warehouses and businesses long since closed for the night.
"Didn't we do this street already?" Faith asked, glancing around.
"Funny thing about vamps. They'll hit a street even after you've been there. It's like they have no manners." Though she was distracted by the tension she felt with Faith, Buffy stayed on alert, peering into every shadow they passed.
"Well," Faith said idly, "you've been doing this the longest."
"I have," Buffy agreed.
"Yeah, maybe a little too long."
"Excuse me?" Buffy snapped, rounding on her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." Faith kept walking.
"You got a problem?" Buffy demanded, keeping pace with her.
"I'm five by five, B. Livin' large. Actually wondering about your problem."
"Well, I may not sleep in the nude or rassle alligators—"
"Maybe it's time you started," Faith told her as they glanced around for vampires. "'Cause obviously something in your bottle needs uncorking. What is it, the Angel thing?"
Buffy froze and stared at her. "What do you know about Angel?"
"Just what your friends tell me. Big love, big loss. You ought to deal and move on, but you're not."
Fuming, Buffy stepped in closer to her. "First off I'm over Angel. Okay? I moved on some time ago. Yes it was hard while he was evil and has been hard since I came home. I miss him. But you what that is my business. I don't ask you about your personal business, I would appreciate it if you didn't ask me about mine."
Faith cocked her head back and cast a challenging glance at Buffy. "What are you getting so strung out for, B?"
Buffy's nostrils flared with anger. "Why are your lips still moving, F?"
"Did I just hear a threat?"
"Would you like to?"
Faith smiled. "Wow. You think you can take me?"
"Yeah," Buffy said confidently. Then she spotted a quartet of nasty-looking vampires rushing up from behind Faith. "I just hope they can't!" she finished.
Shoving Faith out of the way, Buffy knocked the first vampire to reach her off his feet with a single, swift blow to the gut. A second was upon her immediately and she battered him with a flurry of punches, then spun him around hard, sending him reeling.
Faith was on her feet in an instant. She slammed a trash can down over the head of the third one.
The first one Buffy had struck attacked again, but she drove him to the ground and then flung a fireball at him. He exploded into a cloud of dust even as the other grabbed her from behind and hurled her against a fence. Buffy leaped up and as he rushed toward her, she snapped a hard side kick up at him, the power of which knocked him back onto the metal top of a dumpster.
Faith traded blows with the fourth one nearby. The vampire got in a solid punch, but Faith shook it off easily. "My dead mother hits harder than that," she snarled at him as she flung him to the ground.
Faith leaped on top of the vampire and began to pummel him with blow after savage blow.
The one Faith had used the garbage can on was free, and Buffy now had two vampires to deal with. She flipped one hard onto the ground, then glared at the other Slayer. "Faith, stake him already and give me a hand!" she snapped.
But Faith just kept punching, her fist splitting the skin on the vampire's face and drawing blood.
Before Buffy could shout at her again, she was surprised from the side by one of the other vampires. She was dragged to the ground, pushed onto her face, and in a heartbeat they were behind her, and she was vulnerable.
"Yeah, this is me, you undead bastard!" Faith cried out in fury that sounded almost like she was in pain.
Meanwhile, Buffy really was in pain. The vampires were holding her down, and one of them lowered its fangs toward the back of her neck.
"For Kakistos we live," the other snarled. "For Kakistos, you die!"
"Faith!" Buffy shouted as she disappeared in a swirl of fiery flames.
But Faith was lost in the violence, lost in the blood on her fist and the pain she was inflicting on the vampire beneath her.
Buffy appeared behind the vampires as two fireballs formed in her hand. She flung them and dusted first one, then the other.
Furious at Faith, she turned to see that the other Slayer, who had gotten the best of the last vampire nearly a full minute earlier, was still hammering away with her fist at its face, pounding its flesh into a ragged mess.
"You! Can't! Touch! Me!" Faith sneered at the vamp, punctuating each word with another blow.
Mind reeling at the sight, and deeply troubled, Buffy tore Faith off the vampire and quickly staked it. Dust swirled away in a light breeze that swept across the pavement. She spun and glared at Faith. "What is wrong with you?"
Faith winced, frowned at Buffy. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you living large on that vampire," Buffy snapped.
"Gee, if doing violence to vampires upsets you, I think you're in the wrong line of work." Faith was cocky, almost sneering.
"Yeah, and maybe you like it a little too much."
Suddenly Faith's attitude shifted. From cocky, she became angry. "I was getting the job done."
"The job," Buffy said sternly, "is to slay demons. Not beat them to a bloody pulp while their friends corner me."
Faith crossed her arms, lips pursed. "I thought you could handle yourself. You are after all supposed to be this super-powerful witch on top of being the Slayer." Then she shrugged and walked off, leaving Buffy to stare after her in anger and astonishment.
October 15, 1998 – Thursday
Gateway High School
Buffy related the previous night's events to Giles, who had a stack of books under one arm and a cup of tea in the other. Much to her chagrin, the Watcher did not seem nearly as disturbed by Faith's actions as she was.
"What you must realize, Buffy, is that you and Faith have totally different temperaments," Giles explained, as the two of them strolled side by side down the school corridor.
Buffy shot him a look. "Yeah, and mine's the sane one. Girl's not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three."
"You said yourself that she killed one of them," he reminded her. "She's just a plucky fighter who got a little carried away. Which is natural. She's focused on the slaying. She doesn't have a whole other life here, as you do."
"She doesn't need another life," Buffy noted, an edge in her voice. "She has mine."
"I think you're being a little—"
"No, I'm being a lot," Buffy interrupted. She sighed. "I know that. But she nearly got us both killed. The girl needs help."
Giles took a sip of his tea and slowed just a bit. "I'll see if I can reach her Watcher at the retreat. They're…" He glanced at his watch, nearly spilling his tea in the process. "…eight hours ahead now." His eyes grew distant. "Yes, they're probably sitting down to a nightcap. I wonder if they still kayak. I used to love a good kayak. You see, they don't even consider—"
Buffy stared at him.
"Sorry, I digress," the Watcher murmured. "The vampires that attacked you. Can you furnish me with some details that might help me trace their lineage? Ancient or modern dress? Amulets? Cultish tattoos?" He took another sip from his cup.
"No tats. Crappy dressers," Buffy thought about it for a moment. "Oh. The one that nearly bit me mentioned something about kissing toast. He lived for kissing toast."
Giles paused and turned to her. "You mean Kakistos?"
"Or maybe it was taquitos. Maybe he lived for taquitos."
Then she noticed the alarmed expression on the Watcher's face.
"Kakistos," he said, his tone unusually grave, even for Giles, before he rushed into the library.
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Is that bad?"
When she followed him into the library, Giles was moving around like a man with a mission. He went into his interior office to retrieve a book. "Kakistos is Greek," he explained urgently. "It means the worst of the worst. It's also the name of a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven."
He brought the book to the checkout counter and began to riffle through pages, obviously searching for some kind of reference on Kakistos. Buffy frowned as she watched him, thoughts clicking into place in her head like pieces of a puzzle.
"Now, this guy shows up two days ago, right?" Buffy ventured. "Right around the time my bestest new little sister makes the scene."
Giles looked up from the book, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You think he and Faith are connected."
Buffy leaned on the counter. "Giles, there are two things that I don't believe in: coincidence and leprechauns. Everything happens for a reason. If being a witch has taught me anything it's that."
"Now, Buffy, it's entirely possible that they both arrived here by chance simultaneously."
"Okay," she replied reluctantly. "But I was right about the leprechauns?"
"As far as I know."
"Good." Buffy nodded to herself. "Okay, you get England on the phone. I'm going to talk to Faith, see if khaki-trousers—"
"Kakistos," Giles corrected.
"Kakistos…rings a bell. Or an alarm." Buffy said as she pushed out of the library and marched down the hallway, intent upon finding Faith. She almost didn't notice Scott until he was right up beside her.
"Hi."
"Scott …"
"How are you?" he asked, a bit of nervousness in his voice.
"Uh, okay. Y'know, I gotta—"
"I know, be somewhere else, right? Think of this as my last-ditch effort. I realize that one more is going to qualify as stalking. I've given a lot of thought—some might say too much thought—to…to how I might be a part of your life. It begins with conversation. We all know this. Maybe over a cup of coffee, or maybe at the Buster Keaton festival playing on State Street all this weekend."
For a moment, Buffy could not think of a thing to say. Willow had been right about Scott, he was charm. A sweeter, nicer invitation she did not know if she had ever heard.
"You know," she said, with a tiny nod and a half-smile, "come to think of it, I don't think I've given a fair chance to…Buster Keaton. I…like what I've seen of him so far. I think it might be time to see a little more."
Scott's smile reached his eyes, which sparkled with delight. "Keaton is key," he said happily. "Oh, um, I got you a little present." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white box. "A guy in the retro shop said that it represents friendship. That's something I would very much like to have with you."
Scott handed her the box, and Buffy looked at it warily. She opened it. Inside was a claddagh ring, almost identical to the one Angel had given her, the one that had meant so much, the one that reminded her of the love she had been forced to betray, to destroy.
"You like?" Scott asked hopefully.
Buffy recoiled as though physically wounded, dropping the ring and box to the ground. "I can't," she said, shaking her head. "I can't do this." Scott knelt to retrieve the ring and the box, then looked at her sadly. "It's just it's a reminder of my last boyfriend. He passed away a couple months ago. He gave me a ring like that one and explained what it represents."
"Oh I'm sorry." Scott apologized. "I didn't know."
Buffy smiled sadly. "Thanks though."
"No problem, maybe another time then," he walked of, leaving her standing there.
Buffy sighed. "I didn't mean it like that," she called after him.
Coming down the hall, Giles had witnessed the whole thing, he walked over to where she stood. "Are you all right?" He reached out to comfort her.
Buffy looked up at him. "Not yet, but I will be, hopefully, eventually. He just wanted to give me a claddagh ring, like the one Angel had given me." Giles nodded in understanding. "So," she said changing the subject. "Did you reach the retreat?"
Grimly, he nodded. "Yes, I did."
"What did her Watcher say?"
"Her Watcher is dead."
Sun Spot Motel
In the stale-smelling motel room she had found upon first arriving in town, Faith and the motel manager faced off across the stained carpet. The guy was an unshaven, stinky mess in a white tee shirt, but he seemed to have a decent heart. Or, at least, a soft spot for wild girls.
"Room's eighteen dollars a day. That's every day," he reminded her.
"Yeah, I know," she told him. "I'll get it to you by tomorrow, I swear."
He sighed. "It's not like I own the place."
Faith smiled coquettishly. "Bet you will someday."
The manager rolled his eyes, surrendering to her. "Not if I listen to broads like you." He turned to go just as Buffy stepped through the open door. When he spotted her, he gave Faith a hard look. "Roommates are extra."
"I'm just visiting," Buffy assured him.
The manager glanced at Faith again, but she only shrugged. He walked out and Buffy shut the door behind him.
Faith did not miss the sad, dark expression on Buffy's face. "What brings you to the poor side of town?" she asked.
"Cloven guy," Buffy said, fixing her with a piercing stare. "Goes by the name Kakistos."
Faith felt her pulse begin to race, her heart beating faster even as her eyes went wide and a sick chill roiled in her gut. "What do you know about Kakistos?"
"That he's here."
Faith felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Panic surged through, and all the fear she had buried so deep came rushing back out as if it had been just waiting for this opportunity. And she knew it had.
Buffy must have noticed the expression on her face. "We're not happy to see old friends, are we?"
The question barely registered. Faith was already glancing around the room, calculating how long it would take her to grab her few things, and how far away she could be by morning.
"What'd he do to you?" Buffy asked.
"It's what I did to him," Faith admitted. Then she grabbed her bag and started to pack.
"And what was that?"
Scrambling, shoving stuff into her bag, Faith ignored the other Slayer. But Buffy would not be put off.
"Faith, you came here for a reason. I can help."
"You can mind your own business. I'm the one who can handle this," Faith replied.
"Yeah, you're a real badass when it comes to packing. What was that you said about my problem? You got to deal and move on? Well, you have the moving-on part right here. What about dealing? Is that just something you're going to dump on me?"
Frenzied now, trying to keep the panic out of her voice, Faith rounded on Buffy. "You don't know me. You don't know what I've been through. I'll take care of this, all right?" Her bag packed, she started for the door.
"Like you took care of your Watcher?" Buffy prodded.
Faith froze, despair stopping her in her tracks. Buffy's words were like a dagger in her heart. Slowly, feeling helpless, she turned to stare at Buffy.
"He killed her, didn't he?"
Faith's response was little more than a whisper. "They don't have a word for what he did to her."
A knock came at the door. Faith started, and swore under her breath. She put her eye to the peephole. The manager was standing on the doorstep again. "What now?" she muttered in frustration.
"Faith, you run, he runs after you," Buffy warned.
"That's where the head start comes in handy," Faith told Buffy as she opened the door.
Kakistos stood outside with several of his vampire lackeys. He held the manager by the back of the neck with one powerful hand. At the sight of his horrible visage, the scarred countenance that had haunted her day and night, all the breath went out of her. Faith stared at him, eyes wide with horror.
The manager slumped to the ground, dead.
Then Kakistos spoke her name.
Faith was frozen. Maybe she still thought Kakistos couldn't come in. Maybe she was just afraid. But when the scarred vampire reached in and gripped her by the throat, choking her, beginning to crush her windpipe, Faith barely fought back.
"Faith!" Buffy called out and Faith disappeared in a swirl of fiery flames to reappear next to her. She rushed forward and slammed the door on his arm and Kakistos withdrew. Desperate, she turned the flimsy lock and slid the chain across the door.
"No," Faith muttered, almost shuddering with fear. "No."
"It's okay," Buffy told her. "I just bought us a little—"
Kakistos punched a huge, cloven fist through the door, sending shards of wood flying.
"—time."
Faith screamed now. "No!" she cried, as though she could deny it all, pretend it wasn't happening. She began to collapse onto the filthy carpet.
"Faith," Buffy said as Kakistos battered at the door. She held out her hand. "Take my hand." Her tone roused Faith from the dark images in her head. Images of her Watcher.
Faith grabbed her fellow Slayer's hand and they disappeared in a swirl of fiery flames.
Streets of San Francisco
Buffy frowned when they appeared on the street no more than a block away from the motel. "Weird there must have had a spell on the motel. I should have been able to flame us straight to the Manor. Run."
Together they ran, side by side. There were warehouses and other businesses all around. Buffy did not hesitate. She aimed for more populated areas.
A backward glance told the girls that if they did not find a place to hide momentarily, the fight was going to happen whether she wanted it to or not.
Kakistos himself was giving chase, along with at least four other vampires.
Off to her left, Buffy spotted an opening in a boarded-up window. "Here," she whispered harshly. She crashed through the wood and glass and rolled onto the floor. Faith was right behind her, functioning on pure Slayer reflex. When she sprang to her feet, she saw Kakistos run by outside the window. It was a miracle, but he had not heard the smashing glass.
"We're okay," Buffy said. She gazed at Faith intensely. "What happened?"
Faith only shook her head, obviously reluctant to speak.
"Faith," Buffy urged her.
"I…I was there," the other Slayer said at last. "When he killed my Watcher. I saw what he did to her. What he was going to do to me. I tried to stop him but I couldn't. And I ran … and he followed."
"Faith, first rule of slaying: don't die. You did the right thing, okay? You didn't die. Now you do the math. One of him, two of us."
"What the —?"
Buffy was trying to comfort her. Then she saw that Faith's terrified gaze was not drifting, but was instead locked onto a spot just over Buffy's shoulder.
"No," Faith muttered, shaking her head.
Slowly, Buffy turned. In the corner were the corpses of three delivery men.
"This is his place," Faith gasped.
"He drove us here." Buffy glanced around, alert now. "That's why I couldn't flame back to the manor, it was a trap. They expected me to flame out and set it up to redirect me where they wanted us."
A long-haired female vamp appeared suddenly in the shattered window.
Buffy and Faith turned and ran the length of the abandoned firehouse, even as two more vampires erupted from the shadows and lunged for them. With a single, swift motion, Buffy kicked an enormous plastic bucket at one of them.
The other two converged. Buffy leaped and kicked the one in front of her, then spun and kicked the other in the face, knocking both down.
Faith stood immobile.
Even as Buffy continued to fight them off, Kakistos emerged from the shadows and stalked across the firehouse toward Faith. Distantly, Faith heard Buffy call her name, but she only stood and stared at Kakistos, her memory of what he had done more powerful than the urge to protect herself.
"Don't die!" Buffy shouted at the other Slayer.
The voice Faith heard was not Buffy's though. It was a voice she imagined belonged to her fraternal twin sister. Who had been kidnapped at birth. 'Faithy, do what she says. Don't die," the imagined voice said. "You still have to find me.'
Buffy tossed a tire iron and Faith automatically snatched it from the air. Terror in her eyes, she swung at Kakistos. He struck her in the face hard enough to drive her backward into a wooden column with such force that the support beam broke and slammed to the floor next to her.
Buffy tried to go to Faith's aid, but she was grabbed from behind. She heard Faith's whimpers of pain as Kakistos beat her—almost the same way she had beaten that vampire the night before—but Buffy could not help her.
Not yet.
A flurry of blows and Buffy drove the vampire down. She flung a fireball at it and it dusted. When Buffy turned she saw that Kakistos had Faith by the throat, choking her. He threw her to the ground, then prepared for the final attack. Buffy ran at him, brutalized him with a combination of punches and kicks.
He barely flinched.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Trick watched the battle with growing unease. He stepped up beside another of Kakistos's people, a blond vampire woman whose name he always had trouble recalling. Not that it mattered. He liked the way she looked. It would be a shame if she died. Even more of a shame if he ended up dust himself.
"We don't do something, the master could get killed," he said.
The girl glanced at him, their eyes communicating an unspoken agreement.
"Well, our prayers are with him," Trick said idly. "There's a reason these vengeance crusades are out of style. You see the modern vampire. You see the big picture."
Together, the two vampires turned to go.
Kakistos was on his own.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy slammed a stake at Kakistos's chest. His powerful hand clasped her wrist, stopping her. She tried to hit him again, but he batted her into the concrete wall.
"Looks like you need a bigger stake, Slayer," Kakistos taunted her. Then he began to laugh, deep and raspy. He had the upper hand and he knew it.
Movement off to her left drew Buffy's glance. She turned in time to see Faith pick up the huge wooden column that had snapped off in her fight with Kakistos. Faith hefted the thing over her shoulder with both hands and lunged at Kakistos.
The vampire was still laughing as the enormous shaft of wood pierced his chest. He grunted in pain and then stared down at it for a second before exploding into a ball of cinder and ash.
Stunned, Buffy stared open-mouthed at the place where Kakistos had been. Winded, breathing hard, she and Faith moved closer to one another, glancing around to see if it was truly over.
"You hungry?" Buffy asked.
Faith nodded. "Starved."
"Think I can get Piper to make us something?" Buffy asked as Faith smiled. She wrapped an arm around Faith and then they disappeared in a swirl of fiery flames.
October 16, 1998 – Friday
Gateway High School
Buffy stood in the library with Willow as Giles finished a phone call in his office. While Giles was otherwise engaged, Buffy caught Willow up on everything that had happened the day before. But as the Watcher's conversation went on, she and Willow became distracted by the seriousness of his tone and their own talking stopped.
At length he hung up and came out into the library.
"The Council has approved our request. Faith is to stay here indefinitely," he told Buffy. "And I'm to look after you both until a new Watcher is assigned."
"Good," Buffy said thoughtfully. "She really came through in the end. She had a lot to deal with, but she did it. She got it behind her."
Giles nodded. "I'm glad to hear it."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy waited in the hall for Scott to get out of class. When she saw him emerge, slinging his pack onto his back, she almost didn't approach him.
Almost.
"Scott."
"Oh. Hello," he said hesitantly.
"Hi. Um, I was waiting for you to get out of class."
"Why?"
Buffy smiled, paused only for a moment, and then forged recklessly ahead. "Look here is the deal. The ring as I told you was given to me by someone else. It's a reminder of him. It was in no way a reflection on you. I liked what you said about friendship. I liked it a lot. And Buster Keaton is big fun. And I'm capable of big fun, even though there's no earthly way you could possibly know that about me. Wow, if I'd known I was going to go on this long I probably would've brought some water."
A breath. Scott didn't look convinced.
"What I'm trying to say is if you would still like to go the film festival—and I would understand if you didn't— I'd pretty much love to go with you."
Scott blew out a breath, glanced around, not meeting her eyes. "Umm, I don't know, Buffy. I'm really going to have to think about this."
Then he turned to walk away. Buffy tried to fight the disappointment she felt. It was her fault, after all. She couldn't expect him to just put her bizarre behavior behind him. She had just about convinced herself of that when Scott turned around and came back.
"Okay, you know what? I thought about it and I'm in. When do you want to go?"
Buffy smiled. "Well, I have one thing that I have to do tonight. Then I'm good."
Scott nodded. "Good."
Crawford Street Mansion
For a long time, Buffy had stayed away from the mansion, the enormous old home where Angel had once lived. Where he had died. Where she had killed him. It was a beautiful place, but cold without him, and haunted by her memories. Horrors had taken place here. During the time when Angel's soul had been taken from him and only the demon within him remained, he had perpetrated many hideous acts within these walls.
She, followed by Piper, moved through the cold rooms until they came to the very spot where Buffy had impaled Angel upon a ritual sword. Through the demon Acathla, a portal had been opened to Hell. The only way for her to close it was with Angel's blood. She had run him through with the blade, given him the slightest push, and the portal had drawn him in.
With his blood, it was resealed. It closed up again with him on the other side.
She had slain the one she loved and sent him to Hell.
But it was over now. There had been no other choice, and Buffy knew that. It was time to move on. In her hand, she clutched the claddagh ring tightly. She knelt down on the stone floor where he had died.
"You don't have to do this, Buffy." Piper informed the person who was both her cousin and sister.
"If I don't, Piper. I will be reminded of him every day," Buffy said as she looked up at Piper. "This ring is a reminder. As is this…" She held up her wrist and showed Piper her triquetra tattoo. "But at least the tattoo reminds me of you guys. The ring reminds me of Angel and what I lost. To truly move on I need to let go of everything that reminds me of him."
"Okay," Piper agreed.
"Good-bye," Buffy whispered. Gently, she placed the ring on the cold ground, rose, and turned to walk back over to Piper. "Want me to flame you back to the Manor before I go to meet Scott?"
Piper smiled as she wrapped her arms around Buffy. "That would be appreciated, Buffy," she said as they disappeared in a swirl of fiery flames.
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In the darkness, a glow.
On the stone floor, the ring shimmered with light. It began to dance as the ground rumbled beneath it. A hum built as otherworldly energy surged and the rumble grew louder.
A flash of brilliance like lightning sliced the air inside that cold room, a tear in the barriers between worlds opened, and the naked form of a man tumbled out of nothing to slam painfully to the floor, only inches from where Buffy had laid her ring.
Like a wild animal released from its cage, Angel glared about at his surroundings. He had been in Hell for what seemed like an eternity. His mind was not what it once had been. He was mad, now.
Or nearly.