Living at a Pace That Kills: Chapter Three - Buffy/Dean fic
Title: Living at a Pace That Kills: Chapter Three
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: None so far
Warnings: Violence and language
Genre: Thriller
Summary: Buffy’s life after the fall of Sunnydale takes a tragic turn, turning her to a hunter.
Disclaimer: The only real major difference in the Buffy story is how things ended up after the last episode of the series. It doesn’t follow the comics. All characters and storylines from Buffy and Supernatural belong to their original creators, not me.
SEE THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS HERE.
I was up to my waist in books. I hated research, especially when my friends were no longer with me. They had made it so much easier and bouncing ideas off one another made for quicker results. Simply skimming through pages of old text, much of which I couldn’t translate, was doing nothing but aggravating me. I sighed and slammed my current reading material shut. It was half past midnight and I hadn’t set off to patrol yet. I was growing very tired, but knew it had to be done.
Once I had changed into comfortable jeans and a light sweater and filled my bag with more stakes, I was on the dark street. Just to be safe from the rest of the city’s citizens, I had strapped my .44 to my ankle alongside my boot and clipped a small bottle of Mace to my belt. Although I was strong enough to get through just about any situation, I still felt the need to be extra careful. Things had been hard enough with extra demonic activity. I didn’t need to worry about the mentally offset humans
.
The streets were full of nothing but mortal beings, which didn’t surprise me all that much. I made my way down to the train station, an area I had found to be packed with thirsty vampires. At that time of the night, most people did their most to steer clear of the station, especially in the darker areas of town. I bought twenty dollars worth of tickets and hopped on the train, one that appeared virtually abandoned.
For almost a half an hour, I sat alone, riding from stop to stop. While I sat in the far end of the car, I wondered how any regular human being would think it was a good idea to ride one of them at such an hour. As strong as I knew myself to be, I still felt slightly intimidated. Running my hand over my bag of weapons, I swallowed hard and listened attentively for any movement throughout the car. That’s when I heard it.
“Slayer…”
I rolled my eyes before I turned to see a pudgy short vampire dressed like he had just stepped out of 1989. His medium length brown hair that may have looked decent in life was cut into a mullet of small curls. He was dressed in black leather pants and a denim vest covered in buttons advertising various bands. I nearly laughed at the sight of him.
“Good God, where did you come from?”
He scowled at me in what I could have sworn was an attempt to frighten me, but I laughed.
“Seriously, you do know that we’re past the millennium, right? Fashion has made some…vast improvements, to say the least.”
He said nothing and I wondered if he even understood what I was talking about. Growing sick of baiting him verbally, I decided to merely get to it and grabbed a stake from my bag. He straightened up at the sight of it and his dark eyes widened.
“Let’s do this,” I said, raising it somewhat above my waist.
He nodded and came at me quicker than I had anticipated. Usually the heavier ones were slower than the thin ones, but he was fast. His fist came in contact with my chin, knocking me to the steel floor. I flinched, but bounced back and leapt to my feet. Spinning around, I found him on the opposite side of the car, standing above me on the edge of one of the seats. With the stake gripped tightly in my right hand, I jumped up beside him. We went back and forth for what felt like forever, balancing on the edge of the seats, moving all the way down the car.
“Why don’t you just admit defeat?” he asked, his fangs glistening in his sneer.
“Fuck you. I don’t admit defeat.”
I hit him hard then, sending him onto the floor. Before he had the chance to get back up, I moved to the floor and crawled atop him, holding the stake high before driving it down to his chest. Surprisingly, he snatched it out of my hand just before it hit his body. Taking advantage of my distracted moment, he rolled out from beneath me and climbed atop me.
“Shit…” I grimaced, looking around frantically for my bag. ‘
It was three seats down from us and with him on top of me there was no way for me to reach it. I kicked him hard enough to send him flying off of me and tore down the car. When I looked back however, I noticed he had vanished, much to my discontent. Losing one was as bad as being bitten, in my opinion. Snatching the bag, I threw open the door to the car and ran at top speed through the next few, looking everywhere for him.
The sound of his heels clicking on the train floor filled my ears, telling me he was relatively close, but there was also another sound. Cars away, there were people. Not just one person, but at least two. If I didn’t get to them in time, I would have the blood of two more innocent people on my hands. Just as I reached the end of the fifth car, I saw him through the glass of the next one.
Inside the sixth car stood the vampire behind two men, one of them being the man that had hit the Harley the previous night. I didn’t have time to figure out why they were both there because the terribly dressed creature was directly behind them, set to attack. Just as he was about to advance on them, I dove at him, landing on his shoulders and flipping him over. He landed hard on his back and I drove the stake into his heart as swiftly as possible.
“What the hell…?”
The two men turned to look at me and the dusty remainders of what had nearly killed them. I stared back at them sheepishly, not sure of what to say. Wanting to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, I turned and ran back through the cars, hoping it would stop soon.
“Hey, wait!” I heard behind me.
They were chasing after me faster than I had thought possible. The moment I entered the last car of the train, it came to a screeching halt, sending me falling to the floor. Before they were able to catch up to me, I pulled myself to my feet and ran out the door. They were already on the platform, further down the line, a sight that made me tear up the stairs.
“Would you just slow down?”
Whoever they were, they were growing irritated with me. I didn’t even know what area of the city I was in, having gone over the entire line multiple times. The slight concern diverted my attention to the point that I didn’t even notice them standing right in front of me when I hit the top of the stairs. The second my foot landed on the wooden floor of the station, I ran directly into one of them. I looked up to see the one that had run his car into me looking down at me.
“Oh, you again…” I muttered, not knowing what else to really say.
He said nothing in response to that and instead went right to the matter at hand.
“Who the hell are you?”
“That’s none of your damn business,” I said, turning away from him to leave the station and try to find my way back to the motel.
Before I could leave however, the taller of the two of them stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“We just want to talk to you,” he said, his tone a bit softer than the other’s.
“Who says I want to talk?”
“Look, we just want to-“
Faster than he could anticipate it, I tore my .44 from my ankle holster, cocked it, and held it against his broad face. His eyes widened in fear and he backed up with his hands up.
“Jesus, lady,” the other one shot at me, “we just wanted to talk. Back off him.”
I didn’t lower the weapon, not wanting them to have the advantage. My lack of obedience forced him to pull his weapon of choice on me, a double barreled shotgun. Although he appeared to be the type to be able to put a hole through my head before I had the chance to squeeze the trigger, I wouldn’t back down. Instead, I shoved past the tall one and made my way out to the street. It was incredibly dark out there, telling me we were far from the city.
“This is just great…” I scowled, looking around.
It took about fifteen minutes before the lights of the city showed up and I was able to flag a cab to take me to the motel. Once I reached it, I quickly hid the bag of stakes under the bed. Even after I had changed into pajamas, I still kept my gun close. There was a small tingling of paranoia residing in the back of my mind, keeping my body awake until dawn. As the clock ticked past five in the morning, I heard a foreseen knock on the door. By that time, I was too tired to care that there was someone trying to get into the room. My bones literally ached and all I wanted was to fall asleep.
“Go away!”
For a second, there was nothing but silence. I was foolish enough to believe that whoever was on the other side had actually decided to leave. Perhaps it was the growing exhaustion that was causing my mind to blur around the edges because I heard another knock soon after. Exasperated, I seized the gun, cocked the hammer, and stormed over to the door. I pulled it open slightly, keeping the chain on the lock.
Standing outside was the man who had pulled the shotgun on me. We stared into one another’s eyes for a solid moment, both trying to predict the other’s next move.
“What do you want?” I finally said, still watching him intently.
“To talk.”
“So that requires weaponry these days, huh?”
“I’m not the only one holding a gun here. Don’t try to pretend you don’t have anything behind that door. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
I sighed, frustrated.
“So? Talk.”
I heard a groan escape him, but he appeared to relax, lowering his gun.
“What do you know about what happened at that club downtown?”
I said nothing, an action resulting in another groan from him.
“Fine, you want to be that way, that’s how it will be. But tell me, what do you know about a girl named Buffy Summers?”
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: None so far
Warnings: Violence and language
Genre: Thriller
Summary: Buffy’s life after the fall of Sunnydale takes a tragic turn, turning her to a hunter.
Disclaimer: The only real major difference in the Buffy story is how things ended up after the last episode of the series. It doesn’t follow the comics. All characters and storylines from Buffy and Supernatural belong to their original creators, not me.
SEE THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS HERE.
I was up to my waist in books. I hated research, especially when my friends were no longer with me. They had made it so much easier and bouncing ideas off one another made for quicker results. Simply skimming through pages of old text, much of which I couldn’t translate, was doing nothing but aggravating me. I sighed and slammed my current reading material shut. It was half past midnight and I hadn’t set off to patrol yet. I was growing very tired, but knew it had to be done.
Once I had changed into comfortable jeans and a light sweater and filled my bag with more stakes, I was on the dark street. Just to be safe from the rest of the city’s citizens, I had strapped my .44 to my ankle alongside my boot and clipped a small bottle of Mace to my belt. Although I was strong enough to get through just about any situation, I still felt the need to be extra careful. Things had been hard enough with extra demonic activity. I didn’t need to worry about the mentally offset humans
.
The streets were full of nothing but mortal beings, which didn’t surprise me all that much. I made my way down to the train station, an area I had found to be packed with thirsty vampires. At that time of the night, most people did their most to steer clear of the station, especially in the darker areas of town. I bought twenty dollars worth of tickets and hopped on the train, one that appeared virtually abandoned.
For almost a half an hour, I sat alone, riding from stop to stop. While I sat in the far end of the car, I wondered how any regular human being would think it was a good idea to ride one of them at such an hour. As strong as I knew myself to be, I still felt slightly intimidated. Running my hand over my bag of weapons, I swallowed hard and listened attentively for any movement throughout the car. That’s when I heard it.
“Slayer…”
I rolled my eyes before I turned to see a pudgy short vampire dressed like he had just stepped out of 1989. His medium length brown hair that may have looked decent in life was cut into a mullet of small curls. He was dressed in black leather pants and a denim vest covered in buttons advertising various bands. I nearly laughed at the sight of him.
“Good God, where did you come from?”
He scowled at me in what I could have sworn was an attempt to frighten me, but I laughed.
“Seriously, you do know that we’re past the millennium, right? Fashion has made some…vast improvements, to say the least.”
He said nothing and I wondered if he even understood what I was talking about. Growing sick of baiting him verbally, I decided to merely get to it and grabbed a stake from my bag. He straightened up at the sight of it and his dark eyes widened.
“Let’s do this,” I said, raising it somewhat above my waist.
He nodded and came at me quicker than I had anticipated. Usually the heavier ones were slower than the thin ones, but he was fast. His fist came in contact with my chin, knocking me to the steel floor. I flinched, but bounced back and leapt to my feet. Spinning around, I found him on the opposite side of the car, standing above me on the edge of one of the seats. With the stake gripped tightly in my right hand, I jumped up beside him. We went back and forth for what felt like forever, balancing on the edge of the seats, moving all the way down the car.
“Why don’t you just admit defeat?” he asked, his fangs glistening in his sneer.
“Fuck you. I don’t admit defeat.”
I hit him hard then, sending him onto the floor. Before he had the chance to get back up, I moved to the floor and crawled atop him, holding the stake high before driving it down to his chest. Surprisingly, he snatched it out of my hand just before it hit his body. Taking advantage of my distracted moment, he rolled out from beneath me and climbed atop me.
“Shit…” I grimaced, looking around frantically for my bag. ‘
It was three seats down from us and with him on top of me there was no way for me to reach it. I kicked him hard enough to send him flying off of me and tore down the car. When I looked back however, I noticed he had vanished, much to my discontent. Losing one was as bad as being bitten, in my opinion. Snatching the bag, I threw open the door to the car and ran at top speed through the next few, looking everywhere for him.
The sound of his heels clicking on the train floor filled my ears, telling me he was relatively close, but there was also another sound. Cars away, there were people. Not just one person, but at least two. If I didn’t get to them in time, I would have the blood of two more innocent people on my hands. Just as I reached the end of the fifth car, I saw him through the glass of the next one.
Inside the sixth car stood the vampire behind two men, one of them being the man that had hit the Harley the previous night. I didn’t have time to figure out why they were both there because the terribly dressed creature was directly behind them, set to attack. Just as he was about to advance on them, I dove at him, landing on his shoulders and flipping him over. He landed hard on his back and I drove the stake into his heart as swiftly as possible.
“What the hell…?”
The two men turned to look at me and the dusty remainders of what had nearly killed them. I stared back at them sheepishly, not sure of what to say. Wanting to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, I turned and ran back through the cars, hoping it would stop soon.
“Hey, wait!” I heard behind me.
They were chasing after me faster than I had thought possible. The moment I entered the last car of the train, it came to a screeching halt, sending me falling to the floor. Before they were able to catch up to me, I pulled myself to my feet and ran out the door. They were already on the platform, further down the line, a sight that made me tear up the stairs.
“Would you just slow down?”
Whoever they were, they were growing irritated with me. I didn’t even know what area of the city I was in, having gone over the entire line multiple times. The slight concern diverted my attention to the point that I didn’t even notice them standing right in front of me when I hit the top of the stairs. The second my foot landed on the wooden floor of the station, I ran directly into one of them. I looked up to see the one that had run his car into me looking down at me.
“Oh, you again…” I muttered, not knowing what else to really say.
He said nothing in response to that and instead went right to the matter at hand.
“Who the hell are you?”
“That’s none of your damn business,” I said, turning away from him to leave the station and try to find my way back to the motel.
Before I could leave however, the taller of the two of them stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“We just want to talk to you,” he said, his tone a bit softer than the other’s.
“Who says I want to talk?”
“Look, we just want to-“
Faster than he could anticipate it, I tore my .44 from my ankle holster, cocked it, and held it against his broad face. His eyes widened in fear and he backed up with his hands up.
“Jesus, lady,” the other one shot at me, “we just wanted to talk. Back off him.”
I didn’t lower the weapon, not wanting them to have the advantage. My lack of obedience forced him to pull his weapon of choice on me, a double barreled shotgun. Although he appeared to be the type to be able to put a hole through my head before I had the chance to squeeze the trigger, I wouldn’t back down. Instead, I shoved past the tall one and made my way out to the street. It was incredibly dark out there, telling me we were far from the city.
“This is just great…” I scowled, looking around.
It took about fifteen minutes before the lights of the city showed up and I was able to flag a cab to take me to the motel. Once I reached it, I quickly hid the bag of stakes under the bed. Even after I had changed into pajamas, I still kept my gun close. There was a small tingling of paranoia residing in the back of my mind, keeping my body awake until dawn. As the clock ticked past five in the morning, I heard a foreseen knock on the door. By that time, I was too tired to care that there was someone trying to get into the room. My bones literally ached and all I wanted was to fall asleep.
“Go away!”
For a second, there was nothing but silence. I was foolish enough to believe that whoever was on the other side had actually decided to leave. Perhaps it was the growing exhaustion that was causing my mind to blur around the edges because I heard another knock soon after. Exasperated, I seized the gun, cocked the hammer, and stormed over to the door. I pulled it open slightly, keeping the chain on the lock.
Standing outside was the man who had pulled the shotgun on me. We stared into one another’s eyes for a solid moment, both trying to predict the other’s next move.
“What do you want?” I finally said, still watching him intently.
“To talk.”
“So that requires weaponry these days, huh?”
“I’m not the only one holding a gun here. Don’t try to pretend you don’t have anything behind that door. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
I sighed, frustrated.
“So? Talk.”
I heard a groan escape him, but he appeared to relax, lowering his gun.
“What do you know about what happened at that club downtown?”
I said nothing, an action resulting in another groan from him.
“Fine, you want to be that way, that’s how it will be. But tell me, what do you know about a girl named Buffy Summers?”