Gone with the man in the long black coat

[wickedslayer]

Just another fucking day. Another fucking day in the Cali State Penn and another fucking Bertha who wanted to throw down. What was it with these chicks? Didn't matter how many times I broke someone's wrist they always wanted to screw with me. One of these days my ass was gonna get jumped by about fifty of 'em and they were gonna get one up on me.

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[wickedslayer]

Rolling my eyes I picked up the wad of bills he'd thrown onto my lap. Carefully I unfolded all the cash and began to count it as he stared at the road. Bill after bill, and my eyes glanced up at him to make sure he was givin' the road his full attention. Good. Last thing I needed was Psycho boy to be payin' attention to me. Bein' extra stealthy I put forty bucks in the other pocket before folding the bills up again and tossing them on the seat between us.

"Hundred and twenty big ones, boss." I said wryly. That should be more than enough for his stupid motel room. Cept there was no way in hell I was lockin' myself up in a room with him for the night. Did I look crazy? Well, okay....so maybe my state of sanity wasn't exactly stellar but seriously....I was the poster child of Sanity Faire compared to him.

Reaching into the shirt pocket I found the pack of Marlboros I had found earlier. Taking them out I lit one up before letting my arm drape out the window, the California sun beating down on it. With a sigh I took another drag before lettin' my arm drape out again. Needed a plan. Gonna have to be a good one cause seriously....I wasn't goin' back to prison. Just needed to find a way back to Angel. Hoped he wasn't dead or stuck. Really didn't fancy goin' crawling back to B or anything. Least now I had a weapon, and some cash. Step in the right direction if nothin' else.

[psycho_angelus]

That was more than enough money. We drove in silence for a while, which was fine with me because every time she opened her mouth, I tended to get pissed off. One of these times I was just going to snap and she'd end up missing a body part. Turned on the radio but that horrible song he liked so much was playing and I quickly shut it off again. No way would I ever listen to 'Mandy' ever again. I swear the only reason he played it so much was to drive me insane.

The sun started to go down and I was getting very hungry. Killing people tended to give me quite an appetite. Saw an exit for a small town coming up and took it. Should be a motel or something to use too. "I'm going to get some food before we get to the hotel, you want anything?" If Faith didn't eat anything, she would get even weaker, which was fine by me. Would make her even easier to control.

No way would we be eating inside of a resturant. She might try something silly again. Spotted a McDonalds and pulled into the drive through, waiting impatiently for the line to move. Since we had a couple of minutes, I turned and gave her a grin. "So, did you manage to reach anyone on the phone?" I didn't think she had, but I needed to be sure.

[prodigal_slayer]

A small snicker escaped my lips as he turned on the radio and Mandy came blaring through the speaker system. Angel admitted to me a few times that he had a serious jones for Barry Manilow. Must kill his evil twin that Soul Boy liked the power ballads. He shot a look at me and I quickly looked away again concentrating on my cigarette. Wasn't too long before he pulled off an exit into a small town. Looked there were hardly a couple hundred people livin' here. Most of it was all desert, stretching across the ground.

With a sigh I tilted my chin up to look at him as he asked me if I wanted anything. Felt kinda sick from whatever it was he had given me earlier. Angel dust or something, which was all kinds of ironic if you asked me.

"Yeah. Cheeseburger and fries." I said bleakly as my hand went into my pocket and I felt the cool blade of the knife pressed against my fingers. Comforting. Because I knew I was gonna end up havin' to use it at some point. Show him what it was like to really be human.

Once he'd gotten through the drive through I began peeling through the paper bag and taking out fries to munch on. Hadn't answered his question about the phone, because I almost wanted to watch him fidget for a little while about it. Then I decided that probably wasn't my best option. So I might as well just tell him, he should know better to trust me anyway.

Do you trust me, Faith?

Stupid stupid stupid Faith. Why was I always so stupid? Better than bein' trapped behind bars though. Had to say that much. Could go without the threats on my life though.

"No." I finally just said quietly between fries.

[psycho_angelus]

This food? Sucked. How could people stand to eat this? The fries weren't bad, but how in the hell could they call this a hamburger? It wasn't even an inch thick! But I was hungry and wolfed it all down, taking a few swallows from my coke while Faith picked at her own food. Looked like her high was totally gone now. Bummer. She was a lot more fun when she was wasted.

I almost choked on my food when she admitted not reaching anyone. Part of me had been expecting lies, or bragging that Soulboy and his little band of merry moron would soon be hot on our tails. Had a feeling that Angel would want her pretty little ass back in jail where he felt she belonged. I wasn't going to let her go to a cell again, rather see her dead first.

There was a very crappy looking on the edge of town and I parked the car in the lot. Place reminded me of the one used in Psycho, which made it perfect for the two of us. I turned and looked at her. "I'm not stupid enough to let you have your own room, you wouldn't be here in the morning." The car would probably be gone too.

"Really don't want to tie you to the bed if I don't have to, but I will." Just the thought of her all naked and tied up made me hard. "Are you going to behave yourself, or should I get some of my toys out of the trunk so we can really start having some fun?" I'm like the Boy Scout from hell, I'm always prepared.

[prodigal_slayer]

The place we pulled up in front of looked wicked sketchy. Hell no. I ain't goin' inside there with him. Tie me to the bed? Dream on, psycho. Maybe I'd lost my powers and he had the upperhand now? But I'd always been a fighter, always went down kickin' and screamin' and came back up swingin'. Just the way I'd always been. No way was I gonna let this happen to me. Bettin' he wouldn't even let me live through the night if I played nice girl and cooperated. But nice girl? So wasn't my thing, ya know? Sides it was about high time Angelus got a taste of his own damn medicine. He busted me out for a reason, must be because he wanted to wake up the inner sleeping psycho. Maybe I'd let him take a sneak peek.

Toys out from the trunk? Oh yeah, like that was incentive for me to stay. Glancing around the parking lot, I realized that all I had to do was run about fifty feet and I'd be inside a gas station. A big ol' gas station with cameras and people and a phone, and if I couldn't make it over there I could hide somewhere else. Kinda hard to hide in the desert, but I'd find a way. Hide until I could find a phone and call Angel or Buffy. They'd know what was goin' on.

My fingers closed around the knife, my heart beating loudly in my chest. Now or never. Do or die. Everything always came down to these little moments, small decisions that in the grand scheme of things? Make or break you. Kinda like gettin' stabbed in the gut with a knife and endin' up in a coma for nine months. Speakin' of gettin' stabbed.

Pulling the knife out I didn't hesitate. But I'd meant to get him in the neck. In the end I wussed out and stabbed him through the thigh instead. He gasped loudly in pain, and I almost wanted to admire the shock of it that went across his face. But I didn't have time. Instead I flung the door open and started runnin' as fast as I could.

[psycho_angelus]

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! That bitch fucking stabbed me! I stared down at my leg in shock, watching the blood start to stain my pants. And it hurt! She took off running, and I looked around the car for something to try and stop the bleeding Found a bandana in the back steet. Guess that would have to do for now.

Knew she hadn't hit bone, which was good, and if I could get the bleeding to stop the damage shouldn't be too bad. Oh fuck, the whole healing thing was gone too. Damn it all to hell. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the knife and pulled it out, quickly wrapping the bandana around the wound and pulling it as tight as I could.

Bit back a scream of pain, no way would I let her hear me scream and waited to see if the blood kept gushing. The bandana changed color but it wasn't leaking too much. As long as I kept off of it and didn't do anything stupid, it would be okay. Except that I needed to go beat the living fuck out of a former Slayer. She wasn't as fast as she used to be, but had almost made it to the gas station. Fuck!

Damn good thing I wasn't a vampire or I would have torn her head off by now. I got out of the car and my leg threatened to buckle on me. Oh no, we don't have time for weakness right now. Embrace the pain like Darla taught you, feed off of it, fuel your anger, and use that anger to hurt. I started to move after her, going as quickly as my leg would allow.

The people in the gas station would be able to see her in a moment, then everything would be spoiled. When she almost reached the doors though, all the lights went out. Bummer, must be closing time. Now your ass is mine, bitch. Could feel blood running down my leg, but I ignored it. She was the only thing I was focused on.

[prodigal_slayer]

I was almost at the doors of the gas station when suddenly all the lights went out. Shit! It wasn't closing time already was it. I didn't stop runnin' til I hit the doors, both of my hands slamming on the glass so hard it stung. No! This wasn't happening, I needed to get in there. But lookin' through the door I could only see one Indian guy countin' the drawer full of cash.

"Hey!" I yelled banging my hands against the door again. "Hey, let me in!"

He just shook his head at me and pointed to the closed sign. "I know you're closed, you fuck!" I screamed, yanking on the door. "Let me in!" I yanked on the door again and I must have looked desperate enough because finally he unlocked the door and let me in. Quickly I locked the door after him, and grabbed his arm pullin' him further into the store.

"Do you have a phone?" I asked him in a worried voice, glancing up at the security camera every once in a while. Shit. "Phone? Phone!" He was giving me a confused look and I put a hand to my forehead. "PHONE! Do you speak English?" He nodded at me and pointed to a door. Probably the back office.

"Okay." I said calmly. "I need to call someone. Just...stay here, and don't let anyone in. Okay? Ok." He nodded at me and I headed into the back office. A phone was on the desk and I picked it up, twisting the cord around my finger tips as I waited for information to pick up again. No needing to beg for change this time around.

"Los Angeles, California." I said before the operator could even ask me. "Put Angel Investigations on the fucking phone right now."

[psycho_angelus]

Someone let her inside. I growled under my breath and moved faster. Knew she wouldn't call the police, but the person in the gas station might. Which meant I needed a plan. Unlike my souled counterpart, I actually used my brain every once in a while and came up with plans that not only didn't suck, but actually *gasp* worked.

When I reached the door, there was a man at the counter and I tapped just hard enough to on the glass to get his attention. He actually came over, glancing down at my bloody pants. Then he made the mistake of opening the door. "She said not to let anyone in."

Guess I didn't need a plan after all. "That was a very wise thing for her to say." I brought the knife up, slicing it across his face. He yelled and staggered backward, giving me enough space to come inside. The knife came down a few more times until he was lying on the floor, choking in his own blood. What a dumbfuck.

"I'm not going to kill you Faithy, I promise." Just going to make her hurt and bleed and fucking scream for mercy. My leg was killing me. Heard something fall in the back room and knew that's where she was. I staggered across the floor, tightening my grip on the knife. Bitch needed to pay.

I came into the room and saw she was on the phone. "Bad, bad girl." With a growl, I moved as quickly as I could and slammed into her, knocking Faith to the ground. I could hear someone on the phone, and ignored it. She needed to learn a lesson. Faith's fingers closed on my leg and I dropped the knife with a scream.

That's it, I've had enough of this shit. Managed to get on top of her and pinned her to the floor with my knees. My entire leg was soaked in blood but I didn't care. Brought both of my hands up and wrapped them around that pretty little throat of hers. Then I started to squeeze. Her hands clawed at mine, but I didn't let go.

[prodigal_slayer]

Before I could run he slammed into me, knocking me to the ground as the air rushed out of my lungs. Quickly I brought up a hand and gripped onto his wounded leg. He dropped the knife with a scream and I think I got about a split second to smirk before both of his hands wrapped around my throat and he started to squeeze hard. Opening my mouth with a gasp I tried to claw his hands away, pry them away. This wasn't teasing me like he had been before in the grass. That had just been testing me, threatening me. This was the real deal and I could see the rage in his eyes.

Desperately I tried to lash out at him as I coughed and choked, trying to squirm away from him. But his knees were digging into me, cutting off my circulation and everything swam. I was so numb it hurt.

"Please." I tried to beg him but it came out more a wheeze as my breath was cut off completely under his weight. My eyelids got wicked heavy and before I knew it? My vision began to fade and flicker until there was nothing at all. I was sure I was dead as I sank into the darkness.