fanfiction || the chain of destiny || buffy/faith || part eleven
Title: The Chain of Destiny
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta: supershineygirl
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 88,023 words
Timeline: *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.
Summary: All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...
A/N: Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX | PART SEVEN | PART EIGHT | PART NINE | PART TEN
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The Harvest
“This is a glorious night!” the big, ugly vampire on stage announces with a smile on his face. He looks around at all the terrified faces and tells them, “It is also the last one any of you will ever see.” More people screamed, trying to run but vampires were suddenly coming out of the freakin’ woodwork, surrounding all the humans like herding cattle.
“Xander, go now,” Faith whispers, pushing him towards the back of the club where the pay phone is. He nods silently and slips through the crowd as Faith bends down and gets the stake she has strapped to her leg. Maybe it’s a good thing Buffy told her to carry these now. She slips it in her jacket sleeve, hiding it from view as she tries to get closer. Her heart is pounding in her chest and she hopes to fuck that Buffy can get here.
Of course the Harvest would happen here. How could they be so stupid? Big place, lots of people to eat… shit. She needs to figure out what the hell her plan is. Don’t die would be number one - and while she can fight and maybe stake a couple if she’s lucky, there’s no way she’d be able to get them all without ending up dead; there’re just too many.
“Bring me the first,” the vampire says, presumably the Vessel. Faith finds herself getting shoved into the crowd as the vampires herd them onto the dance floor.
“Hey! What the hell is going on?! Get your damn hands off me-!” Faith hears Cordelia yell to one of them… until she gets a look at their face. She screams and is shoved into Faith, who doesn’t try very hard to catch her. She’s got bigger issues to deal with than Miss Popularity’s fears.
“What are you doing? Huh? You want money? Hey! HEY!”
Faith looks up and sees the bouncer, Jimmy, getting pushed on stage, arms held behind his back as he’s steered towards the Vessel. “What the hell is wrong with your face, dude?!” he asks, but he’s cut off by the Vessel grabbing his throat and pulling him forward. Faith slides the stake out of her jacket pocket, backing up through the crowd. She knows there’s no way she can save him, but she’s gonna try to take out some of these mother fuckers at least.
“Watch me, people,” the Vessel says, his booming voice still echoing over the screams from the crowd. He seems to stroke Jimmy, ushering him closer. “Fear is like an elixir… it’s almost like blood…” he seems to get off on terrifying everyone around him; he smiles before lowering his fangs into Jimmy, who screams only once before taking his dying breath.
Faith finally finds herself in the back of the crowd, near the corner, there’s only one vampire herding the people there. She feigns fear (which isn’t very hard, she’s fuckin’ terrified, but she’s also not gonna lay down and take this shit), backing up into him. She turns and screams, making the vampire grin at her fear and snarl. He pushes her back into the crowd, expecting her to just cower, but instead her face masks in determination and a smirk passes along her lips before she drives the stake through his chest. He looks surprised; for not realizing that she isn’t just another stupid human, before he turns to dust. No one seems to notice besides a couple of people near Faith who continue screaming.
“Shut the fuck up,” she hisses; she doesn’t need attention brought to the situation. She knows she just got lucky, that the vampire she chose was kind of an idiot, and she doubts she’ll be able to get a chance like that again but she’s gotta try. If she can stake them before they realize she’s a threat then she might actually make it outta this place alive.
The Vessel throws Jimmy’s lifeless body to the ground before requesting casually, “Next.” Faith looks up as she hears a familiar scream, though usually when she hears it it’s not in fear. Trish is being dragged on stage; screaming, begging, pleading for her life.
“NO!” Faith screams, pushing her way through the crowd to try to get to the stage. She knows it’s a stupid move, but she’s not gonna let her friend die if she can help it. Some of the vampires notice her running through the crowd and seem to find it amusing, but they don’t find the funny anymore once she took the first that confronted her with an uppercut to the jaw, a spin around to elbow it in the face and then a stake driven home.
“GET HER!” a blonde vampire cries and Faith finds herself trying to fight off three of them at once, but it’s no use; they’re all so much stronger than her. One of them grabs her arms, twisting them behind her back, making her drop the stake, effectively pinning her as Faith thrashes around, trying to get loose.
“Let me go, you stupid mother fucker!” she spits out, but she knows there’s no way she’s going to get out of a hold this strong. She winces and cries out a little as the vampire increases its grip on her, almost popping her shoulder out of place. “FUCK!”
“Mmm…” the blonde vampire says, coming up to Faith, who’s still trying to get loose. “This one has strength… The Master will relish in her blood. Put her in line,” she orders.
“FUCK YOU!” Faith screams as she feels herself getting hauled backwards into the line of humans waiting to be slaughtered. “I’m gonna fuckin’ feed all of you your fuckin’ eyes! LET ME GO YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
But she hears another scream on stage as the Vessel finally sinks his teeth into Trish. Faith can hear herself screaming but she can’t make out the words she’s saying. She can barely move and yet she still keeps trying, needing to get up there to save her. But she watches Trish get paler, her screams dying in her throat… and then she watches the Vessel toss her lifeless body to the side like it was nothing.
“XANDER!” she screams, her eyes searching the crowd for him but she can’t see him anywhere. She feels herself getting pushed up in line as the next victim gets hauled on stage. “LET GO OF ME, you fuckin’ hunk of rotting meat!” she screams to the vampire that’s still holding her, but she doesn’t know why she’s trying anymore. It’s not like he’s gonna change his mind and go, ‘Oh sure, here ya go. Go kill some of my friends.’
Highly fucking unlikely.
“I feel the Master’s strength growing,” the Vessel booms out as he tosses another lifeless body onto the pile. This fucker sure does seem to like to talk a lot. “I feel him rising! Every soul… brings him closer…” he grins at the crowd victoriously, who shrink back in fear. Faith’s still trying to fight off her vampire, but nothing’s working; his grip is iron clad. The Vessel turns and orders, “I need another!”
Faith watches as Cordelia Chase gets hauled on stage, screaming. “Tonight,” the Vessel goes on, apparently feeling the need to announce everything, “is his ascension. Tonight will be history at its end!” he grabs Cordelia who’s crying, begging now, and strokes her hair, smiling with his wicked grin.
“No, please… please…” Cordelia cries, looking terrified.
“HEY!” Faith screams, though she has no idea why the hell she’s actually trying to stop Cordelia from being eaten. Maybe cause she’s already seen one person she knows die tonight, and she really ain’t lookin’ for another. She’s terrified like fuck, but she’s still one brave bitch. “DICKWAD! Ya wanna fuckin’ maybe eat somethin’ that ain’t gonna make your Master a pathetic Momma’s boy?”
The Vessel turns to look at what caused the disruption during his little ritual and sees Faith struggling against the vampire that holds her. He grins and asks her, “Are you volunteering?”
No. Not in so many words. Okay, maybe she should have thought this plan through better.
The Vessel throws Cordelia backwards and she scrambles to her feet, running as he starts advancing on Faith. Fuck. But suddenly, out of frickin’ nowhere, a body flies down from the ceiling, landing on the floor in a heap. The Vessel turns, snarling, as the vampire that just got thrown off of the overhead tries to get up off the ground.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” comes a voice from the balcony and Faith looks up, feeling a wave of relief as she sees Buffy casually leaning over the railing, looking down at them. “Was I interrupting something? Is this a bad time?”
“Slayer…” the Vessel growls, completely forgetting Faith.
“The one and only,” Buffy says with a little smile. “You don’t mind that I’m crashing your party, right?” She cocks her head to the side and does the whole dumb blonde act.
“I will enjoy feasting on your blood,” the Vessel snarls, advancing towards the edge of the stage.
“Well in that case, I’ll be right down,” Buffy says with her little perky attitude before she flips nicely over the railing, landing on the pool table. Damn, Faith didn’t know she could do that. One stupid vampire snarls and charges at her, but she barely gives it a glance as she picks up the pool stick and shoves it right in his chest, disintegrating him.
The Vessel and Buffy are bantering, but Faith doesn’t notice because all of a sudden the vampire behind her is turned to dust and she whips around, surprised to see Xander standing there, looking shocked that he actually was able to sneak up on it. “Oh thank god,” Faith says as she sees him, glad he isn’t dead.
“Xander to the rescue,” he quips, but his voice is shaking from nervousness. She tries to give him a small smile of encouragement but she’s sure it came out more like a grimace. She turns to Buffy.
“B! Need a weapon!” she yells, not about to leave Xander defenseless. Buffy shoots her a look but pulls another stake out from her jacket and throws it at her before flipping onto the stage to confront the Vessel. Faith catches it easily and turns, finding the blonde vampire coming at her fast. She dodges her at first, delivering a kick to her sternum before she finds herself getting backhanded across the club.
“Xander!” she yells, but Xander’s busy trying to fight off another one, and she coughs as she picks herself off the ground quickly as the blonde continues to advance.
“You look absolutely delicious,” the blonde coos, licking her bottom lip. Faith backs up, gripping her stake hard.
“Yeah, well I get that a lot,” Faith retorts, trying to keep her voice relatively stable. “And what’s with your getup? You into a little kink, baby? Schoolgirl don’t seem like your thing; think bondage would look a lot better on ya.” That ain’t no lie either; for being dead, the bitch is surprisingly wicked hot.
“What makes you think I haven’t already done that?” she asks with a wicked grin before she launches herself at the brunette. Her hand wraps around Faith’s throat and she chokes, feeling her air get cut off. She raises her fist and punches her clean across the jaw, making the blonde stumble back and lick the blood from the cut on her lip. Faith’s gasping for air though and it makes her less aware of what’s going on, and suddenly she’s flat on her back, the blonde hovering over her, pinning her down.
“Mmm… you’re such a pretty thing,” she says, looking at Faith like she’s a mouth watering snack, which, Faith guesses is accurate. She tries to struggle but the girl is strong and she can’t move.
“Never got any complaints,” Faith retorts, but she knows the vampire can see the fear in her eyes. She tries to push against her but can barely move an inch.
“You’d made such a fine pet,” she purrs. “Your strength…” she leans down, fangs barely an inch from Faith’s neck before she whispers, “I could play with you all night long. You’d make a better child than my last, I can tell…”
Fuck, is this bitch about to turn her? HELL NO! She’s not gonna end up like this undead cunt!
“I AIN’T GONNA BE YOUR FUCKIN’ PET, BITCH!” Faith screams, trying to fend her off but she knows she’s about to die in about thirty seconds.
“FAITH!” she hears Buffy scream from the stage as she looks at Faith’s predicament on the ground. Her face is filled with fear, but worrying about Faith ends up costing her because the Vessel punches her clean across the jaw, sending her sprawling.
“BUFFY!” Faith screams, her eyes wide in fear as she sees her land hard on her back.
“DARLA!” Shouts another voice, a male one.
The blonde, Darla, looks up from Faith to see Angel fighting his way over to them. “Speaking of,” she purrs, but doesn’t have a chance to get up because all of a sudden she’s sprayed in the face with holy water. She screams as her skin sizzles and Faith looks up in surprised because she knew Angel still wasn’t close enough to do that. She’s met with the site of Willow standing over her, looking terrified as Giles runs in behind her.
Darla runs, her skin still sizzling as she makes her way out the door and Angel hurries over, holding his hand up to Faith to help her up. She takes it and allows him to pull her to her feet, but doesn’t pay much attention to him after that because she looks up at the stage and notices that Buffy’s about a minute away from being killed. She’s always a wave of fury and precision but she seemed distracted this time, and Faith’s pretty damn sure it’s over worrying about her.
She feels her feet carrying her quickly to the stage, trying to divert the attention off of Buffy. “Hey pencil dick!” she screams. Her plan of diverting the attention away from Buffy seems to work a little too well though and as she comes at him she can’t even get in one shot before she’s grabbed around the throat and pulled towards him.
“NO!” Buffy screams, getting to her feet, fear radiating off every inch of her as she watches Faith struggle to breathe. Okay, so as far as being a distraction for Buffy, Faith just made it ten times worse. Fuck.
“This one…” the Vessel snarls as he looks Faith over and then back over at Buffy’s terrified look. “She’s important to you.”
“You want blood? Have mine!” Buffy screams, though it sounds too much like begging. Faith gasps for air as his grip tightens and she closes her eyes as her head starts to spin from the lack of oxygen. “This is between you and me, leave her alone!”
Apparently she tries to come forward though because the Vessel snarls, “One more step and I’ll snap her neck like a twig.”
Fuck, Buffy better not move.
But then there’s a crash and she’s dropped to the ground, gasping for air. She looks up and see’s Angel standing there with the remnants of a drum in his hand after he hit the Vessel in the head with it. Buffy doesn’t wastes any time as she launches herself at him. All Faith can do is watch and struggle to regulate her breathing while they fight. They both move so fast it’s hard to tell when one moves ends and another begins. Buffy is sent sprawling again and Angel launches himself at the Vessel this time, and Faith swears she must be loopy from the lack of oxygen because it looked like Angel’s face changed, just like a vamp. He gets him in a chokehold, snarling before Buffy attacks. She’s furious now and Faith can still can barely distinguish the first move from the last but she does see the final blow; driving the stake home while a quippy comment leaves her lips.
The Vessel becomes nothing but dust.
The vampires, once they see that the Vessel has been defeated, start to scatter; running out of the club. “Faith, are you alright?!” Buffy asks, kneeling down at Faith’s side, looking like she’s going to pass out by what she’s looking at. Faith knows she feels like a bag of shit, but she can’t look that bad, can she?
She’s still looking at Angel though, her eyes wide as she realizes that his face isn’t due to her lack of oxygen. She sees him slip back into his normal face and she screams, “B! He’s a fuckin’ vamp!”
“I know, just calm down-”
“What do you mean calm down?! Did you not fuckin’ hear what I said?” Faith screams, though her voice is horse from all the vampires that choked her out tonight. She coughs, and then realizes one of her ribs must be fractured because pain shoots through her side and she groans.
“He’s not going to hurt us,” Buffy tells her, trying to calm her down. “And stop moving! That could be broken!” She tries to put her hands on Faith to hold her still, but Faith is still in the realm of ‘why the fuck would B trust a fuckin’ vampire?’ and is struggling against her.
“Are you insane?!” she screams.
“Faith! Are you alright?” Giles asks, coming up on stage, worry crossing his features.
“ANGEL’S A FUCKING VAMPIRE!”
Giles looks up, startled.
“With a soul!” Buffy protests as Xander and Willow catch up to them.
“I won’t hurt you,” Angel says calmly, holding up his hand to signify surrender, but that’s not helping matters any.
“The hell you won’t!” Faith screams.
“Faith! He just saved your life!” Buffy yells, reminding her. That makes Faith stop; she’s right. Twice, actually. Still, he might be on some kind of fuckin’ crusader type bullshit but that still doesn’t mean he ain’t gonna snap and try to bite their heads off.
“Angel?” Giles asks, looking at him wearily.
“Y-You’re a… vampire?” Willow asks, looking halfway between scared and intrigued. Jesus.
“Guys! Will you just stop!” Buffy yells. “He’s okay; he was cursed by gypsies or something. Angel isn’t the issue here - Faith’s hurt!”
“I’m fuckin’ fine!” Faith snaps, pushing Buffy off of her. She struggles to get to her feet, her whole body hurting like fuck, but she manages. She stumbles back behind Giles.
“Gypsies?” Giles asks, like he’s struggling to remember something.
“What the hell is going on?!” Cordelia screams, coming up to them; great, like this is really needed right now. If Angel eats her, she’s not doing a thing to stop it. “What did you band of freaks bring in here?!”
“Vampires,” Xander says dryly, too tired from the fight to hide it from her.
“You… what are you… what?” Cordelia sputters.
“Vam-pi-res,” Xander sounds out slowly for her. Cordelia turns white as she seems to piece two and two together. She takes a step back, looking at all of them in wide eyed horror and anger.
“FREAKS!” she screams, backing away from them like they’re the plague. She runs out of the club with the last pack of Bronze customers, leaving the group to themselves.
“Buffy, why didn’t you tell us that Angel is a vampire?” Giles asks, furious.
“It… never came up?” Buffy answers weakly. Oh bull-fuckin’-shit. Faith’s glaring at her fiercely. How could she endanger all of their lives like this? Selfish bitch!
“Giles, it’s okay. I wouldn’t… I couldn’t hurt you guys,” Angel tries to explain, keeping his voice calm and his face trusting.
“You drink blood, don’t you?!” Faith snaps.
“Pig’s blood,” Angel explains. Okay, that’s fuckin’ nasty.
“This… we…” Giles starts, obviously overwhelmed, “We should get back to the Library. We’ll discuss this further there.” He looks disappointed in Buffy, which is probably better than how Faith’s looking at her which is completely furious. Yeah, he might have saved her life, but he could be the one to end it later on down the line! How could she be so fucking stupid?
“I knew I didn’t like him for a reason,” Xander mutters.
Faith’s right there with him as she eyes Angel, trying to find any hint of evil in him. It just infuriates her further that he seems genuine, and she swears at Buffy before stomping off; out the door.
Like this day wasn’t already shit to begin with. Fuck.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Truce
Faith knew she didn’t like Angel for a reason.
A vampire, a fucking vampire.
He has a soul; he does good… yeah, yeah, whatever. He was a murdering bastard at one point in his undead life though, according to Giles and this little book he’s now reading like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world since sliced bread.
Not that Faith gets why sliced bread has ever been fascinating. Or was it the coolest thing since sliced bread? Whatever. That really isn’t the point.
He didn’t come back to the library with them; Angel, that is. He brooded silently a bit about everyone looking at him like he was going to take a chunk out of their neck when they were on their way back, but once they got there he said he was going to head underground to see if he can find out the Master’s next move and that if they need any help in the future that they know where he is.
Faith was more thinking along the lines of if they need to stake him at some point in the immediate future they know where he is, but potato potahto.
Giles verified the soul… infusion, or whatever the fuck it was. A couple phone calls and some babble about someone owing him a favor later: he got a few slim details, but enough to prove that Angel really does have a soul stuffed into that rotting carcass of his.
To be fair, Faith gets that he saved her life tonight, twice. She also gets why she’s more furious with his presence in this world than she’s ever been because of one simple question that Giles asked and Buffy’s vague answer:
“How did you find out that Angel was a vampire?”
Everyone sitting around the table looks at her; Faith, Willow, and Xander, each with equally curious faces, though Faith’s was more annoyed than anything and Xander did look a little pissed off too. Buffy shifted her eyes, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks, “We uh… we were fighting and he… changed.”
Buffy’s a crap liar.
“Bullshit,” Faith says flatly, eyes flashing. She really didn’t like how red Buffy’s face is getting and how she’s completely avoiding her gaze specifically.
“Angel’s just a friend, Faith,” Buffy says quietly, fiddling with her purse nervously.
“Love how you defended that even though I didn’t fuckin’ accuse you of anything yet.”
Buffy’s eyes flash and she picks up her purse and slams it on the table, emitting a BANG! What the hell does she have in there? Rocks? “You’ve already made it clear that we aren’t together so why the hell do you care what I do?” Buffy snaps.
Xander and Willow’s eyes go wide and Giles clears his throat awkwardly and starts cleaning his glasses.
“Did you fuck that undead piece of meat?” Faith asks, disgusted. “Now I‘m definitely never touchin’ you.”
“I didn’t-” Buffy starts, but anger makes her explode onto another topic. “And you know what? I don’t want you anywhere near me when I slay anymore - you’re a liability!”
“Excuse you?”
“I almost got killed tonight because of your stupid hero antics!” Buffy yells. Faith stands up quickly, the chair she was in clattering to the ground as she leans forward over the table, sneering.
“Enough!” Giles exclaims. Buffy and Faith stop, but continue to glare at each other. “Now far be it from me to get involved in either of your personal lives but both of you must stop this childishness this instant. Need I remind you that the Master is still at large?”
‘At large’. He sounds like that bitch that used to order you to go find Carmen Sandiego.
Don’t look at her like that; they made her play that game in middle school; something about geography or some other such crap.
“She almost got me killed, Giles,” Buffy accuses, pointing like the brat that she is. Faith flips her off.
“She almost got you killed because you allowed yourself to let your personal feelings interfere with your slaying,” Giles tells her seriously. Faith has a look of triumph on her face before Giles turns to her, “I’d refrain from looking smug if I were you, Faith. You are guilty of the same weakness.”
Faith scowls and rolls her eyes a bit before turning around and grabbing her chair off the ground and standing it upright. She sits down in a huff and folds her arms into herself.
“As for the Angel situation, I think it would be wise to enlist him as an ally,” Giles goes on.
“What?” Xander asks, astounded.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Faith yells.
“He’s a vampire!” Xander continues.
“He’s fighting on our side!” Buffy interjects.
“He did save Faith’s life… a-and help with killing the Vessel,” Willow says. Buffy gives her an appreciative look.
“Every record of Angelus; his demon side, ceased around one hundred years ago,” Giles tells them. “Gryack; the man I spoke too, told me that when Angel was reinsouled he would have insufferable torment. He was never seen or heard from until a couple decades ago. Guilt and redemption is a powerful motivator and after seeing his dedication in helping Buffy-”
“Yeah, help take her clothes off,” Faith muttered. Buffy shoots her a look.
“-with the Master, among other battles, I do believe letting him assist us would be the wisest move,” Giles says. He pauses for a minute, fiddling with the glasses on his nose. “Though if he tries to kill us all, I give you all full permission to say ‘I told you so.’”
“That’s comforting,” Xander replies dryly.
“He’s good,” Buffy tells them all. “I know it, I can feel it.”
“Yeah, in your pants,” Faith mutters. She knows she’s being one big fuckin’ immature brat, but she can’t exactly stop words from coming out of her mouth sometimes.
“Okay, seriously?” Buffy snaps, eyes flashing dangerously. “Did you or did you not hear what I told you a couple days ago? What you’ve been shoving down my throat since the first day you met me?”
“Just cause you’re-” Faith starts, but is interrupted by Giles.
“Girls! This is getting ridiculous,” Giles exclaims. “Buffy, you are the Slayer. And Faith, you are a Potential Slayer. You two will be working together side by side every day and I will not tolerate you both getting yourselves killed because you cannot work out your differences.”
“But she’s the one-” Buffy starts to blame, but is silenced by Giles.
“I’ve seen childishness on both parts. Now I want you both to go into my office and work out the problems you have with each other while Willow, Xander and I do more research. I will not have the fate of the world rest on the shoulders of a teenage hormone parade.”
Faith snorts. “Seriously G? Hormone parade?” While it’s kind of insulting, it’s also really funny.
“Go, now,” Giles says, indicating his office. He’s got that stern fatherly look about him that makes Faith grumble under her breath because she knows she’s going to do what he says. She rolls her eyes though, a little sign of defiance as she gets up and stomps into Giles’ office, Buffy behind her.
“More research?” Faith hears Xander groan before Buffy shuts the door behind her.
Faith flops down on Giles’ swivel chair at his desk and props her feet up. She folds her arms over herself and cocks an eyebrow at Buffy who leans back against the wall, looking at her. This isn’t gonna be pleasant. “So… did ya fuck him?”
“We’re supposed to be working out our differences, not starting another fight,” Buffy reminds her, annoyed.
“And this is me workin’ shit out,” Faith explains with a little click of her tongue in irritation. She peers at her with a sadistic smirk on her face before she goes on, “So did ya like his cold dead cock all up in ya? Bet you masturbate with a popsicle now; tryin’ to relive that nasty little deed.” Yeah, a bit vulgar, but hey; she’s pissed here.
“I didn’t sleep with him, Faith!” Buffy exclaims. “I don’t spread my legs for just anyone that walks by!” Faith can tell that Buffy had to stop herself before she said something along the lines of ‘unlike you,’ which was probably wise on her behalf.
“Well ya sure as hell didn’t find out he was a vamp durin’ a fight.”
Buffy looks away, flushing a little bit again. She folds her arms self-consciously before she admits, “We just… kissed; once.”
He vamps out when he kisses people? That’s kinda fucked up.
“When?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Cause I asked the fuckin’ question, Blondie.”
Buffy glares at her demanding attitude and Faith just stares back at her. They have a silent battle of wills for a moment before Buffy finally speaks.
“A couple weeks ago,” she tells her, and then shrugs. “Look, I don’t understand why you’re so upset. Nothing is going on between us. It was one kiss; a kind of spur of the moment thing, but I told him that I wasn’t interested in him like that and he understands. Besides, you really don’t have any room to get pissed off with me over it because it’s not like there’s anything between us.”
“I’m pissed cause ya let that undead monkey touch you, thought you were better than that.”
“And I thought you were better than letting half this town sleep with you!” Buffy cries, looking hurt.
“You don’t know jack shit about my sex life, B, so don’t fuckin’ pretend to,” Faith snaps. She picks up a pencil from Giles’ desk, trying to occupy her hands so she doesn’t up and hit her, but it snaps between her fingers quickly. She throws the broken pieces to the ground, annoyed.
“I know enough,” Buffy tells her. “You’re the one that said all you’re good for is sex and I’m the one who walked in and had to hear you with that girl that night! Do you have any idea how crappy that was for me?! I was already confused about how I felt about you and then we almost…” she trails off, shaking her head. “And then not ten minutes later you’re having loud, dirty, public sex with that slut!”
“That slut has a fuckin’ name,” Faith snaps, eyes flashing. “Her name was Trish and she fuckin’ died tonight. So ya maybe wanna lay off about her?!”
Buffy’s eyes go wide. “Oh God, Faith. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know…”
“Yeah well, no use cryin’ over it,” Faith says, staring at the far wall. It wasn’t like she loved Trish, she barely even liked her half the time, but she was kind of a friend… or something. It just sucks.
“Faith…”
“Just fuckin’ forget about it. Don’t wanna talk or hug and cry or whatever the hell else ya think we’re gonna do. Trish ain’t the point right now,” Faith tells her flatly, keeping all of her emotions in check except annoyance, which was an acceptable one to let out.
“So what is the point?” Buffy asks quietly.
“Fuck if I know. Not fighting? Whatever Giles sent us in here to do.”
“Well if we want to stop doing that maybe you could start being a little less jealous,” Buffy says softly. Faith scoffs.
“I ain’t fuckin’ jealous.”
“You’re not angry because Angel’s a vampire!” Buffy exclaims, frustrated. “Even before you met him you hated him because you thought there was something going on between him and me!”
“He was stalking you,” Faith says dangerously.
“No, he wasn’t! God, do you even listen to yourself when you speak? Stalkers don’t help me kill the bad guys; they have creepy wall collages of pictures and… I don’t know, binoculars or something! Will you just admit that you didn’t like him because you were jealous?!”
“I ain’t fuckin’ jealous because jealousy implies that I want you to myself and I sure as fuck don’t want that,” Faith says flatly. She cocks an eyebrow at her and goes on, “You’re hot, B, okay? I’ll give ya that. And yeah, I thought about fuckin’ the hell outta ya maybe once or twice. But you’re my fuckin’ friend and that’s all you’re ever gonna be. Just cause I wanna stick my tongue down your throat doesn’t mean I want a relationship.”
“I’m not asking for one!”
“Whatever. You’ve been all moon-eyed over me for weeks now,” Faith points out.
“I don’t know why. You’re such an asshole sometimes,” Buffy mumbles, annoyed. She shakes her head, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Maybe you’re right,” she says quietly. She sighs. “I liked it when we were friends. This? This is complicated and confusing and all it’s doing is making us fight.”
“Well then quit having a crush on me and everything will be better,” Faith tells her.
“You quit being territorial over me then!”
“I’m not fuckin’-”
“Faith! You are! God, can you just stop being such a defensive prick and just admit it?!” Buffy cries. “Do I really have to keep drilling into your head the whole Angel thing?! I’m sure the next guy or girl that shows any kind of interest in me you’re going to be all angry broody girl again, and it doesn’t make any sense because you said you don’t want-”
“I DON’T WANT ANY OTHER FUCKER HAVING YOU BEFORE ME, ALRIGHT?!” Faith screams in fit of anger, pushing everything off of Giles’ desk. Things clatter to the floor and Buffy just stares at her, eyes wide.
Fuck, that wasn’t supposed to come out.
There’s silence between them for a moment and Faith really wishes she could reverse time or just beat the hell out of Buffy so that she doesn’t remember what she just admitted. Neither scenario seemed like it would work though, the latter only because Buffy would probably wipe the floor with her.
She really fuckin’ hates that she’s stronger than her.
“Faith... you said you didn’t want to be with me. So why…?”
“I don’t want a relationship with you, B. I do wanna fuck your brains out though,” Faith says crudely. “And it kinda pisses me off that you’re my friend because if you weren’t you’d already be seduced, fucked, then thrown outta my bed the next morning.”
“So what… is this a ‘wanting what you can’t have’ sort of thing?” Buffy asks slowly, trying to figure her out.
Faith laughs, “Please. I can have you if I wanted and you know it.”
“Actually no, Faith. I don’t just jump into bed with anyone. I do actually like to have a relationship first,” Buffy tells her, annoyed that she thinks so little of her.
“You can preach high and mighty all day, Princess. But the truth is if I wanted to fuck you, you’d be fucked. No questions asked.”
“You can’t just assume that I’d-!”
“And for your information, Twinkie; the only reason I haven’t fuckin’ done it is because ya got a thing for me and it’ll hurt you. So some credit where it’s due would be nice,” Faith finishes.
“Fine. Thanks for not making me into another one of your whores, Faith,” Buffy says sarcastically.
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re completely infuriating, you know that?!” Buffy cries, beyond irritated. She throws her hands up in the air and starts pacing a little. “Why is it that the only thing you care about is sex? Can’t you be a normal person and want the intimacy that’s supposed to go along with that?!”
“Intimacy is for pussies.”
“No, you’re a pussy. You’re just scared of letting someone in, Faith,” Buffy tells her, stopping her pacing and rounding to face her.
“And you think you’re the one that I should let in, do ya?” Faith mocks.
“Actually from what I’ve seen so far I’d rather not be that person,” Buffy tells her. “Trying to have a relationship with you would be like chewing on nails.” She pauses, “Actually chewing on nails sounds more pleasant.”
“Fuck you.”
“Faith, I care about you,” Buffy tells her seriously, ignoring her rudeness. “I don’t know why but apparently I do and I don’t think that’s going to change. But I’m… I’m going through some stuff right now. The Master wants to kill us all and on top of that I realized I’m…”
“A dyke?” Faith offers.
“A lesbian,” Buffy corrects, flushing a little in embarrassment. “But I… I don’t know; I know I need someone who’s going to be patient with me and well, you’re definitely not that. I’m not stupid, but maybe I was a little hopeful that you weren’t so self-involved and carrying more baggage than Cordelia on a day trip. But you are, so I’m sorry I tried to… whatever I tried to do. Make you care more, or something.”
“I don’t have baggage,” Faith mutters.
“You have more issues then a stack of magazines, Faith. Anyone who’s talked to you for five minutes can realize that,” Buffy tells her honestly. Faith rolls her eyes and flips her the finger.
“Fuck you and your issues, Summers.”
“Can you stop being defensive? We’re supposed to be working stuff out. I apologized, didn’t I? I think it’s your turn.”
“What the hell do I have to be sorry for?” Faith snaps.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you could touch on the whole possessive thing,” Buffy says sarcastically, “just a thought.”
“Fine. I’m fuckin’ sorry I wanted to bang ya.”
“That’s not-”
“Are we done now?” Faith interrupts.
Buffy sighs, running her fingers through her hair. “We’re still… annoyed, aren’t we? Well, I know you are.”
“I’m fine.”
She’s not fine.
“No you’re not, you’re snapping at me,” Buffy tells her. “What did I say that pissed you off?”
“Nothing.”
“Faith, just tell me or we’ll never get out of this room.”
Faith sighs, annoyed. She flicks a pen off the desk and grumbles without looking at her, “I just don’t fuckin’ like you assumin’ I got issues. You don’t know me, so I think you should fuck off about that.”
“Fine, I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up again, okay?” Buffy tries. Faith still doesn’t look at her. “Faith please… I want to be friends.”
“We are friends,” Faith says flatly.
“Not really, all we do is yell at each other, at least lately.” Faith doesn’t say anything so Buffy crosses the room to kneel down so that she’s eye level with Faith who’s still sitting on the chair. She puts her hand on her leg, trying to get her attention. “Can you look at me for a second?”
Faith rolls her eyes and turns to look at her. “Jesus, what?”
“You’re the only person I know that gets what I have to deal with right now,” Buffy tells her. “You’re training right now to possibly replace me, Faith. When I die. So you get the world I live in and you understand that we have a higher chance of dying in the next week than most people. Maybe that’s why I feel close to you and maybe I mistook that for other feelings, I don’t know. Maybe I have both. But I want us to be friends at least because you’re the only one who really gets what’s going on with me, and I’m the only one who really gets what’s going on with you.”
Faith raises an eyebrow at her and is silent for a moment, contemplating what Buffy just said. Then she says, “Jeez B, that was kinda mushy.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I ain’t, I was just sayin’,” Faith says with a smirk. She leans back in the chair and points out, “Ya forgot the whole gay thing too.”
“Yeah well, I don’t think you helping me work through that part of my life would be the best thing in the world. I think we need to… maybe try and stay away from all those…” she blushes, “other feelings. If we do maybe we’ll stop fighting.”
Faith shrugs, “Maybe. Whatever. I’m starved, can we get somethin’ to eat or do ya think Giles is gonna try to make us stay and research?”
“Research probably,” Buffy says, but smiles because she knows that’s as much of an admission of a truce as she’s going to get out of Faith.
“Is there a back way outta here?” Faith asks, looking around hopefully.
Buffy giggles a little, standing up and leaning against the wall. “Not unless you want to drill a hole in the wall.” Then she gets a look on her face like she knew she shouldn’t be giving Faith ideas.
Faith smirks, looking devious. “Got a drill?”
GO TO PART TWELVE...
Author: Sapphire Smoke cuzimastripper
Beta: supershineygirl
Fandom: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Buffy/Faith
Word Length Thus Far: 88,023 words
Timeline: *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.
Summary: All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...
A/N: Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...
Other Parts: PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX | PART SEVEN | PART EIGHT | PART NINE | PART TEN
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The Harvest
“This is a glorious night!” the big, ugly vampire on stage announces with a smile on his face. He looks around at all the terrified faces and tells them, “It is also the last one any of you will ever see.” More people screamed, trying to run but vampires were suddenly coming out of the freakin’ woodwork, surrounding all the humans like herding cattle.
“Xander, go now,” Faith whispers, pushing him towards the back of the club where the pay phone is. He nods silently and slips through the crowd as Faith bends down and gets the stake she has strapped to her leg. Maybe it’s a good thing Buffy told her to carry these now. She slips it in her jacket sleeve, hiding it from view as she tries to get closer. Her heart is pounding in her chest and she hopes to fuck that Buffy can get here.
Of course the Harvest would happen here. How could they be so stupid? Big place, lots of people to eat… shit. She needs to figure out what the hell her plan is. Don’t die would be number one - and while she can fight and maybe stake a couple if she’s lucky, there’s no way she’d be able to get them all without ending up dead; there’re just too many.
“Bring me the first,” the vampire says, presumably the Vessel. Faith finds herself getting shoved into the crowd as the vampires herd them onto the dance floor.
“Hey! What the hell is going on?! Get your damn hands off me-!” Faith hears Cordelia yell to one of them… until she gets a look at their face. She screams and is shoved into Faith, who doesn’t try very hard to catch her. She’s got bigger issues to deal with than Miss Popularity’s fears.
“What are you doing? Huh? You want money? Hey! HEY!”
Faith looks up and sees the bouncer, Jimmy, getting pushed on stage, arms held behind his back as he’s steered towards the Vessel. “What the hell is wrong with your face, dude?!” he asks, but he’s cut off by the Vessel grabbing his throat and pulling him forward. Faith slides the stake out of her jacket pocket, backing up through the crowd. She knows there’s no way she can save him, but she’s gonna try to take out some of these mother fuckers at least.
“Watch me, people,” the Vessel says, his booming voice still echoing over the screams from the crowd. He seems to stroke Jimmy, ushering him closer. “Fear is like an elixir… it’s almost like blood…” he seems to get off on terrifying everyone around him; he smiles before lowering his fangs into Jimmy, who screams only once before taking his dying breath.
Faith finally finds herself in the back of the crowd, near the corner, there’s only one vampire herding the people there. She feigns fear (which isn’t very hard, she’s fuckin’ terrified, but she’s also not gonna lay down and take this shit), backing up into him. She turns and screams, making the vampire grin at her fear and snarl. He pushes her back into the crowd, expecting her to just cower, but instead her face masks in determination and a smirk passes along her lips before she drives the stake through his chest. He looks surprised; for not realizing that she isn’t just another stupid human, before he turns to dust. No one seems to notice besides a couple of people near Faith who continue screaming.
“Shut the fuck up,” she hisses; she doesn’t need attention brought to the situation. She knows she just got lucky, that the vampire she chose was kind of an idiot, and she doubts she’ll be able to get a chance like that again but she’s gotta try. If she can stake them before they realize she’s a threat then she might actually make it outta this place alive.
The Vessel throws Jimmy’s lifeless body to the ground before requesting casually, “Next.” Faith looks up as she hears a familiar scream, though usually when she hears it it’s not in fear. Trish is being dragged on stage; screaming, begging, pleading for her life.
“NO!” Faith screams, pushing her way through the crowd to try to get to the stage. She knows it’s a stupid move, but she’s not gonna let her friend die if she can help it. Some of the vampires notice her running through the crowd and seem to find it amusing, but they don’t find the funny anymore once she took the first that confronted her with an uppercut to the jaw, a spin around to elbow it in the face and then a stake driven home.
“GET HER!” a blonde vampire cries and Faith finds herself trying to fight off three of them at once, but it’s no use; they’re all so much stronger than her. One of them grabs her arms, twisting them behind her back, making her drop the stake, effectively pinning her as Faith thrashes around, trying to get loose.
“Let me go, you stupid mother fucker!” she spits out, but she knows there’s no way she’s going to get out of a hold this strong. She winces and cries out a little as the vampire increases its grip on her, almost popping her shoulder out of place. “FUCK!”
“Mmm…” the blonde vampire says, coming up to Faith, who’s still trying to get loose. “This one has strength… The Master will relish in her blood. Put her in line,” she orders.
“FUCK YOU!” Faith screams as she feels herself getting hauled backwards into the line of humans waiting to be slaughtered. “I’m gonna fuckin’ feed all of you your fuckin’ eyes! LET ME GO YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
But she hears another scream on stage as the Vessel finally sinks his teeth into Trish. Faith can hear herself screaming but she can’t make out the words she’s saying. She can barely move and yet she still keeps trying, needing to get up there to save her. But she watches Trish get paler, her screams dying in her throat… and then she watches the Vessel toss her lifeless body to the side like it was nothing.
“XANDER!” she screams, her eyes searching the crowd for him but she can’t see him anywhere. She feels herself getting pushed up in line as the next victim gets hauled on stage. “LET GO OF ME, you fuckin’ hunk of rotting meat!” she screams to the vampire that’s still holding her, but she doesn’t know why she’s trying anymore. It’s not like he’s gonna change his mind and go, ‘Oh sure, here ya go. Go kill some of my friends.’
Highly fucking unlikely.
“I feel the Master’s strength growing,” the Vessel booms out as he tosses another lifeless body onto the pile. This fucker sure does seem to like to talk a lot. “I feel him rising! Every soul… brings him closer…” he grins at the crowd victoriously, who shrink back in fear. Faith’s still trying to fight off her vampire, but nothing’s working; his grip is iron clad. The Vessel turns and orders, “I need another!”
Faith watches as Cordelia Chase gets hauled on stage, screaming. “Tonight,” the Vessel goes on, apparently feeling the need to announce everything, “is his ascension. Tonight will be history at its end!” he grabs Cordelia who’s crying, begging now, and strokes her hair, smiling with his wicked grin.
“No, please… please…” Cordelia cries, looking terrified.
“HEY!” Faith screams, though she has no idea why the hell she’s actually trying to stop Cordelia from being eaten. Maybe cause she’s already seen one person she knows die tonight, and she really ain’t lookin’ for another. She’s terrified like fuck, but she’s still one brave bitch. “DICKWAD! Ya wanna fuckin’ maybe eat somethin’ that ain’t gonna make your Master a pathetic Momma’s boy?”
The Vessel turns to look at what caused the disruption during his little ritual and sees Faith struggling against the vampire that holds her. He grins and asks her, “Are you volunteering?”
No. Not in so many words. Okay, maybe she should have thought this plan through better.
The Vessel throws Cordelia backwards and she scrambles to her feet, running as he starts advancing on Faith. Fuck. But suddenly, out of frickin’ nowhere, a body flies down from the ceiling, landing on the floor in a heap. The Vessel turns, snarling, as the vampire that just got thrown off of the overhead tries to get up off the ground.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” comes a voice from the balcony and Faith looks up, feeling a wave of relief as she sees Buffy casually leaning over the railing, looking down at them. “Was I interrupting something? Is this a bad time?”
“Slayer…” the Vessel growls, completely forgetting Faith.
“The one and only,” Buffy says with a little smile. “You don’t mind that I’m crashing your party, right?” She cocks her head to the side and does the whole dumb blonde act.
“I will enjoy feasting on your blood,” the Vessel snarls, advancing towards the edge of the stage.
“Well in that case, I’ll be right down,” Buffy says with her little perky attitude before she flips nicely over the railing, landing on the pool table. Damn, Faith didn’t know she could do that. One stupid vampire snarls and charges at her, but she barely gives it a glance as she picks up the pool stick and shoves it right in his chest, disintegrating him.
The Vessel and Buffy are bantering, but Faith doesn’t notice because all of a sudden the vampire behind her is turned to dust and she whips around, surprised to see Xander standing there, looking shocked that he actually was able to sneak up on it. “Oh thank god,” Faith says as she sees him, glad he isn’t dead.
“Xander to the rescue,” he quips, but his voice is shaking from nervousness. She tries to give him a small smile of encouragement but she’s sure it came out more like a grimace. She turns to Buffy.
“B! Need a weapon!” she yells, not about to leave Xander defenseless. Buffy shoots her a look but pulls another stake out from her jacket and throws it at her before flipping onto the stage to confront the Vessel. Faith catches it easily and turns, finding the blonde vampire coming at her fast. She dodges her at first, delivering a kick to her sternum before she finds herself getting backhanded across the club.
“Xander!” she yells, but Xander’s busy trying to fight off another one, and she coughs as she picks herself off the ground quickly as the blonde continues to advance.
“You look absolutely delicious,” the blonde coos, licking her bottom lip. Faith backs up, gripping her stake hard.
“Yeah, well I get that a lot,” Faith retorts, trying to keep her voice relatively stable. “And what’s with your getup? You into a little kink, baby? Schoolgirl don’t seem like your thing; think bondage would look a lot better on ya.” That ain’t no lie either; for being dead, the bitch is surprisingly wicked hot.
“What makes you think I haven’t already done that?” she asks with a wicked grin before she launches herself at the brunette. Her hand wraps around Faith’s throat and she chokes, feeling her air get cut off. She raises her fist and punches her clean across the jaw, making the blonde stumble back and lick the blood from the cut on her lip. Faith’s gasping for air though and it makes her less aware of what’s going on, and suddenly she’s flat on her back, the blonde hovering over her, pinning her down.
“Mmm… you’re such a pretty thing,” she says, looking at Faith like she’s a mouth watering snack, which, Faith guesses is accurate. She tries to struggle but the girl is strong and she can’t move.
“Never got any complaints,” Faith retorts, but she knows the vampire can see the fear in her eyes. She tries to push against her but can barely move an inch.
“You’d made such a fine pet,” she purrs. “Your strength…” she leans down, fangs barely an inch from Faith’s neck before she whispers, “I could play with you all night long. You’d make a better child than my last, I can tell…”
Fuck, is this bitch about to turn her? HELL NO! She’s not gonna end up like this undead cunt!
“I AIN’T GONNA BE YOUR FUCKIN’ PET, BITCH!” Faith screams, trying to fend her off but she knows she’s about to die in about thirty seconds.
“FAITH!” she hears Buffy scream from the stage as she looks at Faith’s predicament on the ground. Her face is filled with fear, but worrying about Faith ends up costing her because the Vessel punches her clean across the jaw, sending her sprawling.
“BUFFY!” Faith screams, her eyes wide in fear as she sees her land hard on her back.
“DARLA!” Shouts another voice, a male one.
The blonde, Darla, looks up from Faith to see Angel fighting his way over to them. “Speaking of,” she purrs, but doesn’t have a chance to get up because all of a sudden she’s sprayed in the face with holy water. She screams as her skin sizzles and Faith looks up in surprised because she knew Angel still wasn’t close enough to do that. She’s met with the site of Willow standing over her, looking terrified as Giles runs in behind her.
Darla runs, her skin still sizzling as she makes her way out the door and Angel hurries over, holding his hand up to Faith to help her up. She takes it and allows him to pull her to her feet, but doesn’t pay much attention to him after that because she looks up at the stage and notices that Buffy’s about a minute away from being killed. She’s always a wave of fury and precision but she seemed distracted this time, and Faith’s pretty damn sure it’s over worrying about her.
She feels her feet carrying her quickly to the stage, trying to divert the attention off of Buffy. “Hey pencil dick!” she screams. Her plan of diverting the attention away from Buffy seems to work a little too well though and as she comes at him she can’t even get in one shot before she’s grabbed around the throat and pulled towards him.
“NO!” Buffy screams, getting to her feet, fear radiating off every inch of her as she watches Faith struggle to breathe. Okay, so as far as being a distraction for Buffy, Faith just made it ten times worse. Fuck.
“This one…” the Vessel snarls as he looks Faith over and then back over at Buffy’s terrified look. “She’s important to you.”
“You want blood? Have mine!” Buffy screams, though it sounds too much like begging. Faith gasps for air as his grip tightens and she closes her eyes as her head starts to spin from the lack of oxygen. “This is between you and me, leave her alone!”
Apparently she tries to come forward though because the Vessel snarls, “One more step and I’ll snap her neck like a twig.”
Fuck, Buffy better not move.
But then there’s a crash and she’s dropped to the ground, gasping for air. She looks up and see’s Angel standing there with the remnants of a drum in his hand after he hit the Vessel in the head with it. Buffy doesn’t wastes any time as she launches herself at him. All Faith can do is watch and struggle to regulate her breathing while they fight. They both move so fast it’s hard to tell when one moves ends and another begins. Buffy is sent sprawling again and Angel launches himself at the Vessel this time, and Faith swears she must be loopy from the lack of oxygen because it looked like Angel’s face changed, just like a vamp. He gets him in a chokehold, snarling before Buffy attacks. She’s furious now and Faith can still can barely distinguish the first move from the last but she does see the final blow; driving the stake home while a quippy comment leaves her lips.
The Vessel becomes nothing but dust.
The vampires, once they see that the Vessel has been defeated, start to scatter; running out of the club. “Faith, are you alright?!” Buffy asks, kneeling down at Faith’s side, looking like she’s going to pass out by what she’s looking at. Faith knows she feels like a bag of shit, but she can’t look that bad, can she?
She’s still looking at Angel though, her eyes wide as she realizes that his face isn’t due to her lack of oxygen. She sees him slip back into his normal face and she screams, “B! He’s a fuckin’ vamp!”
“I know, just calm down-”
“What do you mean calm down?! Did you not fuckin’ hear what I said?” Faith screams, though her voice is horse from all the vampires that choked her out tonight. She coughs, and then realizes one of her ribs must be fractured because pain shoots through her side and she groans.
“He’s not going to hurt us,” Buffy tells her, trying to calm her down. “And stop moving! That could be broken!” She tries to put her hands on Faith to hold her still, but Faith is still in the realm of ‘why the fuck would B trust a fuckin’ vampire?’ and is struggling against her.
“Are you insane?!” she screams.
“Faith! Are you alright?” Giles asks, coming up on stage, worry crossing his features.
“ANGEL’S A FUCKING VAMPIRE!”
Giles looks up, startled.
“With a soul!” Buffy protests as Xander and Willow catch up to them.
“I won’t hurt you,” Angel says calmly, holding up his hand to signify surrender, but that’s not helping matters any.
“The hell you won’t!” Faith screams.
“Faith! He just saved your life!” Buffy yells, reminding her. That makes Faith stop; she’s right. Twice, actually. Still, he might be on some kind of fuckin’ crusader type bullshit but that still doesn’t mean he ain’t gonna snap and try to bite their heads off.
“Angel?” Giles asks, looking at him wearily.
“Y-You’re a… vampire?” Willow asks, looking halfway between scared and intrigued. Jesus.
“Guys! Will you just stop!” Buffy yells. “He’s okay; he was cursed by gypsies or something. Angel isn’t the issue here - Faith’s hurt!”
“I’m fuckin’ fine!” Faith snaps, pushing Buffy off of her. She struggles to get to her feet, her whole body hurting like fuck, but she manages. She stumbles back behind Giles.
“Gypsies?” Giles asks, like he’s struggling to remember something.
“What the hell is going on?!” Cordelia screams, coming up to them; great, like this is really needed right now. If Angel eats her, she’s not doing a thing to stop it. “What did you band of freaks bring in here?!”
“Vampires,” Xander says dryly, too tired from the fight to hide it from her.
“You… what are you… what?” Cordelia sputters.
“Vam-pi-res,” Xander sounds out slowly for her. Cordelia turns white as she seems to piece two and two together. She takes a step back, looking at all of them in wide eyed horror and anger.
“FREAKS!” she screams, backing away from them like they’re the plague. She runs out of the club with the last pack of Bronze customers, leaving the group to themselves.
“Buffy, why didn’t you tell us that Angel is a vampire?” Giles asks, furious.
“It… never came up?” Buffy answers weakly. Oh bull-fuckin’-shit. Faith’s glaring at her fiercely. How could she endanger all of their lives like this? Selfish bitch!
“Giles, it’s okay. I wouldn’t… I couldn’t hurt you guys,” Angel tries to explain, keeping his voice calm and his face trusting.
“You drink blood, don’t you?!” Faith snaps.
“Pig’s blood,” Angel explains. Okay, that’s fuckin’ nasty.
“This… we…” Giles starts, obviously overwhelmed, “We should get back to the Library. We’ll discuss this further there.” He looks disappointed in Buffy, which is probably better than how Faith’s looking at her which is completely furious. Yeah, he might have saved her life, but he could be the one to end it later on down the line! How could she be so fucking stupid?
“I knew I didn’t like him for a reason,” Xander mutters.
Faith’s right there with him as she eyes Angel, trying to find any hint of evil in him. It just infuriates her further that he seems genuine, and she swears at Buffy before stomping off; out the door.
Like this day wasn’t already shit to begin with. Fuck.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Truce
Faith knew she didn’t like Angel for a reason.
A vampire, a fucking vampire.
He has a soul; he does good… yeah, yeah, whatever. He was a murdering bastard at one point in his undead life though, according to Giles and this little book he’s now reading like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world since sliced bread.
Not that Faith gets why sliced bread has ever been fascinating. Or was it the coolest thing since sliced bread? Whatever. That really isn’t the point.
He didn’t come back to the library with them; Angel, that is. He brooded silently a bit about everyone looking at him like he was going to take a chunk out of their neck when they were on their way back, but once they got there he said he was going to head underground to see if he can find out the Master’s next move and that if they need any help in the future that they know where he is.
Faith was more thinking along the lines of if they need to stake him at some point in the immediate future they know where he is, but potato potahto.
Giles verified the soul… infusion, or whatever the fuck it was. A couple phone calls and some babble about someone owing him a favor later: he got a few slim details, but enough to prove that Angel really does have a soul stuffed into that rotting carcass of his.
To be fair, Faith gets that he saved her life tonight, twice. She also gets why she’s more furious with his presence in this world than she’s ever been because of one simple question that Giles asked and Buffy’s vague answer:
“How did you find out that Angel was a vampire?”
Everyone sitting around the table looks at her; Faith, Willow, and Xander, each with equally curious faces, though Faith’s was more annoyed than anything and Xander did look a little pissed off too. Buffy shifted her eyes, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks, “We uh… we were fighting and he… changed.”
Buffy’s a crap liar.
“Bullshit,” Faith says flatly, eyes flashing. She really didn’t like how red Buffy’s face is getting and how she’s completely avoiding her gaze specifically.
“Angel’s just a friend, Faith,” Buffy says quietly, fiddling with her purse nervously.
“Love how you defended that even though I didn’t fuckin’ accuse you of anything yet.”
Buffy’s eyes flash and she picks up her purse and slams it on the table, emitting a BANG! What the hell does she have in there? Rocks? “You’ve already made it clear that we aren’t together so why the hell do you care what I do?” Buffy snaps.
Xander and Willow’s eyes go wide and Giles clears his throat awkwardly and starts cleaning his glasses.
“Did you fuck that undead piece of meat?” Faith asks, disgusted. “Now I‘m definitely never touchin’ you.”
“I didn’t-” Buffy starts, but anger makes her explode onto another topic. “And you know what? I don’t want you anywhere near me when I slay anymore - you’re a liability!”
“Excuse you?”
“I almost got killed tonight because of your stupid hero antics!” Buffy yells. Faith stands up quickly, the chair she was in clattering to the ground as she leans forward over the table, sneering.
“Enough!” Giles exclaims. Buffy and Faith stop, but continue to glare at each other. “Now far be it from me to get involved in either of your personal lives but both of you must stop this childishness this instant. Need I remind you that the Master is still at large?”
‘At large’. He sounds like that bitch that used to order you to go find Carmen Sandiego.
Don’t look at her like that; they made her play that game in middle school; something about geography or some other such crap.
“She almost got me killed, Giles,” Buffy accuses, pointing like the brat that she is. Faith flips her off.
“She almost got you killed because you allowed yourself to let your personal feelings interfere with your slaying,” Giles tells her seriously. Faith has a look of triumph on her face before Giles turns to her, “I’d refrain from looking smug if I were you, Faith. You are guilty of the same weakness.”
Faith scowls and rolls her eyes a bit before turning around and grabbing her chair off the ground and standing it upright. She sits down in a huff and folds her arms into herself.
“As for the Angel situation, I think it would be wise to enlist him as an ally,” Giles goes on.
“What?” Xander asks, astounded.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Faith yells.
“He’s a vampire!” Xander continues.
“He’s fighting on our side!” Buffy interjects.
“He did save Faith’s life… a-and help with killing the Vessel,” Willow says. Buffy gives her an appreciative look.
“Every record of Angelus; his demon side, ceased around one hundred years ago,” Giles tells them. “Gryack; the man I spoke too, told me that when Angel was reinsouled he would have insufferable torment. He was never seen or heard from until a couple decades ago. Guilt and redemption is a powerful motivator and after seeing his dedication in helping Buffy-”
“Yeah, help take her clothes off,” Faith muttered. Buffy shoots her a look.
“-with the Master, among other battles, I do believe letting him assist us would be the wisest move,” Giles says. He pauses for a minute, fiddling with the glasses on his nose. “Though if he tries to kill us all, I give you all full permission to say ‘I told you so.’”
“That’s comforting,” Xander replies dryly.
“He’s good,” Buffy tells them all. “I know it, I can feel it.”
“Yeah, in your pants,” Faith mutters. She knows she’s being one big fuckin’ immature brat, but she can’t exactly stop words from coming out of her mouth sometimes.
“Okay, seriously?” Buffy snaps, eyes flashing dangerously. “Did you or did you not hear what I told you a couple days ago? What you’ve been shoving down my throat since the first day you met me?”
“Just cause you’re-” Faith starts, but is interrupted by Giles.
“Girls! This is getting ridiculous,” Giles exclaims. “Buffy, you are the Slayer. And Faith, you are a Potential Slayer. You two will be working together side by side every day and I will not tolerate you both getting yourselves killed because you cannot work out your differences.”
“But she’s the one-” Buffy starts to blame, but is silenced by Giles.
“I’ve seen childishness on both parts. Now I want you both to go into my office and work out the problems you have with each other while Willow, Xander and I do more research. I will not have the fate of the world rest on the shoulders of a teenage hormone parade.”
Faith snorts. “Seriously G? Hormone parade?” While it’s kind of insulting, it’s also really funny.
“Go, now,” Giles says, indicating his office. He’s got that stern fatherly look about him that makes Faith grumble under her breath because she knows she’s going to do what he says. She rolls her eyes though, a little sign of defiance as she gets up and stomps into Giles’ office, Buffy behind her.
“More research?” Faith hears Xander groan before Buffy shuts the door behind her.
Faith flops down on Giles’ swivel chair at his desk and props her feet up. She folds her arms over herself and cocks an eyebrow at Buffy who leans back against the wall, looking at her. This isn’t gonna be pleasant. “So… did ya fuck him?”
“We’re supposed to be working out our differences, not starting another fight,” Buffy reminds her, annoyed.
“And this is me workin’ shit out,” Faith explains with a little click of her tongue in irritation. She peers at her with a sadistic smirk on her face before she goes on, “So did ya like his cold dead cock all up in ya? Bet you masturbate with a popsicle now; tryin’ to relive that nasty little deed.” Yeah, a bit vulgar, but hey; she’s pissed here.
“I didn’t sleep with him, Faith!” Buffy exclaims. “I don’t spread my legs for just anyone that walks by!” Faith can tell that Buffy had to stop herself before she said something along the lines of ‘unlike you,’ which was probably wise on her behalf.
“Well ya sure as hell didn’t find out he was a vamp durin’ a fight.”
Buffy looks away, flushing a little bit again. She folds her arms self-consciously before she admits, “We just… kissed; once.”
He vamps out when he kisses people? That’s kinda fucked up.
“When?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Cause I asked the fuckin’ question, Blondie.”
Buffy glares at her demanding attitude and Faith just stares back at her. They have a silent battle of wills for a moment before Buffy finally speaks.
“A couple weeks ago,” she tells her, and then shrugs. “Look, I don’t understand why you’re so upset. Nothing is going on between us. It was one kiss; a kind of spur of the moment thing, but I told him that I wasn’t interested in him like that and he understands. Besides, you really don’t have any room to get pissed off with me over it because it’s not like there’s anything between us.”
“I’m pissed cause ya let that undead monkey touch you, thought you were better than that.”
“And I thought you were better than letting half this town sleep with you!” Buffy cries, looking hurt.
“You don’t know jack shit about my sex life, B, so don’t fuckin’ pretend to,” Faith snaps. She picks up a pencil from Giles’ desk, trying to occupy her hands so she doesn’t up and hit her, but it snaps between her fingers quickly. She throws the broken pieces to the ground, annoyed.
“I know enough,” Buffy tells her. “You’re the one that said all you’re good for is sex and I’m the one who walked in and had to hear you with that girl that night! Do you have any idea how crappy that was for me?! I was already confused about how I felt about you and then we almost…” she trails off, shaking her head. “And then not ten minutes later you’re having loud, dirty, public sex with that slut!”
“That slut has a fuckin’ name,” Faith snaps, eyes flashing. “Her name was Trish and she fuckin’ died tonight. So ya maybe wanna lay off about her?!”
Buffy’s eyes go wide. “Oh God, Faith. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know…”
“Yeah well, no use cryin’ over it,” Faith says, staring at the far wall. It wasn’t like she loved Trish, she barely even liked her half the time, but she was kind of a friend… or something. It just sucks.
“Faith…”
“Just fuckin’ forget about it. Don’t wanna talk or hug and cry or whatever the hell else ya think we’re gonna do. Trish ain’t the point right now,” Faith tells her flatly, keeping all of her emotions in check except annoyance, which was an acceptable one to let out.
“So what is the point?” Buffy asks quietly.
“Fuck if I know. Not fighting? Whatever Giles sent us in here to do.”
“Well if we want to stop doing that maybe you could start being a little less jealous,” Buffy says softly. Faith scoffs.
“I ain’t fuckin’ jealous.”
“You’re not angry because Angel’s a vampire!” Buffy exclaims, frustrated. “Even before you met him you hated him because you thought there was something going on between him and me!”
“He was stalking you,” Faith says dangerously.
“No, he wasn’t! God, do you even listen to yourself when you speak? Stalkers don’t help me kill the bad guys; they have creepy wall collages of pictures and… I don’t know, binoculars or something! Will you just admit that you didn’t like him because you were jealous?!”
“I ain’t fuckin’ jealous because jealousy implies that I want you to myself and I sure as fuck don’t want that,” Faith says flatly. She cocks an eyebrow at her and goes on, “You’re hot, B, okay? I’ll give ya that. And yeah, I thought about fuckin’ the hell outta ya maybe once or twice. But you’re my fuckin’ friend and that’s all you’re ever gonna be. Just cause I wanna stick my tongue down your throat doesn’t mean I want a relationship.”
“I’m not asking for one!”
“Whatever. You’ve been all moon-eyed over me for weeks now,” Faith points out.
“I don’t know why. You’re such an asshole sometimes,” Buffy mumbles, annoyed. She shakes her head, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Maybe you’re right,” she says quietly. She sighs. “I liked it when we were friends. This? This is complicated and confusing and all it’s doing is making us fight.”
“Well then quit having a crush on me and everything will be better,” Faith tells her.
“You quit being territorial over me then!”
“I’m not fuckin’-”
“Faith! You are! God, can you just stop being such a defensive prick and just admit it?!” Buffy cries. “Do I really have to keep drilling into your head the whole Angel thing?! I’m sure the next guy or girl that shows any kind of interest in me you’re going to be all angry broody girl again, and it doesn’t make any sense because you said you don’t want-”
“I DON’T WANT ANY OTHER FUCKER HAVING YOU BEFORE ME, ALRIGHT?!” Faith screams in fit of anger, pushing everything off of Giles’ desk. Things clatter to the floor and Buffy just stares at her, eyes wide.
Fuck, that wasn’t supposed to come out.
There’s silence between them for a moment and Faith really wishes she could reverse time or just beat the hell out of Buffy so that she doesn’t remember what she just admitted. Neither scenario seemed like it would work though, the latter only because Buffy would probably wipe the floor with her.
She really fuckin’ hates that she’s stronger than her.
“Faith... you said you didn’t want to be with me. So why…?”
“I don’t want a relationship with you, B. I do wanna fuck your brains out though,” Faith says crudely. “And it kinda pisses me off that you’re my friend because if you weren’t you’d already be seduced, fucked, then thrown outta my bed the next morning.”
“So what… is this a ‘wanting what you can’t have’ sort of thing?” Buffy asks slowly, trying to figure her out.
Faith laughs, “Please. I can have you if I wanted and you know it.”
“Actually no, Faith. I don’t just jump into bed with anyone. I do actually like to have a relationship first,” Buffy tells her, annoyed that she thinks so little of her.
“You can preach high and mighty all day, Princess. But the truth is if I wanted to fuck you, you’d be fucked. No questions asked.”
“You can’t just assume that I’d-!”
“And for your information, Twinkie; the only reason I haven’t fuckin’ done it is because ya got a thing for me and it’ll hurt you. So some credit where it’s due would be nice,” Faith finishes.
“Fine. Thanks for not making me into another one of your whores, Faith,” Buffy says sarcastically.
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re completely infuriating, you know that?!” Buffy cries, beyond irritated. She throws her hands up in the air and starts pacing a little. “Why is it that the only thing you care about is sex? Can’t you be a normal person and want the intimacy that’s supposed to go along with that?!”
“Intimacy is for pussies.”
“No, you’re a pussy. You’re just scared of letting someone in, Faith,” Buffy tells her, stopping her pacing and rounding to face her.
“And you think you’re the one that I should let in, do ya?” Faith mocks.
“Actually from what I’ve seen so far I’d rather not be that person,” Buffy tells her. “Trying to have a relationship with you would be like chewing on nails.” She pauses, “Actually chewing on nails sounds more pleasant.”
“Fuck you.”
“Faith, I care about you,” Buffy tells her seriously, ignoring her rudeness. “I don’t know why but apparently I do and I don’t think that’s going to change. But I’m… I’m going through some stuff right now. The Master wants to kill us all and on top of that I realized I’m…”
“A dyke?” Faith offers.
“A lesbian,” Buffy corrects, flushing a little in embarrassment. “But I… I don’t know; I know I need someone who’s going to be patient with me and well, you’re definitely not that. I’m not stupid, but maybe I was a little hopeful that you weren’t so self-involved and carrying more baggage than Cordelia on a day trip. But you are, so I’m sorry I tried to… whatever I tried to do. Make you care more, or something.”
“I don’t have baggage,” Faith mutters.
“You have more issues then a stack of magazines, Faith. Anyone who’s talked to you for five minutes can realize that,” Buffy tells her honestly. Faith rolls her eyes and flips her the finger.
“Fuck you and your issues, Summers.”
“Can you stop being defensive? We’re supposed to be working stuff out. I apologized, didn’t I? I think it’s your turn.”
“What the hell do I have to be sorry for?” Faith snaps.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you could touch on the whole possessive thing,” Buffy says sarcastically, “just a thought.”
“Fine. I’m fuckin’ sorry I wanted to bang ya.”
“That’s not-”
“Are we done now?” Faith interrupts.
Buffy sighs, running her fingers through her hair. “We’re still… annoyed, aren’t we? Well, I know you are.”
“I’m fine.”
She’s not fine.
“No you’re not, you’re snapping at me,” Buffy tells her. “What did I say that pissed you off?”
“Nothing.”
“Faith, just tell me or we’ll never get out of this room.”
Faith sighs, annoyed. She flicks a pen off the desk and grumbles without looking at her, “I just don’t fuckin’ like you assumin’ I got issues. You don’t know me, so I think you should fuck off about that.”
“Fine, I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up again, okay?” Buffy tries. Faith still doesn’t look at her. “Faith please… I want to be friends.”
“We are friends,” Faith says flatly.
“Not really, all we do is yell at each other, at least lately.” Faith doesn’t say anything so Buffy crosses the room to kneel down so that she’s eye level with Faith who’s still sitting on the chair. She puts her hand on her leg, trying to get her attention. “Can you look at me for a second?”
Faith rolls her eyes and turns to look at her. “Jesus, what?”
“You’re the only person I know that gets what I have to deal with right now,” Buffy tells her. “You’re training right now to possibly replace me, Faith. When I die. So you get the world I live in and you understand that we have a higher chance of dying in the next week than most people. Maybe that’s why I feel close to you and maybe I mistook that for other feelings, I don’t know. Maybe I have both. But I want us to be friends at least because you’re the only one who really gets what’s going on with me, and I’m the only one who really gets what’s going on with you.”
Faith raises an eyebrow at her and is silent for a moment, contemplating what Buffy just said. Then she says, “Jeez B, that was kinda mushy.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I ain’t, I was just sayin’,” Faith says with a smirk. She leans back in the chair and points out, “Ya forgot the whole gay thing too.”
“Yeah well, I don’t think you helping me work through that part of my life would be the best thing in the world. I think we need to… maybe try and stay away from all those…” she blushes, “other feelings. If we do maybe we’ll stop fighting.”
Faith shrugs, “Maybe. Whatever. I’m starved, can we get somethin’ to eat or do ya think Giles is gonna try to make us stay and research?”
“Research probably,” Buffy says, but smiles because she knows that’s as much of an admission of a truce as she’s going to get out of Faith.
“Is there a back way outta here?” Faith asks, looking around hopefully.
Buffy giggles a little, standing up and leaning against the wall. “Not unless you want to drill a hole in the wall.” Then she gets a look on her face like she knew she shouldn’t be giving Faith ideas.
Faith smirks, looking devious. “Got a drill?”
GO TO PART TWELVE...