To Live in Die in LA-Part Five
"So now what?" Faith asked walking out of the bathroom adjusting her clothes. She had taken off the wet ones she was wearing and had thrown on some of Dean’s. His t shirt she tied off in the front, his jeans were cinched together with a belt. She looked ridiculous but at least she was dry. Dean had been too sweet and let her change by herself. Lord knows if he had been in there they would still be occupied. Kissing him was both arousing and soothing, a blend she had never tasted before. Being connected to Dean, having him love her? It was a brand new day.
Dean was sitting on the edge of the bed; his eyes told her he thought she looked a bit better than ridiculous in his clothes. She could stare back, if she let herself. Dean went beyond beautiful, physically- but now that she had come to know him? The soul of the man was enough to knock her breath from her body. Sam was sitting on a chair by the window, looking outside. "Find Buffy?" he said.
"Well I grabbed the axe." she said taking a knife to the jeans, cutting them short enough in the legs to wear comfortably. "All we need is Willow to cast a…" and her face went pale "Willow!" she leapt up and raced out of the room, Dean was on her heels as she skidded to a stop in front of the car.
The witch was gone.
"Oh shit." Faith said as she checked under the seat, pulling the Slayer axe out "I lost Buffy and Willow all in the same night.." she said under her breath "I am fired for sure. If I even still have a job..."
"Who’s Willow?" Dean asked coming up behind her.
"Lady who saved both of your lives…and now she’s gone." she said looking out into the night. Her dark eyes scanned the skyline, where the orange bite of streetlights cast a glow to the indigo underbellies of the clouds. There were no signs or portents to lead the way. She had lost Willow. In her fear and anxiety over the brothers Winchester, she had left Willow on her own. Faith felt her belly curdle thinking of Willow deserted and alone. "And I don’t think she’s coming back." she said recalling Willow's black hair and yellow eyes. She recalled the veins throbbing under Willow's pale as milk skin, thinking of what could be using the witch now. She reached back and Dean met her halfway, his fingers winding through her own.
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As soon as Azazel and Willow materialized in the room, one of the suited men began to intone "I want a new body!" The older demon looked at his son, recently evicted from the decapitated Lindsey and his lip curled in scorn.
"You were the one who lost your head." Azazel said walking past him in an obvious dismissal "You deal with it."
As Willow followed him, Lapidus reached out and grabbed her arm "Who in the hell are you supposed to be?"
She looked over to him as her eyes glowed a dark yellow "I’m the wicked witch of the west" she said smiling. His hand burst into fire suddenly, his scream was piercing as he pulled back from her trying to put it out. She looked back to Azazel and shrugged "I hate handsy men."
He held the door open for her as he smiled "It’s the only way children learn." She nodded and walked through.
They walked into a smaller room that looked into a room composed of pure white. In the center was Buffy and Lilith. Buffy was bleeding, cradling one arm trying to crawl away. Willow watched as Lilith’s image would waver and flicker then appear in front of the slayer smiling. Azazel smiled as Lilith knelt down, grabbing the mangled arm roughly.
"Pain is a great motivator." he said absently "The slayer is stubborn."
"She always has been." Willow said the small flicker of doubt in her head consumed by the demon blood.
He placed her arms around her diminutive shoulders "We were going to capture the other slayer to use as a sacrifice." he whispered in her ear "But you can call the conduit to us can’t you?"
"I can do that." She nodded, again as if looking on the scene from a great distance away. The blood sang to her, caressed her. It wasn’t as much as being controlled as it was just being drunk. A vertigo that fizzed in her veins and spun along her nerves, telling her this was good. This was all. She was tapping into a deep, sunken supernova of energy..
"Excellent" he purred "And you do want to teach Buffy a lesson don’t you?" again she wanted to say no, resist the temptation. But the honest truth was she did want to wipe that self righteous smirk from her best friend's face in a bad way. Everyone had flirted with their dark side but Buffy. Had been forced to look in a mirror darkly and wrestled with that had looked back. All except Buffy. She had always been the perfect little slayer, and that just burned Willow from within.
"I do." she said smiling again, the blood throbbing in her head like a bass drum.
"Then we should get started." he said gesturing, a door opening to the white room silently. Willow walked through slowly, like forced in a dream as she screamed for herself to wake up.
But she didn’t.
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Faith paced the motel room freaked.
She had placed the axe on one of the beds after searching the car completely for any clues to the witch’s disappearance. Both Sam and Dean stared at the axe as she struggled to find her next move.
"If she went dark side again we’re toast." she said more to herself as she paced. Her hands went through her hair, gripping and holding there as she tried to put her thoughts together.
"Dark side?" Dean asked looking away from the shiny axe for a second.
Faith nodded "She had issues a few years back…went kind of evil."
Dean’s face hardened slightly "No one just goes kind of evil."
Faith forced herself not to glance at Sam as she said "Sometimes it isn’t her fault." she said carefully "Dark magicks can sway her."
"You mean like the demons back at the fight?" he offered.
Faith swallowed hard as she nodded "Yes, it could be that."
"Can I touch it?" Sam asked standing.
"Um" Faith said as he reached for it "I don’t know if…"
Sam curled his hand around the handle and Faith felt that same tug in her stomach as Sam’s entire body clenched for a second. He pulled his hand back with a sharp cry; she could swear she could smell burnt meat "Damn thing shocked me." Sam called out blowing on his hand.
Dean got up and grabbed it with no problem. He flipped the axe over his hand as he said "Maybe it has a nerd guard." he said smirking at Sam.
Faith wasn’t laughing.
She grabbed the axe out of Dean’s hand mid spin. The movement was so fast that it took Dean almost three seconds to realize the axe was gone. he spun around as Faith gripped the axe in her hand. She wasn’t looking at Dean, she was looking at Sam.
He was staring at his hand.
"What’s wrong Sam?" she asked, terrified at the answer.
"Something’s wrong." he said, still looking at his palm. He held it up and the burnt scar was healing in front of them. Dean’s mouth was agape as the burnt flesh was made whole again.
The room was silent for a second and then Dean called out "What the fuck was that Wolverine shit?"
Sam shook the hand vigorously, as if trying to restart blood flow to the appendage. His face was pale as he said "I don’t know."
Faith saw Dean walk over and examine Sam’s hand with concern on his face. She was about to say something when she felt her arm explode in pain.. She almost crumpled to the floor as phantom pain raced up and down her right arm as if it was broken. She felt one of her knees touch the floor when Dean’s arms grabbed her by the shoulders and held her up "Faith?" he asked with his eyes wide with concern.
She wanted to answer but she was a million miles away. She could feel the circuit of pain from her arm to miles away where a little girl was torturing her mercilessly. A little girl with eyes like boiled eggs. Faith could feel her anger and frustration as she tried again and again to stop her to no avail. Faith felt Dean shake her but she held out her injured hand to stop him.
"Buffy." she whispered hoarsely "I can feel Buffy."
"The axe?" he asked looking down at the weapon gripped in her white knuckles.
She nodded distantly "We’re connected somehow." she could sense it; Buffy was reaching out, broadcasting somehow. She was talking all this pain and using it to call for Faith "God damnit that’s a good plan." she said out loud.
"What is?" Dean asked confused.
Faith stood up, clenching her teeth from the imagined pain "We can use this as a tether, a line back to where she is." she said feeling part of her mind push the broadcasted feelings farther back "We need to start driving."
Dean nodded "That is always a good plan." he looked over to Sam who was still standing there staring at his hand "You going to be ok?" he asked.
Sam kept stared, again not even hearing Dean’s voice "Hey! McFly! You with us?"
Sam looked up sharply "What?" and then made a face "Yeah, I’m fine." Clearly he wasn’t but Dean was running out of shoulders to lend.
"Grab the weapons, we’re rolling." he said leading Faith out towards the car. He said in a lower voice to her "You sure you’re ok?"
"Five by five" she said getting into the passenger side.
He smiled as he closed her door and leaned in the window "Someday you’re gonna have to tell me what that means."
She looked over at him and smiled the best she could "Someday I will." She began to lean in to kiss him when Sam walked out and closed the motel room door. Both her and Dean stopped for the moment and grinned.
Once Sam had secured the duffel bag they took off, beginning their circle of LA. "Turn left." she said after a time, her eyes closed as she followed the pain.
"Left it is." he said taking the next left and driving.
Neither one of them noticed Sam’s eyes closed as well, as if listening to a distant conversation.
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Xander rifled through his room for a piece of paper.
Actually he was looking for a specific piece of paper since there was a lot of paper flying around. Anyone who knew Xander Harris knew he was a packrat; in fact there were a few packrats that knew he was a packrat. As he tossed old comics books one way and discarded Maxim’s the other he was growing more and more frustrated.
Giles had given him the phone to call Buffy. He was relatively sure that was why he had handed his phone over. But Buffy wasn’t answering, adding to the ever growing problems of Slayers without cell phones. He had tried to get the council to approve one of those cool Mission Impossible ear pieces communication systems so everyone could be in contact all the time. But between the council wondering such a cost was necessary and Buffy accurately stating Xander would just use it to whisper "Luke, use the force." all the time, they had vetoed it as a luxury they could not afford.
As he tossed the player’s guide to Zelda out of his way he was pretty sure they were past luxury now.
Finally he found what he was looking for, a binder filled with plastic sleeves. He pulled it out and flipped it open as dozen of Magic The Gathering Cards were displayed. He had worked hard on getting a set like this, and then of course moved to England where no one played. He shook his head as he flipped the plastic pages one by one. They were divided by color and when he got to white he paused and saw the card he was after. He read the card’s name Dogged Hunter and smiled. Pulling it out a slip of paper came with it, he unfolded it and began dialing.
Time to call in the big dawgs now.
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They had driven for almost forty minutes when the pain stopped.
Faith left out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding and placed a hand on the dash as she tried to catch her breath. Dean pulled the car over "What is it?"
Faith concentrated for a second "Buffy…she’s gone." She felt like something had been cut off from inside of her and there was a huge empty nothingness staring back at her. She called out into the void for Buffy again…but got no response.
"Where do we go now?" Dean asked.
Faith shook her head "No idea." she concentrated again and felt something touch her mind back. Something horrible, hungry and sick. She mentally and physically reared back as she closed her mind, she felt the axe warm for a second and then the heat was gone. Dean put his hand on her back and rubbed there as she tried to get control "Something…something else tried to reach me." she said breathlessly "Something that killed Buffy."
Dean looked so concerned she could kiss him, but the pit in her stomach told her it wasn’t the time. In a low voice he asked "So now where?"
She was about to tell him 'no idea' when Sam said from the back seat "I know how to find them." Dean looked back and gasped for a second as he saw his brother’s eyes.
Two black orbs looked back at him as Sam grinned and asked "Mind if I drive?"
The Impala shifted into gear and took off at full speed, Dean held on as he began to reach for his gun.
Faith looked behind in shock as Sam held one hand out with his eyes closed. The car maneuvered through the streets as if on rails, she looked over at Dean who was pulling his pistol out slowly. She placed a hand on his "Wait" she said whispering.
He gave her a look and jerked his head towards Sam "He’s possessed!"
She looked back but didn’t feel the same gut punch of demonic possession she normally did. Shaking her head she said "I don’t think so."
He looked back and then at her "Then how is he doing that?"
Good question.
"I don’t know." she said gripping her axe tighter "But he isn’t possessed."
"I’m not possessed and I can hear you." Sam said still driving.
Dean spun around "Then you wanna explain how you’re doing that?"
Sam continued to keep his eyes closed "No idea, but I know where they are." the car accelerated again "Hold on."
Dean cursed under his breath as the car took another impossible turn.
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The car pulled up in front of the abandoned Wolfram and Hart building with a screech. Sam dropped his hand as the car turned itself off, his eyes flashing back to normal. Dean almost leapt in the backseat and grabbed Sam by the shirt "What the hell are you? What did you do with my brother?"
Sam pulled back slightly as Dean tried to climb over the seat. Faith grabbed one of Dean's legs and pulled him back down. Hard. Before he hit the seat, she slapped his ass- but that was mostly for herself. Dean gave Faith a wounded look as Sam rubbed his neck. "He’s not possessed, Dean." Faith said in as stern a voice as she can manage.
"Then explain the Jedi mind trick!" he shot back at her and then looked in the back seat "And NEVER do that to my car again."
"It’s my fault Dean." she said summoning up as much truth in her voice as she could "It’s my blood, it’s messing with him." Dean stopped as Sam sat there with his mouth half open. She nodded and said "It’s rare but sometimes Slayer blood can do this to people." she was lying her ass off but so far Dean was buying it. She was watching Sam as well, the younger brother wasn’t as accepting of her explanation. "It can amplify the normal power that a human being has. It's chemistry. I didn't know exactly how it would go with Sam, but I had to try. It's my fault if he's a little out there. But he's Sam. He's fine.." she explained "He isn’t a demon."
Dean looked at her, then Sam, then back to her "He isn’t?"
Sam sighed "That’s what I’ve been telling you!"
Dean scowled at him "Yeah, but that’s just what a demon would say."
Sam stopped and then shrugged, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Good point."
"It wears off?" Dean asked Faith and she saw Sam lean forward, his eyes calling out to hers. Faith mentally took a deep breath and said "Yeah, it fades."
Dean let out a sigh and said "Well then, why didn’t you say so?" he said turning back to the windshield "Why the hell did you bring us here?"
Typical Dean, once he had an explanation he could swallow he simply moved on like that. Faith knew he had to think something was up; he simply didn’t want to face it. Which was fine with her. Dean had so much to handle right now that he was back-burnering what would only distract him.
"They’re here." Sam said looking out at the burnt out building "I know it."
"Well what do you expect us to do? Shoot a bat rope up and climb the side of the building?" Dean asked sarcastically.
Sam squinted at the building "I don’t think that building is as dead as we thought." he could feel the image of the skyscraper rubbing at the edge of his mind. It was flickering, like an image made of rice paper, it was threatening to tear at any second. Closing his eyes he held out a hand again and he felt the power flow through him and the distant sound of breaking glass in his mind.
"Holy shit." he heard Dean mutter.
Sam opened his eyes and looked up and gasped.
There in front of them stood the Wolfram and Hart building…completely undamaged, gleaming like a dark beacon in the night.
"They rebuilt…" Faith muttered.
"Right under everyone’s noses." Dean finished.
"If they get the conduit in place…" Sam said from the backseat.
Faith looked at the brothers "Then L.A. would already have been lost."
"Come on." Dean said getting out of the car and opening the trunk. He handed Sam a pistol as he loaded the sawed off shotgun. He glanced at the trunk and then to Faith but she shook her head.
Holding up the axe she said "All I need."
He smiled and closed the trunk "Women with weapons…man, that’s hot."
He moved towards the building and she grabbed him and made him stop "You aren’t afraid at all are you?"
He smirked for a second and then his face grew serious "I am only afraid of two things in this world." he said holding his hand p as he counted off "One, is my brother getting hurt and me not being able to fix it." she nodded "And two, is you not feeling the same way towards me as I do towards you." His face was completely vulnerable, no smile, no smirk, no nothing. She was looking directly at the real Dean Winchester for a second.
And her face fell. She opened her mouth to tell him he didn't have anything to worry about, but he was not ready to hear it. He started talking before she could break in her two cents.
"So to answer your question" his voice was full of bravado and cockiness "Hell no." he cocked the shotgun and kissed her on the cheek "Let’s kick ass and chew bubblegum!" he roared moving past her.
She shook her head as she smiled. That man was one of a kind.
They got two steps towards the lobby when the front windows exploded outward. They all covered their faces as the courtyard was littered with falling glass. As they looked up they saw Jessica’s body standing next to Willow, her hair still dark, her eyes still yellow. The sneer on Jessica’s face was disgusting to Sam as she said "Awww…look. It’s the Saved by the Bell gang." she looked at Dean "You’re Zack." to Sam "You’re Slater." and then to Faith "And you must be the slut who was in Showgirls."
Faith whipped the axe up "And you’re the bitch hiding in a human suit." the blade gleamed in the moonlight "Why don’t you come out and play?"
Meg’s nose scrunched up as she looked at Faith "That old thing?" she scoffed "Been there, done that."
Faith ignored the demon as she looked at Willow "Will? Come on, you can’t be bad."
Willow smiled wanly, two scarlet strips on her pale face "Who said I was bad? Maybe this is just who I am."
Faith almost whispered "That isn’t you."
Willow cocked her head "Aww Faithy. You afraid we’re gonna fight?"
Faith gripped the blade with both hands "Oh we will."
Meg smiled "No…you’re not for her." and a third figure stepped out of the shadows. Buffy stood there, her hair looked almost on fire in the darkness, her eyes completely white with power. Faith gasped as she saw the conduit raging through Buffy's body.
With a smile devoid of all mirth Buffy’s mouth said "So you’re Faith?" her voice vibrated with power "I’m not impressed." She raised her hand and Faith felt a wave of power pass over her.
And then she fell down face first as her heart stopped beating.
She heard Dean yell distantly in the distance. But to be honest she was just too tired to care anymore. Thankfully, the world went dark.
Previously on To Live in Die in L.A.
Prelude// Part One// Part Two/ Part Three/ Part Four/ Part Five/ Part Six/ Part Seven/ Part Eight/ Part Nine/ Part Ten