Disclaimer/Summery: See Part 1
THE WOUNDED
The necklace was a thin, fragile chain of gold, luminous in that dark room, but seemingly without weight or substance. It was ethereal, insubstantial...to Faith, it felt like holding sunlight in her hand. But that necklace was old, too, and that gave it weight: Faith could feel the weight of the years it carried. A tiny gold crucifix hung down from it, cunningly sculpted. When Faith looked at Christ on the cross, she saw his crown of thorns, and the wound in his side. She saw his anguish, plain upon his face.
The necklace caught the faint fluorescent light and shimmered, as if it had been touched by sunlight...as if it carried the sun with it.
"It's beautiful," Faith said.
"Yeah," Angel said.
Faith handed it to Tara.
"Okay, but...um...I don't have my magic stuff," Tara said. "Kinda misplaced it with the whole disappearing and then showing up naked thing."
"We have it," Willow said. "Brought it with us in the van, plus my stuff too, and a bunch of Giles' stuff."
"Hold it, back up," Faith said. "Disappearing and showing up naked? What?"
"Oh yeah, you missed that part," Buffy said. "Tara just sort of like, appeared here. Um, naked."
"What? Appeared?" Faith said, and looked at Tara.
"Um...no idea what happened exactly," Tara said. "One second I'm driving around Sunnydale, next second I'm here in my birthday suit with the goodies all hangin' out. I think it's an X-File. I think we totally need to get Mulder and Scully out here."
"She disappeared right out of her clothes," Angel said. "I was with her in the car when it happened. Okay, on top of the car, but still. I was fighting off these vamps on the roof of the car while Tara was driving, next thing I know I look inside the car and she's not there anymore. Her clothes were all there, her sneaker was still on the gas pedal. But she was gone."
"Like what happened on the highway," Buffy said.
"Yeah," Faith said. "B and me saw a car on the highway like that--it looked like whoever was driving it was taken out of their clothes. And the radio was saying it's happening all over."
"Radio's still saying that," Willow said. "There are more and more cases being reported all over the world. People are disappearing, especially kids. Most of the cases are kids. No idea what any of it means, unless you wanna just believe the Bible. I'd rather not though."
"Giles thinks it's from the Book of Revelation," Angel said. "Something called the Rapture."
"The Rapture?" Tara said.
"During the end times God takes the souls of all the good Christians in the world up into Heaven--actually their bodies too--to save them from having to experience all the badness," Willow said. "Everyone else gets royally screwed, of course."
"But...I'm not Christian," Tara said. "If there's like, the opposite of a Christian, that's basically what I am."
"Yeah, the Bible's full of shit," Willow said. "I've read it all the way through and I honestly have no idea how people could have ever taken it seriously. On the one hand it's like, 'everybody be nice to each other', then on the next page it's all 'and then God killed a bunch of folks over stupid bullshit.' Who knows what's going on but it's not the Rapture. Even if we believed the Bible it still can't be the Rapture, Tara's not Christian. According to the Bible she should be burning in Hell for not believing in Christ." She smiled at Tara. "Um, no offense sweetie. If there's one person in the world I'm certain isn't ever going to Hell, it's you."
"Yeah, it would be like, totally depressing if the Christians were right and I ended up in Hell someday. I'd be like, aw, c'mon, Satan, I was always nice to everyone! How come you're pickin' on me? Ow! Stop pokin' me with that thing!" She giggled.
"There's no such thing as Hell, Tara. The Goddess would never create anything like that."
"Yeah. Hell always sounded to me like something human beings would come up with, not the Goddess. Something meant to scare people."
Willow felt something...anger, welling up inside her. She had no idea why she was becoming angry just then. But she was...
"Yeah," Willow said, and forced her anger back down. "We've come up with a lot of ridiculous shit. The Goddess didn't create a Hell. She's not some fucking Nazi, torturing people. Only human beings could ever come up with an idea so twisted as that, the idea that the Goddess would get off on torturing people. Sometimes I think the Goddess must be ashamed of us. She must like, look down at us and shake Her head and wonder where She went wrong. Maybe that's why the world's ending now. Maybe She finally got tired of Her creation being so stupid and vicious. Nailing people to fucking crosses."
"I don't think She's given up on us yet, sweetie," Tara said, and squeezed Willow's hand. "She has faith. We have faith in Her, and She has faith in us."
Willow smiled. "I think she definitely has faith in you."
"Yup," Tara said, and giggled. "I'm just completely awesome."
"This still sounds like that Rapture deal at least," Faith said. "People disappearing out of their clothes at the end of the world."
"Plus the sun going out and the red moon, that stuff's in Revelation too according to Giles," Angel said.
"Okay, we gotta get going on Drusilla but obviously I missed some stuff while I was out," Faith said. "So before we do the locator spell and go after her, I need someone to go grab G-Man and Cordy and then we gotta all like, catch each other up so everybody knows what everybody else has been up to the past couple days."
"I'll go," Angel said. "The way Giles keeps wandering off I'll probably have to track him by scent."
"Wandering off?" Buffy said.
"Every time I look up he's gone again," Angel said. "He says he's been talking to people in the hospital, trying to get a sense of how things are out there, but he's lying. Probably Cordy just kinda gets on his nerves and he's too polite to say anything. And he's not the biggest fan of me either."
"I'm a fan though," Faith said. "The whole GQ thing you got goin' on? You should've been in a boy band. You would've been awesome in New Kids. If they kicked ugly-ass Danny out, replaced him with you, they'd still be goin' strong today."
"Pretty sure I didn't understand a word you said there," Angel said.
"Translated, she said you're hot," Tara said.
"Got your poster on my wall, dude," Faith said, and winked at him. "But don't tell my girlfriend. She gets jealous."
"That's right, baby," Buffy said, and did something to Faith under the covers that made her giggle, and kissed her cheek. "She does."
"Uh...okay...thanks. Uh...I think," Angel said, and walked out the door.
"Okay," Faith said. "Once we get everybody in here we'll catch up on stuff quick and then we're after Dru. But it won't just be catching up on current events. We gotta like do it on the down-low, be all slick about it 'cuz I don't want G-Man gettin' his knickers in a twist about me bein' in charge, but Will, Tara, I need to know exactly what magic stuff you guys can do. All your spells, whether or not they work every time, how often you can do 'em, how powerful they are, all that stuff. I need to figure out how you guys are gonna fit in the field."
Faith and Buffy both suddenly looked up, and sniffed the air. Melanie came into the room, carrying a stack of ten hospital dinners in plastic containers.
"Okay, ten," Melanie said, as she bustled into the room and set the dinners down on the little white bureau in the corner. "You said ten, Willow, right?"
"Yup," Willow said, and got up and grabbed a few of the dinners from the top of the stack. She moved them to the cart on wheels that stood beside the monitors, and wheeled the cart next to the bed. "I got a hungry Slayer niece."
"You got this stuff for me?" Faith said, watching the food with a glint in her eye. She was suddenly realizing how hungry she was. She felt a growl welling up in her throat.
"Told you we'd bring you back some vittles, sweetie," Willow said, and opened the three dinners, and handed Faith a fork and a knife. "You didn't think I forgot about you, did you?"
"You're an awesome auntie," Faith said, and got ready to attack the turkey and mashed potatoes. The turkey and mashed potatoes had nowhere to run.
"Just a sec," Melanie said, and looked at Faith's monitor. Okay, your potassium's almost done, after that you're off the IV. How do you feel?"
"Feelin' good, like a hundred-percent," Faith said, as Sol walked in.
"So I finally get to meet my patient," he said, and stood there smiling. "Sorry I didn't come by sooner, this place has been crazy. Seen you plenty when you were unconscious though."
"What's up, doc?" Faith said, and held out her hand. Sol took it. "Hear you're the reason I'm alive."
"Nah, it's all these crazy girls," Sol said, and looked at her vital signs on the monitor. "They got you what you needed. By the way, you're the toughest girl in the world. Been doing this almost twenty years, never seen anyone tougher. If there's still a world out there in a couple weeks I might just write you up in the medical journals, Faith."
"So she's doing okay? She's doing okay now?" Buffy said.
"Yeah," Sol said. "But I still want her for at least another day, preferably two."
"Doc," Faith said. "I'm gonna be honest, okay? I got a thing about hospitals, they make me nervous. I was kinda hopin' to get out of here today."
"No," Buffy said. "You're gonna do what Sol says. You're staying here as long as he says you are."
She took Faith's hand.
"I love you," Buffy said. "You can be in charge on everything else. But on this one thing I'm in charge. And we're not gonna discuss it or debate it. It's decided. You're gonna stay here as long as Sol says. I know you don't like hospitals, baby. So I'll be in the room with you the whole time. We'll get through it together. But you're staying."
"Okay, honey," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's cheek. "I'll tough it out."
"And...and I'll be here too, and Willow...y'know...if you want," Tara said.
"Yeah," Faith said, and took Tara's hand.
There was a beeping noise. Sol pulled a cell phone from his lab coat.
"Excuse me a sec," he said, and turned away from them. "Yeah," he said, into the phone.
"Look on the bright side, kid," Melanie said. "No more IV. Once this potassium's done we can take most of this crap off you." She pointed to the wall, near the ceiling. "Plus the room's got TV."
"Yeah, we haven't really used the TV in here, the news is kinda depressing," Buffy said.
"What?!" Sol suddenly shouted. Everyone looked at him. "What are you talking about?!" He listened for a moment, as everyone watched him. "But...but that's...how the hell can that even happen?" he said. "Are you sure he didn't just...?" Sol had tears in his eyes now. "If I was...if I was there? You think... you're blaming me for this? You were supposed to be watching him! And you just let him disappear on you?! Hello? Hello??"
He threw the cell phone against the wall. It exploded into pieces.
No one spoke for a moment. Sol stood there, with tears in his eyes.
"What...happened?" Melanie finally said.
"My son," Sol said. "He...he...disappeared. One second he was there and then...he was gone. His clothes are still there. He...it's like he was taken out of his clothes. But...my ex-wife was right there when it happened. It happened right in front of her. I don't know where my son is."
"I'm sorry," Faith said. Sol nodded.
"What's...what's his name?" Willow said.
"Josh," Sol whispered.
"The stuff with people disappearing, it's happening all over the world, Sol," Faith said. "It's all over the news. Buffy and I saw it before we got here, we saw a car with a set of some woman's clothes in it, her shoe was still on the gas pedal. I don't know what this shit is, and I know you won't believe me when I say this but...dealing with stuff like this is sorta what we do. I need to be out there. I need to be out there helping. It's...kinda my job. So I need you to be honest with me. Am I a hundred-percent? Is the only reason you want me here just because you wanna be cautious? Or do I really need another day here?"
"You're a hundred-percent," Sol said. "Don't ask me how but you are. I gave you a complete exam last night while you slept, after you got the last of the blood. You're perfectly fine, your vitals are textbook perfect. If it wasn't for that neck wound I wouldn't know you were ever hurt. And yeah, I believe you. I know how you and Buffy kill vampires."
"Huh? You do?"
"Your girlfriend really has a way with a sword. And watching your crew take out like three-hundred vampires yesterday with that big ball of fire sort of sealed the deal for me."
"Three-hundred vampires?" Faith said. "What? What happened?"
"The First brought a whole big army of vamps to the hospital last night," Buffy said. She smiled. "Then Willow showed up. Big giant fireball, cool sparkly light show, vamps go poof."
"You took out three-hundred vamps?" Faith said, looking at Willow in amazement.
"No one hurts my niece," Willow said, and kissed her cheek.
"Her name is Willow Rosenberg," the First said. "She's your main target. She can't be killed until we perform the ceremony, so she has to be taken alive."
"Not a problem," Lilah said. "Uh...can I ask a question?"
"What?" the First said.
They were sitting in the living room of one of Wolfram and Hart's safe houses, one of the places the firm stashed clients who were on the run from the law. It was a cozy little bungalow in San Fernando with a pretty garden in the backyard and a nice view of the fire raging out of control a few blocks away through the front window. They were sitting in rocking chairs by the window and drinking tea in the dark. Lilah wasn't sure exactly how the First was managing to drink tea, since the First was supposed to be incorporeal. She supposed it was an illusion. But Lilah had something much more pressing on her mind.
The First wasn't loving her anymore.
Lilah was still in the black, still reduced to nothing, still subsumed into the First...but it felt different now. The First didn't seem as interested in her, wasn't focused on her the way she had been before. Lilah didn't feel the First's attention on her at all now. Before, the First's regard had been like being pinned down, and stripped bare, and relentlessly penetrated, and Lilah had reveled in it, as the First found every part of her, and filled it with herself, and obliterated every atom of Lilah...consumed her. But now Lilah felt like she had been left there, still naked, but alone. Lilah felt as if she had been discarded.
"Why did you change?" Lilah said. "Why do you look like that now?"
The First was a beautiful blonde-haired woman wearing a 1920's flapper-style outfit; a straight, loose black velvet dress with lots of beads and fringe cut just below the knee, layers of long, beaded necklaces, gaudy rings, and earrings that looked like peacock feathers. Her blonde hair was cut in a short crop, and she wore a cloche hat.
She smiled. She had fangs.
"I'm Darla," the First said, and sipped her tea. "She was a vampire, the vampire who created Angelus. I wear her skin sometimes, I always liked her. I can't be Buffy when I'm making plans to kill Willow. I've spent so much time in Buffy's skin now that I've become...infected with her."
Darla frowned, and shook her head.
"Infected by her...love," Darla growled, practically spitting out the words. "Buffy loves Willow...and not just Willow. She loves Faith too. We're going to be attacking both of them today and I can't make those plans as Buffy. If I tried I might be too tempted to...
The First suddenly changed; became Buffy again. She was wearing the cheerleader outfit again.
She got up, and walked to the window, and looked out at the fire.
"Master?" Lilah whispered.
Buffy turned back to Lilah, and smiled. Her green eyes caught the light from the fire; they looked like emeralds and rubies mingled together.
"Call me Buffy, baby," Buffy said.
Lilah smiled too. She felt it again: that unrelenting, merciless regard, slicing into her, laying her bare. Lilah gave herself to it.
"Buffy," Lilah purred.
Buffy approached her. She stood above her, smiling down at her.
She undressed.
"I love you," Lilah whispered, and knelt in front of her.
"You don't like girls," Buffy said, as she stood naked in front of Lilah now. "Buffy does, she's gay, but you don't swing that way, baby. What are we gonna do about that?"
Lilah kissed Buffy's feet. Her lips went through her.
"Nothing," Lilah said. "You can have me, and I'll love it. I love you."
"Aw, you're sweet," Buffy said, and giggled. "You're a sweet kitty-cat. But I always take care of my girls. I don't want you to just lie there trying to make yourself like it, baby. I wanna make sure you're taken care of."
Buffy changed: melted, grew. Became a man...a beautiful man, Lilah thought. He stood naked in front of her.
"You're...Angel?" Lilah whispered, on her knees in front of him. "I...have a file on you. Pictures. They don't do you justice, master."
"Yup, that's me," Angel said, and his dick grew erect in front of her. "Vampire with a soul, fighting to protect the helpless, looking for redemption, yadda yadda. Plus? Awesome hair."
Lilah put her mouth around his dick. She couldn't feel him in her mouth, but she put her mouth around him anyway.
"That's better," Angel said. "I can smell it on you, hon. Now you're gettin' into it. I've a way with the ladies."
Lilah nodded, and moved her mouth back and forth along his dick. She wished she could feel it...but she couldn't.
"Assuming old man Vail is able to help with my whole Casper the Friendly Ghost problem, this is the skin I'm gonna wear when I fuck you, darlin'," Angel said. "That work for you?"
Lilah took her mouth away from his dick, and looked up at him, and smiled.
"Absolutely," she said.
"I'm gonna fuck your arse, too," Angel said. "You ever take a cock up the arse, hon? It's gonna hurt like a bastard."
"I never did that," Lilah said, keeping her face close to his dick. It was a nice big dick with a nice big set of balls attached and she couldn't take her eyes off it. "But I'm gonna take yours. I'm gonna take every inch of this baseball bat up my ass and I'm gonna love every second of it."
"Okay, now that we've got that settled...time to make plans, baby," Buffy said. "Isn't he like, a total hottie, by the way? Angel I mean. He was my first... Buffy's first. God, he stretched me out. I couldn't walk the next day. Plus, I could just spend hours playing with his hair. How the hell does he get it to do that?"
"Mousse, maybe?" Lilah said.
"Next time I'm him I'm gonna have to check his memories and find out the big secret. Seriously, I think about his hair a lot. And fair warning Lilah, if I do manage to become corporeal on this plane, and we fuck? You better use some lube when I fuck your ass, or I might just split you in half with his dick. And I don't wanna hurt my baby."
"I love you," Lilah said.
"You're a good girl," Buffy said. "Okay, so I've been peeking in on them. They're still in that hospital in Burbank, they're about to go after Drusilla, then they're gonna be heading home. We need to capture Willow, she's the big gun..."
"And she can't be killed, even if we wanted to, because there's a ceremony that has to be done first, right?"
"Yeah. But that plan's been changed. I'm not gonna do the ceremony now, I'm not gonna kill her now. We don't need to kill her, we just need to make sure she's never able to pray on humanity's behalf. Even though I'm like ninety-nine percent sure Mother isn't listening anyway, but better safe than sorry. We'll capture Willow, keep her locked up. We won't kill her."
"We do that, her friends will come looking for her. Best plan is to kill her."
"I said we're not killing her," Buffy snarled. "We're not doing the ceremony. Got it?"
"Uh...okay."
"We'll capture her. And you're right, her gang will come looking for her. They have a witch named Tara, she can do locator spells. She'll need to be either captured or killed too. Once she is they'll have no way to find us. Actually, their Watcher Giles too, I think he can do locator spells in a pinch."
"You said that Slayer, Faith, is in charge of the group now, right? How tough is she?"
"She's real tough. Cunning, creative, a lateral thinker, great at improvising under pressure. But we're not killing her either. This is important, Lilah. If you kill Faith I'll disown you. If you kill Faith I'll have your mother killed while you watch, and then I'll have you killed. Do you understand?"
Lilah's face went pale, and her eyes filled with tears. "I...Buffy I...I won't, I promise. I won't, I won't let them kill Faith."
"See that you don't. Once you go in and your men have the upper hand I want you to offer them a deal. They all live, all of them and anyone else they want to bring along, they all get to be on the reservation, if they just stop fighting me. Angel can still be in charge of it, or if they want they can pick people from their group to run it, I don't care who they pick. Angel will try to refuse the deal, so make sure you specifically offer it to Faith. She's smarter than Angel, she's not an idealist like he is. She might take the deal. Make sure you make them all understand that I've won and they're all gonna die bloody if they keep fighting. If you can convince them to take the deal I'll be very pleased with you, Lilah."
Lilah had thought she was going to run the reservation...the First had offered that to her before.
She realized Buffy loved Faith and Willow more than her. She would have to find a way to change that. It might take time...maybe years. But Lilah decided she would do it, she would find a way to be the First's favorite...no matter what she had to do to accomplish it.
"What if...they won't take the deal?" Lilah said.
"Then you capture Willow, and you capture or kill Tara and Giles," Buffy said. "Faith lives. Angel lives. Buffy has to live too come to think of it, Faith would go to pieces if Buffy died. I don't give a shit about Cordy. Kill her or not, whatever's easiest. If you get an opportunity to capture Faith, Buffy or Angel, take it, but don't take unnecessary risks. Without Tara and Giles to do a locator spell they won't be able to track us to find Willow anyway. You can kill Tara, Giles, and Cordy, but no one else. The guys you've got, they can do this? They can follow orders and not be stupid? This is why I need you, why I need humans. Vamps and demons are great for brute force but they lack discipline. Not to mention the whole having to be invited in thing for vamps. Plus, going in with an all-human squad gives us the extra advantage that Faith and her gang might hesitate to kill your men. Your men are human beings with souls, there's a line there I'm not certain Faith's willing to cross."
"These guys are top-line mercenaries, they're trained for this kind of stuff and the firm used them all the time. They're in hiding right now but as long as they have your protection from everything going on out there, the whole unit's willing to come onboard."
"They have like, non-lethal weapons? Like, tranquilizer darts and tasers and cool movie stuff?"
"You name it, they have it. They're pros."
"Make sure they understand I'll fucking torture them to death if they kill Faith. She's my baby girl. If they kill her I'll feed them their own hearts."
"Not a problem."
"With all due respect, why are you bothering with all these elaborate plans when you could simply send me in there to handle the whole lot of them myself?" Vail said, swishing into the room from the kitchen, holding a glass of red wine in one of his tentacles and looking very pleased with himself. "I washed the robe, by the way."
"Yup, April fresh," Buffy said. "You're on the team, Vail, but I like going in with overwhelming force. I'm really into the whole overwhelming thing. I like to make an impression. Willow gonna give you any problems? She's a powerful witch and she seems to be growing more powerful by the day. She called down a lightning bolt before and now she's doing these really annoying fireballs and energy shields."
"Excellent," Vail said, and smiled his ugly, toothless slit of a smile. "They're fun to watch."
"Don't underestimate her, fancypants," Buffy said. "She took out three-hundred and twelve of my vampires yesterday."
"I suppose it's a good thing I'm not a vampire then."
"And what about our other problem? The whole me not being able to touch anything dealie?"
"Rather more difficult. I'll need to do a lot more research, and I can't guarantee success. But I've found out the cause, at least--I know why you can't become corporeal on this plane. You are out of phase with this world. Or, more accurately, the world is out of phase with you."
"Out of phase. Do you like watch Star Trek? Do we have to like fix the warp drive now? Where's Scotty?"
"Forgive me, I do not understand that reference. You exist in a different time than everyone else."
"A different time? Then how are you and I even able to talk?"
"That's the ingenious part. The effect is minimal, in fact it's hardly even discernable. You're out of sync with this world, but to a tiny, infinitesimal degree. You exist roughly one-one-thousandth of a second in the future. But the effect is constant. You are consistently, every moment, one millisecond ahead of this world's time. The effect isn't enough to negate our ability to hear you, as sound isn't a static thing like a physical object. Sound is a wave, it travels at a defined speed, therefore it moves through time. By the time the soundwaves of your speech reach a person's ears the time gap has been closed and we've 'caught up to the wave', so to speak. It does affect your ability to interact with physical objects in this world though, which do not travel through time, they exist within time as a constant. But I must admit I'm puzzled as to how you can ever hear anything... whenever anyone talks to you, the soundwaves would exist a millisecond in your past. The sound shouldn't reach your ears."
"There's a delay. I hear you talk before you say the words. It's kinda like a Godzilla movie. I'm used to it though, I can read people's thoughts when I concentrate, so I sort of even things out that way when I'm talking to people. I've always wondered about that...thanks for clearing it up. You're earning your pay, Vail. Question is, do you get that big fat Christmas bonus. You've pinned down the problem. What's the solution?"
"The effect is magically created," Vail said. "As it's a magical effect there will be a magical solution, but you have to understand the power involved here. This spell wasn't cast on you, you weren't altered. The spell was cast on the world. The kind of magic power needed to affect the entire world in this way, to actually throw the entire world backward in time, permanently, even if only by a millisecond, boggles the mind. This isn't a glamour, it isn't something that only affects the way people perceive the world, it's an actual physical alteration of the world. I can perhaps find a counter-spell--though I do not know if I am powerful enough to cast it--or I suppose someone might invent a time-machine someday."
"Well, it can't be Mother. She doesn't use magic, She doesn't have to. Besides, She could bar me from this world completely if She wanted to, no reason for Her to get all fancy and do this Star Trek time differential crap. We're dealing with a magic-user."
"Yes, and an extremely powerful magic-user too...more powerful than anyone I have ever encountered. I had thought the Powers might be creating the effect at first, as you say they are protecting Rosenberg. But I don't think even they're strong enough to be doing this. And besides, this spell doesn't smell like them. I've encountered the Powers' magics before. This spell has a different scent...one I'm not familiar with."
"It's definitely not the Powers. They're not strong enough. Even what they're doing with Will, how they're protecting her, I could punch through it long enough to kill her with a simple ceremony if I wanted to. It's someone else."
"Let's not get too awestruck," Lilah said. "Whoever's doing this doesn't have the strength to bar you from this world completely, or else you gotta assume they would. So whoever they are, no matter how tough they are, their strength has limits. And one other thing about magic-users. I've run into a whole bunch of them. It's cute, how they can like, throw fireballs and stuff? But in my experience there's a not a damned thing they can do about a bullet to the head."
"A bullet can't penetrate an energy shield," Vail said.
"Sure, if the wizard knows they're in someone's sights. That's why I love snipers so much. We find the wizard casting this spell, we might not have to bother countering the effect. We might just have to kill the wizard. And yeah, a frontal assault on someone that powerful might not be a good idea. So we wait until they're off-guard. Then..."
Lilah smiled, and held her fingers to Vail's forehead in the shape of a gun.
"Bang," Lilah said.
"You know, girl, I've killed people for far less than that," Vail said.
"Now, kids, don't make me give you a time-out," Buffy said. "Lilah's got a point, but this is all backburner stuff anyway. Right now let's get Willow. But I'll tell you this. If I could manifest right now I could take this whole world myself. I want to feel my hands around some innocent creature's neck. I wanna be able to kiss Faith, and hold her in my arms, and bring her inside me. I wanna be able to touch stuff. You guys find a way to make that happen, you find me the magic-user who's doing this, and you'll both be rewarded beyond anything you've ever dreamed of."
"Um...okay. So that's basically all of it," Willow said.
"You sure?" Faith said. "You sure that's everything you can do? From what I'm hearing it seems like you keep discovering new stuff. Lightning bolts, fireballs, that double-locator spell you were gonna do."
Buffy sat beside Faith on the hospital bed, and held her hand. Faith was dressed. The potassium in the IV had finished, and Sol had confirmed that Faith was fully recovered, and that there was no medical reason Faith needed to stay any longer.
Buffy would have been more comfortable if Faith had stayed in the hospital at least one more day, but she knew being in the hospital was hard for Faith... and Willow had told her the night before about the breathing problems Faith sometimes had in hospitals, the sense of panic that could overwhelm her... that could make Faith feel like she was suffocating sometimes. Buffy didn't want Faith to ever feel that way. So they were getting ready to leave.
Angel had found Giles and Cordy. Giles had been in the parking lot talking with someone...a man Angel didn't recognize. Giles had claimed the man was just someone he'd met in the cafeteria and that he was talking to him to try to get a sense of how things were going out there.
Angel had taken Buffy aside for a moment, after he brought Giles in. He had walked with her to the little lounge area down the hall from Faith's room, and turned the television on, loud, to make absolutely certain no one could hear them when they talked. It was a little easier for Buffy not to kill him this time...she was a little less tempted. The Slayer was still growling inside her, but it seemed to have accepted Angel again...he was a necessary evil.
As the television gave directions to the emergency camps the military was setting up across the country, Angel had told Buffy that he could've sworn the man Giles was talking to had been a vampire. The way the man moved, the way he held himself, how he dressed...and the fact that he never seemed to inhale when he talked...all of it indicated to Angel's heightened senses that the man was a vampire.
But the man hadn't smelled like a vampire. Angel couldn't explain it.
Even so, Angel had been around a very long time and he trusted his instincts, and his instincts were telling him there was something wrong with the man Giles had been talking to. And he was certain Giles was lying about it. With everything else going on all Buffy could do was file the odd occurrence away to be dealt with later...if there was a later. If they hadn't already run out of time.
They all sat together now in Faith's little room, filling each other in on where they had been and what they had done. Faith did her best not to act like she was running the meeting. But when Buffy watched Giles, he didn't seem to care. In fact he hardly seemed to be paying attention.
Buffy had made an excuse to touch him. He was solid.
And he smelled like Giles, and he talked like Giles...but Buffy could tell, now that she was focusing in on him with all her senses, that something was wrong. The Slayer in her wanted to growl at him. She couldn't explain it...
Like Faith had asked, Tara had told them every kind of magic she could do, every spell she had ever practiced, and the spells she was working on learning now. When she had mentioned that she could see through glamours, Buffy had asked her to look around the room, concentrate on everything and everyone in it, and tell her if there were any glamours in effect. Tara had done as Buffy had asked, though she didn't know why Buffy had asked, and Buffy had said something about how the gang had encountered magic-users before and that it was always better to be safe than sorry. Tara concentrated, on everything, and everyone...while Buffy watched Giles. He looked bored.
After a few minutes Tara said that she was certain there were no glamours in the room...that everything, and everyone, was what they seemed to be. After that, Buffy had let her suspicions about Giles go, and just chalked them up to nerves. He smelled right. And she had just lost her mother, and Xander, and nearly lost Faith. And she knew part of her had always resented Giles a little...as much as she cared about him, as much as he had been like a father to her, part of her blamed him for her life...for the fact that she had to fight this war. He was the one who had drafted her.
Buffy knew it wasn't his fault. But part of her always resented him anyway.
"Yeah, Willow, it's almost like...a lot of your magic is like, subconscious, maybe?" Tara was saying. "And you're like, remembering new things now."
"And yet she never remembers how she borrowed my red sweater a year ago," Buffy said. "And my U2 CD. You couldn't take Joshua Tree? You had to take Achtung Baby? That's the best one!"
"Yeah, but when you do I'm gonna like, make you sign a contract specifying exactly when you're giving 'em back," Tara said, and giggled at Willow. "And no, I'm thinking maybe one or two."
"What's that, sweetie?" Willow said.
"One or two pairs," Tara said. "Not all of them."
"Um...kinda lost me there, Tara," Willow said. "One or two pairs of what?"
Tara noticed that everyone was looking at her.
"Y'know...um, how you said you were gonna borrow all sixty-five pairs of my Laurents and then forget to give them back," Tara said. "You can start by borrowing a couple pairs and forgetting to give them back."
Tara looked around the room. Everyone seemed puzzled for some reason.
"Tara...Willow didn't say that," Buffy said.
"Um...what?" Tara said. "Yes she did. She just said it."
"Honey, she didn't," Faith said.
"But..." Tara said, and looked at Willow.
Willow was looking back at her...looking right into her eyes.
"Tara," Willow said. "Do me a weird favor?"
"Um...what? Look, um, everyone's l-like, looking at me? I'm f-f-feeling a little, okay, um, freaked out now?" Tara was smiling still, but she was blushing now too. "Is this like, that werewolf thing again? Am I gonna like, get paddled? How come everyone's acting like they c-can't hear Willow all of a sudden?"
"Werewolf thing?" Faith said.
Buffy smiled. "Just Willow doing one of her practical jokes. Like how she got you with that Thor story before. There was paddling too."
"And now you're, you're all d-doing another joke on me," Tara said.
Faith took Tara's hand.
"You're part of the family, Tara," Faith said. "Got it?"
Tara was still blushing. She wouldn't meet Faith's eyes. But she felt Faith looking at her...she could never resist Faith's eyes for long. They always searched her out, always found her...found what was inside.
"You know I'd never pick on you, right, honey?" Faith said, and looked her in the eyes, as Tara looked up at her. "You know you're real special to me."
Tara smiled, and relaxed. "Yeah."
"Just do this thing for Will, okay?"
"Okay. But...what is it? What's...what's this about?"
"No idea, honey. But Willow's my auntie. When auntie talks we listen. When auntie calls a play that's what we do. Okay?"
Tara nodded. Faith held her hand.
"So Tara, I want you to just do me this one weird favor, okay?" Willow said. "Close your eyes. I'm gonna say a number, but like, really softly. I want you to concentrate on me, and listen for my voice. After I say the number, repeat it."
"But...why?" Tara said.
"Obviously you're going crazy," Cordy said. "Don't feel bad, everyone in Buffy's gang does eventually. Buffy's been crazy all along, and Willow just went crazy on the way here. She totally has like, two separate personalities now."
"Tara, I'll tell you what's going on right after, sweetie, okay?" Willow said. "I promise."
"No more practical jokes, honey," Faith said, and squeezed Tara's hand.
"Okay," Tara said.
"Okay, no one talk," Willow said. "I'm gonna say the number really softly and I want Tara to be able to hear it."
"This is completely goofy," Tara heard Cordy saying, when she closed her eyes.
"What part of don't talk didn't you get?" she heard Willow saying.
"Everyone be quiet," she heard Faith saying. Then everyone was quiet.
Tara listened for Willow's voice...
A moment later, Tara heard Willow say a number.
"3.14159," Tara said. "Okay...that's a really weird number."
"Okay, sweetie," Willow said. "You can open your eyes."
"So like, now that we know I have good hearing, do I have to do like an eye exam next?" Tara said. "Do I like need a license to be in this gang? And there better not be a werewolf."
"Tara," Willow said. "I didn't say the number. I thought it...and you got it exactly right. You read my mind. Just like you did about the shoes."
"Um...no, seriously," Tara said. "Stop goofing on the new girl. What's this really about?"
"She...got it right?" Buffy said. "Will, you were thinking that exact number? And...the thing about the shoes before, you were thinking that too?
"Yeah," Willow said. "She read my mind both times. She's two for two."
"That's...oh my God," Buffy said.
"What...what are you p-people talking about?" Tara said. "C'mon, seriously? Can w-w-we stop playing jokes on the new girl now? You got me with the werewolf thing. How about playing a joke on Cordy now."
"This whole day is one big joke on Cordy," Cordy said.
"Tara," Faith said. "Honey, you read Willow's mind. She didn't say the number."
"But...but..." Tara started saying. Faith squeezed her hand.
"Honey, no reason to freak out," Faith said. "It's not a bad thing, it's special. You've always been a special girl. This just proves it even more."
"Well, this is...extraordinary," Giles said, and stood up, and looked toward the door. "I've heard of mind-reading, there are demons who can read minds. And some very powerful witches are supposedly born with the ability on occasion, but it's exceedingly rare, and there are no documented cases I know of."
"But, I never..." Tara said. "This never happened before. I mean...I can't read minds. I've never read minds. I don't know how to read minds. How about we try it one more time. I probably just...just got lucky before. Try it again."
"You got lucky and guessed 3.14159?" Angel said.
"It...could happen," Tara said.
"Um...no," Willow said. "It really can't."
"Why did you think of that weirdo number anyway?" Cordy said. "You couldn't just pick like, seven?"
"Value of pi," Willow said.
"Exactly, duh," Tara said, and giggled. "That's why I picked it. Totally fooled you guys. Just...wanted to get you back for the werewolf thing."
Buffy and Faith exchanged a look. They both smelled it on her...Tara was nervous...and she was lying.
Willow watched Tara. Then she giggled too.
"Yup, we definitely got 'em back, sweetie," Willow said. "Are you happy now? You're gonna stop like, following me around all the time and talking about your big plan to get me back? You said I'm off the hook if I helped you, right?"
"Maybe," Tara said. "Making them think I'm psychic was like, kinda cool? Not as cool as paddling though. Might still try a paddling thing later."
Buffy and Faith exchanged another glance. They both knew Tara was lying, and they knew Willow was lying, too. Buffy was confused. So was Faith, but she knew Tara, and she knew what she had to do now.
"Seriously?" Faith said, and giggled. "That was all just a big goof? Okay girlfriend, you totally got us. Even though I had nothing to do with that werewolf thing and I'm just like, an innocent victim and it's totally not fair that you goofed on me too, but it's cool, it's cool, I'll let it slide. But okay, we had some fun, now back to work. We gotta get after Dru."
Buffy took the ball and ran with it. She made herself giggle too.
It was completely, painfully obvious to Cordelia that Tara was freaking out about the fact that she could read minds and that she and Willow were lying, and Buffy and Faith knew they were lying, and were just playing along. The lie was so transparent, and Buffy and Faith were such bad actresses, that Cordelia was certain the whole situation was about to collapse under its own weight. So she decided to help by changing the subject. "Willow had to pick a number and so she picked the value of pi," Cordy said. "Oh my God, Willow, even with all this magic stuff you can do now you're still the biggest loser in the world."
"Cordelia," Faith said. "I was planning on getting to this later, in private. Looks like it has to happen now. If you can't play nice you're out. This is your one warning. I don't know why everyone just stood around taking your shit for so long, except maybe that they're all good people and they were trying to be nice to you. As of now, no one's taking your shit anymore. You wanna insult people, you wanna play your little high school games while the world's falling apart and people are dying, go do it somewhere else. We have work to do here and you're a distraction. From now on if you don't have anything useful to say keep your fucking trap shut."
"Oh yeah?" Cordelia said. "Well...well where the hell do you get off?" Cordelia tried to return Faith's stare. After a few seconds she blinked, and looked at Giles. "Who put her in charge? What are you, their butler now?"
"Cordy," Buffy said. "I've been patient with you for almost two years. With all the shit I'm dealing with now, I'm officially out of patience. If the next three words out of your mouth aren't 'I'm sorry, Willow', you're not staying with us. You can go try your luck on the street."
"Buffy," Angel said.
"What?" Buffy growled. "Because she always wanted to get into your fucking pants you think she's just a nice, misunderstood girl? She's always been a bitch to us and I don't have time for her shit anymore. You wanna support her, feel free. Maybe you can finally get laid again."
The words hung in the air. Angel looked at her. No one spoke.
Buffy looked right back at him. She could never outstare him, but she looked anyway.
Usually, Angel was focused...serene. Centered. Not now. Usually his eyes were two deep, placid wells of black. Now they were roiling...
"Got something to say to me?" Buffy said. "Say it."
Angel got up, and walked out of the room.
"Congratulations, Buffy," Cordy said. "That was bitchier than anything I ever said." She headed for the door. Then she turned back to Willow.
"Willow...I didn't mean it like...look, I wasn't...trying to insult you, okay?" Cordy said. "And this isn't me apologizing because of Buffy's big diva trip. She doesn't want me in her gang, that's fine, I'm a big girl. I just...I wanted you to know that...I wasn't insulting you, okay? I was just making a stupid joke. I'm sorry it came out wrong. And...I'm sorry about Xander."
Willow nodded. Cordy walked out the door.
"I'd better go after them," Giles said, and walked out behind her.
"Yeah, you do that," Buffy muttered.
And Buffy, Faith, Willow and Tara were alone again.
"I'm sorry," Willow said. Her voice sounded too loud to her ears now, in the little room. When Cordy left, it felt to Willow like she had taken something with her...something bright, and buoyant. The silence felt heavy in the room now...oppressive. She was aware of the darkness outside again, a steady pressure against the window.
"For what?" Faith said. "Thinking of a number that didn't meet with Cruella's approval?"
"She's...okay, yeah, I don't get along with her, never did," Willow said. "But I think...she just sorta has trouble connecting with people. I think Cordy's afraid people won't like her, so she's kinda...she's kinda always acting like she doesn't need them."
"Don't care," Faith said. "The minute we've just spent on this? On Cordelia's bullshit? That's a minute we're not getting back, and people are dying every second out there. The four girls in this room, that's the team. Everyone else is like, an outside contractor. A backup singer for the band."
"What...what about Angel?" Tara said. "What if...he doesn't wanna help anymore?"
"Yeah, because, he sure was helpful before," Buffy said. "What would those eighteen little kids have done without him?"
Faith took Buffy in her arms, and hugged her from behind. She kissed the back of her neck.
"Am I in a Faith cage?" Buffy said.
"Yeah, beautiful," Faith said. "You are."
"What's my sentence, warden?"
"What we've all been up to, how we've all been filling each other in. Everyone needs to hear the rest of your story soon."
Buffy nodded, and curled up against her.
"By the time we get home, okay, my love?" Faith said.
Buffy nodded again. She held Faith's arms around her.
"The rest?" Willow said. "Did something else happen?"
"Long story," Faith said. "We'll get to it at the house. Okay, let's do that locator spell. Time to get after Dru."
"Um, wait," Willow said. "Yeah, we gotta go after Dru, but what about Buffy's mom? Buffy, you said you guys couldn't find her yesterday, and we've all been waiting for Faith to get better so we can all stick together when we go back out there, but don't you think we should go looking for Joyce again now before we do this big Drusilla thing? I mean...it's bad out there Buffy, I've been watching the news. I think Joyce has to be the priority over Dru."
A tear fell down Buffy's cheek.
"Buffy...?" Willow said. She walked over to her, and sat beside her, and took her hand. Faith was still holding her. "Sweetie, we'll find Joyce, I promise. Now that Faith's better and we're all together again, Tara can do one of her super-quick locator spells, I know you have something of Joyce's, right? Didn't she give you that ring you're wearing?"
Tara gasped, as the thought in Buffy's mind suddenly leapt out at her. But no one was paying attention to Tara at that moment.
Buffy looked down at the ring she wore on the ring finger of her right hand. It was a gold ring with two hearts, inlaid with diamonds. Her grandmother had given it to her mother, and her mother had given it to her.
"Drusilla...she..." Buffy whispered.
"No," Willow whispered. "No."
"She killed my mom," Buffy whispered, and started crying.
Willow started to cry, too.
"Oh, Goddess," Tara said, and touched Buffy's hand. "Buffy, I'm...sorry."
Buffy nodded. Faith held her.
Willow stood up, and walked to the window, and looked out into the darkness, and the fires, and felt her tears running down her cheeks. She stood there for a moment, watching the city burn: pinpricks of red against the black night sky...they looked like wounds cut into the world.
When Willow finally turned away from the window, Tara shuddered.
Willow's eyes were black...blacker than the darkness outside.
"Joyce was always nice to me," Willow said. "My mother didn't give a shit about me, but Joyce always did. She always invited me over. At Christmas? She invited me over. I'm Jewish and...we never had Christmas at my house. So I had Christmas with Joyce. She sewed a stocking for me. It's got my name on it."
Buffy smiled, through her tears.
"She made me feel like...like I wasn't just a mistake," Willow said. "Like I wasn't just a burden. Like someone could actually love me. And now she's gone. Angel took her away from me. Like he took Xander away from me."
"But it was...it was Drusilla," Tara whispered.
Willow smiled down at Tara...but it was an ugly smile, a cold smile.
"You like him, don't you, Tara?" Willow said. "Even though you're gay. You're attracted to him. You gettin' a little bi-curious, sweetie? You want dick? He's got a nice big dick, Tara. Trust me, I know."
"Willow," Faith said, and touched her arm.
Willow ignored her, and kept looking at Tara. Her black eyes pinned Tara down. Opened her up.
"I...I...don't," Tara whispered.
"You know what's funny about this whole Angel drama we're always dealing with?" Willow said, and raised her hand...
"Okay, lots of drama," Cordy said. "So...you okay, big guy?"
They sat in the lounge together, watching television. A news crew was broadcasting live from one of the camps the military had set up around an army base outside of San Francisco. Shell-shocked refugees shuffled back and forth across a wide, dirty, weed-grown space swept by spotlights and fenced in with barbed wire, dragging around whatever possessions they had managed to salvage in suitcases and backpacks and garbage bags, as soldiers with rifles stood guard in watchtowers, and tanks blocked the entrances. Giles had wandered off again.
"I'll live," Angel said.
"Angel," Cordy said, and took his hand. "I'm not...I'm not trying to...what Buffy said? I'm not like, hitting on you. It's just...I'm not part of it. What they have? The four of them, their little gang? I'm not in it, I won't ever be. They don't want me there. And you're not in the gang anymore either as far as I can see. And I guess...I just wanted someone I could talk to. Someone on the outside looking in, like me." She smiled. "Okay, it doesn't hurt that you're hot."
"You could maybe be nicer to them. Especially Willow."
"With Willow...I don't know, it's like she and I are just used to being bitchy to each other. I mean, I've known her forever, I've known her longer than any of you. I've been going to school with her since kindergarten. Even back then we didn't like each other. I remember it all started when I borrowed one of her crayons and broke it. She had one of the huge packs with a million crayons in it with weird colors like lavender and burnt sienna, and she had them all perfectly organized by color and they were all like, perfectly sharpened too. And then I broke her aquamarine crayon. After that I was on her shit list."
He looked at her. "You're kidding me."
"Nope."
"This started over a crayon. You and Willow started hating each other over a crayon. What is it with women anyway? Why do you all frigging hold grudges forever over little bullshit things? Darla was the same way."
"Settle down, Mister Eighteenth Century. And Willow and I don't hate each other. We don't like each other much, but we don't hate each other. We're... used to each other. Like, if one of us were suddenly gone, the other one would totally miss her. That's what Buffy doesn't get. Buffy's so frigging touchy, she acts like she's in some big romance novel. Yeah, Willow and I bitch each other out but we don't really mean anything by it, it's just like, our brand of small talk."
"Didn't sound like small talk when she was bitching you out in Buffy's house yesterday."
"That doesn't count. Willow's like half-insane now with the black eyes and stuff, so anything she does when she's got the black eyes doesn't count."
"Here's hoping."
"But seriously, the way Willow and I usually are, when she's not being insane? I mean, some people say stuff like, Hey, how about this weather, huh? That's like, making conversation. But Willow and I just do our own thing. She'll be like, Hey Cordy, the football team was saying you were awesome in the locker room last night, I guess all that cheerleading really makes you flexible. And I'll be like, That's a neat sweater Willow, is K-Mart having a sale? Willow's cool with it--okay, when she's not being insane and pretending to be an evil Kennedy. How many times has Willow called me a bitch over the years? Like, five-thousand? It rolls right off me. She calls me a bitch, I call her a geek, it's fine. We've been like that since we were little kids. Then Buffy suddenly shows up in town and everything is like, high drama all the time."
"You really expect me to believe Willow said, 'Hey Cordy, the football team was saying you were awesome in the locker room last night, I guess all that cheerleading really makes you flexible.' Willow."
"Willow really said that?"
"You know what the problem with you guys is? You all treat Willow like she's some precious little princess, and Buffy's the worst offender. Meanwhile Willow's smarter than all of you put together. Did you ever stop to think that maybe Willow doesn't want to be treated like she's everybody's little sister who needs to be protected all the time? That maybe she wants to just be treated like an equal? Yeah, she's a complete loser geek but that doesn't mean I don't respect her. I'm the only one out of all of you who treats her like a grownup. Why do you think she's pulling her insane-o evil Kennedy bit all of a sudden? Why do you think she was having problems with Xander? How about because she's tired of feeling suffocated by you guys. She's tired of having to be Saint Willow."
"You know, Cordy, you can be really insightful some--"
Angel suddenly stood up, jumping straight out of his chair as if an invisible hand had yanked him to his feet. He stood there, stiff as a statue.
"What the hell...?" he said, looking down at his legs.
"What is it?" Cordy said.
"I can't...can't move. Something's controlling me," Angel said.
Cordy got out of her chair. "What?"
He felt himself being lifted up.
"Uh...can vampires fly?" Cordy said, as she stared down at his shoes, which were hovering half a foot off the floor now.
"Pretty sure they can't," Angel said. "Go get Buffy. Tell her--"
"Maybe it's...some kinda magic HEY!" Cordelia screamed, as Angel suddenly hurtled down the hall like he had been fired from a slingshot...
"The funny thing is, at the end of the day, it all comes down to how hot he looks," Willow said. "'Cuz I'm thinking, if Angel wasn't so hot? None of this shit would have happened."
And Tara screamed, as Angel smashed through the door, knocking it off its hinges, flew the length of the room, and slammed head-first into the far wall like a bird hitting a glass door.
"Willow!" Buffy shouted, and got up and ran to her. "What...what are you doing?!"
"You should have loved me, not him," Willow said, pointing at her own heart. "You should have loved me! You shouldn't have fucked a vampire and then let him lock me in a closet and rape me. You shouldn't have let him kill Xander! You shouldn't have let him kill Joyce. But you loved him. You loved a monster instead of me. Because he's just so fucking hot, right?"
Angel got himself up. He could move again. For the moment.
"What...is this, Willow?" he said.
Willow turned to him, and smiled. She waved her hand, and sent him slamming back into the wall, pinned upright against it now. He grunted, and tried to move, but he couldn't.
"Be right with you, lover," Willow said, and licked her lips.
Faith tested the energy shield with her stake. The shield was largely invisible now, causing a slight distortion of the air around it, like ripples in a lake. But it flashed when Faith touched it with her stake, exploding in a shower of yellow sparks that thundered like a waterfall. "Will, this isn't helping," Faith said. "This isn't the right play."
Willow noticed Cordelia standing in the doorway. Melanie and Sol stood in the hallway behind her, frozen, staring.
"Willow," Cordelia whispered. "Don't do this."
"Yap yap yap," Willow said. "Don't you ever get tired of listening to yourself, Cordy?" Suddenly the door that had been knocked off its hinges flew up from the floor and slammed back into place, knocking Cordelia off her feet and back into the hallway. The door covered the entrance to the room completely.
"I...I did love you," Buffy said. "I did. I did love you, Willow."
"Bullshit," Willow said. "You let him get me. You let him lock me in a fucking closet! You let him RAPE ME!"
Faith stood next to Buffy now, and held her hand.
"I'm sorry," Buffy whispered, and started to cry.
"Yeah," Willow said. "You are fucking sorry. Your mother's dead because of you. Oh yeah, and my parents are dead too. Vampires ripped their throats out yesterday when the world went to hell. Not that anyone gives a shit."
"They're...they're...dead?" Buffy said.
"Yeah," Willow said. "Because the world ended. Because you didn't have a grenade to kill those priests with. Because Xander left yesterday. Because Angel locked me in a closet and raped me. Because you just couldn't bring yourself to do your job and kill him. Because Angel's just so fucking pretty." Willow smiled again. "If he wasn't so hot? If he was like, some short, fat guy with a bald spot? If you could've kept yourself away from his big dick? The world wouldn't have ended. Five-million people wouldn't be dead. Looks that kill, huh?"
Buffy moved closer to Faith, and leaned against her. Faith held her.
"It's funny," Willow said. "If Xander looked like Angel, and Angel looked like Xander, none of this would've happened."
"Xander was my friend," Buffy said. "I loved him."
"Xander was the good guy," Willow said. "He was the hero of the story. But he didn't look like the hero. Angel looked like the hero, so we all treated him that way. We let him into our hearts, all of us. And he killed us."
Tara moved beside Faith. She stood very close to her, shrinking behind her a little.
Willow stood there, alone, and watched the three of them, from the other side of the energy shield.
"Aw, sweetie," Willow said, and smiled at Tara. "Are you scared of me?"
"Yeah," Tara said.
Willow stopped smiling.
"I don't want you to be," Willow said. "I won't ever hurt you guys. I wouldn't do that, sweetie. I promise."
"You're d-d-doing it right now," Tara said. "Y-you're hurting Buffy."
Willow turned back to Angel.
"It'll be quick," Willow said. "I'm like a surgeon. We have a cancer, and it has to be cut out. A little pain, then we can heal. I mean, how stupid are we? Were we all just gonna stand by and let him hurt us forever? First he hurts Buffy, then Jenny, then Giles, then me, then Xander, then Joyce, and we just stand here and fucking take it? Do we wait for him to hurt you and Faith next, so he can have a complete set? Where do we draw the line? I'm drawing the line at Joyce. Angel's done hurting us. He's done killing us. Joyce was his last victim."
"Will," Faith said. "You put me in charge. You said you'd follow my lead."
"Yeah, sorry Captain," Willow said. "But Lieutenant Rosenberg's taking command of the ship for awhile. It's like this Star Trek episode Xander made me watch--you remember Xander, right? My boyfriend, the one who wasn't hot enough for you? The one you thought was kind of a dork? The one Angel got killed? I mean, we're all starting this new gang now as if Xander never existed, I was just wondering if anyone even remembered his fucking name anymore. Anyway, in the episode all the crew except for Data the android guy were all acting insane because of some alien thingamabob that was affecting their minds. So Data had to take command for awhile until everyone stopped being crazy. That's what I'm doing, Captain. Your crew's incapacitated, your judgment's been affected." She walked back to Angel, and licked his cheek, smiling back at Buffy as she did. "You're all just hypnotized by this beautiful face."
"You had a chance to kill him before," Faith said. "Buffy tried to kill him, when she found out what he did to you. She tried to kill him, because she loves you. But you stopped her. You stopped her because you knew we needed him."
"Yup. Mistake. Now I'm fixing it."
"It's gonna fall apart, Willow. Everything. If we can't work as a team, if we keep on going in different directions, this thing will fall apart."
"I know, sweetie. But why do you think we're going in different directions? Buffy's told you all the stories. Every problem we've ever had, every disagreement that almost tore us apart, where do they all lead back to?" She grabbed Angel by the hair, and kissed him, savagely. She rammed her tongue into his mouth. He grunted, and tried to pull away, but she held him.
When Willow was done with him, she pushed his head away, slamming it back against the wall again.
"Right here," she said, pointing up at him. "Every problem we've ever had can be traced right back to Mister Hottie Mass Murderer."
"Will," Faith said. "We need him. You know we need him."
"Nope," Willow said. "You just wanna fuck him, sweetie."
Faith's face turned red.
"You can't fool your auntie," Willow said, and smiled again, an ugly, twisted smile. "I know my niece. I know my niece wants to suck Angel's nice, big dick. Don't feel bad, baby. I wanted to fuck him too. Before he lost his soul, before he locked me in a closet and raped me? I had a crush on him. Sorry, Buffy. But I figure you probably knew, right? You're a Slayer, you probably smelled it on me whenever he was around. Yup, our Angel sure has a way with the ladies."
Buffy shook her head. She wouldn't look at Willow. Faith still held her.
"This isn't about that," Faith said. "Right now you're just spouting a load of bullshit because you're pissed off and you're not thinking straight. We need him. You know it and I know it. The world's in trouble and we need soldiers."
"Faith," Willow said. "You're important to me. But right now you're kinda pissing me off, so how about you stop talking and listen. Remember Kakistos? How he raped Becca and murdered her?"
"Don't," Faith said. "Will...please? Don't?"
"Sorry sweetie, you opened this door. I'm just making you walk through it. Think about this. What if you and Buffy didn't catch Kakistos? What if, after I zapped him with the lightning bolt, he played it smart and cut his losses and ran and you never found him again? And then what if he came back a few years later, except lo and behold, some gypsy restored his soul. So now Kakistos is all feeling guilty. He's really sorry for all the bad stuff he did, but he's got his soul now, so we should all forgive and forget, right? And let's even say he spent all that time away doing good deeds. Saving lives, stopping apocalypses. So now he shows up again and he's got his soul and everyone's like, C'mon Faith, he's got his soul now. He's a hero. We can't kill him. We need him! What would you do then, sweetie? I know what you'd do, 'cuz I'm your auntie. But how about you tell the whole class."
"I'd kill him anyway," Faith said. "Soul or no soul, world ending or not, no matter how much we needed him, I'd dust him for what he did to Becca."
"Yup," Willow said. "You paying attention, Buffy? Tara, miss lesbian girl who inexplicably wants Angel's dick, are you paying attention?"
No one said anything. Willow turned back to Angel.
"You'd dust him, sweetie?" Willow said. "You'd dust Kakistos for what he did to Becca, even if he was suddenly this cool noble guy with a soul? But you won't dust Angel for what he did to me."
She turned around, and looked right at Faith.
"I was in that closet for a hundred-and-thirty-one days," Willow said. "He let me out for baths every day...but he wouldn't let me do it myself. He washed me. Put his hands on me. He'd rub my pussy in the bathtub and force me to come. Then he'd bring me back to the bedroom to fuck me. He went slow, with the fucking. He didn't force it. But eventually he used Cassie against me. He told me I could see her, if I gave in to him...if I let him rape me. So I did. Every day."
"Will...that...wasn't you," Buffy said. "It was Dru...he did that to Dru."
"Remember the first time you and I made love, Buffy?" Willow said. "It was in that vamp drug house. You were all frustrated because the vamps were kinda weak. You had all this pent-up energy. You threw me against a wall and kissed me. It was me. I remember it, so it was me."
Buffy blushed.
"You held me in your arms after we made love, and I came for the first time in my life, when I didn't think I could," Willow said. "I cried in your arms."
Willow noticed Tara blushing now, too.
"You could have had me, Tara," Willow said. "But you told me to try to make it work with Buffy one more time. Because you loved me enough to care about my happiness before yours. It's part of the reason I'll always love you. You're the best of us, Tara. The best out of all of us. That's why the Goddess took you. She wanted you with Her. Because your soul is so beautiful."
Willow turned away from them. She looked out the window again, into the darkness.
"Sorry," Willow said. "I forgot I'm not supposed to love you. It makes you feel like a slut, right, Tara? Isn't that what you said? When I love you, you feel like a slut."
"I didn't...mean it that way, Willow," Tara said.
"I don't want your fucking charity," Willow said. "I'm used to people not giving a shit about me. I get by."
"That's not how it is," Faith said. "We love you, Will. You know we do."
"He didn't beat me up or anything when he raped me," Willow said. "But he made me do everything...everything you can think of. I licked his balls. I blew him every day, took his cum in my mouth. He fucked me in every position there is, like, porno movie positions. He fucked me up the ass too. Once he fucked my ass that first time he did it a lot after that. Said I had the sweetest little ass in the world. It hurt. I bled every time."
Willow turned away from the window, and looked at Buffy again.
"Did you take it up the back door for him, Buffy?" she said.
"Stop it," Buffy whispered, and didn't look back at her.
"Yeah, figured you didn't," Willow said. "You get flowers braided in your hair. I get fucked up the ass. You didn't even blow him, did you? I remember you telling Faith you didn't. You never swallowed his cum. I swallowed it every day. I blew him a hundred times. I must have swallowed a gallon of his cum."
Buffy turned away from her again, and held on to Faith.
"Willow," Angel grunted. "Stop...hurting them. Hurt me instead."
"I can multitask, handsome," Willow said, and slashed her hand through the air. Angel winced, and a deep, bloody gash appeared across his cheek.
"I'm sorry," Faith said. "I'm sorry, Willow. I'm sorry about your parents, too. I'm sorry."
"I know, sweetie," Willow said. "So am I. The thing I'm sorry the most about is that maybe this will have you thinking I don't care about you, when I do. You're important to me. You're my Faith. I always keep you in my heart."
"I don't...I don't want us to end, Willow," Faith said. "But...what you're doing...I'm afraid it'll wreck everything." Faith had tears in her eyes now. "And I...I can't lose you. I can't."
"You won't," Willow said. "Don't worry, auntie's gonna make everything better. See, all I gotta do is wreck Angel's pretty face. Then you won't all wanna fuck him anymore. Then you'll all be able to think with your heads instead of your pussies. If he wasn't so pretty none of us would've let him into our lives the way we did. We all have this idea that heroes have to be beautiful. We see a guy like Angel, and we swoon. We think he's noble, he's handsome, he'll always take care of us, protect us. We love him. We can't help loving him. We give him our hearts, and he kills us."
Angel flew off the wall, and spun around in mid-air.
"This is gonna hurt, lover," Willow said, and smiled up at him. "Maybe even as much as having that big dick of yours all the way up my ass."
Angel slammed into the wall, face-first.
"Angel!" Buffy screamed. She ran straight for Angel, but she collided with the energy shield. It exploded again in a shower of yellow sparks and sent her stumbling backwards.
"Buffy!" Faith shouted, and grabbed Buffy's arm, and steadied her.
"Don't worry, sweetie, she's okay," Willow said. "I altered the shield's frequency. It can't hurt you if you touch it. But you're not getting through it."
"Willow...please, please?" Buffy said. "Please don't!"
"Stop! STOP!" Buffy screamed, clawing at the energy shield now, as tears streamed ceaselessly down her cheeks...
Angel's head kept ramming into the wall like he was being shot out of a cannon. It was a good, thick, sturdy wall, but the wall had a crack in it now, and the crack was getting larger. A smear of blood dripped down to the floor.
"That's what I SAID!" Willow snarled. "That's what I said when he raped me! What do you think Joyce said when Dru killed her? What do you think those eighteen little girls said?! WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY SAID?!"
"Thirteen-thousand!" Willow screamed. "He killed thirteen-thousand people! Do you fucking CARE?! Did you EVER CARE?! DID YOU THINK ABOUT IT WHEN YOU WERE FUCKING HIM?!"
He laid there, a moment. The pavement was cold. The air was cold...the darkness was cold. He felt cold.
He was unconscious, but that cold stalked him...found him.
Then a scent came to him...it revived him. He regained consciousness, and opened his eyes, and looked up...
It was hard to see; one of his eyes didn't seem to be working. But after a moment the darkness coalesced...took on a shape.
Drusilla was looking down at him.
"Such a sad Daddy," she said.
"Speak of the devil," Willow said, standing in the rubble at the edge of the room, where the wall had been, and looking down into the parking lot.
Then she stepped out into the darkness, and plunged straight down.
"Willow!" Faith screamed, and pounded at the spot where the energy shield had been. But it was gone; her fists collided with empty air. Faith ran to the edge of the room, and looked down...
She saw Willow, floating to the ground in a shimmering, crackling field of yellow light.
"Faith! Is she...?" Buffy started to say, when Faith grabbed her arm.
"Come on!" Faith shouted, and grabbed the sword and their stakes, and ran with Buffy out the door. Tara got up and ran after them.
"Dru," Angel whispered. The parking lot was dark, lit only by a few streetlamps--weak, feeble things in that near-total darkness--and the faint, blood-red light of the sickle moon, rising again now. The pavement felt rough and cold against his face. When Dru's scent came to him, it still smelled like roses, but it was weaker than it should have been. When he touched his finger to his nose, he couldn't feel it. He could only feel a small protrusion of bone.
There was blood in his mouth. When he felt the inside of his mouth with his tongue, he discovered most of his teeth were gone.
He tried to stand, and fell down again, at Drusilla's feet. He looked up at her, traced the shadowy outline of her face.
Her face was deformed, he realized: part of her skull was caved in.
"What...happened...?" Angel whispered.
"Love," Drusilla said. "They love her and she loves them. But no one loves you...no one except me. No one except your blackbird."
"No...time for...riddle games." He tried to stand again, and still couldn't. He managed to get himself into a pushup, but everything was spinning. He felt nauseous. He fell again. He managed to roll over on to his back.
And he felt the darkness, like a physical thing, cold and heavy against him...he felt it, like a weight grinding him down.
Drusilla knelt beside him. Suddenly, there was a light: a yellow, flickering light. It illuminated the side of Drusilla's face that had been crushed. She looked grotesque. But he still thought she was beautiful.
She caressed his cheek. His face was covered with blood, and a lot of the skin had been shredded off. His face was half skull.
"What have they done to us, Daddy?" Drusilla whispered, and licked the blood from his face. "They hurt us. They made us ugly."
"I deserved it," Angel said. "I hurt them first."
"I love you, Daddy," Drusilla whispered, and stroked Angel's hair, as tears fell down her cheeks. "Your beautiful face. They marred it. But it will heal in time. Come with me, and I'll heal you. Please, Daddy? I'll love you, and we'll heal together. We'll be beautiful again together."
"No," Willow said. She was leaning against a car a few feet away, smiling. A yellow light crackled around her, illuminating her black eyes.
Drusilla looked up at her, startled.
"Red robin," Drusilla said. "Sneaking up on me, playing a game. Hide and seek, hide and seek. No fair. You didn't count to ten."
"Hello, Dru," Willow said.
Drusilla looked at her...looked straight into Willow's black eyes...
"Willow!" Faith shouted.
Angel looked up, and saw Faith, Buffy, Tara and Cordelia rushing out of the hospital toward him.
Drusilla cocked her head on one side, as she looked into Willow's eyes, and Willow looked back.
"Where did my red robin go?" Drusilla whispered. "She's a blackbird now. Naughty. Her eyes were so pretty before. Now they're dark...cold."
"We all become cold eventually, Dru," Willow said. "Look around. The cold always wins."
"You make me sad, red robin," Drusilla said. "I'm going to call you red robin. I don't want you to be a blackbird. Blackbirds won't play checkers. I'm the only blackbird who plays checkers."
Willow nodded. They looked at each other.
"You tryin' to hypnotize me, sweetie?" Willow said.
A few feet away, Buffy and Faith ran into an energy shield, and staggered backwards.
"Red robin wants to kill us, Daddy," Drusilla said. She looked at Buffy and Faith, and at the energy shield, sparking yellow in front of them. "And there's nothing we can do. She has her friends with her, and she can put us in pretty cages made of light. And she hates us, she hates us. My robin's a blackbird now. She's spreading her wings...she's going to devour us."
Drusilla looked away from Willow's eyes, and started to cry.
"My robin's gone," Drusilla whispered, and wept, as she caressed Angel's cheek. "She doesn't love me." She looked up at Faith. "My daughter doesn't love me either. No one loves me, Daddy. Only you. My mummy's buried under a cherry tree. I heard her calling to me, under the ground!"
"Willow!" Faith shouted. "Let us through!"
"I don't hate you, Drusilla," Willow said. "I never hated you."
She walked over to Drusilla, and knelt down beside her.
"Red robin...red robin wants...wants a do-over," Drusilla whispered, and hid herself from Willow's eyes, and trembled, and held on to Angel. "She wants to call a pretty fairy down from the sky. She wants to kill us, Daddy. She's cold now, she's so cold..."
Willow took her hand.
"Dru," Willow said. "Am I scarin' you, sweetie?"
Drusilla nodded.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to scare you, Dru. Okay?"
Drusilla peeked up at her. But she still held on to Angel.
Willow caressed her hair.
"Willow, let us through!" Faith shouted again. "Dru's dangerous!"
Willow looked back at her. Faith was standing directly in front of the energy shield, with Buffy. She was feeling her way around it with her stake, testing it, trying to find its boundaries. Tara was standing a good distance behind them, looking away from Drusilla, making sure she couldn't see her eyes.
"I'll never let her hurt you again, Faith," Willow said. "I'll never let anyone hurt you, sweetie."
"Why ever would I want to hurt her?" Drusilla said, and wiped her tears away, and met Faith's eyes. But she was still trembling. "Silly. Hello, daughter. Mother misses you. Are you cold? You're not wearing a coat. Did you have breakfast? Would you like me to make you muffins?"
Faith looked back at her.
"You're not my mother," Faith said.
Willow moved herself between Faith and Drusilla.
"No, Dru," Willow said. "Faith's not yours. She's mine. It's time for you to go now...to rest. I don't blame you for any of this. I know you're in pain."
"Red robin's bad," Drusilla said, and caressed Willow's cheek with a shaking hand, and tried to look into her eyes. But she quailed, when she looked into that blackness, and saw what was there. She looked away, and held on tighter to Angel. But she kept caressing Willow's cheek. "She's a blackbird. She'll spread her black wings, but she'll get a number if she isn't careful. If the fairy gives her a do-over, it all happens. They're going to mark her. Bad men. Burning numbers into girls' heads. Naughty. So much pain...so much." Drusilla started crying again. "Why pray to the fairy at all? Why ask for a do-over? It's just more pain. All the world is...is pain."
"It's more than that, sweetie," Willow said. "It's love, too. I know all you ever wanted was for someone to love you. Cassie loved you."
Drusilla looked at her again. She cocked her head on one side again.
"Red robin's playing tricks," Drusilla whispered. "First she was a robin, then a blackbird...but now she's a dove, too. She's...full of light."
Willow smiled. "If I am, I wish I could see it, sweetie. Sometimes, I think all that's in me is dark."
"If...if she gets a do-over all the bad comes back," Drusilla whispered. "My Spike comes back. And a brand new thing...a lovely new boy. He'll sit at the head of all tables, red robin. He's going to hurt you. No matter which world you choose, you can't save them...the ones you love will always be hurt. He'll take your love...she'll vanish in the blink of an eye. He'll take your love, the way you want to take mine. He'll take your niece, the way you want to take my Daddy."
"Who?" Willow said, and looked Drusilla in the eyes. "Who's gonna try to take my niece?"
Drusilla whimpered, and tried to look away. Willow gently turned her back toward her.
"Who?" Willow said. "Tell me."
"It...it...all comes down to love, robin," Drusilla whispered, and hid from her again. "Everything comes down to love, in the end. My daughter, she, she doesn't love me, she doesn't." Drusilla started crying. "She doesn't, because I'm bad, I'm bad, I'm a bad mother. But...she has another love..."
Drusilla moved her mouth to Willow's ear. Willow felt Drusilla's tears, warm against her cheek.
"You've seen him," Drusilla whispered. "You know him. He's coming. He's strong, robin. He's the strongest. Stronger than Daddy. Stronger than my daughter. You want to make him count to seven, but he might kill you. If the fairy gives you a do-over, he might kill you all."
Willow nodded. She had no idea who Drusilla could be referring to; living Drusilla's memories hadn't given Willow any special insight into her riddles. But Drusilla's visions were always true, one way or the other. And she knew Drusilla was trying to warn her now...because Drusilla cared about her, in her own way.
Willow remembered the day Angelus had made Drusilla hypnotize her, and force her memories into her. Drusilla had cried...
"I guess that's the next war," Willow said. "If we can find a way to survive this one."
"I won't survive," Drusilla said. "You're going to kill me. You're going to bury me under a cherry tree." She laid herself on top of Angel, and threw her arms around him, and started shaking her head back and forth. "Daddy! DADDY! Don't let her kill me Daddy! Please, please, don't, don't..."
"Willow," Angel whispered. "She...won't attack you again. If I tell her not to, she...she won't. Kill me...not her."
Willow got up, grabbed Drusilla's arm, and pulled her away from him, with strength far greater than she should have had. Drusilla fell to the pavement, wailing.
"You and I aren't done, Angel," Willow said, standing over him. "But for now I want you the fuck out of my face."
She turned her back on him, and waved her hand, as if she was flicking a speck of lint from her sweater. Angel went flying into the air, soared across the parking lot, slammed head-first into one of the parked cars like a torpedo, putting a hole in its door, bounced off it, and hit the pavement with a wet smack. Cordelia screamed.
"Tara, check on him!" Faith said. "Do what you can for him."
Tara ran across the parking lot, toward the spot where Angel had landed. Cordelia started following her, but then she stopped. And turned back to Willow.
"This isn't about what he did to Joyce," Cordelia said. "It isn't about Xander, or Buffy, or anybody else. It's about you."
"Oh, good," Willow said. "You're yapping again."
"I'm not in your gang, I don't know all the stuff that went down before with you guys and him," Cordelia said. "But I've seen some things, heard some things. I know about vampires. How they're like people with demons inside them and they don't have souls. I heard the speech you made back there in Faith's room, about how Angel hurt you guys and you want to stop him before he can hurt you again. I listened at the door after you slammed it in my face. Pretty good speech. Except you were lying. You're not being all noble and trying to stop a monster. Angel has a soul. From what you said I guess he lost it before, and tried to hurt you guys. But now he's got it back. He's not a monster anymore and you know it. You're trying to hurt him because he hurt you. Even though he can help save the world, even though without him you'll have less of a chance to fight this thing, you want to kill him anyway because he hurt you and you want revenge."
Willow watched her. Cordelia met Willow's black eyes. They frightened her. But she made herself look.
"Difference between me and you?" Cordy said. "I'm honest. You're not. I don't tell lies. If Angel did to me what he did to you and I had like, your Sabrina powers? I would have killed him the first chance I got and I wouldn't have hesitated. I wouldn't have cared if he had his soul back. I would've killed him for what he did to me and that would have been the fucking end of it. No high drama. We all would have moved on with our lives."
Willow smiled. "See, and here I thought you just wanted to fuck him."
Cordy smiled too. "Okay. Let's get this out of the way. I'm a virgin. You're not, Buffy's not, Faith's not, jury's out on Tara. But I am. This idea you have of me, that I'm some stupid tramp? It's wrong. You think I don't know that all my friends are fake? You think I don't know people hang with me because they want to be popular, and the jock guys date me because they wanna be able to make up stories about how they banged me? I know that. That's why I'm saving myself for the right guy. That's why I'm such a bitch to the girls I hang with. Because none of it is real, none of it means anything, and I'm allergic to bullshit. But you love bullshit, your whole crew does. You can't get enough of it."
"I didn't know you were a virgin. You're...really a virgin? All those stories everyone tells, they're just...lies?"
"Yeah. I'm a bitch, that part of the stories isn't a lie. But if people think you're a bitch, all that means is you speak your mind. It means you're honest. If I wanted to kill Angel I wouldn't have made up stories about how I was being all noble and selfless and trying to protect my friends. I wouldn't have pretended that Joyce was the last straw. Joyce? Come on, Willow. Sure, she was a nice lady. And she was nice to you. She even cared about you. But we all know this isn't about her, and pretending it is just insults her memory. You wanna be a bitch? Then be a bitch, Willow. Embrace it. Be honest. But if you're gonna kill Angel you're gonna fucking admit you're doing it for revenge first. You're gonna admit that he isn't the same person who did that stuff to you, because he has his soul now, and you're not killing him to protect anyone. You're killing him for revenge, and no other reason. You're gonna admit that before you kill him or you're gonna have to kill me too, because I won't fucking let you near him."
"Pretty good speech," Willow said, and walked away from her.
She walked back to Drusilla.
Willow knelt beside her again, and took her hand. Drusilla was still lying on the ground, crying. She was curled up into a little ball.
Willow thought of her, in a little dark closet, for a hundred and thirty-one days...lying curled up in a ball, crying...knowing her family was being butchered, and there was nothing she could do...
Willow hugged her.
"Nobody loves me," Drusilla said. "Daddy, he locked me in a closet. He made me be with him, and then he killed me. He made me kill Cassie."
"I know," Willow said.
"I'm sorry, robin," Drusilla said, and looked into Willow's eyes again. Willow could tell she still scared her. Drusilla kept hiding herself, flinching and turning away. "I'm sorry I made you be in the closet with me."
"He made you do it, Dru. It wasn't your fault. I don't blame you for it. I never did, sweetie."
"Cassie's gone and Mummy's buried under a cherry tree and my other Daddy gave me away and nobody loves me."
Willow brought her closer, and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Drusilla," Willow said. "The Goddess loves you. I'm gonna send you to Her now, sweetie. I'm gonna end your pain. You're gonna feel warm and loved all the time, every second from now on. You're gonna be safe. And you're gonna be with Cassie, and you're gonna be happy. I promise. Okay, sweetie?"
"Don't...don't...don't hurt my Daddy?" Dru whispered. "Please, Goddess? Please don't?"
Willow hugged her, and held her to her bosom. She caressed her cheek, on the side where her skull was caved in. Drusilla closed her eyes.
A small hole appeared in the energy shield in front of Buffy. Buffy's stake suddenly leapt out of her hand, flew through the hole in the energy shield, and hovered in the air beside Willow. Willow took the stake in her hand, and held it poised behind Drusilla's back.
"I'm tired, Goddess," Drusilla whispered. "I'm so tired. I'm so tired of the voices."
"There won't be any more voices, sweetie," Willow whispered in her ear. "There won't be any more pain. Not ever again. I'm gonna make everything better, okay? I'm gonna make everything better."
Drusilla nodded her head, and cried against Willow's bosom.
Willow staked her, and Drusilla turned to dust in her arms.
Willow knelt there awhile, on the cold pavement, in the dark, with tears running down her cheeks.
Then she stood up again, and turned back to Cordelia.
"I'm sorry, Cordy," Willow said. "Yeah, you've been like, a bitch to me. Kinda like a megabitch actually. But maybe...that's kinda all I ever let you be. Maybe I didn't wanna see you as anything else."
"That's really nice. But it's not why we're here," Cordy said.
"You're right," Willow said, and raised her hand. "It's not."
"Hey!" they heard Tara shout, as Angel sailed up through the air again. He traveled the length of the parking lot and landed at Willow's feet. But he didn't smash into the pavement. He landed gently, softly.
His eyes fluttered open. Willow noticed he had lost one of them. His right eye was a bloody socket.
"Buffy? Where...are we?" he whispered, and coughed up blood. "We should...get inside. In a house. Vampires...can't get in a house."
Buffy got a good look at him for the first time. She burst into tears.
"They get in, Angel," Willow said. "They find a way in."
"The Master," Angel whispered. "Buffy, I won't...won't let him hurt you. I know what the prophecy says but I promise...he'll...have to kill me first."
Buffy was sobbing uncontrollably now, wailing. Faith held her.
Angel sniffed the air, and looked around.
"Willow?" he whispered.
"Yeah," she said.
"Dru...was here? I can smell her. Where is she...?"
"I killed her."
Angel started crying.
Willow looked down at him. His handsome face was gone, erased. But she knew he would heal, in time. It took a lot to kill a vampire. He would be handsome again, in time. She knew she would let him back into her heart, in time. They all would. They couldn't help loving him.
"You can live, if you want," Willow said. "You have your soul now, I know you don't want to hurt us. I guess...all this was really about me, all the time. And Dru, too. I'm angry about what you did to me, but I'm angry about what you did to her, too. I always have been. And as long as she was out there, in pain every second, I couldn't let go of it. Maybe now that she's got some peace, I can start moving past you. Maybe. I'm gonna try, anyway."
Willow looked back at Faith, Buffy, and Cordelia, and Tara hurrying back toward them.
Willow waved her hand. "Shield's down," she said.
Faith nodded her head, and watched her...and watched Angel.
He was still crying. Willow looked down at him.
"I don't care, Angel," she said, and knew she was lying. "I don't care that this hurts you. I'm not gonna try to hurt you anymore, but that's just because it's a waste of energy. And because Faith's right...we need you. We need you to help save the world. You're the best fighter out of all of us. I think...if we're gonna get the world out of this, we're gonna need you. Will you help?"
Angel managed to sit up, on the ground. Everything was spinning, and he still felt sick, but he was getting his bearings again. He couldn't see very well anymore, but his nose guided him. He wiped his tears away. He felt the bone. He knew most of the skin on his face was gone. He thought he must look ugly.
He looked up at Buffy. She was looking back at him, and crying. She stood against Faith. Faith held her in her arms.
Angel knew he was alone...that he always would be. He didn't have anyone left now. There was no reason to help anymore. No one to impress. Nothing he did mattered anymore...
So all that mattered was what he did.
"Yeah," he said. "I'll help."
"I know you loved her," Willow said. "But she's at peace now. She's free."
Angel nodded his head.
"Bullshit," Faith said.
He looked up at her. Willow looked back at her.
Faith took her stake out of her pocket, and walked away from Buffy.
Buffy was still holding her hand. She wouldn't let go. When Faith turned back to her, Buffy looked scared.
"You gotta let go, my love," Faith said.
Buffy let her go. Faith walked over to Willow.
"Am I out of the gang?" Willow said.
"Maybe," Faith said. "Maybe that's what you really want."
"It isn't."
Faith put her arms around Willow's waist from behind, and held her. But she still had her stake in her hand.
"What are you doing?" Willow said.
"You're in a Faith cage," Faith said.
Willow nodded her head, and stood there, in Faith's arms, in the dark. It was hard to see. But Faith's arms felt strong around her, like they always did. They made her feel safe.
The whole world was quiet. No one made a sound.
Willow let the moment stretch out. She held Faith's hand...held Faith's arms around her. Felt Faith's strength.
"What's my sentence?" Willow finally said.
"You said mean stuff to Buffy," Faith said. "You and her have to talk it through. Even if she doesn't want to talk. You still have to try. You have to keep trying, no matter how long it takes."
"Okay."
"And you gotta go over there now, and stand beside Buffy, and watch what I'm about to do. Because there's something I want to show you. Something you need to see."
"What?"
"Love."
Faith let go of Willow, and looked at her. She didn't flinch or hesitate when she looked into Willow's black eyes. She didn't blink. When Willow saw Faith then, when she looked into her eyes, she saw Rebecca looking back at her.
Willow walked back to Buffy, and stood beside her. Buffy moved away from her.
Faith grabbed Angel by the shirt collar, hoisted him up with one hand and flung him on to the hood of a car, crumpling it like tinfoil. Angel grunted in pain, and coughed up more blood. Faith held him there. Her grip felt like a bear trap.
"Faith!" Buffy said. "What are you doing?"
Faith didn't look back at her. She looked at Willow. Then she looked down at Angel.
"Faith!" Buffy said.
Faith looked at Buffy then.
"I'm in charge," Faith said. "Back off."
She looked down at Angel again.
She felt Buffy moving toward her, without having to see her.
"Make a choice, Buffy," Faith said, still looking down at Angel. "Me or him. Choose forever. Right now."
"You," Buffy whispered. "It's...it's always you, baby."
"Then back off," Faith growled. "Not sayin' it again."
Buffy stopped moving. She stood there, crying.
"What's she doing?" Cordy whispered. "Someone's gotta...gotta stop her."
"She's in charge," Willow said.
"You didn't love her, Angel," Faith said. "You didn't love Dru. If you loved her you would've dusted her. She was in pain every fucking second and you knew it and you let that pain go on. Yeah, you were fond of her. You liked being with her. But love? Real love? Like what I have for Buffy, for Will, for Tara? It's doing for them, not for you."
"Faith...sweetie...you don't have to do this," Willow said.
"I do," Faith said. "Because I love you and I love Buffy, and while he's alive you're both in pain. I didn't see it so good before. You tellin' me what went down when he was Angelus wasn't the same as being around for it. I'm sorry."
"You don't...have anything to be sorry for, sweetie."
"That stuff he did to you, Willow. That horrible stuff. It was..." Tears ran down Faith's cheeks. "It...it was..."
"Sweetie, it's ...it's okay," Willow said.
"It's not okay!" Faith screamed, crying now, her shoulders heaving. Her voice echoed across the parking lot. "It's not fucking okay! It's not okay."
"Faith...?" Tara said. Faith ignored her, and kept her eyes on Angel.
"You didn't love Dru," Faith said. "You didn't love Buffy either. If you loved Buffy you would've killed yourself. This thing, saving lives, being a hero? That's something you do for yourself. So you can feel better. It's got nothing to do with Buffy or Will or Dru...it's got nothing to do with all the people you hurt."
She turned back to Willow.
"This is love," Faith said. "Love is me knowing we need him to save the world and not giving a shit. You're more important to me than the world, Willow. So even though it means the world might be fucked? Angel's gotta go. Now."
"You can't...can't...do this," Cordelia said.
Faith turned to her, and smiled. The smile wasn't a human smile.
"Bet I can," Faith said.
It was a predator's smile...a lion's smile. And when Faith showed her teeth to her, Cordelia felt like she was being hunted. She felt a surge of adrenalin rush through her. She felt shaky. She wanted to run away...find somewhere to hide from those teeth, those eyes...she moved back a step, then stopped herself.
"You were right about one thing, Cordy," Faith said. "It's better not to bullshit. I'm a bitch too. Shit, I'm the biggest bitch of them all. Killin' GQ for revenge, and no other reason? Sounds good to me. I'm not doing this to make the world safe for democracy. I know he won't try to hurt us. But I'm killin' him anyway. I know we need his help to save the world. But I'm killin' him anyway."
"But...but why, Faith?" Tara said, plaintively. "Why, when we n-n-need him? When we need him to s-save the world?"
"Because Willow and Buffy are more important to me than the world, and he hurt them and he's gonna fucking pay for it," Faith said. "You're more important than the world too. And besides, Becca would've killed him. Shit, Becca would've killed him before breakfast. And Becca's always right."
Faith looked back down at Angel. A growl welled up in her throat. She realized she had always wanted this...from the moment she had first met Angel, she had wanted to kill him.
"You were okay to me, Angel," Faith said. "I got no complaints. But you killed those kids and sent Buffy the pictures. You made Will remember that closet, remember you raping her. You hurt people I love and as long as you're alive they're gonna keep hurting and that means you gotta go. Thought we could maybe get past you but we can't. You cut us too deep. And the wounds will never heal while you're alive. You wanna fight? I owe you that. You wanna make this a fight I'll do it fair. Me and you. No Buffy, no Willow, no energy shields or fireballs. You get past me and you walk."
"No," Angel said. "Get it done. I'm sorry, Faith. Sorry I hurt them."
"Yeah," Faith said. "And I'm sorry it had to end like this, Angel. Didn't plan it this way. But it's gotta happen."
"Faith?" Tara said.
Faith looked back at her. Tara was crying. Buffy was, too.
"You are the best of us, Tara," Faith said. "Will was right. This is something you can't understand, because you're better than this. Revenge never gets into your heart. But what you need to understand, what you're gonna understand, is I'm in charge. I say jump, you say how high and if you don't like it you're out."
"But we...we said we'd discuss stuff first," Tara said.
"We did discuss it," Faith said. "Back in the room. Turns out Willow was right, we were wrong." Faith looked her in the eyes. Tara blinked, and looked down at the ground. "And now I've made my decision."
Faith turned back to Angel, and showed him her teeth. She growled at him. She raised her stake.
Angel looked at Buffy.
"Buffy," he said. "I'm sorry about Joyce."
Buffy fell to her knees on the pavement, and cried. Willow tried to hug her. Buffy screamed, and wrenched herself free of her. Willow stepped away, with tears in her eyes.
And Willow felt something in her stomach, suddenly, when she knew for a fact that Angel was about to die.
Panic...it swarmed through Willow like a living thing. It cut off her air. She couldn't breathe.
And she knew, suddenly, that she loved Angel. He was one of her loves, too. And now he was about to die...she was going to lose him forever...and there was nothing she could do...nothing anyone could do...
Willow felt her panic, clamping down on her like a vice, suffocating her.
"Goodbye, Angel," Faith said...
"ANGEL!" Buffy screamed, as Faith plunged her stake toward Angel's heart...
And then Angel was gone.
Before the stake found Angel's heart, his clothes collapsed, empty, and fell against the hood of the car, and slid to the ground.
"What the hell..?" Faith said. She bent down, and looked at Angel's clothes, in a pile on the ground. His trenchcoat, pants, shirt, underwear, socks and shoes were there. And a gold ring.
There was no dust, anywhere. She hadn't staked him. He had disappeared, somehow, before her stake could reach him...
He had been pulled right out of his clothes...
Faith picked up the ring. She recognized it: it was an Irish Claddagh ring.
It was beautiful: two hands clasping a heart, surmounted by a crown. It smelled like Angel. But it smelled like Buffy too.
Faith walked back to Buffy, and knelt beside her. Buffy's face was still covered with tears.
"I hurt you," Faith said. "I didn't dust him but I was gonna. I know you loved him. I'm sorry it hurt you, Buffy. But I'd do it again."
Faith held the ring out to Buffy, in the palm of her hand.
"You want this?" she said.
Buffy took it, and looked at it.
Angel had given it to her, the night he told her he loved her for the first time.
Buffy looked up at Faith, and touched her hair.
"Are you my girl?" Faith said, and caressed her cheek. "Are you my beautiful girl, honey?"
"I'm your girl," Buffy said.
Faith's eyes filled with tears.
"I always thought...always thought maybe...you loved him more than me," Faith said. "Like he was your first, and maybe you never really got over him, and...and I'm just..."
"He was my first," Buffy said. "But you're my always, Faith."
Buffy dropped the ring to the ground, and kissed her.
A PIECE OF HER HEART
They were all standing in the parking lot. Sol and Melanie had arrived. Giles had arrived too. He stood close to Buffy now, wiping his glasses. He stood well away from Tara.
"Yeah, we'll cop to that," Faith said. "Sorry about the room. We had, like, a spirited debate."
"Uh...and I guess the room lost," Melanie said.
"Well, I figure saving all our lives yesterday kinda makes up for the room," Sol said. "And the jury's still out on whether you're crazy, Faith. Rest of your crew is for sure though."
"Faith's crazy too," Buffy said, and put her arm around Faith's waist, and kissed her cheek. "She's my crazy baby."
"Yes, well, I'm thinking perhaps we've overstayed our welcome," Giles said, looking up at what was left of the hospital room as he wiped his glasses. There was a gaping hole in the side of the building now, and part of the wall had collapsed into the parking lot in a pile of rubble. "Faith's recovered, so I think it would be best if we left now. We could be attacked here again and we don't want to put these people in any more danger. We need to regroup and get back out there. Every moment we waste means more people are dying."
"Sounds like a plan to me, G-Man," Faith said. "Will, you said you guys had like a van?"
"Yeah, it's across the street out front," Willow said. She stood apart from the group, with Tara, in the shadows away from the feeble reach of the streetlamps, where the parking lot was darkest. Her eyes were still black. She didn't want Sol and Melanie to see. She didn't want Tara to see either, but Tara had followed her back there and was sitting next to her on the hood of a car now. "Um...sorry about trashing the room."
"Forget it, crazy girl," Sol said. "I guess the end of the world can be stressful. "So that guy...Angel. He...disappeared. Melanie says she saw him disappear...like he was yanked out of his clothes somehow."
"Yeah," Buffy said. "Same thing that's been happening all over. The same thing that happened to your son, I think."
"But...but what could be causing it?" Melanie said.
"I decided a long time ago to just stop asking questions like that," Cordy said. "You never like the answers."
"I think...I think your son is safe, Sol," Willow said. "I think he disappeared because he was being taken away from this...protected from it."
Sol nodded. "I'm not a religious guy. But working the ER, seeing the things I've seen...I'd be stupid just to dismiss it. I don't know if there's anyone up there. Maybe there is, and that's where my son is now. Whether there's anyone up there or not, I figure it doesn't really make a difference. We have to take care of each other. No matter what, that's what we have to do. Anyway, we gotta get back, this place is non-stop right now. Take care of yourselves."
"We're gonna do our best, Sol," Faith said. "No guarantees. But we're gonna do our best to save the world...and to get Josh back too. If we go down we're gonna go down swinging at least."
"Thanks," Sol said, and smiled, with a little tear in his eye. Then he took Faith's hand. "And you take care of yourself, Faith. You got a lot of people here who love you. A whole crew of crazy girls who do all kinds of crazy things for you." He glanced at Buffy. "Some are maybe a little crazier than others."
"Can I just apologize again for being mean to you guys?" Buffy said. "Um...especially you, Melanie. I'm sorry I yelled at you like that."
Melanie hugged her.
"Love makes you crazy," Melanie said.
Buffy looked at the Claddagh ring, lying on the ground. It glimmered in the dark, like a little star.
"Yeah," Buffy said.
"I need to get something from Xander's house," Willow said.
They had said their goodbyes, and they were piling into the van. Faith hotwired the engine again, and Giles got in the driver's seat.
"Yes, we should take whatever supplies we can from our houses," Giles said, as he put it in gear.
"Food and clothes too," Faith said. She sat up front, with Buffy next to her. "We're in this for the long haul. We'll stop at everybody's places and grab what we need. But first we gotta make a stop here in L.A."
"For what?" Giles said.
"My mother," Buffy said. "I can't leave her in that house. I gotta...bury her."
"Of...of course," Giles said. "Buffy...I'm...sorry about Joyce."
"Yeah," Buffy said. "Thanks."
"Me and Faith," Buffy said, when they pulled up in front of the blue house with the big, beautiful garden full of rose bushes. "No one else." Buffy got out of the van, and looked up at the house, and let her senses reach out. She smelled smoke; the fires were getting worse, burning out of control now, in every direction she looked. The black sky was lit up blood-red in a dozen places. She smelled vampires too, but the smell was faint. They had been there and gone.
As they drove back from the hospital they had seen dead bodies, everywhere: people lying in the street with their throats ripped out, some of them raped, some of them mutilated. But they hadn't seen any vampires in Burbank as they headed for the highway, and they hadn't seen any vampires here in Glendale either. Like locusts, the vampires had moved on...moved on to fresh conquests. And now Glendale burned. There were no more sirens, no more screams; just the smell of smoke, and blood, and corpses.
Across the street, the Sun and Moon Cafe's big neon sign was still shining, painting the street in shades of sickly yellow, its crescent moon bright, its rayed sun dark. But that sickly light couldn't cut through the darkness...couldn't really affect it. That darkness was as deep as the ocean. The light only skimmed its surface.
The darkness felt thick on Buffy's skin now...heavy.
She smelled a corpse. She knew it was her mother's.
Willow sat in the back of the van, with tears in her eyes. Tara and Cordy sat with her. Tara took Willow's hand. "I'm right here, sweetie, okay?" Buffy heard Tara whisper, in Willow's ear.
Cordy looked from Willow to Buffy, and back again. Willow's eyes were still black. But Willow's face was red, and there were tears running down her cheeks now.
Giles looked straight ahead, out at the street.
"Buffy," Cordy said. She opened the van's sliding door, and leaned out.
Buffy turned to her.
"I'm sorry about Joyce," Cordy said. "I didn't know her, I only met her once, but she was nice. I'm sorry she's gone."
"Thank you, Cordy," Buffy said.
Faith got out of the van, and took Buffy's hand.
"Buffy," Faith said, looking back at Willow, crying now in the van. Tara was hugging Willow now. "Don't you think...some other people might want to say goodbye to Joyce too?"
"Just me and you," Buffy said, and let go of Faith's hand, and walked away from her, through the garden.
Faith walked back to the van. "Willow," she said.
Willow looked up at her, her black eyes seemingly bottomless...deep as the ocean...too deep for any light to ever affect them. A steady stream of tears flowed down her cheeks. Tara's shirtfront was wet with them.
"She's angry with you and it's gonna take time," Faith said. "That stuff you said hurt her real bad. So now you gotta put the time in. You gotta do the work. She's not gonna meet you halfway. For a long time, it's all gonna have to come from you."
Willow nodded.
"Can you do that?" Faith said. "You love her enough for that?"
"Yeah," Willow said.
"We won't be far, we'll be able to smell any vamps if they show," Faith said. "But I want you to keep an energy shield around the van until we get back anyway, just in case. Don't drop it for a second. Okay?"
Willow nodded.
Faith watched her for a moment, as Tara held her. She watched them together.
For a moment, a strange feeling came over Faith, as she watched Willow and Tara together...as she watched Tara, holding Willow in her arms, and caressing her hair. Faith felt the Slayer in her, growling.
Faith leaned into the van, and caressed Willow's hair. She touched her cheek, and wiped her tears away.
She turned Willow toward her, and looked into her eyes.
"We all love you, Willow," Faith said.
"Thank you, sweetie," Willow whispered, and tried to smile. Her tears ran down her cheeks, and over her lips.
Faith kissed Willow's forehead, and walked away from the van, and followed Buffy into the house.
They didn't talk, in the house.
Joyce had begun decomposing. The stench of her corpse was strong. It smelled like feces and urine and saliva and blood, and Drusilla.
It didn't smell like Joyce. Joyce wasn't there anymore.
They found blankets and clean sheets in the linen closet. They wrapped Joyce up in them. Then they found shovels in the cellar.
They carried Joyce out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and out to the back of the house. There was a garden there. But there were no rose bushes, like in the garden in front. The garden in back was full of violets.
"Becca," Faith said. "Becca always smelled like violets to me."
Buffy kissed her.
"Then I guess we've found the perfect place," Buffy said. "My mother and yours."
Faith nodded.
They dug a grave.
It didn't take long; they were Slayers. In ten minutes Joyce was in the earth, and the little grave was covered with dirt.
Buffy wished she'd had something to give her...something to leave with her. She thought about giving back the ring Joyce had given her, but Buffy wanted it...needed it. Finally she settled on the violets. She covered her mother with violets, before she filled in the grave.
Buffy and Faith looked down at the mound of dirt together. They had covered the dirt with violets too.
"Joyce made me feel...made me feel like...someone could care about me," Faith said. "Like...I wasn't so bad, y'know?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "She knew you're the most beautiful, special girl in the world, Faith. Rebecca knew it too, baby. I just wish...I was a better daughter. I wish I had been what my mother wanted."
Faith took her by the shoulders, and spun her around.
"You listen to me," Faith said. "Joyce loved you. She loved you with all her heart. Yeah, you being a Slayer blindsided her. But only because she was your Mom and she worried about you being hurt. That's the only reason. She loved you. I love you too. You're my girl."
Buffy nodded, and fell into her arms.
"I'm...I'm...a cuddle monster," Buffy whispered, and started to cry.
"I'm gonna defeat you," Faith whispered.
They stood there together, silently. They felt the darkness weighing them down. They felt like it would crush them eventually, if they stayed out there. They felt like their legs would buckle under its weight.
"There's something wrong with Giles," Buffy whispered, as Faith held her, and kissed her neck.
"You mean the wandering off thing?" Faith said. "That guy he met up with that Angel didn't like?"
"He should have come with us to bury her," Buffy said. "I said no one but me and you, and yeah, okay, I'm fucking pissed off at Willow. I didn't want her here. Didn't want Giles here either. But he should've insisted on coming. He wouldn't have let me keep him away. But he didn't even say anything. Something's wrong."
"He smells okay," Faith said. "Tara didn't pick up any glamours when he was in the room."
"Something's wrong," Buffy said.
"This won't take long," Willow said. Her face was still red from crying. Her eyes were still black.
They were back in Sunnydale. It was strangely quiet. Like Burbank and Glendale, it seemed that the vampires had lost interest...moved on. There were dead bodies everywhere; Willow had started keeping a count when they got off the highway and drove through the town, but she had stopped counting when she reached a thousand. The town was choked with dead bodies, most of them stripped of clothing and mutilated. Some of the streets were impassable because of the bodies. And a good portion of the town was burning, and there was no one to fight the fires. There weren't very many cars either. Whoever hadn't been killed had left.
The vampires had made Sunnydale an abattoir, and then put it to the torch. Now the town burned, and the defiled bodies rotted in the street, and the darkness hung over everything like a shroud, and it was quiet.
They had stopped at Tara's house, and Tara had picked up some things. They had tried stopping at Giles' house and Willow's house but they had both burned to the ground. Now they were parked in front of Xander's house. It was intact; the fires hadn't reached it. It was a two-story house like Buffy's, but smaller and shabbier. By the light of the streetlamp on the corner, the house looked to be painted gray, but the paint was streaked and weather-beaten and fading now. Some of the shingles seemed to be falling off too. There was a weathervane on the roof, shaped like a rooster. It was spinning in the wind now.
The house seemed a grim little place, Faith thought, as she looked out at it. It slumped there in the dark, tired, beaten down, defeated. The house was two stories and it had a lawn and a driveway, but it reminded Faith of D Street. There was something desperate about it.
"No one in there," Faith said, as she looked out at it, and focused her senses on it. "Not getting any scents."
"Car's gone too," Willow said, looking out at an empty driveway done in concrete, with a little blue one-car garage at the end of it. "Guess they took off. Wonder if they even bothered looking for Xander."
"They wouldn't look?" Faith said.
"His parents were jerks," Willow said, and slid the van door open, and got out. "I can relate. Be back in a minute."
"Want me to come, sweetie?" Tara said.
"If you want," Willow said. "Won't take long."
Tara started to get up.
"I'm going with her," Faith said, and opened the front door and hopped out. "You guys stay here."
Faith moved to the sliding door in back and shut it, closing Tara and Cordelia inside.
Then she followed Willow to the house.
They walked through the lawn, up a path made of rounded concrete stepping stones. The concrete was old and cracked and the lawn was overgrown with weeds. There was a big crabapple tree in the corner of the yard that was surrounded by rotten apples that had killed the grass all around it.
"How come you didn't want Tara to come?" Willow said, when they stood on the dirty, cluttered porch in front of the door, and she was certain Tara couldn't hear her.
"I wanna talk to you," Faith said.
Willow nodded her head, and waved her hand. The front door swung open. She turned on the light, a bulb in a dusty old fixture on a pull string.
The house had low ceilings and hardwood floors, and everything was done in wood paneling. It made it seem darker than it was.
Faith didn't like that place; she didn't like the way it smelled. It didn't smell like Xander at all. It smelled old and musty, cramped, closed-in. There was a heavy smell of alcohol too, and old, sour perfume.
Willow walked confidently through the hallway, ahead to the little kitchen. There was a meal set out on the table: pork chops, mashed potatoes and salad, and a few bottles of beer. Flies were buzzing around the food now. Willow opened a door next to the refrigerator. Wooden steps led down into darkness. She turned on the light; another solitary bulb on a pull string.
Xander's scent came to Faith now.
"He stayed down here," Willow said, and walked down the stairs, her footfalls creaking on the steps, echoing in the silence. Faith followed her, stealthy and surefooted, making hardly a sound.
Xander's basement room was a dark, dreary hovel. It was dusty and the air was stale. Packing crates and boxes full of clothes and shoes and old magazines and assorted junk were piled up in one corner, halfway to the ceiling. There was a little wooden clothes rack, but Xander's clothes were strewn about the room haphazardly--on the little rumpled waterbed, on the scratched up wooden desk, on the lumpy old orange chair with the torn fabric. He'd tried to liven the room up with posters--bikini models, one of those posters college kids always had in their dorms with a hundred different brands of beer all lined up, Magic Johnson, Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. They gave the room some color but Faith still thought it felt like a prison cell. There was a solitary half-window, looking out on the front lawn. Other than that, the room was cut off from the world.
"I was gonna have you guys stay with me, when I bought my place," Faith said.
"Would've been nice," Willow said. She knelt down in front of a little footlocker Xander kept in the corner, and opened it up. She moved some comic books out of the way, and came out with a videotape in a plastic case.
"Spidey," Faith said, looking down at the comics. "Always liked Spidey."
"So did Xander," Willow said. "Said he could relate to him."
Willow sat down on the waterbed.
"So what did you wanna talk about?" Willow said. "Buffy?"
"No," Faith said. "We already talked about that. You gotta keep trying with Buffy, no matter how long it takes."
"I know," Willow said. She was looking down at her shoes. The cellar was dark; her black eyes were darker.
"I wanted to talk about you," Faith said. "And whether or not you're gonna be part of the group."
"I...want to be," Willow said.
Faith stood above her, and looked down into her black eyes. She wanted to sit next to her...she wanted to hold her, the way Tara had. She didn't let herself.
For the first time, Faith was worried about herself...worried about what she might do around Willow...
She wanted to kiss Willow again.
She put the thought out of her mind. It confused her, and there was no time for it anyway.
Willow's scent suddenly came to her, as if she was noticing it for the first time. It was incredibly strong, suddenly. Faith tried to tune it out.
"I hear you sayin' it, fairy godmother," Faith said. "Now you gotta mean it. You ever pull any shit again like you did today and you're out. I'm not saying you won't be my friend, that I'll stop like, hanging out with you and stuff. And I'm not saying I'll stop caring about you. I'll never stop caring about you. I love you. But I got no fucking problem making you stay home, Willow. You can't follow my lead then you can't be part of it. I'll keep you home."
"I'll follow your lead," Willow said. She took Faith's hand. "I promise, sweetie. From now on I'll follow you."
Faith kissed Willow's hand.
Then she turned Willow's hand over in hers, palm up, and kissed her wrist...and took in her strawberry scent...
She stopped herself. She let go of Willow, and turned away from her.
"Figure everyone gets one mistake, Willow," Faith said, with her back turned to her. "You used yours up today."
"Yeah," Willow said. "I'm sorry, Faith. I'm sorry, sweetie."
Faith nodded, without turning around.
"You've been through some shit," Faith said. "Hardest shit there is. I was gonna kill Angel for you, because I...because...you're important to me. If we get the world through this there might be more hard shit coming down, for all of us. That's just life. Can't predict what it'll throw at us next. But I need to know I can count on you. If you're gonna fold under pressure, if you're gonna fuck up again like you did today, we're gonna have a problem."
"I won't," Willow said.
"Okay," Faith said.
She stood there, in the dark, with her back turned to Willow.
"How are you and Tara doing?" Faith said.
"Um...better, I think," Willow said. "We haven't really talked since... um...I went all crazy at the hospital. We probably need to talk. Sweetie, are you... sure you're okay?"
"Yeah," Faith said. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah," Willow said. She got up, and gently turned Faith around.
"You sure there isn't...something else you wanna talk about?" Willow said. "You seem kinda like there's something on your mind."
Faith found herself putting her arms around Willow's waist.
"Sweetie?" Willow whispered. "What is it?"
"It's...it's...uh...Giles," Faith said. "Buffy thinks there's something wrong with him. Says he isn't acting right. She doesn't trust him right now."
"Yeah, he's been kinda strange," Willow said. "Can't put my finger on it. The wandering off stuff, but that's only part of it." She didn't try to move Faith's hands away from her waist. She stood there, with Faith's arms around her. Their eyes met. Willow's eyes were black...but Faith looked straight into them and all the way down, without looking away. Faith saw what was there, everything that was there, and didn't turn away from it. She accepted it.
Willow looked down at Faith's arms around her waist, and smiled.
"We dancin', sweetie?" Willow whispered, and put her arms around Faith's neck, and looked into her eyes, and swayed with her.
Faith giggled.
They slow danced together for awhile, swaying without music. Willow leaned her head on Faith's shoulder.
"I like how you can look in my eyes," Willow said. "How you're so strong. My eyes scare Tara."
"I could never be scared of you, lover," Faith said. "I know you'd never hurt us. It isn't in you to hurt us."
Willow suddenly took the lead, taking Faith's hand in hers, and moving Faith's arm up to her shoulders, and moving her own arm around Faith's waist.
She spun around and dipped Faith, leaning her backwards over the bed.
"Lover?" Willow whispered.
Faith blushed. Willow held her, suspended, teetering over the bed...
The bed smelled like Xander. But Willow's scent drowned it out, overpowered it...Willow's scent was sweet.
Faith hovered there, above the bed, and looked up into Willow's black eyes...waiting.
Willow pulled her back up.
"I'll always take care of you," Willow said, still holding on to Faith's waist. "Okay, baby? I'll always be your auntie. Fairy godmother too."
"I don't know...why I said that," Faith said, still blushing furiously. "It just...I don't know. Kinda came out."
Willow smiled again, and caressed Faith's cheek. "It's okay."
"It's just...I don't want you to think...I mean...with Xander..."
"Sshhh," Willow said, and touched her finger to Faith's lips. She picked up the videotape from the bed. "Come on, let's get outta here. Um...unless you wanna kick my ass some more, Sarge? Maybe make me do some pushups?"
"Uh...no pushups," Faith said, and blushed even harder.
"Do I wanna know the thought that's in your head right now?" Willow said.
"Nope," Faith said.
"Didn't think so," Willow said. "I got a naughty niece."
Faith smiled. Willow kissed her cheek.
"Faith, I love you," Willow whispered in her ear. "I'll always love you. That's why I won't ever do anything that could hurt you. Never, baby. Okay?"
Faith nodded, and leaned her head on Willow's shoulder.
"I...really liked dancing with you," Faith said.
"Me too," Willow said. "But...okay, what would Cordy call this? High drama? Come on, sweetie. Let's go home." She took Faith's hand again.
"Hey," Faith said, looking at her intently now, her smile growing larger.
"What?" Willow said.
"Your eyes, honey," Faith said. "They're green again."
"How many we thinking?" Riley said, as he marched back into Buffy's bedroom and crouched down by the window again. He pulled a pair of infrared binoculars from his belt. "Anybody get a good look before they disappeared?"
"I'm guessing like maybe fifty or so," Graham said. "Plus the wizard, and the chick in the suit."
Riley, Graham, Sam and Forrest stood crouched in the dark by the second-floor window in Buffy's bedroom, looking with infrared binoculars at the spots where two trucks had pulled up a few minutes before. The streetlamps were still working on this street; that helped.
The trucks had the words "Santa Barbara County SWAT" painted on the sides but Riley knew there was no chance they were police trucks. For one thing, they were simply too large, and too well-armored, and they had gun turrets on top. Another indication that things weren't as they seemed was that police trucks didn't usually disappear. But these two trucks had: one moment they were there, the next they were gone.
The trucks had pulled up and parked around the corners at both ends of the block, doused their lights, and then vanished--they had become invisible somehow. Riley assumed it was a glamour, and a good one: there was no visible distortion effect. The trucks were completely camouflaged. Riley knew all about glamours; he had hunted witches and wizards before. Invisibility was the hardest sort of glamour to cast. It required absolute precision and enormous power. The wizard they were dealing with, whoever he was, was dangerous.
And the men inside the trucks definitely weren't police officers. Right after the trucks parked eight men in black uniforms with kevlar vests had leapt out and four of them had taken up sniper positions on the rooftops of the abandoned houses on either side of the street, throwing ladders up against the sides; four men had climbed up, the other four had taken the ladders back to the trucks, and jumped back inside. And then the trucks had remained there, invisible. Waiting.
Riley was just happy the wizard, whoever he was, hadn't thought to make the snipers on the rooftops invisible too. That would have just been annoying.
"Chick?" Sam said.
"Babe," Graham said. "Broad. Gal. Hottie."
"Female American," Forrest said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the comedy stylings of Graham Seaver and Forrest Prince," Riley said.
"We got a plan, Cap?" Forrest said.
"We're formulating one," Riley said. He focused his binoculars on the spot where the lead truck, the one with the wizard sitting in front, had parked. None of them had gotten a good look at the wizard; they had seen a flash of long, gray hair, a shimmering robe, and tentacles where the wizard's hands should have been, when the men had leapt out of the truck. Riley switched to the binoculars' infrared mode, and frowned: he was still detecting nothing whatsoever. Most magic-users weren't up on technology and they never considered things like energy signatures. Their glamours only hid things from the five human senses. But this wizard had hidden the trucks and everything in them with such complete attention to detail that the trucks might as well have ceased to exist.
"If those guys come in here we better formulate quick," Sam said.
"Shit, those dudes only outnumber us like thirteen to one," Forrest said. "We practically got 'em cornered."
"Why haven't they come in?" Graham said. "They gotta be here for the Slayer. So they get here and they don't even check her house?"
"They must know she isn't here somehow," Riley said. "Okay, we got a wizard, a woman and something like fifty commandos. The commandos are wearing body armor and they're packing automatic weapons. The wizard's packing some serious heat of his own, judging by that glamour. I'm not getting any energy signatures at all from the trucks. The woman's packing a nicely-tailored suit."
"Which of these things doesn't belong?" Sam said.
"Gotta be more to the lady than there seems," Forrest said. "No weapons, no armor...maybe she's a witch?"
"No collar," Riley said. "Yeah, I didn't notice one on the old guy either but he's gotta be a wizard, the tentacles are a giveaway. I've seen those kinds of mutations in magic-users before. But that woman looked like a civilian to me. I'm thinking maybe she's running these guys."
"We sure these dudes ain't military?" Forrest said. "Maybe some kinda government black ops? We wanna find the Slayers, bet we're not the only ones who got that idea."
"They don't just wanna find them," Sam said. "A wizard casting a glamour around their trucks, four snipers in position up high? They wanna either capture them or kill them. Probably kill them."
"Yeah," Riley said. "But they're not the government. If the government had any kind of plan to go after the Slayers I'd know about it."
"Could be maybe like, top secret," Graham said. "CIA, NSA, maybe the spooks are running something off the books."
"I have the highest security clearance," Riley said. "Magic, vampires, demons, Slayers--it's all my territory. Whoever these guys are, the government didn't send them. They're freelancing."
"Highest security clearance?" Forrest said. "What, like you know who killed Kennedy? You know where the government keeps the alien bodies? You sure you're not just showin' off for your girl?"
"He's showing off a little," Sam said.
"There are no alien bodies," Riley said. "You watch too much X-Files."
"The truth is out there," Graham said. "Dude, I bet you're just part of the conspiracy."
"Okay, no aliens, fine. So who killed Kennedy?" Forrest said.
"Freelance wizard named Cyvus Vail," Riley said. "He was hired by J. Edgar Hoover."
"Wait, you actually know who killed Kennedy?" Graham said.
"If it involves a wizard I know about it," Riley said.
"Kennedy was killed by a wizard? Dude, you are totally making that up," Forrest said.
"Nope," Riley said. "Kennedy's father used his mob connections to fix the vote tallies in Texas and Illinois. Nixon should've won that election. Once Kennedy got in and his brother Bobby started going after organized crime, the mob started blackmailing Kennedy. Hoover found out, decided it was too dangerous to have a sitting president exposed to blackmail, and hired Vail to kill him. All that stuff, Oswald, grassy knoll? That was all a glamour Vail cast. The photos, video footage, all the evidence? Fabricated. Vail actually killed Kennedy with a lightning bolt."
Everyone looked at Riley.
"You're shitting me," Forrest said.
"It's all true," Riley said. "I always wanted to tell someone about it. Figure with the world ending and half of Washington on fire, what the hell."
"Where's this Vail dude at now?" Graham said. "Government still use him?"
"Vail's a star," Riley said. "Toughest wizard there is, but he hires himself out to the highest bidder. And we're not always the highest bidder. Sometimes our enemies are. Vail's been at the top of the Initiative's hit list for twenty years, ever since the Pine Bluffs Incident."
"Pine Bluffs Incident?" Sam said.
"Pine Bluffs is a little town in Laramie County, Wyoming," Riley said. "In 1978 Vail was hired by a demon-worshipping cult to procure them a whole bunch of human beings for their demon pals to use as slave laborers and breeders. So he did. He walked into Pine Bluffs one night and cast a spell that temporarily transported the entire town to a dimension called Pylea, where the demons were located. When the town reappeared in our dimension a couple hours later, all the people in it--seven-hundred and twelve men, women and children--were gone. Our best scientists still can't figure out how to reach that dimension. The demon-worshipping cult escaped to Pylea, the people Vail sold into slavery were never recovered."
"Jesus H. Christ," Graham said.
"Yeah," Riley said. "I ever catch up to that son of a bitch Vail I'm shoving my rifle up his ass sideways. Okay, I've formulated a plan."
"You have?" Forrest said. "While we were talking about some evil bastard wizard killing Kennedy and kidnapping a town and stuff?"
"I was multitasking," Riley said. "Sam, Graham. You got your standard rifles, think you can take those snipers before they get a bead on you?"
"Maybe," Graham said. "We can sight all four if we use the windows in this room and the other bedroom down the hall. But taking down four before they figure out where we are is some pretty fancy shooting. And that still leaves us another fifty in the trucks."
"And Mister Wizard," Forrest said. "I fucking hate wizards."
"Hell, I love 'em," Riley said. "They can't fight for shit."
"We can call for backup," Sam said. "Our guys back at the base could mobilize and be out here in fifteen minutes."
"Already tried," Riley said. "Just got off the horn with Professor Walsh, and she says we're on our own. The Initiative's locked down and she's got orders from Washington to keep it that way until further notice and not let anybody out under any circumstances. Probably better this way. If the whole Initiative came out here this thing could get out of hand pretty quick when the Slayers show up. I want to work with the Slayers, not have to fight them. But I'm thinking the Professor would want to capture them and interrogate them. And that would just be rude."
"Been meanin' to ask, how do you know both Slayers are gonna show?" Forrest said. "This is whatshername, Buffy's house, but the other one doesn't live here, does she?"
"We know they're working together," Riley said. "We have sources in the demon community who keep us informed. If Buffy shows she'll either be with Faith or she can lead us to her. And I'm betting Buffy will show--these guys aren't just staking out this place, they're ready for a fight. They're expecting her."
"So it's four against fifty," Graham said.
"Those fifty guys are in trucks," Riley said. "Trucks with big gas tanks. They'll probably be armored but I bet the sabot rounds you and Sam are carrying could punch through. If we can find a way to target the gas tanks and blow up those trucks, we could take out all these guys. The houses all around here look abandoned, so there wouldn't be any civilian casualties. Don't want to play it that way unless we have to, but I have a feeling these guys are the shoot-first-ask questions-later types."
"Only problem with that plan is the wizard," Graham said. "He casts an energy shield, we're not hitting shit even if we can find a way to get a clear shot at the gas tanks. And they always cast frigging energy shields."
"Hate wizards," Forrest said.
Riley smiled. "Let me worry about the wizard. You know how I made us all load up when we went AWOL? How we took all our coolest toys? Well I took all the tech boys' new prototype gadgets, stuff that hasn't been field-tested yet. I feel like James Bond over here. Assuming some of this junk works, maybe I can throw the wizard a change-up."
"Can you stop saying AWOL?" Forrest said. "I was maybe hoping we could like go back and all would be forgiven. Maybe Prof makes us run some laps, then we're cool."
"World's ending, boys and girls," Riley said. "Touch it, taste it, deal with it. More than five-million dead, the president's dead, the government's evacuated, the White House burned to the ground, vampires and demons everywhere. Nothing can ever go back. But I'll be goddamned if we ain't gonna take a whole bunch of these sons of bitches with us."
"Heard that," Graham said.
"Okay," Riley said. "We can't just leave these guys in place so the Slayers can get here and walk into a trap. We gotta flush these guys out somehow. Forrest and I are going out there. You two keep your guns trained on those snipers. This thing goes off the rails, target the snipers and then try for the gas tanks."
"That's your plan?" Sam said. "You and Forrest go out there, what's to stop these guys from shooting you?"
"I'm James Bond, remember?" Riley said. "Got a prototype energy shield with me."
"Energy shield?" Graham said. "We can do energy shields now?"
"Your tax dollars at work," Riley said. "But it's a prototype, hasn't been field-tested. So we'll field-test it. Energy shields are just power fields generated at a specific frequency. Witches and wizards do 'em with magic, Uncle Sam does 'em with technology. If the thing's not a lemon we've got a three minute window, that's the power supply it comes with. But that should be long enough for us to feel these guys out, maybe try to run a bluff. They've only got maybe fifty soldiers. If I can convince them the rest of our boys are on the way maybe they'll back down. But the second any of them fire a shot, you two open up." Riley took something off his belt that looked like an earpiece with a microphone attached to it. He put it on, and pointed to the microphone that hung down near his mouth. "Keep in touch."
"Still not liking this plan," Sam said.
"You don't have to like it, Lieutenant," Riley said. "You just have to follow it."
"Yes, sir," Sam muttered, and concentrated on looking out the window.
Riley took her hand, and caressed her cheek.
"I love you," he said.
She looked at him.
He kissed her.
Then he got up. Forrest got up with him.
"You better not die out there," Sam said. "I know you have like these Clint Eastwood fantasies of going out in a blaze of glory but if you die out there I will kick your farm boy ass. Sir."
"John Wayne," Riley said. "Eastwood's too morally ambiguous for me."
"Don't worry, Kansas, I'll bring him back in one piece," Forrest said. "There's only fifty of 'em."
"Good hunting, boys," Graham said.
"I love you too," Sam said, frowning up at Riley. "Jerk."
Riley smiled back at her.
"Don't even think about trying that smile on me," Sam said. And smiled.
"Shit," Forrest said. "Let's get outta here before I start gettin' all like teary-eyed and emotional. And fair warning Cap, you better not try to hug me."
"Well if you're gonna be that way about it..." Riley said, and walked out the door.
"Okay, so the plan is basically that we're gonna talk out of our asses for awhile and hope those guys don't put a hole in us," Forrest said, as they walked out the door, and Riley pressed a button on his belt. Forrest didn't see anything, but he heard a hum that sounded like electricity. The hum lasted a second, then it was gone. "I miss anything? Is there like, some real clever part of the plan that I missed?"
"Nope, that's all of it," Riley said. They passed through the gap in the hedge that circled the house, and walked down the path that cut through Buffy's lawn, toward the sidewalk. They walked side by side, and stuck close together; Riley had mentioned that the energy shield was only four meters in diameter.
"I'll say this for us, we got balls," Forrest said. "Could be we're not too smart though."
"Yeah, but we're pretty," Riley said. "That's what Sam keeps telling me anyway."
They crossed the sidewalk, and moved into the street, approximately midway between the positions of the two trucks, being careful to avoid looking up at the snipers.
No one shot at them. No one made a sound. The trucks remained perfectly concealed within their glamours.
"Attention assholes," Riley said. His voice carried.
"Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun," Forrest muttered.
"I'm Captain Riley Finn of the United States Marine Corps," Riley continued. "This area is under military quarantine by order of the D.R.I. and you are trespassing. Dispel the glamours around your trucks and get those fucking snipers off the rooftops immediately. This is your one warning. Any resistance will be met with lethal force."
No one replied. The trucks remained perfectly concealed within their glamours. But no one shot at them...yet.
Riley waited...
"Who the fuck are these guys?" Lilah said. She was sitting in the front seat of one of the trucks, next to Cyvus Vail, looking out at Riley through a pair of binoculars. Vail was drinking tea. "And what the fuck is the D.R.I.?"
"Demon Research Initiative," Vail said, and yawned. "The United States Government's simplistic response to a complicated world."
"U.S. Government," Lilah said. "So for all we know GI Joe out there isn't full of shit."
"Shall I kill him?" Vail said.
They were heading back to Buffy's house. Willow felt cold.
Driving through that darkness felt like being underwater to Willow...it was like being in a fish tank, or moving through a tunnel. The longer she was out in that darkness, the more she felt like she was burrowing into the earth...deeper and deeper...farther and farther from the warmth, from the light. Until even the memory of warmth and light was gone...
She moved closer to Tara. Tara had her arm around her.
They hadn't talked about the horrible things Willow had said to Tara in the hospital room. Willow hadn't apologized, though she wanted to, and intended to when she had a chance to be alone with Tara, but Tara hadn't asked for an apology. Tara had simply smiled, and stayed close to her, and put her arm around her. It felt warm. But the darkness still felt cold...
Willow felt it on her skin, like a relentless, steadily increasing pressure. She felt like meat being tenderized. And the darkness was trying to enter her, she knew it was...she felt it slithering into the pores of her skin. And she felt something else...the pressure on her skin wasn't the only pressure. There was a pressure coming from inside her, too...like something was trying to get out.
She did her best to ignore it. But it was scratching at her insides now...
They had all the useful supplies they could scavenge: Tara and Faith had brought all Tara's food and all her clothes and all her magic supplies out of her house, and Willow and Faith had emptied out a few boxes from Xander's basement and filled them with all the food left in his kitchen, and the extra grenade he had in his underwear drawer. There was hardly room in the back of the van for Willow and Tara and Cordelia. They sat squeezed together.
Willow didn't mind. She liked Tara's arm around her.
Cordelia didn't mind either. She was busy looking through the box filled with Tara's hand-made Christian Laurent shoes.
They were all quiet. The radio was on. Only two stations were still broadcasting. The government was giving directions to the nearest emergency camps.
A thought was suddenly forming at the back of Willow's mind.
The thought didn't quite have substance yet. She couldn't put words to it yet. It was as if she had forgotten something, something important...almost like a feeling of déja vu.
The thought was what was trying to get out, Willow realized; it was the thing scratching against her insides. She felt afraid, suddenly.
She knew she was about to remember something, and she had suddenly realized that it was a bad thing...and that she had remembered it before, and forgotten it...more than once. It came and went, somehow...she would find it, and then lose it again...
A number flashed into her head: 682.
Willow knew, somehow, that the number was the way it always started. She felt herself beginning to tremble.
Faith and Buffy both turned around in the front seat. The part of Willow that was still logical, still thinking, knew it was because they had detected a change in her scent. Slayers knew when you were afraid.
"Willow," Faith said. "What's wrong, auntie?"
Tara had noticed now, too. Willow felt everyone looking at her...she wished they would stop.
"Sweetie?" Tara said, and caressed Willow's cheek. "Are you okay?"
Willow shook her head. A tear fell down her cheek. She knew it was coming...the memory.
She knew it came every six-hundred and eighty two hours...and then it disappeared again...and took a piece of her heart with it, every time.
Two commandos had jumped out of one of the trucks, and approached Riley and Forrest almost as if they didn't intend to try to kill them.
The commandos stood about twenty feet away now, with their hands hovering over their gun holsters.
The snipers hadn't come down from the rooftops. The trucks hadn't dropped their glamours. And Riley knew he had already wasted a minute. The energy shield had two minutes of power left at best...and then he and Forrest would be defenseless.
"Captain Finn," one of the commandos said. "We're conducting a covert sweep of this area for--"
Riley wasn't listening to him. He was listening to Graham.
"When those guys jumped out of the truck I got another look," Graham said, his voice a whisper in Riley's earpiece. "Glamour's camouflaging the outside but not the inside. It's one of those mobile command post trucks, tricked out a little. We can't see it now but I've seen trucks like it before, I know where the gas tank oughta be. Tank's probably armored, plus I'll have to shoot through the side of the truck to hit it anyway, but I think the sabot round can punch through. No guarantees. But I take the shot, Sam opens up on the snipers at the same time while you guys haul ass for cover. You like that plan, nod your head."
Riley didn't nod his head. The problem with that plan was, even if it worked perfectly, they would only manage to take out one of the trucks, and it wasn't the truck with the wizard in it. And then they'd be pinned down. Riley would try that plan if he had to--the plan had the advantage of drawing the enemy out so the Slayers, at least, wouldn't be walking into a trap if they suddenly showed up--but first Riley wanted to try his bluff. He still had a couple of minutes left on his shield. And he had some other surprises up his sleeve too...if the wizard ever showed himself.
"--Is indeed a military operation, Captain," the commando was saying. "We have official authorization from Deputy Director Kefauver of the--"
"You can stop running your mouth any time now," Riley said. "I'm military. You boys ain't shit. And if you don't tell those snipers to get those fucking sights off me I'm gonna be annoyed. Got two-hundred men on the way here. Been awhile since they had some live fire exercises."
The commando who had been talking, a tall, gangly guy with a receding hairline, frowned.
"Shit, he don't believe us," the other commando said. He was a big guy with a neck like a linebacker, a shaved head and a long goatee with no moustache. He smiled.
"Yeah, I'm gettin' that," the commando with the hairline said.
"I'm all scared now," the commando with the goatee said. "He's got that spiffy uniform, those captain's bars. It's like, real intimidating. Plus, damn, you heard him, he's got like two-hundred guys."
"Somewhere," Hairline said.
"Up his ass, maybe?" Goatee said, his smile getting wider.
"Can I please shoot these assholes?" Forrest said.
"Oh no," Willow whispered, and burst into tears.
"Sweetie?" Tara said. "What's...?"
"OH NO! OH NO!" Willow shrieked, holding her hands to her head.
"Willow!" Faith shouted. "What is it?"
"Something to write with!" Willow screeched, and knocked Tara and Cordelia out of the way and started clawing through the boxes all around her, pulling things out of them and tossing them all over the van.
"Willow!" Giles said, as a can of string beans hit him in the back of the head and he nearly lost control of the van. "What the devil are you doing--?!"
"Willow," Cordelia said. Willow whirled around.
Cordelia was holding an eyeliner pencil in her hand.
Willow snatched it from her and lunged toward the nearest box. She started writing on its side...
"Every, every six-hundred and eighty-two hours," Willow muttered, as she scribbled with the eyeliner on the side of one of the boxes, her hand shaking, tears running down her cheeks. "I remember it and then it's gone again! Gotta...gotta write it down, write it down, write it down! We can't lose her again!"
"DAWNIE!" Willow screamed, and started sobbing. "Oh no oh no oh no...it's starting I can feel it I can feel it! I'm gonna forget again...I'm gonna forget again!"
"Dawnie?" Buffy said. "Who's Dawnie?"
Willow finished scribbling on the boxes, and lunged at Buffy. She grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Willow!" Faith shouted, and grabbed Willow's hand. But Willow held on tight to Buffy...
"LISTEN TO ME!" Willow screamed. "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN!"
"Willow," Buffy said. "What is this? What are you doing?"
"You have a sister, Buffy!" Willow said. "You're not an only child, you never were! You have a little sister and her name is Dawn! DAWN SUMMERS!"
"What are you...talking about?" Buffy said. "I never had a--"
"YES YOU DO!" Willow shrieked, shaking Buffy's shoulders now. "They took her! Kidnapped her! They erased our memories of her so we wouldn't even look for her! They did some kind of spell, they erased the whole world's memories of her! The spell erased all her school records, her birth records, photographs, all the evidence she was ever here! But she was! SHE WAS! SHE WAS YOUR SISTER! They've had her for eight months now, Buffy! EIGHT MONTHS!"
Willow collapsed onto Buffy's chest, her shoulders heaving as she cried.
"They've had her for EIGHT MONTHS!" Willow screamed into Buffy's chest. "They could be HURTING her! Oh Goddess, I don't even know where they took her, what they're doing to her! And I'm gonna forget again! I'm gonna forget again any second! Something happened with their spell, it didn't go exactly right, so I remember every six-hundred and eighty-two hours! I've remembered eight times now! Sometimes I remember for like a minute, but sometimes it's just a few seconds, sometimes it's when I'm asleep! But we have to remember! We have to find a way to remember! WE HAVE TO REMEMBER DAWNIE!"
"They took Dawnie," Willow whispered. "They took her away from us."
Buffy caressed Willow's hair.
"But...but who's Dawnie?" Buffy whispered.
Willow suddenly felt strange.
"Who's...who?" Willow said. She looked around. Her hands were holding on to Buffy's shirt collar for some reason.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Buffy said, glaring at her.
"Um...um...sorry," Willow said, and let go of her, and moved away.
"We were...talking about...someone?" Faith said. "Weren't we? Willow... you're crying, honey."
"I am?" Willow said, and looked down at herself, and ran her fingers over her cheeks. They were wet. "Um...that's...strange."
"Dawn Summers is Buffy's sister," Tara said.
Everyone turned around. Tara was reading something written on the side of one of the boxes...
"Sure thing Buckwheat," Hairline said. "Right after we get through shootin' you guys first."
"You did not just call me Buckwheat," Forrest said, as Hairline raised his hand, and the snipers opened fire.
The energy shield sparked green. The bullets ricocheted away.
Riley smiled.
"See, now I'm annoyed," Riley said.
"What? I don't have a sister," Buffy said.
"She was born 4/7/87," Tara continued, reading the writing on the side of the box. "She was kidnapped...3/16/98...by the witch Sarah Ross. Um...okay... Ross erased our memories of Dawn so we wouldn't look for her. We forget Dawn over and over so we must keep this writing. That part's underlined. We have to save Dawn. Um...that's all of it."
"How did that writing get there?" Willow said. "And it's saying...Buffy has a sister? A sister we don't remember?"
Everyone looked at Buffy. Faith took Buffy's hand. It was shaking.
"I...don't know what..." Buffy whispered.
Giles screamed, as the driver's side window suddenly exploded, showering him with glass. The van swerved, screeching. Everyone was thrown to the left. Faith tumbled into Buffy and Willow tumbled into Tara, as boxes overturned and fell around them, spilling all over the floor of the van.
They could hear the crack of gunfire...
Riley turned, and saw the van coming around the corner a couple of blocks away, nearly out of control, careening to one side of the street. Soon it would be too close...
"Come on, Graham," Riley muttered, as he and Forrest stood there with their weapons drawn, taking fire and unable to respond, as the snipers and more than a dozen of the commandos hit them with everything they had now, pounding the energy shield. The shield held, thundering and whining and exploding green around them.
But it only had a minute left...
"I could've joined the Coast Guard, you know," Forrest said, as he leveled his pistol at the line of commandos that stood in front of the truck to their right now, or at least in front of the spot where he assumed the truck was, raining automatic weapons fire on the energy shield. "My mother wanted me to join the Coast Guard." No one had come out of the other truck, the truck with the wizard; Forrest assumed they didn't see any reason to bother. He knew a little about energy shields. Even the most powerful ones couldn't take punishment forever. The commandos knew they just had to keep firing...
"And miss fun stuff like this?" Riley said.
Two of the snipers had already gone down. Riley saw another one join them, as Sam lined up a beauty of a headshot. The sniper's head exploded like a watermelon and he tumbled from the roof and hit the sidewalk like a wet sack...
"See?" Riley said, and held his pistol ready in one hand, and pulled another device from his belt. It was small, and it looked like a pager. He was counting off in his head...forty seconds at most, but the gunfire was weakening the shield too. "Three down already. We got the bastards on the run now."
"Shit," Forrest said. "They might as well just surrender. What's that thing in your hand?"
"Prototype directed sound weapon," Riley said. "The shield drops, these boys are gonna help me field-test it."
"Energy shield!" Faith screamed. "NOW!"
Willow held out her arms, and concentrated. An energy shield began forming in front of them, just as everything turned white and the whole world erupted in thunder...
"YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! Buckwheat MY ASS motherfuckers!" Forrest shouted, as one of the trucks went up in a giant explosion that sent a fireball shooting up into the sky, taking all the commandos who had been firing at them with it. At the same time the energy shield flared, throwing off sparks like green fireworks, and then faded away. The truck jumped ten feet straight up into the air, sending shards of twisted metal and showers of glass flying out in every direction, and landed skidding on its side with an earsplitting crunch.
"SHIT!" Faith screamed, as the shockwave from the explosion penetrated the incomplete energy shield and rocked the van, and Giles lost control of it. The van smashed into a parked car and flung everyone forward. Faith and Buffy each held on to the dashboard, and Giles had his seatbelt on, but Tara tumbled into Buffy, Willow slammed into Faith, and Cordelia shot between Buffy and Giles and nearly went over the dashboard and through the windshield; Faith put out an arm and stopped her just in time.
"Anybody hurt?" Faith said, and looked at Buffy. She touched Buffy's hair. Buffy shook her head, and kissed Faith's hand.
"Um...okay, that...kinda sucked," Tara said.
Faith looked around and did a quick check. Giles was unconscious, his face had a few nicks from the broken window, and his nose was bleeding. She reached past Buffy and put her hand to his neck. His heartbeat was steady.
"Is...is he...?" Buffy whispered.
"He's okay, pulse is steady, breathing looks good," Faith said. "Must've bounced off the dashboard." Everyone else was conscious. Tara's lip was bleeding, and Willow was holding her hands to her temples. All the boxes had spilled and there was food all over the place; the back of the van looked like the inside of a dumpster. Faith reached back and found the sword under a pile of Tara's clothes, and pulled it out.
"Will," Faith said. "The shield. Is it up?" About fifty feet away a truck that wasn't there before had suddenly appeared. Men in black armored uniforms were jumping out of it, with guns.
"No," Willow muttered. "Um...gimme...gimme a sec." She held out her arms again, and Faith heard a low humming sound. "Okay, it's set now. I'll hold it as long as I can. Um...what's happening out there? That was an explosion?"
Faith watched the men in black. They were taking positions along the street, aiming their weapons at the second floor of Buffy's house, and at two men in military uniforms who were crouching behind a tree.
"Don't know what the hell we just walked into," Faith said. "But it's gotta be about us, all these guys are set up in front of Buffy's house. Question is who's the good guys and who's the bad guys. And we better figure out the answer real quick."
"Maybe there aren't any good guys," Cordelia said, pushing an overturned box off of her back and frowning as she brushed coffee grounds off of her dress. "And shouldn't we be getting the hell out of here, like, right now?"
"Can't drive with the energy shield in place," Willow said. "It's stationary, it won't move with us."
"So we're a sitting duck for these guys if we try to bail, assuming we can even get the van started again," Faith said. "Besides, we need to find out what's going on. Those guys aren't vamps, and they look military. If there's another side in this fight we gotta know about it. How far out does the shield go? How much room do we have?"
"Maybe about ten feet in a circle all around the van," Willow said. "But I can adjust the shape of the shield any way you want, drop it and then put it back up. I just can't make the kind of constant adjustments I'd have to make if we drove with it. Every time I change its shape or its position I have to drop it for a second and put it back up."
"Five days ago it took a lot out of you just keeping it up at all," Faith said. "You sure it can handle those guns?"
"Yeah," Willow said. "My shields are a lot stronger now than they were. It won't last forever but it'll hold awhile against guns."
"Your shields are stronger in just five days?" Buffy said. "I thought you just started doing the shields last Friday."
"I'm a quick learner," Willow said. "We need a plan."
"We need to know the players first," Buffy said. "We need to know what side to take. If we're gonna take a side."
"Okay, working theory is these guys are here for us," Faith said. "Too much of a coincidence, this shit going down in front of your house. Coincidences are always suspect. These guys gotta be here for us."
"'Coincidences are always suspect?'" Buffy said.
Willow smiled. "She can say it in an English accent if you want."
"Becca's always right," Faith said. "So coincidences are always suspect, so these guys being here at the house isn't a coincidence. They're here for us."
"But...but the sh-shield won't stay up forever and we can't fight them from inside it, we can't cast spells through it," Tara said. "What do we do?"
"We introduce ourselves," Faith said. "Figure whoever the bad guys are, we show ourselves and they'll make a play for us. Then we take it from there."
"Half our guys!" Lilah screamed in Vail's face. "They just took out half our fucking guys in one shot! You couldn't put a fucking shield around the truck?"
"How the hell was I supposed to know they had snipers in the house, girl?" Vail said. "Do you expect me to do everything? These fools you hired were supposed to be professionals."
"Do you at least have a shield around this truck so we don't explode next?" Lilah said. She was sitting in the one remaining truck with Vail, looking out at the battlefield--because that's what it was now--with binoculars. The rest of her men were shooting at the undetermined number of snipers in the Slayer's house, and at the two marines who were somehow still alive, even though the energy shield which they absolutely should not have had was finally burned out. The marines were pinned down behind a tree now on the Slayer's front lawn, with twenty-seven men and one sniper shooting at them, and the truck's gun turret shooting at them too. Things were being destroyed. Bullets, tens of thousands of them, were making those little high-pitched ricocheting sounds they made in the movies. The whole street was being blasted to bits. And the peach tree those marines were hiding behind just stood there, perfectly intact, as if it couldn't be bothered, while enough firepower to mow down a regiment was being pumped straight into it. Meanwhile one of their trucks, which was made of metal, which last Lilah heard was supposed to be a hell of a lot stronger than wood, had exploded after being hit with a single shot and took half her men with it.
Lilah frowned. She always found nature annoying. She thought about taking her gun out of her purse and putting a bullet in Cyvus Vail's head. She decided not to.
"Yes, yes, yes, will you stop jabbering at me like a--hold on," Vail said. He raised a tentacle, sat up, and sniffed the air.
"What?" Lilah said.
"Someone has erected an energy shield nearby," Vail said. He grabbed the binoculars away from Lilah, and looked in the direction of the van that had crashed a block away.
"Where?" Lilah said.
"That van," Vail said, pointing toward it with a tentacle. "It has to be Rosenberg."
"Willow," Faith said, crouching behind the van with Buffy, Willow, Tara and Cordelia. She had the sword in her hand. "You put a hole in your shield at the hospital, remember? You grabbed Buffy's stake through it. Can you do that again? Keep the shield up but give us some holes?"
"Yeah," Willow said. "But why?"
"To shoot through," Faith said. "You grabbed B's stake like with telekinesis, right? How about grabbing us some of those dudes' guns."
"Um," Willow said, as half of the black-clad commandos suddenly turned in their direction, pulled rifles from slings across their backs, and started firing.
"Fuck!" Faith shouted, as the energy shield flared under the onslaught, throwing out yellow sparks. But it held. "Okay, scratch that plan! We don't need any holes in the shield right now."
"Faith," Buffy said. "Look." She was pointing at the ground just outside of the energy shield. The ground was littered with some sort of metal darts.
"The hell are those?" Faith said. "They look like...tranquilizer darts?"
"Yup," Buffy said. "I used them once when I went werewolf hunting."
"Wait, there really are werewolves?" Tara said.
"Yeah," Willow said. "But the werewolf we caught turned out to be this cute guy with awesome hair who plays lead guitar in a band. So we let him go when he promised not to eat people."
"You let a werewolf go?" Cordelia said.
"Well...y'know...he was cute," Willow said, and shrugged her shoulders. "And he promised not to eat anyone. His band plays the Bronze sometimes."
"Let's get back on topic," Faith said. "We got guys shootin' at us."
"Actually not anymore," Buffy said. "They've stopped."
Faith looked back at the commandos. They were still pointing their rifles at them. But they weren't firing now. Some were still firing at the two men taking cover behind the tree, but none were firing in the direction of the van.
"Maybe they figured out about the shield," Faith said.
"Looks like it," Willow said. "But Faith, Tara's right, we can't cast offensive spells through an energy shield. But if we just sit here and let them pin us down and they start shooting again the shield will drop eventually and then we're kinda screwed."
"I know," Faith said. "But we can use the van as a shield for a little bit while you and Tara cast some spells, those guys haven't surrounded us yet."
"The question is, what spells," Buffy said. "Too bad you can't cast that smoke spell again. You know, the once-a-month spell?"
"What about Tara?" Faith said. "Can she cast it?"
"Yeah...yeah, maybe," Willow said. "It doesn't need any ceremony, it's just a prayer. As long as you're worthy Apate will grant it."
"Apate...isn't sh-she like the Greek Goddess of Lies or whatever?" Tara said.
"Yeah, and she gives us this awesome smoke spell that blinds the bad guys while our Slayers go in and kick butt," Willow said. "I'll tell you the prayer, you recite it, okay?"
"Not good enough," Faith said. "The smoke lasts like only a minute or so and there are too many of those guys and they all have guns. Not just those tranq guns either. Can't take all those guys down before the smoke clears. Tara, you can do glamours. I want you to do a glamour on me and Buffy. Right after you cast the smoke, make us look just like those guys in black, so when the smoke clears we can still surprise 'em. Can you pull that off?"
"Yeah," Tara said. "Can't guarantee the smoke spell will work, because I n-never prayed to Apate before. But I'm good with glamours."
"What about Giles?" Cordy said. "He's like completely knocked out in the van. If we lose this shield thingy he could get killed."
"Some things never change," Willow said. "Maybe there's nothing wrong with him after all."
"What?" Faith said.
"Giles gets knocked out a lot," Buffy said. "It's a thing."
"Okay, we gotta move him," Faith said. "Tara, how many glamours can you keep going at once?"
"A whole bunch, for a real long time," Tara said. "Glamours are one of my best things. I'm like, Glamour Girl."
"Okay," Faith said. "Put a glamour on Giles and keep it on him. Make him look like part of the scenery, like..." She looked around. "A hedge. Buffy, grab Giles, run him across to that house a block back, drop him in the garden behind the hedge. Tara, can you make him look like part of that hedge? That sniper guy on the roof will be able to see him unless we like, camouflage him." Faith pointed back at the house she was talking about. Like Buffy's house, it stood well back from the street behind a hedge, and it had a big front lawn full of flowers.
"Yup," Tara said.
"Faith," Buffy said. She grabbed Faith's shoulder. Faith turned...
She saw a woman, and an old man. The woman was tall, and pretty. The old man had long, dirty gray hair, red skin, and he was wearing a red robe. His hands were green tentacles. They moved like serpents.
"Eww," Cordy said.
"What the fuck is he supposed to be?" Faith said.
"Wizard," Willow said.
"They all have gross tentacles?" Cordy said.
"A lot of them have like, mutations," Willow said. "Usually gross ones. Long story."
All the commandos stopped shooting now, and the gun turret did too.
Suddenly, everything was silent.
"They've all stopped shooting," Forrest said. "Why? They got us pinned down."
"Why the hell did they stop shooting?" Sam's voice said, coming to Riley through his earpiece.
"That van," Riley said. "It's gotta be the Slayer."
"Thought these guys wanted to kill the Slayer," Forrest said.
"Those looked like tranq rifles," Riley said. "So I'm guessing they're here to capture her. Or someone."
"Riley, I'm reading energy shields all over the place," Sam said, through his earpiece. "There's one around that van, and that wizard just put up another one too. It's protecting all of 'em, the wizard, the woman, the soldiers. And he's still got one around the truck."
"Sam says the wizard's put up a shield, so don't bother," Riley said, lowering Forrest's gun as Forrest took aim at the commandos. "And there are shields around the truck and the van too."
"The van? The Slayer can do magic now?" Forrest said.
"Not that I know of," Riley said. "But maybe she's got a friend who can." He was watching the wizard. He didn't have a good view of him; the truck and the commandos were in the way.
"We got a plan here, boss?" Forrest said.
"We're formulating one," Riley said.
Lilah moved closer to the van. She had Vail and half of the commandos with her. The rest waited by the truck, their weapons trained on Riley and Forrest, and on the second floor of Buffy's house.
Lilah stopped about thirty feet away from the van, and smiled.
"Hi," she said, and waved. "So this is pretty intense, huh? But how about instead of all this shooting, we engage in a productive dialogue."
"I really do detest lawyers, you know," Vail muttered beside her.
"My name is Lilah Morgan, and I'm here with a message from the First, for Faith Lehane," Lilah said.
"For me?" Faith muttered.
"She probably knows we voted you the leader," Buffy said. "The First takes my form, she gets my memories."
"Duh, everybody knows you guys made her the leader," Cordy said. "It's completely obvious."
"I'm listening," Faith shouted from behind the van.
"You can like, come out from behind there," Lilah said. "We're not shooting at you. You've got an energy shield anyway. A pretty good one too. Is that Willow? If it is, she's making real strides."
"I'm good right here," Faith said. "Talk."
"The First is fond of you, Faith. She doesn't want to hurt you. She doesn't want to hurt any of you guys, but especially not you. I've been authorized to offer you a deal. Same deal the First offered Angel. Is he with you, by the way?"
"Nope."
"Doesn't matter, he already turned the deal down anyway. But the First says you're smarter than him. Now's your chance to prove it."
"Still listening."
"The battle's over, Faith. You know it. We've already won. Five-million dead in less than two days, and this thing is cruising downhill now and picking up steam. The whole human race will be gone soon. The First doesn't want that. She wants humanity to survive. New and improved."
Faith looked at Buffy. "She," she whispered.
"Means me, Darla or Dru, unless it's some like generic dead person," Buffy whispered.
"Remember I told you about thinking tactically? What Becca taught me? Get inside your enemy's head. Figure out what they want, see things how they do. Angel always said the First liked him, it followed him around as Darla and kept almost like hanging with him. What if it really did like him? What if it liked him because it was Darla?" Faith turned away from Buffy. "Cut to the chase," she shouted in Lilah's direction.
"They tried to take us out with tranquilizers, not bullets," Buffy whispered. "If the First really doesn't want to hurt any of us and especially doesn't want to hurt you, I bet it was me when it came to that lady."
"But it tried to kill us at the hospital," Tara whispered.
"It was Angel then," Buffy whispered back. "Angelus."
"You stop fighting us," Lilah said. "We've won anyway and you know it. Then you pick a hundred-thousand people and lead them to a place the First will prepare for you. You won't be bothered there. No demons, no vampires, no one will ever attack you again. The First will see to it humanity is always protected. Think about it, Faith. Buffy, think about it. No more apocalypses. No more fighting. You can live your lives. Go on a date. Go to the movies. Go out dancing. Have a holly jolly Christmas. Be happy. Humanity can start over. And you guys will be in charge of it."
"Sounds kinda too good to be true," Faith shouted. "Bet there's a catch." She turned back to Buffy. "Maybe it's got some of your feelings for me, sorta," Faith whispered. "Maybe we can use that. But in the meantime I wanna talk to those guys they were shooting at."
"You think they'll let us?" Willow said.
"If the First is me, I think it'll go pretty far to try to keep Faith alive," Buffy said. "It wants her to take the deal."
"I'm willing to talk about this," Faith shouted. "But I want a gesture of good faith from you guys."
"A gesture of good faith," Lilah said. "Besides not shooting at you?"
"I wanna talk to those army guys you were shooting at. I wanna know why they're in this. You can have them throw out their guns first but I want them over here with us to talk."
"They have snipers in Buffy's house. The snipers have to come out too. And they all have to throw down their weapons before I let them near you."
"Deal."
"Real slick, how they're doin' deals for us," Forrest said.
"Cap, we can't do it," Graham said, through Riley's earpiece. "We come out, they can just shoot us."
"They can shoot us anyway," Riley said. "And you and Sam can't do anything up there anyway while those shields are in place."
"Don't tell me you're actually considering this," Forrest said.
"We need to coordinate with the Slayers," Riley said. "We can throw down our guns, they aren't worth shit right now anyway. The stuff that might just be worth a damn, I'll be holding onto."
"You are officially a crazy man," Forrest said.
"How do I know you guys won't just shoot us?" Riley shouted.
"You don't, fool," Vail said.
"Button it, Vail," Lilah said. Riley's head shot up like a hound that had just caught a scent, when she said that.
"Son of a bitch," Riley muttered.
"Vail," Sam said, through Riley's earpiece. "Toughest wizard in the world Vail?"
"Okay," Lilah said, looking in Riley's direction. "Here's how it goes. The snipers come out of the house, hands over their heads. Then all of you march over to me, dropping your guns in front of me. We'll pat you down, take your weapons. But we won't shoot you. The reason you know we won't shoot you is it isn't to my advantage to shoot you just now. I'm trying to work a deal here and I couldn't give two shits about you guys. Once you drop your weapons you can go to the van and have a playdate with your new friends. Are you in or not?"
"Okay," Riley said, and stood up.
They did as Lilah said. Sam and Graham came out of the house, and then the four of them marched up to Lilah and dropped their weapons. Vail had altered his shield, reducing its size so it still protected him and Lilah, but was small enough to allow Riley and his people to move past it.
"None of you have any magic," Vail said, eyeing Riley dubiously as Riley stood in front of Lilah and dropped his taser rifle and his pistol. "You must have been generating that shield artificially somehow. Whatever you used to do it, drop it in the pile."
Riley dropped the shield generator into the pile. He threw his knife and his billy club in too, just to make it look good.
The directed sound weapon was in his boot.
"Pat them down," Lilah said to one of the commandos who stood nearby.
The commando did as Lilah said, and took their guns and their billy clubs and their knives, along with their headsets, their radios, Sam's energy wave scanner, and the extra pistol Forrest always kept in an ankle holster.
But he didn't find the sound weapon. Or the other surprise Riley kept in his wallet.
Riley looked Vail in his insect eyes.
"Satisfied?" Riley said.
"Not at all," Vail said. "I would very much prefer to kill you. You're a loose end, and I hate loose ends. But we all follow orders, don't we?"
"Yup, and you follow mine," Lilah said.
Riley was still looking at Vail. His eyes hadn't wavered, hadn't blinked.
"Is there something else you wanted to say, fool?" Vail said.
"You're Cyvus Vail, aren't you?" Riley said.
"Yes. And you are?"
"Riley Finn."
"Never heard of you."
Riley smiled.
"Maybe I'll get a chance to make an impression," he said, and walked away. Sam, Forrest and Graham followed him.
Vail watched Riley walk away.
"I really don't like him," Vail said.
"Okay, so who are you guys?" Faith said, speaking softly, when Riley, Sam, Forrest and Graham reached the van and Willow let them through the energy shield. "What are you doing at Buffy's place?"
"I'm Captain Riley Finn," Riley said, also speaking low, and held out his hand as he crouched down beside Faith. Faith took it. "This is Lieutenant Samantha Beaumont, Lieutenant Forrest Prince and Lieutenant Graham Seaver." He pointed them out. "We're part of a U.S. Government agency called the Demon Research Initiative. We came here to find you and Buffy."
"Why?" Buffy said.
"Thought maybe we could help each other out," Riley said.
"Demon Research Initiative?" Willow said.
"See that demon wizard guy back there?" Riley said, nodding his head in Vail's direction. "We shoot folks like him."
"All of them?" Tara said. "You mean...you're n-not saying you...kill anyone who does magic?"
"Nah," Sam said, and smiled. "Just the bad guys."
"What about...demons?" Tara said. "D-do you k-kill like, all demons on sight?"
Buffy and Faith exchanged a glance. Tara's scent had just changed. She was suddenly much more afraid than she had been a moment before.
"Why, any reason we shouldn't?" Forrest said. "You know any good guy demons?"
"Some we capture, some we kill," Riley said. "But we're getting sidetracked. We don't know how much time they're gonna give us to talk. I've got one question for you. And it really needs answering."
"Shoot," Faith said.
"Are you really considering that deal that lady mentioned?"
"Nope. Pretending I am though."
"Okay. Then we can work together. You in charge here?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. "Faith's in charge."
"Everybody gets to weigh in first though," Faith said. "We're a team."
"You hear that Cap?" Forrest said. "They all get to weigh in. Why don't I ever get to weigh in?"
"You get to weigh in," Riley said. "I just never follow your advice."
"We've got kind of a plan to go at these guys," Faith said. "Will and Tara are my magic girls." She pointed them out for Riley. "I don't have time to explain it all to you, but here's the gist. Tara can cast a spell called a glamour that disguises us as those commando dudes, and then she can cast a smoke spell that'll blind them all. Me and Buffy run at those guys, get up-close and personal. We're no good this far away but me and her right in the middle of those guys with smoke for cover, maybe we can take them all out."
"Nope," Riley said. "Good plan, but the wizard has an energy shield in place. A couple in fact. One around him and the woman and maybe the commandos, one around the truck."
"They took my scanner when they patted me down," Sam said. "So I can't scan for shields anymore. But the readings on Vail's shields went off my scale. I've never seen so much power. And he can do multiple shields at once. You guys run at them, he'll just put up another shield."
"Will, Tara," Faith said. "How do we punch through an energy shield?"
"Um...we sorta don't," Willow said. "It's like a wall, all you can do is keep hitting it until it goes down. We'd need guns or something, something to hit it with. I could drop my shield and try some fireballs but I don't know how long it would take to knock his shield down."
"If it's real powerful it could take a long time," Tara said. "Maybe we wouldn't ever be able to knock it down."
"And meanwhile we have to drop our shield for Willow to attack so we're defenseless. And they have a whole bunch of guys aiming guns at us," Faith said.
"Willow attacks," Buffy said. "These shields flare up when they're hit. Their shield's invisible now, we don't know if all the bad guys are behind it or just Tentacle Guy and the woman. But once that first fireball hits their shield it should get all sparkly and we'll know who's behind it. If the soldier guys aren't behind it we can try the plan with the smoke and the glamours and go after the soldiers while Willow keeps Tentacle Guy busy. While she's attacking his shield maybe he'll be too busy to make it bigger and put it around the soldiers."
"Maybe, maybe not," Willow said. "Yeah, he won't be able to cast another shield if he's got one around himself because the spell won't be able to get through his shield. And I wouldn't be able to expand one of my shields to cover more people without dropping it and reconstituting it, but that doesn't mean he can't. I don't know who he is but he's powerful. I don't need a scanner to tell me that. I can sense it. I can see it...I can see it coming off him in waves."
"Me too," Tara said. "Those gross tentacles he has are mutations inflicted on him by his patron deity. Whatever deity it is--um, a really scary one I'd say--it gives him power. A lot of power."
"You do realize they're planning their counterattack?" Vail said. "All you've done is give them time to regroup. And four new friends to help them."
"Their four new friends don't have weapons and they don't have any power," Lilah said. "And yeah, I'm not stupid, thanks. The smart play was to just batter down their shield and then take them all with the tranquilizer guns. But the First wants me to offer them this deal, so I'm offering it."
"They won't take it," Vail said.
"You never know," Lilah said. "Maybe Faith will surprise us. Let's see how that lateral thinking works."
"Okay, before we go any further," Faith said. "We gotta stash Giles."
"Giles?" Sam said.
"Their Watcher," Riley said. "Where is he?"
"In the van," Faith said. "This thing gets rolling, he's a sitting duck here. Tara. I've been thinking...can you do a glamour that makes someone like, invisible? That truck appeared out of thin air, I bet that was a glamour."
"It was," Riley said. "A really powerful one too."
"Yeah," Tara said. "But invisibility's hard. With invisibility you're not just casting a glamour and forgetting about it, you're casting a glamour that you adjust every second to match its background, like camouflage. And if the thing you cast the glamour on is moving, that makes it even harder."
"I need a glamour on Giles and whoever's gonna be carrying him to that house back there, so the bad guys don't see us doing it," Faith said, pointing back to the house she had mentioned before. "Then we drop him behind that hedge and make him look like the hedge. Can you do all that?"
"Yeah," Tara said. "I can't maintain it long, but I can hold it long enough for someone to get Giles to that house and then come back. But let's make it just one person carrying him, invisibility's hard enough without having to do a whole group of moving people."
"Graham," Riley said.
Graham moved to the back of the van, keeping low. He opened the back doors, slowly, without making a sound, and crawled inside. "This dude's hurt," he said a moment later, and came out of the van carrying Giles.
"Is it...is it bad?" Buffy said, and ran over to Giles. Graham gently lowered Giles to the ground, and Buffy knelt beside him, and touched his cheek.
"His pulse was good before," Faith said.
"Sam," Riley said.
Sam moved over to Giles, keeping low. She took a keychain from her pocket with a penlight dangling off of it, opened Giles' eyes, and shined the light into them. She ran her fingers along his head, and then put her hand to his neck and took his pulse.
"Looks like a mild concussion," Sam said. "Just keep him off his feet for a couple days, he'll be okay."
"Assuming we don't all die in the next five minutes," Graham said, and hoisted Giles over his shoulder with one hand as if he was carrying a book bag. "Okay, magic chick, hit me."
Tara closed her eyes, and concentrated...
Graham and Giles disappeared.
"Shit, you oughta be invisible all the time Graham," Forrest said. "You'd have a lot more luck with the ladies."
"Hell, your girlfriend never complains," they heard Graham saying, his voice trailing away. "Don't even try to pretend I'm not pretty. I'm so pretty."
"How much longer are we going to give them?" Vail said, sighing, and wheezing a little.
"They've only had like five minutes so far," Lilah said. "You heard the First. These people are important to her. If we can convince them to take the deal the First will be pleased. If we rush them we might end up pushing them into a fight they don't really want."
"You should have offered the deal after we captured them," Vail said. "Then they might actually listen."
"They still might listen, if Faith's as smart as the First says. Put yourself in their shoes. They've got no options here. Even if by some miracle they found a way past us, what do they do then? Civilization is collapsing, the whole world's overrun with like two-and-a-half-million demons and vampires that the First is in complete control of, and on top of that the First will always know whatever move they're about to make."
"I've lived a very long time. And I've found over the centuries that heroes tend to be stupid. They'll fight against utterly hopeless odds and then they'll die. They actually seem to derive some enjoyment from it. It's bewildering. But I've seen it before, many times. Actually I've brought it about before. I've killed my share of heroes. And their situation isn't quite as hopeless as you make it seem. They have Rosenberg, remember."
"Yeah. But they don't know what to do with her."
"Nice job, Glamour Girl," Faith said, and squeezed Tara's shoulder, when Graham suddenly appeared again beside them.
"Dude's stashed," Graham said. "Now how about that plan we were talking about."
"Plan's too risky," Riley said. "We took out half of them but we're still outnumbered, and way outgunned. I have a weapon hidden in my boot, a prototype directed sound gun. That'll help if it works but our odds still stink. We can't outgun them so we have to outsmart them. When force won't work, you go with guile."
"I dig guile," Faith said. "You took out half? How?"
"That truck that exploded?" Sam said. "That was us, we shot its gas tank. Half their guys went up with it."
"Nice play," Faith said. "Real sneaky."
"Those glamour spells sound like a good start for some more sneakiness," Forrest said.
"Yeah," Faith said. "How's this. They don't seem like they know who's with us exactly, they won't know if someone's missing. We can disguise one of us as the First."
"The First?" Graham said. "Heard the lady mention that. The First what?"
"First Evil," Buffy said. "The bad guy behind all of this. It can take the form of anyone who's died. Luckily it can't touch anything though, it's sort of like a ghost. So it basically just makes evil speeches and has like, minions. It's controlling these guys and it controls vampires too."
"And sometimes it likes to pretend to be Buffy," Faith said.
"I thought you said it only takes the form of people who died?" Sam said.
"I died, got revived," Buffy said. "That's why there are two Slayers now."
"I was wondering about that," Riley said.
"So how about this," Faith said. "We put a glamour on Cordy. We make her look like Buffy, she pretends to be the First. Wizard guy has a shield up, but if we say we took the deal and it looks like we have the First with us, maybe he'll think everything's cool and drop the shield. Then we take him."
"Why not just have Buffy pretend to be the First?" Forrest said.
"They know the real Buffy's here," Tara said. "We're gonna need to show them two Buffys, to be sure they'll believe us."
"Y'know, this might actually work," Willow said. "Cordy can make really convincing evil speeches."
"Hello? Remember how I'm not part of your gang?" Cordy said.
"We're at war," Faith said. "I just reinstated the draft. Okay, here's the plan. We march right up there, me, Buffy, Will, and Cordy pretending to be the First, and we say we took the deal. Tara stays back here getting ready on that smoke spell. I can say that we lost Tara and G-Man along with Angel and I'm sick of people dying on us, it'll maybe help 'em to believe we're really taking the deal. Plus we can make it look real by having one of us be a little on the fence. Me and Willow will be in favor of it but Buffy, you argue with me a little, you only go along like, grudgingly. Actually we can make it look even better. Riley, you and your guys can be against it and I can pretend to take you all down. Riley plays dead, if he gets an opening he hits 'em with that sound gun thing."
"It all comes down to those shields," Sam said. "Wizards aren't tough physically. If any one of us can get close to him we can take him down. But he's gotta drop the shield that's protecting him first."
"We need a backup plan in case this one goes south," Riley said.
"Yo Joe, you doubtin' my leadership skills?" Faith said, and tossed him a sexy smile. She liked Riley. He was handsome and she liked his scent. He reminded her that she was still, by her estimate, roughly ten-percent straight. Riley made her think she could go as high as fifteen-percent.
"Not at all," Riley said. "You're creative and you can think on your feet. Whoever taught you strategy knew their stuff. But this plan is big risk, big reward. If he doesn't drop that shield we need plan B ready to go."
"We pound him," Buffy said. "Your sound gun and Will's fireballs pound his shield while me and Faith take out the commandos with the glamour spell and the smoke."
"Actually, scratch the glamours," Faith said. "It won't just be me and you going at those soldiers now, it'll be me, you, and Riley's guys. If all of us look like the soldiers it'll be confusing. Might get some friendly fire incidents."
"What if he puts a shield up around the commandos too?" Forrest said.
"If they're all shielded they won't be able to attack us," Willow said. "They won't be able to fire through a shield and the wizard won't be able to cast offensive spells through it. But we won't be able to touch them either. We'll have a stalemate."
"Maybe then we retreat," Faith said. "Find some place, regroup."
"Our HQ is airtight and it can withstand a nuclear blast," Riley said. "If we retreat you can come with us. Ten minutes away if we commandeer a vehicle."
"Shit, I gotta start saying cool military stuff like 'commandeer'," Faith said. "Will, how long will it take Tara to do the smoke spell?"
"Like five or ten seconds if it works," Willow said. "The prayer to Apate's like seven words."
"Tara, we're gonna make a play for that wizard," Faith said. "If we miss, don't wait for me to give the word, you do the smoke."
"Okay," Tara said. "But...there's one thing we still haven't considered. The First is like, always around. It just like, appears whenever it wants. It doesn't just have Buffy's memories, it can spy on us too. It could appear any second, and if it appears as Buffy it'll know our whole plan."
"I know," Faith said. "But that's the handicap we're working under. The First will always be able to find out what we're up to. Just gotta play through it."
"So I'm gonna be Buffy?" Cordy said. "Well that should be easy. I just have to remember to not ever get over myself."
"Actually you're supposed to be like, evil Buffy," Willow said. "The First as Buffy, not Buffy herself."
"That might be a problem, come to think of it," Faith said. "Cordy's never seen the First, she doesn't really have a feel for it. Okay, Cordy--instead of being evil Buffy, just be Buffy. You've known Buffy a long time, you can pull that off. But try not to ad-lib too much. Buffy, you're the First."
"I'll unleash my inner bitch," Buffy said. "Cordy's got me good and warmed up anyway."
Faith handed her the sword. "You're the one with the best chance to get close to the wizard if he thinks you're the First. That shield drops, go for the kill."
"Won't he think it's weird that I'm carrying a sword?" Buffy said.
"Glamour Girl will handle it," Tara said. "I'll put a glamour around it, make it look like part of your outfit."
"Okay. If Buffy's able to take out the wizard, Riley starts shooting, Tara hits 'em with the smoke and we all go to town on the commandos," Faith said. "Everybody good with the plan?"
"The smoke might be a problem," Graham said. "Yeah, they won't be able to see us, but we won't be able to see each other either. Still might get some friendly fire incidents."
"The smoke only blinds the people we want it to blind," Willow said. "We'll all be able to see them fine, they won't be able to see us. They'll have a hard time breathing too. They should be pretty easy for you guys to take down."
"Shit, that's like, really useful," Forrest said. "That kinda kicks ass."
"Tradeoff is, it's a short duration," Willow said. "A minute, two minutes max. So, um, kick butt on those guys quick."
"Will, if it all goes smooth, if we take the wizard out and then go after the commandos, we won't need fireballs," Faith said. "You retreat back to the van with Cordy and put a shield up around you and Cordy and Tara."
"Okay, I'm signing off on the plan," Riley said. "But try to leave us conscious when you pretend to take us down, Faith. We're no good to you knocked on our asses."
"Okay, fine, I'm drafted, whatever? But just as long as we all understand that I'm not under any circumstances gonna kiss Faith," Cordy said.
"Your loss, bitch," Buffy said.
But it wasn't Buffy...
They all turned, and saw the First leaning against the back of the van, in Buffy's skin. This time she was wearing black leather pants, black boots with stiletto heels, and a red turtleneck sweater.
"What the hell?" Sam said.
The First ignored her. She looked at Faith.
"Hi baby," the First said, and smiled. Her green eyes had a light in them, when she smiled down at Faith. "I missed you."
"Riley, Sam, Forrest, Graham," Buffy said. "That's the First. And she will now make a speech at us."
"Looks like we better come up with a plan B," Forrest said.
"I'd appreciate it if you, Graham and Sam didn't say anything," the First said. "You don't matter. I'm not here for you. You should be really happy about that, by the way. Being ignored by me is a lot safer than getting noticed. Now, Riley, on the other hand...he's kind of interesting."
"What the hell do you know about me?" Riley said.
"Well...for one thing, I'm a Slayer right this second, so I judge people with my nose," the First said. "I know you smell good. Real good. Plus you're hot. You're kinda like a built, macho Ken doll. If Buffy wasn't gay she'd totally drop and give you twenty. Oh, and I know a bunch of other stuff too...stuff your little sister told me."
The First changed...
She became a girl. The girl was young, no more than fourteen. She had blonde hair in a long ponytail, a lively, intelligent smile, and bright, golden-brown eyes...
The girl looked like Riley.
All the color left Riley's face.
"Hey, big brother," the girl said, and smiled at him. "I'm dead."
Riley turned away from her. There was a tear in his eye...he didn't let it fall.
"You fucking bitch," Forrest muttered.
Sam put her hand on Riley's shoulder.
"Change back," Faith said. "Now."
"Sure baby," the girl said, and melted again, and became Buffy. "Anything for you."
"What do you want?" Faith said. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to watch you in action, baby," the First said. "I'm proud of you, you know. All the potential Rebecca saw in you, the beautiful, strong woman she knew you could be, I can see it all right in front of me. You're amazing, Faith. I love you. I love you so much."
"No, you don't," Faith said, and took Buffy's hand. Buffy put her arms around her. "All you do is lie. All you do is try to hurt me...hurt all of us."
"Not when I'm Buffy," the First said. "Never when I'm Buffy."
"We're gonna need a new plan," Willow said.
"Nah," the First said. "Your plan to impersonate me sounds pretty cool. Plus like, the smoke spell and the cool sound gun and stuff? Your plan's like, totally tactical. I'm looking forward to seeing it."
"What are you talking about?" Faith said.
"I'm not gonna interfere," the First said. "Try your plan. If it works, good for you. I'm just gonna stay right here and watch. I won't tell Lilah and Vail what you're up to. Cross my heart, hope to die."
"Yeah, we should totally believe her," Willow said. "It's not like she's an evil fucking bitch or anything."
"Wow," the First said, and laughed, looking from Willow to Buffy. "Do you two guys have issues. Actually the really fun part of this little Buffy-Willow feud for me is how neither of you is willing to admit what it's really about." The First looked at Faith, and smiled again. "Or should I say...who. Love's a bitch, huh Will?"
Willow blushed. Buffy glared at her, then looked away.
"We're done talking," Faith said. "We do the plan the way we talked about. Right now."
"Aw, you trust me," the First said. "Cool."
"I don't," Faith said. "But I got no choice right now."
"I'll never lie to you, Faith," the First said. "Not when I'm Buffy."
"Sure," Faith said. "You just came by to watch us try to fuck up your people, and you're just gonna sit there and do nothing while we do it. Hell, why wouldn't I believe that?"
"I never said I thought the plan's gonna work, baby," the First said, and smiled, and disappeared.
Faith squeezed Riley's arm.
"You okay?" she said.
"Let's get this done," Riley said.
Faith came out from behind the van. Willow got up with her, and so did Cordelia--disguised as Buffy.
"About time," Lilah said. "So what's the verdict, Faith? Are you smarter than Angel? Or just as dumb?"
The commandos were aiming their rifles at Faith. The sniper on the roof was aiming at her too. The gun turret in the truck was swiveled toward her. Faith wondered if she was about to die.
She realized part of her didn't care. Part of her hadn't cared since Rebecca died. She realized part of her wanted to die...had always wanted to die...because then she might be with Rebecca again.
Faith felt tired. She felt cold. She felt the darkness on her shoulders.
She wondered what she was going to do about Buffy and Willow. They were falling apart...it had snuck up on all three of them, but now here it was... threatening to destroy them, just as surely as those men with their guns.
Rebecca's words came back to her again...
The three of swords represents betrayal, separation, abandonment. Perhaps a love triangle.
Faith thought those three swords were every bit as deadly as the dozens of guns aimed at them right now...
"We're taking the deal," Faith said.
"I gotta say, I really didn't expect you to see reason," Lilah said. She smiled. "Hey, good for you. But where's the rest of your gang?"
"Dead," Faith said. "Angel, Giles, Cordy...and Tara. All dead. Didn't give a shit about Angel or Giles or Cordy but I was real close to Tara. I had to bury her today. I had to dig a fucking grave for her. You know what it's like to bury someone you love, lady? You understand about shit like that?"
"Yeah," Lilah said.
"If Angel had just taken the fucking deal a lot of people would still be alive. Not just Tara but Xander and Buffy's mom too. I'm sick of people dying on us. I'm cuttin' our losses before I lose anybody else."
"Smart. I guess the First was right about you."
"But I got some conditions. There's some stuff I wanna talk out with you guys, stuff I'm not clear on. But what you said--assuming you're not full of shit? We talked it all out, had like, a productive dialogue about it, and it sounds okay. A friend of yours showed up, and offered some pretty convincing arguments."
Another Buffy--the real one--suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of the van, as the glamour Tara had cast around her to make her appear to be part of the van disappeared. She was wearing black leather pants, black boots with stiletto heels, and a red turtleneck sweater--another glamour. The sword was disguised as part of her pants.
"Master?" Lilah said.
"That's right, sexy," Buffy said, and smiled, and licked her lips. "Faith and I had a little chat. I knew my baby would listen to me."
"Faith," Cordelia said, and touched Faith's shoulder. "Baby, maybe we should...think about this? I mean...yeah, okay, things seems pretty hopeless right now, but..."
"Buffy," Faith said, and ran her fingers through Cordelia's hair. "I'm in charge. You all put me in charge. That means you gotta back my play. We talked it out and I made my decision. I love you, honey. You know it. But this thing falls apart if you can't follow me. We all start going in separate directions again, we lose. This way at least we save some people."
"But..." Cordelia said. "But we're...supposed to be heroes, Faith. The good guys, you know? We save the world." She caressed Faith's cheek. "We're supposed to save the world. If we don't have that, then...we don't have anything."
"We have each other, honey," Faith said, and kissed her.
It was a real kiss. It was the kind of kiss she gave Buffy...
Cordelia returned it.
"You just had to do it, didn't you?" Cordelia whispered in Faith's ear.
"I love you, Faith," Cordelia said, out loud. "I love you so much, baby."
"I love you too," Faith said, and looked her in the eyes. "I always will, I'll never stop. But I got no problem keeping you home if you can't follow my lead. You don't fall in line and you're out. You understand, beautiful?"
Cordelia nodded. Tears fell down her cheeks. Faith thought that was pretty impressive.
"Are you in or out?" Faith said.
"In," Cordelia whispered. Faith hugged her.
"Aw, wasn't that cute?" Buffy said. She turned to Willow. "See, strawberry girl? Faith knows who she belongs with. She knows who she loves. This little crush, or whatever the fuck it is, that you have on her? I mean, it's totally obvious, Buffy didn't need me to tell her. She could smell it on you. You think you have like, a piece of Faith? You think you have a piece of her heart? You wanna give Faith a piece of yours? Don't. Let it go, Willow. I have a feeling Buffy's gonna get real pissed off soon if you keep this up. I have a feeling it's the kind of thing that can end a friendship, y'know?"
Willow's face was crimson. She looked straight back at Buffy.
"Hey, here's an idea, how about, y'know, you like, fuck off?" Willow said. "Just because we're taking your deal doesn't mean we have to like you."
Buffy laughed. "Faith, I think you have some dissension in the ranks, baby," she said.
"I say jump, they say how high," Faith said, and didn't look at either of them. "Okay, let's--"
"You don't say jump to me," Riley said, coming out from behind the van with Sam, Forrest and Graham by his side. "You don't say shit to me. And I didn't say anything about taking any deal."
Faith, Buffy, Willow and Cordelia turned toward them, being careful to position their bodies between them and the commandos.
"Yo Joe," Faith said. "Already told you we're gonna have to agree to disagree on this. Now stand the fuck down. You only get one warning."
"And if we don't?" Forrest said.
"Then I'll put you down, son," Faith said. "And I won't even break a fuckin' sweat doin' it."
"Don't bother, we'll just shoot them for you," Lilah said.
"No, there's been enough of that," Faith said. "You said I get to choose a hundred-thousand people, right? Thinkin' I want the Clean Marine if he can maybe get his head out of his ass."
"Good, he's cute," Buffy said.
Faith marched up to Riley, Sam, Forrest and Graham, swaggering a little as she did.
"If he can admit who's in charge," Faith said, and smiled up at Riley.
Riley looked at her, as if he was weighing his options. He was actually wondering how much this was about to hurt. He had a feeling it was going to hurt a lot. He just hoped she didn't knock him out by mistake. If she did he wouldn't have a chance to use his weapon...
"I say jump," Faith said. "What do you say, Joe?"
"Go to hell," Riley said, and threw a punch--a good one. It was much faster than it should have been, Faith thought, and filed the thought away for future reference, slipped the punch, and elbowed Riley in the face. As Riley went down, Faith spun, kicked Forrest in the head, spun again, and backhanded Graham in the face. They both went down. Sam tried to sweep Faith's legs out from under her with a pretty slick move that Faith thought would have worked on just about any ordinary person, but not a Slayer; when Faith planted her legs, they stayed planted. Faith grabbed Sam by the right arm, spun her around, and put her in a wrist-lock.
"I say jump, hon," Faith said. "And you say...? C'mon, this isn't hard."
"Fuck you!" Sam shouted.
"Wrong answer," Faith said, and elbowed her in the back of the neck. Sam hit the ground.
"Mmm, I love watching my baby kick ass," Buffy said, and hugged herself, running her hands down along her hips and shimmying a little. "It just makes me feel all juicy. Okay, so where were we?"
"I was sayin' about how I don't a hundred-percent trust you yet, so I wanna talk about conditions," Faith said, and started walking toward Lilah and Vail. Willow, Cordelia and Buffy followed her.
"You can trust me, Faith," Buffy said. "I'd never lie to you when I'm Buffy. I love you. You're my baby girl."
They were twenty feet away from Vail now. If he had an energy shield around him, they hadn't hit it yet. Buffy moved into the lead, as they had planned, and began to close the distance--casually. Nonchalantly.
"You'll understand if we want some guarantees?" Willow said. "You've lied to us before. Maybe not to Faith, but you sure always fucking lied to me."
"Maybe I thought you were too weak to handle the truth," Buffy said. "Maybe I thought you'd fall apart, go all black-eyed. Not that I'm complaining. You look pretty in black, strawberry girl."
"Don't fucking call me that," Willow said. "I'm not your girlfriend."
"Your loss, bitch," Buffy said. "Buffy would've shown you a great time. She would've fucked you better than your limpdick boyfriend ever did. We all know you fantasized about it. You stroked your lil' strawberry at night when you thought about Buffy fucking you the way she fucks Faith. If you were really, really lucky, Buffy might've even let you kiss her feet every night the way Faith does. Faith loves kissing Buffy's feet. She loves worshipping her. Because Faith fucking knows who she belongs to. Probably better you and Buffy never got together, actually. You couldn't handle a Slayer. Buffy would've broken you in half, strawberry. You're just too weak. Always were."
"Yeah, whatever," Willow said. "You sure do like hearing yourself talk."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure Buffy thought you were weak too," Buffy said. "Maybe you should have just stayed home after all, Will. Might've saved them all having to listen to your whining. Even Xander didn't whine as much as you. Remember Xander? The guy you supposedly loved before you suddenly decided you wanted to fuck Buffy's girlfriend? For a smart girl you can be pretty dumb. You know Buffy's a Slayer, you know she can pick up your scent. Practically every time Buffy sees Faith now she smells you on her. Didn't you ever think of that all those times when you were copping a feel?"
Willow felt like her heart had stopped.
"I didn't...that...never happened," Willow said. "I never did that."
"Slayers can tell when you're lying, miss heartbeat-skip girl," Buffy said. "Yeah. I'm thinking Buffy should've kept you home. Better for everyone."
"I don't think that," Cordelia said, looking straight at Buffy. "I don't think Willow's weak. I don't think any of that stuff you just said. I never did. Willow's my best friend and I love her and she's always been my strongest weapon. Stay home? If she stayed home I would've been dead out there a dozen times, and if you have my memories you know it. So stop...just stop being a bitch, okay? Yeah, okay, I get it, you're evil, you're like, the evillest thing ever. Can you stop fucking voguing for us for like a second? You won, we lost, whatever, we get it." She looked Buffy in the eyes. "Now how about you get over yourself."
"Well that was really quite entertaining," Vail said. "Bravo. Unfortunately though, I can see through glamours."
Before Buffy could even move she suddenly bounced off an energy shield that exploded in red sparks all around her. Red was the last thing she saw. She screamed, and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Faith saw the shield flaring red in a circular shape that covered both Vail and Lilah, but not the commandos. She wanted to run for Buffy but she knew she couldn't; every single second counted now...
"What are you idiots waiting for?" she heard Lilah shouting. "Tranqs only, but fucking take 'em down!"
"You go, Glamour Girl," Faith said, and punched a commando in the face. The air was alive with metal darts; Faith saw them whizzing all around her. One grazed her leg, but luckily it didn't penetrate her jeans. She began spinning around in the midst of the confused, beleaguered commandos, staying right in the thick of them so she could use them for cover, throwing bone-shattering punches and kicks at anything that moved.
And she heard the sound gun going off repeatedly now, and she saw snatches of green uniforms out of the corner of her eye...
"Yee-haw, Cap!" she heard Graham shout. "Like shooting fish in a barrel!" Faith turned and saw him about ten feet away. He had wrestled a tranquilizer gun away from one of the commandos and he was down on one knee lining up shots like he didn't have a care in the world. Forrest and Sam were close to him, delivering brutal beat-downs to any commandos nearby. But there weren't many left; between the sound gun, Faith spinning around like a tornado and throwing out kicks and punches, and Graham lining up shots, the commandos were fading fast. Faith did a quick count: nine left, and none of them were even firing their guns now. They were trying in vain to escape the smoke, and trying in vain to breathe too, wheezing and coughing and gasping for air.
Faith saw Riley switch to firing at the wizard's shield; he seemed to have decided the commandos were well in hand. And they were. Faith moved methodically from one commando to the next, keeping close to them as she took them down, one by one. The commandos weren't firing their guns but their numbers had thinned so they were a lot more likely to hit her with a lucky shot now and Faith wasn't taking chances. She picked up the commando she had just kicked in the head--he had felt light--and started using him as a bludgeon, swinging him around like a baseball bat. His body shielded her as she swung him around. She noticed he had already taken a dart for her...
"DO SOMETHING!" Lilah shouted at Vail, as Willow's fireballs slammed against their shield in an endless series of volleys, and Riley's sound gun thundered against it, causing the ground all around them to vibrate like the earth was quaking, and the shield whined and exploded in red sparks with every hit. She could feel the heat of the fireballs through it.
"I can't cast spells through the shield," Vail said. "Those idiots you hired are on their own."
"Then put up a fucking shield around them!" Lilah screamed.
"I can't cast a shield through a shield," Vail said.
"Magic is fucking useless," Lilah said.
"You think that because you're a fool," Vail said. "Watch and learn, girl."
As Faith elbowed a commando in the neck and Graham took out the last of them with a tranquilizer dart, Cordelia screamed. Faith whirled around and saw her fall to the ground, shaking as if she had been electrocuted, as one end of the energy shield reached out like a long, grasping tentacle and flared red just inches away from her...
"He's stretching out his shield! Don't let it touch you!" Willow shouted, and stopped shooting the fireballs, and immediately erected a shield. She shaped it to cover herself, Faith, Riley and his men, but she couldn't reach Buffy and Cordelia with it; Vail had elongated parts of his shield specifically to reach them and they were under Vail's shield now.
She felt Faith's hand on her shoulder.
"You okay, beautiful?" Faith said.
"Um, yeah," Willow said. "But we kinda got a standoff here. And...and Buffy...is she...okay?"
"She's alive, I'm tuned in to her," Faith said. "Heartbeat's steady, she's breathing. I think touching that shield just knocked her out."
"Knocked Cordy out too," Willow said. "It looked like it electrocuted her. Faith--if he keeps expanding his shield, if he sends it against mine, he might be able to take mine down. If his is stronger it could short-circuit mine."
"We need a plan, right now," Riley said.
"They took out all our guys and you can't cast spells through this shield," Lilah said. "We need a plan, right now."
"I'm the plan," Vail said. "I should've been the plan all along. Hold on." He cocked his head, and sniffed the air.
"What?" Lilah said.
"One of them is a mind-reader," Vail said. "I can feel them...I can feel them reaching out to me." He smiled. "Excellent."
"Excellent?" Lilah said. "Excellent that they can read our minds?"
"Watch and learn," Vail said.
"Well, that didn't go so well," the First said. She was leaning on the van, smiling down at Tara. "A for effort though. I mean, how were you guys supposed to know Vail could see through glamours? Even I didn't know he could see through glamours. It's like, almost unfair. Of course, since you can see through glamours, maybe you could've like, brought it up as a possibility."
"I have to concentrate to s-see through them," Tara said. "And I have to be looking for them, I d-d-don't just like immediately notice them. And shut up?"
Tara wracked her brain. Vail had a shield up and Willow had put up a shield too. No spell she could cast would get through either of them...
Tara's face suddenly went pale. She started trembling.
Tara felt something...in her mind. It was cold...
She felt it take hold of her, and squeeze.
She screamed...
"TARA!" Willow shouted, whirling around. "TARA!"
"Maybe we didn't get all the soldiers," Riley said, looking toward the van with her. "Maybe they have an extra guy somewhere, a sniper maybe."
"Tranq dart shouldn't hurt like that!" Faith said. "Something hurt her!"
"What was that?" Lilah said, looking all around. The smoke was fading now, but she still couldn't see through it. "Who was just screaming?"
"Their mind-reader," Vail said.
"What did you do? Thought you couldn't cast spells through a shield."
"Not a spell. I simply followed the psychic emanations back to their source."
"And did what with them?"
"Shut them down."
"If that was Faith or Willow we're fucking screwed," Lilah said. "The First wants them alive."
"It's a girl, but I don't know who," Vail said. "I'm fairly certain she isn't Rosenberg or the other Slayer, but better safe than sorry. So I didn't kill her, whoever she is. She'll recover. But I certainly taught the little whore not to go mucking about in other people's heads."
"Hey," the First said, kneeling down beside Tara. "You alive in there, honey?"
Tara was lying on the ground, looking back up at her, glassy-eyed, motionless, completely inert...staring up at nothing.
The First was Buffy. So it concentrated on its senses...
It heard Tara's heartbeat, and her breathing. It took in her ginger scent.
"Good," the First said. "I think maybe I kinda made a mistake before. Buffy and Faith both really like you. A lot of it's a scent thing, but still. I should've told Vail to make sure you stay alive. Better rectify that now."
The First got up, and started to walk away from her. Then it turned.
"You're really beautiful, Tara, you know that?" the First said. "But you don't know that, do you? You think you're...what? Fat? Plain-looking? You're wrong. You're beautiful. Buffy thinks you're beautiful."
"We can't retreat," Riley said. "They have Buffy and Cordelia. We have to make a stand."
"How?" Faith said. "We can't even dent his shield!"
"That's right," Vail said, smiling in their direction, as the last of the smoke disappeared. He was about twenty feet away, standing next to Lilah. "But let's see if I can dent yours."
Willow grit her teeth and whimpered, as Vail expanded the edge of his shield, sending it straight against hers. Her shield flared and threw off yellow sparks, while his exploded blood-red; the sound of their clash was a barrage of thunder.
Willow squeezed her eyes shut. Sweat poured down her face. She began shaking. She bit her lip so hard she drew blood.
"Will!" Faith said, and moved beside her, and put her hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay? Can you...can you hold out?"
"N-n-no..." Willow whispered.
"Sorry Faith," the First said. Faith turned, and saw her approaching from behind. She walked through the back of Willow's energy shield, passed right by Faith, and continued out the other side, heading toward Vail. "But don't worry baby, we're not gonna kill you. You, Buffy, Willow, and Tara--you're all gonna live. You're all gonna be happy. With me."
"I can't keep track of all these people you want kept alive," Vail said. "Are you absolutely certain you're evil?"
The First giggled. "Score one for Monty Burns. You've done a nice job here, Vail, so I'll let that go. I like a little bit of sassiness in my minions. A little bit. Take them down, but remember--Faith, Willow, Buffy and Tara all live."
"What about the soldiers?" Vail said, as he pushed harder against Willow's shield. Willow screamed, and fell to one knee. "Can I at least kill them?"
"Sure, go to town," the First said. "Cordy too."
"Excellent," Vail said, and pushed harder. Willow shrieked, as an explosion of red overwhelmed what was left of her shield now, and her shield flared yellow, and collapsed.
"WILLOW!" Faith screamed, and burst into tears, as Willow collapsed to the ground, unconscious and twitching.
Faith knelt beside Willow, and cradled her in her arms.
"She's okay, Faith," the First said. "I told you, she's gonna live. But now you guys all need a nap. Um, and your soldier friends all need to die." She smiled at Riley. "No hard feelings, Ken. You're a hottie, but y'know, there's always another hottie."
"Cap?" Graham said.
Riley aimed his sound gun and fired straight at Vail, repeatedly. The sonic bursts crashed against Vail's energy shield like waves of water crashing against a rock, and had just as little impact. Other than triggering a waterfall of red sparks, the sound waves had no effect.
Faith held Willow in her arms, and wiped the blood away from her lip. She knew it was over, and there was nothing she could do. She wasn't even really paying attention now.
She held Willow in her arms, and looked over at Buffy, lying motionless on the ground...
"I love you," Faith whispered.
"And for my next trick," Vail said, and smiled his ugly toothless smile, and raised his arms...
There was a flash of light.
"What the...?" Faith heard someone say. The voice was familiar...
She looked up, and saw Angel standing inside Vail's energy shield, less than two feet away from him. Naked.
Angel was healed. The damage to his face was gone, as if it had never existed.
"What the fuck?" Forrest said.
Vail and Angel looked at each other. For the first time in his entire life, Vail was at a loss for words.
"Okay, I'm gonna assume you're one of the bad guys," Angel said, and elbowed Vail in the face.
Vail was unconscious before he hit the ground. Vail's shield flickered for a second, and then disappeared.
"I don't fucking believe this," the First muttered, and turned away.
Angel looked around.
"Hey," he said, his eyes alighting on Faith. "He was a bad guy, right? I mean, he had tentacles. Never met a good guy with tentacles. And can someone tell me how I got here? A minute ago I was at the hospital."
Everyone was looking at Angel. He didn't understand it...
"What?" he said.
"Dude!" Forrest said. "Will you cover your damn johnson? Shit."
"What?" Angel said.
Faith smiled. She pointed at a certain spot on Angel's anatomy.
Angel looked where she was pointing.
"Balls," he said.
"Yup," Faith said. "Some other stuff too."
Willow woke up in her arms.
"Hey, goddess," Faith said, and caressed Willow's hair. "You okay?"
"Um..." Willow said, and looked around. She saw Angel standing in the middle of the street, naked. She shook her head, and rubbed her eyes, and looked again. Angel was still standing in the middle of the street naked. "I don't know," she said. "Am I?"
"A little help, please?" Angel said, and did his best to cover himself.
"Dude," Graham said, and took off his coat and handed it to Angel, carefully avoiding looking at him as he did. "Think of the children, man. Shit."
Angel tied the coat around his waist, and took another look around. He saw Buffy, frowning at him, standing beside a woman he had never seen before. And then he saw another Buffy on the ground a little behind him, slowly getting to her feet. He saw a third Buffy about ten yards away.
"Why the hell are there three Buffys?" Angel said. "Hey, Tara. Why are there three Buffys?"
Faith got up, and helped Willow to stand. They turned and saw Tara, staggering toward them like she'd had too much to drink.
"Um, First Evil, Cordy in a glamour, Buffy," Tara said, pointing them out.
"Tara, you okay, hon?" Faith said.
"Kinda headachy, but yeah," Tara said. "And, um, for the record? I think everyone's officially seen everyone else naked now."
Willow cracked up laughing. It had been that kind of a day.
"Yeah, pretty much," Willow said.
THE SECRET CHORD
"Angel showed up naked?" Cordy said. "He just like, appeared. Naked."
They all stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by dead bodies and smoke and rubble. Cyvus Vail was unconscious. Lilah was looking rather lost. The First was still frowning. So was Cordy: Willow noticed she was watching Angel--specifically, his midsection, which was covered by a jacket tied around his waist--with an expression Willow could only categorize as wistful longing. Angel looked confused. Willow couldn't blame him.
Willow watched Faith.
Faith was with Buffy now. She was touching Buffy's hair, and holding her hand, and leaning her head on Buffy's shoulder. Willow felt something in her stomach, when she saw that. She didn't like the feeling.
Willow thought back to all the hurtful things Buffy had said to her, when she had pretended to be the First. She still heard them, as if they were still echoing out there, somewhere in the dark. She still felt them, roiling around inside her.
Buffy had embarrassed her. More than embarrassed her: humiliated her. And Willow knew Tara had heard it all, and that made it worse. And Buffy had humiliated Faith too, and Willow realized that made her even angrier. But she knew Buffy had been right; without realizing it, Willow had been flirting with Faith...offering herself to her. She hadn't meant to...
Willow had tried so hard, to think of Faith's feelings before her own, to do for her instead of doing for herself...to take care of her. She wanted to take care of her...to be part of her life. Ever since she had somehow received Faith's memories--she still didn't know how, it shouldn't have happened--her feelings for Faith, feelings she'd had from the moment she met her, but hadn't understood at first, were a constant ache. That night two months before when Faith saved her, and held her in her arms, Willow had felt safe. She had felt warm. But she hadn't understood what it meant then...
Now she understood. Somehow, she had fallen for Faith, without realizing it. She hadn't even liked girls, but she had been attracted to Faith anyway: she had wanted her from that very first night, that first moment, when Faith had stalked through that alley, majestic, feral, radiant, terrible, beautiful...Faith was the sun in the sky. The hand of the Goddess, revealed...the love of the Goddess, revealed.
Willow hadn't thought she liked girls then but she knew she liked girls now. She had Faith's memories to thank for that...they had changed her. And Willow knew there was no going back...
She was in love with Faith.
Willow accepted it. In that moment, standing there in the dark, surrounded by friends, by enemies, by strangers, she accepted it. She had known it for awhile. But now, for the first time, she accepted it.
After she had received Faith's memories, Willow had thought she was in love with Buffy. But that was an illusion: she knew it now. Those were Faith's feelings, not hers. Her feelings for Tara were an illusion too...they were Faith's feelings too. Willow knew she didn't love Tara. She knew she didn't love Buffy.
Now that Xander was gone, Willow knew there was only one person she loved. It had snuck up on her...but it had always been there...ever since that first night...that moment when Faith held her in her arms, and kept her safe.
Watching Faith now, Willow knew she wanted her. And she felt afraid... afraid of what she might do around her.
She had awakened a few minutes before, in Faith's arms. She missed them already.
She thought about consequences: the consequences of taking Faith from Buffy. It would destroy her friendship with Buffy; she was certain of it.
She weighed it. It was heavy. She felt its weight.
Then she weighed it against the prospect of having Faith...of knowing she was Faith's love. Feeling Faith's arms around her...sleeping with Faith at night. Making love to her. Holding Faith when she was scared, keeping her warm when she felt cold. Writhing beneath her as Faith loved her, and looked down into her eyes, and bit into her neck, and whispered terrible, beautiful things to her...
Part of Willow thought it would be worth it, to lose Buffy, but have Faith forever. Part of Willow considered how she might seduce Faith. She knew what Faith liked; what she wanted, what she needed. She knew Faith better than Buffy, better than anyone. She thought she might be able to take her away from Buffy.
The thought scared her. There were times Willow scared herself...times she thought there was something black, and cold, living inside her. There were times she thought she should leave...before she hurt people.
A chill went through her. She was aware of the dark again. It was a weight on her shoulders now. It was trying to enter her...and it was cold. It wasn't that the darkness had a presence, Willow realized; it wasn't that the darkness carried something inside it. Rather, there was something missing from it. That was what made it so heavy, so cold...the darkness wasn't the presence of some cold, terrible thing; it was the lack of something, the lack of some warm, beautiful thing. Something that had gone out of the world. Like a lost love...
...Or a love forever out of reach.
Willow watched Faith, with Buffy. She felt cold, as she watched them together. She felt the darkness...felt like she was part of the darkness. There was a warm, beautiful thing, and Willow could never have it, and it made her cold.
"You people lead very strange lives," Sam said.
"Yeah," Tara said. She was still holding her hand to her head, as if she was dizzy. "Is it always gonna be like this? Like, big giant fights and wizards with tentacles and explosions and last-minute weird rescues and like, naked people?"
"There's been more naked people than usual lately," Willow said. "The rest, yeah, pretty much."
"Okay, so...what's the plan now?" Tara said.
Lilah, the voice said. Lilah heard it, in her mind.
She turned to the First. The First still looked like Buffy. But it wasn't looking back at her. It was standing apart from her now...it was watching Faith.
I'm sorry, Lilah thought. I don't know...how this happened.
Kill yourself.
"Got a couple loose ends," Faith said. "Wizard dude and this chick over here." She nodded her head in Lilah's direction. "Way I figure it though, we just got our first break. We got us some prisoners to interrogate."
Lilah's eyes filled with tears.
But...isn't there...any way I can serve you? Lilah thought.
"Vail's too dangerous," Riley said. He picked up his pistol from the ground. "He wakes up, he can kill us all. And we couldn't hold him anyway. He can teleport. But he can help me out with something."
"Help you out?" Faith said.
"Got a little doodad here I wanna test out," Riley said, and pulled out his wallet, and took something from it that was the size and shape of a credit card. But it looked like a printed circuit. "If it works it'll give us a few minutes of quality time together."
You can serve me by dying for me, Lilah heard the First say, in her mind. You have information that will help them, and they're going to take you prisoner. The mercenaries you hired don't know anything, they'll let the survivors go. And they can't keep Vail, he's too strong so they're gonna kill him. But they can keep you. I can't allow that. Kill yourself. Use the gun in your purse.
"Told you," Riley said. "I wanna test this thing out. Looks like it's working just fine."
"What is it?" Willow said.
"Classified," Riley said. "But it should keep Vail under control awhile. Not too long, maybe a few minutes. Long enough to ask some questions."
Faith crouched down and held her sword to Vail's throat.
"Willow," Faith said. "Put a shield around everyone except me and Riley and the wizard."
"No need," Riley said. "The doodad's working. Mr. Wizard wakes up, he ain't casting shit for awhile."
Willow created the shield. Riley heard it as it went up: a hum of electricity that faded after a couple of seconds.
"You don't need that, Willow," Riley said.
"You're a nice guy, Riley," Willow said. "I like you. But I don't follow your orders. I follow Faith. Shield stays up until Faith says it drops."
"Could someone tell me what the hell's going on?" Angel said.
"Long story," Tara said. "As usual."
I won't ask you again, Lilah, the First said, in Lilah's mind. If you kill yourself you'll be with me, and I'll care for you. If you don't, you're with them, and you'll never be part of me again. I'll have my vampires rape and torture and kill your mother and I'll have them capture you so you can watch. Then I'll have them torture you. You'll take weeks to die. Kill yourself. Do it right now.
I'm sorry, Lilah thought, and her tears ran down her cheeks now. I'm sorry I failed you.
"Classified," Riley said.
"What?" Tara said, and looked around at everyone.
"Sorry," Riley said. "But some stuff is on a need to know basis."
"No, I m-mean--wait!" Tara suddenly shouted, and spun around, and stared at Lilah. "STOP!"
They saw Lilah stick a gun in her mouth. Angel ran toward her--
One second before he could reach her, she managed to pull the trigger.
The gunshot blew the back of Lilah's head off. She fell backwards to the street in a puddle of blood filled with exploded pieces of her skull, and chunks of her brain, and clumps of her long, dark hair.
Everybody froze. The First smiled.
Lilah still had tears on her cheeks.
The gunshot was a thunderbolt in that stillness. It reverberated for a long time, before it finally faded away.
"Jesus Christ," Graham said.
Everyone was quiet after that. Tara turned away, shuddering.
Vail opened his eyes.
Buffy immediately tried to run to Faith. But the shield flared where she touched it, and repulsed her.
Buffy looked at Willow. Willow looked back.
Buffy's eyes were bright and hard as two diamonds. Willow actually felt them, now...cutting right into her.
She heard Buffy growling. It was a soft growl. But it was there...
She saw Buffy's teeth. Buffy was showing them to her.
Willow waved her hand. "Go through," she said.
Buffy knelt down next to Faith. She heard the shield go up again.
"Mornin', sunshine," Riley said, and looked down at Vail, and grinned. He stood up, and pointed his gun at Vail's head. "Heard of me now?"
"You have seconds left to live, insect," Vail said.
"Dude," Faith said. "See how my sword's right up on your wrinkly old neck? Got some questions I want answered."
Vail smiled, and narrowed his eyes.
"This is going to hurt," he said.
Nothing happened.
Riley's grin got wider. Vail suddenly looked like he had just wet his pants.
Buffy showed Vail her teeth. Faith raised her eyebrow.
"Dude, you must be psychic, the way you just read my mind," Faith said. "It's definitely gonna hurt."
She kneed Vail in the balls. He screamed, and whimpered.
"The First," Faith said. "Its plans, its weaknesses. Everything you know. That knee was a fuckin' love tap, bitch. Next hit's gonna do some damage."
The device attached to Vail's tentacle started beeping.
"Won't...tell you...anything...little...whore," Vail wheezed, gasping now.
Buffy grabbed Vail's nose, and squeezed. He screamed, and made a gurgling noise, as his nose shattered in her hand. Yellow blood spurted out of it.
"Be polite to my girlfriend," Buffy said.
Faith raised the sword from Vail's neck, and showed it to him.
"The First's plans," Faith said.
"He won't tell you, baby," the First said. "This is real fun to watch right now, how you guys are being all like, hardcore? It's like this total Quentin Tarantino vibe. But I'm scarier than you. And Vail knows it."
"I'm the one who can touch stuff," Faith said. "I'm the one with the sword. Talk to me, Vail. Or I slice and dice."
"Go to...hell," Vail said. His broken nose distorted his voice; it was a choked, wheezing squawk now.
Faith plunged the sword into his thigh, and twisted it. Vail shrieked, and began crying.
Faith giggled like a little girl. She thought Vail was funny. She liked seeing him cry. She showed him her teeth. Buffy was growling, and smiling.
"Last chance," Faith said. "Or else I start hurting you. What I just did? That wasn't hurting you, bitch. That was just playin'. The real fun's comin' up."
Vail looked at the First. The First looked back at him.
"No!" Vail gasped. "Won't...tell you."
"We're out of time," Riley said. "The beep was the one-minute warning. We don't kill him now, he'll kill us."
"Fuck," Faith muttered, and yanked her sword out of Vail's leg. He shrieked again, and his blood spurted up in a little yellow geyser. Faith held the sword against his throat again.
"Move," Riley said. "I got this."
"Guy's dangerous," Faith said.
"He's dead," Riley said. "Move."
Faith and Buffy stood up. But Faith held her sword ready, and Buffy was still growling.
Riley looked down at Vail. Riley wasn't grinning now.
He stepped on Vail's neck. Vail whimpered again.
"Got a message for you, boy," Riley said. "Got a message been twenty years comin', and you're fucking damn well gonna hear it before you die."
Riley cocked the trigger on his pistol.
"The good folks of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming say fuck you, Mister Cyvus Vail," Riley said, and shot Vail through the head.
Vail's head exploded. All that was left of it was a spray of yellow chunks.
"Gross," Buffy said. "Looks kinda like egg nog."
"Damn, dude," Faith said. "When you kill a guy you kill the livin' shit out of him. That's one mean gun."
"Guy pissed me off," Riley said, and put his pistol back in its holster.
"Okay Will, drop the shield," Faith said. "We gotta get Giles, and plus I'm thinkin' we should grab some supplies from these commando dudes. They got armor, weapons, radios. Shit we can use." Willow nodded, and waved her hand.
"Should we like, question them?" Buffy said. "Maybe they'll know stuff?"
"Doubt it," Riley said. "They're hired help. They knew not to kill you guys, they knew the mission, but that's almost definitely all they knew."
"Yeah, the First isn't stupid," Faith said. "All those guys, too much of a risk that we'd capture one. I bet the chick knew stuff, that's why she shot herself. And Vail had to know stuff. Commando dudes were pawns on the board."
"Um...there's still like, a bunch of them," Tara said. "What do we do when they wake up? You're not...you're not gonna...kill them? Are you?"
"Don't worry hon, we're still the good guys," Faith said. "Yeah, some of these guys got killed but that was when we were fightin'. And that's something you need to understand, Tara, okay? You too Will, Buffy. When we're at war we kill if we have to. We'll avoid it if we can. But if we gotta kill to protect people we love that's what we do. But we don't kill anything with a soul if we don't have to. That's the rule. Fight's over now, so these guys can live. But I sure as hell won't give them a chance to come at us again either."
"They probably won't," Graham said. "Like Cap said, hired help. They're not being paid to come back at you."
"Better safe than sorry," Faith said. "Buffy, the ones still alive, break all their fingers. I don't want them able to hold a weapon. And we'll take their gear."
Buffy nodded, and started breaking the commandos' fingers. She moved methodically from one to the next, showing no emotion at all as she did it. She looked bored. The cracks echoed.
Buffy's hands moved with fluid precision, as she broke the commandos' fingers. It looked like she was knitting. One of the commandos woke up screaming, while Buffy was still working on his left hand. Buffy elbowed him in the face without even looking at him.
Tara shuddered again, as she watched Buffy. She wanted to turn away. She wanted to run. But for some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off Buffy...
Buffy whistled, as she broke the commandos' fingers. Tara recognized the tune: "My Boyfriend's Back" by the Angels.
Tara noticed Faith wasn't even paying attention; she was talking to Riley. Riley's people were watching Buffy, but they were commenting on how efficient she was, and making jokes. "Damn, I do not ever want that girl angry at me," Tara heard Forrest say. "Reminds me of my Mom," she heard Sam say. "Reminds me of you," she heard Graham say. Even Willow wasn't paying attention. Willow was watching Faith. Angel was talking to Cordy; Cordy was explaining what had been happening while he was gone. No one was paying attention.
Tara didn't understand it. She didn't understand why no one thought this was important...why no one saw the brutality of it. Even Willow didn't see. Tara thought Willow should see, even if no one else did.
Faith came over to Buffy and knelt beside her, at one point. She made a growling sound, which became a soft purr, and then she whispered in Buffy's ear. But Faith wasn't being quiet enough, and Tara overheard without meaning to...
"You better fuck me good tonight, lover," Faith whispered to Buffy. "You better give it to me hard and make me cry. You better give it to me all night long."
"Mmm-hmm," Buffy said, and smiled, and went on whistling and breaking fingers.
Tara blushed. She wanted to turn away...but she still couldn't.
That was the moment when Tara finally understood what a Slayer was. Faith had told her, Willow had told her. But words didn't do a Slayer justice. They didn't do Buffy justice...but now Tara knew. Now she understood.
Tara noticed Faith heading back to talk to Riley. And she noticed Willow was still watching Faith...Willow hadn't taken her eyes off her.
But Tara couldn't take her eyes off Buffy. It was like watching some magnificent predator...some perfect, beautiful animal. A lion.
Tara watched Buffy hurting the commandos...hunting. Taking down kills.
Buffy looked up at Tara once, as she did it. When Buffy looked at her, Tara stepped back, and actually stumbled; she nearly fell.
Buffy walked over to her, and took her hand.
"Tara," she whispered, and looked into Tara's eyes. Tara tried to avoid Buffy's eyes, but Buffy sought her out...hunted her...captured her.
Tara was shaking a little. Buffy caressed her cheek.
"Tara," Buffy whispered, again. "I know you're a little afraid of me. But you don't have to be, honey, okay? You never have to be. I'd never hurt you."
Buffy's hand was warm. Her voice was soft. Her smile was pretty...honest, and open...caring. Tara couldn't reconcile it with what she had just seen.
But Buffy's eyes hadn't changed: they were like two knives.
Tara glanced around. No one was looking at them. Faith was still talking to Riley's men, Angel was still talking to Cordy, and Willow was still watching Faith. Tara noticed the First seemed to have disappeared, at least for the moment.
Tara was alone with Buffy.
"Okay, honey?" Buffy whispered.
"I'm...I'm...s-sorry," Tara whispered back. "Just...it's j-just...I'm s-s-still getting used to all this."
"It's okay," Buffy said, and smiled, and kissed her cheek. "You'll be okay. I want you with us, Tara. You're gonna be great with us." Then Buffy went back to breaking fingers. This time she whistled "Mr. Sandman" by the Chordettes.
"She's something, isn't she?" the First whispered, in Tara's ear.
Tara turned, and looked into its eyes. It was still wearing Buffy's skin.
For some reason, the First didn't scare her. The First didn't scare her even a little at that moment. After being face to face with the real Buffy, this one was a poor substitute. It wasn't a lion. It wasn't a hunter. It was impotent...it couldn't affect anything. Its eyes had nothing in them, but Buffy's eyes had a light in them that froze Tara...made her afraid...thrilled her.
"She could smell it on you, y'know," the First whispered. "But don't worry. She won't tell anyone. Buffy's a good girl."
"I don't know wh-what you're t-t-talking about," Tara said.
"You d-d-don't, huh?" the First said, and giggled. "Yeah, that sounded real sincere. Want some advice? Be careful, Tara. If this little fantasy you've just discovered ever did come true, do you really think you could handle it?"
"Why don't you just...j-just...leave me alone," Tara whispered, and hugged herself, and turned away from it.
"Are you a virgin, honey?" the First whispered. "I think you are."
"Shut up," Tara hissed. She looked around. No one had noticed the First talking to her, for some reason.
"Don't worry, Tara, only you can see me right now," the First whispered. "Only you can hear me. Buffy thinks you're really pretty, y'know. Actually, she thinks you're beautiful. She loves your scent, baby. She can't get enough of it."
"Why are you...why are you bothering me?" Tara whispered.
"Maybe I like you," the First whispered in her ear, and disappeared.
"Okay, well, I'm gonna take off," the First said, a little while later. It was still mimicking Buffy's shape. But its eyes, its smile, weren't Buffy's; there was no light in its eyes. No warmth in its smile. "You guys keep on getting lucky, and it's like, totally pissing me off? So I'm gonna go pout. But I'll be back."
Buffy had finished breaking the commandos' fingers, and she and Faith had stripped them of their gear; it was in a pile on Buffy's porch. The commandos laid in the street, unconscious. Some were dead; Willow had destroyed the dead bodies with fireballs. Tara had dispelled the glamour around Giles, and Angel had retrieved him; he was still unconscious, and Angel was carrying him. Everyone was heading into Buffy's house now.
"Thought you were gone," Faith said.
"You're mine, Faith," the First said, standing on the lawn, and looking up at her. "Not hers, baby. Mine."
"I'm with Buffy," Faith said. "I'll never be with you. I'll die before I'm with you."
Buffy put her arms around Faith, and kissed her hair.
"That's not what I meant, beautiful," the First said, and walked on to the porch, and moved its hand to caress Faith's cheek. But its hand went through her. "I meant you're with me...with Buffy. You're Buffy's baby girl." It glared at Willow, who was standing in Buffy's doorway. "Not Willow's."
"You're my baby," Buffy whispered, in Faith's ear. Faith nodded, and leaned her head on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry about that stuff I said before, okay?" Buffy whispered. "I know I embarrassed you, and I'm sorry. I guess...I got carried away."
"It's okay," Faith whispered. "I love you."
"It's not okay," Buffy said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "The stuff I said wasn't okay. And I'm gonna make it up to you. And I love you too, baby."
Faith nodded again, and curled up closer to her.
"Okay, kinda weird, feeling jealous of myself," the First said. "So, I'm gonna skip out. Maybe I'll go shopping, buy a new pair of shoes. I just lost my whole Fab Four and I need a pick-me-up. Buffy...be careful around Willow. She wants to take Faith from you. I know she does. I know it, because you know it."
"I don't...I don't want to do that," Willow said. "I don't, Buffy."
"She doesn't," Faith said. "You're just...talkin' shit to try to divide us again. Tellin' more lies."
The First walked right up to Willow, and looked into her eyes. Buffy's face was red now. She held on tighter to Faith.
"Lies?" the First said. "Slayers can tell who's lying. Can't we, Buffy?"
"Leave," Buffy said. "Just...just leave us the fuck alone."
"I'm gonna win, Buffy," the First said. It still hadn't moved, still hadn't taken its eyes off Willow. "Willow, Faith, Tara, I'm gonna win. Yeah, you guys keep on sorta lucking out but meanwhile people are dying every second out there. Pretty soon there won't be a world left for you to save. You'll all be with me soon. All that's really left for you guys to decide is how you're gonna spend your last days together before I take over. Are you gonna be happy together? Enjoy each other? Appreciate each other? Or are you gonna be at each other's throats?"
The First changed...to Xander.
"It's up to you, cowgirl," the First said to Willow, and smiled hatefully. "You could destroy them all, if you aren't careful...the way you destroyed me."
And then the First left them: it darkened to absolute black, and twisted, and shrank in on itself, and finally faded to nothing...but its cruel smile was the last part of it to disappear. It lingered awhile, before it left them.
"Okay...that was...um..." Tara said, standing next to General Paddington. She liked General Paddington. She found the fact that Buffy kept a teddy bear on her porch strangely comforting.
"Like totally an episode of Melrose Place, with vampires," Cordy said. "So, pretty much par for the course around here."
They all sat in Buffy's living room, drinking: beer, wine, and rum and coke. Drinking seemed the appropriate thing to do. Faith didn't allow anyone in her group to have enough to get drunk, or even tipsy, but she let them have enough to relax. Giles was sleeping in the spare room.
Angel had taken some clothes out of his duffel bag in the cellar, and he felt more at ease now that he was dressed. He stood in the corner, and drank his Guinness, and watched Buffy. He was worried about her. Angel didn't like what he saw, when he looked at Buffy's eyes. She was sitting on the arm of Faith's chair now, drinking rum and coke and touching Faith's hair, but she was watching Willow...Angel could tell Buffy was focused in on her. Willow never looked back at her; she was avoiding her eyes. Angel knew Faith noticed what was going on, but she was ignoring it. Tara was sitting with Willow and Cordy on the couch, huddled in on herself. She was avoiding looking at Buffy too. All their scents were off: Buffy's, Willow's, Faith's, and Tara's.
Cordy's scent was the same as always, but Angel knew nothing ever really bothered Cordy. She seemed bored. She wasn't drinking. She sat at the end of the couch, away from Tara and Willow. She had her coat on, and there was a suitcase on the floor in front of her. Angel knew she was going to leave, and he didn't want her to. He thought about going with her, if she left.
Angel noticed Riley kept glancing at him.
"So," Sam said. "We've got like this unstoppable immortal indestructible ghost person who can control vampires and spy on us whenever it wants, plus the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who can't be killed," Sam said. "Plus the government's in hiding, and people are disappearing and occasionally showing up naked. And the only way to stop all this is to find the one person in the world who can pray to God and ask Him nicely to pretty please cut us some slack. And we have no idea who that person is, and no way to find out."
"Yup," Willow said.
"Well, that really blows," Sam said.
"Yup," Willow said.
"Hey," Riley said, turning to Angel. "You dropped this." He tossed something to Angel; it flickered silver in the light of the tiffany lamp.
When Angel caught it, he snarled, and smoke rose from his hand, and his face changed to vampire mode for a second--became twisted, deformed, before reverting to its normal shape. Angel immediately dropped the thing Riley had thrown to him, as if it burned him. It was a small silver cross.
Forrest, Graham and Sam all immediately whipped out their taser guns, and leveled them at Angel.
Buffy was up and across the room and standing directly in front of Angel before anyone had even noticed her move.
"Had a feeling about you, boy," Riley said, and didn't stand up. He leaned back in his chair, and finished one of Angel's Guinnesses. "I'm thinking you might wanna move, Buffy. Seeing as how that's a vampire you're protecting."
"Don't call me 'boy'," Angel said.
"Yo Joe," Faith said. "Stand down."
"We gonna do this again, Faith?" Riley said. He still hadn't gotten up from his chair. He looked perfectly comfortable in his chair. Forrest, Sam and Graham looked tense, Faith thought. And they smelled like it too. But Riley didn't. He smelled like someone who thought he had this situation well in hand and certainly wasn't afraid of Angel or any of his friends, despite the fact that two of Angel's friends were Slayers and the other two were witches.
Faith hadn't gotten up either. She sat in her chair, across from Riley. She looked perfectly comfortable in her chair.
Buffy was growling.
"Faith," Willow said. "You need me for this? Maybe a shield?"
"It's cool, auntie," Faith said. "Riley's smart. He's gonna listen to me before he does anything stupid. Like maybe something that'll get him and his whole gang knocked on their asses."
"Last time was just playing," Riley said.
"You're right," Faith said. "It was. You're good, Riley. You can fight. Actually you're a little too good. Something's off about you, dude. Your reflexes are too fast. Vampire fast. But I'm faster. Stronger too. We fight, you lose."
She picked up her wine, and took a sip. Riley popped the top off another of Angel's Guinnesses.
"That a fact?" Riley said, and smiled like Faith had said something funny.
"That's my beer, by the way," Angel said.
"Shit," Forrest said. "Got us a funny vampire here. How we playin' this, Cap? We fightin' our way outta here?"
"That would be rude," Riley said. "We're guests in Buffy's house. So we'll listen. But Faith better have one hell of a good story to tell us."
"Nah, I don't gotta tell you shit, Riley," Faith said. "We don't gotta explain ourselves to you. All you need to know is this. Angel's on my team. He helps. We know he's a vamp, what do you think we are, fucking morons?"
"Don't answer that, Cap," Forrest said, and grinned.
Faith looked at him.
"Shut the fuck up," she said, her smile gone now. "Wasn't talking to you."
Forrest's grin disappeared. He stiffened, and looked at Riley.
"We takin' this shit?" he said.
"Playing this by ear, for now," Riley said, and drank his Guinness.
"Angel's on my team," Faith said. "So you're not gonna hurt him."
"That's it?" Riley said. "No explanation? You're a Vampire Slayer, and you're hanging out with a vampire. And you don't have an explanation?"
Faith smiled sweetly at him. She liked him. She even liked him now, when he was being a jerk. In fact she thought he was even sexier when he was a jerk. "Sure I do," she said. "It's classified."
Riley nodded.
"For Christ's sake," Graham muttered.
"Faith, we like you guys," Sam said. "We don't want this thing to go off the rails. But see it from our perspective. You're not making this easy."
"Some stuff's on a need to know basis," Faith said, and sipped some more wine. "But I'll tell you this, Sam. Buffy alone could take down all four of you before you even got a shot off. Me and Will and Tara could kick back here with our drinks and just watch the show while Buffy gave you guys the kind of beat-down you see in movies. See her eyes? Hear her growlin'? She's an inch away from showing you what a Slayer can do. You think you know what Slayers are, what Buffy and I are. But you don't. You need to put those guns down. Now."
Riley stood up. He took the device he had used on Vail out of his pocket.
"That thing even appears in Willow or Tara's fucking general vicinity and you won't even know what hit you," Faith said.
Riley tossed it on to the coffee table.
"Prototype neural scrambler," Riley said. "Inhibits certain electrical impulses between the nervous system and the brain. Stops magic-users cold. But it's got a limited duration. The stronger the magic-user's willpower, the shorter the duration. That's why we didn't have long with Vail. He didn't know what the hell this thing even was but he was still fighting it, and he was strong."
"You have to attach it to someone's skin," Willow said, and got up from the couch, and looked at it.
"Yeah," Riley said.
"I bet you're working on a way around that," Willow said. "Getting close enough to a witch or a wizard to get this thing on them would be tough. I bet you're working on a way to do it from a distance. Maybe some sort of remote signal that doesn't need this thing as the delivery system."
"We are working on that, in fact," Riley said.
"How long?" Willow said. "How long until you have a working prototype of the remote version?"
"It's still on the drawing board," Riley said. "Right now it's theoretical and there are kinks to work out. Tech boys estimate two to four years."
"Gonna use it against us someday?" Willow said, and looked up at him.
"Depends," Riley said, and looked back down at her. "You gonna go bad someday?"
"The government doesn't have a monopoly on morality," Angel said. "It's possible to be against you guys and on the right side of a fight at the same time."
"What is this, interview with the vampire?" Forrest said. "We're the good guys. You're a fucking monster."
Buffy growled again, louder. She was showing Forrest her teeth now.
"Okay, you people really need to understand something," Cordy said. "They're like, being patient with you, but you have no chance. Zero. Faith was right. Buffy alone could take the four of you down. And they have another Slayer, two witches, and Angel too. This isn't a fight you can win. The only question is how bad would you be hurt. I'm not bragging here. I'm not part of their gang. I'm just trying to give you guys some friendly advice. Take it if you're smart."
Faith got up. "Angel's not a monster anymore," she said. "He has his soul. He's the only vampire in the world who does."
"Soul?" Graham said. "What's that got to do with it?"
"It's how vamps work," Faith said. "When someone becomes a vamp they die, their soul leaves their body and goes who knows where, and the essence of a demon moves in. The demon has all the person's memories, their personality, but it isn't really the person--at least, not all of 'em, because the soul is gone. But Angel got his back. Yeah, he's still a vamp, still got the demon in him. But he's got his soul, so he tries to help now. He's one of the good guys now."
"How the hell did he get his soul back?" Graham said. "How does that even work?"
"Classified," Faith said. "You gave a little, I gave a little. But now I'm done explaining myself. Put the fucking guns down. Or I'm putting all four of you guys down. Decide. We're your friends or we're your enemies."
"Put the guns down," Riley said.
"Shit," Forrest muttered. But he lowered his gun, along with Sam and Graham.
"Smart play, Riley," Faith said. "Knew you weren't just a pretty face."
Riley walked over to Angel, and got down on one knee beside him.
"Uh..." Angel said. "What are you doing?"
Riley ignored him, and picked the cross up from the floor. He closed his eyes, and kissed it. He remained there a moment, on one knee.
Then he stood up, took a silver necklace out of his pocket, attached the cross to it, and put it around his neck.
"You...believe in that?" Willow said. "You're a Christian?"
"Yeah," Riley said. "And I didn't come here to make new enemies. I came here to figure a way out of this mess...and maybe make some new friends."
Faith held out her hand. Riley took it.
"I had a G.I. Joe when I was a kid, looked just like you," Faith said. She threw Riley her sexy smile again. "Guy was always gettin' busy with my Barbie."
"Riley's too polite for that," Graham said.
"Now that's a shame," Faith said, still not taking her eyes off Riley. It was fun, flirting with a hot guy. It had been awhile. "This is just like the comics, you know that? Like in Spider-Man. Whenever Spidey meets another superhero they always have like a misunderstanding and have to fight first before they team up."
"Batman never does that," Forrest said. "No one wants to fight Batman. They all know he'll hand them their asses. He even kicked Superman's ass once."
"Read that one, that was a good one," Faith said. "But Batman needs to get over himself. Dude needs to maybe get laid, go hook up with Catwoman."
"You crazy?" Forrest said. "Batman's the shit. Spidey's cool, but Batman's a bad ass."
"What can I say?" Faith said, and smiled up at Riley again, and winked. "I like the nice guys. Okay. Now that we've done the good guys fight over a misunderstanding thing, it's time to do the good guys team up thing."
"We're heading back to our HQ," Riley said. "You're all welcome to join us. We've got supplies to last decades there and no one can breach the place. It's defensible until we come up with a plan."
"Your HQ," Faith said. "It's military, right? How many guys?"
"Couple hundred," Riley said. "Bunch of tech guys too. Some captured demons in cells."
"You in charge?"
"I'm the leader in the field. Policy comes down from Washington, and Professor Walsh actually runs the operation."
"Can't do it," Buffy said.
"Nope," Faith said, and turned away from Riley, and sat down. Buffy came back to her, and sat on the arm of her chair again, and took her hand. "It's too bad, too. Sounds like a good place to regroup."
"Why can't you do it?" Sam said.
"Two-hundred guys, we don't know any of 'em," Faith said. "If they all definitely followed Riley's orders maybe we could take the chance. I trust Riley. But at the end of the day, that professor calls the shots, and Washington pulls the strings. Can't risk it. We gotta be able to make moves, do our own thing."
"Offer's always open," Riley said. "Our place is beneath UC Sunnydale. We've got the college wired up with cameras, just show up and we'll find you."
"UC Sunnydale?" Willow said. "UC Sunnydale is a secret government operation?"
"It's a college too," Riley said. "I'm an assistant psych professor. Anyway we should still coordinate. Those radios you took, I'll show you guys how to pick up our frequency."
"Do you teach Intro to Psychology?" Tara said.
"Yeah, that plus a couple others," Riley said. "Why?"
"I'm gonna be in your class in January," Tara said. "I mean, y'know...if the world survives. This is completely ridiculous. Even with the naked people and the tentacle wizard guy and all the other stuff, I think this, right here, is the most ridiculous thing yet. My college is a secret government operation and I'm saving the world with my Intro to Psych T.A."
"It gets worse," Buffy said. "You haven't even seen any giant snakes yet."
"Um...I really don't like snakes," Tara said.
"Me either," Buffy said.
"Said the lesbians to the psychology teacher," Cordy said.
Riley showed everyone how to use the radios, and gave them a crash course on the guns too, and then they said their goodbyes; but they promised to keep in touch. By the time Riley and Sam and Forrest and Graham left, the twenty-one commandos lying in the street out front had awakened and discovered their broken fingers. There was a lot of screaming, and whimpering. But then Buffy hurt a couple of them. They were all quiet after that.
"We've been gettin' lessons on these spiffy new guns we took from you assholes," Faith said, holding one of their pistols down by her side. "Usin' you guys for target practice would be more fun than linin' up tin cans. You attacked us, tried to kill us. Gettin' off with broken bones is more than you deserve. If I ever see any of you again, I'll kill you. I won't even think about it first. Screw."
"Gonna remember you, bitch," one of the commandos said. "Gonna remember what you did to my hands."
"You won't, actually," Faith said, and raised her pistol, and shot him in the forehead, dead center.
His brains exploded out the back of his head like a hot dog in a microwave. When he hit the ground, lying in a pool of blood, his head looked like a broken teacup. No one else spoke.
"I didn't need the lessons," Faith said. "Anybody else wanna threaten me and show me how tough they are? Haven't even really played with the rifle yet."
"Rifle's fun," Buffy said. She raised the rifle she was holding and aimed it at the commandos. "You can do target shooting with the rifle. Guy way in back there, with the stupid hair? Bet I can put one through his left eye."
"Five bucks says you can't," Faith said.
"Now hold on," the commando with the stupid hair said. His hair was spiked straight up but it was thinning and he looked like he had more scalp than hair. His hair looked like hair plugs. "That guy was an asshole. He doesn't speak for us. We got no reason to come back here."
"You have stupid hair," Buffy said, and shot him through the left eye with the rifle, one-handed, from thirty feet away, without using the sight. For a second the man stood there, swaying. Then he dropped to his knees, and fell on his face.
"What the fuck did you do that for?" another one of the commandos said. He didn't have stupid hair. But Buffy thought he had a stupid moustache. It went too far down over his lip and it looked like it was never trimmed.
"I'm wondering that myself," Willow said.
"So you'll understand something," Buffy said. "This isn't us playing good cop bad cop. We're not bluffing. We've got no problem shooting you guys. We've got no problem shooting you guys if we don't like your hair. You need to understand that the only reason Faith and I are letting you go is because killing you makes our girlfriends uncomfortable." She looked back at Tara and Willow. "They don't like this, they don't like that we're killing people. But Faith and I like it just fine. Especially since killing you all is the smart move here. I'm thinking some of you might be dumb enough to try screwing with us again and killing you prevents that. You've got a stupid moustache."
"I'll shave it," the commando with the stupid moustache said. "And we won't be back. You'll never see us again. I got a wife and a kid."
"I had a mother," Buffy said. "The thing you work for killed her. Had a friend. It killed him too."
"Buffy," Tara said, and touched her shoulder.
"See?" Buffy said, and smiled. "All this killing makes our girlfriends uncomfortable. They're good girls. They're not killers. But Faith and I sure are."
"I'm not one of the girlfriends," Cordy said. "Just wanna make sure we're all clear on that. And Faith, maybe we can all like, relax a little here? These guys seem pretty scared to me. I don't think they're gonna be coming back."
"I dug my mother's grave today," Buffy said. "You ever dig a grave, Cordy?"
"No," Cordy said.
Buffy aimed her rifle at the commando with the stupid moustache.
"You have a stupid moustache," she said.
"Buffy," Faith said.
Angel was suddenly standing in front of Buffy. He yanked the rifle out of her hand.
Angel looked her in the eyes. Buffy looked back, growling.
"Get the fuck out of here, all of you guys, now," Angel said, without looking at them. "Like Faith said, we ever see you again, you die. Walk."
"We walk away, you gonna backshoot us?" Stupid Moustache said. "You're gonna kill us, get it done. Don't make us march then kill us for kicks."
"We won't," Angel said. "Walk."
The commandos walked. They trudged away down the street, looking back over their shoulders as they went. Eventually, the darkness swallowed them.
Buffy was still growling at Angel. Angel stood his ground.
"You wanna kill me?" Angel said. "Go ahead."
Faith stepped between them.
"I'm calling a meeting," she said, and looked Buffy in the eyes. "I want everybody inside."
Buffy stopped growling.
Faith kissed her.
"And the drama begins again," Cordy said. "Okay, so look, it's been fun and everything? Uh, actually it really hasn't. But I'm gonna take off."
"What?" Faith said. "What are you talking about?"
"Not part of your gang, remember?" Cordy said. "I don't fit here, I piss Buffy and Willow off by just breathing, and it's not like I can be any use saving the world anyway. I'm just gonna go grab my suitcase."
"You don't have to go," Buffy said.
"Kinda do," Cordy said. "Don't worry about me, my car's down the street and it didn't get shot up. There's one of those government camps in San Francisco. I'm just gonna drive there and wait this thing out."
"Angel," Faith said. "If she decides to go there, can you go with her? Make sure she gets there safe?"
"Yeah," Angel said.
"If?" Cordy said. "Already decided."
Faith stood in front of her, with her arms folded across her chest, and looked at her.
"You think we don't want you here," Faith said. "I don't blame you for wanting to leave. I thought I wasn't wanted, I'd take off too, no matter how dangerous it was out there. We're sort of alike. Different circumstances, you grew up with money, I didn't have a pot to piss in. But we're sort of alike."
"Except I don't go around kissing girls," Cordelia said. "That thing before when I was pretending to be Buffy notwithstanding."
"You were real good by the way, like, convincing. How'd you do the crying thing?"
"I always wanted to be an actress. Actually I was planning on going to L.A. after graduation, maybe going on some auditions."
"Bet you'd be good. Had me believing you dug me."
"Oh God," Cordy said, and smiled. "I'm like, under siege by lesbians with superpowers."
"Don't try to pretend I didn't rock your world," Faith said, and winked at her. "Buffy. You want Cordy here?"
"Yeah," Buffy said.
"How about you, Willow?" Faith said.
"Yeah," Willow said.
Faith nodded. She looked Cordelia in the eyes.
"That's the difference between me and them," Faith said. "They're lying to protect your feelings. I won't. Buffy and Will don't want you here. They're just being nice, because they don't want to hurt your feelings. Yeah, they'll let you stay, they don't want you out there where you could get hurt. But if there was someplace else you could go they'd rather you were there. I'd rather you were there too actually. I'm not gonna pretend we're pals. You piss me off sometimes."
"So we're having this conversation why?" Cordy said.
"Because I need you here. I'm asking you to stay with us. Not because I get off on your sparkling wit. Not because I feel bad for you, or I'm trying to protect your feelings. I don't care about your feelings. I'm asking you to stay here because I think you can help us."
"Sure, with all my awesome superpowers, right?"
"Nope. With your brain. My Watcher, Becca, she trained me up, made me what I am. She taught me how to fight. But the biggest thing she taught me was how to use my head. Slayer strength, magic, that stuff is all a big help. But the most important thing is being clear-headed. Making the right decision under fire. To do that you gotta be able to see all the angles. You have a different perspective than the rest of us Cordy, you see things a different way, and that's valuable. I'm in charge, but I can't think of everything and I gotta rely on my people to bring me options. That's what any good leader does. You bring stuff to the table the rest of my people don't, you got a different point of view and I want that point of view. I want those extra options. You're not afraid to speak up. You're not afraid period. The stuff we do, you can do it, you can be part of it."
"Not much for following orders."
"The group is Buffy, Willow, Tara and me," Faith said. "The four of us make the decisions. You'll be like, an outside advisor. You'll throw in your two cents, give me that extra option, that different angle. Maybe I'll listen, maybe I won't. But I want your point of view."
"Will I have to do anything? Will I have to like, do chores or something?"
Faith chuckled. "What, like doin' our laundry? No. All you gotta do is stay with us, be around, be in on all the conversations, and speak up if you have any ideas. This fight we're in, we're not gonna win it with muscle. We're gonna win it by using our heads. I'm asking you to stay. I won't say please. I won't stop you if you wanna leave. But I'm asking you to stay."
"This meeting's gonna last no more than fifteen minutes," Faith said. "When it's over this shit with Angel's gonna be settled."
They were sitting in the living room again. Faith sat in one of the dark wood chairs, Cordy sat in the other one. Cordy didn't have her coat on anymore. Buffy sat on the arm of Faith's chair again, and Willow and Tara were together on the couch again. Angel stood in the corner, by the window, with a glass of blood.
"About time," Cordy said.
"Yeah," Faith said, and looked over at Angel. "I was about to kill you, Angel. I was gonna stake you at the hospital. You remember that?"
"Yeah," Angel said, and sipped his blood.
"Not apologizing. I was doing it for Will and Buffy. Because you hurt them, and I didn't think they could ever get past it. And I still don't know if they can ever get past it."
"Maybe you should have killed me. Maybe they won't ever get past what I did. Maybe no one could."
"Maybe. But there are like, extenuating circumstances now. You disappeared, same way Tara did. Same way people all around the world are."
"Then he got sent back just in time," Cordy said. "As if someone knew exactly when and where we needed him."
"I think...it's the Goddess," Tara said. "Yeah, I don't believe the Bible, and all that Rapture stuff, but...this feels like the Goddess to me."
"Riley said Vail could teleport," Buffy said. "If he can do it then maybe someone else can too. Maybe some witch or some wizard's out there helping us."
"Why not hook up with us then?" Faith said. "Not saying I think this is the Goddess, or God. But it doesn't feel like it's a regular person either. If it is, they can see us...they know what we're up to all the time. Tara got sent back when I needed her blood. Angel got sent back when we needed him in the fight."
"But Angel was pulled away before the fight happened," Willow said. "Whoever took him would've had to know we'd need him later. But then if they knew that, why take him in the first place?"
"Maybe they knew Vail could do energy shields, and they wanted to use Angel as like a secret weapon?" Buffy said.
"But if it's some regular witch helping us out, someone doing magic, why are all these other people being taken all around the world?" Faith said. "Why are all those little kids being taken?"
"Faith, if it's the Goddess doing this, She's made Her will known to us," Tara said. "She took Angel before you could kill him. Then She sent him back."
Willow giggled, and stood up. "You really think the Goddess would take Angel?" she said. "After everything he's done? The Goddess likes rapists now? She likes people who murder babies? She likes fucking vampires?"
Angel left his corner. He walked up to Willow, and faced her.
"I didn't have my soul when I did those things," he said.
Willow looked into his eyes.
"You think the Goddess would forgive you, if She was here?" Willow said. "You think She could ever love a thing like you?"
They looked at each other. Angel's eyes were two wells of perfect black. But Willow didn't look away from them. She looked straight into them.
"Nope," Angel said. "Which is why I'm gonna give you guys one more chance to kill me. But just one more."
"You wanna clarify that?" Faith said.
Angel finished his blood, and walked away from Willow. But Willow was still looking at him.
"I'm alive," he said. "Healed. No idea how or why. I didn't ask for it but I'm here. And if I'm gonna be here there's some stuff I wanna do."
"Like the hell dimension," Buffy said. "You got sent back then, too. You keep getting sent back. Every time I think you're finally out of my life you come back. It's like a practical joke now. Like one of Willow's Monty Python things."
"I'm a joke, huh?" Angel said. "Here's me. Not laughing."
His eyes weren't focused anymore. Buffy realized she had hurt him.
"I didn't mean it that way," she said.
"Wasn't my idea to come back," Angel said. "You want me out of your life? You wanna kill me again? Go ahead. But if you're gonna do it, do it. Stop talking about it. Stop beating me up over things I did that I had no control over."
He looked at Willow. Then he looked at Faith.
"That goes for all of you," he said. "For what I did, I deserve to die. I'm not arguing the point. You think I want to be here? Think I like being the martyr while you all take out your frustrations on me? I don't. So kill me if you want. But make the decision now. I'm not living like this anymore. I'm not gonna stand around wondering when the next temper tantrum's gonna come and one of you is gonna kick the shit out of me again. You people are done kicking the shit out of me. I'm gonna give you one more chance to kill me, here and now. If you're gonna kill me get it done. If you're not gonna kill me then grow up. The world's falling apart. Millions of people are dead and what are you all concerned about? Your love lives? Who wants to boink who? Buffy's jealous because Willow likes Faith? Are you fucking kidding me? People are dying out there. Get in the game."
The room was quiet. Willow's face was red. She looked at Angel for a moment longer, then turned away.
"Man's got a point," Faith said.
"Yup," Cordy said. "Look, I can't see him the same way you guys do because I wasn't around for a lot of this stuff. He didn't hurt me like he hurt you guys. If he did, I'd want to kill him, in fact I would've killed him a long time ago. And maybe I'd kill him now. But we can use him. We all know that."
"Sure," Willow said. She wasn't looking at them. She was looking out the window, at the darkness. She could see the moon again. Its light stained the lawn blood red. "Until the next time someone gives him a great lay and he goes bad again. What do you think, Cordy? Can you rock his world the way Buffy did?"
Cordy looked like she was about to say something. But she apparently thought better of it. She just shook her head.
Buffy got up off the chair, and took a step toward Willow. Then she stopped herself. She stood there, looking at Willow's back.
Faith took Buffy's hand, and gently brought her back down to the chair.
"Willow," Faith said. "That was out of line."
Willow looked out at the darkness.
"I'm sorry, Cordy," Willow said, after a moment.
"Forget it," Cordy said.
Faith got up, and walked to the window. She took her stake from her back pocket, and handed it to Willow.
"You wanna kill him?" Faith said. "Kill him. But I won't let you do it with magic. No fireballs, no telekinesis. If you're gonna kill him you're gonna look him in the eyes. You're gonna put this through his heart."
Willow looked down at the stake.
"I'm not taking sides, Willow," Faith said. "I'm not saying you're wrong. If Becca was here she'd kill him. But I don't think you ever really thought this through. Killing someone is easy with magic. Not so easy this way, is it? This way, you feel it. You know it's your hand doing it. If Becca killed Angel she'd do it with a stake. She'd treat him like a man. And that's what we're gonna do from now on. We're gonna treat Angel like a man. The shit Angel did to you, he didn't have his soul then. If you got turned, became a vamp, what kind of vamp would you be? What kind of evil shit would you do? Ever think about that?"
"Yeah," Willow said.
She turned back to the window. But she held on to the stake.
"Okay," Faith said. "Here's how it goes. Anybody wants to kill Angel, do it now. If you don't, then you never will. We're all gonna decide, right now. The four of us." She looked at Angel. "You good with that? Said you'd give us one last chance to kill you. You good with us deciding like this, once and for all?"
"Yeah," Angel said.
"What about Giles?" Cordy said. "I know he's still asleep, but--"
"The four of us," Willow said.
"I'll vote first," Faith said. "I don't wanna kill Angel. Tara, your turn. You wanna kill him?"
"No," Tara said.
"Buffy," Faith said.
Buffy took a moment, before she spoke.
She looked at Angel. He looked back at her.
His eyes were focused again. They looked right through her, the way they always did...
She thought about the ring he had given her, that she had thrown away in the hospital parking lot. She wished she had kept it.
She knew she still loved him. She knew she always would.
"No," Buffy said.
"Willow," Faith said.
Willow turned away from the window, and walked back to the couch. She sat down. She looked up at Angel. She was aware of the stake in her hand. It was smooth and hard and sharp.
"You raped me," she said.
Angel nodded.
The words hung in the air. Tara took Willow's hand.
"Everyone here knows it," Willow said. "But I wanted it out there. I wanted the words out there."
Angel nodded again.
"I want to kill you," Willow said. "But I won't."
"Willow," Faith said. "Something you need to understand before you decide. This decision is final. If you don't kill him now, I won't ever let you. Unless he goes bad someday, I won't ever let you attack him again. You ever do, and you're out. You already got your one mistake. You don't get any more."
Willow nodded.
"You wanna kill him?" Faith said. "You wanna kill him for what he did to you? He was right when he said he deserves to die. He does deserve to die. But a lot of people deserve to die. You wanna kill him? Or not?"
Willow felt Tara's hand in hers.
She tossed the stake back to Faith.
"Want to," Willow said. "Won't."
"Okay," Faith said. "There was this president, Becca told me about him. James Monroe. He decided one day that he was sick of Europe coming over here and fucking with us. So he told them they wouldn't be fucking with us anymore. He told Europe the Western Hemisphere was his house and they weren't gonna be pullin' their shit in his house anymore. It's called the Monroe Doctrine. I always dug that, how the dude made a decision but he was so cool that his decisions weren't just decisions, they were doctrines. I'm gonna have some doctrines. The first Lehane Doctrine is, no one fucks with Angel anymore. From now on he's got a clean slate. The shit he did when he didn't have a soul, yeah, it hurt. But we're moving past it. As of now, it doesn't affect our decisions anymore. Unless Angel goes bad, we won't attack him. Anybody who does is out of the group. From now on, you break one of my doctrines, you're out. Mistakes are one thing, everybody gets one. But when I make a doctrine it's special. Doctrines are the important stuff, the big rules. Break a doctrine and you're out. You all got that?"
"Yeah," Willow said. Tara nodded. Buffy kissed Faith's cheek.
"Meeting adjourned," Faith said. "Next thing. Everyone pack your shit. We're outta here in fifteen minutes."
"We are?" Cordy said.
"The house isn't defensible," Angel said. "The First knows we're here, and this place can burn. Just a matter of time until we're attacked here again. Vamps can't enter uninvited but the smart play is to burn us out."
"Yup," Faith said. "We need a new place. It's gotta be a place that can't burn, like a place made of stone or brick. And it needs to be a house so vamps can't walk in. You guys know Sunnydale, I don't. Anyplace fit that description?"
"My place," Angel said. "It's all stone."
"Only problem is, vamps can walk in," Willow said.
"Why?" Faith said. "It's a house, right?"
"Yeah, but Angel's a vampire," Willow said. "As far as the invitation magic is concerned, he's dead, he can't own a house."
"Yeah," Buffy said. "It's too bad, his place would have been perfect. It's not just that it's stone, it goes on forever and it has all kinds of secret rooms we could hole up in to hold off an attack. And a lot of it is underground. They could throw grenades at us from the street and we wouldn't even feel it on the lower floors. Plus it has sewer exits, and they all bring you to different parts of town."
"So sell it," Cordy said.
"What?" Buffy said.
"The anti-vamp magic whatever doesn't work because Angel's a vamp and it's his place, right?" Cordy said. "So he sells it to one of us. Duh."
Willow was up off the couch, holding her chin in her hand, pacing.
"Would that work?" Faith said.
"It might," Willow said. "It just might. Angel, do you like, actually own the place? Like legally?"
"Yeah," Angel said. "Bought it a couple years ago."
"Okay, let me think," Willow said. "The invitation magic is about ownership. It doesn't care about legal ownership, like contracts and stuff, the only reason that matters is that way we believe we own the place."
"Lost me there," Faith said.
"Wait, I get it now," Tara said. "The invitation magic works if you believe you're the owner of a place. If you're staying there, and you actually believe it's your place, then as far as the magic's concerned you're the owner. In our society we believe we own something only if we actually legally own it, like, we have paperwork saying we do. So Angel has to sell it, actually do like a financial transaction, because that's the only way he won't believe he's the owner anymore. And one of us has to buy it for an actual amount of money with a legal contract and everything, so we'll believe we're the new owners."
"Could be a problem," Buffy said. "How are we gonna draw up a contract and go to a bank and stuff now? And there's like, mortgages and closing costs."
"No there isn't," Cordy said. "You can legally sell anything to anybody for any amount of money without a bank or a lawyer. All you need is a legal contract to sell a house, and a contract doesn't need a lawyer either. The reason contracts are like, ninety pages of bullshit is people need language in there that protects them from ripping each other off. But if both parties trust each other a contract can be like, one paragraph. People write contracts on the backs of napkins that hold up fine in court. It would just say that Angel's selling his house for whatever price, to whoever, and both parties agree. My mother's a real estate agent and my father's a lawyer, I know this stuff. I can write a contract that will hold up as legal."
Faith looked over at Angel, and smiled.
"I'll give you five bucks for the place," she said.
Angel walked up the steps leading to his courtyard.
When he reached the entrance, he felt a familiar crackle of energy, and he could go no further.
He frowned.
"Sweet," Faith said, and smiled. She was sitting in the courtyard on one of the granite benches, with Willow, Giles, and Cordelia. Buffy was standing behind Faith, with her hands on her shoulders, playing with her hair. Tara was moving around the circular courtyard, looking at the jasmine flowers climbing everywhere in clusters of white, trailing along the walls like constellations of stars.
"I should've asked for ten bucks," Angel said.
"Don't forget the other part of the test," Willow said.
Faith nodded. "Come in, Angel," she said.
Angel walked into the courtyard.
"Sweet," Faith said again, and smiled again. "I am lovin' my new pad. See, Cordy? Told you we could use you. You're already earnin' your pay."
"Just remember that you can't kiss me," Cordy said.
"The place is pretty nice," Angel said. "I was really fond of it, back when it was mine."
"I love this courtyard," Tara said, sniffing at the jasmine. "Jasmine's always been my favorite flower. They're just so pretty. And they smell great."
"They're my favorite too," Angel said.
"Okay," Faith said, and stood up. "Time to get settled in. First thing, supplies. We all got clothes pretty much, but we'll need food. Buffy, Tara, how much did you guys salvage from the van?"
"Not much," Buffy said. "All the boxes were all over the place and the food was spilled everywhere, it was a mess. We got a box of canned food from Xander's house. We got Tara's clothes, and some of Tara's magic supplies, but all the powders were spilled."
"Did you save the shoes?" Cordy said. "Tell me you saved the shoes!"
Buffy smiled. "Most of 'em. There was this big bowl of beef stew from Xander's house that sort of did a number on some of them."
"We need to find supplies," Giles said. "We may be here awhile."
"Yeah," Faith said. "At least we got all the gear from those guys though. From now on when we go out, we should all wear those kevlar vests and take weapons and radios. And how about we all cut a lock of our hair and keep it all together somewhere. That way we can do a locator spell on anyone, anytime."
"How many bedrooms does this place have?" Cordy said. "And bathrooms? And is there electricity?'
"There's just one bedroom," Buffy said. "Plus there's like this study kinda room with a couch. But there's a ton of rooms Angel doesn't use. If we pick up some mattresses and sleeping bags and stuff we can each have our own room."
"It's got three bathrooms," Angel said. "Place has electricity, TV and cable. It was working last time I was here, but who knows if the power's on now."
"Three bathrooms?" Cordy said. "Full-size bathrooms?"
"Awesome giant bathrooms," Buffy said. "They're all like, made of marble and shiny and perfect with frescoes on the walls and each one has a sunken bath and a bidet. They have like, statues of nymphs too. And I could really use a nice, relaxing bath, actually."
"Sunken baths?" Cordy said, her eyes lighting up. "And frescoes?"
"Whoever built this place was way into bathrooms," Angel said. "I definitely should've asked for ten bucks."
"We should separate into groups," Giles said. "We need food, magic supplies, and mattresses, I suppose."
"Three groups works pretty good," Faith said. "We got three super-strong fighters here. Each group should get one. Giles, you sure you're okay?"
"I'll be fine," Giles said. "I've been knocked about before. I've grown rather used to it."
"Okay," Buffy said. "I'm in one group, Faith's in another, Angel's in the third. We should each hit a different part of town based on the supplies we're going after. For the beds we might need a truck. For the rest, cars work."
"We've got my car and Tara's car," Cordy said.
"We'll steal a truck," Faith said.
"Weapons will help," Giles said. "You said you took weapons from those mercenary chappies?"
"Hell yeah, G," Faith said, and took a knife from her back pocket. It was a butterfly knife with an ivory handle. She flipped it open expertly, her wrist moving in a series of smooth, fluid motions.
"You are so teaching me to do that," Buffy said.
"Never could resist a good butterfly knife," Faith said. "Doesn't do much against vamps but I still like having one, they're just cool. Got guns, batons, stakes and the sword too, G. Take your pick."
"Actually I have an idea about that," Tara said. "It would be better if we didn't get into fights, especially since we're gonna be separated. I can cast glamours on all of us that make us look like vampires."
"Cool idea, but we gotta smell like 'em too if we're gonna pass, vamps have great noses," Faith said. "Can you do that?"
"Well, I don't know what vampires smell like, but if one of you guys helps me like, fine-tune the spell I can give us any kind of smell you want," Tara said.
"Okay," Faith said. "So we got our plan. We'll settle in here, Angel can show us around, and I think we all probably wanna take a bath, get cleaned up. I know I sure do. Then say in an hour or so we'll head out for supplies and we'll take radios and armor and weapons with us. With the glamours hopefully we won't need 'em though. Tara, how long can you keep glamours on all of us?"
"Seven of us, I could keep us disguised a couple of days, easy," Tara said.
"We'll just need maybe half a day at most," Faith said. "Okay, how about, me and Tara, Buffy and Will, and Angel can take G-Man and Cordy. G can handle himself in a fight, so he makes up for Angel not getting a magic chick."
"Me and Tara," Buffy said. "You take Willow."
Willow's face turned red, and she looked away.
"Better to separate me and Will, we can both hotwire cars," Faith said.
"We're only stealing one truck," Buffy said. "You two steal the truck, you can find us all beds. I'll go with Tara."
"Um...I'm...okay with going with Buffy if...if you guys want," Tara said. She looked from Buffy to Willow. Buffy was looking straight at Willow. But Willow wasn't looking back.
"Uh...okay," Faith said. "Me and Will, B and Tara."
"I have something for you, my love," Faith said, a little later, and wrapped her arms around Buffy from behind. They stood in Angel's bedroom together, looking in the mirror. The bedroom was long and wide, with high ceilings, but it was gray, featureless stone. It was cold, and empty. Their voices echoed. There was a bed with silk sheets, and a mahogany bureau with a little bronze oil lamp, and an antique mirror on the wall, and nothing else.
"What?" Buffy said. She held on tightly to Faith's hand on her waist, as Faith kissed her neck.
Faith turned Buffy around, and took Angel's Claddagh ring out of her pocket, and held it out to her.
"I...threw that away," Buffy said.
"I know," Faith said. "But I want you to have it."
Buffy felt something, in her stomach. It felt cold.
"But...why?" Buffy said. "Why do you want me to have something of his? I'm...with you."
"Honey," Faith said, and caressed her hair. "I don't want you to wear it. But he was your first love, he's a part of you, and I don't want you to just throw that away. You're with me, but you can keep this, you can keep part of him. Put this somewhere safe, okay? Look at it sometimes. My love for you is the complete package, Buffy. I do for you, not for me. He was a part of your life. You've moved on now. But that doesn't mean you throw it away."
Buffy nodded, and took the ring. In the dull, ruddy light of the oil lamp, it gleamed.
She put it in her pocket.
She closed her eyes, and held Faith closer.
"What is it, honey?" Faith whispered. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Buffy said. "So where are we gonna sleep? Do you like any of the rooms we saw?"
"We're sleeping here," Faith said. "This is our room." She pointed at Angel's bed. "That's our bed."
"But...it's Angel's bedroom," Buffy said. "Kinda rude to just take it."
Faith picked her up in her arms.
"It's my house," Faith said. "I want this room for me and you."
She laid Buffy down on the bed.
"I'm gonna make love to you in Angel's bed," Faith said. "I'm gonna kiss your feet in this bed. I'm gonna worship you in this bed, Buffy. And then it's gonna be our bed. Okay, my love?"
"Okay," Buffy whispered, and kissed her.
"So this place has like, awesome sunken baths, huh? Nymphs."
"They're like, something out of Cleopatra. Y'know, the Liz Taylor one?"
"Yeah, I saw that flick. Bet you had a thing for Liz. Girl was hot back in the day."
Their lips were touching as they talked. Buffy ran her fingers through Faith's hair. She took in her peach scent.
"I like dark-haired, exotic beauties," Buffy said. "I like girls with smoldering eyes. And funny accents. They definitely have to have funny accents."
Faith licked Buffy's neck, and took in her scent, and listened to her heart.
"Wash me?" Faith whispered.
"You okay?" Tara said.
"Um...not really, no," Willow said.
They were sitting on the couch in Angel's study, or what was left of it: Buffy had done some damage the last time she was there. Angel had picked up as best he could. The leather couch and the leather chairs were back in their proper places, and the antique bookcase was upright again, though most of its shelves were broken, and most of the vases were shattered. The brass chandelier was gone; Buffy had destroyed it. The alabaster statue of Aphrodite was destroyed, too. It was in pieces, in the corner near the fireplace.
Willow looked at the closet. Tara held her hand.
"This is the room where it happened, isn't it?" Tara said. "Where you told Buffy what he did to you...and Buffy almost killed him."
"Yeah," Willow said.
"She almost killed him because she loves you, sweetie," Tara said.
"She hates me now," Willow said. "She thinks...I wanna steal Faith. And that stuff I said to her...to all of you. It was...it was so...oh, Goddess, I'm sorry."
Willow turned to Tara, with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Tara," Willow said. "The stuff I said to you...I'm sorry. And kissing you and...acting all like Faith around you and just...everything. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, sweetie," Tara said, and smiled, and squeezed Willow's hand. "You've been, um, kinda stressed out. You've had a rough week."
"I've been mean to you. All I've done is be like, a complete bitch to you."
"It's okay. And Buffy will come around, she just needs some time. You said stuff to her...and yeah, it was mean stuff. And she just lost her mother, and Xander. But she loves you, Willow. Just give her time, okay?"
Willow nodded. "Faith sort of ordered me to keep trying with her. But I would've kept trying anyway. I'll never stop trying with Buffy. She can hate me forever if she wants but I'll always love her."
"She won't hate you forever, Willow. She doesn't even hate you now."
Willow looked down at the floor, and nodded. But she wasn't so sure.
She looked at the closet again.
"You keep looking at that closet back there," Tara said.
"Yeah," Willow said.
Tara kissed her cheek.
"This is always gonna be with you, Willow," Tara said. "The closet, and what he did, will always be with you. But it won't always hurt like this. It'll get better. Okay?"
"It doesn't feel like it'll get better," Willow said. "Doesn't feel like it'll ever get better."
"I'll help," Tara said.
Tara hugged her.
Willow cried...
They stayed like that for awhile.
"Let's get outta here, okay, sweetie?" Tara said. "I don't want you in this room anymore. I don't want you thinking about that closet. We'll pick a room out for you without a closet. But definitely with one of those fabulous sunken baths."
"Buffy and Faith are totally gonna bogart a room with one of the baths," Willow said, as Tara wiped her tears away. "Actually I bet they'll take Angel's room. And Cordy's gonna try to get one of the baths too."
"Third one's for you."
"What about you? You should have a fabulous bath. You're fabulous."
"I'll be okay. Maybe I can use your bath sometime?"
"Whenever you want." Willow touched Tara's hair. She wanted to kiss her...but she knew those were Faith's feelings...
"You can...come in my room whenever you want...I mean...if you wanna use the bath," Willow said. "Whenever you want, Tara."
"It's a date," Tara said, and smiled.
"I love you," Faith said, half an hour later, as she laid naked on Angel's bed with Buffy, and Buffy held her in her arms.
"I love you too," Buffy said. "Did you like how I washed you, baby?"
"I loved it, honey," Faith said, and started kissing Buffy's neck. "That sunken bath frigging rules. Nice, after being laid up with all those hospital smells on me. Now I got my girl's smells on me. The way it always should be."
"I loved it too," Buffy said. "I love washing you, Faith. I love...I love taking care of you."
"I'm sorry I got weird about you giving me a sponge bath in the hospital," Faith said. "I'm sorry, Buffy. That was...that was just...Drusilla."
Faith curled up against Buffy's breasts. Buffy kissed her forehead.
"I guess...your talk with Willow helped," Buffy said.
"Yeah."
Buffy was quiet. She held Faith in her arms. The bed had smelled like Angel at first, but Faith's scent was asserting itself now...to Buffy's nose, the bed smelled more like Faith than Angel now. Soon she knew Angel's scent would be gone. Faith's scent was strong...it always took over a room. Buffy always noticed it, focused in on it, more than anything else. Everything always reordered itself around Faith's scent. Buffy's whole world revolved around it. It was her anchor.
"What...did you guys talk about?" Buffy said. "You were together awhile."
"She told me about the first time you guys ran into Dru," Faith said, and began kissing Buffy's nipples. "I was...kinda freaked out about Dru, how she hypnotized me. I guess...hearing the story helped."
"It wasn't your fault she was able to hypnotize you. She did the same thing to me. She was strong."
"Yeah. Doesn't matter anyway. She's dead. Fairy godmother dusted her."
"Fairy godmother. You have these names for Willow now. Auntie, fairy godmother. And...you keep saying you love her. And she says she loves you."
"It's not...like me and you, Buffy. It's like...sisters. That stuff you said to her, when you were pretending to be the First. Buffy...Will and me...we don't..."
Buffy nodded. She held on tighter to Faith.
"I keep smelling her on you," Buffy said. "Like, all the time. Ever since she got your memories, it's like...she's always with you. Touching you."
"We...her and me, we just...hug a lot. Buffy, you don't think...you don't think I'd ever...?"
"No," Buffy said.
Faith was nervous; Buffy could see it in her eyes, and smell it on her. But she wasn't nervous because she was lying. Buffy knew Faith; she knew her eyes, she knew her scent. She knew Faith was nervous now because she was afraid of losing her, not because she had cheated. Buffy knew Faith would never cheat on her. But she also knew Faith was fragile...that she needed to be taken care of.
And Buffy knew Willow had taken advantage of that...
Willow was the one who had started it. She was the one who told Faith she loved her, first. Faith needed to be cared for; Buffy knew she liked hearing those words. Buffy knew those words could seduce Faith.
Buffy tried to set the thought aside. Faith needed to be taken care of, now...she needed to be reassured. Faith could get scared, sometimes...
Buffy knew Faith wouldn't cheat on her. But she also knew there was something...something Faith wasn't telling her.
"I know you'd never do anything like that," Buffy said, and caressed Faith's cheek. "I know that, baby, okay? I know that."
Faith's hands had begun shaking. Buffy took Faith's hands in hers, and kissed them.
"I wouldn't," Faith whispered.
"I know," Buffy whispered. "You're my baby girl. You're my beautiful baby girl."
Faith nodded, and hugged her, and started to cry.
"I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't," Faith said, shaking her head back and forth against Buffy's breasts, and trembling all over now, as she cried...
"I know, baby," Buffy said. "I know."
Buffy held her. Faith got scared sometimes...
Buffy knew Faith hadn't cheated on her. But there was something...Faith's crying now was proof. There was something Faith hadn't told her.
Faith had been saying she loved Willow ever since Willow left the house...ever since Xander pulled her away. Buffy had no idea how it had happened. Willow had always liked Faith, always made an effort with her...always tried to spend time with her, to make her feel welcome. But Faith was shy around Willow, and she had usually kept her distance. Now, suddenly, Faith was saying she loved her. And Willow was saying she loved Faith. Buffy didn't understand it...
But she knew Willow had started it. She had said the words first...seduced Faith with them...
Buffy wondered if she had missed something. If, all those times she had smelled Willow on Faith, it wasn't just because they had given each other an innocent hug. She knew Faith wouldn't cheat on her. But, for the first time since she had known her, Buffy realized that she didn't trust Willow.
She thought Willow might have done something. Tried to take Faith away from her...and Faith felt guilty about it now...
She remembered the night she first met Faith, in the cemetery. They had fought...
...Because Buffy had smelled Willow on Faith then, too.
"Faith," Buffy said, and turned over, and moved on top of her, and looked down into her eyes. "There's something you're not telling me. It's the reason this thing with me and Willow has gotten so bad. Because I know something's happening, and you're not telling me. I need you to stop crying now, and be strong. Be strong for us, for me and you. Okay?"
Faith nodded, and wiped her tears away.
"I know you love me," Buffy said. "I know you don't want to cheat on me. I know you didn't have sex with Willow, okay? I know you didn't, I know you wouldn't do that. But I think something happened, and I think you feel a little guilty about it, and I want you to tell me so we can move past it. I won't leave you, I love you. Maybe I'll be a little pissed. But you'll still be my baby. You always will. I need you to be strong now, and tell me. Tell me everything."
"Okay," Faith whispered.
Faith told her everything. Buffy held Faith to her bosom while Faith told her, and caressed her hair. She made sure not to stop doing that...she wanted Faith to know it would be okay.
Faith trembled the whole time.
"She kissed you, at my house on Sunday," Buffy said. "And you were lying down naked with her, and you kissed her, in the hospital. You tell her you love her sometimes, and she tells you she loves you, and you hug a lot. You kissed her hand in Xander's house. And you slow-danced together."
"Yeah," Faith whispered. Buffy caressed her hair.
"That's everything?" Buffy said.
"Yeah," Faith whispered.
"Okay," Buffy said.
"I'm sorry," Faith whispered. "I won't...won't do it again."
Buffy turned over, and moved on top of her again.
"Things have been strange between you two since she got your memories," Buffy said, and kissed her, softly. "You two have a connection now...it's always gonna be there. I get that. I don't blame you for this, Faith. I blame her. She tells you she loves you and you like the way that feels, you like that she loves you. You like hearing those words. But I'm the one who loves you. Not her. You're with me. Not her."
"I'm with you," Faith said, and started crying again. "I'm with you, I'm with you."
"I know, beautiful," Buffy said, and kissed her again. "I know. I'm a little pissed at what happened between you two, and I'm gonna punish you. But I love you, I love you just as much as before. You're my baby girl, forever. Okay?"
Faith nodded.
"I was bad," Faith said. "You should...you should punish me."
"She took advantage of you," Buffy said. "I think...with your memories...I think...she kinda wants to be you. So being with you is something she wants too."
"Buffy, she...I don't think she wants to take advantage of me," Faith said. "In the hospital, she said I belonged with you and that I could never cheat on you. She always says she'll take care of me and stuff but...she wants me with you."
Buffy held Faith by the hair. Faith whimpered.
"Then she's gonna get her wish, isn't she?" Buffy said. "Kiss my feet."
Buffy sat up, and threw Faith down to the floor by her hair.
Faith knelt in front of her, with her eyes cast down to the floor, and kissed Buffy's feet.
"Look at me when you do it."
Faith looked up at Buffy, as she kissed her feet. Faith's lips trembled; Buffy felt it.
"When you think you've kissed them enough, get up over my knee for your spanking."
Faith nodded, and went on kissing Buffy's feet, and looking into her eyes as she did it. Buffy looked back, her eyes two diamonds in the dark.
Ten minutes later, Faith laid herself down over Buffy's knees.
"This isn't gonna be a fun spanking," Buffy said, as she caressed Faith's ass. "I'm gonna hurt you. You're gonna take pain for me."
"Okay," Faith whispered.
Buffy reached behind her and picked up a pillow. She laid it beneath Faith's head.
"I want you to bite down on that," Buffy said. " I don't want them to hear your screams."
"Okay," Faith whispered.
"Faith, I'm not doing this because I want to hurt you. I don't want to do this at all. I'm doing it for you. I'm doing it because I don't think you can move past this guilt your feeling unless you feel like you've been punished, unless I hurt you, because you think you hurt me. So I'm gonna hurt you. You're gonna bleed, by the time I'm done. But when I'm finished hurting you, when you've taken the pain for me like a good girl, I don't want you to feel guilty anymore, okay baby? That's the deal we're making. After the punishment is over, after you've been a good girl for me, we're gonna forget about the stuff you did with Willow. Okay?"
"Okay," Faith whispered. "I'll...I'll be a good girl."
"I know, baby," Buffy said. "Bite down on that pillow now."
Whimpering, Faith bit down on the pillow.
Buffy spanked her, with all her strength.
Faith screamed into the pillow...
Faith bled, by the time it was over. Her ass was covered with ugly red welts. But she took the pain. When she was finished spanking her, Buffy held her in her arms.
"Good girl," Buffy whispered.
That was all they said for awhile.
Finally, Faith spoke.
"I took the pain," she said. "Because I'm your good girl. But now you gotta do something for me."
"What?" Buffy said.
Faith moved down between Buffy's legs, and began licking her pussy.
Buffy held Faith by the hair as she licked her, and she pushed back against Faith's face, fucking her.
"Good girl," Buffy whispered. "Make me come."
Faith nodded.
"I love worshipping you, Buffy," Faith whispered. "You're my queen. I love you."
"I love you too, baby," Buffy whispered, as she pushed back against Faith's face, fucking her tongue. "You're my baby girl."
"I need you to do something for me, okay?"
"What?"
"The stuff I told you. Don't throw it back at Willow. Give her a chance to get past all this stuff on her own, okay? She didn't try to take advantage of me. She didn't try to make me cheat on you. Yeah, maybe part of her sorta wants me, but she never acted on it, never let it get out of control, even when it looked like I was offering. I'm attracted to her, Buffy. I told you that. If she's maybe attracted to me I'm attracted to her too. This is as much my fault as it is hers... maybe more. Maybe all of it is my fault. She's not your enemy. Don't treat her that way, okay?"
Buffy began writhing now, scratching her toenails up and down the bedsheets like a cat in heat. Watching as Faith licked her pussy, with her red ass sticking up in the air, was bringing Buffy to her orgasm in record time. "So...what, you want me to just...magically stop being angry at her? After all the stuff... she said to me, after the stuff with you?"
"No," Faith whispered, as she sucked on Buffy's clit, and Buffy held her by the hair, and controlled her, and moaned beneath her. "You got good reasons to be angry, and it isn't my place to tell you how to feel. I'm just asking you to please not throw the stuff between her and me back at her, that's all. Just...don't tell her you know this stuff. You don't have to warn her off. Nothing's gonna happen between us. Can you do that for me? Can you just...not bring it up with her? Please? For me? For your good girl?"
"Okay," Buffy said.
"Well, our end of this is pretty easy," Willow said. "Just head out to the Wal-Mart, bam. So what kind of vampire do I make? Am I like, a cute vampire? You haven't told me if I'm a cute vampire or what. Plus like, the smell. Am I like, really bad-smelling now? Like maybe rotten eggs instead of strawberries?"
Willow and Faith were pushing a shopping cart through the giant Wal-Mart that had opened on the edge of town, in their vampire glamours. Willow carried the radio. Faith carried a pistol, her stake, and her butterfly knife. They both wore kevlar vests.
There hadn't been any looting. There hadn't been time. The store, a monstrosity of a place that looked like a few football fields worth of clutter all strung together, was perfectly intact, and deserted. Even the electricity was still working; the lights were on, and they had just come back from the electronics section, and all the TV's were on too. The news was reporting that the estimated worldwide death toll was fifteen million now, and president Lieberman was reassuring the populace that the government was still in control of the country, from an undisclosed secure location.
Willow had picked up a CD boom box, lots and lots of batteries, and a stack of CD's. Her house had burned to the ground, and taken all her music with it.
"You're cute as hell, hon," Faith said. "But that's because you look like you. The glamours are mostly a smell thing, we got our regular faces, not like, vamp mode faces."
"Um...but I bet I'm like, smelly now, right?"
"Uh...that's classified. Anyway, we sure lucked out finding this place. All the fires and shit, all the people taking off, finding a big enough truck was the only hard part. Thinking while we're here we should load up on other stuff besides mattresses too though, seein' as how this place has like, every single thing in the entire world."
"Yeah," Willow said, and giggled. "Maybe like...I don't know, stuff to keep us from being bored maybe? I mean, we could be at Angel's place a long time, and he isn't exactly, y'know, party guy. I've got the boom box...I'm thinking maybe like, some games? Plus while we're here we should pick up extra food since they have a food section. Plus blankets and towels. Maybe some extra clothes for people. How are you gonna carry out like five mattresses? Won't that be like, awkward?"
"Nah, I'll fold 'em up, make paper airplanes out of 'em. Then just fly 'em out."
"If I get sleepy with all the shopping can you carry me out on one?"
"Sure thing, honey."
They passed the toy section. Dolls and action figures shared the space with toy cars and trucks, board games, and arts and crafts.
"Battleship!" Willow practically squealed, and suddenly ran to the board games lined up across one wall. Faith giggled, and followed her. She liked when Willow got excited about goofy things. She thought Willow was cute. She was a cute little strawberry girl.
"Cool, they got the electronic version," Willow said, pulling one of the boxes from the shelf. "I like the explosions. We should grab maybe like, a Nintendo and a bunch of games too. I totally have this jones to play Super Mario. Being a little Italian guy jumping around collecting coins is relaxing when the world's exploding all around you."
"I kinda like the shooter games," Faith said. "Like, Doom and stuff, y'know, the games where you're like an army guy and you blow up stuff."
"I love Doom!" Willow nearly shouted, giggling, and taking Faith's hands. "Yup, totally picking up Doom. Actually Doom 2 is even better. It's got the double-barreled shotgun, said the computer nerd." She loaded Electronic Battleship into the carriage, and moved on. "Y'know, we're gonna maybe be here awhile, maybe we should have like, some end of the world shopping spree music."
"Got anything good there?" Faith said, checking out Willow's CD's, as Willow opened up a package of batteries and inserted them into the boom box. "Anything you can dance to?"
"Picked up a few hip-hoppy things for you and Buffy to get all crazy dancing to," Willow said. "And some stuff for me. There's the bed section over there." She turned the cart toward it. They could see mattresses in the distance: a sea of mattresses.
"You don't get all crazy dancing?"
"I dance...um...but not well. I sort of like, move around randomly. I was born without rhythm."
Faith giggled again. "You got rhythm, you just need a few pointers. I watched you in the Bronze. Problem with you is, you're concentrating on the top half when dancing's all about the bottom half. You're all moving your arms when you should be shakin' your booty."
"Actually I was born without a booty too. I'm bootyless."
"You have a booty."
They reached the mattresses.
"That's a lot of mattresses," Willow said. "I know I should have something like, snarkily clever to say here? Because I always do? But...the fact that this place has every single thing in the world but they can still somehow find the space to have more mattresses than even a place that specializes in mattresses could possibly have is just boggling my mind right now. I could swear this place is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Like maybe it exists partly in another dimension. What I just said wasn't anywhere near snarky enough, was it?"
"You're cute when you're trying to be cute and not succeeding."
"Paul, some mattress shopping music?" Willow said, and loaded a CD into the boombox, and pressed a few buttons.
Well I heard there was a secret chord, the song began.
"What's this?" Faith said.
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Faith cracked up laughing. Willow rubbed her shoulder.
"I am so gonna get you high," Willow said "Not fair that Tara got you high and I still haven't. I'm gonna roll you the best joint ever, sweetie."
"You're the most adorable pothead ever," Faith said.
Hallelujah...
When Faith heard the man with the beautiful voice sing that word, something happened.
Faith stopped walking. Willow turned, and looked at her.
"Sweetie?" Willow said.
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
"Faith," Willow said, and took her hand. The part of Faith that was still noticing things outside of herself noticed that Willow's scent had changed. Willow was worried now.
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you...
Hallelujah...
Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
As Willow left her, without giving her a chance to say goodbye.
I used to live alone before I knew you...
"No...no, baby!" Willow said. "Don't...don't cry! Just tell me what's wrong! Please? Please? Tell auntie what's wrong and I'll...I'll make it better baby, I'll make it better, I promise!"
Hallelujah...
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah...
She saw her in the hotel room. She saw her in the Italian restaurant in the North End. She saw her in the movie theater in Cambridge. She saw her on the beach on Cape Cod...
She saw her naked on the bed with her legs spread beneath her, looking up into her eyes, and whispering that she loved her...
She saw her leaving, without even giving her a chance to say goodbye...
"Please?" Willow whispered, and caressed Faith's cheek, and tried to wipe her tears away. But they just kept coming...
Willow's tears kept coming too.
"Please let me make it better?" Willow whispered.
Well, maybe there's a God above...