Disclaimer/Summery: See Part 1
Four
REVELATION 6:12
Angel tried to center himself. He needed to think...
It was difficult. He heard screams; they came to him from every direction now, carried on the wind. The air smelled like vampires, and smoke, and blood, and panic. The darkness was a steady pressure, now; he felt like it was trying to crush him. He felt cold.
He dismissed it. He dismissed it all, and centered himself.
He'd seen a lot of strange things in his life. Plainly, what had just happened was mystical...some sort of spell...
Angel wanted to look for Tara. But there was nowhere to look...he couldn't detect her scent anywhere but in the car. And every second he delayed brought Willow and Giles and Xander that much closer to danger...
"Tara," Angel said, to the empty street, and the black sky. He thought his voice should echo. It didn't. It hung hollow in the air, and faded to nothing. "I'm gonna find you. I promise, Tara...I'm not giving up on you."
He got back in the car, and headed for Giles' house.
Faith wasn't sure what the end of the world was supposed to look like.
As she drove along the highway, keeping her speed under sixty as she headed south toward Los Angeles in case she encountered any other cars abandoned in the middle of the road, it seemed to her that nothing much had changed; other than the fact that traffic was sparse, which Faith assumed probably wasn't normal on the highway in California, it seemed like any other day. Except it wasn't day. The sky should have been blue twilight now, deepening toward evening. Instead it was black...an unvarying inky emptiness like someone had covered the whole world with a shroud...like the world had been devoured, had disappeared down some wolf's gullet. There was no moon, and no stars...Faith couldn't even see the glow from the fires burning in Sunnydale anymore now. The car's headlights were feeble things in that darkness; the darkness swallowed them like it swallowed everything else. Faith could see other cars' headlights, here and there; they looked like fireflies.
She had taken the SUV they'd nearly collided with in Sunnydale; she couldn't get Angel's car to start after the crash. The clothes belonging to whoever had been driving the SUV were in a pile on the backseat now. Faith had been thinking about that, too...about how someone could get into a car accident, take off all their clothes, leave their car abandoned in the middle of the road-- somehow managing to lock it while leaving the key in the ignition--and then simply wander off into the darkness, presumably naked. It didn't make any sense. Faith had tried the doors after she got in the car; there was no way to lock the doors and get out of the car while leaving the key in the ignition. It simply couldn't be done. The doors unlocked when you got out of the car and you needed the key to lock them again from the outside. And even if it could be done, why would the woman abandon her car in the middle of the road when it could still drive? Why would she take off all her clothes before she did? Faith felt like she was in the middle of one of those old mystery novels where they find a corpse in the middle of a locked room.
"Colonel Mustard in the library with the rope," Faith muttered.
The woman's panty hose had been sticking up out of her shoes...of all the things Faith had seen today, for some reason that image frightened her more than anything else. It stuck in her head...it was hard to stop thinking about it.
Faith kept part of herself in the garden with Rebecca. It helped.
Buffy was asleep, curled up in Faith's lap with Faith's coat wrapped around her like a blanket. Faith glanced down at her, and caressed her cheek. She lifted Buffy's hand to her lips, and kissed it.
"I love you," Faith said.
She had been saying it a lot; every few minutes. It helped. It helped to focus on what she still had, instead of what she'd lost...
For a moment, she thought about Evan. It seemed like years since she'd seen him...a lifetime. It had been two months.
She wondered where he was...if he was all right.
She saw him in the dream again...in The Roxy, holding the golden chalice in his hand...
A few feet away from Evan, the pretty blonde girl whose face Faith could never quite make out was asleep on the floor. Evan looked down at her.
Faith saw him drop the chalice. A red liquid spilled from it, and flowed down the cracks in the old wood floor, and pooled around the pretty girl's head... her blonde hair was stained red as she slept.
Buffy sighed in her sleep; it was a pretty sound. Faith looked down at her again. Buffy's eyes were moving behind her eyelids.
Faith dismissed the memories of the dream, and focused in on Buffy's heartbeat. It was strong and steady. She focused on her scent. It was beautiful.
Buffy was hurt, but Faith knew she'd recover; she was a Slayer. First she would find Joyce. Then she would get Buffy to a hospital. Then she would find Tara, and Willow...and then they'd figure something out, come up with a plan. If there was anything to be done, they'd do it.
Faith wondered if there was anything to be done...or if all they were doing was wandering around in the dark.
Faith's thoughts kept returning to the woman, whoever she was...her clothes on the drivers seat. Her pantyhose sticking up out of her shoes...like someone had snatched her away...
Faith caressed Buffy's cheek again.
"I love you," Faith said.
The car had a windshield at least, which made it a significant improvement on Angel's car. It kept the cold at bay. But it couldn't keep the darkness out, and the darkness felt like a snake now: its touch was cold and slithery and Faith felt it coiling itself about her, trying to crush her. And it was heavy; it carried something with it. Faith still didn't know exactly what it was the darkness carried inside it, but she thought it was more than one thing, the way a swarm of insects was more than one thing. The darkness was swarming with something. At the edge of her senses, Faith was aware of it...but she couldn't recognize it yet. It was there, and it was gathering force, adding layers, becoming deeper...but that wasn't all Faith was sensing. As much as this darkness contained something, or rather many, many things that affected her senses and put the lion in her on edge, Faith realized the darkness was missing something, too...as if something vital had gone out of the world.
Faith let her senses reach out, into the darkness...
And when she did, she actually gasped, and whimpered; she nearly swooned. Her hand shook on the steering wheel, and it took her another moment to center herself. She focused on Buffy again; on her heartbeat, on her scent; on her breathing, soft and steady.
"I love you," Faith said, her voice cracking, and took Buffy's hand, and held on tight to it. "I love you, I love you."
What Faith felt when she reached out with her senses was an emptiness: as if that cold, endless night had slithered inside of her, and filled her up, and hollowed her out, until she was empty too. She had nothing to compare the feeling to; she had never felt anything like it. The closest thing she had ever felt to it was the moment, two months before, when she had watched Rebecca die. This felt like that, a little...but it was worse. When Rebecca died, she was gone, taken away, but Faith knew she would always be able to hold on to Rebecca's love; it would be part of her forever. But when Faith reached out with her senses now, it felt like love itself had been taken away...like it had vanished from the world.
Faith tried to focus. She focused inward. She focused on Buffy.
She built a wall; it was a stone wall, the kind castles had. It surrounded her and Buffy, and the darkness couldn't get through. Faith built that wall in her mind, stone by stone. The darkness was outside of the wall. She and Buffy were behind the wall, and the garden was behind the wall too, and Rebecca was there in the garden, and it was sunny, and warm, and they were planting flowers...
Rebecca was dead. She was one of seventy-two people who had died, because Faith hadn't been able to save them...because she had screwed up.
Faith wondered how many other people were dying now...every minute, every second...because she had screwed up again.
Faith realized she was crying.
She focused on Buffy. And she went back to the garden...
Angel smelled it when he was still six blocks away. Blood...and a corpse.
By the time he was within three blocks of Giles' house, Angel knew Xander was dead.
Seconds later, Tara's little Honda Civic screeched to a stop in front of Giles' house, and Angel leaped out. He saw a body lying on the sidewalk by a telephone pole. He knew it was Xander...
"XANDER!" Angel shouted, and ran to him with his battle axe in his hand. Instinctively he reached out with his senses as he knelt beside him; his senses took everything in at once. Xander had no heartbeat and he wasn't breathing. His body was cold. Angel could hardly see in that darkness but a cursory glance told him Xander's neck was broken. There was a sword on the sidewalk a few feet away from him; a katana.
There was one heartbeat coming from the house. When Angel focused on it, Giles' scent came to him. He smelled vampires, too; that smell was everywhere now. But it was too faint for vampires to be close by.
He looked up at the house. One of the windows was open, and he smelled blood...Willow's blood, on the windowpane. Her scent trailed off, down the street.
Angel shoved the katana in his belt, picked Xander up in his arms, and carried him to the house. He ran up to the door...
And realized he couldn't enter.
"Balls," he muttered, and walked back to the window.
The lights were on in the house; Angel could see Giles lying unconscious on the floor at the other end of the living room. There was no sign of Willow, but Angel knew she was gone; he knew she had been taken. Giles' heartbeat was steady and his breathing was good. Angel hoped that meant Giles wasn't too hurt to wake up. Because if Giles was too hurt to wake up and invite him in it was going to be a long night...
"Giles!" Angel shouted through the open window. "Giles!"
"GILES!" Angel screamed.
Giles opened his eyes, and looked around the room.
He looked to the window, and saw Angel standing there.
"What...?" Giles said. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"You have to invite me in," Angel said. "Willow's been taken and..."
Angel looked down at Xander, dead in his arms.
"And Xander's dead," Angel said.
"Oh, no," Giles whispered, and stumbled to his feet.
"Careful," Angel said. "You don't know how bad you're hurt. What happened?"
Giles moved to the window, rubbing the back of his neck. He had a bruise on his cheek.
"A vampire...took Willow," Giles said. He looked down at Xander, and back up at Angel. Angel wasn't sure what he saw there in Giles' eyes, but it wasn't friendly.
"He...was like this when I found him," Angel said. "He was out here by the telephone pole, with a sword."
Giles nodded.
"Giles, I know you don't like me," Angel said. "I know you can't forgive me for what I did to Jenny. That's fine. But right now Willow's in trouble and I'm the only one who can help find her. You have to invite me in."
Giles nodded.
They watched each other for a moment, silently.
Giles turned away from him.
"Come in, Angel," Giles said, and moved to the door.
Angel walked back to the front door, and Giles opened it for him.
"Thank you," Angel said, and entered the house.
He followed Giles into the living room, and laid Xander's body down on the couch. He put his battle axe down on the coffee table.
He looked toward the open window again. The scent of Willow's blood was strong there. He saw a few drops of it on the windowpane. There was a vampire's scent there too.
Angel allowed himself a moment to piece it together. Vampires couldn't enter the house uninvited. After everything they had been through together, neither Giles, Willow or Xander were stupid enough to invite a stranger into their houses, no matter the circumstances. It had been daylight not long before, but when the sun went down the sky had suddenly become black. A vampire must have approached the window after the sun went down. But the vampire couldn't open the window; the mystic barrier that kept vampires out of residences without an invitation covered the windows too.
Willow must have opened the window, he thought. Maybe when the sky became black she opened the window, and a vampire was waiting there...if her body broke the plane of the window at all, the vampire could have grabbed her, and pulled her outside. Giles would have tried to pull her back in; he leaned out the window just far enough for the vampire to be able to hit him. Xander took a sword, and ran outside to defend her...
"What are you doing here?" Giles said.
"Tara and I came to get you guys," Angel said. "Then I saw Xander."
"Tara...who?" Giles said, looking down at Xander on the couch.
"A friend of Faith's. Who took Willow? The Vigil of Saint Vigeous?"
"Yes. One of them was waiting by the window when Willow opened it. He pulled her out the window...and...Xander tried to..."
A tear fell down Giles' cheek.
"Xander's dead," Giles whispered. "Xander's dead."
Faith looked up at one of the big, green highway signs as the car passed by it; she had no idea exactly where the San Fernando Valley was and she hoped she hadn't missed her exit. Buffy would know how to get there, but Faith didn't want to have to wake her.
--Getting dozens of reports of casualties now, as the rioting, which sprang up seemingly from out of nowhere, appears to have spread to major cities across the country, the radio announcer was saying. Locally, news copters are sending back footage of Los Angeles riot police being overwhelmed, as teargas and non-lethal weaponry are proving ineffective. Reportedly the governor has authorized the use of lethal force to--
--Europe and Japan. CNN is now running footage of riots in Tokyo, Paris, London, Madrid--
--Number of disappearances. The governor's office has no comment on these reports, which are unsubstantiated for now. But the reports are coming in from across the country...Jessica?
That's right, Steve, and we've been getting calls here from all over the city. So far we've gotten more than thirty calls from distraught folks all saying the same thing: one moment, they were looking right at their husband, their wife, their children, their parents...the next moment, they had literally disappeared in front of their eyes...and the creepiest thing? I mean, uh, assuming this isn't some sort of mass hysteria? In every case, the people who disappeared were taken right out of their clothes. Their clothes were left behind...
She looked up at the sky, and felt small. A chill went through her.
"Children," Giles whispered. "They're all just children. And we sent them...I sent them...into this. Into this...this unceasing war. I sent them all to die."
"Giles," Angel said. "We have to find Willow. We have to go after her, now, before the trail gets cold."
Giles was sitting in the recliner, holding his head in his hands. Xander's body was starting to smell bad; Angel could smell urine seeping out of it now.
"Yes...yes," Giles said.
Angel took the katana from his belt. He held it out to Giles, hilt-forward.
"We...we'll need to bury Xander," Giles said, without looking up.
"After we find Willow," Angel said.
Giles nodded.
"Take it," Angel said. "You'll need a weapon."
Giles took the sword. But he didn't stand up. He sat in the recliner, and looked back down at the floor.
"Is Buffy all right?" Giles said.
"Yeah," Angel said.
Giles looked up at him then.
"You've heard from her?" he said. "Where is she?"
"Haven't heard from her," Angel said. "No idea where she is. But I know she's okay."
"How?"
"She's Buffy."
"What about Faith?"
"She's with her. They'll contact us when they can. Let's go."
Giles stood up, and stuck the sword in his belt.
"Pack a bag," Angel said. "We all need to stay together now. Pack stuff for Willow. Not just clothes. Magic stuff, whatever she'll need to cast spells."
Giles nodded, and walked to one of the bedrooms. Angel followed him.
"Make sure to bring stuff for locator spells," Angel said, as they walked into the bedroom. "Without Tara, Willow's all we've got for locator spells and we're gonna need some to figure out where everybody is." Willow's scent came to Angel when he entered the room; it always surprised him, how strong her scent seemed to him. He always noticed it, when he entered a room she had recently been in; no matter who else had been in the room, he always noticed Willow's scent first. He was picking up Xander's scent, and Giles' scent too, but they seemed weak and insubstantial compared to Willow's. There was an open suitcase on the bed, and an empty gym bag. The suitcase was pink with white flowers. One of Xander's coats, a green windbreaker, was hanging on the doorknob. Giles went to the big mahogany bureau and started pulling Willow's clothes out of the drawers and shoving them in the suitcase. There was a hairbrush on the bureau with a few long, red hairs sticking out of it; Giles threw that in the pink suitcase too. All of Willow's clothes were in the bureau; not just underwear but jeans and skirts and tee-shirts and blouses and sweaters too. The skirts and blouses were wrinkled.
"Anything in the closet?" Angel said.
"No," Giles said. "Willow keeps all her things in the bureau."
Angel walked to the closet, and looked inside. It was small, and dark. Xander's clothes hung inside. There was nothing of Willow's in there.
They whisper I'm a wolf, Angel remembered Drusilla saying, as she sat in a closet like this one more than a century before, and her mind was eaten away. The voices, they say I need to practice with my fangs. Someday I'm going to tear her throat out, Daddy, and I need to be ready.
Who's that, precious? Angel had said. Whose throat are you going to tear out?
It's a secret. But, oh, you're going to think I'm naughty,
"Friend of Faith's, and a witch, she was over the house today," Angel said, as Giles finished packing Willow's suitcase, picked it up along with the gym bag, and walked out of the room. Angel followed him down the hall to the study. The dark little room smelled like incense. It was stuffed floor-to-ceiling with old books and various magic artifacts, many of which Angel recognized, some of which were very powerful and a few of which were extremely dangerous. Giles picked up The Necronomicon from the desk and tossed it into the gym bag, moved to the little bookcase in the corner, pulled a silver jewelry box from one of the shelves, and emptied its contents into the gym bag too; the precious things flickered and flashed in the light of the lamp as they disappeared into the bag. Angel noticed Willow's laptop on the desk next to the silver lamp carved in the shape of a gryphon; he unplugged the laptop and tossed it in the bag after them.
"Where is she now?" Giles said, as he picked up a yellow crystal and turned it over in his hands; he set it back on the little bookcase, then thought better of it, and tossed it into the gym bag along with everything else. He grabbed every other crystal from the shelf too, an odd assortment in various shapes and sizes ranging from tiny, glowing slivers of blue the size of pennies to long white rods that looked like rolling pins and huge, rounded hunks of dull red the size of grapefruit, and tossed them in after it. He pulled a sandalwood urn carved to resemble a fat, grinning gargoyle from the bottom shelf of the bookcase and unscrewed the lid; the gargoyle's head turned round and round, leering at him. He sniffed at the urn's contents.
"It's a hell of a story," Angel said. "That's the dust Willow uses for her locator spells, by the way. I can smell it. We'll need candles too, and her map."
Giles nodded, screwed the lid back on the urn, and tossed the urn in the gym bag. Angel looked around, found Willow's old folded-up mocha cappuccino-stained map of Sunnydale underneath a foot-tall black onyx statue of an angry goblin with inlaid gold eyes making an obscene gesture, and threw it in the bag.
"I thought you said Tara came with you?" Giles said, as he pulled scented candles and matches out of one of the desk drawers and dropped them in the bag. "Throw the goblin in too."
"This thing magical?" Angel said, frowning at the goblin statue. He didn't like the way those golden eyes seemed to follow him.
"That's Barney," Giles said. "He's my lucky goblin."
Angel had known a lot of English people and had long ago decided that even the ones who didn't annoy him were all still a little strange. He shrugged his shoulders and threw the goblin in the bag. "Tara came with me," he said. "Then she disappeared."
"What?" Giles said, turning to look at him. Giles stood in the soft yellow glow cast by the silver desk lamp. Angel stood in the shadows, glancing at the piles of books on the floor that tottered precariously all the way to the ceiling. He pulled a book from the center of one of the piles, yanking it out so quickly and with such precision that he somehow managed not to disturb the pile in the slightest. The books that had been balanced on top of the book he pulled from the middle dropped neatly down on to the books that had been below it, and the pile didn't shift even an inch. It didn't even wobble.
"How the devil did you do that?" Giles said. "It's like that trick where someone pulls the tablecloth out from under the dishes, except better."
"I have quick hands," Angel said, as he flipped through the book. "Tara and I were driving here and then she just disappeared. One minute she was behind the wheel. The next minute, she was gone...but all her clothes were left behind. Damnedest thing I ever saw. Had to be magic. So we can add a pretty powerful spellcaster to the list of bad guys we're up against this time. You almost done?"
Giles looked around the room. "Yes, I have Willow's things, but if we aren't coming back here I'll want to bring some of my books," he said. "Starting with the one I showed you all at Buffy's house, the one the Council just sent me, that details the history of the Key, and the ceremony for--"
Angel held up the book he was holding.
"Yes, that one," Giles said.
"I'm looking at the ceremony part now," Angel said. "You were right before; it's not written in any language I understand. Or have even heard of."
"Well hopefully it can still be of some use to us somehow," Giles said, and moved to the piles of books. "I'll need that one, that one, that one, that one, that one and that one," he added, pointing at books in various spots in the piles; Angel nodded and pulled the books out without disturbing the piles at all, his hands moving so quickly Giles couldn't follow them. Angel threw the books in the gym bag and took the bag from Giles, and they headed back into the living room. Giles set Willow's suitcase down on the floor.
"So this girl just disappeared?" Giles said. "Vanished right out of her clothes?"
"Yeah," Angel said. "Her clothes were still on the drivers seat, her sneaker was still on the gas pedal with her sock sticking up out of it. Damnedest thing I ever saw. But hopefully Willow can find her with a locator spell."
Giles stroked his chin. He looked over at Xander's body.
"The apocalypse," Giles muttered. "We're always fighting the apocalypse, aren't we? It's what we do...what we send these children to do."
"What?" Angel said.
Giles looked up at him. "All those apocalypses we beat back," he said. "The Master, the Judge, Acathla...the Sisterhood of Jhe trying to reopen the Hellmouth. What if those weren't really apocalypses at all?"
"Sure felt like apocalypses. Especially Acathla, since, uh, I did that one."
"Maybe this is the apocalypse. Right here, right now...maybe this is the actual apocalypse. The one that was always meant to happen. And maybe...maybe that means..."
"Means what? Giles, really not the time to be cryptic. And we have to go get after Willow, now. I'm assuming the Vigil needs her alive because they keep trying to kidnap her instead of killing her but that doesn't mean they're gonna keep her alive indefinitely. And I can follow her scent, but not if we wait too long. We have to go now."
"I need to pack my things, it will just take me a moment," Giles said. "While I'm doing that, I need you to fetch me another book. It's somewhere in one of those ridiculous stacks."
"Which book?" Angel said.
"The King James Bible," Giles said.
"Baby...?" Buffy whispered, and opened her eyes, and looked around.
"Right here, beautiful," Faith said, and took Buffy's hand, and kissed it. "How's my girl? Feelin' better?"
Buffy sat up, and yawned, and stretched.
"Headache's gone, and I don't feel pukey anymore," Buffy said.
"Dizzy?" Faith said.
"I love you," Buffy said, and leaned over and kissed her.
The car was dark; the only light was the glow from the dashboard. Faith could see Buffy's eyes, as they caught the faint light, and her golden hair; everything else was a shadow. But Buffy's scent came to her, strong and sweet. Part of Faith liked it better this way...it felt more real, somehow, experiencing the world, and her love, through her nose instead of her eyes. Faith was the Slayer; she knew eyes could play tricks. But noses always told the truth.
"Love you too," Faith said, and smiled. "Now stop trying to distract me. You dizzy at all?"
"Not right now. Who knows what'll happen when I try to walk though. And you're the one who's always distracting me by the way. It's lucky for both of us you're not wearing a skirt."
"Big pervo lesbian."
"I'm hungry. Like, ravenous. Where are we?"
"Still on the highway. And, keep in mind that I'm not from around here and I have no frigging idea how to get anywhere? Sign a few miles back said something about the San Fernando Valley and some exits ahead. Glad you're up, since I don't know the address we're looking for either."
"It's in this town in the Valley called Glendale. I've been up to this lady's house a couple times and I don't know like, the name of the street? But I know where it is. How long have we been driving? Are we still on 101?"
"Yeah, but I think we're supposed to maybe get on to 134? Exit's coming up soon. We've been driving a little more than an hour maybe."
"Yeah, that's the Burbank-Glendale exit we're coming to. We take 134 for a little bit, then we take 5A and we're there."
"You don't know the street?"
"Off 5A we take Riverside to Victory Boulevard, then a right on to Western Avenue, and then your first right and your first left. Then straight until we see this cafe with a big neon sun and moon on the sign? Her place is across the street from it, this blue house with a garden and a lot of rose bushes. With any luck the cafe stays open during the end of the world and I can get about a dozen burgers."
"Don't stores have like a policy about that? Thought most places are closed during the end of the world. In Boston stores are always closed on Sundays and the end of the world."
"Not in California. We're enlightened."
"Bunch of godless Communists is what you all are."
"Nah, we're Socialists, baby," Buffy said, and turned the radio on.
--White House sources, The President is meeting with his advisors and FEMA representatives, and is expected to make a statement soon. We repeat: Governor Wilson has declared a state of emergency. All residents are advised to remain in their homes, as National Guard troops have been deployed to--
"As far as I can tell from the radio there's vamps runnin' wild all over the place," Faith said. "Radio's still callin' them rioters but they gotta be vamps; teargas and stuff isn't doing shit against them and the cops are falling back. And they're not just in California, they're everywhere and there's a shitload of 'em. New York declared a state of emergency about ten minutes ago. There are reports coming in about rioting in Europe, China, Russia...everywhere. I've been switching around on the radio? Four stations are just static now. Two of those were coming in fine a while ago."
"Maybe we're just out of their broadcast range now?"
"No, the other stations picked up on it too. They sent people out to check and they're saying the transmitters were destroyed."
"This isn't just vampires running wild because the sun's gone. Destroying radio transmitters, attacking everywhere...this is coordinated. This is a strategy."
"The First?"
"Gotta be. Which means we're...wait a minute." Buffy looked around. "Whose car is this?"
"We crashed Angel's car, remember? Couldn't get it to start. This is the SUV we almost hit."
"Where's the person who owns it? Dead?"
"That's something else strange. The woman who was driving? Her clothes were in the front seat. I mean, all her clothes. Skirt, blouse, underwear, pantyhose, shoes. Jewelry too. All four doors were locked but the key was in the ignition and the engine was running and she wasn't in the car."
"But her clothes were?"
"Yeah, I threw them in the back seat, see for yourself."
Buffy glanced back at the pile of clothes on the back seat. "Why would someone take off all their clothes and leave their car in the middle of the street?"
"That's the thing, they couldn't. I tested it out, it's not possible to lock this car from the outside without the key. But all four doors were locked and the key was still in the ignition."
"You just said that's impossible. So what the hell happened?"
"I think...she was taken away."
"What? Taken? By who?"
"The radio's been talking about disappearances. All over the country people are saying they're seeing people disappear right in front of them."
"Like...what, like turning invisible?"
"Yeah, but here's the thing? In every case? The clothes didn't go away, just the person. The clothes were always left behind. Right now the radio guys are all sorta saying, y'know, whatever, and no one really believes it. But..."
"Just like this woman," Buffy said, and looked back at the clothes piled on the back seat again. "The clothes were left behind."
"Buffy, when I looked in the car the lady's shoe was still on the gas pedal," Faith said. "Her pantyhose were still sticking up out of it, all the way up to the seat and up under her skirt. It was like...someone just...snatched her away, pulled her right out of her clothes."
"Oh my God," Buffy whispered.
"Yeah, I know," Faith said. "It's freaky. And I got no idea what--"
"Faith," Buffy said, and pointed to the sky.
Faith followed Buffy's hand...it was shaking a little, now.
She saw an airplane hurtling down out of the clouds. But it was coming in at too steep an angle...
"Oh, no," Faith said.
Faith heard screams coming from all around...coming from the people in the other cars. She heard the high-pitched whine of the airplane's engines as it plummeted from the sky, its angle of descent changing until it was finally aimed almost straight down. It was a huge plane, Faith realized, as she saw the outline of its wings, illuminated by its red and white running lights; a 747 at least...
It was heading right toward them.
"Go!" Buffy screamed. "DRIVE!"
There was a metallic crunching sound as a Volvo sideswiped a Buick two lanes to their left and sent it careening into the guard rail; the Buick bounced off the guard rail, collided with a third car that couldn't stop in time, and both cars flipped, tumbling down the highway, and burst into flames.
"Jesus Christ!" Faith screamed, and swerved out of the way and tried to keep the SUV from rolling over as the Volvo, just to her left now, suddenly spun out of control and collided with the car behind them, and the screams coming from all around were deafening now...
Buffy was turned around in her seat, watching the plane as it fell; it was still close, but it was coming down behind them now. Faith checked the rear view mirror. The first two cars that had collided were nothing more than twisted, burning hunks of metal now, spread across the highway behind them, covering two lanes, while the Volvo was upside down and skidding along the highway and the car it had just hit had smashed into the guard rail and was lying on its side. Faith saw two bodies in the glow of its headlights, lying motionless amidst shards of glass, in pools of blood.
Tears fell down Faith's cheeks, as another car smashed into one of the burning wrecks, its brakes screeching as the driver attempted, too late, to avoid a collision. The new car burst into flames too, and yet another car smashed into it from behind. All three exploded.
"Oh my God," Faith said, as she cried. "Oh my God!"
...And then she screamed, as the plane crashed behind them.
They saw the light first. It started out small; for half a second it looked like a fireball, leaping into the air. But then the light expanded, until suddenly the whole sky was lit up white. The light faded just as quickly, collapsing in on itself and flickering back down into darkness, and then they heard the explosion; it wasn't as loud as they thought it should be. For something as momentous as an airplane falling out of the sky, the explosion seemed paltry; unworthy, somehow, of the lives that had been sacrificed. The shockwave came next: it buffeted them like a hurricane wind, sending dirt and glass and debris rattling against the car and nearly causing Faith to lose control. Faith reduced her speed and tried to keep the car steady as she felt it slipping and sliding along, and starting to fishtail, and the screams coming from all around her now, from all the other cars on the highway and from Buffy too, made it hard to think. She got their speed down to forty, and finally managed to wrestle the car back under control. Buffy had stopped screaming; she was crying now.
Faith checked the rear view mirror again. More explosions were coming from the plane; Faith saw parts of the plane rocketing straight up into the sky like fireworks. She saw the burning cars, disappearing into the blackness behind her, and heard the screams becoming faint now...fading away on the wind.
She looked at Buffy, as Buffy watched the conflagration...the firelight was reflected in her eyes.
"Oh baby..." Buffy whispered, and took Faith's hand, as she watched the fires, gradually fading to pinpoints of red and yellow in the distance as they sped away. Buffy's hand was trembling. "Oh God baby, oh God, oh God, oh God..."
Faith took her in her arms, and kissed her. Buffy's lips were trembling. Faith felt Buffy's tears on her cheeks.
"We find Joyce," Faith said. "Then we find our friends. Then we come up with a plan. Okay?"
Buffy nodded.
"It's...it's the end of the world, baby," Buffy whispered. "It's the end of the world."
"Yeah," Faith said.
"And we're Slayers and...we're supposed to help," Buffy whispered, as Faith caressed her cheek. "We're supposed to...supposed to save them and we... we couldn't...we couldn't even..."
For some reason, Faith felt calm. Centered. She wasn't sure, but she thought it might be because Buffy was feeling scared; Buffy needed her now. And when Buffy needed her, Faith felt strong, because she knew she had to be. Being strong for Buffy was more important than indulging her own fear.
Faith analyzed the situation. Considered it from every angle, thought three moves ahead, the way Rebecca had taught her to. She thought tactically.
According to the news reports vampires were everywhere; without the sun, they were fearless. Buffy was right, vampires attacking all over the world was obviously a coordinated assault. Once they got to Glendale Faith didn't know what they'd run into but she thought it was a fair bet they'd run into vampires...
Faith knew they had to find Joyce as soon as possible. She knew they couldn't stop to help people along the way; if they did they might lose Joyce. After they found Joyce they could try to save as many people as they could, but not until then. Time was against them now.
Faith thought three moves ahead.
She knew that every single person they let die in order to save Joyce would be another knife in Buffy's heart...more weight on Buffy's shoulders.
All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl, Faith remembered Buffy saying...it felt like years ago now, but it had only been three days. And I was for awhile. In high school? I was popular and on the cheerleading squad and stuff. I was happy then. And then one day I'm the stupid fucking Slayer and my life is blown to hell...
So Faith decided she would just have to carry it herself...
"I want you to listen to me," Faith said.
"Oh God, baby..." Buffy murmured, and hugged Faith as tight as she could, and rested her head against her bosom.
Faith tilted Buffy's head up.
"I said listen," Faith said, and looked Buffy in the eyes. "Are you listening?"
"Yeah," Buffy whispered.
"Things are getting crazy," Faith said. "It's fucked up out there and it's gonna stay fucked up for awhile, and that means you and me are gonna have to be on the same page. No time for dissension in the ranks. One of us has to lead and the other has to follow and not ask any questions, and I'm gonna be the one leading. You gave it to me this morning, you said you wanted me to be in charge. But now I'm taking it. Now I'm telling you I'm in charge. Until we find Joyce and get her somewhere safe I'm in charge, you're gonna do everything I tell you to do and you're not gonna question me. You understand?"
Buffy looked up at her, and searched her eyes. Faith looked back. Neither of them blinked.
"Yeah," Buffy whispered, after a moment.
Faith nodded, and kissed her.
"Buffy...I love you, honey," Faith whispered. "You're my girl. You're my girl."
Buffy nodded again.
"I'm your girl," Buffy whispered, and closed her eyes, and curled up against her, as they drove on into the dark...
"I'm sorry," Angel said.
He was standing by the couch, looking down at Xander's corpse, holding a Bible in one hand, and a bed sheet in the other. Giles was in his bedroom, packing a suitcase.
"Yeah, I know it doesn't mean anything," Angel said. "After what I did, an apology's not good for a whole hell of a lot. Apologizing anyway."
He sat on the couch by the dead body, and looked down at the floor.
"I never liked you much, Xander," he said. "And I know you never liked me. I guess part of it was Buffy...you wanted her. I had her. And maybe part of it was that we just got on each other's nerves. But I always respected you. I respected your courage. Yeah, you couldn't fight, but you had a lot of heart. You were there for your friends...you were there for Buffy. You put yourself on the line, every time you went out there. And you died trying to protect your girl, and that's all anyone can ever ask of a man. You were a better man than me. You always were."
Angel opened the Bible, and began flipping through it.
"I'm pretty sure you were a Christian," he said. "So I was thinking... maybe I should say something from this book."
Then Angel smiled, and looked down at the floor.
"But who am I kidding?" he said.
He put the Bible down on the coffee table, and stood up. He draped the bed sheet over Xander's body, up to his neck.
"May the road rise up to meet you," Angel said. "May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand."
Angel smiled again.
"Yeah, I know, pretty corny," he said. "But I'm Irish. Sorry I stole your beers."
The stench coming from Xander's body was worse, now. The scent of vampires outside was still strong though the open window. Angel could still hear screams, and he could smell smoke from the fires. The fires were coming closer.
Willow was out there somewhere, alone.
"I'm gonna get Willow back, Xander," Angel said. "I promise."
He pulled the bed sheet up over Xander's head.
"Rest," Angel whispered.
When Angel looked up, Giles was watching him, holding a wooden crate over his shoulder and a suitcase in his hand. The katana was in a scabbard on his belt.
"You ready?" Angel said, and picked up Willow's suitcase and the gym bag, and his battle axe.
"Yes," Giles said. "Now let's go save her."
Buffy and Faith knew Glendale was in trouble before they came to the exit. They smelled vampires, and fires burning...they heard screams, everywhere.
Faith took Buffy's hand as they drove down the exit ramp, and held it tight.
"We're gonna find Joyce," Faith said. "We're driving straight to where she is and we're not stopping for anything or anyone. Until we find Joyce we stay in this car."
Buffy held on to Faith's hand so tight it hurt. Faith ignored the pain. She brought Buffy's hand to her lips, and kissed it.
"We're gonna find her, Buffy," Faith said.
Buffy nodded.
Faith watched her. Buffy's whole body was rigid. Her face was white.
"My sword and my stake," Buffy said. "I left them in the graveyard."
"Went back and got 'em before I chased you down," Faith said. "They're in the back seat."
"I love you," Buffy said.
"I love you too," Faith said, and turned left off the exit...
"Jesus Christ," Faith whispered.
Half the street was burning. A pack of six vampires was celebrating in a little park across the street, laughing and snarling by the swings; they stood beside a mound of dead bodies, dozens of them. The bodies were piled nearly ten feet in the air. A few of them were wearing police uniforms. Two of the vampires were holding women in their arms; the women were screaming.
"We have to...we have to do something," Buffy whispered.
Faith held Buffy's hand tight, and sped up. She drove past the vampires without even looking at them.
"Faith, we have to--!" Buffy pleaded, and tried to wriggle out of her grasp. Faith held her tight.
"No," Faith said.
Faith wanted to cry. She didn't let herself.
Buffy turned around in her seat, just in time to watch the vampires kill the two women; they ripped their throats out. The women fell to the grass like marionettes with their strings cut, the blood bursting from their necks like geysers. The vampires laughed, and high-fived each other. Then they grabbed the bodies by the hair and tossed them up on to the pile.
Faith kept driving. She watched the street signs; they were on Riverside. She smelled more vampires. Four screaming people ran across the street at the intersection two blocks ahead; they were covered with blood, and stumbling as they ran. Faith ignored them. A second later two vampires sprang across the street after them. Faith ignored them too. The whole street smelled like blood; even more than the smell of vampires, or the smoke from the fires, the smell of blood was everywhere.
Standing on the corner a block past the four fleeing people, an old man with a long gray beard was holding up a sign. Faith couldn't make out what the sign said in the dark from that distance; some of the street lights were working, but not all of them.
Faith drove past two dead bodies lying on the sidewalk in a pool of blood on the left side of the street; children no older than ten.
Faith looked at Buffy. Buffy looked at the two dead children.
The children's bodies had been mutilated...defiled.
Buffy wrenched her hand away from Faith's. She looked around in the back seat and came up with her sword and her stake.
Faith knew she was going to try to leave the car. Even though Faith wasn't planning on slowing down, she knew Buffy would simply jump out if she had to.
"Buffy," Faith said.
Buffy looked at her. She had her sword in her hand, and her stake in her pocket, and her other hand on the door.
Buffy didn't have tears in her eyes anymore. Her eyes were bright and hard as two diamonds.
"I'm sorry," Faith said, and elbowed Buffy in the face. Buffy bounced off the passenger side window, cracking it, and fell down in Faith's lap, unconscious.
Faith kept driving. The vampires caught up to the four fleeing people; by the firelight Faith could see they were two teenage girls, and a man and a woman. The vampires tackled them in the middle of the street. Faith drove around them. In the rear view mirror she saw the man try to put up a fight; he threw a punch at one of the vampires. The vampire caught the man's arm before the punch could land and ripped it out of its socket at the shoulder. Blood spurted out of it, and the man screamed and collapsed to the street. The vampires laughed, and Faith heard the screams, and smelled the blood, as the vampires fell upon their prey, snarling.
Faith watched the street signs. Riverside Drive became Victory Boulevard. As Faith looked for Western Avenue she saw the new moon rising in the distance; it was a thin crescent, blood-red. Faith had never seen a red moon before; she hadn't realized the moon could be red. But there it was, rising above the burning buildings lining the left side of the street, hovering above them like a bloody scythe, just barely visible through the dark gray smoke the fires sent up into the black sky. Faith knew today was supposed to be the last day of the waning moon; she thought it was strange that a new moon could rise so quickly...but then she had no explanation for how the sky could turn absolute black the moment the sun set, either. She assumed it was magic...
She reached the old man holding up the sign; he was on the corner of Western Avenue. Faith took a right, and drove past him. He stood perfectly motionless on the corner in front of a used bookstore called The Mystery and Imagination Bookshop, holding the sign up in the air over his head. The sign was handwritten in neon red marker on a big square of white poster board and in the light of the fires it stood out like a beacon as Faith drove past. The sign read:
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal,
And, lo, there was a great earthquake;
And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
And the moon became as blood.
The old man watched Faith as she drove past; his eyes never left her. When Faith checked the rear view mirror a moment later, he was gone.
"So let me make sure I have this straight," Giles said, as he drove Tara's Honda Civic very slowly down the street, holding his Bible in one hand, and Angel leaned out the passenger side window, sniffing the air. "She was driving along and you were standing on the roof fighting off three vampires. Then the car started slowing down, and listing off the road. When you looked inside again she was gone, but all her clothes were still here, as if she had been...what, pulled right out of her clothes, I suppose."
"Yeah," Angel said. "Take your next right."
Giles took a right at the corner. "I hope you're ready for a fight. Driving at this speed, we'll hardly be able to avoid one. We could get there on foot just as quickly."
"We'll need the car to get us out of there in a hurry once we have Willow," Angel said. "Plus we have all the stuff in the trunk."
"Yes," Giles said, and read his Bible as he drove at less than ten miles per hour, occasionally glancing up at the street. "Are any vampires close by?"
"I'm picking up vampire scents everywhere, but I think we're safe for now. They haven't really hit this side of town too hard yet. And with any luck they'll pick up my scent in the car and assume I got to you first and called dibs."
"And you still have Willow's scent? It's not, I don't know, becoming faint? If we have to I think I can pull off a locator spell."
"It would take too long, even Willow took hours to do one of those. If only we had Tara...she could do a locator spell in like three minutes."
Giles looked up from his Bible in bewilderment. "Three minutes?" he said. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I saw her do it, that's how we figured out where Spike and the Key were," Angel said. "She said she had a shortcut."
"That's...very impressive. She must be an extremely powerful witch."
"She's a nice kid. She's kind, y'know? Generous. I like her. She was...she was nice to me. I'm gonna save her. Once we find Willow she can do a locator spell, and once she tells me where Tara is I'm going after her."
"Did Buffy and Faith go after Spike?"
"Yeah. Haven't heard from them since. But they're fine."
"Angel...Spike's strong. He's fought Buffy to a standstill before."
"Buffy's fine. Take this left."
Giles took the left. Angel looked over at his Bible.
"You keep reading that," Angel said. "Why?"
"The end of the world, people disappearing," Giles said. "It reminded me of something from Thessalonians..."
"I don't know how you can read that book. I'd rather watch paint peel."
"Listen. 'For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.' That's the fist epistle to the Thessalonians. It describes something that Bible scholars refer to as the Rapture."
"Heard of it. Not sure what it means though."
"For a two-hundred and seventy-one year old Irishman you really are appallingly ignorant about the Bible."
"I preferred spending my time with a good wench instead of the Good Book back then. So what's the Rapture?"
"A belief, which I always assumed was rubbish, that at some point during the end times, the righteous would be taken up bodily into Heaven, so as to be spared the suffering that was to be unleashed upon the world."
"And you think that's what happened to Tara?"
"How the devil should I know? I've never seen anything like this before. There are only a few documented occurrences of magic-users achieving teleportation and no one to my knowledge has managed it in at least forty years. And this is a small detail, but the precision necessary to teleport someone but not bring their clothes along for the ride is beyond anything I've ever even read about. And why would someone want to teleport Tara away? And why now? The Vigil of Saint Vigeous can't be behind it; if they were they could have taken Willow the same way and saved themselves all that fuss. So who did it? And why?"
"If Tara's in Heaven, I might have a hard time finding her," Angel said. "I don't think they like me up there."
"A sweet old chap like you?" Giles said, and smiled despite trying not to. "Why on Earth not?"
"No Irish need apply," Angel said, and smiled back.
The blue house stood back from the sidewalk, hidden behind a tall hedge that seemed to circle all the way around it. Across the street, the Sun and Moon Cafe only had it half-right: the neon crescent moon was shining bright, lighting up the street in sickly yellow, but the rayed sun next to it on the big sign was dark.
The garden that took up nearly the entire lawn in front of the blue house smelled sweet. By the light of the neon moon it was bright and beautiful, teeming with life, exploding with color. It made Faith think about Rebecca.
She let her senses reach out as she parked the car. Faintly, she picked up Joyce's scent. She was picking up vampires, too...they were close. Probably in the house.
Faith had allowed five more people to die on her way here. She added them to the total. It was up to eighty-three now.
She set the thought aside. She was working.
After she'd knocked Buffy unconscious Faith had wondered what to do with her once they got to the blue house. On the one hand, it was dangerous leaving her alone in the car, but on the other hand having to carry her around with her would slow her down if she had to fight. She decided to compromise; she picked Buffy up and carried her to the house with her. She'd find some place to stash her in the house while she searched for Joyce. With some luck she'd be in and out of there in a few minutes.
As Faith walked through the gap in the hedge, and then up the cobblestone path through the garden leading to the front door, she thought about something that had been nagging at her. She'd seen at least ten vampires since entering Glendale and not one of them had attacked her. She was in a car and she had been driving pretty fast, but vampires wouldn't have cared about that. Some of the vampires she'd passed by had already found victims and didn't need to bother with her, but some of them hadn't. They had watched the car as it passed them, without trying to attack her, or even giving chase. A few of them had looked Faith in the eyes as she drove past, watching her until she was out of view. And not one of them had made a move to attack her.
It was strange...
The flowers in the garden smelled beautiful, but the smell of the rose bushes overpowered them. Faith saw the roses now; they were blood red. As she admired them on her way to the front door, she saw the moon rise into the black sky above them. It was blood red too.
There were no stars. That blood red moon took the sky for itself.
Faith kicked in the front door. The house smelled like vampires. She let her senses reach out, tried to filter out the vampires' scents, and concentrate on Joyce. She knew she was here somewhere...
The door opened on to a dark living room, with a flight of stairs to the left. Joyce's scent was around the whole house generally, but it was strongest going up the stairs.
Faith couldn't tell if vampires were in the house, or if they had been there before and left. She knew she had to assume they were in the house. If so, they would have the advantage in the dark; they could see in the dark better than anything alive. And since the whole house smelled like vampires Faith couldn't use her sense of smell to get a sense of a vampire's location in there. Faith usually liked fighting in the dark; she was a hunter and she liked experiencing the world though her nose rather than her eyes. But it was the wrong strategy now. The darkness would give any vampires in the house an extra second on her in a fight.
Faith saw a light switch by the door, and turned it on. The light seemed feeble...weak. The darkness was in here too, Faith realized; it wasn't just outside anymore. It was everywhere...
She walked up the stairs, still carrying Buffy. It would slow her down, but she realized she couldn't let go of Buffy; she was afraid to let go. Faith knew, knew for a fact, that if she lost Buffy she would die. She didn't think she'd have to kill herself, though she was prepared to, if Buffy ever left her. She thought she would simply fall down and die...that she would stop breathing...that her heart would stop beating.
The house was silent. Faith was aware of Buffy's heartbeat, and her breathing. She was aware of her sword in its scabbard, as it brushed against her leg, and the feel of the stake in her hand, and the warmth of Buffy's body as she held her in her arms.
For some reason, the house smelled like roses. The smell wasn't coming from the garden.
Faith walked up the stairs. They were carpeted, which was a good thing; they didn't creak. Faith's original plan had been to make this quick, get in and get out, hit the vampires hard and get Joyce the hell out of there, but with Buffy to worry about she found herself moving slowly and silently: a stalking lion. And there was something wrong...Faith was more and more certain of it the closer she came to the top of the stairs.
It was a feeling in the back of her mind...at the edge of her perception...
She was being hunted...
"Hide and seek," someone sang.
Faith stopped. She stopped moving and she stopped breathing.
The voice had been a woman's...it was soft, and pretty; honey-sweet. Faith didn't recognize it.
"Run away, count to ten," the woman sang, and giggled like a little girl.
The singing came from the second floor. The second floor was completely dark; Faith couldn't see a thing up there. The light from downstairs didn't reach it.
When Faith let her senses reach out, she smelled Joyce, and vampires...and roses.
She ran to the top of the stairs, growling now; the lion inside her was impatient.
She looked around. There was a tiffany peacock lamp on an end table right in front of her, against the wall underneath a large painting. Faith turned it on. The painting above the lamp was Pointillist; Faith had only ever seen one Pointillist painting before. The painting depicted a blonde woman, walking along the seashore. The blonde woman looked like Rebecca. She was tall, with blue eyes, and she had the same hairstyle.
It was the most beautiful painting Faith had ever seen. And it wasn't a print; it was an original. She wondered if Joyce had recommended it.
She looked down the hall in both directions. To the left there were two doors, both closed; to the right there were three, but one was open; a bathroom. Joyce's scent was coming from the left. So was the smell of vampires...and roses.
Faith took a step down the hall to her left, and one of the doors opened...
And a beautiful raven-haired woman stepped out into the hall. She was tall, with skin like porcelain, and she wore a red satin dress. Her eyes were an icy blue. She was smiling. When Faith looked in her eyes, she saw only love there... and she felt warm...
The woman walked toward her. Faith looked into her eyes...she couldn't stop looking into her eyes.
"I'm looking for you again," the woman sang to her.
Faith's legs suddenly felt weak.
As the woman came closer, Faith realized she had never seen anyone so beautiful. She looked into the woman's blue eyes, and felt herself becoming wet.
The woman stood in front of her.
"Do you like when I sing to you?" the woman whispered.
"Yeah," Faith whispered back, her voice suddenly hoarse. Part of her knew something was wrong. Part of her knew there was something wrong with the way this woman smelled...she was beautiful, and her sweet voice sent a thrill straight down into Faith's heart, and she smelled like roses...
But she smelled like a vampire, too...
"Give me your burden," the woman said, and held out her arms.
Faith hesitated. The woman looked into her eyes...
Faith shook her head.
The woman smiled.
"Be a good girl, now," the woman said. "Be a good daughter."
Tears ran down Faith's cheeks. Her arms were moving, and she couldn't stop them...
Faith handed Buffy to the woman.
The woman lifted Buffy in her arms like a baby, and smiled again.
"Don't...don't...don't? Please...please?" Faith whimpered, and started trembling.
Faith realized she had just lost something precious. She had given it away...
She knew she would never get it back.
The woman leaned in close to her. She smelled like roses. Faith felt her nipples becoming hard.
She raised her stake.
"You won't need that," the woman said, softly. Her voice made Faith's skin tingle. Faith's hand, the one holding the stake, shook. She felt like she was lost in the woods...she couldn't see, she couldn't think...
"You won't need it," the woman said. She smiled; she had a warm smile.
Faith dropped her stake, and started to cry.
The woman kissed her cheek. Her lips were cold.
"You miss your mummy," the woman whispered in her ear. "But not the first one. No, you miss the second one. You miss..."
The woman stepped back, and cocked her head on one side, and regarded Faith like she was figuring something out...like the solution to a particularly interesting puzzle was just on the tip of her tongue.
Then the woman looked at the painting on the wall, and smiled.
"Becca," the woman said. "She was your real mummy, the one who loved you. But now she's gone, gone, flew away...so sad. Such a sad daughter. My mummy is buried under a cherry tree. Bad dog. Woof."
"Don't...hurt...Buffy?" Faith whispered. "Don't...don't? Please?" It was hard to get the words out, hard to string them together. Faith felt like part of herself was hidden away from her, and she could only access it for a few seconds at a time... like part of her was in a dark closet, and the door only stayed open for a little while, and then it closed again...
"Sshhh, daughter," the woman said, and kissed Faith's cheek again. "You need a mummy. Be a good girl and follow me."
The woman turned, and walked away down the hall with Buffy...with the precious love Faith had given away, and would never be getting back. Faith trudged along behind her, crying. She felt like she was tethered to her, somehow. The woman walked into the room on the left, the one she had just stepped out of. Faith walked in behind her...
And smelled a dead body...
When the woman turned on the light, a small overhead glass chandelier with beautiful hanging crystal bulbs shaped like teardrops, Faith saw Joyce lying on the bed, her arms folded across her chest, her skin as white as the sheet she was lying on. Joyce didn't have a heartbeat. She wasn't breathing. Her neck had a bloody wound; her throat had been torn out. Joyce's green eyes were open, staring back at Faith...there were tears on Joyce's cheeks.
The woman set Buffy down on the bed next to her mother's body.
Faith was shaking now, all over. She felt like she was about to fall. She knew this woman was a vampire, she knew she should fight her, but she couldn't...she knew she still had her sword, but she couldn't bring her hand to take it out of the scabbard...
The woman turned back to her, and smiled, and took Faith's sword out of its scabbard. Faith reached for it with a shaking hand, but the woman merely smiled again, and shook her head, and dropped it to the floor.
She took Faith's hand.
"Daughters belong with their mothers," the woman said. "Those two belong together, so we'll leave them here."
Faith wanted to reach out for Buffy. She wanted to touch her; to hold her again; to feel her warmth.
But she knew she never could again, as long as she lived...because she had given her away.
The woman shut off the light, and walked out of the room, and brought Faith with her. Faith followed her, wailing now.
Faith's shaking was getting worse too; she could hardly walk now. The woman turned to her in the hallway, and smiled her beautiful smile. She had sharp teeth. And her icy blue eyes stabbed down into Faith's, and held them...
"Such a scared daughter!" the woman said, and caressed Faith's hair. "Afraid of ghosts and goblins, and monsters under the bed. But mummy will make everything all better."
The woman held out her arms.
Faith shook all over, and cried...
Then she stepped into the woman's embrace, and leaned her head on her shoulder.
"I'm Drusilla," the woman whispered in Faith's ear. "I'm going to be your mummy. We're going to be a happy family."
Faith shook her head, as Drusilla held her close.
"Yes, we are, Faith," Drusilla said. "I've seen it. When I see things, they always happen, they have to happen. But don't worry, daughter. I'm going to make everything all better."
Drusilla picked Faith up in her arms like she weighed nothing at all, and kissed her tears.
"Do you like when I do this?" Drusilla said. "Do you like when mummy kisses you like this? When she loves you?"
Faith looked away from her. Drusilla held her to her bosom.
"You want mummy to love you, I know you do," Drusilla whispered. "You want me to comb your hair, and tell you you're a pretty girl, and make you pound cake. Be a good daughter, tell the truth. You want a mummy, don't you?"
Drusilla caressed Faith's cheek. Faith looked up at her.
When Faith looked into Drusilla's eyes, that feeling came over her again...like everything was speeding up and slowing down all at once. Her blood was racing, but at the same time Faith felt like she was covered with a warm blanket, and going to sleep. Her skin tingled. She was dripping between her legs now, and her nipples were hard, and part of her wanted Drusilla that way, but Faith was realizing now that part of her wanted Drusilla another way too...this way. Holding her like a baby, and protecting her, and telling her she loved her...caressing her cheek. Singing to her, with that beautiful voice that touched her heart...
"Would you like mummy to sing to you at night?" Drusilla whispered. "To hold you in her arms, and rock you to sleep, and sing you a lullaby?"
Faith nodded.
Drusilla smiled, and carried her down the hall, to the next door. When she opened it, Faith saw a dark room with a big rocking chair sitting beside the window. Faith could see the Sun and Moon Cafe through the window, its crescent moon bright, its rayed sun dark.
Drusilla carried Faith to the rocking chair, and sat down with her in her lap. She rocked back and forth for awhile, holding Faith in her arms, and not speaking. She caressed Faith's hair, and kissed her tears.
Once Faith's tears were gone, Drusilla finally spoke.
"I always wanted a daughter," she whispered. "I thought Miss Edith could be my daughter at first but she's dreadfully rude. And you're better than a dolly anyway. Do you feel me inside? Do you feel my touch? You're speaking to me, Faith. Whispering all your secrets to me." She touched Faith's forehead. Her fingers were cold. "Right here. They're all right here, all the voices in your head, and they're whispering to me...telling me such lovely secret things."
Drusilla unbuttoned Faith's jeans, and pulled them down to the top of her thighs. Faith gasped, and began to breathe quicker.
"Sshhh, daughter," Drusilla whispered. "It's all right. Mummy makes everything all right."
Drusilla lifted Faith's shirt, until it was just beneath her breasts.
"You like to play naughty games with girls, I can smell it on you, between your legs," Drusilla whispered. "I've never played those games before. Naughty daughter. Mummy might have to give you a spanking. Mummy might have to lock you in a closet."
Faith shook her head. Drusilla smiled, like a wolf.
"Or perhaps we could try the game," Drusilla whispered. "And see how we like it. You want to fall asleep in mummy's arms. You want her to sing to you. But you're terribly confused. Part of you wants to play a naughty game with me."
Drusilla started rubbing Faith's belly. Faith gasped again, and moaned.
"But the other part wants me this way," Drusilla whispered. "Don't you, daughter? You want to drift off to sleep with mummy, safe in my arms every night, just like this."
Faith looked away from her.
"Now, Faith, be a good daughter," Drusilla said. "Look into mummy's eyes, and tell me the truth."
Faith looked into Drusilla's eyes. She moaned again, as Drusilla rubbed her belly; she moaned with every breath she took now.
"Is this how you want me?" Drusilla whispered. "Is this how you want me, every night? Do you want me to hold you in my arms, and rub your belly, and rock you to sleep?"
Faith nodded.
Drusilla smiled, and kissed her. Drusilla's lips tasted like blood; they were sweet. Her hair smelled like roses.
"Perhaps we can play your naughty game too, sometimes," Drusilla said. She raised her finger. "As long as you make your bed and clean your room and eat all your vegetables."
Drusilla kissed her again, and flicked her tongue against Faith's this time. Faith melted into her arms, and realized she was going to come soon.
"I'd never lock you in a closet," Drusilla said. "I was just teasing. Mummy would never do that to you. Closets are such small, dreadful places. There are voices in closets. I don't ever want you to hear the voices."
Faith nodded, and then whimpered, as Drusilla bit into her neck...bit into her on the left side, exactly where Buffy had. But Drusilla's teeth were a wolf's fangs; they were much, much sharper than Buffy's. They penetrated Faith easily, like needles, and went deeper than Buffy's had. But Drusilla's teeth were so sharp they hardly hurt at all.
Drusilla took just a little of Faith's blood; a sip, a taste. But it brought Faith to her orgasm; the orgasm rocked through her, and filled her up with a warmth that suffused her whole body, and made her skin tingle. Faith kicked out with her legs, whimpering again, but Drusilla held her tight, and rubbed her belly.
"Little sips, darling," Drusilla whispered, and smiled. "Little sips."
Tears streamed down Faith's cheeks; Drusilla kissed them away.
"The visions, they told me you'd be my daughter," Drusilla whispered. "They told me it was going to happen. I was sad in that closet all alone for so long, but then one day I saw you...saw that I wouldn't always be alone, and I was happy again. I have a son too, you know. But you've already met him, haven't you? He's a naughty boy. Him and his tricks, playing around with glamours. Did you want Becca to do this? Did you want her to hold you in her arms, and rub your belly at night, until you fell asleep?"
Faith blushed, and looked away.
"Look at me," Drusilla said. "Be a good girl."
Faith looked back up into her eyes. They held her. Faith felt warm.
"Did you want to be with Becca like this?" Drusilla whispered. "Did you want her to rub your belly?"
Faith nodded.
Drusilla looked down at her, and cocked her head on one side again, like she was trying to figure something out.
"Did you want to play naughty games with her?" Drusilla said, and moved her hand on top of Faith's panties. They were drenched. "Games like this one?"
Faith grimaced, and shook her head, and moved Drusilla's hand away.
"No naughty games with Becca?" Drusilla said.
Faith shook her head again, emphatically.
"But I think you want to play some naughty games with me," Drusilla whispered, and smiled. "You just did."
Faith blushed again.
"If you're a good daughter, perhaps we can play your games sometimes," Drusilla said. "But I think you want me the other way more. I think you want mummy to hold you in her arms, and love you."
Faith nodded. Drusilla started rubbing her belly again.
"It's time to sleep now, daughter," Drusilla whispered. "Mummy will be waiting when you wake up. And then I'll teach you to play such wonderful vicious games. We'll give Buffy a kiss together. We'll take her life inside us."
Drusilla's face changed to vampire form, and Faith whimpered, as Drusilla plunged her fangs deep into her neck, and began drinking her.
Drusilla kept rubbing Faith's belly as she drank her; she was gentle, and her hand felt warm now. Her teeth didn't hurt; they slid right in. It reminded Faith of the times Buffy had taken her with the dildo...it was as if part of her was made to take this part of Drusilla inside her. It felt perfectly natural to have Drusilla penetrating her like this...like it was meant to happen...meant to be.
Faith felt warm, and she felt wet between her legs again, too...
Drusilla was going slow. She took Faith's blood steadily, but not too quickly; she savored it. A Slayer's blood was sweet.
Faith moaned as her blood left her; Drusilla was drinking her in time to her heartbeat now, swallowing it every few seconds, and Faith moaned in time to her heartbeat too.
Faith felt her heart, pumping her blood into Drusilla's mouth, pumping her life away...giving her life to Drusilla...
She held on tight to Drusilla's hand as her blood left her, and she felt progressively weaker, and she started to become scared again. Drusilla rubbed her belly, and started taking more blood with each sip now.
Faith knew she was going to be dead soon...she knew she would be a vampire soon. She knew it was meant to be...it was going to happen, it was what her life had always been heading toward. Drusilla hadn't been lying when she told her she'd seen this; somehow, Faith knew for a fact that Drusilla hadn't lied. Rebecca, Buffy, Willow, Tara, Angel...all of them had come into her life to lead her to this place, to this moment...
She wondered what it would be like to be a vampire. She wondered if she would still be her, or if part of her would be lost forever. Would it be like going to sleep, and then waking up?
Faith's senses reached out...it was the lion inside her, Faith thought, desperately fighting to live. But Faith knew it was too late...
The room smelled like Drusilla now, and nothing else. The rocking chair made a little creaking sound on the hardwood floor. It began to rain; it spattered the window like someone was throwing pebbles. The neon moon on the cafe's sign across the street lit the room in cold yellow. Faith heard Drusilla taking her blood into her mouth, and swallowing it.
There was nothing else. Everything was fading now. Faith thought about the painting she'd seen in the hallway. It was beautiful...
Black spots floated in front of Faith's eyes. She knew she wouldn't be conscious much longer...and then it would be over.
"Becca," Faith whispered, and started to cry...
And then there was a new scent...
Jasmine.
Faith looked up.
Buffy was standing in the doorway, with her sword in her hand. In the light of the neon crescent moon, her eyes blazed.
"Drusilla, take your fucking hands off my girlfriend," Buffy said.