Fanfiction: A Tale Of Slayers : Finale
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Now who the hell is this?” Faith asked.
Buffy couldn’t say anything, and not just because of her injured throat. She just stared unbelievingly at the woman.
The demon reflection of Buffy looked as surprised as the real one as it too gazed at the woman. “You?! What are you … doing here?”
The woman looked back at Buffy and smiled knowingly. “I was visiting a friend.”
“This is none of your … concern,” the demon said.
The woman looked at the demon again. “Oh, I think it is, my dear. When the humans and the Slayers start seeing me as a threat because of your nefarious projects, it concerns me a great deal. I cannot move around freely while you make life difficult for the both of us.”
Since she couldn’t shout, Buffy had resorted to raising her hand as if she were in class. “Excuse us,” Faith said for her.
The demon and the woman turned to the Slayers. “Yes?” the woman asked.
“Twins?” Buffy managed to say in a hushed voice.
The woman considered that for a moment. “You could say that.” Seeing Buffy’s expression she continued. “I apologize, Slayer. I told you, you had no idea what you were dealing with. And I was telling the truth when I said I was here to see Angel. But I’m afraid I did lie when I told you the Order of Taraka took my head.” She paused for a moment. “Oh, they did take my head, but … you see I didn’t actually grow a new head. I grew a new body.”
The Slayers just stared, dumbfounded expressions on their faces.
The woman nodded to the demon on the ground. ” She’s the one who grew a new head.”
“So, you’re Oranstine, too?” Faith said.
The woman started to walk toward the Slayers. “Yes. But I’m not your enemy, as I told Buffy last night.
“How?” Buffy asked.
“I knew long ago that I could not die unless both my heart and my head were removed, so I wasn’t concerned when the Order of Taraka killed me. They only wanted my head. But imagine my surprise when my head did not die and I was not resurrected in my own body again, that I grew a totally new body instead.” She stopped just a few feet away from them and glanced over her shoulder at the demon. “But that does not compare to my shock when I discovered that my body did not die either.”
“There are two Oranstines,” Faith stated.
“Please, call me Oran.”
Faith sneered at her. “So she’s not going to die?” She nodded to the demon on the ground, still looking like it was dying.
“No,” Oran said. “In about a day or two she’ll be completely regenerated.”
Faith’s and Buffy’s eyes fell on the machete that was lying on the ground just beside Oran’s feet. Oran bent down to retrieve it. Faith glared at the woman.
“So you’re here to save `yourself’, huh?”
Oran met the Slayers’ eyes calmly. “No, I am not.”
She turned around and started to walk back to the Buffy Oranstine. The demon watched her approach.
“What are… you going to do … with that?” it asked.
“My dear, Oranstine,” Oran said. “I’m afraid the novelty of the `Two-Faced Demon’ has lost its charm on me. I very much prefer being an only child.”
Oran was standing right next to Oranstine now, the machete still hanging by her side.
“You can’t kill me!” Oranstine shouted, blood dripping from its lip. “If I die, you die!”
Oran sighed deeply. “That argument is also very old. Two hundred years ago that may have been true, your heart was still a part of me, even though you got to carry it.” She put her free hand over her chest. “But, I’ve been with my own heart for two hundred years now. I think I’ll survive without yours.”
“Wait!” Oranstine shouted.
The demon’s body shimmered and the form of Buffy it was wearing melted away, revealing its true, faceless, self. It was still wearing the long dark robe when Faith had first met the demon, the hood down and the lapels hanging open to reveal the hunting knife piercing the center of the large tattoo on its chest. Oranstine’s skin was a stone gray and its body was shaped like a human body. But it’s face was devoid of any features. At least any exterior features. There was a thin gray membrane of transparent skin pulled over its entire head with no openings. Underneath, the Slayers were able to see the demon’s true face. Two round black spheres swirling in the eyesockets of its skull, no nose, and just a small opening that moved when it spoke.
“I am you!” the demon shouted.
Oran raised the blade over her head. “And I really do detest myself.”
With that, she brought the blade down and smoothly separated the demon’s head from its shoulders. Buffy made sure not to watch the head as it tumbled across the concrete, but she was still able to hear it bouncing along. She usually didn’t shy away from such things, but the way she was feeling right now, she wasn’t sure if she could keep herself from throwing up.
“Is she dead now?” Faith asked.
Oran was still looking down at her former body. She dropped the machete. “Yes. Finally,” she said, in a soft voice. She put a hand to her chest again, as if to assure herself that her heart was still beating. Sighing, she smiled.
Buffy turned to Faith. “And you’re still alive, too.” Buffy was able to make each word understandable.
“Which means, so is fang-girl.” Faith looked down at the small leather pouch in her hand. “I guess I don’t need this anymore.” She was about drop it when she stopped herself and looked at Oran. Buffy knew what she was thinking.
Oran saw their expressions. “Do not worry, Slayer. When I —when we— were `separated,’ Oranstine got to kept the tattoo.”
“But you both can shapeshift,” Buffy stated.
“That is our natural ability. I acquired the tattoo about a hundred years before I was … spliced.”
Faith pulled down the tattered sweatshirt from her shoulder revealing her left arm. The tattoo was no longer there. She let the pouch fall to the ground.
“How long did you know Oranstine was here?” Buffy was asking Oran.
“As soon as I arrived. Back at Angel’s I told you that.”
“But you didn’t tell us who it was,” she accused.
Oran smiled at her. “No I didn’t.” She saw the look Buffy gave her. “Come now, Buffy. I’m still a demon. You know, evil and all. Besides, didn’t you have more fun this way?”
“Yeah, barrels of funnies,” she replied, disdainfully.
Faith helped Buffy to her feet even though the brunette was the one covered in blood. “So, what are your plans now?” Buffy asked.
Oran nodded down to the demon corpse. “I’ll dispose of that.” She looked at Buffy again. “And there is that little matter of our bargain. I did promise to leave Sunnydale and didn’t.”
“Enlight of things, I think we can overlook it this time. But after the funeral you will be leaving?”
Oran smiled pleasantly. “Of course. Say good-bye to Angel for me?”
Buffy didn’t respond and turned away.
“We should be getting back to the others,” Faith said. “We’re not done yet.”
Buffy moaned as they started walking away. She paused to pick up the crossbow Oranstine had dropped, its bolt was still loaded. Her whole body, which had not completely healed from her injuries this morning, was once again aching with those and new ones. “That’s easy for you to say, you’re the one who just had the free power-up.”
“You try getting your chest sliced open and tell me if it would have been worth it?” Faith replied.
Before Buffy could say anything they saw Xander running towards them.
“Buffy!” he shouted. He stopped when he was close enough to see Faith more clearly. And all the blood. “Faith. Are you—”
“Don’t worry, it’s not— Well it is mine, but I’m all right.”
“Xander,” Buffy said to get his attention.
Xander looked at the blonde. A forlorn look on his face. He opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything. Buffy hadn’t seen him like this since the time he had told her Willow was in a coma.
“What is it?” Buffy said, dreadfully.
“It’s Angel.”
Buffy was no longer feeling the pain from her injuries and actually beat Faith and Xander back to where he had left them. Her heart leaped into her throat when she saw Giles and Willow on there knees around Angel who was lying on his back on the concrete.
“Angel!” Buffy cried.
Giles and Willow saw her coming and her Watcher moved away and Buffy dropped to her knees the instant he left the spot. Angel’s face was a mask of pain and he looked up at her with weak eyes. Giles’ tweed jacket was bundled up and Willow was pressing it against the side of Angel’s neck. Buffy couldn’t see how bad it was but there was a puddle of blood still spreading on the concrete under him.
“Bad?” Buffy asked Willow.
The redhead looked at her with sorrowful eyes. “It’s really bad.”
“I’ll live,” Angel said in a weak voice. “I can’t die from this.”
“But you haven’t fed all day. You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Buffy told him.
“I can manage.” He tried to sit up.
Buffy put a hand on his shoulder and easily kept him down. “What the hell are you doing? You might not die, but if you do that again I’ll kill you myself!”
Angel stopped struggling and looked up at her. “You’re hurt.” He raised a hand to her neck. She grabbed it and held it in hers.
“It’s nothing. I’ll live through this.” She looked at Willow. “What did she do?”
“She bit him.” Willow’s face blanched as she talked, seeing it again in her mind. “She was just ripping into him, she wasn’t even feeding. She said that her master was calling her.”
“And you just had to get in her way, huh?” Buffy said, trying to be stern with him.
“But Angel was able to get in a few good licks, wasn’t he,” Faith asked. “Softened her up a little for us?”
“She went totally `Tyson’ on him,” Xander said without humor.
“He only managed to keep her at bay for a couple of minutes until she closed on him,” Giles offered. Buffy saw he was absently wiping blood off his hands with a handkerchief.
“We wanted to help,” Willow said, and Buffy gave her an alarmed look.
“But Angel wouldn’t let us,” Xander added.
Buffy looked down at him again. She was stroking her hand through his black hair. “He was right. She would have killed you all.”
“Hey, not that I’m not glad to see you all alive, but why didn’t she kill all of you?” Faith asked.
“I don’t know,” Giles said. “It was in the middle of, uh, well—” He indicated the wound on Angel’s neck. “When she suddenly stopped. She let him go and just ran back to the boat.”
Buffy looked at Faith. “Oranstine must’ve been too weak to keep contact with her.”
“So, Oran’s dead?” Angel asked.
“Yeah, well, it’s kinda complicated. I’ll explain everything later.”
“Uh, guys,” Xander said. “I think our girl has decided she no longer wants to keep our company.”
They looked to where he was pointing and they saw a couple of small figures who had untethered the thick ropes tying the ship to the dock and walk up the gangplank. Soon they were pulling it in.
“She’s leaving,” Willow said.
“We have to stop her,” Faith said.
“You guys look after him,” Buffy told the others. “Try to get him as far away from here as possible, I don’t want any of you getting in the cross-fire.”
She was about to stand when Giles grabbed her arm. “Buffy, you might as well let her go. It’s too dangerous to go after her.”
“What?” Faith exclaimed.
“Giles, this may be our only chance to stop her,” Buffy said. “And Wallace is on that ship.”
“Wallace? Her Watcher is still alive? That vampire in the diner, uh, or I should say, Oranstine, told us he was dead.”
“What can I say, Giles? She lied. Evil demons do do that sometimes. We have to at least try to save him. She wants to turn him into a vampire, it’s why she wanted Oranstine dead, she wouldn’t let her turn him. And now that she’s free it’s probably the first thing she’s gonna do.”
“A Slayer and Watcher vampire team, how scary does that sound?” Xander said.
“But Faith … ” Giles said, noticing all the blood on the brunette.
“I’m completely healed,” she reassured him. “I traded in all my health points before Oranstine kicked.”
Giles looked from one Slayer to the other, then he looked out to where the frigate was preparing to leave. He raised his eyes to his Slayers again. “Both of you be careful. If anything were to happened to either—”
“We know,” Faith cut in. “You’ll take away our TV privileges for a week. C’mon, B, let’s move.”
Buffy picked up the crossbow from where she had dropped it and Faith grabbed up the battle ax that was lying several feet from Angel. It was nearly broken in half. She ripped the halves apart and let the double bladed ax head fall to the ground and tested her grip on the two-foot long stake the handle made.
Together, the Slayers took off in a run. Faith quickly realized that Buffy was starting to fall behind. She slowed down just enough for the blonde to keep pace. This was not good, she thought. It seemed like even with all the healing Buffy had done throughout the day, that she was right back where she was when she woke up in the library. At least she was still able to move. Probably just the adrenaline still coursing through her Slayer metabolism. Faith prayed it would last long enough to deal with the Slayer Vampire.
The frigate was just raising its anchor as they came along side it and it slowly began to steam forward. On the top deck, standing by the railing, the Slayer Vampire looked down at them and smiled.
“Sorry,” she called down to them. “But you just missed the boat. But by all means, if you think you can make the jump up here, give it a shot.”
Buffy and Faith jogged along side to keep pace with it. It was slow in gathering speed but would soon pull away from the dock. The space between the ship and the dock was wider than Faith would have been able to clear, and she was certain Buffy couldn’t make that jump.
“What’s the matter?” Faith shouted. “I thought you were a tough girl. You’re not afraid of two weak Slayers are you?”
“I thought you weren’t going to leave without tasting the blood of a Slayer?” Buffy put in.
“When I was human, Wallace taught me the value of patience,” the vampire said. “I think it’s time I started taking his advice more often. And now that I’m a vampire, I have all the time in the world. I can even wait for the next Slayers to be called if I wanted.”
“But with Wallace still alive, you know we’ll come after you,” this from Buffy.
“If that’s what you’re worried about.” The Slayer Vampire looked over her shoulder. “C’mon out. Show the little girls our arrangement.”
Faith and Buffy were running faster now, but not flat out, to keep up with the boat and Buffy stumbled when she saw Wallace escorted to the railing by the trench-coat demon, but he was no longer tied up.
The Slayer Vampire said, “I told the Tarakans that Oranstine was dead. I knew the instant it happened. Well done, by the way. I knew you could do it. And the bounty died with her, but they were good enough to offer us a ride out of the country.”
“Wallace jump!” Buffy shouted.
“Thank you for your concern,” Wallace said, and smiled at them. “But I’ve decided to stay with my Slayer if you don’t mind.”
“But—” Buffy began, then realization sank in with a sickening feel to her stomach. “No.”
Wallace let his vampire features slide over his face and his fangs punctuated his smile.
“Bitch!” Faith shouted. “I’m gonna cut off your head!”
“But you didn’t have time to change him!” Buffy shouted, trying to deny what her eyes were showing her.
“You have Faith to thank for that, actually,” the vampire said. “Her escape distracted the master long enough for me to spend plenty of quality time with my Watcher. And since I wasn’t allowed to play with you two, I had to find other ways to pass the time. It wasn’t too hard keeping it a secret. You two fell for it.”
The Slayer Vampire turned to the trench-coat demon. “Let’s get out of here. Sunnydale is suddenly a very boring place.”
With a nod, the demon turned and walked out of sight, heading for the main control cabin.
“There’s no need to give up all hope,” she said to them. “I might get tired of waiting and come back for both of you.” She shrugged. “You never know.”
Buffy picked up speed and got ahead of the frigate. Then she stopped and swung the crossbow up in her hands, aiming for the Slayer Vampire. The vampire watched this with little concern. Buffy kept her sights centered on her as the ship began to pass her by and Faith stopped at her side.
“You know that won’t work against me, Buffy,” the Slayer Vampire said, condescendingly. “I’ll just catch it. And I wasn’t even prepared the first time.” She raised her arms out from her sides, providing a clear target at her heart. “But if you feel like you got something to prove, be my guest.”
“Thanks,” Buffy said, and adjusted her aim slightly and let the arrow fly.
The vampire’s eyes went wide as she realized the bolt wasn’t coming at her. She lunged for her Watcher, reaching out with her hand, but was just a split second too late to keep the shaft from piercing his heart. Wallace stumbled a step back from the impact and stared blankly down at his chest. Then his eyes met his Slayer’s and he started to fall back to the deck.
“NOOOO!” the Slayer Vampire screamed as she fell to the deck with him, out of Buffy’s and Faith’s sight. They heard the sound of Wallace combusting into ashes a second later.
Buffy lowered the empty crossbow as she and Faith watched the frigate pass by. It angled away from the dock and was gaining speed. The Slayer Vampire remained out of sight.
“Damn,” Buffy muttered.
“It was a nice try, B,” Faith offered. “We’ll just have to get her next time.” Buffy’s mood didn’t change. “Hey, look on the bright side. We got rid of a bunch of vampires and one powerful demon, who wanted to make more chicks like her.” She pointed to the frigate. “Not to mention saving me from becoming her servant.” Still no reaction. “C’mon, B! It was a good night for the good guys! Even Darth Vader got away in the first movie.”
Buffy finally looked at her and smiled half-heartedly. “Yeah. I guess. We better get back to the others. I’m worried about Angel.”
They turned their back on the departing frigate. Faith unzipped her sweat shirt, grimacing at all the blood on it and herself. “And I definitely need another shower. This—”
They were stopped in their tracks as a titanic roar ripped through the night and pounded their eardrums. Their eyes were locked on the frigate again and they saw the Slayer Vampire stand up, the bright yellow glow in her eyes. Then she started to run straight for the Slayers, never mind that there was a sixty foot gap of water between the ship and the dock. She didn’t even hesitate, never lost any speed, as she stepped up onto the top rail at the rear of the boat, and launched herself into the air. As she arced downwards, it seemed like she was going to come up just short of the dock, but then she landed, both feet slamming right on the edge.
Buffy and Faith could only stare as the creature stood up straight again and locked her gaze on them. She was only twenty feet away and they saw the tears streaming down her face, from her yellow eyes. Even though she did not have any visible vampire features other than the fangs, the rage chiseled on her face was more frightening than any vampire Buffy could remember.
“Okay, B,” Faith said, not taking her eyes off the vampire. “Now you did it. Now she’s really pissed.”