Fanfiction: A Tale of Slayers : Part 5-8

CHAPTER SIX

It had been over an hour and Angel still hadn’t found anything. He’d only come across two small cave entrances but detected no scent of vampire nor demon inside, so had proceeded on. He would explore those caves further on his way back, which he would have to do very soon now. It was about an hour till dawn and the beach was the least ideal place for a vampire to be caught when the sun rose.

He honestly wished he could say he was searching for the missing Slayer for Faith’s sake, but he knew that he was out here because of Buffy. As well, as for Giles. He owed them both more than anyone, who was still living that is. Even though he hadn’t actually been there when Angelus had done all those heinous acts, with his soul the dominant presence in his body again, he retained all the demon’s memories as if he had done them himself.

The joy he experienced when he —no, when Angelus— had snapped Jenny Calendar’s neck. The pleasures he felt as he tormented Buffy for all those months. Until she had been forced to send him to hell. It had been right after his soul had been returned to him and, for those few moments, he had no recollection of his actions as Angelus. And when Buffy had ran him through with the sword Angel had felt betrayed. Then Acathla’s vortex had claimed him, sending him to hell, where he had centuries; in that timeless dimension, to remember everything that had been done in his soul’s absence. Then, he could not lay blame on Buffy for doing what she had to do.

Thankfully, however, he hadn’t spent his whole time there reliving those horrors, for to survive the torture being reaped upon him, he had to retreat within himself once more. Unfortunately, he couldn’t recall his demon to experience the torment in his place.

But before eternity, for some reason, he was expelled from the demon dimension and had spent the next few days wandering the night as another ravenous animal in the woods of Sunnydale. But his own memories of being in the real world had not begun until his consciousness had resurfaced to find himself in some kind of supply room in Sunnydale High, where he had just killed a monster; which had been a student; that had been trying to kill Buffy. At that time, he had forgotten everything once more, and the first thing he did remember was Buffy.

The next few weeks, as he recovered himself, Buffy had taken care of him, helping him regain his strength. During that time he had the occasion to meet the new Slayer, after Kendra’s death, so he being a vampire had automatically got them started on the wrong foot. That foot being Faith trying to kill him. Even at full strength Kendra had thrashed him about pretty thoroughly, so he had hardly been a match for the new Slayer in his weakened condition. Luckily, Buffy, with her usual sense of timing working for her, came in with the last second save.

Since then, he and Faith had crossed paths a few times, though under more peaceful conditions, usually during those late night patrols. They rarely spoke to each other and what little that was spoken was colored by a few choice words from Faith. Basically, a “don’t bother me and I won’t bother you” treaty.

Had he known about Faith’s abduction before Buffy and Giles, his first action would have been to inform them about it. And if he couldn’t find them, Angel would have started to search for the Slayer himself. Not because he actually cared much for Faith; though he didn’t dislike her, but because it would have been the right thing to do.

A scream cut through the night, as well as Angel’s thoughts, and he ran in the direction it came from just before it was cut short. From the sound he knew someone had just died.

When he reached the spot, he saw three vampires feeding on a fisherman. Poor guy, he thought, trying to make a first catch before morning and got more than he bargained for. The vamps looked up from their meal at his approach.

They must have figured him for a vampire for one of them said, “Move along, pal. This one’s ours.” The others growled in agreement.

“Oh, I beg your pardon,” Angel replied as he slid into his own `game’ face. “But I’m afraid I must insist.”

The trio dropped their food and formed a rank to face him. “Is it really worth going up against us for just a few drops left?”

“Hey, I’m not a finicky eater. I take what I can get.” He noticed that they dressed similar to each other, dark clothes, black jackets, and they definitely were not local. “Besides, I really do hate it when outsiders trespass on my feeding grounds.”

“Are you some kind of honcho in these parts?” vamp number two asked.

“Let’s just say I’m known in this town.”

“Well, if we’re going to do this we better get started,” said vamp one.

“I agree,” Angel said. “You can almost smell the sunrise, now.”

They started to form a circle around him. Angel stood his ground and focused more on the sounds they made while they moved, then try to keep them in sight.

Just before they were about to attack, he said, “Where’s the Slayer?”

This stopped them for a moment. “What?” vamp one asked.

“C’mon, guys, we’re all vamps here. When the Slayer disappears you think the local demon populace wouldn’t notice?”

“What’s it to you?” This from vamp two, behind him. “I’d figure you’d be happy to be rid of the Slayer?”

“Happiness has nothing to do with it. The Slayer is ours to deal with, we don’t appreciate outsiders invading our territory and trying to show us up.”

Vamp one laughed. “`We’ who? You look alone to me, friend.”

Vamp three spoke up for the first time. “Wait. I know who this is. He’s the Traitor. The Slayer is his friend.”

“So, this is the infamous Angelus, huh?” vamp one chuckled. “The Master will reward us for bringing your fangs as trophies.”

Angel smiled, flashing said fangs. “Then come and get `em, boys.”

Buffy came down hard on her back, the wind getting knocked out of her, but she didn’t lose her knife. The vamp was closing in on her and she kicked herself to her feet to meet its attack. She blocked a fast round kick, followed by a spinning heel-kick, and hopped over a spinning leg sweep. As soon as her feet hit the sand, she was lunging forward with the knife aiming for the vamp’s neck. The creature parried the knife hand and blocked Buffy’s front kick to its midsection. Then the Slayer was on the defensive again.

Buffy had lost track of how much time had already past. Not more than a few minutes, she was sure, but for the moment it seemed they were evenly match. Which was untrue, for every hit she had scored on the vamp, the creature had replied three-fold, and Buffy could feel herself slowing down.

Then a side kick got through her defenses and slammed into her stomach, lifting her feet off the ground. The vamp followed through with a left hook that spun Buffy in place. Buffy used the spin to lash out with the knife, but the vampire captured her wrist, twisted her arm, forcing her to bend forward, and kneed her in the face. It snatched the knife away from her, tossing it to the sand, and pushed her away to deliver a jumping spin kick to Buffy’s face. The Slayer almost left the ground again as she spun around a couple of times before dropping to the sand.

Pushing herself up, Buffy saw a steady flow of blood dripping from her mouth to the sand between her hands. But she didn’t get the chance to recuperate. A strong hand grabbed her leather jacket at her shoulder and started to yank her back up. As she was pulled to her feet, Buffy wrapped her arm around the vamp’s, trapping its elbow, and drove her other fist into the creature’s sternum. Then twice more. The Slayer took satisfaction out of hearing it grunt with the pain the blows were causing, and slammed the heel of her palm into its face. Buffy was going to hit her again when the side of a boot came up to her face and disengaged her from her opponent. Both combatants fell to the sand away from each other.

Buffy was on her hands and knees again and saw the vamp just a few feet away. It was dazed but it was recovering faster than she was. She needed to move. If she was still on the ground when it got to its feet, she was done for.

And she was still on one knee when the vamp came for her again. Buffy slipped her hand inside her jacket and used her other arm to block the round kick it launched at her. Her hand came out with her last stake and she plunged it into the vamp’s thigh. The creature screamed in pain and fell to her knees in front of the Slayer.

Buffy smiled at her. “Hi.” Then unleashed a vicious uppercut that almost lifted the vamp off the ground as it flew back, the momentum of the swing making Buffy fall as well.

Like a wounded animal, the vampire scrambled back to its knees and clutched the stake sticking out of its thigh. If she had been able to, Buffy would have taken advantage of the situation. As it was, she could only struggle to catch her breath and her arms were trembling as she pushed herself off the sand. She watched the vampire pull the stake from its leg with another scream. It looked at the wooden weapon then glared at her.

“Damn cheater.”

“Ueber-cheater,” Buffy replied. “It certainly sucks to be you, doesn’t it?”

“Not anymore,” it said, on its feet again. It kicked sand in Buffy’s eyes.

The Slayer tried frantically to wipe the sand from her eyes. “Son of a—”

A hard kick to the face stopped her and she rolled back, flopping flat on her stomach. Blinded, she began to push herself up again. She was grabbed from behind and jerked to her feet. She swung blindly in that direction and hit nothing, the momentum causing her to stagger. She swung with the other arm and continued the beating against the innocent air around her. She maintained a labored fighting stance and closed her mouth to silence her loud breathing. She could do this, she told herself. She was blind, and in a fight to the death with a creature stronger and faster than she was. She’d faced worse odds. Although, she was unable to recall them just now. Suddenly, she was wishing she had taken Giles’ sessions of training her to fight blindfolded more seriously, but no, she had to showoff like she usually did to end training she didn’t want to do early.

Well, now’s the time to prove I wasn’t just showing off, she thought. Put my allowance where my mouth is. She concentrated on the sounds around her. Not far away she detected the surf flowing gently on the beach, the breeze swaying the brush a little farther inland, and soft footfalls on sand behind her left shoulder.

Aiming her kick head-level to the sound, Buffy spun 360 degrees as fast as she could and felt the heel of her foot connect solidly against, what she hoped was, the side of the vampire’s head. As she staggered from the spin, she heard the creature’s grunt of pain and something hitting the ground hard, and quickly rubbed the sand from her eyes. Blinking, her sight returning, she saw the vamp starting to scramble to its knees. She scanned the area around her for any of her weapons and saw one of her stakes several yards to her right. She made a dash for it and her legs wobbled slightly under her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the vampire jumping to its feet and charging after her. It would be on her in a second. At the last instant, Buffy dove for the stake, hitting the sand in a rolling tumble, snatching up the weapon, and had it ready when she bobbed back to her feet.

The vampire came at her wielding the stake Buffy had stuck in its thigh, and the Slayer parried the strike with her free forearm, then retaliated with her own stake. But the vampire was suddenly standing somewhere else, moving faster than her eyes were able to keep up. Or she was just slowing down to the point she was losing sense of her surroundings. Buffy quickly reversed her stake in a backhand swing at the creature’s head but it was blocked and she felt something slash her ribs under that arm. Tucking her arm against the pain, she tried to back-pedal away but could not escape the front kick to the face that snapped her head back. At that time her legs finally decided that they had had enough, and, after taking a couple of shaky steps back, her knees buckled and Buffy landed on her rear. She sat there for a dazed moment before her eyes rolled up and she slumped back on the sand.

Giles’ lungs were on fire by the time he made it back to the car and he knew he would not be able to go much farther without slowing down. His adrenaline and desperate need to save Buffy was all that had kept him going, but his body would soon start to fail him. He had never been in prime physical condition, even though he hadn’t exactly been a slouch when he was younger, but he was feeling his age catching up to him. So as soon as he was back to the Citroen, he dove behind the wheel, tossing the weapon bag in the passenger seat, and burned as much rubber as the old vehicle allowed him to.

Speeding south on the elevated road looking down over the beach he had a clear view all the way to the water, but he hoped Angel was not exploring a cave now or he would drive past him. But after a few minutes he did see several figures out on the sand in a flurry of motion. Pulling to the side, he jumped out and saw that it was a battle and Angel was in the middle of it, dealing with three opponents.

Having retrieved his bag, Giles started his way down to the beach to help the vampire anyway he could. He knew, first hand, that Angel was as skilled a fighter as Buffy in many ways and was perfectly capable of handling most situations. And, indeed, as he drew nearer, it appeared he was holding his own against; Giles realized, other vampires. Angel did have a stake in his hand, but every time he found an opening on one of his foes, one of the other two would pull his focus away, but he would eventually prevail. Only problem was, it was taking too long.

Giles drew as close as he could without drawing the attention of any of the vampires, but it looked as if they were completely absorbed in their battle with Angel. He set the bag down and pulled his crossbow out again.

Vamp one was charging Angel from behind, while he was delivering a side kick to vamp three in front of him, but Angel was aware of this and had a backhand fist waiting for him. The power of the blow sent vamp one’s feet out from under him and he flipped over as he flew under Angel’s arm, landing hard on his chest. Angel took a chance to try to finish the down vampire with the stake, but was grabbed from behind by vamp two, pinning his arms back. Angel struggled against the hold and vamp three was coming at him again. He lashed out with a high kick to the creature’s face, staggering it, then slammed his head back against vamp two’s nose, and the hold lessened. Angel sent another kick into vamp three’s face, sending him to the sand, then freed himself and smashed a hard elbow into vamp two’s already shattered nose. He brought the stake up, poised to plunge it into the vampire’s heart, but vamp one was up again and would have stopped him had Giles not sent a crossbow bolt through its heart from behind. Vamp one turned to ashes just as Angel staked vamp two’s heart.

Angel spun around and saw Giles standing there, already reloading the crossbow. Their eyes met, then they turned their attention to the remaining vampire who was getting to his feet. Finding himself suddenly alone and out numbered, the vampire quickly came to the wise decision to make like a vamp out of hell, and did his best to disappear into the night.

Before Angel could say anything, Giles shouted, “Angel, hurry! Buffy’s in trouble and she needs your help!”

Angel did not waste time saying anything and they ran back to the car.

Faith felt the rush of water against her face and opened her eyes to a world dark and out of focus behind a watery blur. Blinking her vision clear, she raised her head, and threw herself onto her side as she coughed up sea water. A great deal of sea water. She was still heaving well after all the water was expelled from her lungs. She tried to take a deep breath but started to cough again, her tortured lungs a sharp pain against her chest.

She concentrated on breathing for a few moments and took in her surroundings. She was outside. The bright half-moon and stars confirmed this and she was laying on a beach as the surf flowed around her. Not very far in the distance to her right she saw the docks of Sunnydale.

Whatever had happened to her, Faith figured, she must have fell into some sort of underground river that dumped her out in the sea where she washed up on shore. Good thing the river was heading out and not down to the center of the Earth. Faith would bet money no other Slayer had died that way, but all things considered, she was glad she didn’t turn out to be the first. Still, she was surprised she hadn’t drowned during the escape. Especially with all the water that had been in her lungs. Chalk up another one for Slayer resiliency.

Gathering what strength she knew she did not have, she pushed herself up and managed to sit up on her knees. She was still wearing her confiscated jacket, but it weighed a ton soaked so she pulled it off. She let it drop behind her and the tide grabbed it and it slipped away. Next, she pulled her hair out of her face, slicking it back for the moment. She began to shiver.

First, she needed to get the hell away from here, then she could worry about catching pneumonia. With any luck, maybe the undead squad thought she had died, but she wasn’t about to rely on being that lucky. Her legs felt dead but they supported her weight without buckling. Good girl, she thought. Now to try walking. One step. Two step. After the third step, Faith tried taking two, one right after the other. Since she didn’t fall, she picked up the pace just a bit without pausing and headed inland angling toward the docks. She needed to call Giles to pick her up, and bring her a couple hundred blankets.

That was when she became aware of the noise coming from up ahead. She could not mistake it for anything else than a fight. A nasty one by the sound of it. There was a small sand dune in front of her, so she wasn’t able to see it, but the sounds grew louder as she approached on unsteady legs. Then she heard an inhuman roar of, what sounded like, pain. Someone had just gotten seriously hurt, and it wasn’t a human, and unless the monster was fighting another monster, there was only one person who could have inflicted that much pain on such a creature.

“Buffy,” she tried to say, but her voice was severely hoarse.

Recognition suddenly hit Faith, with dread, as she realized she knew the sound of that roar. It belonged to the Slayer Vampire. And if Buffy was fighting it…

She forced herself to go faster but her legs were just not moving as fast as she wanted them to, and she was almost over the dune. When she crested the rise the battle came into sight, and what she saw chilled her worse than the cold air.

Even from this distance, she could tell her fellow Slayer was in bad shape, just by the way she was moving. She was staggering but still determined to keep fighting. Buffy could never be accused of not having guts, but right now she was in danger of losing them. The Slayer Vampire blocked a stake strike aimed at its head and used its own stake to slash Buffy in the side. The young Slayer cried out in pain, trying to back off, but the vampire snapped a front kick to her face, and Buffy took two wobbly steps back before dropping to the sand.

Faith almost stumbled and fell, but kept her feet under her and actually got them to move a little faster, thanks to a sudden adrenaline surge. But she was still too far away. She could only watch as the creature knelt down next to Buffy and lifted her head by the back of her hair. She turned the Slayer’s head to the side, exposing her jugular, and opened its mouth revealing its cruel fangs.

“Buffy!” Faith tried to shout, but it was still weak. “Buffy!” she tried again. This time; thanks to her ragged throat, it came out almost as a growl and the vampire noticed her for the first time.

Its head turned to Faith, it didn’t notice Buffy’s eyes open and the Slayer swung her arm up at the creature. She was still holding her stake, but in her weakened condition, managed to drive just an inch of the tip into the vamp’s throat. The monster reeled back in pain, but not without smashing a hard fist into Buffy’s face and she flopped limply to the sand again.

“Buffy!” Faith shouted with more urgency.

Clutching its neck, blood coursing over its hands, the Slayer Vampire got to its feet and backed away from the prone Slayer and glared at the second Slayer charging her. Faith wondered if it had known how weak she really was would it have stuck around. But the Slayer accepted, without complaint, the choice the creature made to retreat and it was already out of sight by the time Faith reached Buffy’s body.

She dropped weakly beside the teenager and put a hand to her chin. “Buffy! Buffy! Wake up!” She didn’t get any response. There was a lot of blood on her face. She pulled her into her lap. “C’mon, B! Don’t do this! C’mon, girlfriend, show me a sign here. You don’t want to die again, all right? It’s so overrated!”

Faith felt tears burning her eyes. She shut her eyes against them. “Dammit, bitch! Don’t you dare die on me! You die, I swear to God I’ll kill myself just so I can kick your ass all over Slayer Heaven!”

Faith felt a shudder go through Buffy and her eyes opened slightly. Her green eyes looked at her for a few seconds before coming into focus. “Faith,” she said, weakly. “If you’re here, I must be dead.”

Blinking away unshed tears, Faith smiled down at her. “No, girlfriend. I’m not dead yet. Would they let me into heaven looking like this?” Her long brown hair, made stringy by the salt water, was in her face again.

Buffy tried to nod in agreement. “Yeah, you do look like shi…”

Faith chuckled. “Trust me, B, you look even worse.” Buffy managed a small smile. “C’mon, we got to get you out of here before she decides that she’s hungry enough to try again. And I’m in no shape to go even an exhibition round with that toothy bitch.”

“You know what that was then?” Buffy asked as Faith lifted her to her feet.

“That, girlfriend, was a Slayer Vampire.” Faith wrapped an arm around her waist as she draped Buffy’s arm across her shoulders.

“A Slayer Vampire?”

“I know it sounds freaky, but that’s what it is. We met earlier tonight, if this still is the same night.”

“But how?”

“I’m not sure. There was this demon guy, gave new meaning to the word `plastic surgery.’ He —it— is some kind of master. It has some sort of control over this creature. My guess, this girl was supposed to be the next Slayer, but these creeps got to her and turned her into a vampire. And this demon leader must have done something to me to make it seem like I was dead.” Faith did not tell her about the great Darkness she had felt after waking in the caves for the first time. It didn’t matter, she told herself, my death was somehow faked, how else could I still be alive? They hadn’t wanted me dead, why else would the Demon Leader stop the Slayer Vampire from killing me for real?

“How could it fake your death?” asked Buffy.

Faith recapped her escape attempt, in the caves. How she had run into the Demon Leader and the Slayer Vampire, and how the demon was able to stop her heart from beating. It made sense; Faith was even starting to believe it, that if this creature could stop her heart for a long period, it could somehow fool nature into thinking she had died and activate the next Slayer.

Even in her current condition, Buffy seemed to accept this.

“Are you going to be okay, B?” she asked, changing the subject.

With her free arm, Buffy was holding the side of her ribs that had been slashed. She was in obvious pain, but she nodded. “I don’t think any permanent damage was done. Slayer healing: cure for everything.”

“Let’s hope so. That was a pretty cool move with that stake.”

Buffy looked at the hand that was clutching her ribs and saw she was still holding her stake. “Mr. Pointy!”

Faith frowned. “Who?”

“This is Mr. Pointy.” Buffy was smiling. “I’m getting this little guy bronzed.”

Thinking that Buffy may be suffering from a concussion, she said, “Oookay. But, you know Giles is going to flip when he sees you. What are you doing down here, anyway?”

“Oh, the Watcher’s Council had called Giles, last night, and told him about the next Slayer being called. We thought you were dead. We checked your room and saw that someone had been in there.”

“Yeah, I was jumped buy these gung-ho types. I don’t remember exactly what happened.”

“The Order of Taraka. Demon bounty hunters and assassins. Although, some of them are human. We figured that was how they were able to get in your room before you knew they were there. Me and the gang had to deal with them last year. Real nasty guys.”

“I’ll say.”

“Anyway,” Buffy went on. “We got a lead that there was a lot of paranormal activity down here.”

“So you wanted to recover my body?” Faith asked.

“We wanted to find you. You think I was about to take the Council’s word for it that you were dead?”

Faith tried to shrug. “Well, they were right about the next Slayer being called.”

“But how did the demon do it without killing you?”

“Like I said, he must have somehow faked my death. They didn’t want me to stay dead, or I’m thinking they would have just slit my throat.”

“This is definitely something we need to talk about with —Giles!” They saw a car screeching to a halt up on the road.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the new Slayer being called?” Angel asked.

Giles had quickly relayed everything he had left out at the mansion. “I did not think that Faith’s abduction would be connected to the activation of the next Slayer. Least of all, that new Slayer being here in Sunnydale.”

“So, whoever is behind the Taraka contract needed Faith—”

“Or Buffy,” Giles added.

“—or Buffy, to activated this Slayer they could turn into a vampire.” He looked at Giles. “How would they know this girl would be the next Slayer?”

“That is a question I myself would be very interested in finding out the answer to.”

“And it can’t be killed?”

“Buffy had already staked its heart.” Giles tried to keep the worry from his voice, but was not succeeding. “But she is very resourceful. I’m sure she’ll find a way to keep it at bay until we get there.”

“Giles, stop the car!” Angel shouted.

“What?!” the Watcher exclaimed, but brought the car to a halt.

“That’s Buffy!” Angel pointed toward the beach below. He turned and saw two small figures walking together. It looked as if one was half carrying the other.

“It must be taking Buffy to its lair.” Giles grabbed up his crossbow and he and Angel jumped out of the car. The vampire flew down the bluff and he was hard pressed to keep up. Angel slowed as they came nearer. Giles stopped next to him and brought the crossbow up to bear at the figure supporting his Slayer.

“No, Giles,” Angel said, putting a hand on the weapon, diverting his aim.

Giles focused his gaze as they got closer. He started to make out Buffy’s condition. “Buffy!” he exclaimed. Then he realized who was helping her. “Faith! Thank God!”

He dropped the crossbow and was running to his Slayers. “My God!” he said, as he saw Buffy, taking her other arm. He looked at Faith. “Faith, what happened?”

The brunette Slayer said, “She got the crap beat out of her.”

“Oh, yes. But I meant, what happened to you?”

Buffy spoke up, voice still weak. “Oh, that’s a long story, Giles.”

“I died,” Faith said.

“Apparently not that long,” Buffy said, wishing everyone would stop giving one-sentence summaries.

“We can debrief later,” Faith said, glancing at Angel, who was hovering close to Buffy, but kept his distance from the other Slayer. Smart for a vampire, she thought. “Right now, we gotta book before she comes back with some of her friends.”

Giles regarded his younger Slayer, with a sense of pride. She may not be aware, he thought, but Faith was acting a lot like Buffy just now. Taking charge. Now if only she continues like this… But Giles had to focus on what’s at hand. “Quite right. Angel?”

Giles eased Buffy from Faith, seeing how she wasn’t looking all too well herself, and the vampire easily took Buffy into his arms. Giles took Faith’s arm and draped it across his shoulder.

“I’m all right, G,” she protested. “I can make it on my own.”

“Of course,” he said. “Then perhaps you wouldn’t mind helping me back to the car? I, uh, seemed to have, uh, twisted my ankle a bit on the way down here. Yes.”

He thought he saw a faint smile on her face. “Sure. You’re the Watcher. Whatever you think’s best.” With that, she leaned into him a little more, letting him take most of her weight off her feet.

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