main character: Faith, no pairing at this point
disclaimer: I do not own any characters from BtVS
distribution: If you have permission for BS&D and want this, have it. If you don't have permission for BS&D, ask.
note: This is the story of Faith from the Bonds of Soul and Demon series. It went AU after Angel lost his soul, Dru opened Acathala, and Buffy left town, and has not been heard from since.
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Faith glared at the tree, annoyed by it's graceful spreading branches, thickly hung with leaves and vines. Oh, it was probably very pretty in the day time, but right now? There were at least two vampires hiding inside that tree, and she couldn't see them because of all the leaves. She needed to get them before they could go... actually, she didn't know where they were trying to go. Only that they had taken something about hand sized from a warehouse connected to the museum, and were trying to take it somewhere. They were obviously minions, which meant that there was a Master vampire with a plan, and the plan required that object. Naturally, as a Slayer, it was her solemn, sacred duty to stop him. And it would be just fun to kick his ass.
How to get the vampires out of the tree without being ambushed by them? She threw a baseball sized rock into the tree, hoping that it would startle them out, feeling oddly like a small child throwing rocks at the mean neighbor's house. Despite the oddness of the situation, it worked. The two vampires, and a third who now had a lump on the side of his head came down from the tree, snarling and charging at her.
The rest was,if not precisely easy, simple to figure out. Three vampires on the ground, one SLayer with a wooden stake. They would be dusted, and she could continue her patrol. Her Watcher had thought there might be a nest of Bessin demons by the river.
"You cannot stop our Master!" One of the minions, a particularly unmemorable vampire with horribly crooked fangs, snarled at her, in what could only be a fit of pathetic defiance.
Faith grinned at him. "Who's you master? Not that it really matters, because I am the Slayer, but it's nice to have names."
One of the other's tried to hit her from behind, with a cry of "For Kakistos, DIE!!"
Well, they had the right sort of lines, but they really were only minions. Faith killed them, and picked up the object, which seemed to be a fist sized... green rock. What was so special about this rock? Maybe she'd best take it back for her Watcher to study.
The rest of her patrol went about as well as she could expect, and her clothing was shredded and stained beyond any hope of recovery by the nest of Bessins. A single Bessin was almost harmless, no bigger than a labrador, but with sharp teeth and grey scales. Twenty Bessins... well, they had caused more damage than the vampires. But they were dead, every last yapping, snarling one.
She made her way back to Stanton's house, feeling exhausted. But he'd want to know the Bessins were dead, and about the stone, and what had the name been? Kakistos. Yes, she should definitely ask Stanton about this Kakistos vampire.
"Hey, I have returned... still alive, still in working order." Her voice called out into the building as she entered the downstairs part of the building, where Stanton ran a 'rare book store'. He would most likely be in the back, looking over some ancient book.
Slipping into the back, she gave a small sigh. There he was, hunched over some book that had to weigh ten pounds, a huge leather bound monstrosity written in a German scrawl that hurt the eyes to try to decipher. German was one of the few languages she knew, well, that, and French and Latin. All she could do with the other languages was maybe identify them. But she was the Slayer, it was more important that she could use a sword than read Sumerian. Her Watcher, Joseph Stanton, read the Sumerian, as well as lots of other languages. He was this little, hunched over man with thick glasses and a little fringe of pale grey hair. But he was good at noticing details, absolutely rabid about details.
"Did you find the Bessin nest?" His voice sounded almost brittle, and with a strange sort of accent that she couldn't place. It sounded like his books looked, if that made any sense.
"Yeah... I found the Bessins. They were nesting in that old culvert, the one that collapsed in the middle after the flood last year? There were about... twenty three, and yes, I made sure they were all dead. There was also the usual assortement of little vamps... and a couple that tried to steal something from the museum to take home to their master." Faith's voice showed some of her weariness.
"What? A master wanting an object... what did they want? Who is their master? I need details, Faith!" He sounded interested, and annoyed that the details weren't immediately there.
With a small shrug, she placed the rock on the pages in front of him. "They took this, but I don't know why. One of them said something... oh, 'for Kakistos, die' and the first one said 'you can not stop our master', so I'm guessing Kakistos is the name of their master. What's the information on him? Is he anyone to worry about?"
Stanton paled, his skin now almost a match for the pages of the big book of confusing German prophecies. "Did you say... are you absolutely certain he said Kakistos? You didn't mistake the name?"
"He said Kakistos. I mean, it was definitely Kakistos, but I was only guessing on the why... and just how bad is this guy?" Faith was getting a sinking feeling. Stanton looked freaked, which was entirely out of the ordinary for him. If this Kakistos was enough to do this to her Watcher, the man she'd suspected of having anti-freeze for blood, there had to be trouble ahead.
"This is very bad. Kakistos... he is an ancient vampire, perhaps two thousand years old. The passing centuries and the corruption of his evil have warped and changed him. He can never look human as the vampires you kill every night do, and the evil within him has twisted his hands and feet into cloven hooves." Stanton's voice was serious, and there was a definite hint of fear.
Faith wanted to know just how bad this was, although there was a small part of her whispering that she didn't want to know. "How evil are we talking here?"
Stanton narrowed his eyes, giving Faith a look that made it quite clear he was NOT amused. "Kakistos is on the listing of the most deadly vampires, according to generations of Watchers. He is known to have killed a dozen slayers, possibly in some sort of sacrificial ritual, the purpose of which we do not know. Other vampires and demons fear Kakistos. That is how bad."
Faith closed her eyes for a moment, entertaining the unrealistic fantasy that all of this was a dream, that she would wake up a normal girl. Someone who didn't have to know how to kill a vampire with a pocketknife and her shoelaces, someone that didn't think demons existed outside of horror movies. Someone that had a loving family and a circle of friends to watch out for her. Might as well wish to have the moon as her personal playground while she was at it...
"Right... he's a really evil evil vampire. Why is he here? How do I stop him?" Faith was trying to keep her emotions in check.
"My suspicion, and this is just my personal feeling, is that he does sacrifice the Slayers. I think... I think he came here to find you, Faith. If there is some sort of ritual, there might also be some sort of time cycle, and it seems as if the time is approaching. So he needs a Slayer." Stanton's words were soft, and filled with a hollow tone, as if something inside of him had stopped.
Faith felt a coldness curl into her belly, and an almost numb heavy feeling moved through her body, something more than simple exhaustion. "You think we're going to die, don't you?"
Stanton could only nod his head.
end part 1.
The next day was bad from the start. Faith didn't remember her lessons, couldn't remember if she'd eaten. She didn't feel hungry, but that wasn't a certain check. She was pummeling the training dummies, trying to work through the cold knot of fear that had settled inside her, above her stomach and below her lungs, cutting off both appetite and good breathing. Stanton was afraid... that was a first, and despite the many times that she'd joked about wanting to know what it would take to breach that British calm, she wasn't happy. This old saying went through her head, 'Be careful what you ask for, you might get it'. She'd wondered, and her question was answered.
Kakistos, some really, really old vampire with a habit of killing Slayers every century and a half. Somebody that frightened other vampires. And he was after her now. She kept hitting the punching bag, trying to feel anything besides the cold fear and the slowing numbness that had seeped into her.
"Faith, I think you've hit that bag enough... more than enough. Your hands are bleeding... please stop."
Stanton was there at her side, his hands feeling like the fragile pages of his books as he caught her blood covered hands in his, gently leading her to a chair. He cleaned the blood away with a damp cloth, and Faith wondered if it was warm or cool. He wrapped thin gauze bandaging around her knuckles, but not before Faith had seen that she'd split the skin on them from hitting the bag so many times.
"I'm sorry... I just... this has me rattled, y'know?" Her voice was barely over a whisper, a far cry from her normal confidence.
He only nodded. "I know... this has me a bit unsettled as well. But there is... I suppose hope would be the best way to put it. I just received a packet of information from the Council... My first look, as always was at the prophecies, and it was only last night that I looked at the letters. It seems... well, they didn't send the particulars on how it was possible, but there is another Slayer alive. Her name is Buffy Summers, and she lives in Sunnydale California. I don't have to tell you that this was quite a shock, after all, when one dies another is chosen, but... apparently, she is somehow alive, and also a Slayer. Perhaps we can contact her for assistance, especially if this gets... ugly."
"There's another Slayer?" Faith felt as if her world had been flipped on her. Another Slayer meant that she wasn't the only one in all the world, not the only one between the world and irreversible doom. Not unique. "That's... am I even necessary then? After all, if there's this... Buffy? Why does the Council need me if they've got her?" Faith could feel a lump forming in her throat, one that she suspected might turn into tears given the chance. Slaying was all she knew how to do. If there was another Slayer, was there a point in her even being here? Was she just... some sort of joke to the Council?
"Faith... it isn't the Council that activates a Slayer, that's... well, they're referred to as the Powers That Be. Please, don't say 'be what?', it isn't the time. They've always been described as the forces for the Greater Good, something like the opposite of the rulers of the Lower Dimensions. Almost like God, if you will. The Powers would not have made you a Slayer if you weren't needed, and that's the end of the matter." There was a determination in his voice, and it was clear that Stanton had no doubt about what he'd just told her.
"So, this is my destiny? It's not some mistake?" Faith was aware that she sounded awfully like a frightened child seeking reassurance. 'mommy, there's a monster's in my closet...' 'mommy, I had a bad dream...'
He held her hands in his, trying to convey the seriousness of his words to her. "Faith, your destiny is not a mistake. This is what you were born for, to protect people from dangers that they don't even want to believe in. The fact that you are not, as we had believed, the only person trying to keep the world safe does not in any way lessen the importance of your actions."
"So, we want to try to get rid of this ancient, evil, ugly vamp ourselves, and then we can party. Safe and secure that there's a good chance I can take five minutes off without the world getting destroyed?" Fait tried to smile, knowing that Stanton wouldn't be entirely fooled by it. He was her Watcher, and he was observant.
He sighed. "That would be the idea. Unfortunately, it won't be easy, and I do not have a plan yet. But yes, you should be able to take five minutes for a victory dance without the world being condemned to hell or overrun by an invading demon army."
Faith grinned. "Yes! Except for the part about having no plan. So, should I patrol?"
"I do suggest that you patrol... but be extra careful. Try to be alert for any possible information about Kakistos, and do not let yourself be captured." Stanton sounded unusually grim, but that was entirely understandable, considering.
"Right... careful. Because that is exactly what I've been training for these past years to be. Yeah..." With a smile, she picked up her favorite knife, a handful of solid wooden stakes, and her jacket before heading out into the darkness.
Watching her go out of his building, Stanton sighed. How could he pretend that this was the same as all the other things they had faced? How long could he keep her from knowing just how terrible the danger was? He had a duty to the world, and Faith desperately needed someone to help keep her on the proper path. As Slayers were trained to find violent solutions, it would be terribly easy for one to fall into darkness if they lacked sound guidance.
"I'm getting to old for this." With creaking joints, the small old man returned to his books, hoping to find something, some little clue that he could use to find a way to defeat Kakistos.
He only hoped that between his efforts and the fact that Faith wasn't alone, there would be a way to defeat Kakistos. Otherwise, his Slayer was doomed.
end part 2.
Faith's efforts on the patrol, during any other time, would have been wonderful. A dozen vampire minions, reduced to dust. An small assortment of other demons, and a pair of hellhounds as well as some rotted thing that looked like nothing more than a shambling zombie, all rotted and slimy. But she had learned nothing more than the name Kakistos was greeted either by blank cluelessness, or fear that went beyond the fear of dying at her hands. It was official: Kakistos was bad news.
She was feeling frustrated, and at a disadvantage. She didn't have the information that she needed, and she had been unable to beat it out of any of the demons that had crossed her path. How could she defeat this Kakistos if she couldn't even find out where he was or what his weaknesses were? How could she survive this without a plan?
What could a Slayer do now? She didn't have the information, she couldn't find the information using her own resources. Without information, she couldn't make a plan. Without a plan, an attack would be suicidal. While she knew that she had a number of character flaws, which Stanton pointed out in his dry voice on a regular basis, she wasn't suicidal.
She shook her head and decided to go back to see if Stanton had made any progress with his books. She felt something, almost like the feeling of a slimy, cold thing crawling over her back, but it wasn't from anything physical. This was her special Slayer senses kicking in, the ones that gave her warnings of big scary evil, or serious trouble. If there wasn't anything here to be menacing her, then it could only mean...
"Stanton!" Faith was racing through the darkness, filled with a sense of dread.
Part of her was unsurprised to find the store standing open, light spilling out into the street. the tall shelves had been overturned, and rare books lay scattered over the ground. The only sound was the teapot whistling fiercely in the back. She felt as if time had slowed down as she walked towards the work area, part of her just wanting to go hide in a bed, the covers thrown over her head like a tiny child. But she had to know what had happened, had to find Stanton.
The back room looked like a whirlwind had been through. Her training equipment was thrown everywhere, one of the padded mannequins opened, the interior fluff floating around the room. Papers had been scattered, some with Stanton's spidery scrawl, others from the packet of information from the Council. Stanton was gone. This was a disaster.
"Someone's taken my Watcher." Her words were a pain filled whisper. Stanton had warned her that if she made friends, they might be in danger from demons or vampires seeking to hurt her through the people that she cared about, but he'd somehow never considered that that someone could be him. Or maybe he'd thought about it and just not shared, trying to keep it a secret, to protect her.
The only things that she could decipher was anger, a deep feeling that this was supposed to be one of those lines that the bad guys didn't cross, and a dark burning desire to kill them all, everyone responsible for any harm done to Stanton, even a hangnail. She turned off the teapot, barely noticing that she had done so, and picked up an axe, her fingers curling around the haft.
She would find them, and chop the offenders into little dusty... bloody... into little chunks, and if they disintegrated, she would stomp on them. But she couldn't let this go, couldn't ignore the danger that Stanton was in.
Faith was ignoring the little part of her mind pointing out that she STILL didn't know the weaknesses or strategy of Kakistos. She still didn't have any carefully planned strategy, just a simple goal: kill the bad guys. All the bad guys. Rescue the watcher.
Her movements were more like the lethal stalking of the demons that she hunted. The few foolish or unlucky minions that crossed her path were simply dispatched, with quick, angry movements that conserved as much of her energy as possible, her eyes shining with a peculiar mix of anger and almost tears. She was feeling, attempting to find that thread that tied her to Stanton, that hint of connection that should let her find him... There was a steady liteny running through her mind: 'please let him be okay please don't take him away from me please let me get him back please'.
The feeling lead her to a dingy warehouse that looked as if it were attempting to become one with the soil. She eliminated the sentries, and crept closer, her stomach clenched with dread. She carefully peered through a dirty window, tring to get an idea what was happening. Stanton was tied to a chair, his arms to the chair's arms, and his legs to the chair legs. Facing him was a slender black man in a deep blue suit, a person that looked entirely out of place in the warehouse. Vampire. But unfortunately, one of the ones who'd retained enough of a mind to be really dangerous.
Approaching Stanton was a figure, big and looming, radiating this crawling evil feeling. There was this odd clicking when he walked, and with a sense of spinning horror, Faith realized that that thing had hooves. This was very bad.
"Where is your little Slayer?" His voice didn't even sound right, although she couldn't put words to it's wrongness.
Stanton simply sat there, his back to Faith and the tiny window. With a look of frustration, the black vampire reached out, taking hold of one of Stanton's fingers and giving a twist, the finger bone popping with a loud sound, one that reminded her sickeningly of rotisserie chicken. "Kakistos asked you a question."
"You will tell me where she is, and I will take her as I have taken all the others. I will feed upon the marrow of her bones, and her strength will become mine."
Weakly, Stanton shook his head, his shoulders looking uncomfortably tense. "No. I will not hand my Slayer over to you."
"Such defiance. Unwise in such a small, fragile old man." Kakistos looked almost pleased. "I will just have to break you... or maybe kill you. The difference is so small."
Two more finger bones and a terrible blow to his eye that Faith could hope was nothing more than a bruise, and Stanton had done nothing more than half choked groans.
Faith had been systematically slaughtering every vampire and demon in the area that could potentially belong to Kakistos. Now, she had found an open door, and slipped inside the warehouse.
"You aren't big enough or young enough to get away with defiance like that for long." The smooth voice of the vampire in the suit struck Faith as entirely unnatural.
"F...five...b... by...Five..." Stanton's voice was a painful wheeze, barely decipherable.
"What? What in the world does that mean?" The suit vampire was angry now, but Kakistos still seemed to be simply enjoying his pain.
"Nn... not sh...short. Ffive by..." Stanton's voice was weak, but it still held a tone of disapointment.
Faith chose that moment to attack, certain that she could cause some trouble. The higher grade followers were there, forming a protective rank between her and Kakistos, each one trying to be the one to drag her down. As Faith was delayed by snarling vampires and a flurry of kisks, punches and stabbings, she glanced at Stanton.
Kakistos choose that moment to reach out, his deformed two fingered hand resting ever so briefly on Stanton's head, and squeezed, bringing his fingers together. Stanton didn't have a chance.
"You are next, little Slayer." There was a horrible glee to the voice of the ancient vampire.
What happened next was the worst, most cowardly thing that she'd ever done. Faith bolted, running away from the terrifying ancient vampire, abandoning the fight, her only thought to get as far from here as she could... to get to the one place on earth that she might have a chance to find someone powerful enough to help her.
Faith was going to go to Sunnydale.