Order of Business

She floated in darkness as if all of reality was a sea of fluffy black fur. It surrounded her, caressed her, made her warm, kept her fed. She didn't have a care in the world. Off in the distance she noticed a flash of red, like a burst of neon brilliance, but she wasn't interested. She tried to ignore it, tried to swim away, but the glow of it started to overtake her, to bathe her in a bright red light.

The luxury of peace and comfort was interrupted by a flash of pain across her face. She opened her eyes, barely awake. She could see the flicker of candlelight before Buffy's face filled her vision. "Hey..B,"she croaked out as Buffy leaned closer to her and gently held her face. Suddenly the neon red light appeared in front of her. She tried to warn Buffy about it but before she could open her mouth, the phantasm slid towards her eyes. She tried to move her head but Buffy held her, gentle hands turned to grasping strength. The light separated into two eyes, they looked at her and as she tried to scream they sank into her own eyes and blackness rushed in after.

More pain, cutting through the soft darkness, causing her to be pulled to the surface. The red brilliance tried to swallow her. She fought it and tried to stay in the black, but it was futile and she opened her eyes.

"If she dies, you will soon follow," Buffy said to some unseen figure in the shadows.

"I am doing my best, Master," the nervous voice responded. "She is stable again, I do not know for how long..."

I'm dying, Faith thought. I'm really going to die...Wow, that blows. She tried to clear her mind, tried to bring the slayer to the surface; the slayer would do anything to survive. She could feel it, down within her she could feel the slayer. As she reached her hand out to it, a slap erupted across her cheek. She was startled awake. The Dragon, still in the same topless outfit, smiled at her. The red light appeared and came at her. The eyes forced their way in as she tried to lock her mind to them. She fought and thrashed but the Dragon's cold hands held her easily, the smile never leaving her pale tattooed face.

The breaching of her mind was worse than anything that had ever happened to her in her life. All of her strength, all of her pride, all the experiences, they all meant nothing. The presence of the Dragon's mind washed through her and she could feel it stop to view all of the memories that she had buried years ago. The Dragon watched as the child she used to be was abused, while that innocent little girl was hurt by the people who were supposed to protect her. She watched every degrading and disgusting thing that Faith had ever had to endure. She had tried so hard to block out those select memories that when the Dragon barely tried to see the rest, they all rushed out as the dam collapsed. Her whole everything was wide open for the vampire to pick over. Her parents, her Watcher, Buffy, Angel, the Mayor, the First Evil, the SDW building, and when she came across the memories of Buffy's fiancee, everything stopped. She carefully watched the images of Buffy and her chasing Dracula and killing him.
Even as she thought it, she knew from the Dragon's mind that they had failed to give him final death, that he had healed from the stake in his heart, that some vampires needed heart and head destroyed to die, and their mistake allowed him to set them all up to the Vampire Council.

"What a small world," the Dragon's soft voice whispered to her. "Do not worry about Dracula, Belle has eaten him." As the vampire gently petted her hair, she turned her head towards the unseen person and commanded, "Gather the innocents, she is ready."

"What are you doing to me?" Faith asked as the Dragon's hand covered her eyes. The cold touch wasn't rough, it was soft and reassuring.

"I am making you my own, child," she murmured as she pulsed a small bit of power into the damaged girl, causing her to fall unconscious again. "You will never be alone again."

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She handed her four month old daughter Aveline to the child's father, but she refused to look at him, refused to forgive him for allowing this to happen. The tears started to fall as her great bear husband handed his child to one of the other clan males.

"Darcie...My love, the mistress ordered me to do this. How could I take others while mine stayed home in safety?"

"She's your daughter, Rollo!" she spat out, horrified at the possibilities her baby was about to face. "She's OUR daughter. What good is it to be one of her chieftains if you can't even protect your own flesh and blood?"

"The mistress did not order me to include my child. My brother and I both decided that it was only fair to our clans to do so."

"Did Varden include his son then?" she yelled at him.

"The boy is to old for what the Dragon requires. He would have though if things were different."

"Why does your little brother always get out of everything while you always end up with the problems?"

Taking his furious wife in his arms, Rollo hugged her close and let his power surround and soothe her. The barrel chested man kissed her forehead and ran his fingers through her soft brunette curls as she cried into his long black and gray beard.

"I know it is a horrible thing to be thankful for, but the vampires she sent out returned with four orphan babies, so there is some insurance before clan children are in danger. Darcie, my beautiful young passionate wife, the mistress has tried for so long to encourage her servants to find human mates just so there would be babies. She is not going to harm them now, not unless it was absolutely worth it. She has been good to us lover, without her power Aveline would never have been born as a normal beautiful little girl. We should give her the benefit of the doubt."

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A flash of red shattered the darkness and she was awake.

"Think before you move, Faith," the Dragon's soft voice told her.

"What the..." She was slumped down on her knees in the middle of a large room. Her nakedness wasn't the first thing that she noticed, nor the Dragon's naked tattoo covered body standing in front of her either. It wasn't that her wounds were all soft and pink and looked like weeks of healing had passed. It wasn't even the collar or knee, elbow, or wrist bands that wrapped around her on both sides. Amazingly it wasn't even the twenty little wiggling babies arrayed out in a circle on the floor all of the way around her. It was the chains that she noticed. The taut chains that traveled from her collar and the bands out to the infants. More specifically it was the razor wire that was wrapped around their bare bellies and backs that connected to the ends of the chains. Some of them already had little lines of blood staining their helpless bodies as they wiggled against the barbs on the wire.

The blood drained from her face and she was suddenly afraid to even breathe. One of the little babies was crying loudly and the sound of it was breaking her heart. She had to stop this! How can she stop this! she despaired and was about to ask when the Dragon read the question right out of her mind.

"I do not want to hurt them, Faith. You will be the one to cause their pain if they are to be harmed. Breathe child. They are in no real danger while we speak. I have given you two marks, two connections to my power. I will give you two more but I need you to willingly accept them. If you do so then we will save all of these little babes together. If you refuse, then some will die, even now, their tiny movements cause them damage. I will give you a demonstration if you require one?" She reached out to grab one of the chains.

"NO!" She froze, afraid that she had moved too much when she yelled. "No, let's talk about this...why don't you unhook one as...a sign of good faith?"

"Very well, child, I can see that you are more tender-hearted than you let others know." She looked around and walked over to one of the bleeding infants. She unhooked her chieftain's little girl and carried her over to lay next to Faith's right knee. "There you go. You have saved this girl. Her name is Aveline and her father is a great bear, a fearsome shapeshifter. He and his wife will thank you for this, Faith. All of the other parents that are scared right now will thank you, Faith, thank you for allowing their babies to live, if you decide to save them also."

"Why are you doing this?" the Slayer asked with softness as she couldn't stop looking at the bleeding cuts on Aveline's little stomach.

"Because I need you child. You will make me more powerful as I will make you more also."

"What happened to my girls, my Slayers?" she asked, still looking at the blue eyed little girl as she cried for attention.

"Rami Carlyle was hurt in a spirited bout of questioning. Jennilee Hawser, who the council has renamed Valkyrie, was originally under the praetor's thrall but she broke free from the stupidity of others and rescued her friend and escaped, only a few hours ago. The three of you almost crossed paths in the hall." As she answered, she softly wiped Faith's face clean.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the vampire and met her eyes. "Tell me about the marks."

"Your little mongrel vampires do not have this ability. There are four marks that connect a human to a vampire. The first two give access to the vampire and some power to the human. The third gives the human a great deal of immunity from the vampire as well as greater access to the vampire's powers. The vampire gains a closer connection to the human's mind and a greater ability to feed from a distance. The fourth mark locks them together for eternity. They have a true mind to mind connection and are usually mortally tied to each other. If one dies, the other may follow. I would not have anything to fear from a normal human, not for a long time anyway, but you are so much more than normal that I have no idea if we could survive each-others demise. You will live as long as I do and I you. I was alive when Rome was remembered as but a wooden walled village. I was alive when Stonehenge was used for rituals every week. We will be alive together for a very long time, child, just you and I."

"Why don't you already have one of these marked servants?"

"It is called a human servant and it is a protected and cherished part of our culture. There are a great deal of laws in the council pertaining to human servants and to insult one is often enough of a reason to wage war. I am alone. I have always trusted only myself. Until now I have never found a person that was worthy of those laws, that was like me, that could have been a child of my own body and mind. I am sorry, Faith, but I will not lose this opportunity lightly. I wish that we did not have to start our family by using these tactics but I believe it was the only way to get you to listen to me. Now, Faith, will you take the third mark or does our conversation have to become colder, more harsh?" she asked as she held Faith's face with both of her hands.

"Can it be broken in the future, all four marks?"

"I do not believe so but I see that your people have great magics, so who could know?" she purred, her fingers tightening slightly. "Maybe it can be broken. If that is the case, then only these children will have something to lose." .

"I want your word that you haven't lied to me about any of this."

"When I give you this mark, you will see some of my life as I have seen yours. You will know then that I have only spoken the truth to you."

The slayer held as still as she could as the Dragon walked away from her. She tracked the vampire over to the doorway where she bent down to pick up a little golden knife and sheath. Her heart was racing as the nude blond woman came back to her. "I don't have to get a bunch of tattoos do I?" she asked to calm her nerves.

"Hush now, child. I hope you will never have to do anything that you do not wish to." She pulled the petite blade out and set the sheath down.

Faith swallowed as the Dragon slid down to her knees in front of her, being careful not to hit any of the chains. The master vampire made a long deliberate cut around the areola of her left breast. The slayer held still and felt like she was having a heart attack as the blond sucked the bloody nipple.

A wave of soft red energy cascaded through her body and everything she had gone through when the Dragon had opened her mind, now happened in reverse. She watched the little blond child named Enys that lived in a sod covered mound get her virginity taken by her own father. She watched as the slightly older child was wed to a hand-picked husband and then stripped and taken right in front of the whole village during the ceremony. She witnessed her father's funeral and felt the hidden happiness as the hard man openly burned on his pyre. She tried to stop the images as she had to witness the first two of Enys's children die in childbirth. She felt the beatings her husband gave her for failing to give him a son. She watched her husband become the village chieftain and then felt the shame when he brought the other women of the village into their bed and forced her to sleep on the floor and listen to them. She experienced childbirth and knew joy at holding a newborn son. She cried out at the scenes of women and children butchered by the Romans who were trying to conquer their lands.
Faith screamed in terror as she watched the peace conference that the Roman general called for turn into a trap. She howled and begged for it to stop as she watched the soldiers kill her son and husband. She sobbed along with the memory of Enys sobbing as the Legion raped her and kept her as a slave until she escaped a month later. She watched as the armies that Enys had inspired to stand and fight, met the legions on the battlefields. She could finally feel the Dragon trying to gain control of the memories, but not before she witnessed the slaughter of her troops, her capture and the cruel and brutal Romans treatment of her on the trip back to Rome itself. She viewed the parade where she was tied naked to a wagon and made a spectacle out of before the entire city. She witnessed all of the beatings and rapes and the years spent living on a gladiator farm, going to sleep and waking up in a cage with all of the other slaves, some of them as cruel as her owners.
The memories started to fade as she watched her kill a fellow gladiator in the arena, a man that she was in love with, the first and only true love of her life. Faith was crushed, her pure force of will was the only thing that kept her from falling to the ground and she resisted when soft hands were trying to lay her down.

"It's alright, child. I freed the children. I never meant for you to see that...I didn't want to see those things again." She pulled the sobbing girl into her lap and was worried that she had broken her. Even though she was a warrior, life was different in this age. In her time, brutality was expected and even though it was horrible, it wasn't a surprise that it could happen. She softly soothed the crying girl with her power and whispered words, "Faith, I can dim my memories in your mind after you take the last mark. I am truly sorry, child, it was my mistake for not realizing that your own power would affect that part of our joining."

The Slayer looked up with wet eyes and a tear streaked face and saw the pink tinged tears on Enys...the Dragon, she felt the soft correction in her mind. "How did you live through that, all of that...How?"

"To survive is to win. It used to be a common saying in my time." She stroked the girl's hair and wiped her face gently.

"How did you become a vampire?" she asked as the tears slowed.

"The wealthy Romans would pay to have a gladiator delivered fresh from the arena, with the sweat and blood. Especially a champion, a celebrity. One of them, a famous senator wanted more from me than sex. He gave me my freedom, I was never a victim, but from that moment I was never at the mercy of another again."

"Give me the fourth mark," she said, knowing in her heart that it would turn out to be okay. The Dragon handed her the golden knife and told her what to do.

As Faith sucked the blood out of the gash she made on Enys...the Dragon's neck, the vampire performed the ritual, "Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, two minds with but one body, two souls wedded as one." With the final word the doorway opened between them and they were one, one mind in two bodies and it was glorious, the power the Dragon felt at her fingertips was intoxicating.

Faith felt the rightness of her decision. She learned how to set mental walls to shield her thoughts and the Dragon showed her how to reach out to their children. As she was actually starting to smile, she felt the red haze of power tighten in her mind.

"Faith, kill Aveline. Do it now!" the command pounded through her.

She looked down at the child...

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"Are you serious!" Buffy yelled. "All we had to do was go to Haven's St.Louis and run the locator spell?"

"How were we supposed to guess that?" Willow snapped back, not actually mad as much as just frustrated at how easily they could have found the girls much earlier than they would. She rolled her eyes when the FBI guys confirmed that their SATphone had a signal.

"Hey...we're in Paris. OUCH!" Haven screamed, startling everyone as he rubbed his arm. "What the hell was that for!" his voice lowered to a growl as he talked.

"Sorry, I thought you were making another dumb sex joke," Buffy answered after Xander had pointed out the Eiffel Tower. Her army was spread out, trying not to attract as much attention as they would if four hundred-plus teenage girls and armed men stood together in a large crowd. Even though it was obviously almost morning here, the roads and walkways were still crowded. "Stop whining, it doesn't hurt that much," she said as he was still giving her a dangerous look.

"Sorry it took so long, Buffy," Blake said lacking a little of her normal confidence.

"We got here, that's what matters. Will, let's start the spell to find Faith or the kids." She stopped and watched as a half dozen Police Nationale cars screamed past with their strange sirens. The cars all slid to a stop a few blocks down in front of a hospital. "Actually, I have a pretty good idea where Faith is, so let's just go there."