Vegas Stakes

Chapter Two

Faith only hesitated for a moment, before entering the cave. This just wasn’t going to be a pleasant visit for her, she could tell. She almost thought she’d imagined the scream, until she heard it again. It kind of confused her, because it wasn’t the scream of a kid. No, this was a woman who was in complete and total agony. She stepped into the cave after taking a deep breath. She always seemed to find herself in the biggest messes. She’d had to get away from Buffy and Angel. It creeped her out that her mentor was now a human being. Plus, everyone was getting married! Buffy and Angel had gotten married first, then it had been Red and Oz’s turn to tie the not, then last, but not least, Fred and Wesley got hitched. She had thought it ended there, but Talia and Xander had announced their engagement, to her utter dismay. Slayers, witches, and watchers were all getting married. It was like it a new fad or something that she just totally didn’t understand the need to do.

So far, Faith was completely lost. She was trying to follow the screams, but it was awfully dark. She hadn’t heard anything recently, so she was walking around totally blind. She was about to give up, so she stopped. She was waiting to hear any kind of sound or movement, but she heard none. She sighed and turned around towards the cave opening. She could barely make the entrance out, so it was good thing she was going back. It was still light out, but she only had about an hour of that left. She was very upset that she hadn’t found anything, because that only meant that the person who’d been doing all of the screaming was probably dead. She was almost at the entrance, when something or someone slammed into her. She didn’t fall, but she did stumble just a bit. She looked around and saw a girl frantically trying to get to the opening, clutching her neck. Faith reached down to help her up, but the girl was hysterical.

“ Oh God, please don’t hurt me! I just want to go home!” Faith kept her patience.

“ I’m not going to hurt you, but you have to calm down! We need to get you outside into the sunlight.” Before the girl could answer, someone behind her spoke.

“ Why would she want to do that? If she goes outside, we won’t be able to kill her.” The girl let out another piercing scream, and the demon smiled. He was quickly joined by several of his friends. The scream had caused Faith to wince. Just as one of the vampires attempted to walk forward towards the girl, Faith Stepped in front of her to block his view.

“ Hey lady, you need to shut the hell up, and start running!” She turned back to the vampires and shrugged. “ They always do that! They just keep on screaming, when they should be running, and it’s rather annoying making me do all of the work.” The girl had immediately silenced her scream, and taken off running. She smiled at the vampire in front of her, the one who’d been trying to get the girl, and without any warning slammed her fist into his jaw. The blow took him by complete surprise, and he fell backwards on the ground. Faith would normally love a challenge, but more had gathered, and she didn’t want to take the chance. There had to be at least ten vampires now, and she knew she couldn’t defeat them all at the same time. She smiled once again at them, and took off running towards the opening of the cave. She heard them growl and take off after her. She didn’t look back until she was completely bathed in sunlight. She looked around, but the girl had fled, which was probably for the best. She turned back to the cave, and saw more then twenty vampires standing there glaring and growling at her. She’d had no idea just how lucky she really was. Faith fell to her knees as the realization of how close to death she’d been, came crashing down on her. The vampire who’d done all the talking, spoke from where he stood.

“ I’d get out of town if I were you, Slayer. You’re strong, but you know you can’t take us all on.” Faith picked herself off of the ground, because she only had about fifteen minutes before the sunset. Faith knew that she’d be cutting her visit short, but she had no intention of giving the vampire satisfaction of know that.

“ You don’t know me very well.” After saying this, she ran in the direction of her motel to quickly pack her things. Her final destination was Las Vegas, and she hoped it would be a better trip than this one had turned out to be. She got in her beat up old car, and took off in the direction she needed to be. She’d been on the road for about an hour, when she pulled the car over.

She’d never tell anyone how much being back on the hellmouth again had affected her. She’d felt the evil pull as soon as Willow had driven across the county line. That had been one of the reasons she’d had to leave Buffy, because she was afraid she’d break down and cry in front of her. She rested her head on her steering wheel as the sobs overtook her body. She’d walked right into their lair, and hadn’t even sensed them! Someone in the PTB was looking out for her. She grabbed a tissue, and forced herself to stop crying. She composed herself as best she could, and resumed her travels.


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Spike knew that he had to convince Seraphim that he wasn’t there to hunt or kill anyone. It was the truth, but she probably wouldn’t believe him. She was a very beautiful creature, but could she be reasonable with him?

“ Come on Sera, Surely you notice something different about me? I’m not here to hunt or anything, I’d get my ass kicked if I was.” Seraphim turned her bright eyes on him and stared.

“ What are you talking about? You always get your ass kicked, so what would be so different about that?” Spike grinned because he knew she spoke the truth. He’d always loved to get in fights, but he always seemed to look worse then the other guy, even if he won.

“ Listen closely, Luv, I’m sure you’ll hear something on me you’ve never heard before.” Seraphim smiled evilly at her.

“ How about I just use my hands to search you, Spike?” Spike knew what that meant, and he actually grew worried.

“ Please don’t do that. There is something different about me, that I’m not wanting to publically announce to everyone.” Sera shrugged and walked closer to him. She placed her right palm on his chest. Spike was very nervous, and he shut his eyes. After a few minutes, her palm left his chest and he opened his eyes to a smiling Seraphim. She looked at her guards and motioned for them to leave. She walked up to Spoke once they had left.

“ Since when did you get your soul back? Or better yet, when did you become human?” Spike grinned at her.

“ Oh you know how it goes. I earned my soul first, went to this nasty demon and went through the trials. It bloody hurt like hell, I’ll have you know. I went crazy for a bit after that, helped avert an apocalypse, died, came back from God knows where, averted yet another apocalypse, and the PTB saw fit to let Captain Forehead and myself fulfill the Shanshu Prophecy. Quite a mouthful, huh?”

Seraphim chucked at him. Angel had been involved with her, and she was aware of what Spike called him. She also knew that Angel still called him Captain Peroxide, but that was kinda true. The fact that Angel was human intrigued her. It was common knowledge that the dumb oaf had fallen in love with a slayer, but he was human now? Oh that made for a very interesting detail, indeed.

“ So, you and Angel are still bickering like an old married couple? When did Angel become human?” Spike knew why she was interested, but he decided to play along.

“ Same time I did. It’s been about two years now, and I’m still not used to it.” She smiled at him again.

“ Are you telling me that the nasty Angelus is used to being human?” Spike once again knew why she was asking for this information. She was certainly fishing, and she wasn’t going to get it from him. Angel had broken up with her and had chopped her hands off, two things you should never do to a Tethelo Demon. They’d grown back, obviously, but it had taken several months. It was probably a very painful process.

“ I don’t know if he’s used to it or not. We’ve never like each other, so we don’t really share. Also, I haven’t seen him in over six months.” Seraphim sighed and Spike knew that she was becoming bored.

“ Spike, you can go. My people will be watching you, so if you make one wrong move, I’ll have you dismembered. Something that I’m sure will be even more painful now that you’re a human.” Spike stood up and looked over at her.

“ I’m just here to have some fun and lose some money.” Seraphim grinned and motioned for him to leave, which he gladly did. He pulled out his cell phone, and dialed Buffy’s number when he got outside. Talia answered the phone, though.

“ Henderson residence.” It still made Spike laugh at the name Angel had picked out. The man was bloody Irish, and he picks a name like Henderson.

“ Talia, luv, is Buffy or Angel there?” He could hear her smile through the door.

“ Well hello to you too, Spike. I’m fine, thanks for not asking, and you had better come to my wedding.” Spike laughed at what she said.

“ I wouldn’t miss it for the world, darling.” She chuckled and handed the phone over.

Buffy answered the phone, and she sounded so happy to hear from him. He really should start calling more often. They’d remained really good friends, even with everything.

“ Hey, just wanted to give you guys a heads up. I ran into an old friend of Angel’s.” Spike filled Buffy in on Seraphim. Buffy sighed when he finished.

“ Okay, I’ll let him know. By the way, how are your fighting skills? Angel has gotten so bad now, and I’ve been working with him every day!” Spike thought this tidbit to be hilarious and priceless.

“ Buffy, I’m not touching that one.” He hung up the phone, still laughing, and headed over to his motel. He’d have to be careful while he was here.