Fate

Buffy looked down at the slip of paper in her hand and then up to the quaint building before her. She pushed her shades up to her head and glanced down at the paper once again.

Yep. This was the place.

Letting out a slow, deep breath the slayer made her way up the pathway and towards the front door. She let a small smile grace her lips as she passed through the garden with the running Angel fountain as its centerpeice.

Buffy finally stopped when she reached the archway of the door. Looking up, she noticed the heavy black curtains that covered each of the windows. She let out a deep breath and reached out to turn the knob.

“Hello?” she called out into the large foyer as she slowly swung the door open. “Faith? It's me, Buffy.”

The blonde caught a movement out the corner of her eye and looked over towards the large fireplace in the center of the room. The vampire was lounging in a large black leather chair, an open book in her lap and a mug in her hand.

Faith looked over at the sound of the other woman's voice. A soft smile spread across her features as she placed the book on the nearby table. “Buffy. I wasn't expecting you so soon.”

The slayer watched anxiously as the vampire placed the mug next to the book and stood to make her way over.

Faith suddenly stopped and locked gazes with the blonde.

“Huh?” Buffy was still slightly surprised.

Faith just nodded towards the door uncomfortably as the stream of sunlight faded in behind the slayer. Her eyes averted when the soft glow hit the blonde hair just right.

“Oh, right,” Buffy apologized. “Sorry.” She closed the door softly behind her and took a few steps closer to the vampire. “We finished early and the Magic Box. When I told Giles I was meeting you, he seemed a lot more willing to spare me the insipid watcher type drabble.”

Faith just smiled. “I'm glad I could help.”

Buffy returned the smile, placing her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “Yeah.”

Both women remained in the awkward moment until the vampire cleared her throat and motioned towards the living room. “Would you like to sit down? Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Oh, I uh,” Buffy cleared her throat nervously. “I'll just have whatever you are.”

Faith glanced over to the mug sitting on the table before pulling her eyes back to Buffy's. “I...I don't think, I mean you might not...”

The slayer's eyes widened and she quickly corrected herself. “Oh! Doh...no. I mean, water's fine. I like water. It's all...water-y.”

“I'll just go get you that water-y...water.” Faith motioned towards the room off to the right. “Please, make yourself comfortable. I'll only be a minute.”

The vampire quickly disappeared from the room and the blonde let out a long sigh of relief. “Smooth Summers. Real...smooth.”

Buffy shook her head as she made her way deeper into the room. She allowed her eyes to wonder along the walls, taking in the various and elegant paintings, masks, and weapons lining the room. She dropped her eyes off to the far corner and noticed the large oak chest. It was secured with a lock, and immediately piqued the slayer's interest.

The blonde was still staring down at it when she heard footsteps approaching from behind. “I didn't know if you wanted bottle or tap, so I brought both.”

Faith extended out a glass and a bottle of water and waited for the slayer to turn.

Buffy quickly snapped out of her transfixed state and turned to face the brunette. “Oh, uh. Tap's fine, but thanks.” She took the glass and the bottle before downing the tap and reaching to open the other.

Faith silently took the glass and placed it on the table as she watched Buffy drain half the bottle as well. “Thirsty?” she asked wtih a slight smile.

Buffy blushed as she pulled the bottle away from her lips and replaced the cap. “Yeah. Sorry, but I didn't realize how hot it was on the walk over.”

“Oh, no, please,” Faith nodded. “Would you like another?”

“No, thanks,” Buffy shook her head and reached over to place the bottle on the table next to the empty glass.

“So, shall we sit?”

Buffy nodded silently and took a seat in the velvet chair across from the large black one. “Let me guess, your favorite color's black?” the slayer questioned with a teasing smile as she ran her hands over the black crushed velvet.

Faith just smiled as she took her seat. “I guess I'm just so use to it. That and it makes me look thinner,” she added with a half-smirk.

Buffy's eyes roamed over the vampire's body. She trailed her eyes over the black long-sleeved button down silk shirt to the black leather pants and down to bare feet. “I don't think you have to worry about that. You look great.”

The slayer's eyes widened and she looked up at the vampire in shock.

Faith's smirk faded and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. Reaching over to the table, she picked up the book and extended it out to the blonde.

“I was doing some reading, and I found something I think you should see,” she explained calmly. Buffy hesitated only a moment before accepting the book and glancing down at the page.

“Who is she?”

Faith reached over for her mug and cradled it with both hands as she held it just in front of her mouth. “Her name is Darla. She was the most ruthless vampire of the eighteenth century.”

Buffy's eyes remained on the photograph for a moment longer before her gaze met the vampire's. “Is this the big evil you were talking about?”

“Yes,” Faith answered before taking a sip from her mug.

“Funny,” Buffy sighed as her eyes drifted back to the image. “She doesn't look so evil.”

Faith smiled and placed the mug back on the table. She leaned forward in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. “Appearances can be deceiving. A fact that Darla has lived by for nearly three centuries. Don't let the blonde hair and soft eyes fool you. She's a monster.”

Buffy looked up sharply at the last comment. “Am I to take that to mean you knew her...personally?”

The vampire's demeanor faltered and she did nothing to hid her nervousness. “You could say that.” After a long pause, she added, “She's my sire...and my first love.”

Buffy's look was priceless. “I'm sorry. I thought you said she was your first love.”

Faith's eyes never left Buffy's as she gave a slow nod. “I did.” The vampire sat back in the chair, her posture rigidly firm. “I'm not who you think I am, Buffy. I wasn't always this...tame.” She paused again, gaining the courage to speak the next words as her eyes fell to the clasped hands in her lap. “I was once a monster myself.”

The slayer seemed stunned into silence, so the vampire reluctantly continued.

“I was once a very lost soul. I wondered aimlessly from town to town just trying to survive one day to the next. I was orphaned at a very young age and back then...” The vampire cleared her throat painfully. “Back then people weren't so quick to take in a stray.”

Buffy carefully closed the book in her lap and inched forward in her seat, anxiously awaiting the rest of the vampire's tale.

“By the time I reached sixteen, I realized I was completely on my own. It was always easier to steal at night, more places to hide in the darkness.” The vampire paused, lost in a memory. “So, I started to sleep in any ditch or cave I could find and then...hunt at night.”

Faith looked up at Buffy for the first time. “On the night of my twenty-fifth birthday, I decided to treat myself. I was hiding in an over-look above an alley when I noticed this elegantly dressed couple pass by. I figured they were my ticket to a big meal.” Faith smiled sadly. “Little did I know, I wasn't the only one on the hunt that night.”

A distant look clouded over the vampire's eyes. “I watched as Darla transformed from elegant to animalistic in the blink of an eye. She turned on that man and drained him dry in a matter of seconds.”

The vampire's expression was blank as she continued. “I watched as she liked her lips and laughed, no...chuckled as his body fell lifeless to the ground. Then, she turned her gaze onto me.”

Buffy flinched at the change in the vampire's voice. It was so pained...

“Something told me that this was it. This was the night I was going to die at the hands of such an anomaly of nature. So beautiful, yet so deadly.” Faith's gaze traveled over to Buffy and she allowed herself to relax in the moment. “I didn't stand a chance, but it wasn't has horrific as I had imagined. She came to me and softly placed her hand upon my face. Then she asked me the one question I never expected.”

Buffy swallowed back anxiously. “What?”

Faith was quiet for a long moment. “She asked me if I wanted to live forever.”

“W-what did you say?”

Another pained look flashed through the vampire's eyes. “I said no. I said I'd rather her killed me on the spot than doom me to a life of aimlessly wondering with a thirst I could never quench.” Another pause. “I'd already had enough of that to last me a thousand lifetimes.”

The pain in the vampire's voice almost made Buffy want to cry for her.

But the slayer was too lost in the moment to do anything other than stare at the other woman and hang on her every word.

“She told me I had no idea the power I could have.” Faith smiled sardonically. “That's when I realized that no matter what I said, she was not going to take no for an answer. After all...you can't rationalize with a psychotic.”

Buffy couldn't contain the laugh, and it spilled forth from her lips. Faith smiled, letting out a chuckle of her own.

“Don't you think that's a...little harsh?” the slayer asked still laughing.

“Trust me, that's doing her a favor,” Faith grinned back in answer.

Both slayer and vampire welcomed the change in mood as they allowed themselves to share in a comfortable laugh at Darla's expense.

The moment was short-lived when Buffy suddenly blurted out, “So why were you lovers?”

The question instantly brought sadness to the vampire's face.

Buffy shook her head and sighed. “I'm sorry. Sometimes words just string themselves together and out they come.” She looked at the vampire apologetically.

“No, it's okay,” Faith quickly answered. “I was actually expecting it to come up sooner or later.”

Taking a deep breath, the brunette continued. “After I was...turned, Darla and I were inseperable. There's something about a bond between sire and chylde that even they don't quite understand. All I cared about was being by her side.” Faith cautiously looked up to gage the slayer's reaction. “That, and hunting.”

Buffy flinched, but didn't say a word.

“We traveled the world over going from one village to the next. We slept during the day and hunted at night. We killed every living being and fed until our throats ached.”

Buffy averted her gaze, her eyes slipping closed.

“I told you, Buffy,” Faith admonished softly. “I was a monster.”

“I'm sorry,” the blonde whsipered. “It's just...looking at you now,” she paused and meet the vampire's eyes. “I can't imagine you being so...”

“Evil?” Faith finished for her. “Well, I was. I hunted, I killed...I fed. And I loved every second of it.”

The tension hung in the air between them until Buffy finally spoke up. “So, how did you get a soul?”

Faith sighed. “I was afraid you'd ask that.”

When the slayer remained silent, the vampire continued.

“One night, Darla and I stumbled across a small village just on the outskirts of Madrid. As proud of the evil and carnage we left wherever we went, we were too stupid to realize when enough was enough.” Faith paused in her tale and swallowed back uncomfortably. “In less than an hour, we had killed just about every living thing in the village. All that was left was a young maiden and her elderly grandmother. She spoke in a language foreign to our ears, but screaming sounded the same no matter who said it.”

Buffy's heart ached when the vampire's voice cracked.

“Darla grabbed the girl by the throat and was about to sink her teeth into her when I stopped her. For a moment, she had thought that maybe I'd take heed to the girl's cry for mercy, but that word was not in my vocabulary. I sank my teeth so far in her neck, I fell the muscle tear with the force.”

Faith looked over to Buffy with a steely gaze. “Within seconds, she was drained dry and I dropped her lifeless body to the ground, licking my lips in satisfaction. Darla laughed and I turned my head as she leaned into me.”

The vampire's voice dropped. “I looked over to see the girl's grandmother silently kneeling before us. It was then that she looked up into my eyes with an expression I had never seen before in all the years I had walked the earth.”

The breath caught and held in the slayer's throat.

“She spoke to me in her strange language. It was only a few words, but somehow, I knew that my life was going to change that night.” Faith smiled sadly. “It wasn't until I woke two days later with a burning in my chest and a thousand voices in my head that I knew just how right I was.”

“What happened to the old woman?” Buffy asked curiously.

“We let her live,” the vampire answered. “Darla was bored with killing for the night and I had my fill with the girl, so we left her there, on her knees by the lifeless corpse of her grand-daughter.”

“What...” Buffy closed her eyes and shook her head with a sigh. “What did she do?”

Faith was silent for a long moment. “She cursed me. With a soul.”

“H-how is that a curse?” the slayer asked with a furrowed brow. “Shouldn't you be glad that you weren't that monster anymore?”

“Well, apparently after having lived without one for so long, the pain of realizing what you had done without it...is far worse.”

“I'm sorry,” Buffy apologized. “I didn't mean to...”

“No, it's okay,” the vampire interrupted before she could finish. “It wasn't exactly a surprise. I mean, being cursed by a Gypsy after killing her only grand-child and waking up one day to the anguished cries of the hundreds you had slaughtered in cold blood while you were a souless demon isn't exactly a big shocker.”

Buffy's eyes widened slightly. “Oh. Y-yeah. I guess...not.”

The vampire smiled sadly. “Now do you understand what I meant last night?”

Buffy gave her a raised brow in response.

“In your room,” the vampire added. “When I said 'if you only knew'. I was referring to my not so stellar past.”

“We've all done things we're not particularly proud of, Faith,” Buffy added softly.

“Yeah?” the vampire asked, her voice rising slightly. “Ever killed an entire village and had sex by their rotting corpses with your insanely evil vampire lover?”

Thne slayer was taken back by the vampire's unusual outburst. “Uh, n-not recently, no. But it's right there on the top of my list.”

“I'm sorry,” Faith apologized as she averted her eyes in shame. “I didn't mean to...I'm sorry you had to hear any of this.” She quickly stood and motioned towards the door. “I'll understand if you want to run away screaming and never speak to me again.”

Buffy slowly stood and reached out to place a hand under the vampire's chin, pulling her eyes up to her own. “Faith, now you listen to me,” the slayer commanded softly. “You have a soul now. Whatever you did or whatever you were back then...doesn't matter. You're one of the good guys now.” Buffy smiled softly. “You're on the fast track to redemption.”

Faith was hesitant to believe the other woman's words. “If I'm so great...then why do I feel like this inside?”

Her eyes were so deep and her voice was full of so much pain, that Buffy found herself becoming quickly lost in the vampire's embrace.

“Hmm?” Faith insisted when she recieved no immediate answer. Without thinking, she reached down and pulled Buffy's hand to her chest where her heart should be beating, holding it in place with her own.

“Why do I feel like I don't deserve to live when so many have died by my hand? Why do I crave for the chance that a slayer will come along and put me out of my misery?”

Buffy was silent as she dared not break from the vampire's gaze. “Is that what you want from me? To kill you?”

The vampire stared down the short distance into the slayer's eyes. “I...”

“Because I hate to disappoint you,” the blonde continued, her heart beating wildly in her chest, “but I'm not in the business of mercy killings. You can't change what you did when you were that...thing.” She paused. “But you've been given a second chance. A chance to make it right.”

“How?” Faith whispered. “How could I?”

“You can start by helping me defeat Darla,” the slayer answered, still not breaking the gaze they were locked into. “You have a soul, Faith. You're nothing like her anymore. You've been given a second chance to find some peace and happiness. Don't let your past take that from you. Don't let Darla take that from you.”

“Buffy,” the vampire whispered in anguish. “I...”

“Shh,” Buffy soothed softly. She kept her eyes locked with Faith's as she leaned up the short distance and pressed her lips to the vampire's.