A Slayer's Tale

--

Faith sat in the chair in front of Elizabeth's vanity mirror, looking at herself in the large, tri-paned glass. She had never thought of herself as pretty before. In truth, she had never really had the opportunity to take a long look at herself. But the woman whose face stared back at her from the polished glass was unlike that which she imagined herself.

Elizabeth stood behind her, brush in hand, running long languid strokes through her raven hair. Occasionally, Faith would look up into the mirror which reflected both her own and Elizabeth's image and give the blonde a slight smile. When Elizabeth would grin sweetly back at her, she would shyly look down at her feet again.

When the bath had finished Elizabeth skillfully, yet regrettably, averted her eyes again as Faith put on the white silk nightshirt that she had provided. Now Elizabeth was dressed in a shirt that looked exactly the same. It occurred to Faith that the noblewoman had given her one of her very own shirts to wear. And that thought made her flush.

"Come with me." Elizabeth had said, leading the younger girl into the main chamber and sitting her down at the beautiful vanity. Faith sat down and crossed her fingers in her lap. Everything was so fancy, that she was still afraid to touch anything. But with a little encouraging, she finally began to pick up bottles here and there to examine the wonderful and different scents within.

All the while, Elizabeth brushed her hair, giving Faith attention of the like that she had never had before. As a result, the brunette's wall of emotional defenses fell another notch.

-

Now they sat upon Elizabeth's bed together, facing each other in cross-legged seated positions.

"So tell me about where you're from." Elizabeth had started.

Faith only shrugged, reluctant to talk about her past. "I really couldn't tell you, Beth. I barely remember my parents."

"But..how have you lived?"

"Any way that I could find. I steal most times, for food and such. Other times I just go hungry. I'm not about to do any `favors' for anyone, if you know what I mean." Faith looked down.

Elizabeth looked up at her innocently. "No. What do you mean?"

It was apparent that her new friend had lived a very sheltered life. Even if she was some fighter of evil like she claimed to be, she was still a little uneducated in the ways of the world.

"Sex, Beth. I'm not about to have sex with someone just for food." There. She finally had it out. Then she looked down at the ornately decorated bedcovers.

Elizabeth was taken by surprise. People would actually ask that of a girl Trading sex for food? She realized, at that moment that she was highly ignorant in the ways of the lower class. Feeling so bad for the younger girl, she put her hand on the brunette's arm.

This girl was so pretty. It was such a stretch in Elizabeth's imagination that anyone would treat her badly.

"I'm sorry.." she said. "I didn't know."

Faith shook her head. "It's alright ma'am. I've learned to take care of myself."

-

They sat in silence, until the brunette finally spoke again. "So..what could have done..that? What we saw tonight."

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." The blonde Slayer looked down, shuddering at the memory of the carnage they had witnessed earlier. "A demon of some sort. We'll ask Rupert when we talk to him in the morning."

"So this Rupert fellow. You called him your `Watcher'. What does he do?"

"He helps me." Elizabeth told her, bragging about her Watcher. "He's very smart about such things. I'm sure he'll know what it was, and if he doesn't he'll find out. Then I'll know the best way to go about confronting it."

Now Faith was a little intimidated. She didn't want to know what had caused the horrific sights of the past eve. Then, if she did know, the last thing that was on her mind was confronting it. The best thing that she could do was change the subject.

"Beth.." she looked deeply into the beautiful face of the lady across from her. "Thank you. For the food, and the place to sleep. I promise I won't get too used to it."

The blonde reached out and took her hand. Feeling the warmth, Faith buried her shyness and looked up into her companion's face. The noblewoman was smiling back at her, sweetly.

"I don't mind." The younger girl noticed that Beth was actually beaming.

"Let's go to sleep now, ok?" Faith said, feeling flushed again.

Not saying another word, Elizabeth nuzzled up to her pillow and pulled the covers up over the both of them. She smelled Faith's intoxicating scent as they drifted off to sleep. The brunette was so exhausted from the night's traumatic events. Not to mention she was sleepy from the fullness of her stomach, that she was succumbing to sleep almost immediately.

Just in the very moment before sleep, Faith d had have sworn that she heard the whispered words, "I'll look after you from now on.." Then she vaguely felt a soft kiss upon her forehead and a butterfly's kiss upon her lips. It must have been a part of the dream that was forming in her freshly sleeping mind.

Then she was asleep.


---

The humanoid raised one hand as if to summon a companion. But what shot from the shadows was a long chain, which was tipped with a razor sharp hook. It hooked the human's flesh and immediately pulled back, tearing his muscle and flesh. The action sprayed blood in an arc on the far wall.

"What more did you want?" It asked, then laughed sardonically. The gesture of it's laughter pulled and teased at the intricate array of wires and hooks that crisscrossed it's cheeks and temples, giving horrifying glimpses of the gore underneath.

The simple séance that they had tried to perform was now a foolish dream. It became more than apparent that the simple invocation they had performed, served as nothing more than a gateway to the spirit realm by which this being used to enter reality. Their own wishes did not matter, nor did their coven's simple human magic.

Up until this point, the coven had considered themselves to be one of the most powerful in all of Europe. Now the realization was beginning to dawn separately on each of it's six members that whatever had appeared before them was beyond the touch of even their abilities. Almost all of them had tried to banish or damage the gruesome thing, in turn. It was all to no avail.

Now four of their six members hung suspended by hook and chain that permeated the most vital and painful points of their bodies. The screams of pain were deafening as they hung like nothing more than slabs of meat in a local slaughterhouse. The only difference being, that in a slaughterhouse, the butcher did the service of killing the animal before the hanging and flaying of creature's flesh. This being had no such mercy.

-

Acolistes stood in the center of his dark work, hearing the screams as music to his ears.

Since being unleashed by the workings of the configuration, he only needed the essence of any magickal working to gain access to this reality. Actually he didn't even need that, but it was so much simpler to follow a magickal trail. It drained him much less than ripping a hole in reality, which he was perfectly capable of doing if he wished to do so.

And these foolish humans trying to use their magick against him. He laughed loudly again, as chain and blade shot from nowhere to capture the last two and lift them from the ground.

"I..i know you." One of them said weakly, as her body's lifeblood flowed from her wounds and dripped to the floor, meeting and mixing with the blood of her compatriots. The pathetic sound of the human, whom he now assumed to be the coven's leader, now had his attention.

"Do you?" the demon asked, it's voice causing even more pain to the barely living victim.

Indeed, the coven's leader did know Acolistes. Knew about him, at least. In years of study, all of mankind's knowledge of the Order of The Gash, she had learned. Now the order's prophet leaned close to her face and hissed it's fetid breath at her.

"What do you know?" the dark prophet demanded.

"I know that you bring death."

So foolish. Humans and their inane perceptions.

"No. Not death. Only the endless art of pain." Then his will directed the chains as extensions of his own body, rending flesh from bone and silencing the insane babbling of the coven's leader. Now Acolistes laughed even louder, bringing more melodic screams from his other victims.

Only one force on earth could stand against him now, and soon even that threat would be eliminated. The will of the order would be done.

This was going to be a long and enjoyable night.


-


TBC