His Slayer

CHAPTER 9

"Faith. Coming here?" Buffy's voice was incredulous.

Giles at least tried to look apologetic. "Yes, well, er...that is, Fred called and said that Faith is on the way here. Apparently she's the only one they could spare from the detective agency." Giles didn't say 'Angel Investigations' because he knew that would just inflame Buffy further.

"And Fred called WHEN?"

"Er, a quarter of an hour ago." *Or less. Good Lord, that girl was really asking for it, holding off calling for this long. Had she been taken lessons from Cordelia?*

"And Faith will be showing up WHEN?" Buffy was sure if her blood pressure went up any more she'd burst a blood vessel.

"Right a-bout now. Giles. B. Xan. Hear y'all got a problem I can help with." And in the doorway stood the dark Slayer. Flip as always, a standing like a twenty-dollar hooker on Sunset Boulevard, but managing to look dangerous and sensual and the tiniest bit uncomfortable at the same time. Lipstick matching her dark red nails, but a little less mascara than they remembered.

"Faith." Xander said her name as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

*And maybe she had,* Buffy thought. *Okay, that was way too ooky. I'm going to freak myself out if I think about shit like that. Gotta stay focused, and deal with the psycho slut.* "Faith." Buffy actually said the name without much venom.

"Look, Buffy. I'm here to help. I so don't want to do the old fight anymore, but..." Faith's body language changed. And this was the Faith they all remembered. Chin raised a little, shoulders back, her whole stance screaming 'Bring it on!'

"Faith." Giles was actually able to start before Buffy could say something that would provoke Faith to the point of violence. "Thank you so much for coming. I gather things are busy in Los Angeles?"

"You bet, G-man. Soul-boy is working on cleaning out a clan of Rach'noh demons, one at a time, along with Gunn. And now that Cordelia sends 'em spirit-memos of hisioisions instead of being there in the flesh, Fred's gotta play secretary, too."

"And still no word from Wesley?"

"Naw. Can't even mention his name 'round there without gettin' the evil eye from Angel."

Xander spoke again "So they sent you here because they didn't need you?"

"No. They sent me here because Cordy said you all do."


* * *

Buffy surveyed the crew that sat around the table, almost like they had years ago in the library. *Befwe bwe blew up the school. Before Dawn was human. How long has it been? Only four years? It feels like a lifetime ago. It WAS a lifetime ago. We trusted Faith back then, and look where it got us. Of course, Spike screwed us over more than one, when we thought he was playing for Team Scooby.*

*I wish the others were here now.* But Tara was dead. Willow and Cordelia gone, in different ways. Oz, last heard from backpacking through the Yukon. And Angel. *Well, it's better that he's not here. It's bad enough Spike answered the phone when Angel called the Magic Box last week to ask Giles about a scroll. I just wish Spike hadn't dropped the bomb that he was living with us. God, I so did not need to talk with Angel for three hours about Spike. Or anything else.* The train of thought startled her. Had she really changed that much? That she didn't even care to talk to Angel? *He's just not part of my life anymore, he's part of my past. I mov moved on.*

Giles had been briefing the team as Buffy had been zoning out. She'd already heard what he had to say, anyway. When Spike started to speak, Buffy snapped out of her trance. Faith leered at her. Dawn snickered. Xander scowled. He'd been doing that a lot, lately. "As I was bloody well sayin', we found the bleedin' idiot that wants to open the Hellmouth. Goes by Brannok."

Giles suppressed a grin. Spike said that Willy had actually pissed his pants when threatened this time. The unsavory Brannok character was known to be an accomplished demon-summoner. He saw opening the Hellmouth as a way to reach the pinnacle of power, leading an army of demons. Good thing they had found out about him in time to stop him.

It was Buffy's turn. "So here's the deal. We're going out to the Junkyard tonight for a reconnaissance." Spike grinned at her use of the big word, and she blushed. "It'll be me and Faith, with Xander as driver and backup. Spike and Dawn are going to sit this one out at Casa de Summers, and Giles is going home as well. Questions? All right, let's roll."

Giles spoke as everyone rose. "And yol bel be sure to call if anything unusual happens?"

Buffy twisted side to side and cracked her back. "Yeah, but don't wait up. We'll call in the morning, otherwise."

Faith went over to where Spike was looking at a shelf of spell components, waiting for Dawn to finish using the restroom. "So Billy-Boy, all soul-y and stuff?"

"Yeah, what of it?" He was cautious around the dark Slayer. She knew just how to push his buttons; she'd proven it while wearing Buffy's skin.

"Well, you know, talkin' with Fred in L.A.--you know she's like, a genius?--and she said somethin' like the soul was the seat of the life force, of love, and stuff like that." Spike stood very still. "So," Faith drawled, "I was wonderin' if it was...different now. When you and B are goin' at it like bunnies. Do you slam her up against the wall? Do you vamp at the very end?" Then her voice changed, losing all of the sultry appeal. "Or is it just plain jane vanilla now?"

"Spike." Buffy had walked up too close to have missed that last part. "Shouldn't you be getting Dawn home?" She nodded towards her sister, who had come out of the restroom. Dawn was now shaking a little jar of chicken feet and clucking.

"Sure 'nough, luv." Spike looked relieved beyond measure for the interruption. He headed towards the door, pausing briefly at the exit until Dawn joined him.

"Faith." Buffy's voice was not hostile. Quite. "Leave Spike alone. He's trying to do the right thing. Just like you."

Faith had the good grace to actually look a little ashamed. "Sorry, B."

"And Faith?"

"Yeah?"

Buffy slowly leaned close to Faith, until she could speak without anyone else hearing. Her breath caressed Faith's ear, and when the blond spoke, it raised goosebumps on Faith's neck. "With a soul, it's fantastic." Then Buffy turned and headed toward the door, leaving a stunned Faith behind her.

"Faith?" She hadn't noticed Xander come up beside her.

"Ye-ah?" Her voice caught.

Xander backed up half a step. He noted that Faith was looking flushed, her pupils were dilated, and... *Great googooly moogooly, that girl is NOT wearing a bra! What the hell did Buffy say to her?* "Um, Faith?" He looked up into her eyes. He tried to control his heart rate and breathing, which were trying to match that of the Slayer. "We're ready to go."

Faith looked at Xander. The old Faith would have dragged him to the back room and taken him hard and fast, right the hell now, consequences be damned. The new Faith looked at Xander, and willed her heart rate and breathing back to normal. Can't do that. Not to him. And even if I could, he'd still hate me when we were done. "Yeah, X-man, let's go."

Xander smiled a little. X-man. I like it!


* * *

CHAPTER 10

Jimmy's Auto Recycling, unofficially known as the Junkyard, was on the eastern outskirts of town. The place had had a good reputation among both budget-conscious muscle car restorers, as well as those who simply couldn't afford newer cars and had to make do repairing their beat up old grocery-getter. Now that it was out of business, it served as the target of vandals and midnight auto part thieves. It was also the location Willy said they should look for Brannok.

Xander killed the headlights when they were still a hundred yards from the place. He pulled down a side street and stopped. There was dim lighting from a single working streetlight a block back. The slayers got out of the pickup, one after another, as Xander set the emergency brake.

Buffy pulled her shirt away from her body. *Gross! Faith was sweating on me.* Buffy figured the other Slayer was still worked up from her teasing back at the shop. *She better not have gotten excited from her skanky body being next to me on the ride here.* Buffy frowned. Then she turned and quietly observed the junkyard beyond the fence while Faith got the bag of weapons from under the seat.

Xander had been sitting on the other side of Faith, and he was also aware that she had been sweating. He knew it was mostly his fault, but could he help it if his arm kept rubbing up against a certain part of Faith's anatomy every time he turned the wheel? He remained safely hidden from the Slayers' view until his body relaxed again.


* * *

On Revello Drive, Spike watched for Dawn's reaction as the screen faded to black.

She turned to him. "What about the end of the movie?"

"Nibblet, that was it."

"Spike, all the Knights of the Round Table getting hauled off by the police is NOT a real ending."

"C'mon, Bit. It's part of the whole Monty Python deal. Can't believe you 'aven't seen this 'ere film before!"

"Well, Buffy doesn't like anything remotely British, except 'Sliding Doors'."

"That bint isn't even--"

"And I can't watch it with Xander, 'cause it's got the whole 'great fierce beastie with sharp teeth' scene that reminds him of Anya. And Giles, well, 'great bloody mindless waste of time.' So I hadn't seen it. 'Til now."

Spike smiled at Dawn's imitation of the Watcher. It actually wasn't bad. Maybe he could get her some fake spectacles and a handkerchief to clean them with...

"Spike. Spike!"

He looked at her, startled out of his musing.

"Spike were you thinking of killing someone?" Her eyes were wide.

"No, Nibblet! Why the bloody hell would you even ask?"

"Well, you had a smile on your face that you used to get when you'd think about 'the bad old days.'"

"No, luv. I was thinkin' 'bout how to help you with your watcher imitation."

"Oh." A pause. "Spike, do you miss it?"

Spike looked at Dawn, her bright face, the slightest bit of apprehension at the corner of her mouth and eyes. The pause was apparent only in his mind. "No, Platelet, not for a moment. I've got a woman that..."

"You love. Who loves you back. Even if she won't admit it."

"Yeah, that, and you to look after, and the whole 'noble vampire, help the hopeless’ gig going on.
D
Dawn actually fell off the couch she was laughing so hard. "Oh God, Spike, that's great. Buffy told me about you being all deluded when Willow..." Dawn's smile faded.

"Now then Bit, none o' that sadness, now, you 'ear?" He'd seen the shadow fall over her face when she though about the people Willow had hurt. He needed to get her mind off it. "We've still got volume two of 'Flying Circus' to watch." He got up to change tapes in the VCR.

"Spike."

He turned around to look at her. Before she spoke, he knew the question. "Yes Dawn, I regret the things I did. The people I...hurt. I know I'm not all broody like Peaches, but that don't mean I don't think about it, and feel bad about it."

"Oh." Then, a moment later, "Good."


* * *

They found the sorcerer in the upstairs office of the only building on Jimmy's lot. He stood near a table with a leather briefcase on it. *The cross,* Buffy thought. *Well, let's see what this bastard's made of.* "Don't suppose you'd like to surrender and come quietly?" Buffy's voice was deceptively sweet.

"Slayer? Not at all. Though I wasn't expecting you to be joining my little party here. I thought you'd be at home with your pet vampire." Brannok saw Buffy's look of surprise. "What, you didn't think I knew? And you, the other one. Did dirty work for the mayor, right? I do my homework, and I was shocked, simply shocked, to find the perversions that Slayers in this town take part in."

"Hey!" This from Buffy and Faith together. They looked at each other and grinned. Buffy looked back at Brannok. "This is your lucky day. Two slayers." She stepped forward, and swung at him with an empty fist. He jumped back nimbly, just out of reach.

A blur of motion to the side as Faith cartwheeled into a double side kick that hit Brannok in the chest. "No waiting." The villain was knocked back into the wall. Faith landed on her feet.

"Buffy!" Xander shouted a warning.

Buffy turned to look for the danger. Which smashed into her from behind. She screamed as something sharp stabbed her. She went down, the three hundred pound purple monster on top of her.

Faith turned to see Buffy laying on the ground. With a monster's enormous sickle-shaped talon sticking into her back. The beast leaned over Buffy, moving to bite the back of her neck with metallic-looking fangs. Xander was aiming his crossbow, but from his angle couldn't shoot without risk of hitting Buffy.

Faith launched herself at the demon. She dove across its back, hooking its chin in her right hand as she passed over. Her left palm struck it at the base of the skull. Even as Faith was twisting in midair, the creature rolled with her, so that instead of breaking its neck, she only flung it clear of Buffy. Faith and the purple demon slammed into the floor, and bounced apart. The demon rolled and came up on both feet. Faith arched her back and kicked coming up in the Instant Stand she'd learned from her long-dead watcher.

The demon regarded Faith. It feinted with its left talon, then swung its right. Faith predicted the set perfectly: ignored the first, parried the second, and followed up with an elbow strike to the toothy jaw. The monster turned and ran. Wimp. Faith started after it, but was stopped by Xander calling her name.

"Faith! We've gotta get Buffy to the hospital!"
* * * * *

*Fools.* Brannok sneered from his vantage point on top of the building. He watched as the Slayer called Faith and her lackey half dragged, half carried the wounded and unconscious Slayer back to their vehicle. Well, his other servant wouldn't find a Slayer at the house he had been sent to, but perhaps the vampire abomination would be there.


* * *