Electricity flows

Chapter 8: Allies in the sky

Okay, this had gone far beyond anything resembling funny, even with her own twisted sense of humour.

Catching Buffy’s head lightly between her hands before it could bang against the floor, Faith scooped the blonde up in her arms and made her way to the broken door and peered out.

The scene laid out before her made her baulk and instinctively tighten her grip on B.

The sky was lightening in the distance over the top of Sunnydale and the rain had lessened to a fine shower. Thunder still rolled low over the mountains but it was distant and not the deafening claps it had been.

Two patrol cars had arrived on the scene, Faith had heard the sirens but she’d been to busy dealing death to think about it. One was parked up at the gates and empty. It’s light rack casting a strange glow in the early morning glow. Another had pulled up almost to the crypt, this one wasn’t completely empty.

One cop, a guy probably in his mid-thirties and going to be real eager for a desk job if he got out of this alive, was cowering in the back-seat from a vampire stalking around the outside and growling at the windows. The cop had his gun raised and aimed and Faith figured it was only a matter of time before fear took over and he fired a bullet straight through the window glass.

A female cop, pretty in a butch kinda a way, was being sucked on by another of the creatures. Her eyes had glazed over and she was shaking from head to foot. Faith fidgeted in the shadows of the tomb. She itched to kill some more. The adrenaline from a night of non-stop fighting was writing up its bill. The payment: either more death or something that it really wasn’t the right time to be thinking about. That didn’t matter; right now she’d choose another few kills over the other anyway. But carrying Buffy like this meant she couldn’t do a damn thing, even running was going to be risky as hell, but she had to get B to a hospital and fast.

Two more vampires, most probably sensing that dawn was on the horizon and getting home was a good idea, were dragging a third cop away by his ankles, choosing take-out over eating at the Restaurant L’Mort. The cop’s screams came back to her and Faith quivered with the effort of reining the Slayer in.

Well this seemed as good a time as any for her mad dash-slash-death charge. All the vamp’s she could see were otherwise engaged, if she was real lucky they might not even see her escape.

She jumped awkwardly over the fallen door and splashed onto the soggy grass and …damn.

It was the cocky bastard from early, the one that had almost made a meal of B.

“Slayers. I almost forgot you were in there what with all the excitement with Sunnydale’s finest.” He looked over at her from where he was gripping a fourth cop around the neck. “Just a second and I’ll be with you.” He told her politely.

As she watched he pulled the policeman’s gun from its hip holster and smacked the guy around the head with it, almost gently. The cop was roused from whatever shock induced stupor he’d been in and blinked rapidly at the vampire.

“No!” Faith cried out as the vampire forced the gun into his mouth and clamped his fingers into his jaw to keep the grip tight.

The cop was trying to mumble something around the barrel of the gun, but the head Vampire guy just shook his head. “I can’t understand you, officer, speak slower.” He mocked and pulled the trigger.

Blood and brains splattered onto the grass and the vampire let the body fall limp to the floor.

Faith’s mouth was curled in revulsion as he came closer. “You sick bastard. You didn’t even feed off him, you did that for fun.”

He shrugged. “It was to teach a little respect. I can’t have the law poking around, it isn’t good for business. Now maybe they’ll remember their place and stay away off my land after dark.” He had a calm, almost classy voice and now Faith had time to look she realised his clothes matched it, even soaking wet he looked like he’d just stepped off the pages of one of them mens-wear brochures. If he hadn’t had fangs and ridges he’d have been damn fine looking too.

Appraisal over, she growled at him. “Hey you got it wrong, pal. This is my land.”

He shook his head like he didn’t care what she thought. “Just give me the girl so I can kill her and then we both can go home.” He held out his arms for Buffy.

Faith backed up a step, holding Buffy closer. ‘Okay B, now would be a real good time for you to wake and be back to full Slayer action.’ She thought as she side stepped along the side of the crypt.

“What’s so special about B anyway?” She ranted to buy time; maybe a miracle would stop by. “Everyone wants Buffy. She’s not even the real God damn Slayer anymore. I am! But it’s still all B this and B that, and ooh Buffy would never do it that way.”

The vampire held up his arms to placate her. “This isn’t about who the Slayer is; it’s about respect, and money and a stable economic market.”

“What?”

“Look just give me Buffy and then you won’t be living in her shadow anymore will you, because she’ll be dead.”

“No, then it will be all ‘ooh you let Buffy die, Buffy would never have done that.’” Faith smirked as she realised the little mental voice she was echoing was Willow’s.

The vampire had, had enough of bargaining. He came forward fast now, sick of talking and prepared to rip Buffy from her by force and Faith kicked out of him. The extra weight of the Slayer in her arms overbalanced her, her back hit the stone wall behind and the vampire laughed… which turned into a snarl of rage as a stream of sunlight broke through the clouds on the horizon and landed square between his shoulder blades. His jacket started smoking.

The clouds drifted further apart, but only the fact that the sun was still so low in the sky helped Faith, for above was still full of dark grey clouds and the light rain hadn’t finished falling yet. If the sky didn’t give it up soon, Sunnydale was gonna be under a foot of water by the time everyone woke up. Somewhere up there would be a rainbow, but Faith for once wasn’t compelled to look for it, she had her pot of gold right here in her arms already. Now she just had to keep hold of her.

The wet clothes of the vampires saved them from instant death, but the boss must have known it wouldn’t last for long. With a howl of rage he punched out at Faith’s jaw and dived for the doorway of the crypt and into the safe interior. The one who was drinking from the female cop was only a second behind him, his right foot going up in flames just before he cleared the doorway.

The vampire who had been stalking the cop in the car was either too stupid to realise the sun was out, or too intoxicated by the smell of terror pouring from inside the patrol vehicle. Either way, Faith watched as he smoked, then caught fire and then dissolved into dust. Even though her jaw hurt like a bitch, it was pretty cool. She’d never had the chance to use sunlight as a weapon until now. The SFX were wicked cool.

The cop was just starting to get out of the car, but that was his own stupid fault. If he was idiot enough to do anything but drive off as fast as he could after seeing his buddies get massacred like that, well maybe he needed to get bit as a wake up call to his brain.

Without sparing him a glance she took off at an awkward jog across the marshy cemetery. She didn’t think for a second to stop and ask the cop for help, it didn’t cross her mind that he might’ve been able to use his radio to call an ambulance. Where she came from the cops arrested first and asked questions later, and the mood she was in, that would result in someone getting seriously hurt.

With the run up she had, she easily managed to leap over the low cemetery wall without dropping B, although the slick feel of her cold feet inside her heavy duty boots did cause her to sneer in disgust as they slapped onto the tarmac. She headed for the hospital.

“Ow! Ow, fuc…Faith, put me down, ahh.” Buffy was struggling in her arms, eyes unfocused but open. A good sign.

“Nah, just hang on B, we’ll be there in a minute.” Faith had to slow from her steady jog to avoid dropping the wriggling Buffy.

“No! Now Faith, put me down.” The blonde’s voice was stronger and she was grabbing at the shoulder of Faith’s t-shirt.

“B, will you stop squirming around like a cat, I’m gonna drop you.”

“If you don’t drop me, I’m gonna be sick!”

There was so much certainty in her voice that Faith almost did drop her on instinct. “Oh, why didn’t you just say so?” She let Buffy’s legs drop from under her arm and helped her hobble to the wall.

Buffy stood leaning against the wall, breathing heavy, eyes closed again.

Faith hovered just behind, ready to make the catch if she should pass out again.

Buffy suddenly doubled over, heaving, and Faith jumped backwards out of the way to avoid getting splattered. Buffy stayed leaning over for a while, one hand against the wall for support. She coughed a few times. “I need a tissue.”

Faith patted her pockets uselessly, already knowing she didn’t have one, but wanting to help. “I haven’t, uh…” What the hell, “…use my sleeve, it needs washing anyway.”

Buffy looked at the denim sleeve for a second, before nodding once and using it to wipe at her mouth. She looked back towards Faith. “I have mud all over my face now, don’t I?” She asked with the ghost of a smile.

Faith smiled back. “Well you already did anyway, so it’s not like its noticeable or anything. Feeling better?”

Buffy was taking some deep breaths. “No, but I don’t feel like I’m going to lose yesterday’s dinner anymore, which is of the good, ‘cause Mom’s cooking tastes a lot better going down than…” Faith joined her in looking down at the mess she had created. “…now.”

Faith carefully stepped around it to the blonde’s side and gently took her arm. “Come on, we have to get you checked out and then I’ll take you home.”

“Checked out? What do you mean? You’re going to rent me out with a VCR for the night?”

“The hospital. They can patch you up, sort you out…”

“No!”

“It won’t take long, we’re nearly there, and I can call your mom from there if ya like, get her to come…”

“No!”

Faith stopped trying to lead Buffy along the road when the severity of her tone kicked in. “Why, no? You can barely walk, you look like shit and you’ve passed out like three times in a couple of hours…”

Buffy turned away from Faith and started hobbling back the other way, still using the wall for support. “And now I’m awake, and I’m good thanks, don’t need any doctors telling me that.”

Faith only had to side-step occasionally to keep in pace with her. “You’ve lost who knows how much blood, you probably need stitches.”

Buffy ignored her and kept moving back towards the cemetery. Faith frustrated to the point of lashing out, deliberately moved in front of her, making Buffy either stop or bang into her.

“Are you scared, is that it? Little sis too chicken to go to the hospital?”

“Faith, get out of my way before I make you.”

Faith laughed. Buffy raised her fist. Faith laughed harder. Buffy threw a punch at her face.

Ducking her head to the side to avoid the blow, Faith opened her arms and took the weight as the blonde collapsed into them. “Ready for that nice cozy hospital bed yet, B?” She asked softly.

She could feel Buffy’s breath coming hard against her neck and it made her body tense in a way she hoped the blonde was too far gone to understand. ‘She’s half-dead right now,’ she thought, ‘you freak. That’s the way she likes them, not me’. The coughing began again and although Faith was reluctant to let go she had to ask. “Not gonna chuck again are ya, ‘cause I don’t want it all over my t-shirt too, ya know.”

Buffy shook her head, her wet hair tickling Faith’s cheek. “I just need to lie down, I think, but not the hospital okay.”

“Why not?”

“I hate them, you were right, I’m scared shitless in those places, they don’t make me better they make me worse, and with Slayer healing I’ll be fine by tonight and then I’ll have to explain it to them and …it’s just not worth it.” She coughed again, but found the strength to push away from Faith, to the brunette’s disappointment. “And we need to work out what this new Vampire group is all about, and taking Giles’ books in there just looks suspicious, it’s better all round if I recover somewhere else.”

Faith finally relented, only because she had already learned that B in this mood was not going to be swayed. “So where, you’re Mom’s, or Giles’ place. The books are there. I can get started while you rest.”

Buffy shook her head weakly. “No it’s too far and I’m cold, like freezing cold. Did the big storm last night somehow take us out of Sunnydale and dump us somewhere like Alaska, because critics may say that the “Wizard of Oz” is just a work of fiction, but they say that about a lot of things.”

Faith pulled Buffy’s right arm over her shoulders, stooping a little to make it more comfortable for her, and tried to work out if this was concussion talking or just B being normal. “I think it has to be a Tornado to do that and you’re cold because of the blood-loss. Your home’s only ten minutes away, think you can make it?”

Buffy stopped their slow progress back towards “Open Skies”. “Not home, I can’t go home. Mom’s already freaking, she’ll have a cow if she sees me like this. Can I come back to yours for a while?” Her question sounded shy to the brunette. Didn’t B know she was always welcome ‘round at hers?

“Sure thing, just don’t bleed over everything. The furniture cost me a bomb.” Smirking she led the way to her motel. “You do realise, B, that if you had just come back last night when I asked – we could have avoided all this in-between shit.”

“It’s always the same with you F; you always wanna rush through the good bits.”