Nusac

Chapter 1

Faith’s POV


I’m walking down the brightly lit corridor. Sunlight spilling through the long window, warming my face. Wouldn’t you think it strange for a vampire who hunts vampires to be out at this time of the day? Good for me, bad for the vampire.

No one stops me as I walk down the corridor with my crossbow hanging at my side. I round a corner and see my target but I keep walking. I’m hardly five feet from his back. He should have seen me by now.

"Okay, Elvis. When you are a big star you can get away with not carrying any cash. And while we're on the subject - I think one of us should apply for a small business loan. Just to get us through the rough spots. As Cordy talks I lift my crossbow and aim it at Angel’s back. “I meant what's a thirty year loan to you?"

I rest my finger on the trigger and have to push all of my doubts to the back of my mind. He knows I’m here. He’ll stop this. I push the crossbow more securely into my shoulder and squeeze the trigger.

He turns to face me, catching the arrow an inch from his flesh.

Play it cool Faith. "That was so cool!” I say waving my deadly weapon around. “This is gonna be fun!"

I turn and run towards the door in front of me illuminated by sunlight, behind me I can hear the conversation between the three friends.

Wesley says in a very English way. "Oh my God. Faith."

"I thought she was in a coma?" Angel says seemingly still in shock with the arrow in his hand.

"Pretty lively coma." Trust Cordy to come up with that. I push the door and run as fast as my legs will carry me. At least I’m safe in the nice warm sunlight.

So I guess that didn’t work, not that I expected it to… I guess its back to the drawing board or whatever it is they say.

I walk silently up the corridors at Wolfram and Hart and stop outside Lilah’s office, the door is open slightly. I can hear her talking to someone inside… okay so eavesdropping it is.

“So you guarantee my protection?” I hear a man ask.

“I will have our lawyers draw up the contract, but yes if you keep your end of the bargain then we will fund your research to a point and offer you protection.” Lilah replies.

“And you wish me to send one of your clients into a portal? Do you have any particular place you wish to send him? Torture or overrun by evil or some sort of similar plane to this one?” He asks.

“Torture I think shall do fine, we will be in touch…”

I jump back from the door just in time then stroll towards it as if I had just arrived.

“Faith… come in.” Lilah goes back into her office and I pass the old man whom she was speaking to in her office. She sits behind her desk and I stroll around the room. “Is it done?” she asks me.

“Not yet… I gotta plan it is just gonna take a little while to put into motion.” I think I need to talk to this guy. Portals to other worlds that could be just the push I need to get Angel to go through with this. He’ll be able to get back from anywhere. I mean he came back from hell didn’t he?

“Shouldn’t you be out there putting the wheels in motion?” She seems to be getting a little pissed at me.

Least it means that I don’t need to keep myself in here. Now all I need is a reason I would come here in the first place. “Forgot my knife.” I kneel down next to where only an hour ago I bashed a mans skull in and I have to hold back the need to flinch at the thought.

I slide my knife out from the sleeve of my jacket onto the floor and pick it up again in one swift motion making it look as if it were there the whole time. I wave it around a little bit and she steps back in fear. She has no idea what I might do. I always did like to be unpredictable.

I step past and purposely get into her personal space as I do so. She tries to put on a brave face after I’m at a reasonable safe distance. “I wouldn’t come back here till the job is done if I were you.” She promptly shuts the door in my face. If it were a few months ago I would have made sure she never did that to me again.

I head to the elevator before thinking about that plan again. I need to beat him down to the bottom floor. The elevator isn’t going to cut it. So I find the staircase and take it two at a time.

I get into the lobby and look around. I think I might have lost him. No there he is walking out the door. I drop my crossbow into a nearby trashcan. Not going to be easy to follow someone with a crossbow under my arm now is it?

I walk slowly behind the old man keeping some distance between us, I expect him to get into a car or a cab or something but he doesn’t, he keeps going on foot. I follow him around a right turn then cross the street and take a left down an alley, I speed up slightly as he rounds another corner and just catch him closing a door down a dirty looking side street. I run and catch the door before it closed.

I edge the door open the reveal a hallway of an apartment block. I walk to the stairwell and see the man a full flight up, I follow as quietly as I can, stepping gently so my boots don’t make any sound on the solid concrete steps.

I get to the first floor just in time to see a door at the end of the hall close. I stride over to the door and give the door a solid knock.

The door opens and I see the mans face fully for the first time. He looks at me with a question in his eyes.

“Can I come in?” I don’t bother waiting for an answer and push myself past him. “Good.”

He shuts the door and follows me in, I look around the crowded room, full of books. “And who may I ask are you?” He asks.

“Name’s Faith, you are going to do something for me…”

“Am I indeed?”

I sigh at him and push him up the wall holding my knife to his throat. “You can help me or I can slit your throat right here and now.” I threaten, okay so I wouldn’t actually do it I mean he is a human but he doesn’t know that.

His breathing picks up in fear and his eyes widen. He begins to mumble something under his breath, which I can’t quite make out even with my slayer hearing.

”What the fuck are you on about?” I say before I hear a large gust of wind pass by my ears. Hold on. Gust of wind. Inside. This cannot be good.

I turn my head in time to see some kind of translucent thing behind me, sort of sucking me in, it looks like some weird water/hair gel mixture suspended in mid air. The last thing I do before I am sucked through is look the man right in his cold eyes and scream “You fucking bastard!”

It pulls me through and the world dissolves around me and immediately comes into view as I fall flat on my face on a patch of grass.