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Everything Is Different Now	By : Declan Category: -Buffy the Vampire Slayer > FemmeSlash - Female/Female > Buffy/Faith Views: 7516 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy The Vampire Slayer Television Series. Joss Whedon does. This is done for simple fun, I'm not making any money from this.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Picking Up The Pieces: Part 2 (The Dead And The Damned)

Giles shifted uncomfortably in the silence that had followed Buffy’s announcement. Xander just blinked in baffled alarm. “You... wanna run that by me again, Buff?”
Buffy began pacing, not at all defensively. “I said, if I’ve got to take out something as big as Kurenos that I’m going to need Faith’s help.”
Xander acted like he didn’t understand what she meant. “As in, going over tactics and giving you a pep talk and stuff? That kind of help?”
Anya patted Xander on the back gently. “I think she means with the actual killing of the thing. You all keep on saying that’s one of Faith’s strengths, right?” She smiled perkily at Buffy.
Buffy nodded cautiously at Anya’s support. “Right, I guess.”
Xander stood up threw his hands in the air. “Wrong. This is totally wrong. It’s a big, giant, thundering mistake of an idea.” He waved a hand at Giles, “Back me up here, Giles.”
Giles looked pained in having to speak up. His face was doubtful. “Buffy, while I don’t doubt that ultimately you’ll be able to reason with Faith, and perhaps in time she could be of help to us.” He shook his head sadly, “This, this is just too soon.”
Buffy appealed to Giles. “Didn’t you just get through making it clear how dangerous this demon is, and how, right about now, it could be ‘Night of the Living Dead’ out there? There isn’t time enough to be cautious; I need serious back-up, and somebody to watch my back.”
“And give it a hearty stabbing?” Xander jibed. “Putting Faith out there is just going to be throwing gas on the bonfire. We, all of us, can back you up. We get Willow, some flamey torches, weapons, possibly a chainsaw, and then –”
Buffy interrupted him. “Xander, there’s no way I’m risking you and Willow on this. Kurenos took apart an entire Initiative squad without batting an eye. And I’m not strong enough to take on a powered-up, regenerated, new and improved demon all by myself. I won’t be able to protect you properly.”
Xander shook his head, irritated. “I never asked for you to–”
Buffy cut him off again. “No, because you never have to.”
Xander appealed to her. “Look, Faith has pretty much been a go-to mercenary-assassin for every major bad guy since she got here. First the Mayor, then Angel when she thought she’d stolen his soul, and now Walsh. How the hell can you think about trusting her again?”
Buffy shook her head and tried again to reason with her friend. “In the end Faith helped me against the Mayor; she told me how to get to him. And she didn’t even know Walsh was evil. When she did, Faith went to find out what was going on instead of blindly following along. That’s progress right?”
Xander almost rolled his eyes. “Right. So she’s an unreliable mercenary-assassin. How does that make it better again?”
Giles held his palms up in the air. “Buffy, we don’t even know if Faith will even be willing to help. She hasn’t acted like a slayer for, well, quite a while now.”
“She wants to change Giles. I know she does, deep down. She just... doesn’t know how to ask for help.” Buffy saw Xander about to object again, “We’re wasting time here, and this is my call. I’ll just have to live with the consequences.”
She quickly turned and walked down the hall to the bathroom. It was funny how the room was quickly starting to feel like a refuge from bickering with her friends.
Buffy pressed her forehead against the door for a moment, gathering her strength. Could she do this? Could she even try and persuade Faith to help?
Maybe it was possible, after all instead of running, instead of just getting out of town or jumping on the nearest freighter and disappearing, Faith had returned to the Initiative. That mattered; it had to. It meant something that Faith had decided to help out and had gotten hurt for her troubles.
Buffy had to try something, take a chance and show Faith some trust. And that started with asking for her help, maybe Faith would see that as a sign; see it as a way to begin to repair things between them.
Without announcing her intentions, Buffy quickly unlocked the bathroom door and stepped inside. Faith hadn’t moved from the lavatory seat, she slouched casually as she drank the last of her water.
She lowered the bottle from her lips and simply watched Buffy for a moment. “Somethin’ up?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly, her lips in a curious half-smile.
Buffy paused as she leaned back against the door, closing her eyes and running a nervous hand through her hair as she tried to think up a good opening argument.
In the end she opted for the truth. She opened her eyes and looked directly at Faith. “Yeah, there is. We’ve got trouble of the seriously big kind. There’s... a really nasty demon running around out there that’s literally raising an army of the dead in the middle of Sunnydale. I need to stop him tonight, before it’s too late. And I need your help to do it.”
Buffy caught a twitch of surprise in Faith’s eyes before her smile broadened slyly. “My help? Huh.” She cocked her head as she seemed to consider it, “Why’s that exactly?”
Buffy felt her jaw tense at Faith’s teasing tone, but she swallowed her pride. “I fought this thing a couple of days ago and... I barely managed to beat it. But it’s back now and Giles says that it could be a lot stronger than before. And now it’s got a dozen or so zombie-minion things that it whipped up with some demony mojo.” Buffy rubbed her eyes as she finished, cursing inwardly at how tired she felt, how weak she must look in Faith’s eyes.
Buffy thought about appealing to Faith’s pride, in her abilities as a slayer. Or maybe she could challenge Faith to show Buffy that she still had the fighting chops to help stop a demon. Or Buffy could say that this is what she’d always wanted, for Faith and her to fight on the same side again. That she missed that feeling so much sometimes it felt like a physical wound, an ache that wouldn’t –
Faith stood up and grabbed her jacket. “No problem.” Her face and voice were neutral, devoid of excitement or any smug confidence. She shrugged as Buffy just stared at her. “I’m guessin’ if you’re askin’ me then its gotta be serious. So let’s motor already.”
Buffy straightened up as Faith moved closer. “You, uh, you’re going to help, just like that?”
Faith scowled. “Let’s not make this a Hallmark moment, ‘kay. I’m just itchin’ to do somethin’ other than sit in Giles’ depressing-ass bathroom. Gettin’ out t’slay somethin’ that’s got you runnin’ scared? That’s icing.”
Buffy frowned. “I’m not running any... You know what? Forget it, come on.”
Buffy let Faith leave the bathroom first since she was still wary about turning her back on the dark haired girl. All this could still be some sort of trick, but the way Buffy saw it she really didn’t have a choice. Nevertheless she stayed close behind the other slayer.
Faith came out into Giles living room with that easy, confident swagger that she might well have had patented. “Check it out, gang’s all here. Giles and Xander and,” She blinked in Anya’s direction, “Whoever you are. ‘Sup, I’m Faith.”
Giles and Xander noticeably stiffened to see Faith up and free and walking about, but Buffy managed to catch Giles’ eye and give him a reassuring nod.
Anya just stared at Faith for a long beat before quickly turning and slapping Xander hard on the arm.
“Ow!” Xander yelped in surprise, “What the hell?”
Anya’s voice took on that slightly shrill tone that Buffy was hearing more and more often. “She’s very attractive. Why didn’t you mention that your ex was very attractive Xander?”
Xander looked bewildered. “I... I, uh, I mean... y’know, she’s not that...”
“Oh please. Just look at her.” Anya waved a dismissive hand in Faith’s general direction. Xander could only shrug and sheepishly stare at his feet.
Faith’s eyebrows shot up as she smirked at the two of them. “Hey lady, you can chill out okay? Me and Xand here didn’t ‘zactly ‘date’. He was more a convenient scratching post for my itch, y’know. Ships that bump in the night or whatever. No ‘ex’ involved.”
Faith turned her attention to Giles and missed the dirty look that Xander shot her way, although Anya appeared more relieved by Faith’s dismissal than anything. She still gave Xander a sidelong suspicious glare.
Faith cracked her knuckles and tilted her head in Giles’ direction. “B is acting like this latest freak is wicked bad news. You got any pointers on how t’kill it?”
Giles delicately cleared his throat before replying coolly. “Buffy can fill you in on most of the pertinent details Faith, but judging from the passages that I’ve read then I would say that immolation... fire would be the key to making sure the Kurenos stays dead this time.”
Faith thought for a second before nodding. “Check. Set this Curry-nose guy a-blazin’.” She glanced back at Buffy, “Where d’ya keep your weapons at?”
That was it for Xander, who cried out. “Oh great! So you’re gonna arm her as well now?”
Faith gave him a dismissive glace. “Word from somebody who actually knows how to fight, it’s a lot quicker to kill somethin’ if you use sharp things.”
Xander’s anger was barely restrained. “I guess you know all about that, huh?”
Buffy stepped between them. “Stop it! Now isn’t the time to be getting into this again.” Buffy shook her head before quickly moving over to Giles’ weapons chest and opening it.
She concentrated on sorting through the tangled collection of weapons, picking out a good-sized axe for herself and putting a sword to one side. She was removing a bulky crossbow from the bottom of the chest when Faith came and squatted next to her. The dark-haired girl reached in and grabbed a knife and tucked it into her jacket before picking up the crossbow and a few bolts.
Buffy glanced sideways at the other slayer. “I thought you could take the sword. I know how much you like pointy things.”
Faith smiled broadly. “All kinds, but I’ll stick with a couple of knives and the crossbow all the same. If we’re goin’ up against an army then best we don’t weigh ourselves down with things we can’t run with, y’know. In case we need t’ keep moving.”
Buffy simply nodded stiffly, aware of the intense awkwardness of the whole situation. She stood up with the axe to find Giles returning from one of the back rooms. He held up a large tin of lighter fluid for her to see before setting it down on the desk. “For disposing of the creature’s corpse once and for all” he explained.
Buffy walked over to him and glanced at the lighter fluid. “Great. Uh, what about the dead guys? That going to be standard zombie-slay time?”
Giles nodded. “The only practical differences with these, ah, ‘risen’ as it were, are their speed and the fact that they are all linked together by Kurenos’ will. If one was to be attacked then all the others will know instantly and respond accordingly.” He glanced at Faith as she finished gathering up her weapons, “Something to bear in mind when best deciding what approach to take.”
Buffy followed his gaze and then tried to look more confident than she felt. “Understood, Giles. Faith and I’ll be in full sneak-mode, count on it.”
Crossbow clasped against her hip, Faith walked on over, exaggerating the friendly smile she gave Giles before addressing Buffy. “All set. Let’s get huntin’.”
Buffy picked up her own jacket before putting the axe and the can of lighter fluid in her shoulder bag.
Giles regarded her with concern. “Please do be careful Buffy.”
She smiled slightly. “I will.”
Xander cleared his throat and spoke up, his tone conciliatory. “Look, just watch your back out there.”
Buffy exchanged an understanding look with Xander. She knew that ultimately, he always had her best interests at heart, even if he expressed it too bluntly at times. “Thanks.”
Xander gave an understated shrug. “It’s just I worry, y’know.”
“I know.”
“Feelin’ the love in this room”, Faith put in mildly as she stood by the front door.
“We wish you both much successful killing” Anya added brightly as Buffy turned to leave.
Buffy made her way over to where Faith stood. “Shady Hills isn’t too far away; we can cut through some of the side streets so you don’t look so conspicuous totting that thing around”, she said, gesturing to the crossbow.
“Yeah. Here’s hoping it’s nice and quiet out tonight.”

*~~*

Morley had been impressed at how well the ambush had worked, but then this is why she’d required the help of these men in the first place. The physical work necessary to complete this task successfully would’ve been... needlessly debilitating for her. Their swift attack on the prisoner transport had been brutal in its efficiency.
The unmarked, black van had rolled to a stop a few feet from the stolen roadwork signs. The driver had paused, seen the indicated detour symbol and had begun to turn the van around when the armoured car had struck them from the side.
The van had flipped onto its side with a crash-tinkle of battered metal and breaking glass, scraping loudly across the asphalt before stopping with a dull clang as it hit the curb.
The three-man squad scrambled out of their vehicle and approached the van. One of them, Weatherby, calmly shot a man as he groggily emerged from the top of the wreckage. His silenced pistol made little more than a whisper as the man flopped back, out of sight.
Smithy had smoothly moved over to the doors with a large pair of pneumatic bolt cutters in his hands, the tool necessary to sever the securely locked back doors. Once he’d jammed them into place, Morley had appeared, making her own preparations as the cutters whined and bit into hard steel.
She saw that the three operatives had grouped themselves in a tight formation, prepared for any resistance from the slayer, and in a perfect position for what she had in mind.
The cutters took only a minute, and before long the lower door of the vehicle, already somewhat buckled from the impact, dropped open and clanged onto the asphalt road. Smithy backed up as Collins stepped forward with a tranquiliser pistol at the ready.
Inside the dim interior Morley saw movement, a figure chained and crawling towards the entrance. Weatherby lifted the top door up and reached in to grab the prisoner and roughly yanked them out onto the road. The captive was hooded and clearly shaken from the impact; they raised their shackled hands up defensively even as Collins grabbed the hood and pulled it off.
Ethan Rayne squinted in reflex as he looked at the men standing over him. “Are we there already?”
Collins’ eyes widened in surprised recognition. “Ethan bloody Rayne!” He swung towards Morley, bringing his weapon around with him.
Too late.
Morley had already cast the greenish orb from her hand towards the group. It flew true, stopping and hovering at head height in the centre of them.
“Tempus Furata”, she intoned as the orb shattered in their midst, an emerald mist rippling outwards, engulfing the three men in a ring of billowing mist before dispersing in moments, as if dispelled by a puff of wind.
The three men stood on the spot, frozen mid-action. Still and unblinking, they did not react as Morley stepped forward with a swish of her cloak.
She regarded the hunched figure of Ethan Rayne, a man of unique talents, the man she sought. “Good evening, Ethan.”
The sorcerer blinked once as he looked around at the three motionless men and then smiled. “That was rather good. Are they paralysed?”
Morley smiled within the depths of her hood. “Not at all. Merely an incantation – a simple perception distortion. From their standpoint, we are but in between ticks of the clock, whereas to us and the rest of the world, all moves as it should.” Morley gestured to a side street, “And so we must hurry, for the police will certainly arrive soon. And we have much to discuss, you and I.”
Despite his restraints Ethan slowly managed to get to his feet and looked her over. “Do we now? Well I’m sorry to disappoint but I don’t tend to wander off with mysterious, hooded strangers.” In spite of his predicament, his tone was dryly amused, “It’s how I’ve stayed alive so long.”
“And yet moments ago you were a prisoner. And now you are free because of me, or do you think the Watcher’s Council has any interest in you beyond scratching you out of existence?” Morley shook her head, “Come with me and will make sure that your freedom lasts. All I ask in return is that you listen to my offer and consider it.”
Ethan looked at his restraints, and then noticed his surroundings. “Sunnydale.” He chuckled, “They really did bring me back here.”
“Actually I brought you back here. For a purpose.”
Ethan gave her a look of measured curiosity. “And what purpose would that be.”
With another gesture, the cuffs binding Ethan’s legs vanished. Morley turned and walked towards the mouth of a nearby alley. “Follow me and find out.”
Rayne walked towards her, paused to cast another glance at the three men who hadn’t moved an inch. He smiled at them even as he cocked his head at the distant sound of police sirens.
“You have my thanks.” He addressed them with an ironic bow before following Morley into the alley.
By the time the police arrived they were both long gone.

*~~*

The slayers approached Shady Hills in tense silence. Buffy hadn’t spoken to the other slayer since leaving Giles’ place and Faith seemed content to match her silence. The dark haired slayer’s movements had been purposeful and brisk; her mind seemingly completely on the task at hand, and Buffy hadn’t wanted to disrupt that with any ill thought-out conversation.
But trying to keep her mind solely focussed on Kurenos had been difficult. Buffy was walking out and about in the night, side-by-side with Faith. Patrolling with her. So Buffy slyly watched her for signs of intent, trying to decide if the rigid tension in Faith’s body was in preparation for their fight with zombies and demons, or if Faith had a closer target in mind. Even then, part of her couldn’t help but notice the way ambient moonlight highlighted the dark sheen of Faith’s hair, the glint in her watchful eyes, the sinuous roll of her hips as she moved or the smooth, pale expanse of cleavage visible above her shirt.
Buffy should’ve picked out a much baggier t-shirt for Faith. Or possibly a sweater. A big chunky one.
Faith stopped at the entrance to the cemetery and cast a glance around before looking at Buffy, her eyes unreadable in the gloom. “Y’know, if I was gonna attack ya I would’ve done it already.”
Buffy tried not to bristle or look guilty. “Huh? I don’t–”
“You keep eye-ballin’ me like I’m gonna jump you.” Faith shook her head, “And that don’t matter out here, but in there,” she said nodding her head towards the graveyard beyond, “it’s probably gonna get us both killed.”
Buffy thought about arguing, about saying that she might be completely justified in her caution. Because that was what it was – caution, nothing else. Definitely not.
Instead she simply nodded. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s just... hard to switch off sometimes.”
Faith stared straight ahead into the cemetery. “Let’s get his over with” she muttered, striding forward, shoulders hunched and eyes peering intently for movement. She held the crossbow in both hands.
Buffy followed beside her, watching her left flank. She had her axe grasped tightly in her sweaty grip. She paused a moment to wipe her palms on her thighs and watched as Faith halted just up ahead. The dark haired slayer leaned back next to a particularly gothic-looking mausoleum covered in ivy and gabled with rusting wrought-iron decoration.
Buffy gazed at Faith for a long moment before finding the courage to speak up again. “I do. Want to switch off that is. And I want to thank you as well, for helping and stuff. I know you don’t have to.”
Faith stared at her, her eyes in shadow.
Buffy picked up her axe again and walked closer. “I want us to be okay again Faith. Put everything else behind us and just... be.” She spoke softly and with feeling. She knew this was probably the wrong time to be having this conversation, but then Buffy had never been good at keeping something in her head when it had settled there; she needed Faith to know.
Faith straightened, shrugging. “Whatever. You can want all you wanna B, but it doesn’t change anything.” Faith eyes were black pits but Buffy could see the girl’s mouth twisted in a sneer. “Can’t wish it away like it was nothing. Some things you can’t take back.”
With that, Faith walked off, leaving Buffy visibly stung. After a pause she shook off her hurt. “No, I guess you really can’t wish anything away” she muttered to herself, hurrying to catch up.
Faith had stopped up ahead again, her head cocked to the side. Buffy saw her step back quietly so that she was shielded on her right by a large, ornate marble headstone. In the moonlight, the pale rock resembled bone more than stone. Buffy stepped up close behind, aware of the whisper her feet made in the uncut grass, and concentrated on trying to hear what Faith had heard.
There wasn’t much to hear besides quiet; the wind rustling through the woods; the murmur of branches moving together. Then, there was a muted thud, the sound of earth falling on earth, followed by another, lots in fact. The noise was so low and rhythmic it seemed to blend with the other sounds of the night.
Just as Buffy was about to comment, Faith scampered forward, ducking past two large headstones. She nimbly vaulted up onto the roof of a mausoleum that was the size of a small cabin. Buffy watched her scoot up on her stomach to the apex of the roof before stopping to stare at something beyond.
Buffy waited a moment before padding over to the black stone structure and quickly pulling herself up the side. Careful not to make any noise as her shoes scraped against slick, moss-covered walls, she managed to crawl up onto the lip of the roof and then quietly scramble across so she was next to a motionless Faith.
“You wanna try waiting for me next–” Buffy stopped mid-sentence as her gaze caught the sight that had Faith so transfixed.
People.
A large crowd milled about below: there was no talking or cheesy zombie-moaning, only silence. Coupled with the way they all moved so purposefully, Buffy found the silence more unnerving than if they’d been screaming or wailing.
The fact that some of those walking about were clearly dead was also wiggins-inducing; heads lolled from emaciated necks and skin peeled from faces revealing large sections of gleaming bone. One man was lacking the whole of his lower jaw; another had raw looking burns all over the side of his face. Yet they all moved, digging in the ground, pulling out bodies and broken coffins, dragging the bodies off and casting the rest to pile up on one side.
Buffy had never seen a cemetery look this crowded, not even during the day at a well-attended funeral. There were at least two-dozen figures wandering unerringly in the gloom, moving as if synchronized, coordinating so they moved in a seamless group motion.
Faith scanned the whole area back and forth before bracing herself up on her elbows. “Damn. Guess you weren’t lyin’ about them building an army.”
Buffy swallowed. “There’s got to be thirty of these guys at least.” She spotted two walking dead, one of them dressed as an Initiative soldier, dragging two bodies into a large, dank looking crypt. Within its shadowy recesses she saw brief flashes of blue light, flickering like a flame.
Buffy pointed at the squat, stone building. “That’s where Kurenos must be, right in the middle of them. I recognise that blue-light thing he does.” She looked around at the lay of the land, seeing the lack of cover. There wasn’t anything between them and the other mausoleum larger than a tombstone. “We’ll never get there without being spotted.”
Faith shrugged. “So we get spotted. Big deal.” She pulled her legs up under her and prepared to stand up.
Buffy grabbed hold of her arm. “Are you insane?” She hissed and watched as Faith’s mouth twitched into a smirk, “Okay, let me re-phrase? Are you stupid? We’ll both be swamped if we go down there.”
Faith shook her head as she carefully placed the crossbow next to Buffy. “No, we won’t be. That’s the thing about guys, B; even the dead ones wanna chase me.”
Before Buffy could reply, Faith launched herself off the roof and hit the ground below. She rolled and rose, tearing off towards one of the larger groups of walking dead. Buffy could see that none of them had reacted to the quiet sound of Faith’s landing or the motion of her approach.
It didn’t last long. Buffy saw Faith approach two of the corpse-men at a swift pace and in a flash she had one of her blades in her hand. She punched the knife forward, straight through the skull of one of them before twirling and jabbing the point of the dagger upwards through the jaw of the second.
Buffy shuddered at the display of swift brutality as the two zombies dropped to the ground in a heap.
Then, almost as one, all the others stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Faith.
And Faith just kept on moving; even as her first two opponents dropped she was charging another, stabbing her blade deep into one of its eye sockets. The carcass twitched, staggered back a step before tumbling into an open grave.
The dead swarmed Faith, launched themselves at her from almost every direction as if one. They didn’t cry out or moan or scream with rage, they made no sound as they descended on her.
Buffy was already up on her knees, axe in hand, ready to go to the other girl’s aid rather than see her dragged under by a horde of zombies.
But Faith pivoted agilely, ducking under two reaching zombies before leaping on top of a headstone and kicking another one in the face. She jumped from her stone perch to another and then sprang off it to summersault over the heads of a large group of them. She landed in a clear patch of ground, turned around to whistle loudly, before taking off at a sprint through the cemetery. As Buffy watched the trailing banner of Faith’s hair, the other slayer let out a loud whoop of excitement.
The mass of zombies turned and ran after her, spilling around tombstones and piles of dirt as they simultaneously pursued her.
‘Right. Fast zombies, still not that smart.’
But Buffy still felt a knot of tension in her stomach. Faith was faster and more agile but these things were numerous. She might have a lot of trouble losing them, not to mention doubling back to help Buffy.
That left Kurenos to Buffy. Again.
With axe and crossbow firmly in hand, and her bag slung across her back, Buffy jumped down from the roof and looked around. There was no sign of any other corpses, apart from the ones that lay where they were demobilised. Buffy twisted one way then the other and then sprinted for the opposite edifice, a sunken family crypt with the name ‘Marylebone’ embossed across the top of the entrance.
Buffy actually recognised thus one; it had been a vamp nest back in her second year in Sunnydale. Half subterranean, it had a large, vaulted roof and stairs leading down to a couple of large stone sarcophaguses in the middle of the area. Plenty of open space for a fight, as she and Angel had discovered, since most of the family members were sealed up behind the walls.
Not a bad place for a bad guy lair, Buffy thought as she stepped up to the wide-open door and peered down into the room proper. The stairs descended down about eight feet, running along the right hand wall before turning so the last few steps jutted out into the open space, creating an ‘L’-shape. The sunken room had a high ceiling supported by four spiralling pillars dotted around the room. The moonlight that spilled through numerous crescent-shaped windows encircling the top of the room provided the only illumination. Deep shadows pooled in the corners of the space and at the bottom of the stairs, piled up near one corner, were half a dozen corpses, dressed in ragged remains of finery and stained by soil, waiting to be resurrected.
Buffy saw Kurenos, as large and repulsive as ever and standing between the two raised sarcophagi, both of which had dead bodies propped up on them. She saw the demon raise its hands up above lifeless torsos, talons spread in the air as thought it were about to do some conjuring trick. She saw a flicker of bluish-white light as the creature’s jaw opened, unhinging widely and showing large black teeth and a purplish tongue flecked with blue bile.
‘Yuck. Neat trick, he’s actually gotten grosser.’
Without wasting another thought, Buffy quietly dropped her shoulder bag and raised her crossbow in both hands, aiming it and pulling the trigger all in one swift motion. The bolt twanged, flew true and speared the demon straight in its rotting chest, puncturing the putrid flesh lying beneath its patchy grey fur.
Kurenos took a step back in surprise and let out a choked breath at the force of the blow. He lifted one claw to the protruding bolt as he raised his head upwards to where Buffy now stood, axe in hand.
“Oh, I’m sorry, where you in the middle of something? Because, really, this whole place is so inviting, I couldn’t help but just pop by.” Buffy moved to the top of the stairs and readied her axe, “They’ll let anybody into these places.”
The demon’s snout twitched and snuffled just like before, and then it took a breath. “...Slayer...”
The word was like an icy wind that curdled the air and reverberated off the stone walls.
Buffy suppressed a shiver. “That’s great! You’ve learned to speak. We can engage in meaningful dialogue now... or at the very least, witty banter.” Buffy shook her head in mock disappointment, “I remember how much I had to carry the conversation last time.”
Buffy was stalling. The longer she could quip, the longer Faith had to loose her grateful dead fans and hightail it back here with that knife of hers. Three was very much the crowd Buffy wanted.
But Kurenos didn’t wait: he strode forward with that gangly, liquid quickness that Buffy remembered from their first encounter and within moments its twisted gait had it mounting the steps upwards. It never took its luminous blue gaze from Buffy as it raised its sinewy arms up to attack. Buffy noticed as it got closer that its appearance was different in some ways; twisted lengths of bone now pierced the flesh all across the creature’s body, seeming to entwine with each other. Bones melded with and melted into what looked like small animal skulls, brittle spines jutted from the shoulder, elbow and forearm like razored teeth.
Buffy couldn’t get too close or she’d be shredded.
Kurenos took the stairs three at a time as he moved up closer to her, muzzle leering and twisted in what might’ve been a triumphant grin as its talons flexed like pale spiders legs.
Running nimbly down the steps, Buffy swept her axe out to the left of her to draw the demon’s gaze before using her speed and momentum to run left. She scampered up onto the wall and moved past his shoulder in a quick horizontal arc before leaping down behind him. As she did so she swung the axe out and down behind her, hoping that the surprise move would leave him open to a strike.
Kurenos managed to rear back on the narrow staircase and duck his head low so that the axe struck his horns, glancing off hard bone instead of carving into his face. The demon whirled around; claws extended so they gouged the stone wall as they travelled in a deadly arc, and cut the air where Buffy had been as she leapt backwards off of the stairs.
Buffy hit the ground and hopped back as Kurenos readjusted himself on the staircase, one gnarled hand going to his horned head. “...Slayer...”
Buffy let out a shallow, tension-releasing breath. “That’s good, but some variety in the vocab might be nice. Why don’t we try a verb, such as ‘Fail’? As in ‘He failed in hitting her.’”
Kurenos lowered his arms and stretched them wide. He seemed to suck in a lung-full of air; his breath was visible, like pale blue smoke drifting around his mouth. “...Slayer...Dead...”
Buffy smirked. “Maybe if I was to stand still long enough, but otherwise,” she raised the axe so he could see, “I’m not the one who should be worried.”
Another breath and then the demon skulked forward, hoofed feet clacking dully on the stone steps. “...Not light... Dark... Other...” It flexed its claws and leapt towards her, a dry rattle issuing from its throat that, even as she dived to one side and rolled across the floor, she realised was supposed to be a mocking laugh.
‘Not light but dark... What the..? Faith.’

*~~*

This was fun.
For the first time in since waking up in Giles’ bathroom Faith felt really pumped. Just letting loose and feeling the wind in her hair, the firm ground beneath her boots, the adrenaline blazing through her system. All of it kept her mind clear and made all those little aches melt away as she blurred past shadowy, leering statues and gleaming headstones that dotted her path.
Even as she angled right to avoid a looming marble obelisk, Faith could still hear the sound of thundering movement close behind her, belonging to the mass of bodies hurtling her way.
She grinned to herself as she turned right past a large run-down crypt surrounded by trees, putting her out of sight of her pursuers for the first time. Now she would lose them, pour on the speed, disappear and then double back in time for Buffy and the main event.
Faith sprinted through the shadows out into the moonlight. Streaking across dewy grass, she turned direction again, angling for some cover in the form of a thick patch of bushes. She heard a couple of pairs of footsteps that were managing to keep pace with her and gripped her knife tighter, readying herself. She burst past the greenery and turned a sharp left, planning to turn on a dime and make short work of the two dead-men-running before their friends could catch up.
Instead, she ran straight into Adam.
Or almost did. She spotted him standing in her path when she was mere meters from colliding with him so she hit the brakes. Faith lost her footing on the slick grass, flailed and slid along the ground towards him, stopping only when she reacted on instinct and jabbed her knife into the ground so she came to a stop in his shadow.
At first Adam didn’t seem to notice her. He was peering intently at the remains of a demon that he held in one hand, the body of some sort of stringy, yellow, winged creature that looked like it was in the process of being pulled apart.
‘What the fuck.’
Adam tilted his head to look at her, his patchwork face staring down at her with unnerving intensity. “You.”
Faith suddenly remembered that could damn well move and so scrambled back to her feet. Instinctively she formed a combat stance, knife at the ready, until she realised what she had been in the process of doing. She turned on impulse only to see the dead men bearing down on her, and more coming behind.
“This should be interesting”, remarked Adam coldly as he moved towards Faith.
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