Chapter 7: Truthful Demons
Faith's POV:
I make my way back to the couch and sigh when I see Cordelia staring at me thoughtfully. Don't tell me she saw that.
I purposefully choose the seat furthest from her and look away.
"Faith?" She asks.
What does she want from me? What does she want me to say? I clench my jaw to stop myself from doing or saying something stupid.
Willow nudges me and gestures towards Cordelia.
"What?" I bark.
They all look taken aback and I sigh yet again. Cordelia looks at me compassionately and then glances at the bathroom door. Then she gets up and walks away.
Whatever, man. Fuck this. Like I have a fucking clue what's going on. Like I have any answers to their questions.
"Although risking dismemberment, I have to ask...What's going on?"
"Xander..." Willow shakes her head at him. "It's..." She wiggles her fingers and looks pointedly from me to the bathroom.
"Oh. You mean the..." Xander mumbles conspiratorally and wiggles his fingers too.
"Yeah."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I snap.
They look at me, scared to death and that pisses me off even more.
"Screw this." I grab my jacket and leave.
Just a little over half an hour later, I'm kicking the shit outta some unlucky vamp. The seventh for tonight. You'd think these fuckers would learn not to mess with a pissed off slayer.
"First it's all cool, you know?" Punch in the gut, slide kick.
"Oomph." The vamp falls to the ground, breathless. He doesn't even breathe! Why make the 'I got all the air beat outta me'-sound?
"And then I almost think it's getting kinda warmer. Like she's got the hots for me."
The undead piece of shit gets back up and lunges at me. I easily step aside and kick him in the shin as he, yet again, falls on his ugly face.
"Argh!"
"I know. It's infuriating!" I lean against one of the tombstones as he grabs his shin in pain. "And then she just fuckin... avoids me. Like I have the worst case of BO."
I lift the undead wuss by his collar. "Do I smell bad to you?" I ask.
He opens his mouth, about to answer, and the smell is almost overwhelming. Shit. I shouldn't be asking a rotting corpse how I smell.
"Nevermind." And I stake him.
Fuck. Seven vamps and I still feel like crap. They're just getting way too easy these days. Giles'd kill me if he heard me say it, but I'm almost looking forward to some kind of apocalypse. These vamps are just wussing out on me. And patrol is just not the same without B.
I sigh.
Who am I kidding? I shove the stake back in my pocket and start walking again. No idea where I'm going. I know Cordy'll get worried if I don't get back by four. And she says she doesn't stay up waiting for me, but I know she does. Sunnydale chicks are insane, lemme tell ya.
Cordelia, for example. Daddy's little girl. High-society cheerleader with the biggest mansion I've ever seen. The girl could be cruising through life. But she chooses something else. She chooses not to just close her eyes and ignore the freaky shit going on in SunnyD. She chooses to actually help out in saving the world, risking a nail or two while doing so. She chooses to like a white trash piece of shit like me and take me in after I fucked up my motel room. And is it me or do I sound like that dude from Trainspotting? Anyway, it's all cool for now, while 'daddy' is out on some business trip or somethin. But she said I could stay as long as I wanted, even after her dad gets back. She said her dad shouldn't be a problem, but even if he does decide he doesn't want some low-life little slut like me in his house, she'll make sure he changes his mind.
And I believe her. Girl has wicked persuasion skills. But I don't want it to get that far. I've been scoping Sunnyhell out for somewhere else to stay. I've been taking a few odd little jobs so I can get outta Cordy's hair as soon as possible. I like her too much to let her get into trouble cuz of me.
I kick an imaginary rock outta the way but freeze as I hear something.
"Who does she think she is, anyway? What right does she have to presume she knows how I feel? What right does she have to tell me what I can or can not do?" I hear a familiar voice rant.
"Look, Slayer... Maybe-..Ungh!" The other voice grunts and I hear sounds of a struggle. "Maybe you should just take it out on her instead of me?"
What the hell?
I sneak through a woody patch of the cemetery and push a branch away to see Buffy casually flinging a vampire against a headstone.
"But see, she's human. And she might be evil in my eyes, but I don't think SunnydalePD would agree with me on that." She sighs and strolls towards the groaning vampire. "Get up." She orders.
"But you'll just beat me back down."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Wh-... I-... It hurts!"
"It hurts! It hurts! You don't know what pain is! Do you have any idea how much pain I've been through the past month? Do you!" B almost screams at the now terrified vamp.
"I can't help it you're in love with th-.." Buffy interrupts him by shoving mister Pointy in his chest. "Ow..." And poof.
Buffy just stands there, staring at the grass for a while, and then she shakes her head.
"Stupid Cordy." She mumbles. Then she looks up, straight in my direction. Damn Slayer connection. "Faith?" She whispers uncertainly.
I briefly consider stepping out the shadows but decide against it. It would be too awkward I think. I need to think all this shit over. I quickly but carefully back-track through the trees and haul ass as soon as I get to flat terrain. I run all the way to the other side of town. For some reason I just keep running, not even slowing down. As I sprint through Rosegarden cemetery, I finally screech to a halt. Hey, I always had a soft spot for vamps.
The two dustpinãtas guffaw at eachother as I walk over to them. Idiots. Thinking they've got a nice little snack. When I'm barely a few feet away from them, the shorter one stops laughing.
"Holy shit, Bob, it's one of those psycho dyke slayers!"
What the fuck?
The vamp that recognized me hastily tries to run away but stumbles over his own feet.
"What the fuck are you talking about, Emilio?" The taller one asks, although he's slowly backing away from me too.
Man, I don't know which one's dumber. By now, Emilio has gotten up and he's just running as fast as his mouldy little undead legs can carry him.
"Run, you stupid fuck!" He screeches behind him. "They're crazy!"
I've met funny vampires in my life, but these ones are hilarious. Bobby is shaking and still backing away from me in slow-mo. Like if he moves really slow, he'll turn invisible or something.
I take one step towards him and he freezes. We stand there looking at eachother for a few seconds. I take another sudden step closer and he stumbles back, probably pissing his pants. He looks up at me from the grass, his lower lip trembling. I lean forward.
"Boo."
He holds his hands in front of his face, his eyes tightly shut, and screams. Like a little girl, if I might add.
"Don't beat me!"
I chuckle at his sheer wussiness and shake my head. Fuck, I'm such a kick-ass slayer. But wait.
"What did your friend call me?" I ask him.
He cautiously opens his eyes and peers at me from behind his arms.
"A slayer?" He croaks out.
I shake my head.
"What did he say exactly?"
He stares at me, scared shitless and confused as fuck.
"...Holy shit, Bob, it's one of the psycho dyke slayers?" He mimics and quickly shuts his eyes again and jerks back.
Huh. One of the psycho dyke slayers. ... There's two of us now?
"And why would he say that?" I ask him.
He opens his eyes again incredulously. I nod at him.
"Because... you're superstrong and fast and-"
"Not that part. The dyke part. The part where he says one of the psycho dyke slayers. Who's the other one?" I snap.
I think I actually hear him whimper and his eyes dart around the cemetery, desperate for someone to come and save his sorry ass.
"I-... I dunno."
I take another menacing step near to him and he screams again.
"Okay, okay! The other one is that little blonde! And you're psycho dyke slayers because you obviously have some kind of thing going on between you but you don't want to face it so you take it out on us!"
Well...
"You think Buffy's into me?"
The vamp finally drops his arms and stares at me like I'm a complete idiot. I don't appreciate that. But I need an answer before I stake him.
"Yes! Damn, slayer, all that muscle and no brain?"
Yeah, he's a goner. I swoop down to him with my 'superspeed' and he's dust before he can say 'duh'.
"Asshole."
Buffy's POV:
"Bitch."
Cordy, that is.
At some point, when Faith was holding me, I realized how selfish I was being. I mean, Faith has been through so much shit and I'm the one breaking down? God, how egocentric can I be? I disgust me. So I pulled away. I didn't exactly know where to go so I went to the safe heaven for women all over the world.
The girl's bathroom.
Ofcourse, it's not all that safe when you're running away from a girl. I was just about to sneak out of the bathroom and sneak out of the Bronze completely when Cordelia bursts through the door. Looking pissed, bitchy and in short Cordeliesque.
She dramatically points at me.
"You."
She's seething. Which is scary. But I'm a slayer damnit.
"I don't need your shit right now, Cordelia."
I take one last look at my pitiful face in the mirror and walk towards the exit. She's blocking it but she'll step out of my way any second now. I'm stronger than her anyway. And a pissed-off Cordy isn't all that scary. Alright, just a few steps away. She'll let me pass. See, I'll just glare at her and she'll wuss out and step out of my way. Just three more steps. She's bluffing. She'll step aside any second now.
I'm standing right in front of her now. She'll step aside. If I just keep glaring at her.
... Any second now.
"I'm not moving." She says icily.
Damn it! Fine, I give up. She's scary.
"What do you want?" I sigh.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
I lower my gaze at the bathroom floor. So she saw what happened, huh?
"I-... I don't know." I didn't mean to, but that came out a whisper. What the heck? I'm a slayer. I'm not afraid of her. And she has no right to be judging me. I know I was wrong but damn it, give me a break. "You know what, Cordy, I'm gonna give you five seconds to get out my way. Whatever you think is going on, don't worry, it's not anymore. So just shut the hell up and let me through!"
She actually has the nerve to laugh! I clench my fists tightly and I punch her. Over and over and over again until she's bleeding on the floor.
...In my head, anyway.
"Ohh, I get it." Her laugh dies. "You're trying to 'get over her'. Is that it, Buffy? Well, I hate to break it to you, little miss drama queen, but it sure as hell isn't working! And while you're being your tortured self-righteous self, you're hurting the woman you love, dumbass!"
"I-... I don't lo-"
"Yes you do."
I do.
"Just because you obviously have major issues, doesn't mean you have to rip her heart out, okay? You think you can just stop loving her like that? You think that if you keep running away from her, you'll stop loving her? Newsflash, Buffy: It doesn't work that way. Forget her? Hah! I dare you to forget her, Buffy. I fucking dare you. I dare you to forget how she bites her lower lip when she's nervous or anxious. I dare you to forget how, even with the make-up and outfit and the attitude, when she smiles, she lights up the room. I dare you to forget how to you, she probably lights up the world! I dare you to fucking forget the way she looks at you. How that special way her eyes twinkle, how she smiles just that little bit brighter, how the back of her ears turn just that tiny bit pinker because of YOU. For YOU. I dare you to fucking forget, Buffy Summers, because I've tried. And I'd just love to see you try. I fucking dare you."
And with that, she walks away.
"Bitch."
I zip up my jacket from the unusually cold breeze and wander through the dark cemetery.
"I dare you, Buffy. I dare you!" I mimic Cordy's annoying voice. I kick the headstone in front of me.
Shit.
I quickly run over to where the broken off part of the headstone flew. I grab the big piece and nervously look around the cemetery. I practically desecrated a grave!
Okay...okay. Calm down. Do I have glue? Ofcourse not, damn it.
Um...
I attempt to just place the piece back on the headstone. Yay! It's standing. Sure, any old breeze or perhaps even an unusually large fly could make it topple back off. But I'll just come back first thing in the morning with tools and fix it up. With tools I mean glue. I'm a slayer not a... handyman? Whatever.
"Well, well, well... What do we have here?"
I turn around to find two seedy looking vampires grinning.
"Looks like we got ourselves a disrespectful vandalist." The bearded one answers his friend.
"Disrespectful vandalist slayer." I correct him. "Wait-... no. I'm not a vandalist! Or...disrespectful. Shut up!"
The two chuckle and Beardy shrugs.
"Don't matter. You'll be dead in a minute."
"Wow. So I'll actually dust you in less than a minute, huh?" I take a step nearer the two and wrap my fingers firmer around my stake.
"Well... You can try." The one to the right smiles and then lunges at me.
Expecting this, I duck and throw him over my shoulder. Beardy advances on me with a switchblade.
"You're a hot little number too, aren't ya, slayer?" He licks his lips and I can't help but roll my eyes.
Just when he launches at me, I step aside and make him bump against vamp number two who was not so subtly sneaking up on me from behind.
"You caught me at a real bad time, boys. I've been having some issues lately, you know?" I grab the bearded one and knee him in the groin. "Ever met someone so incredibly annoying? Thinking she knows everything?"
I fling him to nameless vamp who was trying to get up and they scramble away from eachother, looking way less confident than thirty seconds ago.
"It's like I had this...this thing with Faith at the Bronze, right?"
I take a punch from nameless- maybe I'll call him Fred, he looks like a Fred- vamp but quickly kick him in the gut and throw a flurry of punches.
"It doesn't even have anything to do with Cordelia, but she just thinks she has to butt into everything. I get that I messed up with Faith but I don't need her to tell me that."
I attack Beardy and barely break a sweat before I swiftly dust his hairy ass.
"Who does she think she is, anyway? What right does she have to presume she knows how I feel? What right does she have to tell me what I can or can not do?" I grab Fred and punch him a couple of times.
"Look, Slayer... Maybe-..Ungh!" He grunts, stumbles back and almost on his ass but I grab him by his collar. "Maybe you should just take it out on her instead of me?"
Who? Cordy? Right. I wish. I throw Fred away and my shoulders sag down in frustration.
"But see, she's human. And she might be evil in my eyes, but I don't think SunnydalePD would agree with me on that." I sigh and go over to Fred. "Get up."
He looks up at me uncertainly.
"But you'll just beat me back down."
Well... duh.
"What's wrong with that?" His eyes widen.
"Wh-... I-... It hurts!"
"It hurts! It hurts! You don't know what pain is! Do you have any idea how much pain I've been through the past month? Do you!" I scream at him and hover threateningly above him.
...Where did that come from?
"I can't help it you're in love with th-.." Shut up! "Ow..." And poof.
"Stupid Cordy."
God, I need to get some sleep or something. I can't keep doing this... Suddenly I notice a tingle in my spine and adrenaline rushes back in me, like it always does when...
"Faith?" I turn around towards a little concentration of trees. Is she there? I squint my eyes, trying to see something, anything, in the shadows of the trees. But no such luck.
Just when I’m about to investigate closer, the presence suddenly fades and my initial adrenaline rush dissolves.
Damn it.
