When they arrived at Lucky’s, Faith eyed the place, Might be a good place to get a beer sometime… Faith thought, before seeing Vi at the entrance to the alley next to the pub. Following the younger slayer down, Faith’s face scrunched up as the smell of rotting body parts wafted up to her nose.
“Fuck, what the hell is that smell?” Faith frowned, looking at Buffy.
“Decaying demon…” Buffy stated, stopping when she came upon Kennedy, “What’s up?”
“We found the remains of a demon hand, not much skin left to give us color or texture for immediate analysis, but we could still find something out.”
“We also found blood on the wall, both human and demon, from what I can tell, and some sort of leather fabric- possibly a piece of the garment the attacker was wearing that was ripped off,” Sandra added, walking from the shadows of the end of the alley to where the group stood, “When we get back, I’ll go over the cuts and lesions on the hand remains, possibly find out how it was detached from the owner. Willow can analyze the blood and hand as well and probably make a match for the demon. I can definitely find out who the human was from the sample I got.”
Faith blinked, What the hell did this woman do before slaying?
“Good, okay. Vi, did you and Rona find anything?” Buffy asked, not even noticing the shocked look on Faith’s face.
“Yeah, in the park we found some evidence of a scuffle of some sort near the fence closest to Lucky’s. It looked like the scuffle took place mostly on this side, and the being that was escaping, died once it got over the fence, because there’s dust marks of a body hitting the ground, but no marks of getting up or crawling away,” Vi informed her.
“There were also drag marks, as if the body was picked up, but that was it,” Rona added, “But there was no blood or clothing or anything aside from the marks on the ground.”
“Okay, I guess that’s it, let’s head back. Rona, you’ve go patrol tonight, so when we get back, you can head out,” Buffy turned started moving back to the entrance to the alley, but Kennedy stopped her.
“Hey, did you guys find anything?”
Buffy turned and risked a glance at Faith, “No, we staked some vamps, but that was it.”
Kennedy smirked slightly, and glanced at Faith, “Wow, productive.”
“Eh, cut it out Ken,” Rona slapped Kennedy’s arm lightly, “It was probably a gang of ‘em or something.”
“Actually, it was more like three,” Buffy corrected, growing red in the face.
“So wait,” Kennedy asked, a grin growing on her face, “You guys had like, 20 minutes, and it took you that long to deal with three vamps?” Kennedy laughed softly, the others grinning slightly as well, “Or were you busy doing other stuff?”
“Hey, fuck off Ken,” Faith cut in, silencing the group, “Let’s get back and figure this shit out.”
The group fell into line behind Faith, staying quiet. Faith was glad, she didn’t need the younger slayers needling her and Buffy with innuendos and jokes that, while she could throw it right back at them, no trouble, Buffy wouldn’t deal so well with them. She didn’t want any chance of having an open conversation with the blonde ruined from teasing of the younger generation, who didn’t understand just how delicate Faith’s situation with Buffy was at the moment. Maybe if I talk to Willow about it, she might get the girls to back off… Faith thought, her mind focused on speaking with Willow the rest of the way back to the SUV.
Chapter 11: Early Morning Coffee And Conversation
Faith shut the garage door behind her after seeing Rona off for patrol. Everyone else had already moved down to Willow’s study, leaving Faith to lock up behind her. Sighing, Faith shook her coat off and hung it up on the hanger before walking down the long hallway to Willow’s study. Sandra’s British accent wafted it’s way out of the double doors and down the hallway as Faith approached, allowing her to hear the woman cut off Kennedy, who had apparently made another comment about Buffy and her.
“Ken, if you are supposed to be one of Faith’s good friends, why not sod off already before she stops talking to you!” Faith smiled at the woman, she had spunk, and was also right.
Before anything else could be said, Faith entered, and raised an eyebrow in Kennedy’s direction, gaining a guilty look from her.
“Sorry Faith, I…I’m just sorry,” Kennedy apologized, and Faith could see Willow’s worried face behind her relax slightly at the words.
“S’all right Ken, but it isn’t me you should be apologizing to,” Faith smiled, and jerked her thumb towards Buffy when Kennedy gave her a quizzical look, and the younger brunette blushed suddenly.
“Right,” Kennedy turned towards Buffy, “Sorry girl.”
Buffy nodded and glanced quickly at Faith before turning towards Willow, “We’ve got trouble.”
Willow sat back down and Faith watched as the room took on a more relaxed feel before moving further inside and standing off to Buffy’s left. Remaining silent, Faith listened as Vi, Kennedy and Sandra told Willow what they had found, and only paid full attention to what was being said after they had finished.
“All right, Sandra, take the human hand and do your thing, I’ll call down Andrew and work with him on the demon blood, everyone else, I guess we’re done for now,” Willow stood again, and everyone dispersed. The redhead smiled gently when Faith remained rooted to the spot where she stood, “Faith? Something you wanna talk about?”
“Ye-ah. Though, it might’ve been taken care of already,” Faith started, finally moving to sit on the loveseat.
“What’s up?” Willow came around her desk and sat down beside the dark slayer.
“I just, I don’t want the girls teasing B about ‘us,’ or the lack of ‘us’ for that matter. Kennedy kinda dug earlier, and it just pissed me off.”
“You don’t think Buffy can handle Kennedy and her antics? She’s been dealing for four years without you, I think she can manage with you here as well,” Willow smiled again.
“Red, this is me. B and I are…complicated at best, and I don’t want her problems relating to me or us to get fucked up by your girl. I mean, I love Ken to death, she’s a great friend, but she can push too far sometimes,” Faith sighed and leaned back into the cushions, trying to relax.
“I understand,” Willow nodded, leaning back herself, “I’ll talk to her later. I think it’s just, old habits. Four years ago you guys did shit like that, teasing and pushing the envelope. Things are different now, but I don’t think she realizes that the interaction has to morph as well. I’ll deal with her, don’t worry. Kennedy can be very flexible.”
Faith grinned, “I bet,” and winked at the redhead, who, instead of blushing, cocked her head to one side and gave a devilish smile back.
“Oh you have no idea.”
Faith’s jaw dropped slightly, surprised at the change in character. Holy fucking…Faith’s thoughts stopped when Willow stood, abruptly changing the topic,
“C’mon you, I have to go research demon blood. Your mission is to find a more exciting thing to do tonight than that, so off with you.” Willow ushered Faith out after the brunette stood.
Faith watched Willow move down the hall, and ended up following her down to the basement, and wandered into the Trauma room after hearing quiet murmurs behind the doors. Upon entering, Faith saw Sandra look up suddenly, before continuing speaking,
“Left hand bones reveal this to be a male between 20 and 24 years old. The hand was detached at the Scaphoid bone, with part of the Lunate missing. The type of attack that would cause this had to do with torque. With some slight signs of straining on the Trapezium bone, I figure the hand was twisted clockwise, which would allow for the break of the Lunate bone. No human could have done this normally, and the type of torque required for this would mean that the man was trying to escape, when the demon grabbed hold of him and ripped his hand off. Derrick, I’m sending samples of the area by the scuffle for you to get back to me by tomorrow, as well as the Scaphoid bone for closer analysis.” Faith listened in awe and a bit of confusion, suddenly realizing that Sandra was on the phone with someone.
From the phone beside the table, a British man’s voice crackled through, “Will do Sandra, anything else?”
“Yeah, try to get a match for me with the blood sample that I’m sending. Give me a call when you find out anything,” Sandra said her goodbyes before pressing a button on the phone and walking over to Faith, “Want something?”
Faith swallowed, suddenly realizing that she had disrupted Sandra’s work, “What are you? I mean, what was your job before being a slayer?”
Sandra smiled, “I was, and still am, a forensic anthropologist,” Off of Faith’s blank look, “I study the bones of people we have no way of identifying through normal forensic or autopsy methods. By looking at the bones left behind, I basically learn who this individual is, or was.”
“And this guy?” Faith jutted her chin in the direction of the table.
“Him? I can’t visually ID him without at least a partial skull fragment, so either he’s somehow still alive, or the demons got him. Either way, he didn’t have long to go before he would have passed out from the blood loss, not to mention the pain,” Sandra shrugged and walked back toward the examining table, “All I can do with this hand, is tell you his approximate age, whether he sustained any injuries, how it was detached and other miscellaneous things.”
“Gotcha,” Faith nodded, and grew quiet, watching Sandra mull about for another ten minutes before telling her good night and exiting the Trauma room for her bed.
Faith jolted awake suddenly, her dream vanishing as quickly as the desire to be outside overcame her. Stumbling out of bed, Faith grabbed her pack of cigarettes and a lighter before exiting the room and entering the bathroom. Shortly thereafter, she jogged downstairs and outside to the back porch, taking a seat on the steps before lighting up a cigarette. Taking a long drag, Faith let it out slowly, relaxing after the sudden awakening. Looking around, Faith realized is must be only about six in the morning, God, why do my dreams always have the tendency of waking me up at such God-awful, single digit hours?
A few minutes passed before Faith felt a pair of eyes on her. Before she could turn around to glare back at whoever it was, the door to the porch slide open and Faith heard the footfalls of the person watching her move closer. Looking up at the figure when they came upon her, Faith saw Dawn looking down at her. Faith turned back to staring out at the expanse of land before her as Dawn sat down beside her. A few moments passed in silence before Dawn spoke,
“Dude, that is gonna kill you long before the vamps get you. I mean, I know, ‘slayer healing’ and all that, but honestly, when are you gonna quit that shit?”
Faith snorted at Dawn’s blunt statement, smiling gently before grinding the cigarette out on the cement base of the steps. Remaining quiet for a few moments, Faith thought up a reasonable answer, and turned to Dawn, “How about this: I’ll quit smoking the day that B admits that what happened between the two of us wasn’t just due to the after-effects of slaying.”
Dawn nodded, swallowing, “Good one.”
“I thought so,” Faith cocked her head away and went to looking back out at the yard. The silence resumed, until the almost silent sound of a shoe scraping behind them caused Faith to turn, leaving Dawn to look over at her in confusion.
Faith saw Buffy standing in the doorway, a cup of coffee in her hand, leaning against the frame. Her eyes locked onto Faith’s for a moment, the thoughts behind them indiscernible, before she flicked her gaze towards Dawn who suddenly jumped to a standing position.
“Buffy! Morning! I’m uhh; I was just talking with Faith out here…”
“I heard,” Buffy replied, her voice level. Faith furrowed her brow slightly, the evenness in the blonde’s tone unnerving her, “Dawn, do you think you could excuse us for a few minutes?”
The question wasn’t asked with any anger, and yet Faith exchanged a worried glace with Dawn before nodding, allowing the younger brunette to leave. Faith watched silently as Buffy slid the door shut behind Dawn before walking over to her and sitting down. Faith eyed Buffy for a moment before turning to look back out at the yard, waiting for the blonde to begin.
Buffy took a sip of her coffee and swallowed before speaking, her eyes staring, unfocused, away from Faith, “It’s not that I can’t deal with these emotions…” Buffy trailed off, swallowing audibly, and Faith realized just how nervous she was at this moment, “It’s just, I don’t know how to.” Buffy turned to Faith as she finished, her eyes searching the dark slayer’s own pair for a flicker of understanding.
Faith furrowed her brow and broke the eye contact, before lifting her head to look back at Buffy, “So what do you want from me?”
Both women knew the question was loaded. There were far too many different responses to it, and Faith was afraid of many of them, and yet, it was still a question that would garner a response that would help make their situation even just the slightest clearer.
“I-I don’t know exactly, Faith. I just know that I can’t be pushed into this,” Buffy replied, then sighing, “I don’t even know what this is!”
“B, do we have to play the definition game now? I mean, I don’t know what this is either, mostly because you’re the one calling the shots here.”
“What? Why do I have to be Shot Girl?” Buffy suddenly gave Faith a fearful look, and Faith had to fight down a grin from appearing on her face.
“Because unlike me, you don’t know what you want, nor have you experienced this before.”
“Hey, I’ve kissed people before,” Buffy scoffed.
“Men, B. Completely different ball game,” Faith smirked.
“Wait, have you done something like this before? With women I mean,” Buffy turned suddenly, a range of emotions flashing across her features.
Faith shook her head, “No. You’re the only one,” Faith’s voice dropped as she responded, and she could feel Buffy’s eyes watching her as she averted her gaze.
“Oh,” Buffy shifted slightly on the steps, and put down the forgotten cup of coffee. Then, in a quieter voice, “I don’t want you to think that I’m ignoring what I feel. I’m just…I’m not ready yet. I need to finish processing things.”
Faith bit her lip, and against her better judgment, let a pained comment slip out, “Four years wasn’t long enough?”
Buffy took a deep breath, but remained calm, which Faith was grateful for, “Well, you weren’t physically here. Your presence kinda forces me to…deal. I just shoved everything that happened between us to the back of my mind, because I didn’t think you would be back. I thought I had scared you off, and I blamed myself for like a year afterwards. Now though, you’re here, in our house, living, breathing, eating, sleeping, existing…Only a floor below me,” Buffy stopped and drew a breath before exhaling slowly, “And it’s driving me insane in so many ways I can’t comprehend.”
Faith nodded, and sighed softly, “It’s okay B. I’m not rushing. I’m anti-rush. I want you to figure things out first.”
Buffy nodded, and then smiled weakly at Faith, “Thank you.”
The pair were silent a moment and Faith turned to look away from the blonde as she fought the urges within her. Barely any time passed before the sliding door was thrown open, causing both Slayers to turn around at the intrusion.
“We’ve got results from Sandra’s friend overseas and we’ve figured out what demon was at Lucky’s. We’re convening in Willow’s study,” Andrew panted, looking as if he’d just run around the entire house looking for the two women.
Buffy glanced at Faith for a moment before standing, the dark slayer only a half-step behind her. Upon entering the study, Faith realized that most everyone in there probably hadn’t been awake very long. Sandra looked as if the phone call from Derrick had been the only reason she was awake before 8 A.M., and Xander looked half asleep. Kennedy looked equally dead, and Faith decided to plop down beside the two half-awake people on the loveseat. Even Willow, sitting behind her desk, looked disheveled. How late did she stay up searching for demons? The only perky person in the room was Andrew, and Faith couldn’t help thinking, I swear to God, if he acts like a rabbit on speed, I’ll kill him, prison be damned. As Buffy shut the doors and sat on the edge of the plush chair that Dawn was sitting in, Willow began.
“Okay, I know, it’s early, and I know, you don’t want to be in here. But, Sandra got a call from Derrick, and thus, if she was forced awake by information for this investigation, then I feel we should all suffer.”
“Aye, not fair,” Xander moaned from his spot, flinching when Kennedy swatted him in the arm, “Ow, also not fair.”
Faith smirked at the comment, but became serious when Willow cleared her throat for attention, “Let’s start with the demon, because that is far simpler.”
“Not the ‘finding it’ part,” Andrew murmured, gaining a glare from the redhead, and a soft laugh from Kennedy.
Willow was quiet for another moment, as if waiting for someone else to say something before speaking, “Anyway…From the blood sample, I did a few tests, and ran it through the magicks database. Apparently the damage we found was from a Toalith demon.”
Willow fell silent, allowing for Dawn to continue, “Toalith demons are a generally peaceful breed of demon. They only really become vicious and violent when their young or home is being attacked.”
“So was that area theirs?” Buffy asked, looking down at Dawn, and then over at Andrew who began to answer her.
“No, they live in the cave system that’s about two miles into the forest, which is why the scuffle marks go towards the park. They usually don’t keep anything more than a one mile radius of an area to defend as their own. This is technically far out of their area.”
“Could it have been some sort of spell?” Faith asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.
Willow shrugged, “Nothing was found at the scene that indicated a spell, and there are no remnants of a potion being in the blood stream. Worst case scenario is that a more powerful group of demons threatened them into doing this. Why is something we don’t know.”
“The piece of leather fabric found in the alley is something that only the male members of the Toalith demons clans wear. It’s a form of battle garment that is hard for them to find, so it is given only to their warriors,” Dawn continued, “From the measurements that Sandra gave us about the way the human hand was taken off, the a Toalith warrior could easily have enough strength to rip off someone’s hand at the wrist, so that matches as well.”
The room fell silent for a moment as all the information was processed before Buffy looked over to Sandra, “So what did you find out about the scuffle scene at the fence, and the hand itself?”
“Well, Derrick came back with a match for the blood sample I gave him, as well as plenty for the scuffle,” Sandra began, yawning at the end, “Excuse me, sorry. Anyway, yeah, the hand belongs to a man named Harrison Beatman, who was put on the missing persons list for Cleveland a week ago. Hair particles and clothing fabrics found at the scene of the scuffle allowed Derrick to determine that it was Beatman who landed there. Derrick figured that from the form of the impact, and the marks on the opposite side of the fence, that Beatman struggled with a demon to get over the fence after fighting his way out of the alley. Loss of blood, and exertion from the run, fighting and climb probably caused him to black out after making it over the fence, and he just collapsed there. I figure that the demon, or demons after him, just picked him up and took him after he passed out.”
“Okay, I’ll go out tonight with the slayers, we’ll sweep the forest for any remains of this guy, and we’ll move in on the Toalith demons,” Buffy stated, looking around.
“Recon only Buffy, you don’t want to engage them on their turf. You don’t know if they weren’t forced into doing this,” Willow cautioned, “Check it out, and get answers, not a body count.”
Buffy nodded, and stood to leave, the meeting over. Faith looked around and noticed Xander falling back asleep now that everything was done.
“C’mon you, back to bed,” Sandra shook his arm, causing Xander to jump up before following her out.
Faith smiled, and then looked next to her at Kennedy- her head was back against the loveseat, mouth open, quietly snoring. You’ve got to be kidding me. Arching an eyebrow, Faith looked over at Willow and jerked her head at Kennedy.
Willow laughed, “Yeah. Quite the sleeping beauty isn’t she?”
Faith laughed before standing and exiting the room, the smell of coffee calling her to the kitchen.
Coffee…the perfect way to start a day of waiting for night time to arrive. Joy.
