Chapter 14: Newcomers, Spells & Living Victims
Faith grabbed her jacket, preparing to go out and slay- a deep desire to vent her frustrations on some unlucky vamp, when she heard the doorbell ring. Finishing pulling on her coat, Faith peered around the corner to look down the hallway, and saw various other people poking their heads out of different rooms to see who could possibly be at the door. Finally, Buffy’s heels broke the silence as she entered the hallway from Willow’s Study and went to the door. Faith moved down the hall as well, leaning against the frame of the entrance hallway.
Buffy moved to the side, and let in a girl who looked to be around Dawn’s age, with bright, strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was about Faith’s height, and appeared quite shy; then again, given this situation, I think most people would be.
“Follow me, we can talk in another room,” Buffy motioned for the girl to follow her, and, upon giving Faith a quick glance, Faith followed behind, shooing away everyone else as they entered Willow’s study.
Shutting the door, Faith stood by it, to ensure no one barreled in, and her eyes flicked to the connecting door that led to Andrew’s study, where Andrew and Dawn entered quickly before closing the door behind them.
Willow stood from her desk and came around, a welcoming smile on her face, “Tracy.”
“Trey,” the girl corrected quickly.
Willow nodded in acknowledgment of the nickname, “Trey, I’m Willow, and this is Andrew and Dawn, Buffy’s sister. Behind you is Faith.”
Trey turned and looked back at Faith, who twitched her lips slightly upward at the younger girl, confused as to why she was here. She could feel something coming off of the girl, but she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was.
“So why did you come here?” Buffy asked gently.
“I went to the place in New York, but Mr. Wood told me to come here instead.”
“Was there something wrong with the Slayer Headquarters there?” Willow asked, bingo, that’s why she’s here.
“My father called the police on Mr. Wood, saying he was building a sort of terrorist cell there. They arrested him, but the Council called in and wired over his bail, but I was sent here without any trace back to Albany,” Trey replied, shifting slightly at the mention of her father.
“Where are you from?” Buffy asked, skirting the issue the girl appeared to have with her family for the moment.
“Providence.”
“Where?” Dawn asked, confused.
“Rhode Island,” Faith sighed, “Honestly, when are you guys going to remember that state? I mean, seriously, there are 50, and you always forget that one.”
“Well, it is tiny,” Dawn shrugged.
“So not the point right now,” Willow interjected quickly, refocusing the group, “Trey, this group is going to go out patrolling right now, but you can stay and wait for them to come back. In the meantime, you can help fill me in on some information about yourself that I would like to know.”
Trey nodded, her eyes looking over at Buffy, and then back at Faith before sighing, “Sure.”
Buffy squeezed the girl’s arm gently, “We’ll be back soon,” Then, to Willow. “Why not call Robin, find out the sitch, since he didn’t check in with us, drop a line to Giles, and set her up in the spare room?”
“Uh, hey, not meaning to bust, but I’m set up there,” Faith cut in, before leveling a look at Buffy, “I mean, unless you have a better idea…”
Faith noted how Buffy ignored the innuendo as she replied, “My bed’s huge, don’t worry about it.” Something tells me this will be for sleeping purposes only …
“’K,” Faith replied stoically, “You ready to go?”
Buffy looked over once more at Trey before nodding, “Yeah, let’s go.”
Slamming open Buffy’s bedroom door, Faith yanked her coat off and tossed it on Buffy’s bed as she followed the blonde slayer into her bathroom. Without words, Faith opened the closet and pulled out a First-Aid kit. Placing it on the sink counter, Faith looked over at Buffy who was slowly pulling her jacket off.
“This was one of my favorite ones too,” Buffy grumbled, wincing as her arms were freed of the leather fabric.
Faith let out a low whistle upon seeing the damage, “Wow B, looks like he got you pretty good.”
“Since when did vamps carry knives on them? They’re supposed to think with their teeth, not their brains,” Buffy sighed, looking down at her shoulder.
A deep gash ran from her left collarbone and out to her shoulder before changing direction and sliding down and over her biceps. The area around the wound was caked in dried blood, and her shirt was not only ruined, but soaked in her own blood.
“Fuck, B,” Faith shook her head and grabbed a washcloth off of the hanging rack.
Soaking it in warm water and adding soap, Faith carefully cleaned Buffy’s wound. When she was finished, Faith picked up a tube of antibiotic ointment and put it all over the angry looking wound. Placing two strips of gauze along the wound, Faith taped them in place and stepped back to admire her handiwork.
“There, now leave those on until the morning, and then you should have healed up, if not, the gash will have sealed up enough,” Faith directed.
“Yes Doc,” Buffy murmured playfully, a smirk on her face.
Faith smiled back at her and followed the blonde out of the bathroom, leaving the mess they made to be cleaned up later.
“So…one bed…” Faith trailed off.
“It’s a king size, there’ll be enough room for an ocean between us, so don’t read into the offer,” Faith smirked. “Unless you wanna sleep on the couch,” Faith became serious, only to grin again when Buffy smiled victoriously.
“I’m five-by-five with the ocean, B,” Faith nodded before taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
Watching Buffy rummage through her dresser for a pair of pajamas, Faith sighed, “B?” Buffy turned, “What happened this morning? What’s going on?”
Buffy turned fully around to face her, and leaned back against the dresser, shutting the drawers as she did. “I…we…We kissed.”
“Got that,” Faith snorted, “I mean the whole meaning behind it.”
“I…” Buffy sighed, “Do we have to analyze this now?”
“Well, seeing as I am about to be crashing in your bed for an extended period of time, and with the history between us, I would like to know just what the hell is going on,” Faith shook her head before standing so she could pace.
“I just don’t know my feelings yet,” Buffy replied quietly.
“B, you knew with Angel and Riley and…well, possibly with Spike, how hard is this?” Faith stopped pacing, gesturing between them.
“Faith, you’re a woman, I’ve…I’ve never been attracted to a woman before...Not everyone is capable of accepting a shift in their orientation as quickly and easily as you,” Buffy shot back, setting her jaw, and Faith could see that she had hit a nerve.
Looking away, Faith glanced around the room, trying to calm herself, “Fine, but B, you gotta cut me some slack, I mean, talk to Willow or Xander, someone, anyone. I do not prefer to be strung along while you try to figure out how you feel about me.” Shaking her head, Faith moved past Buffy to the deck, and shut the door behind her. Lighting a cigarette, Faith took a long drag as she tried to calm herself down. This is fucking insane.
“All righty,” Willow handed a candle to Buffy and Faith. “Now, move into the circle, and stand back to back.”
Faith had been in the shower when Buffy had stumbled in to use the toilet, and she was a bit taken aback by the fact that the blonde could be up at 7 AM, but by the time she was done with the bathroom, Buffy was back in bed. When Faith grabbed a cup of coffee downstairs, Willow had come in to tell her that they would finally be doing the spell today to counteract the Kartuk demon spell. Faith had asked about it being difficult, and Willow had responded in an odd way,
“Difficult? No, it’s neither that or time consuming…” Willow trailed off, looking a bit sad before snapping back to the present to smile at Faith before fixing her cup of tea.
Faith had wanted to ask what was wrong, but was distracted by Kennedy who came in and struck up a conversation with her.
Now, hours later, Faith remembered the morning conversation as she stepped into the circle with Buffy, and used it to distract her from the close proximity of the other slayer. It was a short spell- Willow spoke an incantation in Latin, and then Faith and Buffy blew out the candles in unison. Within seconds, a sharp wind blew through the room, scattering the powder circle Willow had poured onto the floor.
After a moment, Faith looked at the red head, “Was that supposed to happen?”
“I think so,” Willow replied, looking around, “I’ve never done this spell before, but I’ll take the oddity of the wind as a good thing.”
The three women shared a grin before the sound of Xander’s voice crackled through the loudspeaker in the corner of the training room, grabbing their attention immediately. Jogging over, Buffy flicked a button,
“What’s up Xander?” Buffy asked into the speaker, Faith walking up next to her with Willow beside her.
“A guy came to the door, short a hand, asking for you. He says it’s important,” Xander replied.
Buffy flicked the switch back, looking at the other two women.
“Sounds like it could be our missing Harrison,” Willow mused, and Faith nodded, the same thought on her mind.
Buffy flicked the switch, “We’ll be right up Xand, thanks. Oh, what room is he in?”
“I put him in Andrew’s room, as Kennedy is working with Dawn in Willow’s on something. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
“Gotcha,” Buffy replied, letting go of the switch, turning to Willow, “Make sure he doesn’t have any spells or traces of spells on his aura, I don’t want this to be a kamikaze mission the Kartuk demons set up to get to us.”
Willow nodded, “I’ll go in first, get his name as a way to buy time to check him over, when I come back out… Well, we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Faith nodded.
Faith leaned against the kitchen counter, out of sight of the door to Andrew’s study when it would open. She had been standing there in silence for a couple of minutes, her gaze hopping from Buffy to the faucet, Buffy to the fridge, Buffy to the dishwasher. It wasn’t doing her any good in staying calm and centered. She needed to move, talk, hit, anything; just not this silent standing, alone in a room with Buffy- especially when things between them were cloudy enough as they were.
Faith jerked suddenly at the sound of the door across the hall from them opening and shutting quickly. A moment later, Willow entered into the kitchen, Xander right behind her with a pad of paper in his hand.
“Well, there are no spells that I could detect on him and no traces of anything in particular. There were some traces of various ingredients, but nothing that I could piece together into anything remotely dangerous,” Willow explained, her eyes flicking from one slayer to the other.
“It is Harrison Beatman for sure though, as if the lack of hand wasn’t evidence enough,” Xander added. “He wasn’t too forthcoming with general questions; he seems to prefer to really talk to you, Buf.”
“Okay, let’s go in then. Xander, I want you to come in from the side door next to the hallway in a minute, Faith, you enter from Willow’s study at the same time Will and I go in the front.”
“What for?” Faith asked, not quite getting the point.
Xander grinned, “It’s meant to freak him out; he has three places to exit, which we will all cover by entering through them. My delayed entrance is meant to shake him up, mess up the interview, so he loses focus, just in case he’s being manipulated by those Kartuk boys.”
Faith nodded, nice.
“Okay, everyone set?” Buffy asked, looking around at the nods, “Let’s go.”
Faith nodded to Dawn and Kennedy as she moved through the study, before hearing Buffy enter, and opened her door and came in to the left of the man. He had pushed his chair further into the corner, apparently set up while Willow and Xander had spoken with him. Catching his nervous glance, Faith glanced down and noticed how his left arm ended at the wrist with a leather wrapping covering the end. Shutting the door behind her, Faith leaned against Andrew’s desk while Buffy introduced herself.
Harrison nodded in recognition at the name, relaxing slightly, but continued to eye Faith. I can tell when I’m not wanted. Faith mused; this guy did not want anyone except B to be in here. Poor boy won’t get his way. Faith normally would sympathize with demon or vamp survival victims, but with the trouble this guy had been giving Willow and Xander, and the continuous looks that Faith was receiving were making it extremely difficult. Her dislike of him was solidified when Harrison looked at Buffy, and asked, point blank,
“Do we need to have other people in here? I only really need to talk to you.”
Buffy allowed her lips to twitch slightly before crossing her arms under her chest, a stern look appearing suddenly on her face, “Either you tell me what it is you want to tell me in front of them, or you leave.”
Faith noticed Willow shift at the ultimatum, knowing the risk that was involved, by Harrison merely sighed, “Fine, they can stay I guess.” Oh yeah, as if you had a choice in the matter.
“Now, what exactly is it that you wanted to tell me?” Buffy asked, relaxing slightly.
“I was the guy whose hand you found out next to Lucky’s Pub,” Buffy nodded. “I escaped from those demons this morning. They aren’t exactly the brightest, so I just basically was biding my time for the right moment.”
Harrison fell silent, and jerked slightly when Xander opened the door from the entrance hall. Shutting it behind him, Xander moved next to Faith and leaned on the desk beside her. Talk about subtle.
Harrison gave the group a glare- as if letting everyone know that he was aware of the game, before continuing, “I was the bait, or at least that’s what they told me. They needed a victim in that alley, one that would leave more than just ink in the papers and police tape around the pub, so they apparently attacked me more viciously than the others- despite my survival and no one else’s. I don’t know exactly why I was allowed to live, I mean, I don’t think it was their intention, but I survived the initial attack in the alley, so I guess they didn’t want me to go to the police before you would get involved. All I know is that they had a trap set up in that alley that needed you and some other strong slayer, supposedly the only other Chosen One, to get into close proximity together with the spell. I don’t know the specifics, or anything, but I did hear them talking about how you wouldn’t know when the spell was done.”
Faith shifted slightly at the mention of another Chosen One- meaning her, but knew better than to look at Buffy, don’t want Hook-in-Training here figuring out I’m the other one.
Buffy nodded, “Is there anything else you could tell us? Where were you held prisoner? Was it their main location?”
“I’m not sure, they didn’t exactly give me the grand tour,” Harrison shook his head. “I was up somewhere in Forest Hills, I’m not sure where, I remember stumbling onto the trails somewhere along there, and making it out to the parking lot.”
“Were the demons that attacked you in the alley different than the ones that picked you up once you went over the fence?” Willow asked.
Harrison looked up at her, surprised, as if he didn’t expect her to know what had happened, “Yeah, now that I think about it, they did look different, a lot actually. I was about to black out once I hit the other side of that fence, I had nothing left in me to fight off another group of demons. But yeah, definitely different.”
“What kind of clothing were the ones that attacked you in the alley wearing?” Willow inquired.
Harrison furrowed his brow, as if thinking, “It may have been some sort of tough, leathery fabric, I don’t remember, I was kinda fighting for my life, and lost my hand in the process, if you don’t mind the sketchy memory on attire.”
Faith gave Xander a sidelong glance, as if to say, check out this punk, but knew the fact that he was attacked in the alley gave reason to the sarcastic response of the clothing of his attacker.
“I don’t mean to upset you,” Willow started, “But if this was a human that had done this you, the police would ask the same questions about clothing too, so, this is no different.”
Harrison sighed, “I’m sorry, it’s just… I’ve been caged up for weeks, and the only medical treatment I’ve had so far is those demons taking a torch to my wrist to cauterize it.”
“Fair enough, do you want us to call an ambulance, or give you a lift to the hospital?” Willow asked.
“Nah, I don’t want an ambulance, but, if you don’t mind having someone drop me off…” Faith arched her eyebrow when he gave her the once over, don’t even think about going there.
Buffy cleared her throat, jarring Harrison out of his stare, “I can have that arranged, if you’ll just wait here,” Glancing around, Buffy exited the room into Willow’s study, where Dawn and Kennedy were currently throwing a piece of crumpled paper back and forth as entertainment.
Faith grinned at the guilty look on the two women’s faces when they entered, but Buffy was too preoccupied to say anything, “Ken, can you drive our guest to the hospital? You don’t have to stay, just make sure he gets in for treatment for that wrist and whatever else he has for injuries. Make sure he knows before you go in to cover the fact that it was demons.
Kennedy nodded and stood. Giving Willow a look, Kennedy planted a chaste kiss on her partner’s cheek before going into Andrew’s study. After the foursome heard Kennedy taking Harrison down the hall to the garage, Buffy sighed and sat down on the loveseat, Xander taking a seat beside her. Willow leaned on the front of her desk as Faith took a seat in another chair.
“He was a piece of work,” Faith sighed.
“I can’t believe he had the gall to give that look to you, after all his bitching…” Buffy trailed off, looking at Faith.
Faith smiled gently, jealous much?
“Don’t worry about it, he would’ve gotten a smack to the face long before a car ride to the hospital from me,” Faith winked quickly at Buffy before flicking her gaze to Xander, who had started to speak.
“Will, how come you didn’t find any signatures of a spell in that alley when you searched it?”
Willow shrugged, “It could have been made of easily combustible ingredients that would have left no trace behind in less than an hour, or it could’ve been that because I was looking for different types of spells, the one that they used wouldn’t have registered.”
“Wouldn’t any spell done in the vicinity have shown up to you?” Faith asked, “It seems too simple for no trace to be found.”
“Faith, I don’t know. Some spells really do leave no trace behind in a matter of minutes. That might have been one of them,” Willow sighed, clearly angry at missing something.
“The Kartuk definitely didn’t have an issue talking about their plans in front of this guy, you sure he wasn’t a stoolie?” Faith looked from Buffy to Willow.
Buffy shook her head, “No, the Kartuk really are known to be less than secretive. They’re brutes, fighters, bullies, but not intelligent demons.”
”Then how did they come up with that spell? And what about following us around the country?” Xander asked, waving his hand for emphasis.
“Again, might not be the brightest, but that doesn’t make them stupid,” Willow replied. “They are known for their use of the magicks, so they should be pretty damn good at coming up with spell traps and such.”
“Okay, so what now?” Faith asked.
Willow sighed again, “Now, we wait to see how they react to the spell that we did.”
“So wait,” Buffy leaned forward. “Let me get this straight, we gotta wait to see if they oh say, attack us, or up the dosage of sucking our life forces, and then we act?”
Willow stood silent for a moment, “Yup.”
Xander raised his hand, before lowering it because of the look Willow leveled at him, “Umm, why?”
“We don’t know what their plan is just yet; we don’t want to screw ourselves over before we can stop them by knowing what they are doing.”
“Point,” Xander nodded.
As the group fell silent in acknowledgment of the wait they had ahead of them, Faith slunk down further in her seat, an angry look on her face.
“I hate waiting,” Faith grumbled, gaining a grin from the other three. It sucks ass.
