Here you go kittens... a part named for you? Nah...
This is my ONE cliffhanger. You know... cause I know you must miss out on begging here.
*wink*
Enjoy it.
Katharyn
---------------
Title:
The Sidestep Chronicle – Kitten (Part 52)
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome.
katharynrosser@hotmail.comSpoiler Warning: Pretty limited. The story occurs in an alternate universe though reference is made to events that occur in both realities.
Summary: The start of the battle.
Disclaimer: I still don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc, etc. I am making zilch from this series of stories.
Rating: 15
Couples: None in this part
Notes: This is directly followed by Part 53 which concludes the battle. And hey, yeah… I actually leave a cliffhanger! Me!
Thanks To: Jo, Kerry, Xita, Mariacomet who nursed me through recent doubts and shit and all the supporto kittens in the thread for being there. *HUGS*
The Sidestep Chronicle
Kitten
By
Katharyn Rosser
This was not the purpose to which school libraries were traditionally put. At least not at her school as Tara remembered it. Here in Sunnydale… actually yeah. They sat around the long table, stacks of books being put away by Mr Giles in some last frantic dash for filing perfection. Almost as if he thought he wasn’t coming back here at all.
She had to admit that he could be right. None of them might be back here if he got his way. If he came with them, this might be the last time he ever saw this library.
Faith, as usual, had her feet on the furniture – though Tara’s Daddy would have cured her of that in short order. Mr Giles had made some valiant efforts over the last few months but given how they intended to spend the next few hours it was the least of anyone’s worries. The Slayer appeared bored actually, picking her nails. She probably still had vampire eyeball under it after last night’s patrol when she had gouged the eyes from one of the Master’s minions before Tara had staked him.
The powerful few in the Master’s court all appeared to be destroyed or gone – though they were, or at least Tara was, relying on Willow for that information. The Three were long since dust. Luke had vanished, his fate unknown, though Willow had suggested that the Master had sent him away to seek another vampire whose name Willow couldn’t even bring her to speak. Angelus’s sire. Whoever Angelus had been.
That just left him with the more recently created. Though Willow was young by vampire standards she was now one of the eldest remaining in the Court and she still had a reputation for the kind of vicious cruelty that Tara had witnessed for herself in those early days. A cruelty that secured her position as a favourite. The last favourite. But neither Mr Giles nor Faith needed to know that. And Willow, after just 4 years, was one of the longest serving of the Master’s retinue.
There were still a lot of vampires there, in his court. But none of them were even as old as Willow. According to the vampire none of them was as powerful – though Willow might not have been the best person to ask about that. Those many ‘youngsters’ might have strength, reflexes, highly attuned senses and weight of numbers… but most of them should prove be inexperienced and untested. Feeders rather than warriors.
Sunnydale had become too easy for them, vampires. They needed no guile to exist here. They could feed at a whim. And they would never, ever, expect an attack. Not there.
That at least was Mr Giles’s theory about the state of the court.
“You see, the Order of Aurelius,” he went on as he filed away the index cards, “regards itself as a vampire elite. And within that elite are several levels – castes if you like - with the Master at the summit.”
“Like a pyramid?” Faith asked.
“Yes I suppose… Exactly. And if we were to fight our way to the Master you would have to climb that pyramid. At the bottom the enemies would be many but relatively simple. But in the middle the kills would be harder – though there would be fewer of them. You two have succeeded, by being a nuisance I suppose,” he smiled wryly as they had not actually planned any of this, “in removing that middle tier. Until we face the Master himself it should simply be a mopping up operation.”
Faith and Tara looked at each other. Neither had missed the ‘we’ but both knew that there was no way that Giles was going with them. They’d had this out between themselves already – or rather they had both reached the same conclusion without needing to discuss it. Faith was the Slayer. But previous Slayers had died facing the Master. Tara had to go… it was the reason that she was here after all. Between them they might just survive. They had worked together before. Most of those in that middle tayer had fallen to their combined efforts already.
Mopping up it might be but Giles was not going. ‘Mopping up’ was going to dangerous. There were lots of them by anyone’s estimation and they were all vampires. All any of them needed was to get lucky once or rather twice.
And at the end there would be the Master himself… and that was if he even sat by and waited. Willow had made it clear to Tara that he previously allowed his minions to do his fighting. That was their role and he rarely dirtied his own hands… but when he did choose to do so… the ground trembled and Slayers died. That was what Willow had actually said. Tara had put in less dramatic terms for Faith but left her in no doubt what the fight might mean.
They might be staying cheerful and positive, but between them they expected one to die and the other to take advantage of the distraction to do what they had to. There was a time when Tara wouldn’t have cared which task fell to her. That wasn't quite true any more. Now she wanted Faith to live.
But she wanted to live too… she wanted Willow. But that could never be, and with her own future so much in doubt, it should be Faith that survived – and at least then it would be over. This life.
“Why,” Faith asked, “Can’t we attack in the daytime? When they are sluggish?”
Mr Giles pulled a face that suggested that he had been wondering that himself. It was Tara that had suggested the timing and now she realised that she needed to explain her reasoning. “The Master goes underground during the day,” she told them. “Not every day… but he likes the cool. There is a new tunnel from The Bronze to his lair. We-we can’t rely on him being there and no one quite knows where that underground lair is.” Tara realised that might be just a little too much knowledge on display. The other two looked at her. “I bet.” They both raised eyebrows. “So I hear?” she tried again.
“It doesn’t matter how Tara knows this,” Mr Giles said – though one day he clearly intended to find out – “the important thing is that she is right. Whether he is seeking the coolness or there is some reason he must retreat we have to strike at the Master before he goes down into the underworld. Sometime just before dawn.” He looked at his watch. “Five hours from now.”
“And we just go in hard?” Faith asked. She favoured the direct methods. “Smack the shit out of them?”
“I would,” Mr Giles held up a finger, “Suggest stealth. If I thought that anyone,” he looked straight at Faith, “would actually listen.”
Faith gave him her best ‘little old innocent me’ look. And actually got away with it.
“I-I’ll get us inside unseen, maybe the side door” Tara promised, the required incantation already committed to memory. She just hoped that Faith wouldn’t start getting ‘large’ on any one vampire. As Mr Giles had always said, much to the Slayer’s amusement, ‘
Plunge and move on.
Plunge and move on.’ Faith might have found that funny. Now it was essential.
She had to be that disciplined.
“Weapons?” Mr Giles asked.
“I got my stakes.” Tara rattled her bag, bulging with stakes, the last of which she had just finished whittling. And she had an ace in the hole. Willow would be there. Why that was suddenly an ‘ace’ Tara had no idea. She hadn’t wanted Willow to be there at all. But having confided in the vampire, to protect her, then there had been no way to keep Willow away from the Bronze. Besides the Master was expecting her there.
Willow had to go.
The vampire had promised to stay out of the way… but she would be there. Tara knew that she would have to kill them all – the vampires - and then protect Willow from Faith so
that vampire could prove herself useful. She looked at Faith, and the Slayer smiled back grimly. Supportive, but recognising what had to be done.
She had to keep Faith and Willow apart. One more thing to worry about. She had managed it so far… but no longer.
“I got my axe,” Faith told them, “some of Tara’s stakes and…” Faith held up a can.
“Hairspray?”
Faith’s smile shifted to one of near glee and she lit a flame in front of the spray. There was a vast whoosh.
“That ought to work,” Giles commented wryly. “I thought I might go for the crossbow and a sword. And a stake of course.” The last item was added as if it were simply a tradition. Which it was.
“Of c-course,” Tara repeated and again looked at Faith who nodded almost imperceptibly in response.
“I suggest that we all get some rest, there is a camp bed in the office which is quite comfortable if anyone wants it. Shall we meet in four hours, ready to set off?” he asked.
They both nodded but each of them mentally subtracted an hour from that total. Whether they had to sneak out whilst Mr Giles slept or tie him to his chair, he wouldn’t be joining them. They owed that to Jenny. Besides… if this didn’t work out there would only be Larry and Mr Giles left. Larry had been ‘assigned’ to patrol tonight in a bid to keep him out of the way and leave someone behind to tell the tale. Larry hadn’t patrolled in months. Would he ask ‘why now?’ Or would he just use the opportunity to have his revenge on vampires.
She hoped the latter.
There would be Mr Giles too, to tell their tale. To write his diaries about them. He was well trained and good with a number of weapons. But he was no Slayer. The kills he would make in an environment like the Bronze would be more than offset by the extra numbers in there – and the extra risk he would bring to all of them. This was going to go down like a brawl and he wasn’t a fighter. And there was Jenny… the person to whom he was really special. That which made him special though, unlike the gifts that she and Faith possessed, would not prevent the Master from ripping his head off when the whim took him.
They went into the office and pulled down the tiny camp bed, Giles already slumped in his chair outside, eyes shut trying to fall asleep. “I’ll take the chair,” Tara offered.
“We can share,” Faith replied. “It should take the weight.”
“Sure?” Tara asked the Slayer.
“Hey it’s not like I was asking you jump my bones or anything,” Faith laughed. “You knew that right?”
“Yeah, I knew that,” Tara confirmed with a smile.
“It just seems like the right time to be held,” Faith suggested with a slight smile. “Can’t remember the last time I was. Even if my bread is buttered on the other side to yours.” She winked.
Tara smiled back. “Then lie down Slayer and let’s hold onto each other.” As they did Tara realised that Faith was dead right. It was a time to be held. If it was the last time then Tara wished it could have been Willow… still better a last time than none at all.
“It’s been fun Tar,” Faith told her a few minutes later. “Whatever happens.”
Tara just hugged her. That sounded altogether too much like a goodbye.
-----------------
It was a gift of Tara’s to awake when she needed to. Even if she didn’t necessarily like it. Getting up was always more of a problem, but waking was a gift. How many times had she used that gift to lie in bed, watching Willow sleep?
Maybe this camp bed had not been such a good idea. Stiff much? But the position on the small bed was made more awkward as it accommodated two people. Faith was still there… the peace of her sleep belying the violence of which the young woman was so capable. Tara pushed an errant strand of hair back from her face and whispered her name.
Whispered because from what she could hear she knew that Mr Giles was either asleep or raising pigs in the book cage. She imagined that Jenny often had to dig him in the ribs as he slept and get him to roll over. Jenny… that was not the only reason why they were going to sneak off and leave him here – but it was the big one. His feelings would be hurt, but at least his body would be intact… and Jenny wouldn’t be hurt by losing him.
That was more important to both of them.
Faith was awake at that mention of her name, or maybe the touch, but irrepressible as ever she couldn’t help whispering a joke, “You know people are gonna talk if they see us like this? Don’t we have reputations to maintain in our respective fields?” The Slayer grinned, did something with her tongue and then raised her eyebrows.
“You obviously do,” Tara replied, returning the smile. “I am living reputation free these days.”
The humour was good for them. They needed that right now – even in a forced whisper. They didn’t put their boots and shoes back on before leaving, just picked up their weapons and jackets and slipped out into the school hallway, silently closing the door, wincing as stakes clacked together inside Tara’s bag. Mr Giles did not stir though. Which saved restraining him. There was no time for arguing, they had to move on this.
It had to be done. If not today then very soon. Tara had a deadline and things that she wanted to do before that arrived. Once… this had been her only objective. But now. Now she wanted some sort of ‘life.’
It wouldn’t be long now until… the change. The one that might mean that she could not even care about justice. The one that meant she might even join the Master in his ways. One that might take away her ability to know right from wrong. Or feel anything but hate…
After they had done there would be no Master for her to join.
Soon now. What had once been years away had become months. Months faded to weeks and now the plural of that was barely true anymore. Better to count in days… there seemed more than the weeks. They had to do this now.
Leaving the school building they put on their footwear and as Faith looked at Tara, she saw that she was lost in some other place. The Slayer probably wondered if that was a better place, in better times, better circumstances? “You with me?” she asked.
“Always,” Tara replied. For now anyway. The word just made her think of Willow. And what she still had to lose. Where was Willow right now?
--------------------------------
Willow disliked slinking. And that was what she was doing. She knew that she should be upstairs at the Master’s side as was her right as the last of his favourites here in Sunnydale. With him. Alongside him. She should be consolidating her position or others would take advantage. That was how it worked. They would only fear her, as they should, for as long as she maintained her position and to do that she needed to be by the Master. She needed to be seen feeding with him. She needed to be seen talking to him – when he addressed her first of course. They needed to know that there was no vacuum created by the loss of his other favourites.
That she had filled that space entirely. And alone.
Not quite alone.
How much they feared her was no longer an issue though was it? She had directed the Master’s outlying sentries to certain places. She had told the Kitten where those would be. She had recalled others… tantalising them with tasty morsels that she should have kept for herself. She had betrayed the Order and, really, she didn’t give a hoot. The Order meant nothing to her. The power and position at the Master’s right hand – that was worth something but ideals? Ideals smacked of humanity – even when they were inhuman ideals.
Codes… devotion to the cause.
Is that why we were turned? Why we were freed from the straitjacket of humanity?And such thoughts were the reason she was now slinking. That and the Kitten not wanting to have worry about that bitch Slayer staking her… It might have been a good time to kill that dark-haired young Slayer though. After the Master was gone maybe she would. Let the Slayer help the Kitten, then Willow could help herself.
To anything that she damn well pleased – the way that it used to be.
Actually it had never been that way… because before the Kitten and her delicious influence, there had been the Master telling her what to do… The Kitten was much better at that and much more rewarding.
She was glad that Tara was going to kill him.
She rattled the bars of the cages down there, passing one that had seen some delightful playtimes with the puppy. Old memories… almost as long gone as her humanity itself. There were fresher memories… such as those of the past day with her Kitten. They had played and she had received her instructions. Instructions… the Kitten was giving her orders! She was almost grown up now. The Kitten was nearly… More.
But she obeyed those instructions. That was what she was doing down here. Because she could see the sense in them. Because it was the only way… and because at some level she wanted to be challenged for supremacy by the Kitten. It was a war that she didn’t intend to
lose… but it would be fun to lose some battles along the way.
But the battle that was coming. In the coming hours. They could not lose this. She respected the Master and feared his power. It was going to be a privilege to see him fight. But he had to lose.
He might even kill that pesky Slayer that hung around the Kitten. But it was also going to be her privilege to see him destroyed… and as his last remaining favourite in Luke’s absence it was up to her to ensure that he stayed destroyed as well.
Being a favourite was not simply a question of position – it was responsibility for the future if the ‘worst’ happened. Or the best. Depending on your point of view at the time. She, alone, was now tasked with making sure that he, the Master, was returned to his throne. She intended to make sure that he realised, in the end, that that would never happen. She was not going to slink all the way through this. At the end… right before he was gone she would emerge and he would turn to her and he would expect her to help him. He might even ask her… beg her.
She had always liked begging… Begging for mercy. Begging for completion. Begging for help.
But she wouldn’t be swayed. When that moment arrived she would go and kiss the Kitten… all for the look on his face before they cut it away from his body… or staked him. And because she always wanted to kiss the Kitten anyway.
It was a shame really, he might have been a real challenge to break down but he was far too dangerous to leave in some cage. She could never be sure that he was contained. Besides he would still have followers – they were not all here tonight. So he would die and he would know how far her ‘play’ had gone with the Kitten.
How much more, ultimately, the Kitten meant to her than her Master or her brethren ever had. Actually how much more anything meant to her than them. That phase of her unlife was behind her… or would be very soon. It was time to move along. She had been getting bored and not knowing the cause. She needed a change.
It was time to take some control for herself. To fill the vacuum that was going to appear as he blew around in the breeze.
That was worth a little slinking. And until then there was always a snack to be had.
----------------------------
Tara and Faith had approached the warehouse district cautiously. Neither of them had been forced to venture out here in the night too often. It too close to the centre of the darkness. Better to have picked the vampires off individually or in small groups than go charging into their lair… that seemed just too much like suicide. Even to Faith who was big on the whole charging thing. And that, of course, was just what they were about to do.
They paused maybe a hundred metres from their destination. “Do you feel it?” Faith asked. Tara nodded, scanning their surroundings but the area was as built up as the town proper – virtually impossible to determine what it was that they were feeling. But they knew. “We’re being watched,” Faith confirmed unnecessarily.
The pendant gave Tara no further hint of vampires. That in itself was a little strange. There had been sentries out. Willow had told her where they would be… most of them. And they had dusted them without them getting any warning out. But where were all the rest? If they were all inside The Bronze then she might not feel them yet… but that was not how they operated in the past. The Master had always ensured that there was security dotted around the centre of his kingdom. They couldn’t have destroyed them all. There had to be more than that.
But… Willow. It had to have been Willow.
She was really helping them… by the Goddess she actually was.
Not that Faith could ever know that. As far as Faith was concerned it was the pendant that had told Tara where the sentries were. Faith couldn’t know.
It probably helped that that they had chosen the least obvious direction from which to approach the Bronze. Visiting or leaving vampires would not usually take this route if they were going to town. And most of them were. She and Faith had circled around the entire district to come at it from the out-of-town side, trying to entirely avoid any vampires that might otherwise escape and raise the alarm.
“Perhaps we have stretched them thinner than we thought?” Faith suggested, raising an eyebrow in query.
“M-Maybe. But he has a lot of vampires…” They knew that very well. That was why she had let Faith use her axe on the ones they had encountered so far. She had to preserve her supply of stakes. They had plans… or hoped to have if the set-up looked okay. Otherwise they might just be doing the ‘Charge!’ thing.
“But none that he trusts. We got him Tar. Without his security we got him,” the Slayer told her, sounding confident.
Prematurely?
“M-Maybe…” Tara said to empty air, Faith had set off with a jaunty walk. Not directly towards the Bronze but not hiding herself too much either. Tara hurried to catch up with her.
They had not gone far when the pendant finally reacted. As usual it gave no indication of direction to Tara, but they were moving towards the Bronze so it seemed likely that was the source. The pain confirmed that some vampires were in there and that they had not all upped and left. And if that was true, even if the Master wasn’t there himself, she doubted they would leave without killing them all. Faith wasn't in the mood. Neither was Tara. They had accepted that they might die… that kind of made them both a little blasé and willing to take risks that perhaps they would otherwise have avoided.
And for me, Tara thought,
Willow is in there. I know that she is… she’s expecting me. Not that she needs rescuing - but it sort of feels like that. I’m rescuing her from that life. Instead of the murderous-woman-I-love-working-for-my greatest-enemy she will just be the murderous-woman-I-love.And damn it all…that felt good. Better at least. Tara sighed and Faith turned round wondering what was wrong. Tara just shook her head. How was she ever going to explain Willow to Faith? If the vampire helped them then Faith would know…
Fast talking. Not her strongest suit, Tara admitted to herself.
Convincing fast-talking. That was a whole new game, one that she had never mastered.
By the time that they were up against the wall that formed one side of the Bronze – a side without a door – the pendant was burning ever more fiercely. It had never hurt that much. Never. Not only was there Willow. There were lots and lots of vampires. They could hear them inside. But without knowing where… and who, they could not plan. Even Faith was not so keen to die as to just go and barge in through the door unless they had to. In fact they were both prepared to be downright sneaky. They had not spoken. Tara was holding herself just slightly off the ground… her foot falls cushioned by the mattress of thickened air beneath her. Faith… well Faith was just a natural predator. Silent and deadly.
It was all part of her gift.
Tara pointed to the ladder beside them and Faith nodded. Their progress though was slow, it had to be to stop the ladder echoing their movements into the building and summoning a vampire before they were ready. Tara could have carried them both up there with a spell but that was risky… and unnecessary. Thickening the air to stay silent was one thing, carrying them both up there… blind as it were… was something else. If she got distracted she could drop them both to their deaths without a single vampire being staked.
Avoiding squeaking rungs and any unnecessary noise it took more than five minutes for them both to get to the top of the ladder and onto the roof, where they crawled forwards rather than walked. Vampire hearing being what it was a footfall on the roof… not worth risking for the sake of speed. What they did have to risk was looking through the skylights to get a sense of the place. They had seen blueprints, old blueprints and Willow had described the vampires modifications, but neither of them had ever been in there before.
Know your territory Tara. Yes sir I will.
But then why would anyone, who wasn’t human and tied to a pool table, be looking up there anyway? Nothing happened on the roof. It was the roof after all. Fortunately the young man tied to the table was too far gone to react to their presence. He wouldn’t have known who they were anyway. They were not here to rescue. They couldn’t be.
If he was still alive after then great. But now they had to kill. That was all. Distractions were bad… and Tara hated herself for having to think like that at all.
But they did have to be hard. Cold.
She did have to.
It was the only way to win.
The Master, the one that they sought above all others, could not be seen from here. He was not in what was clearly the main area of the Bronze. Not unless he was beneath one of the platforms anyway. What there was down there was a lot of vampires and nearly as many human victims – or at least their bodies. Some of the people were moving – but for the rest, like the one tied to the pool table directly below them, it was hard to tell if they needed saving, burning or burying.
“Vampire heaven,” Faith whispered as they ducked back, rolling and looking up at the stars. It was a lot more pleasant than looking down there… much better than being down there was going to be. Fighting when people were lying there dead and dying.
Because they hadn’t come a day earlier. A day Tara had spent with a vampire.
Had Willow caused any of the pain that had been suffered by those people? Keeping up appearances? Or simply acting out of her true instincts?
Tara didn’t reply to Faith’s comment. She wanted to know not only where The Master was… but she also needed to know where Willow was. She supposed it was a good thing that she couldn’t see her. Maybe Willow was actually doing what she was told and staying out of sight… at least until later. That had been more than Tara had dared to hope for. Telling Willow what to do then actually having her do it…
She had never really tested that before. Her ability to instruct Willow. She had told Willow, sometimes when she went too far, what not to do. But never what she had to do. Not until now.
But she wanted to know where Willow was. What if Willow was in the open when they went in? Faith would stake her and not even know what she had done. Tara might not even see it. Have a chance to stop it… know that it had happened.
Yes. She would know. She might see it or stop it but she
would stop it.
She would feel it in every part of herself.
Or Faith might force Willow to defend herself. Could Willow end up hurting Faith? Without the Slayer they might
all be dead.
The stars… much better to look up there. At them. While she could still enjoy that simple pleasure. Maybe she should take Willow out into the night, if they survived this… and introduce her to the stars. Willow would probably be bored. Old light from places far away. She could here Willow’s comment already. She knew what the vampire would likely want to do to relieve that boredom. Under the stars. But going out there to look, well it was something that Tara thought she might want to do before…
No thoughts of the future.
They had to survive first.
She followed the lines of the Big Pineapple, connecting the dots within her mind and then rolled over and followed Faith across the roof towards the next skylight, which should offer another angle into the same part of the largest room. To check if the Master was actually in there.
Faith shook her head though as she looked down. No sign of him. But Faith wasn’t looking for the same things that she was. Tara made her way to the skylight anyway, ignoring Faith’s questioning look and scanned what was below for herself. Faith sighed and headed off again. Tara quickly followed. No Master. No Willow. Just vampires.
Just vampires… and their victims.
Willow was ‘just’ a vampire.
No. Not ‘just.’ Willow was different. Worse. Better. Special in more than one way.
Faith’s gestures indicated that she had found something at that next skylight. She was looking down into another room though the dirty glass. It appeared to be separated from the rest of the club. Not so many vampires… and those that there were in there were hanging back as if waiting for something. They were not there as security. They were facing inwards. Waiting for a command. They were servants and at their centre was someone neither Tara nor Faith had ever seen before but could not fail to recognise.
The Master.
“Nosferatu or what?” Faith hissed, jokingly.
“Only when they get really old…” Tara started to say, wanting to explain his appearance. He must have been human once and she had only come across vampires that had
changed like that a couple of times.
“And when they are really powerful?” Faith asked, guessing the answer anyway.
“Yeah.” They thought about that for a moment, what they were getting into.
“No weapons down there, not that I saw. We just have to deal with the vamps,” Faith commented, satisfied that they could do that. A vampire was a vampire afterall.
“As always.” Most vampires felt that their natural abilities were enough. Only a few would use a weapon as a matter of course. Crossbows or swords would have been a real problem. Guns… that would have made things very tricky. But Willow had already assured them that there were next to no weapons in the Bronze.
Just lots and lots of vampires. Who would dare to attack anyway? The very brave or the very stupid.
“You think we could get in the side? Into that room? Take him out then just skedaddle?” Faith wondered, but not sounding impressed at the idea she had mooted herself.
“No windows. No doors,” Tara observed. Except this one of course.
“There’s the skylight…” Faith took another look through it, running her fingers around the edge of the frame. Her finger came away black and this high up it wasn’t designed to open at all. If they smashed it then the surprise was lost anyway – not even allowing a crossbow bolt or a stake from up here. Not fast enough. They had to be down there, somehow.
“I wouldn’t want to fall that far… or even try to cushion it. Just me maybe that’s fairly easy… but both of us or even just you? Too easy for me to misjudge,” Tara told her.
“You wouldn’t last two minutes alone in there Tar… not so close in. There are too many. And I can’t be certain to get in through the door, through the rest of them and into there to help you in time,” Faith replied, nixing the implied possibility. “I’d have to be in there to cover your back.”
“C-could you… if you went in the main room, could you hold them off for a few seconds?”
“Easily girlfriend. I’ll give you as much as a minute,” Faith boasted and it sounded like a little bravado. Tara knew that she wouldn’t need a minute though. “What you got in mind Tar?” Faith asked, knowing that it had to be better than just ‘Charge!’
“You go in, get as far as you can… with no fighting. Just be bold, confident… your makeup’s pretty pale and with all their victims they probably can’t smell you. It has to be kinda … well…r-rank in there.”
“I knew that my keen fashion sense and use of deodorant would pay dividends eventually,” Faith joked. Neither of them did more than smile. What Tara was proposing was… suicidal. For anyone but the Slayer.
Good job Faith was that one girl in all the world then.
“When they figure you out I’ll smash the window, give you a shroud of smoke and take care of some from up here. If we get enough others might run away… you wait and I’ll come down and
then we can go for The Master.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Faith told her.
“Not a good one,” Tara argued, really, really hoping that Faith had a better one.
“Best we’ve got and there’s no time to think of a better one.” She started for the ladder. “Take care,” Faith smiled and paused as Tara replied.
“You too.”
-------------------------
Climbing down the ladder Faith started to suspect that maybe, she hadn’t got the better end of this deal. Still Tara was right and it was the only end that she could hold up. What choice did they have? At least she wasn't going to be the one falling through that skylight into the middle of who knew how many vampires. Maybe neither of them would know. If the witch created some sort of magical smoke then the two of them would be as blind as the vampires wouldn’t they? That caused Faith to pause and wonder if she should go back and point that out. If that was the case just how was T gonna hit the vamps with her stakes?
That was sort of worrying… stakes flying around and Tara having no real idea what she was hitting. Unless she was kinda thinking of the odds being against hitting Faith. Nah… Tara wouldn’t be that casual?
Faith knew that
she might have been. But Tara? No.
Would she?
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that the hand was nearly on her shoulder when she sensed it and let go of the ladder, stepping back and turning in one smooth movement axe swinging to connect with the creature’s neck, checking the blow at the last instant.
“Nice way to get a shave,” she hissed at Larry. She’d get mad at him later, right now she had vampires to kill. “Get out of here, get back to your books and stay away from this.”
“I’m here to help Faith. Figured that you would be doing it tonight. You and Giles never tried to ‘order’ me to stay away before… or to avoid certain places,” Larry explained. “Made it sorta obvious.”
“You stay here and you’ll die,” Faith told him bluntly. She was sure of that. Look what had happened to his friends.
“Maybe… but I already turned down this really cute guy to hang around here all night,” Larry whispered, angry that she was still trying to send him away. “Now you are here, I’m not just going to watch.”
“So you figured you’d get some action anyway?” Faith couldn’t believe that she was having this argument here of all places. She wanted to scream at him. All she could do was whisper and hope no one came out of the Bronze.
“You need help. Every Slayer that went up against the Master died. I’ve seen one already and I’m still here. You’d just be next one in a long line.” He could see that wasn’t going to work with her. “Look I understand you and Giles tried to let me have a life after you arrived… but this is important stuff.”
“I have help.” Tara was as much help as she could stand. And as much as she needed. She couldn’t be looking after this guy.
“I’m going in there if you do,” he told her firmly.
Faith sighed, realising that all she could do was knock him out. Which would get him killed anyway. A vampire would find him and she didn’t have time to carry him away or hide him. “He was a really cute guy then?” she asked. If he was here then he was here… might help with Tara’s plan some, she thought in a sudden brainwave.
“He’s not your type. Or you his – but he has a twin brother I’ll introduce you to,” Larry offered.
“Twins? Cool.” Now that might be fun. One of them a challenge too. “Now bend down.”
To his credit Larry obeyed straight away, happy to go along with the plan whatever it was.
Faith rolled her eyes. “Not like that…” Faith grasped him round the neck and tipped his head to one side as if she were about to take a sip of him at his neck. “Like this. You carrying?”
“Stakes and crosses,” standard patrol issue, though it had been a while since he had been forced to act in anything but self-defence off-campus.
“You got my back. You take that cross and you keep anything with teeth bigger than mine away from us okay?” She whispered in his ear as they made their way towards the door. Stepping out in the alley which thronged with vampires. “The stake is just if things get bad. Real bad. No heroics. We five by five on that?”
“Check” he gasped, being choked by her grip. She didn’t loosen it, dragging him down towards the doors. She wanted him afraid. She wanted them to be able to smell it.
“Tara’s on the roof. You watch for flying stakes and you make sure no one touches her when she gets down there with us… right?”
This time all he could do was nod, his breath still coming. Even if it was rasping.
They reached the nearest of the vampires at the door and Faith barged them past it, banging Larry into it deliberately… its focus was immediately drawn to the restrained human instead of to her. “Mind out,” she told it and lashed out with a kick to its leg. “I have a gift for The Master here.”
Its apology came whilst it was hopping and the attention of the door guard was fixed as it laughed at its comrade. After all who was going to be stupid enough to try and sneak into a vampire infested club?
Oh, Faith thought,
nobody but chickens. She stepped inside, dragging Larry behind her now. The place looked even more full from here than it had from up above. The throngs under the platforms had been hidden from them before.
We are sooo very dead if the tiniest thing goes wrong.She flicked a glance towards the skylight, not lingering in case anyone chose to follow her gaze and spotted Tara - even if the glass was shrouded in dirt and the glare of the lights helped to mask her. The young woman was right where she was expected to be. Faith moved further into the club and towards the area directly under the skylight. Better that Tara had good sight lines… and that they would all be together when this started.
Larry was a problem though. Willing he might be but he was… only human. Despite his cross and her instructions he was just a basic unmodified mark one human. Not a Slayer, not a witch. Nothing special apart from his dedication to what should have been just her cause. Protecting Larry so he could introduce her to his date’s brother… Ah well. If it worked she would take him up on that. If they all died at least they were going right at the heart of things.
A male vampire came towards her, seeming about to question the presence of a stranger and then it sniffed… Its look changed from one of query to anger and rapidly disbelief as it remembered where it was. “Ready?” she hissed at Larry, dragging his face into hers.
She didn’t give him time to do anything more than nod and then lifted the big man and flung him at the vampire, pleased that Larry already had his cross in his hand, branding the vampire he fell on top of it without even intending to. A slight tussle and the vampire was gone and Larry was left coughing dust, scrambling to his feet with the used stake still in his hand.
First kill to the amateur.
Faith pulled the axe from under her jacket and launched herself at the nearest vampire where it was sucking on the neck of some old guy. As the teeth that ripped his neck disintegrated she speculated that the victim might even live. No time for that though. Glass smashed up above and started to rain down around them and Faith spared a glance upwards to make sure that none was going to…
A vampire driven back by Larry’s cross fixed its eyes on her, followed her look and was almost beheaded by the largest piece of the skylight… almost. Faith finished the job, feeling another sliver slice down her own back, cutting her clothes and her skin. The pain was invigorating. As if she needed any more invigoration.
Game on.
*************
You hear that baby? I am going nowhere.
at: 6/15/02 4:51:58 pm
So very Faith.