Author's note: Beta'd by the very talented ladies dawnofme and Mabel Marsters. Hope you guys enjoy! :)


Chapter 10


The smell of musty old books permeated the whole apartment. Buffy tugged at the loose thread of the well-worn sofa, staring at the bland colour of tea swirling in a small cup that she was clutching like a lifeline. Her fingers left a smear of blood on its white surface.


The sofa depressed under the additional weight of someone sitting down next to her, and the tea lapped at the cup’s rim. Her hands were shaking.


“Hey, B. So… how are you holding up?” Faith asked and repressed the urge to punch Buffy’s shoulder in a show of camaraderie.


“Fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”


Faith wouldn’t feel half as unsettled if there was at least a trace of sarcasm in Buffy’s voice. She’d been acting this way ever since they got out of the school. Ever since they’d followed the stuffy British guy to his condo.


'Man, that had been some weird shit.'


********


Three hours earlier


Faith woke up to the sound of screaming and a struggle coming from below. Running a hand through her tussled hair, she glanced over at the boy lying next to her and rolled her eyes. They never seemed to get the hint to get lost after the fun was over. She had half a mind to kick him off the bed, but there was no time for a quasi lovers’ quarrel right now.


Getting out of the bed, Faith slipped into jeans and a black top before heading out the door. The corridor was yawning with emptiness, all the doors firmly shut. She seemed to be the only one curious or awake enough to investigate. Or maybe stupid enough. Faith grimaced and raised her chin in defiance.


'Bunch of losers.'


She never turned down a good scuffle, though it was probably just some hysterical chick getting paddled by Miss Bennett for being out and about at this hour. Well, she never turned down being entertained either. The wooden stairs creaked beneath her feet, and she winced slightly, pausing for a second.


'The last thing I need is to be caught by that vindictive old bitch too.'


As she sneaked down the last set of stairs, animalistic snarls reached her ears. Since when did they have dogs? The snarls turned into whimpers just before she rounded the corner, and her eyes widened in horror.


'What the… B?'


Her roommate was there, barely a blur of blonde hair and high kicks as she pounded some sort of… creatures. Faith staggered backwards as one of them flew several feet in the air and landed in front of her. She jumped back as its jaws snapped at her ankle just in time to avoid losing her leg. Eyes darting around, Faith snapped out of the daze and lunged to grip an ugly relic resting on a narrow pedestal. It was heavy and sturdy as she raised it above her head and smashed it against the creatures’ head with a satisfying crack. Her eyes followed the spreading black liquid pooling around the now disfigured skull.


Just as she looked up to see if Buffy was okay, her stomach lurched in nausea at the sight that met her gaze. Buffy rammed her fist into the creatures’ chest and ripped out its black heart. The demon fell at her feet, next to its second fallen comrade whose head was rolling on the floor a couple of feet away.


Hesitantly making her way towards Buffy, Faith sharply inhaled when she met her eyes. They seemed empty. Feral. The only sound was the slow drip of blood coming from Buffy’s clenched fists.


“What the hell are you doing?” Faith asked. Now was not the time to be subtle.


'Here’s hoping she won’t rip my head off too.'


“We have to burn them,” Buffy said. Her voice was indifferent, almost robotic. Faith shrugged off the weirdness.


“I’m always up for a bit of fire. So what are we burning? The corpses?”


“The contracts. It’s what is keeping us inside. We need to get rid of the barrier.”


“Huh?”


Buffy didn’t answer, she just kept marching. Straight towards Miss Bennett’s office.


“Uh… B. Are you sure we’re going in the right direction? Not that I’m not up for a bit of rock and roll, but-”


“Nobody is forcing you to follow me.”


“Gee, what got into you? And care to tell me what the hell those things were?”


“Demons from Hell.”


“Ah… now that makes sense. I gotta say: you were quite a badass, what with pounding the shit out of them. And here I thought you were all innocent and sweet.”


Buffy didn’t answer as she kicked down the door of the headmistress’ office. Faith whistled in appreciation at the display of violence while they crossed the threshold.


“Got any matches?” Buffy asked in the same dispassionate voice.


Faith fumbled in the pockets of her jeans and drew out a lighter with a sly grin on her face. “Sure do.”


She watched as Buffy literally trashed the office. And where was Miss Bennett anyway? They’d get really walloped for this if they were caught. Papers flew everywhere as Buffy systematically pulled out all the drawers and spilled their contents. Gathering all the papers she could find in her hands, Buffy tossed them in a tin basket and snatched the lighter from Faith’s hand before she could blink.


There was a snick and the fire sprang to life, its light illuminating Buffy’s pale face and eyes devoid of any emotion. She lit a paper, watching the fire consume its edges as they curled and twisted before they turned into ash. Buffy dropped the burning paper into the basket, and the flames devoured its contents.


Faith plopped down into the plush leather chair with a sigh and put her feet up on the polished surface of the table. With a grin, she swiped off the pedantically ordered pencils and books to the floor.


“This is fun. You should have mentioned you were this naughty. What are we doing next?” Faith asked, warming up to the deviant feeling of possible vandalism.


Buffy was already running out the door.


Faith cursed and sprang to her feet, following her strangely acting roommate. In that moment, the fire alarm switched on, and water started to rain down from the sprinklers in the ceilings. She could hear the voices of the students as they reluctantly made it down the stairs, all of them acting as if they’d rather burn than come out of their rooms.


Faith ignored them and rushed out after Buffy, straight through the back exit of the school and into the gardens. Buffy was sitting on the ground, her back to Faith.


She approached her warily and sat down next to her. “B?”


“There’s so much blood,” she whispered and curled her fingers into the stained grass, unconsciously tearing it out of the ground.


Faith frowned. “How do you know it’s blood? Might be paint or something.”


“They… hurt William.”


So that was what sent Buffy into the crazy out of character state of mind. It all made a very macabre sense. There was a lot of blood now that Faith focused her attention on it. Too much blood. Whatever happened, there was a high chance William hadn’t survived and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable. As if she was intruding in on a private moment of grief.


Except, Buffy wasn’t crying. She didn’t do anything besides sit there looking for all purposes lost. Maybe she was in a shock.


'Should I slap her?'


Faith shifted slightly, trying to decide what to do to make her snap out of whatever haze Buffy had fallen in. It couldn’t be healthy to suppress her emotions like this. And if William was truly dead, where was his body?


Just as she was about to speak, the distant sound of sirens filled the night.


“Buffy Summers?” the solemn man asked.


Faith rose to her feet, suddenly feeling protective of her roommate. “Who wants to know?”


The man’s eyes flitted towards Buffy with concern, but then he was staring at Faith.


“My name is Rupert Giles, and if this is Buffy, she needs to come with me right away.”


********


Present time


Buffy took a sip of her tea. It had gone cold and refused to slide soothingly through the lump in her throat.


The man, Giles—he’d said his name was, sat in the opposite chair and spoke to Faith. They suddenly went quiet and as she raised her eyes, Buffy realized they were staring at her with pity. What did they feel pity for? There was nothing wrong with her.


“Umm… Buffy. If you don’t mind, I’d feel better if you stayed here tonight. Your friend is welcome to stay too of course,” Giles said and interlaced his fingers. “As you are well aware… there have been some supernatural occurrences that escaped the Council’s notice.” Giles cleared his throat. “Perhaps you’d wish to ask some questions about it or about your newfound powers?”


“Are my things here?”


“I took them along with mine, B,” Faith said and gestured in the general direction of a bedroom where she’d put them.


“Did you take William’s too?”


Faith traded a troubled look with Giles and nodded. “Yeah, I did.”


“Good. He might want them once I find him,” Buffy said and stood up.


“Buffy…” Giles started.


“I’m tired. Could we maybe talk about all the things that happened tomorrow? And… thank you…. for all of this, but… I just want to sleep.”


“Of course. You know where the guest room is. We’ll talk tomorrow,” Giles said.


Buffy smiled at him faintly and ventured to the guest room.


Once she closed the door behind her, she let out a heavy sigh. The darkness soothed her, hid her from the enquiring glances shot her way. She didn’t need their pity, nor did she want them to prod at the raw wound in her heart that she was barely holding closed. She refused to cry, to give in to the suffocating weight pressing steadily down on her chest. There would be no tears.


She was the Slayer, apparently. The Chosen One, sworn to protect the world from demons and vampires. How could she protect the whole world when she couldn’t even save him?


'No! He’s not dead. Can’t be. I’ll find a way to bring him back.'


She found herself thrown into the world of the impossible. Magic and nightmares come to life. Who said death was final? What if William wasn’t dead at all? He might be somewhere, a hell dimension the man had taken him to, waiting for her to come for him. There was no time to break down and grieve when there still might be a chance of seeing him smile at her again. Right?


Lying down upon the bed, Buffy closed her eyes and refused to believe she’d never feel William’s lips against hers. Never take in his scent again or see him blush.


At the same time her eyes fluttered shut, six feet under ground, William’s eyes opened. His blue gaze frantically darted around the dense darkness of the confined space as he forced in a shuddering breath.


TBC