Author’s Note: Thanks to Kar for the fantastic beta job and to my wonderful readers and reviewers. Fifteen is almost drafted, so look for an update soon.

In our fourteenth installment the slayers take on the Beast.

Chapter 14: Two Slayers, No Waiting

She was too late.

By the time Faith stumbled on the scene, a huge guy in a Greek sweatshirt was dropping the body of his last victim on the seal. Then the glamour evaporated and she was staring at Jonathan. She'd been too late, and the ten boys were already dead. Their smell was funny; they'd been drugged. They all wore the same sweatshirts. He must have convinced them he was taking them on some sort of hazing ritual. And the gullible pledges would have seen the same movies she had and bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Clever. She was totally going to kill him.

Before she got the chance, something glowed under the pile of bodies. She heard metal screaming and then the boys were falling through the open seal into the ground. Or probably not the ground, but whatever the seal was a door too. She started to rush forward, determined to slice him in half.

A roar tore through the air and a hideous head emerged from the hole. Then a second. Then a third. Cold washed over her in waves, making her hair stand up. The creature clawed its way up and then spread its wings.

It was transparent, glowing orange. Just a phantom, she tried to reassure herself as it glided over to Jonathan and wrapped its wings around the small man. Jonathan moaned, a sick happy sound that made her hackles rise higher. The beast began to fade away and Jonathan began to take on the creature's orange glow.

Suddenly it hit her: this was the same thing that had happened to her.

No way, no way was she letting that piece of shit get more powerful. She pulled her old dagger from her boot and took aim. Jonathan screamed as the blade pierced his shoulder. The glow faded from his body and the creature shrieked.

Jonathan looked around frantically, but his eyes couldn't pick her out in the darkened basement. "I'll get you, you bitches!" he shouted. He ripped the knife from his shoulder and clamped his hand over the wound. Faith felt an immense sense of relief, but that faded fast as she and Jonathan simultaneously realized the same thing.

The creature had become solid.

The boy ran, limping with pain, leaving Faith alone to face the biggest demon she had ever seen. Unfortunately it had also seen her.

It turned one of its massive heads in her direction and took a swing with a taloned arm. She managed to parry with the scythe and jump out of the way of his second arm. When the third arm came at her, she swiped with the blade and took its claw clean off.

It wasn't happy about that. It gave an unholy cry and swung at her with its three good arms at once. She managed to block two, but the third lifted her off her feet and hurled her into a wall. Head spinning and one arm seriously hurting, she staggered to her feet and reeled on the thing again. One of the heads seemed to smile at her as it swung again.

She tried to block and missed. The talon scraped across her leg, taking leather and skin with it. Blood flowed down her leg and the pain made her woozy. Faith forced herself to stay upright and take another swipe. For what felt like days, she battled the beast, finally succeeding in taking of one head and seriously mangling the second. They took turns mauling each other until her blood and its ichors were indistinguishable on the slick dirt floor.

"Hey! Over here, big guy!"

Buffy spun by, taking a slash at the creature's abdomen. She saw one claw glance over her sister slayer's arm, but Buffy didn't seem to feel it. Spike hacked off another of its arms. Then her view was blocked by the girls, struggling with a pack of Bringers. She could hear Tara and Willow chanting. There was someone else there too, flitting in and out, but her incredible hearing still couldn't make out what that person was saying.

"Take that one back to the house and chain him up."

Faith couldn't tell who was speaking. Blood seeped out of her leg and the throbbing was interfering with her hearing. Soft arms came up around her waist.

"Have to fight," she protested.

"You're in no shape to fight, but you might be tomorrow if we get you out of here now."

Willow, she realized. She could see Tara still speaking, arms raised. The girls had finished off the Bringers and were running around trying to distract the monster while Buffy and Spike systematically chopped it to pieces.

"Keep her safe!" she heard Buffy scream.

Oddly enough, Faith felt safe for the first time in a long time.

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Buffy felt like they had been at it for hours. The girls were uninjured because she'd made them stay back. The were exhausted from fighting the crowd of Bringers, but then again if they hadn't been attacked by such a big group, they might never have realized that something big was happening.

Her own body was covered with cuts and there was a nasty gash on her shoulder. Spike was bloodied too, but they were slowly killing the First's beast. After the first few swings, the First had appeared in various forms to taunt and distract them, but now that they were clearly defeating Its pet there was no sign of It.

The beast teetered back and forth. She started to worry one of the girls might be crushed. "We can take it from here. You guys were amazing. Now, go home!" she managed to pant out.

From the corner of her eye she saw the twins dragging the unconscious Bringer behind them as they left. Spike, little scratches bleeding on his ridged brow, gave a vicious roar and lopped off the thing's last head. It flopped ungracefully over the seal. She marched over and drove her sword through its guts, just the make sure. Drops of her blood spattered what was left of its scaly body and the metal plate underneath, but her injuries were already healing.

She made her way over to Spike, who was leaning against the wall, breathing hard. "You seem more yourself," she commented. He did, and it was a relief because the freak outs were really scaring her.

"Good fight," he replied, but his eyes were already slipping away. "Stay back," he pleaded quietly.

"Huh?" She crossed her arms, pissed and confused. And also really turned on. Seeing him fight was always so... there was no way she was backing off.

"The blood," he explained. "Your blood."

"Oh." She kept moving toward him. Part of her was screaming that this was a really bad idea, but it had worked once before. She ran her fingers across her shoulder and pressed her wet hand against his mouth.

He opened his mouth to protest, and she thrust a finger in before he could say anything. His demon eyes went wide and he sucked the digit further into his mouth.

"Oh Buffy."

That faraway look in his eyes was gone. She gave him a sultry smile, feeling the heat inside her spread out through her limbs as he licked her hand clean.

She had intended to take him home first, away from the demon corpse and its assorted sawed-off bits, but she had run out of patience. She pushed his jacked off and then ripped her ruined shirt open at the shoulder.

With a growl he grabbed her and pressed her to the wall, mouth latched to her wound. She grabbed his hips with her knees and bucked against him as he sucked. His saliva would keep her bleeding she knew, but she also knew he would stop before he did any real damage.

"Love you," she gasped out as she fumbled with her jeans. Shaking and starting to feel a bit light-headed, she pulled open his fly.

Spike growled into her skin once more, then pulled back and clasped a hand over her shoulder to stop the blood. She pushed up to kiss his fangy mouth quick before he shook himself back to human form.

"Buffy, you--"

She grabbed him and guided him in, effectively shutting him up. His head fell back to her shoulder and she shouted when he thrust forward hard. "Yes!" She could feel his face shifting against her, helpless against the smell of her blood. "Oh god!"

The feeling of him, buried inside her and the effortless way he pinned her to the wall even after a long fight, she was almost overwhelmed by need. But there were eyes on her, distracting her from the incredible feeling of being taken by her demon.

She turned her head to see the First staring at them in Its Angel face. It looked stunned. Moping over the death of the big bad hell beast she figured.

"Do you mind? This is a private moment." With that she turned her full attention back to Spike. Digging in her heels, she urged him to go even faster. So close, so close, and she'd given him her blood; he would be hard for hours. She'd have to get him home; the sun was coming soon. The thought of an entire day lay out before them, to do nothing but this for hours, made her nearly swoon with anticipation.

"Now! Love you! Mine! Spike!" she shouted incoherently. He threw his head back and roared again as she shuddered around him. They slid down the wall and she held him tight, feeling her shoulder knitting back together at last. As her breath came back she turned to see that the First was gone. Then she whipped her head back around, pushed Spike to his back, and sank her teeth in his neck.

She bounced up and down on him fast and hard. He held her head to his throat. "Don't let go," he gasped, pumping up without rhythm. She felt tremors running through him as she began to convulse again. He shouted her name and thrashed desperately underneath her before going completely limp. It occurred to her to wonder how different a kill would feel.

She was still going to have to stop Jonathan. Probably that meant killing Jonathan.

Buffy pushed the thought away and nuzzled Spike's collarbone. She kissed the purpling mark on his neck and carefully got to her feet. She reluctantly put on her pants and then reached for him. "The sun will be up soon. We need to go."

While they were busy the First's monster had dissolved. The seal was closed, drying trails of blood and ichors dotting the goat's horns. She felt oddly reassured. If that was the best the First could do, they were all going to be okay.

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Next time: Faith receives some helpful information from an old friend, Wood confronts Spike, and someone finds Jonathan.