TITLE: Episode 3: Haunted, Part 1
SERIES: Faith, Rogue Slayer
AUTHOR: elizafan568
EMAIL: elizfaith568@yahoo.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: This site. If you want to post on on your site, just ask.
SPOILERS: Buffy season 7 and Angel season 5
DISCLAIMER: All character are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. I do not own them. Written for fun not profit.
NOTE: Set post-"Not Fade Away"
Episode 3: Haunted, Part 1
Faith walked down a dark alley. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it felt strangely familiar.
She just knew she had been here before . It filled her with an overwhelming sense of dread, pain,
suffering, and darkness. True darkness.
She noticed a man sitting down against a dumpster. At first she thought it was just some drunk or homeless man catching some sleep, but when she got close enough to make out his features, she realized why she felt the way she did about this place. There was a gaping wound in his chest and blood streaming from is mouth. It was a face she knew all too well. It was Alan Finch.
Faith took two stumbling steps back as he rose to his feet, arms outstretched toward her. “Murderer.” he said in an almost inhuman voice. “Murderer!” He walked toward her, a wave of darkness springing forth from him and toward Faith. She fell back against the far wall and slumped down to the ground.
Faith went into a state of sheer shock and terror as she was consumed be grief, regret, and sorrow. She looked down at her hands to find them covered in blood, a stake in her right hand. “No, no. This can’t be happening. Please…I’m so sorry…please no.” she sputtered out, her voice breaking.
As Finch reached out to grab her, Faith curled into a fetal position, her pleas continuing at an almost in audible whisper. He grabbed her and everything went black.
******************************
Faith woke in a sweaty panic to a figure standing next to her bed. She lashed out with a punch that sent the figure flying back against the wall. As she regained her senses and realized where she was, she quickly switched on the lamp next to her bed. She found Conner in a heap against the wall, hand to his cheek.
“Oh god, Connor, I’m sorry, I just…”
“Its okay Faith, really, but, ah, you really do pack a wallop. We were just worried about you. You been asleep for almost a whole day. You okay?” Connor said as he got to his feet, rubbing his quickly bruising cheek.”
“Ya, I’m good, its just….Bad dreams that’s all, don’t really wanna talk about.” Faith replied with downcast eyes. Not wanting to let on exactly how bad it was or that it felt like more than just a dream. She just wanted to forget about it.
“That’s cool. Well, Andrew’s got a meal ready downstairs, if you can call it that.”
“Whadda ya mean by that?” Faith said as she climbed out of bed in her tight white tank top and black boxers.
Connor couldn‘t help but give Faith a quick once over with his eyes. She had that tussled, just woke up look and she was just the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. A blush crossed his face which he quickly tried to hide by turning his back to Faith. “Well, I don’t think I’d call hot pockets, chips, and caprisun a meal but Andrew seems to think its all one needs.”
“Well, I can agree with him on the hot pocket thing. I just love those things, ugh..” Faith grabbed her head as shooting pains went through her head. It felt like a hangover, but with the pain of falling off a roof with it.
“Woah, Faith, you sure your okay?” Connor said, a look of real concern on his face.
“Man, I must look as bad as I feel.” Faith thought as she did her best to shrug it. “Five by Five boy wonder, now how about that food.”
***************************
“I still don’t see why your bothering with this.” said Ethan Ranye as he paced around the lair.
“I told you, this is something my race specializes in. Not only that, but I thoroughly enjoy it as well. Especially with this one.” replied Zen. A large, glowing white orb sat atop an ornate pedestal in front of him. He turned his attention away from the orb and toward Ethan.
“Well, if you insist on going about things in this way, why don’t you step it up a bit? You’ve been using variations of the same dream for the past two weeks.” Ethan’s posture did little to hide is aggravation.
“It takes time, patience, and extreme concentration. Things you seem to be lacking, but not to worry. I do intend to move onto the next stage soon, tonight as a matter of fact. I just had to make sure the those old wounds of hers were fresh, open, and soar. She has such an appealing dark side, I can’t wait for the process to bare fruit.”
“I hope you don’t let your personal interest in this girl get in the way of what you have planned.” Ethan remarked with disdain at the idea.
“I would watch what you say if I were you. I don’t think you want me as an enemy.”
“Oh, I don’t think I have to worry about that. I contracted you here, remember? Killing me would only return you to your own dimension and I don’t think you or your people would want that. Not at this stage.” Ethan had a smirk on his face that only served to further enrage Zen, but he could do nothing about it, not yet anyway.
“Of course. Anyway, I need you to go out and do something for me. I’ve scheduled a meeting with a master thief and need you to go and get her to be at the hotel tonight. it’s a must that she be there.” Zen said as e handed Ethan a piece of paper with a name and address on it. “I don’t care what you tell her to get her there, just make sure she is. Her life will be the last thing needed to finish my little project.”
“It shouldn’t be to hard. Most of the thieves I’ve known would jump at any job if the pay off is good enough.” He read the name and address on the paper. “Gwen Raiden, huh? An unusual name.”
“The meeting is scheduled to happen within the hour, I suggest you hurry. Don’t mess this up, or I might consider killing you worth the trip back home.” Zen remarked, almost offhandedly. Ethan swallowed hard and headed out without another word.
****************************
After the so-called meal, Lorne decided to head out for the evening to try a spread the word about the new champions in town. They were gonna need money soon, and to get money, they needed clients. Andrew tagged along, much to Lorne’s regret. Connor and Faith where sitting in silence, an uneasy feeling between them. Faith had not said much all day and Connor could tell something was up, he just didn’t know what.
“So, Faith, what should we do now? A little training maybe? Or maybe go out for a patrol?” Connor asked, hoping for some sort of positive response.
Faith seemed to suddenly snapped back to reality, out of her deep thoughts at the sound of Connor’s voice “Huh? What? Oh, no, not really in the mood. Think I might head out for a ride, you know, clear my head a bit.” Faith got up and went over to the coat rack and grabbed her leather jacket.
“Maybe I should come with. Keep you company.” Connor said as he followed her to the door, a smile on his face, doing his best to try to help her without knowing what was wrong.
“No, that’s okay. Just need to be alone for awhile. I’ll be back in a few hours.” Faith opened the door and headed out but was stopped midway through by Connor’s voice. His tone more stern than she had heard since coming to LA this time.
“Faith! What’s wrong? If something’s up, you can tell me, I mean us, you can tell us.” Connor said as a slight blush crossed his face, one that he was unable to hide from Faith this time. A slight small crossed her face, first he had seen in the last week.
“I’m okay, really… It’s just…nothing. I’ll be back later, don’t wait up.” And with that she was out the door. Connor barely got a glimpse of her speeding of on her bike after he made it to the door. He was worried, really worried.
“I know I should wait for the others to get back, but I got a bad feeling about this.” Connor thought as he grabbed a stake lying on the counter and headed out after her. He knew Faith’s scent all too well, he could find her no matter where she went. He wasn’t sure what was driving him so to help Faith, or maybe he was and was just to afraid to admit it. It didn’t matter. He cared about her and didn’t want anything to happen to her, and if he could help her in any way, then that’s what he was going to do.
***********************8
“So you’re saying that no one in the whole of LA is in need of any help?” Lorne asked with edge to his voice. It had taken forever for his contact to show up, with Andrew talking his ear off the entire wait, and all he brought was bad news.
“I’m not saying that, I’m just saying no one with any sorta pull in LA is gonna help you spread the word about your new business. Wolfram & Hart may have pulled out of this place, but they have blacklisted you guys, and no sane person wants anything to do with you.” Vince, a former mob hitman and now highly knowledgeable guy when it came to the underworld, shift in his chair. He kept looking around nervously, as if expecting to be jumped at any moment.
“Well that’s just peachy isn’t it? You haven’t got anything for me?” Lorne asked, feeling defeated.
“As far as getting you clients, no, but I do have some information about something that is going to go down soon.” Vince looked around again, sweat trickling down his face from under his hat. “And I’m only telling you this cause I am more afraid of what could be coming than anything Wolfram & Hart might do.”
“Well tell us then. Don’t keep us in suspense her buddy or I’ll introduce your face to my fist.” Andrew interjected, putting on his best tough guy act.
“Andrew…buddy… don’t help me…please.” Lorne said in a sarcastic, deadpan tone. “Go on, right now I’ll take what I can get. I’m afraid if our dark princess doesn’t so something soon…”
“I don’t need to know.” Vince stopped him, clearly wanting to avoid the subject of Faith. “Now, I don’t know all the details, but something big is going down soon. Apocalyptically big, and it involves your new slayer friend. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get out of town.’ He got up as quickly as he could and headed for the door, trying to hide his nervousness and failing miserably.
“Wait, that’s it, nothing else.” Lorne asked, now clearly concerned.
“Only that a prophecy is involved. And demon race known as the Highlanders. Good day.” With that, Vince was gone, and he didn’t look back.
“Wow, this sounds like we could have something big on our hands. I can’t wait to start fighting the fight of the redemptive warriors. It’s all so exciting.” Andrew said, way to cheerful for the current situation and only serving to irritate Lorne more.
“Not really, sound bad to me, really bad. We need to get back to the hotel and get Faith in on this as soon as possible.”
***************************
Darkness surrounded Faith. She couldn’t tell if she was coming or going. “Faith! Where are you?…I need you.. Faiiiiiiiiiith!” A familiar voice yelled out, seeming to come from every direction at once. She couldn’t pinpoint it but still she ran, hoping she got there in time.
A figure appeared in the distance. It was surrounded by the shadows of at least a hundred different demons. She couldn’t make out any of their features but the aura of evil that came from them was unmistakable. As she got closer, Faith could make out who the figure in the middle was that was calling for her: it was Angel. He was calling for her, he need her help.
Faith ran faster, pumping her legs as hard as she could, but no matter how far she ran, the distance seemed to remain the same. ”Faith…I can’t hold on them. Help me, please! Faith!” His voice rang out, chilling Faith to the bone. She pushed herself even harder and at last seemed to be gaining some ground. The shadows where closing in on Angel and she could she he was covered in severe injuries. Her heart raced as she pushed on.
Angel saw her out of the corner of his eye and turned to face toward her. Weakly, he stretched out his arm calling to her again. “Faith…please hurry...I need you…Faith!” He stepped toward her as another shadow appeared behind him, a stake in its hand.
Faith’s eyes grew wide with horror as she saw the demon come up behind Angel with the stake and thrust it forward. “Angel, look out behind you! I’m coming to help you! Angel!!” Faith screamed as she reached out for him, pushing her body to its limits, but she was too late. The shadow drove the stake home into Angel’s back as she reached him. “Faith…why?” he whispered out as he exploded into a cloud of dust, dust which showered over Faith as she dropped to her knees.
“Angel…no, its can’t be…Angel…” she breathed out, looking at the dust now coating the floor and her clothes. The shadows around her began to circle her, an chorus of laughter erupting from them. “You failed him…” they screeched in inhuman voices, “…You failed him just like you have failed everyone in your life. You are of no use to anyone. You can never be good. Its not your nature, you’ll fail at that just as you failed Angel. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”
“No…no…no…Shut up…Shut up… SHUT UP!!!!” Faith screamed out, banging her hands against the ground. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”
******************************
“NO!” Faith screamed out as she woke up. It took her a second to realize where she was. Another dive of a bar. It seems like she always ended up in places like this. Like she was drawn to them or something. Faith, however, wasn’t in the mood for deep though. Her head was pounding her and the various patrons of the bar where starting to give her odd looks.
“Well, looks like I’ve warn out me welcome. Guess I’d better go before things get ugly. Later boys.” Faith said as she grabbed her jacket and got up from the bar. “Too bad I’ve mellowed out so much, “Faith thought to herself, “the old me could’ve gone for a decent bar brawl right about now. Probably isn’t a good idea now anyways, not in my shape anyways.”
As she headed out the back exit toward her bike, Faith failed to notice the three men following her outside, or so they thought. Faith stopped when she got to her bike as the three men spread out around her. “This is a really bad idea guys, I’m soo not in the mood to play right now.” Faith said, not looking up at them.
Before she knew what was happening, she was laying face first on the ground. She rolled over to find what she had suspected, three vamps. One of them was holding a pool cue. “Shouldn‘t of come her slayer. LA is our town.” he said as they put their game faces on. “Alright, that’s it. No more Miss Nice Bitch.” she gritted as she flipped up and charged her attackers.
The middle vamp swung the pool cure at Faith, which she grabbed and wrestled away from him. She spun around and slammed the cue across his face sending him flipping over to the ground. She broke the cue in half across her knee and jammed it home into the vamps heart. As he dusted, she was tackled down to the ground by the other two vamps.
A rage began to swell up inside Faith. One she hadn’t felt in a long while, and had hoped she would never allow herself to feel again, She couldn’t seem to control it Images of Angel being dusted in front of her and the haunting face of Alan Finch began swirling through her head. “Failure! Murder!” Angel and Finch’s voices rang out in her head, repeating those words over and over.
“NO!” she screamed out as she kicked the two vamps off of her. She barely noticed another figure enter the alley as she leapt up and stake one of the vampires as he hit the far wall. The final vamp barely had time to regain his footing as Faith turned toward him and sent him flying into the wall with a roundhouse kick.
Faith grabbed him by the shirt and rammed hi head into the wall, She did it again…and again…and again. The vamp dropped to the ground, unconscious. Faith straddled him and started pummeling his face with both her fists. “No…no…no…NO!!!!” Faith scream out as she drove the broken cue into his heart and he vanished beneath her.
As a figure approached Faith from behind, all she could see was Angel’s death over and over again and Finch reaching out for her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and let out a pain filled screech. Seeing only the face of the deputy mayor she had killed with her own hands, the one who now seemed to seek vengeance on her in her dreams, Faith turned and slammed the figure against the wall, stabbing the broken cue into his shoulder as she screamed out “LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”
As Faith looked into the eyes of what she thought was Alan Finch, her senses slowly came back to her. She was horrified by what she saw. It wasn’t Alan or some demon trying to cause her harm. It was Connor. She had pushed the cue straight through his shoulder and almost pinned him to the wall. All Faith could see was the look of horror and confusion in Connor’s eyes. That, and the blood on her hands.
To be Continued in: Haunted, Part 2...
