Fic: Delicate Cruelty (7/?)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Finally! Chapter 7. Sorry it took so long between updates, folks. If
you're wondering WTF happened in chapters 1-6, it's all archived on my
website (http://www.heckman.net/erin).

Many thanks to my Betas; I couldn't do even this much without you.

Hope you enjoy.

TITLE: Delicate Cruelty
AUTHOR: Erin (erin@xxxxxxxxxxx)
SPOILERS: Through Season 4 BtVS and Angel
RATING: R, because of some language, violence and adult situations.
It is a Buffy/Faith fic, so if that bothers you, or it's illegal to
even think of two Slayers getting it on, then just don't read it. Or
move.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters (except mine)
belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox. I'm just borrowing them
for a bit. I'll put them back when I'm done, no worse for wear (but
maybe a little happier).
ARCHIVE: Anyone who wants to archive my stories is welcome to, just
let me know so I can add you to my website links. Thanks.
FEEDBACK: Constructive comments are encouraged.
WARNING: Contains some character death, character undeath, and
torture. Reader discretion is advised.
SUMMARY: (Buffy/Faith) A sadistic vampire's plan for domination
forces Buffy and Faith to join forces.

Chapter 7

Giles woke abruptly from the formless nightmare to find himself
drenched in a cold sweat. Confused and disoriented, he cast his
bleary gaze around the dim loft in which he made his bedroom; it took
him a moment to realize that he was indeed at home, rather
than...where? Had it been a church?

He frowned, trying to gather up the fleeting threads of his dream.
Those images that had been so clear just a moment before seemed to
vanish, slipping away from him like smoke through his fingers. The
ex-Watcher shook his head, clearing it, and took a few deep, slow
breaths. At first, he believed his sudden wakefulness was due to the
anxiety of his nightmare; a loud banging on his front door convinced
him otherwise.

Stumbling out of bed, Giles pulled on his bathrobe, cursing softly. A
feeling of unease settled over him, and he flew down the stairs and
pulled open his front door, half expecting to find an injured and
bleeding Buffy on his doorstep.

What he discovered instead was a blonde, trenchcoated vampire,
dripping wet and looking for all the world like a half-drowned,
highly-pissed, rat.

Spike pushed past Giles, leaving a small but steady stream of water
dripping off his coat from a prodigious rainstorm outside and
completely drenching Giles's socks in the process.

"No time for pleasantries," Spike responded, cutting off Giles's
outraged protests. "We've got a problem."

* * *

"Dead men working, a sinner, a saint
Mixing up a pail of paint,
Painted the house black as night
When the sun came up the house was white..."
-- Violent Femmes

Faith leaned on the living room windowsill, breathing the damp,
pre-dawn air. The air smelled different at night, maybe it was the
dew on the grass, or night-blooming jasmine.... Or maybe it was the
fact that all the people and their stinking cars were at home. Either
way, Faith always felt more relaxed after dark, more accepted.

The night knew its own.

The sky was the dull, waxy grey of an old corpse, and Faith wished
briefly that not everything she thought of would remind her of sex or
death. She was pleased when at last the sun began to rise, tinging
the clouds in deep pink and orange hues.

Faith was not a girl prone to self-examination; the faults she had she
was aware of because they had practically bludgeoned her to death with
their very existence. Faith had been content to leave all the
soul-searching to Buffy; as far as the dark Slayer had been concerned,
it would only get in the way.

Truth was, she was running, from herself, from what she had turned
into. Her whole life was one big escape -- the fights, the clubs, the
sex.

Oh yes, the sex.

Nothing was better than that feeling she got when she came, that
molten gold flooding into every cell, rushing down every nerve,
setting her skin ablaze. Faith was sometimes amazed that she didn't
cause anything and everything touching her to combust, the sheets, the
pillow, the sweat-slicked Ken doll grunting and thrusting on top of
her.

Buffy's boy, Riley, was exactly the same. Groaning with exertion, the
perspiration running down his body in little rivulets across a chest
so smooth that it made Faith wonder if he and puberty existed in the
same zip code.

It was always over so soon, and Faith would wake to herself and the
meaninglessness of her life. She had come to that realization during
her night with Riley; it had practically been thrown in her face. Sex
was the cheapest of drugs, and every time Faith came down off that
high, she got dumped back into her pathetic little life, rushing for
the shower to try to scrape some of the feeling off of her skin.

Meaningless. Cheap. Irrelevant.

Her hands tightened on the windowsill as she clamped down on a tide of
self-loathing. It's not like that now, she thought to herself
harshly, her teeth clenched. I'm not running anymore.

Faith heard a sound behind her, and she turned to see Angel entering
the apartment; as usual, he'd stayed outside until the last possible
moment before sunrise. He stepped inside and looked at her, cocking
one eyebrow slightly in that way which she knew meant surprise, at
least for him.

"Faith?" he asked softly, closing the door and taking a tentative step
toward her. "You ok?"

She might have laughed at the understatement. No, she hadn't been ok.
She hadn't been ok for a long time now. But this morning... "Yeah,"
she answered, just as softly. "Better."

"Good," Angel said, still moving slowly, tentatively. "Hungry?" He
lifted a paper bag from which came the distinct smell of fresh donuts.

"Yeah. Thanks." As Faith began to eat, Angel eyeing her
speculatively the entire time, Cordelia's phone rang, the shrill
electronic sound breaking the uneasy silence.

"Hello?" Angel answered quickly, out of consideration for a sleeping
Cordelia in the other room. "Giles. Hi." Faith saw him glance over
at her, gauging her reaction; for her part, she just sat there, eating
her donut. "I don't know if I can get away right now. I--" Angel
cut off abruptly, and Faith looked over, holding her breath
unconsciously. When he spoke again, his voice chilled her, raising
the fine hairs on the back of the dark Slayer's neck.

"Trinity. I know her." Angel sighed, and covered the receiver's
mouthpiece with his hand. "I need to go to Sunnydale for a few days.
Cordelia will let--"

"Take me with you," Faith blurted, interrupting. Seeing his
incredulous expression, she continued. "Look, it's too much to
explain right now. But I know that I have to do this, I have to help.
I have to try to make it up to--" _her_, "them."

Angel stared at her for a moment, considering. He nodded abruptly,
and spoke into the phone again. "Giles? I'll be there two hours after
dark. Faith is coming with me." The vampire winced a bit at the
response, and Faith sighed internally. "She's coming with me, unless
you don't want either of us...Ok, see you then."

Angel hung up the phone, and turned to regard Faith thoughtfully.
"Thanks," she said, dropping her eyes. "For trusting me." A rustle
of leather accompanied the vampire as he sat down next to Faith on the
couch.

"I do trust you, Faith," he said softly. "Now it's your turn. Why do
you want to go to Sunnydale so badly? What do you hope to accomplish?"

Faith smiled wryly. "You might not believe this, but I had the
weirdest dream..."

* * *

Giles set down the phone tentatively, distractedly. "So the poof is
coming here to Sunnydale, is he?" Spike asked, sneering a bit as he
lit a cigarette. "And he's bringing the psycho bitch with him? You're
never in so much trouble that you can't bloody well make it worse, can
you?" He snorted in derisive laughter, laughter that was abruptly cut
off as Giles plucked Spike's cigarette from his mouth and extinguished
it in the vampire's mug of blood. "Hey, now!" Spike yelped.

"Listen to me," Giles hissed, his patience at an end. "We're all in
as much trouble as we've ever been, and you're sitting there making
stupid comments. I called Angel because, according to you, he knows
this girl, Trinity, better than almost any other vampire. We need his
help, no matter what the cost. So if you don't have anything else
useful to contribute, then I suggest you sit down and _shut up_!"

Spike recoiled, his composure momentarily lost. Narrowing his eyes in
hatred and impotent fury, he stood abruptly and picked up his mug,
stalking into the kitchen and dumping the spoiled blood in the sink.
Giles retrieved a slim, dusty volume from his bookshelf, and began
paging through it, looking for more information on the vampires Spike
had described. The blond vampire remained in the kitchen, fuming,
until they both heard the door open some time later.

"Giles?" Willow asked, entering his home with Tara a few steps behind
her. Shaking out her umbrella, the redhead folded it and stored it
neatly beside the door. "Some storm, huh?"

Giles smiled briefly at the girl and her friend. "Yes, that's one of
the reasons I asked you two over." Glancing at a still-fuming Spike,
he said, "I have reason to believe that the storm is a symptom of
something much, much worse."

"The world isn't ending again, is it, because Tara and I have
plans..." Willow began, barely pausing for breath.

"Please, Willow," Giles interrupted, "this is very serious."

"Who was joking?" The redhead asked. Tara laid a calming hand on her
girlfriend's arm.

Giles's response was interrupted by the ringing phone. Impatiently,
he picked it up, answering, "Yes?"  

Buffy's voice drifted over the line, sounding vaguely amused. "Giles?
Everything all right over there?"

"Yes, Buffy, we're all fine." The ex-Watcher released a sigh which
was part relief and part frustration. "I suppose you've noticed the
storm."

"A little unusual for Sunny Southern California. It's very English,
though. Bet you feel right at home."

Giles rolled his eyes. "This is quite serious, Buffy. Willow and
Tara are here now; we're trying to discover the source of this sudden
deluge."

"Let me know if you find anything," Buffy replied. "Riley and I are
going out patrolling. What with Mr. Sunshine hiding his face today,
the fang gang is probably going to try to take advantage."

"Ah, yes, an excellent idea. We'll keep in touch. Do be careful."
Giles winced a bit at his omission of Angel's imminent arrival.

"Yeah, ok. Bye Giles," Buffy said, and they broke the connection.
The ex-Watcher set the phone down, frowning, until a loud laugh caused
him to look up.  

"Well, now, look who's lying to his little blonde superhero?" Spike
sneered, fixing his eyes, filled with undisguised malice, on Giles.
"Go on, you want to tell your little admirers here what they're
missing out on?"

Willow and Tara turned expectant eyes on Giles, who sighed heavily.
Removing his glasses, he began cleaning them to stall for time.
"Spike has very kindly informed me as to the identity of the vampires
who are now stalking Sunnydale. The girl's name is Trinity; little is
known about her other than that she is from the 16th Century, and that
she was turned by a vampire named Father Francisco Sedona."

"A priest?" Willow interrupted curiously.

Giles nodded. "Yes, a priest. I'm going to need your help to find
out all we can about these two, as well as the magickal storm they
have created, for whatever purpose."

Willow exchanged a look with her girlfriend. "Anytime, Giles, you
know that, but... Did you really lie to Buffy?"

"I called Angel to ask his assistance in dealing with these creatures.
He, or apparently Angelus, knew them fairly well." Giles paused.
"He's bringing Faith with him."

Spike laughed again at the shocked expressions on the two witches.
"Bad to worse," he scoffed.

* * *

"A dream," Angel said, softly, as he drove his car through the rain
slick streets of the outskirts of Sunnydale.

"You still thinking about that?" Faith asked. "Yeah, a dream. You
get used to 'em when you're a Slayer. Though they never seem to make
any sense." She fiddled with the radio, trying to bring in a decent
station. "Never was any good music in Sunnydale," she grumbled.

"Do you think that it was a message from The Powers that Be?"

Faith sighed in exasperation. "How the hell should I know? Tell you
what, next time I get dream-napped, I'll get their names."

Angel looked at the dark Slayer askance. "Nervous, huh?"

"Yeah," she replied softly, dropping her eyes. "You?"

"Yeah." The vampire's brow furrowed slightly, but he fell silent.

Faith nodded. "Understandable. I heard that the last time you came
here you had a run-in with B's new boy-toy."

"I heard the same thing about you," Angel said quietly.

"Yeah." Faith leaned forward, and started fiddling with the radio
again.

* * *

Buffy's stake plunged into the vampire's heart with a wet cracking
sound, leaving the creature with only a moment of life to register its
shock before dissolving into dust, leaving the Slayer with grit-caked
hands. Buffy looked at herself, disgusted, and brushed damp bangs out
of her eyes with her sleeve. "Okay, it's official. I'm cold, I'm
wet, I'm muddy, and I want to go home."

Cold sheets of falling rain poured on the town since early that
morning; sometimes a downpour, sometimes a penetrating drizzle that
seemed to foil all raincoats and other efforts at protection. Having
soaked the Slayer to the skin long ago, the rain now appeared to be
trying to freeze her to death. Not exactly perfect June weather,
Buffy thought wearily. At least most people are smart enough to stay
in out of the rain.

Fortunately, the storm wasn't the feeding frenzy that the Slayer had
feared it would be. With very few exceptions, people stayed indoors,
or rushed to and from their destinations, leaving only a few on the
streets.

Riley favored Buffy with an easy smile before removing his own thick
army jacket and placing it around the Slayer's shoulders. "We have
been going at this all day. Might be a good idea to knock off for the
night. If Giles and the rest haven't found a solution to the
rainstorm, we may have to do this again tomorrow."

Buffy sighed dramatically, fixing Riley with her best pout. "If they
don't find out soon, I'm going to have to pull Slayer rank on those
slackers. I'll talk to them tomorrow, and find out. In the
meantime..." Buffy pulled Riley close, his arms settling around her
shoulders. "I could use a nice hot shower and a nice comfortable bed.
Care to join me?"

The young man chuckled. "For the shower, or the bed?"

"Both," replied Buffy, eyes twinkling as she pulled him through the
rain and darkness toward Riley's apartment.

Unseen, a slim figure detached itself from the shadows and followed
them silently.

* * *

Faith wiped her hands on her jeans, unsure whether the dampness was
caused by the rain, or sweat, or both. She stood next to Angel, maybe
just a little behind when the vampire knocked on Giles's front door.
And maybe she just happened to move a little farther to the rear when
Giles answered.

"Ah, please, come in," the ex-Watcher said, standing back so they
could enter. Faith followed Angel inside, remembering with some
discomfort about the last time she was here, during her masquerade.
She could have killed them all, then, but she hadn't...that had to
count for something, right?

Apparently not, Faith thought, as she looked around the room, all eyes
fixed on her -- Angel's supportive, Giles's cautious, Willow's
accusing, Tara's nervous, and Spike's amused. "H-Hey."

Willow spoke, and Faith winced as if anticipating a blow. "We'd
better get going, we'll see you tomorrow morning, Giles." She pulled
Tara along after her, protectively it seemed to Faith. "Angel,"
Willow said in brief greeting to the vampire. And then they were
gone.

"That could have gone worse," Faith said, breaking the uneasy silence.

"I hope you didn't expect it to go any better," Giles replied, his
voice thick with fatigue, looking older than Faith had ever seen him.
"We've been researching since the early morning, Angel, so you'll
excuse me for the lack of hospitality. We agreed to meet here again
in the morning, and go over our findings. The rain should continue,
so you shouldn't have any problem coming here."

Angel nodded to the ex-Watcher. "That will be fine. Faith and I will
stay in the mansion. See you tomorrow, Giles. Spike." He barely
acknowledged the blond vampire before leaving, Faith right on his
heels.

"They hate me, don't they," Faith said, climbing into the car, her
voice kept carefully neutral. Angel looked over at her
sympathetically. "For now. But what you did in there -- it's a
start."

* * *

Faith jogged through the moonlit cemetery, her boots digging into the
soft turf. She was following someone; a bent blade of grass here, a
broken twig there was all she needed to track her prey. Who her prey
was, she didn't know. She also didn't know why she was in a Sunnydale
graveyard with no trace of rain clouds in the sky, but dreams are like
that. Some things, you just accept.

"You're on the right track." The voice didn't surprise her, and
neither did the figure of Buffy who was jogging alongside her.  

"Am I?" Faith replied, not slowing down. "I guess you should know,
you led me here."

"I did. But you still have a long way to go." Buffy came to a stop,
and it took Faith a minute to realize this and stop herself. Neither
one of them were even breathing hard.

"Why don't we just skip to the end, huh?" Faith asked, walking up to
Buffy, getting as close as she dared. "Save us all a lot of trouble."

"Can't do that," Buffy replied, looking up at the other Slayer. "It's
got to be done the hard way."

Faith paused for a moment, thinking about what she had told Angel.
"Who are you? Who sent you?"

Buffy looked down, turning away slightly. "You don't need to know
that."

"Tell me or I walk," Faith said, crossing her arms. Damned if she was
going to be someone else's pawn, without knowing who the hell they
were.

"You won't do that," Buffy replied easily. "Not if it means risking
Buffy's life."

Faith opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She was right, dammit,
she wasn't going to run again and desert Buffy when she needed her.
"Who are you?" she asked again, impatiently.

Buffy sighed. "I could give you a dozen names, and none of them would
mean anything to you. Suffice it to say that I come from up there."
The blonde Slayer pointed up to the starlit sky.

"Aliens?" Faith smirked, and then relented when she saw Buffy's
disgusted look. "Ok, Heaven?"

Buffy shrugged at the suggestion. "An imperfect definition, but close
enough for our purposes."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"You'll know when the time comes," Buffy answered, laying a comforting
hand on Faith's shoulder. "At least, I think so, I'm not so clear on
that. That's the hope, anyway."

"Great," Faith groaned, rolling her eyes. "You're depending on a
psycho, you know that, right?"

Buffy grinned in response. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Buffy was awakened early the next morning by the sound of drawers and
closets opening. Cracking an eyelid, she peered out to see Riley
dressing, quite literally, in his Sunday best.

"That time of week again, huh?" she mumbled, trying rather
unsuccessfully to block out the small amount of light in the room.

"Every Sunday like clockwork," Riley answered, leaning over to give
his girlfriend a kiss. "Sure you won't come with me?"

"Y'know...church, religion, me, they don't seem to mix so well. I
figure I'm paying my dues with the whole exterminating evil gig."
Buffy finally gave up on going back to sleep and sat up, rubbing her
eyes tiredly.

"Ok. I should be back around ten." Riley grabbed an overcoat and
tossed it over his shoulder.

Buffy rose, walking somewhat unsteadily up to Riley to give him a hug
goodbye. "I'm going over to Giles's, so meet me there."

"Will do." Riley kissed her and left the apartment, shrugging on his
overcoat as protection against the rain.

Buffy hummed to herself as she got dressed; the hot shower of the
previous night, the sleep, and...everything else...had really helped
restore her energy level. Even with the threat of vampires in
daytime, the Slayer couldn't help but be in a good mood.

Arriving at Giles's, Buffy opened the door and let herself inside,
calling out to her watcher. "Giles, hi, it's me..." She trailed off
as she looked at the crowded living room. Somewhere on the periphery
of her awareness part of her brain acknowledged the existence of
Giles, Willow, Tara, Spike...but she only had eyes for two people in
that room. Angel...and Faith.

Ice cold anger gripped her heart, her vision narrowed, and she spoke
with a voice that meant death.

"What is she doing here?"

END Chapter 7
-- 
Giles: "We just need to arrange the candles. Also, we should 
continue to pretend we heard none of the disturbing sex talk."
Willow: "Check. Candles and pretense."
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx
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