Title: Repercussions, Reactions and Retaliation Book IV
Author: The Bear!
Spoilers: None really, this is in the Triadverse AU and follows RR&R Book III (it’s about a month later)
Pairing: Willow/Buffy/Tara Joyce/Giles Dawn/Xander Faith/Non-BtVS Characters
Summary: An enemy begins a campaign to bring down the Scoobies; plus, the Watcher’s Council is coming to town, but I repeat myself.
Warnings: NC17 (People will be having hot, sweaty, sticky, kinky, yummy sex in this story! (This chapter not so much) If that offends you, feel free to PISS OFF)
Disclaimer: If I owned ‘em, they’d have to show it on the Xstasy Network.
Author’s Note: I’ve neglected to thank my wonderful Beta Reader, Howard Russel, for the wonderful job he does on these. Of course, I’m too impatient to actually wait for the Beta before I post these parts, so any mistakes herein are mine. If you read it on my website, you’re getting the Beta’d stuff. Any errors there are still mine, but I can slough off a bit of the guilt for those onto Howard. ;)
========== BtVS ==========
Chapter 5(a)
“Are you out of your mind?” Alex’s voice was loud enough that even someone not gifted with Slayer senses would have heard it. Crouched outside a bathroom window on the side of the house, Faith had no difficulty following the conversation.
‘This is a nightmare!’ She thought, the sense of betrayal nearly bringing her to her knees. ‘And I’m a fool. I can’t believe I trusted them! I should have known—hell, I did know! I just didn’t listen to my own advice,’ she growled at herself.
Faith had followed Quentin Travers from his hotel, instinctively knowing he wasn’t being truthful about his reason for being in Sunnydale. His arrogance was such that she didn’t even have to work to follow him unseen, cutting between buildings and through yards, utilizing her vamp-chasing speed to keep up with the car.
When the cab had turned down this particular street, she’d started to get a sick feeling in her stomach. She nearly doubled over and puked when the cab stopped and Quentin got out at this particular address. It was a house with which Faith was intimately familiar: the home of Alex and Beth.
‘I should just go in there and....’ She choked out a sob as her anger was overwhelmed with sorrow and pain. ‘I thought they might really love me. God! What a sap!’
‘Haven’t you learned by now? No one will ever love you! You don’t deserve it, you aren’t worth it!’
“The two of you have failed to perform your functions satisfactorily.” Quentin’s patronizing voice rang out.
“And you thought coming here in broad daylight would help matters?” Beth’s voice was filled with outrage.
“You were assigned to keep an eye on the renegade—gain her trust.” Quentin’s voice was supremely condescending.
“You arrogant ass!” Alex shouted angrily. “We took this assignment for one reason, because you said she needed help.”
“Now see here,” Quentin began.
“We didn’t come her to spy on her for you. We came here because one of the two girls who got stuck having to spend their lives fighting to save the world was hurting—damaged even!” Alex continued unabated.
‘See, even he said it. I’m damaged goods.’ Faith thought, morosely.
“And it certainly didn’t help matters when you tried to abduct the poor woman before we could even get started!” Beth’s voice shared her husband’s anger. “Our job is to help her. Help her overcome her anger and pain; help her move on from the terrible things in her past before they destroy her.”
‘Help me, huh?’ Faith thought, the sense of betrayal lessening. ‘Well, lying to me ain’t a good way to go about it!’ she told herself, wanting to hold on to her anger.
“And your solution was to repeatedly seduce her into your bed.” Quentin challenged.
“Faith needs someone to be there for her. To put her first. Also, she’s a Slayer—that means a significantly amplified libido,” Alex started explaining.
Beth said it more plainly. “Slayers need sex. If you watchers weren’t a bunch of sexless prigs, you’d understand that. They’re primal. They need food, they need to hunt, and they need sex,” she said unapologetically.
‘That’s no lie!’ Faith snorted in agreement.
Beth went on, “When they’re denied those things, they have a tendency to cope poorly. You see it in Buffy—she performs much better when she is in a physically and emotionally satisfying relationship.”
“I don’t recall a lack of physical gratification ever being an issue for Faith.” Quentin said snarkily.
“Just because Slayer’s are primal, that doesn’t make them animals!” Alex seethed, clearly furious with the senior watcher.
“Serial one-night-stands weren’t helping Faith’s sense of self-worth,” Beth explained. “Hooking up with men who saw her as nothing more than a piece of meat caused her to both believe that about herself, and to see others the same way.”
‘She actually sounds sad about that.’ Faith thought; part of her desperately wanted to believe that Alex and Beth cared about her, despite the anger and betrayal she was feeling.
‘Please, she’s just trying to “fix” you cause you’re so screwed up! You’re like a...a project or something,’ her dark voice reminded her.
“You treat slayers like nothing more than tools, to be used and discarded!” Alex said angrily.
“We are fighting a war,” Quentin said contemptuously. “The Slayer’s are one tool with which to wage that war.”
‘Bastard!’ Faith thought disgustedly. ‘Your lily-white ass is safe and secure back in jolly-old! I’d like to see you out here facing a vamp. You’d probably wet yourself, right before you got your ass killed!’
“The Slayers are human beings! Young women who carry all the baggage that comes with being young women. Then you add in the incredible pressure of being responsible for saving the world from the forces of darkness! You cannot treat them as though they’re disposable!” Alex raged. “God, even from a purely military point of view, you have to be concerned with the morale of your troops! Do you know that she actually told us that all she was good for was sex and death! You were the one who told us she needed help, and you were right!” he said earnestly.
“What is it with these American slayers?” Quentin asked indignantly. “First Rupert falls for his charge, fancying himself to be her father; now you two have fallen for Faith.”
Faith gasped and her heart beat sped up. ‘Not true!’ part of her mind yelled out. ‘It was just their job, they don’t—’ Even the voice of her insecurities shut up as Faith—panting for breath—waited for the inevitable denial to come.
“You really are a jackass, Quentin,” Beth said, her voice as much filled with wonder as with scorn.
“Are you really going to deny that you have developed romantic feelings for the girl?” Quentin demanded.
The pregnant pause nearly undid Faith. Her breath hitched and it felt like her heart had stopped as she waited for the answer.
“What you fail to grasp, Quentin, is this: The fact that, somewhere along the way, we fell in love with Faith only makes us *more* qualified to help her, not less...”
Beth’s voice continued speaking for a moment, but Faith couldn’t make out the words. ‘Oh God, oh God, oh God!’ she thought, her mind buzzing. Adrenaline pumped through her body and her hands and feet suddenly felt like ice. ‘I think I’m going to—’ Faith leaned away from the window and vomited forcefully, her stomach nearly cramping from the intensity.
When she stood back upright she had to brace herself against the side of the house. “Whoa! Serious dizzy-spell there. Christ, I feel like I got kicked in the head or something.” she muttered, her body shivering slightly.
“...questionable loyalties,” Quentin’s voice registered in Faith’s ears.
Though she felt strangely disconnected from reality at the moment, Faith refocused her attention on the conversation occurring inside the house.
“On the contrary, Quentin; our loyalties are incontrovertible,” Alex’s firm voice echoed through Faith’s consciousness. “They simply lie with Faith, not you.”
“However, our goal—helping Faith—happens to be the same as your stated goal, so why don’t you just leave us to it?” Beth asked in a tone that brooked no argument.
“This can’t be real,” Faith whispered, her voice sounding tiny and lost. “Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me.”
“As I can no longer trust your judgment in this matter, I am afraid I have no choice but to remove you from this assignment,” Quentin said officiously.
“Do you *want* Faith to fail? Is that it?” Beth asked angrily. “Recalling us would only serve to hurt her!”
“I have made up my mind. You’ll be sent to London for debriefing, and then we’ll see what other assignment may be available,” Quentin decreed.
‘No! No!’ Faith’s conscious mind struggled towards clarity as anger burned away the fog in which it had been hidden. ‘I can’t lose them! I just found them! I...I think I might—’
‘Shut up! You don’t need them, you don’t need anyone!’
Sensation began returning to Faith’s body as she came to a realization. “I...I might love them,” she whispered hesitantly, cringing almost as if she was waiting for the blow to fall in response to her words. “But they lied...how do I know?”
“Do you really for a moment imagine that we will just pick up and leave, simply because you say so?” Alex’s harsh voice rang out. “We’re staying. Faith needs our help, and frankly we’ve reached the point where neither of us would be willing to live without her.”
“Faith needs us!” Beth agreed passionately. “And we need her too! We’re not leaving.”
Her lovers’ declarations were like being immersed in warm water. ‘God, I can feel my whole body tingling,’ Faith thought in amazement. ‘Damn, is this what it feels like?’
‘if they lied about the council, how do you know this isn’t a lie?’ the dark voice inside her interjected.
“If you refuse, your employment will be immediately terminated,” Quentin threatened.
Both Alex and Beth laughed aloud at the threat.
Raising his voice to overwhelm their laughter, Quentin continued, “*And*, I will see to it that Faith finds out that you have been working against her.”
The laughter died out instantly.
“Yes, I thought that might get your attention,” Quentin said smugly.
“We aren’t working against her; we’re trying to help her!” Alex said in a low, dangerous voice.
Quentin seemed unimpressed as he scoffed, “Somehow I doubt that she will see it that way.”
“We’ll tell her ourselves,” Beth asserted. “If we have to get on our knees and beg her forgiveness, we’ll at least make sure she knows that we only ever wanted to help her; to be there for her.”
“And do you think she’ll ever trust you again?” Quentin argued, still sounding ever-so-superior. “She’ll think you’ve betrayed her.”
‘Oh God, I probably would have too,’ Faith thought ashamedly. ‘I would have bought it, if I hadn’t been here to hear it for myself. I would have trusted that bastard...’
‘But they did betray you...’
“God, I am one messed up puppy,” Faith whispered self-deprecatingly.
“You know that I’m right,” Quentin went on. “Why ruin your own lives? Simply accept reassignment.”
‘Oh, no,’ Faith thought, waiting with dread for their responses.
“No,” Beth said, though her voice was anxious.
“You have no choice,” Quentin goaded.
“No. We’re staying,” Alex said firmly, though Faith could also detect a note of uncertainty in his voice. “Worst case, she does believe that we betrayed her. At least we’ll have a chance; we’ll be able to keep trying to convince her.”
“That is assuming that you even survive the revelation,” Quentin said derisively.
“No!” Beth shouted. “Faith would never hurt us!”
“She’s a rabid dog!” Quentin stated angrily, clearly loosing his patience at last. “She *will* turn on you! She cannot be trusted.”
‘No! I’d never...’ Faith immediately thought. ‘I wouldn’t—oh God, I hope I wouldn’t—but if I hadn’t been here. If I hadn’t heard...’
“I think it’s time for you to leave, Mr. Travers,” Alex said stiffly, his voice clearly laden with repressed rage.
“Fools!” Quentin hissed. “Fine, throw yourselves to the she-wolf! You’ll receive no assistance from the council. As of this moment, you may consider yourselves fired!”
Faith was still shivering with fear as images of her possible reactions ran through her head. The slamming of the front door snapped her out of her fugue state.
“Bloody fools!” she heard Quentin’s voice coming from the front of the house. At the same time she heard, “Arrogant prick!” from inside as Alex was clearly seething.
“It doesn’t matter. He can’t hurt us now,” Beth’s soothing voice quietly sounded out.
Apparently unwilling to wait for a cab, Quentin began walking down the street.
“What are we going to do about Faith?” Beth’s voice sounded near tears.
“Whatever we have to,” Alex answered determinedly. “We’ll just tell her the truth, and hope to God that she’ll forgive us.”
‘The truth...’ Faith thought. ‘God, what do I do?’ she thought as feelings of love and lust warred with residual mistrust and fear inside her. ‘Crap, whatever I do, I’d better follow the asshole and see what other crap he’s trying to pull.’
Reluctantly Faith moved out to keep Quentin within eyesight. ‘What do I do? I want to trust...but they lied to me. But they gave up everything...for me.’
‘I don’t know what to do!’
========== BtVS ==========
Pandemonium
People were screaming and running around blindly in terror, yet that was a mere blip on the periphery of Dawn’s awareness.
Out of breath already from being fallen upon, Dawn’s last gasp of breath came out as a whimper. ‘Xan...no, please,’ she thought as panic ran through her like an icy torrential river. She watched as his lips formed the last ‘I love you,’ and then went slack. The warmth that had always filled his eyes—especially when they were focused on hers— drained away, leaving them flat and cold.
Dead.
Dawn sucked in a great draught of air and screamed, “Xander!” She rolled with all her might, moving his dead weight off of her and scrambling to her knees. ‘No, no! You can’t...please, you can’t leave me!’ her mind cried over and over as she began to administer CPR.
“One, two, three...” she muttered under her breath as she compressed his broad chest. ‘Don’t you leave me, dammit!’ she thought angrily. Immediately, her anger switched to fear and she mentally added, ‘Please, Sugar...please don’t go!’
She tipped back his head and covered his mouth with her own, her mind deliberately ignoring the coolness of his lips as she tried to breathe life back into her lover. Watching his chest rise and fall with her breaths teased her with a glimmer of hope that quickly turned to even greater agony when it didn’t continue the pattern on its own.
“Somebody call 911!” she screamed at the riotous crowd as she quickly went back to giving his chest compressions. “One, two, three...please...please don’t go...”
Hot tears streamed down her face, dripping onto her hands as she focused on trying to revive him, even as her subconscious mind began to realize the awful truth.
========== BtVS ==========
‘He’s gone,’ the agonized thought rolled through Dawn’s mind. Silent tears continued to run down her face like a river of pain as she sat on the curb. She was clutching her arms tightly around her stomach, as though subconsciously trying to hold herself together. Not ten feet away cops and paramedics were standing around or packing up their equipment—waiting for the coroner, she’d overhe ard them say.
‘He really left me,’ she thought despondently, not even realizing how illogical the thought was.
Some indeterminable time later the approach of two women—carrying what looked like fishing tackle-boxes—entered her awareness.
“What’ve we got?” the redhead asked the suit-wearing cop who’d been standing around, apparently overseeing things.
“Well, at first glance, I’d say drive-by,” he started in reply.
“Except...” the brunette woman prompted when he trailed off.
“Except, there appears to be only one victim.” He answered.
“And that’s a problem because...” the redhead this time prompted.
“Well, no one saw anything,” he began, pointing up to the lights. “Everyone watching the show and all. But all the witnesses so far agree that the shooter was on full rock-and-roll.”
“Machine gun,” the brunette opined, sounding surprised. “Other casualties?”
“Just him,” the cop answered.
“Luck?” the redhead asked with a skeptical tone.
“I don’t think so,” the cop disagreed. “Even not counting the other people, there’s a wall of glass behind where he was standing. Not a single broken pane.”
“Hmmph” the brunette said, again sounding surprised. “Who’s the girl?”
Though clearly hearing the conversation, ‘the girl’ in question didn’t react as the attention of the three turned directly on her. Dawn’s mind was still reeling from the sudden crushing blow of going from deliriously joy to heartbreaking despair.
“Girlfriend, apparently.” The cop answered the brunette’s question. “She was doing CPR when we arrived...” he trailed off with a dry chuckle.
“What’s funny?” the redhead asked sounding a little pissed.
“She wouldn’t stop and let the paramedics look at him. Iverson ended up pulling her away from him and she went off on him.”
“What do you mean, ‘went off on him’?” the brunette asked.
“Stomped on his foot, wriggled out of his arms and tagged him right across the chin,” he said in an oddly amused tone.
“Hmmph” the brunette once again gave a surprised grunt.
“Yeah, I thought we were going to have to subdue her, but right then the paramedic said the kid was dead, told us to call the M.E. and she just stopped,” he said with a bit of sympathy creeping into his tone. “Dropped down to the ground right there and hasn’t moved since.
“I’m surprised Iverson didn’t tackle her down and cuff her anyway,” the brunette said wonderingly.
“He was a little busy,” the cop said with another dry chuckle.
“Busy?” the brunette asked sounding confused.
“Being unconscious.” The cop answered like it was the punch-line to a funny joke.
“What?” the redhead exclaimed.
The brunette just laughed.
========== BtVS ==========
It replayed over and over again in her head--the sound of them zipping Xander’s body-bag closed. Each replay was one more agonizing rip in Dawn’s heart. She’d watched as the two women examined the area around his body, looking but not touching him until a nerdy looking guy that they called ‘David’ had shown up. It hurt to see him dispassionately touching and talking about Xander like he was some inanimate object, but the pain was a bare drop in the ocean of despair that filled her. No cogent thoughts formed in her mind as she observed everything, just aching emptiness.
She was sitting in a bare room with only a table and chairs and the untouched cup of coffee that they’d set in front of her. She was dressed in a gray sweatshirt and pants because they’d taken her clothes, ‘to process’ the brunette woman had apologetically explained.
Her eyes were the only things that moved, looking up to the mirror that covered one whole wall of the room as the door to the room opened behind her. The cop in the suit and the redhead from earlier entered the room and sat in the chairs across from her.
“Ms. Summers, I’m Detective Jim Brass, with the Las Vegas PD,” the man introduced himself. “This is Catherine Willows from the Crime Lab. We’re very sorry for your loss, but we need to ask--”
“No you’re not,” Dawn interrupted, her voice barely above a whisper, raspy and harsh as her throat was both dry and thick with sorrow.
Both of them looked taken aback.
“You didn’t know him,” Dawn went on, her voice devoid of the emotion that churned inside of her. “He meant nothing to you. He meant everything to me.” Her words were not at all accusatory, just a dry statement of fact that was belied by the tears that continued to stream unabated from her eyes.
“Dawn, we need you to tell us what happened,” Catherine said with a sincere-sounding tone of empathy.
“We were watching the lightshow...well, I was anyway,” Dawn amended. “Xander was watching me watch the lightshow.”
“What do you mean?” Detective Brass inquired.
“Xander likes...” she stopped and had to swallow past a lump of emotion in her throat before correcting herself. “He liked to watch me get excited about stuff, to see me smile,” she explained. Her tone clearly indicated that such behaviors were unlikely to ever reoccur.
“Ok, so you were watching the lights...then what?” Catherine prompted.
“He grabbed me and spun us around...” her voice grew even quieter as she continued. “I heard gunshots and then he fell on me.”
She took a shaky breath and the dry, emotionless voice was replaced by a quiet groan of horror as she said, “I watched the life go out in his ey-eyes...”
She clenched her eyes shut and forced back the sob that threatened to rise out of her chest. ‘Not now, Summers!’ she raged at herself. ‘Later, you can fall apart, but not now.’
She sniffled loudly and then shook her head before opening her eyes and continuing. “I rolled him over on his back and started doing CPR.” Her voice was back to flat and emotionless. Her mind replayed again and again the useless effort to revive her lover.
“And then?” the detective prompted after several moments of silence.
“That’s it,” she answered. “I just kept going and going until some guy pulled me away from him.”
“Officer Iverson,” the detective interjected.
Dawn’s eyes move up to meet his for the first time since he and the woman had entered the room. “Huh?” she grunted, frowning slightly in confusion.
The detective smiled and elucidated, “The Police Officer that pulled you away from your boyfriend: Officer Iverson.”
“Oh...” she trailed off. ‘Like I care what his name was,’ she thought with a slightly annoyed feeling.
“Yes, well the paramedics were trying to get to your boyfriend and you weren’t letting them,” the detective further explained.
“Oh...sorry,” she offered. “I don’t remember that.”
“Well, it’s understandable,” Catherine said charitably. “I’m sure you were focused on trying to save his life.”
“I knew he was dead...I knew it when I saw his eyes,” Dawn whispered. “I just didn’t want to believe it, I think.”
“You were pretty upset when he pulled you away,” the detective said with that same little smile on his face.
“I guess,” Dawn said with a slight shrug. “I don’t really remember much except hearing that guy say he was dead...that’s when it really hit me, I guess.”
She again had to restrain herself from breaking down into sobs.
“Do you remember hitting Officer Iverson?” the detective asked.
“Um, no?” she answered, no memory of hitting anyone popping up at the question.
“You knocked him out,” he added.
“Oh...sorry,” Dawn apologized. ‘He doesn’t seem all that pissed...not that I really care. She seems like she’s trying not to laugh.’ she thought, glancing toward the woman.
“Why were you here in Las Vegas?” the detective changed the subject.
Dawn thought about that for a heartbeat, ‘I guess I shouldn’t involve the coven.’ She offered something vague, “It was like a mini-vacation, I guess.”
“You guess?” the detective sounded suspicious.
“Yeah, you know...like a weekend getaway thing.” Her eyes dropped as she added, “Xander’d never been here, and I wanted to show him the shows on the strip.”
“You’ve been here before?” Catherine asked, almost sounding disinterested.
Dawn looked up to meet the redhead CSI’s gaze. ‘Your eyes give you away,’ she thought. ‘I don’t know what the big deal is, it’s not like they could possibly know anything that happened last time I was here...’
“Um, yeah, a couple months ago,” she said, keeping her tone as bland as possible.
“Another mini-vacation?” the detective asked with a sardonic grin.
“Less mini, but yeah,” Dawn answered, not rising to the bait.
“Except Xander didn’t come with you that time,” Catherine asked.
“No,” Dawn said with a frown. “Hello? Didn’t I just say that he’d never been to Vegas?”
‘Are they trying to piss me off?’ she wondered darkly.
“Hey now, it’s just a question, there’s no reason to get upset,” the detective said placatingly.
It had the opposite effect.
“No, it’s not ‘just’ a question, when I already answered it,” she began in clipped, angry tones. “It’s a freaking interrogation! I the love of my life just died in my arms, I knelt in a pool of his blood trying to bring him back to me...” her angry tone faded into an agonized wail.
‘Asshole!’ she thought, infuriated with him; and herself for nearly breaking down. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, as though physically forcing the tears back.
“Brass, can I talk to you outside?” Catherine’s voice was soft, but there was an underlying note of anger detectable. “Excuse us for a moment,” her voice was more genuinely soft as she spoke to Dawn.
“Sure,” Dawn said flatly, her emotions back under control for the moment.
The two left the room and Dawn slumped back in her chair, rubbing at the wetness on her face. ‘I’m so tired,’ she thought suddenly. ‘I feel like something all of a sudden just sucked all of the energy out of me!’
Her arms felt leaden and she let them fall to her sides. Her chin dropped to her chest and fresh tears started at her eyes as she forgot about the two cops and focused once again on the enormity of the situation. ‘God, Xander...how am I supposed to deal? I feel like everything good in me died with you.’
A few minutes later the door opened and the redhead walked in alone. “Dawn?” she asked with what sounded like genuine concern.
“Am I under arrest?” Dawn asked with a sigh.
“What? No!” Catherine responded vehemently.
Dawn interrupted any further protestation, asking, “Then can you please have someone take me back to the hotel? I just want to bawl my eyes out and sleep for the next ever.”
“I...of course,” Catherine answered, sounding uncomfortable. “I...is there anyone I can call? Your mother...” she trailed off.
‘Mom? Oh God, Buffy...and Willow!’ Dawn thought anxiously, though even that worry wasn’t enough to break through her physical lethargy. She slowly shook her head and said, “I’ll call my sister later.”
“Ok,” Catherine agreed hesitantly. “I guess...I’ll drive you back, the Monte Carlo, right?”
“Yeah,” Dawn agreed, pushing herself slowly up to her feet.
========== BtVS ==========
‘What does she want?’ Dawn wondered as she surreptitiously observed the redheaded CSI in the black-mirrored wall of the elevator. Catherine—the CSI in question—was more overtly watching Dawn, almost staring at her.
The ride from the police station to the hotel had been made in uncomfortable silence. ‘She kept acting like she wanted to say something...or ask something,’ Dawn thought. ‘I’m glad she didn’t. I don’t know what I’d say. I just feel like...empty. Like my insides are missing...God, this can’ t be real, can it? Please let it be just a nightmare...let me wake up!’
Shaking her head slightly, Dawn closed her eyes and focused on pushing back the tangled knot of traumatic emotion that was continually threatening to overwhelm her.
She opened her eyes and again looked at the other woman in the mirror. ‘Is she worried I’m going to freak out, or is she trying to get a look in our--my room; figure out why someone would be trying to kill one of us?’
The elevator slowed to a stop. She was startled slightly when Catherine broke the silence. “Was your boyfriend a gambler?”
“What?” she responded, taken aback.
“A gambler; did he spend a lot of time gambling?” Catherine explained.
Dawn frowned at the question, both for its content and for flash of pain that occurred with every past-tense reference to Xander. “No, why?”
“Usually these suites are reserved as comps for the high-rollers,” Catherine explained.
“Oh, I don’t know. Xander just said he wanted to stay someplace nice,” Dawn answered, thinking ‘Now I’m glad we didn’t stay at Huggy Bear’s house. That would have required some serious explaining.’
Dawn slid the card key into the slot and opened the door, walking into the room, Catherine on her heels. ‘We made love on that couch, and then again on the rug right in front of it...God, was it just this morning?’ she thought. The empty ache in her heart of her absent lover made itself more strongly known as she looked around the room. She turned to the doors that led to the bedroom and thought, ‘How am I going to sleep in there without him? How am I going to sleep anywhere, ever again?’
“Well...” Catherine began, discomfort clear in her voice.
Suddenly the doors to the bedroom opened, the sound of the knob turning was shockingly loud in the uncomfortable silence.
“Xander?” Dawn breathed, irrational hope suddenly flaring up inside her.
An older, darkly tanned man with thinning hair stepped through the door, immediately bringing up his hands which were filled with a big, ugly, black machine pistol. “Don’t even!” the stranger commanded, jerking the muzzle of the gun in Catherine’s direction. He must have seen her badge and gun because he spat, “Great, a freaking cop. That little bitch is gonna owe me extra for this!”
“You killed Xander.” Dawn’s voice was flat, brittle.
The stranger’s eyes flicked briefly in Dawn’s direction. “Dumb kid got in the way.” An evil grin suddenly grew on his face as he continued, “if it’s any consolation, you’ll be seeing him again, here in a minute.”
“Now hold on...” Catherine began.
The CSI’s voice continued but Dawn’s awareness of it faded away. ‘You killed Xander,’ she thought again as the emotionless void inside her suddenly filled up with rage. Filled up and overflowed as Dawn’s vision went red and she shrieked, “You killed Xander!”
Mentally, she lashed out at the man, pouring her rage at him as though it was a physical thing.
A scream of pain and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
========== BtVS ==========
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