Hello people, here by , almost, popular demand, the sequal to watching Through Stained Glass. Everything, as always, will be explained over time so hang in there. All you need to know is it's six months later and although everything seems quiet on the surface of Sunnydale and new demon is rising. and as always, they have their eyes on the slayer.
co-authored by McWoo
Synergy and Symmetry
Chapter 1
FORT WORTH, TEXAS 1948
As a girl, Ida McKendrick was brought up to believe three things; 1). Behind every good man was a great woman. 2). Any skeleton, no matter how well hidden will not only come out of the closet, but will invariably dance out and 3). The only constant in life is change.
The first of these prophesies was fulfilled in 1906 when, at the age of eighteen she became a great woman by meeting and marrying her good man Albert.
A sweet, smart and quiet boy, Albert was born of great wealth. His family had invested in the Texas & Pacific Railway in the late 1900’s and therefore the young man was able to provide for his new bride in ways that many men would only dream of. He gave her a grand white house with servants and acres of land to grow plants. Even though crime and violence began to grow within Fort Worth, Albert was able to provide her with a motor car, the first one to be seen on their block and half a dozen horses to tend to and care for.
The pair lived happily for twelve years until, at the age of twenty-eight Albert was called to serve his country in the Great War. Firmly believing he was doing the honourable thing, Albert joined the Army and lasted two years before he was killed in action. Shortly before his death, the second of the three prophesies would come to light when it was discovered that, despite his wealth and grace Albert had been unable to provide his wife with the one thing which would make their lives complete; a child.
Upon the news of her husbands’ death, most women would believe that the final of the triangle had been dealt with this unfortunate change of events; Ida McKendrick however was not so foolish. She knew that this hand was still to be played and would be dealt when she should expect it least and that it was a matter of waiting.
Ten years later, in 1928, that patience was finally rewarded.
If one were to ask Ida McKendrick to explain it, she would simply say that she was not sure how it had changed or, more importantly why but only that overnight what had once been true had now become lie and vice versa. All she could remember was a sharp, intolerable pain and then a sudden release of her fears and binds.
Up and down the streets, loose tongues and lips flapped as they invariably do of the once pleasant woman who had suddenly become angry, mean and violent. They would discuss over cups of tea how the woman who used to grow her own vegetables had developed a strange aversion to the sun, of the late night visitors who were rarely seen to leave in the same condition they arrived in, if at all. The servants were dismissed over time save one, the horses and car all sold and the vegetation left to rot. The only sign that anybody ever lived in house were the beautiful plants, which were tended by the one remaining servant.
Staring at an old picture of her self and her husband, Ida sighed mournfully. Perhaps, she thought with a mild sadness, the choice of location had been against her. The sun seemed to rarely set in Texas. A lot of things had transpired, not only in America, but across the World and it would have been nice to be a part of some of it. In 1929 the New York Stock Market had crashed; In 1939 War had broken out across Europe once again; and in 1944, in Italy, two hundred and thirty Allied B-17 bombers dropped nearly a thousand tons of bombs and incendiaries on the Monastery atop Monte Cassino. Economies had boomed and fallen in the space of twenty short years and she had been stuck here in one of America’s most arid States believing her wealth and prestige would provide ample opportunities to wreak havoc. Instead the only thing to wreak havoc in Texas were Tornadoes which struck West Texas and Oklahoma killing a hundred and sixty nine people and injuring a thousand more.
Yes, in retrospect, a change of location would have suited her better. Still, she thought wryly, you live and learn.
This reverie was broken by a tapping on wood and her bedroom door was opened by a young black man. His clothes were brown and stained from a long day of pulling weeds, painting woodwork and fixing appliances, but his dark features were handsome and unassuming and he held himself in a composed manner.
“Leon.” I she said calmly, “Thank you for coming so swiftly.”
“You wished to see, Ma’am?” he said, removing his hat and holding it nervously in his hands, running his fingers along the frayed edge.
“I wish to talk to you about something.” Ida smiled warmly at him and set the picture back in its spot on the fire-place. “But first…I wish to see my garden.”
The garden was a glorious array of colours. From fine reds to fierce pinks and deep yellows and every complementary colour in between, the vast expanse glowed and bloomed. While the space was clearly a work of art in the daylight hours, at night it seemed to come to life all the more as its scent was inviting and intoxicating to the senses. Trees which seemed to simply supply an aesthetic grace during the day released all kinds of incredible aromas during the evening.
The pair walked silently though the large expanse of the garden. Every so often Ida would stop to smell a flower or marvel over the change in one of her plants.
“You have done a miraculous job here, Leon.” She said as she stood up from gazing at one bush in particular.
“Thank you, Ma’am.” The young man smiled shyly, clearly unaccustomed with compliments. The action made a few crinkles appear at the sides of his eyes and a soft sparkle appear within them.
“How long have you been with me now?” She asked leading the way through a maze of roses.
“Eleven years, Ma’am.” he replied, “six as errand boy and gardener, five as live-in handy-man.”
The old woman nodded, “Do you like it here, Leon?”
The young man nodded “Yes Ma’am. I like it very much.”
“Do you have a family?”
“I have three sisters.” Leon replied with a smile, “Though I can’t say I’ve seen them in twelve years or more.”
Ida nodded knowledgeably. They had reached a bench in the middle of the garden and she gestured for them to sit, “Lets not prevaricate around the bush. I would like to offer you a promotion.”
Leon blinked in surprised, “A promotion?” he queried.
Ida nodded and smiled, “Your work here has been impeccable and I believe you could be invaluable to me.”
Leon looked around the garden, “I’m not sure I understand. How can I be more help? I already look after the house and garden….”
Ida smiled, “It a little difficult to explain. It would mean more responsibility and a definite change of pace, but I believe you are up to the challenge. And on the bright side you would have more free time.”
Leon Turner breathed out for a few seconds and thought for a few moments. Could he really accept this offer? As the only member of an entire house of servants to be kept on he had seen a lot of strange things living in this house and he was well aware that the old woman was prone to obscure behaviour. Could he really put himself in the line to witness more?
On the other hand, he presumed this promotion came with a pay rise which could always come in handy, especially as he was attempting to court the Talbots maid Cicely.
“That’s very gracious of you, Ma’am.” Leon began slowly, “I accept your generous offer.”
Ida smiled warmly and breathed an obvious sigh of relief, “Nicely played, I believed you would turn me down there for a moment.” She stood up and gestured for him to lead the way back into the house.
They had barely moved more than three steps before he heard her voice from behind his back comment. “Well, would you look at that? It’s a full moon.”
Idly Leon looked up at the beauty of the full and large moon which loomed overhead, “It’s amazing. Incredible how it illuminates the entire gard….”
The pain was searing and unlike anything he had experienced before in his short life. One second he was looking up, the next his world was running in slow motion; the force of pressure around his body, the mind-shattering pain in his neck, the slow fade of the use of his limbs, the unusual taste of something liquid running down his throat and the sound of Ida’s voice whispering four words before everything went completely black.
“Welcome to my world.”
SUNNYDALE, PRESENT DAY
As the light began to fade, as it did every day, the dying sun finally gave way to the coolness of night.
It was uncomfortably hot for the time of year. Even for Southern California, the heat wave they were having was unusual for this late in the year, and it seemed to be deterring the residents of Sunnydale from leaving their air conditioned homes. The week before Thanksgiving should have been a bustling time for the shops but most could say that the heat was definitely affecting their trade. Now, however, with the cool breeze that was coming in from the Pacific a few people were braving the streets hoping for a chance to cool down and maybe catch a pre-holiday bargain.
On the edge of Main Street, away from the epicentre of the bustle, The Magic Box sat in near darkness. The front door had had its closed sign put up, the window shutters closed and the majority of lights turned off. The only sign of life within the building was a young woman sitting at a large round table, her computer screen shining on her still youthful face. From the back of the store the occasional sounds of grunts emanated as a poor defenceless punching bag was assaulted again and again. The woman turned her head slightly at the noise hypnotised by the repetitive thump thump thump of fist on leather. She blinked herself awake and turned back to her laptop.
Willow scanned the glowing electronic screen of her computer as she indifferently and with out effort read her way down the pages of the police website. It had been a slow month in terms of demon activity and as per usual a lull in vampire action tended to lead to bigger and badder things, so it never hurt to keep on top. Three muggings, two break ins and a number of traffic offences later Willow slammed her laptop closed with a sigh and resided to the fact that Sunnydale just wasn’t a demonic hotspot at the present time. Rubbing her eyes she yawned, it may have only been 8 O’clock in the pm but she found herself lagging. The witch hadn’t slept well that night, or the two before it for that matter and her early starts and long days working in the Magic Box, followed by the even longer hours of researching were beginning to take their toll. The lack of demons was worrying her, the last time it had been this quiet Sunnydale had turned into a torrential storm, she’d been kidnapped and almost two hundred of the soulless creatures had been released on to the streets. A slayer had died, had then come back to life and the world came with in a hairs breadth of ending, so yeah, she figured she had the right to be a little on edge. However, as unnerving as this whole situation was, this wasn’t the reason for her sleepless nights. She felt like a stupid school girl in love, she thought resting her head in her hands, but the truth was; she missed her girlfriend.
Willow sighed, a small wry smile on her face. Kennedy had only been gone a few days and would be back the night after tomorrow and they’d been in constant communication but it still amazed her slightly how much she missed her. In the six months since they met they had been apart on only two occasions. The first had been a one night trip Kennedy and Faith had had to take into the desert to dispose of a Sand Demons corpse. The next had been a brief over night stop in hospital when Kennedy had punctured her lung and because Willow hadn’t been a relative she couldn’t stay. But other then those times the witch and the slayer had spent very little time apart, so to have Kennedy off helping her father solve the case of the missing live stock for a week seemed like forever.
There was a loud crash at the door, followed by a British voice sighing heavily.
“Oh for the love of Michael,” the voice called out, “what happened to the door?”
“Faith and a Calarmo Demon broke it.” Willow replied not getting up from her seat, “Repairman is coming tomorrow.”
The sound of a suitcase being slammed down on the floor reverberated around the room as Giles made his way further into the store.
“Honestly you turn your back for a few minutes and the place goes to the demons” Giles sighed leaning his fist on the table.
Willow smiled, “Tell me about it.” She looked up at the aging man, “How was it?”
For a second Giles looked at her confused.
“England? The Watchers Meeting? The thing you’ve been ranting and raving about for over a month? You can’t have forgotten already.”
Again Giles sighed, “The accommodation was terrible, the trains were delayed, the people were in too much of a rush to even notice you were there…”
“You loved it, huh?” Willow grinned.
“Every moment.” Giles grinned back.
“And what about Kenn?”
Giles pulled out a chair as the red head got up to make tea, “Well, despite the fact that the witness reports to Leanne Stone’s death have stood on record, the head Watchers were willing to concede that it was due to the actions of Thanatos and his cohort Ansol that their Watcher died. They have lifted the ban over Kennedy on a temporary basis.”
“Providing she proves herself?” Willow said with a knowing eyebrow as she placed the cup of tea in front of him.
“Precisely” Giles sipped the hot liquid and looked around, “Where is everyone?”
“Kennedy’s still visiting her Father in up state New York.”
“Oh yes, the mystery demon infestation. Is she any nearer to identifying it?” Willow shook her head.
“She says, and I quote ‘it could be anything from a hamster, a yeti or Robin Williams with his top off.’” Giles quirked a small eyebrow but Willow didn’t elaborate. “She thinks it might be some kind of troll…a cave troll, not a troll troll, you now with the crazy hair and uncoordinated fashion sense. Ever way she’s tracked it to an under ground cave somewhere in the house grounds and is gonna ghost bust it as we speak.”
Giles nodded as he sipped his tea.
“And Faith is?” As if in reply a loud, annoyed shout came from the backroom followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the back wall. Willow smiled.
“She’s training. And in answer to your next question, Xander and Anya have taken Dawn for Ice Cream and consolation. She and Mark broke up”
Giles rolled his eyes, “Oh Lord. How long was this one?”
“Two months” Willow supplied sitting down, “Not her longest by far, but she’s twenty one. All tears and recrimination. Oh, speaking of…”
The front door opened and Xander and Anya came slowly wandering in.
“How did it go?” Willow asked.
Xander sighed, falling heavily onto one of the chairs surrounding the table, “God were we really like?”
“Yes.” Giles responded.
Willow chuckled, “That bad, huh?”
“Non stop tears.” Anya said,
“First it was all questions and commiserations.” Xander explained “”Why did he do it? “, “I thought it was meant to be.”” I’m never going to love again…””
“Made me wish I still had powers…” Anya sighed.
“Then she compared herself to Buffy…”
“Which I told her was crazy, because at least she’s still alive.” Anya intercepted
Xander glared at her out of the side of his eyes, “Which of course lead to…”
“More tears” Anya finished, “There were so many tears in fact that at one point people thought she was a fountain and started throwing money at her.”
“That’s terrible.” Willow said.
“Not really we made a dollar and ninety-seven cents”
As Willow and Giles passed a look between them, Faith emerged from the back room drinking from a bottle of water and grumbling to herself under her breath. She almost stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a room full of people looking back at her.
“The sooner that’s girl of yours’ gets back from her jollys the better.” She said pointedly looking at Willow. She then groaned a little and rubbed her forehead. “That damn punching bag hits too hard.”
“What happened?”
“I was just going through my drill you know, getting in the swing of things when I let out with a right hook and the bags chain broke. The damn thing whips round and nearly take my eye with it.”
“It broke again?” Xander asked.
“Yeah, Xan, third time this month. I’m telling ya, I get less hits landed on me when I’m fighting Junior then I do on my own.”
“Hey.” Willow pouted. “Kenn hits just fine.”
“I’m sure she does.” The slayer replied with a smirk and looked to Xander. “Bet she hits that all the time.”
Anya and Xander suppressed a giggle as Willow began to redden. Giles mean while simply sipped his tea and ignored them all.
Faith stretched out with her arms and rolled her shoulders.
“Anyway peeps. Some of us have a world’s ass to save. See you all in the AM.” Throwing her empty water bottle behind her head she picked up a jacket that was lying on the table and headed to the door.
“Littering in my shop is a $5 fine Faith!” Anya called out behind her, the slayer just spun round and grinned.
“Come get it Demonella.” When Anya didn’t move she shrugged a little and left via the broken front door.
The ex-demon pouted.
“I’m moving her down to table 2. She can sit between your Uncle Rory and my great aunt Spackin, then she’ll have my $5.” Xander laid a comforting hand on his fiancés shoulder.
“Ahn, we need Faith on our side in case my dad finds the bar. Which, with all honesty is a sure fire thing, so remember, no angering the people who might be saving our deposit.” Anya continued to complain to herself under her breath as she went to pick up Faith’s discarded water bottle. Xander turned to his friend. “So when does our other keeper of the peace return?”
“Soon…sooner if everything goes to plan.” An odd kind of vibrating sound came from Willows bag and it took her a moment to realise just what it was. Rummaging around she pulled her phone out and flipped it open quickly. “Kenn! Hey……”
Estate of Emilio Kennedy, Upstate New York
“Hey Will.” Kennedy said into the phone. “I was just ringing to check a few things…”
“How are you? Are you busy, can you talk?”
“Err…..” The slayer pulled her head up to look at the rope that held her upside down, a few feet from the ground. She relaxed and let herself hang. “Not right now sweetie, sorry. I was really just phoning to ask a watchery question…is Giles there?”
“Yeah, he got back a few minutes ago, what’s up?”
“Well…”
Willow rested her hand over the mouth piece of her phone and looked to Giles.
“Kenn wants any info you have on trolls.”
“Well….” The watcher began, his brows lowered in thought. “There’s not much documented about trolls, but their largely believed to be solitary creatures of low intelligence. More muscle then brains who spend most of their time hunting small animals, such as foxes or deer. All in all not too much to worry about.”
Willow relayed this information to Kennedy.
“Alright then Will, I’ll call you later. Miss you.”
Kennedy hung up her phone and looked round at the three approaching, hair cover creatures. They each held a makes shift club made from animal bones in one hand and part of an axe that used to belong to the slayer in the other. She eyed them carefully.
“Alright, guess that means you’re somin else then don’t it?”
The creatures, each only about four feet in height came closer, dragging their weapons behind them. They were each covered in a dark, almost green fur that was matted and damp. In places it was clotted together with what could be mud but the slayer doubted it. They had a small nub of a tail, on the end of which sat a razor sharp barb about the length of a standard pencil. The closest creature to her, she saw, was missing one of it’s eyes, a long ragged scar cut down it’s face, almost segment it’s nose in two. It would have been upsetting almost, if this scar hadn’t been on a demon that currently had her bound and tied two feet from the ground in a cave that was eight feet below her Fathers estate. She struggled with the rope round her feet with the one hand she’d managed to free and as she did so lost the grip on her phone that fell to the ground. The smallest creature, whose hair was more of a ginger colour sniffed the phone once then recoiled bringing its club up and smashing into onto the mobile. Kennedy sighed.
“Not one for technology ey?.” The three creatures growled at her as they inspected the devices innards and she did her best impression of a shrug she could while hanging up side down. She reached up again, bending herself at the waist with ease and began to pull at the rope around her feet. When they didn’t give she let herself fall down again defeated. “How the hell do I get myself into these situations?”
If someone had told her a year ago that she’d be spending the week leading up to Thanksgiving hanging upside down in a cave underneath her Father’s house while searching for the thing responsible for stealing his prized pony fowl she would have called them crazy and seriously doubted their foresight ability. Then again, she was an heiress to a considerable fortune who fought demons on a nightly basis with a sharp wooden stick, so who was she to call others crazy?
Swinging slightly she looked around her, although the hairy creatures looked like animals they sure didn’t live that way. In one corner of the cave that doubled as a room sat a crudely constructed bed made from large animal bones and covered in dried grass and straw. The floor, all except a circle that lay directly below her was carpeted with furs from various animals, she recognised fox, deer and a few others. The walls were painted, or at least decorated in different shades of clay and mud, they bore various symbols of mystical origin that the slayer definitely didn’t like. Where she hung was the highest point in the cavern and her head was a clear foot from the floor and from her view point she cold see that the stone below her was stained red with blood and the purpose of this hook became clear to her.
“Wonderful.”
The three creatures, Scruffy, Scar and Shrimp as she named them had finished going over the mangled remains of her phone and began to surround her. Scar tilted his head up at her, poked her in the side and made a face she assumed was a smile, letting out a low growl of amusement Scruffy and Shrimp joined him and she took the opportunity to snatch at the axe head one of them held. In one swift movement she slashed at the rope around her foot and fell to the ground. The demons scampered away from her quickly as she hit the floor with a hard crash, rolling to her side painfully.
“Oww.” Kennedy groaned pushing herself up to her knees. “Bet you got a right laugh outa that didn’t you?” She frowned. Scruffy and Shrimp peered at her from behind the mouth of the cavern room while Scar was no where in sight. “Hey where’s the other o-?”
She was cut off by a blur of movement behind her and just managed to move out of the way before Scar’s club came crashing down on her skull. Rolling, she caught the weapon in her free hand and glared at him.
“Look…I got nothing against you dudes right?” She pulled the club away and stood up, nearly knocking her head on a low jutting rock. “But my Dad really likes his horses so if you plan on eating them….” She lashed out at Scar as Scruffy and Shrimp ventured closer. “You gotta go. Plus, ok you hung me upside down and now my hair is gonna be weird all day. So, really…you left me no choice.” Swinging the club round her she struck Scar across the temple sending him flying backwards into the cave wall. At this Scruffy and Shrimp leapt forward, charging at her with their weapons held high and screaming a weird mixture of a howl and a yodel that pieced her ears. She managed to bat Scruffy away but Shrimp crashed into her, knocking her back down to her back. His hackles high and teeth bared he hissed at her, lashing his tail to either side of her as she struggled to keep his mouth from her. Meanwhile to her side Scar was stirring, bleeding from his snout he shook his head once, and then pounced on her. Just before he hit she managed to force Shrimp away from her and threw him into the other creatures oncoming path. Rolling to her feet she kicked at Scruffy, connecting with its head. The hairy demon spun round and Kennedy used the time to smash the club over its head, she felt its skull yield under the force and as it hit the ground it’s body turned to a black goo. She turned her attention to the remaining two demons who were upon her again in seconds. The slayer took out Shrimp with an up thrust from the club and as he to turned to goo she flung the axe head in her hand towards Scar. It landed precisely on the line that segmented his head and sliced threw him as easily as it did the air and he exploded into a burst of black slime that coated the slayers face and torso. She blinked twice then wiped it away from her eyes.
“Lovely.” She muttered flicking the stinking, sticky slime from her fingers with an annoyed fling. Looking round her sighed, paused for a moment then head from the cave.
¬¬
SUNNYDALE CEMETERY, A FEW HOURS LATER.
It had been the slowest night in a string of slow nights and Faith was beginning to get tired of it.
Yes, the fact there were less vampires on the streets meant fewer innocent deaths, and yes this was a good thing, but come on, two weeks of having nothing to dust but the magic Box floor was growing tiresome. Faith was a vampire slayer, and as such, she had certain kinds of needs. If she didn’t get in a good slay every few days she became irritable, cranky and frustrated. She noticed that her temper had gotten worse and she was growing angry more easily. The number of cigarettes she had each day had increased almost threefold and her work out sessions had gone from one hour to just over two. In addition was also visiting the Bronze more often in hopes of finding other activities to take her mind off her low slay rate and although she very much enjoyed her encounters with the men of Sunnydale, there were some itches a man just couldn’t scratch. So, that was why she was here, three hours earlier then usual in a deserted cemetery hoping that maybe a change of slay time would affect her luck. Thus far it hadn’t seemed to.
All she had had all evening were one newbie vamp that couldn’t fight long enough to work out how to turn on its game face and a few demons who managed to run from her and these were definitely not going to quell any hunger she was feeling.
Faith sighed audibly looking left, then right down the long, empty paths that wound their way through the cemetery and sighed. Nothing, no one…empty.
Getting irritated, Faith chose one of the directions and began to head toward the more used side of the graveyard, hoping that she’d have more luck. Kicking at the dirt, her hand in her pockets she was almost taken off guard by the sudden stampede of running footsteps. She just managed to jump out of the way as three teenage boys ran past her then a few seconds later two women followed. The slayer smiled and took off after them. The teenagers were fast, the vampires faster but Faith was faster still, and after a few hundred metres she had caught up to them in a small wooded area. With a burst of speed Faith ran forward, then using a mound of earth as a step launched herself into the air, caught hold of low branch then swung forward. Kicking the closet vampire to her in the back she let go of the branch and leapt into the air, coming to the ground a few feet in front of the teenagers. They looked at her with wide, scared eyes and she smiled at them.
“Evening gentlemen, nice night for it.” She quickly spun round to face the vampires behind her. “And you ladies are robbing the cradle in the worse way. Couldn’t you find boys to munch on your own age?”
The standing vampire growled at her as her friend got to her feet, brushing herself off. She looked down at her top which was stained with grass and snarled at her.
“You’re gonna pay for what you did to my shirt.”
Faith laughed, as she pulled a stake from the small of her back.
“Honey,” She said looking the demons attire over. “Nobody in their right mind would pay for that shirt.” The teenagers behind her gave a snicker which just enraged the vampires more.
“I’m gonna kill you slayer.”
“That’s what they all say.” Faith sighed, dodging the vampires right hook and hitting in the chin with her own. She followed it up with a round house kick to the side of the head then spun to face the other. The other vampire, a blonde with numerous facial piercings punched at her and Faith grabbed her arm and twisted round then throw her over her shoulder and into a near by tree. The vampire impaled herself on a short branch that stuck out near the middle of the tree and Faith smiled.
“Bulls-eye.”
The vampire then promptly turned to dust much to the dismay of her counterpart. Seeing her friend die the other screamed and rushed Faith from behind, landing a strong hit to the back of her head. Faith feel forward to the floor but rolled the moment she hit the ground and kicked the vampire in the stomach. Jumping to her feet she swung round and hit the demon in the chin with her elbow, then slammed the stake into its heart with the other. The vampire looked up at her.
“This sucks.”
Faith smirked.
“Yeah it really does.” She then rounded to look at the two teenage boys who were still watching her with amazement. “You boy alright?” Dumbly they both nodded at her but didn’t move. “Maybe you guys should be getting home to mom right about now.”
Again they nodded and began to walk away, when one, the youngest looked back at her.
“Hey, you some kinda Superhero?”
“Something like that.”
They both then practically ran from the cemetery. Faith sighed and rolled her shoulders.
“Well that was fun.” She muttered.
“Yeah it looked it.” A voice said as she was walking away from the scene. Faith looked around herself puzzled for a second before seeing a young woman standing casually on the branch of a nearby tree, leaning against the trunk. The girl was in her early twenties with dark brown hair and brown eyes. However, despite the slim and youthful nature of her features, Faith could immediately tell what she was.
Before Faith could retort, however, the young woman continued.
“It was kinda beautiful actually.” She said, “Slap, kick, stake, poof. Like poetry. Only more dust and less boredom.”
Faith shrugged and looked around as though she owned the area, “I got more time if you wanna dance a while.”
The young woman chuckled a little, “So I can end up as the answer my friend blowin’ in the wind? What makes you think I wanna do that?”
“You throwing down or not, cause I ain’t got all night.”
The young woman jumped off the branch and landed solidly on the ground. “Really? That’s it? No playful banter, no witty puns thrown around? Just straight in your face laying it down?”
Faith shrugged, “You wanna talk I’m sure Dr Phil’s got some openings. Otherwise, you wanna fight then I’m you’re girl.”
“Wow, that is really disappointing.” The young woman said slowly circling the Slayer, “I came all this way and you don’t even wanna take a few minutes to get to know one another?”
Again Faith shrugged, “Sweetheart, you’re a Vampire, I’m a Vampire Slayer. I don’t need to know you. That’s how this works.”
The young woman looked confused, “Then how do you know what you’re up against?”
Faith pretended tot think for a second, “Kinda like this.” she hopped forward and aimed a side kick to the young woman’s chest. Surprised but not flustered, the younger woman grabbed the Slayers foot, stepped to the left and used the kicks momentum to send Faith three feet across the graveyard and into a headstone.
“Yeah I see how that works in your favour.” The brunette jibbed.
Faith’s back slammed into the thick concrete, slicing her arm on its rough edges and was momentarily winded. She watched as the stranger came walking quickly towards her then at the last second, grabbed the headstone with both hands and flipped herself backwards over it, connecting a front kick to the brunettes jaw as she did so. The hit caused the young woman to momentarily stumble backwards, allowing the Slayer a few seconds to gain a solid stance on the grass.
The young woman grabbed at her chin and gave a small grin, “Nice.” She said. Without warning she took off a speed, used the headstone Faith had flipped over as launching pad a slammed a flying punch into Faiths head.
The slayer allowed the blow to connect, but grabbed the colliding fist with her left hand. Allowing the momentum to carry the action, Faith raised her right knee into the brunettes chest, then using the woman’s right arm to control her body she pulled the girl up like a rag doll and crashed the back of her right hand into the Vampire’s face.
While the other woman cried out in surprised pain, Faith reached into her back pocket, pulled out her stake and drove it hard into the woman’s body turning her to dust in an instant.
“Kinda like that.” Faith paraphrased herself. Carefully looking around herself this time, Faith made sure the area was clear before heading back in the direction she had come.
The small pile of dust that lay where the vampire had fallen began to move as the breeze took it. It drifted for a few feet swirling in the wind when, strangely the dust seemed to be drawn towards itself. The tiny grey/ brown particles began to come together, forming larger and larger grains of dust and it soon became clear it wasn’t the wind moving them. The dust came together faster and stronger until, almost, they looked like a pair of Doc Martin boots, then a pair of black jeans, building more and more upwards until the figure of the young vampire stood tall. Rotated her shoulder the vampire smiled and looked to the direction Faith had just left.
“That was fun.”
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so what do you think? As a first chap goes its' kinda slow but it'll get going. I hope you enjoyed it, if you did review and well if you idn't review to. things will get very interesting if you'll let it
cryptic_ap |
