Reminding the Fallen
by zenithar
Chapter 21
[reviews]
Author's Note: Once again thanks to Rebelrsr for help on the fic, couldn't do it with out you.
Leaving Spike in the basement, the other three went to stand in the main entry way. Faith seemed uncomfortable, Willow was shocked and Buffy appeared caught between pissed off and amazed. Seeing the couple had something to talk about, Faith thought it wise to wait outside. "Hey, um, guys you don't mind if I hang around outside, do you?"
"Hmm, what? Oh, sure, Faith," Willow said somewhat distractedly.
With a nod, Faith left, and Buffy tried to organize her thoughts. Things were not helped by having a closed lipped demon in the Slayer's head. She decided there would be higher chance of answers from the redhead. "Hey, Will, do you know anything more about the mating thing?"
Willow once again absentmindedly answered, "Yes."
Slowly Buffy's usual impatience began to show. Speaking through clenched teeth she asked, "How do you know?"
Noticing that Buffy was talking to her, Willow tried to remember, her brow knotted in concentration, what had been asked. "Research gal, remember? I don't really know very much about though."
"Oh... yeah." Buffy said, while mentally slapping her forehead. "Well, what do you know about the mating thing? The only thing I've gotten out of my demon is that it's not really something that's planned ahead of time," Buffy said as she resisted the urge to growl at the silent demon.
"Well," the Wiccan started out uncertainly, "what Spike said about it being not harmful is true, and that it's never been recorded to have happened to between a vampire and a human. There's not much on it because it's all just observations done by Watchers." Willow's voice took on a more lecture like quality as she went along. "About the only thing the Watchers were able to come up with is that when a vampire takes another to be their mate, their auras are transposed upon one another. The extra aura does nothing other than allow other vampires to sense who belongs to whom."
"Ok, Will, you're starting to get into 'Watcher-y mode'. Was anything else said about the bond? Like side affects or something?" Buffy asked with a concerned tone.
"Side affects? Um, from what the Watchers have seen it looks like I'll have your aura draped over me, and you'll be able to sense my emotions. Like, if I'm in danger, you'll feel my fear," Willow explained. Suddenly remembering that Faith was waiting outside, the redhead ushered Buffy to the door. "Look, we can continue this later. Right now I think you'll want to start patrol with Faith."
"Oh, yeah. I'll talk with you later then, Will." Turning around and placing a kiss on her cheek. "Bye." With that Buffy left through the front door and found Faith waiting on the front porch.
"So, B, where do we start?" the dark Slayer asked.
Buffy just shrugged in return. "You've been doing the patrolling lately."
"K. The most active place has been the cemetery near Angel's old place."
A few minutes later, both Slayers were at the cemetery. The warriors let their senses reach out. Finding nothing, Buffy went over to a tombstone and sat down on it. "So, Faith. You still wigged out that I'm around?"
Shrugging, Faith found a mausoleum wall she could lean against. "I'm not freaked out you're still alive, or whatever. But from what I can tell you've gotten wicked powerful. Before, I could barely keep up with you. Now? I have a strong feeling you could wipe the floor with me without even breakin' a sweat."
Buffy's demon decided to pop in, 'It's true.'
"What does me being stronger have to do with anything?" Buffy asked.
"A lot, actually. I mean what can I do when you're leagues ahead of me?" Faith said pitifully.
"Faith, even if I am stronger than you, you can still do things I can't," the Slayer Vampire said. Looking Faith in the eyes, she continued, "Like protect my family when they're in the sun; you can keep an eye on them when I'm elsewhere; and most importantly you can make my sister happy. I saw the way you two are around each other. I know the way I first acted around you two was wrong, and I hope I'm getting the point across that I'm perfectly fine with it. If anything, I'm giving you my blessing. You both work well together - you get Dawn to act less like a little kid, and she's helping you learn to care," Buffy finished, getting up from the tombstone.
Sometime during the mini-speech, Faith had stopped leaning against the mausoleum wall. "I... Thanks, B, having you say those things really does make me feel better about all of this. I guess I just forgot abo-" She was cut off by Buffy tackling her to the ground. "What the fu-" Right where she had been a moment ago an axe head imbedded itself in the wall.
Rolling off the younger Slayer, Buffy got to her feet and let her face shift. Right then the undead Slayer felt a sense of surprise that was not her own. Ignoring it she growled and took in her opponent. Standing nearly seven feet tall, the demon had charcoal-black skin with a head similar to a bull. Its yellow eyes burned in their sockets, and small flames came in puffs from its snout. The powerful neck flowed into the barrel like chest that was rippling with muscles. Its arms were thicker than Buffy's own legs, and each clawed hand gripped deadly battle axes. The legs were heavily muscled, and the knees were jointed in reverse like a goats, ending in hoofed feet.
"What the hell, B! It's a fucking minotaur," Faith exclaimed.
Grunting, Buffy just charged at the demon.
'Looks like our sire is pulling out the old ones,' Buffy's demon whispered in her head.
Landing a few punches on its chest, Buffy heard the accompanying sound of snaps, signaling a few ribs were cracked. The Minotaur roared in pain, and let its twin axes swing together in a scissors-like attack in an attempt to decapitate the vampire. Buffy simply rolled away from the demon while Faith took the opening and attacked with a running fly kick, hitting it square in the chest causing it to stager back a step. Once she had her feet under her, the younger slayer let loose a punch that landed on the jaw of the demon flinging its head up. Buffy used Faith's attack to sneak around behind the large demon. With its attention elsewhere, Buffy kicked out its knees, earning an ear splitting snap and a loud thud as the thing fell to its knees. Before the demon could even recover, the Slayer Vampire crouched down to its shoulder and bared her fangs. Faith looked on with a mixture of uneasiness and curiosity as Buffy sank her teeth in and drained the demon dry.
Pulling her face away from the empty demon, she let it fall forward with one final crash. Standing up, the vampire went over to Faith, licking her lips clean of blood. "Looks like my sire has some very old servants," Buffy said.
Faith just kicked the dead demon before asking, "How do you know it was sent by Serenity?"
"Because it has her mark on it. Look at the base of the skull; you'll see a stylized L burnt into its skin. My demon says that symbol is burned into all of her servants. It also matches the L I saw in that book Will read from," the undead Slayer explained. "About the only good news is, it tasted good."
Shivering slightly at the last remark, the dark Slayer moved away from the corpse. "Think we should go report this right now?"
"Nah, it can wait until tomorrow. Were we in the middle of something before the bull here charged in?" Buffy asked.
"We were just wrapping up actually. Didn't know you could drink any demon, B," Faith commented.
"I didn't either. This was just another test. Being a Slayer Vampire really doesn't come with a manual," Buffy said. Spotting a stone bench she went over and sat down.
Faith followed and took a seat next to her. "Thanks. I could tell you didn't need me to jump in there, but you let me any way. It really means a lot for you to show you trust me that much."
"Of course I trust you, and you'll always be needed by me and the whole Scooby gang. And even if I am dead, we're still sister Slayers," Buffy finished with a hug.
Breaking the hug, the younger Slayer asked, "Think we should turn it in?"
Internally, the vampire was able to tell daybreak was still a number of hours off. "You go on ahead. I want to do a little hunting before I go to sleep."
Getting up, the two headed for cemetery's exit. "You're not going after people, right?" Faith jokingly asked.
Lightly punching the taller girl in the arm, Buffy acted offended. "Of course I'm not. I'm only biting the undead ones."
Laughing as they split ways, Faith said over her shoulder, "You really are still a Slayer, B."