Wild Girls Part 1 (Lusty Wrong Feelings)

The vampire growled menacingly, right before Buffy kicked it in the face. Her boot connected with a satisfyingly crunch to its chin. She followed up with a snap kick to its lower leg and it fell to one knee, grimacing in pain.

It was just another Tuesday night in Sunnydale. Another standard patrol, and some stinky creature of the night to punch. All with the added bonus of a cute boyfriend for company. Buffy couldn't be happier. In theory.

Interrupting her reverie, the vampire tried to punch her from its downed position but Buffy easily blocked it. She countered with a couple of hard kidney jabs and then pulled the vamp up and around. Off balance, the creature threw a hard right which she deftly ducked, hitting back with a solid shot of her own. Then she grabbed the stunned vamp, spun him around and threw him through the air. The creep landed heavily on the ground right next to Riley.

'Sharing is caring after all,' she thought.

She saw Riley take up the task of beating the unliving hell out of the vamp, and took the opportunity to duck down and retrieve her crossbow. A while ago Giles had idly suggested (actually he'd used the word 'behove' which she'd later had to look up) that Buffy might like to practice more with ranged weapons out in the field.

Her take on it: polish her skills a bit in private before and showing off her nifty form in front of her boyfriend. These things had way more class those than taser-blasters anyway.

Buffy levelled her weapon as she saw Riley trading blows with the vamp before he twisted the creature into a hip throw, a nice manoeuvre that Buffy stopped to admire. Riley then pulled the vamp up off the ground and into a full nelson, pinning its arm overhead and leaving its chest exposed.

'Nice going,' she thought appreciatively.

She smiled and took aim, opening fire as soon as she had the heart in her sights. But before the arrow could hit the mark, Riley and the vamp were both shoved out of the way by a third figure.

'Poop. Vamp has some crypt buddy looking out for him.'

Except the buddy wasn't another vampire, but a big burly-looking demon. A blue skinned creature dressed in cruddy medieval garb and sporting a distinctive bald head topped with a bunch of horns. The demon pulled the vampire well away from a scrambling Riley and they both struggled to their feet.

Reacting quickly to this new wrinkle, she jumped forward, flooring both evil critters with a well-aimed high kick each before they could fully regain their balance. Then she ran over to Riley and hauled him up.

Riley shook the daze from his head and eyed Buffy uncertainly.

A little breathless Buffy said. "You get fang. I'll get horny."

She stuttered as she realized what she'd just said, "I-I mean..."

Riley nodded and drew a stake as the two creatures reared up again and drew nearer. Without hesitation Buffy dashed past the vamp and straight at his blue companion, and kicked it in the chest, the solid strike and her speed pitched it backwards. And a follow-up roundhouse to the skull knocked it spinning to the ground.

The demon rolled away and grasped onto a headstone to haul itself up, but she quickly got herself into position behind it and directed a fierce kick at the back of its knee. It stalled and grunted in pain as she then repeatedly pounded her fist hard into its back.

But the demon was tough enough to pull itself fully upright so she hopped up on its back and wrapped an arm around its neck. The creature reared and staggered around clumsily. She squirmed for balance and eventually gained enough leverage to draw a knife from her belt, plunging it into the side of the thing's neck.

With a low gurgling grunt of pain the demon dropped to its knees and then to the side. Buffy gratefully hopped off before it fully expired.

'Fatality,' she thought, blushing as she realised she'd probably picked that up from one of Xander's bad video games.

After a moment to check that ol' blue was staying down, she dropped her knife with a sigh of relief. Yep, another typical night, basically what passed as fun on the job for her, so why did she feel so off?

That would be Faith. As always.

Or rather the parts of Buffy's brain that refusing to not think about Faith every few hours or so. Their time apart might well be doing Faith a world of good, for all Buffy knew, but in the meantime she was left wondering where Faith was, what she was feeling, how she was coping, why she had insisted on so much time and space. Even occasionally thinking about what Faith might be wearing...

'Urgh, that's it brain, I'm gonna go and eat a whole pint of ice cream real fast as punishment. See how well you do thinking about Faith while-'

"Buffy?" Riley walked closer, smiling and sheathing his stake in the pocket of his fatigue pants, "what was all that about?"

Buffy touched her hair self-consciously. "What was all what about? It's nothing, honest."

He smiled and stepped nearer, brushed a stray twig from her shoulder. "The tag-team. Don't recall seeing a vampire-demon match-up before."

Buffy frowned in thought. "Oh. Yeah, that was weird. Hey, who says we can't all get along?"

He gently brushed some hair away from her face and leaned closer. "Nice sentiment if you think about it. Heart-warming."

"Except it never happens. Vampires and demons, y'know, major clashing. Like stripes and polka-dots really."

Riley met her eyes. "You're the expert. Still, here we stand. Mission successful." He smiled and leaned in closer, "How about we wrap things up and go celebrate."

"We should tell Giles!" Buffy blurted out before Riley could lock lips with her. She wasn't able to explain to him why she wasn't in the mood for any post-slaying hi-jinks. To do that she'd have to make clear the source of her current funk.

Riley pulled back a bit and hesitated. "As in right away?" His hand dropped away from her shoulder and his charming smile faltered a bit.

Buffy shrugged awkwardly. "I-I think...I think it's wiggy and qualifies as being reportable, right?"

Riley nodded as he thought. "If you think-"

There was a sudden rustling noise in the nearby bushes. Not right on top of them, but rapidly coming their way. To her ears, it sounded like the heavy thudding of something running flat out. Moments later it was followed by the harsh snap of branches and some sort of heavy, guttural growling.

"Looks like that report will have to wait," Riley muttered as he turned to face the sounds.

Buffy quickly ducked down and snatched up her knife.

She righted herself just in time to see something large and fast burst from the undergrowth. In the light of the moon she got the impression of a furry, tusked figure with a lumpy head as it lurched out into the open space to their left.

The creature came to a stop and turned to glare at them both, rearing up to an impressive height of just over seven feet as it stretched its arms wide.

She took in the thing's barrel chest and thick limbs, its reddish mane of coarse fur, its flattened protruding nose with up-thrust tusks at either side.

The pig-demon gave a short squeal-roar of a challenge and stomped the ground.

Buffy gave Riley a sidelong look. "Right, maybe if I stand on your shoulders-"

Then another shape hurtled from the bushes and struck Piggy from the side, sending it stumbling and tripping over a nearby stone bench. The other smaller figure rolled agilely across the ground before flipped to her feet. That was when Buffy saw the gleam of leather pants and a wave of dark hair catching the moonlight and recognised the form.

"Faith?"

The dark-haired slayer turned in surprise and then smiled widely. "Hey B. Iowa. Thought you two were taking the south side. Giles said-"

Riley interrupted. "This is the south side."

"Huh. Guess this creep led me on quite a tour then, huh?"

Buffy blinked in confusion. "It was running from you?"

Then Buffy saw the demon rise up behind Faith and plunge towards her. Without missing a beat, Faith spun on her heel and greeted the creature with a fierce jumping punch right across its furry snout. The blow stopped the rampage enough for Faith to follow up, smashing a boot between the beast's legs.

Another couple of blows later, the demon took an unsteady step to the right before countering and hurling a fist in her direction. But Faith caught the ham-sized fist between her hands. She gave it a vicious twist and locked the elbow joint. The demon bellowed in pained rage. Then Faith used her leverage to swing the demon straight into a solid-looking tree. It connected and bounced off with a heavy thud, staggering and shaking its head drunkenly.

Riley took a step forward. "Maybe we should-"

Buffy put an arm out to stop him. "I think she's got this." Buffy could tell from Faith's trademark grunting that she was comfortably on top of things. And she knew better than to get between the other slayer and a good tussle.

Besides she hadn't seen Faith in fighting form in well over a fortnight. So instead she took in the sight of the other slayer dressed in full slay gear, denim jacket over a form fitting crop-top, leather pants and stomping boots. Buffy even spotted a knife in a holster strapped to Faith's ankle. The overall effect was highly appealing to Buffy's slayer-starved eyes.

Then the demon raged back at Faith, catching her with a solid blow that sent her staggering towards Buffy and Riley. Riley braced himself to get involved, but Buffy had already spotted the feint Faith was using. So when the creature marched menacingly forward and used the exact same blow it had used before, Faith easily deflected it. Then she twisted under its reach to pound at the inside of its knee.

The demon doubled over enough for the slayer to grab tightly hold of its head, bend it to one side, and ram a knee straight into its chin. She continued to slam her knee up repeatedly until the thing roared and snapped out a claw, trying to tear her off.

But Faith had expected this and dodged by flipping up onto its back, still keeping a grip on its head. She then jumped off the other side, using her entire bodyweight to drag the demon backwards and down. Already reeling, the creature faltered and fell backwards with the slayer, seeming to come down almost on top of her. Faith shifted backwards as she dropped, her feet hitting and bouncing off the stone bench behind her. She used her momentum to hop back further, still pulling on the creature's lumpy head as she did so. The demon came down hard, its neck coming to an abrupt stop, slamming against the hard stone edge of the seat. The rest of its body continued on to hit the ground at the same time as Faith landed on her ass and rolled clear.

'Crunch-snap-ouch,' Buffy thought to herself.

Buffy almost winced at the resulting angle of the demon's neck. After a long moment Faith grunted and rolled up onto her knees.

"You uh, beat her?" Riley murmured out of the side of his mouth.

"Well she's stronger, but I'm nastier." Buffy replied playfully. Faith's brawl had been quite the display after so long. The dark slayer fought like she always did, heavy on the offense and frontal assault. Although the grunting, heavy breathing and wild hair had left Buffy a little... stirred up. Faith was as enticing as ever.

Buffy cleared her throat and called out. "Nice work. A little flashy, but you got the job done."

Faith stood up and Buffy did her best to ignore the way she brushed the grass off the back of her pants. "Yeah well, I had an audience to play to."

"Also kinda sloppy. I mean, if you're looking for pointers." Riley critiqued.

"Let's see you take the next one, Boy Scout." Faith shot back mildly. Buffy silently hoped that their interactions would stay in the friendly banter zone.

Faith continued, "Though more of 'em ain't likely. Mr. Porky was the most action I've gotten all night. Reason I chased him down. Couldn't let a sucker like that get away."

Faith finished patting down her ass and looked at them. "So... What about you two. Find any action?"

Riley and Buffy exchanged a look and Buffy felt herself flush a bit before answering. "Just a couple of vamps and a demon. And some minor weirdness that Giles should probably know about. "

"Huh. Well he's around here somewhere. I kinda left him for dust a ways back."

Buffy was surprised. "He's patrolling with you?"

"He wants to rate my performance or something. Personally I think the dude is spinning his wheels and on the lookout to watch some gratuitous violence." Faith grinned and nodded as she kicked the corpse at her feet for emphasis.

Buffy frowned at the news. Giles was supposed to be all about researching the djinn. He'd been putting off talking to Buffy for almost a week because of it and she'd hoped that indicated progress. That maybe he was close to an answer or revelation or was going to assure Buffy that she could finally tell Faith about all the important stuff that had happened while she was busy being coma-girl. That way there would no more distance or secrets or awkwardness.

Riley touched Buffy's shoulder to get her attention. "I should call this in. I'll have a unit do a clean-up of the area."

"Sure." Buffy watched as he pulled out his walkie-talkie and stepped away just as Faith moved in closer.

"I guess he's useful for somethin' after all." She smirked before glancing over Buffy's shoulder, "Yep, mine's bigger." She nodded towards Buffy's dead demon.

Buffy shrugged easily. "Uh-huh. But mine was a much shorter fight."She chirped.

Faith's smile widened suggestively. "Well y'see, I'm of the opinion that the longer you draw something out, the more satisfying it is."

Buffy squirmed and felt her skin flush at the other girl's insinuation. "Well, taking your time can be um, fun. Depends on the... opponent."

Faith rolled her lips together as her eyes focused on Buffy's. "The trick is finding a real challenge. Then you can go all night."

Oh thank the lord that was when Riley walked back over. "Done and done. We good here?"

"Yeah! Uh-huh, looks like definitely nothing else gonna happen here." Buffy stepped in closer next to him, "but we should go and do a final sweep just to be sure."

Faith gestured over her shoulder, her expression now entirely neutral and innocent. "You guys wanna wait around for Watcher-man? I'm sure he's bumbling around here somewhere."

"Nope, we can catch him tomorrow. Bye!" With that Buffy turned and almost dragged Riley away by the hand.

Riley managed to match her pace after a few seconds."Everything alright? I thought-"

Buffy gave him her best provocative look."Your place. Now."

"Ooookay."

Faith watched Buffy disappear into the night and her smile disappeared. Fun as it was to watch B squirm, and it seemed like it was getting super-easy to get her blushing all of a sudden, that little exchange of theirs had been the highlight of the week. But she didn't want Buffy getting all guilty if she knew Faith was unhappy.

Because in reality staying at Giles, sleeping through most of the day and busily patrolling and moping all night, hadn't brought the simple satisfaction that Faith was after. A lack of seeing Buffy had made things a little easier, and certainly simpler, but even so she'd missed that comfort she felt when the other slayer was close by.

Still, it was for the best this way. She had managed to establish an easy routine for herself and made it seem like she was Little Miss Dedicated Slayer, no lounging around in her panties, no Bronzing for a guy-shaped release, she even read a book or two about different types of demon. Sure they had had plenty of pictures in them but still, committed was the watchword.

And without any blonde-distractions Faith had managed to find out Giles' schedule, which seemed to consist of watching soaps and game shows all morning and pouring over the same thick file folder of documents for the whole of the afternoon, every afternoon. Evenings were for relaxing, eating and occasional training. Getting to hit Giles was sometimes the highlight of her day.

Eventually Faith had figured out that Giles' mysterious binder was never around when she was, the guy always slyly putting it in a drawer or covering it with books when she was wondering about looking at her big book of demon types. Kinda tipped her off.

So whenever Giles had gone out grocery shopping, a few times now since Faith was such a big eater, she'd managed to sneak a peek.

But big whup so far, scribbled writing by some old Arab guy, lots of symbols, and the occasional note in small, neat handwriting she guessed was Giles' efforts. But he had put her name -Faith- in one of the margins in reference to the works 'invocation or wish' and 'subconscious or comatose verbalization?' whatever the hell those words were besides being a decent Scrabble score. Plus there had been a lot of other writing that seemed linked to those key words. The word 'hunger' was underlined several times.

So it was confirmed that there was something going on connected to her, just no a clue about what. But given that her investigation skills weren't exactly terrific, she had kinda impressed herself with this amount of progress.

But now Giles sudden offer to accompany Faith on patrol and that had made her a bit suspicious. Maybe she'd been found out, maybe this was a way to distract her or put her on the defensive. Or gain her trust. As developments go it made Faith wary.

Interrupting her thoughts, a panting Giles finally emerged from round a nearby tree, flask clutched in one hand and battle axe in the other. When he saw Faith standing about he slowed to an eventual halt and bent over, mildly winded. "...There you are!"

Faith rolled her eyes and waved a hand. "Hey Giles, wonder when you'd finally catch up."

"I had no trouble following your trail," Giles straightened up and waggled the axe in his grip. "But even so you took off so fast that you forgot..." Then he spotted the prone demon, '... ah, I see."

"Yeah, I improvised. It was all pretty rad. Shoulda been."

Giles gave her a look tinged with suspicion. "That was the idea, Faith. For us to work on your technique together."

"What can I say G, where bad things roam, I follow. It's kinda my deal."

"And so how am I supposed to evaluate your performance?" He asked her stuffily.

Faith gestured at herself and the surrounding area as she explained. "Gee, uh, let's see. Here's me. I'm alive. Then there's the other dude, he's dead. Evaluation done. Ten outta ten."

"It's a little vague." He remarked.

Faith shrugged. "Well Buffy and her squeeze were just here and saw the whole epic thing. How 'bout I tell them to swing by with their scorecards tomorrow, give you the play-by-play. They wanna see you anyways."

Giles seemed to perk up at that. "Oh, what about?"

"Can't have been too serious. They just left to get all wriggly with each other instead of waitin' about."

Giles did a crappy job of hiding his disappointment. "Oh. Well..."

Faith scowled at that, then decided she wanted to be away from here and this situation. She needed to lose herself in something that would make her feel better. Enough of this duty crap. "I'm calling it, I'm done for the night and hitting the Bronze."

Giles sighed as Faith walked past. "Ah. Suddenly this whole scenario seems painfully familiar."

'Right, sure. Always because of Buffy.' "That's the idea, right? The second-hand slayer and the discarded ex-watcher," Faith griped loudly.

She knew she was lashing out, needling Giles over the fact that he wasn't really in Buffy's life now. And that he was obviously trying to cope by reliving his glory days with the convenient slayer stand-in. But she was suddenly so tired of all of this, people keeping secrets from her again, Buffy walking off with a boyfriend again. But most of all Faith was tired of hearing that nasty little voice whispering the same damn crappy thoughts over and over, even though things were different now.

There was a pause and then Giles spoke up again. "Faith."

Despite her current funk Faith stopped walking and turned around. "Just forget it okay? We should keep moving, Riley's buds are gonna get rid of the remains and I'm guessin' they don't want a couple of civvies like us hangin' around."

Giles nodded in understanding, closing the distance between them. "Faith, despite what you might think, I do want to help you. And I can do that best in the manner of my former profession."

Faith folded her arms. "Yeah well, it's not like I've had great luck with mentor-types, just so you know."

"Yes, I do recall. Tragedy, corruption, incompetence... neglect." Giles met her eyes, "You were ill-served. But please consider that there are other people besides yourself who genuinely desire to make amends for past mistakes."

Faith grunted and looked at the ground, abruptly finding her building bad mood spluttering a bit. Maybe he was on the level about some stuff. If he was admitting that he made mistakes too, just like Buffy had claimed, then...

It was all so confusing. Faith wasn't the trusting type but, like it or not, she really owed these people a second shot, just like the one they were giving her. Maybe it was time she stop pretending and start to play nice for real, with Buffy as well.

Faith stubbed the toe of her boot into the grass. "... Suppose it's too late for party hour anyhow. Instead if you wanna spar and give me some pointers, that'd be cool, I guess."

"Excellent. And perhaps afterward we can find our way to ordering in some terribly unhealthy fast food."

Faith smiled at that. "Now you're talking."

Morley watched the slayer and watcher depart together, satisfied that they had flailed and exhausted themselves enough for one evening. In her experience that was what the entirety of the Watcher-slayer dynamic amounted to, a shared delusion that a solitary spluttering candle could have any hope of holding back the darkness.

Lies. Morley knew better from bitter experience. All the darkness had to do was watch and wait. Wait until the light wavered for single moment. And then snuff it out.

Still she considered, the man Giles was not a typical watcher. In many ways he reminded Morley of herself once upon a time. His past mistakes and apparent affection for his charge gave him a perspective outside all that rigid council thinking.

All of which meant that Morley needed to act soon, before Giles and this slayer became any closer. Trust would only complicate things as she moved to the final phase.

She had what she needed and so left the graveyard, shifting through space towards her next destination.

Throughout the evening Morley had shadowed Faith's movements, using a few small cantrips here and there to make sure no vampire or demon wandered across the slayer's path. At the same time she'd watched as the frustration built up in the girl. Saw her need for release, for the kill, becoming stronger so as to become almost palpable. The wildness in her was barely restrained by the end of the night.

That was the moment when Morley had concentrated and cast a more powerful spell, one that would siphon off a small fragment of Faith's torrid slayer energy. Not enough to be noticed in the moment, usually slayer senses were finely attuned to any magical change surrounding them, but enough power for Morley's purposes.

The link between the two slayers was stronger now, but Morley needed a test to see if it were ready.

After a short while Morley arrived in full view on the wide lawn outside Lowell House. The area here was deserted as most were sound asleep at this time. After casting another look about the place just to be certain she prepared for her next step. She took a few deep breaths and focused, allowing her form to materialize and to be almost dragged fully onto the material plane. As she did so Morley felt the rush of air, the pull of gravity, the weight of years all begin to push in on her. She closed her eyes and took a moment to centre her body and spirit and quash the seeping fear she felt inside.

It was as if her mind, her very bones, could feel the sand slide through the hourglass second by second or hear the echoing tick of a clock marking each moment. Her life, short as it was, made every physical instant here precious.

She concentrated on her task and withdrew four objects from the depths of her robes. They were flat, smooth stones each carved with a singular potent rune, making them ideal for the spell she was would soon cast.

This locale, Lowell House, had some potential arcane energy that could be harnessed and channelled by the right will-worker. Morley intended to put it to good use.

Walking around the outside of the house Morley placed the four runestones near the foundations, one at each corner. She whispered a blessing under her breath with each placement, sanctifying the entire area as a sacred space. She forced herself not to hurry even as she felt the press of cool night air and the prickle of sweat on her skin.

This had to be done right.

After what seemed like too long a time, each moment an agony of passing, she completed the circuit and came to a stop. With a final breath of words the first ritual was complete. The surrounding air thrummed slightly for a moment, like the space around a struck tuning fork, before falling silent.

Then Morley moved swiftly up the steps to the entrance of Lowell House and swept inside, gliding wraith-like through the barrier and up the stairs, into the room belonging to the other slayer's current paramour. She paused a moment to let her eyes adjust to the gloom, even as her other senses became aware of the fact that not everybody was fast asleep at this hour.

In the shadows in front of her Morley heard heavy breathing, the soft creaking of a mattress and the rustle of bed sheets. The occasional moan or ragged gasp indicated that, although the slayer wasn't dreaming peacefully as Morley had predicted, she was still preoccupied.

This would be much better.

As the moments passed Morley started to distinguish the shape of a bed as well as those moving on top of it. She saw Buffy sitting up and straddling her soldier, curly golden hair spilling over her shoulders and down her smooth, supple back. The skin of her shoulders glistening with a light sheen of sweat, a slayer in the throes of passion.

The covers shifted around her hips as the blonde rocked back and forth. Her fingers were passionately intertwined with her lover's and Morley saw that as Buffy had her hands pressed down against the mattress either side of the boy, pinning him in place.

Morley moved towards the foot of the bed, close enough that, were she so inclined, she could reach forward and touch the slayer's bare shoulder. Instead she pulled both her hands from her robes and focussed. In between her fingers appeared shimmering latticework of energy, tendrils of black, shot through with ribbons of purple. A mere sliver of Faith's unspent energy, her essence.

Morley held it in check, lacing her fingers lightly even as the energy struggled and surged, as if trying to ground itself in the nearest host.

In front of her Morley could see that the blonde slayer was nearing her climax, her breath was quickening and her moans were becoming slightly higher in pitch, her motions were faster. Morley saw her hands disentangle and move up to grip the headboard, using it as leverage as she ground herself down hard. She tossed her head back, biting back louder moans, reaching her peak.

Only then did Morley cast her spell, release her fingers and let the strands fly forward, snapping like elastic they rushed to the slayer and seemed to arc into her, dispersing even as they did so.

Buffy screamed.

Giles leaned forward, clearly puzzled. "...And yet you say that the demon went to the vampire's aid... the two of them were working as a team?"

Buffy nodded. "Everything except giving each other little pats on the behind."

Buffy sat snuggled against Riley in the campus common area, gathered around with Willow and Tara sitting opposite while Giles and Faith were reclining on a couch on Buffy's right. Buffy was intent on focusing on Giles's fascinating theories and insight and not on how good Faith looked draped over furniture. Important stuff could be afoot, according to Giles at least.

The ex-watcher leaned back as he continued to postulate. "...how extraordinarily odd. As a rule, demons have no empathy for species other than their own. In fact, most consider vampires abominations, mixing with human blood and all."

Faith spoke up, her husky voice sceptical. "Sure, but ain't we seen this kinda thing before? Like with that creepy hot-tub Jabba and his vamp goons?"

Tara blinked at that colourful description and looked to Willow for an explanation. "Um, last year, an icky demon named Balthazar. Had vampire minions."

Buffy nodded as she remembered. "That's right, I forgot. Or repressed actually." After all there were a lot of things to be repressing given how that scenario could've played out. In Buffy's view there was too much bitter-sweet pain there for her to ever be thinking about.

Giles removed his glasses and cleared his throat. "To clarify, vampires may choose to serve a demonic master who they are in thrall to... and some simpler demons may hire themselves out to vampires as ah, mercenaries. But this seems more like a show of... camaraderie if one can use the term."

Willow scrunched up her face in puzzlement. "So what brought these two together?"

Riley answered simply. "Not 'what.' Who."

Giles leaned forward again in realization. "Adam."

Buffy nodded in agreement. "Think about it. Who better to bring together a bunch of demon types that somebody who's made out of a bunch of demon types?"

Tara agreed. "So um, he's bridging the gap between the races."

"What, like he's building his own personal monster squad or somethin'?" Faith's interest sounded piqued at the idea.

"Or maybe more like Martin Luther King. Only, y'know, evil." Willow clarified.

Giles gave Willow a slightly confused look at the comparison and turned his attention back to Buffy and Riley. "Well, I suggest that for the next several nights, you um, concentrate your patrols in that same area. If you find any other peculiar pairings or groupings you let me know."

He glanced at Faith, "Ah, you as well?"

Faith sat up. "Sure. And just so you all know I was also doin' interesting stuff last night. Slayed this huge, furry demon-"She made a gesture like she was describing a fish that she'd caught.

A nearby college student straightened up and turned to give Faith a funny look. But she returned his stare and spoke louder to his face. "Yeah, like slaying my own personal demons. Nobody likes an eavesdropper, dude."

She turned back to the group and shrugged.

Giles cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "So, are we in agreement?"

Riley considered. "Sure. I'll let the squad know as well. They're patrolling. " He leaned in closer to Buffy, "we'll have a reserve unit out during our party. "

Giles cocked his head. "Party?"

"Tomorrow night, we're having a thing."

Giles did his best not to sputter too loudly. "At a time like this? W-who's idea was that?"

"Mine," Riley stated flatly, clearly unfazed, "Boys are feeling pretty ragged. Need to let off steam."

"Um, point taken." Giles conceded awkwardly.

Faith smiled widely. "Seems like a sweet idea to me. Giles, I'm takin' the night off. I'm also feeling way too steamy."

Buffy braved an actual eye-contact-y interaction. "And who says you're invited?" She teased.

Faith gave a hurt puppy-dog face. "What's a party without me? I'd perk morale right up."She finished with a smirk.

"You're invited." Riley nodded with a smile and gestured to Giles, "And you're welcome to come as well..."

"Ah, much as I long for a good kegger I have plans. At the Espresso Pump."

"What are you doing?" Tara asked.

Giles hesitated, almost embarrassed. "I'm... it's a meeting of grown-ups. It couldn't possibly of any interest to you lot."

Faith smiled in speculation. "Which means it's either a book club or a poetry slam."

Willow almost sounded hurt by the revelation. "You have grown up friends?"

"A few."Giles replied dryly.

Buffy smiled at Giles. "That's actually a relief." She glanced at her watch, "We should leave things there, I got a class in twenty and I wanna go over some notes."

She nodded at everyone, gave Riley a nice long smooch and then left. Her mood was already improving.

Not only was Faith now attending the standard Scoobie meeting and actually interacting with Buffy again, she almost seemed to be trying to fit in with the whole group. It helped that Riley and Tara were receptive to her and at least tried to make her more comfortable. Giles seemed to be warming to the whole situation as well. Maybe things can be like this from now on?

There was the slight problem of what had happened last night. She and Riley had been happily engaging in some post-slaying coitus. In fact Buffy had been feeling particularly frisky and things had been going really great. And right before the wonderful melt-y feeling could arrive and sweep her off to happy land Faith had popped into her head. Vividly. Like, in her imagination she was 'right below her' when she popped. Looking sultry and aroused when Buffy was on the verge of...

And after Buffy had felt her release, that intense wave of pleasure, it had faded quickly and with none of the usual pleasant afterglow. As Riley had cuddled and murmured against her she had just cringed inwardly. Not to mention that almost immediately started feeling pent up again, positively humming with energy.

When she had finally drifted off that night she'd had an incredibly intense erotic dream starring Faith that verged on the pornographic, leaving her sweaty, sticky and a little ashamed when she'd woken up.

And already today she was feeling tense and wired around Faith, those imaginings floating around her head inextricably linked with blissful sensations, making her nerves spark and tingle in memory. Not just the church kiss but their first wonderful time together and the large amounts of sweaty happenings that had happened on that night. All of the thoughts now seemed interlinked and Buffy couldn't seem to shake them.

So Buffy had hit upon a plan. It was a good, solid plan. Psychologically she could expose herself to short periods of time in Faith's company and slowly build up her tolerance level towards those lusty wrong feelings. No long absences like before- hopefully- but small amounts of friendly contact. At the same time she planned to get a lot more intimate with Riley to avoid any more pent up-ness. Like positive reinforcement. Or something.

She hoped that tomorrow night's party would be a perfect chance to test her new strategy. Maybe a little dancing, hanging out with her friends and Faith, then she and Riley could slip away somewhere quiet to make that place a little less quiet.

Put this book learning to some practical use.

Humming to herself and her excellent no-nonsense approach to sexy-times problems, Buffy headed for her class.

Faith grit her teeth and slammed another fist into Giles' strike pad.

Wincing in pain Giles, dropped his arm as numbness swept up from his palm to his shoulder. He shook his head in exasperation.

Faith grimaced. "What? What was wrong with that?"

"You're not trying to ring the bell at a 'Test Your Strength' carnival game, Faith. We're working on your technique. Just then, you were off-balance and left yourself wide open for a counter."

Faith shrugged as she lowered her wrapped hands. "But when I hit the guy he's not ever on his feet to punch me back. So he's more off-balance. That's been my experience anyways."

Giles took the pad off to massage his hand and he propped himself against the desk. "Yes, I can quite imagine. You certainly hit hard."

"Harder than Buffy?" Faith grinned cheekily, "C'mon, you can tell me, I won't let on that I know."

Giles resisted the urge to smile at Faith's enthusiasm. "I will simply say that you have...different attributes that need to be worked on."

Faith cracked her knuckles as she thought about it. "Like what? Preach the teach."

"Well, it's nice to know that you abuse the English language similarly to Buffy."

Then he handed her a water bottle and pondered his answer, "You need to be diligent in your training. And take it more seriously. There is more to this than who hits the hardest. Our time here is so you can before instinctually aware of your body and yourself. That way, out in the field, you can concentrate solely on gauging your opponent; their strengths, their weaknesses and their technique. If you know yourself and know your opponent-"

"'Then you'll fight a thousand battles and never lose a single one.'" Faith finished and Giles failed to hide his surprise at quoting Sun Tzu. "Hey, just been readin' some of the piles of stuff in the store cupboard where I sleep." Her tone was light and teasing enough that Giles was assured she was content with his limited accommodations.

Giles nodded. "Well, yes. In essence that's what our training should be. Being aware of the flaws in your own technique is simply a first step."

"I get that. I did some training with a guy back in Boston. Sensei Kanno. It was only a couple of months but it gave me a head start 'fore I got the whole Slayer power-up deal, y'know?"

Giles nodded at the familiar sounding name. "I've heard of him but never had the pleasure of an introduction. He's very... driven, from what I understand."

Faith smiled fondly at some memory. "You bet. He was all, 'discipline, clarity, stamina and strength. Yes, sensei'. Real hardcore stuff."

"Well Faith, you don't suffer from a lack of strength or stamina. And you're getting more clarity of focus. So that only leaves-"

"Discipline." Faith smirked suggestively as she said it. From the look on her face Giles got the uncomfortable feeling that she was now reminiscing about something that had nothing to do with slaying.

He cleared his throat and moved to sit as his desk. "Perhaps 'duty' would be a better way of putting it. As in 'the rigorous duties of being a slayer."

Faith's expression suddenly changed and became more serious. "Don't gotta tell me what happens when I forget about that." She then rolled her shoulders restlessly, "Anyways, are we done being all rigorous because I was gonna grab a shower and then crash. Tomorrow I gotta be out lookin' for a smokin' outfit for this dude-bro bash."

"Ah... of course. I-I have some research here to look over so I'll be turning in much later. So it seems more burning of the midnight night oil for me. That's a watcher's duty."

"Sure thing. But remember," Faith put a hand on her chest and closed her eyes, and then spoke as if reciting from memory:

'Toil on, sad heart, courageously.

And thou shalt find thy dreams to be

A noonday light and truth to thee.'

Giles looked up from his desk and regarded Faith curiously. "Full of martial philosophy and now poetry. Will wonders never cease?"

"Teeny wonder. The whole poem's like six lines long. But I dug it, y'know?" Faith backed away towards her room, "Anyway, 'night."

"Goodnight Faith."He watched as she turned and left.

Giles waited a few minutes and it was only when he heard the low hiss of the shower coming on that he sit down at the desk and fetch the thick bundle of papers from the bottom drawer. Placing them down he flicked through the rough translations and careful annotations that he'd made to the section he was currently focused on.

Most of the work Giles had covered over the past week had been translating flowery memoires and blank verse about the djinn as described in nameless legends, some human and some demonic. He had gleaned some vital clues as to the creature's origins and some of the more reliable passages here and there referenced past deeds and key events.

But the passage he was stuck on, that he was poring over, was not about the past. It was about the future.

A prophecy.

The prophecy made plain referenced to two blessed warriors, two women in fact, one a warrior 'of the sun' and the other a warrior of night or darkness. There was also a reference to death and a further prediction that one of the warriors would be the one to die.

Upon further translation he had gleaned that the death would either prevent a great tumultuous evil from coming about or cause it to happen, which wasn't terribly helpful. There were allusions to a great sacrifice, or possibly a betrayal, that would result in this death.

The prophecy seemed to be written in such a way to have a different interpretation depending on which language it was translated into. It was all incredibly frustrating even if at the same time being quite alarming in its subject matter. But prophecies were always tricky things. Giles knew that from bitter experience.

He couldn't risk divulging any of this information until he knew all the specifics, or at least as many as to give Buffy some insight. He owed her that much.

Giles couldn't ignore that Buffy and Faith's history was riddled with conflict, betrayal, pitched battles and no small amount of near death experiences. What if this prophecy indicated that all that was merely prelude to something worse?

He sighed as he began the arduous task of transcribing another key phrase. All poetic meaning aside a Watcher's duty seemed to be nothing but courageous toil.

At Lowell house the party was in full swing. A heady mix of matriculating college types and Initiative soldiers were talking, drinking, dancing, and generally unwinding. Buffy felt like she hadn't been to a party in ages and was busily enjoying soaking up the sheer normalness of it all. She had also idly been scanning the crowd for any sign of Faith but hadn't seen her yet.

But she had managed to slyly position herself near the front door to spot when Faith made her appearance. She stood grouped there with Willow, Tara and Xander. The latter was telling them about some unfortunate ice cream incident with Anya. Thankfully not a sexual as it sounded.

"How many kids?" Willow asked, her face a mix of amusement and horror.

Xander shrugged. "I dunno. A whole herd of 'em. And some parents. It was pretty embarrassing, which, welcome to the life with Anya."

Buffy shook her head in mock disapproval. "Can't put all the blame on her with this one. Situational awareness, Xand. Be alert when it comes to where you are and your sexcapades."

Xander's patience had obviously been wearing thin all day. He clarified. "Again, for the record no sexcapades. Hello, that was kinda the point of our argument."

Tara was more sympathetic. "So you don't even know if she's coming tonight?"

Xander shook his head in weary exasperation. "I'm thinking no. She was pretty mad. And y'know, I'm starting to wonder, is it me? Am I the crazy one?"

"Probably. "Riley approached them all from the side and handed Buffy a drink. "Here, some kind of cherry concoction. I'm told it's perfectly safe."

Buffy smiled her thanks. "I'll risk it." She took a sip and then asked him, "Why where you gone for so long?"

Riley smirked as he leaned in close. "That would be Graham. I was playing at being a wing-buddy, keeping his confidence up. He's nervous."

"About what?"

"Well, I told him Faith was gonna make an appearance and then he went and turned into a sweaty neurotic teen. I was astonished."

Buffy felt her stomach do a nervous swoop. "He's still...uh, getting his hopes up?"

Riley shrugged his shoulders, seemingly baffled. "She must've made some kind of impression is all I know. I warned him that she probably wasn't that type of girl."

Buffy felt a flare of defensiveness. "What type is that?"

"Y'know, the type to get invested with any guy." Then Riley changed the subject, "So, what's the girl drama over here?"

Tara bobbed her ponytails in Xander's direction. "Xander was just talking about Anya."

"It's nothing much, just feeling glad right now that a certain ex-demon doesn't have any powers."

Riley nodded before frowning. "Wait, Anya's a what-now?"

Before Xander could backpedal something caught Riley's attention across the other side of the room. "Sorry, gotta..." He shot Xander a curious look as he left them.

Xander cringed. "Oops. Forgot to read the room."

"Situational. Awareness." Buffy repeated slowly, "Gotta introduce these concepts slowly to the trigger-happy monster hunters."

Xander looked to her for some reassurance. "Well, Riley's different right?"

Buffy hesitated. "Sure, but he's also still coping with concepts like magic spells and good vampires and-"

And then Buffy saw Faith and trailed off. She felt her pulse quicken in excitement and she straightened up.

Because Faith was already inside the party and was moving her way through the crowd that had spilled through from the back of the house. She had snagged a couple of bottles from somewhere and was making slow headway through the throng, mostly because various guys got in her way in an effort to gain her attention. Faith seemed to brush them off with a couple of words and a silky smile as she moved on through.

Buffy noticed that the other slayer had applied a little make up and brushed some curls into her hair. Faith looked past the crowd and caught Buffy's eye, raising her eyebrow in greeting as he red lips curved into a smile.

One hand casually adjusting her outfit as Buffy pretended to scratch her neck. "Oh hey, looks like Faith made it."

Everyone else turned to look just as Faith fully emerged from the crush of people. Xander did an actual double take and Tara reddened and suddenly seemed to find the floor interesting.

"Wow, maybe she should've finished getting dressed first." Willow murmured into her drink.

Buffy tried not to gape, instead quickly taking a long gulp of her drink as Faith moved over to join them.

Faith's outfit wasn't something Buffy had seen before because she definitely would've remembered. It consisted of a sparkly long-sleeved black blouse, split high up the centre to show off Faith's flat tummy and scooped low at the neck to show off the valley of Faith's not-so-flat chest. What skin wasn't revealed by the hourglass was covered in thin, gauzy material. Buffy could clearly see that Faith was wearing a bra underneath, the solid black cups and shoulder straps visibly showing. The ensemble was completed by a knee length black leather skirt which was split high up one side to show Faith's bare thigh.

"Hey, you made it." Buffy said as she came nearer.

Faith smiled as she held up her beers up triumphantly. "Sure did. Snuck in the back 'cause, in my experience, that's where the booze is kept."

She nodded a greeting at the others and held out one of the beers to her but Buffy shook her head and held up her drink. "I'm good."

Faith shrugged and offered it up to the group. "Any takers?"

Willow shook her head without making eye contact and Xander raised a hand to ward it off, adding. "I'm not gonna start drowning my sorrows this early, thanks."

"I-I guess I'll take it." Tara smiled nervously and reached out for the beer. Buffy saw Willow give Tara a startled look. Although once the shy girl had the bottle it was clear she didn't have any intention of drinking it. She just held it awkwardly.

Not as awkward as Xander and Willow were being though, both of them were standing about, silent but clearly uncomfortable being in a social situation with Faith close by. Or maybe they were afraid to stare in her direction. Ogle in her direction? Possibly leering was a risk. At least that was Buffy's own worry right now.

'What the hell was Faith wearing?'

Tara, coming to the rescue, spoke up again, asking Faith. "D-do you, um, come to these sorts of places a lot?"

Faith frowned. "Huh?"

"You said 'in your experience', I thought-"

Faith took a sip from her bottle. "Right. Nah, back in Boston I got invited to a house party or six, some of 'em on campus. I figured I knew what's what, but those were pretty wild in comparison."

That got Xander's attention. "How wild?" he asked.

"Loud music, lotsa screwing, property damage. Cops sometimes."

"This must be kind of a let down then." Willow remarked dryly.

Faith frowned at the tone, but kept her own voice neutral. "Not... I guess I figured wrong. I'm a little outta step with preppy college types."

She gestured down at herself and Buffy suddenly realized that Faith was feeling self-conscious, maybe even a little embarrassed about what she was wearing.

She heard herself saying. "Well I think you look incredible! Great. Really great. Don't you all think?"

Xander smiled awkwardly and shrugged. "I gotta... refill." He gestured to his own cup and quickly skedaddled from the group.

Willow tugged on Tara's sleeve. "Let's go and get more punch." Then to Buffy, "back in a sec." They both left.

Faith smiled ruefully as she pushed some hair behind her ear, something Buffy recognised was a sign of nerves. "Knew it was a mistake using Scoobie repellent instead of soap before goin' out."

"Hey, it's not just you. It's-"

"Save it B, I don't care that much." Her smile turned a shade more suggestive, "Getting you all to myself is a pretty sweet deal."

Buffy felt the full force of Faith's gaze on her and found herself returning the smile.

She allowed her eyes wander down Faith's form, taking in the full effect up close. It really was a nice outfit, more girly than the things Faith usually wore, but then Buffy mostly saw Faith in her slay-gear. But these were good quality Bronzing items that showed off Faith's... everything. 'Very nice everything.'

Then she saw Faith adjust her stance slightly, putting one hand on her hips like she was posing for her. Buffy met Faith's eyes and knew that she knew what she was doing.

Faith's smile widened and her own eyes roamed over Buffy in return.

She moved a bit closer. "So, you think I look pretty good, huh?"

Buffy swallowed and licked her lips nervously. It seemed like in this moment the two of them were completely alone. "Great, actually. And I do. Really you look-"

Then she saw Riley moving towards them with hunky Agent Graham in tow. And for a moment she didn't know whether to feel greatly relieved or bitterly disappointed.

Putting some pep into her voice Buffy called over Faith's shoulder. "Hey guys, look who finally showed up."

The building was unremarkable, a derelict and disused house located on the outskirts of campus. Long abandoned by people and more recently cleared of a cadre of vampires. The nest they had fashioned here had been cleaned out by the slayer earlier that year.

Morley knelt in the centre of the living room, in a pre-prepared ritual space. To one side a small fire burned in a shallow copper-plated bowl, the flames provided the only illumination and throwing shadows onto the walls. On her other side the polished metal mirror had been placed, propped against a sagging piece of furniture. Its surface seemed to absorb any light that touched it.

Between the two lay four flat polished stones, carefully positioned, each an exact match to one placed in the grounds around Lowell House.

Two ritual spaces bound and linked together.

Morley was again solid and was acutely aware of how connected she was to the world around her. She felt soiled by being in the mere proximity to such a decrepit ruin. With effort she managed to concentrate and push down her crawling anxiety as she began to focus. The ritual that lay ahead of her was complex, long and arduous. But at the end of it would be the moment she had waited decades to experience.

Tonight she would meet her maker.

From her robes Morley pulled a parchment. Unrolling it with one hand she pulled back her hood and gazed at the sheen on the metal surface in front of her, for a moment she thought she saw a glimpse of something moving behind the dim reflection, beyond it. Not yet.

She began.