Keeping the Faith
Faith sat up in her bed her eyes troubled. She had been having
the strange dreams again. She shook her head trying to clear the
visions of strange monsters preying on people, of a woman holding
a book out to her, a book with Vampyr on the cover. She shuddered
as a chill ran through her. She had been plagued by the dreams
for weeks now. She had no idea why. She'd lead a relatively
normal life. She studied, well pretended to study, she ate and
went out, watched TV just like every normal teenager. Then the
dreams started to come......... Faith was born one lusty summer
night. She'd been raised by loving if a bit absent-minded parents.
She had all the things a young girl could expect to have. She
went to school, took ballet and horseback riding lessons.
Unfortunately, she got trouble in school usually being sent to
the principal's office, and she had been thrown out of the
lessons because she'd picked a fight with the other students. She
had a little trouble with authority and had grown up with people
telling her always that she was a juvenile delinquent and that
she wouldn't amount to anything. She struggled althroughout her
life trying to fit in and holding on to the mask that everyone in
the conservative town of Kingsville donned. Everything about the
place was oppressive. That was what Faith believed. She had spent
most of her life trying to fit in and acting like all the other
girls. At times she lost her composure and let the mask slip and
at those times she was called a monster, a bitch, a freak
everything. After years of trying she finally gave up trying to
be the average kid and ran "wild". If the people were
to be believed she had sex every night, had orgies and committed
crimes that was a throwback to the days of Jesse James and Billy
the Kid. These rumors spread like wildfire and each was shared
with an undertone of glee. On Faith's part, she shrugged it off.
She was a rebel. She hated the close-minded town and it's close-minded
people. She couldn't wait until she was 18 and she could finally
leave the stupid town. In the streets she was avoided, whenever a
"respectable" woman was near her they gave her wide
berth and most crossed the street to avoid her. She ignored these
people and went in her own independent way. Her parents were
constantly told that she was an evil, the Anti-Christ in their
eyes but they merely said staunchly that she was just adjusting
to the teenage years that it was the normal hormonal bouts that
teens go through. She was avoided like the plague. At school, it
was worse. Girls treated her cruelly and boys hit on her all the
time going as far as to assault her. She lashed back and she was
sent to the principal's office. She lagged behind her studies and
began to insult her teachers. She became insolent and argued with
them at every topic according to them. She eventually dropped out
and stayed at home to the students of the high school's relief.
She would have contaminated their children and been a bad
influence on their poor dears. Faith rebelled against it all.
When her parents were killed in a car accident, she still stayed
in Kingsville. For some reason, she did not take off for New York
as she'd planned once she graduated. Instead, she just stayed in
that one Starbucks town and......waited. For what she didn't know.
She passed the days laughing at the people and watching TV. No
one dared to come near her and she liked it just fine. She had
food and entertainment she could survive. Or so she believed.
Night after night the dreams came. She was tortured with visions
of ugly frightening creatures feeding off a poor human. A body
rising from a grave. Numerous beings too ugly to describe. They
were so horrible that she began to doubt her sanity. 'I could be
going insane like everyone in this no account town thinks I am.'
she thought wryly to herself after one particularly troubling
dream. She shook her head. The dreams went on for days when they
stopped suddenly. She was puzzling about that when SHE arrived.
The dreams stopped the night before she met Melanie Catrille. Her
Watcher.
It was late at night and Faith was standing at the bus stop ready
to throw in the towel and head for New York or to the nearest
mental institution. She had been thinking about her dreams and
that they had stopped suddenly when a woman approached her.
"Hello there young one." the stranger purred. "Why
are you out so late? Didn't your mother ever teach you not to
stay out? Who knows what could happen to one so young at this
time of the night?" Faith turned to look at the woman and
replied curtly, "Well even if she did I obviously didn't
learn it well enough." The woman stopped and shot her an
angry glare. "You are rude and I will teach you a lesson."
she hissed. Faith glared at her and suddenly her mouth dropped
open. To her horror, the woman's face was changing! It began to
transform into something so....ugly. Her face was all twisted up
and her mouth was in this frightening snarl. Faith stood up and
backed away slowly. "Not so bold now are you?" the
woman said her lips twisting into something resembling a wolfish
grin. Faith tried to speak but she found that her voice was gone.
She picked up her bag and suddenly the woman lunged at her. She
jumped out of the way and swung her bag into the woman's stomach.
It knocked her backwards and Faith took advantage. She jumped
forward and punched the woman rendering her unconscious. Years of
fighting had kept her very strong and she fought very well. She
stepped away from the unconscious demon and stared around her
with unseeing eyes. Unbeknownst to her another female stood in
the shadows, the lone witness to the fight between the new Slayer
and her immortal enemy. The female now stepped forward and spoke
to Faith. "You did well. Far better than most Slayers."
the woman commented. "You didn't scream." Faith whirled
to face the newcomer. She found her voice again and used it.
"I couldn't then. But I'll scream now" she said. She
thrust her chin up and kept her eyes on the newcomer. Noting this
the woman smiled. "Excellent. You're brave, strong, quick.
All essential things to a Slayer." The creature who Faith
had fought began to rouse. The other female saw this and told
Faith., "Your friend's waking up." Faith turned back to
her foe and answered over her shoulder, "She isn't my friend...whatever
she is." To Faith's surprise, the newly awakened immortal
did not attack her. Instead, it ran shrieking to the woman who
had been in the shadows. Smoothly the woman brought out a wooden
stick thing and grabbed the immortal. She flung her into the wall
and stabbed the stick through her chest. Faith's eyes widened
when the creature exploded into dust. "Wh-what?" she
stammered. The female turned to her and sighed. "Well I
suppose I must introduce myself. I'm Melanie Catrille. I am your
Watcher." Faith was stunned. Melanie explained everything to
her and she was quite skeptical at first. "What? You expect
me to believe that I'm some sort of supergirl destined to defend
the world from, jesus, vampires? You need a reality check here!"
she scoffed. "What you saw and fought with wasn't a fantasy
Faith." Melanie reminded her quietly. "That was nothing."
she insisted. "It was a freak accident. That woman must have
been the victim of some experiment of sorts." Melanie sighed.
"I suppose it was too good to be true. Do you need me to
show you again?"
Faith was a bit unnerved. There was something so sure about her.
This absolute belief she had. She didn't look or act like a
madwoman. Something about her attitude made Faith believe if a
bit slowly. She couldn't deny what happened tonight. And no
matter whatever explanation she could come up to rationalized
what had happened, she could not deny the straight facts Melanie
had told her. She looked at Melanie suspiciously. "Are you
sure this is real and not some hoax?" Melanie nodded. "Okay
fine I believe you." Faith announced. "Excellent."
Melanie said, smiling. "So now that I've accepted this
outlandish story, what am I, the Slayer supposed to do?"
Faith asked. "Train." was the quick reply. "You
need to be in top shape when you fight vampires." "But
I'm in good shape already." Faith argued. "That may be
so but we need you to be at your BEST." Melanie returned.
And so they started her training. Faith eventually developed a
way relationship with her Watcher. They respected each other's
abilities but they still had a long way to go before they truly
liked each other. Tolerated was more the word to describe the two
of them.
Faith stood in the middle of the training room. Melanie was
across her. Faith smiled at her Watcher. Over the wees that they
had known each other they had gotten closer. She trusted her
Watcher implicitly now where before she was wary and very
cautious. She blindfolded herself and took the staff which
Melanie handed to her. "I'm ready." she said. Suddenly
Melanie swung her own staff at the blindfolded Slayer. Faith
sensing the movement immediately used her staff and countered it.
Immediately she switched her staff's position to strike a blow at
melanie. Melanie blocked it and jumped backwards trying to
balance herself for the force of Faith's blow nearly knocked her
off her feet. She took a deep breath and circled the Chosen One.
Faith stood very still, her every sense attuning itself to her
surroundings. Soon she began to hear every rustle of cloth and
every catch of breath. She heard Melanie's soft footsteps as she
circled her. She heard and felt a sudden rush of air coming
towards ehr from her right side and she spun and faced Melanie,
leaping back slightly then sweeping her staff at Melanie's feet.
The Watcher was caught off guard and fell hard. "Oof!"
she cried out. "Oh Mel sorry!" Faith apologized. She
took off her blindfold and shook her head. She approached her
Watcher and extended her hand intending to help her up. "Melanie
I'm sorry are you alright?" she asked grinning ruefully.
Suddenly a sharp pain came at the back of her head and she fell
forwards hard on her knees. She got up slightly dazed and looked
up angrily at her attacker. "What the hell?!" she said.
A vampire stood in front of her. It lunged at her and took her
down forcefully. She fell back and rolled on top of it. She held
it down and drew back her fist and slammed it into the vampire's
face. She picked it up and threw it into the nearest wall. It
crashed into it and she took the moment to look worriedly for her
Watcher. "Mel? Oh there you are!" Faith said in relief
at finding her Watcher standing and gripping a stake. She took
the stake and faced the vampire who had attacked them from
nowhere. She advanced on it while it lay on the floor stunned by
it's intimate encounter with the wall. She smirked at it and put
it out of it's misery. She walked back to Melanie and helped her
up. "Wow Mel that was close." Melanie nodded and dusted
herself off. "Well you'd best get your rest. You have to go
do a patrol tomorrow" she ordered. Faith nodded and turned
and walked out of the room. Neither of them knew that tomorrow's
patrol would change their lives completely.
Faith strolled casually through the streets of the town. She'd
been having a boring night. No vampires in sight. Suddenly a
sound behind her alerted her and she spun around just in time to
catch a male vampire crashing into her. She was thrown on the
ground and rolled to the side. She got up immediately and ran for
the vampire. She lunged at him stake in hand when a form emerged
behind her and grabbed her in mid-air. She struggled as hard as
she could but dropped unconscious when a fist knocked her on the
side of her head. She heard the words, "That will be the
last vampire you ever hurt Slayer." before she fell into
darkness.
Faith moaned as she felt a throbbing pain in her head. She opened
her eyes and saw Melanie sitting across her, bound and gagged.
She made a move to her and found thats he as well was tied up and
a gag was in her mouth. She strained against her ties and
succeeded only in working up sweat. A vampire came from the
shadows and poked at her, a smug expression on it's face. She
glared at it and communicated with her eyes. 'I might be tied up
right now but I won't be all the time and I'll kick your ass when
I get outta here.' she said with a fierce look. More vampires
filed in and seemed to stand guard by her and Melanie. They were
chattering and their noise hurt her ears. A sudden quiet caused
Faith to look around to see who was responsible for the silence.
Her eyes widened as she beheld.....a beast. It was a vampire she
was sure of that but the newcomer had cloven hands and feet. How
could that be possible? Was it an ancient demon? "Hello
Slayer and Watcher." the vampire greeted them. "Ah I'm
pleased you could come. I trust you have been comfortable in your
visit so far?" At their silence he said. "Ah good then.
Because it will be your last visit." Faith slowly slipped
her hand down to her boots and slipped out a a knife from it
which she palmed behind her back. She wanted to stab them all
right now but she knew she oculdn't. There were too many of them.
And there was Melanie to worry about. Melanie, at the thought of
her Watcher she turned and gazed at her. Melanie looked rumpled
and Faith dimly wondered how the vampire had gotten her. The
vampire signalled to one of their guards and the guard slowly
removed the gag from each of them. Faith started working her
mouth to try to get the feeling back. She saw Melanie and was
troubled. The Watcher was slumped down and there was a
frighteningly defeated look on her face. She gazed at the vampire
and said, "Will you at least have the courtesy to tell us
who you are?" The vampire sniled a cold smile. It was more
like a feral baring of fangs. "I am Kakistos." the way
he said it made Faith shudder. "And you are Melanie
Quatrille, this little Slayer's Watcher. And soon to be tortured
victim." Faith saw Melanie's stricken look and she felt a
twinge of annoyance. 'Melanie doesn't trust me enough to think
that I could get us out of here? Some Watcher' she thought, a
little hurt. Meanwhile Kakistos was ordering his minions around
preparing some gruesome looking weapons. "Untie the Watcher."
he commanded. To say that Faith was surprised put it mildly. But
then she saw the weapons....and a grim vision came over her and
horror racked her body. 'No! They're gonna torture Melanie! And
they'll kill her and me!' her thoughts took to form into a scream.
"No!!"
Kakistos began to systematically torture Melanie, playing with
her at first. He took swipes at her with a blade and cutting her
now and then. He then began slicing off pieces of her body and
Melanie emitted a scream that sent chills up and down Faith's
spine. "Watch carefully Slayer this is what I will do to you."
he said. Her blood ran cold as she was forced to watch as her
friend, her Watcher underwent a horrifying experience. She felt
bile rise up in her throat and she forced it back. She gave a
scream as she saw that Kakistos was swinging the sword to Melanie's
neck. Melanie ducked and kicked at Kakistos fiercely. Kakistos
was driven to his knees and he swore. He grabbed Melanie and
swiftly snapped her neck and dropped her dead body on the ground.
He turned to look at Faith and smiled at her. Then he plunged his
hand into the Watcher's body and ripped her heart out. Slowly he
lifted it with a reverence and brought it to his mouth. "A
Watcher's heart soon it will be a Slayer's heart." he
declared. It was enough for her. She slit the ropes which tied
her and ran at Kakistos. She yelled in fury and knocked him down
and punched him hard. A vampire yanked her off him and she spun
and knifed it. She pulled out a stake and thrust it through his
heart. Kakistos grabbed her from behind and threw her on the
floor and advanced on her. Terror surged to her and made her
adrenaline run. She got up and charged him. She saw a an open
door out of the corner of her eye and made to run to it. Kakistos
followed her quickly and she spun to face him. She brought her
hand up high and sliced the knife down to his face. He screamed
as the knife cut into flesh, drawing blood and wounding him near
his eye. She wanted to slice his eyes out but instead her need
for survivial pushed at her and she ran. She kept running until
she reached a secluded hedge and there she collapsed. A thought
it her. What had happened to Melanie could have happened to her.
Then the full knowledge of what had happened to Melanie filled
her and she couldn't hold herself any longer. She turned and
began to retch in the hedges. She wept and cried and howled for
her Watcher, the only person who had ever truly cared about her,
was gone.
Faith stood up and paced her room. It had been a week since she
had run from Kakistos, a week since Melanie had died. She was so
tired of running. She had left her town for fear for fear of her
life. She had gone into various cities, even different states but
he always found her. She'd always been able to escape but she
didn't know how long it would be until she finally messed up and
get caught and fall into Kakistos' waiting arms. Her days of
running had taken a toll on her. A toll that could cause her to
make a fatal mistake. She HAD to find a place where she could
hide and be in peace. Or at least find a place where she could
have help, allies. She racked her brain for a perfect place to
hide. Then suddenly she remembered something the Melanie had told
her. She ran around ehr room and began to pack her things. Then
she left the motel room and ran for the bus station and purchased
a ticket.
She woke up when her head hit the window as the bus jerked to a
stop. She blinked a little sleepily when the conductor yelled out.
"All off for Sunnydale. All for Sunnydale get off now!"
She scrambled for her things and alighted off the bus. She was in
Sunnydale, home of the famous Slayer, Buffy Summers. 'Yes.' she
thought. 'I'm here and this is the perfect place to hide.
Sunnydale.'
THE END