He wanted to deny it loudly; to tell the voice on the other side that this was a sick trick and that she couldn't really be gone. Not his Slayer. Not his Buffy.
But she was and the soft shaky voice that came at him over the telephone would never lie about something like this. Which meant it was true. Buffy had fallen. The Slayer was dead.
"Giles?" a soft voice tinged with worry asked. He couldn't even muster the strength to look up at her, couldn't make himself open his eyes. That would be admitting that it was true. And that the bastard that had done what so many other monsters had only attempted was the one that had been stalking her for weeks in a human vise.
He had come into all of their lives in a time when Buffy's mind was already torn by the unwillingness of her friends to accept the re-emergence of her former lover Angel. And while she had been so vunerable and laid bare emotionally, the demon who has masqueraded as a boy named Ryan Cale had slowly began to tear her apart.
After Scott had broken up with her, Buffy had been so desperate for whatever kind of love she could get. Not sexual but emotional and Cale had offered that when all her friends could do was allow the tension that was building between them to get worse. From the get-go Giles had felt that something was wrong with Ryan Cale and one afternoon, his suspicions had been proven when he'd seen the boy kill a young teacher and drain her blood. It seemed that he was a vampire knowledgable enough in the majiks to protect himself from the sunlight and to walk in the day like a man.
When he'd Buffy the truth about Cale, she'd reacted badly. Frightened and shaken. Well why not? Her heart still clearly belonged to Angel but she was so scared to allow it to open to him again. And now to find betrayal practically holding her hand was too much. She'd attempted to track Cale with Faith's help but all they had ended up doing was burning his lair and killing several fledgling. Not suprisingly, Cale had promised revenge. And he'd gotten it.
"Giles?" Faith repeated.
"Buffy," was all Rupert Giles could manage as he held the receiver in his hand, trembling even as he fought for some semblance of control. Even he knew that it would be a long time in coming.
The tall brunette Slayer bent over and took the phone from him, pressing it up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Is he okay?" a soft voice asked. Willow. Only she sounded like someone had just ripped her heart out. She sounded like she had just lost her best friend.
"No. What's going on?" Faith demanded, bending down to touch Giles' shoulder He didn't even seem to notice. His eyes had finally opened but had immediately fixed themselves on the weapon locker. On a crossbow that hung on the wall.
"Buffy.." Willow began, her voice breaking hard. There was a brief pause as she sniffled and try to get her composure back but then started crying again. In the background, Faith could hear a soft male voice speaking to Willow. There was a heavy noise as the phone traded hands.
"Faith?"
"Yeah, Xander..what's going on? Is B. hurt?" Faith queried, her hold on Giles' shoulder tightening.
"Buffy's dead." Xander said quietly, his voice sounding strangled and forced. "Cale raped and killed her in the cemetary earlier this evening. She's dead."
"Wait..no..not Buffy. She would..no..she wouldn't have let.."
"Faith, she's dead," Xander said shortly, a measure of pained rage in his voice. "She's gone and she's never coming back. It's over." A moment later the phone clicked off. She removed the receiver from her ear and set it down onto the cradle.
Bending down next to Giles, she cupped her hand around his elbow and tried to help him to his feet. He didn't even seem to notice. "Come on, Giles..they need you."
"So did she.." he murmured, his eyes glazing over.
"Yeah well there's nothing you can do for her now. They need you now." Faith replied, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
He swung away from her and stared at her with murder in her eyes. "You don't get it do you.."
"I do get it. Buffy's dead. Cale killed her. He'll be dealt with." Faith replied, her words so crisp and certain. Like it was the foregone conclusion.
"This wasn't supposed to happen.."
"Well it did," Faith murmured, looking away. She found that she couldn't gaze into Giles' eyes for fear of seeing her own pain reflected in them. It was easier to push it all back. To make like it didn't hurt. But it did. These people were her family. All of them. And Buffy was like a sister in the oddest kind of way. Someone that truly understood the hell of slaying. But she was gone now and things would have to continue on. They would only stop for vengeance and there was a time and place for that.
This wasn't it.
"You were her Watcher.."
"Was," he murmured softly, his eyes closing for a moment. When they reopened, they were different, colder. A different being in the same body. Faith took a involuntarily half-step backwards and away. "Was," Giles repeated. "The children must be devastated."
Faith nodded, concern creasing her face. This sudden mood swing scared her more than just seeing him devastated and broken. "They are."
"I want to see her body."
Faith's eyebrow leapt into her hairline. "Why?"
"I need to know. I need to understand what he did to her so that I can make sure he pays for every single mark on her." Giles grit out, eyes glazed with anger and hatred.
"Now's not the time," Faith murmured, refusing to allow the need for payback, for vengeance that was burning like holy water against undead flesh to consume her. Going against Cale now would be asking for death. He was strong, perhaps as strong as Angelus had been when in a full rage. No, it needed to be the other way around. In the end, it would have to be him begging for mercy.
"There's a time?" Giles snapped, cold in his fury.
"If you want to live there is." Faith replied, wondering when it was that she'd become the logical one. When she'd first come into this crazy town, it'd been she that had been screwed up in the head but now it seemed like she was the only thing standing between sanity and total madness.
"Fine. I still want to see her. And don't fight me on this," Giles said crisply, coldly. His eyes seemed to bore into her, dead and empty and yet full of hatred. This man wasn't the calm, peacful, devoted Watcher. This one was capable of far more vicious deeds.
And yet she knew that she owed it to Buffy to make sure that no harm came to Giles. Just as she knew that her last gift to the fallen Slayer would be reducing Cale to ash. Soon.
"Fine," Faith finally relented. "Fine. I'll drive."
He glanced at her, for a moment seeming weary and then it disappeared and he nodded, the very motion crisp and controlled. Almost like a trained soldier preparing for war. Faith vowed that it would be one that he would never fight.
Reaching out, she took his arm and led him towards the parking lot.
Her name was Buffy Summers. She was small, blonde and beautiful. Her police records suggested a troubled childhood but certainly not one that would ever lead to this kind of horrific death. And the girl lying with her back against the metal table of the morgue looked little like her pictures and that scared him even more.
They hadn't needed a coroner to tell them how she'd died. She'd been suffocated. Some bastard had raped, beaten and brutalized her and then used a fishing wire to cut the air from her lungs.
She'd died with a look of horror stretched across her face even as she seemed to stare outwards with eyes that even in death looked sad and broken. Her killer had shattered her into a million pieces before he'd let her die and that was the worst thing of all.
Normally they wouldn't have found the girls' body until morning but a rather ambitious rookie cop had decided to sweep the cemetary for kids playing games when he'd stumbled over her body, lying out-stretched in front of a tombstone, clothes shredded, fishing wire still wrapped around her throat and blood dried on her badly bruised legs. This poor child had not died easily.
Usually, they would have required her mother to identify the body, but Lady Luck had intervened. One of the on-site investigators had, upon looking over her body, discovered a small wallet lying nearby. It had probably fallen out of the slim pocket that had been sewn into her now shredded skirt. Her student body ID card had been in there. Buffy Summers. Senior. Forever.
"Carter?" a cautious voice said from the doorway.
Detective Shawn Carter turned slowly and faced the door. Blinking he was able to make out the forms of three individuals. A guard named Marty, an older fellow dressed entirely too well for a morgue and a very pretty and very tall brunette. "Can I help you?"
"We'd like to see the body," the well-dressed man said.
"And you are?" Carter queried, his body tensing immediately. It wasn't unheard of for sexual assault killers to go the site where the body was for one last act of indignity. To defile the victim one final time as a show of ultimate power. This girl had suffered enough.
No more.
"I'm her uncle..Rupert Giles. This is her cousin..my daughter, Faith. We just heard about it," Giles murmured softly, his eyes locking on the form just behind Carter. He took a step towards the body and began to shake. Faith settled a hand on his arm and smiled uneasily at the detective.
"We were pretty close. Family and we went to school together. I.." she stumbled over her words. "I think he just needs to make it real."
Carter stalled for a moment and then finally nodded. "I'm not sure this is what anyone needs." He stepped out of the twosomes way and moved to stand next to the guard.
For a very long moment, all Giles could do was stare from afar. Stare at the blonde hair flattened against the metal surface. At the brightly coloured fingernails of the hand that seemed to be almost clutching the side of the table as it hung over. He could tell that she was naked, a white sheet thrown over her body but pulled back at her face. He took a deep breath and then continued force.
So this was reality. Something he'd always known would come eventually but never really believed in. And why the hell not? She had survived every other threat, every other assurance of absoloute death. She'd even come back once so why now. Why like this? It didn't make sense.
It wasn't supposed to. None of it.
Buffy Summers was never supposed to have been chosen for a life she could never embrace heart and soul. But when she did, she was never supposed to fall in love with a creature of the night that had been cursed with humanity. But she had. And then as if to pour salt in the wound that was her life, the one act of love, of absolute purity and trust had ripped her apart when the man she was madly gone on had become a sadistic bastard whose seemingly on purpose in life was to destroy her.
Only he'd failed and she'd continued fight even while closing off her heart to the one thing that could truly heal her; Angel's love. It had been that action, the utter need to find a boy outside of the darkness that had pushed her towards Ryan Cale. And even though she'd never even considered giving herself body or soul to Cale, her need had been her downfall.
Faith saw his hands clench harder as he approached the table, the nails biting into the soft flesh as he stared down at the beaten and bruised body of the girl he's considered his daughter. His eyes sparked for a second, his lips drew back and for the briefest of moments, Faith entertained the thought that he was going to lose it right then and there.
But he didn't. He pulled it together enough to reach down and gently stroke the cold cheek of his deceased Slayer. Her eyes were closed now, her face slack and emotionless. Apparently she'd been found before rigamortis had forced her features into eternal horror. There were lines around her throat, deep, angry gashes were the fishing wire had bitten into the soft flesh in order to cut off the oxygen.
"Oh Buffy," he murmured, his thumb gently tracing a line from just below her eye down to the hard curve of her jaw. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this." She looked so sad, even in death. He had hoped that when she went, she'd finally be able to find some measure of peace. Finally be able to stop the pain had been tearing her heart apart. It looked like she hadn't found it. And that alone was reason enough to ensure that Cale suffered. Faith gently wrapped a hand around his elbow as if to offer support but her eyes locked on Buffy's face. He could feel her touch waver as she continued to stare, perhaps seeing her own future in the deathly paleness of her comrade, friend and partner.
Giles finally turned around and gazed at the cop levelly. "How?" Carter paused for a moment, glancing first at the floor and then looking back up. "Asphyxiation. He strangled her with a fishing wire while raping her." His voice was tight with frustration and anger.
Giles nodded slowly. Reaching down, he pulled the white sheet up over Buffy's face and then murmured again, "This was never supposed to happen. Not like this." Turning away from teh body and attempting desperately to swallow the hard lump in his throat, he began to walk towards the door, Faith following closely behind.
Just before she exited, Carter grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry."
Faith nodded thoughtfully. "So are we all." And then silently, in a mental voice that Buffy would have recognized she added, "But not as sorry as Cale is going to be."
Buffy had been Catholic and so it was chubby red-haired priest with rimmed glasses and a strange accent who said the mass. Who promised that the little Slayer had gone onto wonderful things and that she was okay now. Who claimed that he understood the pain they were in and that it would be okay because Buffy was still watching the. Now from far above, waving that she was okay.
It was all pretty much bullshit to Faith. All she could see was a black coffin with a purple cloth over it and several white flowers atop it. All she could see were the drawn faces of several children, not unlike herself who had been pulled into a nightmare that would never end. All she could see was red.
They were all holding hands. Trying to be strong and united in their anguish. It would have been laughable in it's Brady Bunch like quality had it not struck her as so morbid. Things had bene rough among the group as of late, strained by Buffy's choice to hide Angel from then when he'd been returned from hell. Some of them understood. Some of them didn't. And right now the only thing that was stopping them from a vengeance crusade was the numbness that seemed to cloak them. Xander. Willow. Oz. Cordelia. They were all shaking, crying, unable to be strong and yet trying valiantly. Angel would have been there also but the daylight prevented it. That and the frightening look of insanity that had crossed his features when she'd told him that Buffy had died. Giles had murmured something about Angel looking as though his light had been extinguished. As though through confirmation of that which he knew to be already true, he was lost.
And Giles. God Giles. He was dressed all in black, looking stunningly handsome and yet so unlike him. Like a small child playing dress-up to make the pain go away. Like someone wearing sunglasses to keep the world from seeing that they were tearing apart just a little bit more every moment.
Amazing the one person could affect them so much.
She shifted her gaze over to where the family was sitting, not far from where the Slayerettes were. Buffy's parents were cumpled into the two chairs closest to the casket, Hank Summers holding a woman who looked only a fraction of the Joyce that Faith had come to know. She was shaking uncontrollably, the sobs hard and breaking. More adults were near them, a tall woman who looked a lot like Joyce holding her hand tightly and crying also.
And all Faith could hear were the words that Giles had spoken over and over three nights earlier when they'd gone to see the body. "This wasn't supposed to happen." Dear God, no. But it had.
She glanced up and saw that Hank had helped Joyce to her feet and practically carried the woman over to the casket. Their fingers intertwined, they brushed a hand over the cold black metal of the coffin. Their baby girl, gone forever. Joyce broke away, unable to stand as she sobbed. Hank wrapped an arm around her and held her, rocking her as she clenched his arms, her tears wetting the soft black silk of his shirt. "Shh, shh." he murmured, not able to form the words to say that it was okay. Because it wasn't.
He finally managed to move her back to the chairs where he continued to hold her. Faith turned her gaze from them and watched as the gang began to slowly move past the coffin, seeming robotic in their motions to place a single white flower upon the casket. Willow faltered for a moment but was quickly held up by her three friends arms.
Giles moved behind them, his hand straying over the metal and then falling to rest against the yellow cross sewn into the purple cloak that lay across it. Heaven, hell. They didn't mean a damn thing except that his Slayer was gone. For good. Forever.
And all he could say as he stared down at the box that would hold her until the world died was, "I'm sorry." And then he turned and walked away.
Faith glanced after him for a moment and knew that she should follow. Knew that Giles had shrugged off the numbness for quicker than the others and was now about to go die in order to give his Slayer justice. But his death wouldn't do that and he was no match for Cale.
Eventually, the others would want revenge, but the cold anguish that consumed them now prevented them from acting. No so Giles. She'd heard the stories of Ripper from Buffy and knew that the seemingly tame librarian had a dark side that was close to erruption.
She glanced one more at the foursome that was standing near the casket. Willow and Oz were embracing, she crying while he gently stroked her hair. Xander just looked numb, his eyes wide and pained. Cordelia looked lost.
Faith shook her head and then stepped across to the casket. "I'll get you your peace," she promised, her hand clenching the purple cloth and then flattening to settle against the metal. "I promise."
"I surely hope not," Giles replied sharply. "I rather hope he fights."
"You're a moron. Of course he'll fight." Faith replied, stepping into the cage. "He'll fight. You'll die. Great way to say hey B', loved ya lots."
He turned on her, eyes blazing blue fire. "Don't you dare to presume to tell me how to honour her memory."
"You know I'm not gonna let you go," Faith said, softening her voice a bit.
"This isn't your fight."
She nodded slowly,"Yes, it is. I owe it to her to take him down."
"And I don't?" Giles snapped back. "You have no idea.."
She rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. Only you know what's right. Well big fucking whoopty Watcher Guy, maybe I don't really get what you and B. had but let me tell you something, everyone at that godamned funeral cared about her. Everyone there wants the bastard who did this to die. But I'm the only one who can pull it off and live to tell about it."
He stared back at her for a long moment but found himself unable to reply.
She reached into the locker and moved her hand up to where Buffy's crossbow was. Just as she was about to bring it down, his hand covered hers and they locked eyes. "If you die, I'm going after him," Giles promised.
She gently moved his hand aside and pulled the crossbow down. "No worries G-Man. None at all."
In any case, despite Buffy's words, Faith had never been able to pick out Cale from any of the other vampires that roamed Sunnydale. Tonight, she could. Or maybe that moron priest had been right and Buffy really was guiding her from above because she has known right where to go. Right where to find him.
He was in an alley. No, that wasn't passe at all. But there he was, dressed in cotton and silk and draped around a short blonde girl who was shaking in his hold as he drained the life from her. Buffy had taught her how to tell when the kill was long past saving and this one was but the battle had just begun. The victim looked like Buffy. Well of course she did.
"Ryan, it's really great to see you," Faith chirped, turning a sharp stake between her fingers and then rolling it over her palm. She smiled brightly at him when he glanced up at her.
"Oh yeah, another Slayer." Cale said dismissively. "You know, I know Buffy helped train you and all so you're not very smart..certainly not the opponent she was.." he frowned, "Not that she was much." Then he grinned and let the blonde girl drop out of his hand as he took a menacing step towards Faith. "But she was fun..a wonderful fuck."
"I'm so glad," Faith said easily, just before she swung her foot up and cracked it heavily against his jaw. He winced in pain and stumbled back a few paces. And then just as he was bringing himself back up to his full height, she hit him again, her foot connecting with his ribcage even as her fist slammed into the side of his face. It was safe to say that she wasn't pulling her punches.
Lashing out with his own foot, he knocked her to her back and then jumped at her, shoving his fist into her ribs. She grunted but kicked upwards, her knee connecting with his chin and pushing him off of her. "You know," she said calmly, cooly. "You ain't so much."
"That's not what Buffy said," Cale grinned, swinging out with a left hook. It glanced off the side of her face and spun her a bit. She recovered quickly enough to block his next attack and then to slam him back to the ground. Before he could react, she thrust the stake she'd been playing with into his abdomen. He screamed in initial horror and then looked down. "Sorry bitch, looks like your tic-tac-toe skills aren't so hot."
She smiled, an expression full of hatred and revenge, "I don't want you dead, Ryan. Not yet. That's for later." And then she lashed out with her foot and shoved the stake further in. He grunted loudly and reached for her foot but she jumped out of the way. "You see I'm not like Buffy..I don't get all horny over dead guys with little pieces and I have no problem sending your sorry undead ass on a one way ticket straight to hell." Then she smirked. "But that can wait." Reaching down, she hauled him to his feet and slammed him face-first into the wall. Wrenching his hands behind his back, she quickly wrapped a rope around them. When he began to struggle feverishly, she slammed her knee between his legs and pressed it to his groin. "And oh ya..I don't have any real use for this. So it can go at any time I like. Which could be very soon. Might make a nice trophy. Dontcha think?"
"I'm gonna kill you, you stupid whore bitch," Cale swore, his face twisted into it's demon visage. His light brown hair swung over his eyes but she could still the bright glittering of the yellow irises.
She laughed darkly and then pulled his head forward, her hands tangling into his hair. "Do you know that they say she died painfully?" Her fingers clenched.
"And I enjoyed it," he growled. "I enjoyed coming on the bitch. I enjoyed feeling her twitch beneath me..begging me to stop.." he groaned as she thrust her knee harder against him. And still he continued, "Saying she didn't want to die..I liked breaking that little whore."
"How ironic," Faith chuckled, shoving his face into the wall and smiling when she heard a crack. "I'm gonna enjoy breaking you." She pulled his head back and smiled when she noticed the blood dripping from his mouth. "You and I..we're gonna go for a little walk."
"I'm not going anywhere with you, bitch." Cale growled back, thrashing again. But he was weaker now from both the stake in his chest and the various other wounds she'd inflicted on him. This was different, this wasn't Buffy. This girl had no qualms about killing him. This girl had no problem with using torture to satisfy her vengeance.
"Oh? You thought that was a choice?" Faith chuckled, tightening the ropes. "Ok..well here's a choice..you come with me now or I cut off your dick and stuff it up your ass. Now see, that's revenge." She nodded. "I mean it only seems fair." Leaning forward, she bit his ear hard. "Your choice, stud boy."
"I'm gonna kill you," he sputtered, not quite believing that he's allowed Buffy's protege, the girl that the tiny blonde Slayer had been helping to train to best him. It was unthinkable.
She rolled her eyes. "We've covered that ground. I'm gonna kill you. Try to get it right."
"So kill me."
"Um, no." Faith said, shoving her knee into his crotch again. She leaned forward and pressed her mouth up next to ear, "I want you to know every bit of pain she felt before she died. Before you died. Then I'll kill you."
And somehow he found the bravado to laugh. "You'll never know what it felt like to kill her as I fucked her. To feel her body clenching around me, trying to make it someone else..trying to make it that pathetic moron Angel she was always talking about..even as I killed her she was crying out for him.."
"I think we can change that." Faith grinned. "Now walk. Slowly. Try anything and your dick is mine, And I don't mean in me."
He glared at her but then winced when she thrust the heel of her hand against his chest and shoved the stake in just a tad bit further. Snarling angrily, he allowed her to push him out of the alley and into the street.
He was close to dropping by the time they reached the cemetary. By the time she shoved him towards the fresh grave of his former lover. Turning on her, he growled, "Take me to the site of my latest kill. How fun."
"No, Cale, I'm taking you to where you're gonna die. The party is here." Faith said, shoving him to the ground and then kicking him in the face. He hit the soft dirt with a thud and stared up at her.
"What a way to say I love you," Cale shot at her. "Bury her with her killer."
"Oh no no...you're not gonna die here..I just want you to remember it. You're gonna die over there." She pointed across the lawn, about twenty feet away. It was a small patch of grass with bright yellow paint marks across it. "That's where you killed her. It seems fiting."
"Bitch," he snarled, lunging for her. Spinning around quickly, she pulled out another stake and thrust it into his leg. He howled in agony but continued his thrashing, his clawed hand connecting with her face. She hissed loudly as his fingers drew heavy lines of blood.
"That.." she slapped him with the back of her hand. "...wasn.." balling her fist, she hit him in the ribs, smiling grimly when she heard several cracks,"..allowed." With her other fist, she hit him in the nose, breaking it solidly.
He grimaced in agony and fell back against the dirt, his face pulled into an expression of pure torment. Faith leaned down and placed the flat of her palm against his ribs, pressing. "By the time we're done, you'll be begging for forgiveness." She paused. "Then we'll go on." She grabbed him by his shirt and hauled him across the line, depositing him within the yellow paint marks.
"Dream on, bitch." Cale growled, struggling again.
She rolled her eyes. "I should cut out your tongue." Then she shook her head. "But I wanna hear you scream. I wanna hear you beg for mercy."
He opened his mouth to tell her off but was silenced by her next action. He watched in horror as she dipped her hand into the cleavage of her shirt, her fingers skimming between her breasts. Slowly and with cold calculation, she extracted a small box of matches. "I thought we'd play connect the dots."
He tried to struggle away from her but was stopped by her knee falling heavily against his groin and then grinding against it. Involuntarily, he cried out in pain as she pressed the hard bone into the soft muscle. He knew that if he got out of this mess, it'd be a long while before he'd be able to get it up again.
She smiled evily at him and then pulled out the first green tipped match and struck it against the box, the smell of sulpher filling his lungs. Before he could react, she pressed the match to his cheek. The pain was instant if not intense. He howled in agony but was held in place by her knee which continued to push further into him. "B..b..bitch.." he stammered, his skin breaking out into a cold sweat, "I'm..gu..gonna fucki..fucking kill you."
"You're really not in the kind of position to be making such promises," she said, smiling sweetly, Reaching down, she ran her fingers against the collar of his silk shirt and then with a flash of her hand, ripped it away, exposing the massive bruising around his ribs and the full length of the wooden stake that sh had shoved into him. Frowning slightly, she gave it a bit of a nudge. He cried shortly and pinched his eyes shut, shuddering beneath her. Reaching out, she grabbed his jaw and squeezed. "I want you to see what I'm doing to you. Because of her." And while she forced him to watch, she lit another match and pressed it to his nipple, finally blowing it out just before he set fire. "You know," she said softly. "I kinda like watching you burn."
"I'm..gonna..rip your lungs...out," he groaned, his eyes leaking tears involuntarily as her knee started to move against his crotch in a circular motion.
"Ya well, that's not looking too likely." Faith said, reaching behind her and into a gym bag. She pulled out a bottle of holy water and swished it around in the container. Smiling when she saw the horror on his face, she uncapped it. "You know, I wasn't even gonna bother with you. Buffy said she could handle you. That it was her kill. And I liked her. She was a good friend to me. Almost family."
"I..had..fun..w..with her." Cale gasped out.
Faith nodded solemnly,"And I'm having fun with you." And with that she proceeded to pour half of the contents of the bottle down his chest, making sure to run the fluid across his nipples. His cries echoed in the graveyard even as he struggled against her. Before he'd even had time to calm himself slightly, she cracked a balled fist across his jaw, splintering the bone loudly beneath her controlled punch.
Leaning forward, she ran her fingers down his body, stepping to press in area she knew were already screaming in torment. Her hand quickly replaced her knee in front of his groin and began to lightly squeeze it. Involuntarily, he moaned. Leaning forward, she whispered, "Beg me."
"Fuck you," he snapped, the words barely intelligible.
"You wish,: she replied, her fingers moving to unbutton his leather pants. When she saw his look of horror she smiled, "Oh don't worry, I'm not gonna do you. See first, your little dick don't make me hot and second, well I'm not you. I'm not a monster." She flicked her tongue across his ear. "But I come pretty damn close when I need to." And then she reached into his pants and grabbed him squeezing him tightly between her fingers.
It was in those moments as she manipulated him that he finally come close to understanding what Buffy had been feeling as he'd been taking her, controlling her. But even that faded away when Faith very gently dipped the bottle of holy water and let it flow into his pants.
The agony was indescrible. As he howled in undending torment, his eyes rolled back into his head and he finally lost consiousness. Faith watched as he sagged back against the dirt and stared down at him thoughtfully. It was time to end this.
Standing up, she crossed over to where she'd laid Buffy's crossbow and then she jumped onto the tombstone facing Buffy's grave. She loaded the weapon and the pointed it at Cale, calmly waiting for him to wake. After almost ten minutes he did. And then she shot him. In the chest.
"Beg for your life," Faith demanded.
"F..fuck off," he groaned, tears streaming down his face as he fought to free his hands. It was useless.
She shot him again, this time in the hand. As she casually reloaded the weapon, she said crisply, "Beg." And then she didn't even give him time to talk before she shot the bolt into his leg. "Beg."
Shaking violently he said, "Please..end it."
She narrowed her eyes, "Not yet. Apologize for what you did to her."
He snarled, his face contorting. "Never. I love what I did to her." Another bolt flew, this time landing in his upper thigh, just inches from his crotch. He ground his teeth together, suddenly understanding.
"Apologize."
"I'm sorry," he gasped out, swallowing hard. Nothing had ever hurt like this. He wasn't supposed to hurt like this. But at least it all made sense now. He was going to die. He'd finally reached the end of the line and it was his turn to fall. And all because of that vapid blonde whore. She was supposed to be his greatest kill..the way to ensure that he would become a Master.
But it wasn't gonna go go like that. That much was obvious. She was going to make him hurt until she broke him like he'd broken Buffy and only then would she kill him.
She shot him again, this time a mere fraction of an inch from his testicles. "Mean it." Her eyes narrowed into hard slits. "Mean it and not just because I'm about to send your dick overseas air-mail."
He rose his head to her, his face covered in sweat and blood. "I'm sorry."
"Not good enough," she replied, firing the weapon. By the time it embedded itself in his soft flesh, he was too numb to really feel the full amount of pain.
"What the fuck do you want?" he gasped, looking up at her and suddenly genuinely sorry that he had killed Buffy. As sorry as he could be. Which could never be enough.
Faith looked up at him from where she had started to reload the weapon. Something flashes in her eyes. She pulled the bolt loose and walked over to him, bending down. "I want Buffy back." And with that she slammed the wooden arrow into his heart. He exploded into the air.
"You're good at that," a trembling voice said from behind her. She glanced over and saw that it was coming from Buffy's tombstone. Angel.
"Hi," she murmured, taking a step towards him.
"I..I..I need you to do that," Angel said, swallowing thickly. "I need you to do that to me."
She shook her head. "No. No way."
"You..you have to," Angel cried, suddenly seeming so desperate and vunerable. Not at all like the stories that she'd been able to coax out of Buffy about how he'd been before the change.
"There's been enough death."
"I came back for her. I don't know how but I did. I don't want to go on without her. I can't." Angel replied softly, looking away. "So you can either help me or I'll find another way. But I will be with her."
Faith turned on him slowly, "Why didn't you go after Cale?"
"I tried," Angel whispered, falling to his knees and touching the soft dirt of Buffy's grave. It was fresh since she'd just been put into the ground earlier that day. "Bu..but...he wouldn't fight me..and I..couldn't..take him." Angel lifted his hand and she saw that it was shaking terribly. The man wouldn't have been able to defeat a fly. Which was why Cale had spared his life..to make him suffer all the more. "Please."
She stared at him for a long moment, knowing and understanding that one way or another, his life was over. Finally, slowly, she nodded. Reaching into her belt, she removed a stake. She touched his face gently and whispered, "I'm sorry." And then she thrust it forward. Their eyes locked for the briefest of moments and he thanked her before he softly said the name of his beloved Slayer. And then he crumbled into her hands.
Bending down, she pressed the ashes into the dirt and held her hand there for a long moment, tears stinging her eyes as the finality of it all washed over her.
Standing up, she threw the crossbow over her back. She stepped over to Buffy's tombstone and ran her fingers across the ingraved words. Her name. Her age. Her life. She pressed her palm flat against it and whispered softly,"It's over. You can both rest now."
