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Faith, Hope, and Trick

Prologue

Willow is excited. As a senior she is now permitted to leave the school campus for lunch. She stands at the campus boundary with Oz revelling in her new freedom. She doesn’t seem to be quite ready for it though. She is having trouble taking that first step off campus.

Oz looks back and sees Xander approaching with Cordelia. He nods to Xander and each of them grabs one of Willow’s arms and they drag her off campus together.

“Oh no, I can’t!” protests Willow. “What if they changed the rule without telling? What if they’re lying in wait to arrest me and, and throw me in detention and mar my unblemished record?”

Xander tells Willow to breathe, and she starts to relax a bit and stops struggling against them. “Okay, this is good!”

Xander releases Willow and puts his arm around Cordelia, while Oz and Willow continue holding hands.

“This is— Hey, we’re Seniors!” says Willow. “Hey, I’m walking here!”

The two couples continue on to the park across the street from the school where Buffy is waiting for them. Willow thinks that it may be a good idea if they don’t act quite so couply around Buffy.

“Oh, you mean ’cause of how the only guy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?” asks Cordelia.

“Can she cram complex issues into a nutshell, or what?” asks Xander.

On Oz’s signal the two couples disconnect, and Willow and Xander swap positions, so when they meet up with Buffy, Oz is walking with Xander, and Willow with Cordy.

Since she got kicked out of school Buffy has had way too much free time on her hands. She’s used some of it to prepare a picnic lunch for her friends. They all sit down around her on the blanket she has laid out while she unpacks the food. Buffy hopes that her school situation is about to change. She and her mother have another appointment with Principal Snyder tomorrow.

Willow spots Scott Hope approaching while Buffy is unpacking the lunch. “He likes you,” she tells Buffy. “He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren’t ready then. But I think you’re ready now, or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation, or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like.” Buffy swings her head around and gives Willow a look. “Oh! I didn’t mean the bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you…” Willow stops, and looks around at Oz. “You’re supposed to stop me when I do that.”

“I like when you do that,” says Oz.

Scott walks by, smiles and says “Hi Buffy.” Buffy half-smiles and says “Hi” back.

Scott continues on his way. Willow thinks that this is a good start.

“He didn’t try to slit our throats or anything,” says Cordelia. “That’s progress.”

Buffy tells her friends that she isn’t trying to snare Scott Hope. She just wants to get her life back, and do normal stuff.

“Like date?” asks Willow.

“All right, yes,” says Buffy. “Date, and shop and hang out and go to school and save the world from unspeakable demons. You know, I want to do girlie stuff!”

A limousine pulls into the Sunnydale Happy Burger drive through. Mr. Trick—a sharply dressed black man—orders himself a diet soda, and turns to his companion. “Sunnydale. Town’s got quaint. And the people? He called me ‘Sir.’ Don’t you just miss that? I mean, admittedly, it’s not a haven for the brothers, strictly the caucasian persuasion here in the Dale. But, you know, you just got to stand up and salute their death rate. I ran a statistical analysis, and hello darkness. It makes D.C. look like…Mayberry, and ain’t nobody saying boo about it. We could fit right in here. Have us some fun.”

Kakistos puts his hand—more of a cloven hoof—on Trick’s knee. “We’re here for one thing.”

“Kill the Slayer,” says Trick, “Yeah. Still, big picture…” They arrive at the pickup window, and Trick collects and pays for his drink.

“The Slayer,” says Kakistos. “I’m going to rip her spine from her body, and I’m going to eat her heart and suck the marrow from her bones!”

“Now I’m hungry.” Mr. Trick’s face transforms, and he lunges out of the limousine. He grabs the boy at the pickup window, and drags him into the car. The limousine pulls away from the Happy Burger with the boy’s legs still hanging out of the window, while Trick feeds.

Act I

Buffy dances with Angel in the Bronze. “I miss you.” She puts her hand down by his, and her claddagh ring falls off her finger.

Angel bends down to pick up the ring. Buffy remembers running him through with the sword. “I had to.”

Buffy’s friends sit at a nearby table and watch them silently.

Angel squeezes the ring in his hand, and blood starts to drip from it. “I loved you.” Blood starts to seep through his shirt from the spot the sword pierced his chest.

Buffy reaches out to him. “Oh god! Angel!”

“Go to hell!” yells Angel. His face looks like it has been rotting in a grave for a few weeks. “I did.”

Buffy wakes up. She sits up in her bed and opens her bedside table drawer. She pulls out a chain with her ring on it, and looks at it.

Joyce knocks on Buffy’s bedroom door, and opens it. “Morning Sunshine! Ready to face the beast?”

Buffy and Joyce meet with Principal Snyder in his office. Buffy picks up a letter opener off his desk and starts to fiddle with it while Snyder outlines the terms of Buffy’s readmission to the school. She has to pass a makeup test for all the courses she missed the exam for last year. She has to get a glowing letter of recommendation from a member of the faculty who is not an English Librarian, and she has to meet with a school psychologist who must conclude that her violent tendencies are under control.

Snyder gets up and comes around his desk. He gingerly takes the letter opener away from Buffy.

Joyce doesn’t like Snyder’s attitude. She has talked with the school board, and they are the ones who are insisting that Buffy be let back into the school. She and Buffy get up to leave.

Buffy pauses, and turns back toward Snyder. “So let me get this straight. I’m really back in school because the school board overruled you. Wow. That’s like having your whole ability to do this job called into question, when you think about it.”

“I think what my daughter’s trying to say is ‘Nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah, nyah.’” adds Joyce as they go.

After Buffy and Joyce leave his office Snyder is buzzed by his secretary. The Mayor is on the phone. Snyder does not look happy.

Buffy and Willow enter the library. Willow is thrilled to have Buffy back in school again, but she doesn’t know why Giles wants to see her. Buffy asks if he seemed to be upset about anything. Willow says he didn’t.

Willow has a quick look around, and doesn’t see any sign of Giles. “Have you ever noticed, though, when he is mad, but he’s too English to say anything, he makes that weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue?”

Giles stands up from behind the counter behind Willow.

“Hi Giles!” Buffy raises her eyebrows at Willow.

Willow spins around and sees Giles. “Oh, Hi! Been there long?”

Giles chooses to ignore Willow, and skips directly to what he wanted to talk to Buffy about. He’s preparing a binding spell for Acathla, to make sure that he remains dormant. He needs to get a few details about Buffy’s fight with Angel straight in order to be sure it is done properly.

Willow is eager to help with the spell, but Giles is reluctant to involve her. The spell is very sensitive and difficult, and must be done in Aramaic.

Buffy gives Giles a quick rundown on what happened, leaving out one or two details, such as the fact that Angel had his soul back when she killed him.

Buffy checks her watch. It’s time for her to go take her English makeup exam. “They give you credit just for speaking it, right?” she asks before she goes.

Willow starts to examine the ingredients Giles has assembled for his spell. She picks up a bundle of herbs and sniffs at it. “Mm, sage. I love that smell.” She reaches into a jar and pulls out a pinch of its contents. “And marnox root. You know, a smidge of this mixed with a virgin’s saliva…” She notices Giles looking at her. “…does something I know nothing about.”

“These forces are not something that one plays around with, Willow. What have you been conjuring?”

“Nothing…much,” says Willow. “Well, you know, I tried the spell to cure Angel, and I guess that was a bust. But since then, you know, small stuff: floating feather, fire out of ice, which next time I won’t do on the bedspread. Are you mad at me?”

“No, of course not,” says Giles. “If I were, I would be making a strange clucking sound with my tongue.”

Buffy interrupts Willow and Oz smooching in the Bronze. She has brought drinks for them. Buffy is in a good mood. She passed her English test, she’s hanging with her friends. Her life is back on track. Scott Hope comes up to them.

“Hi, Scott,” says Willow. “What are you doing here?”

“You told me if I came after eight, I could run into Buffy,” says Scott.

Buffy shoots Willow a look, while Willow tries to hide behind her drink.

“I’m sorry,” says Scott. “I’m a bad liar. It’s not good for the soul. Or the skin, actually. It makes me blotch.” He asks Buffy if she wants to dance.

Buffy stammers a bit, and turns Scott down gently, thanking him for the offer. Scott tells her that he’ll be over by the dance floor. “If you change your mind, you can mosey on over.”

Willow doesn’t understand why Buffy turned Scott down. He’s a nice normal guy, which is what Buffy said she wanted to get back to.

“Plus bonus points for use of the word ‘mosey.’” says Oz

Buffy just doesn’t think she’s ready to start dating. They’re interrupted by Xander and Cordy joining them.

“Check out Slut-O-Rama and her Disco Dave.” Cordelia indicates a couple on the dance floor. “What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?”

Buffy looks at the couple Cordelia pointed out. Something about them catches Buffy’s eye, as they start to dance toward the exit together. The girl seems to be leading. “I don’t think that guy thrives on sunshine.” She gets up to follow them.

Buffy runs into Scott on her way to the exit. He thinks she’s there to take him up on his invitation to dance, and they are both somewhat embarrassed when Buffy tells him she was just on her way out.

Buffy looks around outside the Bronze. There’s no sign of the guy, or the girl. Her friends catch up with her.

“I bet it’s nothing,” says Cordelia. “They’re probably just making out.”

They hear the girl cry “Hey!” and the sound of something hitting something else coming from the alley.

“That’s not what making out sounds like,” says Willow. “Unless I’m doing it wrong.”

Xander pulls a large stake out of his jacket pocket, hands it to Buffy, and they head for the alley. When the get there they see the vampire has the girl pushed up against the wall.

“Stop struggling!” says the vampire. “This won’t hurt.”

The girl grabs the vampire by the throat, pushes it away, and punches it. She jumps up on a crate to give herself a little elevation, and kicks it in the head. She walks over to Buffy. “It’s okay, I’ve got it. You’re Buffy, right?” She hits the vampire which has come up behind her with the back of her head, grabs its arm, and tosses it against the wall. “I’m Faith!” She gives the vampire a kick.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say there’s a new Slayer in town,” says Oz.

Faith gives the vampire a few more punches, and tosses it across the alley. “Can I borrow that?” She takes the stake from Buffy. She uses it to dust the vampire, and then hands it back. “Thanks B. Couldn’t have done it without you!” Faith heads back toward the Bronze.

Act II

Faith regales Buffy’s friends with her tales of vampire Slaying. “The whole summer it was, like, the worst heat wave. So it’s about a hundred and eighteen degrees and I’m sleeping without a stitch on. And all of a sudden, I hear this screaming from outside. So I go tearing out, stark nude…” Xander gives Faith a good look over, developing a mental picture. “…and this church bus has broke down, and there’s these three vamps feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps, and the preacher comes up, and he’s hugging me like there’s no tomorrow, when all of a sudden, the cops pull up and they arrested us both.”

“Wow,” says Xander. “They should film that story and show it every Christmas.”

Faith picks up a muffin and starts to eat it. “God, I could eat a horse. Isn’t it crazy how slaying just always makes you hungry and horny?”

Everyone looks at Buffy. “Well, sometimes I crave a non-fat yogurt afterwards,” she says.

“I get it!” says Cordy. “Not the horny thing. Yuck! But the two Slayer thing. There was one, and then Buffy died for, like, two minutes, so then Kendra was called, and then when she died, Faith was called.”

Willow wonders what Faith is doing in Sunnydale. Faith tells them that her Watcher has gone off to some Watcher retreat in England, so she decided to take the opportunity to come meet the infamous Buff, and compare notes. She starts into another story about a vampire who kept alligators as pets, and having to wrestle with them. Xander asks if this was also done while naked. Cordelia wants him to find a new theme.

“I tell ya, I never had more trouble than that damn vamp.” Faith turns to Buffy. “So what about you? What was your toughest kill?”

Flashback:

Buffy drives her sword through Angel’s heart.

“Um, well, you know, they’re all difficult, I guess.” Buffy tries to come up with a story of her own. “Uh… Oh! Oh, do you guys remember the Three? That’s right, you never met the Three. Well, there was three—”

Oz interrupts her. “Something occurring. Now, you both kill vamps, and who could blame you, but, I’m wondering about your position on werewolves,” he asks Faith.

Willow hugs Oz’s arm. “Oz is a werewolf,” she tells Faith.

“It’s a long story,” says Buffy.

“I got bit,” says Oz.

“Apparently not that long,” says Buffy.

“Hey, as long as you don’t go scratching at me or humping my leg, we’re five by five, you know?” says Faith. She turns back to Buffy. “The vamps, though, they better get their asses to DefCon One, ’cause you and I are going to have fun, you know, Watcherless and fancy-free.”

“Watcherless?” asks Buffy.

Faith gets introduced to Giles in the library next morning. He knows about the Watcher retreat which takes place every year in the Cotswolds. He has heard that it is lovely there, but he has never been invited.

“Oh, it’s boring,” says Faith. “Way too stuffy for a guy like you.”

“Um, maybe I should introduce you again,” says Buffy. “Faith, this is Giles.”

“I see him,” says Faith. “If I’d known they came that young and cute, I would’ve requested a transfer.”

“Well, um, uh, leaving aside for a moment my, uh, youth and beauty,” says Giles. “I’d say it was fortuitous that Faith arrived when she did.” He picks up the newspaper.

Willow shoots her finger into the air. “Aha!” Everyone looks at her. “Sorry. I just meant ‘aha!’ There’s big evil brewin’. You’ll never be bored here, Faith, ’cause this is Sunnydale, home of the big brewin’ evil.”

Giles isn’t sure how big it is, but there have been a couple of disappearances in the Sunset Ridge area recently.

Buffy tells Giles she can patrol later tonight, but she promised her mother she would be home for dinner. Willow raises her eyebrows at Buffy, and nods toward Faith. Buffy gets the message, and invites Faith to come to dinner with her.

Buffy has another makeup test to study for. She starts to ask Willow to help her, but Willow and Xander are too busy volunteering to show Faith around the school. The three of them go, leaving Buffy and Giles in the library.

Giles watches them go. “This new girl seems to have a lot of zest.”

Buffy just gives Giles a look.

Giles is still trying to get the details straight for his binding spell. This time he wants to know just where Buffy and Angel were standing relative to Acathla when Buffy killed Angel. She tells him, but he still seems unclear.

Buffy picks up her books. “Giles, look, I’ve got makeup tests to pass, missing people in Sunset Ridge, and a zesty new Slayer to feed. Next time I kill Angel, I’ll video it.”

Willow and Xander show Faith around the school. The cafeteria where they were mauled by snakes. The spot where Angel nearly killed Willow, the lounge where Spike and his gang attacked on parent-teacher night, and the spot on the stairway landing where Willow was nearly sucked into a muddy grave.

“And they say young people don’t learn anything in high school nowadays,” says Xander, “but, I’ve learned to be afraid.”

Faith is amused by their stories. She thinks that if she had friends like them when she was in school, she might have felt bad about dropping out. She wonders about Buffy though. She seems to be wound a little tight. She needs to find the fun. She leaves Willow and Xander to go get a drink of water.

Cordy joins Xander and Willow. She is not impressed by Xander’s fascination with Faith. “What is it with you and Slayers? Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake to your throat.”

Xander thinks that sounds like a good idea.

Faith leaves the water fountain, and bumps into Scott. She starts flirting with him.

Buffy comes down the stairs with the news that she is now two for two on her makeup tests. She notices that Willow, Xander and Cordy are all looking down the corridor, and looks to see what they are looking at. She sees Faith with Scott. Willow is starting to think that maybe Faith and Scott will hit it off, if Buffy is done with him.

Buffy is not pleased to hear that. “Well, I hadn’t definitely one hundred percent said no for all time. It’s just, you know… You don’t enter into these things lightly, you know. There’s, there’s repercussions to consider and—” She stops as Willow and Xander exchange a look. “Why am I seeing a look?”

“You really do need to find the fun, B,” says Willow. She sees the look Buffy gives her. “…uffy.”

Buffy goes to collect Faith to take her home for dinner.

“He’s a cutie,” says Faith as Buffy drags her away. “Is he seeing anybody?”

Kakistos, Trick and the rest of their vampires are holed up in a warehouse. Mr. Trick is liking Sunnydale more and more. The whole town is wired with fiber optics. He can get a T3 hookup, and communicate with anywhere in the world. “You get the hankering for the blood of a fifteen-year-old Filipina,” he tells Kakistos, “and I’m on the ’net and she’s here the next day, express air!”

Kakistos isn’t interested in any of that. He just wants to get the Slayer.

“On that note, there’s good news and bad,” says Trick. “Rumour has it that this town already has a Slayer, which makes two. I’m not real sure how that happened.”

Kakistos jumps from his chair. “I don’t care if there’re a hundred Slayers! I’ll kill them all!” He points to his face. He has is a scar across a blinded eye. “She’s going to pay for what she did to me.”

Mr. Trick is working on that. He’s running a computer search of all the hotels, motels and hostels in town, and once darkness falls their vamps will be hitting the streets in force. He’s interrupted by a knock at the door.

Trick goes to the door, and puts on a heavy glove that comes up past his elbow. He opens the door for the pizza delivery boy and reaches out into the sunlight. He grabs the boy and pulls him inside. “Food’s here, boys.”

Joyce is very pleased to meet Faith. She dishes out some vegetables onto her plate. “So you’re a Slayer, too. Isn’t that interesting! Do you like it?”

“God, I love it!” says Faith.

Buffy wants some of the vegetables too, but Joyce ignores her and keeps talking with Faith. “You know, Buffy never talks that way. Why do you love it?”

“Well, when I’m fighting, it’s like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing,” says Faith. “That I’m going to win and they’re going to lose. I like that feeling.”

“Well, sure,” says Buffy. “Beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose.”

“I don’t let that kind of negative thinking in,” says Faith.

“Right,” says Joyce. “Right. That could get you hurt. Buffy can be awfully negative sometimes. See, honey, you got to fight that.”

“I’m working on it,” says Buffy.

Joyce goes into the kitchen to get Faith a drink, and Buffy follows her. “I like this girl, Buffy.”

“She’s very personable. She gets along with my friends, my Watcher, my Mom.” Buffy looks back into the dining room and sees that Faith is swiping some french fries off of her plate. “Look, now she’s getting along with my fries.”

“Now, Buffy—”

“Plus, at school today, she was making eyes at my not-boyfriend. This is creepy.”

“Does anybody else think Faith is creepy?” asks Joyce.

“No,” says Buffy, “but I’m the one getting single-white-femaled here.”

“It’s probably good you were an only child,” says Joyce.

“Mom, I’m just getting my life back. I’m not looking to go halvsies on it.”

One part of Buffy’s life that Joyce would be happy to see her sharing is the Slaying. Buffy reluctantly agrees with that.

“Unless, I mean, you heard her,” says Joyce. “She loves the Slaying. Couldn’t she take over for you?”

“Mom, no one can take over for me.”

“But you’re going to college next year. I think it would be—”

“Mom, the only way you get a new Slayer is when the old Slayer dies.”

This takes a couple of seconds to sink in for Joyce. “Then that means you— When did you die? You never told me you died!”

Buffy tries to reassure her mother. “It was just for a few minutes.”

It doesn’t work. “Oh, I hate this. I hate your life,” says Joyce. “Look, I know you didn’t choose this, I know it chose you. I have tried to march in the ‘Slayer Pride’ parade, but, I don’t want you to die.”

Buffy goes to her mother and gives her a hug. “I’m not going to die. I know how to do my job. Besides, like you said, I’ve got help now.” She looks into the dining room, where Faith is still eating. “I’ve got all the help I can stand.”

Buffy and Faith walk by a construction site. “Didn’t we, um, do this street already?” asks Faith.

“Funny thing about vamps,” says Buffy. “They’ll hit a street even after you’ve been there. It’s like they have no manners.”

“You’ve been doing this the longest,” says Faith. “Maybe a little too long.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asks Buffy. “You got a problem?”

“I’m five by five here, B,” says Faith. “Living entirely large, actually wondering about your problem.”

“Well, I may not sleep in the nude and rassle alligators.”

“Maybe it’s time you started, ’cause obviously something in your bottle needs uncorking. What is it, the Angel thing?”

“What do you know about Angel?”

“Just what your friends tell me,” says Faith, “Big love, big loss. You ought to deal and move on, but you’re not.”

“I got an idea,” says Buffy, “How about from now on, we don’t hear from you on Angel or anything else in my life. Which—by the way—is my life.”

“What are you getting so strung out for, B?”

“Why are your lips still moving, F?”

“Did I just hear a threat?”

“Would you like to?” asks Buffy.

“Wow. Think you can take me?”

“Yeah.” Buffy looks over Faith’s shoulder. “I just hope they can’t.” She pushes Faith out of the way of an onrushing vampire.

Buffy knocks the vampire to the ground, and engages with a second one. She flips it to the ground as a third vampire comes running up. Faith upends a trash can on top of it while Buffy stakes one of the first two vamps which attacked them. Another vampire grabs Buffy from behind and tosses her onto a stack of plywood. Buffy quickly jumps to her feet and kicks the vampire away from her.

Faith is still fighting the vampire she started out with. It punches her.

“My dead mother hits harder than that!” Faith tosses the vampire to the ground and starts punching it over and over again, while Buffy battles with the other two vampires.

“Faith, stake him already and give me a hand!” calls out Buffy.

Faith ignores Buffy, and keeps hitting the vampire. “This! Is! Me! You! Un! Dead! Bastard!” Faith punctuates each word with a punch. “You! Can’t! Hurt! Me!”

The two vampires Buffy’s fighting manage to knock her down and pin her to the ground. “For Kakistos we live. For Kakistos you die!” says one of them as it closes in for the kill.

Act III

Buffy grabs a broken piece of 2x4 and clubs the vampire that was about to bite her with it. She kicks the other vampire away from her, and gets to her feet. She stakes one of the vamps with the broken off end of the 2x4 while the other gets away. Buffy goes over to where Faith is still beating on her vampire, pulls her away from it, and stakes it too. Buffy is not pleased with Faith’s performance.

“Gee,” says Faith, “if doing violence to vampires upsets you, I think you’re in the wrong line of work!”

“Yeah, or maybe you like it a little too much,” says Buffy

“I was getting the job done.”

“The job is to slay demons!” says Buffy. “Not beat them to a bloody pulp while their friends corner me!”

Faith shrugs. “I thought you could handle yourself.” She walks away.

Buffy reports to Giles the next morning. She tells him about what happened with Faith. She thinks that Faith has got some problems. Giles isn’t so sure. He thinks that they’re just having a clash of personalities. They have very different temperaments.

“Yeah, and mine’s the sane one,” says Buffy. “The girl’s not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has a three.”

Giles promises to contact Faith’s Watcher at the retreat. Meanwhile he wants a report on the vampires that they fought. Buffy tells him that there was nothing out of the ordinary about them, except for the one saying that he lived for “kissing toast” or “taquitos” or something like that.

Giles instantly decodes the Buffy speak, and realizes the name is “Kakistos.” He heads for the library, with Buffy following him.

Giles heads into his office. “‘Kakistos’ is Greek. It means the worst of the worst. It’s also the name of a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven.”

“Now, this guy shows up two days ago, right?” asks Buffy. “Right around the same time my bestest new little sister makes the scene.”

“You think he and Faith are connected?” asks Giles.

“Giles, there are two things that I don’t believe in: coincidence and leprechauns.”

“Well, Buffy, it’s entirely possible that they both arrived here by chance simultaneously.”

“Okay, but I was right about the leprechauns, right?”

Giles thinks for a moment. “As far as I know, yes.”

Buffy tells Giles to call England to check with Faith’s Watcher. She is going to go have a talk with Faith.

Buffy runs into Scott on her way out of the school. He’s making one last ditch effort to get her to go out with him. He invites her to go to the Buster Keaton film festival with him that weekend.

Buffy considers for a moment. “You know, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve given a fair chance to… Buster Keaton. I like what I’ve seen of him so far. I think it might be time to see a little more.”

Scott takes a deep breath, and smiles. “Keaton is key.” Encouraged by Buffy’s acceptance Scott hands her a present. A small box. The guy in the retro shop who sold it to him said that it is supposed to represent friendship.

Buffy opens the box and finds that it contains a claddagh ring, identical to the one Angel gave her.

Buffy drops the ring. “I can’t. I can’t do this.”

Scott bends down to pick up the ring. “Okay. I get the message.” He leaves.

Giles has witnessed the tail end of this, and goes to see if Buffy’s all right. She tells him she’s fine, and asks what Faith’s Watcher had to say.

“Her Watcher’s dead,” says Giles.

Faith is staying at the Downtown Apartments Motel. An $18 a day dive. When Buffy arrives the manager is trying to collect the money Faith owes for her stay. She promises to get it to him tomorrow.

The manager sees Buffy. “Roommates are extra.”

“I’m just visiting.” Buffy assures him, and he goes.

Buffy tells Faith about Kakistos being in town. Faith is not happy to hear this, and starts to pack.

“We’re not happy to see old friends, are we?” asks Buffy. “What’d he do to you?”

Faith keeps shoving stuff into her bag. “It’s what I did to him, all right?”

“And what was that?” asks Buffy. “Faith, you came here for a reason. I can help.”

“You can mind your own business,” says Faith. “I’m the one that can handle this.”

“Yeah,” says Buffy. “You’re a real bad-ass when it comes to packing. What was that you said about my problem? Got to deal and move on? Well, we have the ‘moving on’ part right here. What about dealing? Is that just something you’re going to dump on me?”

“You don’t know me,” says Faith. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. I’ll take care of this, all right?” She has finished packing her bag and heads for the door.

“Like you took care of your Watcher?” asks Buffy.

That stops Faith in her tracks. She turns to Buffy.

“He killed her, didn’t he?” asks Buffy.

“They don’t have a word for what he did to her,” says Faith.

There is a knock on the door, and Faith looks through the peep hole to see who it is. It’s the manager again. “Oh, what now?” she asks.

“Faith, you run, he runs after you,” says Buffy.

Faith opens the door. “That’s where the head start comes in handy.”

Kakistos is standing outside, holding the manager’s dead body up to the peephole. He has Mr. Trick and another vampire with him.

Kakistos smiles. “Faith!”

Act IV

Kakistos grabs Faith by the throat. Buffy rushes forward, pulls Faith away from him and slams the door on his arm. Faith is paralyzed with fear as Kakistos starts to smash his way through it.

“Scream later! Escape now!” Buffy pulls Faith toward the back window of the motel room. They break through it, and escape out into the back alley.

Buffy and Faith run through the back streets and alleys, pursued by several vampires. They take refuge by breaking into an abandoned building. Buffy takes the little bit of breathing space they have gained to get Faith to tell her what happened.

“I-I was there when he killed my Watcher,” says Faith, “And I saw what he did to her. What he was going to do to me. I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t. And I ran.”

“Faith,” says Buffy, “first rule of slaying: don’t die. You did the right thing. Okay? You didn’t die. Now you do the math. One of him, two of us.”

“No!” says Faith.

“Yes!” says Buffy, but Faith wasn’t saying “no” to Buffy. She has just seen the two dead bodies piled in a corner. They’re in Kakistos’ lair. The vampires have herded them here. Vampires start to appear around them.

Buffy and Faith run into a more open area, where they will have room to fight. Two of the vamps go after Buffy, while Kakistos moves in on Faith. Faith backs away from him, too afraid to fight back.

Buffy sees Faith backing away from Kakistos. “Faith! Don’t die!” She tosses Faith a crowbar to use as a weapon.

Faith raises the crowbar to strike at Kakistos, but he hits her first. He knocks her through a 4x4 post, breaking it.

Mr. Trick hangs back from the fight, just watching.

Buffy stuns one of the vampires she’s fighting, and then stakes the second. She looks back and sees that Kakistos has picked Faith up, and is now pounding on her, much the same way as Faith had pounded on the vampire the night before. Buffy goes to help her. Buffy attacks Kakistos, drawing his attention away from Faith.

The vampire Buffy had stunned gets to her feet and stands beside Mr. Trick.

“If we don’t do something the Master could get killed.” Mr. Trick shrugs. “Well, my prayers are with him.” They turn and leave.

Buffy tries to stake Kakistos, but his hide is too tough for her first attempt to penetrate it. A second attempt does a little better, but her stake is too short. It doesn’t reach his heart.

Kakistos pushes Buffy away and laughs. “I guess you need a bigger stake, Slayer!”

Faith has recovered somewhat from the beating Kakistos gave her, and picks up a piece of the broken 4x4 post with a nice sharp end. She runs it through Kakistos’ heart. He disintegrates into dust.

Buffy and Faith pause for a moment to catch their breaths. “Are you hungry?” asks Buffy.

“Starved!” says Faith.

Epilogue

Giles comes out of his office. Buffy and Willow are waiting for him in the library. He has been on the phone with the Council. Faith is going to be staying in Sunnydale, and he is to act as Watcher for both her and Buffy until she can have a new Watcher assigned to her.

“Good,” says Buffy. “She really came through in the end. She had a lot to deal with, but she did it. She got it behind her.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” says Giles.

Buffy stands quietly for a moment. “Angel was cured,” she says.

Giles and Willow look up in surprise.

“I’m sorry?” asks Giles.

“When I killed him, Angel was cured,” says Buffy. “Your spell worked at the last minute, Will. I was about to take him out and…something went through him…and he was Angel again. He didn’t remember anything that he’d done. He just held me. But it was…it was too late, and I had to. So I told him that I loved him…and I kissed him…and I killed him.”

Giles and Willow watch Buffy silently, not knowing what to say.

“I don’t know if that helps with your spell or not, Giles.”

“Uh, yes,” says Giles. “I, I believe it will.”

“I’m sorry” says Willow.

“It’s okay. I’ve been holding on to that for so long. Felt good to get it out. I’ll see you guys later.” Buffy turns away and leaves the library.

After Buffy is gone, Willow tells Giles again that she wants to help with the binding spell.

“There is no spell,” says Giles.

Buffy waits outside a classroom for Scott to come out. When he does, she apologises to him for the way she reacted to the ring. “But I liked what you said about friendship. I liked it a lot. And Buster Keaton. Big fun. And I’m capable of big fun even though there’s no earthly way you could possibly know that about me. Wow. If I knew I was going to go on this long, I probably would’ve brought some water. Uh, what I’m trying to say is, um…if you would still like to go to the film festival—and I would understand it if you didn’t—I’d pretty much love to go with you.”

Scott tells Buffy he will have to think it over. He starts to walk away from her, but turns back almost immediately. “Okay. You know what, I thought about it, and I’m in. When do you want to go?”

Buffy tells Scott that she has one thing she has to take care of tonight, but after that she’s free.

Buffy returns to Angel’s house. She kneels down at the spot where she killed him. “Goodbye” she whispers, and places the claddagh ring on the floor. She gets up and goes.

After Buffy is gone the ring begins to glow, and vibrate. There is a brilliant flash of light above the ring.

Angel falls out of the light. He lies naked and trembling on the floor.

Characters Introduced

• Faith
• Scott Hope
• Mr. Trick

Death Toll