*****

I raise my foot and kick the Vamp, straight in the stomach
I watch him fly back, into some bit of broken fence that makes him go up in 'smoke'.
The ash hangs in the air, then floats down gently to the floor.
Freaky; a beautiful end for a skanky, evil thing.

Then I turn to the other one.
Adrenaline is flooding through every bit of me.
I feel like the fuckin' Energizer Bunny!
All pumped up, itching to beat the crap outta someone or something.

I just stand.
Still.
He runs towards me.
His 'Game' face is out in full.
I mentally yawn at this same ol' boring stuff.
Never gets any different.
Just as he's close enough for me to smell the stench of sweat, I move aside but put my fist out.
I feel it connect with his face, shattering the nose completely.
A dark smile floods over my face as he hits the deck.

'You know, you guys never learn.'

I slam a kick to his ribs, and feel them crack under my boot.
It's comforting.
Feeding that nasty dark place that I keep hidden inside me most of the time.
I can cut lose now.
Doing this is where I feel alive.

I circle him, wondering how to finish his life.
Then I can't help laughing; you can't REALLY kill someone that isn't alive.

Then, through the darkness that's everywhere; I hear her.

'Don't need any help then, Faith?'

I twist my head round, and see B propped up against a wrecked car, her feet crossed in front of her.
It stops me, just for a second.
She does this to me; always; takes my breath away.

'Nah, think I can manage this one on my own. Unless you wanna get some angst out, and dust him for me?'

We're like Big Cats, sharing the kill.

'I think I'll just watch, don't want to break a nail. I just got them manicured!'

She holds her hands out to show me, with this proud look on her face.
They glint in the moonlight.

'Ahh, they're so pretty, B!'

I slam my foot into the other side of the Vamps ribs.
I don't want him to be lop sided with breakage's.

'You mad at something Faith? Just dust him!'

She has this little frown on her face.

'You know, when I was little my neighbour had this cat...'

I pull the limp body to it's feet.

'...and once I saw it with a mouse it'd caught.'

I throw his body into the wall, and watch it slump down to the ground, with a small groan of pain.

'...thing is, it didn't kill it, not right away...'

I move closer to the heap, put my boot on a set of fingers, and slowly crush them.

'... it played with it, taking small nips out of the mouse, clawing it just enough to hurt but not kill it...'

I kneel down beside the body that's lying on the floor, and look at the damage I've done.
Not bad, not bad at all.
Ripping a piece of his shirt away, I use it to wipe the blood off my leathers, then stuff the fabric into his mouth.

'... in the end it didn't even finish the job. Think it got bored it couldn't play anymore. It just left this mouse all bloodied up and crushed in the garden.'

B's next to me now.
Can feel her.
I can always feel her.
It's like she gives out these vibes that only I can pick up.
Guess it's a Slayer thing.
That's what I tell myself anyway.

'You should write children's books, Faith. Well, what happened to the mouse?'

My eyes have focused on some distant point, like I'm back in that garden, the cold wet grass under my feet.
I slam my stake into the Vamps chest, and in an instant he's gone.
Like he never existed.

I stand up and turn to face her. She's still waiting for an answer, and she's got this look on her face, forming little lines between her eyebrows.
I think about smoothing them out with my finger, but push that right back where it came from.
No use touching what you can't have, Faith.

I pull my last cig from its packet, tossing the crushed box over to the pile of ash, then search in my pockets for my lighter.
Shit, it's not there!

'What happened to the mouse?!'

I motion to the unlit cigarette that's hanging out of my mouth, and she smiles, sort of wild like.
She moves up close, slips a hand round me and squeezes it into my back pocket.
My eyebrows shoot up, on automatic, and I give her a wicked grin.
Doesn't normally take me that long to get it out, but I'm not going to complain.
No way.
Nothing like getting groped, even if it is just for a lighter.
Bringing it back round, she wiggles it in front of my face and flips it open.
The flame makes her face glow.

Pretty.

Gotta hand it to her, she's got class.
I slowly light my cig and take a long puff.
Nothing like a smoke after an easy slay.
Yeah, well, that's one of the things that calms me, anyway.
The others?
Hungry I can deal with.
Horny ain't gonna get resolved here, not tonight.

'Faith? The mouse?'

I exhale my smoke slowly up to the stars.

'I ripped its head off.'

I blow the flame out, flip the top shut, and take the Zippo from her frozen hand.
Yeah; I'm ready to go now.
As my feet move to leave, she surprises me.
She pulls my cig from my mouth and takes a long drag on it.
Her eyes drift shut, and her face relaxes as the smoke hits her lungs.
I watch, and I'm kinda stunned, as she slowly breathes it out, in a seriously sexy exhale.
She's got it going on, she has.
Then she speaks, in a husky smoke covered voice.

'Well, as someone who watches my back, I'm glad you haven't changed.'

THE END