Have a Little Faith, Chapter 23

Chapter 23

“I didn’t hurt you too bad?” Was the first thing that Faith asked.  She had decided to wait a week before calling him, though she desperately wanted to call him the next day.  She did not know what the status was with the whole Oracle thing, so she decided to give it a week to blow over. .

“No,” Lindsey replied.  “Nothing to scar my perfect face.”  He did not laugh, neither did she.

“Cordelia wigged out when I told her.  I said you wanted me to.  She really freaked out. She--”

“I got arrested—“ he said.  Although he wanted to hear about Cordelia, he had to tell Faith about this right away and he needed to do it before he lost his nerve.

“What?” she said, shocked.

“I freaked out myself,” he admitted.  “After I woke up and I saw the Oracles again.  I know what you said, but I still could not take it. I was doing 105 on the freeway.  Lilah bailed me out—“

“Does she suspect?”

“Nope, I told her I was pissed off at Angelus for leaving me.  I called him a cock sucker, but he just laughed.”

“I want to kill him Shortcake, I want him dead before he kills you.  You’ve done enough—“

“That’s not important now.  Did you get a call from a girl named Lina?”

“Nope.”

Lindsey sighed.

“Who is she?” Faith asked, confused.

“She’s a gypsy girl I met in holding.  It was like it was destiny that we met.  She knew about the curse, but when I asked her for more information, she shut down.  I gave the name of Alex’s agency.  I was hoping she would call or come by.”

“Sorry.”

“This is so frustrating,” he said.

“I know.”

“Listen, for some reason Angelus turned Lee into a vampire.  I don’t know why.  Holland is furious, but he’s not going to do anything, Angelus is too important to the Senior Partners,” he took a deep breath.

“I think Angelus is up to something.  I don’t know if Holland knows.”

“He’s always up to something.  I told you before.  Angelus probably thinks Wolfram and Hart is a joke, but they probably got something he wants.”

“I have to go to work now.”

“Listen Shortcake, things are getting dangerous.  Why don’t you get out now.”

“You heard the Oracles, my work is undone.”

“Fuck ‘em,” she said.

“Faith—“

“You heard me.  They’re dead, you shouldn’t be—“

“You don’t seem to understand Faith—“

“Lindsey you seem to think that dying is the only way you can make up for what you’ve done.  I’m telling you have.  You’re no good to me dead.”

Lindsey did not say anything for a long time.

“I want you out before you die,” she paused for a moment.  “I don’t want you to die.”

“Faith—“ he paused again.  He was glad about her concern, but he knew his duty.  “I told you,” this time his voice was stern.   “I unleashed this monster.  It’s my duty to stay for as long as I can.  Meeting Lina who might know about the curse was my first bit of good luck in months.  She may lead us to the curse.”

“If she shows up.  What happens if she never does?”

Lindsey laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I used some of my connections,” he explains.  “I found out Lina’s full name and address.  We have it incase we get very desperate.  She’ll help, I could tell.  She had a tough exterior but she could tell I was sad about the whole situation despite the mind spell.”

“Good work,” Faith said and laughed.  “How was your New Years?” She wanted to get off the subject of business.

“Boring, wanted to spend it with Cordelia, instead went to a dumb party with people I don’t like.  What about yours?”

“Had to spend it with Wesley and Doyle, just like Christmas.  Doyle complained we did not have enough alcohol.  Next year, we’re going to a club.  You, me, Angel and Cordelia. We’ll celebrate the New Year in style.”
 

“Any luck?” Angelus asked Lee.  He was with Penn in Lee’s office.

Lee shook his head.  “Holland doesn’t mind that I still work here,” he explained.  “But he is annoyed about me disabling the cameras.  Unfortunately, he’s limited my access.  I do vaguely remember we had it.”

“It’s very important I find it Lee,” he said.

“If it’s in the vault than there’s nothing I can do, There’s a big mean demon guarding it—Oh wait a minute, I’m a vampire.” Lee said.  “But Holland is might be tracking me.”

“Angelus says we have to find it,” Penn said.  “And then the three of us will be unstoppable.”
 

Lindsey stopped by Holland’s office when he first came in to work.  Holland was on the phone, but he motioned him in.

“Alright, Bill, I’ll get in touch.”  Holland smiled, then hung up the phone.

“Hello, Lindsey.  How’s the face?”

Lindsey touched his face.  It did not hurt.  Almost everything was healed. “Much better, sir, thank you.”

“She really does hate you,” Holland said.

“I got that notion when she beat me up,” he replied.  “She needs to be eliminated.”

“That’s why I came to see you.  I was very disappointed that you didn’t get bail for Vanessa Brewer.”

“I tried sir.”

“We can’t win it all,” Holland said and smiled. “By the way I’ve taken care of that little speeding skirmish from Christmas.”

“Oh,” he said.

“You didn’t think I would learn about it?”

“No, sir, it’s just that I planned to take care of it myself,” Lindsey said, a little worried that Holland might pick up on something else.  He hoped that Lilah was the one that told him.

“Well I took care of it.  Next time you want to blow off steam, go to the gym.  It’s far less expensive.”

“Yes sir.”

“Now we have more pressing problems.”

“Problems?”

“Yeah, teenagers.  They are always a problem.”

“What about them?”

“Well, there’s a group of teenagers living in Watts and they’re killing vampires.  Some of them work for us.”

“How do you want me to take care of it?”

“I was thinking more of Angelus and Penn.  Maybe even Lee.  I don’t think these kids have ever met the likes of Angelus and Penn, don’t you think?  Most of the vamps are street ones, but still they have killed some that work for us.”

“Sir, how much damage can kids possibly do?”

“Enough for me to notice,” he replied.  “Get Angelus and Penn on it right away.  I want the problem taken care of.”

Lindsey did not reply.  He walked away instead, wondering why Holland was giving Angelus such a simple assignment.
 

“Okay—“ Faith said.  “I met up with a group of teens that killed vampires in that area when I first came to LA.  Their leader didn’t seem to really like me.  I thought he was going to piss on the ground to mark his territory.”

“You have to make him understand that these are not your run of the mill vampires.  Angelus and Penn—“

“Trust me, shortcake, I know.”

“It’s just that they’re kids—“

“I know,” she repeated.  She knew Lindsey was still suffering from what Angel did the boy almost a year ago.

“Make sure they’re okay.  They may not know what it’s like to go against something like Angelus.”

“I’ll go there right away.”
 

Faith entered the ransacked building.  She sensed a lot of fear. There were a lot of people hiding here.

“Hello?” she called out.  She could hear people, shifting, trying not to move.  “Hello?” she repeated.  “I know you’re here and I’m not here to hurt ya.  I’m telling you, you’re in danger.”

Someone crept out from among the shadows.  It was Gunn, the man that she had met in the park last June.

“Oh, hey,” he said.  “It’s the vampire slayer number 2.”

“Yep,” she said, with no jealousy in her voice because that was what Gunn was trying to make her feel.  “Faith.”

“I thought you understood that would could take care of ourselves.  We have.  You go take care of the rich white folks.”

“The rich white folks are who you ticked off.  They’re sending some really mean vampires to kill you.”

“I’ve met mean vampires.”

“Not like this.  What was your name again?  Gunn? These two vamps, they learned from the Master, literally.”

“I’m not worried,” But Faith could tell he was.

“You should be.  This was the vampire I warned you about. Don’t let your pride get in the way—“

“Listen—Faith,” Gunn said.  “We can take care of ourselves.  We’ve been able to for the past couple of years.”

“Nope,” she replied flatly.

Gunn looked confused.  “What do you mean no?”

“I don’t think you can.  How many have you lost?”

“Not a lot.”

“That’s one to many—“

“I told you that we can take care of ourselves.  You really are dense, Slayer.”

“You got no choice in the matter,” she said and crossed her arms.  “You got my protection.”

Before Gunn could say anything, a voice rang out.  “Charles—“ A black woman came out from the shadows.

“Alonna, go back into hiding.”

Alonna shook her head. “We should let her help.”

“We don’t need help—“

“I told you, tough.  I’m staying here for as long as it takes to get rid of Angelus.  He’s coming tonight.  We got to prepare.  He’s gonna probably smoke you out.”

Gunn tried to grab her to escort her out, but Faith only knocked him to the floor.

“Oh, please,” she said.  “I’m a slayer, remember?” She put her hand down to help Gunn up, Gunn just flipped her over.  Faith was back on her feet in mere seconds.

“You’re only wasting your time.”

Before Gunn could take another swing at her, Alonna rushed over.  She grabbed his arms.  “Charles,” she said.  “Come on.  We could use all the help we can get.”

Gunn put his hand down.

“Now are we gonna play nice?” Faith asked. “I’m trying to help you.  Cause I don’t want you to get killed.”
 

“Change of plans,” Angelus suddenly announced to Penn and Lee.  “We’re going after those kids now.”

“But it’s the middle of the day—“ Penn complained.

“And we need to tell Lindsey,” Lee added.

“Oh, fuck Lindsey.  He’s a miserable human who’ll piss in his pants if I come near him.  The kids will never expect a vampire attacking them during the day.”
 

“So how many people live here?” Faith asked.  More people had come out of hiding to see Faith.

“23,” he replied.  “We aren’t all so lucky as you.”

Faith laughed.  “Just because I’m a slayer; don’t make me rich.”

“You don’t live in abandoned housing.”

“I did before I was called.”

Gunn did not say anything.

“So Alonna, she your girlfriend?” Faith asked, trying to make small talk.

Gunn laughed.  Faith knew there was nothing sexual in their relationship. Alonna was obviously his sister.  She just thought she should try to lighten the mood.

“She’s my sister.  I take care of her.”

“And you’ll take care of her even better if you’re not bullheaded.”

Gunn looked angry for a moment, then chuckled.  “So what’s the plan for tonight?”

The moment was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.  Something had broken through the window.  It was a bottle of some type.  When it shattered again the wall, the wall caught fire.

“Oh shit!” Faith screamed out. When another bottle came through the same window and other part of the building caught fire.

“This way!” Gunn screamed out.  “It’s a back way no one knows about.”
 

 In the front of the building, Lee, protected from the sun by being wearing a coat and a blanket was inside a van throwing molotov cocktails at the building.  He smashed as many windows as possible.  He watched the flames grow.

In the back of the building, there was another van. The doors were open, Angelus and Penn waited for the rats to come out. Wolfram and Hart had the plans for almost every building of the city.  Angelus knew all about the back way.

“Just like old times,” Penn said and laughed.  Angelus just nodded.  The door opened.

“Here they come.”

Penn rubbed his palms together.  He put a dark blanket over himself.

“Bring me a snack.”

Penn ran towards the people.  Half of them he bit, the other half he tossed in the van.
 Alonna, Gunn and Faith ran out.  Penn grabbed Alonna and threw her in the van.

“Hey!” both Gunn and Faith screamed out at the same time.  Gunn ran to the van, while Faith hit Penn.  The blanket fell off of Penn.  Penn started screaming and smoking.  He jumped into the van, knocking Gunn to the ground.

“Hello, Slayer,” Angelus yelled at her.  “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll all leave the vampires in peace.  It’s our time now.”

“Alonna!” Gunn screamed as the van took off.  Faith ran after it, but the driver had floored it.  She still ran several blocks.  She heard Gunn screaming his sister’s name from blocks away.
 

“Hello, dearie,” Angelus said, to Alonna while he sucked on the blood of one of her friends.  Alonna had back up in a corner, cowering. “You can have a slow and painful death or you can have a fast and painful death.  For the latter you have to tell me why the slayer was there.”

Alonna just whimpered.

“Come on, time’s a wasting.”

Penn smiled.  “Relax, Angelus.  I think I know a way to get her to talk.”
 
 

Continue to Chapter 24

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