| Have A Little Faith, Chapter 44 | |
Faith and Lindsey had just finished with a messenger service and had checked into a seedy hotel to relax before planning their next move.
The hotel reminded Faith of the place she stayed in Sunnydale. It seemed inhabited by the scum of the earth. She felt right at home.
Faith could see lightening in the sky. A storm was coming. It was hot humid and sticky.
She turned on the AC, it groaned, creaked, then started up. She sat down on one of the twin beds. Lindsey sat on the other.
She went over and turned on the TV which was closest to the bed Lindsey was sitting on. She turned the sound off. The news was on. They were showing heavy rush hour traffic. Faith was not even sure what day it was.
She sat down next to him and put her arms around him. He shivered at her touch. How did they ever get into this mess?
“You want me to turn the AC off?”
He shook his head. “Do you think we were mean to them?”
“Nope,” she said. “They don’t understand.”
Lindsey did not respond.
“I’ve been thinking that maybe we’ll take a little break and when it’s late we’ll head to Wolfram and Hart’s office building and stake and kill all the demons and vamps that leave.”
“The security will catch us,” he replied, not looking at her. “They’ll kill us.”
“You said they were humans right.”
“Yep.”
“One knock on the head and that’s it.”
He smiled. He knew they would die if they tried, but he did not care. He looked at her. She looked at him, then kissed him again. She knew she shouldn’t do this, but she ignored her instincts. She would become a rebound, but it did not matter. She wanted to be warm now.
Their kissing became more passionate. Faith started pulling off her shirt. This may be their last night on Earth. They were all alone in the universe.
“Do you umm—“ Lindsey asked. “Have protection? Cordelia was on the pill—She wanted a child, but not for a little while—“
Faith put her arms around him and held him
tightly. “Don’t worry I will protect you in any way I know how.”
“We need to find them,” Doyle told Alex. They had returned back to the office where Gunn and Kate had joined them.
“And what?” Alex said, a little annoyed. “Jump them and drag them home, Faith would escape and it wouldn’t help.”
“I can put an APB out on them?” Kate suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Doyle said. “She’s in bad shape. The last thing we want to do is have her tangle with the police.”
“I have some friends in the force,” Kate explained. “I could ask them to contact me if either of them are spotted. They won’t bring her in or anything. Just tell us where she is.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Alex said. “Maybe we can try reasoning with them again.”
Doyle did not respond. He touched his bandaged temple where Lindsey had accidentally hit him.
“What about me?” Gunn asked. “I don’t know about you, but it sounds like Faith’s gonna do what she should have done in the first place. Stake that bastard. That sounds cool to me.”
“She can’t,” Doyle said. “Not for the bigger picture.”
“Bigger picture is that this dude killed 10 of my friends and my sister, brutally murdered Lindsey’s wife and the watcher guy. He tortured Lindsey and stalked Faith. He’s a monster and we don’t have anything to curse him with.”
He was interrupted when the pager downstairs rang. Alex went to the intercom. She decided to keep the door locked all the time, even during business hours, except that they hadn’t been open for business since the deaths.
“Who is it?”
"Elena Kadash and Lina.”
Alex buzzed them in.
Elena and Lina appeared a moment later.
“Where is Lindsey and Faith?” Elena demanded.
“They are—“ Doyle started unsure if he should tell them the truth.
“Taking a few days off,” Alex finished.
“I have been thinking. Lindsey and Faith—They saved my granddaughter. I guess that means I owe them. I have called out all stops. I’ve learned I have a cousin who has a friend that lives in Sunnydale. She can talk to the dead. She might be able to talk to the last person who had the curse. It does not guarantee they will tell you, but it’s the best chance you got.”
No one said anything.
“I am very sorry. I feel very responsible for the deaths of those two people because I should have done this before, especially since I owe Lindsey and Faith.”
Doyle smiled.
“What is it?”
“You may have saved two other people.”
If it was everything she ever wanted, why did she wake up feeling cheap? Her dream was the wake up with Lindsey’s arms around her. His naked body besides her and protected by his warmth. But he was cold. He shivered, wept in his sleep and called out only his wife’s name. The entire room was cold and it wasn’t just the air. Life seemed cold to her.
Eventually he would get over Cordelia’s death and realize that this was a mistake. She turned around and faced him. His eyes were closed, but tears stained his cheek. She rubbed his cheek and smile. He gave her the courage to go on. She could not lose him. She had to stop Angelus before he took him away from her. She did not care if their relationship did not work out. Lindsey had given her the courage to escape her past. He was her hope and her spirit. She was not going to lose him to Angelus.
Lindsey’s blue eyes suddenly opened. She was glad he did not look horrified that he was in bed with her.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” she replied. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m not really here. Like I’m somewhere else, but still I feel safe here with you.”
“I feel safe here with you also,” she said, taking his hand.
“We can stay here forever,” he said. “And vampires, slayers, seers, lawyers, private investigators and death does not have to exist—“
Their moment was interrupted by a loud banging at the door.
“Ignore it,” Faith said when Lindsey looked up. “No one knows we’re here, this can be our secret place.”
The knocking continued.
“Hey!” screamed a male voice from the other side. “Hey, vampire slayer part 2, open the door!”
Faith looked at the door. It was the person she least suspected, Gunn.
“I’m kind of curious about why he’s here,” Lindsey commented. Faith nodded in response. She got up on of the bed and grabbed a towel. Lindsey stayed under the covers.
Faith opened the door but only partially. Gunn was standing there alone. He did not say anything just looked her over.
“You like the view or somethin’? You wanna see more?”
“Umm—“ he said and quickly recovered. “Hey, slayer, your friends sent me to find you and lawyer boy.”
“Well, I’m here, but tell them not to worry. Tell them to find safe lives where they can’t be killed.”
“Listen, they’re just worried. I got no problem with what you doing. You should have staked him last year. Then maybe my sister and those others would still be around.”
“Cordelia and Wesley,” Faith said. “That’s what their names were.”
“Yeah them.”
“You want me to stake Angelus? Aren’t you worried about the prophecy? The fate of humankind?”
“I couldn’t care less about that shit,” he said. “All I know is that evil needs to be killed and that vampire is definitely evil. Now if you’re finished doing the wild thing with lawyer boy, I think the three of us together could be finishing Angelus and all those vamps of his.”
The door opened all the way. Lindsey was standing there in his clothes.
“Hi Gunn,” he said.
“Lindsey.”
“Come in,” Faith said.
“Word out on the street says they’re looking for Faith and Lindsey,” Alonna said.
Angelus smiled. He was waiting for Faith and Lindsey to come after them then it would be all over. Then onto Sunnydale where he had to teach another bitch a lesson. They were waiting in the conference room for Penn and Lee to arrive. Now that Holland knew their plan, all but one small detail, they could discuss it in the open.
“Be weary,” Drusilla said. “For their hearts aren’t completely broken.”
Angelus did not respond. Sometimes he regretted driving Dru mad before turning her. He might have gotten a less cryptic seer.
“You must break their hearts completely to destroy them.”
“I’ll do more than break their hearts.”
“You must do more.”
Angelus again did not have a chance to respond, because they were interrupted by one of the secretaries. She was also extremely fearful.
“Hello, umm—“ she had two boxes with her. “These are for you.” She left them on the table and quickly left before Angelus, Dru, or Alonna could say anything.
Angelus looked over the boxes in curiosity. There was a small note in an envelope on the top. Angelus carefully opened it. All it had was one word.
Penn
Angelus opened the box.
“They’re dead,” Drusilla suddenly said.
There were ashes inside.
Angelus started getting a little angry. He ripped off the note from the other box. It also had only one word.
Lee
He opened the box. It was also filled with ashes.
“Slayer!” Angelus screamed out.
“So have you delivered them?” Holland asked the secretary.
“Yes sir,” she said, nervously. She looked like a wreck, but she had dropped off the package and survived. Holland reminded himself to send her a gift.
“Good,” Holland said and smiled. Security
had x-rayed the package and the note. Holland knew what was inside
and that it would probably enrage Angelus enough to finally go after Faith
and finish the job.
“You call that a plan?” Gunn asked.
“What’s wrong with it?” Faith said. “We have to hurt them all, Angelus, Wolfram and Hart.”
“You’ll probably get killed before you even reach Angelus,” Gunn retorted.
“Whatever,” Lindsey replied back.
Gunn gave Lindsey a strange look.
“We should be effective,” he explained. “Even if you two are on a suicide mission.”
“It’s not like we have any choice in the matter,” Faith explained. “Slayers live with a death wish. We’re lucky we make it to drinking age.”
“Lawyers are that way too,” Lindsey said.
“Besides you want to finally put your sister to rest right? Ain’t gonna happen standing around here.”
Gunn could not do anything, but nod.
Alex, Lilith, and Doyle were sitting around Alex’s office. Kate had left and was talking to her police friends. Gunn was out canvassing the streets for signs of them.
“Do any of you want coffee?” Alex asked, getting up.
“No thanks,” Doyle said.
Lilith just shook her head.
“I need some,” she said and walked to the coffee machine. She opened up the top where the filter went and noticed Cordelia had forgotten to take it out from last time. The grains were green and moldy.
Alex started to cry.
Doyle rushed over and touched her shoulder. He never liked this. He wanted to tell people about his visions. He did not want to be a warrior or a caretaker.
“Oh god, I kept telling myself that we should have put more protection on this place. Buzzed people in during the day. I should have lived here so that no one could enter—“
“Stop it,” Doyle said, “just shut up.”
“What?” Alex asked, shocked at Doyle’s tone.
“I should have had a vision,” he said and burst into tears. He collapsed on one of Alex’s chairs. “I should have had a vision of them. I should have been able to save them. For fucks sake—what’s the use of this power if ya can’t save the people ya love.”
“We have to save them, Doyle. Maybe we should drug her.”
“It won’t calm her down,” he said. “She’s just gonna wake up mad.”
“We have to something to help them. They are falling right into Angelus’ hands. We can’t let that happen.”
Doyle did not get a chance to respond because his phone rang. He pulled out of his pocket and answered.
“Hello? Oh hi Gunn, anything new?”
“Get in touch with your friends?” Faith asked when Gunn got back into the car.
“Yep. They said they’re dealing with a little problem on third but they’ll catch up on us later.”
Lindsey looked up ahead. Soon they would be pulling into a spot and walking six blocks to Wolfram and Hart’s office. It was pouring. The windshield wipers were barely keeping up with the rain.
“If they haven’t changed it, the vampire entrance is in the back. It’s guarded with humans and surveillance cameras. I think I know where they all are.”
Faith nodded.
Lindsey parked the car. He turned the lights off. He pulled his knapsack from the backseat.
He pulled the crossbow out and loaded it.
“Ready?” he asked, looking first to Faith and then to Gunn. He knew Gunn would be a help to them, but somehow he felt he was an intruder.
Faith nodded.
“Let’s stake the bastard.”