Have a Little Faith Chapter 50

“Where could she have gone?” Giles asked.  They had all gathered around to work on the preparations for tomorrow.  When Giles got back from his shopping trip, he had been told about Lilah’s disappearance.

Lindsey shrugged his shoulders.  He took a deep breath and put his hands in his pocket.  “She was scared.  She probably ran off.  She probably thought it would be better if no one knew where she was.”

“She could be dangerous,” Faith said.  “We can’t trust her completely.  She knows about the curse.  She could tell Angelus what we’re doing.”

“No,” Lindsey replied.  “I think she was just scared.  She probably fled somewhere.”

“Well, we can’t be too concerned about her,” Giles replied.  “It’s more important that we stop Angelus.”

Lindsey sighed.  He was hoping that Lilah would have stuck around. They could have helped her. Faith sensed what he was feeling and touched his shoulder.

“Shortcake, we can’t save them all.”
 

“You really hurt me,” Angelus said, rubbing his completely healed wound.

“They had to believe me,” she explained, with so much nervousness in her voice that all the vampires could taste her fear.

“Believe you?” Angelus questioned.  “I should kill you right now.  There was no deal on the table and you shot me with an arrow.  That fucking hurt.”

“Yes,” she explained, getting so frightened that her voice became shaky.  “They had to make it think I was on their side.”

“You still may be,” Drusilla said and blew a kiss at Lilah.

Lilah looked down for a moment.  “This spell?” she asked.  “It’s not going to end the world?”

“No,” Angelus said and smiled.  He figured he could milk Lilah out of all the information he could, then kill her.  Perhaps he would make it seem like he believed her and when he opened the gate, he would offer Lilah as a snack to the first vampire he would raise—Darla.  She would love a pretty woman as her first blood.  “I’m tired of that.  I kind of like this world.  It’s fun.  No, Lilah, what is does is put a lot of dead vampires back on the street.  Think of it as a prison break,” Angelus explained.

“And what will happen to me?”

“Well, there’s going to be a lot of confused vampires who are going to need Wolfram and Hart’s help,” he explained.  “Holland has already agreed.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I talked it over with him after I sucked the blood of his boss and before I left for Sunnydale. We worked it out.”

Lilah felt sick to her stomach.

“And Holland agreed.  Wolfram and Hart would help us once we killed both slayers and all those silly humans.”

“What does Holland get out of this?” Lilah asked.

“Promoted of course.  I killed his boss, and he could blame the dead guy for everything that went wrong.”

“What a silly little man,” Drusilla said and laughed.  “A squirmy little man,” she said, then pouted.  “He didn’t even scream when he died nor did he taste good.  His blood was bitter.”

“I hated him too,” Lilah said.

Angelus smiled.  He knew she was just saying that to play along, but he could tell she was terrified.

When Angelus touched her face, Lilah shuddered.  “You don’t have to be afraid of me.  I promise I won’t hurt you,”

Lilah did not believe a word of it, but she knew she had she couldn’t survive if she stay with Lindsey and with Angelus, she might have a chance.  She had talked her way out of being killed before, she could do it again.

“So, Lilah what do you bring us?” Angelus asked.  He sat down next to Dru on Spike's old couch.

“Information.”

“Oh goody,” Drusilla said and clapped.  “I love information.”

“They are all here, the slayer, Lindsey, the seer, Charles Gunn and that PI. They think you are doing the spell tomorrow.”

Angelus nodded.  “That was a good guess. Giles is good, but I’m better.  I guess that’s why I get laid more often.”

Lilah did not reply.

“What about the curse?”

Lilah took a deep breath then shook her head.  Maybe if they get the curse in time, she would be safe from Angelus and then she could return to Wolfram and Hart and beg Holland for her job back.

Then she looked at Angelus and wondered if she even had a chance.

“They may hide secrets though,” Drusilla said.

“Good, so how do they plan to stop me?”

“By guarding the hellmouth.  Buffy is there now, guarding it.  She’s going to switch off with Faith.”

“Oh that’s too bad,” Angelus said and smiled.  “I wanted to kill Faith and Lindsey first.  But Buffy,” he said.  “I think I can think of something quick but exciting. Imagine,” he said while lifting his hands  “100 vampires feeding on her slowly.  What a horror to see, but since she’s currently in my way to do the spell tonight,  I guess I’ll have to kill her first.” Angelus smiled.  “Or maybe I’d just like to see her run.”  He laughed.  “Yes.  I want to see her run.”

“You’re doing the spell tonight?” Lilah asked, shocked.

“Yeah, that’s why I said Giles made a good guess.  We head to the school as soon as gets dark.  I’ll have about 50 vampires guarding the place.  Everyone dies—“ Angelus smiled.  “That is, everyone but you.”
 

“How’s it going?” Giles asked Willow.

“Oh, great,” she retorted.  “I mean good, I mean this language is really hard to pronounce.”

“Do the best you can,” he said and smiled at her to give her encouragement.  Willow pouted then went back to the text again.

Tara put her arms around her.  She felt like she was Willow’s coach tonight.  “You can do it.  You can do anything.  I believe in you.” She said, then kissed Willow’s cheek.
 

Buffy was bored.  Riley had joined along with her for sentry duty on the Hellmouth.  They had to be quiet because Synder was working late and if he caught Buffy in the library, there would be hell to pay and Giles would probably have to suffer the brunt of it.

Buffy yawned to try and catch Riley’s attention.  He smiled and walked over to her.

“Hi,” he said.  She touched his chest.  He looked down.  He loved her so much, and she was wonderful, but for some reason he felt that she did not feel as strongly as he did.  He guessed her mind was on Angelus.

Riley had been devastated when she told him the truth.  She slept with a vampire and that had turned him evil.  Now he was back and it seemed destroying the world was on his mind.

Though Riley was only worried about Buffy now.

“Faith—and umm—Lindsey—They seem nice.”

Buffy nodded.  “She’s abrasive and he’s clingy.  Yeah, I know.  They make the perfect couple.”

Riley smiled and placed his arm around her.  “Not completely perfect.”

“But they are good people who have been through a lot.”

Riley nodded.

Buffy sensed something was wrong.  “You okay?”

He nodded.  “It’s just this whole thing about Angelus and this restoring curse.”

Buffy frowned and looked down.  “You think we should stake him?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with who he was to you—I will always know that he will be your first love no matter how bad he gets,” he sighed.  “But due to safety concerns, he should be eliminated before he hurts other people.  He’s already killed three people you know.  He might come after your mother--”

“Prophecy is what made Faith and me slayers, what gave Doyle his visions,” she explained, though she was worried about her mother.  Her mother promised to stay in the house for the next few nights.  “Prophecy says that Angelus must get back his soul.  It has to be done.”  She wanted to believe it.  She hoped saying it out-loud would make it true—but she thought about Jenny, Cordelia and Wesley.

“But at what cost?”

“Miss Summers!” said a stern voice from the front of the library.  Buffy went from a frown to rolling her eyes.  Both she and Riley looked to the library door where Synder stood frowning with his arms crossed.

Buffy smiled.

“Oh no,” Synder said. “You are not going to worm your way out of this.  You have graduated from this school, therefore you are not allowed on the property.  Let alone with strangers.”

Buffy held up Giles’ keys.  “Giles wanted me to get some books,” she said and smiled.  “And this isn’t a stranger.”

“Yes, I’m Agent Riley Finn of the US government.  We have a situation—“

“Oh please,” Synder said and held up his hand.  “I know a boy toy when I see one.”

“But—“ Buffy started.  She saw the door open.  Angelus had entered.  He gave a bright smile and a wave to Buffy.

Buffy ran up to Synder and threw him across the library counter.

“Hello, dear,” Angelus said.  “That’s a waste of time.  Pretty soon the world will be so overrun with vampires, two slayers won’t be enough. They’ll be hundreds of them.  Perhaps even thousands of them.”

The door opened again, this time Drusilla followed.

“There are more pretty soldiers outside,” she said and smiled.

“Now step aside,” Angelus said.  “And run, Buffy, run.”

“Don’t you want to kill me?”

Angelus shook his head.  “Not yet.  I want you to run.  I want to see the slayer run screaming.  However if you stay, you will have the most painful of deaths.”

Riley moved to Buffy’s side.  “I don’t think so,” Riley said.

“Oh,” Angelus said and laughed.  “You must be the new beau.  Such a shame you have to die.”

Riley did not say anything.

“You know I screwed her and she liked it.  She would take me back, you know, in a heartbeat if she could.  She would cast you aside like dirt.”

Riley did not get a chance to respond, because the door opened again and this time Lilah entered.  There were three more vampires behind her.  All had their vamp faces on.  They were ready for battle.

“I guess you weren’t as despondent as you were led on,” Buffy said, with a little anger.

Lilah tossed her hair.  “I have a job to take care of,” she said and smiled.

“Lindsey believed in you,” Buffy said. “He thought you had a chance at redemption.”

“Lindsey is a fool,” Angelus said.  “And he’s going to die very slowly and very painfully.  I’m buying a brand new chainsaw just for the occasion.”

Lilah looked down when Angelus said that.

“You’re not getting to the Hellmouth,” Buffy said and stood firm.

“You gonna kill me?” Angelus said and laughed.  “Haven’t you heard?  I’m very popular on both sides.  If I’m good and kittenish, I’ll save your ass.  If I’m bad—“ he smiled, again.  “I’ll be very bad.”

As he lunged for Buffy, several vampires headed into the room.
 

Faith did the patrolling tonight.  Lindsey sat on a nearby stone fence watching her.  They had both been ordered to stay away from preparations for a few hours.

Faith had only killed a single vampire tonight.  After she dusted him, she joined Lindsey on the fence.

“Hey,” she said.  “Still worried about Lilah?”

He shook his head.  “She’ll be okay,” he explained.  “Where ever she went.  I’m sure she has an escape route planned somewhere.  Everyone at Wolfram and Hart had an escape plan ready—just in case.”

“I know you must be disappointed,” Faith said.  “I knew you wanted to help her.”

“She has a soul—She needed to learn how to use it,” he buried his face in his hands.  All these people lived while Cordelia, who was a good soul, who had changed, was cold in the ground.

“We can’t save everyone,” she explained.  “We can only save who we can.”

Lindsey did not respond.  Faith decided to change the subject.

“It’s a slow night for patrolling.  Sunnydale is like the vampire capital of the west coast.  Last night Buffy and I staked like 20 vamps.”

Lindsey shrugged his shoulders and did not look up.  Faith guessed that sitting in a cemetery made him think of Cordelia.

“I guess you miss her.”

“Like you would not believe.”

Faith touched the side of his face.  They looked at each other for a moment, then kissed.

“You like that?” she asked.

“It’s nice,” he replied, but the numbness was growing.  Soon it would overcome him and then he would no longer feel.

Before they could kiss again, Faith’s cell phone rang.  Faith picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Darling,” Doyle said.  “I got a vision of Buffy.  She was fighting Angelus in the library.  Could you do me a favor and check up on her?”

“Will do,” Faith said.

“What’s the matter?”

“Doyle has a vision of Buffy fighting Angelus,” she explained, calmly.  “But I assumed it’s from fighting him tomorrow.”

Lindsey looked down.

“What’s the matter?”

“You said Buffy and you fought a lot of vampires yesterday, but none tonight?” he asked.

“Just the one.  They probably heard I was in town and ran.”

Lindsey stood up.  “We were never quite sure of the date,” he explained.  “What if they are attacking the school right now?”

“Oh shit,” Faith said.  “Buffy.”

“Don’t panic,” Lindsey said.  “Let’s call the others first.”
 

Buffy and Riley were doing the best they can, but the vampires had driven them to the back of the stacks.  Buffy tried to push her way forward, but Angelus and Drusilla were able to move towards the Hellmouth.

Buffy did her best to stake the vampires to get to Angelus, but there seemed there were to many, and all they wanted to do was keep her and Riley from the getting to Angelus.

Angelus smiled when he reached the hellmouth.  He took Drusilla’s hand.  Lilah had pushed her way through the gauntlet. No one seemed to bother her.  The vampires seemed to know what Angelus had in store for her.

“My dear,” Angelus said to Drusilla.  “Would you like to do the honors.”

Drusilla smiled and Angelus handed her the satchel.

“Oh,” she said.  “We’re going to play a very wicked game.”
 

“We’ll get on to it right away,” Giles said, getting off the phone.  “Faith thinks Angelus is doing the spell tonight.  Faith and Lindsey are heading to the school right now.”

“They need help?” Doyle asked.

“Willow, are you ready?”

“Not really,” she replied.

“You can do it,” Tara said.  “I know you can.”

“Giles, why don’t you and Anya and Tara stay here with Willow,” Xander said.  “She may need help with the spell.”

“Be careful.  Angelus apparently has recruited several vampires,” Alex said.

Giles smiled.  “I have plenty of weapons.”
 

Drusilla stood by an open vortex.  The gem was at the mouth of the vortex.  The wind in the library was so loud that voices were barely audiable.  Buffy and Riley were still fighting the vampires.

The door to the library opened and Faith and Lindsey rushed in.

“You help Buffy,” Faith mouthes.  “I’ll get to the gem.”

Faith heard Drusilla recite a few words in Latin.  Spike, Lilah, and Angelus stood by the mouth.  Faith rushed towards them.  Before she could reach them she ran into an invisible wall and was thrown back.

“Faith!” Lindsey screamed and ran to her.

“Tsk tsk,” Angelus said and grinned.  “The spell involves a wall that you cannot enter.  I picked this spell for a reason.  I know I might have interference.  This not only puts up a wall, but will extend from the inside, which means were can stay here for a long time. Not only that, but even if you manage to bring the wall down, whoever removes the crystal from the vortex will be sucked right in.  I think or instantly killed.  I’m not quite sure.  One of you want to find out?”

Drusilla recited a few more words in Latin.  The vortex flashed and a naked vampire appeared.  The vampire collapsed to the floor.

Angelus rushed over to her.  This spell had all been to get her back.

“Hello,” he said and pushed her blond hair out of her eyes.  It had been four years, but he knew for her, it had been thousands.

“Grandmother!” Drusilla said in delight.

Faith understood.  The vampire was Darla.  She looked at Buffy.  Neither slayer knew what to do.

“Angelus—“ Darla said, weakly and then passed out.
 

Chapter 51

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