DISCLAIMER: No, no and no.
SUMMARY: She thought it would be fun, just an interesting game.... 'Enemies', goes
AR in the middle of it.
RATING: R-ish with a dark warning.
DEDICATION: to Doyle
because her Drabble
Tag post gave me an idea when I really really really needed one.
WORDCOUNT: 3437
THANK YOU to Faith, Dana and FaithGirl for the beta
For Sathinks at the Faithficathon.
Evil and Correction Award at The Dark Awards, The Angelic Face Award at Lie To Me Awards
ONE WAY TICKET
by Leni
Faith had thought it would be fun.
Wilkins had been playing with her, just like little girls played with their Barbies and
pointed at her because she didn't have one. Now Faith had the house, the toys, was this
close to convincing him to get her a vehicle (Wilkins said that not until she was 18, go
figure) and it was only fair that she got her own Ken too. All Angel-sized just like she'd
wanted it.
But it had quickly stopped being what she'd wanted. Angelus hadn't wanted to play with
her, instead demanding to meet her boss immediately. He had left her wanting and needy on
the floor of his mansion and refused to take another step in her direction until he had
talked to the Mayor.
He had yet to keep his word.
Soul gone, his first plan was to go against Buffy. First she'd groaned, mumbling about
Buffy here, Buffy there, Buffy fucking everywhere. But Angelus had shut her up with a
look, asked calmly if she wanted what was in store for Buffy. Hell, no, she wasn't that
crazy. She'd shoved her jealousy aside and thought better of it. And really, it was okay.
It'd be fun, she finally realised, appreciating the dark smile in her companion's lips. It
screamed of torture and kill, Faith would be more than happy in lending him a hand. It
sounded like quite the nice plan. Even had Daddy's permission and all, as long as Faith
was home before eleven, of course. So they hunted for her sister Slayer - sister, hah! -
and it was only a matter of hours until they had her bound and unresisting and very
unconscious in Angel's arms.
Faith had wanted to go to the mansion, see what little Buffy would say when she was
tortured in the same house where she'd been trading kisses with her lover. It would have
been so much easier to ensnare her into the Crawford mansion with some flimsy excuse. That
girl was too trusting for her own good, Faith had always believed that; it was high time
she taught her why. But Angelus had had other plans. No smooth plans for him, oh no, he'd
wanted the thrill of kidnapping his prey in her own room, with her mother chopping
vegetables in the kitchen downstairs. Bypassing Joyce had been so easy, the woman had
probably heard them going through the window, sighed resignedly and cried over how her
little girl didn't trust her enough to tell her when she had an emergency patrol with her
pals.
Angelus had gotten them a car or, better said, he'd gotten a driver out of his car, left
him to Faith's tender mercies and then stolen the keys, planted her in front of the wheel
(thankfully he'd ignored the childish whoop she'd made, or maybe he hadn't heard it in his
haste to get the blonde into the car) and told her to follow his directions.
Next thing she'd known, they were in L.A.
***
She watches him sitting on the bed in front of her. She sits at his feet, carelessly
spread on the floor like a little girl about to hear a bedtime story. But tonight she
won't hear of princesses or castles, Faith is the wicked witch who sets the dragon free
and now she has first row seats to the scene.
Angelus plays with the knife in his hands, slices it through the air and she can almost
hear as it cuts its very molecules.
"Let me play," she says, wetting her lips with a nervous lick.
He just looks at her and cocks an eyebrow, then raises the knife and keeps it horizontally
an inch away from his face. His eyes study her from above it, the blade silver under the
light. It flashes and Angelus smiles, moving it until Faith knows that he sees the edge
just over her neck.
She shifts uncomfortably under his gaze.
"I'm playing already, Faithy," he whispers with the same voice he whispered that
she was special. Faith wonders if he was playing then too. She frowns and he laughs.
"You just don't know this game."
She doesn't, it's true. She's just the girl awaiting her story as her teeth chatter
together because she forgot her blanket in the bedroom. She also forgot she's not old
enough not to have her security blanket at her side.
***
Angelus led her to an apartment in the centre of the city. When Faith asked 'how?' he only
smiled and patted the pocket where the cell he'd insisted Wilkins give him was resting.
"Old contacts," had been his only answer.
She was too tired to make more questions, and she was very pissed because his whole
attention was centred on the unconscious girl he was carrying. And there she'd thought
it'd be fun to throw her off the car while she was going at 86 m.p.h. Faith snarled in
fury when she remembered Angelus' reaction at her idea and she felt her neck carefully.
She could still feel his fingers tightening around it and his laughter ringing, oblivious
to the fact that she was still driving when he pulled his little stunt. Or maybe he was
laughing because of it. His whisper of "Immortal here, Faith," as he tightened
his grip seemed to indicate the latter.
Faith had stayed awake until Angelus chained the other girl securely to the wall.
"You are tired," he had stated then, rounding and Faith had shrugged.
"Not much," she had responded with a suggestive movement that left little doubt
to what she was very not tired for.
Angelus had laughed and shook his head. "Go sleep," he ordered, still kneeling
before Buffy and securing the handcuffs tighter. He patted the Slayer's cheeks, sharply
enough to make her react if she was faking. "She's gonna be mad when she
awakes," he added, his face coming closer to the sleeping girl's. He smirked, bones
and skin shifted together. Golden eyes studied his prey carefully. "I don't wanna
miss the show." Then he'd twirled his finger around a loose strand of Buffy's hair.
"Wakey wakey, Buff," he had whispered to the girl.
Faith had shrugged again and gone to look for the most comfortable spot. The apartment was
big, she was sure she'd find a nice place to rest. Angelus had drugged Buffy while they
were on their way, the first time the Slayer had even moaned he had taken a syringe out of
somewhere in his coat and injected her. Buffy had fallen back into his lap without as much
as a whimper. Whatever that drug had been, Faith knew it would hold for a while, enough
for her to get a nap at least. Even if she had to go all on her lonesome. She would have
preferred some company, but it was okay, in a non-okay-ish kind of way. Why Angelus
prefered to stay with Sleeping Beauty, Faith couldn't fathom. She was there, she was
conscious and, hello!, she was willing. Oh well, his loss.
Faith glanced back at the vampire sitting thoughtfully in front of Buffy and smirked. It
was only a matter of time until she could have him all for herself.
---
Faith knows that hours have passed. How many, she can't tell, but the light in the
apartment has come and gone again. She hates the chains around her wrists, makes her feel
helpless. There's nothing she can hate more. Helpless outside the Mayor's territory, damn
Angelus for planning it so well. Her mouth is now dry and she longs for a bit of water,
she won't ask though. It's not as if Angelus would give it to her.
"I still don't get it, Faith, why?" he begins conversationally.
She shrugs.
He shakes his head, as if he was dealing with a stubborn toddler, and rises from the bed.
"Why?" He repeats, standing in front of her and takes her chin into his hand,
forcing her to face him. "Just tell me, it'll stay between us, I swear."
Faith looks into his eyes, how full of lies and empty of everything else they are. It's
the first time she compares Angel to Angelus and finds this version wanting. "What's
in it for you?"
"Still fighting back, I see." He closes the scarce inches between them, pushing
her body flat against the wall. A hand goes through her hair, snapping her head aside.
"A little more and bones would break," he whispers against her neck. He chuckles
and grazes a sharp fang across the soft skin. "Not the time for games anymore, can't
you see? I am merely curious. What made you turn your back on them? They were good for
you, disgustingly so. What was it?" His hand tugs her head back into place, and she
stares defiantly into his dark eyes, uncaring of the grip he controls her with. He smiles,
truly amused this time. "Did you want... respect?"
Faith doesn't answer.
Angelus laughs nastily. He pats her cheek condescendingly. "You had it," he
tells her, twirling the knife expertly between his fingers. "You had so much more
than I could expect for, and yet I didn't cross sides, you had to make me. You, the
Slayer. The one girl in all the world..."
"Shut it. One girl my ass."
Angelus looks back at the blonde on the bed, his smile widens slightly before facing Faith
again. "Not the point here, beauty. In case you didn't notice, Slayers fight against
the big bads, foiling our big bad plans. Aren't you guys supposed to be the pinnacle of
goodness?"
Faith snorts. "Right. Tell that to my agent."
But he doesn't seem as amused by her flippant remark and he hastily cuts a lock of her
hair. "Oops," he says, not sounding sorry at all. "That could have taken
your pretty earlobe away."
In spite of herself, Faith shivers at his words. "Do whatever you want. Wilkins will
make you pay. And I'll laugh."
"You are assuming you'll be there, such an amateur mistake." He walks away, a
hand at his chin as if he's trying to figure something out. "Wilkins. You have so
much to tell me about your... protector? Sugar Daddy?" His face crunches in distaste.
"Hopefully you had better taste than that. But then," he looks her up and down,
stopping meaningfully at the short skirt and the barely-there top. "Doesn't take much
to get between your legs."
She scowls, refusing to cross her legs self-consciously. "Wilkins knows I'm
good." Her chin went up, pride sneaking in her voice. "He realised immediately
that I'm better than B. Everybody else was Buffy this, Buffy that, how precious is
Buffy!" She scoffed, eyes rolling in annoyance. "I had nothing. Wilkins offered
everything. Do the math, Angie, what would you have done?" Faith doesn't wait for his
answer, instead looking at the shadow she can still see on the bed. "Besides, it's
her fault anyways. Bitch should have stayed dead in the first place."
A cut on her arm, tearing her top apart. "No badmouthing the dead."
She looks at him as if he'd suddenly grown horns. His eyes promise murder and the set of
lips aren't amused at her anymore. Then she understands. Her eyes widen. "She still
has everything." She spits to her side, wanting to get the taste of Angelus off her
tongue. "Fucking incredible. Sends you to hell, seals you with a soul and you're
still drooling after her," she laughs. The situation certainly calls for it.
"Aw," she snickers when the laughter dies down, a mocking hint in her voice.
"Isn't that true love?"
The slap echoes through the room. "Whipped," Faith continues. This time she's
prepared for the punch.
"Worthless bitch." The knife is thrown onto the bed, falling besides Buffy's
body with a faint thud. Angelus massages his right hand. Faith grins, so she wasn't the
only one feeling that hit. "You wouldn't get it if I drilled it into you brain."
"Why?" she challenges.
Angelus shrugs. "Simple. Buffy makes it interesting." He chuckles when he sees
the look in Faith's face, it means that she could make it interesting too. "Don't
flatter yourself. You are good." He caresses her arm, gathering on a finger a loose
drop of blood, "but good isn't enough."
"What is enough?" she asks, defiance a thin cover for the little girl asking her
first question about the scary world.
Angelus looks at her, tilting his head in an effort to read her. "You are enough for
Wilkins and I am too much for you, see the difference?"
She shakes her head.
"I thought so." He sounds bored now. Eyeing the knife and then going over her
chest.
Her teeth bite her tongue, stopping it from asking more questions. Faith isn't stupid. A
bored Angelus is a playful one, not good. She bets he's calculating the trajectory and the
needed strength. More time is necessary for her to plan a escape. Time she is losing
playing Twenty Questions with her captor. Oh, but she is so curious! Especially about this
newest development. Suddenly Faith smirks. Once their positions are reversed she will
saciate her curiousity.
She can wait.
***
It was too easy to break a Slayer.
The first time Buffy woke up he had played the part of a confused Angel. "I'm so
sorry," he had said sincerely, acting as if he was desperate to get her out of the
chains. "but there was no other option. You knew it."
Buffy nodded silently.
"I'm sorry, love, I told you this could hurt you. I didn't want you hurt." He
caressed her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "I'll get you out of here, I
promise."
Buffy tried a smile and Faith almost gave herself up in a laughing fit.
"Do you trust me?"
Buffy hadn't even finished to nod when Angelus brought out another syringe and sent her
back into Dreamland.
Faith entered the room clapping gleefully and he mock-bowed before her. "Wonderful
performance, what's next?" she asked curiously. They had been away for a complete day
almost, Wilkins would be mad if she wasn't home soon, curfew and all that.
Angelus shrugged. "Time will tell."
Faith tried not to say how his cryptic behaviour was equally annoying in both versions.
She smiled instead, "Maybe this will give you some ideas."
He took the knife she was handing him and studied it carefully. "Beautiful,
where-?"
She took a step forward and caressed the hand holding the knife. "Seems very
interesting people lived here before, quite an armament in the bedroom. I thought
maybe..." she trailed off and didn't stop the hunger from mirroring in her eyes.
When his kiss came it was hungry too, his tongue demanding entry as he stuck the knife
into his pocket and let her lead them into that bedroom.
He was good, Faith would give him that. Later she'd wonder that if he'd been half as good
last year to Buffy, why hadn't it been her the one to lose the soul? Angelus had
only laughed at her words and given her a smack that told that he was very grateful about
how that night had worked out. Then he'd sprung from the bed, re-dressed and went back to
Buffy's 'room'.
Faith had frowned and put her top on. He hadn't even looked back after he left the bed.
She huffed. Alive or undead, all men were pigs.
Annoyance had turned into fury when she saw Angelus carrying Buffy into her room.
"What are you doing?!" she practically shrieked, sitting straight on the
mattress.
"Out."
Was he nuts?! She shook her head vehemently, refusing to move.
Keeping the slight body of the blonde secure with one arm, with his other hand Angelus had
dragged Faith from the bed. "I said out," he'd warned, ignoring Faith's
anger as he put Buffy carefully on the bed.
"Soft in your old age?" she snickered. Then Faith paled when she noticed Buffy's
uncommon pallor and the blood that now was clotting on her shirt's neckline. "You.
You killed her?"
"Brilliant, Watson," Angelus mocked her. "Of course I did. Wasn't that what
you wanted?"
"But Wilkins explicitly said you should make it slow!"
He rolled his eyes. "Were it up to me, she wouldn't have got out of her house with a
pulse. This was slow."
Faith couldn't believe it. All those dreams of watching him torture her, of the betrayal
she'd see in Buffy's eyes and the enjoyment she'd take in her cries. All that gone because
Angelus was too impatient!
"We are going," she told him furiously. "Now."
"No."
"What?" She was pacing now. "Look pal, I don't know why you brought us
here."
"Obviously," Angelus muttered, clearly implying that she wouldn't be able to
understand something so simple.
"But we gotta go now. Wilkins is waiting."
"So eager to report to your new Watcher, Faithy?" he snickered, rearranging the
covers around Buffy's body.
That was the last straw, Faith decided. She launched herself over him, damn the
consequences.
Of course, the most immediate consequences were a bruise darkening at her side and the
fact that minutes later she was securely chained on the floor, watching as Angelus played
absently with the knife she'd given him.
***
It is too easy to break a Slayer.
"Why?" Faith asks when she sees that the decision in Angelus' expression is
final. More hours have gone by and he has used the time wisely. She isn't sure she'd be
able to run if he suddenly took the chains off and left all the doors open.
He chuckles. "Faithy Faith," his fingertips caress her chin and she flinches
away. "Now you don't want me anymore, do you?" He shakes his head knowingly,
taking the fallen knife from the floor and caressing it with his eyes. "Little girls
like you never know when the game turns into reality." The cuts were shallow at
first, she could almost feel how they close before he mercilessly opened them again. Now
she bites her inner cheeks not to scream in pain. "Do you want to play, love?"
Helpless. She hates this situation, hates Angelus and the control he's got over her like
she's never hated anything before. "No," she whispers. So damn hepless.
"Please no."
The question wasn't directed at her though. Another voice comes louder from behind him.
"Yes."
Faith opens her eyes enough to distinguish the blonde hair besides him. The face, which
had often reached out for her, now studies her dispassionately. "Teach me,"
Buffy says as she licks her lips, showing Faith the new set of fangs she gained in the
last day.
Angelus traces Buffy's neck with his fingers down to her side and threads an arm around
her waist. "Don't worry, baby, yours will always be a masterpiece to Daddy's
eyes."
Buffy smiles giddily and kisses him, fingering the blade of the knife in his hands,
letting its sharpness break her skin in a smooth line. Angelus breaks the kiss and holds
her hand to his mouth, kissing it and licking delicately at the running drops of blood.
Faith looks in fear as the knife changes possessors. "No," she whispers, finding
a stranger in Buffy's expression. Was this what B. felt when she attacked her in her own
home?
"But yes," Angelus answers cruelly.
"The Mayor..." But she knows she has played this card already.
"Tsk, tsk, the Mayor will have a very nasty surprise, won't he, Buffy?" The
blonde nods. "Even if he survives he'll never have enough power to come after me. But
be sure that once we're all in hell, he'll do his best to avenge you."
Buffy giggles and Faith has to shudder at the sound. She watches as Angelus stands and
moves to sit back on the bed, looking interestedly at the new spectacle before him.
"Girls like you never know the game until it's the end," he says and Faith
finally understands.
The Mayor played house with her, inviting her to the board game that was his Ascension.
She wanted to have Angelus as her boy toy. But she was wrong when she believed Angelus
played with her too.
It was never about her.
Faith can almost feel the pride filling Angelus' expression as he watches his newest
creation play.
In the end Faith is no player. As the knife falls and falls and falls, her teeth setting
together in an effort not to cry out - too much, she finally understands.
She was always only the toy.
It is not as much fun anymore, is it?
The End
18/06/04
Feedback would be really nice.
