The alcohol didn't really help; she had always been a depressed drunk, but it was something to do. And it took her mind off things. When the hangovers hit her in the mornings the pain in her head and the problem of where to get another drink made her self-pity seem distant. That was good; so she kept on drinking. By the time a week was up she had no clue how far she'd wandered or how many drinks she's consumed or how she'd even gotten the money to buy them. She'd left Sunnydale with nothing after all. Eventually she decided it was probably best she didn't remember anything she'd done in her alcohol-induced stupor.
She'd begged the bottle she now sipped from off a man outside a liquor store. He was shaggy and fat, sweating buckets it seemed. He had a rough looking uneven stubble, bad teeth, a missing eye, and his stench was overwhelming. He had tossed her the bottle from a distance, looking thoroughly disgusted with her. And Cirrus had staggered into the alley behind her to drink it.
Buffy rolled onto her back, blinking at the sunlight that hit her face. It was warm and nice outside, and the Slayer was beginning to think her friends' idea for a picnic was a good one after all. She looked over at the playground; Willow was pushing Oz on a swing, and Xander was repeatedly going down the slide with Cordelia nearby, not wanting to leave him but also pretending not to know him. Buffy chuckled, and right at that moment a shadow fell across her face. She looked up.
" Hey beautiful, mind if I join you?"
Buffy was speechless for a moment, then the memories of all that had taken place in Dracula's castle came flooding back to her and she realized she was not dreaming. Angel was really standing there, silhouetted against the golden sun. He was warm and breathing and human. Buffy jumped to her feet and hugged him so tight he was choking and gasping, which made her hug him even more. He finally pried her off, laughing full and loud like she had never heard him laugh before, and he kissed her. And his lips were hot.
They parted, and Angel pounced on the picnic basket that lay to one side of the big blue blanket Buffy had been lying on. He dug through the contents in an almost comical manner, finally producing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which he chomped down in three bites. He chugged one of the sodas from the ice chest, wiped his mouth and belched audibly.
" That is the best food I've ever tasted," he said, grinning. Buffy could tell he was being honest.
" Okay un-undead boy!" Xander called as he came jogging up. " You. Me. Contest. Now."
Xander grabbed a can and gulped it down. Angel did the same. Xander, making operetic hand gestures, released a burp so mighty that a mother on the bench nearby got up, collected her child, and left the park. Then Angel opened his mouth. For nearly thirty second after Angel's contest entry, none of the Scoobies could hear a thing. When the deafness wore off though, they applauded and cheered as Xander turned pale and slumped to the ground.
" Don't feel too bad Xander," Oz said. " He's got 200 years of gas stored up."
" Hey guys, what's up?" Faith said, trudging up the hill to meet them.
Buffy stepped out to greet her counterpart. " Hey Faith, where have you been all week?"
" And where's Cirrus?" Willow added, glancing over Faith's shoulder.
Faith sat down across from a sulking Xander and grabbed herself some food. " Cirrus left," she managed to inform them between bites.
" What?! Oh Faith, are you okay?" Buffy asked, worry thick in her voice, as she crouched beside her friend. The dark Slayer looked at her and swallowed before speaking.
" You know me B, five by five 24-7. That thing with Cirrus was fun while it lasted, but I can deal and move on."
She probably thought she smiled when she forced the words out of her mouth, but Faith didn't smile. She smirked. And Buffy knew the subtle differences between her friend's facial expressions. Faith was far from being five by five. What cut most about the situation was that Buffy had learned a long time ago that when Faith closed herself up she didn't open for anyone, and therefore she couldn't be helped.
Xander reached over and touched Faith's shoulder. They shared a look for a moment, their eyes engaged in a conversation Buffy could not hope to comprehend. Then the boy spoke.
" Football?" he asked, pulling a battered gray and blue Nerf ball out of the basket.
" Sure," Faith said. She got up and escourted him to the grassy field a few feet anyway and they began a game.
The blonde Slayer sighed, and hoped that Xander could somehow offer Faith the comfort she needed. She had watched their friendship, one built on playful teasing and the defrustrating acknowledgement that friendship was all that there would ever be, grow between them recently, and knew that, with the rough masculine bond, Xander had more chance of reaching her than all of Buffy's gentle love and concern.
And so Buffy's thoughts turned to the cause of the problem, and she wondered what Cirrus was doing then.
Cirrus was puking her guts out behind the Rancho Cucamonga Walmart.
The sky blue Chevy station wagon's blackened passenger window cracked down enough to let the gorgeous brunette inside peer out into the night. She watched the drunk lurch and stumble a bit before deciding that movement was overrated and letting herself fall to the ground. The empty beer bottle found itself caught between a body and a hard place and shattered. The brunette in the car began to smell blood. She turned to her lover.
" Danny, can we keep her?" she asked sweetly, leaning against his shoulder and batting her eyes up at him.
" Anything you want Bunny," the man replied, turning off the engine. His girlfriend quickly and quietly slipped from the car.
Cirrus groaned and propped herself up off the offending glass shards just in time to see the drop-dead brunette in hoochie shorts and a tank top striding sexily in her direction. She wiped her mouth.
" Whaddaya want?" Cirrus slurred.
" You look like you need another drink and maybe a chance to get cleaned up. You interested?" the brunette asked, smiling as gentle as could be.
Bunny helped the girl to her feet and they started towards the car. Dan got out and made for the passenger side back door, as if he were going to open it. He didn't though, because by the time Bunny and their guest got to the car, her fangs were in the drunk's neck and the blood trickled hot and heady into her mouth. Her lover reached over, gently pulled Bunny's mouth from the wound and he leaned in to drink as well.
Cirrus groaned, but the objecting noise was merely a reflex. Secretly, she wanted them to kill her. They did not kill her though. After the first taste had passed their lips, the vampires knew they couldn't bare to kill her. Just as it had happened countless times before to any undead who drank from a werewolf, Dan and Bunny became addicted to the potent blood immediately and as a result, they wanted her alive and able to supply them as long as possible.
They feasted until she passed out, then stuffed Cirrus in the backseat of the Chevy and drove on to finish their hunting.
" When you need someone, you just turn around, and I will be there..."
Faith slammed the old rusty radio into the wall. Britney Spears wasn't of much help at all. A week ago she would have listened on, disliking the bubble-gum ballad, but sinking slowly into the warmth of the Cirrus-thoughts it would bring her.
Cirrus is gone.
That was the only thing Faith could think about her former lover. Memories of her sweetness, the sweetness she brought out in the dark Slayer, the touches, the words, were all fleeting and, besides the pain that they caused loud and clear, fuzzy. When she would try to focus on one it was always quickly replaced by that one encompassing tragedy.
Cirrus is gone.
She flopped back onto her bed and rolled around for a few minutes in an effort to get comfortable. The sheets still smelled like Cirrus. Faith had washed them thrice, taking great pains to making sure the scents were gone, and they were. At least, during the day. But at night when her slow depression hit hardest, she could still smell Cirrus.
She needed something. Something to make her feel in control again. So Faith got up, pulled on her jacket, and went out to find herself a toy.
When Cirrus came to, she was shackled and chained in a basement. She grunted and started to shift into her stronger form so she could break free, but once wolfen wrist and ankles touched their cold metal bonds a pain burning like frigid fire filled her from head to foot. She roared in agony and reverted to her weak human form. The shackle were pure silver, something she, as a werewolf, could not break from. The pain retreated to a dull throb in a few seconds, but there was still the weakness from lack of blood and the sharpness of her hangover to consider and Cirrus slumped bad to the ground and sobbed quietly.
" Aww... poor thing..." came a sweet voice from the shadowy corner.
Sitting in an old chair watching her was Bunny. Cirrus raised her head and just looked at her, the pain reflected in her eyes deeper than any bodily hurt. Silently she begged her captor to kill her swiftly. The vampire just chuckled and shook her head.
" No no no," she said, raised and striding towards the werewolf. " If we kill you, how will we feed our cravings? Your blood is very special to us you know. Intoxicating."
Cirrus growled low and menacingly and lurched forward as Bunny drew near. She fought againsts the chains, but her bonds held her fast, keeping her arm's length from the vampire. Bunny laughed in her musical way and knelt down to Cirrus' level.
She reached out and trailed her fingers down Cirrus' cheek and whispered, " You seem troubled... Your eyes..."
Just then, Dan opened the basement door and jogged down the wooden stairs. There was a soft mewing and Cirrus and Bunny looked to see a small gray kitten in his arms. His mate jumped to her feet and rushed over to hug him tightly. She took the kitten from him and held it up to the naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling to get a better look at it.
" Oh Danny!" she cried joyfully. " He's adorable! Thank you so much!" She pulled Dan close and kissed him sweetly on the lips.
Dan chuckled. " Glad you like him," he replied, grinning broadly. " What'll we call him?"
" Hmmm..." Bunny tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment. " Draco? Dravin?"
" Oberon?" Dan suggested.
Cirrus thought a moment. " Let me see the kitten," she said quietly. Bunny brought him over to her, and the werewolf looked him over for a moment, then said, " Zodiac."
Bunny looked at Cirrus, then back at Dan. " Perfect!" she exclaimed at last.
Cirrus became puzzled. The more she watched the vampires who had caught her, the more she actually liked them. They were sweet and almost compassionate creatures, she could feel it. A rare find, for most vampire, being cruel and cold themselves, usually sought the cruel and cold to spread their dark curse to. But these people, they didn't deserve to belong to the darkness, as seductive and fierce in feeding as they may be.
Just a few more minutes... Victor promised himself. Then I'll go. Just then, she appeared.
Faith walked swiftly to her room, unaware of the eyes following her from across the street. She was still on a high from the submissive little boy she'd managed to sniff out at the Bronze at around 2am. He had been a good plaything, giving her whatever she needed in the last bathroom stall, and later, out back in the alley, letting her take out all her anger on him and begging for more. Such a heavy masochist, one who could take a Slayer's special brand of punishment, was rare. She had left him, bleeding from the mouth, his number pressed into her palm, at 5-o-clock.
All Victor knew as he watched her though was that he had to kill her. Yes. That would earn him his place among the Sunnydale vampires. His mind drifted back to the begging and pleading... the beatings afterwards... being left to the point of death. But they hadn't killed him. They would want to watch him suffer out his mortality Victor supposed. It was all a great joke to them. Well, once he killed a Slayer, once he had dome them that favor, he would make them listen. Then all the fear would end...
Faith ducked into her room and closed the door behind her. Victor ran off in the direction of his hiding place, a rotting shed in the woods, to prepare. Now that he knew exactly where she lived, he would take the fight to her.
The only left to do was suit up and squelch that nasty feeling of absolute terror in his gut.
" Faith? You in there?"
" C'mon Faith, open up!"
Faith rolled on her side away from the door. The happy couple really wasn't who she was dying to see at the moment. But Buffy and Angel keep pounding at the door and calling her name.
" Come in," she half-heartedly called back.
It was Angel who pushed the door open, Buffy following close behind. The blonde went to the bed and sat next to Faith. She put her hand on the other Slayer's shoulder, then slid it up to rest on her cheek. Unable to hold it back any longer, streams of tears poured down from Faith's eyes. The dark Slayer was crying about everything. About losing Cirrus, about the boy last night, about all the new things she had started feeling ever since her... soulmate?... yes, soulmate had entered her life. She turned and clung to Buffy with all her might, soaking her shirt and babbling about her guilt and this strange sense of caring for people that Cirrus had instilled in her. The werewolf had proven the world wasn't out to get her, and Faith cried endlessly about that.
Buffy held her friend tightly and rocked her. Soon Angel was on the bed too, and his arms joined Buffy's, letting Faith know she had him as well. Faith calmed after awhile, and took to a silent shuddering. Angel and Buffy held her through that too.
By the next evening the vampires had decided to let Cirrus out of her chains. She bore them no ill will, even after they used her as a slurpy for the second time, and was not inclined to run. She had no where to go anyway. The werewolf took to sitting in the main room with Zodiac on her lap, petting the kitten with her one hand. When Bunny and Dan were present she attempted a cheerful conversation and visage, and she found that they really were good people, aside from that 'no-conscience' thing. Bunny knew that the face of the comedian she put on for company wasn't real though.
" It was love wasn't it?" she finally asked one night.
Cirrus hushed for a moment, not wanting to get into that; but Bunny stared at her so intently that she spilled everything.
" ... and after losing my arm I just left... I don't know why... I just can't go back to her like this though..."
" You're afraid," Dan told her.
" Afraid that she won't be as attracted to you as you are now," Bunny added. " Is she a highly sexual person?"
Cirrus blushed. " Ah, well, er..."
The vampiress smiled. " You're afraid that she's concentrating more on your physical appearance then."
" I... yes..." Cirrus muttered.
Dan and Bunny exchanged glances.
" Well," Dan stated, though kindly " you're going to stay here."
" You're vampires," the werewolf stated, as if wondering if they would deny it.
" Yeah well... we remind each other of what it was like to be human," Bunny replied.
" You must be two in a million."
They grinned, their fangs gleaming. " We know."
He was decked with weaponry when he approached the motel next, but the preceptive and seasoned trio exiting the room for the Bronze noticed right away his pale flesh, black hair hanging unkempt in his eyes, and black bags under his dark eyes to match. Victor was tired, and not at full wits. All the weapons in the world couldn't help a man in his ragged condition. But Victor had one last card in his hand. Motivation. He drew a small handgun from his trenchcoat and fired, aiming shakily at Faith.
Angel and Faith dove to either side when the shot rang out, and the bullet gazed Faith so close it tore her sleeve, but luckily not her skin. Angel was up in a flash, using Victor's diverted attention to his advantage. He was the able to hurl himself at the loaded young man, knocking him over. The gun discharged again before falling from Victor's hand, this time the shot slicing across the left side of Angel's midsection. He whinced in pain as he was brutally reminded of his mortality. Victor wrestled him off and staggered backward, awkwardly drawing a large knife as he did. He slashed quickly at Buffy, who was hastely charging him, making a tiny slit on her cheek in the process.
" Bastard!" came Faith's scream and she lunged from behind the blonde, barrelling into Victor and sending him flying into a tree. He grunted on inpact and leaned back in an attempt to save his footing. Buffy kicked the knife from his quaking hand and grabbed him by the collar.
" Who sent you?!" she shouted in his face.
" N-n-no one..." Victor choked out.
" Why are you after Faith?!"
" I-I-I..."
" Spill it slime!" Buffy demanded, pounding him up against the tree again.
" I just wanted to impress them!" Victor sobbed.
" Impress who?" Faith spat menacingly.
" Th-the vampires... I thought... if I killed a Slayer... they'd make me one of them..."
" How did you know I was a Slayer?" Faith growled.
" I-I saw you kill some of them... late and night, when I was walking... I just wanted to be one of them... You don't understand... I'll die if they don't turn me..." Victor was shaking violently and crying at that point.
Buffy sighed. " Why do they always think being undead is the answer? Are you sick or something? What is it?" she asked him, her manner growing gentler.
" No... It's just... I used to work magic, you know, spells and stuff. And I came across this summoning book awhile back. Well, there was a listing for this female demon, I guess she was a witch or something, but it said she could grant unlimited magical powers to her summoner... I started to cast the spell to bring her to me... but in the middle of it I got this vision, I do that sometime, ya know, I see things... I saw her taking my soul and killing me... then using my body as a puppet... something with unlimited power, but no life or will... So I figured if I let the vampires take my soul first..." he trailed off and began sobbing again.
" What about this demon?" asked Angel when Victor's tears started to slack. " Where is she now?"
" S-she's trapped in between dimensions I think... When I didn't finish the spell I heard her screaming in rage... She's going to hurt me when she finds me..."
" What's her name? How will she attack you in this world?" Buffy was worried, wanting to know how to banish this creature immediately.
Victor whimpered. " That's just it... I can't say her name... Speak her name and she will appear here for a time..." He looked up at them. " I don't want to live in fear..." he whispered.
" Don't worry," Angel told him, them turned to the Slayers. " We'll get Willow on this, maybe we can find an exile spell for her." The blonde and the brunette nodded.
" C'mon... er..." Buffy prompted.
" Victor," he replied.
" Okay Victor, come with us. We'll help you," Buffy said as she put an arm around him to help him walk.