Part Two - Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
When they reached the hotel, Wesley bolted through the front door with Faith in his arms. He felt an uncanny sense of déjà vu. Only a few years ago, he had carried her into this hotel-a broken slayer in his arms. How many times will this happen? He wondered. How many times would he have to go through the pain of almost losing her? And what would happen when he did? He knew that a slayer’s life was short, brief, and violent. He had no delusions on that score. Their lives would never be simple, not either of them. And now that their lives were intertwined, they would be even more complicated.
But Wesley tried to push these thoughts out of his mind as he carried Faith up the stairs. He took her to an empty room, with a bed already made, and laid her gently on top of it, careful not to get tangled up in her dress. Kneeling beside her, he brushed the hair out of her eyes.
“I’ll be right back,” he said softly, kissing her brow.
First, Wesley needed to mix up an herb concoction to apply to her wounds, to help them heal faster. Once he had retrieved the standard ingredients from downstairs, and a few books as well, he returned to her room. As he looked around at the cleanness of the room, he realized that Angel must have set it up for her to stay in, should she choose. Wesley would much rather she stay with him, but he was grateful for the vampire’s concern in welcoming Faith to the hotel.
Applying the bandages with the sticky paste on them to her wrists, Wesley could tell that her cuts had already started to heal. Faith was still unconscious though, which pointed to a drug of some sort. Wes took an extra blanket from the closet and laid it over her, before bending down next to her.
He had brought his books with him up to her room, so he dragged a heavy chair to the side of her bed and began to research everything he could about the Triuvna and their sacrificial rituals.
Unfortunately, he could find very little about them. Their ritual practices seemed to be shrouded in secrecy, which was hardly a surprise. However, once he cross referenced the clan with mystical opiates, he found what he was looking for.
Fiorsis:
A mystical opiate that paralyzes the body through the work of magic…induces sleep, and completely severs the nerves while the host is under its effects. Often used in sacrificial ceremonies to disable the subject from fighting back. The effects can be reversed by rubbing a mixture of ground up sage and fresh human blood onto the victim’s forehead, and reciting the following incantation in latin:
Solvo thema ex veneficus.
Wesley dropped the book and went over to the table where he had set his bag of magic supplies. Fortunately he always kept a good amount of sage on hand. He was grateful that there were no hard to find ingredients to the spell. He used a clean dish to ground the leaves up, and without a second thought on the subject he took the knife that lay at the bottom of the bag and took it to his own hand, careful to avoid cutting too deep. Once he had mixed the ingredients, and applied a bandage to his hand, he returned to Faith’s side, and leant down on the bed beside her. He rubbed a small amount of the mixture onto her forehead, and recited the words.
“Solvo thema ex veneficus.”
He waited anxiously at her side as a soft glow seemed to take hold of her. The magics were clearly working. He just hoped that it wasn’t too late.
†
Angel looked around the dank room beneath the theatre, scanning the walls for any cracks which might reveal the doorway. He guessed that this Sarah girl would be kept close if she was second in line for the sacrifice. But where exactly? Angel stepped over the massacre Wesley had left on the floor and moved the palms of his hands slowly over the walls until part of it creaked under the pressure he applied.
Carefully, Angel pushed against the wall again, using his weight against it, and forcing the once-hidden door to open. The vampire stepped inside the room, and instantly caught sight of the frail girl chained to the far wall. To his surprise no one was guarding her, and while normally this would lead Angel to believe he was been set up, tonight he was just grateful that he’d found her.
Angel moved quickly towards her and ripped the chains away from the walls in one fluid motion, allowing her limp and malnourished frame to slide into his arms. He picked the girl up and gently brushed her unwashed hair off of her face.
“You’re going to be o.k. Sarah. You’re safe now.” The girl’s eyelids remained closed, her face motionless, but Angel knew she was going to survive. He could feel her blood pumping through her veins, healing her wounds as it went. The vampire adjusted her weight in his arms and turned to head out of this god forsaken theatre.
“Wait… wait…”
Angel looked down as the young woman in his arms began to speak.
“Did they get it… did they get her? Faith. Did they get her blood?”
“Shhh… don’t try to talk, Faith is fine. She lost a lot of blood; but you slayers are strong…she’s strong.” The girl’s hand grabbed on to Angel’s jacket as she tried to pull herself closer to his face. Her eyes slowly opened and squinted as they adjusted to the light.
“They got her blood. Doesn’t matter how much, they… they got it. That’s why they aren’t protecting me. They got the slayer’s blood… It’s… it’s the end of the world.”
†
Every inch of Faith’s body began to ache as the potency of the drug wore off. She felt weak and fragile she came into consciousness, head throbbing from the lack of oxygen normally delivered through her bloodstream. Her hand slowly reached up to her forehead and began to rub the ache away.
“What?” Faith struggled to open her eyes as she moved her hand into view to see her fingertips, which were now covered in some thick, sticky gunk.
“What the f-” Words stopped falling from her mouth as she caught sight of Wesley sitting beside her. Her hands fell down by her side as she slowly wiped the mixture from her hand onto the bed spread.
“Hey.” Faith carefully turned her bruised head to look at Wesley. He looked alright…clearly doing a hell of a lot better than she was-but he’d still managed to add some bruises to the ones she had bestowed on him two days ago. She winced in pain as she tried to reach out to touch his hand.
“Geez… I’m guessing I’m bed-bound for a while then… so doc, what do you say? Am I gonna live to slay another day?” Faith tried to attach a humorous tone to her question, but in reality she was terrified with the state she’d woken up in. The once all-powerful slayer was now reduced to a weak, broken woman who currently wouldn’t be able to protect herself, let alone Wes if evil came a knockin’.
Faith’s eyelids began to close as the exhaustion of the short conversation took hold. She tried to blink away her tiredness, choosing to focus in on Wes instead of allowing her need for sleep to take hold.
“Thought I was supposed be the chosen one round here… Yet… yet it’s already the watcher doin’ the savin’. How many times you gonna save me Wes?”
“As many times as I have to,” Wes responded in a soft voice, as he took her hand in his and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “And I’m sure that the favor will be returned many times in the future, considering my unfortunate habit of being held hostage.” He smiled down at the slayer as he spoke, and brushed the hair from her face with his other hand affectionately. Faith smiled back, and continued to speak, though it was clearly a strain on her.
“Hell, with you around I ain‘t got no worries ‘bout dying young, which…which is good, seeing as this is strangely one of the less-suckier acts of my life…and I ain’t looking to leave you. I mean it. No just yet.”
A warm feeling passed through Wesley as she spoke. He knew that Faith wasn’t the most forthright person when it came to her feelings, so for her to say this meant a lot to him. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her, but he was still afraid that it would overwhelm her. After all, this was all still so new. If someone had told him a few weeks ago that he and Faith were to become lovers, he would have laughed it off as a ridiculous impossibility. He was sure that she would have responded the same way.
And yet, here they were. The feelings of love that he was experiencing were enough to make his heart burst with happiness. He remembered once telling Illyria that one of the motivating forces of living was the hope of finding love, and still being able to be surprised. Well, Faith was now both of those things for him. He felt that he had a purpose now. He had hope, and he had, dare he think it? love.
“I’m not planning on letting you leave any time soon, Faith,” he said teasingly as he bent down and kissed her lips softly. The kiss deepened for a few moments before he forced himself to pull away.
“You should get some rest, Faith,” he said as he snuggled down next to her on the bed, still holding her hand tightly. He knew that when Angel returned, there would be much to discuss regarding what had happened, but for now, he just wanted to lay with her, and make her feel safe.
Faith laid there, her lips still wet with the taste of Wesley’s mouth and her hand intertwined with his own. Her eyes wandered for a while, moving around the room before resting on her lover by her side. He had this way of making her feel safe-something that no guy had ever been able to do before. Faith’s eyes slowly began to close, as exhaustion took over both her body and her thoughts. She soon fell into a deep sleep.
†
“The end of the world?”
It took a few moments for Angel to grasp what the girl was saying.
“Sarah,” Angel said slowly. “Think very carefully.” Did you hear them say that this ritual would usher in an apocalypse?” Worry was beginning to show on the vampire’s face. If it was true, then he needed to get back to the hotel as soon as possible, and fill Wes in on the situation.
“I heard things,” Sarah replied. “They didn’t think that I could hear them through the walls, but when you’re trapped in the dark for days, your hearing gets better, you know? I…I heard them talk about the sacrifice…” Sarah trailed off. Clearly she was extremely weak at the moment, and even speaking was proving to be an effort.
“Shh, it’s ok,” Angel said as began to walk out the building with her in his arms. He went out the back way, so that he would be able to avoid the stares of the theatre patrons. “I know you want to be reunited with your mother,” he said as he walked. “But if is ok, I’d like for you to come back to my place of business first. My colleague and I need to ask you some questions.”
†
“Why her? We had a slayer in our mitts for weeks, but you had to go and lead a vigilante army down here for this Faith gal. Now half of our clan is lying dead on the floor!”
“Do not raise your voice at me Hortalf!” The demon’s fierce tone caused Hortalf to take a step back in shock. Clearly it was a sore subject for the clan, one that Hortalf should have kept quiet about.
“Their sacrifices will not be in vain. She was the true slayer. A Chosen One. Unlike the slayers created by the witch, the powers picked this one. She is untainted, making the strength that ran through her veins all the more potent for our requirements… Our plans had always been laid around the true Slayer, the other was simply a safety net we hoped never to use.” The demon’s hand ran slowly over the blood stained altar as a thin smile twisted onto his face.
“Her power is above all others, and has proven to be a worthy sacrifice…”
Hortalf hesitated for a moment, knowing that it wasn’t his place to speak out of turn… well, not twice in one night anyway. He ran his claw across his moist brow before speaking meekly, preparing to be shot down.
“But… but she left… I mean, the sacrifice wasn’t complete. How can that please-”
“It was a worthy sacrifice. He will arise. Just as it was foretold.”
Chapter Twelve - Part Three