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Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm really cold. Midwest winters are lacking with the fun. Thats about all I have to say cept have fun reading. :)
The Search

Faith woke up slowly, letting the last few seconds of unconsciousness surround her.

However long she had until another day began, she wanted to relish it. Another day of cleaning the dining hall's floors. Another day of seeing the sky, and knowing it had limits from inside the fenced area of the yard. One more day of seeing the faces of those she hurt in every face of the women who also lived behind the bars of the prison doors.

Then a sound came from above her, a strange sound that didn't belong here. Laughter.

She sat up slowly and took in the dark confines of her room. The Summers' basement; and then she remembered. She was free. Free from the walls, free from the dining hall and the old mop they insisted was supposed to clean its floors, but which really just moved the dirt around.

With a smile, she stood and gathered some clean clothing before heading upstairs. She wore a long nightshirt and shorts for sleeping, and decided it was enough for whoever was up there, at least just to walk through the house to the shower upstairs.

She paused for just a second before opening the door and entering the kitchen.

Dawn stood at the counter making a sandwich as Willow studied the pages of a worn book.

"Morning, guys," Faith said when they both turned from their tasks and looked at her.

"Morning, Faith," Willow said and smiled at her. "Did you sleep ok?"

"Like a rock." She walked through the door and shut it behind her. Dawn was evidently still avoiding anything resembling polite when it came to Faith. She looked back at her sandwich just as Willow greeted the Slayer.

The brunette slayer walked up to the teen and noted her ham sandwich. "Kinda early for lunch, isn't it?"

Dawn eyed her coldly. "It's twelve thirty."

Faith opened her eyes wide. "Serious?" Willow nodded slightly. "Wow! I haven't slept past eight o'clock in so long, I had no clue."

Dawn tilted her head, her eyes softening as she took in Faith. Then she turned back to her sandwich. "No biggie."

Faith took that as a good sign. "Well, I need a shower. Is it ok.?"

"Oh." Willow hopped up and began to lead Faith through the house, leaving Dawn to her lunch. "I can show you where the towels are. Should have plenty of hot water."

As Faith followed the redhead, she walked past the family room, noting the group already gathered.

Spike and Buffy sat at the couch going over newspapers. Xander was planted in front of the television flipping back and forth between news programs. They all gave her quiet nods as she followed Willow.

Faith silently thought how the members may change in this group, but the things they did, what they were about, never did. Even as the thought finished, Willow began to explain the morning's activities.

"-so when there wasn't any report, I went down there. It's a mess, but I couldn't see much through the window. Buffy said there were two, so I'm going through the diaries looking for vamp pairs with the same M.O., but there aren't many." Willow finally breathed as they walked down the upstairs hall. She pulled out a few towels from under the sink and handed them to Faith. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, I'm good," she said, a little startled by the royal treatment she was receiving from the reformed witch.

"Ok." Willow smiled. "See you in a bit." And she headed back down the hall and down the stairs.

Faith shut the door and looked at the reflection in the mirror. She was a stranger somehow. Not at all the girl she remembered. In some ways she was glad, in others she was scared. She turned on the shower and waited for the hot water.

~~`~~

Buffy watched Willow come back down the stairs. "How is she?"

Willow shrugged. "Ok, I guess." Her face contorted and her brows twisted. "It's weird. Sort of like Angelus."

Spike looked up from the newspapers at the mention of his grand-sire's name. "How's that, Red?"

Willow sat dawn across from the two. "I dunno. It's just that, she looks the same, but last night… then what Buffy said about her on patrol. It's like she's different. Maybe... maybe she did change."

Buffy looked at the ceiling. "I hope she did."

"OH!" Xander yelled. They all turned, and Dawn came out of the kitchen chewing while holding a half eaten sandwich. "Guys, it's on!"

A familiar dark-haired male reporter stood in front of the pet store holding a microphone.

"That's right. In a violent break in, believed to be the work of a local gang, our very own 'Kemper's Pet's' was destroyed. Mr. Kemper, a valued and well-known member of the Sunnydale community, is thought to have died while trying to drive the thieves out of the store."

The reporter went on to report the twisted version that Sunnydale's residents were supposed to receive. One that wouldn't drive fear into their hearts. The details of a missing leg and the condition of the animals inside was completely skipped, as was the actual damage done to the store itself.

"Well, that was helpful," Buffy said as the screen's picture changed to a warehouse and a story of botched arson. "Not."

"That's the Sunnydale press for you. Blind as bats and dumb as door-knobs," Xander said.

"Throw in the Sunnydale Police and it's a matching set of door-knobs." Buffy turned away from the T.V. and began to fold the newspapers.

Willow slumped into her chair. "Well, the texts aren't much more help. I mean, not a lot of clues here to go on, but something should fit. I can't find an account of a vamp and childe that kill animals and smell like perfume."

"It'd be easier if we could nail down the sire's habits. Whatever they are, the childe would try to mimic," Spike offered. "Need to find that trail again tonight, too, Buffy."

She looked around the room, then back at him. "I told you, there wasn't a trail. That was the problem. It was- the smell was everywhere."

"We can still try again tonight," he said.

"Yeah. Maybe you'll have better luck. I'm still getting used to this." She pointed at her nose, then remembered her eyes. "Oh yeah, by the way, I have to yell at you."

Spike tried to think of what he had done. He'd gotten up early, hadn't complained that their first night living together had been spent alone, or that she came home and fell asleep with none of the activities he'd hoped for that evening.

He'd called Xander and Willow to tell them about the attack at the store. Asked Tara to look for a tracing spell that might find the vampires, or follow the blood of animals. By the time Buffy came down the stairs, everyone was at work looking for more information.

Quite frankly, he thought he'd done very well.

Buffy watched his face as he tried to think of what she was talking about. She could still rattle him, even if they were supposed to be on even ground. When he looked back at her, she called upon her new eyesight.

His immediate reaction was to back up on the couch, away from her. "Buffy, your eyes."

He calmed and leaned forward to look more closely. "Your eyes are gold. Like a vampire's."

Buffy let her senses go back to normal and hazel eyes were soon looking back at blue ones. "You mean they didn't before?"

"Think I would have let you know if they had," he stated simply.

"That's just creepy." Willow sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. She looked from Buffy to Spike. "What about you?"

Spike cocked his head at her, then understood and shifted his sight easily. He looked around the room and understood from their reactions that he too was golden-eyed. He shifted back.

"Well, this can't be good," Xander inferred.

"But it's kinda cool," Dawn said, smiling just before taking another bite of her lunch.

Buffy gave her sister the eye, "It's not cool." She faced Spike. "What's going on?"

Spike turned to Willow. "Red?"

"I don't know. You guys are kind of, well… a new thing." She stood up. "I'll go to The Magic Box, see if I can find anything there. Maybe Tara already found a way to track the vamps."

Willow gathered her satchel and placed the few books she had out inside it. "Don't freak. Maybe it's just a side effect or something."

"Yeah," Xander clapped his hands once. "Like beans a-and gas." He twisted his face at his own analogy.

Buffy crinkled her brow. "Not helping."

Willow headed to the front door. "I'll call if I find anything."

"Kay, Wills." Buffy smiled to thank the redhead as she went out the door.

Buffy glanced down at the folded newspapers. The television now had a soap opera on, though not "Passions" so it was of no interest to any of the house's occupants.

Xander watched for either of the two blondes to say something. Dawn apparently wasn't concerned and walked back into the kitchen.

"Well, this just sucks," Buffy proclaimed.

Half a smile appeared on Spike's face. "S'alright, luv. Couple a vamps. No problem."

"Once you find them," Xander pointed out.

Faith came down the stairs. Her hair was still damp, but she felt clean and fresh. "So, what all did you guys find?" she asked as she fell into the chair next to Xander. She still couldn't get over it. Xander, married. Strange.

"Not much," Buffy said. "But the eyes are new."

"I thought you two were all in on the mucho sight."

"Mucho, yes; yellow, no." Buffy clarified.

"Oh. Well, can we go out now and see if you can pick up the trail?" Faith was hyped. She had energy to burn. Last night had barely been enough to placate the extra Slayer energy she'd been holding in for years.

"'Fraid not, Pet. Too many distractions. Other people, food. Need some clarity. Scent'll be worn by tonight, but at least there'll be less in contest with it."

"Alright. So what do we do?"

Xander listened as the warriors threw out ideas on how to patrol that night, but his mind kept going back to the animals in the store. Something about the animals and vamps made no sense. Spike said himself that most vampires didn't care for animals as a main course. The manager was killed as well, but his leg. That was weird. "Why take a leg?"

"I've been wonderin' that myself," Spike said. "Even if they fed on the animals, they'd never take a part of a human. The blood would be too cold later, what was left of it."

"What if they needed it for something?" Faith asked

"Ritual?" Xander offered.

"I don't think so." Buffy remembered the rituals over the years. The few she knew of, anyway. "It doesn't really fit."

"We should check out some good vamp haunts now." Faith looked at Buffy. "See if we can find them during the day."

"We don't know where," Buffy said.

"Well, it was all downtown, right?" Dawn had been listening just inside the kitchen. "I mean, I would look downtown first. Check out the old warehouses, back alleys."

All eyes were on her, looking into her. "What? It makes sense." She said defensively.

"Yeah, it does." Buffy gave her little sister a smile. "Kay, we go with Faith and Dawn's plan. Do a little recon, see if we can see anything. Might as well try to pick up the scent, too," she said to Spike who nodded.

The group went out the door, Dawn in tow with Spike and Xander. Faith and Buffy paired up as well.

~~`~~

"Bad puppy!" Harmony cradled the ruined pink pump. "These are not for fangs. Do you understand?" Her question was reiterated with a firm finger wagging at the puppy sitting obediently in front of her.

Drusilla stepped up behind the puppy and picked him up. "Your mummy's right now. You mustn't chew up our things." She picked up the animal, whose coat was deep brown, by the scruff of his neck and brought him up to face her. "If you're a good puppy, maybe mummy will get you something nice." She set him back down and watched him run back to Harmony. "Like a baby to nibble on."

"Ohh. The park. Are we taking Sweets to the park?" Harmony's anger left when the idea of dinner was brought up. She smiled brightly at the dourly dressed woman.

Dru let her head tip slightly as she studied her adopted childe. She had the qualities Dru had come to expect. Loyalty and passion for a kill.

"Hospital." Grandmama Darla had passed on her love for fresh newborns.

Harmony mulled over the idea for awhile. "Will they let Sweets in, and how do we get into the newborns? They have major security in there. I remember when Carrie had her baby. I swear, you need I.D., sign in, sign out. Blah. Blah. Blah." Her hands waved in the air as she explained. Sweets sat patiently watching every move his mistress made.

Dru's evil smile excited Harmony. "Don't worry. Miss Edith told me." She moved close her blonde childe. "You can be the one, but," she brought her finger to her lips, "Shhhh..No telling."

Harmony shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. Whenever Miss Edith was involved, things were interesting. "OK."

~~`~~

Xander wiped the grime from the window and tried his best to see inside. The floors were bare, the dirt was inches thick inside, and the air looked as though oxygen would have little space within the dust. "Clear."

"Clear." Dawn nodded at Spike from her view through a window eight feet down from Xander into the same building.

Spike opened the door and walked inside. His first instinct was to hold his breath. But now, as it was needed, he didn't have the choice. Instead he held the collar of his tee over his mouth and walked around. Once in the center, he let the collar drop and let his senses take in all they could.

Mustiness and age were there. Dirt and wood. Sweat and oil. But there was no blood. No vampires had been here, at least not in a good while. "Clear!" he yelled from inside, then walked out, breathing in deeply once in the semi-fresh California air.

"That's it on this street," Xander said and looked at the sky. "And we have about a half hour of daylight left."

"We better head for The Magic Box," Dawn suggested.

Spike checked the sky. Its color was fading into the early greens and blues of sundown.

"Yeah, not faring too well with the scents. Maybe the ladies did better." They headed out of the alley and to the magic shop.





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