Buffy was just gathering the last of her clothing when the bedroom door opened. Glancing over, she was faced with her very unpleased lover. Faith stood in the doorway, arms crossed and an expression of pure anger splashed across her face.
“Going somewhere?” Faith asked with a hint of sarcasm dripping through her angry tone. “I take it that it’s a solo trip.”
“Yeah, it is…just me. Kinda last minute thing.” Buffy replied, focusing her concentration on getting dressed and not getting into an argument with Faith. Quickly shimmying into a pair of dark blue jeans and a skintight blood red T-shirt, Buffy perched on the edge of the bed to slip into her favorite black ankle boots.
“So, B, care to fill me in on your travel plans? Roundtrip or one-way?” Faith practically snarled, not use to being left behind. For the past several months, she and Buffy had traveled all over the Eastern seaboard and not once had her lover ever left her behind. Stepping away from the doorway, Faith finally laid her eyes on the amount of baggage Buffy planned to carry with her. With an audible sigh, Faith pointed at the luggage and said, “Guess that answers my question.”
“Look…I honestly can’t say how long this will take. Something is really wigging me out and I need to head back to California for a bit.” Forcing a small smile onto her face, Buffy moved closer to Faith and reached out for a hug. “I’ll come back for you.”
Faith almost let herself give into Buffy’s charms, the same soft smile and alluring emerald eyes that had lured her into the blonde vampire’s life in the first place, but pulled herself back at the last minute. “No!” She shouted, pushing Buffy away. Spinning around, she stalked across the room; temper flaring. “If you think that I am gonna just sit here and wait for you like some…some lovesick schoolgirl you are seriously wrong. Screw you! You can’t just treat me like I’m nothing, B. Like I don’t matter!”
Shaking her head, Buffy let her emotions bubble to the surface until they threatened to explode. Since leaving Sunnydale, she had held back her emotions, pushing them down until she felt like she might choke on them; forcing her demon into submission, her generally suppressed human nature demanding to finally be in charge. With an amused and frustrated laugh, Buffy replied, “Hey! I never said you don’t matter, Faith. I believe you were the one who was oh so interested in being with me, even when you knew that I could never love you. What was it you said? Something like… ‘Fuck and Feed’? A relationship of convenience: me the vampire who needed a constant supply of blood, but didn’t want to kill; and you, the homeless chick who whored herself out to vamps for money in exchange for blood. Thought that’s what all this was to you?” Buffy knew she was being a bitch, but at that moment she didn’t care. She never made a promise to Faith to stay with her forever; if she had, then Buffy would have turned her. Turning her back to the furious brunette, Buffy grabbed her suitcases and moved towards the door. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry that it had to end this way.” With one final glance over her shoulder, Buffy forced herself to muster up the slightest of smiles in attempts to calm Faith. In the end, her attempts were futile as she barely had a chance to duck before being hit in the head by a vase that Faith chunked across the room. “Fine, have it your way.” The last thing Buffy heard from the bedroom was the sounds of various decorations being smashed against the walls.
Faith stood in the midst of the destruction, the faint scent of sex still permeating the bedroom from their tryst before sunrise. Her eyes were swollen from the hot, salty tears that refused to stop; her hands were balled into fists at her sides and her chest was heaving from the deep, calming breaths that were not working. With an animalistic cry, she shoved one fist through the antique mirror that hung over the dresser and shouted, “Screw you, Buffy! You’ll regret leaving me!”
Night had fallen by the time Buffy made her way across town to the airport; a long and tedious excursion from the parking garage with a quick sprint to the subway access near the apartment building, where she had to change trains several times in order to make her way to the airport. Now, Buffy sighed in relief as she stood near the gate for the flight leaving for Los Angeles with her ticket firmly grasped in her tiny hand. Unfortunately, the flight was not scheduled to depart for nearly an hour which left Buffy with too much time on her hands. Settling into a nearby chair, she sat and patiently waited for her flight to be called. With boredom quickly washing over her, Buffy let her mind wander back to her unsettling dream; wondering if it was foretelling the future.
In her dream, Buffy had been back in Sunnydale, but for some reason was unable to communicate with anyone around her; almost like she was a ghost. Standing in the middle of one of the many graveyards in the small town, Buffy was surrounded by several figures. At first they had appeared almost fog like, with no apparent features. As Buffy slowly approached them, she found that Xander and Willow were in front of her, snarling viciously in their full vampire visage. Turning around slowly, Buffy recognized Spike with an unknown petite, fair haired woman who appeared to be cowering behind the Slayer’s billowing coat.
Fear had consumed Buffy as she realized not only what was about to happen, but that there was nothing she could do to stop the inevitable massacre. Opening her mouth wide with a silent scream, Buffy stood rigidly between them as the vampires lunged towards the Slayer, who charged forward with a startling scream. As their bodies crossed the juncture where her body stood frozen in place, a bone chilling sensation rushed through Buffy; a feeling that still haunted her even now that she was awake.
Time seemed to slow as the three figures attacked, two against one. Fangs bared, fists flying. Buffy stood in the midst of chaos and watched as Willow stepped away from the madness; leaving Xander to continue fighting with Spike. Buffy shook violently as she watched her redheaded sire slink off to the side and slip up behind the unaware female who had been too caught up in watching the fight to notice Willow. Buffy stared in horror as Willow’s fangs plunged deep into the girl’s neck; the vampire’s eyes glittering madly as she slowly drained the innocent female of her life.
For Buffy, the most upsetting moment of the dream had been when Spike noticed his friend crumpled on the ground; unceremoniously dropped there when Willow finished her meal. In a moment of weakness, Spike turned away from his attacker with a gut wrenching cry and started towards her body. It was then that Buffy sank to her knees as she watched Xander knock the Slayer to the ground and victoriously sink his fangs in savagely. It had been that moment she had awoken and decided to return to Sunnydale.
Finally, Buffy heard the monotonous voice instructing her to board the plane, bringing her back to reality. As she made her way to the forming line, she thought to herself,’I don’t know what that dream meant or if it meant anything at all. But if for some reason it could happen…maybe I can stop it.’
TBC...