Of stranger-cousins, in a family tree
Drawn on a sort of passport with the branch
Of the one bearing it done in detail’
Robert Frost
The door slammed violently and the noise reverberated across the open space of the dojo. Lisa and Leslie dropped their fighting stances and looked up, startled. Ashton popped his head out of the office.
“I guess it didn’t go well then?” he queried mildly.
Faith stood there, anger drumming a tattoo through her blood stream. The old her would have let rip at this stage, smashed, bashed and crashed, anything to burn off the rage. But she had responsibilities now, a team to lead. They were a family of sorts, her family, and she was damn well going to do a better job of heading up this family than anybody had ever done in her life. So … step one, cool it.
She cracked her head to the side and blew out a long, slow breath. Swagger on, head up she moved into the room, heading for the fridge in the corner. She grabbed a coke and spun around, the nonchalance gradually becoming more genuine as she shook off the frustration that had propelled her into the room.
“Nah, not so much,” she addressed her team. “Angel can be such a dick at times.” Faith grinned and the girls laughed and went back to sparring. She slipped past them and into Ashton’s office, flopping down into the chair in the corner.
Ashton caught her eye and nodded his approval. A feeling like warm molasses spread over her. This was different, and … nice. She was gonna try real hard not to fuck it up.
They’d only flown into LA two nights ago and it had been a whirlwind ever since. Thank God they’d sorted this place out three weeks ago when they’d come to rescue Spike. Yesterday had been bad enough as it was, picking up linen and towels, a pull-out couch for Dawn and any other prospective guests to sleep on, groceries to see them through the next few days and most importantly a vehicle to get them from place to place as they hunted down and rounded up the Baby Slayers here on the West Coast.
It had to be a reliable wagon and comfortable as they’d be putting in a fair few miles over the next three weeks. Tomorrow they were hitting the road. Recruitment Team 4! Mission parameters set! Seemed like a fucking sci-fi plot, she thought. Oh, …yeah, guess it kinda was!
“Where’s Dawn?”
Ashton glanced up at Faith, tearing his attention away from his laptop and the various maps and journals covering the table.
“Oh she went to meet Wesley at a coffee shop along the road. Something about picking his brains on the subject of inter-dimensional travel. He was bringing some other bloke along, Bill or Fred I think she said. Some sort of expert in the field.”
Faith snorted, both at the Fred mix-up and at the certain contrast between Dawn’s meeting and hers. Good luck to her, Faith thought, she’s bound to get more out of Wes than I could squeeze out of his boss.
Angel had played his cards pretty close to his chest tonight. Not that Faith didn’t expect that in a way, but part of her did hope for a little more given their history. Okay, so some of it was rocky but they had always had a connection. Well she’d thought so anyway.
But Angel wasn’t playing the game tonight. She’d tried to arrange the meeting away from Wolfram and Hart, hoping he might loosen up out from under the law firm’s influence, but he’d put her off saying his schedule was booked up and he could only squeeze her in to a twenty minute slot in his office.
She’d asked for a scotch when he offered, hoping he’d help himself to one, setting a more casual tone for their meeting, but he’d blocked her on that one too, explaining his need for a clear head for the upcoming appointments.
She’d tried a professional, business approach, appealed to their past friendship and finally had played the slutty angle, innocently rubbing up against his vamp-hard torso, trying to reignite that spark that had hit them during the showdown at Vail’s place, and well she was ready to spark, but Angel … nada!
All of her efforts had been in aid of uncovering what had gone down with Cyvus Vail the previous week. Faith couldn’t really care less, except that as Buffy had negotiated the terms of the contract between Angel, Vail and herself, she was honour-bound to ensure it was carried out. And that made it official Amazon business. Besides which, Faith and the others were just plain curious as to why Angel was acting so strangely about the whole thing.
She knew the two had met, Angel was overdue returning the Orlon Window to its rightful owner, and he’d informed Giles that a meeting had been set for last Friday. But he’d been very close lipped about the whole thing. Faith couldn’t even get him to confirm that he’d actually handed the cube over to the sorcerer. When she’d pushed him, the strangest look had slid over his stoic expression. She could have sworn he’d looked scared for a moment.
Anyway that had come and gone with the blink of an eye, and he’d gone back to his Oscar worthy impression of a gloomy rock. Damned infuriating considering Faith knew she had it in her to rattle his chains when he let his guard down. She closed her eyes and once more recalled the look on his face and the angle of his body as they’d had their little moment in the midst of the battle against Vail’s Kith’harn.
So part of Faith’s frustration was purely personal. To be honest, the thought that she and Angel could have maybe explored their attraction to one another now they were both living in LA had definitely crossed her mind. But she wasn’t much attracted to gloomy rocks, so his loss she reasoned.
But she was also pissed off professionally. This was her first assignment as head of the LA branch of Amazon International and her inability to establish an effective two-way dialogue between the CEO of Wolfram and Hart was pretty galling. And a little embarrassing.
She tried not to, but part of her couldn’t help wondering if Buffy would have been able to drag the info out of Angel. Fuck, probably. Well, possibly. Okay, maybe. Shit, who knew? Just that it was more than a little humiliating.
In a way, this first meeting had been seen by the executive as a litmus test for the entire working relationship between Amazon and the law firm. If Angel couldn’t open up about something as seemingly innocuous as the completion of a deal they were all party to, then it didn’t bode well for any future dealings.
Still, Faith wasn’t a quitter, and she’d keep at him. And that was more than enough introspective bullshit for now anyway, she reckoned.
Quickly, and a lot more concisely than her rambling musings had allowed, Faith shared the contents of her meeting with Ashton. She might be the head of the team, but with his huge knowledge and quiet, astute ways he was shaping up to be a good 2IC.
“I wouldn’t read too much into Angel’s reluctance to share,” he offered, “who knows, there may be issues we’re not even aware of that are shaping his actions.”
“Yeah, there’s definitely something going on beneath the surface. Oh well, we’ve got too much on our hands to sit around moping about Angel. He does enough of that for himself anyway.” Faith grinned at Ashton and hopped up. “I’m just gonna check if the girls have the van packed …”
She was interrupted by the sound of the door shutting and the click clack of heels signalling Dawn’s return.
“Hey,” she greeted them as she plopped down into one of the office chairs.
Faith checked out her expression and sighed. “Looks like your mission was slightly more successful than mine.”
“If you’re asking whether I got any answers from Wes about Angel’s meeting with Vail, then that would be a great big no-siree. Wes reckons something weird’s going on with that whole deal. Angel’s even more close-lipped than usual. You struck out too I gather?”
“Like getting blood from a stone,” Faith scowled, “a big gloomy old stone.”
She and Dawn both giggled at that image, nodding their heads in total agreement.
“So, what’s got you so chipper then?”
“Wes introduced me to Fred. She’s been working with the Fang Gang for a few years now. She’s a real sweetie. She’s like this hardcore physics chick. Angel’s even put her in charge of the Science Division at WH. And guess what her special interest field is?” Dawn didn’t pause for an answer. “Quantum theory and string theory!” She was particularly vibrating. “Okay, so I don’t exactly know what those are, but they’ve got something to do with energy particles and other dimensions and alternate universes. And Fred’s even been through a dimensional portal …”
“Whoa, chill Brat, calm down,” Faith said, “a little less with the babbling. So what’s with the girl crush? Geez, that Fred’s a real chick magnet isn’t she?”
“Hey,” Dawn blushed and poked her tongue out at Faith while Ashton looked on with amusement. “It’s not like that. I just think Fred might be able to help me understand how my abilities work. Kinda work out the ramifications and oh I don’t know maybe set up some protocols. Or something.”
“Yeah kid, its all good. Just don’t forget who she works for now. I trust Wes and Fred, but I don’t trust the faceless minions who work for the evilest little law firm in town. Be careful alright? No letting Fred take vials of your blood into that building, you don’t know who could get their evil mitts on it.”
“Okay, good point. Anyway Ashton, you should hit the laptop, finish off this list of names and addresses in San Fran and Sacramento and I should try and locate any more signals towards the east. We mightn’t get to them this week, but every name and address I can come up with before I head home will be a help right?”
“Sounds good. We’re hitting the locals tomorrow right?”
“Yes Faith,” the Watcher responded, “we’ve got the names and addresses of two girls here in the city, three out in the suburbs and one down in San Diego. With any luck, we’ll get through them all tomorrow.”
“Well I think I’ll leave you to it. Time to blow off some steam I reckon.”
“Oh yeah?” Dawn looked up from her map, the green glow from her hand throwing its light onto the paper beneath it.
“Yup. I think it’s about time LA put out the welcome wagon for its three new resident slayers. Time to go kick us some demon ass in the city of angels.”
“Be careful, Faith,” Ashton threw in her direction.
“Sure thing, Watcher boy. Just a quick recce, no biggie.”
They watched Faith disappear through the door and call out to Lisa and Leslie, followed by the sound of the door slamming. Ashton shook his head and Dawn grinned, before they settled back to work.
~~~
Angel slammed the door and stomped back over to his desk, throwing his jacket over the arm of the leather couch before plopping despondently down into his chair. He dropped his head down onto his desk and banged it a few times before quickly straightening up as he heard footsteps approaching the door.
Two quick knocks and a “Come in” later and Harmony was standing at the threshold, her handbag over her shoulder.
“Hey, Boss, can I get you anything?” She barely paused for the time it took for him to shake his head. “Well if there’s nothing else, I think I’ll call it quits for the night. You don’t have any other appointments until 11.30 tomorrow when you and Wes are paying a visit to that horrible Magnus Hainsley. Poor Mr Novac, he seemed a really decent guy, for a lawyer anyway. And I don’t know if I’ll ever get him rinsed out of this skirt.” She fingered the hem as she looked down at the stain on her dress. “Blood and guts are just so hard to get out of silk you know.” She frowned quietly then looked back at Angel as something struck her. “Hey, the company should really replace this right? I mean it was a workplace accident so …”
“Yeah Harmony, fine, we’ll sought something out tomorrow,” Angel said wearily, but his secretary was already striding off towards the elevator, muttering something about occupational hazards and employee compensation.
Angel sat there, brooding about his meeting with Faith. He hated the way it had gone down. He’d acted like an ass. He knew it. But the trouble was, he couldn’t see any other way out of the situation.
Part of him was excited that Faith was based in LA now. Actually, he thought as he adjusted his pants, part of him was still a little excited. Hell, the girl was gorgeous, and hot, and she knew how to use her many charms. And of course add in that little frisson of deadly excitement that her slayer calling added, well you pretty much had the perfect package.
She was feisty and funny, brave and tenacious. And her friendship meant a lot to him. Over the years, they had built up a bond, had one another’s backs. Sure she had her demons, didn’t they both. But Angel was proud of the way she’d fought back against her dark side and set out to redeem herself. God, he really owed her. That fucking Angelus had almost killed her a few months ago. But she hadn’t given up, she’d really come through for him. And now she’d been chosen to head up the new LA slayer squad.
She deserved it. She’d earned the right to step out from Buffy’s shadow. And Angel wanted to support her professionally. Show her the respect she was due as Head Slayer. Show her the respect she was due as his friend. He really did. Instead he’d gone all aloof and uncommunicative on the girl. What a bloody prick.
He’d simply panicked and gone into lock down mode. The safety and happiness of his son was too important to let anything slip. Connor was his family. Angel just couldn’t compromise even for the sake of an old friend’s feelings.
And it was fair to say Faith had been both pissed off and a little hurt. He’d caught the little moue of confusion and disappointment on her face. Just a flash before she’d quickly buried it beneath that newly minted professional façade of hers. Oh yeah, he had some bridges to mend all right!
But he couldn’t think about that right now. He had to concentrate on the big picture, and that was getting Vail to back off.
The meeting with the old warlock had taken place over a week ago, and Angel was now in a worse state than he’d been before it.
He’d put it off for as long as he could, dreading the thought of returning the innocuous looking little Pandora’s box to Vail, and in the process leaving himself vulnerable to all sorts of bribery and corruption. If it were up to him, he’d have taken the damn thing and buried it in the bowels of the earth. But he’d signed that bloody contract with Buffy and Vail and so he’d been legally bound to return it.
Ever since the showdown at Vail’s place, Angel had been racking his brains to try and think of some way of neutralizing the threat that the old demon’s possession of the damned Orlon Window would represent. He’d considered offering him money, artifacts, some sort of contract with Wolfram and Hart, anything, just so that he could retain possession of the cube. He was prepared to enter negotiations with an open mind and an open (company) checkbook.
But Vail had utterly gazumped him. He hadn’t been interested in money or baubles. He had his own brand of bribery already mapped out.
Turns out the prophecy related to Sahjan’s termination was quite specific. The only person who could kill the trapped demon was Connor. Vail wanted Sahjan neutralized, and now he had the cube back, he could call the shots. The best Angel could hope for was a little more time. The old warlock had at least agreed to Angel’s request for an extension, but he’d only given him an extra month.
Angel could feel the dread seeping through his veins. How could it have all gone so wrong, so quickly? God, it had only been six weeks since he’d made the biggest sacrifice of his life, given up his freedom and any contact with his son, practically sold his soul and any chance of personal happiness, just so the boy could have a happy, normal life.
In exchange, the Senior Partners had left him with this evil, fucking millstone around his neck and an invisible wall been himself and his friends. God, he wouldn’t have any friends if they found out what their mighty leader had done. And now? The risks, the deceit, the sacrifice! It could be all for nothing!
~~~
“Damn, he’s getting away. Quick, you two chase him and I’ll try and head him off.”
Faith ran to the right, cutting through the trees that were scattered through this section of the cemetery. It didn’t take long to work out this was an older part of the memorial park, the crowded headstones marching side by side across the lawn. Which made it a bitch to run through.
She sighed, hurdling as fast as she could. She could spot the vamp through the trees on her left, but she didn’t think he’d seen her yet, too intent on the two younger girls thundering along behind him. Shit, she’d have to work on getting them to move with slightly more stealth than the herd of baby elephants they were imitating at the moment.
Still, it was good to finally get the blood pumping again. It had been three weeks since the fight against Vail’s Kith’harns and two months since the battle to end all Hellmouths and Faith was getting pretty antsy. Sure, she and some of the girls had done a few patrol runs into London over the last month, but not enough to really get her rhythm going again.
She’d nabbed the keys on the way out of the office. It was late, and she and the girls had an early start in the morning, and none of them were too familiar with LA. They didn’t have time to suss out any demon hotspots downtown, or just hang around hoping for a little evil to come their way, so Faith had decided that heading to the nearest cemetery would be the best bet. A little game of vamp tag with a few dustings at the end was just what she needed after her irritating run in with Angel.
And it looked like the doctor was going to deliver just what she’d ordered. Lisa had driven and Faith had navigated, quickly finding her way around the pile of map books the car dealer had thrown in as part of the sale. She’d directed them to a big, old looking cemetery in East LA called Evergreen.
It was about three times the size of any of the boneyards they’d had back in Sunnydale, a massive sprawling thing, all laid out with trees and little winding roadways.
They’d only just parked at the western entrance when Leslie had spotted him. He looked faintly dazed, so was undoubtedly a fledgling. When he’d not so subtly started following a middle-aged woman with a bunch of flowers in her hand, they were ready for action. They’d checked stakes, locked the car and started after him.
But the girls were a little over eager and had tipped him off before they’d been close enough to do anything about it. He’d abandoned his prospective meal and done a runner, leading them on a merry chase through what was undoubtedly his home turf.
That didn’t worry Faith through. The hunt was doing wicked things for her bad mood. If she could top it off with a dusting, it’d leave her in good spirits for the start of their recruitment mission. She put on a final burst of speed as she rounded the corner, coming directly side on to him now, and a little ahead. He’d reached a section of road that had low fences running either side of it.
Faith ran full tilt at the fence, springing up onto the top rail and then down onto the road in two single, smooth strides. The vamp didn’t even notice her until she slammed down onto the asphalt in front of him. Shocked, and fearful for his unlife he’d jerked to a halt and backed away from her, quickly colliding with the fence on the far side of the road.
Grinning like a panther in heat, Faith prowled towards him, stake dancing in her fingers. Lis and Les arrived, jizzed full of adrenaline and buzzer ready to take him out if he should make a move in their direction.
Faith was only three feet away and closing when he started to reach out with his left hand, preparing to vault the wall behind him. He froze and she reached out to grab his shoulder, seeking purchase to help drive her forward plunge into his chest. But just as she touched him he gave a quizzical little sigh and exploded in front of her.
Stepping back, Faith looked down at her unused stake in confusion. She lifted her eyes back to the drifting remains of the vamp and peered through the dust cloud and straight at the shocked expression of a young Latina girl.
The girl’s expression undoubtedly mirrored Faith’s own, but it only took the space of a heartbeat before the little chiquita’s face shifted to a look of wary suspicion.
Right, Faith thought, one of our little lost lambs. And she’s checking me out like I’m the big bad wolf. Easy does it girl, don’t frighten the kid off.
“Hi,” Faith said, pocketing her stake and loosening her body posture up, “I’m Faith.” She smiled and took a half step forward. “Awesome hit on that vamp. Always harder from behind, but you staked him perfectly.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her two girls take their cue from their boss and stand down as well, but Faith didn’t take her attention off the kid for a minute. The little Latina was still wired, still on the defensive, but the praise had softened her somewhat and a little uncertainty had crept into her demeanor.
“So,” Faith kept her voice soft and light, “self-taught huh?” When she received a wary nod in reply she kept going. “Yeah, I was the same to start with. You from around here?”
Finally the girl relaxed her stance, cautiously checking around her before replying. “Si, I live here in Eastside. So,” her voice took on a more curious lilt, “you kill the vampiros too, yes?”
“Yeah, all three of us,” Faith offered, nodding in the direction of the other two girls.
“So you’re like some sort of,” the girl paused and looked around before continuing, “gang?”
Faith could read the girl’s hesitation and answered carefully, “No, not like a gang. More like a family. You live with your family?”
“Yeah, with my mama and two older brothers. But my mama, she’s not really …” her voice drifted off, uncertain, a little embarrassed.
“I get ya kid, been there, done that. So I guess you’re pretty good at looking out for yourself, huh? How old are you?”
“I’m fifteen. And I don’t need no-one telling me what to do, telling me how to act and what to wear. I can look after myself. I might be small but I’m stronger than I look. Oh, I guess you get that?”
“Yeah, we get it. You been getting the dreams too? What about slayings? Just vampires or other demons too?”
“There are demonios?” The girl looked at Faith in awe, her desire to understand what was happening to her tearing down the last of her hesitation.
“Yeah, there’s a whole big, bad world out there. Listen, we have to go now, but maybe we can hang out tomorrow. I’d love to hear about your first slaying. You in school?”
“Yeah, Roosevelt High, just a block east of here.”
“If we can get clearance from your principal, you mind if we pull you outta class in the morning?”
“Oh, you can do that? That would be cool, no problem.” The girl’s voice rang with eagerness.
Faith smiled, their first recruitment was going well. “So we’ll see you tomorrow. Oh. By the way, what’s your name? Who will we ask for?”
“Oh, si, my name’s Soledad.”