Faithfully Dangerous

Author: enigmaticblue

Rating: PG-15

Disclaimer: These aren’t my characters, as you all know. If they were, they’d all be living happily ever after by now.

Summary: Set during my story Latter Days. Faith is sent to L.A. to get information out of Angel and recruit Wesley—if she can. What she discovers is a scheme by persons unknown to take advantage of the imbalance, and an unlikely friendship.

A/N: Although this takes place during Latter Days, there isn’t a direct 1-1 relationship between the chapters. So, you could say that time is moving at a slightly different pace, although they will intersect.

Chapter 22

Spike had known that while he would be able to sneak inside the house where the Fell Brethren—and the baby—were, Abby would have a much tougher time of it. It would be too difficult to disguise the fact that she was a girl.

Luckily, the information that Angel had gathered included a layout of the house, including where the child was being held, and that room had a window. It wasn’t terribly smart of them, but Spike got the feeling that the Black Thorn weren’t expecting anyone to attack them; they were too special.

He was prepared to show them exactly how special they were.

The hood covered his face and hid his features, but it also blocked his peripheral vision. Spike would just have to hope that no one tried to sneak up on him from the side.

Walking into the room where the infant lay, he glanced down into the crib. “Hello, little man. Your uncle Spike is here to take you home.”

The baby gurgled at him, and he sidled over to the window and lifted the sash. Abby slid into the room with a coltish grace. “I’m ready.”

Spike had just finished helping her secure the infant in the harness hanging across her chest when they were interrupted.

“What are you doing with the sacred vessel?”

His glare reminded Abby what her role was, and he turned to face the demons filing into the room. “Just thought I’d take him to get some fresh air. It’s not good for a kid to be cooped up like this.”

“Put the vessel back!” one of them demanded, stepping forward.

Spike pushed the hood back and let the robe drop to the floor. “Don’t think so. I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way.”

One of the demons went down without a sound, and Spike spared a moment to glance over his shoulder. Abby was right next to the window for a quick getaway, but she had a slingshot in her hand, and she was already preparing another shot.

Spike had no idea what she was using, but it sent another demon to the ground, and he threw himself into the fray, roaring, “Get him out of here, Abby!”

Not that he had much hope that she’d listen to him; she might be young, but she was still a Slayer.

~~~~~

Wesley wished he had been surprised when the doors to Vail’s mansion swung open at his touch. Either the sorcerer knew he was coming and didn’t care, or he had no fear of attack.

“I’ve been expecting you.”

The former, then.

“I’ve been looking forward to this,” Wesley said, turning to face the demon as he came out of a room to his right. “You’ve been trying to kill one of my Slayers.”

Vail’s movement approximated a shrug; he couldn’t move very well with all the tubes hanging off of him. “Clearly, I haven’t been trying very hard. If I’d wanted to kill her, she would be dead by now.”

“Then why?”

“I wanted to see how you would handle it.” Vail moved closer. “It’s too bad; you had promise.”

“Had?”

“That girl has you wrapped around her finger,” Vail observed. “You care for her.”

Wesley shrugged. “Perhaps I do.” He threw a fireball at Vail, knowing that the demon would block it easily, and he wasn’t disappointed.

Vail flicked it aside. “I may have been mistaken about you having promise. Do you really think your weak magic will have any effect on me? I could squash you like a bug.”

Wesley smiled. “I know. In fact, I’d counted on it.” This time, instead of a fireball, he threw a knife.

Vail blocked that, too, but he grunted as he stiffened. “What—”

“You didn’t think I’d come alone, did you?” Wesley asked as Dana twisted the knife in his back. She’d come from behind while he provided the distraction.

“I didn’t—” Vail gasped and collapsed, tubes pulling loose from the bags of fluids.

Ellen appeared as if from nowhere, standing over him. “You never thought anyone could beat you at your own game,” she said with a grim satisfaction. “That was your mistake.”

Wesley watched as Vail twitched one last time and lay still. “Well done,” he said quietly.

“It was.” Ellen looked at Dana, who was still staring down at the body. “Come on, love. There’s more work awaiting us.”

Dana met her eyes, then stared at Wesley. For the first time, he could see sense in her gaze, and he swallowed hard. “I’m ready,” she stated calmly. “But the horde is coming.”

A chill went down his spine. That did not sound good.

~~~~~

No one was at the hotel when Angel arrived, and he looked around, wondering if anyone was going to show up.

Faith strolled into the lobby with two girls moments after the thought had crossed his mind. “Angel.” Her voice was hard, and there was no welcome there.

He winced. “Faith. I trust you were successful.”

“The Sahrvin are dead,” she announced. “They were pathetically easy to kill.”

“No kidding,” one of the girls muttered. “We probably should have gone with Spike.”

Faith gave her a quelling look. “Spike can take care of himself.”

“And Abby?” the other girl asked.

“Abby can take care of herself, too,” Spike said, limping through the door. He looked a little the worse for wear, but the girl walking next to him appeared unscathed, and she was grinning broadly.

“Told you,” she said simply.

Faith raised an eyebrow. “Slingshot?”

“Worked great with those pellets Fred worked up for me,” Abby replied.

Angel glanced around. “What about the others?”

Faith shook her head. “We’re meeting here, and the rule was no contact. Nobody wants a cell phone to ring at a crucial point.”

“There was nothing crucial about our assignment,” Connor announced as he walked through the doors. “That was lame.”

“Lame ass,” Uta added for emphasis. “I don’t see how those guys were supposed to be ending the world.”

“Easy job?” Faith asked.

Phoebe shrugged. “Not hard, that’s for sure. I shot two, and Connor and Uta took the others. We would have been back sooner, but we got lost on the way home.”

“This wouldn’t have been easy without the extra firepower,” Angel rumbled. “Or if you hadn’t known who to take out, and where they would be. Those—”

“Those bastards meant to kill us all and destroy the world. We got the memo.” Spike crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

“Hey! A little help!” Fred’s voice was shaky, and Faith saw her supporting Gunn’s limping figure.

Spike got there first, and he took some of the weight off. “What happened?” he demanded.

“One of the vamps got him with a knife,” Fred gasped as they seated him on the couch in the center of the lobby. “I couldn’t hit it with the flamethrower because they were too close together.”

Faith looked at the wound, her face grim. “You need to get him out of here, Fred, and to a hospital.”

“I second that motion,” Spike put in. “We’re about to get hit with the shit storm of the century if I’m not mistaken, and the injured don’t need to be here. You can take Abby with you and call Giles.”

“I’m not leaving,” Gunn protested.

Fred shushed him. “You’re not going to do us any good if you’re dead.”

“What’s going on?” Wesley demanded as he strode in, Ellen and Dana at his heels. “Everyone, weapons. Dana tells me that the Senior Partners are going to open a portal.”

Angel noticed that Wesley didn’t even glance in his direction. “Wes—”

“You’re not armed.” Wesley’s voice was flat. “We’ve got trouble coming our way, and there’s no time for arguments.” He glanced at Gunn’s wound. “You need to get to a hospital.”

“Told him that,” Spike said. “Told Fred to take him and Abby, and then to call Giles.”

Wesley nodded shortly. “We’ll need reinforcements. According to Dana there’s a demon horde on its way. The more we kill coming out of the portal, the fewer will have the chance to run amok in Los Angeles.”

“Can’t you shut it?” Faith directed her question at Ellen, and Angel looked at her sharply.

Ellen shook her head. “That’s not where my talents lie. We must get ready.”

“We’re ready,” Caridad announced. The Slayers had all rearmed themselves, and Angel shuddered at their expressions.

They were, after all, vampire Slayers.

“I want to stay!” Abby protested.

Fred shook her head. “I’ll need you to navigate, Abby.” She met Wesley’s eyes. “We’ll be fine. I’ll call when I can.”

“Go.”

Angel suddenly realized that Wesley was the one in charge, and that he was superfluous. They had plenty of warriors, but he needed to be there for himself. It was the only possible way to get justice for Cordelia, and to atone for his crimes. “What do you need from me, Wes?”

Wesley nodded at the weapons cabinet. “Get ready. There’s still plenty of work that needs to be done.”

~~~~~

Leslie clutched her sword as the sky appeared to open up in front of them, and she knew that she’d never look at special effects quite the same way again. She’d seen plenty of science-fiction movies, the ones that had worm-holes, and tears in the time-space continuum.

Special effects didn’t even come close to the real thing.

“What the fuck is that?” Faith asked.

“That’s the Senior Partners unleashing the horde.” Wesley’s voice was grim. He held a sword as well, and Leslie spared a moment to look towards him.

They had assembled in the alley behind the hotel, and she wondered if the Senior Partners had known where they intended to meet after assassinating the members of the Black Thorn. Fred had taken Gunn and a protesting Abby to the hospital; Wesley had warned them to get out of the city if they could—or at least as far away from the hotel as was possible under the circumstances.

Leslie understood why now as the rip grew wider, sparking blue light. She glanced over at Caridad, who looked frightened for the first time. That alone was enough to send Leslie’s heart into her stomach.

“Stay with your partner!” Wesley called over the roar of something that looked an awful lot like a dragon as it came flying towards them.

“I’ve got the dragon!” Angel began running towards the coming horde.

Spike shook his head and followed close behind. “Show-off!”

Leslie exchanged a look with Cari, who nodded. Swallowing her fear, she followed the others, running towards the rip in the sky and the demons and monsters pouring out.

And she thought of nothing but the fight for what seemed like forever.

~~~~~

Abby twisted in her seat between Fred and Gunn to look back to the hotel. She could see a blue light in the sky, and she couldn’t help but feel that it was totally unfair that she’d been sent away. Spike had been hurt, but she hadn’t been, and he’d stayed. She’d proven herself in the fight with the Fell Brethren.

Of course, Wesley had explained that if she stayed, the others would be worried about her, and distracted as a result. It was safer for everybody if she went with Fred and Gunn, and she could protect them in case the Senior Partners sent demons after them.

The explanation made sense, which was the only reason that Abby had left without more of a fight.

Gunn grunted in pain as the truck bounced over a pothole, and Fred muttered an apology. “Which hospital?”

“I don’t know.” Fred looked a little panicked. “Can you make until we get to UCLA? I think that should be far enough away.”

He managed to nod. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

Abby looked at Gunn’s midsection dubiously. The blood was still seeping, and she didn’t think that “fine” even began to describe it. “What are we going to tell the people at the hospital?” she asked. She knew all about lying to doctors.

She’d tried telling the truth one time, and things at home had just gotten worse. She was pretty good at lying and making it believable now.

“Mugging,” Fred said succinctly. “They’ll believe that.”

“They’ll call the cops.” Gunn braced himself against the door as best as he could. “And they’re gonna ask questions about Abby being with us.”

Fred glanced at her, then at Gunn. “Easy. You’re my boyfriend, and Abby is my sister. That’s what we’ll tell anyone who asks.”

Abby decided that Fred wasn’t bad at lying either. Only someone from the South would be able to tell that they were from different regions; anyone else would hear the drawl and believe their story.

She just wished she knew how the others were doing.

~~~~~

Faith whirled to take on the demon coming at her from behind. No one had known what to expect to come out of the portal, but the sheer numbers were something of a shock. Faith had thought that they would at least have a chance to beat them back, but they were just trying to stay alive at this point.

Victory was clearly not a possibility, not until they could close the portal.

She killed her demon with a well-placed knife thrust and looked around for Wesley. She didn’t want to lose track of him in the melee; Faith figured it was her job to keep him in one piece.

Scanning the crowd in the alley, Faith caught sight of Wesley. He was close to Angel and Spike, who were still trying to push back the dragon. Spike ducked and rolled as the dragon swiped at him, its claws catching the edge of his jacket and sending him flying.

Faith let out a curse as the dragon reared back, long neck stretched out. The fire that came roaring out of its mouth was aimed directly at Wesley.

Time seemed to slow to an impossible crawl, and she screamed, fear keeping her feet rooted in place.

Angel moved at a speed only a vampire could manage, his bulk shielding Wes from the worst of the blast. The big vampire was dust in the next moment. Faith could see Wesley on the ground, clutching his arm and writhing in pain.

She was at his side before she even realized that she had moved. “Wes?”

He was cursing a blue streak, and she saw the charring on his shirtsleeve. The skin underneath was already blistering. “Go, Faith.”

“We need to retreat, Wes. We can’t keep this up forever.”

“Call them in. We’ll go through the hotel basement.”

Faith pulled him to his feet by his good arm. “Let’s go!” she shouted. “We’re pulling back!” She moved backwards, keeping one arm around Wesley, holding her knife in her free hand. “Let’s go!” she yelled again, when it didn’t appear as though the others were moving fast enough for her.

“Shit,” Wesley swore as she jostled his burnt arm.

“Sorry,” Faith muttered.

They stood next to the door in the alley, and Faith counted off as the others came inside. All of the Slayers were in one piece, although it looked as though Phoebe’s arm had been injured, and Caridad was limping. Dana and Ellen ran inside, both of them looked to be unhurt. Angel was dust, and Spike and Connor were nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Spike and Connor?” she called after the others.

“I don’t know,” Leslie said, turning. “I can—”

“No time for that. If they’re not here, we can’t afford to go back and get them.” Wesley’s voice was shaky with pain. “Go.”

Faith looked back over her shoulder. The demons appeared to be unconcerned with them now that they were no longer fighting. Instead, they were heading out of the alley into the city.

This was not good.