Act2

Faith got closer to the window and started to lift up the blinds.

“Don’t!” the man yelled. “It would see us!”

Faith turned an annoyed look to him and lifted slightly the blinds anyway.

“Oh my God!” she heard behind her.

She bent slightly forward to see the street and her eyes opened wide as she watched the scene taking place there.

“Oh my God” she repeated.

She could see the demon in the middle of the street. Faith had seen a lot of things through the last years. But nothing like this. Dragon was the first word that came to her mind when she saw the creature flying above the street with its wings all unfolded and belching fire here and there. Its skin was covered with coarse scales that Faith supposed were thick and its strong paws were provided with large and long claws.

A car had hit a floor lamp in the street and the front of the car was steaming from both the shock and the monster’s treatment. A young man was running as fast as he could to try to escape the demon and was yelling in terror.

Faith unhooked the crossbow hanging at her belt and loaded a bolt.

“Stay here Blondie, I’m coming back”

“What are you doing?” Tara asked when she saw Faith putting her hand on the doorknob.

“I’m gonna see what I can do, stay here”

Tara opened her mouth to say something but closed it before any sound could be heard.

“You can’t…”

Faith didn’t let the man finish his sentence and resolutely jumped into the street. The door loudly echoed behind her. Tara came to the window in her turn and watched the Slayer.

As soon as she was out in the street Faith aimed at the demon and fired a bolt to it. She hit it but as expected, the bolt didn’t seem to hurt the monster in the slightest.
It turned away from its first prey to face Faith who had already reloaded her crossbow and was ready to fire again.

“C’mon here big boy…”

She waited for it to come closer before shooting and had to jump aside on her left to the center of the street to avoid the stray of flames coming her way.
She nevertheless smirked when she heard it snarl in pain as the bolt hit it again.
Faith rolled on her side and got up to her feet quickly to run away from the monster as fast as she could. She cast a glance behind her and learnt that the demon’s pain hadn’t last. It was following her, spitting and yelling behind her.
He soon was close enough and Faith had to jump aside again to avoid new flames.

She got to her feet and turned round to see where her opponent was. It spat again and swooped on her. Faith avoided a first attack and tried to fire at it once again. She missed it and the demon managed to get closer enough to attack her with its claws. Faith violently threw one of her dagger forward and tried to dodge.

She partly succeeded. The demon didn’t hit her on her face as it had intended but one of his claws violently bumped into Faith’s left shoulder. Pain was so intense that Faith thought for a second that she might lose consciousness. She suddenly felt nauseous and had to make a great effort to hold back and to roll on her side again to avoid new flames.

“Okay, if I’m not doing something, that demon will quickly burn that town…”

She managed to crawl behind a flight of stairs leading to a house’s steps and curled up behind the rocks where the monster couldn’t reach her. She looked at her wooded shoulder and ran her fingers on the wound. Her jacket had been torn into pieces, her white tee shirt wasn’t all that white any more and Faith knew the cut was deep and irregular.

“Great” she grumbled as she felt blood running down her arm.

“I have to get out of here,…” she thought out loud, trying to look above the steps.

A new spray of lames welcomed her try and Faith dove again to the ground. A light smell of burning hit her nose and Faith ran her hand to her hair. A little lock fell to dust into her hand.

“Son of a bitch!” The Slayer cursed.

She loaded her crossbow and tried again to get to her feet to aim at the demon. Again, it spat fire toward her. This time, Faith was quick enough to avoid it but randomly shot in her hurry.

“Damn!” she grumbled.

The Slayer wedged herself behind the stairs again, her brain working hard to try to find an escape. Several minutes later, Faith finally realized that the demon’s wings flutter and cries were not as loud as previously.
She carefully stood and noticed that the demon had stopped to wait for her and was getting away.

“Not really patient…” the dark-haired Slayer commented.

She loaded her crossbow and nimbly jumped across the stairs to run after the demon. Faith carefully remained at a distance for the demon not to spot her.

Streets were still deserted and the monster found nothing to attack. It randomly spat fire from time to time and went on flying above the town without Faith knowing if it had a goal or not. She didn’t even know why she was following it. But instinct was stronger. Maybe she was watching out for a chance to attack it.

She thought she got one when the demon eventually flew away from the village to head toward the nearby forest.
Faith was ready to follow it but finally stopped on the edge of the forest.

She considered her equipment: some knives, her crossbow and just two bolts left. Then she looked up. Night was soon starting to fall. And she had nothing to give her some light. To venture in the mountains like this didn’t feel like a good idea. She spotted the direction the dragon had followed and headed back toward the village.

***

Faith drumed again against the butcher’s shop door where she had left Tara a while sooner. This time, the door immediatlety opened.
The Slayer hurriedly came in the shop and looked for Tara. The blonde was sitting at a table behind the counter and was drinking a hot drink with the woman.
She got up when she saw her coming in and came to meet with her.

“Blondie” Faith said. “We’re going back to the car to take some stuff and…”

“Oh my God! You’re hurt!” Tara interrupted as her eyes came to Faith’s shoulder.

Faith followed her gaze and shrugged. She held back a slight wince at the pain the move caused her.

“It’s no big.”

Tara dumbfoundly looked at her and didn’t keep on.

“The monster’ve done that to you?” the man asked, looking at her shoulder too.

Faith nodded and interrupted him before he could speak again.

“It’s gone in the mountains. We’re gonna go and see where it comes from”

“What?” asked all the room’s occupiers with one voice.

“You said it came out from nowhere some days ago. It has to come from somewhere. We’re gonna find out”

“I really don’t see what you could possibly do” the man grumbled as he stared at the Slayer’s figure. “You’ve already got quite beaten up”

Faith shrugged again and put her hand on her wound. She was still bleeding.

“It won’t live long enough to do that again” she hissed between her teeth.

She headed to the door and gestured to Tara to follow.

“C’mon Blondie, we better get going”

Then, she turned to their hosts and simply added:

“Thank you. And sorry for the trouble”

With that, Faith exited the butcher’s shop as Tara was adding more elaborate thanks before following her. They were soon back to the car and Faith threw her weapons on the back seat before grabbing her bag in the trunk. She removed her torn and splattered with blood jacket and tee-shirt, then started to clean the wound under Tara’s disbelieving stare.

“Faith, you…”

“S’no big Blondie” Faith interrupted. “No one’s around”

Tara pouted but didn’t add anything.

Faith bandaged her shoulder and slipped a clean tee-shirt and sweater before going back to the back door with an empty backpack in her hand. She emptied the weapons bag on the seat and gathered all the remaining bolts. She put all of them into the backpack then added a short sword and some stakes.

When she was done, she considered the opened backpack in front of her then turned to Tara who was looking at her, standing still a feet away from her.
Faith stared at her for a moment, obviously giving some thinking to whatever she was about to say.
Finally after a rather long silence, she asked:

“D’you have some magical stuff left?”

Tara frowned and uncrossed her arms, obviously surprised:

“What? Hum, y-yeah. There’s some left. W-why?”

“Take it” Faith said with authority.

“W-why?” Tara repeated.

“We’re going in expedition Blondie. Magic could be useful.”

As Tara was still disbelievingly looking at her, she specified:

“We’re dealing with a real demon this time. Get ready to do some of your magic tricks”

Tara winced and her face crumpled.

“F-Faith, I c-can’t do m-magic”

“How’s that?” Faith grumbled.

“I haven’t in a l-long t-time. I don’t k-know if I would, if I’d remember…”

“Believe me” Faith said and shrugged. “When it comes to, you’ll remember”

Then she gestured to the car’s trunk.

“Give me your stuff”

Tara headed to the trunk and got out a plastic bag she handed to Faith.

“Night is about to fall” Tara said.

“Don’t worry Blondie, it won’t take much time. We’ll get back when night really falls”

Tara pouted but the look on Faith’s face was clearly telling her it wasn’t opened to debate.

“Let’s go” Faith simply said.

***

Faith was leading the way, following the path taken sooner when she had run after the dragon. Its trail wasn’t hard to follow. Broken or burn trees here and there pointed that the demon was there at some point.
Tara was following Faith really closely, looking worriedly around her as the forest around them became deeper.
The witch was starting to slow down. They were now walking for more than an hour through the mountains and Tara started to feel tired.

“Faith” she called out to the Slayer finally after wavering a lot of times. “Can we have a break? I’m exhausted”

Faith stopped and turned to the blonde whom she gave an annoyed look.

“Blondie, we left just an hour ago. Night is falling. If we don’t want to sleep here, we better keep moving”

“Why did you want to come absolutely tonight?” Tara replied. “It was certain that night would fall before we find your dragon!”

“Nothing was certain at all!” Faith countered. “That thing goes to the village every day. Mustn’t be too far”

“It flies” Tara said in a blatant tone, as Faith could have not noticed that fact.

“And?”

“It’s faster than we are!” Tara said in an exasperated tone.

“We’d be faster if you weren’t that slow!”

“YOU wanted me to come!” Tara exclaimed. “And should I remind you that you were the one to keep me with you last time I wanted to leave?”

Faith rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“And now, I’m still wondering why!”

Tara didn’t answer and the girls looked at each other daringly during long seconds. Finally, Faith turned round and resumed her walking.

“So, you’re good now, got your time of rest. Let’s go”

Tara looked at her, shared between puzzlement and disbelief. When Faith was at ten feet from her, she understood that the Slayer was serious and resumed walking with a bored sigh. She quickened her pace to try to catch up with the Slayer and Faith stopped to wait for her.

“Stay on your guard Blondie” Faith said as the girls resumed walking side by side. “We never know”

Tara nodded and she clenched her fingers around the dagger Faith had given her a little while sooner.

A few minutes later, Faith stopped again. Her body tensed and her arm raised her crossbow as she appeared to be on the lookout. Tara stopped beside her and looked around her with fear. She tried to see more clearly her surroundings but it was now dark and the witch could only make out shadowy figures.

“What…” she began.

But she got an answer to her question even before asking it.

“Tara! Down!” Faith suddenly yelled and pushed her to the ground.

Tara found herself lying on the floor and looking up, she saw the demon coming out above their heads from behind a wide rock on their left. The witch turned around and saw Faith shooting a bolt at the monster at the last moment before avoiding it. Tara looked in horror as she saw flames around Faith’s legs. She was relieved the second after when the Slayer rolled on her side and got to her feet as the monster was crying in pain.

Tara understood why when it turned round and she could see its face. Faith had shot him in the eye. Tara couldn’t help but feel admiring to the dark-haired Slayer’s dexterity. She was undoubtedly gifted. Her voice brought her back to present.

“Get up Blondie!”

Faith’s concerned and pressing tone made her stand immediately. She understood just after the worry in Faith’s voice.

The demon wasn’t happy with this new impairment and was randomly spitting fire around. But Faith was taking advantage of its limited field of vision with great skill. The Slayer had managed to slip close to it, coming from its blind side and was violently stabbing it with her sword. When she stabbed it for the third time, she had to step aside and to hide behind a rock to protect herself from the monster’s counter-attack. Flames were stopped against the rock as the monster snarled in pain again.

Faith loaded her crossbow and turned around the rock. She shot a new bolt when the demon turned to her and spat a new spray of flames.
The Slayer just had time to take refuge again behind her rock.
She loaded her crossbow and was ready to fire again but she heard a loud flutter and guessed that the demon was flying away.

Faith got out from her hiding place. She looked for Tara and found her cuddled up beside another rock.

“Let’s go Blondie!” She hurriedly said. “We’re moving!”

Without waiting, Faith ran after the demon. Tara looked at her hesitantly and when Faith turned round to see if she was following, she hadn’t moved at all.

“C’mon Blondie! The Slayer yelled.

Tara looked at Faith getting away for half a second then considered the elusive shadows around her and her legs suddenly started to run.

They raced down slopes, climbed other mountainsides, ran through fir trees and rocks, trying desperately to follow the monster. How her legs could even still carry her as Faith was hardly in sight before her? Tara didn’t know. But she stumbled on to run behind the Slayer without even knowing why.

Finally Faith stopped abruptly when she had to admit that the demon had shaken then off. The Slayer threw her crossbow to the ground in rage and stamped on her feet until Tara finally caught up with her.

“We lost it” she said, as Tara had not noticed.

The witch was standing beside her, folded in two, trying hard to get control of her breath.

“You… you’re running so…so fast” she managed to get out, panting.

“Not fast enough” Faith grumbled and looked around her.

The look on her face was a mix of anger and defeat. She carried on to look around her for a track of the demon’s presence but she wasn’t convinced anymore.

“And now?” Tara asked after what she thought was enough time of waiting for the slayer to calm down.

Faith nonchalantly shrugged. She picked her crossbow up and hooked it back at her belt. She then peered into her surroundings. The night was now deep.

“Don’t know” Faith grumbled. “It’s no use to go on. We can’t see a thing”

Her eyes roamed around her again.

“We’re gonna get back. I’ll come back by tomorrow”

They turned back at a calmer pace. They cry of an animal in the distance made them jump and Tara stopped dead in her tracks and looked frantically around her. Faith looked at her half-amused half-bored.
When Tara’s eyes fell onto her with a glimmer Faith read as accusing, the Slayer rolled her eyes and opened her arms in front of her in a dramactic gesture.

“Okay Blondie. Got the memo. Not my best idea ever uh…“

They resumed their walk and Faith noticed with amusement that Tara was increasing her pace to stay as close as possible. The blonde wasn’t obviously at ease.

“Relax Blondie, we’ll soon be back!”

Tara didn’t answer and they resumed walking in silence. Faith was on the lookout, ready for every eventuality and was watching closely at the night around them. When a new cry pierced the night – not too far from them this time – Faith mechanically turned to its direction, crossbow in hand, ready to fire.

A light noise of leaves and cracking branches could be heard and Faith came in front of Tara. The Slayer closely watched in front of her, listening carefully to the slightest sound to try to detect when the approaching thing would be within reach.

“Blondie…” she breathed in a so low tone that Tara jumped. “It’s coming… Be ready…”

Tara shivered when she heard Faith’s threatening and anguished voice and she tried to open her eyes wide to see what was coming. But despite all her efforts, she couldn’t see a thing among the shapeless shadows of trees and rocks.

The noise was suddenly closer. Branches cracked right in front of her. Tara’s heart started to pound loudly in her chest and Faith pushed her aside.

“Watch out Blondie!”

Tara stumbled over and flopped down on the ground and found herself facing a wild cat looking at her with its big yellow eyes. The animal growled and scampered off.

Tara remained stupid for a while and tried for long minutes to get her breathing under control and to lower her heart rate. Beside her, Faith was laughing heartily.

“God, Blondie! You should have seen you face!” she exclaimed between bursts of laughter. “Such a reaction for a tiny wild cat even more scared of you than you were of it!”

Tara opened her eyes wide and stared at the Slayer with a severe look.

“Y-you kn-knew it was j-just a cat?” she stuttered.

“Of course I knew!” Faith almost cheerfully exclaimed. “Slayer here!” she added, pointed proudly to herself.

Seeing Tara was still blankly looking at her, she specified:

“Increased senses”

Tara got to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest, looking obviously annoyed.

“It wasn’t funny“ she seriously said.

“Relax Blondie » Faith said, trying to regain some seriousness. “Gotta have some fun“

She erased her smirk before adding more seriously:

“Sorry, couldn’t resist”

Tara shrugged, turned around and resumed walking without a word for the Slayer. Faith looked at her getting away for a few seconds, then she followed and caught up with her in a few steps.

“You shouldn’t get away alone Blondie” she said, smirking again. “You never know what could pop up from the shadows!”

She added a fake growl and mimicked a jumping cat with her hands.

“Very funny” Tara grumbled.

They then got to what could be called a crossroad and Tara stopped.

“And now?” she asked, turning to Faith with a questionning look.

Faith watched around her for a few seconds then pointed to their right.

“There”

Tara followed her and they resumed walking in silence for long minutes.

“I’m gonna grab a good shower” Faith commented after some time. “That damn demon tore my shoulder, blood ran down until my hand”

Saying this, she lifted her sweater where the demon had scratched her and looked closely at the wound.

“Still bleeding” she said, seeing her bandage stained with blood.

She then turned to Tara and added:

“You could do with a shower too Blondie. You’ve got dirst on her face, leaves in her hair and you probably got all sweaty trying to run after me!”

Tara ran her hand in her hair to make the leaves fall but didn’t answer.

“I’m pretty sure that after a day like this, you’ll sleep tomorrow even more than usual” Faith said. “Well, if that’s even possible” she added, turning to Tara.

She didn’t reply and just vaguely nodded her head as her mind was already thinking about the bed she would soon see again/

“F-Faith” she asked after a moment. “Do you th-think it’s still gonna take l-long?”

“Don’t know Blondie” Faith nonchalantly replied. “I’m losing track of time when I’m running after demons”

They walked for half an hour in complete silence. Tara couldn’t even feel her feet and the only thing she wanted was seeing the town lights in the distance telling her that their expedition in this nerve-racking forest was over. Too busy to look around her, she didn’t notice when Faith suddenly stopped without a word and she bumped into her.

Faith hardly felt her, as she watched her surroundings with much care.

“Blondie” she said after a long time of silent watch. “I think we’ve got a problem”

“What?” Tara asked in a monotone voice, looking for potential danger but finding nothing.

“We’ve already gone that way”

Tara looked at what Faith was showing. But all she could see was alike dark figures of trees and rocks.

“Y-you sure?” she asked, frowning.

Faith confidently nodded.

“Yeah, I’m” she asserted. “Several times.”

“What can we do?” Tara asked hesitantly. “Where are we going now?”

Faith turned to her and looked at her in the eye with a scowl on her face.

“I have no idea”

She looked again around them and concluded:

“We’re lost”