Act1

Tara and Faith were walking along the narrow alleys of a small and obviously badly maintained cemetery. Faith was slightly leading the way and was distractedly turning her stake in her right hand as her eyes were trailing over her surroundings. Tara was following closely with her arms crossed over her chest, and her eyes either glued to the ground or lost into the distance. She wasn’t really listening to Faith telling with much detail one of her past glorious act.
The dark-haired Slayer was casting glances from time to time to the witch as to be sure she was still there. Satisfied, she was turning back again and going on with her tale with fake enthusiasm.

She suddenly stopped and fell silent. Tara – who had not noticed as she was lost in her own thoughts- bumped into her and Faith cast her an annoyed glance.

“Shh” she grumbled as low as she could.

She pricked up her ears then pointed to a direction. She started to walk faster and Tara tried to follow without making any noise. Faith stopped soon again. Just some meters across from them, three vampires were sitting on the grass and were talking animatedly.

“We should go to the Luna” one of them was saying

“It’s way too far!” Was complaining another one.

“What about the supermarket?” a third one suggested.

“Supermarket is closed right now, you dumbass!” replied the second one.

“Where will we feed then?” the first one resumed. “The Luna is the easier place”

“But it’s far!” whined again the second vampire.

“Got a suggestion for you” Faith suddenly announced.

The three vampires turned to her in the same gesture.

“What about going nowhere?” Faith resumed.

The vampires’ gazes went from Faith to Tara for some seconds and their eyes started to shine with longing.
Faith then brought out the stake she was holding behind her back and made it turn between her fingers with an innocent look on her face.
Longing turned to fear and the three vampires stood up.

“I’m pretty sure I can get rid you off your problem” Faith added with a smirk.

“She looks like the Slayer…” the third vampire whispered and turned to his companions. “Do you think she really is the Slayer?”

“No” The first one answered. “Probably just some regular girl hanging out in cemeteries at night with stakes in hand. Nothing to worry about”

His interlocutor sighed with relief.

“Good. For a second, I thought she really was a Slayer”

His two companions exchanged a shocked look.

“Of course she really is the Slayer, you dumbass!” One of them shouted.

And he punctuated his sentence by violently throwing his naïve friend toward the aforementioned Slayer. Surprised, he stumbled directly onto the stake Faith had aimed at him. The two other ones took advantage of that diversion to run away as fast as they could.

“C’mon Blondie!” Faith exclaimed in a firm tone.

She was about to follow them but turned before to Tara who wasn’t moving and was dumbfoundedly looking at her.

“W-What?”

“We’re pursuing them, Blondie. We’re running. You know, kinda like walking, just faster. Won’t do bad, you can use some physical exercises “

Saying this, Faith grabbed Tara’s wrist without asking her permission and went after the fugitives. Tara nearly stumbled due to the Slayer’s violent pull but Faith didn’t care.
But despite all Tara’s efforts to catch with the Slayer’s pace, she was a burden to Faith and the vampires were farther with each stride.
Faith suddenly stopped, growling with disapproval and this time Tara really stumbled as she bumped into the Slayer. Faith didn’t even look at her as she was aiming her crossbow.

“Fuck!” She grumbled. “I wanted some hand to hand”

A first bolt flew and chopped off the farther vampire who turned to dust under his companion’s eyes. He stopped short in his tracks and screamed before turning around to see what had just happened. Faith flashed him a smile he could easily have read as ‘sorry’ and a second bolt followed the first one. The vampire rolled his eyes before disappearing in dust in his turn.
Faith dropped her arm back and turned to Tara who was getting to her feet and was trying to get her clothes rid off the cemetery’s dirt.

“I hate when they’re dumb like that” Faith told, as the blonde might care about this. “I don’t have any fun”

Faith hung the crossbow back to her belt and looked around her like some predator. A piercing cry then echoed in the night and Faith’s head turned abruptly to her left.

“Help! Help!” Screamed a man’s voice coming from like some dozen meters.

“Maybe some fun for you” Tara commented.

“Yeah“ Faith growled.

As previously, she grabbed Tara’s wrist and dragged her toward the direction where the screams came from. Tara followed more easily than previously and was on the watch for any movement from the Slayer. When Faith finally stopped, the witch wasn’t surprised this time and she managed to keep her balance. Faith released her when she saw a man crawling on the ground as fast as he could under the threat of what looked like a blonde woman. But even with her back turned to her, Faith knew she was a vampire. Faith immediately went forward and got the vampire away from her prey with a good blow. The demon snarled with displeasure and turned away from the man to care about the Slayer. Faith couldn’t help a slight satisfied smirk as all her Slayer’s senses awakened to face this new opponent. They exchanged some blows as the man – who was still sitting on the ground – looked at them with a dumbfounded look on his face and as Tara never moved from the place Faith had left her some seconds before. The Slayer let the exchange last a little longer than necessary before finally staking her. The blonde vampire disappeared in dust and Faith cleaned her hands before turning to the man. Faith got closer and looked at him: he was about his mid-forty, average size and his hair was starting to go grayish.
Faith held her hand to him to get him to his feet and he grabbed it willingly. When he was up, he cleaned his clothes in his turn before laying a questioning look on the Slayer.

“Thank you” He said hesitantly. “Whoever you are. And whatever might have been this…thing”

“Vampire” Faith casually said. “You should avoid cemeteries at night”

“Well, I had to walk along that one to get home when this…woman came to me” he explained.

“Then you shouldn’t follow women in cemeteries at night” Faith resumed in the same tone.

“Hum…I guess.” The man replied, slightly embarrassed. Then he resumed in a firmer tone: “But how? Who are you? You look…” He stared at Faith from head to toes. “…quite young”

Faith nonchalantly shrugged.

“I’m Faith, a vampire Slayer. Vampires, demons. That’s my stuff”

The man arched a skeptical eyebrow then stared at her with renewed interest.

“Demons? All kind of demons?”

“All kind. All of them.” Faith distractedly answered as she turned around to look for Tara. She was satisfied to see her coming closer to them and turned again to her interlocutor. “From the biggest to the smallest ones. From the ugliest to the ones looking human”

“All kind of demons?” The man repeated in an interested tone.

Faith shrugged with a hint of annoyance.

“I’m telling you every of them. Why that?”

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment before he finally said, just as Tara caught up with them:

“The village has its own demon problem”

***

“A demon problem?” Faith repeated.

The man nodded more forcefully than previously.

“Yeah” He said. “A demon. We’ve got a demon at the village”

“And we don’t know how to deal with him”

“There’s only one way to deal with demons” Faith answered coldly. “If they don’t kill you today, it’s to kill you tomorrow”

The man calmly nodded.

“We’re all scared. We don’t know what to do. Do you think you could help us out?”

Faith nodded without even thinking about it.

“It’s my job to take care of demons wherever I go”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you very much” The man warmly replied. “When do you think…”

Faith nonchalantly shrugged.

“Whenever you want”

“Good, good” The other answered and he seemed to think about it. “Could you please come by tomorrow? At my place? It’s across Main Street. Over there”

He turned around and pointed vaguely a direction with his arm.

“I’m gonna walk you home.” Faith interrupted as the man was about to explain more precisely. “That way, you’ll be sure to get home safely and I’d know how to come by tomorrow”

“You don’t need to do that” The man protested. “It’s late and you probably have to go home. By the way, where do you live?”

Faith shrugged again and smirked.

“At the ‘Insider’ motel. And it’s not like the town was big”

“At the ‘insider’?” the man repeated. “It’s not…Well, it’s not the bettest place”

“It’s not that bad. And it’s cheap.” Faith replied. “Let’s go”

He thoughtfully nodded and started to walk with Faith and Tara on his heels.

“Come around 12 tomorrow morning” He suggested a few minutes later as the two young women left him in front of his door.

Faith nodded and the girls disappeared in the night.

***

The day after, they were at 12 o’clock in front of the house where they had left the man the night before. He came to open the door after Faith had knocked and smiled warmly when he saw them on the doorway.

“Please come in, ladies”

He stepped back to let them in and the girls entered a modest house. He led them to the living room where a dark-haired, shorthaired woman welcomed them with a warm smile.

“Good morning ladies” she greeted with obvious respect in her voice. “I’m Martha, Peter’s wife”

Peter entered the room in his turn and came to meet his wife. He put his arm around her shoulders then pointed to Faith.

“This is Faith, the young woman I told you about. She’s the one who saved me yesterday night”

“Thank you very much miss” Martha simply said and slightly bent respectfully her head toward the Slayer.

“And this is…”

He pointed to Tara and stopped his sentence short as he gave Faith a questioning look. It took the Slayer a second to understand what was going on.

“Oh!” She exclaimed as she realized. “She’s Tara. She…” Faith wavered. “She’s with me” She finally said.

“We’ve cooked lunch” Martha resumed. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

Faith was slightly taken aback by the question.

“Oh. You shouldn’t have. Really. I…”

“It’s my pleasure” Martha interrupted. “You saved Peter’s life and you agreed to help us. It’s not much to invite you for lunch”

Faith turned her head to the table and noticed then several smoking courses and the table set for four people.

“Please take place” Peter invited them as he pointed to the table.

Faith’s first wavering disappeared when she felt her stomach growled with anticipation as she saw the dishes on the table. Her feet dragged her despite herself to a chair where she fell with some caution. Tara sat beside her and the couple took place face to both young women.

The couple mainly animated lunch. The husband told for what Faith guessed was the umpteenth time the tale of his rescue and each of them asked Faith with much interest about her activities. The Slayer answered each time briefly but with enthusiasm, happy to notice how warm her hosts were with her. Tara didn’t open her mouth, except to swallow small mouthfuls of the really good dishes served. To the glances cast by their hosts Faith knew they wondered if the blonde with was mute had any kind of impairment. She didn’t tell them and they didn’t ask.

When the dessert was finally swallowed, the couple invited both girls around the coffee table where coffee was served with cookies. Faith did honor to them when Tara politely declined. When the cups were finally empty and all the cookies gone, Faith slightly pushed her plate aside and leant in the sofa.

“So, that demon problem?” the dark-haired Slayer asked. “What is it?”

Husband and wife exchanged a quick glance before the man spoke.

“I’m gonna lead you to him” he suggested. “It’s really close”

Faith immediately got up and Tara did the same after a brief time of wavering.

“Let’s go” the Slayer said.

Peter and Martha got up as well and went to the hall. They took their coats there and exited the house, followed by the girls.

***

The walk was indeed brief as Peter had announced. The group walked down the street all the way to a small house alike the others and whose shutters were still half-closed. Peter knocked and a man came to open the door. Faith saw him crane his neck to see who was with Peter and his wife and Faith thought she could see a brief glimmer of disappointment in his eyes. He nevertheless said nothing and opened the door wider to let them in. They followed the man who had opened the door to the living room. A group of other people was waiting for them. They all got up when they came in. Beside the man who had opened the door, three other men and two women were there. The younger was probably around twenty years old when the oldest was in his mid sixty. They all seemed to be modest people and weren’t used to receive strangers. They all stared at them with such intensity that Faith couldn’t help but feel uneasy to be the object of such a scrutiny.

“This is Faith” Peter simply said, pointing to her.

Faith could read such expectation, such hope in the men’s and women’s gaze that she almost embarrassed. She slightly waved her hand to them but didn’t know what to tell or do. Peter came forward in the room and pointed to her again as he turned to the group:

“Faith knows all kind of demons and knows how to deal with them. She’s an expert.”

Faith discreetly nodded and toppled over from one foot to the other, praying God or whoever could hear her that this meeting ceased quickly or that it came to the fact.
Peter was the one to hear her silent prayer ‘cause he turned again to her after gesturing to one of the man in the room. That one came slightly forward and looked almost shyly at Faith despite his tall size.

“We have to tell you that this demon, well, he doesn’t look like a demon. He looks like he’s harmless at first sight. But he’s…weird. There’re always weird things happening around him. Don’t trust how he looks”

Faith frowned, intrigued by her interlocutor’s words.

“And where can I find it?” She finally asked after a silence.

The man turned round to a corner of the room where was a door with a window glass. In the doorway stood a new comer: a woman in her mid forty, with brown hair tied back in a strict French pleat. She was also looking at Faith and she firmly held in her right hand a little blonde-haired boy who wasn’t probably ten yet.

Faith opened her mouth to say something but the man who was talking before was quicker:

“Here he comes”