Act2

Faith slowed her car as she arrived near a crossroads. She stopped, though there was no other vehicle in sight, and seized the opportunity to grab a piece of paper on the passenger seat where an address and directions were scribbled down. Faith read and leaned slightly to be able to see the name of the street where she was, and the name of the street crossing it. She wavered a second and turned right. The Slayer sighed and rubbed her eyes with her left hand. She felt extremely tired, and it was not the kind of enjoyable tiredness she liked after a night of slaying. The road had been long, winding, monotonous and had felt endless to the Slayer. Faith had stopped a few times and had been close to fall asleep once or twice while driving. She felt relieved to finally reach her goal. In less than a mile, the young woman would be finally at destination.

She slowed down again and tilted her head to search for the training center’s gate. When she finally caught sight of it after a long row of hedges, she finally stopped the car and the engine. Faith dragged herself slowly out of the car, and despite the biting cold welcoming her, she felt satisfied to breathe some fresh air for more than a few minutes. She closed her door then opened the rear one to get a bag she threw over her shoulder before locking the car. She quickly crossed the distance to the high iron gate and looked for a way to draw attention to her presence. She found a little ringing button half hidden under ivy growing along the pillars around the gate. Not even ten seconds later, the gate creaked and started slowly to open. As soon as she was able, Faith slided inside and walked up the alley leading to the mansion she had caught sight of from the street. She found herself quickly in front on the front door and had to knock when nobody came to open. It was not long before the brunette heard quick footsteps inside and the door finally opened, revealing a redhead teenage girl.

“What is it?” she asked in a laconic tone.

“I’m Faith,” the brunette Slayer answered after a brief hesitation. “I believe Vi must be waiting for me.”

As the girl was about to turn around to call to someone, Vi appeared in her turn in the doorway.

“Hey Faith,” she said with a slight nod.

“Hey Vi,” Faith answered as the door opened wide to make room for her to come in.

The Slayer did not need to be told twice, and once the door closed behind her, she enjoyed the nicer temperature inside. The teenager had slipped away without a word, and Faith found herself alone with Vi in the lobby.

“You look good,” Faith perfunctory said, in an attempt that herself found quite pathetic, to make small talk.

“Forget about the greetings,” Vi told her. “I kind of know you’re not very good at that sort of stuff.”

Faith pouted but did not deny and went immediately to the point.

“So,” she said as Vi gestured for her to follow in a corridor. “What’s happening here?”

“Giles has not told you?” Vi asked.

She pushed a door and both girls entered a small office furnished with an old sofa and two worn-leathered armchairs circling a large fireplace where a fire was burning its end. Faith did not wait for the offer to allow herself to flop down into one of the armchair, while Vi threw some logs into the fire and poked the dying flames. When she was satisfied with herself, the redhead came sitting in the remaining armchair.

“Do you know where you are?” Vi started, and as Faith was rolling her eyes, she resumed quickly: “I mean, do you know what we’re doing here? What’s this center is?”

Faith’s expression went from slightly annoyed surprise to frank annoyance.

“Of course,” she grumbled. “It’s a training center for Slayers”

“To be more accurate,” Vi said with an obvious hint of satisfaction about correcting her counterpart. “It’s a training center for young Slayers.” she clarified, emphasizing the word ‘young’.

Faith could not help casting her a dubious glance and wavered about what possible answer – most preferably scathing – she could give. Vi made the most of her hesitation to go on:

“I have no idea what you know exactly about the organization of the Slayers’ training, but Giles and the Council decided very early on to create different types of centers: those located on hellmouthes where only girls previously trained and considered ‘ready’ are sent – Vi mimicked the use of quotation marks with her hands as she said the word ready – then we have the most classical and common centers where most girls go, and finally we have the centers for young Slayers where are sent…” Vi explained as if repeating a well-learned lesson, before the brunette interrupted:

“Let me guess,” Faith said ironically. “Young Slayers?”

Vi pouted but nevertheless went on:

“Fifteen years old and younger,” she explained.

“So what?” Faith asked, now convinced she would not avoid a complete lecture about Slayers training centers.

“So here, we only have fifteen years old girls and younger. We start their training, we teach them how to master and use their strength, to develop their agility, to study the demon world…”

“Must be fascinating…” The brunette Slayer mumbled, only listening distractedly.

“It is,” Vi protested firmly. “Those kids will be well trained when leaving the center for a more serious one. They won’t be completely dumbfounded when they meet their first vampires.”

“You mean they never saw a single vampire?” Faith asked, arching an eyebrow.

“They’re not even fifteen,” Vi reminded her. “We’re supposed to keep them safe here. Why do you think we chose such a godforsaken place?”

“I can assure you there are monsters even in godforsaken places”

“Okay, I admit it’s because the mansion was given to the Council”

Faith snickered and asked:

“So study of demons in books?”

“Yes,” the redhead confirmed. “They’ve got a good training here” she insisted.

“I have no doubt about that,” Faith answered, though she had no real advice on the matter. “But what brought me here? Giles talked about a problem”

“I was about to tell you the whole story: one of our girls ran off last night. I’ve searched for her today with the older girls, but with no luck. I can’t leave the center alone for too far or too long. I’m the only experienced Slayer here, you know?”

“Why did the kid run away?” Faith asked.

“Oh, she’s kind of peculiar…” Vi started.

“I see,” Faith grumbled. “So Giles and you thought that I could run after her since I’m a little ‘peculiar’ myself?”

“It all depends of what one means with peculiar…” Vi began, before interrupting herself and saying: “Well, that’s the idea.”

Faith rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Haven’t she just come back home?”

Vi shook her head.

“No, if there’s something I’m pretty sure about, it’s this. She hasn’t left to come back to her parents.”

“Have you called them?”

Vi gave her an embarrassed grimace.

“To be fair, I haven’t… I’d like to find her before calling her family…”

Faith rolled her eyes again and arched a questioning eyebrow.

“How can you be sure she’s not back home if you haven’t called her family?”

“I know she did not want me to send her back there, so I think she did not go back herself.”

“Let’s say you’re right,” Faith said. “So, if I understand correctly, that kid left one day before I came and you have no idea where she might have gone?”

“Well, that’s not entirely true…” Vi answered, still a little embarrassed. “If there’s something else I know about her, it’s that she really likes to find trouble…”

“What a lead…” Faith grumbled.

“Her name’s Hope,” Vi went on. “I’m going to show you a picture of her and her files. It could help too if you could talk with her roommate.”

“Here we go then,” Faith said, already rising from her armchair.

“Don’t you want to sleep?” the redhead asked. “It was a long drive for you and to be honest, you look terrible.”

“Thanks,” Faith grimaced. “But she left last night. If I sleep now and only take care of this tomorrow, she will be two days nights ahead of me. Sounds bad.”

“You should at least rest a little and have a bite to eat.” The redhead insisted.

“Well, can’t say no, I’m starving!”

“I knew it!” Vi replied with a smile. “Come with me, I’ll take Hope’s files and I’m bringing you to the kitchen before going to see Hope’s buddies.”

“Okay,” Faith confirmed, finally standing for good. “Let’s go.”

Vi stood up and went to a wooden cabinet behind the sofa. She rummaged there for a moment before taking a blue folder where a name had been scribbled down.

“That’s the archives,” Vi explained. “The files are digital mostly. But Giles insisted we kept a paper version.”

Faith nodded and followed the redhead when she left the office to lead her along several corridors. They reached the kitchen quickly and Vi invited Faith to sit while she opened a cupboard.

“Service’s over,” she explained. “Kitchen attendants have already left. You’ll have to do with a hamburger if that’s fine with you.”

Faith confirmed with a nod.

“Whatever,” she said. “I’m not hard to please.”

Vi could not help a chuckle at this and commented:

“Well, that’s a well known fact, how you’re so easy going…”

The brunette then thought best to clarify:

“About food I mean.”

“That’s how I understood it,” Vi said with an amused grin, while throwing two steaks on the grill and opening a piece of bread.

She filled it with salad, tomatoes, gherkins and various sauces all in generous portions, while Faith flopped down on the table beside her and allowed herself to close her eyes for an instant.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep?” Vi insisted. “Some sleep would do some good.”

“I’ll be fine,” the brunette refused. “I don’t want to run around after your fugitive for days. Better taking care of this quickly.”

“If you say so…” Vi answered distractedly as she turned the steaks on the grill.

The cooking ended in silence and the redhead soon served the hamburger to her counterpart who was more than happy to take it.

“Thanks,” she managed between two bites.

Vi opened another cupboard where she took a large bag of chips that she put next to the dark-haired Slayer’s plate.

“And that’s the rest of your diner,” she announced.

Faith nodded and looked satisfied, but with her mouth full, she preferred not to answer. Vi tore the bag opened for her and served her some chips without thinking. Then, she opened Hope’s folder and turned toward Faith for her to be able to read while eating. The brunette did not look very interested though and Vi thought better to read out loud for her.

“Hope is fourteen years old,” she started. “Her birthday was two months ago. She’s the third child in a family of four from North Dakota. Below-average student, raised in a very patriarchal environment where she did not seem to have a great future ahead. Her parents didn’t look unhappy to get rid of her ten months a year.”

“Ten months?” Faith interrupted, slightly surprised. “What are they doing the other two months?”

This time, Vi was the one to roll her eyes.

“It’s a school here. These kids have vacations to see their families.”

“I thought the Slayer’s creed was all ‘no family, no friend’?” Faith ironically asked.

“You should get yourself informed a little more often. The Slayer’s myth has been largely modernized these last two years. You know there’re thousands of us now?”

“I think I might have heard something about it…” Faith said with a smile.

Vi grumbled something and went on with her reading about Hope.

“So, Hope arrived here about seven months ago, after a quick stay in Cleveland for the sorting.”

“The sorting?” Faith repeated.

“Faith!” Vi exclaimed with exasperation. “you don’t know what’s the sorting either?”

“Well, I’ve read the Harry Potter books like everyone else, but apart from that…”

“You did?” Vi asked with genuine surprise. “Whatever,” she interrupted herself, not waiting for an answer. “Every girl goes first to Cleveland, London or Tokyo to be assessed by experienced Slayer and Watcher before being sorted and sent to another center…”

“An experienced Slayer?” Faith repeated with a smirk. “And who sorted our kid?”

“Kennedy,” Vi replied at once.

This answer interrupted the ironic comment about the so-called Slayers’ experience Faith was about to make, just like Vi had expected. It was common knowledge that Faith considered Buffy and herself as standing apart from the Slayers’ crowd thanks to their common longer time as Slayers, but she also respected Kennedy a great deal, after the other Slayer had saved her life twice and whose qualities were praised by all of her counterparts.

“Kenn dealt with that?” the brunette just asked.

“For a time. She was very popular with the kids.”

“There’s no doubt about that,” Faith commented, thinking how she found Kennedy’s unfailing self-confidence amusing most of the time.

“Let’s get back to Hope,” Vi resumed. “She’s one of a kind and likes to seek for trouble. She already mentioned she would go over the wall a few times, but it’s the first time she indeed does it. To tell you the truth, some part of me hoped she would come back today”

“What kind of trouble does she like seeking?”

“Oh, fights, demons, graveyards, see?”

“I think I see.”

Faith finished her hamburger, swallowed a full handful of chips, and satisfied, she stood from the table where she had settled for diner.

“Let’s go and see her roommates to see if they have an idea about where she might have gone.”

Vi nodded, grabbed Faith’s plate quickly and just put it in the sink before gesturing for Faith to follow her.

“I already asked,” she explained as they walked. “We made a list of possible places and visited some already today.”

“If they’re graveyards or things like that, it’s useless to go in broad daylight,” Faith replied. “If the kid’s looking for monsters and if she has listened just a bit during classes, she knows she has to go at night.”

They climbed the stairs quickly up to the dormitories, and Vi was surprised to find most of the girls of this floor gathered in discussion at the end of the corridor, instead of being in their rooms. When they appeared at the top of the stairs, every girl turned to them and fell silent. Faith could not miss the fact that all of them were staring at her, and the brunette tried to conceal as best as she could how uneasy she felt at being scrutinized like this by a dozen of teenage girls.

“What are you doing here?” Vi asked severely. “You should be in your rooms.”

Some glanced at each other, slightly embarrassed, but none of them started for her room.

“We knew you would come to talk about Hope,” explained the girl called Natalie.

“Let’s get to the point then,” Vi sighed.

Then, she turned to Faith and gestured to her:

“This is Faith, the second original Slayer, the last one called with the former spell, she…”

“We know who she is,” interrupted another young Slayer, casting a quick glance toward Faith, but not daring meeting her eyes.

“Of course,” Vi mumbled for herself. Then louder for everyone to hear: “Faith is here to help us looking for Hope,” she explained. “I need you to give her any information you can regarding where Hope might have gone, everything she might have talked about recently.”

Silence followed and Vi looked around, but no one looked ready to speak. Faith glanced at Vi and hoped she would insist. As she remained silent, Faith took charge and spoke in her turn.

“Anything could be helpful,” she started in an encouraging tone. “What are you talking about before sleeping at night? Haven’t Hope tell you anything particular?”

The girls exchanged glances, and Camille – a tall, tan-skinned, hazel-eyed brunette, obviously the older of the group, apparently set herself as the spokesperson.

“Well, the thing with Hope is that she just keeps on talking, so, we don’t really listen anymore…” she began carefully, before resuming quickly upon seeing the impatient frown on the older Slayers’ faces. “Two months ago, she swore she would leave to find a ‘real’ cemetery, the one on Harrington’s, last month, she said there were zombies in another graveyard not too far from here, another time she wanted to go and seek out a so-called demon in a swamp… She keeps on going on and on about real monsters you can find around and how she will go and kill them at night.”

“Why on earth none of you has ever told me she had such ideas?” Vi yelped, obviously furious. “Don’t you have any idea about what could happen to her if she really carries these ideas out!”

All young Slayers looked down to their feet or looked around, anywhere but Vi who looked more furious by the minute, something Faith had never seen in her before.

“Well, this kind of thing? She keeps telling stories like that,” Camille resumed. “But she never does anything, so…”

“Except last time when she entered a crypt without permission when I had my back turned!” Vi reply dryly.

“But it was daylight and we were all there, and you were there…” the young French girl tried. “She never did anything as dumb as going alone somewhere dangerous at night…”

“Until this day,” Vi said severely. “Really, Camille, I thought you were more responsible than that, I…”

“Listen Vi,” Faith interrupted. “You’re furious, I get it. But you’ll settle your scores with your girls later. I’m more interested about where your clown may have gone. Camille,” she added, turning to the girl. “Make me a list of all the things she was talking about most often and recently, everything that sounds the most obvious for her.”

For a brief moment, the girl looked a little impressed that Faith spoke to her directly, but she got a grip on herself quickly and nodded frantically:

“I’ll grab a pen and a piece of paper to note this down,” she said and she rushed to her room on the other side of the corridor.

“Then, I’ll need a map to see where all these places are and choose where to go and where to go first.”

“On it,” Vi said, and without waiting for a reaction from Faith, she turned on her heels and left toward the stairs.

Camille came back a moment later with a notepad and a pen and came near Faith where she started to scribbled down while showing her notes to the dark-haired Slayer.

“There’s a cemetery on Harringthon’s,” she began. “Hope went on and on about it, she said she would go there like a hundred times. There’s another one, closer, just a street away. Hope talked about it a few times, but it’s way smaller than Harringthon, she would get bored real quick. Then, her newest thing is this swamp north of the town, about fifteen miles away. She took a book in the library where she read that this swamp was supposedly haunted by demons. She already told us the same kind of story about an abandoned manor we had spotted during a walk in the countryside. According to her, zombies lived there.”

“Can I find that book somewhere?” Faith asked.

“I don’t think so,” Shirley – Hope’s roommate – shyly replied. “She took it with her.”

Vi appeared then at the top of the stairs, holding a map and jogged toward them.

“You have everything you need?” she asked when she spotted the notepad in Camille’s hands.

As Faith nodded, she resumed:

“Going down to the office to study the map?”

“Well, we can do that quickly here, can’t we?” Faith suggested when she saw how eagerly the young Slayers were looking at her.

“If you want…” Vi sighed, slightly pouting.

Faith took the map from the redhead’s hands and spread it directly on the floor.

“So, where’s this Harringthon’s avenue?”

“It’s there,” said Vi and Camille at the same time, showing a point on the map.

Vi glared at her protégé, and the French girl slightly stepped back, making more room for Vi.

“We’re here,” she said, pointing another place on the map. “Harringthon is here, the other cemetery there”

Faith crossed the shown places on the map, then turned to Camille:

“What about the swamp? Where can I find it?”

Camille’s finger came back to the map and traced a line from the center toward the north.

“There,” she said. “And the abandoned manor is here,” she added, showing another point, east of the center this time.

“Okay,” Faith commented as she watched the different crosses on the map. “That thing in the swamp, it can only be found at night?”

“I think so,” Camille answered on a dubious tone. “If it only exists.”

Faith tore the page of the notepad before handing it back to the younger Slayer, then she picked up the map from the floor not even bothering to fold it back.

“Okay, I’m ready,” she said, adressing Vi. “Thanks for your help, girls,” she added for the teenagers.

The redhead nodded and gestured for Faith to follow, but before leaving, she turned back to Camille and her friends again:

“We’ll talk about all this when Faith finds Hope. In your rooms now.”

Then, without waiting to see if she was obeyed, she followed Faith who was already taking the stairs.

“Do you think you will be able to find Hope with this?” she asked.

Faith shrugged.

“Can’t really say,” she answered. “But there’re some good leads”

Then she added, obviously amused:

“Looks like that kid is some troublemaker.”

Vi gave her a telling grimace.

“If I wasn’t watching her every single day, I would already have sent her back dead to her parents.” she answered in a somber tone.

“I thought you never brought them see vampires?”

“I’m supposed to make sure they never go alone.”

“I have to admit I don’t see what you’re afraid of.” Faith remarked. “After all, she’s a Slayer. Even if she’s young, if she meets a vampire, she’ll kick his ass and that’s it.”

“There’s no guarantee, Faith,” Vi replied in a somewhat dry tone. “I’m responsible of her safety. The Council haven’t lost a single underage girl since Willow performed the spell. I really don’t want it to start here.”

“Relax,” Faith said casually. “I’ll bring her back.”

They finally arrived in front of the mansion’s main door, and stopped once Faith had opened the door.

“Thanks for your help,” Vi said. “And good luck.”

***

Hope Furlong was not very tall considering her age, neither particularly muscular or athletic. Despite all her efforts while training, she remained far too thin for her liking. Hope wished she got Camille’s – who was tall and slender – stature, and whose look alone imposed respect. Vi might keep telling her that Buffy Summers, the infamous Slayer who had known the longest activity period in all history – had nothing to do with Rambo and that it did not prevent her to become the greatest Slayer of all times, Hope could not help having a complex about her thin and small frame.

And on that night more than ever before, Hope wished she was only a few centimeters taller and a few pounds heavier. Stuck up to half her calves in muddy and stinking water, surrounded by the dancing shadows of the swamp around her, regularly surprised by unusual sounds whose origin she could not make out, Hope kept telling herself she would feel better if she was a little more athletic. With her right fist tightly clenched around a stake, a dagger hanging at her belt, her left hand gripping the shoulder strap of her backpack, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, she moved forward slowly, frantically looking around her, as if expecting something to jump at her any moment.

“Come on, I can do this…” she whispered to herself, trying to find some comfort in the sound of her own voice. “I can do this.” She repeated slowly, trying to sound more confident than previously. “I can do this…”

She stepped carefully to her left and was happy when she felt that the level of water was lower there and that the ground felt firmer under her feet. Satisfied, she hurried to join firmer ground, and in her haste, she did not take the time to test every step she took and one of her foot ripped over a root. She stumbled and fell heavily on her stomach in the stinking mud of the swamp. She remained perfectly still a few seconds, bitter with this new development, and she felt tears of rage mounting to her eyes.

“Fuck!” she yelled, hitting the nearest firm ground with both her fists clenched.

She got onto all fours in the water and groped around her for the stake she had lost in her fall. Time felt quite long until she finally gripped the wooden weapon with her trembling hand. Once the stake back in her fist, she stood slowly and felt her limbs to check if she was injured. Satisfied with the result, she sighed with relief. Then she turned to look around her, as if a newcomer might have taken advantage of her inattention to suddenly appear beside her.

Which was indeed the case.

Hope’s heart nearly stopped in her chest when she spotted an athletic figure standing in the shadows only a few feet away from where she was standing.

“Hey,” a voice said, and the young girl jumped briskly at the unexpected sound.

She wanted to retreat quickly to get away and stepped back clumsily while keeping the newcomer in her field of vision. The result of her clumsy retreat was immediate: the young Slayer tripped over a root once more and fell flat in the swamp again, on her back this time. She tried to stand up hastily and while she was trying to find something firm to grip to help her stand, an outstretched hand appeared in front of her. The young girl hesitated, but the voice resumed, far closer than previously:

“I’m gonna help you”

The voice was female, and without really knowing why, Hope complied and took the given hand, not without keeping her grip tight on her stake. The person in front of her helped her to her feet and got her closer to herself, on firmer ground.

“You’re Hope, aren’t you?” the other asked.

Hope opened her eyes wide to try to make out the features of the person in front of her. It was a young woman, taller than she was, with wavy dark hair, obviously strong and she looked quite intimidating, Hope decided. And if Hope was to believe the warmth of her hand, the woman was apparently human.

“And you? Who are you?” Hope growled, not trying to conceal her hostility in the slightest.

“I’m Faith. Vi’s sent me,” the brunette introduced herself. “You alright?”

“I’m fine,” the young girl answered dryly while putting her backpack in place on her shoulders. “Why has Vi sent you?”

“She’s worried about you,” Faith explained in a neutral tone. “And as she has to watch after your friends, she asked me to go and fetch you.”

“Are you a Slayer too?”

“What do you think?”

“Probably,” the teenager grumbled. “What else Vi would have found?”

“Good point,” Faith answered with a smirk.

“How have you found me?” the young Slayer asked again.

“Let’s say you bragged a lot about your little expedition and we can’t really say you’re being discreet in this swamp.” Faith replied and crossed her arms over her chest.

Hope pouted. Obviously, this answer did not sit well with her.

“You’re going to take me back to the center, aren’t you”? She asked in a lower tone, defeated.

“It’s not like I have a choice,” Faith answered. “That place’s not exactly fun and I’m not a baby-sitter”

Hope scowled even more at this, but she did not make a move.

“How long have you been a Slayer?” she asked instead.

“Quite some time,” Faith replied placidly.

“So, it would be useless to run to try to shake you off?”

“Indeed. It’s a good thing you’re asking; it will spare us both useless efforts.” The brunette asked with a faint smile, more and more amused at how the conversation was going.

The kid looked her up and down, probably appraising how she would be able to put that remark to the test.

“Come on, get out of here,” Faith said, gesturing for her to come closer.

Hope hesitated one more moment, then made up her mind. She took a step forward to join Faith, but when she was about to put her foot in front of her, she suddenly felt something pulling her backwards and she stumbled. She felt herself dragged backwards and desperately looked for something to grab while her body slid in the mud and got her away from the dark-haired Slayer.

“Help!” she yelled when she realized that something was holding her ankle and trying to drag her in the deep of her swamp without being able to free herself.

“Hope!” Faith exclaimed when she understood what was happening. “Don’t worry, I’m coming!”

The once rogue Slayer darted in the swamp and quickly found herself with mid up to her calves. She picked her dagger at her belt and held out her hand to try to grab Hope’s fingers, desperately outstretched toward her. She looked terrified and it had only took a second for Faith to understand that it was not some plan to try to escape her, but that there REALLY was something in that swamp.

“Faith! Help-me!” the young girl yelled again. “Help-m…”

Her last words got lost as she disappeared under the mud, probably pulled toward the end of the swamp. Faith rushed where the girl had vanished and plunged her hands frantically in the muddy water to search for Hope’s body.

“Hope! Hope!” she yelped. “Where are you?”

Faith rushed around her, felt the ground under her feet, with her hands, as quickly as she could, worry mounting quickly with each passing second. Suddenly, Hope’s face emerged from the water and Faith saw her rushing to breathe in. The dark-haired Slayer rushed to her to try and grab her but before she got her, Hope disappeared again.

“Hope!” she cried again in frustration.

She stopped then every movement, to be able to feel Hope’s moves under the muddy water. She felt moving and struggling on her right and quickly stepped in that direction. Without thinking, she plunged her two hands in the mud and after a moment groping around, she felt a limb. Faith grabbed it and pulled at full force toward herself. Hope finally appeared, and once her head out of the water, she breathed out and spat mud from mouth and nose. Faith felt then that Hope was again pulled towards the end of the water and she had to arch her legs and arms to keep Hope at the surface.

“What is it Hope?” she asked quickly, putting much effort at trying to release the girl.

“Dunno!” the young Slayer answered. “I…”

Her face disappeared again under water for a brief moment and Faith heaved her up once more.

“There’s something holding my ankle,” Hope spat as she tried to keep herself above water. “I… I think it’s alive!”

“I’m going to get you out of there, don’t worry,” Faith tried to reassure her while she stepped around the girl to try to get closer to her predator.

She raised her dagger above where the young Slayer’s ankle was supposed to be located, and said-Slayer’s eyes opened wide at the sight?

“What the fuck are you doing??” she shrieked.

“Getting you out of here,” Faith replied between clenched teeth, at the same time focused on her target and on keeping the girl above water.

“There’s my leg the…” Hope exclaimed but her words died in her throat when Faith slammed her dagger in the water despite her protests.

The brunette felt her blade touching something and she cast a worried glance toward the younger girl to make sure she just had not cut through her calf. When she saw she was not grimacing more than before, Faith felt relieved and plunged her dagger once more.

“Got it?” she asked and she tried to get Hope up another time.

“No,” the young girl replied and as a confirmation, her head sank again and Faith had to make another effort to keep her hold on her and help her to get her face back above the surface. The dark-haired Slayer then repeated her efforts and struck several times around Hope’s trapped ankle. Suddenly, she felt Hope clinging to her to try to stand, finally free. Faith helped her to her feet and slapped her slightly on her back as Hope spat mud.

“Are you going to be alright?” she asked, while remaining attentive to her surroundings.

Hope was shaking all over and she needed a dozen seconds before she could make a sound.

“Yeah,” she simply said and nodded vaguely. “I think I’m fine”

She coughed again and when she finally noticed that Faith was still on alert, she asked:

“What was it?”

“How would I know?” Faith grumbled. “You were the one that thing kept under water! What did you feel? Was it a plant? Something alive?”

Hope shrugged, looking sorry.

“Dunno. All I can say is whatever it was, it was holding my leg tight…”

“Great…” Faith mumbled. “That’ll help…”

Though her voice was barely above a whisper, Hope heard and scowled once more.

“I’m so…” she started in a sincerely regretful tone, but she closed her mouth when Faith violently grabbed her arm to pull her behind her.

Hope turned around to look at what Faith was seeing and her eyes opened wide with terror when she saw a dirty monster with several tentacles – one of which was partially cut – and several pair of eyes, emerging from the muddy water.

“Take a look at what was just about to eat you before I saved your ass,” Faith commented with a disgusted grimace.

“Which makes you my new best friend I’d say,” Hope replied in the same tone.

“Stay behind me,” Faith ordered, as the newcomer was moving slowly toward them. “That thing does not look friendly”

“I’m a Slayer too,” Hope protested. “There’s no reason why I should hide behind your back”

“You’ll be Slayer when you graduate from Vi’s school,” Faith replied. “Right now, you stay behind me.”

“Yeah, right…” the young girl grumbled, but she nevertheless complied.

She did not remain behind Faith for long though: as the monster suddenly threw one of this tentacles toward them, the brunette Slayer grabbed Hope’s jacket and plunged her with her in order to dodge the strike. The moment after, Faith released the young Slayer and lashed forward to grab the beast’s tentacle with both hands. She succeeded, but not without effort, and wedged the limb under her shoulder while she tried to get her knife she had put back at her belt. I was not an easy task, shaken as she was by her enemy’s attempted kicks.

“Go away Hope!” Faith yelled while she struck the tentacles that came close to her.

The young girl stood up, but instead of obeying, she stayed standing stll there, watching the scene, obviously weighting her next move. After a moment of thinking, she put her trembling hands to her belt and clumsily took her own dagger out.

“Go away Hope!” Faith insisted when she saw what she was doing. “I don’t have any…”

A tentacle’s strike in full chest interrupted her, but she went on as soon as she could breathe again.

“… problem…”

And in order to prove herself, Faith pulled the tentacle she was still holding at full force, trying to get closer to the demon’s body and to plunge her knife as deep as she could. The reaction came quickly: the monster shrieked loudly and its tentacles moved more violently than before, kicking all around them. This time, Faith could not keep her hold on the monster and was forced to release her prey as she was hit violently in the chest and ended up lying in the muddy water a few feet away from the beast. She looked up immediately upon hearing a small cry : Hope had just been thrown backward by a tentacle as well. Faith made sure she was able to stood up before reporting her attention back to the monster. She stood and lashed forward, and her strike was far more violent than previously this time. She even nearly cut one of the tentacle completely.

“One down!” she exclaimed triumphantly.

That small victory earned her all the monster’s attention back. It turned away from Hope to devote itself to her. While she was looking for an angle of attack, Faith felt something grabbing her ankles and pulling her toward the demon. She tried to resist but she fell back and found herself in the dirty water, swept along toward the bulging eyes which were all staring intensely at her. Faith tried to kick to free herself, but with no luck. She closed her fingers more tightly around her dagger’s handle that she was still holding with her right hand, and she kept it hidden under water. She then heard the sound of footsteps in the water behind her and she saw the monster’s eyes switching direction. Faith turned slightly and saw Hope rushing to her help.

“Hope, stay where you are, I d…” Faith started.

 

But she fell silent and her eyes opened wide in front of a scene that even in her position, she found surreal: Hope had raised her knife above her head, getting ready to strike the beast who was still a few feet away from her. But suddenly et unexpectedly, Hope was stopped dead in her tracks, held back by a hanging branch which got caught her backpack’s shoulder strap. The young girl found herself almost hanging at the tree, struggling without knowing what was holding her. If her situation was not far less funny overall, Faith would probably find the scene hilarious. She was even close to burst into laughing seeing the young Slayer hanging at her branch like a ragdoll. But a brutal pull of the tentacles on her ankle brought her back to reality and her smile died on her lips. Faith got her weapon ready again, and once within reach, she rained strikes in every demon’s eye. Terrible shrieks pierced the night air and Faith’s eardrums but she did not stop anyway, as the pressure on her ankles tightened again. She felt herself swept along toward the bottom of the swamp, which was just deep enough where she was, for her to be able to keep her head above water using her free arm to support herself. As the monster tried to plunge her under the dirty water, Faith’s weapon-holding arm described a large circle in the air before she drove the blade into the demon’s flabby flesh. The reaction was immediate: the tentacles holding her left ankle released her completely and those holding the right loosened enough to allow the dark-haired Slayer to free herself. She jumped to her feet, dodged a tentacle moving aimlessly around her and took a second to think about her next move. She cast a glance to the beast and noticed how spasmodic its breathing was. It was enough to decide her about what to do: Faith took the steps needed to close the distance and surrounded what appeared to be the monster’s neck with her two arms. Then she smothered it as strongly as she could, ignoring Hope’s small cry when she saw her doing so. Faith thought it lasted a eternity, but finally the demon stopped moving and the Slayer released her prey who glided slowly into the swamp. The brunette watched the corpse a moment before turning around and walking over to Hope who was still hanging at the tree. Faith could not completely remove her smirk when she freed her.

“Don’t say anything,” the young girl said, only able to notice the older Slayer’s mocking look.

“Didn’t make a sound,” Faith protested, but her tone spoke volumes.

Hope put the bag correctly on her shoulder and tried to stand right in front of Faith, as if to display what little dignity left she had. Faith snickered slightly and waited for Hope to protest once more, but instead, the young girl pointed at something behind the brunette.

“Look at this,” she said.

Faith turned around and saw bubbles forming around the monster’s body. They grew bigger until they flooded the corpse, and to both Slayers’ surprise, it disappeared slowly, as if dragged toward the end of the swamp.

“We’d better not stay here longer,” Faith commented as she pushed Hope toward firmer ground.

The young girl complied and followed Faith close when the elder Slayer headed where she had come from.

“What now?” the girl asked.

“I’m bringing you back,” Faith answered matter-of-factly. “Swamps do not suit you”

Then, she added, looking her up from head to toes:

“Look at you,” she added. “You’re dripping with mud and you’re awfully stinking!”

“Look who’s talking,” Hope remarked, gesturing to Faith. “I’m not the one who gave a hug to that disguting thing”

Faith stopped and looked down at her sweater covered in mud and filth she could not really recognize.

“And now I’m dreaming of a shower.”

She resumed her walk, quickly this time.

“You’re downright crazy,” Hope commented a moment later, as Faith remained silent. “Strangling that thing, you didn’t find anything simpler?”

“It felt the right thing to do at the time,” Faith answered simply.

Hope did not reply and they walked in silence several minutes before finally reaching Faith’s car. The dark-haired Slayer gestured for the young girl to settle while she went to the driver door.

“You coming?” Faith enjoined her when she saw her staying still by the door.

“Faith…” the girl started in an embarrassed tone, looking down.

“Yeah?”

“You won’t tell anyone about the whole bag thing, will you?” she managed to say quickly, looking up briefly to see the look on the older Slayer’s face.

Faith just smiled enigmatically and did not answer.

“Just come,” she said simply.

Hope sighed and obeyed.