los angeles | i've got this feeling that there's something that I missed

[madskilled]

Routine's always the same. Shove a stake through their heart, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

To say Faith is surprised is the understatement of the century. Her stake punctures heart. She can feel it. She's very into her own stake. She knows it. Yet, no crumbling to dust, no poof. If anything, the vampire hardens, his eyes permanently fixed in a state of surprise. Like, how dare this chick have the audacity to shove anything into me let alone a stake that should make me an ex body. She should need a dust pan. Or a vaccuum. Not that she ever cleans. Nah, not her place. Not that she spends a lot of her time at her room near the Los Angeles cell. She spends a lot of it at the Hyperion. Cordelia - now that she's Cordelia and not some crazy pregnant chick - has gotten pretty cool. At least tolerable. She definitely doesn't miss high school Veronica to Buffy's Betty.

Who would that make Archie?

Needless to say, the vampire collapses into Faith and she now has a body to take care of.

"Motherfu-"

But, she can't alert people to anything. She did her time. She wasn't going back.

A call to Angel means he, Cordelia, and Wes arrive on the scene. Wes inspects the body. Cordelia doesn't understand. Angel's even confused. The best they can gather is that there's some kind of spell stopping vampires from becoming vaccuum chow.

It's Wes who makes the breakthrough.

Shit. Looks like there's not only another player in town - or in the world but there has been for who the hell knows how long. How'd they miss this? New vampire species means the General gets a call. Faith excuses herself - let's be honest here, she just gets up from the conversation and pulls out her iPhone. She's never been one for fancy shit but it's easy to use. She and Robin can Face Time from - time to time and no she won't talk about that. Even if you ask.

She steps away from the group.

"Outside of Dracula, I've never heard of a vampire having a sort of thrall," Angel says, setting the book down. It's unprecedented. And dangerous for every human out there. Forget seduction. This is downright mind control.

Comments

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy hates Mystic Falls.

She knows it's odd to hate a place, but really. Two different kinds of vampires? Two? After Anna broke that particular bit of news, she didn't want to believe it, but after a few stakes around town she managed to figure out things pretty quickly.

Two different kinds of vampires.

She hates this town.

She's getting ready to flop face first into bed after patrol when she's stopped by the ringing of her phone. She checks the caller ID, smoothly switching her position so that it's her back that hits the bed first before answering the phone. "Hey, Faith."

[madskilled]

Please, Buffy, confide your hate into the slayer that invented it - well, self hatred, anyway. She'd love to hear you openly dislike something. But, this is neither the time nor the place. Funny thing about their lives, the reason why Faith is calling is the very reason why Buffy hates Mystic Falls.

"B, what's shaking?" She'd like to get a lead on where Buffy is head-wise, maybe even where she is in the country before she jumps into business. Faith's always been the action first, business second girl. It's been an adjustment to say the least. She also forgets the three hour difference. "Didn't wake you, did I?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Nope. I was up. I haven't really been doing a whole lot of sleeping in this town." And not for the fun reasons. She runs a hand over her face before speaking again. "I wasn't expecting a cross-country phone call, though. Everything okay?"

[madskilled]

"Okay? Yeah," she says, taking a few more steps away. "Wonky. Also yeah. Cornered a vamp earlier tonight. Staked it in the heart. Let's just say it didn't fall to pieces. Or at all. Thing mummified right in front of me." She'll start with the facts, get her reactions, then fill her in on the specifics. The ideas. The answers.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"You're kidding."

She has been hoping that the Salvatores were a fluke.

"How many of these things are there?"

[madskilled]

"We thought it was just a City of Angels thing. Turns out, not the first one." Give her a second. "Buffy sounds in the know." She returns to the conversation at hand. "Our guess? All over."

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

She sighs. "We ran into a pair of them. The Salvatore brothers. Anna had to prove to them that there was another kind of vamp out there the hard way."

[madskilled]

"Did she give em dinner and a show or just a show?" she asked, leaning against what used to be the front counter of the Hyperion. "How much did ya' find out?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Their line was started by a spell, by a witch named Esther. She was trying to protect her kids, so she turned them into vampires a thousand years ago."

[madskilled]

"So, they gave you the party line." Faith turns, her back hitting the wood giving Angel, Cordelia, and Wes a look. Cordelia hands Wes another book, pointing to something. "Guess they didn't let you in on the little tricks of the trade?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Some of them. They're really not all that fond of me, considering that I snapped Stefan's neck." Not that he didn't deserve it at the time. "Anna is being the go-between."

[madskilled]

"Let's compare notes," she says, setting the phone on speaker and then down on the table between the four of them.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy sighs softly before nodding. "So these vamps -- not demons. As far as we can tell, they've got souls. Apparently, I've also learned that their blood heals. You become one by dying with vampire blood in your system -- your sire doesn't have to feed on you."

[madskilled]

Good to know research matched up. Faith watched Angel, Cordy and Wes research and made commentary. She also took a few smoke breaks. But, that counts as research, right Buffy?

"So, the soul thing? It's more like a humanity switch. Think like a light bulb goin on and off. The light bulb goes out and they stop having a care in the world. They do what they want. Do in who they want. Leave a trail of dead and bleeding."

"You met Stefan Salvatore?" Angel asks, leaning a little too close to the speaker.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"I temporarily disabled Stefan Salvatore. Damon was the one I actually spoke to, and Anna told me she would handle it, so I gave her some room to breathe."

She pauses.

"Why?"

[madskilled]

"Yeah, why?" Faith says, tilting her head and attempting to read part of a book upside down.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Stefan Salvatore is the Ripper of Montery." Wesley's voice is calm and matter of fact over the line, and Buffy's fingers are digging into her arm.

"What about Damon? Has he caused any trouble?"

[madskilled]

"There aren't many first hand accounts. He covers his tracks. We've been able to map his movements. For years, he dropped off the grid. He spent the seventies in New York. Most recently, he returned to Mystic Falls. Two or so years ago," Angel says.

Faith shrugs, sitting back.

"Sounds like these brothers have been up to bad shit. Making friends with them?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Friends wouldn't be the word I'd use." It was more like a stalemate. Things could go one way or another at this point, but right now Anna was standing between them, trying to keep the peace. "Anna is friends with Damon. Or she was. She's the one who stopped me from killing them outright. And now, Willow is helping them with some kind of magic problem for a human friend of theirs -- Alaric Saltzman."

[madskilled]

"Why have I heard that name before?" Angel asks, looking over at Wes.

"These vampires, though. They're a different breed. The older ones still die young and stay pretty. And, they have a neat little trick."

"Compulsion," Angel adds, still hilariously close to the speakerphone.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy pulls her ear away from the phone a bit. "I can hear you just fine, Angel. Really." Then she takes a breath. "Compulsion -- like Dracula's thrall?"

[madskilled]

"Cept, it's more about a mind whammy than hypnosis. It's dangling stopwatch free. They make eye contact, you're done for," Faith says.

Angel gives Cordelia a look before sitting back.

"They can alter memory," he explains. He waits. "Can you still hear me?"

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

Buffy smiles a bit. It's moments like that, when they're not fighting that she misses him. "I can hear you. And thanks for the heads up. Is there any way to block this?"

[madskilled]

"Vervain," Angel answers.

Faith missed the part of the vervain lesson and just sits, listening, wishing she had a bowl of popcorn. Or a beer.

[kiss_evilgoodbye]

"Vervain." She pauses. "What's vervain?"