Fic: Scorned 7/8

[dragonyphoenix]

Title: Scorned
Series: Lotus in Muddy Water
Fandom: BtVS
Characters/Pairing: Faith, Wesley
Rating: PG-13
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but the will be once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Summary: As she pinned the comb in her hair, whiteness snaked out from the comb, bleaching her hair. She screamed, arching forward as she fell into the sea. Twisting under the waves, she writhed under the water, as if scrabbling for escape. Her hand reached upward but was unable to break through the surface. With a final grimace, she relaxed into the sea's cold embrace. As her feet touched down to the bottom, white locks drifted in the current. The moon drifted across the horizon and was close to setting before she moved again. Her eyes opened and looked up from below the sea.
Notes: Many thanks to my most awesome betas: deird1, for making sure Wesley and Aidan didn't do anything totally unBritish; and diebirchen who catches my grammar errors. 
Notes: Petra Hyde Burnand was Faith's previous Watcher, the one killed by Kakistos. 


A little over four hours later, Faith stretched the sleep out of her arms as she came down the stairs. Aidan, seated at the table, was lost in whatever book he was reading, while Brigit and Wesley were arguing. “Did you get that from Teasdale's translation? While his work may seem acceptable to the layman, in reality it is dubious at best.”

“I read the original Sumerian,” Brigit replied in a tone of voice that suggested she was three seconds away from throttling him.

“Any luck?” Faith asked.

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Wesley admonished.

“Nothing definitive,” Brigit said, “although I am tracking down a lead that I hope will be helpful.” She glared at Wesley as if daring him to suggest differently.

“Ummm, OK. I'm gonna grab something to eat,” Faith said, thinking before you have me pouring over books as well.

“There are sandwiches in the kitchen,” Brigit told her.

“Got a break from the books? Good for you.”

Brigit gave her a quizzical look. “My mother brought the food over when she came to pick up some clothes for Claire.”

“Huh?” Faith asked.

“Obviously we don't want children here if a demon is coming after you, especially if it's looking for vengeance,” Wesley said.

Vengeance, Faith thought as she backed out of the room. How come nobody mentioned that earlier? She filled her plate with two turkey sandwiches and, grabbing a bag of chips, tiptoed down the stairs to the TV room.

Faith was halfway through her second sandwich when Passions ended – without revealing whether or not Alex was Shawna's dad. As a news program started, she looked around for the remote. “The four bodies found earlier today at a beach side rental have only recently been identified as–“

Faith glanced up at the screen where what looked like driver license photos of four young men were being displayed to the right of the newscaster. “I know these guys.” It was Luke and his buddies. The image shifted to the beach house, the one she'd left in the middle of the night.

“Oh shit,” she said, racing up the stairs.

Two minutes later, she and Wesley were in a shouting match. “If you would only explain in a manner that could be understood–“

“Stop it,” Aidan yelled. They both shut up and looked at him. “Wesley, sit.”

“But,” Wesley piped up.

“Now.” Wesley sat.

“Faith, if you could please explain calmly and coherently,” Aidan asked.

“I told you,” Faith shouted. “Those guys, I knew them and now they're dead.”

“Faith,” Wesley said condescendingly, “we haven't been here three days. You can't have made that close a connection with anyone.”

“Well, I don't know Wes. I fucked one of them. That close enough, you think?”

“I, um, well,” Wesley stammered.

With a thoughtful look, Aidan asked, “Was one of them the young man you rescued from the demon?”

“Well yeah, if the demon is that woman with the comb in her hair,” Faith replied.

“Oh dear,” Brigit said.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Faith asked.

“It could either mean the demon is targeting people you're connected to, or that she returned to her original victim, which would be better,” Brigit said.

“Better?”

“For us, I mean,” Brigit replied. “It would be preferable if the demon weren't specifically targeting you.”

“I can't see it that way,” Faith said. “If she's coming after me, then she's leaving everyone else alone. I'm the Slayer. I'm supposed to be the one dealing with this shit.”

“Oh,” Brigit said, blinking as if she wasn't sure how to take Faith's response. “Um, I'll go call my brother.”

“Don't worry, he wasn't one of the guys in the house. The report said none of them were local,” Faith told her.

Brigit shook her head. “That's not what I meant. Larry works for the Coroner's Office. He'll be able to tell us if there's anything unusual about the corpses.”

“I told you paying attention to the news would be beneficial, but does anyone bother to listen to me? No, it's just standard Council protocol, honed over thousands of years,” Wesley muttered.

Faith couldn't tell if Aidan had heard Wesley or not, but she decided to ignore him as she paced the length of the living room. “How long does it take to make one phone call?” she asked. Wesley was still muttering on about the importance of tradition. “How about I check the news, see if there's any more info?” she asked as she dashed towards the stairs. The newscast had switched to another topic so Faith turned off the TV and climbed slowly back up to the main floor. Relieved to see that Wesley had made himself scarce, she didn't ask where he'd gotten to.

When Brigit joined them, her face was pale. “The bodies weren't drowned, but dismembered. Apparently there were,” she paused as if to steady herself, “hundreds of, um, pieces scattered through the house and across the beach.”

Faith thought of Petra's arm, floating in brackish water and hugged her arms around herself.

“Dismembered? Not sirens then,” Aidan said, seemingly unaffected by the gory description.

Looking around for a distraction, Faith caught a flash outside the window. Slowly, only half listening to the conversation, Faith inched backwards towards the door. Aidan glanced towards her, but didn't do anything else to indicate he'd noticed her movements.

“He said the marks on the bodies are from crocodiles,” Brigit said, “but that can't be. While there are saltwater crocodiles, none are local to this area. The water is too cold.”

Faith flung open the door and bolted outside. Claire and Grace jerked away from the window. “What are you doing here?” Faith shouted.

“We came to help,” Claire said.

As Brigit and Aidan joined Faith on steps, they glared at the girls. “Grace Elizabeth Wright,” Brigit scolded, “do you have any idea how worried Mother must be?”

“Umm, Mom thinks we're at Tonya's house?” Grace offered.

“Why is Wesley walking to the beach?” Claire asked in an obvious attempt to change the topic.

“Don't you try to distract me, young lady,” Brigit said.

“Wait,” Aidan told her. “What do you mean, walking to the beach?” he asked the girls.

“We saw him heading out between that gap in the reeds.”

“Aw shit,” Faith said as Aidan asked if she could hear anything. “No,” Faith called back as she raced towards the beach, “but that doesn't mean he's not in trouble.”

As Faith raced onto the beach, the moonlight showed Wesley waist-deep in the water. Not again, she thought. I'm not losing another Watcher. “Wesley,” she yelled, as she raced to the sea. He fell into the water as if being pulled down. Faith's legs splashed salt water upwards as they hit the waves. Her gaze darted around. “Damn it, don't you dare die on me too,” she shouted. Up ahead she saw a hand, pale against the water, above an arm that faded into the darkness of the sea.

Faith took a deep breath and dove down. Ahead she could see Wesley, hanging limply in the arms of a woman, whose braid whipped around behind her in the current. As she dragged Wesley deeper into the sea, she smiled at Faith. Her sharp teeth reminded Faith of the gators that had chewed up Petra. Not this time, bitch, Faith thought as she swam after them.

Wrenching the woman's hands off of Wesley, Faith tried to push her away and pull Wesley up at the same time. It wasn't working, but then the woman let go. Finally something is going my way, Faith thought as she scissor-kicked upwards. A fingernail, as sharp as a claw, raked against Faith's thigh, drawing blood. The woman's arms grew darker, taking on a greenish tinge. What the? As the arms grew shorter and fatter, the demon's chest expanded, ripping the dress as green ridges replaced pale skin.

Shit, Faith thought as she shoved Wesley towards the surface. A shape-shifter. Diving for the demon, Faith wrapped her hands around its still-human neck, which, as it expanded outwards, broke Faith's grasp. Why's it always gotta be crocs? Faith thought as she tried to dodge away. A claw, sharp as a knife, sliced into her chest. Faith gasped and started choking. As she tried to push away from the demon, her hand found a comb among the few remaining strands of hair. She recalled Wesley's voice saying, “They're bound to the mortal plane by a comb.”

Hope this works, Faith thought as she pulled at the comb. She heard a shriek, so high-pitched that Faith thought her eardrums going to burst. Bingo, she thought as she snapped the comb in two. The crocodile before her stopped thrashing, and its skin shifted from green to tan as her body shifted back into that of a woman. Oh good, we won, Faith thought as she scrambled up to the surface.

Once Faith got to where she could stand, Brigit was there to help her to shore. Sinking down on the sand, Faith saw Wesley being held up by Aidan a few feet away. Wesley looked as though he was puking out half the ocean. “He gonna be OK?” she managed to ask.

“I think so,” Brigit replied.

From the water, there was a gasp that was almost a scream. Now what? Faith asked herself, as she turned to face the demon, but there wasn't anything to fight, just Grace and Claire pulling the body back to shore. “I broke the comb,” Faith said holding up the two pieces. “It should be dead.”

Grace had her hand over her mouth. “It's Betty,” she said, before turning her head onto Claire's shoulder and sobbing.

“Betty?” Brigit asked, walking over to get a better view of the corpse. She took a few steps back, as if to distance herself from what she'd seen. “Betty Campbell,” she whispered.

“Hey,” Faith said. “That wasn't a woman. It was some sort of gator demon, and I've got no prob killing gators, or any other monsters. She was dragging Wes into the sea. He'd be dead if I hadn't–“

“I know,” Brigit said, kneeling down beside Faith on the sand. “Nobody's blaming you for anything. It's just a shock, seeing that it was someone we knew.”

Faith thought back to her lesson with Wesley. “You think she turned herself into a demon on purpose?”

“We don't know what happened,” Brigit said. “When we pass a description of the comb to some of Aidan's contacts, perhaps we'll learn something.”

Wesley stopped coughing. “Oh my God. I–” he said, staring out to sea. “She almost– I could have died.”

“Come on,” Brigit said. “Let's get back to the house. I'll give Larry a call. Aidan will stay with the body, with Betty, until the police arrive.” Aidan nodded in response.

Claire and Grace held onto each other, and Brigit gave Wesley a shoulder to lean on as they made their way back to the house. Faith walked behind them, alone. When she turned to look back, she saw Aidan kneeling by the body. He sat back on his feet in a position that seemed somehow formal. Faith wasn't sure why, but she was reminded of a history lesson, one of the few interesting ones, where the teacher had told them about knights sitting with fallen opponents, honoring the dead.

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Yep, finally got some action! Next bit is tying up some loose ends and teasers for what's ahead.