Buffy's POV
She's still really freaked out. She says she's over it but I keep getting this feeling like part of it still bugs her.
We're walking down the street toward Giles' after his call asked us to come by and I can feel the tension in her.
It must've been one hell of a dream to freak her out this much. I would've thought last night would've eased the tension, the way we went at it. But then she had that dream and things changed. Faith isn't the type to freak out like that. Even when she killed the deputy mayor she didn't freak out, not in the traditional sense. But this is different.
This time she went insane and freaked out and all that.
I squeeze her hand in mine and she smiles a worried smile at me.
Maybe this is my fault. Maybe since falling in love with me she freaks out at anything that might threaten that love. She did tell me she's never loved anyone like me before. Hell, she told me she's never loved anyone at all. It only stands to reason she's worried that she'll lose me. That she might do something to hurt me... or worse.
We make our way up the steps to Giles'.
But I'm not going anywhere, not if I can help it.
We get to the top of the stairs and I stop her.
"Faith?"
"What is it?"
"I want you to know that everything is gonna be okay."
She takes a deep breath.
"I know."
She moves to go inside but again I stop her.
"I'm not going anywhere Faith. It doesn't matter what Giles says or some stupid prophecy says or even a dream you had. We love each other and we're together and that's never gonna change."
I put my arms around her and kiss her, softly but passionately.
"I won't let anyone stop us from being together. I love you Faith."
"I know B, I know."
She doesn't seem convinced.
"Can we go in now?"
Obviously I can't convince her just now.
We turn and go inside.
Let's hope Giles has some good news to perk her up.
"So, how are my favorite little Scooby pals? And Spike..."
She's being all grown up and pretending everything's okay. But I know better.
"We're quite well... all things considered."
We walk into the living room and sit down together.
Considered?
"And what is it we're considering? Did we find something in the Book of Karameth?"
Spike tries to force appreciation out of us.
"You're welcome."
Faith and I have the same thought on the subject.
"Shut up Spike."
We smile at each other.
"So let's get down to business. What do we know?"
"Buffy perhaps we should..."
Faith interrupts only more forcefully.
"What do we know?"
Giles isn't sure what to do for a second before taking a deep breath.
"The Book of Karameth details a number of important facts about Omega, about his vampire cult and most importantly about the prophecy."
"What does it say?"
She's being really blunt. It's not winning her any point with the guys.
"Everything we ever needed to know. According to the book, Omega was indeed the original demon, older than any on record. Before man there were great beings, demons, which are known as The Old Ones, the first one to be brought forth from oblivion was Omega and thus the most powerful."
Okay this is not the good news I was hoping for. This would be considered in most circles extremely bad news.
"What about the vamps? Why are they following him? What are they all about?"
"Most of what we know about them is pretty much all we need to know about them. They are acolytes of Omega, they will do whatever he asks, but there's more. Legend has it that the last demon to leave this dimension fed off a human, which turned him into a vampire and given Omega's immeasurable power..."
"He was the one who made the first vampire."
"Yes..."
Faith seems to get more distraught with every new fact and I gotta admit I'm not jumping for joy at them either.
"And what's more I believe it explains how he was able to return to this dimension."
What?
"It does?"
"When Omega fed off the human he infused that person with a part of himself..."
"A part of a demon..."
"Yes, and with every vampire that was made after that his power grew and eventually he gained the power to renter this realm."
"So every vampire that exists gives him power?"
"Yes..."
Faith glares at Spike.
"We should kill Spike then."
"Whoa, hey now no killing the chap who just brought you the mother loads of all care packages. Besides which, there are millions of vamps on this soddin rock. Killing one defenseless vamp won't make a bit of difference."
"Spike is correct. A single death will not affect Omega's power. However we may have a more pressing matter to attend to."
Oh good, more bad news.
"What kind of thing are we talking about?"
"As I said, the demon Omega receives his power from vampires..."
He shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
"Tomorrow is the night of Saint Vigeous."
"Saint... Saint Vigeous? Perfect, just perfect."
Things just can't get any worse.
Faith looks around at us confused.
"The Night of Saint Vigeous? What's that?"
This is gonna make things so much worse for us.
Spike explains.
"It's like Woodstock for vampires. Big festival of death and destruction happening tomorrow."
Xander notices the problem.
"I thought the night of Saint Vigeous already happened. Wasn't that the day Spike attacked us?"
"Actually ponce, it was the day after... or was supposed to be."
"Yes, as Spike has just illustrated, he caused a disruption in the expected date of Saint Vigeous and therefore in some sense it was delayed. Because the power vampires gain from it is most often focused on the Hellmouth, his attack on the school disrupted it worldwide which required several years to reassert itself. This is also something which Omega has capitalized upon. Because of the disruption, afterward, a number of vampires were created on the Hellmouth to compensate, giving him the power to return."
I can't help but glare at Spike.
"Sorry bout that."
Her head drops into her hands.
"Omega's gonna be at full strength isn't he?"
We need something good. We need some good news.
"Yes I should say he will be."
"And he'll be coming for us won't he? He and his band of cult-o-matic vampires."
"Yes."
I can't let this be all about doom and gloom.
There's nothing but silence in the room.
The prophecy... maybe the prophecy has some good news.
"What about the prophecy? What does the book say about the prophecy?"
The vamps seem pretty intent on stopping it so it's gotta be good news.
"The prophecy... very little is known about the specifics. The prophecy itself has never been interpreted as the only copy of it has been lost for so long. But now we have it."
"What's the prophecy?"
Giles opens the book and begins reading from it.
"For there shall be two into one, and one into two. From the mouth of hell shall come two forces of good with darkness inside shall be joined. Two forces as different as night and day, one of darkness, one of light shall come together and be as one. They shall come together and the heavens themselves shall tremble."
Um, okay...
"So is this good or bad?"
I feel the tension coming off Faith in waves and swear I hear her quietly sob as I put my arm around her.
"Well it speaks of two forces of good joining, and that would tend to suggest a positive thing. However it does mention the good forces darkness inside, and given the tone of the rest of the prophecy..."
Faith looks up at the gang.
"So let's kill him."
What?
"Who baby?"
"Omega, let's find the son of a bitch, load up on weapons and tear him apart."
She's not taking this very well.
Xander tries to calm her down.
"Okay but I mean, where are they? I'm all for killing these guys but we have to find them first."
That's a good idea we should talk her out of going off and doing something stupid.
"Yeah Faith, we have no idea where they are and we have to find them to kill them."
She stands up and starts pacing nervously to come up with something.
"The hospital..."
Hospital?
"What about it?"
"The doctors they... Giles you remember when I brought Buffy back here after the fight with Adam?"
"Yes, you told me the doctors were evil."
Faith comes over and kneels in front of me. She puts her hands in my lap and looks me in the eyes and for a moment she's calm.
"They wanted to hurt you..."
I touch her cheek with my hand and she holds it there.
"But you wouldn't let them would you?"
She turns her head and kisses my palm as she holds it there.
"Never..."
Blind panic sets in again as Xander and Willow steer the conversation back to evil doctors.
"Evil doctors?"
"I thought doctors were sworn to help people?"
Faith stands up and starts pacing again.
"Well I don't actually know that they were doctors. One of them was dressed like a doctor, but I didn't really have time to ask for his credentials. Buffy was hurt it didn't really matter to me who they were as long as they could save Buffy's life."
If Faith wasn't so on edge I might actually be crying right now.
"So B and I can go back there, kick the crap out of a few of the orderlies until they tell us where Omega is. Then we kill him to death."
"Well that's a plan, I guess..."
Faith looks at me like I'm being unsupportive gal.
"Come on B, we can do this. You and me, back to back. We can even bring the gang along if you like."
I stand up and put my hands on her shoulders.
"Faith we could do that. But if we just go in full speed one of us could wind up dead, maybe all of us. Do you really want that?"
She seems to calm down slightly by taking a deep breath.
"No... of course not."
"Okay then..."
I lead her back to the couch and we sit down.
"We'll figure this out before tomorrow and then we'll go in with everything we've got, knowing exactly what we're getting in to. I promise."
She puts her head against my shoulder.
"As long as he gets dead that's all I care about... well that, and you."
"He will be."
I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he will be.