Author's Note: Just in case you didn't see it in my announcements, this week is going to be crazy for me. There's a real chance I'll miss Friday's scheduled post and maybe Tuesday's too. I hope I can get back on a regular schedule by the first Friday of the month, but it's not a guarantee at this point. Gonna try and keep you updated via announcements. Stay tuned.
Buffy's POV
Faith...
I slip back into consciousness and for one whole moment I forget where I am. But it all comes barrelling back to me when I try and move and I can't. The chains are just as tight around my wrists and ankles as they were before, digging into my skin. My own blood is drying on my face and naked body from when she cut my clothes off and 'forgot' to be careful.
I groan as I start to feel the bruises again from when she used me as her human punching bag.
I'm bleeding on the outside, could be bleeding on the inside but I'm hurting too much to tell. I don't know how long I've been here, but it feels like a while.
I open my eyes slowly to see if I'm alone.
I don't hear anyone so maybe I can make some kind of escape.
My vision is kinda blurry but I don't think anyone's around.
I'd barely make it two feet with the way I feel, and there's a giant snake somewhere that could catch me in a second even if by some miracle I get out of this room but I have to at least try.
I start to move my wrists in the chains, trying not to make much noise because the second anyone hears me I'm not going anywhere fast. My right hand starts to come free and I feel a fingernail trace itself along one of the only semi-closed knife cuts on my back. I tense up instantly.
"So how ya healing there sweetie?"
She comes around from behind me.
"Peachy..."
"Good, can I get ya anything? Water? Something to eat maybe? A nice warm bath?"
I start to move my right hand a bit more.
"No... I think... I'm good..."
I get my hand out to just below my wrist.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay then..."
She grabs me by the hair and pulls my head straight back.
OW!
If she pulled any harder she could've taken my hair, and maybe some scalp, with her. She uses her free hand to tighten the chains on my wrists, stopping the progress I made.
"Where's my key?"
I try to pull my head back up to look her in the eyes.
"Screw you."
For a second she gets this wicked grin on her face before wrapping her arms around my ribs and squeezing me in a bear hug. She puts her head against my chest.
"Not tonight honey I'm too tired, maybe tomorrow."
It starts to get hard to breath and she sighs real deep.
"If I listen real hard I can hear that cute little heart of yours ticking away."
She releases her grip and brings a hand up to caress my bloody cheek.
"I can make it stop you know..."
She traces a finger over the shallow cuts on my breasts.
"I can make it all stop. The torture, the pain, I can make it all stop."
She leans up close and whispers in my ear.
"All you have to do is give me my key."
She pulls back and looks me in the eyes.
Just for a second, I want to. I wanna tell her that Dawn's the key and she can have her if she would make the pain stop.
"Never..."
Just for a second...
She backs up, but not before a swift punch to the hole in my shoulder.
"What the hell is it with you damn humans being so god damn stubborn? It doesn't even belong to you. You stole it and I want it back!"
She punches me with every gimme.
"Now gimme! GIMME! GIMME!"
God... Faith where are you?
Faith's POV
She's close... I can barely feel her but she's there. That feeling I get when she's around, it's faint which can only be a bad thing, but at least I know she's around. Xander and Anya managed to rustle up that whatever it is set up shop in the rich part of town, and there isn't that much in the way of rich people here.
And it turns out if you threaten to kick the crap out of rich people, they'll point you in the direction of where they saw a giant snake go. I'm headed in the right direction, I know that much, but that connection B and I have isn't getting stronger. It's not getting weaker either, which can only mean that even though I'm getting closer she's getting weaker so it balances out.
I have to find her soon. It might not be long before... oh crap.
I jump behind a couple of bushes to avoid it, kinda landing on my bad shoulder. I bite my bottom lip to keep from yelling.
I don't want that thing to hear me.
I don't think it saw me but still, it came outta nowhere. Normally I'd just take it straight on but the last time I did that I got a hole in my shoulder and nearly died, not to mention B was taken hostage.
I look up over the bushes at the snake on some kind of patrol.
This must be the place. I gotta surprise it somehow.
I hear B scream from the house it's guarding.
Hang on B, I'm coming.