Moon Magic
Rated Teen
Chapters Sixteen-End
Chapter Sixteen
Faith woke in a tangle of limbs, her body instantly going on alert as footsteps approached the door. She reached out to wake Severus, and his eyes were already open.
"I hear them," he said. "I never should have fallen asleep," he muttered under his breath as he reached for his pants. The disgusted expression on his face bothered Faith more than she really wanted it to.
"As long as it's the falling asleep you're regretting because there wasn't anything else worthy of regret last night. Damn, you stick up the ass types are all the same—seriously fucking hot when you let go," Faith pointed out as she shimmied into her jeans and tucked her knife into the waist. Severus gave her a strange look as he hurriedly pulled on his shirt, but she had no idea if he was surprised by the compliment or just confused by the stick comment. Either way, confused was better than disgusted.
The door came open as Snape buttoned the last buttons on his shirt, but Faith didn't even try to hide herself as she slid off the bed, her girls in their naked glory. And damn it, Faith had seen enough Playboys her stepfather left laying around and had seen enough naked women in that prison jail to know that her girls were glorious. The man at the door was the older one with streaks of gray in his hair, and Faith smiled at him all slow and honeyed.
"Big, forceful man, charging in a girl's room without knocking. You forceful in everything you do?" she asked as she moved a step toward him. His indifferent expression twisted as he glanced at her and then found the floor uniquely interesting. Yeah, her girls were glorious, and all men were the same.
"Bellatrix says that He is arriving soon." The man swallowed so hard his Adam's apple bobbed.
"Then she shall have our company when He does. I have no interest in spending any additional time with her," Severus offered coldly.
"Snape," the man cleared his throat, glanced toward Faith who twitched her body a little for his benefit, and then he focused firmly on Severus. "I don't hold any hard feelings about—" He stopped and Severus gave him the coldest look Faith had ever seen one person give another.
"I couldn't care less about your feelings." Severus grabbed his cloak from the chair and swung in around his shoulders in a grand gesture before he started buttoning it.
Wordlessly, the man started backing up, hesitating only when he accidentally glanced at Faith, still half naked and watching him with an amused smile. Then he fled.
"Men. Considering that your cocks make you stupid as hell, it's surprising that you guys manage to run the world," she laughed softly after the door slammed shut.
Severus looked at her with that blank expression she hated. "Not that I have any problem with men or their cocks. The world would be a boring place without them," she said as she slid closer to him. "God knows prison would have been a lot more fun with a few willing, talented cocks in there." Instead of the smoldering heat she expected, Severus' face cracked into pain and then quickly turned hateful.
"I'm glad you had some enjoyment out of a spectacularly mediocre encounter," he snapped. Faith flinched back a step.
"Damn. Who pissed on your Wheaties this morning?"
"And keep your mouth shut. Your idiotic comments will certainly make them suspicious about your origins." Severus turned his back to finish buttoning his robe, and Faith grabbed her bra and shirt. No fucking way. No way had he not enjoyed that. She'd seen that mask of his fall and all the passion and heat and raw need in his face as he come and touched her like she was some sort of precious gift. No fucking way.
Severus moved toward the door, and Faith yanked down her shirt and intercepted him. "Not happening, babe. You either tell me what the hell is going on, or you aren't leaving this room," she warned. No way was she going to try to bluff when he was acting like Buffy on PMS.
"Move."
"Or what?" Faith demanded as she crossed her arms.
"This is neither the time nor the place for some adolescent temper tantrum," he said, his face cold and almost gleeful in its delivery of insults.
"Oh babe, what are you thinking? You can throw those insults all you want, but I'm not one of your students and you aren't even close to intimidating me," she pointed out as she stepped forward. Reaching up, she poked his shoulder with a finger. "You enjoyed last night." Poke. "I enjoyed last night." Poke. "We'll get through this shit together if you don't lose your fucking mind." Hard poke.
"And if we don't!?" Severus demanded as he poked her back, or shoved her rather, and she allowed herself to get shoved back until she was in front of the door, all the time watching his fury that ran just under the surface of Severus' skin.
"So that's what eating you," she said softly as she realized the truth.
"Nothing is currently attempting to eat me, but if we make the Dark Lord angry, we could both find ourselves food for his pet," Severus snapped.
"Oh babe."
Severus didn't answer, he tried pushing past her, but he obviously hadn't learned that pushing a slayer really wasn't something most people can do unless the slayer felt like getting pushed. She didn't budge from the door. "You need to move," he said when he gave up on physically shoving her out of his way.
"Babe, you aren't responsible for me or for whatever the hell this shit is that's going down," Faith said softly.
"Yes, I truly am," he said slowly and clearly, his face blank. "I gave in to the evil. I fed it. But this is neither the time not the place for this discussion. This is dangerous."
"And you going out there with your head not screwed on straight, you think that's safe? You do your sparkly dust thing if you need to but we're having this out right now before we go down those steps."
"Or what?" Severus demanded.
Faith considered him. "I wasn't kidding Sev. I like you, maybe more than I should because the men I like have this funny way of ending up dead. But I take care of myself first. If I think you can't handle this, I'll fight my own way out. I'll try to clear the path for you, but I'm not taking responsibility for you, and I sure as hell don't expect you to take responsibility for me."
Severus looked at her, his face blank, but at least that was better than the sadistic SOB who'd been looking at her a second ago. Damn, the man might try to come off like Angel, all broody and silent, but he was a regular storm of emotion under all that. Then again, Faith had always suspected that Angel had a lot more going on under that brood than he ever let anyone see.
"Allowing someone to die, someone you care about… it's not that easy." Severus' voice was tight, every word clipped.
Faith thought about Robin, about his face when he was pinned to that picnic table, a yellow claw through his gut, about running the other direction where three idiot kids out sneaking cigarettes were huddled as they screamed. She thought about the sound of her name gurgling through Robin's lips. "No, it isn't," she admitted softly as she dropped her own masks and let him see her—not the slayer or the whore, but her. Sometimes she caught a glimpse of her true face in a mirror when she wasn't careful. Old. Tired.
Severus reached up and rested a hand on her shoulder, the coldness gone and only the worry left in his face. "I don't know if—"
"You take care of your shit, and you trust me to take care of mine. I've walked this fence before, babe, and I'm a whole lot older and trickier than you give me credit for. Besides," she said as she cleared her throat and threw a wiggled back into her hips, "that was one hell of a ride last night. Not many men can show me new curves, and babe, you did. I'm definitely looking for a repeat performance," Faith said with a smirk. Walking over to the bed, she sat and pulled her boots on.
"You are clearly a dangerous woman. Your ability to impair my judgment makes me wonder if you do not have more succubus blood than human," Severus sighed.
"I take it that means you enjoyed last night?" Faith asked with a smile. "Sometimes a girl needs a little reassuring, especially after getting called average."
"I assure you, you are not average," Severus admitted as he waited for her near the door. "To echo your comment, I do believe I like you more than I should."
"Aw, Sev," Faith said as she took his arm. "You do say the sweetest things to a girl."
Severus gave her a withering look. Faith laughed.
"I thought we might explore, find something for that ravenous appetite of yours," he commented mildly, but somehow, Faith thought he was probably more interested in a certain snake or an exit. It's what Faith wanted to find. However, when they opened the door, the gray-haired man was coming down the hall towards them.
"Snape, He's here," the man said, his voice reverent. Faith could feel Severus' arm stiffen, but he simply tilted in head toward the other man and then hurried past, all but dragging Faith down the stairs.
Back in the living room, a cloaked figure stood near the fireplace, and Faith's skin tingled so bad she thought some of it might just fucking fall off. This was bad. This was world ending bad, even it this wasn't technically her world. Faith watched as the hooded figure slowly turned, his face in shadow, but there was definitely something not so human in there.
"My lord," Bellatrix appeared from another doorway, half bowing, while still twisting her body in a way that just screamed that she wanted to go on her knees and suck the man's dick. Yeah, lots of class there. Faith snorted. For a fraction of a second, Severus looked at her with something close to panic and then he turned to the shadowed figure and bowed low.
"My lord," Severus said respectfully. Reaching over, he yanked at Faith's arm, and she let him pull her into a bow that she stood from as soon as she could. Severus looked at her with wide eyes that verged on either desperate or furious, she couldn't tell which. She focused more on the shadowy figure that now angled his body some to face her fully.
"That is what Snape takes up with now. Some muggle or mudblood trash. She has no respect, and yet he is with her when he should be doing your work," Bellatrix said in that annoying little-girl voice that made Faith feel all homicidal. "You're wandering around with this creature and you aren't doing anything about Harry Potter," she said as she turned an angry gaze at Severus.
"I do not take instruction from you." Severus only gave Bellatrix a quick glance out of the side of his eyes as he focused all his attention on the Him in question. Faith studied the man, or the man-like thing because he was definitely on her demonic radar.
"You don't take instructions well at all. You're supposed to be—"
"I am well aware of my current mission, a mission with which you are interfering," Severus snapped as he finally turned toward her for one hot second. "But to point out the faults of my lord's followers is certainly not my intention," Severus quickly added, bending his head at the weird dude. Oh, this was a manipulator. Faith watched as he allowed his followers to rip into each other, probably waiting to see who drew blood first so he could throw his weight behind the winner. Oh yeah, Faith knew him. The head tilted toward her, and Faith quickly settled her thoughts on just how much she hated Severus' cloak. Hid that fine ass of his.
"Then why are you wandering around with this?" Bellatrix screeched.
"This? THIS!? Sister, you'd better back off attitude," Faith warned as she took a step forward, focusing on just how much she hated this interfering bitch. Severus gave her a look that might have wilted a lesser woman, and Faith completely ignored him.
"Are you so fond of muggles and mudbloods that you would ignore our lord's orders to cavort with this thing?"
"Try talking to me, bitch. I'm standing right here."
"Muggles?" Severus sniffed, making his disgust more than clear even as he reached out and pulled Faith back to his side. He had a seriously Wesley expression—the kind from back before he grew balls and tended to sniff at things. Severus just pulled it off with a lot more style. "I assure you Bellatrix, Faith is not a muggle, and I do wonder whether your own time in Azkaban could have so addled your brain that you can no longer use your own magic."
"How dare you..." the woman moved forward, her shoulders crouched as though she was about to leap at either Faith or Severus.
"She isn't human," the silent boogy-man said, his voice sounding all hissy and weird. Oh yeah, so not human himself.
Severus stepped between Faith and the big bad. "No, my lord," Severus agreed.
Faith watched as Bellatrix's eyes narrowed.
"You like what you see?" Faith taunted her. She wiggled her hips and even licked her lips in her best stripper imitation. "Maybe you want a little sample?" she purred. "Well unless you're prepared to do some groveling for calling me an 'it,' you can just fuck yourself." Faith dropped the sexy act and crossed her arms as she glared. The whole room just froze, and Faith could see Severus' fingers twitching as he focused on the big bad. Faith took the opportunity to consider whether she could get away with catching a quick grope of his ass. His body was blocking the view so the big bad wouldn't even see. Big bad definitely chuckled, breaking the cold silence.
"What is she?" Bellatrix finally demanded as she looked from Faith to Severus.
"A highly sought after individual," Severus said in that oh so prissy Wesley-voice he had.
"Only the best for you, babe." Faith took a step forward and leaned into Severus' tall frame, allowing her hand to stroke his robed arm.
"She's a magical creature," Bellatrix said carefully. Big bad really was not one for talking, Faith noticed, but then she focused on the feel of Severus going all stiff under her hands. Boy was playing hard to get. Faith slipped her hand around to his chest. If anyone wanted to go fishing in her head, she'd give him something so see. She let herself sink into the feeling of Severus planting kisses up her thigh, his strong hands holding her open as he slowly and gently moved in on his target. Damn. He was good.
"Not a full blooded one," Faith answered Bellatrix's unasked question as she turned her attention to driving Severus mad. He twitched under her hands but stood still. "But grandmother did teach me a trick or two, and she was one lady who knew some tricks. She could probably even teach you to look like less of a whore." Faith blinked innocently at Bellatrix. Witch turned red.
"You--" the insane woman grabbed for her wand, but Severus had already pushed Faith behind his own body.
"Bellatrix! She is my employee," Severus snapped.
"She is an unschooled co--"
"Enough," the big bad said, his voice little more than a rasped whisper, but the whole room fell silent. He tipped his head and the cloak slipped just enough for Faith to see the slitted eyes of a snake, his features slick and inhuman as he stepped forward. Severus didn't move, but his fingers tightened on Faith's arm as he tilted his head down. Faith refused to look away as she considered the big bad. His face wasn't anything to write home again, but she had to admit that he had that pull of power. She'd long ago admitted to herself that power did it for her, and he had it. Not the controlled strength of Severus, but something wilder and infinitely more dangerous. Five years ago, she so would have been pulled into sharp gaze.
Big bad stopped a foot in front of Severus, and the man was perfectly still, but Faith just calmly watched, her hands still absentmindedly teasing a non-responsive Severus as she waited. Whatever else he was, big bad was a man, and there wasn't a man alive who didn't want some piece of her… well, except Andrew who just did not count.
"A succubus? I can see nothing appealing in her." Bellatrix cast a particularly nasty look toward Faith.
"I would hardly expect you to," Severus pointed out dryly. "But if you would like, I have heard that Settsa has hired a rather interesting incubus you may find more to your taste."
Bellatrix slid closer, her body angled toward the big bad, and Faith could see the aching need in her to touch him, even if she stopped short of doing it. "My lord, you shouldn't trust them. They don't serve you as I do, and this trash—"
Faith didn't wait for her to finish that sentence, she'd been called trash enough for one day, and there was no way this bitch was going to stop without a lesson. So she provided one. Faith snapped out her fist and slammed it into Bellatrix's nose. The witch staggered back, blood splattering across her face and dotting those pushed up breasts she was using to try and get the big bad's attention.
Bellatrix grabbed for her wand, and Severus' hand went to his own empty pocket before he froze. Faith wasn't surprised when the big bad held up a gloved hand.
"Enough."
Bellatrix stopped, her mouth still open, probably with the worst curse she could think ready to come off, and a drop of blood gathered on her upper lip and then grew until it dropped over the edge and rolled into her mouth.
"So, you're the head honcho? You have the whole snake thing going on for you, don't you?" Faith ran her tongue along the inside of her lower lip, imitating that gesture of Spike's that made Faith understand why Buffy had fucked him. Bellatrix almost spluttered and Faith was fairly sure Severus was going to have a heart attack at any moment.
"You are quite impertinent," big bad chuckled as he turned away and wandered back to the fireplace. "Bellatrix, leave her be. I find the succubus interesting."
"It's part of my charm. It's no fun to tame a woman if there's nothing there to tame," Faith said with a wicked smile.
"Oh yes, I can see why my Snape would be interested in you." Snake dude leaned forward, his eyes studying her, and Faith just threw out a hip and studied him right back. Not even the amusement in his eyes hid the evil back there. Faith was standing on the edge of death, and she wasn't so naive as to not know it. But, a girl played the hand she had. Raising her chin and considering him with a steady gaze, she shrugged.
"Oh babe, all men are interested in me. Now you seem to have some power around here. Maybe you know how to tame a girl up right. If you're good enough, you might even teach me to stop telling your whore here that she dresses like a cheap tramp." Faith thought on that while Bellatrix spluttered. "Maybe," she amended herself.
"I think not, my dear," he said with a softness that made her blood run cold. Here was evil. "You are Severus' toy. I really was worried about our dear potions master. He never seemed to move on after the loss of his mudblood, but obviously, he has found new interests, and I will not deny him your company." A waved a hand and immediately Severus was there at her elbow, pulling her back out of the way.
"Five by five with me," Faith agreed as she let Severus pull her away, his hand slightly shaking and his expression absolutely blank even though Faith could feel the panic running just under his skin. "Severus is man enough to keep me happy." Faith reinforced her words with a quick grope of Severus' ass. He grabbed her hand and had an expression like he might just drop dead of shock right then and there. Big bad laughed, but then his voice grew dark.
"Understand this succubus... so, as long as you remain an entertaining toy for our Snape, you have my permission to continue breathing. Displease him or me, and you will die.
Faith gave Severus a hip wiggle before answering. "No problem. Pleasing men is what I do."
"Bellatrix, my faithful one," he said, turning to the witch, "you must never again come to me with stories of Snape unless you can hand me proof that my servant has been unfaithful. This one has thoughts of nothing but sex, and Severus' habit of trying to defend his whores is already well-known."
"My lord," Bellatrix simpered, nearly bending to the floor. "He is half--"
"Enough," Big bad boomed, his voice echoing unnaturally, and even Faith jumped. Only Severus stood silent and unmoving. "But Severus, in playing with one toy, you have misplaced another." He waved his hand and a servant came scurrying in with a snake in a cage. Faith shoved down a flare of worry, rubbing against Severus absentmindedly as the servant pulled out the snake and put it on the floor. It wasn't the same sort of snake as Riley, so maybe they weren't screwed. Faith forced her thoughts away from Buffy's boy toy and back to just how good last night had felt. She didn't usually get slow and tender, and last night… that had scratched an itch she didn't even know she had.
Big bad pointed his wand, issued a curt command, and Riley crouched in the middle of the room, one hand braced on the carpet. Oh fuck.
Chapter Seventeen
Riley froze. Damn it. As pathetic as it was, he was starting to just wish people would leave him a snake. Slowly, Riley stood, keeping his eyes focused straight ahead of him where some cloaked thing watched him. Focus, soldier, focus. Riley pushed away every thought but the need to focus.
Hours in Snape's library had given him a better understanding of his situation than he really wanted. Off to the side, Faith stood, winding herself around Snape, but her hand hovered near her jeans where she had a knife waiting. Riley just hoped that she had a chance to get out if he inadvertently betrayed her to Voldemort. Damn it, wanting to be a snake again was just wrong, but Riley couldn't avoid the feeling as he tried to clear his mind of everything but one pure feeling. Hate became the center. Riley focused on that as hard as he could. Hate and loathing. This thing in front of him… this Voldemort wasn't actually human. It should be killed. He hated it.
Voldemort slid forward, his walk a rolling gait that made the hairs on Riley's arms stand up, and he flinched back before ordering himself to parade rest.
"This is what they expect to save them?" Voldemort hissed, and the snake-like features made Riley grimace even as he ordered himself to stand firm. Whatever they were going to do, they'd do even quicker and even worse if he ran. Hatred. He hated them having this power. He hated how disgusting this thing was.
Normally Riley pushed thoughts like this aside, he had a job, and he did it. Finding pleasure in killing the things he faced just turned you into one of them, but right now he sank into that dark contempt and revulsion until all he could see was that ugly face in front of him and all he could feel was his skin crawling as it came closer. He'd faced death any number of times, and he could feel death slip into the room with them now.
"My lord, the moronic mudblood who summoned this one used Moon Magic and Mr. Finn is completely irrelevant or I would have brought him to you."
Riley heard Snape, but he ignored him. Who knows what side that slimy wizard was on, but Riley knew that the thing in front of him was evil, so that's what he gave all his attention to. Voldemort and hate. Hate of things that weren't human. Hate for things that hurt and killed and maimed. Hate, pure and thick filling his thoughts. Maybe even a little hate for himself that when he needed some emotional shelter it was hate and not love or faith or beauty that offered the protection described in Snape's book. Riley figured he could worry about the state of his own soul later.
"Finn?" Voldemort asked, snake eyes peering at Riley.
"Riley Finn, Captain, United States Army, serial number Oscar 1-7-2-9er-3-9er-1-Zero." Riley focused on the hate, but just saying the words cracked open the door to fear. He clenched his jaw and tried to focus everything on his disgust and not the insidious thought that their wands could kill him before he had a chance to even strike out. He knew what this one had done, and right now, Riley dearly wished he didn't. He cursed every second spent reading Snape's library.
Voldemort came forward, his demonic head peering at Riley closely, and Riley could taste the sour of fear in his mouth.
"A brain disabled with fear," he announced. "Bellatrix, my dear, perhaps you would enjoy softening his mind for us."
Riley glanced in the direction Voldemort had looked, his eyes moving without his permission because he really didn't want to see what was coming next. Glancing over he spotted a woman, and his first thought was vampire. She had that cold expression, and tiny drops of blood had settled between her pushed up breasts. Riley really did feel fear then. The feel of a vampire biting, the loss of control and the heat and the raw need... he remembered that. He fought against his desire for it every time he put a stake through a vampire's heart. He couldn't just stand still while some vampire bit him, not again.
Bellatrix flashed him an evil smile and pulled out her wand, but Riley could only feel something that came close to relief as he saw the weapon. Death or injury was infinitely better than addiction and the loss of control he'd suffered in the suck houses. His relief didn't last long.
"Crucio!" she shrieked as she jabbed her wand toward him like a dueler's sword. Riley's legs gave out and he crashed to the ground screaming as fire burned from inside his skin. He could distantly hear voices, but he didn't care. His chest pounded, too small for a heart that struggled with each beat. Riley arched his back and struggled to breathe through the agony.
Slowly the burning eased just enough to leave Riley panting on the floor, grabbing at his own arms expecting to find raw, bloody stumps. He was whole. Desperate to push away the pain that still scraped down his nerves, he rubbed, but every touch was new agony and new fire.
"Crucio!" she called out again, the joyous glee registering just before Riley erupted in fire again. Riley lost himself to the pattern of burning pain that slowed only to erupt again and again. Dimly, he registered the damp warmth in his pants, the distant smell of urine, but it didn't bother him. He tried to pretend that it was training, this was just one of those classes he'd hated where they'd learned to endure and just survive. He imagined that it was an instructor behind a switch and not that psychotic woman with her wand. When that failed, Riley lost himself simply in the idea that it couldn't last forever. His body had to fail eventually.
When the waves of fire and pain and the spasms that locked his muscles finally passed, Voldemort was there crouched next to him on the floor, cold hands on his face, and Riley tried. He really tried to scramble backwards, but he could only twitch his leg and pray for death before the return of that torture. So all he could do was throw his mind into the fear that threatened to devour him and hope that Voldemort couldn't see past that.
"Are you a threat?" Voldemort asked, his voice grating against Riley's raw nerves. Again he tried to scramble back and managed nothing more than a pathetic twinge. Voldemort stood. "He is irrelevant."
"Yes, my lord," Snape quickly agreed, and Riley had never before in his life been quite so happy to be irrelevant. "Dumbledore ordered me to return him to his own world when the moon was in the correct position."
Riley let his eyes close, not even caring what happened right now as long as no one tried to move him, or asked him to move himself. Every muscle, every joint, every cell ached.
"A waste of resources."
"Yes, my lord," Snape agreed. "Should I dispose of him instead?"
Riley almost wished he had the energy to panic, but he could only lie on the floor, his pants wet from his own urine and feel a calm blankness in his mind as he waited for the answer to that question.
"Do as Dumbledore has ordered," Voldemort answered after a pause that could have been two seconds or twenty minutes, Riley really wasn't tracking time all that well. "It is not yet time for you to show your true colors, my loyal servant.
"Yes my lord. I shall return him to his cage in my chambers and ensure that he has no chance to wander again."
The spell returning Riley to snake form didn't even make Riley twitch this time. He lay with his belly against the warm carpet, and he still hurt. The ache was different, but he still could only watch his own tail hang limply as Snape picked him up in the middle, leaving both ends dangling.
"You boys have a thing for snakes, don't you?" Faith asked as she pressed forward, her hand under Riley's head, holding it up as she studied him. She had a casual expression, but Riley thought that maybe there was a little concern there as her face came close. "Not that I'm surprised after seeing what Severus has hidden under his robes," she added with a sly look toward Snape. "Are all you Slytherins built that well?"
"Careful, girl," Voldemort warned.
"Have to give Sev something to punish me for later," Faith said with a wink in Voldemort's direction, and Riley could see the surprised expression on Snape's face. Voldemort… who knows what he was thinking because his demonic features just stared back at Faith unblinking.
"Whore." Bellatrix barely whispered the word, and Riley felt himself fall, panic flooding his mind until he realized Snape still had him by the middle, and then he got to watch, upside down, as Faith delivered a beautiful kick right to her stomach. Bellatrix flew backwards, her wand spinning through the air and tumbling to the ground as her back hit the couch arm with a resounding thud before she crashed to the floor.
"Faith!" Snape gasped, and Voldemort stepped forward.
"Cruc--!" Voldemort started.
"Whoa there, babe!" Faith held both hands up toward Voldemort in a gesture of surrender, her hips swinging as she stepped toward him. "I got no problem with being a whore or having someone like you call me one because I'm damn good at it. You won't ever find a whore who knows her business as well as I do, not unless you can find yourself a full-blood succubus willing to trade. But the way the bitch says the word, well, she's asking for it. And I've been nice about giving her warning."
"My lord," Snape hurried forward, the motion making Riley seasick as he helplessly swung, too sore to even control the movement. "My lord, I apologize. She is… young… foolish. I would not have brought her into your presence or the presence of the others if not for Bellatrix's insistence. It is in her nature to be impetuous."
For a long minute, the room was still. Bellatrix sat on the floor, her eyes going from Faith to Voldemort and back, two guards next to the wall standing with wide eyes, Snape's hand slowly tightening around Riley until the lingering ache flared into a brilliant pain again.
Then Voldemort chuckled, his voice low and disturbing.
"She is your pet, Snape, but remember what happens when you let your pets wander too far from the fold. If her impertinence outlasts your usefulness or my patience, you will learn your lesson again. Keep her leashed."
Riley breathed as Snape loosened his hold. Grabbing Faith, he pulled her back. When Faith held her ground for just a moment, Riley prayed like he never had before. He knew Faith had made some bad choices, but this was not the time for another. And then she was moving, letting Snape pull her away as she turned that slow, sensual gaze on him and seemed to dismiss the rest of the room. Riley knew it was an act. Buffy with her dumb blonde act had been a variation on the same strategy, so maybe slayers were hard-wired for camouflage, maybe that's why so many of them seemed so physically tiny until you found yourself on the wrong end of a fist.
Snape retreated to the door, and one of the goons held out a wand. Snape snatched it and shoved it under his cloak while Faith gave the guard a look that would have brought him trailing after her with his tongue hanging out in lust if she wasn't already with Snape. Riley wondered if it wasn't possible that slayers were related to succubus. In Faith's case, it would explain a lot.
"My lord," Snape said as he turned back to Voldemort again. "What other service would you require?"
"Nothing, my servant. Bellatrix and I must discuss matters. You and your new toy may leave. Inform me when the muggle returns to his world or if you dispose of him."
"Yes, my lord," Snape bowed again, and this time, he yanked Faith into a quick bow as well. And then they were moving, hurrying out into the sunshine where people dressed like refugees from a variety of Renaissance festivals and Halloween parties hurried from one place to another. A woman with a broom bumped into them, and Snape all but growled at her.
"Chill, babe," Faith whispered roughly.
"Chill?" Snape demanded quietly, looking around quickly before he walked even faster, practically dragging her with one hand and swinging Riley in his other. Riley didn't know if a snake could throw up or not, but he was pretty close to finding out. And as soon as he knew, Snape was going to know.
"Chill," Faith repeated firmly.
"If that word means what I believe it means, I have absolutely no intention of being chill," Snape snapped.
"Whoa there, we're all out, the bitch just lost a peg or two in the pecking order, and I think you're set up pretty good here. Some chilling is definitely in order," Faith said as she got ahead of him and planted a hand in his chest to stop him. A wizard in a red robe frowned at them and then detoured around on his way to wherever wizards go in the morning… off to buy eye of newt or something. Riley just really didn't want to think about it.
Snape stared at her for several seconds. "You." He stopped. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" he asked softly, but Riley could feel the man's hand tighten again. Faith glanced down and frowned.
"Probably about as dangerous as it is every time you go in there," she said calmly. "Now why don't you give me the boy toy?" she asked as she held out her hands. Snape just stared at her. "Babe, I did not just risk my neck to have you squish his guts out. So hand over the snake before I get cranky."
Snape shoved Riley forward so fast that Riley was almost certain that snakes could throw up and he barely managed to avoid providing Faith with the very messy evidence. "Is he going to be okay?" Faith asked. Riley could feel fingers carefully arranging his body into a small coil that fit in her hand.
"He should be," Snape said softly, and then he seemed to shake himself into motion. "We need to return to Hogwarts immediately.
"Problem?" Faith asked.
"Possibly. I have to wonder how Mr. Finn came to be there and how exactly he managed to avoid betraying us.
"Riley? He's a little too starched, but he wouldn't ever betray us, and what he just did in there, I think he proved that," Faith said hotly. Riley might have enjoyed the compliment if he didn't feel so miserable.
"He hid his thoughts. That should have been impossible. Something is certainly not as it would appear, but this is not the place for that conversation." Snape took Faith's elbow again, this time looking a little more like he was walking with her instead of dragging her. They still got some strange looks as they walked down the street, but that might have had something to do with Faith gently stroking him. Then again, maybe not, Riley thought to himself as they passed a teenage girl carrying an owl in a cage. The bird looked at him hungrily, and Riley wished that God had given snakes eyelids. Right now he just really wanted to close his eyes and go to sleep and pray that he woke up next to Sam in the morning.
Chapter Eighteen
"Ah, there you are," an old man said amiably as they came through the fire.
"Damn. I said I wasn't doing that walking through fire shit," Faith complained as she struggled to brush the ash off with one hand and shelter Riley with the other. Boy was not moving enough, and after watching him get tortured for what must have been damn near an hour, she wasn't entirely sure he still had all his parts in the right place, not that she could check with him being a snake.
"Caramel?" the old man asked, smiling as he held out a dish. Severus came through the fire behind her.
"How did your meeting go?" the old man asked. Faith felt her hackles rise. How the hell did this guy know they'd been in a meeting, and why the hell was he asking about it? Faith slipped to the side and eyed places to stash Riley if she needed both hands free.
Severus gave the man a look to wilt steel. "Other than Faith nearly getting herself killed in some idiotic attempt to avenge Mr. Finn's injuries, it went well, Albus. I assume you have something to do with Mr. Finn having left my chambers."
"Me?" the old man asked, and then he chuckled. After listening to Voldemort with his freakish good humor, the chuckling was not making Faith feel any more charitable or any less likely to kick the old guy's ass. "I might have recruited Mr. Finn for some help gathering some intelligence," the old man said.
Gold flashed, and Faith slipped Riley onto a shelf as a freakishly big golden bird came in through a window and settled on a perch behind the large desk. The man in one of the portraits on the wall frowned at her.
"I am being rude," the old man suddenly said as he turned to Faith, and every slayer sense went off. Of course, this whole fucking world tended to set her slayer sense off, but she could smell the power on this one about as clear as she could smell it on Voldemort. "Albus Dumbledore, headmaster here at Hogwarts." He held his hand out and Faith ignored it.
"The one who wouldn't have come to Severus' rescue?" she asked. Albus blinked, and Severus got an expression that was almost amused.
"Yes, you are quite as direct as Severus led me to believe. I fear we both have responsibilities we must put ahead of personal safety," he answered. Faith stared at him for a second, but he didn't try to apologize or excuse the fact that he totally would have thrown Severus under the bus. Albus didn't even pull back his hand. He just stood with it extended and a perfectly pleasant expression on his face.
"I can respect that," Faith finally answered as she took his hand. "Don't like it."
"I assure you, no one in this room likes what this situation sometimes forces us to do," Albus said softly. "How is Mr. Finn?"
"Other than getting tortured by snakeface and that whore-shaped bitch of his until he pissed his pants and couldn't move?" Faith asked as she reached back to the shelf and carefully picked up the small green snake.
"Voldemort? That was unexpected."
Faith eyed the old man suspiciously. Somehow, she didn't think he would have done anything different if he had known who would get Riley. Putting Riley carefully on the floor, she stepped back while Severus returned him to human form.
"Hey, Ri," Faith said as she crouched down next to him. Riley's pants really stunk now, and he was curled on his side with his eyes closed. "You alive?"
"If I hurt this much after I'm dead, I'll know I definitely didn't go to church enough," Riley answered roughly. Faith felt like slapping the boy's arm and congratulating him for getting through, humor and all, but watching him unfold and struggle painfully up like an old man, Faith got the feeling one push would send Riley crashing to the floor.
"I've made a bit of a mess," Riley said with an embarrassed half smile.
"Nevermind, my boy. Perfectly natural." Dumbledore waved his wand and offered a brisk, "Tergeo." Riley's clothes were instantly clean. Soldier-boy still moved like an arthritic old man, though. Faith held out her arm, and he took it, leaning heavily as she helped him to a chair.
"You put a spell on him to protect his thoughts," Severus said, his arms crossed as he watched Albus. Faith just sat on the arm of Riley's chair and watched the men.
"He withstood Voldemort's legilimency?"
"Unless the dark lord had some reason for allowing an unknown magical creature to escape his grasp, yes," Severus answered. Kinda freaked Faith out, the way Sev kept calling snakeface his lord. Seriously freaky. But it wasn't like Faith didn't have her own freak past going for her, she just didn't tend to call it a lord anymore.
"Unexpected." Dumbledore wandered back to his desk, setting the bowl on the edge before going over and petting the golden bird. "I had used a small spell to reinforce his mental barriers, but as I did not want my interference known, I didn't use anything strong enough to actually block Voldemort."
"Your book," Riley said, his voice still gravelly, but after all the screaming he had done, Faith was surprised he could talk at all.
"My book?" Severus asked, that eyebrow going up.
"It said you could block mindreading by focusing on an emotion and not an actual thought."
Dumbledore sat forward and smiled. "Quite impressive. That is a difficult way to block your mind, but you have certainly shown a certain resilience I never expected."
Riley looked slowly over. "You left me there on purpose."
"Those boys you were watching—"
"Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle," Riley said quickly, and that was definitely a disgusted expression.
Dumbledore nodded. "They have been increasingly involved, perhaps in some side plot of Mr. Malfoy's father. I had hoped they would say things in front of you they would not say in front of others."
"You mean, the way they're bringing curses in?" Riley asked. Severus stiffened at that.
"Are they?" Dumbledore asked mildly. Riley narrowed his eyes, so Faith was guessing soldier-boy had picked up on the vibes this old guy was sending out. "I have a favor to ask," Dumbledore said slowly.
Faith stiffened them. "Seems like Riley has already given at the office, so if you're looking for someone to do more, I'd suggest you do the job your own damn self," she told the old man. The portrait of the weasel-faced man on the wall offered a curt "well really" and vanished from his frame.
"I quite understand your reluctance, and I certainly will not ask any more of Mr. Finn as long as he is a guest, but the memory you're carrying could be quite valuable, and I was wondering if you would be willing to share it." Dumbledore stood and came around his desk, wand in hand.
"I'll tell you want I can remember," Riley said slowly and suspiciously, and considering how the last question and answer session went, Faith didn't blame him.
"No, that won't be necessary," Dumbledore offered as he raised his wand. Faith stood, hand already half way to her knife.
Severus stepped forward. "If Mr. Finn is willing, all he would need to do is think of the memory, and Albus can draw the memory from him like a thread. I have shared my own memories this way and it is entirely painless," he quickly explained
"Pull it out?" Faith demanded. She glanced down and Riley looked a little pale.
"I assure you that sharing a single memory is not dangerous, and it would allow us to directly see and hear what those three might be up to. Afterwards, you may choose to either leave the memory here or you may have it back. I would recommend retrieving your memory," Severus said as he glanced over at Albus.
"Of course, of course," the cagey, old man said absentmindedly.
"Faith, you got my back?" Riley asked quietly.
"You know I do, babe," Faith agreed as she carefully sat on the arm of his chair again, propping her foot on the seat of the chair where it pressed into Riley's leg and glaring at the two men. "I don't think they're pulling a fast one, but if they are, I'm pretty sure I can take them both and beat some sense into them." Faith was disappointed when Albus only looked amused. At least Severus had the manners to look a little shocked.
"I wouldn't dream of it, my dear," Albus said as he reached up and tapped Riley's head with his wand. When he pulled away, he drew a long silver thread with him, backing up and heading for the corner where he and Severus hunched up like a couple of teenagers hunching over a joint.
"You okay?" Faith asked quietly in the relative privacy of their end of the office. Damn bird was watching them, but the men were clearly fascinated by whatever they had pulled out of Riley's brain. Faith reached over and let her hand rest on Riley's shoulder. Boy was still looking awfully pale.
"Brutally raw and really wishing someone was kind enough to hit me over the head until I passed out," Riley said, giving her the most pathetic smile she'd ever seen.
"Damn, you need to take lessons on the humor under fire thing because that ain't even funny."
"I'll sign up for some tutoring with Xander," Riley nodded. "I hurt. I appreciate you kicking Bellatrix for me though," Riley offered after a second.
"No sweat." Faith leaned her head on her palm and watched the two wizards lean over whatever the hell they were leaning over. Okay, so she was watching Severus' ass more than anything else, but after last night, she was entitled.
"It was stupid," Riley said softly, interrupting the quiet that had fallen on the room. Faith tilted her head to look down at Riley. "Getting a hit in for me, it was stupid," he clarified.
Faith shrugged. "Probably, but I stood there and watched her turn you inside out. I wasn't walking out of that house without getting at least one hit in. Might have set the fucking house on fire out of frustration if I'd tried." Faith thought about that a second. "Still might go back and set the fucking house on fire."
Riley laughed, or started to before it turned into a grimace of pain. "Your soft spots are showing, Faith." Riley might have said more, but Albus and Severus finished, and Albus brought the shining memory back to Riley, tapping it back into place.
"Quite helpful. Yes, quite helpful," Albus muttered.
"Maybe you could helpfully fix the pain he's in now. Some aspirin would be nice," Faith pointed out.
"I'm fine," Riley quickly said.
"Babe, how did you put it? Brutally raw?"
"I remember that feeling," Severus said, his voice tight. Faith looked up at him, and Severus gave her only the smallest of shrugs. "The effects are difficult to treat, but I do have potions in my chambers which can reduce the pain and allow you to sleep off the effects."
"Without side effects?" Riley demanded.
"Yes. I've used the potion on myself. The dark lord's mood is rarely that good."
"That's fucked up," Faith snorted. "I mean, when I went dark side, at least I got the whole princess and precious treatment. Don't see much reason for following evil if it hurts."
The room got quiet, but Severus nodded as he seemed to gather his thoughts. "Following hurt less than not following… at least it seemed so in my youth," he admitted. "However, right now, I suggest we use the floo—the fireplace—to get Riley down to my chambers where I have the potions to counteract some of the effects of the curse."
"Ah, before I forget," Albus said, stepping forward. "Your Willow managed to make contact. For some reason, her spell is only able to transport object with an inherent magical nature. She sent this." He held out an amulet, yellow with a single tiny leaf caught inside. "We communicated through… well, no need for magical details, but her general message is that she thinks this might provide Mr. Finn transportation back to your universe and it will definitely allow for communication. Faith, she can retrieve you at any time since you are a magical creature. I told her you were in a situation where being immediately retrieved might prove awkward. She seemed to believe that implied a sexual liaison."
Faith laughed, glancing over at Severus who was turning a nice shade of red. "Can't imagine why Red would assume that," Faith shrugged as she slipped her arm under Riley's to help him to his feet.
"I do regret that my actions resulting in such severe consequences for you, my boy," Albus offered as Riley grunted in pain.
Riley looked over at him. "But you're not sorry that you did it."
Albus seemed to think about that for a second, but Faith could already see in the answer in his expression. Finally he offered, "Given what we have discovered and the good we can do with it, no, I am not."
Riley tightened his arm around Faith's shoulder, and she could feel him leaning struggling to stop his forward movement, so she shifted her own weight so Riley could face Albus. "Does this have something to do with children fighting battles?"
Albus nodded. "It does."
"What you got from me. Will it keep even one of them out of a battle?"
Dumbledore thought on that a little longer, and then he sighed. "I greatly doubt that either of us can protect them from the coming war, but what you have revealed… this is one battle that Severus and I can quietly fight, so it's one less battle for the children."
"Then it's worth it." Riley angled back toward the fireplace where Severus stood next to the flames.
"Fucking boy scout," Faith snorted derisively.
"Says the woman who kicked Bellatrix for me. You could get your own badge for that, I think," he teased. Faith gave him a dirty look. She might not be willing to admit it, but Sam was a lucky girl. Buffy had obviously missed something pretty big when it came to Riley because the man she described wasn't anything like the soldier Faith had gotten to know. He wasn't her thing since she really preferred the tall dark and obsessing over a tortured past, but she could see where some girl looking for mom and apple pie could strike it rich with Ri. Then again, maybe Buffy wasn't as much about mom and apple pie as she liked to make people think.
"Even without knowing what a boy scout is, from the tone, I am given to agreeing with Faith. You both have remarkably self-destructive streaks and very little common sense," Severus declared archly as he tossed the powder into the fireplace. "It's remarkable you haven't gotten yourselves killed."
Faith caught one look at the amused look on Dumbledore's face before she crossed her fingers and stepped into the fire.
Chapter Nineteen
"Are you sure you're okay-okay and not just saying-okay or not-okay-but-not-willing-to-trust-my-magic-okay?" Willow asked, her ghostly image sitting in the middle of the floor in Severus' living room. "Because Riley... not looking so okay," she finished as she glanced toward the couch. Riley looked even more green after drinking the potion, but he did say he felt better.
"I'm fine now," Riley insisted. "Feeling good." He started to turn, like he was going to push himself up, but he gave up when his hand slipped off the edge of the couch. Faith thought he might be drooling too.
"Oh yeah, because you're a big old being truthful about yourself when in pain guy," Willow said sarcastically, crossing her arms as she gave Riley the astral projected form of the resolve face. "Anyone who looks like that is not with the fine."
"And I had thought your language atrocious," Severus sighed as he picked up his tea cup and put on a pained expression. Perched on the arm of his chair, Faith gave his leg a quick kick. Severus simply rolled his eyes.
"We're five by five. Had some shit go down, but short of more world-ending badness, it looks like two weeks of vacation. I'm looking forward to some down time," Faith said as she let her eyes linger on Severus. He didn't look at her, but his eyebrow twitched.
"Oh. OH. OH! Okay, I get it. But wouldn't it be less with the weird if I bring Riley home?" Willow asked.
"No!" all three answered, even if Riley's was a little slurred. After Willow's stumbled responses to Severus' very direct magical questions, even Faith had gotten the impression that Willow wasn't entirely sure the damn amulet would actually work.
"I assure you, given my own abilities, the counter-potion will be both effective and safe once the moon is in position," Severus said, "neither of which you seem to be able to guarantee. Your willingness to perform magic in the absence of either information or precedent is remarkably... Gryffindor."
"Way too Giles with the insults," Willow said softly with a small frown. "And hey, I got Faith into Hogwarts! My magic worked where you thought it wouldn't, so I'm saying go team Gryffindor, unless that's some terrible monster that you're metaphorically comparing me to because I'm generally not ever in favor of the monsters."
Severus' expression was something like when Buffy got oversized spider guts splattered across her new suede jacket. Faith was guessing that Red could see it, too because the witch blushed.
"Were you a student of mine, I have no doubt you should set a new record for the speed at which you would fail my class. Doing the improbable is hardly remarkable. Doing it consistently without anyone dying is quite a different task, one which you seem entirely inadequate to perform."
Faith had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing at the way Willow's face just sort of collapsed or the smugly raised eyebrow and disgust on Severus' face. Faith coughed to cover the laugh that tried to slip out. "Red, it's fine. We'll just hang here and be home in a couple of weeks."
"Just let my commander know?" Riley asked blearily from the couch. He'd asked the same question about four times now, but Faith was starting to thing the boy was either brain damaged or drunk. His didn't even come open this time. She was voting for drunk, especially since Severus didn't seem particularly worried or surprised and it was his potion Riley had taken.
"Commander, check," Willow offered cheerfully.
"We gotta go, Red," Faith said quickly before Willow could go into another round of babble, or even worse, another round of trying to compare magic with Severus.
"Oh," she said, still chewing her lip in that way that said she was worried.
"Red, there isn't anything here worse that what we have back home. Shit happens, and it's a slayer's job to be in the middle of the shit." Faith glanced over toward the couch. "Soldier's job, too. We're five by five, and I'll give you a call if something goes all to hell." Faith touched the necklace around her neck. And then, without warning, she used the cut off words. "Bye bye."
Red's ghostly image flickered out, her mouth still open as she tried to say one more thing. Faith slipped the necklace off. If she was wearing it, she would have to ignore it when it warmed as Willow tried to reestablish the connection. This way she could honestly say she hadn't known Willow was trying to get through. She tossed the thing at the small table next to the couch where it clattered to a stop.
"She is remarkably..." Severus thought about that a second, "annoying."
"Yep," Faith agreed. "She's also one of the most powerful witches in the universe if not the most powerful."
"Truly a terrifying thought."
"Yep."
Faith picked at her thumbnail and waited for Severus to say something that actually mattered. Boy wasn't one for talking. Then again, she was usually more about doing than talking herself.
"I do regret that Albus' machinations placed your friend in such an untenable situation," Severus finally offered in the silence.
"If I had any idea what that meant, I'd probably tell you it's all five by five. Shit happens babe, and we've both been fighting our own wars long enough to know that. He's a big boy, so he gets that, too. Your Albus, though, he's a little..." This time it was Faith searching for the right word. It wasn't easy to describe the man. He looked like Father Time with that long beard and his grandfather talk, but the power coiled just under the surface left every hair on her body standing up straight.
"Intimidating?" Severus offered.
"I wouldn't call him intimidated exactly," Faith said slowly. Severus looked up at her with a rather disbelieving expression. "He gives me the itch to either get out of the room or kill him," Faith explained.
"Which is a rather normal reaction to feeling intimidated," Severus pointed out. "Then again, I suspect you may not be that acquainted with the feeling, so perhaps you don't recognize it."
Faith frowned as she looked down at Severus, at the suddenly tight and closed expression on his face. "Oh babe," she sighed. "I know all about feeling intimidated. Fuck. I learned that lesson about when I learned to walk. Even after I found out I was a slayer... that feeling never went away. I just learned to kill whatever made me feel uncomfortable."
Severus tilted his head and looked up at her. "You discovered you were a slayer? You weren't born that way?"
Faith shrugged. "I guess I was born a potential slayer, but it used to be that a girl only got her power and strength when the last girl died. I spend my childhood hanging out on cold steps in front of the house debating between freezing to death or facing my mother and her latest man. I suppose that's why it was so easy to go sliding into the dark. Evil was a lot more familiar than the whole saving the world shit. Hurting people made me forget how much I hurt, and when I slid over that edge into killing them..." Faith gave up on picking her thumbnail when the corner started to bleed. Severus reached over and took her hand in his.
"Episkey," he whispered, and the raw corner of skin healed.
"Handy," Faith admitted without trying to pull her hand back.
"Unfortunately, other wounds do not heal as easily," Severus said sounding tired.
"Babe, the world never made any promises about being fair."
"No, it did not," Severus agreed. "If the world were fair, I suspect we both should have earned early and painful deaths."
Faith snorted and shoved Severus with her shoulder. "This is supposed to be the part where you give me the pep talk about redemption and making better choices."
Severus gave a sniff of his own that came close to being a snort. "Faith, I am not a good man. I don't have any truths to offer on redemption."
Faith laughed. "So we're just two idiots trying to find our way in the dark?" Faith asked.
"Following others, like Albus, and hoping that his brand of manipulation can undo the manipulations of others." Severus stopped and stared at the fire for a long time. "He's a good man, but not perfect man. I sometimes wonder if I would notice if he slid over that edge again."
"Again?" Faith leaned back against the chair as she nodded. Yeah, that made sense. After all, Willow and Angel set off her slayer sense when Buffy and that new witch of theirs never did. "He's another idiot trying to find his way in the dark. You'd think the universe would be able to find heroes with less chance of turning into big bads, wouldn't you?"
"Being near power does tend to corrupt one. I chose a master out of fear, and I followed that master to places that... I didn't even know who I'd become."
"Fuck, yeah. I remember what that's like. The one I followed ended up turning into a snake, too. Willow insists snakes aren't evil, but I'm not so sure."
"What happened to your snake?" Severus asked, his grip tightening around Faith's hand. Looking down, Faith could see the desperate hope warring with the grim belief that his fight was somehow doomed. Or maybe Severus was just convinced he was doomed. There were days Faith still felt that fear crawling under her skin.
"Xander and Buffy blew him up. I missed that fight, which is probably good because I would have been fighting on the wrong side that time. But you gotta get over that shit. You fuck up and then you move on," Faith shrugged.
"It's not that easy." Severus finally let her hand go and stood up as he walked to his bookshelf and stared at it. Faith got up and followed him, but she didn't know the right words. She was usually on the other end of the pep talk. These dark moods would settle, and she'd call Angel and get his whole redemption and self-respect speech. Somehow, she didn't think she could pull it off, so she went with her strength--brutal honesty.
"Sure it is. Oh, the others, they try to make it all complicated and shit. Had this therapist in prison who liked talking about embracing my inner id or some crap like that, but it's just about moving on." Severus didn't even turn or twitch, but Faith knew exactly what he was thinking. "Babe, you aren't evil. You aren't anything like evil, and I should know. Evil is pretty. Evil makes all these bad-ass promises that sound as good as a bag full of Halloween candy. Evil walks in, pulls up a comfortable chair and invites you to just sit back. You aren't evil, Sev. Yeah, you're fucked up, but welcome to the club."
"Faith."
Ignoring the pained whisper, Faith went with her other strength and moved close, running her hands up his arms as she pressed herself to his back. While he didn't move away, he didn't respond either. She let her arms circle him so she could hold him tight.
"I would have let him kill Riley. I would have let him kill you." Severus' words were simple and factual. Little lead word-balls that simply dropped out without emotion, but Faith knew that Severus wasn't nearly as unemotional as he seemed.
"You can't convince me that you're evil, babe. You hate yourself too much to be evil. Riley and I both understand. I forgive you, and I know Riley will too once he stops being stoned on whatever you put in that potion, but you have to forgive yourself at some point."
"The point where I could forgive myself passed years ago." Severus finally moved. Faith had clapped her hands around Severus' stomach, and he rested his own hands on top of hers. "But I will fight until I can't fight any more or until Albus does something for which I truly can't forgive him. And sadly, nearly getting Mr. Finn killed in order to spy on three idiots with no more self-preservation or intelligence than a common Gryffindor does not rise to the level of unforgivable."
"Nope, it doesn't," Faith agreed. "Babe, you need to learn to just flow around the curves without ripping yourself up on the turn."
Severus sighed. "Some days I truly do wish you spoke English. Is your entire universe full of individuals incapable of speaking words which make sense?"
"See, now you're just being stubborn. You know what I'm talking about, babe." Faith let her hands wander south, exploring the curves that his damn robe hid all too well. He wasn't hard, but he was getting there. Faith let her hands rest over his cock, and Severus just continued to let his hands rest on hers.
"Just ignore the debilitating guilt and enjoy the moment?" Severus asked.
"See, I knew you got it." Faith let Severus pull her hands apart. Her palms slid over his hips as he turned to face her.
"There is no conceivable reason for doing this now," he pointed out.
"There's the best reason, babe. If you want to wallow in the guilt, I'm not going to say anything, but give yourself a time out. The universe won't fall apart if you take a few hours to remind yourself that there are still good things worth fighting and dying for."
When Severus' hands came to rest on her hips, just brushing the bare skin of her midriff, Faith could feel her body tighten in response. "I know what I fight for, and my happiness is not a goal I seek."
"Then remind me why I'm fighting," Faith asked, pressing forward. "There hasn't been anyone since Robin. I watched him die. I chose to save some kids and I chose to let him die. I saw him choke on his own blood trying to win this war, and I'm so damn alone now. Remind me why I'm fighting, Severus."
Standing so close that she had to tilt her head back, Faith swallowed, waiting for an answer. For one second, Severus just looked down at her with that blank expression that hid every thought. Slowly his hand came up and strong fingers stroked Faith's cheek. Her whole body broke out in goose bumps at the gentle caress.
"Two idiots trying to find their way in the dark?" Severus asked. Faith didn't answer. She reached up and let her palm rest against his chest as his hands ran over her shoulders and down her arms, following the shiver she could feel through her body. "Oh, Faith." Severus shook his head as though sad, but when he leaned in to kiss her, Faith could feel the passion and raw need just as strong as last night. And when strong arms pulled her close, she surrendered all her pain and guilt and allowed herself to just enjoy the moment.
Chapter Twenty
"I appreciate you taking time for this potion when you've been so busy lately," Riley said as he checked to make sure all his weapons were attached. Severus didn't answer, but Faith could have sworn he almost smiled. She sat on the desk behind him where she had a nice view every time he bent over, but right now he was standing to the side of a large black cauldron, and she was pretty sure he was watching her. She stretched, making sure her top rode up as she did.
"Student essays?" Albus asked with a smile. Severus made a disgusted sound without looking up from the ingredients he was mixing. Faith scratched her bare stomach, and the hand stirring the pot hesitated for just the briefest moment.
"I was a TA as part of a cover story once. I remember being buried under college papers, but some of those scrolls of his are just indecipherable," Riley said as he finished checking his weapons and leaned against one of the desks.
"Quite so. I do remember the years I spend grading scrolls." Dumbledore nodded with an amused expression. "And even if you were more versed in magical theory, I fear you'd find that their essays make no more sense. Students have only a passing acquaintance with logic, although Severus does enjoy pointing out their logical lapses more than most."
That got Severus talking. "If I must waste hours in the forced misery of reading their drivel, the least they deserve in return is five minutes of misery as they read their marks," he sniffed. "And this potion is entirely idiotic. Who suggests asking the higher power for divine intervention as one of the steps for brewing?"
"I think I'll handle the praying end of the spell," Riley said quickly.
Faith laughed. "I think the Big Cheese probably likes you better than the rest of us, anyway." Faith held up a hand as Riley got that concerned look on his face. "Boy, if you say one word on redemption and forgiveness, you're going to be praying through a headache that lasts until you and Sam are sending the last little Finn off to college, got it?"
"Fine." Riley clipped the word off short, but Faith just waited for the rest. "We all make mistakes. I got addicted to getting bitten by vampires, you know. Forgiveness is called forgiveness because it doesn't have to be earned."
Severus sighed as he stood up and crossed the room to a storage cabinet. "Mr. Finn," he said in a disappointed tone of voice. "Here I thought you could qualify for Ravenclaw with your ability to calmly think through situations that would have disabled others, but you must go and ruin my good opinion with this mystical claptrap."
"Now Severus," Albus interrupted. "It is true that the spell allowed us to circumvent some rather nasty problems using information discovered by Riley. I had never thought the senior Malfoy so petty."
"We would have discovered the plot when those two morons who follow Draco made some mistake or when young Weasley stepped into some trap left for Mr. Potter. Luck, both good and bad, follows that group like a cloud that's been charmed over someone's head."
"So, you aren't going to believe that God might have approved of a small intervention here?" Riley asked. Severus pulled out a large knife and started thinly slicing something that looked like hairy garlic.
"I rather think you have Miss Granger's idiocy to thank for your time as a snake and that visit to the dark lord."
Riley jumped right in there. "And a chance to read up on some magical enemies that might or might not exist in my own world. After all, we do have vampires and banshees, so if our world does have some quintaped or pogrebin, forewarned is forearmed."
"Spoken like a potential Ravenclaw," Severus said before dropping the new ingredient into the pot. Smoke started rising, and he backed away.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Faith asked.
"Must I defend my potions skills to you?" Severus asked as he crossed his arms and gave her a withering look. It might have been more effective if he weren't standing so close that his robes brushed against her knees.
"Oh babe, you don't need to defend any of your skills. You got the mad skills going in all sorts of ways," Faith said as she checked out his body, lustfully taking a long look before giving him a wink. He rolled his eyes. However, when he turned to face the others, his hip rested against her knee.
"I do believe I shall miss you, Faith," Dumbledore offered with a chuckle. "Severus is almost human with you around."
"And Faith is a lot less..." Riley paused.
"Psychotic?" Faith asked, making a wild guess about what the others might have told the soldier, especially since he had probably gotten most of his stories from years ago before she did her time in prison. These days, she was guessing the Scoobies were more likely to just call her sluttish or foul-mouthed or dangerous.
Riley looked at her. "I was going to say stressed," he pointed out. "Xander and I sometimes talk, and he said that since Wood died, you've been stressed."
"Oh." Faith scratched her stomach again, and Severus gave her an amused look.
"Shut up," she told him even though he hadn't said anything. He just looked more amused.
"So, without the spell, Faith would still be stressed and Snape would still be inhumanly mean." Riley had a perfectly calm tone, but he still somehow managed to imply that Severus' transformation into a human hadn't been nearly as successful. Severus turned to Riley and raised an eyebrow but didn't actually insult him back. Dumbledore laughed.
"As much as I enjoy being insulted by someone who is relying on my potion to send them back across a rip in reality, it appears to be time for you to leave," Severus pointed out as the smoke turned a soft yellow before fading away. "I hope you included some destination in your prayer because this spell has no way for me to fine tune where exactly I'm sending you."
Riley shook his head. "That's not the way belief works, Snape. You just pray for the right thing to happen and then understand that you probably won't even recognize the right thing when it shows up. Wherever I land, I land."
"Idiotic system. Notta Bellaificus' work truly should be burned to keep other idiots from trying this," Severus muttered angrily.
"Thanks, Snape. It's been a pleasure serving with you," Riley offered his hand and for a second Snape just looked at it. Slowly he held his own hand out and Riley shook it solemnly. "And if nothing else, I got a chance to see life from the perspective of a snake and an owl. I plan to avoid snakes for the rest of my life, but flying was one of the great joys I'll always remember, so in the end, I think this was all worth it."
Riley stepped back and offered Dumbledore his hand.
"One of the advantages of being old is knowing what people will do before they do it, but you have surprised me. Had you any inherent magical abilities I would be quite insistent about recruiting you, my boy."
"I have my own war to fight. Good luck in yours," Riley offered. "So, how do we do this?"
"Numen!" Snape announced, and Riley was simply gone.
"Numen?" Dumbledore asked, turning a confused look to Severus.
"I had pointed out that this is a ludicrous spell," Severus defended himself with a sour expression. Faith noticed that at some point his hand had landed on her leg.
"Well, I supposed it's time for me then," Faith said. Severus didn't answer, but she took some comfort in the way his fingers tightened on her knee. She'd have some bruises there.
"You are certainly very welcome to stay," Dumbledore said as he stepped forward. "Your presence is already easily explained."
"And my absence won't even make a ripple," Faith pointed out. She looked at Severus to see if he was going to rescue her from this conversation, but he was staring at the cauldron as if he could find the meaning of life in it. Faith turned to Dumbledore and had the same conversation she'd had with Severus a day earlier. "I don't belong in this world and sooner or later, I'm going to do something to out myself. I don't want to find out what Voldemort could do with slayer parts, especially considering that I'm fond of all my parts exactly where they are." She didn't mention her fear that Voldemort would expect his potions master to be the one experimenting with slayer parts.
Severus' hand on her knee jerked a little and then he carefully loosened his fingers. He was a remarkably gentle man, so she was guessing he had just figured out how hard he was holding her.
"The danger is considerable, both to you and to others if your blood is as powerful as you suggest," Dumbledore admitted softly.
"Hey, we all have our battles to fight, but this isn't where I need to fight mine, and you two have your own demons to slay."
"One demon, certainly," Dumbledore admitted after a long silence. "Is this some variation on Riley's belief?"
"Nah." Faith jumped off the table and let her hand rest for just a second on Severus' arm before she moved next to the cauldron. "People who fuck up have to try and clean up their own messes, not someone else's. It screws with your head if you don't," she shrugged.
"You're a wise woman," Dumbledore offered her.
"Yeah, just don't go telling people because that is one reputation I don't want to live up to." Faith moved forward and gave the old man a kiss on the cheek. "You should find yourself another nice old man and find some happiness of your own," she told him. His eyebrows rose.
"I'm afraid the nice old man I would choose is neither nice nor available," he said, shaking his head a bit. "You and Mr. Finn both, always managing to catch me quite unaware."
"It's part of my charm," Faith shrugged as she turned back toward Severus. She pulled a small green amulet out of her pocket. Severus glanced down at it before looking at her with a confused expression. "If you ever need help…."
"You think I would rely on Ms. Rosenberg's unstable and untested attempt to cross the realities?" Severus sniffed.
"No, but I think it works pretty good if you want to contact her, and she'll always know how to reach me. And if you ever finish with your battles here…." Faith stopped and shook her head in disgust at herself. "Yeah, I know it's no good living in a future that might not ever happen, but you hang on to this anyway," she said as she reached out and slipped the amulet into Severus' pocket, catching a quick grope before pulling her hand back out.
"Faith," Severus said, reaching out for the hand that had just groped him. He didn't say anything else, and Faith could slowly see his mask slip back in place as he let go of her hand.
"Hey, five by five. I figure I'll probably end up back in Willow's kitchen. I can torture her with stories of broom riding, hooked-nosed ugly old witches for the next five years. And I got to kick Bellatrix. You just make sure she ends up dead for me because that is one crazy bitch."
"Believe me, she shall be one I will personally delight in seeing dead," Severus agreed. "Be safe."
Faith opened her mouth, but before she could say any more, he gave a curt "Numen!"
"See ya around," she found herself saying to Willow's white kitchen cabinets.
"See who around?" a voice asked from around the corner. Willow stuck her head into the kitchen. "Faith! Faith, you're back! Why didn't you tell me you were coming back tonight?!"
"I'm coming back tonight," Faith said sarcastically with a shrug. Willow gave her a frown for a half second before smiling and yelling to the rest of the house. "Faith's back! Buffy! Faith's here." Two weeks of quiet and Faith had gotten used to it. Willow caught her by the arm and started dragging her into the living room. "Faith's back!"
Faith could hear the pounding of footsteps on stairs. Vacation was over and it was time to get back to reality. Glancing over at Willow and the matching green amulet lying against her skin, Faith could only hope. Severus knew where she was, and maybe one day he'd touch that amulet and call. Maybe he'd finally do enough to feel like he'd made up for his past or have his cover so blown that he couldn't do any good there or maybe he'd just kill his snake. Maybe the day would come that he would touch that amulet and either tell her she could safely go back or ask for safe harbor in her world. Maybe.
And then Buffy and Kennedy were there, and Andrew making inappropriate science fiction comments until Kennedy slapped him upside the back of the head, and Faith focused on putting all that hope into a safe corner of her mind as she got back to the business of living her own life.