Slayers Journeys II: And a Fire Burned the Night
by Vincent
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss, ME, Fox and UPN. Just borrowing.
Spoilers: The events occur in the beginning to Season 7. Willow has just come back from England.
Note: This the second story of The Slayers Journeys Saga that will have 5 different parts. Hope you'll like it.
Feedback: Yes, please.

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PART 1

In the yard of the Los Angeles County Jail, guards and prisoners were completely stunned by the sight they had in front of them. Their minds were telling them that it wasn’t possible but their eyes were seeing it, seeing her and what she was doing.

Faith didn’t care about all these people staring at her, her attention was entirely focused on the barbell she had in her hands. Doing weight lifting had always calmed her since she had come in this place. Of course, she hadn’t exaggerated with the weights, she hadn’t wanted to catch suspicious glances in lifting way too much charges. Today, it was different though. Today, she didn’t want to spare her energy or avoid a show. Today, she needed to exhaust herself physically, needed to feel her sweat on her body, needed to empty her mind. She needed to forget the events of the previous night, events that had been driving her crazy since she had awakened.

Forget her fears that it had just been a dream, even if it had felt so real.

Forget the sadness that had overwhelmed her when she had found herself back in her cell.

Forget the icy stake that seemed stuck in her heart since that moment.

Forget Buffy!

She put the barbell on the mini pillar thingies right behind her but didn’t let it go. Instead, she said to the girl on her right to put some more weights. The girl’s eyes grew even wider before she finally replied:

“Faith! You’re lifting 200 pounds already!”

“Don’t give a fuck, Magda! Put some more weights on this damn bar!”

Faith’s tone discouraged Magda to argue further. The thief who had been Faith’s cellmate for 10 months now knew when the brunette wasn’t in a mood to be messed with. Faith had a reputation of a dangerous loner and no one dared to play with her. So, following Faith’s request, she put 30 more pounds on the barbell.

“Done!”

Faith nodded to Magda and lifted the bar, a move that was accompanied by the cheers and surprised gasps of the constantly amazed spectators. But Faith didn’t hear them. She was once more lost in her thoughts, trying, once more, to clean her head. To forget for a while.

Forget about Buffy!

Forget the pain she would feel if their new friendship had just been a dream.

Forget the peaceful and happy feelings she had had when they had laughed together there.

In Babylon!

And she prayed, begged for it not to have been a dream.

*****

“…and I swear Miss Summers, I wasn’t the one who began the fight…”

Buffy sighed, feigning to listen to the conversation. The two girls, sitting in front of her desk, had had a fight in the cafeteria. The fight had begun in front of the counter where students took their meal and it had ended with the two girls food wrestling on the floor. Usually, when such things happened, the troublemakers were brought in front of Principal Wood who was supposed to come soon. In the meantime, it was Buffy’s charge to take care of them. Something she really wasn’t in the mood to do.

In fact, she hadn’t been in the mood at all since she had woken up. The dream she had had the previous night was haunting her. Her mind was constantly arguing with her heart. The logical part of her brain was telling her that all the Babylonian events had just been the product of her imagination while her heart wanted to believe everything that had happened and particularly her new friendship with Faith. Then her heart would tell her that all the things she had felt seemed too real for it just being a dream…her mind would reply that she wanted this friendship possibility too much to be objective…etc…etc. Kinda a Shakespearian dilemma, real or not real, that was the question.

Suddenly, the door leading to the hall opened and Principal Wood entered the place. Relieved to see that her superior was finally there, Buffy didn’t say a word when he told the girls to enter his office. She was expecting him to follow them in there but, instead, he approached her desk.

“Thanks for keeping those two busy, Buffy!”

“You’re welcome!”

“How are they?”

“Ready to kill each other! Some guy stuff. You should go there before they decided to do a rematch.”

“You’re right! Oh, by the way, Lucy is waiting for you to call her.”

“Lucy?”

“Yes, the new girl! The one I asked you to read the file yesterday!”

“Oh, yeah! The one who barbwired the chem. lab!”

He pointed his finger on her and said before entering his office: “I’m counting on you, Buffy!”

Buffy let the door of the office being shut before sighing heavily. Another girl to listen to. Some eco freak who protested against experiences in the lab. Whoopee! She looked at her wrist for the time, four hours of work left. Four long hours that wouldn’t solve her dilemma. Dream or not dream that was becoming her obsession.

*****

It was the last appointment Faith had with her lawyer before the release. Once again, they were checking the procedure she would have to follow once outside the jail walls. It wasn’t much; she just had to stay away from the cops and to babble with a shrink, once a week during the following year. Nothing too hard to stick with even if the shrink thing was bothering her. How could a man tell you what to do to clean a head that wasn’t his? A diploma didn’t give you this power, only magic did. She couldn’t understand why so many people willingly paid to visit shrinks. Besides, she would have to pay attention at what she would tell him/her if she didn’t want to exchange her cell’s grey and depressing walls for stuffed ones. That thought made her grin then think at the dream again. She hadn’t thought about it for 5 minutes, had to be the record of the day.

Once again, her mind drifted out of jail, towards Sunnydale and a bunch of people, the Scooby gang, then to their leader, Buffy. The first thing she had thought about when she had come into the room with her lawyer was to ask his mobile phone, to call Buffy. Then she remembered that she was probably at work…which was something she had learned in her dream, so, it could just been the fruit of her imagination. Moreover, calling Buffy would probably confirm if the previous night had been a dream or not and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the truth, a truth that might hurt her badly. Putting her hand in her hair, she tried once again to listen to what her lawyer was telling her.

*****

The night had come now in Sunnydale but Buffy didn’t care. The end of the afternoon had been quite rough with a new demon that had appeared in the basement of the High School; just before the moment she usually left the place. Probably the kind of demon that had missed the memo saying that its specie usually showed up in the dark of the night. Still, she had had to locate then deal with it and it hadn’t been done in a heartbeat. When she had finally beheaded the glowing sliming thingy, the sun had long vanished. After having done a quick patrol, she had come back home, eaten a burger then, locked herself in the room when they had gathered the occult library they had brought back from the Magic Box.

She knew that the Scoobies and particularly Willow and Dawn were puzzled by what she had done. After all, she wasn’t really research girl, at least when she was in Sunnydale and not in Babylon. But she didn’t want to explain it to them yet, didn’t want to hear them telling her that it had probably been a dream, didn’t want them to tell her all the things her own brain had told her the whole day. They couldn’t understand! She had to know the truth, needed to, even if it wasn’t the one she expected. And if it was the case, she didn’t want the others to see her breakdown. Because she knew that such a news would broke her, this past day had proved her how much she wanted Faith and her to be friends again, how much she had missed the dark slayer.

At the end of her day, just before the demon had decided to make a cameo appearance, she had thought about the way to prove it. It could seem crazy but somehow, she knew that IT would bring her an answer. But it would need time too. There were lots of books, lots of mess too. None of them had had the courage to sort them out yet.

She looked at the clock. It was 11.58. There would be no more patrol tonight. This was most important. Selfish, maybe, but, once again, she didn’t care. She had to know.

She closed a book and directly grabbed another one. She turned the pages and stopped in its middle. A smile appeared on her lips, the cold pressure of uncertainty vanished from her heart, replaced by a warm and delicious feeling. The text she had in front of her talked about an old battle between a man and a giant but she didn’t care about that. No, what truly mattered was that she was able to read it, read this story, read old Babylonian and it could only mean that her dream hadn’t been a dream but something completely different. She agreed that it was something strange, disturbing but also something good, because it had brought a friend back, it had brought her Faith back.

She suddenly felt her eyes becoming heavy and, without trying to fight this sudden slumber, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, unconsciously knowing that she would join her friend in whatever place their second journey would lead them.

*****

A few seconds after Buffy had fallen asleep, Willow and Dawn opened the door of the room Buffy had been into for hours. They were worried. Acting like this, researching alone without accepting the help of the scoobies wasn’t very Buffy like. But they had seen the look in the Slayer’s eyes, her “I know it sounds strange but I have to do it so stay away from me” look. So, they had just nodded and let her do whatever research she had to do. But they hadn’t seen Buffy for hours now and they were more and more worried.

“What is she doing?” Dawn asked. She couldn’t see inside the place as Willow was blocking her view.

“She’s asleep!”

“Should we wake her up?”

“No! She seems to need it. Go downstairs and take a blanket to cover her. We’ll discuss her creepy behaviour in the morning.”

Dawn just nodded and, while Willow closed the door, she descended the stairs.

*****

Birds singing, dogs barking, people talking. Even before opening her eyes, Faith knew that she wasn’t going to wake up in her cell. But, contrary to the previous night, she wasn’t lost, nor scared but happy. So, it hadn’t been a dream after all…so, everything had happened…so, Buffy and her were friends again. Then, she felt someone sleeping at her side. Still feeling no fear, no worry, she slowly turned her head and opened her eyes to see the person she shared the bed with. Buffy! She smiled at the sight.

The blond slayer was still sleeping and she looked so peaceful. She looked at her a few minutes before putting some blond hair behind Buffy’s right ear. The petite slayer stirred and Faith knew she was waking up.

The brunette saw her friend’s emerald eyes slowly open and couldn’t do anything else than stare at her, a smile glued on her face.

The first thing Buffy saw when she woke up was Faith’s face in front of her, Faith’s smile and she could do anything else than imitating her. Then, she literally threw herself in the dark hair girl’s arms in saying happily:

“I knew it!”

That was a move Faith wasn’t expecting and, while receiving the older girl in her arms, she couldn’t keep her balance and fell backwards, bringing Buffy in her fall, out of the bed. Faith fell on her head while Buffy landed on her.

“Ouch!”

Concern replaced joy in Buffy’s mind.

“Faith! Oh my God, Faith! I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you?”

“I’m five by five, B! Fucking dizzy but it happens when you hit your head.”

“Sorry, it’s just that…”

Faith who had still Buffy in her arms put her hand on the blonde’s cheek and said:

“I’m happy to see you too, B! I hoped all day long that Babylon wasn’t a dream!”

Hugging the brunette again, Buffy replied.

“I know! Me too!”

They stayed in the embrace for a long minute before Buffy decided to stand up before helping Faith to do the same. She then saw Faith’s smile grow.

“What’s so funny?”

“Your nightdress! Seems cut in a sheet!”

Buffy looked at herself for the first time since her awakening. Her mind had been too focused on seeing Faith again to scan the place or her clothes before. Faith was right, she was wearing a kind of nightdress that was both too large and visibly not fashion victimised. She raised her head and noticed that Faith’ nightdress was similar to hers.

“Well, looks like we shared the sheets then!”

Understanding what Buffy implied, Faith looked at her clothes and her face couldn’t hide her disgust. Without thinking, she quickly pulled the thing over her head and was now entirely naked in front of her fellow slayer. Then, the brunette threw the clothes as far away from her as possible and, in the gesture noticed Buffy who was staring at her, her cheeks completely red. Finally realising what was happening, Buffy turned to give Faith some privacy, missing Faith’s own blush coming on her cheeks.

“Em… sorry, B!”

“N…no, it’s nothing Faith! There must be clothes somewhere...”

They each scanned a part of the room, analysing it for the first time. It was a small room with a window wherein the bed seemed to take the majority of the space. There was a table with a vase, a mirror, a brush, a towel and a basin on it and chairs, one on each side of the bed where clothes were laying. Guessing that the clothes that were next to her side of the bed were probably hers, Faith quickly grabbed it and put them on. It was a hideous used to be red dress with white parts.

“Em… you can turn around, B!”

“Good!” pointing at her clothes, she said: “These are probably mine!”

Understanding that Buffy wanted to change her clothes too, Faith moved to the table, looked in the vase, it was empty. She was about to say that it was probably there for them to wash themselves and that they should probably get some water when her eyes stopped on the mirror that was showing her the light slayer in all her glory. Swallowing hard, Faith couldn’t look away until Buffy was ready. What was happening to her, it wasn’t the first time she had seen Buffy or another girl naked, why was she so embarrassed by it?

Buffy had had the same thoughts when she was putting her clothes on. Why had she been so flushed when she had seen Faith naked?

Their thoughts were interrupted by Faith’s stomach that began to growl. Both slayers laughed at the sound, cutting the awkward moment, bringing back happiness and making them forget her thoughts.

“Looks like your tummy is starving!”

“Let’s get out of this room. Time to eat and to discover where the hell we are this time.”

“Looking at our clothes, there is definitely a medievaly feeling about the period!”

Faith nodded then went to the window to look outside. She felt Buffy joining her and they both analysed the scene that was in front of them. There were definitely during the medieval ages. The street was full of people wearing medieval clothes, conducting medieval carts or riding medieval horses. They could also see strong fortifications that were probably surrounding the city.

“So, medievaly it is!”

“Yes!”

“I think it’s time for us to have a closer look at this!”

“Lead the way, B! But before,…”

Buffy smiled and finished Faith’s sentence: “…we’ll feed the abyssal stomach that is yours, F.”

They shared a last smile before exiting the room.

*****

The exit led to stairs that they descended quickly. Then, they arrived in a small kitchen where bread was waiting for them to be cut. Knives, bowls, milk and water were also on the table. Faith grabbed the bread and cut two huge part of it before handing one of them to Buffy. The blonde took her part, thanked Faith before filling the bowls with the bottle of milk. Faith was already biting on her bread, completely filling her mouth with it.

“I’ve never understood how you could put that much food in your mouth without chocking!”

Faith just smiled then, provocatively, she put some more food on her mouth. Buffy bit her bread, made a face and said:

“Geez! That’s worse than eating a rock. And there is nothing to put on this bread!”

“Guess we ain’t that rich. Medieval times were difficult ones, B. People were dying from starvation every fucking day.”

“I know that!” then she smiled and added: “I don’t think I would be the one this situation would bother the most.”

“Bite me!”

“Oh, if I have nothing else to eat, I would. I wonder what a Faith’s steak tastes like.”

Faith licked her lips before answering: “And what part of my wicked body would be the sweetest, B?”

Buffy’s eyes widened but she didn’t reply. Once again, Faith had had the last word in this banter contest and she knew it, Buffy could see the contentment in her brown eyes but Faith didn’t push further and asked:

“OK! So, what’s the plan now, B?”

“Going out! Finding where we are, when we are! Finding our watcher…”

At that moment, the exact same thought hit the two slayers. Were they Slayers in this world? Spotting the knife that was on the table, Faith quickly took it and targeting a spot on the wall, threw it…and missed. Missed a shot that she couldn’t have missed if she was the Slayer. So, she looked at Buffy who just nodded, stood up, took the knife before regaining her seat and throwing the knife to the same spot. The knife landed right on its middle.

The slayers looked at each other but no words were said it wasn’t necessary. Now, they knew who was the Slayer and who wasn’t.

*****

They were finishing their breakfast when they heard a door being slammed somewhere in the house. They looked at each other then, heard footsteps coming to their way. Without exchanging a word, they made their move. Buffy quickly stood up to take the knife that was still in the wall while Faith remained at her place, ready for anything. Then Buffy came back to her chair, her weapon ready to be thrown. They waited a few seconds, controlling their nerves as the steps were coming closer and closer. The footsteps finally stopped in front of the kitchen’s door, then, it opened and a young boy entered. Seeing that it was a boy and that he apparently behaved as his presence was normal, the slayers relaxed and listened to him.

“About time you wake up! I’ve just spent an hour cleaning the shop.”

Putting the bucket he was carrying down, he made his way towards Faith who was the closest, then, kissed her on the cheek before doing the same with Buffy. Noticing the strange looks they were giving him, he said:

“OK, what’s happening? Have I done something wrong?”

Buffy was the first to react and answered:

“N...no! There is nothing...”

“Oh please! Don’t tell me it’s slayer related again! Jesus Christ, Madeleine, I’m 13 years old, now! I’m old enough to hear anything my sister could say about vampires or demons! Don’t you think, Beatrice?”

The boy looked at Faith, her eyes asking for some support here.

“Em...look...you know, it’s kinda a dangerous job and...”

“I’m not talking about going on patrol with you even if sometimes, I would feel safer at night with my sisters next to me. I’m just saying that I could hear you speak about it without you trying to spare me the horrible details of the night.”

“Well, I think he has a point, B.”

Noticing that she had just called Buffy, B, Faith looked at the boy who was staring at her has a second head had grown on her shoulder.

“Don’t tell me a wizard switched your minds again like last time! Once was creepy enough!”

“What makes you think that...”

The boy cut Buffy and answered: “Well, she just called you, B! You’re supposed to be the one to call her B, not the other way around!”

The two slayers looked at each other before Faith replied: “Well, I d...dreamed about it, last night, hell, I even fell from the bed so, I guess I’m still adjusting...”

“Oh, now I know what this noise was about! I knew it! When I heard it, I thought, Fernand, one of your sisters must have hit the floor. I wasn’t worried though! There isn’t much damage left to do in there” And saying it, he pointed his finger on the head.

The slayers glared at him, a gesture that made him smile. Then, he grabbed a bowl; fill it in with milk before drinking it entirely.

“Well, time to open the shop! We’ll need water for the flowers today, lots! Could you please go to the fountain and bring it back?”

The Slayers nodded by reflex but Fernand didn’t move. Finally, after having received irritated glares from the boy, they understood that he was waiting for them to move so, they stood up and followed him in the hall then through a door that obviously led to the front of the house they were living in.

This room was obviously the shop their “brother” had talked about. In fact, before seeing what the shop looked like, the first thing they had noticed was the smell, the smell of the various kinds of flowers that were present in the shop. Flowers from all colours that were presented marvellously well in the shop, their shop. Now, they understood why lots of water were needed. A cough finally drove them back to Earth. Fernand was, once again, glaring at them and, spotting the buckets next to the front door, they smiled to the boy then, took the receptacles before exiting the shop.

*****

Somewhere in the city, soldiers roughly led people wearing white dresses out of prison. They had their hands attached in the back and had a hard time keeping their balance because of their guardians who were constantly pushing them forwards, towards a street on the left.

A monk accompanied them. He visibly enjoyed seeing these men brutalised by the soldiers. The grin on his face just confirmed it. Then, he spotted something and ordered the soldiers to stop. Worried, the captain joined the priest and asked:

“Is it something bothering you, father?”

“Yes, the notice, where is the notice? Don’t tell me you forgot it, captain!”

The captain swallowed before replying: “No...we have them...I was just waiting...”

“Waiting about what, captain? These men are heretics. The Church has condemned them. Everyone has to see who they are, what they are. So, put the notices around their necks now!”

“Aye, aye, Sir!”

The captain saluted the monk before ordering his men to oblige his request. Once each prisoner was wearing the notice, the captain looked a last time to the satisfied face of the monk before moving his prisoners again.

*****

In a dark alley, not far from the prison where the heretics had been locked, an individual wearing rags whose face was hidden by a bronze mask was talking to a bunch of demons that were covering their own features with tissue. The mask changed his/her voice and no demon knew if this person known only as “The Ghost” was male, female or something else.

“OK, they’ve just left the prison! The crowd must be gathering at the place right now, waiting for their dose of blood and pain. It’s now or never! Did everyone know what its task is?”

The question was answered by nods and groans.

“OK, let’s go, then! Remember, timing is everything! I’ll wait for you at our place.”

PART 2

“So! We’re sisters and you’re the one that is called B!”

Faith smirked a little at the thoughts before answering Buffy.

“Stranger things have happened, B…I mean M.”

“Very funny!”

They were walking the streets of whatever city they had landed in, looking for a fountain where they could fill in their buckets. Buffy had been the first to discover that they were in France. She had recognized the language she, as it had been the case in Babylon, was now able to speak fluently which was a big improvement in comparison with her previous level in French. She wondered what her French teacher would think of her if she went to show him how well the “Dream therapy for foreign languages” had worked on her. Still, she couldn’t talk to him right now and, besides, the guy had been killed during Graduation Day.

“Penny for your thoughts, even if they don’t use the money here!”

“Huh…oh sorry! Zoned out a minute.”

Faith smiled. “I noticed. So, what are we gonna do now?”

“Well, first we have to find water! Then, I suggest we’ll try to find Madeleine’s watcher.”

“Good idea! I think we should tell him the truth, would skip the crap and avoid us wasting too much time.”

“That’s what I was thinking about too. I hope he’ll believe us!”

“Well, Sidouf did believe what we told him. A fucking watcher is a fucking watcher, B. They don’t seem to have changed much with time.”

“At least, as a watcher, he won’t freak out and burned us as witches. It was like a national sport at that…this time.”

“Yep. I like a little tan on my skin but that would be a little too much!”

They shared another smile before Buffy spotted a fountain on their left. Indicating it to Faith with a sign of her head, the two women walked to it and began to sink the buckets in the fresh water. At that moment, they noticed a group of people running to a street to their right. Some of them were excited, other seemed quite sad. Something was going on there and they had absolutely no idea what it could be. They looked as the crowd was becoming bigger and bigger, completely oblivious of their surroundings.

Suddenly, Faith felt two hands around her waist, hands that soon were lifting her in the air. She wasn’t the Slayer in this world but it didn’t mean that she wasn’t defenceless or that she had forgotten about her training. Knowing that her attacker’s head was probably very close to the back of hers now, she threw her head back, a move that made it connect with her opponent’s jaw. Faith heard a moan of pain behind her and felt the hands loose her grip. Spotting Buffy who was coming to her help, she quickly moved out of the guy’s way (she just knew it was a guy).

When Buffy had heard the tiny scream that had escaped Faith’s lips then, had noticed what was going on, she hadn’t even thought about anything and had reacted on instinct. Someone was attacking Faith and that simple fact made her furious. She moved to help her friend, smiling when she saw Faith hit the man. Then, when Faith had been out of the man’s arms, Buffy didn’t hesitated and punched him, barely succeeding in controlling her Slayer’s strength. The man hit the ground loudly.

He was wearing soldier’s clothes, had brown hair and a coat. Other soldiers were with him and they quickly surrounded him. But Buffy didn’t care. If the man or one of his peers tried to touch Faith again…

“Ouch! What was that about, girls?” The man hissed while standing up, supported by one of his friends. Unimpressed, Buffy replied in a harsh tone.

“No one touches my sister!”

“Jesus Christ, Madeleine. I just wanted to tease her. That’s what a man likes to do with her fiancée.”

The two slayers stared at each other. Fiancée? Oups!

“And what about the staring contest now. Hello, Marcus, here! He wants an answer!”

“Em…sorry Marcus! Didn’t know it was you, I reacted instinctively…B…Madeleine too.” Faith looked at Buffy while saying it, silently asking Buffy to go on her way.

“Yes, sorry! I…we…we didn’t notice you. You know, with all this agitation.”

Still rubbing his chin, the man nodded. He nodded to his colleagues who moved away, glad that the situation was back to normal. He smiled to Buffy and replied:

“No worry. My mistake too! Just remind me to lift buckets full of water more often. Jesus, Madeleine, that’s a heck of a punch you have.”

Thinking that it was the right time to change the topic of the conversation, and curious about all this crowd, Faith asked:

“So, Marcus, do you…” Realising that maybe the real Beatrice could know what was happening, Faith decided to change her question. “Are you going that way too?”

“Well, it might be our last moments of fun so, yes. I don’t want to miss the show!”

“Last? What do you mean?”

“Oh, I have bad news, honey.” Marcus said while approaching Faith, ready to wrap his hand around her shoulders but a look at Buffy and mostly, a look at Buffy cold stare when she realised what he wanted to do, cut his move. “Em…the English army is close now. They will reach Carcassone in a few days. I’ll fight them in a few days.” He had added the last part, hoping some comforting gesture from her fiancée but nothing came. Sighing, he began to move away in saying: “But they’re not here yet so, let’s go see the show and don’t worry about the buckets, my friends will carry them for you.”

Marcus and the soldiers began to move away soon followed by the Slayers who thought that it could be a good way to learn a couple more things about this place.

“At least she has taste!”

Buffy who had been lost in her thoughts for a minute looked at Faith, puzzled. “Huh?”

“Béatrice! The guy is a stud! Ouch, what’s that for?”

Faith stared at Buffy. It was her turn to be puzzled. The blonde had just punched her on the shoulder and she had no idea why. And it seemed that Buffy had been as surprised by it than her as she was just staring, blankly, at her.

“I…I…em...sorry!”

Then, Buffy increased her pace to join the soldiers, letting an even more puzzled Faith behind her. The brunette then increased her pace too, still wondering why Buffy had punched her. Was it something she had said? It was strange; Buffy had reacted as if…no…Buffy, jealous? Impossible…Faith blushed a little…Buffy jealous on Marcus…surprisingly; she noticed that she liked that thought…really liked it.

*****

The maid was crying, surrounded by bodies, blood and broken furniture. They hadn’t heard them coming, hadn’t seen them before it had been too late. They had killed everybody, she was the only survivor. Oh, she hadn’t done anything to earn that chance. They just needed someone to bring their message to the others. Her! She had failed her job, failed to protect them but what could she have done to prevent it? She was just a maid, she had no ability in fights and the attackers had been so strong, as if they had been guided by demons, hidden behind their tissues.

The maid rubbed her eyes, stopped the tears from falling then, stood up. She had a mission to do, had a message to deliver and she hadn’t the time to whine. As usual, time was an issue.

*****

The Slayers had reached Carcassone’s main square. There were lots of people gathered for this mysterious show Marcus was continually talking about. They could also see the nobles sitting on the balcony of the City Hall, waiting for it to begin. Buffy and Faith could see that they were looking at something that seemed to be standing in the middle of the square but that the Slayers couldn’t see because of the crowd.

“Have you any idea about what the fuck is going on here, B?”

“No! But I…”

Suddenly, screams, yells, shouts, curses, all coming from the crown interrupted what Buffy was saying. Turning their attention towards the direction where the shouts had begun, in the Eastern part of the square, the Slayers easily spotted a group of people coming. Soldiers were pushing men with white dresses and they wouldn’t win the “sweetest pusher award” for their job. A notice was hanging on the chest of the white dress men, a notice with the word heretic written on. They followed the strange procession with their eyes till the moment when it stopped, in front of what had been hidden to the Slayers by the crowd until then, stakes. There was no doubt about it, these men were condemned to be burnt at the stakes. The soldiers were already attaching the condemned.

“B! We…we can’t let them do that! We have to do something!”

“I know! I just don’t see what! The crowd is so excited that we would be beaten to death before reaching the stakes if we intervene.”

“But we…”

“I KNOW!” Buffy’s reply was harsh, too harsh and Buffy directly put her hand on Faith’s arm mouthing a sorry to the brunette. She understood Faith’s feeling, understood her desire to stop this insanity, she was revolted herself by the savagery of this time. They had to do something but what could they do? They hadn’t the time to plan something and she could see that Faith was nervous and furious and she knew that if she didn’t find a solution quickly, Faith would try to save them, no matter the costs…and she would follow her. Buffy had discovered in Babylon that Faith had completely accepted her mission as a Slayer now…saving lives, protecting people.

“You don’t seem happy? Don’t tell me that what happened to Lazlo still bothers you!” It was Marcus, they had forgotten about his presence.

“This is wrong!” The reply came at the same time out of Buffy and Faith’s lips.

“Hush! The Inquisition has ears everywhere! I don’t want to see you in the stakes like these Cathars, for Christ sake. This Lazlo guy might have been your friend but he was a heretic, a demon worshiper and deserved his fate. You should have seen all the occult books we found in his house. Books about demons and a so-called Council he was proud to work for. The bastard deserved it, like these men.”

Both Slayers had a hard time to swallow. They didn’t have to exchange words or to look into each other’s eyes. It looked like they could give up their search for Madeleine’s watcher…ashes rarely answered questions. Turning their attentions back to the stakes and the current situation, they heard a monk who had come with the soldiers ask the prisoners if they wanted to give up their heresies and return to the path of God. When no one replied to his proposition, he just nodded to the soldiers that had lighted torches in the meantime.

The Slayers didn’t have the time to think anymore. It was the time to act, to save these men or rather die trying. They were ready to jump on the crowd when, suddenly, a voice, coming from City Hall resounded.

“Stop the execution!”

All eyes looked to the person who had just spoken, he was obviously an important man with refined clothes and all. He was tall, had brown hair and a very long beard that hid his throat. By listening to what the crowd was telling them, the man was none other than Lord de Barbazan, Seneschal of the king, in charge of Carcassone’s defence.

“My fellow citizen! A treachery, an act committed by cowards, forces us to postpone the execution. An hour ago, while we were all beginning to gather to attend the execution, some Cathars attacked the house of the notables of this city. These bastards killed everyone who was in their way and kidnapped the children present in the houses. They threaten to execute them if we burn the heretics. We have to discuss the situation. In the meantime, the prisoners will be locked again. As…as the father of one of the prisoners, I’m asking you to keep your eyes open…if you see anything suspicious, don’t hesitate to tell the soldiers…these monsters have to be stopped.”

The Seneschal walked back into the City House, emotion was clearly noticeable in his voice and everyone could understand why. The Slayers, who were ready to try to help the so-called heretics, were wondering if such people deserved their help after all…and they weren’t the only one to share this feeling of disgust. They heard Marcus smirk before saying: “And you were sorry for these guys! Pathetic…”

He then joined the other soldiers and exited the square with them.

“OK, where are the producers of this shit. I don’t like the script at all here.”

Buffy just nodded. She felt sick, didn’t know what to do. She had thought that after the Babylon experience, she and Faith would be able to deal easily with whatever was going on…she had been so wrong! Babylon was a piece of cake in comparison with this place where chaos and hell seemed to have chosen to live in.

They stayed in the square for a few minutes before moving. Neither one of them wanted to talk now. While moving towards the shop, they spotted their buckets, laying on the ground, empty. The soldiers must have dropped them there and a stop at the fountain was again a necessity. Sighing, they grabbed the containers and moved away from this square of hell.

*****

“This is unacceptable, Seneschal! I should have walked on the heretics ashes hours ago!”

The Seneschal de Barbazan looked at the monk who had just spoken and didn’t try to hide the deep disgust he had for the man. Brother Symphorien, representative of the most extremist organ of the Holy Church, the Inquisition, had been a pain in his ass since the guy had come here, to pacify the region and definitely eliminate the Cathar heresy. According to him, nothing else mattered and the ends justified the means…even if it involved sacrificing innocent lives.

“I won’t let your theological vendetta threaten the lives of a dozen of children, Brother Symphorien.”

“Oh, come on, Seneschal! A soldier, a man’s leader like you knows that in every war, innocents die. There is nothing we can do about it and the Lord welcome them in his Eden as a reward for their sacrifices.”

“Keep your lectures for your sheep, Brother! I know at least half of these kids and don’t want to let them die, especially when I can help them. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll be delighted to burn these kidnapers personally. But I can’t! We have to play their game, at least for now.”

“And when they’ll ask you to release their friends in exchange for the children’s lives, what will you do?”

“I will probably agree! And yes, I’m partial! I know it! My son is among them, Brother! I’m way sure you don’t know what it means but you are not in a position to argue. I’m the one the king trusts; I’m the one in charge, here! This conversation is over!”

The monk nodded then replied: “At least…at least let me take advantage of the delay to interrogate the heretics. Who knows? I could learn something that might help us find the children.”

The Seneschal studied the priest’s features a long moment before agreeing. Brother Symphorien saluted him before exiting the room, a smile of contentment disfiguring his face.

*****

The night had fallen and the Slayers were still in a dark mood. The atmosphere in Carcassone was now very strange. Paranoia was present everywhere. Even when a client had come to buy flowers, they could see his/her eyes scan the place in search of any potential clue that could lead them to the missing children. They had also heard many stories about the so-called deeds of some people, stories that were mainly craps but in these times, who knew what kind of damages calumny could cause?

The Slayers had spent the whole day working at the shop. Who could have guessed that such a job needed so much energy? Welcoming the clients, cleaning the shop, looking after the flowers, be sure that they had enough water, or that they received enough sunlight, etc… Plenty of works for the Baulieu family. Baulieu, yes, they had discovered that it was their family name: Madeleine, Béatrice and Fernand Baulieu.

They had just finished dinner, nothing big, just eggs and salad. As Faith had said the same morning, they had something to eat; it wasn’t everybody’s case in Carcassone. The brunette was the last one to finish her plate. She didn’t feel well. Her stomach seemed to be twisted in every direction and she had this cold feeling on the back of her neck as if a freezing wind was constantly going through her. Something was coming, something bad would happen tonight. She didn’t know how she knew that but her body was telling it to her. She then saw Buffy take a stake and walk towards the door and remembered the blonde talking about doing a quick patrol after dinner. The dark slayer stood up too and followed her friend towards the door, a move that caught Buffy’s attention.

"It’s a solo mission, Faith! You’re not the Slayer, remember?"

“As if it stopped you in Babylon!” She then noticed the glances that Buffy was throwing around them and added: “Fernand is not here, B. Had to pee!”

Coming back to the talk, Buffy said: “I came with you and like 100 soldiers, Faith! Pretty cool to watch my back but, answer me, did I ever come with you for the regular patrols in Babylon?”

Faith bit her lower lip. Shit, not counter-argument here…

“Faith?”

Faith lowered her head and answered: “No, you didn’t!”

Buffy put her hand under Faith’s chin and pushed gently to force Faith to look at her. Once their eyes met, she put her hand on the brunette’s cheek and said: “I’ll be careful, I promise! Just stay here and take care of our “brother”. OK?”

Faith gave her a weak smile then replied: “You promised to be careful?”

The softness and shyness of Faith’s request touched Buffy. She knew that Faith cared about her as much as she cared about her friend; it felt just good to have a confirmation of these feelings. “Yes, I promise! I’m not a newbie whose ears are dripping, I’ve patrolled before you know?”

Faith smirked before answering: “I…I know! It’s just that…I…I have this odd feeling!”

“Feeling?”

“Yeah, call it an intuition…I…I just knew that something will happen tonight…I know it seems freaky but…”

“No, it’s not! Intuitions are very helpful in our field of work! I’ll be extra careful, once again, I promise.”

“Thanks!”

“See you in a few!” Buffy winked at Faith before exiting the room, then the house.

*****

Faith was sitting on a chair; she hadn’t left the kitchen yet. She was lost in her thoughts that mainly rotated around her worry for Buffy or the reason why they had been brought to this place and barely noticed Fernand coming back in, a book in his hand. Slowly, she left the dark and puzzled world that was in her head to focus on the boy, on her brother in this alternate medievaly universe. The Slayers had both noticed that Fernand was much more mature than the usual 13 years old boys, people tended to grow quicker when confronted to hard times.

Studying his features, she noticed that she had, indeed, some resemblance with Buffy. His emerald eyes matched the blonde’s and his nose was definitely the twin of Buffy’s cute little one. On the other hand, his hair was definitely Faith’s like…realising what she was talking about or rather thinking about, she chastised herself. She and Buffy weren’t sisters and Fernand wasn’t her real brother so, if the boy had features identical to Buffy’s or Faith’s, it was pure coincidence!

Her eyes finally fell on the book Fernand was reading. The boy had to be intelligent. Medievaly boys usually had a high analphabetic tendency that Fernand didn’t seem to share. Then, suddenly, she saw the title of the book her brother was reading: Lazlo Caras Diary! God, it wasn’t a book, it was rather a manuscript, Madeleine’s watcher’s diary.

“Where did you…”

Fernand stopped his reading and looked at his sister, puzzled.

“What? You’ve never seen me read?”

“Erm…” knowing that she had to play with subtlety here, she then said: “I don’t think Madeleine would be pleased to see you read these stuffs.”

“Well, don’t care. Lazlo taught me how to read with his books. There is nothing in them that could bother me anymore.”

OK, the boy had definitely some Slayer stubbornness in him too. It was time to change tactics.

“As you wish! Could you just leave it on the table when you’ll go sleeping? There are some things I want to check.”

“Sure!”

Faith smiled to the boy, quite proud of the way she had handled it. She could do subtlety when she wanted to. She then heard a loud knock coming from the front door. Waving her hand to Fernand to tell him to stay in the kitchen, Faith walked towards the door. The odd feeling she had had earlier was coming back. Spotting a mini shovel, she quickly grabbed it and continued her way towards the front door. For the moment she had left the kitchen and the one she reached the door, the knocking had never stopped.

*****

Buffy was still patrolling. She hadn’t crossed the path of any vampire and she thought that she knew why. The British army was coming and vampires or demons didn’t like to be in the front line. They rather waited for the end of the hostilities to take advantage of the mess or have a quick necrophilic snack. She looked around her; she had just reached the fountain where Faith and her had filled in their buckets earlier.

Thinking about Faith reminded her of the concern she had seen in Faith’s eyes when she had left the house. That wasn’t something you could often see in the brunette’s eyes that usually hid her feelings behind her tough girl attitude. Still, the more Buffy thought about it, the more she noticed that Faith had left her mask behind when they were together. She still projected bad girl sparks when there were people around them but not with Buffy, not anymore with Buffy. Since the last “days” they had spent together in Babylon, they had been completely open with each other and it felt good, as it had felt good to see this concern in Faith’s eyes.

Buffy felt special because of this, because she was the only one that could see this side of Faith and she surely wasn’t going to betray Faith’s trust, far from it. She would do anything to make Faith happy, to see her smile as often as possible, to hear her giggles, to…feel her fear? Sweat was beginning to cover Buffy’s face as she started to run towards the house. She could sense it, Faith was afraid. Something was happening. Her mind went back to the worried look Faith had given her when she had told her about her intuition. Buffy had been extra cautious tonight because of it but she hadn’t thought that it meant that the danger could come to Faith instead of Buffy. The petite slayer was running like hell, afraid of not being fast enough. She didn’t even try to understand how she could sense Faith’s fear, all she could think about was the terrible fact that had come to her mind: Faith was in danger.

*****

“Hello, Honey!”

The first thing that Faith had noticed while opening the door, even before having recognized Marcus, was the smell, not “the butterflies that were gathering nectar” kind of smell, rather the “Hey buddy, let’s see how many bottles I can drain before slipping down on the floor” kind of olfactory aggression. Now, the soldier, her “fiancé” was in front of her and, without even asking for her permission, he entered the house.

“You’re drunk, Marcus!” A shiver slowly glided on Faith’s spine. She knew damn well what drunk people could do. Bad memories were resurfacing.

Marcus awkwardly turned to face her and replied: “Yeah? And what? Had nothing better to do!”

“What? And those kids who have been kidnapped, shouldn’t you find them?”

He waved his right hand in a disdaining move before replying: “Pff! I won’t waste what could be my last fun time possibility by searching for nobly pains in the ass.”

“How can you…”

“I can and I do, Béatrice! It’s easy for you and your bloody saint sister to play the voices of conscience! You’re not the ones who will be waiting, front line, for the English army! You’ll be hiding your pretty asses inside the walls.”

Once again, the shiver glided on the brunette’s spine. The look in the soldier’s eyes perfectly matched the ones that had haunted her past. Some people were whining drunks, other playful drunks; obviously, Marcus belonged to the third kind, the worst, and the violent kind of drunk. Her experience telling her that she shouldn’t contradict the guy, Faith just nodded.

Suddenly, she heard another door open behind her, giving a quick glance to that direction, she saw Fernand coming to them.

“When it’s not Mad Elaine who interrupts us, it’s your bad lot brother!”

The tone had been harsh, real harsh, the “I’m real close to claw your eyes off” kind of harsh. And Faith didn’t want to see something happen to her “brother”.

“Fernand, go back to your room.”

The boy looked at her, puzzled.

“Do it, please!” The pleading tone and the concern that was in Faith’s eyes when she had said that, convinced Fernand to oblige. He knew that something was wrong but he also trusted his sister. He stepped back and made his way towards the stairs. Focusing her attention on Marcus again, she couldn’t not notice the grin that had appears on his face.

“That’s the way you should talk to him! Send him away when he tries to mess with older people business.” Then, slowly but still awkwardly, he came closer to Faith and added: “So, where is big sis? I bet she’s out otherwise, we’d already have seen the colour of her nose already.”

Faith gulped but tried to prevent Marcus to see her worried or scared. “She’ll be back soon!”

“So? She is on a date? I wouldn’t be surprised that under her holier than thou attitude lies a real slut.”

“Shut up!”

He put her hand on the wall, next to Faith’s head, loudly. “Or what? I say what I want to say. Two years, it’s been two years since we met, two years I’ve been all gentle and caring for what? Nothing but stolen kisses! And every time I had to bear the presence of your late father or your goddamn bitch sister. Enough is enough! I might be dead in a few days and I want what I earned, Béa!”

Pearls of sweat were appearing on Faith’s face. Marcus was far beyond the no return point; alcohol had erased all his inhibitions, his morality. Right now, the man Faith had in front of her was a barbarian controlled by his most primal instincts. Knowing full well that words would soon be followed by acts, Faith didn’t wait a single second more. She began running in the hall and entered the living room. She knew that she wasn’t the Slayer here, knew that she wouldn’t be able to fight a well-trained soldier. She had to find a weapon, other than a shovel, and she exactly knew where to look for it.

At first, Faith’s retreat had surprised Marcus. How could she run away from him? He was her man, her fiancé! She should listen to him, obey him. Then, anger took complete control of him. She had to understand who the boss was and Marcus would teach it to her, right now.

“Come back, here, bitch! Oh, I swear you’re gonna pay for it!” And, staggering, he followed her in the living room.

As soon as he entered the place, Faith, who had been waiting for him behind the door, hit him with a fire pick she had taken near the chimney. Marcus barely avoided being hit on the head and received the pick on his right shoulder. Loosing his balance, he felt backwards on the floor.

Faith cursed on herself. She had hoped to either knock Marcus down or to gain enough time to get out of the place and run away with Fernand. Now, with Marcus on the floor, blocking the only way out, she had to strike again. She tried to hit her former fiancé again but, this time, he blocked it with his sword that he had managed to take in his hand and that was something Faith hadn’t expected.

A cruel smile appeared on the guy’s face when he saw Faith backing up. Standing up, he slowly made his way towards the brunette, still holding the pick firmly.

“You think you can beat me, Béa? I’ll show you how a wife should treat her man, my dear!”

“How? By being pretty and shut the fuck up! Not my style, perv!”

“Oh, believe me, it’ll be soon!”

Faith waited for him to make another step then attacked. But without her Slayer powers, she couldn’t do much again the soldier. He easily blocked the pick with his sword before sending it away thanks to his weapon. He then took advantage of Faith’s brief loss of balance to slap her on the face.

Faith fell on the floor, next to the chimney. She knew that she had to act quickly otherwise Marcus would take advantage of her lying on the floor. Spotting another fire pick, she extended her arm to grab it but Marcus was quicker. He made a large cut on Faith’s upper arm with his sword. Pain made Faith scream while she put her hand on the cut. She then felt the point of the sword on her chin; a triumphant Marcus forced her to look at him.

“See! You’re no match for me!”

Faith tried to move but Marcus didn’t let her and, once again, used his sword, cutting through her dress to cut her skin, near her navel.

“Don’t ever dare to move, bitch!”

Faith froze! The cuts weren’t deep but the psychological effect they were having on her were terrible. Once again, she was too weak to fight back and her mind raced to a time when she wasn’t a Slayer, just a Bostonian girl with alcoholic parents. She felt her tears fall on her cheeks but stopped fighting, scared as hell but also tired, tired to feel weak.

He then began to cut her dress without making any other gash. After three cuts, his smile grew and he said: “Good girl! Let’s have fun now!”

At that moment, another voice resounded in the room: “I doubt you will!”

Hearing Buffy’s voice, Marcus turned around to face her. She was just in front of the door of the living room, the door he had just stood before a few minutes back. The petite Slayer was looking at Faith with worried eyes. She could see the brunette curl herself near the fireplace, crying, sobbing, bleeding and trembling and the sight broke her heart but also made her blood boil form anger and hatred for the person responsible of it, a person who would have done much more if she hadn’t felt Faith’s fear, if she hadn’t come back: Marcus.

“So, Madeleiine, you want a lesson too?”

Buffy didn’t answer and ran to him, easily dodging the sword to punch his face then, grabbed his arm, the one that was holding the sword and effortlessly broke it. Marcus screamed, dropped his weapon. He didn’t have time to register what was happening because the next thing he felt was Buffy punching him once, then twice and a third time before he lost consciousness. Then, paying no more attention to the soldier, Buffy rushed to Faith and pulled her in an embrace, whispering comforting words to the brunette.

Hearing Buffy and feeling the other Slayer’s warmth around her drove Faith back to reality. Realizing quickly where she was and in whose arms she was, she reacted on instinct by pulling Buffy even closer then, dug her head in the blonde’s shoulder and cried.

“It’s OK, Faith! I’m here! I won’t let anyone hurt you!”

They stayed in each other’s arms during a few more minutes before Buffy felt Faith calmed down before the brunette broke the embrace. Looking to her fellow Slayer, she said:

“Thanks, B!”

“You’re sure you’re alright?”

“Five by…” Seeing the "I know you better than that" expression Buffy was having now; she added, “I’ll survive, B!” Then, showing Marcus with her finger, she continued: “Let’s get rid of this trash before he wakes up.”

Buffy reluctantly dropped the subject but insisted to take care of Faith’s cuts before going out. Then the two women were outside, Buffy carrying Marcus while Faith was on the watch. They dropped the soldier in a street; far enough from their house in case someone got suspicious then went back home.

PART 3

The three-horned demon looked at the children, hungrily. Children had always been his favourite meal. They were so tasty, so sweet under the teeth, so juicy, and their eyes, that was probably the finest desert it had ever eaten. And now, it had 12 little potential gustative delights waiting for it…well, almost. The Ghost had promises them rewards for this mission and it knew what to ask.

The children were afraid and sweating and it made the demon smile even wider. Fear always gave a special taste to children, a taste that the connoisseur in it liked a lot. And the sweat, well, let’s say that every drop on the tongue was pure ecstasy…and it could be a very good appetizer.

It slowly approached the boy who was the closest. It could see the sweat progressively covering all his face before he put its clawed hand on his cheek. Then, it licked its fingers, savouring the taste. Wanting more, it did the same with the other cheek but didn’t have the time to lick its fingers this time. Indeed, it felt a hand grab him by the neck while his hand was still on the child. Then, whoever had grabbed it, pinned it against the hole, face first, breaking a few teeth in the move.

“I think I told you not to touch them!”

The demon opened its eyes wide with fear in recognizing the voice, the neutral voice that made its whole body shiver, the Ghost’s voice. The mysterious being in rags that had hired them for this job. The demon could hear the other demons, the ones that had slept in the other side of the room, wake up.

“Rotas has been a bad boy! Rotas has disobeyed the Ghost’s orders! Is Rotas sorry for what it has done?”

“Yes…. I’m sorry! I…I just wanted to taste his sweat! Nothing more, I swear! Please, don’t kill me!”

“Rotas is good at begging! And what would Rotas offer me to let its flat and disgusting body in one piece?”

“What…anything you want, Ghost!”

“Good! Rotas will live then! I just want a necklace…”

The demon released a breath then froze when it heard the end of the sentence.

“…with your teeth!”

The Ghost then threw Rotas in the middle of the other demons and said:

“Take its teeth off but don’t kill it! Once the extracting is done, give them to it. Rotas will put them on a necklace and give them to me…then, I’ll forgive him.”

The demons glanced at the Ghost, this being who terrified them, then, once he was gone, they began what they had been ordered to do. The screams of Rotas quickly made their fears disappear.

*****

Buffy entered their bedroom and saw that Faith had already put her nightdress. She was lying on the bed but hadn’t crawled under the sheets yet. The look she had in her eyes when Buffy made her way in quickly disappeared when she heard the petite slayer but Buffy didn’t miss it.

They hadn’t talked since dumping Marcus in the street. Faith had directly climbed the stairs to go the bedroom when they had come back while Buffy had to stay a little bit longer downstairs to explain the situation to a worried Fernand who felt very guilty not to have had the courage to intervene.

Buffy went to the vase to clean herself a bit…making a little bit of a face because she had to use the old way to do it…Babylonian baths were way cooler than that. Looking back to Faith, she saw that the brunette was under the sheets now; she had turned her back to Buffy to give her some privacy. Buffy appreciated the gesture, remembering the awkward moment of the morning. Still, Buffy could feel that Faith wasn’t five by five, far from it. It wasn’t the same kind of feeling she had had when she had sensed Faith in danger, a feeling she had no idea where it had come from by the way. No, it was the kind of feeling you have when you knew that a friend had problem, deep down inside of your guts. This night events weren’t the only reasons of Faith’s current behaviour, she knew it too and she hesitated a moment, wondering if she had to ask Faith the questions that were running in her head. She finally decided against it, hoping that Faith would talk to her by herself.

Putting her nightdress, Buffy blew up the candle of the room then joined Faith in the bed. As soon as she was installed, she felt Faith coming closer. She could see her brown eyes looking at her pleadingly thanks to the moonlight. Understanding what he friend wanted, she smiled at the brunette and nodded. Faith returned the smile weakly before putting her head on Buffy’s shoulder and her arm around the blonde’s waist. She then felt Buffy’s arm encircle her own shoulders.

Part of Faith didn’t want to show her distress like this, the “always keep people on arm’s length” part of her; but she didn’t want to listen to this part now, all she wanted was to be comforted by a friend, her only friend, Buffy!

And it’s in each other’s arms that they fell asleep.

*****

The Seneschal had just dismissed his captains. The news weren’t good, they could difficultly be worse in fact. According to his scouts, the English army and the mercenaries the Black Prince, its leader had hired were very close to Carcassone now, burning everything on their way. They should arrive within the next 48 hours. De Barbazan had to prepare the defence of the city, and it meant that he would be obliged to suspend the research and let the children, his son, between the hands of the kidnapers.

His heart cried because of it but he also had responsibilities towards Carcassone’s citizens. He had to protect them, had to be ready to contain the enemies and prevent them to penetrate in the city.

He sighed then went to the window to look at his city. He knew that the children were inside its walls but no one had located them. He wanted to scream his worry, his pain and his incomprehension. How could it be possible to hide a dozen children from a whole town? He trusted his men, his fellow citizens. They had to keep all their eyes open, trying to find a clue!

Continuing his scan of the town, he stopped to look at the barricades supposed to protect the lower part of the town. As the most recently built part of Carcassone, this huge district had been built at the feet of the ramparts…on its external side. It wasn’t thus protected by it and, frankly, the Seneschal doubted these homemade barricades would hold against the English cavalry.

A cavalier leaving the town caught then his attention. He had just left the church where Brother Symphorien lived. Probably one of his messengers! The Seneschal couldn’t prevent himself from thinking that the man was probably carrying a letter for the monk’s superiors. A letter explaining the current situation. A letter relating that he had postponed the execution that he had, in a way, collaborated with the heretics. The Inquisition was very powerful, influent and he should worry about the aftermaths of his decision. He didn’t though! Morally, he knew he had made the right choice. Guys like Brother Symphorien had long forget what the term meant. They were either fanatics or drilled by personal desires…they just couldn’t understand what being a human implied anymore. His decision of today would perhaps cost him his career but he swore that the inquisitor wouldn’t take pride of it.

After a last look to the moon, the Seneschal walked away to join his bedroom even if he knew that he wouldn’t sleep at all this night.

*****

Buffy opened an eye then the other and sighed in recognizing her surroundings as hers and Faith’s bedroom in the Baulieu’s house. When they had landed in Babylon, she had never felt such a weight in her stomach. Sure, they had faced end of the world crisis, vampires in need of their O neg doses, assassination’s attempts…every day’s concerns, at least for a Slayer. But, this town, this period…it was completely different. The global paranoia, the upcoming arrival of the English army, this story with the Cathars, the children’s kidnapping and what Marcus had done to Faith…all these points made her stomach dance the acrobatic rock without someone to catch it. The worst was that they had absolutely no idea about what they were supposed to do here and it meant staying here for a while. Geez, dancing the snoopy dance with a slimy chaos demon seemed more fun than living in medievaly Carcassone.

Buffy turned her eyes to look at Faith. They hadn’t moved since they had fallen asleep. Faith had still her head on her shoulder and she could still feel the brunette’s arm around her waist. Buffy smiled at the sight, still surprised by the fragility she had seen in the dark slayer’s eyes, something Faith had never really showed up, except, maybe, when she had had her breakdown, just before turning herself in. It was perhaps the only good point of this journey to Carcassone. The trust Faith and her had began to rebuild in Babylon had reached another level here, in Carcassone. With each new day, they opened up a little more to each other and it was a good thing. Granted, Faith hadn’t talked to her about last night’s events and her feelings about it but she hadn’t chosen to wear her indifferent mask either and that was a good thing.

A change in the brunette’s breathing rhythm indicated Buffy that her friend was awakening. She didn’t move, her eyes still on Faith who soon opened her own brown ones. Their glances met and the time seemed to slow down. Buffy was relieved to see in these chocolate pearls that the former rogue Slayer felt better. For Faith, the satisfaction was different. She had never had someone to comfort, had always had to deal with her issues on her own and, waking up with someone who really cared about her, who had helped her with her sole presence the previous night, meant so much to her. They smiled to each other.

“So, how was the night?”

“Comfy!”

Buffy smiled, slightly embarrassed.

“I suppose we should get up! I bet Fernand is already waiting for us downstairs.”

“Could…could we stay like this for another couple of minutes? Please!”

“Wow! So, I’m that comfy?” The smiled hadn’t left the Slayers' faces.

“Don’t want another pillow, ever!”

They didn’t exchange any further word during the next minutes, just enjoying being together as if the other’s presence had the power to soothe their fears and doubts. The silence wasn’t awkward but beneficial. And it was in this calm that Faith remembered what she had discovered last night.

“B?”

“Yeah!"

“Do you think we could close the shop for the day?”

“Well, frankly I don’t know! You know, I’m not quite used in being independent. Why?”

“Last night, Fernand was reading some book. At first, I didn’t pay attention, you know me and books tend to avoid each other for quite a while now.”

“I know indeed!”

Faith slapped the blonde’s arm playfully. “It was rhetorical!”

Buffy childly stick out her tongue to Faith who giggled to the gesture. She then put her head on Buffy’s shoulder again before continuing.

“The book he was reading, it was Lazlo’s diary.”

“What?”

“Looks like Madeleine and Béatrice removed some of the books before the soldiers burned them.”

“At last, some good news!”

“I want to spend the day studying them!”

“Oh! So you and books made peace then!”

“And to this cheap shot, I will reply that me and THESE books have an agreement. They want me out; I want to leave this shitty sick place as soon as possible. See where our desires meet?”

“Crystal! Let’s go then! I’ll go downstairs tell Fernand we take the day off. I’ll come back in 20 minutes, plenty of times for you to wash and dress.” The blonde then reluctantly pushed Faith away to leave the bed but instinctively kissed the brunette forehead before doing it. Then, she exited the room.

Faith looked at the door Buffy had just taken, smiling, something she wasn’t really used to, something she was surprisingly doing often these days. And she didn’t want to complain about it…didn’t want at all.

*****

Once downstairs, Buffy directly headed to the kitchen and found Fernand finishing his breakfast. On her way down, she had wondered what to tell the kid. She just couldn’t come to him and say “Hey! How are you doing? Oh, by the way, I’m not your sister! I am from another dimension or something and took possession of your sister’s body! Could you help us return from where we came from?”…even if he had seen lots of strange things as the Slayer’s brother, she frankly doubted he would swallow that one. So, she had built a reasonably realistic story to tell him.

"Hey!"

“Hey! How is Béatrice?”

“Better! Hm, Fernand, I think we should close the shop today.”

“Why?”

“The English army will be here pretty soon! I just think we should enjoy the day, have fun before the battle begins.”

“And what about the flowers?”

“We’ll clean the shop, give them water and stuffs…things we do on Sundays!”

“We can go picnic and after that, I could go find Louis and Marcel. I haven’t hung with them for way too long!”

“So, picnic it will be, then you’ll do whatever you want to do in the afternoon as long as it doesn’t involve trouble.”

“Geez, can’t you drop the big sister gig a little!”

“Guess not! So, what do we have for breakfast here?”

“Same as every other day! What did you expect? A banquet?”

“Something like that!” Buffy replied, thinking about the fridge of a Californian house she had never thought she would miss that much.

*****

A few hours later, in a green place not far from the fountain, Buffy, Faith and Fernand had just finished their meal. They had a good time during the picnic. The family bond they had thanks to the personalities of Madeleine and Béatrice had made this event both special and important. Now, the two “sisters” were looking at their “brother” leaving the place to meet his friends for a fun day.

“You know what? I hate this place, I wish we could go back home lightspeed but I’m gonna miss the boy!”

“He kinda grew on me too, B. If I had had a brother, he would have won the casting seat.”

“I miss Dawn!”

The emotion was perceptible in Buffy’s voice and Faith didn’t miss it. Gently, she took Buffy’s hand in hers and squeezed. The Slayers exchanged a look before Faith said:

“I…well, frankly I don’t know what to say here. I want to comfort you but I can’t find the words maybe I should deal with my books issue…they could help!”

Buffy smirked at that which made Faith smile.

“We’ll find a way out, B! Hell, it’s the Chosen Two versus the world…and I put all my bucks on us.”

Buffy smiled a little then put her hand on the bag they had taken with them and pulled two books out of it.

“Let’s begin the research then. What do you want? Lazlo’s diary volume I or…Lazlo’s diary, volume II? God, the guy liked telling stories.”

“Gimme the second one! I prefer fresh news than carbon 14 ones.”

Buffy gave the book to Faith who quickly opened it.

“And Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not that bad with words! Thanks!”

“You’re welcome!” answered the brunette, quite proud of her.

*****

30 minutes later, the first interesting information was found.

“Listen to this, Faith! Lazlo really was a Cathar. They aren’t demon worshipers. That’s just propaganda bullshit! They just believe that every man has a part of evil in him and that he should just admit it. They believe that by refusing wealth and other superficial things such as power, they can control this evil. As the Catholic Church praises that humans can be all good and has lots of power and richness in these times, there is no wonder that it has cast them as heretics!”

“Wait a minute! They try to be good, right? It’s the centre of their beliefs, right?”

“Right!”

“So, why did they kidnap the kids? It’s in complete opposition with their faith!”

“Maybe they have succumbed to their evil side? Persecutions tend to have that effect on people!”

“Don’t buy it, B! I’ve just read the last words Lazlo had written in his diary. Listen: I know they’ll find me soon! The Inquisition has decided to kill every Cathar it could find and Brother Symphorien happily follows its orders. As a Cathar, I’m ready to die for my ideas; we live with that thought since we agree to join the order. Fear, hatred are just incarnations of the evil we have inside and we’ll never let them lead us. So?”

“Looks like some fanatic jedi mumbo jumbo but you’re right! They don’t fit in the professional kidnaper profile.”

“We landed in this fucking creepy place just before the kidnapping, in the skins of people who had knowledge in the Cathar department. This knowledge makes us believe that Lazlo’s pals didn’t do anything. If you want my opinion, that’s why we are here. We must find the kids!”

“You got a point! The question is how do we find them? We barely know a few districts of this town and the real life citizens haven’t find a clue yet. How could we do better than them?”

Faith replied with a satisfied smile: “We’ll ask for help!”

“To whom?”

“Seems like Lazlo had a demon friend! The ugly but gentle kind. I have a plan.”

“And when were you planning to tell me?”

“Just waiting for the right time! I would have called drummer boys for the bam bam bam bam bam effect but they don’t accept credit cards…and they don’t like flowers!”

Buffy grinned before saying: “No credit cards? God, this world sucks!”

“Figured it out now? I knew it just by looking at our outfits!”

“Wow! Action Faith fashion victim. Didn’t know this one existed!”

“I’ll show it to you, one day! She’s coupled with almighty sexy Faith. You never see the one without the other.”

“Can’t wait to meet them! So, demon?”

“Demon!”

They grabbed the picnic bag and left the place.

*****

Spider webs were present in every corner of the room. Dug in the depth of Carcassone’s ground, this huge circular room was the centre of a vast labyrinth of tunnels that the Ghost used to hide its troops and hostages. There was only one entry to this labyrinth and the Ghost doubted that anyone could find it. Nobody would look after it in the place where it was.

The masked master of Carcassone’s darkness was currently sitting wooden chair in the centre of the room, caressing a human skull with the tip of its gloved fingers, waiting, thinking. The kidnapping had been a genius idea. It would give them enough time to fulfil their goals and the arrival of the English army would help them too. The walls will hold the assaults, the Ghost was sure of it. Of all the places in the region now, Carcassone was probably the safest.

A move caught the Ghost’s attention to its left. It didn’t move though. The light of the rare torches illuminating the place were reflected on its bronze mask, a mask probably as hold as itself. A mask it polished every single day to keep its magnificence. But inside this keeper of its secret identity, the Ghost smiled. The three freshly sired vampires had just entered the place. It was the only way for them. The sun was blocking the exit, their only way out. They had to explore the place…they had to come to this room.

The three vampires were normally no matches for the Ghost but, in these times, every strong opponent was welcomed. Training was the key for everyone who knew about the underworld. Hunters, Slayers, vampires, demons,…they all needed to remain in top condition to stay “alive” in this world. A single lack of concentration, a single muscular problem and everything could end…training was the key.

The vampires were close now. The Ghost could feel them. Putting the skull on the ground, the evil master stood up, its senses completely opened to its surroundings.

“OK boys! My time is precious. Here is the deal! You win, you un-live. You lose, well, let’s just say that this place would be a little more dirty. Won’t be a big change!”

The taller was on its right. An elephant would be quieter than this idiot. On its left, the Ghost could sense the woman. That’s the problem with homeless people; their smell always betrayed them. She couldn’t spot the soldier yet. He was probably waiting for the right time to strike, hidden in the dark. Another smile came to the Ghost’s lips, it had guessed right about him. The soldier would indeed be the smarter one, which meant that he should be the one she had to deal with first. Jumping backwards, the Ghost made a flip flap and disappeared in the dark too.

Silently, the Ghost moved. Darkness didn’t bother it…it had been its home for so long now. Once it was certain that no vampire was around, he closed its eyes and focused entirely to its ears and the things they were registering. Soon, it heard a rhythm, the rhythm of someone who walked two steps before stopping for ten seconds…the rhythm of someone who repeated the same moves as if they were part of a habit, or a training…the training of a soldier. Using all its skills, the Ghost slowly approached the vampire soldier. It was one of the advantages of its rags; they made no noise when it was walking. When the Ghost was only a few feet away from its future victim, it took the stake hidden in its rags and quickly dusted the vampire. The guy never saw anything coming.

“Three minus one equals two. Come on boys, you can do better than this!”

The elephant was coming to its left now, full charge! He was probably too dumb to even know he was already dead! The Ghost also heard the woman running towards a door the Ghost had closed itself. Always give the prey a reason to hope…then remove it. The psychological effects would be devastating.

The Ghost didn’t even try to dodge the elephant’s charge. The idiot impaled himself on its stake. The masked mastermind walked then to the woman who had just figured out about the closed door.

“It’s just between you and me, lady! I’ll be fair, this is for you!” And, to the woman’s surprise, the Ghost threw her its stake, a weapon she quickly grabbed. She attacked the Ghost without interruption. She probably knew unconsciously that every opening she would give it would be lethal. The Ghost dodged or blocked her attacks before using its left foot to make her loose her balance. She didn’t touch the ground though, the Ghost grabbed her by the neck way before that and broke it. It won’t kill the vampire but she won’t be able to defend herself anymore. The Ghost bent to take its stake and finished its training in dusting its last opponent. As it had said, they had been no match, but hell, that was entertaining.

It then saw Clovis, its most trusted demon, coming to it with a glass filled with blood. The Ghost liked Clovis. In opposition to its other demon, this one had a brain and was a very talented killer. It was also an ace with any long-range weapon. The Ghost took the glass, removed its mask and drank the blood. It didn’t care that Clovis saw its face, it had already seen it, and it was the only one that could see it. The Ghost finished its glass then dismissed Clovis. It had things to think about.

*****

“Faith! Are you sure it’s here?”

“Well, Lazlo was far of being a pictionary master but his plan was clear enough and it says that that demon, Gerro, lives here.”

“It’s just that…”

“…it doesn’t correspond to a demon living place!”

Buffy nodded and the two Slayers looked to the house again. They were in the richest district of Carcassone, the kind of place where you find the richest houses owned by nobles or wealthy merchants. Definitely not the kind of district you’d find a demon’s lair.

The house that was in front of them seemed even bigger that the ones that surrounded it. It was tainted in beige, had a garden pretty similar to the one of Angel’s ex-mansion in Sunnydale. A statue was in the middle of this garden, a statue of Diane, the Roman goddess, queen of hunters. A river was running on the left of the “palace”, making a soft and regular noise that was quite appeasing.

There was also a path that went from the entry to the front door and, still wondering how a demon could live in such a visible house in these times without being noticed or disturbed, the Slayers followed it then, pulled the bell that hung above the door to announce them.

A few minutes later, an old man opened the door.

“About time you show up! I expected you to find me sooner. What are you waiting for, come in!”

A bit puzzled, the Slayers entered. Faith was scanning the place and while doing it, she was glad to notice that Buffy, now in full Slayer mode, was getting ready for everything. They followed the old man who was walking away without even glancing at them. They finally entered a huge library with lots of books and scrolls. The man sat in one of the 4 chairs that were standing there and he invited them to sit down too with a gesture of the hand. Then, his face changed, the demon dropped the human disguise and revealed its real face, a mix between a sharpei (folds on the whole face) and a frog (globular eyes) with a serious tan. Faith had been right with the ugly part of her earlier description and Buffy hoped that the gentle part was correct too.

“As you’ve probably guessed, I’m Gerro, the demon friend of the late Lazlo Caras. And you are?”

“I…I’m Madeleine and this is my sister, Béatrice!”

The demon smirked which increased the Slayers anxiety.

“And for the ones who know that you’re not really them?”

The comment stunned the Slayers. Instinctively, they looked in each other’s eyes, a move that curiously calmed them and even brought a weak smile on their lips. Focusing their attention on the demon again, they replied:

“My name is Buffy!”

“And I’m Faith! How …”

“…do I know you’re not who you pretended to be?”

The Slayers nodded.

“Firstly, Madeleine and Béatrice come quite often to visit me, especially since the death of Lazlo. You don’t need to be a seer to notice that you’ve never come here before this day. Logical conclusion: You’re not them. Secondly, I felt it when your minds replaced the ones of Madeleine and Béatrice. I saw it in a dream. Sensed the Baulieu’s sisters personalities disappear before being replaced by your own.”

Both Slayers wanted to say something but the demon gently interrupted them in rising its hand, silently telling them that it hadn’t finished talking.

“At first, it scared me. I didn’t know why you were here, didn’t know if you were with the good or bad guys. So, I spied on you, saw you trying to behave as you were Madeleine and Béatrice, saw you take care of Fernand, saw Buffy patrolling which proved to me that you knew about the Slayer. I haven’t noticed anything indicating you were evil so, I decided to wait, knowing that one day, you’ll come and see me, me, the friend of your supposed watcher. It was logical for you to come to me. But be warned! I can defend myself against aggressors if that is what you are. I talked now, it’s your turn. Why are you here and what have you done with the girls minds?”

“Well, we don’t know! All I can say is that it is the second “journey” for Faith and I, that in both cases, one of us remains the Slayer while the other lands in the feet of a close one and that the first time it looked like we had to fulfil a mission or something.”

The demon locked its eyes in Buffy’s, then in Faith’s, trying to judge them and the sincerity of what they had just told him.

“And you have no idea at all about what’s going on?”

“Well, we have few ideas. Alternate universe, trip back in time, precocious insanity…”

“It sounds crazy! But that’s the reason I believe you. So, Buffy, you said one thing that caught my attention. You said that one of you remains the Slayer…does it mean that you come from different places or times too?”

“No! You see. I died, briefly, just a minute but it was enough for my Slayer powers to glide away from me and choose another host, a girl named Kendra who died a few months later and transmitted her power to Faith.”

“So, there are two Slayers where you come from?”

“Yep, the Chosen Two as B and I like to call ourselves.”

“That’s interesting! And…could you explain me a bit more about your previous “journey”?”

“It was in Babylon! I was the Slayer and B was my watcher’s daughter. Seems like our mission was to prevent a damn old vampire to release dark clouds that would convert every human beings to evil fucking worshippers.”

“Ah em…and what happened after it?”

“We woke up but we knew that it hadn’t been a dream. It felt too real, was too detailed, even in our Slayer dreams, the details weren’t that important.”

“And the timeline? Did you feel as your time there had been longer that the time you slept in you’re world?”

“Well yeah. We’ve spent a week in the Hanged Gardens Land for only a night in our real world. Right, B?”

“Right, Faith!”

“Time loops!”

“Huh?” came the Slayers answers.

“After the dream, I made some research in my books to find what could have happened to the girls. I have lots of occult books here. One of the possibilities was the time loop. An interesting theory that pretends that one could go back in time through an occult bond that linked one to his/her past lives. The voyager would wake up in the body of a spiritual ancestor while this ancestor spirit would just sleep in the one of the voyager. This exchange would create two loops, a longer one, necessary for the voyager to do what he had to do in the chosen period, a shorter one to prevent any psychological damage that could damage the voyager’s soul before the reincarnation. Am I clear?”

“Kinda. The traveller guy borrowed one of his past life’s bodies for a mission while the owner of the body has a trip to the voyager skin without knowing it or he could get mad and pass the madness in a future life which could get messy!”

“A yes would have been enough!”

“Just wanted to tell it out loud so B wouldn’t have to pretend she had understood…ouch!”

Blowing on her hand after having playfully slapped Faith, Buffy said: “Ok Gerro, let’s say we are in a time loop…how did we get in it? And why?”

“Difficult to say! Your situation is even more complex as whom or whatever did this to you can only send you to period where both of your souls are present and know each other! Who or whatever did this is probably very powerful. Sending you to other periods without your agreement required lots of energy.”

“So, it must be for an important thing thus!”

“Apocalyptic big?”

“Possible, Gerro?”

“I don’t know! I have to consult my books. I can tell you two things tough. One, the more you stay here, the more there is a chance for your spiritual ancestor to wake up. You’ll notice it easily as you’ll mimic some of her own habits without being able to stop it.”

“Already noticed. In Babylon. I met super watcher Buffy there!”

Extending her index and pointing it to Faith, Buffy replied: “Don’t go there or I’ll have to explain the “I don’t like bath” shy Faith thing!”

The brunette blushed then crossed her arms on her chest, trying to imitate the famous Buffy pout but couldn’t hold long before a grin appeared on her features.

“Hum! The second thing I can tell you is that your presence has already changed the future!”

“What? But we didn’t…”

“Yes, you did! As I told you previously, I can feel it. I don’t know what it was about but I just know that Béatrice would have died somehow last night if the natural flow of time hadn’t been altered.”

“Oh God, Marcus!” While saying that, Buffy looked at Faith whose skin had gone paler when she had heard the news. Hell, who wouldn’t! The blonde quickly stood up and pulled Faith into a hug. As soon as Faith found herself in the warmth of Buffy’s embrace, she let go the flows of tears she had been holding on.

Gerro, visibly uncomfortable with this display of emotions stood up and said: "I…we could use a break here and I’m sure you’re thirsty! I’m gonna bring some fresh water." Then, he left the library.

Neither Buffy, nor Faith had heard what the demon had said. The petite Slayer was too busy rocking her friend to pay attention to it. Finally, after a couple of minutes of intense crying, a still sobbing Faith slowly broke the hug. Buffy let her go then, in a very gentle gesture, she cleaned the tears away of Faith’s cheeks with her thumbs before putting her forehead on Faith’s.

“Hey, you’re not dead, Béatrice is not dead. We made it, we stopped the bastard.”

“I…it’s not…”

Buffy didn’t let Faith avoid her glace. She had still her right hand on Faith’s face and, with her thumb, she caressed the brunette’s cheek.

“What’s wrong, Faith! Tell me, please tell me.”

Buffy could feel the uncertainty in Faith’s eyes, the fear too. They stared at each other during seconds that looked like hours for Buffy. Then, the dark slayer sighed and closed her eyes.

“My…My mother was an alcoholic. Drunk from dawn to twilight, I don’t even think that it was blood that was running in her veins anymore…I…she…”

“Shhht! Breathe, take your time! I won’t go anywhere!”

“She beat me a lot…I was just a kid, I couldn’t…My dad…never knew him so…she was the only one I could live with and…oh God, B…every time she beat me, it was worse than the previous punching time…she…she had fun in kicking me, punching me….”

The sobs between the sentences were more and more frequent. Buffy let Faith cry and find her breath back, coping with what Faith was saying to her. Yes, she had known that Faith’s childhood wasn’t great in the non-sucking department, she just hadn’t thought that it had been that bad.

“One…one day…I…I woke up in a hospital. She knocked me down, B…she beat me so long and so loud that our neighbours called the cops…It was them that drove me to the hospital…I felt so weak, B…so weak…I couldn’t fight back…I was weak…”

“But you survived, you’re strong now, Faith!”

The brunette chuckled and then said: “That’s what I thought when my watcher came to see me in that hospital. She…explained to me the whole Slayer gig and…and for once in my life, during the training; and…when I got the powers…I…I was strong but…yesterday…Oh God…I’ve never felt this weak since…since…and it makes me sick…I…I can’t help you and…”

“You’re not weak, Faith! You never will be and about the helping me thing, you help me just by being here with me. You don’t know how important you are to me. Without you, I surely wouldn’t have made it. Without you, I would have died in Babylon, remember? Without you, Carcassone’s hell would probably already have eaten me. I hate this place as much as you do but I don’t regret being here because every day, I can discover a little bit more of my Faith, our relationship evolves as if it was in a NASCAR contest. Before Babylon, we didn’t dare talk to each other, afraid that our past was too much for us to bear and now…now, I consider you one of my dearest friend, the kind of friend I need in my life. Don’t you feel it, the bond that is growing between us?”

“Yeah…I feel the same…I…”

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Faith! You’re too precious to me!”

“I…I…Idem! You’re precious to me too, B.”

“Good! So, no more dark thoughts?”

“No more!”

They heard the door of the library open and saw Gerro enter the place with glasses of water in his hands. He smiled to them before giving them the glasses then, they discussed the current situation again.

PART 4

They spent the rest of the afternoon and a part of the evening discussing about the time loops, the creatures powerful enough to cast the kind of spells, etc…they made also some research in Gerro’s book but they didn’t find any further data. The looks the Slayers had exchanged during their research session proved that none of them were the research type gals in this place which was kinda comforting.

Once it had been clear that researching wouldn’t help them any further, Gerro had proposed to tell them what he knew about Carcassone’s underworld and the Slayers had listened to him carefully. If they had to stay in this city for a while, they should know with whom or what they are dealing with. The current evil lord was a mysterious being called the Ghost. Nobody knew what it was, who it really was but, according to the demon, Lazlo had thought that it was very old and mighty. The demons, vampires and even witches seemed to fear it as if it was the offspring of the devil itself. Gerro told them also about a few other potential opponents but none of them could compete with the Ghost in the creepy, raise your hair in the neck department.

The Slayers finally left Gerro’s house after agreeing that they would come back the next day in the evening. The demon would check other books or discuss the matter with friends and contacts. It was around 11 PM and Buffy and Faith walked side by side to their house’s direction. Fernand had to be back home now and was probably waiting for their return. The blonde would accompany the brunette to the shop then, she’d do a quick patrol. Maybe she’d meet some vampires, or a running late demon or even this famous Ghost with its golden mask and its rags …the exact description of the thing she had in front of her now, running on the roofs that were on their left. Without any trace of hesitation, the petite Slayer jumped on the roofs too and ran behind the Ghost after having said:

“See you home, Faith!”

“Careful, B!” The brunette looked at the two silhouettes moving then disappearing into the night, sighed and continued her way towards the Baulieu’s house, worried about her friend, her precious friend.

*****

The Ghost increased its running, glancing behind. The Slayer was still following it and she even seemed to be closer. Damn it! It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t supposed to happen. All it wanted to do was to meet its contact, not falling face to face with the Slayer. And what was she doing here? She wasn’t supposed to come to this part of town, it was the safest place of Carcassone, almost devoid of evil things, the Ghost had settled everything. No hunt, no sacrifices or cult gathering in the richest districts, they could do anything they want in the other districts but not in these ones. This would give them a safe place for their lairs and keep the Slayer away, where the action would be. So, why was she here right now? If someone had broken the rules, it would pay for it, the Ghost swore it.

It then thought about Clovis. The demon had asked if it could “come along”. The Ghost had refused. If it had agreed, it could have left its minion deal with the Slayer. Damn it! It had always been its problem, it was too independent, always wanted to act on its own and it wasn’t the first time it had brought it trouble.

Another check behind revealed that the Slayer was gaining on it. It seemed that a fight couldn’t be delayed anymore. The Ghost kept moving and waited till the moment the Slayer was only a few feet behind before jumping in the air and trying to kick her in the face. But the girl seemed to have forecasted the move and easily dodged the assault.

“I thought that a Ghost should walk with white sheets and chains on it…never heard of that?”

“Well, the chains were out of stock. Had to take what was left!”

“Rags?”

“It’s not that bad! See, you can tear them up and put weights on them so you can…”

The Ghost grabbed a part of its rags and threw it to Buffy who barely avoided the pointy hook that was on its end. The rag looked like a rope now and it made turn around it, a move that made it both difficult to reach and ready to strike. Waiting for an opportunity, Buffy circled around her enemy, far enough to be ready to dodge another attack. They turned around each other for a couple of minutes, still on the roofs of Carcassone’s houses.

The Ghost knew that this fight could last a long time and it wasn’t even sure it would turn at its advantage. A Slayer was a far tougher adversary than three newbies. It didn’t have the time for a long fight, not that it was afraid of the Slayer, far from it, it would be delighted to fight the blond girl but it had a schedule to respect tonight and couldn’t waste time in this fight. Scanning the surrounding, the Ghost finally saw what it was looking for. A woman had just appeared at the window of one of the closest house.

Quickly, the Ghost took a knife in its sleeve, cut the hooked rag rope and threw it to the woman’s direction. Buffy, immediately understanding what her opponent was doing, jumped to catch the rag before it was too late and succeeded in it but the jump made her lose her balance and she fell from the roof. That was what the Ghost had intended to do, that was the reason why it had thrown the rag and not the knife. The Slayer wouldn’t have had a chance to catch the knife so, she wouldn’t have even tried to and The Ghost would still be blocked on this roof. Smiling inwardly, the Ghost jumped to the next roof.

The landing had been rough and Buffy was lying on the ground when she saw the Ghost jump to another roof. Acting instinctively, the blond Slayer mimicked the Ghost and threw the hooked rag that was still in her hand towards the masked being. She hoped to grab it and pull it to the ground next to her but failed. The hook did touch the Ghost though, took some of its clothes with it but didn’t slow it down. Knowing that her prey was gone, Buffy stood up, looked a last time at the hook, saw blood in it which meant that her last attempt had injured the Ghost then, after a last glance to the roofs, she made her way back home.

*****

Inside the depths of Carcassone’s jail, there was a place no one dared to mention but all feared, there was a place where screams and insane laughs were the only sounds one could hear. There was a place where Brother Symphorien, inquisitor of the Holy Church, had always felt home. The ecclesiastic was currently busy performing his hobby, a hobby he was very proud of: Torture. In front of him, was a Cathar chained to a cavernous wall. His white dress was now completely ruined with red spots, blood spots. Blood that was also covering most of his face. At Brother Symphorien’s side, stood a guard, one of those that shared the monk’s insane passion.

“I think he just passed out, Sir!”

“I’m not blind, my son! These heretics are rotten to the core. Even a standard little questioning didn’t force them to talk!”

“Maybe the next one?”

“An optimistic view! We’ve already tried on 5 of them. I can torture them all to death. There won’t be any of them left for the burning and we need heretics to burn. How could we dissuade others to join their ranks without making an example?”

“I don’t know, sir!”

“Take a little rest, son! I’d like to stay alone, to meditate.”

The soldier nodded then moved way and climbed the stairs. Alone, the monk closed his eyes and waited till the moment he didn’t hear the guard’s steps anymore. Then, he spoke out loud and said:

“I thought we shouldn’t meet today!”

Stepping out of the dark, the Ghost answered: “Got bored! Wanted to know if you had any news!”

“So you heard! The bastard even had fun on me in reciting quotes from the Bible.”

“I can’t keep the kids away eternally, Symphorien. We’ve gained a couple of days, nothing more. The food you gave us is almost gone and bringing more of them would surely catch someone’s attention.”

“I don’t think it would be a problem. The English army will be the focus on everyone’s attention in the next days.”

The Ghost laughed then replied: “Never been in a battle before, have you? Food is probably the thing everyone keep an eye on in battle cause it’s the key factor in case of siege.”

“OK, OK. Even if I have to kill them all, I’ll find something.”

“Hope so! Other thing! I have another problem I would like to talk to you about…the Slayer!”

“Slayer?”

“Pretty girl with the power to fight evil forces. She is strong, smart and stands in my way!”

For the first time since the beginning of their talk, Symphorien noticed the blood on its side. The rags were open there and he could see forms that were definitely female under them. So, the Ghost was female…that could be valuable information.

“And so what? Your problem, not mine!”

Hearing these words, the Ghost grabbed the monk’s throat and pinned him on the wall. It didn’t really hurt him but scared him as hell.

“Now, listen to me, Symphorien. We have a deal! I help you take care of the Cathars so you can make you way up in the Church’s hierarchy. In exchange, you give me what I want when you find it. Until then, we stand together so, my problems are yours too. Understood?”

“Un…understood!”

The Ghost released the monk. They stayed silent for a minute before Symphorien asked:

“What do you want me to do with her?”

“I don’t know! Find something! All I know about her is her name: Madeleine Baulieu. Eldest of three children. A sister and a brother. Parents deceased.”

“You’re good with facts but they don’t help me much!”

“You’ll find something. I trust you!! Actually, I think I’ll entrust something to you, my most precious possession.”

“Really?” The spark in the monk’s eyes showed his interest.

“Really!” The Ghost then pulled something out of its rags and put it in the monk’s hands. The satisfaction in the eyes of Symphorien quickly turned in disgust as he saw that the thing the Ghost had just given him was a skull, a very old skull.

“It belonged to the first man I drained! Should anything happen to it, I’d replace it by yours, should you ever disappoint me or try to stab me in the back, I’d carry two skulls with me.”

Sweat was beginning to fall on the man’s face while he was looking at the masked figure disappear into darkness.

*****

Buffy, Faith and Fernand were working in the shop the next day when they received a visitor they didn’t want to see at all. It was Buffy, who was in charge of welcoming the customers who spotted him first.

“What are you doing here, Marcus?”

Hearing the guy’s name, Faith instinctively moved closer to Buffy while Fernand just glared at him. A smile on his face, the man walked towards the “sisters”. His face was bruised; his nose was visibly broken as well as his right arm that hung in a sling.

“I wanted to be the one to tell it to you!”

“Tell us what?” Buffy asked, ready to jump on the guy who was now taking a paper out of his pocket. He theatrically cleared his throat before beginning the reading.

“After analysing the information and reports I have in my possession, I, Brother Symphorien, have found enough evidence that could linked the Baulieu family with the Cathar heresy and their pacts with the Devil. By the powers given to me by the Holy Church, I commend the Baulieu family to be escorted to Carcassone’s jail for questioning.”

He then carefully folded the paper, the smile glued on his face while soldiers were entering the shop, crossbows in their hands.

Faith looked at Buffy who was debating the situation in her head. With her Slayer’s strength, she could probably escape the ten or so men in front of her but Faith and Fernand wouldn’t. Crossbow bolts would probably reach them before the blonde could disarmed them all. She couldn’t try anything, the price would be too hard. She felt Faith’s hand on her shoulder, the brunette had probably come to the same conclusion as hers. The two girls let the soldiers bring them out of the shop then, followed them in the streets of Carcassone. They both glared at Marcus who had taken Fernand at his side.

They walked in the streets of Carcassone, feeling the eyes of the citizens on them, feeling their accusing looks. It was as if they all had already judged and condemned them to be burned at the stake. Some of them even threw rotten vegetable, rotten fruits or even stones to them, causing Fernand to cry. How could a boy understand how unfair public opinion could be, especially in these times where it was completely under the authority of the Church.

The Slayers had remained silent since they had left the house. They were lost in their thoughts, they didn’t hear the curses the citizens were shouting at them. The only sound that reached their ears was Fernand’s sobs and they couldn’t do anything to comfort him.

Suddenly, chaos possessed the place. People that were shouting or throwing things at them began to run in the streets, scared as hell. They ran through their escort without paying attention to them, jostling them and the Slayers. This mess connected the Slayers back to the moment, they could hear what the population was shouting now. “They’re coming! They’re here” and, finally, they figured out what was happening. The English army had finally arrived.

The soldiers were completely taken aback by the chaos that ravaged everything around them. Their own fears were surfacing, paralysing them. They weren’t even looking at their prisoners anymore.

The jostling party increased and the crowd was progressively pushing the Baulieu family away from the guards. It was too well done to be coincidental. Buffy and Faith noticed it and willingly followed the flow of people that was also taking Fernand with them. Suddenly, one man whispered to them to run and the Slayers gladly obliged, leaving the soldiers behind, unable to stop them due to the chaos.

*****

The three fugitives had followed the whisperer and his accomplices to an old and abandoned house were they were hiding now. They had tried to obtain some more information about who they were and why they had helped them escape the claw of the Inquisition but none seemed willing to answer. Finally, a quarter after their arrival, the whisperer came and sat next to them.

“The soldiers have given up the search. They had probably been ordered to join the troops.”

“So, the English army is really here! For a minute, I thought it was just a panic causing trick!” Buffy replied.

“Well, let’s just say that we were a little bit in advance…minutes not hours. The scouts said that we should see them within the hour.”

“Who are you?” The question came from Buffy.

“Just ordinary people who have suffered because of the Inquisition!”

“How did you know that Marcus and co would come to arrest us?” It was Faith’s turn to ask.

The man’s eyes moved towards the entry, visibly spotting something before he replied:

“Why don’t you ask it to him?”

The Slayers and Fernand looked to the same direction and saw Marcus coming to them, glancing at the floor ashamedly. The whisperer stood up and went away; leaving Buffy, Faith, Fernand and Marcus alone.

Buffy had a hard time not to punch the guy, crossing her arms on her chest, she said harshly:

“You try to redeem yourself, Marcus?”

Faith didn’t say a word and waited for Marcus to reply. The soldier locked his eyes with Buffy, tears falling from them and said:

“I know that what I’m gonna say won’t change anything between us. I’ve lost you, all of you. It’s like I become a whole new person when I’m drunk, a person I hate. I’m so sorry, Béa.” His eyes had moved to capture Faith’s while he was saying it. Faith just maintained the staring contest till the moment Marcus broke it.

“And now, what are we supposed to do? Big hug, all is forgiven?”

“I know very well that it’s not over, Madeleine! It will never be over. Never! I swear that you’ll never hear of me again after today. I just had to save you, save you from him.”

“From who?”

“Brother Symphorien, the head of Carcassone’s inquisition. I don’t know what you did to him but he wants your heads.”

Forgetting about her feelings for Marcus for a while, Buffy said: “We don’t even know the guy, why does he want us dead?”

“I don’t know! He convened me this morning. He wanted some information about you, about your relationship with Lazlo. I just told him what I knew, that he was one of your neighbours, that you knew him for years, etc…but he had other reports saying that you were Cathars too. I know they were false but I also know that it’s vain to argue with such a fanatic. So, I asked him to allow me to lead the men, who would arrest you then, contacted Patrick and his friends to organise a rescue mission.”

“Anything else?”

“No, well, maybe…just before I left, he made what I supposed to be a joke. I don’t even think he was even talking to me but rather to himself. He said that he will slay the Slayer. Don’t know what he meant but the guy had interrupt his torture session to talk to me and he loves torturing heretics. Whatever he has against you, it has to be big.”

The Slayers exchanged a look but Marcus didn’t notice it. After having finished his sentence, his eyes had moved back to the floor. He was probably trying to find the courage to say his next words.

“Ma…Madeleine? I know that I have no right to ask but…can I talk to Béa for a second?”

The glare he received from Buffy then made him go two steps backwards. The blonde wanted to give him a Arctic reply when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Faith’s hand. Then, the brunette whispered in her ear. “It’s OK, B. I’ll talk to him.”

Hearing it, Buffy whispered back: “You’re sure?”

“Take a few steps away, I’m sure he doesn’t want to hurt me.”

Buffy nodded but added loud enough for Marcus to hear: “OK then! But if he tries anything, I’ll cut his ears and will give them to the rats.”

Once he was sure Buffy couldn’t hear them anymore, Marcus began: “Béa! I…I just want to…well, you know me…I’m not a bad man,…I know I broke your trust, I know you’d never love me anymore, not after what I did. I just want you to know that I’ll always cherish you, always love you…”

Oh God! Faith thought? Could it become any sappier? This guy should definitely stop reading bad poetry.

“I hope…one day you’d remember me as your former fiancé, not the drunk bastard I was. I gotta go now…the enemy is there. Take care of yourself, Béatrice Baulieu.”

He gave her a weak smile, looked at where Buffy was standing then, he quickly leaned forwards to gave a 5 seconds kiss to the brunette before running away, completely aware that the blonde would try to catch him if he stayed any longer.

And indeed, the petite Slayer, had rushed to Faith’s side as soon as she had spotted the kiss. She couldn’t reach Marcus before he left the house though. She couldn’t released herself from the anger that had come back at the sight of the two of them kissing. She looked at Faith who was touching her lips then said:

“You kissed him!”

“What?”

“The bastard tried to…you know and you kissed him!”

“Yeah…no…listen….”

“Don’t want to! They said that the way was safe now. We have to go to Gerro.” And in saying that, Buffy moved away but Faith didn’t let her go. She grabbed her by the arm, put her hands on Buffy’s shoulders to make her look at her and said:

“Damn, B. I didn’t kiss him, he kissed me!”

“During five eternally long seconds! And you didn’t push him away!”

“He took me by surprise! Besides, I’m not offended so, why should you?”

“You’re not offended? What if he takes that kiss as if there was a chance for him to get you back, to get in your pants, have you even thought about it?”

“Well, girlfriend, as much as I know, he never got into Béatrice’s pants which isn’t your concern by the way!”

Buffy bowed her head, blushing and ashamed: “Sorry! I…it’s just…” She then felt Faith’s hand on her cheek and looked up in her friend’s brown eyes.

“I know and I would probably do the same if it had been you Marcus attacked.”

A smile appeared on Buffy’s face, her eyes never leaving Faith’s, she replied: “Really?”

“Oh yeah! I would probably have run after him to cut his balls off and…well, you can see the picture!”

“I’d rather not! Hard visual here!”

Faith grinned. “You want to know why I’m not offended, B?”

“If you want to!” was Buffy shy reply.

“I think Marcus did this because he knew he is gonna die today. Die in a Braveheart carnage like battle. The man has only one arm to defend himself, B…at least, he will have a happy memory to bring with him.”

“Even if he didn’t deserve it?”

“God B! You’re even worse than me!”

“Well, I don’t like him, I hate him and I’ll be glad if he dies.”

“No you wouldn’t and you know it! But keep it!”

“Keep what?”

“The Jealous Buffy attitude. I like it.”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Sure!” was Faith final word before she moved away to tell Fernand that they were leaving. The dark Slayer had indeed liked the thought of a jealous Buffy. Since the moment they had waken up in Carcassone, she had noticed that her own feelings for Buffy were evolving quickly. She was glad that they were friends…and had just discovered now, with Jealous Buffy, that she wouldn’t mind to go further…but she wouldn’t make the first step. Firstly because she wasn’t really sure she was ready for that yet, secondly because she didn’t know what was going on in her friend’s head.

Buffy’s head that was in turmoil right now. Jealous? Could she be jealous? Sure she liked Faith, liked her as a friend but you couldn’t be jealous of a friend, or at least suffering from girlfriendly kind of jealousy for a friend. Then why had she felt so bad and so angry when she had seen Faith and Marcus kissing? There weren’t many answers to that question. In fact, there was only one logical one. Then, she remembered the embarrassment when she had seen Faith naked. At first, she had explained it by an excess of decency but she was fooling herself. It was clear now, she couldn’t hide it to herself anymore. God, she was attracted to Faith!

Spotting Faith and Fernand waiting for her, she shook her head and joined them…but she couldn’t stop thinking about her feelings for Faith. What would she do now, what would they do now? And lots of what if like questions.

*****

“They escaped?”

Marcus swallowed hard. He could hear his own heartbeat increase with each word the inquisitor was telling him. Fury was clearly noticeable in his eyes. Forcing his voice to remain neutral, he nodded.

“The population heard the news about the English army’s arrival and panicked. The Baulieu took advantage of the mess to…to escape. I’m sorry, Father.”

“You-are-sorry! You-are-sorry! Do you even know what…” The monk stopped mid-sentence, breathed a little then continued. “The battle will start soon, Marcus. They need you there! Go!”

“Yes, sir!”

“We’ll end this talk after the battle, Marcus! If you’re still alive.”

Marcus looked a last time to the monk. That was the reaction he had expected. Even if he came back alive, he knew that Brother Symphorien wouldn’t forgive him and would probably take care of him personally, “inviting” him for one of his hobby session. He wouldn’t have this pleasure though because Marcus didn’t intend to come back. After a last sign of the head, he left the room.

Symphorien sat on his chair, opened a drawer and took the Ghost’s skull in his hand. He hoped that a free Slayer wouldn’t mess with their plans…or he’d pay the price.

*****

They had reached and entered Gerro’s house without problems and were now sitting in the library. Fernand was quite proud to be part of his first Slayer related meeting and couldn’t stay still in his chair. The sight made the two Slayers smile.

“So, according to Marcus, Brother Symphorien knows that you are the Slayer!”

“Yes, and as he doesn’t look like an occult freak, I don’t think he has found the Slayer’s existence in a book!”

“Someone has told it to him, someone BMadeleine bothers real bad!”

“Why do you keep calling Madeleine, B? Béatrice?”

“Erm…later Fernand! We’ll fill in the blanks later, OK?”

The boy thought about it a few seconds then nodded. He didn’t want to be expelled from the discussion by being too "inquisitive".

“The Ghost?” Buffy asked, willing to go back to the point!

“Who else? My contacts told me that it is the only underground force left in Carcassone. The others left the town, waiting for the battle to end. I don’t see a Joe Average vampire or demon being friends with the inquisitor in chief.”

“OK, recap here! We have an old and powerful thingy that seemed to have links with an inquisitor! We have missing kids, kidnapped by people who described themselves as Cathars but we have serious doubts about that! And we have real Cathars who are still alive because of the kidnapping. There is a link with all these facts, I know it, and we know it. the question is what?”

“And we wouldn’t have that answer as long as we’ll stay here sitting on our butts. Creepy Ghost is out of reach, the Cathars seem to be the patsies, and we don’t know where the kids are. I think what we have to do is pretty clear now!”

“And what are you proposing, F?”

“Simple! We will pay a little courtesy visit to a monk tonight!”

“Do you think you could find some outfits for B and I, G-demon?”

PART 5

And a Fire burned the Night! These were the first words that came to the Seneschal’s mind in front of the fire that was illuminating the night and reducing the lower part of the town to ashes. He had heard these words coming out of the mouth of a troubadour, a while ago. They were part of a song that had touched the massive soldier. And a Fire burned the night, and I only had my eyes to cry my dear city crumbling in the flames.

The battle for lower Carcassone had been quick. The fortifications had been destroyed easily by the English cavalry as de Barbazan had thought it would. His men had fought bravely but once the walls had fallen, there was no need the let them be butchered. The Seneschal had ordered them to retreat to the upper town, protected by fortifications that no one had been able to pass yet.

Once every soldier had left the lower town, the English soldiers and the mercenaries hired by the Black Prince had plundered it before putting it on fire, destroying everything and it was this show, sad and terrifying that the Seneschal was seeing now.

The beard man sighed then, turned his head towards Brother Symphorien before inviting the man to join him in the briefing room.

The monk followed the Seneschal without betraying anything. Keeping a stone face had always helped him avoid trouble. Inside, rage and frustration were growing. He had finally broken the will of one of the prisoners thanks to torture. The man had revealed what the Ghost wanted to know and, at that moment, Symphorien had felt a moment of pure joy. With the help of the Ghost and its minions, he would totally clean up the region from any heretic cult and would impress lots of important people within the Church. The joy had soon been replaced by frustration though when a guard had come to tell him that the Seneschal had asked him to come, immediately.

So, the two men that shared a profound hate for each other were now walking on the rampart of Carcassone main castle, heading towards the briefing room.

“Do you think they would stay here, besieged Carcassone, Seneschal?”

“No! The Black Prince doesn’t have the men or the resources for such a siege. The fortifications are too strong to break within a few days and we have enough food to hold. He will leave soon. He has what he has been looking for: a moral victory. The news would spread quickly and the next towns would fear him.”

They were reaching the door that led to the briefing room. De Barbazan had already the hand on the door when Symphorien asked: “So, if a siege is out of question, why do you want to talk to me?”

De Barbazan opened the door and left the man entering in first: “The children are still missing, father.”

“And I’ll tell you that I don’t know where they are. I…”

The two men froze. They had just entered the room and were now feeling the pointy ends of what seemed like a bolt on their necks.

“Don’t move, don’t even breathe too loudly. Accidents happen so fast.”

*****

The Seneschal blinked several times before his brain recovered its abilities. He didn’t know who was targeting his neck with a crossbow, he could just see the brunette who had just spoken and was now threatening Symphorien. If the situation wasn’t dramatic, he would have thought that they were both part of a theatrical show as they were both wearing identical clothes. But the situation had nothing laughable. He then felt his own aggressor removing his sword from its scabbard before pushing him to the middle of the room where the monk soon joined him. He could now see who his aggressor was. It was another woman, in the same outfit, a blonde.

“Who are you? And how did you manage to get here?”

The blonde was the first to speak: “We’re not your enemy, don’t worry! Bad timing for you. Wrong place too. How did we come here? Well, people seem to look at everyone but monks, inquisitorphobia probably!”

“Inqui…What?”

“They’re too afraid to look at monks!”

“But...the guards?”

“Too busy looking at the show outside…or taking a forced nap!” the blonde replied.

“What do you want from us?”

This time, the brunette was the fastest: “From you Big Beard, nothing! But from monky here, answers!”

Symphorien was looking at them sweating. His eyes were scanning the room in search of an hypothetical exit. Her eyes still on the monk, Faith continued: “You see, he seems to have special contacts with a guy called the Ghost and we suspect them to be involved in the kidsnapping.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“B? “

Faith continued to point her crossbow to the two men while Buffy moved to the huge wooden table that was on the left of the room and lifted it up apparently effortless. To say that the Seneschal was surprised would be an euphemism. Symphorien didn’t seem surprised though, just more and more scared.

“What are you?”

"I’m the Slayer, Seneschal! Long story, I’ve been chosen to fight the forces of darkness, the same forces Brother Symphorien here is supposed to fight too…only him, he makes business with them."

“That…that’s a lie!” Symphorien managed to say unconvincingly. De Barbazan noticed the monk’s trouble.

“How could I know you’re telling the truth.”

The two Slayers looked at each other, speaking with their eyes. Finally, Faith shrugged, letting Buffy decide what to do next. It didn’t take long for Buffy take her decision, she grabbed the Seneschal’s sword and gave it to de Barbazan who took it. The petite Slayer then put the end of the sword under her chin.

The first thought that crossed Faith’s mind was “Damn, B!” Why does she always have to put herself in these situations? If the guy didn’t believe them, she had just given him a way out, a hostage. And if he used it, they were screwed! For good. She managed not to let her anxiety visible but internally, the scene paralysed her, everything will depend on the guy’s choice.

De Barbazan was weighing the pros and cons. On the one hand, the two women had penetrated in the castle, hurt his men and threatened him! But on the other hand, they were the first ones to give him information about the kidnapping, a possibility for him to have his son back alive. The blonde was even risking her own life trying to convince him she wasn’t an enemy…and Symphorien was way too much nervous to really be innocent. He finally put the sword down, deciding to trust the women.

“So, what’s next now?”

Faith released a long breath. Her nervous system was still in overload. She got the impression to have gained 50 years in a few seconds. She locked her eyes into Buffy’s, showing her disapprobation in this look. The blonde smiled shyly before mouthing a sorry. Then, she moved towards Symphorien.

“OK, monky! You have two solutions here! One, you keep you mouth shut and I’ll have to break your bones one by one. Two, you tell us everything? Either way, you’ll sing before the end of the night.”

“You…you wouldn’t do it! No…Not your style.”

Faith winced. That was the tough part. They had to make the guy believe they were ready to torture him if they had to.

“I think I’d change my style for you. After all, you accused us, would probably kill us if you could, terrorised my little brother, kill a watcher and…I just don’t like your breath.” Her speech finished, Buffy cliqued her tongue in her mouth. A sound that made Symphorien jump. Taking advantage of it, Buffy cracked her fingers and approached them to the man menacingly.

“Stop! Don’t touch me! I’ll tell you everything! I swear.”

Faith smirked, showing her disdain. She had been sure of it, the man was a coward, and men hiding behind strong hierarchies for personal power were often cowards. Still pointing her crossbow in the monk’s direction, she listened to what the guy had to say.

“I…the Ghost contacted me a year ago. I had just arrived in Carcassone. I…I’ve always been ambitious and he offered me heretics in exchange for information…”

“What kind of information, Symphorien?” Anger was perceptible in the Seneschal’s voice.

“Small things first! He wanted to erm…talk to the most important heretics, the bosses, first! I quickly guessed that he was looking for something, something these bosses could know!”

“And what it is?”

“I…when the cardinal discovered the Cathars and ordered me to arrest them, I…well, I couldn’t let the Ghost deal with them first…so he asked me to “interview” them.”

“You mean torture them!”

The monk reluctantly nodded to the Seneschal.

“He wanted me to find the Cathars occult library. Seems that there is a book he absolutely wants that is in this library. A unique book. You see, when the Cathars were defeated in Montsegur, a century ago, three Parfaits escaped. A Parfait was the highest position in the Cathar religious structure. Witnesses said that they left with the Cathar treasure and with their library. The Ghost tracked them and he is certain that the books are here, in Carcassone.”

“And, is he right?”

Symphorien thought that he should hide what he had discovered, but it only lasted a second. He knew that the only way to save his life was to cooperate…completely. “Yes! I’ve just extracted the information from a prisoner…the library is in a house held by a demon named Gerro!”

“Holy fucking shit! The bastard!”

The Seneschal looked at Faith, stunned by her reaction. Buffy just smiled.

“Sounds logical. Its library is quite big.”

“You know this Gerro?”

“Yeah! We didn’t know about the Cathar library though.”

“Well, we never asked Gerro where its books come from either!”

“True but…” Faith suddenly stopped speaking, spotting something at the window, something that automatically disappeared.

“Fuck!” To everyone’s surprise, Faith rushed to the window, noticed that a kind of rope was hanging outside and had barely the time to notice a shadow, on the other end of the rope, touching the ground and disappearing in the streets with a demon that was waiting for it. A shadow she had no pain in recognizing.

“Faith! What’s wrong!”

“The Ghost! It was the Ghost. He must have heard! Oh God!”

“Fernand!”

The Slayers had left the young boy at Gerro, thinking that he was safe there. Bad idea, very bad idea!

“I’m going to Gerro’s.”

“No, B wait!”

The blonde stopped and gave Faith a questioning look. The brunette quickly made her way towards Symphorien and pointed her crossbow to his head.

“15 seconds, asshole! Where are the kids?”

“St Thomas! The old church! There is a tunnel, under the confessional! They are there! Demons are guarding them. It wasn’t my idea, I swear. We just needed time to make the Cathars talk. We knew that they had the information, we couldn’t let them burn before…”

The monk began to cry but Faith didn’t care. She looked at Buffy again then said:

“I’ll go to Gerro’s. You go free the kids!”

“But Faith!”

“No fucking argument here, Buffy! These demons can kill the kids any minute now! They don’t need them anymore, we’ve just given them the fucking clue they needed.”

“But…”

“The Ghost doesn’t want Fernand, he wants a book! I’m gonna get the kid, don’t worry!”

The blonde seemed still hesitant. Faith put her hand on her cheek and said: “Trust me! I won’t do anything stupid, just grab the boy and make sure he is safe. You’re the Slayer here, the kids need you!”

Buffy looked at the floor and finally nodded. At that moment, the Seneschal who had waited for the talk to end said: “My soldiers will come with you, both of you!” Then, he grabbed the monk by the collar and followed the Slayers outside.

*****

The Ghost was running in the streets of Carcassone. Finally, it had finally located the book. After so many years, so many disillusions, it finally knew