Buffy's Covenant

Chapter Eleven: Just A Chat

Disclaimer: The Covenant and Buffy the Vampire Slayer aren't mine; I'm just borrowing them from their respective creators.

Summary: His remains weren't found in ruins left by the burnt down barn. No one knew what happened to him or where he went, but he was back now and intent on draining the power of the one person he underestimated...

Author's Notes: Initially this chapter was written as a separate one-shot ficlet when I first posted it, but after further deliberation I figured I might as well insert this chapter here since it will help explain the events of the next chapter.

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Buffy's Covenant

by PhoenixRae

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XI. Just A Chat

CALEB WAITED UNTIL THE blond woman left the room before slipping inside the dimly lit bedroom where Faith was resting. He knew he was on borrowed time; Buffy would be coming back soon after doing whatever it was she left the room for to do, but he needed to know if Faith could tell him anything about what happened tonight. Reid was pretty knocked out of this world after drinking Willow's brew so getting any answers from him would be futile.

Tiptoeing to the side of Faith's bed, Caleb took a deep breath and allowed himself to take in the sight of the woman who was as tough as nails while she was busy tossing him and Pogue in the dojo earlier that day. Seeing her lying there all bruised up and unconscious, he couldn't believe that she was the same woman who was teaching him self-defense and hoisting heavy objects without as much as breaking a sweat.

"You better have a good reason for standing there gawking at me, Danvers."

Caleb jumped when he heard the supposedly unconscious woman growl at him from where she lay on the bed.

"You're awake now?"

"I've been awake since B left to go to the ladies' room."

"Does she know you're awake?"

"Hell no," she croaked. "She'd be bombarding me with questions that I have no intention of answering."

"Oh," Caleb sounded deflated. It was his reason for sneaking in here when he saw Buffy leave the room. "Well, glad to know you're awake and how are you feeling?"

Faith was silent for a second. He heard a rustle on the bed and suspected she was changing positions. It was pretty dark in the room; the shades were shut and there was hardly a light coming from the moon or lamp posts outside that filtered in through the windows.

"I feel like shit, but I'll heal soon. Slayers heal fast," she reassured him.

Slayer. There was that term again. He's heard it tossed about since he walked in to this household, but none of the residents of their host home told him what a Slayer was.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave," Caleb took a step back and was about to do an about face when Faith stopped him by calling out his last name.

"Is Cockypants okay?" There was genuine concern in her tone when she asked.

"Reid looks as good as you, and I'd hazard a guess that he feels the same way you do too," he grinned.

Faith huffed. "At least he didn't suffer being thrown about like a damn ball," she muttered.

"What?"

"That Chase dude's packing quite a lot of mojo magic -- dark magic if I'd hazard a guess myself, but really, I don't need to guess it when he attacked us, the good guys."

Chase. Caleb's entire body turned cold and stiff at the mention of the name of the person he thought he banished to Kingdom Come over four years ago.

"Are you sure it was Chase that attacked you?" he demanded.

"Yeah. Reid knew him and called him Chase."

"Fuck," he hissed and clenched his fists.

Faith wasn't oblivious to what was going on around her even though she felt like she was hit by a five-ton truck. "He's obviously somebody special," she mocked. "Reid didn't sound welcoming when he hissed that jerk's name out when he appeared out of nowhere and surprised us while on patrol."

"You're right," he snarled. Caleb had to close his eyes and counted one to ten to calm his nerves before continuing, "Chase Collins' one nasty SOB who's addicted to the Power and would kill to obtain as much Power as he can."

"Then we gotta stop him," Faith said simply.

"Don't worry, he will be stopped and this time for good," Caleb promised.

Faith studied the young man for a while. Given that it was near pitch-black in her room at the moment she was able to see a silhouette of the leader of the Covenant.

"You don't have to do it alone this time, Danvers," she told him solemnly. "You got back-up now," she added when he didn't answer.

"It's not your fight," he argued.

"I know," Faith agreed. "But B wouldn't have dreamed about it if we ain't involved one way or the other," she told him.