TITRE : Il Maestro AUTEUR : Vincent Fretin FEEDBACK : vincef2001@yahoo.fr RATING : PG-13 DISCLAIMER : Faith, Buffy et tous les autres personnages appartiennent à Joss Whedon, WB, etc. NOTE : So, this is my first fic. It is set during season 6 (according to the few things I learned on the net) and it will take a little time before Buffy and Faith become a couple as I think that past issues and the resurrection thing must be settled first. RESUME : Buffy se retrouve la cible d'un tueur impitoyable, Il Maestro, dont l'arme principale n'est autre que Faith, récemment sortie de prison et plus psycho que jamais.

PARTS 1-4

PARTS 5-8

PARTS 9-13

PART 1

San Francisco, January 2002

In the ruins of the motel, Il Maestro waited, feeling the fear coming from his pray... He could clearly see him, running in the woods that surrounded the place, trying to escape... Il Maestro was enjoying every moment of it... He had enjoyed every moment of this mission.

In a month, he had transformed the poor lawyer into a complete wreck, killing his wife’s parents in an "accidental" car crash that had forced his wife to kill herself; he had ruined his reputation thanks to very well-made documents that proved he had connections with the Organized Crime... His boss did not hesitate when he fired him. As the poor man had lots of debts, he had no more reason to hope anymore... But Il Maestro wanted to end it by himself, not allowing him the luxury of suicide...

The lawyer was near... Il Maestro’s amazon leading him to the hall of the motel where he was standing. Time to move.

5... Il Maestro took the knife he was carrying in his pocket

4... The pray ran to the door of the motel, feeling his opponent right behind him

3... Il Maestro extended his arm, throwing the knife

2... The pray entered the motel, finding Il Maestro in front of him

1... The knife reached the pray right in the heart

0... The prey fell on the ground ; lifeless

Il Maestro did not watch the end of the fall, his attention entirely focused on the young woman kneeling in front of the body, taking the knife from the body. His amazon... After a month of intense formation, she was ready for the next mission, the most important of his life, failure was not tolerated... You cannot disappoint these guys... His thoughts were cut off by a sharp remark from the brunette.

"Sorry to disturb you, boss, but I think it is fucking time we move our asses out of here."

Il Maestro sighed.

"One day, we will have to focus ourselves on your good manners, my dear."

"And this day, I will slay you to death..."

Il Maestro laughed, having the girls around was pure pleasure.

"OK, let us go to Sunnydale... meet your sister in arms, Faith."

A hysterical laugh followed the smile of pure cruelty that had appeared in the young girl lips... Oh, yeah, he liked this girl...

PART 2

The night had just fallen on Sunnydale. Xander was driving the car and listened to the conversation his two passengers had. Willow and Anya were talking about the wedding. Xander was gald to see Willow like this. Since her friend had dropped magic, she had been through a rough period, it is never easy to fight an addiction but she was doing pretty well now and had been very useful regarding the whole wedding thing. She and Anya had become very close thanks to the ceremony and they were currently discussing the guest list.

"You see, I don’t want to invite him, he is always following me like a dog and I don’t want sniffy dogs at my wedding but, the point is that if he comes, the Waby sisters will not come, they can’t stand each other. And if the Warby’s are not here, that could be a plus... Have you seen them, they are disgustingly fat, I would need to add food for them and it would cost more so, I don’t want them. The problem is that the Warby’s are close friend to..."

Willow seemed lost and Xander gave her his "I told you so" look through the rearview mirror before focusing his attention on the road. He was worried also. If Willow was doing well, Buffy was not that good. She tried to behave like before her death but, she could not and Xander wondered if she would ever be able to do it... She had known Heaven and this world was like Hell for her as she had stated in front of them. What could possibly help her to forget it and made her come back to her former self?

Xander stopped the car, they were in front of the Summers’ house. After saying goodbye to her friends, the former witch stepped out of the car and went to the house, took her keys and opened the door. She entered the house and the last thing she saw was a fist connecting with her face then, darkness. When Willow collapsed on the floor, a voice said:

"Told you Miss Muffet, a surprised witch is an uneffective witch."

PART 3

Sunnydale, one hour later

Buffy entered her house after her last patrol. Thinking Dawn and Willow asleep, she tried to be as quiet as possible. The night had been very calm and as Spike had not showed up, she felt relieved for once. She went to the dark living room and... CLICK. Buffy froze... CLICK; it was not normal... She touched something with her right leg but, in the dark, it was impossible to tell what... And suddenly, someone switched the light on... And Buffy almost screamed...

Dawn was attached on a chair in the other side of the room, she could not move. On her right, on the sofa, a crossbow pointed on her, on her left, on the table, another crossbow that was also directed to her sister. Both crossbows were connected to each other thanks to a rope... the same rope that Buffy was feeling on her leg... She immediately understood that if she moved, Dawn was doomed...

"Hey, girlfriend!"

Buffy sensed Faith more than anything. The rogue slayer was behind her, coming from upstairs but she did not dare to move... the cost was too high. She had to speak to her, to gain time.

"Faith! What the hell?..."

"No curse, B! I will do the speech for once."

"What do you want? Where is Willow?"

"Upstairs, you know, she can be wicked cool when she is asleep... There will be some bruises, of course, but she is fine."

Rage began to rise inside Buffy... Faith had hit her best friend and was threatening her sister... Oh, beware the payback...

"You seem a little upset, B? Something wrong?"

The last words were just a whisper... Faith was now right behind Buffy, almost touching her... Buffy could feel her warm breath near her right ear and her body tensed... Faith noticed it.

"Afraid of me, B? Or is it something else?"

Buffy tried to punch Faith but missed her.

"Easy, B... don't forget Miss Muffet... She is counting on you."

"Bitch!"

Buffy was unable to say something else... Rage was burning her... But it was not only a rage directed to Faith, part of it was for herself... She had always been weak when Faith was around even when they fought. She had feelings for the girl and could not erase it, whatever Faith had done... but this time, she was going too far.

"I may be a bitch...", she was speaking to Buffy’s ear again. "...but you seem to like this kind of behaviour."

"Wh...what?"

She licked her ear, Buffy tensed again.

"Oh, come on... I know you like bad boys... and I am pretty sure you like bad girls too... at least one of them."

"Am not."

Faith does not move, on the contrary, she passed a hand around Buffy’s waist and continued.

"Oh, yes you are... so, after Angel, you are boinking Spike... Don’t deny it, B... I know everything... Death Boys must have something more... You think you can borrow me Spike... for a scientific experiment..."

Faith's hand was moving to her nipples... hard nipples.

"I can feel it, B... You want me bad... but you won’t have me... not now, never..."

Another wave of rage... no, it was more than rage... Was it hatred?

Faith made a step back, gave a soft kiss on Buffy’s neck and said:

"You know what? I think I will go see Spike now... this experiment thing... I think it is kinda cool... so, don't move, B... Red will be awake soon and will free both of you."

Before Faith went out, Buffy regained her composure and asked again:

"What do you want, Faith?"

"Be the only slayer on Earth, B... It means your death... and the Scoobies too for old time sakes... This was just a warning."

And she was gone.

The rage did not fade, on the contrary, it consumed her... but this rage was not entirely directed to Faith, a big part of it was directed to herself... She had been too weak to handle Faith’s case three years before... and she was paying the price of this weakness. For the first time since her resurrection, Buffy abandoned herself to a feeling... rage... Despair and denial times were over... The rage would guide her to her dark counterpart, would help her to fight whatever kind of weaknesses she would face. She was a slayer... She would react like a slayer.

PART 4

45 minutes after Faith’s departure, Willow freed the Summer sisters. Strangely, Buffy seemed more affected by the events than Dawn. Willow had never seen her like that. She had seen her upset more than once but, this time, it was different... The look in Buffy’s eyes was not a good... well... look... She called Tara to come and take care of Dawn and followed Buffy to Spike’s crypt.

"Buffy, wait!"

"Let me handle this alone, Willow. It is none of your business."

The reply was cold, even harsh, the kind of reply you know you are not allowed to answer. Willow did the only thing that crossed her mind, she kept her mouth shut and followed her friend.

Once in front of the crypt, Buffy kicked the door and then entered Spike’s lair... just in time to see Faith dust a blond vampire and a stunned Willow saw her best friend laughed at this sight... the laugh of an insane...

Buffy jumped on Faith who grabbed her arm and pulled. Both Slayers fell on the ground. Buffy was up first and threw Faith to the wall, face first. She ran to her opponent but did not see the spray Faith has now in her right hand... probably coming from her pocket. Faith blinded her before running out.

Willow had not moved. She looked at her friend regaining composure. Buffy was watching her with the same look that she gave Faith a minute before and Willow understood. Buffy had gone too far. It was not the same situation as the previous nervous breakdown, when Glory had kidnapped Dawn, no. This time Buffy’s mind seemed to have chosen craziness, it did not want to suffer anymore... and for the first time in her life, Buffy scared her... So, she did the only thing reasonable and ran outside Spike’s crypt. She could hear Buffy beginning a countdown from 20. For Buffy, hunting was a game now. And Willow was her first pray. But surprises seemed to burst from everywhere this night.

Once outside, Willow found a girl standing on a motorbike. She seemed to be waiting for her. Still hearing Buffy’s countdown, she saw the girl (a native American for sure) smiling before saying:

"You wanna live?"

And she ignitated the motor... A few seconds later, Buffy saw the two girls driving away.

The witch was gone, Buffy cursed but smelt something... vampires... Willow would wait. She had other things to do... and she followed the smell.

Il Maestro smiled... From the building in front of the cemetery, he had seen Faith and the witch running and Buffy acting as planified... He did not know who the motor girl was but he did not care. No one would stand against the slayer anymore...

Darkness, since that bitch put him in this alley, hiding him in a car wreck, he had had only darkness as companion. Suddenly, he heard footsteps, two hands took him and threw him against the wall. She was back and he could not fight back, the handcuffs were too strong.

"Hey, Chip Boy... Told you you’d see me again..."

"What did I answer when you told me that? Oh yeah, it was - Sorry, miss Evilier than thou but I already have the real slayer in charge and..."

Faith’s knee on his groin cut Spike’s reply. Whoaa... That was painful...

"Like it? The fun has just begun though and don’t count on your... charge to rescue you... She is so absent-minded these days..."

Spike saw Faith putting her hand to her nose... her bleeding nose.

"Seems that she kicked your syphilitic ass once again, whore."

A punch... the normal kind, he thought. He would survive.

"Yeah, she almost broke my nose, you know."

Spike saw a shadow right behind Faith. He could not see who it was but hope was there again. Faith sensed the newcomer too, she turned her head and stayed speechless, unreacting. The newcomer took advantage of her hesitation to knock her out with a baseball bat.

"Now, it is broken." was the only thing the newcomer had to say and when Spike saw who it was, his eyes went wide of surprise.

Suite PARTS 5-8