Some kind of bitchy, broody superhero ([info]neverbeenfree) wrote,
@ 2007-12-13 20:45:00
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Shhhh (FM December Topic) This anxiety I'll keep through another fuckin' day
I had to be quiet as hell in the Wolfram and Hart garage. I knew they had all kinds of whacked out gizmos for detecting vamps on the premises but I wasn’t sure where they stood on slayer monitoring. For all I knew they were watching me as I laid on the cold pavement of the parking garage, between two cars with a gun poised carefully on my right shoulder. It was aimed directly at James’ car and the minute the son of a bitch decided to go somewhere I was gonna take him out with about three tranqs that could take out an elephant each. Figured that’s gotta do the trick and if it didn’t? Well, I hadn’t really lost anything. Except for maybe a limb, but I’d only ever made Daddy Dearest angry enough to try and set me on fire. I didn’t think he’d tear my limbs off. Maybe.

I’d been making a lot of progress lately. The girls at school were fucking fierce and they worked their asses off. That was probably a direct result of Kennedy pushin’ them so hard but at least they were workin’ up to their full potential. Although, the idea of me bein’ the nice one? That’s gotta be entertaining someone somewhere.

The truth was, I wasn’t planning on resting until I sent the Partners back to hell where they belonged. Maybe it was impossible, maybe I’d die trying, but at least I would have tried. It was a nice distraction from Alexia’s absence and Harry’s silence. At least Tyler and I were speaking to each other a little bit beyond small talk. That was sort of an improvement. I got why he was upset, I got why everyone was upset. Not everyone had a convenient revenge plot distraction like I did.

I heard the elevator door open and I held my breath, keeping as still as death as I heard two sets of footsteps approaching. Shit. Two footsteps, which meant it wasn’t gonna be my father. Still, I watched and after a few minutes it was my dad who finally showed up, with my mother tagging along right behind him. I bit down on my lip. Should I take them both out? Could be fun to try the drugs on Lena, see what truths she would actually tell. As fun as it might be I knew I needed everything I had for James, I had no idea how much it would take to drug a senior partner.

Still holding my breath I focused so my aim was square in the middle of James’ chest. Pulling the trigger quickly I half expected him to just reach out and snatch the dart like he had the day I tried to actually shoot him. But this time? This time he wasn’t expecting it and the dart embedded itself firmly in his chest. He glanced up and met my eyes and I couldn’t help but think that was exactly where the dart had hit Harry back in the jungle so long ago. I matched his cold look as I pulled the trigger again and again, only getting back up to my feet when he started to sway on his.

Reaching out I grabbed ahold of him before he hit the floor. “You’re lucky I need you right now or else I’d let your head hit the floor I told him as I reached into his coat pocket and grabbed the keys to his whip. Opening the back door of his car I managed to shove him inside before he totally lost consciousness.

Turning back to Lena I leveled an even gaze on her. “I need to borrow him, cool?” I asked, but I didn’t stop to wait for an answer. Instead I climbed into the driver’s seat and was about to pull away from the spot when the passenger’s door opened and my mother climbed in.

“Family field trip, Mom? I always wanted to go to Disney Land but hey this works too.” I smirked at her as I backed the car out of the space and headed out into traffic.

(Lena)


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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-15 08:42 am UTC (link)
People were so hard to reason with these days. I'd spent the last half hour desperately trying to convince James that he should reunite his two daughters with the half sister they never knew about. Especially now that she was back in Los Angeles, having been unwittingly returned, I felt it was only fair and proper that she and her sisters have the opportunity to know one another. It's evident that I'd be lying if I pretended not to have an ulterior motive. Of course it was well known that I always did. But despite my usual indifference toward the lives of my children, there was still some small spark of maternal longing that wanted to see my girls all together for at least once in their tumultuous lives.

But James was as stubborn as his daughters had turned out to be, and he flatly refused. By the time we'd reached the garage, he'd bluntly ended the discussion. Serenity was a penance I continued to pay for my sins against my former lover. As much as her return to this dimension rekindled instincts that had been long dead by the time Faith was born, I was forbidden from approaching or even contacting her. As they say, bad girls get punished. And James would probably forever continue to punish me. I suppose he wasn't aware that he already was.

We had barely made it to a subject change when he stopped short, something causing his body to jerk almost involuntarily, the way a muscle spasms. My eyes followed his own to my middle child, laying there on the floor with a tranquilizer gun and I stepped back at the sight of the next two spasms in order to save my new Prada suit from any blood or dirt that might ensue. Faith asked me if she could borrow him, though it was hardly a question so much as it was a smart-assed assertion that she was doing what she was feigning to ask.

Leave it to her to do such a stupid thing. My daughters were all so different. Serenity, the poor thing, was out of her mind due to James's punishment tactics. Faith was all too strong headed, always jumping the gun and flying off of the proverbial handle. Never looking before leaping. She always did manage to land on her feet though. And then there was Grace. Grace who fit her name. Lately, she had quietly integrated herself to the ranks of Wolfram and Hart just like those who had worked their asses off and sold their souls for even a bottom rung on the latter she topped. Part of me was proud that at least one of my children had the sense to make the best of the predicament I had placed them in. And part of me was disgusted that it appeared she had given up so easily, that she signed one contract and suddenly there was no fight left in her. That was the part of me that was proud of Faith. I knew that no matter what happened, how the odds were stacked, or if the chips were down, there would always be enough fight in her. She would simply never surrender. Which meant she would either win it all, or she would die trying.

As for James, he might be unconscious now, but he wouldn't remain as such forever. And when he awoke, there would be a certain amount of Hell to pay. He wasn't above killing his own child, so there'd need to be some sort of interference to prevent him from going too far. To manipulate him and pretend to remind him that she was of much more use to the company alive than in Hell where I'd ensured her soul to end up.

I hurried to join her in the car, climbing into the passenger seat next to her where I was again treated to the sharp edge of her wit. Charming, wasn't she?

"I hope you're not planning on taking him far," I replied simply. "It's beginning to snow so it would seem you're already operating on borrowed time." I added coolly. The snow was an anomaly, but hardly a noteworthy one. When you came from a world like ours, and have lived in it as long as I have, not much is capable of eliciting surprise. It truly has all been done before, and even if it hasn't, there's always some purpose behind it that will be revealed eventually.

While I may not be the surprised type, Faith seemed at least a little surprised that I didn't even try to argue with her or discourage her actions. What can I say? Mommy's not stupid. Like I said, people were so hard to reason with these days.

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-15 04:48 pm UTC (link)
"C'mon Mom. We lived in Boston long enough to be able to handle some snow." I muttered as I stepped harder on the gas. Granted, snow in LA seemed pretty fucking whacked if you asked me. It was weird but my very first thought was Grace. Had she somehow made this happen? The truth was, I probably had only a small idea of what my little sister could do, but I did know she was connected to me deeply. Maybe she knew what I was up to tonight.

The snow was coming down hard and fast and by the time I reached the school for slayers a thick white blanket had already covered the ground. Good thing James had a decent car with good tires. After all, he could afford it. Then again, so could I but I only had a fast shiny car. More often than not, I preferred to walk anyways.

Flinging the door open I walked to the backseat and pulled the door open where James was still sleeping peacefully. He almost looked harmless when I was asleep and I took the opportunity to study him a little bit. This was where I came from. I came from him....I felt Lena behind me and turned to look at her. And her.

Shaking it off I grabbed James by his ankles and quickly pulled him so that he was half hanging on the ground and half in the car still. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a needle and looked at it. Fuck, I hoped this work. The doc had told me it was enough to drop a damn elephant and force it to tell the truth but I didn't have a clue about senior partners. It was a good sign that the tranqs had worked on him though.

Pushing the needle into his neck he stirred a little but I knew the drugs would act as a sedative as well as force him to tell me everything he knew so with any luck he'd be out.

"Stand clear." I told Lena as I grabbed onto his ankles again and dragged him out the car, watching with some satisfaction as his head hit the ground. Dragging him through the snow as Lena closed the doors, we made a trail with James' body all the way to the back entrance in the kitchen. I didn't wanna freak out the girls if any of them were home, so I opted for the back route. Thankfully it was also right by the basement door.

His head thunked on every step on the way down before I struggled to prop him up in a chair so I could tie him down and wait for him to wake up.

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-15 11:01 pm UTC (link)
It was true enough. I'd raised my girls in Boston which I'd originally believed was far enough away from the filth I was running from. Unfortunately for me and my poor judgment, it was it's only level of filth. Much like the layers of Hell. Faith was probably 12 when she began stealing cars. My fault, I suppose. Too hung over to bother trying to drive the two of them to school. Instead, they'd had to walk through however many inches of snow didn't constitute a day off from school. Walking builds character. And it was only three miles anyway.

I wondered where she was taking her father, but it wasn't too long before we arrived at her little school for Slayers. It was a fascinating feed to watch, although I'm not sure she even knew we had the place wired as well as we had the whole island. Aidan took a particular interest in those girls. And James preferred that I keep an eye on their activity, just in case his daughter was building an army against him. They were well trained, that was certain. Mostly on the part of the tortured brunette who'd somehow ended up as Grace's side dish. But at the end of the day, they were just that. They were just little girls. They had boyfriends and went to parties and were ultimately unable to detach themselves from the desire to have a normal life to dedicate themselves enough to their cause to be any real threat to the Partners. Or so I said in my reports.

Faith took great pleasure in brutalizing her father. She kept plying him with darts and injections and I had yet to figure out her angle her. I merely gave her a cold, disapproving thin-lipped look at the sheer lack of necessity of what she was doing. It wasn't as if he could feel the pain she was inflicting. And he wasn't likely to when he awoke. He'd removed bullets as if they were splinters. I preferred to be remain focused on the mission at hand and apathetic while Faith seemed to be letting her emotions prevail somewhat. It was disappointing. I thought I'd taught her better than that with the front of my fist, the sharp crack of my belt. I'd taught her to be hard.

I didn't help her at all as she set him up in a chair nor as she tied him down. Again, I wasn't sure what the angle here was which I meant I was undecided on my involvement one way or the other. I was simply here to keep my daughter from signing her own death sentence.

"Now what?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest as I began to circle both her and the now bound form of James. The sharp dagger of my stilettoed heels hit sharply on the cement floor. "Going to ask Daddy why he never loved you?" I asked, my eyes studying her dark features and their reflections of my own. "Hmm? Going to make him say 'uncle'?" I stopped, resting a few feet to the corner of the chair as James began to stir.

"I do hope you have a plan. Drugging people based solely on a whim in hopes of getting what you want from them only works for frat boys, dear."

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-15 11:22 pm UTC (link)
"Fuck frat boys. I got bigger fish to fry." I muttered as I finished securing Daddy Dearest. I ignored Lena's sarcasm about asking Daddy why he never loved me. I'm sure that if James could love, he would love me. I was way beyond the bullshit of thinking that no one could possibly ever love me. I had enough love, what I didn't have though was answers.

Sometimes I almost wanted to say thank you to both of them. Yeah, they fucked me up, used me for my whole damn life. But at least James knocked up a human. I was half a demon inside and that wasn't even counting my slayer parts but I was enough human to know, to feel. Lena was my human side and for that I had some little bit of gratitude for her. But besides that? I mostly just hated their guts.

I slapped James hard across the face then, so hard that I left a bright red mark for only a second until it faded away. I had a needle in my hand so if he came to too fast I'd just dose him up again. I wasn't taking any chances.

He started to stir a little bit and I waited patiently until he opened his eyes and looked around bewildered for a moment. He looked almost human then and I took I captured it in my mind. I wanted to always remember him this way. Finally his eyes calmed as he settled his gaze on my mother and then me.

"I can't feel my legs." He muttered.

"No. You can't." I smirked as I held up the needle. "Know what this is, Daddy? It's Sodium Pentothal. Pretty decent sedative I'm told. Although, the best part of it all? Well, I don't need to tell you, you already know."

James snickered a bit then. "Do you really think this is going to hold me?"

"I dunno. But it'll be fun to find out." I shot back in his direction. "I figure I can't make you any angrier than I already have. I know you sent that demon after me, James. Didn't you? You were tryin' to kill me."

"Yes." The answer just popped right out of his mouth before he could even stop it.

"I guess it works after all." I shrugged.

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-16 12:45 am UTC (link)
I raised a severely arched eyebrow when James announced that he couldn't feel his legs. My glance turned sharply to Faith as I wondered just what it was she was doing, what had been in those darts. I halfway wondered why she hadn't bothered shooting one at me. I can think of numerous reasons she'd have to drug me or tie me up or otherwise harm me.

The Sodium Pentothal made it all make sense finally. A person only used truth serum for one thing, and it wasn't its sedative purposes.

I wondered if the drugs really would hold him. They'd already taken him down and hard. It was hard to diminish the capacity of a Senior Partner, but not impossible. Merely suicide to try, and especially to succeed. With every passing argument, I realized how hard it was going to be to talk my daughter's fate out of this one.

But I was stopped cold and short by the admission that he'd already tried to kill her. That wasn't part of the arrangement. That wasn't part of anything I'd originally signed or agreed to, and I was pretty sure from reviewing my other daughter's contract that it was explicitly outlined against. She signed on to save everyone else around her. An attempt on Faith's life would surely be a breach of contract, wouldn't it.

"We had a deal," I said sharply to James, resisting the urge to slap him across the face the way that my daughter had. It was obvious that mama had taught her well. But the more pressing issue was why. Had she served her purpose? Was she too close to getting in the way? Was he threatened by her? Would he go after Grace too? Put Serenity through more Hell? Where did he draw the line? I may be property of the company but I'd be damned if I would sit back and watch my daughters be killed off. I may have done more harm to them than I ever did good, but they were the only thing I ever did with my life that was right. I had nothing else to lose, so I wasn't going to let the firm take that away from me.

"Why'd you try to kill her?" I demanded. If I knew James, and I was one of the few people who did, there wasn't just an attempt. There was always a follow through, which meant Faith was in more danger than I'd originally assumed. "Are you going to try to kill her again? What about Grace? Serenity?"

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-16 02:12 am UTC (link)
"We had a deal." James mocked Lena, and it was so obvious that it almost made me wanna hit him again for her. Imagine that. "Give me a break, Lena. You know that I'm only as good as my word and my word? Doesn't mean much." He smirked in her direction. "The only deal you get is doing what I tell you to do. And let's be honest, you haven't even been very good at that. You're lucky you're not still burning in hell." He smiled at her before turning his head back in my direction.

"I have no intentions of harming Grace. She cooperates, she's everything I could have hoped for in my legacy." He smiled fondly and it made my stomach twist. "Just think, you were the one I was putting everything on, Faith. You were supposed to be my pride and joy. Daddy's little girl. It turns out Grace was the one I wanted all along. The only thing you ever do is get in the way. You feel too much, react too much. Grace is very hotheaded too but I have every confidence that we can curb that in her given enough time."

I curled my hands up into two small fists listening to him talk about my sister that way. She wouldn't become like him. I wouldn't let her.

"And as far as Serenity goes? Well, let's be honest. She's next to useless. That girl has no power. That's your mistake, Lena. Not mine. The only reason I took an interest in the girl was to hold her over your head. But I don't need to do that anymore, do I Lena? I already have you right where I want you."

Serenity. That was my other sister's name. Serenity. I guess Lena had a thing for the name themes. I wondered if she had been religious when she was younger.

"But you, Faith." He turned his head back in my direction. "You're nothing but a disappointment. I've wondered often over the years if things would have been different if I had raised you. Turned you into the slayer I knew you could be instead of a worthless waste. I guess we'll never know, will we?"

I thought I was well past the point of James' words having any kind of effect on me but every single word he said was cutting right through me harder than the sharpest blade could do.

"Where is Serenity now?" I asked him. It wasn't really top of the questions I had to ask but now I wanted to know.

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-16 05:44 am UTC (link)
I watched the various emotions cross my daughter's face as James gave her his viewpoint things. I couldn't help but match her frown when he mentioned the plans he had for Grace. I wouldn't my girls to be smart, I wanted them to play the game, but never did I want them to become pawns in it.

Sometimes I wondered if I really was lucky I wasn't still burning in Hell. Living under James's thumb was a Hell all its own making. It grew tiresome, always doing what he told me to. My soul may have been sold, but I still had a mind of my own.

My frown grew deeper, colder when he mentioned that Serenity's fate was my fault. It was a lie. He'd never really held her over my head so much as he'd punished an innocent child for the sins of her mother and used it to make me hurt, not to make me do his bidding.

I was anticipating a few more blows from Faith. I thought she'd literally knock his teeth out for all the talk of what a disappointment and a waste she supposedly was. He was right about one thing, she did feel. And there was no possibility that his words did not hit their aims like carefully thrown daggers. I half expected her to rip his tongue out through his throat to keep him from talking any further. I never expected her to ask the million dollar question.

"At the hotel, you idiot." James answered, in obvious spite of himself. He was angry. This was information he never wanted to volunteer. He'd wanted to keep it to himself to use as leverage. Now, he was being forced to lay it all out on the table.

But just as quickly, he began to take a certain pleasure in it. In answering questions that revealed all his secrets.

"You should know that, Faithy." He said, using a name we all knew she despised. "You're the one who brought her back, after all. You and Connor. You brought her back to this dimension and then you just left her on Angel's doorstep like an abandoned infant born at a high school prom who was spared the dumpster." He tsk-tsked, but his smile was laced with pure evil. He was enjoying this. Enjoying turning it around on her. "Your own sister," He added. "Of course, this was long after you'd abandoned poor little Gracie. Left her to fend for herself against Lena over there. Lena, who you still look at with hatred, even after all these years. Yet, you were perfectly fine leaving Grace alone with her." He smirked. "Perhaps if you had been there for your own daughter, she wouldn't be the thing she is now. Your sisters actually lucked out, didn't they? They're at least still alive. We can't say the same for little Alexia now can we?"

James seemed to relax, despite the fact that he was tied up and halfway paralyzed. "Anything else you want to ask me while you have the opportunity? I'm sure anything you'd like to know, I can make clear how you either disappointed me in it or merely fucked the entire thing up."

I knew I should have spoke up, said something, attempted to defend my daughter. But it would be an empty gesture. It was a little too late to try protecting my children now.

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-16 06:46 am UTC (link)
I swallowed hard again. Trying to push his hateful words about Alexia out. He didn't know anything about that. He didn't know me or my daughter and he needed to keep his fucking mouth shut about it. I had to resist the urge to sock him one good. Instead I just stood there listening to a bunch of garbage. So this was the real James. The monster underneath the mask.

And it figured. That girl.....there was something familiar about her. I wasn't exactly surprised. She was a dead ringer for Lena, definitely looked more like her than me or my sister did. Grace looked like him. I wasn't really sure who I looked like. I'd have to go back to the hotel after the storm, after I was done with James and find Little Red Riding Hood. Because she was my big sister.

But for right now? I had things to do. Grabbing another chair I dragged it closer to him and turned it backwards before I sat down on it with my arms crossed over the back of it so I could lean in closer to him. He was dangerous but it didn't really matter where I was. Me and my mom were gonna feel the wrath of him whenever he got out of here.

"How do I stop you?" I asked him point blankly.

"You wanna kill me?" He asked me back with a smirk. "Really wanna kill me?"

"How do I do it?" I repeated making it clearer to the guy who can't feel his legs.

"It's impossible." James said and I frowned because that wasn't what I had banked on hearing. I couldn't believe that something anything could be completely indestructible. It just wasn't possible.

"So that's it? There's no way to get rid of you."

"I didn't say that. I said it was impossible to kill me." He smiled at me. "You don't have to look that far, Faith. Maybe if you hadn't dropped out of high school you would see something when it's right in front of your face. Have you looked at that locket Little Red has?"

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-16 06:37 pm UTC (link)
I could see the proverbial wheels turning when James mentioned some locket that Serenity, or I'm at least supposing Little Red was supposed to be a nickname for my oldest. She looked to me to see if I happened to know what he was talking about, but I merely shrugged. He had kept me from everything to do with her except to remind me that he had her and I'd never see her again. The only thing I could hope for was to stay in line enough for him to let her keep living.

So if she had any questions about her older sister, she'd better make good usage of the Sodium Pentothal while it was still in full effect.

Truth be told, I was still stuck on the fact that Faith had gone to all this trouble to find out how to kill James and the others too likely. It was common knowledge in our would that they could not die. Many had tried with many different methods, and all had failed. It was common for an underling to think that their immortality was a myth, just a corporate urban legend. And knowing the score, they'd try to take out one of the Partners, prove their prowess. Whether it be beheading, silver bullets, holy water (which was perhaps the most stupid), stakes to the heart, poison, and even one unfortunate incident when someone set Dominique on fire, it never worked. They healed almost instantaneously, and the Hell to pay was literal.

Faith could have just asked me and spared us both the consequences of doing things this way. But I doubt she'd have listened to me, which is why she'd never bothered. I couldn't fully blame her for that.

"What's so special about the locket?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. I was already damned now, might as well make it worth it. I owed my daughters nothing, because I had already given them life. And what more can you give a person than life itself? But if there were some possible way to get rid of James, maybe it would mean undoing all I'd done. Releasing them all from their contracts. And possibly myself so I could just rest in peace at some point.

"How does it stop you?"

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-16 07:59 pm UTC (link)
"I don't know." James said earnestly in Lena's direction. "I don't know how it works or what it does. We didn't even know she had it until she emerged onto this side. We haven't gotten close enough to take it back yet, or else she wouldn't even have it." He smiled before turning back to me. "Nothing will stop me, Faith. I told you before."

I just stared at him for a long moment wondering if I should dose him up again or just beat the everlovin' crap out of him while I had the chance. It was a tough call. I still had more questions though and it was time to switch gears a little bit. I had to follow up with this Serenity thing and look into the locket. James didn't know how it worked but I bet I could find someone who could figure it out. And it would have to be fast, before he could get his hands on her.

"Did you have anything to do with what happened to Alexia?" I asked him point blankly, working hard to keep a neutral expression on my face.

"No. I hired Sophia to lure her away from Connor but I never instructed her to turn Lexi. She was acting on her own for that one."

I swear to God I could see red right now. "You hired a vampire to date my daughter?" I hissed out at him. "You never once considered the possibility that could be dangerous?"

"Of course I considered it but I ensured that Sophia would fall for Alexia so that she wouldn't wish to end her life. Turning was always a possibility but that suits me just as well too. I never wanted Lexi to die. I just wanted her on the right side." He smiled at me and I felt my stomach twist into knots.

"How do I undo it? How do I get her back?" I asked, my knuckles turning white by this point as I struggled hard to keep my rage in check.

"You can't. Alexia's soul was never her own. Even any effort to extrapolate the soul from Harry and deliver it back to Alexia will fail. What your looking for is a miracle and I'm not in the business of miracles."

"You can do almost anything. Am I supposed to believe that we don't have the power to undo what happened to her? Some sort of time travel or I don't know, alternate universe?"

"There are alternate universes and I'm sure Alexia exists in some capacity somewhere else, but Faith. She won't be your daughter. Not really. You never know what you could end up with if you try a swap like that." He warned me.

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-16 08:57 pm UTC (link)
Apparently the truth serum had been in full effect when James had said he was only as good as his word and that his word didn't mean much. So many deals had been made, so many bargains with the devil to keep him and the rest of the firm away from the family and the friends of the people they had targeted. And none of those were worth the ink they were signed with.

It was hard for me to be indignant about what he had done to my granddaughter. If I wasn't maternal, I certainly wasn't grandmotherly. I thought of it moreso in business terms. Wolfram and Hart had trained me to be a ruthless, cutthroat business woman. But in doing so, they had also taught me that we were only as good as our word. It was fine to give, even for usurious consideration in return. So long as we could keep up our ends of any bargain. Failure to do so usually led to punishment. But I'd have been stupid to expect that the rules somehow weren't different for them.

"He's right," I offered, in contrast to what Faith was contemplating. "Nothing ever comes back the way it was before." I was clear proof of that. Though my children might see me in much of the same light they saw me in when I was alive, they still didn't know the true depths of my coldness, the apathy I held without a soul. "What's been done can't be undone. Not even by someone with your sister's power."

Though there were clearly ways of working around. The alternate universes being one. I'd never had reason to tamper with them, but I imagined they worked much the way Stephen King's Pet Semetary did. Something about what you put in the ground not coming out the same. Regardless, I didn't have enough experience to give an opinion one way or the other. Besides, Faith was willfull, and if she got it in her head to try something, she'd try it regardless of who advised her otherwise. But especially if James was that advisor.

Still, Faith wasn't using this opportunity to her full advantage.

"What are the firm's plans now?" I asked. "Where do you stand on Tyler, Harry, Angel, the others you've promised protection to in return for Grace's contract? Are they really safe?" We'd established Serenity was, and that unless she destroyed him first, Faith was a dead woman walking, and that Grace was the firm's golden girl. But it might... motivate her to know her contract was a false promise on paper, and had never been honored to begin with.

"More importantly, what are you working toward with the prophecies and the people you've aligned or at trying to align?" I added. "An apocalypse, James?"

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-16 09:51 pm UTC (link)
"The firm's plan never changes." James clarified for the two of us. "We wish to completely control this plane as we do many others." He said before turning his head back to me. "There are many dimensions in this universe. I had been expecting Faith to eventually take control here in our name while we move onto other dimensions." A slow sick smirk crossed his face. "You didn't think you and Grace were special, do you? I have children in every dimension that we've visited, preparing to take control as we speak. This just so happens to be my favorite."

I tried hard to think about. Dozens of other Grace and Faiths running around in different dimensions. Did they all rebel like I did? Or were some of them more cooperative than others? Did they all cooperate? Did all of their mothers refuse to disobey James from the very beginning the way Lena had? Is that why he was so focused on us here?

"And an apocalypse will come whether I want it to or not, Lena. You should know better." He chided her lightly. "Why do you think we haven't torn Angel apart limb from limb by now? I'm awfully curious to see which side he'll end up on. Although some days I wonder whether it will be mine or not. Do you feel the same way?" He asked as he turned to me.

I ignored his question as I stood up and pulled the chair back. This interrogation was getting a little old and really all I wanted to do was beat him black and blue by now.

"Why do you want me dead?" I asked him. "Because I won't play nice or is it because Grace and I have gotten a little too powerful for your taste. I always had the suspicion that you were a little afraid of us, James. I just didn't think you'd show your belly so easily."

"You and your sister are only powerful together." He clarified. "As of right now neither of you are much of a threat to me. Once I eliminate you, you won't be a threat at all." He grinned. "As for being afraid of you? Well, it takes more than a little girl to make me afraid."

"Where does Lexi fit into all of this? You've had your eye on her from the start."

He shrugged. "She's a tool. Meant to keep you distracted and away. It's working nicely, isn't it?"

He barely spit out the sentence before I punched him hard in the face, snapping his head to the side.

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-16 11:49 pm UTC (link)
I hardly agreed that I should know better. After all, James was all too unpredictable. Perhaps an apocalypse was coming one day, but I wouldn't put it past him to bring one on prematurely here when he tired of this dimension and then just hopped on to his next favorite.

Alexia wasn't the only one meant to be a tool. We all were. They played God, and we were lucky not to get struck down by them. Which is why so many of us went to work for them instead. It was one of those situations where you were absolutely not going to beat them, so joining them seemed to be what any reasonable or intelligent person would do.

Or, one could try to bargain with them as I had done. I was lucky to have something to offer, and foolish not to know it'd be harder to part with when it became real than when it had just been an idea, a possibility.

It was obvious to me that the combined power of my daughters was my fault. I had done the spell to give Grace a little bit of Faith's power, her strength. I knew one day, she'd become a Slayer and a part of her essence would be passed on to her sister. What I hadn't counted on was that Grace already had a power in her own right. She too was the daughter of a Senior Partner, and not the human I'd ignorantly thought her to be. By splitting and then joining them the way that I did, I had mad them all too powerful as a whole. Had I not, James wouldn't be trying to kill Faith right now. And he may never have gone after Grace, already having Serenity to dangle over my head. So much could be different if it weren't for me and for what I'd done.

Live and learn, I suppose.

Faith was again back to brutally assaulting James, but I'd noticed somewhat of a shift in him. The drugs were in the beginning stages of wearing off. Soon, the two of us would be on the other end of that ire.

Curling my hand around the bend of her elbow, I yanked her back and toward me with one solid move.

"You have what you want now, don't you?" I asked. "It's wearing off. Either dose him again or start running or you'll be dead before you even realize he's no longer drugged." There. I was capable of some motherly advice. Even if I was going to pay dearly for it. Oh well. There really wasn't anything James hadn't done to me yet that I hadn't grown used to.

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-17 02:05 am UTC (link)
I looked at Lena for a second before I turned my head back to James. He was getting a little too coherent and before I knew it I probably would be dead. She was right, as much as I'd like to keep beating the crap out of him I should probably dose him again. Pulling the needle out of my pocket I shrugged out of her grasp and walked towards him. Without any warning I jammed it into his neck and watched as he closed his eyes. It would be a few minutes at least until he woke back up again.

Without a word in Lena's direction I stalked up the stairs and back into the kitchen. Walking to the window I sat on the stool nearby as I watched the snow fall. Holy shit. It was already after midnight. Happy birthday to Faith. A blizzard? Just what I always wanted.

Picking up my phone I dialed Tyler's number again, frustrated when I only got the voicemail. I left him a quick message before I hung up the phone again.

After a minute I heard the door shut behind me and I knew that Lena had followed me upstairs.

"You really didn't know about any of it." I shook my head, still not turning to face her. "I guess you really aren't half the monster that I thought you were." There were moments when she shined but they were so buried beneath the moments she didn't. James used her up just like he wanted to use the rest of us.

"I need to find Serenity and figure out what the locket does. How likely do you think it is that when he comes too he's gonna try and kill me?" The better question was. How quickly could I escape? I needed to figure out a way before I seriously ended up dead meat.

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-17 11:46 pm UTC (link)
I watched quietly as Faith dosed her father again before climbing the stairs with the same heavy weight she used to stomp around the house when she didn't get her way, or when her and Grace couldn't split a Happy Meal or whatever it was they wanted to eat that day because I needed more cigarettes. Or alcohol. Or whatever drug was in great supply that week.

My attention turned back to James as she disappeared out of sight, and I honestly wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with him. I simply tightened his bonds for the moment so that even when he did awake, with all hope, he'd still be a little woozy from so much chemical intoxication and would be at less than perfect strength and it would take some time and quite some effort to free himself.

After that, I headed up the stairs myself, watching my middle child curiously as she worked through this in her head. It was evident she hadn't thought this plan of hers all the way through, but most never do.

"I'm still plenty a monster," I answered, because there was no point in putting me up for sainthood just because I hadn't fucked up as much as she believed I had. "But no, I didn't know any of it. After I had already sold you girls out, I eventually sold myself out as well. It was supposed to be to protect you, even as I had to hand you over. Not unlike Grace." Of course, that was probably an insult to my baby. To compare myself to her or say that we were alike. We weren't. But I believed we'd both had similar intentions when it came to signing those Wolfram and Hart papers.

"You were supposed to fulfill your destiny according to them, but there was never any mention of Alexia and Tyler, or of needing to destroy you or your sister. Being the right hand of the Devil doesn't always mean you can control the left." I said, shrugging. It also didn't meant that I didn't try, but I was limited.

I almost laughed when she asked how likely it was that James would try to kill her when he finally made his way up here.

"It's not likely, Faith." I replied. "It's certain. You've made the mistake of making it all too easy on him. At least you'd be able to run, and to hide, anywhere else. But trapped as we are?" I frowned evasively. "As long as he's conscious, you're not leaving this building alive." Was the simple answer. More complex,

"I don't think Serenity is going to have any answers for you. You've seen for yourself, while I've only heard, but the girl is almost completely deranged. Your father stole all her sanity, he saw to that." James always had his way with things. "Better to take the locket and find someone who can really help you figure out what it does. Someone who doesn't believe they are a tragic character from a grim fairytale."

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-18 12:16 am UTC (link)
"I'm guessing you messed the whole thing up when you took off." I told her, even though she obviously already knew it, had paid for it more than I could probably ever imagine it. She deserved it, I only felt as bad for her as I needed to if I tried real hard but she was still my mom. "You leaving meant he couldn't control us anymore. Now he needs a buffer." And that just so happened to be my daughter. At least my sister was living up to be Daddy's Little Princess.

"I didn't make a mistake." I said quietly as I turned my head to look back out the window. "I've made enough of them to know the difference by now and this might be the smartest thing I've ever done." Even if it would kill me. I wasn't the only one in that room. The information wouldn't die with me and James thought he had Lena right under his thumb where he liked her best.

It made me angrier to know that James had taken something from my sister. I didn't really know her, I didn't have I don't know....any idea about her. But I could still feel bad for her. She wasn't even born into being controlled by him. Instead she just had the bad luck of being Lena's first mistake. Not even a Senior Partner or a slayer. Just a girl. Whatever answers I needed I could find on her locket. I frowned as I looked down at my phone. Who could I even call? I had no idea.

"Grace would probably know what to do with the locket, if it has anything to do with magick. Do you think she's compromised now? I mean, she's been there for so long. Do you think she's still on my side?" I trusted her to be honest with me now, because she had just as much reason to hate James as the rest of us did. "And Harry? What is that place doing to them?"

I bit down on my thumbnail now. What would happen if I didn't make it out of here? Would this have all been for nothing?

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-18 02:36 am UTC (link)
"No need to state the obvious, darling." I said, quirking an eyebrow at her when she mentioned that it was I who had ruined it all. Everything I had worked so hard for, all undone. She shouldn't be so judgmental. I was only my own worst enemy in the same way that she was. Sure, I had thrown them to the wolves by trying to save them from them. What was I supposed to do now? Turn back time and not do it? Remind her that if she were to offer herself up to be controlled the way that her sister had, he wouldn't need a so-called buffer.

But as I said, no need to state the obvious.

I wasn't so sure this event was quite the windfall she was believing it to be. Hardly the smartest thing she'd ever done, considering she'd gotten exactly what she wanted but what good is having everything you want if you can only take it to the grave? I took nothing to the grave, but I could almost imagine. Or perhaps not.

"I believe she's been compromised a little, maybe. James is seductive, and while you've been gone, he's done everything short of signing the entire world over to her to step in and use her vulnerability against her. Perhaps part of her has fallen for it." I glanced out at the snow, wondering just whose doing this was and for what reason. It couldn't be sheer coincidence that this all happened the way that it did.

"But I think your sister is still your sister. She signed her soul away to protect your kids, that boyfriend of hers, and your friend. The one James knew she was too close to. She would have done it for Angel and for Harry, because you asked her to. I'm not sure any amount of compromise could ever put her on the opposite side of you. Blind, stupid loyalty seems to be one of the traits she most certainly took from me." I was almost proud. It took a lot of guts and self sacrifice to place yourself in an impossible position for someone who won't place themselves there. Still, all the good it did me with Wolfram and Hart.

"As for Harry? I imagine it's the same motivations, the same intent. The firm isn't doing anything to them so much as its letting them believe they're somehow doing everyone they love a favor and protecting them from the big bad wolf." I smirked knowingly. "Take away the big bad wolf and they've got nothing to keep putting their lives down on the line for. Harry may be a harder sell. He's more... malleable than your sister is. But both of them can be easily manipulated. Prey on their vulnerabilities, their love for the people they're trying to protect. Play dirty and use their own positive traits against them. It always works."

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-18 02:53 am UTC (link)
Great. It was a real comfort to know that my mom was just sitting around and letting James use my sister and my (ex) husband. But what did I really expect from her? She was who she was no matter what I wanted to believe. At least she made it sound like neither one of them were completely lost. I knew that already anyways and even if she had told me otherwise I probably wouldn't have believed her. I'm stubborn that way.

I was gonna have to find some kind of way to intervene with Harry and Grace. The truth was, after this storm was over? We were probably all going to have to go into hiding for a little while. Low profiles all around until we could figure out what the deal with Serenity's locket was.

"I can't leave the school." I told her her honestly. "There are still girls here and I can't just run and hope he wakes up slow enough to not catch me. If I don't make it out of here you have to see this through, Lena." I turned and gave her a serious look. "Promise me you will."

Do one good thing. That's the only thing I wanted from her. If I could do it, then so could she. I refused to believe that every last little part of her soul was dead and gone.

I stood up and looked at her so she knew how serious I was. One thing. She only had to see this through and at this point, why wouldn't she want James gone as much as the rest of us did?

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-18 03:17 am UTC (link)
"I can't," I said simply. Part of me wanted to give her what she wanted, to give her the comfort of a mother's promise for at least once in her entire life, most of which I'd been absent from. "I can lie to you if that will make you feel better, but the truth is, I think you need a better contingency plan than me. There's no guarantee James won't send me straight to Hell the minute he's cognizant enough to."

I sighed a little, releasing my arms from their tight fold against my chest. "I know you want more from me than that, and I know you'd like to believe I'm a better person than I am, but the truth is, I'm merely their tool. The moment they believe they have no further use for me, they'll dispose of me."

There was only one thing she could do. I knew the lines were down everywhere and nothing was working, but I had some pull with the Powers That Be for the accidental gift I had given them in the combined weapon of my daughters.

"Someone owes me a favor. I can either let you get a message to someone outside of this building, I can have James sent back to Wolfram and Hart where he'll be bound until this melts, or I can try to have the storm undone. It'll depend on who's responsible for it. It can't just be anything, but it could be just what you need. A long time ago, I did one right thing, and I've got one chip left from a very powerful place left to cash in on." This was as close to maternal as I got. "It's yours for the cashing."

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[info]neverbeenfree
2007-12-18 03:42 am UTC (link)
I couldn't believe it when she said no. She just said no that she wouldn't do it because she was still afraid of big bad James. How the fuck did I even come from her? The woman who had terrorized me and Grace when we were kids was a limp noodle. I guess in some ways I had always known that. Lena was always loyal to her boyfriend, no matter how badly they treated her. I'd learned that before and now I just needed a reality check here. She was who she was.

"Fine." I snapped back at her. "Why don't we just-" I started, about to tell her that we should just send James back to Wolfram and Hart now that we'd gotten everything I needed out of him. I didn't get to finish my sentence when there was a noise at the door. I turned to it just in time to see it fly open and James emerge from the other side of it. He had an unreadable expression on his face.

"What are you two talking about?" He asked, glancing back and forth between the two of us. I took a step back and kept a careful eye on him. Shit. I knew I should have used more tranqs on him. He flashed me a smile before slowly walking around the counter. I felt a little bit frozen around him and I wondered if he had this effect on everyone. So confusing.

"Nothing." I answered him quickly.

"If only I had some truth serum for you. Not that it matters. I don't need it to see what you're thinking." He informed me as he stopped right in front of me. I glanced over at Lena for a second, no chance of cashing in that favor now, huh?

"Did you do this? Make the storm?" I asked him, because I was curious and it seemed like the thing to ask.

"No." He answered easily. "The only thing I'm responsible for here is you."

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[info]wh_gutter_slut
2007-12-20 01:28 am UTC (link)
I hadn't imagined James or anyone else within the firm was responsible for this storm. I'm sure I would have gotten a memo, with the key live feeds to watch of what I'm sure were interesting predicaments that it caused. We went people to islands, we didn't bring storms to our own turf. It's not as... manageable as doing something from afar is.

"You chose to be responsible for her," I reminded James, matter-of-factly. He'd wanted to father a Slayer. He chose her. He may not have chose the path I'd taken from there, but it wasn't as if he hadn't hoped for a lot of her traits and characteristics in choosing a child that was designed the way she was.

"She has information, James." I said, turning back on the chill factor and playing the role I needed to. "But as you yourself mentioned, she doesn't even have a high school education. It's likely she's too stupid to know what to do with it. And the only people she could go to that would know what to do with it, would hardly be willing to align themselves with a loose canon like herself against a powerful force such as yourself."

I crossed my arms again, moving more toward James's side. He wouldn't be thrilled with me when we left her, of course. I imagine he'll have expected me to have stopped her somehow. She may have snapped my neck for it, but I come back as easily as they send me away.

"Let's just take the head start and go. You know what information she has, and you know she'll be stuck here for several hours at the very least. You have time to do damage control before she can even do the damage." I pointed out to him. "Besides, if something happens to her right now, Grace and Harry will ask a lot of questions. You know this. The last thing the firm needs or wants is either of those two reconsidering their loyalty." It was all easily true, but a manipulation nonetheless. You could call that my forte.

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[info]mr_lupus
2007-12-21 05:22 pm UTC (link)
Perhaps the sedative had done it's job or perhaps Lena was right. Faith wasn't very bright, she never had been and without Grace she was next to nothing. Just another little girl who was destined to kill vampires. I was hardly a vampire and had nothing to fear from her. Still, insolence begets insolence and I didn't want it spreading. I could crush her right now if I so chose but I almost thought that might be too easy.

"For once in your life, Lena. You might just be right." I said to her but I was still smiling down at Faith. She wasn't backing down but I could feel the fear rolling off of her in waves. For someone who once begged a vampire to end her, she sure didn't want to die now.

I leaned down so my hand was on the stool and the other one was on the wall as I leaned in closer to Faith.

"I'm not going to kill you tonight, Faith. You time is almost up, but I think I'd rather watch you lose everything first." I said in a smooth calm voice, watching her flinch at the words.

I stared at her for a second as she stared at me back. Too much like her mother, what a waste.

Finally I stood back up again and straightened my shirt that had been ruined by her ridiculous darts. I'd have to ask Dominique to pick me up a new one.

"Come on Lena." I said brusquely to her as I headed out the door. This strange blizzard may stop every one else but it wasn't going to stop me.

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