Faith lay back in the bathtub, stretching out and smiling faintly as she settled comfortably against the bubbles.
"What do you think I should use for the anthem of my coronation?" Gigi asked, snapping Faith from her thoughts.
Faith looked at the other end of the bath, where Gigi was lazing luxuriously against her side, grinning faintly.
"Something old school like The Clash or best-band-ever-of-the- moment like the Arctic Monkeys?" she continued.
"Split the difference, maybe?" Faith suggested.
The girls sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.
"Stone Roses," the pair said in unison.
"See, I told you we were kindred spirits. I knew it from the very first moment I looked into your eyes," Gigi said.
Faith almost gulped, before shrugging it off. "If you're willing to settle for me as your best mate, you really need to get out more."
"Would that I could, but my Overlords never even let me go to school with other kids, for fear that my beautiful mind might be polluted by their filth," Gigi replied sadly. "I've had to endure a decade of homeschooling with increasingly pervy tutors."
Faith paused for a moment. "Where did you meet the Irishman, anyway?"
"At one of my Mum's interminable fundraisers. At first, I thought Roden was just another filthy pedo, but then he said he knew about my nightmares."
"Nightmares?"
"The most horrible ones imaginable, more real than life itself. You have them too, don't you?"
"Only every night," Faith replied, looking away as Gigi stepped out of the bath.
"I haven't had a decent night's sleep since... forever, but Roden explained that he has this ancient book that says our night terrors will stop once and for all as soon as this Buffy slag is snuffed out," Gigi said, wrapping a towel around herself.
"How do you know he's telling the truth?" Faith asked curiously.
"One way to find out, yeah?" Gigi smiled.
"I'm serious, Gigi," Faith said, getting out of the bath and reaching for a towel. "What if Roden is really carrying around some kind of... of... demonic cookbook and he's just tricking you into gathering enough slayers to bake into a bloody pie?"
"Don't be absurd," Gigi waved her off. "Roden may be annoying, but he's the only person in my life who's done right by me at every turn. Why would he lie to my face?"
"Look, I've had older guys in my life before too - " Faith started.
"Ooh, naughty," Gigi teased.
"It wasn't like that. They... they used me, Gigi. Told me what I wanted to hear to get me to do their dirty work for them."
"Hope," Gigi said. "We're gorgeous, powerful young women. We're always going to attract the attention of dirty old men. The trick is making them feel like they're exploiting us, when in reality, we're exploiting them."
"Unless that's just what they want us to think," Faith offered. "Gigi, please, don't go after this girl."
"I appreciate your concern for my well being, love," Gigi said, reaching out and touching Faith's cheek. "But what makes you think I'm going anywhere?"
"As a loyal servant of the magic hour..." Roden started, holding his hand out.
Gigi smiled at Faith, who was standing at the top of the stairs. "Just enjoy the show, babe."
Gigi walked downstairs and looked at Roden. "Anything?"
Roden shook his head, then continued. "I beseech you to bring the first of the last to me."
Faith felt her body jerking and she teleported downstairs, standing in the middle of the room. She looked up at Gigi.
"You?!" Gigi demanded, holding the axe up high. "It's you?! I thought you were my friend!"
"Wait, I can - "
"That a girl, Lady Genevieve," Roden grinned. "Murder this backstabbing slag!"
"I let you into my home, Hope! Into my sodding tub!" Gigi yelled, coming at Faith.
"Ok, so I wasn't exactly forthcoming with everything," Faith said, backing up. "But I didn't lie about the stuff that matters, so why don't you drop the axe and talk to me like a - "
"SHUT IT, HOPE!" Gigi roared, slamming the axe down.
Faith rolled away at the last moment, and flipped to her feet again. "Ok, name's Faith, also."
"You're not even English, either!" Gigi exclaimed. "Where is that horrid accent from anyway? New York?"
"Oh ouch," Faith said, punching Gigi. "That hurts."
She kicked, sending Gigi flying across the room.
"And for the record, I'm a Boston girl."
"I don't care what sad little colony you crawled out of. Your station of life is about equal to that of my bloody personal shopper, you're hardly fit to be slain by a slayer!" Gigi snapped, coming at her and pushing her through the window and out into the grounds. "Much less to be one."
"You think I asked for this?" Faith replied, jumping up to avoid the swing of the axe. She kicked Gigi in the face, then ducked to the side.
"So what happened to the Queen then?" Gigi asked, wiping blood from her lips.
"She died. So, guess what, baby? I'm the new Queen Bee."
"You're even less entitled to your power than that blow dried Princess of Wales was to hers. I should've listened to Roden!"
"Who, Lucky Charms?" Faith somersaulted over the axe and it whirled past her and embedded into a tree. "If you want someone to be pissed at, try him. Trust me, dude is going to be the death of you."
"He may push me, but Roden is my best mate," Gigi snapped. "Something I doubt you've ever had."
Gigi kicked Faith back into the rose bushes. "And now you've gone and ruined my mother's stupid rosebush. I'll have to get Roden to grow a new one before she returns!"
"If your boy wizard is such a pal," Faith said, flipping to her feet as Gigi came at her with hedge clippers. "Where the hell is he now?"
"He knows I can handle myself. He trusts me." Gigi threw the clippers at Faith's chest. "He adores me."
Faith caught the clippers easily as they came towards her. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. But either way, part of you knows something ain't right... cause you've never deserved to be loved by anybody."
"What I deserve is... is everything that was squandered on unworthy tramps like you!" Gigi shouted. "Your blood is my birthright, and as soon as I've wrung the last drop out of your kind, my nightmares are going to end."
"If you're so sick of the bad dreams," Faith said, sending Gigi flying across the yard with a powerful roundhouse kick. "Wake the f*** up."
Gigi flew back towards the tree that had the axe blade poking out of it and Faith's eyes widened in shock.
"No..."
She ran over to the younger slayer and bent down.
"I'm sorry... I'm... I'm so sorry. I never meant - " Faith reached out to try and stop the bleeding.
"Yeah, but it's like the song goes..."
Faith watched as the light faded from Gigi's eyes and she collapsed into a heap on the ground in front of her, burying her face in her hands. "Hell."
"Looks like I backed the wrong filly," Roden smirked, coming out from the house.
"You're some kind of goddamn magic man, right?" Faith looked up, tears in her eyes. "Heal her."
"Why bother?" Roden shrugged. "My orders were to train the slayer to end all slayers. Genevieve here was just a dead end."
Faith got to her feet and went for him, but was stopped by a spell, golden threads of light wrapping around her body.
"You, on the other hand," he continued. "May be exactly the bird I'm looking for."
"Not if you were the last warm body left, Red," Faith snapped.
"I saw the look in your eyes when you were fighting," Roden shrugged. "You're a killer. And you'll lead them all. The guidebook will show us how."
He handed the book to Faith, letting the spell unravel.
"Thanks," Faith said softly, then looked up, a glint in her eyes as she smashed the book against Roden's head. "But I'm not much of a reader."
"Keep it anyway, luv," Roden said, his eyes darkening to black. "I already know how it ends."
Faith flew back, hitting the ground with a thud. She started to get up when a hand from the ground held her down.
"Lord, nothing sadder than an over the hill slayer! Girls like you are supported to shuffle off this mortal coil when you're young and fresh, not when you're starting to sag a bit," Roden scorned.
"I'm still just full of perk," Faith quipped, struggling against the hand. She smiled faintly, seeing Giles come up behind Roden.
"What the hell are you smiling about?" Roden asked.
Giles slammed the hedge clippers into Roden's back and the hand holding Faith disappeared.
"Well!" Roden snarled. "If it isn't her kennel master!"
Giles ducked the spell, sending his own towards the Irish man.
"They're all gonna die, you know. Every last one of your bitches!" Roden told him.
"Giles!" Faith yelled, tossing Giles the book.
Giles caught it and opened it quickly. "Vrik Nisanti Hrn!"
"You desperate old git!" Roden laughed. "Did you honestly just try to use one of my own containment spells against me? I can break out of any mystic field ever enchanted."
"I know," Giles said softly, almost smug. "That's why I put one inside you."
Roden's face started to bubble, as if it was covered in boils.
"Burst," Giles commanded.
Roden's head exploded and his body slumped to the ground, while Giles turned to Faith.
"Come on," she said quietly. "We're done."