Jenny shrugged and resumed her pacing around the library.  "There are a lot of risks.  However, provided that we can capture and restrain Angelus, I do believe this will be successful."

"That's a pretty big 'if', Gypsy," Will noted dryly.  Their entire plan hinged on being able to trap and cage one of the most notorious vampires in history.   He seriously doubted they could pull it off, at least not without suffering some casualties.

Jenny sighed in exasperation, detesting her new moniker.  "Do you have another plan?" she asked waspishly.

"Yeah," he snapped.  "Kill the bastard.  Let's stop monkeying around with this damn plan to catch him and make him pay for his sins."

"How many Slayers have died trying to 'get rid of him', William?"

Will bit his tongue and sunk back in the chair.  The gypsy had made her point, taking Angelus on head first was almost as futile as trying to trap him.

"Well, we're still at square one," Buffy said, idly tapping her stake against the top of the table she was sitting on.  "Does anyone have a plan to trap him?"

"Bait," Xander said excitedly, "bait is good."

"Yes," Giles concurred, "we will need some incentive to draw him near.  He's not stupid.  He'll need a reason to venture so close to a possible threat."

"What do we have that he would want?" Jenny asked, disappointment ringing in her voice.

Silence permeated the room for several long moments.

"Me," Buffy said meekly, purposely avoiding Will's gaze.

"Pardon?" Giles asked, his expression hardening as he realized certain things had been kept from him.

Buffy chanced a glance at Will and saw that he was every bit as furious as she'd imagined he would be.  But she wasn't going to back down.  This was their only shot.  "He wants me," she repeated, her voice still quiet.  "He said as much to me and Will in the Bronze.  He said that since I'm with Will that it was his ... right as Sire."

"He did?" Giles bit out, looking pointedly at the blonde vampire.

"Didn't want you gettin' riled up over nothin', Watcher," Will said evenly.

"Nothing?" Giles spat.  "You think Angelus trying to assert his claim on my Slayer is nothing!"

Will ducked his head and remained silent.  Buffy shifted nervously on the table, slowly becoming aware of just how serious Angelus taking an interest in her could be.

"Well, that went over like a ton of bricks," Buffy groused, idly kicking at some loose dirt as she sat atop a headstone.

"What?" he asked.  "You figure your Watcher would go for you riskin' your neck to snare Angelus?  Guess again.  He's just being cautious, Pet."

"But I'm the Slayer, dammit," she said defiantly.  "He's just a vamp.  I can take him."

"Don't!" William said harshly.

Buffy startled at his anger, eyeing him carefully.

"Don't underestimate him," Will said more gently.  "He may not be as old as the Master, or as nasty looking, but he's one of the most vile demons to ever walk.  He's evil, Buffy, to the core.  Don't let the pretty face fool you."

The Slayer nodded, swallowing convulsively at William's words.  "I-I ... " she stuttered and then frowned.  "His looks don't do anything for me."

Snorting, Will lit a cigarette, drawing on it deeply.  "Whatever, Pet," he said with far more resentment than even he realized he harbored.

"Will?" Buffy said, her voice quiet and unsure.

He cursed, stamping out the cigarette with the heel of his boot.  He stood, pacing nervously in front of her, his mind awhirl.

"Will?" she questioned again.  "Did I do something to make you mad?"

He stopped abruptly, facing her with a chagrinned look.  "No, Pet," he said quickly.  "It's just ... "

He fell silent as he contemplated his words.  How could he explain it to her?  She was so unaware of herself at times.  He knew that she loved him, that she would never consciously consider straying from him.  Loyalty was so deeply ingrained in her nature it was doubtful she had ever consciously considered her attraction to his Sire.  But it was there, nonetheless.  Her reaction to Angelus had been swift and powerful and had not gone unnoticed by either him or his Sire.

"It's nothing," he said seriously, "I just want you to be careful around him.  He'll play you any way he can."

Buffy smiled, hopping off the headstone and pressing herself against Will's chest.  She wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and whispered, "I promise I'll be careful."

It was nearing dawn and William knew that he should be heading home, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.  He'd spent all night searching for any signs of where his Sire might be hiding and he'd come up empty time and time again.  He decided on a final, quick sweep through Sunny Rest.

The Slayer slept, blissfully unaware of the creatures who studied her.

"He watches her from this spot," she commented quietly, her voice thick with resentment.

"Yes, Dru, he does," Angelus countered, having no interest in his mad childe's ramblings.  At the moment, all of his attention was fixated firmly on the sleeping blonde, safe inside her home.

"He loves her," she spat, "I can smell it.  This entire place reeks of his sickly sentiments."

Angelus grunted noncommittally, smiling broadly as Buffy rolled over in her sleep, unintentionally giving him a very good view of her beautifully tanned legs.

"Daddy!" Dru whined loudly.

Whipping his head around, Angelus growled at the vampiress.  "Shut up!" he snapped.  "You're going to wake the entire house."

Dru whimpered pitifully.  "You want her too," she hissed, on the verge of a tantrum.  "You mock him for his human emotions, but you want her just as much."

Angelus' answering grin was so evil, so wickedly feral that Dru shivered.

"I want her," he drawled slowly.  "I want her so I can hurt her."  He reached out, idly stroking his childe's cheek.  She knew better than to pull away.   "I want to hurt her just like I hurt you," he said with a smile.

Buffy yawned widely, garnering her a concerned look from her Watcher.

"Trouble sleeping?" he asked.

"Yeah," she admitted, "weird dreams."

"Anything of a prophetic nature?" he asked, his interest peaking.

"Doubtful," she said, "They were all vague and strange."  She left the sexually arousing part out of her recounting.  She wasn't sure that the fact that she'd woken up ... excited ... would have any bearing on her duties as a Slayer.

"Perhaps you should take it easy this evening," he commented.

"No can do," she said, "I'm supposed to meet the Wills and Xander at the Bronze in a few hours.  I'll get in a quick sweep before I go."

Giles frowned, but knowing how important Buffy's human attachments were to her success as a Slayer, he said nothing.

Shortly after entering the Bronze, Buffy found Willow and Xander nursing their sodas at a table.

"What's up?" she asked, taking a seat.

"Not much," Willow sighed, shooting a longing glance at the guitar player for Dingoes, who had recently taken the stage.

Buffy smiled, aware of her friend's fixation on the ever quiet Oz.  "So," she said, "anyone see the other Will yet?"

Xander shook his head.  "Not yet."

Buffy frowned.  Will was usually terribly punctual.  Maybe he'd found out something about Angelus.  She sighed, telling herself that she was just being stupid, that Will was fine.

"Where the hell is he?" Buffy muttered to herself more than an hour later as she headed through one of the cemeteries.  Will was never more than ten minutes late and out of worry, Buffy had decided to go looking for him.

She rounded the corner of a mausoleum, so caught up in her internal monologue that she almost missed the couple standing in the clearing, several yards away.  She came to an abrupt halt.  Will was standing in the middle of the cemetery, obviously talking to a young brunette woman who kept touching him.   Bristling, Buffy stepped behind the mausoleum, not wanting to alert the couple to her presence.

She watched them for at least ten minutes, at times, it was difficult to tell what they were doing.  Once, Will had his back to her, with the brunette standing in front.  Buffy couldn't be certain, but it definitely looked like they may have been kissing.

Eventually, the two parted.  Will looked down at his watch and almost jumped.

"Damn it!" Buffy heard him curse as he headed out of the cemetery, presumably towards the Bronze and his date with her.

Buffy snorted.  "Don't even think you're gettin' any tonight," she said under her breath as she watched him hurry out of sight.

As she left, a shadow disengaged itself from the others, watching her go.  He chuckled lightly to himself.

Buffy didn't return to the Bronze, in no mood to see Will before she managed to sort things out for herself.  Neither did she go home, knowing that it would be a prime location for him to catch up with her.  Instead, she aimlessly walked the lesser known streets of Sunnydale, in search of some alone time, far from the cemeteries.

"It's awful late for a little girl like you to be out here alone, isn't it?" the male voice asked, his underlying amusement plain.

Buffy turned slowly, knowing exactly what she would see.  Still, a tingle of anticipation moved up her spine, causing her to shiver, despite the warmth of the night air.

"I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself," she sniped, "but if you'd care to try me out, go ahead."

Angelus grinned at her wickedly, taking in her fighting stance and the stake she held grasped firmly in her right hand.  Oh no, he had no intention of fighting the tasty young Slayer.  Hand to hand combat would undoubtedly prove entirely too time consuming, and dangerous at this juncture.  As much as he wanted to get his hands on her lithe young body, he wasn't in the mood to be dusted.

"You're alone," he commented with calculated casualness, "shouldn't my bastard childe be with you?"

He suppressed a grin as she flinched at his words.  He'd played this particular game long enough to know exactly where her weak spots lay.  She may have been sufficiently confident in her slaying abilities, but her relationship with William was not so certain.

"What?" Angelus asked, his lips curving around the word sensuously.  "Did William have a more pressing engagement this evening?"

She remained silent, but he was intensely aware of the moment she began trembling.  Had his childe been so careless?  Obviously, this girl was completely unsure of where she stood with her would-be lover.  He wanted to roar with laughter.

"I know Drusilla went looking for him this evening," he said offhandedly, "but I had no idea the loon would actually be able to locate him."  He sighed for dramatic effect, "I suppose they always have been ... attuned ... to one another in that respect."

"D-D-Drusilla," Buffy choked out, humiliated by the fact that she stumbled over the name of William's supposedly former consort.

Angelus had the presence of mind to pretend he hadn't noticed her slip.  "Yeah," he said, "Dru told me she was going to try and find William.  I told her it was pointless.  I told her that if he was half as taken with you as he says he is, that there would be no way he would pay any attention to her.  Apparently she didn't heed my words."

Buffy flushed, angry at Will and embarrassed for herself.  She swallowed convulsively.

"Well I wouldn't worry if I were you," Angelus said.  "Drusilla couldn't possibly be as entertaining as you.  I mean, at this point, he's already done everything with her that a man can do with a woman.  There would be no reason for him to choose her over you.  That is, if you two are involved.  You are, aren't you?  I mean, I can't imagine that he'd stick around if you weren't giving him certain ... incentives."

Buffy's eyes dropped to the ground and she felt her cheeks burn with shame.  There was nothing going on between her and Will, nothing more than a little heavy petting anyway.  He hadn't even gotten to third base.  Hell, he hadn't even *tried*.  Maybe that was the problem.  Maybe he thought she was too easy.   Maybe he thought she was a whore.

Involved in her internal war of words, she hadn't even noticed that Angelus had inched up so close that her breasts were almost brushing the coarse fabric of his dark wool coat.  She startled as she noticed him, gasping and taking an involuntary step backwards.  He didn't move a muscle, watching her silently through hooded eyes.

Buffy took a deep breath--which did nothing to steady her nerves.  The way he was watching her ... Will never looked at her like that, or if he did, he’d catch himself and disguise it immediately.  She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.  Angelus' eyes traced the open curve of her lips.

"I-I-I have to go," she stuttered, turning and leaving so quickly that she almost lost her footing.

Angelus let her go, knowing that this was not the moment for his triumph.  His victory would be so much sweeter if he waited, so he did.  Slowly, heading back towards his lair, he mentally planned the things he would do to Drusilla in an attempt to sate his need for the Slayer.

It was going to be a long night.

The End

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