Disclaimer: They're mine?! Really?!! Why didn't anyone tell me? Oh, wait...never mind I don't want them. Can you imagine the therapy bills? JW and a whole slew of other people and corporations own them.
Spoilers: S5/S2
Note: This is a short story that's probably only rated PG-13 for some language. That can't be right. I wrote something without smut? Wow; okay that might change. Anyway, it's short, and I'm still working on the last part becuase my wonderful co-imaginer wanted more. *g* Thanks Gloria, for everything.
Challenge by Rehatha:
Dracula turns Buffy; whether this happens during his first visit to Sunnydale or he returns for the Slayer is up to you.
A Matter of Soul:
The state of her soul is also up to you, though it seems to me that Dracula is a different species of vampire from Spike and Angelus, since he has no game face and has a number of other powers. Souls and demons may have nothing to do with the transformation.
A Matter of Family:
As a true statement of Buffy's growing apathy for her life in Sunnydale, once she is turned, she cannot even be bothered to want to kill her family or friends. She simply leaves.
Details:
Since Buffy has simply disappeared, Riley (the boy wonderless) and Xander rush to LA thinking that Buffy has gone to Angel. Jealous accusations fly.
Joyce admits to emotional badgering in an effort to force her daughter to be normal.
Willow and Giles invade Buffy's bedroom thinking she has run away and in an effort of finding some clue, find a painful and terrible secret.
Cordelia has visions that she withholds from Angel - either for what she believes is his own good, or for nefarious reasons.
Spike sees vampire Buffy being taught her new powers by Dracula, he goes to tell Angelus that his woman's been claimed by another.
Angel, after finding out that his soul mate and mate has been claimed by another vampire, goes into a jealous rage the likes of which none of them have ever seen before.
My Timeline: Dracula is in Sunnydale to fight the slayer and win her over; power such as she possesses shouldn't be squandered or killed. He never made Xander his servant and Spike is his S4 trying to be bad but I have a bloody chip in my head self. Dawn doesn't exist, Darla isn't involved, and the AI Team lives in the Hyperion.

Giles, Willow, and Tara stared in shock at the room.

"What happened here?" The Watcher asked to no one in particular thinking, rightly so, that everyone was in the same boat as him and equally lost.

"I came home and this was it," Joyce said tearfully, sitting on the edge of Buffy's bed, the one spot that didn't seem to be trashed. "I wanted to call the police, but called you first, I wasn't sure if this was something Slayer related." And when the older woman said the word 'Slayer' it sounded dirty as if Buffy were somehow involved in something illicit.

"She was the other night when we saw her," Willow said, still in shock from the sheer amount of destruction that surrounded her.

Tara looked at her girlfriend strangely but didn't say anything. She was new and didn't know Buffy all that well, not like everyone else seemed to, but there was always something off about the slayer's aura. A something that screamed to Tara that the other woman wasn't happy despite the show she put on.

Just then Riley and Xander burst through the door, Anya following more calmly after them. If Buffy was gone then what was the point in rushing?

"Where is she?" Riley demanded, arms akimbo trying to look every bit the good little soldier he used to be. Too bad, Anya thought, he was better at taking orders than initiating anything himself.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Giles said in a slightly annoyed voice. Like they didn't have enough problems, now they needed Riley's posturing? Perfect, just bloody perfect.

"Well shouldn't we try and find her?" Riley insisted, moving back through the door he recently entered to do just that.

"No, I don't believe we should, Riley," Giles said calmly, or as calmly as he could considering he was panicked himself. "Buffy can more than take care of herself and there are other things to consider. Such as Dracula and where he's holed up, for one."

"Maybe Buffy went to fight Dracula herself?" Tara ventured.

"I don't think so," Riley said before anyone else could say anything. "She knows better than that."

No one said anything to that rather authoritative statement as all eyes swiveled to the commando. He never noticed how everyone looked at him strangely all thinking the same thing: Buffy had often gone off to fight the latest bad alone when she thought her friends were in danger.

Or...and now everyone looked away from Riley who was still rambling about searching in concentric circles beginning with the house and working outward, to stare at each other. Tara wondered why the sudden shift in attention but still remained silent. Or, they all thought at once, how Buffy would often sneak away for some 'alone time' with Angel.

"I'm going to LA," Xander announced and turned, without waiting for anyone to follow or even agree or disagree.

"Why?" Riley barked, then thought about it for a split second and nodded. "I'm coming with you."

No one said anything as they stormed back out the door.

"Maybe we should call Angel and warn him?" Willow asked worry clear in her eyes.

"Yes," Anya agreed, "Let's; I don't want Xander hurt when he confronts Angel."

The group filed out of Buffy's bedroom, leaving a still teary-eyed Joyce sitting on the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Again," Dracula commanded and watched as Buffy channeled all her energy into moving the branch from one headstone to another.

It had been three days since the slayer had been turned by one of the most popular vampires in history and while she still retained her soul, she still didn't care about anything. Or maybe it was because she retained the soul that had been beaten down one too many times that she didn't care.

She didn't understand it and she frankly didn't care. Monotony had taken control of her life and Buffy couldn't stop it. She got up, did the Happy Buffy Show, talked with friends who seemed to forget everything but the moment, entertained Riley, agreed with whatever her mother said just so she didn't have to argue with the sometimes overbearing woman, and hunted.

On one of those hunts, she met Dracula and the vampire tempted her in ways she'd never before been tempted. Not as Angel did, no, not in the need of flesh, or comfort, or security, or love. Those things were reserved for the only being to ever give her those things and the only one to ever break her heart when he took them away.

Dracula tempted her with power. Her own, specifically, and the freedom in which to use it.

When he visited her in her room three nights ago she heard his words but didn't care for their meaning. He may have drank from her but Buffy was already claimed by another; nothing could break that. But she followed him when he left, followed him out her window and down the tree Angel so often climbed to visit her.

Followed him to the castle that mysteriously sprang up on the outskirts of Sunnydale near the mansion Angel owned. Followed him and asked him.

"Why me?"

"You are the greatest slayer I've ever known; the most powerful I've felt in ages. You've been claimed by another and that hold is strong, even now. But you resist, the two of you, you resist each other. Why?"

"Complications in his life and mine," Buffy admitted, looking away from his eyes. He was trying to hypnotize her, she knew, but it wasn't working. Her bond with Angel at work, or simply because she was as strong as Dracula seemed to think?

"What do you want of me, young slayer?"

"Freedom." And the word slipped past her lips faster than Buffy realized.

"I can give you that, but what will you give to me in return?"

"Nothing," the blonde admitted, "I have nothing left for you, it's already be en taken."

Dracula was shocked at this, and more than a little disappointed; he'd been hoping for an eternal mate, a lover, the only slayer ever turned as his childe. Still, he could work with this. There were always ways. "Will you let me teach you?"

Buffy cocked her head to one side, disinterest playing thorough her. Briefly, she wondered again why she let Dracula do this, why she did this. Fighting, resisting, these were the things she was best at, the things she did, no matter the odds against her, or her feelings on the matter. The stab through her heart, the pain spreading through her at the reason all came crashing down and Buffy flinched.

"Yes," she said in that same monotonous voice. "Show me."

So it began. At first it was simple things, the power a slayer held, the true potential to be had. Dracula was extremely impressed with her and they progressed quickly, Buffy's strength growing once she no longer held back, was no longer afraid of the darkness within her. Just as quickly Buffy grew bored with Dracula's lessons her power already greater than his.

"This is a mistake," she had told him, "I'm better than you. I'm already more than you, and I can only outgrow you."

That smoothly silky voice surrounded her once more but Buffy only scowled. He held no power over her, nothing he said or did made her want to fall to her knees and worship him as so many had in the past. The eyes crinkled with delight and amusement, his hand moving to caress her face. She moved away from his touch, disgusted by it.

"There is one more thing I have go give to you, my darling slayer. Will you accept it?" His voice was hypnotic, but Buffy remained unmoved. That only spurred Dracula more, intrigued by her resistance. "Will you accept my gift of eternal life?"

That startled Buffy though once she thought about it she wasn't sure why it did. A vampire? Become her worst nightmare, her greatest fear? But then she'd live forever; she wouldn't die young, as was her destiny as slayer. She'd be able to be with Angel forever...

Angel.

Rage burned through Buffy's eyes, a snarl gracing her lovely features and for a moment Dracula was more afraid for his life than he had been in a good long while. No, she truly had nothing to live for; her friends and family treated her as a weapon with no feelings, no concerns but the latest evil to fight, no heartbreak to overcome because she put on such a good face.

Her mother pushed and pushed until all Buffy wanted to do was leave her, physically alone as Joyce had left her emotionally alone. Pushed her into being something the mother was more comfortable with than who the daughter really was because Joyce didn't have any control over her own life and thus was trying to fix her mistakes through Buffy. Couldn't handle the fact that her daughter was a powerful being who nightly risked her life to save others. And would never have a life where a husband, 2.4 kids, and a dog were involved.

Giles who couldn't or wouldn't accept Angel because of something the demon within had done. Giles who had his own past secret, who raised a demon and placed all of them in danger rather than admit he needed help. Giles, who knew that what he was doing was wrong, knew that because he had his soul, had a conscious, unlike Angelus who only had a demon's needs and a demon's instinct to survive.

Riley who couldn't accept that she was stronger, better, faster, because he was the man and she the woman. That she'd loved before, strongly, deeply, and a vampire at that. That she was willing to die so that the her friends, her family, her first lover and the world survived rather then let him do the work.

And Angel. Who had left her and that was fine, because Buffy understood his need to find himself, to grow into his own potential. He wanted her to find someone who offered her all he couldn't and when she did, all Buffy felt was as if she were betraying Angel in the cruelest of ways.

She always expected him to come back to her, or for her to find him, when they were both ready to begin again, when they both healed and grew. When they knew that the temptation to give into each other and the passion that was between them wouldn't overwhelm them.

Angel, the rat bastard who hadn't bothered to tell her...

"Yes." Buffy smiled, a feral grin that changed the beautiful slayer into a predator, a hunter who knew what she was after and was intent on getting her prey because to do otherwise was unacceptable.

Honestly, Dracula was shocked. She'd taken so long to give her answer he was sure he'd pushed too fast and lost her. That same sly smile crossed his face, though her expression still scared him. "Excellent."

He led her to the ornately decorated guest room, not talking lest she change her mind. He gently laid her down on the bed, the jade green comforter whispering around her. "Relax, my darling slayer," he murmured but Buffy didn't seem to hear him, her attention focused inward.

She felt his fangs pierce her skin but the rush of her blood to him wasn't as intense as she thought, expected, remembered. It was a cold, hard feeling that hurt, even through that numbness that enveloped her, that pierced her skin and took, took, took, but gave nothing in return as Angel's had.

Damn Angel for that, too! It was one more thing on a long and ever growing list of things he'd made all his own.

Darkness overwhelmed her and Buffy embraced it; with luck, when she awoke everything would have change. For her at least. The next thing Buffy knew, her senses were on overload, her body chilled, and Dracula's shocked expression. Apparently, she'd risen in just one night, stronger, faster, senses heightened to a fever pitch.

Now, as she concentrated on moving sticks from one point to another, wondering how telekinesis was a part of being a vampire, Buffy thought she heard something, sensed someone. Whipping her head to the left, eyes honing in on the being stalking her through the night, she spotted Spike.

She didn't react to Spike's presence; obviously, Dracula hadn't sensed the other vampire there, but her eyes, a golden hazel locked with Spike's blue ones, her mouth drawn back in a snarl to show fangs though her face did not change into that of a vampire's.

The blonde vampire disappeared quickly, running towards some destination Buffy didn't care about. He might be going to tell her friends, but so what? They'd never be able to find her, and she cared nothing for them one way or another. They were still alive, weren't they? She hadn't bothered to kill them, or even hunt them down and terrorize them.

Then again, Buffy did still retain her soul. Just her luck.

"Again," the vampire beside her commanded and Buffy wondered if he truly believed he held any power over her. She'd let him think that until she staked him; his presence was annoying her on a variety of levels. Buffy was already beyond him physically, had no desire for him on an intimate level; the only thing he could possibly teach her was in how to harness the power she already held.

Once she learned that Drac was history.

**********

“How long has he been like this?” Wesley asked in a hushed voice, knowing full well that should Angel care, he’d be able to hear the whispered conversation.

“Seven days. No,” Cordelia corrected herself looking at the clock. “Make that eight. Ever since that old woman fixed his curse or made it better or cured the demon or whatever she did, he’s been like this; brooding, silent, just sitting there looking at that book as if it was some all important thing.”

The newest and least personally informed member of their group frowned as the trio continued to look into the glassed office of their vampire leader. And if it weren’t for the fact that Angel was a vampire, Gunn would have no problems with him. That little fun fact didn’t stop Gunn from being curious.

“So let me get his straight: curse on soul, one moment of true happiness and soul is gone and demon comes out to play, so little blue-haired lady fixes this problem by,” actually none of them had any real idea how the little blue-haired lady fixed it.

“So she fixes this problem,” Gunn continued as everyone nodded their agreement, “And you two expect him to do something other than sit in that office staring at some book, right?”

“Well,” Wesley admitted, “Yes.”

“What?”

“What?” Cordy repeated.

“What,” Gunn clarified. “What do you expect him to do besides sit in his office and stare at…” he craned his neck but couldn’t see what the book was, so finished, “Whatever book it is he’s staring at.”

Neither were willing to admit to what they expected him to do so Cordelia improvised. “Get out, go somewhere, meet someone, spend a long weekend in a cabin with no phone and a…marginally…beautiful blonde; that kind of thing.”

Again Gunn frowned. “Angel doesn’t seem that kind of a man…vampire to me.”

Angel almost smiled at Gunn’s answer to Cordy’s choice of words. But he didn’t, not because he didn’t find them amusing, but because there were other things on his mind. The vampire tuned out the rest of the words his so-called team were whispering and focused.

The picture he stared at rested in a book of poetry he’d often read to Buffy and both had been rescued from their previous, now burnt out, offices. The book was slightly singed around the bottom left-hand corner, as was the picture that lay hidden within. It didn’t detract from the beauty of the subject.

Nothing, in his mind, could.

The voices faded and he assumed, rightly so, that the three humans were moving into the courtyard to enjoy the beautiful sunny day. Why did he keep them around? Oh, right, it was so that they could fight the forces of darkness, most likely, Wolfram & Hart. He scowled, not willing to think about that. There were several things he found he didn’t care to think of anymore: Buffy was not one of them.

Instead, Angel focused on Buffy’s picture once more. She was laughing, the sunlight bouncing off her hair and adding another layer of light to her eyes. And she was smiling for him. Not that he’d been in the sun, no; she took several pictures when she and her friends went to the beach one day in high school, and all of them were of her smiling directly into the camera.

Later, once they were developed, she presented him with them, telling him she wanted him to think of her as often as she thought of him, namely every moment of every day. Angel smiled, kissed her softly, and told her he already did.

He was lost in his memories of the past and hopes for the future when several things happened within fifteen minutes of each other. First Cordelia cried out, signaling a vision, and Angel ran into the lobby, careful first to secure both book and picture. Wes and Gunn were already carrying her into the hotel, trying to get the details from her.

“Cordelia, what do you see?” Wes asked as Gunn fetched a glass of water and some aspirin.

A minute passed, then two before Cordelia said, her voice saddened and something else, “I ah, I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense, too fuzzy, too confusing. Vamps, but that’s all I know for sure; I can’t tell you where and I really can’t tell you…I can’t see who.” She refused to look at Angel as she murmured, “I’m so sorry, Angel.”

Angel nodded, “It wasn’t your fault, but I wonder why the Powers would send a vision you can’t see clearly.”

Cordelia didn’t say anything to that, closing her eyes to hide the tears forming there.

She was pale, her body trembling but the three men attributed it to her vision. They were correct, 100%, absolutely correct, it was the vision that made her so, but not the physical act of it; it was the images she saw. When she asked to use one of the spare rooms, no one questioned her. And, as she lay down on the bed, curled around a pillow, she wondered how she was going to tell Angel.

Tell Angel that just when his greatest wish came true, his only love died at the hands of a vampire. Cordy had no idea who the vampire was, but whoever drained her, also had the balls to turn her. There was simply no way she could tell Angel that Buffy was now a vampire.

Because then he’d feel obligated to kill her before she could do any damage and Cordelia Chase was not about to wish that on her best friend.

As Cordy lay in the bed, crying softly, the front doors to the hotel crashed open admitting Xander and Riley in a righteous and entirely misguided rage.

“Where is she?” Riley demanded of the vampire before him.

“Who?” Angel asked though it was obvious Riley could only mean Buffy.

“You know damn well who, vampire,” Riley spat and swung at Angel who easily blocked the punch. “Buffy, where is she, what have you done with her?”

“I haven’t seen Buffy in months,” Angel snarled, seeing red though he held back the urge to pummel the boy before him. But only just.

“Well then where is she?” Xander asked, staying a few steps back from where Angel effortlessly held Riley.

“You mean to tell me you lost her? Or she finally got tired of your useless posturing and arrogant assumption that what she does is any of your business and left with out running it through the committee meeting that seems to be every event in her life?” If Buffy were in trouble, wouldn’t she have come to him?

The snarl that graced his face was pure Angelus and Xander recognized it as such. Yelping, he leapt another step back and said, “You’re evil again!”

Wesley and Gunn looked strangely at Xander and Angel laughed. It did not, in Xander’s opinion, help Angel’s cause because that laugh was also pure Angelus. But then come to think of it, hadn’t Angel and Angelus always agreed in their opinion about the state of worthlessness of one Alexander Harris? “If only you knew, boy.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s definitely evil,” he sputtered and turned to Wes and Gunn. “Why are you still here and alive?”

Gunn looked at him strangely, having never, in all his years fighting demons, met someone like the obviously human male before him. “He’s not evil, man, what are you talking about?”

“See that snarl? Hear that mocking laugh? That is pure Angelus, but now that I’m thinking about it Angelus and breathing bodies don’t mix, if he were evil you’d be the first ones dead and he’d already be in Sunnydale. So what’s going on?”

Stalking forward, Riley still held round the neck in his unyielding grip, Angel growled, “Not your concern, infant. All you need to know is that the Angel before you is a much-more improved version. And not inclined to tolerate your childish nicknames, rude commentaries, and your life in general is of no concern to me. So if you want to continue your useless existence get to the point then get out.”

Riley took this opportunity to struggle in Angel’s grip, muttering curses as he did so. ‘Dirty vampire, I don’t know what she ever saw in you.’ ‘You’re nothing but an animal and you’ve sullied the purest creature I’ve ever known.’ For several moments while Angel tried desperately to reign in his temper and not beat Riley to a bloody unrecognizable, preferably dead pulp.

However, Riley went on until Angel’s growl was constant, his face long ago shifted into the vampire’s visage, his eyes not golden, but red with rage.

The vampire finally let loose with all the hurt and rage that bubbled inside him for months, over the fact that Riley got to be with Buffy when he, Angel couldn’t, and beat on Riley until his own knuckles hurt. The human didn’t stand a chance. Angel’s fists were blurs, drawing back and connecting with Riley’s flesh faster than the former commando had a hope of seeing, let alone avoiding.

“I suggest, boy,” Angel threatened when he was finished, kicking the bleeding and near to unconscious Riley Finn once more in the ribs, “That the next time I see you, you’re too old for me to properly beat you. Never,” Angel leaned into Riley’s face, making sure the swollen eyes were as focused as possible on his own red ones. “">NEVER speak that way of Buffy again.”

With a final kick that landed Riley at the feet of a scared Xander, Angel turned to the younger man. “Get out. Buffy isn’t here and if she were do you honestly think I’d tell you? I never saw any evidence of you understanding her when I was there so I doubt there has been a radical change in the months since I was gone. If she is avoiding you for some reason then that is her right. You know nothing about her nor did you ever bother to learn anything about me or us when I was there. And now, well, frankly I don’t care enough about you to have the desire to change that status so if you ever, EVER come near me again and threaten either her or me, you won’t live to regret it.”

Cordelia looked to Wesley and decided to confide in him her vision from earlier. If worse came to worse, she’d need an ally to help save Angel more pain and suffering than he’d ever caused as Angelus.

Xander didn’t wait to nod and seriously debated leaving Riley there, but didn’t relish the explanation of why he was coming back without Captain Clueless in the first place. So he picked up the heavier man, dragging him out the door and into the relative safety of the sunlight. To no one in particular he said, “Note to self, even when apparently not evil do not piss the vampire off.”

Spike snickered from his hiding place, safely in the shade of two buildings across the street and lighted a cigarette. He’d wait for sunset, that way there was no possibility of his dear grandsire throwing him into the sunlight.

Plus, if things worked out the way Spike thought they would, they’d all leave for good ole Sunnydale immediately and the real fireworks could begin.

~~~~~~~~~~

The second it was safe to do so Spike sprinted across the street, laughing the entire time. The look on Angel’s face alone was going to be worth this! Of course, the look on Dracula’s face when Angel staked his gypsy ass was going to be better.

Hopefully Spike could get the eleven pounds Dracula owed him first. Dusted vamps pay no debts.

Throwing open the doors in as dramatic an entrance as he could, Spike swept his gaze over the four beings in the room. He dismissed the three humans and zeroed in on Angel, smirk firmly in place urgency in his every step. It was a shame, he truly liked the slayer, and this was definitely something, in Spike’s opinion, that the slayer’s mate needed to know.

“I hear you’re little Buffy went missing, Angelus.” The blonde said without preamble. “I know what’s happened to her.”

In three strides, the older vampire was before Spike, wrapping his large hands around the lapels of the leather coat and hauling the smaller vampire up. “What do you know, Spike.”

Suddenly it hit Spike. The duality that often plagued the souled version of his grandsire was no more. In his place was a being who was truly one, a strange blending of soul and demon. So that was what that blue-haired little old lady was talking about. It all made sense when one had the entire story; or was faced with proof as he held you aloft and shook you.

“What…?” Spike sputtered, having lost the train of the conversation.

“What do you know about Buffy, Spike?” Angel growled, his earlier worry slamming back into him. He’d tried calling Sunnydale, but there was no answer at her mother’s house. Nor had there been at Giles or Willow’s numbers.

“Slayer, right. Damn, no wonder she wants to see you dead!” Spike laughed as everything fell into place. “Damn, Angelus, could you be any stupider? Has living underneath the poof all these years damaged your brain cells? And what’s with you, anyway? I know, despite my earlier comments, that you aren’t when it comes to certain things. So for the sake of curiosity"> why are you still here?”

Confused, worried, angry, Angel simply shook Spike again. “What in all the dimensions are you talking about?!”

“Hello! Mated bond, you ponce! Or are you really over her and were just stupid enough to mark her because you felt like it?” At Angel’s look, Spike took great glee in explaining to his wayward grandsire.

“It’s like this: Little old blue-haired bird goes to see Buffy, tells her some mumbo-jumbo about Angel and Angelus and the curse being null and void. Slayer’s all excited because the one thing she’s always wanted is finally in her grasp. A day passes, but she thinks that’s okay because this is the love of her life and naturally, he’ll need time to adjust to all this. Still not a problem.” Spike’s laughter echoed over the deadly quiet hotel lobby.

“Two days pass, three, time’s a ticking here! Slayer aint’ getting any younger, nor is she in any less danger. Suddenly she gets it. Great love of life no longer loves her. How dense is she? So she mopes, friends try to figure out what’s wrong with her, commando guy, mother, watcher, but can’t because they’re all clueless. Oh, but then here’s the best part, Angelus.”

Spike shook himself free from Angel’s slackened grip. Angel, whom Spike was sure was still trying to figure out how Buffy knew let alone Spike. Still, the blonde vamp didn’t want to be within striking distance when this little bomb exploded. But he did want to be within watching distance.

“The best part is, Angelus, that Dracula is after your woman.” No roar yet, but boy was it building. Eyes red and narrowed, a lone vein ticked in Angel’s temple despite the fact that vamps had no circulatory system to speak of, and his fists clenched and unclenched hard enough to turn knuckles white.

“Dracula?!” Cordelia squeaked. “That’s who…? Wow, talk about your celebrities!”

The two vamps heard her but ignored her. And now, Spike thought, for the icing on the cake.

“Drac turned your precious slayer.”

The roar was deafening. And was quite possibly heard in Sunnydale.

Spike never lost his grin, Gunn, confused, clamped his hands over his ears, as did his two companions. That’s when Angel lost it.

In a blur of motion, the centuries old vampire trashed his hotel lobby, punching holes in newly renovated walls, throwing a circular couch that adorned the center of the lobby clear across the room and out into the courtyard, taking some molding with it, ripping the counter from the wall seconds after Cordelia scrambled away from it in a blind panic. He kicked, pulled, and ripped a marble column to dust, tore the railing from the staircase, in a smooth motion, destroyed three sets of doors, and all the while the roar, the cry of anguish and outrage and despair and betrayal tore from his throat.

Spike was glad he had a front row seat, though popcorn would have been a wonderful addition. And maybe some hot chocolate with marshmallows.

When Angel stopped, when he quieted, none of what he was feeling abated; but he was bloody and weary and suddenly in the mood to visit the Hellmouth.

“Where?” growled, knowing his grandchilde would answer. Spike didn’t drive to LA just to drop this bomb and walk away.

“Big blooming castle near our old mansion. Can’t miss it, unless you’re the Slayer’s lackeys. Trust me.”

Without another word Angel turned for the now door-less doorway and stalked through them. He had a vampire to kill and a mate to claim. And she had better hope he calmed enough by the time they met.

“Angel, wait!” Cordelia shouted, moving back into the destroyed lobby when she heard Spike’s answer. “You can’t just go to Sunnydale!”

He snarled at her but didn’t stop, grabbing keys, duster, and favorite sword. “Why the hell not?”

“Because, ah, because, you can’t! What about us? What about the agency? What about visions and demons?”

Angel’s eyes narrowed and he changed direction midstride to stalk to his so-called secretary, sword firmly in one hand. He caught her eyes in the split second before she looked to the floor, finding the patterns there incredibly interesting. His golden-red eyes shifted to Wesley and the former watcher lowered his eyes, too. Gunn just looked on, sure he had no idea what was going on, but it was intriguing!

‘Dracula?!’ Cordelia had said, Angel remembered now. ‘That’s who…? Wow, talk about your celebrities!’

“You knew!” He snarled, face shifting rapidly into the vampire’s natural visage. The earlier ‘fuzzy’ vision Cordelia had, of course. Why would he think that Cordelia would receive a vision so convoluted? The Powers may have been out to screw him but they still wanted him on their side and the best way for that was through Cordelia’s visions.

She’d lied. SHE HAD LIED!

“ You knew about Buffy and Dracula and didn’t tell me.” He continued forward as Cordelia and Wesley continued backward. “Why? Because you didn’t want me to know, didn’t think I deserved to know? You think that you can control something that isn’t yours to control in the first place. This is wild and untamed and it defies labels and petty analyzing because it is just that beautiful and natural. And what's more it’s ours alone.”

Angel moved steadily closer to his vaulted employees, eyes shifting between the pair of them until their backs smacked against the wall. He wasn’t the same Angel from a week ago and he intended to make sure they understood that if nothing else before he left here today.

“But because you think it can’t or shouldn’t work, you interfere and trespass where your not wanted or needed. Well this is it, the last time. Buffy is my business, as is our relationship. Never speak of it again, unless it’s to congratulate her and me on our golden anniversary!”

Wesley opened his mouth to say something, but Angel sneered at him effectively shutting him up.

“And if you find you can’t butt out of my business, her business, and our love life then there is the door because it ends right now. I will tolerate no more lies, secrets or unwanted or unneeded meddling in our lives. Especially from people who call themselves my friends.” His eyes swept the ruined lobby of his offices. “The only reason I was doing this, any of this, was because of her. There is only one person in my life I can’t make it without and none of you are her so decide. Decide now, because once you agree no excuses or interference will be tolerated later.”

Angel turned back to the door, but paused and added, “Nor second chances should you feel the need to slip up and to interfere anyway.”

Gunn stood off to the side, hands raised before him at the scene recently that unfolded in what he thought was a reasonably sane place of business. One had to be slightly insane to fight demonic forces night after night, but this was beyond what he expected.

He said simply, “Not my business.” While Wesley and Cordelia meekly nodded.

**********

Giles and Willow looked once to each other before entering Buffy’s room. They were no closer to finding a reason for the slayer’s sudden disappearance and hoped something in her belongings would help their search. Of course the last time she disappeared it’d been obvious from the lack of personal belongings in the room and the note. This time there were no such clues.

“Right then,” Giles said and opened the first drawer on her vanity. “Here goes.”

He found it right away. Not the answers he was looking for, but something infinitely worse. Or, depending on how one looks at it, more horrific, sadder, more devastating than Giles cold have ever thought.

‘They came to me last night, as I lay in bed at my father’s house, a day after my short lived visit with Angel and asked me. God that visit, five minutes though it was, was painful and devastating. I still love him, but I think I always knew that. I still want him in my life, want to be a part of his, no matter how painful or hard it’d be. Everything changed when they asked me.

‘Or, more specifically, told me. And showed me. This blue-skinned woman stood before me, a golden aura around her, another off in the distance, silent. It was a wonderful day I saw, with Angel and I kissing in the sun, hours to touch and make love and simply live in each other’s presence when we’d been so long denied even that simple luxury.

‘Angel promising anything to these blued-skinned creatures, just to turn back time so that our wonderful day never happened. All so that I might live longer than I otherwise would. I try to be angry with him, but I know I’d do the same for him in a heartbeat. Oh, god, no pun intended. I can’t seem to stop crying and know that once I’m finished, I will never cry again.

‘He wanted me to live and gave up everything we’ve ever dreamed of. He was afraid that him being human would be harmful to our fight, but he forgot one thing; without him I have no fight left in me. I’m a hollow, shell of a person that my friends still don’t understand. Actually, he forgot two things. He forgot that nothing ever is as simple as we think, nor does it ever go as planned. The blue-skinned woman who stood before me explained it all. I was pregnant.

‘I could give the child up, could let him or her have a wonderful life not with me, not with us, or I could bear it, give birth to a miracle and have some kind of future with Angel. Even if he never knows of it. How could I tell him? The simple answer was that I couldn’t. Just as he couldn’t tell me what he’d done beforehand when he made them promise to return the day.

‘I didn’t agree at first, giving up my child? Never! This babe was probably the only one I’d ever have and it was with the only man I ever wanted one with. I did anyway. Why? Because my destiny is to die, I know that, Angel knew that but tried to buy me some time, the creature before me knew that; there’s nothing I can do about it.

‘It is my destiny to die at the hands of a hell god, some creature who wants to open a portal or two so it can get home. Too bad for earth that when this creature does it, earth will be overrun with demons. It is my fight, my battle, and even though I’m apparently going to win, according to the creature before me, I’m going to die doing it. Typical, if you ask me.’

Giles wasn’t surprised to find a tear running down his cheek at the words before him. He never knew. Good Lord, all this time, all the pain his slayer went through, and alone, and he never knew!

And this hell god? Maybe now that they knew about it, they’d be able to find something out about it, a way to stop it without Buffy sacrificing her life. He would not let his slayer, his daughter, die, that Giles vowed.

He read some more of the entry, vowing to stop after the explanation. Apparently this journal contained only this story; it was blank for half the pages. Except for a mysterious picture of Buffy and Angel in the sunlight, holding hands and laughing. Where she got it, he’d probably never know, but was suddenly glad she had this small tangible reminder.

‘I can’t leave my child alone in this world, and I can’t leave our child with Angel when I die because he did his best to see that I lived. Knowing he failed at something he wanted so badly…I couldn’t add to that burden.

‘I agreed and the spirit of my beautiful child moved out of me in a soft golden orb, hovering near my heart for a moment to whisper his love for me.’

‘I can’t tell anyone, even if I want to desperately. They wouldn’t understand, they wouldn’t care that Angel gave everything up for my life and that I love him even more for that. They wouldn’t understand that I just gave up everything we’d wanted because I know my future and I know that it’s short; I don’t want to burden Angel with that knowledge, or my friends.

‘God, I just gave up my baby, my child, our child, a tiny life made from Angel and I. Oh, Lord, I don’t think I’m going to ever be able to feel again. I’m so sorry, Angel, that I wasn’t strong enough to do this alone. I hope you never find out, I’m not sure I can forgive myself, let alone have your forgiveness.’

The last line was smudged, Buffy’s tears wetting the page almost to the point of illegibility. But Giles was almost positive the line said, ‘I love you, my Angel, and I love our child. I know you would have as well.’

Giles closed the book; oblivious to Willow’s concerned hovering, and her grasping hand. The witch wanted to know what caused him to cry, to clutch the book to his chest and…mourn? But she said nothing, waiting for Giles to speak first.

“She left, I think, because she didn’t want to handle the burden any longer, Willow. I think we did this to her, in part at least.”

“What?” Willow cried shock and hurt warring over her face. And maybe anger, too, but Giles was just beginning to realize how insensitive he’d been, they’d all been, to Buffy because she pretended to be perfectly fine. When in fact she’d been drowning.

“Giles, what are you talking about, what does the journal say?”

“It says that she didn’t trust us enough, Willow, to share the most important thing to happen to her. It says that all her pain could have been prevented, or shared, at least, but that we were not the ones to help. We were the fools.”

He put the book back in the drawer, placing a small ward over the contents that only Buffy or Angel ever be able to read them. He knew Willow was powerful, but with this specific a spell hoped that even she not bypass it. If out of nothing more than respect; too bad Giles knew her well enough to take that precaution.

“Let’s go, Willow. We won’t find anything here. If Buffy wants us to know where she is, I’m sure she’ll tell us some how.”

Giles led the young woman out of the room, closing the door firmly behind them. She continued to shot him glares, her eyes wide with hurt and anger. Too bad, Giles thought, it was all too bad. They all wanted to know what was going on in Buffy’s life to the point of invasion of her privacy, but didn’t care, really care enough to listen to what she didn’t say.

Maybe if they did, they’d know where she was.

~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy was listening to Dracula as the vampire told her of the delights he’d show her. She was not impressed.

He wanted a mate with darkness to rival his own, a creature who drew him across the world because of her power and strength. Buffy was that creature, that being. They were going to rule the world together, the two of them, they’d be the strongest vampires in existence.

Buffy nodded in agreement though it was apparent she didn’t care. Dracula simply smiled at her and left. He’d have her, one way or another. It was a simple matter of instigating the Sire/Childe bond. And hoping none knew of his deed until it was final.

Dracula wasn’t fooling himself, he knew that he was poaching on another’s territory; Angelus had clearly marked the slayer as his mate. It was Dracula’s good fortune that he also left her. While there was no time limit on these things, what did it matter to the immortal? Dracula knew that if Angelus ever found out, he, Dracula, was a dead demon.

However, it’d been days since he turned the slayer and no Angelus. It was true that the soul was again in control of the body and Dracula hoped that fact continued to play in his favor. Whatever the reason was for the souled Angelus not to come to his mate, Dracula didn’t care. He only needed a little more time before Buffy was his.

Despite the pull of the mating bond.

~~~~~~~~~~

It took Spike all of three seconds to decide to leave his car in LA and hitch with Angel.

Sure, he was slightly worried about the slayer and okay; maybe he did care for her, in a strictly abstract way. But the blonde vampire really wanted to see the poof’s face when Angel saw the situation for himself and this was the best way to gain a front row seat. Oh, and the two hour drive between Sunnydale and LA where he could needle his grandsire some more.

That didn’t suck.

Settling himself comfortably in the GTX, Spike sighed in content when Angel lowered the top. It was nice to feel the night in which they lived as it rushed past them. Then again, only Angel could be so contrary as to own a convertible. What a death wish.

“So, tell me about this no more curse bit.” Spike said when it became clear after less than a minute that Angel wasn’t going to do more than scowl at the road ahead and clench the steering wheel.

“There is no more curse. But you knew that,” Angel said, his voice tight and irritable. Tearing his eyes away from the crowded road before him, Angel looked to Spike. “How did you know that?”

Swallowing as he saw his long life flash before his eyes as Angel swerved through traffic, Spike gripped the door handle and wondered if he should put his seatbelt on. Was there one in this car?

“In one of the few coincidences on the Hellmouth I accidentally overheard this little blue-haired lady as she told the Slayer.” Angel growled here but said nothing so Spike continued. “She told blondie that you saved her life and she wanted to repay you. Asked you what your greatest wish was and you said it was the slayer’s happiness; and since Buffy was happy with Riley, you didn’t need anything from her. Turns out the old bat figured that in order for the slayer to be happy, she had to be with you.”

Squeezing his eyes closed as Angel took his classic car onto the really small shoulder, whipping past honking cars, Spike continued, doing his level best to keep his voice from squealing in terror. Angelus was a vicious bastard, but Spike was never so scared of the older vampire as he was now. Maybe he should have driven himself. At least then he’d make it to Sunnydale in one piece for the grand finale.

“So she fixed the curse. Something about a merging between soul and demon, completing the yin and yang of light and dark or some such rot. I don’t really know, wasn’t paying attention to that part. All I remember is Buffy standing in front of my crypt, listening to this lady as she told the slayer all her dreams were finally possible.”

“And…?” His eyes were back on the road and Spike was glad for that. Though it looked like the two-hour drive was going to be considerably less. And Lord help any cop stupid enough to pull Angel over.

“ And…. She waited. Regardless of what you managed to convince yourself about Captain Clueless there was never anyone else for the Slayer but you, so she was on cloud nine for days. Smiled and laughed and was nice to everyone. She hunted with a smile and whistled while doing it, damn it. The next night I heard her fighting a good dozen vamps. Thought I’d see if she, ah,” not needed any help, that was for sure, but Spike wasn’t going to admit that.

“And there she was, wailing on the lot of them with an aggression I’d never seen. She was one pissed slayer and those vamps were too stupid to know it.”

And now for the Dracula part. Maybe telling Angel in the same car wasn’t such a bright idea.

“Once they were dusted she broke down, crying as if her heart had been ripped out, her best friend, puppy, and mother died in the same day. Turns out it was because three days had passed and you hadn’t shown up. Seems she thought that what that lady told her was true and your curse was no more and any second you were going to show up and you two really would get that happily ever after.”

The car moved faster and Angel’s face again shifted from human to vampire. Spike desperately wanted a cigarette, but didn’t want to release his death grip on the car.

“Dracula was right there, and before I could do anything he was telling her how he’d searched the world for her, wanted her as his queen, a being whose power and darkness rivaled his own. Drac’s nothing if not a smarmy bastard with the birds, good timing as well; appeared the night she finally realized you weren’t coming for her. Took advantage, cashed in on your stupidity and by then the slayer didn’t seem to care one way or the other; didn’t think she had anything left in her life. So she fell for it hook, line and sinker.”

“He taught her a little about the power of the slayer, what she can do and what she will be able to do. Those friends of hers thought she was hunting him every night, but then they couldn’t find their way to the toilet without her help. Then she disappeared and they still can’t find her, though from your little visit earlier today, I’d say they aren’t even close.”

Angel coaxed the car to move faster, though they were approaching 100 MPH already and weaving in and out of traffic at a horrible rate.

“Turned her, Angelus,” Spike said, “I’m surprised you didn’t feel that.”

He had, but logicked himself out of the real meaning. He’d thought that Buffy was happy with Riley and that they moved to some other level in their relationship. He’d felt the challenge to his mark and assumed it was Riley, trying to erase everything about Angel from Buffy’s life, but a challenge from another vampire? That had honestly never crossed his mind.

No one challenged a marked mate. Ever.

And no one turned a slayer, let alone a mated slayer unless they had a death wish. Angel had felt Buffy die, but before he could move through his grief and pain enough to contact Sunnydale he felt her soul once more, shinning brightly to him. She was okay, alive.

His demon had roared his rage, but the soul wasn’t used to being as in tuned with the nuances of his more primal side and hadn’t listened. Buffy’s happiness was the only thing that mattered. The dreams at night told a different story, but Angel chalked it up to his own loneliness and pain, the unhappiness that haunted him since he left Buffy; both times. Dreams of Buffy crying, of Buffy hurting, of her cursing his name. But worse yet, of her simply not caring.

“He wants her for his own mate and I don’t think she cares enough about anything anymore to argue with him.”

“That gypsy bastard is dead,” Angel growled, the first complete sentence he uttered since they left the hotel. “I’m going to make sure he remembers every ounce of pain and humiliation until I stake his sorry ass for good. Thinks he can take what’s mine and I won’t defend her? Thinks he can just waltz right on in there and turn Buffy, MY MATE without reprisal?”

Even over the roar of the wind as they rushed towards Sunnydale Angel’s words echoed. Spike sat back, grin lighting his face, and relaxed his grip on the car, preparing to enjoy the rest of the ride. His work here was done.

**********

Angel’s first stop was Buffy’s house.

She wasn’t there, nor did he expect her to be, but he had several things to say to the occupants that were there. As predicted, the Scooby Gang circled the living room still trying to figure out what was so wrong with Buffy that she’d leave like this.

Angel planned on telling them; after all it was only fair they know the rules have just changed.

He didn’t knock, just strode right over the threshold and into the living room, silencing the group in mid-sentence. Riley, looking much the worse for wear, tried to stand but Joyce gently pushed him back to the couch where she had been tending his wounds. Xander, for once, kept his mouth shut, as the rest looked to Angel with varying degrees of hostility.

Giles looked saddened, did he already know about Buffy?

“What are you doing here?” Joyce demanded first.

“I’m here to find my mate and fix what all of you have done your best to destroy.” He wasn’t in his vamp face any more, but his eyes still glowed demonic yellow, his arms were folded across his chest, legs spread in anticipation of a fight, anger pouring off him in waves.

Spike lighted up a cigarette in the hallway, leaned against the wall, and watched. Act I Scene I.

“I left her because you, Joyce, convinced me that she needed more than I had to offer, that you Giles, believed we couldn’t control ourselves and would again trigger the curse, bringing Angelus back. Xander with his distrust, jealously, and juvenile behavior toward his supposed best friend’s choice of lovers finally wore her down; wore her down because she had the audacity to love someone and hadn’t asked your approval before hand.

“Willow who claimed to be Buffy’s best friend but never really listened to her hopes and dreams enough to understand not everything is fixable with a spell or potion. Assuming she would have even wanted you too in the first place. When added to the lot of you, it left her nowhere to go, no one to turn to and utterly alone just when she needed someone the most. Someone just to listen or share her hopes, dreams, and even fears with">.

“I’m going to fix that now, and none of you are going to stop me. Why?” He still hadn’t moved but no one else did, either. The sheer presence of the vampire and the words he spat at them effectively held them in place. The Angel that once cared about what they thought or wanted was gone. And in his place was something dangerously unknown and because it was evident he didn’t give a damn about anyone here but Buffy it made the finality of his words that much more ominous.

“Because you know I’m right, I gave you all your chance to prove how easily replaceable I was in her life. You know that from the moment I left, Buffy’s been a shell of her former self. But then so have I. You knew that she wasn’t happy but chose to ignore it. Why? Because you couldn’t be bothered to dig beneath her act as long as she was doing exactly what you wanted her to do. You know that the only way she’d ever be happy was for us to be together and now, finally, I believe what Buffy tried so hard to convince me of as well.”

He took a step forward now, and watched with something approaching glee as they all leaned back; why hadn’t he thought about this merging with Angelus before? “And once I find her, assuming she even wants to stay in this hellhole when I do find her, if I ever hear of any of you questioning her choices, belittling her for loving me, ridiculing her for her anything, or talking to her in any way I don’t find respectful, you WILL be very"> sorry.”

Angel smiled then and it was possibly the scariest thing the group had seen since he was Angelus. “I’ll forget the fact my soul is bound once and for all and take my…displeasure at her unhappiness out on the person responsible in a more physical manner.”

With those cryptic words he turned and left the house, leaving the group bewildered behind him. Spike laughed, threw one last look at the Scooby’s and followed his grandsire.

Angel didn’t drive to Dracula’s castle. He stalked. Moving like the large predator that he was, the vampire crossed town without uttering a word. Spike, not a fool, followed equally silent. He knew Angel knew he was there and probably didn’t care, but wasn’t going to risk his grandsire’s wrath. What fun would that be?

The castle loomed into view, but Angel suddenly turned, walking towards the nearest cemetery, an older one on the outskirts of town. At the entrance Buffy stood, waiting for him.

Act I Scene II.

“What took you so long, lover?”

“Buffy,” Angel growled, face shifting as he continued forward. Apparently he hadn’t calmed enough in the 85 minute drive between LA and Sunnydale.

The slayer swung first, a sneer that matched Angel’s on her lovely features. Her fist connected with his jaw, sending the larger vamp staggering backwards a step before he retaliated.

Spike lighted another cigarette and, finding a nice tree to lean against, watched. Where was a video camera when you needed one? This was going to be something worth watching for a good hundred years.

“Dracula, baby? Really, you could have done so much better.”

“Ha, right. With you? Note how well that worked.” She somersaulted over him, landing behind Angel and kicking his legs out from under him. Buffy followed him down but Angel rolled them over, pinning her beneath his weight.

“Why, Buffy, why did you do it? Why did you agree?” One large hand held her wrists over her head, the other smoothing soft strands of her hair off her beautiful face.

“Why do you care, Angel? You didn’t want me, all curse free as you were, you didn’t want me in your life, STILL, so what do you care?”

“I love you, Buffy, I always will. There were reasons I didn’t tell you…”

“Right, I’d like to hear them now.”

Angel looked into her eyes, golden-green now, and more empty with her soul than Angelus’ ever were. She was a vampire, true; he could sense that as surely as he could the fact that she still retained her slayer strength and passions. And her soul was there, too, hiding behind the pain she’d felt for far too long in her short life.

“Still waiting, Angel; still waiting for you to dazzle me with whatever reasons you have as to why you said nothing to me.” She snapped when he said nothing.

Pissed at him as another moment ticked by and he still didn’t answer her question, Buffy shimmered and disappeared out from under him, leaving him with her voice surrounding him. “You know what never mind, Angel. I’m not sure I’d believe you anyway; it’s just too little too late.”

“Running lover? That’s not your style...I’m surprised at you. This isn’t finished, Buffy,” Angel told her in something just above a growl and stood up to look around the seemingly deserted cemetery. “But first I have to torture your sire to within an inch of his miserable gypsy existence before staking his sorry ass.”

“Ah but, Angel, you taught me this trick and I learn from the best I’d say.” Her voice still surrounded him and he knew she was somewhere, but couldn’t find her. “Draccie baby taught me some new things too; who knows if you’re good enough? Maybe he’ll teach you as well; that is if you can be bothered to stick around when the going gets tough. After all your memory seems a bit faulty; maybe in your case with age comes senility.”

Angel’s anger skyrocketed at her words and disappearance. He howled in rage and punched his fist through a tree and vowed, “Spike!” Angel bellowed, causing the younger vampire to drop his cigarette. “I want you to find her, I don’t care how you do it, and I want you to protect her with your life. Understand?”

“Yes, Sire,” Spike answered and realized that he’d unconsciously deferred to Angel. Damn. Still, he didn’t want anything to happen to the bird, and besides, where Buffy was, Angel was sure to follow. Act I Scene III was next, a little violence to spice up the night; Act II was coming up after a short intermission, folks, don’t be late.

Damn, he forgot to tell Angel to get his eleven pounds first. Maybe Spike’d be able to loot the bastard’s castle; interest was a bitch.

Angel turned to see Dracula standing at the entrance to the cemetery, a smarmy little smile playing around his lips. Spike turned to the shadow of the tree he’d just been leaning against; Buffy hadn’t left the cemetery and if Angel’d been less focused on the wrath Buffy’s rejection, Buffy’s turning, and Dracula’s very existence caused, he’d have known it, too.

“I know you’re there, slayer. Might as well come out.”

Buffy stepped out of the shadow of the tree and looked at Spike. She said nothing but moved to a headstone, hopping on it and looked from Spike to Angel. She hadn’t gone far, despite her words, she wanted to make sure Angel was safe. Oh, she had no doubts that he could take Dracula, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was that…she didn’t know the point, or, more accurately, didn’t want to admit her point.

As the pair watched Angel verbally threaten Dracula, Spike turned to the slayer. “What possessed you, pet?”

“To do what?” She asked eyes riveted to the scene before her. Dracula turned into smoke as Angel swung towards his face, the former’s laughter echoing through the cemetery.

“Get yourself turned by Drac, of course. What else?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Spike,” she told him in a tired voice, “And I don’t expect you to.”

Spike laughed loudly at that as Angel spoke a small incantation that turned the gypsy vamp from smoke to solid form. Why he hadn’t done that to Buffy, Spike had no idea; maybe it was the shock that a fledgling could have that kind of power? Or that Buffy did? Or that she could do it and wanted to get away from him?

Then again, so far as Spike knew, only Dracula possessed that kind of maigck.

Gypsy magick used against the one cursed by gypsies. Sure, like Angel wasn’t going to study the Romney’s secrets. Immediately Angel’s hand curled around Dracula’s throat, squeezing tightly.

“What made you think you could have her?” He growled as his hand tightened. Dracula gasped even though, as a vampire, he didn’t need to breathe. “What even possessed you to think that you could turn her, mark her, and take her away from me? You know nothing, you bastard, nothing about her and I, but I’m sure you remembered those pesky vampire rules. Decide you were going to ignore them as well?”

“You left her, what do you care? Laws or no, if you truly wanted her, why would you leave?” Dracula’s silky smoothly accented voice taunted Angel as he detailed the other’s faults.

“Right,” Spike said through a grin as Dracula swung at Angel. Normally even that punch would have hurt Angel, but Spike supposed all that angry adrenaline brushed it off. “I wouldn’t understand. Let me see how close I can come to not understanding.”

Spike settled himself comfortably against the headstone, lighting another cigarette. There was no talking now, only fighting; Angel was showing no quarter to Dracula who was hard pressed to keep pace with the other’s rage. Oh, Drac gave as good as he got, but it was clear that the bezerker mode Angel was in dominated the fight.

Serves the bastard right, Spike thought as a particularly loud snap was heard. Ah, well, there went all three bones in the left arm, not to mention however many there were in the hand.

“You love Angel, the great poof loves you; simple math. Throw in the curse, you come up with 2+2=5. Can’t be together or apart without wanting, can’t live with each other because of that temptation, can’t be apart because it hurts so much every day you feel like you can’t go on. Enter little old blue-haired lady who wants to thank Angel for saving her life. What’s the one thing he wants more than anything, she asks. You of course; but he can’t have you because of the afore mentioned curse on soul.

“Not a problem she says, and abracadabra, Angelus and Angel, soul and demon, are one and the same, no more separating the two.” A taunting laugh and another snap echoed Spike’s statement. Maybe he’d actually like this new version of Angel and Angelus; no, probably not.

“Buffy’s happy, Buffy’s ecstatic, Buffy and Angel can finally get everything they’ve ever wanted. Angel decides to stick to the noble crap he’s been spouting for too long now and doesn’t run straight to Buffy as expected.”

Dracula flew across the cemetery crashing into a large rundown mausoleum. Too bad for the vamp it was by Angel’s hand and not of his own free will. In the space of a blink Angel was at Dracula’s side, he hauled the broken and bloody vampire up and threw him back. Dracula managed to right himself before he crumpled to the ground, but Angel was there once more.

Spike would bet good money that his grandsire would have no real memory of this fight, just the rush of blood lust and hate.

“Buffy breaks and Dracula finds her, promising something that the bastard probably can’t deliver, and somehow entices the slayer into becoming his childe. Nice accomplishment if you can do it, great press there and worldwide recognition. Angel finds out about this and drives to Sunnydale as recklessly as he can manage, almost killing himself and his passenger, who only wanted to share the news, not to mention no doubt leaving mass highway destruction in his wake. Oh, but the best part came first.”

Spike flicked his cigarette away and watched as Angel tied Dracula’s cape to a hook on the door near the mausoleum he again sent the vampire flying into. Cocking his head to the side, the younger vampire couldn’t help but grin when Dracula’s whimpers reached his ears.

“The best part was when Angel found out that his little seer kept a vision from him about that very thing. I am a little confused about the sequence of those events; apparently she got the vision recently when it’s been a few days since Drac turned you. Go figure, I’ll never understand those Powers. So Angel finds out his band of merry men and woman knew about you and said nothing and finally grew a backbone and told them off. Still, it wasn’t nearly as good as this show.”

Buffy said nothing for a long moment, eyes still glued to the love of her life pounding on her sire. Eh, as far as she was concerned Angel could stake the bastard and she wouldn’t care. It was another point on the Buffy no longer cares list. Spike’s words ran around her mind and she realized that she wasn’t the only one who had people she thought she could count on only to discover she really couldn’t.

Damn, one more thing she and Angel had in common.

Didn’t change the fact that Angel didn’t bother to tell her of the curse-fix and she probably never would have learned of it if not for that little blue-haired lady.

Okay, so she did feel something. Anger, intense boiling anger that was the only thing she felt. Anger at Angel for leaving and anger at him for turning back a day and forcing her to give up their child. Anger at him for being right about Faith and trying to help someone as Buffy herself showed him time and again, and anger at him for staying away for so very long.

Most of all she was angry, hurt, upset that as soon as that blue-haired lady merged soul and demon he didn’t run all the way to Sunnydale to tell her.

Seeing that Angel was firmly in control and certainly not in any way in danger from Dracula, despite the latter’s magicks, Buffy hopped down from the grave marker and walked away. Spike, sighing in great agitation, followed her.

Chances were that he and Angel would never get on, but when the elder gave an order about the protection of his mate, Spike was going to listen. The sight of Dracula was enough to convince anyone. Of course the blonde was torn between watching Angel finish Drac and living, but eventually Spike admitted that the best part of the show was coming.

“Of course,” Spike muttered when he saw their destination. It was Angel’s old mansion, in the same general state of disrepair as the last time Spike’d seen it.

He followed Buffy as she wandered into the gardens, not willing to let her out of his sight. He still wanted to know how she’d done that disappearing bit; maybe being sired by Drac somehow transferred the bastard’s magicks into her? Okay, it made no sense, but Spike had no other explanation.

They sat on the stone bench in silence for a while, Spike smoking while Buffy leaned against the wall, eyes closed. Patience wasn’t one of his virtues, but Spike didn’t know what else to say to the slayer. Hey, how’s that bloodlust feeling didn’t seem to be the way to go.

“So,” he asked anyway, “How’s it feel to be the first ever slayer turned vampire?”

Slowly Buffy opened her eyes and looked at him, indifferent to everything but the clambering thoughts that pounded her brain. “The same.”

Great, he was with little miss cryptic here. No wonder she and Angelus were mated; they got on so damn well. “No need to kill all your friends and family since they’re all still alive?”

“You know all that, listed a fairly detailed explanation of things in my life and you don’t know?” Spike continued to stare at her and Buffy shrugged. “Still got a soul.”

Choking on inhaled smoke despite the not needing to breathe concept, Spike stared at her once again. His senses were going wild around her, but he attributed it to slayer-vampire, Dracula’s weird gypsy magick, and well, he wasn’t sure what else. The soul was it then.

“Oh,” he finally managed and lapsed into silence. What else was there to say?

Cocking his head to the side several moments later, Spike stood to intercept Angel, apparently he also sought the mansion as a haven. Or maybe he knew Buffy was here? Who the hell knew with this pair.

“She’s in the gardens,” he said, looking at Angel’s blood spattered clothing. “Is he dead?”

“No. Not yet.” And some of the anger he’d been carrying for the better part of the night seemed to have subsided.

Spike nodded and turned to leave; there was a great window on the second floor where he could hear everything and not be in any direct line of fire. “Hey, Peaches!” Spike called before Angel had the chance to move more than a step. “You didn’t happen to get my eleven pounds from him, did you?”

Angel ignored him and Spike scowled. Looked like looting the castle was the way to go; then again, Drac wasn’t staked yet. He wondered where Angel put the bugger while he took care of business with Buffy.

He stood in the gardens for a long moment, just looking at her. So beautiful, so passionate, even now, when she looked battered and bowed, but not yet broken, she was the finest thing he’d ever seen. And she was all his. Angel didn’t care that Dracula was the one to turn her; Buffy was his, Angel’s, mate. A bond he was going to take great pleasure in reinforcing and a body he was going to take great pleasure in reclaiming very soon.

“Are you just going to stand there all night?” Her voice floated to him from the darkness.

“Thought I’d wait to see if you came to your senses first.” Angel stated, trying to get a rise from her. It worked.

“My senses,” she hissed, standing in one fluid motion and moving to where he waited. “I wasn’t the one who thought that telling me about your soul and demon becoming one and effectively wiping out the curse was something I wouldn’t want to hear!”

She attacked him again, then, knocking him down in a blind and jealous rage. “Is there someone else? Is that why? Did you really get over me and all that bullshit about sunlight and kids for me was just a cover?”

Finding himself with an armful of jealous slayer, Angel again reversed their positions, holding her struggling body against the hard stone floor of the gardens with all his strength. Arousal shot through him but there were some things that needed to be done first. Caressing her face, Angel kissed her, pouring all the lust and love he ever felt for her into that one kiss.

Then again, there was something to be said for the direct route.

“Oh, baby, what happened to you?” He asked when he pulled back.

“You mean you don’t know, lover?” She sneered, more shaken than she wanted him to know by that kiss. Her own arousal pooled low in her belly and she knew there was no point in hiding it. “You don’t remember?”

At his blank look at her specific wording, Buffy laughed. “Oh, this is rich. You, of all people, Angel, should know what it’s like to lose everything you ever cared about and want nothing more than to forget, to end it all, to leave it all behind and pretend that none of the pain and hurt ever happened.”

He said nothing, his eyes reflecting his own pain and hers. “I thought that what we had was the forever kind of deal but I guess when it came right down to it and we had everything we ever wanted, you didn’t want me. Fine, I can live with that. But don’t come charging in here now like some knight on a grand stead and expect it to all be better.”

“I didn’t tell you about the curse, Buffy,” Angel said as tears gathered in her eyes, wondering now why he ever thought any of his reasons were valid. “Because I thought you were happy with Riley. I thought that he was what you wanted and me showing up on your doorstep after all that’s happened was the last thing you’d want.”

The laugh that came out was punctuated by a choked sob but she relaxed in his grip, allowing her body to mold as it yearned to with his. “That’s exactly what I wanted, you idiot! I wanted you to come and tell me that the only semi-logical reason you ever gave me about why we couldn’t be together was no more! I wanted to hear how much you still wanted me, how, the second you learned that woman fixed your curse, you drove to Sunnydale and told me!”

She closed her eyes for a second and whispered, “I wanted to hear how you still loved me.”

Buffy was openly crying now, whatever moisture still resided in her body fell from her hazel eyes, making Angel’s heart break more with every tear. His lips caressed her cheeks, drinking in her tears, her misery, and the love she couldn’t hide from him no matter how hard she tried.

“I wanted to, Buffy, I swear I did.”

The damn burst then, cracking the wall of indifference she built around herself. “Why didn’t you?” It was an anguished whisper that held a pleading note as well.

“I was afraid you’d reject me, love. I thought you were happy with Riley and I was only the ex and you wouldn’t want me. I couldn’t handle that and told myself that it was better this way; and I’d never have to face your rejection.”

Spike smiled from his spot on the second floor window, a misty grin that he’d deny to his last puff of smoke. Ah, but he loved a good soap opera. He sensed the presence of several vampires the same time the lovebirds did. The misty smile changed to a cocky grin; onto Act II Scene II, and the lovely little fight that he intended to join against what were probably Dracula’s minions.

Maybe the bastard did control some of his magick if he could send minions against Angelus while holed up wherever the angry vampire stashed him.

Angel’s head turned sharply the moment the vamps entered the courtyard vamp face morphing forth immediately. His hand tightened on Buffy’s wrist for a moment before he looked back to his mate.

“This isn’t finished, Buffy,” Angel told her in something just above a growl, his only tone anymore. “But first I have to take care of a little left over business. Then I might go back and finish torturing your sire to within an inch of his miserable gypsy existence before staking his sorry ass.”

“I thought you already did that.” Buffy said as she wiped the tears from her face, once more gathering control of her emotions.

“Wanted to find you, first, love. He’s still alive. Barely, but he is.”

He pulled her upright, crushing his lips to hers in a brutal kiss meant to show ownership, a kiss Buffy returned eagerly. Picking her up and setting her on back on the bench, he told her, “Stay here. Don’t move, don’t speak to anyone other than Spike or me, and don’t even think about leaving. And no more of that gypsy shit, either.”

To Spike, who just emerged from the doorway, he warned, “Something happens to her and you die.”

His grandchilde nodded and heaved another sigh and moved to sit beside Buffy. Damn it he never got to have any fun anymore and wouldn’t you know it, he still didn’t have any popcorn.

They watched in silence as Angel made short work of the five vamps, both eager to join the fight. Angel didn’t seem inclined to share so the pair watched from the sidelines.

As if on cue, Buffy’s gang raced through the mansion doors, loaded for bear. A whole town to search and they picked this place to look? She’d been here for days, refusing to stay in Dracula’s castle and now they found her? How horrible was her luck.

“Buffy!” Willow shouted and raced to where the slayer sat.

“Ah-ah, pet. Remember Angelus’ warning; no talking to anyone but me or him.” Spike lighted another cigarette and turned to the advancing army. “I’m sure he wasn’t joking and I know that when he finds out you disobeyed him he’ll be pissed.” The fourth vamp dusted with a loud death scream and Spike added, “More so now.”

“I don’t do orders well, Spike,” Buffy said but there was no real venom in her voice.

“No, I know that, slayer, but trust me when I say Angelus’ punishments are inventive to say the least. He may be googly-eyed over you and full of love and what not, but it’s a vamp thing.” He watched as Buffy shrugged, disinterest once more coating her features. No wonder she didn’t care whether or not Dracula turned her, she just didn’t care in general.

He followed her line of vision back to Angel and amended, Buffy cared only for her mate.

Willow stopped two steps from Buffy, who had yet to move and asked worriedly, “Buffy, what’s wrong? Where have you been? We’ve been worried!”

Buffy opened her mouth to automatically reply to Willow but turned to Spike who shook his head. She closed her mouth and turned to watch her lover take all his anger and aggression out on the last minion. The whole obeying Angel’s order didn’t sit at all well with her, but she didn’t really want to talk with Willow, anyway.

Buffy caught Willow’s eyes, then purposely looked towards Angel. She was still pissed at him, still had so many things she wanted to yell at him for, and still wanted to know why he thought that not telling her about the no more curse thing was a good idea. But at least he was willing to listen to her. Unlike her friends who heard only what they wanted to hear.

Buffy idly wondered if she was being hypocritical and unfair. Then decided she didn’t care. Nope, didn’t care about anything they had to say to her. They’d apologize, she was sure, then censure her for her ‘foolish’ actions in running off.

Just wait until they figured out she was a vamp now. That would go over big. Tell them and see the looks on their faces, or leave them to wonder? Maybe she’d flip a coin.

“Buffy?” Willow asked again, puzzled at her friend’s lack of response.

Angel reached her side then and took her hand, helping her stand. “Did you want something, Willow?”

The look the witch sent him was fearful and bewildered and not a little hostile. “What’s going on, Angel?”

“Just having a little reunion with my lover, why are you here?” His voice held only polite interest as his hand gently caressed Buffy’s.

“Ah, we were looking for Buffy.”

Angel’s eyes swept over the group. Riley was notably absent, as was Joyce. Even now, when her daughter was missing for days, the woman couldn’t be bothered to help find her. “And now you found her.”

“Right. We did.” Willow looked behind her, seeking help; none was immediately forthcoming. No one wanted to cross Angel when it was obvious he was as much Angelus now as the soul. They didn’t have the whole story, but a quick call to a semi-meek Cordelia answered that question.

“So, ah, Buffy, when are you coming home?” Willow asked, as she seemed to be the only one with anything to say.

“Never,” she answered, the first word she spoke since the gang rushed through the door. Angel’s hand tightened around hers, but Buffy only smiled at him. It was an answer that seemed to please him as he realized all the implications.

Her one word explanation caused an uproar.

Duty, obligation, patrol, friends, family, all these words were tossed at her in rapid succession but she said nothing. Simply turned to Angel and said, “Let’s go, lover.”

Angel, not having to be told twice, agreed.

Spike laughed all the way to the GTX at the looks on the Scooby’s faces. He really needed to invest in a video camera; some things were too great to not watch over and over again.

**********

They didn’t leave Sunnydale right away.

Angel went back to Dracula’s castle and staked the vampire without preamble, having other outlets for his energy now. Buffy didn’t care one way or another about her sire and simply shrugged when he turned to dust.

The castle magickally disappeared along with all the inhabitants, as if they were somehow linked to Dracula and once he died, they did as well.

Angel had a bad moment of panicked terror when he thought that he’d lose Buffy through the same means, but nothing happened to her. Neither had any idea s to why the castle and its inhabitants disappeared and Buffy remained unharmed, but there were several reasons.

Buffy was a chide only, and bound to Dracula through the sharing of blood only that once. Being the slayer altered whatever bond Dracula sought with Buffy and she wasn’t bound to him. Then there was the mating bond she and Angel shared, the fact that the inhabitants of the castle were with Dracula for decades, and the fact that Buffy had her soul.

In short, there were no reasons only theories.

Buffy and Angel spent seven days alternately arguing and making love as they discussed both their choices, from Angel’s decision to leave to his choice in not telling Buffy about the fixing of the curse, from Buffy not going to LA to confront him over the fixing of the curse, to her agreement to let Dracula turn her.

“So, immortality still looking too long, Angel?” Buffy asked one night, as they lay in bed together, still talking about the hundreds of things that’d happened to them since the last time they saw each other for any real length of time.

He kissed her, a soft gentle exploration that made Buffy melt and smirked, “It maybe just right.”

He’d shown her, then, all the pleasures that were finally theirs and would be until, literally, the end of time. Angel briefly thought of the promised Shanshu but dismissed it; it was one more carrot the Powers dangled before him to get him to continue the good fight. Too bad they never realize that the only reason he fought was not for them or for redemption or even for the world.

It was for Buffy. Everything he did was for her.

Entering her willing body in a single powerful thrust, Angel whispered, “I love you,” and kissed her again.

Her climax approaching, Buffy arched beneath him, wrapping herself tighter around his body, drawing him deeper into her, and answered, “I love you, too.”

When they finally emerged from the beachside house, various bite marks adorned both their bodies and a contented grin their faces. Buffy didn’t want to stick around California, the general apathy she felt towards her life hadn’t lessened and she wanted nothing to do with her friends or family.

She didn’t want to go back even now that she had Angel; she had Angel, what more did she need? Buffy smiled at that answer; nothing. She didn’t need anything else. Except maybe some blood, but she happened to know, Angel knew all the best suppliers.

Buffy promised herself and Angel that she’d send them a letter, telling them just enough, but no details. As far as she knew, they still didn’t realize she was a vampire. And she still didn’t care. The coin had landed tails side up, so Buffy gave the quarter back to Spike and told him not to tell anyone of her newly vamped state.

The one concession she did make, was to help Angel break Faith out of jail. Granted, it was all perfectly legal, on paper and in the computer, but witchy hackers could do a lot when properly motivated by former watchers who felt guilty over things he couldn’t change. And probably didn’t really want to if he was honest with himself.

Angel agreed to go anywhere with her, and it was as they were cleaning out his offices at the Hyperion that Spike, who never did get his eleven pounds from Dracula, found it. He had tagged along to LA after the couple emerged from their beach house on the pretense that he needed to get his car back. And when he stayed to help with the packing, his reasoning was because he wanted to make sure they didn’t forget anything and bother him again.

Plus, Spike didn’t want to miss the explosion when Angel told his employees of their new unemployed status.

Angel’s own gang was less than pleased with his choice but he cared about as much as Buffy did. Cordelia tried the whole Power’s approach, Wes dangled the Shanshu prophecy before him and Gunn wanted to know why he was there, supposedly fighting with people more prepared than his gang, when there were vamps to stake.

Shrugging, Angel told them the same thing. “Stay and continue if you’d like, I don’t care about being human, the Power’s didn’t see fit to remove the curse but a nice blue-haired lady, out of the goodness of her heart, did, and as for fighting demons?” Angel shrugged and went to pack his clothes.

He was telling the truth when he said that he only ever got involved with any of the helping the helpless garbage Cordelia spit out because of Buffy. And if Buffy wanted to leave, then so be it. There were other places to slay demons. It’s not like demons were confined to California.

“Bloody hell!” Spike shouted now as a particularly heavy tomb landed on his head. Glaring at the book that now lay open on the floor; he grumbled and bent to pick it up. He could never accurately say what possessed him to read the letter that lay atop the page, but he did. And almost combusted on the spot.

“Fuck,” he whispered, then shouted, “Angelus!”

Angel and Buffy entered the office a moment later and Spike shoved the piece of paper into Angel’s hands. “I want nothing to do with it, nothing you hear me? Hell, I don’t even know what I’m doing here now! Leave me outta this, just forget you ever knew old Spike and we’ll all be happy.”

Angel read the words before him, twice, before handing the letter to Buffy.

‘I hope this finds you in good health and happiness, my souled friend. I realize that this magickal cure came too late to prevent a lot of heartache, but there were others preventing my helping you.

There’s nothing I can do to change any of that, so I’ll get right to the point. The both of you retain your souls and there are no others like you, anywhere and there never will be; the both of you are truly considered miracles in my world and there is a gift I’d like to bestow upon you.

The child you gave up, Buffy, was always in our keeping, waiting for the day when it could be born. It’s a little complicated, and not entirely ethical on my part, but neither what was done to the two of you. A small group of us believes that our Warriors should be treated with the honor and respect due them, not as weapons and tools.

Your child was always destined to be special, to be a uniting force of the world. Now, because of the special circumstances held by the two of you, this child is even more so. And who knows? There has never been a souled vampire, let alone two, let alone a souled slayer turned vampire; and because you retain your soul, Buffy, not through a curse but through your own unique slayer nature. Maybe this miracle of a child will be granted again.

I hope you’ll be happy in your immortal lives, and with the gifts that were taken away from you.

The Little Blue-Haired Lady’

Buffy looked at Angel and said with a small guilty smile, “Remember that day I wasn’t supposed to remember? I think we should talk about that.”

Angel nodded, a soft smile lighting his face; he had a fair idea what Buffy wanted to tell him from the letter. They linked hands and went back to Angel’s room, eyes locked only on each other.

Spike grumbled and went to load the last of the boxes in the car. He wasn’t going to stick around, oh no he most certainly wasn’t. Of course, a pregnant vampire-slayer-vampire was something to see, that was true. And Angel as the daddy?

Maybe it wasn’t too late for that video camera. This whole eternity thing was looking right on up.

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