Part 20

Buffy dug her feet into the sand, as she watched the waves splash onto the shore. "Beautiful." She whispered to herself, Buffy looked out to the moon admiring the surreal glow; until she felt that familiar tingle go through her spine.

"Finally." She rose of the rock she was sitting on, and walked down the shore to meet Angel halfway.

"Hey." Angel replied, putting his arms around her waist. He bent to kiss her, but she moved her head away.

"You're late." She teased.

"I'll make it up to you." He promised and kissed her. Both tuning out the loud cheering behind them.

Angel pulled away, knowing she needed to breath. "How's the party?"

Glancing over to the group of kids behind them. "I guess it's ok, but I think we'd have more fun at home." Buffy grinned at him.

Angel clasped her hand, and pulled her down the shore, until a classmate of Buffy's stepped in front of them.

"Hey Buffy, you're not leaving are ya?"

"Hey Cameron." Buffy acknowledged the star member of the swim team. "Yeah, it's getting late, I should probably go, plus I got to get to school early anyway."

"Well, how about I give you a ride tomorrow, I gotta meet the coach early." Cameron asked, he glanced at Angel for only a second, and acted like he didn't exist.

"Um, that'd be great, thanks." Buffy said, it was better than walking to school.

"Alright, see ya tomorrow." Cameron flashed a smile, and walked back to the party.

"That was nice of him." Buffy said, except Angel's attention was on the boy trying to make a pass at his wife. "Angel........"

"Hm." Angel replied, but his attention was still on Cameron.

"Let's go." She touched his cheek, Angel turned to her and nodded, and they headed to his apartment.

**************************************

Later on that night, Buffy sat up surprisingly energized. She stretched her arms out, working her muscles. Buffy smiled, her mind going back to the intense make out session she experienced with Angel. His hands all over her body, his lips caressing that spot on Buffy's neck that drove her insane, and bringing each other to full blown pleasure. The intensity was as close to making love as they wanted, and they fell into exhaustion afterwards.

Buffy scooted over, and wiggled her finger over Angel's ear; she giggled when he swatted her hand away. She sighed in defeat until she got another idea. Buffy stood up on the bed and started bouncing on the mattress. "Angel!!"

Angel groaned. "You've got to be kidding" He thought, and rolled over onto his back, to face her. Still sleepy, "Buffy honey, even vampires tire out."

"I have energy to burn." She started jumping again.

Angel couldn't help but laugh at the innocent act she was doing. "Shouldn't you save that energy for school tomorrow, you're training with Giles." Angel reminded.

Buffy stopped jumping. "Maybe you're right. Besides I've got to get up early to make it home."

"Why?"

"Remember, Cameron offered me a ride to school." Buffy said plainly.

Jealousy flashed in Angel's eyes. He was remembering how the teenager approached Buffy, not even acknowledging that he was there. Angel could see Cameron's intentions.

Buffy saw the look in his eyes. She sat down, straddling Angel's waist and looked down at him. "You're jealous." She laughed.

Angel placed both hands on her thighs, making the shirt she was wearing bunch up. "I'm just concerned. He's trying to make the moves on my wife."

"It's just a ride to school. Would you rather me walk." Buffy pouted her lower lip. "All that walking.........."

"I thought you had energy to burn." Angel said, reminding her of her earlier words.

Buffy grinned. "I do, just not for walking." She wiggled her hips, proving her point.

Angel slid his hands into her hair, bring her down into his arms, his exhaustion forgotten.

********************************

Buffy unbuckled her seatbelt, as Cameron pulled into the school parking lot. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem, I enjoy your company." He smiled at her. Cameron lowered his gaze, undressing her with his eyes. "Are you wearing a bra?"

Buffy's eyes widened in disgust. "What?" She turned to get open the door, and the master lock clicked.

"You're not trying to leave are ya?" Cameron replied, sliding closer to her. "I said I enjoy your company. So relax, I won't hurt you."

"Oh, it's not me I'm worried about." Buffy threatened.

Chuckling. "You're into kink..." Cameron reached over to wrap his arm around her.

Buffy grabbed his arm tightly, and used her other hand to smash his head into the steering wheel.

"Ow, you broke my nose." Cameron stuttered, checking for blood.

"You're lucky that's all I broke." Buffy turned to the door, adding just enough pressure, the door opened, and she walked towards the library.

When she got there, Buffy noticed everyone pouring over books. "Can I play too?"

Giles looked up, startled. "Buffy, yes, some remains were found on the beach this morning. Human remains. Apparently it was Dodd Atlysct, he was eviscerated, and only skin and cartilege was left."

"Well hand me a book." Buffy replied.

Part 21

The gang remained in the library, up to their necks in books, trying to find out what kind of thing they were looking for, and they didn't have much to go on.

"It should not be this hard to find a demon that eats humans, and only leaves skin." Willow said, frustrated

"No kidding." Cordelia replied. She got up and headed for the door, when Xander nearly knocked her down.

"I saw it!! It got Cameron!" He yelled.

Giles grabbed Xander by the shoulder. "Calm down, and describe what you saw."

"I can draw it." Cordelia volunteered. She pulled out paper from her notebook and began sketching Xander's description. After a few minutes, Cordelia's drawing took form.

Xander sighed. "No, no, no! The mouth's a lot bigger!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes, she put the sketchpad down, and walked over to sit on the counter. "I did the best I could."

Giles nodded glanced at the picture, with Buffy and Willow staring over his shoulder.

"Gross." Buffy muttered. "Anyway, I think this thing is after the swim team. According to the school, Dodd and Cameron were the best swimmers on the team."

"Yeah." Willow agreed. " Which means, Gage Petronzi, the third best swimmer would be next on the menu.

Cordelia frowned. "God, this is so sad. We're never gonna win the State Championship."

Ignoring Cordelia's ranting. "Buffy, I think Gage will need some protecting." Giles suggested.

"On it." Buffy left the library, in search of Gage.

She found him easily and tried to watch him, discreetly as Giles would put it. Later that night Buffy followed him to the Bronze and watched him, thinking he had no idea Gage knew she was there all along. Gage was playing pool, he felt her eyes on him, and turned to her from behind.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

Buffy, surprised by his sudden movements was a little lost for a second. "Um, I'm a swim groupie."

Gage stared at her in disbelief and turned to leave.

"Wait" Buffy stopped him. "OK, there's something out there attacking people, and you're next on the list."

Gage rolls his eyes. "You're one twisted chick. Go find someone else to harass." He pushes her aside and walked past her; out of the Bronze.

Buffy sighed and decided to leave; save herself anymore embarrassment.

Gage walked down an alley, anger plastered on his face "Psycho bitch."

"Gotta be talking about Buffy." A voice from behind said.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Gage asked.

Angelus walked into the light. "She and I had this thing. Biggest mistake of my life." He said, in his mind he was laughing. "This is too easy" He thought.

"My condolences. What's up with that chick? She acts like she's God's gift or something." Gage asked, turning to conversate.

"I know." Angelus stalked closer. "She really needs someone to knock her down off her notches."

"Yeah, that'd be sweet. Anyone in mind?"

Angelus smiled, his face morphed in to his game face. "Yeah, me."

Gage's eyes widened in horror, and Angelus grabbed him; sinking his fangs into Gage's throat. He screamed as loud as could. "Help!!!"

Buffy heard screams as she left the Bronze, and ran into the alley. When Buffy got there, she saw Angelus drop Gage to the ground and spit out his blood. Buffy ran towards Angelus, she sent a kick to his head, and pulled out a stick that was holding her hair up. Buffy held it ready, to stake him, she was ready to do it now, and would not hesitate.

Angelus looked up at her, seeing her hair tumble down. "Why, Miss Summers, you're beautiful." He quickly bent down to pick up Gage, and threw him at her; knocking them both to the ground. Angelus smiled, and left.

Buffy got up and watched him go, while Gage got to his feet, rubbing the side of his neck where Angelus bit him.

"Was that the thing, that killed Cameron?" Gage asked

"No, that was something else." Buffy answered. "We have a lot of something elses in this town." She looked at Gage once more. "Good night."

Gage looked back and forth between Buffy and the direction Angelus went, and decided he'd be safe with her; besides she is kind of cute, he thought. "Hey,"

Buffy stopped and looked back at him.

He smiled slightly. "Walk me home?"

She smiled at Gage, and motioned for him to follow.

*******************************

The next day Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia; were sitting in the stands, with a box of popcorn watching the Swim team practice. From his position behind the block, Gage saw Buffy and waved at her; he had a grin on his face. Buffy saw him and waved back, while talking with Cordelia and Willow about last night.

"So he spit it out? I thought Angelus liked blood."

Buffy shrugged. "He used to."

"Maybe his eyes were too big for his stomach." Willow suggested.

"Or maybe there was something in Gage's blood that Angel didn't like." Buffy replied. "Say, steroids."

Willow thought about it for a second. "That would explain all their behavioral changes. Whatever's in their blood might be attracting this creature."

Cordelia was about to respond, until she glanced over to a swimmer walking onto the deck, the tight abs that rippled through the red speedos belonged to...

"Xander!" She said in disbelief

Buffy and Willow looked over and giggled at him.

Xander saw the three girls staring at him, and grabbed a kickboard to cover himself

The girls all got up and came down from the stands. Xander scrambled over to them.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Cordelia managed to choke out, while staring at his wet body.

Xander signaled for her to quiet down. "Shh! I'm undercover."

Buffy grinned. "Not under much." Making Willow giggle with her.

"I'm on the team now, so I can watch when Buffy can't" Xander said.

"When you're nude." Willow replied. "I mean changing." She said, trying to hold her laughter.

"Very funny, Will" Xander glanced over and saw the coach staring at him. "Gotta go, guys." He held the kickboard tighter against his body, and joined the other members of the team.

Cordelia smiled brightly. "I'm dating a member of the Sunnydale Swim team."

"You can die happy." Buffy replied, sarcastically

PART 22

After practice, Buffy waited for Gage outside the boys locker room. Xander had just left, saying that Gage was still getting dressed. She slumped against the wall, getting impatient until Buffy heard a scream. She rushed into the locker room and pulled a terrified Gage away from the creature that stood poised in front of him, Buffy stood up to the monster expecting it to attack; but it didn't move. She turned to Gage who was still screaming, not in fear anymore but instead in agony.

He dropped to the floor pulling at his clothes like they were poison. Buffy stood there watching, not knowing how to help him, her eyes widened when she saw the skin on Gage's hand tear, and a green clawed hand emerged. She continued to watch and gasped at the monster that was once Gage, stand in front of her. Buffy backed off slowly, forgetting about the monster behind her

It roared, advanced on her and took a swipe at her with it's sharp claws. Knocking her into a locker. When she got up, both creatures were gone.

Buffy quickly headed to the library to let Giles know what happened to Gage, she was about to start speaking until she saw the looks on Cordelia and Xander's faces

"What is it?"

"I'm gonna turn into those fishy-thingy's" Xander whined.

Giles cleared his throat. "The entire team absorbs the steroid mixture in the steam room."

"Oh." Buffy replied, and sat on the table next to Willow.

Xander sighed. "What do you mean, Oh? We have to find an antidote, don't you think? The clock is ticking, people."

"Calm down Xand, it's not like you were exposed more than once." Buffy said, the worried look of his face said otherwise. "Twice?"

Xander slowly held up 3 fingers.

Buffy jumped off the table. "On that note, I think I'm gonna go have a little talk with our coach. Somehow, I doubt all he's been giving these boys is inspiration." She stormed to the equipment room, knowing she'd find the coach there.

*****************************************

The Coach was staring over a hole in the equipment room, when Buffy found him. "So you're the one doing all this."

Startled, the coach looked up. "What are you talking about?"

Rolling her eyes at his poor attempt to act stupid, "You know what I'm talking about. What's in the steam?"

A smirk crossed his face. He held his hands behind his back. "Just a little experiment with fish DNA." He saw a look of disgust cross her face. "You wouldn't understand, we have a shot at winning state championships."

"You are sick, and in the need of a little thing called sanity."

The coach pulled his hand out, holding a gun. He pulls the hammer back and aimed it at Buffy's head. "Get in the hole!!" He yelled, indicating to the hole behind her.

Buffy looks down at the water below and back up at the coach. She sat down on the edge, Buffy gave him one last look and dropped into the water below. Standing up and wiping the water from her eyes, she looked at her soaked clothes, and the indescribable things sticking to her.'Next time I'll keep my mouth shut.' Buffy looked up at the coach leaning over the hole.

He began to rant. "You think I don't care about my boys, my team. But I do, they count on me."

Buffy eyes widened, and she nearly screamed at the mutilated bodies floating around her; especially the body of the former school nurse. She looked back up at the coach. "So, what, you're just gonna feed me to 'em?"

The Coach smiled at her. "Oh, they've already had their dinner. But boys have other needs."

"Shit!!"

"What? You're a pretty thing." The Coach chuckled.

Buffy glanced around her seeing the creatures emerge from the water, to lunge at her. One managed to get to her, and pull her down into the water. She splashed, trying to get from underwater, kicking her feet in the murky water, she tried to get free from it's grasp. Buffy got her body free and came back up; gasping for air.

"Buffy!!" A familiar voice came from above her. Xander stood above the hole. "Hurry! Your hand!"

She nodded and took a deep breath, Buffy crouched down into the water and leaped up to grab Xander's hand. He held onto her, while the creatures below paw at her legs, trying to pull her back down. Buffy kicked and flailed to get them off. Xander tugged harder and Buffy climbed from the hole with her legs and slid onto the floor.

Panting,"Thanks Xand." She started to climb to her feet, Buffy noticed something. "Where's the coach?"

Xander tumbled to the ground, being hit from behind. The Coach stood over his prone body with a large pipe He takes a swing at Buffy, but she ducked away and tripped him with her leg. Unable to keep balance, the Coach fell into the water below.

Buffy reached down, to help. "Grab my hand!"

The Coach didn't hear her, he backed up against the wall while his creatures stalked toward him. "Boys!! No!!" He screamed, he struggled while they pulled him under.

Buffy closed her eyes and pulled her hand back. She went over to a groaning Xander, trying to get to his feet. "You okay?"

Sighing, "I'll live. Next time I'll hit harder."

With Buffy's help, Xander got to his feet. "What about the fish? Shouldn't we hunt, kill, and other stuff?"

Buffy thought for a second. "No, I don't think we'll be seeing them anymore. They're going home."

As usual Xander was confused but let it go. They both limped to the door.

"Speaking of home, I definitely wanna get there." Buffy replied.

"I'm not arguing with ya."

"Man do I have a story for Angel." Buffy thought.

Part 23

Angelus stealthily walked through the cemetery, moving slowly while watching Buffy and Angel fight off a group of his fledglings. He watched the precise, yet graceful attacks the lovers made. Angelus could not help but snicker, in his mind he knew it would not be easy any longer. He moved closer to the fight, when Buffy began talking to the vampire she was currently beating into a pulp.

"I want you to get a message to Angelus for me. Tell him I'm done waiting."

Angelus smiled as he listened.

Buffy punched the fledging in the jaw. "You got that? Need me to write it down for you?"

The vampire got up and charged her. Expecting his movements, Buffy grabbed him and pushed him to the ground, and plunged her stake home. It burst into ashes.

Buffy sighed. "I'll tell him myself." She dusted her hands off and walked over, behind a gravestone, where Angel was finishing off the vampire he was fighting.

Angel turned to her. "Something's up, 5 vamps in three nights?"

Buffy nodded, looking disappointed. "But no Angelus."

"Are you sure you're ready to go against him? Angel asked, curiously.

"I want it over with."

Angel nodded. It was time for Angelus to die, his reign of murder and mayhem needed to end, now. Angel just hoped that Buffy was truly ready.

Buffy grabbed Angel by the hand. "We might as well go." She stopped in her tracks when a thought hit her "Oh God! I haven't even started studying for finals. Just shoot me!"

"You'll do fine." Angel encouraged.

Buffy smiled. "I'll just look on the bright side. It'll all be over soon." They left the cemetery unknowingly under the watchful eyes of Angelus.

Angelus smirked, and muttered under his breath while leaving in the other direction." "Yes, my love. It will."

Angel paused in his tracks, a feeling unleashed itself in the pit of his stomach. Like a dormant power had been released, and it's source was coming from his body. He tried to ignored it at first, but it got stronger, he remembered the first time he got a similar feeling, many years ago. And it bothered him greatly. Buffy turned and felt the worry vibrate from him, she could feel his concern.

"Is he here?" She asked, ready to grab the stake from the pocket.

Angel shook his head. "No." He looked around a little bit more, and the feeling in his stomach began to mellow down. After a while, Angel gave up. "Let's go."

"Are you sure?"

Angel just grabbed her hand and began to walk, not really caring if he was dragging her or not. The tingle was gone, but it left a rousing aftershock in him His thoughts traveled to a moment in his deep past, when he became someone.

********************************************

Drusilla hummed a little song her mind kept repeating, and the lyrics were running through her mind. She walked down the stairs in the Mansion toward Spike. He was reading the local newspaper, he looked up when she started to dance around him.

"What's up pet?"

Drusilla started twirling her hair around her finger. "The Moon started whispering to me, like a song." She runs her fingers through her hair. "A song about all sorts of dreadful things."

Angelus came down the steps behind Spike. "Well, what did it say?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Look who's back."

Angelus slapped Spike on the back of the head and walked over to a swaying Drusilla. "What did the Moon tell you? Is something coming?"

Drusilla's gaze became intense. "Oh yeah." Her voice was deep and husky. "Something terrible."

He smiled with surprising excitement. "Where?"

Her intense gaze lost it's form and showed the look of an excited child awaiting a gift. "At the museum, a tomb, and it has a surprise inside."

Angelus held his hand up to stroke her hair, mainly her head. "You can see all that in your head?"

Spike sighed, tired of this nauseating display. "No stupid. She read it in the morning paper." He held out the paper to Angelus.

Angelus snatched the paper from his childe and read the headline. "Excavators Discover Ancient Artifact."

"That's what's been whispering to me." Drusilla said in a whisper.

Folding the paper in his hand. "Don't worry precious. Soon it'll stop." Angelus glared at Spike. "Soon it'll scream."

"Goody." Drusilla exclaimed.

Part 24

"Let's rock some chemistry!" Willow said excitedly.

"Ready to rock." Buffy replied. They met up in the late Jenny Calendar's classroom, which now belonged to Willow, during their free period. Willow offered to tutor Buffy in chemistry, and Buffy couldn't say no. Willow explained to her, the meaning behind covalent bonds and what there functions were, Buffy sat their trying to figure out what the hell Willow had just explained to her, when she tried a solution on her own.

Buffy gave up, and slammed her pencil . "This is pointless! When am I ever going to use covalent bonds in the real world." She looked at Willow with a frustrated scowl. "I really don't want to do this."

"Buffy, I know you don't want to it, it's frustrating, but it's part of the exam." Willow rationalized. "You've got everything else down perfectly, so this is just one more thing."

"I'm sorry, Will. I've got a lot on my mind, and it's getting on my nerves."

Willow nodded, understanding her best friends frustration. She had to save the world and get good grades, Willow couldn't imagine what that must be like for her.

Buffy sighed. "Look let's try to get this done, I have to patrol."

"Again? Do you really expect Angelus to come tonight?"

"No, I don't expect him to. But that's usually when he does." Buffy replied, twirling her pencil in her hand.

"Are you sure you're ready to fight him?" Willow asked worriedly.

Sighing, "I wish you everyone would stop asking me that, I'm capable and ready." Buffy snapped. She was sick and tired of hearing that same question over and over. Angel had drilled her last night, Xander bugged her all morning, and now Willow was starting.

Everyone knew Angelus could manipulate her so that she was weak and vulnerable, and he worked it to his advantage. The only reason he was still alive, was because of that, could she fight him, knowing he could use the power he has over her.

Buffy quickly apologized to Willow for snapping at her. Understanding as always, she let it go, and they decided to get back to their study session.

Buffy dropped her and it rolled off the desk onto the floor. She reached down and grabbed the pencil, not paying much attention to the object that she bumped. Buffy sat back, and motioned for Willow to continue.

She listened for a moment, a thought hit her. "Déjà vu."

Willow looked up from the book she was reading. "Really?"

"Yeah, the pencil rolled to the floor." She let her pencil roll to the floor, the same way it did before, and looked over and sees an unlabeled yellow disk. "You dropped this." Buffy handed the yellow disk to Willow, who looked at it curiously.

"It's not mine. It might be something of Ms. Calendar's." Willow inserted the disk into her laptop and pulled up the files on it.

Buffy was about to comment on how morbid this felt, until she read the title of the file. "Restoration.." She whispered and kept reading the text. Her eyes widened, after reading a few lines of the text. "Oh God." Buffy felt a moment of sadness run through her, she had been so awful to Jenny, and she died trying to regain Buffy's trust.

Willow quickly printed out copies of the text. And the girls headed straight to the library. Buffy and Willow ran in, where Giles and Xander were standing and explained to them what they had found.

Giles looked stunned. "What are you saying?"

Buffy held out the print out. "The curse, this is it. She was trying to replicate the spell to give Angelus a soul."

He took the paper and looked over it.

Xander shook his head in disgust. "So he killed her, before she could tell anyone about it."

"She was trying to help us." Giles muttered.

"Should we curse him?" Willow asked, cautiously, she saw how Xander was on the brink of blowing up, and she did not want to start anything. Unfortunately she did.

"Will, are you crazy?!" Xander yelled.

"Let's not start arguing, it won't solve anything." Giles intervened. "Willow may have a point, this is a similar situation to Angel's."

"Here's an interesting thing, who cares?" Xander said coldly.

"I care." Buffy replied.

"Well, I'm not surprised." He taunted, everyone looked at Xander. "What? All is forgiven, I can't believe you people!!"

"Cursing Angelus seems to have been Jenny's last wish." Giles said, trying to be rational to Xander.

"Well, Jenny's dead!"

Before Giles could reply to Xander's harsh remark. Buffy intervened. "Stop it, you two, this isn't going to solve anything." When they quieted down, she continued. "Cursing him could help us......"

"You mean, it could help you." Xander interrupted.

Buffy looked at him in shock

"What? One Angel isn't good enough for you." He looked at her with disgust. "You need two, just so you can screw their brains out." Xander pointed his finger at her, being her judge, jury and executioner. "The way I see it, you wanna forget about all the things Angelus so you can get your kicks."

She held his hard gaze, and resisted the tears that threaten to spill. Buffy refused to listen to any more of this, and walked out of the library to head home. Willow and Giles just stared at Xander in surprise and shock. Wondering how he could be so..... The words cold and harsh could not compare to his behavior towards Buffy.

******************************************

Later on that night, at the Sunnydale museum, a young man was observing a huge statue that was found earlier that morning. He was taking samples of the rock when he hears someone whispering. He looks around, but no one is there. "Hello?"

The whispering got louder. Suddenly a hand wrapped around his mouth from behind, Drusilla pulled his head back to expose his neck, and sank her fangs in his flesh as he struggled to get away.

Angelus walked in with a smile on his face, he motioned to his fledglings. "There's our baby, be gentle."

The younger vampires rushed toward the statue with ropes in their hand, planning to haul it out of the museum.

While Angelus busied himself with his task, Buffy was piling all her weapons into a bag, while talking to Willow on the phone. "I'll do a couple of sweeps, and then I'll stop by." She listened to Willow for a while when Angel came in through the window. Buffy turned around and smiled at him. "Gotta go Willow." She hung up the phone, and sat it down on the dresser.

"Ready?" Angel asked, grabbing her slayer bag on the bed.

"Yeah." She replied, she grabbed her jacket, and they headed out to the park.

They walked around for a while, not seeing anything but still keeping their eyes open. Angel noticed she was a little distant. "You wanna talk about it?" He said, referring to the argument she had with Xander, when she came home earlier that day she called him, upset and nearly crying. A rage roared within Angel when she told him what Xander had implied to her, and he knew she had to be upset over it.

"I'm starting to believe that saying, your best friend is your worst enemy." Buffy replied, she knew that when it came to Angel, Xander could get a little harsh, but this time harsh is child's play to him. She could not understand how someone she thought of as good friend could be a malicious jerk.

"I think this is his way of saying he's scared." Angel said

Buffy shook her head in confusion. "I can't believe you of all people would defend him."

"I'm not defending him." He clenched his hands. "The things I wanna do to him would make my demon proud, he hurt you, but Xander has a problem with letting the wrong things come out of his mouth. He's worried that what happened to Jenny will happen to him, or any one of us; if you don't kill Angelus."

Buffy sighed, she thought for a moment. "What do you think we should do? Kill him or curse him?"

Angel remained quiet, he didn't know how to answer that. He wondered why he was even trying to decide what the demon's fate would be, but his personal experience in the past played a huge part. Killing the demon would satisfy everyone and make life easier. Cursing him would also make everything easy, but his double would have to endure all the blood and horror he bestowed on innocent people.

"Kill him." He finally answered.

Buffy nodded, understanding his opinion on the matter, and agreeing with it. She wanted to know how Angel felt about the situation before she made a decision, Buffy knew that Angel had gone through the exact same thing, what his demon did in the past wasn't his fault, because he had no conscience for his deeds. She needed to know that the redemption she was giving to Angelus would be his soul or his death.

"We kill him." Buffy stated.

Angel nodded and they continued to patrol, heading into some bushes. The lovers stopped and looked around when they heard a twig snap. Slowly, they continued through the bushes to investigate, another twig snapped behind them, and they both pulled out their own weapons and turned to their attacker. Buffy sighed when she saw who it was.

"You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you." She informed, her sister slayer.

Kendra grinned. "Just wanted to test your reflexes." She looked toward Angel. "Hello." She regarded him. "And I apologize."

"For what?" Angel asked confused.

"I never got to say I was sorry for trying to kill you."

"You helped save me, that was good enough." Angel replied, with no hard feelings to the other slayer.

"Don't think I'm not glad to see you, but why are you here?" Before Kendra could answer, Buffy kept on going. "Let me guess, a dark power is about to rise, yadda yadda."

"Dat about it."

"Well, let's be good slayers and tell Giles out this dark power." Buffy jokingly remarked, and lead them to the library.

Go to Part 25