Angel chuckled as he hit the street. Mystique had always been a kidder,
  trying to shock people and make them second guess themselves. He
  supposed some things never changed.

  He was thrown violently from his thoughts when he rounded a corner and
  ran straight into someone, knocking them both to the ground. The girl
  started apologizing, then looked up into his eyes. <Buffy...> She
  immediately propelled herself to her feet, and started at him, kicking
  and punching almost like an automaton. <I don't have time for this...
  And she's off...> It was fairly easy to get a solid punch in, that sent
  her reeling away from him. He then quickly took off in the opposite
  direction.

  Buffy shook her head to clear it, and got to her feet, searching for
  Angel.
  She couldn't see him, just she still could faintly feel him. She grinned
  to herself as she ran in the direction she thought Angel was. <My spider
  sense is tingling...>

  She stopped in an alleyway, looked around, and frowned. <Now, where did
  he go...> She saw a ladder, and smirked. <Going up!> She grabbed the
  rungs of the ladder, and quickly climbed to the roof, which was only two
  stories high. She found Angel there, leaning against the side of a wall.

  "Hello, lover. Have you hugged your hacker today?"

  Buffy froze, and her eyes narrowed. If there had been any doubt that
  Angel had Willow, it was definitely gone now. "What have you done with
  her!" she said quietly but with a deep menace. "If you hurt her..."

  "You'll what?" he asked mockingly. "Stake me? Do that, and you'll never
  see her again. Alive, that is." He snickered. "A friend of mine is all
  set to deliver her to you in pieces should I vanish."

  Buffy saw red, and launched herself at Angel. Her punch lacked any
  discipline, and was simply fueled by raw fury. Angel easily dodged, and
  knocked her again into a wall. She leaned against it, dazed.

  "Aw..." Angel drawled. "Did I give my ex-lover a boo-boo? Should I kiss
  it all better?" He laughed darkly. "You never could do anything right. I
  mean, just look at you. Could you be any more pathetic right now?"

  Buffy tried to collect herself, but her head was so fuzzy. <Wake up!>
  she ordered herself. <My mortal enemy is standing right in front of me.
  Even if he just seems to want to talk right now, that's gonna change, so
  WAKE UP!> Even with her pep talk, she couldn't seem to get her sluggish
  body to move. Too many knocks to the head, maybe.

  "Willow is a dish, though, really." <Hmmm... I must have missed some of
  his monologue...> "And much better in bed than you are. Surprising how
  much better, considering that she had far less experience with anything
  sexual compared to you."

  Rage started to build inside Buffy again. <MOVE!> she commanded her
  body, and finally it did. She leapt from position to tackle Angel. His
  eyes went wide, as her move was so unexpected. He was caught full force
  by the weight of her body, and the two tumbled to the ground, with her
  on top. But Angel quickly rolled, putting her beneath him and pinning
  her to the ground.

  "Bad move, lover. Now you're *really* at a disadvantage." He smirked.
  <She is *really* off her game, too...> He noticed how she was trembling
  under him, and a light-bulb clicked on over his head. <I wonder if she's
  gotten over me? Somehow, I really doubt it...> He put both her wrists in
  one hand, and trailed the other hand down her face and throat. It
  stopped on her breast, her fast-pounding heart easily felt, as well as
  her taut nipple.

  "Am I making you all hot and bothered, Slayer?" he asked in a smug
  satisfied male way, smirking. Buffy hissed, shaking her head violently,
  and tried to evade his hand. Her panting breath certainly didn't make a
  case that she wasn't aroused by him, and she was damned if he'd know
  just how much she still wanted him. <It's just his body, though...
  Angel's gone forever... No matter what happens, Angel and I are
  history...> That didn't stop her body from craving his touch, however.

  Angel's lower body was cradled against her, and simply the feel of him
  was enough to soak her panties. Plus the feel of his hands on her, and
  she was surprised she wasn't writhing across the pavement with desire.

  Angel smirked. "Guess I haven't lost my touch, huh Slayer? But I really
  have to be going. I have a real woman waiting for me." He jumped to his
  feet and sauntered off.

  Buffy quickly realized what he meant, and scrambled to her feet.
  <Willow...> She tried to take off after him, but her weak trembling body
  betrayed her, and she sank back down to the pavement in tired defeat.
  <If he's hurt you, Willow, I promise to tear him limb from limb...>

  She soon managed to regain her strength, and headed for home. She
  seriously needed fourteen hours of sleep. If not more.

  *****

  "You should have come to me immediately with this," Giles said sternly
  as he paced. "An altercation with Angelus is nothing to be blasé about."
  Of course, she'd given him the edited version of their encounter...
  Giles didn't need to know *everything*.

  "Giles, chill, okay? What's done is done. Have you found anything about
  Willow?" Giles sighed, and nodded.

  "Yes, I was searching through the stacks when I came across a rather
  old book of obscure methods of the Iztanzeys. I would have thought that
  Willow would have tamed Angel by now. Did you notice a tattoo on his
  wrist?"

  "There was no time for me to notice anything, Giles." Giles nodded
  again, as if figuring that this to be so.

  "As I was saying, most Iztanzeys would have completely tamed a demon
  within this amount of time. Since Willow would be new of this, I'd give
  her a couple of extra days, but still, she should have tamed him to the
  point where he would have just run from you, not participated in a
  fight. This is what concerns me."

  "Concern?" Buffy said sharply. "Why? And why would Angel not fight? I
  attacked him."

  Giles stuttered a little, as he realized his argument made little
  sense. No demon worth their salt, tamed or otherwise, wouldn't fight
  when faced with their destruction. He quickly turned to his books in
  hopes of covering his gaffe in logic.

  Giles opened the musty old book on the table in front of him. He leafed
  through it till he came to a specific passage, and then spoke
  hesitantly, quoting. "In the cases of particularly strong demons, an
  extra step beyond the normal is required to fully tame the demon. This
  step is dangerous, as the binding to protect the Iztanzey dissipates
  after the third step is complete. Although the demon rarely wants to
  hurt the Iztanzey once the third step is complete, the overpowering urge
  for freedom causes a backlash in the Iztanzey, almost always mortally
  wounding them. It is rare that an Iztanzey lives to complete a fourth
  step, and even rarer that the fourth step is completed correctly."

  "You mean..." Buffy took in a sharp breath. "If Willow has to do a
  fourth step, like you're worried that she will, she'll probably die?"
  Giles gave a brief nod. "Then we have to find her! Before it's too
  late!"

  "Yes, we do. And we haven't much time. Once the fourth step has begun,
  it might not be long before it would be too late to save her."

  These sad thoughts in mind, they headed from the library, determined to
  find Willow and prevent her death.

  *****

  Willow jolted, and woke with a start. She glanced at the watch Angel
  had left on the bedside table, and realized that it was the middle of
  the day, which surprised her. She'd become quite nocturnal since her
  capture. Snuggling back against Angel, she smiled. Things weren't nearly
  as bad as she thought they were going to be. Angelus would soon be Angel
  again, Mist was leaving town, and before long she'd see the gang. But
  then her conversation with Mist came to mind, and she shivered. Mist had
  killed her Iztanzey, when he had thought she had been completely tamed.
  Would that happen to her? Would she die at Angel's hands?

  She turned to look at her lover. Her face softened as she watched him
  sleep. He seemed so innocent when asleep, like an angel. Willow grimaced
  wryly at that last thought. But she finally admitted to herself what she
  had been afraid to for so long. She was in love with him. Not the Angel
  she had known before he had turned, but the Angel that had kidnapped and
  imprisoned her. The one who had awakened her sexuality. She was quite
  sure that it wasn't a result of the Iztanzey/Demon relationship, as that
  seemed to produce much more hate than love. No, this was about her,
  Willow Rosenburg, a woman, and Angel, the 'man' she loved.

  <I wonder if I'll still love him if he kills me...>

  Although Willow was unsure of how Mist had managed to kill her Iztanzey,
  that she had done it at all terrified her. The protection spell was
  supposed to be absolute. But whatever happened, she was actually glad he
  had taken her. Buffy was going to get her Angel back. True, he wasn't
  going to be exactly in the same he had been, but he was going to be
  almost back there. <I wonder if it'll hurt to see them together...>
  Willow snorted at herself. Of course it was going to hurt, she loved
  him, and he was going to return to Buffy the first chance he got. Of
  course, if she had the choice, she'd keep him for herself, but she
  wasn't about to stand in the way of Angel's happiness. And there was no
  way he'd be happy with her when Buffy was waiting in the wings. <And
  then there's the problem of if he kills me... He'd never forgive himself
  then... And Buffy might not either...> Willow sighed, and leaned her
  head against Angel's bare chest.

  Willow knew that it wouldn't be long now before the process was
  complete. He'd told her about his fight with Buffy, although she
  suspected that he'd edited the details a little. <I wonder just what it
  was he did...? I'll probably never know, though.> Willow knew that if
  Buffy hadn't been the Slayer, he wouldn't have fought her. His survival
  instincts hadn't let him simply BE around the slayer without fighting
  her. He wasn't quite that controlled yet. But he would be, soon.

  Drowsy, Willow wrapped her arms around her lover's chest, buried her
  head against him, and dozed off. <I'll think about all this later...>
  she thought sleepily as she slipped into a deep, peaceful sleep.

  *****

  Mark sighed as he sat quietly in the apartment he and Michelle had
  rented. Michelle had been plotting to kill the Slayer for several days
  now. She was going to implement her plan tonight, which meant he had to
  decide. Decide which was worse. To kill his love, or to suffer the
  dishonor of her killing the Slayer.

  Mark cradled his head in his hands in despair. The Slayer was the one
  who kept their unholy cousins from taking over the world. Unknown to
  her, the Eternals had been helping for quite some time. She was a role
  model to them, although most outside their society would probably get a
  real laugh out of that. If Michelle killed her... The repercussions
  would be fast and furious.

  He'd tried to reason with her, to get her to leave Sunnydale, but she
  wouldn't listen. She had been driven completely mad by the Dancer. He'd
  warned the boy so that the Slayer would be prepared, but he didn't think
  it would be enough. Michelle was one of their best warriors. No matter
  how good this Slayer, Michelle would eventually wear her down like water
  against a cliff, and kill her. And he couldn't allow that. Better to end
  it now.

  Mark picked up a stake, and he held it in his hand, testing its weight.
  Such a simple weapon, he still amazed that it could kill his wife. Would
  kill his wife. But he had no choice. His wife, as he knew her for these
  last few decades, was gone, destroyed by the Dancer. The creature that
  was left behind wasn't fit to live. Determined not to think any longer,
  he moved forward at a stunning pace, and buried the stake into her
  heart.

  Michelle jerked away, opening her eyes to stare at Mark, stunned at his
  betrayal. A moment later, her body dissolved into dust, and she was no
  more.

  Mark collapsed onto the floor, his chest heaving with tears that didn't
  want to fall. It was over. And she was gone... forever. Overwhelmed with
  grief, he stood and walked over to a window. <How can I live without
  her? My soulmate...?> He knew the answer. He couldn't. Without
  hesitation, he jerked the curtain from the window, and he died, free to
  rejoin his true wife wherever she was in the great beyond.
 

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