Part 32

      "Drusilla, what are you doing here?" Spike growled as he watched his former
lover enter the auditorium.  He noticed that the vampiress was apparently
alone, but he knew enough about her to know that there were probably other
vampires around somewhere.
      "I told you Spike," Drusilla said.  "I would come for you.  She can't have
you.  You're mine."  Spike shook his head.
      "No, Dru, I haven't been yours in a long time," Spike corrected.  "You and
I haven't been together since Angelus returned last year.  It just took me
losing you to a stinking Chaos Demon to make me realize that I needed to
move on."
      "With her," she hissed, pointing towards where Cordelia was standing by
Willow and Angel.  "You and I were meant to be together, Spikey.  Miss Edith
has told me so.  She said that if I get rid of that human that you and I
will be together."  Spike's eyes turned yellow at the thought of Drusilla
even touching Cordelia.
      "The only thing that will happen if you do anything to Cordelia is that I
will kill you," he threatened.  "And I would really rather not do that.  So
leave."  The insane vampire just shook her head and signaled to some unseen
party.
      "Sorry, Spikey, but I have to do what the stars have told me to do."
Suddenly a shriek is heard.  All heads turn towards the entrance to the
girls' locker rooms to see a pretty brunette girl being held by a vampire.
The man quickly makes a meal out of the girl and suddenly all of the
partygoers start panicking.  A dozen vampires descend on the students and
chaos happens.  Spike turns back to face Drusilla only to discover that she
has disappeared.
      "Bloody hell."  He turns and runs back to where he last saw Cordelia and
finds that she too is missing.  "What the hell is going on here," he
screams.  Out of the corner of his eye he sees Drusilla dragging an
unconscious Cordelia out of the gym and follows them, leaving the madness
behind.
      Angel and Willow quickly separated at the sight of the vampires that were
descending upon the crowd.  Their goal was to get out as many of the red
head's classmates as possible, but their efforts were quickly hampered by
two very pissed off people.  Oz grabbed Willow's arm and, on the other side
of the gym, Angel was blocked by Buffy.
      "Willow we need to talk," Oz said, his voice calm even as he was being
pushed around by students that were trying to escape the madhouse.
      "Not now Oz," Willow told him trying to break free from him.  "We have a
situation here if you haven't noticed."  Oz didn't care.  The only thing
that he could even think about was the fact that the woman he loved had
willingly deceived him and was kissing another man.  And not just any other
man, but the one that her best friend was in love with.
      "I don't care," he answered.  "I want to know why you were kissing Angel."
Willow looked at Oz in shock.  She couldn't believe that he was actually
worrying about her and Angel being together while vampires where attacking
the school.  She began to wonder what she ever saw in the musician.  "I
thought you and I were supposed to be together."  She stared at Oz with
sorrowful eyes.
      "No, Oz.  You and I were a mistake," she explained.  "We were never meant
to be anything more than friends and I'm sorry if you can't accept that.
I'm in love with Angel and I have been for a very long time.  I just never
realized that.  He is the one that I was always meant to be with.  He is my
soul mate and I am sorry if you can't understand that."  Willow twisted her
arm out of his grip and started to walk away from him.  "Goodbye Oz."
      On the other side of the gym, Angel was having the same conversation with
Buffy, with the same amount of success.
      "Angel, how can you kiss Willow and get her hopes up like that?" Buffy
asked.  "I mean, how do you think she'll act now that you did that?"
      "I already know how she'll act Buffy," Angel replied. "She'll act exactly
as she has for the past few months."
      "But what happens when you and I get back together?"  Angel shook his head
sadly at the blonde girl in front of him who was trying so hard to deny what
she knew had to be the truth.
      "We aren't going to get back together Buffy," Angel informed her.  "We
haven't been together since I came back from Hell.  You've never been able
to truly accept me for who I am.  You would rather pretend that my vampiric
tendencies were a minor inconvenience that part of who I am.  Willow doesn't
do that.  She accepts me for who I am, faults and all."
      "Give me a chance and let me prove to you that I can do that," Buffy
pleaded.  Angel again shook his head.
      "I'm sorry Buffy, but I can't.  I love Willow and she loves me.  It's been
that way for a long time.  She completes me.  She offers me something that I
never thought I had the right to before.  Acceptance, complete and
undeniable acceptance of who I am.  She's my other half.  My soul mate."
Buffy shook her head, trying to deny what Angel was saying.
      "No, I won't accept that.  I can't.  You and I were meant to be together,"
she argued.
      "No, Buffy.  We weren't.  I'm a vampire.  You're the Slayer," he told her,
a touch of sadness in his voice.  "At best, we should have been only
friends.  Nothing more.  I'm sorry that this hurts you.  I never wanted
that.  I only wanted you to be happy."
      "But you make me happy," the blonde cried.  Angel walked away from Buffy,
heading towards a vampire that was about to snack on one of the football
players.
      "Goodbye Buffy.  Have a good life."  Angel then turned his back on his
former love, who fell to the floor, sobbing as the realization that she had
truly lost him came over her and heedless to the screams around her.
      "Let her go, Dru," Spike demanded as he caught up to the two woman.
Cordelia had woken up and was struggling to get away from the vampiress,
without success.  "It's me you want.  Leave Delia out of this."  Drusilla
shook her head.
      "Miss Edith said that she's the reason that you won't come back to me.  If
I get rid of her, than you will be mine again," the woman informed him.
Cordelia's eyes were filled with fear at the thought of what Drusilla had
planned for her. Spike wished there was some way to calm her down but he
couldn't risk Drusilla taking any overture he made towards his lover as a
reason to kill her.
      "Dru.  Pet.  Princess," he began to say as he approached her cautiosly.
"If Miss Edith told you that you and I were meant to be together, than why
should you even feel threatened by this slip of a girl."  Spike put his hand
on his hips, just under his coat, feeling for the stake that he had hidden
there.  Cordelia could feel the hope that was rising in the vampiress' as
her grip loosened somewhat.  The cheerleader watched as Spike came closer.
      Spike reached out a hand, slowly so as not to startle the woman into doing
something.  He tenderly caressed Drusilla's cheek, similarly to the way that
he had done for so many years.  Dru leaned into his cool touch.
      "Spikey."
      "I'm sorry, Dru," he said as he leaned in to give the dark haired murderess
a kiss.  "Forgive me."  With that their lips met in one final kiss as Spike
plunged the stake into her heart.  Drusilla's eyes opened with shock.
      "Noooo," she screamed as her body quickly turned to dust causing Cordelia
to almost fall to the ground just before Spike caught her.  As he held the
teenager close to his cool body, he could feel the tremors that were going
through her subside.
      "Shhh, luv, it's over.  It's all over," he cooed to her.
      "Spike, I love you," she kept repeating over and over and she held onto the
blonde vampire for dear life.  "Never leave me.  Please."
      "Never, luv.  Never."

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