Parts: 41 - 45
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Part: 41~
Cordelia and Gunn helped Wesley down the stairs towards the lobby to tend to his wound. Soon Willow joined them and began to fix something for Wesley to drink.
"What.What happened?" Wesley asked as Cordy finished taping the thick piece of gauze to the former watcher's neck.
Cordelia and Gunn looked at each other over the top of the Englishman's head, silently trying to decide what to tell him. Suddenly Gunn responded, "You were totally under Angelus' thrall, man."
"What?" Wesley shouted indignantly. "I was not!"
"You totally were" the former cheerleader burst out laughing.
"Yeah" Gunn starting laughing out loud as well. "I'm surprised you weren't all 'Yes Master', Wes. Angelus was going to make you his bitch."
Wesley shook his head in denial and looked to Willow for some help. "I did no such thing" he said before asking the redhead, "Did I?"
Willow looked at the former watcher with sad eyes for a moment. She felt bad for the man, but she couldn't hold back her laughter either. "I'm sorry Wes, but he totally had you. Now you and Xander have something in common."
The three people looked at Willow, waiting for the explanation. "What?" Wesley demanded.
"You both have been a Master Vampire's butt-monkey man bitch" she burst out laughing.
"Bloody hell" Wes muttered quietly, sounding more like Spike than he would have liked.
The three friends laughed for a few minutes before calming themselves. Gunn reached over to reassuringly pat the shaken man on the shoulder before walking over to the refrigerator. He began to pull ingredients out and Willow and Cordy helped the demon hunter prepare something for all of them to eat. They could all use a good meal.
As the four humans sat in the kitchen enjoying their meal and a few good laughs at the former watcher's expense, a dark figure made its way across the roof of the hotel. Unknown to the occupants, the figure snuck into their home and began to search for its prey.
************
Spike blocked and dodged every blow Buffy threw at him, but he wasn't going to be able to hold her off forever. Spike had studied Buffy; how she worked, her fighting style, her pain threshold, anything he thought might have been useful in a fight.
It had worked, to a point. He had ended up using that information more in their lovemaking than he ever had in their fighting. Buffy hated him and used everything against him, even when he was buried deep inside her.
Spike knew he shouldn't be thinking that way, especially not right now. He needed to stay focused and try to take the slayer down. He was here to fight for his sire's soul. It was not the time to reminisce about his doomed relationship with the slayer.
As he turned his attention back to the battle at hand the young girl flashed a wicked grin at the vampire and said, "Oh Spikey. I feel so bad for you. Here you are, fighting against the one person you love just to help someone who hates you. Why do you do it?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked, afraid to hear the answer. "You don't know anything."
"Don't I?" the apparition asked. "You're here to win back your 'sire's' soul. Why Spike? You hate him and he hates you. Do you really think he loves you? That he can just let go of all that hate?"
She was laughing at him now between her punches. Spike continued to block the attack, but with increasingly less enthusiasm. She was saying everything the blonde vampire feared. He wanted her to stop, but she just continued.
"Do you really think that if you won, he would be so grateful that he would forgive you of all the shit you had put him through? I think he just took you 'cause he saw you as part of the packaged deal. A blonde vampire and redheaded witch all for the price of one lost slayer."
Spike felt the taunt as if it were a physical hit. Seeing the opening, the slayer turned up her attack. Fist and feet were flying and it was all Spike could do to keep up with blonde. For a moment, he thought he was going to lose until he realized something.
Everything the slayer was using against him, her words and blows, all came from Spike's own imagination. The Host had said so himself. They used Spike to design all the challenges so this version of Buffy before him could only use all the skill that Spike could give her.
Spike had studied her, but she had never taken the time to study him. Luckily, the Big Bad still had a couple of tricks up his sleeve.
Waiting for the roundhouse kick he knew was coming, Spike stepped into the leg as it came at his head. He grabbed the knee before it made contact with his shoulder and gripped the slayer's hip with his other hand and viciously brought the leg bone done across his knee. The slayer screamed in pain as the femur broke with a loud snap. She rolled over and kicked out with her good leg, knocking the vampire onto his ass next to the writhing girl. The broken bone was sticking out through the torn flesh and the smell of her blood had caused Spike's game face come to the fore.
She lashed out, trying to throw all of her weight into the punch as she rolled over onto the vampire. In a blindingly fast move, Spike grabbed the arm as it came down and quickly flipped the girl over in his arms and pinned her against his hard body. With her back pressed firmly against his chest, Spike wrenched her head to side and whispered, "One good day" against the warm skin before plunging his fangs into the neck he kissed lovingly so many times.
The slayer cried out softly as the life giving blood was slowly pulled out of her body until she slumped in the blonde vampire's arms, cold and dead. Spike choked back a sob as he pushed the body off him and sat staring at it for a long moment, waiting to see if it would change. He didn't think he could make it through another fight right now.
He looked up as he heard someone enter the room. He saw the Host smiling down at him and asked quietly, "Are we done?"
"Almost" the man answered, offering the vampire his hand. Spike took it and stood quickly. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves before looking down at the still body of the dead slayer.
"It's not really her" Spike said quietly. For a moment, he was unsure whether or not it was a statement or a question.
"Of course not" the Host replied, motioning Spike toward the next room. "The only one you have to worry about, Spike, is yourself."
The blonde hated the smile that was gracing the tall man's face. He walked toward the next challenge, praying to any deity that saw fit to hear him that he would live through all of this. As he looked back at the slain girl, he smiled. He'd always known he'd be able to take down the blonde, once he had reason enough to. And in his heart, Angel was more than enough.
~Part: 42~
As the four humans sat eating in the main level of the hotel, a dark figure crept through the shadowed halls looking for its prey. Carefully, rooms were searched as the figure hunted. Eventually, the prey was found and the door to Angel's suite was quietly opened.
Downstairs, the redheaded witch stopped mid-sentence when something tingled along the edge of her consciousness. Something was wrong. She excused herself and quickly made her way up the stairs to the room holding the restrained vampire.
The dark figure had located its prey and silently opened the door. Stalking into the room, the figure smiled when it saw the vampire restrained on the bed. A flicker of disappointment shot through the hunter at the thought of the fight that would be lost, but this was better. The hunter knew that its prey would be destroyed, gone forever.
As it approached the bed, the vampire was studied and analyzed. He seemed asleep, but the hunter knew better than to believe that. Years of training had told the figure that vampires, especially this vampire, were deceptive, evil creatures that deserved only the most brutal and horrific deaths.
Standing directly above the dark vampire, the hunter took a deep breath and tightened its hold on the wooden stake in its hand.
The vampire's eyes opened and he smiled at the enraged creature above him. "So the prodigal son has returned" he said, smirking at the look for rage in the young boy's face. "Give Daddy a kiss, Conner."
"Father" the young boy gritted out through clenched teeth. He gripped the smooth wood in his hand so hard his palm began to bleed.
Angelus chuckled at the smell of blood and rage surrounding the boy. "Are you planning on using that, boy?" he asked, glancing down at the weapon before smirking back at the child. "Or are you just going to stand there waiting for some declaration of love, because it's not going to happen. I'm not your father."
"Of course you are" Conner said, shaking with restraint.
"Nope" Angelus said, relaxing down into the bed. He knew he had nothing to fear from this child. He was Angel's boy and that meant the kid had a soul. And if he was anything like his 'father', then he would pussy out and become all guilt ridden before he could ever perform. "Your father is that pathetic shell of vampire that wears my face. He and his perfect soul created you. I sure as hell wouldn't claim you."
"Why not?" the boy asked, confused by the vampire's statement.
"Because you're soft and all soul ridden. You might want to kill me. You might even think you can, but you won't. Not like this. It's too easy; you'll have too much guilt." Angelus practically spit out the last word.
"Don't think so?" Conner said as Angelus watched a flash of insanity flicker across the young boy's face.
<Oh shit> the dark vampire thought. He never took into account the fact the boy was slightly insane from his childhood spent in a hell dimension. He watched in horror as the boy wrenched his arm back and the stake plunged directly for his heart with such force that Angelus was sure the bed would collapse under the blow.
But the wood never pierced his heart. Both the vampire and the child started when a glowing green barrier shown between the vampire's chest and the deadly piece of wood. They both turned their heads to see the witch standing just in the doorway.
Willow stood practically growling at the idiot child in front of her. Her hair and eyes had bled black as the rage poured through her.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you little shit" she shouted at the boy.
Conner's eyes narrowed as he regarded the witch. "Stay out of this" he muttered, trying to look threatening. "This has nothing to do with you."
"I beg to differ" Willow replied silkily. "He is mine and I don't take very kindly to people who take away things that belong to me. Would you like to see what I did to the last person who hurt someone I love?"
"I would" Angelus said eagerly, lifting his head trying to see the dark witch better. He thought she was beautiful like that, all dark and radiating all the hate and rage. They would make a wonderful team.
Willow smirked at the vampire. <Maybe it's time to have a little fun> she thought. "Release" she whispered and the shackles fell away from the dark vampire's wrists and ankles.
Angelus crowed as he leapt from the bed. Stretching and loosening the tight muscles from being restrained for so long, Angelus turned to the boy and whispered, "You want to see what a real vampire can do, boy? I think it's time Daddy showed you how things are going to be done around here."
Willow laughed and clapped her hands. "Ooo, someone's gonna get a spanking" she sing-songed as she waited for the fun to begin.
************
Spike followed the host out the room still reeking of the slayers' spilt blood into the room that contained his final challenge. He expected another cave-like room with stone walls and flame torches. He was surprised at what he saw in its place.
He turned full circle slowly, taking in all of his surroundings. The room was beautiful and oddly familiar. The walls were covered in rich, expensive drapery, warmth exuding from every corner. A nice hearth with a warm fire roaring off to Spike's left caught his eye. Above the mantle, an oddly discolored spot mocked the blonde vampire with its memory. Spike suddenly remembered the day they had taken over this house. The first thing Darla did when they moved in was have the enormous mirror removed, saying it bothered her that it had such a prominent position in their main living quarters.
As he came full circle, Spike's breath caught at the sight before him. The Scourge of Europe stood before him in all their glory. As he looked down the line from Angelus to Darla followed by Drusilla and them himself, he recognized this night. They were dressed and ready to leave for the Weatherford Ball. It was some god awful social event that Darla insisted they go to while they were in town. He smiled remembering the punishment he had received after returning home that evening. Darla had caught him and Angelus having sex on the balcony during some boring introductions which they had purposefully missed. She was so mad she tied him and Angelus together and left them strung up for three days with nothing to eat. They had to feed off each other to survive. It was wonderful.
Spike was brought out of his memories when the host loudly cleared his throat. He turned his head toward the taller man and scowled. "What's all this?" he asked irritated.
"This is your challenge" the host explained simply.
"What?" Spike snorted. "A walk down memory lane? I can handle that. Especially if it's this night." The smile on his face grew as he looked over at his family again.
The host held out a beautifully ornate stake and placed it in Spike's hand. "Your challenge is to determine which one dies" he stated, nodding his head in the direction of the four vampires. "Make the correct choice, and your sire will receive his soul, free and clear."
Spike looked from the smooth wood in his hand to the smiling faces of the family he loved once on one of the happiest days of his unlife. And he began to cry.
~Part: 43~
Willow laughed at the sight before her. The boy was a good fighter and was actually holding his own against the vampire, but she knew he would never win. He was fighting the darkest, strongest vampire she had ever seen. Eventually the vampire was going to win.
She smiled to herself as she watched the grace and prowess of the creature stalking his prey. And that was what Conner looked like to Angelus. He was prey that tried to kill him. Him! This boy thought he could take down a vampire who had killed more people than the boy had met. Ignorant child.
Conner was amazed at the speed and power of this vampire. He had fought Angel before he sent him to the bottom of the ocean, but this creature he was fighting was obviously not his father. This was someone else entirely, someone frightening.
Willow was jerked from her reverie by the sounds coming from the hallway. Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley had obviously heard the fight and were quickly running up the stairs. Before they could open the door the normally redheaded witch whispered out a quick binding spell. One strong enough to keep the three humans out of the suite long enough for the fight to finish.
Angelus looked at the witch and smiled. "Gods you are a beauty" he gasped, smirking at the girl as he threw a punch at Conner that efficiently broke his nose. "You and me, little one. We are going to leave a path of destruction in our wake."
Willow mirrored the smirk back to the vampire. "I think we have some business to attend to first" she said, nodding to the young man who was pulling himself up off the floor and flinging the blood dripping from his nose onto the flawless carpet beneath him.
Conner renewed his attack on the vampire, throwing punch after punch but only connecting about half of them. He had come to this place thinking the vampire would be easy prey, but now he was the hunted and he knew he was caught. If it had been just killed Angelus when he first entered the suite he may have had a chance, but with the witch against him as well he knew he had no chance. But he would go out fighting.
Angelus smirked at the boy. He certainly had balls for one so young. He pinned the boy to the wall with his forearm pressing achingly into the delicate windpipe. As Conner clawed at the pressing appendage, Angelus chuckled looking to the young witch. "Where would you like to go first after I kill the boy?" he asked smirking as the girl smiled at the suggestion. "I'm thinking Europe."
Willow simply laughed as she watched the boy's eyes bulge further out of his head. <Now this is going to be fun> she thought, feeling the wetness pooling between her thighs at the thought of the vampire being all hers. Soon, very soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike composed himself and looked at the foursome before him. The answer was so simple. His gaze flickered to the small blonde standing next to the man he loved. As he took a step forward the host spoke.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" he asked. When Spike gave him a questioning look, he continued. "If you stake her, she will be gone from that place and time. She would never give Angelus the Romany girl and he would never receive his soul. Where would you be now had that not happened?"
Spike thought about that for a few moments. <How bad would it be?> he wondered. Unfortunately he knew the answer to that. Angelus may have been his sire but he was a bastard. Spike had fallen in love with Angel. The souled vampire was the one he really wanted.
The blonde sighed, knowing that now the easy answer was gone. He wouldn't be able to kill Darla. His gaze traveled to the gorgeous brunette next to her. Obviously he couldn't stake Angelus. That would defeat his entire purpose for being in the arena in the first place, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the view.
His sire stood before him, standing tall and proud. He was dressed in the most expensive outfit possible. He always loved to dress to impress. The suit was dark, contrasting against the pale skin but almost matching the long flowing mane he refused to tie back that evening. He wore a white shirt made of the finest silk. So fine it seemed to shine in the low candlelight. Covering that was a red silk vest brocade with gold thread revealing patterns that resembled snakes intertwined across the broad chest. Matching dark trousers and elegant leather boots completed the outfit.
In his hand, Angelus held the thick cane that Spike had given him as a present. The young blonde vampire had seen a well to do man walking down the street with the lovely instrument in his hands and he knew that it needed to belong to his sire. The silver griffin that composed the handle screamed to the fledgling and he took great care not to damage the wood as he drained the blood from its previous owner.
Spike smiled at the memory before moving on to the next member of his family. His dark princess smiled at him and he felt his heart break. Could he do it? Could he really kill her? If his heart could beat, it would surely break through his rib cage and fall to the floor before him. He had to stake her. It was her or Angel and he wasn't leaving this place without Angel's soul.
"My pretty boy" Drusilla spoke with the familiar lilting that Spike knew so well. "Would you be so ready to put that pretty piece of willow in my chest?"
Spike looked to the host in shock. The tall man smiled and nodded. "The stake is made of willow" he said quietly.
"Perfect" Spike mumbled.
"Would you trade me for something you can't see or taste that will take our lovely daddy away, not my William?"
Spike looked up at the whispered question. It turned his blood to ice. He remembered Drusilla saying exactly that same thing that night. She had been looking off into space and they had all assumed that it was just another of her insane ramblings. But now he understood. She had seen him standing before her holding the stake in his hand readying himself to kill the woman who found him and brought him into this life.
Their eyes met and Spike saw that she understood.
"You'd put that inside me Precious?" she asked.
He watched the younger version of himself lean over and brush his lips over the girl's delicate ear. "I would, pet" he said, seductively. "Anyway you like it."
Drusilla giggled and leaned closer to the fledgling and whispered, "Darling William", but her eyes never left Spike's.
He knew he would never be able to destroy his beautiful princess.
The blonde turned to look at the host and asked quietly, "Could you make sure Angel knows that I love him?"
"I can't promise anything" the host said with a sad smile on his face. After a long pause, he asked, "So you have decided?"
Spike nodded and looked one last time at his family before walking forward and plunging the beautiful piece of willow into his double's chest and watched as the fledge disintegrated into dust. As the last piece fell, he felt his own body begin to break apart. Spike thought it was funny to note that it was an odd feeling, not entirely unpleasant. He locked eyes with his sire and whispered, "I love you" as his body fell away.
Instead of sinking to the floor like his double, Spike's ashes rose in a beam of light through the ceiling of the conjured room. He never heard the soft sound of a tiny piece of metal hitting the floor before the entire scene vanished away.
~Part: 44~
Fred and Lorne stood by Angel's car, wondering if they were ever going to see Spike again. The young Texan was just about to ask Lorne what time it was for the tenth time that hour when a blinding white flash exploded right in front of them. They both turned away from the painful sight until it slowly faded away. When they turned around, they saw Spike standing before them with a look of unbelief on his face.
"What the.?" he began before he was attacked by a giggling, shouting girl.
"You did it!" she yelled, hugging the shaking man close. "You really did it. Let's get back quick so we can tell Angel the good news, although I bet he already knows because since you won we'll have his soul now but let's hurry I want to see his face."
Spike was frozen in shock. He had just killed himself and now here he was standing outside the arena with an armful of squealing, squirming Fred. He turned and looked at Lorne over the girl's shoulder. "Is this real?" he asked, still unable to believe what was happening.
"You bet your sweet cheeks its real.sweet cheeks" Lorne said, upset at himself for not coming up with something wittier to say. However, he really was thrown by the sudden appearance of the blonde vampire. He had just about written him off, thinking he had failed in his quest. But now that he was back, they needed to get to the hotel quick and check on Angel. "Let's get a move on, Blondie. There's a certain broody vampire that I'm guessing isn't so broody right now. I'm thinking you might want to see him."
Spike smiled widely. This was real. He had passed the final test and that meant one thing; Angel would receive his soul permanently. He whooped loudly and swung Fred around in a circle before rushing to the car. "I'm driving" he said as he slipped behind the wheel and started the car with a roar. As soon as Fred and Lorne were safely strapped in, he tore out of the parking lot and raced home, ignoring the two passengers who were now praying for their lives.
************
Willow sat back and watched the viciousness of the vampire as he pounded mercilessly on the boy. Conner was a bloody mess, but he refused to admit defeat. He had gotten in a good punch or two, but overall he had received the worst of the beating.
Willow decided she'd had enough. "Lover" she called seductively. When Angelus turned his attention to the black haired witch, she said, "I think that's enough, don't you? We need to try and find Spike so we can stop him before he does something incredibly stupid."
Angelus nodded with a grin before he turned to the boy. "Well, son" he drawled. "It looks like my girl here is bored, so I guess your time is up." He ran at the boy and slammed him up against wall, knocking all the air out of his son's lungs. He grabbed a handful of the dark hair so much like his own and wrenched his head back as far as it would go. "Say goodbye" he said before diving down to tear into the boy's tender throat.
Conner cried out at the excruciating pain as the vampire's fangs penetrated his neck. He had never been bitten before but he suddenly felt sorry for anyone who had ever been the victim of these creatures.
Willow cackled at the sight of the shock on the young boy's face. He obviously didn't expect to be in this position and Willow reveled in the pain and confusion.
However, just as the boy began to crumple, she felt a strange power fill the room. It rushed past her and slammed into the body of the feasting vampire. Angelus pulled away with a howl as light spilled from every orifice in his face. Conner stared open mouthed at the sight; too weak from the blood loss to try to get away.
Angel fell to the floor, panting hard as he tried to collect himself. It took him a minute to reorient himself to his surroundings. He knew what had happened when he was Angelus and he turned frightened eyes to his son.
"Conner" he whispered as he slowly approached the boy now slumped against the wall on the floor. When the boy flinched at the gentle touch, he said, "It's ok. It's me. I'm back."
The boy smiled up at his father, realizing he was now safe from the monster that wore his face. Angel smiled back, but their reunion was short lived.
Willow screamed as she saw the monster she planned to make her lover slip from her grasp. When Angel looked up at her, she recognized the soul shining in his eyes. Spike had succeeded and the dark vampire now had a permanent soul.
"We'll see about that" she whispered to herself before throwing the vampire across the room with a single energy bolt from her hands.
"Willow" Angel called from the floor where he landed. "It's Angel. Stop this, little one."
"Don't call me that!" she screamed, her voice reaching an ear shattering pitch in her anger. "I want him back, not you. He promised me a massacre. I'll get one. Even if I have to start with you."
"Willow" Angel tried again, talking softly to the raging witch as he stood slowly. "Do you really think Angelus would have left you alive? He's a monster. He would have drained you and left you for dead."
"You're wrong" the redhead sneered. "We were going to make this world scream."
"He'd make you scream and then laughed as you died" the dark vampire continued as he tried to get closer to the girl who was still crackling with power. "He doesn't care about any one but himself. He could never love you."
"What? And you do?" she asked, mocking him. "Bullshit!" Willow decided she'd had enough talking. She wanted Angelus back, so she would find a way to get Angelus back. She raised her hands and started throwing spell after spell at the vampire. He may not lose his soul because of some stupid happiness clause, but nothing was permanent. It might take her some time, but she was sure she would come up with the spell to remove the soul again so she could reclaim her evil lover.
***********
Spike parked the car in the underground parking lot just as the first rays of dawn were breaking over the LA skyline. Reaching Angel's regular parking spot, Spike slammed the car into park and jumped out of the car almost before the engine died. Fred and Lorne quickly followed behind.
As soon as they entered the lobby, Spike knew something was wrong. There was something in the air that made the skin all over his body crawl. Lorne quietly whispered, "Willow."
All three people looked at each other and quickly ran upstairs when they heard the inhumanly high pitched screaming coming from the floor above them.
As they reached the floor Angel's suite was on, they saw the three humans standing outside the open door. They were all staring into the suite with matching looks of helplessness on their faces.
"What the fuck is going on?" Spike raged as he looked at the humans who apparently didn't care enough to help whoever was in obvious pain. Cordelia motioned at the open door and Wesley and Gunn stepped aside so the newcomers could see what was happening within.
Spike's jaw fell open at the scene in the room before him. A young boy was collapsed on the floor with a large bite wound on his neck. He was still alive, but he had lost a lot of blood and if they didn't get him to a hospital soon, he might not make it.
What shocked him the most was the sight of Willow with black hair and eyes shooting bolt after bolt of energy at his fallen sire. Spike was sure that the vampire was Angel and not Angelus. He could see the soul in the man's pain filled eyes.
The vampire tried to rush to his sire's aid but he was thrown back violently by the invisible barrier keeping everyone out. He cursed loudly as he stood up and began to talk to the angered witch inside the room.
"Willow, luv? Why are you doing this?" he asked loudly enough for her to hear him.
Willow's head whipped around at the soft words. She sneered at the blonde standing at the doorway with his hands resting against invisible spell. "So you did it?" she growled, momentarily distracted. "I guess Angelus was wrong. He never thought you could do it. He figured you'd fail, just like you failed at everything else you ever did."
Spike flinched as the words hurt almost as badly as any physical blow she could deliver.
Angel stood and faced the door. "She's right" he said. "But Angelus is an idiot. I knew you could do it. Angelus always underestimated you."
Willow turned around quickly and threw the dark vampire to the floor with another spell. Angel sighed as he realized that her spells were not as strong as they had been. He hoped she was weakening.
"Everyone underestimates you too, isn't that right Willow?" he asked the young witch.
"Shut up" she growled as she walked closer to the fallen body.
"But I understand" he continued, trying to wear the overcharged girl down.
"So do I, luv" Spike said from the doorway. "You never have to explain yourself to Angel and me. We've been there. We'll love you, with and without your darkness."
Willow turned to growl at the blonde vampire. "No" she said weakly. She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself as much as she was the vampire. "You don't love me. You can't. I'm evil. You have a soul. You both have souls. And now I'm alone."
The crowd of people watching the scene stared in fascination as the young witch suddenly calmed herself. Angel knew what she was doing. She was pulling on the last of reserves for something. He wasn't going to let her do whatever it was she was planning. The dark vampire used his last bit of energy and reached up to grab the small girl and clutch her powerfully to his chest.
Willow struggled trying to get away. Angel held onto her for dear life and sank with her to the floor. He stroked the head laying against his chest and crooned to her, "It's alright, little one. I'm here. We're here. It's over now."
The young witch fought against the grip of the vampire, but casting spells of that magnitude had drained her and she couldn't shake off the vampire's embrace. The rage and pain that had seeped into her soul slowly subsided and she felt the dark magic begin to bleed away.
As Willow's power subsided, the spell keeping the Angel Investigations crew out came down and the people waiting outside spilled into the room and crowded around the weeping couple. Slowly, Willow's hair and eyes changed from the dark black to her normal coloring.
Spike was the first to reach the couple. As he reached out to touch her, Angel looked over her shoulder and smiled deeply at the boy who restored his soul. Spike leaned over the still weeping body of the redhead to kiss his sire. It was a soft, gentle kiss that promised more, but now they had wounded to take care of. Angel transferred Willow to his childe's lap and quickly stood to check on his son.
When they entered the room, Wesley had rushed over to check on Conner. The boy had lost a lot of blood and the wound was still leaking a small amount, making a small red puddle on the boy's shirt. Angel rushed over and inspected the wound and checked the boy's heart rate and blood pressure with his enhanced senses. Satisfied that the boy was not in any immediate danger, he silently asked the former watcher to help him move the boy downstairs.
Conner moaned slightly as he was jostled between the two men. "It's alright, son" Angel whispered when the boy looked at him with confusion in his eyes. "I've got you now. You'll be alright now."
"I'm sorry" the young boy whispered before he passed out. Angel smiled when he looked at his family in the room. They were wounded and tired, but he had his family back and all in one piece. He hoped they all could move on from here.
~Part: 45~
Angel sighed as he watched his car pull away quickly, taking his son to the hospital. After Cordelia had bandaged the wound, Angel had laid the boy in the backseat of the car and told Gunn to hurry. Gunn and Fred had promised to call as soon as they had any news on the young boy.
Once the car was out of sight, Angel slumped against the wall, exhausted from the night's activities. Wesley caught him deftly and helped him inside. Sitting him down on the couch, the former watcher began to tend to his wounds.
"He really did it," Angel whispered in awe.
Wesley nodded, a small smile gracing his worn face. "Yes. It appears he did."
After a few moments of silence, Cordelia asked, "What happened to Willow?"
Angel winced as the former watcher rubbed a healing salve over a particularly bad burn mark on the vampire's chest. He sighed and whispered, "I don't know. But I plan on finding out."
************
Spike cradled the sobbing girl to his chest, continuing to whisper soothing words of love and comfort. Every few moments, Willow would struggle weakly, trying unconvincingly to free herself from the vampire's embrace. Finally, she gave up and snuggled deeply into the vampire's chest.
When she finally calmed down, the blonde vampire pulled her back enough to look the redhead deeply into her sad green eyes. "Willow, luv," he whispered. "What were you doing?"
The redhead thought for a moment, honestly evaluating her motives behind her actions. Finally she looked deeply into the azure eyes watching her lovingly and took a deep breath. "I don't really know, Spike. When I saw Conner coming after Angelus like that, I just sort of snapped." Her gaze left the piercing blue eyes to stare at her hands folded in her lap. "He.he was going to kill Angelus and I saw where the stake was going. That where Tara's wound was, you know. Warren shot her straight through the heart."
Unable to contain her fear and rage, Willow began to shake. "There was this hole in her shirt and I knew that he ripped a path all the way through her body. When I thought about Angel with a hole in his heart, it just made me so mad. How dare he try to take Angel away from me? From us?"
The blonde began to card his fingers through the tangled red locks, brushing the stray strands off the girl's pale face. Silently, he encouraged her to continue.
"I felt myself getting so angry," Willow shuddered lightly, feeling the rage returning. "I wanted to see him punished for trying to take away something that was mine, for trying to destroy someone I love." She looked up into the soulful eyes and smirked, a flash of darkness moving across her green eyes. "I never had the chance to do to Warren what I really wanted. I never told you and Angel that. I mean, I feel bad that I killed him, but a part of me wanted him to suffer more. I wanted to take him apart slowly, piece by piece. Then maybe he would feel half of what I was feeling when he took Tara from me. I thought that if anyone would be able to punish Conner it would be Angelus."
Spike nodded with a slight chuckle. "Never a truer word spoken, luv," he said, placing a small kiss on the top of the red head. "But why the dark magic?"
"It just comes out of me," she said, her voice becoming harsher. "It's a part of me. I feel it in me all the time just waiting to get out. It's like it's pushing against me and I can't control it. Sometimes I don't want to. It's just so much easier to be evil, you know?"
"If anyone understands that, it's us, little one," Angel said as he strolled through the door.
When the young witch saw the dark vampire enter the room, she curled in on herself and tried to bury herself in the blonde's chest.
Angel crouched down in front of the pair and lightly rubbed the girl's arm. "It's ok, Willow," he crooned softly, trying to comfort her. "And you're right. It is easier to be evil. To be able to do what you want with the guilt and remorse. It's easier, but it's not you."
The weeping girl nodded softly. She wanted to stop crying, but the tears would not be held at bay.
Spike and Angel gazed at each other over the top of the girl's head, a question clear in their eyes.
"Luv, there's one thing that I don't understand." Spike waited until Willow nodded to make sure he had her attention. "You let Angelus out to hurt the boy, but he wouldn't let you live, no matter what he said. You had to know he was going to ki."
Blue eyes met brown, both filled with terror. "That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" Spike asked, already knowing the answer. "You wanted Angelus to kill you."
Willow just began to weep harder as Spike tightened his hold. Both vampires were frozen for several long moments while the realization that their sweet girl was asking for death hit them both so hard they thought they might buckle beneath the blow.
A rage that Spike didn't know he was capable of began to flow through him. His eyes flashed gold and he growled low in his throat. Angel recognized the murderous rage in his childe's eyes so he reached over and removed the small redhead from the blonde's arms before standing and moving them to the couch in the sitting room. He nodded to Spike and sighed as the angry vampire stormed from the room while Angel settled on the soft leather couch and cradled the young girl to his chest.
************
Wesley, Cordelia and Lorne sat downstairs, pointedly not discussing what had happened earlier when a blonde whirlwind swept downstairs and threw Wesley up against the wall in a rush.
"Spike, what the hell?" Cordelia shouted, surprised by the vampire's use of force.
"Fix her" Spike growled, his face so close, the former watcher swore he could feel the air between them vibrating.
"Spike, you're hurting me," Wesley complained as he struggled against the vampire's grasp.
The blonde tightened his grip, feeling the human's flesh give under his fingers and knowing that the skin there was already developing pink bruises that would spiderweb out from the finger shaped indentations. "You will find a way to fix her," he threatened again, flashing a bit of fang.
"Spike!" Cordelia yelled as she smacked Spike hard on the back. The blonde ignored her and continued to focus on the Englishman in his grasp.
"Spike," Wesley tried again. "You're hurting me."
Realizing that he was holding the man's biceps so tightly that he had lifted the man off the ground, the meaning seeped through Spike's rage clouded mind. He was hurting Wesley, a human, and there was no brain searing pain. He quickly let go of the former watcher and stared at him for a moment before reaching over to raise up the shirt to look at the already purpling bruises.
In a daze, Spike walked over and pinched Cordelia harshly on the arm.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed, pulling her arm away from the blonde and rubbing it, trying to soothe the throbbing flesh.
Spike smiled at the former cheerleader's reaction. He stared at his hands in awe. He couldn't believe that we able to cause these humans pain without feeling like his brain was exploding.
"How?" he asked, looking at the other Englishman in awe.
"I'm not sure," Wesley began.
"Maybe," Lorne interrupted. "When you were at the trials." All eyes turned toward the green demon. "When you showed up outside when you were done, it was like you materialize out of dust. One minute there was nothing, then a white flash, a swirl of dust and then there you were in all your pale, bleached glory."
"I staked myself," Spike whispered, more to himself than to the people around him.
"What?!" they all shouted in shock.
Spike became aware of their eyes on him. He turned sparkling blue eyes, brimming with just a hint of tears to his friends before continuing. "The last trial. I had to decide which of us I would kill out of the four of us back in the day. I staked myself."
"Yes," Wesley said, murmuring as he paced, working out the information he had available to him. "You sacrificed yourself above the rest of your vampire family to restore Angel's soul. When you dusted, the chip didn't transfer with your body because it was an unnatural item inside you. Perhaps it is a part of your reward for your sacrifice. Now you'll be able to defend yourself."
Spike smile a brilliant, honest smile. The friend's looking on couldn't help but join him. Suddenly the smile faded as Spike remembered what he had come downstairs for. He turned towards Wesley and growled, "We have to do something to help Willow. We have to do it now."
"I don't understand," Wesley said sorrowfully.
"The magic," Spike explained, leaning into the man's face. "The darkness is eating her alive. She wanted." The blonde paused, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "She wanted Angelus to kill her. She pulled the darkness into her, there has to be a way to pull it out of her."
"I don't think it's that simple, Spike," the Englishman whispered, hoping to keep the vampire calm. "The magic is a part of her. She was working with Mr. Giles and the coven in England to learn to control it, but she can't just turn it off."
"Don't want her to," the vampire growled as he stalked away and began to pace. "But there has to be a way to take the taint of the darkness from her. With something like, I don't know an aura cleansing."
"Yeah," Lorne said, drawing attention away from the frightened former watcher. "There are rituals that people use to give their spiritual self an overhaul." The green demon began to pace around the now still vampire. "I know this guy, well actually he's a Traylak demon, but he has a psychic spa thing that he does. I bet he could hook us up with someone who would be able to do it. I don't know why we didn't think about it before, sweet cheeks."
Spike smiled at the smirking demon until his glee was disrupted by the clearing of someone's throat. He turned around and glared at the former watcher who was staring at his hands. "I hate to be the barer of bad news, but there is one big problem. By removing the dark magic, you will most likely remove her ability to use all magic. She would have to start over in her training of all things magical."
"So she wouldn't be able to do magic?" Cordelia asked. "No way is she going to go for that."
"It's not that she won't be able to use magic," the Englishman explained. "But she would have to start over with training, almost like she never had practiced at all."
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea at all," the former cheerleader replied. When everyone turned to look her, she complained, "What? You didn't see her. She was scary when she first did that soul restoration spell. The disembodied voice, the flat hair. She hadn't done much magic before and then she does this huge spell. She always had control issues after that."
"So Willow performed the spell to restore Angel's soul before she was properly trained in the arts?" Wesley asked, stunned by the news. He knew that Willow did a great deal of her early training on her own, but the idea that she did that particular spell before she was ready was frightening. "That actually explains a lot. Her control issues and her propensity toward darkness is understandable. I can't believe that Mr. Giles didn't take a greater interest in her training."
"He was a little preoccupied trying to find Buffy that summer," the brunette muttered. "By the time things got back to being somewhat normal, she was past the point where she would listen to him. Believe it or not, Willow can actually be really stubborn when she wants to be."
"Trust me, I've seen it," Spike snorted. He turned to look at each of his friends. "You really think it will work?"
They all nodded. "I think it just might," Wesley said, a small smile spread across his face.
Spike turned to the empath and asked, "You really think your friend can help?"
"Not think, Blondie. I know," Lorne said as he wandered over toward the phone. "I'll get a hold of him right away and have him come and take a look-see at our little redheaded Sybil. Of course, his price might be a little high, but I'd be willing to help the three lovebirds out if it makes our little Willow better."
Spike felt himself swell with hope and happiness. He couldn't find any words to express how he felt so he surged forward, grasped the demon's head in his hands and pressed a hard kiss to the pink lips. He pulled away, smiling before whooping loudly and rushing upstairs to tell his sire the good news.
"Damn," Lorne whispered, trailing his fingers over his still tingling lips. "If I knew it would only cost me a pint of my blood and the loss of my manly innocence for that, I would have done it a hell of a lot earlier."
Wesley and Cordelia were afraid to laugh. They weren't sure if the demon was teasing or not and there was no way they were going to ask.
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