Angel Investigations One Month Earlier:
She looked so beautiful. Sleeping deeply, peacefully, in Angel's bed. There was only a thin sheet between his gaze and her soft naked body. Her hair was messy where it had dragged across the pillow, where his fingers had tangled in it. He was disappointed by the lack of bruising on her hips and throat. If only he'd been the one steering.
He considered killing her right there. Leaving her there for Cordelia to find. Laying in Angel's bed, wrapped up in his sheet, covered in her own blood. Wouldn't Cordy be so jealous?
No, he wanted to play with her first. Last time he'd been free, he'd been to frustrated to fully enjoy it. He'd been angry, careless, insane. Even Drusilla has seen it. Even she had been afraid of him. Not she would deny her daddy anything. Not that she would ever think poorly of him. His precious childe.
He couldn't let Buffy leave knowing what she'd done of course. That was what the flower was for. The tiny pink flower he twirled between his fingers. It would do the job.
Thankfully, the girl recognized his scent, his touch. She didn't wake up as he slid her clothes into place. The spell would have to work just right. The thing she would be able to remember was the fight she had with Angel. Punches had been throw and, if was careful, the last thing she would remember was Angel's fist connecting with the side of her head. It hadn't really knocked her out, but she wouldn't know the difference.
Angelus spoke the words he needed before he put the flower under her pillow. He'd slip it into his pocket before she found it, but first he would fall asleep on the couch. She would think she slipped out before Angel woke up avoiding another fight and she'd go home with a doubt that the vampire she loved was missing his soul.
The nightmares were getting worse. Every night they were there. Buffy hadn't slept in several days. She was too afraid that when she closed her eyes Angel would be there again, burning, screaming, calling her name. She was tired was waking up shaking and covered in sweat. She was tired of sitting up all night watching late night tv in an attempt to keep her eyes open. She was tired of crying and tired of being tired.
So she did what any slayer would do, she went to her Watcher. She'd told him about the dreams, but she hadn't yet told him the full extent of the problem clinging to the hope that the nightmares would pass when she accepted that Angel was gone. The longer they went on, the more she was convinced this wasn't psychological but supernatural.
She found herself on Giles's couch staring into the cup of tea he placed in her hands. She stared into the depths of the brown liquid as though expecting it to reveal the answers she was looking for. It didn't. It was nothing more than a cup of tea.
"These dreams you're having," Giles said from his place beside her. "do you recognize your surroundings or is this a foreign place?"
"I've never been there before," Buffy said. "But the scene... it's always changing. Sometimes it's an open space, sometimes it's confined like a cage. Sometimes me and Angel, we're not alone. There's others there but I can't see their faces. Almost like they're shrouded in this black fog."
"Hmm." Giles thought. "That doesn't sound like a message, Buffy. If you can't see the place where Angel is, if it keeps changing, I don't believe he could be communicating with you."
"I know it's him! These dreams aren't just dreams, Giles. Angel is trapped in hell and he's calling out to me-"
"Does that sound like Angel to you? Do you truly think that Angel would torment you like this? That he would send you images of him being tortured night after night?"
"I don't know! Maybe..."
"Angel knows that when you die you are punished for your sins. He believes that he deserves hell. He wouldn't try to escape. Especially if it meant hurting you."
Buffy felt her eyes tear up. "What else could it be? If it's not Angel, what is it? Why do I keep dreaming about him?"
"I don't know, but if there's a supernatural force causing this we will find out and we will stop it," he assured her. "Try to get some rest in the mean time. I'll keep searching through my books. Maybe there's some sort of demon who could be projecting these images into your head."
Buffy nodded. She left Giles to his books and made her way back to her dorm. Willow was out when Buffy got there, but she'd left her notes on several classes for Buffy to read. Buffy sat down and looked over the list Willow had made for her on everything she'd missed. She sighed. College was looking to be more work than vampire slaying had ever been. So, she got to work.
She flipped the first book open and started reading. She used Willow's notes to make sure she understood the boring textbook language. One hour later, and she hadn't even begun to make a dent in Willow's list. In fact, she was still on item number one. Being the slayer meant Buffy wasn't used to giving up, but she sure wanted to. With a sigh, she turned a page in the textbook and kept reading.
Willow left Tara and made her way back to her own dorm. "Hey, Buffy," she said cheerfully as she found her friend hard at work.
"Hi," Buffy said. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. She checked the clock beside her. "I've been at it for five hours and look at this," she held up the list for Willow to see. "Not even half way done! My headache has a headache."
Willow gave her a sympathetic look. "Have you eaten lunch?"
"Ooh, lunch break! Even college students get those," Buffy said a bit more cheerfully.
"I was just about to go down to the cafeteria if you wanna come," Willow offered.
"No I think I'd rather sit here and read until my brain melts out of my ears. Of course I want to." Buffy all but leaped off of the bed and hurried out of the room with Willow in tow.
The cafeteria was near empty. They went down the line and grabbed a table without pause. The hum of background conversation was low and barely noticeable.
"So what did you do today?" Buffy asked picking at her mashed potatoes.
Willow shrugged. "Me and Tara just hung out. Watched a movie. Turns out she likes the old black and white ones as much as I do."
"Sounds romantic," Buffy said with slight envy and a smile.
Willow tried to play it off with a shrug but she couldn't hold back the smile. "It kinda was. We snuggled up and got cozy."
Buffy's grin winded. "So are you too... you know, official?"
"We talked about it. The dating and all that. We both wanna take it slow, but yeah. Tara is... Tara's my girlfriend." She blushed a bit and hid behind a spoonful of potatoes.
"That's really great, Willow. I'm happy for you guys."
"So have you heard from Xander?" Willow not so subtly changed the subject.
Buffy shook her head. "Not for a few days. He's probably still recovering"
Willow snorted. "Oh he's recovering all right. He called me this morning and I got to hear all about how much Anya likes the idea of Xander saving the world."
Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Not a conversation I would like to be having."
"Are ya sure? 'Cause Xander seems pretty keen to have everybody in Sunnydale hear the story."
"No thank you," Buffy said. "That is imagery I do not need swimming around in my brain."
"Too bad for my brain, it's a bit to late." The talking stopped while they ate and set their dirty trays on the rack. They left the cafeteria and headed walked back to their dorm.
"So are you going out patrolling tonight?" Willow asked.
"I don't know. I really need that work done if I don't want to flunk out of all my classes, but somebody has to stop the evil undead from terrorizing the innocent."
"Well me and Xander could do it. Just for tonight while you get your study on."
"Thanks. Just be careful." Buffy gave her an appreciative smile.
"It's no problem. You just get caught up. Don't overwork yourself though. You could use some rest."
Willow called Xander and they agreed to meet up a few blocks away from the cemetery. She left a short while before sunset. Buffy was left to her work and Willow left the school campus with a stake hidden under her thick wool sweater.
Twenty minutes later, she met Xander at the predetermined place of meeting. Anya clung to his arm and Willow wondered if she could have pried her off with a crowbar.
"Xander's a pretty great monster fighter you know," she informed Willow. "He kicks monster ass and send them right to... where do monsters go when they die?" She looked up at Xander.
He shrugged. "Monster hell?"
"Right to hell." she nodded.
"Right," Willow said with a glance at Xander. His grin was like a beam of sunlight. "Let's just get moving."
She started the short walk to the cemetery. Xander and Anya followed behind. Anya prattled on about demons and Xander's incredible manliness the whole walk. By the time they reached the cemetery, Willow had had enough.
"Anya!" She snapped whirling around. "Do you want every vampire in the neighborhood to know we're out here?"
"I thought that was the point. So we can find them and kill them," Anya said.
"We won't get to kill them with you making all that noise."
Anya opened her mouth to argue but Xander stopped her. "An, she has a point."
"What do you mean?" She looked at him with genuine confusion.
"If the vampires here us coming either A: they ambush us or B: they run the other way thinking we're with Buffy," he explained.
"I thought you liked it when I talk. I you told me so quiet explicitly last night when we were-"
"Anya! Certain conversations are to remain private."
"Why? Willow knows we have sex. It's not a secret."
"We'll talk about this later. Now we need to make with the quiet."
"Fine," Anya grumbled.
Thankfully, the nearest vampires hadn't yet climbed out of this graves and so did not here the gang coming. They came across the first pretty quickly. If Willow hadn't been examining the grave already, they might not have noticed the dirt shifting around as the vampire dug his way to the surface.
The moment his chest rose up out of the ground, Willow plunged her stake right into his chest.
"Well that was boring," Anya complained. "Isn't there supposed to be fighting? You said there would be fighting."
"We want to avoid the fighting if at all possible," Xander said.
"But why?" she pouted.
"To avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital."
The second vampire they came across, was still shaking off the grave dirt when they found him.
"What should we do?" Willow whispered.
"I've got an idea. Hey!" he shouted.
The vampire spun around and barreled at them. Willow and Xander dove out of the way and smacked right into Anya taking them both to the ground. She screamed and tried to squirm away. Xander jumped to his feet and staked him before he could take a bite out of his girl friend.
He offered Anya his hand and pulled her up. "You okay?"
"Fine." She dusted off her clothing.
"Hey?" Willow asked.
Xander shrugged. "Got his attention."
The rest of the night was vampire free and eventually the all parted ways and headed home.
One thing left on the list. An essay not due for another three days. Buffy knew Willow wouldn't approve, but after all the hard work she'd done Buffy felt that she had earned herself a nice long break. She grabbed her jacket off her desk chair and left the dorm.
The air outside was chilly, but not unpleasant. The campus was quiet as most students were inside partying, sleeping, or otherwise enjoying the weekend. Buffy followed the sidewalk, intending to find herself a nice bench to relax on and enjoy the night air. There was a bench under a street lamp next to the side walk and she decided it was as good a place as any. She sat and after a moment, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
Someone stepped out from under the trees and onto the damp grass. Buffy kept her body relaxed, preparing to catch them off guard as they came closer. Then the wind blew and Buffy could smell a familiar combination of leather, cigarettes, and hair gel. She relaxed and she hated herself for it. Spike sat down on the bench beside her.
"You know," Spike said. "A view like that could give a vampire a lot of ideas." He liked his lips eyeing her neck.
"Go away," she snapped.
He admired the way her throat moved. "Is this your new slaying tactic? Lure the vampires of the woods with that bare lovely throat?"
"If it were, you would be dust already."
"Is that so?" His hand landed very lightly on her knee and she jumped right off the bench.
"What the hell are you doing?" The furry in her eyes melted by the heat in his.
"You're the one who lured me over here," he said calmly.
"I didn't lure you!"
"You did so." Humor sparkled in his eyes. "You all but all called my name with your neck all exposed and your hair flowing in the breeze."
She rolled her eyes. "What are you even doing out here?"
"Enjoying the the weather," his eyes ran down her body and back up. "and the view."
"Ugh, you're a pig Spike." She turned on her heel to march away in disgust, but he leaped off the bench and grabbed her arm. He spun her around to face him.
"I came to talk to you," he said gently hoping not to anger her further.
She sighed. "About what?"
Lightening moved slower than Spike in that moment as he surged forward to claim her lips. For the count of a single heart beat, she was frozen. She recovered and grabbed onto his shoulders more holding him at arms' length than pushing him away.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Kissing you." He tried not smirk and failed, enjoying his own humor.
"Thought you wanted to talk?"
"Can I help it if you're so," he lifted his hand and ran the back of his knuckle down the soft skin of her throat. "tempting?"
She shoved his hand away. "Yes! You can't just hang out behind my dorm waiting for me to come outside and then attack me like that."
"Attack you or kiss you?" His seductive gaze fell on her parted lips.
"Both. Neither. Whatever! You know what I mean."
"You didn't seem to have a problem with it the other night when you had your tongue down my throat."
"I was thinking about Angel!"
That right there was like an explosion inside the vampire's head. His eyes burned with rage and he pulled away from her grasp.
"Listen, Slayer," he growled. "You kissed me. Me. Not Angel. I didn't twist your arm, I didn't force you. You did it because you wanted to. I comforted you and I told you the truth. I didn't ask you for anything. I was there because I wanted to help you, because I couldn't just stand there and watch you cry. If you want to act all high and mighty and pretend it never happened, fine. I'm not your replacement, pet. I'm my own man and when the time comes, you won't kiss me because you're upset about soul boy. You'll kiss me because you want me."
She stood there in shock as he breezed past her and disappeared into the dark trees.