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His gaze hadn't left her neck. One of his hands still rested against the wall on either side of Buffy's head, trapping her between his own body and her bedroom wall. She took a deep breath, hoping she had made the right decision and wondering about the consequences of this new deal.

Angel was continuing to smile at her, a playful half-smile that seemed to give her the chills.

"You can't kill me, you know," Buffy said, although she knew it was a stupid, obvious comment.

Angel smiled wider at her. "I figured."

"I mean, you can't take that much. I have to be able to be fine the next day." Buffy looked at Angelus seriously. She knew she was crazy for putting so much faith in such a dangerous vampire, but still, it wasn't like Angelus hadn't had the chance to kill her before. Like Buffy had decided a week ago, they were champions who respected the fight too much to kill the other in such a deceitful way.

"Slayer," Angelus said, his smile disappearing, "I think I know what I'm doing here. I've been doing it for a couple of centuries." He shifted his weight back to his feet and moved one hand against Buffy's neck, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated on her pulse. "I know just how much to take...to let you live."

"But you can't kill," Buffy said quickly. "I mean, you can't kill, or hurt, anyone. That's the deal. If I'm giving you blood, you lay low."

Angelus nodded thoughtfully. "Fine," he agreed, "but you have to make it good for me. We do it my way."

"What the hell does that mean?" Buffy asked, nervousness creeping up on her. "You bite, you drink, you let go. That's the only way."

Angel gave her a smile, almost patronizing her innocent attitude. "Yeah, sure, Slayer. You just leave the biting to me. That's my area of expertise."

Angelus was still staring at her neck. His hand rested against one side of it, his thumb brushing back and forth across the thick vein in her neck, feeling her pulse as it quickened with her nervousness.

Buffy shrugged away from him, wanting his hand away from her. In fact, she wanted him away from her. She ducked underneath his hand, which had still been resting against the wall beside her head, and she moved toward her bed, away from him. She folded her arms tightly across her chest and sat down on her bed, her head ducked and her eyes glued to the floor. She let her hair fall across her face, shielding her eyes and her feelings from Angelus. Buffy couldn't believe what she was about to do. With all of the feelings that still swirled inside of her, she wasn't sure that she could let Angelus in that close. So far, she hadn't had to really let him in, she hadn't allowed him to touch her or to be close to her. She wasn't sure what would happen if she let this continue. Despite what everything, and everyone, told her, she still had feelings for Angel. She still loved Angel. How could she let the monster who had taken him away from her bite him? How could she let him be so incredibly close to her, how could she trust him when he had taken away the one thing she loved the most.

She hadn't noticed Angelus cross the room or that he was standing in front of her looking down at her. Angelus cocked his head at the Slayer curiously. She was so interesting to him, for reasons he didn't understand. He had come across Slayers before. They had never seemed quite this complicated. And, of course, he had gone through hundreds, probably thousands, of girls Buffy's age. Girls he had just torn apart, either physically or mentally, and had then just moved on from. For some reason, Buffy was different. He didn't want to just dispose of her as quickly as he usually did. She was too...interesting.

He bent down in front of her. She seemed oblivious to him still. He squinted at her bent frame, wondering what she was thinking, wondering what it was that was breaking the Slayer. It was funny, he realized, that he seemed to be breaking her so easily, and yet he had really done nothing to her. Sure, he had killed the teacher; he had taught the Slayer that he could take away the people that are close to her, but he hadn't actually taken anyone away from her.

Angelus watched as Buffy realized that he was there. The Slayer lifted her head slightly, just enough to glance at him, to see what he was up to. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She couldn't stop thinking about Angel. She had thought that she could put all of it behind her, that she could move on, and finish what was going on between her and Angelus. She should have been strong enough--whether it was strong enough to kill him outright or strong enough to allow him to drink from her without feeling the way she was, without still having feelings for Angel. But she wasn't. She was so tired of trying to push down her feelings, and yet she still tried to.

Angel could almost sense the struggle that seemed to be taking place within the Slayer. Finally, he lifted one hand toward her slowly. He pushed her hair out of her face gently, gentlier than he had really thought he was capable of being. Then, putting his thumb under her chin, he lifted her head up, surprised that she didn't resist. Her eyes were still glued to her carpet, they seemed to look straight through it, as if she was seeing nothing and everything all at the same time. Angelus nearly smiled at the sight. He couldn't believe the...affect...he could have on her.

Slowly, Angelus raised his other hand to her face, brushing her hair back on the other side and cupping her face in his hands. He pushed her back from her slumped position over the edge of her bed, until he was standing over her. Finally, life seemed to move back into the Slayer's eyes and she looked up at him.

Buffy was suddenly aware of the beating of her heart. It had begun to hammer in her chest. She realized that he was going to drink from her tonight. That's what he had told her in--that she owed him a meal. Once again, her Slayer instincts struggled inside of her. She was supposed to just let a vampire bite her? It was against everything that she did...against everything that she fought for. Still, she would be saving so many lives. Then again, she could save so many lives by simply killing the murderer, the monster who took lives, Angelus. So was she weaker or stronger for allowing him to drink from her in order to keep him from killing?

Angelus scooted her over on her bed so that he could sit beside her. He had told her he would make it good for her. What exactly did that mean for him though? He hadn't bitten anyone for any reason besides feeding or enjoying the pain he inflicted for a very long time. Not since he and Darla had been together...years and years ago. Not that he had always been gentle with her either, but there had been times where they had been gentle with each other...few times, yeah, but occasionaly. But Darla was gone now, Angel had killed her. Not that Angelus particularly cared. He and Darla had shared their glory days for a long time, but he and she had gone their separate ways even before he had been ensouled by the gypsies. She had grown tiresome.

Angel listened as Buffy's heart slammed against her chest, a small smile coming to his lips. He could smell her fear, her apprehension at what she was about to do, at what they were about to do. He turned his head to look more closely at the Slayer. She looked very small, her legs pulled up against her chest, her arms around them.

He moved closer to her.

"Now?" she asked, clearly nervous about what she had agreed to.

Angel shrugged. Why not? He was hungry. She was offering.

"Yeah," he breathed quietly. "You gotta relax. Trust me." The words sounded foreign even to him. Trust? Trust wasn't a familiar word for him, or a word that was familiar to those who surrounded him.

Buffy looked at him critically and then relaxed her grip around her legs. She unfolded her body slowly until she was just sitting up in bed, her legs sprawled out in front of her.

Angel moved until he was right beside her on the bed and turned his body so that he was facing her. He put his hand up to her neck again, enjoying the feel of her pulse against his cool skin.

"Wait," Buffy said nervously, turning to look at him. "My friends...Giles...it's got to be..."

Angel interrupted her. "I can be discreet, Buff. Two small holes. As the Slayer, you'll heal up by tomorrow. Two tiny scars, barely visible."

Buffy nodded. She assumed he knew what he was doing. He had been doing it for a while...as terrifying and comforting as that thought was to her.

Angel moved even closer to her, settling his body almost against hers. He felt her tense beside him. He began to massage the side of her neck gently, trying to calm her.

"You seriously have to relax, or it's going to be alot worse."

Buffy tried to relax her muscles, to loosen up her body. She really did feel the muscles in her neck begin to loosen as Angelus rubbed there. She tilted her head against his touch.

"Trust me," he told her again, as he moved his face in closer to hers.

Angelus didn't change into his vampire face yet. Instead, he brought his mouth to her neck. He could feel Buffy's heart still hammering blood throughout her body. If he bit her right at that moment, he would end up tearing into her neck, ripping her skin apart.

Just as Buffy felt his mouth touch her neck, she brought her hands up quickly, desperate to push him away. She knew that she had agreed to this, yet the Slayer side of her wouldn't allow herself to just sit there as a vampire bit her. Before she had a chance to push him away, Angelus caught her hands in his.

He had expected that. That was why he hadn't bitten her so early. He grabbed both of her wrists in his one large hand and pulled them to her side, closer to him. He held them there tightly, keeping her from pushing him away again. She didn't resist.

Angel put his mouth against her neck again, his blunt, human teeth hitting her skin. She flinched back slightly, but otherwise stayed still. He started to suck on her neck, enjoying how the area beneath his mouth grew warm as the blood pooled around where he was sucking. He even gnawed at her skin lightly with his teeth. He continued until he finally caught the slight change in the Slayer's feelings. Some of the fear melted away, and he could feel a small amount of pleasure rush through her body. Exactly what he had been waiting for.

He reached up and put his free hand against the back of her head, running his fingers through her long blonde hair. Buffy leaned back into his hand, allowing herself to enjoy it. For a second, she forced herself to forget about Angel versus Angelus. For a moment, all there was was this man beside her. For all she knew, it could have been Angel.

Angelus waited until the scent of fear was gone before morphing into his vampire face, his true face.

One of his hands held her wrists, keeping her from trying to push him away in case she became frightened. His other hand continued to run through the Slayer's hair, finally pulling her head gently to the side in order to give him better access to her smooth neck.

Then, he plunged his fangs inside of her.