WARNING: This chapter contains scenes of violence and death. So I am rating it "M" just to be safe

Chapter Eleven

Willow sat in the main living room, watching TV. Liam, or Angelus, as he now preferred to be called, had refused to let Willow inside his room for the last three days. Willow was beginning to get worried about her brother. If Liam had allowed the demon to take over, then that meant that Liam had given up all hope of being human again. She didn't have to worry about if he was eating; the drying blood and the smell of rotting corpses outside his bedroom door was proof of that. Willow closed her eyes to keep her own tears of despair from spilling, and wished for help to bring Angel around.

As if answering her prayer, the door bell rang. Willow rose from her seat and walked over to the large front doors. Prying one of the large oak doors open a crack, Willow peered through and saw a small female figure standing in front of the doors, holding a suitcase.

"Buffy?" Willow breathed, excited.

"Hi," Buffy shyly held up her hand and waved. "Sorry I haven't stopped by in awhile."

Opening the door further, Willow hugged her friend and motioned for Buffy to come inside.

"Wh- What are you doing here?" she asked as Buffy took off her coat.

"Can I stay here for a few days?" Buffy asked ignoring Willow's question.

"Yes, of course!" Willow said as she picked up Buffy's suitcase and headed up the stairs.

Very little was said as Willow led Buffy back to the room she had stayed in before. Opening the door, Willow led Buffy inside and placed her suitcase on the bed. As Buffy set her purse on the bed stand, Willow asked, "So what brings you here?"
"You, actually. And Liam, but mostly you."

"Huh?" Willow was confused.

"Ang-, I mean Liam said that you missed me. And that you were hurt because I had broken my promise to come back."

"I was," said Willow sitting beside Buffy on the bed. "But I'm over that now. I know you had a life you loved and wanted to get back to."

"Actually my home life is pretty boring," Admitted Buffy with a grin. "There's this one guy, Riley, and he follows me around like a lost puppy! It's pathetic!"

Willow giggled. "Well, we are never boring here," she said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Buffy laughed. Then Buffy's face became very serious. "Will, can you answer something for me?"

"Yeah, sure, what?"

"What is the deal with Liam?"

Willow kept silent. She wasn't sure how much she should tell. Buffy desevered the thruth, but the truth could very well scare her away, permamently. But she tried to tell Buffy as much as she could.

"Do you believe in the supernatural?" She began, hoping she was about to do the right thing.

"Not until recently." Buffy smiled at Willow.

"Yeah, I guessed you would say that," Willow smiled back. "Well, anyway, the reason Liam went all freaky on you is because, well he's different. Liam is unique in his situation because he's-," Willow began to fumble.

"Liam is a Vampire?"

"Huh? How do you know that?" Asked Willow amazed.

"Look Will," Buffy leaned closer to Willow, "I may be a blond, but I am not that blond."

"But, h-how did you figure it out?" Willow asked shocked.

"I researched it," Buffy said grinning. "But I didn't know for sure until I came here to ask you. The look on your face before you started to answer, gave me the confirmation I needed."

Willow sat on the bed in stunned silence. She had no idea what to say. Then she remembered one thing. "But Buffy, if you're here, what happened in town?"

"Bascially? I hurt Liam's feelings pretty bad," Buffy said hanging her head. "I didn't mean to, I mean, I'm normally not a judgmental person, but I had it pointed out to me."
"By who?" Asked Willow to Buffy.

"My dad was one," She answered. "But my friend, Xander really nailed me to a wall."

"What did he say?"
"Never judge a book by it's cover." Willow sat up and smiled at her friend's admital.

"So you came here to apologize?" Buffy nodded.
"I was really mean towards Liam, the least I can do is try to make up for it."

Willow became very quiet, and hung her head.

"Buffy, I think you should know something," Willow said as she began to play with her hair.

Buffy tilted her head. "What is it Will?"
"It's about Liam, he's changed. And I don't mean in a good way." Willow's eyes began to water.

"I don't know what happened when he came to see you; but ever since he's been back, he refuses to let me near his room. And I can see pools of dried blood on the floor. And the odor from his room is enough to wake the dead. He also wants to be called Angelus now."

Buffy's eyes grew wide as Willow described how Liam had fallen into despair.
"I don't know if he would even want you to see him or not", Willow suggested as Buffy stood up and unzipped a small brown bag.

"Well, Angelus might not, but Liam will. I don't care if Angelus likes it or not." Buffy stated as she stood from the bed and grabbed a large duffle that sat beside her suitcase. Setting it on the bed, Willow watched Buffy as she pulled out a sharp wooden stake, a vile of "holy water', a crucifix and other supplies from her bag.
"Where did you get all that?" Willow gasped.

"Long story short? My father." Buffy said as she tucked the cross in one pocket of her jeans and the holy water in the other. "Plus, I always believe in being prepared." Clasping the stake, Buffy looked Willow in the eye and said, "Now, show me to his room."

Buffy followed Willow's instructions as she made her way downstairs to the West Wing. Willow wished to stay behind, as the smell made her barely able to walk.

Walking down the dark corridor towards Liam's room Buffy felt a chill run down her spine that would have normally scared her to death otherwise.

Creeping past the large doors that separated the West Wing hall from Liam's room, Buffy could hardly hold her breath as the smell of old death surrounded her.

"Boy, Willow wasn't kidding, this smell is horrible!"

When Buffy reached Liam's door, another chill went down her spine as she saw pool after pool of dried blood that led from his door, across the hall and down towards the garage. Summoning all her strength, Buffy knocked on the door. After receiving no answer, she carefully turned the knob and opened the door. What she saw inside sent Buffy's senses reeling.

The room was in shambles.

The dresser had been overturned and clothes were torn and thrown everywhere. The bed covers had been ripped while still attached to the bed, leaving them in dramatic shreds across the mattress. The bookshelves were emptied of their contents, the only reminder of what once sat on them, ripped to shreds and scattered like confetti through out the room. On top all the destruction was a trail of dried blood and decomposing flesh that covered the whole room. And in one corner, lay the remains of what Liam had found to eat: Six wolf skeletons, three wild boars and assorted other wild game. That's when Buffy saw what was left of Liam.

He sat in the corner by the window; his eyes were over cast and no light shined through or reflected in them. It looked almost as though he had died. Liam may very well have, but Buffy could tell that Angelus was alive and the room was proof enough that Liam had lost all faith allowing the true demon to run free.

Buffy's heart truly wanted to break for Liam, who was slowly stealing her heart, even if he was a blood sucking creature of the night. But Angelus had to go. And from the looks of things, that would take some time. Buffy carefully pulled the cross out of her pocket and brought it up at arm's length, level with her chest. In her other hand, she held on tightly to her stake.

"You know that won't do anything to me," Liam said calmly, never moving.

"Yeah, well I'd rather be safe than sorry these days, Angelus," Buffy responded.

"I'm almost impressed," scoffed the murderous vampire. "I didn't think a bookworm like you would know anything about me. But seeing as how you're a librarian's daughter, I guess I should have known." Liam smirked at the thought. Hurt her, kill her even, maybe then the prissy school boy wimpering in the back if his head would shut up!

Slowly, Liam rose and stalked towards Buffy. Buffy shifted her brain into self defense mode, as she watched every movement of his body become more and more like that of a predator preparing for the kill. Buffy was awestruck at how his body language had changed since she had seen him last.

"Looks like we both did our homework," Buffy countered, readying to strike should Angelus attack.
"So, if you know Liam isn't here, then why are you here?" Angelus sneered.

"Actually Liam is here," Buffy spat. "You just have him convinced that you're the better option."
Liam clutched his chested in mock hurt.

"Buff, that hurts!" Angelus cried as he continued towards Buffy.

Buffy took a step back. It was hard to believe that Liam and Angelus were the same person. Liam had a lost and unsure, almost shy way he would shuffle his feet. And now it had been replaced by Angelus' sure, confident and absolutely breathtaking stance. The way his body swayed with such confidence, it was no wonder Angelus was able to seduce as many victims to their deaths as he had. even with the twisted and ugly face. Buffy was almost lost in his presence herself. Slowly Buffy continued to step back as Angelus came forward, his arm reaching for her neck. Buffy flinched as instead of being slammed against a wall, Liam brushed a small piece of hair away from her shoulder.

"I don't want to hurt you Buffy," he whispered, his amber eyes glowing gold. "I want to love you."

Buffy pushed Liam away, offended by the way Angelus was making fun of Liam's feelings. Liam took a few steps back giggling.

"You're sick!" Buffy spat with out thinking. She knew she had just given Angelus what he wanted. Must be careful that that doesn't happen again.

"No, Buff," Liam smirked. "I'm a man in love."
"With himself, maybe. But not with anything breathing. That's where you and Liam differ. Liam is in love with someone. A living, breathing, person. You don't know what love is. You never can, you monster!" Buffy folded her arms and exhaled confidently.

That's when Buffy blinked her eyes and realized that Angelus had pinned her to the wall by her throat and was beginning to choke her.

"I can kill you where you stand!" Liam shrieked, tightening his grip around her neck. Buffy began to gag, and quickly tried to think of a way out.

Deciding to remain calm, Buffy closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. Carefully, she shifted her body and with one swift movement, kneed Liam in the groin. He dropped his grip on Buffy's throat and fell to his knees.

Buffy then swung around and used her other foot to kick Angelus on the side of his head knocking him to the floor. As Angelus tried to recover from the blow, Buffy kicked Angelus in stomach and he rolled over in agony. Buffy then strattled his chest and pointed her stake at Angelus' chest.

"Now this is fun!" Liam smiled flipping Buffy over his head, making her land on what used to be a bedstand. Buffy landed with a thud, dropping her stake. Angelus advanced, a gay smile on his face. Buffy reached into her pocket and threw a bottle at him.

The bottle broke as it made contact with his forehead, spilling the Holy Water all down his face. Liam screamed in pain and grabbed his face, giving Buffy a chance to run for the door. Just as her hand touched the knob, she felt herself flying backwards landing near Liam's bed.

"Oh no," Liam growled. "you're not going anywhere!" Buffy stared into Liam's blood red eyes, fearing for a moment that she might actually die.

"You know, blood tastes sweeter when there's fear in it," Angelus said leaning over Buffy, sniffing her neck. Buffy didn't move a muscle, except for the arm that she was using to look for something to use as a weapon. Buffy found a small, round object, and brought it up, stabbing Liam in the shoulder. Liam jumped back grabbing at the pencil Buffy had inserted in his body. Qucikly, Buffy scrambled away from the bed and towards the direction her stake was last seen.

Having found her target, Buffy returned her focus to Liam. He was having trouble getting the pencil out of his shoulder. Seeing an opening, Buffy lunged at Liam, plunging the stake into his other shoulder. Liam fell, this time on the side Buffy had staked, writhing in pain.

"Buffy!" Liam cried. "Get this out of me!"
"I don't think so, Angelus!"
"Buffy! Please!" Buffy scrunched her eyebrows. This had to be another of Angelus' tricks. Carefully, and guarded, Buffy stepped closer to Liam. He had one arm outstretched the other pulled close to him. He suddenly seemed to have lost the air of confidence he used to have. Kneeling, Buffy slowly reached out and touched Liam's shoulder, pulling him so she could see his face.

Looking Liam in the eye, Buffy saw the blood red of Angelus' hate had disipated, leaving only Liam's yellow, sad, wounded eyes.

"Liam?" Buffy asked, almost in a whisper. "Is it really you?"

"Buffy, I'm sorry," Liam said.

"No, I'm sorry," she said, pulling out her stake. "I had no choice. Angelus was going to kill me."
"And he was going to," Liam confided, "until you started to fight back."
"That aggravating no account jerk, retreated into his little shell, when he realized the pain was too much!" Buffy grabbed the pencil out of Liam's other shoulder.

"Ow!" Liam shouted, as Buffy pulled it out.

"I'm sorry. I forgot you share one body." Buffy helped Liam up into his chair. After Liam was securely in his seat, Buffy took a moment to reexamine the room.

"Well, a fine apology I tried to make," Buffy sighed. Liam rose up in his chair.

"You came back to apologize?"
"Yeah, I wanted to say sorry for the way I treated you. It was wrong of me, and I should never have done it."
Liam's heart jumped. She cared for him! Now, if only she would love him.

"I plan on staying a few days," Buffy's voice interrupting his thoughts. "But, first, you have got to clean this room! It smells like a morgue!"

Liam hung his head. "I'm sorry."
"I'll have Willow try and come clean you up, but this room has to be clean before I ever set foot in here again!"

"But what happened to your apology?"
"Don't confuse an apology with pity, Liam," Buffy said. "I may have treated you wrong, but that doesn't change the fact that your are still a monster."

With that, Buffy picked up her stake and cross, before heading for the door.

"Goodnight, Liam." Buffy told him, pausing at the door. She did not wait for a response as she went through the open doorway, headed back for her room. Liam closed his eyes,pain englfinghis shoulders as he leaned against his chair. Now, he was back to square one.

End Chapter Eleven

How was that? I actually deleted an entire chapter just so you guys could get this scene! LOL Hopefully, I didn't mess up the flow! LOL As always READ & REVIEW! They keep me typing! LOL See ya next Chapter!