Chapter 10

The rest of the day passed quickly for Angel and Spike. The sun had completed its crossing of the sky, and had dipped below the horizon. Angel, Spike, and Giles had eaten dinner, and Angel had given Victoria a feed, though she had slept through the whole thing. Giles had reassured Angel that Victoria would recover; just that she was using the opportunity to sleep to allow her body to recover properly. Spike had backed up the watcher, saying that there had been a couple of occasions when he had fed a sleeping Drusilla while she was recovering from the attack in Prague. Angel had relaxed again, just in time for Buffy and Willow's arrival.

"Hey," Buffy called as she walked into the large living room. Angel looked up from the book Giles had asked him to read and let a smile cross his face as her saw the two women. Spike looked up at the sound of Buffy's voice, and grinned, sliding off the couch where he had sprawled himself, before walking across the room to Willow's side.

"Hello, love, hello Buffy."

"Hi Spike" Buffy said. Willow hugged Spike.

"I think the watcher wants to see you in the library, pet" Spike told Willow, who nodded, seeing right into his plan, and followed him out of the room. Angel rolled his eyes. How obvious could he be?

"That was weird" Buffy said, looking over her shoulder at Willow and Spike's retreating backs. Angel got up and crossed the room until he was at her side.

"It's Spike, what do you expect?" Angel joked, and Buffy laughed.

"All right, you win that point" she conceded. Angel smiled and ran his fingers through Buffy's hair, leaning down to kiss her. When they broke apart, Buffy was slightly breathless. Angel smiled, the kiss having further relaxed him.

"Buffy, there's something I need to tell you." He said. Buffy's face immediately clouded over with fear.

"What is it? Are you okay? Is it Giles or Spike? Did you find a prophesy?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Everyone is fine" 'or at least, they will be' he added in his head.

"What is it then?"

"You might want to sit down, it's a long story." Angel gently steered Buffy to the couch, and let her sit, before sitting down beside her.

"Alright. Many, many years ago, back when I was still Angelus, we were all living in London. Darla, Dru, Spike, and Me. It was Christmas time; I think it would have been 1882. I was out hunting by myself when I happened to see this girl. She was running, but she was badly injured. I, well, grabbed her, and dragged her into an Ally. She thought I was rescuing her, and started to thank me. She stopped when she saw my real face. I intended to kill her there and then, and it wasn't until that I had nearly drained her that I changed my mind. I used my fangs to slit my wrist, and I turned her. I let her get buried in her family's crypt, before she rose again the next night, and I carried her home."

"Angel, why are you telling me this? I don't get it?"

"Buffy, she's back. She came back, to me, to Spike."

"Hang on, are you saying that your long lost childe is back in Sunnydale? Damn, please tell me this one isn't crazy like Drusilla was." Buffy made to get up, and then Angel realised what was going through the Slayer's head.

"Buffy, it's okay. She has a soul; she's lying, unconscious, in a bed upstairs. She isn't going to hurt anyone."

"She has a soul? That's weird; did she get cursed like you?"

"No, she did what Spike did and went and got one."

"PLEASE tell me she's not as…" she faded off

"Annoying as Spike," Angel said for her, "no, she isn't. Not by a long way."

"Can you tell me more?" Buffy asked. Angel leant back against the couch and Buffy put her head on his chest.

"Dru was a bit odd about it the first couple of days, but then the girl, Victoria, won her over, and Dru loved her like a sister from then onwards. Victoria was like Spike in that she still carried a couple of her more human traits into her vampire being. Spike had been a Vampire for two years by then, and he loved being able to boss around someone else like Darla and I bossed him around, although he treated Victoria like she was his younger sister. He told me a few years later that he had actually known Victoria's two older brothers while he was still human, and that he had been kind of friends with her. Darla hated Victoria, mainly because I liked spending time with her, and because Victoria just wasn't as strong as the rest of us were. I began to love Victoria too, but not in the same was as I loved Darla and Dru, and the way I love you now. I felt very paternal over her. She was like my daughter. I deliberately held her back in her training so she would still be dependent on me for everything. I never let her go hunting alone, and if we had to fight, I always made sure she was at the back, behind the rest of us, or got out before the fight started. It was like that for almost twenty years. Then we went to China, and Spike killed the slayer. Victoria went with him when he went to do it, and she got hurt pretty bad. Spike carried her out of there and gave her to me. Then, well, on the way back we went through Romania, and we ran into that Gypsy tribe, and you know what happened. I left the group, Spike told me that Darla told him, Dru and Victoria to forget about me, to pretend I never existed, and to never, ever, go anywhere near me again. Then, Spike and Dru left. I don't know what happened next, but a couple of weeks later, I realised that Victoria was following me, and that Darla was following her. I doubled back, knowing something was off. Darla tried to kill Victoria that night. I rescued Victoria and treated her wounds as well as I could. I fed her my blood, and left her the next night, before she woke up. I left her a note, telling her to keep away from me, for her own good. She must have listened, because I didn't see, nor sense her up until a couple of days ago. Spike saw her once, in 1911, but other than that, we don't know what she was up to." Angel sighed, and Buffy ran her finger through his hair reassuringly.

"They can't blame you for leaving them, Angel. They both went through the same thing" she told him, seeing the guilt over leaving Victoria, Dru and Spike at Darla's mercy all those years ago in his eyes. Angel nodded, and continued the story.

"Not last night, but the night before, I sensed something, and I knew something was up. For the last few months, I'd been getting flashes of pain, or weakness. We decided that it was all connected, so Spike, the Watcher, and I did some research, and realised who it was. Last night, Spike and I went out looking after Patrol, and there she was, in the park, practically waiting for Spike and I to show up. Apparently, after she got her soul, she kept herself busy by being a Demon hunter up north and in Europe. She is apparently quite famous up there. Anyway, some demons got together and lured her into a trap. Instead of killing her, they cursed her. Willow could probably explain it better than I can, but it was turning her back into a human, but it would've killed her in the process. We were walking back to the mansion, when Victoria collapsed. I carried her the rest of the way. The, Spike contacted Willow, and she came. Giles found a spell that could remove the curse, and Willow cast it. That's basically it."

"Whoa, that is, just, whoa" Buffy shook her head, trying to process what Angel had just told her.

"You're not angry with me?" Angel asked. Buffy looked up, meeting his eyes with hers.

"Oh, Angel. I could never be angry with you about something Angelus did. I mean, Victoria has a soul, so she is safe. She's not going to be a threat."

"No, she won't be," Angel admitted, giving Buffy's lips a swift kiss, "Do you want to meet her?"

"I thought you said she was unconscious."

"Well, I think she is. She was last time I checked on her, which was just before you came, but you could still have a look."

"Okay" Buffy said, hopping up to her feet. Angel got up too, and led Buffy to the stairs. They climbed up the stairs, hand in hand, and Angel led the way down the corridor to the room Victoria was staying in. Buffy noticed that it was the room was the one next to Angel's, but did not say anything. She knew that the room was often the one Angel put Spike in if the younger Vampire was knocked out during a patrol, as Angel would be close at hand if something happened. Buffy sucked in a breath as Angel pushed the door open. Spike and Willow were already in there, talking in hushed voices.

"Angel, Willow and I are going to the motel the Victoria was staying at to pick up her things." Spike said, holding up the set of keys that they had found in her duster pocket. Angel nodded approvingly.

"There will probably be a car of some description there too," he told Spike as he and Willow walked out.

"There better bloody be, I don't particularly want to have to carry Queenie's stuff all the way back here." Spike quipped, and Willow and Buffy both softly laughed. Spike pulled the door closed, and Angel and Buffy were alone in the room with Victoria. They both moved closer to the bed, looking at Victoria's sleeping form.

"She looks really young"

"She was just over 18 when I turned her. She just looks young for her age."

"Oh, that sucks, for her I mean." Buffy smiled.

"Why?"

"Well, it must be hard to get alcohol and stuff when you look like you've just got out of high school."

"She has a fake I.D., we found it in her wallet." Angel said, "But I can see your point."

"Well, at least she doesn't look her actual age. That would be really bad." Buffy joked. Angel chuckled.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be pretty. A 139 year old walking around."

"139? That's still a baby compared to you and Spike."

"Spike is only ten years older. In vampire years, he's only two years older. There isn't that much between them, from a vampire's point of view anyway."

"Especially since that vampire is 247 years old like you are," Buffy smirked at Angel, before a slight noise from the region of the bed made them both whip their heads towards it.

Victoria's hand twitched, and then her head moved, before her eyelids cracked opened, focusing on the pair.

"Angel?" she whispered.