Disclaimer: As you may have noticed, I kinda sorta brought Oz back and he and Willow are dating again. I try to stick to canon as much as possible, but I guess here I nudged a little at Willow's persona and made her more bi than gay. I don't have problems with F/F relationships, I thought Tara and Willow were great together, I was never a Kennedy fan but I loved Willow and Oz. Plus I kinda needed Oz for these stories so I just stuck them back together. I never wrote how they hooked back up, but Willow seemed to tell him the last time they spoke she would always be 'waiting' for him...so well...there you go. *Magic*
Some may wonder about Dawn, she is around...I just haven't had a place for her yet. She does show up in later fics. Lets just assume her and Connor are in school so they aren't around for the fights. Maybe she's being a teen and spending more time with friends (boyfriends?) and doing normal teen activities rather than near-death experiences and hanging with her big sis and her boyfriend. Connor is at Standford, but most likely has a part time job for the summer. (Angel sent him back to school, David Nabbit helped him find the money.)
Hidden Secrets Come To Light – October 24-26, 2004 - Almost 10 weeks after You Thought Wrong ends.
Angel stood in the center of a room, a cage.
The chains bit bitterly into his wrists. Blood trickled down his arms, down his bare chest, to soak into the lip of his pants.
The cell was dark; a small window high against the cement ceiling cast a dim glow from the night's full moon.
His body hurt, was the understatement of a lifetime.
His hands were numb; his arms were numb; shoulders, legs and feet, numb, numb and numb.
The chains that held him barely let his feet touch the floor, leaving the weight of his body to hang mostly from his shoulders.
The smell of blood and mold were his only companions, the rest of the dungeon was empty; save for a few skeletons left to rot decades before.
Angel didn't know how long he had been there, time was hard to tell; especially when your attention was being occupied with beatings and torture.
It had been sunset when he was first captured and tossed into this private room in Hell; however, time was lost on him between sudden bouts of unconsciousness.
His captors seemed to have grown bored with him; he figured it was because he didn't scream as much as they obviously wanted him too.
Centuries 'living' as a vampire and more recently, the pummeling he took from saving the world, did wonders for increasing one's tolerance of pain.
He was reminded of when Spike had him tortured for the Gem of Amarra.
However, his body was alive now, and the beatings and hours, if not days, left hanging in a cell were beginning to take a toll.
"Buffy" he mumbled to the empty space, "I know I promised not to leave you again…but I might not have a choice here."
He shut his eyes and thought of Buffy, letting her memories take him away from the pain, if only for awhile.
...
Buffy slowly fought her way back to consciousness; she became aware of hands gripping her arms, she was being part carried, part dragged.
'Not good.'
She wanted to plant her feet, causing the goons holding her to lose there grip so she could knock them out and go find Angel. However, her body decided all it was going to do was moan weakly.
'Damn it' she shouted mentally to her body, 'Move! React! Hell, throw up on the guys shoes! Do something! Ahh!'
It was useless, whatever they injected her with hadn't worn off yet, and until it did she might as well sit back and enjoy her new career as a horror move extra, and not something cool like a zombie, but the lame corpse draped over a chair for effect.
As the minutes past, she felt strength beginning to spread into her limbs again. All she needed was a few more minutes, and then she could make her move.
"Open the door" a gruffly voiced called out, fang impediment evident in his words.
A clanking and squealing of ungreased hinges sound followed; suddenly she was weightless as she was tossed into the cell.
She collided with something solid and both cried out in surprise and pain at the impact.
She slid off whatever she hit and surprisingly landed on her hands and knees.
The sudden shot of adrenaline flooded her and she bolted towards the door.
It slammed in her face, but she still wailed on it, managing to punch one of the guards threw the bars as they were turning the key.
The sound of retreating foot steps and a tacky vampire conversations was heard, then the doors down the hall being slammed shut and locked echoed throughout the level, then nothing but the sound of her erratic breathing and the pounding on the door and swearing that wasn't helping.
In fact she was sure all she was achieving was bleeding knuckles and a sore throat.
"Buffy?" A raspy voice behind her stopped her rant short and she froze. Her eyes widened in recognition of the voice and she turned, for the first time seeing Angel was behind her, chains suspending him from the ceiling.
"Angel?" she whispered.
A second later she was wrapping her arms around him, drinking in the feel of him.
He gasped when she squeezed him and she immediately loosed her grip, noticing the bruises on his upper body.
"You're alive" she breathed into an unbruised part of his chest, "O God, you're alive." She pulled back to look into his eyes. "I thought…when you didn't…." but tears of joy and sorrow chocked back the rest of her words.
She had been horrified he had been killed, Cerberus brother had learned of his demise, and wanted revenge against his killers. Then Angel didn't come home one night, that was two days ago.
"I'm sorry" he apologized, "they jumped me, knocked me out. I'm so sorry I worried you…"
Her lips on his cut him off.
The kiss was short too short; it hurt him too much to bend forward, the chains creaking in protest, along with his shoulder muscles. He desperately wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight, but it just wasn't possible at the moment.
"How dd you get here?" he asked, worried for her.
"Same as you, jumped then drugged. Well drugged then jumped..." she said trying to straighten the details.
He nodded, "Are you OK?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes, "Asks the one hanging from the ceiling."
The cuffs around his wrist were well above her reach, picking the locks would require time, time he didn't seem to have.
Buffy pulled her graze from her love and followed the chains up to where they were attached to an old metal beam.
"If I can climb up there, maybe I can dislodge it" She said to him hopefully.
"How?" he asked, "There is nothing to climb."
She grinned at him.
"Oh" he frowned. "Buffy, I've been hanging since they brought me here. I'm numb. I don't know if I can hold myself up, never mind you too."
'Did he just call me fat' she wondered madly to herself. "Well, what other options do we have?" she countered. "I just leave you there?"
He looked down at his feet, and then nodded reluctantly. "I can't catch you" he admitted, "So don't fall." He tried a grin, but failed.
"This is going to hurt you a lot, isn't it?" She asked with pain filling her voice.
"What other option do we have?" He repeated back to her.
Angel closed his eyes for a moment and mentally prepared himself for a world of pain to begin, 'Hell with the day I've had this might be a relief.' He thought bitterly.
Buffy quickly shimmied up Angel, doing her best to ignore the hisses and gasps of pain that slipped from him, trying to put as much of her weight on the chains as possible and spare Angel from the agony of more pressure on his already aching body.
She managed to grab hold of one of the beams, and had enough room to pull herself up on top of it.
Once settled she examined the anchor; a metal square mounted to the beam, with two holes bored threw the metal, secured with some sort of rivet. The chains themselves welded to a pivot, allowing the chains to freely spin 360 degrees.
Well originally anyways, the entire package was solid rust, years and dank dungeon moisture taking their toll on the iron.
She braced herself and sent a few swift kicks at it, after her 6th whack, the metal cracked, two more and it snapped entirely.
Her triumph turned to concern when she heard Angel crash to the floor and scream.
...
Every muscle was in agony as he slammed into the floor; he couldn't stop the strangled scream as it ripped from his mouth.
Buffy carefully dropped down from the rafter, landing beside him and drawing the wounded man into her arms.
He gasped in pain as his blood was forced back into his numb limbs.
Buffy quickly dragged Angel's useless body against her, bracing her back against the wall and resting his back against her chest.
She wrapped her arms around him, feeling how cold he was caused a shiver to rush threw her, she remembered when he felt this cold all the time, when he was still one of the undead.
She began to rub his arms, to help re-warm him and to encourage the blood flow.
He was panting, body shaking from a combination of cold, pain and hours of being immobile.
"I'm Sorry" she whispered into his ear, feeling guilt over having to cut him down so brutally. Continuing, "We need to come up with a plan. Once you can move that is. We only have until sunrise."
"Later" he breathed between pants.
Her brow furrowed, "Later? When's later?"
He groaned, "Dunno" he managed, "When…I'm conscious."
A second later Angel went limp.
"Angel!" Buffy panicked. She instantly brought her fingers up to rest on his neck, relief washed over her when she felt his pulse, weak and a bit unsteady, but it was there,
'Unanimously preferable over the alternative' She thought.
...
She leaned her head back, her arms holding her lover tightly against her, sharing her warmth with him.
It had been over an hour since Angel passed out and she was really starting to worry now.
However, the time between was well spent, not only did she remove the chains with a little help from a bobby pin from her hair; she managed to 'clean' (if you could call the puddle of rainwater in the cell clean) his wounds and bandage his broken and bruised ribs with strips torn from her button-down shirt.
Many of the minor cuts had already begun to heal, she was grateful that particular vampire power was still with him.
Awhile ago she had automatically begun to draw her thumb against his cheek, whispering encouraging words and outrageous plans to escape to the part-time vampire.
Buffy was relieved Angelus hadn't made an appearance, that could only mean Angel was in no danger of dying; she could deal with that, very much so.
"It'll be light in a few hours. Giles and the gang should be here by then." she spoke aloud, not believing he could hear her, but still hoping hope her voice would rouse him.
"Wills got this cool 'instant sun' spell, can turn even the darkest night into a mid-day vamp BBQ." She rambled, not knowing what else to do.
Angel had quietly regained consciousness a few minutes earlier, but had remained silent and still.
He was enjoying just sitting against her warm body and listening to her talk.
It was nice to have a few minutes to just relax, temporarily avoid the reality of another life or death situation.
He had spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the buzzing/fluttering sound he heard was, but soon dismissed it as his head still ringing from the pain.
He could hear the worry for him growing in her tone as she spoke about Oz's new guitar, he suddenly felt guilty about keeping her anxious.
"Instant sun would be helpful." He mumbled.
"Angel?" Buffy asked, relieved he was finally conscious.
He opened his eyes and smiled up at her, "Can't get rid of me that easily."
She bowed her head and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I was so worried." She pouted to him.
"I'm sorry" he automatically apologized.
"Can you move?" she asked, knowing time was running out, they need to move soon.
"Don't really have a choice in that do I?" he said as he sat up. He groaned as his sore muscles protested the movement. "Help me up?" he asked.
She moved from behind him and stood, "Maybe you should take it slow…"
He looked up at her, "Buffy, we're prisoners, they aren't going to let us waltz out of here. I need to be able to fight."
She nodded then stepped back, "Well then, if that's how it's going to be. Get up maggot." She said mimicking an army drill sergeant.
He shook his head at her antics then painfully pulled his legs under himself and stood. He was shaky at first, and sore as all hell, but he stayed on his feet.
He took fifteen minutes to stretch and work his muscles, get the blood flowing again, and work out the kinks.
Buffy watched him carefully as he moved, noticing every grimace and every eye twitch of pain.
"What the prognosis?" she asked after a while.
"Sore, really sore. But I can move when I need to."
She came up to him, and wrapped her arms around his waist, "Wanna spar? See if we can work out some of the kinks?"
He nodded, "Probably should…" He added with a mischievous grin, "You might even stand a chance this time."
She shot him an offended look, "Stand a chance? I can totally wipe the floor with you! Have on numerous occasions!" She rolled her sleeves up, "You're going down, buddy."
He was shirtless and didn't have sleeves to roll up, but for show he pretended to, "Bring it on."
...
Buffy circled him, looking for an opening, and he did the same to her.
They each traded blows, neither getting the chance to connect.
To the casual observer, they looked to be having a life or death match, to them, it was just a dance.
After ten long minutes, she charged him, throwing a left hook to his chin, he dodged it and spun, sending her flying past him and towards the wall, instead of stopping she ran up the wall and flipped, landing on her feet, ready for the next attack.
He was ready for her, he dropped down and swung his leg out, knocking her off her feet and into the floor, a moment later he was on top of her, pinning her arms to her sides. "Now what?" he asked with a victory smile.
"This" she said as she lifted her legs, bucking him forward, he had to release her hands in order to catch himself, to avoid a face plant into cold concrete.
Once her hands were free she pushed him off of her, did a spinning kick and sent him tumbling, a moment later she was straddling him. "Now who's on top?" she asked with a cocky smirk.
"Fine. You win." He winced as his ribs protested the position.
"Oops, sorry" she said getting up, realizing she was aggravating his injuries.
"No, no" he said, "The guards won't go easy on me, neither should you."He said standing too.
"Well I'm not a guard, I'm your girlfriend, so I get to be sorry" she wrapped her arms around his waist again, "…and be the tiniest bit proud of kicking your butt again". She finished looked up at him with a broad smile.
"Go ahead and gloat, that was a nice move." He said as he wrapped his arm around her too, his other hand smoothing out her wild hair.
"Mmm…I am and it was" she replied with a grin.
...
Buffy cast a glance towards the tiny window along the ceiling, it would be light in a little while and the cavalry should be arriving soon.
"Let's get out of here." She stated after a few minutes of just hugging her boyfriend.
He looked down at her, "I think your forgetting something…that we're prisoners…we don't actually have a key to that locked door."
"Says who?" she replied as she pulled the bobby pin she used on Angel's chains from her hair.
She looked around quickly, but didn't see any guards, actually she realized she hadn't seen or heard any since she was tossed in the cell.
After a few long minutes of trying, she heard a click as the door unlocked.
"Yes!" she cheered, "I have many skills."
"Ok Xena, time to rescue ourselves." he agreed.
...
They met very little opposition as they made their way threw the dungeon and onto the main floor. They soon discovered why, the first two floors had no entrances or exits, they had been sealed; they didn't even have large enough windows to squeeze through.
"This place defiantly fails the fire code." Buffy frowned as she followed Angel to the stairs.
"Don't think they really care about building codes." He answered, just as unhappy at the circumstances.
"Do you think they noticed we escaped yet?" she whispered.
Suddenly a loud bell started ringing throughout the structure.
"Something tells me they noticed." He shouted over the noise as he grabbed her hand and began running to where he hoped the door out was.
They finally reached an upper level with windows, they were painted black to block the sun, but they were still glass.
He managed to catch a glimpse outside, the sun was just peaking over the horizon, and they were at least three stories high.
A few vampiric guards attacked as they went, but they were easily dusted between the two of them. They ran around the corner and came up against a wall of vampires, all armed.
'Way too many' he thought dejectedly.
Angel looked towards the advancing vampires, then sent a quick glance out the painted over but large window to his back.
'Three stories, I can survive that…right?' he wondered.
He didn't have any more time to decide as the vamps charged.
He yelled "Brace for impact" as he grabbed Buffy and crashed backwards threw the window, shattering the glass and flooding the hall with morning sunlight.
He wrapped his arms protectively around Buffy and kept his body between her and the ground.
He tried to position for a roll, but all too soon the freefall ended and his world went black.
...
Buffy stirred, a moan escaped her lips as she shifted back to consciousness for a second time today.
'This better not become a habit' she whined.
She rolled over when she realized something was beneath her.
The memory of the last few minutes came flooding back as she looked down at Angel, then up at the window they had just fallen from. Her eyes widened in fear.
"Angel?" she called out to him, not being able to tear her eyes from the trail of blood that had snaked it's way down his mouth.
"Angel!" she cried, more desperate for a reply. She placed her hand on his chest, and felt the beat beneath.
She sighed in relief, "You are so lucky you're alive…if you ever try something like that again…I'll…I'll kill you!" she raged at his stupid plan that could have killed them both.
"Make it… a fast death" he groaned.
'If she is threatening to kill me she must be alright' Angel thought.
"Angel?" Buffy's anger dissolved instantly and she put her hand on his cheek. "Are you Ok?" she asked, thick with worry for his health.
"Define OK." he asked with a wince as he tried to sit up.
"Should you be moving?" she yelped as she planted her hands on his chest, holding him down. "What if you broke your back? What if you have a rib pressed against your heart, or your organs popped or…" her near hysterical rant was cut short with Angel's fingers over her mouth.
"Nothings broken." He stated, "Well nothing overly vital" he amended. "Help me up."
She paused a moment then did what he asked.
He tenderly moved his body, doing a mental check of his injuries and limitations.
"What the hell were you thinking!" Buffy yelled, anger returning as fast as it left.
"Run." Angel muttered.
"Huh?" Buffy shot him a confused look and realized he was looking behind her. She turned and saw the vamp's human lackeys pouring out of the fortress, all of them armed.
"Runnings good." She agreed grabbing his hand.
...
"We can't outrun them" Angel panted, his body having taken its quota of abuse for the day.
"We don't have to. Look!" Buffy panted back.
He followed her point and saw Oz's van rushing towards them.
"About time." He groaned through gritted teeth.
The lackeys were still fifty feet away or so when the van pulled up next to them. The door opened and Xander's cocky grin greeted them. "Don't you know hitchhiking is illegal in this state?" he asked jokingly.
They saw Willow chanting in the back, eyes glowing with a spell, a second later the ground around the castle began to shake like a earthquake.
Angel cast a quick glance behind them and panicked when he realized one on the man had pulled a gun, and was aiming it at Buffy.
"Buffy!" He yelled as he rushed behind her, a second later he felt his body pushed forward from the impact of the bullet.
Buffy heard the bang over the rumble of crumbling stone and felt him gasp and crash into her, she whipped around and dragged him into the van.
As soon as they were clear, the door slammed shut and Oz had the accelerator to the floor.
Within seconds they were out of firing range, but Oz never slowed down.
The castle crashed down into a huge sinkhole, sucking in the lackeys and burying all the demons left inside.
...
As soon as the door was shut Buffy turned to Angel.
He was lying face down on the floor of the van, gasping.
"Angel!" she yelped, seeing the blood pouring from a newly made hole in the chest of the Gryphon tattoo on Angel's back.
The Scoobies rushed into action, Xander and Willow grabbing for the first aid box and Giles rushed over to Buffy to help with Angel.
"Lie still" Giles urged the former vampire (not as former at he thought though) as he knelt beside him and began examining the wound.
"Missed the shoulder blade unfortunately, if could have deflected it harmlessly away, and obviously missed the heart as well or well…you know" the watcher declared.
Willow handed Buffy a wad of gauze and she pressed it against the wound.
Angel cried out and began to cough, blood bubbling from his lips.
"Did the bullet exit?" Giles asked, Buffy couldn't tell since Angel was still laying face down.
"Angel, we need to roll you onto your side." Buffy informed him, his eyes were squeezed tightly shut but he nodded in understanding.
Angel moaned as the simple movement aggravated his already injured ribs and bruises.
Giles frowned when he saw no exit wound, "No exit wound" he clarified to the group.
"That's good right? Only one wound and not two? In this case less is more?" Willow asked hopeful.
Giles shook his head. "Unfortunately no, it means the bullet is still lodge somewhere in his chest."
"What can we do?" Buffy pleaded, Angel's head resting in her lap, as she still pressed the now soaked gauze to the wound.
"Without the proper equipment or training? Not much I'm afraid. He needs medical attention, immediately." The watcher confessed.
"Did anyone notice where we are?" Xander's voice broke the momentary silence, "That would be nowhere…middle of. We haven't seen a gas station in miles…never mind a hospital."
Angel coughed again, his breathing becoming noticeably more labored.
Buffy replaced the gauze with a fresh wad Willow handed her then pulled Angel up against her, sitting how they were only a few hours ago. "Should help you breath" she told him, hoping the upright position really would help; and if not it would at least relieve the pressure on his broken ribs.
He didn't respond and she realized he was no longer conscious.
...
Ten minutes had passed; she felt Angel shiver in her arms, as his blood drained on to her chest.
"Please don't die" she begged into his ear, "Please don't die."
Angel coughed painfully, blood snaking its way down his chin.
'He is dying' Buffy realized as she held him in her arms; the gunshot wound in his back pressed tightly against her chest, but did little to stem the bleeding.
Silent tears ran down her cheeks unnoticed by her, she knew what she had to do, she hated to ask for help from him, but she didn't know where else to turn.
Buffy looked up to the three sets of worried eyes and frowned, "Guys, don't wig O.K.?"
She tightened her hold of Angel and was greeted by three equally confused faces, she didn't have time to talk to them, to explain to them, she could only hoped they would understand.
She pressed her lips to Angel's ear and whispered to him, "Angelus?...I know you're in there…..Save him…..Please."
The last word wasn't a question, and a moment later her plea was answered.
She was both equally disturbed and relieved when Angel's human features transformed into Angelus's vampire mask.
Cold yellow eyes glared up at her, a grim smile spread across his mouth, showing bloodied fangs. "Ya know Lover, the taste of blood in your mouth… isn't quite as sweet when it's your own."
"Buffy!" Xander gasped as he grabbed and raised a stake, he moved towards the vampire lying in her arms, "Get away from it!"
She wrapped her arms protectively over the vampire's heart and yelled, "Xander, Don't!"
"My God Buffy, what is going on?" Giles questioned, "You said Angel could no longer transform?"
She looked down at the 'man' she held tightly then back at Giles, "He can't" she sighed.
"So…what you're saying is…that's Angelus then?" Willow asked tentatively.
"In the flesh" Angelus replied, adding a cold laugh, however lost most of it in a cough.
"Why is it Buff, I'm always bleeding when we meet?" Buffy was in no mood to deal with the demon's attitude, she glared down at him and asked,
"Can you save him?" He could see tears threatening to fall, part of him wanted to see them fall, would revel in it; another part, the part with the soul pressing awfully close, felt motivated to help her.
He really hated that part…and it usually won.
"Don't know" he said honestly, "Pretty banged up in here." The vampire mentally checked the damage done to his body, accessing Angel's memories and matching those with the current pains.
"Buffy! What the hell is gong on?" Xander's outraged voice yelled. The van slowed and Oz turned around to see what all the fuss was about.
"Angel was dying" she told her audience, "Angelus can heal him, because he's a demon, he's stronger"
Xander laughed, "Help? Angelus doesn't help! Key word here… Demon! He's an evil homicidal maniac! Don't you remember the fear and the dying?"
"Xander is right. Angelus killed Jenny, and tortured me for hours" Giles managed threw gritted teeth, squeezing his hands into fists.
"He's sorry" Buffy protested, noticing the murderous glances the two were giving Angelus.
"Am not" Angelus countered, "I'm a demon, it's what I do. I'm evil, get over it. I'm not sorry. That's Soul boy's trauma. Not mine."
"See!" Xander shouted, "He said it himself, Evil! I say we kill him!"
Buffy glared down at the vamp, "You're not helping…"
He merely grinned.
"Xander sit down! No one is killing anyone!" Buffy steamed.
"Uhh…so if Angelus is here….does that mean Angel's …." Willow struggled over saying the word 'dead' in front of Buffy.
Buffy looked at each of her friends, pleading with her eyes for understanding. "No, Angel's soul is still in here, somewhere". She replied looking down at Angelus, he grimaced.
"Yeah, and the monster!" Xander yelled. "What's to stop him from slaughtering us? Dead boy's soul?"
"Yes!" Buffy yelled back, "Angelus isn't a threat anymore, He's a jerk, yeah, but he won't try to kill you!"
"What makes you so certain of this? Did he not just finish tell us he isn't sorry for his previous actions?" Giles countered.
Buffy took a long breath, "Since Angel's body is alive, it keeps the demon content. He isn't dead anymore, so he doesn't crave for life…doesn't need to feed…to kill. And Angel's soul prevents him from hurting innocent people."
Angelus rolled his eyes and added, "Usually."
Oz, who had been silently watching and listening spoke up, "So what you are saying is, the demon co-exists with the soul, but still two separate beings. I'm guessing Angel uses Angelus's demon powers and in return Angelus 'feeds' off Angel's living body, nullifying the bloodlust?" He arched an eyebrow and looked to her for confirmation.
"Yeah" she agreed, "About sums it up."
They were all quiet for a few moments, letting the words sink in.
...
Angelus groaned/growled as pain shot threw his body.
Buffy looked down at him, seeing the paleness and pain in his face. "Angelus?" she called, realizing now how quiet he had become; she had expected him to throw in a few more insults and taunts.
His eyes were tightly shut, demon brow wrinkled in pain, fists squeezed tight. "Bullets still inside" he whispered, unable to talk louder. "Can't heal till it's out"
"What do you need?" she asked, grateful her friends seem to have put the lynch mob idea on hold.
"Knife" he whispered.
A second later Willow sat next to them, she looked at Buffy who nodded, and handed the knife to Angelus.
'Huh', she thought 'I just willingly handed a knife over to Angelus. I'm in bizarro world again?'
They all watched as Angelus took the offered knife, Xander and Giles wanted to protest, but Oz placed a hand on their shoulders and shook his head.
...
Angelus took the knife from the girl, and smiled, Willow didn't like the smile.
A second later Willow's hands reached up to her throat, where the knife a second before opened a huge hole in her neck.
Willow rose to her feet, but the sudden blood loss hit her like a bus; she fell backwards into Xander and Giles.
Buffy screamed when she realized what had happened, but Angelus was ready for her, he reached behind him and grabbed her neck, she tried to fight him off, but he was still sitting against her, successfully pinning her to the side of the van.
Without another thought, he snapped her neck. "Bye, bye baby" he whispered without even looking at her.
A second later the van slammed to a holt and all the passengers besides Angelus went flying towards the front.
He used the moment to throw the knife he still clutched in his hand; it buried itself into Giles's heart.
Oz screamed Willow's name, Xander held her body, her lifeless eyes staring wide at nothing.
Angelus grinned, "Three down, two to go."
Oz leapt over the drivers' seat, over Xander and Willow, and into the back.
He raged, his werewolf features began to present. Eyes turned black and teeth filled his mouth, his hands grew claws and fur.
He pounced at Angelus, who merely grabbed the wolf from the air and flung him into the side of the van.
"Down boy" he laughed as the werewolf landed in a pile at his feet.
As Angelus toyed with Oz, Xander looked over towards Buffy, realizing she hadn't joined the fight yet, and then he saw her blank staring eyes.
"Buffy?" he whispered, and looked towards Giles; he was dead too.
"O God, no" Xander pushed himself to his feet, finding a stake lying next to him, he charged silently at the raging vampire.
Angelus grabbed hold of Oz's neck, and squeezed.
A howl shot from the werewolf, and then a snapping sound cut off the noise.
He dropped Oz's body, and was about to finish off the boy when he felt the stake rip into his back and threw his heart.
"Take that you son of a b*tch!" Xander screamed in triumph.
"No!" Angelus cried, and whipped his arm around savagely bashing Xander away from him.
But the damage had been done; a moment later, Angelus was nothing but ash.
...
WTF? To Be Continued?