Buffy marched over to Angel's apartment later that night, furious that he had gone behind her back once again and had dragged her friends into it! Lies! That's all he'd been telling her lately, and she was beyond pissed. He must think she was some naive little girl that would accept any bull that came from his mouth. She kept repeating in her mind the list of things she wanted to yell, ahem, speak with him about: following Ford, how he knew Spike, his coziness with Drusilla the other night, and more importantly, why he had lied to her about all of it. He was hiding something from her; she knew it and was determined to figure it out.

On her way to Angel's, two very unlucky vampires had gotten in her way, mistaking her as a late-night snack instead of a pent-up angry Slayer. It allowed her some release from her anger before she faced Angel. She didn't bother to politely knock on his door when she finally made it there. She barged in, and Angel glanced up from a book he was reading to stare at her.

"Buffy," he said. She could see the look of confusion written all over his face. "What are you doing here?"

"No," she pointed her finger at him. "You are not the one doing the questioning here. I am."

"You're here to question me?"

Unlike his compulsive lying, Angel was not good at playing dumb. Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "I'd like to start by saying I don't appreciate you sneaking around behind my back, especially when it involves my friends."

Angel sighed and stood up from his place on the bed. "Buffy–"

"And they told me everything," Buffy interrupted. "So, if I were you, I'd tell the truth for once."

"I was only doing it to protect you," he defended himself.

"By lying to me?"

"I didn't want to lie to you," he argued. "But I could sense something bad was going on with Ford."

"Takes one to know one," she whispered under her breath and then glanced up to see him staring at her, a hurt expression on his face. Damn, she forgot about vampires' accelerated hearing. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I know how close you two were…" he added, "Or still are."

Buffy could hear the slight jealousy in his voice. Usually, a jealous Angel would give her butterflies in her stomach, but surprisingly she felt nothing.

"I didn't think you'd believe me unless I had proof."

"Okay, so Ford is into vampire cults, which is beyond weird and icky, but that doesn't excuse the fact that you've known about it for two days and haven't said a word to me. I had to hear about this from Xander and Willow," she argued.

"I was waiting for the right moment to tell you."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "And when was that going to be? Because up until a few minutes ago, you were pretending like you didn't know what I could be here angry about."

"I understand you're upset with me, but I was only doing it to protect you. Your friend Ford isn't what he seems."

And there he goes again, trying to redirect her anger towards him and his lying by making Ford the bad guy, which technically he was, but that was a different situation she'd deal with later. "Yeah, he's not… but then again, who is these days?"

"Willow ran him down on the computer. We found this address and checked it out with Xander; it turned out–"

Buffy tuned him out, having already gotten the rundown from Willow and Xander. He was only repeating information she already knew while also trying to steer the conversation away from her mistrust for him. If he wanted the conversation changed so badly, then she would oblige.

"Who's Drusilla?"

That stopped his rambling. He lowered his eyes, looking uncomfortable about being caught in yet another lie.

"And don't lie to me again. I'm tired of it," Buffy said, exasperated.

"Some lies are necessary."

While she was glad he had finally admitted to lying, she was confused about what that meant.

"For what?"

"Sometimes, the truth is worse. You live long enough; you find that out," Angel replied.

"I can handle the truth," she said confidently. She'd already gone through multiple possibilities of how Angel and Drusilla knew each other, the main one that came to mind was them as old lovers, but that only led to more questions. If it were true, then how did he know Spike? What would Spike think about Angel and Drusilla speaking to one another? How did they all meet?

"Do you love me?" Angel asked.

Buffy looked at him, surprised. "What?"

"Do you?"

He had never asked that before, nor had she told him, and it was odd of him to ask in the middle of an argument. She fidgeted her hands together nervously, taking a moment to consider her answer. Did she love him? Could she love a man that constantly lied to her, belittled her, and thought of her as nothing more than a child that needed coddling?

"I don't know if I trust you," she replied, ignoring his question entirely. Luckily, he did not push the question again.

"Maybe you shouldn't… I did a lot of immoral things when I became a vampire. Drusilla was the worst," he said, refusing to make eye contact with her. "She was an obsession of mine. She was pure, sweet, and chaste…"

"And you made her a vampire," Buffy finished. Everything made sense. She had considered them lovers or even friends at some point but never once thought that Angel could be her sire. Somehow it was much worse.

"First, I made her insane. I killed everybody she loved. I used every mental torture on her I could devise. I killed her entire family. She eventually fled to a convent, and on the day she took her holy orders, I turned her into a demon."

Buffy looked down at the floor. She couldn't bring herself to look at him any longer, knowing that she had asked for the truth and still not being able to handle it. If she could, she'd gladly punch him repeatedly in the face. He said he had done many unconscionable things as a vampire, but this was only one of many stories he had yet to tell her. How much worse did it get?

"And Spike?" she asked the question she wanted the most answered. "How does he fit into all of this?"

The look of pain and regret on Angel's face instantly turned into annoyance. "Drusilla is Spike's sire. A mob attacked her in Prague months ago that severely weakened her... I think the reason Spike is in Sunnydale is to find a way to heal her."

A pang of jealousy raced through Buffy. She didn't know much about how vampire relationships worked, but she briefly recalled Giles telling her in one of his many lessons that the bond between a sire and their childe was strong. Not only were Spike and Drusilla in a relationship, but they had some weird vampire bond as well. It only put more doubt into her mind that the man she'd met when she'd died was never real. It must've been a fluke. Spike could never fall in love with her. They were mortal enemies. It just wasn't possible.

"And just how strong are sire relationships exactly?" Buffy asked, shuffling her feet. She didn't want to know the answer, but maybe if it were something she didn't want to hear, she'd finally get over her sick obsession with Spike. Perhaps she could eventually move on if she knew that the chances of something ever happening between them in the future were slim to none. Maybe she'd finally be able to kill him.

Angel furrowed his eyebrows. Buffy knew he was confused about why she decided to focus on that part of his response instead of Spike being in Sunnydale to heal Drusilla. He answered her regardless. "Sires possess a psychic connection with the vampire they made. It allows them to sense their presence if they were at a reasonable distance."

"But they aren't emotionally connected?" Buffy pressed. From what Giles had told her, vampires without souls didn't feel any emotions when it came to affection or love. They had no humanity, but her subconscious kept telling her otherwise.

Angel sighed. "Buffy, if you're worried about my feelings for Drusilla being conflicted because I'm her sire, you don't have to be. I love you."

Angel took a step towards her as she took a step back. She wasn't letting him off the hook, not yet. He had lied to her and betrayed her trust. That wasn't something she could forgive so quickly, or he'd think it'd be okay to do it again.

"Is there anything else I should know?" she asked, changing the topic. She really didn't want to address the three words he had just said to her because she wasn't sure how she felt about them.

Angel looked as if he wanted to say more but said nothing, and at that moment, Buffy knew there was more to the story than he was letting on but didn't think she'd get any more information from him. At least not tonight. She couldn't trust Angel anymore. And if he didn't want to tell her what more he was hiding, then she'd figure it out herself. She stood there, staring at him for a few minutes before she turned on her heel and stormed out of his apartment. Buffy was relieved to have some information straightened out, but that just left her with more questions, and she knew she would not be getting answers from Angel anytime soon.

If Angel were Drusilla's sire, would he have a problem with Buffy killing her? She recalled when he killed Darla last year and how he'd said that her death didn't mean anything to him, but Buffy knew differently. It had hurt him more than he cared to admit. If Drusilla were weak, what kind of havoc would she cause if she returned to full power? She was a part of the Master's bloodline, so she had to be powerful. Buffy thought back to her encounter with Luke and how much she struggled to fight him. Buffy had even struggled with Darla; if it were not for Angel being there, practically immune to the pistols she was firing, Buffy didn't know if she would've made it out alive.

And then there was Spike. He was completely different from Luke, Darla, and the Master altogether. He was a fiercer fighter; he didn't lack common sense, and, like Buffy, he used his resources when fighting. She thought back to when he used the pillar in the wall to strike her down on Parent-Teacher night. Spike was her most challenging component yet, and her not wanting to kill him made the situation even worse. She also couldn't deny the jealousy that coursed through her at the thought of Drusilla. It sickened her that she liked Spike enough to feel that way.

Regardless of how she felt towards him, she couldn't let him live; that much was certain. The body count in Sunnydale had worsened since his arrival. The next time they fought, it was to the death. She was the Slayer, and she had a duty to the innocent people of this town to kill him.

"Just keep repeating that to yourself, and maybe you'll do it," she muttered as she kicked a small rock, watching as it skittered down the sidewalk. When it finally came to a stop, it was in front of somebody's black boots. Buffy stopped in her tracks and slowly looked up from the familiar shoes to the long leather duster atop a red shirt and finally to his face. Suddenly her heart began beating faster, and she started to panic. Buffy didn't think she'd see him again so soon. All the prep talk she gave herself a few minutes ago wholly vanished. She wasn't ready to kill him yet.

In full game face, Spike smirked at her. "Hello, cutie."