Chapter 4
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
L.A.
Tara looked at her watch, it was just before midnight. She made
another quick phone call, and then left the hotel lobby and walked
down the street toward the Angel Investigations office. She didn't
really have a plan, but she thought better under pressure, anyway.
As she approached the building, she noted the Harley parked in front.
*Oh, great. I've got the demon, and the model-wanna-be, and now
someone _else_???* She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A
tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered man opened the door, and Tara
knew he was the demon. "Can I help you?" Angel asked, his confusion
apparent at having someone knock on his door so late at night.
"Um, yeah. You're Angel, right?"
"Yeah. Come in," Angel offered politely, and held the door open wider
for her to enter. Tara walked past him into the office, and noted the
girl from earlier standing nearby, and a slender man in a suit and
glasses sitting on a chair.
"So what can I do for you?" Angel asked kindly.
"Well, I have a problem, and I ran it by a friend. Kate Lockley? She
said she knew you..." Angel nodded, and Tara continued to spin her
tale. "She said this sounded like the kind of problem you could help
me with. I'm sorry for coming so late."
"It's okay," Angel said. "Why don't we start with your name? And then
you can tell me what your problem is?"
"Unless you need me, Angel, I'm going home. I need at least a few
hours of sleep," Cordelia said.
"No, that's fine, Cordelia. I'll see you first thing in the morning,"
Angel said. Tara smiled inwardly, *I can't believe my luck. The fewer
the people to deal with the better, and I didn't even need to come up
with a way to get rid of the girl. Now if only the librarian-type--*
"Perhaps I'll be off as well," Wesley said. "If this turns out to be
something you need my help with, please don't hesitate to call me."
"I won't, Wesley. Thanks," Angel replied.
Tara fought to keep the grin off her face. This was going to be way
too easy. When the two had left, Angel turned back to her. "Sorry for
the interruption. So you were about to tell me your problem?"
"It's a long story, but for now, it's late, so I'll give you the
short version," Tara said. "My name's Julie by the way...... My ex
is a vampire and he's going to kill me."
She waited a few moments, trying to read Angel's face to see if he
was buying it. She wasn't able to tell, so she said, "What? No eye
rolling? No laughing? No suggesting I should consider a nice vacation
to a place with padded walls?"
Angel almost cracked a smile, and answered, "No, I believe you. Which
is probably why Kate sent you here."
"Yeah, and I'm kinda shocked that _she_ believed me. Kate's always
been very down-to-earth, and I was sure she'd laugh. She didn't
though. She just said that she's discovered some things about this
world lately that led her to believe me. Whatever that means. Anyway,
I'm here to hire you to protect me. I've got money, when my parents
died, they left everything to me. I want you to kill him, too. Well,
kill isn't quite an appropriate word, is it? He's already dead after
all....So will you take the job?"
Angel sat staring off into space for a few moments, thinking. He
turned to her, and said, "I'll take it, but I've got some important
business that will take me out of town for a couple of days. I'll
make sure you're safe in the meantime though. When I get
back, I'll take care of your ex."
"Thanks, Mr...."
"Just call me Angel," he answered with a smile.
"I'd rather call you Angelus," Tara returned with a smile of her own.
At that moment, twenty men dressed all in black rushed into the door
at Angel. Angel was able to take down 4 of them, but another one
fired a tranquilizer dart at him, and within five minutes he was
sitting on the floor in a daze. The remaining uninjured quickly
had him tied to a chair. Angel fought to keep his eyes open, and
said, "Who--why?"
Tara smiled, and said, "My name's really Tara," at Angel's startled
look, her grin went wider, and said, "Good, that means something to
you. That will make this so much more fun. Sleep now, when it wears
off, we're going to play a little game. It's called, let's loose the
demon."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale Cemetery
"Oh, Goddess, please don't let that be Oz," Willow begged, her face
pale with fear. She stayed back, but asked "Is he alive?" looking at
Buffy.
"Oh, God, Will, I didn't think, I--," Buffy said, and approached the
wolf uncertainly. The creature was unconscious, still
breathing. "It's alive," she said. She then looked toward where Spike
had been, and said, "Hey, where the hell's Spike?"
"Spike?" Willow said hysterically. "Who cares about Spike, my
boyfriend's injured, maybe dying, and you want to know where Spike
is????"
"I didn't mean---" Buffy stopped as they both heard the sound of
men's voices. "It's Riley and the Initiative guys, Willow, we gotta
get the wolf out of here, I just don't know how...we may
not be able to," she said hopelessly.
"We can't leave him here for them to torture him," Willow insisted.
"Will, we don't even know it's Oz--"
"It is, Buffy!" Willow answered. "I knew it the moment you shot him!
I felt like the arrow hit me! If you've killed him, I don't know if I
can ever forgive you!"
Buffy looked at Willow in shock, not knowing how to respond. They
were interrupted by a welcome voice, "Well, looks like we're just in
time, Xander said as he and Giles approached from around the
hedges. "Yes, it looks like you found the were-wolf, Buffy," Giles
said.
Giles approached the wolf slowly, examined the location of the arrow,
and looked up at Willow. "He's alive, I don't think the arrow hit any
major organs."
Willow let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding, and
said, "Okay, so how do we move him? Is it safe for us?"
"I know I saw that HST around here somewhere," Riley's voice said
from on the other side of the bushes.
Buffy ran to the other side of the hedges to head off her boyfriend
and his friends, "Riley! What are you guys doing?" she asked
casually. On the other side of the hedges, her friends waited, barely
daring to breathe.
"Hey," Riley said with a smile, and kissed her quickly.
"Hey, yourself," she returned with a grin. "Demon hunting?"
"Wolf-hunting. We saw it run this way--"
"It did, but then it ran into me, and ran that way," Buffy pointed
off in the distance.
"Well, then, we'd better go, bye!" Forrest said impatiently.
Riley threw him an irritated look, and asked Buffy, "Do you want to
join us? We could use your help."
"Sure," Buffy said with a grin, and led the commandos across the
street and away from her friends.
"So how do we move him?" Willow asked when the voices had died away.
"Xander will bring the car up to the street, and the bag out of the
trunk. I brought some syringes with tranquilizers, just in case,"
Giles said, and handed Xander the keys.
Xander nodded and ran off.
"Don't let him die, Giles," Willow pleaded.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
L.A.
Angel Investigations
Angel recovered quickly, probably due to his age. Within ten minutes,
he was coming around.
"Oh, good. I hate to wait to have my fun," Tara said calmly. She was
sitting in a nearby chair, and the minions were stationed at
different points around the office.
"Who are you??" Angel demanded.
"I already told you, I'm Tara. And these are my friends," she added,
waving toward the men, who Angel saw were not much more than boys,
about Tara's age. "Spike recruited some humans for his latest cause,
and I like them so much more, because I don't have to worry
about getting my blood drained."
"Why are you doing this?" Angel asked.
"Why? Because I can," Tara said casually. "Just two weeks ago, nobody
would even look in my direction. But I'm important now, people look
up to me. "
"Spike doesn't look up to you, Tara. He's using you, and when you
don't have anything more to offer him, he'll kill you," Angel tried
to reason with her.
"No, he won't. Because I'm never going to wear out my usefulness. My
magick will always have somthing to offer him," Tara said. "Enough
small talk. Jerry," she turned to one of the men nearby, "my spell
book?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale
Giles' Apartment
Giles, Willow and Xander had managed to get Oz-wolf into the back of
the car, fully sedated. Once they were back at Giles' house, he
called a friend of his friends who was a vet. Luckily, the man didn't
have any problems with treating a were-wolf. He removed the arrow
from the creature, and treated the wound.
Oz-wolf was now sleeping in one of Giles' spare bedrooms, which was
of course wolf-proofed and locked from the outside. Giles had assured
Willow that Oz would be okay, but she still showed no signs of
wanting to leave the house. "I just--I want to make sure,
Giles," she said for the twentieth time.
"Wills, if Giles says he's okay, he is," Xander said reassuringly.
"Yeah, and I'm tired. I want sleep, Xander. No, I want sex, then
sleep," Anya said bluntly.
"Anya!" Xander yelled in utter embarrassment.
"What?" Anya said bewilderedly, "all I said was--"
"I think we all heard you, Anya," Xander said patiently. "But that
was one of those things that I was talking to you about earlier,
remember? There's 'Anya and Xander talk', and then there's 'Anya and
Xander with the rest of the gang talk'. And what you just said, that
should be reserved for Anya and Xander talk.
Willow giggled, she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Xander
that particular shade of red. She looked around and realized that
Giles had vacated the room after Anya's comment. *Poor Giles*
she thought. *What he has to put up with from us* Deciding to help
her best friend retain a little bit of dignity, she quietly snuck out
the room. As she left, Xander was still trying to explain appropriate
vs. inappropriate public discussions to his girlfriend.
Willow found Giles hiding in the kitchen. "Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not, Willow. How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay, Giles. I'm better now that I know Oz is going to be okay.
I know he probably killed those people, but I can't blame him for it.
It wasn't really him, anyway. I know, he should have been locked up,
but maybe he was all alone. We don't know where he's been or
what he's been through the last couple of months. And besides--"
"You don't have to plead his case to me, Willow," Giles interrupted
gently. "I know that Oz is a good man. He's had to deal with a lot
for someone his age. We all know, though, that if he has been
neglecting to control that side of him, that he is responsible for
those deaths."
Willow nodded miserably. "I know. I used to think he wouldn't do
something like that... But now I don't know that for sure."
"Well, one thing at a time," Giles replied. "First thing is to keep
him locked up until morning. Tonight's the last night of the full
moon, so we'll have some time to decide what arrangements to make for
future full moons."
"You're assuming he's staying," Willow pointed out.
"Well, yes, he did come back, Willow. Oz is not a flighty person.
I've never known him to make a hasty decision. If he decided to come
back, I would imagine it meant for good."
"I hope so, Giles. I've missed him so much."
"Hey, you two! You can come out of hiding now!" Xander yelled from
the living room.
"Oh, dear," Giles said, shaking his head. "Do you think it's safe?"
Willow giggled and said, "There's only one way to find out," and the
two walked back into the living room. Xander gave Willow and Giles a
sheepish look as the two walked back out, and Willow gave Xander a
reassuring smile.
"So, I think it's late, and we're not being fair to Giles," Willow
said. "We should go."
"Oh, wow!" Xander said, looking at the clock. "It's after midnight,
sorry, Giles."
"Quite all right," Giles said wearily. "You three be careful on your
way home and to the dorm."
"Maybe we should drive you," Xander offered to Willow.
"No need," Buffy said as she walked up. I'll walk with her, if that's
okay with you?" she asked Willow.
"Of course it is, Buffy," Willow said with a smile. She hugged her
friend quickly. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier--"
"It's okay, Will, I understand. I'm sorry I didn't use the
tranquilizer gun, is Oz okay?"
"Oz will be fine," Giles answered. "I've got him locked in one of the
spare rooms, and we'll decide what to do in the morning.
The Scooby Gang said their good-byes, and departed, Anya and Xander
to Xander's house, and Willow and Buffy to their dorm room.
*************
Ten minutes later
Buffy and Willow were entered their dorm room. Buffy stopped
abruptly, and yelled, "NO!," doubling over as if in pain.
"Buffy! What's wrong?" Willow went over to Buffy, who was unable to
move, moaning, "No, no, no, no....."
"Buffy! Talk to me! Please!!" Willow pleaded and helped Buffy over to
her bed, where she sat down. As suddenly as it had started, it
passed, though. Buffy sat up, and looked at Willow in confusion.
"Buffy? What was that?" Willow asked.
"I have no idea, Will," Buffy answered, frightened. "But I have the
horrible feeling that whatever it was, it was really not good."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
L.A.
Angel Investigations Office
Angel was trying to resist the spell, screaming and cursing at Tara.
When Tara finished the incantation, there was a flash of light. When
the room returned to normal, Tara eyed the now silent Angel
curiously. His head had slumped down, chin on his chest, as if he'd
passed out.
*Hm, something I never thought of. How do I know if it worked?* she
wondered. When Angel looked up at her, though, she felt a shiver run
through her. His eyes were completely cold, there was nothing
of the kind person who had been talking to her just 15 minutes
earlier. *Either he's faking really well, or it worked.*
"I don't know why you did it, but I'm so glad you did," Angelus said
with a grin. "I was ready to stake myself with all the moping around,
drinking the pig's blood, and the 'helping the hopeless'. It's enough
to make a grown vampire cry!"
"Spike wanted you back in Sunnydale," Tara answered slowly. "He has a
plan to get rid of Buffy, and he needs your help."
"Oh, yes. I think I could enjoy that," Angelus answered. "The bitch
sent me to hell, she definitely deserves to pay. So untie me, and
let's go."
"If you try anything, and I mean anything, David will shoot you so
full of tranquilizers you'll never wake up," Tara threatened.
"Point taken. I'm not going to hurt you. You're a wicca, right?"
"Third generation," Tara answered proudly.
"Well, then, you're more useful to me alive than dead. You don't need
to be afraid of me," Angelus said smoothly.
"That remains to be seen," Tara answered, but approached him slowly.
She stopped and looked at him for a few more moments, considering.
Finally, she went behind him and cut the ropes holding him to the
chair.
"Good girl," Angelus said. "So... when do we leave for Hell Sweet
Hell?" he asked with a grin.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
End Part 4
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
L.A.
Tara looked at her watch, it was just before midnight. She made
another quick phone call, and then left the hotel lobby and walked
down the street toward the Angel Investigations office. She didn't
really have a plan, but she thought better under pressure, anyway.
As she approached the building, she noted the Harley parked in front.
*Oh, great. I've got the demon, and the model-wanna-be, and now
someone _else_???* She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A
tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered man opened the door, and Tara
knew he was the demon. "Can I help you?" Angel asked, his confusion
apparent at having someone knock on his door so late at night.
"Um, yeah. You're Angel, right?"
"Yeah. Come in," Angel offered politely, and held the door open wider
for her to enter. Tara walked past him into the office, and noted the
girl from earlier standing nearby, and a slender man in a suit and
glasses sitting on a chair.
"So what can I do for you?" Angel asked kindly.
"Well, I have a problem, and I ran it by a friend. Kate Lockley? She
said she knew you..." Angel nodded, and Tara continued to spin her
tale. "She said this sounded like the kind of problem you could help
me with. I'm sorry for coming so late."
"It's okay," Angel said. "Why don't we start with your name? And then
you can tell me what your problem is?"
"Unless you need me, Angel, I'm going home. I need at least a few
hours of sleep," Cordelia said.
"No, that's fine, Cordelia. I'll see you first thing in the morning,"
Angel said. Tara smiled inwardly, *I can't believe my luck. The fewer
the people to deal with the better, and I didn't even need to come up
with a way to get rid of the girl. Now if only the librarian-type--*
"Perhaps I'll be off as well," Wesley said. "If this turns out to be
something you need my help with, please don't hesitate to call me."
"I won't, Wesley. Thanks," Angel replied.
Tara fought to keep the grin off her face. This was going to be way
too easy. When the two had left, Angel turned back to her. "Sorry for
the interruption. So you were about to tell me your problem?"
"It's a long story, but for now, it's late, so I'll give you the
short version," Tara said. "My name's Julie by the way...... My ex
is a vampire and he's going to kill me."
She waited a few moments, trying to read Angel's face to see if he
was buying it. She wasn't able to tell, so she said, "What? No eye
rolling? No laughing? No suggesting I should consider a nice vacation
to a place with padded walls?"
Angel almost cracked a smile, and answered, "No, I believe you. Which
is probably why Kate sent you here."
"Yeah, and I'm kinda shocked that _she_ believed me. Kate's always
been very down-to-earth, and I was sure she'd laugh. She didn't
though. She just said that she's discovered some things about this
world lately that led her to believe me. Whatever that means. Anyway,
I'm here to hire you to protect me. I've got money, when my parents
died, they left everything to me. I want you to kill him, too. Well,
kill isn't quite an appropriate word, is it? He's already dead after
all....So will you take the job?"
Angel sat staring off into space for a few moments, thinking. He
turned to her, and said, "I'll take it, but I've got some important
business that will take me out of town for a couple of days. I'll
make sure you're safe in the meantime though. When I get
back, I'll take care of your ex."
"Thanks, Mr...."
"Just call me Angel," he answered with a smile.
"I'd rather call you Angelus," Tara returned with a smile of her own.
At that moment, twenty men dressed all in black rushed into the door
at Angel. Angel was able to take down 4 of them, but another one
fired a tranquilizer dart at him, and within five minutes he was
sitting on the floor in a daze. The remaining uninjured quickly
had him tied to a chair. Angel fought to keep his eyes open, and
said, "Who--why?"
Tara smiled, and said, "My name's really Tara," at Angel's startled
look, her grin went wider, and said, "Good, that means something to
you. That will make this so much more fun. Sleep now, when it wears
off, we're going to play a little game. It's called, let's loose the
demon."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale Cemetery
"Oh, Goddess, please don't let that be Oz," Willow begged, her face
pale with fear. She stayed back, but asked "Is he alive?" looking at
Buffy.
"Oh, God, Will, I didn't think, I--," Buffy said, and approached the
wolf uncertainly. The creature was unconscious, still
breathing. "It's alive," she said. She then looked toward where Spike
had been, and said, "Hey, where the hell's Spike?"
"Spike?" Willow said hysterically. "Who cares about Spike, my
boyfriend's injured, maybe dying, and you want to know where Spike
is????"
"I didn't mean---" Buffy stopped as they both heard the sound of
men's voices. "It's Riley and the Initiative guys, Willow, we gotta
get the wolf out of here, I just don't know how...we may
not be able to," she said hopelessly.
"We can't leave him here for them to torture him," Willow insisted.
"Will, we don't even know it's Oz--"
"It is, Buffy!" Willow answered. "I knew it the moment you shot him!
I felt like the arrow hit me! If you've killed him, I don't know if I
can ever forgive you!"
Buffy looked at Willow in shock, not knowing how to respond. They
were interrupted by a welcome voice, "Well, looks like we're just in
time, Xander said as he and Giles approached from around the
hedges. "Yes, it looks like you found the were-wolf, Buffy," Giles
said.
Giles approached the wolf slowly, examined the location of the arrow,
and looked up at Willow. "He's alive, I don't think the arrow hit any
major organs."
Willow let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding, and
said, "Okay, so how do we move him? Is it safe for us?"
"I know I saw that HST around here somewhere," Riley's voice said
from on the other side of the bushes.
Buffy ran to the other side of the hedges to head off her boyfriend
and his friends, "Riley! What are you guys doing?" she asked
casually. On the other side of the hedges, her friends waited, barely
daring to breathe.
"Hey," Riley said with a smile, and kissed her quickly.
"Hey, yourself," she returned with a grin. "Demon hunting?"
"Wolf-hunting. We saw it run this way--"
"It did, but then it ran into me, and ran that way," Buffy pointed
off in the distance.
"Well, then, we'd better go, bye!" Forrest said impatiently.
Riley threw him an irritated look, and asked Buffy, "Do you want to
join us? We could use your help."
"Sure," Buffy said with a grin, and led the commandos across the
street and away from her friends.
"So how do we move him?" Willow asked when the voices had died away.
"Xander will bring the car up to the street, and the bag out of the
trunk. I brought some syringes with tranquilizers, just in case,"
Giles said, and handed Xander the keys.
Xander nodded and ran off.
"Don't let him die, Giles," Willow pleaded.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
L.A.
Angel Investigations
Angel recovered quickly, probably due to his age. Within ten minutes,
he was coming around.
"Oh, good. I hate to wait to have my fun," Tara said calmly. She was
sitting in a nearby chair, and the minions were stationed at
different points around the office.
"Who are you??" Angel demanded.
"I already told you, I'm Tara. And these are my friends," she added,
waving toward the men, who Angel saw were not much more than boys,
about Tara's age. "Spike recruited some humans for his latest cause,
and I like them so much more, because I don't have to worry
about getting my blood drained."
"Why are you doing this?" Angel asked.
"Why? Because I can," Tara said casually. "Just two weeks ago, nobody
would even look in my direction. But I'm important now, people look
up to me. "
"Spike doesn't look up to you, Tara. He's using you, and when you
don't have anything more to offer him, he'll kill you," Angel tried
to reason with her.
"No, he won't. Because I'm never going to wear out my usefulness. My
magick will always have somthing to offer him," Tara said. "Enough
small talk. Jerry," she turned to one of the men nearby, "my spell
book?"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale
Giles' Apartment
Giles, Willow and Xander had managed to get Oz-wolf into the back of
the car, fully sedated. Once they were back at Giles' house, he
called a friend of his friends who was a vet. Luckily, the man didn't
have any problems with treating a were-wolf. He removed the arrow
from the creature, and treated the wound.
Oz-wolf was now sleeping in one of Giles' spare bedrooms, which was
of course wolf-proofed and locked from the outside. Giles had assured
Willow that Oz would be okay, but she still showed no signs of
wanting to leave the house. "I just--I want to make sure,
Giles," she said for the twentieth time.
"Wills, if Giles says he's okay, he is," Xander said reassuringly.
"Yeah, and I'm tired. I want sleep, Xander. No, I want sex, then
sleep," Anya said bluntly.
"Anya!" Xander yelled in utter embarrassment.
"What?" Anya said bewilderedly, "all I said was--"
"I think we all heard you, Anya," Xander said patiently. "But that
was one of those things that I was talking to you about earlier,
remember? There's 'Anya and Xander talk', and then there's 'Anya and
Xander with the rest of the gang talk'. And what you just said, that
should be reserved for Anya and Xander talk.
Willow giggled, she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Xander
that particular shade of red. She looked around and realized that
Giles had vacated the room after Anya's comment. *Poor Giles*
she thought. *What he has to put up with from us* Deciding to help
her best friend retain a little bit of dignity, she quietly snuck out
the room. As she left, Xander was still trying to explain appropriate
vs. inappropriate public discussions to his girlfriend.
Willow found Giles hiding in the kitchen. "Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not, Willow. How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay, Giles. I'm better now that I know Oz is going to be okay.
I know he probably killed those people, but I can't blame him for it.
It wasn't really him, anyway. I know, he should have been locked up,
but maybe he was all alone. We don't know where he's been or
what he's been through the last couple of months. And besides--"
"You don't have to plead his case to me, Willow," Giles interrupted
gently. "I know that Oz is a good man. He's had to deal with a lot
for someone his age. We all know, though, that if he has been
neglecting to control that side of him, that he is responsible for
those deaths."
Willow nodded miserably. "I know. I used to think he wouldn't do
something like that... But now I don't know that for sure."
"Well, one thing at a time," Giles replied. "First thing is to keep
him locked up until morning. Tonight's the last night of the full
moon, so we'll have some time to decide what arrangements to make for
future full moons."
"You're assuming he's staying," Willow pointed out.
"Well, yes, he did come back, Willow. Oz is not a flighty person.
I've never known him to make a hasty decision. If he decided to come
back, I would imagine it meant for good."
"I hope so, Giles. I've missed him so much."
"Hey, you two! You can come out of hiding now!" Xander yelled from
the living room.
"Oh, dear," Giles said, shaking his head. "Do you think it's safe?"
Willow giggled and said, "There's only one way to find out," and the
two walked back into the living room. Xander gave Willow and Giles a
sheepish look as the two walked back out, and Willow gave Xander a
reassuring smile.
"So, I think it's late, and we're not being fair to Giles," Willow
said. "We should go."
"Oh, wow!" Xander said, looking at the clock. "It's after midnight,
sorry, Giles."
"Quite all right," Giles said wearily. "You three be careful on your
way home and to the dorm."
"Maybe we should drive you," Xander offered to Willow.
"No need," Buffy said as she walked up. I'll walk with her, if that's
okay with you?" she asked Willow.
"Of course it is, Buffy," Willow said with a smile. She hugged her
friend quickly. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier--"
"It's okay, Will, I understand. I'm sorry I didn't use the
tranquilizer gun, is Oz okay?"
"Oz will be fine," Giles answered. "I've got him locked in one of the
spare rooms, and we'll decide what to do in the morning.
The Scooby Gang said their good-byes, and departed, Anya and Xander
to Xander's house, and Willow and Buffy to their dorm room.
*************
Ten minutes later
Buffy and Willow were entered their dorm room. Buffy stopped
abruptly, and yelled, "NO!," doubling over as if in pain.
"Buffy! What's wrong?" Willow went over to Buffy, who was unable to
move, moaning, "No, no, no, no....."
"Buffy! Talk to me! Please!!" Willow pleaded and helped Buffy over to
her bed, where she sat down. As suddenly as it had started, it
passed, though. Buffy sat up, and looked at Willow in confusion.
"Buffy? What was that?" Willow asked.
"I have no idea, Will," Buffy answered, frightened. "But I have the
horrible feeling that whatever it was, it was really not good."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
L.A.
Angel Investigations Office
Angel was trying to resist the spell, screaming and cursing at Tara.
When Tara finished the incantation, there was a flash of light. When
the room returned to normal, Tara eyed the now silent Angel
curiously. His head had slumped down, chin on his chest, as if he'd
passed out.
*Hm, something I never thought of. How do I know if it worked?* she
wondered. When Angel looked up at her, though, she felt a shiver run
through her. His eyes were completely cold, there was nothing
of the kind person who had been talking to her just 15 minutes
earlier. *Either he's faking really well, or it worked.*
"I don't know why you did it, but I'm so glad you did," Angelus said
with a grin. "I was ready to stake myself with all the moping around,
drinking the pig's blood, and the 'helping the hopeless'. It's enough
to make a grown vampire cry!"
"Spike wanted you back in Sunnydale," Tara answered slowly. "He has a
plan to get rid of Buffy, and he needs your help."
"Oh, yes. I think I could enjoy that," Angelus answered. "The bitch
sent me to hell, she definitely deserves to pay. So untie me, and
let's go."
"If you try anything, and I mean anything, David will shoot you so
full of tranquilizers you'll never wake up," Tara threatened.
"Point taken. I'm not going to hurt you. You're a wicca, right?"
"Third generation," Tara answered proudly.
"Well, then, you're more useful to me alive than dead. You don't need
to be afraid of me," Angelus said smoothly.
"That remains to be seen," Tara answered, but approached him slowly.
She stopped and looked at him for a few more moments, considering.
Finally, she went behind him and cut the ropes holding him to the
chair.
"Good girl," Angelus said. "So... when do we leave for Hell Sweet
Hell?" he asked with a grin.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
End Part 4