Part 13
6 pm
"So have you seen the Slayer yet?" Dru asked.
"Yeah, ran into her. It was fun to see the surprised look on her face
when the stake in the heart didn't dust me. Almost as fun
as the look on her face when--"
"When what, Spike?" she replied. She sensed he was holding something
back. In fact she knew he was. She'd smelled their
sire's blood on him, but wasn't sure what that meant.
"Nothing, Pet. In an hour it'll be dark enough to go hunting. Does
that sound like fun?"
"Can't I wear the ring and go out for a little while?" she asked,
sliding onto his lap, and nibbling on his neck.
"No," Spike said, but it didn't sound too convincing even to his
ears. He tried again, "No, it's too dangerous, Luv. Slayer
knows we're here, I don't want you going anywhere without me."
She raised her head and looked at him, pouting. He captured her lips
with his, then said, "You know there are other ways to
pass the time 'til the sun goes down."
He stood, and lifted her, ready to carry her to their bed for some
extra-curricular activities, when they heard a throat
cleared behind them. He sighed, and released his lover, letting her
slide to the ground. He turned to see one of his fledglings,
Andrew, standing in the doorway. "Took you bloody long enough to get
here!" he yelled, somewhat satisfied when the other vampire
flinched and dropped his head in a gesture of submission.
"I'm sorry, Sire," he mumbled. "It took me longer than I thought it
would, to locate the others. He nodded behind him, as ten
other vampires came into view. "And then we went by the hospital, as
you asked, but..."
Spike growled at the fledgling, reminding him of his insistence
Drusilla not know who Spike was planning to kill.
"He wasn't there," Andrew said, afraid of how his sire would react to
the upsetting news.
Spike roared, with enough force to cause Drusilla to jump away from
his side.
"You made your daddy mad. He's going to hurt you now," she said with
a grin, then ran off to the other room to play with her dolls.
"Where's Angela," Spike demanded. The female vampire stepped
forward. "You're on Drusilla duty," Spike said. "You keep her here,
and you keep Angel out of her sight. If you fail in either of those
two items, you're going to wish for death before I'm done with you.
Got that?" She nodded, then walked away to find Drusilla.
"As for the rest of you, the Slayer will be coming soon, and it's not
going to be an easy fight. But if we're ready, we can take her out,"
Spike said. "And then, I will finally rule the Hellmouth.
"So what's the plan," another fledgling named Thomas spoke up then.
"The plan is to hold our ground, and wait for the damn Scoobies to
come to us. Call all the vampires you know, the more the merrier,"
Spike said, moving to sit down.
"You call that a plan? Waiting around like sitting ducks for the
slayer to turn us to dust?" Thomas asked incredulously.
Spike looked at him indifferently before throwing a stake and hitting
him square in the heart with it. He smiled as the shocked fledgling
turned to dust. He looked at the others, saying, "Anyone else want to
criticize me?" He chuckled as they all shook their heads, and
added, "Good. Now go get the others."
He sighed as they departed, "It's so hard to find good help
nowadays."
**************
Monday 7 pm
"I really wish you'd let me call him earlier," Doyle said as he and
Cordelia arrived at Angel's home.
"Why, so he could yell at us, when we'd already decided we were
coming?" Cordelia asked.
"Um, yeah?" Doyle replied with a lopsided grin. "At least he would've
gotten the yelling out of his system _before_ he saw us in person."
"You're a big baby," Cordelia said with a roll of her eyes.
"Guilty as charged," Doyle agreed. "I don't consider antagonizing
vampires - or ex-vampires for that matter- to be high on the list
of 'safe things to do with your time.'"
Cordelia sighed and turned to knock on the door, giggling as Doyle
moved to stand behind her. As if Angel was going to--"WHAT THE HELL
ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!?" Angel yelled the minute he opened the
door. "I TOLD YOU--"
"STOP YELLING!" Cordelia out-yelled him.
Angel shut his mouth with a click of the jaw, and stepped back. "You
might as well come in, since you're here," he conceded.
Cordelia and Doyle entered, Doyle keeping Cordelia between himself
and Angel. Angel had been glaring steadily at him since they appeared
on his doorstep, and it gave him the creeps. "Angel, Man, don't you
remember how impossible it is to say no to this girl?" He looked over
to see Buffy sitting on the couch. "Hi, Buffy."
"I never had any trouble saying no to Cordy--"
"HA!" Cordelia cut him off, grinning. "I beg to differ. I'm sure
there were hundreds of times you wanted to fire me--"
"Thousands," Angel said with a smirk.
She huffed in irritation, "But you never did. So I had you wrapped
around my little finger, Mister. Don't even try to deny it." She
smiled over at Buffy, who was watching their interaction with
amusement. "In fact, there's only one girl who has you more wrapped.
Hey, Buffy."
Angel sighed, and went to sit next to his girlfriend. "I think I
asked you a question earlier, and I'm still waiting for the answer."
"Cordelia wanted to be here, so we could help," Doyle said as he went
to sit down in a chair. Cordelia perched on the chair arm, and he put
his arm around her waist.
"I thought I told you--"
"Angel, I can't take it. I don't like being so far away, and still
seeing visions of you and the others in danger. We came back to help,
and there's nothing you can do about it," she crossed her arms in
front of her, and dared him with her eyes to try to argue.
Angel looked to Buffy, his expression a plea for help. Buffy
laughed, "Don't look at me, Angel. Cordelia Chase and stubborn are
synonyms, as far as I'm concerned. I can't fault her stubbornness in
this case, though, I'm glad you have loyal friends. I'm also glad
they're here, I'm sure they can help us tomorrow with Spike and
Drusilla."
"What's the plan?" Doyle asked.
"Well, we know that Spike has one weakness." Buffy got up, and
started pacing. She hadn't liked explaining the plan to Angel the
first time. He'd said he was okay with it, but she still wondered.
"From what I've read about Spike, that would obviously be Drusilla,"
Doyle said.
Buffy nodded, "Those who are familiar with Drusilla, also know she
has a weakness but it's not Spike."
"Angelus," Angel supplied.
Buffy continued quickly, "But we found out a few days ago that
Drusilla doesn't know Angel's alive. We suspect that she came to
Sunnydale a few months ago when Angelus was still around. She most
likely doesn't know Angelus isn't still free. In her state of mind,
if she ran into Angel, she'd assume it was Angelus. So the plan is to
go down to the sewers where they're hiding, and basically count on
Drusilla's madness to screw things up for Spike."
"Sounds like it could work," Doyle said. "If Spike's distracted with
taking care of Drusilla, he'll let his guard down."
"And I get that ring away from him the old-fashioned way: beat him up
to the point where I can part him from it," Buffy said. "Then, well.
You know."
Doyle nodded, he got the picture. He looked over at Angel, who was
staring at the wall lost in thought. He wondered what Angel felt
about their intention of destroying the childer of Angelus. True,
there had never been any love lost between Angel and the two younger
vampires, but Doyle knew enough about vampires to know it wasn't that
simple. There was a strong bond between sire and childer that he
suspected the soul wouldn't have managed to break completely.
"So when do we go down to the sewers?" Cordelia asked. "And I can't
believe I'm going down there again. You know I saw enough of those
sewers when I was in highschool."
"Tomorrow at sundown," Buffy replied. She'd noticed Angel's absent-
minded mood, and looked over at him worriedly.
Cordelia picked up on the vibes, and stood. "Well, Doyle and I are
staying at Giles' place, in his extra room," she said. "We'll catch
you guys tomorrow."
"Definitely," Buffy said, smiling at her. One good thing about
Cordelia was that the girl read between the lines and knew how to
disappear if needed. "It's good that you're staying with Giles, his
place is where we're going to meet up right at sundown."
"'Kay," Cordelia said, pulling Doyle out of his chair. "Bye." She and
Doyle let themselves out.
Buffy took Angel's hand, and he looked over at her, blinking a few
times attempting to return to reality. "Angel, if you're not okay
with this plan, you don't have to pretend you are. I know Angelus is
gone, but you still have his memories. If you can't deal with this,
we'll come up with another way."
"I love you for worrying about me," Angel said, with a smile. "But I
really _can_ deal with it. It's a good plan, Buffy, and I have a
feeling it will work. As for how I feel about it, from the moment I
had my soul returned to me, I've regretted turning those two. More
than that, I've regretted what I did to Drusilla when Angelus had
control. I won't regret ending it, finally."
"I love you, Angel, and I just don't want anything that will add to
your guilt. You've got enough," Buffy said, stroking his cheek
lovingly.
Angel took her hand, and kissed it. "If we can finally end this, I'll
feel relieved more than anything else, Buffy. And we will be able to
get on with our life together without any more reminders of Angelus
around."
He leaned back against the arm of the couch, and Buffy curled up next
to him. "I like the sound of that," Buffy said with a smile, lifting
her head to kiss him. "Our life together."
*******************
6 pm
"So have you seen the Slayer yet?" Dru asked.
"Yeah, ran into her. It was fun to see the surprised look on her face
when the stake in the heart didn't dust me. Almost as fun
as the look on her face when--"
"When what, Spike?" she replied. She sensed he was holding something
back. In fact she knew he was. She'd smelled their
sire's blood on him, but wasn't sure what that meant.
"Nothing, Pet. In an hour it'll be dark enough to go hunting. Does
that sound like fun?"
"Can't I wear the ring and go out for a little while?" she asked,
sliding onto his lap, and nibbling on his neck.
"No," Spike said, but it didn't sound too convincing even to his
ears. He tried again, "No, it's too dangerous, Luv. Slayer
knows we're here, I don't want you going anywhere without me."
She raised her head and looked at him, pouting. He captured her lips
with his, then said, "You know there are other ways to
pass the time 'til the sun goes down."
He stood, and lifted her, ready to carry her to their bed for some
extra-curricular activities, when they heard a throat
cleared behind them. He sighed, and released his lover, letting her
slide to the ground. He turned to see one of his fledglings,
Andrew, standing in the doorway. "Took you bloody long enough to get
here!" he yelled, somewhat satisfied when the other vampire
flinched and dropped his head in a gesture of submission.
"I'm sorry, Sire," he mumbled. "It took me longer than I thought it
would, to locate the others. He nodded behind him, as ten
other vampires came into view. "And then we went by the hospital, as
you asked, but..."
Spike growled at the fledgling, reminding him of his insistence
Drusilla not know who Spike was planning to kill.
"He wasn't there," Andrew said, afraid of how his sire would react to
the upsetting news.
Spike roared, with enough force to cause Drusilla to jump away from
his side.
"You made your daddy mad. He's going to hurt you now," she said with
a grin, then ran off to the other room to play with her dolls.
"Where's Angela," Spike demanded. The female vampire stepped
forward. "You're on Drusilla duty," Spike said. "You keep her here,
and you keep Angel out of her sight. If you fail in either of those
two items, you're going to wish for death before I'm done with you.
Got that?" She nodded, then walked away to find Drusilla.
"As for the rest of you, the Slayer will be coming soon, and it's not
going to be an easy fight. But if we're ready, we can take her out,"
Spike said. "And then, I will finally rule the Hellmouth.
"So what's the plan," another fledgling named Thomas spoke up then.
"The plan is to hold our ground, and wait for the damn Scoobies to
come to us. Call all the vampires you know, the more the merrier,"
Spike said, moving to sit down.
"You call that a plan? Waiting around like sitting ducks for the
slayer to turn us to dust?" Thomas asked incredulously.
Spike looked at him indifferently before throwing a stake and hitting
him square in the heart with it. He smiled as the shocked fledgling
turned to dust. He looked at the others, saying, "Anyone else want to
criticize me?" He chuckled as they all shook their heads, and
added, "Good. Now go get the others."
He sighed as they departed, "It's so hard to find good help
nowadays."
**************
Monday 7 pm
"I really wish you'd let me call him earlier," Doyle said as he and
Cordelia arrived at Angel's home.
"Why, so he could yell at us, when we'd already decided we were
coming?" Cordelia asked.
"Um, yeah?" Doyle replied with a lopsided grin. "At least he would've
gotten the yelling out of his system _before_ he saw us in person."
"You're a big baby," Cordelia said with a roll of her eyes.
"Guilty as charged," Doyle agreed. "I don't consider antagonizing
vampires - or ex-vampires for that matter- to be high on the list
of 'safe things to do with your time.'"
Cordelia sighed and turned to knock on the door, giggling as Doyle
moved to stand behind her. As if Angel was going to--"WHAT THE HELL
ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!?" Angel yelled the minute he opened the
door. "I TOLD YOU--"
"STOP YELLING!" Cordelia out-yelled him.
Angel shut his mouth with a click of the jaw, and stepped back. "You
might as well come in, since you're here," he conceded.
Cordelia and Doyle entered, Doyle keeping Cordelia between himself
and Angel. Angel had been glaring steadily at him since they appeared
on his doorstep, and it gave him the creeps. "Angel, Man, don't you
remember how impossible it is to say no to this girl?" He looked over
to see Buffy sitting on the couch. "Hi, Buffy."
"I never had any trouble saying no to Cordy--"
"HA!" Cordelia cut him off, grinning. "I beg to differ. I'm sure
there were hundreds of times you wanted to fire me--"
"Thousands," Angel said with a smirk.
She huffed in irritation, "But you never did. So I had you wrapped
around my little finger, Mister. Don't even try to deny it." She
smiled over at Buffy, who was watching their interaction with
amusement. "In fact, there's only one girl who has you more wrapped.
Hey, Buffy."
Angel sighed, and went to sit next to his girlfriend. "I think I
asked you a question earlier, and I'm still waiting for the answer."
"Cordelia wanted to be here, so we could help," Doyle said as he went
to sit down in a chair. Cordelia perched on the chair arm, and he put
his arm around her waist.
"I thought I told you--"
"Angel, I can't take it. I don't like being so far away, and still
seeing visions of you and the others in danger. We came back to help,
and there's nothing you can do about it," she crossed her arms in
front of her, and dared him with her eyes to try to argue.
Angel looked to Buffy, his expression a plea for help. Buffy
laughed, "Don't look at me, Angel. Cordelia Chase and stubborn are
synonyms, as far as I'm concerned. I can't fault her stubbornness in
this case, though, I'm glad you have loyal friends. I'm also glad
they're here, I'm sure they can help us tomorrow with Spike and
Drusilla."
"What's the plan?" Doyle asked.
"Well, we know that Spike has one weakness." Buffy got up, and
started pacing. She hadn't liked explaining the plan to Angel the
first time. He'd said he was okay with it, but she still wondered.
"From what I've read about Spike, that would obviously be Drusilla,"
Doyle said.
Buffy nodded, "Those who are familiar with Drusilla, also know she
has a weakness but it's not Spike."
"Angelus," Angel supplied.
Buffy continued quickly, "But we found out a few days ago that
Drusilla doesn't know Angel's alive. We suspect that she came to
Sunnydale a few months ago when Angelus was still around. She most
likely doesn't know Angelus isn't still free. In her state of mind,
if she ran into Angel, she'd assume it was Angelus. So the plan is to
go down to the sewers where they're hiding, and basically count on
Drusilla's madness to screw things up for Spike."
"Sounds like it could work," Doyle said. "If Spike's distracted with
taking care of Drusilla, he'll let his guard down."
"And I get that ring away from him the old-fashioned way: beat him up
to the point where I can part him from it," Buffy said. "Then, well.
You know."
Doyle nodded, he got the picture. He looked over at Angel, who was
staring at the wall lost in thought. He wondered what Angel felt
about their intention of destroying the childer of Angelus. True,
there had never been any love lost between Angel and the two younger
vampires, but Doyle knew enough about vampires to know it wasn't that
simple. There was a strong bond between sire and childer that he
suspected the soul wouldn't have managed to break completely.
"So when do we go down to the sewers?" Cordelia asked. "And I can't
believe I'm going down there again. You know I saw enough of those
sewers when I was in highschool."
"Tomorrow at sundown," Buffy replied. She'd noticed Angel's absent-
minded mood, and looked over at him worriedly.
Cordelia picked up on the vibes, and stood. "Well, Doyle and I are
staying at Giles' place, in his extra room," she said. "We'll catch
you guys tomorrow."
"Definitely," Buffy said, smiling at her. One good thing about
Cordelia was that the girl read between the lines and knew how to
disappear if needed. "It's good that you're staying with Giles, his
place is where we're going to meet up right at sundown."
"'Kay," Cordelia said, pulling Doyle out of his chair. "Bye." She and
Doyle let themselves out.
Buffy took Angel's hand, and he looked over at her, blinking a few
times attempting to return to reality. "Angel, if you're not okay
with this plan, you don't have to pretend you are. I know Angelus is
gone, but you still have his memories. If you can't deal with this,
we'll come up with another way."
"I love you for worrying about me," Angel said, with a smile. "But I
really _can_ deal with it. It's a good plan, Buffy, and I have a
feeling it will work. As for how I feel about it, from the moment I
had my soul returned to me, I've regretted turning those two. More
than that, I've regretted what I did to Drusilla when Angelus had
control. I won't regret ending it, finally."
"I love you, Angel, and I just don't want anything that will add to
your guilt. You've got enough," Buffy said, stroking his cheek
lovingly.
Angel took her hand, and kissed it. "If we can finally end this, I'll
feel relieved more than anything else, Buffy. And we will be able to
get on with our life together without any more reminders of Angelus
around."
He leaned back against the arm of the couch, and Buffy curled up next
to him. "I like the sound of that," Buffy said with a smile, lifting
her head to kiss him. "Our life together."
*******************