16
Buffy recoiled inwardly at the emotions carried
in that one uttered word. So much pain…
longing… love? How could this be? How could this be Angelus, when he sounds so
much like her Angel?
Buffy steeled herself against her conflicting
emotions, tightened her grip on the wooden stake in her hand and repeated,
"Where's Spike?"
"He's safe," Angel answered. He cautiously started to move towards the
woman standing in the centre of the destroyed living room. "He's with Cordelia and Wesley."
"Good old Cordy and Wesley," Buffy snorted,
fighting down the doubt concerning the man slowly edging towards her. "Guess I know why they didn't call with the
good news. Did they make willing
minions? Or did you have to break them
like you did Drusilla?"
Angel frowned. He was getting a little irritated with the blonde woman's tone. "What? No! Buffy, listen…"
"I don't have to listen to anything you have to
say, demon. Not anymore! Now let's just fight and get it over
with. I have an appointment for a manicure
at 10."
Buffy leapt at Angel, stake raised. Angel sidestepped the Slayer easily,
blocking her spin kick and a roundhouse punch, but not returning the blows.
"I don't want to fight you!" he said, ducking
another punch.
"Oh, really?" Buffy sneered between a fruitless
jab of her stake and yet another blocked kick. "Let me guess. You want to try
again? See if we can make it work this
time? Sorry. Been there, done that. Not interested."
Angel stepped into Buffy's space with lightning
speed, pinning her arms to her side. "Damn it, Buffy! Will you shut
up and listen!" he all but shouted at the struggling woman.
Buffy bucked in the vampire's hands, but his
preternatural strength was enough to hold her fast.
"I'm not him," Angel tried to explain. "I'm not the one who attacked Will, or you."
"Lies!" she spat and wrenched herself free of
Angel's strong hands. "I will not
listen to more of your lies, Angelus!"
Angel drew back as if struck. Hearing Buffy calling him by that sadist's
name had wounded him more than any punch or kick she might have delivered
could.
"I'm sorry to interrupt this highly entertaining
little melodrama of yours, but actually Brooding Boy's telling the truth."
All the blood drained from Buffy's face as she
watched Angelus emerging from the shadows he'd been hiding in. "How…?" she stammered, her mind
reeling. "Who…?"
"Oh, allow me," Angelus offered with a deep
bow. "Let me introduce myselves. I'm Angelus, the evil fuck that's going to
kill your friends, kill your family and kill you. He…" the amused vampire pointed to his growling Other. "..is Angel, your pitiful, soul filled ex-boyfriend
who'll be doing his bestest best to stop me. Isn't that right, Brother?"
"Angelus," Angel growled warningly, moving
protectively in front of Buffy. "It's
time to make amends for all your evil. It's time for you to die."
"Are you ready?" Angelus asked knowingly. "Are you ready to kill me?"
Angel answered by leaping at his twin, fangs
bared and fists swinging. Buffy could
only stand back and watch the bizarre scene play out before her. Her mind couldn't quite grasp seeing the man
she loved more than life itself and the demon she hated to the depths of her
soul together in one room tearing each other limb from limb.
"That tender farewell you had out there… so
very touching," Angelus sneered into Angel's face, bringing his fist up to crash
into the ensouled vampire's jaw. "It
just made me want to puke!"
"Jealous that I have someone to say goodbye
to?" Angel asked cuttingly. He wiped
the blood his soulless brother had forced from his lip away and leered at
Angelus.
The idea of Angelus being jealous of this
pathetic carbon copy enraged him. He
roared and flew at Angel, fists flying, but Angel expected this move. In fact, he counted on it.
With one fluid motion, Angel seized the
reaching clawed hand of his adversary, stepped to his left and twisted. An antique oak table exploded under the
dispatched vampire's bulk.
Angelus growled dangerously as he pulled
himself to his feet, wiping dust and wood off his shirt. "Good move, Brother," he said, keeping his
back turned to Angel, not wanting to unveil the stake he'd salvaged from the
ruined table. "But not good
enough." His movements were a blur; the
stake turned a deadly wooden missile seeking the other vampire's soul-carrying
heart.
Angel's reaction matched his evil twin's in
speed and accuracy, the blade slicing through the air only registering when the
piece of wood meant for Angel's heart ended its path on the floor in two neat
halves.
"Seemed adequate to me," he drawled, taking
immense pleasure in Angelus' impotent fury.
Angelus backed up to the wall, his watchful
eyes never leaving his opponent. "Swords it is then," he said determinedly, picking one of the mounted
blades from the wall and testing it in his skillful hand.
With powerful battle cries, the two vampires
charged one another. The clang of steel
meeting steel rang out.
"You can't defeat me," Angelus hissed in
Angel's identical face. "I am you."
"You're wrong, Demon!" Angel answered. He blocked a swipe from his evil Other's
sword and twisted with his wrist, sending Angelus' sword crashing to the far
wall. He drove his demon to his knees
with a well-placed kick and said as he brought the sword down, severing
Angelus' head from his shoulders, "You are nothing but a bad memory."
"Goodbye," Angel whispered to Angelus as he
watched the demon's body turning to dust, sifting to the floor.
Sudden pain knifed through the victorious
vampire's chest, forcing him to his knees. Angel screamed, clawing at his body as the remaining part of what used
to be Angelus fought for dear life.
"Angel!" Buffy cried from the corner she stood
frozen in.
Her lover's cries of agony spurred her into
motion, carrying her to his side. She
laid her hand, ice cold with fright, on Angel's chest and felt the searing heat
radiating off his skin as the defeated demon escaped the body that held it for
over two and a half centuries.
"Angel?" she whispered, feeling the slow pulse
thumping against her palm.
Angel looked at the hopeful face of his
beloved. "Buffy," he breathed. He reached up and cupped her warm cheek,
feeling the wetness of her tears.
"Angel," Buffy sobbed, not daring to believe
the actual breath touching her face. She showered kisses down on her beautiful, human man's face, tasting the
life flowing through him.
"I love you," Angel whispered, trying to convey
an eternity of emotion into his words. His final words.
"Angel? No… no… no…" Buffy chanted, shaking her head in denial. She refused to believe that Angel, her soul
mate, her love, was dying right before her eyes. She watched as the light of Angel's soul dimmed from his dark
eyes that bathed her in so much love. She watched as the breath stopped passing through his lips and the beat
of his heart ceased.
"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" The wail tore from her broken heart as
Angel's lifeless hand fell from her cheek to his lifeless body.
**********************
"He won." Spike's words broke the deafening silence that had fallen on the people
gathered in Xander's living room.
Cordelia pulled her hands free from Spike's. She hadn't let go of the blonde vampire
since they drove away from the mansion what seems like a lifetime ago. "Oh no…" she choked back a sob, not wanting
to hear the truth being spoken by her friend's vampire Childe's.
Spike didn't want to hear the words out loud
any more than the crying woman backing away from him. He stood and tenderly folded her into his arms, his own tears
drying in her dark hair. Quietly, he
spoke the words his blood was screaming.
"Angel's gone."
