They'd driven to the house, Spike had made the cop stop at the front of the driveway. He hadn't asked for the cop's name, and the man hadn't given it. Spike had rushed, ignoring near all driving codes, yet the cop hadn't said anything. He'd just held on to his shotgun. There was simplicity in their alliance; the cop didn't trust him, but they'd work together anyway. He couldn't help but smile no matter how dire the situation really was. Either the cop didn't notice, or he didn't care.

Spike got out. "Last stop. I'm going in alone."

Balls, the cop didn't listen. "Look pal, I can't watch both my back and yours."

"You won't have to."

"A gun won't kill him."

"It'll stop him, now won't it?"

"I don't even know if he's alone."

"All the better reason not to go in on your own."

Spike growled in frustration, lifting his hands to heaven. He should just knock him out, get him out of the way. But he couldn't. It was stupid, but part of him admired the man. Sure he was just a middleaged cop, with grey hairs and wrinkles. A browbeaten man who'd had a life here in Sunnydale and had probably seen more than he wanted to, but he was too bloody stubborn to give up. Kinda like...

He'd called himself a good man when he was human, but had he really had any idea of what being a good man really was. Or was it just his belief in following the rules of society. He'd tried so hard, yet this guy...he just was.

They entered the house through the back. A minion stood on guard. Spike staked him with a minimum of fuss. He could feel the cop's wince as they entered the main hall. "Goody, wall decorations." The cop wanted to hurry to get the people out of the manacles, but Spike stopped him. "We have to deal with Angelus first." The cop wouldn't budge. Protect and serve. Damn big downside.

Spike got to the first man. The guy looked rugged. Unshaven, his face was black and blue. He didn't flinch, just got ready to glare him down. Spike stared at the manacles for a moment, before grabbing hold of them and ripping them from the wall. He barely got hold of the man before he fell on the ground. His feet still hanging on to the wall. "You could just use the keys." Spike flinched and stared around. Angelus was standing in the doorway, keys dangling from his hand. The man in his arms just muttered something behind the cloth in his mouth.

"Angel."

"You got my invitation?"

"Where's Buffy?"

"Especially since I was so nice to repeat it a couple of times"

"Where are Buffy and Dawn?!" He screamed his question, nearly dropping the man in his arms as he got ready to face Angelus.

"Manners, Spike. But then, you were never proper, now were you?"

They faced off, vampire to vampire. Both moving out of their human faces. Spike stood ready, but it still didn't prepare him when his grandsire hit him. He could feel the man he'd fallen into flinch. Spike got up. "Where's Buffy?"

"She's my guest."

He heard a shot behind him. "Copper?" he whispered the word, wishing he'd learned the man's name. A female vampire came to the front, holding the cop up by the neck, ready to bite him. He couldn't let her.

The one man he'd managed to free from the wall had managed to get the rag from his mouth, whispering a name. "Fred." His girlfriend? Spike wasn't sure if he even wanted to care.

"Oh gee Wes. Don't want dear old Fred here to get a snack?" Spike got up from the ground, ignoring the blood trickling from his lips. "No need to get up, Spikey, she can do it all by herself."

"Let him go."

"Protecting the helpless, my boy? Since when have you ever been a champion of the people?"

"Let go."

"But then a guy could do anything to get under the Slayer's skirts, Spikey. Not that there's all that much there."

"If you..."

Angelus was on him before he could continue. Forcing him against the wall. Spike held him off. "You seem to have forgotten something, Spikey: she's mine, like you are. I 'let' you have Drusilla; you only had her because I had no need for her. But you don't take anything that's mine, unless I let you." His fangs came closer to Spike's neck. "Is that clear, boy?" Spike nearly screamed as the fangs pierced his throat. He struggled, but then Angelus had always been stronger than him. Suddenly Angelus let go. Disgustedly spitting out the blood he'd just taken. "You you can't..." The bastard backed off in shock. "When did they curse you, boy?" Spike just glared at him, desperate to get to his feet and defeat the bastard. "Who dared?!" Angelus seemed enraged at the very idea that anyone had dared curse one of his children, more even than at the fact that Spike had betrayed him, was betraying him.

"I did." Spike managed to hit him with a right hook. "I wanted it. No clauses, no escapes; a permanent soul, just like she loves it." He hit his grandsire again, knowing his words hit worse than his fists. Angelus stared at him in shock. "I wanted a soul, for her, to be good for her." Spike froze as Angelus started laughing. It was more insulting than any word to hear that side-splitting laughter coming from his grandsire's lips.

"So much like Daddy, aren't you, Spike? Wanting to be like him so much that you'd let them do that to you." Spike winced at his grandsire's words. "Did Willow stick it in you? Did it hurt? How's it feel to be locked in a cage, held back by nothing but the flimsiest excuse of a soul? Knowing that all your strength is used against you?" Spike didn't know what to say, turned out, he didn't have to as the man called Wes hit Angelus with a crowbar.

tbc