Chapter 60
Angelus sat in a wide leather wing-back chair before a warm hearth reading through the material he stole from Angel, Inc. and he wore a set of half- lens reading glasses. Buffy sat on the arm of the chair, Angelus' arm slung around her waist. Angelus took off the glasses, frustrated, and threw them at Reg, the shop's proprietor and owner of the glasses. Reg cowered on the floor, terrified.
"These aren't helping! Half of this crap is written in some archaic proto- demon cuneiform and I don't want to be rude but I think the other half.. they just doodled." Angelus said. He got up, kneeled in front of Reg, and jammed his finger through the man's testicle. Reg cried out in agony. "Now don't make me puncture the other one, Reg. I just want to get some intel on this Beastmaster fella. I mean, this is an occult shop, right? Like your job is to help us."
"I.. I don't know.." Reg gasped.
"Sure you do. Has a penchant for rains of fire, blotting out the sun, hmm?" Angelus punctuated each word with a blow to the shop keeper's head. "For.. getting.. inside.. your.. head!"
"ANGELUS!" the voice raged in both Buffy and Angelus' heads. Angelus reeled back in pain and Buffy flew off the chair and onto the floor.
"Volume!" Buffy yelled.
"I am not well-pleased with you two."
"And we're not well-deaf." Angelus said.
"Do you think me blind, little ones, that I don't see every move before you decide to make it? Dare to seek me out again and your insolence will be punished ten-fold."
"Yeah? What are you gonna do? Give us a migraine?" Buffy asked.
Angelus laughed. "You ethereal types with your big swinging omniscience.. when push comes to shove, though, you gotta send some overgrown slag heap to do your dirty work. Oh, that's real spooky." Angelus turned back to Reg, but the man was gone. "Oh, that's great! You made me lose my shopkeeper."
"This isn't the way, my sweets. We should be friends, you two and I."
"No. And I'll tell you why. One, because, you know, we're evil so the friends thing, that's out. And two, if we did have any friends, they sure as hell wouldn't be living inside our heads!"
"Like you're forced to live inside Angel's? Because you're the voice in there, aren't you? Just beneath the surface. Buried under all that goodness. Fully conscious, fully aware.. but trapped. Unable to move or speak. Powerless to act on your desires. So thirsty, so helpless. It must be agony."
"I'm getting real bored with this game." Angelus grabbed Buffy's hand and started to yank her out towards the door.
"Then how about a round of show and tell? Soul.. soul.. who has your soul?" Angelus turned back to find that a glass container containing a swirling mist had appeared on the reading table next to the hearth. "Oh, right.. me!"
Angelus reached out to snatch the jar but his hand passed right through it. It was just an illusion. Buffy glared at the wall. "More smoke and mirrors." She said.
"Only a glamour, yes. But I assure you, my sweets, this very moment I hold the real thing in the palms of my very corporeal hands.. and I will restore it if you don't behave. I'll put you back in your box, Angelus, and bury you so far inside Angel, you'll never claw your way out again claw your way out again."
Angelus glared at Buffy and then, looked up. Through gritted teeth, he said, "All right. What do you want me to do.. master?"
Buffy stared at him incredulously. Then the voice sounded again. "I'd advise you to do the same Buffy."
"I'm not bowing down to you."
"Then go back to your friends. Go back and die fighting a meaningless fight. Even the good Buffy knew it was all worthless: the fighting, the speeches, the hope. You have a purpose now if you'd only embrace it. So here are your options: Either you do what I say, or you go back to that worthless existence. That misery of knowing that there's more after death and not being able to get back to it."
Buffy glowered at Angelus. He didn't look too happy either, but she knew the Beastmaster was right. She didn't want to go back to worthlessness. "Fine." She yelled. "But I'm not calling you master."
"Good. Now here are your orders."
Buffy grimaced, hating that word: orders.
Faith and Wesley entered a vast vaulted building. Multiple levels surrounded a central atrium with balconies looking out across the marbled floors. The place was under construction with scaffolding rising up from the floor to the upper levels. Faith followed Wesley up a wide staircase to an open area with office equipment arranged haphazardly around the room.
"Even if they got the fake hoodoo from this Maury guy, why would Buffy and Angelus hang around?" Faith asked.
"They wouldn't. But this Maury that Lorne knows may be able to help us find where Angelus and Buffy are hiding."
They approached a desk scattered with occult trinkets only to find Maury lying on the floor on the other side, his throat ripped out. Behind them, Buffy said, "No, but we can." They turned to find Buffy and Angelus smiling wickedly at them from the shadows. "A little birdie in my head told me you'd be here. Exciting!"
Faith strode forward and shot at Angelus with the tranq gun. He ducked aside and the shot missed. Buffy kicked Faith backward into a stack of boxes. Wesley chambered a round in his shotgun and opened fire. Again, Buffy and Angelus' reflexes allowed them to evade the gunfire.
"You gotta do better than that, Wes!" Angelus said. Wes fired again. "Come on! I'll give you one more." Wesley racked the shotgun but before he could fire, Angelus grabbed the barrel, knocking it upward and the shot went into the ceiling. "Strike three." He wrenched the shotgun from Wesley's grasp and hurled him over the balcony and into the scaffolding. Wesley crashed down through the scaffolding to the level below where he landed unconscious among the debris. Faith and Buffy went rolling down the stairs as Buffy tackled the dark headed Slayer. Buffy was the first up and she kicked Faith in the face savagely. She got ready to kick again, but Angelus racked the shotgun and leveled it at Faith.
Buffy smiled. "Uh-oh! Vampire with a gun." Angelus opened fire repeatedly and Faith dove down the rest of the stairs, the buckshot barely missing her. Angelus looked at Buffy. "I see why he likes this thing!"
Faith tumbled to a stop at the bottom of the grand staircase and looked up to find Angelus and Buffy standing right over her, the shotgun's barrel inches from her face. Buffy smiled, knowing exactly what to say. "Wow.. you really have gone soft, now haven't you? Hey, you remember that time you tried to get Angel to kill you because you felt all weepy over being such a bad little girl? Yeah, he told me about that. Do you still feel that way? Do you still want to die?"
"No.." Faith said.
"What's that?" Angelus asked.
"No."
"I can't hear you. Can you hear her Buff?"
"NO!"
Angelus racked the gun and Faith winced, anticipating the killing blow. "Too bad.. cause you're gonna." He racked the gun again and again, ejecting all the shells. "But not like this. Faith seized the opportunity and kicked her legs up, knocking the shotgun from his hands and sending Buffy flying back, then she leapt to her feet and squared off. She attacked, throwing quick jabs before landing a solid blow to Angelus' head. "Whoa! Looks like we got a live one.." Faith threw another punch, but Buffy seized her arm and wrenched it backward, then slammed her fist into Faith's face, stunning her.
"For now." Buffy said. She spun around, throwing a roundhouse kick to Faith's head and she collapsed to the floor. "Little tired, Twinkie? Want to take a break?" She yanked Faith to her feet and punched her in the gut, then pounded her to floor again, kicking her hard enough to send her skidding across the floor to the other side of the room. Faith lied on her back, gasping in pain. She rolled over and blood dripped from her mouth onto the floor. "Faith, do you remember the last time we seriously duked it out? I don't mean when you stole my body, I mean that time after you shot Angel with a poison arrow and left him to die in my arms. Do you remember how that one ended up?"
"Screw you." Faith said.
"Oh, you do remember! How did it end Faith? Remind me." Faith spat blood on Buffy's boot. "Ew! Now that was just uncalled for." Buffy kicked Faith in the face with her boot. "How did it end?"
"You stabbed me."
"And?"
"Six month coma."
"Good! I'm happy you remember."
As Faith held her broken ribs and struggled to her feet, Angelus looked away from Buffy and up at the scaffolding where Wesley fell. Inside, lying among the shattered boards and paint cans, Wesley started to come around. "Hey, buddy! How's it going in there?" Angelus called. He looked at the two Slayers. "Good old Wes.. you can always count on him to tackle a bad situation and make it worse. I mean, hey, look how you turned out." He said to Faith.
"But then again, I guess he didn't really have much to work with, now." Buffy said.
Faith laughed through the blood and the pain. "Save the head-trip. Wes told me you'd try to get under my skin, give me just what I need to scratch you two out."
"Oh, don't tell me! The rousing stiff upper lip speech. Rah rah! Good over evil! Do what must be done! Hang in there, kitten, it's almost Friday! Is that what the scraggly little ponce armed you with to fight the big bad boogedies?"
"Yeah. And this." Faith slipped a dagger out from inside her jacket and whipped it at Buffy, impaling her through the stomach. In an instant, Faith was on her feet, her fists a flurry of punches, rocking Angelus backward and throwing him off-balance as Buffy sunk to the ground. She ripped the knife out of herself and tossed it on the floor. Faith grabbed it and slashed at Angelus, but he dodged and weaved, then kicked the knife from her hand. It flew up through the air as Faith beat Angelus back, kicking him fast and hard. She snatched the knife out of the air as it came back down and raked the blade across Angelus' chest. He hissed in pain and renewed his attack. He kicked her viciously, sending her tumbling backward, then leapt straight up into the scaffolding 30 feet overhead.
"That hurt, Faithy." Angelus said. "Kinda liked it. How about you?" Faith started to answer, but Angelus cut her off. "You hurt my wife. Hell, she may even die. So, I have to get down there and change her here in a sec."
"You're not going to touch her!" Faith screamed.
"There's my girl. I knew she was in there somewhere, dying to come out and play again."
"Shut up."
"I know how it feels. Forced to be someone you're not. Hurts to the bone. You try to bury the pain but you can't get the hole deep enough, can you? No matter how much you dig, it's still there. Broken shards stabbing every time you breathe, cutting you up inside. You know, there's only one way to make the pain stop.. hurt someone else. But you've already done that." Faith spun, dagger raised to strike but Angelus seized her arm, stopping the blow. He brought her arm down on his leg, then kicked her violently and she flew up and onto one of the scaffolding grids, her dagger skittering away across the room. A moment later, Angelus leapt up next to her and attacked. She dodged him, using the metal latticework to avoid his blows while trying to land some of her own. They danced across the scaffolding, dodging and weaving, their movements a kind of obscene ballet. Faith leapt to the top but Angelus was already there. He hurled her off and she fell two dozen feet to the hard marble floor below. Angelus jumped down and landed next to her. "Come on, Faith, you're not even trying." He kicked her in the head, then beat her down to the floor again. "Or is that why you really came back? Not enough to punish yourself with Spike. Is that it? Still looking for someone to help beat the bad out of you?" He double punched her to the head. She staggered, drunkenly, stunned. "You know what the funny part is, darlin'? I could beat you to death and it wouldn't make a difference. Nothing will ever change who you are, Faith." He pounded her to her knees. "You're a murderer.." Another vicious blow to the head. "A animal.." He seized her by the hair and wrenched her head backward. "And you enjoy it. Just like me!"
With a strangled cry of rage, Faith leapt to her feet and delivered a stunning uppercut to Angelus' jaw, rocking him backward. She followed with a roundhouse kick to his chest, snapping several ribs and driving him to the floor. Her fury was like a living thing now and she leapt on Angelus, rolled him over, and pounded him, one devastating blow after another. His head snapped back, then forth, his eyes losing more focus with each shattering punch. Angelus was hers now. She had won. But she suddenly caught herself, stopped, and backed away. "No! You're wrong. I'm different now. I'm not like you."
"Faith.." Buffy said weakly from the floor.
"B!" Faith ran over to Buffy. "I'm so sorry Buffy. I had to."
Buffy looked down at the gushing wound in her stomach, blood seeping through her fingers. "You did it."
"What?"
"You killed me."
"B, no.." Faith was stopped when Buffy shot her fist out and connected with Faith's jaw. The dark haired Slayer flew back into Angelus' arms, just where Buffy had wanted to send her. Faith struggled, but Angelus held her tight. Buffy crawled over to Angelus, still holding her wounded stomach.
"Not like me, huh?" Angelus asked, shifting into game face. "You will be." With that, he sunk his teeth in. He started to drink, but then fell back onto Buffy, gasping. "What.. did you do?" Angelus grabbed onto the scaffolding and tried to haul himself up but the drug was too powerful. He collapsed back to floor, barley conscious. His hand found Buffy's wound, but he didn't press on it. Buffy passed out when Angelus' blood mixed with hers. "You.. you sp.. you spiked.." With that, Angelus' world went dark.
Angelus sat in a wide leather wing-back chair before a warm hearth reading through the material he stole from Angel, Inc. and he wore a set of half- lens reading glasses. Buffy sat on the arm of the chair, Angelus' arm slung around her waist. Angelus took off the glasses, frustrated, and threw them at Reg, the shop's proprietor and owner of the glasses. Reg cowered on the floor, terrified.
"These aren't helping! Half of this crap is written in some archaic proto- demon cuneiform and I don't want to be rude but I think the other half.. they just doodled." Angelus said. He got up, kneeled in front of Reg, and jammed his finger through the man's testicle. Reg cried out in agony. "Now don't make me puncture the other one, Reg. I just want to get some intel on this Beastmaster fella. I mean, this is an occult shop, right? Like your job is to help us."
"I.. I don't know.." Reg gasped.
"Sure you do. Has a penchant for rains of fire, blotting out the sun, hmm?" Angelus punctuated each word with a blow to the shop keeper's head. "For.. getting.. inside.. your.. head!"
"ANGELUS!" the voice raged in both Buffy and Angelus' heads. Angelus reeled back in pain and Buffy flew off the chair and onto the floor.
"Volume!" Buffy yelled.
"I am not well-pleased with you two."
"And we're not well-deaf." Angelus said.
"Do you think me blind, little ones, that I don't see every move before you decide to make it? Dare to seek me out again and your insolence will be punished ten-fold."
"Yeah? What are you gonna do? Give us a migraine?" Buffy asked.
Angelus laughed. "You ethereal types with your big swinging omniscience.. when push comes to shove, though, you gotta send some overgrown slag heap to do your dirty work. Oh, that's real spooky." Angelus turned back to Reg, but the man was gone. "Oh, that's great! You made me lose my shopkeeper."
"This isn't the way, my sweets. We should be friends, you two and I."
"No. And I'll tell you why. One, because, you know, we're evil so the friends thing, that's out. And two, if we did have any friends, they sure as hell wouldn't be living inside our heads!"
"Like you're forced to live inside Angel's? Because you're the voice in there, aren't you? Just beneath the surface. Buried under all that goodness. Fully conscious, fully aware.. but trapped. Unable to move or speak. Powerless to act on your desires. So thirsty, so helpless. It must be agony."
"I'm getting real bored with this game." Angelus grabbed Buffy's hand and started to yank her out towards the door.
"Then how about a round of show and tell? Soul.. soul.. who has your soul?" Angelus turned back to find that a glass container containing a swirling mist had appeared on the reading table next to the hearth. "Oh, right.. me!"
Angelus reached out to snatch the jar but his hand passed right through it. It was just an illusion. Buffy glared at the wall. "More smoke and mirrors." She said.
"Only a glamour, yes. But I assure you, my sweets, this very moment I hold the real thing in the palms of my very corporeal hands.. and I will restore it if you don't behave. I'll put you back in your box, Angelus, and bury you so far inside Angel, you'll never claw your way out again claw your way out again."
Angelus glared at Buffy and then, looked up. Through gritted teeth, he said, "All right. What do you want me to do.. master?"
Buffy stared at him incredulously. Then the voice sounded again. "I'd advise you to do the same Buffy."
"I'm not bowing down to you."
"Then go back to your friends. Go back and die fighting a meaningless fight. Even the good Buffy knew it was all worthless: the fighting, the speeches, the hope. You have a purpose now if you'd only embrace it. So here are your options: Either you do what I say, or you go back to that worthless existence. That misery of knowing that there's more after death and not being able to get back to it."
Buffy glowered at Angelus. He didn't look too happy either, but she knew the Beastmaster was right. She didn't want to go back to worthlessness. "Fine." She yelled. "But I'm not calling you master."
"Good. Now here are your orders."
Buffy grimaced, hating that word: orders.
Faith and Wesley entered a vast vaulted building. Multiple levels surrounded a central atrium with balconies looking out across the marbled floors. The place was under construction with scaffolding rising up from the floor to the upper levels. Faith followed Wesley up a wide staircase to an open area with office equipment arranged haphazardly around the room.
"Even if they got the fake hoodoo from this Maury guy, why would Buffy and Angelus hang around?" Faith asked.
"They wouldn't. But this Maury that Lorne knows may be able to help us find where Angelus and Buffy are hiding."
They approached a desk scattered with occult trinkets only to find Maury lying on the floor on the other side, his throat ripped out. Behind them, Buffy said, "No, but we can." They turned to find Buffy and Angelus smiling wickedly at them from the shadows. "A little birdie in my head told me you'd be here. Exciting!"
Faith strode forward and shot at Angelus with the tranq gun. He ducked aside and the shot missed. Buffy kicked Faith backward into a stack of boxes. Wesley chambered a round in his shotgun and opened fire. Again, Buffy and Angelus' reflexes allowed them to evade the gunfire.
"You gotta do better than that, Wes!" Angelus said. Wes fired again. "Come on! I'll give you one more." Wesley racked the shotgun but before he could fire, Angelus grabbed the barrel, knocking it upward and the shot went into the ceiling. "Strike three." He wrenched the shotgun from Wesley's grasp and hurled him over the balcony and into the scaffolding. Wesley crashed down through the scaffolding to the level below where he landed unconscious among the debris. Faith and Buffy went rolling down the stairs as Buffy tackled the dark headed Slayer. Buffy was the first up and she kicked Faith in the face savagely. She got ready to kick again, but Angelus racked the shotgun and leveled it at Faith.
Buffy smiled. "Uh-oh! Vampire with a gun." Angelus opened fire repeatedly and Faith dove down the rest of the stairs, the buckshot barely missing her. Angelus looked at Buffy. "I see why he likes this thing!"
Faith tumbled to a stop at the bottom of the grand staircase and looked up to find Angelus and Buffy standing right over her, the shotgun's barrel inches from her face. Buffy smiled, knowing exactly what to say. "Wow.. you really have gone soft, now haven't you? Hey, you remember that time you tried to get Angel to kill you because you felt all weepy over being such a bad little girl? Yeah, he told me about that. Do you still feel that way? Do you still want to die?"
"No.." Faith said.
"What's that?" Angelus asked.
"No."
"I can't hear you. Can you hear her Buff?"
"NO!"
Angelus racked the gun and Faith winced, anticipating the killing blow. "Too bad.. cause you're gonna." He racked the gun again and again, ejecting all the shells. "But not like this. Faith seized the opportunity and kicked her legs up, knocking the shotgun from his hands and sending Buffy flying back, then she leapt to her feet and squared off. She attacked, throwing quick jabs before landing a solid blow to Angelus' head. "Whoa! Looks like we got a live one.." Faith threw another punch, but Buffy seized her arm and wrenched it backward, then slammed her fist into Faith's face, stunning her.
"For now." Buffy said. She spun around, throwing a roundhouse kick to Faith's head and she collapsed to the floor. "Little tired, Twinkie? Want to take a break?" She yanked Faith to her feet and punched her in the gut, then pounded her to floor again, kicking her hard enough to send her skidding across the floor to the other side of the room. Faith lied on her back, gasping in pain. She rolled over and blood dripped from her mouth onto the floor. "Faith, do you remember the last time we seriously duked it out? I don't mean when you stole my body, I mean that time after you shot Angel with a poison arrow and left him to die in my arms. Do you remember how that one ended up?"
"Screw you." Faith said.
"Oh, you do remember! How did it end Faith? Remind me." Faith spat blood on Buffy's boot. "Ew! Now that was just uncalled for." Buffy kicked Faith in the face with her boot. "How did it end?"
"You stabbed me."
"And?"
"Six month coma."
"Good! I'm happy you remember."
As Faith held her broken ribs and struggled to her feet, Angelus looked away from Buffy and up at the scaffolding where Wesley fell. Inside, lying among the shattered boards and paint cans, Wesley started to come around. "Hey, buddy! How's it going in there?" Angelus called. He looked at the two Slayers. "Good old Wes.. you can always count on him to tackle a bad situation and make it worse. I mean, hey, look how you turned out." He said to Faith.
"But then again, I guess he didn't really have much to work with, now." Buffy said.
Faith laughed through the blood and the pain. "Save the head-trip. Wes told me you'd try to get under my skin, give me just what I need to scratch you two out."
"Oh, don't tell me! The rousing stiff upper lip speech. Rah rah! Good over evil! Do what must be done! Hang in there, kitten, it's almost Friday! Is that what the scraggly little ponce armed you with to fight the big bad boogedies?"
"Yeah. And this." Faith slipped a dagger out from inside her jacket and whipped it at Buffy, impaling her through the stomach. In an instant, Faith was on her feet, her fists a flurry of punches, rocking Angelus backward and throwing him off-balance as Buffy sunk to the ground. She ripped the knife out of herself and tossed it on the floor. Faith grabbed it and slashed at Angelus, but he dodged and weaved, then kicked the knife from her hand. It flew up through the air as Faith beat Angelus back, kicking him fast and hard. She snatched the knife out of the air as it came back down and raked the blade across Angelus' chest. He hissed in pain and renewed his attack. He kicked her viciously, sending her tumbling backward, then leapt straight up into the scaffolding 30 feet overhead.
"That hurt, Faithy." Angelus said. "Kinda liked it. How about you?" Faith started to answer, but Angelus cut her off. "You hurt my wife. Hell, she may even die. So, I have to get down there and change her here in a sec."
"You're not going to touch her!" Faith screamed.
"There's my girl. I knew she was in there somewhere, dying to come out and play again."
"Shut up."
"I know how it feels. Forced to be someone you're not. Hurts to the bone. You try to bury the pain but you can't get the hole deep enough, can you? No matter how much you dig, it's still there. Broken shards stabbing every time you breathe, cutting you up inside. You know, there's only one way to make the pain stop.. hurt someone else. But you've already done that." Faith spun, dagger raised to strike but Angelus seized her arm, stopping the blow. He brought her arm down on his leg, then kicked her violently and she flew up and onto one of the scaffolding grids, her dagger skittering away across the room. A moment later, Angelus leapt up next to her and attacked. She dodged him, using the metal latticework to avoid his blows while trying to land some of her own. They danced across the scaffolding, dodging and weaving, their movements a kind of obscene ballet. Faith leapt to the top but Angelus was already there. He hurled her off and she fell two dozen feet to the hard marble floor below. Angelus jumped down and landed next to her. "Come on, Faith, you're not even trying." He kicked her in the head, then beat her down to the floor again. "Or is that why you really came back? Not enough to punish yourself with Spike. Is that it? Still looking for someone to help beat the bad out of you?" He double punched her to the head. She staggered, drunkenly, stunned. "You know what the funny part is, darlin'? I could beat you to death and it wouldn't make a difference. Nothing will ever change who you are, Faith." He pounded her to her knees. "You're a murderer.." Another vicious blow to the head. "A animal.." He seized her by the hair and wrenched her head backward. "And you enjoy it. Just like me!"
With a strangled cry of rage, Faith leapt to her feet and delivered a stunning uppercut to Angelus' jaw, rocking him backward. She followed with a roundhouse kick to his chest, snapping several ribs and driving him to the floor. Her fury was like a living thing now and she leapt on Angelus, rolled him over, and pounded him, one devastating blow after another. His head snapped back, then forth, his eyes losing more focus with each shattering punch. Angelus was hers now. She had won. But she suddenly caught herself, stopped, and backed away. "No! You're wrong. I'm different now. I'm not like you."
"Faith.." Buffy said weakly from the floor.
"B!" Faith ran over to Buffy. "I'm so sorry Buffy. I had to."
Buffy looked down at the gushing wound in her stomach, blood seeping through her fingers. "You did it."
"What?"
"You killed me."
"B, no.." Faith was stopped when Buffy shot her fist out and connected with Faith's jaw. The dark haired Slayer flew back into Angelus' arms, just where Buffy had wanted to send her. Faith struggled, but Angelus held her tight. Buffy crawled over to Angelus, still holding her wounded stomach.
"Not like me, huh?" Angelus asked, shifting into game face. "You will be." With that, he sunk his teeth in. He started to drink, but then fell back onto Buffy, gasping. "What.. did you do?" Angelus grabbed onto the scaffolding and tried to haul himself up but the drug was too powerful. He collapsed back to floor, barley conscious. His hand found Buffy's wound, but he didn't press on it. Buffy passed out when Angelus' blood mixed with hers. "You.. you sp.. you spiked.." With that, Angelus' world went dark.
