"Huh? Willow?" Buffy woke with a start. She had been curled up in Angelus's arms, after their little playtime.
"Wha? What's wrong?" Angelus woke up, sitting up beside her.
"Willow! She's in my head, she's talking to me!" Buffy's face had gone pale.
"There now, love. You're starting to sound like Dru! What do you mean she's talking to you, she's dead!"
"No, she's in my head, like the time you trapped us in the room and her voice projected out, but only now it's in my head."
"Really. And what is the little witch telling ya?" Angelus was starting to find this funny.
"She's worried, she says she's trapt. In some basement." Buffy turned to Angelus, "This is not normal, we should go find the others."
"Fine, get dressed, they're probably in the main hall." With that, Angelus and Buffy got dressed and hurried upstairs.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Uhgg." Willow fell over as the spell ended.
"Willow!" Each of the scoobies yelled her name.
Oz lifted her up, placing her head on his lap. "Will?" She opened her eyes. "Hey."
"Is she ok?" Asked Xander.
"I'm fin…" She fell back as she tried to sit up. "Just a little dizzy."
"Perhaps for the time being, you should stay lying down." Suggested Giles.
"What happened?" Jenny looked at Willow with a confused look on her face. "The spell should have lasted longer!"
"I don't know, she…she pushed me out!" Willow looked up at the others with confusion marring her face.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Well look, its mommy and daddy!" Spike and Dru were sitting together, Spike had his arms wrapped around Dru's middle. Craig was sitting across from them, his face covered in hate, but only for Angelus. Who in turn favored him with a smug smile.
"We've got a problem!" Said a very grim Buffy.
"I'll say, all the humans in this bloody place are stale, except of course, you two!" Said Spike, motioning to Buffy and Craig.
"No, she's right, Spike!" Drusilla went over to Buffy and started to circle her. She peered at Buffy's head, as if trying to see inside. "Something wants in, wants to whisper secrets to her. To make plans to steal her from us!" The guys were suddenly very interested in what Dru had said.
"Go on then, tell us!" Spike motioned for Buffy to sit across from him, but instead she started to pace.
"Earlier, while I was sleeping, I heard a voice, thought it was my dreams, but it startled me awake. It was Willow, she was calling me, she said she and the others were in danger, that Angel was evil and he was coming to get me!" She looked around at the worried faces. Each of the vampires knew she had to know.
Spike sighed. "Fine I'll do it, I'll tell her." He looked to Buffy.
"Tell me what?" She was not a happy slayer right now.
"Well Pet, here's the heartache. Your friends are still alive, they're downstairs locked up. Smart boy over here," He pointed to Craig, "said you wouldn't turn evil if your friends were still alive, so we staged the attack." Spike looked to Buffy, thinking she would explode with anger, instead he was surprised to see and hear her laughing.
Between laughs Buffy said. "You honestly think I didn't know that? How dense are the dead? Geesz, I'm the slayer, I could feel them the moment I walked into this place. I heard them downstairs last night!" She looked at each of the stunned vampires and Craig, Angelus was the only one who was smiling.
"That's my girl, shoulda known with your quick abilities." His behavior sent buckets of gloating over to Craig.
"You knew! Why didn't you say anything?" Asked Craig.
"I thought you knew." Buffy walked over and he pilled her onto his lap.
"You're more bloody evil than I thought!" Spike was grinning from ear to ear.
"And I have a fun little game we can play with them, that you'll love." Buffy smiled one of her most innocent smiles.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Willow can you try again?" Asked Giles. It had been an hour since Buffy had pushed her out of her mind, and Willow was feeling much better.
"Yup, just a…"
"Shhhh." Called Xander. They all quieted down, a guard was coming. No, at least three of them, and they were dragging something. The group could hear the thing moving along the metal floor. Suddenly, the bolts were pulled back, and three guards entered, opened the last cage and threw their load in, locking the door behind it.
One of the demons turned to face them. "She was a challenge, but he beat the superiority right out of her!' He laughed as they left. All of the scoobies turned to look at the unmoving shape lying in the cell. They all knew who it was, and it broke their hearts.
"Oh no!" Willow collapsed into Oz's arms, Cordelia the same with Xander.
"Buffy."
"I'm so sorry Rupert!" Jenny hugged Giles.
"She can't be…" Xander stared at her still form. Suddenly it jerked, Buffy had moved. "Look!" Xander's face lit up with hope as they all turned to look at Buffy.
She rolled over and tried to sit up, they could tell she was in a lot of pain. When she had finally sat up and was leaning against the bars, facing them, she raised her head, and looked at them. They all gasped. Her hair was matted with blood and who knew what else. Her face cut, torn, burned and beaten, blood-covering most of it. Her clothes were torn and ripped. Down the rest of her body they saw cuts, slashes, burns, and many other things they could not even begin to describe.
"Hey!" She smiled weakly at them. They all returned the hello, but each was aching to reach out and comfort her. She coughed and blood cane out. It killed all of them a hundred times over.
"So how was your guy's night?" Buffy smiled in an attempt to make them feel better.
"Buffy, we're so…" Willow began, but Xander cut her off.
"Oh you know the usual, movies, pedicures, facials, shoulda been Buff, great fun!" He smiled at her, and she knew he understood. She didn't want pity, she just want to be with her friends.
"Xander, how can…" Cordelia started but this time it was Oz who interrupted.
"What about you Buff, do anything fun?"
She smiled at him. "Nah, just found out you guys died, got attacked by my dead boyfriend, tortured by him, then thrown in a cell with my so called dead friends. Pretty boring if you ask me!"
"Yah, sounds like hell!" Put in Giles. And with that they all started to laugh, not at anything in particular, just to feel better.
"I'm glad you guys are ok!" Buffy shifted a little. But before any of them could answer, they heard the bolts moving. Buffy moved as far she could away from the door. Her friends knew she was afraid. The door opened, and just like they had suspected, Angelus stepped through. He gave them all wide grin before he walked over to Buffy's cage, squatting down in front of it. She huddled as far as she could, not much because of the baby, into the corner of the cage.
"Hey Buff, how's the baby?" He looked genuinely concerned. She spit in his face. The other scoobies smiled, she may be afraid but she was still Buffy. He wiped his face, then looked back to her. "Still feeling sore I suppose. That's ok, I'll give you a little rest before we continue." He got up and walked over to Willow and Oz's cage. "Maybe the witch! Did you tell them Buffy, did you tell them that their spell worked, but you couldn't handle it." He turned to Xander and Cordy's cage. "She couldn't handle it, the noises in her head, do you know why Xander?"
"You have a lot of nerve!"
"Funny, cause you're the one in the cage! But no, did Buffy ever tell you what I did to Dru before I changed her?" He turned to look at the rest of the group.
"Dear lord!" Giles looked like he was going to faint.
"Ah, good reliable Giles. He knows! Why don't you tell them Rupert, tell them what I did!"
"You made her insane." All of them including Angelus turned to look at Buffy. She had painfully stood up and was now making her way to the side of the cage closest to the middle of the room. "By killing her family, taunting her, anything you could. You destroyed her." To support herself she held on to the bars. Everyone could see she was struggling not to collapse from the pain and the baby.
"Buffy, you always were a good listener!" Angelus gave Buffy a most flattering smile.
"Go to Hell."
"You're making her crazy!" Willow said in a faint voice. "Why?" Realization dawned on her face. "You're going to turn her, after the baby's born, aren't you?"
"Always the smart one, Willow!" Angelus walked over to Buffy's cage. "Yes, lover, after the birth, you'll die!"
"As if I'll ever let you near me, or my baby!" Buffy yelled in his face.
"But see, you really aren't in the position to be giving be orders." With inhuman strength and speed, he reached in and grabbed Buffy by the throat, lifting her up by the neck. His face changed. "You can barely stand up, and I hear the after birth sleep is quite deep." He shoved her back into the other wall of the cage, dropping her.
"You bastard!" Yelled Xander. The rest of the group followed with insults of their own, as Buffy lay not moving on the floor. The room filled with shouts and the din was almost too much.
"Enough!" Growled Angelus, at the top of his lungs. "All of you shut up!" The gang was quieted into silence. "Not another word or I kill her now, and the rest of you follow!" He stared at all of them. Happy, he switched back into his human face. "Now, back to business!" He walked back to Buffy's cage, opened the door, picked her up, and placed her onto the room's floor, and squatted next to her, waiting. "Buffy! Wake up, we're waiting for you!"
Buffy groaned, rolling over, she opened her eyes, they became wide as she saw Angelus. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" She screamed and tried to move away from him, but he pushed her back down.
"No, please don't try and get up for me." He kept one hand on her stomach to kept her from moving, but she withered in pain, as he pressed down on a wound. "Sorry, did I press to hard? Must be the vampire in me."
"Bastard!"
"You know I thought that because you guys hung out with Giles, and in a library of all places, you might have a better vocabulary."
"Ohhh, more torture, can I play this time?" They all turned—except Buffy, who was busy with pain—to see Dru, Spike and Craig standing in the doorway.
"Not this time Dru!" Angelus shifted so he sat on his knees behind Buffy, with her rest in his lap. If they hadn't been were they were, and Buffy wasn't beaten to hell, a passerby would think these two were practicing for the birth. Except for the fact that Buffy kept trying to move away from Angelus, but he held her hands behind her head, so she couldn't do just that.
"Let her go!" Screamed Cordy.
"What are you going to do about it?" Asked Dru, as she danced in front of her cage. "You're locked up tight, and no one has the key!"
"I do!" Said Spike.
"This!" Shout Xander. He and Cordy grabbed Dru from behind trapping her arms inside the cage, tying them with Xander's belt. Dru was trapped and there was nothing she could do. "How do you like being trapped, you big slut?" Asked Cordy, as Dru struggled.
"Spike!" Dru whimpered.
"Bloody hell!"
"Not a step closer, or she gets it!" Xander raised a short black stick to Dru's throat.
"How the hell did you get that?" Spike asked. Just the Buffy laughed. They all turned to stare at her.
"No one ever checks Cordy's hair do they!" She continued at their silence. "She's known for her fashion sense, and yet no one dares to check her hair. Angel, be a dear and help me up?" Smiling Angelus picked her up and set her on her feet. All of the Scooby gang was speechless.
"Didn't hurt you too much now did I love?" He asked brushing her back off.
"Nah, but back to the problem at hand. She stared at the minion vampires that had come rushing at the shouts. "They're called hair sticks people! Very common, very useful! I've used them on your kind a million times." She walked over to Cordy and Xander's cage, to where Dru was being held hostage. "Xander! Give me the nice stick and let Dru go!"
Xander gaped at her.
"Xander don't do it!" Yelled Willow.
"Shut up!" Buffy turned and yelled at Willow.
"What happened to you?" Asked Jenny.
"I had what you might call…" She smiled at Craig. "A refreshing cup of tea. It cleared everything up for me. Now Xander give me the stick."
"No!" He pressed it al little further into Dru's chest and she whimpered once more.
"You choose now of all times to get brave, great job Xander! Fine we'll do this the hard way. Keys!" She called, one of the guards threw them to her. Spike, Angelus, Craig and the rest of the vampires were waiting patiently by the door. Watching.
Buffy unlocked the cell door, and went in. She walked straight over to Cordy, who was in shock, and grabbed her. Buffy put her hands to Cordy's head, just so, if she jerked them, Cordy's neck would snap. She turned Cordy so she was facing Xander, so he could she the fear in her face.
"Now Xander, let Dru go and drop the stick. Do it, or I'll crack your girlfriend's neck so fast she wouldn't even scream. You know I will, but come to think of it, maybe I should do it slow, it's no fun if she doesn't scream!" Angelus smiled at this comment. "The clock's ticking!"
Xander dropped the stick, and untied Dru, pushing her back to Spike. "What happened to you Buff?"
"Pay attention Xander, we already covered that. Now walk over to that nice looking guard with the Blue hair." Buffy motioned to a vamp. "Let him tie you up, then he'll take you too my room."
"Then you let Cordy go?"
"Yes." And with that, Xander did as she said. And the vamp pulled him out of the room. Once they were gone, Buffy pushed Cordy to the floor, walked out and locked the door again.
"Wait, what are you going to do to him?" Cried Cordy.
"Just play with him a little!" With that Buffy, Dru, Craig, Spike and Angelus walked out. The vamps followed them, locking the door behind them. The gang just stared at the door, not believing what they had just witnessed. Buffy was evil!