Part 13: Demon Behind the Man

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"That all?" Spike asked, casually, dipping his head as he looked Angel in the eye. "Really, Angel, or is it Angelus? Either way, I'm hurt. You didn't even bring a vamp worthy of a fight."

"Couldn't be bothered to, and didn't have the time," Angelus said, nonchalantly.

"So, how'd you lose it this time? Angel is a fickle bugger-— Why the hell do I keep talking about you as two different people, or rather, demons?"

Angelus shrugged. "Who cares? In the end, it will all just come down to the two of us."

Spike folded his arms around his chest. "No, I know for a fact you aren't going to be here in the end. I see you as either replaced, or dust."

"Replaced?" Angelus asked, amused.

Spike chuckled at the question. "I don't get you. As Angelus, you do nothing but torture and play around. You do realize that whenever you get it in your thick head to do something that would destroy the world, you will be gone along with it. You do realize that, right?" Spike raised an eyebrow.

"You go around strutting what you think you got, saying that you were cursed and couldn't help but feel like a human." Spike sighed. "And as the great Ponce, you get by, by thinking that you are not Angelus, as if you got some get-out-of-jail free card. Sure you'll go around all broody and try to atone for your doings, but you act as if you are another entity in and of itself, like you couldn't control your evil demonic ways-just cuz you didn't have a soul. 'Look at me, look at me, I'm hurt, how could I do those things? I was bad, evil, argh why do I have to be a dark, evil creature of the night? I wanna be a hero.'" Spike exclaimed, gesticulating as he mimicked his sire.

"But you can't be different, sure you can change-hell, look at me," Spike said under his breath. "You need to realize you are the same vampire with a soul, Angelus, anything otherwise is a load of shit."

Before Spike could finish, he got what he was he waiting for. Help. Willow.

*Spike?* Willow channeled her voice in Spike's mind, quietly, so as to not startle him.

*Yeah, you ready? I have an angel, awaiting his curse.*

*Right. Give me a minute.*

"Got a shiny soul. And here you are, playing house, like you can be forgivin, like you deserve this." Angelus gestured around him. "You even have a a miniature house for your fucking house." He pointed up to the tree-house. "You're not human Spike. And try as you might, you will never be human," Angelus sneered, biting out the last word with amusement.

Missing the first few beats of what Angel had said, Spike rolled his eyes. "We've been down this road before, but I guess since you're still all caught up in the idea that you have an alter-ego that doesn't know what the hell is the up 'n up, I'll explain it again. No, I do not bloody well think I deserve any of this. I don't deserve anything. Not one single, bloody thing." Spike said as he stepped closer to the vampire in front of him.

"But Buffy happens to think that I do. And she's everything, so tha's all that matters. If I were sent to hell, I would not prance about saying 'i's not fair.' Cuz soul or no soul I know what I did, and I take responsibility for it." Spike shifted into game face, tired of talking. "But here's the difference between me and you, and your other so called self, I am one of the same, and I'm man 'nough to put the demon behind the man. Tha's a hell of a lot more than you can ever account for, even when you have your bloody righteous soul."

And in that moment, Angel was returned his soul.

*Perfect timing, Red.*

Spike grinned at the bemused face in front of him. Spike watched the swirl of yellow leave his sire's eyes. "And the real clincher, what's really gonna rock your boat now that you're stuck with a conscience," Spike leaned in and whispered, "you'll remember this prank you pulled. You'll remember putting my son in danger. And you will definitely remember that the whole while you couldn't help but be your uglier half, all I wanted was to embrace my demon in order to protect what has become my life. You'll remember because as long as I'm here, I won't let you forget. Now, leave."

Spike turned to walk back to his house, to leave Angel to his own business, but this was his mistake.

Spike did not feel the arrow in his chest, he only heard the ear piercing scream of his wife. And in the far away distance, a cackle, from a long lost, and forgotten love.

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TBC…

A/N: Sorry folks for the big lack in a fight scene. I don't know my way around fight scenes :(