New Way of Life
NOTE: I do not own these Angel and Buffy characters, but if you see anyone whom you do not recognize, he/she belongs to me.
A/N: This story takes place after Chosen, but before Conviction, meaning it's the summer in between. To put down a recap, Spike burned up, everyone (minus Anya) escaped on the school bus, Buffy and her friends haven't split up yet, and Angel Inc is preparing to move into W&H. On with the story…
CHAPTER 12
Angel closed his eyes tightly, so tight that they began to hurt. He braced himself for the feel of Angelus' fangs as they leaned in closer towards him, making a light contact with Angel's neck before Angelus pulled back abruptly.
The vampire scoffed, "You don't deserve this. This is way too good for you." He dropped Angel back to the ground and glared down at him, more than anger in his eyes. "I'll just take the strength you have left inside of you and let you suffer a slow, agonizing death. But, hey, no hard feelings, OK?"
"I suggest you back off him," Wesley said, stepping up to the scene, sword in hand.
Angelus rolled his eyes upward and simply held up a hand. "Not a good time, Wes."
Wesley groaned and collapsed to his knees as Angelus' dark energy secreted from his hand, draining the British man in the most painful of ways.
"Wes," Angel whispered his friend's name, watching the goings on in horror.
"Back off!" Dawn exclaimed, charging towards Angelus, hitting him with her crossbow so hard it broke on him.
Angelus dropped his hold on Wesley and turned to Dawn. "That hurt you know," the vampire said. "Not a nice move, Dawnie."
Dawn shrieked as Angelus grabbed hold of her and vamped out.
"Hey, Willow!" Xander called, running up to the witch.
Willow sat in the middle of a circle of candles, several spices and dried flowers sprinkled around her. A serious expression covered her face, as if she were both angry and prepared for anything.
"You got it," Kennedy said to Xander as he handed over the blood stained dagger he carried. "You actually stabbed him."
"Took some doing, but I gave him a swipe so hard I'm pretty sure I saw tears," Xander said, completely bragging.
"Would that be his or yours?" Kennedy asked with a smirk.
"Willow," Lorne said, making his way up top the Hyperion roof. "Took me a while, but I got that ancient Romain statue you needed. I think Fred was using it as a paper weight."
"Romain?" Xander inquired in confusion as Lorne placed the tiny statue in front of Willow.
"We need it for the spell," Kennedy explained. "The Romainet people followed their leader, Romain. He was this ancient sorcerer that dealt with things like this."
"Gotcha," Xander nodded.
"Ready?" Willow finally asked, breaking her own silence.
The three around her nodded as Willow shut her eyes, getting ready.
Dawn tugged at Angelus' arm as much as she could, trying to free herself from his tight hold. Wesley stood with his sword again and Angel had gotten to his feet, both wanting to get a serious piece of the vampire.
"Go ahead, boys," Angelus challenged. "Try to grab her. See if I can snap her neck before you can wiggle a finger."
"Let her go." The four of them in the alley turned to see that Buffy had gotten back up. "I said let her go, Angelus."
"Or what?" Angelus taunted. "You'll ask me again and add a please?"
"I'll force you to let her go," Buffy replied simply. "Doubt it'll be my biggest challenge ever."
"How about watching your sister's eyes roll back in her head?" Angelus asked, taking his hand to Dawn's throat. "A good strangle could handle that one." Dawn, feeling desperation ride through her, bit down on Angelus' forearm as hard as she could, hard enough for him to accidentally let her go.
Dawn went to stand by her sister and said, "Doesn't feel good when you're on the ouchie end does it?"
"Buffy," said Angel.
"It's about time we finish this," Buffy said to Angelus, raising her stake. "Once, for all, and… all that other stuff."
"Buffy," Angel said, raising his voice and clutching his stomach.
The Slayer continued to ignore Angel as she continued with, "You told me what you love about Slayers. Now how about I tell you what I like about vamps? Oh, right. Sticking the pointy, wooden object through your hearts."
Angel suddenly collapsed to the ground, landing on his side. He released a sharp groan, finally getting Buffy's attention. The blonde was at his side in a moment's time, holding his brown haired head to her knee.
"The spell," Angel grunted, continuing to grip his stomach as throbs of pain shot through him. "Willow's spell."
"It's wearing off," Buffy figured out, alarm in her voice. "Angel, please, try to hang on for a minute."
"I don't think either of you have that long," said Angelus with a smirk as he approached the couple.
"Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed, attempting to run to her sister's aid.
"Down, girl," Angelus said, simply waving her hand, shooting Dawn down with his dark energy.
"Dawn," Wesley grunted, crawling over to the teenager, as he was still weak from Angelus' previous attack on him.
"Well, Buff, look around," Angelus said to her. "All your friends down, your boyfriend looking like he has about two seconds to go on, life is just hell for you, ain't it?"
"You'll know hell when I'm done with you," Buffy said menacingly.
"You know, this new power thing of mine is pretty cool when you think about it," the vampire said. "I've sucked the energy from more than dozens so far. But I wonder how a Slayer's strength feels." Angelus unexpectedly took hold of Buffy and held her against him by her arms as he began to drain her, causing the Slayer to writhe in his grip.
Buffy stood frozen as he held her, unable to even gasp for breath.
Angel, watching it, scanned the alley frantically then spotted Wesley's sword and took hold of it. Feeling even more painful pings than before, Angel stood and lowered his deep chocolate eyes at Angelus, ready to do more than just a little damage. He swung back and cut Angelus in the same area of his shoulder Xander had stabbed him in.
"Keep your hands off my girl," Angel ordered lowly.
"God," Angelus yelled, dropping Buffy. "That actually smarted. Didn't think you had it in you, Angel."
"Just like I'm no longer in you," said Angelus, never removing the glare on his face. "And never will be again."
Angelus smiled at him for a moment then suddenly pulled back and smacked Angel in the face so hard it sent him flying out of the alley, onto the sidewalk.
"Yeah, well, I kind of don't need you," said Angelus. "Got the Slayer juices."
Buffy panted for air and scowled up at Angelus.
"Oh, Romain," Willow's voice chanted through the air, lit candles surrounding her. "Hear our call and grant our wish."
"Look at you," said Angelus to Angel, who could barely get up from where he was on the sidewalk. "In love with a Slayer, one of the do-gooders, and even dependant on magic spells just to keep breathing. I don't think anything is sicker."
"How about you look in a mirror?" Buffy suggested. "Oh, right. That'd be a little hard for you."
Angelus pulled Buffy up to him, making her groan and struggle. "Your powers are the best I've felt. How about another taste?"
"Grant us our wish," Willow continued to chant, her red air swaying with the mystical air about her. "Free the champion and drain the beast. Let the champion obtain what should be his own."
"You can take my power," Buffy said to Angelus. "You can go uber empty of the Buffy. It won't save you. Somewhere, whether it's me or whoever, a Slayer will stop you."
"For final words…" Angelus thought for a moment. "Well, those kind of sucked."
"Let the champion obtain what should be his own," Willow kept on.
"Fred," Gunn said to the ailing girl. "Come on, girl. You need to wake up. You have to wake up. I know what happened between us before, but I never stopped loving you. You have to know that, Fred. Just wake up and tell me you know that."
Fred, a light moan escaping her lips, opened her eyes slowly. "Charles?"
A huge smile covered the black man's face as he took her hand. "Shh, I'm here, babe."
"Is it over?" Fred whispered. "What has Angelus done."
Gunn brushed back some of her brown hair with his finger and replied, "It ain't over. Not as long as Angel and Buffy are out there, it's nowhere near over."
"Romain, please, drain the beast and allow the champion to obtain what should be his own." Willow felt a sensational glow surround her as she screamed, "Let the champion obtain what should be his own!"
Buffy watched in awe as Angelus was the one to finally fall to the ground. He moved around in such a wild motion it was like he was having a seizure. The vampire let off an ear piercing scream, making Buffy and everyone else in the alley cover their ears immediately. Some form of illumination exploded from Angelus' body and shot like an arrow towards Angel, covering the man.
"Angel!" Buffy shouted, running to him, unknowingly gaining every ounce of her strength back in that frantic motion. She dropped next to Angel as the light faded. "Are you all right? If you're not all right then just lie and tell me you're all right."
"Why lie?" Angel smiled up at her as he stood wit her. "Honesty would work well at this point."
"Oh, Angel!" Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him forcefully.
Angel hugged her back, stroking her golden hair.
"Uh, guys," Dawn said, getting the two's attention back. "We got one bad guy down."
Buffy and Angel turned to look at Angelus, who just remained on the ground frozen, but trying to breath.
"I think Willow's spell succeeded," said Wesley, getting up then helping Dawn to her feet.
Angel reached out his hand and looked his arm over. It seemed to somehow be stronger "I think so, too."
"Angelus' power," said Buffy, going into realization. "It went all blast-y inside of you."
"Wait," said Dawn. "Then that must mean…"
"Angelus is a regular man." A smile actually escaped Wesley's lips. "No power whatsoever."
Buffy smirked as she approached Angelus and went to stand over him. "No power, huh?" She knelt down and picked up the stake she'd dropped. "I really like the sound of that."
"Buffy, don't," Angel stopped her.
"What?" the entire alley asked him.
"Angel, come on," said Buffy. "This is the one time the we-good-guys-don't-kill-humans clause thing-y doesn't apply."
"I know," said Angel, taking his sword. "I have to do this."
Buffy understood it and nodded. "Go for it."
Angel went to stand over Angelus' head and held the sword up over his own.
"You can't," Angelus' weakened voice murmured. "You wouldn't."
With one clear swipe of the sword, Angelus' head was off.
"Oh, so ew," Dawn said, turning away from the incredibly bloody scene, burying her face in Wesley's shirt.
Angel dropped the sword and released a large sigh. Buffy smiled a sweet, gentle smile and went to embrace Angel, who put his arm around her tiny waist. It was finally over.
A/N: Wow, just one more chapter to go. I can't believe we've finally made it this far. Please review!