[Cordy shows how vicious she can be without a soul. Angelus pretends to be the hero so he can catch the damsels. Meanwhile, Spike tries to convince Buffy and Xander (as well as Willow and Tara) that he's on their side.]
Cordelia walked up to the players. She looked human, like the high school girl she once was. "Hi boys," she said, flirting heavily with them. They said hello. She could see they were interested.
"You guys sure are tall," she said, all wide-eyed and innocent. "I really like tall guys." The boys were definitely flattered. Their only concern was which one of them would snag this babe. She put her arms around the shoulders of two of them as she walked with them.
"You go to school around here?," one of them asked.
"I go to Saint Mary's. You know, the one without any boys. My parents send me there cause they think I'm too wild."
"That's a shame," one of them said.
"How wild?," a more impetuous boy asked.
"Too wild for you. I don't think any of you could handle me. What am I saying? All of you together couldn't handle me."
The boys looked at each other. This definitely wasn't on their menu of adolescent fantasies. "All of us, at the same time?," one of them asked, cringing.
"Course not, silly. One at a time. Who wants to go first?"
"How bout me?," the captain asks, playing along.
"If you insist. Don't say I didn't warn you." She grabbed his jacket with both hands, pulled him towards her and bit into his neck. For the first few seconds, he liked it. Then he realized what was happening. By then, he was too weak to scream. She finished drinking, then dropped him to the ground.
The other boys were stunned. It took them a second to run away. She grabbed on of them as he tried to make a break for it and snapped his neck with the graceful follow-through Angelus had taught her. Cordy looks at her fleeing prey and pouts. "Why don't they ever fight?," she laments before pursuing the other three. They ran together, which made them very easy to catch. She leaped and knocked two of them down from behind. The third boy looked back, saw his friends on the ground, and kept running. When he got to the corner, Cordy was waiting for him. "I thought you boys were a team." She savored the expression of terror on his face as his looked at her in all her bumpy, fangy, yellow-eyed glory. Then she bit down and drank.
The two remaining boys were now fleeing the other way. Cordy galloped after them, her jacket a streak of red in the dark night. There was a boulder about three feet tall in the next yard. She leaped in the air off her left foot, landed on the boulder with her right foot, and leaped off that foot towards one of the boys, her red boots sailing through the air. She gave him a flying left kick, knocking him across the street into a hedge. Then she chased the other boy, caught him, and tackled him. She knocked him on his back and got on top of him. "I said you guys couldn't handle me. You should have listened." She let go of his arms, allowing him to squirm and struggle as she drained him. Four down, one to go.
She stood up and wiped her mouth clean. She never got blood on the Armani. Cordy ran to where she had left the remaining boy, and leaped over the hedge. She could hear him sprinting away. In front of her was a one-story ranch house. She leapt on its roof for a better view. She could see him fleeing through the yards the next block over.
The boy ran out onto the sidewalk two blocks away and stopped to look around. He was gasping for air. He couldn't see anyone. Maybe he had lost her. Then he felt fingers moving across his stomach. Cordy grabbed him from behind with her right arm. She let him gasp and struggle. She liked that part.
She ran her left hand down his left cheek and neck. "Please, please don't kill me," he pleaded. She loved the pleading.
"A minute ago, you were itching to gang-bang me with your buddies. What's changed? Are you intimidated by a strong woman?"
"Please let me go. Please. I'm seventeen. I'm too young to die."
"So was I," she whispered into his ear. She went to bite him. But she never got the chance. A man came barrelling into the two of them from the right side, knocking them apart. It was Angelus, wearing his long black cloth coat. Angelus stood up and faced Cordy.
"I'm not letting you take this one!," Angelus yelled.
"Just try and stop me!," Cordy yelled back. She charged Angelus and landed a right hook. He answered with one of his own. When she tried another right hook, he grabbed Cordy's arm and threw her fifteen feet back. She got up off the ground and ran away, vanishing into the night.
"Are you okay, son?," Angelus asked the boy.
"What happened? What was that? Who are you?," the severely traumatized boy asked in between gasps.
"Shane Parnell, Sunnydale PD," Angelus answered, showing the boy a badge he took from a cop he killed a while back. "I'm here to protect you."
"Who am I?," Spike asked Xander, repeating the previous question. "Where should I begin? I came in uninvited, so obviously I'm not a vampire. But I was. Ever hear of Spike? William the Bloody?"
"Who?," Buffy asked.
Spike felt wounded. "Didn't your Watcher tell you about me? I'm sure he knows who I am."
"He's been dead for five years," Buffy answered.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Spike wondered what else was different. "My point was, I'm here because we have someone in common – Angelus. I globetrotted with him for 20 years, until he got his soul. Actually, it was eighteen without his soul and two with it. He hung with me and Dru and Darla for a spell after getting it cause he didn't know what else to do. Finally went his own way in China during the Boxer Rebellion. We lost touch after that. Now he's back to his old ways. But I'm not. And I'm going to kill him for you."
"That's a lovely little yarn you got there," Xander condescendingly told Spike. "Now just tell us which asylum you escaped from and we'll have you back behind those padded walls in no time."
"Oh, piss off, Xander!," Spike shouted.
"How the hell do you know my name?" Spike wasn't good at make-believe. So he tried to squirm out of this one through blatant flattery.
"How do I know you're bloody name? You're Xander. She's Buffy. She's the Slayer. Everyone knows about you guys. You're legends in the demon-fighting community. Especially you, Xander. I know a couple blokes who look up to you as a, well, as a, role model." It was tough for Spike to stay in character and say this with a straight face.
"Really?," Xander responded with pride. But the praise only makes him more suspicious. "You're not just making that up to snow me over, are you?"
"We know who we are," Buffy tells Spike dismissively. "The question is, what are you?"
"I'm a human being. With a soul. An ex-vampire."
Xander was not amused. "Perfect. Another guilty mass murderer looking to lend us a helping hand. That always turns out well."
Spike laughed. "I'm not Cursed. I can have all the perfect happiness I want." He glanced furtively at Buffy. She doesn't even notice the insinuation.
"What you're talking about is impossible," Buffy declares.
"Wierder things have happened, especially around here."
"Yes, and they were all evil," Buffy responds. "Besides, why would a soulless demon choose to be human?"
Spike was ready to have some fun. Because Buffy had never heard of him in this world, he was free to take unlimited liberties with the truth. "I had a good run. Did everything a vampire could do. That was the bloody problem. I was bored. After travelling the world five times over, fighting and killing six Slayers, there was nothing new left to do. For three long years, I couldn't feel anything. My passion was gone. I was empty. At the end of my bloody tether. So I thought, why not? I've always been a risk-taker."
"You did this for novelty?," Buffy asks incredulously. She's not very impressed.
"I did it for the challenge. No vampire had ever survived these trials."
"What trials?"
"And who hosted this little game show? Was it Regis?," Xander jokes. Spike can tell they're not taking him seriously.
"There was a demon in a cave in West Africa. I passed his impossible trials, proved I was worthy, got what I wanted. To be honest, I was surprised how easy it was. I think he was surprised too – that I survived." And now a chance to show his sensitive side. "But that was the easy part. I was so bloody stupid, rushing in without thinking, like always. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. All the guilt, all the pain I felt for all those people I killed. It was unbearable. I couldn't go on. But I couldn't give up. Not after coming that far. I had to find a way, a path, a purpose. And the only way to keep my conscience from eating me alive was to atone by fighting evil, protecting the innocent, killing those I was once like. It's the only way I can live with myself. So that's what I do. And that's why I'm here."
Xander was skeptical. "Great speech Spike, if that is your real name. I think I read it once in a comic book. The thing about comic books is, they're not real."
"I knew you wouldn't believe me. That's why all I'm asking you to do is nothing. I saw Angelus earlier tonight. He doesn't know I've changed. He still thinks I'm evil. Bloody perfect. Because Angelus a coward." Spike knew Xander would like the sound of this. "That's why you haven't been able to kill him. Whenever he's attacked, he runs away. The only two things he's good at is hurting the helpless and hiding. Xander, I bet you have more bravery in your left pinky than Angelus has in his undead, sod-awful body. He knows you two can kill him. So he avoids contact. But he thinks I'm his friend. I can get in his lair, right up next to him, and stake him before he knows what's up. I'm his Trojan Horse. The downside is, now that I'm human, I'm not strong enough to kill the two. But you guys are. Here's my proposal: I go into Angelus's mansion. You two wait outside. I put Angelus at ease, then I stake him when he least suspects it. After he's dust, you two enter and finish the deal. If I can't kill Angelus and he kills me instead, you walk away and he never knows you came by. If I'm crazy, if I'm bonkers, I die, and you two don't get so much as a bloody scratch. What have you got to lose?"
Buffy and Xander went into the kitchen to discuss the matter. Spike leaned back on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. Then he heard the door open and saw two people enter. "Willow. Tara?" He was so shocked to see Tara alive and well that he forgot to remain in character.
"Who are you?," Willow asked suspiciously.
"Yeah. And, uh, how to you know who we are?," Tara queried nervously.
Spike had to come up with a quick explanation. Once again, he used flagrant flattery to cover his tracks. "You two, the two of you, your fame proceeds you. Best good bloody witches on the west coast."
Tara smiled nervously. "Thanks, but, were not very powerful wiccans."
"Piffle. You're selling yourselves way short." Spike began to worry that in this alternate dimension Willow and Tara had not fully developed their powers.
Willow was more flattered by the praise than Tara. "We have done a few cool things. Especially Tara. She's the powerful one."
"Um, that's sweet, but we both know you're the one with the gift."
"You're embarrassing me in front of the houseguest," Willow playfully joked. Then she looked at the visitor. "By the way, who are you?"
"Name's Spike. I'm a freelance good guy who came to help you with your Angelus infestation." Willow and Tara appeared nervous when Spike mentioned that name.
"H-h-he's back?," Tara asked.
"Spotted him at that club in town right before I came here. He doesn't usually live here?"
"Not for more than a year," Willow explained.
"And even before then he was away more than he was around," Tara added.
"He's kind of an absentee bad guy," Willow joked.
"You, you're going to fight Angelus?," Tara nervously asked Spike.
"We have a history. I have a plan. With Slayer making three, it's worth a shot."
Tara sat down to Spike's left. She was trying to get a sense of this man. "You're not from here. You're not from this world," she told him. Spike grew nervous.
"What? What are you talking about?," he asked, feigning ignorance.
"Someone powerful sent you. Someone powerful had to."
"Tara, what's going on?," Willow asked.
"His aura. It's lost. I mean, it's here, of course. But it feels out of place. Like this isn't where it belongs." Willow looked suspiciously at Spike.
"Is there something important you're not telling us?" This really put Spike on the spot. Pretending Tara didn't know what she was talking about didn't seem a viable option. But neither was the truth. So, he feigned exasperation, electing to play the Man On A Mission who doesn't have time to explain.
"Okay. I admit it. I'm not from around here. But I was sent to help. And I swear on my bloody life that I'm on your side." Willow didn't seem swayed. Spike looked hopefully at Tara. A few seconds later, She looked at Willow.
"He's ashamed of his past. But he wants to make amends."
"You can read all that in a person's aura?," Willow asked with surprise. Tara laughed.
"There's other ways to read people."
"How did you, uh, read me when we first met? Was it magic?"
"Between you and me? Always," Tara responded with a grin. She took Willow's left hand in her right.
"For real? Or just metaphorically?"
"With us, it's always been so hard to tell."
Once Tara hinted that she trusted him, Spike walked out of the living room, leaving the two lovers to enjoy their warm and fuzzy moment alone. Spike waited nervously in the foyer. Buffy and Xander were still in the kitchen, debating whether are not to go along with Spike's proposal. He wondered what was taking them so long.
"We need to get you somewhere safe," Angelus said to the boy.
"What happened? What was she?," the terrified lad asked this square-jawed, serious-looking man.
"A walking nightmare, that's what. Crazy kid, doesn't care about anything, all strung out on absinthe (he was betraying his age with that one). So she turns psycho. Thinks she has super powers. Goes on a rampage. Usually they're losers, outcasts with no friends, no future, resentful of good upstanding young men like yourself. She destroys what she can't have. It's sad, really. Young people today just have no respect for human life." Angelus was revelling in his role as the good guy.
"But my friends, they're all, I mean, I saw her - "
Angelus tried to break the news gently. "Yes. sadly, they're no longer with us. I'm sorry I couldn't get here in time to save them. When I got the call, I came as fast as I could. I can't imagine how horrible you feel right now. But you have to be strong. You can't let her win. You can't let her get the others."
"Others. What others?"
"You have a girlfriend, don't you?," Angelus asked.
"Yes, but - "
"And your friends, the ones she took, do they have girlfriends?"
"Yes, but I don't see - "
"She'll probably go after them next. I'm going to help you protect them, make sure they're safe."
"Why is she doing this to us?"
"Like I said, she envies you and your friends. She can't be like you, so she destroys you. It's awfully sad. Kids today, they're just so out of control. Breaks my heart."
"I just don't believe it. Jack, Mark, Trent, Jared . . . gone. This can't be happening."
Angelus put his right arm around the kid's shoulders. "I wish it weren't, son. I wish to God that it weren't. But right now, we have to think about catching her and protecting you. I already put an APB out. We got four squad cars tracking her down. My job is to keep you and your friends safe. She probably knows where you live. So right now, your house isn't safe. You mentioned something about a girlfriend, I believe?"
"Yes. Jenny. You think she'd go after her?"
"Maybe if she sees her on the street. Definitely not in her home. We should probably go there. Does Jenny live nearby?"
"Uh, no. She's about two miles from here, on the other side of town."
"No problem. We'll take my car." Angelus jumped into his convertible. He opened up the passenger side door.
"This doesn't look like a cop car."
"I work undercover," Angelus responded. "That's the only way to catch the really bad guys."
NEXT: Dawny makes her own wicked fun torturing college boys and showing Harmony who's boss. Meanwhile, Angelus's trickery bears more fruit than even he could have hoped for.