CHAPTER 25: ENDGAME


"I bet the look on Buffy's face when she found the cat was priceless."

Darla glared at Angelus, weary of his talk about Buffy. Buffy this and Buffy that. Buffy will and Buffy did, and Buffy, Buffy, Buffy... It was worse than she had thought. Much worse than before he had killed her over three and a half years ago. This was a full-fledged obsession, and from what she had learned about Angelus events with Buffy, just recently and two years ago, he was well into his plan to break her completely.

He had killed friends, boyfriends, teachers, her family, tortured her watcher… The girl had nothing left except for one thing – her spirit. She still had hope, but as soon as that was broken, Darla was pretty sure what would happen. After all, she had seen it all before, happening up-close.

A similar completed work was currently whirling around the room with jasmine in her hair, doing the impression of – and sounding like – a bee. One more lap and Darla was ready to send her outside for an encounter with Mr. Sunshine.

"I'm sure it was," she said, "but shouldn't we be doing something more… evil? After all, cats are nothing above vermin. We should be killing humans."

"Bzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzzz," Drusilla hummed. She must have felt Darla's growing irritation, because before she had time to say anything, her wool mind floated away into the kitchen.

"Well. Humans aren't much above vermin either," Angelus commented. She glared at him.

"Right. So why waste time with killing little furry little beast when we can go right to the main attraction?" He chuckled, knowing that it would enrage her.

"What's the matter Darla? Death make you even less patient than before?" She got up from her seat, approaching him. His eyes, gleaming with predatory instinct and lust followed her every step as she grabbed him.

"Yes. You'd do well to keep your sire happy," she said, a light growl in the back of her throat.

"Heheh, I believe I play the part of the sire this time," he mocked, spinning her around and pushing her up against the wall. She moaned under his touch, pressing herself against him. Had he longed for her as she had for him?

"But don't worry," he continued. "I have plans – big plans, and I'm telling you. Things are about to get very interesting."

"And when would that be? 'Cause so far I've seen jack," she shot back, trying to conceal her arousal with anger. She should have known better – he had known her so long that it didn't matter if she tried to hide it to him. He knew her every thought, every desire. He grinned at her.

"Oh, I think the excitement has already begun," he whispered huskily. He may be as turned on as she was, but instead of giving her what she wanted right away he whipped her away, sending her reeling back and falling onto the couch.

"Well, if you know so much about how Buffy works, why don't you tell me how things will progress from here," she panted in frustration. Their games was nothing new, they had been playing them for about a 145 years.

"Mmm. I suppose you think that cat was just a random distraction," Angelus said, pacing towards her. "It wasn't. That cat was acting as a trigger. Right now, she's having one of her big talks with her little gang. I bet you can imagine it. 'Angel is a danger to all of us, we can't wait for him to come get us, we need to curse him again, I'm going after him now'… Yak, yak, yak. That's good. Tonight, she'll bring the fight here, and we'll take her out."

Darla looked at him suspiciously. "So you're really ready to finish this?" Pushing him down next to her she straddled him, eager to rediscover the muscular, yet supple body that had been only one of things that made her choose him as her mate. What that body had done with the Slayer disgusted her – not because he'd had another; that she had seen many times before – but because it was a Slayer. At least Spike had only killed them. Of course, Darla was sure he wouldn't have had any scruples against doing a Slayer if he had ever found one that would put up.

"Oh yes," he smirked. "I'm ready to focus my… energy… elsewhere."


Buffy crept closer to the window, holding tightly onto the tree she was climbing, hoping that the branch would hold up. She had a stake and a crossbow with her just in case, but she honestly didn't think she was in any danger, not in daylight. More or less covered with bushes, she peeked inside. She could see Angel, or was it Angelus... and the blonde woman on the couch – luckily still pretty much dressed, making out. She looked away. Now that was painful in a whole new way. Angel and another woman.

The bitter feeling of jealousy rose in her, tinged with a bit of anger. Suddenly Buffy could imagine how Angel had felt when he heard about her relationship with Riley. Had he heard about the embarrasing occurence with Parker as well? She found herself hoping that at least it was Angelus in there. If it wasn't, what did that mean?

She concentrated to see the face of the blonde, was it someone she recognized? She had a hard time imagining Angel – Angelus – turning a random woman just to do her. For a moment she looked up. Buffy only had a clear view for a split second, but it was enough. She hadn't seen her in many years, but she would remember that face any time.

Darla.

If she hadn't had her superpowers helping her along, she might very well have fallen out of the tree in sheer shock.

But… how? She was dead, Angel had staked her. There was no going back from that, not from a pile of dust. Still, it was clearly Darla that sat on top of Angel, smooching him... tugging at his belt buckle. Well, it certainly explained why Angel had sired her, and it was another argument for it being Angelus and not Angel in there.

Angel had strong feelings for Darla, even if it wasn't love, and he wouldn't want to damn her as she had damned him so long ago. He would view Darla's resurrection as human as a second chance for her to live her life. Angelus however, would definitely not want to see his sire as a mere human.

Okay, so this complicated matters. Angel and Drusilla were bad enough, now she had to deal with Darla as well? They had been the most dangerous group of vampires in the world in the 19th century, raining destruction over Europe. Buffy smiled to herself. Well, then it was a good thing that she at least had one fourth of said group on her side...


At sunset, Buffy and her gang marched towards the mansion. She would have liked to go sooner, but they had quite a few things to discuss before they could leave. Spike hadn't been as surprised as Buffy expected at the Darla related news. He said he had smelled her in the mansion before, but he hadn't really thought about it since he thought for sure Darla was dead. Luckily he had decided to cooperate this time. Buffy guessed that Drusilla was a pretty big reason as to why.

No matter why he did it, the important thing was that he would fight on their side. The thought that Spike might betray her and switch sides in the middle of the fight had occurred to Buffy… But what could she do? He was valuable since he knew their opponents well, and besides, if he was going to switch sides, it didn't matter if she didn't let him go with them. He would show up anyway.

Willow and Anya stayed in Buffy's house – the orb still hadn't arrived, but since it was delivered personally and not coming by mail, it could at any point.

Lorne had gone with them to the mansion – he wasn't much of a fighter, so the thought was that he should stay in the background and try to read Angel. Since he had heard him sing more than once before, it shouldn't be a problem to it even if he didn't this time. If he couldn't sense a soul anywhere, he would call Willow who would perform the curse as soon as the orb arrived.

Then they would just have to hope that everything worked out the way it should… At least there shouldn't be any problems with using the original curse this time, as soon as Angel's soul left his body completely it would be loose in the ether, not trapped by any magic like last time.

When they came to the driveway outside the mansion, Buffy stopped. She could feel a slight tingle, so she was pretty sure Angel was inside.

"Spike, can you sense Drusilla?"

A beat before he answered. "Yeah, she's in there, for sure."

"Good. Okay, let's be clear about this. Don't take on Angel, he's mine." Spike glared at her. "Or Drusilla, Spike will handle her. I know all of you are more or less capable fighters, but apart from Spike, none of you have any supernatural powers. We're going up against three very strong vampires. Protect yourselves, that's the number one priority. Never lower your weapons."

"No problem on this end, sugarpie," Lorne commented, holding up his crossbow. "If either of the sable-toothed tigers try anything, I know what to do."

Cordelia looked at Buffy. "So what can we do? Should all of us just go for Darla?"

"Something like that. Remember, do play dirty. We don't really have time for honor here. Throw holy water at them, hit them with crosses…" she looked at Wesley who loaded his large shot gun. Not the weapon she would have imagined him carrying, but hey – as long as he could use it.

"Feel free to shoot them, that's fine. Stake if you can, but Angel is a no-kill as you know. Alright? Let's go."

Buffy was ready to swing the door open. She looked at the gang. They were ready. She opened the door.

It was completely quiet inside the mansion. Buffy knew for sure that at least Angel was there, she could feel his presence very clearly, but obviously he had heard them coming. Angel wasn't much for hiding though… As soon as everyone had stepped inside, the door was slammed shut. Behind it, Drusilla revealed herself.

"Oh… Seven little soldiers, all in a row. What should we do with them, daddy?" Drusilla smiled evilly.

"Well…" They all turned their heads. Angel came strolling into the room. "I can think of one or two thing's I'd like to do to them." He smirked. "Why don't we begin with congratulate their gullible asses to coming here, just as I planned."

"You planned? Your plan? "That's our plan for you, mister," Xander hissed. "Well. I bet it was our plan first."

"Heheh. Anyway, I'm… glad you could come. Got my message, hm? Amazing how much blood and guts fits in such a small being, don't you think?" Buffy felt disgusted thinking back at it, realizing what she had already known; he had enjoyed tearing the helpless animal apart.

"You're a pig, Angelus."

"Oh, Angelus now is it? Well, I do prefer that name. Honey? Do you want to come out and play?"

"Oh yeah…" Darla came out from another room. "This should be fun." Buffy stared at the blonde vampire. So here she was again. Here they all were. Again. Darla was reunited with her descendants, and only one of them stood against her. The odds weren't exactly on the good guy's side.

Everything was very quiet and still for a few moments before all hell broke loose. Or more accurately, before the big fight started. Xander, Giles, Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley moved towards Darla, weapons raised, and Spike motioned Drusilla away from the door, while Lorne backed into a corner where he couldn't be surrounded, gripping his weapon tightly.

Buffy and Angelus focused on each other. Buffy looked into his eyes. There couldn't be anything of Angel left in there, she was sure. She threw a quick glance at Lorne for confirmation. He shook his head. No. No soul in there.

Good. Then she could really let on.

Drusilla hissed and scratched Spike in the face with her sharp nails. Giles held a big cross at Darla who growled as she circled the group. Gunn loaded his crossbow and Xander simply threw a bottle of holy water on her. She hissed at him and kicked him in the stomach, which made him fall to the floor groaning.

When Buffy took her focus off of Angelus for a second to look at Lorne, he hit her in the face so hard that she thought her head would explode. She felt her mouth. The lip was broken and bleeding profusely. She was slightly dizzy from the blow and saw black spots and twinkling stars in front of her left eye – it had been a hard impact. Maybe Lorne had been right about what he said. The struggle between the demon and the soul had made the winning part stronger. Angelus smirked as he realized she was momentarily off focus. He moved to her left where she could hardly see him.

She swung at him, trying to hit him, but he dodged it easily and kicked her in the side. He moved quickly and kicked her in the middle of the chest, making her completely loose her breath for a second. As she gasped desperately for air and Angelus laughed at her, her fury grew. Screw the tiny punches.

Now it was time to dance.

"What's wrong, Buff, hm? Look at you! When push comes to shove… you can't even breathe," he sneered at her.

As soon as she could draw breath again she attacked Angelus with fists of such fury, not giving him the opportunity to shield himself she kicked him and managed to send him crashing into the wall. He didn't even stop smiling.

"Like a little kitty-cat. Meow." Drusilla said. "The metal and the wires and the imagination has taken my Spike all away. His princess misses him."

"Well, you know pet, it was you who left me first, for a bloody chaos demon no less."

Gunn shot Darla in the back with his crossbow. For a moment he thought that he had actually hit the heart, but soon she roared as she pulled out the arrow. Darla hit Giles and he sank to the floor dazed, slipping into unconsciousness. As usual.

Wesley decided that it was time to play unfair. He aimed his shot gun and shot Darla, she was hit in the right leg and it definitely slowed her down. She tried to get to him, but when he quickly moved to her right side, she couldn't turn very fast and he shot her one more time, this time in the stomach.

Of course it wouldn't kill her – but it hurt like hell, which was a good thing. While Darla was down Wesley looked over at Angelus and Buffy. She had the upper hand just minutes ago, but now, he was holding her by the neck and throwing her into the wall, definitely the dominant of the two. They really matched each other well today.

Wesley feared that this time Angel would prove to be the stronger one, especially if what Lorne had said about the demon getting more powerful was correct. He considered shooting Angelus as well, but he didn't get the time to expand on those thoughts as Darla hit him over the head. He fell to the ground. Cordelia and Gunn both attacked Darla and managed to get the weakened vampire to fall over.

"Sorry baby, time to sleep." Spike grabbed Drusilla resolutely and slammed her head into the stone wall, and she slumped to the floor unconscious.

Giles got to his feet, having regained consciousness pretty quickly. He saw Angelus holding Buffy by the throat, she whimpered as she tried to wriggle out of his grip. If Angelus applied more pressure, he would break her neck. There was no time to think about it. Giles grabbed his crossbow, aimed and shot. The arrow hit Angelus in the shoulder, he growled and lost his focus for a second which was enough time for Buffy to twist his arm and get loose. She looked thankfully in Giles' direction before she kicked Angelus in the back of his knees and grabbed the arrow. She pulled it out roughly, Angelus hissed in pain and kicked her away.

"Giles, watch out!" Wesley shouted as Darla who had gotten away again advanced towards him. Giles didn't get the chance to load his crossbow again before Darla kicked it out of his hand with her healthy leg. Giles saw his opportunity in her wounds – he lunged forward, kicked the knee where she was shot, grabbed her and spun her around and because of her injuries he managed to send her to the floor.

"NOW!" he screamed, and Gunn and Cordelia fired their crossbows. Both arrows hit her in the chest. Instinctively she tried to grab them and pull them out, but it was too late. Her wounds had slowed her down too much, and it caused her fall.

"Angel!" she called out before she exploded in a cloud of dust.

Angelus was distracted in his fight against Buffy when he saw his sire – and childe, this time around – die. That gave Buffy an opportunity to kick him hard in the jaw one time.

"What's wrong, you distracted?" Buffy mocked, trying to pay him back for all the times he had derided her. "You know what they say. Easy come, easy go."

Unfortunately for Buffy, Angelus wasn't nearly as thrown by her comments as she was by his. Instead of loosing his edge he used the seconds when she mocked him to estimate his and her next move. When it came, when she kicked out at him, he was prepared. He moved swiftly out of the way, grabbed her leg and pulled it harshly. Buffy didn't even have time to register what was happening. Angelus laughed when he heard the ligament in the knee snap audibly.

"Ahh!" Buffy shouted in pain and surprise when her knee was twisted around. First she heard the sound of something rupturing, tearing apart inside with a disgusting sound, and then the pain washed over her. When her foot connected with the ground again, she thought she would pass out from the pain as the world flickered before her eyes, but the anger and rush of adrenaline kept her on her feet. Barely.

She was off balance though and Angelus took advantage of it by kicking her in the chest and weakened, she fell to her back. Angelus stopped for a minute – he wouldn't have if it hadn't been for Buffy's friends, all armed and with their weapons aimed against him.

He had several crossbows and a shotgun aimed at him, and the owners didn't look like they would be pulling any punches. In fact the only thing they were going to pull if necessary, were their triggers. No, this wasn't the time or place to finish Buffy. He leered at the gang and leaped to the nearest window and disappeared in the night, barely escaping the arrows and weapons that were thrown after him.