CHAPTER 26: HER DESTINY


"How do you think they are doing?" Anya asked Willow. She and Willow sat in the living room, waiting nervously either to hear from the rest of the gang or the guy that was supposed to deliver the orb. Anya had been considering her words carefully. She wasn't sure what was appropriate to say and do – she rarely did when it came to situations of crisis. Just as she hadn't known what to say at Dawn's funeral, or when they first learned that Angel and Angelus were in Sunnydale. Mostly she just joked it away, which was almost what was expected of her, but sometimes the fact that she lacked knowledge in what was considered proper human emotions made her feel left out, like someone that didn't belong.

"I don't know," Willow said, deep in thought. "I just don't know…" She sighed. "I know I should have faith in Buffy's ability to take Angelus out without anyone getting hurt. I do, on some level, but I know what he's capable of. Buffy is so good at all demony things, but Angel is her weak spot."

"Yes, so I've noticed," Anya commented.

"I mean, it's just so… it's always been like that, you know? All the way back to when they first met, even though Buffy wouldn't admit it until much later."

"Angel is large and glowery and very manly. I can see why a girl would get attracted to him," Anya mused. "Of course I have Xander, who is smaller, not at all glowery and less manly, but I like him anyway." She smiled. "He told me that he stood up to Angel more than once when he was evil a few years back."

Willow shrugged. "Well, yeah. I guess he did. He stood up to him mentally once or twice, but still, he only got out of those situations alive because Angel allowed him to. He can take all of us out without breaking a sweat; it's only Buffy who is a match for him at all. I... I just hope the orb arrives soon."

Luckily, just when she'd said that, they heard a distinct knock on the door. Willow practically jolted up from the couch and hurried to the door. Not that she was in much of a hurry, really, but somehow she had a gnawing feeling that Angel should be re-cursed sooner rather than later.

She opened the door. Outside stood a large, gum chewing man with a baseball cap on his head.

"Hi. How ya doin'?"

"Do you have the orb?" she prodded, not wanting to waste any time.

"Take it easy little lady. Yeah, I have the shiny bobble right here."


Buffy slowly got to her feet. Or it was foot, really. When she touched the ground with her right foot she felt a stabbing pain in her knee and the world flickered dark before her eyes for a few seconds. She did her best to hide it as the others came up to her.

"Buffy, are you okay?" Giles approached her. He had a worried frown on his face.

"Yeah, I'm okay… I... I just lost my breath," she said, trying not to grit her teeth.

"How is your leg?"

"It's okay… It hurts, but I'm fine. You go home, I need to follow him."

"No, Buffy, you're hurt." She glared at him, angry that he would try to decide her actions for her, even though she knew deep down that he was just concerned about her.

"I'll go with you," Xander offered bravely, even though he knew he wouldn't be much help in a fight. Buffy shook her head.

"No, I'll do this on my own. I may be hurt, but so is he. I got in a few lucky strikes. I'll be fine, I promise. Go home and make sure Willow can perform the spell as soon as possible. Take Drusilla…" she fell silent, glancing around the room. "Where is Spike?"

They all looked at the spot where Spike and Drusilla had been a few minutes earlier.

"So Willie-wanna-bite made with the bolting. Great," Xander muttered.

"I wouldn't worry about that. We've faced them before, and now Spike has his chip. Now go, I'll have to follow him while the trail is still hot."

"Good luck, and for goodness sake – be careful," Giles said.

"You know me," Buffy repeated her words from a few nights back with such indifference, it made chills run down Giles' spine. It almost sounded like she didn't much care how her encounter with Angelus would turn out, which was definitely worrying.

Before he had time to express his concerns she made her way out the front door, struggling not to limp too badly. The pain filled her eyes with tears of pain and frustration. She knew it wasn't such a good idea to go after Angelus with an incapacitating wound, but she didn't have much of a choice. She could only hope that Angelus' wounds were enough to slow him down just as much.

When she came outside, she wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry. He had taken his car, she could see the taillights heading down the hill. Why? Knowing Angelus, he might be hurt so badly that he wanted the advantage of a vehicle – or he might simply know that follow him in his car would tire her wounded body more than if he went by foot. Well, it wasn't much she could do. She had to follow him, especially if he was driving since it meant that he would be able to wreak even more havoc in a short amount of time.

He wasn't driving very quickly – he must want her to follow him. She had to struggle with every step, but taking shortcuts she kept up the pace pretty good.

He let her follow him at a pretty close distance. It was obvious that he was leading her somewhere, but she had no choice but to go with him. She was too slow to catch up with him, and she couldn't turn and go home now.

She saw him stop the car and enter an alley. It was probably a trap, but what could she do? Stand outside and wait, possibly as he found another way out and left? She followed him. As she expected, she couldn't see him anywhere when she entered the alley, but he was there all right.

"Okay. You can come out now, hide and seek really isn't my favourite game," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She heard a soft thud behind her as he jumped down from the roof. She turned to face him.

"Not my favourite game either. I'm more of a hands on kind of a guy," he said, grinning.

"Really? I would have guessed tag as your favourite game. You definitely have the running away thing down." He moved closer to her.

"Buffy, Buffy. Manners! It's not very mature to insult people like that. If I'd had a soul I might have cared. Lucky I don't."

"You're right. Lucky you don't. She took a step forward, using her wounded leg more than she should. She closed her eyes for a second as pain washed over her. Angelus noticed it.

"This is a nice little standoff we're having here. Mm, I'm feeling the cold. Was this how you and the consolatory beefstick spent your nights?" he sneered, knowing exactly which buttons to push to puss her off.

Buffy lunged forward and attacked him, for a moment forgetting her pain. He managed to catch her fist before she could hit him. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. She whimpered, not wanting to think about what the numbing pain meant for her knee – fighting with a snapped ligament couldn't be good, could it? Quickly recovering from the pain she aimed to kick him, when…

"You know, Willow screamed nicely when I killed her," said with a smirk. It was a lie, but it just might throw her off balance. It did. Buffy froze for a second. Could he have? Could he have had time? It certainly was his style, and if he knew that they were about to curse him again…

"You're lying," she said, strained. He chuckled.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. The important thing is that you think I just might not be." He was right. She let his comments get to her, let herself believe that maybe it was true, and that made her very vulnerable.

When Buffy was still reeling from the mental punch he gave it all and grabbed her, once again twisting her knee as he spun her and threw her into the brick wall.

She was dazed, and he used it to his advantage. She tried to fight him, but his strong arms pinned hers to the wall without much trouble and he pushed her down, forcing her to the ground, and using only one leg, she was too weak to stop him.

She remembered that time in the cemetery when she had the flu and tried to fight him. He had almost managed to bite her that time, but her friends had been there to save her. In her mind, she saw Angelus go limp and fall to the ground as her friends came to her aid and rescued her at the last minute… She saw Giles say that he'd had a bad feeling… saw them help her up and drag Angelus with them back to her house… She saw everything sort itself out for the best.

But no one came. No friends. She was alone.

She did what she could, wriggling and writhing. Pinning her down he had her functioning leg caught under one of his knees, she tried to use the wounded knee but nearly fainted from the pain only when she moved it. She was completely broken, her injured body just wanting her to let go, to slip into unconsciousness, and she had to fight it every second.

Her head still hurt from Angelus' blow earlier, and the vision on the left eye wasn't completely what it should be. Her energy was draining; her arms were throbbing with pain from being held so hard, grinded against the cold ground. When she fought him he lifted her and smacked her back down furiously, whipping her head back against the pavement. She was pretty sure she heard a crack, but it could just be imagination.

She felt the taste of blood in her mouth – had she just bit her tongue, or was she breaking up inside? She wasn't sure. She tried, just as she always had tried… but she knew was loosing… and no one was there for her.

And then she realized...

She really did live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. She existed only for the kill. Absolute… alone. Maybe the Slayer wasn't supposed to walk in this world after all. Didn't belong. Didn't fit in. Only a lonely fighter, doing what she was chosen for until she fell in her duty. Sooner or later… every Slayer had a death wish. And sooner or later… probably sooner, it would be fulfilled. The Slayer had one gift… and it was death.

One moment.

It was one moment that damned her. One perfectly clear moment of pure despair. She had lost so much, been through so many horrors, and now her body was shutting down, preparing for the final blow, the one that would be fatal. In this one moment, she realized that no matter how hard she tried, no matter for how long she fought, how much she suffered and how many she sacrificed on the way… This was the way it would end. Sooner or later. It was her destiny.

And in this moment, when the Slayer had lost all her hope, all her sparkle…

She decided that she didn't mind if it was sooner.

The same moment he felt her surrender, felt her muscles stop flexing desperately for a second as she gave up, he morphed into his demonic features, exposed her neck and sank his fangs into the old scar he once had done himself.


"Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte. Nici mort, nici de-al fiintei, Te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Reda trupului ce separa omul de animal!"
Angelus felt a numbing headache as he drained Buffy. The damn bitch must be about to summon the soul, again, and there was nothing he could do about it. Well, at least he could do the ultimate deed before being locked behind Angel again… Boy, was he in for a surprise when he came back.

She had felt it before, felt him drink her. This was different. He held her so hard, her body pressing against his, drinking deeply. This time he had no intention to stop.

Her whole body was aching, but slowly, for every ounce of blood that was taken from her, the pain lessened. It was comforting, like a warm blanket on a cold day. Death was coming, and when she realized that, she felt such peace, a kind of peace she had never felt before.

When he felt Buffy's heart start to slow down, he stopped drinking. She wasn't even trying to fight him anymore. But when she saw through dazed eyes that he didn't just sit back and watch her die, but that he bit his own wrist… she started to squirm.

He could see the raw fear in her eyes. She had accepted death; in fact, she welcomed it at this point. But dying didn't mean coming back as a vampire, and she didn't want that.

She thrashed her head desperately, trying to get away, her life slipping for every second. If she could just hold on for a few seconds, a few mere moments… She couldn't even feel her legs anymore, didn't realize that her attempts were in vain.Angelus was still pinning her down, and her weakened, dying body had no chance against him. He was stronger than ever and filled with her powerful blood, and she was weaker than she had ever been. But still she fought, to the last breath.


"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el. Utrespur aceastui."
When he realized that he was loosing precious seconds when Buffy struggled, Angelus stopped playing. He enjoyed her frantic death struggle, enjoyed the way her body convulsed, but he couldn't risk her dying – not yet.

Gripping firmly around her throat he pressed her head up, back against the brick wall. She struggled. If he pressed any harder he would crush her windpipe.

She couldn't breathe. The world started fading in front of her eyes. She hoped that it was death that came to take her away, but it wasn't, not yet. Her weakened system didn't have the strength to fight the lack of air too – and it caused her to loose consciousness.

It was only for a second, as soon as Angelus released his grip she started coming to again, but it was too late. She could barely see anything, but she felt the taste of blood in her mouth again, she felt it trickle down her throat, and she knew that this time it wasn't her own.


"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!"
The pain was numbing, but familiar. After all, this was the fourth time he got his soul back. His body shuddered when he struggled to keep still long enough to be sure Buffy had gotten enough blood.

This was priceless. The mighty Slayer, killed and turned by the 'love of her life', all while her friends were huddling in the safety of her house, unaware of what was going on, certain that the little heroine could catch the big bad without their help.

Pulling away from her, he laughed as he felt the soul penetrate his mind and body. So it was over, for this time. But considering the payoff, it might just be worth it.

"Until next time, lover," he managed with a sneer before he sank to the ground, the demon beaten back by the conscience.

And as the soul once more was put in control over Angelus' body, Buffy's straining heart finally gave up the hopeless struggle to keep her body alive. She closed her eyes... and drifted away.


"Is that it? Did it work?" Xander asked, trying to conceal his nervousness. "Is he all soul-disguised again?"

Willow swallowed, taking a few deep breaths to gather herself. Everything had worked out like it should this time, the soul had been summoned and the orb of Thesulah had transferred it. It should be alright. Everything should be alright.

"It worked," she said. "I felt the force go through me."

"So Angel's back then," Cordelia said hopefully.

"Hopefully for a bit longer this time," Xander commented dryly.

"As if he could help that the other spell-thingy didn't hold up," Cordelia shot back protectively. "He's not the one to blame for this."

"No?" Xander stared at her.

"No!"

"Alright, alright, let's... keep our calm," Wesley suggested, holding up a hand. "Bickering won't help. To the best of our knowledge Angel is back, so let's focus on that."

"Fine by me as long as you take the boss with you and leave ASAP," Xander muttered.

Wesley gave him a silent look. Xander's words might sound captious, and to some extent they probably were, but deep down Wesley could see that he held a great concern for the people that were close to him. Even if his old jealousy of Angel evidently held some of the reason to why the boy was so eager to get him away from his town and his friends, he was truly worried for their safety. A bit ironic considering the town they lived in.

"I'm sure everything is fine," Giles said, hoping that he was right. "Buffy and, ah, Angel... they should be here soon."



A/N: So much destruction. Delightful, isn't it? Is all lost? Just wait and see, I will be right back with the next chapter.