Hey every body!!! thanx for continueing to read this story.hopefully i can get this story finnished in the next week and then its on to story two. i will add the code for the next story at the end of the last chapter, so its easy to find for you guys :)

Chapter Twelve: Repentance

Hell

A stake to the hearts, and an explosion of dust.

This was not the first time it had happened, nor would it be the last.

And every time the dust fell to the floor, a new fresh body was revealed.

Of course repeated death at the hands of a demon had no effect on the person in question.

"That it?" Spike spat. "You could at least be original, I mean come on, we've been doing this for four hundred years, and all you do is repeatedly kill me?"

The demon was cutting out a new stake.

Spike stayed chained from the ceiling. "Where's the eternal hell. I mean you could have shown me my worst fears repeatedly, or have me kill people again, or anything better than BLOODY KILLING ME AGAIN AND AGAIN!"

Spike yelled the last part as a wave of flame screeched across his back, turning it to ash.

The new flesh quickly revealed itself, blistered and burnt.

The demon smiled at this.

"Think its funny do you?" Asked Spike, a slightly pissed off tone.

The demon ignored him and carried on carving the new stake.

Spike looked at his hell. A small dank cave, not unlike the one he earned his soul in.

The demon guard who continually killed him finished the look perfectly.

Spike had named him Sparky.

The vampire looked down at the floor, whispered a prayer under his breath.

It was amazing to Spike that he had only found any sort of faith after two hundred years in hell. He didn't believe in God particularly. How could he when he was a vampire? But he had faith that there was a reason for everything. It had only taken him the first two hundred years of his hell to achieve this.

"You don't want to waste your breath talking to him," a voice whispered.

Spike opened his eyes.

He couldn't see anyone.

The demon stood up and approached the vampire.

Spike wondered if this was some new kind of torture, as he had been asking for.

"Don't worry William, I'm real. You haven't lost your mind again." The voice told him.

Spike went to open his mouth.

"Shhh," The voice commanded him. "Don't worry your pretty little blonde head. Let's just say, well how can I put this, you got a reprieve..."

Spike felt energy start to well inside him.

The demon walked up to him, and pulled back his arm.

He released his arm and buried the stake in Spike's heart

He screamed as the energy reached boiling point.

The pain from the stake mixed with this new sensation, and he felt himself turn to dust again.

L.A., United State, Three Days Ago

The Immortal looked at Lindsey.

"Spawn of Draven are you?"

Illyria cocked her head. The Immortal knew more than he was telling.

Lindsey looked up. "Don't say that name."

The decomposing one also had knowledge.

The Immortal took a slight smile at that statement.

"What are you talking about?" Illyria asked the Immortal over her shoulder.

There was no answer.

Just pain as her arms were wrenched back on themselves.

Illyria could see the shock on her face in Lindsey's eyes.

She didn't like surprises.

"What the hell?" A voice shouted from outside.

It was Faith.

As Illyria hit the floor her head was facing the doorway, letting her see exactly what was happening.

Faith charged down the man, the one known as Wood behind her.

The Immortal ducked the first blow, upper cutted Wood, spun on his heel and punched Faith straight up and through the ceiling. Grabbing Wood, he disappeared out of sight, leaving Illyria only with the screams of slayers for any information on what was happening.

A shudder and she was back.

Out of her memories.

The shell was certainly having an effect on Illyria, there was no doubt.

First her, for lack of a better word, love of Wesley, followed by her attraction to the being known as Giles. Her awe at the site of slayers for the first time, and finally now her compassion for the dead.

Something had changed in Illyria, and she did not like it.

Angel watched as she turned her head away from the ceiling.

Angel wasn't sure why, but she was smelling less and less like Illyria.

She was smelling more human.

He narrowed his eyes, staring hard at the demon who had possessed his friends body.

He had hated her for taking Fred's body, but recently he had come to accept her.

He didn't know what this meant.

He was sure that it wouldn't make him look the hero to the powers that be. He sighed. It was too much. To expect him alone to save the world. But it was the way the game was playing out, and he would have to deal with it.

Buffy stood over the twin beds.

On one was her former enemy, now ally Faith, on the other Riley, her former lover.

The only one in recent years who wasn't a mass murderer.

Although there was still time, Buffy thought to herself.

Giles had found him, wounded among a pile of injured slayers.

With him on his own and in this condition, it didn't fill Buffy with confidence.

It looked like something had gotten to him. Buffy didn't relish that idea.

She turned her head to look at Faith.

She was broken, bruised and upset didn't begin to cover her feelings. Devastated was the nearest word that matched her situation, and even that was way off.

Buffy turned from the beds and walked out of the room.

Xander laid on a single bed in the next room.

After a few painful hours he had fallen asleep, and had been drifting between being awake and unconsciousness ever since.

Buffy looked in on him, with Giles standing outside the doorway, where he had been since they had moved Xander.

Buffy was sure he hadn't slept in the last three days.

"How is he Giles?" Buffy asked the ex-librarian.

Giles carried on looking at the young man and replied, "As well as a man with a broken spine can be..."

Buffy shuddered.

Her friend of eight years was laying on a bed with a broken back, unable to move.

They couldn't take him to a hospital, as the vampires had imeadiatly set up base in the hospitals, feeding off of the weak.

"When Willow gets back she can-"

"IF Willow gets back Buffy," Giles snapped. "We haven't heard from her in all the time she's been away..."

"She's alive Giles, we have to believe that," Buffy stared at her former watcher, the man she thought of as her father.

"I'm having a lot of trouble believing anything at the moment Buffy," Giles took off his glasses and began cleaning them. "Wood is dead, Willow unheard from, Spike is dust, Wesley is a mystical guardian..."

"A demon queen is giving you the oogley eyes when ever she sees you" Buffy looked at Giles. "It never rains..." She told him, trying to break the tension.

Giles looked at his slayer. "You couldn't have known Buffy, The Immortal seemed to love you, even I believed it..."

"Don't say that, I can't deal with that..." Buffy started to well up. "And I have to deal at the moment, I'm their leader. I'm the slayer. I fight the apocalypse and I can't do that if I'm crying over dead bodies..."

Giles pulled her to him, embracing her as a father would his daughter. "You're also human Buffy, and can't be blamed for trusting a man we all did..."

"Xander didn't, Angel didn't, Spike either..." She sobbed, holding back the tears.

"Xander is always jealous of anyone who finds your heart, and Angel and Spike identified with him when they were evil; maybe we should have listened to them, but it was a mistake I made myself to dismiss it as jealousy," he kissed the young woman's forehead. "Go and talk with him, I'll go out and see if I can find any leads."

"Him?" She questioned as she looked up.

"Angel, I'm sure he didn't mean what he said, and if he did, you have to sort this out, because we can't stop the apocalypse if we're at each others throats..."

Angel watched Buffy as she walked into his Office.

She stood in front of him.

He could smell the tears she had shed recently.

He looked at his one time love.

She had cost him his soul.

She had sent him to hell.

"We need to talk," Buffy stated.

"Sure Buff, not in the middle of anything here..." Angel snapped back

"Why are you being so defensive?" Buffy asked, in a angry tone.

"Call me crazy, but I don't like being accused of murder,"

"Call me crazy but you did murder people..."

"That was Angelus." Angel was angry, to say the least.

"It was your body, you hands that performed the act," Buffy said coldly. "I didn't come here to argue. I came here to apologise. When I said that I was being defensive, you can understand that right?"

"Understand what?" Angel asked.

"The shock of learning your lover is a killer."

"THIS is your apology?!" Angel snapped.

Buffy looked at Angel. "It was meant to be, but you started being all defensive..."

"Look," Angel stopped. "Buffy, we have to stop this. There's an Apocalypse going on. We have to fight it. And I need to know two things,"

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Can you kill him if you have to?"

"Killed you." Buffy replied, straight faced.

"Do you love me?" Angel looked at her with the same eyes he done all those years ago. "Cos I can't deal with this uncertainty. You're cookie dough, that's great. But I need an answer. We could be about to die, and I need to know if the woman I love has any feelings for me..."

There was silence. Buffy looked at Angel, while Angel stared back.

"That's what I thought," Angel smirked. He walked past Buffy and out of the door. "We fight as soon as everyone is able, then if we survive I'm leaving. I mean really."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"As far away as humanly possible," Angel looked at her. "I just can't deal with this anymore..."

As he walked away Buffy felt a small tug of her heart screaming to call out to him, as it always did.

But she didn't. And the vampire headed up the stairs to the first floor of the hotel, and out of Buffy's heart.

The Deeper Well, England

Wesley walked back and forth.

A flash of light went off in front of him.

Lilah stood there.

"Well?" Lilah asked.

"It's done," Wesley told her. "And what you promised?"

"Also done," She smiled. "We always did make a good team Wes."

"No, you manipulated me into doing whatever you wanted me too," Wesley replied, with a deadpan look on his face.

"Sure, but isn't that what all relationships are?" She retorted. "People blackmailing each other into doing their bidding in the promiss of the fact that they are loved"

"I care for you Lilah, but I pity you as well, if that's what you truly think..."

"Save it lover, I don't have time for this. See, if I'm gone for too long they'll start to wonder what I'm up to, and I can't have that now can I?" Lilah winked.

Wesley didn't answer. He knew what he had done would cost him in his redemption.

"How long?" The ex-watcher asked.

"About..." Lilah looked at her watch. "Now."

And she disappeared.

As she did, a very naked man appeared in front of Wesley, laying on the floor.

"Spike..." he muttered.

OK, so Spikes back like everyone wanted, although he always was going to come back like this. :). hopefully it was a different way for him to come back than how you expected, cos i do like surprising people. review please, and let me know what you thought about this latest chapter :D