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Romania 1898

"Why do you come before us demon? You know that only death awaits you here." The man looked upon the beautiful abomination that stood in the midst of his people.

"I come to tell you of your failure. You tried to curse the demon that robbed you of the soul of your people. You thought that replacing his soul would be the ultimate vengeance. As an expert on torture I have to commend you're inventiveness, a novel and painful idea to be sure. Mental torment is the most powerful of all…"

"You try our patience; say what you wish before you die."

The old woman that had cursed William emerged from her tent, sweeping aside the door that bore the symbol of their people. A burning sun, so detailed that Angelus thought he could feel it prickling his skin. Something about this demon compelled her to go to him. She could not read his thoughts. He was the first creature that had ever kept her from his mind and that power astounded her. She raised her hand and the jeers of the crowd stopped and Eric fell silent.

"Speak Angel, I wish to know your mind."

To their shock the demon kneeled before the elderly woman. "Mistress, you have been brutally deceived and used. You have not gained justice for the death of your daughter; you have merely exacted vengeance for another."

"I do not understand what you say. Our spell worked."

"That it did. William is destroyed by guilt. But he was not the one that killed your beloved. The monster that did that is called Darla, she is my Sire. She was jealous of the love that I shared with William. It meant that I had no time for her. She used you to hurt me and destroy him."

"We will destroy her then." Eric had the crowd cheering at that comment.

"This I do not understand. Why have you come to us demon? Why not destroy us?" The old woman's calm voice once again forced the clan into submission.

Angelus gave a wry chuckle. "Because you understand vengeance."

The old woman was intrigued. There was so much power in the figure before her; she wanted to know what he wished to do. She could see the unholy fire that burned in his eyes and knew that the vengeance he would create would be more devastating than anything she could conceive of. Love was the most dangerous of all emotions. To cross it was to tempt the Devil himself, and here he was kneeling before her. With startling clarity she realised what he was. He was a Seducer, a vampire that could feed and manipulate emotion. This creature could bend nations to his will, and yet he wasn't using it to control her. He knelt before her, stripped of all power but his imagination. She motioned for him to continue.

"If you curse Darla she will walk into the sun as soon as dawn breaks. Your victory would be fleeting. Our vengeance should be eternal… I have learnt that the best way to destroy an opponent is to wait until they are unprepared and unaware. I come to you with an offer. Will you hear it?"

"Speak Child."

"We destroy them all. Darla loves her Master and he loves his Order. We take it all away." The fire in his eyes was now an inferno of rage and hate.

"How can we do that? We have neither the numbers nor the desire to die to achieve this quest! It is folly! Madam, listen to him no more." Eric begged for the elder to ignore him but she motioned for him to continue.

"I will make a blood pledge to you this night. Give me one hundred years and I will destroy every demon in that Order in the name of your daughter and my love. I cannot break a bargain that I make in blood, it would destroy me. I offer you one thing more though, to ease your guilt. I will not feed upon or kill a single innocent during this time. Furthermore I will do it without a soul. All I ask is that you give me the time to do this. Darla will eventually forget her victory over you and she will live forever mocking your Clan. This way your vengeance is a living thing that will exist long after you are dust. Your daughter will be remembered for longer than a human would manage. More importantly, you will rob them of their favoured Childe. But this is made all the sweeter by the fact that I came to you willingly."

"You were Irish in life weren't you Angel. You have the fire of the Romany that wanders that far land. You understand us better than I had hoped. Your vengeance is born of the violence of the demon and of love. It is delicious in its intent. Your terms are suitable. Give me your hand."

She took the proffered hand and pulled a wicked looking knife from her clothes. She drew a deep cut across his palm. She then repeated the action on her own hand. She clasped their hands together and Angelus felt the power of her blood enter him. It shot through his nerves like a white flame and stars exploded behind his eyes. He didn't see the blood red glow that surrounded them as the gypsy woman wove her magic to seal their pact.

"Vengeance is blood. Blood is bound. From this night on this blood be the weapon of our vengeance."

Angelus felt fire shoot through his veins.

"One hundred years for vengeance to live and act. One hundred years without innocent death. One hundred years of mourning for two destroyed loves. From now until then, our vengeance lives."

Her voice had gradually risen and she was now shouting over a growing storm. Lightening flashed and thundered roared. Wind whipped them and rain flogged their skin. The violence of the storm reflected the violence of their vengeance. It was alive.

Angelus passed out. As he did he heard one last thing, "Use the gift I give well, my Angel."

When he awoke, the Rom had gone and he was now their Angel.

"So you see Darla, I haven't belonged to you for 120 years. From the moment I saw him I belonged to William. Then you ripped him from me and I decided that I would never be yours again. Since that moment I have belonged only to Will and to vengeance. I have had no other Master, and now I never will. You know I have played with victims before but this has to be the most satisfying hunt."

"But you lied to them. You have killed humans; you have reeked of human blood each night! I can smell it on you!" Darla couldn't believe what she had just heard. She knew that her boy was dangerous; she knew that he was perhaps the most vicious demon that ever walked the earth. But this was too much. She had always been in awe of his demonic nature, now she was afraid of it. For the first time ever Darla was actually afraid.

"I never killed a human. I killed vampires, fed off them. It was fun, stalking them as they stalked their prey. They never noticed that they were actually the hunted. More often than not I'd rip them from the human and drain them before they killed the human. I'd then take the human to a hospital. It was interesting."

"Sire, how could you?" Penn was aghast. His beautiful Sire had betrayed them so thoroughly he no longer knew him.

"I'm sorry beloved, I had no choice."

Penn saw the very real regret in his Sire's eyes but his horror rejected it. He was cut to the core by this betrayal. He had known that his Sire had cared for William, that he had taken him into his bed, but never for one second had he imagined that Angelus could actually love William. That he loved him more than he loved everything else. It hurt. His heart felt raw and jealousy began to churn in his gut. He would have killed William himself if he had known that he had stolen his Sire away.

"Well Angelus, I must say that this little game was interesting but you are forgetting a few things."

Angelus calmly took in the sneer on his Sire's face. Truth be known he was intrigued as to what she could say to worm her way out of this mess. The Order were looking between her and Angelus like spectators at a tennis match, not sure which they should kill first. Should it be Angelus for his betrayal or Darla for her idiocy?

"And just what have I forgotten Darla?"

She smirked at him, the very image of the tiger that had the canary right where she wanted it. Angelus was unimpressed and cocked his head to one side, waiting for her pearls of wisdom to fall.

"Well for a start, William is dead. Leo told us of his dusting a few nights ago. Second do you honestly think that you and a Slayer can take us all on? There are 26 of us and only 6 of you. Plus when the Master gets free he will break you in half."

Darla smiled triumphantly as the other vampires made muted sounds of support. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the Slayer's group were suddenly very unsure of what they were meant to be doing. He watched as Spike and Oz came to stand with Willow, each holding in cross bow.

"Actually Darla, I think that you are mistaken. Firstly, I never killed William, he's right there. Say hello." Angelus turned and waved at Spike, blowing him a little kiss. He chuckled when he heard his Sire growl but continued in his exposition. "You honestly think that I could stake him? Please. I have no intention of staking him… well, not with a wooden stake at least and the heart is definitely not the area that I'll be looking to penetrate. Secondly, there are eight of us, but that isn't the point. You see, they are only here for insurance – to make sure that none of you live. I'm going to be the one killing you all."

He paused and began to stroll around the ring of vampires, his causal air making each one of them wonder what the hell he was up to and sparking the smallest flame of fear. He had a devil may care grin on his face and a bounce in his step and it worried the hell out of them.

The Hellmouth rumbled and Angelus gave it an impatient glance. He was clearly unimpressed with its sound effects.

"I actually had a little warm up with Luke the other night."

The Master struggled in his bonds even more as he heard the true account of his Childe's death. The idea that Angelus could destroy a vampire that much older than he was made the flames of fear lick that much higher.

"You see, you have all failed to take that much notice of me over the past hundred years – even before that actually. I am no longer a Childe, I haven't been a Childe for at least two hundred years. I'm a Seducer, first rate. But I am more than that now, I am vengeance. Walking, talking, living vengeance. But I am more than that even… I am bored."

He flung his head back and stretched his arms open wide. From deep within him a red light, the colour of freshly spilt blood, ripped its way into the open air and surged violently into the body of each vampire. Flames licked through their bodies, starting from within and working their way out. Coursing through their veins as they writhed in agony, unable to do anything to prevent their imminent demise. Within seconds all that remained in the cave was Angelus, Darla, Penn and Dru, the Master – still securely bound to the floor – the Scoobies and 22 flames that had once been vampires. All stared in a mix of horror and awe as the flames slithered their way across the earth floor to Angelus, twisting themselves around his body as the power tried to claw its way back inside. He looked like the Angel of Death, the flames gave him wings and the fiery sword that he needed to inspire fear into each of his victims.

"Well. That evens the odds now doesn't it?"