Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment

Reviews: Welcomed and appreciated

Sorry about all the typos in the last chapter, put it up in a bit of a hurry. Hope this one is better. I may resubmit chapter 27 when I have a few minutes.

Angel entered quietly, coming in behind one of the vampires standing between him and Darla. He lifted his sword and easily decapitated the demon, turning him to ash.

"Hello Darla. Ready to die?" Angel gave her his signature half-smile.

She snorted. "I don't have time for you."

"You don't have a lot of time left."

Darla laughed. "Coming on a bit strong, don't you think? You're playing some deep odds here. Do you really think you can take us all on?"

"No, but I do have my boy here." Spike came out from behind a pillar, carrying an ax.

"Hey bitch, ready to end this?" Spike drew his ax up.

"Isn't that the kettle calling the bitch black? Couldn't stay too far from Angelus, could you? I am so not surprised."

Drusilla saw Spike and was filled with anger at his betrayal. She made a running leap at him. Spike saw her coming and put his fist out to stop her cold. She fell unconscious on the floor.

Darla couldn't help but chuckle, as far as she was concerned she held all the cards. "Angelus, where are your manners? You haven't even asked where little miss pure and innocent, well maybe not so innocent since she met you, where she is. Don't you care." The look on her face was filled with evil victory.

"If you've done anything to her…"

She cut him off. "I am so tired of hearing that same old song. I didn't hurt her, I just killed her. Look behind you, lover."

Angel swung around so quickly he almost lost his balance. There she was, lying on the floor. Her hands and feet tied, not that long dead. He sensed a very faint heartbeat. But maybe too faint.

'You'll have to make the hard decisions, not the popular ones. You have to be ready to hand it off to your support, no egos, no vengeance.' Whistler's words rang through his ears. He looked up to Spike.

Spike didn't know what to do, it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Willow wasn't supposed to be a vampire and Angel's Buffy wasn't supposed to die. He was at a loss. Fat lot of good having no soul did him, he thought. If only that stupid bitch Dru had gotten it right he wouldn't still have all these feelings. Damn her to hell anyway.

"Spike, it's up to you." With those words he tossed the sword to Spike. "Take care of her, don't let me down." Their eyes met and Angel knew he could count on his boy.

Spike grabbed the sword and smiled a very evil smile. "No worries here, mate." He turned towards Darla just in time to see her grab the sword stuck in Acathla's chest. A blinding light emanated out and she pulled the sword from the demons heart. A few sparks remained, but then the light was gone. Darla took the sword in her hands and looked at it. She laughed and lunged at Spike.

"Leave to the bitch to do his masters work, aye Spike?"

"The only bitch I see is the one who is about to die." He charged at her, making her fall back. She caught herself on the edge of Acathla and ran behind the demon. Thundering noises and growls began to come from the demon and a swirling vortex began to form.

Angelus picked up Buffy and took her out to the entrance of the factory, Giles and Xander were waiting at the door. "She's not quite gone yet, but death's not far." He looked up at Giles, and as if reading his mind, Giles spoke up.

"No Angel, you can't. She wouldn't want it this way. She'll hate you for this." He was too weak to physically stop him, he just prayed his words were enough.

Xander looked between the two of them in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't care old man, she will not die. I will not let her die. And she'll love me, she'll love me for an eternity." Angelus transformed his face to his demonic visage and held her close. "You are my life and I will not live without you and you will never live without me. This is how it must be my love. I will not ask forgiveness for this, I expect none." He bit down into her neck and drained what little blood was left there. He then used his fangs to open up his wrist and held it to her mouth. "Drink baby, please."

Xander was in too much shock to move. This couldn't be happening, not to Buffy too. He couldn't lose both of them. "Angel! Stop, you can't do this. She'll hate you." He moved to stop him, but the deadly look in his eyes held him in place.

Angel was afraid he was too late, but he waited, positioning his wrist so that the blood ran into her mouth. Finally he felt a slight movement, the tip of her tongue came out and pulled a little more nourishment inside. Her lips moved around his wound and she began to suckle. At first tentatively, then with more vigor. He heard her gasp, and knew she would soon orgasm. He looked up at the two men before him, "Leave us. Now!"

Xander wiped the tears from his eyes, feeling torn. He wanted Buffy to live, but would the cost be too much? He helped Giles up and the two of them went out to wait in the car, the watcher experiencing much the same feeling as the boy. "Her soul Angel…"

Angel shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

Darla was still hiding behind Acathla when Spike, after dusting most of her loser army – the rest running as fast as their hi-priced sports shoes would let them – found her. All she had to was bid her time and Acathla would be awake. "You actually think you have the balls to kill me?"

"They may not be as big as yours, but they'll work. You almost made it Darla, but not quite." Spike pulled her up by the hair, taking her sword and tossing it aside. "You really shoulda given the whole pretty boy army a second thought, muscle woulda done you better." He scoffed. "Now come on love, time to die."

"You're too late, Acathla is about to wake up and even if you kill me this world you love is still going to Hell. And Angle will still suffer because his precious Buffy is dead. I'm fine going with my revenge complete."

"Oh, I guess old Rupes didn't tell you everything, did he?" Spike now had Darla in front of Acathla, the vortex taking shape, the demon starting to move. "Your blood wakes him," he plunged the sword into her chest and a bright light flashes outward, "but it also closes the damn vortex. So glad I could enlighten you."

The shock in her eyes was enough to keep Spike in happy thoughts for centuries, he thought. Dru woke in time to see her mistress and the sword in her chest begin to swirl into the vortex. She stood up and ran to Darla, grabbing her hand, trying to keep her in this world. She looked to Spike.

"Spike, you have to help our mother, you have to save her." She pleaded.

"Umm…no I don't Dru. She wanted Hell, well now she has it."

The vortex had gotten bigger and Spike was afraid that maybe he didn't do it quite right. Dru would not let go of Darla and Darla would not let go of Dru. When the two energies of the sword in Darla and the vortex finally met, it closed into Acathla's mouth.

"They sorta went out with a whimper, certainly not the bang you would've expected. It closed taking Darla and Dru and that was that." Giles and Xander were in the front seat of the car, listening to Spike as he drove them all back to Angel's house. They tried not to hear Buffy's moans and whimpers from the back seat where she was in Angel's arms as he tried to comfort her. She had yet to regain consciousness, which everyone seemed to be relieved about. Time to sort through the mess when they were all together.