Chapter 14: A Lost Soul

******Sunnydale, the Next Day******

Buffy woke up and felt a lightness that she hadn't felt in a while. Memories of her perfect night with Angel filled her mind, and she smiled as she opened her eyes. When she reached for him and didn't find him, she got up and slipped on her clothes. Her mother would be very worried that she stayed out so long.

"Angel? Where are you? I've got to get home before Mom wakes up and realizes that I didn't come home," she said, going into the other room.

Angelus grinned as she heard her approach. This was going to be so sweet.

"Okay. Catch you later," he said, glancing at her over his shoulder but not turning.

Buffy frowned. Angel was never casual or dismissive. She stepped into the living room to see what was wrong. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

Angelus turned toward. "Of course, babe," he said, smiling.

"I-uh, well, should we talk about last night?" Buffy asked.

"What's to talk about? I popped that cherry real good, didn't I?" Angelus said, looking smug.

"Angel? What's wrong?" Buffy asked, feeling embarrassed and awkward. She'd never had a lover, and she didn't know how the morning after was supposed to go exactly, but this didn't feel right. Something was off.

"What could be wrong? We had sex, and now you get to go back to your life was a witch," he said. "I get to move on without you."

"I—I don't understand. What do you mean move on? Why would you do that? Was it me? Was I not—good?" she asked, cringing at the sound of desperation in her voice.

"You were great. Really. I thought you were a pro," Angelus said, a note of laughter in his voice.

Buffy felt like he slapped her. What was happening here? Angel was never cruel. Her short time at Hogwarts had made her stronger in a way she didn't realize. Losing her father so brutally and hearing that Ron was murdered, too, had ripped away the niceties. She grabbed her wand from her back pocket, holding it down.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Angel?" she asked.

"Nothing. I feel great. Free even," Angelus said, stepping toward her.

The way he said free disturbed Buffy, and she took a step back. "Okay, well, I need to get home. I'll see you tonight, right?"

"I will definitely be seeing you, doll face," he said with a grin.

Buffy nodded and left. "Doll face?" she said after she was a few hundred feet away from the mansion. "Since when does he call me doll face?" He had also called her babe. Buffy searched her memory hard for any endearment that Angel had ever called her and could find none. He wasn't one for endearments.

She kept her disquiet to herself, not knowing who she could speak to about it. Luckily, her mother and father were both asleep when she got home. Of course, she didn't know that Severus would never not know where his daughter was and knew she'd been with Angel for several hours—nearly all night.

After Severus had breakfast with his daughter, he made an excuse of checking out the town's magic shop for ingredients. Instead, he went to have a talk with his daughter's vampire boyfriend.

As he had been several times to the hellmouth, he now felt comfortable enough to go around town unaided. He had been to Angel's once, so he apparated there instead of taking the long trek.

He was outside the house and walked toward the door. It was early morning daylight, so he knew Angel would be inside.

Although he knocked lightly, he did not wait for Angel to come to the door since the light would obviously harm him.

"Angel, are you able to speak?" Severus asked as he walked into the large open foray. He made sure that he was bathed in sunlight.

Angel stood in the doorway of his room.

"What can I do for you, Professor?" he asked. Angelus knew how dangerous this man was—even more than the slayer. He could kill Angel from a distance with a single word. Unlike his daughter, this man had no sentiment toward Angelus to stay his hand. In fact, Angelus suspected the man was very familiar with darkness.

"Buffy Anne didn't come home last night and that concerns me," Severus said.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that," Angelus said, pretending contrition. "We fought some demons closer to this place than hers, and we came here to clean up. After talking a bit, we fell asleep."

"You know she's not in a good place right now," Severus said.

"Yes, sir," Angelus said.

"You know, also, that I am not my daughter," Severus said. "If you ever hurt her, I will not hesitate to end your undead existence."

"Of course," Angelus said. "I would not dream of hurting your daughter." Soon, it'd be a reality.

Severus gave him a long look and then nodded. "I am sorry to bother you," he said before turning to leave.

His conversation with Angelus didn't stick in his mind for long as the new slayer had finally arrived.

"Hello, I'm Faith," the dark-haired girl with too much makeup said to Severus as he approached the front porch. "I was just about to knock. My watcher is arranging a place for us to stay, but I heard the other slayer was in town for just a few days."

"I am Severus Snape, her father," Severus said. "Buffy Anne is probably still sleeping." He opened the door.

"Cool. Well, tell her that I'm here. I heard you were murdered, so I'm glad that's not the case," Faith said.

"Her stepdad—the man who raised her—was murdered. They buried him yesterday," Severus said.

"God, that sucks," Faith said, grimacing. "Did it happen here?"

"No, she was in England. Then a classmate was murdered, so it is good that you are here," Severus said. "This is a dangerous place, though. A slayer alone doesn't last long. Your predecessor didn't last six months."

"Well, I don't plan on dying anytime soon," Faith said.

"I hope not," Severus said. "Would you like to come back for dinner? I will make sure Buffy Anne is prepared for a visitor."

"You're British, aren't you? I heard your daughter was England learning how to be a witch," Faith said. "Is that true?"

"It is," Severus said.

"I am a bit jealous. To have the powers of a slayer plus a witch," Faith said, "that would rock."

"She is formidable. Please don't think you have to do everything here alone. Buffy Anne would hate it if another died in her stead," he said.

"Good to know. Catch you later," Faith said, waving as she walked off.

Severus went inside, glad that the new slayer was in town.

When Buffy woke up and heard that Faith was in town, she had mixed feelings. On one hand, she was glad that there would be someone here for the day-to-day. On the other hand, she was worried for Faith.

"Do you think she will work with Angel?" Buffy wondered.

"If she is smart, she will take all the help she can get," Severus said.

"Very true," she said.

Later that evening, she went patrolling with the new slayer after dinner and felt confident that Faith could handle herself.

Buffy tried to figure out how to bring up Angel without sounding like the most insane slayer ever.

"Faith, can I talk to you about something?" she finally said.

"Sure," Faith said. "What's up?"

"Part of the reason Kendra died so soon is she wasn't willing to accept any help from others," Buffy said. "I hope you won't make that mistake even if help seems to come from an unlikely source."

"Hey, I'm a badass, but I don't think I'm invincible," Faith said.

Buffy was glad to hear that and told her who Angel was but left out gifting him with her virginity the night before.

"So a vampire with a soul? That's very strange but cool," Faith said. "He sired Spike, the vampire that is currently in England messing with you and your friends, right?"

"Technically, I think he's Spike's grandsire as Angelus turned Drusilla, who turned Spike," Buffy explained.

"Angelus was Angel's unsoul name?" Faith asked, and Buffy nodded. "So he was pretty diabolical, huh?"

"He was when he had no soul," Buffy said. "He once told me the reason he couldn't bring himself to kill Dru was because what Angelus had done to her. Drove her insane by killing her entire family before killing and turning her."

"But he's nothing like that with his soul?" Faith asked.

Buffy nodded. "The demon takes over the body when a vampire is turned, and the soul is gone," Buffy said. "But with Angel, the demon is still there, so he has the memories of all the things Angelus did."

"How is he sane?" she wondered.

"He wasn't for the first few decades or so, I believe," Buffy said.

They were getting close to Buffy's old school when Angel appeared. "Hey, Angel. We were just talking about you," Buffy said, smiling warmly at him.

"Oh, yea? Was it hot? Did you tell her how I get your panties wet?" Angelus said with a smirk.

Faith's mouth fell open as this wasn't the Angel Buffy had described.

"Of course not," Buffy said, glaring. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I feel better than I have in ages," he said. "Who knew a roll in the hay with you would be what freed me?"

"Buffy, get away from him," a voice called out.

Buffy looked and saw a woman who looked vaguely familiar. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?" she asked the woman, who was carrying a large cross.

"I am the computer teacher at the high school—Jenny Calendar," she said.

"Okay," Buffy said. "I never took computers, so I don't think we met. Why are you telling me to get away from Angel? He'd never hurt me."

"Of course not," Angelus said. Hurt was too mild a word for what he was going to do to her.

"That's not Angel," Jenny said, pulling Buffy away from Angelus and holding up her cross.

Angelus hissed at her as he stepped away.

"What do you mean? Of course, that's Angel," Buffy said.

"It's not. I'm a member of the Gypsy clan that cursed him," she said. "His soul is gone now."

"What? That's ridiculous. A soul doesn't just leave," Buffy said, frowning in confusion.

"It does if the curse has a loophole," Jenny said. "One moment of happiness and his soul disappears."

"What?" Buffy asked stunned.

Angelus was surprised at the Gypsy's words, but Faith started laughing.

"Are you telling me that your clan was dumb enough to put a condition on his soul? One moment of happiness? Seriously? What kind of punishment is that?" Faith asked.

"A very effective one because this is the first time since he regained his soul that he had a moment of happiness," Jenny said.

"Don't listen to her, Buffy. You know it's me," Angelus said.

"I know," Buffy assured him. She looked at Jenny. "He would never hurt me."

"My clan could tell his pain was easing, and they called me this morning to tell me that his soul was gone," Jenny explained. "Something changed. He had a moment of perfect happiness."

"Are you saying that being with me made him so happy that he lost his soul? That's insane!" Buffy said.

"What, you have a magic vagina?" Faith asked snickering.

"This isn't funny, Faith," Buffy said, glaring.

"Don't listen to the crazy Gypsy, babe. You know I love you," Angelus said.

Buffy felt a strong disquiet. Not only would Angel not insult someone's ethnicity, but the use of the endearment also felt wrong, and his claim of love actually sounded disingenuous. "I don't recall you ever calling me babe before, Angel," she said, moving another step back from him.

"Well, I know one way to find out," Faith said. She stepped forward and slugged Angel hard in the face. He turned back, snarling, his vamp face showing.

"Seems like a soulless vamp to me," Faith said smugly.

"You hit him," Buffy argued. "That's not proof."

"That's true," Angelus said. "It's not proof, but what the heck? I'm getting nauseous trying to be all emo Angel." Then he attacked Faith, who ducked his blow.

Buffy was stunned and stood there immobile.

How could Angel be gone?

******The Burrow*****

Harry didn't know what to do. Hermione had gone back to her parents to spend the rest of Christmas break with them as it was too hard to be around the Weasleys after the funeral. However, they were Harry's family, and they knew exactly the pain he was feeling. Molly hugged him nearly hourly, and Ginny just looked lost. Percy went back to work. Charlie and Bill had a few more days leave, but they were staying mostly in their rooms.

Of course, Fred and George were even harder to be around as their pain was palpable.

Harry, though, didn't blame them. He knew evil always looked for ways to hurt those that opposed it. Fred and George had defeated evil, making themselves a target. Spike may have acted out of revenge, but Harry knew that killing Ron hurt him, too, not just the Weasleys. Voldemort looked to hurt Harry always, so he didn't feel that George or Fred was necessarily to blame. It could've been a murder of opportunity, or it could've been planned. There was no reason to blame the twins because that did nothing to bring Ron back. Harry knew they loved Ron as much as he did, and losing Ron the way they did was devastating to everyone who loved him.

George, though, was sick with guilt. He kept replaying everything in his mind. This was the worst nightmare he had ever had. How was he going to live with himself? His mother and sister couldn't even look at him.

"George, we have to help Buffy defeat the vampire and Voldemort. That's the only way we can make things right," Fred said. "We have to join the Order—Mum can't be allowed to stop us."

George nodded. That sounded like a plan. They would fight with the slayer and her friends. Maybe one day, they could face their brother's killer.

If Spike was dead, Ron could rest in peace.

The thought eased some of George's overwhelming guilt and sorrow.

He would have his revenge.

*****To Be Continued*****