Diclaimer: I own nothing, belongs to Joss Whedon.
Chapter two
Buffy was the first to wake and find herself still in Angel's arms. He was asleep.
Slowly she remembered the events of the previous night and jumped from the bed in lightning speed. She had pulled the top sheet from the bed with her and wrapped it around herself as she stood staring at her ex lover.
Angel woke at the movement in the room and saw Buffy staring at him.
"Buffy" he said softly as he sat up in the bed "What's wrong?"
She didn't answer him just stared in confusion.
He could feel the fear coming off her. He moved from the bed slowly reaching for some shorts and putting them on quickly before making his way to her.
He stopped when she began backing up away from him.
"Buffy I know that your expecting Angelus and not me but you.."
"You expect me to believe that your Angel and that your not just trying to play me here?" She snapped
Angel took an unneeded breath "I don't know what happened Buffy, why I didn't lose my soul. I guess maybe I had Angelus on my mind too much and knew he would be the consequence of us.."
Buffy stared at him a little longer and still couldn't see through his soulful eyes to see the beast beneath them. "So last night you didn't.."
"No, I didn't lose my soul"
"Well that's good right, I mean you didn't lose your soul. But bad cause you needed to, and I couldn't.." Buffy rambled nervously
Angel took a step towards her "Buffy.." reaching to touch her
Buffy quickly dodged Angel's hand "I think I'll have a shower, freshen up"
Leaving Angel no time to give a reply as the bathroom door way already closed and locked.
"Damn" Angel said under his breath
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Group were all seated downstairs awaiting Buffy to come down the stairs and inform them of Angelus's arrival.
However they were all very shocked to find Angel walking down the stairs instead.
"Oh no" Fred said as they all backed away from him
Angel broke from his broody mood to look at the group "It's okay guys I'm not him"
"How do we know that?" Demanded Gunn as he pointed a crossbow at Angel
"Well your just going to have to believe me" Angel replied
"It's alright you guys, he still has his soul" Willow said in the background "I can feel it"
Angel gave her a appreciative glance before sitting down with the group.
"It didn't work?" Wesley asked
Angel paused before shaking his head
"So you and Buffy didn't.." Fred began
"It didn't work" Angel simply replied "We need to find an alternative way to bring forth Angelus"
The group getting the gist that Angel did not want to speak of his and Buffy's overnight encounter, let it go.
"Ok well we'll keep looking" Wesley said
Willow was the next to pipe in "I may have an idea"
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Buffy was out of the shower and towel drying her hair as she came out of the bathroom.
She jumped when she saw Connor standing at Angel's bedside, watching her.
"Um hi" Buffy said as she held the towel around her tighter to her body. "Did Willow or someone send you up to check on me, because I'll be right down"
"You have power" Connor said as he studied her
Buffy nodded slowly "Yeah comes with the slayer gig"
"A slayer, I have heard of you"
"Yeah most people have.."
"So you fight for good, but you are more than willing to help free Angelus"
Buffy frowned "I wouldn't say that I'm all for it. But sometimes we have to make sacrifices to save the world"
"So you would sacrifice yourself for him?"
"Always. It's what you do for the ones you love"
"Why do you love him?"
"Because he's Angel" she replied simply "Connor I can see that your not lining up to join team Angel but he is a good man.."
"A demon"
"Demon whatever, he still fights for the good and saves the helpless and in my books that makes you one of the good guys"
Connor gave her no reply
"Now if you wouldn't mind.." Before she could finish he'd already left the room, leaving her to dress "Like father like son" she said under her breath.
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"So you want to remove Angel's soul and put it into someone else?" Gunn said
"Yes" Willow replied "It's the safest way. Whoever you give your soul to will be like a carrier for the soul until we need Angel back again. It's a very easy procedure to complete"
"Angel what do you think?" Wesley asked
"It's probably a safer option"
Wesley nodded "Ok so all we need now is a host"
Buffy came down the stairs entering the lobby "A host for what?" she asked catching up with the conversation.
"We've found an alternative way to remove Angel's soul" Fred informed her
"Yeah a crazy one" Cordelia muttered
"Ok" Buffy said, her and Angel both avoiding eye contact with one another. "So what did you find?"
"Well I know a spell to remove a soul and place it into a host, sort of like a keeper of the soul until we need to return it" Willow spoke "I just need a few supplies before we get started"
Buffy nodded "Sounds good"
"We just need to pick a host" Willow finished
"I'll do it" Cordelia piped in "I mean I'm probably the safest person to put it into"
The group fell silent
"What? I am" Cordelia whined
"I think it should be someone that Angelus can't get his hands on. To get rid of Angel all he would have to do is kill the host" Wesley said "Is that right Willow?"
She nodded "Yeah"
"Buffy" Angel said still looking towards the ground
Buffy standing far behind him turned to look at the side of his face.
"Angelus wouldn't kill her" Angel finished
"Put Angel's soul into a slayer who faces death everyday, Oh yeah there's a wise choice" Cordelia argued
Knowing her friend would never ask Willow spoke "Why wouldn't Angelus want to kill Buffy?"
"Just take my word for it"
Willow nodded before looking to Buffy "Buffy do you want to do this?"
Buffy still looking towards Angel moved her glance to Willow "Give me a list of what you need and I'll go get it. It's too dangerous for you to be going out there"
Willow nodded jotting down some things onto a piece of paper before handing it to Buffy.
Buffy grabbed her jacket before heading for the front entrance.
"I'll go with you" Angel said standing from his seat and putting on his leather duster.
"You don't.."
"You can't go that way" Angel pointed to the front door "We can take the tunnels"
Buffy looked outside looking at the falling rain of fire and turned to follow Angel's lead into the basement.
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Helping Buffy back into the tunnel from the man hole above and taking the lead, the pair walked back to the Hyperion in silence. Having been this way all the way to the magic shop and now half way back.
"So what is this?" Buffy asked as they walked
"What's what?" Angel replied
"Giving me your soul, instead of one of your friends. Giving me the sympathy vote for not being able to give you perfect happiness"
Angel stopped walking and turned to Buffy "Buffy you know that isn't it"
"I never thought that I'd ever be disappointed that you didn't lose your soul" Buffy said looking into his eyes
"Buffy I don't know what happened. But I do know that I still love you. And that there must be something else at work here if I couldn't lose my soul to you"
Buffy gave a small smile "So why me?"
"Because I trust you. You are the only person that enters my mind as the person to keep my soul safe"
"Now I know why all the girls fall all over you" Buffy smiled
Angel shook his head "No other girls, just you"
And their lips met slowly, moving into a passionate kiss.
A noise behind them broke them apart "Did you hear that?" Buffy asked looking around the perimeter.
"Yeah" Angel nodded
Then all the lights blacked out through the tunnel causing complete darkness for the two warriors.
There was a growl close by, causing Buffy to turn towards the noise blindly. "Angel can you see anything?"
"There's five of them surrounding us"
"Five of what?"
"Astro demons, they work for the beast"
"Great" Buffy mumbled
"Just keep close to me and use your senses" Angel ordered
"Easy to say"
The first demon attacked Angel another following behind him.
Buffy kept her back connected to Angel's as she felt a demon approaching her.
She threw a punch blindly into the air, missing the demon completely. As she pulled her arm back to her something gripped her arm and threw a punch to her face. Not pulling away from the demons touch to keep a grip on where it was they both traded blows to each other. Buffy gaining the upper hand and kicking him back away from her. Cursing herself for the wrong move she move forward in an attempt to find the fallen demon.
Angel was holding off two of the demons. He knew Buffy had the other two and was trying to pin point the 5th. A punch to the face distracted him from his aim.
Buffy was pushed from behind and onto the ground a kick to her abdomen made her cry out and scurry to climb back to her feat. She imagined the two demons to be either side of her and she kicked out and hit one of them in the chest before going for the same blow on the second. She wasn't expecting a third to throw a hard punch to her temple and knock her backwards a few metres.
It took her a few moments to stand back up. Whatever this thing was it defiantly wasn't an Astro demon like before.
Angel snapped the neck on two of the demons and realised that he still had three surrounding him. Taking a moment to search the tunnel for Buffy's ware-a-bouts "Buffy" He was interrupted again as the demons rushed him.
Buffy knew the demon was close. Her slayer system going into overdrive as she tried to place the demon. Her temple was throbbing it had felt like someone had slammed a sledgehammer into her head.
She suddenly felt a presence behind her and spun to hit the demon head on. Instead of her hand hitting the demon where a head should have been, she hit what seemed like armor over a massive chest. The sound echoed through the tunnel.
A hand then clamped over hers and pulled her up into the air. Buffy moved to hit him with her other hand but he simply grabbed it with the same hand holding her other one and held them both above her head. Slamming her back into the wall behind her.
"You must be the slayer I've heard so much about" The demon said in a low voice.
"Can I say that its not nice making your acquaintance" Buffy quipped
"So tiny, so breakable" The demon ran his free hand over her body "Your afraid of me"
"How can I be afraid you, I can't even see you" Buffy said
"You don't know who I am"
"I'm guessing you're the beast"
"You'd be right"
Angel was left with a remaining two demons and couldn't see Buffy. Although he could feel a strong sense of something else in the tunnel.
Buffy moved her leg out to kick the beast away from her. Failing miserably as he effortlessly caught her leg and snapped it outwards across the wall. Wincing in pain and hearing a crack from her upper thigh and hip she wiggled on against his grip in an attempt to get him to release his tight hold on her.
She could tell she had angered the beast once again and wasn't prepared for him to hit her hard on her shoulder closest to her neck. Letting her drop to the ground the beast stood over her and pressed a foot to her chest, instantly cracking the ribs beneath his weight.
Buffy weakly reached her hands into the darkness to move his foot from her.
As his foot pressed harder, Buffy could almost hear her lungs screaming at her to give them air.
"Please…" Buffy groaned softly
"I've been told that you're here to cause me lots of trouble" he pressed harder again
Buffy cried out in pain as her body began to shake from lack of air.
"You are no threat to me"
His words began to sound mumbled as even the complete blackness in front of her began spinning, she was seconds away from unconsciousness.
"I was wondering when you were going to finish them off" The beast said to a third person
Buffy was relieved when the pressure on her chest was released. But she could do nothing when she felt him pick her up like a rag doll and slam her into the wall hard. She didn't even feel herself hit the ground, she was already lost in unconsciousness.
"You'll be sorry you did that" Angel said as he watched his love crumbled to the ground and the smell of her blood seep into his nostrils.
The beast turned to Angel "Angelus, what do you care for the slayer. Here I was thinking I had saved you the trouble of desposing of her"
"Not likely"
"I have no reason to battle with you Angelus. There were no orders to do so. The slayer was the deal. Now if you'd let me finish.." The beast began to walk back to Buffy
Angel stepped in front of her protectively
The Beast stopped "I understand, you want to do it yourself" The beast backed away "I will see you soon Angelus" he said as he left the tunnel.
Angel made sure they were safe before checking Buffy over and slowly moving her into his arms, avoiding any injuries on her body they made there way back to the Hyperion.
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