Angel went from unconscious to conscious in an instant. He was sitting in a chair, his wrists and ankles tied with thick rope to the arms and legs-tightly, he might add. So tightly, in fact, that he could not pull himself free. His eyes popped open and roved around his surroundings, hoping to get an idea of where he was. The last thing he remembered was walking by the Espresso Pump in town on what was becoming to feel like a futile search for Buffy, then the nothingness of unconsciousness. She had not been seen or heard of since the evening of the 21st, her birthday, after heading home from his place, and no one knew where she was. And what was worse was that her mother was now missing, too. Angel didn't have a good feeling about what was happening, whatever was happening. He hoped his captivity had something to do with Buffy because he just didn't have time to deal with another crisis, he thought, thoroughly annoyed with the situation he now found himself in.

His heightened senses told him he was alone. It was also very dark, so he changed into his demon form, allowing his superior vampiric eyesight to take in his surroundings. It was a shock when he realized he was back in the apartment he'd lived in before he'd lost his soul and therefore moving into the factory, or 'Evil Central,' as Buffy had once called it, to his amusement. (He felt no humor now.) The room looked nothing like it had before his demon had been loosed from its chains. The artwork, the pottery and statues were all gone. The myriad texts, all old and rare, that he had taken such meticulous, reverent care of were nowhere in sight. The creature comfort items (i.e. recliner and refrigerator) were gone as well.

The little offset he could see still had the bed frame, box spring and mattress. What's more is that the bed was made, disturbingly, with white sheets and maroon pillows and blanket-just like before he'd lost his soul one year plus a few days ago. Angel didn't know why but this felt like a bad omen. He pulled at his wrists again, but still he could not get loose. Who tied these damn knots? With another few tugs he realized that it wasn't the knots, not even the extra thick rope that had been used, but it was his body which was weak. He could actually feel the ache of strain in his muscles, which only happened after a prolonged fight, as vampires were preternaturally strong, so they didn't get tired as quickly as a human would. What the hell is happening?

Angel stopped struggling with the ropes and sat still. He let his face morph back into his human visage, and closed his eyes. Okay, calm down, he thought, taking deep breaths. (He may not need the oxygen to survive, but breathing was still an important step in meditating and finding one's center.) Think through this logically, he instructed. He was in his old apartment. He was tied securely to a chair and his body was too weak to pull himself free. This meant that whoever had snuck up on him had to have done something other than just knock him out because he didn't have a headache or could feel a sore spot of impact anywhere. He must've been injected with something. Maybe a high caliber tranquilizer-one strong enough to weaken even a vampire.

The questions were why and who. Why was he being held hostage in his old apartment and chemically weakened? Who wanted him in such a state? To torture him? To kill him? He would just have to wait and see because he could not pull himself free, so he let his posture relax and closed his eyes, resigning himself to wait…

Roughly an hour later Angel snapped to attention again when the door swung open. He switched into his "game" face, waiting for his assailant to come through the door. He slumped in relief when Buffy walked through the door.

"Honey, I'm home," she said in a sing-song voice as she switched on some lights. Angel let his face go back to normal at the sight of her.

Angel's relief was short-lived, however. He knew immediately that something was wrong with his love. His extra-sensitive ears picked up on it right away. There was no light thumping coming from her chest cavity, the sides of her neck didn't flutter with a heart beat. Her skin also had a deathly pallor, no flush to her cheeks, and there was no warmth emanating from her body that he could always feel,either.

The facsimile of his girlfriend grinned at him, rubbing her hands together excitedly. "So, I have good news, and better news! Which would you like to hear first?"

Angel's horror prevented him from speaking. This didn't seem to bother the demon in front of him. She just continued in that sing-songy voice and stood in front of him.

"Well, my mom is dead, and I'm the one who killed her! So, yay! no more parental concern to deal with. Ugh, so annoying, thank God that's over. Also, I'm a vampire, in case you haven't guessed." Angel let out a garbled sound of pain. "Oh, I can see that you have. Excellent, no need to explain that, then. Aaaaand I don't have a sire because I killed him, too! There was a lot of killing going on after I woke, or well, 'rose,' I guess you'd say, because I didn't feel like ruining my track record as an only child, so I disposed of my two 'siblings.'" She paused for a breath. "And my sire, boy! was he crazy! I've already dealt with one insane vampire, and I really didn't want to have to contend with one as my sire for eternity. That would be a drag!" The vampire rolled her eyes.

Tears had welled in Angel's eyes during the vampire's speech, and Angel knew he should not let the fiend see them, that it was a weakness it could exploit, but he couldn't help it. The torment he'd suffered after his soul had been returned to him both times was nothing compared to how he felt now. It didn't feel like the remorse bogging him down, oh no, that was a paper cut compared to this. The love of not just his life, but his existence, was gone. Replaced by a thing with her body, her voice and mannerisms, her memories. All Buffy, but not. His Buffy was gone.

Unless…

Was he not proof that a vampire could regain its humanity? His soul had been returned to him-twice! Angel sobered as he felt the flicker of hope begin to figuratively beat within his chest. He still had contacts all over the world. He was certain he could find an Orb of Thesulah somewhere. Maybe all hope was not lost just yet!

He needed to get out of here so he could talk to Giles. Angel didn't bother to wonder if Buffy's Watcher and the Scoobies were aware that Buffy had become a vampire yet. He had probably been unconscious long enough that she could've revealed herself to them by now, likely to taunt them, as many vampires seemed to do to their closest family and friends upon rising. (Or kill them, as he had.)

And so Angel gathered his mental strength, and prepared himself to play whatever game Buffy's demon counterpart wanted to play long enough that he could find a way to subdue her until he could contact Giles, and they get what they needed to ensoul Buffy. He never could've imagined a life with Buffy as a cursed vampire, but he would live with it if it meant having her still with him, even if she was now undead. And he knew the guilt of killing her mom would be great, but he would help her through it. After all, she had helped him cope with his century's worth of crushing guilt.

"Ah, ah, ah," vampire Buffy said, wagging her finger back and forth in front of his face. "I can see those wheels turning in your head, my creature of the night boyfriend. I know what you're thinking, and it won't work."

"Oh? So, you're a mind reader now?" Angel asked, nonplussed. He just needed to let her believe she was in charge. She was still young, and Angel had centuries' worth of life experience and interacting with all types of personalities.

Vampire (although she had not shown her true face yet) Buffy grinned. She leaned down a little so they were at eye level with each other, then adopted a contemplative expression, exaggeratedly tapping her index finger on her chin. "You're thinking that if you make it out of here, then you can send out the Bat Signal and the Watcher and Scoobies can come to the rescue with the Ritual of Restoration in hand. A mystical orb here," she tilted her head to her right, "some runic stones there," head tilting to her left, "some chanting and black eyes and BAM!" she smacked her hands together, "whaddaya ya know? Buffy Summers is the second vampire in history to have a soul!" She straightened up, and put her hands on her hips, adopting a smug smirk as she looked down at him.

"Or I could be trying to decide if I should stake you or behead you," he deadpanned. Angel only received a grin for his empty threat.

"Tsk, tsk, Angel," vampire Buffy said, again waving that damn finger in front of his face. "I know that you would neeever harm a single hair on this body," she said, running her hands down the sides of her body suggestively, giving him a sultry look. "Not until you had no hope left at all that you could get your precious girlfriend back. Well, it's. Not. Going. To. Happen." She punctuated each word by tapping the end of her finger to the tip of his nose. It was beyond demeaning. As much as he wanted to growl at her in displeasure at her condescending attitude, he didn't dare. He couldn't risk upsetting the demon. Not if he wanted to get Buffy's soul back in place.

"And just how do you plan to stop it?" he asked. "Did you destroy the spell's instructions? Kill Willow, the only person to successfully cast the curse in a century? You know Giles won't rest until you've been ensouled." (He didn't know about the Council's rule.) "And I'll stake myself before I let you roam free in Buffy's body, killing and becoming the antithesis of everything Buffy stood for," he said, conviction in every word. Angel would do it. If they could not return Buffy's soul, he would stake her vampire counterpart and then himself. Angel would rather see what Hell awaited him upon his death than live in a world where Buffy was not.

Vampire Buffy smirked at him, shaking her head back and forth. "Oh, Angel, Angel, Angel," she said, sighing, then adopted a sad, vulnerable persona. "I'm practically an orphan now. A troubled teenager from a broken home, an absent dad, mom now dead, there's no way I could be expected to be the same now that my mom's gone, especially for the people who will know the truth. I lost my Slayer powers and a basket case vampire kidnapped and killed my mother. I was so lucky he was crazed, otherwise I wouldn't have survived my dangerous rescue mission." The vampire had made herself cry by this point.

Angel narrowed suspicious eyes. "You're planning to pretend to be Buffy. Why?"

"Because, my vampire boyfriend," she said, sitting herself sideways on Angel's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. He wished he could throw her off him, just being this close to her made his skin crawl. "It will be more fun if they don't know I'm not their pet Slayer anymore. It gives some wiggle room to think up how to mess with them without them knowing it was actually me all along!" She laughed coldly.

"Aaaaand you're going to help me." This was said with a grin and a cheerfulness only the sadistic experiences when devising new methods of covert torture.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I sure as hell won't be helping you," he said glibly.

Vampire Buffy shrugged. "I guess I should've been more specific. Angelus is going to be my partner in this." Her grin was feral.

"Not gonna happen."

She shrugged again. "We'll see, lover."

Angel scoffed. "True happiness is about as far away as Neptune. I don't see the curse breaking anytime soon, so sorry, lover, you're outta luck."

"Oh, I'm confident I'll get you to choose to lose your soul. But that," she stood, "is going to have to wait a little while longer. The gang is probably extra wigged, so I need to go put out that fire," vampire Buffy said, rolling her eyes. "Don't go anywhere," she taunted.

"I'll count the seconds until you return," he said, tone as arid as the Sahara.

The demon shook her head. "Sorry, can't risk that." She then pulled a syringe from her back pocket. Quickly, she removed the cap and jammed the needle into his neck, pushing the plunger down. The cold substance cold as it seeped into his muscle tissue. His vision began to turn hazy, and he felt as if he'd been submerged under water.

The last thing Angel saw was the evil grin on vampire Buffy's true face.


Angelus often taunted Buffy in Season 2 by calling her 'lover' when they would match up a lot after he'd lost his soul, so a role reversal on who's being cruel to who now. Also, now that it's known what can break the Gypsy curse, it stands to reason that Angel would have to consciously choose to allow himself to experience true happiness for it to break again. More on that later... :)