Chapter 13: Angel
April 27, 1997 – Sunday
Bronze
A cockroach skittered across the floor of the Bronze. A foot zeroed in on it as someone urged in an amused voice, "Get it."
"I got it," a girl announced, and lifted the dead roach off the floor like a trophy. She plopped it into a plastic container on a passing waiter's tray that was half-full with its deceased insectoid brethren and said, "Free drink, please." The waiter, in a silvery T-shirt, nodded happily at her.
Against a backdrop of a banner that read, "FUMIGATION PARTY. Find a cockroach, get a free drink," Willow and Aviva sat across from Buffy, who in turn sat with her eyes downcast.
Aviva said wryly, "Ah, the fumigation party."
Buffy kept fiddling, but she stirred enough to say, "Hmm?"
"It's an annual tradition," Willow added. "The closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the cockroaches."
"Oh," Buffy said.
"It's a lot of fun," Willow smiled kindly at hers and Aviva's very glum buddy and said, "What's it like where you are?"
Buffy looked up and laughed, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about ... things."
Aviva understood at once. "So we're talking about a guy?"
Buffy grimaced and laughed shortly. "Not exactly. For us to have a conversation about a guy there would have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about." She wrinkled her nose. "Was that a sentence?"
Willow said, "You lack a guy."
Sighing, Buffy moved her head. "I do. Which is fine with me most of the time but—"
"What about Angel?" Willow asked.
"Whose Angel?" Aviva wondered, she had yet to meet the souled vampire.
"Mysterious guy," Buffy said as she made a little face. "He seems to always have information about vampire problems." She turned her gaze to Willow. "By the way I can just see him in a relationship." She lowered her voice, guy-like: "Hi, honey, you're in grave danger. I'll see you next month."
Willow was instantly sorry she brought up Angel. She'd figured the moping was over him. So much for trying to cheer Buffy up. Sympathetically, she offered, "He's not around much, it's true."
Buffy couldn't seem to stop the smile that crossed her face. She looked radiant as she said, "When he's around, it's like the lights dim everywhere else. You know how it's like that with some guys?"
Willow said, "Oh, yeah."
Aviva smiled at her friends, she wished sometimes she had a boyfriend. But a lot of people their age tended to still shy away from her seeing her as the goth girl, even though she no longer wore black.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Xander was grooving. He was practically doing aerobics, goofing in a way that Willow understood all too well: I'm so into my nerd-hood you cannot mock me for it. But Xander was not nerdy. Just underappreciated and undervalued. He didn't realize it.
Xander kept on pumping his arms, promoting his night fever routine as Annie Vega glanced his way. He said cheerily, "Hey, Annie," and then when her Neanderthal boyfriend glared at him, added, "Vito! Just leaving."
He swam off in another direction and collided with Cordelia.
"Ouch!" Cordelia cried. "Please keep your extreme oafishness off my two-hundred-dollar shoes."
Man the lifeboats,Xander thought, and said, "Sorry. I was just—"
"Getting off the floor before Annie Vega's boyfriend squashes you like a bug?"
Xander grinned proudly. "Oh, so you noticed."
"Uh-huh."
"Well, thanks for being so understanding."
She flashed him her haughty evil-eye and said, "Sure."
"And I don't know what everyone's talking about," he added in a friendly tone. Then he lobbed the grenade. "That outfit doesn't make you look like a hooker."
If you can't join 'em, psych 'em out—or die trying.
He left the floor while he was maybe ahead, and caught up with his three main gals, Aviva, Buffy and Willow, who looked like they were having as much fun as was humanly possible if they were dead.
"Boy, that Cordelia's a regular breath of vile air," he said. When they didn't respond, he cocked his head and said, "What are you vixens up to?"
Willow said, "Just sitting here watching our barren lives pass us by."
"Oh, look, a cockroach," Aviva said. Whomp! The sucker didn't have a chance.
Xander was about to congratulate her on her technique when he saw not a flicker of predatory satisfaction on her face. He would have thought out of his friends that Aviva would have had the most predatory satisfaction there was, well maybe next to Buffy anyways. But none of them seemed to be much in the mood.
"Whoa, stop this crazy whirligig of fun," he drawled. "I'm dizzy."
Buffy activated. She said, "All right, now I'm infecting those near and dear to me. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She prepared for liftoff.
Willow said, "Oh, don't go."
Aviva piped up, "Yeah, it's early!"
"We could, um, dance," Xander added as he broke into his standard disco routine.
"Rain check. Besides I promised Prue I would be home early anyways," Buffy said, pushing away from the table. Smiling, however. Although sadly. To her friends, she said, "'Night."
She left.
Aviva showed Xander the carcass of her kill, attractively glued to her shoe with its cockroachy guts, and said, "Want a free drink?"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Surrounded by people and noise, Angel stood alone as he watched Buffy heading for the Bronze's exit door. He stood in shadow, his face clouded with longing and worry.
Almost as if she sensed him, Buffy looked up.
But he was gone by then.
She moved on.
Streets of San Francisco
The street was deserted of people as Buffy headed for home. In the distance an ambulance siren wailed; car horns sounded. Yet, beneath the traffic din, she heard a noise. She slowed and looked back. There was nothing there, but often there seemed to be nothing there while some demon stalked her.
She walked on.
As Buffy half-expected, she heard another sound. She took a few more steps, then stopped. This time she didn't turn around as she said, with resignation and determination in her voice, "It's late. I'm tired and I don't want to play games. Show yourself."
Something dropped to the ground behind her, savagely growling as a fireball formed in her hand. She whirled around. As Buffy raised her hand to toss the fireball, a hand grabbed her wrist from behind.
A hand with talons for fingernails. It was joined by the hand of another, which yanked her arm. The first twisted her wrist until she was forced to extinguish the fireball or vanquish herself.
There were three of them, dressed in weird armor, uncommonly strong, even for vampires.
Buffy said, "Oh, okay nice. Hey, ow, okay. I'm letting go. I don't want to fight all three of you."
Without warning, she kicked the vampire in front of her right where it counted. "Unless I have to," Buffy said, and they were off. As the ponytail guy doubled over, another one, who had a scar that had sealed his eye shut, slammed her in the back.
They flung her against a chain link fence. Then two pulled her between them as One-Eye moved in for the kill. He bared his fangs and lowered his face toward her neck. She smelled death on him.
Her death.
Suddenly a familiar voice rang out as someone yanked One-Eye's head back.
Angel.
He said, "Good dogs don't bite."
Buffy threw herself backward, kicking her legs up and catching her two captors in the head. One went down. Ponytail grabbed her and threw her against the fence as Angel dodged One-Eye.
Angel moved like a panther: fast, savage, and deadly. He went for the one who had fallen as One-Eye ripped a pointed spike off the wrought iron fence and lunged at him.
"Look out!" Buffy shouted as he slashed Angel across the ribs. She fought Ponytail, smashing his head back with her open hands, and then slamming both her fists, doubled together like a wrecking ball, into his face.
Angel was down; she paused to kick One-Eye in the face, then urged Angel to his feet, screaming,
"Run!"
They flew. Down one block, through an empty lot, and across another block as they moved into a residential area. Angel matched her step for step, almost as if he knew where she was leading them. As one, they turned onto Prescott Street. Buffy spared a glance at him; he was holding his side. She frowned, worried, but pumped harder as the snarling vampires gained on them. Dashing ahead of Angel she opened the front door.
She herded him inside, yelling, "Get in! Come on!"
Halliwell Manor
Just as Buffy shut the door, One-Eye leaped onto the porch, grabbing for her. She smashed his hand with the door. He pulled it free and she slammed the door shut. She locked it as she looked through the panes, fighting to catch her breath.
Behind her, Angel said, "It's all right. A vampire can't come in unless it's invited."
"I've heard that before, but I've never put it to the test."
The three vampires paced the front steps, growling. Buffy didn't know how long they would loiter, but it appeared Angel was right. They weren't going to be able to come in without an invitation. A comfort, that.
As was the sight of Angel standing in her house, hurt, but alive and staring back at her with his dark, penetrating eyes.
She said, "I'll get some bandages. Take your jacket and your shirt off."
Angel followed Buffy into the kitchen, shedding his black jacket and pulling his white T-shirt over his head.
She reached to get the first aid kit out of the cupboard making sure he didn't see any of the potion ingredients. Not that Buffy really cared if he saw them. The first time she had met he had pretty much admitted that he knew she was a witch as well as a Slayer.
Then as she turned and saw that he had his back to her and was naked from the waist up, Buffy's heart began to pound. She paused, hypnotized by the sleek taper of the muscles in his back and his arms, the smooth skin on the nape of his neck.
A large tattoo of a flying creature rippled on his right shoulder as he moved slightly, and she stirred from her daze and said, "Nice tattoo."
Then Buffy began to bandage his wound. He was cold. That made sense; he was shirtless and it was chilly out. His wound was deep, and she was surprised that he didn't seem to be in more pain.
They were standing very close together. Buffy was aware that his face—his lips—were inches from hers.
To distract herself, she said, "I was lucky you came along." Then, regaining her composure to a degree, she tilted her head up at him and asked with a tinge of mock suspicion, "How did you happen to come along?"
Angel replied, his voice soft and deep, "I live nearby. I was just out walking."
"So you weren't following me? I had this feeling you were."
His smile was faint, but it was there. "Why would I do that?"
Buffy spoke rapidly, her fingers ripping through the sterile packaging in the kit. "You tell me. You're the Mystery Guy who appears out of nowhere." She gave a little laugh. "I'm not saying I'm not happy about it tonight, but if you are hanging around me, I'd like to know why." She finished the bandage and straightened up, now even closer to him.
Angel said, "Maybe I like you."
She stared up at him, catching the scent of his body, the light sweat, the smell of soap or maybe incense. "Maybe?" Buffy asked, somewhere between hopeful and playful.
He made no answer, only gazed at her. Buffy took a breath. She just knew that something was going to happen.
Something did happen.
The front door opened.
Buffy raced to the door. She jerked Prue, Piper and Phoebe inside and scanned for the enemy.
Prue said, "Buffy, what are you doing?"
"Was followed home by some vampires," Buffy explained, After glancing out at the yard, she quickly closed and locked the door.
"Vampires?" Piper said suddenly worried as she scanned her cousin over for injuries. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Piper," Buffy answered.
Prue's gaze ticked past Buffy. She said, "Hi."
Behind Buffy, Angel answered, "Hi."
Buffy glanced over her shoulder and saw Angel had slipped back into his clothes.
Phoebe glanced from Buffy to Angel and back to Buffy.
"Yeah, Phoebe, that's him, remember?" Buffy said.
"You two know him," Piper said looking between her younger sister and her cousin.
"He's the one that warned me about the Harvest. He's also the one that gave me and Phoebe the crosses you all are wearing," Buffy explained. She turned and looked at Angel. "Angel, these are my cousins. You know Phoebe. This is Prue and Piper," she said waving at Prue and Piper in turn.
"The Charmed Ones," Angel said with a nod.
"Why is he here, Buffy?" Prue asked suddenly suspicious of Angel.
"He ran into me when I was dealing with the vampires," Buffy explained as she turned her gaze to Prue. "I felt it safe for both him and myself that he come with me till it's safe."
Prue glanced at her sisters who nodded at the unspoken question. "Okay," she said as she turned back to Angel and Buffy. "You can sleep on the couch, Angel."
"I'll get you a pillow and a blanket," Buffy said as she is followed up the stairs by Prue, Piper and Phoebe.
"Buffy," Prue said as they reached the linen closet. "Do I need to remind you what happened with Aviva when we first met her? I know she is your friend and has even proven herself since we vanquished Kali. But what happened with her should make you cautious about inviting people in we don't know very well."
"If not for the vampires that followed us here," Buffy said. "I would have asked your permission first, Prue. I know we have to be careful about who we let in. After all we've had warlocks after us, vampires after well me, dark witches again after well me and Xander who was briefly transformed into Hyena. I know we have to be careful."
"She knows the rules, Prue," said Phoebe siding with Buffy.
"Alright," said Prue.
Buffy took two pillows and a couple blankets and headed back downstairs and into the living room.
.Quietly he said, "Look, I don't want to get you in any trouble."
"And I don't want to get you dead," Buffy insisted. "They could still be out there. So, you're spending the night."
Angel smiled. "Okay," he said as he crossed to the window. Nothing moved outside, as if all was serene. "I don't see them..."
"You know, I'm the Charmed Slayer," Buffy said as he turned away from the window. "It's my job to fight guys like that. What's your excuse?"
"Somebody has to," he murmured.
"Well, what does your family think of your career choice?"
'How far should I go? What do I tell her?' he wondered. He replied simply, "They're dead."
Buffy looked at him, she asked quietly, "Was it vampires?"
He turned toward her, his face filled with unspoken pain. "It was."
"I'm sorry."
"It was a long time ago." His voice betrayed buried sorrow, hidden anger.
"So this is a vengeance gig for you?" she pressed. She handed him the blankets and pillows. "Sleep tight."
April 28, 1997 – Monday
Gateway High
The next day in the library, Buffy told Aviva, Xander, Willow, and Giles what had happened the night before.
"He spent the night?" Xander almost shouted.
Buffy flushed at her friend's outrage. "Yeah downstairs in the living room on the couch."
"Oh, Buffy, come on! Wake up and smell the seduction." Xander frowned big time. "It's the oldest trick in the book."
Buffy asked pointedly, "Saving my life? Getting slashed in the ribs?"
"Du-uh. Guys'll do anything to impress a girl." Xander pushed out his chest. "I once drank an entire gallon of Gatorade without taking a breath."
Willow nodded, backing him up. "It was pretty impressive." Then she made a little face. "Although later there was an ick factor. . . ."
Giles approached, carrying a huge black leather-bound book. "Can we steer this riveting conversation back to the events that took place earlier in the evening? You left the Bronze and were set upon by three unusually virile vampires . . ." He laid down the book and pointed to an engraving. "Did they look like this?"
They were Buffy's three vampire amigos.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah. What's with the uniforms?"
Giles looked grim but satisfied. "It seems you encountered the Three—warrior vampires, very proud and strong."
Willow blinked, impressed. "How is it you always know this stuff? You always know what's going on. I never know what's going on."
Giles waved a hand at the piles of dusty books as he sipped from a coffee cup. "Well, you weren't here from midnight to six researching it." Buffy's call had reached him just as he was ready to turn in.
Sheepishly Willow agreed. "No, I was sleeping."
Giles turned to Buffy. "Obviously, you're hurting the Master. He wouldn't send the Three for just anyone." He thought a moment, cleaning his glasses. "We must step up our training with weapons."
"Prue will just love that," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.
Xander added, "Buffy, you'd better stay at my place until these samurai guys are history."
Buffy wasn't quite sure she'd heard him right. "What?"
"Don't worry about Angel," he went on. "Willow can run over to your house and tell him to get out of town fast."
Buffy shook her head looking at her friend. "Xander, did you forget who I am? I'm the Charmed Slayer and I live with the Charmed Ones. Prue, Piper, Phoebe and I can deal with them if they come to the manor again."
Giles shook his head. "Anyways, Angel and Buffy are not in immediate jeopardy." He put his glasses back on. "Eventually the Master will send someone else, but in the meantime, the Three, having failed, will offer up their own lives as penance."
Master's Cave, Hellmouth
Deep within the earth, the Three knelt before the Master. They still carried their aura of menace and destruction, yet they were afraid. Darla watched with excitement as they hung their heads in shame. The leader of the Three, so scarred that one eye was permanently shut, handed the Master a long, sharp impaling spear—a vampiric weapon of execution. Acting as if he had no plans to use it, the Master handed it in turn to Darla, who clutched it eagerly.
Their leader said, "We failed in our duty, and now our lives belong to you."
The Master moved to Collin, and spoke gently in his dangerously warm voice. "Pay attention, child. You are the Anointed One, and there is much you must learn. With power comes responsibility. True, they did fail, but also true, we who walk at night share a common bond. The taking of a life—I'm not talking about humans, of course—is a serious matter."
The leader of the Three raised his head slightly. Darla knew he was hoping that he and the others would be allowed to live.
Sounding like the little human boy he once had been, Collin asked, "So you would spare them?"
The Master gave Darla a look. They had been together so long, killed so many, that she understood what he wanted. Her eyes shining, she clamped her hands around the impaling spear and quietly took her position behind the leader of the Three.
"I am weary," the Master said, "and their deaths will bring me little joy." He shepherded Collin off a little way.
It was Darla's cue. With all her strength and her pent-up rage, she gleefully shoved the spear through the scarred, powerful vampire. He shrieked, and then exploded into dust.
The shrieks of his brothers followed quickly.
"Of course," the Master added, "sometimes a little is enough."
Gateway High
The library door was half covered with a large sign that read, Closed for filing. Please come back tomorrow. Inside Buffy peered into a large locker filled with weaponry.
"Cool, a crossbow," she said as she touched the ancient weapon. Then she saw the bolts and started to load the weapon. "Huh, check out these babies," she purred. "Goodbye stakes, hello flying fatality." She didn't truly need the crossbow, not when she could throw fire from her hands. But still it might be fun to use anyways. Eagerly, she looked around. "What can I shoot?"
Looking perturbed with her Giles, in padded gear, took the crossbow and put it away, saying firmly, "Nothing. The crossbow comes later. You must first become proficient with the basic tools of combat. Let's begin with the quarter staff."
"Uh, Giles," Buffy said shaking her hand as held up her hand in which formed a fireball. "Learning how to fire the crossbow could help in better control of my power."
"I will concede the point," Giles reluctantly admitted. "But you still need to learn other tools of combat. You never know what your opponent could use." He plucked up two long wooden poles and handed one to her. "Also these traditions have been handed down through the ages, show me good, steady progress with the quarter-staff and in due time we'll discuss the crossbow."
He held the quarter staff across his body with both hands and got ready to rumble, Giles-style. "Now, put on your pads," he told her.
She cocked her head. "I'm not going to need pads for you."
He accepted her challenge with a slight lift of his chin. "We'll see about that." He saluted her by raising the right end of the staff. "En garde."
Buffy's first thrust was a bit tentative and he parried it easily; then, as wood smacked wood, she got the feel of the rhythm and fell immediately into it: thrust, parry, thrust, parry, thrust, thrust, thrust. She hit him high, low, in the middle, wham! practically heard his bones crack. He had taught her not to hold back; part of his duty as Watcher was to give her a real fight. Which was made harder because of the fact she was a witch with an active power.
Whack! She knocked him flat on his back. Breathing hard, he stared up at her and wheezed, "Good. Let's move on to the crossbow."
Halliwell Manor
Buffy sat with Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Angel sitting at the dining room table eating dinner. Throughout the day Angel had made the excuse of wanting to make sure that the vampires wouldn't return that night before he left. So the sisters had reluctantly agreed to let him stay at least until nightfall to make sure everything was going to be alright.
"We have to call the exterminator," Piper said looking at Prue. "I heard mice or something in the basement today..."
"I'll make the call," Prue said as she looked toward her middle sister.
Piper nodded as she turned toward Angel and noticed he hadn't touched his food. "Not hungry?" she asked.
He smiled at Piper in appreciation. "The food's great Ms. Halliwell," Angel said looking down at the plate before looking back up at Piper. "I just happen to be on a very strict diet. It's my fault really I should have told you so you wouldn't go to all that trouble. I do appreciate the thought though."
"Next time you just let me know and I will make sure to prepare everything just right," Piper said as she smiled at Angel.
"Piper loves to cook, Angel," Buffy said as she smiled at him. "She will do anything to make it perfect."
"Buffy!" Piper said clearly embarrassed by what her cousin had said.
Buffy smiled at Piper before turning back to Angel. "So was Phoebe good company or were you bored?" she asked.
"I read mostly. You all have an excellent collection," Angel admitted.
Prue looked at Phoebe as if to ask, 'Did he go into the attic?'
Phoebe shook her head and made a motion to indicate she had locked the attic door while Angel was there.
"I think I should be off," Angel said as he stood up. "Those vampires are more than likely dead so should not pose a problem. Thank you for your hospitality."
Buffy smiled at Angel "Let me show you out, Angel," she stood up and showed Angel to the door.
"I did a lot of thinking today," Angel began. "I can't really be around you."
"Oh, no." she thought. Was she about to have a repeat of what happened between Piper and Leo? She shrugged to show she wasn't dying inside. "Hey, no big."
"Because when I am—"
"Water over . . . the bridge—" she said and then stopped as she realized that wasn't right. "Wait. That wasn't right..." she thought.
"All I can think about is how badly I want to kiss you," Angel continued, but it didn't register with her at first.
Buffy pressed on resolutely, determined not to let him see how very much she so did not want him to leave her life: "It's under the bridge, over the dam . . ." and then she heard what he had said. "Kiss me?" she echoed, looking up at him.
His face lost none of its seriousness. He was finding no joy in telling her this. "I'm older than you, and this can't ever . . ." Angel stopped, then seemed to surrender to something. "I should go."
Buffy asked softly, "How . . . how much older?"
Again Angel hesitated. He looked deeply into her eyes. A rush of warmth shot through her; head to toes, she tingled. Her face was hot. Her hands were cold.
"I should . . ."
"Go, you said." Buffy moved toward him, knowing that he wasn't going. Knowing, with a thrill, that he couldn't make himself leave. She lifted her chin; he cradled it with his fingers. Then his lips were on hers. It was the softest kiss; tender, unsure.
"Angel, Angel," Buffy sang inside. Everything else fell away: being the Charmed Slayer and being sixteen and being anything or anywhere but in Angel's arms, and kissing Angel's mouth.
They both tensed as the kiss became more passionate. She gave herself to the moment, held tightly in his arms as she kissed him fiercely and he kissed her back with increasing intensity. His hand gripped her arms, pulling her closer, then . . . She realized he was struggling against her, trying to push himself free.
He backed away and averted his face.
"What?" she asked, panting a little. "Angel, what's wrong?"
Suddenly, he looked at her. The dark eyes were wild and blank, like an animal's. His soft mouth was pulled back, revealing sharp, pointed teeth . . .
Fangs.
She screamed in terror.
Snarling, Angel dove out the door and raced into the night as Buffy kept screaming.
Prue, Piper and Phoebe came running into the foyer suddenly worried about their cousin. "Buffy, what happened?" Prue asked.
Buffy fought to catch her breath as she turned to face them. They could see the pure shock on her face. "Angel's a vampire," she finally managed to get out.
Prue, Piper and Phoebe looked at each other astonished at the revelation. "You're sure?" Piper asked as she and her sisters turned back to face their cousin.
Buffy nodded. "Yes," she said wishing it wasn't true. "We kissed and his face morphed into a vampire."
Phoebe started laughing. They all turned and glared at her. "What? Well you have to admit it's funny," she admitted. "Piper dated a Warlock, fell for a ghost. I was interested in a demon. So it only makes sense that the guy Buffy would be interested in is a vampire."
Prue and Piper looked at each other. While they did admit it was kind of funny it was also worrying. They had invited a vampire into their home, who could now kill them in their sleep.
April 29, 1997 – Tuesday
Gateway High
"Angel's a vampire?" Willow's stunned reaction mirrored Buffy's own.
The light of day hadn't diminished the shock as Buffy was sharing Angel's terrible secret with the Xander, Aviva, Willow and Giles.
Buffy felt sick. "I can't believe this is happening. One minute we're kissing, the next minute . . ." She turned to Giles, almost begging when she asked, "Can a vampire ever be a good person? Couldn't it happen?"
"I've been wondering the same thing," admitted Piper who had come with Buffy to tell hers and her sisters side of things.
"A vampire isn't a person at all. It may have the movements, the memories, even the personality of the person it took over. But it is a demon at the core. There's no halfway," Giles admitted and he knew what he said Buffy hadn't wanted to hear.
Willow looked at Buffy. "So that'd be a no, huh?"
Piper could see that Buffy didn't or couldn't believe it. "Well, then, what was he doing? Why was he . . . good to us?" she asked. "Was it all some part of the Master's plan? It doesn't make sense."
Bone weary, soul wounded, Buffy sat with Willow and Aviva on one of the benches in front of the school.
Xander, silent up to now, sat down next to Buffy, grasping his skateboard. "All right, you have a problem and it's not a small one," he began. "Let's just take a breath and look at this calmly and objectively."
"Xander is right," Piper agreed as Buffy half-nodded. "What were you thinking, Xander?"
"Angel's a vampire, you're a Charmed One, Piper and Buffy's the Charmed Slayer," Xander said as he met Piper's eyes. "I think it's obvious what has to be done."
"No," Buffy thought desperately. She looked to Giles and Piper.
"He's right, Buffy," Piper reluctantly admitted.
Giles sighed. "It is the Slayer's duty."
Xander continued. "I know you have feelings for this guy, but it's not like you're in love with him, right?"
Buffy said nothing, but Piper could instantly read the answer on her cousin's face.
Xander too had read then answer on Buffy's face. He blew up. "You're in love with a vampire?" he said loudly.
"Shut up, Xander," Piper said as she wrapped her arm around Buffy comfortingly.
"What!" Standing directly behind Xander, Cordelia reacted with shock.
Xander looked stricken. "Not vampire." He said sternly to Buffy, "How can you love anumpire? Everyone hates them!"
Cordelia's nostrils flared like those of a bull ready to charge. Delicately, however. "Where did you get that dress?" she demanded.
They watched as the cheerleader zeroed in on another girl crossing the quad in the exact same dress as Cordelia's, black with a colorful pop-art design. Cordelia snapped, "This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this dress cost?"
The girl tried to scoot away, but Cordelia was having none of it. She grabbed the back of the girl's dress and tried to read the label, hissing, "It's a knockoff, isn't it?"
The girl renewed her efforts to escape. The queen of the fashion police gave chase. "It's a cheesy knockoff! This is what happens when you sign these free trade agreements."
The two disappeared into the crowd. Flatly, Buffy quipped, "And we think we have problems."
It was at that moment the bell rang.
"Oh boy, time for geometry," Willow said as she smiled, she noticed that Aviva and Xander both gave her a look. "It's fun if you make it fun." She led her friends toward the school leaving Piper and Giles standing alone in the quad.
Piper turned toward the Watcher. "You have my number at Quake?" she asked as he nodded. "If you come up with something call me?"
"Of course, Piper," Giles agreed. He had planned to do that anyways.
Angel's Apartment
Angel walked down the basement corridor that led to his apartment. The door was unlocked; he entered. The soft light cloaked much of the room in shadow; as he turned on another light, he froze, sensing a presence.
"Who's here?" he demanded, unafraid but alert.
"A friend." He turned to look. It was Darla. He tensed as she emerged from the shadows, smiling, enjoying his unease. "Hi," she said. "It's been a while."
Angel replied evenly, "A lifetime."
"Or two. But who's counting?"
He gestured to her clothes. "What's with the Catholic-schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos."
"And last time I saw you, it wasn't high school girls." Darla could not realize how much that comment hurt him. The look of horror on Buffy's face was burned into his brain. "Don'tcha like?" she asked, making a tiny curtsy. "Remember Budapest, turn of the century? You were such a bad boy during that earthquake." She came toward him, moving slowly, almost as if she were preparing for an attack.
The memory of his own evil actions pained him, as did almost every memory he had of his entire vampiric existence. He replied, "You did some damage yourself."
Her chuckle was low and breathy. Darla was beautiful, for the moment. "Is there anything better than a natural disaster? The panic, the people lost in the streets. Like picking fruit off the vine." She glided through his apartment, examining his possessions. It was clear she considered him to be a possession of hers.
She looked at his bed. "Nice," Darla observed ironically. "You're living above ground, like one of them. You and your new friend are attacking us, like one of them. But guess what, precious? You're not one of them—"
Without warning, she yanked a string on a shade and snapped it open. A beam of sunlight hit Angel like an arc of fire. The pain shot deep into his bones as he shouted and fell to the floor.
"Are you?"
Angel climbed slowly to his feet and set his jaw, unwilling to allow her to witness his agony. "No, but I'm not exactly one of you, either."
"Is that what you tell yourself these days?" Darla moved to the fridge and opened the door. Bags of blood hung from the top rack. "You're not exactly living off quiche," she drawled. She walked toward him again. "You and I both know what you hunger for. What you need. Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's who we are. It's what makes eternal life worth living."
She touched his chest and began to caress it. He did not react, but he was furious. She looked up at him with a suggestive smile. "You can only suppress your real nature for so long. I can feel it brewing inside of you. I hope I'm around when it explodes."
"Maybe you don't want to be," he said in a low, dangerous voice as he glared at her.
"I'm not afraid of you. I bet she is, though." Darla left him and headed for the door. "Or maybe I'm underestimating her. Talk to her. Tell her about the curse. Maybe she'll come around. And if she still doesn't trust you, you know where I'll be." She sauntered out the door.
Angel stared straight ahead, hating her. Hating the truths she had forced on him. Hating the look of terror, he saw on Buffy's face when he had revealed his true self. Sometimes lies were better. Such as the lie he had begun to allow himself to believe: that it mattered that he was sorry down to the very core of the soul for all the terrible acts he had committed. That it made what he had done less unforgivable.
That it made him a man again.
He wondered if Buffy would hunt him now. And if she did, what he would do.
Gateway High
In the school library, Aviva, Willow and Buffy sat at the table while Xander stood to one side. All were looking through books about demons and vampires.
"Here's something at last," Giles announced, emerging from the stacks and shattering the silence.
Xander jumped perhaps a foot. "Can you please warn us before you do that?"
Giles was carrying some very old, weathered-looking books. Ignoring Xander, he continued, "There's nothing about Angel in the texts, but then it occurred to me it's been ages since I read the diaries of any of the Watchers before me." He referred to one of the volumes he was holding and said, "There's a mention some two hundred years ago in Ireland of Angelus, the one with the angelic face."
Buffy's expression was ironic. "They got that right."
Xander coughed. Everyone looked at him. He put on a innocent expression and said, "I'm not saying anything. I have nothing to say."
Checking the book, Giles went on, "Does Angel have a tattoo behind his right shoulder?"
Buffy nodded. "Yeah. It's a bird or something."
Xander's eyes widened. He leaned forward slightly and said, "Now I'm saying something. You saw him naked?"
Willow tried to bring the subject back to safer territory. "So, Angel's been around a while."
Giles gave his head a little shake. "Not that long for a vampire. Two hundred and forty years or so."
Buffy gave a little laugh. A gallows laugh. "Two hundred and forty. Well, he said he was older."
Oblivious to Buffy's distress, Giles sat down and consulted another diary. "Angelus leaves Ireland, wreaks havoc in Europe for several decades. Then, about eighty years ago, a most curious thing happens . . ." He reached for another book. "He comes to America, shuns other vampires, and lives alone. There's no record of him hunting here."
Willow perked up. She said, "So he is a good vampire. I mean, on a scale of one to ten, ten being someone who's killing and maiming every night and one being someone who's . . . not . . ." She flushed at her word choices and the sad expression on Buffy's face.
"I'm sorry," Giles said. "There's no record but, vampires hunt and kill. It's what they do."
"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," Xander quipped, but it wasn't funny.
"He could have fed on me, Prue, Piper or Phoebe. He didn't," Buffy offered.
"Question," Xander went on. "The hundred years or so before he came to our shores, what was he like then?"
Giles said plainly, "Like all of them." He looked directly at Buffy, making sure she heard his words. "A vicious, violent animal."
Master's Cave, Hellmouth
Darla faced the Master and said, "Don't think I'm not grateful, you letting me kill the Three."
The Master made a sweeping gesture. "How can my children learn if I do everything for them?" He smiled at Collin, the Anointed One, who sat nearby.
"But you've got to let me take care of the Slayer," Darla added. She would like nothing better than to drain every drop of blood from Angel's little human.
The Master raised his brow and said, in his singsong voice, "Oh, you're giving me orders now."
She walked away, saying over her shoulder, "Okay, then we'll just do nothing while she takes us out one by one." Her voice was soft, her words lilting, almost an imitation of the Master.
"Do I sense a plan, Darla?" the Master inquired. She smiled and turned at his invitation. "Share."
She said, "Angel kills her and comes back to the fold."
"Angel," the Master murmured. He looked off into the distance, perhaps seeing the same thing Darla did: Angelus, scourge of Europe, a ravening beast. "He was the most vicious creature I ever met. I miss him."
"So do I."
"Why would he kill her if he feels for her?" the Master asked.
Darla smiled. "To keep her from killing him."
The Master returned her smile and bit his tongue with pleasure. He said to the Anointed One, "You see how we all work together for the common good? That's how a family is supposed to function."
Gateway High
Willow was doing the tutor thing. Buffy was doing the lost-in-thought thing.
Willow said slowly. "So Reconstruction began when?" She waited. "Buffy?"
Buffy stirred. "Huh? Oh. Reconstruction. Reconstruction began after ah, the construction, which was shoddy, so they had to reconstruct—"
Willow saved her. "After the destruction of the Civil War."
Buffy took that in. "Right. The Civil War." She began to drift away again. "During which, Angel was already like . . . a hundred and change."
Willow asked gently, "Are we going to talk about boys or are we going to help you pass history?" She waited a moment, then shut her history book and leaned toward Buffy. They were alone in the library, but she lowered her voice anyway. "Sometimes I have this fantasy that Xander's just going to grab me and kiss me right on the lips."
Buffy warmed to the subject. "You want Xander, you gotta speak up, girl."
Willow looked utterly panicked. "No, no, no! No speaking up. That way leads to madness and sweaty palms."
Above them, behind the stacks on the second floor of the library, Darla listened. The Slayer's young, innocent friend lowered her voice and said, "Okay, here's something I've got to know. When Angel kissed you, I mean, before he turned into . . . how was it?"
The Slayer got all rosy and dreamy. She said, "Unbelievable." She laughed softly, the way Darla remembered that young girls in love laughed.
Her friend was impressed. "Wow. And itis kind of novel how he'll stay young and handsome forever. Although you'll still get wrinkly and die and ooh, what about the children?" She must have realized she was hurting the Slayer, for she said quickly, "I'll be quiet now."
The Slayer cocked her head and smiled sadly. "No, it's okay. I need to hear this. I need to get over him so I can—"
"So that you can . . . ?" The girl mimed a staking with her silly fuzzy-topped pen. Darla felt a thrill of anticipation. Implementing her plan was going to be easier than she had expected.
The Slayer shrugged. "Like Xander said, I'm the Charmed Slayer. And he's a vampire. God, I can't. He's never done anything to hurt me." She caught herself. "Okay, now. I've got to stop thinking about this."
Resolutely she opened her schoolbook. "Okay. Give me another half hour, and maybe something will sink in. Then I'm going home for some major moping."
"Okay. The era of congressional Reconstruction," the Slayer's friend intoned dutifully, "usually called Radical . . ."
Darla glided away. She had a lot to accomplish in the next half hour.
Halliwell Manor
Piper faced mounds of paperwork for Quake at the kitchen table. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip.
There was a slow, deliberate creaking somewhere in the house. She looked up. "Buffy, Prue, Piper?" she called out. Hearing nothing more, she settled back to work on the accounting books for the restauraunt.
There it was again. It was outside. She stood and went to the back door. She peered out the window and saw nothing.
But as Piper turned away, she missed the sight of Darla, her features contorted in her
vampiric face, grinning in anticipation of the unfolding of her scheme. Then Darla moved silently from the window.
Piper continued to move through the house, growing edgier at the creaks and groans. "For heaven's sake! It's just the house settling," she told herself, but she started, just a little, when someone knocked on the front door.
It was a blonde girl with a very sweet smile. She was carrying schoolbooks, and she was very conservatively dressed. Piper opened the door. "Hello?" she asked politely.
"Hi. I'm Darla. A friend of Buffy's?" the girl said tentatively.
"Oh." Piper relaxed. "Nice to meet you."
A pause.
"She didn't mention anything about me coming over for a study date, did she?" Darla smiled shyly.
Piper was a little confused, just the tiniest bit alarmed. "No," she said. "I thought she was studying with Willow at the library."
"She is," Darla assured her. "Willow's the Civil War expert, but then I was supposed to help her with the War of Independence." Her smile became modest and genteel. "My family kind of goes back to those days."
"Well, I know she's supposed to be home soon," Piper said. "Would you like to come in and wait?"
Darla stepped over the threshold of the Halliwell Manor. "Very nice of you to invite me into your home," she said.
Piper smiled, bemused. "You're welcome," she said as Darla came in. She added conversationally, "I've been wrestling with the accounting books for Quake all night. Would you like something to eat?"
Darla said, "Yes. I would."
"Let's see what we have." Piper led the way to the kitchen, asking over her shoulder. "Do you feel like something little or something big?"
"Something big," Darla replied, allowing her true self—her vampire self—to be revealed. Soon, now, very soon, Angel would be hers.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
He couldn't stay away. He had to talk to Buffy.
Angel walked up to the front door of the Manor and raised his hand to knock. He stopped himself and with a sigh walked away. That was what he had to do.
Walk away.
He was almost past the house when someone screamed in terror. He bolted around to the back and flung open the door.
Piper was slumped in Darla's arms. Blood flowed from twin wounds on her neck. Darla's demon mouth was covered with the woman's blood.
"Let her go."
Darla looked at him and laughed. "I just had a little. There's plenty more. Aren't you hungry for something warm after all this time?"
Angel hesitated, starting to breathe a little harder as he smelled the tantalizing odor of warm, living blood.
It was true; he was hungry for it. He was always hungry for it.
Darla spoke in a sexy, inviting voice, holding Piper like a rag doll. "Come on, Angel."
He shook his head, fighting the change, fighting the need. This was a living human being. This was Buffy's cousin.
"Just say yes," Darla breathed, and heaved the unconscious woman into his arms. He struggled with his burden, fighting hard, struggling but feeling himself losing. He was weakening, too hungry, almost starving for it.
He felt his face change. He slipped easily, too easily, into vampire mode. Darla's eyes burned with delight as she said triumphantly, "Welcome home."
She moved toward the door, leaving him alone with Piper in his grip. Angel stared at the blood on her neck, the fresh, warm blood . . .
He shut his eyes, trying to control himself. He opened them, moving his head—and fangs—down toward Piper's neck. Darla's bite was shallow. Glistening. Closer . . .
"Piper, Prue, Phoebe?" a voice called. "I'm home."
Buffy entered from the dining room and froze.
Angel could not speak; the hunger was so fierce upon him. The hunger . . . and the shame.
Throwing Angel through one of the windows in the front of the Manor wasn't the neatest way to get rid of him, but Buffy didn't care. Angel landed in a heap on the lawn.
But of course he wasn't hurt; he got to his feet and faced her.
She had never hated anyone as much as she hated him in that moment. She said quietly, dangerously, "You're not welcome here. You come near us and I'll kill you."
He said nothing, only looked at her with his dark, brutal eyes and his hideous face. She turned her back on him and raced into the kitchen, grabbing the phone and dialing 911.
"Piper, can you hear me?" she asked frantically, and then, into the receiver, "Yes. I need an ambulance at 1329 Prescott Street. My cousin . . . cut herself. She's lost a lot of blood. Please, please hurry." She hung up. "Piper?" She turned back to the phone and dialed again. "Come on Prue answer."
"Piper?" Prue called from the front door. "Buffy? Phoebe and I are home."
"In here, Prue," Buffy called out.
Prue and Piper could hear the panic in Buffy's voice and hurried into the kitchen. They found Buffy applying pressure to Piper's neck.
Phoebe gasped. "What happened?"
"Angel," Buffy said, and her world shattered. She looked at Prue who had noticed the phone laying next to her. "I called for an ambulance."
UCSF Medical Center
Giles strode down the hospital corridor and into Piper's room. Piper was resting, a small bandage on her neck. Buffy, Prue and Phoebe stood protectively beside her bed, Aviva, Willow and Xander a slight distance away.
Buffy was saying, "Do you remember anything, Piper?"
Piper was fuzzy. "Just . . . your friend came over. I was going to make a snack."
Filled with guilt, Buffy echoed, "My friend."
Piper slurred as she continued, "I guess I slipped and cut my neck on . . ." She paused. "The doctor said it looked like a barbecue fork. We don't have a barbecue fork." She inquired of Giles, "Are you another doctor?"
Buffy interjected, "Piper, it's Giles."
"Rupert?" Piper said.
Giles stepped forward. "Yes, Piper," he said as he placed a hand on her comfortingly.
Prue said, "Get some rest now." She gave her sister a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the room as Buffy, Giles, Phoebe, Aviva, Willow and Xander followed her.
In the corridor, Buffy leaned wearily against the wall as Prue and Phoebe flanked her wrapping their arms around their cousin. "She's going to be okay," Prue said. "They gave her some iron. Her blood count was a little . . ."
Giles could see each of the Halliwels were fighting for control. "A little low," he said, giving them time to collect themselves. He wished he could do or say something to comfort them, but he must stand as the voice of reason. He continued, "It presents itself like a mild anemia. You're lucky, Buffy, you got to her as soon as you did."
Buffy whipped her head toward him. "Lucky? Stupid," she said miserably.
"Buffy, it's not your fault," Prue insisted.
"No?" Buffy looked at first her eldest cousin with a hard, angry expression. "I invited him into our home, Prue. And even after I knew who he was—what he was—I didn't do anything about it because I had feelings for him. Because I cared about him."
"If you care about somebody," Willow offered, with a quick glance at Xander, "you care about them. You can't change that by—"
"Killing them?" Buffy demanded. "Maybe not. But it's a start."
There was a silence. Xander said, "We'll keep an eye on Piper."
Giles knew he had to speak up. He wasn't sure she could beat Angel, even with Prue and Phoebe's help. "Buffy—"
Buffy looked up at him. "You can't stop us. The Three found me near the Bronze and so did he. He lives nearby."
Giles persisted. "This is no ordinary vampire." He glanced around and lowered his voice to a whisper. "If there is such a thing. He knows three of you, you in particular, Buffy. He's faced the Three. I think this is going to take more than a simple stake."
"So do I," Buffy bit off as she waved her hand to indicated her powers.
Giles said no more. He knew her mind was made up. He was very sorry and very worried. But then, he spent most nights worrying about Buffy. What decent human being would not?
Gateway High
"What are we doing here?" Prue asked as she and Phoebe followed Buffy into the darkened library.
"Getting you two locked and loaded," answered Buffy as she moved into the book cage and over to Giles' weapons locker. She opened it pulling out a crossbow and loaded it with three bolts. She tested the resistance of the bow before handing it to Prue. She then pulled out a second crossbow loaded it with three more bolts before handing this one to Phoebe.
Buffy looked around for something for Prue and Pheobe to practice on. She looked at the check out desk, the back wall and finally towards a poster of a cute guy smoking a cigarette next to the door. The caption read: Smoking sucks. She smiled as she looked back at her cousins. "Try hitting the heart on that poster," she suggested.
Prue aimed at the poster and let a bolt fly, straight into the cancer-ridden guy's heart. Buffy was impressed. "You're a natural, Prue," she said as she smiled at her eldest cousin. She turned to Phoebe. "Your turn."
Phoebe took aim at the poster and let a bolt fly. Her first shot missed the heart. She refused to give up and tried again as she let another bolt fly. This time it went straight into the heart. "You did good, Pheebs," Buffy said as she smiled at her youngest cousin. "Let's go."
Angel's Apartment
Angel was circled by Darla like a predator as he sat slumped in a chair. In a soft, insinuating voice, she purred, "She's out hunting you right now, very likely with her cousins. They all want to kill you."
Angel wanted to kill Darla, do anything to silence her. He only said, "Leave me alone."
"What did you think?" she pressed, leaning into him. "Did you think she would understand? That she would look at your face—your true face—and give you a kiss?"
She came close enough to kiss him herself. They gazed at one another, man at woman, monster at monster.
Two of a kind.
Still Darla pushed Angel. She didn't see, or didn't care, that his anger was building. "For a hundred years you've not had a moment's peace, because you will not accept who you are. That's all you have to do. Accept it. Don't let her hunt you down. Don't whimper and mewl like a mangy human. Kill. Feed. Live."
Her words were the final trigger. He rose and slammed her against the wall, holding her wrists. He spat out, "All right!"
She instantly grew serious, perhaps seeing the animal behind his eyes as it prepared to spring. Breathing hard, she asked, "What do you want?"
"I want it finished," he said savagely.
"That's good." She slid her glance to his hands around her wrists. "You're hurting me." She smiled. "That's good, too."
UCSF Medical Center
Giles' thoughts were on Prue, Phoebe and Buffy. He sat beside Piper's hospital bed, whose thoughts were also about her family. "I know Buffy's having trouble with history," Piper said. "Is it too difficult for her or is she not applying herself?"
"As you know Piper. Buffy lives very much in the now, and history, of course, is very much about the then. But there's no reason—" he said.
"She's studying with Willow. She's studying with Darla," Piper continued. "I mean, she is trying."
Giles went on instant alert. "Darla?" he said carefully. "I don't believe I know—"
"Her friend. The one who came over tonight," Piper filled in, not picking up on his anxiety.
"Darla came to your house tonight? She was the friend that you mentioned earlier? Not Angel?"
"No, I would never have allowed Angel into the manor," Piper answered. "I would have frozen him outside and closed the door."
"I now think this Darla may have been a vampire," Giles said as he stood up. "I think she may have been the one to bite you instead of Angel."
"Does that mean Angel might be good?" Piper wondered.
"I can't say for sure but if this Darla is the one who bit you, then it is possible," he reluctantly admitted. "Someone should warn Buffy that she maybe hunting the wrong vampire." He turned and left the room.
Moving quickly, he sped down the hospital corridor. Aviva, Willow and Xander, who had been waiting outside Piper's, joined him. He said urgently, "We have a problem."
The Bronze
Buffy followed by Phoebe prowled through town. Prue followed them in her car. They went past a vacant lot bordered with a barbed wire fence. Then they neared the Bronze. It was deserted. A small chalkboard sign next to the entrance read, Closed for fumigation. Opening bash this Saturday.
Buffy and Phoebe heard the sound of glass breaking somewhere above them. Buffy motioned for Prue to stop.
Prue obliged and pulled into a parking spot. "What?" she asked as she got out.
"Sound of breaking glass," Buffy said as she looked up. They moved along the side of the Bronze. A metal utility ladder was attached to the wall.
"Up?" suggested Phoebe. "Since that's where we heard it?"
"Up," agreed Buffy as she started to climb, her cousins right behind her.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy, Prue and Phoebe let themselves into the Bronze through a broken window. Prue and Phoebe both had their crossbows in hand as the three of them searched the balcony. They then took the stairs one at a time, sweeping the area with their gaze.
As they reached the main floor of the Bronze, Buffy thought she saw the silhouette of a man some distance away as a fireball formed in her hand. But when she spun around and took aim, there was no one there.
Nothing there.
They moved forward in the dark stillness. Stripped of lights, people, and noise, the Bronze was an eerie, otherworldly place.
A battleground.
Prue heard a crash of broken glass and aimed her crossbow into the darkness. "We know you're there," she called out, sweeping the area with the bow.
"And I finally know what you are," Buffy added as Phoebe swept the area with her crossbow.
"Do you?" As Buffy, Prue and Phoebe zeroed in, Angel spoke again, but this time his voice came from a different location. "I'm just an animal, right?"
"You're not an animal," Buffy said as a fireball formed in her hand. "Animals I like." Then her eyes widened as he stepped forward, very close to the three of them. He wore his vampire face.
He growled. "Let's get it done." He leaped, moving extremely fast. It took a moment for either Prue, Phoebe or Buffy to adjust to his speed and by the time they had he had hit the nearby pool table.
Prue brought her crossbow up, sighted, and fired, but the bolt flew across the club and lodged in the far wall as Angel vaulted straight up into the balcony. She reloaded the bow.
Buffy led her cousins as they crept around the pool table, Prue and Phoebe aimed up into the darkness. They searched for him, turning slowly. Every sense was on full alert.
He dropped down behind them, slamming his feet against Prue's neck and sending her flying onto the pool table.
Buffy rammed her boot into him with a roundhouse kick, knocking him backward.
While he was out of commission, Phoebe brought up her crossbow and pointed the deadly weapon at Angel, and kept him in her sights as Prue came up beside her with her own crossbow raised.
He rose, and faced the three of them, presenting each of them with the perfect shot.
He growled.
Then Angel's appearance morphed from his vampire features into the handsome young man who had so attracted Buffy when they had first met. Who had battled beside her against the Three.
"Come on," he said in a hard voice. "Don't go soft on me now."
Buffy let the fireball fly. It missed him by a mile and hit the post beside him.
"A little wide," he observed.
They looked at each other. "Why?" she asked quietly, getting to her feet, her voice shaking with anger.
"Why didn't you just attack us when you had the chance? Was it a joke? To make me feel for you and then . . ." Buffy stopped herself for a split-second. "I've vanquished warlocks, killed vampires, put humans in jail. I've never hated any of them before."
"Feels good, doesn't it?" he asked, also quietly, also emotionally. "Feels simple."
"I invited you into our home," Buffy went on, needing to express her hurt, feeling again her shock and despair. "And then you attacked my family."
"Why not?" he asked almost offhandedly, but his expression was filled with pain. "I killed mine." He started closing in on them. "I killed their friends. And their friends' children. For a hundred years I offered an ugly death to everyone I met. And I did it with a song in my heart."
Buffy, Prue and Phoebe detected the merest hint of self-loathing; Buffy raised her chin slightly and asked, "What changed?"
"Fed on a girl," he told them. "About your age, Buffy. Beautiful." He looked off into the distance for a moment. "Dumb as a post. But a favorite among her clan."
"Her clan?" Prue repeated, unsure of his word choice.
"Romani," he explained.
"Gypsies," Phoebe supplied as she looked at Prue and Buffy.
"Yes,gypsies. The elders conjured the perfect punishment for me." He waited a beat. "They restored my soul."
"What," Buffy asked, regaining a bit of her fire, "they were all out of boils and blinding torment?"
"When you become a vampire, the demon takes your body but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone. No conscience, no remorse. It's an easy way to live." He stood in the weak light, surrounded by darkness, facing the Charmed Slayer and her cousins two of the Charmed Ones who were bent on revenge.
And yet he made no move to attack, nor to escape. Instead, he said, "You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done and to care. I haven't fed on a living human being since that day."
"So you started with Piper?" Prue flung at him.
"I didn't bite her," he said very seriously.
Buffy, Prue and Phoebe looked at each other clearly aback. "Then why didn't you say something?" Buffy asked turning her attention back to Angel.
"I wanted to. I can walk like a man but I'm not one." He paused. "I wanted to kill you all tonight."
They knew that. They had wanted to kill him, too. Buffy glanced at Prue and Phoebe and motioned for them to lay there weapons down.
"Buffy?" Prue said with a look of concern.
"Do it," Buffy ordered and her cousins reluctantly complied as she extinguished the fireball that was in her hand. She walked to him, tilting her head slightly, offering her neck.
Prue and Phoebe watched and instantly knew that Buffy was testing him. "Go ahead," Buffy said. With all her heart, she prayed he would not attack her. With all her soul, she believed he wouldn't, and yet, every ounce of her being protested the way she left herself defenseless.
He remained silent, gazing at Buffy with his haunted eyes. Something lifted for a brief instant as the two of them stared long and hard at each other.
She nodded slightly. "Not as easy as it looks," she said.
He almost smiled.
"Sure, it is," came a voice from the shadows.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Aviva, Xander, Willow, and Giles raced through the night, searching for Buffy.
"That's Prue's car," Aviva said having spotted the car parked out front of the Bronze.
"I have a question," Xander ventured, worried and frustrated. "What if we find Buffy, Prue and Phoebe and their fighting Angel or some of his friends? What the heck are we going to do about it?"
Willow, Giles and Aviva didn't answer.
They had no answer.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Darla strolled toward Angel, Buffy, Prue and Phoebe with her hands clasped behind her back, as if she hadn't a care in the world. She drawled, "Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?"
Buffy shrugged. "Bad hair on top of that outfit?"
"To love someone who used to love you." She glared at Buffy.
Phoebe glanced in surprise at Angel. "You guys were . . . involved?"
"For several generations." Darla clearly enjoyed telling Buffy all this.
"Phoebe," Buffy said as she looked at her youngest cousin. "We know her."
Phoebe looked at Darla for a moment and then realized Buffy was right. She was the one who had lured Xander's friend Jesse to the cemetery on Buffy's day of school. She led Jesse to his death. "You're right," she said as Prue looked at her. "It was the first day Buffy went to Gateway," she explained to her sister. "The time I took Buffy to the Bronze."
Buffy turned her attention back to Darla as she held a hand behind her back where a fireball formed. "Well, when you've been around since Columbus, you're bound to pile up a few exes. You are older than him, right?" she leaned forward, sneering at the vampire. "Just between us girls, you're looking a little worn around the eyes."
Darla bared her fangs in an evil smile. "I made him," she said triumphantly, as if she knew this would be even harder for Buffy to hear. "And there was a time when we shared everything." She focused her full attention on Angel. "Wasn't there, Angelus?"
Angel said nothing. Darla's smile faded. "You had a chance to come home. To rule with me in the Master's court for a thousand years. But you threw that away because of her." She said in disbelief, "You love someone who hates us."
Prue, Phoebe and Buffy tried to hide their surprise. Angel loves Buffy?
Buffy glanced at Angel, who looked worriedly back at her, Prue and Phoebe. She wondered if he was afraid of her, Prue and Phoebe or if he was afraid she knew he cared for her.
"You're sick," Darla told Angel. "And you'll always be sick, and you'll always remember what it was like to watch her die." She spoke in a singsong tone very like the Master's. She turned to Buffy, Prue and Phoebe, saying, "You don't think I came alone, do you?"
"We didn't," Buffy replied. She glanced at Prue who nodded. Prue squinted her eyes and hers and Phoebe's crossbows flew into their hands as Buffy brought out her hand from behind her back that held the fireball.
Darla chuckled. "Scary," she admitted. From behind her back, she brought forward two enormous revolvers and pointed them directly at Buffy, Prue and Phoebe. "Scarier," she said, and began firing with both hands.
Prue, Phoebe and Buffy dove under the pool table. Angel took a bullet to the shoulder and slammed into the wall. With a grunt of pain, he slid to the floor.
"Angel!" Buffy cried.
"Oh, don't worry," Darla said easily. "Bullets can't kill vampires. They can hurt them like hell, but—" She fired again.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Giles was leading Aviva, Willow and Xander toward the front door of the Bronze.
"Did you just hear—" Aviva asked.
Gunshots. They all heard them.
They hurried for the door.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy, Prue and Phoebe crouched behind the pool table, listening to Darla rant as she closed in. "So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the kneecaps. No fun dancing without them . . ."
Bullets hailed in their direction. Prue popped up, and got off a crossbow shot. It slammed into Darla's chest, and Darla doubled forward.
Then Darla straightened back up. She said, "Close. But no heart." She pulled the bolt out of her chest and dropped it onto the floor.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
After finding the front door locked; Aviva, Willow, Giles, and Xander had looked for another way in. They found the broken window and entered through it onto the balcony. They all looked in horror at the destruction below.
Xander whispered, "We need to distract her."
Willow shouted frantically, "Buffy, Prue, Phoebe, it wasn't Angel who attacked Piper. It was Darla!"
Darla whirled in their direction, raining bullets on them. They ducked. She jumped and landed with both feet on the pool table. Buffy rose and yanked the table toward her, knocking Darla off balance. Darla slammed onto her back as Buffy now pushed the table with all her might. Darla's guns blazed as the table flew backward; she tracked Buffy's course as Buffy ran to the Bronze's coffee counter and threw herself over it. The glass case shattered above her.
Giles spied a light board nearby. He scrambled over and started pounding and punching the buttons. Spot lights flashed on, and then a pulsating strobe.
For a moment, the vampire named Darla was disoriented.
Phoebe looked at her crossbow and saw she only had one bolt left. She noticed Angel was close to Darla and getting to his feet. "Angel!" she called and tossed him the bolt. He caught it.
Darla began to advance on Buffy again, her movements nightmarishly jerky in the strobe's relentless flash. She would deal with Buffy's cousins in a moment. She fired at Buffy, who was huddled behind the bar. Upside down glassware exploded like crystalline land mines as Buffy dodged the bullets.
"Come on, Buffy," Darla urged. "Take it like a man."
Buffy smiled. "Sure why not." She popped up from behind the counter and threw a fireball at Darla just as Angel plunged the crossbow bolt into Darla's back.
Giles shut off the strobe. All that remained was moonlight and silence.
Darla staggered. The guns clattered to the floor. She turned. "Angel?" she murmured in disbelief as the fireball caught her on fire. She collapsed, then exploded into a scream and dust.
Angel looked downat at where Darla had been. She had was his sire and at one time his lover. She had made him, but someone had made her into a demon first. And no one had given her back her soul. And, in the old days, how they had raged together. It was she who had given him the Gypsy girl, never dreaming it would mean the end of them, or that it would bring them to this night when he and Buffy together would destroy her forever.
Buffy looked at Angel with huge eyes. He didn't know what to say to her. He wasn't sure he could speak. With the death of Darla, he had crossed many lines. He had gone too far. And he could never go back.
Slowly, he turned and walked away.
Master's Cave, Hellmouth
The Master howled with rage and despair. He wielded his killing spear in blind fury, smashing whatever lay in his path, sweeping an enormous candelabra to the floor of his prison. He raged in a frenzy, until finally, overcome with grief, he fell to the ground.
"Darla," he wept.
The Anointed One approached him, perfectly calm. He said, "Forget her."
One last ounce of outrage flashed through the Master as he looked at his secret weapon and said, "How dare you. She was my favorite. For four hundred years—"
"She was weak," his young warrior stated flatly. "We don't need her. I'll bring you the Slayer."
The Master was spent, dejected. "But to lose her to Angel. He was to sit on my right come the day. And now . . ." He trailed off.
"They're all against you," Collin said. "But soon you shall rise, and when you do . . ." He gently rubbed the Master's shoulder and offered him his hand. "We'll kill them all."
The Master was comforted. Managing a brave smile, he took the Anointed One's outstretched hand and squeezed it.
April 30, 1997 – Wednesday
Halliwell Manor
Buffy had asked Prue to call in sick for her so that she could tend to Piper. She was currently in the kitchen dishing up a plate of healthy vegetables and carried it to Piper at the breakfast table. "Here Piper, you gotta eat this. It's what the doctor said, to build up your iron. How are you feeling?"
"I'm thinking I should say not so good so you'll continue to wait on me hand and foot but I cannot tell a lie," Piper laughed. "I feel fine."
"Good. I was so worried about you, I mean it actually made me feel sick," Buffy said as she sat next to her middle cousin. "If anything happened to you, Prue or Phoebe..."
Piper smiled as she put a comforting hand on her cousin's arm. "Now you know how I feel about you, Prue and Phoebe every minute of every day," she admitted.
"I guess I do," Buffy agreed, Then she let out a sigh. "And now I am so sorry for about a kazillion things I've put you, Prue and Phoebe through since moving in." Piper smiled as she pulled Buffy to her hugging her cousin tight. "Now eat your vegetables," she said when Piper released her.
Piper laughed. "I did!"
"Piper…" Buffy scolded with a smirk.
"I had two big bites," Piper answered as her sisters joined them.
"She still not eating her vegetables?" Prue asked.
Buffy smiled as she winked at Piper. "No, she's good."
The Bronze
Buffy felt odd returning to the Bronze. Open for business again, it was packed with people, music, and laughter. So different from the last time she had been here.
And the last time she had seen Angel.
Buffy wore the cross he had given her. It was a treasured possession now, proof that he wasn't like all the other vampires.
Xander said with mock enthusiasm, "Ah, the post-fumigation party."
Buffy asked, "What's the difference between this and the pre-fumigation party?"
Aviva replied, "Much heartier cockroaches."
Buffy couldn't help but look around for Angel. Willow must have noticed, for she said kindly, "No word from Angel?"
Buffy tried for a light tone. "Naw. It's weird, though. In a way I feel like he's still watching me."
Aviva smiled. She said, "Well, in a way, he sort of is. In the way that he's right over there."
Willow, Buffy and Xander turned at the exact same time. Buffy composed herself and walked toward the vampire she loved.
Aviva and Willow saw the dashed look on Xander's face. As they reached a table, he deliberately chose the chair that faced away from Buffy and Angel. He said, "I don't need to watch because I'm not threatened. I'm just going to look this way."
"Yeah, right," Aviva said with a smirk.
0 – 0 - 0 – 0 – 0
Angel stood alone, as always. Though Buffy like her cousins were set apart since they were Charmed, she knew she had so much more than he did: her friends, her Watcher, her cousin . . . and a chance, now and then, to blow off some steam. Angel had none of this. And she suspected that now that he had killed Darla, the vampire who had changed him, he would be hunted as fiercely as she was.
Thinking all these things, and of how much she loved him, Buffy came to him.
For a moment, neither spoke. Then Angel said, "I just wanted to see if you were okay. And Piper."
"We're both good. You?"
He laughed shortly. "If I can go a little while without being shot or stabbed, I'll be all right." Then he hesitated, as if that wasn't true. "Look," he said, "this can't—"
"Ever be anything," Buffy finished for him. "I know." And she did know. She tried to conceal her pain with a joke. "For one thing, you're like two hundred and twenty-four years older than I am."
His smile was faint, as if he appreciated her attempt to make this easy on both of them. "I just have to . . . I have to walk away from this."
Buffy said, almost in a whisper, "I know. Me, too."
They stood staring at each other. Hesitantly, she added, "One of us has to go here."
"I know."
Still neither left. Then Angel bent his head to kiss her. She kissed him back, willing warmth into his cold, soft lips, thrilling at the tenderness of his kiss. She put her arms around his neck and allowed herself this moment, even if she never saw him again.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Xander demanded, "What's going on?" He was obviously dying of curiosity . . . and jealousy.
"Nothing," Willow and Aviva lied with a glance at each other.
"Well, as long as they're not kissing." He laughed uncomfortably.
Aviva and Willow said nothing, only smiled as their best friend, the Charmed Slayer, lost herself in Angel's arms.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The kiss ended. Buffy looked up at Angel and asked gently, "Are you okay?"
He seemed to struggle for words. "It's just . . ."
Her eyes welled. "Painful. I know." Then she summoned the courage to say what must be said, "See you around?"
She turned and walked away.
And pain played over the face of Angel, born into the night as Angelus, as he watched Buffy go. But her mark was on him: the cross she wore around her neck—the cross he himself had given her—had burned deep and hot into his chest.
As his love for her burned deep and hot into his soul.
Author's Note (June 28, 2022): As I was editing this chapter I'm surprised that I never noticed that I missed an entire section where I left the script untouched. Wow! And not a single person in the decade since I started this story ever mentioned it.