new love, lost love

A half hour later in the magic shop Angelus awoke to find himself locked in a cage. He paced around growling and shouting out to the scoobies in the front of the shop. "Come on Rupert let me out, i promise i'll be a good boy,........ Buffy luv? you want me to come and play nice?....... Damn it get me the fuck out of this cage" he tried to pull at the bars and when that failed attempted the lock. He had no luck there either and sat on the floor in game face exrtremely pissed off.



At the front of the shop Buffy and Spike were arguing on whether she should go out into the back and see Angel or not, Spike had told her to leave it as he would only try and break her by saying hurtful things she didnt want to hear, she gave up when Giles and Faith joined in the rant. "Fine i wont go but i think we should try and find out how we can return his soul" she sat down next to Spike and pouted earning a giggle from the blonde vampire who rolled his eyes at her, "Pet do you really think Angelus will say 'sure Buffy heres exactly how to get my soul back and while im here do you wanna know where Xander is too?" she started to speak but decided he was right and left it.



"So whats the plan giles? do we just go on another pointless search for Xander, he could be anywhere" she was beginning to sound desperate now but she hated to think he had been gone for days on his own not having any way to escape.

"Buffy i suggest you, Spike and Faith start asking around, now we have Angelus detained people may be more willing to speak to you, try Willy and then go from there"

"Uh uh no way Giles we're not leaving you here alone with him, caged or not, Faith do you mind?"

"Nah B you two go on ahead and i'll stay here and keep Giles company" she turned and smiled at the watcher before picking up an axe from the weapons cabinet "So Rupert wanna play?" Buffy laughed and headed toward the door with Spike,

"Now Faith dont wear him out we're gonna need him later"

"Ahh B you spoil all my fun" the brunette slayer put down the axe and Giles heaved a sigh of relief, although he'd trained with Faith before he really didnt feel like he had the energy to do it tonight.



Willy's face hit the counter hard as Buffy held onto his head pressing him further onto the hard surface "Come on Willy you must have heard something, a vamp like Angelus doesnt keep a low profile and i know you and him had dealings before he left Sunnydale" she added more pressure and Willy felt like his head was going to explode,

"That was when he was Angel though, i swear i havent seen him since" Buffy eased up on the hold she had of him and let him stand up to face her "Now listen, i know demons talk in this town and my friend could die, if he does you'll be the first human i ever kill, talk" the tone in her voice made the bar tender nervous and he started to shift his weight from foot to foot,

"Ok maybe i did hear something, are you sure Angel cant get to me?" she nodded and gestured for him to sit. "A couple of vamps were here the other night talking about how Angelus had come home and how he was gonna teach you a lesson using one of your friends" he stood up to pour himself a drink and carried on with his back to the bar "Hes in the old initiative caves",

before he could even turn around Buffy and Spike were out of the door.



As they made their way through the caves spike started to sniff the air "He's close luv" he reasured Buffy and felt her take his hand in hers "Thanks Spike, for everything" they continued to walk and stopped when they heard talking a few feet away from them. Buffy pointed toward the other side of the cave entrance and Spike took up his position waiting for his next instructions.

"I thought it smelt like death down here, do you wanna leave or should i dust you now" she stood with her stake raised by her shoulders and the two vampires growled at her flashing their teeth "Slayer? the master will kill you for daring to come down here" he lunged forward and was met with Buffy's fist to his face startling him slightly, he recovered quickly and stuck out his leg knocking her off balance "SPIKE" she shouted as the vamp pinned her down, just as the fangs came into contact with her neck a cloud of dust apperared and Spike stood above her with his hand extended and a grin on his face "Shut up he caught me off guard" she stood and dusted herself off "What happened to the other one?" as she spoke she walked into another pile of dust and stared at the grinning vampire "Oh" she said a little embarrassed that she nearly got killed by one and Spike had took out the two of them.



"Xander" she ran toward the bloodied body tied to the chair and strated to cry "Oh god Xander im so sorry" she untied him and he tried to look at her underneath the swelling of his eyes, he managed to say her name in a whisper as Spike helped him up "Come on Whelp, lets get you home eh" as he stood he nearly fell and Spike picked him up, Buffy looked up at him expecting a comment and was surprised when he just smiled "come on pet we need to get him out of here".