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Chapter 19


Cordy took the call and after hanging up, she rounded up the gang , she told them that Spike and Buffy had located the where about's of the vampires and about the suspicions they had regarding Angel.
Everyone loaded up with weapons and headed out . Their destination, Wolfram and Hart.

Spike leant against the car and Buffy stood in front of him.
"You sure we can pull this off? I mean, give me a giant mayor snake monster thing and I'm your girl, a bunch of evil human briefcase wielding guys and I'm lost"
"Most lawyers are evil Buffy, even if they are wearing bloody Armani luv"

Buffy sniggered "How do we do this?"
"Wait til the others get 'ere pet, then we go in through the car park, I'll be watching your back pet, don' worry"

A group of lawyers drew their attention as they walked across the front of the building and got into a limo, they were talking about the ritual and something about the child being the one to fulfil the prophecy.
Spike pulled Buffy to him and whispered that they had Angels and Darla's scent all over them and that the tall woman told the driver to go to a hotel the other side of town.

"We have to tell the others and follow them , they're the only lead we have and we're losing them"

Spike hopped across the hood of the car and got into the drivers seat " You wait 'ere , I'll tail them, once I fond out where they're going I'll come back for you n the rest pet" he saw the worry on her face and smiled " Don' fret luv, I'll be okay, you jus' stay safe, don' go doin' something heroic without me"
"I won't , just hurry Spike" she stood back as he pulled away and then Buffy sat on the Wolfram and Hart sign, waiting for Giles, Gunn and the rest.

The wait was driving Buffy mad . She was worried about the gang and mostly, worried about Spike. She had no idea if Angel still had his soul and she had seen how Angelus had treated Spike before. Now that Angel knew of their relationship, she knew that he would be even more of a bastard to him.

Buffy wished everyone would get a move on and get back to her.

A snarl alerted her to a vamp close by, possibly a client of one of the lawyers. Looks like his lawyer was going to be short on one client, oh well.

"What's the going rate for getting vamps off?" she paused and frowned "That just made me sound like a big ho didn't it?"

Before the vamp could answer the stake hit home and he crumbled to dust.

"I so need to work on my quips" she tucked the stake back in her pocket and walked back to the front of the offices.
"Stupid vampires, why do they need lawyers for anyway"

Her mutterings were being listened to , a laugh rang out.

"You finished pet?" Spike smiled at her, " Get in, the rest have parked over in the alley, I saw them driving this way so I flagged them down. Found the hide out , it's not too far from here"
"So is Dru and Darla there?"
"Yeah , so keep your wits about you, Dru was twittering on about you, but Darla's rusty on her riddles , Angel's there , they were trying to rid him of the soul, let's hope we get there before they manage it. He's kept his gob shut up til now but I dunno how long he'll do that for if they manage to get rid of the soul"

Buffy got into the passenger seat and the two cars sped off towards the hotel.

They parked up a few blocks from the hotel and took the back alley. Buffy stood at the front, Spike briefed the others on the location of the inhabitants. It appeared Lindsay and Lilah had thought that having Dru and the newly sired Darla there would be enough muscle. Angel still had his soul, but the Sharman was chanting something. Willow gasped.

"I can feel the magic, I can counter it , stop him from tearing the soul from Angel, but I'd need to stay here. If the Sharman senses me then he'll be able to overload my body and knock me out"

Buffy looked at Giles and they both nodded.
"You stay here then Will, Giles will stay and protect you just in case you get company"

Cordy raised her short sword and huffed "Are we going in or what?"
Gunn and Wesley raised their weapons and waited for Spike to give them the sign. Spike vamped out , kissed Buffy and told her to stay safe and close to him. He opened the door and they rushed in.Angel was tied to a chair and Darla and Dru stood off to his left. The lawyers were at the back of the room, briefcases opened on a desk and a laptop was running . The Sharman stood in front of Angel, still chanting .


"Well ,well ,well , if it isn't the white hats" Darla laughed "Long time no see William. And the Slayer, should I be honoured?"
"He smells of her, my Williams danced with her and now his card is full, no room for me now " Dru hissed
"You, your with the bitch now? Oh that is just sublime, Angel didn't tell us that, now why wouldn't he tell me that the Slayer has the two of you enamered with her?"
"Daddy still loves her" Dru rubbed her stomach and swayed "He thinks she'll save a dance for him"
"Shh Dru, enough," Darla rolled her eyes and walked over to Angel "Seems you staked me for nothing, tell me, wasn't she enough for you ? Didn't she satisfy your lust?"

Spike growled , drawing Darla's attention to him.
"Leave them alone" Angel slurred through his swollen lips

"Seems our puppy has still got some bite left" Dru giggled maniacally "Gruff"

"Cordy, get Angel out of here, I'll take the Sharman, rest of you, take down the bitches from hell"

All hell broke loose. Cordy untied Angel and took him staggering out of the building. Giles and Willow sat beside the car, Willow chanting and focusing on her magic, Giles helped Cordy get Angel into the car.

Spike took on Dru, she circled him whispering nasty things that she would do to Buffy after she had killed him. Spike punched her in the face once, knocking her out. He hovered over her unconscious form for what seemed like hours, he couldn't stake her. The stake was held tightly in his fist that hung over her chest, but he just couldn't plunge it into his sires dead heart.
Buffy fought Darla. She wasn't the same Master vampire that she had once been so she wasn't as strong as she had been, but she was a catty fighter and resourceful. Buffy watched Spike out of the corner of her eye as she batted the punches away. Darla sniggered
"It's hard isn't it, to watch him like that, knowing that he will always love her. Their love is eternal, your a Slayer, how long do you think you will live for hmm? Long after your dead, she'll be there, waiting for him to come back to her, to lay waste to this world, to kill and torture, to feed. Your nothing to him, he can pretend, he'll make love to you, protect you, til that one day, the day you slip from the world and then he'll be ours again, hers again. "

Darla backed away, Buffy stood watching him, mesmerized by his turmoil, she wanted to stake the bitch herself. Buffy knew that Darla spoke the truth, she could see it, by the way Spike sat astride Dru and had yet to dust her.

Darla walked out of the room with Lindsay and Lilah, Dru had served her purpose, she'd sired Darla and was as they put it 'surplus to requirement' now. Buffy took a step towards Spike and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Get off Slayer"

Buffy had tears in her eyes , it had been a long time since Spike had been that cold with her .

"I got to do this m'self , just go"

Buffy walked to the back of the room and out the door, turning back once to look at her lover. Once she was out the back , Willow ran to her and wrapped an arm around her, taking her to the car.
Angel sat up and pushed Cordy off, struggling to get to Buffy.

"Is he.. did Dru?"
"No, he's fine, he's just trying to get the courage to dust her "
"He won't" Angel said as he watched the back door "I could dust Darla because she threatened you, but it took all of my strength and I was a wreck for a week afterwards, Spike's not that strong"

Angel walked back to the hotel door "I'll do it, he'll need you afterwards Buffy"
Buffy nodded and waited for the two male vamps to come back out.


Angel walked back into the room and saw Spike still astride Dru , Dru had now come to and was smiling at Spike and whispering sweetly to him.

"She can't love you , she's the thing that hunts us, she hates us, she uses you and treats you like her toy."
"Shut up, you don't know anythin' "
"I still love you, still want you, even though your tainted now, I know my wicked William is in there still, my boy wants to slash and dash and kill"
"No!" Spike roared "I won't do it, I can't" he raised the stake again but stopped with it above his head "She loves me"
"She loves the poet, she can't love the demon, it's against her nature, she'll never love all of you like Mummy does"

Angel waited.

"Your wrong" Spike sobbed " Buffy loves all of me, accepts me as I am, I'm a good man for her I try to be a good man for her"
"A man? Your not a man though are you Willy, Mummy's boy is evil, nasty, likes to bathe in blood "
"Stop it! Stop it! " Spike morphed
"There's my boy, my beautiful boy" Dru cupped his face and Spike leaned into it.

Angel took a step forward and heard the warning growl from Spike , he stopped dead in his tracks

" William needs me , my Spike needs me" Dru giggled "We can go now and kill her, get your third Slayer and dance in her blood, Mummy would like that "
"No-ones goin' to kill 'er Dru"
"You still love that bitch, enough to kill me? I don't think you can kill your dark princess , my boy wouldn't do that"

Spike snapped out of his trance , he looked down at her, his cockiness back, tongue curled behind his teeth and a smile on his face "Good job M'not your boy now then innit"
He plunged the stake down.

His ass hit the carpet as Dru disintegrated to ash beneath him. He looked up at Angel , there were no tears or any sign of remorse
"Let's get out of this shithole sire"


Back at Wolfram and Hart

"I can't believe that he did it!" Darla paced the room, upset and angered by Spikes utter lack of respect and hurt by the death of her sire "I'll rip his fucking heart out and feed it to that slut of a Slayer!"
Lindsay watched her as she paced his office
"It's an unfortunate turn of events, but we still have the prophecy to uphold. Angel has done his part, he still has his soul but that isn't a perminant fixture, we'll deal with that at a later date. What is important, is keeping you safe and out of the way. Wolfram and Hart are dedicated to do just that, now, we have arranged for you to go to a safe house until it is time"

Darla calmed down "Your right, and who will be keeping me company?" Darla looked at Lilah and licked her lips

"There will be demon guards, we will ensure you a fresh supply of human blood, we can't have bodies mounting up or for there to be a large body of missing ... bodies... would draw attention to us and you, Angel would track you down that way. We have everything under control. Now, the limo will be here to take you to the house soon. Let's get you cleaned up and then we'll have to brief Holland"

Lilah and Lindsay lead Darla out of the room and towards Holland's office.


The ride back to Angels hotel was a quiet one. Spike sat on the back seat huddled against Buffy. He was sombre but there were no tears . Angel glanced in the rear view mirror to watch the many emotions that crossed Buffys face. He was worried that this would cause a rift in her relationship with Spike and that the wedding wouldn't go ahead. As much as he hated the fact that she was with Spike, he didn't want her to have that heartbreak either.

Spike was right, he was a bloody soft poof!


The team piled out of the cars and headed into the hotel. Most dumped off their weapons and went straight to bed. Giles watched as Buffy took Spike back to their room. He turned to Angel .

"Will he be okay? Is Buffy in any danger from him?"
"He staked Dru for her... What do you think?" Angel snapped

Giles retired to his room and sat on the bed , looking at his hold all. He decided to go after all of this mess was done and .. dusted .

Angel sat alone in his office, should he tell them all the truth? Could he tell them what had transpired ?
He poured himself a whiskey and rested his legs up on his desk and sighed. No point telling them yet, he wasn't sure if it would happen yet. And in fairness, it wasn't anything to do with Buffy and team Sunnydale. He'd deal with it when the time came.

Buffy crept out of the bedroom, Spike had finally fallen asleep, tired from crying. He hadn't opened up to her but he had allowed Buffy to cradle him in her arms as he sobbed for his sire. Emotionally charged , Buffy found sleep hard , she knew that Angel would be up still.

She knocked on the office door and stepped into the dimly lit room.
He smiled and held up the bottle, offering her a drink.

"A world of no! Buffy and liquor are of the bad"
"How is he?" he asked quietly
"He's a mess, but asleep at last. I don't know how to help him through it though. I can feel his pain through the connection I have with his demon, but..."
"You want to know if the demon will blame you and he'll turn against you?"
"How did you know and hey... stop with reading me like a book!" she smiled
"Always could Buff " he paused and sighed "We're all different , but my demon didn't blame you the first time I staked Darla.We make the choices , Spike chose to kill Dru, you didn't force his hand. He'll be mourning her, wouldn't be right if he didn't, but he won't blame you. He'll need you there for him and it will get better "
"I think I will have that drink after all" Buffy moved to the bottle of whiskey and poured a large one."Will he still want to get married, that's my big fear"
"He will, he's stupid sometimes but that boy's not an idiot" Angel smiled "And if he doesn't let me know, I still have a tux"

Buffy laughed , it felt good, things had been so tense lately.

"Thanks Angel" she put the empty glass down and smiled "So, Darla huh? What you gonna do?"
"Take each day as it comes" he shrugged "Wolfram and Hart are huge and I don't have the resources to go after them"
"Well, you need help with them and I'll be there"
He turned to face her and held his arms open , Buffy fell into his arms and hugged him
"I'll always be there for you too Buff, I love you, but I know that we've moved on , you've moved on, I might not like it, but just be happy. " He kissed the top of her head and released his hold on her. "I'm a call away, don't forget that"
"You too" she replied "So, guess it's my bedtime" she looked out of the window and saw the sky lighten.
"Yeah mine too" he put the empty glasses on his desk and walked out of the office behind her "I'll walk up with you"

They walked up the stairs together and went into their respective rooms, Angel alone, Buffy to deal with her emotionally charged Lover.