“He’s coming,” Buffy purred, hugging herself as the familiar tickle ran up her spine.
At the same time Darla murmured, “Angelus is on his way.”
Rebecca sat up and signaled to the guards. “Be ready.”
Laren stole to a locked cabinet on the other side of the room, grinning maliciously. Unlocking it she removed the jeweled staff that would turn Buffy back to human form.
Ceremoniously the four women took their seats at far end of the room and waited.
***
Angel said a silent prayer as he moved through the woods. It was useless to try and sneak in. He was expected. He could feel the energy humming from inside the mansion; the energy he shared with Buffy, the pulse that he shared with Darla, they begged him to come in, to seek and to find, to accept.
Was this really going to work?
On either side of him the Scoobies approached as well, flanking him. From over the hillside the sun threatened to break through the morning clouds and Spike was hurrying to make it inside.
“Rather die in there with a stake in my hide than out here in the bloomin’ sunlight,” he muttered as they broke the tree line and walked quickly to the house.
“You’re not going to die,” Faith hissed at him.
He glanced at her. “Damn right I’m not,” he grinned.
Together they walked up to the looming front door and entered the house, breaking off into groups as they had been instructed. As expected, no guards tried to stop them.
Angel went down the middle and into the front hall, entering the room opposite from where Buffy, Laren, Darla and Rebecca sat, like four princesses, waiting.
“Welcome, Angelus,” Rebecca called, crossing her legs as the tingle of near-success ran up her spine.
“So glad you could join us,” Laren told him, sneering.
“Hello lover,” Darla cooed.
Buffy glared at her. “You’re right on time,” she told him softly as guards appeared and took hold of his arms.
“Is this really necessary?” he asked, unfettered.
Laren laughed. “Of course it is! After last time…do you really think we’re going to take any chances?”
“It really isn’t going to matter,” he told her.
“And still with the bravado,” Buffy smirked. “Any moment now we can expect punning. It’s a thing he and I do when we fight.”
“Yes, I remember,” Darla told her with disdain. “He always was quick with the quips.”
“And other things…from what I remember,” Buffy murmured suggestively.
Angel ignored them. “Make this easy on yourselves. Turn over what I need to change Buffy back. You can die slowly or you can die quickly. Those are your only choices.”
Buffy giggled. “Isn’t he just the biggest, bravest thing? Come on lover…give us a kiss before dying,” she said, rising and crossing to him slowly.
Angel stared down into her eyes, eyes that had once held nothing but love for him, and that now were empty, soulless. “You know I didn’t come alone,” he murmured to her.
She cocked her head slightly. “And you know we expected that. I also know you gave the order that I’m not be killed.”
“Angel, face your destiny. You can be here, with us…ruling over the demon world,” Rebecca called to him from her chair. “Don’t be so hasty in your decision to fight. Let us turn you…here you can be a king.”
His eyes ticked to the Watcher’s but he said nothing.
“You know we’re never going to let you go until you’ve been turned,” Darla shot at him. “Just like you know that your transformation has to be complete before we’ll change her back.”
Laren held up the staff. “With a word from you…and a little bite from Darla…we’ll turn the staff over to you. Buffy can be right as rain again…unless you decide you want to kill her. I hear Angelus doesn’t care for her too much.”
Buffy moved to argue but something in Angel’s eyes stopped her.
“Let him go,” she softly ordered the guards.
His eyes never wavered from her face as he raised his right arm and shot a crossbow arrow at Laren. The vampire moved quickly and the arrow embedded itself in the back of her chair.
“Then it starts,” Buffy whispered and took a step back, leveling her eyes with his.
Angel let the crossbow clatter to the ground and kicked it across the room, beginning to circle Buffy. “I’m not going to kill you,” he warned her.
“That’s not much of a threat, Angel. You need to work on those,” she smirked.
“But I’m not going to let you kill me either.”
She tossed her hair. “It’s been awhile since you and I have had a good go ‘round.”
He considered. “Yeah…at least a month.”
“How funny…a month ago we were in the same situation…one of us was going to die…only back then you were the vampire.”
“Hilarious,” he growled and sprang forward delivering a one-two punch to her face, knocking her backwards.
Buffy licked the blood from her lip and grinned before spinning and delivering a solid kick to his midsection. The fight was on.
***
Once entering the castle, Faith, Willow, Oz, Anya and Wesley headed left as Spike, Gunn, Cordelia, Xander and Giles banked right, each heavily armed and most scared out of their minds.
Faiths’ group crept along the hallways. “Not many guards…like before,” Oz whispered. Faith glanced back at him.
“Probably because this is a trap,” she told him. He nodded in agreement.
They headed around a corner and up some stairs, dividing in half again as Faith and Willow now went left, Oz, Anya and Wesley heading right. They wound their ways out onto the balconies on either side of the room, on one of which Angel had been forced to witnesses Buffy’s siring earlier.
As they crept out, unnoticed, the sounds of fighting came from below. Peering over they realized it was Buffy and Angel.
“Just like he said,” Willow muttered. She glanced up to see Oz, Anya and Wesley in the exact same positions across the room. Somewhere beneath them, waiting for the signal, the other group lingered, divided, ready for the fight.
“She’s going to kick his ass,” Faith muttered, glancing back behind her as carefully as she dared to. Slayer Buffy had been powerful, powerful enough to defeat Angel many times before. Now she was twice as strong, fueled by vampire energy.
“She’d better not,” Willow whispered back. “That’s not according to the plan.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, I volunteer you to go down there and tell her that.”
“This is never going to work,” Willow moaned.
Faith didn’t argue.
***
On the main floor, also watching Angel get his ass handed to him, were Spike and his group, the vampire, Gunn and Xander on the left side of the room, Cordelia and Giles on the right. They watched intently as Buffy and Angel fought, wincing as the Slayer delivered a backhanded punch that sent her lover flying across the room and crumpling on the floor.
Buffy paused her assault on him and stood in the center of the room. “It’s over, Angel. Just admit it. I’m breaking nails left and right here!” she scoffed.
Angel wiped the blood from his forehead that was trickling down into his eye and struggled to his feet. “I can’t Buffy. I love you. We’re going to fix this.”
“No, Angel, we aren’t. Here’s another time you’re not going to be able to swoop in in your leather jacket and your stand-up straight hair and save me. I’ve had twenty-four hours of being a vampire. I kinda like it. I’m especially enjoying kicking your sorry human butt all over the place. I enjoy the rush of blood, hot and sweet as it drips down my throat. Human? Nothing but headaches.”
“You have no choice Buffy,” Angel growled even as he swayed from the pain. He reached into his pocket and produced something small and silver. “We have no choice. Because of this,” he said, holding the object before him.
“Here we go,” Spike whispered, crouching at the ready. “That’s the signal.”
Buffy squinted at the object in Angel’s hand. “What is that?”
He walked forward and held it up between two fingers. It was her Claddagh Ring. The ring that he had given her on the Sunnydale docks so many years ago. Something stirred inside of her and for a fleeting moment, imperceptible by anyone else, her face softened. It quickly returned to stony but the reaction did not go unnoticed by Angel.
“That ring means nothing to me anymore, Angel,” she told him icily. “You mean nothing to me…although…you could…Come here,” she asked, crooking a finger at him. “We could change all that.”
He glared at her, breathing heavily, exhausted. “I don’t think so Buffy.”
Buffy stood in front of him for a moment, staring. Then suddenly, in a burst of anger, her face morphed and she kicked out, sending him flying backwards and into the wall. His body hit it with force and he slowly slid to the floor, sprawling. The ring flew from his hand and landed with a metallic tink as it skittered across the stone floor.
Buffy approached him slowly and kneeled, eye to eye with Angel. “We could, you know,” she told him softly. “Think of what we could have. You and me, together again. You let this happen to me, Angel. Don’t you want to make it right? Make it so we can be together again? So you can touch me again? I don’t want to be alone, Angel. I want you with me. I want us together again…to kiss you,” she said, leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead, “and to touch you…all over…” she purred. “To spend eternity with you…think of it. You and me…forever. Just like we’ve always wanted…”
As she spoke she moved in closer, her scent, familiar wildflowers and spice, washing over him, invading his senses and dulling his anger towards her, deadening his fear for her and of her. Her cool lips touched his skin sending shock waves down his spine as they trailed over his face and as her hands came up to cradle his cheeks. Slowly she moved over his face and down to his neck, sighing as her lips found purchase on his skin and nibbled.
The pinch of her teeth brought him back to the real world and he pushed her up and off of him, staggering to his feet as Buffy cackled from her spot on the floor. Arching her back she jumped up in one smooth motion, landing on her feet, ready for more battle.
“No?” she taunted. “You’re going to make this difficult aren’t you?”
He glanced from side to side then glared daggers at her. “As much as I can.”
With that he ran at her, tackling her to the ground as the Scoobies came out from all sides. Spike ran at Rebecca with a rebel yell and the three women jumped to their feet, prepared for the onslaught. From out of nowhere, guards began to flood the room.
“Get the staff!” Angel shouted to anyone as Faith came flying down from the balcony, swinging on a curtain rope. She whooshed by Darla, knocking the vampiress to her feet, and landed inches from her.
“Don’t get up!” Faith called out, stomping a boot to the ground as Darla rolled and avoided broken ribs.
Darla looked up at her and growled. “I won’t.” With that she yanked Faith’s legs out from under her and the Slayer fell to the floor with a sickening thud. Faith kicked back, knocking Darla square in the face, and looked up just in time to see Anya being cornered by two guards.
“Got room for one more?” she asked, running up behind the guards and grabbing them by their shirt collars. Throwing them behind her she and the ex-demon stood side-by-side, both armed with stakes. “I got this…help Prom-Queen get the staff,” Faith told Anya. Anya nodded and ducked behind her, heading for the far end of the room.
Across the room Oz and Giles were battling guards, as were Xander and Gunn. Gunn, his trusty homemade ax in his capable hands, swung and decapitated a guard as Xander dodged the blows of another. Cordelia watched the proceedings and, according to the plan, made a dash for the staff that Laren was gripping. “I don’t think so, seer,” she hissed. Cordelia cocked an eyebrow and held up her crossbow, letting a shot fly. It embedded itself in her lower torso and Laren gasped as Cordelia prepared another shot. “Hurts, don’t it? You should try rebar,” she told the vampire as she closed the gap between them. The second shot went to Laren’s thigh and she jerked from the pain, letting go of the staff.
Cordelia reached out and grabbed it. “Gimme that.” Before she could turn to toss it to Angel Darla wrestled herself loose from Faith’s grip and tackled Cordelia, knocking both she and the staff to the ground. The staff went clanging across the floor, out of reach. Anya ran for it, tripping over a rug and falling spread-eagle.
Scrambling to her feet Darla kicked back, knocking Faith to the wall. She turned and grabbed the staff. “Angelus!” she shouted above the din of the fighting. All heads turned to her as she raised the staff over her head. “Angelus! Turn. Turn or I destroy this and your Slayer never sees the sun again.”
For a moment no one moved. Finally Angel untangled himself from Buffy’s grip and stood. His gaze met his sires before meeting the eyes of each of his friends and then turning to Buffy. His heart broke as he looked upon the twisted features of her face, the yellow-green eyes that stared back at him, seething hatred. He remembered how lovingly that face had once been, how much love she had once looked upon him with, unyielding.
He turned back to Darla. “No,” he said, his voice echoing throughout the hall.
Darla watched him carefully. Shaking her head she called out to Buffy. “You see? You see how much he loves you? He won’t even die for you,” she taunted. Taking the staff in both hands she whirled, smashing it into the wall. A bright light streaked across the room at the impact, the magic rushing out, freed, and dying.
Buffy stood, chest heaving from unnecessary breath, turning sad eyes onto Angel. “You didn’t do it,” she whispered, stunned.
His glance moved to hers. “I couldn’t.”
“You do care more about yourself,” she said, hating the hurt evident in her voice.
“I thought you didn’t want to be changed back,” he countered.
She didn’t answer him.
“Too bad, Angelus,” Rebecca called, wincing as Spike tightened his grip on her neck.
“Call off the guards, you lousy bint before I wear your spine as a hat,” his hissed in her ear. She all but shook from fear.
The others, frozen in their spots, unsure of what to do next, remained where they were. Rebecca’s eyes ticked nervously from one person to the next. “Guards,” she squeaked. “Leave us.”
The guards reluctantly shied from the battle, filing out of the room.
Still no one moved.
“What now, Angelus?” Darla asked. “The staff is destroyed. She’s lost to you forever…that might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. You, the scourge of mankind for so long…and then, when you finally gain your humanity, your soul-mate, the mother of your prophesied Triumphant child, is turned into a vampire by the very person who turned you. It’s got a certain irony to it, doesn’t it?” she asked gleefully.
“Like rain on your wedding day,” Buffy quipped, moving behind Angel, tracing a finger over his shoulders.
“Someone put a stake in her?” Spike called out, shoving Rebecca into the center of the room.
Laren moved to help her cousin but Faith was there. Grabbing the vampire by the hair she too was dragged to the center of the room.
Angel glared at the two women, then turned back to Darla. “You know, honestly, I’m ashamed of you Darla. Surprised. This plan…it couldn’t have all been yours. You’re smarter than this. In less than fifteen minutes we managed to break in here, overcome you and your cohorts, not to mention your minions…it’s sloppy.”
“Disgraceful,” Spike smirked.
“Shoddy,” Faith chimed in.
“A damn shame,” Gunn added, joining the mix.
The Scoobies slowly converged in the center of the room, putting Buffy, Laren and Rebecca in the center of the circle.
Darla stared at Angel, unnerved. “You’re right, actually, Angelus. This wasn’t my plan. My plan was to find you, change you, and live happily ever after, feeding off of your friends and making a centerpiece of the Slayer. My mistake was getting mixed up with these two,” she sneered, eyes flicking from Laren to Rebecca, both standing helplessly in the circle. “No more magic, Rebecca?” Darla taunted. “Big show before…guess that was a one time performance.” Her gaze returned to Angel. “She’s not a real witch. Picked up some sleeping powder in Madagascar, thought she was ready for the big leagues,” she explained, somewhat bored.
“But the plan was a good one…in theory. An army of vampires…ruling the demons that walk the earth…something a girl could really be proud of. But you see? I know that that doesn’t work. Demons don’t like to be told what to do…by anyone. Rebecca fails to see that. And Laren’s just an idiot.”
Laren hissed at her then yelped as Xander poked her with his crossbow.
“That law firm tried that, remember Angel?” Darla laughed, lazily strolling around the room. “Years ago…Lindsey…ah, I miss that boy. I wonder what happened to him…”
“Bored now,” Buffy called out, arms crossed over her chest.
Darla stopped her pacing. “Take them. I don’t really care. If I can’t have you the way I want you…it’ll still give me a tickle to know that you’re heart-broken, childless, and miserable.”
Angel stared at her for a moment while she smirked. Then he smiled briefly and shook his head.
Darla sighed heavily. “What’s so funny, Angel? Think of a good comeback?”
He shook his head again. “No…no…I just realized that you’re still the same old Darla. Never much on the follow-through. You don’t plan for the impossible. I was counting on that.”
Darla stared at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”
Angel didn’t answer her. Instead he turned to the opposite end of the hall where Willow stood, opening the door. A man, dressed in a formal suit, distinguished and proud, stepped through and entered the hall.
Darla watched the man approach impassively. And then it hit her.
“You…” she whispered.
“Well well well!” the man smiled. “Hello there! We meet again.”
Chapter Fifteen: Back From Beyond
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