Revenge For Love - (1) The Stage Is Set

By Tasha

Disclaimer and Distribution notes are listed on the Index page of this story.

Author's Note: Quotations for the beginning of this chapter are taken directly from the episode "I Only Have Eyes For You".

'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.

Giles paced behind the library's check out counter. He looked over at the door to his office. His attention was drawn back to the main doors when the trio walked in. Willow, Xander and Cordelia strolled through the doors. They chatted back and forth amongst themselves, holding their flashlights.

Willow looked up at Giles. "Everything seems normal. Not a snake, not a wasp." She stopped at the counter.

Cordelia walked alongside Xander. "Yep. School can open again tomorrow."

Xander settled himself between Willow and Cordelia. The sarcasm of his tone was not disguised in the least. "Explain to me again how that's a good thing?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm drawing a blank." Giles spoke not a word. He simply looked away from the teens to head back into his office. Cordy jerked her head back slightly perplexed. It was unlike Giles not to have something to say about everything.

Giles slowly walked over the threshold of his office. His face was a mask of concern for his charge. 'What she must have gone through to have to kiss Angel and then lose him again.' Although he knew Buffy had to kill Angelus, he was not insensitive enough to not feel some of the pain that she must be feeling. He only recently lost Jenny to Angelus' revenge. He knew the pain of love lost quite well. "Are you feeling any better?"

"James picked me." Buffy didn't even look up from her perch on the small lounge. "I guess ... I guess I was the one he could relate to." She twisted her hands together. "He was so sad."

Giles was at a loss of what to say. What did you tell a young girl who had her first love ripped away from her again and was forced to feel through the pain and love of another couple as well? He strode over to a chair nearby Buffy and sat down. "Well, they can both rest now." He hoped that it would bring her some small comfort that at least two lovers were now at peace together, even if it wasn't her.

"I still ..." Buffy choked on the words she wanted to say. "Part of me just doesn't understand why she would forgive him." She looked up at Giles for guidance.

Giles looked away before he looked back at Buffy. "Does it matter?" Love was always something that conflicted him.

"No." Buffy sighed. "I guess not." Giles smiled warmly.

"I need to go do something." Buffy stood up slowly. She folded the blanket that had been covering her. She handed it over to Giles. "Maybe if I do a little patrolling I can get this off my mind enough to go home." She rested her hand on Giles' shoulder. "Thank you, Giles. For everything."

Giles nodded at Buffy. He wasn't sure just how wise it was for Buffy to go out patrolling in her current emotional state, but he knew that she was a person who needed to act, not sit around to deal with her problems. He could only hope she would be safe.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angelus rubbed his face vigorously under the water of the outdoor fountain. He splashed himself several times as if that would take the scent of Buffy out of his senses. He huffed, growled and scrubbed harder.

Spike sat in his wheelchair with his hands touching in a triangle shape of contemplation watching Angelus with an inner delight. "You might want to let up." Anything that annoyed Angelus that much made him a happy man. The man was too big for his own britches. It was nice to see him so infuriated. "They say when you've drawn blood, you've exfoliated."

"What do you know about it?" Dru started to walk towards Angelus as he ranted. "I'm the one that was freakin' violated." He threw his old shirt at the ground and walked across the garden. "You didn't have this thing in you."

"What was it?" Dru inquired. She rubbed some of the trickling water between her fingertips seeking the answers to her questions. "A demon?"

"Love!" Angelus ground out in disgust. He slapped a brand new folded shirt against his leg to open it up.

"Poor Angel." Dru's voice was soft and delicate. It belayed the evil that was within her. She brought her water-coated fingertips to her mouth and licked them clean.

Angelus finished putting his shirt on. He left it open when he walked back over to Dru. He was frustrated and ticked off beyond belief. "Let's go." He'd been under the "control" of his soul for so long that he swore nothing would rule him again. The ghosts of the lover's took his control and will from him. It was not something he could stomach right now. "I need a real vile kill before sunup to wipe this crap out of my system."

Dru sauntered over to Angelus. Spike turned his wheelchair to face his Sire and his former lover, Dru. He sucked in his cheeks in anger when they both snarled at each other. 'How long are they going to flaunt their little tryst in front of me? It's sickening.'

"Of course. We'll find you a nice toddler." Dru clucked her tongue against her teeth and pressed her body into Angelus'. Angelus looked like a panther on the prowl. He nipped the air in front of Dru with a growl and headed towards the stairs.

Dru turned to Spike before she followed Angelus. She always knew that he was there, but her love for her "daddy" was first and foremost on her mind. She figured that Spike would always be there for her when she needed him. When the "Scourge of Europe" were together, all she had to do was send him little bread crumbs from time to time, and he would remain most devoted to her. She decided to toss him the crumbs again to make him feel as if she was still interested in him. "Want to come, pet?" Angelus could be temperamental, and she did so like a "warm" bed to sleep in.

Spike blinked to avoid rolling his eyes at Dru. He knew what she was up to. He hadn't lived for over 100 years around her without knowing the little games that she played. So often he followed her along like a lost puppy, but not this time. He was fed up with her and her "daddy". Angelus was his Sire as well, but there was no way he was going to hang all over the poofter like she did. He was saved from having to answer by Angelus' return in-between Dru and Spike.

"No can do, Dru." Angelus waggled a finger at Dru. He spared a quick glance at Spike, but nothing more. "I'm sure he'd be hell on wheels, but we don't have much time." He turned back to fully face Spike. He missed the little pout on Dru's face, but he wouldn't have cared if he'd seen it either. "Gotta travel light."

Spike glared at his Sire with disgust. Being patronized was worse than feeling helpless. Angelus rubbed the salt in the wound further. He rested a hand on each of Spike's shoulders. "Sorry." He nearly whispered to cover some of the disdain in his voice. He couldn't care less if Spike knew how much he still hated him, but he wasn't going to give Dru any reason to sympathize with Spike. "Try to have fun without me." He patted Spike's shoulders and pushed back away from him.

As Angelus hurriedly walked up the stairs, Dru skittered after him. Not even a moment's thought was given to Spike still sitting at the bottom of the stairs in his wheelchair with nothing to eat.

Spike smirked darkly like he had a precious secret to reveal. "Oh, I will." His eyes twinkled in mischief. He moved one foot off the footrest and placed it on the ground. With sureness and strength he stood up to his full height. He kicked the wheelchair away from him and slashed his hands through the air in a fighting stance. He was sick of this garbage. Angelus would find out just how dangerous Spike could be. "Sooner than you think." He glared at the stairs, darkness covering half of his features. He would have his revenge soon enough, and this time neither Dru nor Angelus would be able to soften his heart enough to save themselves. Angelus dusted Darla, his Sire. Spike was going to find a way to make sure that Angelus met the same fate.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angelus tromped through the cemetery. There was nothing quiet about his hunt tonight. He wanted some violence and whatever got in his way was going to pay. He drained the first humans he passed in mere seconds, discarding their bodies amongst the bushes. He needed to find the best way to make every single one of Buffy's friends pay for every emotion he was ever forced to feel during his ensoulment. He would think of something particularly special to finish Buffy off with after all of her friend's died. That was if he could resist twisting her neck off the next time he saw her. Which would seem to be, now.

Buffy sat on top of the Trevors tombstone. She twisted the edge of her shirt. She was so lost in thought that she missed Angelus and Dru coming her way. She was dreaming of the past, the nights she'd spent in Angel's arms. She remembered the times they'd talked all night while they patrolled. The softness of his kisses haunted her almost as much as the remembered touch from the night they made love. Nothing was right anymore. Jenny Calendar was dead, Giles was going crazy, and all of her friends & family were in danger.

Dru purred with delight. "Sweet little princess, ready for her prince." She twirled around Angelus. "Can we take her home, Daddy? She'll make a nice pet."

Angelus growled low in his throat. "I will not keep anything of her." He snarled at Dru. He pushed her harshly down to the ground. "She is everything I detest!" He rushed at Buffy, knocking her off the tombstone to the ground. He landed on top of her.

Buffy shrieked. "AHH!!" She hit the ground hard. She tried to roll away, but Angelus had a tight grip on her arms. She pressed her foot into the ground and pushed back to knock Angelus off balance.

"Bitch!" Angelus howled. The back of some ribs snapped when he hit the tombstone that he'd knocked Buffy off of. He vamped out to scratch his sharpened nails at Buffy. He sliced several marks down her arms, tearing her shirt.

Slayer blood permeated the air. Spike watched the battle from behind a nearby mausoleum. He was strong enough to stand and walk, but he wasn't quite ready to fight yet especially not with Angelus' current state of anger. The lure of the Slayer's blood almost made him leave his hiding place, but he forced himself to remain still. It wouldn't do to make Dru aware of his presence.

Buffy bounced back up on her feet now that Angelus had let go. She twirled around to face him with a swinging jump kick to his face. "What's the matter, Angel ... can't take me in a fair fight? You have to hit me from behind?" She was mad. Not only did the face of the man she love now belong to a killer, but she continued to fight with the feelings of love for him even though she knew he was just a demon now.

"I can take you any day, lover." Angelus punched with his right hand then slammed up at her chin with his left. "You are the one that's off her game." He ducked to the side away from Buffy's next punch and leveled her to the ground with a foot to her chest.

"Don't call me that." Buffy gasped and gulped trying to catch her breath. The wind was knocked out of her as soon as she hit the ground. She tried to stand up, but Angelus was right there with a foot at her throat. "Angel please." She managed to choke out. "There has to be some part of you that still loves me."

Angelus sucked in a deep breath of air that he let out in a loud and vicious howl. He grabbed Buffy by the shoulders so hard that she practically flew through the air against his chest. He pinned her arms behind her back. "There is NOTHING in me that still loves you, Slayer. Nothing!" He buried his face into Buffy's neck, licking up the trail of her jugular.

Buffy quivered in Angelus' embrace. She tried to twist herself out of his grip, but it was no use. The extra anger and hatred from the events of earlier in the night had fueled him to an even more powerful state than before. She slumped against him in resignation.

"You'll go to your maker with the face of your lover burned into your mind as the means of your death." Angelus twirled Buffy around to face him with her arms still pinned behind her back. He looked up into Buffy's eyes with an evil glint of pleasure and satisfaction in them.

"Angel no!" Dru jumped up from the ground. She regained her senses only to see Angelus holding the Slayer in his arms.

"Don't worry, Dru. My soul isn't back." Angelus tossed his words over his shoulder without ever breaking his gaze with Buffy. "This bitch is finally going to die."

Dru pulled on Angelus' shoulder. "You can't, Daddy." She pleaded with him while the pixies flew about her insane mind. "If you try to kill her, she will be stronger than before."

"That's nonsense, Dru." Angelus loved the luscious creature he created, but sometimes her visions nearly drove him insane. He pushed Dru back with one arm while his fangs pierced Buffy's neck. He pulled strongly on her blood. He wanted to drain her, but he decided to leave her with just a little bit left. He hoped that her Watcher or her friends would find her only to watch her die. That thought delighted him to no end.

Dru screeched. "No! Angel!! No!!" She ran off back towards the mansion screaming into the night.

Angelus broke away from Buffy's neck. His fangs ripped their way across her skin on the way out. He took no care to heal the marks. He wanted her to suffer with every last breath she took. He tossed her body to the side. It flew towards the mausoleum. He followed the path that Dru took back to the mansion. He knew that he had some "comforting" to do to his Childe. It wouldn't do to have her too upset to perform for the evening.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spike listened to the wavering heartbeat of the Slayer. He could tell that she didn't have that much time before her heart would cease to beat. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he walked steadily to Buffy's body.

Buffy fought for each breath of the air she needed to live. So many regrets crossed her mind. What were the last words she said to her mother? Had she told her friends how much she cared about them? She always knew that the Slayer came with an expiration date, but she hoped that she could beat the odds for once.

Spike knelt down and lifted Buffy's head into his lap. He looked down at the Slayer. She looked so frail, so helpless. This was not the Buffy Summers that he'd fought so many times, watched the vitality of her dance, and the one whose fire in her eyes always seemed to stir something deep inside him. This was not right. The Slayer shouldn't go out like this. She'd hardly had a chance to fight properly. Her spark was gone, as if something ripped out the heart of the Slayer. He eyes trailed the path that Angelus had taken. 'I guess something did rip her heart out, pillock.'

Buffy stirred in Spike's arms. She weakly pulled herself up further into his lap. Darkness was encroaching around her. Her eyes flickered open to the sight of platinum blonde hair against the background of a dark night. 'He's such a contradiction. He's both light and darkness at once.' She thought absentmindedly. "Spike?"

Without his vampiric hearing, Spike never would have heard Buffy's whispers. He situated her further into his lap. "Slayer?"

"Spike?" Buffy gripped his arm as tightly as she could. Each breath was a battle not to make it her last. "Tell them I'm sorry." She closed her eyes. She knew not why she gave him any message to give to her friends and family. Somehow she knew he would deliver it if he could.

"Oh no you don't, Slayer." Spike pulled Buffy tightly to his chest. "I've got you, Buffy. You're not going to end this way, not because of that wanker." He turned Buffy's neck to the side. "You have to keep fighting."

Buffy shook her head back and forth. She was so tired. It was time for the end. It was time for her to rest.

"Buffy, you need this." Spike placed his lips against the lightly bleeding puncture holes in her neck. He licked them to seal them. She had to do this willingly. If she wouldn't' accept his blood, there would be no chance of reviving her. The more willingly she followed, the tighter their bond.

"All gone." Buffy moaned. "All love is gone."

"No it isn't, pet." Spike leaned down to the untouched side of her neck. He would not put his teeth anywhere near Angelus' marks. He knew that his mark would eradicate Angel's automatically, but he still didn't want any memories of Angelus' mark near his own. "I promise that I will care for you. I will love you, Childe. I promise you that with all that I am."

Buffy twitched when Spike's fangs entered her neck. She shook slightly as a different sense of pleasure and pain coursed through her body. Angelus' bite had been fierce and unrelenting, cruel and vicious. This bite, even with the small amounts of blood that Spike was slowly taking, seemed to be more potent. It was as if he was carefully siphoning out something that he held precious and treasured. Flashes of light bounced behind her eyelids while her heart slowed.

Spike took as little as possible with each pull, but it had to be enough to eradicate any claim that Angelus might try to have on Buffy once she'd risen. If he took the blood too fast, she'd be too weak to drink, and her heart would stop beating too soon. Bringing someone across was a tricky business. The steps were different depending on if you wanted a Childe, a minion, or a strong Childe.

With the last necessary drop of blood had been pulled Spike bit through both his and Buffy's wrists in a fairly straight but jagged line. He wrapped his hand in hers allowing their wrist wounds to mingle their blood. He clawed his neck to open a free flowing wound. He brought Buffy up to his neck. He massaged her neck with his free hand after securing her position with his arm around her to encourage her to drink. "Come on, pet. You have to drink."

Too many seconds were passing without Buffy swallowing the "life" giving fluid. "Slayers are different. You won't be like a regular vampire, luv." Spike tried to coax her with words in any way that he could. He forced her lips harder against his neck. "You'll be purer than others." The blood filled her mouth and started to trickle down the back of her throat. He continued to massage her throat in a swallowing motion.

"I'll protect you, keep you safe." Spike never made a Childe before, but he wanted this with every part of his being. Something within him called out to the Slayer from the first moment he saw her at the Bronze. He passed it off for the lust of the kill for so long that he didn't want to believe it could be for any other reason until now. This wasn't a lust for her death. This was a passion for her life.

"Buffy now!" Spike's voice growled more forcefully. His demon sought something from deep within the Slayer that it needed. The last traces of his humanity called out to the woman that she was.

The sun would be up soon, and they needed to hide soon. Spike quickly wrapped their joined wrists together to secure them. Although that exchange of blood did nothing to turn her, it helped to bind the two of them together ... sharing in the flow within and without.

Buffy felt the reverberations of Spike's growl. She murmured his name, and some of the blood slipped down her throat. It tasted so sweet. Yet there was something else that underlined that sweetness ... power ... He tasted of power, strength and something else that she couldn't put her finger on. The allure was passionate, and it stirred a need from deep within her soul. Strangely the Slayer part of her called out to Spike's blood instead of refusing it. It was her human side, her fears, which fought to keep from drinking.

As Buffy's heart neared its last beat, the Slayer demon within her took over in a fight to sustain itself. It forced her lips to seal on the wounds Spike created on his neck and to suckle the "life" giving force he offered.

Spike breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a more active pull of his blood into Buffy's mouth. He closed his eyes as a wave of emotions, thoughts, and memories passed between them. He saw her life, her fears, her joys, her disappointments and her dreams.

Buffy could see what Spike was, what he is, and what he could be. She saw the fire that burned deep within him, and she faintly caught a glimpse of a warmth that was so buried she almost missed it completely. 'What was that?' It was the last thought on her mind as she drifted into unconsciousness, her lips automatically pulling the blood into her body.

Spike allowed her to feed for much longer than was necessary. He wanted her to be strong, not mindless. She would need every ounce of strength if she were to defeat Angelus. Sire's blood was almost as potent as Slayer blood. He just hoped that all he'd read and known of past Slayers was true. If not, Buffy would more than likely side with Angelus and his evil desires instead of battling him.

Buffy collapsed fully in Spike's arms. Her lips detached from his neck, and her body began it's battle to step into the beyond or remain on Earth. Her soul fought within her. Would it step into the ether or would it remain? What was Spike's demon calling for?

From the power that Buffy took her last gulp of blood, Spike knew which path she would take. "Come back to me, my love." She would return to him, and she would be his ... and this time NO ONE was breaking the bond that was created. "Come back to me."

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