Forfeit: Part 2
by Samantha McCullah
see part one for disclaimer
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Part Two
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Buffy managed to block the crowbar with her right arm, then grimaced as she felt the bone snap under the force of the blow. Angel meant business, and as he swung the crowbar again, this time at her legs, she tried to dodge. The crowbar hit her ankle, and Buffy gasped as pain laced through her body.
"Now, Slayer, scream for me," Angel taunted, lifting the crowbar above his head. He brought it down swiftly, but she managed to catch it in her good hand. She gripped her end, then pivoted, twirled, and slammed the crowbar into the side of Angel's head. His body ricochet into the mausoleum; he pushed himself away and turned back to her.
"Lucky shot, lover. Good for me, I have a back-up plan," he commented, pulling the handgun out of his coat. "I'll tell you, Buff, its been fun." He lifted the gun and fired one shot into her knee; she screamed as her knee shattered. Angel sighed in pleasure at the sound. "Now that's what I love to hear." He fired again into her other knee, and Buffy fell onto her stomach.
Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she looked up into Angel's eyes. "Why?" she whispered. her mind frantically wished she could as those words.
Angel laughed a short, bitter laugh, "Because you were there." Then the gun fired again, and Buffy's world went black.
* * *
"Hello, Ms. Summers. I was wondering if Buffy was home?" Spike asked into the receiver. He glanced up at the clock, noticing Buffy was over due to call him.
"Don't you think its a little late to be calling, young man?" Joyce replied.
"Its, um, its Slayer business," he stated, hoping she just went up there to check.
"Is it urgent?"
"Life and death."
"I'll check, but if she's asleep, it'll just have to wait until morning." Spike heard the receiver being set down. Faintly he heard Buffy's mom call out "Buffy?"
His eyes narrowed slightly when he heard the sound. It was a faint, popping noise. he decided. He heard Joyce call out again frantically, "Buffy!" His eyes narrowed further, as he heard the popping again. His eyes widened in realization. He hung up the phone, not waiting for Joyce to come back.
He ran out of the apartment and into the street; he frantically looked everywhere, not knowing where the sound had come from. Then the gunshot came again, and Spike followed the sound to the cemetery.
He ran through rows and rows of tombstones searching desperately. What he saw when he neared the row of mausoleums shocked him more than anything he'd ever seen in two hundred years. Angel standing over a bruised and bleeding Slayer holding a smoking gun.
"NO!" he screamed, rushing over to them. He leapt at Angel managing to wrestle him to the ground. He twisted Angel's wrist, causing the gun to fly out of his hand. Angel slammed his elbow into Spike's chin, sending the blond sailing back.
Angel stood up and brushed his clothing off. As he adjusted his jacket, he smiled down at Spike. "Dru sends her regards," he commented before blending back into the shadows.
Spike crawled over to Buffy's broken body; he noticed the blood pouring down her knees and from the back of her head. Desperately, he searched for a pulse; he didn't find one. his mind as frenzied as he searched for any sign of life. he begged. He kept his hands on her pulse point.
"Please, Slay--Buffy, I know you're in there. You can't be dead, so prove it. Show me, please! Just wake up and breathe," he ordered, tears streaming down his face. He raised her torso gently and took his hand away from her neck. Then he pounded his fist onto her chest, not hard enough to break anything, but hard enough to wake her up, at least he hoped.
"You never ran from anything in your whole life. C'MON FIGHT!" He hit her chest again, but still no response. some part of him begged in the back of his mind. "Please, Buffy, I need you." He laid her body back and laid his head down on her stomach. < I love you. Don't leave me, > he begged silently.
The he felt it. The long shuttering breath of a body back from the dead. He looked down at her and smiled in relief as her body gulped in air. Her eyes fluttered, then opened. They were clouded in pain, but she was alive. And that's all that mattered to him.
"Spike?" she whispered.
"Its me, Slayer," he replied, pushing the hair back out of her eyes.
"Giles...not far," she murmured before passing out again. But he caught her drift.
* * *
Giles stumbled down the stairs still half asleep as his doorbell rang, and what he saw when he opened the door, startled him into full awareness. Spike stood in the shadow of the porch light holding a prone, bleeding Buffy in his arms.
"Watcher, we have a problem," was all he said.
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