Remembrance: 25
by Selene
I would like to thank Spikes Bint for beta-ing me. She is a Godsend!

Ch.25

“We are so going and that’s final!”

Dawn leaned into the heavy armoire that she had shimmied into place only fifteen minutes ago. Moving this thing was proving to be an Olympian struggle. Andrew was in a snit and refused to even look at her. Taking a deep breath Dawn reminded herself how concerned she had been when she had seen him seriously hurt after the battle. Her feelings reigned in; once again, she tried another tactic to gain his help.

“Andrew I was wondering if you would remind me of Angelus’ habits? With your Watcher training you would be much better equipped to deal with the situation that we find ourselves in.” This wasn’t her most brilliant of schemes, but subtlety was lost on Andrew. She had to get right to the chase. Giles needed to know what was going on.

Andrew ignored her last question, “We can’t go out there. We should stay here until Spike rescues us. He gets really mean if you don’t do what he says...”

“Andrew I have had it! We need to tell Giles!”

“There’s no reason to yell. Why don’t you use your two-way?”

Dawn was torn between slapping herself on the forehead for missing such an obvious solution to their problem, and hugging Andrew. Settling for the latter of the two, she bounded across the room and gave Andrew the biggest hug of his life. Settling back on the bed, she depressed the button.

“Willow? Willow? Are you there?” Dawn remembered to let go of the button this time.

A couple of seconds went by and she was about to try again when Willow beeped back. “Dawnie? Is that you? Is everything okay?”

“We have a problem... Angel is going all Angelus. Spike left us in Andrew’s sick room and took off after him I think. You guys better go and help him.”

“What are you talking about, Dawnie? Angel was acting fine...”

“That’s just what I thought too. Andrew saw him attack Rona and drain her. You have to believe me...”The two-way was yanked out of Dawn’s grasp.

“Oh, magical mistress, can you not see his aura? The blight upon his soul must be vast. To have partaken in such a foul deed should have left some visible mark for one such as you.”

Dawn yanked the two-way out of Andrew’s hand giving him a look that promised much pain if he tried that again.

Willow thought hard trying to remember if she had seen anything amiss. She had been too wrapped up in dealing with the influx of power and her growing, “whatever it was” with Giles. “I was uhh... kinda busy during the battle. Afterwards I helped the wounded so I never really paid much attention to Angel.” The reality of the situation sunk in. “I can’t believe that this is happening again. We barely escaped alive the last time that Angelus made an appearance. You guys need to stay put. Giles and I will go find Spike. He shouldn’t confront him alone.”

“Spike doesn’t think that we are dealing with Angelus but Angel who is capable of anything... Be careful.”

They were interrupted by Buffy, “What the hell is going on there? Somebody better go find Spike! Now!”

She had been on her way back to the Coven to get cleaned up. Not wanting to be away from Spike after just reuniting with him she had asked the girls if they minded if she cut out early. Vi had laughed at the eager expression on her face and told her to go on back. It had been decided that the demon had to be burned to cleanse it from the land. Giles had hoped that by burning, the remains the Coven’s strange sickness that had come on with the beast’s appearance would disappear with its corporeal form.

Halfway back she had heard the conversation between Dawn and Willow. The thought that Angel would do this to her again was heart wrenching, she never even noticed a change in him. He still had acted the same. Angelus never had the reticence to forego a little mental torture with his evil plans. He always had to put a few digs in there to make you doubt yourself. Therefore, this had to be Angel.

Angel, the one who swore that he loved her and that HE would never do anything to hurt her. He HAD hurt her before, but he had always maintained that it had been Angelus behind the wheel and that he had nothing to do with his actions. She had always suspected that a good part of him was intertwined with his demon. His soul had never left any mark upon his demon. His human personality hadn’t been enough to change it, even a little, for the better.

Unlike unsouled Spike who acted out of the kindness of his heart on occasion. Spike’s demon had some form of compassion for those that he cared about. A sometimes skewed compassion, but he had feelings and interests other than inflicting as much torture as possible.

It hurt her to think that she had brought Angel back into everyone’s lives yet again and that he had killed yet again. Rona didn’t deserve to die that way. He was supposed to be a friend, dammit. Spike was out there trying to find Angel. She hoped against hope that he wouldn’t be able to track him. Two master vampires in one building. Sun out, not good odds for Angel escaping him. She poured all of her energy toward getting back to the Coven as fast as she could.

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Spike stood in the doorway for a second taking in the minute details. The look of fear on Gunn’s face was a chilling reminder of all of the times that Spike had seen the same look upon Angelus’ victims. The realization of what Angel had done to him was showing through the look in his eyes. Listening to his steady and strong heartbeat meant that Angel had probably just sprung upon him. Debating how to get Angel to release Gunn without killing him was first and foremost in Spike’s mind.

Angel seeing the vampire that he hated more than anything else took advantage of Spike’s inaction. Tightening his grip on Gunn’s neck, he grazed the aorta puncturing it enough to make the wound fatal. He made sure that he didn’t tear it open enough to make the death clean. Gunn would watch as the blood sprayed out all over the room as he desperately tried to stem the bleeding. He let out an evil chuckle as he dropped Gunn from his embrace. Eyes narrowed and still in game face, he leapt at Spike.

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Gunn had seen Angel come into the room out of the corner of his eye, but he had thought that he had come in here to talk. Possibly about Spike and Buffy and he had tried to pull it together so he could try to cheer him up. Seeing Fred again, the real Fred, had thrown him for a loop.

As he was turning around, he felt Angel’s hand come up in a vice like grip around his upper arm, and pulling him into an embrace. There was something seriously wrong here. Angel wasn’t a huggy kinda guy and he was pulling him backwards. He reached with his free hand for the stake that he kept in his belt. Angel let him grab it and then reached over and latched onto his wrist. Holding the stake straight out in front of Gunn, he taunted him with it.

“What do you think you’re doing with this Charlie-boy?” He leaned in close to his neck and let each word come out as a cool caress.

Gunn snapped back his head in an attempt to head butt him. Angel had been expecting that and had moved out of the way.

“Don’t bother with trying to hurt me. It will only make this harder on you. I am so much stronger than you now. I could take this wrist in my hand and crush it into little shards.”

Angel started to apply pressure to the wrist in increments and Gunn, the nerves in his hand forced him to drop the stake. The loud clatter of the stake and Gunn’s harsh breathing was the only sound in the room.

Satisfied with that response Angel decided to up the ante. Focusing on the thrumming vein in his neck he gently scraped his fangs back and forth. Gunn instinctively flinched and renewed his struggles. That only brought more laughter from Angel.

“Hmmm... What have I found here? A nice juicy vein? I think that I need to personally investigate this one, don’t you Charles?”

“You asshole! Why the hell are you doing this?”

“Why shouldn’t I be doing this is the question you should be asking yourself. You had it much more together when you were living on the streets. You knew me then. Knew what I was, what I am. I am a vampire and no flowery phrases and tidy little souls are going to change that. You are my prey. On the other hand, maybe I’ll turn you. You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

“God damn you Angel. I am going to kill you!” It was his worst nightmare come to life. That he would be turned was a constant fear since what had happened to Alonna. He struggled again thrashing back and forth.

Angel slowly dipped his fangs in just getting them bloodied. He was going to make this last. He licked the wound shut so he could do it again. Savouring the bright burst of blood against his tongue and the sweet agony, that he was inflicting on his prey…that’s all that he was to him now. He sunk his fangs in deeper and took a few swallows of blood. It always was better when he really knew his victim. He sighed in pleasure against Gunn’s neck.

Now firmly entrenched in Angel’s embrace, Gunn felt impotent rage in him build up. “Buffy is going to kill you for this. She did it once before! Cordelia told me all about it when you took off to Tibet. You couldn’t defeat her before... What makes you sure that you can beat her when Spike will be by her side?”

The effect of those words was terrifying to see. Angel immediately sunk his fangs in deep and started to draw out blood at a feverish pace. The door opened with a bang and he looked up to see his nemesis in the doorway.

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Angel was on top of Spike before he knew it snarling and trying to sink his fang into his neck. Spike’s demon came to the fore and he gave back as much as he could. Angel was incredibly strong. He must have been eating his weetabix along with his Slayer.

Spike turned his head to check on Gunn’s condition. He could hear the rapid beating of his heart and that meant that panic had set in. Gunn turned toward them for a second and tiny droplets of blood showered them before Gunn had managed to wrestle the coverlet off the bed and clamp it on his throat.

Spike knew it looked grim but he had to try to help him. Hoping that he would catch Angel off guard he unleashed all of the power that he had and it came blazing through him. His eyes glowed eerily and he snapped his head back before Angel’s startled eyes. The thrall had him.

Gunn had been fumbling on the floor for something and came up behind Angel’s now motionless form, but before he could bury the stake in his back, a wave of darkness came over him. He fell over on his side the blanket that he had been clutching to his throat forgotten.

Spike panicked. Putting his all into it, “Angel get your bloody ass out of this room and wait for me in the library. We’ll finish the fight in there.”

Angel struggled against the thrall for a second and then decided that it really didn’t matter. He could easily kill him in there as in here. Spike’s strength was no match to his anymore. In addition, the waiting always made it that much more special. He rolled off him and smiled.

“You always were a bookworm huh, William? See you there...” The door shut after him.

Spike knew that he only had seconds. He flipped Gunn over and brought his wound up to his lips. Gently licking it closed he prayed that he wasn’t too late. Gunn’s heartbeat was faint, but steady. He kicked away the ruined coverlet and placed Charles on the bed covering him up with whatever blankets he could find. Hopefully that would help him through some of the shock that his body was going through. It would have to do.

He couldn’t let Angel go free. Taking one last glance, he picked up the fallen stake and headed to the library.

A/N: Please review... It makes my muse happy!

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