A Certian Level of Trush: Part 12
by Theory Queen
My apologies for the brief sappiness at the end of this part. It's not my fault, I was blackmailed!

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There was a moment of total silence. Spike picked himself up off the floor and exchanged glances with Giles. The watcher gathered himself and produced a stake from his pocket, which he handed to Spike. The blond vampire nodded his thanks and helped Giles up, and they stood together to watch how the scene played out.

They didn't have long to wait. Buffy pushed past Angel and went over to Spike, taking the stake out of his hand. Spike was starting to sweat. If she believed that Angel was back, maybe she'd decide she didn't need him anymore!

"Uh, slayer..." he began.

"Shut up, Spike!" Angel rounded on him. "She doesn't need you, now that I'm here. And I'm going to kill you anyway, for what you did to me before!" He advanced on Spike, step by menacing step. Spike looked unfazed, but in the back of his mind he wondered what the slayer was planning to do with that stake. Angel continued, through gritted teeth, "You attacked me with a crowbar! You ruined my plans!"

"And I helped." Buffy announced calmly, coming up behind him and placing the stake pointing into his back. "And you know what, Angel? Spike and I work well together." To Spike and Giles, she said, "I want to know what's going on here. Can we maybe do something with... this?" she gestured toward Angel.

"Got just the thing," Spike said. He rummaged through a drawer, coming up with a pair of shackles on a short chain. At Buffy's suspicious glare, he shrugged. "Momento from Dru. D'you think I actually use them?" He looked as innocent as a vampire could, but shackled Angel with a speed that showed some experience, at least.

Buffy surveyed the bound vampire who glared at the three of them silently. She turned to Giles. "All right, what's the scoop?"

"Well, it seems that the demon Angel made a deal with Acathla, to let him out of hell. The soul of Angel is still in hell, and evidently will remain there as long as this demon still lives. The demon Angel was planning to kill you and everyone who has ever helped you -- that would be you, Spike -- as a sort of appeasement offering to Acathla, for not giving him the entire world when it was first planned." Giles took a deep breath and gave her the really bad news. "So, Buffy, I'm very much afraid that -- uh, that you'll have to kill Angel. Again. To set his soul free."

"No need for apologies, Giles." Buffy's face took on a feral gleam. "This time it'll be a pleasure."

"Want some help this time, slayer?" Spike asked eagerly. She looked at him and started to smile.

"Just with this," she said, and pressed her lips against his.

She had meant it to be a brief peck, just to annoy Angel, but she found herself enjoying it, and she lingered. Spike's arms held her close, and he kissed her back like she'd never been kissed before. Angel's kisses had usually seemed sort of...tentative. Spike's kisses were not tentative. He kissed her as if he knew exactly what he wanted, as if he knew she wanted it, too.

The sound of Giles clearing his throat, coupled with the incoherent gurgles of the enraged Angel, finally made them break the embrace. "Oh yeah," Buffy said, remembering the job at hand. She looked at Spike and blushed, then got to business.

"Right. Torture," she said. She looked at Angel a long moment, and explained, "I don't love you. I loved you once, when you were a different person, and in order to set him free, I'm going to kill you," she said. She feinted to the left, then plunged the stake into Angel's right shoulder, saying, "But not just yet!" He howled with pain. "That was for what you did to Jenny," she told him. She pulled the stake out and plunged it into his stomach. "That was for what you did to Giles," she told him. "Nobody hurts MY Watcher!" She got carried up in her enthusiasm, remembering how much he had hurt them all when he lost his soul, and she suddenly attacked and gave him a dozen or so shallow punctures.

Angel wheezed, and buckled. "What -- what were those for?" he asked, when he could draw a breath.

"Willow's fish," Buffy replied, on the spur of the moment.

Behind her, Spike whispered to Giles, "I think I'm in love, mate!" He grinned when Giles gave him a disapproving stare.

"Buffy, don't you think it's time to, uh, finish it?" Giles prompted.

Buffy nodded without breaking eye contact with the demon. She pulled him upright again. "This is for what you did to Angel," she said, as she plunged the stake into his heart.

Angel's eyes took on a gentler expression for just a moment, and he looked at Buffy. "Thank you," he whispered, smiling as he burst into ashes.


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