A/N: Warning: Minor Spuffyage.
Spike looked at them. Angel and Buffy. The paradox of a vampire with a soul—and a vampire in love with a Slayer. They were together again; this was how they were meant to be. But he knew that Buffy deserved better; knew that he wanted her. He wouldn’t admit that to anybody; but Dru knew it. She’d seen it before, when he had made that deal with her last year. He hadn’t even known it then, but she had.
Of course, Drusilla knew everything. Dru probably even knew who would take out the Slayer. He was amazed that she wasn’t here with “Daddy”, helping him run Sunnyhell.
Looked like the other Slayer wasn’t happy either. Maybe the girl had some kink to her, some deep, dark desires that Angelus had managed to fulfill. Or maybe she was into the real Slayer. Maybe she just had a thing for Angel too. Who knew? It wasn’t like he cared. He’d helped the Slayer and her little gang, now he had no place.
“Wow,” said Xander. “Those two move fast.” Spike knew that the whelp had feelings for the Slayer; probably had feelings of the opposite kind for Angel. He could use that—being chipped didn’t mean that he couldn’t use his Big Bad mind.
But…. No. That’d piss off Buffy. He didn’t want to do that. Any strange, romantic feelings aside, she’d probably stake him as soon as he stopped helping them out.
**
“How’re we going to get out of here?” Faith looked upstairs, avoiding Angel’s face.
“Um…. Well, Angel, Spike, Willow and Xander won’t have any problem. We could take out the Bronze, I guess,” said Buffy.
“Not liking that plan,” said Xander. “Especially the part where you guess.”
“I didn’t say it was a good idea,” Buffy murmured.
“There’s a way,” said Angel. He wasn’t looking at any of them now. He walked over to a box near the former Faith-chains. Buffy could see Faith tense a little out of the corner of her eye.
“Oh, those,” said Spike. “Angelus doesn’t change much, does he?”
Angel turned for a moment, letting the vampire show thorugh.
“Hey, poufster, I know you aren’t quite him. There’s loads of differences. Just commenting that he doesn’t change.”
“Spike, why are you still here?” Buffy rolled her eyes to the sky.
“Um, because you could still use my help?” He looked at her like it should’ve been obvious.
“No, thanks.” Her tone was heavy on the sarcasm.
“Actually, Buffy, he could still be useful.” She turned back to Angel, disbelief in her face.
“We’re going to need to get through the Bronze.” He took out a set of collars and leashes from the box.
“What’re those for?” Buffy gave them a glare, as though they were responsible for the whole problem.
“I could tell you,” said Spike.
“Shut up,” said practically the entire group. Buffy didn’t even do that much, just ignoring him.
“We can—here.” He put one collar around Buffy’s neck, tightening it. Then he held the leash.
“What was it for?” she asked.
“You shouldn’t have to hear about it,” he muttered, walking to Faith.
“If you don’t mind, I’d kinda like to put it on all on my own,” she told him, picking up the collar and pulling it over her head. “Too many bad experiences.”
He winced a little, but let her do it.
“And then…. You…. I’m guessing you’d feel better doing it on your own, too,” he said to Riley, holding the last collar/leash out to him.
“Can I ask what the plan is first, before I put my neck through a noose?” He looked at it in almost the same way that Buffy had.
“Angel here’s going to let the vamps and vamp look-alikes lead us through the Bronze. We’re all going to make-believe it’s some kind of a grand plan.” Faith held out the lead as she finished. “Who’s feeling brave?”
Spike looked at her. No, the girl didn’t have some kind of a kink—or if she did, Angelus had worked it out of her. But she liked this one; Angel in specific. And she didn’t like him paying attention to Buffy. That was good; he didn’t like his grandsire paying attention to Buffy either. If she’d trust a Big Bad like himself, maybe they could both work up loads of jealousy.
“Don’t need bravery, pet,” he told her, taking the chain.
Buffy swallowed something in her throat, watching Spike and Faith together. It was stupid, whatever it was. Spike was evil. Faith was another Slayer. A, there was nothing there. B, even if there was, it shouldn’t matter.
Even though it did.
Angel watched Faith and Spike. He couldn’t blame her; not trusting him. It was a wonder that they didn’t just stake him now. He knew what Angelus had done to her, and all of the rest of them, too. She shouldn’t trust him; and Spike had even helped to free her. But he’d started to like the new Slayer—apparently, Angelus had liked her a great deal, too. There was no chance now…. Or was Spike trying to make him jealous?
He narrowed his eyes, watching the younger vampire. It was a definite possibility.
“Fine,” said Riley, jerking the three of them out of their respective reveries. He shoved the collar down around his neck, holding out the lead to Willow. “Try not to choke me,” he said.
“You trust me?” She raised an eyebrow. “You just tried to kill me a few hours ago.”
Xander’s head jerked around to Riley, very pissed off.
“I thought she was evil,” he said by way of explanation.
“Oh.” That was a common enough occurrence.
“But you’re not evil,” he said, directing his words to Willow. “You could’ve killed me earlier if you’d wanted to. So yeah, I guess I kind of trust you.”
She took the leash. “Then I guess I kind of won’t choke you. I’m kidding, kidding!” she reassured him as his face took on some new color.
“Let’s go,” said Angel as he gently took Buffy’s leash.
**
“Hey, Angelus! Nice to see you’ve finally got that Slayer where she belongs!” yelled one of the many vampires. Angel’s brow kept furrowing more, and more.
But the group made it out of the Bronze without any major occurrences. When they got outside, though, there was a larger problem to deal with.
“Angelus,” said the Master. “Good to see you.” His fruit-punch mouth widened in a larger smile.
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