DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon and the WB own all rights. And get to reap all the
benefits, lucky stiffs.
The Gift
part 2
by bec
Chapter V
"Marissa what’s wrong?" Willow reached out to help her. The vampire turned away, "I am fine, just give me a minute".
The four humans watched her, one with concern the other three with curiosity.
"What’s the matter with you?" Buffy asked.
Marissa turned and looked at the humans in the room, not wanting to discuss this topic with them. They wouldn’t be able to handle it. How could she tell them she hadn’t fed in awhile and she was very hungry. She straighten up and pulled her shoulders back. She hated letting anyone see her weak. Showing her weakness left her open, and even though she didn’t fear anything from these humans she still didn’t like letting them see her this way.
"Is there anything I can do" Willow murmured. She liked this woman and she didn’t like seeing the pain that was etched across Marissa’s face.
"No, there is nothing you can do" Marissa said; "I have to leave for a few minutes but I will be back soon".
As the woman turned to go Buffy stepped in front of her grabbing her arm, "You rush in here and tell us we have to do this now, then you run off to who knows where, how do we know your coming back?"
"I will return, I have to take care of something first," Marissa jerked her arm away from the slayer.
"What?" Buffy demanded. This woman wanted their trust but she had to earn it, they weren’t just going to give it to her.
Marissa stared into Buffy’s eyes; "I have to feed, do you want to come along and watch?" Her voice was filled with sarcasm.
"Feed on who?" Buffy came back at her.
"Not who; what" Marissa said.
Willow quickly asked "So how do you feed Marissa... if you don’t mind my asking, ah... if you don’t want to answer that’s ok, I mean drinking blood is so personal, its just not something that generally comes up in a conversation, but then again how may people actually get to have a conversation with a real live...well, not live...but....."
"Willow it is all right, I do not mind discussing it. "I only feed on bagged blood, Angel taught me that little trick. Now do any of you want to come along and watch or are we just going to stand around and argue?"
"Yuck!" this coming from Cordelia.
"And where exactly are you going, the local blood bank?" Xander spoke up, he really didn’t care if she came back or not. To him this whole thing was foolish and it could end right now. "Hate to remind you of this but the sun is shining and your a vamp. Does the phrase "up in smoke" remind you of more than a Cheech and Chong album title to you?"
"Cordelia looked at Xander and said "Who’s Cheech and Chong, is that a rock group?"
As usual they ignored her.
"I am staying at Angel’s former apartment, it is the only address Brother Luca had for him" Marissa told them. "I will use the sewer tunnels to get there." She wasn’t really going to use the tunnels, she was going to slip out the back and use her car. But she wasn’t ready to let them know about her secrets, not yet.
Buffy thought of this woman living in Angel’s apartment, sleeping in Angel’s bed. But she couldn’t say anything about it. She had no idea what this woman meant to Angel. They might have been lovers, and she wasn’t emotionally ready to even think about that right now.
"Ok, well your the one who was in a hurry, so do what you have to do and get back here. If we’re going to do this lets get it done." Buffy went back to laying out the things onto the table, she didn’t look up again, she wanted to get this over with, she didn’t want to stop and think about what would happen if this worked. How was she going to face Angel if his soul was returned. What would she say to him.
Willow watched her friend; she knew what was going through Buffy’s head. If this worked they would have Angel back. But what would happen after Angel’s soul was returned. How would any of them handle it. How would Angel handle it. If he felt guilt for what Angelus had done before, how would he feel about the things the demon had done to Buffy and Ms. Calendar. Willow didn’t think that Angel would want to live with knowing what Angelus had done to Ms. Calendar. She knew that once Angel had his soul returned their job would be a lot tougher.
Marissa gave them instruction on what to do with the rest of the things she had brought. She also told them what to do with the things that Giles and Oz would be bringing back with them. Willow told Marissa how to get out of the library through the stacks. She turned and headed towards the stacks.
The kids watched the woman walk into the shelves of books and disappear.
Willow turned to Buffy and asked her "Are you ok with all of this?"
Buffy stopped working and turned to her friend. She didn’t know what to say to her. She knew Willow was worried about her, but she was so confused about all of this. She couldn’t put her feelings into words. To look at her you thought the slayer was in total control of herself but inside Buffy was so confused. Fear, anger, and confusion swirled around inside of her. Those emotions had been with for so long now. She knew she had to maintain a total look of control around her friends, if they knew how she really felt they wouldn’t be able to handle it. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. At first when Angel lost his soul she had cried herself to sleep every night. Then when the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and she realized he was gone for good, she had made herself take control. She was The Slayer. No matter how she felt inside she had a job to do and she did it. But there was always that feeling that if she let herself feel again she would crack, fall completely apart; and she couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t.
But now with Marissa coming here and getting her hopes up again, no she wouldn’t, couldn’t let herself believe this was going to work. Angel was gone. There was nothing she or anyone could do to bring him back. But also in her head was the thought that what if Angel didn’t want to come back, what if Angel wanted her to do her job and stake Angelus, Angel would be the first person to tell her that that was her job. Take out the evil, destroy it. He would want her to stop Angelus. But that proved to be harder than anything she had ever had to do.
So, she would help do this because its what Willow wanted. Willow believed that bringing Angel back would solve all their problems, but Buffy knew this wasn’t the truth, the truth was bringing Angel back would just bring them a different set of problems. Buffy knew Angel, knew what he would be feeling "if" his soul was restored. He would hate himself more than they did. That was the truth, but she didn’t have the heart to tell Willow that.
"I’m fine Willow, but remember we tried this before and it didn’t work, so don’t get your hopes up." Buffy took Willows hands into hers and told her, "If this doesn’t work, its not your fault, you’ve done everything possible. And when it doesn’t work, I’ll do what I have to do-- stake Angel, understand?"
Willow tried to control the tears that welled up in her eyes, "Yes, I know that, but we still have to try. Not just for Angel, but for us too, for you."
"Ok, so when this Oprah moment is over, somebody want to tell me what these are for?" Xander held up two glass globes.
Chapter VI
Three hours later Giles and Oz set the bags onto the library counter. Giles looked around the room and asked "where’s Marissa?"
"She got the munchies" Xander smirked.
"She’ll be back soon," Willow said, giving Xander "the" look. The look said Stop it and Stop it now. "What did you bring back with you?"
"More candles, herbs and some of these things that look like human bones. But there not, right, human that is?" Oz spoke up while laying various items out on the counter."
"Giles what do you think of all this?" Buffy ask her watcher.
The librarian removed his glasses and started cleaning the lenses. "Well I trust Brother Luca, Buffy, this vam...woman is a unknown but she has been sent by him; so lets see where it goes. Just be ready for anything, alright?"
"Always Giles, always." Buffy turned back to the table. "So everything is all laid out, ready to go, all we are missing is Angel and our mysterious vamp."
"Angelus"
Buffy turned to see Marissa coming through the stacks. "What?"
Marissa spoke again, "Angelus, they are not the same entity, Angelus is the one we are after, when I am done, then we will have Angel back."
"Yeah, well you didn’t have to watch "Angel" tear your friends apart," Xander said to her "you didn’t have to stand by and not be able to stop him from snapping the neck of one of our teachers....
"Xander!" Giles moved towards the boy.
"All right!" Buffy stepped in front of Giles, "everybody just calm down."
Marissa turned and spoke to the angry boy, "no I did not have to watch that, but I did have to stand by while Angelus slowly and calmly destroyed my own world. I felt him sink his fangs into my flesh, felt the life draining out of me. I could feel his hands on me...... I could feel myself die. Every second, every moment. When you know what that feels like, come and talk to me about Angelus, do you hear me boy."
Everyone stood silently watching the woman slowly gain control of herself.
"But what about the times he has helped save a life. He led you to the Master’s lair, he stopped the demon Eyghon from killing Giles and Buffy. He helped remove the demon from Janna’s body, which could have cost him his own life. He helped Buffy save Willow, Cordelia and Janna when your local vampire’s tried to raise the Master. What about when Giles, Willow and yourself were trapped in the boiler room with the gas? If it had not been for Angel you would not be standing here." What about then?."
"Wait, back up, Angel saved you from the gas, I thought it was the janitor?" Buffy asked.
"Well," Giles said, "we felt that since you weren’t "seeing" Angel at that moment, that...ah..we decided not to...inform you of his involvement....ah..in that incident."
"We thought it was for the best, Buffy." Willow said.
Buffy said nothing, by interrupting Marissa she had ended the Angelus versus Angel argument.
Giles turned back to Marissa and questioned her; "Wait, how do you know all this?"
"Brother Luca was informed of everything through the Watcher’s society and Janna’s updates. Nothing was left out." Marissa informed him.
"Everything?" Buffy asked.
"Everthing that was put into their journals" Marissa answered her.
Buffy decided not to question that statement, she really didn’t want to know. "We have a lot to do and only a few hours to do it and its getting dark, we have a kidnapping to plan. So how are we going to get Angel..ah..Angelus on the docks tonight, you said you could get him there by letting him know your here. How is this going to work, like I said I need to know what is going to go down here."
"This is what I have planned; Buffy, Xander and Oz will go to the docks and capture Angelus." Marissa said. "Giles and the rest of you will stay here and make the final preparations."
"Wait, just back-up there a moment" Xander looked at her like she was crazy. "And how exactly do we just capture him?"
Marissa smiled for the first time, "why with a really big net, that is how."
"And how do we get him under the net?" Xander asked.
"I will position myself and Angelus under the net. Boy, all you have to do is be ready with the net, Marissa said "just wait for me to signal you. Let me handle the rest."
****************************
The docks were quiet Friday night, no one was around. Which is the way Buffy liked it, she didn’t want any innocent bystanders getting in their way. They had been hiding behind a stack of skids for 25 minutes now. When was he getting here?, she was starting to lose her patience. Buffy didn’t like to wait, when she was calling the shots she liked to make things happen, unfortunately Marissa was in control of this little outing so Buffy had nothing to do but wait. Xander was worse at waiting then she was, he had stayed quiet far longer than Buffy expected him to, but she could tell by his body language that he was starting to get nervous. And a nervous Xander was not something she wanted to deal with right now. Soon she told herself, soon.
"How much longer are we just going to sit here?" Xander quipped.
Oz turned to him and said "Until we hear her signal I guess."
"How long does she expect us to wait" Xander asked.
Buffy knew she had to get Xander under control before Angelus showed up, Angelus had sharp hearing, and the way Xander was complaining he would hear him the minute he stepped on the docks.
"Xander shut-up" Buffy hoped that would work.
It didn’t.
"Why are we doing this, sitting here waiting for death to creep up on us. He’s not going to go quietly, you know that, don’t you?. He’s going to fight us the whole way. I don’t trust this woman, she’s a vamp; in the end she’s going to side with him. Hey; you don’t think this is a trap do you, Angelus sends her to us and we believe her and then we’re just sitting here like ducks in a pond waiting for Elmer Fudd to show up, Boom, Boom, Boom."
"Xander you need to expand your horizon’s" Oz said, "not every thing has a down side to it you know."
Xander looked at him like he was crazy. "Ok, 10 more minutes then we’re out of here, you hear me, hey, you guys hear me?"
Chapter VII
Spike sat in the corner of the garden. He had pushed his chair to the very back corner, back into the shadows. He liked being in the shadows, he could watch but no one could see him. He hated sitting in this bloody chair, but he wasn’t ready to let the others know that he didn’t need it anymore. He had started exercising his legs more and more, his leg functions had returned. He was at full strength again. But he was gonna keep this little secret to himself. No need to tell them, not yet. He was watching Dru; she sat by the fountain, he could hear the water trickling down onto the stone. Dru sat playing with her "dolls". Tonight her "dolls" consisted of three dead sewer rats. She was dressing them in her doll clothes, little dresses, little hats, right down to their feet, each rat had a tiny pair of shoes strapped to their feet. In the beginning he had thought her behavior was cute, but as the years dragged on it began to grate on him. He now found it tedious and mind-boggling, she didn’t even realized they were dead. She "pretended" that they were three small "babies" she could coddle and love.
Angelus came through the door, swaggering his way towards Druscilla, he laughed as he bent down to be on eye level with her. "What’a you up to Dru?"
She looked up and smiled, "Playing with my babies. I’m going to take them to the park, we have to dress them all up, make them pretty for their walk around the park."
Angelus laughed. "Your babies? Dru, honey those are dead rats, you do realize that, don’t you baby?"
Druscilla gathered the "babies" to her chest; "No Daddy; their my babies." She held them up to Angelus, "This one is Mellie." She thrust the rat into Angelus’s face, he leaned back as far as his legs would allow him. She held up another one, "This one is Marie" she laid the limp body down in her lap. "And this one is Annie." She held up the last rat. "Do you want to play?"
"No Dru, that’s ok, I’ll just watch." He looked around the garden. Spike knew the minute Angelus spied him in the shadows. Angelus smiled.
"Where’s handi-cap boy?" Angelus questioned Druscilla.
Spike wondered what game his Grandsire was going to play tonight.
Angelus reached out and ran his hand over Druscilla’s hair. <Ok its gonna be the lets make Spike jealous one on the menu tonight.> Spike waited for the emotion to hit him. Unbelievably it never came, Spike rolled this thought around in his head. He didn’t care... It didn’t make him feel anything. Spike wondered about this. Had his feeling for Druscilla changed. He thought back to the last couple of months. Angelus had started touching and kissing Druscilla right in-front of Spike as soon as he had returned to the fold. At first it had drove Spike crazy, especially the way Dru craved that touch. She started turning to Angelus more and more. But as it went on the craziness was replaced by an apathy. He wondered about this for a moment. I love Dru, don’t I. As soon as the word "love" popped into his mind another face tagged along behind. He whispered her name......"Marissa". He hadn’t spoken that name out loud in so long. It felt good to speak it, but another emotion slowly tighten around his heart; tighten until it was like a rock in his chest. How long had it been since he had looked into her beautiful face. There was not another face in this world like hers, wether it be the darkness of his world or the world of light. Sweet hell, he missed her. He knew what he had done was for the best, she couldn’t survive in his world. But Angel was no more, so who was watching over her now?, where was she? When he had left her with Angel he knew that it was the best thing he could have done for her. Angel would keep her safe, he lived in that world sandwiched between the dark and the light. He would teach her how to survive in his world. He had thought to ask Angel about her when he first came across him here in Sunnydale, but something stopped him. It was like if he actually said her name out loud he would crumble; break into tiny pieces that couldn’t be put back together again. Was she safe?, was it better for her to be alone? Would it have been better to keep her with him? NO! This world was not her world. She wasn’t like the rest of them, she was a brightness in this word of darkness. A brightness that would have lost its shine if she had stayed. An innocent, who didn’t deserve any of what had been thrown at her. He remembered her face the last time he had seen her. Standing there beside Angel like she was lost. She was lost, lost in this hell that he called his life. Spike mentally shook himself. What he had done was for her own good. He had agonized over his decision. In the end he rationalized to himself that what he had done was the only choice he had. If she had remained in his world, she would have died. He couldn’t have lived with his self, knowing that his world was slowly draining her of all her shining light. But that same thought entered his head, where was she? Who was protecting her? And he couldn’t ask Angelus about her now, oh no. That would be a HUGE mistake. He couldn’t even mention her name in front of Angelus. That lunatic would destroy her if he could. Angelus’s anger when it came to Marissa was totally out of control, she was his one failure. A vampire that wasn’t a vampire. If Spike wasn’t so worried about her, he might have been able to laugh about that.
Angelus’s loud voice drew Spike back to the two in the garden.
"Dru baby, what is it?" Angelus was grinning at Druscilla, he raised his eyes to Spike and smirkingly said; "The psychic train pulling into the station. All aboard."
Dru was waving her head around in a circle and her hands were flapping up and down. The rats were laying on the ground around her; forgotten.
"She’s coming back to take my boys.....no....no....no." She gripped her head and shook it back and forth. "No....she’s bringing the light with her, have to sstop hher....nnoo....nnoooooooo!"
"Who Dru?" Angelus asked her. He loved when she did this, gave him such a feeling of power to know she was on his side. "Who is it, the slayer?"
"NNNoooo......she is bringing the light.....we have to stop the light......" Druscilla slowly calmed down.
Spike wheeled his chair closer to her, he bent over and picked her up and sat her on his lap. "No one is taking me anywhere, Druscilla; do you hear me? I’m not going anywhere, Princess."
"My Spikie, you won’t leave me will you, not like my Angel did, will you?" Druscilla curled up in his lap like a small kitten, a small kitten with very sharp claws.
"No Dru, I won’t leave you, I’ll never leave you." Spike held her in his arms. Was this what his life was always going to be?, always having to reassure Druscilla that he wasn’t leaving her.
Druscilla suddenly started to claw and hit at Spike. Spike tried to hold her down, but she broke away from him screaming, leaving a bloody trail down his face where her claws caught skin.
"You liar, she is all around you. You would rather be with her, than with me." Druscilla screamed until her voice was shrill. She threw herself into Angelus’s arms.
Angelus patted her back. "Its ok, baby. Daddy is here, don’t I always take care of my Dru."
"You have to kill her, my Angel, you have to kill her for me."
"Ok, Dru tell me who and I’ll go and kill her now." Angelus spoke to her as if he was talking to a child. He looked over her head at Spike and raised his shoulders in a shrug. "Sure, just tell us her name and I’ll go and kill her right now."
"No, you have to stay away from her, she’ll take you away from me, like they did before," Dru clutched the front of his shirt, the material tearing as she grasped it. "Promise me you won’t leave me again, promise me!"
Spike reached out to take her from Angelus, but Dru pushed away from him, "No, you don’t love me, you love her!"
"DRUSCILLA!, STOP IT! Spike shouted at her. Druscilla turned and ran from the garden.
Spike sat there and watched her run. He didn’t have the patience to chase after her in this contraption.
"Let her go, she’ll calm down, she always does." Angelus grinned as he turned to Spike. "She always provides a good floor show doesn’t she."
"She’ll be fine, she always is after one of her "episodes". Spike said. He turned the chair back to Angelus. "Who do you think she was talking about?"
Angelus shrugged; "Who knows, with Dru you never know what she’s talking about."
"Her visions usually have some basis to them." Spike turned the chair back staring at the doorway.
"Yeah, whatever; so roller boy what are you planning on doing with your evening?" Angelus questioned the blonde vampire.
"I don’t know maybe a 10-K race through the town square, why what are you up to tonight? Spike smirked. He knew if he wanted to he could. He just couldn’t let Angelus know it.
"Oh, I have a very exciting evening planned." Angelus told him. "Gonna go down to the docks and pick up a few things."
Okay, Spike thought I’ll bite; "And what things will you be picking up?"
"Well, if everything goes according to plan I’ll be able to show "it" to you tonight." Angelus walked towards the door, raising his voice as he moved.
He turned back at the door, "You might want to wait up for this one Spike, I can guarantee you, you’ll like it."
Spike knew that meant trouble, big trouble. He sat and watched Angelus walk through the garden doors.
Maybe he would get lucky and that damn slayer would kill him, then all their problems would be solved and he would have Dru all to himself again.
But that thought didn’t bring him any peace, is it what he really wanted or not. Spike rubbed his hands over his face, right now he was just too damn tired to even think about Druscilla. He turned the chair and rolled back to his corner thinking about Angelus’s last words. He knew Angelus was up to something. But what?
Chapter VIII
Angelus strolled along the docks, he was in a good mood tonight, if everything went according to plan he would be able to throw that bitch’s dead body at Spike’s feet tonight, and he couldn’t wait to see Spike’s face then. Oh yeah, that will be so sweet!
He still couldn’t believe after all these years she was back. Next to the slayer, his hate for Marissa was mild, but he still wanted her dead. She was an abomination, he should have killed her years ago. Hell, he should never have made her a vampire to begin with. He only did it to piss Spike off, just another of his little games he liked to play. And boy did Spike react, that was one of his better plans, really drove Spike crazy and Angelus enjoyed that.
But the bitch didn’t turn right, something went wrong, she was weak, he just couldn’t imagine that his demon could create such a weak creature, she was a freak and every time Angelus had looked at her he had wanted to throttle her. Destroy her. And tonight he was going to make it happen. He also wanted to kill her because that wimp Angel liked her, actually helped her when Spike wanted to get rid of her. Took care of her even, she saw a side of Angel that Angelus just wanted to forget existed. A softer weaker side, the same soft side that he had showed the slayer and her little pals.
When Angel had first met Willow she had reminded him a lot of Marissa, they both shared the same innocent quality in their personalities. That’s one of the reasons that Angelus went for Willow first after the change. Willow was so innocent, too bad he didn’t get to sample that innocence the way he did Marissa before he threw her at Spike’s feet. He always wondered why she had never told Spike about that, he knew she never had or Spike would have went for his heart with a stake. He wondered what Spike thought the first time he took her and found out she wasn’t as pure as he thought she was. That thought made Angelus laugh out loud, that’s why Angel had coddled the bitch, thought he owed her for what Angelus had done to her. That was Angel’s main problem he spent more time feeling guilty about everything that the demon had done to enjoy life. But the slayer had taken care of that for him, he had to thank her for that, the loss of that damn soul. Still didn’t make up for the joy she gave that wimp. Well, her lapdog was gone and Angelus was going to make her pay for that joy. Right after he finished with Spikes’ whore he would continue his games with the slayer, she would be nothing when he finally went for the kill. And it would be so sweet, that kill. Sweeter than anything he had ever felt. Soon it would be his.
The laugh is what alerted the slayer and her friends to Angelus’s presents. Marissa had "felt" him the moment he stepped onto the docks. She knew by the tingle that went through her. It filled her with fear at first but soon she turned that fear into determination, determination to get this over with. Before this night was over, Angel would be back and Angelus would be gone for ever.
Buffy motioned for Xander to be quiet and be ready, ready for anything. She watched Marissa as she stood and waited for Angelus.
Angelus spied her standing at the edge of a group of skids near the edge of the water. He approached her without a care in the world, she isn’t strong enough to take me on he thought. He wasn’t worried.
Marissa kept her back turned to him, she didn’t want him to see her face, the thought voiced itself in her head <I do not want to look into that face>. But she knew she wasn’t the same weak victim she had been the last time she had seen Angelus.
"Well, what do we have here, what brings you to Sunnydale?" Angelus asked her.
"I heard you were in town and just wanted to stop and say hello" Marissa answered him. She slowly turned to look into his face and felt...nothing, there was no pain, no fear. She was looking into the human facade he wore so handsomely. She knew it was not Angel standing in front of her but yet at the same time, it was his body. That thought brought a smile to her face.
"Yeah, like that would ever happen." Angelus said.
"What, you do not believe me, that hurts Angelus" Marissa lied.
"Not as much as it will when I kill you" Angelus laughed. "And I am going to kill you, Rissa."
Rissa, that is what William had called her, and he knew it.
"Well, if you think you can, go for it." Marissa calmly told him.
Something was wrong, Angelus knew that the moment he saw that smile. Why wasn’t she cowering before him. Why wasn’t she frightened. He was in command, didn’t she realize that.
"Well, well it looks like our little Rissa has gained a backbone." Good, I like it when they fight back. Makes it much more interesting for me." Angelus smirked. "I get bored so easily you know."
"Oh, I can guarantee you will not be bored tonight." Marissa said.
"I can’t wait until I can throw you at Spike’s feet again, but quite dead this time." Angelus said.
"I hate to destroy your plans, but you see I have plans of my own for you tonight." Marissa answered.
"You have plans, come-on we both know you don’t have it in you to take me on." Angelus said. "Darius took any fighting out of you."
Marissa stiffened.
"Didn’t think I knew about that, did you." Angelus said. " Well it seems our mutual friend Darius has been looking for you for quite awhile now. He would do just about anything to get you back. Maybe I won’t kill you, maybe I’ll just turn you over to him."
Marissa said nothing, she didn’t want to discuss Darius.
"What does Daruis want with you anyway, come on you can tell me." Angelus said in a smirking voice.
"The only thing I have to discuss with you is my plans for tonight, you play a crucial part in my evening." Marissa actually made herself smile at him again.
Angelus had had enough, the time for playing games was over.
"Enough, lets get this over with!" Angelus vamped out.
Marissa watched the ridges come up on his forehead, his eyes glowed yellow. Soon, soon....she took two steps backwards.
"NOW!" she screamed.
Buffy and Xander released the net.
Angelus saw the net falling toward him, he tried to throw himself to the side but he wasn’t quick enough, it fell heavily on top of him. He fell to the ground struggling under the weight of the net. "Bitch, get this the hell off of me!" he screamed, "I’m gonna kill you."
Marissa raised her hand and a soft white light glowed from her fingertips, Angelus stopped struggling, he stiffened and lay motionless.
She could have captured him using her powers only, but she needed to stay strong for what came next. And subduing him with her powers only would have drained her. Also she wanted Buffy and her friends to feel that they were helping.
The slayer and her friends came running.
"What happened to him, why is he unconsciousness?" Buffy asked.
Marissa ignored her. "Let us go, we do not have much time."
They loaded him up in the van. Working quickly they didn’t notice that someone was watching from the shadows. As soon as the van pulled away Spike stepped out of the darkness and asked himself, "what the hell was that all about?" He hadn’t been close enough to see who had grabbed Angelus but his senses were tingling heavily. Something big had just gone down, and he didn’t mean Angelus being kidnaped. He stayed to the shadows and followed the van. He had no compulsion to rescue Angelus, after what that bastard had taken from him he wanted him gone, but if something big was about to happen, he wanted to know all about it.
*******************
Spike wasn’t shocked when the van pulled up in front of the high school, he had figured the slayer was behind Angelus kidnaping on the run over here. He still wasn’t thinking about saving Angelus, but he was still curious to know what was going down.
It came as no surprise when the slayer and her two friends stepped out of the van, but when the passenger’s door opened Spike couldn’t believe his eyes. Marissa, Spike stood frozen and watched her approach the back of the van. He watched them remove Angelus’s unconscious body and carry him into the school. It was a few minute before Spike realized he was all alone again.
**********************
The four of them carried the limp body into the library. They laid him on the floor in the middle of a large circle drawn on the floor, laid around the circle was all the various things Marissa would need for the restoration spell. Instead of using a table top like they had in the first attempt, Marissa had them arrange all the ingredients on the floor. Angelus laid in the middle of the various items, on either side of him were two baskets each holding a matching orb.
Marissa took charge immediately. "All right is everything ready Willow?"
"Yes, we laid out everything like you told us to, the candles are lit and the incense is ready." Willow came around the counter, ready for whatever Marissa needed.
"Are you ready with the chant?" Marissa asked the young girl.
Willow looked at the book in her hands, "I’m ready, well… as ready as I’ll ever be."
"You will do fine, trust yourself." Marissa smiled at the young redhead.
Willow smiled back and nodded.
"Good, everyone; are you ready?" Marissa asked the nervous faces surrounding her.
Buffy took her place at the door, "We’re ready, lets do it." Xander and Cordelia followed her, standing off to the right of the slayer, they knew if she needed to "handle" any problems she would need the room.
Willow and Oz took their places at the sides of the circle. Oz lit the incense he was holding. He stared to wave them slowly in front of him, letting the smoke circulate around the circle.
"Gile’s please lower the lights" Marissa said.
The Englishman reached up and turned out the lights, the library was shrouded in shadows.
Everyone tensed as they heard Marissa speak, "Willow, start the chant."
Willow opened the book to the page she had book marked, the edges were dog-eared. She had read this passage a hundred times.
"Te implor Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte. Nici mort, nici al fiintei, te invoc, spirit al trecerii! Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-I va transporta sufletul la el. Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum! Acum!"
Giles mouthed the words in English;
"I implore you Lord, do not ignore this request. Neither dead, nor of the living, I invoke you, spirit
of the passing! Let this orb be the vessel that will carry his soul to him. So it shall be! So it shall it be! Now! Now!"
Buffy watched as one of the orbs started to glow, at the same time Angel started to stir, he groaned and lifted his head. He was still wearing his vampire face. He immediately rose to his knees and started growling and yelling. "NO! Do you really think this is going to work. That Romani bitch couldn’t do it and neither will you. Release me; NOW!, do you hear me. I’m gonna rip your head off your fucking neck, do you hear me!"
Xander and Cordelia simultaneously took two steps back.
Even during their toughest battles Buffy had never heard Angel talk like this, never seen him this out of control. She tensed and waited to see what would happen next, if this didn’t work she would have to kill him, tonight. Was she ready for this?
Marissa raised her hands out in front of her, she slowly spread her fingers apart, as she did they started to glow. Everyone stared at her, they hadn’t been expecting this part of the ritual, what they didn’t know is that this wasn’t part of the spell, this was part of the modifications that Brother Luca and Marissa had made. They didn’t even know if it would work or not, but there was no other way. This was their last hope.
She spoke to Willow, "Start the chant again."
Willow repeated the words again, and again, until her voice started to strain, she didn’t know how long she recited those same words over and over again, as Angelus screamed and roared, he fought the net savagely. He stared to weaken, then fell to his knees. Suddenly a green glow rose from the glowing orb on his left. It rose above his head, settled there for a moment, then just as suddenly it threw itself into Angelus’s body. His skin took on a soft glow for just a second then was gone.
Suddenly he stiffened and threw his head up sharply. His eyes took on a eerie orange glow.
"Willow, stop." Marissa said.
Marissa started to recite a different set of words, Willow knew they weren’t Romani, she thought they sounded like latin, but yet not latin either.
"Demon que eu o emito deste lugar, mim moldou-o para fora. Você não tem nenhum lugar aqui, este corpo não é seu, esta alma não é seu. Você não é bem-vindo - você não é querido. Eu emito-o para fora, para fora no ether, fora deste mundo. Eu moldei o sozinho e o unheard no ether. EU EMITO-O PARA FORA! "
Marissa had recited these words over and over in her head a thousand times, she knew them backwards and forwards:
"Demon I send you from this place, I cast you out. You have no place here, this body is not yours, this soul is not yours. You are not welcome - you are not wanted. I send you out, out into the ether, out of this world. I cast you alone and unheard into the ether. I SEND YOU OUT!."
She repeated them over and over again, she could feel herself weakening, her limbs felt like they weighed a ton. She knew she needed her strength to hold out a little longer. She prayed in her mind, please God, please let this work. Her mouth recited the chant but her mind was repeating her prayer, its almost as if she could hear both chant and prayer echoing each other.
All at once it seemed like every light in the world was in that room, it became so bright, but no one could tell where the bright glow was coming from. The humans had to cover their eyes it was so blinding. Just as suddenly it was gone, the library went dark, the only light remaining in the room came from Marissa, her entire body was glowing.
"Awwwwwww."
Every head in the room turned to stare at Angel, they could barely make his shape out in the darkness. His head was thrown back, it looked like he was frozen in place.
The air started to crackle, you could feel the electricity. The humans could feel the static forming in their hair and on their clothes.
A orange glow formed around Angel, unlike the green glow that had flowed out of the orb, this form came from inside of Angel. It grew in intensity, Giles raised his hands in front of him, he could feel the heat emanating from it. The form took shape over Angel’s head, its claws and fangs ripping in the air, slashing at the air around it. It threw back its ugly head and roared, at the same time Angel opened his mouth and screamed.
"AWWWWWW!"
Buffy had to do everything in her power not to run to him and hold him. She wanted to fight this "Thing" that had a hold of him, whatever it was that was causing him pain.
Willow and Cordelia covered their ears, Willow suddenly felt like she wanted to cry, she had never heard anything like Angel’s scream, it was like he was being ripped apart from the inside out, she would never forget the sound of that scream, ever.
For the first time in his life, Xander pitied Angel, even the hate he felt for him was not enough for him to wish this kind of pain on anyone. Not even deadboy.
Oz stood mesmerized, he knew he should be afraid being this close to whatever that was hanging over Angel’s head. But he was also fascinated by what was going on in front of him, he couldn’t take his eyes off of....it.
Once again Marissa’s voice could be heard above the roar, repeating the chant one last time, her strength was at its end.
"Demon que eu o emito deste lugar, mim moldou-o para fora. Você não tem nenhum lugar aqui, este corpo não é seu, esta alma não é seu. Você não é bem-vindo - você não é querido. Eu emito-o para fora, para fora no ether, fora deste mundo. Eu moldei o sozinho e o unheard no ether. EU EMITO-O PARA FORA! "
It looked as if the beast had won, Angel’s voice was gone, only the sound of the entity. Suddenly the orb to the right of the circle started to glow a bight brilliant orange. Everyone watched as the beast was sucked into the orb. Angel fell to the ground, lifeless. Marissa collapsed.
The room went dark.
Chapter IX
Giles was the first to reacted, he ran and turned the lights on.
Lights flared in the library, everyone else was still frozen where they stood.
Buffy was the first to react, she ran to Angel’s side and started to lift the net. Subconsciously she kept her stake at the ready. Even though she was worried about Angel her slayer skills were still in effect. She tried to pull the net off of him, but no matter how hard she pulled it wouldn’t budge.
Marissa lifted her head from the floor and saw what Buffy was trying to do, she slowly raised her right hand, once again a soft white glow flowed from her fingers, Buffy watched her and suddenly understood. She had done something to the net, that is why Angelus couldn’t remove it. She pulled again, the net moved like it weighed nothing. She threw it to the side completely off of him.
"Wait" Marissa whispered.
Giles moved to her side.
"What?" Giles asked her.
"The orb... smash the orb." she said. They could barely hear her voice.
"Which one?" Willow asked. She had knelt by Angel on the opposite side of Buffy.
She raised her hand and pointed to the orange glowing orb to the right of the circle.
Giles crawled on his hands and knees, reached out and picked up the glowing glass. He could feel the heat burning his fingers. He raised his arm and hurled the orb to the floor, it shattered in hundreds of tiny shards. Flames rose from it on impact. Giles threw himself away from the fire.
"Angel....is Angel...ok?" Marissa croaked out.
Buffy and Willow both turned to the man laying on the floor between them. He was not moving, was he dead?
The three remaining Scoobies moved closer, they still weren’t sure of what they had just witnessed.
"Is he ok?" Marissa asked again. If he was dead it would mean she did it all for nothing, <no, please dear God do not let him be dead.>
Both Willow and Buffy suddenly reared back as Angel arched his body into a tight bow.
"What?" Marissa asked.
His mouth suddenly opened and he drew a huge breath of air into his lungs. His body relaxed back down to the floor.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Xander screamed.
"He breathed" Giles stated.
"He can’t breathe, he’s dead." Xander stammered.
"He’s "alive." Buffy said.
"What?" Cordelia said.
Willow turned to Giles and shouted "He IS breathing, he’s breathing air, just like you and me, he’s breathing, he’s ALIVE!"
"No, this can’t be possible, he’s a vampire...isn’t he? Buffy looked towards Giles.
"He WAS a vampire, now he is a mortal again" Marissa pulled herself into a sitting position. Her face reflected Willow’s, she was wearing a huge grin. "It worked, the modifications worked!"
"But....how?" Giles asked her.
Buffy sat and watched the man she loved gulping in air for the first time in over 200 years.
"The orbs, one carried his soul back to him, the other drew the demon out of him and into the orb." Marissa explained. " When you smashed the second orb you destroyed the demon, it is gone. It can not harm him ever again."
"You can’t be serious!" Spike spoke from the doorway.
Buffy didn’t even take the time to think, she just reacted. She was across the floor with the stake in her hand before anyone had time to move.
Spike was so involved in the fact that Marissa was here and that Angel was a human again he didn’t even think about defense.
Marissa screamed, "NOOOOOOO!"
Buffy embedded the stake in Spikes chest before anyone could move.
Luckily for Spike she hadn’t been thinking, it missed its mark, hitting him more to the right then her main target. But the pain drove Spike to his knees, "Damn slayer, did you have to do that?" He was unconscious before he hit the floor.
Marissa crawled across the floor and grabbed the stake embedded in Spike’s chest. Buffy reached out to stop her. But when she saw the look on Marissa’s face she stepped back. Buffy didn’t fear much in life, but at this moment she feared Marissa. The look on the women’s face was dangerous, more feral than Buffy had ever seen.
"Get away from him. You have to get Angel out of here, take him back to the loft. I will follow with William." Marissa knew she had to pull the stake out slowly, if she left any splinters of wood in his chest, he wouldn’t heal.
"You don’t expect us to take Spike with us do you?" Xander asked her.
"Boy, we take both." Marissa said.
"Hey, just because we listened to you when....."
"Xander, shut-up" Buffy didn’t understand what was going on here, but she knew she owed this woman Angel’s life. And if she wanted them to take Spike with them, they were taking Spike with them.