Chapter Fifteen
“Stephanie doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Buffy absorbed Roxy’s words as her mind worked over her precarious situation, searching for any cracks in the bad guys’ plans. Alone with Roxy, Buffy stood apart from her, keeping an eye on the vampires lining the walls while watching the vampire-witch prepare her supplies – supplies that would cure Angel but also take his soul from him.
When he awoke from his poison-induced slumber, a vicious monster would be in the place of her Angel. And Angelus would be another weapon in Stephanie’s arsenal. Buffy felt a little numb at the thought. She wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with something she hadn’t had to face since she was a teenager.
The memories of Angelus’s twisted mind games and brutal murder of Jenny frightened her. . . made her experience a physical and emotional vulnerability she had not dealt with in a long time. She hated the feeling and had taken great pains to avoid it since then. She knew that Angel had voluntarily lost his soul a second time about four years ago, and she was grateful Willow had restored him before she had to witness it. Even now, she couldn’t bring herself to view Angel lying on the pallet alone.
“Explain,” she demanded, channeling her helplessness, loneliness, and irritability into the single word. Buffy moved closer to Roxy as she ran a slender finger over the words in what looked like one of Giles’s ancient spell books.
Unfazed by Buffy’s manner, Roxy nibbled on her lower lip as she concentrated on the text, and after a heartbeat, she explained, “Well, for one thing, the spell to cure the kranooks’ poison only works on individuals without souls. And to cure Angel, his soul has to be removed.”
“Oh.”
Roxy began mashing herbs together using a marble mortar and pestle. “And Stephanie doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. Even though she should since she read many of the Watchers’ accounts of Angelus.”
Buffy eyed Stephanie’s vampires who remained unmoving behind them. “You should be careful what you say.”
Roxy was strangely calm, and Buffy still couldn’t fathom her motives. Was she a wild card in this whole mess? “I’m not worried,” she replied.
Buffy couldn’t help herself. “Little vampires have big ears. . . and big mouths.”
“But little brains.” The corners of Roxy’s lips quirked, and Buffy could tell she was holding back a grin. “Be patient. I have to take Angel’s soul to cure him. Afterwards, you’ll see.”
“See what?” Buffy was past tired of Roxy’s hide-and-seek games.
Roxy didn’t answer but reached to the left of the counter, opening the door to a small room. “Go ahead. It’ll be just a few minutes. The room will keep your soul safe from the spell I’m casting.”
Buffy studied Roxy’s eyes and saw something there that she couldn’t describe. It was enough to make her invest temporary trust in the vampire witch and step into the tiny room. As she stood behind the two-way mirror, the door clicked shut behind her.
The room only had space for a small chair, but Buffy couldn’t bring herself to sit. Instead, she stared at the scene unfolding before her with a sudden curious sense of detachment. This couldn’t be happening. . . could it?
Facing the two-way mirror, Roxy raised her arms over the prone form of Angel and began reciting the words of a spell. Her voice started low and deep in her throat and gradually rose until it sounded inhuman. Some unseen force took over her arms, and her limbs jerked spasmodically as sparks crackled over her and lit the dark, flat blackness that had overtaken the whites of her eyes.
Buffy felt something tug hard in the inner depths of her being, as if her essence was being scooped out of her. Was this what it was like to have her soul removed? Dizziness overtook her, and she felt her spirit fighting to maintain control of her body. In desperation, she clutched the frame of the mirror to keep from collapsing.
With one last, high-pitched syllable that Buffy thought would split her skull, Roxy brought her hands to Angel’s chest, and Buffy felt the pull instantly evaporate.
Primitive, unearthly power rushed into Angel’s body, swirling over his mid-section and spreading over his arms and legs as if they were digging something out of him. . . something that didn’t want to give. Then, Angel’s body jolted up from the table, and a rush of glowing energy ripped up from his abdomen and vanished within the space of an instant.
Roxy fell backward, landing unceremoniously on her behind in a wave of blonde hair and long limbs, her face a mask of pain and exhaustion.
Her equilibrium returning, Buffy stared, still feeling as if she was watching something on a movie screen. She blinked once, and the scene shifted.
Angel stirred on the table, and as he moved, his face contorted into his vampire mask. He sat up lazily and shook his head, like a panther that was stretching after a long nap. When his eyes opened, they were golden and. . . empty. With a roar, he leapt from the table, aiming the demon’s previously caged might at Stephanie’s vampires.
They swept into action, and Roxy had the presence of mind to back away from the scene and remain low to the ground. She inched closer to the tiny room where Buffy hid.
Buffy couldn’t remove her eyes from Angelus. He tore into the vampires like they were stuffed animals filled with organs and muscle. Even when she’d fought Angelus in the past, Buffy had never seen such violence. Blood from ripped throats and limbs bathed the white room in a sea of red.
Buffy almost didn’t hear the scratching sound at the door, but it persisted and got louder. Feeling like she was moving through a sea of mud, Buffy strained to focus on the sound and tugged open the door.
Roxy spilled into the room, but Buffy barely noticed. The colors and sounds of the scene before her were now more vibrant and strident, and she couldn’t remove her gaze from the violence.
Angelus swung a clawed hand at the closest of the remaining vampires. The youthful red-haired demon had dropped his weapon and shifted out of his crinkled face in a desperate attempt at gaining mercy from his out-of-control attacker. Angelus’s fingers dug into the flesh of the vampire’s neck, and licking his lips, he laughed as he ripped the throat from its thin casing. Blood swam down his wrist, and he licked it up with flourish. Angelus kicked the now limp body out of the way and grinned at the feeble attempt his next attacker made at staking him.
With his free hand, Angelus twisted the long stake in the vampire’s hands, making him stumble forward. Angelus snatched up the opportunity and landed a forceful kick to the vampire’s abdomen, sending him sprawling to the ground. Angelus straddled his prey and reached down, snapping his neck with a laugh.
Then, his eyes landed on Buffy who stood paralyzed in the doorway with a weak Roxy at her feet.
Picking his way over the bodies blocking his path, he slid on his human front and strode toward Buffy, leering at her. “Buffy. What a lovely gift.”
Buffy simply stared. . . too much in shock to form one of her typical witty comments in response. She vaguely heard Roxy pulling herself off the ground to stand beside her.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked, wiping his bloodstained hand across his mouth, letting his mouth hang open like an animal. “Maybe I can help you with that. Loosen you up a bit.”
Buffy’s eyes were wide in horror, and she let her gaze slip from Angelus’s visage to the moving vampire near his calf. Angelus’s grin grew, and he stomped on the upturned face, squashing the feeble attempt to drag him down in a loud crunch of twisted tissue and shattered bone.
“Pesky little critters, aren’t they? They don’t wanna die.” He paused and looked up at the red-dotted ceiling with a thoughtful expression. “Although it was kinda fun.”
“Stephanie won’t be pleased,” Roxy said coolly from Buffy’s right.
“Stephanie? Is that where we are?” Angelus spun around, noting the exit. “So, where is she? I want to give her a proper greeting.”
“She thinks she can control you. Wants you as a weapon,” Roxy said, taking hold of Buffy’s shaking arm at the elbow.
Buffy could only watch as the scene unfolded.
Angelus whirled to face them again, letting his arms hang loose at his sides. “Really? Now that’s interesting. We’ll have to see about that.”
“I know she can’t control you, but like I said, she thinks she can,” Roxy reiterated, inching over the blood-sodden floor to the counter where she’d mixed the herbs for the spell. Buffy travelled with her.
Angelus narrowed his eyes, regarding Roxy with suspicion. “And who are you exactly?”
“You know who I am.” Although Angelus was close, Roxy kept her tone even and calm like she was trying to talk down a rabid dog.
“You’re the witch who works for Stephan,” he concluded with satisfaction, taking a step toward them.
“Yes, you know me from Stephan’s,” Roxy admitted, indicating that he also knew her from another situation.
“And from somewhere else,” Angelus said, letting himself follow Roxy’s lead.
“From where?” Her words coming out a bit hoarsely, Buffy spoke before she thought, and she felt Roxy’s cool nails push into the flesh around her elbow.
Angelus’s attention re-focused on Buffy. “Buffy. So, what’s with you and Spike?”
Roxy had her back to the countertop, and with her free arm behind her back, she was attempting to snag something. Buffy recognized the move and bore her eyes into Angelus’s yellow ones to distract him from Roxy. “Jealous?”
His eyes flashed, and he glared. “Please. You and Angel happened a long time ago. I’m far from jealous. I’m simply. . . curious.”
“Yeah, right.”
Angelus’s gaze shot to Roxy, and he jolted forward. “Hey!”
“Too late,” Roxy said, throwing a handful of crumbled herbs from a small pouch into Angelus’s startled face. She rattled off a quick string of incomprehensible syllables.
With a howl, Angelus crumpled to his knees, clutching at the shooting pain in his eyes. “Damn witch!” he shouted, burying his face in his palms.
Roxy didn’t hesitate; she dodged the soulless vampire in an attempt to make it to the door. She stopped when she noticed that Buffy wasn’t following. “Buffy! Come on. It’ll only last a few seconds. We have to get out of here.”
Buffy was staring at the agony on Angelus’s uncovered face as if she were under his thrall. Her head sprang up at Roxy’s urgency, and she came back to herself. Careful not to look at Angelus, she sidestepped the bodies and puddles of blood, rushing to Roxy’s side.
They made it to the door before Angelus spoke again. “Buffy.” Angelus’s composure had returned. Like a child getting sucked into a horror movie, Buffy couldn’t resist glancing over her shoulder to witness an erect Angelus facing them. Although she knew he couldn’t see her, she felt as if he were peering directly into her soul.
Time seemed to stand still as he spoke. “Remember this, Buffy. People don’t change. They are who they are. And Spike. . . Spike isn’t innocent. He has just as much blood on his hands as I do. You may think that you’ve changed and that he’s changed. But he’s not any different than he was. The demon can never be completely eradicated, even if he is human now. And you. . . you’re still the same little girl who will always be left behind.”
Rattled, Buffy closed her eyes for an instant as she absorbed the words of her ex-lover. In the back of her mind, she heard running footsteps in the distance, and her nose was full of the stench of gore. Buffy’s heart thumped so loud in her chest that she was certain every vampire in the fortress could hear it, and nausea threatened to overtake her. Roxy chose that moment to break into a run away from the sound of the guards, tugging Buffy with her.
* * *
The inner paths of Stephanie’s world were foreign to Buffy as Roxy raced them through narrow passageways, wide corridors, and various sized rooms in an effort to escape their pursuers. A few times, they crouched and hid from passing vampires. Thankfully, they were in too much of a rush to notice Buffy’s scent and heartbeat. She guessed Angelus was giving them a run for their money. . . although there was the kranook problem as well.
The spaces and places became a blur in Buffy’s mind, and her thoughts kept going over and over the bloodbath she just witnessed. No matter how hard her brain worked, she couldn’t separate Angelus’s actions from Angel’s face. She shivered even as she ran.
If Angel was re-ensouled, could she ever look at him the same way?
She kept asking herself and not coming up an answer.
Roxy halted and held up a hand for Buffy to do the same.
First things first. They had to survive.
Buffy re-focused her senses on their surroundings to ground herself. Nothing reminded her of the room with Angelus and the blood.
A thought hit her like a ton of bricks, and her horror intensified.
Angelus had killed none of the vampires; their broken bodies were still undead despite severe damage to their limbs and organs. Her stomach protested yet again, but she willed herself not to dry heave.
“There’s an escape route in here,” Roxy whispered, leading a wary Buffy by the sleeve.
Taking in deep breaths of cool air to calm her dissident stomach, Buffy studied the large room they’d just entered. The ceilings were low and the lights dim, illuminating the walnut-colored walls and giving the room an aura of warmth and safety. Brown leather sofas and delicately carved wooden end tables were arranged in a circle. The tops of the tables were littered with ancient texts and stacks of weathered papers. Buffy was reminded of Stephan’s library, and she wondered if the room was Stephanie’s sanctuary.
No one was present.
Grasping onto the tendrils of the confidence she felt a few days ago, she summoned all her fear and anger. Moving quickly, she flipped one of the tables, snapping off a wooden leg. Seizing Roxy’s shoulder, she smashed the vampire into the wall, pinning Roxy to the surface with a vice-like grip around her neck. Buffy leaned heavily into Roxy’s body to prevent her from moving her arms and legs and pushed the wood against her ribcage.
Buffy glared. “First, you’re going to tell me what the hell is going on. And don’t make any sudden moves because I’ll dust you.”
Roxy was flustered for the first time. Being in danger of dying does that to a person. Or vampire. “Look, Buffy, I know as much as you do. I’m just a spy for Stephan. I don’t work for Stephanie. . . not technically.”
“You’re lying.” Buffy kneed the vampire in the gut, and Roxy flinched but didn’t make a sound. Secretly, Buffy was impressed. “And that’s a damn big technicality. You unleashed Angelus!”
“It had to be done. He would have died.”
“You’re a powerful witch. . . in the same league as one of my friends. You could have given him his soul back as soon as you cured him.”
Roxy said, “I don’t know that spell. It’s a gypsy curse.”
“Well, you could’ve kept him unconscious until we found someone who could.”
“Buffy. . . look. . . we needed a distrac –”
Buffy shoved harder against the vampire. “You said you knew Angelus from somewhere. Where?”
Roxy closed her eyes and sighed. Buffy waited.
When Roxy re-opened her eyes, she whispered, “Angel. I know Angel. . . not Angelus.” She attempted to wave an arm as she said the next words, but the limb was too squashed by Buffy’s strong muscles. “I don’t really know him know him. But I used to work at Wolfram and Hart. . . a long time ago. I’d see him at the office, but I don’t believe we ever spoke.” She hesitated at Buffy’s continued glower, but then added, “I promise you that I’m on your side.”
“Vampires don’t keep their promises.” Buffy recognized the quality in Roxy’s eyes that she’d seen earlier. “A-and I don’t believe you.”
“You do. I may not have the same motives as you, but I’m definitely on your side in our current situation. We’re both tired from the spell with Angelus, and we need our strength to get us out of here alive. Once we do get out, I swear. . . no, I will tell you the truth. How’s that?”
Before Buffy could respond, a half-dozen vampires with stakes-on-sticks rushed into the room. Despite looking a bit worse for the wear, Stephanie’s minions were big and fierce.
As they rushed the pair, Buffy released Roxy. At last, here was something Buffy knew. She didn’t have to think or feel. . . just act. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
With a grunt, Buffy blocked the flying kick of one vampire and twisted his leg at the knee, shattering his kneecap. She snatched the weapon from his hands and jabbed him in the heart with the wooden end.
As he burst into dust, she held up the weapon and grinned. “Cool. I wish it had wood on both ends though. Then I could be Darth Maul Slayer!” She jammed the weapon back, staking the vampire sneaking up behind her, twirled the stick, and rammed it into the vampire approaching from the front.
Roxy was holding her own with two other vampires, and riding the energy of the fight, she noted, “Thought you were tired.”
Doing a somersault to avoid two more attackers, Buffy said, “Already there. I’m a good faker. Where’s this exit of yours?”
Muttering a few words, Roxy ignited a small ball of flames above her open palm. With another syllable, the flame shot forth, consuming the vampire rushing her. “Just a sec.”
Roxy danced out of the path of the burning vampire as he turned to ashes and floated over the ground. She caught the stake that Buffy tossed her and whirling, she swung it out long, dusting another vampire from a distance. “Totally getting the whole Jedi thing.”
Feet planted firmly apart and hair slightly askew from her ponytail, Buffy stared down the remaining vampire, giving him a little half-smile as if to say, “Bring it on.”
The vampire panicked and started to run the opposite direction, but Roxy whipped her stake up and pegged him before he could make a single step. “Bulls eye.” She bent her wrist up and blew on the end of the wood as if it were a smoking gun.
As Buffy felt the energy from the fight dying away, her suspicion returned, though it was softened. “How do we get out before more show up?”
Roxy’s playful expression faded. “Right. See the carpet in the center of the circle? Help me pull it up. Stephanie has her private escape hatch under there. It’s a little icky, but it leads through the sewers and out of the fortress.”
“How do you know all this stuff?”
Roxy shrugged. “Stephanie trusts me.”
“Like I’m trusting you now. How do I know that Stephanie won’t be waiting for me down there?”
“Because the kranooks will be. Stephanie won’t go where they are. If she senses their presence, she won’t use this means to escape. She’s lost control of them.”
Buffy felt every hair on her body rise at the thought of the horrible battle with the snake-human hybrids. . . the battle in which they’d almost died. “I can’t fight them. Not in the shape I’m in. And neither can you.”
“That’s why we won’t be fighting them.”
“What do you mean?”
Roxy started shredding the carpet in small strips. “The kranooks are our allies. Didn’t you know that? They may not want what either of us want, but they have a common enemy: Stephanie.” She glanced up at the gaping Buffy. “Need some help here.”
“Right.” Buffy began assisting in the destruction of what looked like a very expensive carpet from some Asian country.
Several minutes later, they uncovered a small trap door. Buffy pried up the metal from the concrete frame. A foul odor accompanied by a damp mist swept up from a dark pit. She wrinkled her nose and raised an eyebrow at Roxy.
Roxy nodded and took the opportunity to slip into the inky underworld with a single graceful leap. Inhaling what might be her last clean breath of air, Buffy followed. Part of her hoped that they would run into a few more vampires on the way out, so she wouldn’t have to think about Angelus or Angel. . . or about what Angelus had said about her and Spike.