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Chapter 47
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Wolf towered over his new captive, jaws agape as if ready to devour the hapless Angel. The vampire wracked his brain for words of wisdom, or at least words to keep him from being eaten…or worse. What was it Cordy had always said about acting? ‘Oh, yeah, "reach inside yourself for the truth and use that".
Sorry, Cordy, you weren’t the best actress, but I’ll take that advice.’

Angel drew himself up to his full height and found his inner rage. He poked Wolf on his left haunch and began to rant. "Look, I don’t think I give a rat’s ass what you do to me at this point as long as I get to see you do the same, or worse, to that cocky prick who thinks he can walk in and take everything I’ve worked for. He only wants her because she was mine first, just like my reward.

"I suffered for that Shanshu, put up with this soul and all that guilt because someday I’d get my chance for happiness. I passed up being human when the Mohra
demon changed me because I knew that in good time I’d be given my reward. It was a carrot on a stick for the muzzled vamp, that’s all it ever was!

"I’ve had to deal with this soul, this guilt, for years. No peace, no joy, just remorse and duty. HE just waltzes in with his shiny new soul and, POP, after a couple of weeks whining in a basement, she feels sorry for him. She takes him home and mollycoddles him, even knowing he’s still killing and a threat, even saves his pale ass when she could have gotten rid of him for good!

"Now he gets MY reward AND my girl? How is that right or fair? Bastard Powers just jerking my chain is what it is. I was a force to reckon with and they treated me like some trained bear or leashed dog. Promise everything and give nothing."

Angel hadn’t spared a look at Wolf throughout his tirade. He figured since he wasn’t dead yet, he must have an interested audience at least. Angel glanced at the slavering demon as he paused for breath, trying to gage the reception of his words by the remaining Partner.

Wolf lowered his head further until his muzzle was almost touching Angel’s face. Bits of drool landed on the vampire’s clothing from Wolf’s open maw. The demon’s red, glowing eyes studied the vampire carefully as if to judge the veracity of the anger that had spewed from Angel’s mouth. After all, hadn’t they tried to turn Angel from the side of good all these years? Wasn’t it at least a possibility,
according to the scrolls? The prophecies were quite clear that even the ancient sages had not been certain of the souled vampire’s ultimate loyalty. Wolf
decided to hold off on the planned execution of his turncoat employee and coax more confessions first. Unlike servile, mindless minions, Angel could be a powerful ally if he could only be made to see the advantages of rethinking his side in the great struggle of good vs. evil.

"So," Wolf began in soft, soothing tones, "not a happy lieutenant in the Powers’ army anymore? I thought I heard the famous vampire with a soul was solidly in
the white hat camp. What game are you trying to play here, vampire?"

"That’s just it. I am not playing any game anymore. I am tired of being a pawn on some insane chessboard where you can’t really tell who’s the good guy. The Powers are masters at game playing. All their vague promises that if I’m a good enough boy, do what I’m told, don’t rock the boat or ask too many questions, AND if I’m just patient, they’ll give me a clean slate plus all the goodies I’ve passed up over the last century."

Angel sidled up to the Wolf and spoke as if in confidence, demon to demon as it were. "Look, when that gypsy bitch’s clan shoved this soul in me, I tried to deal, I really did. I mean I’m an adaptable kind of guy. Then that miserable prick messed THAT up too by eating all of them and taking away Darla’s bargaining chip to force them to remove the cursed soul! SPIKE!" Angel spat.

"So, I suffered the overwhelming guilt, ate only bad guys, kept a low profile. I managed the guilt and it was no picnic. Then Darla, the slut, decided that
wasn’t good enough and drove me away as if I were nothing! A fledgling or a minion gets more respect! I was the scourge of Europe for over a hundred years until she decides I’m not evil enough to travel with her. It wasn’t like I was some born-again evangelist trying to turn her to the other white meat or anything! I coped. I killed. So what if my meals were the scum of humanity? It’s not like I tried to keep the bitch, the prick and the loon from feeding on all the babies and virgins they wanted."

Angel’s pitch began to rise again in anger. "I ate rats! DO you have ANY idea how disgusting that is? How bad they taste? How many you need to get a decent
meal out of them? Rats! Years of rats…," His voice trailed away in bitterness and nausea at the remembrance.

"I tried to just stay away from humans, the temptation of all that pulsing goodness just under a thin layer of skin. Tried not to really look at them. Hell, most people aren’t nice anyway. Not just criminals, the guys in the three-piece suits and soccer moms with their nasty secret sins! Gotta tell ya, becoming food would be too great an honor for most of humanity. But, noooooooo, I stayed away and
ate friggin’ rats!"

Angel threw an arm over the now humanoid shoulder of the shape-shifting demon and spoke low as if in confidence. "Still had dreams though, wonderful dreams of the hunt and the kill. They never went away. Slept a lot in those years. Used to wake up more hungry than ever until that damned curse-ordered guilt would start up and smack me down. Made me ashamed of what I was, not just what I’d done."

Wolf moved to a seat behind his desk and indicated a chair for Angel to sit as well. Anyone looking in would think they were a couple of businessmen sharing
trade secrets. Wolf now wore his Apollo visage and Angel knew that the threat from him was nonexistent, for the moment at least.

He continued his confessional. "Finally, after a century of that crap, these bastards, these Powers, send their boy with an offer, show me Buffy. What a
sweet little morsel she was then too, all innocence. Sitting there sucking on her lollipop like a little girl, making a man hard to watch her." Angel stopped in memory of his first sighting of the new Slayer. "Whistler--that’s the bait-and-switch agent for those lying Powers--says, ‘help her out’. Yeah,
help! Look, don’t touch and sure as hell don’t get too happy.

Angel paused again and got choked up, closing his eyes from the painful thoughts he was about to share. "I gave her up. Do you have ANY idea how hard that was
for me? She was young and beautiful and MINE and I gave her up. She loved me even after meeting Angelus! She would have accepted anything I offered and I walked away.

"Before I could even think about just hiding out for another century or so, they send a new guy to keep me in line. Sucked me into the whole ‘help the hopeless’
gig like I was some white knight or something. And I did it too! Buffy’d always know that a noble hero loved her from afar. I was a bigger idiot than Spike by then. That’s what the Powers had reduced me to.

"I might have had second thoughts in time," Angel admitted. "So they brought in the kicker by having us stumble onto that scroll, the scroll of Aberjian your
L.A. branch just happened to have lying around. Finally they spelled out just enough of a hint of what I’d be getting eventually if I’d only stay the course.

"Fact is, I lost Buffy and found Cordy. Then they took her away from me, too. I got my boy thanks to your Special Projects Team, only to lose him as well. Connor will never be mine now and even if he WAS, we still lost all of those years while he was in Quor-toth. Angel sits there with a big fat zero but lots of promises if he’ll just be a good doggie.

Angel glared at a space in front of him as if seeing something Wolf could not. "Spike," he spat again in distaste. "In walks Spike. He’s always been a pain
in my ass. The little bastard even turned against me, his grandsire, while he was still evil. Can you believe that? Made me a laughing stock. I hate that." Angel let the anger vibrate around them as if it were a living thing. "My kid hates me, even after all my sacrifices to make sure he gets a happy life. Meets that idiot and, guess what? Connor likes him. Good ol’ uncle Spike. Not holding any of Spike’s past against him, no sir. Probably blames me for all the evil in Spike’s history too!"

Wolf poured a glass of water from the carafe on his desk and pushed it toward the distraught vampire. Angel had clearly found the end of his rope and it looked like he was letting go at long last. "Go on. I’d like to hear more about this Spike. We know very little, you see. I’m afraid we wrote him off as unimportant years ago. Too much impulse, too much emotion for him to interest us. Frankly, I’m surprised he managed to survive beyond his early years, especially tagging along with the wonderfully mad Drusilla. He was never even a footnote in our
files."

Angel took a drink of the water and glared into his glass. "He should be dust. WAS dust, damn it." He paused again and backtracked a bit in his litany of
mistreatment. "You know, I finally had Buffy back! She promised that when she was done ‘baking’ we’d finally be together. Dumb Angel, ever hopeful…gonna Shanshu, get the girl, live happily ever after!" Angel caught the puzzled look on the Partner’s face and grinned at his confusion.

"Buffy’s not really good with analogies. Not good with the English language actually!" He and Wolf laughed a bit at that.

"True! I enjoyed her bubble-headed chatter when Eduardo first introduced her to us. Lovely girl to look at and remarkable luck. Not a very smart dame though. Must be pretty good in the sack though if she’s got two master vampires by the dick!" The pair laughed again at the irony of it all.

"She sent me away to keep me safe. All but sent out the engraved invitations for our future and put the amulet in that idiot’s willing hands. She had to guess he was not walking away from that. She saved ME! Okay, so she went off to party a bit, sow those wild oats. She had warned me, after all. Spike was dust, that’s what mattered. He was dust and Buffy was off baking.

Angel’s anger broke to the surface again as his words took on an even harder edge. "Then those vicious sadists don’t just send him back. They send him back TO ME! My own personal thorn in the side following me around, haunting me, taunting me, making my already miserable existence even more of a living hell. Everywhere I go, there’s Spike in the way. It was bad enough when he was just a ghost, but then they recorporealize the little prick and BAM, suddenly I’ve got a challenger to MY Shanshu! Everyone knew that was mine, but now there are TWO souled vampires and
that damn prophecy could apply to either of us.

"Let me tell you, I’d had enough by then. I mean he’s always wanting what I have. First Dru, then Buffy, now my reward too! I couldn’t let that happen, now could I? SO I figured I’d prove to those tricky Powers just who’s the better vamp in case they forgot. Make the big gesture. Even signed the damn Shanshu away to prove how pure and noble my motives were. All that hero crap Spike’s supposed to have done was just to get in Buffy’s pants anyway. I’d show them who deserved that reward! So, I took on you guys, only for what? HE gets Buffy? He gets BUFFY? I don’t think so!"

Wolf had tensed up a bit at the reminder of Angel’s betrayal but was still interested in where this was all going.

"Spike comes in here and does his showboating. Hey, I got here as fast as I could so Buffy could see a true hero, make the right decisions." Angel sighed deeply
and looked directly at Wolf, narrowing his eyes. "I may not get her, but I’m taking him down with me. Some other vamp’ll have to be lured into getting a soul and shoot for that Shanshu, ‘cause I tried to do the right thing and signed it away. I swear to you that Spike will NOT get it either, if it’s my last act on earth," he vowed.

Wolf got up from his chair and slowly walked to the window, looking down at his gardeners hard at work. He had his hands clasped behind him and didn’t turn to
look at Angel as he addressed him. "You hate this Spike a lot, don’t you? Sounds like the do-gooder Powers are on your list as well. Am I reading you right, Angel?"

Angel nodded in agreement and slammed the water glass back on to desk hard enough to crack the glass.

"Angel, I never understood why you had to make US your enemy. What have we ever really done to you anyway? Sure, we took opposite sides on some issues, but you
gave as well as you got and we never tricked you about our intentions, or our offers. Even at the end we gave you everything you asked for and more. Took care
of your little Connor mess and even gave you a way to seal the Hellmouth for your blonde bimbo." Wolf still had his back to Angel, so he didn’t see him stiffen at
the insult to Buffy.

"You had a nice set up there in L.A. Daylight wasn’t a problem anymore. All the high tech toys a boy could hope for. Access to our whole operation. Hell, we
didn’t even stop you from using all that power we gave you as CEO in any way you wanted. We didn’t interfere when you cost us clients and contracts. We didn’t try
to stop you when you used our resources to play superhero. If you needed anything, we never turned you down. Not once." Wolf turned to face Angel before continuing. "Then you turned on us. Why, Angel? You made a lot of good points about the way the Powers operate. We never double crossed you." Wolf chuckled at a thought, "Hell, we never even hung any crosses up to piss you off!"

Angel gave Wolf a half grin and self-deprecating chuckle in return. "Yeah, stupid believing I’d get it all back. Huh, got nothing. Spike gets the Shanshu, Buffy and even my kid’s respect and I get nada, zilch, zippo. What kind of sick joke is that?" Wolf shook his head and shrugged as if he were puzzled at the contrariness of the Powers and fates as well. "And THESE are the good guys? All they’ve done is take advantage of my good nature an jerk me around. Probably sit up there laughing their asses off at the gullible vampire. Use me ‘til they tire of it, then send me to hell in the end anyway. I ought to sue them. Know a good law firm?"

Wolf laughed out loud at Angel’s surprising joke. The demon gave Angel a calculated look and returned to his chair on the other side of the desk. "Perhaps we can still work together. I understand a calculated betrayal as well as the next demon. Seems some vacancies have recently opened up in our higher ranks. You might be the man, or vampire, for the job after all. I always did think you had what it takes. Told Ram that almost every other day! We could probably even do a little tinkering with Blondie’s memory, remove some of those hearts and flowers for the skinny
vamp and get her head screwed back right again. You only saw a fraction of the resources we have available."

Wolf could see from Angel’s avid expression that the suggestion had more than a little appeal. "Of course you’ll have to prove yourself again. Get me past my
jitters, help take out this Spike." Wolf couldn’t see any indication that Angel was anything but on board with the idea.

"Ya know, we could even do a guilt removal on you if you’d be interested. Sorta like that green geek had us do with his need for sleep, only do it right with no
backlash. We wouldn’t need Angelus. You can stay Angel, keep the soul, lose the guilt. Best of both worlds really. I won’t even mind you runnin’ the whole
‘help the hopeless’ gig again…within reason, of course. You could still be the big man. The guy to come to for dragon slaying. Not literally, naturally; not enough of those left to have you killin’ my livestock. We could set you up real pretty. Might even be able to give you some of those perks that prophecy promised." Wolf’s oily voice flowed over Angel in benediction, offering all he ever wanted and then some.

Wolf saw the look of desire on Angel’s face and did offer one reminder in a joking fashion. "Of course, … now how did I say it to that Mario Puzzo writer? Oh,
yeah," Wolf slipped into a Marlon Brando imitation, "One day I will come to you for a favor…." He saw the flicker of alarm flash across Angel’s face and amended
his jest, "Just joking, just joking! Don’t get your panties in a bind! Geesh, you vamps don’t have much of a sense of humor do you? Ram and Hart ran their own shows without me buttin’ in. You could work yourself into a pretty set-up like that if you play your cards right. Wanna talk turkey?"

The Partner held out his hand across the desk in a gesture of friendliness. His smile didn’t completely overshadow the gleam of red in his eyes as Angel
reached over and accepted his hand in a firm grasp. "Just so long as I get to be the one to send Spike to hell where he belongs."

"Want to see brochures on the different choices? I’ll even let you pick which hell you want to punch his ticket for." Wolf and Angel both laughed and the
temperature in the room seemed to drop a bit.

~~~
Spike woke with a start. He and Buffy had finally fallen into an exhausted slumber after a night of making up for the lost months apart. His sharp movement woke Buffy, who was curled contentedly in his arms, her head resting on his chest.

"What’s the matter, baby?" She was wiping the sleep from her eyes and already missing the comfort of their cuddle.

"I’d say someone just walked over my grave, but seein’ how I’m not in it, that wouldn’t be right." Off Buffy’s confused frown, he continued, "Don’t know,
Love. Something just feels wrong. Don’t think I was dreamin’ unless you’re not really here in my arms." He kissed his beloved and settled back into the warmth of
the comforter with Buffy.

Spike played with Buffy’s hair and stroked her arm as they lay there trying to return to their interrupted sleep. "You don’t think we should worry about Angel,
do you?"

Buffy looked up at Spike with mild alarm. "You don’t think Wolf will kill him or anything like that? Maybe we should have just stuck together and attacked like
we did Ram." Buffy began to fidget in nervousness.

"That’s not quite what I meant, pet. I was thinkin’ more of his inner Angelus comin’ out to play. Grandsire’s done some iffy things, even as Angel. Made
some choices that’d add a few years on you if you knew ‘bout them. Think he’d sell us out?" Spike was amazed that he was secure enough of his position with Buffy to even suggest a chink in Angel’s armor without getting a black eye. Things were changing for sure!

"No!" Buffy looked certain. "No, he’d never do anything to hurt me on purpose! I’m sure Angel’s done some stuff I wouldn’t like. I even know about some of
it, Spike. But he always THOUGHT he was doing the right thing. Even then. He’d never choose to do evil as long as he has his soul. He’s not confused about
what’s right and wrong here. He’d never betray me!" Buffy kissed him and settled back into his arms again. "Just go back to sleep and stop worrying over nothing."