Chapter 26. The Beginning of the End

Author’s Note: Some dialogue taken (or slightly modified) directly from episode transcripts.

As swiftly as the Slayer had disappeared in the direction of house, Spike had sprinted back to the factory. Once again he had taken up his position in the hated wheelchair. It wouldn’t be long now before he would give up all pretense of needing it – one way or another. He didn’t know what difference he could possibly make at this point, but he needed to keep all his options open and see how this thing would play out.

“Are you insane?” he taunted his Sire. Angelus had acted like a stupid fledgling, and Spike didn’t care if he let him know it. “If you want to, kill the bitch. Don’t leave gag gifts in her friend’s beds!”

What Angelus had done made no sense. Killing the gypsy bird had been rash and foolish. It had ruined everything. Surely there must have been a better way to handle the schoolteacher. Her death didn’t get any of them what they wanted, and besides royally pissing off Buffy, it had focused the Watcher’s anger on them all. Even if the gypsy bitch had been going to restore Angelus’s soul, a fact that the vampires had deemed prudent to keep from Buffy, there must have been other ways to handle the situation. All Angelus had managed to do was insure that Buffy was now his enemy. Spike hoped that he had managed to keep himself in Buffy’s good graces – but that didn’t mean the Watcher would care.

After their chat in the cemetery Spike was almost certain that the Slayer would not target him in particular, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t suffer from collateral damage. The Watcher certainly wouldn’t be discriminating about whom he dusted. And Spike was vulnerable sitting in this damned wheelchair. But if he gave up the pretense, he’d have to show whose side he was really on. Hell, if he even defended himself against the Watcher’s attacks, Buffy could turn against him. Especially if he managed to actually kill the fragile human. Angelus had ruined everything.

No sooner had the idiot poof said that he had everything under control when all hell broke loose in the factory. A flaming brand through the window set the storeroom on fire, followed by an enraged Watcher wielding a flaming baseball bat.

Dru’s first instinct was to try to help Angelus, but Spike held her back. She was like a human child, and saw everything as a child.

“It’s not fair unless he tags you first,” Spike sing songed. It was enough to keep Dru by his side for the moment.

But Spike wasn’t about to sit around and let himself or Drusilla become another casualty to their Sire’s incredible arrogance. As far as he was concerned, Angelus deserved whatever he got. He and Dru would put as much distance between themselves and this folly as possible.

~ ~

Rushing headlong towards the factory, Buffy easily outdistanced Xander and the others. By the time she arrived, the building was already engulfed in flames. Setting her sights on Angelus, her anger flared and she barely noticed the unconscious Watcher she had raced to rescue. She had eyes only for Angelus.

Everything Angelus had ever said to her was a lie. Everything they had ever done together was worse than meaningless. She was at once ashamed, and mortified, and so enraged that she couldn’t even feel the heat from the flames. This evil monster had bewitched her, tricked her, and used her. He had never meant any of it.

Seeing her now, Angelus realized that he had never seen the Slayer really angry. He had underestimated her reaction, her attachment to the gypsy witch. In this state, the Slayer was a real threat to him right now. Looking down he noticed the unconscious Watcher.

“Are you gonna let your old man just burn?” Angelus sneered. If she cared for Jenny enough to invoke this kind of retribution, how much more attached she must be to the old man.

Looking back, Buffy finally saw what she should have noticed immediately. Giles was out cold, and the flames were getting closer. If she left him there, even for just a few moments while she went after Angelus, the Watcher would burn. There was no choice but to rescue her Giles. She would have to deal with Angelus later. The fire was an enemy to them all; the factory was a ruin. Not even the vampires could live there. Any remaining would have to move in with Spike and Dru at the mansion. She’d know where to find them when she was ready. Know where to find Angelus.

Stumbling out of the ruins, she held Giles to her. He was just beginning to regain consciousness. “Were you trying to get yourself killed? You can’t leave me. I can’t do this alone.” She knew she barely had the will to do it all. She needed the support of her friends and her Watcher, or she wasn’t going to get through this.

It was going to be hard to do what had to be done. She had allowed Angelus to live too long. She had allowed herself to get too close to him. Now she was going to have to pay for her mistakes.

As she tended her wounded Watcher, her anger cooled and her resolve hardened. Angelus had played her for a fool.

She was going to kill Angelus. There was no doubt about it. She would give Spike a few days grace to clear out, but then she was going to show them that she was serious. Regardless of their past together, she would kill Angelus for what he had done to Jenny Calendar.

For some stupid reason, she believed Spike when he said that he had had no part in Jenny Calendar’s murder. She still believed in his promise that he would never turn her or allow Angelus to do so. It didn’t make sense, but she trusted the bleached blonde vampire. She just wasn’t sure that Spike would have been able to keep his promises – Angelus had a way of making things work out just as he liked them.

That was going to change.