SPELLBOUND
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Author: Dark Star DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon is owner and
creator of everything TIMELINE: Buffy’s Season 4 RATING: PG 13 * Angel sat at his desk,
engrossed in his paperwork. He was vaguely aware of someone entering the
outer office, and of voices. He looked up,
recognising one voice in particular, and saw Buffy standing in his doorway. “Buffy,” he said,
getting up. “Hi, Angel,” she grinned
at him. “What brings you to LA?”
He asked. “You do,” she replied,
going round to his side of the desk, where she surprised him by going
straight into his arms and kissing him. He was surprised, but nonetheless
responded willingly to her. “That was…unexpected,”
he said, finally. Buffy sat on the edge of
his desk, and held his hands in hers. “Do you love me?” She
asked him abruptly. “You know I do. Buffy,
what’s going on?” “If there was a way that
we could…be together, would you take it?” She asked, looking up at him. “Yes.” He replied with
no hesitation. “Is there a way?” Buffy nodded. “Willow’s
found a spell – it’s a Binding Spell, Angel. For the soul.” Angel was silent for a
moment, trying to take in what was happening. “Is it safe? For Willow, I
mean?” “She thinks so. She says
it’s likely to be very tiring for her, but she really wants to do this for
us, Angel.” “What happens now?” “It’s going to take a
while to organize. Some of the ingredients are a bit hard to track down. I
just wanted to make sure you’d be willing.” “I’m willing,” he said,
hugging her. * * * Willow and Giles were
scrabbling about on the floor, busily painting a large circle. Xander sat
between them, holding the pot of paint and doing his best to offer helpful advice.
Watching the final preparations stood a very nervous Angel and Buffy; doing
their best to pretend that they weren’t worried. Willow got up from the
floor and sprinkled some herbs into a bowl. “I need something of
yours, Angel,” she told him. “Some personal item.” Angel pulled off one of
his rings and gave it to her. “Will that do?” “That’s good,” she
smiled. “It won’t be long, now.” Eventually all was
ready. Angel took his place in the centre of the circle; apprehension tying
his insides up in knots. Willow stood in front of him, holding the bowl that
contained his ring. Buffy and Xander stood to his right, Giles on the left,
an ancient spell book open in front of him. Slowly he began to recite from
the old text, and Willow took up the chant. A blue mist began to
form over the bowl, slowly twisting itself into a spiral shape. Without
warning, the mist solidified and a flash of light shot out of the bowl and
hit Angel squarely in the back. He shrieked and fell to his knees. Buffy instinctively
started forward, but Xander grabbed her, worried she would disturb the
ritual. Angel staggered to his
feet, just as a second flame darted toward him, a blaze of light against his
chest. With a terrible growl, he dashed to his left and hurled Giles out of
his way. Before anyone could stop him, he was out of the door and gone. Buffy
instantly went off in pursuit while Xander and Willow went to help Giles. Buffy searched for Angel
in the darkness, without success. Eventually she returned dejectedly to her
friends. “What happened, Giles?”
She asked, anxiously. “I think you’d better
sit down, Buffy.” He told her. “Willow and I went over the spell, and we
think we know what happened.” Buffy sat, hoping she
didn’t know what they were going to tell her. “Apparently, during the
spell, there’s a moment when the soul has gone – it’s only an instant – and
shouldn’t affect the end result. Unless, of course, the spell remains
unfinished…” “And if that was the moment
when Angel bolted…” Buffy added in horror. “But… it might not be that? It
might be something else? Maybe some side effect?” She knew she was grasping
at straws, but she couldn’t bear the thought that her Angel was gone. Again. “Maybe," Giles agreed.
“Buffy, if…Angelus is back, we know from experience what it is he wants.” All eyes turned to
Buffy. Willow had said to her once, that she and Angel were linked; that good
or evil, she was all he thought about. “He’ll want to hurt me,”
she acknowledged. “There’s something else, though. He’s going to want to stop
Willow from restoring his soul. You and Xander had better get her to safety.” “Right.” Giles agreed.
“We could take her…” “No!” Buffy interrupted.
“Don’t tell me. I can’t tell Angel where Willow is, if I don’t know. You must
keep her safe, Giles. She could be his only chance.” “What will you do?” “I have to find him,
Giles. He might be hurt. But if he has gone evil, I have to stop him hurting
anyone.” “Do you want me to come
with you?” Xander asked, earnestly. Buffy smiled at him.
“Thanks Xander. But I need to do this myself. We don’t want to give him the
chance to use you against me. Just get Willow to safety, that’s what’s really
important right now.” Buffy left her friends
to organize themselves, and went hunting for Angel. She searched all the
places she could think of, but without success. Fighting a growing sense of
panic, her Slayer instincts finally tuned into him as she trailed through the
park. Following her senses, she felt him, as he stood concealed by the trees. “Angel?” “Buffy?” Came the
answering call. His voice sounded unsteady. “Are you Okay?” She
asked, moving toward the shadows. “How did I get here?” he
asked, stepping into sight. “I don’t remember.” He looked so confused
that Buffy couldn’t resist going to him, trying to comfort him with her
presence. Almost as soon as she touched him, she knew something was wrong.
Every instinct in her body screamed danger and she started to pull away. Too
late, she felt a sharp pain in her arm; She looked down and saw that Angel
had a needle against her skin. Her vision already blurring, she looked up at
him, hurt by his betrayal of trust, and was shocked by the cold eyes that
stared back. As she rapidly lost consciousness, the last thing she heard was
his laugh, making her skin crawl. Angelus was back. * * * Buffy opened her eyes to
find she was chained to the wall at Angel’s mansion. Her head and throat
hurt, and she felt a little dizzy. But her senses still warned her that
Angelus was close by. “Thought you were never
going to wake up.” His cheerful voice broke through her muddled senses. “Afraid of me, Angel?”
She asked. “Had to drug me to get me here?” He laughed, and the
sound chilled her. “Maybe I just like seeing you helpless.” Buffy closed her eyes
briefly, trying to gather her senses. She was no longer feeling so dizzy but
her head still throbbed. Angelus watched her,
excited by the prospect of having her, helpless, within his grasp. A thousand
possibilities went through his mind, and he planned to keep her alive long
enough to try most of them. But first, he wanted to play his favourite game
and mess with her mind. Those possibilities were endless; No one knew her as
well as he did. He knew her every fear, every insecurity. All were his to
play with. “Said I’d get you in
chains one day.” Angelus chuckled. “Just the two of us this time,” Another chill passed
through her as she remembered the last time he’d had her in chains. Faith… Angelus grinned at the
pain that passed swiftly across her face, before she’d hidden it from him.
She remained silent, not trusting herself to speak. She mentally braced
herself for what she knew was coming next. “I miss her,” Angelus
sighed. “I miss the taste of her.” Buffy blinked, trying to
stop the moisture that threatened to escape. No. She wouldn’t let him get to
her. She tried to take comfort from the fact that he hadn’t actually said he
wanted her. “Now there was a woman,”
Angelus tormented her, enjoying her struggle to retain her composure.
“Experienced. Just what a man wants.” “You’re not a man.”
Buffy pointed out. “That’s true.” He agreed
amiably. “But the desires are the same.” He shrugged. “Mostly.” “What do you want?” She
asked him, trying to steer him away from the painful topic of Faith. “Some fun.” The tone of
his voice made Buffy’s blood run cold. She forced herself to look at him,
disconcerted by the naked desire on his face. “Go to Hell.” “Done that,” He moved
closer. “Thanks to you.” “Only the best for you.”
She replied, sweetly. For a moment, Buffy
thought he was going to strike her. Instead, unexpectedly, he started to
laugh. “At last!” He squealed
with glee. “I was beginning to think you’d lost your spirit. And that would
be a shame.” He stepped even closer,
roughly pulling her body against his. She went rigid against his touch. His
voice dropped, into the dusky tones of Angel and said silkily, “Makes the
game last longer.” Still holding her waist
with one hand, he raised the other and began stroking her hair. Angel did
that sometimes to comfort her and the parody of love made her shudder.
Angelus moved her hair away from her shoulder and bent his head to her neck.
Instinctively she jerked away from him and heard him chuckle. Buffy tried not
to show her fear as he planted a kiss on the scar he found there; his gift to
her at Graduation. He traced the line of the scar with his finger before
stepping back to look at her. “Where’s Willow?” “I don’t know.” Buffy
replied defiantly. Without warning, Angelus
struck her with the back of his hand. If she hadn’t been the Slayer, the blow
would probably have killed her. “Wrong answer.” Holding her
by the throat, he pushed her up against the wall, making her gasp for breath.
“You know how easy it would be for me to snap your neck,” he stated
matter-of-factly, savouring the sudden surge of fear before releasing her. Angelus frowned, his
expression changing to one of pain. He moaned softly and dropped to his knees
in front of her. As she watched, Buffy saw – something – cross behind his
eyes. She had seen this once before, she guessed what had happened and
silently thanked Willow for her spell. “Angel?” “Buffy, what happened?”
He asked, getting unsteadily to his feet and moving to release her. “I’ll tell you later,”
she told him, gently. Angel untied her in
silence, unable to remember anything before the start of the spell. “Did I…hurt you?” He
asked, eventually. “I’ll be okay.” But her
voice sounded unconvincing, even to her. * * * Buffy and Angel stood
outside Giles’s apartment, having given an abridged account of what had
happened. The atmosphere was strained between them, neither wanting to
discuss the recent events. Buffy took a deep breath
and said, “I tried to make things right for us, but things have just got worse.” “We were wrong to play
with this, Buffy. It’s too dangerous.” He paused. “We were lucky this time. I
wasn’t changed long enough to hurt anyone. Except you, that is.” “I’m alright.” Angel pulled Buffy
gently into his arms, trying not to feel hurt that she flinched from him; He
went to stroke her hair and felt her shudder. He dropped his hand. “I’m sorry, Buffy. I
really am. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything.” “I know,” she replied
softly. “It doesn’t work for us, does it?” “No,” he agreed. “It
doesn’t matter how much we-“ He swallowed. “Maybe we don’t belong together.
We’re from different worlds.” “Which is why we split
in the first place.” “Yes.” He kissed her,
gently, one last time, before leaving her to go home. Alone. THE END
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