A veteran cop had entered the Sunnydale High School Library to survey the crime scene. "My God...what the hell happened here?!" Never, in all his 25 years of service to the police force, had he seen anything like it.

Several paramedics entered the room, scattered quickly, and placed blankets over each of the six bodies lying unceremoniously on the cool floor while more arrived wheeling gurneys in. The officer shook his head, somewhat speechless, as he walked cautiously amongst the victims, briefly examining the damage inflicted on each of them to establish the possible causes of death - one, a young male, looked severely bruised and cut. The prominent wound to his left temple appeared to spell his end; two other males, one young and one middle-aged had obviously died from blood loss due to the horrific slashes wildly evident in their throats; two females lay together, battered and bruised and on closer examination of one of them, the policeman had to immediately avert his eyes away from the sight of the wooden stake plunged deep into the young woman's heart; and finally, another young female lay crumpled and wide-eyed, her head lying in such a position as suggested a broken neck to be the cause of death.

"My God...I never..." murmured a man coming up behind the officer, still standing in shock. The policeman turned to face Principal Snyder, whose face had turned an interesting shade of white and green. Recovering slightly, Snyder, for once looking truly upset about the damage before him, spoke quietly to the officer. "These people...my students...my librarian! This has gone far enough..." Snyder shook his head. The officer placed a hand on Snyder's shoulder, and nodded.
"It's scenes like this that get me too, Mr Snyder, because the chances are that we'll never find the bastards responsible for such a brutal act..." Little did he know that the very people responsible lay not five metres from his feet...

Buffy crept stealthily up behind the vampire standing on guard a few metres distant of the Acathlan demon, before swinging the sword swiftly through the air, connecting it successfully with the vampire's neck, who quickly burst into ashes. Drusilla snapped her head angrily sideways to look in Buffy's direction, while Angel rolled his eyes and glared at the Slayer in annoyance.
"Hello, lover," said Buffy calmly, glaring back into her former lover's cold eyes. His reply matched his look.
"I don't have time for you."
"You don't have a lot of time left."
Angel sneered, amused. "You're comin' on kinda strong, don't you think? Do you really think you can take us all?"
Buffy flashed a little half-smile. "No. I don't."
Spike rose silently behind Angel and came crashing down on him with a crowbar, Drusilla looking on in surprise. Buffy, seeing Angel otherwise occupied, headed directly for Drusilla, but the other vampire on guard attacked her swiftly from behind, causing her to fall, spin, and attack. Xander rushed in to grab Giles, who sat uncomfortably tied to a chair in an adjacent room, and helped him move quickly out of the mansion. Xander glanced back briefly at the chaotic scene behind him, and said a quick, silent prayer for Buffy. His final sight was the somewhat confusing one of Spike attacking Angel...

Drusilla flew furiously at Spike as he paused to taunt Angel verbally, and the couple tumbled hard onto the floor. Scrambling to his feet, Spike blocked several punches in his direction, and delivered one of his own to Dru's mid-section. "I don't wanna hurt you, baby..." he said semi-lovingly, resulting in the angry vampiress grabbing his throat and slamming him into the wall. Spike slapped her arm off him and punched her viciously in the face, knocking her over. He shrugged. "Doesn't mean I won't..."

Meanwhile, Buffy had everything over her side under control. She knew only too well that it would only be a matter of time - very little time - before the unconscious form of Angel would awaken and attempt to remove the sword from Acathla. Blocking a series of punches, Buffy spun around and speedily kicked the vampire in the head. Knocking him to the ground, she swiftly whipped out a stake and slammed it home.

Spike ducked to avoid the fist coming towards him, and slammed his own hand into Drusilla's chest, knocking her back, but not causing her to lose her balance. She came flying back at him much sooner than he anticipated, slashing Spike's hand and cheek with her sharp nails in a move that resulted in him sailing across the room, and slamming painfully into Acathla. Wincing slightly, Spike shook his head to clear the circling stars, and grabbed the hilt of the sword protruding from Acathla's chest to regain his balance. A blinding white light flashed brilliantly from the sword's source, and the next thing Spike knew he was holding that very sword in his hand. Dru clapped her hands together gleefully.
"Ooh! Here he comes!" she said in a singsong voice, dancing on the spot. Buffy, having dusted the vamp, dashed over in horror. "Spike!! What do you think you're doing?!" she cried angrily, looking around desperately for the sword Kendra had brought with her. Spike stood in shock.
"Umm....I'm thinkin' that Angel's blood kinda runs in the family..." He glanced up at Acathla, whose mouth began to open, forming the vortex. "Uh-oh." Quick as lightening, Buffy raced over to the sword. The now-awake Angel rubbed his forehead, wincing, and slowly climbed to his feet, as Buffy returned to Spike's side, and without hesitation, thrust the sword directly through the horrified vampire's chest. "Well, 'ow' would be the word!" Spike hissed, gasping in pain. Drusilla shrieked in rage. "Spike!!" Before Buffy could do anything, Dru pushed Buffy aside to grab her beloved, and moments later, the flashing vortex closed, enveloping both Spike and his honey.

"No!" Angel growled loudly, furious. Buffy spun to face him, automatically adopting her fighting stance. "Damn it...that ritual can only be performed once every 200 years! That idiot Spike ruined it!" Angel turned to face Buffy, angry and annoyed. "But of course," he said, smiling evilly, "that doesn't mean you and I can't have some fun!" He lunged at Buffy, successfully knocking her off her feet. She regained her balance, and quickly came back with a powerful roundhouse kick of her own, which normally would've knocked Angel a few yards, but he was too fired up to take much of a beating. After a series of punches, kicks and tumbles, he had Buffy where he wanted her. Grabbing the dizzy Slayer by the arm, Angel swung her around with a strength Buffy had never known, and ran her straight into the stone wall, where she fell directly onto the floor, completely dazed and barely conscious. Angel laughed at her attempts to stand. "My poor lover. She's fallen and can't get up." Buffy sat, shivering and defeated, tears falling silently down her pale cheeks. She looked up into Angel's hardened eyes, searching vainly for any sign of the real Angel, but Buffy knew this was it. Deep down, she had thought about this moment, and that if it was ever to come, Angel was the one vampire Buffy wanted to be responsible for it. Her precious Angel. Shakily, Buffy used the wall to balance herself as she stood, but soon realised that standing only made things worse...and the last thing she saw was Angel reaching over quickly to catch her fall, before she blacked out.

Part Two
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