Part 15<\/b><\/p>\n
Angel watched as Cordelia ran up to Buffy\u2019s door pounding on the wood until Buffy answered. He breathed a sigh of relief as the door shut ensuring Cordy\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n
He turned to the vampire walking next to him. \u201cThey will return to Cordelia\u2019s.\u2019<\/p>\n
Angel B nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were together? And they didn\u2019t try to enter?\u201d<\/p>\n
Again Angel B nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does if they weren\u2019t working together- fighting you and each other would have given Cordelia the chance to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Angel\u2019s turn to nod. \u201cNeither would share. But, they would want to take Cordy before they went after each other. Angelus 1 would have the advantage, he can kill any of us, but none of us can kill him. God, I want that bastard dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWesley and Gunn said you fought him twice and almost killed him. That must have been both gratifying and hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis death would\u2019ve stopped so much pain and evil. It would\u2019ve almost been worth it, but when I met up with Cordy again in LA she had almost got herself killed. It was probably the only time since that her connection to me hadn\u2019t been what put her in danger. I couldn\u2019t take the chance that someone else would\u2019ve saved her. So, Angelus lived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring that Angelus killed and tortured for almost another decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring that Cordelia survived and I can live with that.\u201d Angel took off in a run towards the school.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is almost too easy.\u201d Angel shook his head and raised his weapon at the fighting vampires.<\/p>\n
\u201cPredictable.\u201d Angel B commented raising the rifle in his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost want to say hi.\u201d Angel shot as did Angel B, their combined darts hitting the two battling Angelus.<\/p>\n
Angel B walked over to the unconscious vampires. \u201cHere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTake them to the old apartment. We can open the portal and leave the other Angelus to wake up with a headache away from Cordy\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Angel B stood in the darkest corner watching as Angel tossed Angelus 1 back into his past.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re turn.\u201d Angel faced the other vampire.<\/p>\n
Angel B shook his head. \u201cI can\u2019t take the chance.\u201d He raised his rifle shooting, shooting again as Angel\u2019s surprise transformed into rage. The vampire crumbled struggling against the encroaching unconsciousness. Angel B stepped back as the other vampire sprawled on the floor of the apartment.<\/p>\n
He wondered slightly about the lack of guilt but then again who was he hurting, it was himself that he was going to kill.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The fog was lifting from Angel\u2019s mind, leaving the realization of why he felt groggy. He jerked to move only to be brought back down by an unbreakable binding. He growled, staring at the chains that bound his naked body. He pulled again but his wrists were secure against the bed. His eyes glowed yellow searching for the cause.<\/p>\n
Angel B leaned against the doorway, his arms across the chest. \u201cAngelus is so full of drugs he didn\u2019t need the chains but you did. I wasn\u2019t confident that you would stay still to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel narrowed his eyes. \u201cI\u2019m listening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel B nodded. \u201cI\u2019ve could\u2019ve just killed you but I wanted you know before you go to hell or wherever I\u2019m destined to go that Cordy will be safe always. I\u2019m not Angelus. I thought you\u2019d appreciate the reassurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t. Why are you doing this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t it obvious. I don\u2019t trust you to give me the future I want. You screwed up once already.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s over; Angelus is back where he belongs. You will get your future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough you. That\u2019s not good enough.\u201d Angel B pushed up from the doorway. \u201cFour versions running around Sunnydale, all wanting Cordelia Chase, but only one can have her. I\u2019ve decided that it should be me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWesley said\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight, I go back and then what, disappear? the memories of what I did to Cordelia vanishing as you take her back to your future. Well, I can\u2019t be that sure of that. I need her. I need her love her touch to soothe the memories to make them go away. I need another image of her face as I bury myself in her warmth, not tears, not terror but what I saw could be mine in her bedroom. Love, acceptance, desire. My body her body joined.\u201d Angel B chuckled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should\u2019ve gone with your first instinct and not trusted me but then again you can trust me to make sure that Cordelia will be safe. I won\u2019t hurt her that\u2019s not want I want. I love her just as you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t love you. You are merely a version of me, a version formed because you didn\u2019t love Cordelia, didn\u2019t have the chance to. She\u2019ll know and she\u2019ll hate you. The future you want will never happen, not like this.\u201d Angel tried to reason with the vampire, as he pulled harder on the chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be the one in her father\u2019s sweater.\u201d Angel B tugged on the garment that he was now wearing as well as Angel’s pants and shoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cA shirt? That won\u2019t fool her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure, she seems to take great stock in the versions choice of wardrobes and she did choose this for her vampire. She\u2019s expecting one vampire, this sweater, this orb and spell,” Angel B held up the glass container,” that is what she will get.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe expects the vampire that knows her. You don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do,\u201d Angel B protested. \u201cI\u2019ve watched her for two days. She is beauty, courage, and heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s also a pain in the ass. You don\u2019t know her.\u201d Angel growled. He couldn’t believe that this was happening.<\/p>\n
Angel B flashed his demon eyes. \u201cI DO. And she will know that I love her. That\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel struggled against his confinement as fear and rage intermingled in his body. \u201cYou say you want her, you love her. You don\u2019t or you wouldn\u2019t be doing this. Your need to be forgiven is allowing you to justify your demon’s need. You have a soul, don’t do this.”<\/p>\n
“This has nothing to do with my demon but everything to do with my soul. I love her and amazingly she loves the vampire with a soul. And once your dead that’s me.”<\/p>\n
“Damn’t, you aren’t that vampire. The only shared experience YOU have with Cordelia Chase is when you brutalized her. Those aren’t loving memories or basis for a friendship. She’ll know and you will hurt her. What are you going to do when she rejects you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel had to convince the vampire. There was no way Angel could be reassured that Cordelia would be safe with that vampire soul or no soul. She would realize the truth and her reaction wouldn’t be one of understanding.<\/p>\n
Angel B growled. \u201cShe won\u2019t. This is finished. I only wanted you to go to your death with the knowledge that she would be safe. Now you know.\u201d Angel B snapped off a bedpost, striking Angel through his chest.<\/p>\n
Angel B stepped back from the scattered dust, growls rumbling from his throat. He shouldn\u2019t have wasted the time, talking to the vampire had just made him doubt.<\/p>\n