His Childe was still alive. The bond was unbroken.

Riley had lied and Angel followed the sequence of events in his mind. The human had failed in his attempted kidnapping and rape of Buffy. The last thing he had to manipulate them with was Spike. Angel had no doubt that Spike was once again the captive of the Initiative but he wouldn’t be for long. They had to move now while Riley was gloating in his game, thinking that they would be too busy dealing with their pain. Soldier boy had underestimated them.

Angel headed for the bedroom to retrieve Buffy’s phone but hesitated when he heard her weeping. She sounded so heartbroken and the murderous rage simmered in his blood again. Overcome by it, he leaned against the wall with one hand and tried to regain his focus. His feelings went beyond jealousy of someone touching what he considered his. It was the desecration of her innocence and the forcing of her seeing first hand the cruelty and power that sex could create. Buffy had only been protected and worshipped by him and Spike. Riley had wounded her in the core of her own esteem and he knew that she would survive it but she would never be the same girl again. Angel wished that they had the time to let her deal with it while he coddled and reassured her but they didn’t. They needed her to complete the mission whether she was ready to handle it or not.

“Come on, Buffy, take a shower, and you’ll feel better,” Willow coaxed.

A few moments later the shower turned on and the tears either stopped or were covered by the running water. Taking a deep breath to push aside his own tumultuous emotions, Angel walked into the bedroom. Willow was gathering Buffy’s clothes to stuff them into a bag.

“She wants them thrown away,” the red head explained, answering what must have been a curious look on his face.

Angel nodded and turned away from her. His hands gripped the edge of the dresser, hating that he had to ask. He had to know how far his girl had been defiled in order, not only to deal with it himself but to find out how to treat her.

“How far did he get?”

“What do you mean?”

Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at the witch who was clearly uncomfortable.

“Tell me what exactly he did to Buffy,” Angel’s said sternly, leaving no room for Willow to avoid answering him this time.

“He…he had undone her pants and was…was touching her.”

It wasn’t what he was hoping for but it wasn’t the worse that it could have been and he closed his eyes but quickly opened them again. The images at her words only brought the anger and hurt to the forefront again. He had to maintain control in order to save their mate. There would be time for grieving after they were all safe.

Nodding, Angel picked up the phone and headed back to the main room, gesturing for his mate’s friend to follow him. He sat in his chair leaning on his forearms and waited until Willow was settled on the couch before telling her about the phone call from Riley. As her eyes filled with tears, he assured her Spike was safe because he could still feel the bond.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. He is my Childe and mate and I would feel the breaking of the bond.” Angel explained, noting the relief on Willow’s face. Buffy had told him that the others cared for Spike and for the first time he acknowledged that she was correct. “We need to go in as soon as possible so that we have the element of surprise on our side. Will she be able to handle it?”

“I don’t know.” Willow said, her eyes still brimming with unshed tears. “It wasn’t just the…sex part of it but it took her back to before. The helplessness she’s having a hard time with. And the worst is that she thinks that you and Spike won’t want her anymore because someone else has touched her.”

Running a hand over his face, Angel turned to look at Willow, “Why would she think that? That our love for her is so shallow that it would be lessoned by something that isn’t her fault.”

“She feels like it was her fault, that’s the thing, because she insisted on going to the party tonight instead of waiting for Spike. Because she was flirting with Riley to try to get information and she didn’t like doing that in the first place.”

Angel nodded, feeling added guilt because Buffy had told him that she felt uncomfortable playing up to Riley. He had let it continue because in his own arrogance he had thought Buffy could handle it.

The shower had stopped running and knowing it was time for him to talk to Buffy himself, Angel stood and handed the cell phone to Willow. “I’m going to go and talk to her. Would you call the others, explain what’s happened with Spike and get everyone here.”

After Willow agreed, Angel made his way back to the bedroom. Buffy was out of the shower and sitting in the middle of the bed, her hair was wet and hanging in clumps around her. She was dressed in some baggy sweats; she held her legs tightly against her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Hesitating, he sat on the edge of the bed and she peered at him warily.

“Please, don’t punish me,” she whispered.

“Why would I punish you?” Angel asked, genuinely perplexed by the question. Of all the emotions and problems resulting from Riley’s attack on her, fear of being punished wasn’t something he expected.

“I let it happen. If I hadn’t been careless, I would’ve seen he was up to something.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Buffy.” He answered, trying to temper his tone; he didn’t want her confusing his anger at Riley with disappointment in her. “I don’t blame you and I’m not going to punish you.”

Angel reached a hand out to her hair but startled she pulled away from him and his hand dropped back down to the bed.

“No, I’m dirty.”

“No, you’re not.”

Angel thought he was breaking through her defenses when Buffy looked away from him.

“Spike…he’s not going to understand. He won’t want me anymore.”

Angel hated himself for having to do this but she needed to get it together. And if he didn’t make her understand the urgency of the situation they would never be able to save Spike. He moved closer to her and grabbed her upper arms and forced her to listen to him.

“Buffy, I love you and I understand that you are hurting but right now, we have more important things to deal with.” She whimpered and struggled to get away from him but he shook her to get her attention. “Stop it. They have Spike and we are going to have only one shot at getting him out of there and bringing down the Initiative. Do you understand?”

“They have Spike?”

“Yes, Riley called while you were talking to Willow and said they had dusted him.”

“But you just said that he wasn’t,” Buffy said, tears pouring down her face and Angel wiped them away.

“Open yourself up. You’ve bonded with him. Do you feel like it’s been broken?”

Angel was proud of Buffy as she pulled herself together and searched for the answer within her. Relief flooded her features as she found the connection between them still intact and she looked up at him in wonder.

“It’s true. I can feel him.” Buffy said with determination in her voice. “I can do this. So, what’s the plan?”

“Willow is calling everyone and letting them know that we’re going in as soon as we can. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let me change and I’ll be right out.”

After kissing her, Angel hurried out to the main room to wait for everyone to gather. It was time to settle this once and for all.

They moved through the tunnels beneath the Initiative, the vampire, the Slayer, the Watcher, one witch and one human. Anya and Tara had been strategically left above ground, on opposite sides of the campus. They still had no clue where the demons were going to be turned loose, but it would seem logical that it would be somewhere on campus, the body parts left there would statistically be younger and healthier.

The others had gone through the entrance that Spike had found and even in his absence he was still helping them. There was little sound except for their footsteps as they moved toward the Project 314 lab. They located a small room where the others could set up Magic Central and still be able to give Buffy access to Adam once the spell was started. Angel maintained guard duty while the others set up.

From his position at the door he could see activity on the other side through the small window. His eyes flickered between the Scoobies and the soldiers. Buffy stood beside him, fidgeting nervously. But there was also a certainty about her that helped him to believe that they would succeed. She had forced herself into Slayer mode and turned her hurt to anger to be able to deal with what she had to do.

At Buffy’s request, none of the others had been told what had happened to her. She couldn’t deal with the emotions of her friends until it was over. Willow and he had honored her request and they had just relayed the information about Spike. And once again Angel had been pleased to see the others agreement to expedite the mission in order to save Spike.

When he looked through the window again he could see that the soldiers were in full gear as they hurried by. It appeared that their calculations were correct and the Initiative was in preparation for unleashing their plan. Angel looked back to the Scoobies to see if they were ready yet. There wasn’t any time to spare.

“Dim the lights,” Giles ordered, as he, Xander and Willow sat on the floor. He placed the needed items for the spell in front of those in the small circle and the Watcher looked up at Buffy and him to announce that they were now ready to begin.

“How long?” Buffy asked.

“Five minutes. Once we start the spell,” Willow said.

Giles lit a candle as Buffy moved closer to the door and Angel moved his hand to the handle, prepared to open it when the time came. He gave her a quick smile to show his support and when she gave him a genuine smile of amusement, whatever doubts he had vanished.

“The power of the Slayer and all who yield it,” Willow chanted. “Last ancient first, we invoke thee. Grant us thy domain and primal strength. Accept us in the power we possess.”

As the spell began, Angel ushered Buffy out into the hallway and followed her back to the 314 lab. The plan was that Buffy would fight and destroy Adam with the aid of the spell while Angel would try to find a way to stop the release of the demons.

“Are you going to be all right?” Angel asked when they had reached the lab, his hand grabbing hers.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, can’t go wrong with everybody working together.” Buffy said to reassure him. Her small hand squeezed his and he couldn’t stop himself from dropping a quick kiss on her mouth for luck.

“Be careful.” Angel warned before letting her go.

Buffy nodded and slipped into the lab. Angel waited a few moments to make sure that she was okay before he slipped off toward the containment cells. Rounding a corner he saw a group of soldiers in front of him and he retreated, hoping that they hadn’t noticed him. The last thing any of them needed was for himself to become a prisoner of the Initiative.

“The doors are about to open,” Forrest said. “And once they do all the exits are going to be blocked and the demons will be forced to head upwards and onto university grounds. We want to keep them contained in a small area around the gym. Don’t let them outside of that area and don’t take ‘em out too fast. Understand?”

There was murmured responses from the others as they moved off. Angel watched as doors closed, sealing the containment cell area from the main section of the Initiative. As the soldiers departed at the other end of the hallway, Angel followed them trying to stay out of their sight by skirting along the edge of the cells. And he still tried to keep an eye out for Spike as he went. He had almost reached the end when the doors opened en masse allowing the demons their freedom. Muttering a curse, Angel ran for the end but already demons were rushing toward the only open doorway, swallowing him up in their midst.

Not even trying to stop them, Angel opened the door leading into the Initiative, and a few of the demons turned in that direction but he needed to stop the others from heading onto the campus.

“Hey, this way,” he shouted. “The other way they’re waiting for you.”

Not sure if they would at all listen, the vampire was grateful when some of them turned in the direction he wanted. The stream began to shift toward the new exit from their imprisonment and Angel knew he needed to get top side before any major carnage was done to students. He moved through the door leading to the outside and pushed it shut behind him after fighting back a couple of determined demons but once they had headed the other way, he was able to close the door and lock it from the key pad with the code that Spike had filched.

Taking off at a run, following screams, Angel headed through the tunnel that dumped into the sewers beneath the University. He scanned the exits as he went, counting until he found the one that led into the Science building. This was the only access he could use to go up; otherwise he would exit into sunlight. Cursing under his breath he realized that something else had already gone this route. Scrambling up he found himself in the basement of the building and looked around, spotting stairs leading to the main level. The first floor was filled with the screams of students and teachers running but Angel could smell a demon still loose. He dashed to find it hoping to stop it before someone could be injured. The scent led Angel into a lecture hall where the demon had a woman cowering behind a desk.

“Hey, ugly,” Angel yelled, knowing that the desk would offer the frightened professor no protection against the demon. The beast turned to him and Angel leapt from mid-stairs onto its back. The demon beat at Angel’s arms but couldn’t break the vampire’s grip. After a scuffle; Angel snapped its neck and it fell to the floor. Looking up he addressed the woman who was slowly emerging from her hiding place. “Sorry, there’s some soldiers outside that will take care of the body. They should be searching for it.”

“It’s you,” the woman said, searching his face but Angel’s cell phone went off before he had a chance to respond to her.

“Yeah?”

“Angel, it’s Tara, three demons just entered the gym. The soldiers aren’t going in.”

Even though he wanted to explore how the woman knew him, there wasn’t time and without waiting Angel headed for the gym. He took out two more demons before the soldiers realized that something had gone horribly wrong and started to destroy the demons they had let loose on the campus to cover up their errors. As everything changed Angel returned to the Initiative to see how Buffy and the others were progressing.

The bullets flew from Adam’s arm and Buffy dove for the console, hoping that the spell would hurry up and take effect. She had already snapped the spear from Adam’s arm and when he had deployed the gun from his arm, she had been afraid, knowing that slayer strength couldn’t do much against bullets. She was trapped and it was only a matter of time before Adam would…

Just as the thoughts of doom filtered into her mind, Buffy felt energy surging through her and all fear inside her vanished. Her body was infused with an essence unlike anything she had ever known and she felt within her the connection of her friends as well as something powerful; something primordial.

Buffy stood, even though Adam was still firing at her, fearless at the bullets that flew through the air. She held her hand up in complete acceptance that he couldn’t hurt her now and the bullets turned into three doves. When she moved it again, focusing on Adam, his gun retracted.

Adam tried to attack her but Buffy was able to match him punch for punch. For every blow he missed, she connected with three. A particularly vicious kick to the stomach sent him to the floor and he stared up at her in amazement.

“How can you…?” Adam asked.

In her head she could hear the voices of the others as they chanted and she completed it along with Xander, instinctively knowing the words.

“You could never hope to grasp the source of our power.”

Adam stood and attacked again but he was hopelessly outmatched and Buffy kicked him again, knocking him to the ground once more. He struggled to stand but the Slayer was already reaching for him, pulling him to his feet and delivering a kick to his chest that slammed him back against the wall.

“And yours is right here,” Buffy said and rammed her hand into his chest. Adam stared at Buffy in disbelief as he struggled with her hand. But the fight was already won and in seconds Buffy pulled the uranium core from him, and Adam crumpled at her feet, no longer a threat. The force within her took control, levitating the power core before it disappeared in a flash of white light. As if sensing Adam’s defeat, the connection was severed and the power within her vanished leaving Buffy overwhelmed by its absence and she crumpled to the ground in exhaustion.

Chaos reigned within the Initiative and without premise Angel slammed the door open and burst into the room where the Scoobies had been casting the spell. They were struggling to their feet when he came in, obviously drained from the adjoining.

“Did it work?” Angel asked, even though he knew from the triumphant looks on their faces that it had been.

“Yes, it did.” Giles answered. “Let’s go and find Buffy to make sure everything went well with her.”

Together they made their way to the lab, trying to stay out of the way of the fighting soldiers and demons that seemed to be everywhere. The door to Project 314 was open but when they went in all they found was Buffy struggling to sit up and the body of Adam.

“Are you all right?” Angel said, rushing to her side and helping her to stand. His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her to lean on him. It wasn’t just to comfort her but to also give him the security that he always felt when she was near.

“I’m fine,” Buffy answered, grinning wildly at the others as the excitement hummed through her petite form and she stroked Angel’s arm. Even in the glow of succeeding she still found the time to support him, sending waves of pleasure through him. Every moment that he was around her, she surprised him with her strength, loyalty and compassion.

“It was amazing,” Willow said, returning her friend’s grin.

“You were great, Buffy,” Xander said, looping his arm around Willow and Buffy shoulders.

“We were great,” Buffy said.

The exhilaration of triumphing over their enemy was high among the humans in front of him but Angel knew that they needed to get out. Once everyone was safe and Spike was found there would be plenty of time to relish their achievements and party like Buffy always said when they saved the world yet again.

“Don’t mean to break this up,” Angel said. “But we need to get out of here. It’s mayhem out there and it’s only getting worse.”

“The demons did they get outside?” Giles asked.

“No, I directed most of them back into the Initiative,” Angel said. “The soldiers are trying to contain them again but aren’t faring well.”

“I hate to say it but we should probably open the exits up and give everyone a fair chance at surviving.” Buffy said. “I know they deserve it but it’s nothing more than a smorgasbord for the demons out there and I don’t think whoever is left is going to try to finish the plan.”

“I agree.” Giles said.

Nodding, Willow rushed to the computer console and started typing in codes while everyone gathered around her. “Their open,” she said a few minutes later.

“Okay, now let’s get out of here,” Angel said.

Taking the lead, Angel headed for the nearest exit with the others following. As soon as he got them outside he could start looking for Spike. Hopefully, in the confusion of the demons coming back at them, his Childe had been forgotten and was being left alone.

They reached the ladder that would lead up into the quad and Angel had Buffy go up first. Once she called down that it was all clear he sent the others up one by one. Giles was the last to go and as he started up the ladder, Angel grabbed his arm.

“Get Buffy home,” Angel said. “I’m staying to look for Spike but I need to know she’s safe.”

“All right,” Giles said, nodding at the vampire before heading up the ladder.

With a quick look around, Angel headed once again for the area that held the containment cells. He just hoped that he would have the time to find Spike and still be able to make Riley pay.

Giles clasped her hand and Buffy helped to pull him to safety. Once he was standing beside her, Buffy looked down at the empty space and realized that Angel had gone back in without her. It frustrated her that he was trying to send her home like a child when her need to find their mate was as strong as his. Sighing, she looked at her Watcher.

“Call Anya and Tara to tell them to stay put until you guys get there,” Buffy instructed. “Stay together and get out of here.”

“Until we get there; don’t you mean?” Giles asked.

Buffy shook her head. “I’m going back to help search for Spike,” Buffy said, holding her hand up to stop any protests. And with a catch in her voice, “They’re my everything and I need to do this.”

Buffy didn’t want to fight with Giles or any of them. If after this they couldn’t see what the three of them meant to each other then they could all go to hell. She wasn’t going to try to please all of them anymore. If Giles considered it divided loyalties then he would have to deal with it. She had done her sacred duty and had made sure that they were safe before leaving them and if it wasn’t enough then she couldn’t do anymore. She waited for the arguments to start but her friends surprised her with their understanding of the situation.

“Good luck,” Xander whispered, hugging her tightly and dropping a kiss on her cheek.

“We’ll wait for you at the mansion,” Willow said, “and we’ll have breakfast ready and blood heated for when the three of you get there.”

“Go, Buffy, they’ll need you,” Giles said.

Leaving them with only a quick smile, Buffy climbed back down into the hell that the government had created. There were demons and soldiers fighting everywhere, some running for the open doors and some dying, bleeding on the ground. She took a moment to allow her instincts to take over and as soon as she heard the call of her mates, she took off at a run in the direction that her instincts were telling her to go.

Any demons or soldiers in her way were pushed to the side as she followed the blood rushing through her. It led her back into the main area of the underground facility and there on the catwalk above her, she saw them. Spike was leaning against a wall but was sliding toward the ground while Angel fought with Riley. Not taking the time to bother with a ladder, Buffy jumped to the second level, grabbing the railing to pull her over. She landed a few yards away from them and when she looked up, Angel was holding Riley above his head. In a glance she took in her mate’s stance and the direction that Riley would be tossed. Unless she stopped him, Riley would be thrown into the midst of rampaging demons that were tearing apart the equipment below. Angel waited and Buffy knew it was up to her. If she said the word then Angel wouldn’t throw Riley to certain death.

And in that split second of decision, it was as if everything stopped around them.

Buffy’s gaze first took in Angel’s need for revenge that was evident on his face. No matter how far they had come in their relationship, she knew he would always feel that it was his duty to protect and care for his family.

Second, her gaze took in Spike; beaten, bleeding and barely conscious, leaning against the wall and looking up at her. The pain and humiliation was there in those cerulean eyes along with the joy and love that they had rescued him. And the relief that this time they had come for him and were willing to fight for him and to avenge his pain at the hands of those that didn’t understand that even being a demon he was capable of great love and loyalty.

She remembered the hands that violated her and the words that implied that Spike was gone to them.

Giles’s words from the night before echoed in her mind. It means that you would kill for them and die for them. It means that no other being would ever come between the three of you. And she now understood what he meant and her soul became complete at the seriousness of her bond with the two vampires. They were her alpha and her omega. There was no one before them and there would be no one after them. No matter how ugly or painful life could be she would always have them to love her. It was blood and honor and forever.

And in this new realization, she never said anything to Angel.

Instead she turned away from Angel’s gaze and knelt beside Spike. “Come on, we need to get you home.” Her arm went around him and helped him to his feet while she ignored Riley screaming as he fell into the demon pack below and then the silence that was louder then the screaming.

Spike leaned against her as they shuffled toward the exit but then Angel was there on the other side of Spike, helping her to help him. They were together and that was the only thing that mattered.

TBC