Disclaimer: Joss owns the characters of BTVS. I am not making any money off of this fic. Please don't sue me. Beta'd by AtheneHahn

A/N: Written in answer to Redwolf50's Challenge 109. Challenge details at the end.

Paradox

by Jackofspikes


Chapter 37

"Drusilla?" Angel had no idea what the idiot was going on about and didn't really care. His entire body felt like it was on fire. The chafing he'd received two days before was only just beginning to heal and this new attack had caused the pain to flare up again. On top of that, whatever it was that had just happened had left him feeling weak and disoriented. In the shape he was in now, he'd have trouble beating Xander. There was no way he could take on the combined forces of Buffy, the older Buffy look-a-like and whatever the hell Spike was now.

William rolled his eyes. It was clear that Angel wasn't listening to a word that anyone had to say. Turning to Joan, he silently passed the baton and hoped that she'd have a better chance at getting through to him.

"Um...can I ask something?" Willow inquired nervously, raising her hand as if she were in class.

Smiling indulgently at the shy redhead her Willow had evolved from, Joan encouraged the girl to speak. "Go for it, Wills."

"Well, it's just that I was, you know, thinking... a-and I was wondering about the spell that Miss Calendar is working on. I know that it's been decided and all, but really there are some other things that we might not have thought about and I have thought of them, so I thought I should, you know...mention them." Willow gasped for much needed breath. She hated bringing the subject back up, but she needed to be sure that they were doing the right thing.

"What's that, Willow?" Buffy looked at her friend with concern. If babbling Willow was braving the attention of the group then it had to be important.

"Well, Miss Calendar said the soul wasn't Angel's. Whose is it? What happens to it if Angel, you know...dusts? Is it still bound to his demon? Because that would be totally of the wrong. If the soul is being corrupted by the demon, like they told us all last night, what's to stop him from still turning evil? He'd still have his soul, but there are lots of people with souls that are like completely evil and doing evil things," Willow rushed out all her concerns.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Angel bellowed in frustration.

Jenny, who had been standing at the door of Giles' office, heard the young girl's questions and chose to ignore the vampire hated by her clan and answer the redhead's concerns. "The binding will only be while he still exists. On the death of his demon, the soul will be released. It's true that the soul is being corrupted by the demon, but a simple cleansing of the soul and an added protection to it will stop that from happening. The problem is that the soul requires its continuing vengeance and as that is such a negative emotion it can be difficult to control. The cleansing should give the soul a measure of closure, but don't worry my clan will always have an eye on him," Jenny explained, smiling at the inquiring teenager.

"Whose soul was it, Jenny?" Giles had to know. He was dreadfully afraid of the answer, but he had to know.

"His victim's," Jenny whispered. She was deeply ashamed of the truth, but these people deserved to know.

Only Xander noticed the shamefaced expression on the face of the vampire he loathed. "You knew," he accused, disgusted. His reasons for hating the brunette just seemed to be multiplying.

All eyes turned to Angel at Xander's accusation.

Angel abruptly stood. His strength had returned. Turning to the person closest in proximity to him, he was going to get answers and he was going to get them now. Grabbing the front of the giant's fur shirt, the vampire only had time to snarl before he felt himself being hoisted into the air.

"Baby...baby? Put the evil vampire down?" Wolfie begged his wife.

Angel flew over his head and crashed into the steel cage.

"Sweetheart, I meant set him down easy," he admonished gently. His wife grinned as she coloured a delightful shade of puce and shrugged her shoulders.

"She doesn't patrol, does she?" Joan asked Wolfie, pointing at his blushing bride.

"Yeah...but," he started.

"Good. 'Cause me, her, and a few of her friends...I think the Mayor, Adam and Glory just got easy." Joan smiled and walked over to check on the vampire in the cage.

Wolfie turned to William and Spike. "But she's like a nympho on crack after a bit of violence," he whined.

The two blond Brits dissolved into gales of laughter. Giles, losing his usual British reserve, joined them as Wolfie pouted.

"Any of her friends called Anya?" Xander asked with youthful exuberance.

William's head shot up, his mood sobered immediately. Eyeing the sasquatch, he suspiciously asked, "Anya?"

Wolfie met his gaze. "He needed to know, and you and Joan have to work out how to get her here," he replied.

William rolled his eyes. "I'll put it on the list."

Joan waited for Angel to look up at her from his position on the floor of the cage. "So...you gonna behave now?" she chirped brightly. All remaining sympathy for the brooding vampire had disappeared with the knowledge that he knew more about the soul than he had ever mentioned.

"You're not Buffy," he growled at her. "Why do you smell like her?"

"Okay, the sniffy thing? Gross." She delicately scrunched up her nose as she spoke. "I am Buffy, just four years older. I'm the Buffy that met and beat Angelus. I'm the Buffy that you psychologically tortured for months. I'm the Buffy that sent you to a hell dimension for five hundred years. Might be a good idea to think before you speak, Sparky; you seriously don't want to piss me off, because if I could send you to hell when I did love you, imagine the damage I can do now that I don't."

William kept his eyes on his girl as she spoke to his loser of a grandsire. He felt his heart expand and beat for the first time in over a century. His breathing became erratic as he struggled to understand what was happening to him.

Wolfie moved swiftly to his side and helped the struggling pure vampire to sit. "Just breathe. Calm down and concentrate on breathing."

Wolfie was quickly replaced by Joan. She held his hands, looked deeply into his eyes and started speaking. "Honey, look at me. I'm right here and I love you. You need to calm down and tell me what's happening."

William was at a loss, he couldn't find the words. As he took their advice and concentrated on controlling his breathing, he moved Buffy's right hand to his chest.

As Joan flew back to her distressed boyfriend, Spike took over her position by the cage door. A quick flick of his eyes got Llwethyn to position herself by the library door. Neither of them was overly concerned for the pure vampire as they had a pretty good idea what the problem was.

Buffy was torn. She wanted to help the older version of her potential cutie with the perfect abs, but she didn't want to get in the way of her older self. She was still really miffed that she'd been glared at for her innocent appreciation of a set of drool-worthy abs that by all rights were hers anyway. She couldn't believe how possessive she'd gotten. A quick glance over at Spike assured her that Angel wouldn't be going anywhere yet, so she allowed her concentration to be focused on the struggling vampire at the table.

Angel realized that the room's entire focus was on the irritating menace that was calling himself William. The brunette vampire snorted to himself 'What a fucking drama queen!' He glanced at the blond vampire standing between himself and the swinging doors of the library. It wouldn't be difficult to leave this mad house. Then he could go and find out what was actually going on. He bet if he grabbed Xander he could have the idiot singing the whole thing in minutes. He casually pulled himself into a standing position and forced himself to wait a few more seconds before attempting to inch his way past the second blond vampire, but before he was clear a fist popped up to block his exit. It surprised the elder vampire so much that he was unable to stop before his face slammed into the clenched hand and he was back where he started – sitting on the floor.

"Did you really think you could get past both me and the elf?" Spike drawled disdainfully, not even bothering to look over his shoulder at his disgraced grandsire. "Slayer's not finished talking to you yet."


~TBC~