disclaimer in part 1
Buffy told Spike, "Hold it. You say you have a soul."
"I do."
"Then," she said sweetly, "WHY did you abandon me back at the mansion?" Her hand shot out and caught his neck. "I think you're lying again."
He pulled over and stopped the car. "Two reasons, Slayer. One's a bit on the philosophical side, so you might want to skip it." Buffy just glared. "Right then. You seem to think someone with a soul is automatically superior to someone without one."
"Yes, I do."
He snorted. "Oh, really. Then tell me, is Timothy McVeigh a vampire? What about the reverend Jim Jones? Or Adolf Hitler? They all had so-called souls and they were as truly evil as any vampire. Compared to them, I'm a baby who hasn't learned to crawl."
Buffy had to concede that. "Stiill -- this connects to you how?"
"I wasn't a very NICE human being. I was a brute and a thug. I killed people."
"If you're trying to make me feel better, Spike, pay close attention -- it's NOT working."
He sighed exaggeratedly. "The other reason, Slayer, is that I was quite honestly scared. I didn't think of what might happen if I tried and failed -- and I'd already gotten Dru clear. Soul or not, I DO love her."
"Well, then -- you love her, you weren't a nice person -- WHY do you want to stop her?"
"I told you -- I mean to keep my word. And I don't want her to draw too much attention to herself. An unsupervised Dru is a dangerous commodity. The last time she roamed without supervision was London in the 1880s, and we all know what happened then."
"For those of us who never took advanced history . . ."
The vampire grimaced. "Dru went on a prolonged, bloody, and very public killing spree. She taunted the police. Angelus and I eventually found her and dragged her off to Rome. Had to get the heat off."
Buffy got a SICK feeling in her stomach. "You're not saying . . ."
"Bloody right I am," Spike said. He started the car and Buffy made no objections. "Now you see why I want to stop her. The world does not need Jack the Ripper to strike again."
* * * * *
Cordelia pushed Willow down the hall and they went into the library. No on was present, not even Giles. Willow went to the table and Cordelia sat across from her.
"Willow -- tell me. WHEN did our lives become a soap opera? Xander loves you, loves Buffy, hates me, likes me, hates me, dates me; you love him and then Oz -- who has his own problems --"
" . . . Oz loves me . . . Angel dates Buffy, sleeps with her, then tries to kill her . . ."
"Giles loves Ms. Calendar, who BETRAYED us, and Angel killed her for it, I hate Xander, I love Xander . . ."
"Welcome to 'As the Hellmouth Turns," Willow said quietly. "Hold on -- did you just say you LOVED Xander?"
"I did, didn't I?" She grimaced. "Isn't it so totally weird that someone as . . . as . . . infuriating --"
"Possessive --"
"Jealous --"
"Insensitive?"
"Irritating!"
"Cretinish --"
"As Xander Harris could get two women as different as you and me to fall in love with him."
"Yeah. I guess that's the problem. I don't think I do love him that way anymore. Not since Oz."
"Yeah. Despite his mondo slacker 'tude he really is a nice guy, isn't he?"
"Oh, yeah." She said a little goofily. Then she frowned. "And THAT'S what pisses me off most of all. The way this hurts Oz. I, I, blew him off after the revelation because I was so confused. This must be horrible on him!"
"And you, and me! With three words Xander 'the utter moron' Harris has ruined three lives."