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The day passed fairly slowly into night, and Xander conked out on the couch out of boredom. His sleep was filled with dreams of Willow and the remembrance of how Angel had betrayed them. But it didn't last long and faded instantly when he awoke.
Xander blinked against the bright light filling the room, then began to rub at his eyes. A moment later, he froze, thinking, *I didn't leave the lights on.*
Panicked, Xander sat up, looking around with wide eyes. But, much to his relief, he found it was only Darla. She stood in front of the fridge, clothed in a two piece black spandex outfit, with her back to him. Shamefaced, Xander had to admit he found it, found her, quite attractive.
Xander stood quietly, taking a step towards Darla. "Hi," he said aloud, surprised when she jumped and turned to look at him.
Quickly, Darla dropped the demonic visage she wore, wiping at her mouth to remove all traces of blood and acting much like a kid who'd been caught sneaking in an extra cookie. "Oh, God, I'm sorry," she stammered, throwing the empty bag in the trash. "I didn't mean to wake you, Xander." A pause, then, "I should go."
"Please don't," Xander said abruptly, surprising himself. "I mean, I could use the company, if it's not too much trouble."
After another pause, Darla nodded in agreement. "What can I do for you?," she added.
Xander took a step towards her. "I got Cordelia and Ethan's stories down, but I'm a little fuzzy on yours... How did you get cursed instead of Angel?"
Darla sighed. "He was still the one to kill that Romani girl, he just set it up to make it look like I had... The elders found me with her and immediately set about performing the soul restoration spell. It was their hope that I would destroy myself out of guilt afterwards, but I surprised them by doing the opposite."
Darla paused, then looked up at him. "After telling them the truth, that they had cursed the wrong vampire, I made a deal with them. I promised to take down Angelus for them, and in return, they would make me mortal once again... The only problem was, I could never find the opportunity to do what I had promised. At least, not until I met Cordelia."
"What happened then?" Xander asked, very interested.
"It was around the time Willow was killed... Cordy and Alex had come gunning for Angelus and his team to avenge her," Darla said, partly lying. "I arrived just in time to see them escape. That's how I learned that Cordelia was the Slayer. I approached her a week later, slowly getting her to trust me. I helped her thwart his plans several times since... And now, she and I are both ready to take down him, Spike, and Drusilla once and for all."
Xander's eyes widened. "Spike and Dru?!" he asked in disbelief. "They're here?!"
Darla nodded, performing a quick probing of his thoughts to get a picture of these two in his world. "They're not the same as you know them either. Spike's the meek prophet and Drusilla's the fighter... I made them that way. I sired both of them instead of Angel." She paused, crossing her arms. "You don't know how ashamed I am of what I've created. And now, I wish nothing more than to see them destroyed."
Xander paused. "I don't blame you for that," he said, surprising himself once more. "You weren't yourself then."
She smiled slightly, then stood up straight. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. But I'm still not myself. I won't be until he's done for... Well, I'd better get going. It'll raise suspicions if I'm gone too long."
Darla started out, but Xander stopped her, the mystery of why she kept her blood supply here suddenly obvious. "My God," Xander said. "You're living with him, aren't you?"
Darla averted her eyes, a pained look on her face. "I had no choice. Angelus knew nothing about the curse, and I chose to use it to my advantage. If he thought for one second that I was conspiring against him, he'd kill me. As it is, I've been careful to cover my tracks when it came to Cordelia and Ethan." She looked up at Xander. "My position in all this is too precarious, which is why I have to leave... Now, if you'll excuse me," she added roughly, yanking her arm from his grasp.
Xander watched her cross the room towards the door with a sigh, then began to rub at his eyes with one hand, dizzied by what she'd told him. Then, he looked up again and froze when he saw what (or more precisely, who) was waiting just beyond the open door.
Darla gasped, stumbling back into the room. "Angelus!" she blurted out, searching frantically for an acceptable reason for being here. But her former paramour's words sent all hope flying out the window.
"Hello, lover. Hope you don't mind a few crashers to this little meeting," Angelus said with a smirk, taking a step towards her and allowing Drusilla to enter behind him. "You were wrong about one thing, Darla," he said, showing he'd been eavesdropping for a while. "Your tracks weren't as covered as you thought... Cordelia's a good Slayer and all, but there was no way she could have overthrown us so many times without an inside source helping her.
"That's why I abruptly moved us to Sunnydale and why I monitored everyone's movements like a hawk... So when you made a late-night call to Cordelia telling our whereabouts, I did some digging into what was going on with you. How inconvenient it was to learn what those gypsies had done to the Darla I knew." With that, Angelus reached forward, gripping her painfully by the throat with one hand and looking at the young man behind her. "So, this must be Xander... My God, the resemblance to my good buddy, Alex, is uncanny!"
Xander took a deep breath, somehow managing to speak despite how frightened he felt. "What do you want?" he asked, struggling briefly in Drusilla's grip.
Angelus paused, looking quite amused. "There's an old friend of Alex's who wants to meet you... In fact, she's rather looking forward to it, all eager to torture her former boyfriend's carbon copy!"
"She who?" Xander shot back, not wanting to believe the idea that was forming in his mind.
Angelus looked at Darla, who was struggling futilely against his grip on her. "Where are your manners, honey?" he asked mockingly. "How rude of you not to tell Xander the complete truth." He paused, shifting his gaze back to Xander. "Alex's Willow, your Willow, is quite the immoral vampire here. She's done some evil deeds that have even made me look halfway good!" he said, sounding quite pleased.
Xander froze. "Oh, my God!" he said in a near whisper. A moment ago, he'd thought that nothing could hurt more than what Angel had done to him and Willow. But yet, here was Angelus, confessing that he had done something so much worse. It was almost too much to take.
Stunned speechless, Xander barely noticed as Drusilla dropped a note onto the kitchen counter and maneuvered him forcibly towards the door. It wasn't long before Angelus followed with Darla in tow, holding her a foot off the ground.
"Sorry, love," Angelus said to his sire. "You lose... By the time the night is over, your precious Slayer, your key to a mortal life, will be dead, as you will be at sunrise tomorrow morning. And for good measure, I might just let Willow transform your friend, Xander, into one of us... What can I say? It's turning out to be a good day after all..."