Something was not right.

The contentment and unusual happiness I had been feeling a moment ago had done something-of that, I was sure. Something deep inside me, down in the core of my misery and guilt, had changed.

At first, it was just a slight jolt or slip: a feeling much like a joint being popped out of place. But then, after a brief pause, came the pain.

Searing, tearing pain ripped through my body, mind, and soul: like a fast-burning fire.

It was unbearable.

I gasped, and jerked straight upwards. Tossing aside the covers as my face contorted in pain, I flung myself out of my bed.

At times, the pain swelled to the point that I could no longer stand. I crawled, clawed, and writhed along the ground as pain struck again and again. My chest and head were boiling pools of aching nerves, begging release. Through it all I felt a very odd sense of duality, as if there was someone else inside my body with me--someone trying desperately to get *out*.

With a jerk and sudden insight, I realized that I was being eaten away from the inside by a very angry, very frustrated demon. My demon.

*Buffy!* My mind cried, thinking only of my sleeping love--who might be hurt or killed by the thing she thought was me, should the demon gain control of our shared body. Suddenly, I knew that I had to get away from Buffy, to run far enough that, if it won this battle, the demon wouldn't be able to hurt her.

Blindly reaching out towards the neat stack of clothes sitting several feet away, I grabbed what I thought were my usual white undershirt and black khaki-style pants, but turned out to be a darker shirt and tight leather pants. Not really caring, through the pain, that they were not my usual attire, I pulled them on and stumbled towards the door, latching on to a jacket as I passed.

I barely noticed the soaking rain that pounded rhythmically around me, and I hardly cared that I was dripping wet within moments. I had no inkling of where I was or where I was going; all I knew was that I had to get as far away from Buffy as I could.

It was an indeterminable time later when I finally fell to the ground, and could no longer get up. I didn't know how far I'd traveled from my apartment--it could have been a few feet, or it could have been several blocks.

"Aah…" I gasped, as the demon ripped at me once more.

"Buffy!" My soul cried. I was unsure if I'd said it aloud--and I wasn't really caring.

My mind let out a piteous wail, and my body screamed for release. I knew, somehow, that I had to keep fighting. I had to…but it hurt so much…

"Buffy…"

Saying her name over and over, it served as some sort of reassurance. Her name kept me focused, kept me from slipping away. But, as pure agony racked my body, I knew that I wasn't going to last much longer--no matter how many times I uttered my beloved's name.

"Oh, no," I moaned as I realized just how much of a lost battle I was fighting.

*He's gonna kill Buffy…he'll kill her…* It was what I feared most: that Buffy would die at Angelus' hands. *My hands.*

I was dimly aware that someone had come up behind me--someone living. Someone with warm, fresh, blood. I could smell it pulsing through her veins, pumping through her body--her neck…

The demon growled within me, bloodlust adding to its already overwhelming strength.

*NO!* I screamed, noiselessly. *Not like this! I can't die like this…* But I was fading away, and I knew it.

*No…* With one last, fleeting struggle I was gone, and I felt the demon snap into control.

I was only a spectator now; my view of the world dimming quickly as the vampire within me shoved me out. I distantly felt my body rise, felt the demon move lips that so recently had been mine to control.

As the last spark of life left Angelus' victim, so, too, did I burn out into nothingness.

Oblivion.

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