"What kind of a girly name is Angel anyway?" - Xander
Angel
Born in the early 1700's, Angel is the old guy of the show. (but doesn't he look good for his age?) But how does he maintain his youthful appearence? Oil of Ulay? Mudpack facials? Getting lots of beautysleep? Nope. He looks so good for a 240-odd year old because he's a vampire. That's right one of the bloodsucking creatures that in a programme like this are made the bad guys.
And wasn't he a bad boy after he was sired by Darla. As he says in his own words: "I killed mine (family). I killed their friends and their friends' children. For a hundred years, I offered an ugly death to everyone I met. And I did it with a song in my heart." However, one day he bit the neck of the wrong girl and as revenge for her death he was cursed to have his mortal soul returned to him: "you have no idea what it is like to have done the things I've done, and to care. I haven't fed on a living human being since that day."('Angel')
Since that day he has burgled the local bloodbank for his supply of blood.
But things don't get better for Angel with his soul returned to him. he is falling in love with a mortal girl. Not just any mortal girl mind you (no it can't be as staightforward as that), he had fallen in love with the Slayer and it is a mutual thing as well.
Even though he is a vampire, he has become one of the Slayerettes (to Xander's disgust) and has helped them time and time again, even getting hold of the Codex a valuable book of prophecy (which fortold Buffy's death). However, he does have a way of turning up with tidings of doom.
Angel will do almost anything to keep Buffy safe, but he couldn't help her when she stopped breathing in 'Prophecy Girl'. He couldn't give her CPR because he has no breath.
However, it doesn't stop Angel looking out for Buffy, helping her patrol. hey spend a lot of time together, maybe a little too much and romantic feelings started to develop between the vampire and the Slayer. If only they'd known what was going to happen . . . Angel's curse was based around the fact that once Angel got his soul back the horror's he had committed would torture him forever. However, if he experienced just one moment of pure, true happiness the curse would be lifted and his soul banished back into the ether.
Around this time, two of Angel's old friends, his childe, Drusilla and grand-childe Spike arrived in town. Drusila was one of Angelus's success stories, an innocent girl turned completely mad and transformed into a vampire on the day she was to take her Catholic vows. Drusilla loves Angel, in her own perverted little way and it annoys Spike so when they discover that Angel lives in Sunnydale too . . . Spike summons a demon, The Judge, to rid the world of the pesky Slayer and her vampire beau and they are nearly killed by the Judge but manage to escape into the sewers and away from Spike and Dru's lair.
They re-group back at Angel's apartment, where an inspection of Buffy's shoulder wound turns into a kiss and a kiss into something more . . . Angel experiences his moment of happiness and while Buffy sleeps on in his bed, his soul is released from him and Angelus returns.
Now begins his piece-de-resistance. he starts to mentally torture Buffy, watching her while she sleeps, drawing pictures of her and leaving them by her bed, verbally abusing her. After all to kill this girl you gotta love her. His attacks get worse and worse and Jenny Calander, a direct descendant of the girl he murdered all those years ago, comes up with a way of translating the spell of restoration and giving Angel his soul back. But Angelus doesn't want it back and destroys the computer and the hard-copy (not realising that there is also a floppy disk) and murders Jenny in cold blood by snapping her neck beofre placing ehr body in Giles's bed for him to find.
There is a series of fights between Slayer and Vampire but neither seeming to get the upper hand until the day a mysterious casket is unearthed in Sunnydale. Inside it is the petrfied remains of a demon, Acathla, stabbed througth the heart with an anceint sword. Acathla can open the gateway to hell and Angelus would like nothing better than to bring hell down on earth.
Spike disagrees with this and goes behind his grand-sire's back to tell Buffy. Angelus, however is having problems getting Acathla to work and has to kidnap and torture the only man in Sunnydale who could possibly know how to acheive it - Giles. Buffy decides it's time to do away with Angelus once and for all, everything she loved about Angel is gone, only the monster remains. Giles tells Angelus how to activate Acathla and Angelus performs the ceremony successfully as Buffy comes to save the day. Spike escapes with Dru leaving Buffy to face Angel. Angelus taunts her, but gets too overconfident
Unbeknown to either of them Willow is casting the Spell of restoration and as Buffy is about to perform the finishing blow on Angelus his soul is restroed to him. But it is too late, Acathla is awakening and the gateway to Hell to opening. Bufyy does the only thing to stop the gates opening totally and after telling an unknowing angel that she loves him, she stabs him though the torso and lets him get sucked into the vortex.
Angel goes to Hell.
Times passes there differently to on the human plane and hundreds of years pass until the day he is returned, naked, to Sunnydale, to the very spot where he 'died'. There is not much of Angel left, just a feral vampire. Buffy finds him and treats him, trying to bring the real Angel back. She realises that she can't get close to him again. Not after what happened the last time.
When the rest of the Scooby Gang find out they treat Angel is mistrust. Who knows if he'll turn again. He works hard to try and earn their trust but it isn't helped when Angel is plagued by visions of the spirits of the people he murdered in years gone by, including Jenny Calender. These spirits convince Angel that his life isn't worth living anymore and he goes to the hills above Sunnydale to welcome to Sunlight. What he doesn't realise is that the 'spirits' are aspects of the First Evil, evil incarnate. It takes all of Buffy's love to convince him to carry on fighting the good fight.
Faith, the new Slayer, turns rogue and joins with the Mayor who thinks Angel, or rather Angelus would be a good ally in the fight against the Slayer. Faith is dispatched to seduce him. Angel pretends to have his 'moment of happiness' and uses his new evil undercover status to find out what the Mayor is planning as well as punching poor Xander on the nose.
The Ascension draws near and plans are made for the final fight against the mayor. It also signals the end of an era in Sunnydale. Angel tells Buffy that it's becoming too difficult to fight the good fight in such close proximity to Buffy, to love her and not do anythign about it. he worries for her and thinks it will be best for him to go once they have defeated the Mayor. No goodbyes just go.
Angel does make it through the fight with the Mayor, as does Buffy, but breaks his no goodbye rule to look upon her one more time before he leaves.
For LA, the city of Angels . . .