Scott narrowed his eyes as Willow unlocked his cage. She was dressed sexier than usual; skin-tight emerald velvet clung to her slim curves and dipped low in front, baring her small breasts nearly to the nipples. He glared at her in a combination of fear and lust.

"Scotty, Scotty, Scotty. . . you've been a very bad vampire," Willow said dreamily, her head cocked to one side, a wicked-looking whip in her hand. "What do we do to bad vampires?"

He trembled as she came closer, close enough that he could smell the blood from her recent kill, still staining her lips. She flicked the whip, catching Scott on the cheek, not breaking the skin, but leaving behind a red mark.

Willow was very good at torturing her pets.

"Please, Mistress, I'm sorry! I had no idea that the Slayer would be able to destroy them all! I-I was frightened," he pleaded, his eyes fastened firmly on the toes of Willow's thigh-high leather boots.

"I know you were, Scott. And I forgive you for being scared of the Slayer. Although I don't know why, she doesn't impress me." Willow sighed and reached out to pull on Scott's chains. "She just isn't very nice."

"You should kill her, Mistress. Kill her and bathe in her blood!" Scott said, a grin crossing his vampire's face. The erotic image of his sire, her pale body dripping with the crimson wine of the Slayer, flashed through his mind. He was beginning to become very aroused and he chanced a look up at Willow.

The vampire was watching him, a sly look in her hazel eyes. She pointedly stared down at his lap, where his erection was beginning to show. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Scotty? I bet you'd like to taste the Slayer. Imagine the feel of her blood on your tongue, the sweet taste of it as it slides down your throat."

Kneeling beside him, Willow tossed the whip away, her needs taking a more carnal path. She caressed him through his jeans, then deftly unzipped them.

As she wrapped her fingers around his straining cock, Scott sighed blissfully. And when she dipped her head to take him in her cold mouth, he knew that whatever punishment his sire decided to mete out to him would be worth every second if he could experience her talented tongue and fingers.

He strained against his bonds, wishing he could touch her, but all thought fled as Willow began to eagerly suck him, her bright head bobbing up and down on his cock.

Scott gave himself up to the pleasure.

He didn't see the figure lurking in the shadows outside the cage.

Xander's eyes glowed yellow as he watched his mate pleasure the younger vampire. Keeping his fury in check, he melted back into the shadows. They would pay, he thought to himself.

Willow would pay for her treachery.

"Vincent!"

The vampire scrambled up from his makeshift bed to answer Xander's summons. "Y-yes, sir?"

Xander stalked back and forth, his demon's face creased in thought. "The Slayer. . . "

"What about her?"

"She's taking too fucking long to die!" Xander snarled, kicking the recently-deceased body of an elderly woman out of his way. In a rage, he rounded on Vincent and smacked him on the side of the head. "Can't you people clean up after yourselves? You lazy sons of bitches!"

Two minions darted forward and pulled the corpse from the room. Xander ignored them, his rage finding a new target.

Cordelia didn't even have the strength to move out of his way when Xander stomped over to her and grabbed a handful of her hair. After her rape by several of the minion vamps, they hadn't bothered to lock her up again; a chain around her neck kept her secure.

Hauling her up by the hair, Xander shook the skeletal figure. "So, Cordy, I'll bet you're regretting having turned me down when I asked you to go to the Spring Fling with me, oh, when was it? 1997?"

Shaking her so hard a clump of her once-lustrous sable hair came loose in his hand, Xander leaned closer, his eyes glowing feral yellow. Cordelia gave no indication she even heard him or felt the pain he inflicted. She lay limp in his grasp, a dead weight.

Her apathy only enraged him further. Pulling back his fist, Xander punched her. Bone cracked like a gunshot and blood, thick and profuse, spilled over his hand. A fragment of bone, a white splinter in a sea of crimson, jutted from the bridge of her nose.

She never even flinched.

Looking over his shoulder at Vincent, he grinned. "She's so far gone, she doesn't even feel pain anymore. Stupid bitch."

The smell of her blood was overwhelming. With a howl, Xander lunged forward and sank his teeth into Cordelia's throat, tearing into her flesh like a rabid beast.

The agony of it roused the girl, but only momentarily. She struggled in his arms, her hands coming up to weakly push at his chest. Xander lifted his head and stared down at her, his mouth smeared with blood and bits of flesh.

"You wanna live forever, Cordy?"

Her lips parted, as if to answer him, but blood poured from her mouth. Her eyes, wide-open and as blank as glass, gazed back at him.

With a snicker, Xander raised his wrist to his mouth and bit hard. He held it to Cordelia's mouth.

Vincent, watching raptly, stepped forward. "Xander, you can't mean to make her one of us? She's little better than a vegetable the way it is!"

"Yeah, should be fun. I can torture her until the end of time and she'll never die," Xander said as his blood began to trickle into the dying girl's mouth. Within moments, she had latched on, sucking weakly at the sustaining fluid.

Cradling her in his arms with unusual tenderness, Xander sank to the floor. "Come on, whore, drink deep. By next morning, we'll be having all kinds of fun. Maybe I'll even feed you once in a while."

Cordelia Chase, long past feeling any emotion, any pain, stopped fighting and let Xander's blood flow down her throat. And when he once more bent his dark head to her neck and stole the rest of her life, she smiled.

She could rest and let go of the pain.

Finally, she could sleep.