The Key to Connor II
The Angelus Chronicles: Chapters 1-4
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Spoilers/Ships: This is AU. Angelus/Buffy. Angelus/Spike. Cordy/Gru.
It follows my Key to Connor Series with the Buffy/Angelus ending.
Distribution: Sure, just let me know.
Feedback: Is always nice. DarkRhiannon@aol.com
Rating: NC-17 to XXX for violence, rape, blood
play, sex, slash, and bad, bad words.
Author's Note/Warnings: Ok, guys, here's the
deal. After all the endings that I did for The Key to Connor, I became
most interested in continuing this thread…Angelus has Buffy, Connor is
alive and presently safe with Spike and the remaining Fang Gang. So I've
spun this off into The Key II: The Angelus Chronicles. I'm telling you
right now, I don't guarantee that anyone will survive…you know how dark
I write Angelus. I don't consider Angelus to be cranky Angel, broody Angel,
or Angel on a bad day. Angelus is a mean son of a bitch whose idea of an
appropriate Valentine is a still warm heart pulled from a shop girl or
a puppy nailed live to your front door. This is NOT a nice guy. Are we
utterly clear on that? Don't flame me later for not warning you.
I want to explore the dynamics of Angelus's
marking of Buffy, as well as develop some of the differences I perceive
between childer and minions. That's what I plan to do here. If that interests
you, feel free to come along with me for the ride…should be exciting…
*
It was hard, almost impossible to control himself with the Slayer's
blood flowing so freely into his rapacious mouth, but Angelus dimly remembered
that he didn't want to kill Buffy, just yet. Too many interesting uses
for his little darling. Sighing reluctantly, he gave her wounded hand one
last lick and wrapped it back up in the bandages.
Buffy was moaning low in her throat, no longer even bucking against
him…too weak to do anything at all. He grinned in sadistic glee as her
eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out from blood loss. *Perfect.*
He climbed off of her and wrapped her frail body in the white cotton hospital
blankets and lifted her easily into his arms. She was so light, like a
tiny bird for him to break the wings of and torment until it could no longer
even flutter against him. *Control, Angelus, control. You didn't get this
far by giving in to the blood lust the minute you saw a tasty prize.*
But Buffy was so much more than that to him, though he was loath to
admit it. She was his marked mate, and his passion for her independent
spirit, her luscious body and powerful blood were hopelessly entwined.
Were he to be honest with himself, he'd have to admit that he didn't really
want to kill her at all. He wanted to torment her and break her, then sire
her, so she'd remain his in unlife, never to be touched by another again
unless he allowed it…which he never would. Angelus did not share his playthings.
He'd rather kill them.
He strode into the hall and nodded to Gunn, who had hovered intimidatingly
close to Buffy's room while Angelus played with her. They walked rapidly
from the hospital, moving too swiftly for mortal eyes to really register
their presence or remark on the unconscious girl they were taking away.
*
Cordy watched warily as Spike downed his third bottle of warmed blood
from the microwave. He'd burned his tongue on the first one, too ravenous
to wait for it to cool even slightly. He took far better care of Connor
than of himself, these days, and most of his thoughts were for Buffy. Cordy
had to admit, Spike had proven himself over and over again since Angelus's
return.
It was Spike who called the Scoobies for the spell to disinvite Angelus
from her apartment. Dennis could probably have kept the vampire out, but
she was unwilling to test that theory with her life. Spike had arranged
food and clothes for Connor, sneaking back into the hotel in order to steal
the things they needed when Gunn, Fred and Angelus were out hunting. Spike
had even stolen the books and petty cash out from under Angelus's nose.
He'd laughed when recounting the story to Cordy and Gru, laughed like
a boy who'd successfully raided the cookie jar. Cordy rolled her eyes at
the two of them together…for all their ferocity, they really were children.
Spike was teaching Gru British swear words, which Gru repeated out of context
and in totally inappropriate situations, which made Spike laugh even harder.
He certainly was the happiest vampire Cordy had ever met.
Spike finished chugging the last bottle of blood, sighing in relief
as his system returned to what represented normal for him. "All right with
you if I grab a quick shower before headin' back, princess?" he asked Cordy,
absentmindedly checking on Connor, who was sound asleep in the pack-n-play
now set up in a cramped corner of Cordy's kitchen.
"Sure, Spike, but no smoking in the shower."
"Hell, won't bloody let me smoke at hospital, won't let me smoke here,
what's a bloke to do?" Spike muttered.
"Perhaps you should consider desisting with your habit of burning noxious
weeds soaked in carcinogenic chemicals and wrapped in white paper?" replied
Gru, unaware that the question was rhetorical.
"You've been letting him watch Discovery Channel again, Princess. Remember,
a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!" Spike sneered half-heartedly
at them and closed the door to the bathroom.
"Truly the flaxen-haired vampire who fights for the Slayer speaks the
truth, my Princess. I have little knowledge of the ways in which your world
works. I must learn more if I am to be of proper service to you." Gru was,
as always deadly serious and frightfully earnest.
Cordy sighed. "Gru, you're doing great, really. None of us expected
you to assimilate nearly as well as you have. Of course, none of us expected
Angelus either. Stupid…I should have seen him coming. Of course, nothing
but Buffy has ever made Angel that happy, except for drugs, and they wore
off quickly."
Dennis floated a diet coke her way and she grabbed it gratefully. "Thanks,
Den. We'd never make it without you…" her voice trailed off as a surprisingly
good singing voice rang out from her shower stall.
"Dancing with myself, I'll be dancing with myself, if you have the chance,
just give the world a glance and you'll be dancing with yourself, oh-uh-uh-oh…"
Cordy burst into laughter, grateful to Spike for anything that could
make her smile these days, let alone laugh out loud.
The phone rang, and she picked it up, wondering if it was Willow updating
them on the sitch in Sunnydale. Cordy's face paled and she sank to the
floor in shock as she listened to the voice on the other end. Gru watched
her, concerned and unsure of what was happening, but certain that it was
dire.
Cordy hung up and buried her head in her hands, sobbing in fear and
despair. The shower shut off and Spike stuck his wet head out of the bathroom.
"Where's the towels, princess? My danglies are getting all chill…" his
voice trailed off and he stepped from the bathroom in alarm, forgetting
the water dripping from his naked body, forgetting all else but his worry
about the Slayer.
Dennis saved Cordy's vision and Spike's non-existent modesty, spiriting
a towel from the linen closet and wrapping it around Spike's slender waist.
"Thanks, Den…Cordy, what is it?"
Cordy looked up at Spike with tears in her eyes. "It's Buffy, Spike.
She's gone. Angelus must have taken her." She sobbed again and Gru rushed
to comfort her as Spike turned in fury and punched his fist completely
through the wall and began swearing a blue streak, furious at himself for
not seeing this coming.
*
Angelus settled Buffy gently into the expensive linen sheets of his
brand new bed. His soulful alter ego hadn't touched the monies that years
of accumulating interest had built in his overseas accounts, a fact which
amused and gratified him. He held the soul's memories of starving needlessly
on the streets of New York, penniless, filthy and alone. The entire time,
a fortune of ill-gotten monies, jewels, lands and rents had been waiting,
a mere telegram away. *Ah, well, his loss is my gain…I won't have to kill
some bourgeois millionaire and finagle the estate in order to set myself
up properly,* he thought with satisfaction.
Buffy sighed in her sleep and he leaned over her, smoothing her short,
tousled hair away from her drawn face with deceptive gentleness. His mate
looked like hell, he admitted to himself. She was clearly in need of significant
care before he could even begin to enjoy himself, otherwise she would expire
entirely too quickly for his needs to be sated. Her blood called to him
from every wound, but he backed quietly away, controlling his desires with
the patience of an old, old predator.
For now, he'd set Gunn to guard her. A shame he hadn't made Gunn a childe
instead of a minion, but he hadn't had the time then, and now it was too
late. Gunn was fated to be nothing more than an indifferent shell, following
his master's orders to the letter and no further, unable to think or act
of his own volition unless his very unlife was in jeopardy.
Fred's admittedly brilliant intellect had survived the change intact,
but she, too, lacked any independent will. All the easier for Angelus to
control their every move, but he did spare a moment to wish for a childe
of Spike's stature again. Someone who could plan and plot on his own; who
functioned as a separate entity.
Of course, independent childer posed their own hazards. Spike had required
constant care at first and extreme discipline later to keep him even marginally
in line. Penn had been more amenable to Angelus's will, but Dru had been
so broken and mad that she'd been virtually uncontrollable until he gave
her to Spike to care for.
Angelus shook his head, irritated at the introspective mood he'd fallen
into. "Gunn," he bellowed.
The handsome vampire appeared in the doorway and looked inquiringly
at Angelus.
"Watch the Slayer. You may not drink from her. Give her water if she
wakes and needs it. Don't let her move from the bed," Angelus commanded.
"Yes," his minion replied, moving obediently to stand near the sleeping
girl without additional comment.
Angelus strode from the room, taking the elevator down to the ground
floor from his sumptuous penthouse condominium. He had plans to put in
motion and people to see, but first, he was more than hungry; he was starving
for a kill. Someone innocent and sweet to roll across his tongue and savor.
Angelus found his victim only a block away as the teen walked his dog.
It was a Rottweiler, nearly too big for the youngster to handle, but apparently
protective enough for his parents to let him out on the streets of LA at
night. Angelus laughed to himself and pulled the boy into the next convenient
alley, killing the hapless dog with one vicious blow to the head. He caressed
the boy's slender neck, reveling in his cries of anguish over his pet.
Blood always tasted better with strong emotion in it and the boy's despair
was sweet indeed. Angelus sank rampant fangs into the boy's tanned neck,
penetrating him slowly and delighting in the pain that flavored the teen's
blood.
The boy moaned against his attacker in terrible rapture as the overwhelming
pain of the vampire's bite flooded his system with endorphins. The rush
carried both of them to the pinnacle of pleasure before they crashed down
on the other side. Angelus sucked the last rich drop of the boy's blood
from his body and dropped the spent corpse on the ground next to his dog,
uncaring of who might find it.
Relaxed and energized by his feeding, Angelus strode into the night,
intent on visiting an old enemy. Lilah had made a grave mistake when she
harmed his mate and it was a night to settle old scores.
*
Angelus crept stealthily into the Hyperion. His senses were fully alert
as he searched the darkness within for any signs of his former allies or
his irritating childe. Satisfied that the place was empty, he ducked into
the office and grabbed a leather weapon bag, in which he placed a select
few of his favorite weapons and toys, then slunk up the stairs to the room
where the Gate had opened. Sure enough, Spike had abandoned everything
in his hurry to get the Slayer to the hospital.
Smirking with pleased anticipation, Angelus scooped a few items from
the room into the bag and proceeded to his room. There, he salvaged a splendid
Nyassian dagger from the wreckage and headed back downstairs. He ducked
outside into the garden for a last item before leaving his one-time home
with nary a backward glance.
*
Buffy awoke, aching and afraid. She remembered why when she looked into
the beautiful but blank face of Gunn. He'd been a formidable fighter as
a human, by all accounts, and she could tell he would make a deadly vampire.
It was a moot point…there was no escape for her until her feet healed enough
to run. That could take weeks, if it happened at all, without the physical
therapy the doctors had insisted she would require.
*One thing at a time, Buffy,* she thought to herself. *Let's test the
bars of this cage.* "Um, Gunn, I need to use the bathroom," she said in
an intentionally thready voice. Let him underestimate her…it was all to
the best if he thought her too weak to escape.
Gunn nodded inscrutably at her and scooped her frail body from the bed
with ease. He carried her to the windowless bathroom and plunked her down
on the toilet. Buffy would normally have blushed with embarrassment to
be so intimate with a man she didn't know, but Gunn's total lack of expression
made the situation somehow easier. He watched indifferently as she relieved
herself and then she realized that with her hands still wrapped in the
copious bandaging she had no way to clean herself. As if he were caring
for a dog, Gunn cleaned her, flushed the toilet and carried her back to
the bed, placing her in it with equal indifference.
Buffy decided to continue to press her luck. "I don't want to sleep
right now, Gunn," she said. "Will you push my pillows up and open the window?"
Again, the vampire moved to obey her every whim, fluffing the pillows
up behind her and sliding her back into them in a sitting position. He
strode to the curtain covered window and pushed aside the heavy black out
drapes. Buffy gasped as she looked out over the lights of the city, realizing
for the first time that they must be on the very top floor. That tracked
with what she'd read of Angelus's patterns before he'd been cursed.
She nodded at Gunn in thanks and he moved silently to the doorway of
the room, closing the door behind him as he left.
Buffy waited a few moments, her acute hearing picking up the sound of
his retreating footsteps down what seemed to be a marble-floored hallway.
Sure, now, that he was gone, she grasped the bandaging on her right hand
between her teeth and began to painstakingly unwind it. Although it was
the hand Angelus had played with earlier, it felt better than the left,
which throbbed in time to her heartbeat with dreadful flares of pain.
Finally, she pulled the last twist of bandage from her hand and dropped
it from her teeth. Examining the wound, Buffy was surprised at how well
it seemed to have healed in what she thought was a short amount of time.
Perhaps she had Angelus and that damned vamp mouth of his to thank. There
was no sign of infection and indeed, the back was completely scabbed over.
When she examined the palm, it only wept a little. Experimentally, Buffy
attempted to flex the fingers. Agony shot up her arm, almost making her
scream.
All right, then. Now it was time to try out some of the exercises the
doctor had briefly described to her. She had to get total control of at
least one hand back before she'd be able to escape from Angelus. And that
meant pain. Luckily, she and pain were old comrades. Buffy began trying
to stretch each finger to her thumb, flexing the tight, newly-healed tendons
and delicate bones in dreadful pain. At least it was a start.
*
Angelus glided on soft carpet to the door of Lilah's apartment. *This
could be interesting,* he thought. Somehow, he needed to get her to invite
him in…but that shouldn't be too hard, given the way she seemed to react
to him. He knew that much of her hostility toward the soul was due to his
instant rejection of her advances. A woman spurned and all that. Angelus
had spent centuries perfecting his seductive charm and he was certain he
could coax this woman into opening her home to him.
He knocked on the door, leaning against the jam with indolent ease.
He heard stirring in the room within and pasted a knowing smile on his
face.
Lilah opened the door, clad only in a red silk negligee and matching
robe. She startled a bit at his presence and took one involuntary step
backward before stopping when she remembered that he couldn't enter without
her invitation. She smirked at him, "So, Angel, come to thank me for letting
you retrieve your son?"
Angelus laughed throatily, his eyes trailing down Lilah's scantily clad
body and back up again, knowingly. "Lilah, my dear, you have no idea how
grateful I am. The little brat was screaming up a storm the last time I
saw him. Luckily, I have minions to take care of that irritating child
so I can focus my attention on more…important matters."
Lilah cocked her head at him and looked quizzical. This didn't sound
like Angel. The voice seemed deeper, somehow and the seductive tone wasn't
something she'd ever heard from the souled vampire. Understanding dawned
and she looked into his eyes. A darkness welled within them that she'd
never seen before in the tormented gaze of Angel.
"Ah, but you're not Angel, are you? You are Angelus. The Scourge of
Europe. What do I owe this honor to?"
"Why, Lilah, darling, I simply wanted to thank you." Angelus replied
silkily. He pulled a single blood red rose from under his long black duster.
"That pesky soul has been driving me mad for a century. I thought its loss
deserved a very…special…thank you to such a lovely lady." He held the rose
out to her with a flourish, but was halted by the invisible barrier to
his kind.
Making a moue at her, he shrugged in seeming acceptance. "I know that
Wolfram and Hart wanted me dark, not dead," he said. "But I completely
understand your reluctance to let an ally into your home. Perhaps I'll
stop by the office and see who there might be able to deal with me," he
teased. "I'll just drop this here by your door and you can retrieve it
once I'm gone." Sighing as if in resignation, he laid the rose at her feet,
crouching there for a moment and staring at her delicate feet before he
rose, once again sliding his eyes up her body with a sensual stare.
Lilah felt as if she'd grown ten degrees hotter just from his stare.
Angelus was reputed to be an amazing lover. The annals detailed days of
debauched cavorting with Darla and Dru, as well as his many minions and
other childer. The heat in his glare made her shiver in reaction at the
same time her brain registered what he was saying. *Wait…if he goes to
the office now, he'll be dealing with someone else. Someone else will take
the credit for bringing him in as an ally. I can't have that…not after
all the work I've put into this file!*
"Oh, Angelus, I don't think that will be necessary," Lilah replied,
tossing her hair back over her shoulder and giving him her best come-hither
stare. "After all, if we're going to work together…and I hope that's what
you intend, then a certain amount of trust is going to be required. I invite
you in." She backed away from the door and he leaned down to scoop up the
rose and his bag before entering and kicking the door closed behind him.
Angelus stalked forward and stopped inches away from Lilah, dropping
the bag to one side. She backed against the expensive wood paneling of
her wall and flinched as he raised his hand to her, then sighed as he took
the rose and stroked its soft petals down her elegant cheekbones to her
neck. "I've been wanting to do this for a long while," he growled seductively
at her as the rose continued its slow downward journey. His large hand
slid inside the silk robe and pushed it aside as he teased the sensitive
skin of her neck with the rose, drawing it down her chest to the v of the
silk negligee.
Lilah moaned in lust as the soft rose petals aroused her long neglected
nerve endings. Never had she been with such a masterful lover. Apparently
the annals hadn't been exaggerating.
Angelus slid the robe from her shoulders, shrugging the duster from
his own and crouching suddenly at her feet. He teased her toes with the
rose, drawing it up each one separately before moving to the delicate arch
of her foot. He brought the rose up her inner calf, stroking the delicate
skin behind her knee until she sighed. Moving higher, he began bunching
the nightgown in his other hand and sliding it sensually against her thighs,
still teasing with the rose in his right hand.
Lilah was awash in sensations she'd repressed for far too long. Rising
to the top at Wolfram and Hart had demanded the total sacrifice of any
life outside the office, a sacrifice she'd gladly made in order to achieve
her goals. But cutting herself off from her body's needs and demands made
her all the more vulnerable to Angelus's practiced charms.
He grasped the negligee and pulled it over her head in one smooth gesture
and she stood before him, naked. *She is a lovely creature,* he admitted
to himself. Her breasts were heavy in his hand as he stroked his thumb
over their supple skin. Teasing the nipple of first one, then the other
with the rose, he gazed at her rapt face, gauging her every reaction to
his touch. Handing her the rose, he moved his fingers to his own clothes,
stripping his shirt rapidly from his large frame. He stepped back from
Lilah for a moment to unfasten his leather pants, then moved forward to
kiss her passionately.
Lilah writhed against him, reveling in the silky feel of the warm wood
behind her contrasting with the velvety cold surface of his broad chest.
She ran her hands over him, stroking his muscular shoulders and strong
neck while he delved deep into her open mouth. His hand teased lower, running
the softness of the rose against the sensitive skin of her belly before
stroking it against the pulse points of her hips. Lilah groaned in want
when he trailed the rose over her downy mound. The rose caressed her hard
clit before moving lower to tease her outer lips with soft strokes up and
down her slit.
Lilah parted her legs to Angelus's more insistent caresses as he dropped
the rose to the side. She sighed against his mouth as skillful fingers
spread her delicate nether lips, dipping inward to test the dew that gathered
there. Angelus wasted no more time and lifted her up against the wall to
plunge her downward onto his hard prick. Lilah screamed as he penetrated
her, stretching the tender walls of her cunt with his width.
He moved her up and down on him easily, his arms flexing and pulling
at her until he was seated completely in her depths. Lilah's head fell
back against the wall and he lapped delicately at her splendid neck before
moving lower to tease her breasts with blunt teeth.
Lilah was overcome with the sensations Angelus's skill drew from her
neglected body. So overcome that she didn't question when he crouched to
open his bag, still holding her steady on his hard cock. He slid her back
up the wall with his left hand, thrusting and pulling back again before
thrusting even harder into her.
Lilah shrieked in growing lust, then screamed in helpless agony as Angelus
drove one metal spike through her left hand into the wood behind her. He
pulled out of her abruptly, grabbing another spike and pinning her to the
wall like some overgrown butterfly. Lilah screamed and screamed as the
blood ran from her tortured palms.
Angelus shifted abruptly to game face and lapped at the blood as it
trickled from her, grinning with pleasure at her nearly continuous screams.
He crouched again and drove the spikes through each of her feet, spread-
eagling them on the wall so she was pinned open and helpless, much as she'd
done to his mate. Of course, Buffy had been on the floor, so her weight
had been supported by that. Lilah's weight, on the other hand, was slowly
ripping the spikes through her hands and feet, causing ever more excruciating
agony as the flesh ripped and cartilage tore. She wouldn't stay pinned
there forever.
Stepping back to admire his handiwork for a moment, Angelus decided
that it still needed something else. But what? Ah…his dagger! He pulled
it from the bag and stood before the quivering lawyer. Lilah stared at
him in dread, unsure of what he planned next, but certain that it would
destroy her.
*
Angelus drew the flat of the blade up Lilah's cheek, teasing the skin
without breaking through and stopping centimeters under her left eye. The
lawyer stilled her shuddering and screaming and stared, transfixed at the
point so close to her vision.
"I'm going to teach you a little lesson now, Lilah. It's a lesson about
acceptance. In time, most humans or demons can learn to accept almost any
treatment at all, in fact they will crave it, given the right motivation.
Let me demonstrate," he growled seductively into her ear.
Angelus pulled the dagger away and traced the callused tips of his fingers
down the same path the dagger had followed. Lilah shuddered at his touch,
her nerves still screaming from the agonizing pain in her hands and feet.
Angelus swirled his fingertips around one breast, spiraling in towards
the nipple but refusing to touch it.
Lilah moaned, as completely different nerve ending awoke to his delicate
touch. Angelus teased the other breast in a similar fashion and Lilah felt
her attention shift from the pain he'd caused her to the pleasure he now
gave her as she hung helplessly before him.
Angelus took the dagger next and followed the same path, scraping lightly
across her skin but not cutting, just teasing. He traced delicate lines
and symbols across her chest, studiously avoiding her nipples until she
actually thrust them at the dagger in hopes that he would pay them some
attention. Instead of using the dagger, Angelus leaned over and took one
hard nipple into his mouth, sucking on it gently and then with more force
as Lilah groaned in anguished pleasure. He switched to the other breast,
according it the same treatment and Lilah began to loose track of what
sensations she felt and where they were coming from. The protective endorphin
rush that her body supplied in response to the terrible wounds in her hands
and feet spilled over into a rush of pleasure as Angelus continued to play
with her sensitive nipples. He pulled back and drew the dagger blade down
her chest again, harder this time, and raised a thin line of blood to the
surface.
Lilah gasped in shock as the dagger neared her nipple. Angelus dug into
the fleshy tip, gouging the tender flesh with the razor-sharp end of the
dagger and Lilah screamed. Then Angelus followed the blood trail with his
cold hard tongue, transmuting the pain of the thin wound into pleasure
as he sucked tenderly at the welling blood. When he reached her bloody
nipple, he sucked so gently that Lilah cried in pleasure. She moaned as
she felt the hilt of the dagger moving lower, tracing the edges of her
now wet pussy before plunging into it. The ornate hilt was cold and smooth
against her flesh, and she came almost instantly from Angelus's skillful
tongue and the penetration.
Angelus removed the dagger from her streaming cunt and forced the hilt
into her mouth, grinding it against her tongue until she sucked it clean
of her juices. Backing away from her for a moment, he cleaned the hilt
carefully on her expensive silk robe and studied her. His dark desires
were flaring again. Perhaps she was ready for the final lesson.
Dropping the dagger carefully into his bag, Angelus stalked back to
his crucified victim. He stroked his hands gently up Lilah's heaving sides
and over her shoulders. Without warning he pulled, ripping her from the
wall with one motion. Lilah shrieked and actually blacked out for a moment
as the spikes were torn completely through her flesh.
"You should have known better than to harm my mate, Lilah," Angelus
purred provocatively into her ear as he threw her to the floor on her wounded
hands. She tried to rise, but he was on her back in a moment, pushing her
to the floor and ramming his cold, hard cock into her unprepared ass. Angelus
stroked in and out of the tight hole for a moment, reveling in Lilah's
agonized moaning. Then he leaned over her neck and sank his fangs savagely
into her throat. Lilah bucked futilely against him as he rode her, sucking
the blood from her ravaged throat while fucking her into the floor. He
drained her dry and came with a gutteral growl as he drank her death and
despair. Pulling out of her ravaged hole, he wiped himself clean with her
robe before dropping it on top of her corpse.
Angelus laughed in satisfaction while he fastened his leather pants
and pulled his shirt and duster back on. *I think you learned your lesson,
Lilah. That was a good night's play,* he thought. *I'm relaxed, I fed well,
and my darling mate is waiting for me at home. Unlife is good.* He strode
from the apartment, bag thrown over his back; completely satisfied with
himself.
*
Buffy was crying in pain. She slowly extended her right foot inside
the bandages, gritting her teeth as the bones grated against each other.
After holding the point for a few seconds, she flexed the foot, curling
her toes upward as best she could. The pain was excruciating. Her feet
hurt far worse than her hands did. She supposed it was all those little
bones and tendons in there. She seemed to recall from the occasional high
school Biology class that she'd managed to attend that feet had lots of
bones in them.
Deciding that she'd tortured herself enough for one night, Buffy swiped
at the tears on her face with the bandages on her hands. She'd already
stretched the left one, which had hurt far more than the right. *Hmm, maybe
Angelus would like to take a taste…he seems to have improved the right
one, even if it did hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.*
As if her thoughts had conjured him up, the burly vampire strode into
the room. Buffy heard the faint sounds of Gunn and Fred leaving, probably
to go hunt before the dawn. She winced, knowing there was nothing she could
do to prevent the deaths of whatever innocent people they happened to run
into.
Angelus took her wince to mean something else entirely. "What, Lover,
not happy to see me? And after I spent practically the whole night punishing
one who did you wrong. I'm deeply hurt," he smirked at her, holding one
hand to his heart as if it actually beat. "I'm your dark knight, my lady,"
he sneered. "Your every wish is my command."
"All right…go to hell."
"Oh, sorry, Lover. Been there, done that. Not doing it again. Though
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for sending me there.
Nothing like 500 years of torment to really get a man ready to see his
lover again," he growled, still furious about his ignominious ensouled
entry into hell instead of what should have been a triumph.
He walked to her bed and sat on it, leaning into her in a mock-cuddly
way and stroking a wayward lock of hair back from her face. "I really missed
you, Buff. You know that, don't you? The soul was the one that left you.
I'll never leave." He smiled down at her wickedly and she shuddered as
he stroked her face gently.
Looking at her most hated enemy staring at her out of her lost soul-mate's
eyes was more than Buffy could stand and she closed her eyes and tried
to turn her head away. Angelus seized her chin in his strong fingers and
held it there, refusing her even that small gesture of denial.
"Don't look away from me, Lover," he hissed menacingly. "I noticed something
very interesting at the hotel. You remember how my childe tried to protect
you? I knew he'd been chipped, but this was more than that, Buff. Spikey
seems to think you belong to him now." His hand gripped her harder and
she held back a whimper with difficulty. "Buff, if I thought that you'd
been fucking my childe, well, I really wouldn't be pleased. Tell me you
haven't been screwing Spike. Tell me!" he thundered.
Unwilling tears leaked from Buffy's eyes at Angelus's brutal grip on
her face. He had shifted unconsciously to game face, so angry was he at
her perceived betrayal.
Buffy was scared. And of course, when she was scared, as always, she
got angry. "Hello, time to get over yourself, Angelus," she sneered at
him. "Spike wasn't the first I fucked, you asshole, and he won't be the
last. I'm not the scared little seventeen-year-old girl you tormented.
I've learned plenty about men since you left me behind," she said lasciviously,
licking her lips and staring into his eyes, "and trust me when I say, you
really can't compare."
Angelus roared with rage and grabbed Buffy by the shoulders, pulling
her up to glare into her eyes before he claimed her mouth in a savage kiss.
Buffy pushed at him with her bandaged hands to no avail, his strength far
exceeded hers right now and she had incensed him to the point of madness.
Angelus didn't share. The thought of other males touching his mate…the
woman he'd claimed as his at the mansion when the soul had slipped away,
prepared to die…was more than he could stand.
He tore at Buffy's mouth with fang and tongue, cutting her in half a
dozen places and sucking voraciously at her powerful blood. It was only
when she slumped in his arms that he released her to take a much needed
breathe.
Buffy was barely conscious, her mouth and lips torn and leaking blood,
but she felt strangely victorious. As long as she had the ability to provoke
Angelus into loosing control, she felt as if she held power of some sort
over her situation. She smiled up at him and chuckled, "Poor Annn-jealous.
What a perfect name for you. Go ahead and kill me, it won't change the
truth."
He snarled down at her, incensed that this diminutive woman could so
mock him. Him…the Scourge of Europe. But he would break her…just wait and
see. He'd kill her with kindness.
"Oh, Buff," he crooned, tenderly stroking her face with his long fingers.
"I'm not going to kill you. Where would the fun be in that? No, I'm going
to tend you, and get you all strong and healthy again and then I'm going
to turn you. And when I do, we'll hunt down every single one of the men
who were stupid enough to touch what is mine and we will destroy them and
dance in their blood," he growled.
Buffy flinched. She hadn't realized that he meant to keep her. Death
was far better than being turned. Death she could deal with…it was her
gift, after all. But being sired by Angelus…no, she couldn't allow that
to happen. Somehow, someway, she had to prevent it. He felt her shake and
smiled his knowing evil smile at her.
"Oh, Lover, we're going to have lots of fun," he promised, leaning down
to lap at the blood that spilled from the corners of her mouth.
NEXT>>>>>
