--------------------
where were you when you stole my pride
did you ever get the feeling that someone died
hide away in your ivory tower
and cover me in your golden shower
did I make you laugh when I played the clown
and was I the dog that bit you when you put it
down
break it nicely break it slow
break it so I got no place to go
wonderland has crashed to the ground
the circus has gone all that's left is the clowns
did I break your heart when I stole your thunder
was there woodworm in the table your feet are
under
break it nicely break it slow
break it so I've got no place to go
could you offer an apology
------------------

Part 1:

He lay shivering in the darkened room, surrounded by the smell of sex and the reek of his own filth, not sure how long he had been there and not sure how long he could survive. The pain was excruciating, his whole body was one large bruise waiting for yet another session of his new master's whip. It had not always been like this, but it might as well have been, the life that he had once led was long gone, buried in a place in his mind that he was told was best forgotten. He pulled the tatters of his blanket around him as he wondered where the world had gone wrong, tormenting himself by reliving the events of what he could piece together from less than a year ago.

~~~

Rebecca Lowell was famous amongst the minions, the one that had brought back their master and in turn brought about the end of mankind. The drug had not changed Angelus, but the release of that first taste of the actress' blood, and the orgasmic effects of the bitter sweet tang had disolved the soul that was never properly anchored by the half-wit witch. His first port of call had been the Law firm that had been the bane of his souled self, there he had met up with Lindsey MacDonald and struck a bargain with his former enemy, for the price of one Slayer dead and the loss of Angel forever the law firm would provide the support that Angelus needed. He was no longer tormented by the twisted impression of love he had for the Slayer, instead he was going to concentrate on the one thing that he had failed at before, bringing forth the minions of Hell.

The boy had heard the story from his cell, words that had brought little comfort to him in the hours that had followed, but he knew that before that he had been different, not always a slave.

The slayerettes were a posse of misfits, overspilling from thier high school days and spending their after college hours slaying demons and facing death. Nothing could have prepared them for what came to Sunnydale that Spring. Angelus was looking for his Childer, wanting to reunite the family so that he could have them at his side when the armegeddon came. There was a love for them that outweighed even that of his former obsession with Buffy. It was this that was to be the beginning of humanity's downfall.

The Slayer had died in a car accident, her mother at the wheel and a drunk driver sideswiping them had accomplished that which a thousand Vampire minions, a hundred various demons and a dozen apocolypses had failed to do, to kill the one person that actually might be able to save the world.

Angelus had not found his Childe Spike in the crypts or apartments of Sunnydale, but he felt his presence, smelled his scent lingering in a hundred different places, it was this that led him to the bar where Willy had told him of the soldier boys taking out demons. Getting a posse together had been easy for the master vampire, demons that hated each other united under him with one goal, to kill the scum that dared to interfere with thier families and loved ones. Angelus had only one specification that was to be met, that his Childe be found safe and that no one ate or celebrated until the prisoners were free. In the end there had been a blood bath, humans dead or dying and the initiative disbanded, the half-breed that they had found in the room labelled 314 was dismembered and disected just as a lab experiment ought to be when it is done. Angelus found Spike chained naked in a cell that reminded him of one that he had kept his Childe in a long time ago. From there he had liberated the demons and waged war with them on the humanity that had tortured them.

The boy would smile if it did not hurt too much, because the initiative had succeeded in two things, it's experiment had caused the demons to react in a way that they had predicted, violently and without remorse and the prison that they had built was unescapable. These two things he knew.

~~~

His thoughts of the events as he had pieced together were pithey, not the whole truth and not the full story, but it was an answer. It was not the answer that he would have hoped for, there were a few loose ends, the fact that he was still alive and very much human was a sign that hell was not yet on earth, but part of him knew that Angelus had not failed.

*****
Part 2:

He watched as the cowering mortals stumbled away from him as he walked past them, debased of their own humanity and the only emotion that they felt the fear that coursed through their veins after a hundred beatings and torture sessions at the hands of their captors. He was bored. Angelus had outdone himself this time, he knew it, the Demon's republic of California was the first of it's kind. Protected by magic and sitting directly on the mouth of Hell it was the closest to Hell on earth that they were going to get. Spike pondered his Sire's ideas about 21st century life, but this was a better deal all around. Demons around the world were flocking to become citizens of the new state, and there was nothing that the governments of the world could do because Angelus had control greater than that of Atomic bombs, he could wipe out all of humanity in one go, but he was under advisement from his legal council not to be too hasty, as long as the other governments complied with his wishes.

Due to the power that his master wielded anything that Spike wanted he got, his Sire had never been so indulgent to him in the past but now they were together he had all he wanted. That was what made him bored.

"Master Spike?" Asked his demon servant, a boy spared by the initiative but not yet strong enough to fight for his people. He had been pacing the halls outside their suite for an age looking for something to take his interest. The boy made him think that maybe he ought to visit the pit, Angelus kept some of the soldier boys down there for playing and Spike knew the door codes.

-------------------

It was a long time since he had been down here, he knew that the others enjoyed to play with the mortals, but Spike spent more of his time pleasing his master than anything else, there was a familiar scent to him here, not the death or faeces, although he knew both well but a human odour, a pheremone not only fear but fear of one he had known. *Xander*. Moving through the darkness he found the room that smelled of his nummy and found a door, caged inside was a dirty and broken boy that resembled the one that he had once lived with. A wry laugh came out of his mouth as he realised that just as he had once been at the boy's mercy now he had him in the same position. His Sire would like this present and it would be a lot of fun for him too.

*****
Part 3:

The boy woke to the sound of the drawing back of the bolt on his door, the modern system of electrics and mechanics had been replaced with a system of chains, bolts and manacles more to the liking of his owners. Were he still Xander Harris he may have joked about the need for Vampires to go with the gothic, broody, 'Stoker' look, but his sense od humour had been beaten from him and he was no longer the man that had once lived. Xander Harris was dead.

"Hello Whelp." He heard as he crawled closer into the corner that he was sleeping in, the voice jarred an old feeling in him but it was one he had not thought to hear again. The boy had known that Spike was in the initiative when he went back to get information, had heard the rumours of Angelus removing the chip from his Childe's head, but he had thought the rivalry of the two would have meant the blonde Vampire was long gone. "Come here." Spike said, the order clear in his too gentle voice, his statement worded as a caring one though that was the last thing on his mind. Xander did not move.

-----------------

Spike was disgusted by the mess that he found, he had hoped to train the boy to be a grateful servant, it appeared that he was being kept as an animal on the same level as the solider boys, not in the manner to which Angelus had deemed for the humans. There was a conplex structure to society, and while humans were subservient to demons there were freedoms, the right to live and work that were upheld. His Sire had a firm belief in how his new society was to be run and this broke it. Spike pulled the non-moving boy into his arms and hugged him, wanting to make up for some of the damage that had occurred. When he got a whiff of the boy however he changed his mind and decided that before he began his comfort or training the whelp needed a bath and a set of clothes.

----------------------

Xander found himself being scrubbed by two young boys that looked suspiciously like demons, he didn't want to speculate what was happening to him, his hope was that Spike had discovered him and was going to kill him, death would be the easiest option for the Vampire and it was the most appealing to Xander, because even if it involved torture first the end was going to be worth it.

He was left alone in the cold room, someone had attempted to decorate the room with posters, a few bright colours that failed to get rid if the clinical whiteness of the room. It hurt Xander's eyes to be in such a place after his dark and dank surroundings for so many years, but now it was the least of his worries. There was no doubt in his mind that whatever was going to happen was as bad as that which he had already suffered, but his main fear was that it would not be so bad as to kill him.

*****
Part 4:

Xander knew that he ought to move, he had stood in the room for a long while, he was used to being alone but usually he was chained to a bench or huddled in the corner of his dark cell waiting for a new master to take him or an old one to return. The pain in the backs of his legs was beginning to get to him but the boy knew better than to take advantage of the furniture that was there, it was for *them* not for the likes of him. He shivered as the cool air hit his naked skin, it made his abused body tingle as his scabs and scars were caressed by the air. He felt them more here, weighing on his mind each time he had been struck, the pain was growing within him and he felt heady, just as he did after a long session with a ruthless master. He collapsed to the ground, the weight of his own body not something that he was used to having to support without chains or manacles. Spike found him like that ten minutes later when he returned.

-------------------

Xander woke to an unfamiliar softness next to his maltreated skin, a warmth covered him and as he regained more awareness of his surroundings he knew that he was not in his cell anymore. It hit him slowly, the room where he had been taken and Spike, the Vampire that he had once fantasised about when he had childishly thought that they were capable of anything more than rape and death. The childish innocence that was long dead mocked him now as he wondered what new torment his captors were to come up with, as if raping his body and stealing his life were not enough now it appeared that they were beginning to take apart his mind. Xander had always made sure that there was one part of him that was inaccessible to the monsters that would break him, because no matter the pain there was a part of him that knew there was a slayer out there, and if he waited long enough she would take apart the operations in Sunnydale. He wanted to be there to see it happen, there was a small hope within him that he would be one of the rebels that reclaimed California and killed the demons forever.

"Pet?" A Voice interupted Xander's hateful thoughts, the boy willed himself to tuck the thoughts away in the most private realms of his mind, he knew Spike, had once been equipped to deal with him but now he needed to fins out what was to happen to him. "I know you are awake, I can hear your heart beating." Spike purred, Xander looked up, as if an expectant puppy waiting for the reprimand of his master, none came. "Angelus will be pleased to see you, he misses the torment of Slutty's little band of miscreants." Spike said, as if Xander were his compatriot and not his slave. "There is so few of them left now, the witches went quickly, the demon girl was given a reprieve by D'Hoffman and the Watcher fled to England, other than his little toy whom he tires of so quickly there is little amusement for the demon who would be King." Spike said, as if ruing the fact that he had killed and maimed so much that he was bored of it, again Xander was filled with the comments that his old self would have made, in spite of his vicious training he wanted no more than to crack a joke to push Spike into killing him, but he knew that while he had once been fearless now he was not. "Yes, he'll like you." Spike said, pulling back the covers and climbing into the bed with Xander, pulling the boy to him in a gesture that could be construed as a hug were they lovers or equals. Xander lay stiffly in Spike's arms not relaxing into the embrace as he once may have, even in sleep his posture remained rigid, the only way he had now to fight back.

*****
TBC